Another nail in the American coffin

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- UCBH Holdings Inc.’s United Commercial Bank, a San Francisco-based lender with $11.2 billion in assets, was seized by regulators, becoming the 120th U.S. bank to fail this year.

United Commercial was bought by East West Bancorp of Pasadena, California, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. United Commercial was the fifth U.S. lender to be seized by regulators yesterday as banks fail at the fastest rate since 1992.
Banks are buckling under the weight of souring real estate loans caused by the worst recession in more than 25 years. The Labor Department said the unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in October, a 26-year high. Banks shut yesterday had total assets of $11.6 billion and deposits of $7.9 billion.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ayPwsBV1DI3cAnother Nail in the

As I suspected, the domino effect has started. Too bad I haven't seen this on the mainstream news. I think they are purposely ignoring it. It goes against all the happy talk feel good stories about the jobless recovery I hear about everyday. You can't inspire consumer confidence when everything is falling apart. But if you don't tell them, you might suck the last of their money away.

With unemployment still rising, the commercial market is going to implode just as the housing market did, and I suspect it will cause an equal amount of damage to our frail economy.

Gold is still rising, the Dollar is still falling.

And Obamacare passed a late night vote in the House, where I have read an additional 800 pages of amendments were added prior to the vote, although no one seems to know what was in there. I suspect the secrecy implies that not much good will come from this bill. Hopefully the Senate will have the good sense to stop it, but I have my doubts.

Calif. boosts income tax collection by 10 percent

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j_y1QW6gvpDrSof2RoPtvEoEpDSAD9BNJTC80



By JUDY LIN (AP) – 5 days ago
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California wage earners will soon notice a little less money in their paychecks.

Starting Monday, employers in the cash-strapped state are required to withhold 10 percent more in state income taxes to help ease the budget problems.
It's part of a plan to artificially inflate state revenue by $1.7 billion through next June.

Brenda Voet, a spokeswoman for the state Franchise Tax Board, says it's technically not a tax increase since workers will get their money back after April 15.
A single wage earner making $51,000 a year with no dependents will get about $4 less a week.

I think that number is way off. $51,000 divided by 52 weeks is $980 a week gross. The 2.5% income tax already in place plus the new 10% non-tax brings us to 12.5%. 12.5% of $980 is $122.50. A little more than the $4 they came up with using government math.

But hey, you get it back after April 15. This is the same state that sent out IOU's this year for tax returns. And I have never heard of a temporary tax that didn't become permanent.

The good news is all the other states who are in trouble will most likely adopt this same plan.