HERE'S THE FIRST TWO DAYS WORTH OF POSTS FROM THE NEW LOS ANGELES POLITICAL AND ISSUE BLOG LADAILYBLOG.COM.
VILLARAIGOSA ROLLS THE POLITICAL DICE WITH L.A.'s FUTURE: With Mayor Viagraosa traveling all over the country and spending so much time away from his job as LAUSD cluster-f*cker and occasional mayor of the second biggest U.S. City to campaign so activistly for the quickly sinking Schillary Clinton Presidential dream (more like a nightmare);
when was it decided that a guy could use his position as mayor to roll the dice with the City's political future? You don't see the Mayor of New York or Chicago behaving this way. Here's the problem: What if anyone but Hillary wins? Can you imagine the political payback that will be bestowed upon the City of Los Angeles?
If McCain wins...don't you think he'll return the favor to Antonio for all his effort. The Republicans could withhold money the City and State would have otherwise been granted, if we didn't have a desperate, ego-maniacal,opportunistic, sell out the pueblos embarrassment of three-word speaking Loserosa.
(Hey Villar...next time I see you; NO SHRIMP FOR YOU! And don't stop for a picture with ZD with your camera posse. I can't be seen in a photo with you, loser.)
Just sit your A.D.D. ass in your chair, in your City Hall office...stop attaching your cart to a losing horse and pissing off the rest of Washington, D.C. And you better hope you gal wins, or I don't think you'll like where the U.S. Attorney goes.
RUMOR PATROL: No, this isn't about a fashion designing mayor appointee...here's a comment that almost went un-noticed by ZD:
Anonymous said: Zuma Dogg some lawyers and accountants on the third floor are working on a city personal income tax. February 12, 2008 11:09 AM
Not that ZD is one to jump on a random comment (despite what my critical spinners will try and lead you to believe), however, I was tipped to this, last fall, based on some memos someone sent me, that predicted this was still yet to come -- so this comment is probably in response to this post. SO TO CLARIFY...With Villaraigosa facing a $600-$700 budget deficit, even with Prop S money -- and dropping property values, means less property taxes for the City -- they are going to have to come up with new and creative revenue streams, like a City Personal Income Tax. (Why not just make a blanket tax where the City will allow you to keep 20% of your money, and they take the rest.)
CAPTAIN JACK MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE: Since Cpt Jack tipped ZD's ski cap to this "personal income tax", along with Mayor Sam who also blogged about this, here's an update he just posted with some other new and creative revenue streams on the way:
Captain Jack Sparrow said, "As we understand it, the prevailing sentiment amongst the sots is that since two (puts up two fingers) tax measures have been whisked onto the ballot and handily approved by a rather stupid public-at-large, why not ram as many possible taxes through as one can before someone's good will and another someone's political connections finally run out. Expect to see many new and unusual taxes such as a public school student tax (i.e., if your child attends LAUSD, you pay a head tax), a tax on your overdue library materials fine, a tax on getting a license for your pooch (and soon your pussy) and others to spring forth from that brain trust known as the Clowncil, savvy?
New Density Incentive That Is A Virtual Zoning Change On Coucil Agenda For Wednesday & Is Villaraigosa Creating New City Income Tax?
NEW DENSITY INCENTIVE ON LA CITY COUNCIL AGENDA FOR WED 2/13/08: It's the beginning of the end. (See "Escape from New York") It's a long-ass, shady as hell new ordinance on the LA City Council agenda today. Looks like a GREAT day to be a developer with all the right connections with LAANE/CRA/Villaraigosa and his connected cohorts in the high density housing business.
It'll take a minute to type up a comedy review exposing all the shady angles, but basically, if you agree to add 10% affordable housing; a developer can increase density by 20% on your project. 20% affordable housing=35% added density "bonus" (incentive).
PLUS, the developers can now get more State and Federal grant money for these projects. And I'll re-post the threads from last summer about "there is a lot of profit to be made in the non-profit, affordable housing racket.)
Click here for today's agenda item on "density bonus" that will bring the city to a grinding halt, and create so much over crowdedness that crime is certain to skyrocket.
And oh yeah, are you adding 35% more roads, police, fire, trash collection AND WATER!!! THERE IS NOT ENOUGH WATER TO ACCOMMODATE ALL OF THIS ADDED DENSITY -- AND YOU KNOW THIS. AND YOU WILL NEED WATER TO COOL YOU OFF BASED ON WHERE YOU ARE ALL HEADED FOR THIS. Besides the infrastructure -- THIS WILL CAUSE A SERIOUS WATER PROBLEM!!! WARNING...WARNING...THIS IS NOT A TEST!!!
FEATURED COMMENT: LA'S undisputed greatest guitarist Matt Dowd said, "this one has Eli Broad written all over it. Add 20% affordable, get 35% density bonus, AND GET SUBSIDISED TOO!!!!" (Matt tipped ZD to this item and did the initial legalese analysis.)
HILLARY CLINTON: Billary should step out of the way of the Democratic nomination and step down like Romney and Edwards did. With McCain now the virtual nominee, the Democrats need to move forward, and all Clinton is going to do by hanging around is divide the party. If she cares about the country, she should do what's best for the party, and step down and let the nominees get started.
click here for zd updates throughout the day and night. shadiness never sleeps, so I can't either!
Treasury Dept & HUD To Suspend Foreclosures for 30 Days, Villar Admits To Tough Budget Year, and Nunez To Get Out of Politics
WARREN BUFFETT: Buffet called into CNBC this morning to announce that he is offering $800 billion to re-insure municipal bond portfolios. (Hey Antonio...CALL NOW!) Good short-term news, although this is still only a drop in the overall bucket. And he's only going to be insuring the low-risk part of the problem. (And that's not the problem!) Read below, and hopefully this move can help prevent the scenario. One of the three insurers he made the offer to already declined.)
TREASURY DEPT & HUD TO HELP PREVENT FORECLOSURES: Lenders offer broader mortgage plan, extends to borrowers of all loans, not just subprime. The plan will allow seriously overdue homeowners to suspend foreclosures for 30 days while lenders try to work out more affordable loans, according to AP
. The plan, called Project Lifeline, will be announced Tuesday by the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said a person familiar with the plan who confirmed earlier news reports about the plan but spoke on condition of anonymity because it had not yet been made public.
2/12/08 UPDATE: Plus, Villaraigosa admits to tough budget year ahead, even with Prop S money. (ZD says deficit is FAR WORSE than they have copped to...$600-$700 million...NOT just $200-$300 million.) Nucklehead Nunez admits he's out of politics, for now (as if he had a choice). And Clinton insiders admit Ohio & Texas are both "must wins" as Clinton donors fear campaign is slipping away. (Tuesday ain't gonna be a day for Schillary.) But there's no need to fear...Trujillo is on the case in Texas! (Hold on to your water bottles!) And Mt. Gleason/LAUSD crew...best get your shiz together pronto...ZD's putting the smack down, on the realest. Laugh now Irma Good and Deborah "I have friends in very high places" Costa. The community will be having the last laugh. It's over...and so is your LAUSD career. Mark this date!Click here for these updates.
Buffett Offers Muni-Bond Insurer "Safety Net", Paulson Announces Homeowners Assistance Plan & GOLD ALERT!!!
IMPORTANT GOLD ALERT FOR 2/12/08 AT STRATEGYUPDATE.COM (This blog's companion web site with updates posted between blog updates.)
GOLD WATCH: Something I've noticed..."Smart Money" (hedge funds/big boys) seems to own Yamana Gold (AUY) more than almost any other gold miner. Here's why I came to the conclusion. When gold is up, or in rally mode...I've noticed AUY is the first gold mining stock to start to go south, when gold prices start to drop. AUY is not necessarily to first to rise back up, when gold prices rally back (however if you do see it rally first, expect the rest to follow), but you can use this "down" indicator to help you be on guard for gold to drop, if you are planning on selling -- or allow you to be ready to buy if you want to buy on the dips.
DOW RALLY (DO NOT BE BAMBOOZLED!): Don't be fooled by the warm and fuzzy feeling that causes Wall Street rallies over these press release announcements like Buffet's $800 billion offer to re-insure municipal bond insurers, as a safety net if they want it. (And one of three insurers Buffett made the offer to already turned down the offer.)
Problem with this nice gesture, is these muni bonds aren't the root of the problem that looms ahead. These are the low risk bonds. However, if they ever get threatened that they are about to lose a "AAA" rating, they can fall back on this offer to avoid the sell off that would occur on a downgrade.
And Paulson announced that the Treasury Department and HUD are going to help keep people in their homes with a new warm and fuzzy, fluff-ball plan that won't make a dent in the subprime problem.
However, Wall Street psychology is a factor, and these announcements will falsely remove some of the fear that has been casting a gloom on the market, and we'll see a short term rally. The Fed, White House, Buffett and everyone else can try as they will to keep the market propped up, and the economic factors in check, but there's no way to artificially keep things propped up in the long run. We're talking stuff of historic proportions ahead.
Please beware -- the credit derivatives market is the big problem here: The spreads are getting wider -- and the problem is bigger (and getting bigger by the day) than the financial institutions have accounted for.
Plus, like subprime affected the housing market, get ready for the same thing to hit the car dealers/auto industry -- and watch for credit card companies to start seeing much later payments, and complete defaults. And as people's homes continue to drop in value, and they end up owing more on the property than it is worth, more and more people will be walking away from the payments and stiffing the banks.
So enjoy any short term rally this month. We think it will be time for a chorus of "Hell's Bells" sometime soon. (Like this month.)
Click here for updates throughout the day, between these daily blog posts, at StrategyUpdate.com. (Investors resource site with news links and 24 live gold, euro and metals charts.) Already posted everything on this blog last night and early this morning. Set a Google Alert for "strategyupdate.com" so these blog alerts will be sent to your email inbox, right away.
Wall Street Alert: Watch This Video of the Week (Based on Bond Insurance Crisis)
StrategyUpdate.com blogger Zuma Dogg sings a little song to indicate where he thinks the stock market will be going based on the credit derivatives market and bond insurers' crisis. We've been posting doomsday alerts since October of '07, predicting a historic downturn as soon as the calendar turned to January '08, that would be the small wave, before a second downturn in February, worse than the historic losses in January. Don't think the bail out express will be here in time. And when it does get here, won't be able to help in the long run. The biggest to be hit are Municipal Bonds -- like the one's the City's and State's sell to the people. WATCH THE CREDIT SPREADS IN THE DERIVATIVES MARKET...That is why this is our video of the month.
