Wednesday, June 03, 2009
The Reverse Bank Run
Forbes reports:
More proof we're not in another Great Depression: The people storming teller windows at teetering banks these days are clamoring to put money in, not take it out.Great moments in TARP! Anyway, this is socialism at it's finest: the survival of the unfittest.
In a curious twist to the traditional bank run, Americans seeking high yields on their money are causing deposits at struggling banks to mount in seeming lockstep with their troubles. The result is that banks that should fail are sticking around longer, making the cleanup when they do fail more costly. Banks taken over by the FDIC recently have saddled the agency with losses equal to a third of seized assets, double the level in the last banking crisis in the early 1990s, according to law firm Jones Day.
At Silverton Bank of Atlanta, the worse the news got about its bum construction loans, the more the money poured in. Before it was seized in May its so-called brokered deposits--money pooled from rich folks then shopped around for high rates--stood at $1.4 billion, quadruple the level nine months earlier.
At another reckless lender, First Bank of Beverly Hills, brokered deposits nearly doubled in the year before it collapsed in April. Ditto for another recent wipeout, First Bank of Idaho. One of this recession's biggest failures, BankUnited of Florida, managed to triple its brokered deposits in just 1.5 months last year, though that money ebbed before it was seized.
Men 'live longer' if they marry a younger woman
Telegraph reports:
A man's chances of dying early are cut by a fifth if their bride is between 15 and 17 years their junior.No word yet from the pro-cougar crowd on this one.
The risk of premature death is reduced by 11 per cent if they marry a woman seven to nine years younger.
Miami moves to force out sex offenders' causeway camp
The Miami Herald reports:
A rarely visited spoil island just a stone's throw from a homeless camp under the Julia Tuttle Causeway has spurred Miami leaders to attempt to uproot the sex offenders who are forced to live there.
Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez sent a letter this week to Gov. Charlie Crist, demanding the state immediately relocate the 70 offenders living under the causeway because they live too close to the island, which the city considers a public park.
The group of men -- and one woman -- have been forced to live under the bridge for two years because of a patchwork of local government laws that makes it illegal for them to live within 2,500 feet of where children might congregate.
Obama Says America One of the Largest Muslim Countries
The New York Times reports on President Barack H. Obama :
“And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world,” Mr. Obama said.No word yet on whether Barack Obama is adopting Chicago Public School math to just make things up. More from Instapundit.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
U.S. Bailout Chief Nominee Allison Owns Bank of America Shares
Bloomberg reports:
Herb Allison, nominated to run the Treasury’s office overseeing the U.S. financial rescue, owns $1 million to $5 million of stock in Bank of America Corp., one of the biggest federal aid recipients.The Obama administration might go one on to be the most corrupt administration in modern American history.
Allison is also paid about $3,600 a month from a Merrill Lynch & Co. annuity, the firm where he worked for almost three decades, and was later bought by Bank of America. He listed the payment and the stock investment on a financial disclosure form submitted to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
US 7th Circuit appellate court has rejected a lawsuit brought by the National Rifle Association against Chicago and Oak Park
Rich Miller reports:
Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and BAUER and POSNER, Circuit Judges.If you lived in the same town that Chicago Mob boss Sam Giancana lived,you might want to own a handgun. If you lived in Chicago and worried about the Chicago Mob passing a gun ban you might be concerned for your safety.
EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge. Two municipalities in Illinois ban the possession of most handguns. After the Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008), that the second amendment entitles people to keep handguns at home for self-protection, several suits were filed against Chicago and Oak Park. All were dismissed on the ground that Heller dealt with a law enacted under the authority of the national government, while Chicago and Oak Park are subordinate bodies of a state.
The Supreme Court has rebuffed requests to apply the second amendment to the states. See United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1876); Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 (1886); Miller v. Texas, 153 U.S. 535 (1894). The district judge thought that only the Supreme Court may change course […]
The Court did not say that Cruikshank, Presser, and Miller rejected a particular argument for applying the second amendment to the states. It said that they hold “that the Second Amendment applies only to the Federal Government.” The Court added that “Cruikshank’s continuing validity on incorporation” is “a question not presented by this case”. Ibid. That does not license the inferior courts to go their own ways; it just notes that Cruikshank is open to reexamination by the Justices themselves when the time comes.
If a court of appeals may strike off on its own, this not only undermines the uniformity of national law but also may compel the Justices to grant certiorari before they think the question ripe for decision. […]
Chicago and Oak Park are poorly placed to make these arguments. After all, Illinois has not abolished self-defense and has not expressed a preference for long guns over handguns. But the municipalities can, and do, stress another of the themes in the debate over incorporation of the Bill of Rights: That the Constitution establishes a federal republic where local differences are to be cherished as elements of liberty rather than extirpated in order to produce a single, nationally applicable rule. […]
Federalism is an older and more deeply rooted tradition than is a right to carry any particular kind of weapon. How arguments of this kind will affect proposals to “incorporate” the second amendment are for the Justices rather than a court of appeals.
The Roots of the Social Security Myth
Any one interested in the subject of Social Security should read this.
Blondes march in Latvia 'to cheer-up nation'
Telegraph reports:
Several hundred blonde women marched through the Latvian capital Riga yesterday in a bid to cheer up the crisis-hit Baltic nation, suffering the worst recession of all 27 EU member states.Talent like that should be able to cheer up any nation.
Obama's Ex-Bosses' Bad Deal For Chicago Public Pension Funds
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:A year after Mayor Daley's nephew and his business partner lent $7.9 million in city pension funds to developers hoping to build a Dominick's grocery store and condos on a vacant lot on the North Side, the value of the property has plummeted.
An appraisal done two months ago put the value of the 1.2-acre site at 3030 N. Broadway at $9.8 million, according to a copy of the appraisal obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. That's far less than the $18 million in mortgages on the property, including the $7.9 million in city pension money from Daley's nephew Robert Vanecko and his business partner Allison S. Davis.You'll want to read the whole article.Great moments in urban real estate.
An appraisal done two months ago put the value of the 1.2-acre site at 3030 N. Broadway at $9.8 million, according to a copy of the appraisal obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. That's far less than the $18 million in mortgages on the property, including the $7.9 million in city pension money from Daley's nephew Robert Vanecko and his business partner Allison S. Davis.You'll want to read the whole article.Great moments in urban real estate.
Is Your City Safe From The Tech Bust?
New Geography reports:
A decade ago, the path to a successful future seemed sure. Secure a foothold in the emerging information economy, and your city or region was destined to boom.You'll want to read the whole article. Another great one from Joel Kotkin.
That belief, as it turned out, was misguided.
In the decade between 1997 and 2007, the information sector--which includes jobs in fields from media, publishing and broadcasting to computer programming, data processing, telecommunications and Internet publishing--has barely created a single new net job, while some 16,000,000 were created in other fields.
The biggest losses have been in the telecommunications sub-field, which has shed 400,000 jobs nationwide since its peak in 2000. Not surprisingly the media and publishing industries have also lost ground, while employment in other arenas such as motion pictures, software and data-processing have remained stagnant for much of the decade.
California unemployment fund short by billions
The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
California is paying out so much for jobless benefits and collecting so little in payroll taxes that its unemployment insurance fund could be $17.8 billion in debt by the end of 2010, according to a new report from the state Employment Development Department.Great moments in Blue America.
This latest fiscal crisis won't immediately affect the 1.1 million Californians now collecting benefits because the state is using an interest-free federal loan to cover their checks.
But the state is supposed to repay that loan and restore its unemployment fund to solvency by 2011 - and right now, policymakers aren't sure exactly how to do that, or at what cost.
"The deficit that California looks like it is facing is staggering," said Bud Bridger, fiscal officer for the unemployment insurance program.
Which states will be early risers?
MSNBC reports:
If you want to be in the right place when the recovery starts, that place may be in Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas or Washington.You'll notice, by and large, these aren't states with a strong union presence. It's kind of poor form to mention that.
The recession didn't start at the same time in every state, and it won't end at the same time either. A new forecast from Moody's Economy.com predicts that jobs growth will return first in those five states, starting in the last quarter of this year. Four of those states benefit from strong high-tech industries, and the fifth, Texas, has a strong base of energy industries.
A second wave of jobs growth, in the first quarter of 2010, is predicted in seven states: Alabama, Georgia, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The next wave, in the second quarter of 2010, is expected in seven states: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wyoming.
The Site Not Tucker Carlson Added to the Blogroll
We added the new site called Not Tucker Carlson to the blogroll. Check it out.
Monday, June 01, 2009
How Hillsdale Beats Harvard Because it Takes No Federal Money
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Like Harvard, Hillsdale College does not like the strings attached to federal dollars. Like Harvard, Hillsdale does not permit ROTC on campus. Unlike Harvard, however, when it came to choosing between money and principle, Hillsdale chose principle. I was struck by the contrast between the two schools this past fall, when I spent a week at the tiny Michigan college teaching a course on journalism and delivering a lecture.You might say that college education funding is a TARP program for Marxists.You'll want to read the whole article, Harvard will throw anyone under the bus for the almighty dollar. That's Marxism for you. Unlike Hillsdale.
Back in the 1970s the Department of Health, Education and Welfare demanded that Hillsdale begin counting its students by race and sex as a condition of federal loans some of its students were receiving. For a college whose charter was the first to declare itself open to all students "irrespective of nation, color, or sex," this was insulting. Hillsdale, after all, was the school whose undefeated football team refused to play in the 1956 Tangerine Bowl when game officials said Hillsdale's black players would not be allowed to join their white teammates on the field. Still, the feds persisted and in 1984 won on a related case before the Supreme Court.
By that time, however, Hillsdale had already made a decision it thought crucial for its continued independence: The college would not accept any federal dollars, including financial aid for its students.
Big Chicago Law Firm to Young Lawyers : Take $100,000 Pay Cut
The Chicago Tribune reports:
What do you call a young lawyer working for a premier Chicago law firm who is suddenly asked to take at least a $100,000 pay cut while being shuffled out of the office?It's good to know the federal government is subsidizing lawyers to go to law school to face this.
The word “lucky” might not come to mind.
But for the associates, it’s an alternative to joining the ranks of the unemployed.
Mayer Brown is paying some of its associates to work in-house at corporate clients such as United Airlines parent UAL Corp. and Kraft Foods Inc. But there is a catch: The associates’ pay is reduced to $60,000 plus benefits, from $160,000 and more, and the jobs last one year with no guarantee of further employment.
“These are young lawyers, and they are not going to find another $160,000 job out there,” said Art Gunther, a Chicago legal recruiter who places associates at firms. “It’s a creative idea.”
Ex-police chief convicted of racketeering in Chicago Mob Linked Suburb
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Former Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo was convicted today at his racketeering and extortion trial by a federal jury that deliberated for just a few hours following a seven-week trial.For more interesting Melrose Park news.
Scavo had been accused of forcing bars and restaurants -- and even the Kiddieland amusement park -- into hiring private guards from his security firm. Some of those guards were on-duty police officers who were essentially paid twice, prosecutors alleged.
He faces up to 20 years in prison on the racketeering count alone.
Was Jimi Hendrix Murdered?
The National Enquirer reports:
A new book by Jimi Hendrix's roadie James "Tappy" Wright alleges that Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffrey once confessed while drunk to killing the incendiary guitarist by cramming pills into this mouth and then washing them down with red wine.
The book Rock Roadie claims that Jimi's manager was to collect $2 million as Jimi's beneficiary but was terrified the "Purple Haze" superstar was planning to fire him and get a new manager.
Jeffrey -- who died in a plane crash in 1973 - is said to have told the author in 1971 that Hendrix was "worth more to him dead than alive."
San Francisco Retired Government Workers Who Collect Over 100K in Pensions
Overpaid Government Worker reports:
There was a time when the "$100,000 club" referred to San Francisco city workers making six figures. These days, it refers to the 480 retired city workers or their survivors who are knocking back $100,000 or more a year in pension money.Just a reminder, the California government workers are hoping Obama will float more debt off the U.S. government's credit rating so they can continue a better lifestyle than you.
At the top of the heap is former Police Chief Earl Sanders who, after serving 40 years in the Police Department, gets an annual pension of $222,768.
Sanders' predecessor, former Chief Fred Lau, who retired after 31 years on the force, pulls down a $154,241 pension - even as he earns another six figures as head of security at Oakland International Airport.
Lau and Sanders are among 146 former city cops or their survivors in the $100,000 pension club. Both are also members of a more rarefied club - the 15 ex-cops pulling down pensions of $150,000 or more.
Flashback-- Powerful Chicago Alderman Burke's Comment : " They Would Vote For Anybody Before A Jew."
In 1979, Indiana University Press published Milton Rakove's book WE DON'T WANT NOBODY NOBODY SENT. Professor Rakove interviewed powerful Alderman Burke. Here's a quote on page 144 from Alderman Burke :
There is a latent anti-Semitism in Chicago and a large population that will never vote for a Jew. They would vote for anybody before a Jew.For Alderman Burke's view on a certain African-American police brutality victim. I guess Cook County Democrat aren't too bothered with the views of certain Democrats.
Congress May Tax College Sports
The Economist reports:
As it scours the economy for new sources of revenue, the CBO is exploring options to tax university sports franchises. University activities tend to be tax-free, yet college sports provide a non-trivial amount of revenue. The report offers three ways to tax sports: limiting deductions on charitable contributions to athletic programmes, limiting the use of tax-exempt bonds, and limiting the exemption from income taxation for these activities.They might eventually tax endowments.
The first idea has some merit. Donors to college athletic programmes get priority to purchase season tickets. Bigger or frequent contributions entitle donors to better tickets. Many fans bcome donors for this reason alone, so the donation is effectively part of the purchase price. But because it counts as a charitable contribution it is also 80% tax exempt. The demand for tickets for die-hard fans is probably fairly inelastic, so this may be good source of tax revenue.
Blago-Style Admissions
Inside Higher Education reports:
It's not selling a Senate seat, but the reputation of Illinois as a state where the politically influential get benefits to which they aren't entitled may be extended to college admissions. A series of articles starting Friday in the Chicago Tribune exposed the extent to which less qualified but politically connected applicants have been admitted to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign -- sometimes over the objections of admissions officials.Here's an admission about Blago.
Obama: U.S. 'reluctant shareholders' in GM
The Hill reports:
"We are acting as reluctant shareholders because that is the only way to help GM succeed," Obama said."Reluctant shareholders" don't own over 50% of a company.
Chicago's Trade show train wreck
Crain's Chicago Business reports:
McCormick Place conventions and trade shows are sustaining double-digit declines in attendance this year, squeezing local hotels, restaurants and other businesses that cater to conventioneers.Great moments in Blue America.
With the recession forcing them to cut costs, companies are sending fewer employees to meetings at the South Side convention center or not showing up at all. The impact is rippling through the local economy, which has lost 17,900 hospitality-related jobs in the past year, a 5.2% drop, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Obama's Shady Local Earmark as a Illinois State Senator Makes News
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
One of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's big blunders -- awarding a $1 million state grant to a private school that, as things turned out, never operated as a school once it got the money -- is in the process of being fixed.You'll want to read the whole article to see Obama's amazing project.
After months of negotiations, the owners of the Loop Lab School agreed last month to repay the 2006 grant. But it's still uncertain whether the state ever will get back the full $1 million because of other legal and financial problems the school is facing.
Unfortunately for taxpayers, the Loop Lab School debacle isn't that unusual.
Since 2003, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has found major improprieties with nine other grants doled out by lawmakers, including one that President Obama handed out back when he was a state senator.
Firms With Ties to Banks Can Work Both Sides of Rescue
The Washington Independent reports:
As the Wall Street bailout nears its first anniversary, the controversy over giving public money to private banks has become public knowledge. But an equally risky aspect of the financial rescue has flown largely under the radar: the government’s reliance on private contractors – many with potentially significant conflicts of interest – to help revive the stalled economy.You'll want to read this article to understand the conflict of interests involved in socialism.
The Treasury Department knows that the law firms and investment managers hired to aid its salvage effort could be influenced by their ties to bailed-out banks; in fact, the department released a rule in January aiming to mitigate the problem.
That rule, however, has raised questions from watchdogs by asking contractors to identify and police their own conflicts of interest. And a careful review of bailout hiring agreements reveals an inconsistent set of rules applied to the types of private deals that contractors can make while serving as agents of the U.S. government.
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