Monday, August 4, 2014

Tuesday August 5 Housing and Economic stories


Outrage Follows Report Government To Spend $50 Million On Resort For "Young Illegal Immigrants" - (www.zerohedge.com) While we understand that there are many nuances in the ongoing illegal immigrant debate, and there are certainly two sides to every story, we can't help but wonder if the US government granting a $50 million award to BCFS Health and Human Services to house "young illegal immigrants at the site of the current Palm Aire Hotel and Suites" in Weslaco, Texas is the best use of government funding. As KRGV reported, " A center for unaccompanied minors set to open in Weslaco later this year will be the first of its kind in the nation, officials with a network of non-profits said.  A center for unaccompanied minors set to open in Weslaco later this year will be the first of its kind in the nation, officials with a network of non-profits said... Representatives with BCFS said the Palm Aire will undergo a multi-million dollar transformation." Perhaps the reason why the public's attention has not only been picqued by this news, but has led to a broad wave of outrage, is that a cursory scan of the Hotel complex reveals accomodations which are inaccessible to millions of Americans, let alone "unaccompanied minor immigrants." BCFS has a prepared reason why it needs the funding: BCFS runs a temporary detention center for young illegal immigrants at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. BCFS began as an orphanage for Hispanic children in San Antonio in 1944. "Children ... who weren't able to go into other orphanages. They weren't allowed at the white orphanages, they weren't allowed at the African-American orphanages," said Krista Piferrer, with BCFS external affairs

BofA Profit Declines on $4 Billion Costs for Litigation - (www.bloomberg.com) Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. bank, said profit declined 43 percent as it spent $4 billion to cover litigation costs, including a mortgage settlement with American International Group Inc. (AIG)Shares of the company fell as much as 2.4 percent. Net income dropped to $2.29 billion in the second quarter, or 19 cents a share, from $4.01 billion, or 32 cents, a year earlier, theCharlotte, North Carolina-based lender said today in a statement. “The quality of earnings was weak, because where revenue beat expectations, like in fee income, it really was based on equity and debt securities gains,” said Charles Peabody, a Portales Partners LLC analyst. “It doesn’t get people excited when the stock has already run up ahead of earnings,” he said, referring to the 2.8 percent gain this week through yesterday.

Rioforte prepares to file for creditor protection  - (www.reuters.com) Rioforte, a holding company of Portugal's troubled Espirito Santo banking clan, is preparing to file for creditor protection, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, hours before Rioforte was due to repay over $1 billion in debt to Portugal Telecom. The filing will be made with a court in Luxembourg, where Rioforte is registered, one source close to the process said, adding that the filing is aimed at preventing insolvency that would entail uncontrolled asset sales at any price. Rioforte declined to comment. The sources would not comment on how such a filing could impact Tuesday's deadline of a 847-million-euro repayment to Portugal Telecom of Rioforte commercial paper. They said negotiations between Rioforte and PT were still going on.

Google Lawyer Turned Landlord Inflames City’s Tech Clash - (www.bloomberg.com) To an outsider, it might seem that Google Inc. (GOOGL) in-house lawyer Jack Halprin’s dispute with his tenants is about money. But it’s more complicated than rents and return on investment. Halprin’s Google connection has intensified the anger many San Francisco residents already felt over the influx of flush tech newcomers like him. And things have gotten personal. Two years ago Halprin, 45, paid $1.48 million for a 107-year-old Victorian in the city’s Mission District, an increasingly popular destination for the hip -- wealthy and not -- to live and congregate. Facebook Inc. (FB) Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg paid $10 million last year for a hillside home blocks away from from Halprin’s Guerrero Street building. Halprin’s next moves pushed him to the fore in the larger clash between tech’s moneyed workforce and longtime residents laying claim to the city’s Bohemian legacy. Halprin moved into one of the seven rental units he acquired and began a series of evictions to get rid of the other tenants, beginning with Susan Coss, 48. He said he needed her unit for his domestic partner, according to state court papers.

Hungry U.S. Power Plant Turns to Russia for Coal Shipment - (www.bloomberg.com) When New Hampshire’s largest utility needed to rebuild coal supplies after the past frigid winter, it turned to Russia rather than Appalachia in the U.S. Northeast or Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. The Doric Victory, a bulk carrier the length of two football fields, transported the fuel almost 4,000 miles (6,436 kilometers) from RigaLatvia, last month toPublic Service of New Hampshire’s Schiller power plant in Portsmouth, a 150-megawatt facility that’s produced electricity since 1952. Utilities in the U.S. are scrambling for coal, on pace to increase imports 26 percent this year, as railroad bottlenecks slow deliveries and electricity demand climbs with an improving economy. Russia, the world’s third-largest exporter of the fuel, will boost shipments 3.9 percent to 106 million metric tons this year, IHS Energy forecasts, part of President Vladimir Putin’s plan to expand Russia’s role in the global coal market.






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