From the WSJ:
Reluctant Realtors: Fannie, Freddie
Two years after they were taken over by the federal government, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face a new challenge: The mortgage-finance giants are becoming two of the nation’s largest home sellers at a time when the housing market shows new signs of softening.
Fannie and Freddie have already taken back nearly as many homes in the first half of the year as they did all of last year. They owned more than 191,000 homes at the end of June, double the year-earlier total. That number will grow because they are taking back homes faster than they sell them.
In recent weeks, Fannie Mae has warned that it could get tougher on lenders that are taking too long to reclaim homes once they have determined that the home is vacant or once they have exhausted foreclosure alternatives, such as modifications. Mortgage servicers, which collect fees from Fannie, could face fines if the process is unreasonably prolonged.
Fannie’s recent reminder to banks signals a growing impatience with delays that have become “exaggerated and unmanageable,” says Edward Delgado, a former Wells Fargo & Co. executive who is now chief executive of the Five Star Institute, a provider of training programs for mortgage professionals.
…
Already, as borrowers fail to qualify for permanent modifications, newly initiated foreclosures at Fannie and Freddie have risen for three consecutive months to more than 150,000 in July, up nearly 60% from April, according to LPS Applied Analytics.That creates an increasingly delicate balancing act. The costs of managing those homes are adding up, but the companies are reluctant to slash prices and dump lots of homes at big discounts.
…
Banks are also entering a less favorable environment for disposing of rising inventories. While mortgage rates continue to fall to record lows, home-buying activity stalled earlier this year when tax credits to spur sales expired.“One year ago, you couldn’t even keep them on the market,” says Brett Barry, a real-estate agent who sells foreclosed homes for Fannie Mae in Phoenix. “That’s so done.”
Phony/Fraudy: always on the wrong side of the trade.
First, mf’er.
We stuffed Fannie and Freddie full of crap loans, the trade group that represents People who Sell Mortgages thinks that there is still some room left in FHA and Ginnie.
From HousingWire:
MBA calls for more FHA power tools
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) called for more resources and authority for the Federal Housing Administration and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) to manage through the current housing crisis, according to a report released today.
An MBA council made 12 recommendations to improve the FHA and Ginnie Mae. Among them, were increased resources for staffing and technology. The council, convened in November 2009, consists of senior executives from 27 large and small independent mortgage-banking companies.
…
“FHA and Ginnie Mae are cornerstones of the U.S. housing market as they provide access to mortgage loans for millions of first-time, and low- and moderate-income homebuyers. MBA members support both of these institutions,” said MBA Chairman Robert Story Jr. “MBA has long advocated for changes that will help guarantee a strong FHA and Ginnie Mae.”
Phony/Fraudy/Ginnie: tamping the septic system of a failed financial system with as much crap as can be jammed into it.
“In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves.
“This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists’ tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists’ antagonism toward the gold standard.”
– Alan Greenspan, 1966
dang. moderated
Clot when you read Greenspsan’s Randian crap from his earlier years you would thought he would have been an economic pragmatist
pain (6)-
Or, one could come to the conclusion that AG is a $2 trick.
money flowing into Washington turns even the most high minded idealist into whoore
Sometimes, you’re just born to be a whore.
“One year ago, you couldn’t even keep them on the market,” says Brett Barry, a real-estate agent who sells foreclosed homes for Fannie Mae in Phoenix. “That’s so done.”
So… if the vultures are gone, the first time buyers are gone, the move up buyers are done, the subs are definitely dead, second home/vaca buyers went away, who is there left to hang a hope on?
Super low rates and reduced pricing hasn’t done much to clear inventories. I’m not even including the inventories of foreclosed homes, because, honestly, there’s just no clear idea of how big those numbers actually are.
What will it take to make a dent in any of this? A few more years (a decade??) of slowly falling values?
“What will it take to make a dent in any of this? A few more years (a decade??) of slowly falling values?”
This is why the mucking bulldozers have to come out and come out now. The real estate terrorist and stinking vultures are loving this and we need an antidote that will support the damn price. A few damn bulldozers cost a lot less than the mucking QE 2 is gonna cost. Plus the damn houses have to be built again once you tear them down and that it of of itself is stimulative. I know, you don’t have to say it, I’m a mucking genius.
Homeowners are letting go of simple maintenance.Can you imagine,how this crap will look like in a few years?You got to come up with a technology of turning molds into energy.
“Edward Delgado, a former Wells Fargo & Co. executive who is now chief executive of the Five Star Institute, a provider of training programs for mortgage professionals.”
LMAO. The arsonist is now the fire chief. You can’t make this sheet up.
Come to think of it, why not hire 50.5 to teach a trading course with emphasis on risk management. The first topic; your first loss is your best loss.
Doom [4],
The whore has now come full circle. It’s amazing how much sense he makes when the strings are not attached.
No problem, Bloom running a power breakfast from Lowe’s Park ave this a.m.
the arrogance is over the top
tosh (10)-
The banks and Phony/Fraudy can’t unload houses now, because their inventory is marked and priced to fantasy. That first wave in Phoenix (and other sand state death zones) was only priced well enough to draw the first wave of sucker, wannabe “investors”. The next wave will have to be priced at low enough levels to pull interest from the for-real investors, who- up to this point- have not budged from their cabana chairs or stopped sipping their fruity drinks.
Let me assure you, I have a few hardc@re vultures on my Rolodex…and I’m not yet tempted to even call to ask how the island weather is yet. Real vultures don’t budge until there’s dead, rotting meat, maggots and the overwhelming stench of death.
You’ll know the vultures are beginning to fly when their pals, the bond vigilantes, are beginning their own special cleanup efforts. One thing I’ve learned over my 50 years on the planet is that RE vultures and bond vigilantes always travel together, kinda like the grim reaper never leaves home without his scythe.
Yield must be paid, mf’er.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The index for U.S. consumer prices rose 0.3% in August for the second straight month, pulled higher by energy prices, the Labor Department reported Friday. The energy index in August rose 2.3% after a 2.6% gain in July. Meanwhile, food prices rose 0.2%, the largest increase since April. The core rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was flat in August. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected the overall CPI to rise 0.3%, and for the core to gain 0.1%. Over the past 12 months, overall consumer prices have climbed 1.1% in August, down from 1.2% in July. Core prices have gained 0.9%, the same rate as the last five months. Prices for shelter were unchanged in August after rising 0.1% in each of the prior three months.
Rally on Garth!
In recent weeks, Fannie Mae has warned that it could get tougher on lenders that are taking too long to reclaim homes once they have determined that the home is vacant or once they have exhausted foreclosure alternatives, such as modifications. Mortgage servicers, which collect fees from Fannie, could face fines if the process is unreasonably prolonged.
– “FINES IF UNREASONABLY PROLONGED” – so am I missing something or in order to accelerate the process, they have to drop prices.
Is there an unexpected downward acceleration on housing prices coming? A lot of people are saying another 5% – 10% down and most experts temper their comments on this stuff. Just wondering if the avalanche is coming in 2011.
“That’s so done.”
Dead, buried, kaput. In addition to this, the real sh#tstorm is just beginning to gain momentum. The resets for Alt-A and option arm’s will blow the door off the hinges.
Is the idiot still on the bar stool? If yes, order him/her a drink and let him/her know that JB was too conservative in his estimate.
http://mortgage.freedomblogging.com/files/2009/05/reset-chart-for-blog-april.jpg
yome [18],
The whore rate is always flat.
pol/clot (ha!) – That first wave in… was only priced well enough to draw the first wave of sucker, wannabe “investors”.
Real vultures don’t budge until there’s dead, rotting meat, maggots and the overwhelming stench of death.
Fair point, and one I believe you are correct on. So, how low does it have to go?
No way! There were 100 open houses in Montclair the other weekend and the realtors tell me that they are making a big push right now because they are sure the market is back.
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/us-economy-gradually-deteriorating-levy-says-recession-likely-in-2011-yftt_535429.html
“Let me assure you, I have a few hardc@re vultures on my Rolodex”
Doom,
Add Aiko Wantanabe and Alexandra Rigapolous.
“realtors tell me that they are making a big push right now because they are sure the market is back.”
Fantastic. A “top” broker for one of the biggies was trying to convince me to buy GM at 51.47. After all, you can’t keep a hungry consumer down for long.
Whores are demanding premium.Madam Fleiss told me so.
Thinking about it a bit more;
Is there anything attractive about current SFRs to vulture capitalists?
Maintenance, market over supply, taxes… not pretty.
NJGator (from yesterday’s thread re: $31m school in Montclair)…
I have a friend who is in building trades. Tried to volunteer in the decision making about the new school. Jaw dropped when they found out the clowns doing it and the price.
A certain percentage of the folks in town government (bunny bike boy, for example) seem to be genuinely naïve idiots who want to do good (I mean really, who wants to/can afford to be mayor of Montclair for $48,000 a year? wasn’t that the salary) and the rest are divided into true crooks (Hartnett! remember him?) and apparatchiks worthy who would have thrived in the Soviet Union.
Incredible. Sadly, most of the other options around are even crazier.
tosh (22)-
Lower than most here have ever imagined.
No one will be spared. That’s why it’s so funny to read the posts of those who think they will be spared.
yo (26)-
Only premium whores can demand a premium. Client 9 told me so.
#11 – re – This is why the mucking bulldozers have to come out and come out now
Surely explosives are quicker and cheaper.
I think we can conceivably go back down to early 90s house prices if incomes continue to collapse. How much house could one support with a job paying around $20 / hr?
11 – MAHR101 – Your clarity about how to move forward is insightful. So why don’t you lead the charge and bulldoze and rebuild? It’s for the economy, after all.
But as you are sure to retort, this suggestion is only meant to be applied to the other poor fools, not yourself. The problem with the market pricing is that every seller believes that they alone will get their price – and be the first to signal the return of the RE fantasy. They all seem to think like you do.
Maybe the banks, Freddie and Fannie, will end up bulldozing. I’ve already seen what those properties look like when the pipes burst and the mold sprouts. But I also saw the bank fixing it up – at least to the level where they can get a CO. I anticipate a long future of nasty mold-related illness – if this repair trend continues. Mold is very hard to eradicate.
I think the banks will be just as stubborn as you will be, with regards to holding your price. It seems like one big game of chicken – who will blink first. The buyer or the seller. But there are few buyers, save for the vultures. So you are playing chicken with the massive wall of economic reality. And reality always wins.
If the bulldozers win out, at least I’ll be able to get some decent lots. I think it will come too late to save the builders – if it comes at all. So that should be some great downward price pressure again.
Clot-Poltroon (29)
What does it mean “to be spared”? OK, so homes that sold for 2 mil in 2006 are now selling for 1.8 mil in 2010. Let’s say it goes down to 1.7 mil in 2011 and 1.65 in 2012.
Is a 17% drop in so-called “prime” NJ towns really going to matter to the wealthy?
Those who think the 900k house in Glen Ridge or Brigadoon was outrageous in 2006 are still going to think the 742k price is outrageous in 2012. Meanwhile, there are plenty of folks ready to pounce as the prices come down marginally, thus keeping the floor from being totally pulled out from under certain markets. All RE is local.
10 years from now, some will still be saying “no one will be spared” and some will be enjoying the homes they purchased, still employed, raising families, living life and complaining about taxes going up too much year after year.
What does it mean, no one will be spared? What are you suggesting the 1 mil. house in Short Hills is going to sell for 5 yrs from now, 10 yrs from now, 20?
http://vimeo.com/14979801
Ultimate Extreme Home Make-over in New Jersey in under two minutes
” I think we can conceivably go back down to early 90s house prices if incomes continue to collapse. ”
Maybe in Florida, and California, and Arizona, and Texas, and in New England, and the Pacific Northwest, and the Midwest, and the South, and even Pensey and the DC area, but it will NEVER HAPPEN in NJ, becuse of its proximity to New York.
“The problem with the market pricing is that every seller believes that they alone will get their price ”
And before the first kickoff of the first gaame of the season, every team is a potential champion.
250k (34) pretty much has it.
If the houses now on the market for $699,000 go down by 10-15%, I’ll pounce with 30-40% down and another 20-10% in the bank for hard times. That’s not a bad mortgage and the house will be decent, not some nasty mcmansion. Yah, the taxes are killer, but I have two kids. The schools are better than anything I went to and I saw the effects of crappy rural schools in cheap towns first hand. My parents made that mistake. Had to claw my way into a top school by transferring. Most of my classmates got fat (we like the term “popped”), still live in the country, and play video games all day 25 years later. So, since the educational system is gutted in this country, the options would be private school, which would be about $70,000 a year so my kids get to learn all about coke dealing and have inferiority complexes about driving BMWs not Porsches. Heck with that.
Do I expect to lose money? Why sure, but I’m also sick of living in a place with a landlord who has his own “ideas” and doesn’t want to maintain it. That’s something all the “buying is for suckers” peeps don’t get. Almost all landlords (disclaimer: I also have an apartment building) nickle and dime their renovations. It’s the only way to extract maximum profit. Why replace that ugly toilet which I will never see when I can go out to a nice dinner with the cash instead? So the soap dish in the bathroom has the paint all chipped off, that’s $7. I could have lunch at the deli for that. I’m never going to see it and I have maybe a 2% vacancy rate monthly in this economy with most tenants year over year, so why bother?
My landlord behaves like I do. Moreover, what’s my incentive to negotiate with him to gut his ugly kitchen and rebuild it myself? I may not want an Iron Barbiarian polished platinum stove, GE is just fine, thank you, but I would like more counter space. It’s a nightly battle and a little rearrangeing would make our lives much better. But will I live here 5 years? No. Have I lived here for “free” as the market has collapsed and dragged down the real estate prices by the amount that I have paid rent? Yes.
And so a squalid truce is reached by all involved… Hence why I’m willing to throw away some money… but only when owners wise up just a wee bit.
Poltroon says:
September 17, 2010 at 8:55 am
tosh (22)-
Lower than most here have ever imagined.
No one will be spared. That’s why it’s so funny to read the posts of those who think they will be spared.
Wrong again fcko…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srCVc0zQMGE
Vulture A person of a rapacious, predatory, or profiteering nature Sounds like a bad name for an oppurtunist
“All RE is local.”
[34]
We heard the same in 2005. This area will never suffer a decline in RE value. After all, we are tied to the hip of NY.
Presently, the whole area is being supported by phony valuations, pie in the sky accounting, and a paper carry trade which will prove to be the ultimate bubble. At that time, the foundation, which is being supported by chop sticks, will implode.
If you seriously think that the well heeled are not affected by a 200-300K hickie, you are delusional. In addition to this, how many in those “prime” towns are mortgaged to the max or truly wealthy? Jobs/incomes cut, the asset declines, yet the debt remains. How’s that for local?
“There’s a new class of citizens in Rumson: the formerly rich.”
http://www.redbankgreen.com/2010/08/nypost-rumson-feels-the-pinch.html
” I think we can conceivably go back down to early 90s house prices if incomes continue to collapse. ”
I give the following prediction a 65% chance of coming true.
We muddle on until 2012. Whoever takes over, be it Obama again, hunting for a decisive victory to validate his failed presidency or an idiot Republican will really screw things up good. Heck, even if they just continue to muddle on, they probably have little chance of repairing things anyway given what Treasury and the Fed have done with interest rates and buying treasuries.
The economy operates in something akin to the long crisis from 1966 to the mid 80s. Finally it hits the fan and the dollar is devalued, maybe 2016. Devalued against what, I don’t know? All the rest of the world’s serious currencies are a disaster. The Euro may already be worthless by then (what do those people make? what do they do?). The result may be a steady devaluing like what happened since 2000 with the Euro or it may be rapid and Argentina like. It may even be a race to the bottom between the currencies.
Real estate goes down a little more, in this region maybe 15%-20% or so over five years (can you wait it out?), in already hard hit areas like the Tea Party regions (half those smarties are living in foreclosed houses? they are cry babies) in the exurbs maybe another 5%-10%.
Inflation continues on some things, maybe even runs rampant while salaries stay stagnant in dollars. Interest rates creep up. So Joe Six Pack is looking at house prices that are a little lower than they are today, but has to pay a lot more for them interest wise. The dollar, meanwhile, has been eviscerated and his salary buys almost nothing, if he is lucky to get it.
Eventually, maybe by the time my kids are in college, factories start getting built again to take advantage of the cheap labor. A generation accustomed to struggle will have a different mentality than a generation accustomed to another pretty pony.
Much of this simply applies the lessons of the last two decades in Japan to our country.
Smathers 28 – I am pretty sure being Mayor of Montclair pays way less than $48k. Fried has no connection to the financial reality of the majority of the rest of us. He stopped working in order to devote himself FT to being Mayor.
250K (34)-
Ah, young grasshopper: so innocent, so naive.
“What does it mean “to be spared”? OK, so homes that sold for 2 mil in 2006 are now selling for 1.8 mil in 2010. Let’s say it goes down to 1.7 mil in 2011 and 1.65 in 2012.
Is a 17% drop in so-called “prime” NJ towns really going to matter to the wealthy?”
chi (39)-
You need a vacation. :)
The problem with Wall Street is the problem with markets (and a probably with libertarian theories of human behavior). Markets have no brains and haven’t been around long enough to evolve them.
The Republicans are in for a treat. How are they going to balance the Tea Party hatred of Wall Street with Wall Street’s desire for love?
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/wall-st.’s-disdain-for-obama-is-personal-not-about-policy-andrew-ross-sorkin-says-535418.html
smathers (42)-
I used to think we were turning Japanese. However, Japan is a homogeneous, highly-structured society that has been conditioned over centuries to endure the torpor that comes from a fraudulent economy permanently trapped in stasis. More important, that ability to endure was married to a savings rate that allowed their citizens to buy massive amounts of gubmint debt for years @ virtually no yield. In fact, the bond vigilantes have yet to hit there…although Japan is clearly #2 on the list after they pick Europe’s bones clean.
Here, in the Fascist States of Amerika, I see an endgame much more akin to Argentina (lawless breakdown of society) married to Zimbabwe (hyperinflationary spiral due to complete loss of faith in the currency, married to despotic dictatorship). We have no savings, debt is considered money and there is no homogenizing societal impulse.
In short, this country will go batshit, then implode.
gator (43)-
I wouldn’t hire that simpleton as dog catcher.
“The economy operates in something akin to the long crisis from 1966 to the mid 80s”
Smathers,
Is this comedy hour or are you actually clueless? If you are a homeowner this is the worst scenario possible. Why not bring Tall Paul back and watch mortgage rates climb to 15%. Dead man walking will be buried.
I bet nobody saw the Civil War coming, either.
NJgator (43)
Can’t seem to find the salary, but you could be right. Someone else mentions it’s $7,000. Here’s one case where the job is underpaid. You can’t expect people with any basis in reality to take it up. Either they will operate to milk the cow for their development interests or they are bike boys.
Reminds me of a relatively big, but down on its luck city in the Northeast that couldn’t find a candidate for mayor in the 1980s. Eventually the city found one: city hall’s janitor. Since I left the area the only new business that moved in is crack.
Funny I see that chart in the WSJ today that average incomes have fallen over last ten years. Meanwhile they present as case examples, old, unskilled, dumb, fat, lazy people with medical issues as examples of peoples whose income have fallen in last ten years. We had an insane bull market in jobs in the 90’s in a normal environment these people were never getting raises. They were lucky to hang on.
Note to self: take Tall Paul in next office deadpool.
49. What are you a shill for real estate? It is the worst scenario possible for the homeowner.
But don’t worry, keep on smiling, you’ll get your pony. The sun’ll come out tomorrow!
Gotta go. Starting to smell like Teen Spirit here.
[54],
I got my pony. His name is Hi-Yo.
Here’s the kind of phag I cozy up to:
ttp://www.google.com/finance?q=LON:PHAG
http://www.google.com/finance?q=LON:PHAG
If home values decline another 20% to which would bring them inline with pre- Housing bubble levels, and then the Government forces a cram down of the mortgage debt for all of the underwater homeowners we would see Trillions in new spending in our consumer driven economy. Think of all of that extra money which used to pay for the debt entering the economy?
Just imagine the kind of stimulus that will provide. It’s the equivalent of a trillion dollar per year tax cut, and without reducing Social Security liabilities and other large spending like the Military.
The Government would not even need to raise taxes on the Rich, and it would create millions of new jobs and lead us out of this Depression. The Party would be back on again. The only real solution is to turn the ship, stop trying to be Japanese, write down all of this debt and be done with it.
Anyone know how to find out what the FIOS internet speed is in a particular neighborhood? I have Verizon DSL now and will upgrade to FIOS if I know my house is close enough to the local “hub” or whatever it’s called to get decent speed.
BC,
Just a quick question re that Option Arm charts:
http://mortgage.freedomblogging.com/files/2009/05/reset-chart-for-blog-april.jpg
Does the data in the chart reflect just the initial orginations from years past or is it current and reflects the exclusion of those that were able to to refi into a 30 year etc?
I agree that irregardless the problem is still going to huge; especially given the constraints on credit and current unemployment. I was just wondering if its being updated.
59. Juice Box has a point.
That could be the strategy that the Republicans try if they wrest control of the government. Either that or a war with Iran although wars are proving to be a rotten way to restart the economy (WW2 was great because the rest of the developed world was destroyed and the British basically paid us with their empire).
It’d be the perfect scenario. Everyone gets their pony, except those of us “smart” enough to stay out of RE in the last decade. We’ll be the biggest chumps.
60. I haven’t heard that FiOS is at all speed dependent. It’s fiber, not DSL. Otherwise you can probably do a search by zip code on dslreports.com’s speed test feature.
#50, really? Took a good 70- 80 years.
re # 60 j – the difference is a Dragster vs Moped in the 1/4 mile.
Get the FIOS, and if you need to see actual independent internet upload/download speed tests in your area go here.
http://www.dslreports.com/reviews
J @ 60
Fios is fiber optic, the speed is not determined by the distance from the local hub. You cannot compare FIOS to DSL in any meaningful way!!!!
If anything the speed of fios will be hampered in an area with very heavy bandwidth demand, but even “slow” FIOS is way beyond what you would see on DSL. I regularly pull down 1gig files in 10 minutes on my FIOS connection
“Real vultures don’t budge until there’s dead, rotting meat, maggots and the overwhelming stench of death.”
That’s me.
Been keeping an eye on a overpriced waterfront property that I’ll buy when it’s closer to becoming a blood-sucking good deal.
42.
Smathers,
“Eventually, maybe by the time my kids are in college, factories start getting built again to take advantage of the cheap labor”
Forget schooling and college. In 20 years the local home depots are going to be sweat shops for spinning yarn and storing grain. You will be working at your kids roadside vegetable stand if you are lucky.
My kids will be painting plastic toys full of lead based paint for 1 SDR an hour if they refuse to work on my farm.
excited on white space wifi for almost everything.TV,video,phone.Hyde any thoughts?
Orion really is the patient hunter.
47.
Poltroon,
Argentina it will be with a slice of Weimar and a side of Mogadishu. Bank holiday, devaluations, conversion of foreign currencies, limited withdrawals. Riots to follow with a likely coup. Then the new normal.
HE [61],
Not sure how many successfully refi’d as their crap box declined 20%? Then again, HAMP, was an incredible success.
#47 You may be right. I’ve been reading about the last depression. I think this one is, or will soon be, worse. In Minneapolis, in 1930, a crowd of women leaned against the windows of a grocery store til they broke. The women climbed in and raided the shelves. They kept a list of the food they took and assured the owner he would be paid in full, later. Then the women divided up the food according to how many children each had. Similar “food riots” occurred across the country. They were mostly non-violent because we were a country of small towns then and the townspeople knew the grocers personally. Now our food comes from huge corporate supermarket chains. I doubt the “rioters” will be so polite this time.
The only thing keeping us from seeing breadlines and riots now is the SNAP program – food stamps. This is one government program that has to keep going.
(with a nod to ChicagoFinance)
From a thread on a Hudson County forum:
“Who care where they are living as long as they are not camped out on the lawn at the Hudson Tea Building. I do not want to see a tent shanty town setup on our property.”
http://www.kannekt.com/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=28749&forum=8&post_id=215391#forumpost215391
” spyderjacks says:
September 17, 2010 at 9:05 am
11 – MAHR101 – Your clarity about how to move forward is insightful. So why don’t you lead the charge and bulldoze and rebuild? It’s for the economy, after all.
But as you are sure to retort, this suggestion is only meant to be applied to the other poor fools, not yourself. The problem with the market pricing is that every seller believes that they alone will get their price – and be the first to signal the return of the RE fantasy. They all seem to think like you do.
Maybe the banks, Freddie and Fannie, will end up bulldozing. I’ve already seen what those properties look like when the pipes burst and the mold sprouts. But I also saw the bank fixing it up – at least to the level where they can get a CO. I anticipate a long future of nasty mold-related illness – if this repair trend continues. Mold is very hard to eradicate.
I think the banks will be just as stubborn as you will be, with regards to holding your price. It seems like one big game of chicken – who will blink first. The buyer or the seller. But there are few buyers, save for the vultures. So you are playing chicken with the massive wall of economic reality. And reality always wins.
If the bulldozers win out, at least I’ll be able to get some decent lots. I think it will come too late to save the builders – if it comes at all. So that should be some great downward price pressure again.”
Look, motherhubbard, you’re new here unless you are one of the regular terrorists who has switched his damn name. There’s one rule I have here and that is don’t be a smartass with me. That mucks with me and I don’t like it one damn bit.
As to the damn bulldozing, let’s say we flatten your damn place first. You got too much time on your damn hands and could probably be kept busy getting your damn crapshack rebuilt.
You refuse to understand the motherhubbing relationship between the damn supply and demand curves. The damn problem is that the damn terrorists have scared the shlt out of everyone and they don’t want to buy. Some damn scarcity has to be induced to counter the real estate terrorists and their reprehensible unamerican actions. Moreover, like I told you yesterday, you won’t be able to snatch my damn deed out of my cold dead hands, unless you meet my damn price. I’m not going to let some stinking vulture get away with some damn stunt even if I’m in the grave.
Nobody knows quite how big an impact opening the white space will have. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski comments, “We know what the first kind of deployments will be. But this will also be a platform for innovators and entrepreneurs. There is every chance of this leading to the development of one or more billion-dollar industries.”
Proponents of the measure like Google say that the result will be “Wi-Fi on steroids”, and will provide an affordable way to cover hard-to-access rural areas. A small, but significant portion of the U.S. doesn’t have access to high-speed internet services.
Interestingly the FCC is opting to give the spectrum away for free, declining to license or auction it off. Previously the FCC had indicated that it might sell the white space and use the revenue generated to help finance its national broadband plan.
Television broadcasters have sued the FCC to try to block the use, as they claim it might interfere with their signals. Independent tests, though, have shown that such problems are unlikely, and the use seems slated to be pushed through despite the objections.
The FCC’s final decision on who gets to use white space and how will be officially published at the FCC’s Sept. 23 meeting. Microsoft, though, is so confident that the news will be good that it’s already switched on its campus white space network in its hometown of Redmond, Washington.
http://www.dailytech.com/FCC+Set+to+Announce+Decision+on+Whether+to+Allow+White+Space+WiFi/article19609.htm
Happy @ 69
Patiently waiting to burn someone else to ease my own pain of having been burned. Turn the other cheek? Not my style.
Burn, baby, burn.
10: Tosh,
You’re right. But an educated guess (not mine) says double what is on the entire market (i.e. not just foreclosures) currently.
because, honestly, there’s just no clear idea of how big those numbers actually are.
76 Orion
That’s ok, I’m still waiting for the buy 1 get 1 free sales!
#70
“Argentina it will be with a slice of Weimar and a side of Mogadishu. Bank holiday, devaluations, conversion of foreign currencies, limited withdrawals. Riots to follow with a likely coup. Then the new normal.”
Puleez we are a bunch of wusses too busy watching tv. As long as we get our bag of potato chips and coke, there will be no mass scale riots in the U.S. I read somewhere, Money has bought the best democracy in the US
daze (73)-
Too bad they don’t realize that the residents inside their building constitute a shantytown.
“Who care where they are living as long as they are not camped out on the lawn at the Hudson Tea Building. I do not want to see a tent shanty town setup on our property.”
I’m feeling generous today. Reinvestor101, do you have any deeds you’d like to unload at 20¢ on the dollar?
“Not sure how many successfully refi’d as their crap box declined 20%? Then again, HAMP, was an incredible success.”
Good ol’ HAMP.
The whole inside joke of the “reinvestor101” is completely played out now. Actually, it has been for quite a while now.
HE [82],
“HAMP”
Then there’s SNAP, TALF, TARP, PPIP, TGLP, CPFF, MMIFF, etc… Who says we are losing our grip in manufacturing? No country can top us in manufacturing alphabet programs.
Joyce [83],
I agree. The character should be laid to rest.
Orion [76];
I won’t buy unless the deal is such that the seller thanks me for only figuratively, but not literally, bending him over the closing table.
Moose 86,
well, if the seller was a particularly attractive female……
#79 – Zack –Puleez we are a bunch of wusses too busy watching tv. As long as we get our bag of potato chips and coke, there will be no mass scale riots in the U.S.
I’d agree with you, to a certain extent. Expecting social unrest over current economic conditions may be unrealistic. Even a cursory examination of historical precedent (see the lead-up to the fall of the Ancien Régime) shows it has to get really bad before people take to the streets directly.
However, that anger/disenfranchisement is certainly there. The fun thing about anger is its liquid nature and how it pops up where you least expect it.
Do I expect violence in the streets over ruined retirements, unbearable yokes of debt, etc? No. Do I expect that anger to bubble up and find another target? Absolutely.
Were the riots about school bussing programs in the 70’s *really* about students being bussed in, or were they a vent for the anger building up in working class white neighborhoods about their ever decreasing prospects for the future?**
The later is the type of strife that I expect to see.
** You can repeat this for any number of incidents of domestic social unrest in the U.S.
I love the smell of insolvency in the morning!
IRELAND may need to call in International Monetary Fund (IMF) assistance if bank losses rise any further or the economy deteriorates beyond current forecasts, Barclays, one of Europe’s largest banks, has said.
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/sobering-report-by-barclays-warns-we-may-yet-need-imf-2341179.html
This isnt a problem is it?
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — FedEx Corp., the second-largest U.S. package-shipping company, forecast earnings for the current quarter that fell short of analysts’ estimates, and said it will eliminate 1,700 jobs.
Its not like prime shipping/shopping season is starting up.
Hey Orion Number 66 STAY AWAY THAT”S MY ROADKILL!
hyde (89)-
Puh-leeze. I’m still buying stocks, since Cramer said last night that everything’s OK.
[sarcasm off]
Seen while visiting my sister in Carmel, CA.
For sale -seaside “Cypress Song” 2 bedroom, 2 bath “cozy” retreat. Views of Carmel Beach and Pebble Beach Golf Course. 1579 square feet. $4,750,000.
#88… I wonder where the desire for “armed revolt” comes from at an individual level.
In my view, the major factors at a personal level would be how things are now (perfect, very good, good, ok, bad, very bad, want to harm someone, etc.) , and how things will be (will be king, will be way better off, neutral, will lose out, am scared, am sh!t scared). Of course, the perception of risk (and actual risk) depend on one’s background, where one is living, contacts that one has, etc.
Most of people here seem to do pretty fine — does that follow that there is a perception that the risk is very low for them and their families? I’d be laughed off the board or will get many people upset if I share what my adverse-case fears are about such revolts.
Chart of the Day!
http://thecynicaleconomist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/chart-of-the-day-stocks-for-the-long-run-not-so-much.png
88: My Pops got a Dear John letter from Allied/HON recently saying that his medical is getting yanked. He’s spent his retirement taking care of my sick Mom. There’s probably enough fight left in that Marine.
Guess we’ll get that basement finished after all.
Do I expect violence in the streets over ruined retirements,… etc? No
(46) The Republicans are in for a treat. How are they going to balance the Tea Party hatred of Wall Street with Wall Street’s desire for love?
————————————————————–
The Tea Party’s hatred of Wall Street? I haven’t seen it. I would have more respect for them if i did see it.
“Then there’s SNAP, TALF, TARP, PPIP, TGLP, CPFF, MMIFF, etc… Who says we are losing our grip in manufacturing? No country can top us in manufacturing alphabet programs.”
What we need is a Czar. That always seems to set the sheeples hearts aflutter.
Just in case you forget that the gubmint is laughing in your face as they shove the plunger handle up your arse further:
“As the administration continue to recreate the ponzi bubble using the very same criminal methods that reflated the first housing bubble, more and more homes are being handed back to the original mortgage lenders – Fannie and Freddie (which incidentally are all now owned by everyone in America, ever since the GSEs were nationalized by the US, after Barney Frank’s experiment in the early 2000s went so wrong, it nearly cost the default of America. How that human is still allowed to draft law after corrupt and worthless law, is beyond us). And today we discover that at the end of June, Fannie and Freddie are now the proud owners of 191,000 homes (double what they owned at the end of 2009) and rising with each passing day. And shockingly, the GSEs have decided to do the prudent thing and start selling this real estate, before the plunges really plunge and leave them straddled with millions of homes. On the other hand, this action alone will likely be sufficient to force the next leg lower in home prices. Because it gets worse: “Once they take homes back, Fannie and Freddie must not only cover the utility bills and property taxes, but they are also relying on thousands of real-estate agents and contractors to rehabilitate homes, mow lawns and clean pools. Fannie took a $13 billion charge during the second quarter just on carrying costs for its properties.” Yes, dear taxpayer, this is money out of your pocket being used to prevent a drop in home prices, so that instead of being able to afford a home at a much lower price, you need to use even more 101% LTV Fannie debt and bid it up at still astronomically high levels, even as Fannie and Freddie become ever more default, so that one day all taxpayers end up with a big fat donut once America’s pomzy debt issuance appartus finally implodes.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gse-inventory-homes-sales-surges-home-prices-drop-fannie-freddie-sales-pick
SAS3
Historically the root of revolts comes from a core of disaffected “intellectuals”. That core gives the “masses” direction and tends to be the group that stirs the “masses” into action. That core group acts on principles more then anything else.
Look at the founding fathers. They were generally wealthy or well to do business men. They could have played ball with england and still been fairly well off. They rose up and fomented revolution out of principle not out of fear.
See what the rest of the world has to look forward to.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Greece-Crime-Wave-Spells-Boom-bloomberg-2494007464.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=
Sas3
Of you want ot talk about “headless” uprisings, without an “intellectual” backing, look at the muslim riots in france. They rise up in riots without general direction with the primary purpose being destruction and chaos.
#88… I wonder where the desire for “armed revolt” comes from at an individual level.
Pull out Social Services underneath the magic carpet,3rd world poverty will come to view.Then I am getting my AK.Till then,I don’t want it in my house.
What happens when the fed is right and wrong at the same time? No need to worry, the whore rate is flat.
“As of last night’s close, the CRB Raw Industrials sub index of 22 commodities that are “either raw materials or products close to the initial production stage” broke out to the highest level since May ’08 and at 517.3, is just 8.5 pts from a record high reached the same month. Included in the index are metals, textiles/fibers, livestock and products, fats/oils, foodstuffs and other raw industrials.”
http://www.bullfax.com/?q=node-crb-raw-industrials-index-breaks-out-highest-may-%E2%80%9908
Primary Muslim uprising in France was high unemployment for the youth,specially for the muslim population.
In my opinion, I think the way our federal government handles the insolvencies of the states pension funds will be the best indicator of whether the transition of our economy from first world to second will be smooth or violent. We can all agree that state leaders have continuously given away the farm in exchange for votes knowing that there was no possible way to pay off on their promises. If I were a public sector worker, I would be in full Clot mode in an attempt to make sure I get every dollar that I was promised. The problem though, is that there is no possible way that the states can honor these promises. No way, no how. Any steep increase in taxes on the middle class, will result in a bit of an offset as the economy slows down, as it is so consumer dependent. If the teachers, police and firefighters turn violent, then we are going to be in for a hell of a fireworks show. Last time I checked, our police force was armed, our firefighters were in excellent physical shape and our teachers were intelligent enough to wage an effective war of words.
Currently the first salvos have been launched on two fronts. The public sector is after the private sector (and vice versa) and the middle class is after the upper class. The latter I really do think this has a lot to do with the ever increasing income gap. And the upper class has the power of the media, leaving them quite able to convince the sheople with lies about expatriotism and funny math as the gap still grows wider and faster.
Ignoring the important issues that develop around collapsing fiat currencies which impact all of the parties, as long as our current pro-corporate, lobby driven government is not changed in a drastic way, I can’t see anyway for all but the most upper of the upper class to get out of this unscathed. The Bill Gates and Warren Buffet types know this too well. Both are pushing hard for tax increases on their class of wealth. This will help, but greed will keep the numbers of true patriots like them to the bare minimum. And the sheople will keep reelecting the Rangel’s and the Bushies who represent no more than themselves. I do not look forward to tomorrow with great hope for our country or for the modern world. Would have much rather been born to parents who did not do as well so the first drop on this rollercoaster we call quality of life was not so damn steep.
Yome
yep, it was a result of general unrest, not a “revolt”.
Grim, my heartfelt diatribe at 106 is in moderation (of course).
#94 Most of people here seem to do pretty fine — does that follow that there is a perception that the risk is very low for them and their families? I’d be laughed off the board or will get many people upset if I share what my adverse-case fears are about such revolts.
Understood. Also, I have a more than ample imagination and a pretty clear idea of how bad it can get. I just don’t think we’re even close to that. I make no mistakes about assuming that my own position (doing ok for myself) is held by most others, I don’t. I know quite a lot of other people aren’t doing well at all. I just think it will take a great deal before that comes to direct violence**. They’ll vent their anger on tertiary targets first; immigrants, any oddball group that can be dug up and posed as an omega, etc.
** For example; At one time a significant portion of the overall southern population of this country was outright owned by a much smaller portion of the same pop. Despite having numbers on their side and only needing marginal organization to free themselves you can count the number of slave rebellions on one hand. My conclusion, it can get *really* bad before people will do anything about it directly.
#100… ironically, I may get called naive for saying this, but the road to hell is often paved with good intentions. Some engineered riots (I witnessed one in South India in ’91) are extremely transparent and almost laughable — but with the support of some political establishment, people temporarily believe any nonsense (dot com, Iraq WMD, housing will go up for ever, Obama will toughen regulations fight abusive corporations, etc.)
#101, I will seek Nom’s help and get some arms training. Will ease my fears of nut mobs and may help make some extra bucks by guarding estates of some Paris Hilton types. Of course, then I’d have nothing to fear but risk from myself :) Heads up, don’t tell me where you hide your shiny :)
More insignificant stats to consider….
From a peak in 2005 of $13.1 trillion in equity in residential real estate, residential real estate equity has now dropped by approximately half to $6.67 trillion. Whats 6 0r 7 trillion between friends?!?
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/z1.pdf
RE bubble… was painful when it was going up — people were taking on a lot of debt via equity extraction while first-timers were were worrying about affordability. The bad effects of deflation of the bubble seems worse.
The only silver lining is that we were desperately saving on the upswing (we may need to save more just to keep the same house on target) and now continue saving now (we may need to have a reasonable buffer just in case the two income trap gets us).
And one other thing that remains true — don’t buy overpriced RE just because the interest rates are low. You can always lower your interest rate later, but you may not be able to lower the principal.
sas3
student debt is now approaching 1 trillion!!!! Dont forget that student debt IS NOT dischargeable under normal circumstances. you are stuck with it!!!! bankruptcy/ default doesnt negate student loan debt loads as they can and will garnish wages and the like.
SAS3 109
Heads up, don’t tell me where you hide your shiny :)
How many people scoffed at the original SAS for suggesting some midnight gardening?
[109] sas3
Road trip to the range? Nice fall weather right now! As for training, I can only do basic safety and target. Anything more, like advanced target or skeet, I am useless and freely admit it. Won’t be on Top Sniper anytime soon.
As for shiny, O’Brien of Gold Report says he expects retracement down to 1,075 and reports that some very smart people in this space are selling a lot of equity in gold stocks. He says that all of the money in shiny has been made for now, and that the ads on cable for gold sellers are “ripoffs.” In other news, there is apparently a move afoot on Capitol Hill to investigate gold hawkers like the ones pushed by Liddy and Beck. I’m out now, and while I missed the last few days of run-up, I don’t plan to get back in.
Congressmen Weiner and Waxman Set Gold Hearing
http://seekingalpha.com/article/225579-congressmen-weiner-and-waxman-set-gold-hearing
This is how it starts. One hearing becomes another, becomes another and then its either confiscation time or they tax the hell out if it.
[109] sas3
Security is a great investment, and I gave some thought years ago to starting a private fund focusing on the security sector. Problem is that such businesses are often divisions of larger companies so you never got a clean play, although ADT was spun off and Brinks is still pretty clean.
As a cottage industry for estate protection, I see gangs and militia groups getting into that space if things get really bad. Unfortunately, I also see gangs and unscrupulous militias (which are really gangs) being a major problem in some areas in a SHTF scenario, leading to the creation of small, local militias or posses springing up to defend against them.
grim (or anyone else) ,
can you give me any information on 912 main st bayville?
is it a foreclosure? how much money is owed on it?
what is the history?
thanks for any help you can give me,
Jim
You know how you know something to be generally true, but then you experience it directly and although you already knew it to be true, you nonetheless have a serious *DAYUM* epiphany anyway? That just happened to me. Corporations are criminal enterprises. GE credit just tried to bamboozle me like a swarmy old world textile merchant in a dirty bazaar. BOA tried to get away with it last week.
Made a 10K deposit a few days ago…and BAC is trying to clip $100 of it.
Another place to visit with my baseball bat. I’ll get a night in Somerville, but I’ll do a helluva lot of damage before the cops get there.
I bailed out the BAC criminals once- involuntarily. If they think I’m paying for Tangelo, their $26 strike price for ML and Ken Lewis’ defense, they must think I have “stupid” stamped on my forehead.
I will fcuking take that branch apart.
Poltroon
Ding Yifan, a policy guru at the Development Research Centre, said China could respond by selling holdings of US debt, estimated at over $1.5 trillion (£963bn). This would trigger a rise in US interest rates. His comments at a forum in Beijing follow a string of remarks by Chinese officials questioning US credit-worthiness and the reliability of the dollar.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/8002719/Chinese-think-tank-warns-US-it-will-emerge-as-loser-in-trade-war.html
ISN is toast. Lets celebrate Bank Fail Friday. Number 120.
Make,
In Perth?
Wanta,
I’m still here.
Make,
Buckle up, it’s going to get volatile.
Hi-ho! This is the kind of volatility I’m talking about:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/37617534/The-Weekly-Peak-September-17-2010
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/nj_ranks_5th_in_nation_for_mos.html
N.J. ranks 5th in nation for most out-of-state migration, report says
More people moved out of New Jersey than all but four other states between 2000 to 2008, underscoring broader demographic shifts and, some say, a decline in the state’s attractiveness.
Even with a constant influx of newcomers, the Garden State had a net loss of nearly 304,000 residents over the eight-year-period, who took combined annual incomes of $12.3 billion with them to other states, according to figures accessed through a database launched today by the Tax Foundation, a policy research group in Washington, D.C. that advocates for lower taxes.
The data confirms residents are leaving for states like Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas faster than they are being replaced — a phenomenon that economists attribute to factors such as climate, high taxes and a lack of job opportunities.
Doom,
When silver and soybeans move in tandem, it’s surfs up.
Ding Yifan, a policy guru at the Development Research Centre, said China could respond by selling holdings of US debt, estimated at over $1.5 trillion (£963bn). This would trigger a rise in US interest rates. His comments at a forum in Beijing follow a string of remarks by Chinese officials questioning US credit-worthiness and the reliability of the dollar.
Treasury bond holding is over $800 billion the fed needs to sell and find buyer for those.It will trigger a devaluation of the dollar.The remaining asset is dollar holdings.The chinese needs to find a buyer,will they find a buyer of depreciating value, if they are dumping a massive amount? Just a thought.Will fedco take the poker face.
Those statistics, released Thursday, also indicate that four of the wealthiest states were located in the Northeast and, along with Maryland and Virginia, form a tight cluster of wealth.
New Jersey had the second highest average median income, at $64,918 and Connecticut ($64,644) the third.
The South had nine of the lowest median income states with Arkansas ($37,987) and West Virginia ($39,170) closely trailing Mississippi
http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/16/news/economy/Americas_wealthiest_states/index.htm
Why move to this states unless you are retiring
The bottom 10 poorest states
Where median incomes are lowest
Rank State Median Income
1 Mississippi $35,693
2 Arkansas $37,987
3 West Virginia $39,170
4 Tennessee $40,034
5 South Carolina $41,548
6 Montana $41,587
7 Kentucky $41,828
8 Alabama $42,144
9 North Carolina $42,337
10 Louisiana $42,423
Foreign govt treasury holdings
http://www.ustreas.gov/tic/mfh.txt
Are they loosing their love for our monopoly money?
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-17/central-banks-cut-holdings-of-u-s-agency-debt-by-7-this-week.html
#133… If you owe the world 4 trillion dollars, you own the world — or at least have the world by its b@lls.
One “nuclear” trick is devaluation — unfortunately, that trick can be played only once by US. Wise to save that for a rainy day.
Better just to lob a couple of nuclear bombs. Put the other bad dogs on notice, and clean up some Third World lowlife at the same time.
Tsunami may start after all
the drip turning into a stream :
Wells Fargo will no longer be granting any extensions for short sale close dates or postponing foreclosure/trustee sale dates
http://vegasbubble.com/
250K (34)
A suggested exercise to figure out how bad it will get:
Take the annual US median home price from ~1959-2009 (50 years). Adjust it for inflation (CPI), all to 2010 year dollars. Take the average of that. That is a fair approximation of what housing is ‘worth.’ Call that “fair value”
Look at how much the current US median price is above that average from the period on a percentage basis. Assume that not only will the bubble deflate to the ‘fair value’ but assume it will undershoot ‘fair value’ by half of the percentage it is currently overshot ‘fair value’ (use current values after significant declines from the peak as opposed to peak…being conservative here). Call that percentage X.
Take 1-X (as a decimal). Multiply by the ‘fair value’
That is about where the US median home price will drop to. Figure out the percentage decline from current median home price. Apply the same percentage decline to your estimated property value.
Happy Yom Kippur – Now say you’re sorry.
Poltroon [16],
Real vultures don’t budge until there’s dead, rotting meat, maggots and the overwhelming stench of death.
Amen…
looks like FDIC was busy this week.
got a load of failures tonight, or should I say consolidation..to get rid of the little guy, and George Bailey Savings & loan.
SAS
250K [34],
Is a 17% drop in so-called “prime” NJ towns really going to matter to the wealthy?
Sure, let’s drop $340,000, it doesn’t matter. Brilliant f*cking statement.
Italics off, I think.
I’m with Clot,
when will the riots happen? just before the food ration cards.
hope you got ye lice spray.
SAS
actually, things never get as bad as you think they will.
I remember when they made it sound like the gosh darn russians will invade Long Island in any day. Russians govt turned out to be nothing more than a paper tiger.
but, they still some rough thugs in the KGB..no doubt about that.
SAS
gary #42 –
There is a cool wind that has brought about change.
I hope the prices stay low so that I can afford a new place.
Go “O”!
Report: Los Angeles spent $70 million in stimulus funds to create 7.76 jobs
By John Cook
A new piece of evidence has emerged in the debate over the effectiveness of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package, and it’s not good for Democrats. According to two newly released audits performed by the Los Angeles controller, L.A. spent enormous portions of the $594 million in stimulus funds it received on projects that created or saved just a handful of jobs. All told, the audits — available here and here [pdf] — examined $111 million in stimulus spending by the city’s Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works, and found that the money went to projects that created or retained just 54 jobs. That works out to roughly $2 million per job.
The $71 million that went to the Department of Public Works, which funded 15 road-surfacing and similar projects, was projected to save or create 238 jobs. But according to the audit, the money created just 7.76 jobs — or slightly more than $10 million per new job — and saved 37.7 (the fractions are a result of calculating the number of jobs by hours worked). The Department of Transportation’s $40 million created or retained just nine jobs, the audit found.
In a press release accompanying the audits [pdf], L.A. Controller Wendy Greuel said the job numbers were underwhelming. “I’m disappointed that we’ve only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million in [stimulus] funds,” Greuel said. “With our local unemployment rate over 12 percent, we need to do a better job cutting the red tape and putting Angelenos back to work.”
The audit didn’t find any misspent funds or waste. But the breakdown of how some of the money was spent seems to indicate efficiency was not exactly the order of the day for project managers. The Department of Transportation, for instance, spent $9 million to install new LED lightbulbs in traffic lights at 1,800 intersections. Less the $228,000 in labor costs associated with the project, that’s nearly $5,000 per location to change lightbulbs. Another project spent $4 million to install 65 new left-turn arrows, averaging more than $61,500 per arrow.
“Alan Greenspan spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations earlier today, and what was his advice? That central bankers should be doing what these columns, among others, have been rattling on about, namely that they should be paying attention to gold. “Fiat money has no place to go but gold,” the former Fed chairman said at the Council, according to economist David Malpass, who quotes Mr. Greenspan in one of Mr. Malpass’ emails on the political economy. Mr. Malpass writes that the former chairman of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors was responding to a question in respect of why gold was hitting new highs.
Mr. Greenspan replied that he’d thought a lot about gold prices over the years and decided the supply and demand explanations treating gold like other commodities “simply don’t pan out,” as Mr. Malpass characterized Mr. Greenspan. “He’d concluded that gold is simply different,” Mr. Malpass wrote. At one point Mr. Greenspan spoke of how, during World War II, the Allies going into North Africa found gold was insisted on in the payment of bribes.* Said the former Fed chairman: “If all currencies are moving up or down together, the question is: relative to what? Gold is the canary in the coal mine. It signals problems with respect to currency markets. Central banks should pay attention to it.”
http://www.nysun.com/editorials/greenspans-warning-on-gold/87080/
(137) Daedalus Mugged’s suggested exercise…
Yes, yes, I know but you have to have an unwavering belief in reversion to the mean not to mention confidence that the market will substantially overshoot the equilibrium point. AND, if you aren’t lopping off the most recent bubble period (which many do to prove their theory, thus, picking and choosing data points) then we have not much further to go to reach an equilibrium point. I think I buy the first two points but slicing the recent bubble out of the data and its impact on the trendline isn’t statistically sound.
(44)
Clot, I am actually following your guidance more closely than you think. If you really believe that a few months/years from now, I will be wiping my arse with 100 dollar bills, why not recommend that everyone purchase a home now while that money still has some value? Folks may as well spend it all and have an encampment from which to defend their gold bars, pemmican and Knob Creek.
(141)
Gary, 340k to the guy running the Global Consumer IB Division at Deutsche Bank is chump change. He drops that over a few nights sitting at table 6 in Movida. That’s why he just bought a $2 mil. house in Brigadoon and you never will. I like your posts and think you are OK but sometimes, your comments are puerile.
250K (148)-
Reversion-to-mean and blow-off tops/bottoms are proven characteristics of markets (the non-rigged types, at least). They are not matters of belief, confidence or faith.
If you don’t take those two phenomena as givens, it’s tantamount to saying “this time, it’s different”…which would then identify you as a dolt.
“Yes, yes, I know but you have to have an unwavering belief in reversion to the mean not to mention confidence that the market will substantially overshoot the equilibrium point.”
250K (148)-
Whatever one pays for a house today in NJ, it will seem like a king’s ransom in 4-5 years. It’s all going straight to hell.
Also, owning a home is a big minus when TSHTF and the ability to travel light moves way up the priority list.
250k.
Here’s where it all falls apart and I know its BS…
“Gary, 340k to the guy running the Global Consumer IB Division at Deutsche Bank is chump change. He drops that over a few nights sitting at table 6 in Movida. That’s why he just bought a $2 mil. house in Brigadoon and you never will.”
Someone who’s got that kind of coin to blow isn’t buying the 2 mil housey house in Westfield (why, so he can have *exclusive access* to the downtown Gap and Banana Republic? Dude…) rather, he’s buying a castle in Scotland and jetting in on Monday’s, sleeping at his swank NYC apartment, back to the castle on Friday. In other words, he barely exists outside of these inane pissing contests on internet msg boards.
They guy buying the 2 mil housey house is a mid tier employee with a substantial down payment. He earns a nice salary, has a good education, but holds a position and title with a questionable future.
less keep action
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For all you pension experts, are taxpayers on the hook for unfunded public And govt pension obligations? This article talks about returns on funds going from 8 to 7.5 pct and that’s a dream.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477731696162858.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
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