Green Shoots & Leaves
Forbes – US banks reporting phantom income on $1.4 trillion delinquent mortgages (zombie banks making interest on zombie mortgages. Sweet).
Reality Trac – Is a national foreclosure settlement in view?
Yahoo Finance – The eight States running out of homebuyers
Bloomberg – Irish emigration will accelerate and exceed the worst of the 1980s, when the country was last mired in recession, the Economic & Social Research Institute said.
Shanghai List – Crowdsourced map: Chinese labour unrest
Future Pundit – The U.S. Geological Survey has released a report on what the most severe storm for California, a once in 500-1000 year event, would do to the state. **HT J.M. Heinrichs
Volokh – “Bankruptcy law professor David Skeel, whose new book The New Financial Deal is one I admire a great deal, has a new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today urging a bankruptcy regime for the states. Among his most important points is that bankruptcy for states offers the most likely means that states can address the arguably most important long-term problem — the deals set with public employee unions for retirement benefits that are already crowding out the provision of services to the public. States cannot afford to maintain current staff — teachers or whatever job category — given the obligations to retired employees, even if one assumes that those services, requiring whatever levels of staffing, at whatever levels of current pay, are prudent.” **HT J.M. Heinrichs
Neithercorp – Disinformation fog intensifies as economic turmoil develops
CNN -The mayor of crime-ridden Camden, New Jersey, has announced layoffs of nearly half of the city’s police force and close to a third of its fire department. One hundred sixty-eight police officers and 67 firefighters were laid off Tuesday, as officials struggle to close a $26.5 million budget gap through a series of belt-tightening measures, Mayor Dana Redd told reporters. The layoffs take effect immediately (this should end well).
SHTF Plan – The lead stories during this economic recession/depression have been about real estate, jobs, and GDP. The real story is none of those. Although it has yet to become the mainstream talking point , the real crisis facing America is a sovereign debt crisis. We have too much debt, and that’s going to get cleared out of the system one way or the other.
