Saddleback’s Speech and Debate Team Excels at 2013 Watson-Lancer Invitational Tournament

Posted By CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA -Approximately 30 colleges and universities including Saddleback College Azusa Pacific, Chapman University, and three CSU schools competed in the 2013 Watson-Lancer Invitational Tournament hosted by Pasadena City College on October 26^th – 27^th..

Saddleback Speech and Debate students

With only a quarter of the team’s students competing, Saddleback placed 6th overall with a total of 29 points. First place was awarded to Moorpark College with 88 total points. Saddleback College beat out Chapman University and made several colleges take notice. Led by team Co-Captain Dennis Meador, Saddleback planted itself in the speech community as a viable contender to win a championship

Saddleback’s new debate coach, Shawn O'Rourke, guided the Saddleback Debaters to a historic weekend. Individual Event Coaches, Larry Radden, Heidi Ochoa, and Lucas Ochoa helped the speech team advance to several final rounds.

Co-Director Larry Radden stated, "We have four amazing coaches for our team and also wonderful students. We have seen great results due to the fact that everyone is working synergistically." 

The results are:

1st Place: After Dinner Speaking- Dennis Meador
2nd Place: Programmed Oral Interpretation- Dennis Meador
2nd Place: After Dinner Speaking- Melissa Armstrong
Finalist: Novice Persuasion- Alex Sherwood
Finalist: Novice Informative- Shawn Walker Mendez
Finalist: Impromptu Speaking- Bailey Prince
Silver Medals: Novice Debate- Bailey Prince and Tyler Kline
Bronze Medals: Open Debate- Ken Caradang and Mitchell Carter

The Saddleback Forensics Team started in the 1970s and prides itself on offering students the ability to create innovative arguments for future writing and speaking engagements to strengthen their critical thinking skills and to better communicate with others. On the forensics team, students write, rehearse, and perform at 6-7 tournaments against students from Universities and Community Colleges to qualify for the national tournament. The students representing Saddleback at the national tournament have placed above several competitors representing institutions throughout the year, including: Concordia University, Point Loma, California State University, Los Angeles, California State University, Long Beach, and UCLA.
 

Located in Mission Viejo, Saddleback College provides quality higher education and training to the greater south Orange County community.  Having served more than 500,000 students since 1968, Saddleback College offers over 300 degree and certificate programs to help students reach their personal, career, and educational goals.  For more information, please visit www.saddleback.edu and for Fine Arts information, please visit www.saddleback.edu/arts.

 

Saddleback College students inNext to Normal Musical

Posted By CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – The Department of Theatre Arts at  Saddleback College will presents students in the  inNext to Normal musical on December 6^th through the 15^th in the Studio Theatre.

  

L-R: Taylor Simmons, Nikki Rockett, Wade Kilbarge - Photo:  Ken Kinder

Directed by Trevor Biship, this rock musical is ultimately about how a family struggles to carve out an existence that doesn’t even come close to normal, but they are fine settling for something “next to” normal. Diana Goodman has been diagnosed as Bi-Polar depressive with delusional episodes and a 16-year history of medication. This contemporary musical is an emotional powerhouse that addresses such issues as grieving a loss, ethics in modern psychiatry, and suburban life. With provocative lyrics and a thrilling score, Next to Normal shows how far two parents will go to keep themselves sane and their family’s world intact.

Dates are December 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 at 7:30 p.m. and December 8, 15 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by calling (949) 582-4656 (noon-4:00 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday) and online atwww.saddleback.edu/arts.  Prices are $15 general; $10 students/seniors.

The Department of Theatre Arts’ program at Saddleback College produces several fully-staged shows each year.  All students are given the opportunity to audition for every production yet Theatre Arts students are given priority in the casting process.  In addition, there are numerous opportunities for students to contribute in backstage activities through the Entertainment and Theater Technology program.

Saddleback College is located at 28000 Marguerite Pkwy in Mission Viejo, just east of Interstate 5 at the Avery Parkway exit.  Free parking is available in Lot 12.  Take Avery Parkway to Marguerite Parkway turn left to the third traffic light, which is Saddleback’s Marguerite entrance. Turn right into the campus and take the third left to Theatre Circle, turning right into Lot 12.

Located in Mission Viejo, Saddleback College provides quality higher education and training to the greater south Orange County community.  Having served more than 500,000 students since 1968, Saddleback College offers over 300 degree and certificate programs to help students reach their personal, career, and educational goals.  For more information, please visit www.saddleback.edu and for Fine Arts information, please visit www.saddleback.edu/arts.  

ObamaCare: 41% More Expensive, Less Coverage

Pay 41% More and Get Less from ObamaCare

By Chriss Street

The Manhattan Institute just published an analysis of the Obamacare individual policy insurance rates demonstrating the average cost will rise by 41% next year. The results are very similar to the 2009 PriceWaterhouseCoopers analysis that predicted insurance rates would rise by 47%. The biggest hikes will hit the young people, where rates will jump by an average of 98% for men and 58% for women. Insurance rates will also increase for everyone who is healthy and for all males. Obamacare’s taxpayer-funded subsidies will primarily benefit those approaching retirement, despite substantially higher average net worth compared to the young. 

The real winners under Obamacare are huge insurance companies and HMOs whose stock prices have gone up twice as fast as the market, since Obamacare kills competition and creates monopolistic profits.

National insurance companies are exempt from federal anti-trust supervision under Obamacare; whereas manufacturing, transportation and service companies are prevented from unfair competition in the markets. According to a NY Times:
Of the roughly 2,500 counties served by the federal exchanges, more than half, or 58 percent, have plans offered by just one or two insurance carriers, according to an analysis by The Times of county-level data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. In about 530 counties, only a single insurer is participating.

Obamacare promised to set fair-pricing rates for medical providers so that insured patients would not continue to pay higher rates to subsidize Medicaid and the uninsured patients. Doctor fees are being standardized under new “fair-pricing” rules, but the Administration exempted politically powerful hospitals who will continue to charge different rates without considerations of different quality of care.

Obamacare also supposed to reduce prescription drug spending, but the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in 2009 saw the Affordable Care Act as a windfall when it add another 25 million people to Medicaid. The drug lobbying group agreed with the White House to sponsor a $150 million advertising campaign to drum up support for passing the Obamacare legislation.

Prior to Obamacare, government regulation made the United States the most expensive per person healthcare of any country on earth, while only barely ranking in the top 25% of male and female life expectancy. The CDC Health-Related Quality of Life surveillance data reveals that Americans report feeling unhealthy about six days per month. Adults with the lowest level of income or education reported more unhealthy days per month compared to adults with higher levels of income or education. The biggest factor for feeling unhealthy is that approximately one-third of all Americans report suffering from some form of mental or emotional problem every month.

The major cause of death in U.S. adults over the age of 65 was cardiovascular disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases. All other age group major causes were accidents, homicide and suicide. Seventy-five percent of America’s health expenditures are attributable to chronic diseases and two-thirds of spending over the last 25 years is attributable to the rise in chronic diseases. As the U.S. population continues to grow older, the incidence of chronic disease is expected to increase, since 60% of individuals age 65 or older will be managing more than one chronic condition.

Obesity and sleep deprivation are leading factor in the onset of most chronic conditions and are associated with higher medical costs and a lower quality of life. Approximately 72.5 million adults are obese and 25% of U.S. adults reported having insufficient sleep or rest at least half of the days per month.

Nothing in the Obamacare will improve any of these statistics. According to “The Scourge of Obamacare” by the Institute of Economic Affairs:

“The new law is fundamentally anti-competitive and anti-small business, riddled with onerous regulations and handouts to favored corporations. As usual, the relationship between big business and big government is not one of rivalry, but of symbiosis, routing genuine free markets in favor of collusion.”

Obamacare is rapidly becoming the most contentious political action since the Vietnam War, since it personally touches every American. We already knew that the software driving Obamacare was a disaster and now we know that the steep costs are also a disaster. But my biggest concern is that Obamacare is designed to provide healthy profits to giant corporations at the expense and wellbeing of most Americans.

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French Rioting to dump the Euro

By Chriss Street

French riot police fired water cannons and tear gas at 30,000 truckers, farmers, fishermen and food industry workers waving banners of “Right to Work” and hurling rocks and iron bars at police to protest a new “ecotax” on commercial trucking.  The controversial $1.4 billion tax for rail and river expansion is causing layoffs across the French trucking industry.  While Socialist government of French President François Hollande is attempting to avoid a “spiral of violence”, former French Prime Minister François Fillon shocked the media by saying that voting for the far-right National Front that wants to dump the euro common currency may now be “acceptable.”

Acceptable is a code-word for acknowledging that Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Front party that opposes immigration and euro common currency has such a strong lead in the polls and that French welfare-state politicians better get on board with the rebellious conservatives or be wiped-out in the next election.  With one in four voters supporting the National Front in France, Ms. Le Pen is forming a Tea Party type coalition with nationalists in the United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Nordic states.  With momentum now on their side, the National Front and its allies seem positioned to win control of the 766 seats European Parliament next year.

François Charles Armand Fillon is far from a hard right conservative; he was the chief architect of expanding the French welfare state over the last decade.  As Minister of Labour in 2002, he pushed through the controversial French 35-hour work week law and lowered the age of full retirement in France to 55 years old.  In 2005 as Minister of National Education he led the adoption of the first “common core” Fillon law on Education.  He was politically rewarded by French President Nicolas Sarkozy with appointment as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012.

But five years of economic crisis and rising unemployment, has caused anti-European rhetoric and calls for greater economic protectionism across France.  During this period, support for the National Front rose from less than 5% in 2008, to 17.9% in the 2012 Presidential elections, and possibly up to 30% today.  Before the last election former President Sarkozy tried to reach out to the Nation Front by calling for curbs on Muslim immigrants and protection of European industry from “unfair” Asian competition.  But the National Front rejected the overtures because Sarkozy refused to abandon the euro.

President Francois Hollande” hard-core socialist policies of attacking business and the rich have thrilled the Left.  But according to the Heritage Foundation, France’s score for Index of Economic Freedom has plunged to 64.1, the lowest of any major country in Europe.  Even before the ecotax, the socialist policies had hurt the economy and infuriated the vast majority of French with a witch’s brew of new tax increases, including:

1) Doubling one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world with a “surtax”;
2) Increase reporting of income and tax obligations subject to VAT tax;
3) Increased pension tax contribution;
4) Energy drink tax of $1.37 per can;
5) Financial transaction tax on all investments;
5) Raising assessed value of all French real estate to collect higher property taxes; and
6) Data tax on all transfers of all information outside the European Union.

The French Socialists under Hollande also increased deficit spending for “investments” to such an extent, that the country’s national debt is expected to reach a dangerous record level of 95.1% of GDP next year.  But while failing to stimulate growth and employment, Socialist massive spending violated the European Commission’s 3% deficit rule.  Consequently, France for the time in since WWII is being forced to make an “unprecedented” $20 billion in public spending cuts for 2014.  The Left is screaming that the cuts will bring “suffering to the people” and the National Front is screaming that the higher taxes are “anti-growth”.

All of this has stimulated the growth of the National Front in France and their nationalist allies from across the continent to run for 2014 European Union Parliamentary elections as common slate of candidates.  The election rules are unique, because European Parliamentary members are elected directly by the general population.  Europeans have traditionally been so apathetic about elections that in the last election in 2009, turnout was only 40%.  This low participation rate will magnify the nationalist parties who are highly motivated to end what they believe is undemocratic domination by liberal elites.

The Parliament after 2009 was given enhanced powers in nearly all areas of setting EU policy, including oversight of the EU budget and the ability to appoint the President of the EU Commission.  Consequently, the European Parliament now has equal status with the European Council, which directly represents the governments of EU members.  A nationalist takeover of Parliament in 2014 would usher in revolutionary change.  They reject most aspects of EU integration, such as the free movement of people within the bloc and the use of the euro currency.  Nationalists believe the European Union undermines member sovereignty and they are demanding restoration of states’ rights.

With the National Front and their allies on the verge of seizing control of the European Parliament and potentially naming its President, such a stunning victory over the Left would be unprecedented since the collapse of communism in the 1990s.  The member states strengthened the power of the European Parliament to win the hearts and the minds of all European voters, but what Europeans seem to want in those hearts and minds is to dump the euro and end the European Union.

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Obamacare.gov Tech Surge led by Top Obama Donor

Obamacare Tech Surge led by Top Obama Donor

By Chriss Street

In Congressional hearings on the day before Halloween, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius promised a “Tech Surge” will rescue Obamacare’s HealthCare.gov software by the end of November.  

But a review of campaign and fund raising activities by a key executive associated with general contractor for the surge,Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI), raises substantial concerns regarding the appropriateness of awarding no-bid “emergency” contract to a firm associated with over $1 million in donations to President Obama.  QSSI is no stranger to conflicts regarding Obamacare; the software caused howls of crony capitalism after they were acquired in 2012 by mammoth insurance company UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Jeffery Zients, former acting director of the Office of Management and Budget was appointed on October 25^th to oversee a team of tech experts to repair HealthCare.gov.  Mr. Zients said QSSI, a unit of United HealthGroup Inc.’s Ovum, was retained on an emergency basis to work with federal agency Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to get the website running smoothly for most consumers by the end of November.   The QSSI contract was announced one day after HealthCare.gov contractors CGI Federal, and Optum, which owns QSSI, said they were not given sufficient time to test software for log-ins, insurance eligibility and insurance plan comparisons for its Oct. 1 launch.

The principal reason why the website for Obamacare’s federally-sponsored insurance exchange is crashing is that the system is trying to capture a huge amount of personal information far exceeding the traditional need for insurance underwriting.  This creates a massive traffic bottleneck on top of the governments need to verify information and decide if an individual is eligible for subsidies.  HHS bureaucrats must have known that this volume of data would make the website run more slowly, but capturing personal information appears to have been the priority.

Anthony Welters, Executive Vice President of UnitedHealth Group, and his family have gone all out to back President Obama’s ambitions.  During the 2008 election cycle, his wife Beatrice bundled donations totaling between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama’s campaign. In 2009, the pair was among the president’s top inaugural donors, contributing $100,000, and bundling an additional $300,000 for the events.

Immediately after being sworn in, President Obama nominated Beatrice Welters to serve as the ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago.

Anthony and Beatrice Welters and their sons, Andrew and Bryant, contributed in excess of $258,000 to various Democratic candidates and committees in the last six years. That includes the maximum amount an individual can give to the Democratic National Committee of $30,800 each.

Records show that UnitedHealth Group has spent over $2.5 million in lobbying this year regarding the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2013.

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Monthly documentary screening in a series entitled Confluence at Icicle Creek announced.

Posted By CotoBlogzz

Leavcenworth, WA - In a partnership with local community leaders, Icicle Creek will be offering a monthly documentary screening in a series entitled Confluence at Icicle Creek. 

Cofluence is designed to foster critical thinking and moral deliberation on the issues of the day and each month will highlight films in varioud categories such as Nature & Environment, Outdoor Adventure, Arts & Culture, Food & Farming, Social & Economic Justice and  Health and Personal Journeys. All screenings at Snowy Owl Theater on the first Thursday of each month, starting at 7:00 pm, November 7, 2013 with the film titled, A farm for the future. A featured area non-profit and subject experts will be featured in a post-showing discussion session.

In A Farm for the Future, wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family's farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key. With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family's wildlife-friendly farm in Devon to become the next generation to farm the land.   The Featured  Guest Speaker  is the local non-profit Leavenworth Community Farmers Market’s Grant Gibbs .

The public and join in the post-film conversation with local farmer Grant Gibbs and Farmer’s Market Director, Eric Lind for a discussion about this film’s relevance to farming issues in Leavenworth and the Wenatchee valley.

Tickets - $10 General Admission

Also This Month at Icicle Creek:

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Tosca (Live in HD) - Saturday, November 9, 9:55AM & 7PM (Snowy Owl Theater)

Puccini’s enduring favorite features a jealous diva and her lover, the painter Cavaradossi, in a dramatic tale of murder, lust, and political intrigue.
Run time - 3:35


Opera for Breakfast! 
: Live in HD at Snowy Owl! Mimosas are back by popular demand! And we'll be offering a light breakfast plate during the show.

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Black Lillies - Thursday, November 14, 7PM (Snowy Owl Theater)

Tapping into the new Knoxville, Tennessee music scene, the Black Lillies bring their effusive blend of progressive bluegrass deeply rooted in the richest veins of Americana music. A little bit country, lively picking and strumming, and delicious vocals -see show.

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Icicle Creek Youth Symphony Fall Concert - Monday, November 18, 7PM (Snowy Owl Theater)

Under the direction of Dan Jackson, the young artists of the Icicle Creek Youth Symphony perform in this favorite Fall concert!

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Icicle Creek Chamber Players- Saturday, November 23, 7:30PM(Canyon Wren Recital Hall)

L. van Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, Op. 47 (“Kreutzer”) Featuring: Maria Sampen, violin and Oksana Ezhokina, piano.

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Box Office

 Call the box office Wednesday-Saturday, 12pm -5pm at (509) 548-6347 x47. 

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½ of Irvine Attorneys Duo pleaded guilty to having school parent volunteer arrested and imprisoned by planting drugs

Posted By CtoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita,  CA - Jill Bjorkholm Easter,  peaded guilty today to one felony count of false imprisonment by violence or deceit. She was sentenced to one year in jail and three years of formal probation.

Jill Easter's co-defendant and husband Kent Wycliff Easter, 40, Irvine, is charged with one felony count each of conspiracy to falsely charge a crime, false imprisonment by violence or deceit, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Opening statements in the jury trial are anticipated to begin sometime next week.

The duo, both attorneys from Irvine, were  indicted Oct. 25, 2012,  by the Orange County Grand Jury for conspiring to have an elementary school parent volunteer arrested and imprisoned by planting drugs in her car.

On June 19, 2012, the Orange County District Attorney’s office released a press release with the following information on this case:

In 2010, Jane Doe was a parent volunteer at an elementary school in Irvine, where Jill and Kent Easter’s son was a student. Jill Easter is accused of becoming angry with the victim because the defendants believed Jane Doe was not properly supervising their son.

In February 2011, Jill and Kent Easter are accused of conspiring to have victim Jane Doe arrested in retaliation.

At approximately 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 16, 2011, Kent Easter is accused of driving to the home of Jane Doe and placing a bag of Vicodin, Percocet, marijuana, and a used marijuana pipe behind the driver’s seat of her unlocked vehicle. He is accused of intentionally leaving the drugs in plain sight in a conspicuous location, where it would be easily visible from outside the vehicle. Jill and Kent Easter are accused of being in constant cell phone and text message contact as Kent Easter drove to and from the victim’s home.

At approximately 1:15 p.m. on Feb. 16, 2011, Kent Easter is accused of calling the IPD non-emergency number and giving a false name and phone number. He is accused of telling the dispatcher that he was a concerned parent who had witnessed an erratic driver park at the elementary school. He is accused of claiming to have witnessed Jane Doe, whom he identified by name, hide a bag of drugs behind her driver’s seat in her car. He is also accused of providing a description of and license plate number to Jane Doe’s vehicle. Jill and Kent Easter are accused of calling and texting each other on the cell phone immediately before and after the call to IPD was placed.

IPD officers arrived at the school parking lot and identified the vehicle described by Kent Easter. Officers immediately observed the bag of marijuana upon looking through Jane Doe’s car window. The responding police officer contacted Jane Doe on the school campus and the victim consented to a search of her vehicle. The victim adamantly told the officer that the drugs did not belong to her and she did not know how they ended up in her car.

Jane Doe was detained for approximately two hours as IPD investigated the case. It was determined that the victim was in a classroom at the time Kent Easter claimed to have seen her hide drugs in her car. Jane Doe consented to a search of her home, which showed no evidence to support drug use or possession and did not support a link to show that Jane Doe was knowingly in possession of the marijuana or prescription pills found in her vehicle.

Based on their investigation, IPD officers began investigating whether the evidence had been planted in Jane Doe’s car. Subsequent investigation by IPD led detectives to identify Kent and Jill Easter. Kent Easter is accused of making the Feb. 16, 2011, phone call to IPD from a phone in the business center of a Newport Beach hotel near where he worked. He is accused of being recorded on hotel video surveillance. 

Kent Easter has been an active member of the State Bar of California (Bar) since 1998. Jill Easter was also admitted to the Bar in 1998, but her license has since expired.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Chris Duff of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.

Democrats Desperately Seeking Election Bailout

Democrats Need an Election-Bailout 

By Chriss Street

With Congressional budget talks heating up, the left wing of the Democrat Party is already bellowing for more government economic stimulus.  .

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This demand comes despite last year’s $970 billion of deficit spending and a 27% increase in Fed money-printing producing virtually no job growth above the 1.7% rate of population growth.  But with Obamacare cost over-runs, taxes, rapidly escalating premiums and employment conversions to part-time becoming a major drag on the economy, the Democrats fear a potential rout in next year’s elections.  The Democrats are getting desperate for another $100 billion in “targeted” spending or more monetary stimulus to produce election year jobs

For the first time is history, Democrats did not advocate for higher taxes during the recent budget and debt ceiling battles, because the Republican were the first to define the issues of the debate as Obamacare and the deficit.  General voter polling indicates that support for Obamacare is somewhat negative and raising the deficit is negative at 72%+.  But “Big Data” predictive analysis is flashing that Obamacare support is in free fall and public opposition to raising the deficit is hardening.

Until recently, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius had claimed that the $100 billion initial cost of Obamacare would act as a stimulus to the American economy by claiming: “Health Care Innovation Challenge, a competitive program that will award up to $1 billion in taxpayer-funded grants to applicants who will implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care, and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP…“  She also stated, “Efforts like these to improve the health of communities and reduce cost while sparking the economy are a priority of the Obama administration.”  But with the disastrous administrative start-up and low sign-up rate, Obamacare’s $100 billion estimated budget cost ready to double to over $200 billion.

With Obamacare stimulus failing, Democrats will increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to stimulate the money supply.  But the Fed has shown no capability to create jobs, because it cannot stimulate investment in new plant and equipment, which drives the economy and gives workers the growing incomes to increase their consumption.  The Fed’s efforts have been very successful at inflating new asset bubbles, with housing prices up another 13.5% and the stock market up 26% this year.  Demanding the Fed blow even bigger bubbles runs the risk that those bubbles eventually pop and is preventing the banks from focusing on lending that creates jobs.

The Federal Reserve’s prints money to investment in bonds.  The Fed’s investment portfolio averaged about $700 billion for the ten years leading up to 2007.  When the financial crisis hit in 2008, the Fed immediately began buying bonds to increase cash in the hands of the public and prevent any panic.  This type of intervention was not unusual and had happened over 20 times since the Fed was founded just over 100 years ago.  But what is not “business as usual” is that the Fed is continuing its crisis purchases and now holds over $3.5 trillion of bonds.

Banks historically paid interest to recruit deposits from senior citizens living on the income from their savings, and then lent money to businesses at higher rates to make profit spread.  But between 2009 and 2010, the Fed made $9 trillion in overnight loans directly to the major banks and brokers at a rate of 0.1%.  The Fed’s cheap money drove down the interest rates paid to bank depositors.  Seniors’ income collapsed and many were forced to spend their savings to survive.  As seniors’ consumption shrank, businesses curtailed new invest and employment stagnated.

Despite an average of almost $1 trillion in annual deficit spending and the Fed’s massive money-printing, over the last two years employment has been treading water by growing at the same 1.7% rate as the annual population growth.  But failing to grow jobs faster than new entrants join the labor force, has caused the duration period of unemployment in America to leap from an average of 10-20 weeks from 1980 to 2009, to 35-40 weeks over the last two years.

Just five years after being bailed out by the American taxpayers, the U.S. banking system is generating record profits thanks to the Fed’s generosity.  All the legislation Congress passed to supposedly reduce bank risk taking has had the perverse effect by reducing lending and expanding leveraged derivative speculation.  No one is exactly sure how much risk banks are taking in derivatives; but the world’s economy is only $72 trillion and the outstanding derivatives have been leveraged up to $700 trillion.

Powered by the Fed’s cheap money, JP Morgan’s trading and investment banking activities now generate more than forty per cent of the firm’s net profits.  After JP Morgan reported a jaw-dropping annual profit of $24.4 billion in July, the bank began a national layoff of thousands of lending officers in August.  The size of U.S. banks was once a competitive edge to spur American investment and sustain job growth.  But the Federal Reserve’s continuing money printing has caused banks to restrict lending and focus on trading activities.  By inflating asset bubbles with cheap money the Fed’s actions have been great for a few investors and bankers, but the Fed cheap money policies actually continue to hurt American job growth.

As the budget talks begin to dominate the political news for the next couple months, the left will scream that somehow government “austerity” is holding back the economy and employment.  But with big cost over-runs from Obamacare hammering the budget deficit and the Fed monetary expansion hurting employment, the Democrats better start screaming even louder for their own election bail-out.

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Condo owner's heirs caught off guard by foreclosure

A trust might have eliminated confusion and helped heirs stay on top of payments to avoid foreclosure.

c)2001-2013  D.VANITZIAN. All rights reserved. The Associations and Common Interest Living articles and columns may not be reprinted or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of the copyright holders. The authors take no position regarding any documents or accompaniments that may be enclosed with, attached to, or alongside said article reprints or distribution.  Los Angeles Times, Real Estate Section, "Associations," October 27, 2013 Condo owner's heirs caught off guard by foreclosure by Donie Vanitzian, Special to The Times

By Donie Vanitzian

October 27, 2013, 5:00 a.m.

QUESTION: Last year a reclusive relative, who owned and lived in a condominium, died. Still grieving over his death, the family tried to get organized in dealing with his belongings and the life he left behind. It was overwhelming, but his mortgage was paid off decades ago so our family assumed we didn't have to worry about the condominium because the bank couldn't take it. We learned too late, the reason he wasn't receiving any mail was someone with an illegible signature had put in a forwarding order sending his mail into the ether.

The homeowner association foreclosed on the condo. It proved it had the right to do so. We have another family member on a fixed income who lives in a townhome and we want to prevent this from happening to them. What should we do?

ANSWER: Homeowner associations are a serious business, and their power and authority should not be underestimated. Whether your common-interest development is comprised of single-family homes, townhomes, condominium units or co-operatives, owners whose properties are in such developments might have a little more asset protection if those properties are mortgaged. In the event of an imminent foreclosure, the association would have to serve notice to the titleholder, mortgagee and all lien holders. In a common-interest development, "free and clear" property, which is a property that is mortgage-free and lien-free, could be vulnerable to a variety of mechanisms or machinations available to a homeowner association board of directors that could subject that owner's assets to great risk.

Business and Professions Code section 11018.1(c) explains that "your ownership in this development and your rights and remedies as a member of its association will be controlled by governing instruments [and] the provisions of these documents are intended to be, and in most cases are, enforceable in a court of law.... In order to provide funds for operation and maintenance of the common facilities, the association will levy assessments against your lot or unit. If you are delinquent in the payment of assessments, the association may enforce payment through court proceedings or your lot or unit may be liened and sold through the exercise of a power of sale."

Under Civil Code section 1367.4(c), the association seeking to collect delinquent regular or special assessments of $1,800 or more may use judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure as its remedy. (The $1,800 in delinquent assessments can't include any accelerated assessments, late charges, fees and costs of collection, attorney's fees, interest or any assessments that are more than 12 months delinquent.) Civil Code section 1367.4(c)(1) to (4) sets forth guidelines that boards must follow to foreclose.

Pursuant to Civil Code section 1367.4(c)(3), if the board votes to foreclose on an owner's property interest, it shall provide notice by personal service in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure section 415.10 to the owner of a separate interest or to the owner's legal representative. The board shall provide written notice to the titleholder who does not occupy the property by first-class mail, postage prepaid, at the most current address shown on the association's books. In the absence of written notification by the owner to the association, the address of the titleholder's property in that common-interest development may be treated as the owner's mailing address.

If someone owns assets worth $150,000 or more in his or her name alone, the estate will go into probate. The probate process ensures all creditors are notified of the death, all debts are resolved in a timely way and the estate is distributed to the beneficiaries named in the will or in accordance with the laws covering asset distribution when someone dies without a will. Establishing a trust and funding title to real property into the trust would avoid probate and could assist with the orderly payment of debts and distribution of assets in accordance with the trustor's wishes.

A good way to protect an estate from probate is to have a comprehensive estate plan in place that would include such documents as a revocable trust, a will and property powers of attorney. In all these documents, you name the individuals or institutions who are to manage your assets for you if you cannot do so because of incapacity or death.

In every trust, there are three important roles:

•The trustor. Also known as the settlor or grantor, this is the person who sets up the trust and funds assets into the trust.

•The trustees, or managers of the assets in the trust. The trustor is generally the primary trustee of a revocable trust and names other individuals or institutions to manage the assets if the primary trustee is incapacitated or dies.

•The beneficiaries. The trustor is generally the primary beneficiary of a revocable trust, but has named who is to receive the assets of the trust after the trustor's death.

As trustor of your own trust, you should set forth all of your assets and any ongoing debt associated with those assets, such as recurring payments for homeowner association dues, insurance, taxes and special assessments, on a separate document referenced in your trust. That way, your successor trustees would easily know what assets and liabilities you have and would know what to look for before it is too late.

Whether an estate goes through probate or is structured to avoid probate, there are many important steps that must be taken to wind up a decedent's affairs. When there is a death in the family, make sure you seek timely legal advice to avoid assets being foreclosed upon or otherwise lost.

This column was co-written by Joel J. Loquvam, an attorney who specializes in estate planning, probate and trust administration. Vanitzian is an arbitrator and mediator. Send questions to Donie Vanitzian JD, P.O. Box 10490, Marina del Rey, CA 90295 ornoexit@mindspring.com.

Stop Yellen’s Appointment, Stop Cronyism: Rand Paul

 Rand Paul’s Goal in Holding up Janet Yellen’s Appointment

Senator Rand Paul woke up the Washington political scene on October 25^th by leaking a story that he intends to place a “Senatorial hold” on the upcoming Presidential nomination of Janet Yellen to be the next Chairperson of the U.S. Federal Reserve; unless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid allows his “Audit the Fed” bill to go to a Senate floor vote.    

 By Chriss Street

Since its 1913 founding, the U.S. Federal Reserve has been allowed to operate in such relative secrecy it has been described as “like a hall of mirrors and the Fed is that big one at the end that makes everything else look like its upside-down.”  Rand Paul’s goal is to unite conservative Tea Partiers, Liberal Progressive and Millennials in a grand coalition to restrain the crony capitalism between Washington DC lobbyists and Wall Street money interests.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act’s one-time mandated audit of emergency lending activities during 2008 Financial Crisis is the only published glimpse into the secretive financial dealings of Fed.  The audit divulged that the Fed had directly loaned over $16 trillion to selected banks and corporations.  Few doubt the importance of the Fed providing temporary liquidity to stabilize markets after the huge investment firm of Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy on September 15, 2008.  But for the last five years the Fed has continued to use its money printing capability to dramatically subsidize bank big profitability with artificially low interest rates; causing small banks to shrivel and seniors who rely on the income from savings deposits to suffer badly.

Current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has vigorously opposed annual audits of the Fed by claiming that any transparency might hamper the Fed’s ability to quickly and creatively spur an economy that is teetering on recession.  But many Left, Right and Libertarian economists believe the Fed’s discretionary actions only serve the interests of the powerful and are often counter-productive to small business and American workers.

Five years after the banks were bailed out by the American taxpayers; the U.S. banking system is generating record profits thanks to $3.6 trillion of the Fed’s generosity.  But despite the Fed money printing, over the last two years employment has been treading water by growing at the same 1.7% rate as the annual population growth.  Failing to grow jobs faster than new entrants join the labor force also caused the duration period of unemployment to rise from 10-20 weeks from 1980 to 2009, to 35-40 weeks recently.

The Fed also allowed a substantial increase in risk taking by financing bank’s dominate position in leveraged derivative speculation.  Powered by the Fed’s cheap money, trading and investment banking activities generated more than forty per cent of JPMorgan annual profit of $24.4 billion reported in July.  Without a Fed audit, no outsider can be exactly sure how much risk American banks are taking with derivatives.  But with the world’s annual economy of only $72 trillion and the outstanding derivatives having grown rapidly to $700 trillion; the leverage must be enormous.

Since the Federal Reserve System is officially owned by its member banks and its Board and Chairman are appointed by the Senate, the Fed supposedly acts as an “independent entity within government.”  However, the Federal Reserve’s activities have almost never been subject to any oversight by Congress.  Consequently, the Federal Reserve seems to be “independent of government.”

Perhaps the real reason Congress has taken a hands-off approach is the Fed is highly profitable and under Federal Reserve Act Section 7(b), a big cut of that profit is paid each year as a dividend to the federal government.  Although under law the Fed’s dividend is supposed to “supplement the gold reserve held against outstanding United States notes” and pay down the “outstanding bonded indebtedness of the United States”, Congress has been spending the Fed’s $80 billion dividend for many years.

Rand Paul under the Standing Rules of the United States Senate has the right to prevent a motion for the nomination of Janet Yellen from reaching a vote on the Senate floor.  Majority Leader Harry Reid has used the same Senate rules to prevent a vote on Paul’s “Audit the Fed” bill, introduced with 25 bipartisan sponsors in February 2013.

Over 70% of the American public has favored Auditing the Fed for years, but it was Rand Paul’s octogenarian father, Congressman Ron Paul, that became a rock star on college campuses championing a millennials’ revolt to force the audit and eventual abolishment of the Federal Reserve for debasing the dollar and crony capitalism.

By forcing Harry Reid and his Senate allies who secretly oppose “Audit the Fed” to go on record with a very unpopular roll call vote, Senator Paul is demonstrating his principled leadership and the building a powerful new coalition of American voters.

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