Ready for some fresh data on the U.S. economic “recovery?”
According to Census data parsed by researchers at Harvard University, more than 11.3 million Americans pay over half their monthly income on rent – a record high (and a 28 percent increase from 2007).
“Significant erosion in renter incomes over the past decade has pushed the number of households paying excessive shares of income for housing to record levels,” Harvard researchers found.
The median asking rent for a vacant unit in the third quarter of 2013 was $736 – a record high.
“Stagnant incomes and increased demand for cheap apartments spurred the rise,” the researchers added. “Between 2007 and 2012, real median renter incomes fell by 7.6 percent, based on Census data compiled by the Joint Center. The number of renters climbed 11 percent between 2007 and 2011, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data show. A Census report released this month found that 31.6 percent of Americans lived in poverty for at least two months between 2009 and 2011, an increase from 27.1 percent over the 2005 to 2007 period.”
All of which explains why homeownership has plunged to a 20-year low of just 65 percent …
Who’s profiting off of this dynamic? And how?
“Wall Street landlords, who have access to cheap funding, demand a high cap rate, and as a result rents keep going higher and higher, and since the cost of capital is still sufficiently low to where even a less than fully rented out complex will generate a positive return, there is no impetus to lower prices in order to generate more demand,” the website Zero Hedge explains.
In other words the same government that’s squeezing every nickel out of America’s poor working saps (and, increasingly, non-working saps) is mainlining cheap capital to the same Wall Street bankers whose reckless housing lending landed us in this mess in the first place.
Sheesh … and we wonder why there’s a wealth gap in this country?
47 comments
I’m sure the government will institute a program to ‘make things right.’
Unfortunately
What about corps and businesses not paying their workers a living wage? You are trying to oversimplify a huge issue. We have a lot of rental properties, We are not price gouging and owe no mortgage. Wall Street isn’t responsible for businesses not paying a living wage.
How much do you charge for rent? How many SF?
I get a down vote for asking a question?? WTF??
Doesn’t make sense does it, Frank. You got 2 downs for your question about rental fees, which could mean that two of her tenants were wary of your moving into their building. Then you got 3 downs for flirting with SCBlueWoman! I’ll give you an up on each to offset your agony. Anyway, I might want to flirt with her……
Shifty, dang. Your almost as bad as 9″. Looking after a yank trying to sneak into the red hat society. Dang man. It’s not that bad out there yet brother. :)
As far as her down vote, maybe I want to be a tenant. Tee Hee. Yeah right.
Just so you can pay the rent…..the “old fashioned way”..? She does sound sort’a sweet!
Get her DAWG. Tap dat shite Henry!! Woot Woot!! :)
It’s none of your business but it depends. Places are mostly 2 br 2 bath townhomes/flats and a few houses. $650-$1300. Only one disabled veteran on assistance.
Ahhhh, so I’m guessing you don’t rent to conservatives either. Hell of a business woman yee are. Arrrggghhh.
Loser.
Bless your heart. At least I have a successful business. Some of our tenants have been with us more than 20 years. Good solid tenants. I don’t ask how someone votes or their political leanings. I screen for ability to pay and employment. You mr pytel are an ignorant ass.
Hey, you’re the one that said you limit disabled vets in your rentals. Sounds discriminatory to me.
We’ve only had one disabled vet apply, mr limpdick. We have other vets who aren’t on assistance. You are dense as a brick.
Hey, watch the language. This is family hour. Besides, the Red Hat’s don’t appreciate unlady like cussin. Mmmm Hmmmm
Your aren’t my daddy, TG.
You’re a slum lord? That takes the cake. I’ll bet more than half your income comes from government subsidies to the poor.
And you would be wrong as usual. All our tenants are hard working people. Bless your heart.
Oh you are just soooo precious you sweet little thing.
Who here gets pay like this when they are fired
Then have the nerve to expect a tax cut
Stanley O’Neal, Merri
l Lynch:
$160 million, including more than $129 million in stock and options.
O’Neal takes the fall for failing to adequately control the firm’s
credit and market risks, which resulted in a stunning $8 billion-plus
write down in the third quarter.
Philip Purcell, Morgan Stanley:
$43.9 million plus $250,000 a year for life after being forced out. He
angered a group of shareholders who had already called for a break up
of the firm by reorganizing management and promoting some executives
who were seen as loyal to him. The dissident shareholders won out.
Richard Grasso, New York Stock Exchange:
Took $140 million in deferred compensation and the disclosure of that
payment sparked a furor that led to his departure. The pay also
provoked an investigation and lawsuits, which are still being worked
out. Grasso has vowed to fight.
Douglas Ivester, Coca-Cola:
Took $120 million when he stepped down in 2000 in his mid-50s. The
departure was deemed a “retirement,” but Ivester had presided over a
period of stagnant growth, declining earnings and bad publicity.
Robert Nardelli, Home Depot:
$210 million. He fixed up the home products retailer using techniques
he learned as an executive at General Electric, but by 2006, he was
starting to seriously irritate shareholders. The final straw was when
he told the board to skip the annual shareholder meeting and prevented
shareholders from speaking for more than a few minutes. He was ousted
in January 2007.
Bruce Karatz, KB Homes:
Gets up to $175 million. The former chief executive of the home
building company resigned in November 2006 after an internal
investigation into whether he and other executives backdated stock
option grants.
Stephen Hilbert, Conseco:
Took an estimated $72 million. Hilbert bought GreenTree Financial in
1998, just as the subprime lending business was about to go topsy
turvy. The purchase left Conseco, an insurance company, with big write
downs and ultimately contributed to its 2001 bankruptcy. The company
has since reemerged from reorganization.
Michael Ovitz, Disney:
$140 million after less than two years on the job. A former big-time
Hollywood agent, Ovitz was recruited to Disney to work under Chairman
Michael Eisner, but the two couldn’t play nice. The pay was disputed
in a Delaware court, which decided in 2005 that the board didn’t
violate its fiduciary duty in awarding that much severance.
Hank McKinnell, Pfizer:
$198 million, including $78 million in deferred compensation he built
up in 35 years at the pharmaceutical company. Pfizer shares sank 40%
on his watch, which ended last year. The company had to cut billions
in costs and fire thousands of employees, and said it wouldn’t see
revenue growth until 2009.
Jill Barad Mattel
$50 million severance package Mattel was losing $1.5 million a day
Mattel’s stock price which reached a high of $45 in March 1998) traded at $11 in February 2000.
Under pressure, on February 3, Mattel’s CEO Jill Barad resigned
but received a $50 million severance package
Frank Newman, Bankers Trust:
$55 million. A former deputy Treasury secretary, Newman was brought to
Bankers Trust to restore confidence after the 1994 derivatives
scandal. He made aggressive moves into technology banking and lending
(buying boutique Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997). But that push plus a big
position in Russian government bonds, put the bank on the brink.
Newman left in 1999 after selling the company to Deutsche Bank.
Carli Fiorina Hewlett-Packard
$20 million in severance board of directors discussed with Fiorina
a list of issues that the board brought back in Tom Perkins
and forced Fiorina to resign as chairman and chief executive officer of the company.
The company’s stock jumped on news of Fiorina’s departure.
Under the company’s agreement she was paid slightly more than $20 million in severance
Copy and paste much?
Bush growth…Fraud, failure and bankruptcy pay well for CEOs
Commentary: Have you fed your Cash-Eating Organism today?
Richard Fuld had a $66 million payday in 2000 because, well, he was a great chief executive officer, now wasn’t he?
Though the Internet bubble popped and the Nasdaq peaked in 2001, he made another $105.2 million. In 2002, he bagged yet another $28.7 million; 2003, $52.9 million; 2004, $41.8 million; 2005, $104.4 million; 2006, $27.3 million; 2007, $40 million.
His tab for eight years of CEO work came to $466.3 million.
You may still remember the name of his company. It was called Lehman Brothers. In 2008, it set a record as history’s largest bankruptcy, setting off the nuclear reaction we now call the financial crisis and cementing America’s future as a socialist state for giant banks and corporations.
Fuld is among the cast of characters enumerated in a retrospective report released by the Institute for Policy Studies: “Executive Excess 2013. Bailed Out, Booted, Busted: A 20-Year Review of America’s Top-Paid CEOs.” Before 2008, he made the list of America’s top 25 highest-paid executives for eight years in a row.
“To be in the top 25 for eight consecutive years before you crash and burn the economy, it’s just unbelievable,” said Sarah Anderson, one of the report’s authors.
Her study analyzed 500 corporate executive positions that have been listed in The Wall Street Journal’s annual executive pay surveys over the past 20 years.
When she began this research, she expected bailed-out, booted and busted CEOs would make up maybe 15% of the sample. But no, it tallied 38%.
“These poorly performing chief executives either wound up getting fired, had to pay massive settlements or fines related to fraud charges, or led firms that crashed or had to be bailed out during the 2008 financial crisis,” the report says.
• CEOs whose firms received taxpayer bailouts or ceased to exist held 22% of these 500 slots over the past two decades.
• CEOs who were forced out of their jobs made up 8%. (This is not bad work, if you can get it: The average golden parachute was valued at $48 million.)
• CEOs who led companies paying significant fraud-related fines or settlements comprised another 8% of the sample. (Most of these settlements totaled more than $100 million
Nearly 40% of the top-paid executives were bailed out, booted out or busted.
Still at it I see.
yes
Republicans block two unemployment aid bills
Senate Republicans block Obama’s jobs package
GOP bill blocks food stamp
LOLGOP Congressional Candidate: Spousal Rape Shouldn’t Be a Crime
“scbluewoman”, why are you blue..??
———————————————–
” I once had a gown, it was almost new,
Oh, the daintiest thing, it was sweet Alice blue,
With little forget-me-nots placed here and there,
When I had it on, oh, I walked on the air!
And it wore, and it wore, and it wore,
‘Til it went, and it wasn’t no more.
In my sweet little Alice blue gown,
When I first wandered down into town,
I was so proud inside,
As I felt every eye,
And in every shop window I primped, passing by. “
Sure they are. It’s an interesting system they have going. Heads they win, tails you lose
Fraud, failure and bankruptcy pay well for CEOs
Commentary: Have you fed your Cash-Eating Organism today?
Richard Fuld had a $66 million payday in 2000 because, well, he was a great chief executive officer, now wasn’t he?
Though the Internet bubble popped and the Nasdaq peaked in 2001, he made another $105.2 million. In 2002, he bagged yet another $28.7 million; 2003, $52.9 million; 2004, $41.8 million; 2005, $104.4 million; 2006, $27.3 million; 2007, $40 million.
His tab for eight years of CEO work came to $466.3 million.
You may still remember the name of his company. It was called Lehman Brothers. In 2008, it set a record as history’s largest bankruptcy, setting off the nuclear reaction we now call the financial crisis and cementing America’s future as a socialist state for giant banks and corporations.
Fuld is among the cast of characters enumerated in a retrospective report released by the Institute for Policy Studies: “Executive Excess 2013. Bailed Out, Booted, Busted: A 20-Year Review of America’s Top-Paid CEOs.” Before 2008, he made the list of America’s top 25 highest-paid executives for eight years in a row.
“To be in the top 25 for eight consecutive years before you crash and burn the economy, it’s just unbelievable,” said Sarah Anderson, one of the report’s authors.
Her study analyzed 500 corporate executive positions that have been listed in The Wall Street Journal’s annual executive pay surveys over the past 20 years.
When she began this research, she expected bailed-out, booted and busted CEOs would make up maybe 15% of the sample. But no, it tallied 38%.
“These poorly performing chief executives either wound up getting fired, had to pay massive settlements or fines related to fraud charges, or led firms that crashed or had to be bailed out during the 2008 financial crisis,” the report says.
• CEOs whose firms received taxpayer bailouts or ceased to exist held 22% of these 500 slots over the past two decades.
• CEOs who were forced out of their jobs made up 8%. (This is not bad work, if you can get it: The average golden parachute was valued at $48 million.)
• CEOs who led companies paying significant fraud-related fines or settlements comprised another 8% of the sample. (Most of these settlements totaled more than $100 million
Nearly 40% of the top-paid executives were bailed out, booted out or busted.
“What about corps and businesses not paying their workers a living wage?”
What about you not charging a “living rent” so poor people can be housed?
The rents we charge are more than reasonable for the areas the properties are in. We have blue collar and service industry people and professional tenants. We work with our tenants when they need it and during the heart of the down turn when many lost their jobs we worked with them and kept them as tenants. All but 1 stayed so go blow your crap up someone else.
One of the other issues is the rise of ownership of rental units by massive hedgefunds. There has been a concerted effort over the last 5 years by hedgefunds to snap up portfolios of real estate post foreclosure at nickels on the dollar. The hedgies have steadily increased rental rates much to the detriment of main street.
If states like South Carolina didn’t impose criminal tax codes on “non owner occupied” properties, rent wouldn’t have to be so high. “Investors” have to pass the cost along to the tenant simply so they can break even in a lot of cases.
Rent has a whole lot to do with cost of liability and property insurance, more so than taxes. Upkeep of property is another big one. Keeping places nice and fixing/replacing things that break.
The repairs and property insurance on mine are a drop in the bucket compared to the tax rape Richland County imposes on me, stop trying to excuse the criminal tax codes that got passed under the radar in 2007, Ms. Blue.
I’m in Horry Co. Taxes are manageable and deductible as business expense, same as repairs/insurance costs.
Sure they’re deductible, but not dollar for dollar. Property taxes in Richland County quadruple when a property goes non owner occupied, thanks to Act 388. Had I known this criminal tax structure were looming on the horizon, I would have never entered the game.
Jay, Act 388 was pushed through by Republicans and real estate agents who wanted to run on tax cuts for homeowners and they were hoping for the ignorants to support them, which they did. They knew you and I would get screwed, but short term they would benefit. On a side note, please walk by my house and in back and make sure no one has broken into my house or apartment I’ll owe you a bottle of wine the next time I drop by. Thanks.
Crazy how people that neva had to start from nothing hve so many opinions ….
Exactly BRS, I’m completely self made. I don’t have a company that daddy built and left me and didn’t have a pile of family money land in my lap. If someone like me, that doesn’t have deep pockets, voices an opinion about excessive taxation I’m considered a complainer.
Ok jay pops did wat alot of good men set out to do
But again thay not nothing u hard a strong START BUDDY but im not a hater of that just thinking with a open mind …but congrats
So you assume that I didn’t grow up dirt poor on a Eastern Carolina farm? Bless your heart. I’m a self made woman. Period.
I don’t assume anything. Do you insert “bless your heart” in every bit of dialogue that comes out of your mouth/fingers? If so I feel sorry for anyone that has to deal with you face to face, it’s a very smug condescending tone.
“Bless your heart” is “fuck you” in Southern Speak.
Exactly!
But you took advantage of something you found in the street ———-OPPORTUNITY,,,,,
Anyone would experienced property tax relief in 2007 can thank people like me for picking up the slack.
We all thank you Ellington!
You are a Prince among men?
One nagging question though.If all these evil “governments” are ganging up on a poor old benevolent landlord like you,why not sell your properties and “invest” your money elsewhere?
You’re welcome asshole. To explain why I can’t sell my property at this point would be to go into a whole lot of person stuff that I’d rather keep to myself. I’m sure you understand. Now, go eat a dick.