October 22, 2015

`Some of these communities have used their citizens as ATMs'

Police Agencies Fold in St. Louis Area as Ticket Blitzes Stop


(Bloomberg) The aftermath of racial turmoil in Ferguson, Missouri, is exacting a toll on St. Louis-area communities that built their finances around speeding tickets, thanks to a state law limiting the income they can draw from traffic fines.

The city council of Charlack last week decided the community of 1,400 can’t afford an eight-officer police force under the new law, which says traffic citations in St. Louis County municipalities can’t exceed 12.5 percent of annual operating revenue, down from 30 percent. Policing in Charlack and in nearby Wellston, which dissolved its 23-officer force in May, is now handled by a recently created cooperative of local departments.

The 2014 police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson forced a national re-examination of what critics call “taxation by citation,” a situation exacerbated by the sheer number of departments, 18,000 throughout the U.S. A bill is pending in Congress to restrict the amount of revenue local governments can collect from traffic citations. In St. Louis County, which has 90 municipalities and 59 individual police departments, more communities are expected to follow the lead of Charlack and Wellston.

“This will have lawmakers around the country taking a second look at their agencies and making certain that the sole purpose of their existence is not for revenue, but to serve the public interest,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington nonprofit. “Police departments should not exist if their sole purpose is to generate revenue. That’s what we have tax collectors for.” ...................(more)

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-10-22/police-agencies-fold-in-st-louis-area-as-ticket-blitzes-stop

October 22, 2015

RTA Seeking Input as it Plans Regional Transit System

Oct. 22--The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan is hosting open house meetings this week around metro Detroit to get feedback and provide details on creating a regional transit system.

A meeting is planned for 4-8 p.m. today at the Velocity Center, Oakland University Incubator, 6633 Eighteen Mile Road, Sterling Heights.

The RTA is gathering input as it creates a master plan for regional transportation and is expected to seek a millage next year to develop a rapid transit system, which could include bus rapid transit, or BRT, on Woodward, Gratiot and Michigan avenues.

....(snip)....

Two other meetings are planned this week:

* Thursday, 4-8 p.m., Detroit Zoo, 8450 W. 10 Mile Road, Royal Oak.

* Saturday, 9:30 a.m. -- 1:30 p.m., Michigan State University Detroit Center, 3408 Woodward Ave., Detroit.

..............more at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/12129424/rta-seeking-input-as-it-plans-regional-transit-system

October 22, 2015

Florida Man ..... and Woman

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a man and woman left the woman's name and telephone number in the guestbook of a South Florida art gallery before stealing about $6,000 worth of jewelry.

Palm Beach police say 24-year-old Megan Ohara and 19-year-old David Ziskowski took a bracelet and a ring Sunday from the Attila JK exhibition at the ICFA Gallery. They were spotted a short time later at a nearby grocery, and police reported finding the jewelry in the woman's purse.

Officers found multiple fake email addresses and at least one obscene drawing in the gallery's guestbook. The South Florida Sun Sentinel (http://goo.gl/UEPiqq ) reports that two of the fake emails included the name "Meg" and one included Ohara's phone number.

Ohara and Ziskowski were arrested and charged with grand theft. Jail records didn't list attorneys.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-ziskowski-megan-ohara-guestbook-robbery_5626a19ce4b02f6a900e5378?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

October 22, 2015

Why more U.S. students are going abroad for college

(MarketWatch) As the cost of college in the U.S. soars to record levels, more American students are enrolling in schools abroad, where tuition fees are substantially lower — and in some cases nonexistent.

Annual tuition and fees for a private, nonprofit four-year university in the U.S. last year averaged $31,231, according to the nonprofit College Board. In Germany, universities receive so much in government subsidies that most students — including international students — pay no tuition at all.

While it may not qualify as an exodus, some of the most popular countries for college enrollments abroad have seen sharp upticks since 2011-12, when more than 46,500 U.S. students were enrolled in foreign academic-degree programs, according to the Institute of International Education. Britain, the No. 1 country for U.S. students, saw an 8% annual increase in 2012-13. German universities, meanwhile, experienced a 33% increase between 2010 and 2013, according to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

“Suddenly the Old World is becoming a pretty interesting place,” says Allan Goodman, president and chief executive of the Institute of International Education. “Many degree programs have courses taught in English, many of them have very robust scholarships or are tuition-free, and the subjects are very relevant to the world in which we live.” ..................(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-more-us-students-are-going-abroad-for-college-2015-10-22?dist=lcountdown

October 22, 2015

Why some young American farmers want their student loans forgiven

(MarketWatch) Are the farmers who grow the nation’s food public servants? Not according to the government — but some advocates and bipartisan legislators are trying to change that, pushing a proposal to add farming to the list of public service fields entitled to student debt forgiveness.

The effort is an indication that the student debt crisis has fueled concerns about the future of one of the country’s oldest professions and, perhaps, even endangered the food supply.

Advocates say that debt may be keeping young Americans from starting farms, buying land, or even considering farming to begin with, perhaps meaning there won’t be enough farmers to take over when the current generation retires.

“We’re increasingly moving toward a system where the barriers to entry in farming as a young person are too high,” said Eric Hansen, a policy analyst at the National Young Farmer’s Coalition, the advocacy group behind a push to include farming in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. ................(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/as-student-debt-crisis-moves-to-americas-farms-some-push-legislative-help-2015-10-22?dist=lcountdown

October 22, 2015

Sign of a tech bubble redux? ...... Silly ass apps

There was controversy over Peeple, the “Yelp for people” app that would allow users to review and rate exes, co-workers and friends. It was intended that you couldn’t opt out or delete negative reviews about yourself, but everyone hated the idea so much that it probably won’t happen.

Next, we got word of a popular dating app launching a review feature. Algorithmic swipe-style dating app The Grade now lets users’ matches and people they know in real life leave reviews on their dating profiles. The idea of dating with reviews is nauseating, but The Grade reviews are pretty playful and actually make it impossible to say anything negative, so we’ll give it a pass.

We just now, however, got word of a brand new app that’s taking this concept to a whole new level. If it became the norm, it just may give some merit to those bogus think pieces and listicles declaring dating dead and touting “10 Old Fashioned Dating Habits We Should Make Cool Again.”

It’s called The Know, and the purpose is quite simple—anonymously connect people so they can talk about a person they both know. ..................(more)

http://observer.com/2015/10/this-new-human-reviewing-app-is-worse-than-peeple-in-a-different-terrible-way/

October 22, 2015

“Bank Failures and Systemic Breakdowns”: Regulator Warns on Autos, Subprime, Commercial Real-Estate…

“Bank Failures and Systemic Breakdowns”: Regulator Warns on Autos, Subprime, Commercial Real-Estate…
by Wolf Richter • October 21, 2015


If you look at auto sales, which are flirting with all-time highs, and at commercial real-estate prices, which are way beyond all-time highs, and if you look at the loans, including subprime, that make it all happen, you’d think the US economy is in a white-hot economic boom.

But the economy is barely limping along. What’s booming is cheap but iffy debt that for the moment still looks good on the surface. And that is rattling bank regulators.

“We are clearly reaching the point in the cycle where credit risk is moving to the forefront,” explained Thomas Curry, Comptroller of the Currency, in a speech today. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) – one in the triad of federal bank regulators alongside the Fed and the FDIC – is fretting about banks’ exposure to the increasing risks of ballooning auto loans, particularly subprime auto loans, and commercial real-estate loans.

As they did in the run-up to the Financial Crisis, banks are “repackaging” these loans, including subprime loans, into highly-rated asset-backed securities, in face of “strong demand by investors” that are reaching for yield, in an environment where banks “are reaching for loan growth.” After having “already extended credit to their best customers,” they’re now lending to “less creditworthy borrowers, with all of the increased risk that entails.” ................(more)

http://wolfstreet.com/2015/10/21/individual-bank-failures-systemic-breakdowns-regulator-occ-warns-on-autos-subprime-commercial-real-estate/

October 22, 2015

Hillary Clinton on Social Security Expansion: Words are Wind. A Cold Wind.

Hillary Clinton on Social Security Expansion: Words are Wind. A Cold Wind.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.


Social Security, the social insurance program first implemented by Bismarck in 1889, was described by then-Emperor Wilhelm I as follows: “Those who are disabled from work by age and invalid[ism] have a well-grounded claim to care from the state.” Social Security was implemented in the United States by FDR in 1935, and we generally formulate Wilhelm’s “claim to care” as the wish that elders should be enabled to retire in dignity (in the vulgate, without having to eat cat food). Of course, Social Security policy does not only affect all-too-soon-to-be old codgers like myself, but all citizens who’ve entered the labor force and paid the payroll tax, and all citizens who are making life decisions today, based on what their for future retirement will be. So Social Security policy has a huge impact, society-wide. (We should also note that a Republican budgetary Easter egg means that Social Security benefits will probably become a major issue in Congress in late 2016.)

Here’s the baseline for the left on Social Security. From The Nation:

With boomers retiring without pensions or adequate savings, progressives have proposed expanding Social Security benefits …. Obama, by contrast, has proposed cutting Social Security benefits as part of a “grand bargain” with the Republicans on deficit reduction, a position greatly appreciated on Wall Street. Clinton, like all Democratic candidates, will promise to protect Social Security, but will she support expanding it?

Let’s start with the caveat that with Hillary Clinton, as with Bill Clinton, you’ve always got to parse the words. Here’s a dryly hilarious passage from the Wall Street Journal:

Corrections & Amplifications:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said that when it comes to fixing Social Security, “putting everything on the table is not an answer. Raising the retirement age is not an answer. Cutting benefits is not an answer.” This article incorrectly summarizes her as saying cutting benefits or raising the eligibility age were “off the table.”

(You have to read that passage a few times to see that although cutting benefits and raising the retirement age each by themselves might not be “an” answer, taken together they might be “the” answer. See how easy?) Anyhow, one shouldn’t allow the evident glee the Journal’s writer took in composing that correction to detract from the fact that you always have to parse the words of Clintons very, very carefully. They are, after all, like Obama, lawyers trained at top schools. ................(more)

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/10/hillary-clinton-on-social-security-expansion-words-are-wind-a-cold-wind.html

October 22, 2015

Oslo aims to make city center car-free within four years

(Reuters) Cars will be banned from central Oslo by 2019 to help reduce pollution, local politicians said on Monday, in what they said would be the first comprehensive and permanent ban for a European capital.

The newly elected city council, made up of the Labor Party, the Greens and the Socialist Left, said the plans would benefit all citizens despite shopowners' fears they will hurt business.

"We want to have a car-free center," Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, lead negotiator for the Green Party in Oslo, told reporters.


"We want to make it better for pedestrians, cyclists. It will be better for shops and everyone."

Under the plans, the council will build at least 60 kilometers of bicycle lanes by 2019, the date of the next municipal elections, and provide a "massive boost" of investment in public transport. ...............(more)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/19/us-norway-environment-oslo-idUSKCN0SD1GI20151019

October 22, 2015

“Bank Failures and Systemic Breakdowns”: Regulator Warns on Autos, Subprime, Commercial Real-Estate…

“Bank Failures and Systemic Breakdowns”: Regulator Warns on Autos, Subprime, Commercial Real-Estate…
by Wolf Richter • October 21, 2015


If you look at auto sales, which are flirting with all-time highs, and at commercial real-estate prices, which are way beyond all-time highs, and if you look at the loans, including subprime, that make it all happen, you’d think the US economy is in a white-hot economic boom.

But the economy is barely limping along. What’s booming is cheap but iffy debt that for the moment still looks good on the surface. And that is rattling bank regulators.

“We are clearly reaching the point in the cycle where credit risk is moving to the forefront,” explained Thomas Curry, Comptroller of the Currency, in a speech today. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) – one in the triad of federal bank regulators alongside the Fed and the FDIC – is fretting about banks’ exposure to the increasing risks of ballooning auto loans, particularly subprime auto loans, and commercial real-estate loans.

As they did in the run-up to the Financial Crisis, banks are “repackaging” these loans, including subprime loans, into highly-rated asset-backed securities, in face of “strong demand by investors” that are reaching for yield, in an environment where banks “are reaching for loan growth.” After having “already extended credit to their best customers,” they’re now lending to “less creditworthy borrowers, with all of the increased risk that entails.” ................(more)

http://wolfstreet.com/2015/10/21/individual-bank-failures-systemic-breakdowns-regulator-occ-warns-on-autos-subprime-commercial-real-estate/