He is survived by three children, eight unruly grandchildren, a gaggle of brothers and sisters, and one love of his life.  He will be missed.

The two iron banks I bought: "Mammy" and "Uncle Mose"

I went to the Suwannee County Christmas on the Square event yesterday, and among the locally made Christmas gifts, knick-knacks, furniture, luxury sheets (two competing booths, by the way) there was a covered tent selling antiques.

Among the rusted horseshoes and dented wind vanes I spotted a set of old rusted banks, each weighing a few pounds and standing a little over 10 inches tall. One was shaped like the iconic “Mammy” or “Aunt Jemima” figure, the other like an “Uncle Mose” figure.

When I asked the seller where he got these and what they were, he answered “They’re banks. And I pick them up wherever, mostly in the South or on eBay, people don’t really know how much they’re worth.”

This really got me thinking: how much are these worth, and to whom? Who originally made these, and who was the intended purchaser? And what does it mean for me to now own them? If I put these out on my kitchen counter, what would people say? According to this article on identifying real versus fake “Mammy” banks, I’m fairly confident this is not a recent reproduction – but I do not know how old it is. Could be from the 1980s, could be from the 1880s, I’m really not sure. I might check out the book  “Mammy and Uncle Mose: Black Collectibles and American Stereotyping”, and I read this academic article on “Stereotypes of History: Reconstructing Truth and the Black Mammy”.

That’s the purpose of this post: to see what people would say, what you would say these objects mean now, and what they meant when they were produced? I found some initial responses on the Straight Dope message board, but I’m curious what our readers think.

This map shows different foreclosure rates across the state.  Note that the numbers show conditions and density of owner-occupied subprime mortgage loans only, which is why the ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) propensity is so high, and the loans per 1000 seem so low (although, to think that over 1 in 4 homes in florida are “non-prime” is a scary proposition).  Other stats that may require some explanation…

Median combined LTV- “LTV” is loan to value percentage; if you have a 10% down payment, for instance, the LTV is 90.  At the peak of the crisis, with everyone beleiving that housing prices would go up forever, some LTVs went over 100.  The median has settled back down, but I’m guessing the deviation is pretty high.

Share low FICO and high LTV- A high LTV is anything over 90, and a low FICO denotes someone with a poor credit risk.  This is the best measure of people who get loans they can’t afford with insufficient credit and income.  They are the riskiest of the risky.

Share ARMs resetting in 12 mos.- The danger number, this is when people with ARMs can encounter their massive balloon payments and higher rates.

Something that shouldn’t surprise readers (much less the writers) of this blog, note that the panhandle is decidedly duller red than the rest of Florida, at least in terms of Foreclosure rates, where Florida ranks #1 in the country (as of March 1, 2009) at 7.5/1000, more than doubling #2-California at 3.6/1000.  However, the most foreclosed county in the Panhandle, Santa Rosa, hovers just at the California mark (remember, these comparisons might be different if all loans, not just nonprime, were considered).

But, everything in the Panhandle isn’t good news.

Something Remains Amiss

On this map, where Green=improvement, yellow=same, and red=getting worse in the past six months in the foreclosure market, things don’t look too good for Florida.  In the Panhandle, only Bay, Calhoun, Taylor, and Gilchrist Counties have seen foreclosures go down in the past six months.  The numbers in general for the state don’t look too good either.  As foreclosures increase, it will drag down the construction starts, an important industry in the panhandle as carpetbaggers and scalawags try to escape the snow.

The New York Times reported a new dip in housing starts and permits granted, important leading factors of the health of the construction industry.

There is one bright spot, the “Share of ARMS resetting in 12 mos” has considerably decreased, which limits some of the upward pressure on foreclosure rates since fewer people are staring down balloon payments, etc.

Hopefully, some of the longer term structural changes, and people getting smarter about mortgages, means that when these ARM resets finally slow down after late summer, recovery won’t be far behind.

TI and JT

I was listening to the new chart-topping song “Dead and Gone” by rapper T.I. and pop-star Justin Timberlake, and noticed an odd omission. Near the end of the song, there is a set of verses with each line beginning with one of the cardinal directions – but not all of them:

“I turn my head to the east… I don’t see nobody by my side

I turn my head to the west… still nobody in sight

So I turn my head to the north, swallow that pill that they call pride

The old me is dead and gone, but the new me will be alright”

Leaving out the South is especially surprising since T.I. is from Atlanta, Georgia and Justin Timberlake is from Tennessee near Memphis. To add to the mystery, T.I. is the self-proclaimed “King of the South.”

One theory to explain this discrepancy comes from the BBC radio blog:

“The handy thing with this song, though, is that half way through Justin clarifies his geographical position (metaphorical or otherwise) by, according to the lyrics, turning his head every direction except South. So hopefully, that’s where he is . . .”

I’m not convinced that this explains the cold-shoulder to the South, but it is at least an ego-soothing explanation. You can listen to the song here:
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Dead_And_Gone/21198567

A Wall Street Journal article breaks down an earlier version of the stimulus bill to see how each state fares – and Florida was not at the top. But, on an unusual note, Alabama and Georgia are both doing better for per-capita spending compared to New York and Massachusettes.

WSJ Stimulus Map

In a recent article by Panama City’s local news station WMBB 13 (which our very own Lawrence Bowdish claimed in a previous post stands for “World’s Most Beautiful Beaches”), Congressman Allen Boyd (D-North Florida) was interviewing about the stimulus package. The article notes that the “final stimulus package is expected to create or save approximately 8,300 jobs in the 2nd District of Florida alone and over 200,000 jobs throughout the state of Florida.”

In a slightly more negative slant, an article in The Daily Beast offered an analysis of the then-in-formation Stimulus Package and concludes that “The vote about the stimulus package was not about economics. It was about nullification. It was the bipartisan Confederacy sending a message to the rest of America, stricken by the greatest crisis since the Depression. That message? DROP DEAD.”

A recent Gainseville Sun article, Florida Governor Charlie Crist weighed in on how the stimulus package could benefit Florida, emphasizing how it could help “balance the state’s budget, build highways and bridges, expand mass transit and modernize schools.”

And if you’re looking to buy a home in the Florida Panhandle (or, God bless you, already own a home there), there’s a site for you: Florida Panhandle Mortgage Blog. In a recent post, the authors discussed how the bill affects North Florida, specifically USDA rural homes.

Actual (if less than factual) Postcard from Friend

They interview someone called a “town evangelist” from a tourist town near Panama City (a “town” that I had never heard of) called Alys Beach *note, the webpage breaks the first cardinal rule of webpages–playing music is the default setting of the homepage*

One of the many slides of Alys Beach. Trust me, our tourists are not this young and sober simultaneously

It got me thinking about how traveling to the Panhandle can (or can’t) be “green.”

Pro- A sizeable chunk of condos, etc. in the Panhandle, especially in places like Panama City and Destin are less than a decade old.  While they don’t have solar panels or wind turbines; most are designed better than their 40 year old brethren insofar as climate control is concerned.

Con- Too many of the builders of these condos have short memories.  Every hurricane that comes through the Panhandle is always a surprise (except for locals, who will be sure to compare how weak the current hurricane is to Opal, or some other even farther back storm).  Therefore, these buildings are not ready for hurricanes.  A new condo on the St. Andrews Marina is a perfect example of this.  A tropical storm two seasons ago tore away about 2/3 of the aluminum siding.  At least it happened before the salt spray pitted that siding beyond recognition.  It’s hard to build green when you’re re-building everytime the wind blows.  Perhaps the only positive externalities of Andrew and Katrina are improving building practices in places with hurricane weather

Con- Traveling to the panhandle is not gas-friendly.  Flying there is not rational (even Alys Beach’s website advertises the new location of the PC Airport, 18 months before it opens), so people have to drive.  Most newer jets get over 50 mpg per passenger.  Families can improve this rate by driving, but couples cannot.  And, once you’re in the panhandle, you are driving everywhere.  No mass transit to speak of, and the sprawling nature of most cities means you can’t do much on your vacation without a car.

I tried to think of another pro…but couldn’t.  Any additional thoughts?

Human Evolution

It is generally believed that mammals use 80-90% of the food they eat in maintaining their body temperature.  This is indeed a costly adaptation, but one which makes us (and birds) always ready to get our bodies moving when danger, or mates, or food comes around.  However, I thought to myself, what effect must air conditioning have on mammals?  Or, more importantly, could the greater prevalence of air conditioning in the South, be making Southerners especially fat?

Well, a little digging on the internet shows that I’m not the first first person to think of this.  Researchers at the University of Alabama Birmingham have considered the same possibility.  They do not offer much in the way of evidence, beyond the suggestive comment that the South has seen both the highest rise in air-conditioned homes and also in obesity rates.  But given how much of our energy is expended in maintaining our temperature, it seems likely that the temperateness of Southern homes and buildings must be playing some part in their not burning as much fat.

Interestingly, they also suggest another alternative factor which may be influencing Southerners’ obesity: the decrease in smoking rates (because people coming off of smoking often want to compensate for the loss of stimulation by eating food).  With higher rates of smoking in the South, it wouldn’t be surprising if a greater number of people coming off of smoking would find comfort in food.  This would probably still hold, even though rates of smoking have decreased less in the South than elsewhere; because of the much greater number of total smokers living in the South.