The Lack Of Capital To Absorb A Big Loss
A report from Mortgage News Daily. “The Wall Street Journal reports that the Republican tax plan could trigger a roughly $14 billion accounting loss at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, leading to the first taxpayer-funded infusion since they became profitable firms in 2012. ‘At issue is an accounting change tied to lower corporate tax rates in the legislation, which requires the companies to recognize losses on around $45 billion in tax-deferred assets they hold. The decline in the tax rate to 21% from 35% will require the companies to write down the value of those assets, resulting in losses to the companies. Since they have little capital and must sweep their profits to the Treasury, they will likely need a new, one-time infusion from government coffers.’”
“Analysts estimate Fannie could require about $10 billion from Treasury and Freddie $4 billion. It is also possible Freddie, the smaller of the two companies, will have enough cash on hand to meet the added liability without a cash infusion. Company officials have said such a Treasury infusion wouldn’t reflect the quality of their business, but rather the lack of capital to absorb a big loss.”
From National Mortgage Professional. “Mortgage lenders are forecasting a negative profit margin outlook for the next three months, according to Fannie Mae’s Fourth Quarter Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey. On net, more lenders reported declining demand over the prior three months, continuing the trend that started in the first quarter of this year. For the next three months, the net share of lenders expecting growth in demand for refinance mortgages dropped from the third quarter across all loan types, which Fannie Mae dubbed the worst outlook in a year.”
“Furthermore, Fannie Mae stated that the net share of lenders reporting easing of credit standards over the prior three months has continued its upward trend since the fourth quarter of last year, reaching new survey highs for the second consecutive quarter. ‘Key trends have persisted throughout this year,’ said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. ‘Lenders who see declining profits outweighed those noting improvements in the bottom line for the fifth consecutive quarter. Three-fourths of those seeing deteriorating profits cite competition as the most important reason—a survey high—compared with only about one-third two years ago. This is not surprising given that refinance volume continues to shrink.’”
The Hartford Courant. “A Boston-based community development lender focused on low-income neighborhoods is now aiming to help struggling Connecticut borrowers who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. Boston Community Capital has already started working with its first dozen homeowners in Connecticut and touts its track record of keeping nearly 900 families in their homes in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island since 2009.”
“Boston Community’s ‘Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods,’ or SUN, program typically works with borrowers whose homes are ‘underwater’ where more is owed than the property is worth. SUN negotiates to purchase occupied homes from lenders at what they are now worth and then sells them back to the original homeowners on the same day on terms the borrower can afford, said Elyse Cherry, Boston Community’s chief executive.”
“The option can be more attractive to a lender than say, a loan modification where the principal is reduced, or the expense of taking over a property and then trying to sell it, Cherry said. ‘There are still a lot of people who were able to survive the last few years but are teetering on the edge, a bad event away from a foreclosure,’ said Jeff Gentes, a staff attorney who manages foreclosure prevention at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center.”
From The Acorn in California. “Home foreclosures aren’t as common as they were at the height of the banking crisis in 2010, but they haven’t gone away entirely. Zillow shows eight foreclosed homes in Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Calabasas and Oak Park. In the same four cities, however, there are 75 homes in pre-foreclosure, meaning notices have been issued to the owners that if payments are not made the lender will foreclose on the property.”
“The process can be drawn out, with families still living in homes they don’t own while legal notices shuffle between banks and courts. In the meantime, homes and properties can fall into disrepair. And with no clear owner to keep up on maintenance, some homes become neighborhood eyesores. One foreclosed home in Agoura Hills remains a problem child. Ken Handler, who lives on Vista del Arroyo, has spent two years trying to get city and county officials to do something about the deteriorating condition of a single-family home three doors down from him.”
“Handler said the house was occupied by a family that didn’t pay its mortgage and was eventually evicted by the sheriff. ‘I was inside the house a few months ago, just to see what was going on. It was just horrible. You have a terribly rotting house, inside and out. It’s weed-infested,’ Handler said. ‘The trees are overgrown, but the main problem as I see it is we’re in the middle of a huge fire hazard area. We’re in kind of a high-end area; the homes are $2 (million) to $3 million, so there’s a lot at stake, that’s why I’m upset.’”
Re Fannie and Freddie:
“Company officials have said such a Treasury infusion wouldn’t reflect the quality of their business, but rather the lack of capital to absorb a big loss.”
Lack of capital to absorb a big loss, eh? Well, there might be some big losses soon!
As their reserve ratio improves so does their officer(s) bonus position.
Wrapping up subprime mortgages into toxic securities and pawning them to fools who borrow the money to buy them isn’t a sustainable business model.
When it is backed by the taxpayers - it is an EXCELLENT business model.
Hope and change. Yes we can.
Now that the Repulicans are in control, why not put down the toxic twins once and for all?
Ha!
When Dodd-Frank was passed, regulators proposed a rule that if a bank originated a mortgage with less than 20% down, the bank had to keep 5% of it. The entire housing industry went ballistic. Note that the rule didn’t forbid such mortgages, or even make banks keep the mortgages themselves. The proposed rule just said “keep 5% of it.” And banks wouldn’t even do THAT.
The old business model of lending money and then waiting 30 years to collect interest is dead and buried. Nowadays banks are just automated high-profit pass-throughs to move the debt from the buyer to the taxpayer. Their business model is so dependent on Fannie/Freddie that they can’t even keep 5% of their paper, much less all of it.
These same banks are the ones feeding campaign $$ to Congress. And you think Congress is going to deprive them of Fannie/Freddie?
You have a real estate guy for president. Do you really think he is going to hurt that world?
Because of that President Trump intuitively understands that a “housing recovery” is falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels by definition.
“Nowadays banks are just automated high-profit pass-throughs to move the debt from the buyer to the taxpayer. The’ir business model is so dependent on Fannie/Freddie that they can’t even keep 5% of their paper, much less all of it.”
Goldman Sachs thinks it can earn as much money from online consumer loans as from buying and selling securities. Imagine that, a bank that actually makes its money from loaning to customers. As far as I know, GS is keeping these loans on its books.
Combined with new lending for the wealthy and companies, the bank expects to bring in $2 billion in additional sales from loans. Goldman co-chief operating officer Harvey Schwartz said it’s one of the fastest-growing lending platforms ever launched, even though he says the bank is taking its time with the nascent business. The bank’s digital consumer-lending arm called Marcus is expected to have lent out $2 billion by the end of the year.
Goldman isn’t known for consumer lending, but stricter rules have forced banks to look for new ways to make money. CEO Lloyd Blankfein pointed out earlier this year that while Goldman doesn’t have branches, thanks to technology that isn’t a shortcoming anymore. Post-crisis regulations have put restrictions on trading but tend to give incentives for lending.
https://qz.com/1077463/goldman-sachs-gs-thinks-its-fintech-lending-arm-marcus-can-make-as-much-extra-revenue-as-trading/
Elizabeth Warren tells a story about advising a major credit card company how to avoid high-risk borrowers and avoid late payments defaults. She was about to end her presentation when the CEO walked in and said: “Why do we want to avoid late payments and defaults? That’s where all our profit is.”
I guess that bank CEO was right, because even GS wants to get in on the trailer park gravy train:
—————-
Marcus by Goldman Sachs:
Loan Types:
Debt Consolidation
Credit Card Consolidation
Online Loans
Unsecured Loans
Get a loan
No-fee, fixed-rate loans from $3,500 to $30,000
[Rates range from 6.99% to 23.99% APR, and loan terms range from 36 to 72 months. Only the most creditworthy applicants qualify for the lowest rates and longest loan terms. Rates will generally be higher for longer-term loans.]
23.99% APR…
It’s not just trailer trash. Been open season on debt junkies of all flavors for quite some time now.
I would agree that debt is problematic for many, but not all. While I personally would never pay these rates, I think it is better than what is available at the payday loan centers which is what the alternative is for many borrowers.
The fact of the matter is that credit for those will poor borrowing history and derogatory events is not cheap. Until the CFPB steps in and bars these loans from, they serve a purpose. Unlike student loans, unsecured consumer credit can be discharged in bankruptcy, so there is a check on the lender in some regards.
DebtDonkey
Littleton, CO Housing Prices Crater 22% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/littleton-co/market-trends/
‘a roughly $14 billion accounting loss at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, leading to the first taxpayer-funded infusion since they became profitable firms in 2012. ‘At issue is an accounting change tied to lower corporate tax rates in the legislation, which requires the companies to recognize losses on around $45 billion in tax-deferred assets they hold. The decline in the tax rate to 21% from 35% will require the companies to write down the value of those assets, resulting in losses to the companies.’
Here we go again. So where is all the loot these enrons produced during their monopoly of this great shack boom? It just went off into the black hole that is DC, that’s where. This is why I laugh at people who say, “oh, that guy is going to pay less in tax!” This debt is never going to be repaid. It’s mathematically impossible and has been for years. The shenanigans around the GSE’s are only the most obvious freaking joke that is the federal governments finances.
Ben, F&F were private entities until 2009. Maybe you should ask the Franklin Raines where all the profit went. My guess is it went to booze, mistresses, and firms like the one you did accounting for. It took Fannie three years to be profitable, likely by taking on heavily documented mortgages like mine.
‘On September 6, 2008, FHFA used its authorities to place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship. This was in response to a substantial deterioration in the housing markets that severely damaged Fannie Mae and Freddie Macs’ financial condition and left them unable to fulfill their mission without government intervention.’
https://www.fhfa.gov/Conservatorship/pages/history-of-fannie-mae–freddie-conservatorships.aspx
The GSE’s were broke at the end of 2004. That’s right, the biggest bubble ever, prices hadn’t even started going down and they were broke.
‘Monday, February 07, 2005′
‘ Fannie/Freddie Regulator Preps For Bankruptcy’
‘The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight is pushing legislation through congress that prepares for the insolvency of the mortgage giants. Patrick Lawler, OFHEO chief economist told a forum “Receivership is a valuable thing”.
‘None of this is reported on the official website of the regulator. Also mentioned in this story was this tidbit;”..a coalition of 37 federal, state, and local groups urged the federal government and Congress to cut ties with Fannie and Freddie Thursday. Warning that Americans are threatened by a potential taxpayer bailout of the two companies”.
http://thehousingbubble.blogspot.com/2005/02/fanniefreddie-regulator-preps-for.html
What I’m asking about is the loot since they were forced to give all their profits to DC.
‘it went to booze, mistresses, and firms like the one you did accounting for’
BTW, it may be all the nights boozing it up with floozies, but I don’t remember this accounting gig you mention.
Not mention a few of their employees trolling in the internet all day.
HA! Like you do???
DebtDonkey
Eagle Creek, OR Housing Prices Crater 7% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/eagle-creek-or/market-trends/
Sorry, Ben, I didn’t post that right. At one point you mentioned doing accounting — taxes I think — for a lobbying firm in Texas.
As to Fannie Mae, I didn’t realize you were talking about post-receivership. Post-receivership, my guess is that any profits from good mortgages were used to fill the pre-2008 hole that Fannie had dug while they were private. So I suppose the money SHOULD have gone back to DC.
I don’t remember anything about a lobbying firm, my memory is of Ben having done accounting for a construction company, or companies. But, my memory is not always reliable. I just seem to remember reading that.
I worked on a tax return for a lobby firm. But they lobbied the Texas state legislature only. Most of my accounting work was not what they call public, like taxes.
They were government-sponsored enterprises, hardly ordinary private companies. Private-public partnerships, i.e. fascist entities.
Agree. They were allowed to act as private companies but always with the whispered promise of a bailout. What did they *think* was going to happen?
The GSAs sent $20 billion to the federal government in 2016. What’s all this outrage? They’re contributing today.
Paying truckloads of duopoly loot to the government doesn’t excuse the fact that they are a duopoly whose existence would be in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act if they were not the federal government’s own pet Frankenstein creation (similar story here to the Fed, though the latter is a monopoly).
“This debt is never going to be repaid. It’s mathematically impossible and has been for years. ”
Musings
KOrrect. So where does it end? We are into the physics of debt. It’s now understood that our expansionary EXCEL spread sheet universe doesn’t have to collapse. It evolves into an entropic equilibrium. We are talking about reverting to a mean that is shifting as well.
A $3.50 cupcake, unlike a tulip, can be eaten. That’s about the only difference. What about a sticker that says: “Waconized.” If you doubt that there are zombies….
At the very bottom of this food pyramid is a group of displaced people seeking to return to an idyllic past that never existed. In the 73-74 RECESSION an old Jamaican friend at work told me: “You aint goin’ back to where you never came.” The ZeroHedge crowd doesn’t understand that. The real estate that they are making a last stand on is either readying itself for fire or suffering from drought.
And shifting to the East the Puerto Ricans with money went to Orlando after their Hurricane. Anyone here looking at Orlando’s rents? Maybe we can start a Waco East Mickey cupcake stand there.
–Hawg Heaven
‘The trees are overgrown, but the main problem as I see it is we’re in the middle of a huge fire hazard area. We’re in kind of a high-end area; the homes are $2 (million) to $3 million, so there’s a lot at stake, that’s why I’m upset.’
He’s living in the middle of a huge fire hazard area filled with multi-million dollar homes. I’m sure he expects strangers to risk their lives to save his house if a wildfire erupts, and the state to pay for his decision to live in an unsafe place. I hope the insurance companies are finally wising up to the dangers of insuring fools.
‘For the next three months, the net share of lenders expecting growth in demand for refinance mortgages dropped from the third quarter across all loan types, which Fannie Mae dubbed the worst outlook in a year.’
‘Furthermore, Fannie Mae stated that the net share of lenders reporting easing of credit standards over the prior three months has continued its upward trend since the fourth quarter of last year, reaching new survey highs for the second consecutive quarter….‘Lenders who see declining profits outweighed those noting improvements in the bottom line for the fifth consecutive quarter. Three-fourths of those seeing deteriorating profits cite competition as the most important reason—a survey high—compared with only about one-third two years ago.’
The other day I saw an ad from Quicken for reverse mortgages. It made a big deal out of “federally guaranteed”. I thought that’s interesting because the guarantee doesn’t extend to the borrower but might cover Quickens a$$. Again, what are the assets behind capital reserves of Quicken and other non-bank lenders now that they make the majority of shack loans? Some filing cabinets? Staplers, a few desks, lamps and printers?
“Again, what are the assets behind capital reserves of Quicken and other non-bank lenders now that they make the majority of shack loans? Some filing cabinets? Staplers, a few desks, lamps and printers?”
The naming rights on downtown Detroit’s new street car, the QLine?
“The name was one of several trademarked by Quicken, as first reported by Crain’s last year. Quicken is paying $5 million over 10 years for the naming rights to the line.”
“The launch of QLine marks a significant moment in the development of Detroit,” said Jay Farner, president and chief marketing officer of Quicken Loans. “Quicken Loans is proud to play our part in the beginning stages of modernizing the transit system in our burgeoning urban core.”
Detroit’s…..burgeoning ?
A new taco stand opened up?
Detroit is on the comeback. Ever since the state took over Detroit’s finances. The city still has a long way to go, but Detroit of 2017 is night and day compared to Detroit of 2010. And for the better.
I don’t think it will happen, but talk of Amazon HQ2 in Detroit isn’t as crazy as it sounds. There is a lot of cheap land to be had and MI would bend over backwards with tax incentives.
https://patch.com/michigan/across-mi/construction-begins-detroits-tallest-building-900m-project
“DETROIT, MI — A ground breaking ceremony has been held for what will eventually become Detroit’s tallest building — a 58-story, 800-foot-tall centerpiece on the site of the former J.L. Hudson department store, which closed in 1983 and was demolished in 1998. Bedrock Detroit’s $900 million, two-building project includes a massive residential tower and smaller, 12-floor building for retail and conference space. Up to 450 residential units can be built in the tower.
The project is one of four representing a $2.1 billion investment in the area by the Detroit-based commercial real estate firm. The four projects are expected to create up to 24,000 jobs and generate $673 million in new tax revenue.”
“The other day I saw an ad from Quicken for reverse mortgages. It made a big deal out of “federally guaranteed”. I thought that’s interesting because the guarantee doesn’t extend to the borrower but might cover Quickens a$$.”
😁
“Trump’s administration sent about 152,000 Mexican nationals back to their home country, compared to roughly 205,000 in the first 11 months of 2016.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-sent-fewer-mexicans-home-from-us-in-2017-than-obama-in-2016/ar-BBHqCkv
Border crossings are down precipitously, so it makes sense that there would be fewer to deport. Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric has been an effective deterrent. Also, Obama’s DACA and DAPA spurred waves of new immigrants who perceived that the US was tacitly endorsing illegal immigration. Many from central America decided to start immigrating at around this time and many of these were unaccompanied minors.
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, is having to walk-back some of his pro-immigration rhetoric because many immigrants from the US are going northward under the impression that “Canada is welcoming us, wants us, and is encouraging illegal immigration.” This is what he originally said:
“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada”
But now:
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has finally — finally — let it be known that Canada does not have an open-border immigration policy.”
“After months of sending mixed messages to potential refugees, implying that Canada accepts everybody, Trudeau finally mustered the courage to speak out against illegal immigration.”
“Canada is an opening and welcoming society,” Trudeau said during a press conference Sunday. “But let me be clear. We are also a country of laws.”
“Entering Canada irregularly is not an advantage. There are rigorous immigration and customs rules that will be followed, make no mistake,” said Trudeau.”
http://torontosun.com/2017/08/23/trudeau-walks-back-reckless-immigration-tweet/wcm/3de97cd2-da3e-4840-a488-288b33435d70
And you also need a Government ID to vote in Canada!
And no one calls them racists!
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Canada also only has 10 days of early voting.
CA by contrast has 30 days of early voting. Maine, Vermont and MN is 45 days.
And whenever anyone raises an objection to these ridiculous amount of time, it’s RAAAAAAAAAACIST. Because I guess white people can figure out a way to vote in 10 days, but blacks need 45 days?
The real reason of course is to allow fraud. The longer the voting window, the more Democrats can vote multiple times.
The difference with Trump is that the deportations are coming from the interior, not at the border.
And I guess Canada was taught a lesson, weren’t they.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
i can’t imagine canada’s most powerful soy boy walking anything back. especially those corpulent, abundant, on demand tears.
When a Canadian singer died, Liddle Justin actually cried in front of the cameras.
And Canuckistanis wonder why nobody south of the border takes them seriously. LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMCaDvah6N0
When a Canadian singer died, Liddle Justin actually cried in front of the cameras.
what else can one expect from a drama teacher?
When faced with the prospect of a couple million Central Americans crossing the 49th, working construction and roughnecking for scraps, and popping out anchor babies, you can bet Trudeau was walking and even running back his earlier welcomes.
(Canada has birthright citizenship).
Too late for Canuckistan. It’s already well on its way to 3rd world status.
“And immigrants are making up more and more of the workers, accounting for nearly one-quarter of Canada’s labour force in 2016, helping offset the impact of an aging population. That trend is most obvious in Toronto, where half the work force in 2016 was made up of immigrants— the highest proportion in Canada.”
http://www.metronews.ca/news/canada/2017/11/29/more-women-immigrants-seniors-in-canada-work-force-census-.html
Well? Is it floating their entitlements boat?
That’s all that matters amirite?
“Border crossings are down precipitously, so it makes sense that there would be fewer to deport.”
ok
LOL!
BTW, did any snowflakes or SJWs actually make their way up there? You know, to escape the Trump regime.
Yah, whatever happened to the great Michael Moore-Rosie O’Donnell convoy they promised us after Trump won? CONVOYYY!
What the FakeNews forgets to mention is that in the first 3 months of 2017, Mexican illegal crossings plummeted. After all the MSM freakouts about Trump getting ready to kill every brown person, Mexicans stopped coming over. So there weren’t any to send back. Then after realizing none of what the MSM said would happen was true, they slowly started coming over again. I’d like to see a month to month comparison between 2016 and 2017. I’d suspect if you look at Oct and Nov, more were sent back in 2017 than 2016.
“So there weren’t any to send back.”
Who’s paying you guys? Seriously.
Math is hard, I know.
But when fewer illegals come to the border there are by definition fewer illegals to send back.
Think it over for a while and it may start making sense.
Think about the term ‘fake news’. It didnt exist a few years ago - Trump adopted it - maybe from someone else, but he owns it now - and its ubiquitous. He didnt use the word propaganda because half the country is too stupid to know what that word means, instead he dumbed it down so that a wider audience could grok it. And by doing so, he’s whittled away at one of the primary tools employed by the deep state - the power to shape peoples thinking, often with lies or obfuscation of the truth. Very interesting phenomenon unwinding in real time in front of us.
I just heard on the radio that Trump tweeted he’s taking nominations for fake news of the year. Think about that - he’s rallying people to point out the lies that the corporate-media complex pump out, making a mockery of them. Once again, a brilliant move.
Haha, the left started the fakenews meme. Trump co-opted it.
And another (((purveyor))) gets taken down as a pervert. One could almost say theres a pattern. Almost.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/cnbc-director-accused-spying-teen-nanny-bathroom-cam-article-1.3723183?cid=bitly
I’ve been redpilling some friends, sending them emails almost daily for months now with links to the (((tribe))) members being exposed for what they are. Its funny how programmed people are to deny the reality they are ensconced in. I’ve done the same using Colin Flahertys and Tommy Sotomeyers videos - so they at least understand the threats and build up their situational awareness. Too many are mental zombies and make easy prey for (((others)))
Obama faked the deportation statistics during his presidency. From 2014 LA Times:
“But the portrait of a steadily increasing number of deportations rests on statistics that conceal almost as much as they disclose. A closer examination shows that immigrants living illegally in most of the continental U.S. are less likely to be deported today than before Obama came to office, according to immigration data.
Expulsions of people who are settled and working in the United States have fallen steadily since his first year in office, and are down more than 40% since 2009.
On the other side of the ledger, the number of people deported at or near the border has gone up — primarily as a result of changing who gets counted in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s deportation statistics. The vast majority of those border crossers would not have been treated as formal deportations under most previous administrations. If all removals were tallied, the total sent back to Mexico each year would have been far higher under those previous administrations than it is now.”
Denver(Highland), CO Housing Prices Crater 11% YOY On Toxic Mortgages
https://www.zillow.com/highland-denver-co/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
“Home foreclosures aren’t as common as they were at the height of the banking crisis in 2010, but they haven’t gone away entirely”
Has anyone ever claimed foreclosures have gone away entirely? There have always been foreclosure there will always be foreclosures. Good economy, bad economy, there will always be layoffs, companies going under, foreclosures, car repos, etc.
With foreclosure moratoriums in effect from coast to coast, what difference does it make?
Realtors are liars.
Hey All,
I have started a new business.
It is called “Army Basic Training Living” or ABTL for short.
My company puts you and your family on bunkbeds in an open bay with 50 other “owners” - with only four toilets with no dividers.
Wake up is at 5 pm and lights out at 1930 (that is 7:30 pm for you non owners).
What to do? You laugh. You play. You cry. You get in touch with your inner you.
I have raised $20 million in venture capital funding so far…
++++++++
Modern life too much for you? Maybe a tiny box in the woods is the cure.
Washington Post - Lavanya Ramanathan - December 28, 2017
Getaway markets its tiny homes in the woods as a way to “rediscover the pleasure of boredom, solitude and unstructured time.”
To commune with ourselves, we must trek two hours to Stanardsville, a town on the edge of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains whose population has stairstepped down over the years to 384 people, a country store and this wooded plot, which, before 20 tiny houses arrived this fall, was an RV campground called Heavenly Acres.
In Getaway’s soft, wooded marketing photos, tinys such as Lenore are imbued with symbolism. Inside, couples slice avocados together. A multiethnic gaggle of cool kids in beanies convenes at a fire pit. Young women plant themselves in large picture windows overlooking the forest with hardcover books you can only assume are by Zadie Smith or Audre Lorde. In one image, a woman simply contorts herself in a display of yogic bliss.
The savvy emphasis on escape and disconnectedness and repose has resonated among the millennials Getaway aims to reach. In each of its markets, outside New York, Boston and Washington, Getaway’s houses are booked solid on weekends, and in early 2017, the company, founded by two Harvard graduates, raised $15 million in venture capital funding, which suggests that a tiny house campground may soon be coming to a forest near you.
We scan the kitchen, which comes with two plates, two mugs, a pan and not a single wine glass. And we encounter the wooden box where you really, really, really should lock away your cellphone, source of so much pain and FOMO.
Now, in tiny houses that no one will acknowledge are honestly just what we used to call cabins, it’s called “escaping.”
For the suburban families that have made “Tiny House Hunters” an HGTV hit, tiny houses are an alternate reality, an incredible stretch of the imagination.
The better one: “What must that be like, to not be so in debt that your skin feels like it’s on fire every moment of every waking day?”
So I can’t dismiss the popular fascination with tiny houses — little wooden temples to minimalism that on average clock in at just over 200 square feet and can be had for about $50,000 — as a misguided fad. Adorable wooden cottages on wheels have exploded in popularity not because people wanted to downsize, but because they were downsized.
Once again millenials think something they do is brand new, even though “escaping to the countryside” has been around for oh, I dunno…..the advent of cities.
Millennials literally think history started they day they were born.
“…little wooden temples to minimalism….”
Waiting for the grown-ups to pass on.
For $50K, you could buy a motor home. They have wheels too. And very little space, so you can be minimalist and smug.
The article mentions the precedent of Henry David Thoreau, and notes that these cabins place a copy of Walden on the bookshelf. Ha. From the comments to that article:
————–
If Thoreau had a “getaway” experience living in his small cabin on Walden Pond, it’s worth noting that the land was provided for free by his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. I can’t think of a faster way to leave the rat race than to be provided with free housing, no matter where and what size it is. No mortgage or rent required, no job needed: Instant enlightenment…
…Thoreau also regularly went to his aunt’s house for dinner and so she could do his laundry. Maybe what many of us want is just to have someone take care of us. Like children, hanging out in our playhouses, until Mom calls us in for dinner and s’mores.
————–
So even Thoreau was a snoyflake. And to think as a high school senior I wrote papers on Walden.
IIRC Thoreau built the cabin himself with a minimum of materials outlay.
In my experience an experiment in simplicity and solitude doesn’t have to be completely unbroken to be successful.
When I am boating I also have places to stop and do laundry. It’s a good thing.
Snow or snoy or both
Would Thoreau be a modern day disability case and stump for Hillary?
2banana: little wooden temples to minimalism that on average clock in at just over 200 square feet and can be had for about $50,000
A shed. That’s a large shed. And insulated (hopefully) shed. 200 square feet is a 14 foot square. A 50,000 dollar shed.
Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson
https://youtu.be/HLjS3gzHetA
United Airlines Boots Teacher from seat for TX Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
December 25th, 2017 Bethany Blankley
Jean-Marie Simon, a teacher traveling from Guatemala via Houston to Washington, D.C. on United Airlines, was booted from her seat just days before Christmas– for none other than Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. She lost her first-class seat– because the airline gave it to a democratic congresswoman from Texas– and all of a sudden there was no record of Simon’s ticket in the system.
Simon was at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on her way home from a trip to Guatemala when she noticed that the congresswoman was being ushered onto the plane before everyone else– and into her seat.
Of course– the congresswoman cried racism– claiming Simon complained because she was black.
Lee denied Simon’s accusation and went one further– by publicly declaring that Simon was discriminating against her because she is black. The Houston Chronicle reported:
“Since this was not any fault of mine, the way the individual continued to act appeared to be, upon reflection, because I was an African American woman, seemingly an easy target along with the African American flight attendant who was very, very nice.”
When will the racism nonsense end?
When will Jackson-Lee apologize to Simon– and to the American taxpayers, the majority of whom can’t afford a first class ticket because their taxes are paying for her to ride first class?!
Jackson-Lee continues to act entitled. She continues to blame others for her own actions. Bah humbug. No seat for you if you’re not a Congresswoman who has mastered using the race card.
Breitbart News reported that
A Texas congressman who sat in the seat next to Lee told Simon that the congresswoman had reportedly bumped other passengers before.
Read more: http://thehayride.com/2017/12/united-airlines-boots-teacher-seat-tx-congresswoman-sheila-jackson-lee/#ixzz52Zktc3KW
It is Black Privilege.
The rest of the country who are not black are getting pretty sick of it.
Especially the Hispanics.
United’s story is ludicrous as well. They claim Simon cancelled her itinerary. Total BS. She was flying from Guatemala to DC, with a connection in Houston. So she flew Guatemala to Houston and then decided, at the airport, to cancel her Houston-DC connection? Yeah that makes a lot of sense.
This is what BLM has done to corporate America. They are scared shitless to offend non-whites and will throw their white customers under the bus.
“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon” — President Obama, 2012
Why does this surprise people? Did you expect anything better from warmongers?
No shortage of Hispanic privilege in CA…
Another day, another 10%+ loss for buttcoin…
Telegraph Technology
Bitcoin price tumbles after South Korea joins cryptocurrency crackdown
Bitcoin dropped as fourth country announces plans to regulate cryptocurrency
Credit: Bloomberg
Margi Murphy
28 December 2017 • 12:18pm
Bitcoin fell more than 11pc on Thursday after South Korea announced a clampdown on cryptocurrency.
The new rules will target anonymous trading of virtual currencies and crack down on money laundering activities, Seoul said.
…
OMG did you know you can use bitcoin to buy drugs? It must be banned!!!!!
So I guess since you can use cash to buy drugs, we should ban cash.
For the children of course.
SFMF: So I guess since you can use cash to buy drugs, we should ban cash.
They’re working on it, with the public justification being crime. The cashless society will work great - until the power grid goes down. Also a cashless society will allow the central bank to more easily run its monetary experiments, ostensibly driven by the old siren song that something so simple as manipulating the money supply can bring prosperity. A happy side effect is that Wall Street becomes more wealthy, more easily, as a result.
And notice the sudden proliferation of pre-pay cards. No such thing as getting a refund anymore. CC companies love prepay because they can track what you bought and sell that info.
Perhaps we could learn vicariously from India before repeating the same folly.
Was Modi’s Grand Cash Ban a Big Waste of Time?
Vrishti Beniwal, Jeanette Rodrigues and Hannah Dormido
November 5, 2017, 5:00 PM CST
Updated on November 5, 2017, 9:06 PM CST
- Cash ban failed to meet immediate ‘black money’ targets
- Rumblings of dissatisfaction seen going into state elections
Corruption, black money, terrorism, fake currency — Prime Minister Narendra Modi resolved to eliminate all in one stroke when he announced India’s biggest-ever cash ban on Nov. 8 last year.
However, the short term costs of his move are outweighing the benefits. He invalidated 86 percent of currency in circulation, saying the move was essential to combat graft and terrorism, often funded with cash or counterfeit bills. He hasn’t had much success, though the outlook has dimmed substantially for Asia’s third-largest economy following the cash shock.
…
Buttcoin, I love it.
Governments and bankers want in on the scam. If they can get their cut, then crypto’s all good.
“I was curious if I could care about (money) on some fundamental level, and I couldn’t,”
Maybe with lots of time ans therapy Sheila Jackson Lee could teach Chelsea Clinton how to care about first class airline tickets.
United Airlines Boots Teacher from seat for TX Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
December 25th, 2017 Bethany Blankley
“When will Jackson-Lee apologize to Simon– and to the American taxpayers, the majority of whom can’t afford a first class ticket because their taxes are paying for her to ride first class?!”
Thanks globalists. Thanks Obama. Thanks Democrat Party voters.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-28/what-has-made-americas-inner-cities-violent-warzone
Black lives matter?!
Project Cassandra
And the results are being felt to this day:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2017/12/obama-allowed-hezbollah-cocaine-running-into-u-s-in-quest-for-iran-nuke-deal/
Spicer, MN Housing Prices Plunge 19% YOY As Housing Demand Craters To 20 Year Low
https://www.zillow.com/spicer-mn/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
Roy Moore is (officially) a looser.
Have a narrative:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/alt-right/549242/
How much does the SPLC pay someone to pose as a KKK member at one of these rallies anyway?
http://picpaste.com/i_hate_thinking.jpg
Regarding the Vanity Fair dust-up, and all the Dems butthurt that the magazine cracked a few jokes about sacred cow Hillary:
“The issue here is that as long as Clinton remains as revered and protected in the public discourse as she is by leaders on the left, the longer it will take for them to truly grasp how weak and unpersuasive a candidate she was. The Democrats needs to close that persuasion gap and they can’t do it if they can’t see the gap in the first place.”
Sorry ’bout the double post.
About that Vanity Fair article, that cracked a few jokes about sacred cow Hillary and got a bunch of Dems all riled up:
“The issue here is that as long as Clinton remains as revered and protected in the public discourse as she is by leaders on the left, the longer it will take for them to truly grasp how weak and unpersuasive a candidate she was. The Democrats needs to close that persuasion gap and they can’t do it if they can’t see the gap in the first place.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/28/clinton-vanity-fair-backlash-proves-democrats-need-to-divorce-hillary-commentary.html
Bwa-hah-hah-HAH! What people should have been riled up about is that this video demonstrated how truly lame Vanity Fair has become. It used to be a fantastic mix of wit, wisdom, investigative journalism and high end gossip/whodunit with a wee bit of fashion mixed in. The sibs and I used to pilfer it from our parents and devour it. They had some great writers and photographers on staff and under contract. There was something for everyone in that mag.
About 15 years ago, it began to seriously degenerate and the end result is that collection of twinks, cucks and fatties thinking they’re being witty about Hillary. Sadness.
Fairfax Station, VA Housing Prices Crater 5% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/fairfax-station-va/market-trends/
Americans relocating at the lowest rate since WWII
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/americans-relocating-lowest-rate-since-181936930.html
You couldn’t tell it by Florida. They’re jammin’ them in here like sardines. It’s disgusting.
Can you blame ‘em? Your are on a coast that is still a knockout scenic wise.
Miami now has a traffic hour at 11am. That’s new.
Stock optimism swells as S&P 500 hits most overbought level in 22 years
By Ryan Vlastelica
Published: Dec 28, 2017 1:32 p.m. ET
More than half of investors expect prices to be up in six months, a two-year high for the AAII sentiment survey
Courtesy Everett Collection
Following a year in which the U.S. stock market hit a record number of records and seen basically nothing in the way of pullbacks or volatility, investors have gone all-in on stocks.
…
Bubbles, bubbles everywhere nor any dime to sink…
There has never in history been a better time to sell snake oil.
Personal Finance #IfIOnlyKnew
Dec 28, 2017 @ 10:54 PM
The Great Bitcoin Scam
Jay Adkisson, Contributor
I cover Wealth Preservation in its legal permutations
At the outset, let me clarify that Bitcoin itself is not a scam, but how Bitcoin is being sold is a scam. More about that below.
To start out, it is important to understand what Bitcoin really is. It would be easy to bore you with a discussion of the technology, about peer-to-peer servers and sophisticated algorithms, but that is not what you need to know.
What you need to know about Bitcoin is that distilled to its technological essence, each Bitcoin is simply a number. That’s it: A number. It is simply a series of digits, with each number being assigned to each Bitcoin.
To illustrate, I’ll randomly pull a $1 bill from my wallet, which bears No. L88793293J. Assuming some minimal level of competency by the U.S. Treasury, no other bill bears that number.
The face value of a $1 bill is, of course, just $1 dollar. But two people could privately agree that No. L88793293J is actually worth $5,000.
To illustrate Fred wants to buy Joe’s golf clubs, but Fred doesn’t want his wife to know — at least just yet — that he spent $5,000 for golf clubs. So, Fred and Joe agree that No. L88793293J is worth $5,000 and Fred gives No. L88793293J to Joe. Fred then tells his wife that he bought the clubs for the $1 bill. At some later time, when Fred’s wife doesn’t care so much, Fred pays $5,000 to Joe for No. L88793293J, and gets the $1 bill back.
The only difference between Bitcoin No. ABC123 and $1 Bill No. L88793293J is that at the end of the day, the $1 bill physically exists and has a face value that is worth something, i.e., Fred could take the $1 bill and buy something off the $1 menu at McDonalds.
By contrast, Bitcoin has no intrinsic value — it is just a number. The number may have an agreed value between two parties, but the number itself has no value. Consider a bank account number, such as Wells Fargo Account No. 456789. The depositor and Wells Fargo essentially agree that the account designated by No. 456789 has the value of what the depositor puts into it, less what the depositor takes out. But the number itself, No. 456789 has no value. The same situation occurs with credit card transactions, whereby the credit card processing company assigns are unique value to each transaction, but the number itself has no value.
…
I agree that Bitcoins are intrinsically worthless and are not legal tender for settling debt. But the author seems to miss that the dollars in his example are similarly intrinsically worthless. Just ask anyone who is over eighty years old and still has their mental faculties.
Perhaps the more important point is that the dollar systematically depreciates to zero on the Fed’s planned schedule, losing half it’s value every 35 years or less. When Bitcoin collapses, it will be an accident that was waiting to happen, with unpredictable timing, and governmental encouragement.
classic ponzi scheme u need to keep recruiting buyers to hand the bag off to. Its just a matter of time. If u try to short bitcoin u better plan to ride this out and withstand some losses on paper for awhile. picking the top is impossible.
Which one is MightyMike?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv8r0h4tNaU
This video always brings me back to when I was a kid in the back of my parents station wagon driving to Pennsylvania for the weekend passing farms, fields with grazing cows and inner city break dancers along the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqBtS6BIP1E
what law allows bank to extend credit out of thin air and collect interest from folks?
what law allows bank to extend credit out of thin air and collect interest from folks?
the same law that allows your friends and relatives to lend to you (with interest if they wish)?