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Open Letter to the President

I am a real estate professional and homeowner in Las Vegas, NV. As you surely know, Vegas has been hard hit by foreclosures. We continue to have a high number of foreclosures in process and a substantial number of bank-owned homes available in our local real estate market. All the major banks and mortgage servicers have homes for sale in our area: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Chase, etc.. In addition, they are lien holders for the thousands of additional homes owned by people attempting a “short sale”. Thus, the banks collectively control over 75% of our real estate market before even considering their role as a lender for new sales.

The banks are using this position to further drive down prices, and exacerbate the decline in property values. This is a direct threat to Americans’ retirement accounts and municipalities’ tax rolls. Moreover, it has the potential to drive builders out of business altogether as it is impossible for them to compete with ludicrous prices well under $100 per square foot.

Banks are setting prices locally around $70-90 per square foot for nicer foreclosed single family homes that need a minimum of work. For under $60 per square foot, the property needs serious work but is still habitable. Only once a property is priced under $45 per square foot are homes “gutted.”

The initial low price is designed to bring in many offers in a short period of time – often dozens and sometimes over a hundred in just a few days. This feeding frenzy of bidding is hidden under most MLS systems. While locally, the final sales prices is a matter of public record, that is not true everywhere. The bank’s goal is to quickly get rid of the property no matter what, minimizing maintenance/utility costs, taxes paid, and homeowner’s association fees due.

This combines with the new appraisal rules in a toxic fashion. Under HVCC, many inexperienced or out-of-area appraisers are choosing to use these artificially low priced homes as comparables to non-distressed sales. They do this without regard or even knowledge of the condition of the properties in question. In one recent case, an appraiser compared a home that had been recently renovated to a home that was in desperate need of work. Thus, the values of all local homes are deflated by the big banks dumping inventory.

This practice is almost certainly not limited to our local market. These issues threaten the long term housing stability of our nation. Banks collectively control our markets, and they must be made to “play fair” rather than distorting prices for short-term gain. I have not even addressed the abusive practices of banks towards the potential buyers of these homes: mandatory pre-qualification with the lender that owns the property; contract addenda that strip the buyer of many protections they have under their original purchase contract; capricious and arbitrary closing dates. Nor have I addressed the bank-imposed labyrinth of frustration faced by all participants in a short sale.

If any other industry attempted these business practices, the Federal Trade Commission would investigate sanction them. As much as the various states would like to come down on these and other abusive activities, the big banks are federally regulated and thus almost untouchable by state authorities. It is time for the Feds to investigate the big players in the foreclosed property market, punish those whose actions hurt both home owners and home buyers, and make sure that all parties follow the law.

Thank you for your consideration.

In closing: Follow up on the Baucus Plan. I guess it was written for his *ahem* other constituents.

Baucused

Pretty much everybody has been focused on the Baucus Plan, announced this morning. Despite the fact that a public option is supported by the majority of the public and doctors, it has no public option. Instead, it has a watered down co-op provision. The CBO says that a public option would reduce premiums for everybody — and the average family health insurance policy now costs $13,375 annually! That’s more than double what it was in 2000 — the co-ops are only available to employees if the plan at work is not “affordable” (meaning 10-13% of income depending how you calculate it). No word on whether the co-ops are available to the self-employed. And for all that it has been pitched as something that can get bi-partisan support, not a single Republican supports it. It’s just another mandatory insurance plan with bells, whistles, and gifts to insurance companies.

So why exactly is anybody willing to compromise and support this?

If we can’t have real health insurance reform, let’s just get the few things everybody can agree needs to happen: make rescission illegal; make “pre-existing conditions” a thing of the past. I bet they could get that written up into a 3 page bill tomorrow and pass it by the weekend if they wanted. In an ideal world, give states the right to regulate rate increases (or just cap them at the rate of inflation) and let everybody deduct health insurance on their taxes. But please, let’s stop pretending that the crock of **** being stirred on Capitol Hill is good for any of us regular people.

In closing: One drug bust every 18 seconds, and that’s a decrease; former CNBC anchor complains that Americans are held hostage by Wall Street; on independent contractors, the DOL, and the IRS; Americans agree on how to fix Social Security (but will Congress do what needs to be done?); humans still evolving; Does Kanye have Asperger’s Syndrome?; and hiking safety tips.

Happy Labor Day

Here’s to the American worker, even the ones doing the dirtiest jobs on their street.

Many of our younger workers are still living with their parents, and/or doing without health insurance.

For many, Labor Day has changed from just the end of Summer to become a day of thankfulness that some workers do in fact have jobs. Our economy is losing jobs — over 203,000 jobs lost in the last 10 years — and those with jobs are making less money. Many people have been unemployed so long that they have stopped actively looking for work. Many of our unemployed have lost their job for the first time ever and are having a hard time coping. Two thirds of them are borrowing money from friends and family. A quarter of them are college graduates.

We now have over a million homeless school kids in this nation. Next time some personal responsibility zealot starts talking about how people need to stop being so lazy or whatever it is that they’re on about, ask what should be done about these million plus kids who through no fault of their own don’t have a place to call home. It’s not like they can just tell mom and dad where to get off and rent apartments of their own. Add colorful language as appropriate.

Without access to capital and affordable insurance, entrepreneurs cannot start businesses that will hire the unemployed, the discouraged, the parents of homeless kids. If we are going to count on big business to get us out of this Great Recession, we’re going to be here a very long time indeed.

To those of you who are employed, Happy Labor Day. To those of you who want a job, I hope you land an interview tomorrow. To those of you who are homeless, or living with your parents, or not able to pay all your bills, I wish you better times for the future.

In Closing: a few obligatory words about health insurance reform; Helen tells you how it is.

Smooth Move

Uh, What the heck is Harry Reid thinking?

In closing: Ornery but right; on the economy; and everything you really need to know about swine flu.

Why This Recession is Different

It was during the Reagan Administration. My dad lost his job as a computer programmer — back before anybody ever heard of the “new economy” and “information technology”, but even then computers were considered a necessary way forward. As good as he was at his job, the fact remained that he had learned what he knew in the trenches. He had no college degree, and thus was at a disadvantage applying for computer industry jobs by 1982.

So he did what any sensible boomer of the day did when faced with unemployment: he became an entrepreneur. There were a lot of computer equipment companies founded in the Carter and Reagan years. Many of them are still in business. But that isn’t what my dad did. Dad sold Amway. Then he sold motivational cassette tapes. And finally, he sold wholesale beauty supplies.

Many companies are started by entrepreneurs in periods of recession or other game-changing economic periods. These new businesses employ people, pick up the slack of closing businesses, and ultimately help lead us out of problem periods. This time, we cannot count on entrepreneurs.

It isn’t just the way that small businesses get financing, although that is still an issue (see also, the SBA can do little more for start-ups than help obtain a second mortgage and nobody has equity any more). There is an even bigger obstacle to starting a business.

That obstacle is health insurance. It is a much bigger issue than it was in the early 80s because health care and insurance costs are so much higher now than they were then (and much higher than in any other industrialized nation). Entrepreneurs can’t afford decent health insurance. That means that if they don’t have a spouse who is gainfully employed such that she/he can get affordable insurance for the whole family, the business fails. And since many successful ventures at least initially count on support (read: unpaid labor) from family members, that’s a problem.

And this is when everybody is healthy. It doesn’t even address medical catastrophe, chronic conditions, or medical related bankruptcy.

The longer I look at the issues, the more fervently I believe that true health insurance reform is vital to the economic recovery of this country. Not mandatory insurance, not anything the health insurers are going to like, but true and comprehensive reform.

In closing: 5 Japanese things we screwed up; the ultimate portable stove; Thom Hartmann and Dave Johnson have related thoughts (I still think the focus needs to be on automatic coverage for kids because they don’t have employers and are often uninsured through no fault whatsoever of their own — I mean really, can you see a kindergartner filling out a Medicaid application?); buy American? How?; an Eliza Doolittle from Malawi; much too bigger to fail; Department of Energy wasting energy; the cause of the next stock market crash will be retiring boomers (assuming they can retire); Smart Child Left Behind (nothing new here, more the pity); Return of the Robber Barons; and I just can’t resist linking the Purina Diet.

Thoughts for the First Day of School

No, this isn’t a post about zero tolerance policies or reform or even the fact that walking to school is safer than the alternatives.

This post is for everyone who thinks public schools are somebody else’s problem.

Every now and then I run into people who don’t bother to vote on the school board election or don’t really care about whatever reform or local issue is under debate. They argue that they don’t have kids (or their kids are grown), and cede the entire issue to those who do have school-aged children. This line of reasoning is short-sighted.

Nor am I strictly speaking of the impact that school quality can have on property values (and rents, to those who do not own property).

Do you watch the evening news? Chances are that not only the “talking heads” but all the staffers and behind the scenes people were educated in public schools.

Do you buy groceries? The nice clerks and baggers are most likely public school educated — some of them still attending. The stockers and butchers, the people at the deli counter, the managers, all most likely learned to read, write, and do math in a public school. The people at the factories where they make processed foods and where they prep goods like cheese and canned veggies? Probably public school graduates.

Have you ever been to see a doctor, lawyer, or accountant? Many of these people went to public school too. The paralegals, nurses, assistants, file clerks, cleaning staff, and other support staff members in that professional’s office are even more likely to have attended public school.

Ever paid for a haircut? Hired a contractor to do work around your home? Bought a cup of coffee? Your barber, contractor, or barrista learned to read important directions and do enough math to make sure you paid the right amount in public schools.

Do you drive? Every time you get on the road, your safety depends on the fact that every other driver understands the meaning of written signage like “Left Turn on Arrow Only” and “Do Not Enter” and “Main Street Next Exit, 1 Mile” and even “Warning: Roads Slippery When Wet”.

Each and every one of us interacts with people who attended public schools and learned basic skills there. Our continued well being — personally and as a whole — depends on a certain base level of knowledge among our citizens.

In closing: pot forests of America; should we give health insurance reform a rest? particularly since it appears to be a “bonanza” for the insurance companies that are gouging us in the first place? when the only way to make it happen might be to take out (or cripple) the one decent thing?; shockingly enough people without jobs don’t spend a lot of money; target on Harry’s back; architectural fail!; on the intersection of the 1st and 2nd Amendments; it’s a coin toss; and remember to watch for kids today! It’s the first day of school.

Bloody Socialists

Susie Amdrak has been so kind as to give us this list of things the bloody socialists the Federal Government has given us. It includes such things as the 40 hour work week, Interstate highways (I wonder what percentage of deathers had to use the interstate to get to the townhalls they are crashing), public sewers (trust me you don’t want to do without those), and public schools (they aren’t perfect, but if you like the fact that most people can read signs thank a school).

So why is it again that Medicare For All would be such a bad thing? The 66% of us — the real “center” that they call “left of the left” — wants at the very minimum the option to buy into such a program. In an environment where insurance companies are doubling their profits while covering fewer people, We The People need to be able to choose to do business with somebody else! At least if these companies were forced to be mutuals, the excess premiums (e.g., profits) would be returned to the consumer.

Need more convincing? Here’s 4 great links from MahaBarbara.

In closing: no you can’t sell all the personal data you collected; courtesy of Make, a handtool museum; if we make sure soldiers are mentally stable enough for more tours of duty, will we have no choice but to get out of Iraq for lack of soldiers?(just a reminder, over 4000 dead American service men and women); high price of cheap food; yes, apologize to Dr. Dean!; thanks to Dr. Dinosaur, free medical info wallet card; things won’t be back to “normal” in this country until the stock market returns to “normal” levels — far below where they are today; and a little late with this idea, cash for fridges. Many local electric and water companies have had programs like this for years. It’s nice to get a little money back on something that’s going to save you money in the long run. And at the time, we needed the appliances in question. Oh, and 5 stupidest terrorism tricks. I still can’t imagine how 6 guys thought they were going to take on a whole base.

The Needs of the Many

A new report suggests that while many women are getting the HPV vaccine, the ones who need it most are not:

The new HPV vaccine, which protects against viruses that cause most cervical cancers, has been a commercial success for manufacturer Merck, with worldwide sales last year of $1.4 billion. But some doctors now question whether the vaccine has been overpromoted to affluent women who need it least instead of patients most at risk of dying from the disease.

[snip!]

Women who die from the cancer tend to be poor women without access to routine medical care that allows doctors to find and remove growths before they turn malignant….

So the women who are at greatest risk of dying are the women least likely to be vaccinated. The root cause of both “greatest risk” and “least likely to be vaccinated” is that these women don’t have access to routine medical care. And no news reporting, no PR blitz, no advertising is going to change the fact that if someone has a hard time getting together the money for a doctor’s visit and a pap smear, they are going to have a hard time getting together the money for a doctor’s visit and a set of vaccinations that is sometimes not covered by insurance.

Oh, and one more thing. Those of us who can afford a pap smear may find that the lab went ahead and did an HPV test too. That’s a nice little extra fee for the lab that you’ll be paying (at the very least you’ll cough up a co-pay) on a test you didn’t even ask to have done.

In Closing: not sure what to make of 90 salads in 90 days; how did the nurse coming to your home to see how you and the baby were doing turn into government agents invading your home?; for those still unclear on the subject, why the public option is important; [gulp] structural unemployment to be high for the next decade; clothing so complicated you need a class or an expert to help you out; man’s life ruined over breath mints; too big to fail must die; famous last words, why oil won’t go back to $100/barrel; old fashioned judge insists on stuff like due process, cause, and warrants, why not powdered wigs too?; and Forbes gets it wrong again, getting a cooking style mixed up with an illegal drug.

Moment of Clarity

Several news sources are reporting that the White House may be ready to give up the idea of a “public option” for health insurance.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: mandatory insurance without a public option is far worse than what we have today. It would reduce “reform” to “you must pay the profitable companies that got us into this mess whatever they want.” It would be preferable to do nothing and allow the system to collapse on its own.

It is now clear to me why Howard Dean left the leadership of the Democratic* party and did not take any position within the Obama Administration, despite his long list of qualifications when it comes to health insurance and health care. He is wisely distancing himself from this coming shit-storm.

Go make sure your elected officials know how you feel at WhiteHouse.gov, Senate.gov, and House.gov.

* Oops, at first I wrote “Democraptic”. My Freudian slip is showing!

Survival of the Shorties

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Adopting a pet is a good thing. Moving on now….

A few words about food: Alli may not be your ally; why it’s so hard to resist food that isn’t very good for us; one of the men who made it that way; why Time’s peice on exercise and weight loss is misleading; and is soy “real” food? As for myself, moderation in all things. I don’t think a little soy sauce and the occasional edamame is going to hurt anybody. I realize that this is anecdotal but it seems like most of the people I have ever heard of having problems with soy consumed lots and lots of it day in and day out.

Mainstream Stupidity: our media is making us stupid by legitimizing the dumbest theories with no corroborating evidence. See also: birthers, death panels, most conspiracy theorists, Glenn Beck.

More on World War II: Last year I played Call of Duty: World At War. It allowed me to see, briefly, the Soviet side of the war. In short, they had it a lot worse than America did. Perhaps their losses colored the entire cold war.

To the Conservatives: because government can’t do anything right? (Except for roads, education, sanitation, the aqueducts….) Thom Hartmann riffs on the same theme. Is this really what they want?

On Health Insurance Reform: The “death panels” already exist, but they are run by insurance company bureaucrats. If our current system is so great, how come thousands showed up for a free clinic? Oh, and an item on why abortion needs to be covered by insurance regardless of whether your Aunt Frannie and Uncle Dobson approve. You don’t suppose our current LOW levels of people being employed by small businesses has something to do with our current health insurance situation, do you?

Speaking of Health: British researchers are in a tizzy over the fact that not every woman has switched to birth control pills with the lowest risk of a particular bad side effect. It is worth noting that this side effect is potentially fatal, but still incredibly rare. I guess it never occurred to researchers that women might be more concerned about the side effects they are more likely to experience when switching pills.

Bank Failure Update: Read it and weep. My bank was taken over yesterday. Supposed to be business as usual with a new owner Monday. No wonder investors are no longer content with “not as bad as expected” news.

Dilemma: how do you find a real nutcase before he does something dangerous to others, without locking up people that are maybe a little off but no real threat to anybody?

You will need to know this at some point in your life: how to choose sheets.

And last: impact craters.

Have a safe weekend, folks!