Government Bailouts of hundreds of banks, GM, Medicare, Wars in Iraq and Afganistan. But who actually is paying for it? Aside from putting it on the big goverment charge card we have with the US Treasury, someone has to pay the tab every year. Nice infoporn from Mint.com below. Click to enlarge.
From the American Bankruptcy Institute: October Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Reach New Highs, Up 28 Percent Over Last Year
The 135,913 consumer bankruptcy filings in October represented a 27.9 percent increase over last October's monthly total of 106,266, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC). The October 2009 consumer filings represented an 8.9 percent increase from the September 2009 total of 124,790. Chapter 13 filings constituted 28.5 percent of all consumer cases in October, a slight increase from the September rate.
"The nearly 9 percent increase in consumer bankruptcy filings in October, together with a 7 percent jump reported in business cases, demonstrates the sustained stress on the U.S. economy,"said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. ABI forecasts that total bankruptcies this year will exceed 1.4 million, the highest number since 2005.
2005 had a huge spike because a federal BK reform law was put into place requiring a means tests and classes be taken. They wanted to weed out the BK filer who was abusing the system.
I also read this troubling piece put together by CNN highlighting people that are forced to save money because of job losses and illness; resorting to fishing for dinner and hunting deer. This is on their personal financial site CNN-FN/Money. Things are very very bad. Extreme Saver Article Here.
This chart is very troubling. Things are only accelerating. 4.5% of mortgages in the 4 trillion portfolio are over 90 days late. From Calculated Risk.
I meant to get to this last week, but the day it came out, I was mostly enjoying the sites and vino of Italy. Largely without 3G access(everything is slower in Italy), and I somehow missed it:
“Despite some tentative signs of recovery, the U.S. housing market remains vulnerable to further price drops—especially in areas where large numbers of mortgages are headed toward foreclosure over the next few years.
The Wall Street Journal’s quarterly survey of housing-market data in 28 major metro areas shows sharp drops in the number of homes listed for sale across the country. But the potential supply of homes is far larger because banks are likely to acquire significant numbers of foreclosed homes in some areas, notably Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, Miami and other parts of Florida, and Sacramento, Calif., over the next few years.
Sales of those homes may depress prices further. By contrast, metro areas with relatively low foreclosure and mortgage-delinquency rates include Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Raleigh, N.C., and Portland, Ore., making them less vulnerable.
Homeowners and potential buyers have been whipsawed by conflicting signals about the state of the market in recent months. Ulani and Mike Thiessen found the market surprisingly hot when they went shopping for their first home in Las Vegas during the summer. With the help of Kim Kelly-Reed, an agent from One Source Realty & Management, the Thiessens finally bought a foreclosed house in September for about $136,000—but only after being outbid on three other houses.”
chart courtesy of WSJ
“To say there is a second wave implies the (current) wave has receded,” [Sam Khater, senior economist, First American CoreLogic] “I don’t see that the wave has receded.”
Click on graph for larger image in new window.Khater said ... federal and state efforts have mostly delayed foreclosures, preventing few. ... So to tune out the noise, just look at the 90-day rate. In Khater’s view it shows “one giant wave.”
Mr.Mortgage Summary:Expect to see more home inventory come on the market in the next two years. It takes 12-14 months after a payment is missed to actually get listed by a realtor for sale as an REO. With the unemployment rate at 10% give or take that is a lot of new folks entering the foreclosure line. This will pressuree prices in market that were the former bubble states.
