text:
Analysts' Actions: EBAY GS JPM UAL ADSK
ONEOK Partners (OKS) downgraded at Citigroup to Neutral from Buy, Citigroup said. $60 price target. Limited upside after recent outperformance.
Panera Bread (PNRA) upgraded at Miller Tabak from Hold to Buy, Miller Tabak said. $190 price target. Company has the best sales prospects in the industry.
Teradyne (TER) downgraded at Craig-Hallum from Buy to Hold, Craig-Hallum said. $17 price target. Company has limited near-term visibility.
United Continental (UAL - Get Report) downgraded at BofA/Merrill to Underperform, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said. Estimates also cut, given the company's new guidance. $22 price target.
A.O. Smith (AOS) numbers raised at Jefferies. Shares of AOS now seen reaching $80, Jefferies said. Estimates also raised on developing residential recovery. Buy rating. Cirrus Logic (CRUS) numbers reduced at Sterne Agee. Shares of CRUS now seen reaching $42, according to Sterne Agee. Estimates also cut, given the company's new guidance. Buy rating. W.W. Grainger (GWW) target raised at Oppenheimer to $245, Oppenheimer said. January to sales up from December. Outperform rating. Hubbell (HUBB) target raised at Oppenheimer to $101, Oppenheimer said. Strong execution through challenging markets. Outperform rating. Informatica (INFA) estimates, target increased at BMO. INFA estimates were raised through 2014, BMO Capital said. Company is leveraged to higher spending on data software. Market Perform rating. JB Hunt Transport (JBHT) numbers raised at Jefferies. Shares of JBHT now seen reaching $70, Jefferies said. Estimates also raised on outperformance of intermodal. Hold rating. Juniper (JNPR) estimates, target upped at BofA/Merrill. JNPR estimates were boosted through 2014, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said. Higher sales are driving margin expansion. Buy rating and new $25 price target. KLA-Tencor (KLAC) numbers boosted at Credit Suisse. Shares of KLAC now seen reaching $63, according to Credit Suisse. Estimates also upped, as the company is seeing higher customer spending. Lockheed Martin (LMT) numbers raised at Jefferies. Shares of LMT now seen reaching $95, Jefferies said. Estimates also raised on smart capital allocation. Hold rating. Lockheed Martin numbers raised at Credit Suisse. Shares of LMT now seen reaching $93, according to Credit Suisse. Estimates also increased, as the company is realizing higher margins. Neutral rating. Maxim Integrated (MXIM) numbers upped at BMO through 2014, BMO Capital said. Company continues to execute well. Market Perform rating and new $30 price target. Oracle (ORCL) cut from Conviction Buy List at Goldman. ORCL was removed from the Conviction Buy list, Goldman Sachs said. Company has limited earnings upside potential. $39 price target. Resmed (RMD) estimates, target increased at BMO through 2015, BMO Capital said. Company is seeing higher sales across the board. Market Perform rating and new $48 price target.Check Out Our Best Services for Investors
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What does OTP mean in Transportation?
This page is about the meanings of the acronym/abbreviation/shorthand OTP in the Governmental field in general and in the Transportation terminology in particular.
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"OTP." Abbreviations.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2015. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://www.abbreviations.com/term/511550>.
OTP also stands for:
- Occupational Training Programme
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Amber Griffin Gentry's profile
Name: | Amber Griffin Gentry |
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About: | I am looking for any information on my family. I have the names: Griffin, Whitaker, Taylor, Ivey, Hooks, Hardin. Those are the only leads I have to go on right now, I am still looking. |
Surnames: | Taylor, Griffin, Hardin, Whitaker, Ivey, Hooks |
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Latest News
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- Exchange: Natl India
- Sector: Technology
- Industry: Software
- Sub-Industry: Application Software
Company Profile for LCC Infotech Ltd (ARHF)
LCC Infotech Limited owns a chain of computer and information technology training centers in India which are run by the company as well as through franchisees. The Company also develops software including educational software for kids.
Contact Information
LCC Infotech Ltd
2/5A Sarat Bose Road 2nd Floor
Sukhsagar Building Minto Park
Kolkata, 700 020
Key Executives for LCC Infotech Ltd (ARHF)
Kirti LakhotiaChairman/Managing Director | Sidharth LakhotiaCEO/Executive Director |
Pratik LakhotiaDirector:Finance | P N Roy ChoudhurySecretary/Compliance Officer |
Quotes delayed, except where indicated otherwise. All prices in local currency. Time is ET.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - View original article
Janelle Monáe | |
Monáe at the 2010 Pop Conference, EMPSFM, Seattle, Washington, April 15 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Janelle Monáe Robinson |
Born | Kansas City, Kansas, United States | December 1, 1985
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | |
Years active | 2003–present |
Labels | |
Associated acts | |
Website | www |
Janelle Monáe | |
Monáe at the 2010 Pop Conference, EMPSFM, Seattle, Washington, April 15 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Janelle Monáe Robinson |
Born | Kansas City, Kansas, United States | December 1, 1985
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | |
Years active | 2003–present |
Labels | |
Associated acts | |
Website | www |
Janelle Monáe Robinson (born December 1, 1985),[6] known as Janelle Monáe (/dʒəˈnɛl moʊˈneɪ/),[7] is an American psychedelic soul and R&B singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer signed to Bad Boy Records, Wondaland Art Society and Atlantic Records. After making a mark with her first unofficial studio album, The Audition CD release, Monáe debuted publicly with a conceptual EP: Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase), which peaked at number 115 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.[8]
In 2010 Monáe released her "debut" studio album, The ArchAndroid, a concept album sequel to her first EP; it was released by Bad Boy Records. This album received critical acclaim and garnered a Best Contemporary R&B Album nomination at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. The song "Tightrope" was also nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance at the same ceremony. With this industry recognition the album has also been more successful commercially, officially reaching the number 17 spot on the Billboard 200.[9][10]
Her music has garnered Monáe six Grammy Award nominations. In March 2012, "We Are Young", the song by the band fun. on which Monáe appears as a guest vocalist, reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, her first appearance in the US Top 10. In August 2012, Monáe became a CoverGirl spokeswomen. On September 10, 2013, Monáe released her second studio album, The Electric Lady, to critical acclaim. Boston City Council named October 16, 2013 "Janelle Monáe Day" in the city of Boston, Massachusetts in recognition of her artistry and social leadership.
"There was a lot of confusion and nonsense where I grew up, so I reacted by creating my own little world. [...] I began to see how music could change lives, and I began to dream about a world where every day was like anime and Broadway, where music fell from the sky and anything could happen."
Monáe was born on December 1, 1985 in Kansas City, Kansas, where she spent her early years. Monáe has stated that the fictional character of Dorothy from the film The Wizard of Oz has been one of her "musical influences." She has told reporters that she dreamed of being a singer and a performer from a very young age.[11] She then moved to New York City to study drama at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, attending a Performing Arts School called Freedom Theatre, which is the oldest African-American theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
After moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 2001, she met OutKast's Big Boi, and then founded the Wondaland Arts Society with some like-minded young artists, releasing her first EP The Audition in 2003. Although The Audition did not place highly on the Billboard charts - reportedly only 400 physical copies were pressed - it did showcase her impressive vocal abilities and unique Metropolis concept that would also figure in her future releases. The CD album itself is extremely rare in its original compact disc format, and as such is a valuable collector's item.
Monáe later appeared on OutKast's Idlewild release, where she is featured on the songs "Call the Law" and "In Your Dreams." Big Boi told his friend Sean Combs about Monáe, whom at the time Combs had not yet heard. Combs soon visited Monáe's MySpace page and according to a HitQuarters interview with Bad Boy Records' A&R person Daniel 'Skid' Mitchell, Combs loved it straight away: "[He] loved her look, loved that you couldn't see her body, loved the way she was dancing, and just loved the vibe. He felt like she has something that was different - something new and fresh."[12] Monáe signed to Bad Boy in 2006. The label's chief role was in facilitating her exposure on a much broader scale rather than developing the artist and her music, because in the words of Mitchell, "She was already moving, she already had her records - she had a self-contained movement." Combs and Big Boi wanted to take their time and build her profile organically and allow the music to grow rather than put out "A hot single which everyone jumps on, and then they fade because it's just something of the moment."[12]
In 2007, Monáe released her first solo work, titled Metropolis. It was originally conceived as a concept album in four parts, or "suites," which were to be released through her website and mp3 download sites. After the release of the first part of the series, Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) in mid-2007, these plans were altered following her signing with Sean Combs's label, Bad Boy Records, later in the year. The label gave an official and physical release to the first suite in August 2008, which was retitled Metropolis: The Chase Suite (Special Edition) and included two new tracks. The EP was critically acclaimed, garnering Monáe a 51st Annual Grammy Awards Grammy nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for her single "Many Moons",[13] festival appearances and opening slots for indie pop band of Montreal. Monáe also toured as the opening act for band No Doubt on their summer 2009 tour.[14] Her single "Open Happiness" was featured in the 2009 season finale of American Idol.[15] Monáe told MTV about her concept for her new album and also discussed her alter-ego named Cindi Mayweather, she said:
"Cindi is an android and I love speaking about the android because they are the new "other". People are afraid of the other and I believe we're going to live in a world with androids because of technology and the way it advances. The first album she was running because she had fallen in love with a human and she was being disassembled for that."[16]
In a November 2009 interview, Monáe revealed the title and concept behind her album, The ArchAndroid. The album was released on May 18, 2010. The second and third suites of Metropolis are combined into this full-length release, in which Monáe's alter-ego, Cindi Mayweather—also the protagonist of Metropolis: The Chase Suite— becomes a messianic figure to the android community of Metropolis.[17] Monáe noted that she plans to shoot a video for each song on The ArchAndroid and create a narrative movie, graphic novel and a touring Broadway musical based on the album.[18] The Metropolis concept series draws inspiration from a wide range of musical, cinematic and other sources, ranging from Alfred Hitchcock to Debussy to Philip K. Dick. However, the series puts Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film Metropolis, which Monáe referred to as "the godfather of science-fiction movies," in special regard.[19][20] Aside from sharing a name, they also share visual styles (the cover for The ArchAndroid is inspired by the iconic poster for Metropolis), conceptual themes and political goals, using expressionistic future scenarios to examine and explore contemporary ideas of prejudice and class. Both also include a performing female android, though to very different effect. Where Metropolis android Maria is the evil, havoc-sowing double of the messianic figure to the city's strictly segregated working class, Monáe's messianic android muse Cindi Mayweather represents an interpretation of androids as that segregated minority, which Monáe describes as "... the Other. And I feel like all of us, whether in the majority or the minority, felt like the Other at some point."[19][21]
Monáe received the Vanguard Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers at the Rhythm & Soul Music Awards in 2010.[22] Monáe covered Charlie Chaplin's Smile on Billboard.com in June 2010. In an NPR interview in September 2010, Monae stated that she is a believer in, and a proponent of time travel.[citation needed] Monáe performed "Tightrope" during the second elimination episode of the 11th Season of Dancing with the Stars on September 28, 2010.[23] Monáe performed at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011 alongside artists Bruno Mars and B.o.B; Monáe performed the synth section of B.o.B's song "Nothin' on You" and she then performed her track "Cold War" with B.o.B on the guitar and Mars on the drums. Her performance received a standing ovation.[24]
Her single "Tightrope" was featured on the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2011, performed by Pia Toscano, Haley Reinhart, Naima Adedapo, and Thia Megia.
Monáe was featured in fun.'s hit single, "We Are Young" and also performed an acoustic version of the song with lead singer Nate Ruess, and the band. Monáe was also featured on "Do My Thing" for Estelle's sophomore studio album, All of Me. In June 2012, Monáe performed two new songs, "Electric Lady" and "Dorothy Dandridge Eyes"—from her then-upcoming sophomore studio album, The Electric Lady—at the Toronto Jazz Festival.[25][26] In July 2012, for the second year in a row, she appeared at the renowned North Sea Jazz Festival in Europe as well as in the 46th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on the 14th.
In August 2012, Monáe was chosen as CoverGirl's newest spokeswoman.[27] In September 2012, Monáe performed at CarolinaFest in support of President Obama, just before the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.[28] In October 2012, Monáe starred in a commercial for the Sonos Wireless HiFi home audio system, and appeared in a Sonos commercial in 2012 with Deep Cotton.
Monáe's first single from The Electric Lady, "Q.U.E.E.N.", featuring Erykah Badu, premiered on SoundCloud and made available for download purchase at the iTunes Store on April 23, 2013.[29] "Q.U.E.E.N." garnered 31,000 digital sales according to Nielsen Soundscan with the accompanying music video gaining four million YouTube views within its first week of release. Thematically, The Electric Lady continues the utopian cyborg concepts of its predecessors, while presenting itself in more plainspoken, introspective territory in addition to experimenting with genres beyond conventional funk and soul such as jazz ("Dorothy Dandridge Eyes"), pop-punk ("Dance Apocalyptic"), gospel ("Victory") and woozy, sensual vocal ballads ("PrimeTime", featuring Miguel). The album features guest appearances by Prince, Solange Knowles, aforementioned Miguel and Esperanza Spalding[30] with production from previous collaborator Deep Cotton (a psychedelic punk act) and Roman GianArthur (a soul music composer), and was released to critical acclaim on September 10, 2013.[31]
On September 14, 2013, Monáe performed along with Chic at the iTunes Festival in London.[32] On September 28, 2013, Monáe performed at the Global Citizens Festival in Central Park alongside Stevie Wonder. Monáe performed as the featured musical guest on Saturday Night Live October 26 with host Edward Norton.[33]
Her voice is heard as veterinarian Dr. Monáe in the movie Rio 2, released in the U.S. on April 11, 2014, and her song "What Is Love" was featured on the soundtrack.[34][35][36] In April 2014, Monáe was invited to perform along with Tessanne Chin, Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, Jill Scott, Ariana Grande, and Melissa Etheridge at the White House as a part of their PBS-broadcast "Women of Soul" event, which celebrated American women artists whose work has left an indelible and profound impact on our national musical culture. She performed "Goldfinger", "Tightrope", and joined in on the all inclusive performance of "Proud Mary".[37]
On April 14 2014, Monáe was the recipient of the inaugural Harvard College Women's Center Award for Achievement in Arts and Media for her achievements as an artist, advocate and feminist.[38][39] She tweeted earlier that day, "Headed to #Harvard to meet the beautiful ladies in the Women's Center. Can't believe I'm the honoree today. Just So thankful".[40] She was also recognized as the 2014 Woman of the Year by the Harvard College Black Men's Forum at their annual Celebration of Black Women gala.[41]
In mid-2014, Monáe had an interview with Fuse where she teased a follow up to The Electric Lady. "I'm working on a new, cool creative project called 'Eephus'," she said. "It's a big concept and you're not going to see it coming. It'll just land."[42]
Recently, Monáe was featured on Sérgio Mendes' latest album, Magic. She sings on the track titled, "Visions of You."[43]
The Telegraph published an interview with Monáe, talking about her first studio album, in which the journalist Bernadette McNulty said, "I begin to worry for a moment that Monáe may not just be a humourless science-fiction nerd, but actually an android herself, created in a laboratory as a super-musical cross between James Brown, Judy Garland, André 3000 and Steve Jobs, invented to test the desperate incredulity of music journalists." She also compared Monáe to artists such as Annie Lennox, Lauryn Hill, and Corinne Bailey Rae.[44] Her musical styles have been described as "a soaring orchestral trip enlivened with blockbuster vocals, mysterious imagery and notes of Sixties pop and jazz."[45] The Guardian has noted some of her influences as: Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Prince, OutKast, Erykah Badu, James Brown, Grace Jones, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Bernard Herrmann, Funkadelic and the Incredible String Band.[46] In an opinion piece for The Quietus,[47] John Calvert places Janelle Monáe within the Afrofuturism movement, pointing out her similarities to Sun Ra and George Clinton. He asserts that Janelle Monáe is innovating the genre. Monáe has stated that she has an alter-ego named Cindi Mayweather who according to Monáe is from the year 2719.[48] In her first EP she gave her alter-ego a back-story stating that she was on the run after breaking the law in her home town of Metropolis by falling in love with a human named Anthony Greendown. Monáe explained about Cindi, saying "The Archandroid, Cindi, is the mediator, between the mind and the hand. She's the mediator between the haves and the have-nots, the oppressed and the oppressor. She's like the Archangel in the Bible, and what Neo represents to the Matrix."[49] Chris Champion of The Observer described Metropolis and The ArchAndroid as "psychedelic soul with a sci-fi twist".[50]
Monáe's roots in Kansas City, Kansas, where she was born and raised, are evident in her lyrics and style. According to Carrie Battan's Pitchfork feature on Monáe, the song "Ghetto Woman" directly addresses Monáe's working-class K.C., Kansas mother—as well as the portrayal of working-class black women in U.S. culture—with the line "Carry on, ghetto woman, even when the news portrays you less than you could be."[2] Monáe also told the London Evening Standard that she has internalized her KCK (K.C., KS) roots by wearing the working-class uniform of her parents and expressing concern that she cannot let "her community down."[51] On her album The ArchAndroid, especially in songs like "Cold War" or "BabopbyeYa," Monáe relates "the dystopian cityscapes depicted in Metropolis to the boarded-up projects of poverty-wracked Kansas."[52] Kansas City, therefore, represents not only Monáe's physical roots within her hometown, but also serves as an important influence on her lyrics and science-fictional setting.
"I feel like I have a responsibility to my community and other young girls to help redefine what it looks like to be a woman. I don't believe in men's wear or women's wear, I just like what I like. And I think we should just be respected for being an individual.... I've been in Vogue, now, and different publications, which is cool, because I think that it just shows a different perspective of how women can dress."
Monáe has gained a signature clothing style of wearing a tuxedo wardrobe and she said on the matter to Honey Magazine "I bathe in it, I swim in it, and I could be buried in it. A tux is such a standard uniform, it's so classy and it's a lifestyle I enjoy. The tux keeps me balanced. I look at myself as a canvas. I don't want to cloud myself with too many colors or I'll go crazy. It's an experiment I'm doing. I think I want to be in the Guinness Book of World Records."[53] Monáe's signature look harkens back to dandyism.[54] Citing Grace Jones and Josephine Baker as role models, Monáe takes the classical 18th century look in the classical white and black pattern.[55] Monáe's signature look can also be attributed to the early days in her career when she was employed as a maid as she revealed in her 2012 Black Girls Rock! Young, Gifted, and Black award acceptance speech.[56] In Monáe's concerts she has been noted to hand out her Ten Droid Commandments which encourages her fans to be individuals.[49] The Telegraph also commented on her image as an artist saying "Sitting in a grey, airless record company office, this slight, stiff young woman delivers her speech in slow, deliberate tones, utterly expressionless. Dressed in her trademark starched shirt and tuxedo, hair immaculately coiffed, Monáe's face is an opaque mask of perfection: all silken smooth skin, button nose and glassy brown eyes."[44] She has described her tuxedos as being a uniform for her career and she has stated that she wears them when she is working.[49] She also featured in the "Style 100" of InStyle magazine.[57]
Although Monáe has never personally addressed the rumors of her sexuality in public, during a 2011 interview with London Evening Standard she said that when it comes to her preferences, she "only dates androids," a reference to her musical alter-ego found in many of her songs. She has also said, "I speak about androids because I think the android represents the new 'other.' You can compare it to being a lesbian or being a gay man or being a black woman... What I want is for people who feel oppressed or feel like the 'other' to connect with the music and to feel like, 'She represents who I am'," adding that she would talk about her sexual orientation "in due time."[58]
| As a supporting act[edit]
Year | Award | Category | Result |
2009 | Grammy Awards | Best Urban/Alternative Performance ("Many Moons") | Nominated |
2010 | ASCAP Awards | Vanguard Award | Won |
MTV Video Music Awards | Best Choreography ("Tightrope") | Nominated | |
MTV Video Music Brazil | Aposta Internacional (International Bet) | Nominated | |
Soul Train Awards | Centric Award - Best Dance Performance | Won | |
Best Dance Performance ("Tightrope") | Nominated | ||
MOBO Awards | Best International Act[59] | Nominated | |
2011 | Essence Awards | Black Women in Music Award[60] | Won |
Best of the Booth Award | Best R&B/Pop Album of 2010 (The ArchAndroid)[61] | Won | |
Grammy Awards | Best Contemporary R&B Album (The ArchAndroid) | Nominated | |
Best Urban/Alternative Performance ("Tightrope") | Nominated | ||
International Dance Music Awards | Best Breakthrough Artist[62] | Nominated | |
O Music Awards | Best iTunes LP (The ArchAndroid)[63] | Nominated | |
NME Awards | Best Track ("Tightrope")[64] | Won | |
2012 | Black Girls Rock! Awards | Young, Gifted & Black Award[65] | Won |
2013 | Grammy Awards | Album of the Year (Some Nights); featured artist | Nominated |
Record of the Year ("We Are Young") | Nominated | ||
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance ("We Are Young") | Nominated | ||
MTV Video Music Awards | Best Art Direction ("Q.U.E.E.N.") | Won | |
Soul Train Awards | Best R&B/Soul Artist | Nominated | |
The Ashford and Simpson Songwriter's Award ("Q.U.E.E.N.") | Nominated | ||
Best Dance Performance ("Q.U.E.E.N.") | Nominated | ||
Video of the Year ("Q.U.E.E.N.") | Won[66] | ||
Best Collaboration ("Q.U.E.E.N.") | Nominated | ||
Billboard's Women in Music | Rising Star Award[67] | Won | |
2014 | Variety Breakthrough of the Year Awards | Breakthrough in Music Award[68] | Won |
Brit Awards | International Female Solo Artist | Nominated | |
NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Female Artist | Nominated | |
Outstanding Music Video ("Q.U.E.E.N.") | Won | ||
Outstanding Song ("Q.U.E.E.N.") | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Album (The Electric Lady) | Nominated | ||
BET Awards 2014 | Best Female R&B/Pop Artist[69] | Nominated | |
Soul Train Awards | Best R&B/Soul Female Artist | Nominated | |
Album of the Year (The Electric Lady) | Nominated | ||
Best Dance Performance ("Electric Lady") | Nominated | ||
Best Collaboration ("PrimeTime") | Nominated | ||
18th Hollywood Film Awards | Hollywood Song ("What Is Love?")[70] | Won | |
2015 | Trumpet Awards 2015 | Honoree[71] | Won |
(help)This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (June 2013) |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Janelle Monáe. |


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Gender: | Co-ed | Gender: | Co-ed |
Credit Cards Accepted: | No |
Specialization Other: | MCA, MBA, M.Sc, B.Sc, BBM, B.Com, BCA | ||
Courses Offered: | Arts, Commerce, Science, Vocational | ||
Specialization: | Arts, Commerce, Management, Professional, Science |
Brindavan College: Established in 1993, Brindavan College is the brainchild of the technocrat Dr. Majed and Dr. AA Sabha. This college is under the guidance of NN Academy, a registered trust committed to the advancement of education. Located in a beautiful campus, the college is surrounded by farmland, coconut groves and the Hebbal lake. It has 140 ... View More |
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California city paves way for Wizards move from ND
Published 05/23/2012
The City Council in Santa Cruz, Calif., has voted to finalize a deal with the Golden State Warriors that will enable the franchise to move its NBA Development League team from North Dakota.
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Measuring 14" in height this heavy high quality baseball trophy would make a great addition to any collection! Reads, "Presented to Al Hubbard-Manager-Valley Bank Team-1951-Champions-Tucson Little League." All metal construction and very heavy! What an awesome trophy!
Item ID: SAS 000549
A Next Generation Antique Facility
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General Information
So much to do
There's so much to do in and around Orlando that two weeks often isn't enough to squeeze it all in. Millions come here every year, not only for nearby Disney World and Universal Studios (not to mention the Space Coast just an hour away) but town-sized shopping malls, global cuisine and clear, sunny skies.
Souvenir shops and generic national chains dominate central Orlando and its tourism hub International Drive. If you want to pick up a plush Mickey Mouse or a cut-price bikini then this is the place to look, but venture off the tourist trail and you'll be rewarded by some more interesting finds. The Mall At Millenia (4200 Conroy Road) is the city's most upmarket mall, and houses brands such as Bloomingdale's, J Crew and Anthropologie within a serene glass bubble. A colourful collection of fresh and home-grown produce makes the Sunday Orlando Farmer's Market at Lake Eola a worthwhile weekend excursion. And offbeat bookshops such as the spiritual Spiral Circle (750 North Thornton Avenue) are perfect when you want to while away a few comfortable hours in the cool.
Food & Drink
The strong focus on family entertainment means that Orlando has plenty of child-friendly restaurants. Kids can dine with their favourite cartoon characters at Disney's 1900 Park Fare (4401 Floridian Way), while Chip 'n' Dale are the hosts at rotating restaurant Garden Grill (The Land Pavilion, Epcot). If you're after something a little more upmarket, then check out Chef's Table at the Edgewater (99 West Plant Street, Winter Garden) – a local favourite, thanks to its delicious traditional cuisine. Seasons 52 (7700 Sand Lake Road), a fresh grill and wine bar with a sophisticated feel, is also well worth a look in.
Orlando Folk Festival
Theme park capital of the world and international tourism hub, Orlando often feels more like a holiday resort than a working city. Most of the hotels here are large, slick chains, such as the five-star Ritz Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes (4012 Central Florida Parkway), with its 18-hole golf course and 370-sq-m spa. The best mid-range options tend to be attached to theme parks – SpringHill Suites at SeaWorld (10801 International Drive) continues the marine theme with its aqua-heavy d�cor and tropical pool, while Coco Key Orlando Water Resort (7400 International Drive) has its own outdoor water park. Plain but presentable Econo Lodge International Drive at Universal (7102 International Drive) is close to Universal Resort and makes a good budget option.
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As I've watched the coverage of the campaigning for last week's Iowa caucus and today's New Hampshire primary, I kept hearing the same word over and over again: Diner.
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17 Feb 2010
Young At Heart Photo Album
Here I am with my lovely Golden Cocker Spaniel Honey. I was six when this photo was taken. Honey was my best friend; my parents had gotten her when I was about two so I didn't know life without her.
Being an only child and coming from a family full of crazies, Honey was the next best thing and I considered her my family.
We had lots of fun together, terrorising my mother's cats. Did I mention she was and still is a crazy cat lady? She breeds and shows various different breeds of cats.
I do love all kinds of animals, so I guess I gained something from her. She is really good with them to be fair, they love her to bits.
So, on my eighth birthday my parents told me honey was going to live on a farm, as she needed more space to run around. A few years later, my gran told me she went to the big farm in the sky. Why she told me I would never know. We come from a long line of craziness.
I have such fond memories of her and this picture will always make me smile :)
I was tagged by the lovely Sarah at yummymummyno1 to contribute to the Young at Heart Photo Album meme which was started by Tara at Sticky Fingers. I was honoured to be asked. Here's my taggee:-
She is a fellow Scottish lass, who has a love of Moo-sic. Can you guess who she is before clicking over onto her site? Blog
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Middle class homeowners finally get some good news by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine January 23, 2015, 1:47 PM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons The housing recovery, just like everything else in today's economy, has been uneven. The epicenter of the housing crisis was in low-income neighborhoods, where a disproportionate number of mortgages were of the subprime variety and where home values tend to be more volatile. Once the crisis hit, a larger percentage of homeowners in these areas fell underwater, meaning they owed more on their home than it was worth. This compounded the troubles these neighborhoods were already in, as many homes were abandoned and it was difficult for qualified first-time buyers to move into these homes because of the legal and financial challenges of working through underwater inventory. And this scenario ultimately led to a bifurcated recovery in which home prices in wealthy neighborhoods appreciated quickly while the recovery failed to reach other locations at all. In 2014, we finally started to see housing inventory rise again, as the backlog of foreclosed homes started to reach the market and as homeowners reached positive equity, making it easier for them to put their homes on the market. But because of the uneven nature of the recovery, more homes in the bottom third of home values are underwater than any other group. The folks who own these homes, generally workers in the lower middle class, have not seen their wages rise in real terms for many years. After years of bad economic news for this group, there's finally something to cheer about. According to a report released Friday by online real estate listing firm Zillow, home prices at the bottom are finally starting to rise at a faster pace than the market overall. Reads the report: U.S. homes valued in the lowest one-third of all homes – typically the kind of entry-level starter homes sought by younger, first-time buyers – rose 6.8 percent year-over-year in December, outpacing the 6.6 percent appreciation pace of all homes overall. Home values in the bottom tier bottomed out in January 2012 with a median value of $84,100. By December, they had bounced back to a median value of $101,400. In the fourth quarter, home values in the bottom tier were up 1.5 percent over the third quarter. This is great news for the housing market. "In many ways, for the housing market to fully normalize, it has to start at the bottom," said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries, in a statement. "More lower-end home sellers will help meet demand from entry-level buyers, and these sellers in turn will re-enter the market in search of a slightly pricier home, which will entice more middle- and upper-tier sellers to list their homes." The lopsided housing recovery, much like the unequal nature of today's economy overall, has been a drag on the real estate market. But if faster price appreciation on the bottom end continues this year, 2015 might be the year the housing market approaches normalcy.
Why the housing recovery hasn't jumpstarted the economy by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine October 1, 2014, 1:58 PM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons The housing recovery has been over for months now. This fact was confirmed Tuesday with the latest Case-Shiller numbers, which showed that home prices fell by 0.5% from June to July. While home prices rose 6.7% from a year ago, long gone are the days of double-digit price increases and drum-tight inventory. And now that real estate prices have recovered to levels consistent with the pre-bubble years, it's probably a good thing that home price appreciation has settled down. The only problem is that while valuations are back at a level that history suggests they should be, this stabilization hasn't led to a broader recovery in the construction industry, which has historically powered the country to above-average growth following recessions. In the years following recessions in the early 1980s and 1990s, investment in housing rose, from contributing on average 3 basis points to GDP all the way to 50 points. The fact that this isn't happening may explain why the U.S. has experienced such a sluggish economic recovery. According to Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia, all of this can be laid at the feet of the Millennial generation; or, to be more specific, the fact that members of that generation can't find jobs. In a report released on Wednesday, Kolko points out that while home prices, existing home sales, and the foreclosure rate have more or less recovered to their pre-bubble norms, two measures—new home construction and youth unemployment—show where the recovery has come up short. As Kolko writes, these measures "connect the housing market to the job market," because youth employment creates demand for housing, and demand for housing creates good paying, middle-class jobs that can help further spur economic and wage growth. Take a look at the unemployment rate for workers ages 25-34—the older half of the Millennial generation: As you can see, the unemployment rate for this group is well above pre-recession norms. In fact, the unemployment rate for this group is higher than what it was during the worst point of the recession during the early 2000s. That's a problem for the housing market because in normal times, first-time homebuyers should be members of this age group. As Kolko writes,"As the housing recovery continues, it depends less on the … tendency of housing prices to right themselves, and much more on such fundamentals as jobs, income growth, and household formation." Housing prices have recovered, but no amount of home price appreciation can solve the fact that young people don't have jobs, and the ones they do have aren't paying well enough for them to form households of their own.
Time to give the housing market a shot of adrenaline by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine September 18, 2014, 7:00 AM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons My kids once dragged me onto a gut-wrenching amusement-park ride called Pharaoh's Fury. It consisted of a large, Egyptian-style boat that swung on a 40-foot-long pendulum. It took about two terrifying minutes of swinging before the pendulum finally came to a rest. I stumbled out, swearing to cut off my kids' cellphone service in retribution. Over the past decade, the mortgage market has been on its own terrifying pendulum ride. Prior to the financial crisis, mortgages were available to just about anyone who could fog a mirror. (And some dead people too…) After the crisis, mortgages became primarily available only to those with gold-plated credit. That is a major reason housing has remained a laggard while other sectors like agriculture, energy, and autos have experienced decent growth in recent years. And prospects for improvement are dim: Home prices were down in the second quarter, and lending standards tightened even more last month. To be sure, stringent loan requirements are not the only impediment to a housing rebound. Numerous studies show that millennials are much more inclined to delay home purchases than earlier generations. Gen Yers may prefer the greater mobility of renting (or living free for a while with Mom and Dad). Many also suffer from high student-debt loads, weak credit histories, a tough job market, and moribund wage growth. CREDIT CRUNCH Before the financial crisis, just about anyone with a oulse qualified for a mortgage. Since then, bankers have tightened credit, slowing the housing market.Graphic Source: Mortgage Bankers Association The complex problems plaguing our housing market don't lend themselves to easy solutions. However, there is one piece of low-hanging fruit. It deals with an arcane issue that bankers call "put-back" risk. When lenders make loans that the government guarantees—primarily through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or the Federal Housing Administration—they must promise to adhere to certain underwriting standards. If the loans later default, the government can put back the loan by asking the lender to either buy it back or absorb the resulting losses. The problem is that when the housing market tanked, government mortgage insurers were confronting major losses. The worst subprime lenders had gone out of business, so the insurers started aggressively putting back loans on the healthier lenders who remained. But these put-backs were not limited to instances of poor underwriting. They were also based on some seemingly contrived reasons, such as technical issues with paperwork or a borrower's changed circumstances after the mortgage was issued. Some of the put-backs targeted mortgages of homeowners who had made timely payments for as long as 10 years. Predictably, mortgage lenders large and small reacted by cutting back on their lending, offering credit only to those who presented little, if any, chance of default. By aggressively pursuing put-backs, the government was understandably trying to protect taxpayers. But the long-term result was to chill credit availability and impede the housing recovery. We need fundamental reform of housing finance. Fannie, Freddie, and the FHA guarantee over 80% of all mortgage originations in the U.S. Private lenders have few alternatives other than to deal with this government tri-opoly. But as long as government dominates, it should work to bring the credit standard pendulum back to equilibrium. Sensible people like Wells Fargo's John Stumpf have suggested a simple fix. The government should assume that a fixed-rate loan has been properly underwritten if the borrower has made timely payments for three years. But while this approach has been publicly embraced by Fannie and Freddie, it has yet to be meaningfully implemented, and the FHA has not followed suit. Common-sense rules like this are needed to revive housing. Until then, the market will resemble an Edgar Allen Poe horror story: a pendulum endlessly swinging while the housing recovery remains in the pits. Fortune contributor Sheila Bair is former chair of the FDIC, and is an independent director of a European bank that has U.S. mortgage operations. This story is from the October 6, 2014 issue of Fortune.
Your hedge fund landlord isn't all that bad by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine September 4, 2014, 3:10 PM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons Aside from Congress, perhaps, it's hard to think of a group of people that Americans dislike more than financiers and landlords. That's why, when it became clear over the past few years that Wall Street hedge funds and other investor groups started to buy inexpensive properties and convert them into rental housing, much of the media braced for the worst. Left-leaning outlets like Mother Jones started to fret in 2012 when the first hedge funds began to snap up cheap, foreclosed real estate with the intention of profiting from the discrepancy between depressed home prices and rising rents. And on Thursday, The New York Times looked into the phenomenon of investor-owned properties in Ferguson, Missouri, the lower-middle-income suburb of St. Louis where an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by police, stoking racial tensions and a national debate over racism and police tactics. According to the Times: The institutional money has meant a decline in the number of vacant homes and an increase in rental properties, but it has also raised concerns about the long-term intentions of these mainly out-of-town landlords and whether they will upgrade Ferguson's aging housing stock. But neither the Times nor the many other muckrakers going after the investor-as-landlord model has provided evidence that these bigger landlords are any worse than the mom-and-pop local land owners that were more common before the housing crisis. The main complaints from the Times: Half of Ferguson's more than 6,000 homeowners are underwater, owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth; The investor-funded firm, Raineth Housing, which has bought dozens of foreclosed homes in Ferguson and converted them to rentals, is owned by wealthy people in faraway Los Angeles; The homes Raineth owns are old and somewhat worn down; And that Susan Rollins, executive director of the Housing Authority of St. Louis County, said she put Raineth in the "bottom third" of landlords receiving federal rent subsidies when it comes to basic repairs and renovations. The only concrete complaints unearthed in the story: there was a problem with mold in one house that was the result of a leaky pipe in the basement and a plumbing problem, which resulted in sewage backing up into the yard. Raineth co-founder Edward R. Renwick said that this issue was fixed Monday after receiving the complaint on 8 p.m. the previous Saturday. Any landlord who doesn't do his utmost to keep homes well-maintained and in livable condition should be condemned outright. But there's no evidence that investor-funded-groups buying single-family homes on a large scale are more likely to be worse landlords than local owners. Sure, the housing stock in Ferguson is older and more rundown than homes in wealthier areas. But this is not the fault of hedge fund investors, as affordable housing tends to be older and less desirable. If that seems like an unacceptable situation to you, then it needs to be remedied through government action, either through the construction of public housing or increased housing subsidies to the poor. The quality of affordable housing will not be improved by preventing certain kinds of investors from buying undervalued homes. To the contrary, there's plenty of evidence supporting the notion that these sorts of buyers helped stop the downward spiral in home prices and spark a housing recovery. In the end, Ferguson is like many poorer-than-average towns in America. It was hit harder by the housing bubble than many areas, and its homeowners are more likely to be underwater than owners in the U.S. overall. But the blame for this can't be placed on investor funds that are stepping in to buy underpriced homes and, in the process, stabilizing the market.
Why the housing recovery is over, in four charts by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine July 18, 2014, 3:05 PM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons The housing recovery that began in 2012 came on almost as quickly and forcefully as the real estate crash that preceded it. The combination of low interest rates, investor interest, and good, old-fashioned confidence conspired to cause a rapid and vigorous turnaround in home prices after years of tumbling or stagnant home values. But a number of key metrics suggest that the party is over, and any future home price appreciation will be slow and steady from here on out. Here are four charts showing why the housing recovery has ended: 1. Price-to-rent ratios are near their long-term average. Price-to-rent ratios are an important housing indicator that can tell you whether the housing market is overvalued. During the housing bubble, this metric skyrocketed, as speculative fever led people to believe that housing prices would always rise. But the fact that rent rates didn't rise with purchase prices should have been a warning that the underlying demand for shelter hadn't increased as much as the demand for owning property as an asset. As you can see, price-to-rent ratios have snuck up above their historical averages, meaning that home values are already a little pricey relative to rents in many markets. 2. Homeownership rates are also near their long-term average. In the decades leading up to the housing bubble, politicians pushed policies that would increase the homeownership rate. The theory was that homeownership gave people a vested interest in the economy and in their neighborhoods, and that would lead to greater prosperity. But giving out credit to those who didn't have the wherewithal to afford a home was one factor that led to the failure of the subprime mortgage market. It's likely, now that policy makers are more aware of the dangers of pushing homeownership, that those rates will remain in the 64% or 65% historical average. 3. Ratio of housing wealth to GDP has normalized. As any resident of a big city can tell you, the value of real estate is tied to the strength of the surrounding economy. The stronger the economy, the more valuable the real estate will be. The chart below shows that for the past 30 years, the value of housing wealth has hovered around 1.4 times annual GDP, except for a huge deviation from that during the housing bubble. 4. Paying in cash takes a tumble. Meanwhile, according to real estate data site Zillow, the share of buyers paying for homes in cash has fallen year-over-year in 102 of the 126 biggest metro areas. The fact that the number of cash buyers is declining shows that investors no longer believe that buying residential real estate will continue to provide big returns. In the wake of the housing bubble, we should be suspect of trends in the real estate market that deviate greatly from historical norms, and if they do, it is cause for worry more than celebration. So, while home prices will continue to rise at a slow and steady pace, the days of year-over-year double digit price gains are likely over.
America's housing affordability crisis is getting worse by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine July 10, 2014, 11:24 AM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons The pace of home price appreciation has begun to slow, according to data released Thursday from the online real estate marketplace Trulia. Trulia uses asking prices and rents to estimate housing prices as they are right now, making it a better real-time gauge than other measures like the Case-Shiller Index, which is far more backwards looking. Trulia's latest numbers have home prices increasing 8.1% year-over-year in June, a couple points lower than the most recent Case-Shiller data. But even though home price appreciation has begun to slow, the U.S. is quickly moving from a point where it should be cheering home price appreciation to where it's a sign that homes are getting too expensive. After all, home values have basically recovered to their pre-bubble levels. According to Standard & Poor's Chief Economist Beth Ann Bovino, home prices have returned to their long-term average of 260% of average household income. This is far below the pre-bubble peak of 400%, but those prices were unsustainable. Meanwhile, rental prices continued to rise by 5.5% over last year, with rent increasing faster than wages in each of the 25 largest metro areas. Here's Trulia Chief Economist Jed Kolko: "Rent increases outpaced wage increases in all of the 25 largest rental markets. Rents rose more than 10% year-over-year in Miami, Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, and Denver. Among these five markets with the largest rent increases, all but Denver are among the nation's least affordable rental markets. The median rent for a 2-bedroom unit costs more than 40% of the average local wage in these markets. The least affordable rental market is Miami, where a 2-bedroom typically rents for 62% of the average local wage. At the other extreme, a 2-bedroom rental costs just 24% of the average local wage in St. Louis." In other words, the affordability crisis is widespread and getting worse in places where rent is already unaffordable. Part of this dynamic has to do with the lag between the housing crisis and home builders ramping up supply where demand is strong. Take a look at this chart via Calculated Risk, which shows single-family and multi-family housing starts over time: Builders have begun to construct more homes, especially the multi-family variety. This trend reflects builders' belief that there will be less demand for single-family homes from the generation now entering the workforce, but even multi-family construction remains mired at levels not seen in 25 years. This problem will likely become less severe over time, as consumers continue to work off debt from the financial crisis and builders and banks become more confident in building and financing homes. But the government could offer a helping hand, too. On the federal side, government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to take a hard look at forgiving some of the debt of underwater home buyers. And local governments should lessen restrictions on building so that home builders can construct homes where demand is greatest.
Depuzzling the confusion of America's housing recovery by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine June 5, 2014, 12:33 PM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons If you've been reading the same papers I have this week, then you've likely noticed a slew of housing headlines: Mortgage rates are falling. Home equity lines are booming. Hybrid loans are back. And sellers are chomping at the bit. This column is a round-up of sorts as we take a dive into each of them and explore what they mean to you. Is it really a buyer's market? According to a new Lending Tree survey, 71% of homeowners are contemplating selling in the next year. Blame that high number on pent-up demand, says Greg McBride, senior analyst at Bankrate.com. "As a result of the rebound in home prices, a lot of people tied down since the recession are just now able to consider putting their homes on the market," he says, noting that prices have recovered about half of what was lost when the bubble burst. Does that make it a buyer's market? Not yet. Limited inventory has helped push prices higher. "But it could become a buyer's market if we see inventory pressures continue to ease, if the rebound in home prices stabilizes, and the pullback in mortgage rates (more on that in a moment) holds. Should I sell? Look at your personal situation. If you want to get moved and settled before the school year, then price your place aggressively, he says. If you've been tied to the home and are just now seeing equity but you've got more flexibility, you can set your sights a little higher. One thing to consider: Set a deadline. As the Wall Street Journal reported last week, it helps push prices up and days on the market down. Will mortgage rates keep falling? The average rate on the 30-year fell to 4.12% this week according to Fannie Mae, the average on the 15-year to 3.25%. This is one-third of a point lower than the highs hit late last summer, but also about a point higher than the lows of recent years. "This is confounding expectations," says Tim Manni of HSH.com, the mortgage information website. Rates tend to fall when data is released showing that the economy is slowing–and rise when we get reports that it's improving. They're not. Consumer confidence is up according to The Conference Board. Durable goods orders are rising. And, according to a recent Gallup Survey, the amount consumers are spending on a daily basis–at $98–a six-year high and $10 over the April average. How do you play this? First, keep your eyes peeled for Friday's unemployment report. "If we see a strong number, that could push rates higher," says Manni. "If it comes in low, it could provide even more momentum for rates to fall." Meanwhile, rates are still low by longer-term historical standards. If you're buying a home, you could certainly do a lot worse than with a 30-year fixed. And you may be able to do a little bit better by looking into the … Hybrids. Should you consider them? At today's rates–short-term adjustable rate loans make just about no sense. But some newer hybrids might, and depending on your time horizon they can save you some decent money. For example, PenFed Credit Union has rolled out a 15/15. It's fixed for the first 15 years, then adjusts a single time. Right now the starting interest rate is 3.65%. On a $400,000 loan, that'll save you about $20,000 over the first 15 years. There's also something called a 5/5, which adjusts every five years. (After the initial fixed rate period, other ARMs typically adjust annually, which can be tough on a budget.) PenFed is offering this product at a rate of 3.0%, which drops the payment for the first 60 months to $1,686 on the same loan–a five-year savings of roughly $15,000. Should you consider them? They're not for everyone, cautions Greg McBride, Bankrate senior financial analyst. "These are products that warrant consideration for people who are not using them as a crutch of affordability," he says, noting that using an adjustable to buy more home than you could really afford was a big problem when the housing market collapsed. "They're for people who have plenty of cash flow to make the payments, but are disciplined enough to put the savings into other investments." Are HELOCs a good idea? The other side effect of rising home prices combined with low interest rates? Home equity lending was up 8% in the first quarter from a year ago. That's sizable, Manni says, though nowhere near the levels we saw during the boom. Still, it begs the question: When is a HELOC a good idea? During the housing boom, we used our homes as ATMs to disastrous effect. About one-third of HELOCs were taken out to consolidate credit card debt–a smart move financially, until 40% of those borrowers went out and charged their plastic right back up. That's why McBride says applying for a HELOC requires you to take a good hard look in the mirror. Realize, that if you use home equity to pay for credit card debt you're making out on the interest rate, but you've traded an unsecured debt for a secured one. That's no longer an obligation you can walk away from. As far as applying for one "just in case" as a back-pocket emergency cushion? It's not a terrible idea. But it's also not a substitute for a real emergency cushion. McBride notes: "There's no substitute for money in the bank."
First drop in U.S. economic growth in three years by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine May 29, 2014, 10:13 AM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons FORTUNE — The Commerce Department revised its estimate for real GDP growth in the first quarter of 2014, saying that it fell by 1%, revising downward its previous estimate that real GDP declined by 0.1% last quarter. Economists had blamed much of the decline in GDP on the effects of unusually severe winter weather in much of the country, which can cause consumers and businesses to delay purchases they otherwise would have made. But the data in today's report show that consumer spending was actually strong in the first quarter of the year, increasing by 3.1%. What really dragged down growth was shrinking business inventory and a lack of investment on the part of private firms — with both categories shrinking by roughly 1.6%. Exports also fell by 6% after increasing by 9.5% in the fourth quarter of last year. The release sparks fresh debate over the state of the U.S. economy. Bears are pointing to the lack of business investment and what appears to be the slowing of the U.S. housing recovery as reasons to doubt the common wisdom that the economy is slowly, but surely, getting back to full strength. Some on Wall Street are even labeling this the beginning of another recession: But many others caution that quarterly economic data can be very volatile and there's still plenty of evidence of a strengthening economy. Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics has been cautioning market participants to not draw too much from quarterly GDP data, writing in a note to clients this week that jobs numbers, particularly the weekly unemployment claims data, has consistently shown signs of an improving economy. O'Sullivan says that weakening data on business investment (or capex) does not jive with the fact that businesses appear to be steadily hiring more people. He writes: The continued strength in employment has encouraged us to discount much of the recent weakening in capex … as volatility rather than sudden weakening in the trend. Along with weather effects, the expiration of bonus depreciation allowances may have played a role in the fall-off in capex at the start of 2014 … more broadly the case for a pick-up in capex looks compelling: Cash flow is high relative to investment and still growing; business confidence has been rising … and slack levels have declined significantly. It's also worth noting that quarterly GDP data has been pretty volatile since the recovery began. Growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 was nearly negative before bouncing back strongly in 2013, with the second half of last year showing the best six-month period of growth since the end of the recession.
In Ohio, dashed dreams and a housing hangover by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine March 6, 2012, 10:02 AM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons An abandoned home in Youngstown, OH. "Bad times right now are good times for us," says Craig Shanower. "You know what I'm saying?" It's a gray February afternoon on the east side of Cleveland. Shanower is standing outside a three-story house, white with red shutters: 3399 East 105th Street. Four bedrooms, two baths, according to Zillow. Built in 1910. Last changed hands, for $94,911, in March 2006. It's empty now, has been for years, and this afternoon it's coming down. "We did 185 houses last year and this year we're hoping to double that," says Shanower, who operates a shovel-truck for Cherokee Demolition, which has a lucrative contract with the city. In a growing city, urban pioneers might take look around here and see promise. Cleveland is not growing; between 2000 and 2010 its population fell more than 17%. "We have too much supply," says former Cuyahoga County treasurer Jim Rokakis, "and not nearly enough demand." Hence the hard-nosed calculation, promoted by Rokakis in his new role as director of the nonprofit Thriving Communities Institute, that the path forward begins with destruction. Ohio will get some help with that from the $25 billion national mortgage settlement reached last month with Ally Financial, Bank of America BAC , Citigroup C , J.P. Morgan Chase JPM , and Wells Fargo WFC : the state's share includes $75 million to tear down houses. It's not nearly enough—Rokakis has been telling the feds that for $1.5 billion he could wipe all of Ohio and Michigan clean—but it's a start. Shanower is up in his cab now, unflexing the long, yellow arm of his machine, clawing at the house almost tenderly. Front walls first, then the floors, then the side walls, then the back. The basement fills with rubble. It only takes about an hour. America's hard shift Ohio—the biggest, most hotly contested prize on Super Tuesday—may not be where your mind goes when you think about the real estate bust. Quarter by quarter, from early 2003 through the end of 2006, Ohio had more foreclosures than any other state on the country. That was during the first wave of misery to befall the housing market. It wasn't about beachfront condos and desert subdivisions where the foolish and the greedy made ill-timed bets. It was predatory lending. Forensic investigators can show you maps of the devastation that reveal the very paths the loan makers trod, up one street and down the next, offering fast money to fix the roof and consolidate credit card bills in one easy payment. That wave has subsided somewhat—Ohio currently ranks 8th for foreclosures—but the consequences endure. Today in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County there are about 26,000 vacant homes. Come here (or to Detroit, Youngstown, or Dayton) and you can observe the beginnings of a hard shift in America. A place where the vast pool of middle-class wealth began to evaporate. Where cash drawn from the well of homeowner equity—a flow that kept consumers spending and the economy humming, even as jobs disappeared and incomes plunged—eventually ran dry. Where a piece of the American dream died. MORE: Obama's plan to win Ohio If you watched the State of the Union address this year, closely, and you knew where to look, you might have caught a glimpse in the gallery of Les Kuglics, an ordinary, middle-aged American from Green, Ohio. Kuglics was there as a guest of his Congresswoman, Betty Sutton, a Democrat who represents Ohio's 13th District. Though Kuglics calls himself an independent and admits he has enjoyed listening "in the past" to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, he did like what the President had to say about "changing tax laws to favor companies that stayed home to manufacture, not the ones that went overseas." That's a topic Les knows something about. Les and Donna Kuglics A week later I had dinner at a restaurant in Green with Les and his wife, Donna, who had not made the trip to Washington. (There was only one ticket; she encouraged him to go). The Kuglicses are not the kind of people to give vent to extreme feelings of any kind, much less betrayal or outrage. Both were raised in working-class neighborhoods in nearby Akron. During the 32 years that they have been married, Les has had three main jobs and been laid off twice. He was eight years in the testing division with General Tire, and 23 years as a hardware field engineer with Hewlett-Packard. (The year before Les was downsized at HP, CEO Mark Hurd collected more than $26 million in salary and bonus.) Since 2009 he has had a desk job in the maintenance department of a small private-jet company. Donna has always worked in accounting, though she doesn't have a college degree. After he was laid off the first time, Les went back to school and earned the associate's degree that qualified him for a job in computers at HP HPQ . "He is a hard worker, who dedicates his time and ability to performing his job with high standards and pride," says his proud wife. But with each new job Les has taken, the family has had to adjust initially to a lower standard of living. They raised two children. Emily, who graduated from college last spring, works with autistic children. Matthew joined the Air Force in 2000, straight out of high school. Because he was only 17, he needed his parents' consent. They gave it reluctantly, and only after Matthew promised to save one paycheck per month and find a way to attend college—promises he faithfully kept. After 9/11, things got serious. Matthew did two tours in Iraq, and it was during the second, on a cool, windy morning in early June 2007—a day Les happened to be working at home and had just gotten off a conference call—that "the knock came." Special Agent Matthew Kuglics, whose birthday is Memorial Day, had just turned 25. "I will be honest and say in the beginning the only reason I got out of bed in the morning was for my daughter, Emily," Donna wrote to me a few days after our meal together. "If not for her, I don't think life would have mattered. As time has passed, I realized I also continued on for Matthew. He would have been extremely disappointed in me if I would have given up. Les continues to struggle in a way I cannot understand, a father losing his only son. The struggle continues with regard to the physical and mental toll this has taken on us. Whether it can be diagnosed as PTSD or just plain grief, I am not sure. As a family we press on." MORE: Throwing cash at the housing market will make it worse Shortly before Matthew left on his final mission, he bought a new three-bedroom house on a cul-de-sac in a subdivision near Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The oversize lot with a stockade fence around it was for his dog, Hunter. The bedroom with the biggest closet was for Emily, who he hoped would enroll at nearby St. Mary's University in the fall and live with him while she went to college. Though he did have some savings, Matthew chose to put no money down and roll all the closing costs into the loan. Donna didn't think that was a good idea. In 1987 she and Les had borrowed money to buy three-quarters of an acre in Green, and only after they had paid off that loan completely, three years later, did they borrow money again to build a house. But Matthew insisted on doing things his way. His plan was to pay off the mortgage in chunks with the bonuses he earned each time he deployed. In their grief, Les and Donna put the house up for sale. Bad timing. Matthew had bought in November 2006. In the nine months since then, the market had peaked and begun to fall. New houses were still going up in the subdivision even as existing ones were sitting unsold. Matthew's insurance money had gone to Emily to pay for college. His modest estate was bottled up in probate. Though the Kuglicses were hard-pressed to come up with the $1155.10 monthly mortgage payment, and weren't under any legal obligation to do so, Donna insisted on paying it anyway. That fall, with help from a real estate agent in San Antonio, the Kuglicses say they found a buyer for Matthew's house who was willing to pay $125,000 — about $10,000 less than the balance on the note. That meant the mortgage-holder, Chase, would have had to approve a short sale. Surely somewhere inside Chase sat a reasonable banker willing to work out a deal with the parents of a dead soldier who were trying to do right by all concerned. But according to the Kuglicses, despite repeated phone calls, that banker was impossible to find, and eventually the buyer went away. (A spokesman for Chase disputes the Kuglicses' account, saying the bank tried to work with the broker to help the family arrange a short sale, and that its records indicate there was never any offer made.) Finally a lawyer working pro bono for the Kuglicses persuaded Donna that the only way to get the bank's attention was to stop writing checks. MORE: Why JPMorgan Chase has become a Wall Street laggard "That house was something that he was very proud of," Donna says. "It was a huge accomplishment for somebody his age. And just letting that transaction and that part of his life go like that was not …" Her voice trails off. "No. I feel like I let Matthew down on that one. That was hard. It was really hard." In August 2008, Chase foreclosed on Matthew's house. It sat vacant for four more months, until finally it sold, together with Matthew's appliances, for $98,000. The buyer won, I suppose, but Donna lost, and so did the bank. "There are so many problems in this country that need to be fixed," Les says, "and so many people are hurting. People are going to say, 'You know what, we're fed up, we've had enough. It's time to take this country back, and get rid of all this greed and disparity.'" Listening to her husband, Donna nods in soft agreement. "I just want the real America back," she says.
To fix the economy, first fix the housing market by Chris Matthews @FortuneMagazine October 3, 2011, 9:52 AM EST E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons There's no way the U.S. can get back on track without a cure for what's killing real estate. Is this a great country or what? At the start of last year, a friend of mine, the proprietor of a small business that has suffered badly in the recession, entered a trial mortgage-modification program. A few months later the bank told him that his application for a government-assisted refinancing rate had been turned down — his house was too far underwater. He had bought it during the boom for $220,000, putting down $30,000, and then spent another $45,000 doing it up. Now it's worth about $100,000. Once his monthly payments were set to go back up (his mortgage rate is 6.5%), my friend stopped paying them and waited for the foreclosure and eviction notices to arrive. A year and a half later he is still inhabiting his own home and watching the mail. Whenever I hear somebody saying that growth is about to pick up, I think about my friend and the roughly 11 million homeowners whose mortgages are worth more than their homes. Some of them are still making their monthly payments. Some, like my pal, are living for nothing. The drip-drip foreclosure crisis shows how, six years after the bursting of the real estate bubble, the U.S. residential real estate market is still a mess. And without a genuine revival in housing, it is hard to think we will ever get a self- sustaining recovery. Sure, the news that President Obama and the Republicans are talking about enlarging this year's payroll tax cut and extending unemployment benefits through 2012 is good news. The last thing the economy needs is a $250 billion hit to spending, which is what doing nothing would amount to. But where are the serious proposals to revive the housing market? It's as if both parties have agreed to drop the issue. Housing isn't just another industry: It's a driving force for the entire economy. Residential investment accounts for up to a quarter of overall capital investment. House prices have a big influence on consumer spending — for every $1,000 the value of his house falls, a homeowner tends to cut his outlays by about $50 or $60. And falling property tax revenues are decimating many towns and cities. How bad is it out there? New-home construction is running at less than a third of its pre-recession level; in August it fell again. Existing-home sales picked up a bit, but that was largely because of bottom-fishing investors who are betting prices can't go any lower. Let's hope they are right. Nationwide, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index, prices are down 6% over the past year and down 32% since the first quarter of 2006. I'm not saying that fixing the housing market is easy. If it were, somebody would have done it. But to begin with, we could make the much-maligned Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HAMP) work better. Generally, anybody who is current on payments and whose home is worth at least 80% of the outstanding loan is eligible to participate. But many homeowners have been put off by the red tape and by additional charges that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which ultimately own or insure many of the mortgages, have imposed on applicants. Then there are folks whose mortgages are way underwater. One option: Force the banks to foreclose on them and get the whole nightmare over with. But that would dump yet more properties on the market. A better solution, which has never seriously been tried, would be to expand the mortgage-modification program, offering interest rate reductions and principal write-offs in return for options on the upside value of the property. For example, the government and the bank could reduce my friend's mortgage to $150,000 — 150% of the property's current value — but demand half of any profit he makes when he eventually sells the property. The details would need working on — there's a tradeoff between maximizing uptake and minimizing rewards to irresponsible borrowers — but surely it is worth trying. Three years of fiddling with the housing problem haven't gotten us very far. –John Cassidy is a Fortune contributor and a New Yorker staff writer. This article is from the October 17, 2011 issue of Fortune.


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I got a pair of these and put them in parallel (2-ohm load) on the rear channel of a Powerbass ASA1100.5x amp pushing 500W RMS. They look sharp installed and fit standard openings easily, so no problems there. The pushbutton wire terminals are standard issue, nothing new there. It took about a day of breaking them in before they started playing really well, but once they loosened up they were hitting the lows just fine. I am not a "block rocker" at all, but I do like to be able to turn the music up and hear clean highs and feel strong lows. I can roll down the windows and feel like a basshead, but I'm selfish enough to want all of the bass to myself and this setup delivers. The enclosure is everything for these subs, I wasn't too fond of them in a sealed enclosure (they are in a sedan though). They work best in a ported box built to the specs in the manual but my pre-fab Atrend Bbox gets close enough for now. Be sure to use the subsonic filter on your amp, the manual makes the point of setting the filter at least 30 Hz or above. Can't really speak to durability yet, but I don't see any signs of stress. I am well above the recommended 150W RMS per woofer, but I will never feed them 800W max either so they should last a good while. They seem to play a little bit lower than Kicker Comps but not as responsive to transients as a comparison. Good entry-level sub, but don't confuse these for Strokers or Vega series.
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