KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Sunday July 4 Housing and Economic stories

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Government Workers Cost More to Employ - (online.wsj.com) It costs about $12 more per hour to employ a state or local government worker versus a private sector employee, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Employers spent $39.81 per hour worked for state and local government workers in the first quarter compared to $27.73 per hour for those with private industry jobs. The numbers are part of the Labor Department’s quarterly series on employer costs for employee compensation and they wrap in wages and salaries as well as health benefits such as health insurance and retirement packages. The largest share of the costs comes from wages and salaries for both sets of workers: 70.6% for private employees and 65.9% for government workers. The rest of the payment comes in the form of benefits. It costs state and local governments $3.16 per hour to pay for employees’ retirement and savings plans, compared to 96 cents for private workers. Another $4.52 goes to health insurance for public workers, compared to $2.08 for private workers. And governments spend $3 per hour for its workers’ paid leave, compared to $1.88 for private workers.

Obama Faces Rare Defeat on Health Help for Jobless - (www.cnbc.com) If Chuck Lacasse had gotten his pink slip four days earlier, Uncle Sam would have covered most of his family's health insurance while he looked for a new job. But Congress allowed emergency health care assistance for unemployed workers to expire May 31, and seems unwilling to renew it despite pleas from President Barack Obama. Not three months after lawmakers passed his $1 trillion insurance overhaul, Obama is facing a rare defeat on health care at the hands of his own divided Democrats. Moderates have rebelled against adding billions more to the deficit in a treacherous election year. "The same Congress that spent all this political capital trying to get people health insurance is going to take a crucial benefit away from unemployed people," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for the unemployed. On June 4, Lacasse lost his job as advertising director for a company that makes nutritional supplements. He'll soon have to pay the entire $1,500 monthly premium to keep his family covered under his former employer's health insurance plan.

Keeping Politics Safe for the Rich - (www.nytimes.com) In a burst of judicial activism, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upended the gubernatorial race in Arizona, cutting off matching funds to candidates participating in the state’s public campaign finance system. Suddenly, three candidates, including Gov. Jan Brewer, can no longer receive public funds they had counted on to run against a free-spending wealthy opponent. The court’s reckless order muscling into the race was terse and did not say whether there were any dissents, though it is hard to imagine there were not. An opinion explaining its reasoning will have to wait until the next term, assuming it takes the case, but by that time the state’s general election will be over and its model campaign finance system substantially demolished. It seems likely that the Roberts court will use this case to continue its destruction of the laws and systems set up in recent decades to reduce the influence of big money in politics. By the time it is finished, millionaires and corporations will have regained an enormous voice in American politics, at the expense of candidates who have to raise money the old-fashioned way and, ultimately, at the expense of voters.

Greece is tapping China's deep pockets to help rebuild its economy - (www.washingtonpost.com) Nearly bankrupt and sullied in the eyes of foreign investors, Greece is moving to rebuild its economy by tapping the deep pockets of another ancient civilization: China. Spurred on by government incentives and bargain-basement prices, the Chinese are planning to pump hundreds of millions -- perhaps billions -- of euros into Greece even as other investors run the other way. The cornerstone of those plans is the transformation of the Mediterranean port of Piraeus into the Rotterdam of the south, creating a modern gateway linking Chinese factories with consumers across Europe and North Africa. The port project is emerging as a bellwether for Greek plans to pay down debt and reinvent its broken economy by privatizing inefficient government-owned utilities, trains and even casinos. This week, the Chinese shipping giant Cosco assumed full control of the major container dock in Piraeus, just southwest of Athens. In return, the Chinese have pledged to spend $700 million to construct a new pier and upgrade existing docks.

France selling 1,700 buildings to help cut debt - (www.news.yahoo.com) Fancy setting up house in a French government ministry? Or retiring to a royal hunting lodge? Line up now for a supersize sale of 1,700 properties by the French state, seeking to shed dilapidated, expensive-to-maintain buildings and chip away at the country's record-high debt. Foreigners are welcome to join the bidding, Budget Minister Francois Baroin said in announcing the sell-off Wednesday — but their cash must be clean. Any buyer, whether a movie star, foreign government or ordinary taxpayer, will undergo thorough background checks. By releasing a long-term list of state properties for sale publicly for the first time, the government appears determined to avoid the kind of controversies and secrecy that dogged some past sales of French property, both public and private, to shady magnates or deposed despots.

Florida Keys Island Mansion Still Has No Takers At Over 70% - (www.$7M) Off! - (www.rocktrueblood) Feast your eyes on the above island in the Florida Keys with house built by a "major recording artist" some years back and which is dropping in price precipitously over the past week. This house has been on the market since September 1, 2006 and has still not found a buyer. Here is the MLS description of this mansion: Private Offshore Island With 3/3.5 Luxury Home In The Keys! Owned & Improved By Major Recording Artist W/ New Pool, Hot Tub, Central Air, Concrete Pier, Jet Boat, 35kw Generator In Sound-proof Shed, 850-gal/Day Desalinization, New Electric, New Landscaping & High-end Finishes. Self-contained, 70' Onshore Lot W/ Concrete Dock, 3-story Custom Home, 360 Degree Ocean Views, Impact Windows & More. At least the Realtor for this listing hasn't been playing games by taking the house off market and putting it back up a half-dozen times to try and hide it's real loss in value over the past 1,376 days. How low will this one go? Well, since September 1, 2006, it has already lost more than 70% of its value. I'll wager this one loses another 20 to 50% from its current listing price of $2,995,000 before it is all over. Stay tuned.