Tuesday Links Strike Oil

Rich Get Richer by Lending to the Poor – BusinessWeek

Jones — described here as a bald man with a beard and a big belly hanging over his frayed jeans — is just one outlandish character in a vast cast Rivlin introduces in this queasy journey through what he calls “Poverty Inc.,” the business of making money off Americans who scrape by on jobs that pay $30,000 or less a year.

Miami’s Downtown Comes Alive as Condos Fill With Young Renters – Bloomberg

He lives in Downtown, a neighborhood where young people are renting condos built during the 2004 to 2008 boom to attract second-home buyers. Thanks to the housing crash, Klein and two roommates pay about $900 a month each for a wraparound balcony, water views and access to a gym, spa and steam room.

“Five years ago you wouldn’t have kids fresh out of college living in luxury like this,” said Klein, sitting in front of the 24-hour concierge in the three-story lobby of his building at 50 Biscayne Boulevard, coordinating happy-hour plans by text message. His friends are concentrated in nearby Met I, which has 447 luxury units and a steakhouse on the first floor.

Offshore Oil Strike for All the Family - BLDGBLOG

But the one game that seems particularly delirious, a kind of sad joke now, or unfortunate coincidence, is Offshore Oil Strike, “Designed and Manufactured by Printbox (Scotland) Limited in collaboration with The British Petroleum Company Limited.” Offshore Oil Strike, brought to you by BP.

Obama Advisers Says Stimulus Saved or Created Three Million Jobs – WSJ

Really?

ML-Implode May Be Forced Into Bankruptcy From BS Lawsuit

This is pretty sad. ML-Implode has been one of the pioneers of Real Estate Blogs trying to expose the truths and frauds of the housing bubble.

Dramatic and Far-Reaching – Michael Panzner (On Social Mood)

A new study from the Pew Research Center, based on an opinion survey in May of nearly 3,000 Americans and an exhaustive evaluation of economic data, provides a preview. Not surprisingly, it confirms that Americans have become more frugal; 71 percent say they’re buying less expensive brands, 57 percent say they’ve trimmed or eliminated vacations. Life plans have changed; 11 percent say they’ve postponed marriage or children, while 9 percent have moved in with parents.

Credit scores sink to new lows – LA Times

About 25.5% of consumers — or 43.4 million people — had credit scores below 600 in April, according to FICO Inc. Historically, only about 15% of consumers — or 25.5 million — have had scores below that level, FICO said.

Fighting Unemployment With a Stick – WSJ

“Our main findings are that reemployment bonuses don’t seem to have worked, while benefit sanctions increased the job finding rate significantly,” the economists write.

California plan to stem foreclosures has critics – SacBee

A $700 million state plan to prevent 40,000 California foreclosures came under fire Tuesday from activists who called it another bailout for the nation’s largest banks.

Santa Clara County’s high-end houses hit in foreclosure crisis – Contra Costa Times

Those upper-end houses accounted for nearly 6 percent of the notices of default — signifying the owner is three months or more behind on payments — sent out by lenders to Santa Clara County homeowners so far this year. In San Mateo County, about 4 percent of the million-dollar-plus houses received notices of default this year.

Infinity pool 55 STOREYS above ground opens in Singapore – The Daily Mail

If you fancy a dip in this pool, you’ll need a head for heights – it’s 55 storeys up.