OT: Bankruptcies up 77% in Arizona?
Porsche_Dan
sure us self absorbed Californians would have that title. Or maybe the
degenerate gamblers in Nevada. WTF is going on in Arizona? Can we blame
John McCain? Or is it Obama's fault?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100104/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bankruptcy_boom
------�
: the next generation of web-newsreaders : http://www.recgroups.com
MrBookworm
> sure us self absorbed Californians would have that title. Or maybe the
> degenerate gamblers in Nevada. WTF is going on in Arizona? Can we blame
> John McCain? Or is it Obama's fault?
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100104/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bankruptcy_boom
The two biggest pieces of the AZ economy are house building and tourism.
Both have been hammered during the recession. A third reason is that there
has been a crackdown on illegal immigrants causing many of them to move
elsewhere. Less people = less economic activity.
Dean
--
"You think that's bad? Sometimes I think about RGP when I'm having sex."
- Paul Popinjay 3/16/2009
_____________________________________________________________________�
* kill-files, watch-lists, favorites, and more.. www.recgroups.com
K9way
> Anybody know why Arizona leads the Nation in bankruptcies? I thought for
> sure us self absorbed Californians would have that title. Or maybe the
> degenerate gamblers in Nevada. WTF is going on in Arizona? Can we blame
> John McCain? Or is it Obama's fault?
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100104/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bankruptcy_boom
Gilbert , Mesa and the area east of Gilbert lead the nation in new home
starts for years .. They are all fucked now !!
Recession .. when IMike's neighbor loses his trailer
Depression .. when IMike loses his trailer
Recovery .. when IMike accepts public assistance funded by Obama
--------�
RecGroups : the community-oriented newsreader : www.recgroups.com
misanthropic whackjob
> On Jan 4 2010 9:41 PM, Porsche_Dan wrote:
>
> > Anybody know why Arizona leads the Nation in bankruptcies? I thought for
> > sure us self absorbed Californians would have that title. Or maybe the
> > degenerate gamblers in Nevada. WTF is going on in Arizona? Can we blame
> > John McCain? Or is it Obama's fault?
> >
> > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100104/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bankruptcy_boom
>
> Gilbert , Mesa and the area east of Gilbert lead the nation in new home
> starts for years .. They are all fucked now !!
In like '86, when I worked for Bechtel at Palo Verde (still under
construction) we lived at like 103rd ave and Indian School. The 10 was
not yet complete due to Indian burial grounds. I loved living there.
Housing was CHEAP because there were so many new developments being built
and the builders were practically giving the properties away (seriously,
we had a house payment of about $250/month on a brand new house).
>
>
> Recession .. when IMike's neighbor loses his trailer
> Depression .. when IMike loses his trailer
> Recovery .. when IMike accepts public assistance funded by Obama
--
I don't care about you! Fuck you! - FEAR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyM4uAJBujA
_______________________________________________________________________�
lawh...@hiwaay.net
Dear Mr. Porsche_Dan:
This is anecdoctal information so I can't certify its accuracy, but I
had an interesting conversation with a local building contractor about
a month ago. I live in North-Central Alabama (Huntsville) where we
have a major military base (i.e. Redstone Arsenal) as well as a major
NASA field center, (i.e. the Marshall Space Flight Center), along with
a multitude of corporate contractors who support both of these
entities. For the last 50 to 60 years, Huntsville and Madison County
have primarily been thought of as a "Government" town - although our
local civic leaders have long sought to attract and encourage non-
Government businesses in order to diversify our local economy. This
place has changed a lot from the time I first arrived as a five year
old kid back in 1960. A lot of the spaces which now contain houses
and commercial properties were cotton fields or cow pastures back in
1960. Many of the "old timers" around here who had bought land really
cheap (average cost of $150 to $200 per acre in the 1950's) in order
to grow their own food - as well as cotton growers - sold out to big
time property developers and became "instant millionaires" in the
early 1980's. Beginning in the mid-1980's, a lot of land was
purchased by developers and speculators and this area began an
explosive phase of growth. Like much of the rest of the country, real
estate prices took off like a rocket and everybody (or at least the
speculators and developers) assumed this was perfectly normal and
nobody could lose any money.
Quite some time ago, as a result of the BRAC (Base Realignment and
Closure) process, the Government began closing or reducing military
installations in other parts of the country and moving those jobs
here. That only added to the explosive growth (as well as
expectations) here locally. The real estate developers, building
contractors, rich speculators (and bankers) all thought they couldn't
lose. The prices just kept rising. The most recent "rumor" (which
circulated for years before Obama was elected President) was that BRAC
would [eventually] bring "thousands" of new (mostly high-paying)
"Government jobs" to Huntsville. I don't know about the rest of the
country, but that was the fevered environment here in my home town.
So I'm having dinner at a local restaurant and I just happen to strike
up a conversation with this local building contractor and his wife.
He proceeds to inform me that there is currently an oversupply of
around 8,000 unsold housing units in Madison County. I was amazed at
this figure - Madison County's population is somewhere in the
neighborhood of 250,000 to 300,000 residents - so I asked him, "But
what about BRAC? Isn't BRAC supposed to bring a lot of new families
[and new homeowners] here?" He told me that BRAC was actually part of
the problem. This raised my eyebrows, so he proceeded to explain.
This man built houses. He told me that speculators, many of them
quite wealthy, were contracting with him and his fellow contractors to
build new homes as fast as possible. These speculators were getting
the money to finance all this construction from local bankers.
According to this man, a typical "deal" would involve the construction
of five new housing units - with most of the financing coming from
local banks or other folks with deep pockets. All this construction
was being financed willy-nilly on the assumption that the new units
would be sold with no problem. And then along comes the financial
crisis of 2008 and suddenly there's a problem: The market freezes and
nobody is buying! To make things even better, there is talk that the
Obama administration wants to cut back on various military programs
(such as National Missile Defense) so there go those BRAC jobs that
everybody was counting on. Suddenly there's an excess of brand new
unsold housing units here in Huntsville.
I used to drive around and see "Sold!" signs in the yards of these "Mc-
Mansions" and wonder how in the hell people could afford these 300-
to-500 K monstrosities? Now I drive around and see "For Sale by
Owner" signs in their place. At least one major regional bank
(Colonial) has been shut down by the FDIC. A lot of banks around here
are sitting with these unsold "assets" on their balance sheets biding
their time hoping that the market will [soon] pick back up. I
constantly run in to folks who say "I used to sell real estate, but I
don't do that anymore ..." There's an oversupply of real estate
agents too. The ones who are still hanging on constantly run
television commercials inviting you to "Call Holly McDonald" (quick!)
to see this exquisite property that the owner is desperate to sell.
And all those "rich speculators" who were contracting to build five
units a pop? A lot of them have filed for bankruptcy.
From what you describe concerning California and Arizona, it looks
like what occurred here in my neck of the woods was not an
aberration. Things just got out of hand. Everybody thought they were
really smart. Everybody thought they deserved to be millionaires. In
a nutshell, that's how you get a boom - and then a bust.
Alan C. Lawhon
Huntsville, Alabama
Jerry Sturdivant
> Anybody know why Arizona leads the Nation in bankruptcies?
The fastest growing had the most housing starts and the most new loans on
houses. So more folks got caught with too large and mortgage.
Then there's the illigals. The put a large stress on the economy. It's why
so many hospitals have closed in Arizone and New Mexico.
> I thought for sure us self absorbed Californians would have that title.
I believe I've read when 50-hospitals have closed.
> Or maybe the degenerate gamblers in Nevada. WTF is
> going on in Arizona? Can we blame John McCain? Or is
> it Obama's fault?
The Republicans for deregulating. It was in all the papers.
Jerry 'n Vegas
mo_charles
> sure us self absorbed Californians would have that title. Or maybe the
> degenerate gamblers in Nevada. WTF is going on in Arizona? Can we blame
> John McCain? Or is it Obama's fault?
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100104/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bankruptcy_boom
a large increase in bankruptcy filings doesn't mean what you think it does.
mo_charles
Porsche_Dan
> > Anybody know why Arizona leads the Nation in bankruptcies? I thought for
> > sure us self absorbed Californians would have that title. Or maybe the
> > degenerate gamblers in Nevada. WTF is going on in Arizona? Can we blame
> > John McCain? Or is it Obama's fault?
> >
> > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100104/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bankruptcy_boom
>
> a large increase in bankruptcy filings doesn't mean what you think it does.
>
> mo_charles
What doesn't mean what you think that I think it does?
mo_charles
>
que?
mo_charles
________________________________________________________________________�
number6
You can blame Bush ... and Frank (who never liked Bush - hmmm in more
than one way) ... Who both wanted to open up lending for housing ...
Geitner in his former position and Paulson in the position Geitner now
has ... for monetary policy that made it so ...
The most bankruptcies are where the housing boom boomed best and burst
worst ...
Obama does gets blame for many of the auto dealerships that went under
however ... If only they had donated to Democrat candidates they could
have survived ...
risky biz
> > Anybody know why Arizona leads the Nation in bankruptcies? I thought for
> > sure us self absorbed Californians would have that title. Or maybe the
> > degenerate gamblers in Nevada. WTF is going on in Arizona? Can we blame
> > John McCain? Or is it Obama's fault?
> >
> > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100104/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bankruptcy_boom
>
> a large increase in bankruptcy filings doesn't mean what you think it does.
>
> mo_charles
Mo, if you're going to post something irrelevant to the thread couldn't
you at least post something more interesting on it's own? Like, for
example, if you've learned how to shoot your new shotgun yet and whether
you've been arrested for brandishing it at airplanes.
-----�
buffalo
Too many people borrowed mo money on the boom times
home equitie to payoff credit card debt and along came BUsh.