Greed Is An Intoxicating Flaw
A weekend topic starting with the Khaleej Times. “There is a litany of research surrounding the formation of an asset bubble on how and if even possible to identify them. In the real estate market, the largest crash in recent times was during the World Financial Crisis (WFC) of 2008. A closer look into Dubai and California reveals that both cities rallied 50 per cent and 30 per cent respectively (24 months before their peak). During the WFC, the housing market in California crashed by 32 per cent whereas Dubai real estate assets declined by 29 per cent.”
“A look into the second run-up (2012-2014) of real estate prices in Dubai reveals that assets on a city-wide basis appreciated close to 50 per cent. However, unlike the WFC, markets have had a soft landing falling only 13 per cent in 24 months. We opine that this time around, there has been lower amount of speculator activity as long-term investors enter the market, along with stricter government regulations.”
From Bloomberg on Hong Kong. “Why are official warnings of the threat that rising interest rates pose to Hong Kong’s red-hot housing market falling on deaf ears? The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the International Monetary Fund have both highlighted the risks. But three Federal Reserve rate increases forecast for this year won’t stop prices from climbing, according to analysts at firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Union Bancaire Privee. Prices already jumped 22 percent as the Fed raised rates five times from December 2015.”
“Household debt-to-gross domestic product is higher now than in 1997, just before a housing crash that lasted six years. As HKMA chief Norman Chan points out, not only is the ratio elevated, it’s recently rallied from its historical trend. Mortgage payments amounted to 68 per cent of median monthly income in the third quarter, compared with an average of 45 percent between 1997 and 2016. Yesterday, Chan recalled the ‘very painful and unforgettable experience’ of the property bubble bursting and cited the role of loose credit in creating bubbles, without commenting on the current market.”
”At the peak of a bubble, people always find many reasons to prove ‘this time is different!’ Look at history, we’ve now realised how naïve and ridiculous is this,’ Chan told a conference.”
From the Grand Rapids Business Journal. “If you’re like me, over the past few months you’ve probably been inundated with emails, texts, news reports and speculation about bitcoin. I am not a trained psychologist, but I am a trained professional in finance where I used human behavior to trade various asset classes for over 20 years. This is what frightens me the most about cryptocurrencies: Humans have an incredibly short memory, and greed is an intoxicating flaw in our decision-making process.”
“Bubbles are formed by manic hysteria with the belief asset prices will never go down. But why do prices rise to the point that if you look at a chart of any ‘bubbly’ asset class it becomes asymptotic (prices relative to time rise so quickly that on a chart the prices explode higher almost forming a straight line up)? To be clear, this is incredibly unhealthy because when buyers of any ‘bubbly’ asset stop buying, it becomes a game of musical chairs with the last one standing getting burned the most.”
From Pymnts.com. “Did you know that mania is considered a mental illness? Google Dictionary defines it as a ‘mental illness marked by periods of great excitement, euphoria, delusions and overactivity.’ Among its synonyms are ‘madness,’ ‘insanity’ and ‘lunacy.’”
“We’ll let you decide how you come down on that as an appropriate description of the cryptomania that has seized not just the payments community, but the public at large. Regardless of whether one feels it’s ‘lunacy’ to invest in cryptos, everyone can agree that this trend has generated ‘great excitement,’ ‘euphoria’ and ‘overactivity.’ And possibly also ‘delusions.’”
“At the very least, it’s safe to say that many speculators have visions of wealth and grandeur, as some even go so far as to pour their savings into bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies — while at the same time understanding very little about how these currencies actually work, where their value is stored or, indeed, whether they have any value at all.”
“As the great prophet Yogi Berra once said, a nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore. He also said, it’s like déjà vu all over again. Both aphorisms seem rather fitting for where we are right now in the midst of the cryptomania that’s taken hold of not only the trade press, but the mainstream press too. Crypto and its regulatory implications have even made the agenda at the upcoming G20 Summit. Imagine that.”
“What’s certain is that fads come to an end, and bubbles eventually burst — and the life span of either is anyone’s guess. The one question today that no one can answer is when that will happen. To that question, there is one certainty: For many, it will come to an end far too late for them to recover. You only know that the bubble has burst when, in fact, it has.”
From News.com.au. “As Bitcoin on Wednesday dipped below $US10,000 for the first time since late November, extending a plunge that has wiped roughly half the value off the digital currency in the past month, there was only one question on investors’ minds. Has the ‘bubble’ finally burst, or was this just another wild fluctuation as bitcoin marches towards its ‘true value’ of $US100,000 or even higher?”
“With Bloomberg mulling whether Wednesday’s plunge marked the beginning of the end, and the top post on Reddit’s 500,000-strong cryptocurrency forum linking to the Suicide Prevention Hotline, one Twitter user made a dry observation. ‘It has to bounce because 1) the coinfreude is way too high 2) there is no f***ing way the market gods will let the chart look EXACTLY like the archetype bubble chart,’ wrote user Modest Proposal.”
“The two charts attached by the user — named after Jonathan Swift’s satirical 1729 essay advocating child cannibalism — do bear a striking similarity, and would place the current point in the cycle midway through the blow-off phase, somewhere between ‘fear’ and ‘capitulation.’”
“‘The big move from $US4000 to $US19,000 was driven purely by speculative flows and a mania, and that’s over now,’ said IG Markets chief strategist Chris Weston. ‘It was FOMO and greed which drove it up to such extreme levels through September and December. It was not about the usage of bitcoin, it was just the idea that it was front page news, it was going up by a lot every day, and people were watching other people they knew making money. [Now it’s], ‘How much am I going to lose?’ That’s a negative.’”
“Amid the regulatory uncertainty, Mr Weston said the thing that would drive bitcoin higher again was the price itself. ‘It sounds bizarre, but if it starts moving higher, if it gets to $US17,000, people [will] say, ‘It’s back on again’,’ he said. ‘Until that situation, it’s lacking a catalyst. My advice to anyone who is genuinely worried is always take some off the table. You should never be genuinely worried about an investment. You should never have gone out and mortgaged your house to get a loan to buy bitcoin, that’s just stupid — and that’s what people have done.’”
‘Chan recalled the ‘very painful and unforgettable experience’ of the property bubble bursting and cited the role of loose credit in creating bubbles, without commenting on the current market. ‘At the peak of a bubble, people always find many reasons to prove ‘this time is different!’ Look at history, we’ve now realised how naïve and ridiculous is this’
You know Norman, we’ve got some of those naive and ridiculous people posting on this very blog - all the time. All one can do is watch them stick their head in the buzz-saw.
bubbles can and often outlast you!
speculative buying never lasts forever, u eventually run out of greater fools.
Central banks have unlimited balance sheets to buy assets.
G O L D I L O C K S
wHY IS this the most hated bull market ever?
are u mad because it seems so rigged and fake or are u mad that u missed out on it?
You shouldn’t talk to that mouse in your pocket in public. People will think you’ve cracked.
good morning mr jones. any housing news from phx to report on?
I’m concerned because the government has shut down and the sun didn’t come up this morning. Are those guys and gals in blue outfits gonna deliver my junk mail tomorrow?
yes your walmart supplies will show up. all your pleasure will be gone.
how much is trump gonna add to deficit?
“how much is trump gonna add to deficit?”
With that kinda little feet stamping I can only hope you didn’t wear your Louis Vuitton Sport Sneakers to the “Not my President” rally yesterday because that could get really expensive.
10 Of The Most Stupidly Expensive Sneakers Ever
BY: SNEAKER FREAKER
Supreme x Louis Vuitton Sport Sneaker: $2,500
The Supreme x Louis Vuitton collaboration has to be one of the most hype things to happen in streetwear since… well, ever.
https://www.sneakerfreaker.com/articles/10-of-the-most-stupidly-expensive-sneakers-ever/
This shutdown will be less noticeable than the last one, as the category of services that remain open will be broader. I hear they even plan to allow grass to continue growing in our national parks.
how many pair do u have jeffrey?
“how much is trump gonna add to deficit?”
obama added more to the deficit than ALL other administrations COMBINED and accounting for inflation.
Yet not even a yawn from the liberals/progressives.
++++
“The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion dollars for the first 42 presidents — number 43 added $4 trillion dollars by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion dollars of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic.”
– Barack Obama, Fargo, ND, July 3, 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyLmru6no4U
“Supreme x Louis Vuitton Sport Sneaker: $2,500″
Buy one, get the second one free.
😁
“how many pair do u have jeffrey?”
Sounds like…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL9JgMt4okM
“obama added more to the deficit than ALL other administrations COMBINED and accounting for inflation.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/03/us-midterm-election-results-tea-party
Fake News
Barack Obama was today facing a harsh new US political reality in the wake of one of the worst Democratic defeats for 70 years.
In midterm election races across America, Republicans pummelled their opponents, capturing the House of Representatives and a fistful of Senate seats.
With some seats still to be counted, the Republicans picked up at least 60 House seats, eclipsing their 54 gains in 1994 and the party’s best result since 1938. They also gained at least six Senate seats, falling short of the 10 they needed to gain control of the upper house.
It was a remarkable comeback from two years ago, when many experts expected the party to endure a long time in the political wilderness in the wake of Obama’s emphatic 2008 presidential election victory.
Instead, Obama faces a hard political lesson after a hammering that wiped away the last vestiges of the euphoria that swept him to the White House.
The political momentum has swung to the rightwing Tea Party movement, which energised the Republican base and notched up a string of high-profile victories.
Lol don’t ever cite the Guardian as a source if you expect to be taken seriously. Use a propaganda outlet.
Democrats have had the majority in the House ever since 1930. Gotcha.
Yes!
Yes! (what’d I just say yes to?)
Was responding to “are u mad because it seems so rigged and fake or are u mad that u missed out on it?”
Superior, CO Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY As Foreclosures Ravage Denver Area
https://www.movoto.com/superior-co/market-trends/
“once u cant get new debt to service the old debt its game over.”
Wrong, that’s when the game really gets going.
Bahahahahahahahahaha.
may I introduce nomi prins , smartest lady on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uAmHS-Tc64
The obama corrupt Chicago Way.
And God Bless DJT
++++
Trump Won’t ‘Weaponize’ Potential Shutdown Like Obama Did in 2013
PJ Media | 1/20/2018 | Debra Heine
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney said Friday morning that if the government shuts down it will look very different from the shutdown of 2013, when former President Obama’s administration did things to “hurt people.”
Mulvaney added: “There’s no other way to describe it. The Obama administration weaponized the shutdown in 2013.” The budget director was referring to what at the time was referred to as “shutdown theater,” when the Obama administration unnecessarily closed popular attractions like national parks.
Mulvaney told reporters at the White House that the Trump administration would not be doing the same. “What [the Obama administration] didn’t tell you was they did not encourage agencies to use ‘carry forward’ funds,” he said, explaining that the Obama administration had funds at their disposal to lessen the effect of the shutdown on Americans. “Nor did they encourage agencies to use transfer authority. They could have made the shutdown in 2013 much less impactful,” he added.
Mulvaney said he had concluded the Obama administration chose to make the shutdown worse for political purposes.
“We’re going to manage the shutdown differently, we’re not going to weaponize it,” he said. “We’re not going to try and hurt people, especially people who work for the federal government.”
‘Jonathan Swift’s satirical 1729 essay advocating child cannibalism’
I looked it up and found this:
‘When apophasis is taken to its extreme, the speaker provides full details, stating or drawing attention to something in the very act of pretending to pass it over: “I will not stoop to mentioning the occasion last winter when our esteemed opponent was found asleep in an alleyway with an empty bottle of vodka still pressed to his lips.”[10]‘
‘In the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign debates, Ronald Reagan used a humorous apophasis to deflect scrutiny of his own fitness at age 73 by replying, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”[11] In 1988, he applied a harsher apophasis toward George H.W. Bush’s opponent Michael Dukakis, who was rumored to have received psychological treatment, “Look, I’m not going to pick on an invalid.”[12]‘
‘Donald Trump frequently employs apophasis.[13] In 2015, Trump said of fellow Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, “I promised I would not say that she ran Hewlett-Packard into the ground, that she laid off tens of thousands of people and she got viciously fired. I said I will not say it, so I will not say it.”[13] In 2016, he tweeted of journalist Megyn Kelly, “I refuse to call [her] a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct.”[13] In 2017, as president, he tweeted of the leader of North Korea, “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ’short and fat?’”[14]‘
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophasis
Listen to your betters:
“Yet our politics have been pointing toward the events of Friday evening for a very long time—not just since last Thursday, when the President rejected a proposed deal worked out by moderate senators of both parties, grumbling that it would invite in immigrants from “shithole countries.” And not just since September, when Congress passed the first of three consecutive continuing resolutions to fund the government in lieu of a full budget. Much of the intensity and the darkness of the 2016 Presidential campaign evolved from the challenge Trump and the Republicans raised to the basic matter of identity—of who counts as an American and under what terms, the central question regarding the Dreamers. The initial recriminations on Saturday morning focussed on contingencies: What if the President had better known his own mind? What if the Republican leadership in Congress had tolerated a short extension over the weekend?
For a time on Friday evening, the hopes for a compromise (and the hopes of the Dreamers) had rested in the bluff, enigmatic person of the South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, who scurried back and forth between the offices of Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer.
A week earlier, Graham and the Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin had taken a proposal for compromise to the Oval Office (the deal was permanent protection for the Dreamers in exchange for increased funding for border security) only to find that Trump had also invited some hard-liners: his own chief of staff, John Kelly, the Georgia Republican Senator David Perdue, and the ambitious Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. On Friday evening, Graham seemed to sense Cotton’s hand everywhere. “All I can say is we’re not going to end family immigration for DACA—the Tom Cotton approach has no viability here,” Graham said. “He’s become the Steve King of the Senate”—a reference to the hard-line Iowa congressman, an immigration and racial demagogue.”
https://www.newyorker.com/sections/news/the-shutdown-is-about-who-gets-to-be-an-american
This is “compromise” to a democrat
Have obama just make up immigration law (with an EO) and ignore current immigration law passed by both the house and the senate and signed by a president.
Encourage more illegals to come. Encourage them to vote. Tell them the law doesn’t apply to them. That they are special. That they will never be deported.
Don’t change the law even when you have a democrat super majority in the house and a filibuster proof senate.
Yell racism if a new president actual tries to enforce the EXISTING laws on the books.
Scream for a compromise that will allow up to 4 million illegals to become citizens and vote democrat for generations.
Which, BTW, will mean a republican will never win the Presidency again and will never have a majority in the House or Senate again.
THAT is what a compromise looks to a liberal/progressive.
Trump gave the democrats six months to compromise. What would have it taken to get to a compromise? A WALL and citizenship that will take 20 years to attain. No chain immigration. No diversity lottery immigration. All pretty reasonable.
The democrats could have kept EVERY dreamer in the country. But they decided to shut down the government instead.
Now EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM needs to be deported and get in line and FOLLOW the LAW to LEGALLY immigrate to America.
Yup. This isn’t just about all those supposed DACA Harvard Med students. They are using it as a foot in the door to full amnesty.
Hey Donk
Isn’t he going to keep the gov shut down until he runs out the clock on DACA at the beginning of March?
Even if he does, it’s not that big a deal for 80 percent or so of all federal workers, who will be reporting for work Monday.
Should the Feds stop collecting taxes, then things will get noteworthy. Not before then.
Trump needs to institute Herman Cain’s idea from 2012: shrink government 1% each year for several years running. Simple. Clean. Not disruptive in the least, as cuts come via attrition.
evil trump even got rid of y2k agency !
that bastrard
“California lawmakers are targeting the expected windfall that companies in the state would see under the federal tax overhaul with a bill that would require businesses to turn over half to the state.
A proposed Assembly Constitutional Amendment by Assemblymen Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, and Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, would create a tax surcharge on California companies making more than $1 million so that half of their federal tax cut would instead go to programs that benefit low-income and middle-class families.
“Trump’s tax reform plan was nothing more than a middle-class tax increase,” Ting said in a statement. “It is unconscionable to force working families to pay the price for tax breaks and loopholes benefiting corporations and wealthy individuals. This bill will help blunt the impact of the federal tax plan on everyday Californians by protecting funding for education, affordable health care, and other core priorities.”
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-democrats-want-businesses-to-give-half-12508742.php
Remember. To liberals/progressives - it is ALL their money.
We just get to keep some of it… Maybe.
This is where I (and my Dotted-Line Special) come into play.
😁
They must really want more businesses and people to leave.
By “making” $1 million, is that revenue or earnings/profit? It’s not just Apple and Cisco. Your average Toyota dealership could bring in $1M profit per year, not to mention your average power plant or your average consulting firm or research lab. I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine that each and every household-name actor is their own LLC or S-corp, and profiting about $1M too. Let’s see if they put their money where their mouths are, or if they suddenly move their business address to Jackson Hole.
Maybe I’ll be right and those companies *will* fan out to other states. Oregon and Nevada, watch out. Apple is coming to give you jobs.
In zip 22151 average inventory w only 22 for sale
DoD boost, so no fear of rifs
Wow!
I wonder how much of the money California plans to swipe from employers will be directed to renters who cannot afford to live in California. Effectively subsidizing both wealthy and underwater landlords and property owners alike.
What a racket.
California is a toilet.
Is there a Go Fund Me effort to aid in secession? I am all for California seceding from the United States. The time has come.
The time has come ??
The sooner the better…We don’t need you and we surely can redistribute the 380 billion we send to DC…
Fine by me. Do it.
The second it does the bond fraud Clownifornia has been pulling for decades implodes (half BILLION dollar bond issues every election for clean air, clean water, roads, etc. - all the while all of that gets worse, year after year) and the people go full Venezuela - likely worse since there are so many entitled, insane and criminal people there.
I’ll let you choose where you fit in. Hint: you can fit in more than one category.
“We don’t need you and we surely can redistribute the 380 billion we send to DC…”
You would have to spend the first $100 billion on a wall to keep the makers in President Moonbeam’s new country.
If I was forced to choose between US and California citizenship, I know which one I would not choose (hint, its flag has a bear on it)
The next $100 billion would be needed to shore up the pension system for California’s 800,000 state workers.
I would hope that CA never secedes, but the odds of this actually happening I put at close to nil. If Catalonia can’t secede, then CA probably has no chance. I think New California is more likely than CA seceding.
In any case, there is a reason my father likes to spend 4 months out of the year in Newport Beach. He calls it “Disneyland for adults.” When I go to visit, I agree. Everything is so beautiful. It’s also exorbitantly expensive. I haven’t seen the homeless problem up close there, but I’m sure it exists. To me, CA is objectively much nicer of a place than where I live. I can’t afford to live there, but I would probably do so if I could. We continue to have a great sorting going on. Many leaving CA are getting priced out, while high earners are going in. Different ideologies going to different places.
Essentially this is what is going on:
http://www.thebigsort.com/home.php
Not to mention a half trillion in debt. California isn’t just a broke impoverished hellhole overrun by illegal aliens, it’s hopelessly dependent on handouts from the federal government just to maintain day to day operations.
The next $100 billion would be needed to shore up the pension system for California’s 800,000 state workers.
No problem! “El Banco de California” could just conjure them into existence and lend them at 0% interest to Sacramento. Of course, these would be “CaliPesos” and the retirees might object to not being paid in USD.
“I know which one I would not choose (hint, its flag has a bear on it)”
I seriously doubt you would make the same decision for you and your family 2 1/2 years after secession.
Meanwhile, in Venezuela:
“Amid desperate food shortages Venezuelans are picking up new survival skills.
On the night of 9 January, for example, a hungry mob took just 30 minutes to pick clean a grocery store in the eastern city of Puerto Ordaz. By the time owner Luis Felipe Anatael arrived at the bodega he’d opened five months earlier, the looters had hauled away everything from cold cuts to ketchup to the cash registers.
“It makes you want to cry,” said Anatael in a telephone interview. “I think we are headed for chaos.”
Evidence for his prediction can be found in towns and cities across Venezuela that have been hit by an outbreak of looting and mob violence. Angry about empty supermarket shelves and skyrocketing prices, some people are breaking into warehouses, ransacking food trucks and invading outlying farms.
During the first 11 days of January the Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict, a Caracas rights group, recorded 107 episodes of looting and several deaths in 19 of Venezuela’s 23 states.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/21/venezuela-looting-violence-food-shortages
“I think we are headed for chaos.”
Uh, I think you have arrived.
But…but…socialism.
Everyone is equal! Equally miserable.
Except for the ruling socialists. They are billionaires.
And don’t forget - free health care too!
“Except for the ruling socialists. They are billionaires.”
Vin Scully has strong feelings on socialism
10:52 PM - Jun 17, 2016
166 166 Replies 2,838 2,838 Retweets 3,443 3,443 likes
“Socialism failing to work, as it always does, this time in Venezuela. You talk about giving everybody something free and all of a sudden, there’s no food to eat. And who do you think is the richest person in Venezuela? The daughter of Hugo Chavez. Hello! Anyway, 0-and-2.”
There isn’t much context here, but it appears watching Milwaukee Brewers infielder Hernan Perez — a Venezuela native — at the plate was what got Scully on the topic.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/06/vin-scully-dodgers-socialism-rant-video
Major League Baseball monopoly
https://blog.oup.com/2013/03/baseball-history-antitrust-law/
Stick to balls and strikes Vin
“Stick to balls and strikes Vin”
He was right on the money about the daughter of Hugo Chavez.
Thousands of Venezuelans are fleeing Venezuela and have been for 2-3 years now.
There are numerous stories about border hopping into Colombia, and now into Ecuador and Brazil. Look them up.
It won’t be long until there’s a significant migration out of California.
California is teetering at a time next recession hits, and unemployment doubles? A great deal more than housing will tank. California will be much more unstable than it is now.
If you’re in California, get out while you can. You’re sitting on a time bomb. Just don’t ruin other communities and cities with your hedonism, your excess, and your politics.
I’m certain that if California seceded, one of the first things they would do would be to deny citizenship to the homeless and summarily deport them back to the US and after that they would jealously guard their borders.
I think this is worth re-posting. Thanks, Paulson, Bernanke, Yellen, Geithner, CONgress, etc…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvCGtxeknSg&feature=youtu.be
Who the hell would want to go cycling, jogging, walking the dog, etc. through the midst of all that?!
I’m sure most people avoid the area like the plague now. The guy who filmed it on his bike even gets yelled out by one of the homeless, perhaps because of his GoPro or something.
Bruce Willis… Death Wish 2018.
Right smack in Anaheim, in Disneyland’s backyard and right next to the Big A.
Really! That’s some shocking footage there…
“Denver’s housing market is described as “one of the most challenging” in one residential real estate report issued this week, and the available inventory for sale is near “crisis levels,” according to another report.
One report has Denver seeing a 25.8 percent decrease in homes listed for sale in the past year. That comes from Zillow, which said “the inventory shortage is approaching crisis levels.”
Earlier this month, Zillow reported that 39.5 percent of all Denver homes last year sold above the original asking price. That’s up from just 17.9 percent of all homes selling above list price in 2012.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2018/01/19/denvers-challenging-housing-market-inventory-near.html
“With Denver on the short list for Amazon.com Inc.’s second headquarters, concerns are being raised about the impact of a $5 billion, 50,000-worker campus in an area that is struggling with housing affordability.
Rental costs are on the rise, and a study today from Apartment List shows that Amazon HQ2 would increase those costs an additional 0.8 percent to 1.1 percent per year with the Amazon HQ2.
That percent range translates to between $7,751 and $11,452 for a typical Denver renter household over a ten year period.
To clarify, the 0.8 percent to 1.1 percent increase in rent is in addition to the baseline rent growth Denver has experienced without HQ2, which according to Apartment List averaged 4.8 percent per year from 2005 to 2015.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2018/01/19/how-would-amazon-hq2-affect-rent-in-denver.html
“Bitcoin buyers are the latest group being invited into Denver’s tough-to-get-into real estate market.
This month Cedar Crest Properties became one of the first companies in the country to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment from homebuyers. So far, nobody has taken the Denver-based company up on its offer.
Bitcoin and homeownership have both long felt inaccessible for many. It was Jason Nickel’s idea to put them together.
Nickel owns Cedar Crest Properties and has been a bitcoin holder since 2012.
“We believe we’re the first company in Denver to offer this,” he said. “We really want to help demystify these decentralized cryptocurrencies and encourage people to begin using them not just for larger purchases, like real estate, but also day-to-day transactions whenever possible.”
https://www.denverite.com/now-you-can-buy-a-home-in-colorado-with-bitcoin-47731/
Soooo … is the price in the contract stipulated in USD or bitcoin? I can only imagine that the escrow company would be just thrilled to get set up to accept bitcoin, convert it to USD to pay any taxes and other fees and liens due, etc.
This reeks of a publicity stunt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YCVZPBhrjQ
Crypto currency meets MLM culture.
I recall during the previous bubble that at the peak there were about 2000 homes for sale in my little burg. When checking today I see about 600. Last time prices didn’t surge all that much here, unlike during bubble 2.0. What I’m also seeing is smaller houses being build, but with a higher price per square foot. The 4000 sq foot McMansions from 10 years ago seem to have been displaced by 2500 square foot homes.
When prices are at all time highs and rising, inventory is low because most people don’t want to sell and miss out on more gains. The moment this thing stalls out and prices are reported to be falling, inventory is going to explode.
This time, at least in my little burg, there is a lot less new construction than last time. A lot less. If people aren’t selling, what’s stopping the builder boyz from making more? We have no shortage of land out here. But what little is build is “luxury”, 350K and up, unlike last time when they built thousands of plain vanilla “starter homes”, with vinyl floor, cheapo kitchen cabinets and formica countertops. Now it’s all hardwood, tile and granite countertops (not that it justifies charging 200K more than last time).
Perhaps the builder boys and the banks that finance them realize they can only sell so many 400K shacks, at least around here.
When prices are at all time highs and rising,
That’s BS. During 2005-2007, prices were rising much faster, and there were way more homes on the market.
The difference is that in 2005-2007, we were building 2MM units per year, and vacancy rates were much higher…you could easily sell and know that you could find another place to buy/rent/live.
We are now building many fewer homes, and in the highest priced markets, vacancy is very low. Who cares if the home you live in has a high price? Where you gonna go if you sell it?
Who cares if the home you live in has a high price? Where you gonna go if you sell it?
An RV, assisted living center, nursing home, or pass away?
Fundamentally, I don’t disagree with your analysis. I’m waiting (hoping) for some level of disruption in the housing technology (pre-fab, modular, etc.). The biggest wild card in my opinion is immigration policy, mortality rate, and the potential for self-driving to radically open up the feasibility of dramatically cheaper living options within commuting distance to urban hubs where the jobs are.
I know an educated, well-paid professional who cashed out for about $450k for her condo in CA and is now living out of a converted sprinter van. It’s probably an edge case and doesn’t work for very many, but I’ve read that the majority of households these days are singles. This would really work for a lot of people if they could get past the stigma. As housing prices (and rents) climb and climb, I think enough people at the margins will wonder why they are paying so much and getting so little.
They make more sense than a tiny house but your well paid professional paid north of 100k for that sprinter. Cheaper in total dollars but still not cheap. And yeah, yeah, gym membership, showers, walmart parking lots etc.
That gets old. Quickly.
I’ve read that the majority of households these days are singles.
Nonsense
Okay, I went back and tried to find where I read that. It appears that in urban areas with high cost housing markets, many of the rental households are single person. The original point was that these cities should push for a larger expansion of accessory dwelling units and micro-apartments for single professionals.
Nevertheless, 28% of households were single person in 2013, which is up from 6% 100 years ago.
http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/rise-single-person-household
Cheaper in total dollars but still not cheap. And yeah, yeah, gym membership, showers, walmart parking lots etc.
That gets old. Quickly.
Agreed. It’s not a glamorous lifestyle. But for some it beats nosebleed rents and being an indentured servant to mortgage debt. The thing that gets old to me is having to pay an overpriced mortgage, spending my weekend doing yard work, and having an HOA. Being a slave to one’s residence is worse than living live a nomad, in my opinion.
If they keep printing stuff like this, amazon HQ2 might not come!
A lot of people in Denver want them to stay away. Maybe Ft. Collins will welcome them?
Apartment 401: One report has Denver seeing a 25.8 percent decrease in homes listed for sale in the past year. That comes from Zillow, which said “the inventory shortage is approaching crisis levels.”
Interesting phenomenon: House prices rising, yet re-sale inventory dropping. Typically it’s goes the other way.
Existing house resale volume is quite high, reaching levels only seen on either side of the last bubble peak.
We’re advised that new home construction is low, but that with prices rising, why would that be?
Typically, when prices rise, inventory would rise. House prices have been on a tear since the 2010-ish trough.
Briskly rising prices, high sales volume, moderate new supply. From what I read, time on market is quite short typically. Sounds like houses are getting “snapped up”.
I’m starting to wonder if there’s an absolutely monstrous stock of houses on the Fed’s balance sheet, withheld from inventory and rotting away, because there’s no shortage of physical stock in these locations. I just passed through Nevada and there are still vacant houses everywhere, yet inventory is at record lows. Makes no sense.
I don’t see any vacant houses in my neighborhood. I did see a few back in 2008.
We know that wealth has become increasingly concentrated, and I think housing has become increasingly concentrated too. My non-scientific analysis is that I know several 70 year-olds who have two or three very nice homes (500k). They aren’t even used as investments and so no one is really living in these houses (no short-term rentals or leases). These are more 2nd homes in desirable locations for the winter and get-aways. These are wealthy people who can afford to sit on these properties and the carrying cost without having to generate cash flow by putting people in them. I’ll bet there are swarms of baby boomers who have accumulated 2 or 3 homes like this. In the next 10 years when mobility and falls become an issue and assisted living or skilled nursing homes become necessary, I would expect to see some pretty serious supply come onto the market.
Reminds me of Shanghai and how everybody that bought there years ago is sitting on houses technically worth millions now that only generate a tiny amount in rent. Less than 1% of the “value” per year. When I ask why they don’t sell, they say because it will be worth so much more next year. The rents suggest that can’t go on forever. Their experience so far makes them believe it can.
I would expect to see some pretty serious supply come onto the market.
That depends on the real denominator of your estimates - which you have admitted is skewed. I pay rent to my county’s real estate tax authority for a low quality $80K house (at best).
New supply is not “moderate”. It’s low.
My folks wanted to downsize…they held off listing their home because they didn’t think they could find another house timely. There needs to be a certain number of vacant homes and homes for sale in order for the market to function somewhat normally.
By the way, I’ve said many times why more homes aren’t being built, but no one wants to believe it…construction costs are too high in places like the Inland Empire…regardless of land prices.
Part of the high costs are finance costs…private builders are still being squeezed by lenders who are lending far less than prior eras, which requires more expensive equity as part of the financial structure.
Eventually prices will rise enough for it to make sense for builders to increase production…my sense is that we are getting close, but not there yet.
I bet we’re back to 1.6MM units per year by 2020.
‘With Bloomberg mulling whether Wednesday’s plunge marked the beginning of the end, and the top post on Reddit’s 500,000-strong cryptocurrency forum linking to the Suicide Prevention Hotline, one Twitter user made a dry observation. ‘It has to bounce because 1) the coinfreude is way too high 2) there is no f***ing way the market gods will let the chart look EXACTLY like the archetype bubble chart,’ wrote user Modest Proposal.’
Suicide Prevention Hotline - don’t do it joe, you can always earn some real cash washing my cars.
Liberace?
https://www.yelp.com/biz/paddles-nyc-new-york
‘It has to bounce because…’
This time is different.
So I watched the documentary (someone discussed here a few days ago) that the son did on his parents who had “invested” $100,000 in Beanie Babies to pay for their kid’s college education.
A very good documentary BTW and worth nine minutes of your time - but one section got to me.
They were busy buying Beanie Babies and EVERY time a model was “retired” by the Ty Corporation, the “value” of the model went from $5 to $35 on eBay. Every time. Without fail. It has almost become a “law” of nature.
Until one day, the Ty Corporation retired a model and it didn’t go up in value. At all.
And that was the end. Beanie Babies “retired” never went up in value ever again and the ones that were “retired” dropped to face value almost overnight.
And now you can buy almost all of them, dozens at a time in a pack, for a few bucks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgDsyj5eLmo
I watched it, too. They have a massive “collection.” The biggest problem for them as I see it, aside from the fact that they missed the boat insofar as re-selling them during the mania, is that stuffed animals don’t really bring much money in the vintage toy market like Hot Wheels and other things. So, 30 years down the road they’re probably going to still be worthless, whereas other toys of the era may actually be worth something.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the father who was the driving force in the whole operation has some sort of mental disorder. The kind of people who engage in extreme practices like that typically do.
I have a Beanie Baby staring at me from a shelf in my office at work. Maybe it will be worth something someday!
i thought u were unemployed?
That’s funny. I thought you were, too.
Branded collectibles almost always go worthless. A lady once asked me to sell her mother’s collection of Hallmark ornaments, and I politely declined. Didn’t have the heart to tell her they probably wouldn’t bring anywhere near what her mother had paid, so I just told her I didn’t do consignment. “But, you could make some money on commission!” Uh, no thanks.
The world is awash in Franklin Mint collector plates and stuff like that. I had a guy once tell me that he and his wife had collected Hummels for years as an investment and the collection wasn’t worth a darn anymore.
https://www.kovels.com/latest-news/10-collectibles-not-worth-collecting-anymore.html
Word to the wise: if some has to _tell_ you that it is a “collectible”, then it isn’t.
Easy come, easy go…
Heartbroken families ‘lose life savings’ in catastrophic crash of Bitconnect cryptocurrency
‘I’ve lost everything’. The crash left people penniless (Illustration: Getty images)
Jasper Hamill
Friday 19 Jan 2018 10:32 am
Cryptocurrency investors are claiming to have lost their life savings in a devastating crash which saw a £200 virtual coin become almost worthless overnight.
On Tuesday this week, the British firm behind a cryptocurrency called Bitconnect (BCC) announced that it was closing down its lending and exchange platform.
Despite promises to list BCC on other exchanges so trading could continue, the news sent the market into freefall.
The coin launched at the beginning of last year and went from being worth less than a cent to being valued at more than $400 (£287), with the total BCC market worth about $2.7 billion (£1.9 billion).
It was promoted by a bizarre and hilarious video showing a bald man called Carlos excitedly ranting about how much money he’s made.
The film features clapping and whooping but does not contain shots of an actual audience.
Bitconnect has been dogged by claims that it’s a Ponzi Scheme – the name for a type of scam practised by Bernie Madoff in which con artists pays old investors a return generated by cash pledged by new investors.
…
“I’ve lost everything.”
You haven’t lost everything until you see your wife in another man’s arms.
And that happens a lot.
When poverty walks in the door, love flies out the window.
When it a bubble is inflating, everyone who buys into it is a self-styled financial genius. When it crashes, someone else is always to blame.
Technology
CryptoNick And Other YouTubers Blamed For Bitcoin Price Crash
January 17, 2018 2:45 pm by Zachary Riley
While bitcoin prices were at record highs just a few weeks ago, the value continues to crash lower and lower, and people are not quite sure who to blame for the massive sell-off. YouTube personality CryptoNick is the most recent party under fire, with many people upset that he promoted an alleged “bitcoin Ponzi scheme”.
Alongside several other popular YouTube accounts, CryptoNick promoted and was sponsored by a cryptocurrency lending and exchange program known as Bitconnect. The platform fell apart yesterday, January 16, and is currently being labeled as a Ponzi scheme with many outraged calls for the company and its prominent supporters to face legal action.
CryptoNick is a 17-year-old YouTuber who has reportedly seen great success with the currency, describing himself as a “crypto millionaire.” The videos he posts normally include advice and guides on how to invest in cryptocurrency as well as which currencies are the best options to buy into at certain points in time. He also covers the process of actually mining bitcoin and other currencies. While most of his videos have a disclaimer at the bottom warning users that his advice is not a guarantee of profit, stating that these investment suggestions are biased and not a guarantee of profit, many viewers have found his actions of late questionable – and perhaps downright illegal, if the allegations of his involvement are true.
CryptoNick was apparently as shocked as the rest of his viewers were regarding Bitconnect’s collapse, posting a video where he said “I honestly can’t believe this happened guys, like I said it’s been a great platform and it’s officially coming to an end. No more Bitconnect to anyone who’s always hated on the platform… I’m still shocked, I’m still trying to take this all in. I really don’t have much to say.”
…
If anybody’s listening to this tool, they deserve to lose every penny they invest. A 17 year old pimping crypto? Please… This is almost worse than Casey Serin.
The Financial Times
Opinion Bitcoin
I told you investing in bitcoin was a bad idea
The cryptocurrency boom is as obvious a speculative mania as markets have ever seen
Merryn Somerset Webb
The market capitalisation of the Bitcoin Investment Trust is today worth $1.45bn
January 18, 2018
There goes bitcoin. The world’s most popular cryptocurrency has spent much of the past week in the grip of an old-fashioned crash.
Its value peaked just before Christmas at $19,434 per virtual coin. By this week, it had plunged to more like $9,000. Down more than 50 per cent in a month and many, many billions along the way.
Bitcoin isn’t the only one to have flipped. Other well-known cryptocurrencies, Ripple, Ethereum and Litecoin, are having a torrid time too.
This will have come as absolutely no surprise to anyone with more than a decade of experience in any market. We have pointed out that the cryptocurrency boom has been about as obvious a speculative mania as markets have ever seen. We have noted over and over that a private crypto can’t ever be money for the simple reason that governments won’t allow it to be — this crash may have been triggered by talk of banning bitcoin trading in South Korea.
We have refused to accept the idea that cryptos are somehow like gold — money that isn’t government-sponsored, but is still universally accepted as a global store of value.
Gold has many thousands of years of history as money. It is approved by central banks (they all hold vast hoards of it). It has a genuinely limited supply (algorithms can be changed, a couple of billion years of geology cannot). And it has an intrinsic value (you can make stuff with it).
Cryptocurrencies have none of these things. But here’s the thing. None of this means you shouldn’t be interested in the crypto boom bubble and bust. Perhaps the world of money is changing and perhaps buying cryptos is a long-term way to build your wealth.
Maybe this seeming crash is a mere stumble on the road to total monetary domination. I doubt it. But those regular readers who keep lists of my mistakes might add this one in pencil just in case. The point is that if you want to increase your long-term wealth faster than most other people, it is worth keeping a constant eye out for the next big thing.
Bitcoin’s existential crisis
An interesting reminder of this comes from a new paper from Hendrik Bessembinder of the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. His conclusion is that most of the things we invest in aren’t worth the candle. By his calculations, 58 per cent of stocks return less than one-month Treasury bills over their lifetimes and “the entire gain in the US stock market since 1926 is attributable to the best-performing 4 per cent of listed stocks”.
Outperforming the market as a whole is only possible if you hold those stocks. For investors that can mean one of two things. You can recognise that separating brilliant from overhyped is really hard — something bitcoin investors may be grasping this week as, until recently, making money in cryptos had looked pretty easy.
…
The thing is, it’s still trading between $11,000 and $13,000 - an absolutely nosebleed level. I am shocked that the crash somehow stopped at that price. It’s really gone nowhere the past 3 days or so.
From the womyn’s march in Cleveland yesterday, this sign’s caption reads:
“Stopping DACA and limiting immigrants of color block future votes for the Democrat Party”
http://image.cleveland.com/home/cleve-media/width480/img/plain-dealer/photo/2018/01/20/women-march-5jpg-2da2c404697243b4.jpg
Yup.
+1
The former top House Republican [Newt Gingrich], who said he is personally not opposed to amnesty for the young undocumented immigrants
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gingrich-on-shutdown-trump-thinks-hes-winning/ar-AAuXL29
I’m confused what the liberal and conservative positions are on these issues. No I’m not.
Could be a head fake.
Smells like….desperation.
Wither Uncle Buck?
Will A Government Shut Down Kill The U.S. Dollar?
Kathy Lien, January 19, 2018, 04:15:27 PM EDT
This past week, many major currencies climbed to fresh multi-month and multi-year highs against the U.S. dollar. The Australian dollar and British pound were the best performers, adding 1% to their gains. The euro, Canadian dollar and Japanese Yen lagged behind but still managed to eek out small profits in what became the fifth consecutive week of declines in the Dollar Index. There wasn’t much in the way of U.S. data but the showdown in Washington kept investors out of the U.S. dollar. Looking ahead, we’ll know how everything plays out by Monday with the outcome of the dual political risks in U.S. and Germany determining how currencies will trade in the front of the week. EUR/USD will be the biggest mover as not only do the ramifications of these events directly affect it but there’s also a European Central Bank monetary policy meeting on the calendar. Commodity currencies are finally looking tired after a relentless uptrend this past month that saw very little corrections. We could easily see a cent pullback in the AUD/USD and NZD/USD on nothing more than profit taking.
…
Kill the USD?
And replace it with what?
Trump wants a lower dollar. It will help him bring back manufacturing jobs as opposed to the eight years of obama coffee slinger jobs.
Eventually, Germany and Britain are going to cry uncle. And so it goes for the last 50 years once Nixon closed the gold window.
And remember, China’s currency is pegged to the dollar. So they love the drop too.
“And replace it with what?”
Bitcoin. D’oh…
I guess that could be inflationary as folks have to pay more for imports.
If u look at the basket of currencies the dollar is compared to the euro is like 57%. Has the Euro been going up?
The chinese money isnt even in the basket. Thats where a lot of imports at walmart come from.
Does this mean the pboc will have to do something to keep the peg?
If a chinese merchant sells their product and gets dollars the PBOC has been doing the exchange for the merchant. So if the dollar falls in relation to the yuan or rembini thats trouble for merchants. Thats why the PBOC has printed lots of money to buy dollars that have ended up converted to treasuries.
The real measure of the dollar is vs gold. How is that doing?
It sure has inflated the value of the international stock mutual funds I bought into a couple of years ago!
Is it just a coincidence that my USPS package tracking is now showing “In Transit Delayed” after being “In Transit to Destination” for 5 days? What a mistake it was using the postal service to send this. It is an important item.
Call the 1-800 customer service #. Seriously. Had that problem recently and it got resolved.
Just for fun:
“Denver is the worst city for dating in 2017 because too many Mile High City men make little or no effort when it comes to what they’re doing, where they’re going or how they dress, speak or act during such outings. In general, these lazy slackers would just as soon hang out with their bros than treat a date like she’s special. And while this behavior exasperates plenty of women, most of these potential partners let them get away with it.”
http://www.westword.com/news/denver-named-worst-city-for-dating-2017-9737648
Why should men bother making any effort when the majority of single women in Denver are more interested in curating their Instagram profile of their allegedly fabulous life than in having any kind of actual personality or interests and hobbies besides brunch and Netflix?
LOLZ
Forget the media, women are marketing and treating themselves as pieces of meat. LMAO.
“women are marketing and treating themselves as pieces of meat”
You’re almost there: women are marketing and treating themselves as pieces of meat — and then crying feminism and equality and #metoo if a guy takes them up of their offer of meat.
Effing hypocrites, every one of them.
You’re a good woman, oxide. Best to you.
Need not worry. Pendulums tend to swing both ways. Women will soon be charged and sued for “Enticement”.
Banishing can u use for enticement in small claims court?
Unknown. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. All you need are cameras and a harassment complaint from the enticer herself.
Who’s to say she isn’t to blame for showing off 2/3 of her breasts? Especially if she’s the one filing the complaint?
It may be possible to sue women for emotional harassment as well.
Since the day I was born, all I’ve ever heard is that men are the problem. Are we sure about that?
IMO this third wave feminazi movement is led by a certain (((mafia))) of the -not that theres anything wrong with it- persuasion that hates women. Look at how (((it))) dresses them up in fashion shows, taking the unhealthiest, drugged up looking freaks and dressing them in the ugliest stuff no red blooded non-crooked guy could ever dream of. Now they’re shifting to promoting disgusting pigs as the feminine ideal.
And to create this movement with the right to 1) be an amateur strumpet, 2) kill your kids, and 3) blame men for everything bad that happens for all of time is pretty insane. Now they march with stupid hats probably made by slave labor in china, wanting more illegals in this country - I guess to drive down their wages and rape, rob and kill them more often. Truly bizarre world.
The irony is men are bailing and these women, if given the opportunity, will let in muslims which will quickly apply an attitude adjustment. Europe is leading the way.
+1
“+1″
That’s odd coming from someone who chose a country with a flag that has a bear on it.
You mis-read him, jeff—he said he knew which one he would NOT choose, the one with the bear. Go re-read.
I see lots of cats and box wine in Denver’s future…
*****
“‘Here’s what we want you to do. We love you guys, and we think you’re awesome. You have so much potential. But you need to do this, this and this’ — and if they say that, I think the guys will do it. I think they’ll jump through the hoop. They’re trainable, but they’re not being trained by the women in Denver. So that’s partially on them. Actually, it’s a lot on them.”
Women can scorn men now because Government has assumed the role of “Daddy”.
It’s precisely why crapola like the Womyn’s March take place in the first place. None of those women are independent. They’re all dependents. On their new Daddy.
“Women” programs proliferate and teem everywhere in our society now. Giveaways, subsidies and court decisions are heavily directed toward and in favor of women. College campuses, “harassment” charges, and military service. All heavily skewed to benefit women.
Womyn Marches are all about preserving this “independence”. And these womyn are VERY willing to subjugate themselves to whatever Government says in order to keep this “independence”.
They WANT to subjugate themselves to Government. ANYTHING to be independent of a man. No matter how detrimental that subjugation might be.
Abject stupidity it is.
MGTOW.
Why play the game, when “victory” means a lifetime of scorn?
I’ll remember this next time the Alumni Association asks me for money:
“As 1000s of Women’s March protesters gather in cities across America on the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration, a class taught this spring at Ohio State University will review a parade of reasons why white heterosexual masculinity is allegedly problematic, tackling the topic from the constructs of racial issues, bullying, pop culture, societal expectations and much more, according to its syllabus.
The course is ultimately presented as a study in “feminist masculinity” that seeks to explain how ideas about masculinity “simultaneously harm yet privilege” men, the syllabus states. It also aims to explain how “beliefs regarding masculinity serve to justify certain kinds of violence by men against others, and violence against particular groups of men.”
The course was created and is taught by Jonathan Branfman. Branfman is a doctoral candidate in Ohio State’s Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and a recent recipient of a 2017-18 Presidential Fellowship, the most prestigious award given to students by the OSU Graduate School, according the the department’s website.
Branfman is also author of the new children’s book “You Be You!” intended for 7- to 12-year-olds that gives parents a “simple and accessible way” to introduce children to gender and sexual identity “in hopes of decreasing stigmas associated with the LGBTQ community,” the Lantern campus newspaper reports.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-20/women-march-ohio-state-course-reprimands-white-heterosexual-masculinity
Don’t worry, Apartment 101. Should there ever be a ground war in the United States, men will still be counted on to sacrifice their lives to protect women.
There’s still that feather to put in your hat. Wear it well.
“Jonathan Branfman”
Which letter of LGBTQ etc describes him?
That’s quite the website… hehe.
Isn’t it? Entertaining to say the very least.
It was an individual lifestyle choice before it was a “movement” or a website. My college ex-girlfriend’s dad has been a widower for over 20 years. She tells me he has never dated and has no interest in relationships since then. He builds furniture in his basement workshop, works on his collection of classic MG convertibles, and spends time with his children and grandchildren.
According to the Wikipedia definition of “Toxic Masculinity,” self-reliance is one of its defining characteristics.
PUA, MGTOW, Red Pill, etc are rational reactions to the sexual marketplace of contemporary USA.
It is estimated that 20% of all American women age 40 and under do not, and will never have children.
There is a societal sea change happening, and rather than scrutinize the reasons behind it, the corporate media and social media would rather just ignore them and point fingers, label it “Alt-Right,” and continue publishing articles bemoaning where have all the good men gone?
I love women. Just not enough to marry one, cohabitate, or combine finances. Thank 3rd wave feminism and no-fault divorce laws.
Bed. Made. Lie.
Any career bachelor is seen as a success. He resisted the siren song of love! Any career spinster is seen as a failure. She wasn’t able to land a man.
Women could use a little more equality in that area…
Women could use a little more equality in that area
Men don’t seem to care one way or the other. Spinsters are shamed by other women. Other than forcing men to marry at gunpoint, I don’t see how this can be accomplished.
Oxide-
I agree with Colorado here. Men don’t care one way or the other if women are spinsters. Perhaps women size one another up that way? I don’t know.
It’s about status, which is also why women don’t “marry down”. They need to marry a man who is even more successful than they are, otherwise they “settled”, and that makes them losers (in the eyes of other women).
Men don’t care if women are spinsters… I dunno, go ask Apt 401 who can’t seem to spend a day refraining from mocking single women by bringing up the cats and the box wine. Maybe he’s taking revenge?
He isn’t typical. My sister is a spinster, and I don’t think any less of her. Most men don’t talk about that so and so is a spinster, it doesn’t register on their radars.
I think that perhaps 401’s focus on cats and boxed wine might stem from his extreme distaste for feminism. I would suggest you ask him. Personally, I don’t care for feminists either, but I don’t think about them too much and simply keep my distance from them in social settings, as I often find them to be unpleasant.
Oxide, can I just say that I’m so glad you’re on this blog. Your perspective is a breath of fresh air.
“I love women. Just not enough to marry one, cohabitate, or combine finances. Thank 3rd wave feminism and no-fault divorce laws.”
It’s just too easy to get into a $450k spec house and a $40k mini van… just sign the papers. Next up… the dead bedroom.
Any career bachelor is seen as a success. He resisted the siren song of love! Any career spinster is seen as a failure. She wasn’t able to land a man.
YMMV. There is no way to make sense of popular culture.
Three thoughts.
Buying the dip didn’t work.
Everyone is a genius riding up a bubble
That is a heck of a butterfly flapping
And I am guessing real estate was central to this
******
Chinese Investors Find Out They Got Fleeced By A $7 Billion Ponzi Scheme
ZeroHedge - 01/21/2018
On Monday we got the latest “big” news out of China when Beijing announced it had arrested 21 people over a $7.6 billion P2P fraud Ezubao. 900,000 people were defrauded, making the fiasco the biggest ponzi scheme in history by number of victims.
Ezubao’s model was simple: they pitched the “business” as a P2P lending company through which investors could fund a variety of projects. The problem: 95% of the projects didn’t exist. Ezubao just made them up and used the new money to repay existing investors who were promised annual returns of between 9% and 15%.
…….
Castro Valley, CA Housing Prices Crater 6% YOY As Housing Demand Plummets To 20 Year Low
https://www.movoto.com/castro-valley-ca/market-trends/
Ah, the twists and turns of the crypto mania…
“Venezuela’s opposition-run parliament on Tuesday outlawed a “petro” cryptocurrency promoted by socialist President Nicolas Maduro, calling it an effort to illegally mortgage the cash-strapped country’s oil reserves. ”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy/venezuelas-congress-declares-petro-cryptocurrency-illegal-idUSKBN1EY2H2
How ’bout that !
And no mention of Iran behind door 4.
Very long article published 3 months ago asks:
What’s so bad about gentrification anyway?
“We’ve written a lot about gentrification here at Denverite, and there’s this underlying assumption in a lot of that writing that gentrification is bad — or at least fraught. But we also write about the latest bar and restaurant openings and fancy new ice cream and high-priced developments coming online.
So when a reader submitted this question — “What’s so bad about gentrification?” — I thought it was worth taking seriously, even though it caused many of the long-time residents I interviewed to laugh, like Cruz did, or sigh with a patience that is wearing thin.
In many ways, Denver is doing well. During the Great Recession, the city cut services, furloughed employees and struggled to maintain an adequate rainy day fund. But now — and for several years running — Denver is adding employees, expanding services from recycling and composting to library and rec center hours and planning for massive infrastructure investments made possible by rising property values. The city expects to end this year with more than 20 percent of its revenue unspent and maintains a 15 percent budget reserve without breaking a sweat. Unemployment is among the lowest in the country, and hundreds of people move here every month.
What could be wrong with that?
Displacement.
That’s the one-word answer to “What’s so bad about gentrification?” People who called this city home for generations can’t afford it anymore and are decamping for Aurora and Thornton and places much further afield. But that one word doesn’t really evoke the human costs described to me in interviews with more than a dozen people. Those who remain feel like outsiders in their own communities — looked at with suspicion by people who moved in just a few years ago. There’s a loss of cultural diversity and a rending of the social fabric of these communities and the city as a whole.”
https://www.denverite.com/whats-bad-gentrification-anyway-42920/
They can all move to Aurora
What I don’t get is why anyone would want to live in 5 Points.
There ain’t nothin’ wrong with gentrificaSHUN. They should expel all ungentrified folk and then let gentrified folk change their own oil ….
And also…..send all those paw folk back where they belong.
Do the markets really care about the government being shut down? It seems like the stock market actually went up during the 2013 shutdown.
10-year Treasury yield settles at 3-year high as shutdown fears weigh on bonds
By Sunny Oh
Published: Jan 19, 2018 4:48 p.m. ET
Yields on rise as investors weigh government shutdown threat
Treasury yields rose on Friday even as investors watched Washington drama that could culminate in the first government shutdown in five years as the Senate prepares to take up a short-term spending bill. For the week, however, a rise in yields was supported by further signs of rising inflation.
What did Treasurys do?
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed 2.8 basis points to 2.639%, its highest close since July 2014, according to WSJ Market Data. The yield for the benchmark maturity rose 8.7 basis points this week.
The 2-year note yield was up 1.5 basis points to 2.058%, contributing to a 5.7 basis point increase for the week.
The 30-year bond yield rose 2.5 basis points to 2.913%, extending a 5.8 basis point weeklong climb.
Bond prices move inversely to yields.
What drove markets?
Market participants said the chances of a stopgap spending bill clearing the Senate has diminished amid growing tensions between the Democrats and Republicans. If lawmakers don’t pass the bill by Friday, the government will go into a partial shutdown this weekend. The Senate is set to put the short-term spending measure to a vote after the House passed the bill on Thursday.
See: A government shutdown ‘could reintroduce investors to the fact that markets go down’
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“Do the markets really care about the government being shut down?”
I have yet to come across anyone, anywhere that cares more about government shutdowns than you.
No kidding.
fURlougH
Nightly Business Report (run by CNBC) covered this on Friday. Historically, the stock market hasn’t cared.
“Mortgage payments amounted to 68 per cent of median monthly income in the third quarter, compared with an average of 45 percent between 1997 and 2016.”
Isn’t 30 percent considered a prudent limit on mortgage payments as a share of income? These people are asking to have their assed handed to them. Poor victims…
they were duped!
Everyone wants to live in Hong Kong
You too could live in a cage home in Hong Kong!
http://www.cnn.com/style/article/luxury-cage-homes-hong-kong/index.html
“Yesterday, Chan recalled the “very painful and unforgettable experience” of the property bubble bursting and cited the role of loose credit in creating bubbles, without commenting on the current market.”
Will the Hong Kong Monetary Authority let debtors walk away, or will their organs be harvested and auctioned on eBay?
Snoqualmie, WA Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY As Inventory Floods Market
https://www.movoto.com/snoqualmie-wa/market-trends/
u would make a great employee!
DebtDonkey
Oakton, VA Housing Prices Crater 7% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/oakton-va/market-trends/
And I went to a doctor who specializes in curing Crypto-mania and he listened to my story and advised me to put my money in Wells Fargo and I asked him about the 300,000 fake accounts they created and he said; “That’s fake news,” and he added, “so is the story about Alibaba’s pyramid scheme”, and, finally out of frustration, I asked: “What’s real?” He looked at me and in a loving manner responded: “The amount you pay for the recommended vitamins we want you to take for the rest of your trading life.”
….. And he prescribed TrumpCream.
90% of bitcoin’s value could get wiped out, Wall Street veteran Peter Boockvar warns
Stephanie Landsman | @stephlandsman
Published 4 Hours Ago CNBC.com
Bitcoin could soon implode, warns bear Peter Boockvar
Wall Street veteran Peter Boockvar predicts an epic crash will hit the cryptocurrency market.
He isn’t sure if it’ll come to a grinding halt or be a slow and steady drop — but he says it’s coming.
Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, is certain crypto is in a giant bubble, and the air is already coming out.
“When something goes parabolic like this has, it typically ends up to where that parabola began,” he said on CNBC’s “Futures Now.”
…
Boockvar:
“When something goes parabolic ….it typically ends up to where that parabola began”
So logic would dictate that AMZN is going to where it began since its chart is displaying a parabolic rise as well.
* *
With no gov’t oversight or control you live in a caveat emptor universe. That seems to be what people want now. No more Socialism to hold you back….just Capitalism.
To a man who has traded Futures for forty years, crypto was nothing new. You bet on corn, oj, wheat….No one takes “delivery.”
What’s of interest is why people are so pissed-off now by coins? Do you really think they are concerned about the welfare of others? Really?
I didn’t hear anyone complaining about 8% college loans being given to their children. Why not?
Bitcoin stories now are tripping over each other. And the discomfort, venom and anger is staggering.
———————————————————–
How much have you lost, alphonso?
Alphonso, since you’re one of the crypto enthusiasts, I think you would enjoy this article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/magazine/beyond-the-bitcoin-bubble.html
I read it a few days ago and it opened my mind to why people are excited about the technology behind new protocols. The article doesn’t pull any punches and explains how the promise of the blockchain technology is being undermined by charlatans:
And herein lies the cognitive dissonance that confronts anyone trying to make sense of the blockchain: the potential power of this would-be revolution is being actively undercut by the crowd it is attracting, a veritable goon squad of charlatans, false prophets and mercenaries. Not for the first time, technologists pursuing a vision of an open and decentralized network have found themselves surrounded by a wave of opportunists looking to make an overnight fortune. The question is whether, after the bubble has burst, the very real promise of the blockchain can endure.
I think it can. Whether it’s the blockchain that endures, or some other form like hashgraph, distributed ledger technology is the wave of the future, IMO.
Sure, anything new like this will attract charlatans and grifters. My buddy follows someone called Bix Weir faithfully and feels he has the best advice.
Like I said, he’s done OK. Pulled his initial investment out and plays with what he’s got now, which seems to go up and down between $14,000 and $20,000 spread out over a number of coins. He also buys some physical silver every so often.
If it was me, I would have cashed out of that, but he’s determined to HODL. I hope it works out for him.
“Pulled his initial investment out”….
Indeed.
So he says. Supposedly it wasn’t much, $2500 is what he told me.
I don’t know where else you can get a return like that. I sure couldn’t.
I dunno.
Each one of my answers has two questions attached to it.
We live in strange times.
Not an enthusiast. It’s a trading vehicle. Nothing more nor less.
When I was younger I thought people betting on dogs and horses was ridiculous. Then I had the misfortune of being three houses down from a vocal fighting rooster.
So be it.
The question is whether, after the bubble has burst, the very real promise of the blockchain can endure.
Sure. The internet endured after 2000. If it’s useful it will stick around. Sounds like there is an efficiency issue that may interfere with scaling up the way it’s currently implemented though. Transactions needed to be able to be fully recorded for no more than a penny or two worth of electricity.
This doesn’t seem like a sustainable model for a noncurrency. Who is paying the huuge electricity bill?
5 mins ago
bitcoin
BENITEZ | The Real Cost of Bitcoin
By Lorenzo Benitez
Bitcoin mining consumed nearly one percent of the United States’ electricity last year. Globally, Bitcoin’s estimated yearly power usage is greater than that of Ireland, or 30 times more than that of Tesla vehicles. Considering this, one wonders whether the societal benefits of the world’s foremost cryptocurrency offsets its significant energy consumption, which expedites greater, existential risks like irreversible climate change. Does Bitcoin justify its power bill?
First, while Bitcoin is often described as an emerging currency, its illiquidity — you can’t just buy groceries with it — makes it as an asset best-likened to gold. Throughout his annual shareholder letters, Warren Buffett repeatedly disavows acquiring gold, arguing that it isn’t something he can evaluate as a non-income-generating asset. Indeed, as a value investor, Buffett has always been wary of evaluating an asset based on market expectations, which are impossible to predict. Despite attempts to calculate Bitcoin’s intrinsic value, the extent to which ambiguous probability governs its future enthusiasm therefore shows Bitcoin has two purposes: being a store of value, and being another volatile asset on which speculators can bet.
Nobel economics laureate Robert Shiller recently explained in a New York Times article how few people use Bitcoin as a store of value. But even then, it still doesn’t offer a unique comparative advantage over other assets. Gold’s price offers a similar freedom from monetary policy — and, unlike Bitcoin, isn’t susceptible to a cyberattack. (If anything, Bitcoin’s value is always compared against fiat currencies, and so demand for it cannot totally escape the impact of monetary policy decisions.) At least the dollar retains value so long as there is public trust in the state. And even the currency of prisons, cigarettes, is supported by material utility.
On the other hand, as a speculative instrument, neither does Bitcoin offer a unique advantage. If it is Bitcoin’s volatility you love, there are other highly-volatile assets and derivatives on which to speculate, and it is always possible to adjust your portfolio’s volatility by adopting varying degrees of leverage.
…
When I am in need of a bellylaugh all I need to do is read an article about bitcoin or simply look at a bitcoin price chart.
Burning stupidity.
Go here…
http://news.usa.tomato-timer.com/news/cryptos-are-crashing-again#.WmYKCdiv-yQ
Wow, they’re not even pretending anymore. Walking piece of vomit.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-21/chilean-catholics-stunned-pope-accuses-child-sex-abuse-victims-slander
He was defending a particular cleric. In his own words, he wanted to see proof. FWIW, accusing someone without offering proof is slander.
I have no idea if the accused cleric was guilty or not, but Francis definitely could have handled that better. For someone who comes across as being both caring and liberal, he behaved in a very ham fisted way.
A lot of Catholics, both lay people and clerics, do not like him and can’t wait for his reign to come to an end. This incident will only add to the reasons he is disliked.
He has been criticized by his own bishops on many occasions and he has already been attacked by them for this monumental gaffe. The guy is 81, maybe he isn’t playing with a full deck anymore. His predecessor had the wisdom to retire before senility set in, perhaps Francis should do the same.
Colorado, I almost always agree with you. On this I just can’t.
To my knowledge, we never had this particular problem in my parish. The problem we had was the suburban married ladies who always flirted with a couple of the younger, good looking priests. They were really obvious about it, too.
I fail to see the connection between ladies who flirt with Priests and the fact that Francis is a lousy Pope.
I know plenty of people who are upset with Francis’ liberal wishy washiness and know of some who are attending the local Greek Orthodox parish because of him. I also know people who are just fine with Francis. I never said that the church is demanding his head, but he’s no John Paul II.
know of some who are attending the local Greek Orthodox parish because of him
Long before Francis, there was Rod Dreher’s defection.
Long before Francis, there was Rod Dreher’s defection.
Ha, small world—I went to HS with Rod.
Bayside Queens, NY Housing Prices Crater 13% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/bayside-ny/market-trends/
Latest Trump rumor: Stormy Daniels says Trump liked to spank her during sex with a rolled up copy of Forbes magazine that had his picture on the cover.
I laughed so hard when I heard that one, I could barely breathe for a couple of minutes. They are really getting desperate. #ReleaseTheMemo.
is the shutdown costing or saving us money?
is the shutdown costing or saving us money?
Yes!