TOP
STORIES:
Student Loan Debt May
Be The Next Bailout - (www.cnbc.com) Here’s what we do know about
student loan debt: it’s roughly $1 trillion in size, greater than
either auto or credit-card debt and second only to mortgage debt in the U.S. Borrowers in their 30s today owe $28,500, on average. The
debt burden has soared just as — and partly because — the recession hit, so
younger graduates carrying the highest balances are hit with the double whammy
of aweak job market (that still isn’t
showing any sign of rapid improvement). And this all comes as globalization and
technological change have upended once-reliable career paths, wiped out many
mid-level professional jobs and leave low-paying fields in health, food and
beverage services, and retail as among the fastest growing job markets over the
next decade. Oh, and consider that student loan debt remains one of the most
difficult types to forgive or discharge in bankruptcy, in part because the
federal government (i.e. taxpayers) made or guaranteed 80 percent of all
outstanding student loan debt as of last year. And finally, that once loans in
deferral or forbearance are excluded, the delinquency rate on student loan debt
was an estimated 27 percent as of the third quarter of 2011, according to a
study by the New York Fed.
Stockton
again leads the nation in foreclosures - (www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com)
With one out of every 60
homes in some level of foreclosure, the Central Valley city of Stockton has the
worst foreclosure rate of any city in the nation, according to real estate
information company RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine. It’s not the first time the
inland seaport has held the dubious honor; it is the epicenter of the nation’s
housing meltdown. Stockton’s foreclosure rate in the first quarter was three
times the national average, says RealtyTrac. There were a total of 3,912
Stockton properties with foreclosure filings in the first quarter. There is
some good news, however. The number of foreclosures was down 13 percent from
the fourth quarter of 2011 and down 19 percent from the first quarter of 2011.
Cost
of Spain’s Housing Bust Could Force a Bailout - (www.nytimes.com) By any measure, the Spanish
real estate boom was one of the headiest ever. Spurred by record-low interest
rates, Spaniards piled into holiday villas along the Costa Blanca, gaudy
apartments in Madrid and millions of starter homes throughout the country. But
since the frenzy drove Spanish home prices to a peak in 2007, they have fallen
by at least one-fourth, and the bottom seems nowhere in sight. As Spain endures its
second recession in
three years and unemployment nears 25 percent, an increasing number of
debt-heavy Spaniards can no longer meet monthly payments on the mortgages that
their banks were all too eager to give. With a rising portion of Spain’s 663
billion euros, or $876 billion, in home mortgages at risk of default, many
economists say it is only a matter of time before some of Spain’s biggest banks
will need a bailout. And the Spanish government, staggering under its own debt
and budget deficit burdens, may not have the money to come to the rescue.
The
First Time Mortgage-Backed Securities Failed - (www.bloomberg.com) During World War I, as cities
pulled every young man who wasn't a doughboy into their factories, the U.S.
became an urban nation.
After
the war, there was a sharp and short depression in 1920 from which the cities
quickly recovered, but rural America did not. That year, the census recorded more
people living in cities than in the country. Returning soldiers looked for work
in the cities rather than return home. And all those people needed
somewhere to live. Thus was born the great housing boom of the 1920s. The
wartime demand for city housing and businesses drove rents and prices as high
as skyscrapers. How would all the mortgages for these apartments and houses be
funded? Lenders simply followed the people. For decades, urban investors had
bought stakes in farm mortgage bonds. With the agricultural economy in such
straits and the urban economy booming, groups such as the Farm Mortgage Bankers
Association of America (which later dropped the "Farm" from its name)
reoriented their sights on the cities, looking for ways to lend to these new
urban dwellers, bringing their experience in turning mortgages into bonds.
California
Lost More Than A Million Jobs In The Last 5 Years - (www.laist.com) California is #1!!! In losing jobs. Our state
has lost 6.7% of its jobs (= just over a million), more than any other state in
the country, in the past five years, according
to Los Angeles Business Journal. California lost between June 2006
and June 2011, according
to On Numbers. The Golden State had 14,068,600 jobs at the end of
June 2011, down 1,009,400 jobs (6.7 percent)from June 2006, according to an On
Numbers analysus of seasonally adjusted figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Take that, Texas! The Lone Star state was the big loser coming in
dead last in the battle of lost jobs. In fact, they ADDED jobs. Sheesh.
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