Bits Bucket for September 11, 2013
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
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“The controversial Florida law intended to whisk foreclosures through court has instead led thousands to pile up, prolonging the agony of the state’s housing crisis, new court data show.
When the “faster foreclosures” law first took effect in July, Florida courts saw 4,386 new foreclosures, plummeting 70 percent below the state’s average of 15,000 filings a month.
The plunge was even more severe in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties, where banks filed 465 new foreclosures, down from an average of more than 2,000 a month.”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/unintended-consequence-for-faster-foreclosures-law-florida-filings-have/2140991
from the article:
O-oh, MERSy MERSy me,
Some will get their houses for free…
Financial Crisis Alert: Half A Million People Drop Off Workforce In One Month
Record 90.5 Million Out Of Labor Force As Half A Million Drop Out In One Month; Labor Force Participation Rate Plunges To 1978 Levels
While the Establishment survey data was ugly due to both the miss and the prior downward revisions in the NFP print, the real action was in the Household survey, where we find that the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 516,000 in one month, which in turn increased the total number of people outside the labor force to a record 90.5 million Americans.
Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/financial-crisis-alert-half-a-million-people-drop-off-workforce-in-one-month-bank-of-america-to-cut-2100-jobs-shut-16-offices-hp-has-chopped-22700-jobs-since-last-year-jpmorgan-exits-commodity-a/#iEWZEBwJiP0ky3SI.99
Further, the birth rate is at multi-year lows, and continues to drop.
Amnesty-created demand will only go so far.
Boardinghouses are due for a big comeback. And not just for twenty-five year-olds. I predict LOTS of aging Xers will welcome such living conditions.
We’re almost a decade into a birth rate crash.
Kids are expensive.
Life is expensive. Everywhere you turn, there’s a fee, charge, tax, etc.
But it’s not only about kids being expensive. It’s about a broader issue - generational shifting of wealth. Boomers, on average, will receive over $300k _MORE_per person in SS and MC than they paid into the system in taxes.
Millenials, on the other hand, will receive approx. 200k LESS on average than what we’re projected to pay into the system in taxes. (And yet 2Banana will rant and rave about paying too high taxes - he has no idea and he’ll be receiving SS and MC in a few yrs while we pay for it. Screw him.)
The only white people who consistently have big families (2 or more children) these days are teabilly types and fundamentalists. I’m 30 (going to be 31 this fall) and I don’t have any friends with more than 2 kids and zero is a pretty common answer. If I averaged out all my friends together, we probably have a mean of .8 kids per person. I’m shocked that one of my brothers & his wife have #2 on the way, but he’s a military officer and more traditional, so his culture is different. My wife and I were talking, we can’t even relate to that.
“My wife and I were talking, we can’t even relate to that.”
Not with the markets the way they are…no way; it wouldn’t make sense. And so it goes…a la Idiocracy.
I wouldn’t be so cruel as to create a kid that has to live in a sea of morons.
“I wouldn’t be so cruel as to create a kid that has to live in a sea of morons.”
+1 Indeed, and support them too.
We’re almost a decade into a birth rate crash.
Indeed.
And the rate has been shrinking for a few decades(adjusted with moving average).
So the question for a housing blog becomes;
What happens as we move forward in time as boomer death rates rises rapidly leaving 35 MILLION additional excess empty houses?
Remember; There are an estimated 20-30 million excess empty and defaulted houses already.
Kids are expensive… yet the only caucasian groups that are really procreating above the replacement rate are poors and religious fundies. In other words, the “cannon fodder” white people.
LOL, we’re f*cked. As I’ve said before, the only good news for my anticipated 1 child is that he or she won’t have much (domestic) competition for the best schools or jobs.
1 child is that he or she won’t have much (domestic) competition for the best schools or jobs.
It’s all relative I guess. But I wouldn’t dismiss Catholic or Mormon kids as non-competitive. Protestant “fundies”, I don’t know, but some of them might surprise you too. But maybe all of them put together aren’t enough to matter…
“Record 90.5 Million Out Of Labor Force As Half A Million Drop Out In One Month; Labor Force Participation Rate Plunges To 1978 Levels”
Does anyone besides me find it amazing how the Real Estate Bubble has reflated against the backdrop of a collapse of the labor market?
Is the labor force collapsing or are the Boomers starting to retire?
The Middle Class In The U.S. Economy Is On The Verge of Collapse
——————
Michael Lombardi: It’s the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about…
The middle class in the U.S. economy is on the verge of collapse. Yes, I said collapse. That social class that once helped the U.S. economy grow and prosper is coming apart. Will the U.S. economy ever be the same without it or is this the new norm?
http://etfdailynews.com/2013/09/09/the-middle-class-in-the-u-s-economy-is-on-the-verge-of-collapse/
The squad correctly predicted that the future belongs to Lucky Ducky!
Within a generation, less than 15% of USA population will enjoy what could be considered a middle-class lifestyle.
Because a 70% consumer economy doesn’t need consumers. Not American consumers, anyway. See also the new i-phone 5C.
See also the new i-phone 5C.
The lucky ducky model?
The 5C isn’t for lucky ducks, it’s for “middle class” developing world consumers.
Yeah, people who only have a job because they can work for 25% of a US salary. Those people are definitely spending $500/pop on iPhones.
Let’s pay attention now.
The 5C will retail for $99, not $500.
Let the H1B do the hard work
The U.S. Department of Labor forecasts strong job growth in the science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields, but a new study indicates teenagers may think those careers aren’t as cool as they were even a year ago.
A national sample of teenagers ages 14 to 18 found a 17 percent drop off in interest in jobs in the STEM or medical field. The category making the biggest gain: “I don’t know.”
Of the 1,025 teens surveyed, 30 percent of the boys and 16 percent of the girls indicated some interest in STEM careers. A year ago, 41 percent of the boys and 21 percent of the girls were on board. Medical-related jobs (including doctor, nurse, dental hygienist and other jobs) also took a hit dropping to 13 percent from 30 percent a year ago.
“The 5C will retail for $99, not $500.”
Who cares how much it costs. It comes in different colors.
FIVE different colors. So you can buy one of each, to express your individual style or mood at a given moment. $495. See? Apple just saved you $5.
“a 70% consumer economy”
That means it is a 70% debt economy.
I have been waiting for this “collapse” for some time now, yet we plod along seemingly defying gravity. House prices back up, roads packed with cars despite declining fuel consumption, everyone has a smart phone and an $80 per month or more plan, restaurants packed, etc. I don’t get it.
Don’t worry, passenger. The ship was designed to be UNSINKABLE and we have more than enough pumping capacity to correct the slight list you’ve noticed. The lounge is still open, the drinks are still flowing and the band is still playing.
The screams you hear down in steerage are not your concern.
I don’t actually believe there is ever going to be a collapse. Just a slow-motion decline into the lowest standard of living we’ve had in hundreds of years, with the wealthy garnering an ever-increasing share of the pie. Continued political and financial shenanigans will mask what is really happening, with the risk and associated financial burden spread across the entire population while the reward goes to a select few insiders.
We may well sink to the level in the US that my grandparents thought was amazing prosperity compared to the abject poverty of the thread mill towns of Scotland. I do not think that the upper crust will pass through this except as a remnant. When people no longer base the majority of their activities on debt, the upper crust will wither rather severely. As for it being a slow process, it was decades getting to the apex of the credit bubble, it could unwind over decades, but I think the current condition is too brittle for there not to be fractures.
Could you please pass the Prozac when finished with it?
“With over 25 MILLION excess empty houses in the US and another 35 MILLION houses just beginning to come on the market now that boomers are starting to die off, housing prices are going to go alot lower.”
There is no question about it.
“The paid PR thugs and hired hands are busy posting here today. And we’ve noticed that some of them who pose as long term posters have recently had difficulty keeping their predilections and intent hidden from all of us. They know who they are and you should too. They can’t be missed. They are easily recognized as they are the same people who plant the seeds of doubt through lofty platitudes and carefully crafted responses. They imply “housing has turned around” and sometimes come right out and say it. They’ll invoke tall tales of “we bought” to disarm you and clear you a personal path to financial hell. These literary illusions are flat out myths and when you read them, your BS radar should be screaming. Beware.”
Make no mistake about it…. have no doubt in your minds. Housing today is twice the mess it was in 2008. The personal financial risks of buying housing at current inflated asking prices is tremendous.
Housing has turned around.
I got $10,000 of instant equity after we beat the Ravens last week.
And I’ll get another $50,000 after we win the Sooper Bowl this year.
Lucky for you that prime time to sell and lock in your gains is right after the Super Bowl.
‘I got $10,000 of instant equity after we beat the Ravens last week.’
Idiocracy 2: Rise of the Brawndos
It has electrolytes that plants crave.
California Notice Of Defaults Up A Whopping 38.7% In Second Quarter
http://www.ksby.com/news/california-foreclosures-rise-in-2nd-quarter/#_
“More Californians went into foreclosure in the second quarter of this year - a blip in an overall trend that has seen more people hanging onto troubled property as home prices soar.
Research firm DataQuick says Tuesday that lenders filed more than 25,700 notices of default from April to June. That was up 38.7 percent from the previous quarter.
However, the figure is down nearly 53 percent from the second quarter of last year and it’s the second-lowest level in seven years.”
And with foreclosure moratoriums in all 50 states, of course the inventory appears to be low.
definition of moratorium: a temporary prohibition of an activity.
There is no such thing in “all 50 states”. Certainly not in CA.
ALL 50 states. And it’s called the home junkies bill of rights in CA.
Does anyone take you seriously anymore?
Here’s a list of foreclosure auctions taking place in California right now via Auction.com.
http://www.auction.com/California/residential-real-estate-home-auctions.html
You can show right up to the addresses listed with cashiers checks in hand to buy the foreclosures at auction.
And that’s just California.
This simple truth is everyone comes to the blog knowing they’ll get truthful information from me and a few others. That’s what you fail to understand. And they intuitively know that you are a fraud….. much like the others who’ve been exposed.
Now as far as your phoney link goes, you need to learn the definitions of; default, foreclosure and foreclosure proceeding.
Just like all the other states, CA has a moratorium in effect for what should be obvious reasons to you. There are 4 million excess, empty and defaulted properties there and it’s growing by the day.
Get over yourself.
They are issuing default notices, starting foreclosure proceedings, and concluding the foreclosure sales in CA.
NONE of that is consistent with a moratorium.
Perhaps Ben can shed some light on this debate, since he is involved closely with foreclosures…Ben, are foreclosures continuing to occur in Arizona?
WRONG.
The foreclosure process is being delayed, thwarted and obstacles imposed to avoid it everywhere, especially California.
There is no “debate”. You’re glaringly obvious bias is demonstrated in every single word you write here.
If you want to be taken seriously, stop lying and disclose your bias in every post.
Yep, it’s another housing bubble
Four months ago something troubling happened in the housing market. The home price affordability index tracked by the National Association of Realtors slipped below it’s long-term trend line, marking a possible beginning of a housing bubble.
On Monday, we got the fourth month of home affordability data coming in below trend, which is a strong confirmation that the housing market is once again in a bubble. (The NAR index is published with a two-month delay, so the latest numbers are for July).
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101019905
“Housing’s ‘Shadow Inventory’ Still Haunts Banks”
http://news.yahoo.com/housings-shadow-inventory-still-haunts-banks-152949909.html
With tens of millions of excess empty houses and another 35 million additional houses that are just beginning to empty as boomers expire, banks themselves will become haunted houses.
“Housing is massively overpriced irrespective of location. Why buy when you can rent for half the the monthly cost?”
Exactly. Then buy later as prices roll back to the long term trend or roughly 1997 levels.
Mortgage Purchase Applications Plunge, Refinance Apps Collapse
http://www.businessinsider.com/mba-mortgage-applications-september-6-2013-9
Starve the beast.
San Francisco Bank Mortgage Applications Collapse 40%, 3000 Laid Off
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/suntrust-mortgage-applications-down-40-in-july-and-august—ceo-20130910-00511
Good thing they are opening Dollar Stores in San Francisco.
I shop the Dollar Store and 99C Only Store regardless of income fluctuations. I am one of those fit well dressed ladies. I also shop at Wal-Mart.
To be effective one must be selective.
9/11 thoughts…
Bashar Hafez al-Assad of Syria had nothing to do with 9/11.
The people that want to replace him celebrate as a great day.
Muammar Gaddafi of Libya had nothing to do with 9/11.
The people who replaced him celebrate it as a great day.
Morsi of Egypt had nothing to do with 9/11.
The people who replaced him (until booted) celebrate it as a great day.
It’s Bush’s fault.
It’s twelve years after September 11, 2001.
Is the War on Terror over yet?
If so, who won?
Who won?
In this country, the Neocon/Progressive alliance to destroy civil liberties and constitutional freedoms won. Obama took every thing wrong that Bush did and made it worse.
“In this country, the Neocon/Progressive alliance to destroy civil liberties and constitutional freedoms won. Obama took every thing wrong that Bush did and made it worse.”
STFU and bend thy knee, gentile!
Who won?
The military industrial complex and the oiligarchy.
The NeoCon-Progressive Party rules the roost.
The alliance moved forward in a big way upon Bush Sr. becoming VP under Reagan. People forget the extent to which Bush disliked Reagan. Why all the animosity?
I like your use of “alliance” here, goon. It’s quite apt.
Both Progressives and Neocons strive to dictate, so an alliance only makes sense. Domestic Imperialism is made easier when you’re on the same side.
You know, you keep pimping this neocon=progressive mantra without defining your terms. The progressives I know certainly don’t support big oil, the Likkud, military interventionism, corporate cronyism or Tea Party social values.
What am I missing here? Or are you just being rhetorical for effect?
Alena, you missed the Supreme Court.
Who won? That is easy.
1. Those who want bigger and bigger government with more and more power at the Federal Level
2. Those who want bigger and bigger government with more and more power at the State Level
3. The police at all levels
4. The military
5. The FBI
6. Homeland Security
7. Public unions
8. Defense Contractors
Number 8 = invisible hand of the free market baby!
“8. Defense Contractors”
But isn’t that a good thing in your world, as these guys work in the private sector?
Government = BAD
Private sector = GOOD
But isn’t that a good thing in your world, as these guys work in the private sector?
I view them as “least bad.”
Why?
I have never seen or heard a General Dynamics or Lockheed Martin employee or CEO say “We need to take your guns to reduce crime” or “We need to listen/read all your phone calls and emails for the security of the nation” or “We need to pass the bill to see what is inside.”
Defense Contractors will bid on contracts that the US Government puts out. But the government has to decide first that is what they want to do and then pay for it.
GD and LM never said they “need to read/listen all your calls and emails” but they will happily provide the software and the manpower to enable the USA government to do so, paid for by USA tax dollars.
Feds drool, contractors rule!
“Defense contractors will bid on contracts that the US Government puts out.”
Which means they have a great interest in having the government put out contracts. And if they can somehow work it so as to keep the interest in putting out government contracts high then they have it made.
“And if they can somehow work it so as to keep the interest in putting out government contracts high then they have it made.”
A never-ending War on Terror ought to do the trick!
There is an excellent article (pdf file!) pending approval that I posted on the subject of bids and protests.
Annual USA government contracting totals half a trillion dollars! This is larger than the GDP of all but the top 20 countries. If contracting was a country, it would equal Norway.
So keep bleating about Obamaphones and food stamps, we are the real welfare queens!
Crony capitalism isn’t capitalism. The illusion of a free market isn’t a free market.
It is rather heartening to see the cynicism, even the disgust and contempt spreading among the people as a result of the many incidents and phenomena that have occurred in the wake of 9/11. It is a big step in the right direction. F*ck the squids in Washington and on Wall Street and their foreign collaborators.
I have never seen or heard a General Dynamics or Lockheed Martin employee or CEO say “We need to take your guns to reduce crime”
To be fair, I don’t think I’ve heard a politician say that either.
Two Democratic legislators have just been recalled in Colorado.
Both were instrumental in implementing that state’s new gun laws.
bs.
bloomberg and feinstein are on the record as gun-grabbers.
GD and LMCO… and the list goes on and on.
Private contractors do a LOT more than just defense work. I’m not sure if people realize this, but private contractors administer Medicare and many other essential government functions. And, on the whole, they are expensive and do not do a very good job. But they make profits and then use the profits for lobbying, campaign contributions (both sides of the aisle, baby!), and the appeal to the public via television commercials.
Most government work that needs to be done could be done by government employees. It could be done simply and effectively, with less fraud, overcharging, turnover, etc. But it wouldn’t generate profits for anyone and thus can’t line politicians’ pockets. So it will continue to be done by “private” contractors.
”
It’s twelve years after September 11, 2001.
Is the War on Terror over yet?
If so, who won?”
I’ve been a peacenik ever since Saddam Hussain was captured. Was that 2004? I’m going to get really drunk when they repeal the so-called “Patriot Act.”
Well, maybe drink a whole bottle of $100 wine
Where’s Iraq & Afghani in your list?
They attacked us on 9/11 because they hate our freedoms.
Saddam Hussein the Iranian dictator baked yellow cakes and threatened our friend and ally Israel and flew planes into World Trade Centers and we have to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here and let’s roll and mission accomplished and freedom isn’t free and these colors don’t run and power of pride and magnetic ribbon and lapel pin and GM is alive and Osama is dead.
You forgot “I support the troops!”
“I support the troops!”
Yeah, those bumper stickers really show people care. I insult people by calling those yellow vehicle magnetics (most made in China) mental m*sturb*tion.
Any military personnel I come in contact with gets a thanks for serving acknowledgement from me. They truly appreciate the recognition.
Our govt stinks but the military are brave souls.
Musn’t fuqe with the Central Bankers and the Bilderberg crowd, that’ll getcha @ss bombed for sure.
Iraq: Baghdad Moves To Euro
By Charles Recknagel
November 01, 2000
Baghdad’s switch from the dollar to the euro for oil trading is intended to rebuke Washington’s hard-line on sanctions and to encourage Europeans to challenge it. But the political message will cost Iraq millions in lost revenue. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel looks at what Baghdad will gain and lose, and the impact of the decision to go with the European currency.
Prague, 1 November 2000 (RFE/RL) — Iraq is going ahead with its plans to stop using the U.S. dollar in its oil business in spite of warnings the move makes no financial sense.
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1095057.html - 92k -
“Comment by goon squad
2013-09-11 07:14:32
They attacked us on 9/11 because they hate our freedoms.”
Then we should all be safe in the near future as Prince Obomba, Exalted Ruler of Mordor On The Potomac, continues to crush domestic freedoms at every opportunity.
The only “domestic freedoms” you’ll get from Bathhouse Barry the Chicago Jesus are an Obamaphone, a SNAP card, and a Big Gulp of Purple Drank.
Is QVC selling drones on television yet?
I’ll only buy a drone if it’s a designer model. Do drones come in pink chiffon or cobalt blue? If so, I’ll take two of each.
After all, I wanna look good when I first spy on and then blackmail my neighbors. Selling out my neighbors’ freedoms? Who cares.
To think of all the money I’ll make and how powerful I’ll feel….it’s all so intoxicating!
Support the cause, you racis’!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-sdO6pwVHQ
Will your flag decal get you into heaven anymore?
No. Apparently you now need an Obomba sticker. He is coming out with a new one that says, ‘Peace- through superior firepower!’
“Peace - through One-Size Fits All Or Else Government!’
Obama is the black deity. The only deity is black. No such thing as good white skin.
According to guitl-ridden hand-wringing “progressives” and Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, and Al Scharpton.
“They attacked us on 9/11 because they hate our freedoms”
I used to think so. David Kelley’s ‘Objectivist Center” which is now I think “The Atlasphere” posted a convincing article that said we were attacked for our freedoms. But then why did they not attack Costa Rica, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Singapore? Those places have more freedoms than the U.S.
Russia has a 13% flat income tax. The average Russian is freer than the average American. Why wasn’t Russia attacked?
Why is Ron Paul in disagreement with the Goon Squad?
http://non-intervention.com/ Michael Scheurer, ex CIA agent, Quit in November 2004:
“For a long time, it struck me as quite egotistical — and probably
arrogant — to think that I had anything to say about contemporary
U.S. foreign policy and the perils of its relentless interventionism
that would merit a website of my own. And to tell the truth, I still
have doubts that (a) I have much to say that is insightful on the issue
and (b) that anyone will much care what I have to say.
Still, I have had a good number of responses — positive and negative
– to what I have written on foreign-policy issues since I resigned
from the CIA in November, 2004. Since that date, I have been
privileged to have had the opportunity to write for Antiwar.com and
LewRockwell.com. I want to offer my thanks and sincere appreciation
for the space they gave me, and to say very clearly that by starting
my own site, I am in no way criticizing those sites. Indeed, I should
be most pleased — not to say shocked — if this site has anywhere
near the substantive success or level of interest Antiwar.com and
LewRockwell.com have achieved.
That said, I finally decided to try a site of my own because I am not
fully committed to an unyielding anti-war position. I certainly do
believe that we are engaged in far too many wars; that most of them
are unnecessary; and that almost all of them are the consequence of
Washington’s rabid post-1945 interventionism. To the extent that
Washington — under both Democrats and Republicans — stops
intervening in overseas affairs that are of neither genuine concern to
the United States nor threats to U.S. interests, we will find
ourselves in far fewer wars. And I might add, in passing, that if
Americans begin to aggressively insist that all wars in which their
country becomes engaged must — per the Constitution — be formally
declared by the vote of Congress, we would likewise have far fewer wars.
But I do believe some wars are both necessary and unavoidable; indeed, I believe that human beings are hard-wired for war; that they are not perfectible; and that the only mercy in war is an enormous application of military power that wins victory for the United States in the shortest possible time. At present, the only war that falls into the necessary and unavoidable category, in my view, is our war against al-Qaeda and the growing Islamist forces it leads and inspires.
Motivated by Washington’s interventionist policies in the Muslim world, that foe declared war on America in August 1996. Sadly, we have yet to find a U.S. political leader in either party who will forthrightly accept the fact that we are at war with the Islamists; nor have we found one who will tell the American people that we are at war because of what the U.S. government does in the Muslim world — unqualified support for Israel, support for Arab tyrannies, invading Iraq, etc. — and not for who we are and how we live here in North America.
Today, Americans are rightly suspicious of calling our struggle with
the Islamists a war because they — again rightly — cannot believe
that people would wage a nearly 14-year war and gladly die in the
conflict because American women go to university, there are early
primaries in Iowa every four years, and many of us have a beer or two
after work. The consistent lies of our last four presidents, leading
generals, much of the media, and nearly all of the academy — “They
hate our freedoms, not what we do” — have misled and blinded
Americans to the very real threat the Islamists pose to domestic
security in the United States and some of our interests overseas.
My primary interest, then, in starting this website, is to discuss the
almost totally negative impact of Washington’s bipartisan lust to
intervene abroad, as well as to talk about how interventionism
undermines U.S. security, the nation’s economy, and our country’s
social cohesion. I also think it is appropriate to discuss here how
far we have strayed from the Founding Fathers’ vision of what America
and Americans should be at home and how the republic should conduct
itself in the wider world. This site will argue that the Founders’
recipe for safeguarding America in 1789 remains pertinent today: all
Americans must be vigilant of their liberty; politically active in its
defense; broadly educated to help assess politicians, policies, and
foreign entities that threaten that liberty; and armed to defeat
enemies, foreign or domestic, who threaten that liberty.
It will quickly become clear that I am not an original thinker on
these issues, but rather a person who was educated with, and is loyal
to, the ideas of those brilliant and far-seeing men who founded our
republic. I look forward to presenting my ideas and commentary on this
site, and, even more, I look forward to considering, discussing, and
learning from the responses of my fellow citizens.”
Sorry Bloomberg:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/11/pro-gun-control-democrats-ousted-in-colorado-recall/
I find it amusing that my coastal friends think that the NRA bought this result. They really don’t understand how different flyover is from their world.
A good analogy might be found the the hue and cry that would arise if legislation arose proposing all non-truckular vehicles costing more than $40K be severely restricted from the public roadways as superfluous and unnecessary. After all, luxury passenger cars kill far more school children than guns do. And does anyone really NEED a $70,000 Mercedes? A $20,000 Kia will get you there just as readily.
Last night a third black bear joined the other two that have been rampaging through my orchards and killing my small stock. You better believe I regard my firearms as necessary tools of the trade. And no, I’m not nearly good enough a shot to reliably drop one with eight shots in the dark. (Nor do I want to get close enough to do so.)
ahansen
Anyway you can trap them, or drug them in food, as their temptress, and have the authorities haul them away?
I envy your property and serene lifestyle, but bears scare the daylights out of me regarding your safety. You’re one fearless lady.
The authorities “haul them away” then “shoot them and dump them in a ditch”. Unquote from the fishngame guy.
They don’t relocate or repurpose, they can’t even salvage the meat or skins because of “liability issues”. If predators are trapped, tranked, or tanked, they are killed — no matter what the media is led to believe. Worse, if it’s a mother, they’re legally required to hunt down and kill the cubs or kits.
The drought has forced the big predators down from the mountain, and not surprisingly they’re attracted to food sources I.E.; my orchards and game birds (and ranch cats). I’m told that the best way to discourage them from returning is a rump-full of buck shot (and I’ve “trained” two of them in the last month) but once they’ve come to associate humans with food, the next step is people ARE food.
Hence, I’ve secured the proper paperwork and contacted a local hunter who has the appropriate game tags. At least that way I can negotiate a haunch out of the carcass in exchange for permission to hunt on my land.
I’ve lived here twenty years, and this is the first time I’ve seen such an influx of hungry critters. It’s heartbreaking.
Wow, I had no idea. I was thinking they could tranquilize them, maybe move them to a better location, where they could become older and wiser bears.
So next time they show a bear being tranquilized on the news, I should assume it didn’t have a “and they lived happily ever after” life going forward?
Wow, that’s sad.
The hunter angle at least has a repurpose to the killing of a majestic but dangerous wild animal.
When you live and socialize only amongst your type, you become naïve.
I find it amusing that my coastal friends think that the NRA bought this result. They really don’t understand how different flyover is from their world.
They’re clearly not well-informed on the topic. You’d only have to read a half-decent newspaper on a regular basis to know that guns are popular out in the pickup truck states.
I found the results of this poll of Colorado voters from a few weeks ago to be pretty interesting:
All voters oppose 54 - 40 percent the stricter new gun control laws which led to the recall effort. Democrats support the stricter laws 78 - 16 percent, while opposition is 89 - 7 percent among Republicans and 56 - 39 percent among independent voters. Women are divided on the stricter laws 48 - 45 percent, with men opposed 64 - 33 percent.
…
Colorado voters support 82 - 16 percent requiring background checks for all gun buyers. Support is strong among all groups.
Voters are divided 49 - 48 percent on a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=1941
Was there something else that was significant in the law besides background checks and magazine limits?
And as technology marches on:
Sticks and stones…
Bows and Arrows…
Metal blades…
Guns and canons…
Missiles and H-Bombs…
Next logical step - Death rays?
“Top Gun Control [Dumbocraps] ousted in Colorado Recall”
That is sweet!
Mortgage apps plunge, refinancing hits 4 year low as rates soar
CNBC | September 11, 2013
Applications for U.S. home loans plunged as mortgage rates matched their high of the year, with refinancing activity falling to its lowest in more than four years, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, sank 13.5 percent in the week ended Sept. 6, after rising 1.3 percent the prior week.
That puts the index at its lowest since November 2008 and the depths of the financial crisis.
Government Spending the Madoff Way: Deficits with no Debt!
Townhall.com | September 11, 2013 | Michael Schaus
That’s it. I’ve made up my mind: I now like President Obama’s Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew. In fact, I can’t stress enough how much I would like him to run my household expenses. Apparently the Federal Government ran a $146 billion deficit in the month of August and a $98 billion deficit in July without adding a single dollar to the total National Debt. I know – It’s a kinda cool trick!
According to reports released from the Treasury Department, the Federal Government’s total debt has remained at $16,699,396,000,000.00 since May 17th. . . That means our National Debt has remained just under the legal limit since spring, despite running deficits for multiple months.
If you’re having trouble grasping this concept, don’t worry. . . That’s why I want Jack Lew to run my household finances. This man is an accounting genius, apparently. Although, I can’t help but imagine that the IRS would be mildly irritated if I attempted similar financial accounting gimmicks in my check book.
The absurd notion that the government can run deficits without adding to its total debt burden is made possible (on paper) by the overly complicated manner used to account for federal debt obligations. According to Lew, the Treasury Department has taken a number of “extraordinary” steps to keep the debt from climbing over the limit set by congress.
According to CNSnews:
Among the “extraordinary measures” Lew said he could take to create this “headroom” under the debt limit were: 1) not investing new money from the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) in U.S. Treasury securities, 2) not reinvesting $58 billion ion Treasury Securities held by the CSRDF that would be maturing and not reinvesting $16 billion in interest owed to the fund, 3) suspending the routine daily reinvestment of $160 billion in special Treasury securities held by the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan, and 4) suspending the routine daily reinvestment of Treasury securities held by the government’s own Exchange Stabilization Fund.
Let me translate: He’s running similar accounting schemes that would land a CEO or an investment banker in the crosshairs of every financial regulatory body under the sun. Oh, not to mention that the IRS doesn’t really like it when personal expenses are juggled in such a way to hide income or debts in accounting ledgers. But, it’s OK. . . Because it’s the government. They get to do a lot of things no-one else gets to do; like borrow IOUs from one account to pay back deficits from another account without having to reimburse their borrowed IOUs with anything other than more IOUs.
“Apparently the Federal Government ran a $146 billion deficit in the month of August and a $98 billion deficit in July without adding a single dollar to the total National Debt.”
I posted that before and it is a pretty cool trick, kinda like the unemployment numbers in the recovry-less recovery. Or….
“The plan we need”
By Grant on October 23, 2012 |
Campaign trail
“Number four, my plan is going to cut the deficit by $4 trillion—remember I said the numbers actually add up. We’re going to do it in a balanced way by cutting spending we don’t need, but by also asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more so we can invest in research, invest in technology, those things that keep new jobs and businesses coming to America.
http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/the-plan-we-need/ - 27k -
He must have meant asking the wealthiest Americans to take a little bit more.
Posted: 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013
Top 1 percent took record share of 2012 US income
By PAUL WISEMAN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON —
The pay gap between the richest 1 percent and the rest of America widened to a record last year.
The top 1 percent of U.S. earners collected 19.3 percent of household income in 2012, their largest share in Internal Revenue Service figures going back a century.
U.S. income inequality has been growing for almost three decades. But until last year, the top 1 percent’s share of pre-tax income had not yet surpassed the 18.7 percent it reached in 1927, according to an analysis of IRS figures dating to 1913 by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Paris School of Economics and Oxford University.
it’s good to be the king.
It’s good to be king over a population of dummies.
Whether you are a good king or a bad king … it doesn’t really matter if it doesn’t matter to those whom you get to rule.
Tom Petty cut a great song called It’s Good To Be King.
You should give it a listen.
C’mon all you statists and messiah lovers, c’mon out to defend the lie! Pure blatant shenanigans. Probably criminal in some way or another. No one says jack. No one in the media cares.
What would Nixon have been with a complicit media?
The president who opened China and ended the Vietnam war?
“The president who opened China and ended the Vietnam war?”
And signed in Section 8 and screwed the other nations of their gold? Nixon was an even bigger criminal than the black deity.
China opened China, and Nixon escalated Vietnam into Cambodia until he was soundly defeated in Saigon by the NVA. Try your revisionist nonsense somewhere else.
“What would Nixon have been with a complicit media?”
A nobel peace prize winning great communicator?
It is the job of the Treasury to provide the funds that are needed to fulfill the spending programs that CONGRESS passed (and the president signed) into law in the budget. This includes borrowing money up to the legal debt limit. Would you rather Secretary Lew throw up his hands and say sorry the funds have run out when there are still ways to fund the programs that are required to be funded by the law passed by Congress?
I’m not extremely familiar with the accounting shifts that they use for this and personal finance is genrally a terrible analog for sovereign budgets, but I have my paycheck deposited in my savings account and only move a portion of that amount into my checking account. If I can’t pay a credit card bill out of the money in my checking account, am I unable to pay that credit card bill (money I have already spent)? No, of course not. I have to pay that bill out of another one of my accounts. If I didn’t have those accounts, I would have to stop putting money in my 401(k) and use that money to pay the bill. Only when I run out of ways (could be called tricks if you insist) to pay that bill, can I thow up my hands and say I can’t pay it.
Now I may have other ways to deal with this if some of that debt is from items that can be returned and their price credited to the card, but the executive branch can’t do that. The budget is what Congress says has to be spent, so that is what they have to do until they can’t do it anymore.
Congress should just authorize a few one trillion dollar coins and be done with it!
Millions Of Underwater Homeowners Drown In Debt
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100995592
And it can be you too. Just buy a house.
The 12-Year War: 73% of U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan on Obama’s Watch
CNS News | 9/11/2013 | Dennis M. Crowley
Twelve years ago today, nineteen al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four U.S. commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
In the war that Congress authorized against al Qaeda only three days after that attack, the vast majority of the U.S. casualties have occurred in the last four and a half years during the presidency of Barack Obama.
In fact, according to the CNSNews.com database of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan, 73 percent of all U.S. Afghan War casualties have occurred since Jan. 20, 2009 when Obama was inaugurated.
“Yep, It’s Another Housing Bubble”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101019905
With sales seized up and closing plunging rapidly, it’s time to exit fast.
Get what you can get for your house today because it’s going to be much much less tomorrow for many years to come.
pull your equity before the next bubble pops.
Pull some equity and pull some champagne corks.
Home prices only go up.
pull it ALL out. And then some. because housing only goes up.
spend it all on junk, cars, female enhancements and vacations.
——————–
Then when you are underwater - scream you are a victim and demand a bailout.
Apply for every government program. Maybe you will get lucky and hit the jackpot. Maybe even get the house for free under “eminent domain”…
Stop paying your mortgage for five years while you “fight” for your house. Do NOT put that mortgage money into a bank for later use. Spend that money on junk, cars and vacations.
Continue “fighting” for you house. Make sure you ALWAYS pay your property taxes as government doesn’t fool around with taking your house for non-payments like the banks do.
Eventually - strip it down to the studs, take all the copper and flush cement down the toilets. That will show the banks who is boss.
Apply for government programs to get a new house and mortgage in a year or so. If you are turned down by the banks - sue them for discrimination or red lining.
“Continue “fighting” for you house.”
That’s right……. Because its yours after all…… Even though you don’t have a nickel in it.
You bastards! Its not just a ‘house’- its my ‘home’! I’m getting all teary as I type this… I splashed some bloody mary mix in my eye last night.
lmao!
LOL
“female enhancements ”
Don’t knock them until you’ve tried them. Money well spent. Just ask my husband. lol
Your husband had some female enhancements? Is he TG?
Sounds about right….. After all the Donkey is in the land of fruits and nuts.
I learned about that in the University of Arizona Graduate School in Transgender Studies…
Only $99,000 to pay off in student loans.
No silly, I had the enhancements and I’ll never drown. lol
“…and I’ll never drown.”
+1 Sounds great…how big?
It’s about to get harder to buy a home
Why getting a mortgage will be trickier and costlier in 2014
————-
Consumers shopping for a home might want to pick up the pace: Getting a mortgage will likely become more challenging and costly next year.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-about-to-get-harder-to-buy-a-home-2013-09-11?dist=beforebell
How many Americans were able to refinance into low-interest loans through interventionist bailout policies?
Who paid for these low-interest refinances, and how?
“Who paid for these low-interest refinances, and how?”
Maybe I’m forgetting an important detail.
Fed should cut back on mortgage buys in September, Lacker says
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker testifies before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on ”Examining How the Dodd-Frank Act Could Result in More Taxpayer-Funded Bailouts” on Capitol Hill in Washington June 26, 2013. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa
NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia | Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:26pm EDT
(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve should begin reducing purchases of mortgage bonds, part of its monetary stimulus program, at its meeting next month, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said on Thursday.
The outlook for the U.S. labor market had improved substantially since the Fed launched its most recent bond-buying stimulus last year, meeting the central bank’s stated precondition for a retreat from such purchases, Lacker said.
“Personally, I opposed the purchase programs when they originated last September, so I was ready for tapering last October,” he told students at Christopher Newport University in response to questions from the audience.
“We’ve seen a substantial improvement in labor market conditions since we initiated the program. A good case can be made that that condition has been met.”
Lacker reiterated his long-standing opposition to what he sees as direct intervention in particular credit markets - and therefore outside the appropriate realm of central bank action.
“Compared to that benchmark policy, buying agency MBS (mortgage-backed securities) channels funds to mortgage borrowers, financed through sales of Treasury securities to the public,” Lacker said.
“Aggressive use of a central bank’s asset portfolio to channel credit to particular economic sectors or entities threatens dragging the central bank into distributional politics and places that governance arrangement at risk.”
…
well quite a few people must of refinanced because the mortgage commercials and radio adds were crazy like again. Quicken loans was up to there old games again.
I guess those mortgage fees are a cash cow. If you spend 3000 on a refinance to save a 100 bucks a month better plan on staying awhile.
Who paid? well I’m sure most of those loans were sold to fannie and freddie. We know how much bailout money they have got.
How? They seem to have an unlimited amount of money to buy loans. Not sure where it really comes from but I’m sure the taxpayer helps fund a lot of it.
I guess those mortgage fees are a cash cow. If you spend 3000 on a refinance to save a 100 bucks a month better plan on staying awhile.
They are indeed a cash cow. And a lot of those fees are junk. Try to get out of as many of them as you can.
“Not sure where it really comes from but I’m sure the taxpayer helps fund a lot of it.”
I’m not sure where the Fed’s $40 bn a month in MBS purchases really goes, but I have a hunch a fair amount is used to buy GSE debt which in turn funded federally-guaranteed mortgages in amounts over $500K to purchase Coastal California debt shacks.
Sept. 11, 2013, 7:42 a.m. EDT
It’s about to get harder to buy a home
Why getting a mortgage will be trickier and costlier in 2014
By AnnaMaria Andriotis
Consumers shopping for a home might want to pick up the pace: Getting a mortgage will likely become more challenging and costly next year.
Loan limits for popular mortgages are scheduled to drop in January, according to a Wall Street Journal report this week. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is planning to slash the maximum size of mortgages eligible to be backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which currently run as high as $417,000 in most parts of the country and up to $625,500 in pricier cities, including New York and San Francisco. That same month, new mortgage rules by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau go into effect, which restrict the types of mortgages lenders can provide. The changes could leave next year’s mortgage applicants with fewer and more expensive financing options to choose from than what’s currently available, experts say. “If you’re comfortable with what you can get this year, lock it in,” says John Vogel, adjunct professor of real estate at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. “Most rules that will come are in fact going to be less favorable to borrowers.”
…
Is it pretty much obvious to all by now that the Fed’s QE3 is the primary price support for gold?
Gold could fall to $1,250 if Fed tapers next week: UBS
September 10, 2013, 12:53 PM
The outlook for gold prices looks gloomy if the Fed goes ahead and begins tapering its securities purchases, Bank of America analysts say.
Such a move at next week’s FOMC meeting would represent the first step in a tightening of the Fed’s monetary policy. An increase in interest rates, or even the promise of increased interest rates demonstrated by tapering bond purchases, would depress gold prices because “rates represent opportunity costs of holding gold,” wrote BofAML metals strategist Michael Widmer in a note. The Fed currently buys $85 billion in mortgage and Treasury debt each month.
…
Noooooo!
I may have to sell my shirt when’s it’s still warm…
Don’t worry — the Fed is likely to make a QE3 taper postponement announcement which should be good for stocks, bonds, housing and metals.
@JoeSmith
Article (WARNING: pdf) from Daniel Gordon, Associate Dean for Government at GWU Law discussing the pros and cons of bid protests, the role of the GAO and the Court of Federal Claims, and how rarely protests actually result in the “disappointed bidder” winning the contract:
http://www.ncmahq.org/files/Articles/CM0913%20-%2016-29.pdf
UPDATE 1-California city backs plan to seize negative equity mortgages
Wed Sep 11, 2013 10:54am BST
By Jim Christie
RICHMOND, Calif, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Richmond, California’s leaders approved on Wednesday morning a plan for the city to become the first in the nation to acquire mortgages with negative equity in a bid to keep local residents in their homes.
The power of ‘eminent domain’ allows governments to seize private property for a public purpose.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/09/11/richmond-eminentdomain-idUKL2N0H70HW20130911
Wall Street has been fighting hard to quash the plan:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/10/wall-street-has-so-far-crushed-a-drastic-foreclosure-fix-one-california-town-could-change-that/
Interestingly, this is a real fix that could keep people in their houses and prevent foreclosure and improve their economic circumstance.
But, per government doublespeak, it’s not really about preventing foreclosure, it’s about protecting the big contributors, who have been thus far shielded from any consequence of their actions. Which benefits the politicians. Money and votes.
It’s like having an argument with someone, and they are hiding their actual position, while arguing another, more palatable position on the same side of the issue. Once the psuedo position is disproven, they are forced to defend their actual position. This is like that.
It occurs to me that this could be the thing that forces some discipline on the mortgage market. Lenders/loan originators don’t care about generating toxic loans, buyers don’t care about buying toxic loans because it’s all government guaranteed. The federal government and US central bank are trying to keep the system going because they have no problem saddling the taxpayer with the bill or just printing money to buy the debt.
However… if there is a plunge in real estate valuations and a foreclosure crisis results, and the buyers would be forced to take market values for their toxic loans… that might organically instill some discipline and due diligence in spite of the federal government and central bank’s best efforts.
Bulletin U.S. stock exchanges to pause in remembrance of 9/11 »
Sept. 11, 2013, 12:08 a.m. EDT
Why Bill Gross is doomed to lose money but not you
Commentary: Heed history and avoid rising-rate disaster
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.. (MarketWatch) — Good news: “Investors upbeat on economic growth,” shouts the Financial Times. “Borrowing costs surge for U.S. and Europe.” How much? 10-year Treasurys have been climbing from a 1.6% low in May. Just hit 3%, says Bloomberg Bond Trader.
Bad news: Back on April 29, Bond King Bill Gross warned of the end of a 30-year bull market in bonds. He also warned: We’re all “going to lose money investing.” Bonds are already down. Gross’ solution, high-risk alternatives. Will he lose? How much will you lose?
Meanwhile, the Fed’s lame-duck Boss Bernanke sits in his rocking chair talking tapering, waiting to retire. Yes, the real-world economy is leading the Federal Reserve. In Ben Bernanke’s fantasy world, his cheap money printing presses made him the savior of the monetary world.
Now, he’s just taking notes for his $10 million memoirs. Tapering’s just an excuse for doing nothing … till Summers (or Yellen) take control of the real world.
…
The State of The Economy – Podcast 9.6.13
Podcast Summary
Ryan discusses the the Syrian situation and its impact on interest rates. Ryan reviews the ADP payroll numbers and the initial jobless claims and notes that they were not too good but the market thinks they were not bad enough to cause the Fed not to taper its quantitative easing program. Ryan thinks that the Fed has no intention of tapering its QE program.
http://smaulgld.com/the-state-of-the-economy-podcast-9-6-13/
Sept. 11, 2013, 9:24 a.m. EDT
The perfect storm
By John Nyaradi
Syria, next week’s Fed meeting and the upcoming debt ceiling battle set up a perfect storm for global financial markets.
Syria remains a fast-moving and fluid situation, as first the “fear” trade took hold, sending equity markets lower and gold and oil higher. Then, virtually overnight, a diplomatic solution is now on the table and the “fear trade” is currently unwinding, at least for the time being, as world governments explore the Russian proposal for disarming Syria of its chemical weapons. Expect the twists and turns of this drama to continue whipping financial markets over the next few weeks.
Sept. 17-18 brings the long-awaited Federal Reserve meeting, Bernanke press conference and the anticipated beginning of the end for quantitative easing. The latest noise from Wall Street Journal columnist John Hilsenrath points to a “dovish taper” after last week’s nonfarm payrolls report came in weaker than expected.
The latest rumblings point to a small reduction in the Fed’s bond-purchase program to the tune of $10 billion/month, which would reduce the program from $85 billion to $75 billion and leave options open for future action depending upon the strength of the economy and employment.
Clearly the Fed is nervous about the impact of pulling the “punch bowl” of easy money, as previous attempts were met with less than a joyous reaction by U.S. stock markets.
The chart to the left demonstrates that after the first phase of quantitative easing ended on March 31 of 2010, the S&P 500 Index fell from 1,217 on April 23 to 1,022 on July 2 of that year.
When the second phase of quantitative easing was completed on June 30, 2011, the S&P 500 fell from 1,339 to a low of 1,123 on Aug. 19. On April 27, 2012, before Operation Twist was extended, the S&P began to fall from 1,403. By June 1, 2012, the S&P was down to 1,278.
The third and final phase of quantitative easing began on Sept. 13, 2012, when the S&P 500 was at 1,459. Since that time, the S&P has climbed all the way to 1,671, thanks to the Fed’s liquidity pump. The pressing question concerns the degree to which the S&P 500 could retreat when plans to cut back on the bond buying are announced, and it becomes clear that QE4 might not be on the horizon.
…
Good morning one and all from CA. Weather is fabulous and life is good; wishing the same for you.
do they grow a lot of strawberries in salinas? I drive through there every so often and notice a lot of high intensity farming going on. whats the # 1 cash crop besides medical marjquana?
azdude
I believe it is walnuts and almonds if I’m not mistaken. Ca exports a huge amount of nuts. Hence the phrase “land of fruits and nuts”.
it dont think it trees. vegetables?
Recreational Marijuana?
lettuce ?
I don’t think it gets cold enough for Almonds ?
Strawberries are king in Ventura Co. not to mention the high amounts of chemicals needed to grow strawberries mostly fumigents.
cactus
Modern Marvels (History Channel online) did a segment on snack foods, and they claimed walnuts and almonds were a huge export of Ca. I’m just parroting.
Pistachios are making inroads into the nut-triumvirate as well, (having overtaken Iran sometime in the 1980’s).
For-profit, private-sector, bootstrappers rip off the U.S. taxpayer:
“DeVry, which has two for-profit medical schools in the Caribbean, is accepting hundreds of students who were rejected by U.S. medical colleges. These students amass more debt than their U.S. counterparts — a median of $253,072 in June 2012 at AUC versus $170,000 for 2012 graduates of U.S. medical schools.
And though neither AUC nor Ross, in the island nation of Dominica, is accredited by the body that approves medical programs in the U.S., students at both schools are eligible for loans issued by the U.S. Education Department. The loans, which totaled about $310 million in the year ended June 2012, leave the U.S. taxpayer — not DeVry — on the hook if students should fail to get jobs and be unable to repay them.
As enrollment grows at the DeVry medical schools, so does revenue — 81 percent of which came from federal student loans in the year ended June 2011.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-10/devry-lures-medical-school-rejects-as-taxpayers-fund-debt.html
Aaaaaand, these alleged medical school graduates are literally sold to third-tier US teaching hospitals as residents. The hospital gets cheap staffing, De Vry gets boatloads of money, sub-standard “doctors” flood the market riding the coattails of the far more selective and rigorous US training, and we lucky ducky patients reap the “benefits”.
What’s not to love?
Isn’t bigger and bigger government great!!!!!
All these student loans are guaranteed by the taxpayer!
And here is another kicker.
If these island trained doctors and nurses get a government job - the government will “forgive” their loans!
The Free Sh*t Army is very happy.
————–
Relief From Student Loan Debt for Public Service Workers
New York Times | September 10, 2013 | ANN CARRNS
Raha Wala, a 30-year-old lawyer for an international human rights organization, is facing $200,000 in student loan debt. But if all goes according to plan, most of that burden will be forgiven after 2020 under a federal program aimed at helping those who enter public service jobs.
“It’s enabling me to do the work that I love,” said Mr. Wala, who graduated in 2010. “It wouldn’t be possible, otherwise.”
The federal government is trying to encourage more participation in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which was created in 2007. The program and other debt assistance options have been underused because of complex rules and sometimes conflicting benefits.
Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created a tool kit for employers — like nonprofits, school systems and police and fire departments — to help make their workers aware that they may be eligible. The public service program allows those with high student loan balances relative to their income to have the balance of their loans canceled if they work in government or nonprofit jobs for 10 years.
Mr. Wala hasn’t calculated exactly how much the forgiveness program will save him, but he expects it could be many thousands of dollars. “I definitely am looking at it as something that will have to happen, if I want to maintain a stable lifestyle,” he said.
” Public Service”
I’m w/ the late George Carlin. Call it what it is and to hell with the euphemism. A cushy govt job.
This is PRECISELY how the federal government should be approaching higher education IMO. Free or highly subsidized tuition for qualified students in exchange for a few years of public service in the relevant field.
Today, higher education is treated as a commodity instead of a public good. This does nothing to enhance civic responsibility.
There will be LOLZ when this gets hacked and leaked:
“A computer system underpinning the U.S. health-care overhaul has completed security testing and is ready to go, the federal government said.
The computer hub, a frequent target of Republicans, is designed to route data on customers using new insurance exchanges from seven federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-11/obamacare-computer-hub-completes-security-tests-u-s-.html
I’m missing the concern about homedebtors signing up in droves for adjustable-rate mortages in the face of rising interest rates. The Fed has demonstrated the willingness and ability to use MBS purchases to buy down mortgage rates, and undoubtedly will do so again in the wake of a future “mortgage crisis.”
So where is the problem?
Sept. 11, 2013, 7:43 a.m. EDT
Why new mortgage rules may fail borrowers
Protections may do little to keep people from taking on too much debt
By AnnaMaria Andriotis
Rules enacted after the housing crash to protect consumers from irresponsible lending practices may do little to prevent borrowers from taking on too much debt, recent trends suggest. Home buyers are again signing up in droves for risky adjustable-rate mortgages — the same loans that contributed to countless foreclosures just a few years ago.
Adjustable-rate mortgages, which offer low teaser rates which can rise substantially over time, accounted for 14% of all mortgage applications in August (in dollars), up from 10% a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. For borrowers, the appeal of an ARM is twofold: cheaper rates, and, as a result, larger loan sizes than people would qualify for with a fixed-rate mortgage. Mortgage experts, however, warn that ARM borrowers are being approved at interest rates that are far lower than what they could end up paying, and the new rules that were supposed to protect consumers from such situations are failing. “It is back to caveat emptor — the buyer has to look out for him or herself,” says Brad Hunter, chief economist at Metrostudy, a housing market research and consulting firm.
Prior to the downturn, lenders could approve ARM applicants based just on the loan’s introductory rate, and when rates reset, many borrowers were unable to keep up with their monthly payments and went into foreclosure. Since then, mortgage applicants have been expected to pass tougher hurdles to qualify for a loan, including making larger down payments and having higher credit scores. And earlier this year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, said lenders will need to make sure borrowers can afford monthly payments by using the “fully-indexed rate” — which is defined as the margin the lender charges on this loan plus the index it’s pegged to — or the introductory rate, whichever is higher. (This won’t officially go into effect until 2014, but many lenders say they’re already following the rule.)
Here’s the problem. With indexes near historical lows, the fully-indexed rate on some ARMs is actually lower than the initial teaser rate. Consider the 5/1 ARM, the most popular ARM, which has a fixed rate for the first five years before becoming variable. Its fully-indexed rate is often pegged to the one-year Libor, which is down to 0.67%, and a margin of 2.25 percentage points, which results in a 2.92% rate. That’s lower than the current average introductory rate on 5/1 ARMs of 3.5%, according to mortgage-info website HSH.com. (In fact, the introductory rates on average have been higher since the end of June, according to HSH.)
Even worse, both rates are nowhere near the highest rate ARM borrowers could incur. During the sixth year of a 5/1 ARM, the rate they pay can increase by up to five percentage points. So borrowers who are signing up for a 5/1 ARM now with an initial rate of 3.5% could pay up as much as 8.5% in 2018. The CFPB added a rule requiring lenders to consider highest possible rate within the first five years, but since most ARMs have a five-year teaser rate, that will have no effect on loan approvals. The bureau says this was still beyond the provision included in Dodd-Frank.
While there’s no way to know whether rates will shoot up so much, mortgage experts say it’s likely that rates will continue to climb. “It’s a reasonable bet that rates are going to be higher — the question is how much,” says Keith Gumbinger, vice president at HSH.
…
There are two lenses through which to look at this:
Lens 1: “The powers that be are supposed to be working for the stability of the financial system and the economic interest of the taxpayers.” With that lens, it makes no sense.
Lens 2: “The powers that be are working to pad the pockets of their biggest contributors - their cronies - who then turn around and give a portion of the proceeds back to the politicians.” With that lens, it makes perfect sense.
Lens 3: “These people are just stupid and don’t see the possible problems with this.” I don’t think these people are stupid.
Four lenses
Lens 4: “A majority of people want high house prices, and this gets us votes. Our FIRE sector contributors benefit from this and funnel money back to us. Money and votes, that’s what we need.” Looked at through this lens, it makes yet more sense.
Bloomberg is reporting that the big boys are reducing their credit conditions to suck in more borrowers in the states that are no longer considered to be ‘distressed, including Arizona, Nevada, Florida, and Michigan. Any left, besides CA? What happened between 2005 and 2008 seems to be taking months and weeks instead of years. Sounds to me like they are trying to spur a last gasp demand before things turn. Deja vu all over again…
http://tinyurl.com/o23ku27
CA, FL, AZ, NV, UT, OR and WA went subprime at lightning fast speed for 6 months. Someone threw it in reverse and it’s going to be ugly. Real ugly.
Look out below and stay in cash. You’re going to need every last penny.
“Just for the record; there is no shortage of housing. Not in California, not in Tokyo, not anywhere. And there will come a day (again) when the media will tell us, ‘there’s a glut of houses for sale in….’, and regale us with sob stories, ‘I was doing great until the economy went south and my income went away and I can’t get rid of this damned house!’”
~Ben Jones, August 8, 2013
This false notion…. this lie….. that there is a shortage of housing in the US is laughable considering there are tens of millions of excess empty houses out there. A sea of them. And it’s growing. Day by day.
“Housing is never an investment. Housing is a depreciating asset and a loss, always.”
Exactly. Houses depreciating just like automobiles. The difference is that losses on housing are crushing and last a lifetime at current grossly inflated asking prices.
HA
I agree at this time prices are inflated beyond belief, but many people will evaluate rent,moving costs, school districts, safety, and decide to just live there, and actually make the payments, thinking worse case a short sale down the road. Lots a gray out there, HA.
The other side of the coin is Ca’s pandering to homemoaners who had no business buying in the first place. Personally, I have little interest in having high prices. I want reasonable property taxes. Prop 13 2% cap is still money going to people who took soft $ in exchange for their core values.
And “the payments” are half the cost of PITI and maintenance/depreciation.
You’re exhibit A in a lesson on how to lose a fortune on a house.
HA
We will worse case break even, and we don’t have rent. We’re doing well.Money is relative. Some people have more than others. In the end, we’re all dead. Lighten up.
You overpaid by $200k. That’s not breaking even.
inchbyinch you must be up 100K by now.
You got in at the right time.
I noticed Phoenix is up 100K on most houses were I used to live in Ahwatukee off a street named Tano. Unbelievable
The average cost of a house in Ventura Co is over 700K !!
Now if the FED could just make real jobs to back up their money creation I’d say prices would stick …
cactus
Yeah, Ventura County is insanely priced. Our floor plan without the pita cement pond just closed at $117K more than we paid (Sept 2012 coe). We gutted this joint, and still would make $. We got in just in the nick of time.
You’re right about jobs..
We miss Moorpark’s climate, btw.
“We got in just in the nick of time.”
You sure did. But not in the way you think. wink wink.
“The average cost of a house in Ventura Co is over 700K !!”
Wow, that’s a lot of money. Insanity^3.
Last week, I said the economy is driven by human wants. And yes, that is a huge tidal force. However, it’s also driven by “gaming the government.”
One wonders what possible economic force would make profitable providing loans which won’t be paid back - it’s just giving money to people. Well what makes that profitable is when government insures the debt.
Government’s big, many trillions of dollars worth of spending. So gaming the government is another strong current driving the economy.
Gaming the government
That’s when your HYP education come in handy.
Relevant.
The Question of Extractive Elites
Apr 14th 2012
The Economist
“Because elites dominating extractive institutions fear creative destruction”, the authors write, “they will resist it, and any growth that germinates under extractive institutions will be ultimately short-lived.”
http://www.economist.com/node/21552589
Creative destruction is not allowed at the top, only the middle and bottom.
Governments striving to create public dependency are nothing new. Creating false marketplaces is just one of many tools in their imperialistic arsenal.
As governments grow, so do the lies. Government MUST lie in order to grow as they do not generate a profit.
A shrinking government is a more honest government.
How do you define “profit”? For instance, do the earnings from the Megabank, Inc. scam to shuttle aluminum between different warehouses around Detroit and charge clients for it fit your definition?
Mafias create a profit too. But it’s a result of wealth extraction, not wealth generation.
Like a fellow makes 10 widgets and sells them. The wealth of the society goes up as he’s got more money and the people have the widgets which they value as much as they paid.
A mafioso walks up to that fellow and says, “Be a shame if something happened to your establishment here. I can protect you if you pay me 500 bucks.” The fellow pays. He is poorer, societal wealth is unchanged, and the mafiosi is wealthier. The mafioso has made a profit. Also, the case can be made that the money taken by the mafioso cannot be invested in widget making supplies, so that imposes an economic cost, so the society is in fact poorer than it would have been in the longer term.
Artificially increasing aluminum costs, are an extractive profit, and that situation is analogous the example above.
“Mafias create a profit too. But it’s a result of wealth extraction, not wealth generation.”
That’s right. As do private sectors who leverage up financially sound companies’ balance sheets with junk bonds and walk away from the disaster they created millions and millions of dollars richer.
Piracy is a very profitable business!
Oops… meant to say “private sector corporate raiders”…
Also noteworthy:
Mafia operations, corporate raiders and too-big-to-fail banks which rely on publicly funded bailouts to steady their balance sheets during financial crises are all highly profitable private enterprises.
The private sector does it better than the gubmint, under all circumstances!
It’s not fraud, it’s a merry-go-round of metal that creates private sector jobs!
The House Edge
A Shuffle of Aluminum, but to Banks, Pure Gold
David Walter Banks for The New York Times
Aluminum ingots waiting to be shipped from a processor. Financial institutions like Goldman Sachs have used industry pricing regulations to earn millions of dollars each year.
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Published: July 20, 2013
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. — Hundreds of millions of times a day, thirsty Americans open a can of soda, beer or juice. And every time they do it, they pay a fraction of a penny more because of a shrewd maneuver by Goldman Sachs and other financial players that ultimately costs consumers billions of dollars.
The story of how this works begins in 27 industrial warehouses in the Detroit area where a Goldman subsidiary stores customers’ aluminum. Each day, a fleet of trucks shuffles 1,500-pound bars of the metal among the warehouses. Two or three times a day, sometimes more, the drivers make the same circuits. They load in one warehouse. They unload in another. And then they do it again.
This industrial dance has been choreographed by Goldman to exploit pricing regulations set up by an overseas commodities exchange, an investigation by The New York Times has found. The back-and-forth lengthens the storage time. And that adds many millions a year to the coffers of Goldman, which owns the warehouses and charges rent to store the metal. It also increases prices paid by manufacturers and consumers across the country.
Tyler Clay, a forklift driver who worked at the Goldman warehouses until early this year, called the process “a merry-go-round of metal.”
…
How many excess empty houses are Fannie and Freddy (Phoney and Fraudie) holding? Any estimates? 5 million? More?
Fannie was a 96,920 as of the end of Q2 2013 per their credit supplement report.
http://www.fanniemae.com/resources/file/ir/pdf/quarterly-annual-results/2013/q22013_credit_summary.pdf
See Page 17.
Lolz…… Liar quotes a liar.
Now in reality, where is FraudieMac at in terms of excess empty houses….. 5 million? 7 million?
Is the stock market going to go up forever, just like houses?
You know it!
Is the value of Money ( your pay ) going down forever ?
Answer yes all paper money becomes worthless over time
Deflation is a rare event when money can be created by lowering interest rates and lending standards, at least in a irresponsible country were paying back debt is for suckers, this isn’t Japan after all.
But depreciation is a common event that occurs ever second of everyday of every year. Houses depreciate rapidly.
It will only go up until the day after you close out all your short positions.
i no ryte
Just remember, the market exists to inflict the maximum possible amount of pain on the largest number of investors, and you will feel much better about your personal investing conundrum. Misery loves company!
This Housing-Bubble Era Home Loan Commercial Will Make You Cringe
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/pre-financial-crisis-home-loan-ad-cringe-2013-9#ixzz2ebTMtqEY
“I’m with Countrywide and I got them all approved!”
LOL
Interesting news there.
“Rejoice, hipster parents — there’s a new way for your children to be way cooler than their peers.
DJ and NYC-resident Natalie Elizabeth Weiss has started a Baby DJ School in Brooklyn.”
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/baby-dj-school-in-brooklyn-2013-9#ixzz2ec8YoTie
Dj-ing ceased being “hip” around 1998. It’s not even ironic now.
The only people interested in hearing little Zoe prattle into a mic are little Zoe’s grandma and maybe the housekeeper.
What ahansen said.
A wonder legal eagle in my networking group is a former CW (then BOA) employee. She would still be working if she didn’t take a promotion. Lots of IT and Engineers in the group as well.
One thing I noticed is how plump everyone is. A few of us are fit and boy do we stand out.
wonderful oops
A few of us are fit and boy do we stand out.
Oh, I thought those WERE the girlz talking…
“A few of us are fit and boy do we stand out.”
Lets hear more about those adopted girlz.
Lets hear more about those adopted girlz.
“A few of us are fit and boy do we stand out.”
I thought those WERE the girlz talking…
“This Housing-Bubble Era Home Loan Commercial Will Make You Cringe”
+1 And a good looking shill too.
Housing Nirvana Gets Slapped By Higher Rates
————
Housing is simple… DTI DTI DTI and liquid assets …. there is no tight lending going on, we have an income problem here in the U.S.
http://loganmohtashami.com/2013/08/26/housing-nirvana-gets-slapped-by-higher-rates/
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/pre-financial-crisis-home-loan-ad-cringe-2013-9#ixzz2ebUKXNM8
Talked to a realtor acquaintance today(yes really)….. I asked her who is buying right now…… she stated ” Housing Analyst, the people buying right now have to be the dumbest people I’ve worked with in my 23 years of doing this.”
I had to chuckle as this aligns with what we all know is true. You’d have to be a complete moron to buy a house in the current environment. Not that it’s any different than any other time in the last 14 years but it should be obvious to everyone by now that you’ll get ripped off badly.
Dumb. Borrowed. Money.
HA
In So Ca, 14 years ago, was a pretty good time to buy. You can’t lump every region, state and micro market into a blanket statement. That’s ridiculous. And maybe your realt*r friend was mirroring you. They are trained to do so.
You got ripped off by one of your own on the order of $200k and you’re still making excuses for them.
Sept. 11, 2013, 10:32 a.m. EDT
Even Ivy Leaguers default on student loans
How the top-ranked schools fare when it comes to student debt
By AnnaMaria Andriotis
The latest college rankings by U.S. News & World Report are out, and Princeton University once again tops the list. But is the New Jersey Ivy League school the smartest financial move for the nation’s smartest students?
One data point to consider is the rate at which graduates default on student loans, a commonly cited barometer and one that’s been embraced by the federal government.
By this measure, the number one school appears not to fare as well as others on the list. A Princeton graduate is four times as likely to default on student loans than one from say, the seventh-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
…
Engineers have always been better risks than lawyers…
Source?
“Source?”
The issue is, “factor of safety” v “ego.”
It seems to me that lawyers can’t be admitted to the bar if they have defaulted on their debts….
“It seems to me that lawyers can’t be admitted to the bar if they have defaulted on their debts…”
+1 Good point.
http://picpaste.com/pics/Hoboken_911-TWJ0uyoO.1378943863.jpg