The Bad News Report

[tozmervo]

8 hours ago, XRZ.ME said:

ironically, lack of public transportation in the states will have a small advantage to delay virus spreading compared with Europe and eastern Asia.

literally read this while sitting on my CATS express bus.

[kermit]

8 hours ago, XRZ.ME said:

ironically, lack of public transportation in the states will have a small advantage to delay virus spreading compared with Europe and eastern Asia.

While I don't entirely disagree, I feel a need to point out that Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore appear to be doing a great job keeping infections in check despite a high reliance on public transportation.  Based on maps of diagnosed cases it looks to me like effective public health strategies play a much bigger role in infection rates than population density.

#NotanExpert 

Edited March 12, 2020 by kermit

[SentioVenia]

[urbanlover568]

1 hour ago, CaptainJilliams said:

I think people are over hyping the mortality rate when the sample size is still relatively small.  There are thousands of cases that are so mild in nature they don't get counted. I think it's already been reported that 80% of cases are classified as "mild", meaning the person can typically stay home and recover with no outside medical assistance. 

 

I'm not putting a whole lot of stock into the United State's mortality rate until more cases come up. Global rate is hovering around 3.6%, which again is high relative to the flu, but again, more people get he flu thus the death numbers are higher, despite the mortality rate being lower.

 

We absolutely need to take this seriously, but we do not need to panic.

I'm trusting the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci over your assessment. I rely on experts.

[CTiger]

Two cases of Coronavirus confirmed in Mecklenburg county per the observer.  If it hasn't effected your life yet, it probably will soon.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article240884821.html

[Matthew.Brendan]

Another big U.S. bank is being accused of opening fake accounts

As Wells Fargo struggles to recover from its admission three years ago that it had opened millions of accounts that customers didn’t want, another big U.S. bank is fighting charges from regulators that it was involved in similar conduct.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing Fifth Third for opening accounts, including credit cards, that its customers didn’t know about or request. Fifth Third employees sometimes moved money from authorized accounts to unauthorized ones and then closed the fake account once they received credit for reaching their sales goals, according to the civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court of Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.

Customers saddled with unauthorized accounts were also charged unfair fees, according to the CFPB. “In short, Fifth Third focused on its own financial interests to the detriment of consumers,” according to the complaint.

Fifth Third is a large regional bank based in Ohio with more than 1,000 branches nationwide and more than $150 billion in assets.

The bank is fighting the CFPB’s lawsuit by arguing it detected the problem years ago and already addressed it. In a statement, the bank said the CFPB’s lawsuit is “unnecessary and unwarranted.”

“The Bank will defend itself vigorously and is confident in the outcome,” Susan Zaunbrecher, chief legal officer of Fifth Third Bank, said in a statement.

While Wells Fargo employees opened more than 3 million fake accounts, the situation with Fifth Third appears to be far smaller.

Fifth Third employees opened about 1,100 unauthorized accounts, a small portion of the 10 million accounts the bank has managed, and there were about $30,000 in “improper customer charges,” which have been reimbursed, the bank said.

Between 2010 and 2016, 96 bank employees were fired or resigned in connection with the conduct, Fifth Third said. The bank said it also received about 424 complaints from customers.

“While even a single unauthorized account is one too many, we took appropriate and decisive action to address each situation,” Zaunbrecher said.

Wells Fargo, a much larger bank with nearly $2 trillion in assets, has paid billions in fines after acknowledging that its aggressive sales practices had led employees to open fake accounts. Charles Scharf, its new chief executive, testified before a House committee Tuesday that the bank had been mismanaged and is now being turned around.

While not directly naming Wells Fargo, Fifth Third sought to distance itself from the scandal that has haunted Wells Fargo for three years, noting there were far few accounts involved and the bank had already addressed the misconduct.

Fifth Third identified the misconduct on its own and reimbursed consumers before the CFPB began its investigation in 2016, according to a person familiar with the bank’s thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly. The bank turned over thousands of documents as part of the investigation but the CFPB didn’t identify any fake accounts that the bank hadn’t already addressed, the person said.

The Consumer Bankers Association, a large lobbying group, also jumped to Fifth Third’s defense, saying the matter should have been resolved with regulators privately and there was no evidence of systemic misconduct. “Fifth Third acted to put safeguards in place to prevent the type of behavior,” Richard Hunt, the group’s president, said in a statement.

But according to the CFPB’s complaint, the bank knew by at least 2008 that employees were opening unauthorized accounts but didn’t take steps to ensure the conduct stopped. Fifth Third “set goals that thousands of its employees could not achieve; threatened employees with termination or other disciplinary action if they failed to meet their goals; established a system under which managers pressured subordinate employees to sell,” according to the complaint.

Fifth Third said it didn’t have aggressive sales quotas and “clawed back” incentives if an account was opened but not used. “We do not reward employees for opening unauthorized accounts, and we do not use the controversial compensation practices that have been employed by other financial institutions,” the bank said in a statement.

[kermit]

Is it time to start talking about which of the proposed (and underway) projects are the first to get killed off?  It sure does look like there will be a ton of retrenchment in commercial real estate finance.

I'll start:

• River District is my best guess for a fatal blow. It always seemed hugely expensive, but with limited upside, even in the best of markets. 
• Gateway district. Given the timing of the project I would guess this would be the first thing a developer would cut

#NotanExpert

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by kermit

[Windsurfer]

17 minutes ago, kermit said:

Is it time to start talking about which of the proposed (and underway) projects are the first to get killed off?  It sure does look like there will be a ton of retrenchment in commercial real estate finance.

 

I just hope we won't be looking at unfinished projects for the next 10 years.

[TCLT]

57 minutes ago, Windsurfer said:

I just hope we won't be looking at unfinished projects for the next 10 years.

We would've anyway with Levine's garage even if the economy kept booming...

[urbanlover568]

Layoffs have begun. Really catastrophic situation unfolding.  

[atlrvr]

Layoffs happen all the time.  Lots of Charlotte area layoffs last year for a variety of reasons even though net job additions were the highest ever.

Anything more to share regarding these layoffs you are referring to, and how they might be the result of a sudden change in business planning in the last few weeks?

[urbanlover568]

3 minutes ago, atlrvr said:

Layoffs happen all the time.  Lots of Charlotte area layoffs last year for a variety of reasons even though net job additions were the highest ever.

Anything more to share regarding these layoffs you are referring to, and how they might be the result of a sudden change in business planning in the last few weeks?

They were a result of the virus. Can't disclose further.

[U_R_]

3 hours ago, atlrvr said:

Layoffs happen all the time.  Lots of Charlotte area layoffs last year for a variety of reasons even though net job additions were the highest ever.

Anything more to share regarding these layoffs you are referring to, and how they might be the result of a sudden change in business planning in the last few weeks?

My thoughts go out to all of the people/families that could potentially be affected. I have a feeling that layoffs will begin in ATL especially since quite a bit of companies have been affected heavily (Delta, IHG, etc.).

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

6 hours ago, urbanlover568 said:

They were a result of the virus. Can't disclose further.

I know of massive layoffs at Cisco coming up (not in Charlotte) which were due to lost contracts due to coronavirus...

[TheOneRJ]

The dramatics, I love it. Keep going. 

[kickazzz2000]

12 hours ago, TheOneRJ said:

The dramatics, I love it. Keep going. 

Still laughing? 

[CaptainJilliams]

On 3/12/2020 at 10:13 AM, urbanlover568 said:

I'm trusting the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci over your assessment. I rely on experts.

Just my opinion, I have no problem with that.

[15895]

19 hours ago, TheOneRJ said:

The dramatics, I love it. Keep going. 

um.

I don’t think my job is in danger, but you do realize people are actually losing their jobs? That’s not fake news, that’s real. 

there’s nothing funny about losing your job. That’s people’s livelihood... 

[Blue_Devil]

On 3/12/2020 at 7:03 PM, urbanlover568 said:

They were a result of the virus. Can't disclose further.

Lol dude, at this point you are just inspiring panic. Unnamed layoffs, projects are going to shut down, just so much negativity. Stuff like this is the reason there is no toilet paper within a 100 mile radius of Charlotte right now.

[urbanlover568]

1 hour ago, Blue_Devil said:

Lol dude, at this point you are just inspiring panic. Unnamed layoffs, projects are going to shut down, just so much negativity. Stuff like this is the reason there is no toilet paper within a 100 mile radius of Charlotte right now.

This is reality. These layoffs were real. If you don't want to accept it, then that's on you.

[Blue_Devil]

17 minutes ago, urbanlover568 said:

This is reality. These layoffs were real. If you don't want to accept it, then that's on you.

Yah, except you can’t show the layoffs other than saying they are happening. They might be happening, but you have no proof. So instead, rather then having things naturally take their course, you are coming on line and saying LAYOFFS! For all we know it is 10 layoffs in the restaurant industry.

What you are doing creates panic.

[urbanlover568]

48 minutes ago, Blue_Devil said:

Yah, except you can’t show the layoffs other than saying they are happening. They might be happening, but you have no proof. So instead, rather then having things naturally take their course, you are coming on line and saying LAYOFFS! For all we know it is 10 layoffs in the restaurant industry.

What you are doing creates panic.

Bless your heart. I got it from the manager that conducted the layoffs. But you believe what you want to believe.

[11 HouseBZ]

47 minutes ago, urbanlover568 said:

Bless your heart. I got it from the manager that conducted the layoffs. But you believe what you want to believe.

Southern cursing at its finest. This just got real. 

Jokes aside, the effects on people's lives are real. Is there a bit of hysteria making it worst? I think so. I think it's testing everybody's nerves trying to find the balance between a bandaid and World War Z. Let's all just wash our hands and have a beer.

And yes, my month of no beer ended yesterday after getting home from the grocery store. Our normal weekly trip turned into a nightmare of battling soccer moms for strawberries (lady, do you really need 5 boxes?).

[urbanlover568]

41 minutes ago, 11 HouseBZ said:

Southern cursing at its finest. This just got real. 

Jokes aside, the effects on people's lives are real. Is there a bit of hysteria making it worst? I think so. I think it's testing everybody's nerves trying to find the balance between a bandaid and World War Z. Let's all just wash our hands and have a beer.

And yes, my month of no beer ended yesterday after getting home from the grocery store. Our normal weekly trip turned into a nightmare of battling soccer moms for strawberries (lady, do you really need 5 boxes?).

Haha! Yea, agreed we will all make it though this. Just feel bad for those loosing work and are unable to feed their families through no fault of their own. Best we can do is stay positive and follow proper hygiene and be prepared financially just in case! I am hording toilet paper though. Those are as valuable as gold now!

[15895]

18 minutes ago, urbanlover568 said:

Haha! Yea, agreed we will all make it though this. Just feel bad for those loosing work and are unable to feed their families through no fault of their own. Best we can do is stay positive and follow proper hygiene and be prepared financially just in case! I am hording toilet paper though. Those are as valuable as gold now!

Bingo! Totally agree. 

Edited March 14, 2020 by AirNostrumMAD