“The economy has evolved so much since the middle of the 20th century that many cities that were among the largest and most vibrant in America have collapsed. Some have lost more than half of their residents. Others have lost the businesses that made them important centers of finance, manufacturing and commerce.”
The article has some details but here’s their 10:
1. Buffalo
2. Flint
3. Hartford
4. Cleveland
5. New Orleans
6. Detroit
7. Albany
8. Atlantic City
9. Allentown
10. Galveston
The interest rate on 10-year Treasury bonds is 2.45% this morning (and the DOW was below 10,000 and the thermometer at Casa NewMexiKen reached 57º).
2.45% is the lowest the 10-year Treasury rate has been since the financial crisis during the winter of 2008-2009.
What it means is, among other things, investors are afraid of stocks and real estate and are putting their money in the safest investment around, U.S. government obligations. With so much money chasing the Treasury, interest rates keep dropping.
In other news, only 25,000 new homes were sold last month, the lowest number of sales for the month of July since 1982. By comparison, 117,000 new homes were sold in July 2005.
Fun while it lasted if your timing was good.
From an article in The New York Times:
Instead, Mr. Humphries and other economists say, housing values will only keep up with inflation. A home will return the money an owner puts in each month, but will not multiply the investment.
Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, estimates that it will take 20 years to recoup the $6 trillion of housing wealth that has been lost since 2005. After adjusting for inflation, values will never catch up.
“People shouldn’t look at a home as a way to make money because it won’t,” Mr. Baker said.
If the long term is grim, the short term is grimmer. Housing experts are bracing themselves for Tuesday, when the sales figures for July will be released. The data is expected to show a drop of as much as 20 percent from last year.
. . .
“It’s entirely likely that markets like Arizona will not recover even in the 15- to 20-year time frame,” said Mr. Humphries of Zillow. “The demand doesn’t exist.”
Eight banks failed yesterday. That’s 118 so far in 2010.
Another 800 or so are in danger.
My local CVS pharmacy seems so confused about so many little things I am beginning to wonder about the big things — like are the pills in the bottle what they say they are?
Recently it’s the sales tax. In the city of Albuquerque the tax is 7% since July 1st. Outside the city, but in the same Bernalillo County, it is 6.0625%.
The CVS I visit is in the county but not the city, so it should be charging 6.0625%. Today they added 6.625%, which means they are using the old city rate. It seems they don’t know where they are or even when it is.
I’ve found other mistakes. The wrong number of pills. The wrong cost for generic prescriptions (almost always).
How hard can it be? Don’t they have computers?
Seven banks failed yesterday. That’s 103 so far this year.
Big day for bank failures. Six so far today; three in Florida, two in South Carolina, one in Michigan.
That’s 96 this year.
Four more banks were taken over by the FDIC yesterday. That’s 90 for 2010 so far.
Number 86, last Friday, was High Desert State Bank, here in Albuquerque.
Ford Motor Company entered the business world on June 16, 1903, when Henry Ford and 11 business associates signed the company’s articles of incorporation. With $28,000 in cash, the pioneering industrialists gave birth to what was to become one of the world’s largest corporations. …
The earliest record of a shipment is July 20, 1903, approximately one month after incorporation, to a Detroit physician. With the company’s first sale came hope—a young Ford Motor Company had taken its first steps.
Two the 12 investors were Horace and John Dodge; they put up $5,000 each, $3,500 of it in write-offs of previously unpaid bills.
Another was Charles Bennett of the Daisy Air Rifle Company. His company board of directors balked at getting involved in the whimsical car business when they were so successful with air rifles — that is, B-B guns; Henry Ford balked when told the car would have to be called Daisy. Bennett ultimately invested his personal credit instead.
Henry Ford himself invested no cash.
An original $500 investment was worth $1,750,000 when Ford bought out the shareholders in 1919. That doesn’t include dividends along the way.
Gasoline first averaged $4 a gallon nationwide for regular two years ago today.
Today it’s $2.72.
Number of bank failures 2003: 3
Number of bank failures 2004: 4
Number of bank failures 2005: 0
Number of bank failures 2006: 0
Number of bank failures 2007: 3
Number of bank failures 2008: 25
Number of bank failures last year: 140
Number of bank failures so far this year: 81
The 81st, TierOne Bank, Lincoln, Nebraska (and its 69 branches).
One of the implied promises of a brand name, especially when it comes to drugs, is you can expect higher quality, but maybe that doesn’t apply when it comes to McNeil products.The FDA says the plant that produced the recently recalled children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, was using raw materials that were contaminated with bacteria. The plant also lacked adequate quality-control procedures and was dirty. So far none of the recalled medicine has tested positive for bacterial contamination, but the FDA report suggests that the contaminated material was used to make the recalled lots. The plant has been shut down indefinitely.
The FDIC took control of seven banks today, bringing this year’s total to 64.
Last year through May 1st just 32 banks had failed.
The banks today were in Puerto Rico (3), Michigan, Missouri (2) and Washington. The cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund for these seven is approximately $7.3 billion.
Time lapse of airliner assembly. Rather cool. Loud music if you need to be aware.
After four rounds of bloody battle against some of the most publicly reviled businesses in America, Comcast can now run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and hold its hands high in victory — it has bested everyone else to earn the title of Worst Company In America for 2010.
Comcast defeated TicketMaster for the championship. Bank of America and Cash4Gold were the other members of the final four.
“Last October, I saw a cartoon by Mike Peters in which a teacher asks a student to create a sentence that uses the verb ‘sacks,’ as in looting and pillaging. The student replies, ‘Goldman Sachs.’ ”
Paul Krugman beginning a column on Looters in Loafers.
Krugman concludes his column with:
“For the fact is that much of the financial industry has become a racket — a game in which a handful of people are lavishly paid to mislead and exploit consumers and investors. And if we don’t lower the boom on these practices, the racket will just go on.”
Eight, count ’em, eight banks were taken over yesterday bringing this year’s total to 50. Yesterday’s failures included three banks in Florida and two in California.
By this time last year just 25 banks had failed.
The Consumerist continues the elimination. The Elite 8 are Bank of America, Time Warner Cable, Ticketmaster, Anthem, Cash 4 Gold, PayPal, Comcast and Apple.
North Face and South Butt have reached an out-of-court settlement.
The Consumerist has a few details.
“Ryanair is currently redesigning their cabins to install the pay toilets on 168 of their planes, which will cost about $1.40 per trip to the loo. Additionally, they are cutting the number of toilets on the plane to make room for extra seats.”
You really ought to take a few minutes and read this article about the financial crisis and Birmingham, Alabama.
Money quote:
“Once you follow that trail and understand what took place in Jefferson County, there’s really no room left for illusions. We live in a gangster state, and our days of laughing at other countries are over.”
Go read and see why.
So far today, one, three, seven bank failures bringing this year’s total to 37.
That’s 17 more than last year through March 20th.
The Consumer Reports Cars Blog takes a look at the usual hype that accompanies year-to-year sales figures — comparing vehicle sales to February 2009 is a lot like comparing Phoenix to Hell and saying Phoenix isn’t so bad. Looking back before the great recession gives us a more realistic view.
As you can see, a few manufacturers have even reached and surpassed their numbers from back in February 2007 and 2008.
- Hyundai-Kia had a negligible gain compared with 2/07, but a 9 percent gain compared with 2/08 sales figures.
- Subaru saw gains of 42 percent compared with 2/07 and 40 percent improvement over 2/08.
- Volkswagen Group increased sales by 4 percent over 2/07 and 6 percent over 2/08.
- Despite its challenges, Chrysler appears to have held its own. However, Automotive News reports that 58 percent of Chrysler sales this February went to fleets, rather than consumers. These are low-margin sales that are not sustainable.
In contrast, the major manufacturers with hyped February 2010 sales figures are still down significantly compared with February 2007 and 2008 sales:
- Chrysler–down 52 percent and 44 percent, respectively
- Ford–down 32 percent and 28 percent
- General Motors–down 54 percent and 47 percent
- Honda–down 27 percent and 30 percent
- Toyota–down 47 percent and 45 percent
As a whole, the industry is down 38 percent compared with 2/07, and down 34 percent compared with 2/08.
Four bank takeovers by the FDIC this week. We’re up to 30 for 2010.