AP – Nevada had unrealistic growth expectations before the nation’s financial meltdown battered the state’s tourism industry and erased billions of dollars in real estate equity, an economist told a federal commission examining the causes of the Great Recession.
More here:
Panel examining recession’s causes meets in Vegas
(AP)
To the surprise of CNNMoney.com’s Tami Luhby, the market is doing something more efficiently than a government program . While this isn’t news to many, at CNN, it’s a revelation. It seems “banks are doing nearly twice as many modifications under their own foreclosure prevention initiatives than under the Obama administration’s signature Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP,” Luhbi wrote in her Aug. 30 article. Banks made 644,000 “proprietary permanent modifications” in the first half of 2010, almost twice the 332,000 under HAMP. Loan modifications are an alternative to foreclosures, in which the debtors usually receive “interest rate and principal reductions.” The HAMP program, according to Luhby, “lowers monthly payments to 31% of pre-tax income.” Luhby’s surprise stems from her assertion that: “Banks have long come under fire not doing enough to help troubled homeowners, particularly when the mortgage crisis started spinning out of control in 2007. Many loan servicers initially addressed the problem by tacking on the missed payments, which only increased strapped homeowners’ monthly burden.” So banks were at fault for operating on the creditor-debtor model that has existed almost since there’s been money: a creditor provides a loan expecting repayment plus (reasonable) interest; a debtor repays according to a set schedule, and failure to pay brings penalties or foreclosure. However, market conditions changed and banks have changed with them. As Luhby wrote, “Banks have realized that foreclosing on home after home after home may not be in anyone’s best interest – least of all their own.” But banks aren’t off CNN’s hook, since they still are trying to get the most favorable terms for the business that they can. “Before homeowners rejoice, they should take a close look at the terms of their bank modification offers, consumer advocates say. Many may not be as good as HAMP, which lowers monthly payments to 31% of pre-tax income.” Luhby had no trouble finding mortgagee to complain about a proprietary modification. Ida Ward, an Atlanta middle school teacher, had her monthly payment cut nearly in half in a HAMP trial modification. When she received her permanent modification from Chase, the reduction was about half as much as under HAMP. “‘These banks should be ashamed of the terms that they are giving to borrowers,’ said Ward, who said she had no choice but to accept the offer. ‘The loan modification process is flawed and deceptive to borrowers.’” No mention in the article of the “flawed and deceptive” loan origination process that put borrowers in homes they couldn’t afford, or the shame of borrowers who can’t meet the terms they agreed to when they contracted with the bank.
Visit link:
Shock at CNN: Banks Doing More than Obama for Homeowners
Reuters – Owners cut prices on one-quarter of U.S. homes listed for sale in July, a fourth straight monthly rise, as job market fallout trumped record low mortgage rates, real estate website Trulia.com said on Wednesday.
Read the original:
Unemployment drives more home sellers to cut price
(Reuters)
Florida Senate candidate Kendrick Meek’s (D) campaign canceled a planned conference call with reporters Monday so he could cast an early ballot. After voting at his precinct in Miami-Dade County, Meek encouraged supporters to vote for “the only real Democrat” in the race. He faces a challenge from real estate mogul Jeff Greene (D), with different polls showing each candidate in the lead. Early voting runs through Aug. 21 in some counties and Aug. 22 in others. A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of State said it wouldn’t predict how many voters will cast ballots before the Aug. 24 primary day. Early voting was instituted in Florida in 2004. The Meek campaign also released the script of a robocall made on his behalf by Bob Graham, the former governor and senator. “I know what it takes to get the job done for Florida, and I know Kendrick will get it done because he’s a hard worker and knows what everyday Floridians are going through,” Graham said the recording. “And, he’s the only real Democrat in the race. All the other major candidates have run as Republicans. Please vote for my friend Kendrick Meek.” Greene also built events around early voting. His campaign organized a conference call Sunday that drew 7,800 supporters, according to a spokesman. Meanwhile, Greene faces more negative coverage of his vast real estate holdings. Residents at the The Oasis, an apartment complex near Los Angles that Greene owns, complained about maintenance. “He needs to treat us better,” one resident told the St. Petersburg Times . In response, the Meek camp launched the website, SlumlordBillionaire.com. –Updated at 10:42 p.m.
See the original post here:
Meek focused on early voting in Florida (updated)
On August 5, 2010, The Washington Post published a short editorial by Eugene Robinson with the title “Charlie Rangel’s no crook.” But on October 9, 2009, the same Eugene Robinson penned a column titled ” Charlie Rangel’s Cloud: An Ethics Case Could Drag Democrats Down.” The closer we get to elections, Robinson seems to get progressively less impressed with the case against Rangel. This is his new Rangel-name-is-cleared line: Charlie Rangel’s no crook. He’s right to insist on the opportunity to clear his name, because the charges against him range from the technical all the way to the trivial. All right, there’s one exception: On his federal tax returns, Rangel failed to declare rental income from a vacation property he owns in the Dominican Republic — a mortifying embarrassment for the one-time chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the tax code. But certain facts about this transgression rarely get mentioned. For one thing, Rangel’s so-called “villa” can’t be very palatial, since it cost only $82,750 when he bought it in 1987. For another, Rangel has already filed amended tax returns and paid everything he owed, plus penalties and interest. The remaining charges are yawn-inducing. Even assuming that the allegations, as presented to the House Ethics Committee, are wholly true, the case against Rangel has a Gertrude Stein problem: There’s no there there. Compare that mistakes-were-made line to what Robinson wrote last fall: House Democrats had better start taking the ethics allegations against Rep. Charlie Rangel seriously. I know it’s difficult for those steeped in Capitol Hill’s hermetic culture to understand, but a verdict of “mistakes were made” — which a lot of Democrats would like to reach — doesn’t cut it in the real world. Strange as it seems. Seriously. Welcome to Eugene vs. Eugene. He is seriously beating himself up. There’s more from last year: If you win big majorities in both the House and Senate by railing against a “culture of corruption” in Washington, as the Democratic Party did, voters tend to get the wacky notion that you actually mean what you say. The violations that Rangel is alleged to have committed are, inconveniently for him, easy for anyone to understand. The most serious, perhaps, is the allegation that he failed to pay taxes on about $75,000 in income from renting out a beach house that he owns in the Dominican Republic. For the chairman of the House committee that writes tax legislation not to pay his fair share in taxes would be as bad as, say, for the secretary of the Treasury not to pay his fair share in taxes. (Hold it, maybe that’s a bad example .) The most stunning alleged violation is more of a technicality: That on required financial disclosure forms, Rangel failed to list more than $500,000 in assets. The average citizen isn’t likely to have half a million bucks somehow slip his mind, since the average citizen doesn’t have anything near half a million bucks. And we’re not talking easily overlooked “Antiques Roadshow” assets — a dusty painting in the attic that turns out to be the work of a second-tier Old Master, or a rickety chair in the basement that experts date as 18th century. What Rangel failed to declare were liquid assets — a credit union account worth more than $250,000 and an investment account also worth more than $250,000 — plus some real estate he owns in New Jersey and assorted stock holdings. If you quoted this column back to New Eugene, he might accuse you of being a partisan Republican hack. New Eugene also had this to say on MSNBC’s Morning Joe (as MRC’s Rachel Burnett found). Scarborough said the messes around Rangel and Maxine Waters aren’t good for the Democrats as a whole, even though Joe likes Maxine “very much.” Robinson replied that Rangel’s replies were changing his formerly tough journalistic mind: On the other hand, it is what happens if you run against culture of corruption; you actually crack down and ramp up the ethics committee and, you know, look for the stuff you find it. I think my assessment of the two cases would actually be a bit different from yours, actually. I haven’t read that deeply into the Waters case but that really sounds pretty bad. I mean, on its face it sounds like there should be a refusal by her and stayed away from that. I have, however, gone through Charlie Rangel’s 32-page response to the charges against him. And it’s still very bad for him politically . I think he’s not without any legs to stand on, however. We keep saying 13 ethics charges. It really boils down to three or four incidents and when you actually look at them, you know, some of them are not all that troublesome. So I actually understand why he wants to have his day in court. PS: In 2005, Robinson giddily looked forward to Tom DeL:ay in jail in a piece titled “Immoral Majority.” So pardon me for going way beyond schadenfreude to outright giddiness at the prospect that the Hammer will finally get nailed. It may be too much to hope that the former House majority leader — and how good it feels to write “former” — will actually be convicted and do jail time. The indictment for criminal conspiracy returned by a Texas grand jury on Wednesday is for alleged campaign finance violations that are the rough equivalent of money laundering, which is not the easiest crime to prove in court. Five years later, and Eugene’s still waiting for that conviction.
See original here:
Our Rangel Game: Which Eugene Robinson Is It?
CNN’s Rick Sanchez on Thursday actually asked an Arizona state Congressman, “What is your beef with illegal immigration?” Imagine that, a so-called journalist asking an elected official what his beef is with people breaking the law. Honestly, I had to watch this segment four times to convince myself that Sanchez said something this absurd. On the other hand, those familiar with Sanchez’s work will view his interview with Arizona state Rep. Rick Murphy (R) par for the course (video follows with transcript and commentary): RICK SANCHEZ, HOST: Mr. Murphy, thanks so much for joining us. RICK MURPHY (R), ARIZONA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: My pleasure, Rick. SANCHEZ: It seems this thing has gotten so heated, by the way. And I just want to start right from jump street, as they say. What is your beef with illegal immigration? You thought I was kidding, right? Need to read that again a few times to absorb the stupidity? I understand. I did as well. Take a couple of cleansing breaths, and let’s continue: MURPHY: Well, Rick, the problem with illegal immigration is that it it’s — it is multifold. First of all, you have got some folks that are here that collect benefits and that put a burden on the taxpayers, and there is not enough balance to the benefit they’re providing… (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: OK. Just a quick — just a quick stoppage there. Just a quick stop. You know those people are paying taxes, right? Now, when most of us think about paying taxes, we consider the federal and state income kind, correct? Not Sanchez: MURPHY: Some of them do pay some taxes, sure. (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: No, they all pay taxes. (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: No, no, Mr. Murphy, they all pay taxes, sir. Stop and think for a moment. Are you an elected official? (CROSSTALK) MURPHY: Yes, I am, Rick. SANCHEZ: So you think that people who come to this country all steal? What? What does that have to do with paying taxes? Shhh. Wait. Sanchez is going to explain: MURPHY: I’m sorry. I didn’t quite catch that. SANCHEZ: Do they all steal? MURPHY: Well, no, they don’t all steal. But let me give you an example, OK? (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: Just answer the question. Do they all steal? Do they all live in caves? MURPHY: I don’t think very many of them live in caves, no. SANCHEZ: OK. So, if they go to grocery store to buy goods, they pay taxes. It’s called the sales tax, right? Well, first of all, five states don’t charge sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. More importantly, 29 states and the District of Columbia completely exempt food purchased for home consumption from sales tax. Most other states offer lower tax rates or some kind of tax credits to offset their sales tax on groceries. ONLY Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and South Carolina tax such purchases at their regular sales tax level. As such, Sanchez was once again showing his audience how little he knows: MURPHY: Well, most cities here don’t tax groceries. But, besides that… (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: OK. Let’s suppose. (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: Since you are going to be real smart… You mean as opposed to being REAL DUMB? (CROSSTALK) MURPHY: My wife and I are foster parents, OK? (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: No, let’s continue the conversation. I don’t want your talking points. MURPHY: All right. SANCHEZ: When a person comes to the United States, if they live here and they don’t steal and live under the cave, are they paying property taxes and sales taxes? MURPHY: If they buy a home, they’re paying property taxes, sure. SANCHEZ: What if they rent a home and the person who rents it, who collects their rent charges them that property tax? What? A landlord charging his tenant for his property tax? How often does THAT happen? MURPHY: Well, with our real estate market, there is not a real clear issue there. (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: Can you live in property in the United States, sir, without paying a property tax? Obviously, the answer is “Yes” if you’re living with someone and NOT paying rent OR renting and you don’t have a bizarre landlord requiring you to pay his/her property taxes. Unfortunately, Sanchez’s bullying tactics clearly threw Murphy off: MURPHY: Not very easily. SANCHEZ: Thank you. Can you buy something at a store without paying a sales tax? MURPHY: Not in most states. SANCHEZ: So, why do you go around telling Americans that these people don’t pay taxes, or some of them, as you say, when that… MURPHY: I didn’t say they don’t pay taxes. SANCHEZ: You just said that a minute ago. You said some of them do. (CROSSTALK) MURPHY: I said the costs they incur — I said the costs they incur do not balance out the costs, the taxes that they pay. SANCHEZ: So, they pay — so, OK, so let’s just leave it at that. So, even illegal immigrants pay taxes right? MURPHY: They do pay some. SANCHEZ: Thank you. Let’s move on to another point. Do you think that the benefits that they give — do you know any benefits that they give Americans? MURPHY: That the illegal immigrants give Americans? SANCHEZ: Yes. Yes. Like what? MURPHY: Well, some companies and some people benefit from the cheap labor. But, on the other hand, you have fewer available jobs for Americans. And it drives down wages for Americans that do the same jobs. So, I’m not real sure that it’s clear that there’s a benefit there. (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: No, you are right. You are right. And it’s very well stated. But let me ask you this. How about Social Security? Do you know that illegal immigrants subsidize you and your Social Security to the tune of $7 billion, so that some day you can retire on money they put into the system that they can never collect? Study, “New York Times.” MURPHY: Well, Rick… SANCHEZ: You should know that if you’re going to argue this stuff. (CROSSTALK) MURPHY: I would say that $7 billion is a drop in the bucket. For Social Security, that’s a drop in the bucket. (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: Seven billion dollars is a drop in the bucket? Indeed it is. According to a new report by the Federation for Immigration Reform, illegal immigration is currently costing taxpayers $113 billion. As it is estimated that illegal immigrants are now paying about $13 billion in taxes, this means we’re losing about $100 billion a year. Of course, if I brought this up in Sanchez’s presence, he’d disdainfully accuse me of being smart: (CROSSTALK) MURPHY: Compared to the total amount of the obligation? Compared to the total amount of the obligation, yes, it is. SANCHEZ: Well, so did you know that? MURPHY: Yes, I know that they do pay in. But they also do that mostly on the backs of people whose identities they have stolen. And it creates a huge burden and cost and inconvenience and disruption to those people’s lives. (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: Actually, once again, you are wrong. Did you know that most illegal aliens are given something by the federal government called a tax I.D. that allows the government off to collect Social Security taxes from them? Did you know that? MURPHY: Rick, I realize that some of them have that. But I also realize that many of them have stolen identification. It happens in this state all the time. As a matter of fact, we probably lead the nation in it. SANCHEZ: But here’s the point. And, look, I don’t mean to get into an argument with you. You don’t mean to get into an argument with him? You’ve been arguing since the opening bell: SANCHEZ: But it’s almost like when we have these conversations, we only hear one side. And the bottom line is this, isn’t it? Tell me if I’m wrong. Illegal immigrants in the United States have been all but recruited by businesses in the United States. They have said, here, come here. I want you to come to the United States. I have got a job for you. And then when they get here, our U.S. government with our broken immigration system gives them the wherewithal or the tax I.D.s and all the other papers so that they can work legally, even though they’re not here legally. And now we hear folks like you saying, it’s all the illegal’s fault. I guess I’m just trying to put this in perspective. Is it really? MURPHY: Well, you kind of put words in my mouth. I don’t think I ever said it is all the illegal’s fault. Now, nobody put a gun to their head and made them come here. But I would grant you that administrations from both sides of the aisle have done pretty much what you said and turned a blind eye. SANCHEZ: Yes, you’re right. MURPHY: And I don’t appreciate it from either side. The fact of the matter is, Arizona is paying a disproportionate price for this problem because we’re right on the border. And California and Texas have their borders sealed much better than Arizona does. They have been intentionally funneled here, because they assumed that it would be too inhospitable and people would stop crossing, but that didn’t happen. We need to have our border secured and we need to have that done first before we do anything, because people frankly don’t trust the federal government to do what they say they’re going to do. They need to prove themselves. (CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: You are 100 percent right. And I think most Americans watching this newscast would say, you are absolutely right. The federal government has to come up with some kind of system to control the borders and a system for comprehensive immigration reform. Unfortunately, most of the time, the anger that comes from one side or the other doesn’t allow that to happen. And maybe that’s why guys like you and I need to have these conversations more often. My thanks to you, Mr. Murphy, for taking time to join us. I enjoyed the respectable discourse. MURPHY: My pleasure, Rick. Thanks for having me. Amazing. If you needed any more proof that members of our media actually support illegal immigration, you got it in this segment. As the proprietor of The Right Scoop noted , “It’s hard for me to believe that a CNN host would ask someone ‘what’s your beef with illegal immigration.’” It’s not hard when the host is Rick Sanchez.
Read the original:
Rick Sanchez Asks Arizona Legislator ‘What is Your Beef with Illegal Immigration?’
Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) wants to restart the market by helping banks suffering under the weight of real estate loans. Read more…
Here is the original post:
Aid boost sought for real estate
Worst. President. Ever. Barack Obama is the worst president in history on job creation– According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. shed 2.3 million jobs since February 2009, Obama’s first full month in office. Since Obama’s election in 2008, the US economy has shed 4.4 million jobs. That’s worse than Herbert Hoover. The June numbers were even worse for the president. The economy lost 125,000 jobs due to his disastrous policies. Despite this, President Obama has repeatedly lied to the press saying, “We’ve now gained jobs in the private sector for five consecutive months.” Of course, it’s too much to ask the corrupt media to correct him on this obvious lie. After all, they didn’t earn the reputation of being the state-run media for nothing. About the record unemployment, President Obama told NBC that, “I expect to be held accountable.” Leftist NBC announcer Chuck Todd interviewed Obama in Michigan this week. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy AOL News reported: In an interview that aired today on NBC’s “Today” show, the president said he is prepared “to be held accountable for the policies that I’ve put in place ,” including massive overhauls of the health care and financial systems. Citing those changes, along with investments in education, clean energy and dealing with deficits and entitlements, Obama said: “Those structural challenges have to be fixed. And it’s hard because you don’t see immediate gratification. “But what I’d say to the person who’s out of a job right now is we are gonna be doing everything we can to create the environment where the private sector can come in and start creating jobs. But I’m not any more satisfied than they are. And until they can find a job, I expect to be held accountable .” Obama, whose job approval ratings are mediocre, still remains more popular than Congress, whose members will face voters this fall. While history shows and current polling predicts that Democrats will lose seats in November, the president echoed his party’s pitch to voters to stick with the current majority. “We had a disaster on our hands,” he said of the economic landscape when he took office. “We’ve been able to stabilize the economy and prevent the freefall. Instead of 750,000 jobs a month being lost, we’ve now gained jobs in the private sector for five consecutive months. But we’ve still got a long way to go.” More… Neokong added this below: Total disconnect from reality/ Nearly a million homes are expected to be foreclosed upon this year. Foreclosure activity in the U.S. real estate market increased by 7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. Default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions were reported on 932,234 properties in the first quarter. The pace of foreclosure activity seems to have increased through the three-month period ending March 31. That doesn’t sound like an economy that is roaring back to me. A million foreclosures mean that there is a million families who might have a different take on Obama’s recovery.
More here:
Obama Continues to Lie About Jobs; Says “I Expect to Be Held Accountable” (Video)
Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) kept up keeping up his fundraising pace this quarter, but banked far less than what real estate billionaire Jeff Greene has shown he’s willing to spend to win the Democratic Senate nomination. Read the original here: Meek haul bested by Greene self-funding Visit link: Meek haul bested by Greene self-funding
Originally posted here:
Meek haul bested by Greene self-funding