Long Island City barely hit in the latest Queens foreclosures

What usually happens is that Hunters Point/Blissville gets looked at statistically with Sunnyside/Woodside, while LIC north of the bridge gets lumped in with Astoria (likely the case here, too). I think this may be based on census groupings or something? On the ground it doesn’t make obvious sense for those of us who live here.

#3, #1 here and I am not at all concerned with LIC’s foreclosures. I would be surprised if we had more than 5 in LIC (Hunters Point, Court Sq., QP). that why it would be nice if we could separate them through zip code.

The days of tens of thousands of not especially exceptional people earning high six or seven figures basically doing nothing but manipulating numbers on computer screens is OVER. Though they’ll be definite pain in NYC while these people figure out something worthwhile to do with their lives (like actually make something or help real people), I think in the end the city will be a better place to live.

#6, I’ve got news for you. Those days are never going to be over. As long as someone can sit in front of a trading terminal and make $50M a year for their firm there will be 6 & 7 figure salaries and bonuses. And I would add that the ability to do this is exceptional and valued (as evidenced by their compensation). Save your populist rant and animosity. These are the people who ensure that you have a comfortable retirement, that cities have the funding to build bridges and roads. That new small business that opened up in your neighborhood and employed a dozen people got financing provided by them. The food you ate for breakfast wouldn’t have made it to your table without them. They are the oil in the engine of this economy, and we are witnessing what happens when you run that engine without the oil. There has been a tendency to hate on people working in financial services or draw artificial distinctions between Wall Street and Main Street. The two are the same. Main Street does not exist without Wall Street. What they “make” is make it possible for the economy to run and prosper. You can shut down an auto plant and the economy moves on. Turn off the spigot of financing and see if you bounce back so quickly.

…and proud of it.

No. 8 just woke up from a coma and still thinks it’s 1998.

Everyone wants to blame the faceless corporations when we should all be looking in the mirror. The economic mayhem we’re seeing now is a result of irresponsible consumerism. Buy now and pay later. Maxed out credit cards and still shopping. When you are tapping into your home equity to take european vacations and buy fancy cars, or buy homes that you can not afford or have no intention of living in this is what happens. Eventually you have to pay the piper. Where is the contempt for those deadbeats who have wrecked our economy and had fun while doing it?

There is nothing bogus about these products. Its how they were abused is how we got into this mess. And I disagree with the characterization of what “real” work is. I’d submit that the average banker works 10x harder than joe 6-pack who is punching in from 9-5.

#14, it was the financial institutions and those at the helms who created the problems, by creating a system that for decades, was pounded relentlessly into the world’s consumer psyche. they pushed, pushed and pushed even more, the concept of living beyond your means, with the end result now being a consumer base in debt over their heads, and leaving the financial institution’s top execs rolling in dough, and laughing their way to the offshore/overseas banks.

Credit cards are the bane of most of the middle and working class’ existence. More than two generations have grown up knowing only of the credit card way of life. I fume everytime I see a customer whip out the plastic, for a $8 purchase.

Credit and credit cards have their place in the economy. Just not for using it to purchase every damn thing you need and want. It’s destroyed they ability of a large and financially stable middle and working class, to drive the economy; as #13 alluded to. He/she has a keen eye for seeing the reality of things.

You sound just like all of the crooked business people and politicians. Sure, it’s always the fault of someone else. It can’t be your problem. You have all the knowledge and all the answers. It’s sad because you and others like you, truly believe that you are right. You just can’t help yourself. It’s a classic psychological affliction known as blame transference.

So when politicians go bad, I guess it’s the fault of those who foolishly put them in office, having believed their lines of campaign bullshit.

So when investors go bad, I guess it’s the fault of those saps who believed their lies and entrusted them with their money.

So when the credit system goes bad, It’s the fault of the irresponsible consumers who are only conforming to the credit system which has been continuously beaten into them.

When home buyers were misled by predatory lenders, who all knew that everything would ultimately backfire, and by loan officers who were still pushed by top management to make more and more of these loans; it’s all the fault of the deadbeat mortgagees.

It’s never the fault of the institutions and those at the top, who screwed things up so badly that the world’s best economists are at each others’ throats, and with no one having any real idea on how to correct it. But I guess you have all the answers.

So, take your distorted, brainwashed view of economics, to those who are gullible enough to believe crap like that.

Charlie.

That’s okay. Forget about it. I didn’t expect you to understand anyway.

Charlie.

What did Bernie Madoff say, when he heard about the $9 billion Alan Stanford scandal?……………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Amateur!

Charlie.

14, Consumers didn’t work “10x harder” dreaming up esoteric financial instruments to create a casino economy built on flim flam — the Wall Street bankers did that. The worst consumers can be accused of is buying into the lie that that the sky was always up in this country, and all we had to do was keep spending. What a calamity we’re facing, and still these clueless bankers don’t have to confront the devastation they have given us. In my view, we’re just witnessing the beginnings of the anger that will be directed against these people, who should all be in prison now and not posting their nonsense on blogs.

No. 23, no one wants to go back to the Stone Age. We just expect bankers to play by the same rules as the rest of us: when you screw up and lose money, then you and your shareholders suck it up, fold up the tent and go home. For some reason, bankers are exempt from the simple rules of the market that everyone else is bound by. I have no problem with anyone who works hard and makes money, that is unless you aren’t really making a penny.

For that reason, I have a big problem with the exceptionalists in your industry who believe that zombie organizations that are bleeding red ink and taking welfare from the government somehow still deserve to pay their employees multimillion dollar salaries to their “hard working professionals” or exceutives who must be compensated like princes or else they’ll go someplace else. Let them. There’s a line 50 miles long of MBAs ready to take their place.

So, please, spare me your grade school textbook copy on the Wonders of Banking. Neither I nor other taxpayers have the stomach for it right now. I may have a superficial understanding of how the economy works, but I know a pile of steaming crap when I see it.

I forgot to include #24 in the “well said” kudos. So, #24, well said.

Charlie.

24, I actually agree with you although I’m torn on the subject. There are a lot of companies that should fail. Government has no business proping up ill conceived ventures. Market forces should wash them by the wayside. Problem is that the issue is so serious now that if you do that the banking system as we know it ceases to exist and we are back in the stone age.

Charlie, while you are busy extracting your pound of flesh the economy is going down the tiolet. Now is not the time for granstanding. We need solutions not finger pointing. Throwing some CEO in prison solves nothing. We also don’t need knee jerk reactions. There are plenty of laws on the books. Let’s start enforcing them, before coming up with new laws to ignore.

The Federal Government doesn’t do anything well. It’s inefficient, slow, prone to fraud, and ineffective. Why would you trust the Federal Government to take care of you? Take a look at how well the Securities and Exchange Commission monitored the Madoff situation; Look at how well FEMA handled Katrina; Look at how well the INS handles the immigration problem; Look how well the FDA inspected the peanut industry. You want these guys running the financial markets? God help us if it comes to that. There is a school of though that places this mess squarely in the hands of those that you are saying should be given more power and authority via regulation. There are many that think that the years of easy money and low interest rates set in place by the federal goverment is to blame for this mess. After the last recession we were told by the government to go out and shop and spend money to stimulate the economy. What type of a message is that? We a reaping the fruits of that now. America needs a 10-year plan, not a plan just ot get through the next election cycle or annual budget.

These are the things that you won’t hear on the 5 o’clock news. It’s much easier to find one person or an industry and say this is all your fault.

# 28, you say that we need solutions, not finger pointing. I mostly agree. However, right after you make that statement, your very next paragraph is devoted to finger pointing by you.

Finding the correct cause (finger pointing) is of the utmost importance. That is how we will know the source of the problem, and it gives us clues as to what can be done to hopefully avoid it in the future. Political partisan finger pointing and blame transference, is the wrong type of finger pointing, and is in itself a big part of the problem, and only serves to throw wrenches into the works.

I agree that we need long term plans, and to stick with them. Plans that keep changing at the drop of a new administration and it’s political agendas, is counter productive. Regulations, by the way, are designed to be a important part of any plans.

Now, I absolutely agree that government has also been a big part of the problem. Big business has had as good a government as their money can buy; working to block regulations, to make the business enviornment as profitable as possible, no matter the consequences, and to try to take as much of the voice of the people away, as is possible. Taking all of the money out of the lobbying equation, would go a very long way towards solving this particular portion of the problem. I really don’t see that happening any time soon, as those being bought are the ones who will have to pass the legislation, putting an end to it. Properly funding and stocking the regulating and oversight agencies with competent employees, would also improve the situation by leaps and bounds.

Anyway, I’m not extracting pounds of flesh or grandstanding. Statements like that are designed to discredit (to some degree) the person who is being responded to (in this case me), while seemingly adding credibility to the respondent (in this case you).

I call ‘em as I see ‘em. That’s all.

Charlie.

So Charlie doesn’t believe in individual responsibility. Blame the bank who gave me a loan or the company that issued my credit card rather than blaming myself and taking responsibility for my own decisions and actions. This mindset is not how this country should work.

23, I don’t entirely buy the argument that this is too complex for us common folk to understand. Any simpleton like me (or should I say, “such as I”) can recognize what’s been going on. I saw it years ago. I’m still baffled how our illustrious financial genius Mayor Bloomberg missed it.

Your explanation of farmers’ futures, etc. is fine and it normally worked (prior to the corporate destruction of the family farm sector) because there is something REAL underlying the process. It has it’s ups and downs but in a fair and decent world, the banker, the farmer, and the consumer are partners.

We have just witnessed massive attacks on our well being unparalleled in recorded history. It’s not a conceptual thing. People are losing homes and their livelihood. Businesses are collapsing. At best you could say that everyone who went along with it was either seduced or stupid. So based on your own statement, jail them all?

To defend this with a benign “we know better than you” attitude is disingenuous.
Your industry will not be trusted until it becomes transparent and ethical and finds a way to pay us all back.

Right on 34, and I agree with much of what Charlie says as well. We’re never going to change this system until the fraud and abuse in banking sector is severely punished, and some of the worst actors in this drama are put in prison. If government refuses to do this or can’t, I think you’ll start to see individual acts of violence and vigilante justice exacted on some banks by an outraged and increasingly desperate public. Bad times ahead, that’s for sure.

No 35, it was not a master plan. It was a drunken rape.

getting back to the original topic. the above numbers are up to September 0f last year.
5 months have sinced passed I can tell you from first hand accounts that numerous people are losing their condos in LIC.

OK, 41. Sounds good to me. Why don’t the banks start by separating themselves from the billions in dollars U.S. taxpayers just handed them? Let’s see how much they enjoy their freedom then.

no details I think are necessary. or are you one of the typical Americans in disbelief as to what is realy going on?

Charlie, please read up on the Community Reinvestment Act. Suggest you start here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122298982558700341.html

The blame for this mess lays largely in part due to the same government you are hoping to swoop in and save us. Again you wont see this on NBC 5 o’clock news. Beacuse it too complicated to put into a sound bite. Educate yourself and invest the time to have more than a superfical understanding of the issues. Not everything is black and white.

Charlie, you are a piece of work. You ask a question, I answer it and then you attack me for answering it. Anyway I’m glad to see you start to open your eyes. This is bigger than just corporations being gready. Continue reading. You might be surprised what you find,

Sorry I’m more inclined to believe respected economists over anonymous bloggers #49. That may not jive with your agenda, but I follow the fact where they lead me. The goverment is complicit in this mess.

If there was corruption in the NYPD of course we would not get rid of all the police and enforce the laws ourselves. However, should we put the corrupt cops in charge of cleaning up the police force? That is basically what is happening. Washington has failed to accept responsibility for their part in causing this mess. What you are seeing is a well orcastrated smokescreen. Let focus on CEOs and the banking industry, to divert attention from the way that the politicians screwed up. With the benefit of hindsight can anyone say that laws like the Community Reinvestment Act were a good idea? That years of super low interest rates were sound monetary policy? Our future has been traded by the politicians for short term profits in the form of a growing economy. I find it ironic to see them grill excutives on this point as they are just as guilty. Also not sure what economists you are reading, but the one thing that that almost everyone agrees on is that years of loose monetary policy under Clinton and Bush play a big part in how we got here.

53, the loonie Wall Street Repugnican bankers and their equally crazy supporters in the media are in their death throes, so they’ll throw out anything and hope it sticks. But I really believe the jig is up and aren’t going to get away with their deceit anymore. It’s over for them and they’ll be banished to the wilderness.

Frank Rich mentioned in his column yesterday that many bankers will probably consider traveling overseas to teach English while they wait out the storm. I think Rich inadvertently insults English teachers. I predict they’ll be soon sitting in a jail cell or, better yet, on the narrow ledges of very tall buildings.

The joke becomes sicker when you realize that the banks and other financial geniuses are running to the government for welfare that now far exceeds anything paid out in social service programs.

——

Is that right #53? Last year our federal government spent over $1 Trillion (thats with a “T” $1,000,000,000,000) on Medicare and Social Security alone. This was in one (1) year! This get repeated annually and does not include a myriad of other social programs. Plus I rounded down to the nearest trillion. I ask you, how much bailout money has been handed out? Social spending dwarfs in comparision to any money the banks are recieving as bailout.

Where is the outrage over this spending? Or does the fact that many people including friends and family are cashing in on this gravy train make it okay? Its a bit of a double standard to get upset about bailouts to banks if you are not upset about this annual raping of the treasury.

The sarcasm of your post only shows that you have no valid argumentt to offer, 57.

Social security is one hell of a gravy train, let me tell you. That $1600 a month I’d qualify for right now if disabled would buy a hell of a lot of $15 drinks at Dutch Kills.

Well #48, my family and friends think I’m a really good piece of work; so thanks.

“It appears to me, that you are so caught up in your ideology, that you’re failing to see what I’ve been saying.” ——– This comment by me is an opinion, not an attack. I believe that I am right, but the important thing is that it communicates to others, that I am unsure and that I could be wrong.

“The blame for this mess lays largely in part due to the same government you are hoping to swoop in and save us. Again you wont see this on NBC 5 o’clock news. Beacuse it too complicated to put into a sound bite. Educate yourself and invest the time to have more than a superfical understanding of the issues. Not everything is black and white.” ——— This comment by you is presented as if it were fact. It actually is a statement made to try to discredit me (as I’ve alluded to before). You do not know me or know my history, so making a call like that is misleading. It communicates to others that you are right, and that you could not be wrong.

There’s the difference independent thinking and partisan thinking, I think.

I’ve made my point concerning government’s role in this whole mess before. It is because of your statements, that I have come to the position that you cannot comprehend what I and so many others are saying. Now, this statement is an opinion, and I could be wrong. You just have not been giving me anything else to work with. Government and big business are both to blame. Deregulation of the finance industry started this ball rolling. That was accomplished by the financial sector lobbyist buying congressional votes and administrative favor.

Anyway, I’m impressed that the discourse on this thread has been so civil. Differences in thoughts and opinions will always exist, but civility in sharing these differing points of view, are important for success in getting these opinions across.

Finally #48, I did not take your statements towards me as attacks; just uniformed conclusions. I just thought I’d let you know that. Constructive criticism is good. Spiteful criticism is not. So, lets all keep on going here, because this is a good thread with many good comments and opinions.

Charlie.

Hey #58, when you copied and pasted, you forgot to correct my misspelling of argument.

Charlie.

65, please read the preamble to the Constitution so that you understand the purpose of this democracy. Not all people needing food stamps, etc. are leeches – at least not more so than CEO who took his golden parachute while bringing the company down and forcing these folks on to government assistance.

The dollar figure is meaningless without proper allocation and comparison. Social security is a type of retirement fund. It’s not welfare. Do you also want to eliminate veteran’s health services among other entitlements? In the meantime military spending and capital improvements run equal to the entire social safety net and these programs in many cases are corporate give aways.

What anyone could rightly call purely poverty based assistance is less than 1% of the budget. By comparison 8% goes toward debt service. And gosh here we are bailing out the banks.