Thursday May 12 Housing and Economic stories

KeNosHousingPortal.blogspot.com

TOP STORIES:

The California job market gets grimmer in March - (articles.latimes.com) The cuts are a reversal from February, when 84,600 jobs were added. The unemployment rate falls slightly to 12%. Economists say some of the job losses were probably tied to rising gas prices and the quake and tsunami in Japan. California's improving job market stalled out last month, with the state losing more workers than it gained amid a slowdown in construction and foreign trade. The state lost a net 11,600 jobs in March after adding a record 84,600 in February, and the unemployment rate fell to 12% from 12.1%. "It's not always a smooth path," said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific. "It's just the type of economic recovery that we're in." Economists said some of the job losses were probably tied to rising gas prices, making employers reluctant to hire, and the tsunami and quake in Japan, which slowed traffic at the ports. Gas hit $4 a gallon for the first time since 2008.

Wisconsin-Style Union Battle Moves To Massachusetts – (http://www.businessinsider.com/) The national battle over collective bargaining took an interesting turn this week when the Democratic-controlled Massachusetts state House voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill to limit the rights of municipal workers to negotiate over healthcare. Union supporters and conservatives are agree the vote is the latest assault on collective bargaining and an indication of widespread hostility towards public-sector unions. Both sides are heralding Massachusetts as the next Wisconsin. Admittedly, it is surprising that Democrats in the deep blue Bay State would risk upsetting their powerful labor allies (and donors). But Massachusetts is still a long way off away from being the next Wisconsin for two reasons:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->The Massachusetts bill doesn't come anywhere close to the sharp collective bargaining limits that passed in Wisconsin and Ohio. The legislation allows cities and town to make unilateral changes to worker healthcare plans but gives unions 30 days to comment. If the union objects to the new plan, members get 20% of the savings in the first year. All other bargaining rights remain intact.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->It is highly unlikely that the Massachusetts House bill will survive in its current form. The Democrat-controlled state Senate won't vote on the measure for another month, which gives unions plenty of time to lobby state legislators and rally opposition to the bill. The state Senate president won't say if she supports the legislation, but she has said that workers should have a role in healthcare talks. Democratic Governor Deval Patrick has also suggested a more moderate proposal that gives unions a limited time window to bargain.
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Texas University Buys $1 Billion in Gold Bars - (http://www.bloomberg.com/) The University of Texas Investment Management Co., the second-largest U.S. academic endowment, took delivery of almost $1 billion in gold bullion and is storing the bars in a New York vault, according to the fund’s board. The fund, whose $19.9 billion in assets ranked it behind Harvard University’s endowment as of August, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, added about $500 million in gold investments to an existing stake last year, said Bruce Zimmerman, the endowment’s chief executive officer. The holdings are worth about $987 million, based on yesterday’s closing price of $1,486 an ounce for Comex futures. The decision to turn the fund’s investment into gold bars was influenced by Kyle Bass, a Dallas hedge fund manager and member of the endowment’s board, Zimmerman said at its annual meeting on April 14. Bass made $500 million on the U.S. subprime-mortgage collapse.

Fed suggests mortgages should go only to borrowers who can pay it back - (http://www.theatlantic.com/) The Federal Reserve proposed some new mortgage rules today that might not seem particularly radical: it wants lenders to be sure that borrowers can actually afford the loan they're given. Imagine that! While this might sound like common sense to most of us, this basic concept was pushed aside by many banks and mortgage companies during the housing bubble. As a result, loans were given to borrowers who could not repay, and ultimately defaulted. The Fed intends to force lenders to ensure that borrowers can afford loans in a few ways.

Fed Wants Mortgages Only Given to Those Who Can Afford Them: On some level, these rules are actually kind of hilarious, because they amount to a course in Basic Loan Underwriting 101. Take, for example, the Fed's "General Ability-to-Repay Standard." Lenders must determine that a borrower can afford a loan by:

More Expensive Houses Entering Foreclosures - (http://www.send2pressnewswire.com/) ForeclosureListings.com reports foreclosure home statistics and the average price of a foreclosure home in states and cities that had higher home prices entering foreclosures in the first quarter of 2011. The most expensive house to be lost to foreclosure in the past three years inJacksonville, Florida, for example, sold for $1.5 million Wednesday – $1.4 million below its county property appraised market value. The nine bedroom, 11 bathroom, 10,000-square-foot, bank-owned Queen’s Harbour mansion, built in 2005, has its market value at $2.95 million set by the property appraiser’s office. With the sixth-most-expensive ZIP Code in the country, Beverly Hills revealed a 700 percent increase in foreclosures of homes valued at $2 million and higher over the last three years.

OTHER STORIES:

3.7 quake shakes northern SF Peninsula - (http://www.sfgate.com/)

Condos in SF show downward trend isn't uniform - (http://www.sfgate.com/)

San Francisco school district rules changing - (http://www.patrick.net/)

How the financial class robs Americans legally - (http://www.mybudget360.com/)

What's Really Worrisome About Treasury Debt: Interest - (gonzalolira.blogspot.com)

Hyperinflation will not happen in the United States - (http://www.deflationite.com/)

BRICS credit: Local currencies to replace dollar - (http://www.articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/)

Why renting is beginning to look like a great deal in Canada - (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/)