Homes in Some Stage of Foreclosure Increase 121%, 25 Million U.S. Homeowners About to Go Upside Down
July 26th, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Dollar holders, look out.
Via: Bloomberg:
U.S. foreclosure filings more than doubled in the second quarter from a year earlier as falling home prices left borrowers owing more on mortgages than their properties were worth.
One in every 171 households was foreclosed on, received a default notice or was warned of a pending auction. That was an increase of 121 percent from a year earlier and 14 percent from the first quarter, RealtyTrac Inc. said today in a statement. Almost 740,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, the most since the Irvine, California-based data company began reporting in January 2005.
“Rising foreclosures are putting downward pressure on prices, increasing the possibility that homeowners will go upside- down on their mortgages,” said Sheryl King, chief U.S. economist at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. “That will cause more losses in mortgage portfolios and less willingness from investors to securitize mortgages and therefore fewer mortgages.”
About 25 million U.S. homeowners risk owing more than the value of their homes, according to Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co. That would make it impossible for them to negotiate better loan terms or sell their property without contributing cash to the transaction.
Wachovia CFO Jumps Ship
July 26th, 2008All the bad news is out, eh?
Via: MarketWatch:
Wachovia Corp. said late Thursday Chief Financial Officer Thomas Wurtz will leave the company. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia said Wurtz will leave “after a successor is named to the role. The company will begin an immediate search for a replacement.”
FDIC SEIZES TWO MORE BANKS: 1ST NATIONAL BANK OF NEVADA AND FIRST HERITAGE BANK
July 26th, 2008It must be the weekend!
Via: AP:
The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators.
The banks, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First National Bank Holding Co., were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
The FDIC said the takeover of the failed banks was the least costly resolution and all depositors — including those with funds in excess of FDIC insurance limits — will switch to Mutual of Omaha with “the full amount of their deposits.”
The FDIC also said accountholders can access their funds during the weekend by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards.
As of June 30, the closed banks had total assets of $3.6 billion. That’s down from $4.1 billion six months earlier. Most of the assets are in 1st National while First Heritage accounts for $254 million.
Calls to 1st National were referred by a receptionist to Joe Martony, an executive vice president in Scottsdale, Ariz. Martony didn’t return repeated calls to his office.
In Nevada, 1st National has 10 branches and employs about 350 people. Five of its branches are in Las Vegas, three are in the Reno-Sparks area, one is in Carson City and one is in Laughlin. Notices of the closure were being posted late Friday.
Fifteen 1st National branches are in Arizona, while Newport Beach-based First Heritage has three branches in Southern California.
Bill Uffelman of the Nevada Bankers Association said Friday the FDIC action “is a reflection of the times for the banks. It’s a poor economy.”
Uffelman cautioned against the sort of consumer concern that prompted many customers of IndyMac Bank branches to wait for hours in line to withdraw funds across Southern California last week after that bank was seized by federal regulators. All FDIC-insured bank deposits are guaranteed by the FDIC up to $100,000, he noted.
Gov. Jim Gibbons said the bank takeover will be closely monitored in Nevada “to ensure there’s minimal disruption to business and that employees’ jobs are protected as much as possible.”
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano spokeswoman Shilo Mitchell said in a statement that the FDIC’s takeover of 1st National is not indicative of the overall banking climate in Arizona.
“It’s very important that Arizonans know that their deposits are secure,” said Felecia Rotellini, superintendent of Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. “They are well-managed and the 1st National Bank of Arizona issues should not cause any panic in Arizona.”
Related: 8,500 U.S. Banks; Many Will Die Soon
National Australia Bank Writes Off 90% of Its U.S. AAA Rated Debt
July 26th, 2008Will the other banks—holding this toxic waste—try to simply ignore this event?
Via: Business Spectator:
The National Australia Bank’s decision to write off 90 per cent of its US conduit loans will have dramatic repercussions around the world. Wall Street will be deeply shocked when they understand the repercussions of what NAB has done. It is clear global banks have nowhere near provided for their exposures to US housing loans which in the words of John Stewart are experiencing a “meltdown”.
We are now way beyond sub-prime. NAB says that it is suffering a 55 per cent loss on American housing loans – an event that has never happened in the history of a developed country in recent memory. This is an unprecedented event and means that the cost of bailing out the US financial system is now far beyond the highest estimates. A US recession is now locked in, but more alarmingly, 55 per cent loan losses point to the possibility of a depression.
It means the cost of bailing out housing exposures to the two mortgage insurers will be so great that it will leave no room to bail out anything else and there are several US banks that are now in big trouble. NAB says that the dislocation in the residential market is separate from the corporate market, but the flow on is inevitable.
While global banks have been writing down their balance sheet assets, few have tackled their conduit exposures which are off balance sheet but to which they are ultimately liable.
This morning at around 6am I wrote that we had been experiencing a ‘dead cat bounce’. I had no idea that NAB would trigger the downturn and confirm what I had written. And of course Wall Street will receive a deep shock when it wakes up.
More: Bad Debt Bombshell from National Australia Bank
Strong Storm About to Hit Us
July 25th, 2008UPDATE: Electricity Back On
We’re ok. Man, that was a wild one! I can’t get over the amounts of water that can fall out of the sky here. And I don’t know how hard the wind was gusting, but all of the fast air moving against the house sounded like a giant blowing out a tune on an empty beer bottle. Various debris hit the house, but nothing broke.
I thought that I was going to wake up and find that the IPstar satellite dish had blown over into the cow paddock. Somehow, it’s still attached to the house and pointed at the bird.
The leading edge of the storm blacked us out, as expected, but the electricity is on again. I don’t know for how long. Looking at the hourly radar, it appears that the worst part has moved over us, but I just checked MetService and found this:
Severe Weather Warning
Issued by MetService at 08:14am 26-Jul-2008
MAJOR STORM STILL ON TRACK TO HIT THE NORTH ISLAND
A very deep low is approaching northern New Zealand this morning from the north Tasman Sea. This unusually intense low is forecast to move over Cape Reinga towards evening and then track southeastwards past Coromandel Peninsula around midnight, and lie near East Cape by midday Sunday. East to southeast gales are expected to buffet the North Island, with potentially damaging wind gusts of around 130 km/h possible in many exposed parts of the North Island, excluding Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay. MetService advises the public that winds of this strength have the potential to damage trees, powerlines and insecure structures and make driving hazardous, especially combined with heavy rain and possible slips. Boaties are advised to avoid going out and should have made moorings secure as high winds and very large waves are likely about northern and eastern coasts of the North Island.
A front ahead of the low is expected to bring widespread rain to the North Island by the end of Saturday. The heaviest rain should be in Northland,northern Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, Gisborne and the Hawkes Bay. In these areas streams and rivers could rise quickly,with surface flooding and slips likely.
THIS IS A POTENTIALLY DESTRUCTIVE AND DANGEROUS STORM AND PEOPLE IN THE NORTH ISLAND, ESPECIALLY FROM WAIKATO NORTHWARDS, WOULD BE WELL ADVISED TO AVOID UNNECESSARY TRAVEL.
— End Update —
Just a quick note to let you know that a strong winter storm is about to pass over us. From previous experience, we know that it’s possible that we could lose power for a couple of days from something like this. So, if there are no updates, that’s why.
WaMu May Be Cut to “Junk”
July 24th, 2008Via: Reuters:
Washington Mutual Inc, the largest U.S. savings and loan, posted a $3.33 billion second-quarter loss on Tuesday as souring mortgages forced it to set aside more money for loan losses.
The thrift’s deteriorating health prompted Moody’s Investors Service to say it may downgrade Washington Mutual to “junk” status. Shares of Washington Mutual fell in after-hours electronic trading.
Washington Mutual said its third straight quarterly loss was $3.34 per share, more than triple the $1.09 per share loss that analysts on average expected according to Reuters Estimates. Year-ago profit was $830 million, or 92 cents per share.
The net loss was $6.58 per share including a one-time adjustment tied to the thrift’s $7.2 billion capital raising in April from private equity firm TPG Inc and other investors.
Seattle-based Washington Mutual said its retail banking, mortgage and credit card units all lost money in the quarter. The thrift set aside $5.91 billion for loan losses, and said net charge-offs totaled $2.17 billion.
It has been one of the hardest hit among the largest U.S. lenders in the nation’s housing and credit crisis.
“We are planning for continued softness in housing for the next several quarters,” Chief Executive Kerry Killinger said in an interview. “The capital that we have in place is sufficient to manage through this period. We have no plans at this point to raise additional capital.”
U.S. Astronaut, Edgar Mitchell: Aliens Exist, “It’s Been Well Covered Up by All Our Governments”
July 24th, 2008I make a point of NOT covering the UFO stuff on Cryptogon, but this is VERY remarkable story. Edgar Mitchell not only walked on the moon, he has a PhD (technically, a Doctor of Science) in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. In other words, this is not your typical speaker at some weekend UFO symposium.
Why is he talking about aliens now?
At first, you might think something like, “In their twilight years, some people like to unburden their souls.”
But think about that a bit more. Think about it from the perspective of a government that had information related to alien lifeforms, and all the rest of the X-Files type stuff, but wanted to keep it a secret.
Years ago, I was trying to understand how so much stuff stays secret. I tried to think about what it would take for me to be able to keep my mouth shut if I was exposed to some kind of astonishing information.
So, what would be the most difficult secret for me to keep?
Aliens. Yep, that would be a hard one for me to keep quiet about.
So, I put myself in an imaginary role as an employee on sublevel 23 at Area-51, or something appropriately weird sounding like that, where I saw and worked with ________ fill in the blank with some unthinkable alien technology…
Now, how would I punch the time clock at 5pm, board the 737 for the short trip back to the “Gold Coast” terminal at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas and just forget about what I’d seen all day? Maybe buy some Chinese take-out and then, what do Area 51 employees do on their down time?, watch TV, play video games, whatever… What would matter most of all, though, is that I’d never be able to tell anyone about what I did, especially my own family. Then, I’d be expected to grow old and die knowing about that stuff without ever saying or writing anything about it in public.
What would keep my gums from flapping?
The threat of jailtime for breaking the secrecy oaths that these people are bound by?
No. Because I’d wait until I was old and close enough to checking out that I didn’t care anymore. That’s when I’d write it down and upload it to the intertubes where it would languish for eternity on the tinfoil sites and other backwaters. (Yes, I’ve read The Day After Roswell by Philip Corso, and I’m not sure what to make of that book.)
Patriotism? Forget that. We’re talking about aliens here. Nobody working with alien stuff is going to be able to internalize any bullshit about patriotism. There would be, I think, an uncontrollable urge to spill the beans, somehow, at some point.
Maybe I wouldn’t even know what I was dealing with because of compartmentalization? Obviously, compartmentalization must be employed in these settings, probably to the point of absurdity. But no, for this exercise, I have all access clearance. There’s no doubt in my mind about what “this” is.
I would imagine that at some level of classification, the people involved with the work are told something like, “If you ever reveal this information, even from beyond the grave, in the form of a book or other material, we’ll kill your family, your children and their children and your dog. Nothing personal, but that’s what will happen.”
Anyway, that was my guess about how governments keep the serious family jewels secret.
Now, if someone actually had privileged government information about aliens, do you really think that they’d just casually let that slip into public discourse? I tend to think not. Not if the person was the real deal, which Edgar Mitchell obviously is. I’d tend to think that guys like him would have some sort of threat hanging over their heads that would keep their lips well and truly sealed for the duration.
Which leads me to wonder if, somehow, at some level, Mitchell’s disclosure could have been officially sanctioned?
For what purpose? Who knows…
Via: Telegraph:
Dr Edgar Mitchell, said he was aware of several UFO visits during his career, but each one had been covered up.
The 77-year-old, who was a crew member of the Apollo 14 mission, said sources at the space agency had described aliens as resembling “little people who look strange to us”.
Dr Mitchell told Kerrang! Radio that human technology was “not nearly as sophisticated” as theirs and had they been hostile, he warned: “We would be been gone by now”.
He said: “There’s not much question at all that there’s life throughout the universe, we are not alone at all. I’m most assured about that.
“Have we been able to identify where the other planets are? No, certainly not in our Solar System but we have been able to identify quite a number of planets that could be life bearing planets.
“I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we’ve been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real.
“It’s been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it’s leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it.
“I’ve been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes – we have been visited.
“Reading the papers recently, it’s been happening quite a bit.”
Dr Mitchell, along with Apollo 14 Commander Alan Shepard, still holds the record for the longest ever moonwalking session at nine hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission.
Officials from NASA, were quick to play the comments down.
In a statement, a spokesman said: “NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe.
“Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.”
Possibly Related: U.S. Department of Defense Shills: Prepare for Alien Invasion
Key Benazir Bhutto Assassination Witness Shot Dead
July 24th, 2008Via: Telegraph:
Khalid Shahenshah, who was the former Pakistan prime minister’s security chief at the time of her assassination, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he left his house in the southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, police said.
Mr Shahenshah, 45, was riding in Mrs Bhutto’s bullet-proof car when she was killed in a suicide attack in the northern city of Rawalpindi on December 27.
He was expected to be called to give evidence at a United Nations probe into her death.
“He was a key witness in the case and was also interviewed by the Scotland Yard experts who came to Pakistan to investigate her killing,” said Waqar Mehdi, the junior information minister of Sindh province.
“There is a possibility that his killing could be linked to his status as a witness, although investigations are still underway.”
A team of Scotland Yard detectives concluded in February that Mrs Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomb and not by gunfire, backing the previous Pakistani government’s claim the attack was masterminded by Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan’s top Taliban commander.
But the UN earlier this month agreed to set up an independent panel to investigate her slaying, following a request by Pakistan’s new government.
£37 Billion Plan to Power EU with the Saharan Sun
July 24th, 2008Imagine my shock.
Via: Guardian:
Vast farms of solar panels in the Sahara could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists working on a plan to pool the region’s renewable energy.
Harnessing the power of the desert sun is at the centre of an ambitious scheme to build a €45bn (£35.7bn) European supergrid that would allow countries across the continent to share electricity from abundant green sources such as wind energy in the UK and Denmark, and geothermal energy from Iceland and Italy.
The idea is gaining political support in Europe, with Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, recently backing the north African solar plan.
Because the sunlight is more intense, solar photovoltaic panels in north Africa could generate up to three times the electricity compared with similar panels in northern Europe.
Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission’s Institute for Energy explained how electricity produced in solar farms in Africa, each generating around 50-200 megawatts of power, could be fed thousands of miles to European countries. The proposed grid would use high-voltage direct current (DC) transmission lines, which lose less energy over distance than conventional alternating current (AC) lines.
The idea of developing solar farms in the Mediterranean region and north Africa was given a boost by Sarkozy earlier this month when he highlighted solar farms in north Africa as central to the work of his newly formed Mediterranean Union.
Depending on the size of the grid, building the necessary high-voltage lines across Europe could cost up to €1bn a year every year till 2050, but Jaeger-Walden pointed out that the figure was small when compared to a recent prediction by the International Energy Agency that the world needs to invest more than $45tn (£22.5tn) in energy systems over the next 30 years.
Research Credit: JoKerHill
Telco Won’t Install Fiber Network, Sues to Prevent City from Doing So
July 24th, 2008Individuals and local government working together to improve a situation that the “free market” has no interest in addressing?
Unthinkable. It can’t be allowed. Send lawyers, guns and money.
Via: Ars:
The small town of Monticello, Minnesota seems an unlikely spot for a battle over city-owned fiber-to-the-home. The town, which is a distant commute to Minneapolis, thought it could better attract residents and business by building its own fiber-optic network. After a couple years of due diligence, the town held a referendum; 74 percent of voters agreed to fund the $25 million scheme. The city sought the needed municipal bonds, but the day before it closed on them, the local telco filed suit to stop the plan. Its claim: taking out bonds to build a fiber network is illegal.
…
The City of Monticello, which has just replied to the lawsuit, thinks the whole case is ridiculous. In its response, the city’s attorney says that the telco offers only a “plain misreading of a Minnesota statute” and “pleads no facts that tend in any way to call into question whether the project constitutes a ‘utility or other public convenience from which revenue is or may be derived’.”
…
Mitchell, who has been involved with the city on this entire issue, tells Ars that he’s sympathetic to arguments from private companies about having to compete unfairly with cities. But he points out that cities have to publish their business plans, deployment, targets, and funding, which levels the playing field. And Monticello did first approach Bridgewater, asking it to deploy fiber in the town; the answer was no.
…
Local control, choice of ISP
Assuming the lawsuit can be dealt with, Monticello hopes to build fiber lines to each home and business in town with the goals of:
* choice of service provider
* competitive rates
* local service
* local ownership
* economic development
* economic returns to the community
When 74 percent of town’s voters want to build themselves a fiber network, but the telco demands that they 1) not do it, and then 2) accept that the telco won’t do it for years, either, the market (such as it is) doesn’t appear to be functioning well.
