Blogging on the economy and current events at www.JimNichols4.com
My personal twitter: @JimNichols
I am 30 and live in Stockbridge GA with my wife Deana and our dog Preston! I work at UPS, am proud to be a Teamster at local 728, and am working on undergraduate degrees in economics and philosophy at GA State.
My interests include Economics, Philosophy, Cognitive Science, International Relations, Political and Economic Theory...
OCCUPY ATLANTA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact:
Tim Franzen 404-414-5521
La’Die Z. Mansfield 678-675-3888
On Monday (01/23) at 11am Occupy Atlanta will hold a press conference in the front of Chase Bank located in the Edgewood Shopping Center, 1215 Caroline St. NE.
Like many families across the nation, the late Ms. Eloise Pittman was a victim of one of the worse cases of predatory lending. The Pittman family has been fighting to save the family home since November 2011. This house for this family is more than a building that gives shelter. It is a home that has been passed down generations since the 1950’s.
This past week we have finally been able to get Chase bank to negotiate with they family. The options they have laid out are terrible. They either want the family to leave or pay over $400,000 for a property that's worth a little over $100,000. Their options are unacceptable. When Chase bank needed a bail out they got one to the tune of billions at practically zero percent interest. We will not continue to allow big banks like Chase to continue to make profit off the backs of those that they refuse to assist.
Occupy Atlanta will be announcing our plans to escalate the campaign against Chase bank at the press conference, part of which will include actions that are provocative, and national in scope. The time where Banks like Chase are able to quietly scam folks out of their homes is over.
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Speaking directly to the heart of the matter, Rep. Holcomb points out that those harmed by this law would be Georgia’s poorest children, not the adults who have made bad decisions.“[The family assistance program] is designed to help the neediest of our needy families,” Holcomb said. “Those that oppose it, it’s almost as if many of them are saying food is a luxury item. Which clearly it’s not.”
Georgia’s public assistance program is available only to the state’s poorest residents. A typical family supported with the assistance would be a working mother with two children who earns about $784 per month, or just $26 per day. Rep. Holcomb points out that the $26 per day pays for housing, electricity and food.
About one-third of all homes with mortgages in metro Atlanta stayed upside down in the third quarter, CoreLogic reported Tuesday.In metro Atlanta, 34.5 percent, or 420,160, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity in the third quarter, according to CoreLogic. This compares with 34.7 percent, or 423,130 properties, in the second quarter. Negative equity, often referred to as “underwater” or “upside down,” means borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in value, an increase in mortgage debt or a combination of both.In Georgia, 30 percent, or 488,310, of residential properties with mortgages were underwater in the third quarter, compared with 30.2 percent in the second quarter. This was the fifth-highest state negative equity rate in the third quarter.Nationally, 22.1 percent, or 10.7 million, of all residential properties with a mortgage were underwater at the end of the third quarter. This was down a bit from 22.5 percent, or 10.9 million properties, in the second quarter.
Justice George Carley will step down from the Georgia Supreme Court next July, giving Gov. Nathan Deal the chance to appoint Carley's successor.The justice taking Carley's place will have to run for re-election in 2014, the court said in a statement released Tuesday.“I am announcing this now to notify potential candidates before the election cycle gets into full swing,” said Carley, who had already announced that he did not plan to run for re-election.When he steps down, Carley, 73, will leave the high court as its chief justice. The court voted unanimously last month to have him serve as chief for two months before he leaves the court.
After an August rebound, Georgia’s manufacturing sector fell to its lowest level in nearly two years in September, according to the Econometric Center at Kennesaw State University’s Coles College of Business.Georgia’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) -- a reading of economic activity in the state’s manufacturing sector -- for September was 49.7, down 9.4 points from August.A PMI reading above 50 shows manufacturing activity is expanding, while a reading below 50 shows it is contracting.September was the third month in a four-month period that the PMI dropped, dashing expectation that August’s turnaround was sustainable, KSU said.“September’s losses more than offset the 7.4 points gained in August,” said Don Sabbarese, professor of economics and director of the Econometric Center at the Coles College of Business. “The latest reading suggests the perceived soft spot in June and July may be more pervasive than we first thought. Manufacturing has been one of the few bright spots in the current recovery, but apparently it’s not immune from the current slowdown in the broader economy.”Other highlights of the September PMI:
Production plunged 16.3 points to 46.7New orders dropped 6.9 to 45Employment fell 5.6 to 50
Detention Officer Terroyanne Harris considers the inmates she oversees on 3 North as much patient as prisoner. They suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress and other mental illnesses. Some walk aimlessly around their cell block. Some are lost in hallucinations.Most are in the Fulton County jail because they are more of a nuisance than a danger in the free world.Taken into custody for petty crimes such as trespassing, damaging property or resisting an officer, some end up trapped in a revolving door of arrest and release. Others languish behind bars for years as they wait to be declared competent enough to stand trial.Fulton County is not an aberration. The same is true in DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett counties, as well as some rural counties in the state.Jails have become the new asylums. In Georgia, more mentally ill people are locked away than are treated in all the state psychiatric hospitals combined.And it’s costing county taxpayers millions.
A new report says federal subsidies pay farmers to grow crops used in junk food that’s linked to high child obesity rates. The U.S. spent $6 billion on these subsidies last year.Jessica Wilson is with the Georgia Public Interest Research Group. She says through the report, the organization is urging Congress to cut corn syrup, corn starch and soy oil subsidies when it reauthorizes the farm bill next year.“The fact that we’re spending this much money subsidizing junk food demonstrates the need to reform our subsidies program and cut the wasteful spending,” she said.Georgia received $142 million in farm subsidies last year, according to the Environmental Working Group. Only a small part goes to crops that produce items targeted in the report. The state’s cotton and peanut industries received the lion’s share of the subsidies.Farmers say they need some of the other subsidies because they cover crop loss, damage from natural disasters and other emergencies.
