It's gratifying when even the dullest tool in the shed catches on.
From Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez's (D- Orange County, CA) question to Ben Bernanke (Sorry about the caps, that's the way the transcript came. Bold is mine):
THANK YOU, MR. CHAIRMAN. THANK YOU FOR BEING BEFORE US. WE HAVE HAD MANY CHIP -- WE HAVE HAD MANY YEARS WHEN YOU'RE THE PRESIDENT ECONOMICS ADVISOR AND NOW FED CHAIRMAN.
I HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR -- ABOUT THE ECONOMY. I REMEMBER WHEN CHAIRMAN GREENSPAN WAS BEFORE US. I SPOKE TO WHAT I THOUGHT AT THE TIME WERE HOUSING MARKETS. OF COURSE, SINCE HAVING LEFT, I COMPLETELY MISSED WHAT WAS GOING ON. I WANT TO GO BACK TO HOUSING BECAUSE I THINK IT IS SUCH AN INCREDIBLE HE'S OF THE AMERICAN FAMILY'S BUDGET. THEIR SENSE OF WEALTH CREATION. IN MANY WAYS, IT IS THE FIRST STEP. IT IS WITH GREAT VIEWS TO PUT KIDS THROUGH COLLEGE, ETC. AROUND THE NATION, AND A LOT OF MARKETS, IN PARTICULAR IN CALIFORNIA, HOUSING PRICES ARE GOING UP. EVERYBODY IS CHEERING, AND EVERYTHING. WHAT I SEE IS FOREIGN MONEY COMING IN. MONEY BEING BOUGHT AS INVESTMENTS. BANKS ARE FLUFFING OFF LARGE AMOUNTS OF HOMES AND PUTTING THEM INTO HEDGE FUNDS. THESE FUNDS HOLDING ONTO THESE AND RENTING THEM OUT, ANTICIPATING AT SOME POINT, I AM SURE, FIVE OR 10 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD, TO GET APPRECIATION OUT OF THOSE ASSETS. RENTAL MARKETS TIGHTENING THEIR BID RENTS GOING THROUGH THE ROOF. YOUR AVERAGE WORKING FAMILY, AT LEAST WHERE I LIVE, IS NOT ABLE TO BUY A HOME BECAUSE OF THESE, IF YOU WILL, HOUSE -- IF YOU WILL, HAVES, WHO HAVE THE MONEY TO BUY THE HOME, [...] BUT ACTUALLY HOLD IT [...] FOR RENT TO THE FAMILIES WHO NOW ARE BECOMING, UNLESS WE CHANGE SOMETHING, PERMANENT RENTERS. HOUSING MARKET GETTING BETTER, BUT NOT FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS OR THE HIGHER-LOWER INCOME CLASS. ALMOST CHANGING THEM, I WOULD SAY, INTO THE INABILITY TO FIND THEIR WAY TO HOMEOWNERSHIP. DO YOU SEE THAT GOING ON? DO YOUR PEOPLE SEE THAT GOING ON IN THE MARKETS? WHAT CAN THE CONGRESS DO TO ENSURE, NOT THE OTHER WAY, WHERE WE WENT WRONG, THAT TOO MANY PEOPLE THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE GOT IN, BUT THAT WHAT WE WOULD NORMALLY CALL THE MIDDLE CLASS AND PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE ATTEMPTING TO BUY HOMES, NOT GET CAUGHT IN THIS CYCLE OF, I DID NOT GET IN AND I DID NOT GET A HOME.
Later, as president of the San Francisco Fed, Ms. Yellen sounded early warnings about the danger of a U.S. housing bust. "I still feel the presence of a 600-pound gorilla in the room, and that is the housing sector," she said at a June 2007 policy meeting, according to Fed transcripts. "The risk for further significant deterioration in the housing market, with house prices falling and mortgage delinquencies rising further, causes me appreciable angst."
Three months later, she foresaw a dangerous economic cascade.
"A big worry is that a significant drop in house prices might occur in the context of job losses, and this could lead to a vicious spiral of foreclosures, further weakness in housing markets, and further reductions in consumer spending," she said, at a September 2007 meeting. "The potential effects of the developing credit crunch could be substantial."
The San Diego County Taxpayers Association on Thursday issued its annual awards for bad government — and good.
[...]
The group gave its top award, the Grand Golden Fleece, to the Poway Unified School District for a $105 million bond issue that will cost taxpayers nearly $1 billion to repay. The unfavorable rate structure was exposed by former reporter and blogger Joel Thurtell of Michigan last year.
The bond also had considerable cachet, thanks to a coveted endorsement from the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. Indeed, association President Lani Lutar’s name was first on a list of five local dignitaries named on the ballot as supporting the bond.
(Full ballot argument with Lutar's signature here.)
But giving the Golden Fleece Award to Poway for a bond the SDCTA themselves endorsed? I hereby pronounce the SDCTA the winner of the Golden Gonads Award.
Remember the physical gold shortage of 2008? Spot prices were down, driven by leveraged futures traders, but people trying to get their hands on physical at anywhere near spot prices were out of luck.
Well, the same thing is happening in silver today. The spot price got crushed alongside gold in April from $28 to about $22, now just below $24. But try to get some silver at that price.
Take Liberty Coin and Precious Metal, a shop that has always had very consistent supply. I've never walked in there and not been able to get as much gold or silver as I wanted. Until today:
Delivery delays of weeks, and stunning premiums of $4 - $5 over spot!
The federal government says Indiana's suicide rate among its middle-aged population surged nearly 54 percent from 1999 to 2010, giving the state one of the nation's biggest such increases.
Thursday's report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Indiana's suicide rate increase among people ages 35 to 64 was nearly twice the national increase of 28 percent.
The CDC report's 11-year time-frame includes the recession and the mortgage crisis, yet it doesn't indicate what may have driven the increases in middle-aged people taking their own lives.
But researcher Thomas Simon with the CDC's Injury Prevention Center says some of the possible factors behind the increases could include the baby boomer generation's historically higher suicide rate, the impact of the recession and increasing substance abuse.
Yeah, substance abuse. That's it. They didn't have drug addicts in the 90's.
If you'd asked us an hour ago who sang the early 80's power ballad "Keep on Loving You," we'd have guessed Journey or Foreigner. And we wouldn't have been able to name a single song by the actual band, REO Speedwagon. Thanks to the magic of the Sirius Satellite Radio, we now know the truth.
And thanks to the magic of YouTube, we've discovered a wonderful lost video.
