DISQUS

SINGING_TROLL · 1 year ago

70,000 more folks stuck with NYC and surrounding areas rent.

How's the apartment availability and prices there right now compared with 1 year ago? Anyone know?

RonTunning · 1 year ago

The NYC real estate market is undergoing a major upheaval that's just beginning. So much of the escalation in condo and coop prices was driven by foreign investment which has come to a standstill. Scores of condo projects are being delayed or scrapped, and the chances are good that many unsold condos will be converted to rentals, which should help to drive down rental rates. Anecdotal evidence of the extend of the decline is that the late Brooke Astor's apartment has just been reduced in price from $46 million to $34 million, or over 25%. From what I gather, such declines are impacting the market in all price categories.

Additionally, commercial real estate is taking a beating, with rental rates for Class A office space declining by up to 30 percent and numerous projects scaled back, delayed or simply scrapped. There's an enormous amount of space coming on stream as the financial services firms disappear or downsize, other corporate offices are shrinking their offices staffs as well.

hawkseye · 1 year ago

Again, Wine Country California commercial rents are tanking.

Brian · 1 year ago

I think I agree that we should not be afraid to spend a lot of money to jump start the economy now (not to mention getting a lot of important things done).

But I'm very wary of building a bigger deficit. Hopefully Obama really can save money by improving technology like he said in the campaign, but this won't stop the deficit from ballooning.

If the economy gets going again in the next four or five years then maybe there will be time to switch to a more measured approach and reduce the deficit.

paulbot5 · 1 year ago

more spending is just more of the same :\

tbhull · 1 year ago

The future is not putting any more taxpayer money into the likes of AIG. Let it fail and if the market collapses around it then rebuild from the ground up.

Trying to prop up failed institutions suppported by their rotted pillars of greed and wealth for only a very select few simply will not do.

EmGD · 1 year ago

Yeah, I don't get this sudden cry for the government to turtle and start hording money under a large mattress. It's time to start spending and investing in things that get people working, cuts costs for Americans and improves this country. Which is actually going to have to involve spending money.

http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/

anarchy · 1 year ago

Paulson and Boosh say: let's make sure the fat cats are
taken care of since they caused this mess in the first place.

that's total sarcasm, of course.

tbhull · 1 year ago

Some say that foreign governments have put extreme pressure on Paulson to make sure AIG stays afloat. Maybe true. If so, then screw foreign governments putting pressure on how US taxpayer dollars are spent. What can they do if the US taxpayers say fuck you?

tbhull · 1 year ago

I know I pay taxes hoping and praying that China's standard of living rises, that China's economy does not tumble and that China's unemployment rate is low, all while America falls apart.

Gary SF · 1 year ago

Yes, but we have to stop 'the gays' from getting married....

Seriously, I think that public works projects are in order. I even think that we should prop-up GM only if upper management is fired and the best engineering minds in the world are hired to design and develop eco-friendly, energy efficient cars. Then we would need to hire some of the Toyota folks to help re-tool our factories. This is a big expense, but it could be profitable again and benefit the world. They could consider all of the government funding as a 40-year loan.

TimF · 1 year ago

You couldn't be more correct, Chris.

Let's be clear, it sucks. There will be massive deficits and the national debt will continue to go through the roof, but right now the government needs to be throwing a massive amount of money at infrastructure and energy.

Highway Improvements.
Mass Transit improvements
Start connecting major cities with rail roads
Bailout the Auto industry under the condition that they will build the best hybrid vehicles in the world.

I do have a degree in economics, but I am not going to pretend to know really how bad (or not bad) that things are; however, the people who do know seem to think that this is going to be painfully worse. If that is the case, money needs to be spent in epic proportions.

hawkseye · 1 year ago

FDR's programs, including public works, were great, but the economy did not recover until the full employment of WWII. After the war, a strong middle class was established via the GI Bill and FHA.

Gary SF · 1 year ago

Maybe we could declare a war on ignorance. That should take all of our resources for the next 20 years.

Brian · 1 year ago

kill two birds with one stone

hawkseye · 1 year ago

Mostly Republican birds.

ekwhite · 1 year ago

Krugman's take is that Roosevelt didn't go far enough soon enough. WWII, in a way, was the biggest Keynesian project ever. Here is a link to his article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/opinion/10kru...

hawkseye · 1 year ago

Thanks for pointing that out.
Krugman is right.

hawkseye · 1 year ago

And I should add that Roosevelt wanted to go to war much earlier than we did. He had to wait for public opinion to change, and it did when Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Asterix · 1 year ago

There are a lot of smaller businesses that are calling ti quits. A local family-owned Ford dealership shut down recently, after 87 years in business. They just couldn't see a light at the end of the tunnel--and they survived through the Great Depression.

This is bad, very bad.

Indigo · 1 year ago

A domestic Peace Corps might be a good idea right about now. They could go into places like Appalachia and recruit self-reliance specialists who could venture into hard-hit places like Palo Alto and Shaker Heights and Windemere to teach unemployed locals how to turn on the stove, prepare simple meals for themselves, and economize by taking in borders and bussing tables at the country club to pay greens fees. Some might call it communism, I call it fair play.

TomsOld · 1 year ago

Heaven forbid, but is it time for rationing??? CCC and WPA projects build up the infrastructure and feed people. We are all going to have to suffer some..

hawkseye · 1 year ago

You put a smile on my face this morning!

RonTunning · 1 year ago

Given insufficient coverage are the job losses being experienced in state and local governments which are reeling from the loss of property taxes, building permit fees, sales taxes and earnings taxes. Hamilton County, Ohio, of which Cincinnati is the county seat, announced today a cut of 532 positions from the county payroll, as well as significant cuts to social services. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081110/NEW...

In my county in New Hampshire, proposed budget cuts will devastate social service organizations, resulting in an undetermined number of layoffs.

http://www.laconiademocrats.org/Proposed-County... and http://www.laconiademocrats.org/UNH-Cooperative...

Multiply this by the 3,077 counties throughout the nation and you're talking hundreds of thousands of jobs.

hawkseye · 1 year ago

Hi, Ron,

Same thing is going on here in Wine Country California---Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Marin counties. Lots of pink slips for teachers, state, county, and city workers

kh7463 · 1 year ago

We're seeing a lot of that in Lake Count, IN too. Although there's been so much fat on the budgets it's been due for years. Just not a good time to be doing it.

Charles2 · 1 year ago

I'd watch for other industries to take advantage of this crisis (a la "Shock Doctrine) to do some trimming of their own - even those that are making tons of money. You'd be surprised at how they can claim that some certain divisions are not making what they should and using that as an excuse to cut jobs and outsource even more.

I know my company is likely to do so...

hawkseye · 1 year ago

Perhaps a tax on outsourcing is needed.

kh7463 · 1 year ago

I'm beginning to feel apprehensive and worried about Obama. Only because people are seeming to expect miracles out of the poor guy, starting January 20th. Or earlier if you read some folks. He said it's going to take a while, but everyone wants what they want immediately. I know Obama is the guy that can do it, I just hope folks have the patience to let him do it.

I personally am not too worried about my job, I work in education, but I live in an area that is already seeing big layoffs (Ford, Mittal Steel) and I know a lot of my friends and family are being affected. I'm just worried about being able to pay my bills without a payraise again this year.

popspops · 1 year ago

what do you expect most everbody sold america out buying foreign cars and products sending billons of dollars overseas you deserve to loose your job. You sold america out those people on wallstreet most buy big foreign cars anyhow the rest of you are sheep that follow each other. Maybe when you wake up and get smart and buy american we can get millons of jobs here in the usa.