Recent comments

  • We have lost the most value in Sacramento of anywhere in the US. Our market depends on banks dumping foreclosures in the $200-300,000 price range. More homes go back to the bank than are sold. Due to large price increases over the past few years and record refinancing, most homeowners owe more than the value of their homes. There is no end in sight.

    Reply to: Is the housing market bottoming?   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • An ocean liner is usually a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (e.g. for pleasure cruises or as troopships).

    Reply to: 2 housing crisis proposals Democrats should support   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • I just went browsing on home prices, looking at "heat" maps.
    The prices are still astronomical, 400k, 500k and I'm thinking, who can afford these? and in CA 800k, 900k. Considering a 200k mortgage is about 1200/month in payments and salaries have not risen in 10 years, I have no idea who can possibly buy these except those shopping for 2nd homes, speculators, foreign investors.

    So then I went and did some more digging and I realized a huge percentage of them are exactly what you point out, owned by the bank, already foreclosed.

    What are they going to do, just sit on these properties and hold them trying to get these outrageous prices?

    I envision the cruel landlords of silent movies, throwing the widow with her kids out into the snowy streets.

    Reply to: Is the housing market bottoming?   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • if you go over to John William's Shadow Government Statistics site and check out his alternate CPI, which you can find here: http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data

    it shows the exact same peak about five months ago. For purposes of whether inflation is increasing or decreasing, vs. the absolute number, Shadow Stats or BLS stats show the same pattern. I meant to mention that in the diary, thanks for bringing it up.

    Reply to: Has Inflation Peaked?   16 years 6 months ago
  • which is why we need to cover these hearings and these people. They all had some great ideas to dramatically change policy so firstly getting any representative to introduce a bill to that effect is tough but then on top of it, there have been many, many great bills introduced and they go to committee...to die.

    Unfortunately the senior, hand picked, party in control chairs those committees and they have to bring up bills for a vote...so if they don't bring up a bill for a vote out of committee, it stays there...to die.

    Lovely isn't it? No wonder Congress has such low approval ratings.

    It's also so telling that the only bills to get pushed are corporate lobbyists agenda for almost all of it and that just is so depressing since people voted in the Democrats to change that. Ha ha.

    So, pushing public awareness to demand they pass bills in the national interest is pretty much the only way to really get anywhere.

    Reply to: Ralph Gomory Testifies Before Congress   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • Somehow, I believe that what is said in the hearings means almost nothing, compared to what is said in the lobby (with campaign contributions attached).

    Reply to: Ralph Gomory Testifies Before Congress   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • Ok, latest unemployment statistics show an increase in the number of jobs lost, but a drop in the unemployment rate due to a few hundred thousand of ex-employees that are no longer looking for employment.

    Where do they go? What do they do for income?

    Reply to: older workers face massive discrimination   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • What is the equation behind your reported CPI/PPI? I know that the government's is so far out of touch with reality as to be virtually useless; as is their unemployment statistics.

    Reply to: Has Inflation Peaked?   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • I just don't see anything returning to cyclical while oil is shooting through the roof. I just posted in the forum new futures suggesting $150 a barrel.

    Man.

    Great analysis. Who does details oil analysis and what the hell is really going on? I watched the Dems blast the oil executives and so on but to me, I'm saying something pretty basic, like where are the tax breaks, incentives to in masse produce right now, super cheap, fuel efficient vehicles?

    I went looking for just a pick up truck, which is pretty basic in rural areas due to the rough terrain (4WD), farms and work needs and I couldn't find a one that had anything close to decent gas mileage. Now in 1975, there was a diesel volkswagon truck that got 45 MPG, so this is absurd, the technology is out there.

    Also note, the poorest people in the US, working America are also the people who use and need trucks....so of course they have the worst gas mileage.

    Reply to: Has Inflation Peaked?   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • ...read The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker comes from, the increasingly common perspective of using Darwin's evolutionary theory when analyzing any system composed of agents that can be assumed to evolve. Since economics is the analysis of a certain kind of human activity it is posited that it's subject to Darwin's theories. Using the concept of a 'business' which I wont' go into the definition of here but which is pretty much what you think it is interesting conclusions are drawn. Most startling is that assertion that individual 'businesses' cannot 'live' forever. Period. Interestingly according to some studies General Electric is the oldest 'business' on the planet.

    I took that little excursion 'cause I think it part of a new way of looking at things that should be important to folks who visit this blog and by way of introducing my anecdote.

    Not ten blocks from my residence on a commercial corridor street a Cadillac dealership sat and sold Cadillacs for decades. Through the 70s even.

    Recently they moved...went under...I don't know. The just disappeared on day. The building, specifically designed to sell cars with big, high-ceilinged glass walled showrooms sat empty...

    Until three months ago when it filled up with a melange of vehicles: scooters, dinky cars, midget vans manufactured overseas in a number of different countries. NONE of these were American made. They were ALL however......

    ELECTRIC POWERED EACH AND EVERY ONE.

    While Detroit has fiddled, while Japan has dithered...India, Bulgaria, Russia, Korea all have seen the writing on the wall.

    Electric cars are the future. Forget high speed trains except as a replacement for airplanes. Forget most of all 'light rail' just look out your window and what do you see: Tens of Trillions of dollars in roadway infrastructure designed to carry things we call 'cars'. We have neither the time nor the money to change this before Peak Oil's effects are upon us, some say they are already here, but with the implementation of Solar Grand Plan, Wind power and other sustainable sources we can all plug our electric cars in at night, the period of lowest electrical demand and leave the competition for oil to the Russians and Chinese.

    That is if we can get some politicians in office who can actually use their minds for other than accruing 'power' to themselves. As Robert pointed out in a recent post today's campaigns are about gender, race and personality. A long way from where they need to be.

    Reply to: Measuring the Decline of America   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • If someone is a contractor or permatemp, they cannot get unemployment benefits. I think we should be pointing to all of this experience being thrown away every chance we get. It's high time older worker really started aggressively confronting this entire "younger preferred" hiring practices.

    Reply to: older workers face massive discrimination   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • The Social Security system assumes that workers draw their maximum salary for several years before they retire. The reality is that most white-collar workers will face a serious income gap in their 50's and early 60's.

    20 years ago, we would be on the verge of paying off our mortgage. Now we lose our homes.

    20 years ago, we contributed to Social Security until retirement. Now we draw unemployment.

    Reply to: older workers face massive discrimination   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • I keep having this image of tectonic plates crashing into each other and right in the middle are US citizens. CRUNCH.

    I saw something today that Geo Metro's are now selling like hotcakes. Now isn't it ridiculous that a 12 year old car you can no longer get, has better gas mileage that even these new hybrid? and why isn't that the national emergency to give people tax incentives and demand auto manufacturers immediately offer high mileage vehicles?

    Very good diary I was just thinking we needed to analysis the policy positions of candidates as well as track the history of energy spikes, inflation, recession, middle class squeeze.

    Reply to: Measuring the Decline of America   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • A hearing that will probably have a lot of good information about globalization and US jobs is happening this Thursday. There usually is a webcast to watch these, so I want to give ya all a heads up about it. I will also write about it after the hearing is over. Details:

    Hearing to Examine How to Encourage U.S. Corporations to Invest at Home, Not Abroad

    Title: American Decline or Renewal?-Globalizing Jobs and Technology

    Committee: House Science and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight

    When: Thursday, May 22nd, 10 A.M. to 1 P.M.

    Where: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2318

    *Please see the Committee announcement (attached) for more information.

    "This hearing will attempt to break new ground by pairing the testimony of U.S. company presidents explaining why they have resisted the temptations of offshoring with that of prominent academics bent on challenging basic assumptions they believe have distorted public debate over trade policy and the effects at globalization.

    The first panel will feature Ralph Gomory, President Emeritus of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and just named as research professor at NYU's Stern School of Business; political economist Bruce Scott of Harvard Business School; and economist Margaret Blair, a professor of law at Vanderbilt. They will reinterpret fundamental perceptions of the current structure of world trade, the duty of corporate officers and directors, and the relationship of the market to the state, as well as offer new ways of thinking about corporate incentives that might encourage companies to keep and create jobs in the U.S.

    And while very few corporate officials have been willing to discuss with Congress the attractions of offshoring and the bases of their decisions to stay home or go abroad, the heads of a North Carolina textile company and an Illinois printed circuit board manufacturer will do so at this hearing. They will be joined by the CEO of the Arlington, TX, Chamber of Commerce, who will talk about having to compete to attract investment in a global environment. All three will bring with them from the trenches of economic competitiveness their own suggestions on how incentives can be refashioned to tilt the balance in favor of keeping and creating manufacturing and research facilities in the U.S."

    ===========================================================

    Subcommittee Examines How to Encourage U.S. Corporations to Invest at Home, Not Abroad

    The Effects of Globalizing Jobs & Technology on the American Economy

    (Washington, DC) – As millions of American manufacturing jobs continue to move offshore, evidence is mounting that ever more sophisticated operations, once seen as the potential source of benefits from free trade and globalization, are headed to foreign soil if the rules underlying corporate incentives don’t change.

    The focus of a hearing by the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Investigation and Oversight Subcommittee is how to change government incentives so that they encourage companies to keep high-paying manufacturing jobs, as well as research and development jobs in America.

    A panel of expert witnesses will suggest innovative incentives such as reducing income tax rates for corporations that retain or create higher-paying jobs in the U.S., making new rules that point corporations in the direction of public purpose rather than exclusively of short-term profits, and examining how the race for short-term gain contributes to off-shoring of American jobs.

    “We need to understand how corporations decide where to create jobs,” said Rep. Brad Miller, Chairman of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee. “If we’re going to have a prosperous middle class, then our corporations need to have more than just their executive offices here.”

    The Subcommittee will also hear testimony from company executives who know first-hand the temptations to move work offshore and will explain why they have chosen to keep their facilities in the United States. In addition, a U.S. regional development executive will describe how the game of attracting investment has changed amid the strengthening trend to move both production and research abroad.

    _______________________________________________

    Reply to: Congressional Hearing, May 22, Thursday, 10am, EST - Must watch! Outsourcing   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • Shadow Statistics?

    Another issue which has gone nowhere is trying to get statistics on the exact number of jobs offshore outsourced. Finally Alan Blinder and others started using other metrics to analyze what's going on but corporations have fought like mad to hide that number.

    They also calculate foreign guest workers on temporary Visas in the US unemployment statistics, which is certain occupational areas, such as engineering, it's gives a false low in the unemployment rate.

    Reply to: Hard Numbers vs. Phony Numbers   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • I agree with you that this is a slow motion collision for many people have been maintaining paying their bills by using the home equity and credit cards. I was unaware of borrowing against 401ks on top of it but I sure don't see wages rising anytime soon. One thing really missing on the campaign trail is global labor arbitrage. Sure Dems are talking about tax incentives but when one is competing against a 10:1 or 100:1 wage ratio, changing the corporate tax code is just not going to cut it in terms of increasing wages. Add to that all three Dems will not address the domestic labor supply really (Clinton on the campaign trail at least has been recently acknowledging it but I am unaware of any policy shift to deal with this), which also means wages won't rise due to stabilizing the domestic labor supply.

    I think it should be "US workers first for jobs in the US"
    as an overall policy to help that out (it's not that at all currently).

    Reply to: Another squeeze by the Boa Constrictor economy   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • Or what they are up to frankly but if there are new blogs and other people who care about actual policy, we need to start joining forces. Fact based policy would be very nice indeed and I agree, this campaign especially threw facts out the window.

    I mentioned wood chips as a pander thing but that's just one example. There is a lot of hype with alternative energies and if one recalls Bush talked up hydrogen when the realities of it, it's costs, the infrastructure and the violitity of it made it not so viable. All of these technologies need to be deeply analyzed. Else we get yet another initiative that is simply putting R&D gov. money in some private sector pockets with no results. So, here is a prime example of something that sounds nice of the surface and only by digging into does one find the trojan horse.

    Reply to: It's the Policy Stupid   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • ....we were screwed from the beginning if we had to rely on the likes of Markos or 'BoneHead' Bowers. Neither of 'em to bright, and I've met and debated both of 'em, just as I said in my post: Left Blogistan's 'Big Man' problem....

    The term 'Big Man' comes from sociologists and is a term of art. Very apt term for today. The 'Great Exodus' has begun with great new political blogs, many headed by women, thanks Barry, And we will I believe see and increase in an emphasis on policy once the Presidential Kabuki is over and gas hits $8.00/gal. Will we ever! Yeow, is the citizenry gonna be white hot mad. We fought a war, costing upwards of 4 Trillions, and gas is going thru the roof. Not the way previous imperialists worked things out. Of course they didn't have the likes of George and the ReThug party leading the way neither.

    Peak Oil...consumption...The Oldavai Gorge...The Solar Grand Plan all the stuff's gonna suddenly become very, very important.

    And here you will be standing by to help explain Complexity Economics, Military Keynesianism all that fun stuff. I'm reading and studying my ass off in the hopes I'll have something to say. 'Cause brother people are gong to be looking for answers and neither Barry not McSame have 'em.

    Left Blogistan 2.0 will be a bigger, better, smarter place because to grow in it you are going to have to have talent. Not just be first with a new idea.

    You are going to have to be able to demonstrate why your new idea is a good one. And never fear, there are millions of American who can do a better job at blogging, being President, running a political part and most important formulate policy.

    And here they come.

    Reply to: It's the Policy Stupid   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • Fareed Zakaria was interviewed on CNN today and said that Obama might have the policies to put into place what his book recommends.

    Reply to: Globalization's Biggest Most Dangerous Lie   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:
  • Country after country is reporting increasing inflation yet somehow the US, the country with the weakest currency, reports only moderate inflation, unbelievable. It was the same yesterday with the consumer sales numbers, insane. And its the same everyday the way the stock market continues to rise as a recession takes hold, totally nuts. The crash, when it comes, and it will come, is going to be a doozy coming from these heights.

    Reply to: Alice-In-Wonderland Economic Numbers   16 years 6 months ago
    EPer:

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