Prices? Still falling…

From S&P:

Home Prices Off to a Dismal Start in 2011

Data through January 2011, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show further deceleration in the annual growth rates in 13 of the 20 MSAs and the 10- and 20-City Composites compared to the December 2010 report. The 10-City Composite was down 2.0% and the 20-City Composite fell 3.1% from their January 2010 levels. San Diego and Washington D.C. were the only two markets to record positive year-over-year changes. However, San Diego was up a scant 0.1%, while Washington DC posted a healthier +3.6% annual growth rate. The same 11 cities that had posted recent index level lows in December 2010, posted new lows in January.

“Keeping with the trends set in late 2010, January brings us weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “With this month’s data, we find the same 11 MSAs posting new recent index lows. The 10-City and 20-City Composites continue to decline month-over-month and have posted monthly declines for six consecutive months now.

“These data confirm what we have seen with recent housing starts and sales reports. The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery. At most, we have seen all statistics bounce along their troughs; at worst, the feared double-dip recession may be materializing. A few months ago we defined a double-dip for home prices as seeing the 10- and 20-City Composites set new post-peak lows. The 10-City Composite is still 2.8% above and the 20-City is 1.1% above their respective April 2009 lows, but both series have moved closer to a confirmed double-dip for six consecutive months. At this point we are not too far off, and that is what many analysts are seeing with sales, starts and inventory data too.

From the Washington Post:

Drop in home prices in January raises fear of double dip

Home prices dropped in nearly all major housing markets in the country in January, according to price index numbers released Tuesday. Analysts said the decrease might be a harbinger of a double-dip recession in the housing market.

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite index fell 3.1 percent from its January 2010 level. The 10-city index declined 2 percent.

Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight, said normal seasonal factors probably account for nearly half of the decline in S&P’s index for December and January

“I don’t think the numbers were that ugly,” he said. “Prices are slowly coming near bottom. They’re not in a free-fall like they were in 2009.” Using his estimates, he expects housing prices nationally to decline another 5 percent and hit bottom — a double dip — in the second half of this year.

From Forbes:

Home prices hit pre-boom levels in 14 US cities

Damage from the housing bust is spreading to areas once thought to be immune.

In at least 14 major U.S. metro areas, prices are now at 2003 levels – when the housing bubble was just starting to inflate. Prices will likely fall further this year, making many people reluctant to buy or sell. That would push down sales and prices more.

The depressed housing industry is slowing an economy that has shown strength elsewhere. And it’s starting to hurt those who bought years before the housing boom began. In some cities, people who have paid their mortgages for a decade have little or no home equity.

Prices have tumbled in familiar troubled spots, such as Las Vegas, Cleveland and Detroit. But they’re also at or near 10-year lows in Denver, Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis – cities that weren’t as swept up in the housing boom and bust.

“It’s been tough on the lower class but it’s filtering up,” said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist with Capital Economics. “It may be only a matter of time before it hits the wealthy.”

This entry was posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

204 Responses to Prices? Still falling…

  1. grim says:

    From the Record:

    Home values down 3% in region and nationwide

    What’s new: Home values dropped 3 percent in the New York metropolitan area, including North Jersey, in the 12 months ended in January, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index reported Tuesday. Prices dropped 3.1 percent nationwide.

    What it means: Almost five years after home prices peaked in summer 2006, the housing market’s troubles are not over. While a federal home buyers’ tax credit propped up housing demand last year, sales and prices have declined since the tax credit expired. With unemployment above 9 percent, fewer households can afford to buy, and tighter lending standards have kept mortgages out of reach for many. And a high level of foreclosures is pouring more homes on the market, where they typically sell at a discount.

    In this region, single-family home prices have returned to the levels of March 2004, and are down 23 percent from their peak in summer 2006. Nationally, prices are at summer 2003 levels, down almost 32 percent from the peak. In four metropolitan areas – Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and Las Vegas – home prices are below their levels of January 2000.

    What’s happening locally: Case-Shiller does not break down price data by county, but according to the N.J. and Garden State multiple listing services, Bergen County single-family home prices dropped 13.7 percent from January 2010 to January 2011, to a median $412,000. In Passaic County, prices rose 6.8 percent, to a median $274,563. The MLS figures are affected by the mix of properties sold in a month, so if more lower-priced properties are selling, that will bring down the median prices. Case-Shiller is considered a more reliable indicator because it tracks the value of the same properties over time.

  2. grim says:

    From CNBC:

    How Low Will Home Prices Go?

    Did I say double dip? Well I’m not the only one.

    Today’s home price report from S&P Case Shiller proves the point. Remember, this report is based on the sale prices of transactions that closed in January, but it is also a three month running average. That means that at least two thirds of the price deals were struck in October and November, when mortgage rates were at historic lows, providing more purchasing power; they only began spiking in December.

    What’s so indicative of that double dip to me is that many of the markets with the biggest price drops are not those original boom-to-bust markets in California and Florida. Prices in Atlanta are down 7 percent year over year, Chicago down 7.5 percent, Minneapolis down 7.6 percent and Seattle down 6.7 percent. The S&P Case Shiller is now just 1.1 percent above the low of April 2009; I guess we’re not officially in a double dip until we go below that, but we’re pretty close.

    “Bottom line, prices are retesting the lows again with no reason to think they won’t break below,” notes Miller Tabak’s Peter Bookvar. “The question of course is to what degree and whether bank balance sheets are prepared. Most unfortunately do not assume a double dip in pricing.”

  3. Confused In NJ says:

    Sad.

  4. Barbara says:

    Just got a call back from a realtor I called about a listing over a year ago. Never met him, just called with a question on a listing and gave him my number. Two sentences in I told him that I look regularly but asking and bank owned are just reflected the debt, not the market realities. I told him the market is dead, he agreed. He said that after 90s banks become more willing to negotiate on price and then the houses sell quickly. True? Its not what I’ve heard from others.

  5. Barbara says:

    “after 90 days”

  6. cobbler says:

    In case this hadn’t been brought up yet:
    Cash-Paying Vultures Pick Bones of U.S. Housing Market as Mortgages Dry Up
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-29/cash-paying-vultures-feast-on-u-s-housing-as-mortgages-dry-up.html

  7. spyderjacks says:

    #6 – Cool. I want to be a vulture but I really hate FL.

  8. Dan says:

    Ok, so if I’m buying a townhouse for 15% less than the comp (two units away) back in June or 25% lower than this same comp from 2006 (owner obviously took loss), according to this article, am I part of the problem or part of the solution?

  9. Dan says:

    Manchester United playing in Harrison in July? I would have thought Clot would have mentioned that…..

    http://www.nj.com/redbulls/index.ssf/2011/03/manchester_united_manager_sir_alex_ferguson_praises_mls_red_bull_arena.html

  10. Shore Guy says:

    Neanderthal,

    From prior thread, Android really sucks.

  11. chicagofinance says:

    EXCELLENT!
    Montana Gun-With-Satellite-TV Deal Draws Criticism as Sales Soar
    http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aVNhJtetAsfE&pos=10

  12. Mikeinwaiting says:

    http://emailrpt.gsmls.com/public/show_public_report_rpt.do?report=clientfull&Id=63345646_11260

    Here is about a 20% reduction to go with the header, yes they are still falling. Ugly place if you ask me, nice location though.

    Clot the house from yesterday propane! Stay away stay far away at any price, try adding 7k in heating on those taxes. Been there that is the number & that is being frugal with it.

  13. grim says:

    From Business Insider:

    This Is The County With America’s Highest Property Tax

    Homeowners in New Jersey’s Passaic County are reeling under growing property tax burdens as local governments and schools struggle to close gaping budget gaps.

    The county – home to New York City bedroom communities like Little Falls and Paterson – has the highest property taxes in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington-based research group that advocates lower taxes.

    Rising personnel costs are being passed on to Passaic county residents through regular property tax increases. Between 2007 and 2009 real estate taxes in Passaic County ate up an average 8.79% of median household income, which was $83,589 during the same period. The average property tax was $8,459 last year, up from a 2007-09 median of $7,345.

    The growing property tax burden in Passaic County mirrors state and nationwide trends. In New Jersey, residents paid an average $7,576 in residential property taxes last year, the highest in the country.

  14. grim says:

    From the Star Ledger:

    Judge approves settlement to review mortgage foreclosure process

    A settlement that will require six of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders to disclose the specifics of how they foreclose on homeowners has been approved by a Superior Court judge in Mercer County.

    Under the agreement, retired Judge Richard Williams will review the lenders’ foreclosure processes to ensure all filed documents are based on personal knowledge and accurate business records. He also has the power to periodically review a sample of future foreclosures.

    The settlement was made public two weeks ago, and comes four months after Chief Justice Stuart Rabner issued a three-part initiative to investigate what could be rogue foreclosure filings, noting a staggering increase in caseload and concerns judges had inadvertently “rubber stamped” files that had inadequate or inaccurate paperwork. In response, the banks argued they had already revised their foreclosure procedures.

    The judge presiding over the case, Mary Jacobson, said yesterday she was encouraged, but not satisfied, with their answers.

    “Essential for me is to have a review process,” she said. “To me, this agreement goes to the heart of that.”

  15. 30 year realtor says:

    #14 Grim – Nobody appears to be addressing the essential question. When do sheriff sales return to normal??????

  16. 30 yr (15)-

    In about 50-100 years.

  17. Extend and pretend. In the end, we’re all dead.

  18. Until bad debts are acknowledged and written down, we will experience constant retracements to the post-Lehman, fall ’08 chaos.

    It is obvious now that TPTB know the only way to avoid writing down the bad debt is to essentially lock the economy in a state of suspended animation. We are now like fossilized trilobites, locked forever in umber, in death throes both agitated and resigned.

  19. The next Lehman-type events will involve entire countries doing the same. And, as with Lehman, their neighbors will pick the corpses for goodies, then pin their garbage to the corpses before they are tossed into the abyss.

    This is what Jamie Dimon has taught the world.

  20. gary says:

    “Keeping with the trends set in late 2010, January brings us weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future”

    tick… tick… tick… tick…

  21. Shore Guy says:

    Help me. My price has fallen and it cant get up.

  22. Kettle1^2 says:

    Lone Ranger

    your hotmail account may be compromised. I am getting spam from your account that clearly isn’t something you would send.

  23. freedy says:

    But wait, its the spring selling season and the Bergen Record says it a great time to buy real estate. Sale of a life time.

  24. gary says:

    I learned that two more friends received layoff notices this week. One is in distribution for a pharmaceutical firm in Piscataway. There are moving the distribution overseas. I understand this “level playing field” concept, however sad it is. We always dictated the path for prosperity in this country. Now, it’s dictated by foreign entities. The person who claims to be president doesn’t have the will, capicity, wisdom or leadership to change course for the ship – nor do I believe he really wants to. That’s another discussion entirely. What I don’t understand is how we will pay 500K for a POS with 11K in property taxes on top of all other ridiculous costs of living working as waiters and waitresses in Red Lobster. That’s what I don’t understand.

  25. Link to article on The Donald’s defaulting son-in-law that was moderated in #34:

    http://tinyurl.com/4v5snt4

  26. gary says:

    grim,

    un-mod me! :)

  27. Shore Guy says:

    Kettle,
    welcome back pappa

  28. Shore Guy says:

    So
    , Tepco is going to “close” four of the six reactors at Fukushima. What a surprise.

    This just in, the Tepco chief seems to have taken ill. Sympathetic radiation sickness?

  29. I love it. Only a pinko NJ judge like Rabner could even come up with a phrase like “rogue foreclosure filing”. With idiots like him at the controls, the sheriff sales will start again in about 2036.

    Just a noxious, overwhelming stench of death and putrescent rot in the air today. Maybe 6-12″ of snow can knock it down.

  30. Essex says:

    Is it me or does it suck to live in New Jersey? Even with money??

  31. Shore Guy says:

    Is Tepco “closing” Fukushima like the Washington DOT “closing” the Tacoma Narriws bridge after it self destructed?

  32. shore (26)-

    His TEPCO calls are expiring worthless.

    “This just in, the Tepco chief seems to have taken ill. Sympathetic radiation sickness?”

  33. I’m surprised no one has called for the nuke plant to be nuked.

    I still wish we’d done that with the BP well. It would’ve been cool, even if it didn’t work.

  34. Thundaar says:

    Went to The Bank and Special Asset Conference in NYC Monday and Tuesday…..Debt was right all along……….. the banks can and are doing anything they want. Spoke to 50-60 bank special assets people…..very smug, no problems…..getting 80-90% for their commercial assets…….economy picking up everything is getting better..blah, blah blah……BS
    Debt was right…..doomed…..

  35. Shore Guy says:

    Remind me again how it is bad for housing to take a smaller bite out if one’s monthly budget.

  36. Looks like Trump’s son-in-law has a talent for default as well:

    “Over two years ago, when discussing the absolutely top ticked purchase of one 666 Fifth Avenue by under-30 real estate mogul extraordinaire, NY Observer owner and now Donald Trump son in law, Jared Kushner, we said: “Looks like the commercial mortgage apocalypse is about to claim its next victim, this time in the form of the appropriately numbered 666 Fifth Avenue building, home to such previously flourishing tenants as Citi Private Wealth Management…the building’s DSCR has fallen to an abysmal 0.69. Even when taking into account the $98 million (or much less) reserve fund the building has set aside to cover rent shortfalls, one can assume it won’t be long before the 666 insignia again prominently graces the roof, especially since it would have to replace a laughable Citi sign.” Ah, the good old days of 2009, when news mattered, data actually flowed through models, hedge funds traded on constant inside information, markets actually dipped, POMO was a clown, and central planning was merely a drop of unrecycled ink in Ben Shalom Mugabe’s toner cartridge. But we digress. As usual Zero Hedge may have been just a little bit ahead of the curve, though still better late in our prediction than never. With little surprise we read in the WSJ, that after an artificial delay of over 2 years, the inevitable is about to catch up with reality, confirming that no amount of Vissarionovichian market manipulation can make up for the complete absence of cash flows. “As of March, the aluminum-panel-clad skyscraper was about $3.5 million-a-month short on debt service, say people familiar with the matter. Only $10 million remained in a reserve fund used to service the property’s $1.22 billion mortgage, which is tied to the office portion of the building. Its revenues are only one-fourth the amount forecast in 2007.” Next steps: technical and/or full blown default.”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/father-son-law-ivanka-trumps-husband-about-experience-his-first-real-estate-default

  37. aargh…moderated at #34

  38. Jamie Dimon says:

    # 33 – Remind me again how it is bad for housing to take a smaller bite out if one’s monthly budget.

    Debt is good!

  39. whoa; moderated again.

  40. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (35) jd

    Debt is good if you invested the principal in productive or hard assets kept in a safe jurisdiction, and will stick the creditor, and ultimately the USG, with the nonrecourse debt.

  41. Neil Barofsky:

    “That program (HAMP) has been a colossal failure, with far fewer permanent modifications (540,000) than modifications that have failed and been canceled (over 800,000). This is the well-chronicled result of the rush to get the program started, major program design flaws like the failure to remedy mortgage servicers’ favoring of foreclosure over permanent modifications, and a refusal to hold those abysmally performing mortgage servicers accountable for their disregard of program guidelines. As the program flounders, foreclosures continue to mount, with 8 million to 13 million filings forecast over the program’s lifetime.

    Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has acknowledged that the program “won’t come close” to fulfilling its original expectations, that its incentives are not “powerful enough” and that the mortgage servicers are “still doing a terribly inadequate job.” But Treasury officials refuse to address these shortfalls. Instead they continue to stubbornly maintain that the program is a success and needs no material change, effectively assuring that Treasury’s most specific Main Street promise will not be honored.

    Finally, the country was assured that regulatory reform would address the threat to our financial system posed by large banks that have become effectively guaranteed by the government no matter how reckless their behavior. This promise also appears likely to go unfulfilled. The biggest banks are 20 percent larger than they were before the crisis and control a larger part of our economy than ever. They reasonably assume that the government will rescue them again, if necessary. Indeed, credit rating agencies incorporate future government bailouts into their assessments of the largest banks, exaggerating market distortions that provide them with an unfair advantage over smaller institutions, which continue to struggle.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/opinion/30barofsky.html?_r=4

  42. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    13 grim my inlaws pay about 1K a month for the priveldge of remaining in Woodland Park on a house that is paid for

  43. All Hype says:

    Thundaar (33):

    That’s why QE to infinity is a lock. They know it and will sky the markets.

    I am with Doom , embrace the oblivian……

  44. chicagofinance says:

    Queue up the nostalgia quotient:
    True Religion, based in Vernon, California, offers a dozen flared styles for as much as $319.
    http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aBFsCklAmmlY&pos=15

  45. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    Sweet back to 400 dollar jeans, I jsut picked up three pairs of lee carpenter’s jeans for 60 bucks they will last me three years and cover up the naughty bits just as well

  46. Kettle1^2 says:

    Shore,

    Thanks.

    The global economy seems to be following the Fukushima model….

    Notice the talk about the large pools of water under each reactor reported as being 2 – 12ft deep (and TEPCO describes them as PUDDLES). As you may be aware the real risk at Chernobyl was the core breaching the cement floor under the containment vessel. The subfloors at Chernobyl had been flooded by the firefighters and if the molten core had hit that water there was fear of a massive steam explosion which was projected to make much of Europe uninhabitable. The blast (steam blast not nuclear fission blast) was projected to be in the low megaton range (worst case) if the subfloor was breached while it was still flooded.

    Now consider that there are 2 cores at Fukushima that are at atmospheric pressure (i.e. the core containment vessel has been breached) and that both of the breached reactors subfloors are flooded.

    At Chernobyl they sent firefighters into the subfloors on a suicide mission to drain the subfloors at all cost. One would hope that the same action is being taken by the Japanese. It is also fun to note that the Russians did the the same thing the Japanese have done and arbitrarily increase the maximum allowable dose several times as each maximum was about to be breached.

    Hopefully the steam explosion stays a distant worst case. Its not really possible to tell given the current data how realistic that may be. For all we know the cement catch basin may have already done its job of distributing the molten mass so that it cools.

    The current radiation readings seem to be indicative of a criticallity event that has taken place for at least a brief period.

    One other thing interesting about Fukushima V Chernobyl, is that afterwords, there was a lot of debate as to whether it would have been better to not evacuate Pripyat since the long term cancer profile of those near the reactor wasn’t as bad as they thought (note that they redefined how illness could be attributed to Chernobyl to achieve the small number of long term cancer effects). The Japanese seem to be following the same train of thought with Tokyo and surrounding population centers.

  47. JJ says:

    Including all tax returns that had a positive AGI [adjusted gross income], taxpayers with an AGI of $153,542 or more in 2006 constituted the nation’s top 5 percent of earners. To break into the top 1 percent, a tax return had to have an AGI of $388,806 or more. The top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers [have an] AGI over $64,702

    So many of you say homes should be bought at 2.5x income which means. 95% of people can only afford a home that costs under 384K.

    Only 1% of people can afford a home over 972K. Yet in Jersey in BC huge amounts of homes are priced over 972K. How can everyone make more than 99% of the population?

  48. Meanwhile, here is the charade that passes for our gubmint:

    “Quite frankly this is a pathetic performance by both parties. Moreover, I will flat out state the Republicans have only themselves to blame.

    By offering a piss poor budget reduction of a mere $60 billion, they now look like the bad guys for not meeting the Obama half-way at $30 billion.

    Please do the math. $30 billion is a mere 1.875% of the budget. That is what everyone is pissing and moaning over.

    If Republicans had any balls, and they clearly don’t, they would have proposed cutting the budget by $300 billion. Then, a compromise at $150 billion would have been a mere 9.375% of the deficit.

    It is is bad enough to argue over 9% of the budget, so what does it mean to bicker over 1.875% of the budget?

    What it means is that neither party has the balls to fix a damn thing. It also means the Republicans can blame themselves for being placed in this absurd position.”

    http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/03/pissing-and-moaning-over-1875-of-budget.html

  49. Nice. From Mish:

    “Public union employees and those addicted to the nanny state need an ever-increasing “fix”. They are like drug addicts, and politicians are like pushers.

    Think about drug addicts willing to do anything for their daily fix. Addicts will coerce, bribe, or steal to get what they want. Public unions are no different.

    Those not addicted are not equally motivated. Indeed, no one is as motivated as a drug addict in need of a fix. Like pushers, politicians supply the “fix” in return for votes. Thus, overcoming inertia of the nanny state and its addicts is difficult.

    I commend those like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Senator Rand Paul, Congressman Ron Paul, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for their efforts to rein in the nanny state. It’s not an easy process. Those addicted to the nanny state are willing to do anything to get their fix.”

  50. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    Debt whistling through the graveyard, their corporate masters won’t let them. There was a dem on MSNBC this morning, i like polish girls hmm Minka so I usually watch it with the sound off, crying about the expatriation of corporate earnings. Idiots put up a graphic that says effictive corporate tax rate in US 35%, Switzerland and Ireland ranging from 12 to 20%. I think to myself smart business decision frees up money for investment, infrastructure and R&D. Idiot dem goes on to expound on how to get companies to pay their fair share, blah, blah blah. How it is not fair. I did a face palm, and thought If this guy wasn’t so detached from reality he would see that by incentivising the effective tax rates those places are attracting companies, ahh globalization.

  51. Fiddy Cents on the Dollar says:

    I just got some email from a friend regarding a piece of the Bammy-care bill that I found surprising. This guy is plugged into this kind of stuff, so if he spotted it……it’s likely to be true.

    “Under the new health care bill – did you know that all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% Sales Tax? The bulk of these new taxes don’t kick in until 2013 If you sell your $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax.”

    Did we discuss this previously ??

  52. sas3 says:

    Fiddy, don’t go all birther.

  53. Not sure what you mean by that sas.

    My question is to this new Sales Tax in the legislation that “We may have to pass, just to know what’s in it”

  54. make money says:

    Only 1% of people can afford a home over 972K. Yet in Jersey in BC huge amounts of homes are priced over 972K. How can everyone make more than 99% of the population?

    JJ,

    Majority of cash receipts of a small business income doesn’t make it to the AGI.

  55. Shore Guy says:

    John,

    You forget that those are national figures. Here, everyone is above average in every way.

  56. hughesrep says:

    53

    http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/realestate.asp

    If you sell it for a profit above the capital gains threshold it is taxed at 3.8% on any amount above the threshold.

  57. yo'me says:

    effective corporate tax rate in US is 35%.Actually it is 25% after loop holes.If you are Google,GE and other multi worldwide companies,corporate tax rate is 0%. GE even made 3 billion in tax write off after not paying any taxes.

  58. Shore Guy says:

    Flat tax for everyone. Individuals should have a flat tax rate the same as companies.

  59. hughesrep —

    Thanks, good link……threshold for Married couples is $500K. Taxed on amount above that.

    As far as “birther” is concerned — nobody gives a hoot in hell where the clown was born. He’s incompent and in way over his head.

  60. Shore Guy says:

    I wonder if 20% would do it?

  61. yo'me says:

    Shore,I am starting to agree with flat tax more and more.Everybody pays their fair share.

  62. Shore Guy says:

    And, given my party’s history of wanting to nominate a candidate to the right of right, BO has a very good chance of getting elected.

  63. Shore Guy says:

    Reelected

  64. chicagofinance says:

    make money says:
    March 30, 2011 at 8:58 am

    make: my allaMoza and allaLulka are fckin cool! Were going to get them a hotel room on Saturday so they can stay over in NYC. Can’t speak a lick of English though…….I found out that my grandmother made the right call in 1946 to flee Hoxha. If she had stayed in Durres with my grandfather, Hoxha would have thrown her in jail because she was Italian and sent my dad and his two brothers to a poverty camp where they would have been denied schooling and put to work before age 10.

  65. J. says:

    Fiddy: Why do the hard work of further research when you can just believe some e-mail spam that a friend forwarded to you?

    But if you’re interested in the truth instead of your predefined ideology, here it is:
    http://www.factcheck.org/2010/04/a-38-percent-sales-tax-on-your-home/

  66. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (51) fiddy

    There are other “revenue enhancers” passed or proposed by the Messiah that hit all taxpayers, some falling most heavily in working schlubs.

    But don’t call them taxes. That’s not in the Newspeak Dictionary.

    “Not one thin dime” = “read my lips”

  67. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    Shore Huckabee? The repubs have to stop pandering to the christian loonies on social issues. Stand on the economic stuff and if your message sticks people may follow you on the rest. They wonder why so many independents scoff at voting for the republican next in line, it is because they have paintted themselves socially out of touch with the mores of most of America.

  68. Kettle1^2 says:

    Anyone notice the 30 month foreclosure backlog reported the other day?

  69. Shore Guy says:

    Huckabee us an amable guy, sort of like the neighbor one waves to but really does not know, but, if one did, one would not like.

  70. chicagofinance says:

    JJ: some of the Wells TruPS are getting called……I am a bit surprised because the Tier 1 Basel III grading hasn’t started. Big capital gain pick-up in a condensed period, but I really was looking forward to the yield trail into at least 2012. It has impacted the pricing across the board. Good for 3/31 marks, but overall I was surprised. I guess the Shock Test results came back clean enough to trigger the action, or maybe just some window dressing for some reason…..

  71. J-
    Why bother with all that messy research, when I can just ask a question about Real Estate here ??? Where you get 2 quality answer, and 2 snarky comments. Batting .500 is par for the course.

    Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…..

  72. Libtard says:

    Raise your average Fiddy: This is the best explanation of it that I’ve seen so far. Lots of Repub friends have been scaremongering the dumb citizenship with this, when in actuality it is a tax on the rich. After all, someone has to pay for the death panels.

    http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/22/news/economy/medicare_tax_increase/index.htm

  73. All Right….3 for 5. Now batting a robust .600 that’ll keep you in the Major Leagues for a long time.

    I meant nothing political with my initial question, I used “Bammy” to avoid the filter. sas brought up birther…which came out of left field (in keeping with our baseball analogies). And J whiffed on a pitch in the dirt with his “predefined ideaology”

  74. Tonguebathe says:

    Dear Kettle1^2,

    Wha? You’re smokin crack again!

    First off, Pripyat is less than 4 km away. Tokyo is 200 km. So talk about evacuating Tokyo (which you only get on right wing radio and with drunk CNN anchors) is madness.

    Second, have you looked at the cooling system for Chernobyl? It was graphite. Fukushima’s is water. Graphite is much more dangerous than water in a reactor.

    Get your facts straight. It’s folks like you who voted Bush, bought up the real estate, built McMansions, and thought it’d be all peaches and cream. Now look at the mess you made.

  75. joyce says:

    (15) 30 year-
    I think you posts are some of the most level-headed and objection on this site. However, that comment seems to be completely self-centered. I think a more important question is: Is this “settlement” going to rubber stamp all of the past (and future?) unlawful activity of the banks removing any criminal/civil liability?

  76. JJ says:

    Chifi no rhyme or reason. Look at BAC they have these two high interest bonds out there for years that have long been callable at Par. Why don’t they call them? Meanwhile they call bonds with much lower coupons

    BANKAMERICA CAP II INCME PFD 8.000% 12/15/2026
    066048AA7
    MBNA CAP A CAP SECS-A 8.278% 12/01/2026
    CUSIP 55263BAA9

    chicagofinance says:
    March 30, 2011 at 9:38 am

    JJ: some of the Wells TruPS are getting called……I am a bit surprised because the Tier 1 Basel III grading hasn’t started. Big capital gain pick-up in a condensed period, but I really was looking forward to the yield trail into at least 2012. It has impacted the pricing across the board. Good for 3/31 marks, but overall I was surprised. I guess the Shock Test results came back clean enough to trigger the action, or maybe just some window dressing for some reason…..

  77. chicagofinance says:

    Tongue: thank you for minding the store on this relentless clownshow…..he is always posting his detail heavy info-torials and spouting off myriad opinions as some wiki-steroided implied de facto expert. I thought that this engineering topic was ostensibly an area of expertise, so I reverentially shut my yap……..now you can appreciate my sensitivity when he provides endless primers on finance and capital markets.

    Tonguebathe says:
    March 30, 2011 at 10:03 am
    Dear Kettle1^2, Wha? You’re smokin crack again! First off, Pripyat is less than 4 km away. Tokyo is 200 km. So talk about evacuating Tokyo (which you only get on right wing radio and with drunk CNN anchors) is madness. Second, have you looked at the cooling system for Chernobyl? It was graphite. Fukushima’s is water. Graphite is much more dangerous than water in a reactor.

  78. JJ says:

    POPULAR NA CAP TR I BONDS 6.564% 09/15/2034 MAKE WHOLE
    Price Quantity Date/Time Buy/Sell
    74.750 — 02/09/2011 05:15:17

    Here is an interesting TRUP

  79. make money says:

    I found out that my grandmother made the right call in 1946 to flee Hoxha.

    Those are the calls that shape generations to come. My dad made the same call fleeing Tito, who’s regime was much less brutal but nevertheless didn’t any part of communism. They took his land and home and guns. Back in 2008 I told him that I was all in on shiny since ’06 and he told me that the only thing he was able to bring here was a few pieces of physical.

  80. Shore Guy says:

    “Graphite is much more dangerous than water in a reactor. ”

    My recollection is that the graphite at Chernobyl burned. I don’t recall the reason they used graphite, probably cheaper as it reduced the number of moving parts. When I first heard about that design, it took me back to the first “pile” in Chifi’s neck of the woods.

  81. Shore Guy says:

    “Those are the calls that shape generations to come.”

    In a different context, it was a similar experience for future generations when folks fled the east to head west and also around the Cape to get to CA.

  82. Shore Guy says:

    So, which one of you is Marco Rubio?

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704425804576220670543010068.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#printMode

    Why I Won’t Vote to Raise the Debt Limit
    Everyone in Washington knows how to cut spending. The time to start is now. .Article Comments (366) more in Opinion ».
    EmailPrintSave This ↓ More.
    .Twitter
    LinkedIn
    + More close Yahoo! BuzzMySpacedel.icio.usRedditFacebookFarkViadeoOrkut Text
    By MARCO RUBIO
    Americans have built the single greatest nation in all of human history. But America’s exceptionalism was not preordained. Every generation has had to confront and solve serious challenges and, because they did, each has left the next better off. Until now.

    Our generation’s greatest challenge is an economy that isn’t growing, alongside a national debt that is. If we fail to confront this, our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a country worse off than the one their parents were given.

    Current federal policies make it harder for job creators to start and grow businesses. Taxes on individuals are complicated and set to rise in less than two years. Corporate taxes will soon be the highest in the industrialized world. Federal agencies torment job creators with an endless string of rules and regulations.

    snip

    “Raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.” So said then-Sen. Obama in 2006, when he voted against raising the debt ceiling by less than $800 billion to a new limit of $8.965 trillion. As America’s debt now approaches its current $14.29 trillion limit, we are witnessing leadership failure of epic proportions.

    I will vote to defeat an increase in the debt limit unless it is the last one we ever authorize and is accompanied by a plan for fundamental tax reform, an overhaul of our regulatory structure, a cut to discretionary spending, a balanced-budget amendment, and reforms to save Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

    snip

    Finally, instead of simply raising the debt limit, we should reassure job creators by setting a firm statutory cap on our public debt-to-GDP ratio. A comprehensive plan would wind down our debt to sustainable levels of approximately 60% within a decade and no more than half of the economy shortly thereafter. If Congress fails to meet these debt targets, automatic across-the-board spending reductions should be triggered to close the gap. These public debt caps could go in tandem with a Constitutional balanced budget amendment.

    Some say we will go into default if we don’t increase the debt limit. But if we simply raise it once again, without a real plan to bring spending under control and get our economy growing, America faces the very real danger of a catastrophic economic crisis.

    snip

    Whether they admit it or not, everyone in Washington knows how to solve these problems. What is missing is the political will to do it. I ran for the U.S. Senate because I want my children to inherit what I inherited: the greatest nation in human history. It’s not too late. The 21st century can also be the American Century. Our people are ready. Now it’s time for their leaders to join them.

    Mr. Rubio, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Florida.

  83. shore, Bojangles will be reelected because the banksters will arm him with massive amounts of money. TV will be the Bojangles Show, 24/7.

    Toward the election, Bojangles will even be appearing on Ron Popeil infomercials for vegomatics, countertop rotisseries and the toxic shit you spray on your head to cover pattern baldness.

  84. spyderjacks says:

    re #76. The reactor is water cooled. Graphite moderates the reactions (absorbs neutrons) – think control rods. Graphite burns, for sure.

    There are also sodium-cooled reactors in the world. Sodium is a metal but at high temperatures is a very effective heat-exchange liquid. Sodium and water is a total bomb. It separates the hydrogen and oxygen from the water and ignites it.

  85. I’ve often said these Primaries are so expensive…..we should run the candidates thru an “American Idol” style elimination. FOX would gladly greenlight such a premise. Each week, the show would dismiss one of the hopefuls (You’re Fired) . The finale gives each parties nomination a 2-hour special during the May Sweeps. Then on to the National Election during the November Sweeps. A ratings bonanza.

    Why are we letting the rubes in Iowa and New Hampshire decide the process before we even get rolling ???

  86. What’s amazing is that it took politicians decades to figure out how to buy Iowa’s vote (ethanol) and they still can’t figure out how to buy off New Hampshire.

    Perhaps attacking Canada would do it.

  87. New Hampshire is 97% White and over 70% Christian. The state is filled with Tax Dodgers who work in Massachusetts and live right over the state line.

    Political Parties don’t know how to relate to that demographic.

  88. grim says:

    My recollection is that the graphite at Chernobyl burned. I don’t recall the reason they used graphite, probably cheaper as it reduced the number of moving parts.

    Graphite was the moderator, not part of the cooling system, think “control rods”.

    They burned, and due to the lack of a containment structure, the smoke that resulted carried radioactive material into the atmosphere.

  89. Kettle1^2 says:

    Tonguebathe

    Chernobyl was a water cooled, graphite moderated, boiling water reactor.

    -didn’t vote for either major party and was calling housing bubble in 2004.

  90. chicagofinance says:

    make: some day I will tell you about this Director appointed by Berisha who went out of his way to totally nail my relatives for a big fck you…..he wrecked their property title knowing full well that it was illegal and would be overturned by a court on appeal, but the family would have to hire a lawyer and drop euro 14,000………I think someone up high put the pressure on this director because the ironclad title documents are going to cost the government a couple ten million euro…..to0 bad what was once own by my great-grandfather is going to be split 50 ways or something…..so no one ends up with a life altering sum, but still a nice chunk of change…..

  91. dan says:

    #85 Great idea. Ray Lewis vs. Brock Lesnar for Prez!!!!!

    And when does Snookie turn 35?

  92. By the time Snooki reaches the Eligible Age, Britney Spears will have been elected to her second term.

  93. I prefer Brock Lesnar to Ray Lewis. Lesnar is white.

    [idiot Amerikan off]

  94. Snooki/Lohan ticket is a lock for two terms.

  95. Uh, Beavis…we just passed the debt limit:

    “And now the relevant news: the most recently disclosed total debt was 14,211,567,662,931.23 as of March 28. This excludes the settlement of all of this week’s auctions which amount to $35 + $35 + $29 billion (including today) or $99 billion. Adding the two amounts to $14,310,567,662,931.23. As a reminder the debt ceiling is $14,294,000,000,000.00. In other words, the total US debt just passed the debt limit – break out the Champagne! Now bear with us for a second: the most recently disclosued total debt was 14,211,567,662,931.23 as of March 28. This excludes the settlement of all of this week’s auctions which amount to $35 + $35 + $29 billion (including today) or $99 billion. Adding the two amounts comes to $14,310,567,662,931.23. As a reminder the debt ceiling is $14,294,000,000,000.00. In other words, the total US debt just passed the debt limit – break out the Champagne.”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/treasury-sells-29-billion-bonds-bringing-total-settled-us-debt-14311-trillion-more-debt-ceil

  96. 30 year realtor says:

    #75 Joyce – Thanks for the complement. You are 100% correct about my comment! I have developed a bad habit, eating. My 3 teenagers have the same bad habit, as does my ex-wife. All 3 kids plan on going to college…yada, yada, yada…can’t I be a little selfish?

  97. We laugh at staging a “throwdown” to determine our ruler. But the Yorks and the Lancasters fought the War of Roses to determine just exactly who was God’s Chosen Vessel of British Royalty.

  98. A.West says:

    Shore,
    Why should Rubio worry about debt when the US Treasury can issue debt at negative real rates? Govt isn’t going to stop overspending until bond buyers lose their appetite and demand higher yields.
    I saw SAS3s link yesterday on how you can turn 10k into 1mn if you can just earn an annualized 7% inflation adjusted return. Right now Ibonds are offered at 0% real return, pre-tax. They will tax you on your inflation compensation when you redeem. Cash I don’t see any savings accounts offering more than the 2% cpi level.
    Global stocks: prices embed probably around 4-6% real (post-inflation) returns, but that’s involves a lot of guesses about the future.
    Precious metals have generated 0% real returns over multiple centuries.

    Summary- the government is expropriating savers by forcing down rates to levels generating negative real returns. Getting positive real returns will be a victory, forget about 7%. The best return of all is an investment in one’s own professional/business competitive advantage. Unfortunately, if you succeed in that, the government will brand you “rich” and will take most of those gains as well.

    So the message that Rubio needs to convey to the American public is “stop living like cannibals, start focusing on private production, and stop worshiping consumption.”

  99. 30 year (97)-

    Many posters here are simply amazed when people who sell stuff get all involved in doing things to actually create sales.

  100. fiddy (98)-

    And just look at how those degenerate Brits ended up.

  101. West (99)-

    I think that post just got you onto a watchlist.

    Welcome.

  102. Can we send Bergabe and Eraserhead a bill for an overlimit fee?

  103. make money says:

    ChiFi: good for you. Same here. Dad and his brothers got their land back but when split between 8 of my male cousins there was little left for me. I bought everyone out except one cousin who keep asking for a ridiculuos amount of money. Eventually his son will well it to me, he is a jersey shore kid.

  104. DL says:

    There are two ways we can balance the budget; one is feasible, the other miraculous. The feasible way would be if God Himself descended from heaven and balanced the budget. It would be miraculous if Congress did it.

  105. Sean says:

    Weeks into this and they are now only considering containment measures.

    http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0330/Japan-considers-unusual-fixes-to-contain-radioactive-leak

  106. chicagofinance says:

    make money says:
    March 30, 2011 at 1:04 pm
    ChiFi: Dad and his brothers got their land back but when split between 8 of my male cousins there was little left for me.

    make: I’ve been told that my grandfather and his sister were not on speaking terms. My great-grandfather gave a huge dowry to his son-in-law’s family for his daughter, and then did an incredible thing for the time, he actually willed his daughter 30% interest in his land holdings, and left my grandfather 70%. It was conisdered an incredibly generous gesture, but the sister was so bitter that she blamed my grandfather.

  107. Shore Guy says:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bart-d-ehrman/the-bible-telling-lies-to_b_840301.html

    A little something non-controversial for an afternoon break.

  108. Shore Guy says:

    Maybe they can bury thr Fukishima plant in sashimi. LIke anyone is going to be buying any from Japan anytime soon.

  109. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [87] fiddy

    “The state is filled with Tax Dodgers who work in Massachusetts and live right over the state line.”

    You either know little about New Hampshire or little about state taxes. If you live in NH, and work in Mass., you pay taxes to Mass. Also, NH property taxes are higher on a percentage basis (though housing is cheaper, so actual dollars are less).

    Not much of a tax dodge.

  110. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [109] shore

    Not that different. Its a battle that is fought everywhere.

    In my daughter’s elem school in the ‘brig, they don’t have any of these severe restrictions, but they do have the “peanut table” where anyone with peanut butter has to eat. At first, my daughter did not want pbJ because she did not want to eat there. Later, she was okay with it.

    I can sympathize with the peanut allergy parents. My girl has a food allergy, but nothing severe that requires restrictions. Still, she is also a really picky eater, and sometimes the only thing I can get her to eat is pbj. A rule like that makes my life harder so that someone else’s can be easier.

    Saying any more will prompt a flame war, and there is enough of that today.

  111. grim says:

    Peanut butter table?

    You’ve got to be kidding me.

    (Explicatives edited out)

  112. grim says:

    Nom,

    It would probably be more worthwhile to petition the school to set up a “food dye” table.

  113. Sean says:

    re: inheritance. My mother got nothing, not that there was much to will down anyway when my grandparents passed away. The youngest daughter lived with her husband and children in my grandparents house and took care of my grandparents until the both passed away about a year apart. So my aunt got the house and land lives there still today. No grumblings I can tell so far even between the surviving children and 38 grandchildren, perhaps because it was such a small place out in the middle of nowhere in Ireland.

    My dad got nothing as well. 5 siblings the house and land went to the the youngest daughter who then willed it to her daughter who turned around and and split up the land for development during the housing boom in Ireland and made a killing and ended up marrying a rich farmer. There were a few siblings and 18 first cousins in all other first cousins like me who got nothing either no grumblings except from the cousin who bought a plot of that land to build a house on which value has now plummeted.

    My cousin who was willed a decent size family farm turned around and sold it for a tidy sum about a year after the property was turned over to him, was pre-bubble and at the start of the EU and if he held it for only a few more years he would be very wealthy by now instead of baking cakes for a living after squandering the money away. He was not on speaking terms with his siblings and cousins for a long time. Some felt they were cheated even though it was the unmarried childless Uncle that willed the land.

    I won’t get much and don’t plan willing away much since I am not going to out live my wife anyway. Her second husband if she remarries hopefully will be richer than me and they can both spend whatever I left behind spoiling their grandchildren and starting the cycle all over again.

  114. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [112] grim,

    No, its for real, and I understand it. Don’t like the precedent it sets, but at least I can send in PBJ.

  115. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [113] grim,

    Issue is not lost on me. But food sharing in school is least of my concerns.

  116. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [82] shore

    “Raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.” So said then-Sen. Obama in 2006, when he voted against raising the debt ceiling by less than $800 billion to a new limit of $8.965 trillion. ”

    Oh snap! Won’t hear that quote repeated on MSNBC.

  117. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Stu,

    Got Demand? This suggests that holding onto the Montklair multi will pay off.

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/42341713

  118. Shore Guy says:

    Nom,

    I want the same rules applied when my party is in power and when the others are in power. o was right then and raising the limit now mY be necessary but it is wrong.

  119. Sean says:

    Poor kids, I was raised on PBJ because we could barely afford anything else and if it was not for PBJ it would have been just Jam sandwiches.

    I read that a school in Florida had mandatory mouth washing as in lysterine mouth wash in addition to hand washing after coming and going from the classroom which is simply NUTS!

  120. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Oh Snap, Washington Post Edition.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/cbo-obama-policies-would-require-deficits-of-95-trillion-through-2021/2011/03/18/ABnyUfq_story.html?hpid=z3

    Where’s Fabius? Someone has to call BS on the Washington Post for kicking the hornet’s nest.

  121. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [119] shore

    Don’t hold your breath. Hypocrisy, thy name is Democrat.

  122. Barbara says:

    Best of Debt 2011:

    “It is obvious now that TPTB know the only way to avoid writing down the bad debt is to essentially lock the economy in a state of suspended animation. We are now like fossilized trilobites, locked forever in umber, in death throes both agitated and resigned.”

    Over the last 6 years or so, I have tried to capitalize on what I had. No go. Now I am making less and less each year and the culprit is not inflation, but rather taxes and health care. And there is no getting around IT.

  123. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    Nom I just spit out my PB&J substitute, 9.5 trillion!? Over ten years well fcuk do the math. Do you have those expat forms handy? Need a ranch hand at the nompound? Gawd!!

  124. JJ says:

    Sean you were cheated. My Grandmother also left our farm in the family for hundreds of years to the single never married son, who ended up marrying some tart of 52 at 72 and dropped dead at 74 so farm was lost. I never wanted the farm. But it should only go to the son with kids. In my case it went to oldest son instead of second oldest son. Even better on my Dads side he bought the house paid off the mortgage for his widowed Mom as he was in states, and week before death his siblings changed will. The rich american does not need house. Rich American was in a apt in the Bronx with kids sleeping on floor. The Irish are a bunch of crooks.

  125. Barbara says:

    A multifamily in Montclair will never be profitable enough to make a purchase worthwhile because the property taxes out pace rent increases, including the State’s legal % for resigners. Prices would have to plummet to pre 1999 at this point. Keep in mind, these houses are quite old and require updates and a lot of surprise maintenance over the course of a year. If you can’t clear 30% of your rent rolls, you’re close to treading water.

  126. Sean says:

    re: #126 – JJ Yes wills were changed, several times from what I understand.
    As far as the land should only go to the son with kids, well most left long ago so whomever stays gets it. There were only 2 on my mom’s side that remained, the rest of us became Plastic Paddys as we are known when we come and visit.

    They did and still do think of us as Rich Americans even when we lived in the Bronx. I have inherited the title of the Rich American since I make a point to rent a nice new Range Rover every time I visit. The reason for the Range Rover is so I can see over the stone walls and around the tight corners when I am driving on the left side trying to figure out if I can squeeze in between the ditch and the 18 wheeler doing 120 kph on back roads that were originally created for herding sheep between fields.

  127. Comrade Nom –

    I based my Tax Dodge comment on the fact that I used to work at a place with a sister division in north Mass. Everybody in the group that I interfaced with lived across the border in NH. Now, this was back in the good old days of the 1990’s and the tax structure may have changed.

    But to a man, they all said the commute down I-93 was worth the savings in taxes.

  128. make money says:

    JJ,

    TEPCO TBTF??? Long debt and short equity. same game. rinse. repeat.

    Bank Of Lynch Estimates TEPCO Losses Up To ¥10 Trillion, Believes Firm Is TBTF For Bond Impairments.

    Someone commented on ZH, that one day our grandkids will ask as ” What were the Japanese?

  129. JJ says:

    My biggest tax dodge was the amount of traders I knew in the 1990s with rent controlled NYC apartments who had Hampton houses and had the Hampton house as primary address for taxes to avoid NYC taxes yet the Rent controled folks to this day are not smart enough to cross check. A rent controlled apt must be your primary address.

    What a sweet deal. Even more annoying some of the guys were single in the late 70’s and early 80s locked in on a super cheap rental unit and then bought in Hamptons in 1991 when houses our there are cheap. Even more annoying some of them sent wives out there for summer. They would take the last train Sunday home and first train out Thursday evening so they had monday-wed each week to run around like single men.

  130. chicagofinance says:

    The end is nigh (Oracle of Omaha Edition):
    Warren Buffett Announces Resignation of David Sokol, Leading Candidate To Succeed Him at Berkshire Hathaway

  131. whipped says:

    is there a millionaire’s tax in NJ?
    (selling price exceeding a mil)

  132. whipped says:

    maybe its called a mansion tax

  133. Nation of Wussies HEHEHE says:

    Chi,

    You read that press release? That is was the most bizarre thing I have read in my life.

  134. Out of NJ in 2004 says:

    WallStreet is the only economy that matters. MainStreet’s function is simply to provide fodder for their betters. Please accept this fact and arrange your life accordingly. BTW: “a rolling loan gathers no loss”. We must defuse the bomb by making the fuse longer! It all depends on which side of the Ponzi Scheme you are on. House value will be determined by the monthly tax bill. The entire society is based on “making the minimum payment”.

  135. What a bunch of fcuktards we’ve allowed to run things. We deserve whatever we get.

    Only way it gets better is when we start capping these criminals.

  136. Kettle1^2 says:

    Gee I guess I wasn’t so far off base

    Bloomberg reports that Japan will consider pouring concrete into its crippled Fukushima atomic plant to reduce radiation and contain the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years. The reason for the admission of total defeat is the gradual comprehension that the worst case scenario has come to pass: “The risk to workers might be greater than previously thought because melted fuel in the No. 1 reactor building may be causing isolated, uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions, Denis Flory, nuclear safety director for the International Atomic Energy Agency, said at a press conference in Vienna.” Not one to cover up the worst case outcome for a week, TEPCO only did so… for five days: “Radioactive chlorine found March 25 in the Unit 1 turbine building suggests chain reactions continued after the reactor shut down

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/japan-prepares-bury-problem-following-news-uncontrolled-reactor-1-chain-reactions

  137. Kettle1^2 says:

    Shore

    pumping concrete into a still fissioning compromised reactor doesn’t really seem to be the best idea if you want any hope of avoiding long term water table contamination, much less radioactive off gassing from the concrete they pour in.

    They need to suck it up and send in an army of biorobots. Call the kremlin.

    I would also bet reactor 1 isn’t the only reactor seeing criticallity events

  138. Shore Guy says:

    From the NOLA case article:

    In 1999, when all his appeals had failed on his convictions for the murder of a hotel executive, Thompson was due to be put to death. But a private investigator hired by his lawyer found a blood test in the police lab which showed the man wanted for a related car jacking had a type “B” blood, while Thompson’s was type “O.”

    Thompson had been charged and convicted of an attempted car jacking near the SuperDome as a prelude to charging him with the unsolved murder of a hotel executive.

    The newly revealed blood test spared Thompson’s life, and a judge ordered a new trial on the murder charges that had sent him to Death Row. His new defense lawyers found other evidence that had been hidden, iincluding eye-witnesses reports from the murder scene. Bystanders reported seeing a black man who was six-feet tall with close-cropped hair running away holding a gun. Thompson was 5’8″ tall and had a bushy “Afro” at the time.

    With the new eye-witness reports and other evidence that pointed to another man as the killer, Thompson was quickly acquitted of all the charges in the second trial. He won $14 million in damages in a civil suit against the district attorney.

    In rejecting the judgment, Justice Thomas described the case as a “single incident” where mistakes were made. He said Thompson did not prove a pattern of similar violations that would justify holding the city’s government liable for the wrongdoing. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Samuel A. Alito Jr. joined to form the majority.

    But Thompson’s lawyers showed that at least four prosecutors knew of the blood test that was hidden. They also showed evidence of other similar cases in New Orleans where key evidence was concealed from defense lawyers.

  139. Shore Guy says:

    I suspect that Chernobyl was easier than this, first, because Fukishima is so close to the sea, and second, because of the difference in government structures in place. I would think they would want to try to get those fuel rods out rather than sit there melting by the sea for years to come.

  140. Shore Guy says:

    I think I need to buy a couple tonnes of Boron. Anyone know a dealer who can deliver to Japan?

  141. Shore Guy says:

    Kettle,

    It sounds like a job for prisoner volunteers. Serve your country then go free.

  142. Shore Guy says:

    An illuminating and possibly life-changing opportunity.

  143. Shore Guy says:

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-30/record-high-levels-of-radiation-found-in-sea-near-crippled-nuclear-reactor.html

    Japan will consider pouring concrete into its crippled Fukushima atomic plant to reduce radiation and contain the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

    Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano yesterday ruled out the possibility that the two undamaged reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s six-unit Dai-Ichi plant would be salvaged. Units 1 through 4 suffered from explosions, presumed meltdowns and corrosion from seawater sprayed on radioactive fuel rods after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami cut power to reactor cooling systems.

  144. HE (136)-

    Nobody should be surprised that somebody at Berkshire did a little insider trading. They all work under the tutelage of the most self-interested, self-dealing shark of all time.

  145. Buffett can’t possibly play the integrity card anymore. He’s thrown around some bitch slaps like a 10th Avenue pimp just to get his own Pf class of stock from Blankdick.

  146. It’s nice to be old and rich. You can then trade on your long years of fabricated reputation and magisterial utterances.

    I think every time he travels with Becky Quick, he tries to cop a wraparound.

    Me? Were I the Buff, I’d have gone all-in on Liz Claman.

  147. We could devote a whole thread to imagined conversations between Buffett and various female journalists.

  148. You know Buffett ain’t going all mackdaddy on Gates’ wife.

  149. Punch My Ticket says:

    Shore [146],

    LMAO.

    They need volunteers, they should go recruit in Bangladesh or Mozambique or Yemen. What’s the net present value of the lifetime free cash flow of an uneducated 43 year old with HIV? $1000? Pay their families five times that. There would be no shortage of people in line for the opportunity.

  150. Confused In NJ says:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare officials said Wednesday that the program will pay the $93,000 cost of prostate cancer drug Provenge, an innovative therapy that typically gives men suffering from an incurable stage of the disease an extra four months to live.

  151. juice box says:

    Re#152 – Debt hate to break it to ya but he really is that boring and you have been living in Joisey too long. My MIL plays Bridge with him quite a bit, one thing is for sure he detests New Yorkers and will given the opportunity screw them royally going back to his days from Columbia when he was passed up for a job because of nepotism.

  152. Barbara says:

    154. I guess you’re screwed on that extra time if you’re under 65. (or is it 67?) .

  153. Dissident HEHEHE says:

    Clot,

    Buffet is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. I am just amazed at that press release. I think senility has finally set in.

  154. Libtard says:

    Nom,

    I’m holding my Montclair multi to take less of a bath than if I were to sell it. By the way, that’s the second article I’ve read in the last two days that calls for multi-owners to profit before housing comes back (if it comes back). Barbara, I don’t necessarily agree with what you said about taxes and maintenance making it difficult to profit here. With higher rent tenants, you find that they tend to take better care of the place. Will you get rich with a Montclair multi? No effin way. Can it work as a tax shelter and otherwise as a break-even investment? Absolutely. As for passing on the tax increases to the tenants, it is still very possible. Even when taxes were rising almost $800 per year. It works out to a monthly rent increase of $33. Raising rent by $100 every three years is definitely doable. Though, I do agree that Montclair might not be the smartest place to play the rental game, but it’s not the worst.

    For the record, we paid 480K for our Montclair multi with 20% down. Then sunk 75K into it over the 7 years (maintenance/improvements) we have lived in it. So that’s 171K cash out of pocket. Rent for the other unit averaged about $1800 over the time period. So that’s 151K. Figure tax and insurance averaged about 13K per year over the period (thank you Gator) so that’s $91K. So 91K + our 171K dp = $262K – 151K rental income = 111K to rent our place for 7 years or $1300 per month rent. Figure the unit we live in would have been good for about $1700 rent averaged over the period, so figure it cleared $400 per month profit. Then there’s the tax writeoffs from depreciation, interest rate deductions and such. If you include these, it’s gotta clear around $800 per month which is not too shabby. Best of all, it will continue to help us save in taxes and in another 18 years, will be completely paid off from tenant rent alone. The million dollar question though is what will it be worth in ‘real’ terms in 2030. Our goal is to use the proceeds to pay for Gator Jr.’s college if he so desires to go that route. I’m actually hoping he becomes a plumber or electrician and I can give him a nice downpayment on a house rather than waste that money on a virtually useless college degree. So far, he appears to be quite studious as he reads at the 3rd grade level in kindergarten and seems to be excelling at math as well, but time will tell. Wouldn’t it just be peachy if he ended up being a bankster? Will try my best to get him to pay his own way for college as I did (without loans btw) and play the part of poor parent, but he may be too wise. He better keep his grades up, or he’ll be on his own, as my parents raised me. Should be fun to see how this all plays out over the years. I’m still dreaming of my little shack in Costa Rica with a garden, a short walk to the beach for fishing and internet access. Perhaps I’ll be like my folks and will spend half the year in the tropics and the other half up here in hell.

  155. Out of NJ in 2004 says:

    RE 150
    Liz Claman over Becky would be my choice also. She’s sultry and has a knowing way about her. Buffet also agrees that free money is the best kind. For us? – in the end, the math doesn’t work.

  156. Kettle1^2 says:

    Shore,

    The Russians were much more professional in their handling of Chernobyl. The Japanese have been “amateur day at the improve”. TEPCO should have been removed from control of the situation on day 1 and kept on as advisory only.

    Punch My Ticket

    So your an actuary?

  157. shore (139)-

    How about this for a settlement? Execute the following on live TV:

    – Tangelo Mozilo
    – Dick Fuld
    – Ken Lewis
    – Tim Geithner
    – Alan Greenspan
    – Ben Bergabe

  158. vodka (141)-

    Congrats to you on the twins!

    Don’t worry about the noise here. I’ve met a lot of people in science, but I’ve only met a couple of men of science in my life. You’re one of them.

  159. Who else could ingest a Texas-sized dustball full of Oxy and come out the better for it?

  160. vodka (142)-

    Seems to me like the whole country is about to become an overcooked TV dinner.

  161. shore (146)-

    More like “serve your country, then go melt”.

    “It sounds like a job for prisoner volunteers. Serve your country then go free.”

  162. Kettle1^2 says:

    SHore,

    You might find this interesting.

    On Friday, concentrations of Iodine-131, likely originating from the events at Japan’s damaged nuclear plants, were found in rainwater samples collected from Pennsylvania’s nuclear power plant facilities.

    The numbers reported in the rainwater samples in Pennsylvania range from 40-100 picocuries per liter (pCi/L). Although these are levels above the background levels historically reported in these areas, they are still about 25 times below the level that would be of concern. The federal drinking water standard for Iodine-131 is three pCi/L.

    http://www.centredaily.com/2011/03/28/v-print/2610598/governor-corbett-says-public-water.html#ixzz1I8XJvXFl

  163. out (160)-

    Liz is just smoking hot on a daily basis. Becky? She’s a dead ringer for my college GF.

    Then, there’s this pesky question of my wife.

    Tomato, tomahto…I gotta call the whole thing off.

  164. Barbara says:

    Libtard, there is zero rental game in NJ unless you own a mostly sec 8 highrise. You would have to explain how a rental would work as a worthwhile tax shelter, I honestly haven’t a clue about it. You make want to check into those rent raises, the % chnges every year. If you go over the % you have to show receipts of improvements, then they use a formula to determine if the raise is justified. Thing is, most working non sec 8 tenants know this so they do not challenge rent increases. It gets dicey when or if your local muni requires you to register your units including the monthly rents. My town does. They are up in my business and some years I cannot cover tax and insurance increases. Rent control is going to become a huge political issue in NJ. It takes different forms, but its pretty draconian in New Brunswick.

  165. Barbara says:

    you make = you may

  166. Barbara says:

    so many typos…..almost not worth reading. sigh. Anyway, I mean non sec 8 tenants DO NOT know….yadda.

  167. Kettle1^2 says:

    Shore,

    Look at the data in the following link:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/complete-chronological-analysis-fukushima-reactor-1-3-data

    TMI had a partial meltdown when the fuel rods were above the water for a few hours. The fuel rods in Fukushima reactors 1,2, & 3 were/are above water for over a week.

    If reactor 1 has had a sufficient meltdown to initiate re-criticality then the odds are good that reactors 2 & 3 have had substantial melt downs and face a very real risk of re-criticality. Dont forget the previous reports that the primary containment vessel in reactor 2 was likely breached.

    Their worst case has now gone from melt down followed by re-criticality to a steam explosion form a fissioning mass hitting a large pool of water. Their best hope is that the liquid mass dribbles into any standing water similar as to what happened at Chernobyl. In that case a radioactive pumice is formed non-explosivly

  168. Barbara says:

    you guys need to cut back on the finance news, those women look like bank tellers. What happened to Blake Lively? I thought she was the board crush. She is a lovely.

  169. Kettle1^2 says:

    Debt,

    Thanks. I guess I read too many Tom Swift books back in the day ;)

  170. Kettle1^2 says:

    Debt,

    Look at the bright side. A few hundred thousand Japanese families might soon be in the market for some housing!!!

  171. Libtard says:

    Barb,
    I could never do section 8. The savages who qualify would keep me too busy making repairs. I hate to pay others for something I can do myself a lot cheaper. I also like my rent on time.

  172. Fabius Maximus says:

    #121 Nom

    Do you ever question what you read?

    ” Much of the negative impact on the nation’s budget outlook would come from the president’s proposals to maintain tax cuts for the middle class that are now due to expire in 2012″

    So the WP is` saying that the majority of this 9.5T is from the negative impact of extending the Bush Tax Cuts for those earning under $250K after the extension of all the cuts expires in 2012?

    The CBO report last year put the 10 yr cost for extending the full Bush tax cuts at 3.2T. So Yes, it is smells like a BS article. The article misses the fact that there is about 6T hanging around from previous spending policies.

    This current arguement is BS as well, wether the cuts are 30B or 60B is pointless. The ceiling will be raised as the deficit of 1.4T is the big elephant in the room. Big spending cuts and raise the revenue is needed ASAP.

  173. babs (171)-

    All rent control ordinances are trumped by the implied threat of Oklahoma Eviction.

  174. nj escapee says:

    Been in Jersey since Sunday. It’s cold and dank, generally sux but was good to see friends and family.

  175. babs (173)-

    Blake Lively? This ain’t no party, and this sure ain’t no disco.

    I’d cut that bitch if she were standing in front of me.

  176. vodka (174)-

    Tie that bastard down.

  177. Everybody leave me alone. Gotta see who wins Top Chef.

    Actually, I’d rather watch two trannies have a bitch slap face-off.

  178. Shore Guy says:

    Kettle

    The wildcard is the Zr. It melts earlier than the fuel. I can envision a pool of melted and solidified Zr ata the bottom of a vessel remelting due to the reactor going critical then seeping oth of a crack, hitting pooled water, creating H2, igniting another energetic fci and then we are again off to the races

  179. Shore Guy says:

    How context is everything:

    We congratulate ket one having twins and it is nice.

    IfWe congratulate John on having twins…

  180. shore (183)-

    I’m only trained as a cook, but you seem to be talking about a nuclear steam explosion.

  181. Shore Guy says:

    Friggin’ android

  182. BTW, I can cook better than either one of these two haircut queen Top Chef finalists.

  183. Gimme a chance to make foie gras ice cream for 200K. I won’t extrude some kind of frozen, grainy extract of cadaver.

  184. Shore Guy says:

    Clot,

    actually a hydrogen gas explosion, likr earlier, but this time in a far-more damaged facility. I would think that if one has a breech already, subjecting the vessle to an explosion is low on one’s lust of preferred outcomes.

  185. Shore Guy says:

    List.

  186. Shore Guy says:

    Anyone using a multitouch device that they like?

  187. I have a lust of preferred outcomes, but it all concludes on the chest of my betrothed.

  188. Awright, I’m warmed up. Anybody wanna challenge me to a contest in blank verse?

  189. Confused In NJ says:

    156.Barbara says:
    March 30, 2011 at 7:23 pm
    154. I guess you’re screwed on that extra time if you’re under 65. (or is it 67?) .

    65 Currently, although they are looking at pushing Medicare to 67 for those born after 1960, similar to changes previously made to Social Security. Actually any Public Sector worker or retiree has Health Coverage superior to Medicare. Luckily it would only be Private Sector folks who loose the four months. Which is only fair, if they were of any value they would be in the Public Sector.

  190. Pat says:

    I have a bust on deferred incomes, but all proceeds the chest hair of thy betrayed.

  191. Whoa. A post by Pat.

    And, like some kind of Marylander, she starts talking about chest hair.

  192. But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,
    So far from cheer and from your former state,
    That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
    Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must.

  193. That Sheakespear guy keeps fcuking with my head…

  194. chicagofinance says:

    clot: for once you totally whiffed; the man is pure drivel; and if he is a consultant, he is stealing from his employer given all the billable time he spends marshalling useless trivia for this blog….

  195. It’s all fun and games…until somebody gets his eye put out in a nuclear-irratiated hydrogen cloud explosion.

  196. Freak out in a moonage daydream while you’re at it.

  197. chicagofinance says:

    Uh-oh…better get MAKO

  198. Confused In NJ says:

    Gadhafi’s actually doing pretty good, seeing as how he is fighting against Obama and all of NATO. Good thing it’s not the 1940’s, he’d be toast by now.

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