More transparency needed, Hickory - As printed in the Hickory Daily Record - July 6, 2013
No, Hickory Daily Record, you do not really hear us. Clearly, Citizens
for Equity in Government and the newspaper agree that governmental
transparency is important, even crucial if elected officials and those
who work for them are to be properly held accountable. But just as
clearly, the HDR seems to think that the burden for ensuring
transparency and accountability rests on the shoulders of the people,
not the elected officials or the city staff whom we the people pay
through our tax dollars. In this regard, you sound very much like some
on the City Council and the city manager.
Instead of
encouraging, indeed expecting government to do everything feasible and
prudent to enhance public access to the actions the Council takes, you
blame the people for being apathetic. You argue that “there is no
shortage of access.” However, have you considered that not everyone
can afford to subscribe to the newspaper, or
that not everyone has access to a computer? Have you considered that
even for those who can afford the HDR, only reading your version of what
happened in a meeting is not the same as seeing it for themselves?
Had Citizens for Equity in Government not urged the council to video
tape its proceedings, there is no evidence to suggest that the city
would have ever made even one video to put on its website. Now we must
ask (because the HDR hasn’t) why they feel it is necessary to delete
the video after only two weeks. These videos may not be the official
minutes of a meeting, but they are public documents and part of the
public record. And as we understand it, because the city already has
an agreement with Charter Cable for access to the government channel,
there should not be an extra cost for airing the videos. It is
also worth mentioning how the city had no problems with airing the
forum at the SALT Block during the referendum debate on cable when it
served their purposes.
Citizens for Equity in Government agrees with all of the positive suggestions the HDR makes in its editorial.
Indeed, we have been doing just what you suggest for over two years,
and we will continue to do so. We also encourage other residents to do
so as well.
But whether a council meeting is entertaining or
not is irrelevant. We are not looking for a “show,” as your headline
implies, simply the greatest degree of transparency feasible, provided
to as many residents as possible about how the people’s elected
representatives are doing their jobs. We don’t think that is too much to
ask.
OK to slaughter horses for meat, federal agency tells New Mexico plant - CNBC - Reuters through CNBC - June 28, 2013 - A New Mexico meat plant received federal approval on Friday to slaughter horses for meat, a move that drew immediate opposition from animal rights group and will likely be opposed by the White House. The U.S. Agriculture Department said it was required by law to issue a "grant of inspection" to Valley Meat Co, Roswell, New Mexico, because it had met all federal requirements. Now, the USDA is obliged to assign meat inspectors to the plant. The USDA also said it may soon issue similar grants for plants in Missouri and Iowa. Horse meat cannot be sold as food in the United States, but it can be exported. Attempts to reach Valley Meat Co. via a number listed online were unsuccessful. Valley Meat would be the first meat plant to be allowed to slaughter horses since Congress banned it in 2006. It is not known when the plant will start production, but two bills in Congress want to ban horse slaughter and President Barack Obama has asked Congress to ban it. Multiple Government Agencies Are Keeping Records Of Your Credit Card Transactions - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael Snyder - June 28th, 2013 - Were you under the impression that your credit card transactions are private? If so, I am sorry to burst your bubble. As you will see below, there are actually multiple government agencies that are gathering and storing records of your credit card transactions. And in turn, those government agencies share that information with other government agencies that want it. So if you are making a purchase that you don't want anyone to know about, don't use a credit card. This is one of the reasons why the government hates cash so much. It is just so hard to track. In this day and age, the federal government seems to be absolutely obsessed with gathering as much information about all of us as it possibly can. But there is one big problem. What they are doing directly violates the U.S. Constitution. For those that are not familiar with it, the following is what the Fourth Amendment actually says: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Unfortunately, the Fourth Amendment is essentially dead at this point. The federal government is investigating all of us and gathering information on all of us all day, every day without end. Many Americans have never even heard of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but Judicial Watch has discovered that they are spending millions of dollars to collect and analyze our financial transactions... How do you feel about the fact that the government has contracts with "multiple credit reporting agencies and accounting firms to gather, store, and share credit card data"? How do you feel about the fact that your credit card data and other "non-public, confidential information" may be shared with "additional government entities"? Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton put it very well when he said that this "warrantless collection of the private financial information of millions of Americans is mind-blowing. Is there anything that this administration thinks it can’t do?" But of course the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not the only one keeping records of your credit card transactions. We have also recently learned that the NSA is doing it too. The following is from a recent Time Magazine article... We are rapidly becoming a "Big Brother society" where the government tracks virtually every move that we make.
And don't think that you can escape this by not using credit cards or by staying off of the Internet. The truth is that we are being tracked in hundreds of different ways. For example, have you heard of automated license plate readers? They are being installed on police vehicles all over the nation, and the amount of information that they are gathering on all of us is frightening. A computer security consultant named Michael Katz-Lacabe asked the city of San Leandro, California for a record of every time that these license plate readers had scanned his vehicle, and what he discovered absolutely stunned him... Most Americans do not even know that these devices exist, but they have been "collecting millions of records" and feeding them into law enforcement databases all over the nation. In San Diego alone, more than 36 million license plate scans have been fed into a regional database just since 2010...
Is this the kind of society that we want to become? Do we really want the police to be taking millions of photographs of us? Do we really want all of our financial transactions to be fed directly into federal databases? Do we really want the government to track every phone call we make and every email we send? As I wrote about recently, it has been documented that literally thousands of companies have been handing over customer data to the NSA.
Is this the kind of legacy that we want to leave for our children and our grandchildren? Fortunately, it appears that at least some Americans are waking up to all of this. According to a brand new Rasmussen survey, 56 percent of likely voters in the United States now believe that the federal government is a threat to individual rights... If the American people do not stand up and demand change, the people that are constantly violating our privacy are going to continue to do so. Sadly, the vast majority of the politicians in both major political parties seem to think that there is nothing wrong with the status quo. So I wouldn't expect any major changes in the short-term. But hopefully government surveillance will start to become such a major issue with the American people that the politicians will be forced to start addressing it.
How the Government collects your information:
36 Hard Questions About The U.S. Economy That The Mainstream Media Should Be Asking - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael Snyder - June 30th, 2013 - If the economy is improving, then why aren't things getting better for most average Americans? They tell us that the unemployment rate is going down, but the percentage of Americans that are actually working is exactly the same it was three years ago. They tell us that American families are in better financial shape now, but real disposable income is falling rapidly. They tell us that inflation is low, but every time we go shopping at the grocery store the prices just seem to keep going up. They tell us that the economic crisis is over, and yet poverty and government dependence continue to explode to unprecedented heights. There seems to be a disconnect between what the government and the media are telling us and what is actually true. With each passing day the debt of the federal government grows larger, the financial world become even more unstable and more American families fall out of the middle class. The same long-term economic trends that have been eating away at our economy like cancer for decades continue to ruthlessly attack the foundations of our economic system. We are rapidly speeding toward an economic cataclysm, and yet the government and most of the media make it sound like happy days are here again. The American people deserve better than this. The American people deserve the truth. The following are 36 hard questions about the U.S. economy that the mainstream media should be asking...
Lawmakers fail to reach student loan deal before July 4 break - Fox News - Perry Chiaramonte - June 27, 2013 - Interest rates on student loans are set to double on Monday after lawmakers failed to find a bipartisan solution to keep the federally subsidized borrowing costs down. The Senate adjourned Thursday night for the July 4 recess without approving a student loan rate package.
With the current, 3.4 percent interest rate on Stafford loans -- the most popular funding for college students – set to expire on July 1, a host of 11th-hour fixes all failed to generate support from both sides of the aisle. Without new legislation -- either to extend the cap, set a new one or find another way to peg the loans – the cap rises to 6.8 percent. Congress could always forge a solution in the following days, even lowering rates retroactively. The higher rates would add about $3,000 to the total interest on a $23,000 student loan repaid over 10 years.
U.S. education spending tops global list, study shows - AP through CBS News - June 25, 2013 - The United States spends more than other developed nations on its students' education each year, with parents and private foundations picking up more of the costs, an international survey released Tuesday found. Despite the spending, U.S. students still trail their rivals on international tests. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — which groups the world's most developed countries — writes in its annual report that brand-new and experienced teachers alike in the United States out-earn most of their counterparts around the globe. But U.S. salaries have not risen at the same pace as other nations. The findings, part of a 440-page tome of statistics, put the United States' spending on its young people in context. The United States spent more than $11,000 per elementary student in 2010 and more than $12,000 per high school student. When researchers factored in the cost for programs after high school education such as college or vocational training, the United States spent $15,171 on each young person in the system — more than any other nation covered in the report.
Ron Baron: Geithner Says Fed Exit from QE Will Take 5 Years - Newsmax MoneyNews - Dan Weil - June 28, 2013 - Billionaire investor Ron Baron says former Treasury Secretary Tim
Geithner said at an event he attended that the Federal Reserve will take
five year to end its easing program.
Baron told CNBC that he interpreted Geithner's remarks to mean it would
take that long for the Fed to taper its quantitative easing (QE)
program. The central bank is currently buying $85 billion of Treasurys
and mortgage-backed securities a month.
"As far as the ending of quantitative easing, [Geithner] thought that
was going to, when it ultimately began, take five years — a five-year
process to wind down these bond purchases," Baron said.
"That doesn't mean that's what's going to happen. That's just his opinion of what's going to happen." As for interest rates, Baron stated that Geithner said it "wasn't likely
that the [short-term] interest rates would rise anytime soon.
[Geithner] meant for years and years."
"I always believe that when people are telling me something, they're
telling me something for a reason. He was telling us something also
presumably to try to calm the market." The federal funds rate target stands at a record low of zero to 0.25
percent, and the Fed has stated that it doesn't plan to raise the target
until unemployment drops to 6.5 percent. The jobless rate stood at 7.6
percent in May.
On Thursday, three Fed officials gave speeches indicating investors had
overreacted to comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week that
the Fed may start tapering its QE later this year.
Meanwhile, the White House has begun putting together a short list of
candidates to succeed Bernanke, as he has indicated he won't seek
reappointment when his term ends in January, knowledgeable sources told
The Wall Street Journal.
Experts have speculated that candidates include Fed vice chairwoman
Janet Yellen, Geithner and Lawrence Summers, former head of President
Barack Obama's National Economic Council.
68 Senators Vote to Create Incentive for Employers to Hire Amnestied Immigrants Over U.S. Citizens - The Weekly Standard - By JOHN MCCORMACK - June 28, 2013 - The immigration bill passed by the Senate Thursday afternoon would give some employers a financial incentive to employ "registered provisional immigrants" (illegal immigrants granted legal status) instead of U.S. citizens. As the Washington Examiner's Philip Klein recently reported: "Under Obamacare, businesses with over 50 workers that employ American citizens without offering them qualifying health insurance could be subject to fines of up to $3,000 per worker. But because newly legalized immigrants wouldn’t be eligible for subsidies on the Obamacare exchanges until after they become citizens – at least 13 years under the Senate bill – businesses could avoid such fines by hiring the new immigrants instead." On Tuesday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD asked five U.S. senators about this problem, and none of them knew if it was a problem. "We're trying to solve that right now. I don't know if that's been solved," Senator Max Baucus of Montana (chief author of Obamacare) told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. "I don't know. I'd have to look at it closely," said Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. "I just haven't read it that closely to know." As The New Republic, Investors' Business Daily, and the Washington Examiner have all reported, this problem certainly does exist, and the bill was never amended to fix the problem before it was passed by the Senate on a 68-32 vote Thursday afternoon. "[Registered provisional immigrants] are not subject to mandate and the do not count towards an employer's penalty," Sean Neary, communications director for the Senate Finance Committee, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD in an email late Thursday night. Study: 30-somethings worse off than their parents' generation - CBS News
I haven't written about this in a long time, but it is time that the mess that is UNC-Chapel Hill gets cleaned up. This isn't just an athletic problem. It is an institutional problem. Let's see what we have seen and heard, payoffs to players, illegal gifts, illegal transportation, illegal trips, lack of transparency by the University involving parking tickets by athletes, lack of willingness to produce public information, illegal agent activity, forgery, grade changing, plagiarism, no-show classes for athletes, players arrested for drug activity, players with illegal weapons, a former admired Governor who shows himself to be just another political system enabler, NCAA basically endorsing academic fraud, NCAA turning blind eye towards multiple incidences of illegal agent activity....
The following will be a another black eye to UNC-Chapel Hill. They had to have had this information for a while now and they continue to attempt to play hide and go seek with information related to their athletic program. The tail not only wags the dog at UNC-CH. They have allowed this to infect whole political and bureaucratic institutions within the State of North Carolina by associaition and non-compliance. This is the definition of a University out of control. It is high time to clean this up!
The information below was born from a few tips, which lead to some document searches, some data mining, some research and connections, and finally a series of correlations that revealed an identity. Take it or leave it.
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PJ Hairston was arrested in Durham in early June while driving a 2013 Yukon rental. He (and his two passengers) were arrested for marijuana, and later it was revealed that a 9mm handgun was also found outside the vehicle.
Between the speculation of why Hairston didn't have his license... whether he had a license at all... whether he was old enough to rent a vehicle in NC... etc. .... the main question of WHO rented the vehicle for him was never supplied to the media by Hairston, and certainly not by unc.
Furthermore, there have been claims that Hairston was seen driving the same Yukon (as well as other "new" vehicles) for days/weeks prior to his arrest. These are as-yet unconfirmed.
But focusing on the Yukon:
The renter of the vehicle Hairston was driving on the night he was arrested was Hayden "Fats" Thomas of Durham, 39 years of age.
At times in the past he has been known by: HP Thomas; “Fats” Thomas; and “Haydn” without the “e”.
He has prior arrests on a variety of counts, but more recently (and most notably) on drug and weapons charges. Specifically, he was arrested on 12/15/12 on those charges.
Social media sites connect Thomas with a Durham figure who has been verbally connected to unc in the past, in the form of promoting parties for players, as well as rumors of illegal gifts/benefits: Tim Harrington.
Another interesting fact is that Thomas was also involved in the Crystal Mangum (Duke Lacrosse) case. He was supposedly a bouncer/manager at the club where Mangum danced, and was one of the prosecution’s witnesses in the trial.
In reading through some of the links and details of his involvement in the trial, some blog/internet writers referred to him as one of Durham’s “biggest pimps and drug dealers”.
The name of Thomas will show up in the rental records if/when they are officially released.
Furthermore, witnesses say that when asked (on the night of his arrest) where Hairston got the vehicle, Hairston replied "from Fats".
The following items do not paint this turn of events in a positive light for Hairston: The criminal activity of Thomas from the past 10 years, the more recent drugs and weapons charges, and the combination of those events with the fact that Hairston was arrested in Durham – with accessories (gun, baggies) that seemed to suggest more than casual marijuana use.
Since the City of Hickory has chosen to delete the Video Recording they have uploaded to Youtube, I will be uploading and archiving the old meetings to the Hickory Hound Youtube Channel and linking them here on the Hickory Hound as they delete them. This is done for your reference.
The Rational Market Myth — Paul Craig Roberts - June 20, 2013 - One of the myths of economics is that markets are rational. Theories are based on this assumption, and the belief that markets are rational fuels the argument against regulation. The market response to the Federal Reserve’s June 19 statement that it will taper off its bond purchases if its forecast comes true is unequivocal proof that markets are irrational. The Federal Reserve’s statement that it “currently anticipates that it would be appropriate to moderate the monthly pace of purchases [of bonds] later this year” depends on a very big if. The if is the correctness of the Fed’s forecast of moderate economic growth and employment gains. The Fed has not stopped purchasing $85 billion of bonds each month. So nothing real has changed. Indeed, there was no new information in the Fed’s statement. It has been known for some time that, according to the Fed, its bond purchases will gradually cease. In response to this repeat of old information, the stock and bond markets sold off in a major way on June 19-20. This market response to the Fed’s statement indicates that the Fed’s forecast is unlikely to come true. Low interest rates and a high stock market are totally dependent on the liquidity that the Fed is injecting by printing $1,000 billion per year. If this liquidity is not injected, what will sustain the markets? If the markets crash and interest rates rise, how can the Fed expect recovery? In other words, the participants in the stock and bond markets know that the markets are bubbles created by the printing press. There is no real basis for the high stock and bond prices. The prices are an artificial reality created by the printing press. Rational markets would take into account the printing press element and would price stocks and bonds at a much lower level. Zero real interest rates mean that there are no risks. But how can there be no risk in Treasury bonds when the debt is growing faster than the economy? Normally, high stock values mean strong profits from strong consumer income growth and retail sales. But we know that there is no growth in real median family income and real retail sales. I suspect that the reason the Fed made the announcement, which seems to be derailing the Fed’s forecast of recovery on which the announcement depends, is to relieve pressure on the US dollar. For several years the Fed has been printing 1,000 billion new dollars each year. There is no demand for these dollars. So far these dollars have inflated stock and bond prices instead of consumer prices. But the implication for the dollar’s price or exchange value in currency markets is clear. The supply is increasing faster than the demand. If the dollar falters, the Fed would lose control. Rising import prices would soon drive domestic inflation and interest rates far higher than the Fed’s targets. Washington has succeeded in getting Japan and the EU to print yen and euros in order to eliminate the likelihood of flight to other large currency alternatives to the dollar. Smaller countries have also had to print in order to protect their export markets. With so many countries printing money, the Fed’s statement implying that the US might stop printing makes the dollar look good, and, indeed, the dollar rose on the currency exchange markets. Having neutralized the alternative currency threat to the dollar, the Fed and its agents, the bullion banks, the banks too big to fail, are still at work against the gold and silver threats to the dollar. Massive short selling of gold began at the beginning of April. Again on June 20 massive shorts of gold were sold at a time of day chosen to maximize the price decline. Only those who intend to drive down the price would sell in this way. Since QE began, the Fed has deprived retirees of interest income and has forced retirees to spend down their capital in order to pay living expenses. Judging from the initial market response, the Fed’s latest policy announcement is adversely impacting bond, stock and real estate investors, and the manipulation of the bullion markets continues to wreak destruction on wealth stored in the only known safe haven. How can a recovery happen when the Fed is destroying wealth?.....
“If The Yield Goes Significantly Higher The Market Is Going To Freak Out” - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - June 21st, 2013 - If yields on U.S. Treasury bonds keep rising, things are going to get very messy. As I write this, the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasures has risen to 2.51 percent. If that keeps going up, it is going to be like a mile wide lawnmower blade devastating everything in its path. Ben Bernanke's super low interest rate policies have systematically pushed investors into stocks and real estate over the past several years because there were few other places where they could get decent returns. As this trade unwinds (and it will likely not be in an orderly fashion), we are going to see unprecedented carnage. Stocks, ETFs, home prices and municipal bonds will all be devastated. And of course that will only be the beginning. What we are ultimately looking at is a sell off very similar to 2008, only this time we will have to deal with rising interest rates at the same time. The conditions for a "perfect storm" are rapidly developing, and if something is not done we could eventually have a credit crunch unlike anything that we have ever seen before in modern times. At the moment, perhaps the most important number in the financial world is the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries. A lot of investors are really concerned about how rapidly it has been rising. For example, Patrick Adams, a portfolio manager at PVG Asset Management, was quoted in USA Today as saying the following on Friday... If interest rates keep rising, it is going to have a dramatic effect throughout the economy. In an article that he just posted, Charles Hugh Smith explained some of the things that we might soon see... In addition, rapidly rising interest rates would throw the municipal bond market into absolute chaos. In fact, according to Reuters, nearly 2 billion dollars worth of municipal bond sales were postponed on Thursday because of rising rates... We are rapidly moving into unprecedented territory. Nobody is quite sure what comes next. One financial professional says that municipal bond investors "are in for the shock of their lives"... This is one of the reasons why I write about China so much. China has a tremendous amount of leverage over the global financial system. If China starts selling bonds at about the same time that the Fed stops buying bonds we could see a shift of unprecedented proportions. Sadly, most Americans have absolutely no idea how vulnerable the financial system is. Most Americans have absolutely no idea that our system of finance is a house of cards built on a foundation of risk, debt and leverage. Most Americans have complete and total faith that our leaders know what they are doing and are fully capable of keeping our financial system from collapsing. In the end, most Americans are going to be bitterly, bitterly disappointed.
The Real Cost: Rising Interest Rates and Monthly Mortgage Payments - Wall St. 24/7 - June 21, 2013 - The latest rise in interest rates is already having impact on the on housing affordability. As rates rise, mortgage payments on new and existing home sales go up as well. Even though interest rates are still incredibly low. That being said, we wanted to analyze how the move in the 10-Year Treasury hitting 2.50% for the first time since August of 2011 is going to impact the mortgage costs for borrowers. For starters, many banks are still requiring a 20% down and we are no changing that figure for calculations. The daily mortgage rates advertised at Bankrate.com showed rates ranging from 4.25% up to 4.85%. We decided to use an average home price of $300,000 since the U.S. Census Bureau showed the average home price peaking above $300,000 before the recession and with prices up handily since the last measurement of $272,900 from 2012. We broke this out in a smaller table below. The graph here from Bankrate.com shows that 30-year mortgage rates are getting up to 4.25%, but they were down at 3.50% less than sixty days ago. So on a $300,000 house here is the change in payments after deducting your 20% down and not considering your property tax payments:
$240,000 at 3.50% is $1,077.71 Per Month
$240,000 at 3.75% is $1,111.48 Per Month
$240,000 at 4.00% is $1,145.80 Per Month
$240,000 at 4.25% is $1,180.66 Per Month
$240,000 at 4.50% is $1,216.04 Per Month
Now, let’s pretend rates keep rising and home prices do not go down. That may seem unlikely, but many shortages still exist in local markets. Lets pretend that rates keep climbing:
$240,000 at 5.00% is $1,288.37 Per Month
$240,000 at 6.00% is $1,438.92 Per Month...
20 Signs That The Pharmaceutical Companies Are Running A 280 Billion Dollar Money Making Scam - The End of the American Dream - Michael - June 20th, 2013 - If you could get 70 percent of Americans addicted to your drugs and rake in $280 billion a year in the process, would you do it? If you could come up with a “pill for every problem” and charge Americans twice as much for those pills as people in other countries pay, would you do it? If you could make more money than you ever dreamed possible by turning the American people into the most doped up people in the history of the planet, would you do it? In America today, the number of people hooked on legal drugs absolutely dwarfs the number of people hooked on illegal drugs. And sadly, the number of people killed by legal drugs absolutely dwarfs the number of people killed by illegal drugs. But most Americans assume that if a drug is “legal” that it must be safe. After all, the big pharmaceutical companies and the federal government would never allow us to take anything that would hurt us, right? Sadly, the truth is that they don’t really care about us. They don’t really care that prescription painkillers are some of the most addictive drugs on the entire planet and that they kill more Americans each year than heroin and cocaine combined. They don’t care that antidepressants are turning tens of millions of Americans into zombies and can significantly increase the chance of suicide (just look at the warning label). All the big pharmaceutical companies really care about is making as much money as they possibly can. The following are 20 signs that the pharmaceutical companies are running a $280 billion money making scam…
Bank of America ordered us to lie, ex-workers say - Commentary: Abused government program to stop foreclosures - Market Watch - Al Lewis - June 19, 2013 - Several former Bank of America employees filed declarations in a federal court last week claiming the mortgage lender told them to lie to customers seeking loan modifications. Bank of America BAC-1.55% fired back, essentially calling them the liars. “Each of the declarations is rife with factual inaccuracies,” the bank responded in a statement emailed to media. Bank of America also attacked the credibility of the lawyers who gathered these declarations as part of a class-action lawsuit filed in 2011 in Boston’s federal district court. “These attorneys are painting a false picture of the bank’s practices,” the bank said in the statement, adding it would respond more thoroughly in court next month. It always makes for engaging courtroom drama when witnesses call the defendant a liar, and then the defendant says the witnesses are liars. But if these witnesses are liars, they’re liars who worked at Bank of America. Read more about the allegations. It’s also worth noting that Bank of America was among five mortgage servicers that reached a $25 billion settlement with state and federal regulators last year to resolve similar allegations of abusive foreclosure practices. And here’s the other thing: Ever since the Obama administration started the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, in 2009, we’ve been hearing about people who say they applied for a loan modification only to hear that the bank inexplicably lost their paperwork — and then their homes were foreclosed. Former Bank of America employees allege the bank had this paperwork all along. Saying it didn’t was part of a scheme to deny loan modifications and to steer financially troubled customers into more expensive re-financings. Oh, if only Snidely Whiplash, and all the other mustachioed villains from yesteryear’s melodramas, could see the way banks can foreclose on granny’s homestead today. The employees say they got bonuses for denying as many loan modifications as possible. And for putting homes into foreclosure, they say Bank of America rewarded them with gift cards to Target and Bed Bath and Beyond -- where housewares are sold, if you can fathom that irony. The accusations are so outrageous, it’s best to read them in the former employee’s own words — which they have submitted under penalty of perjury.
Staten Island Sandy Victims Charged for Unused Water - The bills have been as high as $500 - WNBC (New York) - Jonathan Vigliotti - June 23, 2013 - Staten Island residents whose homes were devastated by Sandy say the city is charging them hundreds of dollars for water they haven't used since the storm. Some of the bills have been as high as $500, which Rep. Michael Grimm calls ridiculous. "That's $500 these people could use to replace a washer or dryer or refrigerator swept out to sea during Sandy," Grimm said at a press conference Saturday. The Department of Environmental Protection sent a letter to residents saying they were subject to a minimum charge of $1.19 a day even if they weren't using water in their homes. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing, $320 for water," said Stephanie Argento about a bill she got for her South Beach house, which she hasn't been living in. "That's money I could put to my rent."
Grimm said he has contacted the Department of Environmental Protection and asked them to waive the charges but has yet to hear back. Last November DEP suspended billing and interest for more than 9,000 homes that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy and each account has since been carefully reviewed and more than half a million dollars in leak forgiveness has been granted, Ted Timbers, a Department of Environmental Protection spokesman told NBC 4 New York. The Department of Environmental Protection told NBC 4 New York that billing hasn't resumed if a home is uninhabitable.
I will graduate with $100,000 in loans - CNN Money - By Jennifer Liberto - June 19, 2013 - When Kelly Mears graduates from Union College in the summer of 2015, she will have $100,000 in student loans. Armed with a political science degree, Mears will join more than a million Americans who have racked up breathtaking amounts of student debt. Mears is also one of 7 million undergraduates caught in the middle of a debate in Washington over government-subsidized student loans, as interest rates are set to double to 6.8% from 3.4% on July 1. "It just seems to be a part of the growing American experience to go to school, graduate and work off that debt for the rest of your life," Mears said. Super-borrowers with $100,000 of student loan debt aren't the norm. The average student graduates with $27,000 of loan debt. The New York Fed said those who borrow $100,000 or more are about 3.1% of borrowers nationwide. But it's easy to see how students get there, with four years of private college tuition running $116,000 on average, according to the College Board.
Business majors most likely to be underemployed, report finds - CNN Money - Angela Johnson - June 19, 2013 - What you major in can mean the difference between making an annual salary or making Frappucinos post-graduation, according to a recent report. While underemployment is an issue facing many graduates, those who major in business administration and management, criminal justice, drama, English and psychology, are more likely to work in jobs they are overqualified for, according to a report released Tuesday by career web site PayScale.
Based on an analysis of PayScale's 40 million job profiles, the report looked at the top ten majors most affected by underemployment, and the most common jobs graduates with bachelor's degrees in these fields settled for post-graduation. Those who majored in business administration and management are 8.2 times more likely to find work in a job beneath their skill level, the report found. Those with criminal justice and drama degrees are nearly 7 times more likely to be underemployed, and liberal arts, anthropology, psychology and English degree holders aren't doing so well compared to their peers either.
Estimate shows wages would drop under Senate immigration bill, despite economic uptick - Fox News - Published June 19, 2013 - While supporters of the Senate immigration bill tout a new analysis that shows the legislation would boost the economy and trim the deficit, critics are seizing on another, less rosy stat -- the average American wage would drop, and not recover for more than a decade. The analysis from the Congressional Budget Office projected that, if the Senate bill passes, the influx of new immigrants would have the effect of slightly bringing down the average wage. Specifically, the estimate showed average wages for the entire labor force "would be 0.1 percent lower in 2023." It would affect lower- and higher-skilled workers more than those in the middle of the spectrum. The detail, included in a catalog of more positive statistics, was not lost on one of the bill's chief critics, Sen. Jeff Sessions, whose office blasted out the projection as evidence the bill would hurt the workforce. "The wages of U.S. workers -- which should be growing -- will instead decline," Sessions, R-Ala., said. "It would be the biggest setback for poor and middle-class Americans of any legislation Congress has considered in decades." Democrats, and some conservatives, disagree strongly with Sessions on that point. The CBO estimated that the bill would actually boost the economy -- or gross domestic product -- by 3.3 percent over the next decade, and by 5.4 percent the decade after that. Wages would eventually rise, the office said, but not for roughly a dozen years. Effectively, the CBO said it would take time for the economy to catch up with the influx of workers. "As the labor supply initially increased under the legislation, less capital would be available for each worker to produce output, and thus workers' output, on average, would be lower for a time. That decline would reduce average wages relative to those under current law," the report said.
DAK Americas closing Navassa plant - (WWAY Wilmington, NC) - Brandon Taylor - June 19, 2013 - Six-hundred people will soon be out of work after a Brunswick County factory closes its doors. Charlotte-based DAK Americas says it will close its plant in Navassa this fall. The company's President and CEO Jorge Young made the announcement earlier this afternoon at a news conference in Wilmington. He says the Cape Fear Manufacturing Site in Navassa will close at the end of September. That means hundreds of full-time and contract workers will be out of work. The plant makes PET resin, polyester staple fiber and raw materials for the other two. Young says today has been a very difficult day, but he says the employees handled the news very professionally. "Closing the Cape Fear Site will strengthen our ability to supply those markets in a more cost competitive way," Young said. Young says the company has put between $100 and $150 million dollars into the plant over the past 12 years. The company says employees will get a severance package.
NC alone in choice to end extended unemployment checks - WRAL (Raleigh) - Bruce Mildwurf - June 20, 2013 - orth Carolina lawmakers had a tough choice this spring: Change how unemployment benefits are calculated, potentially cutting off benefits to tens of thousands of people, or allow the state's debt to the federal government to continue as a drag on the economy. The Tar Heel state was one of many in the same situation, but North Carolina lawmakers were the only ones who chose the quicker fix. Effective July 1, 71,000 people will see their extended benefits end.
During the 1990s, states gradually cut back on the unemployment tax they charged to businesses, explained Duke University economist Aaron Chatterji. When recession hit in 2008, and unemployment claims began to climb, the states lacked the trust fund to pay those benefits. They borrowed from the federal government, and now that bill is coming due. "Most states have these have this deficits with the federal government," Chatterji said. "They are all dealing with it in different ways. North Carolina is unique in terminating the program so abruptly." In order to pay down that debt, lawmakers agreed to a plan that reduces state unemployment compensation, eliminates extended benefits and raises employer contributions into the system. Under the plan, the debt owed will be paid off in 2016, three years early. It takes effect June 30. "We believe it's the right decision," said Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg. "Had we not made these changes to start putting some fiscal sanity back into the system, that fund would not exist for any future people." In a statement issued Friday, Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham pointed the finger of blame on Democratic administrations past.
More U.S. senators concerned by Shuanghui-Smithfield deal - Reuters – June 21, 2013 - More U.S. senators on Friday raised concerns about a Chinese company's plan to buy U.S. pork company Smithfield Foods Inc (SFD.N), particularly in light of restrictions that China continues to place on imports of U.S. meat. "This review must be thorough and take into account the full range of national security interests," the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Finance Committee said in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.
"In particular, we urge that due consideration be given to the impact of the transaction on food safety in the United States," added Senators Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and the committee's chairman, and Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican. That echoed a demand made on Thursday by 15 of the 20 members of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Chinese meat company Shuanghui International hopes to buy Smithfield, the world's largest pork producer and processor, for $4.7 billion in what would be the biggest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm. The companies, out of what lawyers said was "an abundance of caution," filed the proposed deal with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) which reviews foreign investment for any potential threat to national security. Many CFIUS experts believe it is unlikely the Obama administration will decide that Chinese investment in the U.S. food sector is a national security threat. "I think the Chinese will bring home the bacon," said Timothy Keeler, a former U.S. Treasury and trade official who now advises companies with deals that go before CFIUS.
Preliminarily I am releasing the video of last night's City Council meeting in which a couple items were discussed including an amendment to an Economic Development Agreement with Turbotec Products and a Vacant Building Revitalization and Demolition Grant being awarded to the former Moretz Mill building located near Lenoir-Rhyne Boulevard and Tate Boulevard in SE Hickory.
You will also see Cliff Moone ask Hickory Inc. to broadcast the current video recording they are doing of City Council meetings on the Charter Government channel to make it more accessible to the public.
projected that, if the Senate bill passes, the influx of new immigrants would have the effect of slightly bringing down the average wage. Specifically, the estimate showed average wages for the entire labor force "would be 0.1 percent lower in 2023." It would affect lower- and higher-skilled workers more than those in the middle of the spectrum. The detail, included in a catalog of more positive statistics, was not lost on one of the bill's chief critics, Sen. Jeff Sessions, whose office blasted out the projection as evidence the bill would hurt the workforce. "The wages of U.S. workers -- which should be growing -- will instead decline," Sessions, R-Ala., said. "It would be the biggest setback for poor and middle-class Americans of any legislation Congress has considered in decades." Democrats, and some conservatives, disagree strongly with Sessions on that point. The CBO estimated that the bill would actually boost the economy -- or gross domestic product -- by 3.3 percent over the next decade, and by 5.4 percent the decade after that. Wages would eventually rise, the office said, but not for roughly a dozen years. Effectively, the CBO said it would take time for the economy to catch up with the influx of workers. "As the labor supply initially increased under the legislation, less capital would be available for each worker to produce output, and thus workers' output, on average, would be lower for a time. That decline would reduce average wages relative to those under current law," the report said.
