Weekend Topic Suggestions
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Do “enjoy now / repay with interest much later” financing plans really work as advertised?
Especially when high-risk gambling is involved?!
Emotions run high at school board meeting
By Emily Sorensen
It was a packed house Monday night as people crammed into the school board meeting to vent their feelings over the current bond issue controversy.
Normally a quiet, sparsely attended event, the Poway Unified School District school board meeting was filled with concerned and sometimes angry district residents. Others were left standing against the walls and spilling into the entryway of the building, where television news cameras were set up for interviews.
Superintendent John Collins and the rest of the board of education began the meeting by defending their actions for an hour and a half to an occasionally restless audience.
“Our job is to educate these children, to make sure they have a future,” said Collins, in regard to the controversial $105 million bond, which is projected to cost Poway taxpayers living in the School Facilities Improvement Districts (SFID) nearly $1 billion over the next 40 years.
Collins presented a detailed time line that explained the board’s thought process and actions in creating both the initial bond series, Proposition U, and the follow-up bond series, Proposition C, which is the cause of contention. Proposition C utilized capital appreciation bonds, or CABs, that are long-term bonds that compound interest over a period of time in which they cannot be paid off.
Collins explained that the need to refurbish and modernize the 24 SFID schools was to bring them up to the standards of the newer Community Facility District (CFD), or Mello-Roos, schools, which are located on the west side of the school district. The “Building for Success” program, as it was called, was also to make sure the SFID schools, many of which were between 35 – 50 years old, would be safe enough to last another 35 years.
According to Collins, skyrocketing construction costs and unforeseen problems in the older schools’ infrastructure contributed to the need to seek Proposition C bonds.
In response to accusations of “back-room deals” and non-transparency, Collins said all dealings with the bonds have been above-the-board and completely transparent.
It was argued by the board that it was mostly a case of unfortunate timing with the selling of Series B of the Proposition C bonds that caused the issue of the massive $1 billion dollar debt. “Nobody knew in 2009 that the stock market would crash,” said Collins.
…
The district could buy or lease temporary modular office space for the classrooms, restrooms, etc.
Why must all schools in the district be “up to the standards of the Mello-Roos schools”? Kids don’t care where they’re sitting, all they want is clean bathrooms and teachers who don’t bore the crap out of them. Let the gifted ones who demonstrate the need for state of the art labs congregate at one charter school instead of trying to duplicate special facilities at all 24 of them.
The district could combine school facilities to eliminate redundant utilization. Or (horrors) double up while the mini-boom of kids passes over. By the time the new construction is finished, the number of boomlet kids will be stabilized. This sounds like a construction boondoggle for someone’s brother-in-law.
The district could dump 80% of its “administrators” and renegotiate benefits packages, saving a huge chunk of that 105 mil. But then it’s not really for the students, is it…?
Very curious to know what “modernization” and “refurbishing” actually mean. A coat of paint and some new tables don’t cost 105M.
+1 Ahansen….A good friend is a project management consultant…He hires out an behalf of school districts….He supervises, the superintendent that runs the school project for the general contractor and the subcontractors…
Its “shocking” I tell you what it cost for school construction or rehab…The layers of government paperwork is astounding…The specifications to follow to say they are over-the-top is a gross understatement…
He has suggested to me that he could cut the costs on these projects in half and would not loose one ounce of quality or safety….Just one more example of government blubber….
And just try building a school on a military base!
This sounds like a construction boondoggle for someone’s brother-in-law.
Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner.
Oh, since I come from Pennsylvania, let us not forget the story of I-70 back in the seventies. Damn road started falling apart soon after it was built. ISTR hearing that the job was done by Gov. David Lawrence’s brother-in-law.
“Nobody knew in 2009 that the stock market would crash,” said Collins.
Of course how could anyone have known in 2009 about the market crash in 2008? That shouldn’t have gotten past even the least aware or dimmest bulb. Either very unaware or liar, liar, pants on fire.
Good catch! That comment was so glaringly misleading that I glossed right over it.
But for the record, one of the most severe protracted periods of stock market decline in U.S. history occurred over the period from Fall 2008 - Spring 2009. It’s inconceivable that PUSD superintendent John Collins could be that seriously uninformed!
Survival Rules For A Zombie Stock Market
July 30, 2012
“Fasten your seat belts. This is going to be a bumpy ride”
-Columbus, Zombieland, 2009
The stock market officially died several years ago. After struggling to stay alive after first contracting financial contagion in the summer of 2007, stocks ultimately declined to their death by early 2009. But then the mystical forces of monetary policy went to work by injecting unprecedented stimulus into the equity corpse. Suddenly the stock market was back to life and it has been seemingly responsive ever since. Today’s stock market is no longer truly conscious or functioning normally, however. Instead, it is still beyond dead. It is a zombie stock market.
…
Amid this deeply challenged economic environment, investors have fled the stock market in droves. Overall, we’ve seen over $500 billion in net outflows from domestic equity mutual funds since the first outbreak of financial contagion including $300 billion since the market bottom in March 2009. In other words, money continues to leak out of the stock market virtually every week, which reasonably implies that it should still be going down. Yet the stock market has more than doubled from its lows in March 2009 the moment quantitative easing began. This is a market that officially died in March 2009 and was brought back to life as a zombie by monetary stimulus.
…
I just want to know when all the bums are going to be kicked out of
Senate /House by the people .
Never.
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-30/tea-party-congressmen-accept-cash-from-bailed-out-bankers.html
Probably, if and when we get rid of the two party system:
‘We no longer have political parties in the American tradition: private organizations that arose out of common concerns and dueling theories of government: today the two-party monopoly ensures that both “major” parties are extensions of the state apparatus. And it is dangerous to criticize their stranglehold on our politics: recently, a group of third parties and concerned individuals, including ballot access expert Richard Winger, sued the state of California to allow third parties to put their names on the ballot, or even have their candidates dubbed “independent,” instead of being labeled “no party affiliation.” Under California’s new election law, passed by initiative, all candidates run in the same primary and the top two compete in a run off: third parties are effectively abolished. The suit was an effort to rescue their legal and political status from utter oblivion. The judge not only ruled against the plaintiffs, he also required them to pay the legal costs of the well-heeled backers of the law, who had intervened in the case. The six plaintiffs are being billed for $243,279.50 — because, the judge said, the case was “not in the public interest.”
‘If it happened in Putin’s Russia, we’d be reading about it in the New York Times.’
What would a be a successful platform for a third party candidate ?? Although, there are many things I would like to see changed a few get to the top of the list for me;
#1. Give the states back their autonomy…You don’t like Texas law’s, then move…You don’t like the legalization of some drugs in Oregon, then move…
#2. Complete reform of tax law….Progressive yes…But keep it simple and Collectable….
#3. Term limits for House & Senate….
Care to add some ??
#4 Amend the constitution to reverse Citizens United Vs FEC supreme court decision
5. All those in the House and Senate should be required to do their own taxes…by hand (show your work).
That will keep them busy for a while.
Until they simplify the code.
“Complete reform of tax law”
How is this?
Income tax:
Medium household income of X then:
Standard deduction 1/2X.
Personal exemption 1/8X.
(family of 4 gets automatic deduction equal to the median income.)
Tax brackets of size 1/2X or X starting at 10% and increasing at 10% per bracket.
If median income is $50K, then a single person would get to deduct $25K and a married couple would deduct $50K.
Brackets would be:
rate Single Married
10% $0-$25K $0-$50K
20% $25K-$50K $50K-$100K
30% $50K-75K $100K-$150K
…
80% $175K-$200K $350K-$400K
…
100% $225K-$225K $450K-$500K.
Other deductions:
Local taxes paid: property, sales, vehicle, state income, etc, up to a max of X.
Money spent on agreed upon national priorities. Pollution cleanup, renewable energy, charitable donations to education, job training, drug use prevention/treatment, gang resistance, loss on affordable housing, etc.
Payroll tax:
None
Corporate tax:
No income tax, but a 10% tax on retained cash and cash equivalents.
Estate tax:
Treated as income, but can be put into 401K type account to defer taxes, but minimum annual withdraw at a rate that would have it to $0 before the end of your remaining life expectancy.
Capital gains: treated as regular income.
Money expatriation tax (taking US dollars out of the country, physically, electronically or other): Initially I’d set this to 25%, then would adjust it as necessary to bring balance of trade to $0.
Seems pretty simple and collectable to me.
So, under your scheme, a family of 4, with median income pays $0?
Seems like a VERY high standard deduction.
100% marginal tax rate over $500k? A 0% corporate tax rate and 10% annually on cash?
Wow, with due respect, that’s stupid. If you think that is collectible, you are mistaken. Watch everyone in America create a personal investment company as a corporation. They won’t pay any dividends, and will simply let that grow within the corporation that they own. Then when they die they’ll put the shares into a 401k for their kids, etc.
Companies would be far more risky, as they would be discouraged from having conservative balance sheets, etc.
How is this ??
Does not sound simple or collectable to me….
“Money spent on agreed upon national priorities.”
This is the hard part.
“What would be a successful platform for a third party candidate?”
It does not exist. Not for generations. The majority of voters must not have contradictions for a successful non mainstream third party. People want their cake and eat it too.
We read how most anonymous people cannot stand extreme politicians who won’t compromise. We read also how most people cannot stand that there is no difference between Obama or Romney. How about “McSame” and Obama in 2008?
Many HBBers here also complain about why the politicians cannot agree yet complain that the top picked presidential candidates are the same.
I voted libertarian in every election since 1978 except in 2004 when I voted for Bush and 2008 when I wrote in Ron Paul. Then I hear idiots as my candidate has no chance of winning, that I am wasting my vote.
But I vote for my philosophy, not for tweedle Adele or Tweedle dumber.
A good third party would want the following .
Reduce by 50% the Miltary budget (
we don’t need to be in all these Countries )
Higher Corporate Taxes and higher tax for 1%- 10% ( at least for a time span ) . Getting rid of higher bracket loopholes .
Small business tax breaks
Proper tariffs and trade deficits
Raise limit on Social Security taxes .
Penalty tax for outsourcing ,or out-manufacturing
Single payer health care with costs reduced to sustainable levels with FDA actually testing drugs .
Overhaul of gov. regulatory agencies .
Public funded Elections ( no lobbying funds allowed )
Total overhaul of Wall Street casino rules ,reissue The Glass-Stegall law . Break up the Big Corrupt TBTF Bank/Investment firms .In fact, bust up all Monopolies .
Return to the rule of law and prosecute these thugs before the statues run out .Increase penalities and jail sentences for violations ,and make the CEO go to jail .
Demand netural scientific data for any industry pushing a
product with no allowance for bought off Doctors and
Scientists .Make it illegal for kickbacks for Doctors to push drugs or procedures or BS Science .
Term limits for the Senate .
Change Corporate laws to disenpower their influence and power ,especially this idea that they have the same rights as humans have ,or that they can influence elections .
Set Global min wages ,and any Country refusing to engage
doesn’t get to trade .
Advance by any means cleaner renewable energy ,pollution control ,mass transportation ,and the rebuilding of
intrastructure in USA >
Advance population control world wide .
Enforce immigration laws and even make them stricter .
Charge a tax penalty for industry insourcing labor
Clean up the food business and make the requirement that
GMO foods have to be disclosed . Further ,don’t force vaccines on people ( more research is needed on how effective they actually are , to much damage is being reported by valid reasearch ).
Correct what has gone wrong with the school systems .
Also return to people actually qualifying for debt .
Stop any laws and attempts on the part of Big Business to
transfer their damage liability to the taxpayers ,which isn’t the taxpayers liability and this practice promotes Gov. getting into bed with Big Business in a conflict of interest way .
Set back any price fixing that took place with monopoly industry ,as well as tighten controls on Wall Street speculation ,especially the unregulated markets . Prevent
Wall Streets ability to create bubbles World -wide by tighter rules .
Make it a priority that the general population of USA is to be protected and the promotion of their welfare and constitutional freedoms is demanded from elected officals .The war on poverty should be a National goal
Basically get rid of the rigged decks . I could go on and on
but this is enough .
Enough with this Globalism idea that isn’t working for the
greater Population of USA , or the rest of the Worlds population and it must of been the idea of
the !% that wanted to exploit the World . Return to more power for the States . Any money taken out of America ,such as in Wall Street investments ,has to be looked at from the standpoint of being undue influence and it must be limited how the World cash flows work as in
creating unstable Bubbles and ill-gotten gains .
Your third party ideas here is just a hash of the big government parties of today with an added one world government thrown in. No thanks.
Is current stock market weakness a setup for the Fed to invoke QE3?
Bloomberg News
QE3 From Fed ‘Almost a Done Deal,’ Pimco’s Gross Says on CNBC
By Matt Robinson on August 23, 2012
A third round of economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve is “almost a done deal,” Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross said in an interview on CNBC.
Gross, manager of the world’s largest bond fund at Newport Beach, California-based Pimco, wrote yesterday in a Twitter posting that released Fed minutes were “front-end curve friendly” and that a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, is an 80 percent probability.
“It’s almost a done deal,” Gross said today on CNBC. “Eighty percent doesn’t say that, but it’s close.”
Gross said in the interview that investors should buy what the central bank will purchase and affect, including mortgage securities.
Is current stock market weakness a setup for the Fed to invoke QE3?
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read “QE3 is almost a done deal” over the past year or so.
Also, the stock market is about as high as it has ever been, post-meltdown.
More importantly, if we get QE3, what will the effect be?
Treasury rares and mortgage rates down another .25%? What does that get us on a macroeconomic level?
How big would QE3 be? QE2 was a tad under $1T, but the treasury has issued some $2.5T new bonds since then. How much of that new debt would QE absorb?
Over how long? If it is $1T over the next year, then the Fed would just be buying up the new debt that treasury is issuing, not touching the $2.5T issued in the 2 years since QE2.
Would gold crash without QE3 to weaken the currency in which its price is denominated?
Analyst: Gold Doesn’t Need QE3 To Rally
Ben Traynor, BullionVault | 58 minutes ago
SPOT MARKET gold bullion prices hovered just below $1670 an ounce for most of Friday morning’s London trading, a few Dollars below yesterday’s four-month high.
Stock markets ticked lower and US Treasuries gained, as analysts continued to speculate on the prospects for more quantitative easing from the US Federal Reserve.
Heading into weekend, spot market Dollar gold prices looked set for a gain of more than 3% on the week, after gold rallied following Wednesday’s publication of Fed policy meeting minutes.
“Additional stimulus is inevitable, the question is how it comes,” reckons Charles Morris, who manages around $2.5 billion at HSBC Asset Management.
“There’s no doubt about it, this is gold’s moment. All the long-term trend signals suggest that gold is in a very strong bull market.”
…
Everyone is so sure that the Fed controls everything. I suspect that it does not have such absolute control.
It, for the most part controls interest rates and interest rates drive business witnessed by the record profits and cash on hand with big business…Apple…100 Bil + cash on hand…
Fed can influence interest rates, but lacks the ability to truly set.
The record profits are largely based on layoffs and businesses refi-ing debt to lower interest rates. You can increase profits a lot if you refi from 7% to 4%. You get less savings if you refi to 3%.
Little to no improvement has been seen in top line revenue of corporations in the last 5 years. The Fed can lower refi rates, but it can’t put money into the hands of the unwashed masses that are already up to their eyeballs in debt, nor can they engineer wage increases or more jobs for those unwashed masses.
and businesses refi-ing debt ??
Well you confirmed my point now didn’t you…Also, they are not just refi-ing…They are borrowing @ record low rates….Borrow @ 2%…Earn @ 4%…Pretty damm nice spread I would say….
Little to no improvement has been seen in top line revenue of corporations in the last 5 years. The Fed can lower refi rates, but it can’t put money into the hands of the unwashed masses that are already up to their eyeballs in debt, nor can they engineer wage increases or more jobs for those unwashed masses.
Ding-ding-ding! We have another winner!
From Dean Baker’s, Beat the Press Blog
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/
(currently the second post down)
Housing Sales Are Back to Trend
Friday, 24 August 2012 04:02
Both the NYT and USA Today have convinced themselves that house sales are well below their trend level, with the latter telling us that a 5.5 million annual sales rate of existing homes considered healthy. In fact, we are pretty much back to trend levels of sales. In the mid-90s before the bubble began to distort the market, sales averaged about 3.5 million a year. A simple adjustment for the 15 percent population growth over this period would imply an annual sales rate of 4 million existing homes. That is somewhat below the current 4.5 million sales rate.
The gap between the current sales rate and the trend more than makes up for the continued weakness in new home sales. So, what are these folks talking about?
Now, I don’t doubt the number analysis (Baker is a facts oriented guy) and going back to the mid 90s for a “normal” number as compared to population, then adjusting for population growth seems like a pretty good way to do it. Good catch on the newspapers assuming that bubble numbers are normal, instead of normal numbers.
BUT
Look at what we have to have in place to get back to that normal number. Downpayment requirements are back down to 3.5% (lower?). Interest rates are extremely low. We can get back to the same number of house sales only by having lending standards/rates that you could never have found in the mid 90s. So if we took the standards of the mid 90s and imposed them on today, what would the housing sales number really look like? And with young people (the ones who make the entry point purchases and therefore allow the rest of the market to move) so burdened with student loans and a difficult job market, will even this level be sustainable? And, will those mid 90s standards ever come back?
“and, will those mid 90s standards ever come back?”
Prices certainly will.
And, will those mid 90s standards ever come back?
What were the mid 90s standards?
I bought a $100K house in 1993 with 0% down and a $30K household income (VA loan).
My parents bought the house in which I was raised in 1975. At that time, their down payment was less than 5%.
When were down payment requirements higher?
People figured out how to buy homes when Prime Rate was north of 20% in the 1980s. New home prices were 3.76x median incomes in 1982, and while depressed, new housing starts were higher in 1982 than today.
In my opinion, market sentiment is underappreciated when it comes to figuring out what affects housing prices and demand; interest rates and loan standards don’t explain all.
And resale housing was 2-2.5x annual income….. just like it has always been.
Why are you lying to the public about housing Rental Pimp?
“just like it has always been.”
Really? Didn’t I just show you this not to be true in 1980, 1990 or 2000?
BTW, interest rates at the time were 9% (in 1975).
It’s interesting to me how price fixing Monopolies feed each other and
are tied into each other as if they are forces that developed at the same time based on whatever policies were going on .
What’s crazy is that the price fixing monopolies think that in a wage decreasing market that the price increases are deserved because
people have to have the product ,such as food and health care and forced insurance and gas ,while at the same time they want the
stressed out sheeple to be taxed more .
You would think that serious talk would take place in light of so many people being unemployed and so many people being on food stamps
now that there would be talk other than things like tax breaks for the
1%.
The 1% are given the credit for being the drivers of the economy .while they at this point are the ill gotten gain subtractors from a balanced economy .
For instance ,there is no justified reason for the health care costs
being this high other than the price fixing monopolies not wanting to give up their gravy train profit margins ( Pharma drug prices are one of the biggest culprits ).
Some talking head was saying yesterday in essence that USA is lucky because we only pay 10% of our income toward food costs ,while other countries pay a much higher percentage toward food costs .
Given a little more time and the food costs will go up to a much higher % of the monthly nut ,as medical care and insurance and all the other costs have . These prices aren’t based on supply and demand anymore ,but rather price fixing monopoly power to demand prices that aren’t in sink with incomes . Just as the crime spree faulty lending debt driven fake housing boom was unleashed on this world
leaving that market in ruins ,while the lobbyist demanded bail outs
to the culprits . Again ,prices were decoupled from income with the housing boom ,and this is a common theme to get more than the market bears for the greedy 1% by any means possible ,or tax breaks when they just want to gouge more .
It use to be when prices went up ,wages would go up also ,as in cost of living increases . It’s a one sided game of how to extract from the
majority population until the host is killed .
That balance in the economy that they use to call capitalism has been replaced with price fixing monopolies and 1% taking the money and demanding more . Stuck people who have no way to offset the damage the in power sector is reeking on the USA because they are not really being represented in DC.
Aug. 24, 2012, 1:25 p.m. EDT
Bernanke says scope for more Fed easing
By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says there’s room for the central bank to take more action in responding to critical questions from a top lawmaker on Capitol Hill.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington July 17, 2012.
Bernanke’s letter to Darrell Issa, the California Republican who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, was dated Wednesday and obtained by MarketWatch on Friday. Read Bernanke’s letter.
Issa had written Bernanke at the beginning of August and asked questions largely put forward by economists Allan Meltzer, David Stockman and Andy Kessler. Read Issa’s letter.
Though the letter didn’t break new ground, it’s Bernanke’s first public comments since the early part of the month and shows that a spate of recent economic data showing growth hasn’t changed his views dramatically.
Bernanke’s comments helped U.S. stocks advance during Friday trade. Read Market Snapshot.
“There is scope for further action by the Federal Reserve to ease financial conditions and strengthen the recovery,” Bernanke said, in comments that largely echo what was said in the minutes of the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting that ended Aug. 1. He did allow there are potential costs and risks to consider before taking action.
…
Is QE uncertainty killing markets?
Aug. 24, 2012, 3:56 p.m. EDT
U.S. stock higher on central-bank hopes
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks tallied strong gains Friday, with the Dow industrials bouncing back following a four-session slide, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank has more tools, if needed, to stimulate the economy.
The end-of-week push higher “doesn’t represent much that you can sink your teeth into,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.
“Volume is light and most people are probably headed to the Hamptons,” said Luschini, adding that Wall Street will “come back and see what Europe has to say” after the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 3.
The final week of summer trading has Bernanke scheduled to speak at an annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyo., next Friday, with the Fed chairman followed by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi the following day.
“Best case, Bernanke will say, ‘Here’s our tools, but we don’t need to use them, and by the way, Congress better get its act together’,” said Art Hogan, strategist at Lazard Capital Markets, of the Fed chairman’s repeated calls on lawmakers to move on fiscal policy.
…
Is the ‘birther’ issue relevant to the 2012 election?
If not, why is it coming up again? And what if the other side retaliates by bringing up some equally irrelevant issue, such as Mexican polygamist roots?
Last updated: August 24, 2012 7:20 pm
Romney dips into ‘birther’ debate
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Mitt Romney said at a campaign stop in his native Michigan that “no one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate”, a comment that the Obama campaign said put the presumptive Republican nominee at the centre of the discredited “birther movement”.
Just days before Mr Romney is due to formally accept the Republican nomination for president at his party’s convention in Tampa, the remark threatened to embroil the campaign in another controversy and opened him up to criticism of racial insensitivity.
At a rally in Commerce, Michigan, where both he and his wife, Ann, were born, Mr Romney said to great applause: “Now I love being in this place where Ann and I were raised … No one’s every asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.”
…
P.S. That article can be found at ft dot com…
Is the ‘birther’ issue what the RNC considers a decisive issue in the November election? It must play well with the sheeple; otherwise, I’m sure they would move on to more substantive issues.
Martin Bashir | Aired on August 24, 2012
Romney to back birther baggage at GOP convention
MSNBC contributors Ari Melber and Jimmy Williams debate why Mitt Romney went birther for an applause line in Michigan today and how he won’t be the only person with a birther past at next week’s GOP convention.
Apr 20, 2012 5:12pm
Romney’s ‘Family Came From a Polygamy Commune,’ says Montana Gov.
By Russell Goldman
Mitt Romney will likely struggle nationally, particularly with women, because his father was “born on a polygamy commune in Mexico,” said Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
Schweitzer, a Democrat, made the comment in an interview with the Daily Beast about Romney’s chances in swing states.
The governor said Romney will also have trouble attracting Latino voters, adding that it was ”kind of ironic given that his family came from a polygamy commune in Mexico, but then he’d have to talk about his family coming from a polygamy commune in Mexico, given the gender discrepancy.”
That part of Romney’s family history will particularly irk women, Schweitzer said, because they are ”not great fans of polygamy, 86 percent were not great fans of polygamy.” Schweitzer added that he did not believe Romney, raised in the Mormon Church and married to one woman for more than four decades, is a polygamist.
“I am not alleging by any stretch that Romney is a polygamist and approves of [the] polygamy lifestyle, but his father was born into [a] polygamy commune in Mexico,” Schweitzer said. Romney’s grandfather and other Mormons settled in Mexico following an 1890 ban on polygamy, a practice the church calls “plural marriage.”
Many Mormons moved to Mexico in order to continue practicing polygamy, though Romney’s grandfather was married to only one woman. Romney’s father George, who served as governor of Michigan, was born in Mexico in 1907. Repeated calls to Schweitzer’s office seeking comment were not returned.
The Romney campaign did not respond for comment, but Romney told Fox News in an interview “My dad’s dad was not a polygamist.”
Is inflation in the cards?
If so, should one buy a house as a hedge?
Aug. 24, 2012, 12:21 p.m. EDT
Use the next correction to prepare for inflation
By Kirk Spano
In my September 2009 letter to clients, I discussed the idea of coming inflation and stated it would be years before it arrived. Three years have now passed and the early whiffs of noticeable inflation are hitting.
While bigger inflation is unlikely until a firmer recovery arrives, that day is not far off. As I have said repeatedly, ultimately, the needs and wants of billions of people will trump the lingering effects of the financial crisis and global debt imbalances.
Already throughout the Middle East, eastern Europe and southeast Asia, projects that were delayed in 2007 and 2008 are moving again. Soon, the economies of more developed nations will push forward as growth remedies gain favor over austerity.
In the United States, we can see even with the Romney/Ryan ideas that spending in the United States would barely slow, while deregulation in the financial and energy sectors would be used stimulate growth — for better and worse. In Europe, almost all nations are clamoring for a growth solution to offset debt imbalances. Chinese cities are committing hundreds of billions to prop up growth.
Right now, because U.S. politicians spar rather than solve problems, the Fed is on the hook for keeping America’s ship level. That likely means even more deferred inflation.
…
Federal debt nears $16 trillion, with no easy way to pay it down
By Doug McKelway
Published August 24, 2012
FoxNews.com
In the time it takes you to read this story, the U.S. debt will have grown by about $4.4. million.
The debt is now lurking just under the $16 trillion mark — a number huge enough to be almost incomprehensible to the layperson. One way to visualize its magnitude: If you were to spend a dollar every second, it would take you 32,000 years to spend $1 trillion, or a mere one-16th of the debt.
“The national debt is certainly a ticking time bomb. There’s no question that if we don’t do something about it, it’s going to go off,” says Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition.
Bixby, like most economists, thinks there comes a point when the debt becomes unsustainable — when interest payments on the debt alone create an economic implosion.
“We’re spending about $200 billion on interest now. That’s much more than we’re spending on operations in Afghanistan, more than we’re spending on Medicaid,” he said.
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Topic suggestion:
The world has changed. We have lost massive jobs because of outsourcing and bad decisions by TPTB. But we have also lost a huge number of jobs (with some new ones created) by technology - typing pools and farming for example. I want to bring back jobs to the US, end free trade for a more balanced trade (they tariff us, we tariff them right back), create more equitable division of wealth - why do bank employees get $50 million bonuses, when stockholders get no dividend? - and create incentive for small businesses over welfare corporations.
But I also think we need to rethink the role of technology in our lives. Should we still be on a 40-hour work week with the loss of lots of jobs that are obsolete? Even if no jobs had been sold overseas by dirty politicians and corporations would we still have enough employment for everyone to get 40 hours? And why in this advanced age are those of us that are employed rarely working a 40-hour week anyway. (Work 50 and don’t take vacation or lose the job.)
What are some of the ways to overcome the loss of jobs to technology? And why is technology making us dumber rather than giving us more time for reading, the arts, music, exploring and creativity?
Topic suggestion 2 (and I would really love an answer to this.)
Mitt and many others are storing their wealth in places like the Cayman Islands. Who governs this? How is it protected? Seriously, could not a few of the powers that be in the Caymans get together and steal all this wealth? Mitt loses a few billion - is the US government going to do anything about it - tax evasion money? Can they go after these now wealthy thieves? Seriously, in an age where most wealth is becoming electronic, is there a real danger to the masters of the universe? Am I evil for hoping so?
“Mitt loses a few billion - is the US government going to do anything about it - tax evasion money?”
I thought his wealth was less than $1bn. Do you have evidence to suggest otherwise?
Read some material that says its somewhere around 200 mil…..
Mitt Romney faces more questions about tax havens
Tess Vigeland: It may not be your vision of a fabulous Friday, but plenty of tax experts and other interested parties spent the day poring over 950 pages of tax documents — all related to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his former company Bain Capital. The paperwork was posted yesterday by the news and gossip blog Gawker as part of its investigation into Gov. Romney’s income and tax payments.
Many of the questions arising from those taxes stem from offshore accounts. So we’re going to talk with Nicholas Shaxson. He wrote a book called “Treasure Island: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens.” Welcome to the program.
Nicholas Shaxson: Hi. Nice to talk to you.
Vigeland: What do you make of this news surrounding Gov. Romney and the pages and pages of documents that were published yesterday?
Shaxson: I certainly have looked at all those — there’s an awful lot of stuff there. One of the things that struck me — the complexity of the things that Bain is involved in and that Romney has been involved in is absolutely staggering. People in the financial sector are kind of used to this level of complexity, but for the ordinary person on this street this stuff is really, really strange.
Vigeland: But if it’s strange, that certainly doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with it?
Shaxson: Not necessarily. They don’t seem to have produced any major smoking guns. A couple of interesting things have come up. One, there does seem to be confirmation of the use of offshore blocker corporations. This is something that for some time the Romney camp has refused to answer questions about. It seems likely that Romney has been using the tax havens to reduce his tax bill, but we haven’t had confirmation of this.
Vigeland: Is that illegal?
Shaxson: No, no, it’s not illegal. It’s not breaking the law. But the Romney camp has said in the past that Romney has paid his taxes by investing through these offshore blockers — he pays just as much tax, the very same amount of tax as if he had invested directly in the Untied States. If these Gawker documents do reveal that his investments have been rooted through these blockers, then that will reveal that to be untrue.
Vigeland: Gov. Romney said today that a lot of large companies make a regular practice of using these low-tax havens to save money. How easy is it for multinationals, wealthy individuals, to move their assets overseas in these tax havens?
Shaxson: It’s very easy indeed and it’s getting ever-more rampant. This is not about moving plant and equipment, this is just about shuffling numbers really.
Vigeland: What is the problem with offshore banking? I mean, if it’s legal, why not do it?
Shaxson: The offshore system of tax havens is bigger and badder than almost anybody realizes. Recently the Tax Justice Network put out a study estimating that there’s up to $30 trillion offshore. A lot of this activity is not strictly illegal, but a lot of it is abusive. This whole system is profoundly danerous, profoundly harmful to democracy because it effectively provides escape routes from tax, disclosure, criminal laws from the wealthiest elites — who are the ones who can afford to use tax havens — and leaving everybody else to kind of pick up the tab.
Vigeland: If it’s that appalling, how is it allowed?
Shaxson: That’s always the question that comes back. Essentially, there have been numerous attempts by governments to rein this thing in and the lobbying power of particularly the financial sector — the offshore system is, the popular imagination, it’s a kind of exotic side show to the global economy where a few celebrity tax cheats and mafioso and stuff roam. But today, no, these days it’s all about the financial sector. This is about Wall Street and Wall Street loves tax havens. We’ve seen the power of Wall Street in eviscerating reforms. And essentially I think that’s probably the most important reason.
Vigeland: Nicholas Shaxson is the author of “Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens.” Thank you so much for joining us.
Shaxson: Thanks very much.
Sorry - meant millions.
Then again, we won’t really know until the tax havens steal it all. WEG.
I approach this premise carefully.
With a certain depth of thought and a lack of resultant clarity, I ask:
What if (possibility, not probability)
1) Home prices rise to meet current rents (the opposite was the
prognostication of the greater HBB for years, and rightly so)
2) Resulting in underwater homeowners newly afloat
3) Resulting in fewer foreclosures and more lenders/mortgage holders
willing to forgive some debt, refi, or agree to a short sale because
their loss margins are diminished
4) Resulting in greater demand and greater supply
5) Resulting in equilibrium; homeostasis
6) It’s all local
7) Given the current job market and prospects, the interest rates will
need to be artificially suppressed, or GENX and GENY will be totally
screwed without parental contribution.
Ain’t the future bright?? -)
None of what you suggest makes sense in light of current market fundamentals. However, with enough government-sponsored gearing, I suppose any kind of wacky price movement is conceivable.
Let’s see if #1 happens, and then let’s see if the rest comes to pass.
Your patter is plausible to me in SOME markets. I still have great concerns about markets where the number of physical homes is still far too great for the local population. In markets where there is generally less physical supply relative to population, your pattern could make sense.
The one point that I would add is that #4 will create more jobs is the “greater supply” includes new homes.
Is anyone shopping for a $1M+ home in San Diego? There are over 1400 of them currently showing up on the MLS, towards the end of a lukewarm summer sales season.
(1416/5780) X 100% = 24.5% (1 in 4) of San Diego homes currently list for over $1M; something tells me more than a few of these sellers will have trouble finding buyers, as I am quite certain far less than 1 in 4 San Diego home owners can afford a $1M+ home, and the vast majority of those who can are already comfortably housed. It looks to me like lots of the high-end flippers got stucco trying to cash out.
Faulty logic. 1400 homes does not mean 1 in 4 buyers needs to buy a $1,000,000 home…..it just means 1400 buyers need to buy one!
Where do the 1400 come from? They also have to buy Manhattan, DC, SF and if I am not mistaken Vancouver.
Crappy day today….
Raining out side. Looks like no Vitamin D this weekend.
Watching some EPL soccer games and drinking tea.