Senate Defeats Mortgage ‘Cram-Down’ as Democrats Balk (Update2)
The U.S. Senate rejected a measure that would let bankruptcy judges cut mortgage terms to help borrowers avoid foreclosure, a victory for banks and credit unions that said the legislation would increase loan costs.
ShadowInventory, yes, people have been emailing me videos for days about this, but I try not to post them until I can confirm the story - the first videos weren't really clear - this one is.
Lot of model homes are really bad to live in - whatever makes them a good model works against the eventual owner... But here - a huge development with all the underground work already done... in an area where it is just plain butt ugly... what the heck were they thinking - oh now I remember - create more MBS...
"But that's the contention of Rolfe Winkler, a blogger and CFA who publishes the often astute OptionArmageddon site. Winkler contends that, even though the big banks that were the primary creditors of Chrysler had signed off, the smaller guys likely had Credit Default Swaps betting against Chrysler.
These swaps would likely only pay out if Chrysler went down. These are the same Credit Default Swaps that decimated insurance giant AIG after a rogue office in London wrote hundreds of billions of ill-advised CDS to the likes of Goldman Sachs and UBS, among others. If this is true, then its entirely possible that other bond holders with General Motors might be more interested in tipping the biggest carmaker into bankruptcy, as well. The administration's hands might be tied."
...it's a crime they ruin all this good lumber. I have a cow palace, chicken coop, greenhouse & deck made of recycled lumber. No sense in actually using it - lets just tear it up & put it in a landfill. A complete waste.
Wait, I've got it. Since the bank is tearing down the houses, obviously the lot is more valuable empty. So the property taxes will go up once the demolition is complete. Victorville is saved!
The Roy Rogers museum moved from Victorville to Branson Missouri several years ago - Roy Rogers and Dale Evans lived on a ranch near Victorville for quite a long time and I think they passed on there... Otherwise - I have no plans to visit....
Hey doc.........2X6 construction is great corral & deck lumber. OSB is great indoor sheathing and stress walls - hangers always come in handy. Roofing comes up easy.
I think that inventory is not the problem. If a person does not have enough income to qualify for a mortgage, keeping house prices high is unlikely to increase sales over an extended period of time.
Black Star Ranch (profile) wrote on Thu, 4/30/2009 - 6:11 pm reply Ignore user
Hey doc.........2X6 construction is great corral & deck lumber. OSB is great indoor sheathing and stress walls - hangers always come in handy. Roofing comes up easy.
2x6? Hah! These crapshacks are lucky if their structural "studs" were installed in the 4x2 orientation.
it must be a sign. We are 1/2 way through the drop in RE prices. I guess their other option was selling those under 100 & reducing values of properties they are trying to sell nearby.
Amusing... (what a waste)
.....this would be one of those "shovel-ready" projects you hear about. The difference is THIS wouldn't be "busy work", THIS would be a plus environmentally, THIS would get unemployed guys off their ass, and quite possibly get them materials they might need and could use. Obviously it takes longer, but it doesn't look like these boxes are going anywhere anytime soon.......
Looks like those are unfinished homes and thus a hazard. He didn't make it clear if the finished models are being demolished too, but might as well, once you've got the equipment on site.
Building houses then tearing them down is analytically identical to paying people to dig holes in the desert and then fill them up. Why not just give them to returning vets from Iraq and Afganistan, that would be an honorable thing to do, and a pretty good way of saying thanks to those who put their butts on the line for us (regardless of how stupid the overall mission was to go in to Iraq in the first place)
BSR, I posted an a snippet earlier with a quote from Durbin that said "the banks own this place" speaking of the Senate...I was shocked at the honesty. He also said he will try again to get it passed.
Muster them out and settle them in groups. They get the house, no taxes for 3 years, and 1 AR-15 and 500 rounds of ammo. Make for a heck of a neighborhood watch
Relegating veterans to unemployment in Victorville might not be the greatest reward. Maybe if we could provide work in some form as well, but otherwise that's not much of a gift, more like a quarantine.
Tim - build your own desktop - Tiger Direct has kits, Ars Technica has recommendations for different price performance levels - And I also have Acer Laptops - buy them with no o/s - load Ubuntu Linux - Firefox browser - no hassle and away you go...
Honestly, this cant be the best use. There should be some sort of way to finish these at SOMEBODY's expense and put somebody in them. Unless of course, they are in the middle of nowhere, and there are no attached services, etc. More info please.
Michael, Dubai's home prices are only down 40% in one month. You dont destroy skyscrapers without significant collateraldamage. Youd have to see a much bigger price drop.
"This is a huge reversal. That is almost a quarter of a trillion dollars in just two months. Foreigners are not bailing out the Treasury any longer. They are pulling out. They are net sellers"
hey TIm waiting for 2012....why do you think GS went to 128 today...i can betya its due to another AIG like CDS payout. BK Lounge was all but assured for these folks. Only sucks that you dont get a $1 whopper with it.
sdtfs, origionally from East Coast, now mostly in Chicago but go to Dayton OH every other weekend (divorced Dad). You are right however, I have never been to Victorville, still out of the 200,000 plus vets there have to be at least a few who like hot dry weather
Tim - you can load the latest Ubuntu alongside Windoze for a dual boot config - or you can back up your personal data (to a flash drive for example) and dump windoze for good then load Ubuntu from cd... If you are not too techy you might want to pay someone to help you - a competent tech can give you a Ubuntu system with everything moved over so all your bookmarks and cookies are preserved - plus whatever else you do with your computer....
Rob Dawg doesn't know how to start a bulldozer?????
Parliamentary point of clarification. Rob Dawg doesn't admit to knowing. Rob Dawg doesn't own any high velocity Olympic class target rifles or generators or you get the idea... either.
I was last in Victorville in 1991 when i first drove x-ctry to the west coast. That is where my car broke down. In 1991, there was but one main drag, and little else. They ordered a new starter, I stayed one day and wandered around the barren wasteland (hotter than hell I might add) and then drove away, never to return. I always figured nothing would ever change that place. But I was young, I was impetuous....what did I know?
However, for every employee who can take advantage of leave without pay, there are three more who cannot afford the loss. I believe they deserve paid leave, and the need for this will only become clearer if the swine flu becomes a pandemic. I introduced legislation last year, and will do so again this year, that would give eligible employees 8 weeks of paid leave over a 12-month period.
Our country is in the midst of a public health emergency. The FMLA allows workers time off from work to take care of themselves and their family members when they need to, often unexpectedly. The federal government’s policies must reflect employees’ need for paid family and medical leave, especially as a growing number of Americans deal with this outbreak.
you might have to go into the BIOS settings and change the boot sequence to CD/DVD-ROM first so that the computer doesn't automatically load from the HD.
interestingly, you can get a refund of pre-installed Windows by rejecting the EULA. it's worked in other countries, don't know about Dell in the US.
I actually smell a jobs program coming on here as this continues but what would be grand is if the OCC developed a program to dun each bank financially for every house that it had to tear down.
Actually, settling the vets in there is akin to the 40 acres and a mule.
Broward.....ive seen victorville...there is there and there is way out there....i have no idea where these places are in relation to anything that exists semi-permanently in that place.
Dirk- Come to think of it, I like the area around Victorville,...just wouldn't want to have to live there. And it's almost guaranteed that a few of the vets are from around there.
Blackhalo (homepage, profile) wrote on Thu, 4/30/2009 - 6:44 pm
Can you elaborate? What is happening?
"mp" was right. No more credit. As soon as this sinks in we won't be bothered paying attention to trifles like Chrysler or swine flu.
US debt is incredibly short term and needs to not only roll over quickly but gat increased. Remember what happened to Commercial paper when they didn't roll over? Orders of magnitude worse.
......it used to be "Hicktorville" was outside the smog belt - that changed. A couple days ago a Vegas newscaster questioned why the upcoming high-speed train was ending in Victorville of all places? After the "slip" it was mentioned a bunch of "post-cards" would be received from Victorvillans.
Shadow its OK. Appreciate it though. Downloading Ubuntu now. I want to dump the hard drive anyways. The computer is brand new. Has XP with Ser Pack 3 I think. Really appreciate it.
Arbitrage_Macht_Frei (profile) wrote on Fri, 5/1/2009 - 1:53 am
I can't wait for the Wall Street May Day Parade where the show off their derivatives of mass destruction to an adoring crowd.
Did you know that they used 4,364 Begonias in constructing the Float float?
I hear they had to ask the Fed to inflate their balloons.
Tim - you will like Ubuntu - it's pretty simple - and if you need to run any windoze programs you can install Wine on Ubuntu - do a search for "How to install Wine on Ubuntu" and follow the directions - it's a little cryptic, but once you have Wine then you can install most Windoze programs and run them as if they were on Xp ... Viruses will not execute properly either - see "Will Windows viruses run on Wine"
From CNN. Sucks to be one of the dealerships that will be left out in the cold...
According to government officials, a new company will be formed that will buy the assets of Chrysler - its plants, brands, land, equipment, as well as its contracts with the union, dealers and suppliers - from the bankruptcy court.
The company's liabilities and an unspecified number of Chrysler's 3,300 dealerships which now sell the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands will be left behind in the bankruptcy court.
Administration officials said the Treasury Department will provide Chrysler with about $8 billion in loans on top of the $4 billion in loans it has already received to get it through bankruptcy.
"This is a huge reversal. That is almost a quarter of a trillion dollars in just two months. Foreigners are not bailing out the Treasury any longer. They are pulling out. They are net sellers."
Ya Blackhalo I'm not retired mil or disabled but still get VA medical care - I feel like I earned for what I did in the 60's and I appreciate it a lot now...
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) today announced it has assumed responsibility for a pension plan covering more than 1,200 workers and retirees of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, a healthcare provider in New York State.
The PBGC stepped in because the medical center missed about $7 million in legally required pension contributions. Niagara has not paid into the plan since September 2006, and lacks the assets to make past due or future payments. . . .
According to PBGC estimates, the Retirement Plan of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center is about 54 percent funded, with assets of $9 million and benefit liabilities of $21 million. The agency expects to be responsible for about $7.6 million of the $11.8 million shortfall.
Tim, the new Ubuntu 9.04 installer is pretty easy to use. It will detect the existing operating systems installed and give you the option of keeping them or wiping everything out.
One thing I can't stress enough is to back up all the files you want to keep. Even the best of us computer geeks accidentally wipe out a hard drive once in a while.
"Thus the actual viral trail does not fit the preplanned scenario since there was no opportunity to contain or delay the spread. As a result, border closings become a matter of closing the barn door after the cows have left."
......it's the only health care I have - and the VA docs & workers are awesome - the electronic med records system is quite the item as well. They oughta use it as the upcoming universal med model.....
I would recomend reading the whole 'harvard business' series on bloomberg. It will infuriate you, sadden you, exasperate you and amuse you .. all at once!
Five Things Leaders Can Do to Sharpen Their Communications - Bloomberg.com
:08 PM Thursday April 30, 2009
By John Baldoni
We need people who can communicate!
Raise your hand if you have heard this line at least one thousand times. In fact you likely have heard it so much that it has become meaningless. Communication, as I teach and coach, is the glue that holds an organization together. It is the means by which we exchange ideas, learn from each others, and perhaps most importantly connect to each other.
"Communication and interpersonal skills remain at the top of the list of what matters most to recruiters." That's according to the most recent Harris Interactive/Wall Street Journal business school survey published in September 2007.
I really like it. The learning curve is less steep than other distros. Not as intuitive, for me, as windows, but it is hard to beat free (beer) and free (speech).
How does the Treasury pull off the chimera ruse of foreigners buying our debt, whilst the very same foreigners are selling us back what we in theory are supposed to be selling them?
We've gone from a house of cards to a house of mirrors...
Whew- completely OT but I had a family member go through a massive heart attack (>100 on the enzyme count) last week. We dosed him with aspirin, loaded him up in the plane and flew him into the city. In less than an hour. The docs snaked a balloon up his groin and got blood back to the left ventricle in less than 5 minutes. It was amazing.
I'm fairly critical of the health care complex, but, that was money well spent...
The question is not how they do it, but what will happen when that scam collapses!
//How does the Treasury pull off the chimera ruse of foreigners buying our debt, whilst the very same foreigners are selling us back what we in theory are supposed to be selling them?//
The Washington Post
Mexican Drug Fight Nets 60,000 Suspects
2-Year Battle Also Raises Rights Questions
By William Booth and Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, May 1, 2009
MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities have arrested more than 60,000 people in connection with drug trafficking over the past two years, according to government statistics from a nationwide crackdown that has also led to dramatic increases in violence and allegations of human rights abuse.
The detention figures, obtained by The Washington Post, represent the first public accounting of the government's offensive against Mexico's powerful drug cartels. President Felipe Calderón declared war against the traffickers shortly after taking office in December 2006, giving the military unprecedented law enforcement duties.
I actually would leave XP alone. Just less hassle to download some programs into windoz.
I put Ubantu on a bootable pen drive (see YouTube - or a host of instructions on the web. Then just leave the memory stick in.
You adjust your BIOS settings to first boot from memory stick, (for Ubantu).
If you want xp just pull out the stick and reboot
I feel that this delusion is not going to end until people start losing their heads. This article is a good example of cognitive dissonance
A Government Safety Net Is Not Enough
By MARC MORIAL and JANET MURGUIA
APRIL 30, 2009
FDR's New Deal helped lift the country out of the Great Depression. But government didn't act alone. Small and large businesses created and funded visionary projects that helped heal the sick, educate the young, and lift the nation's spirits.
Remarkably, Americans doubled their donations to charitable organizations between 1933 and 1941 -- one of the largest such booms in our nation's history. The commitment to help one another was essential to our recovery.
YouTube attracted more than 100 million viewers in March, but advertisers have remained wary about putting up their ads next to YouTube's unpredictable user-generated videos.
Hulu had only 41 million unique viewers in March, but its library of premium content is particularly attractive to advertisers, and the site can thus charge much higher ad rates than YouTube.
"How does the Treasury pull off the chimera ruse of foreigners buying our debt, whilst the very same foreigners are selling us back what we in theory are supposed to be selling them?"
more and more the present situation looks like a generational scam. in a larger context an underlying current to this whole mess has for twenty years been like the old bumper sticker that said:
"we are spending our children's inheritance."
expect young people who see nothing but waste to repudiate the unpayable debts of their elders. that is if the present people in power haven't lost control of the country's finances already on their own.
Ahhhh we crossed the Rubicon with Bush and so far team Obama has done nothing to readily address or materially change so The Triumph of the Banking Oligarchs that continues at huge taxpayer expense.
I would hate to be Americans under the age of 30 - 35 because most of them will probably be living a good part of their lives in a America that is analogous a much BIGGER version of Argentina or Mexico.
Souter did write the unanimous majority opinion in Grokster. Ironically, while the Court found that Grokster was guilty of inducing copyright infringement, it enumerated many factors that would lead to violation: % of infringing works, commercial status, etc. By dancing around those factors, other P2P clients have been somewhat shielded from liability.
Souter's "drift to the center" was really only a reaction to the airhead fascism exemplified by Thomas and Scalia. But perhaps he deserves credit for realizing that contemporary "conservatism" was a farce a dozen years before much of the rest of the country realized it.
Still, a mediocre intellect with a general inability to understand the most basic elements of the Constitution, which, of course, makes him an unremarkable feature of the age.
Like I've said so many times, "call me in September" i/r/t US equities.
I can remember bgates extolling the virtues of glod for the past 2 years. And, i'll reiterate what I said then, "retail people who buy PMs don't understand who they're trading against.." It doesn't matter that "gold is money", or, more appropriately that, "money is gold", it only matters what those who run those markets HAVE to do with it.
Soon (18 months) they'll HAVE to do something. rich has a better handle on the silver market, but, I'm sticking with the path of least resistance now-Ts
BTW- if a global pandemic actually manifests itself, the public markets will be shut down. There's no trade there. Better to stick in the private markets (as per usual).
There's a lot of boutique firms looking for new blood, put your feeler's out if you have the resources.
"I would hate to be Americans under the age of 30 - 35 because most of them will probably be living a good part of their lives in a America that is analogous a much BIGGER version of Argentina or Mexico."
I hope for a day when O' loses the taste for banker dick.
* Debt/Equity ratio of 2.28x. That’s quite high, especially for a mature tech company
* $18b in unfunded pension liabilities, plus $11.4b in “other unfunded liabilities”
* $9.8b in short-term debt, plus another $21.1b in long-term debt
* $12.2b in cash, $1 million in short-term investments
* $37b in total current liabilities, and $44b in current assets
Jas brings it on with his blanket blasphemies, and he made the cardinal mistake of telling us what he'd invested his moolah in, as if he wanted to be a whipping boy.
CalPERS Sold Out Of Over 13% Of Top Positions In Q1, Weekly Mutual Fund Outflows
As everyone is claiming that that "big" funds are rushing to throw their money into the market, it is useful to see what the largest U.S. public pension fund manager did in Q1. The result: in its top 20 positions, CalPERS sold out on average 13.85% of its holdings. Guess one would have to look elsewhere to find the source of all the "institutional" buying
"Benjamin Graham" measured equities against a decade of profits to smooth out distortions, a method that shows the S&P 500 trading at 13.2 times earnings, according to data compiled by Yale University Professor Robert Shiller. At the bottom of the three worst recessions since 1929, the average ratio fell below 10. To reach that level, the S&P 500 would sink another 27 percent.
The VIX is still above 36 today, at the end of a rally... That says a lot when the long term high was thought to be 25, but then it hit 90 on March 9th.... It's a long way to warm cuddly home from here...
Last week Simon properties got a big pop after being added to Goldman Sachs’ conviction buy list. I decided to check on how stocks perform after being added to this elite list. Here are a few of their past picks:
6/23/2008 - Added X (United States Steel Corp.) @ $191
Later went on to reach a low of $17
Now trading at $28.5
6/26/2008 - Added MON (Monsanto) @ $134.90
Later went on to reach a low of $68
Now trading at $79
6/9/2008 - Added MOS (Mosaic Co.) @ $141
Later went on to reach an all time low of $29
Now trading at $44
5/23/2008 - Added AAPL (Apple, Inc.) @ $181
Later went on to reach an all time low of $80
Now trading at $121
3/25/2008 - Added ERTS (Electronic Arts, Inc.) @ $49
Later went on to reach an all time low of $15
Now trading at $18.70
3/4/2008 - Added RCL (Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.) @ $35
Later went on to reach an all time low of $5.65
Now trading at $10.80
5/19/2008 - Added AMZN (Amazon.com Inc.) @ $82
Later went on to reach an all time low of $35
Now trading at $77
7/11/2008 - Added QCOM (QUALCOMM Inc.) @ $48
Later went on to reach an all time low of $28
Now trading at $39
6/11/2008 - Added STT (State Street Corp.) @ $68
Later went on to reach an all time low of $17
Now trading at $33
7/8/2008 - Added TEVA (Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.) @ $45
Later went on to reach an all time low of $36
Now trading at $44
2/11/2008 - Added CAKE (The Cheesecake Factory, Inc.) @ $21
Later went on to reach an all time low of $5
Now trading at $14
Could it be that Goldman adds stocks to their conviction buy list when their trading desk needs to unload a bunch of shares on someone?
Hey at 9pm pacific time on Biography channel - Led Zepplin followed by Eric Clapton... I caught part of the Zepplin bio at 6 and it was pretty good if you are into it...
Well, if there is one thing we are good at, it is blowing things up.
It could become a trend, and I'm sure someone can make some cash doing it.
Maybe some Derivative action? I'm sure there is a way of betting on something with demolition.
As we were declining from the high in October 2007, the Fibonacci values did not have any stopping power - we went through 50% smoothly and down another several percent before rebounding... I cant find any reason for support at 666 and the only reason I would look for support at 600 or 500 or 400 is round numbers... Otherwise it's a mystery to me - maybe when this is all over I will see something in the charts but I have been doing technical analysis for 25 years and I cant find anything that has any more merit than 158...
Well historically currency crisis always result in a big war, but now with all the communication and transport available I think that most countries would try to avoid it...
No other country has stealth bombers and fighters, and I doubt they want a Hellfire enabled Predator buzzing around their palace... After Kosovo and Iraq - what's the point... But while we are doing this all over the world, we are not taking care of our bridges, air traffic system, water supply, other utilities - well you know the story....
ShadowInventory (profile) wrote on Fri, 5/1/2009 - 3:27 am
Well historically . . . crisis always result in a big war, but now with all the communication and transport available I think that most countries would try to avoid it...
If the CDS issuer went bk, then the cds would simply become worthless and unenforceable... which would have been the case with AIG but BB thought it would destroy the entire global financial system if that happened.... That's why he poured all the money into AIG - GS turned out to benefit from some of it, maybe they knew that ahead of time, maybe not, Paulson's connection might have helped or not, we dont know - Global failure of finance = complete stop of all global trade including oil - and within a short while the lights would go out everywhere... So while we can be critical of what has happened, we might want to just be thankful instead... I go back and forth on this one... it hinges on whether the system would have actually failed or just healed over the wound...
WWI really was about Europe being divided by alliances and also by colonial aspirations in Africa by all the countries... Then the Austrian crown prince got whacked and that gave everyone an excuse ... And even that ghastly business with trenches and poison gas and heavy artillery didnt stop them again 20 years later....
Sen Dick Durbin on the US Senate: Banks "frankly own the place".
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has been battling the banks the last few weeks in an effort to get 60 votes lined up for bankruptcy reform. He's losing.
On Monday night in an interview with a radio host back home, he came to a stark conclusion: the banks own the Senate.
"And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place," he said on WJJG 1530 AM's "Mornings with Ray Hanania." Progress Illinois picked up the quote.
more and more the present situation looks like a generational scam. in a larger context an underlying current to this whole mess has for twenty years been like the old bumper sticker that said:
"we are spending our children's inheritance."
expect young people who see nothing but waste to repudiate the unpayable debts of their elders. that is if the present people in power haven't lost control of the country's finances already on their own.
Why not just give them to returning vets from Iraq and Afganistan, that would be an honorable thing to do, and a pretty good way of saying thanks to those who put their butts on the line for us (regardless of how stupid the overall mission was to go in to Iraq in the first place)
Because our vets deserve better. Why not put Paulson, BB, and Lord Blankfein in these trash heaps?
Very interesting video, I don't know about houses in the desert, I just hope they use the money correctly next time. That was a big mistake to have built houses then knock them down. Lets see what else happens down the line. It's one big roller coaster.
Looks like a great way to stimulate the economy. Federal government should just buy and demolish a million houses.
Just think of the construction (destruction?) jobs. Perfect way to increase aggregate demand and support house prices at the same time.
Stop him! That's MY house!
Old news on Mish...
Senate Defeats Mortgage ‘Cram-Down’ as Democrats Balk (Update2)
The U.S. Senate rejected a measure that would let bankruptcy judges cut mortgage terms to help borrowers avoid foreclosure, a victory for banks and credit unions that said the legislation would increase loan costs.
Senate Defeats Mortgage ‘Cram-Down’ as Democrats Balk (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
Great stimulus doubles employment by building AND razing homes (unlike the old-fashioned method of only building).
What will the squatters do now?????
elvis has been begging for this for several years now...
Arthur Dent. Beware the leopard.
Daily fines must add up to more than the demolition cost. I read that it costs about $8000, in Detroit, to demolish a house.
Too bad.
They could have burned hese in "Lethal Weapon 5", just like they did in "Lethal Weapon 3".
Plus you could have reality TV spin-offs. Dog the House Trasher, America's Next Demolished Model, etc.
If this happens a lot, B52s might be more effective.
Couldn't you just give me at least 10 extra minutes to hijack the last thread CR?
ShadowInventory, yes, people have been emailing me videos for days about this, but I try not to post them until I can confirm the story - the first videos weren't really clear - this one is.
best wishes.
Burning them would've been faster.
He keeps calling these "homes".
If ever there were a difference between a "house" and a "home", I would say this is it.
Ok - didnt mean to imply anything bad about you CR - appreciate all your efforts...
They appear to be steadily working their way up to Jas' neighborhood.
Thanks a lot, Mr. Banker. Those fines were Victorville's primary source of revenue. Now what are they going to do?
Lot of model homes are really bad to live in - whatever makes them a good model works against the eventual owner... But here - a huge development with all the underground work already done... in an area where it is just plain butt ugly... what the heck were they thinking - oh now I remember - create more MBS...
"But that's the contention of Rolfe Winkler, a blogger and CFA who publishes the often astute OptionArmageddon site. Winkler contends that, even though the big banks that were the primary creditors of Chrysler had signed off, the smaller guys likely had Credit Default Swaps betting against Chrysler.
These swaps would likely only pay out if Chrysler went down. These are the same Credit Default Swaps that decimated insurance giant AIG after a rogue office in London wrote hundreds of billions of ill-advised CDS to the likes of Goldman Sachs and UBS, among others. If this is true, then its entirely possible that other bond holders with General Motors might be more interested in tipping the biggest carmaker into bankruptcy, as well. The administration's hands might be tied."
Chrysler Bankruptcy: Were CDSs the culprit? - BloggingStocks
Tent cities abound, and we have this. Couldn't the bank find someone to take them for free and save the demolition costs?
Wow! I wonder whether a demolition permit is required? If so, did the bank get permitted? If not, the bank may be in an even deeper hole.
...it's a crime they ruin all this good lumber. I have a cow palace, chicken coop, greenhouse & deck made of recycled lumber. No sense in actually using it - lets just tear it up & put it in a landfill. A complete waste.
I was thinking that as well BSR...Just a huge waste of resources.
Yeah this is really a comment on the American way of waste...
Wait, I've got it. Since the bank is tearing down the houses, obviously the lot is more valuable empty. So the property taxes will go up once the demolition is complete. Victorville is saved!
And this video is way better than the ones on Mish too - thanks CR
You can listen to the Victorville PD live on the Internet. Listen to live high speed chases!
Lumber? OSB, paper, and glue. Faux stone, maybe. Lumber, no.
How do you start a bulldozer? [joke]
I've been following this area for 4-5 years. This is no surprise. This is the tip of the iceberg of capitulation. About time.
Can they dump milk on the ground to complete the picture (New Deal price fixing)?
The Roy Rogers museum moved from Victorville to Branson Missouri several years ago - Roy Rogers and Dale Evans lived on a ranch near Victorville for quite a long time and I think they passed on there... Otherwise - I have no plans to visit....
I've always wondered how much it would cost to transport a house. There may be some arbitrage opportunities here.
Is Victorville on the Moon because it looks like a Moonscape?
My thought also BSR.
Why not sell them as scrap lumber, let someone with a crew come in and take them apart for reuse, such a waste...
Hey doc.........2X6 construction is great corral & deck lumber. OSB is great indoor sheathing and stress walls - hangers always come in handy. Roofing comes up easy.
"Senate Defeats Mortgage ‘Cram-Down’ as Democrats Balk"
Dems balk? I think I have wandered into Bizarro world.
The windows and doors could easily be removed and resold.
Blackhalo - Thanks for your service!
I spent 8 years in the military in the 1960's - I never heard that phrase until I went to the VA in 2006
CR,
I think that inventory is not the problem. If a person does not have enough income to qualify for a mortgage, keeping house prices high is unlikely to increase sales over an extended period of time.
Black Star Ranch (profile) wrote on Thu, 4/30/2009 - 6:11 pm reply Ignore user
Hey doc.........2X6 construction is great corral & deck lumber. OSB is great indoor sheathing and stress walls - hangers always come in handy. Roofing comes up easy.
2x6? Hah! These crapshacks are lucky if their structural "studs" were installed in the 4x2 orientation.
it must be a sign. We are 1/2 way through the drop in RE prices. I guess their other option was selling those under 100 & reducing values of properties they are trying to sell nearby.
Amusing... (what a waste)
.....this would be one of those "shovel-ready" projects you hear about. The difference is THIS wouldn't be "busy work", THIS would be a plus environmentally, THIS would get unemployed guys off their ass, and quite possibly get them materials they might need and could use. Obviously it takes longer, but it doesn't look like these boxes are going anywhere anytime soon.......
Looks like those are unfinished homes and thus a hazard. He didn't make it clear if the finished models are being demolished too, but might as well, once you've got the equipment on site.
Doesn't a flu pandemic have pretty much the same result as a nationwide strike?
Building houses then tearing them down is analytically identical to paying people to dig holes in the desert and then fill them up. Why not just give them to returning vets from Iraq and Afganistan, that would be an honorable thing to do, and a pretty good way of saying thanks to those who put their butts on the line for us (regardless of how stupid the overall mission was to go in to Iraq in the first place)
"Senate Defeats Mortgage ‘Cram-Down’ as Democrats Balk"
.....they (even the Democrats) know where their bread is buttered.
totally OT
STAY AWAY from DELL computers they are crap. Get anything else. Please!
BSR, at least 12 Democrats know where their bread is buttered (well 11 plus Specter)
BSR, I posted an a snippet earlier with a quote from Durbin that said "the banks own this place" speaking of the Senate...I was shocked at the honesty. He also said he will try again to get it passed.
Dirk, I agree.
Muster them out and settle them in groups. They get the house, no taxes for 3 years, and 1 AR-15 and 500 rounds of ammo. Make for a heck of a neighborhood watch
Relegating veterans to unemployment in Victorville might not be the greatest reward. Maybe if we could provide work in some form as well, but otherwise that's not much of a gift, more like a quarantine.
Tim - build your own desktop - Tiger Direct has kits, Ars Technica has recommendations for different price performance levels - And I also have Acer Laptops - buy them with no o/s - load Ubuntu Linux - Firefox browser - no hassle and away you go...
CR
That might have been good for a Friday-good drinking video.
Shadow how do I get Xp off the desktop and load Ubuntu?
So when do they start doing the same thing in Dubai?
Dubai's Economic Woes Just Got Worse
Dubai's Woes Just Got Worse - WSJ.com
Dirk- You're East Coast, so let's just say that it would be punishment to make the vets live there,...unless they enjoyed the weather in Iraq.
Rob Dawg doesn't know how to start a bulldozer?????
BTW- I've seen better heavy equipment operators, unless there's something on the ground he's trying to avoid?
The Gulfstream V is the favored Swine Flüg,, amongst the finacialratti...
Honestly, this cant be the best use. There should be some sort of way to finish these at SOMEBODY's expense and put somebody in them. Unless of course, they are in the middle of nowhere, and there are no attached services, etc. More info please.
Michael, Dubai's home prices are only down 40% in one month. You dont destroy skyscrapers without significant collateraldamage. Youd have to see a much bigger price drop.
GDD9000
+1 Training for Sub-urban or Exurban warfare? Hat tip RD
"Doesn't a flu pandemic have pretty much the same result as a nationwide strike?"
Not at all.
It's more deflationary for consumer industries because the consumers are dead.
It's inflationary for mortuaries and flower shops.
Yes, we're 1/2-way through the Crash?
Ho ho ho.
Market Observation - Rob Kirby 04.20.2009
"This is a huge reversal. That is almost a quarter of a trillion dollars in just two months. Foreigners are not bailing out the Treasury any longer. They are pulling out. They are net sellers"
Print, Ben, Print!
Fed balance sheet drops! What a surprise! Now they will have a few extra billion for impulse purchases...
Fed’s Balance-Sheet Assets Drop Most in Seven Years (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
how do I get Xp off the desktop and load Ubuntu?
Stick the ubuntu install disk and do an overwrite install. or keep as dual-boot
As a kid I wandered land like that hunting lizards with my Daisy BB gun. Later a .22 single shot rifle bought at Ben Franklin
hey TIm waiting for 2012....why do you think GS went to 128 today...i can betya its due to another AIG like CDS payout. BK Lounge was all but assured for these folks. Only sucks that you dont get a $1 whopper with it.
Basel Too, Shadow thanks I am on the web now.
sdtfs, origionally from East Coast, now mostly in Chicago but go to Dayton OH every other weekend (divorced Dad). You are right however, I have never been to Victorville, still out of the 200,000 plus vets there have to be at least a few who like hot dry weather
Michael (profile) wrote on Fri, 5/1/2009 - 1:21 am
Doesn't a flu pandemic have pretty much the same result as a nationwide strike?
Dodd wants to pay people to stay home--because we do not already have enough debt for nothing.
Dodd Discusses Connecticut H1N1 (Swine) Flu Situation at Hearing Today | U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd
Tim - you can load the latest Ubuntu alongside Windoze for a dual boot config - or you can back up your personal data (to a flash drive for example) and dump windoze for good then load Ubuntu from cd... If you are not too techy you might want to pay someone to help you - a competent tech can give you a Ubuntu system with everything moved over so all your bookmarks and cookies are preserved - plus whatever else you do with your computer....
Rob Dawg doesn't know how to start a bulldozer?????
Parliamentary point of clarification. Rob Dawg doesn't admit to knowing. Rob Dawg doesn't own any high velocity Olympic class target rifles or generators or you get the idea... either.
Broward,
Your saying it woks even better than a nationwide strike?
I was last in Victorville in 1991 when i first drove x-ctry to the west coast. That is where my car broke down. In 1991, there was but one main drag, and little else. They ordered a new starter, I stayed one day and wandered around the barren wasteland (hotter than hell I might add) and then drove away, never to return. I always figured nothing would ever change that place. But I was young, I was impetuous....what did I know?
From Dodd
However, for every employee who can take advantage of leave without pay, there are three more who cannot afford the loss. I believe they deserve paid leave, and the need for this will only become clearer if the swine flu becomes a pandemic. I introduced legislation last year, and will do so again this year, that would give eligible employees 8 weeks of paid leave over a 12-month period.
Our country is in the midst of a public health emergency. The FMLA allows workers time off from work to take care of themselves and their family members when they need to, often unexpectedly. The federal government’s policies must reflect employees’ need for paid family and medical leave, especially as a growing number of Americans deal with this outbreak.
"Unless of course, they are in the middle of nowhere"
Dude, it's Victorville.
Yes, it's in the middle of nowhere.
Hot and dry nowhere.
During the last crash, I stayed at a motel in Victorville for $11 / day.
Yuck.
Never again.
bolt action single shot rimfire cocked by pulling back on the back end of the bolt?
tim:
you might have to go into the BIOS settings and change the boot sequence to CD/DVD-ROM first so that the computer doesn't automatically load from the HD.
interestingly, you can get a refund of pre-installed Windows by rejecting the EULA. it's worked in other countries, don't know about Dell in the US.
Windows refund - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I actually smell a jobs program coming on here as this continues but what would be grand is if the OCC developed a program to dun each bank financially for every house that it had to tear down.
Actually, settling the vets in there is akin to the 40 acres and a mule.
Victorville is northeast of LA - over the coastal ridge and in the desert...
BTW- I've seen better heavy equipment operators, unless there's something on the ground he's trying to avoid?
Maybe there is a depositor doing a Tiananmen Square.
Broward.....ive seen victorville...there is there and there is way out there....i have no idea where these places are in relation to anything that exists semi-permanently in that place.
No, it was single shot cause it would not eject correctly. It had a regular bolt. Fire, open, manually pry out, put single cartridge in, close bolt.
Man things are happening so fast I can hardly read the articles - between here and Bloomberg you all are taxing my formidable reading speed....
I spent a fortnight one day in Victorville, or it seemed like it.
Dirk- Come to think of it, I like the area around Victorville,...just wouldn't want to have to live there. And it's almost guaranteed that a few of the vets are from around there.
Looks like the Fed is going to need every penny to make up for the foreign tbond sales...
"8 weeks of paid leave over a 12-month period."
Great, more jobs to China. At least end the H1-B.
"Actually, settling the vets in there is akin to the 40 acres and a mule."
More like The Trail of Tears.
Trail of Tears - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basel Shadow thanks
"Looks like the Fed is going to need every penny to make up for the foreign tbond sales..."
Can you elaborate? What is happening?
I think they just made a mistake with that house. I usually use at least a calf-dozer to fix construction mistakes!
Tim - I enabled personal contact if you want to try it - I dont know how it works so I hope I dont get slammed with a lot of spam...
LTCOL Kilgore: "Smells like . . . Victorville!"
Blackhalo - I was referring to this link in the thread
Market Observation - Rob Kirby 04.20.2009
And thanks again for your service - sincerely....
Blackhalo (homepage, profile) wrote on Thu, 4/30/2009 - 6:44 pm
Can you elaborate? What is happening?
"mp" was right. No more credit. As soon as this sinks in we won't be bothered paying attention to trifles like Chrysler or swine flu.
US debt is incredibly short term and needs to not only roll over quickly but gat increased. Remember what happened to Commercial paper when they didn't roll over? Orders of magnitude worse.
Does this mean the destroyed house created carbon credits?
Mmm. Sequestrationnnnnn.
Shiva lives!
Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies/ And the cool, green (green-fielded) hills of Earth.
(Apologies to Robert Heinlein)
......it used to be "Hicktorville" was outside the smog belt - that changed. A couple days ago a Vegas newscaster questioned why the upcoming high-speed train was ending in Victorville of all places? After the "slip" it was mentioned a bunch of "post-cards" would be received from Victorvillans.
I'm not sure that personal contact thing is working - I get access denied when I try to see it...
Thanks for the link
"And thanks again for your service - sincerely.... "
Appreciated but not needed. It is just what people in MY family, do.
But, if you do have an opportunity to vote for a Rep who will take care of those who are coming back, a la GI Bill. Please do so.
I can't wait for the Wall Street May Day Parade where the show off their derivatives of mass destruction to an adoring crowd.
Did you know that they used 4,364 Begonias in constructing the Float float?
Shadow its OK. Appreciate it though. Downloading Ubuntu now. I want to dump the hard drive anyways. The computer is brand new. Has XP with Ser Pack 3 I think. Really appreciate it.
According to the Victorville city website, there are almost 100,000 people there... Who knew?
Arbitrage_Macht_Frei (profile) wrote on Fri, 5/1/2009 - 1:53 am
I can't wait for the Wall Street May Day Parade where the show off their derivatives of mass destruction to an adoring crowd.
Did you know that they used 4,364 Begonias in constructing the Float float?
I hear they had to ask the Fed to inflate their balloons.
Thanks for that link ShadowInv.
Tim - you will like Ubuntu - it's pretty simple - and if you need to run any windoze programs you can install Wine on Ubuntu - do a search for "How to install Wine on Ubuntu" and follow the directions - it's a little cryptic, but once you have Wine then you can install most Windoze programs and run them as if they were on Xp ... Viruses will not execute properly either - see "Will Windows viruses run on Wine"
From CNN. Sucks to be one of the dealerships that will be left out in the cold...
According to government officials, a new company will be formed that will buy the assets of Chrysler - its plants, brands, land, equipment, as well as its contracts with the union, dealers and suppliers - from the bankruptcy court.
The company's liabilities and an unspecified number of Chrysler's 3,300 dealerships which now sell the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands will be left behind in the bankruptcy court.
Administration officials said the Treasury Department will provide Chrysler with about $8 billion in loans on top of the $4 billion in loans it has already received to get it through bankruptcy.
"This is a huge reversal. That is almost a quarter of a trillion dollars in just two months. Foreigners are not bailing out the Treasury any longer. They are pulling out. They are net sellers."
About F'n time.
Ya Blackhalo I'm not retired mil or disabled but still get VA medical care - I feel like I earned for what I did in the 60's and I appreciate it a lot now...
Gresham's Law: Bad metallic money drives out good metallic money
Sham's Law: Bad digital money mixes with good digital money, but who can tell the difference?
Pension Fund Failure Thursday?
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) today announced it has assumed responsibility for a pension plan covering more than 1,200 workers and retirees of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, a healthcare provider in New York State.
The PBGC stepped in because the medical center missed about $7 million in legally required pension contributions. Niagara has not paid into the plan since September 2006, and lacks the assets to make past due or future payments. . . .
According to PBGC estimates, the Retirement Plan of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center is about 54 percent funded, with assets of $9 million and benefit liabilities of $21 million. The agency expects to be responsible for about $7.6 million of the $11.8 million shortfall.
PBGC Protects Pension Plans at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center
Blackhalo (homepage, profile) wrote on Thu, 4/30/2009 - 9:44 pm
Can you elaborate? What is happening?
Context:
energyecon: Treasury Marketable Debt Maturity Redux
Trend:
Market Observation - Rob Kirby 04.20.2009
Finish this sentence:
In the US, a day without credit is like a day without _____________________.
"day"
For some of us a day with out credit is very satisfying!
Tim, the new Ubuntu 9.04 installer is pretty easy to use. It will detect the existing operating systems installed and give you the option of keeping them or wiping everything out.
One thing I can't stress enough is to back up all the files you want to keep. Even the best of us computer geeks accidentally wipe out a hard drive once in a while.
"Thus the actual viral trail does not fit the preplanned scenario since there was no opportunity to contain or delay the spread. As a result, border closings become a matter of closing the barn door after the cows have left."
This sounds like Bankster logic.
"......but still get VA medical care"
......it's the only health care I have - and the VA docs & workers are awesome - the electronic med records system is quite the item as well. They oughta use it as the upcoming universal med model.....
Another big vote for Ubuntu. Great desktop OS.
heh, Chicago - don't drink and drive your hard drive!
lol learned the hard way
This selling of tbonds by foreign capital amounts to a huge vote of no confidence in the American economy...
Not that I blame them for selling -
6 out of 10 I use Ubuntu for my price sensitive clients with generic needs. [2 go Mac and 2 are stuck with XP/Vista]
I was told a stupid Chinese sucker was born every second. Note to self, dump US tressuries.
Unfortunately, the stress tests, and our economy, are based on the premise that foreigners "have to" buy Treasuries.
NPR breaking Justice Souter to retire...all the details I have.
I think we need to sharpen the guillotines!
I would recomend reading the whole 'harvard business' series on bloomberg. It will infuriate you, sadden you, exasperate you and amuse you .. all at once!
Five Things Leaders Can Do to Sharpen Their Communications
- Bloomberg.com
:08 PM Thursday April 30, 2009
By John Baldoni
We need people who can communicate!
Raise your hand if you have heard this line at least one thousand times. In fact you likely have heard it so much that it has become meaningless. Communication, as I teach and coach, is the glue that holds an organization together. It is the means by which we exchange ideas, learn from each others, and perhaps most importantly connect to each other.
"Communication and interpersonal skills remain at the top of the list of what matters most to recruiters." That's according to the most recent Harris Interactive/Wall Street Journal business school survey published in September 2007.
"Downloading Ubuntu"
I really like it. The learning curve is less steep than other distros. Not as intuitive, for me, as windows, but it is hard to beat free (beer) and free (speech).
How does the Treasury pull off the chimera ruse of foreigners buying our debt, whilst the very same foreigners are selling us back what we in theory are supposed to be selling them?
We've gone from a house of cards to a house of mirrors...
Whew- completely OT but I had a family member go through a massive heart attack (>100 on the enzyme count) last week. We dosed him with aspirin, loaded him up in the plane and flew him into the city. In less than an hour. The docs snaked a balloon up his groin and got blood back to the left ventricle in less than 5 minutes. It was amazing.
I'm fairly critical of the health care complex, but, that was money well spent...
Like I said, amazing. Apparently little damage.
Arbitrage_Macht_Frei,
The question is not how they do it, but what will happen when that scam collapses!
//How does the Treasury pull off the chimera ruse of foreigners buying our debt, whilst the very same foreigners are selling us back what we in theory are supposed to be selling them?//
That's easy homedad43,
Oxygen.
Thread music
The Sweet-Love is like oxygen-1978
YouTube - The Sweet-Love is like oxygen-1978
Souter retiring? He's not that old.... Are they still trying to eminent domain his house for a restaurant?
Apparently the 'foreigners' have decided they can live without our debt...
Victorville is famous for a cement industry? I did not know that either...
The Washington Post
Mexican Drug Fight Nets 60,000 Suspects
2-Year Battle Also Raises Rights Questions
By William Booth and Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, May 1, 2009
MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities have arrested more than 60,000 people in connection with drug trafficking over the past two years, according to government statistics from a nationwide crackdown that has also led to dramatic increases in violence and allegations of human rights abuse.
The detention figures, obtained by The Washington Post, represent the first public accounting of the government's offensive against Mexico's powerful drug cartels. President Felipe Calderón declared war against the traffickers shortly after taking office in December 2006, giving the military unprecedented law enforcement duties.
(cont.)
Time On Line
Swine flu outbreak in Mexico City sends criminals into hiding
Swine flu outbreak in Mexico City sends criminals into hiding - Times Online
I actually would leave XP alone. Just less hassle to download some programs into windoz.
I put Ubantu on a bootable pen drive (see YouTube - or a host of instructions on the web. Then just leave the memory stick in.
You adjust your BIOS settings to first boot from memory stick, (for Ubantu).
If you want xp just pull out the stick and reboot
Basel too
Good link
foolonthehill nice link
Shadow thanks again
I feel that this delusion is not going to end until people start losing their heads. This article is a good example of cognitive dissonance
A Government Safety Net Is Not Enough
By MARC MORIAL and JANET MURGUIA
APRIL 30, 2009
FDR's New Deal helped lift the country out of the Great Depression. But government didn't act alone. Small and large businesses created and funded visionary projects that helped heal the sick, educate the young, and lift the nation's spirits.
Remarkably, Americans doubled their donations to charitable organizations between 1933 and 1941 -- one of the largest such booms in our nation's history. The commitment to help one another was essential to our recovery.
I got demolished in Victorville once, tequila was the culprit.
Hulu v Youtube
YouTube attracted more than 100 million viewers in March, but advertisers have remained wary about putting up their ads next to YouTube's unpredictable user-generated videos.
Hulu had only 41 million unique viewers in March, but its library of premium content is particularly attractive to advertisers, and the site can thus charge much higher ad rates than YouTube.
"Souter retiring?"
Which way did he go on Eldred?
"How does the Treasury pull off the chimera ruse of foreigners buying our debt, whilst the very same foreigners are selling us back what we in theory are supposed to be selling them?"
That's OK Jas will buy them.
Comrade Kristina (profile) wrote on Thu, 4/30/2009 - 7:13 pm reply Ignore user
NPR breaking Justice Souter to retire...all the details I have.
Good. Then he can be there when we take his home for higher economic uses.
get a Mac ...OSX is the best and runs from iPhone to laptops to desktops ....no learning curve.
whoops OSX is the best and runs from iPhone to laptops to desktops to servers.
souter sided with the government in Eldred.
Jas is just another "Dupes of Hazard" type.
more and more the present situation looks like a generational scam. in a larger context an underlying current to this whole mess has for twenty years been like the old bumper sticker that said:
"we are spending our children's inheritance."
expect young people who see nothing but waste to repudiate the unpayable debts of their elders. that is if the present people in power haven't lost control of the country's finances already on their own.
Eldred v. Ashcroft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I guess it was not the best argument. Lessig should have focused on the "to promote useful works," and the weakening of the public domain.
Still I rankle at the ruling.
"....no learning curve."
But not free, and a little bit of a learning curve from Windows.
Ahhhh we crossed the Rubicon with Bush and so far team Obama has done nothing to readily address or materially change so The Triumph of the Banking Oligarchs that continues at huge taxpayer expense.
I would hate to be Americans under the age of 30 - 35 because most of them will probably be living a good part of their lives in a America that is analogous a much BIGGER version of Argentina or Mexico.
don't worry everything is better than expected...expecting everything is brown shoots...
Souter did write the unanimous majority opinion in Grokster. Ironically, while the Court found that Grokster was guilty of inducing copyright infringement, it enumerated many factors that would lead to violation: % of infringing works, commercial status, etc. By dancing around those factors, other P2P clients have been somewhat shielded from liability.
Souter's "drift to the center" was really only a reaction to the airhead fascism exemplified by Thomas and Scalia. But perhaps he deserves credit for realizing that contemporary "conservatism" was a farce a dozen years before much of the rest of the country realized it.
Still, a mediocre intellect with a general inability to understand the most basic elements of the Constitution, which, of course, makes him an unremarkable feature of the age.
starting to hear a lot about CDS
by tim waiting for 2012
Chrysler Bankruptcy: Were CDSs the culprit? - BloggingStocks
by sam.2
Yahoo! 404 - Page Not Found
That's OK Jas will buy them.
Picking on Jas is low fruit. Lazy.
Like I've said so many times, "call me in September" i/r/t US equities.
I can remember bgates extolling the virtues of glod for the past 2 years. And, i'll reiterate what I said then, "retail people who buy PMs don't understand who they're trading against.." It doesn't matter that "gold is money", or, more appropriately that, "money is gold", it only matters what those who run those markets HAVE to do with it.
Soon (18 months) they'll HAVE to do something. rich has a better handle on the silver market, but, I'm sticking with the path of least resistance now-Ts
BTW- if a global pandemic actually manifests itself, the public markets will be shut down. There's no trade there. Better to stick in the private markets (as per usual).
There's a lot of boutique firms looking for new blood, put your feeler's out if you have the resources.
"I would hate to be Americans under the age of 30 - 35 because most of them will probably be living a good part of their lives in a America that is analogous a much BIGGER version of Argentina or Mexico."
I hope for a day when O' loses the taste for banker dick.
"Picking on Jas is low fruit. Lazy."
Yeah, I kind of fell guilty about it a bit. If it were not so much fun though.
IBM Stock Buybacks, Dividends, and Debt
IBM highlights from their Q1 2009 balance sheet:
* Debt/Equity ratio of 2.28x. That’s quite high, especially for a mature tech company
* $18b in unfunded pension liabilities, plus $11.4b in “other unfunded liabilities”
* $9.8b in short-term debt, plus another $21.1b in long-term debt
* $12.2b in cash, $1 million in short-term investments
* $37b in total current liabilities, and $44b in current assets
Jas brings it on with his blanket blasphemies, and he made the cardinal mistake of telling us what he'd invested his moolah in, as if he wanted to be a whipping boy.
Chrysler’s Chief Says He Believes He Has Saved the Automaker
Leaving, but Feeling Like a Winner - NY Times
HUBRIS squared than cubed again.
And some are calling a bottom in housing.
CalPERS Sold Out Of Over 13% Of Top Positions In Q1, Weekly Mutual Fund Outflows
As everyone is claiming that that "big" funds are rushing to throw their money into the market, it is useful to see what the largest U.S. public pension fund manager did in Q1. The result: in its top 20 positions, CalPERS sold out on average 13.85% of its holdings. Guess one would have to look elsewhere to find the source of all the "institutional" buying
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FM71j6-VkNE/SfHPoSxsMKI/AAAAAAAACHM/EwTyztYFC4s/s1600-h/calpers.jpg
Chrysler’s Chief Says He Believes He Has Saved the Automaker - And I believe that Christy Brinkley will be here to spend the night... bwah...
Dodge Daytona, Plymouth SuperBee - now those were AMERICAN cars - not some dinkyass iCar....
March 9
Graham Shows S&P 500 Still Too High as Buffett Loses (Update4) - Bloomberg.com
"Benjamin Graham" measured equities against a decade of profits to smooth out distortions, a method that shows the S&P 500 trading at 13.2 times earnings, according to data compiled by Yale University Professor Robert Shiller. At the bottom of the three worst recessions since 1929, the average ratio fell below 10. To reach that level, the S&P 500 would sink another 27 percent.
"Squared then Cubed"...
would make a great handle.
C'mon, silent majority...
Stake. A. Claim.
Shadow quick go to my homepage
rimshot!
27% off the current sp500 would take us back down to 650 or so?
you know it.
Maybe more like 700
A few threads back there was a link to some credible numbers that would support the 500 going to - 500!
I still think someone should use the screen name "Innovative Goat"
Or "GOOOOatBoy"
2007 article on 'private equity'
"[We are] the face of 21st-century American capitalism," says Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein.
Private equity forecast - January 22, 2007
The VIX is still above 36 today, at the end of a rally... That says a lot when the long term high was thought to be 25, but then it hit 90 on March 9th.... It's a long way to warm cuddly home from here...
Ume
Reminds me of the Breeders or Lush. Might have to check that out this weekend.
Sorry long post - ignore if you like Performance of Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List
Last week Simon properties got a big pop after being added to Goldman Sachs’ conviction buy list. I decided to check on how stocks perform after being added to this elite list. Here are a few of their past picks:
6/23/2008 - Added X (United States Steel Corp.) @ $191
Later went on to reach a low of $17
Now trading at $28.5
6/26/2008 - Added MON (Monsanto) @ $134.90
Later went on to reach a low of $68
Now trading at $79
6/9/2008 - Added MOS (Mosaic Co.) @ $141
Later went on to reach an all time low of $29
Now trading at $44
5/23/2008 - Added AAPL (Apple, Inc.) @ $181
Later went on to reach an all time low of $80
Now trading at $121
3/25/2008 - Added ERTS (Electronic Arts, Inc.) @ $49
Later went on to reach an all time low of $15
Now trading at $18.70
3/4/2008 - Added RCL (Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.) @ $35
Later went on to reach an all time low of $5.65
Now trading at $10.80
5/19/2008 - Added AMZN (Amazon.com Inc.) @ $82
Later went on to reach an all time low of $35
Now trading at $77
7/11/2008 - Added QCOM (QUALCOMM Inc.) @ $48
Later went on to reach an all time low of $28
Now trading at $39
6/11/2008 - Added STT (State Street Corp.) @ $68
Later went on to reach an all time low of $17
Now trading at $33
7/8/2008 - Added TEVA (Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.) @ $45
Later went on to reach an all time low of $36
Now trading at $44
2/11/2008 - Added CAKE (The Cheesecake Factory, Inc.) @ $21
Later went on to reach an all time low of $5
Now trading at $14
Could it be that Goldman adds stocks to their conviction buy list when their trading desk needs to unload a bunch of shares on someone?
Shadow look at that Bloomberg link again it was written on March 9th
When Blackrock did their IPO, I was thinking - this is probably the peak of PE - those guys were really smart and hit the nail right on the head...
Oh so 27% off the March 9th 666 - = 486...
Well they said 500 but 14 points won't matter if we ever got that low I am skeptical but not denying it could happen intraday or something
Four Bears chart - if we are in a 30's style decline the low would be 158
That would imply huge drop in earnings and employment, but that is underway...
Hey at 9pm pacific time on Biography channel - Led Zepplin followed by Eric Clapton... I caught part of the Zepplin bio at 6 and it was pretty good if you are into it...
Well, if there is one thing we are good at, it is blowing things up.
It could become a trend, and I'm sure someone can make some cash doing it.
Maybe some Derivative action? I'm sure there is a way of betting on something with demolition.
As we were declining from the high in October 2007, the Fibonacci values did not have any stopping power - we went through 50% smoothly and down another several percent before rebounding... I cant find any reason for support at 666 and the only reason I would look for support at 600 or 500 or 400 is round numbers... Otherwise it's a mystery to me - maybe when this is all over I will see something in the charts but I have been doing technical analysis for 25 years and I cant find anything that has any more merit than 158...
Well historically currency crisis always result in a big war, but now with all the communication and transport available I think that most countries would try to avoid it...
Shadow, ghost
eventually that CDS market will have to be unwound.
Q: What do you call a swine flu outbreak in Washington, D.C.?
A: A good start!
No other country has stealth bombers and fighters, and I doubt they want a Hellfire enabled Predator buzzing around their palace... After Kosovo and Iraq - what's the point... But while we are doing this all over the world, we are not taking care of our bridges, air traffic system, water supply, other utilities - well you know the story....
They built houses in Victorville? Total scam. That place was always a pit.
ShadowInventory (profile) wrote on Fri, 5/1/2009 - 3:27 am
Well historically . . . crisis always result in a big war, but now with all the communication and transport available I think that most countries would try to avoid it...
That is what people said before WWI.
If the CDS issuer went bk, then the cds would simply become worthless and unenforceable... which would have been the case with AIG but BB thought it would destroy the entire global financial system if that happened.... That's why he poured all the money into AIG - GS turned out to benefit from some of it, maybe they knew that ahead of time, maybe not, Paulson's connection might have helped or not, we dont know - Global failure of finance = complete stop of all global trade including oil - and within a short while the lights would go out everywhere... So while we can be critical of what has happened, we might want to just be thankful instead... I go back and forth on this one... it hinges on whether the system would have actually failed or just healed over the wound...
......OT......Dept. of State eliminates North Korea from terrorism supporting countries in 21 years....
Country Reports on Terrorism 2008
......NK's missile and nuke test worked fine and they got what they want.......
......far eastern asia's political and economic environments are rapidly changing.........
WWI really was about Europe being divided by alliances and also by colonial aspirations in Africa by all the countries... Then the Austrian crown prince got whacked and that gave everyone an excuse ... And even that ghastly business with trenches and poison gas and heavy artillery didnt stop them again 20 years later....
A path to sustainable downsizing of governments is the only path to true prosperity for our nation.
Several cities in the mid-west tearing down whole blocks ...
Cheaper than maintaining streets, sewage and police ...
Sen Dick Durbin on the US Senate: Banks "frankly own the place".
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has been battling the banks the last few weeks in an effort to get 60 votes lined up for bankruptcy reform. He's losing.
On Monday night in an interview with a radio host back home, he came to a stark conclusion: the banks own the Senate.
"And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place," he said on WJJG 1530 AM's "Mornings with Ray Hanania." Progress Illinois picked up the quote.
Dick Durbin: Banks "Frankly Own The Place"
Oh where is Jas in his moment of vindication?
"Oh where is Jas in his moment of vindication?"
Weeping over his bonds?
lol...
I weep for the future (Ferris)
I weep for the past (Jas)
Cheers to Senator Dick Durbin for stating the Truth/Obvious!
more and more the present situation looks like a generational scam. in a larger context an underlying current to this whole mess has for twenty years been like the old bumper sticker that said:
"we are spending our children's inheritance."
expect young people who see nothing but waste to repudiate the unpayable debts of their elders. that is if the present people in power haven't lost control of the country's finances already on their own.
Great waste of resources. Have they not heard of deconstruction?
Why would you care about saving some wooden planks when you got baile out a gagillion dollars? LOL
Why not just give them to returning vets from Iraq and Afganistan, that would be an honorable thing to do, and a pretty good way of saying thanks to those who put their butts on the line for us (regardless of how stupid the overall mission was to go in to Iraq in the first place)
Because our vets deserve better. Why not put Paulson, BB, and Lord Blankfein in these trash heaps?
Well stated kidbuck.
I'm there.
Very interesting video, I don't know about houses in the desert, I just hope they use the money correctly next time. That was a big mistake to have built houses then knock them down. Lets see what else happens down the line. It's one big roller coaster.
Best,
Michael
The “MAN” Experience