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You've without doubt seen all of them or study them. Glossy ads or four-color advances in magazines and papers promising to teach you all the juicy details about successful property investing. And all you should do to learn all these real estate investing surface encounters chuck russo secrets is to pay a rather high sum for a one-or two-day seminar.




Often these types of slick property investing workshops claim you could make intelligent, profitable property investments with simply no money straight down (other than, of training course, the hefty fee you buy the seminar). Now, how appealing is that? Make a profit from real est investments you made with no funds. Possible? Not probably.




Successful real estate investment requires cash flow. That's the type of almost any business or perhaps investment, especially property investing. You put your hard earned money into something that you desire and plan will make you additional money.




Unfortunately too little newbies for the world of property investing think that it's a magical kind of business exactly where standard enterprise rules will not apply. Simply place, if you want to stay in property investing for a lot more than, say, a evening or two, then you are going to have to create money to make use of and invest.




While it might be true which buying real estate with no money down is straightforward, anyone who is even made a simple real estate investment (such as buying their very own home) understands there's much more involved in real estate investing that can cost you money. For example, what concerning any necessary repairs?




So, the number 1 rule people new to real property investing must remember is always to have available cash supplies. Before you determine to actually perform any real estate investing, save some cash. Having just a little money in the bank once you begin real est investing surface encounters chuck russo can help you make more profitable real estate investments in rental properties, for example.




When property investing in rental qualities, you'll want every single child select just qualified tenants. If you have no income when real estate investing in rental attributes, you may be pressured experience a much less qualified tenant since you need somebody to pay you money so that you can take treatment of repairs or attorney fees.




For any kind of real property investing, meaning local rental properties or perhaps properties you get to sell, having money reserved can allow you to ask for a higher price. You can require a increased price out of your owning a home because a person surface encounters chuck russo won't feel financially strapped as you wait for an offer. You won't be backed into a corner and forced to accept just any offer because you desperately need the money.




Another downfall of several new to real estate investing is, well, greed. Make the profit, yes, but don't become therefore greedy which you ask with regard to ridiculous local rental or resale rates on many real estate investments.




Those new to real property investing have to see real-estate investing like a business, NOT a hobby. Don't believe real est investing is going to make you wealthy overnight. What company does?




It will take about half a year to decide if real estate investing in for you. If you might have decided in which, hey I love this, then give yourself a few years to actually start earning profits. It typically takes at the very least five years to become truly successful in real-estate investing.




Persistence could be the key to be able to success in real estate investing. If you have decided that property investing is for you, surface encounters chuck russo keep plugging away at it and the rewards will be greater than you imagined.

The manic depressive market wildly swings up and down on each new news story: The Fed is meeting at Jackson Hole on August 27 possibly to discuss QE3 (or not), and that news may pump up the stock market. But China's banks seem to be using Enron's accounting manual, Europe's banks need liquidity and are loaded with bad debt, and U.S. banks only temporarily TARPed over trouble. Gaddafi's regime in Libya appears over, but Libya's oil output may not fully recover for years. Venezuela wants banks to open their vaults and send back its gold, but Wells Fargo says gold is a bubble. Pundits say gold is a barbarous relic, but exchanges and banks are now using gold as money. The U.S. is headed for hyperinflation with skyrocketing stock prices, but on the other hand, we seem to be deflating like Japan and doomed to a deflating stock market for another decade. Whom do you trust and what should you do?

No one knows where the stock market or U.S. Treasury bonds are headed tomorrow, but in my opinion, here are some fundamentals to consider.



The Bad News Isn't Going Away

Until we have real global financial reform and restrain the banks, we won't have sustained growth. The stock market hasn't hit bottom. There's a crisis of confidence in banks and all currencies. We haven't taken effective steps to tackle the U.S. deficit through productivity. We haven't examined spending to eliminate fraud and waste, and we haven't addressed our need for more tax revenues by eliminating the Bush tax cuts (for starters).

Savers are punished by "stranguflation:" negative real returns on "safe" assets, declining housing prices, and rising costs of food, energy and health care. The Fed touts the falling cost of I-Pads, but how often do you buy one of those, and how often do you eat?

Good News (for Now)

The USD is still the world's reserve currency. Even though we devalued the USD, there has been a global flight to U.S. Treasuries pushing down our borrowing costs (yields). No one in the global financial community feels the U.S. has done its best to correct our problems, but severe problems in Europe, China's inflation, and Middle East unrest has money running to the U.S. Since we've devalued the dollar, we appear to be a bargain for foreign investors, even though they are terrified by our money printing presses and the potential for inflating commodity prices in the long run.

How did I play this? My own portfolio is currently more than 20% gold with some silver, and I bought out-of-the-money call options on the VIX when it was in the teens with maturities of 4-6 months. This is "short" stock market strategy, one could have also done well buying puts on the S&P a few months ago. In the first big stock market downdraft in August, I sold the options when the VIX hit the high 30's, and I'll buy more options again if the VIX falls again. Many investors are not comfortable with options, and this strategy isn't appropriate for everyone. The rest of my portfolio is chiefly in cash or deep value opportunities.



What Happens Next?

No one knows for sure, and anyone who tells you he or she does is selling snake oil. The situation is fluid. We tried to reflate our deflating economy. Our massive dollar devaluation may encourage investment, because it's protectionist. It reduces our cost of labor, among a few other "benefits." The problem is that the Fed has printed money, and we haven't done anything to position the U.S. for greater productivity. We're trying to inflate our way out of a problem without investing in productivity. This is a very dangerous way of attacking this problem. Even more "stimulus" would just be an attempt to inflate our way out of our long-standing deep recession. That's the foolish and unsuccessful strategy we've adopted so far. That could lead to runaway budget deficits (our deficit already looks intractable) and bring us to double-digit inflation. Even the European flight to US Treasuries may not save us from a deeper recession in that scenario.

If we don't overreact -- and we may have already overreacted -- our dollar devaluation results in our foreign trade situation first getting worse (as it has now) before it gets better. Now is the time (actually, we should have started years ago) to spend capital to increase U.S. productivity. The dollar's plunge relative to other currencies will eventually make us more competitive. This will be good for blue chip companies, in particular those that own real assets and manufacture items. The Fed and Washington may do anything, however, so one must watch the news.

What does this mean for the U.S. stock market? In my opinion, it is currently not good value and feels like the 1970s when we experienced a recession followed by inflation. One should consider staying mostly in cash and expect stocks become cheaper. One might miss an interim rally, especially if the Fed announces QE3 (more "stimulus" and money printing) or more bank bailouts, but that is like using Kleenex laced with sneezing powder. We will see stock prices even lower than they are today. The old paradigm dictated that stocks were a buy when P/E ratios were 13 or less (and many are well above that), dividends at 4%, and book values at 1.3 or less. (This excludes oil companies, which tend to trade at lower P/E ratios in general.) I believe we'll see much better deals in coming months. In 1978/79 P/E ratios sank below 7 for blue chip companies.

Should one buy U.S. Treasuries with long maturities? The long end of the bond market doesn't reward investors due to the potential of rising interest rates. If interest rates spike to double digits, then one can reassess the situation.

Long term investors should consider buying commodities or companies that own physical commodities. We're running out of key commodities especially related to agriculture and fertilizer. Washington's brand of the latter isn't the type we need.

Ashton Kutcher probably gets more pitches in Silicon Valley than Hollywood these days.

The movie actor and technology investor turned up the star power at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference this week in San Francisco, where start-up companies competed for his attention. Michael Arrington, fresh off his own Hollywood worthy drama, interviewed Kutcher on stage Tuesday.

Kutcher plays a tech investor in real life and in CBS' top-rated "Two and a Half Men" on TV. His character, Walden Schmidt, is an Internet billonaire who sold his company to Microsoft and now backs other entrepreneurs.

"There are some parallels to my actual life," Kutcher said.

On the show, Kutcher said he covered his character's laptop with stickers of his "dream portfolio" companies but CBS balked at giving exposure to companies that hadn't paid for the privilege.

Kutcher told Arrington that his investments were a "witch hunt" for the next big thing "that is so magic you can't understand how it works."

"I wonder what would happen if a pilgrim would have seen a computer back in Massachusetts 200 years ago. They would have killed the person as a witch because the computer would look like magic. That's the essence of being a good investor, they're on witch hunts," he said. "That's what I’m trying to do."

Kutcher is not your typical celebrity investor. He was a biochemical engineering major in college so he gets technology but, because he was a model at 19, he says it's nice to be appreciated for "something substantial."

On TV Kutcher is in the funny business. But in technology he's hunting for happiness. Kutcher says he picks technologies that have the greatest potential to create more love, friendship and connectivity in the world.

He has made 40 investments in companies such as AirBNB, Path and Skype but does not disclose many of them.

"I think sometimes for the early-stage companies that I've invested in, disclosing that I'm an investor can be detrimental to the story of the company," Kutcher said.

RELATED:

Ashton Kutcher: Entrepreneur, investor

Star investors (and other stars) come out

Ashton Kutcher at TechCrunch50: Blah, blah, blah

-- Jessica Guynn

Photo: Hollywood actor and Silicon Valley investor Ashton Kutcher and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington at TechCrunch Disrupt. Credit: Araya Diaz / Getty Images

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Problem: Want of truthful, complete, and accurate education is what causes opinions to become based more on hearsay and faulty conjecture. Over stimulation and mind-altering propaganda coupled with intellectual lethargy cause a want of intellectual power and acuity among "should-be" students, which subsequently leads to the contentment of being spoon-fed your own opinion by others rather than the active, fervent, and diligent search for truth that will truly set most of you free.

Solution: Force yourself, no matter how hard it seems to be, to truly think and cogitate by yourself, without the aid of others. Force yourself to form your own conclusions that are not altered or influenced by social acceptability. Remember, if you come across a nugget of irrefutable truth, and others persecute you for either discovering it, or speaking it, then you should really re-think where their motivation comes from. Darkness HATES the light.

Facts for you all to chew on:

1. It appears to be true that the phrase "sovereign citizen" has been used by individuals and groups who may or may not have "good" or "moral" intentions.

2. It also appears to be true that it is important to certain individuals and groups to ascribe and associate the words "sovereign citizen" and their meanings to individuals and/or groups who have a perceivable negative connotation about them.

3. No one here has asked why that is.

4. In 1913, the federal constitution was illegally and unconstitutionally amended by a de facto congress among highly suspicious circumstances to create the Federal Reserve Banking System. A central bank. An idea, made clear by their own writings to be abhorrent to the founding fathers and in no way by an authority granted by the People through the constitution. The word "bank" is nowhere to be found in the constitution. The writers knew of banks, knew of the word "bank," yet never included it in the constitution.

5. During the 1930s and 40s in particular, the congress, without authority, unconstitutionally granted essentially dictatorial authority and power to president in response to the dire circumstances created by the fraudulently initiated depression.

6. The depression was a direct result of the inflation/deflation caused by the very nature of the new banking system coupled with the market manipulation of the "elite" families of this country and their foreign friends.

7. In the 1930s, the president ordered the closing of banks (bank holiday). Private banks. Then he ordered the American People to surrender their gold, all of it except a very small amount (small jewelry).

8. The REAL money that the American People had used (gold & silver) since day one, was confiscated and replaced with FIAT paper money backed by debt/credit, not real valuable materials with inherent and stable value. Effectively and actually what was essentially done was Americans gave everything that gave them economic power, the private ownership of their own money, over to the PRIVATE owners of the "Federal" Reserve Bank. Which by the way is NOT OWNED OR OPERATED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. The assets (gold, silver, real property, present and future LABOR/productivity) of the American People were pledged to international bankers in return for practically UNLIMITED CREDIT.

9. Around the same time period, the common law (the law UNDER which the constitution was written) was being extinguished and replaced by equity law. (ROMAN CIVIL LAW). Despite the information speard around about the "common law" and despite what attorneys are taught in their 3 years at law school, the common law is the system of law that allows the people of a republic to remain as free as possible. It is inherently an adversarial system that applies "real world" concepts, logic, and reason to issues for resolution or settlement. Equity law is a fictitious law system that is like playing Monopoly and making your own rules, and enforcing those rules your way. Civil law allows government to have power, sometimes more power than the citizens. Common law leaves ALL OF THE POWER in the hands of the People. That is why according to the original constitution, the founding fathers acknowledged the common law as the supreme law and made SURE it was made available through the courts to the people in all cases.

10. The fictitious "law" that equity or civil law is, is a needed tool to make things legal that ought not to be legal. Under the common law, there shall be a remedy for every wrong. Under equity/civil, the government can make murder and theft "legal." And in civil law, if there is no "law" against it, it's not a crime.

11. Under this equity law system, the government been able to make "legal" many unlawful and wrong activities perpetrated by individuals, agencies, corporations, governments, etc. Keep in mind that statutes, codes, and regulations, are called such BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT LAWS.

12. The American people existed long before the constitution or the United States. The constitution does NOT create a true nation or country. That is why there is no governor or ruler of the U.S.

13. The constitution creates a trust (corporation). That is why it has a president, vp, secretary, and treasurer, LIKE ALL CORPORATIONS.

13. Logic: according to the constitution of each State (republic/country), the People ordained and established the governments to manage the interstate and international commerce, defense, etc. of and between the states. Does it say "we the citizens" ordain and establish....? Clearly, citizens are a different term and mean something different. The term "citizen of United States" is interestingly not specifically defined as different from the common meaning until the 14th amendment in 1868. They are specifically defined as persons being born or naturalized within the united States, AND subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. This is the first time it is seen that the Federal Government has created subjects to itself. The federal government cannot possibly have jurisdiction over the people, because the people created it and are "sovereign" in relation to it. This new "entity" called a citizen of the Unites States was created right at a time coincidentally, when African slaves were now freed by law. The government created this subject entity to be a "status" to put the newly freed slaves into, so the slaves would not have the full freedom and power that the People have enjoyed. While they were at it, it did not take long for the idea to catch on that the elite could also subjugate the People using this system. People consent to it all of the time up to the present day. "Are you a U.S. CITIZEN"......"Yes, of course."

14. The People own the government, created the government, and cannot be subject to government or any acts, or "laws" it passes or propagandizes. That is why, when a crime is committed against another or his property, the government may catch the criminal and bring him/her to the GRAND JURY for indictment and trial, not to a government employee JUDGE. Because the grand jury represents and is comprised of PEOPLE, not citizens. The State and/or Federal Government has NO AUTHORITY to , itself, prosecute one of the People. UNLESS YOU CONSENT TO IT. Next time you get a traffic ticket (victimless equity crime) and go to court to fight it, tell me what you see on the docket or caption. It will say, "STATE OF MISSOURI v. JOHN SMITH, defendant." You're listed as the defendant, why is the state not listed as plaintiff? The state will NEVER declare itself as a PLAINTIFF. BECAUSE THE STATE HAS NO STANDING. IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY EXIST FACTUALLY, AND IT'S NOT SOVEREIGN RELATIVE TO YOU.

15. That is also why "arraignment" exists. The people are all sovereign. Therefore, if the government in any way wishes to prosecute you or punish you for breaking one of it's rules, especially one that didn't involve an injured party (adversary), they need to secure your consent (whether you or your attorney know it or not) to proceed in a court NOT OF LAW, but of civil rule. By entering any plea in a court that is not a court of record, (look that term up in Black's 4th) (a court of record is your birth right in this country, and it is what protects you from government oppression and tyranny) you have consented to be prosecuted according to THEIR rules and by THEM. Usually at arraignment, you are asked by a JUDGE, "You are charged with violating section 1410.9 of the California Penal Code and Title 3 section 328 of the California General Statutes, do you plead guilty, not guilty, or nolo contendere?" What he is REALLY saying is, "Do you give up your full right to a court of record, and all of your common law rights, and all of your constitutionally secured rights, and your right to NOT be under our jurisdiction by agreeing that the statutes and codes I have cited are VALID by entering a plea of any kind? Or do you object to this star-chamber kangaroo court and wish to be brought to justice in the highest and fairest court in the land?"

16. We live in a REPUBLIC. Not a Democracy. If you plan to argue this, at least look up the legal definitions of each of these terms. My guess is you won't even find the definition of "republican form of government." In a republic (esp. the one to which you pledged your allegiance) the people are free and fully sovereign. The government exists solely as an agency to aid in the affairs of the people and has no legal authority to tread in any way on your rights FOR ANY REASON.

17. A democracy is a society in which either directly or through representation, the majority has all of the rights and power and can do whatever they want, while the minority have no rights but only privileges granted to them by the majority. Individual rights do not truly exist. If the majority thinks you're a waste of air, then you are executed and your property taken. This is half a step away from pure communism.

18. So generally, the common law is the people's only real protection against the government exceeding it's authority. So don't scoff at it. If you only knew what it really was and how to use it, you might shut your trap and begin suing officials and agents who are obviously grossly out of line. They can't get off on technicalities and b .s. in your court. The shift toward Roman Civil Law (Equity/Statutes) represents an effort by the elite to crush your opportunity to protect your rights lawfully, and to bring into existence a system in which fake money, fraud, and unlimited credit can exist "legally." Ever notice "lawful" and "legal" are used together in the same sentence in some of the statutes and codes and other instances. That's because they have different meanings. Find out what they are.

19. As far as this whole "strawman" idea. I can't speak to that very much because I have not tried it or used it. But, the concept is fairly simple, it's just so obvious yet antithetical to everything we all have been led to believe, that it is a hard sell. But again, in terms of fact and logic, an accessible "trust" system must exist in order to facilitate the unlimited credit that the people bought back in 1933/35, and their must be a strawman or other corporate entity attached to you because the simple fact is, that in the equity and fiat money systems, everything is fictitious, and only fictions can interact with fictions. Think of it like playing a board game. You must have a token that represents you and your position in the game. It's all a game.

20. Also, check out the Internal Revenue Code, Title 26 U.S.C. Section 7806. Read it carefully and look up definitions if you have to. Related, did you ever wonder why it's called a tax "return" when all you seem to be doing is "paying" taxes out?

21. In ending here, I just want to be clear that my only wish is for people to seek the truth and stop arguing and asserting views like schoolchildren. Search for FACTS and use your brain to reach logical conclusions on your own. Then compare those facts with what you believe, and be better off for it. Because KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. And "he who slumbers on his rights, has none." (paraphrased)

Some will rob you with a six gun and some with a fountain pen - Woodie Guthrie

Like mushrooms popping up in a damp basement, a slew of court settlements have been registered recently involving the big banks and their role in the financial crisis. An informal review of settlements over the last two years reveals about 16 multi-million dollar payouts from the big banks amounting to some $1.6 billion in fines and restitution and $13 billion in buybacks of auction-rate securities that were represented to be as safe as cash.

Sounds impressive, doesn't it? But when fines are stacked up against an elite white-collar crime spree worth trillions, it is a little less impressive.

Broad Array of Crimes Revealed

A review of the settlements shows an array of fraudulent and illegal actions.

* Predatory, deceptive and abusive lending related to mortgages

* Securities fraud, including creating investment vehicles designed to fail

* Accounting fraud

* Brokerage fraud

* Bribery of government officials

* Undisclosed conflict of interest in financial analysis and advice

* Lying to shareholders and investors

* Robbing consumers with abusive overdraft fees

* Robbing homeowners by overcharging them by hundreds or thousands of dollars, when they were already in bankruptcy and foreclosure

A pattern is emerging: no admission of wrongdoing, earnest promises to do a better job and a fine representing a fraction of the infraction. Because the fine is paid by shareholders, no one is held accountable and the whole incident is swept under the rug.

Last week, a federal judge reviewing a proposed settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Citigroup sounded off. "Why isn't the government getting tough with the banks?" Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle demanded of government lawyers. The SEC wanted to fine Citigroup $75 million for failing to disclose to shareholders some $50 billion in subprime mortgage investments that were deteriorating during the financial crisis and ultimately crippled the bank. This is the third time that a federal judge has weighed in with regulators to demand stiffer penalties against the banks.

Incompetence and Indifference Allows Elites to Avoid Accountability

In these cases there is no jury. The judge acts as a stand-in for the public interest. While we can hope that judges are getting tougher on these settlements, the whole process lets the people who committed the crimes avoid the public rage and personal accountability that helps to deter future crimes.

Recently, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan sharply questioned one settlement with Barclays Bank telling government lawyers that the public might see the settlement as a "free ride" and noted that "requiring banking officials to stand before federal judges and enter pleas of guilty might be a powerful deterrent to this type of conduct."

But now, two years after Wall Street's fraudulent and reckless behavior collapsed the economy, costing average Americans trillions in lost wages, savings and housing wealth and throwing eight million people out of work and some six million families out of their homes, not one Wall Street banker or predatory lender is behind bars.

"The failure of the Bush and Obama administrations to imprison a single CEO of the nonprime mortgage lending specialists that led what the FBI aptly named an 'epidemic' of mortgage fraud in 2006 -- four years ago -- demonstrates a level of incompetence and indifference to the crimes of the elites that is staggering," says University of Missouri law Professor Bill Black, a former federal regulator during the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s.

Even Drug Money Laundering Tolerated

America's largest banks apparently can engage in the most flagrantly criminal activity and emerge unscathed. While average Americans would be given a stiff jail term for laundering even small amounts of drug money, this summer Bloomberg News broke the story that Wells Fargo/Wachovia had been caught laundering billions in Mexican drug cartel money, but got away with a slap on the wrist.

The Justice Department charge sheet against the bank indicates that between 2003 and 2008, Wachovia handled $378.4 billion for Mexican currency exchanges, "the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, in U.S. history." According to Bloomberg, the sum is equal to one-third of Mexico's current gross domestic product. Yet the bank's penalty for laundering over $380 billion in drug money is going to be a promise not to ever do it again and a $160 million fine. Given that the firm's top officers were alerted to this activity, which fuels Mexico's murderous drug war, shouldn't someone have to stand trial?

Unequal Justice

The perception of unequal justice -- one set of rules for the average Joe, and another for the elites on Wall Street -- erodes the public's faith in the criminal justice system and our political system as a whole.

"Our prisons have tens of thousands of blue collar thieves. If one added up the cumulative financial damage they caused it would not represent one-hundredth of one percent of the losses caused by a single fraudulent large nonprime specialty lender," says Black, who hopes that someday a leader will emerge with the courage (and common sense) to prosecute the elite criminals that cause our recurrent, intensifying financial crises.

Bank of America ex-CEO Kenneth Lewis and ex-CFO Joe Price, are facing fraud charges connected to their personal involvement in the of a $3.6 billion dollar bonus package to[Merrill Lynch executives shortly before the bank took over the investment firm in 2008. This time, it's not federal agencies pressing charges but the New York Attorney General's office.

Baring a dismissal, these two bankers may yet find themselves before a judge this fall. But it is highly unlikely that this one prosecution will satisfy the nation's hunger for justice.

TAKE ACTION: Click here to send a note to the FBI and the Department of Justice and tell them to pick up the pace. These firm may be too big to fail, but their executives are not too big for jail.

LEARN MORE: See our informal tally of recent settlements below.

***************************************************************

BIG BANKS SETTLEMENTS

The Firm: Goldman Sachs

1. The Company/Subsidiary: Goldman Sachs/Litton Loan Servicing LP

The Settlement Amount: $60 million

The Settlement date: May 10, 2009

The Court or Federal Agency: The Massachusetts attorney general's office

The Complaint: Goldman paid the fine to end the Massachusetts AG's investigation into allegations that it engaged in predatory lending practices in the state. The settlement will be used to reduce the mortgage payments of 714 Massachusetts residents who had secured subprime mortgages funded by Goldman Sachs.

Source: Wayne Leslie, "Goldman Pays to End State Inquiry Into Loans," The New York Times, May 11, 2009.

2. The Company/Subsidiary: Goldman Sachs

The Settlement Amount: $550 million ($300 million to the U.S. government and $250 million to investors

The Settlement date: July 15, 2010

The Court or Federal Agency: The Securities and Exchange Commission

The Complaint: In April 2010, the bank was accused of securities fraud in a civil suit by the SEC that claimed the bank had created and sold mortgage investments that were secretly devised to fail. Though Goldman did not formally admit to the SEC's allegations, it agreed to a judicial order barring it from committing intentional fraud in the future under federal securities laws.

Source: Gretchen Morgensen,
eric seiger

Z on TV: Fox <b>News</b> says it will not cover burning of Quran - TV <b>...</b>

Gentlemen: While I often find myself at odds with the opinions of your news network, I applaud your decision not to cover the Koran burning insanity. You are starving the attention-craving beast, precisely as necessary. Congratulations! ...

Defining Normal In The Brain - Science <b>News</b>

Scans set standard for how connectivity evolves during maturation.

<b>News</b> of the World hacking: Why Simon Hughes is misguided | Media <b>...</b>

It was a cast-iron certainty that at least one MP would go off at a diversion during the News of the World phone-hacking debate.

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Will President Obama Appoint Elizabeth Warren to Head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

July 20, 2010 12:18 PM

President Obama will soon appoint a director to run the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, White House officials said Tuesday morning, but it’s unclear if he’s interviewed any candidates for the job, which will be officially created tomorrow when the president signs the Wall Street reform bill.

“He’ll turn this in fairly short order,” deputy Treasury Secretary Neil Wolin told reporters this morning.

Behind the scenes of the Obama administration there some is something of a storm brewing as liberals, progressives, and labor unions push President Obama to appoint Elizabeth Warren to head the new agency – against the wishes of others in the administration.

Warren chairs the Congressional Oversight Panel of the Troubled Assets Relief Program and has been seen by many on the Left as a force for greater accountability and transparency, and a check against the forces in the Obama administration that are closely allied with the financial sector, most notably Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

Geithner, sources say, has concerns about her appointment given some of the pointed criticisms Warren has made about the Obama administration’s policies.

• In Warren’s April 13 report on Treasury’s $75 billion foreclosure prevention program, she wrote that “Treasury’s programs are not keeping pace with the foreclosure crisis. Treasury is still struggling to get its foreclosure programs off the ground as the crisis continues unabated.”


• In her May 13 report on Treasury’s attempts to help small businesses, she wrote that “Because small businesses play such a critical role in the American economy, there is little doubt that they must be a part of any sustainable recovery. It remains unclear, however, whether Treasury’s programs can or will play a major role in putting small businesses on the path to growth.”


• In her June 10 report on Treasury’s AIG bailout, she wrote, “The government argues that AIG’s failure would have resulted in chaos, so that a wholesale rescue was the only viable choice. The Panel rejects this all-or-nothing reasoning. There is no doubt that orchestrating a private rescue in whole or in part would have been a difficult – perhaps impossible – task, and the effort might have met great resistance from other financial institutions that would have been called on to participate. But if the effort had succeeded, the impact on market confidence would have been extraordinary and the savings to taxpayers would have been immense.”

Warren has been an aggressive watchdog over the Treasury Department and, more personally, a tough questioner of his in oversight hearings, for instance asking why shareholders and officials with US automakers had to make severe sacrifices to continue while recipients of TARP funds have made millions; or pushing Geithner to explain why AIG counterparties such as Goldman Sachs were paid 100 cents on the dollar.

On a conference call with reporters last week, Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod said that Warren was “obviously a candidate to lead this effort, but there are other candidates as well.”

One administration source said that it would be a "bloody battle" in the Senate to get her confirmed, since she would be opposed so strongly by Republicans and conservative Democrats, so the question is whether the president wants a big political battle over her. Warren has good relationships with many administration officials and has intellectual firepower, if not much managerial experience.

Two other candidates, sources say, include deputy Attorney General Eugene Kimmelman, who has worked at Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, and Public Citizen; and Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr.

Today Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, wrote the president urging him to appoint Warren to the post, noting that Warren “was the first to broach the idea of such a commission in an article published in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas in 2007… Professor Warren has a proven track-record as a smart and tough consumer advocate. As head of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel she is seen, across the breadth of America, as a champion of open, honest and responsive government.”

You can read Warren’s 2007 story HERE.

Sanders notes that he has “no doubt that some in the Senate will oppose her confirmation. Good! It will allow for a serious debate as to the role that government should play in protecting the American people against the outrageous behavior we have seen on Wall Street.” 

As first reported by the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, today AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released a statement saying “In our view, there is only one candidate who is uniquely qualified and equipped to head this new agency. Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren originated the idea of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and has proven as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel to be a strong and fearless advocate for the American public. We therefore strongly urge President Obama to appoint Professor Warren as Director of the new consumer protection bureau. Professor Warren's appointment would make clear that under President Obama's leadership, there truly will be accountability for Wall Street and fair treatment for the American public in the financial marketplace.”

The SEIU issued a statement offering similar support.

-Jake Tapper and Matthew Jaffe

July 20, 2010

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Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the Notices of Default (NOD) by year through 2009, and for the first half of 2010, in California from DataQuick.

Although the pace of filings has slowed, it is still very high by historical standards.

From DataQuick: California Mortgage Defaults Hit Three-Year Low; Foreclosures Rise

The number of California homes pushed into the formal foreclosure process between April and June dropped for the fifth consecutive quarter to the lowest level in three years. The declines were greatest in the most affordable areas, where foreclosure activity continues to fall from extremely high levels over the past two years, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 70,051 Notices of Default ("NODs") were filed at county recorder offices during the April-to-June period. That was down 13.6 percent from 81,054 for the prior quarter, and down 43.8 percent from 124,562 in second-quarter 2009, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.

Last quarter's total was the lowest since second-quarter 2007, when 53,943 NODs were recorded. The peak was in first-quarter 2009 when 135,431 homeowners received foreclosure notices.

"Obviously, motivated sellers and accommodating lenders have played a part in bringing the default filings down, especially when it comes to short sales. Public policy has also been a factor. We also need to remember that prices have come up off bottom over the past year. If they continue to rise, fewer homeowners will find themselves under water, which is a significant factor in letting a home go," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.
...
The number of Trustees Deeds (TDs) recorded, which reflect the number of houses or condo units lost at the end of the foreclosure process, totaled 47,669 during the second quarter. That was up 11.2 percent from 42,857 for the prior quarter, and up 4.4 percent from 45,667 for second-quarter 2009. The all-time peak was 79,511 in third- quarter 2008.

As I've noted before, in terms of new NOD filings the peak was probably in 2009. A few key points:

Because of the number of homes in the foreclosure pipeline, the number of distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales) will probably increase throughout 2010 - even as NODs decline.

As prices fall later this year, we might see another pick up in NODs.

Although NODs will decline in 2010 from 2009, the number will still be very high. The number of filings in the first half alone is at the peak of the previous housing bust.

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Sony unveils 24mm F2, 35mm F1.8 and 85mm F2.8 Alpha lenses <b>...</b>

Sony unveils 24mm F2, 35mm F1.8 and 85mm F2.8 Alpha lenses: Sony has released three prime lenses for its Alpha SLR system. First up is the eagerly-awaited Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2 SSM, which we saw in prototype form at PMA.

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Marketer Mark Brimm hates when gurus tell entrepreneurs and other marketers they're doing it wrong. Though there are certainly right ways and wrong ways to.

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Sony unveils 24mm F2, 35mm F1.8 and 85mm F2.8 Alpha lenses <b>...</b>

Sony unveils 24mm F2, 35mm F1.8 and 85mm F2.8 Alpha lenses: Sony has released three prime lenses for its Alpha SLR system. First up is the eagerly-awaited Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2 SSM, which we saw in prototype form at PMA.

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Marketer Mark Brimm hates when gurus tell entrepreneurs and other marketers they're doing it wrong. Though there are certainly right ways and wrong ways to.

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The conservative movement is now wallowing in the kind of unapologetic race-baiting that mainstream American politics hasn't seen in decades, if not generations.

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"The U.S. health care system was already facing a shortage of approximately 150,000 doctors in the next decade or so, but thanks to the health care "reform" bill passed by Congress, that number could swell by several hundred thousand more Source: American Medical Association via thetruthwins.com"



The "source" was the AAMC, not the AMA. Your primary source, thetruthwins.com, states that the US "will likely face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors", whereas the WSJ article it references states,

"At current graduation and training rates, the nation could face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges."

A minor grievance and semantics it may be, but "could" is hardly the same as "will likely". However, the WSJ article cites the true cause of the shortage as the number of available resident positions, rather than the boom in newly covered patients, as the ultimate cause of doctor shortages.



"There is a shortage of medical resident positions...Teaching hospitals rely heavily on Medicare funding to pay for these slots. In 1997, Congress imposed a cap on funding for medical residencies, which hospitals say has increasingly hurt their ability to expand the number of positions."



To imply that the latest health care reform bill is the straw that breaks the camel's back is to be less than truthful. It may increase the doctor to patient ratio, but the shortage will never be resolved until this resident bottleneck is addressed. Also, in your same source article on thetruthwins.com, the author plainly states, "According to a survey published in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly one-third of all practicing physicians in the United States may leave the medical profession because of the health care legislation that was just passed." This is libel, at best. The NEJM is not responsible for the study, and the provided link points to yet another link, stating "the opinions expressed in the article linked to above represent those of The Medicus Firm only. That article does not represent the opinions of the New England Journal of Medicine or the Massachusetts Medical Society." As an astute commenter on thetruthwins.com points out:



"That survey was reported on not published by the NEJM. Being published by them requires the survey to be peer reviewed, being reported requires it only be newsworthy. Reading the methodology of the study is has numerous problems the biggest being:

1. The sample wasn’t truly random.

2. There are no control questions."



I'll add to that that the Medicus Firm, the company that conducted the study, " highest quality permanent physician recruitment services to our clients." Their clients being hospitals or other facilities in need of medical staffing. A conflict of interest, to be sure, as it would be in the Medicus Firm's best interest to present the worst case scenario. When the impending mass exodus of doctors from the medical field does occur, why not hire a"a physician search firm that can produce timely and impressive results without creating undue financial strain"? Why not hire Medicus? Internet journalism at it's finest.

Black women have emerged triumphant in May’s official unemployment data, with a decrease of 10 per cent in unemployment from 13.7 per cent in April to 12.4 per cent in May.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics positioned black women as the strongest performing demographic in the decline of unemployment across race and gender categories.

There was no change to the rate of unemployment of white women, which might suggest a reduction to the large unemployment gap between black and white women.

However, since February  the unemployment rate of white women has decreased one percentage point to 7.4 per cent, while that of black women has fluctuated around a rate of 13 per cent. This represents a difference of approximately 65 per cent.

Additional data compared across the twelve months from May 2009 to May 2010 indicate that the amount of black women in employment fell almost 1 percentage point from 56.5 to 55.6.

Education was also a factor in last month’s data, as unemployment levels for those without a high school diploma remained three times higher than those who had graduated.

The 52 per cent gap between the unemployment rates of black and white teenagers however remained largely unchanged.

White teenagers suffer an unemployment rate of 24.4 per cent, while 37.3 per cent of black teenagers are currently without work.

US economic data has been positive in recent times. A survey by Manpower Inc. suggested that of the 18,000 employer participants, 18 per cent were considering increasing their staff in the third quarter.

Some areas of the country however are particularly unfavourable for black workers.

Economic Policy Institute, based in Washington, released a study Tuesday highlighting total black unemployment rates of 20.9 per cent, 20.4 per cent and 13.3 for Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis respectively.

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Foreclosure Activity by Type

A total of 96,462 U.S. properties received default notices (NOD, LIS) in May, a 7 percent decrease from the previous month and a 22 percent decrease from May 2009. It was the fewest default notices since November 2008 and down 32 percent from the peak of 142,064 default notices in April 2009.

Foreclosure auctions (NTS, NFS) were scheduled for the first time on a total of 132,681 U.S. properties, a decrease of 4 percent from the previous month and down less than 1 percent from May 2009. The May 2010 total was down 16 percent from the peak of 158,105 scheduled auctions in March 2010.

Bank repossessions (REOs) hit a record monthly high for the second month in a row in May, with a total of 93,777 U.S. properties repossessed by lenders during the month — an increase of 1 percent from the previous month and an increase of 44 percent from May 2009. All 50 states posted year-over-year increases in REO activity.

Nevada, Arizona, Florida post top state foreclosure rates in May
With one in every 79 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in May, Nevada continued to document the nation’s highest foreclosure rate despite a nearly 12 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month and a 16 percent decrease from May 2009. The state’s foreclosure rate was more than five times the national average.

Arizona foreclosure activity increased less than 1 percent from the previous month and was down nearly 5 percent from May 2009, but the state posted the nation’s second highest foreclosure rate for the second month in a row. One in every 169 Arizona properties received a foreclosure notice during the month — more than twice the national average.

One in every 174 Florida properties received a foreclosure notice in May, the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate, and one in every 186 California properties received a foreclosure notice in May, the fourth highest state foreclosure rate.

Foreclosure activity in Michigan increased nearly 6 percent from the previous month and was up 46 percent from May 2009, helping the state post the nation’s fifth highest foreclosure rate — one in every 223 Michigan properties received a foreclosure filing in May.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 in May were Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Utah and Maryland.

Metro foreclosure hot spots continue to post annual declines
With a 1 percent increase in foreclosure activity from May 2009, Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif., was the only metro area with a top-10 foreclosure rate to post an annual increase in foreclosure activity. One in every 101 Vallejo-Fairfield properties received a foreclosure notice in May, the fourth highest foreclosure rate among metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more.

All other metro foreclosure rates in the top 10 were in cities with declining foreclosure activity on a year-over-year basis: No. 1 Las Vegas was down nearly 18 percent; No. 2 Merced, Calif. Was down 7 percent; No. 3 Modesto, Calif., was down nearly 28 percent; No. 5 Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., was down nearly 19 percent; No. 6 Stockton, Calif., was down 33 percent; No. 7 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., was down nearly 29 percent; No. 8 Bakersfield, Calif., was down 19 percent; No. 9 Reno-Sparks, Nev., was down nearly 18 percent; and No. 10 Phoenix was down nearly 9 percent.

"That's a very good thing," said Thomas Lawler, an independent housing economist in Virginia. But he noted that even with that positive trend, "you are highly likely to see an acceleration in the number of actual completed foreclosures."

Lenders are offering to help some homeowners modify their loans. But many borrowers can't qualify or they are falling back into default. The Obama administration's $75 billion foreclosure prevention effort has made only a small dent in the problem.

About 25 percent of the 1.2 million homeowners who started the program over the past year had received permanent loan modifications as of April. About 23 percent of those enrolled dropped out during a trial phase that lasts at least three months. Many more are in limbo.

Among states, Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in May. One in every 79 households there received a foreclosure notice. However, foreclosures there are down 16 percent from a year earlier.

Arizona, Florida, California and Michigan were next among states with the highest foreclosure rates. Rounding out the top 10 were Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Utah and Maryland.

Las Vegas continued to be the city with the nation's highest foreclosure rate, but activity there was down 18 percent from a year earlier. And nine out of the top 10 cities with the highest foreclosure rates posted annual declines. The exception was the Vallejo-Fairfield area in California, where foreclosures were up 1 percent from a year ago.

Foreclosed homes are typically sold at steep discounts, lowering the value of surrounding properties. That's a concern for local communities, and a drag on the economic recovery.

In recent months, home prices have started to sink again after stabilizing last summer. Economists at Goldman Sachs predicted in a report last week that prices will fall about 3 percent nationally over the next year, with the largest declines in cities where mortgage defaults are rising.

"The housing market remains plagued by enormous excess supply," wrote Goldman economist Sven Jari Stehn.

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