patrick.net

Tannenbaum,

Do you remember the CBS5 "42 offers" misinformation campaign from about 2 weeks ago. That one was also thoroughly de-bunked.

What is the leson of all this: The realtor portion of the REIC sleazeballs are back in full propaganda mode, after laying low and trying to let banks and mortgage brokers take all the blame from the bubble.

Just heard from a colleague whose dad is in the construction business that the Sunnyvale downtown refurb project is gone. I am talking to about the Mathilda Ave project that involves blocks of condos and shopping.

I wonder when the condo buyers will start to get their deposit back.

justme,

Right my friend! And it never should have been off them for a minute. Of course the MB's were in Full Bunker Mode for a good year too. Then again, if the realtwhores can drum up business for them, they'll be only too happy to fill out the credit application!

Sunnyvale downtown will be a gigantic eyesore for years to come.

I heard that the project was internally halted by the committed retailers a couple of months ago, but they still paid to get the facade work going on (with no crew working on internal refurbishment), hoping that the credit market would improve. They eventually pulled the plug.

I wonder when the condo buyers will start to get their deposit back.

I thought they have not started selling them yet.

Ritholz is arguing that we should not overly be concerned with the 165M nonuses versus the 180B AIG bailout. I disagree.

**

If someone went to BankOfAmerica and robbed their main vault for 180B in cash, and then later agreed to return all the money except for 165M they would get to keep for being such nice and reasonable bank robbers, would we then also say that the 165M was peanuts or fleas on the elephants behind? Or would we say that we were rewarding bank robbers for robbing banks?

I know which view I think is reasonable. If we do not confiscate the 165M, we are basically saying the following: Hey, you’d better lose a really HUGE amount of money, because then we will ignore that you are keeping 0.1% of the losses as a premium for your criminally reckless activity.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Really? Then good news for the prospective buyers. I saw some sign boards there so I thought they presold some units already.

Really? Then good news for the prospective buyers. I saw some sign boards there so I thought they presold some units already.

I don't know...

They mis-timed the market badly.

I am against the bailout. But I do not want the government to start busting private contracts out of populism and smugness.

AIG employees *SHOULD* get their bonuses.

I was pissed when Sushi Maru (originally in Town Square sunnyvale) had to move to Milpitas because of this Sunnyvale Santana Row project. It was like 2.5 years ago.

Now 2.5 years later, Sunnyvale downtown will be left with a permanent scar without knowing when this scar will heal. Probably not for another decade given where we are heading towards.

Once AIG is taken over by the government, its contracts are government contracts, not private contracts any more. The government can do whatever it wants with a company it owns, as simple as that.

If AIG wants to set its own salary, it should return the government funding immediately, then I don't give a crap how much bonus it wants to pay out.

Once AIG is taken over by the government, its contracts are government contracts, not private contracts any more.

Not if the private contracts pre-date the government take-over, right?

Sunnyvale Santana Row...

LOL!!!

The "real" Santana Row is fake enough. Why would people even want that?

Santana Row in San Jose is the perfect Fake Tuscan (TM) Village. It get's suburban American chicks all hot and bothered. What can I say.

No thanks...

I rather go to Westfield Shopping "Town"...

BTW, I just got back from OC...

No sign of a recession whatsoever.

Orange County? I have heard things are really bad in OC.

BofA and Citi are already gaming the system of the Geithner plan:

http://www.businessinsider.com/it-looks-like-citi-and-bank-of-america-are-already-gaming-the-system-2009-3

Is there no real that the banks can only unload already existing holdings, as in holding that they already owned as of (say) 2009-01 or that they originated, or something like that?

justme says:

If we do not confiscate the 165M, we are basically saying the following: Hey, you’d better lose a really HUGE amount of money, because then we will ignore that you are keeping 0.1% of the losses as a premium for your criminally reckless activity.

I presume you know by now how Obama et al are seriously backpedaling about recovering those bonuses. No method, tax or otherwise, will be used to force repayment. We will just see some well advertised voluntary paybacks by a few, which I believe will be quietly reimbursed to those generous souls by some mechanism in the near future.

The government is not revoking the contract, it is slapping on retro-active taxation, which actually is NOT UNconsitutional and NOT without precedents.

So as long as the government still pays out the bonus, yet at the same time slap on as much punitive taxation on it as they wish, I am all for the decision.

"It get's suburban American chicks all hot and bothered"

Where is this place again?

"They mis-timed the market badly"

No way to argue that, but again, at any point in the economic cycle there are bound to be developments in mid-project! Sure it looks simply awful but I keep wondering when the Seek Shelter Siren would be sounded to everyone's satisfaction?

That would ensure everyone from corp. execs to young couples contemplating marriage could put their plans on hold and spare us 'their' embarrassment.

HS,

That remains to be seen. I was simply speaking out against those who FAVOR or want to justify bonuses.

I have heard things are really bad in OC.

How so? People still _look_ rich.

The hotel was packed. Restaurants were full.

I have seen more exotic cars in a day than ever:

Enzo
F40
McLaren SLR
Maybach 57S

Not to mention a pretty Gulfstream G550 at SNA.

So as long as the government still pays out the bonus, yet at the same time slap on as much punitive taxation on it as they wish, I am all for the decision.

Taxation is bad enough. Retroactive taxation is just plain wicked. I will not wish that on my worst enemies.

How can you even advocate punitive taxation? That is the last thing we want to see. Do you want the government to decide who deserves what? I don't.

DinOR,

Santana Row actually has a very interesting history.

It was built during the height of the dot com years from 1999(?) to 2001, and as you can already see, timed the market very poorly. In fact, as far as I recall, it was scheduled to launch right after 911.

So after 911, we were like, uh oh, is this place gonna go mid-project forever? It was about 75% finished at that point. Then, came the BIG FIRE that basically burnt down everything, so the developer recouped all its development expenses by the insurance company, how convenient. Interestingly, there was no charge of arson or even investigation, partially because leaving such a big project idle will be to nobody's advantage, that nobody obviously include the city. Then the developer started building again as the real estate bubble picked up, and this time on borrowed time and money, it was successfully launched.

Now I am going to predict a big fire that will burn down the half finished part of the Santana Row Sunnyvale. Or maybe not, because the project is not even 25% done.

From wikipedia:

On August 19, 2002, during construction, the largest building at Santana Row (Building 7, "Santana Heights") caught fire. The fire eventually caused $120,000,000 in damages, and spread to at least 13 apartment buildings downwind of the shopping center on Moorpark Avenue, across Interstate 280. The main fire spread to five alarms, while the secondary fires required six alarms. It was the largest structure fire in San Jose's history.

Btw, I do remember that the original launch date was delayed from shortly after 911 to much later due to the economy.

DinOR,

They are getting hot and bothered about all the luxury goods in the storefront windows. Santana Row would be much more useful if it was the other kind of hot and bothered, but alas....

http://www.santanarow.com/

To put in another way. Santana Row is an "if I hang out here, I'm worth this much more myself" kind of place.

In short, Santana Row sucks.

You know, I am an advocate of luxury goods. Still, I hate the people there.

And I wish food is better there.

It's pretty cold in Hell today.

Bap33, as usual, you have good points. :)

AIG executives might have been naughty but welfare leeches may well be the downfall of civilization.

This is why I think the 24th Amendment was a mistake. It created an excessive political will to implement increasingly progressive taxation and handout programs.

Ronald Reagan did an excellent job to reverse some damages but when are we going to get the next Ron?

I've been a fan of this blog for some time, but this is my first comment. It's always fascinating to see where the thread goes. I particularly like PermaRenter's comment on 3/24.

Patrick's question is a good one: how does the Fed's buying of Treasury debt influence CD rates?

Treasury yields influence all other rates because they are the benchmark of what is perceived to be zero default risk. The thinking is that the Federal govt will not default on its obligations. I agree with much of what people have said here, that the govt will in fact default (either outright or through inflation). In fact, it wasn't even that long ago that the govt did a similar thing. In 1933 Roosevelt devalued the dollar and refused to honor the obligation to redeem bonds in gold, a kind of default.

All other debt must have a higher interest rate, because it has a higher default risk than Treasuries. Mortgage rates should be higher, but rates that you'd get on a CD or savings account can be lower, because the bank is borrowing in order to lend, and profiting from the spread in rates. Market competition for CDs and savings deposits should keep the spread in a narrow range.

A number of people have said get out of CDs and Treasuries, but I haven't seen much discussion of keeping your assets in the ultimate safe haven: gold. I see the Dow headed south of 2000. What financial firms can survive that? Will your bank survive it? Will your broker? Only one asset will be left standing once the incredible sea of leverage has drained and that is gold.

@wlindemann
·
20h
Replying to @wlindemann
Yes, repeal the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Those traitorous politicians gave our monetary sovereignty to the Central Banks - and we have been the Central Banks mercenary bitches since that time.

After two world wars and a plethora of other deadly conflicts, not one politician in Washington DC ever thought that it may be a good idea to take ourselves off of their system. The wealth of the Central Banks and the families that own them needs to be confiscated and every family member eliminated. That may sound harsh, but these people are engaged in killing 90% of the people on this planet. Its the only way humanity can survive.
Posted on 1:30 PM · Jun 16th, 2022

rwmalonemd
@rwmalonemd
·
2h
To understand the CORONAcrisis, the most important things you need to know are that:
1) The Federal Reserve bank is not part of the US Government. It is privately owned.
2) The US Government does not control the Federal Reserve Bank. The Federal Reserve Bank controls the US Government Bureaucracy AND the Uniparty politicians.

The same relationship holds for virtually all western governments and their corresponding "central banks".

Once you understand these two facts, then you can start to make sense out of what otherwise makes no sense at all from a public health point of view.

And until you fully appreciate these facts and the related implications, nothing about the CORONAcrisis will make sense.

https://gettr.com/comment/c15vm881fcc

@wlindemann
·
20h
Replying to @wlindemann
Yes, repeal the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Those traitorous politicians gave our monetary sovereignty to the Central Banks - and we have been the Central Banks mercenary bitches since that time.

After two world wars and a plethora of other deadly conflicts, not one politician in Washington DC ever thought that it may be a good idea to take ourselves off of their system. The wealth of the Central Banks and the families that own them needs to be confiscated and every family member eliminated. That may sound harsh, but these people are engaged in killing 90% of the people on this planet. Its the only way humanity can survive.
Posted on 1:30 PM · Jun 16th, 2022

A rather harsh take, but maybe correct.

Dr Malone:

I would assume the Fed has relationships with the WEF and Globalist crowds. How could they not?

Anybody see something really odd here?
Don't gaslight me, bro.

Rudy Havenstein
12 hr ago
According to the Federal Reserve, as of 3 days ago the share of total net worth held by the top 1% plummeted.
Someone please call them out on this (unless it’s an innocent mistake, which it is not).

https://rudy.substack.com/p/-