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FEMA caught using old flood map data that cost homeowners untold extra insurance premiums

"From Maine to Oregon, local floodplain managers say FEMA’s recent flood maps - which dictate the premiums that 5.5 million Americans pay for flood insurance - have often been built using outdated, inaccurate data. Homeowners, in turn, have to bear the cost of fixing FEMA’s mistakes. It’s unclear exactly how many new maps FEMA has issued in recent years are at least partly based on older data. While FEMA’s website allows anybody to look-up flood maps for their areas, the agency’s maps don’t show the age of the underlying data. Congress has actually cut map funding by more than half since 2010, from $221 million down to $100 million this year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFEMA caught using old flood map data that cost homeowners untold extra insurance premiums

New York house flipping nets $40,000 average profit

"Looking for a quick $40,000? Consider joining the rapidly growing legion of New York-area home flippers. The average gross profit on a home owned for less than six months and sold in the first half of 2013 in the New York City, Long Island and Northern New Jersey area was $39,458, according to a report released July 19 by real estate analytics firm RealtyTrac. Based on gross profit percentage (10 percent), RealtyTrac found the local market to be the nation's 14th best for profitable home flipping. The practice is on the rise across the country." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew York house flipping nets $40,000 average profit

15 Houses in Detroit You Can Buy for Less Than $500

"Don't ever think that a combination of central bank stop and go money printing combined with suffocating government regulations can't push us back into the Stone Age. Detroit today reminds me in many ways of the Bronx in the 1980s. The details of the government destruction causing interventions are a little bit different, but the results are the same." Continue reading →

Continue Reading15 Houses in Detroit You Can Buy for Less Than $500

Solving the Detroit Crisis

"Conservatives will, of course, be proven correct that Detroit will be only the first major city to seek a bail-out, but their objections will be fruitless. In fact, it is not only possible, but likely, that, once the concept of 'No City Left Behind' transforms public perception of a Detroit from municipal redundancy to humanitarian necessity, the door may be further opened, not only to other major cities, but to entire states. As Rahm Emanuel famously stated, 'Never let a good crisis go to waste.' Detroit may be used by the Federal government to establish the necessity to nationalise any crisis." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSolving the Detroit Crisis

Detroit’s City Pensioners Finally Figure It Out After 40 Years: No Pensions.

"Fiscal conservatives have said for years that this was inevitable. We were dismissed as crackpots. The red ink could flow forever, we were told. 'No problem!' They say the same thing today about the federal government. The suckers line up for jobs with the federal government, with its fat pensions and unfunded liabilities. The result will be the same: default. Cities can do what individuals do: run up large bills, and then declare bankruptcy. The voters will shrug off 20,000 pensioners who lived in a fantasy world all their lives. They are no longer politically viable. They are merely a tiny voting bloc that has no money to give to campaigns." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetroit’s City Pensioners Finally Figure It Out After 40 Years: No Pensions.

Ingham County judge rules Detroit bankruptcy be withdrawn

"Ruling the governor and Detroit’s emergency manager violated the state constitution, an Ingham County Circuit judge ordered Friday that Detroit’s federal bankruptcy filing be withdrawn. 'It’s absolutely needed,' said Judge Rosemary Aquilina, observing she hopes Gov. Rick Snyder 'reads certain sections of the (Michigan) constitution and reconsiders his actions.' Prior to her ruling, the judge criticized the Snyder administration and Schuette’s office over their hasty move. 'It’s cheating, sir, and it’s cheating good people who work,' the judge said. 'It’s also not honoring the (U.S.) president, who took (Detroit’s auto companies) out of bankruptcy.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIngham County judge rules Detroit bankruptcy be withdrawn

Ingham County judge rules Detroit bankruptcy be withdrawn

"Ruling the governor and Detroit’s emergency manager violated the state constitution, an Ingham County Circuit judge ordered Friday that Detroit’s federal bankruptcy filing be withdrawn. 'It’s absolutely needed,' said Judge Rosemary Aquilina, observing she hopes Gov. Rick Snyder 'reads certain sections of the (Michigan) constitution and reconsiders his actions.' Prior to her ruling, the judge criticized the Snyder administration and Schuette’s office over their hasty move. 'It’s cheating, sir, and it’s cheating good people who work,' the judge said. 'It’s also not honoring the (U.S.) president, who took (Detroit’s auto companies) out of bankruptcy.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIngham County judge rules Detroit bankruptcy be withdrawn

Public Sector Pensions Are a National Issue

"Paul Krugman and Dean Baker took the Washington Post editorial page to task yesterday for stating that unfunded state and local pension liabilities amounted to $3.8 trillion. They accuse the page of misquoting a study in which the total was cited as only $1 trillion. Currently, standard practice measures the funding status of public pensions in the US under the laughable assumption that every dollar in the pension funds will earn compound returns of 7.75% or 8% per year. That’s the basis for the $1 trillion in unfunded liabilities. If unfunded liabilities are $1.0 trillion under an 8% rate, then they are $3.4 trillion unfunded under a 4% rate." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPublic Sector Pensions Are a National Issue