Archive for March 6th, 2010

New Jersey Firefighter Quits Union Over Volunteer Duties; What is a Public Servant?

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

Inquiring minds are interested in the story of Michael Schaffer, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey firefighter brave enough to take a stand against union greed. Schaffer resigned from his union over its policy forbidding members from volunteering for departments that employ union members or are targets for union expansion. Please consider South Jersey firefighter takes stand against union. For more than three decades, Michael Schaffer has willingly run into burning buildings. He’s performed CPR …

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New Jersey Firefighter Quits Union Over Volunteer Duties; What is a Public Servant?

ISM Service Sector Expands, Backlog of Orders and Employment Still Contracting; Public Sector Catchup Coming

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

The service sector is in expansion for the second straight month, with the diffusion index sitting at 53. Anything over 50 is in expansion. Let’s take a look at some tables from the February 2010 Non-Manufacturing ISM Report On Business

Missouri Budget Overstates Revenues By Up To $1 billion; Indiana Revenue Falls Short; Budget Battles In Washington; Budget Gaps In Kansas

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

Budget news from state after state is grim. When will this matter? No one knows but service cutbacks are coming, as are huge layoffs. Missouri Budget Overstates Revenues By Up To $1 billion The Kansas City Star is reporting Nixon’s budget may have overestimated Missouri revenues by up to $1 billionThe state budget presented six weeks ago by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon may have overestimated revenues by as much as $1 billion, lawmakers warned Tuesday. The stunning deficit could force …

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Missouri Budget Overstates Revenues By Up To $1 billion; Indiana Revenue Falls Short; Budget Battles In Washington; Budget Gaps In Kansas

Credit Union Pays Savers to Close Their Accounts; Deposit Insurance Makes Saving Accounts a Losing Proposition for Banks

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

Nevada Federal Credit Union has too much money and does not know what to do with it. Worse yet, sitting in cash is costing the credit union money. Insurance premiums are the culprit. On top of any deposit premium paid to customers, insurance runs .4%. Yet short term treasuries yield .25%. Nevada Federal sees no good lending opportunities so it is paying customers to close accounts. Inquiring minds are reading Credit union: Pul-lease take your money. Nevada Federal Credit Union has a …

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Credit Union Pays Savers to Close Their Accounts; Deposit Insurance Makes Saving Accounts a Losing Proposition for Banks

Jobs Contract By 36,000; Unemployment Rate Steady At 9.7%; No Snow Effect

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

Today the BLS reported 36,000 job losses with the unemployment rate holding at 9.7%. Before diving into the numbers let’s analyze the snow job ahead of the report. Speaking before Congress, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke harped about snow, warning policymakers will “to be careful about not overinterpreting” the upcoming data.” In the wake of that warning, economists busily upped their projections for job losses in February, some by as much as 220,000 jobs. I talked about that …

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Jobs Contract By 36,000; Unemployment Rate Steady At 9.7%; No Snow Effect

Case-Shiller CPI Now Tracking CPI-U; Real Interest Rates Are Once Again Negative

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

It’s been about 4-5 months since I last talked about Case-Shiller CPI (CS-CPI). Case-Shiller CPI is formulated by substituting the Case-Shiller housing index for Owner’s Equivalent Rent (OER) in the CPI for all urban consumers (CPI-U) index, commonly shortened to CPI. For a complete description of the reasons and methodology for making this substitution, please see What’s the Real CPI? With year-over-year home prices flattening, the effect of substituting the Case-Shiller housing index for …

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Case-Shiller CPI Now Tracking CPI-U; Real Interest Rates Are Once Again Negative

Seven in Ten Putting Off Retirement Do So for Financial Reasons; What are the Implications?

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

Here is an interesting pair of articles, one on California the other on boomers postponing retirement for financial reasons. In California, it’s no surprise that economists are surprised at just how bad things are. Please consider California job losses grow. “The economy was a lot worse than everybody thought,” said Howard Roth, chief economist with the state’s Department of Finance. “The job market is weaker than we figured.” It appears California lost 871,000 jobs in …

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Seven in Ten Putting Off Retirement Do So for Financial Reasons; What are the Implications?

Range of Snow Impact on Jobs: Negligible to 220,000; Have Your Snow Job Decoder Ring Handy?

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

Having read Weekly Unemployment Claims At 469,000; Prepare for Friday’s BLS Snow Job, inquiring minds just might be asking “What is the range of estimates given by economists for the impact of February blizzards?” February 28, 2010 Please consider Payrolls Probably Declined in February: U.S. Economy PreviewPayrolls probably fell by 50,000 after declining 20,000 in January, according to the median forecast of 62 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before the Labor Department’s …

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Range of Snow Impact on Jobs: Negligible to 220,000; Have Your Snow Job Decoder Ring Handy?

Weekly Unemployment Claims At 469,000; Prepare for Friday’s BLS Snow Job

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

Inquiring minds are investigating the Unemployment Weekly Claims Report for March 4, 2010.In the week ending Feb. 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 469,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 498,000. The 4-week moving average was 470,750, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 474,250. Weekly Unemployment Claims The weekly claims numbers are volatile so it’s best to focus on the trend in the 4-week moving …

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Weekly Unemployment Claims At 469,000; Prepare for Friday’s BLS Snow Job

Is anyone else sick of this "Nascent Recovery" talk?

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

The buzzword of the day is “nascent”. It means “beginning to exist or develop”. The word is everywhere you look. Moreover, talk of “nascency” seems like it has been going on forever. Perhaps because it has. Here are some prime examples. March 3, 2010 – Big Picture: Read it here first: St. Louis Fed Tracks Nascent Expansion The St. Louis Fed has made it official, at least through their lens. The recession ended in June 2009. As you read here first in January, …

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Is anyone else sick of this "Nascent Recovery" talk?

Geithner’s Illegal Money-Laundering Scheme Exposed; Harry Markopolos Says "Don’t Trust Your Government"

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

Here are a couple of unrelated stories, one on Harry Markopolos, the man who on 4 occasions tried to convince the SEC of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the second on how Geithner used a fictitious “Trust” to accomplish an illegal takeover of AIG. Inuring minds are reading a post on the Sense on

Governor Christie: "Time to Hold Hands and Jump Off the Cliff" – Chris Christie For President?

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

In an amazingly candid appraisal of the sorry state of affairs in New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie laid it on the line in a speech to about 200 mayors at the New Jersey League of Municipalities. The speech is 24 minutes long and well worth a listen because it is both an honest admission of the problem, and a refreshingly accurate appraisal of what the solutions are. He chastised the legislature, unions, municipalities, and affordable housing initiatives while promising to do something …

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Governor Christie: "Time to Hold Hands and Jump Off the Cliff" – Chris Christie For President?

Ohio Mayor Seeks To Eliminate Public Unions; Come Senators, Congressmen Please Heed the Call For the Times they are A-Changin’

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Economy | Comments Off

Mayor Don Robart of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio is seeking to eliminate public sector unions. That is certainly a welcome event and hopefully the start of a major trend towards fiscal sanity in cities across the country. I found out about Mayor Robart when someone sent a link to a blog journal called Smell the Change: Ohio Mayor Suggests It’s Time To Eliminate Public Sector Unions. Here are some snips blog writer Doug Ross compiled from Mayor Robart’s annual State of the City Address. …as we …

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Ohio Mayor Seeks To Eliminate Public Unions; Come Senators, Congressmen Please Heed the Call For the Times they are A-Changin’

We can learn some lessons from George Bailey’s morality tale – Independent

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Wall Street Scams | Comments Off

We can learn some lessons from George Bailey's morality tale Independent Let us bear in mind that the vast majority of people on Wall Street and Lombard Street were good guys, like George, who ended up selling products that they …

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We can learn some lessons from George Bailey’s morality tale – Independent

In Europe, Volcker Makes Case For Bank Trading Limits – Democratic …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Scams | Comments Off

One of the reasons the Fannie /Freddie fraud spread to so many countries is that banking regulatory treaties require many countries to all do things exactly the same way even if the facts on the ground violate common sense. …

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In Europe, Volcker Makes Case For Bank Trading Limits – Democratic …

A Year Later, Losses Pile Up in Complexes Ravaged by Swindle – The …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Scams | Comments Off

… clearly show the majority of these units had mortgages that were sold to Fannie and Freddie — now largely owned by taxpayers. ______. Via Reason, a look at a real estate scam that involved Freddie and Fannie -at taxpayer expense. …

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A Year Later, Losses Pile Up in Complexes Ravaged by Swindle – The …

Take a Load Off Fannie – Salvaging the Mortgage Giants Without …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Scams | Comments Off

If the multiple layers of profiteers, speculators, derivatives, commissions, bonuses, fees and general fraud were eliminated from the mix, a nationalized Fannie /Freddie could finance itself. This was proven in the 1930s with the Home …

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Take a Load Off Fannie – Salvaging the Mortgage Giants Without …

One Thousand Names for Fraud | The Economic Populist

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Scams | Comments Off

That’s why FHA, Fannie , Freddie, have been in the news lately, mostly in articles by idiots yelling about how bad it is that these NGO’s will have to ask Treasury for more money. The fact of the matter is that if the NGO”s/Gument …

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One Thousand Names for Fraud | The Economic Populist

Watch out for census scams – Examiner.com

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Scams, Work From Home Scams | Comments Off

Belleville News Democrat Watch out for census scams Examiner.com … to work for the Census, he or she is a scam artist. The forms will ask ten questions relating to name, gender, age, race ethnicity and home ownership. … Beware of 2010 US Census phishing scam WSU Today Big Brother Wants to Know All About You: The American Community Survey Rutherford Institute all 179 news articles

Crisis Leftovers: Fannie, Freddie Force More Mortgage Buybacks …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Scams | Comments Off

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are forcing the nation’s biggest lenders to buy back more of the badly-written mortgages that served as a trigger for the financial crisis, and a dash for cash has ensued. … My Comment is that this is the biggest scam ever. The goverment should do something about this terrible situation that is happening to humanity. People are being thrown in the street, running in different direction trying to move here and there because the banks want to …

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Crisis Leftovers: Fannie, Freddie Force More Mortgage Buybacks …

Because What Could Go Wrong With Fake-Identity Condo Purchases In …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Scams | Comments Off

The one bright point is that Fannie and Freddie, which since their September 2008 bailout have been government-owned rather than government-sponsored, may be able to prove fraud and send some of these loans back down to the original …

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Because What Could Go Wrong With Fake-Identity Condo Purchases In …

National Freddie Mac Internet Mortgage Scam Exposed. Nation's …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Scams | Comments Off

I have the department of banking, and noted that complaints too! is a true and mortgages, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae approved mortgagee sold to Washington Mutual, Chase, provident and other lenders on the secondary market. …

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National Freddie Mac Internet Mortgage Scam Exposed. Nation's …

Safe Haven | Banks Swallow Another $30 billion or So in More …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Scams | Comments Off

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both controlled by the U.S. government, stuck the four biggest U.S. banks with losses of about $5 billion on buybacks in 2009, according to company filings made in the past two weeks. … With more loans going bad, the agencies are demanding that banks turn over loan files, so they can scour the records for missing documentation, inaccurate data and fraud . … The most common include inflated appraisals or falsely stated incomes in the loan …

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Safe Haven | Banks Swallow Another $30 billion or So in More …

News Blog > If you thought subprime mortgages were a scam …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Scams | Comments Off

All the elements of subprime mortgage lending are here: lobbyists, interested parties with posts in the Bush administration, the use of government backing to make up-front profits with no back-end losses, Sally Mae ( Fannie and Freddie’s …

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News Blog > If you thought subprime mortgages were a scam …

Former Fidelity National aka LPS CEO Kennedy retires…Hmmm …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Scams | Comments Off

“Control fraud is when the CEO of a company uses the corporation as a weapon to commit fraud ”. William Black “The result is – we have seen zero prosecutions of the specialty non-prime lenders that caused the crisis,” Black said. “The mortgage bankers are going to position [. …. “A year and a half after Treasury took over Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and its smaller brother Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500), Washington is just now prepping for a debate over their future. …

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Former Fidelity National aka LPS CEO Kennedy retires…Hmmm …

Barney Makes Hash | zero hedge

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Scams | Comments Off

One wonders how he gets re-elected when in fact he should be sitting down on the other side of the table and questioned–under oath–about mortgage fraud at both Fannie and Freddie and their bailout by the American people. …

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Barney Makes Hash | zero hedge

How liberal greed and obstructionism destroyed Fannie/Freddie and …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Scams | Comments Off

Their disgraced leader, (liberal) Franklin Raines, and his ‘accounting principles’ and was found to have perpetrated “extensive financial fraud ” by regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Office of Federal …

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How liberal greed and obstructionism destroyed Fannie/Freddie and …

Banks Swallow Another $30 billion or So in More Losses as Their …

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Scams | Comments Off

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both controlled by the U.S. government, stuck the four biggest U.S. banks with losses of about $5 billion on buybacks in 2009, according to company filings made in the past two weeks. … With more loans going bad, the agencies are demanding that banks turn over loan files, so they can scour the records for missing documentation, inaccurate data and fraud . … The most common include inflated appraisals or falsely stated incomes in the loan …

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Banks Swallow Another $30 billion or So in More Losses as Their …

‘Florence Nightingale’ carer jailed at Leicester court for benefit fraud – Leicester Mercury

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Work From Home Scams | Comments Off

24dash 'Florence Nightingale' carer jailed at Leicester court for benefit fraud Leicester Mercury But the mother-of-two had been secretly working at Harley House nursing home , in Stoneygate, Leicester – where she falsely adopted the name of the woman … 'Florence Nightingale' jailed for benefit fraud 24dash all 5 news articles

Home contractor facing 2 charges of fraud – Barre Montpelier Times Argus

Posted on March 6th, 2010 in Fraud, Work From Home Scams | Comments Off

Home contractor facing 2 charges of fraud Barre Montpelier Times Argus He is accused of taking deposits to buy building materials but then failing to do the work despite the best attempts of property owners. In the Berlin case, …

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Home contractor facing 2 charges of fraud – Barre Montpelier Times Argus