Construction Loans

Jim Sinclair thinks that multiple banks are calling large construction loans. The information about the construction loans is happening now.

Via Global Economic Analysis:

I work in the construction business and something has been creeping to the forefront of my attention for the past few weeks and now it seems to be moving full steam ahead.

Banks are forcing developers/builders (especially smaller ones) to give up their properties (unsold homes and lots).

Banks say the reason is that the properties in question are no longer performing assets. I am sure there are some loans out there that are not performing and the owners are going under. I am equally sure that there are plenty of developers that are still selling homes - just not at the pace originally planned on the pro formas.

Having inside information on one of these scenarios that happened today, I cannot help but wonder what is really going on? The bank told a small developer/builder I work for that they were taking back his ongoing subdivision.

He is selling houses and updated pro formas would indicate that the current sales pace would exhaust all remaining lots within 33 months. Yet the bank stated they would only give him until April 15 to find alternative financing. The bank is also willing to let him buy the subdivision at a 33% discount to what is currently owed.

If he is unable to obtain this backing, the bank will let him walk away without penalty or consequence so they can write it off.

I have been on the phone trying to put some of these pieces together. It seems there are many banks doing the same thing. However, there is apparently no interest [or ability - Mish] from anyone wanting to pick up land/lots at 30% - 50% discounts to today's prices.

Another interesting point is that the banks all state that they must have these situations written off or taken care of by the end of Q2.

These are the immediate questions running through my head:

Why the end of Q2? And why do so many banks seem to be simultaneously doing this?

Is it possible that there is some government incentive to the banks to meet this timeline? And how much will this cost the taxpayers?

There is something extremely concerning about this whole thing, especially from the standpoint that many banks appear to be acting in concert, all with the same specific timeline. Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.

Construction Insider

HT: Dave G.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Media heavyweights spar over charging for news online

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.

As long as adequate news alternatives are available for free online, no one is going to pay for the same news.

Breitbart_logoFrom Breitbart:

With The New York Times and Rupert Murdoch poised to start charging for newspapers online, media heavyweights sparred on Thursday over whether readers will pay for news on the Web.

The Times plans to require payment for full access to NYTimes.com in early 2011 and Murdoch, who already charges for The Wall Street Journal online, has pledged to begin charging Web readers of his other News Corp. newspapers.

Keynote speakers and panelists at the Bloomberg BusinessWeek Media Summit here differed sharply on whether Internet users would be ready to shell out money for what they have become accustomed to getting for free.

New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger said the time is right for his newspaper to start charging for its website and the move will provide a "critical" new revenue stream to add to print and online advertising revenue.

"There is an opportunity, I think, for us to gain a great deal of revenue from this paid model going forward," Times Co. president and chief executive Janet Robinson said.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Obama at the Bat

A excellent parody of “Casey at the Bat.”

HT: Bill J.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Idaho considers drug testing people on welfare

This is not going to make the liberals happy at all.

KREMFrom KREM News in Spokane:

People receiving welfare in Idaho could eventually be tested for illegal drugs.

The proposal is part of an attempt get drug users off public assistance. Over the past year, 87,000 more people have signed up for public assistance in Idaho.

But first the Department of Health and Welfare needs to find out just how much the random testing would cost. In order to do that, the State Senate must still approve the measure.

Department officials say they are swamped with projects, and even people living in Idaho say they aren't completely in favor of the idea.

"I really don't even think it should be looked at," said Deborah Sandlie. "There's enough hoops that these people have to jump through everyday of their lives that they don't need to be going in for drug testing."

Others say the whole system needs to be cleaned up.

"I believe that the system is set up for the people who abuse the system, who know how to work the system and not set up for people who really need the system," said Debbie Prinze.

Department officials say they are also looking at other state who use similar systems.

Posted by Right-Mind | 1 comment(s)

Documents: Obama Justice Department Shut Down Federal ACORN Investigation

Breitbart_logoFrom Breitbart:

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailing federal investigations into the alleged corrupt activities of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The documents reference serious allegations of corruption and voter registration fraud by ACORN as well as the Obama administration's decision to shut down a criminal investigation without filing criminal charges.

The documents include background information on two specific complaints filed in October 2008 by Lucy Corelli and Joseph Borges, Republican Registrars of Voters in Stamford and Bridgeport, Connecticut, respectively, during the 2008 election season.

 This is totally unsurprising.

Posted by Right-Mind | 1 comment(s)

New Michelin Tires

Radical New Tire design by Michelin

These tires are airless and are scheduled to be out on the market very soon.

This is what great R&D will do and just think of the impact on existing technology:

  • no more air valves
  • no more air compressors at gas stations
  • no more repair kits ...

Click image to enlarge.

Isn’t capitalism grand!

HT: Bill J

Posted by Right-Mind | 2 comment(s)

Independent Review of U.N. Climate Panel Set

The less-than-transparent Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) is getting an independent review of it procedures by the InterAcademy Council (IAC), a umbrella organization for various national academies of science from around the world. Under the terms of reference, the IAC is supposed to:

Review IPCC procedures for preparing reports including:

  • Data quality assurance and data quality control;
  • Guidelines for the types of literature appropriate for inclusion in IPCC assessments, with special attention to the use of non peer-reviewed literature;
  • Procedures for expert and governmental review of IPCC material;
  • Handling of the full range of scientific views; and
  • Procedures for correcting errors identified after approval, adoption and
    acceptance of a report.

But this is not over. Watch to see which scientists get appointed to review the IPCC. Having observed the UN for years, I expect them to stack the deck with AGW-sympathetic people.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Nurses' union: Care does not include sex

I guess they figure it should be a standard option with socialized medicine.

Via Reuters:

 A union representing Dutch nurses will launch a national campaign Friday against demands for sexual services by patients who claim it should be part of their standard care.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Health Care Cartoons

HT: Daniel A.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

The Top Ten Signs That Rahm Emanuel Is Nuts

You know that Obama is in trouble when David Letterman makes statements like this.

 

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Michael Moore: Democrats are in for an ass-whooping of Biblical proportions in November

From Newsbusters:

When Michael Moore starts getting panicked, you know times are getting tumultuous for the left and the Democratic Party.

The anti-corporation, sometimes conspiracy theorist documentary filmmaker aired his frustrations about the current health care reform predicament. Congressional Democrats have gotten themselves into a mess with time running out as the midterm election cycle fast approaches and Moore said he was worried. According to Moore, who appeared on MSNBC's March 10 "The Rachel Maddow Show," if the Democratic Party doesn't make strides in getting their liberal agenda passed - it's bleak times ahead for them.

"Well, we see what it's led us to, to the fact that one out of eight homes now in America is in foreclosure or delinquency," Moore said. "One out of eight home and, of course, the millions that don't have health care and everything else it's - how do you get yourself out of bed every morning to do this show with just the despair of how - the hope that we all had a year, year and a half ago. And now it's like, I just feel like the Democrats are - they're in for an ass-whooping of Biblical proportions in November if they don't get off the dime and do the job they were sent there to do. I mean that. I mean, it - don't they see that?" 

I love to watch progressives get unhinged.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Pelosi Cancels All Hearings On Obamacare

She clearly doesn’t have the votes. From Fox News:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered committee chairmen to postpone their hearings Thursday so lawmakers can meet to chart a course for one last sales job on President Obama's signature health care overhaul.

Whether it's expanding Medicaid or Medicare, tax-funded abortion service, special kickbacks for resistant lawmakers or the untallied costs, none of the unanswered questions has left Democratic leaders from insisting a deal is near.

"Decision time is here, and that's it," Pelosi said in a Wednesday briefing with reporters, adding that the House and Senate bills are 75 percent the same.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

The latest candidate filing news

According to the Idaho Secretary of State’s website, only Gary Schroeder has filed for the 2010 Primary Election.

http://www.sos.idaho.gov/ELECT/candidat/2010_primary_candidates.pdf

I’ve heard rumors to the effect that Shirley Ringo is not going to run again because of health reasons. But that Judy Brown will file at the last minute to take her seat. That will keep the Republicans from putting anyone up to challenge Brown.

We’ll see how things shake out.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

‘Conscience’ bill clears House committee after two days of emotional testimony

Betsy Z. Russell works as staff writer for The Spokesman-Review. In that position, Russell covers Idaho news from our bureau in BoiseDetails from Spokesman Review Betsy Russell's blog An Eye on Boise.

After two days of emotional testimony overwhelmingly opposed to the bill, the House State Affairs Committee has voted along straight party lines to pass SB 1353, Sen. Chuck Winder’s “conscience” bill to permit any licensed health care provider to refuse, on conscience grounds, to provide any treatment or medication related to abortion, emergency contraception or end-of-life care. Rep. Elfreda Higgins, D-Garden City, offered a motion to remove the part about end-of-life care, but it, too, failed along party lines, with just Democrats supporting it, and Republicans opposing it.

This allows other health care providers to have the same rights as medical doctors: you cannot force someone to perform the execution of the unborn just because they work in the medical field.

Posted by Right-Mind | 2 comment(s)

Gallup Poll of Interest: Doubts About Global Warming Grow

Recent polls of interest from the Gallup Organization:

Doubts About Global Warming Grow: 30% of political conservatives currently believe the effects of global warming are already occurring, down substantially from 50% in 2008. Liberals' perceptions haven't changed much. Both groups are more likely now than in 2008 to believe the seriousness of global warming is exaggerated.

Only the truly faithful still believe the line that Algore sold them.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments
Filed under:

Portland: The most unhappy city

According to a Business Week survey, Portland, Ore. is America’s most unhappy city. 

Here are the top 10 cities:

  1. Portland, Ore.
  2. St. Louis
  3. New Orleans
  4. Detroit
  5. Cleveland
  6. Jacksonville, Fla.
  7. Las Vegas
  8. Nashville, Tenn.
  9. Cincinnati
  10. Atlanta

I wonder what makes the people of Portland so different from those in Seattle.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Court Dismisses ACORN Suit vs. ‘Pimp’, ‘Hooker’ and Breitbart.com

From Big Government:

A state court in Baltimore has dismissed ACORN’s lawsuit against James O’Keefe, Hannah Giles, and Breitbart.com LLC after the plaintiffs failed to serve the complaint on the defendants within Maryland’s 120-day limit.

HT: Rod D. Martin

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Idaho lawmakers advance bill to ease statutory rape law

From KLEW TV in Lewiston:

A Senate committee has advanced a bill that would ease statutory rape laws for adolescent males accused of having sex with girls younger than 18 years old.

The bill approved Wednesday by the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee would make it legal for an older male to have sex with a girl 16 years or older. State law now makes it a felony to have sex with girls under 18 because they're not considered old enough to give consent.

Sen. Brent Hill, a Rexburg Republican and sponsor of the bill, says the problem with the existing statute is it exposes young men to prison time for engaging in sex that may be consensual.

Idaho prosecutors disagree, and oppose the bill.

Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association President Dane Watkins says attorneys need the existing statute to prosecute young men who specifically target girls under age 18. 

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Massa News

 Massabate;Day by Day Cartoon

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

I, too, learned more than I wanted to.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Slaughter House Rules

From the FRC:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is making her list and checking it twice. Yet even after the President's 52nd speech on the subject, House Democrats can't seem to twist enough arms to hit the magic number (216) for passing the Senate health care bill. After playing every card up their sleeve, the leadership says that desperate times call for desperate measures--like passing the bill without voting on it. Come again? As we picked up earlier this week on Capitol Hill, Congress Daily is reporting the House brain trust is mulling over a crazy scheme by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) to rewrite the chamber's rules so that no vote would be necessary to advance the Senate bill.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) talked about this latest twist on his blog. "The Slaughter Solution is a plan by... Democratic Chair of the powerful House Rules Committee... to get the health care legislation through the House without an actual vote on the Senate-passed health care bill... Under Slaughter's scheme, Democratic leaders will overcome the [lack of votes] by simply 'deeming' the Senate bill passed in the House--without an actual vote by members..."

The obvious question is: how could this be constitutional? The answer? It isn't! This afternoon, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that the President must sign the monstrous Senate-passed health care overhaul bill--which includes over a dozen bribes to Democratic Senators and a massive expansion of government-funded abortion--before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package. Clearly, the liberal leadership is planning to launch even more attacks on the Constitution--all but guaranteeing that the biggest "slaughter" will be in the voting booth this November.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Obama facing uprising over new NASA strategy

What’s the deal. All this saved money can be redirected to “community organizing”.

Via Reuters:

U.S. President Barack Obama is trying to tamp down an uprising in politically vital Florida against a new strategy for NASA that has rankled space veterans and lawmakers and sparked fears of job losses.

Obama's decision to kill NASA's Constellation program to launch astronauts into orbit and return Americans to the moon has prompted soul-searching on whether the United States is prepared to cede a pre-eminent space role to Russia and China.

"As with all great human achievements, our commitment to space must be renewed and encouraged or we will surely be surpassed by other nations who are presently challenging our leadership in space," Democratic and Republican members of the U.S. Congress from Florida wrote to Obama last week.

Obama's move for a greater private sector role in space launches -- as he seeks to keep ballooning federal deficits in check -- has generated fears of job losses among thousands of NASA employees who provide an important economic base in Florida, a state usually crucial in presidential elections.

 HT: Bill J.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says the Obama administration may have broken the law by offering Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) a job in order to persuade him not to mount a primary challenge against Sen. Arlen Specter.

This is standard Chicago politics. You mean it won’t work in D.C.?

From The Politico:

The top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says the Obama administration may have broken the law by offering Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) a job in order to persuade him not to mount a primary challenge against Sen. Arlen Specter.

Sestak has said that the administration offered him a high-ranking government job if he’d stay out of the race. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has been asked repeatedly about the accusation in recent weeks but so far has neither confirmed nor denied that a job was offered. 

But in a letter to White House general counsel Robert Bauer Wednesday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said that, if Sestak’s allegation is true, administration officials may have violated a federal statute which makes it a crime for a government employee to use his authority “for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate” for certain offices, including Senate seats.

"While the White House may think this is politics as usual, what is spectacularly unusual is when a candidate — a U.S. congressman no less — freely acknowledges such a proposal,” Issa wrote. “Almost always candidates keep quiet about such deals, and for good reason — they are against the law."

HT: Bill J.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Chief Justice John Roberts: Scene at State of Union 'very troubling'

WashingtonPostFrom the Washington Post:

In remarks during a question-and-answer session with law students at the University of Alabama, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. protested the timing of President Obama's State of the Union disapproval of the court's decision in a major campaign finance case. (The University of Alabama School of Law)

Click to watch the video.

HT: Bill J.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Controlling A Nations Economy Means Controlling That Nation’s People

“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes it’s laws”
—Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.”
—James A. Garfield, President of the United States  

J.D. Longstreet is right: controlling a nation’s economy does mean controller her people.

The title to this article was taken for one of Ronald Reagan’s speeches. It is as true as truth gets. Ronald Reagan, the icon of the conservative movement in America, understood the fundamental truth of the Founding Fathers of America.

The Founding Fathers of America understood that a strong central government would never work in a republican form of government, the form of government they gave the American people. They knew that. They had just declared the independence of Americans from the “strong central government” of King George of Great Britain. They understood that for Americans to thrive and become a great nation of great people the government should provide one thing… freedom. They knew the American government should provide security from any and all enemies that presented a threat to the freedom of the American people so the American people could make the seeds of liberty grow and flourish.

Meeting in Philadelphia in 1776 they labored to create a constitution, the bedrock foundation of this nation, dedicated to the idea that the people would control their own destiny, not the government, that the people would make or break this experiment in democracy, not the government, that the labors of the people, known as business, would be free to create and manufacture, to sell, and to create wealth and keep that wealth or distribute it as they chose, not the government.

The constitution is as simple a governing document as has ever been written. It was drawn up to protect the people of this country from its government. Our Founding Fathers had just turned their backs on government, which had insinuated itself into the lives and businesses of its colonists to the point that those colonists rebelled and said: “No more!” With the constitution, the Founding Fathers put in writing the limits of the new American government.

For the past 234, or more, years the constitution has been a fly in the ointment to the political left everywhere on earth. When a people yearning to breath free, anywhere on the globe, look for a way, for a pattern, for directions on how to set up a non-repressive government, they turn to the US Constitution. There must be a reason. There is. Because it works!

Today, however, Americans themselves are ready to toss the constitution overboard and cling to a government, drunk on power and ready to do exactly the same thing King George did, insinuate itself into every aspect of the American people’s life. So bent on desecration of the constitution are they, that 52% of the American voters cast their ballots for a man who declared his allegiance to creating a strong central government, which will take away the freedoms, the liberty, our forefathers fought, bled, and died to give us. They declared their overwhelming willingness to toss the democratic form of government in favor of a socialist form of government, which will guarantee cradle to the grave security. They voted “yes” to exchanging liberty for security. They voted to turn their backs on all the heroes of American history to follow in the footsteps of the Pied Piper of Socialism now President of the United States of America.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

CSM: Robber barons? Meet robber TARP - The federal government's TARP program was a cover for a massive income transfer from the productive to the unproductive classes in society

The Wall Street Journal isn’t the only medial outlet covering the modern robber barons.

Christian-Science-MonitorFrom the Christian Science Monitor:

The real cost of TARP and stimulus is the diversion of resources and talent from creating value into transferring money from one pocket to another.

The stimulus bill was a cover for a massive income transfer from the productive to the unproductive classes in society.

TARP transferred money from profitable firms and hardworking Americans to profligate bankers.

Market entrepreneurs create products that generate the revenue needed to reproduce themselves and then grow.

The political variety creates dependency and the need for new tax revenues to sustain unproductive activities. Markets create wealth and governments transfer it for a fee.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Bring Back the Robber Barons: There's a big difference between entrepreneurs who make a fortune in the market, and those who do so by gaming the government.

David D. writes:

Hillsdale College historian Burton W. Folsom’s book: "The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America" (Young America's Foundation) clearly explains the problems Congress redistributing our wealth towards political entrepreneurs versus allowing market entrepreneurs to seek out business opportunities without government taxpayer funded stimulus programs like TARP.”

S-WSJ-MAGAZINE-LOGO-largeFrom the Wall Street Journal:

Faced with high, painful unemployment as far as the eye can see, the government naturally is here to help.

The Senate passed a $15 billion "jobs bill." Its proudest piece is a tax credit for employers who hire a person out of work at least 60 days. The employer won't have to pay the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax for what remains of this year. If the worker stays on the job at least a year, the government will give the employer $1,000.

As to the earlier $787 billion stimulus bill, Vice President Joe Biden praised it in Orlando this week as an engine of job creation, while he stood before a pile of broken concrete and asphalt. The subject was highways.

Finally, Barack Obama's government now may force companies to raise wages and benefits by squeezing their federal contracts if they don't.

Maybe there's a better way.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Ninth Circuit: Pledge of Allegiance is Constitutional

From the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty:

Washington, DC , March 11, 2010: March 11, 2010 In a stunning reversal of its 2002 rejection of the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco today ruled, in a 60-page opinion, that the words "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance do not violate the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. The challenge to the Pledge was brought by atheist activist Dr. Michael Newdow. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit civil rights law firm, argued the case to the Court two years ago, along with the Department of Justice and attorneys representing a Sacramento-area school district.
 
In its ruling, the Court adopted the Becket Fund's argument for the Pledge's constitutionality, in particular the idea that Congress's purpose in enacting the Pledge was "to underscore the political philosophy of the Founding Fathers that God granted certain inalienable rights to the people which the government cannot take away." This is in contrast to the "ceremonial deism" argument-namely, the idea that the words "under God," through years of rote repetition, have lost any meaning-made by the federal and local governments in the case.
 
The Court also focused on the fact that because saying the Pledge is voluntary-something affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1943-the Plaintiffs are attempting to suppress the speech of others: "What is at issue is not saying the Pledge or affirming a belief in God. What is at issue is whether Roechild [Dr. Newdow's anonymous client] can prevent other students, who have no such objection, from saying the Pledge."
 
"The Ninth Circuit finally stood up for the Pledge," said Kevin J. "Seamus" Hasson, who argued the case to the Ninth Circuit for the Becket Fund. "The Court has just said what was self-evident to Thomas Jefferson and the signers of our Declaration of Independence in 1776 - our rights are unalienable precisely because they come not from the State, but from the Creator."
 
The Becket Fund intervened in the case on behalf of the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal organization that spearheaded the effort to add "under God" to the Pledge 55 years ago; children enrolled in Sacramento-area public schools and who want to keep saying the Pledge of Allegiance complete with the words "under God"; and their parents. The Becket Fund also intervened in a similar case brought by Dr. Newdow in Hanover, New Hampshire, that is now pending before the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments

Economist Cover Story on "Gendercide"

This is perhaps the most underreported story of mass murder in history.

And China, having as "many unmarried young men– ‘bare branches’ -as the entire population of young men in America." What will be the impact of 150,000,000 Chinese men with no hope of marrying a Chinese woman?

What’s further scandalous is that “pro-choice” women support the gendercide of their own. Simply amazing.

Economist_logoFrom The Economist:

For millions of couples, the answer is: abort the daughter, try for a son. In China and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. Nature dictates that slightly more males are born than females to offset boys’ greater susceptibility to infant disease. But nothing on this scale.

For those who oppose abortion, this is mass murder. For those such as this newspaper, who think abortion should be “safe, legal and rare” (to use Bill Clinton’s phrase), a lot depends on the circumstances, but the cumulative consequence for societies of such individual actions is catastrophic. China alone stands to have as many unmarried young men—“bare branches”, as they are known—as the entire population of young men in America. In any country rootless young males spell trouble; in Asian societies, where marriage and children are the recognised routes into society, single men are almost like outlaws. Crime rates, bride trafficking, sexual violence, even female suicide rates are all rising and will rise further as the lopsided generations reach their maturity (see article).

It is no exaggeration to call this gendercide. Women are missing in their millions—aborted, killed, neglected to death. In 1990 an Indian economist, Amartya Sen, put the number at 100m; the toll is higher now.

HT: Dr. A.

Posted by Right-Mind | with no comments
More Posts Next page »