The
Rent is Too Damn High: San Fran Residents Pay $1,000/Mth To Live In Shipping
Containers - (www.zerohedge.com)
There’s nothing quite like a grotesquely lopsided “economic recovery” in
which a handful of cities boom, while the rest of the nation stagnates.
Even worse, millennials living in such chosen cities face one of two
options. Either live in mom and dad’s basement, or face a standard of living
far more similar to 19th tenement standards than the late 1990’s tech boom. With
that out of the way, I want to introduce you to what a $1,000 per month rental
in the San Francisco Bay area looks like. Shipping containers... We learn more from Bloomberg: Luke Iseman has figured out how to afford the
San Francisco Bay area. He lives in a shipping container. The Wharton School
graduate’s 160-square-foot box has a camp stove and a shower made of old boat
hulls. It’s one of 11 miniature residences inside a warehouse he leases
across the Bay Bridge from the city, where his tenants share communal toilets
and a sense of adventure. Legal? No, but he’s eluded code enforcers who rousted
what he calls cargotopia from two other sites. If all goes according to plan,
he’ll get a startup out of his response to the most expensive U.S.
housing market.
Puerto
Rico Agency Misses Full Bond Payment in First Default
- (www.bloomberg.com)
A Puerto Rico agency defaulted on bonds for the first time Monday, initiating a
clash with creditors as the struggling commonwealth seeks to renegotiate its
$72 billion debt load. The Caribbean island paid just $628,000 of what was due
on securities sold by its Public Finance Corp. because the legislature didn’t
provide enough money, Melba Acosta, the president of its Government Development
Bank, said in a statement. About $58 million of interest and principal was due.
“This was a decision that reflects the serious concerns about the
commonwealth’s liquidity in combination with the balance of obligations to our
creditors and the equally important obligations to the people of Puerto Rico to
ensure the essential services they deserve are maintained,” Acosta said in a
statement. The default marks an escalation of the debt crisis racking the
island, where officials are pushing for what may be the biggest restructuring
ever in the municipal market. Puerto Rico bond prices have tumbled amid
speculation that the island won’t be able to repay what it owes as its economy
stagnates and residents leave for the U.S. mainland.
De
Blasio Demands Feds Grant Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Rights - (www.observer.com) Mayor Bill de Blasio today
rallied with a host of activists and politicians to demand Congress pass a bill
permitting financially flailing Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy to escape its
credit crisis. The mayor highlighted the city’s large and historic Puerto Rican
population in calling for the the passage of the Puerto Rico Chapter
9 Uniformity Act, which would grant the territory the same powers to manage its
deficits as a state—allowing it to restructure the $70 billion the island
and its municipalities owe to lenders. Mr. de Blasio blamed federal policy,
which curtails the commonwealth’s trade, inhibits its ability to collect taxes
and limits its aid from Washington, for the problem and insisted the government
has an obligation to ameliorate the damage done. “They are saddled with a debt
they cannot pay. They are unable—by law, unable to file for bankruptcy. And
they are at the mercy of their creditors. This is an unacceptable situation.
It’s a Catch-22 if we’ve ever seen one,” he said on the steps of City Hall. “If
the federal government doesn’t step in, it will be abandoning three-and-a-half
million Americans who are only asking for fairness at this moment.” Currently,
federal law only allows cities, public authorities and agencies to file for
Chapter 9 bankruptcy if they have the approval of a larger state government.
Since Puerto Rico is not a state, it cannot authorize any of its arms of
government to restructure at present.
Junk-Debt Market Rocked as Cautious Creditors
Stymie New Deals - (www.bloomberg.com) Junk-bond investors, who had been financing the
riskiest U.S. companies in a bid to boost returns, are asking for a time-out
amid a deepening rout in commodities. Energy-services providers Exterran
Holdings Inc. and leather-chemicals company Stahl scrapped plans to raise debt
after failing to gather enough investor support. Lenders are extracting
concessions from hospital owner Prime Healthcare Services Inc. and Builders
FirstSource Inc. as yields on speculative-grade debt climb to a seven-month
high. “The market is really differentiating between the winners and the
losers,” said John McClain, a money manager at Diamond Hill Capital Management
Inc., in Columbus, Ohio. “And the losers are being punished. The confluence of
global events -- especially within the commodity space -- has weighed on the
market.”
Emerging Market Currencies Tumble to Record Low
in 'Violent' Selloff - (www.bloomberg.com) Emerging-market currencies are in free fall. An
index of the major developing-nation currencies fell to an all-time low this
week, extending its drop over the past year to 19 percent, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg going back to 1999. The Russian ruble, Colombia's peso
and the Brazilian real have fallen more than 30 percent over the past year for
some of the worst global selloffs. China's economic slowdown is
pushing down commodity prices, weighing on raw-material exporters from Brazil
to Mexico and South Africa. Adding to the pain is the expectation that the
Federal Reserve will soon embark on the first interest rate increase since
2006, threatening to lure capital away from developing nations.
Oil Warning: The Crash Could Be Worst in More
Than 45 Years - (www.bloomberg.com) Morgan
Stanley has been pretty pessimistic about oil prices in 2015, drawing
comparisons with the some of the worst oil slumps of the past three
decades. The current downturn could even rival the iconic price crash of 1986,
analysts had warned—but definitely no worse. This week, a revision: It
could be much worse. Until recently, confidence in a strong recovery for
oil prices—and oil companies—had been pretty high, wrote such analysts
as Martijn Rats and Haythem Rashed in a report to
investors yesterday. That confidence was based on four premises, they said, and
only three have proven true.
Greece may seek up to 24 billion euros in first new aid
tranche: paper - (www.reuters.com)
China Official Factory Gauge Slips as Growth Slowdown Bites - (www.bloomberg.com)
Pain Worsens for Oil Giants Exxon and Chevron - (www.nasdaq.com)
Bundesbank Vice President Warns of Grexit Consequences--Report - (www.nasdaq.com)
Do China's Stock Markets Portend The Chickens Are Finally Coming Home To Roost? - (www.forbes.com)
On Army Day, China warns of growing border security risks - (www.reuters.com)
U.S. Decides to Retaliate Against China’s Hacking - (www.nytimes.com)
Syrian Kurdish forces say 'provocative' Turkey targeting them - (www.reuters.com)
China Official Factory Gauge Slips as Growth Slowdown Bites - (www.bloomberg.com)
Pain Worsens for Oil Giants Exxon and Chevron - (www.nasdaq.com)
Bundesbank Vice President Warns of Grexit Consequences--Report - (www.nasdaq.com)
Do China's Stock Markets Portend The Chickens Are Finally Coming Home To Roost? - (www.forbes.com)
On Army Day, China warns of growing border security risks - (www.reuters.com)
U.S. Decides to Retaliate Against China’s Hacking - (www.nytimes.com)
Syrian Kurdish forces say 'provocative' Turkey targeting them - (www.reuters.com)
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