e-mail is a pretty big part of business these days, and an important gleaming into the service sector economy
furthermore, spam e-mail represents the marginal products and marginal advertising budgets
would you be shocked if I told you that e-mail for the first time ever did not increase year over year? Largely because it plummeted during November 2008 when there was panic?
That end of July start of August was the turning point.
~Oct 19 was the end of positive growth
and if activity stays this low, or worse continues falling, the odds of having sustained employment increases is very very low
double-dip in underway, or I would argue, the blue recession bars never ended
I cut Ben Bernanke a lot of slack. But this was really bad:
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday threw cold water on efforts to push a major new fiscal stimulus package.
At his confirmation hearing for a second term as chairman, Bernanke emphasized that the government has spent less than half of the money in the $787-billion package passed earlier this year and that analysts are still determining its impact.
“Only about 30 percent of the funds have been disbursed,” Bernanke said. “It’s a little bit early to make a strong judgment, a little bit early to decide whether or not to do additional fiscal actions.”
The stimulus has already had its maximum impact on growth — and there’s no sign that private final spending is ready to pick up the slack. Here’s Goldman Sachs on what’s likely to happen to the forces now driving recovery, such as it is:
Absolutely Fabulous, Mr. EHP!......you could probably make a career off this observation---the next Freakonomics
(BTW, is that a leading or lagging indicator)
Mail messages with total target counts larger than 10 are bulk and so "likely spam".
No wonder nobody reads e-mail about projects at my Zombie bank, it's all caught in spam-filters. They couldn't make a plan to go to the toilet without 30 people being cc'd.
Ashburn, actually. Reston is a few miles east of the AOL campus. We got a few [one actually!] AOL resume when the voluntary layoff was announced. One position in particular related to Web 2.0 we can't seem to get many candidates for. Maybe 5 resumes in 4 weeks, most through recruiters.
NaRm
e-mail isn't centrally reported, but there are lots of hubs out there -- like companies responsible for checking spam. It's an insight, and fallible but it happens to correlate with recent real world events.
This might be the first in VA, but certainly not the last. International Paper decided to ditch Franklin VA beinning 1st of the year. Can't wait to hear how they will turn out. I hear some of the employees had just bought a house, braces for the kid. Yada yada.
this is getting old, i need a drink
Everytime I hear the name Reston VA I can't but remember the weird Ebola outbreak back in the 90's that happened there.
At the Monkey House in Issac Newton Square. I was working about three blocks from there, and never paid any attention to it at the time. Had it not mutated the way it did, initial proximity would have been irrelevant.
You wanted more AOL folks to quit or you wanted more AOL folks to apply for work at your place?
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Who is still left at AOL? They've been shedding people over the past 10 years, and I figured all that was left was management and tech support/script readers?
If the Fed is so concerned about independence, shouldn't the Fed Chairman keep his nose out of fiscal policy?
Yes, but s/he needs to make it apparent what the implications of fiscal policy are going to be on monetary policy; Greenspan used to do this all the time, and it worked back in the early '90s. I don't there's anything any of them can do in the long now-
sm_landlord
I am aware that it is perhaps a biased sliver of the data, thanks for the feedback though.
I did check this against about 4 other providers, but these provided the most relevant charts.
This is not a joke: I'm buying Zimbabwe bank notes for friends and family for Christmas. A friend recently pointed out that many were on sale on eBay and showed me one he had bought.
It is a thing of beauty to hold a "Fifty Billion Dollar" note in your hand.
As vacant as the AOL campus is, I frequently grab lunch at the shopping center near the entrance across Waxpool road. There's a half dozen restaurants there, and they're almost always full.
I ran a job search for myself. Not good. I found out today that one of the security guards has 2 IT related degrees. He is going back for his MA.
Reston. When I was a younger man all the best drugs came out of Reston. It does not surprise me. Outside of the Beltway it is foreclosure land. CRE is also going to be ugly here.
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Small Business Owner Confidence Plunges
Small Business are so old-school. We need BIG stuff now. BIG BIG BIG. BIG corporations borrowing BIG amounts of cash from the BIG government is what we need now. Run with the BIG dogs. This is a BIG problem requiring BIG solutions. America is BIG, the world is BIG.
The biggest cost is operating 4 training reactors.
Thanks Nuke, that is the sailor at the coal face, no? How many hands on a carrier these days, 3,000ish? With some major upgrades for the higher end officer and pilot training...all the hardware is cool and all, but without the qualified peeps it is just military paperweights...
CRE - yeah, tons of vacant buildings. 2 adjacent 180-300K sq ft buildings have been empty for over 2 years. Location isn't the best. However I'm noticing some movement into the newer mid rises near the 267/28 interchange.
Of course you can now buy "One Hundred Trillion" notes too.
Buy a 1 cent note + a 100,000,000,000,000 note and give them to everyone with a personal note that says, "Both of these bills are worth less than 1 sheet of toilet paper. And the toilet paper would be more pleasant to use. Happy Holidays!"
Cinco-X, that is fine. There is a huge difference between saying "large deficits can cause problems" to giving specific advice. Of course Greenspan said we were going to run large surpluses forever ... and he was worried that might be a problem. ROFLOL.
Only engine room personnel are nukes, except for the officers. On Subs, all O-gangers are nukes, but missile weenies and coners (everyone forward of the engine room hatch) go to Grotten, CT for Sub School.
We are the elite coal faces. We get a whopping $400/mo more and only have to do three times the work!
"I expected more resumes. We're getting very few qualified and passable English speaking candidates. "
During the worst of the dot-com bust in Silicon Valley back in the early 2000 period we still found it incredibly difficult to find good quality English speaking SW engineers. This was in the biotech area.
I'm in Finance now and it's still hard to find these types of SW engineers. Most of them are found by word of mouth.
We're getting too close to the midterms for another stimpack, unless each dollar buys a job in a direct, obvious way that J6P can be made to understand. Job = dollar = vote.
I'm in Finance now and it's still hard to find these types of SW engineers.
One problem is the diversity of software platforms now tho. There's so many damn languages and specializations that somebody who wanted just a "SW engineer that knows something about finance" wouldn't even be noticed.
I thought we just sent the USDs directly to the voters ala UEI nowadays?
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While I buy into the idea that we could use more "stimulus", I'm selling the idea that it will no little more than repave roads.
scone
Get a stimpack together in the next month or two, spend it from spring to summer, and then it's election time. Perfect timing
However, I would guess they would spend small and by committee. Less than $200bn, most of it in tax cuts, some more unemployment/COBRA extensions, and a minor portion of it going towards more infrastructure spending to begin next fall
PERUGIA, Italy – American college student Amanda Knox was found guilty of murdering her British roommate and sentenced to 26 years in prison early Saturday after a year-long trial that gripped Italy and drew intense media attention.
Her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted and sentenced to 25 years. They were also convicted of sexual assault in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from England.
As soon as the judge read the verdict just after midnight following some 13 hours of deliberations, Knox began weeping and murmured, "No, no," then hugged one of her lawyers.
Minutes later, the 22-year-old Knox, who is from Seattle and the 25-year-old Sollecito, were put in police vans with sirens blaring and driven back to jail.
Oi. Due Diligence and YMMV BUT...
.
You may want to ride it in shorter bursts. I don't think we are at the point to see a 79 handle yet, but 90 -> 87 -> 90 may work. I'm not sure how much of a problem you will have with decay--depending on how you positioned yourself short.
"SW engineer that knows something about finance" wouldn't even be noticed.
He wouldn't be able to get a job.
That's part of the "Religious Temple", the creation of a vast array of arcane nomenclature and semantics so as to be opaque to outsiders, and free insiders from the responsibility of making cost-effective choices.
They obviously won't turn a carrier around for anyone. They might send out a rescue chopper is someone sees you go over, but chances are you'd be dead anyway. it's a long fall and you can get sucked into the screws.
It's not uncommon for sailors to go missing and not be found. Suicide? Desertion? Who knows?
Definitely couldn't get through HR with something as vague as that line. Gotta agree with Broward there, and the one thing I don't miss the most about IT/programming is dealing with the tech lingo and jargon when applying for work.
idea: Herd money market funds into some kind of guaranteed state debt. The FDIC could use the insurance fees to raise some more short term money.
edit: I mean that's a $2tn pot right there. Saves the Fed from bothering with tri-party repos to keep a lid on money supply. The big companies accessing short term funding could switch over to the already in place CPFF which would just need another extension
That is harsh. At least the meat shields will just have soap-in-the-sox parties for their troublesome comrades. To think sailors would just let the ocean do the work for them...
I have an extreme opinion on this: There are so many wannabe players in the headhunter/HR/placement crowd that resume signal-to-noise has gone to zero. The only way to find good folks is via word of mouth.
Herd money market funds into some kind of guaranteed state debt. The FDIC could use the insurance fees to raise some more short term money.
Thanks for the stomach ache, EHP. Just when I was getting used to the idea of having my cash sitting in a MMF again because I don't want the tax penalty of getting it out and I didn't want to risk putting it into the market...
That's part of the "Religious Temple", the creation of a vast array of arcane nomenclature and semantics so as to be opaque to outsiders, and free insiders from the responsibility of making cost-effective choices.
HA! That could be a description of IT, government, or even modern art. The perfect state of unaccountable management structure. Somebody on here had a great phrasing (last week I think) on this. It was as a variation of the saying that: "Science looks like magic to the illiterate" (or whatever that phrase was). It was really good, tho.
Get a stimpack together in the next month or two, spend it from spring to summer, and then it's election time. Perfect timing - EHP
That's the thing though, even a construction project using the "fast track" system would take at least 4 months to be shovel-ready from here. Especially in California. So you would have to get it through committee, then through recon, to sign, to the states, then through the local permitting process, including environmental. I just don't see that there is time, unless something's already practically at the "pull the permit" stage.
The only other stimpack idea I can see is adding people to existing social services, like feeding the homeless, stuff like that. That's much easier than construction, and more gender-equal than construction projects. Getting women back to work eases the pressure on the food banks.
This is what I am thinking, nova, states and municipalities - simply because most of the provision of political goods that J6P notices occurs at the state/local level - and they are most definitely going to experience another leg down, simply as a function of the reduced tax receipts that have been documented repeatedly here what with the fading of the last stimpak with respect to state and local govts...
That is harsh. At least the meat shields will just have soap-in-the-sox parties for their troublesome comrades. To think sailors would just let the ocean do the work for them...
Yikes! I honestly didn't even think about that, but I suppose it could be murder. Almost a perfect crime even. two guys out on the fantail for some air....
The legislation will likely be split in two. The first part, at around $110 billion, would be considered emergency spending. It would again extend unemployment insurance, food stamp increases and a provision in the stimulus bill that subsidizes private-health insurance for the unemployed. This portion will likely be attached to a giant spending bill this month to fund the federal government, and will be added to the already huge U.S. budget deficit.
A second "jobs" bill would cost up to $70 billion, funded by the bank bailout. It would include more money for highway and bridge building, school construction and repair, and water and sewer projects. A second component would be direct aid to state governments cutting back services and raising taxes, moves that are hurting the economic recovery.
Finally, some repaid bailout funds will be lent back to small businesses directly from the Treasury.
Also, get it passed in committee? What do you think the +30k troops to Afghanistan is for, no one is going to 'vote against the troops'
I would guess a stimpack has been worked on in private, and that when it is announced it is ready for a vote.
I did interviews in 2007 for a company, we had several good candidates but the two decision-makers were so unschooled in nuance and so paranoid of being overshadowed that they shot down every recommendation. So we went round and round and round for months, never hiring anyone until finally we got a NULL generic nothing kind of candidate who matched on paper but had no skill.
Every ship I sailed on had a watch set whose job was to make sure someone going overboard was seen. Of course, back in the day, they were usually stoned.
scone, Not shovel ready. Outright money grants for payroll purposes. - n
Yep, that's what I was driving at. You could put a lot of people in various departments, from child welfare to the state asylums. Also taking care of parks, cleaning public buildings, etc. Of course the unions will kvetch about it.
I believe the Silver Line of the Metro (local train) is coming to Reston. Given the whacking PMs took today, I find that ironic.
Actually, that explains why RRE prices have risen in Reston and are now slightly above the peak (in the desirable areas). Although I have noticed that rentals in the DC Metro are now offering several months of Free Rent in lieu of price concessions. At least the ones on Craigslist.
Supposedly they were to shout "Man overboard" which kicked off the drill or rescue. It and "Fire. Fire. Fire. This is not a drill" always got your attention.
AOL still has about 6,000 employees. Looking to shed about 2,500 in 1Q2010. About 5 million dialup subscribers, and still the (I believe) 4th largest web presence by number of daily uniques.
A second "jobs" bill would cost up to $70 billion, funded by the bank bailout. It would include more money for highway and bridge building, school construction and repair, and water and sewer projects. - EHP
Because commercial/institutional construction workers are mostly union, and Democrat. Payback, and a bribe-- these guys liked Hillary more than Obama.
As someone who works for a So Small To Fail firm, I have no desire for the firm to outgrown its cash flow. In the real world--as opposed to your Unicorn-Filet Friday paradise--we actually watch what we spend.
There used to be people who would try to anticipate what the public wanted and then provided those things for them, risking his own money to do so. They were called "entrepenuers" and there still might be a few left, but the are endangered.
The routine was the decks after dark belonged to the enlisted. Lifers had their hideout and the officers theirs. It also made it easier for them to ignore things if they didn't see them.
Pigged about two post ago - damn this is fast action tonight.
NOTaREALmerican wrote:
There is no Wachovia
Wachovia died when acquired by First Union in 2001 as a consequence of interstate banking becoming legal. The Wachovia brand had so much goodwill in NC going back decades that the name was kept but it was not the old conservative Wachovia by a long shot.
I remember man overboard drills while surfaced Officer of the Deck. The immediate action is to stop the shaft (the propeller) and turn the rudder full to the side the man fell over (to kick out the stern). Then you do a Williamson turn or a Wye turn to get back to him, and put the rescue swimmer in the water.
Amusing story from Bloomberg, where Geithner imitates someone who is offended by overly big bank bonuses (having done whatever it took so the same banks could pay the bonuses again this year):
Plus you take a fix of your position ASAP. We did "Fish the dead pilot" duty for awhile. That was cool. Watching the carrier all lit up at night with them F-14's coming in.
I saw "$2 trillion dollar pot right there" and I immediately thought about the assets in 401k's that could be coverted to TBonds in a pinch. I mean that would never happen, right?
By coincidence I was in Reston today, and the place seemed very prosperous. Greater Atlantic Bank must have made some stupid loans and/or the insiders were ripping off the bank, because a bank in Reston should be a money machine. I noticed that the last bank to fail in Virginia was in 1993 -- New Atlantic Bank. I hope they weren't related somehow.
I watched a rescue diver go in for a fisherman who got off course. The diver got to him and the fishermans fingers came off as he tried to get him set to be pulled up.
Broward,
That world is long gone. Piss tests, Jeebus lovers, and setting a good image for the locals killed it.
There once was a girl from the FDIC
Whose funds were more than empty
She says no one has lost a cent
Now or ever from the insolvent
After the nineteen, I guess we will see
"SW engineer that knows something about finance" wouldn't even be noticed.
He wouldn't be able to get a job.
That's part of the "Religious Temple", the creation of a vast array of arcane nomenclature and semantics so as to be opaque to outsiders, and free insiders from the responsibility of making cost-effective choices. "
Actually the hardest part of getting this job was convincing the big-wig who did the last interview that my lack of financial experience wouldn't hamper me.
The reality is that I didn't know anything about biotech before getting into biotech and it wasn't an issue. The most important skills (ability to think outside the box, work by yourself, architect well) are transferrable across a wide variety of industries. But I bit my tongue and didn't say "Hey I didn't know anything about biotech and did fine".
I've been very lucky that I've worked at both large and small companies where the senior SW engineers made the actual recommendation. HR and Management was just a rubber-stamp after the fact. Not a lot of politicking in any of the division I've been in at my level. Get the right person for the job.
Dubai World is going to trigger their CDS when the creditor workout goes to crap over the weekend. Who's with me?
I just don't understand the short-term trading urges in a basically long-term asset like gold.
I had a sell price target of $1,200. But I would not be buying back in until it goes well under $1,100.
It's impossible for ordinary people to time these markets. Clearly, there was an orchestrated professional trader action today, timed just at (or even a few seconds before) release of the employment numbers.
The goal of the insider professionals, Bernanke and Timmy's friends, was to smoke out the weak-handed gold players. Why put yourself in their crosshairs?
Owning gold or silver is not like owning SRS. You don't have to be so daily and antsy.
It is time for the White House to return to its campaign roots. Since Obama's inauguration, our unemployment rate has risen from 7.6 percent to 10.2 percent. It is time to stop propping up outmoded and overleveraged institutions and start betting on the new men and women who offer hope for greater prosperity. Supporting entrepreneurs is change we can believe in.
I loved that sound. Be sitting on the beach and watch as they came in like weird slow moving peradactyls...the engines howling...knowing that a carrier group was out there somewhere.
This is my impression as well. I know a few people that lost their jobs or been out of work for a while, some restaurants that have closed, small business owners on the edge, but it doesn't feel all that recessionary compared to other places I've visited this year.
Still plenty of new luxury cars shooting down the Dulles toll road at rush hour.
knowing that a carrier group was out there somewhere.
Well , we've go a ton of carriers due to arrive next week. With intercoastals closed for construction, massive potholes and traffic jams and layoffs it should be alot of fun to see how this plays out around here after their manditory swine flue shots.
Wachovia died when acquired by First Union in 2001 as a consequence of interstate banking becoming legal. The Wachovia brand had so much goodwill in NC going back decades that the name was kept but it was not the old conservative Wachovia by a long shot.
Interstate banking legislation was signed by Pres. Clinton in Sept. 1994.
The First Union acquisition was engineered by the Feds to rescue Wachovia, which had gone under due to horrendous management. The emergency acquisition would have occurred with or without the 1994 law. A sad demise for what had been a premier institution founded by the Moravians in the 19th century.
Looking at EMRATIO, there is a chance it goes below 58% in January 2010.
The last few times it has been below 58% were June 1982 through June 1983 inclusive, April 1982, and August 1974 through August 1977
this is crazy
edit: and the gray recession bar isn't extended on the chart
IN case you were wondering where a lot of the temp hiring was going on.
I can tell you that much of the temp hiring is because the industry doesn't expect the jobs to be permanent. The mortgage industry over the years has benefited from 1) a secular decline in interest rates which drove the initial refi boom, 2) the bubble in "affordability products", 3) a recent boom in hiring to clean up the mess from 2).
Going forward we are going to see a much more boring, and much smaller, mortgage industry. Origination volumes going forward are going to be much lower than recent years (witness the MBA applications index - it has not responded recently to the recent mortgage rate drop). The jobs that used to exist in this industry are going to need to be replaced with something else in the economy.
Of course there will be yet one more mini-boom as the FHA needs people to clean up their coming mess.
Mortgage Industry Continues to Tap Temp Workforce
December 4, 2009
The mortgage industry continues to shrink in terms of full-time employees as companies rely more on temporary workers to deal with servicing and origination demand. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that mortgage companies cut 3,700 full-time workers from their payrolls in October, including 1,700 mortgage brokers. Overall employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector fell to 255,500 in October from 259,200 in September. "You have a lot of temps being hired," a Mortgage Bankers Association executive said, noting that those figures do not show up in the BLS mortgage sector data. MBA associate vice president of industry analysis Marina Walsh said that mortgage firms are definitely hiring servicing-related workers but it is hard for them to justify hiring full-timers given the volatility in the market. "To forecast what it going to happen with originations and interest rates is very difficult," she said. Meanwhile, Friday's jobs report provided some good news with the national unemployment rate falling to 10% from 10.2% previously. BLS also revised downward the job losses in October and September - by a combined 150,000. (There is a one-month lag in BLS reporting of mortgage industry employment data.)
I can tell you that much of the temp hiring is because the industry doesn't expect the jobs to be permanent. The mortgage industry over the years has benefited from 1) a secular decline in interest rates which drove the initial refi boom, 2) the bubble in "affordability products", 3) a recent boom in hiring to clean up the mess from 2).
Going forward we are going to see a much more boring, and much smaller, mortgage industry.
ghostface, I thought you were smart
Don't you know that if the bubble money and the fees, jobs, apparent wealth, and profits it generates starts to decline, that is the signal for Larry, Ben, Tim, Barney, and Chris to do whatever it takes to rev the engine up again, no matter how tired and worn-out it is?
I'll bet you one trillion zimbabwe dollars a California bank will not go belly up today.
heh heh.
Does make you wonder if someone will be chuckling about the US$ someday. Note to self: if the US$ inflates to 12 zeros, buy a bunch and sell them on ebay as momentos.
Come to think of it, the worst thing that could happen is, if the stimpack really worked and then the Fed mopped up the excess liquidity successfully, papering over the damage. If that happened, it would create the uber-goddess mother of all moral hazards, creating a massive temptation to engage in the whole boom and bust cycle again, but much worse. As in throw the planet back to the witchsmelling era.
Consumers cutting spending or not spending right now is a healthy strategy for uncertain employment prospects and/or debt overload. As a result an over-supply of franchise retail stores and franchise restaurants (and mom-and-pop businesses and restaurants) will be going under and are closing...a lot of this was business built on a bubble and will go with the bubble...supply and demand will weed out too many businesses not needed and/or wanted any more...problem is there goes a lot of unsustainable jobs...so more bubble bust unemployment fallout...
Like FHA no money down loans (3.5% down, with tax credit, and seller concessions = no money down), with up to 50% DTI ratio? Is it possible to go even further? Yeah, you're right, now I'm the one not being smart: It's always possible to lend more crazily, and we will.
The First Union acquisition was engineered by the Feds to rescue Wachovia, which had gone under due to horrendous management.
Thanx for the input. The local legend blamed the ego of First Union's CEO wanting to grow at any cost in competition with the CEO of (then) NCNB. I just remember the reputation of Wachovia during mid-century when I was growing up in Raleigh plus what my Father told me about earlier times. I left Raleigh for the coast in 1969 and probably missed the news of the down slide. Very sad (although I have banked with Wachovia for the last 30 years).
(AP) Marijuana extracts may reduce spasticity symptoms in people with multiple sclerosis, a new study shows.
The review, by Shaheen Lakhan, PhD, and Marie Rowland, PhD, of the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation in Los Angeles, found that five of six published studies they analyzed reported a reduction in spasticity and an improvement in mobility in MS patients treated with marijuana extracts.
Lakhan tells WebMD in an email that the extracts were administered orally. The reviewed studies included the use of cannabis extracts delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and cannabidiol, or CBD, in people with MS.
I saw a man, white, well dressed, mid-fifties, crying quietly to himself on Metro tonight. It could have been anything but my first thought was "laid off."
CR is on target with his comments about Bernanke's commenting outside the bounds of his job.
What CR is too polite to say is that Bernanke is a starfucker.
Bernanke is a poor little boy from Carolina who likes the prestige and limelight of making important statements. If he stuck to his job, he wouldn't get so much media or in-crowd attention.
Greenspan was a starfucker too. But there's a big difference between Bernanke and Greenspan.
Greenspan couldn't see himself in the mirror. Bernanke can see himself in the mirror of Greenspan, who has already been discredited and is loathed by the American people.
Bernanke can see this but can't stop. He's a druggie starfucker.
Still disquieting to see. He was in real pain. The quiet, i'll just put my hand over my face while I stand here and please don't look kind. The eyes...god bless him. I hope he isn't going home to an empty house.
end of work day, Friday.. I would guess layoff
probably crying because he was the sole provider for a family and has no idea where he can get a job right now
The quiet, i'll just put my hand over my face while I stand here and please don't look kind. - n
Yeah, that's the death and illness cry. Angry crying, with hands in fists, is different-- railing against some kind of cosmic injustice. I don't think guys realize how much emotion they do display, because they think they "hold it in."
Bernanke can see this but can't stop. He's a druggie starfucker.
Unpleasant. And I doubt CR needs other people's foul language put into his mouth.
Bernanke is probably misguided. I doubt he goes to work every day figuring out how to make the lives of others less pleasant. Quite the opposite. He is anxious to please, just as Tim Geithner is. And the community he aims to please? That is made up of the people he knows best, and that would be academic economists, wall street apologists, and Congress. Sure enough, we are seeing a populist Fed policy that constantly errs on the side of inflating and reflating bubbles (under Congress's influence), feeds all the subsidies through banks (for wall street) , and supports policies aimed at preventing any recessions (to please the economists).
Hard to watch. Our room mate tries not to show how worried she is. i try to make sure there is food in the frig and some fun stuff is covered. Her past employer told DES she only worked one quarter, now she has to apeal to get ue benifits. Thaty will take months.
Az is already in debt for EU, they would rather not pay anyone right now.
Kind of interesting because I found out in the am that my sister is selling her furniture and other belongings on Craigslist to keep gas in the car. It's one thing seeing the deals. It's another thing knowing or seeing the faces.
If anything, I hope each one of those bankers someday see's those faces. Each 50k equaling a different face. Shit these guys have entire small towns worth of people, and their shattered lives to spend. Every year.
One day, recessions will be talked about as a natural action required for an economy to move forward more effectively, like sleep is for humans. In the meanwhile, let's continue the govt war on sleep. We hadn't slept for 72 hours, and we are really strung out, so clearly what we need is more coffee. Stimulus, FHA loans....
Still disquieting to see. He was in real pain. The quiet, i'll just put my hand over my face while I stand here and please don't look kind. The eyes...god bless him. I hope he isn't going home to an empty house.
No kidding. Guy I'd worked with for the past 10 years got the ax recently. I could hear him quietly weeping for a few minutes before he pulled it together. BRUTAL, especially since we'd become pretty close friends.
Happy ending, though. He's now getting contracting gigs from OUR customers at 2x + his former salary. Management is now realizing they fired one of the only guys in the company that know how our software works.
The newspaper industry is suffering "market failure" and the government will need to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy, an influential US congressman said Wednesday.
"The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them," said Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California.
What a piece of work. Maybe if they reported some real news? Naw. Never happen
When a man meets another man for the first time, quite often the first question each asks one-another is "what do you do?", as in what kind of job do you have. (Which is an indirect way of asking: how much money do you make?)
Like a couple of dogs smelling each other's behind's~
Irmo, SC -- Authorities say the Criminal Justice Academy's information technology director has been charged with soliciting sex through the Internet.
Attorney General Henry McMaster announced Friday that 54-year-old Richard Lipkin of Irmo was arrested Thursday in an undercover Internet sting. Arrest warrants accuse Lipkin of soliciting sex, starting Sept. 5, from someone he thought was an underage girl, though he was actually communicating with an investigator.
Lipkin is charged with criminal solicitation of a minor and dissemination of obscene material to a minor. He was released on a personal recognizance bond.
Reached at home, Lipkin said he had no comment.
WIS-TV reports Lipkin has been suspended without pay from the academy.
No kidding. I am pretty safe yet it would be over if I did get let go. When I started in IT we used to tell each other "I worked before I got here - I'll work after I leave." Nobody is saying that anymore I am sure.
"The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them," said Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California.
"The buggy whips my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them," said Representative Bartholomew Luddite, a Democrat from California (taken from 1905).
I always thought that was rude. At least have 5 min of something other than "what do you do - where do you fit on the totem pole".
Belong to a couple of org that you never ask what a person does. I have known people for over 10 years and have no idea what they do or how much they earn.
I have seen similar heartbreak. In my experience, it's a lot easier going home to an empty house than facing a family that depends on you and loves you.
I'm not an Ol' Timer, but I'm not depressed. I whip out the OT(estiment) and read me some Proverbs and Lamentations to keep things in perceptive. Same sh^t; different millenium
They will. In the circle of hell. These people are sociopaths and have no sense of empathy or guilt. There is only one goal, to be the last one stnding with the most "toys" .
Go back and forth between angry, depressed and royaly pissed off. With times of "I don't care anymore and am just going to look out for #1 (but that isn't who I am, so doesn't really work for me).
patient renter,
Yeah...but there's concentration of wealth in these cycles...huge profits...an incentive to create doom/bust cycles...incredible wealth at stake...just pursue certain economic formulas...and stuff at the bottom can be bought dirt cheap...cycles are like gold rushes...too tempting not to manufacture or allow...
I saw a man, white, well dressed, mid-fifties, crying quietly to himself on Metro tonight. It could have been anything but my first thought was "laid off."
Why didn't you cheer him up by talking about the jobs report?
One day, recessions will be talked about as a natural action required for an economy to move forward more effectively, like sleep is for humans.
Although that is true, the magnitude of these recessions can be blamed on the Fed and other forms of government intervention. Mortgage interest deductions, CRA, subsidized mortgage insurance and various other schemes all served to create a massive excess of houses. Even the houses that ARE occupied have empty bedrooms. We were building houses when we needed to be building factories. This also reduces labor mobility as underwater "owners" are stuck and can't move to where the few remaining jobs are.
But the Mother of all distortions was the low interest rates set by the Fed as well is inadequate bank reserve requirements. Greenspan and Bernanke tag-teamed the economy and we got body slammed.
first?
Sonabank? Okay, I'm not gonna go there.
Wow, six so far. Are they under some sort of end-of-year pressure?
The GAB has fallen
Virginia isn't special
Is Maryland next?
From the previous thread:
energycon:
The cost of putting 1 nuclear trained sailor through the pipeline is about $400,000. The biggest cost is operating 4 training reactors.
meh thinks the TG scandle might have something to do with it...
if you know what I mean.
e-mail is a pretty big part of business these days, and an important gleaming into the service sector economy
furthermore, spam e-mail represents the marginal products and marginal advertising budgets
would you be shocked if I told you that e-mail for the first time ever did not increase year over year? Largely because it plummeted during November 2008 when there was panic?
CHART
trough Nov 08, peak Jan 09, trough Mar 09, peak end of July/start of Aug 09, barely a peak at end of Sept/start of Oct 09
and November 09 is down
also, SpamCop.net - Total spam report volume
That end of July start of August was the turning point.
~Oct 19 was the end of positive growth
and if activity stays this low, or worse continues falling, the odds of having sustained employment increases is very very low
double-dip in underway, or I would argue, the blue recession bars never ended
Bernanke does a bad, bad thing - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com
Bernanke does a bad, bad thing
I cut Ben Bernanke a lot of slack. But this was really bad:
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday threw cold water on efforts to push a major new fiscal stimulus package.
At his confirmation hearing for a second term as chairman, Bernanke emphasized that the government has spent less than half of the money in the $787-billion package passed earlier this year and that analysts are still determining its impact.
“Only about 30 percent of the funds have been disbursed,” Bernanke said. “It’s a little bit early to make a strong judgment, a little bit early to decide whether or not to do additional fiscal actions.”
The stimulus has already had its maximum impact on growth — and there’s no sign that private final spending is ready to pick up the slack. Here’s Goldman Sachs on what’s likely to happen to the forces now driving recovery, such as it is:
A few hundred million here and few hundred million there and pretty soon you still don't have enough money to really notice.
yagij wrote:
Yes it is, I live here!
Hey yagij-bought a few shorts today @ 90.60. Good?
Damn, if I knew there was going to be a BFF party in Reston today I'd have stopped there on my way home.
How much scratch is left in the DIF ?
Reston, Virginia ..... right in Dee Cee's 'burbs. I thought Dee Cee was immune to the downturn ......
How many left in the pool besides me?
Everytime I hear the name Reston VA I can't but remember the weird Ebola outbreak back in the 90's that happened there.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Interesting. I didn't know this data was reported to a central place.
bearded spock
ive been out
I just got a request to take an FDIC satisfaction survey. Probably should've taken it and asked for more takeovers
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Absolutely Fabulous, Mr. EHP!......you could probably make a career off this observation---the next Freakonomics
(BTW, is that a leading or lagging indicator)
spock<
19 voters left.
SNAFU, I'd go one step further. If the Fed is so concerned about independence, shouldn't the Fed Chairman keep his nose out of fiscal policy?
Maybe the FDIC will go for double digits today. It could be close...
best to all.
It's gone up since I went through.
Damn....$2.2-billion off the DIF........nice work guys.......
No wonder nobody reads e-mail about projects at my Zombie bank, it's all caught in spam-filters. They couldn't make a plan to go to the toilet without 30 people being cc'd.
Reston, Virginia is/was home to AOHell. Wonder if AOHell layoff's had anything to do with it.
Does anyone out there still use AOHell ??
CR....that's the sweetest thing I've heard you say in months......
Yes, Virginia, there is a Tanta Clause.
Blackwaterwannabe wrote:
Shorts in...?
EHP;
I left you some comments on the previous thread.
Ashburn, actually. Reston is a few miles east of the AOL campus. We got a few [one actually!] AOL resume when the voluntary layoff was announced. One position in particular related to Web 2.0 we can't seem to get many candidates for. Maybe 5 resumes in 4 weeks, most through recruiters.
NaRm
e-mail isn't centrally reported, but there are lots of hubs out there -- like companies responsible for checking spam. It's an insight, and fallible but it happens to correlate with recent real world events.
Spatch wrote:
This might be the first in VA, but certainly not the last. International Paper decided to ditch Franklin VA beinning 1st of the year. Can't wait to hear how they will turn out. I hear some of the employees had just bought a house, braces for the kid. Yada yada.
this is getting old, i need a drink
Blackwaterwannabe wrote:
At the Monkey House in Issac Newton Square. I was working about three blocks from there, and never paid any attention to it at the time. Had it not mutated the way it did, initial proximity would have been irrelevant.
Mspeed wrote:
You wanted more AOL folks to quit or you wanted more AOL folks to apply for work at your place?
.
Who is still left at AOL? They've been shedding people over the past 10 years, and I figured all that was left was management and tech support/script readers?
CalculatedRisk wrote:
...and the charter of the Fed on his/her forehead like an important मन्त्रं (mantra)!
yagij wrote:
USD/JPY, you silly guy
CalculatedRisk wrote:
Yes, but s/he needs to make it apparent what the implications of fiscal policy are going to be on monetary policy; Greenspan used to do this all the time, and it worked back in the early '90s. I don't there's anything any of them can do in the long now-
Blackwaterwannabe wrote:
Works for me. What exit point do you have in mind to jump out of it?
sm_landlord
I am aware that it is perhaps a biased sliver of the data, thanks for the feedback though.
I did check this against about 4 other providers, but these provided the most relevant charts.
SNAFU wrote:
But, what's the REAL charter say?
NOTaREALmerican wrote:
Do unto the
as you would like the 
do unto you.
Plantagenet wrote:
No lie. I read that report and I shuddered all the way to dreamland. Damn thing even went airborne..
We missed a bullet.
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Small Business Owner Confidence Plunges
I expected more resumes. We're getting very few qualified and passable English speaking candidates.
I made a move into gold today @ $1160.
Dubai World is going to trigger their CDS when the creditor workout goes to crap over the weekend. Who's with me?
This is not a joke: I'm buying Zimbabwe bank notes for friends and family for Christmas. A friend recently pointed out that many were on sale on eBay and showed me one he had bought.
It is a thing of beauty to hold a "Fifty Billion Dollar" note in your hand.
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=zimbabwe+bank+notes&_sacat=See-All-Categories
As vacant as the AOL campus is, I frequently grab lunch at the shopping center near the entrance across Waxpool road. There's a half dozen restaurants there, and they're almost always full.
MrBeach wrote:
Of course you can now buy "One Hundred Trillion" notes too.
I ran a job search for myself. Not good. I found out today that one of the security guards has 2 IT related degrees. He is going back for his MA.
Reston. When I was a younger man all the best drugs came out of Reston. It does not surprise me. Outside of the Beltway it is foreclosure land. CRE is also going to be ugly here.
TJ and The Bear wrote:
Small Business are so old-school. We need BIG stuff now. BIG BIG BIG. BIG corporations borrowing BIG amounts of cash from the BIG government is what we need now. Run with the BIG dogs. This is a BIG problem requiring BIG solutions. America is BIG, the world is BIG.
Think BIG.
I love the $100 Trillion Dollar Bill. Too funny. Great idea to use them as Xmas gifts.
Nuke wrote:
Thanks Nuke, that is the sailor at the coal face, no? How many hands on a carrier these days, 3,000ish? With some major upgrades for the higher end officer and pilot training...all the hardware is cool and all, but without the qualified peeps it is just military paperweights...
SNAFU wrote:
Krugman doesn't seem to understand that there can be no up-or-down vote anymore on any form of stimulus or bailout.
CRE - yeah, tons of vacant buildings. 2 adjacent 180-300K sq ft buildings have been empty for over 2 years. Location isn't the best. However I'm noticing some movement into the newer mid rises near the 267/28 interchange.
MrBeach wrote:
Buy a 1 cent note + a 100,000,000,000,000 note and give them to everyone with a personal note that says, "Both of these bills are worth less than 1 sheet of toilet paper. And the toilet paper would be more pleasant to use. Happy Holidays!"
energycon:
3000 ships force, another 1500 for the air wings, give or take. Yes, the nukes are the they guys tending the hamsters in the engineroom.
movement into the newer mid rises near the 267/28 interchange.
Might be government? Or gov contractors.
NOTaREALmerican (profile) wrote on Fri, 12/4/2009 - 6:19 pm
Too funny. I very much appreciate understated humor. You have made my day so far.
Cinco-X, that is fine. There is a huge difference between saying "large deficits can cause problems" to giving specific advice. Of course Greenspan said we were going to run large surpluses forever ... and he was worried that might be a problem. ROFLOL.
best wishes
Only engine room personnel are nukes, except for the officers. On Subs, all O-gangers are nukes, but missile weenies and coners (everyone forward of the engine room hatch) go to Grotten, CT for Sub School.
We are the elite coal faces. We get a whopping $400/mo more and only have to do three times the work!
"I expected more resumes. We're getting very few qualified and passable English speaking candidates. "
During the worst of the dot-com bust in Silicon Valley back in the early 2000 period we still found it incredibly difficult to find good quality English speaking SW engineers. This was in the biotech area.
I'm in Finance now and it's still hard to find these types of SW engineers. Most of them are found by word of mouth.
Hard to say. I don't recognize the company names. Will pay more attention.
NOTaREALmerican wrote:
My wife says that to me all the time..
Nuke,
Have they gotten rid of all the asbestos yet?
We're getting too close to the midterms for another stimpack, unless each dollar buys a job in a direct, obvious way that J6P can be made to understand. Job = dollar = vote.
Nuke,
Do ships still "Steam" at sea? As in "We were steaming towards Hong Kong when Joey fell overboard for the third time that day."
Blackwaterwannabe wrote:
She is talking about your little train that could too?
poic wrote:
One problem is the diversity of software platforms now tho. There's so many damn languages and specializations that somebody who wanted just a "SW engineer that knows something about finance" wouldn't even be noticed.
in a way, yes. They are driven by steam turbines.
Yes, we still refer to it as steaming. Put simply, the reactor boils water, and the steam drives the propulsion turbine, which turns the screw.
yagij wrote:
When Wells Fargo formally damands mortgage payment or I run out of beer.
Whichever comes first.
I donno, say 79ish?
scone wrote:
I thought we just sent the USDs directly to the voters ala UEI nowadays?
.
While I buy into the idea that we could use more "stimulus", I'm selling the idea that it will no little more than repave roads.
One ping and one ping only.
nova wrote:
Did they even bother picking him up the 3rd time?
Nuke wrote:
With lingo like that, I'm thinking you could just have every sailor hounded by their wife or GF and get the same result...
scone
Get a stimpack together in the next month or two, spend it from spring to summer, and then it's election time. Perfect timing
However, I would guess they would spend small and by committee. Less than $200bn, most of it in tax cuts, some more unemployment/COBRA extensions, and a minor portion of it going towards more infrastructure spending to begin next fall
Knox convicted, sentenced to 26 years in Italy
Knox upset, tired; gets family visit in prison - Yahoo! News
PERUGIA, Italy – American college student Amanda Knox was found guilty of murdering her British roommate and sentenced to 26 years in prison early Saturday after a year-long trial that gripped Italy and drew intense media attention.
Her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted and sentenced to 25 years. They were also convicted of sexual assault in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from England.
As soon as the judge read the verdict just after midnight following some 13 hours of deliberations, Knox began weeping and murmured, "No, no," then hugged one of her lawyers.
Minutes later, the 22-year-old Knox, who is from Seattle and the 25-year-old Sollecito, were put in police vans with sirens blaring and driven back to jail.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
How are they gonna bail out California if they think like that?
Blackwaterwannabe wrote:
Oi. Due Diligence and YMMV BUT...
.
You may want to ride it in shorter bursts. I don't think we are at the point to see a 79 handle yet, but 90 -> 87 -> 90 may work. I'm not sure how much of a problem you will have with decay--depending on how you positioned yourself short.
Or a stimpack directly to the states.
NOTaREALmerican wrote:
He wouldn't be able to get a job.
That's part of the "Religious Temple", the creation of a vast array of arcane nomenclature and semantics so as to be opaque to outsiders, and free insiders from the responsibility of making cost-effective choices.
Rajesh wrote:
Easy. Give CA a billion at a time every time CA's legislatures think they have balanced the budget...
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
For sure on that on. I can't see UE benefits being cut for some time yet.
Rajesh wrote:
Good question. We ought to automatically assume California would go bust before the 2010 midterm elections without intervention.
They obviously won't turn a carrier around for anyone. They might send out a rescue chopper is someone sees you go over, but chances are you'd be dead anyway. it's a long fall and you can get sucked into the screws.
It's not uncommon for sailors to go missing and not be found. Suicide? Desertion? Who knows?
broward wrote:
Definitely couldn't get through HR with something as vague as that line. Gotta agree with Broward there, and the one thing I don't miss the most about IT/programming is dealing with the tech lingo and jargon when applying for work.
SNAFU (profile) wrote on Fri, 12/4/2009 - 6:19 pm
SNAFU, so sorry for this, but ALL day long every single thing reminds of a song. I love days like this when when I feel like my life is a music video.
They Did A Bad Bad Thing
Even typing this, I hear Van Morrison's "Days Like This" in my head.
I even had a song in my head when it was too cold to walk my cats....
idea: Herd money market funds into some kind of guaranteed state debt. The FDIC could use the insurance fees to raise some more short term money.
edit: I mean that's a $2tn pot right there. Saves the Fed from bothering with tri-party repos to keep a lid on money supply. The big companies accessing short term funding could switch over to the already in place CPFF which would just need another extension
Bearded Spock wrote:
That is harsh. At least the meat shields will just have soap-in-the-sox parties for their troublesome comrades. To think sailors would just let the ocean do the work for them...
I think they should just have a national Lottery......if you win, you get free checking for life.
poic wrote:
I have an extreme opinion on this: There are so many wannabe players in the headhunter/HR/placement crowd that resume signal-to-noise has gone to zero. The only way to find good folks is via word of mouth.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Thanks for the stomach ache, EHP. Just when I was getting used to the idea of having my cash sitting in a MMF again because I don't want the tax penalty of getting it out and I didn't want to risk putting it into the market...
A stimpack for the states. That does sound really west coast CA type lingo.
Wow Dude. You still working for the highway dept?
Yeah, like we got a stimpack and we're good now.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
State Failure Friday? It would never catch on.
AlleyCat wrote:
I know the feeling, except mine are usually audio only!
broward wrote:
HA! That could be a description of IT, government, or even modern art. The perfect state of unaccountable management structure. Somebody on here had a great phrasing (last week I think) on this. It was as a variation of the saying that: "Science looks like magic to the illiterate" (or whatever that phrase was). It was really good, tho.
yagij wrote:
Good advice. I didn't put in much this time, the chart suggests it could go to 96, but I agree that it might fall back a bit.
Rajesh wrote:
State Sunk Sunday may
nova wrote:
Report: Most College Males Admit To Regularly Getting Stoked | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Get a stimpack together in the next month or two, spend it from spring to summer, and then it's election time. Perfect timing - EHP
That's the thing though, even a construction project using the "fast track" system would take at least 4 months to be shovel-ready from here. Especially in California. So you would have to get it through committee, then through recon, to sign, to the states, then through the local permitting process, including environmental. I just don't see that there is time, unless something's already practically at the "pull the permit" stage.
The only other stimpack idea I can see is adding people to existing social services, like feeding the homeless, stuff like that. That's much easier than construction, and more gender-equal than construction projects. Getting women back to work eases the pressure on the food banks.
nova wrote:
This is what I am thinking, nova, states and municipalities - simply because most of the provision of political goods that J6P notices occurs at the state/local level - and they are most definitely going to experience another leg down, simply as a function of the reduced tax receipts that have been documented repeatedly here what with the fading of the last stimpak with respect to state and local govts...
Yikes! I honestly didn't even think about that, but I suppose it could be murder. Almost a perfect crime even. two guys out on the fantail for some air....
Makes me glad to be a bubblehead.
Democrats' Jobs Bill to Target Infrastructure, Small Business - WSJ.com
Also, get it passed in committee? What do you think the +30k troops to Afghanistan is for, no one is going to 'vote against the troops'
I would guess a stimpack has been worked on in private, and that when it is announced it is ready for a vote.
scone,
Not shovel ready. Outright money grants for payroll purposes. Dressed up to sound like Fire Dept Security and Employment Enhancement.
yagij wrote:
I did interviews in 2007 for a company, we had several good candidates but the two decision-makers were so unschooled in nuance and so paranoid of being overshadowed that they shot down every recommendation. So we went round and round and round for months, never hiring anyone until finally we got a NULL generic nothing kind of candidate who matched on paper but had no skill.
NOTaREALmerican wrote:
Arthur C. Clarke is attributed with:
Other goodies from him:
Every ship I sailed on had a watch set whose job was to make sure someone going overboard was seen. Of course, back in the day, they were usually stoned.
broward wrote:
I bet he could levelset those tablestake in a going-forward space tho!
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Yeah! More highways! More bridges! More water lines! USA! USA!
nova wrote:
Seen and rescued? or just seen?
yagij wrote:
Think BIG! Even small business can be BIG! BIG BIG BIG
scone, Not shovel ready. Outright money grants for payroll purposes. - n
Yep, that's what I was driving at. You could put a lot of people in various departments, from child welfare to the state asylums. Also taking care of parks, cleaning public buildings, etc. Of course the unions will kvetch about it.
JP wrote:
Ha!! That's dark. "Well, that's two tonight. Yup..."
nova wrote:
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
.
Err... Who stones the stoners?
NOTaREALmerican wrote:
and 'purpose build that artifact that can be monetized definititively!'
I believe the Silver Line of the Metro (local train) is coming to Reston. Given the whacking PMs took today, I find that ironic.
Actually, that explains why RRE prices have risen in Reston and are now slightly above the peak (in the desirable areas). Although I have noticed that rentals in the DC Metro are now offering several months of Free Rent in lieu of price concessions. At least the ones on Craigslist.
SomaBank Assumes All of the Deposits of Greater Atlantic Bank, Reston, Virginia
A gram for a grand...
Supposedly they were to shout "Man overboard" which kicked off the drill or rescue. It and "Fire. Fire. Fire. This is not a drill" always got your attention.
JP wrote:
I can imagine them keeping a lookout and just carving the score into the railing. Kinda funnier that way.
yagij wrote:
More money for me!!! Yea!
..and my competitors. Boo.
But maybe they'll be dead! Yea!
AOL still has about 6,000 employees. Looking to shed about 2,500 in 1Q2010. About 5 million dialup subscribers, and still the (I believe) 4th largest web presence by number of daily uniques.
A second "jobs" bill would cost up to $70 billion, funded by the bank bailout. It would include more money for highway and bridge building, school construction and repair, and water and sewer projects. - EHP
Because commercial/institutional construction workers are mostly union, and Democrat. Payback, and a bribe-- these guys liked Hillary more than Obama.
NOTaREALmerican wrote:
As someone who works for a So Small To Fail firm, I have no desire for the firm to outgrown its cash flow. In the real world--as opposed to your Unicorn-Filet Friday paradise--we actually watch what we spend.
There used to be people who would try to anticipate what the public wanted and then provided those things for them, risking his own money to do so. They were called "entrepenuers" and there still might be a few left, but the are endangered.
The routine was the decks after dark belonged to the enlisted. Lifers had their hideout and the officers theirs. It also made it easier for them to ignore things if they didn't see them.
Pigged about two post ago - damn this is fast action tonight.
NOTaREALmerican wrote:
There is no Wachovia
Wachovia died when acquired by First Union in 2001 as a consequence of interstate banking becoming legal. The Wachovia brand had so much goodwill in NC going back decades that the name was kept but it was not the old conservative Wachovia by a long shot.
Capitalism in action for the good of a few.
Jim
nova:
I remember man overboard drills while surfaced Officer of the Deck. The immediate action is to stop the shaft (the propeller) and turn the rudder full to the side the man fell over (to kick out the stern). Then you do a Williamson turn or a Wye turn to get back to him, and put the rescue swimmer in the water.
"That makes six today"
Finally, I get to finish a six pack. I really should ask for the pizzas to be cut six ways instead of 8.
Well, off to the health-club. Sit in the sauna and bake out the cold.
any hotties on Friday night?
Amusing story from Bloomberg, where Geithner imitates someone who is offended by overly big bank bonuses (having done whatever it took so the same banks could pay the bonuses again this year):
Geithner Slams Bonuses, Says Banks Would Have Failed (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
NC Jim wrote:
Wachovia died when acquired by First Union in 2001 as a consequence of interstate banking becoming legal.
Not Wachovia, but a WaMu ad: YouTube - banking another way YouTube - The Job ( desperate bankers on financial crisis)
nuke,
Plus you take a fix of your position ASAP. We did "Fish the dead pilot" duty for awhile. That was cool. Watching the carrier all lit up at night with them F-14's coming in.
I saw "$2 trillion dollar pot right there" and I immediately thought about the assets in 401k's that could be coverted to TBonds in a pinch. I mean that would never happen, right?
Carry on.
Suze Orman and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair explain why FDIC insurance matters to you.
Guess who
Hah, Suze Orman is a spokesperson for FDIC
nova wrote:
I get to watch (and hear) them fly around my house all night. Btw, as you know F-14's are rather loud.
Ouch.
Ok, I work late and they close 6 banks. That's what I get for working I guess.
Frederic Bastiat's fallacy of the broken glass writ large.
nova wrote:
Sounds like a Chicago back alley without street lights.
josap wrote:
Maybe they are hiring at NaRM's place so you can stop that practice.
I just bought the $100 Trillion zimbabwe dollars thru MrBeach's recommendation above from ebay.
Can not WAIT to give one of these to my bro for Christmas. What a great gag gift.
Thanks for the recommendation, MrBeach.
By coincidence I was in Reston today, and the place seemed very prosperous. Greater Atlantic Bank must have made some stupid loans and/or the insiders were ripping off the bank, because a bank in Reston should be a money machine. I noticed that the last bank to fail in Virginia was in 1993 -- New Atlantic Bank. I hope they weren't related somehow.
I watched a rescue diver go in for a fisherman who got off course. The diver got to him and the fishermans fingers came off as he tried to get him set to be pulled up.
Broward,
That world is long gone. Piss tests, Jeebus lovers, and setting a good image for the locals killed it.
scone wrote:
You know, I don't recall anyone here imagining what Clinton 2.0 might have been.
Nobody's ever lost one cent in a FDIC insured bank account since 1934, although the FDIC has lost untold billions lately, and is technically broke.
Don't worry, be happy...
nova:
Yup, aggressive and random drug testing rooted out the drug culture in the 1980s.
There once was a girl from the FDIC
Whose funds were more than empty
She says no one has lost a cent
Now or ever from the insolvent
After the nineteen, I guess we will see
In 1978 we had two second LTs that we'd call "the doobie brothers" and laugh.
Still time for a west coast bank or two?
" NOTaREALmerican wrote:
"SW engineer that knows something about finance" wouldn't even be noticed.
He wouldn't be able to get a job.
That's part of the "Religious Temple", the creation of a vast array of arcane nomenclature and semantics so as to be opaque to outsiders, and free insiders from the responsibility of making cost-effective choices. "
Actually the hardest part of getting this job was convincing the big-wig who did the last interview that my lack of financial experience wouldn't hamper me.
The reality is that I didn't know anything about biotech before getting into biotech and it wasn't an issue. The most important skills (ability to think outside the box, work by yourself, architect well) are transferrable across a wide variety of industries. But I bit my tongue and didn't say "Hey I didn't know anything about biotech and did fine".
I've been very lucky that I've worked at both large and small companies where the senior SW engineers made the actual recommendation. HR and Management was just a rubber-stamp after the fact. Not a lot of politicking in any of the division I've been in at my level. Get the right person for the job.
I just don't understand the short-term trading urges in a basically long-term asset like gold.
I had a sell price target of $1,200. But I would not be buying back in until it goes well under $1,100.
It's impossible for ordinary people to time these markets. Clearly, there was an orchestrated professional trader action today, timed just at (or even a few seconds before) release of the employment numbers.
The goal of the insider professionals, Bernanke and Timmy's friends, was to smoke out the weak-handed gold players. Why put yourself in their crosshairs?
Owning gold or silver is not like owning SRS. You don't have to be so daily and antsy.
Let's borrow money from the Chinese, hire people to dig holes and fill them in again!
Makes about as much sense as all these other stimuli.
Trading? I was just looking for a good entry point.
Job creation? Look to entrepreneurs - CNN.com
It is time for the White House to return to its campaign roots. Since Obama's inauguration, our unemployment rate has risen from 7.6 percent to 10.2 percent. It is time to stop propping up outmoded and overleveraged institutions and start betting on the new men and women who offer hope for greater prosperity. Supporting entrepreneurs is change we can believe in.
Kudos and well said Amy M. Wilkinson
Blackwater,
I loved that sound. Be sitting on the beach and watch as they came in like weird slow moving peradactyls...the engines howling...knowing that a carrier group was out there somewhere.
This is my impression as well. I know a few people that lost their jobs or been out of work for a while, some restaurants that have closed, small business owners on the edge, but it doesn't feel all that recessionary compared to other places I've visited this year.
Still plenty of new luxury cars shooting down the Dulles toll road at rush hour.
"Bank failure" is judgmental, not to mention harsh. So, how about "bank retirement."
Bank teaching moment?
poic wrote:
That's the engineering & American way but I see it less and less with post-Boomers and non-Americans.
Bank shot, left upper corner pocket.
nova wrote:
Well , we've go a ton of carriers due to arrive next week. With intercoastals closed for construction, massive potholes and traffic jams and layoffs it should be alot of fun to see how this plays out around here after their manditory swine flue shots.
Getting a kick out of my newfound $100T Zimbabwe dollars, I found this article from cnn.com from back in February:
knocked 12 zeroes off of their currency
And it leads me to thinking - if they can scrape 12 zeros off their currency, why can't we scrape 12 zeros off our debt?
We're America. We can do anything. Right?
The .5 and 1% of wealth that is supported by the Feds.
NC Jim wrote:
Interstate banking legislation was signed by Pres. Clinton in Sept. 1994.
The First Union acquisition was engineered by the Feds to rescue Wachovia, which had gone under due to horrendous management. The emergency acquisition would have occurred with or without the 1994 law. A sad demise for what had been a premier institution founded by the Moravians in the 19th century.
Looking at EMRATIO, there is a chance it goes below 58% in January 2010.
The last few times it has been below 58% were June 1982 through June 1983 inclusive, April 1982, and August 1974 through August 1977
this is crazy
edit: and the gray recession bar isn't extended on the chart
IN case you were wondering where a lot of the temp hiring was going on.
I can tell you that much of the temp hiring is because the industry doesn't expect the jobs to be permanent. The mortgage industry over the years has benefited from 1) a secular decline in interest rates which drove the initial refi boom, 2) the bubble in "affordability products", 3) a recent boom in hiring to clean up the mess from 2).
Going forward we are going to see a much more boring, and much smaller, mortgage industry. Origination volumes going forward are going to be much lower than recent years (witness the MBA applications index - it has not responded recently to the recent mortgage rate drop). The jobs that used to exist in this industry are going to need to be replaced with something else in the economy.
Of course there will be yet one more mini-boom as the FHA needs people to clean up their coming mess.
Mortgage Industry Continues to Tap Temp Workforce
December 4, 2009
The mortgage industry continues to shrink in terms of full-time employees as companies rely more on temporary workers to deal with servicing and origination demand. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that mortgage companies cut 3,700 full-time workers from their payrolls in October, including 1,700 mortgage brokers. Overall employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector fell to 255,500 in October from 259,200 in September. "You have a lot of temps being hired," a Mortgage Bankers Association executive said, noting that those figures do not show up in the BLS mortgage sector data. MBA associate vice president of industry analysis Marina Walsh said that mortgage firms are definitely hiring servicing-related workers but it is hard for them to justify hiring full-timers given the volatility in the market. "To forecast what it going to happen with originations and interest rates is very difficult," she said. Meanwhile, Friday's jobs report provided some good news with the national unemployment rate falling to 10% from 10.2% previously. BLS also revised downward the job losses in October and September - by a combined 150,000. (There is a one-month lag in BLS reporting of mortgage industry employment data.)
Will the left coast get a pizza the action today?
We're America. We can do anything. Right? - O
When you're borrowing in the reserve currency, at artificially low rates, you can. For a while. We are at present testing the length of that "while."
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
I'll put a dollar on the table that says yes
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
ghostface, I thought you were smart
Don't you know that if the bubble money and the fees, jobs, apparent wealth, and profits it generates starts to decline, that is the signal for Larry, Ben, Tim, Barney, and Chris to do whatever it takes to rev the engine up again, no matter how tired and worn-out it is?
I'll bet you one trillion zimbabwe dollars a California bank will not go belly up today.
heh heh.
Does make you wonder if someone will be chuckling about the US$ someday. Note to self: if the US$ inflates to 12 zeros, buy a bunch and sell them on ebay as momentos.
"ghostface, I thought you were smart "
true, I would not be surprised to see NINJA Option ARMs to be offered sometime in early 2012 to pump up the housing markets before the election.
By then it will be EbayShanghai. Sowy Too late
buy them with what? seashells?
Come to think of it, the worst thing that could happen is, if the stimpack really worked and then the Fed mopped up the excess liquidity successfully, papering over the damage. If that happened, it would create the uber-goddess mother of all moral hazards, creating a massive temptation to engage in the whole boom and bust cycle again, but much worse. As in throw the planet back to the witchsmelling era.
I was going to vote for six, but was too apathetic.
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
Although I myself think such should have been the practice sooner, FHA Commissioner Stevens has been seen on the Hill wearing diapers.
What a coinkidink that BHO Captain, my captain waited until after the off-year elections to announce his SonofSurge.
Consumers cutting spending or not spending right now is a healthy strategy for uncertain employment prospects and/or debt overload. As a result an over-supply of franchise retail stores and franchise restaurants (and mom-and-pop businesses and restaurants) will be going under and are closing...a lot of this was business built on a bubble and will go with the bubble...supply and demand will weed out too many businesses not needed and/or wanted any more...problem is there goes a lot of unsustainable jobs...so more bubble bust unemployment fallout...
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
Like FHA no money down loans (3.5% down, with tax credit, and seller concessions = no money down), with up to 50% DTI ratio? Is it possible to go even further? Yeah, you're right, now I'm the one not being smart: It's always possible to lend more crazily, and we will.
You know your economy is in trouble when you can't service your debt at zero percent.
scone wrote:
That's okay, though.
We'd just need a bigger bailout to make it to the next cycle.
Sheesh, you guys have no imagination.
JohnRDC wrote:
Thanx for the input. The local legend blamed the ego of First Union's CEO wanting to grow at any cost in competition with the CEO of (then) NCNB. I just remember the reputation of Wachovia during mid-century when I was growing up in Raleigh plus what my Father told me about earlier times. I left Raleigh for the coast in 1969 and probably missed the news of the down slide. Very sad (although I have banked with Wachovia for the last 30 years).
Jim
broward wrote:
I'm on board with ya broward. I need those property virgins to be able to afford new stuff or I am utcwap
This seems to fit in:
any
buy them with what? seashells?
gold, of course. Aren't we all stocking up on nuggets?
anyone remember the bumper sticker during the Dot com crash that read "Please God, one more bubble"?
Blackwaterwannabe wrote:
I'll be thinking about you.
Bearded Spock wrote:
Just with the tag line: And I promise not to piss it all away this time.
Eastern KY coalfields 1982.
"Please God, one more bubble"
See there, you gotta be careful what you ask for.
It should have read TWO bubbles. Then we wouldn't be in this predicament.
(AP) Marijuana extracts may reduce spasticity symptoms in people with multiple sclerosis, a new study shows.
The review, by Shaheen Lakhan, PhD, and Marie Rowland, PhD, of the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation in Los Angeles, found that five of six published studies they analyzed reported a reduction in spasticity and an improvement in mobility in MS patients treated with marijuana extracts.
Lakhan tells WebMD in an email that the extracts were administered orally. The reviewed studies included the use of cannabis extracts delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and cannabidiol, or CBD, in people with MS.
Marijuana Eases Spasticity in MS Patients - CBS News
You're absolutely right. Fortunately, it won't.
Bearded Spock wrote:
From your lips to God's ears.
You know times are bad when Dalilah keeps playing the them song of 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas".
Well, you all have been fun Friday night dates. Have a good rest of the evening.
I saw a man, white, well dressed, mid-fifties, crying quietly to himself on Metro tonight. It could have been anything but my first thought was "laid off."
Have a good rest of the evening. - O
One of the few downsides to living in a big country-- one coast goes to sleep just as the other revs up!
Outsider wrote:
We are still in major asset price bubbles - homes and stocks.
Outsider wrote:
You're welcome. And lucky. Next weekend I'm attending an unschedualed visit to the White House Pre-Christmas Party Bash.
should be fun.
HomeGnome wrote:
Is this something related to stimpack?
CR is on target with his comments about Bernanke's commenting outside the bounds of his job.
What CR is too polite to say is that Bernanke is a starfucker.
Bernanke is a poor little boy from Carolina who likes the prestige and limelight of making important statements. If he stuck to his job, he wouldn't get so much media or in-crowd attention.
Greenspan was a starfucker too. But there's a big difference between Bernanke and Greenspan.
Greenspan couldn't see himself in the mirror. Bernanke can see himself in the mirror of Greenspan, who has already been discredited and is loathed by the American people.
Bernanke can see this but can't stop. He's a druggie starfucker.
It could have been anything - n
My guess would be "cancer." Guys get pissed off about money, but they cry when they get a death sentence, or some loved one does.
---Well put, Rich.
scone,
Still disquieting to see. He was in real pain. The quiet, i'll just put my hand over my face while I stand here and please don't look kind. The eyes...god bless him. I hope he isn't going home to an empty house.
Benjamins is a lot of things, but i'd never heard the accusation that he abuses drugs in any fashion.
rich wrote:
I prefer the term "whore", but whatever fits
end of work day, Friday.. I would guess layoff
probably crying because he was the sole provider for a family and has no idea where he can get a job right now
The quiet, i'll just put my hand over my face while I stand here and please don't look kind. - n
Yeah, that's the death and illness cry. Angry crying, with hands in fists, is different-- railing against some kind of cosmic injustice. I don't think guys realize how much emotion they do display, because they think they "hold it in."
Nova,
Your concern is admirable. I am sure I can speak for others that will say we will pray for him.
rich wrote:
Unpleasant. And I doubt CR needs other people's foul language put into his mouth.
Bernanke is probably misguided. I doubt he goes to work every day figuring out how to make the lives of others less pleasant. Quite the opposite. He is anxious to please, just as Tim Geithner is. And the community he aims to please? That is made up of the people he knows best, and that would be academic economists, wall street apologists, and Congress. Sure enough, we are seeing a populist Fed policy that constantly errs on the side of inflating and reflating bubbles (under Congress's influence), feeds all the subsidies through banks (for wall street) , and supports policies aimed at preventing any recessions (to please the economists).
nova wrote:
Hard to watch. Our room mate tries not to show how worried she is. i try to make sure there is food in the frig and some fun stuff is covered. Her past employer told DES she only worked one quarter, now she has to apeal to get ue benifits. Thaty will take months.
Az is already in debt for EU, they would rather not pay anyone right now.
What do bank failures really mean?
YouTube - TALKING HEADS once in a lifetime
Same as it ever was...
Kind of interesting because I found out in the am that my sister is selling her furniture and other belongings on Craigslist to keep gas in the car. It's one thing seeing the deals. It's another thing knowing or seeing the faces.
If anything, I hope each one of those bankers someday see's those faces. Each 50k equaling a different face. Shit these guys have entire small towns worth of people, and their shattered lives to spend. Every year.
One day, recessions will be talked about as a natural action required for an economy to move forward more effectively, like sleep is for humans. In the meanwhile, let's continue the govt war on sleep. We hadn't slept for 72 hours, and we are really strung out, so clearly what we need is more coffee. Stimulus, FHA loans....
Still disquieting to see. He was in real pain. The quiet, i'll just put my hand over my face while I stand here and please don't look kind. The eyes...god bless him. I hope he isn't going home to an empty house.
No kidding. Guy I'd worked with for the past 10 years got the ax recently. I could hear him quietly weeping for a few minutes before he pulled it together. BRUTAL, especially since we'd become pretty close friends.
Happy ending, though. He's now getting contracting gigs from OUR customers at 2x + his former salary. Management is now realizing they fired one of the only guys in the company that know how our software works.
Still, I'm scared crapless about this being me.
From CA (where else?)
What a piece of work. Maybe if they reported some real news? Naw. Never happen
Reading here, seeing what I see every day. Getting depressed.
When a man meets another man for the first time, quite often the first question each asks one-another is "what do you do?", as in what kind of job do you have. (Which is an indirect way of asking: how much money do you make?)
Like a couple of dogs smelling each other's behind's~
Irmo, SC -- Authorities say the Criminal Justice Academy's information technology director has been charged with soliciting sex through the Internet.
Attorney General Henry McMaster announced Friday that 54-year-old Richard Lipkin of Irmo was arrested Thursday in an undercover Internet sting. Arrest warrants accuse Lipkin of soliciting sex, starting Sept. 5, from someone he thought was an underage girl, though he was actually communicating with an investigator.
Lipkin is charged with criminal solicitation of a minor and dissemination of obscene material to a minor. He was released on a personal recognizance bond.
Reached at home, Lipkin said he had no comment.
WIS-TV reports Lipkin has been suspended without pay from the academy.
Still, I'm scared crapless about this being me.
No kidding. I am pretty safe yet it would be over if I did get let go. When I started in IT we used to tell each other "I worked before I got here - I'll work after I leave." Nobody is saying that anymore I am sure.
Sorry Josap. You're a good person/
Blackwaterwannabe wrote:
Exactly.
josap wrote:
Where the hell were you 2 years ago? Ol timers here are way beyond that stage!
Blackwaterwannabe wrote:
"The buggy whips my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them," said Representative Bartholomew Luddite, a Democrat from California (taken from 1905).
Me too.
I always thought that was rude. At least have 5 min of something other than "what do you do - where do you fit on the totem pole".
Belong to a couple of org that you never ask what a person does. I have known people for over 10 years and have no idea what they do or how much they earn.
Nova,
I have seen similar heartbreak. In my experience, it's a lot easier going home to an empty house than facing a family that depends on you and loves you.
JMHO,
AlleyCat
Doc Holiday wrote:
I'm not an Ol' Timer, but I'm not depressed. I whip out the OT(estiment) and read me some Proverbs and Lamentations to keep things in perceptive. Same sh^t; different millenium
Buggy-Horse-Whip-Reins = Newspaper-TV-Radio-Movies
They will. In the circle of hell. These people are sociopaths and have no sense of empathy or guilt. There is only one goal, to be the last one stnding with the most "toys" .
Doc Holiday wrote:
Go back and forth between angry, depressed and royaly pissed off. With times of "I don't care anymore and am just going to look out for #1 (but that isn't who I am, so doesn't really work for me).
patient renter,
Yeah...but there's concentration of wealth in these cycles...huge profits...an incentive to create doom/bust cycles...incredible wealth at stake...just pursue certain economic formulas...and stuff at the bottom can be bought dirt cheap...cycles are like gold rushes...too tempting not to manufacture or allow...
nova wrote:
Why didn't you cheer him up by talking about the jobs report?
I was talking to a neighbor, whose car was sporting a 2008 prez campaign bumper sticker that said "Make less war-Obama 2008".
Irony isn't worth a bucket of warm spit, nowadays.
Although that is true, the magnitude of these recessions can be blamed on the Fed and other forms of government intervention. Mortgage interest deductions, CRA, subsidized mortgage insurance and various other schemes all served to create a massive excess of houses. Even the houses that ARE occupied have empty bedrooms. We were building houses when we needed to be building factories. This also reduces labor mobility as underwater "owners" are stuck and can't move to where the few remaining jobs are.
But the Mother of all distortions was the low interest rates set by the Fed as well is inadequate bank reserve requirements. Greenspan and Bernanke tag-teamed the economy and we got body slammed.
Uncle Sam is the puppet of the
Doc Holiday (homepage, profile) wrote on Fri, 12/4/2009 - 8:19 pm
Doc Holiday,
I know I am so far in the weeds, but I thank my goodness for caring enough to read the weeds.
Terrific link, great song and I love the real Talking Heads, not the fake "Talking Heads" on MSM TV.
Thank you for continuing my day of music in this day of my life.
Glad you liked it.