Reports on Possible Imminent Bank Failures
Submitted by
CalculatedRisk on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 1:43pm (270 comments)
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When is the big BAC/C run scheduled for, anyhow?
Tamalpais Bank is right at the bottom of the hill.
I like the term "Prompt Corrective Action". It has a British flavor to it, like "short sharp shock".
Double secret approbation.
Oh, man, the Caribbean is super-nice in March and April!
(Good call, Sheila ... when can we expect the special FDIC swim-suit issue?)
The Marin County median was and is an underrated leading indicator.
These guys are taking advice from US?
At US Behest, Pakistan Raises Taxes -- News from Antiwar.com
February 25, 2010
"Russia’s chief of ground forces Col. Gen. Alexander Postnikov said Feb. 25 the Russian military needs only half the number of its 20,000 tanks, RIA Novosti reported. Postnikov said ground forces need new tanks and armor, and therefore the Defense Ministry has bought 261 T-90 main battle tanks for the army in 2010, which will be delivered to the North Caucasus military district."
Can you imagine how many foreclosed homes those tanks could take down? I bet the ones they don't need can be had for a fraction of the sticker price.
My checking account is with Citibank. So someone please let me know a day or two before the run starts. Kthxbye.
You know (continuing the discussion on fat people as leeches on society, from last thread), I'm actually pretty sure that the lower life expectancy of the morbidly obese would make them draw far less social security, pensions and so on. Of course if health care costs are public it might change the equation, but as I recall the tobacco lobby assembled some data years back that showed that smokers (by virtue of dying young) were actually doing society a net financial service.
So, anyway - it's the skinny people who live forever pulling down fat pensions that are the real parasites. As long as we're being judgmental
So someone please let me know a day or two before the run starts.
Ask the Board of Directors to send you a nudge.
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
From the IMF. No State Left Unfailed.
Either way, pass the cupcakes and the bourbon.
it's the skinny people who live forever....that are the real parasites.
Mind your own business.
Is it too early for flapjacks?
I thought the deal was that we only turned the light on in the kitchen on Friday. Now I have to look at all these six-legged crawly things on Thursday, too?
Somebody at the FDIC wants to catch the spring swells.
I'm sure the tobacco industry would come to that conclusion...
Did they factor in the years of cancer care?
pavel.chichikov wrote:
Don't worry, Pavel. We're going to fine bbartlog 100 IQ points for letting that slip.
Gonna be a bloodbath ... these teams hate each other.
Women's Gold Medal Game : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
In fact, if Hayley Wickenheiser even finds out I'm talking to your type, she'll have my balls.
Noob, EHP ... don't tell, eh?
Don't worry, Pavel. We're going to fine bbartlog 100 IQ points for letting that slip.
Thanks, but I wasn't serious about being miffed. I did get a little shock the last time I stepped on a scale, but I haven't blown away yet, so I guess it'll be all right.
sm,
Re PM's, I've been looking at silver Maple Leafs. You get the silver content plus the currency hedge.
pavel, re the surplus tanks, that sounds like a cash flow opportunity for Russia.
adornosghost wrote:
where we know what gathers in a pile
Great Wickenhesier quote after right after winning Salt Lake City Gold
"I know the Americans had a Canadian flag on the floor of their dressing room, what I want to know is if they want us to sign it now"
I thought I was seeing a correlation there. But since they are still doing closures in MN even during winter, probably just my imagination.
Anyways, decent graphic:
Bank Failure Map
| Financial News & Investing Advice | TheStreet.com
EHP, GDP gets its first revision tomorrow. What is your take? Any change?
pavel, re the surplus tanks, that sounds like a cash flow opportunity for Russia.
Rosethorn, yeah, but if I know the Russians they'll take all the interesting gadgets out of those machines before they sell them. Maybe knocking over a foreclosed house with cannon fire isn't such a great idea anyway.
pavel.chichikov wrote:
Sell tickets. Profit.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
My theory is the men all play with each other in the NHL, so in international games they know the guys on the other teams. They're playing their buddies.
The women only see each other as adversaries ... more a 'them or us' thing ... IMO.
Certainly Citibank will invoke their 7 day hold well before a run starts.
Shhh ... the curling's starting.
The way houses are built today the damn shells would pass right through without encountering anything substantial enough to set off the explosives.
Rob Dawg wrote:
Step 1. Orchestrate giant housing bubble...
Step 2. Buy surplus tanks...
Step 3. Profit.
Yay, WesternBank is finally getting taken down! I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for ages for this! I think since Nov 08....
And yes, I most certainly going to watch the women tonight
At the time they made this argument (basically they were trying to counter the idea that sin taxes would also save the government money in other ways, in the long run) I don't think healthcare costs were as high as they are now. But it being the tobacco lobby I have no idea whatsoever whether their arguments held water or were just the result of egregious data massage.
at the end of my last comment, I think this is a stupid way to think about things. I just wanted to give the pro-skinny folk who were accusing fat people of being a burden on the public purse a little poke in the ribs.
Anyway, in case you didn't get the
Comrade Janošik wrote:
Step 1. Orchestrate giant housing bubble...
Step 2. Buy surplus tanks...
Step 3. Profit.
2. Buy surplus bulldozers.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
So Paypal, Amazon, Ebay, on-line banking, on-line stock trading are all doomed? All those FRN's in your savings account really exist on paper? The improvement comes from publicly sharing data which now is guarded and manipulated secretly by central banks.
Buy? I thought you guys were supposed to be enterpruners. Lease and deduct all the expenses!
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
Deduct? You mean like taxes and formal economy and all that? So 20th century.
Love the icon: OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR; Like Rome Before the Fall? Not Yet - NY Times
Charlotte Bobcats could get new owners today, ending Johnson era - CharlotteObserver.com
"Johnson has lost tens of millions on the team since agreeing in 2002 to pay a $300 million expansion fee to the NBA. Most of the team's net value is still tied up in debt, and the sale price is expected to be considerably less than Johnson's initial investment - the $300 million to the NBA, plus about $30 million in working capital."
Massive paper losses for all other owners of pro sports teams.
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
we can never know about the days to come
but we, we think about them anyway
and i wonder if i'm really with you now
or just chasing after some finer day
depreciation
depreciation...
is making me wait
is keeping me waiting...
So 20th century.
Mea culpa. A relic before my time.
Save our beaches, harpoon fat chicks.
That's all I got to say about that.
Obama May Prohibit Home-Loan Foreclosures Without HAMP Review - Bloomberg.com
Holy market manipulation Batman!
I expect a lot of banks to speed up foreclosures ahead of any deadline minus the big Wall Street 5
rosethorn wrote:
The McCourt divorce could spell the end of the MLB anti-trust exemption and municipal subsidies.
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
too wrapped up in Olympics to know
I would look at imports/exports, and the inventory adjustment. Both have to contend with wild swings in volume multiplied by wild swings in price
I can only expect that they revise down significantly by the final print
News Release: Gross Domestic Product
there were a lot of weird things, a 5.7% real but a 6.4% current dollar increase
Personal outlays (Q3 1.2% Q4 4%) were out of line with personal income (Q3 5.2% Q4 4.2%)
Farm products had a huge effect due to re-pricing of existing inventory EconomPic: Wholesale Inventories and Q4 GDP Revisions
given the weakness we're seeing for Europe and Japan, I expect to see the US follow in the foreseeable results of a government supported economy (not a comment on ideologies, just that unless the government sustains spending increases it is dependent on private demand growth which has clearly been absent)
What say everyone else on the subject of tomorrow's GDP revision?
At the rate we're going, "thin jokes" are only a matter of time.
Ewww. Did you see those scrawnies?
How thin were they?
You could fit one of them in a phone booth.
rosethorn wrote:
You are only now coming to that conclusion?!
.
...n00b.
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
Daddy, what's a phone booth?
Eric wrote:
It's not true until it has been officially denied...
Not the end of either, though muni subsidies are going to be a harder sell in this climate.
FTC policy makers now drink the "national champion"
with both hands, in any case. That century-old anti-trust law may well not exist.
This is dumb, dumb, dumb. It would rank right up there on stupidity with Nixon’s attempt at wage and price controls in 1971. The market wants to adjust — housing prices need to revert to the level at which natural supply & demand balance so that we can then begin growing our economy again. In addition, many people want a quick foreclosure so they can put the debt behind them begin to rebuild their lives. Banks, if anything, have been extremely slow the invoke foreclosure as they then have to write down the load against reserves which increases their financial burden. Unfortunately for both parties, the no-nothings in Washington seem intent on keeping the bubble inflated.
sm_landlord wrote:
That's what they called our present street corner public housing buildings before they were subdivided.
Tim waiting for 2012 wrote:
I'm beginning to realize that we are moving towards a new societal understanding of what "Government Housing" is.
Still trying to figure out why I would want to be a private player in a market so totally dominated by Uncle Sam. Anyone?
Any other Euro bears out there?
http://s3.amazonaws.com/waverlyadvisors/pdfs/40/The_Macro_Report_Strategic_-February_25_2010.pdf
Daddy, what's a phone booth?
A little glass house with an antique cell phone wired into the wall. The remaining ones are now called homeless shelters.
Rosethorn
They can't even hardly sell the tickets for the games. Ever since the citizens voted down the building of the new arena and finally got rid of the hornets.
What a mess..
We're all Section 8 Now
Europe revises down British growth forecast - Times Online
the iceberg that will be heard around the world when it falls into the ocean
Chainsaw wrote:
Very few "private" mortgages done today. Most jumbos at the larger banks require a banking relationship - i.e. you can get a jumbo at Wells if you have a Wells account, etc.
Otherwise the banks are just brokers for the government, they aren't really lenders.
The government is doing exactly the opposite of what it should be doing at this juncture. It should be kicking people out aggressively and going after deficiencies to scare underwater borrowers into paying. Instead it is encouraging intentional defaults.
rosethorn wrote:
I'm a bit slow today, but how do you get your "net value" tied up in debt? Isn't your net value already net of your debt?
Yalt wrote:
just assume negative real interest rates going forward and your discounted NPV is positive
I think the scope of the british housing bubble is still underappreciated by most gringos - same goes with the scope of the bubble in quite a few places that still have the queen on their money.
Weekly jobless claims jump 22,000 to 496,000 - MarketWatch
Jobless claims rise for 6th week of 8.
I can haz 7 of 9?
This is gonna make this interesting, we usually see a spring rebound in mortgage delinquencies thanks to tax refunds (among other reasons).
What is that term again? "Law of Unintended Consequences"?
Stimulus Creates New Tax-Time Headaches - Forbes.com
"Many taxpayers, including two-income couples, multiple job holders and college students, are facing unexpected tax bills because--thanks to Congress and the IRS--their withholding was reduced too much. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration estimates more than 15 million taxpayers could owe more. The IRS insists that number is way too big, but preparers say they're already beginning to see shell-shocked victims who were expecting refunds and now will have to write checks to Uncle Sam."
greenchutes wrote:
I am still trying to figure out the best way to short the Canadian housing market. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
(whispering)
uh, bubblisimo and EHP, I think he's talking about Australia.
noob goldberg wrote:
Just because all their mortgages are ARMs? Eh. What could happen?
I'm not certain there's an easy or reliable way to do that. Which means the correction will be particularly nasty and prolonged.
Federal government up here is raising tax revenues with a fee that's apparently going towards buying goofy scooters and to immediately buy L-3 Communications' millimeter wave scanners before there is any price competition
Air travellers face extra security fees - The Globe and Mail
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Can't they just tap the mobile phones at the cell sites?
noob goldberg wrote:
I was thinking Bahamas ...
... Kevin Martin needs to clean house. The Swedes are sitting 3.
Oh, and thanks for that story on Mississagua earlier, EHP. I'm on an iPod so commenting is painful, but I liked reading about that old battleaxes success.
President Obama today announced the creation of the new Extend and Pretend Department. Taking a page out of his predecessor's book he declared, "I'm the delayer here." Cabinet posts will shared between the Extending Secretary and the Pretending Secretary, ensuring longer time frames between delays and delusions.
The Extending Secretary's staff is sending out calls for experienced check-kiters to fill slots in the new agency. Meanwhile, the Pretending Secretary's staff is looking for MBAs (Make Believe Artists) eager to join the new department. Administration officials said the new department would be dismantled when the current emergency was under control.
When asked when that would be, unnamed sources admitted that they had no idea since solutions were not a part of the agency's mandate.
On Puerto Rican failures, compliments of Rodney Dangerfield:
"I tell you, I get no respect! My travel agent calls and says she's got a great deal for me: six days, no nights in Puerto Rico. I ask her, 'well, what am I supposed to do at night?' She says, 'I don't know, but you've got to stay the hell out of Puerto Rico!'"
sm_landlord wrote:
no, the body scanning millimetre wave device, funny that a politically connected company buys the tech, the TSA then tries it out, then an urgent travel threat is allowed to attempt explode his underwear but the device is a dud, and then whammo the millimeter wave scanner is an instant requirement
almost like being the secretary of defence and ordering the purchase of avian flu vaccine from the company you just left but still own
Today's testimony:
Bunning: "Discount rate increase for show only."
"Supplemental Program (announced Tuesday) illegal issuance of debt".
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Terrorism Industrial Complex (TIC)
Yeah, that's just poor reporting; obviously as a leveraged purchase the debtholder gets the bulk of the proceeds from a sale. Johnson just wants to minimize the haircut he's going to take.
It's just a coincidence. Move along.
BFF Poll for Fri. Feb. 26th 2010 | Hoocoodanode?
Island Bank, what do you want with the white man's world?
Kevin Martin's an artist.
Good way to blunt air travel?
Yancey Ward wrote:
Names like Tore Vikingstad
YouTube - Elton John Island Girl 1976
Bubblisimo Gerkinov wrote:
Not until after they finish sweeping the ice-
Or maybe going to war and giving the company for which you were ceo no bid contracts up the wazoo.
Or maybe have a financial meltdown and let the ex ceo of one of the root causes try to 'fix' the problem.
Now who would think of doing such a thing
? What kind of cynic are you?
Mayday! Mayday! Bank Failure is Imminent Captain! I guess CRE is making its mark now.
You guys must be hardcore
hatters, looking for a pattern in one coincidence after another after another after another. You'd think there was a secret cabal of military and industrial magnates at the controls.
Sheesh.
Tim waiting for 2012 wrote:
Looks like Peggy Joseph was right.
YouTube - Obama Is Going To Pay For My Gas And Mortgage!!!
Ha AB they're just trying to crash the market to cover their naked shorts
Going around via e-mail. Long but worth it.
545 PEOPLE--By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes. Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits..... The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Army & Marines are in Iraq, it's because they want them in Iraq. If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
This was attributed to Charlie Reese, a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
Feckless Ness wrote:
Former? I guess the
took him.
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
Good memory. I'd forgot about that one.
sm_landlord wrote:
took him.
Former? I guess the
Translated to numeric heaven like Enoch?
Hee hee hee hee. It's funny 'cause it's true.
NYC: No More Baking at Bake Sales by Eddie C -- LaVidaLocavore
This has really taken a silly turn. According to a story in today's New York Times No Brownies at Bake Sales, but Doritos May Be O.K.
It is pretty hard to come up with a better example of just plain wrong thinking than this. Bloomberg and company doesn't want any baking in bake sales because they don't know what is in home cooked brownies.
But because Doritos are approved for sales in city vending machines and because the City Politicians know what is in those that's O.K. What does Kathleen Grimm have to say about this rule that will include parents and teachers bake sales?
545 PEOPLE--By Charlie Reese
Any rebuttals? I can only think of one. As a waterfall assumes its proper shape given the volume of flow, the height of the fall and the shape of the channel, so the action of a government is formed by the legal,historical and social parameters of its formation, measured at any given time. Water will be water.
sm_landlord wrote:
I'm mostly in U.S. dollars in my German account since January.
Feckless Ness wrote:
Hee hee hee hee. It's funny 'cause it's true.
Except the 'secret' part. It's all in plain sight, which means this is the endgame.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
Nah, prolly just fed him to the killer whales over at Sea World.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
It's Ender's Game, and we're the Bugs.
Feckless Ness wrote:
No, it's a Buggers game and we are the end.
Maybe the trainer's pony tail looked like a fish.
pavel.chichikov wrote:
So politicians are spineless being that conform to the shape of whatever vessel we provide for them?
February 25, 2010
"A bipartisan group of U.S. senators Feb. 25 sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke calling for stiffer tariffs on Chinese imports, Bloomberg reported. The letter reportedly said, “There can be no doubt that China’s policy of large-scale intervention in the exchange markets and the significant undervaluation of its currency acts as a subsidy to Chinese exports.” The group of senators urged Locke to side with NewPage Corp.’s finding that Chinese glossy paper imports are being subsidized by China’s intervention in its currency market."
Cinco-X wrote:
It seems to work for
pavel.chichikov wrote:
That would be quite a finding, as it would apply to everything China exports. Any international trade lawyers want to try to handicap this one?
Feckless Ness wrote:
Alexander and his school chums dividing up the world.
sm_landlord wrote:
I was just checkin'
*So politicians are spineless being that conform to the shape of whatever vessel we provide for them?
No, individuals differ, but there is a powerful process of selection going on which affects a group.
sm_landlord wrote:
Everyone outside of China is being hurt by this. I suspect that the WTO or someone else will eventually find a way to make it stick....
pavel.chichikov wrote:
About time.
Two of my last books were manufactured in Hong Kong. Publisher's decision, based I suppose on price.
Cinco-X wrote:
I find it amazing the Chinese don't revalue their currency, even just a little, to head this off. They have got to know that some serious retaliation is coming.
I find it amazing the Chinese don't revalue their currency, even just a little, to head this off. They have got to know that some serious retaliation is coming.
From what I've heard, this currency issue is an extremely serious matter.
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
Scylla, meet Charybdis.
Mr Slippery wrote:
No, it's a Buggers game and we are the end.
It's the end and we're all buggered.
ghost, can you please give me an idea what busted out heloc paper is trading for?
I am working on something and could you an idea of what the market value of an underwater heloc in a nonrecourse state that is 30, 60, and 180 out of payment?
Thanks,
AllenM
Someday this war's gonna end...
Scylla, meet Charybdis.
Maybe. Perhaps the two countries will be testing each other now.
I feel bad for the Canadians with regard to book prices. The price differential on the cover definitely does not reflect current exchange rates.
In response to the nasty, insidious schemes of those evildoers who would presume to shovel out an even crappier currency than our own craptastic fungal-green-backs, we present...
Doubling the price of cheap crap at walmart as policy!
Brought to you by the same folks who brought you the Wars(tm) on Poverty, Drugs, and Terrah.
That'll learn 'em!
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
Loss of face. The funny thing is, they could revalue their currency a lot and it wouldn't make any difference. Median yearly wage there is something like $3K.
Maybe they think in a MAD situation, nobody would dare pull the trigger?
CR Topic August 2010
Reports on Possible Imminent Country Failures
Sources say the collapse of Greece has tipped Spain into the dead pool. Ireland, Latvia, and California are all expected to default...
CR Comments - 87 of 524 stated "hoocooandooode" The rest were OT
sm_landlord wrote:
WTO won't accept it. The real subsidy is not just that it can subsidize exports, but that it is a tariff on imports
of course this isn't stable in the long run or by a large margin because the govt has to eat the negative spread between domestic interest rates and those of whatever country they are pegging against
because they're greedy, they'll have interest rates too low domestically -- whether they disburse it to SOEs or mortgages or whatever -- which makes them vulnerable to asset bubbles
the only reason why it lasted so long was carrying the momentum from a lag
now that investment returns from growing exports has declined, they turned to bubbles, and ultimately they lose big
but first, a country like the UK will go bankrupt live on the 24h news cycle
I feel bad for the Canadians with regard to book prices. The price differential on the cover definitely does not reflect current exchange rates.
I'm looking at the back cover of one of my books published last year.
USA 12.95
Canada 16.08
I thought the only Canadians that bought books lived in Montreal?
but first, a country like the UK will go bankrupt live on the 24h news cycle
What a mighty fall that would be.
nova wrote:
we don't use books, their pages are too brittle in the cold climate, I learned to write by carving on a slab of ice using a Walrus tooth
Citizen AllenM wrote:
A single loan, or a securitization?
On any given loan the value depends a lot on the effective LTV, if it is on an underwater position it is worth pennies on the dollar on the hopes you can convince the borrower to pay you off to get rid of you.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Mold must be a problem on days when it gets above 0 C.
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
You had a Walrus tooth?!?!?!?
They should have done Puerto Rico in January and saved Minnesota for July.
EHP,
Wow! Really! CoocooKaChoo!
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Global warming is going to make everyone illiterate.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
more eloquently put.
Shhhh ... the hockey game's starting.
Bubblisimo Gerkinov wrote:
The fight got over early?
Hi Guys, do I have a Hamp Anecdote for you!!!
In which new Clients realize they've been duped by a "morgage
modification" company.
Citi displays almost incredible incompetence.
And yet, the Mod is granted.
Let me conpose my mind.
y if you are gonna show up, show up now.
What was the final Canada-Russia score?
Bubblisimo Gerkinov wrote:
I believe they probably are fossilized sabre tooth tiger teeth. Walrus teeth tend to be brittle and would unquestionable break if used to carve on ice slabs.
I am suspicious that Elvis is not actually a walrus tooth expert.
pavel.chichikov wrote:
To the Chinese, it is very serious. The manufacturer's of retail cut is ~10% or less. Even a few % rise in the Chinese currency will result in sizable job losses. Recall the 'watch maker' story from NYT a couple of weeks ago.
I do think that the Chinese currency will/need to rise ~20% or so. The Govt can use its massive hoard of wealth to help feed the UE, just like we do here(except we do with borrowed money). Mr Johnson has a pertinent posting:
Should We Fear China? « The Baseline Scenario
Single loan- what is the lowest effect percentage that most investors are considering?
Based on those delinquincies past dates. I am trying to decide if I should up my offer, wait, or totally disregard dealing with the servicer and wait until it is sold on to the vultures. They just rejected a 18 cent offer that is only 45 days late.
Someday this war's gonna end...
lawyerliz wrote:
An expert may be too strong of a word. Like calling Bernanke an expert in economics. However, I used to have a walrus farm, so I know quite a bit.
lawyerliz wrote:
I'm pretty sure that's one of his three areas of expertise, the others being bulldozers and super-sized lady realtors.
I thought if it was that cold it would be something you would put off until you could get Inuit.
*To the Chinese, it is very serious *
To the US as well?
MLM wrote:
I am a semi-pro at rebuffing advancing by super-sized lady realtors. I am an expert at pretty little lady realtors, though.
pavel.chichikov wrote:
7-3 ... Ovechkin cried.
Global warming is going to make everyone illiterate.
NCLB is just the warm up.
You can farm walruses? This is why I hang out here. Never know what I'll learn next.
pavel.chichikov wrote:
Sure, no other reason to talk about this.
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
NCLB is just the warm up.
No ponzi left behind.
No prole left a dime.
You can farm walruses?
Yeah, the only problem is when one dies the farmer blubbers
nova wrote:
Only after a rigorous certification process.
Only after a rigorous certification process.
Then you can call yourself a Walrus Engineer?
Are they planning to merge them together so they become TBTF? Or has Jamie Dimon been working on his spanish?
A bridegroom at a walrus wedding has to be able to lift a four ton bull onto....
Do you think the female bankers in Puerto Rico wear thongs and the males wear Speeedos at the office?
nova wrote:
I call my self a doctor of walrusology.
It is interesting that with all this talk about hockey the googlebot can't come up with any ad content related to it.
Elvis wrote:
Except on casual Friday.
nova wrote:
Or walrus farming. Weird.
Doctors threaten to turn away Medicare patients - Feb. 25, 2010
But I have no where else to go!
Bubblisimo Gerkinov wrote:
That is why they are broke.
Oh liz, those "Modification Specialists" rang my phone off the hook the past year. From what I understand, many of those companies that were doing predatory lending have switched to this. Nice racket, sell people insane mortgages then sell them a modification to go with their insane mortgage.
SNAFU wrote:
I doubt it. Appreciation would make raw materials cheaper in Chinese currency, and would have very little effect on the gigantic wage differential (though I'm sure some work would be lost to other low wage countries like Vietnam).
Citizen AllenM wrote:
Too early is my guess, once you go 90+ they will realize you ain't paying, the longer the better for you. 45 day barely registers in this environment, they will still assume there is a 70% chance you will cure.
And so it begins.
Women's Gold Medal Game : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
OK, which one of you Canukians belongs to this creature?
ghostfaceinvestah wrote:
Just like a ham.
Bubblisimo Gerkinov wrote:
I hope they drop women's hockey. What a joke.
Is there a Women's Lingerie Hockey League? I could be coerced to watch that.
Clients get behind, are actually good condidates for a mod, get a mod.
But they are behind on their mod--bad bad clients?? No, not actually.
They tried to pay. Sent the first payment in with the Hamp docs. Wasn't cashed.
After literally hours on the phone, we found out the following.
The evil mtg mod company was supposed to send pre mod payments (yes, you
say, there is no such thing? Clients didn't know that.) They didn't. Well, if they
did, they never got there. They sent the money--supposedly to a huge foreclosure mill
here, that I happen to know usually doesn't accept such payments (unless you are totally
bringing the loan current, or paying it off).
The money did not get there on a monthly basis--if it went anywhere but the con's pockets,
but about half the money did get there in late January. So I concluded, not an entire con,
just robbing peter to pay paul
But wait!!
The money may have come from the homeowners insurance company. Why you ask?
I dunno. He did get a new policy, which the con was supposed to pay, and the new policy is
indeed paid. So maybe the old company refunded the money to the bank? Makes no sense,
but Citi sez that the money came from the insurance company.
The first Citi rep said the check was made out to the wrong person and it was sent back.
Which was, confusingly, what the con said. But the con said-- well they only take cashiers
checks so I will advance the first payment from my company account, electronically, and
you pay me back. Which he did.
The second Citi rep, who talked to my client in Spanish, said, after about 30 minutes of
numerous holds, said oh, we found the check, we didn't send it back it's here and we'll
deposit it, but you did sent it the wrong place. And you made it out to the wrong name.
Gave us the name and phone number of
a supposed 3rd party, but it was another part of Citi, who said, yes you did send it to the
wrong place, but here's the right address, But no you DO make the check out to Citi.
No cashiers check needed.
There is nothing in the Hamp mod which says where to send them money.
But wait, there's more.!
Tim waiting for 2012 wrote:
"Some 43 million Americans receive Medicare coverage" There are 40 million uninsured Americans without healthcare already. So together 83 million out of ~300 million will/are/can be involved. This would not happen if we were all on 'medicare'! Question of time, I suppose.
Ummm, I don't think you can farm walri.
Naughty Pavel.
Eric wrote:
You're not watching the game I'm watching.
lawyerliz wrote:
Just send the check to me. I'll take care of it.
SNAFU wrote:
The trouble with putting everyone on medicare is that there would be no one left to shift the costs to.
a little OT but all the phone booth stuff reminded me that the la times did an interesting story a while back on a homeless whore that had taken over a porta-potty to run her shop out of... sad but true story...
All the fish were both under ice and under water! Great cat vid.
Jeebus, liz, it's a wonder more people don't stick their heads in the oven after that run around.
riot- the unbeatable high wrote:
That is a crappy story.
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
It takes awhile to bake a head these days.
Elvis wrote:
We call that "masking aroma"
Tim waiting for 2012 wrote:
In tony communities of California, there are exactly 0 doctors that will take Medicare.
Many have converted or are in the process of converting to concierge medicine - where you pay an upfront retainer of say, $5K, year to the Doctor.
Kari Seitz, a FIFA soccer referee says that when a male player feels dissed, he settles the score within 10 minutes. A female player remembers for years, and you never know when "closure" will happen.
The trouble with putting everyone on medicare is that there would be no one left to shift the costs to.
That must be the real reason the Reps are so intent on protecting the unborn. Future bailer-outers.
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
Next best thing.
MrBeach wrote:
I bet it is different in the juan communities of California.
MrBeach wrote:
I'm looking in to that. I understand that doctors will actually honor appointment times under that system. And not only do you get more than 15 seconds of their time per visit, you don't have to chase them down the hall to ask questions about your diagnosis.
Edit: My insurance has a $10K annual deductible, so I pay either way.
sm_landlord wrote:
Without doctors, there would be no hospitals or doctor bills. Let's just outlaw them. Problem solved.
Elvis wrote:
Only those on assignment from Germany... and if they are over 50.
Japan's consumer prices fall again in January - MarketWatch
11th consecutive month of deflation.
I wonder if it's a good time to introduce my new product - DoubleDip Gum.
Don't do teenagers... even vicariously.
Time for dinner. This evening's entree mountain trout broiled w/ butter and lemon juice and Greek seasoning. (Guess we gotta use up the Greek stuff before it disappears. ) Onion rings, and apple sauce.
See youse anon...
So year 17 of this zombie bank plan isn't when it turns around? Let me see what I have booked for 2025...
"My father was a doctor until President Shaquille O'Neal outlawed them."
"Now what does he do?"
"He farms Walruses in Canada. He has great health care, and he gets to work outside. It all worked out."
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
I'm not familiar with that species. Does it taste like rainbow trout with altitude?
My mom has had no trouble so far, with medical care.
lawyerliz wrote:
But how is her golf game?
A more boring condo client came for advise on cancelling their garbage contract.
Another company will haul it away cheaper. Garbage deflation!
The contract said that if they put toxic stuff in the garbage, so their garbage
buyer couldn't buy the garbage, there was a penalty.
A whole new world of garbage, processing, buying and selling.
If she sells seashells by the seashore, what does he sell? I'm afraid he is a mortgage broker.
lawyerliz wrote:
Garbage in. Garbage out. I prefer refuse to garbage any day.
Ahh, coop is on, let me check to see if there are any new icons.
Kinda hard to see. Not that I would criticize.
lawyerliz wrote:
So many contracts are indeed garbage these days.
A :garbage: icon?
lawyerliz wrote:
Cancelling your garbage contact is like telling the mob to go f*&k themselves. Don't mess with the garbafia. You'll wake up with a three week old horse head covered in maggots in your bed if you do.
Probably Wayne Huizenga is a garbage icon.
Your imminents, the emperor has no close.
lawyerliz wrote:
This is actually not new, except that consumers are now being exposed to the business end.
More cost-shifting as local governments crumble.
We used to have trash cans, but it took three garbage men to lift the cans and dump then in the truck, Then we had Dumpsters that fit into concealed storage, but it took two garbage men to hook up the dumpster to the truck for dumping. Now we have to use enormous round plastic barrels, and a single driver (in a Mercedes dump truck) uses a robot arm to grab the plastic can and dump it in the truck. Unfortunately, this means that the cans must be kept out in the alley where the robot arm can reach them. And two out of three garbage men are out of work. Plus we now pay triple the price to have trash hauled away, and recyclables must be carried down the alley to the differently colored plastic barrels, which are always full because they are only emptied every few weeks.
This is progress, right?
Apple is coming out with a small swindler. They call it an icon.
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords!
Um are you, like, ummmm, a garbage chute?
Elvis wrote:
Steve is the company iCon. "You will pay double for your computer, and you will like it!"
sm_landlord wrote:
I hope they don't pick up that homeless hookers port-o-potty by mistake. That would really stink.
Elvis wrote:
I believe that the robot respects the "occupied" flag.
elvis- rotfl
That's American Consumer or Linchpin of the global economy to you, Toots.
sm_landlord wrote:
I thought his title is iApple.
When I start my next company, I'm going to call it Your Mother. Then, when people ask me what I do, I will say "I own Your Mother."
For a man who laughed uproariously and derided the $600 "toy" iPhone, it must be pretty damn galling for Steve Ballmer to be unable to open a newspaper without seeing stuff like:
Video: the best iPhone apps for skiers -Times Online
Ha-ha! No wonder he is insane.
(Sorry, I am updating a Windows XP box and there is literally 6 YEARS of security updates)
Time to go tie stuffed animals to strings and pull them across the road in front of oncoming cars. Cheap entertainment now that all my puppies have died.
YouTube - Hale and Pace - Guide Cat
Elvis, behold ... "The Guide Cat"
Elvis wrote:
Excellent business plan. You can IPO and offer a t-shirt with every share someone buys. You won't even need to produce anything, just sell worthless stock certificates. Wait, this sounds familiar I think someone already thought of this business plan, but the T-shirts are at least new.
I read about some app for an iPhone that you can use when you encounter a bear in the wilderness. You press a button and the sound of hands clapping comes out of your telephone to ward off the bear, who probably wonders why you just didn't clap your hands instead?
I have a bag-piping app for when I want people to leave my home.
Maybe it would work on bears.
Maybe a black bear but not a grizzly.
Jonathan wrote:
By the time you're done, you may be out of disk space. This actually happened to my laptop.
I am just bringing up a new machine and trying out Win7. Plan to dual-boot Ubuntu because I want to be able to use all of the memory. With Windows, it would have cost an extra $175 to get the 64-bit version. Or maybe I'll run Win7 in a VM to keep it from infecting the whole system with NTFS and parasitic worms.
My old XP machine has started crashing and needs a brain-wipe.
sm_landlord wrote:
Don't we all.
the bears in my 'hood are all colors brother, but no Grizz.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Naw, you just toss the iPhone to the bear. He starts fiddling with apps, forgets to eat, and starves to death.
sm_landlord,
I cleared 30 gigs, I hope that is enough. If your XP machine has started crashing, it may mean you have a rootkit. My wife had a machine do this at the office and we ended up wiping and reinstalling.
Microsoft blames rootkit for XP blue screen patch problem - Windows - ComputerworldUK
Hey, I just got in from iFarming...
What did I miss?
sm_landlord wrote:
My old XP machine has started crashing and needs a brain-wipe.
Installing linux?
sm_landlord wrote:
I have a old 2003 XP emachines; still runs ok but for how much longer! What failed on yours, curious.
sm_landlord wrote:
Naw, you just toss the iPhone to the bear. He starts fiddling with apps, forgets to eat, and starves to death.
That should have been in Zork.
I need a brain wipe myself...excellent idea.
Jonathan wrote:
No, I checked for that. The problem is the lame Viewsonic monitor drivers. Signed by MS, but buggy as can be. And I don't want to risk uninstalling them until I have a spare machine up and running.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
Yup. But I need a copy of Win7 running somewhere to test some software. We have a release coming up, and consumers are being force-fed Win7. We'll see if Win7 will work in a VM.
...i heard it's a bitch trying to get a clawback from them
You get virtual PC in Win 7 for a reason. Too bad it isn't a good one.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
You are in a maze of twisty software passages all alike. You are likely to be eaten by a bugbear. There is a thief here. His name is Bill.
sm_landlord wrote:
albeit not as a teenager...
Yup. But I need a copy of Win7 running somewhere to test some software. We have a release coming up, and consumers are being force-fed Win7. We'll see if Win7 will work in a VM.
I keep a netbook in XP, mainly to play the good old games to partially relive the global supercycle peak days, at the height of the tech bubble.
nova wrote:
I'm thinking VMWare. New box is a 4-core I7 with 6GB on a three-channel memory controller, so it should have enough horsepower.
It's cute, too:
Shuttle XPC Barebone
How did you check for the rootkit sm_landlord. Any particular tools?
I'm interested, since we didn't manage to detect anything on my wife's machine. Rolled back some stuff and got it sort of working, ... but sort of working is not enough, so reinstall.
Hmmm, Juvie is here and Elvis is gone.
Why?
Rob Dawg wrote:
You are likely to be eaten by a squid.
Here's your tax money at work, Rob.
Almost all the buildings in the next-to-last photo didn't exist in early 2005.
http://realmeme.com/roller/page/realmeme?entry=portland_tram_dux
sm_landlord wrote:
You get virtual PC in Win 7 for a reason. Too bad it isn't a good one.
Wait for the OS X 10.6.3 update that comes with i5/i7 support for the new models and hackintosh yourself to happiness.
Jonathan wrote:
Microsoft published one last Patch Tuesday. Sorry, I lost the link.
sm_landlord,
Maybe. I have 42 parallel processors in a farm under my desk. I still have problems with IE 6
nova wrote:
But your toes are warm!
nova wrote:
Maybe. I have 42 parallel processors in a farm under my desk. I still have problems with IE 6
Rest assured that when 42 processor systems are commonplace, you will still find whatever incarnation of Internet Explorer is in use at that time will hog resources and run too slow.
Indeed! I eat at my desk. Not cause I'm busy. Because lunch cooks in one of my drawers.
I saw the King in Reno playing $2-$4 Texas Hold-em, so he's not gone.
nova wrote:
You have features not problems. Best thing about IE6? Firefox moves your settings over with one click.
Naw, I wrote my own browser. It looks just like AOL
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
// MSIE Init
// this always works, so return value is not needed
void init();
{
int m = GetAvailableMemory();
malloc (m);
sleep (100000000000000000);
int result = PutDialog ("Abort, Retry, Ignore");
m = 0; result = 0; // clean up
return;
}
sm_landlord wrote:
// MSIE Init
// this always works, so return value is not needed
The world of closed-source software ensures there will always need to be a new model of computer... perhaps by design.
I'm off the upgrade roller-coaster, my 2 Gig Athlon 64s don't seem much slower than stuff around these days. Been pleasantly surprised at how good 5 year old machines can run.
Jonathan wrote:
I'm off the upgrade roller-coaster, my 2 Gig Athlon 64s don't seem much slower than stuff around these days. Been pleasantly surprised at how good 5 year old machines can run.
Old dog Pentium-M 1.6GHz laptop is still in fine shape though I use my netbook more often nowadays, which packs about the same punch minus the ATI video card. Meanwhile my media center PC is a quad-core Q6600 w/4GB, built from parts two summers ago, running a pretty minimal Gentoo setup... it still does everything I could need.
sm_landlord wrote:
I have an XP image that I run in a VM... I make a new clone of it before every run, so the original stays pristine... Then after each run I delete the used image... Sort of like kleenex, for operating systems... Lately the only reason I have to use XP for anything is to update my handheld GPS, which I might get rid of as soon as I get an Android phone....