Bits Bucket for July 9, 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.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
June 2025 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
Sign in here used house pimps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_zKCUG20xs - 151k -
Would you please give it a rest?
Calling everyone who doesn’t agree with you a realtor is:
a) boring
b) probably not true
c) boring
d) did I mention boring?
e) boring
f) doesn’t add anything to the conversation
lOL. Have you had your Lexapro this morning!
I get the impression that polly is bored by the excess use of the term “realtor.” And so am I.
Polly…. I wasn’t aware you were a used house pimp.
What gives?
See, it really is boring.
What evidence do you have that I am a realtor other than the fact that I criticized you?
You are like a 7 year old who has just discovered, “I know you are but what am I?” It was boring in 2nd grade too.
You signed in. I didn’t do it for you.
At least 2nd graders get bored of it after a few days. This guy goes on for years.
At least 2nd graders get bored of it after a few days. This guy goes on for years.
It is kind of pathetic.
Oops! I guess by saying that, I’ve been magically transformed into a Realtor, LOL! I gotta go, I have a few showings today!
Oops! I guess by saying that, I’ve been magically transformed into a Realtor, LOL! I gotta go, I have a few showings today!
Yeah, me too! Gotta keep up the payments on the leased Lexus!
Better get a few cream colored linen suits to go with the Lexus, Slim. They should be on sale this time of year.
Loves mah gold jacket…LOVES my gold jacket!
This one’s for you.
Realtors Are Liars®
In an age of uncertainty and turmoil, I somehow get comfort from the steady, daily appearances of the “Realtors are Liars”
posts.
Takes real dedication to make sure we have them 24/7/365. The Post Office used to be like this……
Official James Bond films
Dr. No (until Suzanne and his wife brow beat him into buying at the peak) (1962-Sean Connery)
You Only Lie Twice (And every listing in between) (1967-Sean Connery)
Liars Are Forever (1971-Sean Connery)
Live and Let Lie (1973-Roger Moore)
The Spy Who Loved Me (Turned out to be a lying Realtor looking for a sale) (1977-Roger Moore)
For Your Lies Only (1981-Roger Moore)
Octopussy (I had to leave this in because I always liked the name) (1983-Roger Moore)
A View to a Kill (or a Short Sale) (1985-Roger Moore)
Licence to Lie (1989-Timothy Dalton)
Tomorrow Never Lies (The deal was closed yesterday) (1997-Pierce Brosnan)
The 6% Commission is Not Enough (1999-Pierce Brosnan)
Lie Another Day (2002-Pierce Brosnan)
“At least 2nd graders get bored of it after a few days. This guy goes on for years.”
Me too!
Live And Let Die lyrics
Songwriters:
Mccartney, Linda; Mccartney, Paul; TENANT, UNKNOWN;
When you were young
And your heart was an open book
You used to say, “Live and let live”
(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)
But if this ever-changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say, Realtors Lie
Realtors Lie
Realtors Lie
Realtors Lie
What does it matter to ya, when you’ve got a job to do, you gotta do it well
You gotta cover up the mold and Sell
You used to say, “Live and let livin’”
(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)
But if this ever-changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say, Realtors Lie
Realtors Lie
Realtors Lie
Realtors Lie
Party on RAL.
Wow…. a realtor screenplay.
What liars.
Ya gotta admire the persistence of RAL’s efforts!
“Ya gotta admire the persistence of RAL’s efforts!”
I agree, this blog would not be the same without those comments.
RAL spices up the blog. The reminders are helpful. It is easy to fall under a realtor’s spell. RAL does a public service. And also affects google searches for millions of others, thus helping them as well.
Privatize everything but the risk.
Romney student loan plan criticized
WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney promises to usher private lenders back into the federal student loan market in a bid to decrease default rates and increase efficiency if he becomes president, but such a move could cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars over a decade without saving students money, according to several higher education analysts.
The prime beneficiaries, critics say, would be banks and loan companies that stand to reap a financial boon through subsidies to make nearly risk-free, government-backed loans. They are the same firms that benefited from the system that existed for decades before 2010, when President Obama required that the government issue all federal student loans.
“The old guaranteed loan program was rife with lobbyists and will go down in history as a system that existed far longer than it needed to simply because it was enriching private companies,” said Jason Delisle, director of the Federal Education Budget Project at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank. Inviting private lenders back into the program, he said, appears misguided: “What’s in it for students or taxpayers? Nothing.”
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/07/09/romney_moves_to_reintroduce_private_lenders_in_federal_student_loan_market/?p1=News_links
” …bank$ and loan companie$ that stand to reap a financial boon through $ubsidies to make nearly risk-free, government-backed loans.”
$tudents = “$afety Depo$it Boxe$” + well paying blue-collar crane operator job$
[That's my theory & eye's $tickin' with it!]
And clearly, if we could just give everyone a college education,then everyone would have an above median IQ.
That would require quit a few New & $hiny Campu$ $anctuaries + Admini$tration Cult Member$ who require Wall $t. type Ri$k pay, least they FLEE to better paying job$!
I like Romney and usually vote repub, but about one more photo of his family riding that expensive ,elite looking boat while on family vacation will about choke me . What kind of boat was that anyways ? It obviously cost more then most mansions we are familiar with . Maybe if the rich are that different ,they shouldn’t be our leaders .
I’d much rather the rich spend their money on fancy toys that keep people employed building, maintaining, etc. then put it into a bank where the only way to get it back into circulation is to increase debt by having someone borrow it out.
you sure that’s how it works?
I think if the government just gave everybody a Learjet, the economy would fix itself.
Anyone not in the 1% or corporate subsidy crowd can’t afford the fuel or the aircrew to fly the plane.
The luxury industry cannot employ enough people to keep our economy afloat. Or ANY economy for that matter.
Never could and never will.
I’d much rather the rich spend their money on fancy toys
Darrell they are spending their money on expensive toys. They bought a congress and a couple of presidential candidates and a supreme court. What more could junior want?
The rich spending is trickle down economics and we all no where that’s landed the US. No the rich will spend 1% on toys ie millions and still have billions left to manipulate markets and politics reducing the spending of the masses thus eventually causing deflation as demand collapses and unemployment rises.
dont’ worry…when he is president he can vacation in martha’s vineyard on the taxpayers dime.
riding in boats he paid for is despicable.
You might want to read up on his 100,000,000 dollar 401k. Hard to imagine how you get to 100,000,000 with a 6000 a year cap on contributions. Or his off shore accounts.
If he hasn’t been paying taxes he owes then we indeed have been paying for his boat.
his 100,000,000 dollar 401k. Hard to imagine how you get to 100,000,000 with a 6000 a year cap on contributions. Or his off shore accounts.
Swiss bank accounts, offshore tax shelters, a 100 million dollar 401k. Money mostly made by being a corporate raider. They really picked the right guy for the times.
Someone who has already paid millions and millions in taxes has paid enough for this lifetime and several others.
Someone who has already paid millions and millions in taxes has paid enough for this lifetime and several others.
Not according to the tax code, he hasn’t…
I think it’s hilarious how a jet ski is now an elite boat. If nothing else the MSM is predictable. It will backfire though as the millions of middle class owners of jet skis will see this and think HUH? This is evidence that Romney is the second coming of Mr. Burns?
Anyone remember the democrat presidential candidate (who served in Vietnam) Senator Kerry who really had a huge yacht - but kept it registered and moored in different state than Massachusetts to AVOID TAXES.
Taxes are for the little people - especially for those who believe in higher taxes and bigger government.
John F. Kerry is your better. You will show him respect. Mmmmkay.
It’s tweedle-dee vs. tweedle-dum. Which is why I don’t understand your “Republican Landslide” wet dream. Do you think there’s gonna be any real difference if Romney wins?
The truth is neither side is willing to raise taxes or make serious budget cuts. The trillion dollar deficits are here to stay, regardless of who wins. Sure, if the GOP wins they’ll cut back on foodstamps and unemployment bennies (which won’t be all that much), but will probably make up for it with increased DoD spending.
After 4 years of obama - I just about ready to try ANYTHING else.
It’s tweedle-dee vs. tweedle-dum. Which is why I don’t understand your “Republican Landslide” wet dream. Do you think there’s gonna be any real difference if Romney wins?
BTW - if there is NO difference in political parties - why do unions, environmental nut jobs, trial lawyers and race hustlers give 99-100% of their time and money to the democrats?
Note to the dual bananas person: John Kerry was the 2004 Democratic Party candidate for President of the United States. Calling him a democrat presidential candidate just puts your ignorance on display for all to see.
After 4 years of obama - I just about ready to try ANYTHING else.
I’d be pickier than that. As mediocre as Obama has been, it’s possible to do a lot worse. And a former corporate raider/offshorer who just wants to help the rich get richer could definitely be worse. The GOP could have done better.
“It’s tweedle-dee vs. tweedle-dum. Which is why I don’t understand your “Republican Landslide” wet dream. Do you think there’s gonna be any real difference if Romney wins?”
I always hear this argument from liberals when it seems like a Democrat is about to lose.
And a former corporate raider/offshorer who just wants to help the rich get richer could definitely be worse. The GOP could have done better.
I think that the fact that they’re down to a corporate raider/offshore-er shows how shallow their talent pool is. And it’s not like the 1980s, when a whole crop of College Republicans was coming up through the ranks.
“BTW - if there is NO difference in political parties - why do unions, environmental nut jobs, trial lawyers and race hustlers give 99-100% of their time and money to the democrats?”
I didn’t say there was no difference. But as a former Republican I was always disappointed with how nothing changed when they were in power. Government continued to grow. Deficits grew.
I always hear this argument from liberals when it seems like a Democrat is about to lose.
And I alwasy hear right wingers label anyone who disagrees with them as “liberal”.
“John F. Kerry is your better.”
+1 ROTFLMAO!!
“And it’s not like the 1980s, when a whole crop of College Republicans was coming up through the ranks.”
Actually those 80’s college republicans are finally old enough to be serious candidates for national office.
Actually those 80’s college republicans are finally old enough to be serious candidates for national office.
ISTR that Jack Abramoff was one of them.
Notice how, for all the political name-calling, we still don’t have an explanation of what Romney’s plan is and how he will be different?
“And I alwasy hear right wingers label anyone who disagrees with them as “liberal”.”
You aren’t a liberal because you disagree with me. You are a liberal because you espouse liberal points of view.
Nice…. look at the cranks and political pimps detracting from reality.
You go girls.
You aren’t a liberal because you disagree with me. You are a liberal because you espouse liberal points of view.
Well, I resemble that remark too! Woo for the liberals!
I’m kind of a disenfranchised repub. I think Romney will get slaughtered this fall. I’m writing in Ron Paul again. I guess that means I’m a liberal?
I think Romney will get slaughtered this fall.
I agree. It will be along the lines of Roosevelt-Landon 1936.
“You aren’t a liberal because you disagree with me. You are a liberal because you espouse liberal points of view.”
Except that I don’t.
I believe in balanced budgets.
I believe that we should mind our own business and not invade other countries.
I believe that a healthy middle class is paramount to the well being of a free society.
Like I said, I used to be Republican, until I realized that the GOP hates the middle class.
I’m kind of a disenfranchised repub. I think Romney will get slaughtered this fall. I’m writing in Ron Paul again. I guess that means I’m a liberal?
Yes, you fail the purity test. Unless you are pro war and anti middle class, you are a liberal.
I love this blog. If you fail certain purity tests, you are either a realtor-pimp or a liberal.
Would you please give it a rest?
Calling everyone who doesn’t agree with you a democrat/liberal/republican/conservative is:
a) boring
b) probably not true
c) boring
d) did I mention boring?
e) boring
f) doesn’t add anything to the conversation
“You go girls”??? Please tell me you are not a sexist RAL. I was on your side.
It will certainly resonate with the hundreds of thousands of waterside homeowners who detest the $%&$#!! things. Jetskis (or “personal watercraft” as they’re now marketed) are actually considered pretty lowlife– much like sno-mobiles (pardon me, “snow machines”) in ski resorts and quads in delicate desert ecosystems– which are equally detested for their gawd-awful noise and general intrusiveness.
I think this photo op was Mitton’s way of “connecting” with J6P.
I’ve never been on a jetski, but your description of who doesn’t like them makes me think I should try it :-). I tend to be on J6P’s side when it comes to snowmobiles and quads.
I have a nearby neighbor who used to live out in the desert west of Tucson. He and the wife moved back into town so they could get away from those gawd-awful quads that their idiot neighbors rode incessantly.
It’s not like we don’t have idiot neighbors around here, but at least they’re not incessant quad riders.
That’s the point. Riding a jet ski is hardly evidence of an out of touch eeeeeeeevil 1%er which is what the MSM was going for with Romney. Epic fail.
As for people who moved away from a lake because of the noise, LOL. What did you expect on a lake? Hmmm. Boats and jet skis? Who woulda thunk it? Reminds me of people who move next to an airport and then complain about airplane noise.
I have a boat and take it out on the weekends. Looking at a boat launch you see a great slice of America. You have the $500 fishing boat with a put put outboard towed by a 1980 Ford pickup next to the $75K cruiser towed by a brand new Escalate…and everything in between. It says so much that people on the HBB (like the NY/DC pundits) detest boats with such a passion.
‘people on the HBB detest boats with such a passion’
You’re ‘on the HBB’ right now.
Riding a jet ski is hardly evidence of an out of touch eeeeeeeevil 1%er which is what the MSM was going for with Romney. Epic fail.
Not so much an epic fail as an epic noise disturbance that a lot of us can do without. Especially when we’re on vacation.
I hate jet skis, except when I ride one.
I think this photo op was Mitton’s way of “connecting” with J6P.
So what’s next? Mitt and the boys in their Quad Cab Chevy Silverado? Yeehaw!
Especially when we’re on vacation.
While not exactly comparable, this reminds me of the time we backpacked to a fairly remote campsite on a 4th of July weekend, only to have campers in a nearby site lighting off fireworks! And yes, this was in a national forest. I think they thought they were impressing everyone as, when we and others joined to confront them, they couldn’t understand why we weren’t entertained.
People seem to think everyone else is envious of their recreation choices. Ever notice how jet skis mostly buzz around in circles near the beach where everyone is lying about? No, you tool, I really couldn’t care less. Go away.
“Ever notice how jet skis mostly buzz around in circles near the beach where everyone is lying about?”
What’s the point of acting like an idiot without an audience?
What nerve!!
Setting off fireworks on the 4th of July.
Riding around in jet skis on a lake.
I tell you these rubes, they spoil all the fun for the decent folks who just want to sit around in pure silence and complain all day.
What’s the point of acting like an idiot without an audience?
I can top that one. Seems that the purchasers of a nearby foreclosure have taken it upon themselves to:
1. Paint over perfectly good brick.
2. Put saltillo tile down over a perfectly good driveway.
3. Lay mismatched lawn carpeting down in the front yard. Which blows back to reveal the dirt beneath if there’s a high wind.
4. Install a plastic white fence that’s supposed to look like the ones you see surrounding the Kentucky horse farms.
Well, you’d think that four design travesties on one property would be enough. But they’re not finished. They just put a life-sized plastic horse in the front yard.
Another neighbor and I have been exchanging snippy e-mails about what we’d like to see riding that plastic horse. Inflatable doll is my first choice, but I haven’t shared that with my neighbor. He’s at the office and I don’t want to disrupt his work day. His boss might not share my evil sense of humor.
What is lawn carpeting?
I think the horse should be painted green, rather than acquire a rider of any kind. Maybe purple. Something bold. Pay for the spray paint in cash and go to a hardware store that you have never used before.
What is lawn carpeting?
It’s a poor imitation of that artificial turf that used to be popular in sports stadiums. And the keyword in the previous sentence is “poor.”
What nerve!!
Setting off fireworks on the 4th of July.
Did you miss the part about it being in the middle of a national forest? And yes, in most cases, people go to the middle of a national forest to escape both noise and hordes of people.
What I am seeing is not a jet-ski . About a dozen of his family are on it.
What’s in it for us??? We pay the bills through our taxes while the system subsidizes the enrichment of the education bureacracy.
My niece attended UW Madison and got herself a lawyer degree. When she was done she had in excess of $100,000 in school loans to pay off. God bless her, she’s working as an environmental lawyer and a Democratic party worker, but that tidy sum is going to take half her life to pay off.
And just think she could have been a paralegal with almost no debt and made 1/2 as much as the Big high falutin lawyer, with a lot less to worry about, money left over to start a family….ah such choices these kids make today
Now you actually think that someone has implemented your student loan forgiveness fantasy? Seriously?
Oh come on, someone can become a paralegal without a law degree.
Nah polly she wanted to be a high falutin Environmental lawyer so $100K in debt was her choice…
She could have chose to be a paralegal with almost NO debt, then decide if she wanted to to task the risk of being a high falutin lawyer….
Amazing how few think this out.
It’s about the status.
so when is she buying a house?
If she’s a good lawyer, she should be making $150K+ within a few years. If she’s a really good lawyer, $250K+ within a decade.
She’ll pay off that student loan debt in no time.
“If she’s a good lawyer, she should be making $150K+ within a few years. If she’s a really good lawyer, $250K+ within a decade.
She’ll pay off that student loan debt in no time.”
Uhhhh … tongue firmly in cheek, right?
The crazy wages only happen to those lucky enough to become partners in a good firm, which is a very small percentage of lawyers.
Tongue in cheek? Not at all.
Median income for lawyers: $112,760 (per BLS). A good one will make $150+ easy.
Median income for all of them. This is Lip’s niece. With that kind of debt from a state school, she probably attended recently. If you are talking about a fairly new attorney paying off loans in “no time,” you’ll need to prove it with the median income of lawyers who have graduated in the last 3 to 5 years.
Lip, if you can fill us in on your niece’s year of graduation, we would be delighted to know it. Is she working for a non-profit or a firm?
Lying with statistics is boring too, Smithers.
Median income for lawyers: $112,760 (per BLS). A good one will make $150+ easy.
Does this imply that most lawyers are not good lawyers?
“Does this imply that most lawyers are not good lawyers?”
Heh. OK let me rephrase. A better than average lawyer. How’s that?
“Lying with statistics is boring too, Smithers.”
Right, I forgot. When someone presents numbers to refute the “everyone is starving and living on $3 a day” meme here, it’s a lie. Well at least you didn’t call me a realtor.
Law schools lie like hell about the fortunes of their recent grads. Many grads do not return the surveys to begin with, unless they are doing well.
Plus the “median age of a practicing lawyer is at least 40 something.
Polly, etal,
My neice is on the staff of Clean Wisconsin, an environmental advocacy group.
http://cleanwisconsin.org/index.php?module=cms&page=2
I am not sure exactly when she graduated, but I am guessing about 8-10 years ago. I
My purpose for bringing it up is that many, many kids are mortgaging their futures by borrowing way too much money to chase careers that won’t allow them to repay it quickly. Our system of loaning these students the money is putting them in bondage. Obviously some of the students are able to repay quickly but IMO not nearly as many as we would hope.
So, Smithers, if we want to figure out when she could plausibly pay off her loans, we have to figure out what the median salary is of attorneys working for environmental activist groups in Wisconsin. Or, we could just find out what her actual salary is and what she was earning along the way.
The median salary of attorneys across the country has nothing to do with it.
You do know that there are lots of jobs where the quality and/or quantity of work you do doesn’t result in a higher salary, right? Is is a choice to work for that sort of group? Yup. But to pretend that the people who make those choices will be able to pay off their loans based on the median salary of the broadest category of job you could identify them with is just a lie based on statistics.
My wife is an attorney, and lots of her law school colleagues went to work for public entities or for socially driven practices…they don’t pay much.
How in the world could it take a lifetime to pay off $100K?????
Maybe she’ll get at job at $100K. She could pay the loan off in five years.
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism, comrade?
‘Maybe if the rich are that different ,they shouldn’t be our leaders’
I have a different take. Why do we have billionaires running for the senate and governor spots now? Why would they bother? And have you noticed almost everyone who isn’t rich already, and gets high up in the US govt, becomes rich during or afterward these days?
“Why would they bother?”
The drive for money morphs into the drive for power.
After all the money you’ll ever need is made then what’s left?
An Agatha Christie quote:
“Most successful people are unhappy. That’s why they are successes - they have to reassure themselves about themselves by achieving something that the world will notice.
The happy people are failures because they are on such good terms with themselves they don’t give a damn.”
There is another, slightly less obnoxious, interpretation.
After accumulating that much cash (pay or inheritance or whatever), they actually believe they know better than everyone else how to run the country. They really think they are the best people for the job.
The problem, of course, is that the US is a country, not a company and you can’t fire your citizens. In addition, crushing the competition (other countries) is crushing your potential customers (export purchasers).
An Agatha Christie quote:
“Most successful people are unhappy. That’s why they are successes - they have to reassure themselves about themselves by achieving something that the world will notice.
The happy people are failures because they are on such good terms with themselves they don’t give a damn.”
Back when I was in the employee world, I worked for one of the largest (in terms of assets) private foundations in the Southwest. What Agatha said described the bulk of our donors to a tee. A more miserable, insecure group of people would have been hard to find.
We had a local billionare, the founder of Paychex, take a shot at governor. He was pretty confident that he could run things better than anyone else. Like Polly said.
The problem, of course, is that the US is a country, not a company and you can’t fire your citizens
Polly, Polly … in their eyes we aren’t “citizens”, we are “consumers”. If you have money to spend they don’t give a rat’s tail where your passport is from.
No you can’t fire citizens. But you can fire incompetent people who work for the govt and you can get rid of inefficiencies. We tried hope and change unicorn economics where we just wished really hard that problems would go away. Now we’re ready to have an adult step in who actually has experience running something other than a political campaign.
Will Romney be a panacea for all the country’s ills? Of course not. Will he be better equipped to tackle the problems than a community activist with 0 executive experience? Hell yea.
That is a good point. Never once has Mr. Romney (that I have heard) said that his business experience means he can make government work better or more efficiently. Not once. All he says is that he knows how to create jobs, which, presumably doesn’t mean government jobs.
I have assumed that he doesn’t say this so that he doesn’t remind the Tea Party crowd that there will still have to be a federal government even if he becomes president, but perhaps there is more to it. Maybe he doesn’t think he can do much to make government work more efficiently. Or perhaps he knows that anything he puts forth as an idea will be wildly unpopular in the general electorate, especially with independents.
Would that be the community activist who brought UE down, the DOW back up and record profits to Fortune 100 companies while prosecuting FIRE sector fraud on a scale never before seen?
THAT community activist? The one who did this despite being actively sabotaged by the conservatives who PUBLICLY STATED they not help him and gladly throw us all under the bus?
Again, to quote Ben, “Only in some bizarro world” would those changes would not be considered improvements.
Can you even hear yourself?
Will he be better equipped to tackle the problems than a community activist with 0 executive experience? Hell yea. ??
And will he crame his conservative social agenda down the throats of the majority of americans citizens ? Hell yea…
That community organizer has 3 1/2 years in the only job that is relevant experience.
Bingo, polly.
RE: That community organizer has 3 1/2 years in the only job that is relevant experience.
And his experience is almost a complete disaster if you ask me. He has done a few things right but not many and certainly not anthing significant. His significant actions have been the disasterous ones.
Welcome to GovCorp.
It sounds a lot like an extractive elite has entrenched itself and is warping the system to make sure it stays in power.
Ben, I had a clinical pathologist making tons of money because he ran a private lab as well as being hospital based tell me that there only two things that matter in this world: money and power and not necessarily in that order! In Bakersfield, 1970’s.
The drive for money morphs into the drive for power.
I think it goes both ways. People get into positions of power and the temptation and ability to become corrupt in order to get money is too great to resist.
As pro-union as I am, it’s obvious that there are many sleazy and corrupt union leaders who make backroom deals and take kickbacks of all sorts.
As a species, we haven’t yet evolved to be egalitarian.
“I think it goes both ways.”
I think of the two - money and power - as being two aspects of the same thing. One begats the other.
Sometimes money garners power, at other times money is just a way of keeping score.
In either case - money or power - what is supposed to serve a person often ends up dominating him.
‘only two things that matter in this world: money and power ‘
I thought all it was was that we wanted to be loved and all this ass/et chasing was the cause of it. You know, basic biology and how we are hard-wired? I question if Romney is in it for the money.
Ultimately I think it’s about control. Controlling one’s environment and controlling one’s destiny.
Money and power are means to that end.
Money IS power, though power isn’t necessarily money. And power begets power. (And money, if that’s your motivation.) It’s all about the game.
Rich people run for office because they can. It’s damned fun to be the center of all that attention, and the ego rub is a lot more gratifying than sitting at home counting your little gold coins. Just ask Meggie Whitman.
+1 Ahansen….
Maybe they want to be able to do their insider trading without having to deal with the law.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57323527/congress-trading-stock-on-inside-information/
” Why do we have billionaires running for the senate and governor spots now? Why would they bother? ”
It’s almost as if they wield political influence to enrich themselves!
Dang, russ. That’s amazing!
Great. Let’s get private investors back in student lending:
1) Eliminate ALL gov’t guarantees
2) Have Lenders build risk into their lending models
3) This will create a TRUE market for student loans. If you can’t afford it.. find another way to fund it (grants, scholarships, work, school subsidies, employer, etc.)
4) Or.. maybe college isn’t for you. Get a job & experience. If you’re good enough.. your employer should PAY for your education.
If you’re good enough.. your employer should PAY for your education.
That was in the old days. Good luck getting any employer to pay for your college tuition these days. The few that still do usually have caps that are so low that it won’t even cover tuition at a State U.
There are private investors in student loans - private student loans. They require either an income (not 18 year olds) or a co-signer.
Why should there be private investors in federally backed student loans? If the government has all the risk, why should they get a risk related profit? Hiring them as administrators is more than enough private involvement for federally backed loans.
By the way, my father’s employer backed my student loans. It saved a few weeks on the processing time. The company trusted its employees to make sure their kids didn’t take our more loans than they could pay back.
+1 Timmy
The fact that they hand out student loans like candy probably has something to do with the soaring cost of tuition.
I would bet if at least the yearly caps were lowered, you would magically see tuition come down to meet that cap over time.
Or maybe you would see more foreign students admitted to pay full price.
Or maybe the least desirable colleges would close and the supply would shrink while prices stayed the same.
Can you say UNSUSTAINABLE? When I graduated from HS in the 80’s, they did not hand out money the way they are now and I managed to survive and put food on the table.
In the current situation I see no end the price increases unless Uncle Sugar dials it back a bit. There are not enough rich foreign students to fill these establishments and I would imagine many graduates are heading to state schools, community colleges or learning a trade.
And a wonderful by product would be that the cost of education would come down to meet the affordability level.
FHA’s mortgage delinquencies soar
The mortgage market appears to finally be stabilizing — as long as you ignore loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration.
Increasingly, FHA-insured loans are falling into foreclosure or serious delinquency, moving in the opposite direction of loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or those held by banks, which are all showing signs of improvement.
And taxpayers could ultimately be on the hook for FHA’s growing number of troubled mortgages. The agency’s finances are already on shaky ground, and additional losses from loans going sour could prompt the need for a federal bailout, experts said.
“We can’t escape this one,” said Joseph Gyourko, a real estate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “This is an arm of the U.S. government.”
The share of government-guaranteed loans, a majority of which are backed by FHA, that were 90 days or more delinquent soared nearly 27% during the year ending March 31. Foreclosures jumped nearly 17%, according to a report published recently by federal regulators.
FHA has also had a tougher time successfully modifying loans. More than 48% of government-guaranteed mortgages re-defaulted 12 months after modification, compared to 36.2% of loans overall, the report said.
FHA’s risky borrowers: FHA doesn’t make loans, but it backstops lenders if borrowers stop paying. With this guarantee in place, banks are more likely to offer mortgages to borrowers with lower credit scores or incomes.
Housing experts have been warning for years that many FHA-insured loans are not sustainable, especially in these troubled times. That’s particularly concerning because FHA’s share of the market has swelled in recent years as lenders pulled back on providing mortgages that weren’t backed by the government.
One of the main critiques of FHA loans is that they require very low downpayments — a minimum of 3.5%. In an environment where home prices are declining, borrowers can quickly slip underwater and owe more than their property is worth.
“These are very risky loans,” said Ed Pinto, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. And loans made in the past three years are “moving into the beginning of the peak delinquency period and they are very big books of business.”
‘More than 48% of government-guaranteed mortgages re-defaulted 12 months after modification, compared to 36.2% of loans overall, the report said.’
Only in bizarre-o world would a 36% re-default rate in 12 months be held up as some sort of success.
Federal agencies could induce private lenders to ease restrictions on home loans
By Kenneth R. Harney, Published: July 6
WaPo
“Two federal agencies with far-reaching influence over the mortgage market are working on a problem that could affect the ability of many consumers to obtain a home loan: How to encourage private lenders to ease up on their underwriting restrictions that go beyond what the agencies themselves require for mortgage approvals.
What to do? The two agencies are mum about specifics but are expected to announce reforms sometime in the coming weeks. Lenders, on the other hand, know precisely what they’d like to see. Steve O’Connor, senior vice president of the Mortgage Bankers Association, says lenders want several key changes in current procedures, including clear, point-by-point guidance on how the agencies will define reasonable grounds for buybacks or indemnifications going forward. Lenders also need assurance that after an agreed-upon period of time — say, 24 to 36 months — they will not be blamed for deficient underwriting on a loan that goes belly up. Some mortgage companies have been confronted with buyback demands on loans that defaulted for economic reasons after seven or eight years of on-time payments. “That’s crazy,” said O’Connor.
What’s crazy is sinking back to the previous system of utterly debauched lending. If originators only have to worry about the first 36 months of a loan, well, that’s easy to game.
The system is still debauched - see FHA’s recent rescinding of even modest, prudent lending standards. But we see less NINJA/Option ARM type deals which were the tinder of the housing bubble, which is some improvement.
Debauched lending which is guaranteed by the government is merely funneling tax money (which should only be used for public goods) to FIRE sector profits. With 100% debt to GDP, this seems like an especially bad time to be funneling money to Wall Street, from the public treasury.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/federal-agencies-could-induce-private-lenders-to-ease-restrictions-on-home-loans/2012/07/06/gJQAlIduRW_story.html?wprss=rss_business
Frankly, it depends on your perspective. For me, “success” would have been to let them all be foreclosed, let prices crash, and start over again.
For others, they will point to Fannie data showing that later modifications have been more “successful” in avoiding re-default (ie. they are getting better at choosing which loans to modify, and how to modify them so people continue to pay).
No one could have predicted this.
That’s right. It was completely…
…unexpected!
“Struggling in the Suburbs”
Didn`t Stanley Johnson live in the Suburbs?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0HX4a5P8eE - 107k -
Editorial
Struggling in the Suburbs
Published:
July 7, 2012 171 Comments
Hardship has built a stronghold in the American suburbs. Whatever image they had as places of affluence and stability was badly shaken last year, when reports analyzing the 2010 census made it clear that the suburbs were getting poorer.
While the overall suburban population grew slightly during the previous decade, the number of people living below the poverty line in the suburbs grew by 66 percent, compared with 47 percent in cities. The trend quickened when the Great Recession hit, as home foreclosures and unemployment surged. In 2010, 18.9 million suburban Americans were living below the poverty line, up from 11.3 million in 2000.
It is possible to see this struggle just beyond New York City in a quintessentially suburban place, Long Island. There have long been pockets of poverty there, created by race and income segregation. But it is not just in pockets anymore. These days the struggle has metastasized: foreclosed homes are just as empty in the better-off subdivisions, with the same weed-choked yards, plywood windows and mold-streaked clapboard siding.
Long Island’s two counties, Nassau and Suffolk, have the second- and third-highest foreclosure rates in New York State, behind Queens. Debt counselors across the island juggle a mix of clients: immigrant families undone by predatory lenders and middle-class professionals impoverished by illness, layoffs or credit-card bills. Families who once donated food now wait in line to receive it at pantries that empty out week after week. Homeless women with children move in with relatives or into motels, the government-paid shelters of last resort.
The deepening of suburban poverty is putting new strains on government agencies, parish outreach programs and other institutions in the suburbs’ gauzy safety net. At the Suffolk County Department of Social Services, which handles programs like food stamps, Medicaid, emergency housing and cash assistance, needs have increased across the board.
The number of food stamp cases reached 40,699 in April, compared with 26,193 two years ago. Almost 195,000 people in a county of 1.54 million are on Medicaid. More people are asking for help to cover emergency bills for rent or heat; more than 10,500 did so in the first quarter of 2012, an 8 percent increase over 2010. The county’s emergency-housing caseload hit a 10-year peak in January, with 488 families and 261 individuals living in shelters and motels.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/struggling-in-the-suburbs.html - -
I used to all the time hear the slogan “fake it ’till you make it”. I don’t hear it much anymore.
I’ll extend the slogan a bit: “Fake it ’till you make it and let lots of debt fill in the gap”.
What ever you do, do not click on the featured video in the top left corner at the end of the Stanley Johnson youtube clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0HX4a5P8eE - 107k -
Whatever, but I stll wouldn`t do it.
Amazingly, home equity loans, liars loans and buying a house you could not afford (to get on the property ladder) never entered the equation.
Debt counselors across the island juggle a mix of clients: immigrant families undone by predatory lenders and middle-class professionals impoverished by illness, layoffs or credit-card bills.
“Safety net” means how are we going to pay for our insane public unions. Especially in these places. Public unions are the insane of the insane on Long Island. Property taxes of $15,000-$20,000 on a nothing special suburban house on a postage size lot is the norm. There is no way to sustain or pay for the golden “promises” made to the public unions.
The deepening of suburban poverty is putting new strains on government agencies, parish outreach programs and other institutions in the suburbs’ gauzy safety net.
The suburbs are the new ghettos.
Nothing really new about it, just more visible now.
There have long been pockets of poverty there, created by race and income segregation. But it is not just in pockets anymore. These days the struggle has metastasized:
Oh, really. What insight.
For more than 20 years, various agencies and programs by HUD have worked to move the “ghetto” dwellers OUT of the ghetto and into the suburbs. To get them into houses of their own was the plan. The concept being that everyone is “equal” and the “ghetto” made them poor and criminally inclined. “Ownership” gave the white middle-class and unfair “advantage” that needed to be “fixed”.
So, as a consequence, we now have the same unemployed, welfare receipients living next door to you. All sing Hallelu-ya!!
The government programs have worked.
NOw, poverty is everywhere.
Congratulations world improvers! You have acheived your goal of making everyone “equal”, at least in housing. You have increased the poverty in once stable communities.
An outcome that was easily foreseeable.
I bet you’re going to rent to section 8, yeah?
About that increase in food stamps….
“[A] troubling reason for the increase is that state governments have found it easy to get their constituents federal money — that is, money mostly raised from current and future taxpayers in other states — by making more people eligible for food stamps. According to a mid-2010 report from the Government Accountability Office, 35 states have no limit on the amount of assets a food-stamp recipient can possess. More and more states — the count was 36 at the time of the report — are providing “categorical eligibility” for food stamps to anyone who receives welfare services. Merely getting an informational brochure from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program counts as receiving a service.”
Let this out as well.
“Another way that states and localities can get federal money flowing to them is by providing token amounts of assistance with home heating bills. Even a dollar of energy subsidies can make someone eligible for food stamps, or increase the benefit level for someone already on SNAP. Vermont, for example, sends $5 checks to public-housing residents, even though their subsidized rent already covers heating, to qualify them for food stamps. Liberal activists call this strategy for getting federal money “heat and eat.””
So they shouldn’t… eat?
Are you sure you’re not a direct decedent of Marie Antoinette? Maybe you forgot how things turned out for her.
I’m the direct descendant of an actor. What does that make me?
“Wisconsin food-stamp recipients routinely sell their benefit cards on Facebook . . . ‘nearly 2,000 recipients claimed they lost their card six or more times in 2010 and requested replacements.’ USDA rules require that lost cards be speedily replaced . . . Thirty percent of the inmates in the Polk County, Iowa, jail were collecting food stamps that were being sent to their non-jail mailing addresses in 2009 . . . The Obama administration is responding by cracking down on state governments’ antifraud measures. The administration is seeking to compel California, New York and Texas to cease requiring food-stamp applicants to provide finger images. The food-stamp poster boy of 2011 is 59-year-old Leroy Fick. After Mr. Fick won a $2 million lottery jackpot, the Michigan Department of Human Services ruled he could continue receiving food stamps . . . ‘the winnings were considered ‘assets’ [rather than income] and aren’t counted in determining food stamp eligibility.’”
nearly 2,000 recipients claimed they lost their card six or more times in 2010
2000 out of 750,000 recipients is hardly routine, it’s 1/4 of a percent.
So just a little fraud is OK. Got it.
A little fraud is inevitable. How much are you willing to spend to eliminate fraud completely?
Oh, I forgot. You would eliminate the program. Let them eat cake.
I would eliminate food stamps, sure. Millions of lawns out there to be cut, millions of burgers to be flipped, millions of toilets to be cleaned. Don’t give me this nonsense about starving. If you get hungry enough, you go work.
I see you are unclear on the concept of “unemployment rate”.
If you want to eliminate people with assets getting food stamps, you have to bring back the low asset requirement. Then you have to pay people to enforce it.
“So just a little fraud is OK. Got it.”
Sorry bub, you said it was “routine”. It’s amusing to watch you move the goal posts every time you get shot down. But as Happy2bHeard said, fraud is inevitable. The point is that it is miniscule and not “routine” as you boldly claimed.
Seriously Smithers, you bring NOTHING to this discussion and have to be mentally ill to bring abuse on yourself like this day after day.
I think there are some folks who feel that if anyone is gaming the system then the system is broken and we should scrap it.
There are other folks who feel that if there is anyone who is broken by the system then they shouold get help.
We need both to construct a fair system.
A $2M lottery winner continues to receive food stamps. Move along nothing to see here. Only a little fraud in the system, all is well. 2000 recipients “lost” their cards 6 times. Nothing to see here folks, just routine stuff. Vermont sends $5 checks to people just so they can qualify for food stamps that they don’t really need. Move along, nothing to see here.
Wait what? A CEO made $1M last year?!??? Quick someone call the White House and demand an investigation.
And compares to the $16 TRILLION
Damn it!
That compares to the $16 TRILLION Wall St, fraud, er, bailout, how?
OT, They other day someone had a question regarding “African clothing” and hot weather.
I think the reason it works is because the material is light weight and loose. Years ago someone sent me some and it was promptly stored away cause I had already passed through my “Afrocentric phase”.
Then one day, I had nothing clean to wear, so I slapped them on and was surprised to find how well they worked.
You need some sandals too.
Also, the expensive ones have that “lace with holes in it” strategically stitched in around certain places like the collar and waist…
Disclosure: Beyond a certain level of body fat, they may not work as well. But I think most people will be surprised.
“I had already passed through my ‘Afrocentric phase’.”
What comes after passing through an Afrocentric phase?
What comes after passing through an Afrocentric phase?
The hi-top fade phase.
anger
A young Arab asks his father:
What is this weird hat that we are wearing ?
It’s a “chechia” because in the desert it protects our heads from the sun!
And what is this type of clothing that we are wearing ?
It’s a “djbellah” because in the desert it is very hot and it protects your body !
And what are these ugly shoes that we have on our feet ?
These are “babouches”, which keep us from burning our feet when in the desert !
Tell me, papa…
Yes, my son ?
… Why are we living in Dearborn, MI. and still wearing all this sh-t ?
+1
Hey, Spook! Long time no post! Welcome back to the HBB.
Just left Brooklyn and driving through Crown Heights I cannot fathom the insanity of Hasidim wearing long black coats and pants in 95 degree weather. The women wear tights, long dresses, long sleeves and scarves - all the time.
Back in the day when I still had a full-time job, I took a long weekend and went to the University of Arizona’s astronomy camp. (You like looking at the stars? Go to this camp. Just do it. Trust me on this one.)
Any-hoo, one of my fellow campers had spent part of her growing-up years in Libya. Where she had to be fully covered. She said that it was hotter -n- Hades inside of that garb.
I met a woman who is doing humanitarian work in Mali currently…even for a native African, there was no escape from the heat in Mali…doesn’t matter what clothes you wear.
Survived the race, I see. Did you have fun?
Monday Mornin’ … headin’ East [got them steel rail blues]
“All Aboard Amtrak!”
Keep them sprinkers out!
“headin’ East [got them steel rail blues]”
Don’t end up like the guy in the song!
Itsabouttime wrote yesterday:
“However, if I borrow $10 to pay you $10 for a bucket of wheat, and the interest means I owe the lender $2 next week, so I have to come up with $12. If by the time I get to market the price has crashed to $7, then if I sell now I’ll get $7, if I pay all that to the lender I still owe the lender $5.
Why should we forgive this debt? The lender, expecting to get $2, may have already made other contracts dependent on that $2.”
That is an interesting thought experiment, that unfortunately has nothing to do with housing. First of all, I live in a non-recourse state so I will not owe the lender $5 or $2 or even one penny, and the bank knows it, and has budgeted for it or will get bailed out, so that doesn’t matter. Also my mortgage terms were most certainly NOT to pay $12. My terms were to either pay them $12 OR give them the bucket of wheat. It used to be very unusual to hand over the wheat, especially during the wheat bubble where $10 buckets approached $50 sales prices, but I’m not seeing any problem with following the written contract and giving them the bucket of wheat. In my non-recourse state I could give them the wheat bucket which they’ll eventually resell for $7 and book their $5 loss, plus enormous paperwork juggling fees and sales commissions and maintenance and taxes means more than a $5 loss to them, maybe $6, $7, who knows how much loss. Meanwhile I’ll buy someone elses $7 bucket of wheat once my bucket is gone, this is not a fantasy land where I’m not gonna ever eat again, or I’m gonna magically disappear from the market, or I’m not going to have the money to buy some wheat. The net effect is the bank loses much more than $5 and I keep “a” bucket of wheat. It seems everyone would benefit while saving a lot of paperwork and intermediate foolishness, by merely writing down the balance by exactly $5 and not one penny more. The bank comes out ahead financially because they only lose $5 instead of $7, $8 who knows how much, and I come out ahead because I don’t have to move. The middlemen do lose money, and they make campaign contributions, so thats probably why we’re not doing this. We don’t live in a “rule of law” state anyway, so who cares if the contract is being modified by the .gov, especially if both sides benefit by the modification anyway…
I have no dog in the fight, over 12 years now my mortgage principle fraction has declined at a faster overall rate than my house sale value has declined since 07, so I’m almost certain to pay it off before its ever “upside down” unless we have a true end of the world moment in the next 3 years (or I get unemployed, which is much more likely but still kinda unlikely … I hope … ) I believe that as a completely “disinterested observer” that makes my observation more valid, that “debt jubilee” simply makes sense for everyone involved.
The Bankruptcy Code is the rule of law. Those rules, them’s the law!
We changed the law to make it impossible to cram down on a residence, and that did not mean the end of the rule of law. Changing it back will not mean the end of the rule of law, either.
But if you make the change effective to contracts that were written before the law was changed (ex post facto) you upend hundreds of years of established contract law.
You can easily change the laws to allow cram down on contracts written after the law change. Changing the laws on contracts already in existence is a no-no.
The allowance of a cramdown is not a matter of contract law. You can write contractual provisions taking into account possible changes in bankruptcy law, but you can never put anything into a contract that pre-empts bankruptcy rules and laws.
This ‘rule of law’ that means that the law can’t change in such a way as to change the terms that parties have already agreed to, is nonsense. The rule of law means that congress and the courts can fuck with your agreed-upon contract terms pretty much any way they want to.
My comment was in response to a discussion of student loan debt forgiveness. One cannot re-possess an education, so everything Vince writes, while interesting, has nothing to do with my post.
aNYCdj on Saturday suggested people could give back their degrees. But, they can’t give back their educations. And, education matters. People with more education live longer, have more access to high culture goods (e.g., they are more likely to be able to understand, say, Shakespeare and, say, Miro), are more likely to be able to help their kids through school, are more likely to be involved in their communities, and on and on. If you take back the degree, you still leave them with all these benefits. How are you going to take back their better health or, say, their enjoyment of plays?
It can’t be done. Which is why student debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.
IAT
Before 1998, all student loans could be discharged in bankruptcy. After 2005, private student loans were included in the rewrite of the bankruptcy laws.
http://www.declineoftheempire.com/2011/10/enshrining-student-debt-slavery-into-law.html
There were some people who gamed the laws to get the degree and not pay for it. There is no data to show how common this was.
So at a time when the cost of a college education was much less as a percentage of median wages, you could discharge loans in bankruptcy.
Students who took on debt in 2005 with a reasonable expectation of getting good jobs found themselves graduating into a disastrous job market in 2009. Would they have been better off to cut their losses and quit school in 2008?
There are uncommon stories of hardship, like the technical school in Spokane that closed 6 weeks before the end of the term, leaving students with debt and no degree.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015126443_apwaalpinecollege.html
Or the woman in Alaska who dropped out of medical school to take care of her children after her husband died of cancer.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303978104577364120264435092.html
Bankruptcy provides a way out for unusual circumstances.
But then the employer can discriminate between those with a valid degree and a returned one….
But most of them won’t because they will be able to pay less to the ones who turn in their degree, at least for the first job or two. After that, it won’t make any difference at all.
Stop pretending you haven’t read my rebuttals to this idea. You have. It doesn’t work. Not at all.
There are definitely jobs out there that actually require a degree or in other words a college education. I guess the degree is just a symbol but the education is important. Maybe not the majority of professional jobs. I’m talking about engineering, finance, Medicine etc. Lots of stuff you can’t learn on the job unless you understand the fundamentals taught in college.
I wonder by handing it back in to cancel the debt does this make it less valuable…and colleges will get dinged or even lose accreditation if too many return the degree.
Remember I am only proposing a 1 shot 1 degree deal for life, so if you go overboard and get 2-3 degrees you will only be allowed to pick 1..to be fair to all the others who have only 1.
Unless you want everyone to work on an Indian reservation for 10 years to discharge the debt.
Why would the Indians want them?
Look, dj, you are simply being unreasonable. There is NO WAY you can do this. The temptation to get a degree, get a job and then turn it back in for the loan forgiveness is too overwhelming. WHY would the government ever want to do that? Your last impossible dream was to have the government pass out $3000 to everyone with credit card debt. Now you want the government to pass out somewhere between $100K and $200K to everyone who can convince a college to give them a degree.
OK, lets start from a practical stance. Where are you going to get the money for this little venture? Go on. Do a few estimates. How much student loan debt is outstanding now? How much of that is from one degree per person? What percentage of people would take you up on your offer (my guess is about 70% at a minimum)? Once the program is in place, how much will it grow? Remember, you are offering to pay tuition and living expenses for at least 4 years. How many people would be willing to take that time to get a useless degree just for the chance to live for free for four years? Lets get some numbers going.
Polly I was really only thinking of those who have already graduated, not new students. New students would have a choice to take on the debt and hopefully will choose differently.
So what’s your solution to this mess. Leaving the country? work for the lowest paid non profit you can find for 40 years so there is nothing to attach?
Be a debt slave for 30 years, no income tax refunds ever? Sign over your share of mom and dads home when they go?
What penalty would you impose for a full or partial forgiveness of the loan?
Ok …maybe not Indians but Inner city, rural kentucky?
Why would rural Kentucky want them? We are talking about hundreds of thousands of adults - some pretty young and some quite a bit older.
The solution? They are going to have to pay off their debt. The president wants to forgive the debt left over after they pay at least 10% of their income for something like 20 years, but that only applies to the federal loans, not the private ones. It is going to be a major drag on the economy for decades to come.
Please stop responding to this nonsense?
Ahansen:
I just wanted to know what side you are are….No mercy for the student debt slave?
“Comment by Professor Bear
2012-07-07 10:23:45
Does anyone else on the planet agree with your doctrinaire belief that free trade is the root of all economic problems?
I personally hope not, as the Wealth of Nations would decrease a lot if your crackpot ideas ever took hold among the masses.”
How are trade imbalances funded?
For 40 years we’ve been doing it via unsustainable debt growth. Is that good? Sustainable?
Is there some other way to fund trade imbalances?
Sure, my ideas suck when examined on their own. But, for proper perspective, they have to be compared to the alternatives, with CLEAR understanding of the unintended side-effects of those alternatives.
“How are trade imbalances funded?’
How are any imbalances funded?
Don’t limit your thinking just to trade.
I’ve been very clear that the issue is not just international trade imbalances. Domestic trade imbalances, widening wealth disparity, is every bit as bad as international trade imbalances.
We need to keep money moving without a significant portion of the transfer mechanism being debt generation.
“We need to keep money moving without a significant portion of the transfer mechanism being debt generation.”
Not saying that I disagree, but much of today’s economy is not real in the sense that it is borrowed from the future via debt generation. The pain of getting back to a real pay-as-you-go economy may not be endurable, and anyone who wants to commit to going there will soon find himself alone and stranded.
We need to keep money moving without a significant portion of the transfer mechanism being debt generation.
Hmm…We could have a progressive tax system that uses the money collected to aid the not-so-rich. A system that worked quite well for decades, until we decided to try its opposite, trickle-down economics, which has clearly failed miserably.
“Hmm…We could have a progressive tax system that uses the money collected to aid the not-so-rich”
Hmmm. We already have that. 47% pay NO income tax. 10% pay 70% of all taxes. If that’s not progressive, I don’t know what is.
Hmmm…Pick a point in time 30-50 years ago. Any point.
The US Government was HALF the size it is now (as a percent of GDP), collected half the amount of taxes (as a percent of GDP) and had 1/10 the debt (as a percent of GDP).
Hmm…We could have a progressive tax system that uses the money collected to aid the not-so-rich. A system that worked quite well for decades, until we decided to try its opposite, trickle-down economics, which has clearly failed miserably.
We all agree that the federal income tax system is “progressive” (with some major exceptions). But other taxes are indeed regressive.
If that’s not progressive, I don’t know what is.
The overall tax structure is clearly not progressive enough. Back when it was more progressive, the economy worked better- less booms and busts, less income disparity.
Pick a point in time 30-50 years ago. Any point.
The US Government was HALF the size it is now (as a percent of GDP), collected half the amount of taxes (as a percent of GDP) and had 1/10 the debt (as a percent of GDP).
So I guess your point is that the Keynesian economics and more progressive tax rates that we had 30 to 50 years ago worked a lot better than the trickle down economics we replaced them with. I agree!
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/post-employee-economy-why-sky-141135515.html
different economy now past comparisons don’t work
different economy now past comparisons don’t work
And in the new economy, there will be more people like me. Hustling for gigs. Getting effed over in the private individual health insurance market. Chasing all over hell’s half acre, trying to get paid.
Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
different economy now past comparisons don’t work
from your link:
Sounds good to me! But the moralists will poo their pants. Life’s not for enjoying, except by the few, according to our modern-day Puritans.
“10% pay 70% of all taxes.”
A simple search on the IRS and Census websites says you are either misinformed or a liar.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/11intr09winbull.pdf
page 15 - last two line items
Granted this is only data for 2009, but if you expect anyone to believe there is any large difference before or after then, you really should troll somewhere else.
Even if it were true, then it is only interesting when you compare it to the percentage of disposable income (say the amount over federal poverty rate) that 10% has. I tried to get the people on Wonkblog to find those numbers for me once. Still haven’t heard back. I don’t know if anyone runs it that way. Might be that the IRS is the only place that has enough granularity of data to run it, so if they don’t, nobody else can.
http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/top10-percent-income-earners-6004.jpg
Once again. 10% of tax payers, pay 70% of income taxes.
You can have your own opinions but you can’t have your own facts.
And in the new economy, there will be more people like me. Hustling for gigs. Getting effed over in the private individual health insurance market. Chasing all over hell’s half acre, trying to get paid.
Sounds fun, doesn’t it?”
Except for the health insurance part.
Arizona slim Has the monsoon started yet ? Watered the cactus yesterday figuring it was monsoon time in the desert. I usually don’t water from the Winter rainy season which ends about April to July now that I’m back on the coast.
Arizona slim Has the monsoon started yet ? Watered the cactus yesterday figuring it was monsoon time in the desert. I usually don’t water from the Winter rainy season which ends about April to July now that I’m back on the coast.
The monsoon bestowed .40″ of rain on the Arizona Slim Ranch for the 4th of July. Nothing since. So I’m back to trash-talking the thunderclouds in hopes that they’ll spit some rain down on me.
Then you ARE a liar, Smithers.
The US Government was HALF the size it is now (as a percent of GDP), collected half the amount of taxes (as a percent of GDP) and had 1/10 the debt (as a percent of GDP).
Check out the graph on this page:
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/07/government-spending-as-a-percentage-of-gdp-2/
Federal spending has been between 15% and 25% of GDP for most of the past 60 years. The last time that it was half its current level appears to be brief period in the late 1940s/early 1950s.
The Heritage and IRS numbers see to be at odds with each other. The IRS table indicates that that the top 20% pay 70% of federal income tax.
It looks like the Heritage Foundation is the one making up its facts.
The Heritage Foundation are the very people that cheerlead for the NWO and modeled 9/11.
Liars? They are evil incarnate.
‘China’s central bank last Thursday cut its key lending and deposit rates for the second time in less than a month. Although the European Central Bank and the Bank of England also eased monetary policy on the same day, the measure failed to convince commodity market investors and raised concerns policymakers were running out of options.’
‘Caution is the better part of valor in trying to call a change in trend this early, especially when global central bank intervention does very little to affect the markets, at least in the way they likely hoped,’ said Kirk Howell, Chief Operating Officer of SunGard’s Kiodex. Howell added: ‘Japan will join the party Thursday (when the Bank of Japan’s announces its decision after its two-day policy-setting meeting that starts on Wednesday) but central banks are running out of ammunition…they are starting to lose the illusion of control and we are starting to enter uncharted territory.’
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/macro-concerns-focused-china-may-062642838.html
‘Two Shiites were killed in overnight clashes with police in the eastern Saudi province of Qatif following the arrest of a prominent Shiite cleric and government critic, activists said on Monday. Akhbar Shakuri and Mohammed Filfel died and a dozen other protesters were wounded during the clashes that erupted when police opened fire to disperse a demonstration against the arrest of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, said the activists.’
‘The violence occurred in Riyadh Street, the main artery of Qatif city, they said. The reports could not be independently verified. The interior ministry described Nimr as an “instigator of sedition” as it announced that he was arrested’
http://news.yahoo.com/prominent-shiite-cleric-arrested-saudi-202509696.html
Come on now, Hillary, show us that love for democracy and lets get some sanctions on these Saudi brutes. Let’s start funneling arms in to these ‘rebels’. Unless, of course, the State Dept is full of reckless hypocrites.
Let’s start funneling arms in to these ‘rebels’. Unless, of course, the State Dept is full of reckless hypocrites.
Say it ain’t so, Joe.
And we why wonder why everyone hates us.
And we why wonder why everyone hates us.
Nope. Don’t wonder at all… Pax Americana requires access to foreign oil, the dominance of the dollar as global reserve currency, and foreign military bases for US force projection. Every act of foreign policy is about maintaining the status quo for the the above and denying our “adversaries” the ability to change the power dynamic.
Hate comes with the territory…
But, but … we’re the “greatest nation in the world”. Everyone should love us.
…or we’ll bomb them until they do.
Kids always hate adults who impose rules on them.
Especially when the “adults” make the rules to screw them.
So a 236-year-old culture trying to impose its rules on a 2,000 year old one would seem kind of asinine, right?
Maybe the State Department really means well for a couple weeks… until they need to get gas.
until they need to get gas ??
Biggest single user of fuel in the united states….Military
Posted: 6:20 a.m. Monday, July 9, 2012
Greenacres mayor has plan to market condos to northern buyers
By Willie Howard
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
GREENACRES —
The housing bust has hit Greenacres condos especially hard.
Condo values are so low that many of their owners pay little, or in some cases nothing, in taxes to the city because of homestead exemptions.
Mayor Sam Ferreri thinks the city’s weak condo market presents an opportunity.
Bargain condos might be appealing to buyers up North, and he plans to market them in hopes of boosting their values and bringing more money into city coffers to pay for services such as police and fire/rescue protection, parks, roads and code enforcement.
Ferreri plans to present his condo-marketing plan to the city council in August. He said it could include marketing to ethnic groups such as the Finnish who already have a strong presence in Palm Beach County.
“By sales going up, property values will go up,” Ferreri said. “Hopefully our average condo value of 40 thousand will increase to 60, 70, 80 thousand.”
According to the Palm Beach County property appraiser’s office, 323 condos in Greenacres have a zero taxable value because of homestead exemptions. Another 2,003 Greenacres condos have taxable values of $25,000 or less.
The owner of a typical condominium in the city with an assessed value of $44,000 — a value too low for its owner to qualify for the full $50,000 homestead exemption — pays about $107 annually in city property tax. That’s slightly less than $9 a month.
Condos, many of them built as second homes for snowbirds, are the most glaring examples of falling property values in a city that has seen its tax base cut almost in half during the past five years.
The total taxable value of Greenacres property has dropped 47 percent — from $2.15 billion in 2008 to $1.13 billion for the upcoming budget year. Property values in the county’s eighth-largest city are still sliding. For the budget year that begins Oct. 1, the city’s tax base is expected to drop another 4.8 percent from current levels.
Ferreri said it could take 15 years for Greenacres property values to rebound to 2007 levels, marketing or no marketing. That’s partly because of limits on increases in taxable value originated by state legislators and approved by Florida voters.
The mayor predicted it would take three to five years for his condo-marketing plan to begin showing measurable results.
Richard Radcliffe, a former Greenacres councilman and executive director of the Palm Beach County League of Cities, likes the condo-marketing plan.
Radcliffe, who holds a real estate broker’s license, said many Greenacres condos started as winter homes for snowbirds. When their owners grew older, they moved to Florida and retired. Many of those early condo buyers have since died, he said, and left their condos to their children.
“That’s a very smart thing the mayor’s doing,” Radcliffe said. “I would suggest they start marketing to Canada.”
——————————————————————————-
Taxable value*/ number of Greenacres condos
Zero/ 323
$5,000 or less/ 346
$5,001 to $10,000/ 268
$10,001 to $15,000/ 518
$15,001 to $20,000/ 152
$20,001 to 25,000/ 719
$25,001 to $30,000/ 695
$30,001 to $35,000/ 538
$35,001 to $40,000/ 971
$40,001 to $45,000/ 204
$45,001 to $50,000/ 95
$50,001 to $55,000/105
$55,001 to $60,000/ 62
$60,001 to $65,000/ 124
$65,001 to $70,000/ 90
$70,001 to $75,000/ 35
$75,001 to $80,000/ 15
$80,001 to $85,000/ 6
$85,001 to $90,000 /24
$90,001 to $95,000/ 34
$95,001 to $100,000/ 1
*Assessed value minus homestead exemption
Source: Palm Beach County property appraiser’s office
Roubini unloads.
He pulls no punches on the fact that no real reform has happened 4 years after Fall 2008. That criminal sanctions are necessary to change the system. It’s about 9 minutes, but it’s interesting from the very start.
Roubini Says 2013 `Storm’ May Surpass 2008 Crisis
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/roubini-says-2013-storm-may-surpass-2008-crisis-HCAjTp9VTD~gm6Ux8jnQvQ.html
One thing that occurs to me is that the world is still partying like it’s 2008. But the difference this time is that the policy bullets which should have restarted the economic engines have not restarted the engines. And the economies are almost out of altitude (no more policy bullets available).
Partying like it’s 2008 (unrestrained spending, policies which led to 2008 still in place) and no policy bullets left means… what?
“… means … what?”
It means Interesting Times.
“… means … what?”
more kicking the can?
more trillion dollar deficits?
more QEs?
There’s the intriguing example of Japan which seems immune to the ill effects of debt (they’re at 200% debt to GDP and no end in sight). Is it like the clownfish which is uniquely immune to the deadly embrace of the anemone? Or are there lessons which are applicable to other countries?
But then there’s Latin America which had no such immunity.
Maybe it helps to actually make and export stuff.
Immune? The Nikkei was about 39,000 at the end of 1989. Now it’s at 8,900. About 25% of the government budget goes to debt service, and that’s at 1%. What happens when it goes to 2%?
They could keep it at 200% since they were essentially lending to their own government.
Demographics are no longer on their side, as population shrinks, and less capital is available to lend to their government…they’ll need to go to the outside world to a greater and greater extent for their borrowings. I doubt the rest of the world will be accepting of the same interest rates that their own people accepted.
John Mauldin said in his book that Japan is “a bug looking for a windshield”, and their way out is either a) massive inflation, or b) depression.
I think that even if/when Europe’s debt issues settle down, Japanese debt problems will come on its heels.
“Immune? The Nikkei was about 39,000 at the end of 1989. Now it’s at 8,900″
And last I checked we still have yet to see mass starvation or riots on the streets of Tokyo which is what the alarmists have been predicting would happen here for the past 5 or so years.
Japan had a bubble, it crashed. Life went on.
And last I checked we still have yet to see mass starvation or riots on the streets of Tokyo which is what the alarmists have been predicting would happen here for the past 5 or so years.
Compare the tsunami and Fukashima disaster to Hurricane Katrina… there was no panic, no rioting, no crime spree in Japan. Katrina, not so much…
The Japanese are a single race and culture with strong authoritarian roots. The US is a multicultural disaster with a huge wealth disparity. Comparing apples to oranges as far as reaction to a SHTF event…
…the difference this time is that the policy bullets which should have restarted the economic engines have not restarted the engines?
Uhm, you do know that most Fortune 1000 companies are currently posting record profits, right?
That almost ALL sectors of the economy HAVE stopped bleeding and many are on the rebound? (durbale goods orders are a good example)
That unemployment has dropped from it’s high of 10+% and is holding right around 8%?
To quote Ben, “Only in some bizarro world” are these not improvements.
Based on the most recent economic numbers, manufacturing is cratering, again. The jobs picture looks to be getting worse overall, with unemployment inching up again. The best-case scenario for the S&P500 is that it is priced 30% higher compared to economic fundamentals. Next leg down is coming… and this time Europe, China, and Japan are preceding us.
Note: Attempting to drive solely using the rear-view mirror is dangerous. Also, objects in mirror are closer than they appear…
Recent numbers do not make a trend and no trend is ever perfectly linear.
Shocked! Shocked, I tell you…
One of my favorite questions that I like to ask liberals - if someone gave you $100,000 that you HAD to invest for your retirement.
Would you give it to the government for your Social Security “account” or would you invest it, in your own and in your own accounts, in an IRA?
—————————–
Government overpaid $14 billion in unemployment benefits
Yahoo Finance | June 9,2012 | Annalyn Censky
Don’t spend that unemployment check too fast. The government might ask you to pay it back.
Overpayments are a rampant problem in the unemployment insurance system. The federal government and states overpaid an estimated $14 billion in benefits in fiscal 2011, or roughly 11% of all the jobless benefits paid out, according to reports from the U.S. Labor Department. Of the states, Indiana was the worst offender, making more improper payments than it did correct ones.
Now, the U.S. Department of Labor and the states are in the midst of a massive effort to try to recoup some of their lost funds and avoid future overpayments. Where does the money go?
But of the overpaid funds, most end up in the hands of three types of people: Those who aren’t actively searching for a job, those who were fired or quit voluntarily, and those who continue to file claims even though they’ve returned to work. Any of those circumstances would make a person ineligible for benefits.
In much rarer situations, people deliberately defraud the system, using fake documents or identities. Common scams involve prison inmates, illegal immigrants or even the deceased.
Unemployment insurance boasts the second highest rate for “improper payments” of any federal program, behind the National School Lunch Program.
One of my favorite questions that I like to ask liberals - if someone gave you $100,000 that you HAD to invest for your retirement.
Would you give it to the government for your Social Security “account” or would you invest it, in your own and in your own accounts, in an IRA?
Since we don’t have that option (to give 100K to SS in return for a future benefit) it’s a moot question.
It also ignores the concept of diversity. You want at least some “guaranteed” income. If you are relatively wealthy, you don’t want all of it in that vehicle. You certainly can’t decide whether you would invest in SS (if it was possible) with a given amount of money unless you knew what level of defined benefit pension it would turn into.
Would you give it to the government for your Social Security “account”
Since that’s not how Social Security works, it’s a rather absurd question.
If it were to get you a much higher benefit when you retired, I suspect many would invest it there.
Also, if that were an option, it would probably be a good idea for many people. Just consider all of the small-time investors who last their shirts in the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s or the housng bubble that got started a few years later.
Thanks for proving yet again that conservatives think of SS as money better, and holy mandated, used on market investments.
I would give it to the SSA (presuming that I did not already have an SSA account, and you are offering the money to me to invest, and that I can somehow use it to purchase quarters and SSA income credits).
A guaranteed income insurance contract is the most important first step for investing for retirement. With that basic income guaranteed by the SSA, one can then take one’s remaining savings and be much more aggressive, and more likely to build serious savings. Without that SSA floor investors need to save a lot more cash for retirement, and can not invest nearly so aggressively.
Your whole hypothetical demonstrates that you do not understand social insurance, how the SSA works, or modern portfolio investment theory. It is like saying my Cadillac is a crappy vehicle because I can not take it out on the lake and go fishing off it. Of course a Cadillac makes a crappy boat, because it is a car, dummy.
“Of the states, Indiana was the worst offender, making more improper payments than it did correct ones.”
Indiana, that bastion of liberalism? That exemplar of the real America?
“But of the overpaid funds, most end up in the hands of three types of people: Those who aren’t actively searching for a job, those who were fired or quit voluntarily, and those who continue to file claims even though they’ve returned to work.”
Some of the first two may be legitimate. The first probably includes some people who can come up with job search documentation if pressed for it. Some of the second group may be able to collect if they can substantiate a hostile workplace or improper actions by the employer.
They should use Arnold Ziffel as their condo-sales spokespig. I wonder if he speaks Finnish.
This article is full of contradictions. If the owners are snowbirds, they don’t get homestead. If they died and left it to their kids, and the kids don’t live there, they don’t get homestead.
They do with a little fraud and document manipulation…
This article is full of contradictions. If the owners are snowbirds, they don’t get homestead. If they died and left it to their kids, and the kids don’t live there, they don’t get homestead.
They bought this brownstone for 1.3 million in 2004 and now it has to be torn down. Bummer.
On July 2, half of that brownstone’s right sidewall, and a portion of its back, suddenly collapsed into the alley below.
Within hours, the department decided that the building had been mortally wounded, too badly damaged to be saved, and the very next day, the agency began to have it taken down, piece by piece so as not to damage the homes and the school that surround it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/nyregion/amid-collapsing-walls-a-bit-of-luck-for-3-brooklyn-families.html?_r=1&hp
This highlights the point that the bubble-level demand was in mortgage debt - reliable, high interest cashflow in an unreliable low interest world - and not the actual physical product.
The physical manifestation to which the debt was nominally attached - a house - was in the grand scheme, relatively unimportant to the bubble mechanism.
The demand for actual physical real estate seems to me to be relatively constant with slights bumps and troughs at various times in different parts of the country and world. And this in light of the paradigm that “real estate always goes up.”
To have a bubble it’s best to have a logical construct which is perceived to be very lucrative, easy to buy and sell, with a large number of greater fools willing to pay more for it, and with a reliable and stable or increasing income stream. Financial products - stocks, bonds, who knows what the next temporarily super-profitable abstraction will be - fit this profile very neatly. Any physical component to it merely aids in solidifying the illusion to the greater fools.
Wow - the bubble still going strong 2008 in NYC considering 2004/2005 was the height of the RE market in most of America.
The Schneiders, now staying with friends, bought the brownstone in 2004 for $1.54 million. The building, which Mr. Lynch said dates to the 1840s, was richly detailed, with hammered tin ceilings, refurbished plaster work and nice wood floors. In 2008, the Schneiders put the house on the market briefly for $3.5 million. They were insured.
Of course, they’ve been shoving all the delinquencies under the rug, and not foreclosing.
Federal tax rates including corporate taxes 1960 -2004 for different income groups
Income grp
20-40% 13.9 to 9.4
Federal tax rates including corporate taxes 1960 -2004 paid by people in different income groups
Income grp taxes 1960-2004
60-80% xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx16.7 to 20.5
80-90 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx17.4 to 22.7
90-95 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 18.7 to 24.9
95 to 99 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx23.5 to 27
.01% xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 71.4 to 34.7
So over 40+ years the elite have seen their tax burden fall by >50% while the middle and upper middle class bare more of the cost. Throw in state and sales taxes and you’ll see their share of running the country is lower than many in the middle and upper middle class. If you factor in tax avoidance schemes like using slight of hand and off shore accounts to funnel 100,000,000 into a 401 k that isn’t taxed and other methods of hiding income you see the elite are likely paying far less than the middle and upper middle class per dollar earned. We have a progressive tax system for the masses and the elite are exempt.
elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/piketty-saezJEP07taxprog.pdf
Are you trying to create class warfare, you durdy socialeest commie?!
Seriously, we have the government and society we deserve. The only way to fix our kind of stupid has not been historically pretty.
Darn those facts.
Do the tax rates noted take into consideration all the deductions available when tax rates were higher?
ISTR that when the Tax Reform Act of 1986 was passed, lots of loopholes were closed, and rates were lowered, but that effectively it was designed to be revenue neutral, even though the headline marginal tax rates fell considerably.
I’m not saying that tax rates are too high (IMHO, given the obligations we have already made to our own citizens–which are difficult to completely UN-make, both politically and reasonably–tax rates are too low), but without including the effect of the other 1000+ pages of tax code, looking simply at the highest marginal rates in order to determine the progressivity of the tax code is misleading.
They say as much in the paper:
Page 3:
“… in the case of the individual income tax, the numerous deductions and exemptions mean that the tax rates listed in the tax tables might be a poor measure of the actual tax burden faced by each income group.”
And from the conclusion section of the paper (Page 23):
“The reduction in top marginal individual income tax rates has contributed only marginally to the decline of progressivity of the federal tax system, because with various deductions and exemptions, along with favored treatment for capital gains,
the average tax rate paid by those with very high income levels has changed much less over time than the top marginal rates.”
The reduction in top marginal individual income tax rates has contributed only marginally to the decline of progressivity of the federal tax system, because with various deductions and exemptions, along with favored treatment for capital gains,
The last sentence says it all. Changes in teh marginal individual rate of income tax are rounding errors compared to the MASSIVE tax reduction on capital gains and dividends enjoyed by the elite. This was passed at the top to allow them to cash out before the credit bubble burst in my opinion. Just as the bankruptcy rules were changed just before the bubble burst. All of the elite can’t become treasury secretary like hank Paulson to escape 200,000,000 dollars in taxes when they sell their stock.
Yes. That is the crux of the paper. The problem is not with marginal tax rates, as you implied with the original post, but with loopholes for corporations and special treatment for certain types of income, which is predominantly earned by those in the top 1% (or greater).
I frankly think the reasons for changing the tax code were less sinister and less clever than picking a market top. In my opinion, it was pure, short-sighted, greed. Things were going well, and the world was willing to lend us money, so we cut taxes and borrowed more. The tax cuts for the wealthy were masked by also cutting taxes for the lower tax brackets as well as dividend income (which is a thorn in the side of seniors).
A good Keynesian would have NOT lowered taxes (or even raised them) when times were good, and NOT borrowed more, with the view that when times got rough again, the government would need to spend more to support the economy. Too bad our officials only pay attention to the portions of economic theory that are beneficial to their re-election campaigns, and not those portions that are beneficial to the long-term health of our country.
I tried to get at that in the paragraph below but you are right legitimate and less sinister tax loopholes likely make the gap even biggere, this is how a warren buffet or Mitt Romney can pay effective tax rates of 14% ( note through shielding income like in Romney’s 401k or via off shore accounts, they are likely paying effective tax rates much less than 14%), but even if you ignore the loopholes they’ve managed to reduce their taxes quite effectively over the last 40-50 years. Big money buys what big money wants in politics. As wealth is concentrated they will get more and more for themselves and the shrinking middle and upper middle class will get less and less.
Said another way, problem is the complexity of the tax code, brought on by big money. All these chuckleheads writing the laws give up a tax break here and there, and over time, the middle class, who can’t afford to pay someone to do their taxes needs to, and the rich, who can afford to pay their taxes do so gladly in order to reduce their tax bill. Without complexity in the tax code, there are simply fewer loopholes to exploit.
How often have you spent the time to do the silly tax worksheets from the IRS to find out that it was a useless exercise?
Congresspeople should be required by law to do their own taxes…by hand, and show their work.
This is why I’m a big proponent of the concepts in the Simpson/Bowles commission. Their stated goals with respect to taxes included:
1. Reduce/eliminate loopholes (including making capital gains rates=ordinary income rates for instance);
2. Lower tax rates;
3. Maintain or increase progressivity of the code;
4. Reduce the deficit
Yet the current President decided to lead from behind on this one…
“can afford to pay their taxes” should be “can afford to pay someone to do their taxes”.
New LPS Mortgage Monitor out today (PDF link):
http://www.lpsvcs.com/LPSCorporateInformation/CommunicationCenter/DataReports/MortgageMonitor/201205MortgageMonitor/MortgageMonitorMay2012.pdf
CA down just a bit on the non-current loan rate, only 0.1%, but down none-the-less. AZ down quite a bit more, 0.3%, NV ticked down a tenth, FL is flat. Both NV/FL still have massive amounts of inventory in the shadows, so they have a LONG way to go.
Page 5 is interesting, showing that new problem loans are much lower than they once were. I do remember listening to the commentary in a prior month, and while it was tempting for me to note that the new DQs are still above 2005 levels, the speaker noted that the 2005-2006 new DQs were abnormally low.
Continues to appear that the pig is in the python with respect to foreclosures.
Also, look at the states in the leftmost column on page 4, and the non-current rates there. IMHO, these are the states that are most at risk of price declines due to increased volume of foreclosure sales. A couple of years ago, CA and AZ were in that leftmost column toward the top.
I know people will think all these numbers are cooked, but I’m going to link it anyway, since I have no evidence that the numbers are cooked (and do seem consistent with other data that I find). Data from the “Hope Now Alliance”–basically a bunch of banks with a PR problem trying to get out in front of their mess…
http://www.hopenow.com/industry-data/State_Loss_Mitigation_Data%20(April).pdf
Page 4 is very interesting when comparing to the data in LPS. Consistent themes:
States like NY/NJ/FL are not dealing with their delinquencies…pretty much flat or even increasing. States like AZ/CA are reducing number of delinquent loans much more quickly than the former 3. In the aggregate, all states (including DC) reduced 60+ delinquencies by ~300,000 loans from Q2 2011 to April 2012. AZ plus CA reduced by a total of ~130,000…over 40% of the total reduction, even though those two states represent only about 20% of all 60+ delinquencies.
It is only funny cause it might be true to some.
Especially those in the free sh*t army.
—————————
Woman warns of utility bill scam
WSBTV | July 8, 2012 | WSBTV
The Better Business Bureau and Georgia Power are warning people about a scam, promising that President Barack Obama will pay utility bills with a new federal grant.
Channel 2’s Tony Thomas spoke to a Griffin woman who fell for the scam. Loneiyce Washington even introduced her friends to what she thought was a legitimate offer. They ended up getting scammed, too.
Washington said she thought Obama passed a law that provided credits to help her and others pay their utility bills, she told Thomas.
Obama doesn’t pass laws. The Congress does that. And, given the makeup of Congress right now, who thinks that the law described above would have a snowball’s chance of passing?
Someone who wishes it were so.
Most kids coming out of law school now that I know have spent two years to get a half way decent job with comp at around $50K.A recent grad from UCLA in business started at $65K, one in engineering @ $60K, one in computers last year at $70K not full time, and another just graduated from high school and had two job offers in welding because that’s what he likes to do and took welding in the high school ROP program. Several family members work for the prison system, with overtime get close to $100K, and one in the fire department making over $100K.Of four working in the teaching profession three are worried about their jobs.
Yeah, I read the above post this morning about a good lawyer making 150 grand shortly after graduation. Then there’s the other 90% who, due to the overabundance of law school graduates are working more in the $30-$50k range out of law school. Same long hours and cutthroat work environment though. My friends in law either are not working in the field or have launched their own practices, and some making a living, although not in the six-figure range. Fortunately for them we live in a very litigious culture.
College students should NOT be making 6 figures right out of college. That’s why they should NOT be 6 figures in dept when they graduate.
In praise of lawyers…..
Our culture would be even more violent, if they weren’t around.
Everybody forgets that one of the reasons law and lawyers came about is to settle disputes without resorting to clubs and guns.
While cursing the lawyers…..
Who have sold out, making the US a country where the only way to get justice is to have a checking account with a bunch of zeros in the balance, aka The Golden Rule.
In my experience, great attorneys are worth their weight in gold, good attorneys are barely worth the bill, and bad attorneys are worth their weight in sh*t.
Prison guards and firemen making over $100,000 a year and we wonder why the country is bankrupt. Unbelievable.
“[The] kids aren’t going to be able to do certain activities this summer — maybe we’re not going to be able to go on vacation”, “With Scranton and Pennsylvania being such a hot bed for the next election, we want to make sure that they know there’s a Democratic mayor that’s not taking care of his public safety unions,”
The mayor of Scranton just reduced the wages of every municipal employee, including fire and police, to the state minimum wage. Why? Because the city is broke and out of money. The money has to come from somewhere… raise taxes or reduce public services.
Rock, meet hard place.
It’s good to see Scranton, my home town, as the leader of something, and the harbinger of things to come for many cities and mucnicipalities nationwide.
Massive protests in Mexico. To bad the mainstream media has blacked it out…
Biggest protest the world has ever seen in Mexico
Closer to a bailout? FHA’s mortgage delinquencies soar
http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/09/real_estate/housing-delinquencies/
That’s right…. just what we need. The pimps are now calling for a bailout.
I hope you lying realtors are happy with the mess you’ve created. You’ve bribed every congressman, ripped off millions and now you want more.
PA City Defies Court Order; Reduces Police Officers, Firefighters’ Pay To Minimum Wage
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/08/512572/scranton-minimum-wage-workers/
The unions must be pleased. More money for the early retired.
You aren’t going to get anyone decent for what state and local governments will be able to pay future employees thanks to the deals for past employees.
Re Scranton, PA: Holy sh1t.
And the first comment is right on:
This is the first step to privatizing law enforcement and fire stations in this country, farming everything out to private corporate contractors who will be more interested in protecting and serving their profit margin than the general public. Fascism: coming soon to a small town near you!
ATHENS - Greece’s deputy labour minister Nikos Nikolopoulos resigned on Monday, saying the government was not being aggressive enough in pushing for changes to an unpopular bailout.
Nikolopoulos became the third cabinet member to quit the fledgling coalition in as many weeks
http://ewn.co.za/2012/07/09/Greek%20deputy%20minister%20resigns.aspx
Well that didn’t take long; don’t give them twelve months.
http://bp3.blogger.com/_KMlHTyq8qsM/RqOVxNFaUdI/AAAAAAAAAO4/YGk2QP3wmwE/s1600-h/remax+sign.jpg
This all about lying realtors.
Spain’s ghost airport: The €1BILLION transport hub closed after just three years that’s now falling into rack and ruin
It was the billion euro airport designed to cater for Spain’s booming economy - serving both city and coast via a state-of-the-art high speed rail link.
Projected to take the overflow from Madrid’s Barajas airport, some 150 miles to the north, Ciudad Real’s flagship transport hub was to be a symbol of modern Spain’s affluence.
But sadly it has proved to be one of a number of many white elephants for the nation, shutting down in April after just three years of operation.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2170886/Spains-ghost-airport-The-1BILLION-transport-hub-closed-just-years-thats-falling-rack-ruin.html#ixzz20ANTYBjX
Well give the Spanish their due, a ghost airport trumps a ghost town any day of the week.
It’s really no different than places like Pittsburgh’s airport. When I lived there,, USAir had the majority of the gates and whenever competion would come in, they’d lower the fares below the competition until they went under. Although I lived in Pghm, I saved hundred by flying out of Cleveland. Last time I flew into Pgh, the airport was a ghost town.