KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Wednesday March 31 Housing and Economic stories

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TOP STORIES:

Pelosi: We have to pass the health care bill so that you can find out what is in it - (www.youtube.com) Youtube video where Nancy Pelosi said, "But we have to pass the [health care ] bill so that you can find out what is in it."

Virginia State Police Help With Budget Crunch (and job preservation) by Flooding Highways With Cops - (www.thetruthaboutcars.com) A federally funded ticketing blitz in the state of Virginia landed a total of 6996 traffic tickets this weekend. The blitz, dubbed “Operation Air, Land & Speed” coincided with frantic efforts by state officials to close a$2.2 billion budget deficit. Supervisors ordered state troopers to saturate Interstates 81 and 95 to issue as many tickets as humanly possible over the space of two days. “The safety of Virginia’s highways begins the minute a vehicle is put in ‘drive,’” Virginia State Police Superintendent W. Steven Flaherty said in a statement. “Those split second decisions to choose not to drive drunk, to choose to wear a seat belt and to choose not to speed or drive aggressively really do make a difference in preventing and/or surviving a crash.” Officers had no trouble delivering the requested number of speeding tickets with a total of 3536 ordinary speeding citations written. In addition, another 717 “reckless driving” tickets were filed, although these most often are simple speeding tickets that happen to carry a fine of up to $2500. Driving as little as 10 to 15 MPH over the limit can qualify for this enhanced punishment. On the other end of the scale, some 310 tickets were handed to drivers who either forgot to wear their seatbelts or made a choice not to do so. Activists with the National Motorists Association pointed out that enforcement efforts may have concentrated on areas where speed limits are expected to rise to 70 MPH following Governor Bob McDonnell’s signature on legislation raising the state’s maximum speed limit (view law). This would mean a significant number of tickets were issued for conduct that will be perfectly legal in a matter of months. The group also indicated that state police tactics may run afoul of state law. “All officers making arrests incident to the enforcement of this title shall be paid fixed salaries for their services and shall have no interest in, nor be permitted by law to accept the benefit of, any fine or fee resulting from the arrest or conviction of an offender against any provision of this title,” Virginia Code Section 46.2-102 states.

Valley National Buys Two Banks in Two Days Amid Lender Failures - (www.bloomberg.com) Valley National Bancorp, operator of more than 200 branches in New Jersey and New York City, acquired its second failed bank in as many days as U.S. lenders continue to collapse amid losses tied to real estate. Valley National agreed to acquire the $494.5 million of deposits held by Park Avenue Bank in New York City, which was shut yesterday by state regulators. It also agreed to buy “essentially all” of Park Avenue’s $520.1 million in assets, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in a statement. Wayne, New Jersey-based Valley National agreed to buy the deposits of LibertyPointe Bank, also in New York City, on March 11. U.S. lenders are collapsing at the fastest pace in 17 years amid losses on residential and commercial real estate loans made at the height of the market.“Problem” banks climbed to the highest level since 1992 in the fourth quarter and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said on Feb. 23 that the pace of failures will exceed last year’s total of 140. “There are a lot of bad banks out there,” said Jeffrey Rulis, a banking analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon. “As time passes the situation can only get worse and to the FDIC that only means more losses.” Gerald H. Lipkin, Valley National’s chief executive officer, said the bank picked up eight branches with the two transactions, which will immediately boost earnings. The FDIC said it agreed to share in losses on a total of $561.3 million of assets in the LibertyPointe and Park Avenue deals. Three U.S. lenders were seized yesterday, with total assets of $1.08 billion and deposits of $1.02 billion. Regulators have seized 30 U.S. banks this year after 140 lenders collapsed in 2009.

In Hard Times, Lured Into Trade School and Debt - (www.nytimes.com) One fast-growing American industry has become a conspicuous beneficiary of the recession: for-profit colleges and trade schools. At institutions that train students for careers in areas like health care, computers and food service, enrollments are soaring as people anxious about weak job prospects borrow aggressively to pay tuition that can exceed $30,000 a year. But the profits have come at substantial taxpayer expense while often delivering dubious benefits to students, according to academics and advocates for greater oversight of financial aid. Critics say many schools exaggerate the value of their degree programs, selling young people on dreams of middle-class wages while setting them up for default on untenable debts, low-wage work and a struggle to avoid poverty. And the schools are harvesting growing federal student aid dollars, including Pell grants awarded to low-income students. “If these programs keep growing, you’re going to wind up with more and more students who are graduating and can’t find meaningful employment,” said Rafael I. Pardo, a professor at Seattle University School of Law and an expert on educational finance. “They can’t generate income needed to pay back their loans, and they’re going to end up in financial distress.”

Retirement, what's that? - (www.marketwatch.com) There's some news from the front lines of retirement in America, and it's not good. The latest annual survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), which represents businesses, pension funds, unions, and others, shows that despite a giant stock market rally since last March, American workers' confidence that they will have a secure retirement remains near 2009's rock-bottom levels. A mere 16% of workers surveyed by EBRI said they were very confident they would have enough money for a comfortable retirement -- up slightly from 2009's Armageddon-like 13% -- while 19% of retirees said the same thing, roughly even with last year's numbers. But although their confidence has "stabilized," as EBRI puts it, their actual situation has deteriorated. Some 69% say they and/or their spouses have actually saved for retirement, down from 75% last year, and only 60% are currently saving for retirement -- a decline from 2009's 65%.

Apple’s Spat With Google Is Getting Personal - (www.nytimes.com) IT looked like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Three years ago, Eric E. Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, jogged onto a San Francisco stage to shake hands with Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, to help him unveil a transformational wonder gadget — the iPhone — before throngs of journalists and adoring fans at the annual MacWorld Expo. Google and Apple had worked together to bring Google’s search and mapping services to the iPhone, the executives told the audience, and Mr. Schmidt joked that the collaboration was so close that the two men should simply merge their companies and call them “AppleGoo.” “Steve, my congratulations to you,” Mr. Schmidt told his corporate ally. “This product is going to be hot.” Mr. Jobs acknowledged the compliment with an ear-to-ear smile. Today, such warmth is in short supply. Mr. Jobs, Mr. Schmidt and their companies are now engaged in a gritty battle royale over the future and shape of mobile computing and cellphones, with implications that are reverberating across the digital landscape.

New Jersey plans to privatize state jobs - (www.nj.com) Gov. Chris Christie today will create a commission to privatize as many as 2,000 state jobs beginning next January, officials said Wednesday night. As he grapples with an $11 billion deficit in the budget he will present on Tuesday, Christie is also considering invoking the Disaster Control Act to suspend Civil Service rules to make it easier for him to lay off higher-paid workers, according to two administration officials. The Republican governor today plans to sign an executive order creating the task force to cut the size and cost of the state payroll. Three officials familiar with his plans last night said the commission will identify which jobs or agencies would be operated by the private sector and how that would be accomplished. The officials declined to be named ahead of the announcement. Privatizing jobs would require layoffs. By beginning them in January, Christie would not be subject to a deal between former Gov. Jon Corzine and state worker unions that would require the state to pay millions in raises to remaining workers if he orders layoffs before then. Suspending civil service would allow Christie to order layoffs of higher-paid unionized state employees with many years of service, rather than the usual practice of layoffs that affect lower-paid new employees first, the officials said. Currently, workers with more seniority can "bump" less-experienced workers from their jobs. Christie's office declined to comment last night beyond a brief statement about his schedule, saying he will create "a task force to study and make recommendations on the potential efficiencies to be gained from privatizing certain functions of state government."