Monday, January 25, 2010
90% Vacant Strip Malls in Pinellas Park
Click this link ....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0DY8MrS3bs
Vatican bank accused of laundering
Click this link ...... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=9647
Latest Bin Laden Video Is a Forgery: All References to Current Events Are Made During Video Freeze
Osama Bin Laden's widely publicized video address to the American people has a peculiarity that casts serious doubt on its authenticity: the video freezes at about 1 minute and 36 58 seconds, and motion only resumes again at 12:30. The video then freezes again at 14:02 remains frozen until the end. All references to current events, such as the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan, and Sarkozy and Brown being the leaders of France and the UK, respectively, occur when the video is frozen! The words spoken when the video is in motion contain no references to contemporary events and could have been (and likely were) made before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
The audio track does appear to be in the voice of a single speaker. What I suspect was done is that an older, unreleased video was dubbed over for this release, with the video frozen when the audio track departed from that of the original video.
The video may be downloaded as a 677 mb MPEG file here.
Record Bank Profits - American Dream Foreclosed
Last week, JP Morgan Chase launched the 2010 Wall Street Bonus Sweepstakes. The bank is still losing money on consumer services, but well-heeled investors and financial traders more than made up the difference. The bank announced $11.7 billion in profits and $26.9 billion in compensation, including bonuses that will run in the multimillions for the top executives. Goldman Sachs reported record profits of $13.4 billion, and is set to dole out a staggering $16.2 billion in compensation and bonuses, which could provide an average of nearly $500,000 per employee. And Morgan Stanley, even having sustained a loss in 2009, has set aside $14.4 billion for compensation and bonuses.
Then there's Roberto Velasquez -- the other face of the foreclosure crisis.
Mr. Velasquez, a general contractor, bought a single-family home in Dedham, Massachusetts six years ago. Unfortunately, his mortgage turned out to be a predatory time bomb. After a few affordable years, the interest rate on his adjustable-rate mortgage ballooned and his payments rose to $4,800 a month. He kept up though; until the Wall Street crash knocked the stuffing out of the construction industry. Then he fell three months behind.
Mr. Velasquez found jobs and came up with the three months' payments, but the bank wouldn't work with him. His home was foreclosed on in November. A local bank offered to buy the home and sell it back to Mr. Velasquez for its present market value, which is the most his bank would get for the house if they sold it at auction. Still no deal. "We did what they asked," says Mr. Velasquez, "but they don't want to work with anybody."
Arrogance like that is going to sink more than Mr. Velasquez, his wife, their nine-year-old and their four-year-old. Foreclosures feed on themselves, taking down the value of nearby homes and putting ever more people underwater. There were 3.4 million foreclosures in 2009. That number is expected to rise in 2010. Unless foreclosures stop, the housing market will keep spiraling downward, and it will take the building and mortgage industries with it, ultimately stalling any economic recovery.
A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute confirms this picture, noting that it usually takes six to seven years to squeeze the debt out of a big bubble. During the first several years, gross domestic product shrinks. "At this writing, the deleveraging process has barely begun," warns McKinsey. "The bursting of the great global credit bubble is not over yet." In short, all of us will be hurting for years because Washington is refusing to make the banks eat the debt bubble they created. Instead, the bailed-out banks are walking away with record profits and fat bonuses.
There's a way to avoid another decade of downturn. United for a Fair Economy's new report, State of the Dream 2010: Drained, outlines key proposals that can stem the massive loss of personal wealth and homes. States and the federal government should put an immediate hold on foreclosures when unemployment causes homeowners to default. Bankruptcy judges must be given the power to cut down mortgages to levels homeowners can afford, as they already can for other types of loans. Both of these reforms would stabilize families and communities, especially communities of color that are seeing hard-earned wealth stripped from them at alarming rates. They would also push the banks to accept realistic write-downs on the inflated property values their books still reflect, squeeze debt out of the economy, and hasten a recovery. And they might even keep the banks from doing this to us again.
President Obama just proposed a "Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee" to be imposed on the Wall Street firms that caused the crash and soaked up most of the relief funds. While this is a good start, the fee is temporary. When it ends, the banks can return to their irresponsible ways. A permanent financial transactions tax would discourage speculative trading in home mortgages and the derivative pyramids that were piled on top of them. Serious financial re-regulation, like that outlined in the State of the Dream report, is also essential.
In the end, recovery is not enough. The banks whose irresponsible behavior led to the meltdown must accept part of the responsibility, or they will do it again. At the same time, we must aid the hardest hit communities where joblessness and foreclosures are still wreaking havoc. That is the only route to a fair recovery and a healthy economy.
Smart meters raising fears of job losses
141 positions could be cut
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s largest utility is asking the Public Utilities Commission to approve its plans to install the latest in “smart” meter technology, using a federal recovery act grant to pay for half of the $191 million project.
But lawmakers are worried about the policy implications of Central Maine Power’s proposal and the irony of the use of recovery act money that is supposed to create jobs to help fund a project that will eliminate 141 positions.
“That has to be a concern,” said Sen. Barry Hobbins, D-Saco, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Utilities Committee. “Those funds were to create jobs.”
CMP spokesman John Carroll said the proposal does create jobs. He said the federal grant pays for half the cost of the project with the remainder funded by savings expected from the implementation of the new system.
“We estimate it will generate 200 construction jobs,” he said. “Our share of the cost is fully covered by the reduction in the costs we will have. There is no cost to the ratepayers.”
Rep. Ken Fletcher, R-Winslow, said that is technically true. But he said with half of the cost coming from the taxpayers through the recovery act grant, ratepayers are paying for half the project.
“We are all ratepayers and we are all taxpayers,” he said. “It’s all coming out of the same wallet. Just because it is federal money, it is not free money.”
Fletcher said the PUC needs to weigh the project on the basis of its total cost, not just the CMP portion. He said the benefits to ratepayers need to outweigh the total cost of the project for it to be approved.
Because of the far reaching implications of the project to state energy policy, Hobbins said he will ask the PUC to provide an inventory of proposed power projects and an analysis of the potential impact the meter project will have on other projects — such as new transmission line proposals — that are under consideration.
“We need to look at all of this broadly,” he said.
The CMP proposal would install the latest technology that has meters capable of measuring customer usage in small time increments, and it will have a central computer that can instantly track that information and provide other data that will allow the utility to better manage electricity demands.
“There are some benefits to consumers if this is done right, and we are working to make sure it is done right,” said Public Advocate Richard Davies. He said the meters can be used to bring down costs by helping customers use less power during those times of the year — like hot summer afternoons — when power is the most expensive.
“But I have been reading some of the same stories from California and Connecticut and other places where this has not been done right,” he said.
In those states, problems with some of the meters have caused angry responses from consumers that had their bills increase even when they used less electricity. Davies said it is difficult for consumers to go from paying the same amount per kilowatt hour regardless of the time of day they use the energy to having higher or lower rates, depending on the time of day they use the electricity.
“We know it does cost more to generate power at peak demand times, but consumers don’t see that now,” he said. “There needs to be a significant education program if this is going to be successful.”
Davies said the use of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure could lead to people using less energy during peak periods, and that would be good news. But he said it could be bad news for customers that do not want the complications of using smart meters or have a medical condition that requires constant use of an electrical device.
“We are working to protect consumers,” he said.
Davies said the state has some experience with the new meter technology with 97 percent of Bangor Hydro customers now using meters that allow for remote reading of usage as well as the detection of power failures. Bangor Hydro is going forward with a project to reach the remaining 3,000 customers that do not have the meters.
“This project directly aligns with our business strategy to provide in-home energy solutions to benefit customers,” Bangor Hydro president and chief operating officer Gerry Chasse said in a statement.
But the Bangor Hydro system does not have the centralized computer system proposed by CMP that provides for additional options to the company and consumers.
“We are looking at at least providing Web-based access to customers of the information from the meters,” Carroll said. “But customers can make other decisions to use other devices that may allow them to read the meter results at home.”
He said the new system will also allow customers to negotiate with their energy supplier to buy power at different prices during the day to take advantage of lower prices during portions of the day. CMP distributes the energy, but does not supply the energy.
“This could create a lot of competition among suppliers and that could help consumers get a better deal,” Carroll said.
The CMP proposal would affect all of its approximately 600,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers.
Los Angeles Heading for Bankruptcy, Mayor Tries to Prevent Bond Market Panic
When a politician says something is "not an option" that generally means it is (or soon will be). Sometimes it means it is all but certain. With that in mind, please consider Mayor Villaraigosa says no bankruptcy for the city.
With city officials declaring that "bankruptcy is not an option," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa released a long-term plan for the city's finances Thursday, including several billion dollars in potential savings and possible layoffs of 1,000 workers.
In a letter to City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, the mayor and City Council leaders called for the start of steps needed to make layoffs and perform studies on dealing with this year's continuing shortfall of $200 million and the projected $400 million deficit for next year.
"This mayor has no interest in going down the road to bankruptcy," said Deputy Mayor Matt Szabo, who has been assigned the task of developing the overall financial strategy for the city.
My Comment: It is irrelevant what the mayor wants now. The fate was sealed years ago with pensions. LA came to a fork in the road, and selected the road named "Bankruptcy". Now the mayor says LA has no interest going down that road. Well it is too late for that now, unless unions are ready to do some serious negotiation.
That's the kicker, LA has no choice in the matter other than the mayor's willingness to ask the unions for concessions. Whether or not LA goes bankrupt depends entirely on the response from the unions regarding wages and pension benefits.
The five-page letter from Villaraigosa, also signed by Council President Eric Garcetti and council members Bernard Parks, Jan Perry, Greig Smith and Dennis Zine, sets the stage for a series of decisions to reduce spending in the city's $7.01 billion budget.
There are no plans to ask voters for a tax increase, but the mayor is looking at whether a ballot proposal will be needed to reform the city's pension system.My Comment: Good luck with that. You will need it.
Santana's office also released a report showing the city's revenues continue to decline, particularly in consumer-sensitive areas such as hotel and sales tax. Also, holiday season sales were much less than expected.
My Comment: Welcome to frugality, the new reality.
Part of the problem for the city is that although there is general consensus that the economy has begun to improve, local government is the last area to see any benefit.
My Comment: The idea that the economy has begun to improve is sheer lunacy. One must not mistake Keynesian stimulus on steroids for a recovery.
Parks, who chairs the Budget and Finance Committee, is planning a series of public hearings around the city, with the first scheduled for 6p.m. Monday at Van Nuys City Hall. The city also has been conducting an Internet survey on what the public would prefer to see cut.
My Comment: If given a choice without outside fear mongering by unions, the first cuts everyone would ask would be the salaries of all the politicians running the city, followed by non-union management, then union salaries and pensions. Indeed all need to be done. But that is not the answer the politicians will want to hear. Instead they will look at libraries.
"We will consider the elimination, consolidation or outsourcing of city assets and services, furloughs and layoffs where permissible," the letter said.
My Comment: Good idea but that is a drop in the ocean compared to the salaries of police and fire and their union benefits.
Cuts in service and outsourcing being considered could be for services like cleaning restrooms at parks, Szabo said.
"We are focusing our attention on what services must be performed by a city worker," Szabo said. "No one is going to argue that police and fire services should be contracted out. That is a core city service. Other services the public demands, we might be able to provide cheaper."My Comment: I think it would be wise to consider outsourcing the fire department, and at the very minimum threatening to do so. Moreover, unless police and fire services are delivered far cheaper LA bankruptcy is 100% assured.
Options looked at for the long term include either the sale or private operation of assets such as parking facilities, golf courses, the Los Angeles Zoo, Animal Services and the Van Nuys and Ontario airports.
My Comment: It's sheer idiocy to sell long term income producing assets when all one will get is a temporary postponement of the problem. If those assets are not income producing them they should be. Of course they may not be income producing because of all the union workers on those projects.
"Gridlock and partisanship is not an issue here like it is in Sacramento," Szabo said. "This mayor and this City Council are working together to address our problems."
My Translation: "Gridlock and partisanship is an issue here just like it is in Sacramento"
The mayor remains committed to the growth of the Los Angeles Police Department. "The mayor's goal is to protect the gains made by the police," Szabo said.
My comment: The mayor's comments are further proof the city is going to go bankrupt.
Although I commend the mayor for bringing up the "P-Word" (pensions) the rest of his comments suggest he is not willing to stand up to the unions. Moreover, the "B-Word" bankruptcy absolutely needs to be on the table.
As I see it, unions have a choice: Seriously negotiate massive changes in salaries and benefits or face the "Vallejo Option". By taking bankruptcy out of the picture (or by attempting to), unions will simply see no reason to grant major concessions.
By the way, LA is bankrupt, all we are talking about here is whether the city realizes it or not. The mayor's statements prove he does not fully realize the gravity of the situation. Villaraigosa is unfit for office.
By Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.comClick Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List
Mike Shedlock / Mish is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management . Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction.
Visit Sitka Pacific's Account Management Page to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.
I do weekly podcasts every Thursday on HoweStreet and a brief 7 minute segment on Saturday on CKNW AM 980 in Vancouver.
When not writing about stocks or the economy I spends a great deal of time on photography and in the garden. I have over 80 magazine and book cover credits. Some of my Wisconsin and gardening images can be seen at MichaelShedlock.com .
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