Tuesday, November 29, 2011

35% of metro ATL homes in negative equity in Q3

About one-third of all homes with mortgages in metro Atlanta stayed upside down in the third quarter, CoreLogic   reported Tuesday.

In metro Atlanta, 34.5 percent, or 420,160, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity in the third quarter, according to CoreLogic. This compares with 34.7 percent, or 423,130 properties, in the second quarter. Negative equity, often referred to as “underwater” or “upside down,” means borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in value, an increase in mortgage debt or a combination of both.

In Georgia, 30 percent, or 488,310, of residential properties with mortgages were underwater in the third quarter, compared with 30.2 percent in the second quarter. This was the fifth-highest state negative equity rate in the third quarter.
Nationally, 22.1 percent, or 10.7 million, of all residential properties with a mortgage were underwater at the end of the third quarter. This was down a bit from 22.5 percent, or 10.9 million properties, in the second quarter.

Report Highlights Obama's Broken Environmental Promises

Obama Justifies FEMA imprisonment of civilians

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Obama, the best Republican President we've had in years....

Thursday, November 24, 2011

The Politics and the Sociology of the Economics Profession - James Galbraith

Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life.

via PsycNet  I came across a good reminder this Thanksgiving while reading Marginal Revolution.  To be conscious and focused on your blessings... 

The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits. 

A land GOP primary voters...

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morning links...

No College Degree Will Buy Your Way Into The Top 1% - BusinessWeek 

The Dwindling Power of a College Degree  

Hubbard in WSJ | The Incidental Economist http://bit.ly/t2eiCp

How to Talk Turkey on Immigration: Redux » Immigration Impact http://bit.ly/scHWDn

UC Davis Pepper-Spray Incident Reveals Weakness Up Top | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone http://bit.ly/stOhcQ 

Massachusetts and Hawaii Offer the Most Cost-Effective Health Insurance Coverage | The Health Care Blog http://bit.ly/s5XD6H 

John Kenney: “We Are the One Per Cent” : The New Yorker http://nyr.kr/vqOKAF

A case study in how nonviolence can often defeat violence | Jay Bookman http://bit.ly/tqQdfs 

“The Degree To Which You Resist Is The Degree To Which You Are Free.” | Common Dreams http://bit.ly/tvqJj5

Occupy Wall Street Movement Could Signal US Market Turmoil, Need For Common Currency | Currencies | Minyanville.com http://bit.ly/veetSg

#Occupy Bat Signal for the 99% - YouTube http://bit.ly/ryOqDs

Why our brains make us laugh - Ideas - The Boston Globe http://b.globe.com/uW5CrK 

An Open Letter to University Presidents and Chancellors - New APPS: Art, Politics, Philosophy, Science http://bit.ly/vTbCEE 


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

State University---Whats in a name?

Was struck by this comment:

“To call us state universities is an interesting use of the term,” Cox said, adding that the amount of state funding for UC’s budget is 17 percent and dropping.

Without subsidized education for students not to mention the funds for research and development of technologies our modern economy would be... well not very modern (and we would have lost every war post-WWII).   

At what point is a state school no longer a state school?  How much of a subsidized education is "too socialist" for the tastes of GOP primary voters?  Seeing as how the bulk of those voters are recipients of Nanny State Socialism at its worst(best) should we ask for our money back for all those years of free-riding?   

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Lieberman Wants Google To Let Users Flag ‘Terrorist Content’ On Blogging Platform

Just caught this over at TPM: Joe Lieberman demands that Google implement a system on its Blogger platform for users to flag "terrorist content."

If they do they should include an unAmerican flag which all of us can push any time the name Joe Liberman appears on our computer screen.