IE Chatter

John and Ken Show...On an IE Rampage...

John and Ken of the "John and Ken Show" on KFI 640AM talk radio have been on an absolute rampage lately.  It all started with an infamous interview of Assemblyman Anthony Adams up in the High Desert where he basically stated almost enthusiastically that he supported raising taxes.  It would then follow that they would jump all over Assmeblyman Jeff Miller who represents the Corona area as well as parts of Orange County.  Now...Assemblyman Paul Cook is getting blasted because of a post over on a political blog called Red County.

You can find Assemblyman Cook's musings here.

John and Ken have been making the case that the budget and its tax increases were supported in a well orchestrated effort by the Republican Caucus and not just the three that voted for it and they have cited various items to support their case.  Chiefly, a talk show interview done by Anthony Adams on a public radio show.

Cook writes in part that there was no conspiracy to raise taxes.  Well...he has been getting the crap kicked out of him today.  I don't know much about Paul Cook. I do know that he proudly served his country with honor and valor and fought with distinction.  He won a Bronze Star if I am not mistaken.  While I understand the J&K rage...I wihs they would have been a little more tactful in their criticisms.  I am not saying war heroes get a free pass.......but they are a little ad hominem with their attacks today.

You Walk Away, LLC - Facing Class Action Lawsuit

You guys remember "You Walk Away, LLC"?  That is the organization that showed you "how" to walk away from your mortgage while charging you a fee of $995.  Well...I found a blog post discussing a class action lawsuit that has been filed against You Walk Away...by these deadbeat homeowners.  TOO FUNNY!

The suit alleges:

“We believe that You Walk Away’s conduct falls within that described by the California Attorney General’s Office as the ‘Foreclosure For a Fee Scam’” says attorney Benjamin Meeker. As described by the California Attorney General’s Office, foreclosure consultants who perpetrate this scam advertise to homeowners that they can provide “advice” on staying in their home until they are evicted.

“As its business name illustrates, the plaintiffs allege that You Walk Away entices homeowners into believing that simply walking away from a foreclosed home has few, if any, consequences, while charging hefty fees for its products” Mr. Meeker explained.

Even the Girl Scouts Aren't Immune

The economic downturn is hurting the Girl Scouts and their annual cookie sales fundraising effort.

The Girl Scouts cookie season has arrived but officials fear a shortfall of $500,000 in sales threatens activities and programs for 5,000 Inland Empire girls.

After a presale that officially began Jan. 24, troops of the Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council began selling cookies for $4 a box at booths outside stores and shopping centers Friday. So far, sales are down about 10 percent, according to the council. Officials hope that booth sales will close the gap by the end of the month, when they conclude.

Jamie Wearing, a leader for Troops 380 and 384, believes that sales will climb despite the dreary numbers, she said while selling cookies with some of her troop at a Rite-Aid in Riverside Sunday.

"Girl Scouts cookies are comfort food," Wearing said. "People will buy them no matter what."

Todd, who was a brownie in 1969, isn't concerned about poor sales numbers either.

"What's great about the Girl Scouts is that it has been around for 97 years; in times of war and peace and in good and bad economic times and the bottom line is, you don't need a lot of money to teach leadership skills," she said.

Regional Economic Carnage...

Man...it is just ugly and uglier out there.

San Bernardino Unified School District looking to do layoffs.

San Bernardino City is a wreck.

Redlands is in trouble.

Fontana is doing the layoff thing.

Riverside County is laying off people.

San Bernardino County is looking to do furloughs and hopefully avoid layoffs.

Victorville is a disaster.  Their former city manager may have been criminally negligent on some "verbal contracts".

Temecula had a round of layoffs I believe.

Unemployment is at historic levels.

Car dealerships are begging for handouts.

The stock market is plummeting.

The state is raising taxes to astronomical levels.

The president is spending trillions of dollars on what exactly?

Foreclosures litter the landscape.

It is depressing.

UCR Medical School in Limbo?

One of the coolest things happening in the region is the prospect of landing a medical school at UCR.  However, the economy and state budget issues are threatening to derail this potential gem.

The article touches on a key point and that is the failure of our state leaders to actually spend tax dollars on things the taxpayers need...like infrastructure.  We don't build roads. We don't build water systems.  We don't build medical schools.  The list goes on and on.

According to the article, there hasn't been a public medical school built in 40 years.  That is ridiculous.

UC Riverside officials are counting on $15 million from a state budget revision later this spring to keep a planned medical school on schedule.

"We really believe our best opportunity is getting in the revised state budget," said Dr. Phyllis Guze, interim dean of the medical school, which is scheduled to open in 2012. "We're really going full-bore ahead to get that included."

The recently reached state budget package didn't include $15 million the university sought for the medical school. The university's medical school proposal hinges on a $100 million investment from the state between now and 2021, when the school is projected to be self-sustaining.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do?

The Press Enterprise has a cool article about Inland Empire Supervisors and the money spent by taxpayers on their vehicles.

Inland Empire Real Estate Continues Freefall: Sub $200K!!!

The bloodletting continues in the Inland Empire.  The average home in Riverside County costs $195,000.  In San Bernardino County it has dropped to $162,000.

These are well off the highs during the bubble. I am sure that the decision to raise taxes even more by the California legislature will help even more.

All San Bernardino - An All America City [chuckle]

If San Bernardino were a sports team, it would have been contracted by now.  Here are some stories highlighting this joke of a city.

Cancelled Budget Meeting

With rumors and reports that some council members might be arrested by the SBPD for a Brown Act violation.

No Confidence Vote in Police Chief

A "few" malcontents vote no again on the Chief.  18-1!

Jobs Fair for Pink Slipped Cops

San Bernardino hires cops as late as November/December of 2008...still trying to fulfill a pledge to hire 40 new cops after voters raised the sales tax.  Then they give them pink slips.  The city "had no idea" of the budget situation.  How is this treatment of people not criminal?

San Bernardino Considers Mini-Bailout of Car Dealersips

Good luck. Throw good money after bad.  By the time the state legislature is done raising income taxes, sales tax and car registration fees..nobody is gonna buy a car.

Porky the Pig Named to Stimulus Bill Committee

Congressman Jerry Lewis, the King of Earmarks and pork barrell spending, has been named to stand on the stimulus bill conference committee.

Inland Rep. Jerry Lewis was tapped late Tuesday to help resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan.

The legislation, meant to revitalize the nation's struggling economy through the creation of 3 to 4 million jobs, passed the Senate on Tuesday, about two weeks after the House passed its own version.

Lewis, R-Redlands, is among 10 lawmakers -- six Democrats and four Republicans -- named to the conference committee charged with combining the two bills into a single package for Obama to sign into law.

The second paragraph is a little misleading now that the Messiah is saying that he hopes to create AND save 3-4 million jobs.  Good luck quantifying that.  I can't wait to hear Obama praise himself for saving jobs...instead of creating them.

And you gotta love spending $800 billion to save or create maybe 4 million jobs.  Why don't we just hand the Octuplets mom a check for $200,000 and call it a day. 

$200 freeaking grand per job!  Now that is a stimulus package.

But, Congressman Jerry Lewis is tyring to turn a new leaf. 

Among the plan's most vocal critics, Lewis has described the bill as bloated with spending on programs that won't create jobs. He has also accused Democrats of shutting Republicans out of the process of developing the bill.

"Congress must act quickly to enact a fiscally responsible, fast-acting, and cost-effective stimulus bill that adequately represents the interest of American taxpayers," Lewis wrote.

Inland Empire Supervisors Threaten to "Stick It" to the Man

Frustrated by state budget woes and unfunded mandates, Supervisors from the region are threatening to withhold money from the State.

Good!

Tell those bastards in Sacramento to go screw themselves. 

Besides this month's payment delay, counties face billions of dollars in proposed cuts for law enforcement funding, welfare payments and other programs.

The idea for Thursday's supervisors meeting began as a plan for local boards of supervisors to gather with local legislators in their districts.

Riverside County Board of Supervisors Chairman John Tavaglione, a member of the state county association's executive committee, proposed instead that the supervisors meet on the Legislature's home turf in Sacramento.

"The board members think it's very important to get the message across face-to-face," Riverside County spokesman Ray Smith said. "There hasn't been an indication that the message has registered up to this point."

Besides Riverside and San Bernardino counties, supervisors from Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Imperial, and Ventura counties also are scheduled to be party of Thursday's meeting.

David Wert, a spokesman for San Bernardino County, said he thinks the visit will have an effect. "The idea is to put ourselves in front of these people where they are, where they work, and where they make their decisions," he said.

San Bernardino County supervisors will be back in Sacramento the following week to lobby local lawmakers some more.

San Bernardino County Welfare Recipients in Danger of Losing Check?

The San Bernardino Sun has an article about county welfare recipients in danger of losing their government check(s).

My question:  "Why should they be immune to what the rest of the WORKforce isn't?"  Plenty of folks are in danger or have lost their paychecks.

More than 98,000 welfare recipients in San Bernardino County stand to lose their monthly cash benefits as early as March unless the state can cough up the money needed to fund the program.

In San Bernardino County, officials have not yet warned welfare recipients that their cash benefits may be in jeopardy. Wert said the county doesn't want to come off as alarmist, especially if the state is bluffing.

"If this is just some kind of stunt by the state to get everyone's attention, we don't want to go out and tell tens of thousands of people their benefits are going to get cut off," Wert said. "It's just at the discussion stage right now, but it could happen fairly quickly."

Good thing this is only being printed in the newspaper.  Nobody reads those anymore.

The Exact Attitude That Pisses Taxpayers Off

Here is a sob story about DMV workers taking furloughs of two days a month.

For nine years Danny Barceleau made sure DMV office in Pomona looks spic-and-span when customers walk in. Today, Barceleau's mop is hanging in the utility closet as he and the rest of the state employees take a mandatory day off.

"When I was filling out the application, everyone said `You have a job for life, there is no layoffs, the only way to lose your job is if you don't show up'," Barceleau said.

This crap is so insulting to me and millions of other Californians.  And the sad thing is, this guy doesn't even realize it.

Why should you be guaranteed a job just for showing up?  There are a lot of fat, lazy and complacent state workers out there that need to be bitch slapped into the real world.

Brilliant Business Plan Here!

A glass repairman has been arrested for allegedly breaking windows of vehicles with a slingshot and aparkplugs and then later soliciting them for business.

Redlands police registered disapproval of glass repairman Timothy Carl Klenke's business strategy Monday by arresting him at his Redlands home.

Police officials say the 50-year-old Klenke tried to create demand for his services by launching spark plugs with a slingshot at the windows and then planning to solicit his victims for the repairs.

On Sunday, police received five calls reporting smashed windows - to vehicles on Hartzell and Glover streets and businesses in the 400 block of Tennessee Street, the 1500 block of Orange Street and the 800 block of Colton Avenue.

After witnesses reported seeing a man in a Honda Civic and provided a partial license plate number, police found Klenke.

Layoffs, Layoffs and more layoffs...

Riverside County is looking to lose 250 employees.  The City of San Bernardino is looking to cut jobs...including POLICE OFFICERS.

It is getting ugly out there.

Another Housing "Victim"?

Here is another typical sob story run by the newspapers.  Is it any wonder why their circulation is down?

It is an article about how down Latinos are on the economy and this intreprid reporter brings us another sob story designed to pull at the readers heart strings while completely ignoring or refusing to ask even the most basic of questions.

EXHIBIT A!

"It's terrible for everybody around the world," said Jose De Anda, a 77-year-old Highland resident.

De Anda, who came to this country in 1950 under a guest worker program created by the U.S. and Mexican governments, survives on a $1,500 a month social security check.

He and his wife, Leonarda, moved out of their Rialto home in May when they learned their mortgage payment was about to balloon from $1,000 to $1,700 a month. De Anda now lives in a mobile home park with his wife and 38-year-old son.

"There was no way we were going to afford that," said Pepe De Anda, chatting with his dad in the living room last week.

Forget for a second that his home payment is ballooning to $1,700 a month.  What was he doing getting into a home for $1,000 a month?  Why would he ever agree to take on that responsibility given his fixed income?

Or, how about...how is it exactly that he has been in this country for a lifetime and hasn't saved anything or built any equity? 

A Comment on Sharon's Comment

Last night, Bob Blough of the San Bernardino Public Employees' Association made a comment about the TAP program on our blog.  Sharon Gilbert of iePolitics,and I think it is fair and not inflammatory to say, a frequent critic/nemeis of Mr. Blough, respondedto his comments.

A lot of it is frankly over my head sinceI am not a government employee.  So, I think I provide a different perspective as an outsider.

One of the comments by Sharon caught my attention and I have pasted it below. 

Finally, as union general manager you should have been letting employees know that there is a possibility that they may be transferred instead of lying to them and trying to paint a rosie picture. But your unwillingness to be truthful with employees will go a long way in helping us with our decertification campaign. Can't wait until PERB gets to count the votes instead of you. Hope you're saving up for your early retirement.

But, my response is, we are all human beings with a head on our shoulders.  Shouldn't eeryone be aware of the fact that times are tough and that their jobs are at risk?  This is the sort of stuff I don't understand or get.

For months, we have seen bad economic data, bad housing data, news about job losses, etc.  Hell, the presidential campaign beat this home months ago.  I just don't understand why it is a bone of contention if Mr. Blough didn't tell rank and file employees that they might be transferred. 

And I don't get how being transferred is all that traumatic versus an actual job loss. 

I have a relative with a beautiful family and home who has been told that he is on the bubble and might very well lose his job.  Unfortunately for him...his employer doesn't have a TAP program and he is stressed and fearful.  He would gladly take a transfer.

P.S. Sharon, what does PERB stand for? 

Where is the Whaaaahahambulance? You call this a housing crisis victim?

Real estate prices are down over 50% in some areas of North San Diego County. Here is a story in the North County Times talking about paying your mortgage versus walking away.

With home prices down 50 percent in some North County areas, many residents face a difficult choice: Stop paying the mortgage and rent for less, or stick out history's toughest housing market and pay a mortgage that equals hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the value of the house.

Then the paper profiles this "victim" under the header, "working to avoid foreclosure":

But for Martin Garcia of Spring Valley, and many others, it was not a business decision.

He loves his home and wants to keep it, so Garcia contacted a loan modification specialist who works for free and altered the terms of his mortgage.

Garcia said he has dodged foreclosure ---- at least for now.

His mortgage payment had been about $900 a month on a negative-amortization loan, meaning he was paying less than the interest accrued. So with each payment, he owed more than the month before.

When the amount owed on such mortgages balloons to a certain amount, the mortgage adjusts so that the borrower has to pay off all the interest accrued each month as well as some principal.

For Garcia, that meant a jump in payment to $2,500 per month, too much for the auto mechanic who earns about $1,000 per week.

With the loan modification, Garcia now pays $1,500 per month. But the payment only covers interest. Therefore, the amount Garcia owes is not increasing, but it isn't decreasing either.

In two years, Garcia's loan will readjust so that he has to pay all the interest due that month and some principal, probably pushing the amount owed over $2,000 per month again.

When that happens, "I don't know, I just hope God comes and helps me out again," he said. "I'm not happy. I would be happy if it was fixed for the rest of the loan."

So this guy gets to live in a house for $900 a month...a cost that was undoubtedly cheaper than renting and he says he "just hope[s] God comes and helps [him] out again."

Yeah, that is working to avoid foreclosure.  And I am supposed to feel sorry for this guy?  This is an auto mechanic earning roughly $48K a year and bought more than he could have afforded and knew he did.  Why should I feel sorry for this person?  Why should my tax dollars bail him or anyone else out?

Layoffs, Layoffs and More Layoffs

The national economy is getting worse if the headlines are a barometer.  The big story today is the announced layoffs by several retailers, chiefly Home Depot.

"We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg — the big firms," said Rebecca Braeu, economist at John Hancock Financial Services. "There's certainly other firms beneath them that will lay off workers as quickly or even quicker."

Looking ahead, economists predicted a net loss of at least 2 million jobs — possibly more — this year even if President Barack Obama's $825 billion package of increased government spending and tax cuts is enacted. Last year, the economy lost a net 2.6 million jobs, the most since 1945, though the labor force has grown significantly since then.

The unemployment rate, now at a 16-year high of 7.2 percent, could hit 10 percent or higher later this year or early next year, under some analysts' projections.

As a result of all this we are gonna see a greater strain on social services at the same time state and local governments are cutting back on their budgets and compounding the mess with layoffs of their own, worker furloughs and budget freezes.

How much worse will it get?

California: Do As I SAY, Not As I DO!

California is running out of cash and it wants to issue all of us...rain checks!  Of course, if you were running out of money and owed taxes...they would tell you to go pound sand.

California's controller said Friday he will be forced to impose a 30-day delay on tax refunds and some other payments starting Feb. 1 if lawmakers fail to agree on a plan to erase a nearly $42 billion budget deficit.

Controller John Chiang, who acts as the state's accountant, said he will have no choice but to delay $3.7 billion in payments next month because the state is running out of cash.

Doing so, he said, would buy the state a few more weeks before its accounts run dry. The state is on the brink of issuing IOUs as it faces a $41.6 billion shortfall over the next year-and-a-half.

"Let me make this perfectly clear: This is a painful decision," Chiang said during a news conference in Sacramento. "It is an action that is critically necessary. The fallout from issuing IOUs, or for the state going into default, are significant and long-lasting and something to be avoided at nearly all costs."

Real Estate Market Still Bleak - Foreclosures Dominate Sales As Prices Continue to Erode

The Press-Enterprise has a story today showing that sales of homes are up and prices are continue to decline with the foreclosure activity accounting for roughly 70% of the market.

The housing trends in Inland Southern California continued in December: There was significant sales activity but marked-down foreclosures are still dominating the market, a real estate research firm reported.

There were about 7,300 residential housing transactions in Riverside and San Bernardino counties last month, DataQuick Information Systems reported this morning. That's roughly 80 percent more than the same month in 2007, when sellers were watching prices fall and many were sitting on the sidelines.

The number of resale homes sold in Riverside County almost doubled from December 2007, from 2,503 to 4,435.

But about 70 percent of all sales in the Inland counties were foreclosure sales, and this continues to affect prices. The median price of a Riverside County home fell from $220,000 in November to $209,000 last month and is now 41.1 percent lower than 12 months ago.

In San Bernardino County, the median sales price was $180,000 last month, down from $185,250 in November and 42.9 percent lower than a year ago.

The peak prices were about $432,000 in Riverside County and $380,000, recorded in late 2006.

And...we are gonna continue to see prices decline with the Option ARM resets and the impact of job losses still lurking.

Riverside County Assessor Screwing Taxpayers?

On the surface, it appears that the Riverside County Assessor Larry Ward is really screwing over some residents by moving up the property tax appeal deadline from Dec 31st 2008, to September 1, 2008. 

And the taxpayers are pissed because they turned in an appeal on an official form with the Dec. 31st deadline.

A member of the state Board of Equalization, which monitors taxation procedures statewide, believes Ward should give Lee and other misinformed taxpayers the benefit of the doubt.

"The Riverside County assessor's office shouldn't change the property-tax rules in the middle of the game," said John Hrabe, spokesman for Michelle Steel, who represents Inland Southern California on the board. "Homeowners believed the deadline for property tax adjustments was Dec. 31, because the assessor's own form listed it as the deadline."

On the face, it certainly seems like Assessor Ward is trying to curtail the bloodletting and shorten the appeal process.  This would bring in more revenue to the county.  No doubt, there is an intense amount of pressure put on Assessor Ward.

And it seems like he is screwing the taxpayers.  But then you read this section of the article:

For years, the deadline to apply for reassessment was March 15, Ward said. In 2007, Ward extended the deadline to Dec. 31 to give more time to residents whose homes had plunged in value.

Ward said he changed the deadline again in April 2008 in part to help his office cope with a deluge of applications.

In 2007, the assessor's office received more than 6,000 applications for reassessment before the Dec. 31 deadline.

What is your take?

Foreclosures and Latinos in the Inland Empire; Interesting Baca News

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the recent attempt in past years to open up the options for first time homebuyers and specifically Latino homebuyers.  It mentions Congessman Joe Baca and some other organizations that sought to expand the ranks of homeowners and goes into detail about the massive number of defaults.

Here is a long excerpt:

Mortgage lenders flooded Mr. Baca's San Bernardino, Calif., district with loans that often didn't require down payments, solid credit ratings or documentation of employment. Now, many of the Hispanics who became homeowners find themselves mired in the national housing mess. Nearly 9,200 families in his district have lost their homes to foreclosure.

For years, immigrants to the U.S. have viewed buying a home as the ultimate benchmark of success. Between 2000 and 2007, as the Hispanic population increased, Hispanic homeownership grew even faster, increasing by 47%, to 6.1 million from 4.1 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Over that same period, homeownership nationally grew by 8%. In 2005 alone, mortgages to Hispanics jumped by 29%, with expensive nonprime mortgages soaring 169%, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

An examination of that borrowing spree by The Wall Street Journal reveals that it wasn't simply the mortgage market at work. It was fueled by a campaign by low-income housing groups, Hispanic lawmakers, a congressional Hispanic housing initiative, mortgage lenders and brokers, who all were pushing to increase homeownership among Latinos.

The network included Mr. Baca, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, whose district is 58% Hispanic and ranks No. 5 among all congressional districts in percentage of home loans not tailored for prime borrowers. The caucus launched a housing initiative called Hogar -- Spanish for home -- to work with industry and community groups to increase mortgage lending to Latinos. Mortgage companies provided funding to that group, and to the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, which fielded an army to make the loans.

Oh...and here is this juicy tidbit.

In a news release, AmeriDream said the donation to Mr. Baca's foundation was intended to fund the purchase of gear for firefighters in his district. Local news reports say the foundation gave away $36,000 in scholarships this year.

Internal Revenue Service records indicate that Mr. Baca's son, Joe Baca Jr., has an annual salary of $51,800 as executive director of the Joe Baca Foundation, which is run out of the congressman's home. Joe Baca Jr. says he currently is taking only about half that listed salary.

Mr. Baca's office declined to comment on the AmeriDream contribution.

Environuts Condemn Proposed Highway

Riverside County's "Mid County Parkway" is being assailed by environmentalists who would rather "save" varmints and kangaroo rats and so forth, than allow the expansion of regional infrastructure projects that would alleviate congestion and emissions from vehicles moving at a snails pace.

From a bluff overlooking the Gavilan Plateau south of Lake Mathews, opponents of the proposed Mid-County Parkway linking San Jacinto and Corona point to where the parkway will bisect the rural area and cut off neighbors from one another.

But that's just one of the problems they have with the planned $3 billion road, which would traverse rocky cliffs and sensitive areas south of the lake.

To the environmentalists and residents trying to keep the road out of the Gavilan Hills area -- or kill the project altogether -- the rocks, flowers and varmints are well worth saving.

New San Bernardino County Supervisor Wants Review of Judges' Benefits

Newly elected San Bernardino County Supervisor Neal Derry wants to take a hard look at the county funded benefits given to San Bernardino County Superior Judges.  What many, including myself, are not aware of is that although they are county officials...they are state employees whose salaries are set by the state constitution.

The article states that the benefits given to these judges is equal to 23 full time county employees.  I say good for Derry.  San Bernardino County is facing budget issues like everyone else and its high time the state take care of its own obligations and quit schlepping it off on to localities.

Why should county taxpayers pick up the tab for their benefits when they are already receiving $171,000 a year for what is a cushy job?  Boo freaking hoo!  I say we test the free market principles of supply and demand.  I am sure there are several individuals qualified and willing to take these spots.

SOS: Launch The Buoys! Median Home Price Drops Below $300,000

Sound the alarms.  launch the buoys!

Dataquick has announced that the median price of a home in Southern California has dropped below $300,000 and to 2003 levels.

The median price paid for all homes combined last month was $285,000, down 5 percent from October and down a record 34.5 percent from November 2007. Last month’s median was the lowest since it was $298,000 in April 2003, which was the last time the median was below $300,000. November's median stood 43.6 percent below the peak $505,000 median reached in spring and summer of last year.

The median price has eroded consistently over the past 16 months as price depreciation swept the region, discounted foreclosures ballooned in inland markets and sales stagnated in higher-end neighborhoods. The latter have suffered from, among other things, a difficult financing environment for large mortgages.

The median price of a home in Riverside and San Bernardino counties is now $220,000 and $185,000, respectively.

And it is going to get worse.  The "Alt-A" and "Option ARMs" haven't really started to reset yet and we haven't even begun to feel the effects of home losses due to job losses.  So far, we have just been going through the sub prime debacle.

Peter Schiff Rocks

Peter Schiff is so direct and plain spoken about the current economic crisis it is shockingly refreshing.

Must watch clip.

Auto Bailout Dead...For Now.

The auto bailout is dead for now and I came across a very funny "poster" that you all will enjoy.

LoJack for Grills and Appliances?

Just when you think you have heard it all, you come across a story like this one.  Things are getting so bad, that home builders are installing GPS tracking devices to recover stolen appliances from vacant homes.

Seriously!

SB County Government Employees Facing the Axe?

You can't go a day without reading how bad things are getting economically.  From the decline in real estate values to stories about car dealerships closing and their impacts on local governments. 

Over at Sharon Gilbert's blog "IE Politics", there is some chatter that the County of San Bernardino will soon find itself in serious economic troubles.

There is "chatter" (heehee...sometimes I amuse myself) over there that employees might be laid off, put on furlough or that the work week will be shifted to a 4 day, 8 hour shift, or 32 hour work week.  I have no idea if this is true as I am not a county employee.

Gilbert makes a fair point and that is...if these actions are going to take place, employees should be informed of the possibility so that they can be prepared and not overspend during the holidays. With that said, the current economic client should already be pretty damn sobering to everyone.

US Officially Enters Recession: DUH!

The Los Angeles Times is officially reporting that the United States has entered a recession.  This is sort of like the recent drubbing Notre Dame took from USC.  At halftime, the game was over...even though it wasn't over.

Everyone with an IQ north of two has seen this coming.  But it is official. 

R E C E S S I O N !

Things are going to get much worse before they get better.

Economy Taking On Water

A New York Times article further illustrates our worsening economy highlighting the acres of new cars that have been temporarily "abandoned" by manufacturers due to declining sales at the port of Long Beach.

Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the country. But these are not ordinary times.

For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property.

And for the first time, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan have each asked to lease space from the port for these orphan vehicles. They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking lot, creating a vivid picture of a paralyzed auto business and an economy in peril.

If you are in the market for a car, drive down to the port and try to buy one cheap.  LOL.

Real Estate Prices Down; Sales Up

The Press Enterprise did a story featuring DataQuick data that shows home prices are continuing to slide, while the sales of homes is rising.  Of course, two thirds of these homes being bought and sold are foreclosures, which is pummelling the market.

The best thing that could happen is for home sales to continue their rapid pace so as to work out the foreclosed inventory, get prices down to their bottom and then return to some kind of normalcy. 

The median price of a home in Riverside and San Bernardino County is now $230,000 and $200,000, respectively.

Chicken Little Gets His Due (Or, Peter Schiff o\/\/ns Talking Heads)

YOU HAVE TO WATCH THESE CLOWNS GET OWNED!

Are You An Idiot To Keep Paying Your Mortgage?

Yes.  Yes you are.  And that is why in really simple terms, the market is going to continue to get hammered for a good while longer.

This is the question that is raised in an article today.

But what about the moral obligation to pay off a debt?

Elected officials have been chipping away at that by blaming the foreclosure crisis largely on predatory lenders. In a campaign fact sheet, President-elect Barack Obama says he "recognizes that the real victims in the subprime mortgage crisis are not the lenders, but the millions of borrowers who followed the rules and whose only crime was taking out mortgages that lenders told them they could afford."

Don't you love it when really smart people say really dumb things?  Only crime?  How about being so ignorant about the basics of personal finance and oh say...operating a calculator? 

President-elect Obama--what crime did those who refused to buy more house than they could afford commit?  Because, thanks to you and many others in Washington, not only did they get screwed (by not allowing those dastardly mortgage brokers screw them), now you are going to screw them by asking them to bail out the morons who never should have purchased these homes at these prices to begin with!

Let's get real America.  This is the land of the free.  Literally.

DELUSIONAL HOMEOWNERS!

This is too funny!

We are in the midst of a terrible financial crisis and a horrendous housing slump and some homeowners think that their properties have either maintained their bubble value or even gone up!

D-E-L-U-S-I-O-N-A-L-!

Despite dismal housing headlines and reports showing falling prices nationwide, owners in some once-hot areas still believe their home is gaining value or at least holding its own. And by hanging onto too-high expectations, sellers are unwittingly keeping the market from finding a bottom.

Real estate professionals across the country are reporting difficulty convincing sellers the true market value of their homes.

Real Estate Prices to Continue Decline

The Press Enterprise is running a story with commentary from a noted economist who foreshadowed the current drop and recession we are now facing.  Very fascinating. 

Christopher Thornburg believes that the housing decline will bottom out in late 2010 with the average price of a home in Riverside and San Bernardino counties dropping to $198,000 and $165,000, respectively.  Unemployment will climb above 12%!

Three years ago, economist Christopher Thornberg was one of the first to suggest housing prices were likely to collapse, dragging the rest of the economy down with them. He even used the hated word, "recession."

Wednesday, Thornberg and several of his colleagues from Los Angeles-based Beacon Economics told a group of Inland Southern California business leaders not to expect a recovery for two years.

Home prices and employment levels will probably hit bottom in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the fourth quarter of 2010. Unemployment, now at 9.1 percent, will top 12 percent by the summer of 2010 and the region could lose more than 100,000 more jobs. It will likely take three more years to reach pre-recession jobless levels in the 5 to 6 percent range.

Community College Enrollment Rises; Economy Cited

The Daily Bulletin is reporting that enrollment at area community colleges is on the rise.

Enrollment numbers are spiking at area community colleges as a weak economy spurs career-changing adults back into classrooms, officials say.

At least 100,000 more students are enrolled in community colleges this year than last year at this time, according to Ron Owens of California Community Colleges.

"Basically, during tough economic times, people look at their existing skill sets and want to make themselves more marketable," Owens said. "We offer a wide variety of courses and training to help improve a skill set to get a second job."

Although the article mentions some overcrowding issues, one point that is worth mentioning is that these adult students going back to school must also deal with being placed at the bottom of the queue when it comes to registration priority.  Many of these institutions put those who already have four year degrees at the bottom of the list.

Dow Plummets Again

Yesterday, the DJIA dropped three hundred points after being down 800 points on the day.  Today, the market dropped over 500 points.

The index has now lost about 4500 points in the last two years.

Yowser!

Sign 'O The Times

Because of the real estate downturn, Lake Elsinore Treasurer Peter Weber is asking the City Council to stop creating community facilities districts due to foreclosures placing a heavier burden on the other homeowners.

Critics of Weber's argument say that once a home is foreclosed and resold, the sale of the home recaptures the delinquent taxes.

Inland Empire Unemployment Rate Rises to 8.9%

I guess this will be my first "real" post.  It ain't sexy, but it is a Sunday.

An article in the Press Enterprise discusses the rising unemployment rates in the Inland Empire.  Considering the Inland Empire is bigger than many other states by geographic size and population, our economic situation is pretty significant for the country.

The article states that unemployment rates of 8.9% haven't been this high since 1995!  Surprisingly to me, unemployment in Riveside County is higher than San Bernardino County.