KeNosHousingPortal.blogspot.com
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Minnesota government shutdown reflects widespread budget paralysis - (www.washingtonpost.com) There is a giant gap between what many of the world’s governments have promised and what they can afford. Now, the headlines from the across the United States and overseas show what happens when the clunky machinery of democracy goes about trying to close that gap. The latest: The Minnesota government shut down Friday, locking families out of state parks on a normally busy holiday weekend after the Democratic governor and Republican-controlled legislature failed to reach agreement on whether to close a projected $5 billion budget deficit in part with tax increases. It is just one skirmish in the great reckoning of our age. The United States can maintain the retiree health benefits, costly wars, public pensions and social welfare programs promised to a generation of citizens. Or it can maintain the low taxes to which Americans have become accustomed. But it will be nearly impossible to maintain both. Something has to give, and figuring out what that something is will be the crux of many of the great political battles happening around the world.
Ford, UAW talks unlikely to be a smooth ride - (www.chicagotribune.com) As the United Auto Workers union and Ford Motor Co. kick off contract talks, union representatives are expected to push Ford to restore a vacation day, cost of living adjustments and bonuses that they gave up in 2009 to help keep the company financially stable. Ford was the only one of the three domestic automakers that didn't seek bankruptcy protection or federal aid, and it's the only one of Detroit's Big Three to have a Chicago assembly line. But the tug of war expected to start this month may be more symbolic than real. If Ford pulls too hard, union members probably won't approve the four-year contract. And if the union pulls too hard, Ford would be at a disadvantage to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC, and that wouldn't be good for unionized workers either. The UAW will negotiate new contracts with all three companies. "Everything is really on the table, but the union at the national level understands that for job security you need a healthy company making products that people in America are buying," said Kristin Dziczek, director of the Labor and Industry Group at the Center for Automotive Research.
Easy Money Loans Against Mainstreet Were Not Criminal: So What? - (www.businessinsider.com) I have used an analogy regarding bankers that some may see as being unfair. I have used the analogy of a fireman starting a fire and then putting it out. Clearly, the fireman starting a fire is engaged in criminal activity. With regard to bankers in the housing bubble it is not illegal to offer easy money, toxic loans to mainstreet victims. It is a scam, a form of class warfare from the top, but it is not an act of breaking the law. However, offering easy money loans in such quantities to actually infect the value of housing with speculation should be against the law. The great New York Times columnist Will Rogers actually called for a law against speculation of all kinds. In 1930 Rogers said this:
Google reveals US government leads way in private data requests - (www.guardian.co.uk) Google has received a record number of requests from 26 developed countries to reveal private information about internet users. Private information on Google users was demanded by governments or police more than 14,000 times in 26 developed countries in the second half of last year, according to figures released for the first time by the internet group yesterday. In an effort to highlight online censorship, Google disclosed that it had received more requests from the United States than anywhere else, and that it complied with anywhere from three-quarters to more than 90% of the requests, depending on which country they were made in. Google received a record 4,601 requests from the US to disclose internet users' private data in the six months to December, up 28% year-on-year. The California-based company said it fully or partially complied with 94% of user data orders from the US, and with 72% of those from the UK.
Loan modifications are not an entitlement, banks don't want to make them one - (www.irvinehousingblog.com) Why is housing market stuck? This family offers one answer
Ron and Cheryl Schmalz think they know one reason the U.S. housing market is stuck. They just spent more than two years and created about 50 pounds' worth of paper trying to get a $300-per-month modification to their mortgage.
Whoa! Wait a minute. What is the connection between the housing market being "stuck" and people having difficulty getting a loan modification? If everyone who wanted one were given a loan modification would the market suddenly get unstuck? Of course not. The banks are still in denial that they gave out a bunch of free money. If they have to write off the debt in loan modifications, they truly would be giving out free money. They won't do that. Nearly every month for the past two years, the Schmalzes received a warning from their mortgage holder, JP Morgan Chase, that the bank was about to foreclose on their home and that late fees were mercilessly piling up. Nearly every two months, the couple would dutifully fax in a pile of paperwork reminding the firm that they were participating in its loan modification program and making trial payments prescribed by the bank.
"We had 17 different relationship managers," said Ron Schmalz. "They just make you file the same papers again and again and again. And each time you get a new manager, you have to start over. The last time we thought we had a permanent modification, we got
another call that said, 'Hi, I'm your new representative.' It makes you crazy."
At some point, perhaps after the 10th different "relationship manager" doesn't it dawn on people that their lender doesn't want to give them a loan modification?
OTHER STORIES:
U.S. 2-Year Notes Snap Longest Win Streak Since 1984 on Greece, U.S. Data - (www.bloomberg.com)
How to tell if financial markets start to freak out about U.S. debt limit - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Euro Area Backs Greek Aid, Looks to New Bailout - (www.bloomberg.com)
English bank chief warns of wave of repossessions if rates rise - (www.guardian.co.uk)
House prices fall for seventh time in nine months - (www.guardian.co.uk)
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