From the Courier Post:
State to get $112M to halt foreclosures
Program that will help unemployed and underemployed homeowners make their monthly mortgage payments for up to 24 months, state officials said Thursday. Since 2006, foreclosures have jumped nearly 200 percent in New Jersey.
The governor’s office says the program will assist an estimated 2,500 to 4,000 households.
The New Jersey Home Keeper program will provide zero-interest, deferred-payment mortgage loans to homeowners who through no fault of their own are unable to make payments and are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.
The program allows time for the homeowner to seek re-employment or complete job-training programs.
Loans will be capped at $48,000 per household. The average assistance loan is expected to be $38,000, state officials said.
In a statement, Gov. Chris Christie said: “New Jersey homeowners have been hit hard by the national foreclosure crisis. Otherwise hard-working individuals who qualify deserve this support to get through the remainder of this recession while keeping their homes and family life intact.”
From CNBC:
Fannie Mae Wants You to Buy
So it seems Fannie Mae is doing all it can to unload its massive quantities of REO inventory.
When I say massive, I mean the 129,310 single family bank-owned properties — or REOs, as they’re called — it held at the end of Q2, which is more than twice what it was carrying at the end of Q2 2009.
As I noted in a Tweet yesterday, every time home prices drop just 1 percent, the value of all government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) REOs fall by $287 million (thank you to John Burns of John Burns Real Estate Consulting for that math).
No surprise, then that Fannie would want to get rid of its REO as fast as possible, especially as we saw bank repossessions hit a new record in August and home prices are again weakening. How does Fannie do it? It’s renewing an expired program that gives buyers of its REOs “3.5 percent of the final sales price that can be used toward closing cost assistance, including a home warranty.”
And if that’s not enough, Fannie is now getting those crash-weary real estate agents on its side as well. “Selling agents representing owner-occupants will receive a $1,500 bonus.” Nice. The offer runs from Sept. 23, “and must close by December 31, 2010,” so this is a pretty short deal.
From HousingWire:
FHA mortgage insurance fund below statutory minimums: GAO
The Government Accountability Office said economic and market conditions led to declines in the Federal Housing Administration’s mutual mortgage insurance fund “to a level below the statutory minimum” of 2%.
Testifying before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Mathew Scire, director of the GAO financial markets and community investment division said the ratio slipped to 0.51% for fiscal 2009.
The GAO also said the number of insurance claims and the losses associated with the claims exceeded projections reducing the fund’s economic value. Meanwhile, higher demand for FHA-insured mortgages increased the agency’s insurance-in-force.
FHA has outlined a number of steps to help improve the fund, including adjustments to insurance premiums and underwriting policies. But legislative requirements provide limited direction to the agency, according to the GAO.
The FHA plans to closely monitor the performance of agency-insured mortgages written in 2009, which the GAO expects will “have a major influence on the fund’s financial condition because of its large size, but it is too early to tell whether it will perform to FHA’s expectations.”
1,300!
From the Daily Record:
NJ towns’ pension payments to rise 22 percent next year under NJ Gov. Chris Christie
Local governments will have to pay an average of 22 percent more toward the state’s pension system next year, a bill that will put further pressure on municipal budgets and property taxpayers.
Some 1,700 municipalities, counties, authorities, schools and fire districts will be expected to make $1.7 billion in total contributions. In many instances, entities must pay hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars more in pension costs.
The pension payments — $300 million more than the current year — will be in addition to an 11.7 percent increase in state health benefit costs for municipalities and 5.7 percent hike for school boards who are on the state’s plan.
…
Both pensions and health benefits fall outside of the 2 percent property tax cap enacted this summer.
From the Philly Inquirer:
Moody’s cuts state’s credit outlook
New Jersey’s credit outlook on $2.6 billion of general-obligation bonds was cut to negative from stable by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the state’s budget gap, underfunded pensions, and predictions of a slow economic recovery.
The downgrade for the wealthiest U.S. state by per-capita income after Connecticut reflects New Jersey’s failure to fund pension contributions in its 2010 and 2011 budgets and the expiration of federal stimulus funding in fiscal 2012, Moody’s said Wednesday in a news release.
…
New Jersey is the third-most-indebted state, behind California and New York, with $37.7 billion in gross tax-supported debt outstanding, according to Moody’s 2010 State Debt Medians report. Its $68.1 billion pension system, which included seven funds, was underfunded by $46 billion as of June 30, 2009, according to bond documents.
grim (4)-
Gee, I wonder where our property taxes are headed next year?
Christie is fugazy and a media whore. No better than the slime he replaced. It’s time to starve the gubmint beast and cut the leeches off the public fisc. If the public unions are left unchecked, we will literally become their slaves.
“Both pensions and health benefits fall outside of the 2 percent property tax cap enacted this summer.”
Why didn’t we have a hit squad outside the UN yesterday to turn this piece of crap Ahmadinejad into dog food?
How is it that he’s allowed into the country?
That a piece of garbage like him is allowed to speak in front of the UN is proof that they are an anti-Semitic, terror-friendly cabal of losers.
1,300.
About time cause this Schiff senate race cost me a pretty penny.
Anyone going now long for-profit Edumucators?
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/24/timeline#Comments
7 – why not something like the baseball bat scene in the untouchables?
(7) Why can’t someone simply slip a micky into this a–holes’ coffee?
We are a eunuch nation, only interested in maintaining low-level, endless war in countries where we can overrun the passive, dirt-poor locals and engage in periodic small battles against nameless, faceless enemies who can only kill 8-9 of us at a time.
While we are very interested in endless war, we have absolutely no desire to engage in a real fight. Thus, vicious dogs like Ahmadinejad can enter our country with impunity, spew nonsense and hatred, get it broadcast all over the world for 24 hours for free, then slink back into the hole from whence they came…with absolutely no fear for his personal safety. Hell, he’s probably safer in NYC than he is in Teheran.
A dog that digs its own hole returns for the bone. A dog that happens upon a bone steals it and runs, but returns.
All of #12 was a very long-winded way of saying (once again) that the real enemy of the US gubmint is the US citizen in the private sector. All the military/political stuff is just a weapon the gubmint is using to drain us of wealth and enslave us forever.
1,300
That’s funny, when I suggested to buy the Jan, 11′ 100 GLD calls at 10, I was told, on this site, that the market was in a bubble, about to crash.
I really do miss BI. He/she/it was great at calling a bubble on the back of every retracement. Just a fantastic buy signal.
make (8)-
You should know better than throwing away money on politics.
Doom [14],
The military, banking and pharmaceutical cartel run the show. Yet, many waste their time arguing about the double dip; dip # 1, GWB, dip # 2, O. Big change in the mid- term elections? Same as it ever was.
Who’s buying? Got more paper?
http://jsmineset.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Agency-Debt-chart-9-23-2010.pdf
Under Obamacare if you try to avoid drugs by not going tp Big Pharmas Doctor, you are taxed by the Government for Insurance anyway. You don’t have to go yet, but you have to pay anyway. Step 2 will be mandatory go, you can’t pay and opt out. Government requirement that you take your meds and be good.
Watch Hi-YO. Gold wins marathons. Silver wins sprints.
Disclaimer; Watch out for the retracement. Whether it comes here or 10% higher; it’s coming. At that time, we will hear, for the umpteenth time, that the bubble has burst. This will be the next buy indicator.
Gold is up 29% in last 12 months and only 179% over last five years. Pretty good but gold pays no interest or dividends, there are costs associated to hold gold and there are no growth prospects. Gold is a good hedge for a portfolio. But should never be the portfolio. Interesting Real Estate and Gold are both inflation hedges, yet how can RE be predicting deflation while gold is predicting inflation at same time.
BC Bob was original Gold Bull on this site and I told him them don’t buy all Gold. All Eggs in one basket, interest rates are low Gold Prices are high, what does that mean 50/50 either bonds or gold is right, buying Gold today is going all in on an investment at its peak that is only got a 50/50 shot, might as well go to Vegas as least you get free drinks and you can smoke while they are stealing your money.
Wonder why Tall Paul has been stuffed into a closet?
“Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker scrapped a prepared speech he had planned to deliver at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on Thursday, and instead delivered a blistering, off-the-cuff critique leveled at nearly every corner of the financial system.”
“Standing at a lectern with his hands in his pockets, Volcker moved unsparingly from banks to regulators to business schools to the Fed to money-market funds during his luncheon speech.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/09/23/volcker-spares-no-one-in-broad-critique/
#6 Isn’t that the plan? To push the real costs of the services and benefits that local gov’ts provide their employees and citizens down to the local level? When the individual towns actually have to pay their own way, taxes will skyrocket and then the taxpayers will finally get a clue that their gov’ts are too big and too expensive. As long as the money was coming from somewhere else, few people seemed to care. Once their property taxes double, they might sit up and take notice. People can have whatever kind of services and schools they want – they just have to pay for it. I like Christie. I think he’s the best shot at some sort of survival my home state has got.
“Gold is up 29% in last 12 months and only 179% over last five years.”
JJ,
Now get your calculator out; gold futures are 100-1. Booyaaa.
We have heard the same crap from you at 800, 1,000, 1,200, etc.. Yes, there will be retracements, some vicious. During the next retracement, I guarantee, you’ll fart bubbles again. Higher highs and higher lows for the past 10 years. A chart ascending from the lower left to the upper right; sounds like a bull market to me?
“might as well go to Vegas as least you get free drinks and you can smoke while they are stealing your money.”
JJ,
No need to waste airfare. Just watch the show from home. Who’s stealing your $? Currency abusers are churning at a feverish pitch; printing to support ever increasing debt loads and government programs to mask the depression. All paper is getting thrashed. Where’s the real bubble?
Stater
but that might mean that some towns have better services!!!! What happens to the 10,000 little fiefdoms local pols have carved out for themselves?
The govt needs Ahmadinejad too much to take him out. Like his many predecessors (e.g. Saddam Hussein, or his contemporary, Kim Il Jong), he’s outrageous, nasty and clownish to serve as sufficient distraction from the fact that they themselves are utterly, utterly morally bankrupt. While they can’t avert all attention, having “state-enemies” acting out on a regular periodic basis takes enough pressure off their own bumbling – it’s an important part of the political dance.
22 – stuffed? You ain’t seen nothing yet.
This will get him booted from the administration.
Sorry that I wasn’t around yesterday to post this contribution to the maths and algebra discussion:
http://www.googolpower.com/content/free-learning-resources/videos/tom-lehrer-math-songs
Good morning fellow bloggers. POMO day in efffect. Durable goods down but the futures up 108 points. Nothing like a free 5 billion bucks from the inslovent gubbmint to juice the stock market. Lever up and rally baby!
This is something that sounds like discussions we have had here.
http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/article/law_profs_page_not_found_post_im_not_super_rich_enough_for_higher_taxes
confused (19)-
Guaranteed those drugs will be narcotics and SSRIs.
We’ll be a population of controllable zombies. Those of us selected to fight wars will be weaned from the narcosis-inducing drugs and given massive amounts of meth and other amphetamines.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kpzaEp0IVw4J:truthonthemarket.com/2010/09/15/we-are-the-super-rich/t&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
We are the Super Rich
Posted by Todd Henderson on September 15, 2010
The rhetoric in Washington about taxes is about millionaires and the super rich, but the relevant dividing line between millionaires and the middle class is pegged at family income of $250,000. (I’m not a math professor, but last time I checked $250,000 is less than $1 million.) That makes me super rich and subject to a big tax hike if the president has his way.
I’m the president’s neighbor in Chicago, but we’ve never met. I wish we could, because I would introduce him to my family and our lifestyle, one he believes is capable of financing the vast expansion of government he is planning. A quick look at our family budget, which I will happily share with the White House, will show him that like many Americans, we are just getting by despite seeming to be rich. We aren’t.
I, like the president before me, am a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and my wife, like the first lady before her, works at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where she is a doctor who treats children with cancer. Our combined income exceeds the $250,000 threshold for the super rich (but not by that much), and the president plans on raising my taxes. After all, we can afford it, and the world we are now living in has that familiar Marxian tone of those who need take and those who can afford it pay. The problem is, we can’t afford it. Here is why.
The biggest expense for us is financing government. Last year, my wife and I paid nearly $100,000 in federal and state taxes, not even including sales and other taxes. This amount is so high because we can’t afford fancy accountants and lawyers to help us evade taxes and we are penalized by the tax code because we choose to be married and we both work outside the home. (If my wife and I divorced or were never married, the government would write us a check for tens of thousands of dollars. Talk about perverse incentives.)
Our next biggest expense, like most people, is our mortgage. Homes near our work in Chicago aren’t cheap and we do not have friends who were willing to help us finance the deal. We chose to invest in the University community and renovate and old property, but we did so at an inopportune time.
We pay about $15,000 in property taxes, about half of which goes to fund public education in Chicago. Since we care the education of our three children, this means we also have to pay to send them to private school. My wife has school loans of nearly $250,000 and I do too, although becoming a lawyer is significantly cheaper. We try to invest in our retirement by putting some money in the stock market, something that these days sounds like a patriotic act. Our account isn’t worth much, and is worth a lot less than it used to be.
Like most working Americans, insurance, doctors’ bills, utilities, two cars, daycare, groceries, gasoline, cell phones, and cable TV (no movie channels) round out our monthly expenses. We also have someone who cuts our grass, cleans our house, and watches our new baby so we can both work outside the home. At the end of all this, we have less than a few hundred dollars per month of discretionary income. We occasionally eat out but with a baby sitter, these nights take a toll on our budget. Life in America is wonderful, but expensive.
If our taxes rise significantly, as they seem likely to, we can cut back on some things. The (legal) immigrant from Mexico who owns the lawn service we employ will suffer, as will the (legal) immigrant from Poland who cleans our house a few times a month. We can cancel our cell phones and some cable channels, as well as take our daughter from her art class at the community art center, but these are only a few hundred dollars per month in total. But more importantly, what is the theory under which collecting this money in taxes and deciding in Washington how to spend it is superior to our decisions? Ask the entrepreneurs we employ and the new arrivals they employ in turn whether they prefer to work for us or get a government handout.
If these cuts don’t work, we will sell our house – into an already spiraling market of declining asset values – and our cars, assuming someone will buy them. The irony here, of course, is that the government is working to save both of these industries despite the impact that increasing taxes will have.
The problem with the president’s plan is that the super rich don’t pay taxes – they hide in the Cayman Islands or use fancy investment vehicles to shelter their income. We aren’t rich enough to afford this – I use Turbo Tax. But we are rich enough to be hurt by the president’s plan. The next time the president comes home to Chicago, he has a standing invitation to come to my house (two blocks from his) and judge for himself whether the Hendersons are as rich as he thinks
I’m surprised “O” and company keep pushing to import this to the US. You would think they would be worried, unless they are part of the Cartel?
MONTERREY, Mexico – Authorities say gunmen have killed the mayor of a northern Mexican town — adding to a string of attacks on political figures in the drug-plagued region.
The Nuevo Leon state Attorney General’s Office says Prisciliano Rodriguez Salinas was gunned down along with another employee of the town named Doctor Gonzalez, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Monterrey.
Rival gangs have been battling to control drug routes through Nuevo Leon and neighboring border states.
Gunmen killed another Monterrey area mayor in August after. In June, gunmen killed the leading gubernatorial candidate in neighboring Tamaulipas state. A mayoral candidate was slain there in May. A mayor in San Luis Potosi state was killed this month
#26 dim – Exactly. Ahmadinejad is only a threat to Israel, not the US, despite all the propaganda on Faux News. Iran couldn’t do 0.000001% of the damage to our country than the Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs have already.
jj (21)-
On 1/1/11, interest and dividends may be seen to be not such a big deal.
I don’t think shiny dissolves into mush like Marcal (er…fiat currency) when water touches it, either.
“Pretty good but gold pays no interest or dividends…”
“We aren’t rich enough to afford this – I use Turbo Tax.”
Shore [33],
I’m confused. I thought Turbo Tax helped one to avoid taxes? Timmy?
BC,
THAT is the Turbo Tax Bankers’ Edition.
[20] bob
I can’t believe I am saying this to a BC grad, but You Are Da Man.
My family health insurance coverage going up by 2% of base salary.The US pay the highest for coverage in the developed world already.When does it stop going up?
The green trash is heading to 74 then down to 40.
Re: Tall Paul. “Gold is the enemy.”
BC (22)-
Add Tall Paul to the list of people who should frequently check the brake lines of their cars.
For those keeping score, day 54 and no expatriate report.
I saw the shiny hit more records. Did anyone notice the gold tracking provisions that got slipped into PPACA? Seems that this administration is very concerned about people heading for the exits.
#25 Hyde – Sometimes reality sucks.
Prior Consensus Consensus Range Actual
New Orders – M/M change 0.3 % -1.0 % -2.5 % to 2.0 % -1.3 %
New Orders – Yr/Yr Change 9.3 % 11.2 %
Ex-transportation – M/M -3.8 % 2.0 %
Ex-transportation – Yr/Yr 9.5 % 12.9 %
Today’s headline number for durables disappointed a bit but ex-transportation showed broad-based strength. New factory orders for durable goods in August dipped 1.3 percent, following a 0.7 percent rebound in July. The August decline was somewhat more negative than analysts’ projection for a 1.0 percent decrease. July’s figure was an upward revision from the prior estimate of a 0.4 percent increase. Excluding transportation, new durables orders gained 2.0 percent, following a 2.8 percent drop in July.
The reversal in overall orders in August was led down by the transportation component which dropped 10.3 percent, following an 11.6 percent boost in July. Nondefense aircraft plunged a monthly 40.2 percent after surging 69.1 percent the month before. Defense aircraft orders slipped 2.7 percent in August while motor vehicles declined 4.4 percent.
Other components generally posted healthy gains. Primary metals were up 2.4 percent; fabricated metals, up 1.0 percent; machinery, up 3.9 percent; computers & electronics, up 3.8 percent; electrical equipment, up 0.5 percent; and “other,” up 0.1 percent.
Business investment in equipment is on a volatile uptrend. Nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft in August rebounded 4.1 percent, following a 5.3 percent fall in July. Shipments for this series advanced 1.6 percent in August after edging up 0.1 percent the month before.
Year-on-year, overall new orders for durable goods in August improved to up 11.2 percent from 9.7 percent in July. Excluding transportation, new durables orders came in at up 12.9 percent, compared to 10.6 percent the previous month.
The good news is that today’s durables report shows manufacturing gaining strength outside of transportation-and businesses still investing in equipment. On the release, equity futures nudged up but essentially were little changed. But stock futures then gained traction after taking time to digest the numbers.
Market Consensus Before Announcement
Durable goods orders in July rebounded a revised 0.4 percent, following a 0.2 percent decline the prior month. Unfortunately, strength is narrowly focused for the month. Most of new orders strength came from transportation which jumped a revised 12.9 percent, following a 1.1 percent decrease in June. Nondefense aircraft spiked 75.9 percent after falling 25.3 percent in June. Most other components slipped. Excluding transportation, new durables orders dropped a revised 3.7 percent, following a 0.2 percent rise in June. Looking ahead, precursor indicators on orders are mixed. The ISM new orders index for August was barely in positive territory at 52.4 (breakeven of 50). For the same period, the Philly Fed and New York Fed new orders indexes were both negative at minus 7.1 and minus 2.7, respectively (breakeven of zero). However, the manufacturing survey indexes include nondurables in addition to durables.
Definition
Durable goods orders reflect the new orders placed with domestic manufacturers for immediate and future delivery of factory hard goods. The first release, the advance, provides an early estimate of durable goods orders. About two weeks later, more complete and revised data are available in the factory orders report. The data for the previous month are usually revised a second time upon the release of the new month’s data.
Regarding Schiff, mortgages, and the scenario of a hyperinflationary spike.
“Schiff’s Scenario
Peter Schiff has provided the most plausible scenario for a hyperinflation. He foresees a day when confidence in the dollar collapses, as it eventually must, forcing the Fed to become the sole buyer of Treasury debt. When municipal and corporate bond traders realize on that same day that there is no official support for their markets, private debt will go into a death spiral, forcing the Fed to monetize all bonds. Under the circumstances, the Fed would not become merely domestic debt’s buyer of last resort, but the only buyer. Voila! Hyperinflation.
It should be noted that it is not some certain quantity of money injected into the banking system that will cause hyperinflation; rather, it will be the repudiation of all dollars already in circulation. Holders of physical dollars will panic to exchange them for anything tangible, causing the dollar’s value to fall to zero in mere days. Everything needed to trigger this collapse is already in the pipeline, and it is only the truly benighted, Nobelist Paul Krugman foremost among them, who cannot see the obvious. As for mortgage debt, you will still owe $250,000 on your home the Day After, except that your home will be much more deeply underwater than before – worth perhaps $20,000 instead of $180,000. Mortgage lenders will have to work with you – work with scores of millions of homeowners who are in the same boat – to bring about a reconciliation. No one can predict how already-unpayable mortgage debt will ultimately be paid, but it is almost certain to require a radical change in our laws in order to avoid the kind of social upheaval that could jeopardize the very rule of law.”
confused (34)-
Cartels like this demoralize and destabilize the population, so you can be sure Bojangles and Co. will import them to the US. Hell, we’re already funding them.
Washington Post Routinely Misleads on Debt Burdens
Friday, 24 September 2010 05:31
The Washington Post, which is losing circulation rapidly, routinely misleads its readers about the burden of the national debt. First, it rarely puts debt and deficit numbers in any context. Telling readers that the debt will grow by $4 trillion over the next decade due to tax cuts is a meaningless statement to nearly all of its readers, who have no idea how large $4 trillion is. It would be a very simple matter to tell readers that this sum is approximately 2.3 percent of projected GDP over this period.
It also would be important to point out that debt accrued in a period of high unemployment, like the present, does not have to impose any current or future burden on the public since it can be fully financed by the Fed. If the Fed buys and holds the bonds used to finance the debt then the money paid by the government in interest would be refunded by the Fed every year creating no net interest burden for the government. Currently the Fed is refunding $77 billion a year to the government, more than one-third of the interest paid out by the government.
Dean Baker
Dow Volume: 17.20M
Avg Vol: 189.46M
[33] shore,
the law prof that penned that misive got so many threats that he took it down.
One poster on ATL compared the current treatment of the “rich” (especially any that speak out) by the liberal elites to the treatment of “enemies of the state” during the Great Proleltarian Cultural Revolution.
THose in the $200,000 to $700,000 range are nothing more that the modern version of the kulaks — better off than most, but not rich. In Russia, once things got really bad, the true rich were largely able to get out.
Here and in the future just as then and during the Revolution and then the Russian Civil War, it is the kulaks who are the easiest targets.
I think I found Clots theme song (An oldie but surprisingly current):
We’ll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that’s all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain’t changed
‘Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
No, no!
I’ll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I’ll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?
There’s nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Are now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
No, no!
Poltroon 47
Of course the other side of that coin is that since we are the most heavily armed population in the world, we could just start forming local “enforcer” squads that execute gangs on sight. Any substantial “enforcer” movement would massivly overwhelm gangs even at a relatively small %. 1% of the nation “enforcing” is a million man army (well 3 million man army if you want to be accurate).
It would take extreme reaction such as execution on sight in order to deter such gang activity but would probably be very effective.
The great thing about this would be that the only way to defeat a guerrilla type force (i.e gangs) is to counter with guerrilla type force, (local enforcers).
Hey! Said my name is called disturbance
I’ll shout and scream, I’ll kill the king, I’ll rail at all his servants
Well, what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band
‘Cause in sleepy London town
There’s no place for a street fighting man
No
Shore [52],
Classic.
I am an antichrist
I am an anarchist
Don’t know what I want
But I know how to get it
I wanna destroy passerby
‘Cause I wanna be Anarchy
No dog’s body
All these years later, Sid and Johnny say it best.
On the other hand…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ
Just an entertaining video for your viewing pleasure.
Watch the Kenyan get heckled by AIDS funding protestors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsiDFk3n5mw
Never try and teach a Pig to sing. It can’t be done, and annoy’s the Pig.
46 – I don’t see how they hyperinflationary scenario plays out so poorly for homeowners. Wouldn’t high inflation effectively reduce the real value of the remaining mortgage balance? There is nothing in the analysis to show how hyperinflation leads directly to low property values – much less a 80 or more percent reduction. Perhaps this is too simplistic a perspective, but shouldn’t deflation be the bigger problem for the RE market?
Yome 48
The government is currently borrowing and spending 12% of GDP. Real GDP is grossly negative! Shrinking GDP means shrinking tax receipts for the GOV while they face rapidly growing entitlement costs.
Now lets look at entitlements
% of federal budget
19.6%: Social Security
16.1%: Unemployment/Welfare
12.8%: Medicare
8.2%: Medicaid/SCHIP
Total entitlement programs = 58% of federal budget. That means that total entitlement programs essential consumer EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR OF TAX RECEIPTS! Well they would leave about 300 million out of a 3 -4 trillion $ budget (or about 1%), if you want to be picky about it.
* Mandatory spending: $2.184 trillion
o $677.95 billion – Social Security
o $571 billion – Other mandatory programs
o $453 billion – Medicare
o $290 billion – Medicaid
o $164 billion – Interest on National Debt
o $11 billion – Potential disaster costs
Estimated receipts for fiscal year 2010 are $2.381 trillion
We would have to cut everything except for the mandatory programs in order to just break even
Discretionary spending: $1.368 trillion (+13.1%)
* $663.7 billion (+12.7%) – Department of Defense (including Overseas Contingency Operations)
* $78.7 billion (−1.7%) – Department of Health and Human Services
* $72.5 billion (+2.8%) – Department of Transportation
* $52.5 billion (+10.3%) – Department of Veterans Affairs
* $51.7 billion (+40.9%) – Department of State and Other International Programs
* $47.5 billion (+18.5%) – Department of Housing and Urban Development
* $46.7 billion (+12.8%) – Department of Education
* $42.7 billion (+1.2%) – Department of Homeland Security
* $26.3 billion (−0.4%) – Department of Energy
* $26.0 billion (+8.8%) – Department of Agriculture
* $23.9 billion (−6.3%) – Department of Justice
* $18.7 billion (+5.1%) – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
* $13.8 billion (+48.4%) – Department of Commerce
* $13.3 billion (+4.7%) – Department of Labor
* $13.3 billion (+4.7%) – Department of the Treasury
* $12.0 billion (+6.2%) – Department of the Interior
* $10.5 billion (+34.6%) – Environmental Protection Agency
* $9.7 billion (+10.2%) – Social Security Administration
* $7.0 billion (+1.4%) – National Science Foundation
* $5.1 billion (−3.8%) – Corps of Engineers
* $5.0 billion (+100%) – National Infrastructure Bank
* $1.1 billion (+22.2%) – Corporation for National and Community Service
* $0.7 billion (0.0%) – Small Business Administration
* $0.6 billion (−14.3%) – General Services Administration
* $19.8 billion (+3.7%) – Other Agencies
Its s a good thing that the trillions of borrowed money wont be a problem, since the FED is going to bail us all out!!! I wonder what the FED bailing out the entire nation does to the value of the dollar? A private individual or a company with a budget like this would be called insolvent.
A fun little graphic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2010_Receipts_%26_Expenditures_Estimates.PNG
We are all greek now!
Props to Mr Wantanopolus
Anyone notice Japans FX intervention this morning got smacked down like a 2 bit hoe?
We all gotta start thinking like the banks:
Bad economic news = Great we get QE2 – markets rise
Good economic news = Great no QE2 needed – markets rise
Nothing like having Uncle Ben on your side. The Bernake put is alive and well.
dim your house is paid for but a loaf of bread costs 100K. that is how it is bad
A pedophile song writer singing about children at his feet, yikes.
Shore Guy says:
September 24, 2010 at 9:57 am
I think I found Clots theme song (An oldie but surprisingly current):
We’ll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
Hostages taken at southern Florida bank, police say:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/24/florida.bank.hostages/index.html
Hyde
If the Fed buys and holds the bonds used to finance the debt then the money paid by the government in interest would be refunded by the Fed every year creating no net interest burden for the government. Currently the Fed is refunding $77 billion a year to the government, more than one-third of the interest paid out by the government
I believe his point is internal debt does not cost the taxpayer.If your numbers are right,I would assume mandatory and discretionary spending has been running the same for years.In mandatory spending,$571 Billion,i guess this is where unemployment assistance is taken.Still the country has been running a deficit of over 700 billion a year for years.If Clinton left with a surplus,this deficit are all from a Republican President watch.
61.
Dim,
I am of the same belief you are. The only way I can see his scenario playing out is if wages stay stagnant and cost of essentials goes through the roof. The renters may be SOL if they are sitting on cash but I dont understand how the indebted wouldnt benefit if they are already hedged against the possibility. Schiffs scenario would probably wipe out 50% of my net worth and the only way to keep the house would be to offset the losses with gains in bullion and miners.
That scenario would be apocalyptic but better to lose 30% equity then 100% equity should the plug be pulled and a deflationary collapse follows. I imagine a new currency would be talked about then and then the question is what happens to existing mortgages that are denominated in the old US dollar. Ultimately there is going to have to be some debt restructuring but this isnt how it played out in Argentina.
Hyde
Is SS (FICA) included in receipt estimate?
BFF!!
Yome,
yes
my source for the numbers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget#Total_spending
Yome,
or look at this
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy10/pdf/fy10-newera.pdf
Right on time. JP Morgan steps in for the noon bullion smack down. The gold vigilantes will not take this sitting down. More raids coming.
Yome
regarding internal debt, The currency is still debased by such acts. That was previously punishable by death per the Coinage act, section 19.
Inflation kills debt specially if income goes up with inflation.
Yome
2 problems.
1) wages are flat or decreasing due to pressure from globalization and wage arbitage.
2)Inflation kills debt but in a debt based currency the end result is deflation and a huge drop int he velocity of money.
79.
“2)Inflation kills debt but in a debt based currency the end result is deflation and a huge drop int he velocity of money.”
Bingo. Thats why ultimately there will need to be a new currency. The battle between sound money and fiat made by the IMF/BIS will then be in play.
76 Al
Is that the best JPM can do?
“Inflation kills debt”
For the USG, only if the budget is in the black. If still red, inflation just adds to the red ink.
Instead of the Pound Sterling, maybe we can have the Pound Zinc.
Or the Pound Salt.
yome [70],
Every piece of paper printed is backed by collateral; your tax id #. Congrats, you have become a debt slave for life. Better yet, 70% of the banks who control this debt, via the fed, is held by foreign interests. It’s a great gig if you can get it.
Why is the baconator in California
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100924/el_yblog_upshot/chris-christie-smacks-down-heckler
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-22/investors-are-deaf-to-screams-of-gold-cotton-commentary-by-mark-gilbert.html
Let’s just let the Fed buy every bit of government debt in the nation. Cash for trash. On the condition that any government entity who sells debt to FedCo may raise txes or run a defecit foe “X” years.
Then, after the time has passed, FedCo can have a fire in its paper vault and say, “Oh, well.”
The general path here will be (1) Print, (2) Trade sanctions, (3) Trade wars, (4) debt crises, (5) Currency crises.
Here comes the Trade Sanctions….
A congressional panel, in a move likely to increase trade tensions with China, approved on Friday a bill that allows the United States to slap duties on goods from countries with fundamentally undervalued currencies.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68L5K120100924
AG [76],
Based on their success rate, over the past 10 years, just lay down the red carpet.
hyde (65)-
Japan ain’t got what it takes to win the race to the bottom.
We can stim our own “risk on” trades without the help of the carry anymore…now that we have the every-other-day POMO to hand money to the beta/gamma-loving stock junkie/traders and their deviant computers.
Mrs. Watanabe sizing up a pink bath again right about now.
Hyde
You are right,if the currency stays depressed.Let us look at Japan when yen trades at 300 to a dollar in the 70 with a persons income say 100,000 yen at the time.If at present time same person still makes 100,000 yen with an exchange of 84 yen.Same guy standard of living is lifted.Same can be applied in the US,if after the turbulunce the US dollar can regain its strenght.
Fixed value of the yen to the US dollar
The yen lost most of its value during and after World War II. After a period of instability, in 1949, the value of the yen was fixed at ¥360 per US$1 through a United States plan, which was part of the Bretton Woods System, to stabilize prices in the Japanese economy. That exchange rate was maintained until 1971, when the United States abandoned the gold standard, which had been a key element of the Bretton Woods System, and imposed a 10 percent surcharge on imports, setting in motion changes that eventually led to floating exchange rates in 1973.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_yen
Inflation kills debt ONLY if wages inflate in lock-step. The debt doesn’t disappear, it still needs to be paid. The problem is wages are sticky.
Pooh. Very depressing, as a renter sitting on savings I’d sure be SOL too. And without even having the solace of being in the middling muddling-along class of 250k earners.
“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes the laws.”
Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Who controls the fed?
re #94- Real wages have been depressed for a long time now. Real wages in the US rose during every decade from 1830 to 1970. However this central feature of US capitalism then stopped growing, and was in fact replaced mostly with debt and cheap imports to spur our consumer society.
Our capitalism crisis due to immense debt has come after decades of unheeded warnings and the response has been socialist (as it mostly was after 1929) . Government intervention aimed to save the system. However the response has not been more worker friendly as it was during the 1930s and what remains of the middle class is getting wiped out.
You only need to look to Japan to draw some parallels as to what we now face. Working class becomes working poor, were 34% of the workforce is part-time jobs. We will form a Japan like perhaps dystopia society of grass eaters like Japan or as heard many times will it all go up in flames?
Funny:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129997552
refresh it if it doesn’t work right away
Dow Volume: 76.91 M
Avg Vol: 189.46M
Dow up 148 points with no volume.PPT working hard
I am calling for a big melt-up in stocks to occur between now and summer 2011. The little folk will once again hide in their turtle shell until they see the rally is for real and by then they will have missed the best part. Fools buying long term treasuries or record low corporate bonds will be burnt bad.
When I get my 3rd quarter statement I will look at what I have put the little bit of cash I have in a few good stock funds and then start auto investing my interest payments and bond maturities into stock until I get back to a proper allocation.
We have seen this all before, after 1987 crash, 1991 recession, After 9/11 and after Financial Meltdwon. Bottom line the longer it stays down the harder it bounces back. Similar to a rubber ball hitting the payment.
Trouble is you have to guess right three times. Once when to get out of equities, two where to park your equities money until the bottom has been reached, three when to get back in.
This 2011 melt up will catch a lot of people by suprise.
“I am calling for a big melt-up in stocks to occur between now and summer 2011.”
JJ,
There has been a melt up in some sectors. It’s a market of stocks not a stock market.
Prior Consensus Consensus Range Actual
New Home Sales – Level – SAAR 276 K 290 K 275 K to 320 K 288 K
Just when housing indications were pointing to movement up from a deep low, new home sales come in unchanged in August at a 288,000 annual unit rate and unchanged from July (revised up from 276,000). The upward revision to July is modest and offset in part by a downward revision to June. The July and August rates are at the bottom for this series, a hole created by second-round housing stimulus that pulled sales into the Spring at the expense of Summer.
Supply is being swollen by a lack of sales not by the proportion of homes on the market as total supply fell 1.4 percent to 206,000 for the lowest level since way back in 1968. Heavy supply continues to wear down prices which ticked mostly lower in August including a 0.6 percent slip for the median price to $204,700 and a new seven-year low.
Heavy supply of homes on the market is a major negative for the whole economic outlook. Today’s data put the brakes on a strong morning rally for the stock market
(43) For those keeping score, day 54 and no expatriate report.
———————————-
No one’s keeping score but you. And no one cares but you.
JJ,
Melt up;
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=POT&t=3m&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=
I am talking the whole damm S&P. A full blown bull market. I am starting to smell it, the streets around Broad and Wall are reeking of it.
Mr Wantanapolous says:
September 24, 2010 at 1:01 pm
“I am calling for a big melt-up in stocks to occur between now and summer 2011.”
JJ,
There has been a melt up in some sectors. It’s a market of stocks not a stock market.
[103] wtf
And for reasons I don’t expect you to understand, I have no problem with the fact that folks like you don’t care.
Pay no attention to those canaries on the floor of the cage. They’re sleeping.
That is a company in Canada buddy. A full blown bull market with big bonus checks and hiring on Wall Street again is just thre cure we need for housing and unemployment.
A pied a tier, house in Hamptons house and tony bedroom community commuter home for everyone.
Timmay getting into an argument with a Republican during his testimony right now over taxes. Barney trying to shut up the member, who told him very politely to back off.
“Anyone that wants to be president under these conditions should have their head examined. The problems we face are horrendous.”
Ron Paul on business tv 9/22
[53] hyde
I expect the same scenario. One thing that will be critically important is to to recruit local law enforcement to the anti-gang posse.
[61] dim
Essentially, you are correct. In the event of hyperinflation, and assuming I was largely in cash, I would liquidate retirement funds and use the devalued dollars to pay the mortgage.
In that scenario, the better property to own is productive land, preferably farmland. If I knew hyperinflation would result in a finite period, I would buy farmland with as little down as possible. Once the dollar turned into Weimar Republic franks, I would, as I indicated, cash out retirement assets and pay off the mortgage. Trick, however, is to hold such land in a jurisdiction that can reasonably be expected to hold the line on taxes (e.g., a red jurisdiction).
I would like to see that law professors budget breakdown because it doesn’t pass the smell test. He probably earns $170 as a law professor and the wife $300K as an oncology physician. With up to $100K for fed and state that’s 22% of the $470 total so he’s doing a lot better than is peers and the average.
“That is a company in Canada”
JJ [107],
Amazing what one learns on this site.
WS will be cutting jobs, where have you been?
Re: meltup on Wall St.
That might be the only way to solve the pension crisis.
On Wall st. in my corner office enjoying the views, I like the boats I see on the water everyday from my seat while I sip my coffee.
Just a little tree pruning taking place last few years on wall st. Makes the tree stronger. Sometimes you gotta smother the weak with a pillow when their are not enough Lugar steaks to go around.
Mr Wantanapolous says:
September 24, 2010 at 1:27 pm
“That is a company in Canada”
JJ [107],
Amazing what one learns on this site.
WS will be cutting jobs, where have you been?
why do you guys keep quoting ru paul?
Got Loonies?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2010-09-23-canadian-home-buyers_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
[111] fabius
Question it if you like; he does lay out some broad strokes, and I can tell you that those are pretty much in line. Biggest expenses are taxes, kids, and PITI in that order.
I also find it amusing that an admitted tax cheat wants to call out someone on tax policy.
This 2011 melt up will catch a lot of people by suprise.
The candle always burns brightest, before it goes out.
Timmay just went off the reservation by admitting that govs don’t create jobs, businesses do, and that they needed to incentivize job creation here. He sounded awfully uncomfortable in putting that out there.
You guys laughed at me when I said buy Citi bonds at a 16% yield, Ford Bonds at a 40% yield, AIG Bonds at a 27% yield and Muni Bonds when they were yielding 6%.
I expect you to laugh now. But when you miss it you will feel more screwed than a cabana boy on his first night working the gay steam baths
Confused In NJ says:
September 24, 2010 at 1:56 pm
This 2011 melt up will catch a lot of people by suprise.
The candle always burns brightest, before it goes out.
Liberace had a thing for candles too
Confused In NJ says:
September 24, 2010 at 1:56 pm
This 2011 melt up will catch a lot of people by suprise.
The candle always burns brightest, before it goes out.
Barney and a rep. from Florida mixing it up because the member tried to pin Timmay down on the state of the recession. Timmay was evasive and the member tagged him for it, so Barney had to jump in and is now in a verbal sparring match with the member. Ridiculous.
Ooooh, smackdown from the member on Barney, and Barney just closed the hearing in response.
wtf (123)-
New handle for you: STFU
123 is to 103
Plume, please pardon wtf and his ilk. They’re out collecting pennies in front of express trains.
jj (107)-
Why is Wall St going to hire, when all the equity and commodity trading is done by 10 computers and a handful of MIT math geeks?
When will someone do us a favor and cap Barney?
Citigroup Increases Stock Compensation for Senior Executives Citigroup Inc. , the bank 18- percent owned by U.S. taxpayers, awarded more than $37 million in shares to six of its top executives and said it plans to raise Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit’s $1-a-year pay.
[125] poltroon
You take him (her?) a lot more seriously than I do. Views like his are actually quite useful at times. Someone has to be on the other side of the trade.
104.Mr Wantanapolous says:
September 24, 2010 at 1:09 pm
JJ,
Melt up;
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AKAM+Basic+Chart&t=1y
Poltroon and what exactly do you do for a living? Never met an MIT person in my life on wall street. Good looks, a firm handshake and a few good stories will get you further in life than being negative all the time.
I myself had to fight my way to the top. My amazing good looks was an adversity to overcome to get people to take me seriously.
Poltroon says:
September 24, 2010 at 2:28 pm
jj (107)-
Why is Wall St going to hire, when all the equity and commodity trading is done by 10 computers and a handful of MIT math geeks
JJ: I found an old video of your party days…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSnLGdpjWf4
121.JJ AKA John says:
September 24, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Liberace had a thing for candles too
Confused In NJ says:
September 24, 2010 at 1:56 pm
This 2011 melt up will catch a lot of people by suprise.
The candle always burns brightest, before it goes out.
chifi the internet is just a fad
re: #105 – real bull run on Wall St? How about Layoffs?
http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-montag-bank-of-america-will-cut-5-of-capital-markets-employees-2010-9
Chifi I can watch youtube at work.
Reeves: from the front page of the WSJ
PAGE ONE
SEPTEMBER 24, 2010
A Texas Tycoon Learns a Lesson: Don’t Mess With Liverpudlians
Tom Hicks Owns Flailing U.K. Soccer Club; Fans Take Anger to the Bank—Literally
By DAVID ENRICH And GREGORY ZUCKERMAN
In the old days, English soccer hooligans settled scores with knives and broken bottles. As Texas billionaire Tom Hicks is learning this week, the weapons of choice these days—camera phones, Twitter and spam emails—can be almost as scary.
Thomas Kavanagh
Mr. Hicks, co-owner of England’s hallowed Liverpool FC, is on the run from a mob of angry fans who blame him for the team’s tailspin. The 118-year-old club was one of England’s best when he bought it in 2007. Since then, the crippling debt load he took on to buy Liverpool has strained the team’s finances and contributed to its woes on the pitch.
Now, Liverpool faithful are waging a fierce campaign to evict the American owner. Their strategy: Scare away banks and other financiers who might throw Mr. Hicks a lifeline, starving Mr. Hicks of needed cash and forcing him to sell. To do that, they are using the tools of the digital age to track Mr. Hicks’ efforts to drum up money, then bombard would-be lenders with thousands of irate emails, phone calls and Tweets.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Hicks learned firsthand what it’s like to be the prey in a digital hunt.
Around 3:40 p.m., as Mr. Hicks sat on a sidewalk bench in midtown Manhattan, he was spotted by Liverpool native Paul Wilson. It occurred to Mr. Wilson, a 35-year-old financial consultant, that the offices of Deutsche Bank AG and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. were on the same street. He guessed that Mr. Hicks and his son, Tom Hicks Jr., might be visiting the banks to plead for funds.
So Mr. Wilson whipped out his BlackBerry, snapped some photos, and zapped the images to his wife, Erin McCloskey. Then he trailed Mr. Hicks walking into the lobby of the building that houses Deutsche.
“I didn’t throw my coffee on him, but the thought did cross my mind,” Mr. Wilson said Wednesday.
Ms. McCloskey quickly posted the photos on Twitter and explained the circumstances.
Over in Liverpool, the Hicks sighting was like an open-net goal for Alan Kayll, a 40-year-old cab driver who is a ringleader of the anti-Hicks campaign. Mr. Kayll quickly penned a form letter to J.P. Morgan and Deutsche officials urging them not to help Mr. Hicks refinance roughly £200 million ($313 million) that is owed to Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, stemming from his purchase of the team.
“If you join Tom Hicks in raping and pillaging Liverpool Football Club, then you will be making a very powerful enemy,” his letter read in part. “You are facing an energized, well-informed mass of Liverpool fans from around the world.”
He posted the letter online, along with the email addresses of executives at Deutsche and J.P. Morgan.
An hour later, a senior J.P. Morgan executive had already received 30 emails from Liverpool fans, with new messages landing every few minutes. “It’s totally viral right now,” the executive said, deleting emails as they arrived. Public-relations staff at Deutsche said they received hundreds.
Neither bank is in talks with Mr. Hicks, said people familiar with the situation. Through a spokesman, Mr. Hicks declined to comment on Tuesday’s events or his stewardship of the team.
The team’s financial woes have hurt its performance. Liverpool finished last season in seventh place, a disaster for fans accustomed to being in England’s top four. A team official said this week that the cost of servicing its debts is depleting club resources. Fans argue that makes it tougher to recruit top players.
Meanwhile, in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, the melee was just beginning. Adam Eljarrah, an 18-year-old Liverpool fan attending New York University, saw Ms. McCloskey’s Twitter messages. He showed up outside Deutsche’s skyscraper on Park Avenue. The pre-med freshman carried a poster, popular among Liverpool supporters in England, declaring that Mr. Hicks and his co-owner are “Not Welcome ANYWHERE.”
Mr. Eljarrah says he loitered outside the building for about 45 minutes, hoping to confront Mr. Hicks. Around 6:30 p.m., Mr. Hicks emerged. According to a person familiar with the incident, the younger Mr. Hicks spotted Mr. Eljarrah—identifiable in his red-and-white Liverpool scarf—and told a nearby cop: “This guy is trouble.”
As the police officer intercepted Mr. Eljarrah, he says, he waved his sign and yelled, “Get out of our club!”
Liverpool fans aren’t the only ones lashing out at American ownership. Manchester United fans have mounted a campaign against the family of American businessman Malcolm Glazer, which owns the team and has loaded it with debt.
In Liverpool, fans who are angling to remove Mr. Hicks are sporting scarves bearing a “Thanks But No Yank$!” slogan.
Lately, financial institutions have borne the brunt of Liverpool’s rage. Fans have been flooding RBS with letters and phone calls urging the bank to seize the club and give Mr. Hicks the boot. Top executives’ inboxes sometimes have been hit with several hundred emails per day.
A few weeks ago, some fans started a Facebook page encouraging people to boycott RBS. Mr. Kayll, the cab driver, drew up lists of financial institutions Mr. Hicks is believed to have approached, posting them on a website he helps run that urges fans to help oust Mr. Hicks.
The site features an image of a blood-drenched RBS logo. The site’s motto: “We will go as far as we need to.”
Despite the site’s menacing slogan and graphic, Mr. Kayll says his group is “totally against violence. We’re a group of passionate fans trying to save their football club. All professional people with families.”
The campaign hit Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire co-founder of Blackstone Partners, whose GSO Capital Partners hedge fund considered participating in a deal to help Mr. Hicks refinance the RBS loan. By Monday, GSO had backed out of the talks. A Blackstone spokesman, Peter Rose, said the emails (including thousands aimed at Mr. Schwarzman) didn’t affect GSO’s decision not to participate in the deal.
That wasn’t the message Mr. Kayll got. Driving his cab in Liverpool Tuesday morning, he says he received a call from London-based GSO executive Michael Whitman. Mr. Kayll says Mr. Whitman told him GSO lost interest in part thanks to the pressure campaign. “He said, ‘We understand the passion of Liverpool supporters and obviously took that into consideration,'” Mr. Kayll says.
Mr. Whitman didn’t respond to requests for comment. Blackstone acknowledges that Mr. Whitman and Mr. Kayll spoke, but deny he said the email campaign forced GSO out of the deal.
Still basking in victory hours later, Mr. Kayll was euphoric when the Hicks photos from New York dropped into his lap. He crowed: “We know his every move.”
—Sara Schaefer Muñoz and Dan Fitzpatrick contributed to this article.
Write to David Enrich at david.enrich@wsj.com and Gregory Zuckerman at gregory.zuckerman@wsj.com
“Never met an MIT person in my life on wall street.”
JJ,
Lacking networking skills?
“Poltroon and what exactly do you do for a living?”
LMAO.
jj (131)-
I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and I piss $100 bills.
“re: #105 – real bull run on Wall St? How about Layoffs?”
Juice [134],
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/09/09/wall-street-layoffs-meredith-whitneys-case-for-a-bloodbath/
Explain the low-volume melt ups and the quote-stuffing, John.
No MIT guys behind any of that…right?
jj (131)-
I clean up roadkill for a living.
BTW, remind me to immerse my hands in Purel after shaking hands with you. I hear dafunk is contagious.
“Poltroon and what exactly do you do for a living? Never met an MIT person in my life on wall street. Good looks, a firm handshake and a few good stories will get you further in life than being negative all the time.”
Eric Rosenfeld went to MIT.
chi (136)-
Maybe Hicks was panhandling. Nice article…but what’s about to happen to the Glazers will make Hicks look like a genius in comparison.
“Around 3:40 p.m., as Mr. Hicks sat on a sidewalk bench in midtown Manhattan, he was spotted by Liverpool native Paul Wilson. It occurred to Mr. Wilson, a 35-year-old financial consultant, that the offices of Deutsche Bank AG and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. were on the same street. He guessed that Mr. Hicks and his son, Tom Hicks Jr., might be visiting the banks to plead for funds.”
Eric Rosenfeld, of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
How many here are heavily invested in shiny (as percentage of their portfolio)?
My portfolio is all S&P (500 and Tech) and some in savings account getting 1.2%!
Chi, Scousers trample their own. Literally. God help their enemies.
“How many here are heavily invested in shiny (as percentage of their portfolio)?”
Shiny is my portfolio; hedged with longs in silver.
sastry (146)-
Hope your kids like community college.
re: #143 – The MIT quants and traders only program for a Master in Finance is a one year program that costs 72k in tuition, they had something like 900 applicants this year, allot of them are out of work I gather and are headed back to school.
bc (148)-
Just as good as placing bets on both the tortoise and the hare.
The low volume is because Ma and Pa are on the sideline or buying bonds. The quote stuffing always took place as it is a placeholder for things you quote but are not currently acting as a market maker, sloppy habit.
Thin volume, coupled with rumours and a few buyside market makers pulling out and ma an pa entering panic sell order at market combined with sell limit orders being executed gave us a nice flash crash. So what, you don’t leave long term way below market sell limit orders, you want to close them out each day, otherwise you can get stop lossed out.
Takes a bunch of stupid things happening at once for something like this to happen.
Poltroon says:
September 24, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Explain the low-volume melt ups and the quote-stuffing, John.
No MIT guys behind any of that…right?
[146],
If the S&P’s repeat their past 10 year performance, another option to consider;
http://www.marieclaire.com/cm/marieclaire/images/metal%20detector.jpg
Somebody mark #152 for posterity.
Looks like the Baconator’s presidential campaign began today.
And all this time, I thought Ma and Pa were at Wal-Mart at 11:59 PM on the last day of the month, waiting for their gubmint benefit cards to activate at midnight.
Chifi you told me to sell this at 79 last year, sorry I did not listen. I am thinking it is near top, do you concur, put in a limit sell just now.
FIFTH THIRD BANCORP BOND 08.25000% 03/01/2038
Price (Ask) 118.032
Yield to Worst (Ask) 6.791%
Yield to Maturity 6.791105%
#117 Nom
“Tax Cheat”
Would you mind clarifying that remark.
Since Munger and his culture dying rant, Ma and Pa have received a ton of notoriety. Who exactly is this Ma and Pa?
Behold the power of the POMO!
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/pomo-impact-pictures
ma and pa are stupid
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Eliminating stop-loss market orders may be one of the steps regulators will take in an attempt to prevent another so-called flash crash, according to a white paper published Friday. Analysts at Themis Trading identified four major recommendations that they believe Securities and Exchange Commission staff will make in response to the events of May 6. Most notably, they said, officials may want to scrap stop-loss market orders, or an order to sell a stock when it reaches a certain threshold, but which can get filled at any price. “These orders were not the cause of the flash crash per se, but they resulted in enormous damage to many unsuspecting traditional investors,” they wrote. The authors also suggested the SEC may introduce a limit up/down feature to stock circuit breakers, eliminate stub quotes and increase obligations for market markers.
Alcoholism is a sickness.The symptoms sure are fun!!
#148, “shiny is the portfolio” … how long has it been and for how long do you plan to stick to that strategy?
Theres nothing funnier than watching a Wall St fraudster sweat under the threat of layoffs. Their whole livelihood depends on the scam and the casino gulag continuing indefinitely. There are no real skills on Wall St except bullsh_t and thievery.
Its coming to an end. Maybe not this year but it will come to an end. Better get a shovel. I heard the ICW needs dredging.
Ban stop loss.
Very nice.
I’ve now seen it all.
“How many here are heavily invested in shiny (as percentage of their portfolio)?”
I have bet my entire financial future on it. I will either destroy myself financially or Ill be slamming cold beers wherever I choose. Now I know why I studied history in college.
Grim 166:
I just read that too. Do not stop the lawbreaking HFT, just stop the process to help the little investor try to preserve some cash. Orwell would be proud.
“Hope your kids like community college.”
LMFAO
I just read that too. Do not stop the lawbreaking HFT, just stop the process to help the little investor try to preserve some cash. Orwell would be proud.
Anyone else see this as a blatant scheme to shift losses to retail (you and me) and small institutional investors?
Seems like the perfect way to give wall street and the hedge funds preferential access to the fire exits when they decide it is time to yell fire.
How many of us can afford our own personal trading desks to issue sell orders given these circumstances?
God forbid my odd lot stop loss order get in the way of Goldman deciding it is time to liquidate.
Why not just make it illegal for stock prices to go down?
So Peru and Brazil are now buyers of US dollars. Print it up Ben the world is full of suckers. Fund everything everywhere. More unemployment, more bailouts, more stimulus. The world is begging for our cash. LOL. It just gets better and better.
170.
Grim,
Only hope is to go long in the right sectors and keep cash to buy the dips. Their is only one sector. You know what it is.
Hot off the presses, from the WSJ:
Federal Credit-Union Regulator to Securitize ‘Legacy Assets’
Two years after the peak of the financial crisis, the federal government swooped in Friday to stabilize a crucial part of the credit-union industry battered by huge losses on risky mortgage-backed securities.
Regulators announced a rescue of the nation’s so-called wholesale credit unions, which don’t deal with the general public but provide behind-the-scenes services to thousands of other credit unions across the U.S. The vast majority of those retail credit unions are financially sound, but they are exposed to the losses through the industry’s insurance fund.
Friday’s moves include the seizure of three wholesale credit unions and an unusual plan by government officials to manage $50 billion of troubled assets inherited from failed institutions. To help fund the rescue, the National Credit Union Administration plans to issue $30 billion to $35 billion in government-guaranteed bonds, backed by the shaky mortgage-related assets.
Officials said the plan won’t cost taxpayers any money. Still, it marks the latest aggressive intervention by U.S. government officials into a corner of the financial system threatened by losses. Bad bets on mortgage-backed securities have killed five of the nation’s 27 wholesale credit unions since March 2009. The federal government, which now controls about 70% of the total assets at such credit unions, also said the surviving institutions will be reined in so that they take fewer risks with their investments.
“Previously, we stabilized the system, and now we’re resolving the problem and reforming the system,” said Debbie Matz, chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, the federal agency overseeing credit unions.
Members United Corporate Federal Credit Union in Warrenville, Ill., Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union of Plano, Texas, and Constitution Corporate Federal Credit Union, Wallingford, Conn., which had a total of $19.67 billion in assets as of July, were taken into conservatorship by federal regulators.
To help fund the rescue, the National Credit Union Administration plans to issue $30 billion to $35 billion in government-guaranteed bonds, backed by the shaky mortgage-related assets.
We are all fools now…
Officials said the plan won’t cost taxpayers any money.
Does.. not.. compute..
bc (159)-
I saw Ma and Pa, sucking it up on the side of the road.
sas (164)-
Take a look at #162. If you can’t trade with stops in, there go the last three retail customers out of the stock market.
sas (164)-
Count me as another one all-in on shiny…Texas hedged.
grim (170)-
It’s coming. Of course, when that happens, the next time GS decides to sell anything, the entire market will go to 0. I’m betting I’ll be alive when it happens.
“Why not just make it illegal for stock prices to go down?”
GOP Senate Nominee John Raese: ‘I Made My Money The Old-Fashioned Way: I Inherited It’
I made my money the old-fashioned way, I inherited it. I think that’s a great thing to do. I hope more people in this country have that opportunity as soon as we abolish inheritance tax in this country, which is a key part of my program.
“… I hope more people in this country have that opportunity [to inherit] … as soon as we abolish inheritance tax”
Yeah, abolish all taxes, and cut all spending. Soon, you’ll see so many old people kicking the bucket due to ill health, low quality of living, etc., that many people will have the opportunity to inherit sets of worn-out clothes.
BFF!
err…
CUFF!
You can do stops you just go to manage them. You can’t put a long term stop loss order to sell a stock at $10 leave it a few months after it is at $30 and then get stopped lossed out when some stupid trading event brings stock momentarily down to $9.99.
Plus you can hedge via long term equity options.
Poltroon says:
September 24, 2010 at 5:01 pm
sas (164)-
Take a look at #162. If you can’t trade with stops in, there go the last three retail customers out of the stock market.
[158] Fabius
““Tax Cheat”
Would you mind clarifying that remark.”
My recollection is that you used to post as PGC. This is based on a conversation at a Hoboken GTG with PGC.
Isn’t it true that you stated that you did not pay U.S. income tax on your U.S. source independent contracting income for an entire year? (details are fuzzy but it had to do with a reporting error, perhaps by the contracting company).
(FWIW, I don’t expect you to admit this—either you will deny the conversation or deny that you are also PGC. Anonymity lets you do that, and I can’t refute it except at a GTG. But I recall the conversation in Hoboken, and the fact of income “avoidance” on PGC’s part for a calendar year, even though I am unclear on what was, or wasn’t, reported.)
If you believe that the stock market is a reasonable system with occasional short-term screw-ups, then a strategy of “wait a week before buying” and “wait a week before selling” should work.
If you think that the market is horribly rigged, and need to monitor the portfolio closely, then all bets are off…
Nom,
Isn’t it true that you stated that you did not pay U.S. income tax on your U.S. source independent contracting income … FWIW, I don’t expect you to admit this
Shouldn’t this discussion be limited to GTG’s?
I admit that I am PGC and we had a conversation at the GTG.
To the board:
I have been called many things by many people and for the most part I’ll take it. It is the sprit of this place. I do draw the line at on questions of my integrity and Tax Cheat crosses a line.
In this case I will explain a bit further, what Nom is alluding to. At the Hoboken GTG I explained to Nom, to his surprise (or shock) that I had already reached his Nirvana and spent a full year tax free. It was done legally and no laws broken. I will qualify that I did actually pay tax on ALL income that year. I then went back to the Revenue Service and after a full audit that lasted a year and half they refunded all tax paid plus interest.
Nom as not merely a tax professional, but a tax lawyer is aware of the exact meaning of the term, “Tax Cheat” and what he has accused me of. He is also aware of the recourse he would reach for, if the term were leveled at him.
For me I’ll leave it here.
sastry (180)-
I’d rather die that way than be taxed to death by the gubmint.
I’m ready to start shooting people to get these sumbitches out of my pocket.
plume (183)-
If he beat the IRS and/or evaded significant taxes, I’d like to buy him a beer.
Somebody needs to tell Tyler Durden than crime that pays is crime that stays.
I also gotta figure we’ll be hearing from William Black next week on this one. As the former RTC czar, he must be burning mad over this clusterfcuk.
“It is Friday afternoon, and of course the most troubling news come out. Last week it was that the idiots in charge are raising their stake in Ally to 80%; this week also did not disappoint: the WSJ reports what can arguably be the most important story of the week – to wit: the government just seized three wholesale credit unions and has launched an “unusual plan” to manage $50 billion of troubled assets inherited from failed institutions. The unions taken into conservatorship include Members United Corporate Federal Credit Union in Warrenville, Ill., Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union of Plano, Texas, and Constitution Corporate Federal Credit Union, Wallingford, Conn., which had a total of $19.67 billion in assets as of July. As for the funding of the new bailout program: “To help fund the rescue, the National Credit Union Administration plans to issue $30 billion to $35 billion in government-guaranteed bonds, backed by the shaky mortgage-related assets.” Once again, uncle Sam bails out those who have committed federal crime and sticks Joe Sixpack with the bill. How is it a crime? “Under federal rules, wholesale credit unions were supposed to invest only in safe, liquid assets. But some institutions chased higher returns by loading up on securities backed by subprime mortgages or other risky loans. Their portfolios were decimated by the mortgage meltdown.”And here is the punchline: “Officials said the plan won’t cost taxpayers any money.” How can one not simply laugh at the continued lies and crimes that occur each and every day, and are perpetrated by every single person in charge of this collapsing country?”
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/three-wholesale-credit-unions-nationalized-us-securitizes-50-billion-legacy-toxic-assets-fai
#117 redux
What I do question in that article is the implication that the guy earns over $250K “(but not by that much)” and pays nearly $100K in federal and state. I call BS That “not by that much” should be closer too “twice as much”. The anecdotal data in the in the article points to an income of around $470K based on average salaries. The $15K property taxes would put the “fixer upper” at around 1.4 Million. That would back up the income level.
Outside of the 22% taxes, every choice after that, the cars, the house the private schools and even slumming it at the community art class (the horror) is a lifestyle choice. People her rail about the Graydon and Ellory’s parents living beyond their means. This is just the next step up, the wannabe rich trying to play in the mega buck range. The 1.4 Mill fixer upper is probably now worth $700K, but he says he pays too much tax, so he can’t be all that bad.
To quote Mitch Mc Connell (they just keep giving), for this guy to only have a couple of hundred at the end of the month is not a taxing problem, its a spending problem.
Could we just agree now that these losses on the 50 bn in “shaky” MBS will be more in the range of 45-49 bn?
“As part of the plan announced Friday, regulators will eventually wind down the operations of the five failed credit unions, which together had about $50 billion in shaky mortgage-backed securities on their books, according to Larry Fazio, NCUA’s deputy executive director. Based on current market values, those securities are worth roughly half of their face value, representing a potential loss of $25 billion.”
142.Poltroon says:
September 24, 2010 at 3:10 pm
jj (131)-
I clean up roadkill for a living.
———–
And I cherish the thought that I help to create that roadkill by indoctrinating the plumbiferous masses every day! :)
gluteus (190)-
Problem is, the guy never had the money in his hand to spend. Gubmint decided they needed it worse…and also assumed they had a better way to spend it. Real hard to develop a big-time spending problem when they won’t even let you have the money to see what you can do to blow it.
I’m of the mind that if you take all your $$$ and put it up your nose, it’s a better use than handing over to the secretariat.
I’m also guessing- unlike Bojangles- that this guy didn’t have Reszko to cook up some sweet financing for him.
“To quote Mitch Mc Connell (they just keep giving), for this guy to only have a couple of hundred at the end of the month is not a taxing problem, its a spending problem.”
Drive-bys, snickers, buttas and bitchez with beepers come to Upper Haughtyville!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39312450/ns/business-real_estate/?source=patrick.net#lead
buttas = buddhas… lol!
Clot,
Here ya go:
http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Japanese-player-pulls-a-Maradona-in-Women-s-U-17?urn=sow-272177
#193 Clot
Don’t think so. I think he is overleveraged on the lifestyle and underwater on the house. Check out the price history of this little beauty of a comp killer. If this is his neighbor, it would explain why he’s pis$ed.
Welcome to the hood!
http://www.trulia.com/homes/Illinois/Chicago/sold/22949370-5438-S-Hyde-Park-Blvd-Chicago-IL-60615
“As part of the plan announced Friday, regulators will eventually wind down the operations of the five failed credit unions, which together had about $50 billion in shaky mortgage-backed securities on their books, according to Larry Fazio, NCUA’s deputy executive director. Based on current market values, those securities are worth roughly half of their face value, representing a potential loss of $25 billion.”
I don’t get it. Why not mark them to model and make them at par, 100%. If Citi can do it, why not these little gems? Hell, the gubbmint owns them now, just have Uncle Ben print up 50 billion and hand it over to them.
Eddie (196)-
In a related story, the North Korean defenders have been executed.
gluteus (197)-
What part of the sphincter otherwise known as Chicago isn’t part of the ‘hood?
Chicago is just a big Camden where they’ve done a better job of ring-fencing the ultra-poor.
The only reason Emanuel wants to be mayor of Chicago must be to tap some of that Capone-style money. What a grossout of a place to live.
Yeah, you can FedEx me that meal from Charlie Trotter’s.
‘Cause if I park my car anywhere near his place, it’ll be up on blocks when I go to leave.
Schiff was on Kudlow tonight. Said his portfolio is 50% in gold, holds a lot of gold paper and commented about the gold sellers e.g., Goldline with 65% + markups on coins compared with his 2%. He seemed concerned that all dealers will be punished i.e., regulated because of the price gougers
Unlike that whiny lawyer guy, I don’t complain about high tax rates because “I’m barely scraping by” after paying the lawn guy and the nanny and the school debt. That’s typical Republican crap, begging for forgiveness for being rich, and pointing to all the custom tailors, yacht-builders, and waiters who depend on them for their livelihood, and seeking some sort of justification in them for their wealth. Basically accepting the moral premise of the leftists, that wealth needs to find a blue collar excuse for existing. Rather than something worked for and earned, and something to be proud of on your own as a symbol of productive achievement.
In contrast, I complain about taxes because I reject the moral premise that the more successful I am at earning a living, the more other people are permitted to plunder it.
Stocks aren’t particularly expensive, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them take off, particularly given that savings rates are below inflation worldwide. Where else are people going to invest? Most of my money is in international and emerging market stocks. I have a small side of gold, but I think it might be too far in the lead of other assets. In an inflation/devaluation, eventually everything gets repriced upward in nominal terms. Wages likely lag behind, making everyone lose inflation adjusted wealth, while knocking them up into a higher tax bracket. Like moving from Florida to NJ with only a 5% compensation hike.
#202 Clot
I went to a wedding in Chicago a few years back. Bride was Big money tribe from Skokie, groom was dirt poor Irish from the Southside. We ate our way around the city. The brides mother was talking Trotters and a few other places for the rehersal dinner, but Mrs Fabius talked her into going casual, so her mother booked the back room of Lou Malnatis for Deep dish and beer.
The funny part was the wedding factory meal. Instead of chosing Steak Chicken or Fish, the mother decided everyone should have all three.
No wonder her daughter buys bagels from BJ’s
I call bullsh1t on this thing but what the f*ck do I know? Anyway, you be the judge. A realtor sent me these stats. The way I see it, let the fat bast@rds starve for another year or two.
http://buyinginbergen.com/reports/10-vital-statistics.html
203.
Re: Shiff and goldline.
Goldline is 55 over spot for gold eagles. Fair deal. Of course you have to navigate the salesman pitch of Swiss Francs and Numismatic coins. If you know what you want you will get it for a fair price. Show me what Schiff is offering. His Dad was a sketchy character and the apple doesnt fall far from the tree even though I may like his politics.
I like what Jon Nadler from Kitco said on Bloomberg Surveillance the other morning. Go to the Contributed Commentaries section at http://www.kitco.com and listen to what he said. Goldline’s American Advisor show always sounded like a way-to-slanted sales pitch. People get ripped off almost always with Numismatic coins.
209.
Fast Eddie,
I love that handle by the way. The goldline folks are relentless on the naive. They even will go after the informed but if you smack them with some math and some truth they back off quick.
By the way. Bloomberg is a gov propaganda machine and they arent good at the trade.
Burn motherf_cker burn.
“: Dont Mess With Liverpudlians”
They sure did a job on Guliver.
Cuba continues itts move to the right of Obama:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-latin-america-11409550
Shoe Guy is married to Imelda Marcos?
Shore, I might take a little excursion down to Havana soon. Only 90 miles away.
Fcuk Jon Nadler; he’s a whore. If he traded it like he has called it, he would have been buried a long time ago. He’s been calling bubble since 750. I guess that’s the gig when you get paid by an organization that is naked short 100-1. Actually, he should be the PR Director for the LBMA.
Nadler, 10/08
“If deflationary pressures really take hold, we may have a case of “reverse hedge” developing, whereby gold might still fall to the mid-$600s or even as low as the low $500s, but still fall less in percentage terms than other assets might. In that case, investors would still be better off holding some gold and lots of cash rather than equities or real estate and such. Hopefully we don’t head into that deflationary spiral because that could hurt a lot of higher-priced producers of gold. Certainly a lot of the mining companies would have to reconsider what projects to mothball if that happens”
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Gold-might-fall-to-$500s-Jon-Nadler-12397-3-1.html
Some more slop from the schill;
“The sky did actually fall last year — and it was good for $1,035 gold,” says Nadler. “But that’s about where the worst ends.”
http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/06/pf/gold_investing_bubble.fortune/index.htm
#207 Fast Eddie
I have said that all year, Ridgewood has held up and it shifting inventory. Nice to see someone finally putting up numbers that agree with me.
Amazing post really I like this post. E filing is the best option for file your Washington state taxes and federal tax filing and get fast tax refund from online.
The Credit Unions can buy the MBS,backed by the tax payers at a priced lower than the assets.Why can’t homeowners get the same deal?
The Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed Friday that the new NCUA notes will be considered obligations of the U.S. government. This likely means they can be bought by a broader range of investors. Indeed, NCUA said that credit unions will be able to buy the notes.
“This funding approach enables the underlying securities to be maintained without the need to sell them immediately and realize the full market losses,” NCUA said in a statement Friday
Wantan [217],
The part that I liked is when Nadler said buy gold at 2% over spot and to do so by dollar cost averaging to the tune of 5% to 10% of total investment portfolio. Goldline says the samething about the portfolio allocation but tries to talk up numismatic items. The numismatic sales are a ripoff for the customer. You would know better than me about Nadler but I just like the fact that he sounded a he11 of a lot more practical than the Goldline crew. In other words, he didn’t sound like a salesman.
fast (207)-
Don’t believe your lying eyes. :)
BC (217)-
The only down scenario I see for shiny is that the banksters and hedgies might have to liquidate when the margin calls come raining down.
Then, it will bounce right back. There will be plenty of folks on hand to absorb all the bullion that hits the market.
The way to go. Let states go bankrupt.
WHY WE NEED TO LET STATES GO BROKE
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published in the New York Post on August 10, 2010
Federal Band-Aids won’t cover the fiscal problems of such states as New York, California, Michigan and Connecticut forever. State bankruptcy and fundamental restructuring of state and local finance — and labor relations — is at hand.
Take Connecticut. In the current fiscal year, $2 billion in federal subsidies have helped tide it over the recession — a hefty share of its $15 billion budget. But these infusions are one-shot grants, renewed only if Congress acts affirmatively to do so. Other states depend on similar manifestations of federal largess.
In Washington, the House is set to pass a $26 billion aid package this week — fresh federal aid amounting to about 2 percent of state and local spending. But if the Republicans win control of Congress this fall, it is hard to see any legislative willingness to renew these subsidies.
Instead, GOP lawmakers will point to the examples of New Jersey, Virginia and Indiana — where conservative governors have slashed spending to avoid tax hikes. In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell has reduced spending to pre-2006 levels.
If Congress fails to renew its subsidies, the more profligate states will face cash shortfalls in the current fiscal year. They’ll threaten school closures, prison releases and all manner of mayhem if their subsidies aren’t renewed. But the Republicans in Washington are likely to refuse — asking why the responsible states should bail out the spendthrifts in Albany, Sacramento, Lansing and Hartford.
The GOP Congress should then amend the federal bankruptcy law to provide for a way — now absent — for states to declare bankruptcy. (Municipalities can do so under current law, but states have no such relief.)
Here’s the key: The reforms must require that states abrogate their public-employee union agreements in the bankruptcy process, just as private corporations like Delta and Chrysler have done. The wage hikes, the work rules, the pension plans all go out the window.
Poltroon [222],
I agree. It’s just another take on, “buy now or be priced out forever” or “hurry, bring your checkbook, this one won’t last!” I’ll stay patient way longer than the pretenders will stay solvent. I suspect Graydon’s mommy will start strutting up and down Franklin Turnpike in a red halter and stilletos any day now.
I suspect Graydon’s mommy will start strutting up and down Franklin Turnpike in a red halter and stilletos any day now.
And no doubt she’ll overprice herself just as much as she has her house, and wonder why she has no takers.
Oh my. Pain last night was like nothing I have ever felt before. It’s a good thing I can meditate and medicate most of it away. My Achilles tendon ended up being 100% torn. I’m ready for some medical marijuana :P
This one just just dropped 20K to $649,000. It needs a little work. All in all, a nice flow and does have a “home” feel to it. Erase the dreamer’s price and the reality price should be around $525,000, give or take. I’d offer 485K, best and final with a 48 hour response or I walk. They can take the bid now or if I’m still interested, they can take it a year from now amidst the hankies and flowing tears.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Wyckoff-Twp_NJ_07481_1121324693
It needs a little work.
I can’t wait to read Gary’s missive on this one.
eddie (228)-
A little work? Somebody should fire a RPG into that shack.
At least now we know where the MS-13 headquarters are in Wyckoff.
Fast Eddie [221],
I was not endorsing Goldline. I know zero about them. Jon Nadler? Well, if you sat across the desk from him and took the opposite position, during this bull run, you would be in the chips. Ever wonder why analyst begins with anal?
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