Chinese economy: 1930s beggar-thy-neighbour fears as China devalues - Telegraph: "China has begun to devalue the yuan for the first time in over a decade, raising fears that it will set off a 1930s-style race to the bottom and tip the global economy into an even deeper slump."
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What next? Godzilla wades ashore in Tokyo Bay?

State public worker pension fund takes big hit

State public worker pension fund takes big hit: "The California Public Employees' Retirement System portfolio has lost 31.1 percent of its value since peaking last fall, a staggering $81.4 billion drop. CalPERS officials say a 'rainy day fund' is helping to defray the losses - for now. But if the market slump continues, they will hit up state and local employers for more money. That's a painful prospect as California struggles through a fiscal emergency and municipalities cope with the foreclosure crisis and economic downturn.

The good news for the 1.6 million CalPERS retirees, workers and family members is that their pension benefits are guaranteed."
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Good news for the pensioners. Not for the taxpayers, who have to make good on that nifty guarantee. Here in Illinois we have a similar dynamic going on--guaranteed benefits but the state is allowed to underfund their share, year after year. Tick, tick, tick.

Condo calamity | The San Diego Union-Tribune: "The housing bust has spawned thousands of tales of staggering declines in home values in San Diego's foreclosure-ravaged neighborhoods. But few local projects have suffered as much carnage as the Normal Hights condo conversion Cityscape.

Units started selling in late 2006 and early 2007, one-bedrooms for $237,000 and two-bedrooms for $345,000. Today, of the 70 condos in the flat-roofed, nearly 40-year-old complex, 66 have been taken back by lenders or are in default, the first step of the foreclosure process.

One-bedrooms are reselling for an average of $66,900 and two-bedrooms for $94,200 – down more than 70 percent from the original prices."
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Fred Pilot sent this tragic story of a devastated San Diego condo complex. The lockboxes on the gate tell the tale.

Chinese tour groups go house-hunting in U.S. - Los Angeles Times

Chinese tour groups go house-hunting in U.S. - Los Angeles Times: "Caravans of cash-rich Chinese in Hummers and Lincoln Navigators have been weaving through American neighborhoods in recent months, looking for foreclosures and other bargain properties to buy.

With housing prices crashing in the U.S., home-buying trips to America are becoming one of the more popular tour group packages in China. New U.S. visa rules for Chinese tourists and a loosening of foreign investment policies by China have made it easier for people such as Zhao Hongjun of Beijing to go house hunting across the Pacific."
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Obama Pledges Public Works on a Vast Scale - NYTimes.com

Obama Pledges Public Works on a Vast Scale - NYTimes.com: "“We need action — and action now,” Mr. Obama said in an address broadcast Saturday morning on radio and YouTube.

Mr. Obama’s plan, if enacted, would be in part a government-directed industrial policy, with lawmakers and administration officials picking winners and losers among private projects and raining large amounts of taxpayer money on them.

It would cover a range of programs to expand broadband Internet access, to make government buildings more energy efficient, to improve information technology at hospitals and doctors’ offices, and to upgrade computers in schools."
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A lot of this spending would involve local governments, so it will have some impact on development policies and that always involves residential and commercial CIDs.

And if Obama thinks that massive public works projects are the way to get "action now," he has another think coming. Undertakings like that require years to get off the ground. In Chicago they have been arguing forever about what to do with a single block of downtown land. Ground Zero in NYC is still a hole in the ground seven years after 9/11. I gather that Obama wants to get around the governmental red tape by dumping money on private projects, but that will require steam-rolling all the local NIMBY and environmentalist and preservationist and anti-eminent domain and anti-sprawl groups. That will be no easy task, and besides, wouldn't that be an ironic role for the world's most successful community organizer?

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > North County -- Owners of deteriorating condos still waiting for viable repair plan

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > North County -- Owners of deteriorating condos still waiting for viable repair plan: "For some families living in the building at the Mira La Paz condominium complex, it's a situation that they say has dragged on for too long.

Years ago, experts found that the six-unit building, part of a 175-unit complex, was settling unevenly because of faulty foundations. One side of the building has sunk as much as 8 inches, its occupants say.

So far, no one has been able to figure out how to fix it."
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When the solution may involve lifting the entire building and refilling the foundation, the pucker factor is pretty high for everybody involved.

Forrest J Ackerman, writer-editor who coined 'sci-fi,' dies at 92 - Los Angeles Times: "Forrest J Ackerman, who influenced a generation of young horror-movie fans with Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and spent a lifetime amassing what has been called the world's largest personal collection of science-fiction and fantasy memorabilia, has died. He was 92.

Ackerman, a writer, editor and literary agent who has been credited with coining the term 'sci-fi' in the 1950s, died Thursday of heart failure at his home in Los Angeles, said John Sasser, a friend who is making a documentary on Ackerman."
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A sad day--to see Forry go after all these years.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide: "President-elect Barack Obama said he’ll make the “single largest new investment” in roads, bridges and public buildings since the Eisenhower Administration to lift the sagging economy and create jobs.

Obama, in his weekly radio speech today, said his plan to create or preserve 2.5 million jobs will also include making public buildings more energy efficient, repairing schools and modernizing health care with electronic medical records."
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Obama is trying to be the Lincoln/Roosevelt/LBJ sort of president who sees a problem and decides that the only answer is a massive federal government initiative of unprecedented proportions. If you have a superficial understanding of history that makes sense, but if you look closely at all three of these presidents you see that the myth doesn't live up to the reality. You see great accomplishments and...some things that were either not so great or deeply disturbing. Lincoln ended slavery and saved the union, but his record on civil liberties is terrifying. Roosevelt's New Deal was modeled directly on Mussolini's Fascism, and it seems clear now that it was WWII, not the New Deal, that lifted the US economy out of the Great Depression. He also gave away Eastern Europe to Stalin. LBJ's Great Society programs included some monumentally wasteful and destructive efforts, along with great progress in civil rights.

But what did they all have in common? Good intentions backed by the power of the federal government. And Obama has both. What he lacks is what his three role models may also have lacked to some degree: a sense that he and the government he will soon be running have limits to what they can accomplish.

update: I added this photo. The poor guy looks older already, and he hasn't even been elected yet (the electoral college vote is 12/15). He was supposedly giving up his Blackberry for security reasons, but look at his hands: he has TWO of them, along with a huge pile of paper. I'm saying a prayer for him tonight because I don't see how anybody can live up to the expectations he and the voters have placed on his office.

Climate scientists say 2008 will be coolest year of the decade | Environment | guardian.co.uk But this does not, they say, mean that global warming is slowing. Nothing can disprove that. We could be watching battles between woolly mammoths and sabertooth tigers in the driveway and still the scientists would tell us it doesn't disprove global warming.

It was 6 degrees here in Lindenhurst this morning.

In West Hollywood, town houses chic and sheathed - Los Angeles Times: "When architect Lorcan O'Herlihy masterminded the color palette for the Formosa 1140 town houses in West Hollywood, he drew inspiration from Hollywood hot spot Formosa Cafe down the street.

He designed a metallic skin that wraps around the building in shades of red. The skin helps diffuse light and heat, provides privacy for outdoor walkways and gives the building a funky geometric look."
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Funky and geometric, indeed.

Deficiencies in Illinois Condo Act cited : SearchChicago Homes : Condo watch: "The Condominium Advisory Council, in preparation of submitting recommendations to the governor and Illinois Legislature regarding changes to the Illinois Condominium Act, held a series of hearings across the metropolitan area seeking input from the public.

At one on Chicago's Far North Side, about 30 interested individuals affiliated with condominium associations as board members, unit owners, managers and consultants provided their thoughts and suggestions on amending the act. What follows is a summary of the remarks made by these various contributors."
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It's mainly a list of processes that, in their view, need to be refined. But how about this one: "••An office of ombudsman should be established at the state level to hear unit owner complaints against boards. Other than lawsuits, which are too expensive, the only apparent recourse, voting improperly acting board members out of office, is inadequate. The new state ombudsman could be funded by a yearly fee paid by all associations. As an alternative, it was suggested that a separate court be created for condo associations where unit owners could bring complaints against boards." And this one is just completely bonkers: "••Several people spoke against manager licensing, which they contended would be an added financial burden for associations with no assurance that management would improve." So we should just continue along with anybody setting him or herself up as a property manager, without even the minimal credential of a professional license? We don't even let people sell hot dogs or give haircuts without a license. These people are handling (and too often mishandling) millions of dollars of other people's money, and regulating their lives.

FT.com / China / Economy & Trade - Chinese property hunters to raid US

FT.com / China / Economy & Trade - Chinese property hunters to raid US: "SouFun, the biggest real estate website in China, is organising a trip next month to look at properties in California and possibly Nevada. Liu Jian, the company’s chief operating officer, said about 300 people had expressed interest in the idea in the three days since it was advertised, though the company would take only a small group on the first trip...“The US market absolutely terrifies me,” said one Shanghai-based real estate executive. “However, there are plenty of people here who think this a great time for bottom-fishing.”"
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Bottom-fishing? I guess our condos and hoa units are just so many carp.

Ripoffs: Not Even Money Saves You From Foreclosure

Ripoffs: Not Even Money Saves You From Foreclosure: "I recently lost my home to foreclosure. The sad part is I tried for the last 30-40 days before the foreclosure to buy my home from the mortgage company for more than the balance owed on the mortgage. By this time, the mortgage had been referred to a local law firm, which wanted almost $20,000 in fees above the balance of the mortgage. They would not negotiate at all. A friend was helping me try to save my home, but the $20,000 in fees on top of the $100,000 owed was insurmountable."
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Thanks to Mystery Reader who sent the link to this sad story. In HOA and condo foreclosures we hear often of attorney fees being many times more than the amount of assessments owed. Now here is a mortgage company foreclosure where the fees prevented redemption.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide: "U.S. governors will ask that any federal stimulus plan for the states include as much as $100 billion in aid to help cover the swelling costs of social services, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich said.

Forty-eight governors met with President-elect Barack Obama today to press their case for a federal package to help them weather the U.S. recession that began in December 2007."
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Blagojevich is still a free man, amazingly. Maybe they let him do the talking to the press on this pathetic request because they figure that soon he will be doing the perp walk anyway. Or perhaps I am just getting my hopes up.

In any event, Fred Pilot sent this link to the latest sad episode in the Great Bailout Debacle. States are taxing bodies, unlike banks and insurance companies and auto manufacturers. They are governments that make most of the laws we, and they, live by. For them to go begging to Washington for federal tax dollars is a joke.

Bloomberg.com: California to pay bills with IOUs?: "California, the world’s eighth-largest economy, may pay vendors with IOUs for only the second time since the Great Depression, State Finance Director Mike Genest said."

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Bloomberg.com: One in ten!: "One in 10 American homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments or were in foreclosure during the third quarter as the world’s largest economy shed jobs and real estate prices tumbled.

The share of mortgages 30 days or more overdue rose to a seasonally adjusted 6.99 percent while loans already in foreclosure rose to 2.97 percent, both all-time highs in a survey that goes back 29 years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report today. The gain in delinquencies was driven by an increase of loans with payments 90 days or more overdue."
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Holy default, Batman!

Milwaukee neighborhoods could print own money -- chicagotribune.com: "Residents from the Milwaukee neighborhoods of Riverwest and East Side are scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss printing their own money. The idea is that the local cash could be used at neighborhood stores and businesses, thus encouraging local spending. The result, supporters hope, would be a bustling local economy, even as the rest of the nation deals with a recession...It's not a new concept—experts estimate there are at least 2,000 local currencies all over the world—but it is a practice that tends to burgeon during economic downturns. During the Great Depression, scores of communities relied on their own currencies.

And it's completely legal."
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This is one of those apparently simple little ideas that could get complicated in a hurry, but it sounds like fun.

Property-tax collections climb as home prices fall - USATODAY.com: "Property taxes are rising across the USA despite the steepest drop in home values since the Great Depression.

Home values dropped 17% in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2007, reports the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. At the same time, property tax collections across the USA rose 3.1%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis."
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My assessment went up this year, even though obviously my house isn't worth as much as it was a year ago.

I can imagine a tax revolt against public and private local taxation. People are getting hit from all sides and it seems the demands increase even if they give you less. I hope they march past my house because I am ready to grab a pitchfork and a torch and join the crowd.

Buyers flock to condo auction, ready to snap up bargains - MarketWatch: "LOMBARD, Ill. (MarketWatch) -- Voices shout dollar amounts across the packed hotel ballroom until the bids stop flowing, the hammer falls and the auctioneer cries, 'Sold!'
Backed by applause and the sounds of a live rock band playing 'Money (That's What I Want),' the winner marches through the crowd to claim his prize -- the $416,000, three-bedroom condominium unit he's just bought for $260,000. At the back of the room, a bartender stands poised to serve customers drinks during a brief intermission."
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I'm sure he read the CC&Rs carefully from front to back before getting drunk. Would any libertarians care to explain how this mob scene constitutes a contract to conform to all the rules and regulations that exist now or might be adopted in the future?

Tallahassee homeowners association files for bankruptcy | tallahassee.com | Tallahassee Democrat: "The homeowners association of an upscale Tallahassee neighborhood has filed for bankruptcy to get out of paying lawyers’ fees after losing a lawsuit against two of its members, a lawyer for the couple said."
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Nice try, but the association's members can't get out of paying the judgment brought upon them by their elected leadership's bad decision to sue the members. Bankruptcy of the association just means that, if necessary, the judge will appoint a receiver to impose a special assessment on the owners, secured by a lien on their units, which will be sold to pay the assessment if necessary.

This little bankruptcy maneuver has been tried before by associations that lost lawsuits. No dice.

Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link.