The AP reports: Trump venture folds, leaving buyers strapped.
Stephen and Linda Drake cast aside concerns about owning property in Mexico because they believed in Donald Trump.
The Southern California couple paid $250,000 down payment on a 19th-floor oceanfront condo in Trump Ocean Resort Baja in 2006 before the first construction crew arrived.
But admiration for the celebrity developer and star of "The Apprentice" has now turned into anger and disbelief as Trump's luxury hotel-condo plan collapsed, leaving little more than a hole in the ground and investors out of their deposits, which totaled $32.2 million.
"I can't even stand to see Trump's face on TV," says Linda Drake, a psychologist, whose husband is a commercial airline pilot and financial adviser.
Investors were told last month their money was spent and they won't get a penny back. A single mother in suburban Los Angeles lost $200,000 and won't be able to send her sons to private universities. A Los Angeles-area businessman lost a deposit of more than $1 million on four Trump units, including two penthouses.
Trump and his children heavily promoted the northern tip of Mexico's Baja California coast. He sold 188 units for $122 million the first day they went on a sale at a lavish event in a downtown San Diego hotel in December 2006.
Trump's condos went on sale when Southern California home prices were near their peak, offering a lower-cost alternative in the Mexican border city of Tijuana. The Trump Organization teamed up with Los Angeles developer Irongate Capital Partners LLC, the partnership behind Trump International Hotel & Tower Waikiki in Honolulu.
Guadalupe Mendoza, 47, paid a $200,000 deposit at the first-day sale in San Diego, refinancing her Downey home and getting a loan from a sister. She watched a giant screen show units getting snapped up.
After signing papers, buyers were ushered to a buffet of sirloin tip and fish tacos. Cheers erupted in the hotel ballroom for each new owner.
"I did it in less than a minute," said Mendoza, an administrator in the Los Angeles County Office of Education. "I remember my head was hurting and thinking, 'My God, what was that?' I was thinking maybe I should have asked questions. It was like a roller-coaster ride."
The December letter says Trump was not an investor, but buyers said they were sold on his imprimatur.
BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Saturday, March 07, 2009
The Jobs Report
The Canton Review reports: Stark’s hottest job: Janitor.
Nearly 700 people have applied for a single job as a school custodian.
Perry Local Schools have an open position — full time with benefits — at Edison Junior High School after its afternoon janitor retired. It pays $15 to $16 an hour.
The job opened last Saturday, and district officials say the stack of applications continues to expand daily.
Nearly 700 people have applied for a single job as a school custodian.
Perry Local Schools have an open position — full time with benefits — at Edison Junior High School after its afternoon janitor retired. It pays $15 to $16 an hour.
The job opened last Saturday, and district officials say the stack of applications continues to expand daily.
Friday, March 06, 2009
The Pain Factor
U-6 is the broadest measure of unemployment. This is what it feels like on the street, and this is how it was measured in 1930. U-3 is completely bogus. As if the rest of the people don't have to eat!By that measure, we are within striking distance of GD1 (which topped out around 20%!) In fact, most rust-belt cities have already exceeded that number - Detroit being the prime example soon to be joined by such luminaries as Cleveland, Rochester, Buffalo, Phoenix, etc.
Please note that both numbers are accelerating not slowing.
This graph shows how many people are searching for part-time work for "economic reasons" (Ed: as opposed to what?)The EE would like to take this opportunity to make a point about statistics. He hates the second graph because it doesn't take into account population growth. You really need to adjust by either (a) number of adults, or (b) number of households (economic units.)
That having been said, the pain is obvious.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
The Four Most Expensive Words in the English Language
Bloomberg reports: Rolls-Royce, Ferrari Suffer as Slump Reaches New Rich.
Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and rival luxury carmakers that just five months ago said they’d buck the recession are finding they’re not immune.
The new millionaires of Asia and the Middle East have curbed spending, executives from companies including Rolls and Ferrari said in interviews at the Geneva Motor Show this week, torpedoing a market they’d counted on to spur growth after the banking crisis eroded orders in Europe and the U.S.
“Conventional wisdom has it that premium manufacturers do better in a downturn because people with more money can weather the storm,” said Michael Tyndall, an automotive specialist with Nomura in London. “This time it’s different.”
Errr... that's not conventional wisdom.
That would be that luxury goods do really badly in a downturn for obvious reasons. Especially mass luxury like the car makers or jewelry or "upscale" candy.
And, of course, the justification: "This time it's different."
The most expensive words in the English language!
Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and rival luxury carmakers that just five months ago said they’d buck the recession are finding they’re not immune.
The new millionaires of Asia and the Middle East have curbed spending, executives from companies including Rolls and Ferrari said in interviews at the Geneva Motor Show this week, torpedoing a market they’d counted on to spur growth after the banking crisis eroded orders in Europe and the U.S.
“Conventional wisdom has it that premium manufacturers do better in a downturn because people with more money can weather the storm,” said Michael Tyndall, an automotive specialist with Nomura in London. “This time it’s different.”
Errr... that's not conventional wisdom.
That would be that luxury goods do really badly in a downturn for obvious reasons. Especially mass luxury like the car makers or jewelry or "upscale" candy.
And, of course, the justification: "This time it's different."
The most expensive words in the English language!
That Sinking Feeling
Yahoo! reports: 12 pct. are behind on mortgage or in foreclosure.
An industry survey shows a record 5.4 million American homeowners with a mortgage, or nearly 12 percent, were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of last year.
The sharpest increases in loans 90-days past due were in Louisiana, New York, Georgia, Texas and Mississippi, reflecting a spreading recession and massive job losses nationwide
The report also showed the delinquency rates for fixed-rate mortgages climbed in the fourth quarter, another sign that layoffs are taking a toll on homeowners.
An industry survey shows a record 5.4 million American homeowners with a mortgage, or nearly 12 percent, were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of last year.
The sharpest increases in loans 90-days past due were in Louisiana, New York, Georgia, Texas and Mississippi, reflecting a spreading recession and massive job losses nationwide
The report also showed the delinquency rates for fixed-rate mortgages climbed in the fourth quarter, another sign that layoffs are taking a toll on homeowners.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
The Candy Crappin' Unicorn™'s "Plan"
The Financial Times reports: Obama home rescue plan welcomed.
The US Treasury on Wednesday unveiled the details of Barack Obama’s housing rescue plan, which will pay mortgage servicers to modify troubled home loans while reducing borrowers’ interest rates to as low as 2 per cent.
In an effort to ensure that a relaxation of mortgage terms is only given to borrowers who need them, those hoping to qualify for changes will have to fully document their income and sign an affidavit declaring financial hardship.
Servicers, which collect home loan payments and work with troubled borrowers, will have to conduct detailed assessments of a borrower’s ability to pay and adhere to strict reporting requirements in order to collect incentive payments from the Treasury. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run mortgage financiers, will administer the programme to ensure that servicers only receive payments for successful mortgage modifications.
This is one of the most cynical ploys the EE has ever seen.
Even if these people could pay, they are far better off just handing the keys back to the bank and buying a place in the future. No amount of "interest-rate differential" for five years can make up for the fundamental fact that prices are collapsing.
In fact, they are far better off just walking away, and not looking back.
What this really is is a plan to keep the people who are already in "financial hardship" in hock to the bank. Simply put, they are mortgage slaves who are toiling away month after month to keep their bank in solvency. If they just walked away, they would be able to rent for less, and have a lot more disposable income to boot which they could save to buy a house in the future.
If this be liberalism from the Candy-Crappin' Unicorn™ then the EE has no fuckin' clue what the "right-wing" really looks like.
This is about as illiberal a plan as it gets, and since the EE is really a pragmatic "liberal" at heart, this really pisses him off!
The US Treasury on Wednesday unveiled the details of Barack Obama’s housing rescue plan, which will pay mortgage servicers to modify troubled home loans while reducing borrowers’ interest rates to as low as 2 per cent.
In an effort to ensure that a relaxation of mortgage terms is only given to borrowers who need them, those hoping to qualify for changes will have to fully document their income and sign an affidavit declaring financial hardship.
Servicers, which collect home loan payments and work with troubled borrowers, will have to conduct detailed assessments of a borrower’s ability to pay and adhere to strict reporting requirements in order to collect incentive payments from the Treasury. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run mortgage financiers, will administer the programme to ensure that servicers only receive payments for successful mortgage modifications.
This is one of the most cynical ploys the EE has ever seen.
Even if these people could pay, they are far better off just handing the keys back to the bank and buying a place in the future. No amount of "interest-rate differential" for five years can make up for the fundamental fact that prices are collapsing.
In fact, they are far better off just walking away, and not looking back.
What this really is is a plan to keep the people who are already in "financial hardship" in hock to the bank. Simply put, they are mortgage slaves who are toiling away month after month to keep their bank in solvency. If they just walked away, they would be able to rent for less, and have a lot more disposable income to boot which they could save to buy a house in the future.
If this be liberalism from the Candy-Crappin' Unicorn™ then the EE has no fuckin' clue what the "right-wing" really looks like.
This is about as illiberal a plan as it gets, and since the EE is really a pragmatic "liberal" at heart, this really pisses him off!
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Dog Chasing Tail Saga
From the New York Times: Fed Chief Vows to Use Every Tool to Stem Financial Crisis.
While the United States economy is likely to worsen significantly over the next year, the Federal Reserve is “committed to using all available tools” to stanch the financial crisis and unfreeze credit markets, the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.
“If actions taken by the administration, the Congress, and the Federal Reserve are successful in restoring some measure of financial stability — and only if that is the case, in my view — there is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery,” Mr. Bernanke said.
So if it succeeds, it will succeed; and if it fails, it will fail.
It must be glorious to have a such a knack for clarity and concision!
While the United States economy is likely to worsen significantly over the next year, the Federal Reserve is “committed to using all available tools” to stanch the financial crisis and unfreeze credit markets, the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.
“If actions taken by the administration, the Congress, and the Federal Reserve are successful in restoring some measure of financial stability — and only if that is the case, in my view — there is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery,” Mr. Bernanke said.
So if it succeeds, it will succeed; and if it fails, it will fail.
It must be glorious to have a such a knack for clarity and concision!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
The Hungarian Horntail
BBC reports: Hungarians feel force of economic storm.
Everyone in Hungary seems to be crying out for help.
Where is the money to come from now that the easy credit that fuelled Hungary's good times has disappeared?
German and Austrian banks are nervously eyeing their indebted Hungarian subsidiaries.
When easy capital swirled around the world, the governments and citizens of central and eastern Europe were a fine sales opportunity.
Now, things are very different. Hungary has been left with a towering debt to GDP ratio.
Borrowing its way out of this situation is impossible.
And its debt burden has made international exchanges worry about - and heavily sell - the national currency, the forint.
Which wouldn't be the end of the world - a cheap currency can boost exports - but for the fact that Hungary has an awful lot of of foreign currency loans to pay back.
Everyone - including the former central bank governor - seems to have a mortgage in Swiss francs.
And as the value of the forint has fallen, day after day, so the cost of a Swiss franc-backed mortgage has risen.
All this has left Janos Keller, 51, high and dry.
His day job as a restaurant maintenance worker was never going to make him rich.
Nor does his hobby of building and repairing stereo equipment; the small desk in his very small apartment in a block off one of Budapest's bigger highways is littered with spare parts and soldering equipment.
His monthly mortgage bills - a 100% mortgage in Swiss francs - have more than tripled since he started repayment at the height of the forint's strength back in the summer of 2008.
The bill is greater than his entire post tax monthly salary.
Didn't he know? Wasn't he warned? His reply is a sad, self deprecating monotone:
"I'm not an expert on these things. I think I wasn't warned and informed well enough by the bank."
Next up: Polish sausage. Mmmmm, mmmmm, you know you want some!
Everyone in Hungary seems to be crying out for help.
Where is the money to come from now that the easy credit that fuelled Hungary's good times has disappeared?
German and Austrian banks are nervously eyeing their indebted Hungarian subsidiaries.
When easy capital swirled around the world, the governments and citizens of central and eastern Europe were a fine sales opportunity.
Now, things are very different. Hungary has been left with a towering debt to GDP ratio.
Borrowing its way out of this situation is impossible.
And its debt burden has made international exchanges worry about - and heavily sell - the national currency, the forint.
Which wouldn't be the end of the world - a cheap currency can boost exports - but for the fact that Hungary has an awful lot of of foreign currency loans to pay back.
Everyone - including the former central bank governor - seems to have a mortgage in Swiss francs.
And as the value of the forint has fallen, day after day, so the cost of a Swiss franc-backed mortgage has risen.
All this has left Janos Keller, 51, high and dry.
His day job as a restaurant maintenance worker was never going to make him rich.
Nor does his hobby of building and repairing stereo equipment; the small desk in his very small apartment in a block off one of Budapest's bigger highways is littered with spare parts and soldering equipment.
His monthly mortgage bills - a 100% mortgage in Swiss francs - have more than tripled since he started repayment at the height of the forint's strength back in the summer of 2008.
The bill is greater than his entire post tax monthly salary.
Didn't he know? Wasn't he warned? His reply is a sad, self deprecating monotone:
"I'm not an expert on these things. I think I wasn't warned and informed well enough by the bank."
Next up: Polish sausage. Mmmmm, mmmmm, you know you want some!
A Vision of the Future
From the Chicago Tribune: Detroit's outlook falls along with home prices.
It may be tough to get financing for a new car these days, but in Detroit you can buy a house with a credit card.
The median price of a home sold in Detroit in December was $7,500, according to Realcomp, a listing service.
Not $75,000. Remove a zero—it's seven thousand five hundred dollars, substantially less than the lowest-price car on the new-car market.
Among the many dispiriting numbers that bleakly depict the decrepitude of this onetime industrial behemoth, the steep slide of housing values helps define the daunting challenge to anyone who wants to lead this shrinking, poverty-pocked city of about 800,000 people.
Detroit, which has lost half its population in the past 50 years, is deceptively large, covering 139 square miles. Manhattan, San Francisco and Boston could, as a group, fit inside the city's boundaries. There is no major grocery chain in the city, and only two movie theaters. Much of the neighborhood economy revolves around rib joints, hot dog stands and liquor stores.
The problem is more than a $300 million budget shortfall, said John Mogk, a professor at Wayne State University Law School.
"A thousand people are leaving the city every month," Mogk said, "and the city does not have the financial resources and the economic base to solve its own problems."
This is pretty much the future of Cleveland and all the remaining second-tier Rust Belt cities.
It may be tough to get financing for a new car these days, but in Detroit you can buy a house with a credit card.
The median price of a home sold in Detroit in December was $7,500, according to Realcomp, a listing service.
Not $75,000. Remove a zero—it's seven thousand five hundred dollars, substantially less than the lowest-price car on the new-car market.
Among the many dispiriting numbers that bleakly depict the decrepitude of this onetime industrial behemoth, the steep slide of housing values helps define the daunting challenge to anyone who wants to lead this shrinking, poverty-pocked city of about 800,000 people.
Detroit, which has lost half its population in the past 50 years, is deceptively large, covering 139 square miles. Manhattan, San Francisco and Boston could, as a group, fit inside the city's boundaries. There is no major grocery chain in the city, and only two movie theaters. Much of the neighborhood economy revolves around rib joints, hot dog stands and liquor stores.
The problem is more than a $300 million budget shortfall, said John Mogk, a professor at Wayne State University Law School.
"A thousand people are leaving the city every month," Mogk said, "and the city does not have the financial resources and the economic base to solve its own problems."
This is pretty much the future of Cleveland and all the remaining second-tier Rust Belt cities.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Going for the Gold
From the LA Times: Beijing's Olympic building boom becomes a bust.
Reporting from Beijing -- "Empty," says Jack Rodman, an expert in distressed real estate, as he points from the window of his 40th-floor office toward a silver-skinned prism rising out of the Beijing skyline.
"Beautiful building, but not a single tenant.
Beijing went through a building boom before the 2008 Summer Olympics that filled a staid communist capital with angular architectural feats that grace the covers of glossy design magazines.
Now, six months after the Games ended, the city continues to dazzle by night, with neon and floodlights dancing across the skyline. By day, though, it is obvious that many are "see-through" buildings, to use the term coined during the Texas real estate bust of the 1980s.
By Rodman's calculations, 500 million square feet of commercial real estate has been developed in Beijing since 2006, more than all the office space in Manhattan. And that doesn't include huge projects developed by the government. He says 100 million square feet of office space is vacant -- a 14-year supply if it filled up at the same rate as in the best years, 2004 through '06, when about 7 million square feet a year was leased.
More capacity built just in 2006 than all the office space in Manhattan. Anybody see the problem?
Naturally, it goes without saying that there banking sector is kaput too.
Decouple that, bitches!
Reporting from Beijing -- "Empty," says Jack Rodman, an expert in distressed real estate, as he points from the window of his 40th-floor office toward a silver-skinned prism rising out of the Beijing skyline.
"Beautiful building, but not a single tenant.
Beijing went through a building boom before the 2008 Summer Olympics that filled a staid communist capital with angular architectural feats that grace the covers of glossy design magazines.
Now, six months after the Games ended, the city continues to dazzle by night, with neon and floodlights dancing across the skyline. By day, though, it is obvious that many are "see-through" buildings, to use the term coined during the Texas real estate bust of the 1980s.
By Rodman's calculations, 500 million square feet of commercial real estate has been developed in Beijing since 2006, more than all the office space in Manhattan. And that doesn't include huge projects developed by the government. He says 100 million square feet of office space is vacant -- a 14-year supply if it filled up at the same rate as in the best years, 2004 through '06, when about 7 million square feet a year was leased.
More capacity built just in 2006 than all the office space in Manhattan. Anybody see the problem?
Naturally, it goes without saying that there banking sector is kaput too.
Decouple that, bitches!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Baltic Blowout
CBS Marketwatch: New Latvian prime minister faces economic crisis
President Valdis Zatlers named Valdis Dombrovskis as prime minister and asked him to form a new government, according to media reports on Thursday. Dombrovskis, a 37-year-old former finance minister, is from the centre-right party, New Era.
Following his nomination, Dombrovskis said that Latvia was "on the verge of bankruptcy" and would need to cut the budget by at least $1.27 billion or risk financial collapse, the BBC reported.
President Valdis Zatlers named Valdis Dombrovskis as prime minister and asked him to form a new government, according to media reports on Thursday. Dombrovskis, a 37-year-old former finance minister, is from the centre-right party, New Era.
Following his nomination, Dombrovskis said that Latvia was "on the verge of bankruptcy" and would need to cut the budget by at least $1.27 billion or risk financial collapse, the BBC reported.
Junky Punky Girlz!!!
The Telegraph reports: Moody's predicts default rate will exceed peaks hit in Great Depression.
In what will be seen by many as die-cast confirmation that the world economy is plummeting towards an economic and corporate implosion of unprecedented proportions, Moody's said it anticipated a tidal wave of defaults was approaching.
It said that in the coming months more than 15pc of speculative-grade bonds and loans - all but the most highly-rated - would default on their debts.
This peak is even higher than the peak reached in 1933, when bank after bank throughout America was collapsing, taking hoards of other companies with them. Back then, the default rate peaked at 15.4pc; moreover these companies were former investment grade issuers regarded as more reliable credit prospects than their contemporary counterparts.
Not that the EE would listen to Moody's, who are like the cheerleaders of this absurd credit boom, but it should be sobering to anyone willing to wade into the minefield that are corporate bonds particularly the junky punky ones.
Keep your powder dry. They can't bail out everyone.
In what will be seen by many as die-cast confirmation that the world economy is plummeting towards an economic and corporate implosion of unprecedented proportions, Moody's said it anticipated a tidal wave of defaults was approaching.
It said that in the coming months more than 15pc of speculative-grade bonds and loans - all but the most highly-rated - would default on their debts.
This peak is even higher than the peak reached in 1933, when bank after bank throughout America was collapsing, taking hoards of other companies with them. Back then, the default rate peaked at 15.4pc; moreover these companies were former investment grade issuers regarded as more reliable credit prospects than their contemporary counterparts.
Not that the EE would listen to Moody's, who are like the cheerleaders of this absurd credit boom, but it should be sobering to anyone willing to wade into the minefield that are corporate bonds particularly the junky punky ones.
Keep your powder dry. They can't bail out everyone.
Peeing on the Electric Fence
The AP reports: Ryanair could make passengers pay for toilets.
Is a toilet an optional extra when you're at 30,000 feet? Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary seems to think so — as his no-frills carrier plumbs new depths by thinking of charging customers to use the aircraft loo.
As always, O'Leary suggested a separate toilet free would lower ticket costs and make flying, somehow, easier for all. Nobody, even his own aides, seemed to be sure if he was serious or pursuing his well-documented penchant for making brazen declarations to win free advertising.
"One thing we have looked at in the past, and are looking at again, is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door, so that people might have to actually spend a pound to `spend a penny' in future," O'Leary said, using a local euphemism for relieving one's self.
Do you need a Harvard MBA to realize that this is a terrible idea? How much additional money will you make compared to pissing people off (pardon the pun!)?
And just compare it to the damage that these irate passengers are likely to wreak, and this is Bastiat all over again. Ignore the unseen consequences in favor of the seen ones.
The first person who pees on the floor is likely to cause more damage both directly and indirectly (bad publicity) than all the revenue that you are likely to make from this move.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Is a toilet an optional extra when you're at 30,000 feet? Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary seems to think so — as his no-frills carrier plumbs new depths by thinking of charging customers to use the aircraft loo.
As always, O'Leary suggested a separate toilet free would lower ticket costs and make flying, somehow, easier for all. Nobody, even his own aides, seemed to be sure if he was serious or pursuing his well-documented penchant for making brazen declarations to win free advertising.
"One thing we have looked at in the past, and are looking at again, is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door, so that people might have to actually spend a pound to `spend a penny' in future," O'Leary said, using a local euphemism for relieving one's self.
Do you need a Harvard MBA to realize that this is a terrible idea? How much additional money will you make compared to pissing people off (pardon the pun!)?
And just compare it to the damage that these irate passengers are likely to wreak, and this is Bastiat all over again. Ignore the unseen consequences in favor of the seen ones.
The first person who pees on the floor is likely to cause more damage both directly and indirectly (bad publicity) than all the revenue that you are likely to make from this move.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Those Bitter Jealous Renters
CNN reports: Boomers: 30% underwater.
What a turnaround for the American Dream!
According to a report released Wednesday, the real estate market bust and stock market declines have carved a huge chunk out of the assets of baby boomers.
So much home equity has been lost that 30% of boomers, aged 45 to 54, are underwater in their homes, according to "The Wealth of the Baby Boom Cohorts After the Collapse of the Housing Bubble. " The report, released by D.C.-based think tank the Center for Economic and Policy Research, also found that 18% of boomers aged 55 to 64 would owe money at close if they sold their homes.
The CEPR also found that people who were renting homes in 2004 will have more wealth in 2009 than those who were owners. That's true for all five wealth groups the study analyzed, from the poorest to the wealthiest.
BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
What a turnaround for the American Dream!
According to a report released Wednesday, the real estate market bust and stock market declines have carved a huge chunk out of the assets of baby boomers.
So much home equity has been lost that 30% of boomers, aged 45 to 54, are underwater in their homes, according to "The Wealth of the Baby Boom Cohorts After the Collapse of the Housing Bubble. " The report, released by D.C.-based think tank the Center for Economic and Policy Research, also found that 18% of boomers aged 55 to 64 would owe money at close if they sold their homes.
The CEPR also found that people who were renting homes in 2004 will have more wealth in 2009 than those who were owners. That's true for all five wealth groups the study analyzed, from the poorest to the wealthiest.
BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Flower of Romance
The Washington Post reports: Market for Romance Goes From Bullish to Sheepish.
See the tall, gregarious young man in the Eighteenth Street Lounge, moving easily toward a group of receptive women as the floor vibrates with reggae music? He's dressed in a sharp Hugo Boss suit, and he knows that the minimum for a table is $240.
But he's not offering to buy the drinks. And the suit? He bought it a year ago, when he had a six-figure salary.
Dating in the time of the pink slip means feeling the squeeze of the drastically reduced paycheck, the sudden sting of the layoff. From investment bankers to real estate developers to construction workers, no job means no buying rounds of $15 martinis for a pretty woman and her girlfriends. No hosting parties in the bachelor loft. And often, no idea how to present one's new self on the dating market.
"It's been incredibly stressful for me," said Neil Welsh, 27, the guy in the suit, who until last year was marketing director for a booming real estate company. "I was so used to using my financial situation to leverage my dating."
For many affected by the recession, dating is the least of their worries. But the market crash has had a particular impact on young adults who developed their dating skills in fat times, the twentysomethings who spent lavishly to show that they could afford the finer things. Now, with national unemployment rates at 8.8 percent for people 25 to 34, they are looking for more creative ways to attract partners -- and reassessing what all that big spending really meant.
Alexandria native Niko Papademitriou, 27, became an investment banker with a Cleveland firm soon after he graduated from college. The money was steady enough for him to fly regularly to Manhattan to see his girlfriend and take her to upscale restaurants such as Bond Street and Cafe Gray.
"A large aspect of my life -- three out of the first five conversations that we had -- I told her, 'You're not going to see much of me in the next 15 years if we start dating, because I'm going to be making a lot of money.' " He thinks that worked in his favor, "not so much for the money, but for the drive. It's one of those things in men that women find attractive."
Since being laid off in November, he has moved back to Alexandria to live with his mother. He now takes the Chinatown bus -- for as little as $5 each way -- to visit his girlfriend. Round-trip airfare between Cleveland and New York City averages more than $200.
"It's definitely putting stress on our relationship," he said recently, sitting in an Old Town cafe. "It comes back to this whole manhood thing. Like, can you be the provider, not just for yourself but for others?"
It's been tough on his girlfriend, he said. "She knows that she needs to be this understanding, positive influence in my life. At the same time, there is a lot of fear on her part, knowing that my industry and the one that we had kind of mentally projected ourselves and our way of life on could be over, or at least on pause for a while."
Lindsey Schwalb, 22, of Arlington said the financial crunch has made men she knows more amenable to settling down. "People are looking for some form of stability. Instead of someone you have to impress monetarily, they want someone they can concentrate on spending quality time with."
Welsh said he is scaling back on dating costs while he builds a new business, an Internet marketing company.
"Now I'm more inclined to take a girl to a good ethnic restaurant," he said, whereas before, "I was constantly worried about being judged for how much money I was spending."
See the tall, gregarious young man in the Eighteenth Street Lounge, moving easily toward a group of receptive women as the floor vibrates with reggae music? He's dressed in a sharp Hugo Boss suit, and he knows that the minimum for a table is $240.
But he's not offering to buy the drinks. And the suit? He bought it a year ago, when he had a six-figure salary.
Dating in the time of the pink slip means feeling the squeeze of the drastically reduced paycheck, the sudden sting of the layoff. From investment bankers to real estate developers to construction workers, no job means no buying rounds of $15 martinis for a pretty woman and her girlfriends. No hosting parties in the bachelor loft. And often, no idea how to present one's new self on the dating market.
"It's been incredibly stressful for me," said Neil Welsh, 27, the guy in the suit, who until last year was marketing director for a booming real estate company. "I was so used to using my financial situation to leverage my dating."
For many affected by the recession, dating is the least of their worries. But the market crash has had a particular impact on young adults who developed their dating skills in fat times, the twentysomethings who spent lavishly to show that they could afford the finer things. Now, with national unemployment rates at 8.8 percent for people 25 to 34, they are looking for more creative ways to attract partners -- and reassessing what all that big spending really meant.
Alexandria native Niko Papademitriou, 27, became an investment banker with a Cleveland firm soon after he graduated from college. The money was steady enough for him to fly regularly to Manhattan to see his girlfriend and take her to upscale restaurants such as Bond Street and Cafe Gray.
"A large aspect of my life -- three out of the first five conversations that we had -- I told her, 'You're not going to see much of me in the next 15 years if we start dating, because I'm going to be making a lot of money.' " He thinks that worked in his favor, "not so much for the money, but for the drive. It's one of those things in men that women find attractive."
Since being laid off in November, he has moved back to Alexandria to live with his mother. He now takes the Chinatown bus -- for as little as $5 each way -- to visit his girlfriend. Round-trip airfare between Cleveland and New York City averages more than $200.
"It's definitely putting stress on our relationship," he said recently, sitting in an Old Town cafe. "It comes back to this whole manhood thing. Like, can you be the provider, not just for yourself but for others?"
It's been tough on his girlfriend, he said. "She knows that she needs to be this understanding, positive influence in my life. At the same time, there is a lot of fear on her part, knowing that my industry and the one that we had kind of mentally projected ourselves and our way of life on could be over, or at least on pause for a while."
Lindsey Schwalb, 22, of Arlington said the financial crunch has made men she knows more amenable to settling down. "People are looking for some form of stability. Instead of someone you have to impress monetarily, they want someone they can concentrate on spending quality time with."
Welsh said he is scaling back on dating costs while he builds a new business, an Internet marketing company.
"Now I'm more inclined to take a girl to a good ethnic restaurant," he said, whereas before, "I was constantly worried about being judged for how much money I was spending."
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Adsense Nonsense
Crap that candy out, babe
Crap that candy out
Candy crappin' mama
Crap that candy out.
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