Open Assistance has historically been used extremely rarely by the FDIC
Right, the modern approach is to obfuscate the subsidies as guarantees on bank debt or non-recourse loans to private equity. Doing anything in the open is as anathema to this Administration as it was to the last.
Clearly the FDIC is not doing its job by closing down Guaranty long ago. Here I'm sitting embarrassed by my call of 255 bank failures in 2009 and it turns out the only reason I'm wrong is because the banks really are failing at that rate just not being closed.
dont feel bad dawg. Timing is always the toughest part. Things, especially madness, always seem to go on longer than one would expect. You will be vindicated.
An additional condition to Open Assistance is that the OTS and FDIC must also determine that the Bank’s management is competent, has complied with all applicable laws, rules, and supervisory directives and orders, and has not engaged in any insider dealings, speculative practices, or other abusive activity.
"We, uhhh, we became insolvent through no fault of our own. It was monkeys, actually flying monkeys of doom, that visited this situation on us. So wipe out our shareholders if you must, but rest assured that we in management will continue to do the competent job we always have."
houston was an oil bubble...another bubble fundamental. This bubble has a better chance than most of reinflating though.. And then really busting good the next time if it inflates too soon. That is up to GS of course. It will happen when they are good and ready for it to happen.
GDD9000 (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 3:57 pm
dont feel bad dawg. Timing is always the toughest part. Things, especially madness, always seem to go on longer than one would expect. You will be vindicated.
I learned my lesson is the futures markets 2006. Expensive tuition tends to stick. I won't ever forget the difference between "should" and "does" when the market is not only insane but rigged as well. You should have seen my Fidelity 401k admin this morning when I said I'll wait for 5860 and then ease back in with the proceeds from a sizeable transfer from a closing plan. I got the impression that there's a lot of people declining to participate under the current rules especially at these prices.
It is all consumers. Everywhere. No consumption or weak consumption is death to everything else. Banks are just consumer byproducts...leeches on a dying body...
Europe's Retail PMI
Euro area retail business conditions continued to deteriorate in June, with sales, employment, purchasing of stock and margins all falling when compared with May. The Bloomberg Euro-Zone Retail Purchasing Managers' Index did however rise from 47.1 to 47.5 in June. On the other hand, the reading remained below 50.0, meaning that activity was still lower in June than in May.
So, despite reasonable consumer confidence readings, consumption in Europe remains weak. German retail sales fell for a 13th month in June as households continued to curb spending, according to the latest Bloomberg/Markit purchasing managers’ index survey. The PMI was down to 46 from 46.3 in May. Any reading below 50 signals contraction.
MLM, i enjoyed the "competent management" part too. That means these guys are gone ...
Rob Dawg, you never know ... the FDIC closed 5 last week. Maybe that will be a low week in the future ... they are hiring like crazy and I think they are somewhat staff limited. Triple digits is probably a done deal (45 in the first half and the pace will pick up).
The FDIC may deviate from the least cost requirement only in limited circumstances to avoid “serious adverse effects on economic conditions or financial stability” or “systemic risk” to the banking system.
the Company will no longer have the intent and ability to hold its mortgage-backed securities portfolio to recovery of unrealized losses,
the Company would be required to take material charges relating to the impairment of assets
Let the vultures bust us out or I'll shoot myself in the head
I dunno, SEC shows him long 7.64% of the shares as of 3/31.
Why on earth would supposedly bright people get stuck holding weeks and weeks worth of volume in a little roach motel like this? Couldn't they have just lost their money in BAC instead?
ZackAttack (homepage, profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:08 pm
@Dawg... been thinking a lot about that trade lately, haven't done anything about it.
I'm thinking natgas goes up bit through Q3 no matter what happens as Congress fiddles while oil could complete a full Pig Formation™. Don't mess with the Pig™. Too dangerous. Home heating oil will be whipsawed by weather predictions in August. Again, don't mess with the Pig™.
"1. The foreclosure judge in Palm Beach County has, right now 40,000 cases.
More to come.!"
New York City still has significant rent control. Nonetheless, there are usually about 400,000 housing court petitions (not actions) filed yearly since the 60's-- mostly eviction attempts, with expedited procedure as time is money. They are mainly handled by appointed housing "judges", who only do housing, but any order with teeth must be signed by an elected judge. The number of judges is set per capita by the State Constitution. His salary does not keep up with Ponzi inflation, and he does not get paid per eviction.
Otis, I worked for a guy who everyone considered a "landlord's judge" because he would hold unrepresented tenants to the same letter of the law whether they could read it or not. But in fact his immigrant father had been in a painter's union, and they helped the judge through Harvard Law School. Liz is right, there is no bundling.
He read every word of every order he signed.
No one could tell him to go faster, or skim, or take someone's word on a rule he didn't know without verifying it himself (my job).
Not the Supervising Judge, who could give him a crappy rotation. (and me)
Not the $400/ hour lawyer handling this "little"case pro bono, with an important paying client waiting.
Not the uniformed court officer, raising his voice and hitching his gun belt, saying court is closed unless the judge wants to pay his overtime.
No one.
Every judge was rotated through the eviction-signing part for a week at a time. One per county. The landlords demanded more. But if you don't arraign, indict, and try an alleged spouse abuser speedily, the judge must set reasonable bail, and he may go straight from jail to kill his girlfriend and himself, leaving no one for the DA, Mayor, and Governor to blame but the no good liberal judge (see Lorin Duckman). Then there are the credit card, consumer loan, and ordinary commercial cases that have to be heard someday, in addition to all the tort cases, eased by the No-Fault Law. Don't forget commercial landlord-tenant, which a housing judge can't touch, and foreclosures, for the deadbeats of the leisure class. Why should a renter be thrown in the street faster than a flipper?
People contest mental competence, child custody, and even elections, which somehow seem more urgent than the landlord's right to a month's rent. Self help is a bloody mess in these cases too.
My guy (Brooklyn) could sign maybe 50 evictions a day, and stay (on the tenant's unopposed affidavit for emergency "order to show cause") about 300 more. In his rigid framework, a sworn statement that "I didn't get the papers; I don't owe the money" legally justifies a stay until he hears proper opposing evidence, even the same words a third time when the tenant didn't show up on the first two dates to respond to the landlord's show of cause.
I had a long, nasty debate with Byzantine Ruins in which I tried to explain the need for professionals to run the court system and their First Amendment right to collective bargaining. And for those Randian types who don't see a rationale for rent control, if the clerks, officers, reporters, janitors are all foreclosed and evicted, sure a guy like my old boss will still show up at the Court and order evictions, with strict due process.
EU, Phone Makers to Introduce Universal Charger
ummm. Bout time
Read a year ago that China requires USB chargers for all phones sold in PRC.
Interesting that China is the leader on this.
. EETimes.com - China to enforce universal cell phone charger
From a thread or two back (I had to turn in my (yech) performance self-appraisal):
mmckinl (profile) wrote :
Bob Dobbs, Problem is the whole United States needs restructuring ...Finance, tax law, health care, military, industrial policy, ag policy ....All are broken with entrenched special interests blocking any reform ...
This is how a lot of people sounded in the '70. Stagflation? Nobody can beat it. Unions? We can't touch them. Overweight liberal federal programs that had grown ponderous and inefficient? That's just the political reality.
And in a couple of years, everything changed. I don't like the way it changed. The baby went out with the bathwater the way it changed. But it changed.
For good or ill, this is always possible. The more pain, the more possible it is. I expect either a radical shift in the way things are done within three years -- or a slide into fascism, an impoverished multitude, possibly secession. Which is also radical, even though the MSM would probably spin it as "living within your means."
EL MONTE – The city council will consider Tuesday whether to initiate Chapter 9 bankruptcy proceedings for El Monte if council members cannot immediately find a way to completely fix the city's $12 million budget deficit.
Let's try a little a balancing act in terms of "biggest potential bank failure yet."
Guaranty, check.
Corus, check.
Losses on mortgage-backed securities, check.
Losses on highly concentrated construction loans to developers of see-through high-rise condos in bubble markets, most of which will be scrapped, not only at zero recovery but at negative recovery due to the cost of taxes, lawsuits and putting good land back the way it was. Plus, frantic diversification into construction loans to CRE developers of office parks, industrial facilities and hotels right at the peak in that bubble in 2007 and early 2008. Check.
I'm having a hard time getting the scales to tip toward Guaranty.
rich (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:23 pm
Here I'm sitting embarrassed by my call of 255 bank failures in 2009 and it turns out the only reason I'm wrong
The only person who is holding you to your embarrassment, Dawg, is you...
A little dope slap now and again reinforces the lesson. I think of the people I hold in disdain; John Lockwood, Greg Swann, Paul Krugman. Couldn't rub two winning calls between them and yet a simple "mea culpa" would stick in their craw. Notice Sebastian is not on that list. He knows enough to learn from events.
"Humans began disrupting the environment as soon as they appeared on Earth." - hence Cap & Trade - what a solution.
"Clearly the FDIC is not doing its job...." - .............no kidding. Don't listen to the old white guy that grows veggies & fruit and talks to cows.
"In that case he could handle one each month." - ....do most people think law enforcement & the courts will be running better or worse when the Big Tree of Life is "shaken out" in the near-term? Just as after Katrina, most LE will stay home to guard the homefront. Judges will be "transparent" as well.
"Read a year ago that China requires USB chargers for all phones sold in PRC." - ....why does this send chills up my spine?
My wife just visited her sister in Xiamen (the largest city in Fujian Province). After a short hiatus, apparently the construction cranes are out in force again. The local press attributes it to a turnaround in the economy: green shoots. The smart(er) money attributes it to the PBOC forcing banks to loan to developers at below market rates to jumpstart consumption and soak up some of those disenfranchised migrants. We shall see. I expect, though, that this will end in tears.
If HH had remained President instead of FDR, we may have had a much better country than we do today, as the necessary reforms to the country may have been made. But we will never no.- ghostfaceinvesta
may is questionable. no is just flat out misspelled.
"Personal income declined in California in 2008 for the first time since the Great Depression,
and income tax revenue fell by 34 percent during the first five months of this year."
True. And this is exactly why we should increase and extend the $10k new home buyer tax credit! Which has had "... little immediate impact on new-home sales." Brilliant!
"Read a year ago that China requires USB chargers for all phones sold in PRC." - ....why does this send chills up my spine?
You can have efficiency or you can have choice.
One has to subservient to the other.
U.S. culture used to support choice and freedom at the expense of efficiency but as debts pile up and conslidate, I expect you'll see the U.S. look more and more like China - less choice, more efficiency. That's what happens when you raise a communication methodology, The Free Market, to Deity status.
Obama was on TV tonight making a statement about how the world should respect democratically elected leaders everywhere, even Honduras, and he sounded a little like Ralph Cramden trying to convince Alice he and Norton had just been bowling, not getting into trouble. Obama is a TERRIBLE LIAR.
I'm not saying Chavez is gonna use those nice new Chinese airplanes against Honduras. He might.
But I think Chavez has Obama right where he wants him. Telling an outright lie that can be proven to the world, and soon.
CIA's fingerprints are all over this job. Hillary Clinton is a better liar. By a little.
You give the CIA too much credit. Most intelligence agencies are staffed with the same incompetent clock watchers holding out till their 20 as the DMV. All except the submarine force, of course.
YSLP:
"I don't know why you complain about this 1 world currency. With online brokerages everyone can choose to store their wealth in their own "basket of currency" through the use of ETFs, futures, or other types of "financial instruments". Can you explain further?..."
I'm recommending, not complaining.
When I have my etf basket full of paper gold, rubles, corn and oil futures, it's still traded in dollar denominations. They print those faster than I can type this. Yes, it's the manipulation. If the dollar does not suffer significant devaluation in the next few years then by all means ignore me.
squidward (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:32 pm
Angry Saver - that is one scary link.
I've had to stop reporting on the California budget situation because Calvinball and CYA and trial balloons are so thick my usual sources are not reliable.
I can say the current budget is a nonstarter. It wouldn't survive judicial review. The Dems in the lower house turned taxes into fees and then raised fees. They cannot raise taxes but they can raise fees with a simple majority. They run the serious serious risk of a finding that fees are not a loophole. The big bill then is when CS and UC and CC "fees" get called what they are; tuition. Calling some taxes fees risks having all fees called taxes in response.
I'm looking at CA State and muni double tax free (insured) yields north of 6%. The market isn't waiting for a resolution.
You can have efficiency or you can have choice.
I doubt any consumer chooses their phone charger.
"I'm hoping for a phone with a 400mA, 3.8V charger in a rectangular wall-wart. If I can't find it, I'm going for a phone with
300mA, 4.7V input."
That link was posted on Charles Hugh Smith's blog "of two minds". CHS runs a very thought provoking blog. If you want to check it out, here's the post/link:
You argue based on a sole example to preserve illusion as most Americans do, witness RE bubble, treasury bubble, transparent lie after transparent lie.
HollywoodHack (homepage, profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:45 pm
"I'm looking at CA State and muni double tax free (insured) yields north of 6%."
Rob, can you give a link for these, or just cut-n-paste with the relevant cpusid (or whatever they're called)? thanks
This is not a solicitation, is not investment advice, the dawg makes no warranty... yadda yadda:
State Maturity Quantity Issuer Moody's S&P Insurance Coupon Yield Price Call Date Call Price Cusip
CA 3/1/2038 365 CALIFORNIA ST A2 A 5.250 6.000 89.79 3/1/2018 100.00 13063AG65
CA 8/1/2022 5015 POWAY CALIF UNI SCH DIST Aa3 AA- 0.000 6.000 46.15 0.00 738850QE9
CA 8/1/2022 395 GATEWAY CALIF UNI SCH DIST N.A. AAAe ASSURED GTY 0.000 6.000 46.19 0.00 36759RCZ8
CA 8/1/2024 1490 SAN JOSE CALIF REDEV AGY TAX A A3 A NATL-RE 5.000 6.050 89.70 8/1/2017 100.00 798147K78
CA 6/1/2037 30 CALIFORNIA ST A2 A XLCA-ICR 5.000 6.100 85.33 6/1/2017 100.00 13063ALS1
CA 9/1/2020 1125 SANTA FE SPRINGS CALIF CMNTY D Baa1 A NATL-RE 4.500 6.120 87.03 9/1/2017 100.00 80218MFZ9
CA 3/1/2037 45 REDDING CALIF JT PWRS FING AUT WR A AMBAC 4.250 6.500 71.28 3/1/2015 100.00 757288EZ4
1846
The U.S., fulfilling the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, goes to war with Mexico and ends up with a third of Mexico's territory.
1850, 1853, 1854, 1857
U.S. interventions in Nicaragua.
1855
Tennessee adventurer William Walker and his mercenaries take over Nicaragua, institute forced labor, and legalize slavery.
"Los yankis... have burst their way like a fertilizing torrent through the barriers of barbarism." --N.Y. Daily News
He's ousted two years later by a Central American coalition largely inspired by Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose trade Walker was infringing.
"The enemies of American civilization-- for such are the enemies of slavery-- seem to be more on the alert than its friends." --William Walker
1856
First of five U.S. interventions in Panama to protect the Atlantic-Pacific railroad from Panamanian nationalists.
1898
U.S. declares war on Spain, blaming it for destruction of the Maine. (In 1976, a U.S. Navy commission will conclude that the explosion was probably an accident.) The war enables the U.S. to occupy Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
Typically, unused gift cards revert to the retailer, but states are trying to claim them as abandoned property. This is going to be interesting, especially given what Amazon did to NC earlier.
BTW, has anyone ever ordered from Amazon.com, and wondered why it doesn't have a pull-down menu for the "state"? Instead, Amazon makes the customer type it in manually...
You are in denial About consumer phone charger preferences? Very much so.
I think they would choose standardization
But hey, maybe you like 630mA inputs. That's cool.
RDawg-Santa Fe springs with the refineries and oil revenue looks best there...commodity town if you could call it one...RD-not familiar with bonds.. what is the payout tally at end in 2017?
That giftcards for McDonalds exist or that states want to recoup those same giftcards as abandoned property. They already charged tax on the sale of them. and what are they going to do with them?
"The state of New York, which faces a $7.4 billion budget deficit, collected $9.6 million in unredeemed gift cards last year."
my, my, my............first, the States are rifling safety deposit boxes, and then on to even better pickings - taking little Johnnie's Toys R Us Christmas gift certificate.
creditcriminalslovetarp (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:59 pm
RDawg-Santa Fe springs with the refineries and oil revenue looks best there...commodity town if you could call it one...RD-not familiar with bonds.. what is the payout tally at end in 2017?
"Señor, I am just the bartender." 2017 is just the call date not the term. 2017 calls @ 100 from the current price of 87.03 would be gravy.
Maybe Guaranty Financial can sell some MBS to Fannie, in case you missed it, their retained portfolio grew at a compound rate of 35% in May. At least they are putting all the Treasury support to work supporting the MBS market.
.....well, that cinches it.........due to the "you must plug your cell-phone into your personal computer charger every night" law, , I guess I won't be going out and buying one of them new-fangled "mobile phones" you hear so much about.
A few anecdotes.I was talking to a retired physician today who is a rabid lifelong Democrat ." eff it,I will never vote again,Obama sold us down the river".I had a talk with a congressional Aide the other day "The system is broken and it isn't fixable,we are running out of duct tape".An old friend who has been a CPA for 20 years and lives in Houston has been out of work 6 moths told me " I finally got a job offer.The hours are horrible,the commute is bad and the pay is 1/4 what I was making,I am thinking about taking it".
Black Star Ranch (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 5:06 pm
.....well, that cinches it.........due to the "you must plug your cell-phone into your personal computer charger every night" law, , I guess I won't be going out and buying one of them new-fangled "mobile phones" you hear so much about.
The 'puter doesn't need to be on the intertubz BSR. I already havz my two USB chargers; 110v AC and 12v DC auto outletz. Damn revenooers.
Tom, those are sad anecdotes, to which I will add another. A high school friend of mine, 20+ years in IT, loads of experience, Cisco certs, etc. got laid off last month. Instead of searching for another full time job, he has decided to start a consulting biz and go it alone. He already has a few clients, but sustaining a consulting biz for years is tough. I know.
Fannie Mae reported a steep increase in the percentage of home mortgages with overdue payments.
The government-backed mortgage investor said in a monthly summary released Monday that 3.42% of the single-family mortgages it owns or guarantees were 90 days or more delinquent in April, up from 3.15% a month before.
Fannie's main rival, Freddie Mac, reported last week that its single-family delinquency rate for May was 2.62%, up from 2.44% in April.
Fannie and Freddie are the main providers of funding for U.S. home mortgages. Although the two companies bought many of the riskier types of home loans in recent years, their main business is in prime mortgages. More prime borrowers have been falling behind as they lose jobs or their incomes fall.
My daughter and her friend were sitting at the local McD's today. They hang out there and talk.
A women comes out of the woods and says "I am homeless and need money. I also have a mental illness." No money for her.
An empty cup was at their table when they sat down. A man comes up to them and asks if he can have the cup. They say "Sure" and he takes it inside for the free refill.
"A clearinghouse makes good on the TRADE, not the various multitudes of instruments traded on its exchange. I don't see where they get hurt by fluctuating values, whatever the cause and I don't get your bad bank analogy. "
One side of the trade is almost always dollars, even on the grain exchanges. If you sell $10 million of Google, you don't say show me the money. When the buyer says "I've been a bad, bad bank. I gambled away the money in derivatives, talk to Sheila." It's only an hour later, but your Google is trading at $8 million. The guys who hustled the bad bank knew there would be trouble before you did.
But your Bloomberg hookup says you sold for $10 million. Yes, the clearinghouse owes you the money, and they're supposed to be policing the margin requirements for their fee. You can't even tell who "bought" your shares, and you don't care.
In the case of ICE Trust, they DO clear the "various multitudes of instruments traded". That's why they were created. They must set up a fund, just like a commercial bank's capital requirement, to cover a stress scenario. But the public can't find out the details, we're supposed to trust their "models". ICE Trust is owned and capitalized mainly by the big member banks we all know, so your $10 million buys your ante for one hand. So collectively the big boys could park their toxic writedowns in CDS (as with AIG), and no worry, the Fed is watching the players like a hawk, they'll give a call if their gambling is out of control. Trust the Fed. $500 billion? Sounds like systemic risk. Open a new acronym window, fast.
I had a talk with a congressional Aide the other day "The system is broken and it isn't fixable
Did he say which system?
Did he mean the whole thing?
I'm guessing he meant finances; but he wasn't talking about, say, the nominating process or something else by chance?
In such case, the Company would be required to take material charges relating to the impairment of assets, in which case the preliminary financial information provided by the Company in previous Forms 12b-25 for the periods ended December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009 should not be relied upon.
What you say? You mean information you provided showing your financial condition were not to be relied on. Do you mean when you provided it, now, or both?
" Like the USA, Michael Jackson was a has-been. He hadn't recorded a song worth listening to in over two decades. He had done almost nothing but spin his wheels, hop around the globe from one place to another at enormous expense, and make himself available for award ceremonies to stoke his ego (and give advertisers a reason to promote some televised award show). He existed strictly on image, an anorectic figure nourished by moonbeams of attention, famous for saying that he loved his worshippers when the truth was he merely sucked the life out of them. In his last years, he even looked a bit like Nosferatu, the personification of the un-dead, and his fascination with ghouls was the basis for his biggest hit way back in the last century. A zombie nation deserves a zombie mascot. "
How can they tell if a safe deposit box hasn't had activity?
In many states, banks are supposed to report accounts that haven't had transactions in preset years. IIRC, federally chartered banks are not bound by state dormant account laws under preemption analysis.
Deutsche Welle
Is that a German BBC-esque channel broadcasting in DTV in NoVa? For some unknown reason, for as long as I can remember, SC PBS networks have been broadcasting German news in the AM for as long as I can remember. Someone told me that it was part of the deal to get BMW in the state.
Point of historical reference. I've been on first name with Congressional aides for 30+ years. I've never even tried to call a real congresscritter directly prefering instead to go to the power. I don't know of a one that wouldn't affirm that the system was broken at near every level. This isn't news. Congresscritters are for fundraising tables at fancy locations not hands on governance.
I've never had a box, but I always assumed you had to sign in to access the safety deposit box area.
From the FDIC: Can a box be declared "abandoned" and the contents turned over to the government?
Yes, but only if you don't pay your rental fee for a number of years (as determined by state law) and after attempts to notify and locate you prove unsuccessful. In that case, your box will be reported as abandoned and the contents will be turned over to the state's unclaimed property office. Often this happens because the renter dies and the heirs have no knowledge of the box or its contents. The good news is that even if the state has sold your unclaimed property, you or your heirs still have the right to claim its value. To contact a state's unclaimed property office (sometimes part of the treasurer's office), check the state government section in your phone book. On the Internet, go to the home page of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.
been on first name with Congressional aides for 30+ years. I don't know of a one that wouldn't affirm that the system was broken at near every level. This isn't news.
OK, so for how long would they say it's been broken?
If it's been "broken" for 30 years, maybe we've got another 30 yrs. Jus sayin'
squidward (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 5:32 pm
reply ignore user
been on first name with Congressional aides for 30+ years. I don't know of a one that wouldn't affirm that the system was broken at near every level. This isn't news.
OK, so for how long would they say it's been broken?
If it's been "broken" for 30 years, maybe we've got another 30 yrs. Jus sayin'
I'm not old enough to claim further back but I'd say we lost control with the Nixon Imperial Presidency and cemented it with the subsequent Congressional Over-reach of the weak Carter Era.
E Thomas St. (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 5:03 pm
Thank God they at least are going to rob them of the cash not of products or services.
Squidward,The congressional Aide works in a county south of me.He was quite unguarded and was speaking of the country as a whole.Politics and the economy are intertwined to degree that is not separable and that is where our conversation began.It was his position that no politically feasible solution existed and could not given our current reality.He said that just holding things together a little longer was the best outcome he could see.He seemed tired and determined rather than depressed.
I have seen some recent FHA delinquency numbers. That monster is going to cost the govt more money than Fannie/Freddie combined before this is over, and they keep adding bad loans to the pile every day.
Are you suggesting Michael J. was worth more to some people dead than alive?
Copyright duration is life + 70 years, so in the vast majority of cases, the estate will enjoy the copyright proceeds for a longer period than the artist. My guess is that MJ has a Bowie Bonds type of arrangement.
Pus, when you're dead, there a no pesky child molestation lawsuits.
I have seen some recent FHA delinquency numbers. That monster is going to cost the govt more money than Fannie/Freddie combined before this is over, and they keep adding bad loans to the pile every day.
Ghost,
FHA and a host of other ticking time bombs are why short term treasuries are yielding next to nothing.
Gotta like Mish's style: "To say that the present course is unsustainable is putting it mildly. Spending cuts are mandatory. However, neither the Obama administration nor Congress has gotten the message. Nor has the Free Lunch Society of which Paul Krugman is the high priest." LOL! Free Lunch Society indeed.
I heard that the interest on the national debt was $200B+ so far this year alone, and will be somewhere in the range of $400B for the year total (govt fiscal year, not calendar year, btw). And that is at record low interest rates. God forbid we actually get economic growth and need to roll all those t-bills into higher rates
So why do south american countries languish in violence and poverty, except for a few? If you believe that money is real.. god help you.
//Gotta like Mish's style: "To say that the present course is unsustainable is putting it mildly. Spending cuts are mandatory. However, neither the Obama administration nor Congress has gotten the message. Nor has the Free Lunch Society of which Paul Krugman is the high priest." LOL! Free Lunch Society indeed.//
One of the implications of Peak Credit is that financial earnings have peaked. And because of reduced leverage, earnings in the financial sector are not coming back for decades. Those earnings were all a mirage in the first place.
Next consider homebuilders given that lending standards have dramatically tightened at banks. Those profits are never coming back. What happenes to profits at major pharmaceuticals if and when the Obama administration allows drug imports from Canada and other places?
One must also factor into the earnings equation boomers facing retirement in the wake of falling home prices and retirement accounts taking a cliff dive. Trillions in potential spending power has been wiped off the books.
Expect boomers to travel less than expected, buy fewer toys (boats, cars etc) than expected, gamble less than expected, and downsize much more than expected in every aspect. This in turn will reduce the earnings potential of non-financial corporations for decades to come. Thus expectations that a new rip roaring bull market will commence once the market bottoms is sadly misplaced.
I don't think that even special interests can make it.. in the medium term. Look we have a control mechanism that has lagged the system for almost the last 60 years. There is no way back.. there is no natural level, there is no ultimate equilibrium.
/I/t was his position that no politically feasible solution existed and could not given our current reality.He said that just holding things together a little longer was the best outcome he could see.//
The biggest target for federal budget cuts would be in the defense budget. Exit Iraq and Afghanistan...cancel the F-35....withdraw forces from Europe, Japan, and Korea. Of course, Krugman and his ilk would blather about "Hoovers" regarding such cuts...
Peak credit has been reached. That final wave of consumer recklessness created the exact conditions required for its own destruction. The housing bubble orgy was the last hurrah. It is not coming back and there will be no bigger bubble to replace it. Consumers and banks have both been burnt, and attitudes have changed."
Kung.Fu.Panda (homepage, profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 5:55 pm
The biggest target for federal budget cuts would be in the defense budget. Exit Iraq and Afghanistan...cancel the F-35....withdraw forces from Europe, Japan, and Korea. Of course, Krugman and his ilk would blather about "Hoovers" regarding such cuts...
Yeah and dump combat trained and hardened Guardsmen on the streets to discover their jobs are gone. Good plan Leader O.
I know nothing about this committee, but I am a bona fide member of the I Hate Debt Society. Not that I'm not in debt. But I am a Debt Hater. So hearing about unbearable levels of debt in our economy makes me foam at the mouth.
We treat people who destroy people's lifesavings with more compassion. What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer.
//An empty cup was at their table when they sat down. A man comes up to them and asks if he can have the cup. They say "Sure" and he takes it inside for the free refill.//
The biggest target for federal budget cuts would be in the defense budget. Exit Iraq and Afghanistan...cancel the F-35....withdraw forces from Europe, Japan, and Korea. Of course, Krugman and his ilk would blather about "Hoovers" regarding such cuts...
~~~~
I share your disdain for Krugman on that level ...
He is always playing the political expediency card instead of taking a long and realistic view ...
"The biggest target for federal budget cuts would be in the defense budget. Exit Iraq and Afghanistan...cancel the F-35....withdraw forces from Europe, Japan, and Korea. Of course, Krugman and his ilk would blather about "Hoovers" regarding such cuts..."
Is that you Ron Paul?
Most brainwashed Americans would be all over you for this plan. You know, America is supposed to be the World's Policeman.
Guess I missed that part of the Constitution last time I read it.
"What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer."
Fix the Federal budget? Easy, adopt President Kennedy's 1962 budget adjusted for CPI and population growth. What? What's that I hear? That warmongering hyper-conservative wasn't funding a Dept of Education and was wasting more than a third on defense? Why that Reganite needs to be excoriated.
"What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer."
It says the safety net is fraying a bit more every month. Wait until the states really start cutting.
US defense budget vs the 13.9 Trillion we spent to prop up bank holding companies? and yes, I know that most money spent on defense is a scam.. but ALL money spent propping up financial zombies is wasted. At least defense jobs keep average people fed.
//Yeah and dump combat trained and hardened Guardsmen on the streets to discover their jobs are gone.//
We treat people who destroy people's lifesavings with more compassion. What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer.
~~~~
Yep ... the devil is in the details ..... the fine print ... the stacked deck ...
nova (homepage, profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 6:02 pm
"What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer."
It says the safety net is fraying a bit more every month. Wait until the states really star
The game of "Shoots and Ladders" is not a safety net. Reference Section 8 housing which catapults some people far above harder working competitors for the same limited goods.
Fix the Federal budget? Easy, adopt President Kennedy's 1962 budget adjusted for CPI and population growth. What? What's that I hear? That warmongering hyper-conservative wasn't funding a Dept of Education and was wasting more than a third on defense? Why that Reganite needs to be excoriated.
i'll be checking on those come august when they're hopefully bottoming out... the funny thing is that cal muni closed-end-funds seem to be doing just fine - odd.
LL: Couldn't the judges handle the overload by simply "working-to-rule"? The judges could require all foreclosures include a specified list of documentation:
1) true copy of original note;
2) copies of assignments, etc.
3) Board resolutions and powers of attorney authorizing the lawyer or paralegal to do the foreclosure.
If anyone tried to do a foreclosure without all their paperwork in order, hit them with a $10,000 contempt of court fine for each foreclosure with skrood paperwork. After 5 or 6 such fines, use the proceeds to hire another clerk or paralegal to vet paperwork. Turn failed foreclosures into a profit center for the court.
It is not corruption per se. It is the childish belief in a zero sum world, when there is none. It is about religious-type beliefs about money, law, power etc..
The game of "Shoots and Ladders" is not a safety net. Reference Section 8 housing which catapults some people far above harder working competitors for the same limited goods.
~~~~~
Bring on the Cadillac driving welfare queen dawg .... you know you want to ...
A family gets a break and you decry the improvement so that noone gets help ....
Miles City is further from the nearest tree than Billings is ... but any girl from Miles City must of been fun. I went to the Bucking Horse Sale with a roommate from college - we had a BLAST.
Based of the track record and the misfeasance of the Office of Thrift Supervision regarding their lack of supervision, regulation and the lack of enforcement of those federally chartered thrift banks, the question is, can this inept regulator even recognize if a bank is in competent or has violated the rules?
Michael LittleBig
HollywoodHack (homepage, profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 6:07 pm
thanks much, rob.
i'll be checking on those come august when they're hopefully bottoming out... the funny thing is that cal muni closed-end-funds seem to be doing just fine - odd.
Bastard. I mean that in the admiring "fellow competitor" way. I too am looking at Aug/Sept for picking these up on the secondary market at steep discounts during the panics. There's a few drams of Sutter Home Trinchero Triple Cream waiting for us both come this fall. Drive 45 minutes west to collect.
I read today at a biznews site of a midsize city that approximately 400 people at different companies were laid off May 1 and June 1, and the notices are just now making their way out for public consumption.
This is getting a little uglier faster than I think a lot of people are aware, even if it's their own job/means of income being pressured or soon eliminated.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Each Sunday afternoon in May, Gov. Mark Sanford and his wife hosted five other couples at the executive mansion for a spiritual "boot camp." Topics discussed during the hour-and-a-half-long sessions included forgiveness and "not loving your wife as Christ loved the church." Group leader Warren "Cubby" Culbertson did not tell the other four couples what he and his wife, Susan, had known for months: The governor was having an affair with a woman in Argentina. When Jenny Sanford confronted her husband in January after finding a letter to "Maria" among his official papers, the governor turned to Culbertson. For nearly six months, Culbertson has been the first couple's spiritual counselor and their secret keeper. The Sanfords "passed" the Culbertsons' course with flying colors. A week later, Jenny Sanford asked her husband to leave their home.
With what the FedGov is spending, do you really think there's any money for the States?
Hard-line or not, we are broke. The ONLY way to keep the facade one-dimensional is to print money. Everyone here knows that. It's no secret within these walls. The ONLY question, DURING the eventual non-stop printing, is when will the debt holders start running towards the exit signs. Inflation? Eventually. We'll have MANY bigger issues then THAT before we get to the inflation monster. We don't have enough fairy dust to make them go away and we don't have the leadership to stop the problems from appearing in one nightmare after another.
I don't know about that.. we have geithner in the treasury, summers pulling his strings and rubin running a cloak and dagger operation. Not to mention paulson, blankfein.. You do not really require my help to f**k up.
//They are still listening to Lucifer. We are all screwed.//
NASA is taking the rare step of reaching out to the public for help. The space agency is looking for the best way to analyze and electronically catalog a precious collection of notes that chronicle the early history of the human space flight program. “We’re looking for creative ways to get it out to the public,” said project manager Jason Crusan. “We don’t always do the best with putting out large sets of data like this.” The notes [pdf] are those of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, the fist director of NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama and are typed with copious hand written notes in the margin. According to the official request for information [pdf], NASA needs ideas on what format to use, how to index the notes and how to create a useful database. The unique nature and historical value of the data, literally discovered in boxes six months ago, is what motivated NASA to ask the public for ideas. “It’s first-hand insight on how management and engineering decisions were made on a real-time basis,” Crusan said. “It’s quite scrawled upon all over the place.”
People like us hunker down and stop spending. What do we do with our money? We give it to the banks at indebted slave interest rates. They love it. They can get their cash as required from the FedGov at cheap rates, bank our savings at cheap interest rates as well, and not lend a dime to anyone. No gambles, no worry. The banks will wait out the "uncertain clouds". The revenue levels will continue to decrease, infrastructure will continue to degrade, more will be cut from the public sector, including finally the workers. Now it's the schools, tomorrow it will be city hall but 3-days a week, more and more cities will try and deincorporate - fall back into the arms of the County.
...And I'll still be gathering our 25# of milk, 2-dozen eggs a day, yearly 500# of beef, and tons of veggies and fruit and be known as the old crazy Marine guy with the killer bees, snakes and attack dogs. LOL. Well, part of it's true!
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., said the U.S. Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates.
The Fed will keep rates low “for a long time,” El-Erian said today in a Bloomberg Radio interview from Pimco’s headquarters in Newport Beach, California.
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Investors displaying “a bout of impatience” for a worldwide economic recovery may soon find relief, according to Tim Bond, head of global asset allocation at Barclays Capital.
“The hard evidence of recovery that the markets seem to require will be available in August and September,” Bond wrote in a June 26 report. His estimate is based on data for business cycles since World War II.
Lucifer,
My friend's father was one of those scientists. My friend's handwriting sucks too, so he bought one of those Live Scribes. Imagine if someone had recorded those NASA meetings to re-analyze all those good ideas that went nowhere?
"Protesters ransacked a Pizza Hut restaurant near the palace and injured customers. They threw rocks, broke the door and rushed into the restaurant, said Hever Raudales, an employee.
“This isn’t about reforms anymore,” said Raudales, 24. “This is vandalism.”
Miles City is further from the nearest tree than Billings is ... but any girl from Miles City must of been fun. I went to the Bucking Horse Sale with a roommate from college - we had a BLAST.
Her grandpa was a stitch too - a bonifide 'cowboy'... worked for some 20 years as a 'ranch hand' [probably have to call them 'estate managers' today] before his wife [my old GF's grandma] made him get a job in town. When he came to visit we'd drink whiskey and sing 'cowboy' songs until the women would take the bottle away [thinking we might be starting to have too much fun]. Pretty hilarious time...
Anyway's we both split up and married other folks... though I got the better deal... my wife's grandpa came from Norway, knew all the haunts where my Norwegian side of the family were from [here and in Norway] and also liked to drink whiskey. My ex-GF married a pharmaceutical salesman who makes way more money than I ever will but they live in a sterile suburb. No cowboy songs or whiskey for them. Nuthin' but golf outings... yuck!
Change I can believe in! Why the sudden generosity?
Sears to Let Jobless Stop Payments, Still Keep Fridge (Update2) Bloomberg.com
By Lauren Coleman-Lochner
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Sears Holdings Corp., the largest U.S. department-store chain, will let customers who lose their jobs suspend payments and keep appliances bought with store credit cards in an effort to bolster sales in the recession.
Customers who spend at least $399 on appliances and related merchandise between July 6 and Aug. 1 will have one-twelfth of the purchase price credited to their account for every month they are out of work, said Larry Costello, a company spokesman. Those who are jobless for more than a year will have the full debt forgiven, he said. The offer period may be extended, he said.
That would be a bad idea. We might actually have better lives.. the horror! We should just stick to financialism and feed our inner ape mind.
My friend's father was one of those scientists. My friend's handwriting sucks too, so he bought one of those Live Scribes. Imagine if someone had recorded those NASA meetings to re-analyze all those good ideas that went nowhere?
that sears credit offer just takes the cake..green shoots is the new bubble...We are truly doomed when your sales pitch is we'll defer the payments and forgive the debt if you lose your job...
Who's that old guy who died in '39, again? He was huge in the 1870's. They called him the king of the pops, or the king of pop, or just pops. Never did quite reach his former glory after they discovered he kept some slaves "overtime" at his ranch compound.
"I never once laid a hand on them. I don't read the newspapers, I'm an artist. I didn't take a side in that crazy war. I don't do political material."
Tried to tour to pay off the lawsuits and restore his name, but wound up losing more money with his elaborate "artistic" stage productions. Ended up on the run from some vicious loan sharks. Lucky for him everyone else was underwater too and he wasn't worth the trouble of chasing down.
Michael's handlers always had a great sense of dramatic timing, and they didn't have to do anything special, just enable his bad habits. With all the retrospection across the airwaves, ever hear anything recorded after Reagan was done? Will recorded music even be traded for cash in 30 years? Michael, uh, take the red one right after the white and blue ones. I'm here for you...
Never invest in anything with "Guaranty" in its name.
guaranty? I do not think this word means what you think it means.
Open Assistance has historically been used extremely rarely by the FDIC
Right, the modern approach is to obfuscate the subsidies as guarantees on bank debt or non-recourse loans to private equity. Doing anything in the open is as anathema to this Administration as it was to the last.
Clearly the FDIC is not doing its job by closing down Guaranty long ago. Here I'm sitting embarrassed by my call of 255 bank failures in 2009 and it turns out the only reason I'm wrong is because the banks really are failing at that rate just not being closed.
this kind of says it all:
the Company will no longer have the intent and ability to hold its mortgage-backed securities portfolio to recovery of unrealized losses
Wipe 'em out ...
Another farcical attempt at saving bond holders ...
trying to save bond holders is what's killing us now ...
This is not good, this could be bad, would someone please let me off this bus?
dont feel bad dawg. Timing is always the toughest part. Things, especially madness, always seem to go on longer than one would expect. You will be vindicated.
An additional condition to Open Assistance is that the OTS and FDIC must also determine that the Bank’s management is competent, has complied with all applicable laws, rules, and supervisory directives and orders, and has not engaged in any insider dealings, speculative practices, or other abusive activity.
"We, uhhh, we became insolvent through no fault of our own. It was monkeys, actually flying monkeys of doom, that visited this situation on us. So wipe out our shareholders if you must, but rest assured that we in management will continue to do the competent job we always have."
Houston didn't have much of a property bubble, did it? Or was this more lending to RE developers that did them in?
nm, should have RTFA
"More than bad loans, Guaranty invested heavily in mortgage-backed securities"
In addition, while the Company has received expressions of interest from private investors...
If I can keep all profits and stick FDIC with the losses, I will "express interest", too.
Where do I sign up?
Man, this is really sick. Another day, another outrage.
houston was an oil bubble...another bubble fundamental. This bubble has a better chance than most of reinflating though.. And then really busting good the next time if it inflates too soon. That is up to GS of course. It will happen when they are good and ready for it to happen.
Cool. Carl Icahn owned about 18% of this company personally and in his fund as of the end of last quarter.
Who is Greenlight Capital? Is that David Einhorn? Between Icahn, Greenlight and something called Highside Capital, they owned about 34% of this bank.
Icahn was probably thinking peak oil was here. Little early. Better luck next time.
Pigs get rich, Bairs get slaughtered.
GDD9000 (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 3:57 pm
dont feel bad dawg. Timing is always the toughest part. Things, especially madness, always seem to go on longer than one would expect. You will be vindicated.
I learned my lesson is the futures markets 2006. Expensive tuition tends to stick. I won't ever forget the difference between "should" and "does" when the market is not only insane but rigged as well. You should have seen my Fidelity 401k admin this morning when I said I'll wait for 5860 and then ease back in with the proceeds from a sizeable transfer from a closing plan. I got the impression that there's a lot of people declining to participate under the current rules especially at these prices.
Room for one more at the trough
Belly up
[Who is Greenlight Capital? Is that David Einhorn? Between Icahn, Greenlight and something called Highside Capital, they owned about 30% of this bank]
So the FDIC bailout is a shoe-in.
$14 billion in assets. How much does the DIF have left? Could this one bank wipe out the DIF?
from the eurowatch blog
It is all consumers. Everywhere. No consumption or weak consumption is death to everything else. Banks are just consumer byproducts...leeches on a dying body...
Europe's Retail PMI
Euro area retail business conditions continued to deteriorate in June, with sales, employment, purchasing of stock and margins all falling when compared with May. The Bloomberg Euro-Zone Retail Purchasing Managers' Index did however rise from 47.1 to 47.5 in June. On the other hand, the reading remained below 50.0, meaning that activity was still lower in June than in May.
So, despite reasonable consumer confidence readings, consumption in Europe remains weak. German retail sales fell for a 13th month in June as households continued to curb spending, according to the latest Bloomberg/Markit purchasing managers’ index survey. The PMI was down to 46 from 46.3 in May. Any reading below 50 signals contraction.
MLM, i enjoyed the "competent management" part too. That means these guys are gone ...
Rob Dawg, you never know ... the FDIC closed 5 last week. Maybe that will be a low week in the future ... they are hiring like crazy and I think they are somewhat staff limited. Triple digits is probably a done deal (45 in the first half and the pace will pick up).
best wishes
I like how regulators gave them a deadline of May 21st. What have they been doing since then?
Hmmm, and some guy named Robert Rowling, some kinda BSD in Dallas, owns about 20%. I show the bulk of the position put on last October.
TRT's Robert Rowling hot on Guaranty Financial - Dallas Business Journal:
So, 4 guys, over half this little bank.
"Guaranty invested heavily in mortgage-backed securities"
Translation: "they invested heavily in paper shredders to dump the money in "
Cali : Not in good shape :
Personal income declined in California in 2008 for the first time since the Great Depression,
and income tax revenue fell by 34 percent during the first five months of this year.
GDD9000 (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:02 pm
Icahn was probably thinking peak oil was here. Little early. Better luck next time.
There's oil on one side and then there's natgas and home heating oil. The divergence is historic. Just another inside trade favoring the house.
EU, Phone Makers to Introduce Universal Charger
ummm. Bout time. Overlooked in the PC revolution are the somewhat universal standards...
The FDIC may deviate from the least cost requirement only in limited circumstances to avoid “serious adverse effects on economic conditions or financial stability” or “systemic risk” to the banking system.
the Company will no longer have the intent and ability to hold its mortgage-backed securities portfolio to recovery of unrealized losses,
the Company would be required to take material charges relating to the impairment of assets
Let the vultures bust us out or I'll shoot myself in the head
@Dawg... been thinking a lot about that trade lately, haven't done anything about it.
Who is Greenlight Capital? Is that David Einhorn? Between Greenlight and .... they owned about 34% of this bank.
Isn't Greenlight short-side?
zack: deciding to do nothing is a decision
Actually if Mich takes CA inmates, we can send them some extra dollars. So are we really sending them to the icebox?
volker the viking --
zack: deciding to do nothing is a decision
thread music
I dunno, SEC shows him long 7.64% of the shares as of 3/31.
Why on earth would supposedly bright people get stuck holding weeks and weeks worth of volume in a little roach motel like this? Couldn't they have just lost their money in BAC instead?
zack: deciding to do nothing is a decision
Trite and untrue.
Often "doing nothing" is setting a trigger based on future events.
ZackAttack (homepage, profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:08 pm
@Dawg... been thinking a lot about that trade lately, haven't done anything about it.
I'm thinking natgas goes up bit through Q3 no matter what happens as Congress fiddles while oil could complete a full Pig Formation™. Don't mess with the Pig™. Too dangerous. Home heating oil will be whipsawed by weather predictions in August. Again, don't mess with the Pig™.
Personal income declined in California in 2008 for the first time since the Great Depression,
and income tax revenue fell by 34 percent during the first five months of this year.
Taxes are plummeting at the federal level too (down ~ 30%!!!)
Tax Revenues Tanking | EFAM | Escape From America Magazine
What a gas
Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.
The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.
BBC NEWS | Business | Gazprom seals $2.5bn Nigeria deal
past thread
"1. The foreclosure judge in Palm Beach County has, right now 40,000 cases.
More to come.!"
New York City still has significant rent control. Nonetheless, there are usually about 400,000 housing court petitions (not actions) filed yearly since the 60's-- mostly eviction attempts, with expedited procedure as time is money. They are mainly handled by appointed housing "judges", who only do housing, but any order with teeth must be signed by an elected judge. The number of judges is set per capita by the State Constitution. His salary does not keep up with Ponzi inflation, and he does not get paid per eviction.
Otis, I worked for a guy who everyone considered a "landlord's judge" because he would hold unrepresented tenants to the same letter of the law whether they could read it or not. But in fact his immigrant father had been in a painter's union, and they helped the judge through Harvard Law School. Liz is right, there is no bundling.
He read every word of every order he signed.
No one could tell him to go faster, or skim, or take someone's word on a rule he didn't know without verifying it himself (my job).
Not the Supervising Judge, who could give him a crappy rotation. (and me)
Not the $400/ hour lawyer handling this "little"case pro bono, with an important paying client waiting.
Not the uniformed court officer, raising his voice and hitching his gun belt, saying court is closed unless the judge wants to pay his overtime.
No one.
Every judge was rotated through the eviction-signing part for a week at a time. One per county. The landlords demanded more. But if you don't arraign, indict, and try an alleged spouse abuser speedily, the judge must set reasonable bail, and he may go straight from jail to kill his girlfriend and himself, leaving no one for the DA, Mayor, and Governor to blame but the no good liberal judge (see Lorin Duckman). Then there are the credit card, consumer loan, and ordinary commercial cases that have to be heard someday, in addition to all the tort cases, eased by the No-Fault Law. Don't forget commercial landlord-tenant, which a housing judge can't touch, and foreclosures, for the deadbeats of the leisure class. Why should a renter be thrown in the street faster than a flipper?
People contest mental competence, child custody, and even elections, which somehow seem more urgent than the landlord's right to a month's rent. Self help is a bloody mess in these cases too.
My guy (Brooklyn) could sign maybe 50 evictions a day, and stay (on the tenant's unopposed affidavit for emergency "order to show cause") about 300 more. In his rigid framework, a sworn statement that "I didn't get the papers; I don't owe the money" legally justifies a stay until he hears proper opposing evidence, even the same words a third time when the tenant didn't show up on the first two dates to respond to the landlord's show of cause.
I had a long, nasty debate with Byzantine Ruins in which I tried to explain the need for professionals to run the court system and their First Amendment right to collective bargaining. And for those Randian types who don't see a rationale for rent control, if the clerks, officers, reporters, janitors are all foreclosed and evicted, sure a guy like my old boss will still show up at the Court and order evictions, with strict due process.
In that case he could handle one each month.
zack: deciding to do nothing is a decision
Naw, I just think I can hold out for better prices on each side of the pair.
The only person who is holding you to your embarrassment, Dawg, is you...
EU, Phone Makers to Introduce Universal Charger
ummm. Bout time
Read a year ago that China requires USB chargers for all phones sold in PRC.
Interesting that China is the leader on this.
.
EETimes.com - China to enforce universal cell phone charger
From a thread or two back (I had to turn in my (yech) performance self-appraisal):
mmckinl (profile) wrote :
Bob Dobbs, Problem is the whole United States needs restructuring ...Finance, tax law, health care, military, industrial policy, ag policy ....All are broken with entrenched special interests blocking any reform ...
This is how a lot of people sounded in the '70. Stagflation? Nobody can beat it. Unions? We can't touch them. Overweight liberal federal programs that had grown ponderous and inefficient? That's just the political reality.
And in a couple of years, everything changed. I don't like the way it changed. The baby went out with the bathwater the way it changed. But it changed.
For good or ill, this is always possible. The more pain, the more possible it is. I expect either a radical shift in the way things are done within three years -- or a slide into fascism, an impoverished multitude, possibly secession. Which is also radical, even though the MSM would probably spin it as "living within your means."
squidward (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 7:23 pm
Interesting that China is the leader on this.
Kinda sad that our government is the last to crack down on endless proprietary chargers that exist for no reason than to generate proprietary e-waste.
I'm still alive everyone. Just got back from a big conference, still moving house. I should be back around in the next couple days.
Byz lives!
I didn't get a chance to post this on the last thread:
El Monte considers bankruptcy - Pasadena Star-News
EL MONTE – The city council will consider Tuesday whether to initiate Chapter 9 bankruptcy proceedings for El Monte if council members cannot immediately find a way to completely fix the city's $12 million budget deficit.
Rob Dawg:
Don't feel bad. I thought 10yrs would be yielding 5% by now. That which is unsustainable cannot be sustained. Timing it is a bitch, though.
El Monte is bluffing.
Let's try a little a balancing act in terms of "biggest potential bank failure yet."
Guaranty, check.
Corus, check.
Losses on mortgage-backed securities, check.
Losses on highly concentrated construction loans to developers of see-through high-rise condos in bubble markets, most of which will be scrapped, not only at zero recovery but at negative recovery due to the cost of taxes, lawsuits and putting good land back the way it was. Plus, frantic diversification into construction loans to CRE developers of office parks, industrial facilities and hotels right at the peak in that bubble in 2007 and early 2008. Check.
I'm having a hard time getting the scales to tip toward Guaranty.
rich (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:23 pm
Here I'm sitting embarrassed by my call of 255 bank failures in 2009 and it turns out the only reason I'm wrong
The only person who is holding you to your embarrassment, Dawg, is you...
A little dope slap now and again reinforces the lesson. I think of the people I hold in disdain; John Lockwood, Greg Swann, Paul Krugman. Couldn't rub two winning calls between them and yet a simple "mea culpa" would stick in their craw. Notice Sebastian is not on that list. He knows enough to learn from events.
"Humans began disrupting the environment as soon as they appeared on Earth." - hence Cap & Trade - what a solution.
"Clearly the FDIC is not doing its job...." - .............no kidding. Don't listen to the old white guy that grows veggies & fruit and talks to cows.
"In that case he could handle one each month." - ....do most people think law enforcement & the courts will be running better or worse when the Big Tree of Life is "shaken out" in the near-term? Just as after Katrina, most LE will stay home to guard the homefront. Judges will be "transparent" as well.
"Read a year ago that China requires USB chargers for all phones sold in PRC." - ....why does this send chills up my spine?
Angry Saver - that is one scary link.
Ahhhh! the wisdom of a simple farmer...
Afternoon, Ma'am.....glad to see you're safe, BR.......
Bob Dobbs Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:24 pm
Agree completely ....
except to say the box we are in today is a much smaller box ...
50 trillion in debt, broken governance, military adventurism ongoing, financial system a vortex for capital ...
and an economy based on consumption rather than production ...
I would definitely put Sebastian on the list. If anybody but us knew who he was.
Don't listen to the old white guy that grows veggies & fruit and talks to cows.
Come on, BSR.
Give yourself some credit; the fresh milk and cheese will keep ya young!
r u talkin to me?
My wife just visited her sister in Xiamen (the largest city in Fujian Province). After a short hiatus, apparently the construction cranes are out in force again. The local press attributes it to a turnaround in the economy: green shoots. The smart(er) money attributes it to the PBOC forcing banks to loan to developers at below market rates to jumpstart consumption and soak up some of those disenfranchised migrants. We shall see. I expect, though, that this will end in tears.
pigged again! Damnit CR, slow down!
If HH had remained President instead of FDR, we may have had a much better country than we do today, as the necessary reforms to the country may have been made. But we will never no.- ghostfaceinvesta
may is questionable. no is just flat out misspelled.
Internet Archive: Free Download: Work Pays America (Part I)
Internet Archive: Free Download: Work Pays America (Part II)
Unfettered capitalism is rapacious, pure and simple.
"Personal income declined in California in 2008 for the first time since the Great Depression,
and income tax revenue fell by 34 percent during the first five months of this year."
True. And this is exactly why we should increase and extend the $10k new home buyer tax credit! Which has had "... little immediate impact on new-home sales." Brilliant!
Farging idiots!
California Bills Seek to Lift Home Sales - WSJ.com
Help me FDIC.... You're my only hope.
"Read a year ago that China requires USB chargers for all phones sold in PRC." - ....why does this send chills up my spine?
You can have efficiency or you can have choice.
One has to subservient to the other.
U.S. culture used to support choice and freedom at the expense of efficiency but as debts pile up and conslidate, I expect you'll see the U.S. look more and more like China - less choice, more efficiency. That's what happens when you raise a communication methodology, The Free Market, to Deity status.
Angry Saver
Yep, the fall in tax receipts is staggering on the Federal Level as well ...
Corporate tax revenue was down 70% ...!
The United States needs to restructure, lock, stock and barrel ...
Obama was on TV tonight making a statement about how the world should respect democratically elected leaders everywhere, even Honduras, and he sounded a little like Ralph Cramden trying to convince Alice he and Norton had just been bowling, not getting into trouble. Obama is a TERRIBLE LIAR.
I'm not saying Chavez is gonna use those nice new Chinese airplanes against Honduras. He might.
But I think Chavez has Obama right where he wants him. Telling an outright lie that can be proven to the world, and soon.
CIA's fingerprints are all over this job. Hillary Clinton is a better liar. By a little.
Rich:
You give the CIA too much credit. Most intelligence agencies are staffed with the same incompetent clock watchers holding out till their 20 as the DMV. All except the submarine force, of course.
YSLP:
"I don't know why you complain about this 1 world currency. With online brokerages everyone can choose to store their wealth in their own "basket of currency" through the use of ETFs, futures, or other types of "financial instruments". Can you explain further?..."
I'm recommending, not complaining.
When I have my etf basket full of paper gold, rubles, corn and oil futures, it's still traded in dollar denominations. They print those faster than I can type this. Yes, it's the manipulation. If the dollar does not suffer significant devaluation in the next few years then by all means ignore me.
squidward (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:32 pm
Angry Saver - that is one scary link.
I've had to stop reporting on the California budget situation because Calvinball and CYA and trial balloons are so thick my usual sources are not reliable.
I can say the current budget is a nonstarter. It wouldn't survive judicial review. The Dems in the lower house turned taxes into fees and then raised fees. They cannot raise taxes but they can raise fees with a simple majority. They run the serious serious risk of a finding that fees are not a loophole. The big bill then is when CS and UC and CC "fees" get called what they are; tuition. Calling some taxes fees risks having all fees called taxes in response.
I'm looking at CA State and muni double tax free (insured) yields north of 6%. The market isn't waiting for a resolution.
we've been dabbling in Central American affairs since the Treaty of Tegucigalpa was ratified.
Taxes are plummeting at the federal level too (down ~ 30%!!!)
I'm on track to pay zero this year.
I suspect that my peak tax payment was last year, never to be exceeded again.
"I'm looking at CA State and muni double tax free (insured) yields north of 6%."
Rob, can you give a link for these, or just cut-n-paste with the relevant cpusid (or whatever they're called)? thanks
You can have efficiency or you can have choice.
I doubt any consumer chooses their phone charger.
"I'm hoping for a phone with a 400mA, 3.8V charger in a rectangular wall-wart. If I can't find it, I'm going for a phone with
300mA, 4.7V input."
rich
Yep, Obama's game is there for all to see ...
His BS is running thin for his most ardent supporters as well.
I knew by his appointments (Summers, Geithner )that he was just a shill ...
He has turned out every bit as crooked as I believed and then some ...
You guys are getting me down.
How about a hooka full of Hopium?
mmckinl. squidward, et. al.,
That link was posted on Charles Hugh Smith's blog "of two minds". CHS runs a very thought provoking blog. If you want to check it out, here's the post/link:
charles hugh smith-Saturday Quiz: Why Is the Headline Unemployment Rate Bogus?
I doubt any consumer chooses their phone charger.
You argue based on a sole example to preserve illusion as most Americans do, witness RE bubble, treasury bubble, transparent lie after transparent lie.
You are in denial and it is not my problem.
Enjoy your stay.
HollywoodHack (homepage, profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:45 pm
"I'm looking at CA State and muni double tax free (insured) yields north of 6%."
Rob, can you give a link for these, or just cut-n-paste with the relevant cpusid (or whatever they're called)? thanks
This is not a solicitation, is not investment advice, the dawg makes no warranty... yadda yadda:
Stone & Youngberg:
State Maturity Quantity Issuer Moody's S&P Insurance Coupon Yield Price Call Date Call Price Cusip
CA 3/1/2038 365 CALIFORNIA ST A2 A 5.250 6.000 89.79 3/1/2018 100.00 13063AG65
CA 8/1/2022 5015 POWAY CALIF UNI SCH DIST Aa3 AA- 0.000 6.000 46.15 0.00 738850QE9
CA 8/1/2022 395 GATEWAY CALIF UNI SCH DIST N.A. AAAe ASSURED GTY 0.000 6.000 46.19 0.00 36759RCZ8
CA 8/1/2024 1490 SAN JOSE CALIF REDEV AGY TAX A A3 A NATL-RE 5.000 6.050 89.70 8/1/2017 100.00 798147K78
CA 6/1/2037 30 CALIFORNIA ST A2 A XLCA-ICR 5.000 6.100 85.33 6/1/2017 100.00 13063ALS1
CA 9/1/2020 1125 SANTA FE SPRINGS CALIF CMNTY D Baa1 A NATL-RE 4.500 6.120 87.03 9/1/2017 100.00 80218MFZ9
CA 3/1/2037 45 REDDING CALIF JT PWRS FING AUT WR A AMBAC 4.250 6.500 71.28 3/1/2015 100.00 757288EZ4
San Jose and Santa Fe Springs look tasty.
The US and Latin America up to 1900 :
1846
The U.S., fulfilling the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, goes to war with Mexico and ends up with a third of Mexico's territory.
1850, 1853, 1854, 1857
U.S. interventions in Nicaragua.
1855
Tennessee adventurer William Walker and his mercenaries take over Nicaragua, institute forced labor, and legalize slavery.
"Los yankis... have burst their way like a fertilizing torrent through the barriers of barbarism." --N.Y. Daily News
He's ousted two years later by a Central American coalition largely inspired by Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose trade Walker was infringing.
"The enemies of American civilization-- for such are the enemies of slavery-- seem to be more on the alert than its friends." --William Walker
1856
First of five U.S. interventions in Panama to protect the Atlantic-Pacific railroad from Panamanian nationalists.
1898
U.S. declares war on Spain, blaming it for destruction of the Maine. (In 1976, a U.S. Navy commission will conclude that the explosion was probably an accident.) The war enables the U.S. to occupy Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
U.S. Interventions in Latin America
Of course we were just getting started and they missed our treatment of Haiti in the early 1800's ...
States Set Sights on Unused Gift Cards
Typically, unused gift cards revert to the retailer, but states are trying to claim them as abandoned property. This is going to be interesting, especially given what Amazon did to NC earlier.
BTW, has anyone ever ordered from Amazon.com, and wondered why it doesn't have a pull-down menu for the "state"? Instead, Amazon makes the customer type it in manually...
You are in denial About consumer phone charger preferences? Very much so.
I think they would choose standardization
But hey, maybe you like 630mA inputs. That's cool.
delete dupe
@ Basel
Ah, scenic South Carolina.
Gotta figure out how we're going to repay that stimulus...
squidward (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:55 pm
But hey, maybe you like 630mA inputs. That's cool.
Hey. Even Louis Wu was a droog head at one time and yet he still had an unlimited breeding license.
RDawg-Santa Fe springs with the refineries and oil revenue looks best there...commodity town if you could call it one...RD-not familiar with bonds.. what is the payout tally at end in 2017?
I don't know what's more stupid;
That giftcards for McDonalds exist or that states want to recoup those same giftcards as abandoned property. They already charged tax on the sale of them. and what are they going to do with them?
they take the money backing the cards, not the cards or products themselves.
"The state of New York, which faces a $7.4 billion budget deficit, collected $9.6 million in unredeemed gift cards last year."
my, my, my............first, the States are rifling safety deposit boxes, and then on to even better pickings - taking little Johnnie's Toys R Us Christmas gift certificate.
What's in your wallet?
The hands of an over reaching government?
creditcriminalslovetarp (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 4:59 pm
RDawg-Santa Fe springs with the refineries and oil revenue looks best there...commodity town if you could call it one...RD-not familiar with bonds.. what is the payout tally at end in 2017?
"Señor, I am just the bartender." 2017 is just the call date not the term. 2017 calls @ 100 from the current price of 87.03 would be gravy.
Thank God they at least are going to rob them of the cash not of products or services.
How can they tell if a safe deposit box hasn't had activity?
The states should take the proceeds from unused gift cards. Taxing the stupid is a state right.
Basil Too, Just curious. You watching Deutche Welle?
Maybe Guaranty Financial can sell some MBS to Fannie, in case you missed it, their retained portfolio grew at a compound rate of 35% in May. At least they are putting all the Treasury support to work supporting the MBS market.
http://www.fanniemae.com/ir/pdf/monthly/2009/053009.pdf
.....well, that cinches it.........due to the "you must plug your cell-phone into your personal computer charger every night" law, , I guess I won't be going out and buying one of them new-fangled "mobile phones" you hear so much about.
Taxing the stupid is a state right. - ghostfaceinvesta
"Taxing the stupid is a state right. "
That's what we have the lottery for.
A few anecdotes.I was talking to a retired physician today who is a rabid lifelong Democrat ." eff it,I will never vote again,Obama sold us down the river".I had a talk with a congressional Aide the other day "The system is broken and it isn't fixable,we are running out of duct tape".An old friend who has been a CPA for 20 years and lives in Houston has been out of work 6 moths told me " I finally got a job offer.The hours are horrible,the commute is bad and the pay is 1/4 what I was making,I am thinking about taking it".
You can also get trading data from the MSRB's website:
Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board::EMMA
You can get trading history on a bond deal and under "Market Statistics," you can see the most actively traded bonds.
How about a hooka full of Hopium?
Does the Hopium make the hooka more fun?
Black Star Ranch (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 5:06 pm
.....well, that cinches it.........due to the "you must plug your cell-phone into your personal computer charger every night" law, , I guess I won't be going out and buying one of them new-fangled "mobile phones" you hear so much about.
The 'puter doesn't need to be on the intertubz BSR. I already havz my two USB chargers; 110v AC and 12v DC auto outletz. Damn revenooers.
you must plug your cell-phone into your personal computer charger every night
No, it plugs into the wall. Just like any other charger.
And if you go chasing flippers
Well you know you're going to fall,
Tell 'em a hookah smoking mortgagor
Has given you the call.
Nuke--which sub? I was on 616.
Tom, those are sad anecdotes, to which I will add another. A high school friend of mine, 20+ years in IT, loads of experience, Cisco certs, etc. got laid off last month. Instead of searching for another full time job, he has decided to start a consulting biz and go it alone. He already has a few clients, but sustaining a consulting biz for years is tough. I know.
Fannie Mae reported a steep increase in the percentage of home mortgages with overdue payments.
The government-backed mortgage investor said in a monthly summary released Monday that 3.42% of the single-family mortgages it owns or guarantees were 90 days or more delinquent in April, up from 3.15% a month before.
Fannie's main rival, Freddie Mac, reported last week that its single-family delinquency rate for May was 2.62%, up from 2.44% in April.
Fannie and Freddie are the main providers of funding for U.S. home mortgages. Although the two companies bought many of the riskier types of home loans in recent years, their main business is in prime mortgages. More prime borrowers have been falling behind as they lose jobs or their incomes fall.
Green shoots, green scores!
My daughter and her friend were sitting at the local McD's today. They hang out there and talk.
A women comes out of the woods and says "I am homeless and need money. I also have a mental illness." No money for her.
An empty cup was at their table when they sat down. A man comes up to them and asks if he can have the cup. They say "Sure" and he takes it inside for the free refill.
Back 2 threads:
Otis:
"A clearinghouse makes good on the TRADE, not the various multitudes of instruments traded on its exchange. I don't see where they get hurt by fluctuating values, whatever the cause and I don't get your bad bank analogy. "
One side of the trade is almost always dollars, even on the grain exchanges. If you sell $10 million of Google, you don't say show me the money. When the buyer says "I've been a bad, bad bank. I gambled away the money in derivatives, talk to Sheila." It's only an hour later, but your Google is trading at $8 million. The guys who hustled the bad bank knew there would be trouble before you did.
But your Bloomberg hookup says you sold for $10 million. Yes, the clearinghouse owes you the money, and they're supposed to be policing the margin requirements for their fee. You can't even tell who "bought" your shares, and you don't care.
In the case of ICE Trust, they DO clear the "various multitudes of instruments traded". That's why they were created. They must set up a fund, just like a commercial bank's capital requirement, to cover a stress scenario. But the public can't find out the details, we're supposed to trust their "models". ICE Trust is owned and capitalized mainly by the big member banks we all know, so your $10 million buys your ante for one hand. So collectively the big boys could park their toxic writedowns in CDS (as with AIG), and no worry, the Fed is watching the players like a hawk, they'll give a call if their gambling is out of control. Trust the Fed. $500 billion? Sounds like systemic risk. Open a new acronym window, fast.
"I had a talk with a congressional Aide the other day "The system is broken and it isn't fixable,we are running out of duct tape"."
~~~~~
Yep .... the system is broken except for special interests ... The MIC, Big Ag, The Banksters and Health Care Incorporated ...
Their day will come as the country goes broke ...
The United States needs a total restructuring ... Governance, Finance, Tax Law, Military Policy, Health Care, Ag Policy etc,etc,...
Nova.....
The Mrs wonders where in Montana you went to school?
BSR
Columbia Falls. Lived in West Glacier.
....she be from Billings, Hinsdale & Saco.
BSR
Ah, the other Montana.
...."aw.....he's just from the west side - where all the trees are".
I had a talk with a congressional Aide the other day "The system is broken and it isn't fixable
Did he say which system?
Did he mean the whole thing?
I'm guessing he meant finances; but he wasn't talking about, say, the nominating process or something else by chance?
In such case, the Company would be required to take material charges relating to the impairment of assets, in which case the preliminary financial information provided by the Company in previous Forms 12b-25 for the periods ended December 31, 2008 and March 31, 2009 should not be relied upon.
What you say? You mean information you provided showing your financial condition were not to be relied on. Do you mean when you provided it, now, or both?
I thought so.
BSR,
Tell her to come back and read my doom story again.
Kuntsler today ...
" Like the USA, Michael Jackson was a has-been. He hadn't recorded a song worth listening to in over two decades. He had done almost nothing but spin his wheels, hop around the globe from one place to another at enormous expense, and make himself available for award ceremonies to stoke his ego (and give advertisers a reason to promote some televised award show). He existed strictly on image, an anorectic figure nourished by moonbeams of attention, famous for saying that he loved his worshippers when the truth was he merely sucked the life out of them. In his last years, he even looked a bit like Nosferatu, the personification of the un-dead, and his fascination with ghouls was the basis for his biggest hit way back in the last century. A zombie nation deserves a zombie mascot. "
there's lots more ...
The Man in the Mirror - Clusterfuck Nation
How can they tell if a safe deposit box hasn't had activity?
In many states, banks are supposed to report accounts that haven't had transactions in preset years. IIRC, federally chartered banks are not bound by state dormant account laws under preemption analysis.
Deutsche Welle
Is that a German BBC-esque channel broadcasting in DTV in NoVa? For some unknown reason, for as long as I can remember, SC PBS networks have been broadcasting German news in the AM for as long as I can remember. Someone told me that it was part of the deal to get BMW in the state.
Thanks Basel, but a box isn't an account ...
....she'll get caught up..........she's not thru with her chores yet.....
btw, I just found out why gals have smaller feet than men!.............it puts them closer to the sink and stove!
Point of historical reference. I've been on first name with Congressional aides for 30+ years. I've never even tried to call a real congresscritter directly prefering instead to go to the power. I don't know of a one that wouldn't affirm that the system was broken at near every level. This isn't news. Congresscritters are for fundraising tables at fancy locations not hands on governance.
BTW, Fannie Mae was a creation of the New Deal.
Sure glad we kept that great idea around. 70+ years later that chicken finally came home to roost.
I've never had a box, but I always assumed you had to sign in to access the safety deposit box area.
From the FDIC:
Can a box be declared "abandoned" and the contents turned over to the government?
Yes, but only if you don't pay your rental fee for a number of years (as determined by state law) and after attempts to notify and locate you prove unsuccessful. In that case, your box will be reported as abandoned and the contents will be turned over to the state's unclaimed property office. Often this happens because the renter dies and the heirs have no knowledge of the box or its contents. The good news is that even if the state has sold your unclaimed property, you or your heirs still have the right to claim its value. To contact a state's unclaimed property office (sometimes part of the treasurer's office), check the state government section in your phone book. On the Internet, go to the home page of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.
FDIC: FDIC Consumer News - Spring 1997
ghostfaceinvestah (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 5:29 pm
BTW, Fannie Mae was a creation of the New Deal.
Sure glad we kept that great idea around. 70+ years later that chicken finally came home to roost.
Hoover was right. This is the chicken that ended up in everyone's pot.
been on first name with Congressional aides for 30+ years. I don't know of a one that wouldn't affirm that the system was broken at near every level. This isn't news.
OK, so for how long would they say it's been broken?
If it's been "broken" for 30 years, maybe we've got another 30 yrs. Jus sayin'
Basel, thanks
squidward (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 5:32 pm
reply ignore user
been on first name with Congressional aides for 30+ years. I don't know of a one that wouldn't affirm that the system was broken at near every level. This isn't news.
OK, so for how long would they say it's been broken?
If it's been "broken" for 30 years, maybe we've got another 30 yrs. Jus sayin'
I'm not old enough to claim further back but I'd say we lost control with the Nixon Imperial Presidency and cemented it with the subsequent Congressional Over-reach of the weak Carter Era.
E Thomas St. (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 5:03 pm
Thank God they at least are going to rob them of the cash not of products or services.
If you must rob, rob fungibly.
"how long would they say it's been broken? maybe we've got another 30 yrs."
.......though I'm considered "quite the optimist" here, I'd say we just heard "Last Call!"
BTW, Fannie Mae was a creation of the New Deal.
Sure glad we kept that great idea around. 70+ years later that chicken finally came home to roost.
Hoover was right. This is the chicken that ended up in everyone's pot.
~~~~~
Not so fast ....
Fannie and Freddie were supposed to be non profit agencies and worked for years as such
until Congress once again rolled over for financial interests ...
Had they been left alone they would have been fine ...
They would be doing much better if they hadn't ORDERED to buy 40 billion worth of private paper every month ...
You have a very selective memory Dawg ...
Thanks Basel Too. They were doing a segment on cell phone chargers when you posted.
Squidward,The congressional Aide works in a county south of me.He was quite unguarded and was speaking of the country as a whole.Politics and the economy are intertwined to degree that is not separable and that is where our conversation began.It was his position that no politically feasible solution existed and could not given our current reality.He said that just holding things together a little longer was the best outcome he could see.He seemed tired and determined rather than depressed.
The FHA was also a creature of the New Deal.
I have seen some recent FHA delinquency numbers. That monster is going to cost the govt more money than Fannie/Freddie combined before this is over, and they keep adding bad loans to the pile every day.
"how long would they say it's been broken? maybe we've got another 30 yrs."
.......though I'm considered "quite the optimist" here, I'd say we just heard "Last Call!"
Mish has a post up, "Long Term Budget Projections at Unprecedented And Intolerable Levels"
Mish's Global etc.
Might fit into this conversation.
Are you suggesting Michael J. was worth more to some people dead than alive?
(Record sales up 8000%)
The way things are going, they could have at least crucified him.
1 currency now -yogi
He was aware of the conspiracy after they tried burning him alive...
Are you suggesting Michael J. was worth more to some people dead than alive?
Copyright duration is life + 70 years, so in the vast majority of cases, the estate will enjoy the copyright proceeds for a longer period than the artist. My guess is that MJ has a Bowie Bonds type of arrangement.
Pus, when you're dead, there a no pesky child molestation lawsuits.
I have seen some recent FHA delinquency numbers. That monster is going to cost the govt more money than Fannie/Freddie combined before this is over, and they keep adding bad loans to the pile every day.
Ghost,
FHA and a host of other ticking time bombs are why short term treasuries are yielding next to nothing.
"Mish has a post up, "
Gotta like Mish's style: "To say that the present course is unsustainable is putting it mildly. Spending cuts are mandatory. However, neither the Obama administration nor Congress has gotten the message. Nor has the Free Lunch Society of which Paul Krugman is the high priest." LOL! Free Lunch Society indeed.
I heard that the interest on the national debt was $200B+ so far this year alone, and will be somewhere in the range of $400B for the year total (govt fiscal year, not calendar year, btw). And that is at record low interest rates. God forbid we actually get economic growth and need to roll all those t-bills into higher rates
Are you suggesting Michael J. was worth more to some people dead than alive?
(Record sales up 8000%)
I bought 20 cases of Orange-Glo and have all the ads on DVD. I'm accepting bids.
So why do south american countries languish in violence and poverty, except for a few? If you believe that money is real.. god help you.
//Gotta like Mish's style: "To say that the present course is unsustainable is putting it mildly. Spending cuts are mandatory. However, neither the Obama administration nor Congress has gotten the message. Nor has the Free Lunch Society of which Paul Krugman is the high priest." LOL! Free Lunch Society indeed.//
National Recovery Administration Promo - (1933)
Mish
Peak Earnings
One of the implications of Peak Credit is that financial earnings have peaked. And because of reduced leverage, earnings in the financial sector are not coming back for decades. Those earnings were all a mirage in the first place.
Next consider homebuilders given that lending standards have dramatically tightened at banks. Those profits are never coming back. What happenes to profits at major pharmaceuticals if and when the Obama administration allows drug imports from Canada and other places?
One must also factor into the earnings equation boomers facing retirement in the wake of falling home prices and retirement accounts taking a cliff dive. Trillions in potential spending power has been wiped off the books.
Expect boomers to travel less than expected, buy fewer toys (boats, cars etc) than expected, gamble less than expected, and downsize much more than expected in every aspect. This in turn will reduce the earnings potential of non-financial corporations for decades to come. Thus expectations that a new rip roaring bull market will commence once the market bottoms is sadly misplaced.
~~~~
I don't think that even special interests can make it.. in the medium term. Look we have a control mechanism that has lagged the system for almost the last 60 years. There is no way back.. there is no natural level, there is no ultimate equilibrium.
/I/t was his position that no politically feasible solution existed and could not given our current reality.He said that just holding things together a little longer was the best outcome he could see.//
...."aw.....he's just from the west side - where all the trees are".
I dated a girl from Miles City for two years... she was a lot of fun.
The biggest target for federal budget cuts would be in the defense budget. Exit Iraq and Afghanistan...cancel the F-35....withdraw forces from Europe, Japan, and Korea. Of course, Krugman and his ilk would blather about "Hoovers" regarding such cuts...
Mish
"Peak Credit
Peak credit has been reached. That final wave of consumer recklessness created the exact conditions required for its own destruction. The housing bubble orgy was the last hurrah. It is not coming back and there will be no bigger bubble to replace it. Consumers and banks have both been burnt, and attitudes have changed."
Kung.Fu.Panda (homepage, profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 5:55 pm
The biggest target for federal budget cuts would be in the defense budget. Exit Iraq and Afghanistan...cancel the F-35....withdraw forces from Europe, Japan, and Korea. Of course, Krugman and his ilk would blather about "Hoovers" regarding such cuts...
Yeah and dump combat trained and hardened Guardsmen on the streets to discover their jobs are gone. Good plan Leader O.
Actually, you can go straight to the Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget's Long Term Budget Outlook, out today.
http://www.crfb.org/documents/LongTermOutlook.pdf
I know nothing about this committee, but I am a bona fide member of the I Hate Debt Society. Not that I'm not in debt. But I am a Debt Hater. So hearing about unbearable levels of debt in our economy makes me foam at the mouth.
Yick.
We treat people who destroy people's lifesavings with more compassion. What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer.
//An empty cup was at their table when they sat down. A man comes up to them and asks if he can have the cup. They say "Sure" and he takes it inside for the free refill.//
Kung.Fu.Panda
The biggest target for federal budget cuts would be in the defense budget. Exit Iraq and Afghanistan...cancel the F-35....withdraw forces from Europe, Japan, and Korea. Of course, Krugman and his ilk would blather about "Hoovers" regarding such cuts...
~~~~
I share your disdain for Krugman on that level ...
He is always playing the political expediency card instead of taking a long and realistic view ...
"The biggest target for federal budget cuts would be in the defense budget. Exit Iraq and Afghanistan...cancel the F-35....withdraw forces from Europe, Japan, and Korea. Of course, Krugman and his ilk would blather about "Hoovers" regarding such cuts..."
Is that you Ron Paul?
Most brainwashed Americans would be all over you for this plan. You know, America is supposed to be the World's Policeman.
Guess I missed that part of the Constitution last time I read it.
"What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer."
It say, "corruption run rampant."
Fix the Federal budget? Easy, adopt President Kennedy's 1962 budget adjusted for CPI and population growth. What? What's that I hear? That warmongering hyper-conservative wasn't funding a Dept of Education and was wasting more than a third on defense? Why that Reganite needs to be excoriated.
"What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer."
It says the safety net is fraying a bit more every month. Wait until the states really start cutting.
US defense budget vs the 13.9 Trillion we spent to prop up bank holding companies? and yes, I know that most money spent on defense is a scam.. but ALL money spent propping up financial zombies is wasted. At least defense jobs keep average people fed.
//Yeah and dump combat trained and hardened Guardsmen on the streets to discover their jobs are gone.//
Lucifer
We treat people who destroy people's lifesavings with more compassion. What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer.
~~~~
Yep ... the devil is in the details ..... the fine print ... the stacked deck ...
You do realize that first world countries are first world because most people in these countries expect things to work?
//It says the safety net is fraying a bit more every month. Wait until the states really start cutting.//
nova (homepage, profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 6:02 pm
"What does it say about a civilization that has the technology to keep everyone at a minimum lower middle class level, but chooses to let them suffer."
It says the safety net is fraying a bit more every month. Wait until the states really star
The game of "Shoots and Ladders" is not a safety net. Reference Section 8 housing which catapults some people far above harder working competitors for the same limited goods.
Rob Dawg
Fix the Federal budget? Easy, adopt President Kennedy's 1962 budget adjusted for CPI and population growth. What? What's that I hear? That warmongering hyper-conservative wasn't funding a Dept of Education and was wasting more than a third on defense? Why that Reganite needs to be excoriated.
~~~~~~
Cold War is OVER Dawg ...
But such a system cannot hold.. the control mechanisms must catch up with Evolution.
Evolution does not care.. nor is it reversible.
//Yep ... the devil is in the details ..... the fine print ... the stacked deck ...//
thanks much, rob.
i'll be checking on those come august when they're hopefully bottoming out... the funny thing is that cal muni closed-end-funds seem to be doing just fine - odd.
Why not give a poor white person the same benefits as a poor black person.. The problem is poverty and hopeless, not race.
// Reference Section 8 housing which catapults some people far above harder working competitors for the same limited goods.//
carried over:
LL: Couldn't the judges handle the overload by simply "working-to-rule"? The judges could require all foreclosures include a specified list of documentation:
1) true copy of original note;
2) copies of assignments, etc.
3) Board resolutions and powers of attorney authorizing the lawyer or paralegal to do the foreclosure.
If anyone tried to do a foreclosure without all their paperwork in order, hit them with a $10,000 contempt of court fine for each foreclosure with skrood paperwork. After 5 or 6 such fines, use the proceeds to hire another clerk or paralegal to vet paperwork. Turn failed foreclosures into a profit center for the court.
"adopt President Kennedy's 1962 budget adjusted for CPI and population growth. "
Works for me.......
It is not corruption per se. It is the childish belief in a zero sum world, when there is none. It is about religious-type beliefs about money, law, power etc..
//It say, "corruption run rampant."//
Rob Dawg
The game of "Shoots and Ladders" is not a safety net. Reference Section 8 housing which catapults some people far above harder working competitors for the same limited goods.
~~~~~
Bring on the Cadillac driving welfare queen dawg .... you know you want to ...
A family gets a break and you decry the improvement so that noone gets help ....
dryflly -
Miles City is further from the nearest tree than Billings is ... but any girl from Miles City must of been fun. I went to the Bucking Horse Sale with a roommate from college - we had a BLAST.
Ever wonder why countries like brazil, mexico and colombia are unsafe?
//It says the safety net is fraying a bit more every month. Wait until the states really start cutting.//
Black Star Ranch
"adopt President Kennedy's 1962 budget adjusted for CPI and population growth. "
Works for me.......
~~~~~
And the tax rates on the highest earners 70+% ?
LOL
Based of the track record and the misfeasance of the Office of Thrift Supervision regarding their lack of supervision, regulation and the lack of enforcement of those federally chartered thrift banks, the question is, can this inept regulator even recognize if a bank is in competent or has violated the rules?
Michael LittleBig
Well, watching the disaster of the Republican majority here in Arizona expect that 2+2=5- why worry about the Federal holes?
CR has it right spotlighting the 50 Herbert Hoovers operating in the states.
Arizona has essentially shut down all welfare beyond what the Feds require.
The funny part is we haven't even begun to think about cutting prisoners loose.
We will have education cuts next, though. We have already begun to do teacher layoffs- so much for secure employment in government.
The biggest problem is the deflationary domestic pressures contrasting with the inflationary international pressures.
Don't worry about the federal deficit- a lot of capital has to find a home with some chance of return.
When we have recovered sufficiently to worry about crowding out capital, then interest rates can safely rise.
Right now we are still on the collapse side of the economy.
Someday this war's gonna end...
HollywoodHack (homepage, profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 6:07 pm
thanks much, rob.
i'll be checking on those come august when they're hopefully bottoming out... the funny thing is that cal muni closed-end-funds seem to be doing just fine - odd.
Bastard. I mean that in the admiring "fellow competitor" way. I too am looking at Aug/Sept for picking these up on the secondary market at steep discounts during the panics. There's a few drams of Sutter Home Trinchero Triple Cream waiting for us both come this fall. Drive 45 minutes west to collect.
And the tax rates on the highest earners 70+% ?
Sounds good to me. They'll never actually pay it, but they'll pay accountants lots of money avoiding it.
thanks, bond girl. btw, for you sports fans, lincecum is halfway through a no-hitter against the mighty Cards...
"There's a few drams of Sutter Home Trinchero Triple Cream waiting for us both come this fall."
sounds nice. btw, the 'escudo rojo' from '07 is a GREAT ten dollar bottle. nice to see chilean wines finally come into their own.
I read today at a biznews site of a midsize city that approximately 400 people at different companies were laid off May 1 and June 1, and the notices are just now making their way out for public consumption.
This is getting a little uglier faster than I think a lot of people are aware, even if it's their own job/means of income being pressured or soon eliminated.
Yikes.
I think their last hope is the A Team.
w-o-w. this one isn't small.
I did not do it.. he made his choice.
and yes,he is one of the 50 herbert hoovers ( lead contender).
This guy talks about pork barrel spending and goes to Argentina (to meet his mistress) on taxpayer money.
Talks about sanctity of marriage and goes to Argentina to "meet" his mistress.
Spiritual Adviser: "Darkness" Gripped Sanford
Spiritual Adviser: "Darkness" Gripped Sanford
ALLEN G. BREED | June 29, 2009 06:28 AM EST |
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Each Sunday afternoon in May, Gov. Mark Sanford and his wife hosted five other couples at the executive mansion for a spiritual "boot camp." Topics discussed during the hour-and-a-half-long sessions included forgiveness and "not loving your wife as Christ loved the church." Group leader Warren "Cubby" Culbertson did not tell the other four couples what he and his wife, Susan, had known for months: The governor was having an affair with a woman in Argentina. When Jenny Sanford confronted her husband in January after finding a letter to "Maria" among his official papers, the governor turned to Culbertson. For nearly six months, Culbertson has been the first couple's spiritual counselor and their secret keeper. The Sanfords "passed" the Culbertsons' course with flying colors. A week later, Jenny Sanford asked her husband to leave their home.
I told them that too
Guaranty Financial: Last Hope is FDIC
With what the FedGov is spending, do you really think there's any money for the States?
Hard-line or not, we are broke. The ONLY way to keep the facade one-dimensional is to print money. Everyone here knows that. It's no secret within these walls. The ONLY question, DURING the eventual non-stop printing, is when will the debt holders start running towards the exit signs. Inflation? Eventually. We'll have MANY bigger issues then THAT before we get to the inflation monster. We don't have enough fairy dust to make them go away and we don't have the leadership to stop the problems from appearing in one nightmare after another.
cummon! no one?
"Houston, we have a problem."
OK, I give up.
Lucifer (profile) wrote on Mon, 6/29/2009 - 6:24 pm
I told them that too
Guaranty Financial: Last Hope is FDIC
Oh, great. They are still listening to Lucifer. We are all screwed.
But this just the tip of the iceberg.
//"Houston, we have a problem."//
Ok RockyR, I'll play dumb furriner. What's the gag?
C
I don't know about that.. we have geithner in the treasury, summers pulling his strings and rubin running a cloak and dagger operation. Not to mention paulson, blankfein.. You do not really require my help to f**k up.
//They are still listening to Lucifer. We are all screwed.//
BSR,
Past the point of no return! "Reality, what a concept" - Robin Williams
Hollywood Hack;
Open end CA mnui funds have been fairly stable as well - check out VCAIX
I have used an escort whose agency 'name' was faith.
//Guaranty Financial: Last Hope is FDIC//
This cannot end well!
//Open end CA mnui funds have been fairly stable as well - check out VCAIX//
NASA Wants Your Ideas for Digitizing Rocket Scientist’s Notes
NASA Wants Your Ideas for Digitizing Rocket Scientist’s Notes | Wired Science | Wired.com
By Betsy Mason June 26, 2009 | 1:48 pm
NASA is taking the rare step of reaching out to the public for help. The space agency is looking for the best way to analyze and electronically catalog a precious collection of notes that chronicle the early history of the human space flight program. “We’re looking for creative ways to get it out to the public,” said project manager Jason Crusan. “We don’t always do the best with putting out large sets of data like this.” The notes [pdf] are those of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, the fist director of NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama and are typed with copious hand written notes in the margin. According to the official request for information [pdf], NASA needs ideas on what format to use, how to index the notes and how to create a useful database. The unique nature and historical value of the data, literally discovered in boxes six months ago, is what motivated NASA to ask the public for ideas. “It’s first-hand insight on how management and engineering decisions were made on a real-time basis,” Crusan said. “It’s quite scrawled upon all over the place.”
People like us hunker down and stop spending. What do we do with our money? We give it to the banks at indebted slave interest rates. They love it. They can get their cash as required from the FedGov at cheap rates, bank our savings at cheap interest rates as well, and not lend a dime to anyone. No gambles, no worry. The banks will wait out the "uncertain clouds". The revenue levels will continue to decrease, infrastructure will continue to degrade, more will be cut from the public sector, including finally the workers. Now it's the schools, tomorrow it will be city hall but 3-days a week, more and more cities will try and deincorporate - fall back into the arms of the County.
...And I'll still be gathering our 25# of milk, 2-dozen eggs a day, yearly 500# of beef, and tons of veggies and fruit and be known as the old crazy Marine guy with the killer bees, snakes and attack dogs. LOL. Well, part of it's true!
Peter Schiff: "Of Course We're Not Going To Pay Back The Chinese"
Peter Schiff: "Of Course We're Not Going To Pay Back The Chinese" - Home - The Daily Bail - The Bailout News Central Depository. News, Interviews,Videos, Comedy, Songs, Opinion & A
I hope the Chinese get wind of this speech, especially now that Schiff is running for the Senate.
What does he know? any guesses?
Pimco’s El-Erian Says Federal Reserve Unlikely to Raise Rates
Pimco’s El-Erian Says Federal Reserve Unlikely to Raise Rates - Bloomberg.com
By Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam and Pimm Fox
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., said the U.S. Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates.
The Fed will keep rates low “for a long time,” El-Erian said today in a Bloomberg Radio interview from Pimco’s headquarters in Newport Beach, California.
I have used an escort whose agency 'name' was faith.
I hear she sometimes runs a 3-girl midweek special with Hope and Charity.
I Used To Think Freddie Mac Was A Pimp (Song)
I Used To Think Freddie Mac Was A Pimp (Song) (Clip) - Home - The Daily Bail - The Bailout News Central Depository. News, Interviews,Videos, Comedy, Songs, Opinion & Analysis
funny.
If the chinese did not realize that a decade ago, they are stupid and deserve it!
//I hope the Chinese get wind of this speech, especially now that Schiff is running for the Senate.//
Come to think of it, I had a 'hope' or two too.. no charity or chastity though..
//I hear she sometimes runs a 3-girl midweek special with Hope and Charity.//
CNN Breaking News:
A Yemeni airliner with 150 people aboard has crashed near the Comoros Islands, an aviation official in Yemen says.
I bring you news of the joyous return of our messiah!
Global Recovery Coming Soon, Barclays’ Bond Says: Chart of Day
Global Recovery Coming Soon, Barclays’ Bond Says: Chart of Day - Bloomberg.com
By David Wilson
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Investors displaying “a bout of impatience” for a worldwide economic recovery may soon find relief, according to Tim Bond, head of global asset allocation at Barclays Capital.
“The hard evidence of recovery that the markets seem to require will be available in August and September,” Bond wrote in a June 26 report. His estimate is based on data for business cycles since World War II.
Lucifer,
My friend's father was one of those scientists. My friend's handwriting sucks too, so he bought one of those Live Scribes. Imagine if someone had recorded those NASA meetings to re-analyze all those good ideas that went nowhere?
BREAKING NEWS FROM HONDURAS...
"Protesters ransacked a Pizza Hut restaurant near the palace and injured customers. They threw rocks, broke the door and rushed into the restaurant, said Hever Raudales, an employee.
“This isn’t about reforms anymore,” said Raudales, 24. “This is vandalism.”
Maybe...it's about bad pizza.
dryflly -
Miles City is further from the nearest tree than Billings is ... but any girl from Miles City must of been fun. I went to the Bucking Horse Sale with a roommate from college - we had a BLAST.
Her grandpa was a stitch too - a bonifide 'cowboy'... worked for some 20 years as a 'ranch hand' [probably have to call them 'estate managers' today] before his wife [my old GF's grandma] made him get a job in town. When he came to visit we'd drink whiskey and sing 'cowboy' songs until the women would take the bottle away [thinking we might be starting to have too much fun]. Pretty hilarious time...
Anyway's we both split up and married other folks... though I got the better deal... my wife's grandpa came from Norway, knew all the haunts where my Norwegian side of the family were from [here and in Norway] and also liked to drink whiskey. My ex-GF married a pharmaceutical salesman who makes way more money than I ever will but they live in a sterile suburb. No cowboy songs or whiskey for them. Nuthin' but golf outings... yuck!
Change I can believe in! Why the sudden generosity?
Sears to Let Jobless Stop Payments, Still Keep Fridge (Update2)
Bloomberg.com
By Lauren Coleman-Lochner
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Sears Holdings Corp., the largest U.S. department-store chain, will let customers who lose their jobs suspend payments and keep appliances bought with store credit cards in an effort to bolster sales in the recession.
Customers who spend at least $399 on appliances and related merchandise between July 6 and Aug. 1 will have one-twelfth of the purchase price credited to their account for every month they are out of work, said Larry Costello, a company spokesman. Those who are jobless for more than a year will have the full debt forgiven, he said. The offer period may be extended, he said.
rich;
"Maybe...it's about bad pizza. "
Well, then how do they manage through BFF in Honduras?
That would be a bad idea. We might actually have better lives.. the horror! We should just stick to financialism and feed our inner ape mind.
My friend's father was one of those scientists. My friend's handwriting sucks too, so he bought one of those Live Scribes. Imagine if someone had recorded those NASA meetings to re-analyze all those good ideas that went nowhere?
lucifer..
that sears credit offer just takes the cake..green shoots is the new bubble...We are truly doomed when your sales pitch is we'll defer the payments and forgive the debt if you lose your job...
"Copyright duration is life + 70 years, ...."
Who's that old guy who died in '39, again? He was huge in the 1870's. They called him the king of the pops, or the king of pop, or just pops. Never did quite reach his former glory after they discovered he kept some slaves "overtime" at his ranch compound.
"I never once laid a hand on them. I don't read the newspapers, I'm an artist. I didn't take a side in that crazy war. I don't do political material."
Tried to tour to pay off the lawsuits and restore his name, but wound up losing more money with his elaborate "artistic" stage productions. Ended up on the run from some vicious loan sharks. Lucky for him everyone else was underwater too and he wasn't worth the trouble of chasing down.
Michael's handlers always had a great sense of dramatic timing, and they didn't have to do anything special, just enable his bad habits. With all the retrospection across the airwaves, ever hear anything recorded after Reagan was done? Will recorded music even be traded for cash in 30 years? Michael, uh, take the red one right after the white and blue ones. I'm here for you...