DadTalk

About Those High Gas Prices…

You may have noticed I’ve been somewhat quiet about financial stories lately. In large part, that’s because the media is doing a much better covering the economic crises than it had during the housing bubble.

But the other reason has to do with a sort of disillusionment with America’s financial system. You see, I’ve come to understand that intentionally or not, the entire economic system is designed to help the wealthy far more than the average working Joe.

Rather than launch a dissertation, I’m going to keep this simple with two seemingly unconnected stories. The first story touches an issue near and dear to our hearts: gas prices have risen 41 days in a row, reports The New York Times.

As I’m sure you’re aware, high gas prices can have a severe impact on household spending. Besides pumping more bucks straight into your gas tank, consumer prices on all sorts of products usually rise. In January, Americans were spending $600 million a day on gas. Today, gas costs consumers about $1 billion a day.

But here’s how I suspect most Americans see it:

Credit Card Firms May Punish Those Who Pay Bills on Time

For decades I’ve played a cat-and-mouse game with the credit card companies. It’s not what you think.

You see, I’ve been paying the full balance each month shortly after graduating college in 1986, because I detest paying interest. Profit-hungry banks don’t like those of us who pay off our debts while taking advantage of all their “great” deals because we:

• Avoid annual fees;
• Favor cards with the best rewards; and we
• Prefer gold cards for free insurance and other benefits.

So the banks continuously are looking for ways to trip up us “zero” balance folks. When I lived in Chicago, my bill would arrive only days before it was due. This problem was created because my bank shortened the number of days I had to respond, and because Chicago has the worst mail system in the nation, according The Consumerist.

That Glimmer of Economic Hope Is Only for Analysts and Pundits

We all want to believe that the economic situation is improving. The stock market has climbed back up in the last few weeks. Housing sales seem to be improving. Factory orders were up a bit. My neighbors are more optimistic today than they were a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the specter of a “dead cat bounce” lurks gloomily above the marginally “up” numbers.

While home sales may have increased somewhat, so what? The numbers were so low to begin with, the uptick is laughable. Besides, huge price cuts forced by foreclosures, pent-up buyer demand and a federal tax credit for new home buyers may provide only temporary sales fuel. But as long as home prices are collapsing, it’s premature to call the bottom of the housing collapse.

Is AIG Bailout a Smokescreen?

I can’t help but wonder: Why are lawmakers and politicians so motivated to recoup the $165 million in bonuses from a few AIG employees?

Why aren’t lawmakers and pundits equally or more concerned about the $11,000,000,000 that has departed the United States to benefit the French bank Société Générale or the $5,400,000,000 sent to Germany-based Deustche Bank? And why are we funding $8,100,000,000 to benefit the millionaires at Goldman Sachs?

(Notice how big the numbers are when you include all the zeros?)

The justified furor over the AIG bonuses is diverting our attention from the real issues: Why are U.S. taxpayers funding trillions of dollars worth of unregulated gambling disguised as credit default swaps?

Keep in mind, if it wasn’t for the AIG bailout, those three banks – among several other on the list – might have gone bust. By bailing out AIG, these banks were also bailed out but WITHOUT obligation to the U.S. taxpayer. Therein lies the real stench.

So why aren’t lawmakers (and pundits) screaming just as loud: Give us our money back, Société Générale, Deustche Bank and Goldman Sachs?

If lawmakers were really doing their jobs, they would be regulating the credit default markets rather than distracting us with comparative pocket change.

To Save the Economy, Here Is My Truly Bold, Not-a-Bailout Plan

Bold Action, eh? That’s what the economists say is needed to fix the global credit crisis and housing markets.

So far, bold action means spend a lot of taxpayer’s money. Not taxpayer’s today. No, these bailouts will be heaped on our children when they become taxpayers.

So far, the bold action has not been working. The markets continue to drift down, mainly because confidence in banks worldwide continue to slide, reports The New York Times. The housing markets are not only moribund, they are very likely to begin sliding again as another trillion dollars in mortgages reset and more Americans lose their jobs.

Rick Santelli, who reports from the Chicago Board of Trade, is so incensed over the bailouts, he launched a rant ala Jim Cramer – complete with audience cheering – during his CNBC broadcast. As quoted by David Brooks of The New York Times:

Freak Yourself Out By Reading This Story

It’s the Economy, Girlfriend is all about women upset about losing their high-rolling lifestyles as the economy tanks. Example:

Some women in the group said the men in their lives had gone from being aloof and unattainable to unattractively needy and clinging. Others complained of being ignored — one, who called herself A.P., wrote on the blog that three weeks had passed without her boyfriend “asking a single question” about her life. Another wrote, fearfully, that her beau had told her to make a list of their favorite New York restaurants before the bad market forced a move to the Midwest.

I’m sure you noticed the word blog. If you really want to freak yourself out, go read it here, but I thought you might like a sample:

Thanks to the recession, I now have a completely devoted BF, which is exactly what I wanted. So I should be happy, right? Wrong. I’m bored and can’t stop thinking about my perpetually unattainable Euro ex-boyfriend who is recession proof courtesy of an offshore trust account. To be honest, I’m only with my BF because I just don’t have the heart to change my Facebook status from “in a relationship” to “I ain’t saying I’m a gold digger, but I ain’t messin’ with no broke banker.”

Enough said.

The Hidden Price America Will Pay for Wall Street’s Debacle

Graduates of top universities sought their fortunes in banking, rather than in careers like medicine, engineering or teaching.

– The New York Times

As I read through the onslaught of financial wreckage stories, this one quote sums up all that is wrong with our society. After all, it’s easy to forget one key fact: a lot of people got rich during the enormous housing/banking/finance bubble that is now ruining the lives of others.

Most of the focus has been on hedge funds, billionaire investors and corporate chiefs. But as The New York Times points out, much of the artificial wealth generated by the largest investment bubble in history actually went to Wall Street employees. In fact, $1 out of every $4 in pay or bonuses in New York went to someone in the financial industry:

For Dow Kim, 2006 was a very good year. While his salary at Merrill Lynch was $350,000, his total compensation was 100 times that — $35 million. …

In all, Merrill handed out $5 billion to $6 billion in bonuses that year. A 20-something analyst with a base salary of $130,000 collected a bonus of $250,000. And a 30-something trader with a $180,000 salary got $5 million.

So its no wonder that anyone in college during the last decade was drawn to the financial industry. Who wants to be an engineer when it means working for a tired old manufacturing company that only pays $150,000 a year with little or no bonus?

Who wants to spend all their time on theoretical math at a university in which it takes years to earn tenure and a salary over $75,000? Why would anyone in their right mind become a doctor, which requires endless hours of thankless studying, only to be rewarded with reams of red tape, huge student loans and low pay – relatively speaking – to boot?

While everyone bemoans the credit market freeze, the drop in home values, the disintegration of several top U.S. industries and the subsequent loss in world standing, there is perhaps a larger cost that everyone has missed: an entire generation of creative, smart – and unfortunately morally challenged – Americans was drawn in by the golden light shining down from Wall Streets skyscrapers like moths to a lamp. Now, the light has been turned off and the moths are fluttering about aimlessly.

This misuse of intellectual capital may cause more damage to America’s future than the trillions of dollars now being used to resuscitate our economy.

The Unofficial Indicators of the Housing Market

By the time official housing numbers come out, they’re horribly dated. I like to look at numbers that are more current, even if less pristine, statistically.

One of my favorite places is the Countrywide REOs page. These are the properties that Countrywide is trying to sell after regaining a property in foreclosure.

When I first started watching this site a few years ago, California hovered in the 3,000+ range. A couple weeks ago, California REOs were in the low 5,000s. Today, Countrywide is trying to unload more than 6,000 foreclosed properties.

Another unofficial guide gives a quick count of distressed homes for sale. Los Angeles County, for example, was hovering in the 90,000s until recently. Today, they’re sitting at 147,000, according to HUDhouses. Maricopa County, which covers most of the Phoenix area, moved from the mid-40,000 range to about 64,000.

Meanwhile, the uber optimists at the National Association of Realtors, are happy to see increasing numbers of sales due to declining prices, reports Reuters. Distressed home sales made up about 35 to 40 percent of the market, according to the NAR.

They also reported that home values fell in 120 of 152 metropolitan areas for an average price drop of 9 percent from a year ago.

While THEY may be taking HAPPY PILLS at the NAR, I wonder if responsible homeowners feel the same way. Each foreclosed home that sells, means a lower comp for their neighbors.

‘Unfortunately, the Plan Sucks’

Even before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, supporters of the massive bailout have consistently warned that the world’s credit pipelines are clogged. But until the House failed to approve the bailout, the problem was described in terms of failing financial institutions.

After the vote, politicians in both parties changed their message – “Oops, we forgot to mention that this is a rescue of Main Street, too!” And, “Oh, don’ worry about that price tag, because someday the U.S. Treasury will sell those homes for a whopping profit.”

The Senate figured the problem with the original bill was a lack of pork, so it jumped in and passed an even larger bill on Wednesday, reports The New York Times.

The bill not only endorses the $700  $850+ billion bailout plan, but adds $150 billion in tax breaks for individuals and businesses while raising FDIC insurance to $250,000. At least that latter addition makes sense.

The Senate was helped by the Mainstream Media, which increasingly has been jumping on the bailout bandwagon. Below are some examples:

Quotes on Failed Bailout Vote

I thought it would be interesting to see what Americans are saying now that the vote to bail out America’s financial system has failed.

Interestingly, there seemed to be more supporters of the bail out than earlier comments first revealed, but as a whole the most Americans seemed relieved the bill failed. (As before, I minimally cleaned up typos and grammar.)

Dave on New York Times:
Headline “CONGRESS FINDS SPINE.”

Sheri on New York Times:
YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bob on L.A. Land:
Finally someone stood up to the moral bankruptcy and financial blackmail of the Bush administration!

SSV on New York Times:
All of those now looking for “proof” the bailout is necessary will get that proof in the next 3-6 months and then we’ll all have to listen to the same nearsighted crowd weeping and gnashing their teeth over “how could the government have done this to me?”

David on L.A. Land:
Are these people insane? The Republicans will really take down the entire country? The Republican Party has denigrated into a group of right-wing extremists, and the Democratic party had better hit them hard for doing this to the US. Only a crushing defeat for the Republicans in November will send a message that, in times of national crisis, ideology must be set aside and bi-partisan solutions must be found.