plus 3, Why Are Homeowners Idiots? - Motley Fool |
- Why Are Homeowners Idiots? - Motley Fool
- Research and Markets: The Battery Technical Manual Contains the Most ... - PR Inside
- Congressman Upton: Jobs need to be focus of 2010 - WNDU
- Cop car contract approved - Post-Tribune
| Why Are Homeowners Idiots? - Motley Fool Posted: 26 Jan 2010 10:33 AM PST Recs 56Across the country, many homeowners have faced the devastating realization that the homes they own are now worth less than what they owe the bank. We all know this unenviable situation as being "underwater." The pervasiveness of underwater homeowners is already fairly well known, particularly when it comes to hard-hit areas like Arizona, Nevada, Florida, and California. What is not particularly well known, though, is exactly why most of these battered borrowers are still making good on their monthly payments.
Why don't they walk away?
The mortgage crisis is a case in point. For many of the underwater homeowners in today's market, paying down their mortgage isn't really in their best financial interest. Particularly in states like Arizona -- where mortgages are nonrecourse, meaning the lender can't go after any of the homeowner's assets other than the property itself -- it makes little sense to continue paying a large mortgage on a devalued house when comparable rental rates are far below the monthly mortgage payment. The situation had University of Arizona economist Brent White scratching his head, and as a result he wrote a very interesting paper on the subject, which University of Chicago luminary Richard Thaler brought to an even broader audience over the weekend.
Come on, everybody's doing it
And who's doing this convincing? For a large part it's the financial companies themselves, folks like Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC). But they're not alone. They've had plenty of help from government officials like Hank Paulson. Back in 2008, Paulson launched a sharp jab against those who would consider walking away from their homes, saying:
Which makes perfect sense, since I imagine Paulson never speculated on anything when he was at the helm of trading king Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). And, of course, with de facto ownership of the ill-fated Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), the government doesn't stand to gain anything at all from persuading homeowners to act against their own best interest. During the implosion of the housing market, the government has helped massive financial firms and many homeowners who bought houses they never should have qualified to buy in the first place. Meanwhile, responsible borrowers who bought houses they could afford on traditional fixed-rate loans are made to feel as if they are morally bankrupting themselves if they decide to do what is often highly financially advisable. Why do we have this "norm asymmetry"? Why would we heap guilt onto this particular group? My guess is that if the powers that be answered honestly, that answer would be "because we can." Thanks to folks like Brent White, Richard Thaler, and homeowners who are already choosing to move against the grain, though, the stigma of walking away from a severely devalued asset may be waning. If this is the case, the big banks and Uncle Sam need to put away the wagging finger and instead actually deal with the situation in a reasonable and sound manner. I'd suggest a confab with White and Thaler as a good first step. Underwater homeowners have been getting some rotten advice, but they're not the only ones. Check out this terrible advice you should ignore. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Research and Markets: The Battery Technical Manual Contains the Most ... - PR Inside Posted: 26 Jan 2010 09:00 AM PST 2010-01-26 17:59:03 -
Research and Markets( www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9add3d/bci_battery_techni : The author has recently updated its Technical Manual to include the most current SAE Standards as well as the Industrial Battery Standards. The manual is for all users of automobile type lead acid batteries and some industrial batteries. Specific references to laboratory analyses and test methods for evaluation of battery performance, major component parts and raw materials used to manufacture these batteries are also included in the manual.All the outlined test procedures were written by industry technical personnel who are members of the BCI Technical Committees. The manual provides a common means for manufacturers and their customers to describe and compare desired battery performance. New also to the manual are the most current available SAE specifications, tests and procedures for batteries manufactured for Original Equipment (OE) purposes. The revisions are prepared by the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Storage Battery Subcommittee.
Key Topics Covered: - Section 0: Introduction, Safety Chapter, and Safe Booster Cable Operation
Research and MarketsLaura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com : mailto:press@researchandmarkets.com U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Congressman Upton: Jobs need to be focus of 2010 - WNDU Posted: 26 Jan 2010 04:20 AM PST Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have a lot to tackle in 2010, and it's only January. From healthcare to education, there could be some big changes this year. Michigan's 6th District Congressman Fred Upton says one of the things they must focus on is jobs. "One in 10 jobs in America is dependant upon the auto industry," Upton said. "Now we've lost one in five manufacturing jobs over the last two years, almost half of those jobs have come just from Michigan and you could say northern Indiana as well particularly with the RV industry. It's important that we get this industry up and running again because it has a tremendous impact on all of the suppliers; the tool and die operations, the seat manufacturers." Upton will at the Washington auto show Tuesday afternoon just like he was at the Detroit auto show earlier this month. Meantime, President Obama delivers his first State of the Union address Wednesday night. Congressman Upton says he is happy with the president's decision to freeze spending for three years on parts of the federal budget. "I'm going to support that. I have long been concerned about the deficit. This year I voted against a lot of appropriations bills, some of them with a pretty dramatic increase," Upton said. "This year if we can start off by saying it's going to be a freeze, zero percent increase, except for defense and veterans and homeland security, if we can freeze all this then I think that is a good step in the right direction and has a tremendous impact in the out years, two, three, four years from now." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Cop car contract approved - Post-Tribune Posted: 26 Jan 2010 02:12 AM PST PORTAGE -- The Board of Works approved contracts Monday on a pair of items that are being paid for by federal grants. And in at least one instance, the money is going further than first anticipated. City Engineer Craig Hendrix said he will ask for federal approval to contact dealers about ordering more police cars over and above those that will be coming from Arnell Auto Group in Burns Harbor, the lowest of three bidders. Arnell's bid of $20,799 per vehicle, totaling $395,197, was approved unanimously, subject to review by the city attorney and police inspection. The city will pay for the cars out of its cumulative capital improvement fund and then be reimbursed for the entire amount out of $492,000 that is being made available from federal Congestion Management funds. "The unused money will be used for more police cars," Hendrix said He said one dealer in Kokomo and two in Illinois were contacted under grant rules that required the city to seek proposals from outside the immediate area. Mayor Olga Velazquez said she hopes the cars can be delivered within 60 days. The city had scaled back its police car replacement schedule from 10 to eight a year because of budget constraints. Taking care of one more piece of damage from the September 2008 storms, the board awarded the contract for repairing erosion and washed-out trees around the outfall of the city's wastewater treatment plant to low bidder RV Sutton of Chesterton for $34,700. Hendrix offered no guesses about why the bids, all from area construction firms, ranged all the way up to $127,000, but he said the amount from Sutton and two others who were under $40,000 was because "they're hungry for work, and we're seeing the benefits." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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