Sunday April 12 Housing and Economic stories

KeNosHousingPortal.blogspot.com

TOP STORIES:

Centennial Hyundai closes six months after opening - Business ... - (www.lvrj.com) Centennial Hyundai, which opened in Centennial Centre last June, was to close at the end of business Wednesday in what company officials say is a temporary move. Employees at the dealership, the fourth Hyundai store in the Las Vegas Valley, will move to other dealerships owned by John Staluppi, spokesman Tom Letizia said. Customers will be referred to Planet Hyundai about 10 minutes away, Letizia said. The dealership received permission from Hyundai USA to put the franchise on hold for 18 to 24 months, company spokesman Chris Hosford said. Hyundai does not charge fees of its franchisees, but it does require that dealerships maintain inventory and sell cars, and those requirements will be lifted, Hosford said

2008 Capitol Hill Bonuses Highest In Years - (online.wsj.com) While Congress has been flaying companies for giving out bonuses while on the government dole, lawmakers have a longstanding tradition of rewarding their own employees with extra cash -- also courtesy of taxpayers. Capitol Hill bonuses in 2008 were among the highest in years, according to LegiStorm, an organization that tracks payroll data. The average House aide earned 17% more in the fourth quarter of the year, when the bonuses were paid, than in previous quarters, according to the data. That was the highest jump in the eight years LegiStorm has compiled payroll information. Total end-of-year bonuses paid to congressional staffers are tiny compared with the $165 million recently showered on executives of American International Group Inc., which is being propped up by billions of dollars of U.S. government subsidies. But Capitol Hill bonuses provide a notable counterpoint to the populist rhetoric and sound bites emanating from Washington these past weeks. Last year alone, more than 200 House lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, awarded bonuses totaling $9.1 million to more than 2,000 staff members, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of office-disbursement forms. The money comes out of taxpayer-funded office budgets, and is surplus cash that would otherwise be forfeited if not spent.

China Argentina Deal Allows International Payments in RMB - (news.xinhuanet.com) Local media on Monday hailed the recently signed China-Argentina currency swap agreement, insisting that Argentina is able to pay for imported products from China in RMB. Local media expressed different points of view on the agreements, a report from the daily "Clarin" headlined "China to loan 10 billion USD to BCRA (the Central Bank of Argentina) to calm the dollar," while the daily "La Nacion" said "Historical agreement with China to eliminate the USD on commercial exchange." La Nacion said that the agreement signed in Medellin, Colombia's second largest city, enabled "Argentina to pay its imported products from China in RMB." However, both newspapers mentioned that the Chinese Central Bank has signed similar agreements with emerging economies in Asialike Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong SAR of China, Belarus and Indonesia.

Flint MI Considers Officially Abandoning Parts of City - (www.mlive.com) Look in any direction from Bianca Bates' north Flint home, and you'll see graffiti-covered siding, boarded-up windows and overgrown lots. About half of the homes on her block are burned out or vacant magnets for drug dealers and squatters. It isn't where she thought she'd end up, but it's all she can afford to rent. "It's a dangerous place to live," said Bates, 21, who lives on East Russell Avenue. "Everywhere you look, these houses are empty around here." Property abandonment is getting so bad in Flint that some in government are talking about an extreme measure that was once unthinkable -- shutting down portions of the city, officially abandoning them and cutting off police and fire service. Temporary Mayor Michael Brown made the off-the-cuff suggestion Friday in response to a question at a Rotary Club of Flint luncheon about the thousands of empty houses in Flint. Brown said that as more people abandon homes, eating away at the city's tax base and creating more blight, the city might need to examine "shutting down quadrants of the city where we (wouldn't) provide services." He did not define what that could mean -- bulldozing abandoned areas, simply leaving the vacant homes to rot or some other idea entirely. On Monday, a city spokesman downplayed Brown's comments. • City officials say they may consider shutting down city services in areas where no one lives, but no plans are on the table to so. Bob Campbell, Brown's spokesman, said the acting mayor was speaking hypothetically about a worst-case scenario, "not something that would be laid out in the next six months" while he's in office.
Hundreds of French Workers Take Bosses Hostage - (www.cnn.com) Hundreds of French workers, angry about proposed layoffs at a Caterpillar factory, were holding executives of the company hostage Tuesday, a spokesman for the workers said. It is at least the third time this month that French workers threatened with cutbacks have blockaded managers in their offices to demand negotiations. Executives were released unharmed in both previous situations. The latest incident started Tuesday morning at the office of the construction equipment company in the southeastern city of Grenoble. The workers were angry that Caterpillar had proposed cutting more than 700 jobs and would not negotiate, said Nicolas Benoit, a spokesman for the workers' union. They did not want to harm the Caterpillar executives, Benoit told CNN. One hostage was released Tuesday evening leaving workers with four captives inside the Caterpillar building. The released man was a human resources director identified only as Mr. Petit, because he has heart problems, union representative Bernard Patrick told CNN. Petit had a heart attack a few weeks ago, Patrick said. The four others still being held are Nicolas Polutnik, the head of operations; two other executives; and Petit's personal assistant, he said.

Government Motors: "Starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warrantee." - (uk.news.yahoo.com) Following are excerpts from Dictator Barack Obama's Monday remarks about the U.S. auto industry's restructuring effort: It is my hope that the steps I am announcing today will go a long way towards answering many of the questions people may have about the future of GM and Chrysler. But just in case there are still nagging doubts, let me say it as plainly as I can -- if you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired, just like always. Your warrantee will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it's ever been. Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warrantee.
Taxing Main Street to Make Wall Street - (www.truthout.org) The new consensus among the experts who missed the housing bubble (EMHB) is that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's plan to subsidize the purchase of junk mortgages and their derivatives will help alleviate the stress on the banking system. That's good news. These geniuses have devised a plan that for $1 trillion (approximately equal to 300 million kid-years of SCHIP, the State Child Health Insurance Program) can alleviate the stress on the banking system. Note that no one claims that $1 trillion spent on the Geithner plan will actually clean up the banking system - that would be asking too much. The EMHB only assure us that this $1 trillion (more than enough to have energy conserving retrofits for every building in the country) will make things better. Isn't that enough? Oh, by the way, some people will get very rich off the Geithner plan. Some hedge and equity fund managers could make hundreds of millions or even billions off the Geithner plan. And, under current law, they will pay a lower tax rate on this money than a schoolteacher or firefighter. Are you sold yet? One other outcome of the Geithner plan is that the folks who bankrupted their banks and wrecked the economy will be able to continue to earn multi-million dollar salaries. Of course this is necessary, because who else has the skills to run these banks, other than the people who drove them into bankruptcy?




OTHER STORIES:

US 663,000 Jobs Lost; Unemployment 8.5% - (www.reuters.com) 10% of Americans on Food Stamps - (uk.reuters.com)
Social Security: No Trust, No Fund - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
G20 Protests Reveal the Future of Policing?- (www.guardian.co.uk)
Weekend Reading: Peter Schiff Interviews Marc Faber - (www.eruropac.net)

Dollar slips as equities rise on G20 hopes - (www.marketwatch.com)
U.S. Treasuries Fall as G-20 Leaders Reach Accord, Stocks Rise - (www.bloomberg.com)
Oil futures soar on G20 steps, ECB rate cut - (www.marketwatch.com)
Gold Drops Most in a Week as Equity Rally Dulls Haven Demand - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. Stocks Gain, Extend Global Rally; Treasuries, Dollar Fall - (www.bloomberg.com)
FASB Eases Fair-Value Accounting Rules Amid Lawmaker Pressure - (www.bloomberg.com)
Mortgage Rates in U.S. Decline to Record Low of 4.78% - (www.bloomberg.com)
Defaults Rise as Worst Is Yet to Come for Commercial Property - (www.bloomberg.com)
Geithner’s Non-Recourse Gift That Keeps on Giving to Bill Gross - (www.bloomberg.com)
No Private Hedge - (www.nypost.com)
Buffett Punished in Bond Market as Citigroup Borrows for Less - (www.bloomberg.com)
China’s Manufacturing Output Expands for 1st Time in 6 Months - (www.bloomberg.com)
ECB lowers key interest rate to 1.25 pct - (finance.yahoo.com)
Banks get back to balance sheet basics - (www.ft.com)
China pushes for bigger role in reshaping the world economy - (www.latimes.com)
Ratings downgrades soar in India - (www.ft.com)

Safety Nets Not Enough to Allay Fears in Europe - (www.nytimes.com)
In Europe, Obama Faces Calls for Rules on Finances - (www.nytimes.com)
China Vies to Be World’s Leader in Electric Cars - (www.nytimes.com)
China to Boost Yuan Swaps, Payments on Dollar Concern - (www.bloomberg.com)
G-20 Agrees to Regulatory Crackdown, Bolster IMF - (www.bloomberg.com)
G-20 Pact Tries to Bridge Gaps on Stimulus and Bank Rules - (www.nytimes.com)
Initial jobless claims rise to highest level since 1982 - (www.marketwatch.com)
G20 To Call for $500 Billion More for IMF - (www.cnbc.com)
G-20 Leaders Spar Over Hedge Fund Rules, Pay as Summit Starts - (www.bloomberg.com)

Manhattan Co-Op Prices Fall Most Since 1995 as Demand Plummets - (www.nytimes.com)
S.F., U.S. home prices in free fall - (www.sfgate.com)
U.S. seen facing danger of 2nd recession next year - (www.reuters.com)
U.S. Urges GM to Consider Bankruptcy - (www.washingtonpost.com)
US banks stand to benefit from rules change - (www.ft.com)