patrick.net

Anyone else here thinks that we are becoming a communist state?

I think I'm gonna go get myself an FHA loan. This is an awesome safety net.

extend and pretend, our government officials have become experts at kicking the can down the road.

At a mortgage payment of $1000/month, if an unemployed homeowner falls behind and can't make payments for 1 year; upon employment, will he/she be able to come up with $12000 to repay the 1 year worth of missed payment? Or will the interest be forgiven for the 1 year span? If this is the case, people will do the following:

-buy property
-make 1 payment
-be unemployed for 1 year
-make 1 payment
-be unemployed for 1 year
-make 1 payment
-and so forth

This benefit being on top of unemployment benefits... They're living the good life.

vain says

They're living the good life

I never get this line of thinking. Being on unemployment is the "good life" Really?

tatupu70 says

vain says

They're living the good life

I never get this line of thinking. Being on unemployment is the "good life" Really?

Getting something for nothing is better than spending $500 worth of your time to get $520. Reward to effort ratio is much better being unemployed.

I don't think anyone here would turn down the offer to stop working and continue receiving their salary. But of course there is a downside to this. One would always be worried about what happens after unemployment runs out.

vain says

I don't think anyone here would turn down the offer to stop working and continue receiving their salary. But of course there is a downside to this. One would always be worried about what happens after unemployment runs out.

You don't get your salary when you're on unemployment. It depends on how much you were making, but you only get a fraction of it.

bubblesitter says

Anyone else here thinks that we are becoming a communist state?

No, but it's a Fascist state!

tatupu70 says

vain says

I don't think anyone here would turn down the offer to stop working and continue receiving their salary. But of course there is a downside to this. One would always be worried about what happens after unemployment runs out.

You don't get your salary when you're on unemployment. It depends on how much you were making, but you only get a fraction of it.

I've never had to use unemployment. But I hear it's 2/3rds of your old salary and there are no withholdings.

I'm sure there are many people out there that are willing to take 66k/year to pretend to find a job than to work their butts off and get 100k/year.

They should extend this "protection" to renters. Why don't I have the right to three years of rent-free living in a McMansion with no negative financial consequences!

What homeowner would maintain a property that they're unsure of whether or not they will even get to keep?

Maintain? Hell, the lender would be lucky if the "owners" don't gut the copper wiring when their three years are up.

Dan8267 says

They should extend this "protection" to renters. Why don't I have the right to three years of rent-free living in a McMansion with no negative financial consequences!

Very sad. Responsible don't get much in America. This just violates fundamental rules of nature. America is destined to fail, if this goes long.

bubblesitter says

America is destined to fail, if this goes long.

We failed 2002-2007. This is just the aftermath.

vain says

I've never had to use unemployment. But I hear it's 2/3rds of your old salary and there are no withholdings.

No, it's much less than that and one should do Federal withholding, since benefits are taxable.

I'm sure there are many people out there that are willing to take 66k/year to pretend to find a job than to work their butts off and get 100k/year.

Actually, the max payout is reached at $45,000/yr income and it is $1800/mo, $21,600/yr.

So you're off by a factor of 3 gross, 4 net.

I am a renter, so my tax dollars are going to pay someone else's mortgage who can't pay it. This will take more houses out of the market thus keeping housing prices higher than they should be in a free market. So in effect I can't buy a house at a reasonable price and I am paying for that through my tax money. What a crock!

vain says

They're living the good life.

And then on top of that, they get huge sympathy from government and from the media when they cry and say "I'm losing my HOME." This is despite the fact that most of these people HELOCked themselves into debt and burned the money they received from cashing out. Why should we have any sympathy for them?

There's been similar programs like this in Mass on the state level. If someone realizes this is just extra time they'll work and bank the money to leave as there's really no incentive for them to pay after living there free for a year. Now are the banks still going to pay the property taxes for these for that time or will they simply not pay it at all?

Maybe this isn't in all towns but at least in Mass if you don't pay your property taxes (I think excise as well) then you cannot vote in local elections.

If someone cannot vote and isn't paying taxes to the local government then you can kiss goodbye any real influence.

Write a letter to the president about your frustration with this crap.

ptiemann says

I received EDD benefits briefly and it came in at $950 every 2 weeks. I used to gross over $300k / year, which came to about $950 a day. Believe me, it's quite a change from $950 a day to $950 every 2 weeks.

were you paying taxes on your entire 300k income? i remember you posted a while ago that you only pad 25k in taxes one year. Which probably means your declared income is much lower hence lower unemployment checks.

My neighbor owns an auto repair shop. He declares less than half of his income on taxes, because of mostly cash transactions. But than goes to complain that he can't get a loan from the bank because they think he makes too little.

EMan says

mostly cash transactions

Ah yes, cold hard cash.

The Government-Financial Complex has ginned up American Consumers on using plastic cards with their brainwashing about convenience and all their silly stupid frequent flyer points or 1% cash back or other stupid silly perks. (Do you really think that putting welfare payments, food stamps, WIC, and other government checks onto plastic cards is really all about convenience?)

Let's all raise a toast to cash.

EMan says

ptiemann says

I received EDD benefits briefly and it came in at $950 every 2 weeks. I used to gross over $300k / year, which came to about $950 a day. Believe me, it's quite a change from $950 a day to $950 every 2 weeks.

were you paying taxes on your entire 300k income? i remember you posted a while ago that you only pad 25k in taxes one year. Which probably means your declared income is much lower hence lower unemployment checks.

My neighbor owns an auto repair shop. He declares less than half of his income on taxes, because of mostly cash transactions. But than goes to complain that he can't get a loan from the bank because they think he makes too little.

$950/2 weeks is the maximum from EDD in California.

The normal maximum is $450/week, but with stimulus funds, there is an extra $25/week for $950. No state tax on this.

corntrollio says

there is an extra $25/week for $950

was, that went-away in December since the economy doesn't need any more stimulus now.

ptiemann says

My frustration comes from filing unemployed in May and getting my first check mid-November, with no retro-active payments.

if you applied in May 2009 your claim going into appeals was bad timing.

EDD caseload doubled between 2006 & 2008:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=14E

Unemployment tops out at $275 a week. Or at least it did when I was unemployed in 2002.

The kick in the face, is next year, when you owe taxes on those wages. One would be far better off doing odd jobs under the table than being on the Social Dole.

E-man says

This is purely political driven in my opinion. Removing the troops from Afghanistan in Summer of next year is also political driven although I like this. The politicians would do whatever it takes to get elected. Period. Between now and November 2012, the government would do whatever it takes to hold up the housing market as well as the economy. The fact that once a homeowner is 12 months behind on a mortgage, there is no way he would be able to catch up, and there is no freaking way that a lender would do a loan modification at that time.

There are some bailout programs out there. Some can get their mortgage reduced by a significant number. It is paid for by tax dollars.

Troy says

was, that went-away in December since the economy doesn't need any more stimulus now.

Yes, sorry, I should have said that. I was explaining the $950/2 weeks figure mentioned above and why it's higher than normal.

Troy says

if you applied in May 2009 your claim going into appeals was bad timing.

It depends. If you appeal a claim, it first goes through the internal process, which is slow and takes at least a month or two. However, after that, it can go to a judge, and gets adjudicated on the spot by the judge. A lot of people give up before this point, but it can be worth while.