KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Tuesday September 13 Housing and Economic stories

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Battle brews over Texas public pensions - (www.statesman.com) Texas could be gearing up for its own Wisconsin-style grudge match over public employee benefits. A group of high-powered Houston business leaders is starting a statewide campaign to overhaul retirement for future teachers, firefighters, police officers, judges and other state and local government workers. "I think the state needs to get the hell out of this (pension) business completely," said lawyer Bill King , who is forming Texans for Public Pension Reform with others from the Greater Houston Partnership, an über-chamber of commerce with business members representing $1.5 trillion in assets. Taxpayers bear too much risk on behalf of public employees by providing them a guaranteed retirement that most private sector workers don't get, King said. But advocates of the public pension system say there are ways to eliminate or reduce risk without doing away with the program. "They don't have to destroy a system that works," said Keith Brainard, research director of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators.

A Small Country — Finland — Casts Doubt on Aid for Greece - (www.nytimes.com) France and Germany may effectively run theEuropean Union, but Finland has demonstrated how even a small country can disrupt their grand designs. By insisting that it receive collateral from Greece in return for aid, Finland is threatening to upend an agreement that euro zone countries made in July to expand the European Union bailout fund. That agreement is crucial to restoring confidence among bondholders that Europe can find a lasting solution to its sovereign debt troubles. But the continued squabbling in Europe has alarmed policy makers around the world, and the dispute over collateral provides one more measure of market uncertainty this week as the summer lull ends and trading regains a more normal volume. Spain and Italy, whose beleaguered economies are receiving support from the European Central Bank, are scheduled to conduct debt auctions this week.

Young Couple With $783K In Debt Shows What's Wrong With America- (www.businessinsider.com via www.patrick.net) Articles like the one I'm referencing below demonstrate why there are still bubble home prices in certain areas. This particular article also shows how poorly people manage their own finances, and does a good job showing how much the country's people are still relying on inexpensive and easy to obtain debt. The article is called "The Financial Fix" (that ought to be in quotes, btw, because it is anything but a "fix" that this advisor gives them) that appears in Money Magazine, September 2011 issue, Page 42. Where do I start?? This 31- and 32-year-old couple are $783,000 in debt! The debt is made up of a mortgage on a townhouse, a mortgage on a condo, plus car and student loans. First off, that is a terrible position to be in. They are in way, way over their heads. But it gets worse. The wife is expecting their first child so they only have the husband's $93,000 / year income. They say they are "barely breaking even on [his] salary"...uhm, no, you are not breaking even at all. You are losing ground (to debt and financial slavery), and fast. If they could apply all $93k of his income toward all their debt, it would still take them 8.41 years to pay it all off! OMG. That's atrocious. "They decided to keep their old condo as an investment, but so far it's been a cash drain." Silly people, you ought to stick to consulting or whatever it is that you do. "Real estate" as an investment is often highly overrated, as the returns on residential real estate have, on average over long periods of time, only barely beaten inflation.

Wisc. union council bans GOP from Labor Day parade - (www.rawstory.com) Over the years, the meaning of Labor Day has been lost on many. Now a generation removed from the predominance of abusive working conditions, many Americans today fail to understand the importance of celebrating the fight to win vacation hours, overtime pay, lunch breaks, weekends, restrictions on child labor, maternity leave and employer-sponsored health care. But the symbolism of Labor Day is not lost on the people of Wausau, Wisconsin: Amid an unprecedented fight with Republicans over labor rights in their state, organizers of this year's Labor Day parade have decided to exclude the state's conservatives from participating. "Usually they've been in the parade, but it seems like they only want to stand with us one day a year, and the other 364 days they don't really care," Randy Radtke, president of the Marathon County Central Labor Council, told The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Labor unions across the state have been engaged in a political blitzkrieg against Gov. Scott Walker (R), who's made it his agenda to strip public workers of their right to collectively bargain. He's also succeeded in removing automatic payroll deductions for public union fees -- a move which workers say will significantly weaken the unions.

Six arrested in latest BART protest - (www.rawstory.com) At least six protesters were arrested Monday night during the third week of protests against San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). The demonstrators were upset with BART’s decision tocut off cell phone service at its stations to thwart a planned protest and the killing of a homeless man by a BART officer. Two men were detained by police after passing through fare gates and chanting an anti-police slogan at the Embarcadero station. BART officials had previously said they would only tolerate protests outside the gates. Another four people were arrested by the San Francisco police for allegedly impeding traffic and refusing police orders to move. Forty people were arrested during a similar protest last week.