9,500 Shuttered Stores In Sacramento Area

Before taking a closeup look at Sacramento, please consider a snapshot of commercial real estate in general. MarketWatch is reporting that commercial mortgage failures threaten system:

Over the next few years, a wave of commercial real-estate loan failures could threaten America's financial system, and in the worst case scenario, hundreds of additional community and midsize banks could face insolvency, a congressional watchdog group said Thursday.

According to a report by the Congressional Oversight Panel, a watchdog group for a $700 billion bank-bailout package, about $1.4 trillion in commercial real-estate loans will reach the end of their terms between 2010 and 2014, of which nearly half are now under water (that is, the borrower owes more than the underlying property is currently worth).

The report added that losses from commercial loans could range as high as $200 billion to $300 billion.

As a result, it said, banks that suffer from the losses or are discouraged by the economic future could become even more reluctant to lend, which could reduce access to credit for more businesses and families, accelerating a negative economic cycle.

"The Congressional Oversight Panel is deeply concerned that commercial loan losses could jeopardize the stability of many banks, particularly the nation's midsize and smaller banks, and that as the damage spreads beyond individual banks, that it will contribute to prolonged weakness throughout the economy," said the report, which was approved unanimously by the five-member COP.

Commercial real estate woes are everywhere you look, but Sacramento, California is ground zero of the ongoing bust. It will take years if not a decade to fill vacant businesses in greater Sacramento.

Paying for "Protection"

Tracy Residents Now Have To Pay For 911 Calls

Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency.

But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year which allows them to call 9-1-1 as many times as necessary.

Or, there's the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead, they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help.

"A $300 fee and you don't even want to be thinking about that when somebody is in need of assistance," said Tracy resident Greg Bidlack.

Residents will soon receive the form in the mail where they'll be able to make their selection. No date has been set for when the charges will go into effect.

See the video here.

I would almost certainly receive more value for my money if I was being shaken-down by the Mob via the protection racket.

Yep -- Just Another Data-Point

I used to pass through this area at least twice per work-day.

My sister still lives within 2 miles of here -- fortunately up-hill into the nicer part of Oaktown.



Very nice to see an old guy who, after apparently attempting to de-escalate by moving as far away as he could, is seen to dish-out a righteous and highly educational beat-down to a low-class jerk.

California = Greece

To think that Greece's troubles are an ocean and a sea away from where we stand in North America is to have your head in the Mediterranean sand. In Greece we have

• a near bankrupt, over-indebted, overspending nanny state, drowning in future liabilities;

• where civil servants are pampered and overpaid;

• in which unions are demanding a continuation of their inflated wages and entitlements; and
  

• productive individuals and businesses are leaving for more favorable climes.

Where have we heard all this before? Ah yes: California.

from American Thinker -- read it all here.