quote:

Originally posted by my2cents:
Many of them have the attitude that taking out garbage, mopping floors, working fast food or bagging groceries is beneath them.

I see quite a few people with that attitude and it's not limited to any specific age group. What boggles my mind is the number of people who are horrified at the thought of actually working for a paycheck, but have no problem applying for and accepting food and rent money from the public dole.

Backa$$ward isn't it?

quote:

Originally posted by Bailey:
Inal - Your location description speaks volumes.

lol Like that high percentage of teens became lazy and shiftless.... in one month or even one year's time.

quote:

Originally posted by I need a life!:
Why thank you very much

*bows*

"Location: ignorance is bliss "

I meant the "ignorance" part. The article mentioned teens at the end of the article, you seem to have missed, or ignored the rest of the piece.

quote: I meant the "ignorance" part.

*sarcasm on* OH my gosh (in valley girl voice) how in the world did I miss that? *sarcasm off*

Quote:
The article mentioned teens at the end of the article, you seem to have missed, or ignored the rest of the piece.

You perceive that I ignored the rest of the piece.

In my view, I chose to only discuss one of the points that were highlighted by the poster. I chose that point because I had something to say about it... just like many others do on here. They ignore or choose not to respond to much of what people say on here and only focus on the things they know or have an opinion on... call me ignorant all you wish, it won't change me or what I have to say.

As for using 'ignorance is bliss' as my location, it is a statement on how many people in this community live their lives and how I wonder sometimes what it would be like if I did live in ignorance of the larger picture. I know you don't think that I do have a grasp of it, so we'll just have to disagree on that.

REAL ESTATE
Shaky job market threatens housing recovery
Housing slump rivals deepest slowdowns in 60-plus years: Report
By Amy Hoak,

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- The housing slump, already shaping up to be the worst in a generation, still hasn't run its full course, according to Harvard University's annual report on housing, released on Monday.

And if job losses accelerate in coming months, it could take even longer for local markets to regain their footing, said Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of the university's Joint Center for Housing Studies. Job losses could be "the last shoe to drop, but a pretty heavy shoe," he said in a telephone interview.

The center releases its "State of the Nation's Housing" report each year, and not surprisingly, the 2008 edition gave a grim prognosis for housing markets throughout the country




In short, local markets are dealing with drops in housing starts, new home sales and existing home sales -- corrections that are rivaling the deepest slowdowns since the World War II era, the center reported. On top of that, the fall in home prices and the rise in mortgage defaults are the worst on record since the 1960s and 1970s.

All this adds up to a downturn that is "the most severe that we have seen," Retsinas said.
Other key points in the report:
• Last year marked an acceleration of home-sale declines, propelled by falling home prices and the credit crunch. The pain in the housing market spread to the rest of the economy by the beginning of this year, as the drop in home building, turmoil in the credit and stock markets and the effect of falling home prices on borrowing and consumer spending contributed to the slowdown.
• Real home equity (adjusted for inflation) fell 6.5% to $9.6 trillion in 2007. And home-price declines as well as a slowdown in home-equity withdrawals conspired to trim one-half of a percentage point from real consumer spending and more than one-third of a percentage point from total economic growth.
• During 2003 to 2005, housing prices surged so far ahead of incomes that by 2006, the number of households (both renters and owners) paying more than half their income on housing rose to 17.7 million, or 15.8% of all households. Today, lenders are requiring larger down payments and higher credit scores, squeezing many would-be buyers out of owning a home -- even though prices have fallen.
• More proof of the changing lending landscape: Subprime loans fell to 3.1% of originations in the fourth quarter of 2007, from 20% in 2005 and 2006. Interest-only and payment-option loans fell to 10.7% of originations in 2007, from 19.3% in 2006.
Some markets will recover faster
For housing to stabilize, the inventory of homes for sale needs to decrease, Retsinas said. But while construction cutbacks have helped reduce the supply of unsold new homes, the number of vacant homes for sale still remains high.

According to the report, the homeowner vacancy rate jumped to 2.8% in the last quarter of 2007, from 2.0% in the last quarter of 2005, as the number of vacant units rose by more than 600,000. At the end of last year, the report estimates that the oversupply of vacant, for-sale units numbered about 800,000 -- equal to 1% of the owner housing stock.

"Builders overbuilt, lenders over-lent and borrowers over-borrowed -- and we're paying a price for that," Retsinas said.

That said, he expects some markets to recover sooner than others. Boston, for example, has less of an inventory problem right now than Phoenix, he said.

Also, those markets hit hardest by foreclosures will likely take longer to recover. The number of homes entering foreclosure almost doubled to 1.3 million in 2007, from about 660,000 in 2005, according to the report.

The problems are most severe in certain areas, such as Ohio, where the foreclosure rate was 3.9% -- or one out of every 25 homes -- in the fourth quarter of 2007. The foreclosure rates in Michigan and Indiana followed close behind.

"There's more to this than just the big meltdown that occurred in the financial markets... it's localized and a longer-term problem if not addressed sooner than later," said Saul Ramirez, executive director of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, an advocate for affordable housing.

Vacant homes that have been foreclosed on require effort to keep up. Beyond yard maintenance and vandalism, vacant homes also can become a haven for criminal activity, or even stripped of valuable fixtures such as sinks, toilets and copper plumbing, he said.
When this happens, "it costs even more ... to bring the property back to the level of occupancy and eventually homeownership," he said.

A shift in thinking
The homeownership rate rose 5 percentage points from 1994 to 2004, peaking at 69%, and has fallen since, according to the report.

In fact, the largest rise in homeownership occurred before 2001, before the subprime market really started taking off -- a result of factors including favorable mortgage rates, vigorous economic growth and lower home prices in the wake of the 1991 recession. During that time, there also was a federal push for lenders to meet the needs of low-income communities and minority borrowers; automated underwriting and statistical models of loan performance also allowed lenders to relax down payment and debt-to-income requirements.

Growth after 2003, however, came in large part from more subprime, interest-only and payment-option loans, which provided a temporary lift to homeownership. These loans are now experiencing steep default rates.

Still, in the long term, demand for housing will bounce back, Retsinas said. Over the next 10 years, the outlook for household growth is about 14.5 million, signaling likely long-term demand.
But pinpointing when housing will ultimately turn around is more difficult.

Historically, housing markets usually recover after an economic recession and a mix of falling mortgage rates and dropping home prices, Retsinas said. This particular housing downturn will likely take longer to rebound due to the high volume of foreclosures and the constraints in the credit markets, he added.

In the meantime, maybe Americans need to redefine what a home is, he said. As home prices are declining in many parts of the country, perhaps homeowners should focus on the consumption aspect of a home more than the investment aspect, he added.

"After all, a home is to live in primarily, not for buying and selling," he said.
Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago.

Greenspan Says Market `Crisis' May Extend Into 2009
By Nasreen Seria and Scott Lanman

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the credit seizure that has roiled the securities industry since August may persist into next year even as the Fed has reduced the instability of financial markets.
``Things do at this particular stage look a little better. But I would caution that we have seen false starts before,'' Greenspan said via satellite today to a conference sponsored by 702 Talk Radio in Johannesburg. Still, ``this crisis I fear is going to be with us for a while,'' either for a ``good number of months or into next year,'' he said.
Greenspan's successor, Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, today convenes a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which economists expect will leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2 percent after seven cuts since September. Fed officials are trying to revive economic growth as inflationary pressure rises because of surging commodity prices.
``Data suggests we are on the brink'' of a recession in the U.S., Greenspan said. The next year will be ``a very sluggish period,'' with a ``highly volatile oil market.''
Greenspan, who served as U.S. central bank chief from 1987 to 2006, said earlier this month that financial markets have shown a ``pronounced turnaround'' since March. That's when the Fed rescued Bear Stearns Cos. from bankruptcy and opened lending to investment banks.
In general, governments and central banks can't just ``guarantee liabilities without consequences,'' Greenspan said. ``You have to make it a very special case. Otherwise you create distortions.''
`Severe Recession'
The actions in March have reduced the threat of a ``severe recession,'' he said. Yet an economic rebound in the U.S. ``isn't in the immediate outlook,'' he said.
The Fed this year has cut the benchmark interest rate at the fastest pace in two decades to sustain economic growth and avert a financial-market meltdown following the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.
The U.S. is dealing with ``the most complex'' financial crisis in more than five decades, Greenspan said.
U.S. home prices may decline a total of 25 percent from their peak, he said. ``It's conceivable we can go more than that if the crisis is prolonged,'' he said.
A private survey released today showed that home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas fell in April by 15.3 percent from a year earlier, the most on record for the S&P/Case-Shiller home- price index. Separately, consumer confidence dropped more than forecast to the lowest in more than 16 years, according to the Conference Board.
Some market interest rates reflect a ``large insolvency fear'' among investors, suggesting that there are still ``considerable structural problems that exist in the financial system'' and may extend ``for a while,'' Greenspan said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nasreen Seria in Johannesburg at nseria@bloomberg.net; Scott Lanman in Washington at slanman@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 24, 2008 12:06 EDT

The stimulus checks made it on the radar.

Stimulus checks jolt home finances in May

Washington - The millions of economic stimulus payments gave a massive jolt to household finances in May, sending after-tax incomes up by the largest amount in 33 years.

The payments helped boost consumer spending by the largest amount in six months.

The Commerce Department reported that disposable incomes, the amount left after paying taxes, surged by 5.7 percent last month. It was the biggest increase since May 1975, reflecting $48.1 billion in rebate payments made last month. The surge in incomes helped boost consumer spending by 0.8 percent, the biggest gain since last November.



And Yet

U.S. Stocks Tumble, Sending Dow to Worst June Since Depression

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks tumbled, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst June since the Great Depression, as record oil prices, credit-market writedowns and a slowing economy threatened to extend a yearlong profit slump.
General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, plunged the most in three years as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised selling the stock and crude rose by $5 a barrel. Citigroup Inc. led the KBW Bank Index to an almost 10-year low as Goldman said the lender may report an $8.9 billion second-quarter charge and cut its dividend. Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry, posted its biggest drop since 2001 on concern competition with Apple Inc.'s iPhone is reducing earnings.

Long before any media stories hit the airways, we were experiencing a contraction.

U.S. economy suffers fourth-quarter contraction
Revisions show spending slower, profits higher than previously thought

By Rex Nutting

Last update: 9:01 a.m. EDT July 31, 2008

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. economy contracted in the fourth quarter of 2007, the first quarter of negative growth since the 2001 recession, the Commerce Department said Thursday in its annual revision to gross domestic product.

Real GDP fell 0.2% in the quarter; a 0.6% increase had previously been reported. Many economists who think the economy is in recession believe it began in the fourth quarter.

Growth in the first quarter of 2008 was revised down a tenth of a percentage point to 0.9%. The economy grew 1.9% in the second quarter, the department said.

The revisions encompass better and more up-to-date data from sources not available when the government fixes its quarterly estimates.

Recession redefined
It's a common (but mistaken) belief that a recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of negative GDP.

The actual working definition is "a significant decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months," usually seen in GDP as well as monthly data on job growth, income growth, industrial output and business sales. All four of the monthly indicators are flashing recession signs.

The fourth quarter was particularly weak. Gross domestic purchases -- a gauge of domestic demand -- fell at a 1% annual rate, the biggest drop in 17 years. Another measure of domestic spending -- final sales to domestic purchasers -- fell 0.1%, the first decline since 1991. Consumer spending rose at a 1% annual rate, the slowest growth since 1995, while investment in housing fell at a 27% annual rate, the worst decline since 1981.

Modest growth
The annual revisions don't change the overall view of the economy: From 2004 through 2007, the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.6%, a tenth of a percentage point slower than earlier estimates. Growth was revised lower in all three years covered by the annual revision, with 2007 now coming in at 2%, rather than 2.2%.

Most economists believe the economy's long-run sustainable growth rate is 2.5% to 2.75% per year.

Eight of the 12 quarters were revised lower, three were revised higher, and one was unchanged.
Some of the details look a little different. Over the past three years, consumption was a bit weaker than assumed, while business investment was slightly better. The housing collapse was worse than thought. Profits and income from assets were higher, while wages and salaries were lower.

Consumer spending has averaged 3% growth over the past three years. Business investment was revised up to a 6.5% pace from 6.1%. Disposable personal incomes rose 2.6%, unrevised.
Profits were revised higher for all three years, by a cumulative $237.1 billion. Profits in the financial industries were lowered by a cumulative $61 billion, while profits from nonfinancial companies were revised up by $254 billion over the three years.

Before the revisions, profits had been at historic highs in relation to national income.
Some of those profits flowed through to the owners. Income from assets was revised up by a total of $61 billion for the three years.

Meanwhile, the compensation of workers was revised lower by $47 billion. Most of the decrease in compensation was accounted for by smaller health-care benefits due to lower-than-assumed medical payments made by bosses on behalf of their employees.

Taking a slightly longer view, the revisions show that the recovery after the 2001 recession, already the weakest post-World War II expansion, was even weaker than believed. Growth averaged 2.6% -- not 2.7% -- since the recession, compared with the average of about 3.2% in typical recoveries.

Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch.

ECONOMIC REPORT

U.S. jobless rate jumps to four-year-high 5.7%
Nonfarm payrolls fall by 51,000 in July, marking seventh straight drop

By Rex Nutting,
Last update: 10:57 a.m. EDT Aug. 1, 2008

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Nonfarm payrolls fell for the seventh straight month in July while the nation's unemployment jumped to 5.7%, a four-year high, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Nonfarm payrolls fell by 51,000 last month, led by losses in manufacturing, construction, retail and temporary help. Read the full report.

Since December, 463,000 jobs have been lost, the strongest signal yet that the economy is in a recession.

"This is a truly recessionary employment report," wrote Harm Bandholz, an economist for UniCredit Markets. "The details are rather ugly."

The unemployment rate has risen 0.7% in the past three months, matching the fastest increases in the past 26 years.

Isn't it amazing what a Democrat contolled congress can accomplish by spending all their time sitting on their hands and playing games wtih the rules?

quote:

Originally posted by Poppy:
Isn't it amazing what a Democrat contolled congress can accomplish by spending all their time sitting on their hands and playing games wtih the rules?

I'm sorry poppy, but your beloved republicans have redefined the word "obstructionist", setting a new record by nearly doubling the democrat record of the last two congresses.

quote:

Originally posted by LyonsGreenie:
I'm sorry poppy, but your beloved republicans have redefined the word "obstructionist", setting a new record by nearly doubling the democrat record of the last two congresses.

Fortunately the majority of voters can see right through this and know where the obstruction really lies.

Whether they will remember it and vote that way in November remains to be seen, but you can be sure both parties will throw enough muck that it will confuse a lot of those too ignorant to figure it out.

quote:

Originally posted by Aviator:

quote:

Originally posted by LyonsGreenie:
I'm sorry poppy, but your beloved republicans have redefined the word "obstructionist", setting a new record by nearly doubling the democrat record of the last two congresses.

Fortunately the majority of voters can see right through this and know where the obstruction really lies.

Whether they will remember it and vote that way in November remains to be seen, but you can be sure both parties will throw enough muck that it will confuse a lot of those too ignorant to figure it out.

I would post the numbers about obstuctionist republicans recent record breaking session, but it wouldn't matter to a few of you anyway, so why bother? I'm not the 'spin doctor on here, too bad you can't say the same.

Inflation Hits Annual Pace Not Seen Since 1991

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Published: August 14, 2008

Inflation reached a 17-year high last month, fueled by high gasoline and food prices, all but assuring that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates on hold for the time being.

Consumer prices were 5.6 percent higher last month than they were in July 2007, a brisker pace than economists had expected, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

That was the sharpest annual increase since January 1991, as Americans paid more for clothing, food, transportation and recreational products. On Wall Street, stock index futures fell sharply after the data was released.

The overall Consumer Price Index, considered the benchmark gauge of domestic inflation, rose 0.8 percent in July. Economists had forecast a rise of half that rate. In June, prices rose 1.1 percent, the second highest monthly pace in 26 years. The C.P.I. surveys prices of a basket of common consumer goods, measuring everything from toothpaste and prescription drugs to airline fares and restaurant menus.


US foreclosure filings surge 55 percent

WASHINGTON - The number of homeowners stung by the dramatic decline in the U.S. housing market jumped last month as foreclosure filings grew by more than 50 percent compared with the same month a year ago, according to data released Thursday.

Nationwide, more than 272,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in July, up 55 percent from about 175,000 in the same month last year and up 8 percent from June, RealtyTrac Inc. said. That means one in every 464 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month.

Nevada, California, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Georgia and Michigan had the highest foreclosure rates. Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but eight states.

The combination of weak housing sales, falling home values, tighter mortgage lending criteria and a slowing U.S. economy has left financially strapped homeowners with few options to avoid foreclosure. Many can't find buyers or owe more than their home is worth and can't refinance into an affordable loan.