May 29, 2009

Bits Bucket For May 29, 2009

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319 Comments »

Comment by palmetto
2009-05-29 04:20:38

Debt to America!

Comment by ATE-UP
2009-05-29 04:23:02

Good Morning Palmy! Humid and hot there yet?

Comment by palmetto
2009-05-29 04:31:56

Mornin’, ATE! Yep, we’re pretty soggy and steamy. But you need to get yourself down here soon, maybe in the fall? Where are you living now?

Comment by ATE-UP
2009-05-29 04:34:07

St. Louis Palmy. I dislike it. But had to come back and take care of Mom till she passed. We’ll talk some as the summer progresses…

Ya Bud,

ATE

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Comment by palmetto
2009-05-29 04:46:56

ATE, keep watching the areas you like. You can get an older, concrete block shack for a song these days up in West Pasco, and I think it’s going to get even better.

Prices have dropped somewhat here in South Hillsborough, but I’m not going to pull the trigger until I see at least $50,000 to $60,000 on those shacks. My insurance agent says they’re going to $30,000 to $50,000.

 
Comment by ATE-UP
2009-05-29 04:54:57

OK Palmy, and thank you a lot for your help.

 
Comment by Odin
2009-05-29 05:12:28

I live over in Pinellas county and it still seems as though people are living in 2005. Prices have come down some but they haven’t reached reality yet. I live in Tarpon Springs in a rented townhouse and I am starting to fear that the owner will be foreclosed on any day. He bought the entire row of townhouses from the builder, who has since gone under. We are starting to see the signs:

-No upkeep on the grounds
-slow responses to maintenance requests
-people moving out/evicted and places remain empty

 
Comment by Ol'Bubba
2009-05-29 05:14:17

Palmy-
What’s the skinny on Pinellas County?

 
Comment by palmetto
2009-05-29 05:22:15

Bubba, I think Muggy could give you a better read on Pinellas. He’s been doing a pretty good job of following that county and has posted some great info. I expect he’ll be along any minute.

I just happen to know a little about Pasco County because I had an interest in East Pasco at one time. In the course of researching, stuff about Holiday, New Port Richey and Port Richey came up and then I got fascinated by the sinkhole phenomena in the Spring Hill area of Hernando.

 
Comment by palmetto
2009-05-29 05:25:08

I would expect there is some good value in some of the older concrete block, non-subdivision homes in Pinellas, though.

 
Comment by rainmayun
2009-05-29 07:19:21

My mother lives in one of those sinkholed houses in Spring Hill. She was in such a hurry to sign the papers that she wouldn’t let my brother come up from Ft. Lauderdale to look them over and figure out why the property had been on the market for 6 months and why it was so cheap - and this was 2005. Now she’s got the blues over the property problems - she wants to move, but nobody will buy it now.

 
Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2009-05-29 09:18:47

Buy in haste; repent at leisure.

 
Comment by Muggy
2009-05-29 11:37:23

“Bubba, I think Muggy could give you a better read on Pinellas.”

I’ll get more in-depth next time Ben has a Florida thread — been here since 2005 and I think it’s still nuts.

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 14:49:56

St. Louis Palmy. I dislike it. But had to come back and take care of Mom till she passed.

Oh, dear, ATE. That’s not an easy situation. Sorry to hear this.

 
Comment by ATE-UP
2009-05-29 18:07:20

Thank you Oly.

 
 
 
 
Comment by mikey
2009-05-29 08:29:04

Now you swear and kick and beg us that you’re not a gamblin’ man;
Then you find you’re back in Vegas with a handle in your hand
Your black cards can bring you money so you hide them when you’re able
In the land of milk and honey you must put them on the table

You go back, Jack, do it again, wheels turnin’ ’round and ’round
You go back, Jack, do it again

Hey now get back truckin’ home.
;)

 
Comment by tresho
2009-05-29 17:12:04

>Ahmadinejad hands out potatoes
Mr Ahmadinejad’s opponents accuse it of bribing the poor. “Death to potatoes,” they chant at rallies.

 
Comment by az_lender
2009-05-29 18:40:11

“Debt to America!” — HAHA gotta remember that one.

 
 
Comment by packman
2009-05-29 04:29:18

Whoa! What happened with currency markets during the night? Dollar down to 79.6, Gold up to 976. (Hmm - I just noticed the correlation there). Crude up to 66.

Did the Fed announce something?

Comment by cobaltblue
2009-05-29 05:30:12

From Karl Denninger’s Market-Ticker:

“Last evening CNBC broke into their regular programming to have Steve Liesman announce that The Fed “is not targeting interest rates on the long end.”

This, of course, was in response to the action in the market Wednesday, and the widespread expectation that The Fed would intervene immediately - but it did not.

This statement from “people with knowledge of the matter” is rather curious given the March FOMC Statement in which it was said:

To provide greater support to mortgage lending and housing markets, the Committee decided today to increase the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet further by purchasing up to an additional $750 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities, bringing its total purchases of these securities to up to $1.25 trillion this year, and to increase its purchases of agency debt this year by up to $100 billion to a total of up to $200 billion. Moreover, to help improve conditions in private credit markets, the Committee decided to purchase up to $300 billion of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months.

That sure sounds like trying to “buy down” the rate to me! After all, what else would you be doing with this?

Credit is always available - all anyone ever argues about is the price, and price is comprised of inflation expectations and risk of not being paid back.

As such that paragraph above is an explicit statement of intervention for the explicit purpose of trying to manage the price of credit - that is, demanded interest rates, and claims to the contrary are a flat lie.

If you’re wondering if that “little disruption” is material, here’s what Mr. Mortgage, interviewed last week on TickerGuy’s Blogtalk Radio had to say about it:

Yesterday, the mortgage market was so volatile that banks and mortgage bankers across the nation issued multiple midday price changes for the worse, leading many to ultimately shut down the ability to lock loans around 1pm PST. This is not uncommon over the past five months, but not that common either. Lenders that maintained the ability to lock loans had rates UP as much as 75bps in a single day. Jumbo GSE money — $417k - $729,750 — has been blown out completely with some lender’s at 8%. I have seen it all in the mortgage world — well, I thought I had.”

The bottom line is, inflationary expectations are beginning to appear in long rates, short rates, and PM prices more strongly now, than in the last six months. This is despite the Quantitative Easing policy the Fed started.
Some like Denninger say we are at a deflation/inflation turning point.

Comment by packman
2009-05-29 07:29:35

To provide greater support to mortgage lending and housing markets, the Committee decided today to increase the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet further by purchasing up to an additional $750 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities, bringing its total purchases of these securities to up to $1.25 trillion this year, and to increase its purchases of agency debt this year by up to $100 billion to a total of up to $200 billion. Moreover, to help improve conditions in private credit markets, the Committee decided to purchase up to $300 billion of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months.

Those numbers are already-existing old numbers are they not? There’s nothing new that I see there, that wasn’t already announced at least 1-2 months ago.

Unless it’s talking about those being *additional* to the already-planned numbers. That would be odd since the numbers are exactly the same though - at least the $1.25 Trillion of MBS and $300 Billion of treasuries are.

 
Comment by dude
2009-05-29 08:30:22

“This is despite the Quantitative Easing policy the Fed started.”

That should read, “This is because of the Quantitative Easing policy the Fed started.”

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 08:36:37

bold off.

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Comment by mikey
2009-05-29 06:47:39

From Wisconsin… “Wake-up Call–REALITY is Here !”

12% of mortgages delinquent or in foreclosure
By Paul Gores of the Journal Sentinel

“A record 12% of all mortgages in the U.S. were delinquent or already in foreclosure at the end of the first quarter of this year, a situation that probably won’t improve until unemployment stops rising, a report released Thursday said.

The national delinquency rate on residential property loans was 8.22% and the foreclosure rate was 3.85%, according to a quarterly survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Although the housing slump started with defaults on subprime loans to borrowers with questionable credit, it has been spreading to borrowers with good credit who have lost their jobs and now can’t make house payments, the trade group said. Fixed-rate prime mortgage loans in foreclosure have doubled in the last year and represent the largest share of new foreclosures.

“More than anything else, this points to the impact of the recession and drops in employment on mortgage defaults,” said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association.

…In a separate survey, Andy Lewis, a community development specialist who is tracking Wisconsin foreclosures for the University of Wisconsin Extension, reported that foreclosure cases in the state surged 29% between the first quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009. About 23% of the state’s 7,693 foreclosures are in Milwaukee County.

Job cuts are taking a bigger toll on homeowners’ ability to keep up with their monthly payments, Lewis said in an interview Thursday.

“The rising unemployment rates are clearly a problem,” Lewis said. “We already know that the top two reasons why people face foreclosure are illness or loss of income. So with unemployment now approaching double digits, certainly that’s everybody’s fear.”

http://tinyurl.com/mwwh94

Comment by tgun
2009-05-29 10:29:16

Sounds familar. The wonderous “it’s different here” twin cities of Minneapolis & St. Paul are experiencing the same thing as our friends in the Milwaukee metro.

Not so different after all…

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 07:42:41

“Did the Fed announce something?”

Which announcement? The one that they were buying mortgage backed securities to support the housing market, or the one that they are not targeting any particular interest rates?

Wall Street Journal
* MAY 29, 2009

Fed Holds Steady as Rates Rise in Market
By JON HILSENRATH and LIZ RAPPAPORT

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials believe the recent sharp rise in yields on U.S. Treasury bonds could reflect a mending economy and a receding risk of financial catastrophe, suggesting the central bank won’t rush to react — even though some investors see danger in the government’s rising cost of borrowing.

Bond markets continued to gyrate Thursday after a sharp run-up in 10-year Treasury yields the day before. The bond market pushed yields of 10-year Treasurys down to 3.674% from 3.70% Wednesday, but they remain well over mid-March’s 2.5% level. Yields on mortgage-backed securities continued to climb, pushing 30-year fixed-rate mortgages to 5.44%, the highest since early February.

The Fed has embarked on a massive effort in recent months to buy Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities, a bid to drive up their prices and push down yields. It aims to keep borrowing costs low, hoping cheap mortgages in particular will spur the still-weak economy. Its purchases also provide the financial system with money it hopes banks will lend, part of an approach some call quantitative easing.

The Fed could eventually decide to step up bond purchases to restrain long-term rates, a question Fed officials will confront at their June 23-24 meeting.

So far, the Fed has purchased $130.5 billion of the $300 billion in long-term Treasury debt it began buying in March. It also has bought $481 billion in mortgage-backed securities and has said it could buy as much as $1.25 trillion worth.

“The market believes that the Fed will expand its purchases of mortgage-backed securities and Treasurys,” said Ronti Pal, head of U.S. interest rates trading at Barclays Capital. “But the longer it takes the Fed to do so, the more the market overwhelms the Fed’s efforts and the risk increases for an even sharper rise in yields.”

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in testimony to Congress earlier this month, emphasized the Fed is not trying “to target a particular interest rate,” despite market speculation to the contrary.

Fed officials viewed the rise in Treasury yields in March and April as largely benign.

Comment by scdave
2009-05-29 07:52:43

Bear…You are the data mining Guru…This guy got a standing ovation this morning at a Chicago conference…Can you find the transcript ??

Robert Rodriguez First Pacific Advisors…In Chicago today…Why are we Subsidizing housing & Unions and at what price…Some conference…”Inflation it what we need “Oil” Deflation in what we don’t”…

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 08:03:26

RE: Green shoots

Does the Fed not notice the looming bankruptcy of GM, the largest ever in American history, or do they assume it is all “contained”, and hence not a threat to the burgeoning sprouts of green shoots coming up all over the place?

Comment by scdave
2009-05-29 09:06:37

looming bankruptcy of GM ??

UAW give up dental & vision benefits…Bond holders are offered 20 cents on the dollar…Go figure…Its a fricken mess…Where should we hide combo ?? :)

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Comment by mrktMaven
2009-05-29 08:09:52

BernanQuixote’s little housing experiment is over. The invisible hand overwhelms the very best interventions. Giddyup!

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 08:40:04

+1

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Comment by DinOR
2009-05-29 08:57:25

“BernanQuixote”

Now see? ‘That’ is clever! LOL!

 
 
 
Comment by packman
2009-05-29 08:51:17

Again - I don’t see anything new here today - I only see them continuing what they’ve been doing for months now. They announced the $300 billion in treasury purchases and the $12.5 Trillion in MBS purcahses on March 18th, over two months ago, and it’s been obvious that they intend to completely follow through. The WSJ article is from today, but all it does is give a status report, from what I see.

Comment by packman
2009-05-29 08:52:42

$1.25 Trillion I mean.

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Comment by edgewaterjohn
2009-05-29 08:58:48

Give it some time and you might not have to move the decimal.

 
Comment by whino
2009-05-29 08:58:59

You must have been thinking about that 9 trillion or so that the FED can’t account for. :-D

 
 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 09:51:30

At least the $US is holding steady today against the ZWD:

CURRENCY VALUE CHANGE % CHANGE TIME EUR-USD 1.4124 0.0182 1.3054% 12:24
GBP-USD 1.6180 0.0236 1.4789% 12:24
USD-CHF 1.0687 -0.0154 -1.4201% 12:24
USD-SEK 7.6256 -0.0606 -0.7878% 12:24
USD-DKK 5.2726 -0.0679 -1.2710% 12:24
USD-NOK 6.3074 -0.1297 -2.0148% 12:24
USD-CZK 19.0900 -0.2151 -1.1143% 12:24
USD-SKK 21.3090 -0.2915 -1.3494% 12:23
USD-PLN 3.1968 -0.0464 -1.4307% 12:24
USD-HUF 200.4490 -4.2838 -2.0924% 12:24
USD-RUB 30.9520 -0.3770 -1.2035% 12:23
USD-TRY 1.5354 -0.0254 -1.6289% 12:23
USD-ILS 3.9160 -0.0475 -1.1984% 12:16
USD-KES 78.0000 -0.4000 -0.5102% 10:05
USD-ZAR 7.9847 -0.0403 -0.5019% 12:23
USD-MAD 7.9742 -0.1020 -1.2630% 12:23
USD-ZWD 12626262016.0000 0.0000 0.0000% 02/02

Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 11:47:04

Dumb question of the day:

If green shoots really explained the stock market rally, wouldn’t the dollar be rising instead of crashing against other currencies?

 
 
Comment by BanteringBear
2009-05-29 10:03:45

“Crude up to 66.”

This whole crude run is nothing but a speculative joke. It’s poised for it’s largest monthly gain in a decade. This, at the same time the economy is in the crapper, demand for diesel and gasoline is WAY down, not to mention all of the other products which are oil based. This speculation can, and will, drive a stake through the heart of any potential economic recovery. Capitalism is a failure.

Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 10:16:28

Isn’t buying anything you expect to appreciate in value ’speculation’?

I’m not sure I agree that because speculation exists, capitalism is a failure. Certainly the fact that speculation is likely happening with taxpayer dollars (via TARP) is ridiculous, but the problem is TARP, not the act of speculation.

Comment by BanteringBear
2009-05-29 10:25:22

Are you asking me to define speculation for you?

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Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 11:46:39

Are you asking me to define speculation for you?

That might be worthwhile, if there’s a possible disconnect there. I’m simply remarking that I fail to see how speculation in oil is somehow denotes the failure of capitalism, when there’s speculation everywhere and has been for a long time.

People “investing” in their 401ks aren’t looking to grow their wealth via dividends..they’re banking on stock prices rising. I fail to see how that’s fundamentally different from someone buying oil futures because they expect oil prices to rise, regardless of whether it’s due to devaluation of the unit of measure (the USD), restricted supply, or greater demand.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 11:49:52

“I’m simply remarking that I fail to see how speculation in oil is somehow denotes the failure of capitalism, when there’s speculation everywhere and has been for a long time.”

Does prices more than doubling and falling by 80 percent or so over a couple year’s time, then doubling again over a few months seem normal to you? If so, I get your point… the recent volatility in oil prices are completely normal.

 
Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 11:53:31

Does prices more than doubling and falling by 80 percent or so over a couple year’s time, then doubling again over a few months seem normal to you?

I never claimed it was normal, nor asserted that it’s not due to speculation. I just objected to the idea that speculation in oil somehow denotes the failure of capitalism.

I think one would be hard pressed to call oil a “free market” by any stretch, anyhow. Ignore the US’s supposed “capitalist” system…look at the oil cartels, etc…supply, price, and even demand are manipulated on many levels. Is speculation in price moves really the problem?

 
Comment by neuromance
2009-05-29 16:27:14

If the system is screwing lots of people, it has problems.

 
Comment by iftheshoefits
2009-05-29 18:45:05

People.

Oil trades in a global market. Look at the governments of the nations that own the rights to the vast majority of the world’s known oil reserves. Geez, take OPEC (please). Isn’t OPEC itself, by it’s constitution, an anti-free market cartel?

There are lots of things wrong with our economy in general, and there are lots of things wrong with the oil market. But oil prices don’t give a hoot about any particular form of government over another. Get real.

 
 
 
Comment by packman
2009-05-29 10:16:42

Two points:
- Crude’s rise isn’t mostly due to expectation of higher demand of crude, it’s due to expectation of higher supply of dollars.
- Don’t underestimate the price impact of geopolitical risk factors. A significant war can really impact supply.

That being said - I do think the current rise is premature. Not sure I’d call it crazy though. Given that crude’s generally hovered around the $20-40 since 1979, it’s not as if $66 is that high historically when adjusted for inflation; especially when trying to account for anticipated future inflation.

$140 - now *that* was crazy.

Comment by BanteringBear
2009-05-29 10:29:45

If it’s purely dollar play, why are they always trying to tie in demand factors, geopolitical instability, and overall supply concerns when explaining away the ridiculous rise? The whole thing is a sham. It’s nothing more than a vehicle for quick money, orchestrated by monstrous Wall St. firms amongst others.

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Comment by ecofeco
2009-05-29 17:43:28

Distraction, diversion and dissembling.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by wmbz
2009-05-29 04:33:14

Bernanke Bid to Lift Housing Scuttled by Rising Rates, Defaults.

May 29 (Bloomberg) — Kyle McGee went to his mortgage broker’s office yesterday hoping to refinance and save about $200 a month. He walked away empty-handed.

McGee was expecting a rate of 4.7 percent; the broker offered him 5.375 percent. The average 30-year fixed-mortgage rose to 5.08 percent May 27, according to Bankrate.com.

“We feel like we might have missed the boat,” said McGee, 37, an adjunct professor of social work at Hunter College School of Social Work in Manhattan.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to bring down borrowing costs to revive the housing market and help the economy are stalling. Mortgage rates are almost back to where they were in March before the 30-year rate fell to a record and sparked a refinancing boom. Mortgage delinquencies rose to a record 9.12 percent of U.S. home loans and house prices dropped the most on record in the first quarter, industry reports show.

“Housing is not going to be the engine to get us out of this recession,” said Robert Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist for Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland Advisors Inc., and former research director at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta. “They’ve squeezed a lemon and now they’re trying to squeeze some more, but you can only get so much juice out of a lemon.”

Rates are rising as President Barack Obama is trying to spur a housing recovery. Obama has pledged to spend $275 billion to help keep as many as 9 million Americans in their homes and stem the rise of foreclosures. His measures also include a tax break of as much as $8,000 for first-time homebuyers that wouldn’t require repayment.

Comment by rms
2009-05-29 06:42:07

“Housing is not going to be the engine to get us out of this recession,” said Robert Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist for Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland Advisors Inc., and former research director at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta. “They’ve squeezed a lemon and now they’re trying to squeeze some more, but you can only get so much juice out of a lemon.”

Housing is the last thing to recover, Mr. Chief Monetary Economist.

Comment by DinOR
2009-05-29 07:29:31

rms,

No doubt, but that doesn’t mean ’someone’ doesn’t have to ’say’ it! We’ve wasted precious time and trillions of dollars in a vain attempt to try and disprove that simple principle.

 
Comment by Arizona Slim
2009-05-29 08:37:54

Isn’t housing usually reactive to what’s happening elsewhere in the economy? It’s been a driver in recent years, but as we’ve discussed at great length, those years were an anomaly.

Comment by edgewaterjohn
2009-05-29 09:21:56

I dunno about you, Slim - but when faced with uncertainty at work and with other money matters, I just go out and buy a house and pretty soon everything else just falls perfectly into place.

Just some advice a Realtor gave me once.

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Comment by mikey
2009-05-29 10:26:29

“… I thought that what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa.”

a former GM President Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson

OMG..Let’s all HOPE NOT Chuck !!
;)

 
 
 
 
Comment by Jon
2009-05-29 11:36:43

“Housing is not going to be the engine to get us out of this recession,” said Robert Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist for Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland Advisors Inc., and former research director at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta. “They’ve squeezed a lemon and now they’re trying to squeeze some more, but you can only get so much juice out of a lemon.”

Not to worry. America’s massive industrial complex will begin rehiring millions of workers soon. Oh wait…

 
 
Comment by palmetto
2009-05-29 04:40:50

Whoa…Defcon 2? Anyone hear anything about this? I know it’s from a Macedonia site, but then again, I wouldn’t expect it to be on a US site.

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/6893/2/

Comment by skroodle
2009-05-29 06:31:54

North Korea has announced that the truce is over. Of course, they have done this several times in the past several years.

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 08:42:34

Have they ever renounced the truce while armed with nukes?

Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 09:12:30

No, nor have they now.

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Comment by Skip
2009-05-29 09:19:41

According to the Associated Press they have:

US, SKorea militaries gird for NKorean provocation

By JAE-SOON CHANG – 15 hours ago

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. and South Korea put their military forces on high alert after North Korea renounced the truce keeping the peace between the two Koreas since 1953 and threatened military action following nuclear and missile tests.

….The two Koreas technically remain at war because they signed a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953….

 
Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 09:59:57

I’ll agree they’ve done it following tests. But that’s not quite the same as being nuclearly armed, which implies multiple accurate deliveries over a sizable range.

I’ll even stipulate they might be able to get a nuke off outside their country. But calling them nuclear armed implies a much larger threat to the world as a whole.

(And I’m not claiming they can’t or won’t become nuclear armed. Just that I doubt very much that they can be considered that right now.)

 
Comment by dude
2009-05-29 10:17:47

So you are saying that a nation does tests of the bomb before being prepared to deliver one?

Can you name an example?

What do you think the long range missle tests have been about the last few years, delivery of propaganda?

 
Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 11:01:51

Yes, I believe it is propaganda. Who has dropped nuclear weapons offensively besides the U.S.? Nobody. Nuclear weapons are the largest p*ssing game in world politics. If you can demonstrate you have them and can deliver them, the big dogs have to pay you some notice.

If you think North Korea is going to start flinging Nukes around willy nilly, go right ahead.

 
Comment by dude
2009-05-29 11:57:29

That is not what I said. Read it again if you care to, I don’t think I can state it more clearly. I said nothing about dropping bombs.

 
 
 
 
Comment by wmbz
2009-05-29 08:04:20

No worries, the U.N can issue a ’stern’ warning! Along with some strong words from Hilliary. Then more sanctions, to help starve the population more. While Kim Jong mentally ill keeps right throwing temper tantrums, the little turd.

We should let China,Japan etc… handle it.

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 08:46:13

“We should let China,Japan etc… handle it.”

The only scenario I can come up with that solves this problem and doesn’t leave SE Asia a smoking ruin is the immediate surrender and annexation of South Korea to the Chinese.

Every other path leads to ‘blivion.

 
Comment by edgewaterjohn
2009-05-29 08:57:46

Any chance that N. Korea is China’s “big stick”?

Comment by scdave
2009-05-29 09:17:24

Good question…I would not put it past them…They are a conniving, thieving goverment…They could easily be using N.Korea by proxy…There has always been military war threats but now we have the economic war…Time for the USA to take the gloves off ?? Bring ALL our personnel home to protect US !!! and draw the line in the sand…Quit pussy footing around with ALL OF THEM and tell them if you so much as PASS GAS on one of our interests you are TOAST !!

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Comment by edgewaterjohn
2009-05-29 10:18:37

When it comes to geopolitics I flat out NEVER believe in coincidence.

Time to pay extra close attention between a possible correlation of N. Korean assertiveness and bond prices?

 
 
Comment by ecofeco
2009-05-29 17:49:21

The word I hear from people in the region is that China isn’t really all that fond of N. Korea but strategically, they can’t cut them loose.

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Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 09:14:17

America and the UN nations need to realize that their sternly worded warnings need to be this : “We will end you. And we won’t go in and rebuild. Anybody who lives through it can become elbonian mud farmers.”

Then they need to follow through. Probably only once.

Comment by Jon
2009-05-29 11:41:10

Once I see a mightly North Korean naval armada heading our way I’ll consider caring.

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Comment by Terry
2009-05-29 12:09:30

This time North korea is for real. This regime is going to test Obama, to the hilt. Right now, North Korea has a million man army and a million in reserves. So, On June 1st, the North starts an artillery barrage, the likes of which would make Normandy look like childs play. The invasion follows. A million troops, with armor and artillery backup. The US troops fall back and within hours are decimated, along with the poorly trained south korean troops. Obama calls for a UN cease fire. Failure to stop the invasion, Obama declares war. Within three days of the start, the entire penninsula belongs to North Korea. The US mobilizes. Lets see, we have to re-instate the draft, we have no manufacturing base, so we order steel from China. Our textiles mills are all gone, so we also have to order uniforms from China. Oh, forgot the boots..from China. The US has a shortage of Ammo, again order from China. NATO has shipped all their tanks to Iraq and the middle east…order some. Call up the reserves and guard..oops we already did that, their in Iraq. Wow, we don’t have a force capable of restoring the DMZ.
Ok, hard to believe. I don’t think so. If any American believes, that this guy in power in North Korea hasn’t already looked at the US as a paper tiger, they deserve whats next. He doesn’t have to use his nukes, all he has to do is creat an incident. Remember the Golf of Tonkin?
An incident which leads to invasion. All Obama will be able to do is beg the UN to do something. The US can’t financially support another war, we have no manufacturing base. Our milatery is stretced to the breaking point now.
I feel sorry for the American soldiers sitting on the DMZ right now. Soon, they will be nothing but cannon fodder.

 
Comment by Terry
2009-05-29 12:18:15

Don’t for a moment, underestimate North Korea. I’m sure that they know, that the US at present is nothing more than a paper tiger. All you have to do is read our news. Military stretched. Equipment needs replacing. US has no manufacturing base. Volunteer army. Kim is no fool. What better time to overun the south than now. Obama, the negtiator, a country in financial straights, no draft.
And the best part, he doesn’t have to use his new found nukes. All he has to do is push the US into an incident. Which I believe will happen before summer ends. When you have a million men in uniform, an artillery force so large, it would make the shelling of Normandy look like childs play and you don’t need nukes. You need a reason.
Remember the Golf of Tonkin incident. Koreas next.

 
Comment by Jon
2009-05-29 12:28:38

So get the troops out now. The S. Koreans have had 50 years to develop the capacity to defeat the North. If they didn’t think it was worth it, why should we?

 
Comment by tresho
2009-05-29 12:58:37

There’s no doubt North Korea could lay waste to the South in a few weeks or so, but there are other players and other interests that those other players have. I admit I have no idea why US troops are still in South Korea, that country has had half a century to fully and completely develop (and pay for) its defensive capabilities, and instead develops much of its country within artillery range of the North.
North Korea is China’s lapdog and will continue to raise hell as long as its sponsor allows. The media ignore this relationship. It is as if the PRC had nothing to do with maintaining North Korea’s existence. How long would North Korea survive if China simply blocked the border? What could North Korea do about that? Nuke China? Send its massive million man army to take over the Middle Kingdom? Or maybe the PRC could simply place a few phone calls & Kim Jong-il & his cronies would vanish, to be replace by someone less troubling to Chinese interests.
If the North destroys the South, how long would it take for Japan to develop nuclear weapons, one of the things the US has been trying to avoid for some decades now?
I’m sure there are other considerations not mentioned. It’s not June 1950 any more.

 
Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 13:21:45

That’s why we don’t send troops. We send an endless supply of conventional missiles and bombs (we have a lot) until we stop seeing twitches. And we never bother to go in and see what happened.

But nobody wants to be responsible for the death and destruction on a wholesale level. So instead we do insensible things like invade. If it’s come to warfare, it’s stupid to do it on anything other than massively overpowering terms. If it’s come to warfare, everybody has already lost and the best you can hope for is to cut your losses.

 
Comment by Jon
2009-05-29 13:59:08

Genocide has become soooo not politically correct these days.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by aNYCdj
2009-05-29 04:46:34

Next American scam, people don’t understand a draw is a loan and the employer expects repayment or will sue in small claims court…..

——————————-
Compensation is 100% commissioned based, but there is a $500 weekly draw against commissions to help smooth out your income flow.

Comment by skroodle
2009-05-29 06:33:35

Ever 100% commission job I have ever looked into end up being a pyramid scheme of some sort.

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2009-05-29 04:47:18

THE MOGAMBO GURU

Germany wants its gold back from the United States and is advising Dubai to do likewise, while China is heading towards a gold-backed yuan. Which suggests not all governments are utterly stupid and incompetent - and that gold, for the moment, looks incredibly cheap, even as it shoots up in price.

Comment by Mike in Miami
2009-05-29 05:17:19

I stored my gold with my cocain addict cousin. I am going to ask for my gold back and advise my buddy to do the same.
Ya’ll think it’s still there?
Actually, the German government is utterly stupid to store their gold with somebody else and so is obviously Dubai.

Comment by pressboardbox
2009-05-29 06:03:51

“I stored my gold with my cocain addict cousin”-

as long as the cousin has a good fico score everything is cool. Plus, the gold is insured with AIG. There is really nothing to worry about.

Comment by DinOR
2009-05-29 07:27:11

LOL! Just… LOL!

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Comment by mikey
2009-05-29 07:49:35

Sorry folks, all the gold is GONE…it just disappeared !!

By the way, has anyone seen aladinsane ?
;)

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Comment by SanFranciscoBayAreaGal
2009-05-29 12:29:20

Alad is in Germany buying up all the gold so he can give it back to Germany :)

 
 
 
 
Comment by Blue Skye
2009-05-29 05:21:27

Why is it that things look incredibly cheap when they are at the cycle peak? I thought it looked cheap below $300.

The historical gold chart looks fascinating right now. What do you call a four pronged peak? Grand Tetons Deux? Double pinheads and shoulders? Mother of all pig traps?

Comment by phillygal
2009-05-29 07:42:45

Bitten by the gold bug, Chinese investors are now rushing to hoard the yellow metal as fears over the global recession deepen.

This is from today’s gata website.

We all know what happened after the Chinese rushed to buy stocks.

 
Comment by dude
2009-05-29 08:50:32

You mean QE didn’t make it different this time?

 
Comment by packman
2009-05-29 09:57:24

What do you call a four pronged peak?

Not sure that I would assume that we’ve already reached the first peak.

:)

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 10:19:59

Agreed, talk to me about a peak in the precious when oil is back at 160.

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Comment by Renterinaz
2009-05-29 04:47:22

Rumor has it that Germany wants all of their gold returned to Germany, other countries are asking the same. Is it really there? This is going to get really interesting quick.

Comment by palmetto
2009-05-29 04:55:06

“Is it really there?”

Nah, they sent it to North Korea.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2009-05-29 05:06:43

It seems a reasonable request. Let them come and pick it up with their own security force. Sooner the better.

Let’s get out of the international police business now too. Give us our troops back.

There is something very fishy about China pounding the gold drum. Why would they want the price to go up if they plan on future purchases. The reverse would be more logical. And of course, there’s the famous Chinese honesty model.

Comment by palmetto
2009-05-29 05:14:00

“It seems a reasonable request. Let them come and pick it up with their own security force. Sooner the better.

Let’s get out of the international police business now too. Give us our troops back.”

Testify, Blue! I was just thinking yesterday how sick I am of global empire. To each his own and let each country pursue its own destiny and alliances in a peaceful, productive manner.

Anyway, I read something last night about how the FED is actually breaking down. I would post it, but Benjamin Fulford is seen as something of a nutjob, although he did head up Forbes in Japan at one time, I think. Anyway, there were nuggets of truth in the story and it warmed the cockles of my heart.

 
 
Comment by Mike in Miami
2009-05-29 05:23:12

There might be some serious stress on the COMEX. I mean more paper gold/silver floating around than actually exists. Just speculation on my part but obviously some larger players outside the US are getting nervous.
Paper gold might be OK for trading as long as everbody understands that’s not really gold, just paper.

Comment by realestateskeptic
2009-05-29 05:39:06

We’ve kind of beat this horse well past its death back in the good old Aladinsane days. The predictions of an impending COMEX collapse (shockingly) proved to be false. I no longer hold GLD (thus the recent price rise ;-) but the ETF’s almost certainly have all the physical gold they claim to have on hand in order to back up their “paper gold.” They have a massive spread sheet of holdings, serial #’s and the like, allegedly independently audited. I suspect if they were lying they would be busted by now, but history does show up that life is full of surprises.
Just my 1.5 cents

Comment by Mike in Miami
2009-05-29 05:57:53

Those things are almost impossible to know until after the fact. I am sure Madoff investors felt good about their investment until it was too late.
Especially gold is supposed to be one of those fail safe backstops. So holding paper gold competely defeats that purpose. Again you’re relying on someone else hoping they don’t rip you off.
Another danger is that the fund itself gets rip off. How? Government has done it before (FDR 1933), they can do it again.
Gold is something you should only own as bullion and store it in a safe place only you know about. The bank’s safety deposit box is not really all that safe when it comes to keeping government out.

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Comment by realestateskeptic
2009-05-29 06:18:40

Again, its just my view, but there were people yelling that Madoff was a scam before he was busted, because his options trading strategy/scheme would to have far outnumbered the number of options actually traded, so to a point it was verifiable that it was BS, his was a confidence scam. I have not heard a word from the anti-ETF crowd about any of the ETF spreadsheet assets being bogus despite a very loyal and aggressive group arguing against them. I do hold a small amount of physical gold for “personal safety” (sort of like my gun collection…), but the transaction cost is so high, both to get in and out of it, it is really only 1-2 months worth of living expenses. I owned the GLD only as speculation, made a few bucks and got out, not as some sort of security and agree if it all hits the fan, its useless. I am sure it is in the archives here, but I strongly believe my guns trump your gold if it ever comes to having to buy life’s essentials with gold instead of dollars. Given that, a nice shotgun is a much better investment than any physical gold.

 
Comment by dude
2009-05-29 08:59:55

I’d rather have 39 coins and one shotgun than 40 coins and no shotguns.

I’d also rather have 39 coins and one shotgun than 40 shotguns and no coins.

 
Comment by tresho
2009-05-29 12:25:38

I’d rather have 39 coins and one shotgun than 40 coins and no shotguns.

I’d also rather have 39 coins and one shotgun than 40 shotguns and no coins.

Your calculation is incomplete. How about 40 men armed with shotguns and no gold out coming to get yours?

 
Comment by MrBubble
2009-05-29 12:48:16

Just took delivery of a .270 Remington BDL with which I can protect my physical silver. I actually don’t think that it will come to that (anymore). Just a long decay. Good few weeks for silver though, eh?

MrBubble

 
Comment by dude
2009-05-29 12:55:38

“How about 40 men armed with shotguns and no gold out coming to get yours?”

I wasn’t giving the perfect circumstance, but being that I am the proverbial needle in a haystack (and I do indeed have a shotgun) I’ll take my chances.

 
 
Comment by oxide
2009-05-29 05:58:33

Good point, rsskeptic. Maybe gold will truly be the next bubble, and suddenly lots of banks will hold gold at 30:1 reserves, like they did with their bloody toxic mortgages.
Except, you can’t print gold.

Maybe the best bet is to go panning in California, like so many unemployed are doing right now.

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Comment by rosie
2009-05-29 06:17:34

Is your dollar ever tanking today. Gold up $18.20 u.s. but only $2.58 cdn. Cash may be king but not the US dollar.

 
Comment by realestateskeptic
2009-05-29 07:00:54

Canada currency is also seen as a commodity play so it does tend to move in tandem with commodities which tends to exaggerate the US/Can dollar moves these days. Wasn’t it this past year when the Can $ was at parity or better when Oil and Gold made its last run up?

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2009-05-29 07:22:37

Canada is sitting pretty, isn’t it! This global economic boom will make oil and wood and metals go to the moon. Canada real estate only goes up and they are immune to any troubles in the States.

Never mind that household debt for Canadians is worse than it is in the US. Thank God they have an export based economy.

 
Comment by Al
2009-05-29 07:36:44

The situation here in Canada is similar to the US; jobs going away and, as mentioned, too much debt. I think things will seem more stable for as long as this commodity bubble lasts. After that…..

 
Comment by realestateskeptic
2009-05-29 07:58:30

But Al you still have cottage country and that’s what I like best!

 
Comment by DennisN
2009-05-29 08:13:09

I go panning here in Idaho. There’s lots of gold left and fewer people looking for it vis-a-vis California.

 
Comment by Al
2009-05-29 08:14:37

Hey skeptic,

We still have cottage country, but they’ve been putting up McMansions in alot of those areas too. Pisses me off to no end. Nothing like wiping out beautiful trees and a cozy cottage to put up an oversized house so you no longer have to go outside. Bah.

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 08:42:24

Nothing like wiping out beautiful trees and a cozy cottage to put up an oversized house so you no longer have to go outside. Bah.

Testify! Double ‘bah’, and add copious spitting and cussing, too.

so you no longer have to go outside.

I had to be in Yelm the other day, for a meeting (I resisted, but was eventually conquered and forced to go ) and I drove by a subdivision warted up in the middle of some nice green fields, buncha horrid gigantor pastel McMansions— I swear, if you walked out your front door and were to trip over the quaint little doorstop from Pottery Barn, you’da fallen spang right into your neighbors yard, the yards were that tiny.
A gigantor McShack with a teensy little miniscule tutu of green…if it was me living in there, I’d just shoot me now.

 
Comment by realestateskeptic
2009-05-29 10:13:00

Yes - I think what a “cottage” is has changed a lot in the last 20 years. The simple life by the lake seems to have turned into a McMansion, big deck, loud boat, big screen TV extravaganza. Too bad…

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Muggy
2009-05-29 05:17:26

Obama Offers Prime Posts to Those Who Helped Bankroll Campaign

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/newspid=washingtonstory&sid=adfv4RHV3Kmk

Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 09:21:34

Of course he does. He’s a politician. You act like this is surprising? It doesn’t matter what tag a politician wears, they’re still a pig at the trough saving spaces for the other pigs that helped them get there.

Comment by Muggy
2009-05-29 10:30:46

“You act like this is surprising?”

I don’t think my post give a position.

Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 11:03:49

Just posting the link seemed like you either were surprised or expected other people to be surprised at it. That’s like posting a link saying scientists have determined that the ocean contains both salt and water.

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Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 11:46:10

That’s like posting a link saying scientists have determined that the ocean contains both salt and water.

Awww! Away with you and yer crazy talk!
Next thing you know, you’ll be claiming there’s a giant ball of flaming gas in the sky.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Jon
2009-05-29 11:50:21

Taking care of those who take care of you is always smart, whether in political, business or family matters.

 
 
Comment by az_lender
2009-05-29 05:21:02

My cousin Nancy from Wyoming replied to our conversation about her on the 24th by saying these things:

1. She bought her rental property in central Wyo in November 2007, paid $137K. She put $25K into renovations. Someone recently offered her $180K for it, she turned that down. The agent recently said it could be listed at $220K. In the interval, Nancy lost 20% in stocks. She says “you do the math.”

2. She says HBBer Isabel from Cheyenne is wrong in the sense that Poor Little Cousin Nancy is making money from the rent. There are “plenty of tenants around here.”

******************** So, here’s my challenge to the bears, including myself:

Surely in November 2007 we’d have all told Poor Little Cousin Nancy NOT to buy a rental house (she already owns a house to live in). Apparently, we’d have been wrong then. How can we cogently argue that the top of her wave has been reached now?

az_lender
(Really, it’s me. Nancy mistakenly posted under my ID on the old thread.)

Comment by Blue Skye
2009-05-29 07:15:31

Why is it that we should argue about Nancy’s investment? Does she want validation from you?

It sounds like she is just breakeven if she were to take the $180, less her purchase expenses and sweat. She could have countered with $190 and got out with her skin. It’s either up from here or down.

What the realator says it could be listed at is hardly money in the bank.

BTW, her losses in bad stock bets have nothing to do with the logic of her real estate speculation.

Comment by az_lender
2009-05-29 11:51:00

Blue, it’s not so much about validation her speculation, as about validating OUR suppositions — that the bust is universal, that the peak has long since passed, and that it’s pretty dangerous to be holding any RE one is not inhabiting.

Since posting this morning, I learned something else about her situation that tends to uphold our point of view: namely, that at the time when she bought the house for $137K, people were already asking like $200K for comparable things. Soooo, her earlier assertion that “prices are still going up” is not supported by her admission that she snuck in a got a special bargain. Prices in her area are probably flat-to-down as in a lot of other small towns.

I agree with you about the stocks. It’s not as though “stocks or RE” were the only two places to have one’s money. I didn’t have any in either of those categories.

Comment by Blue Skye
2009-05-29 13:29:38

In my experience, one can never convince one’s sister of any reality other than the one she’s bought into.

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Comment by az_lender
2009-05-29 18:36:49

Touche!

 
Comment by ecofeco
2009-05-29 18:59:20

Ain’t that the truth.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by cobaltblue
2009-05-29 05:21:33

All that glitters, is not in the NYC showroom:

NEW YORK (AP) — Jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. said Friday that its first-quarter profit plunged 62 percent on a steeper-than-expected drop in sales as consumers continued to pull back on spending.

Still, the earnings matched Wall Street’s expectations and the company maintained its profit outlook for the full year.

The New York-based retailer earned $24.3 million, or 20 cents per share, for the three months ended April 30, down from $64.4 million, or 50 cents per share, a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, whose estimates generally exclude one-time items, predicted net income of 20 cents per share.

“Despite reduced consumer demand in the luxury sector, Tiffany is, and is projected to remain, solidly profitable and will generate substantial cash from operations,” Chairman and Chief Executive Michael J. Kowalski said in a statement.

…Wonder how long before Tiffany gets a bailout and N. Pelosi is minding the store???

Comment by phillygal
2009-05-29 07:23:24

seems like a good time to scan ebay for Tiffany baubles.

 
 
Comment by pressboardbox
2009-05-29 05:24:30

Stock market should skyrocket today. Nobody really knows why - they will make up the reason later.

Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 07:44:18

I know the reason: GREEN SHOOTS

 
Comment by ecofeco
2009-05-29 19:02:20

You called it. Wow.

 
 
Comment by Renterinaz
2009-05-29 05:27:14

Didn’t the US “Lease” out the gold to traders in return for? PaPer wonderful move if you will. China is the No. 2 holder of gold behind Switzerland. Makes you wonder, especially if the Yuan is making a bid for reserve currency status world wide. This might be the trigger for the next leg down. No predictions mostly questions. Cash might still be king for another two weeks or so.

Comment by combotechie
2009-05-29 05:41:48

At the rate money is being destroyed cash will be king for a bit longer than another two weeks.

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 09:05:00

Not if you wish to buy gold with your cash.

Comment by combotechie
2009-05-29 16:54:11

“Not if you wish to buy gold with your cash.”

How logical is it to trade scarce cash for gold? Is the supply of gold being destroyed? How about the supply of money?

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Comment by dude
2009-05-29 17:46:05

My gold is eminently fungible, thank you. Do you think the currency, oil, and PM markets are lying? I think the purchasing power of the dollar for necessities is eroding. Deflation is in luxuries.

 
 
 
Comment by scdave
2009-05-29 09:24:04

You think a 34% decrease in April tax receipts (Biggest revenue month of the year) to the feds is going to help the King ??

Comment by combotechie
2009-05-29 16:44:24

A scarcity of money allows those with money to call the shots. A 34% decrease in April tax receipts grants power to those who have the bucks to rule over those who don’t.

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Comment by realestateskeptic
2009-05-29 05:48:15

Gold leasing is an age old, historical practice, tracked and almost like an “interest rate” type of thing. Investors/speculators play the spread and carry trade and central banks lease gold all the time. Investors can use it to short/cover, you name it. It was allegedly the true sign of the collapse of COMEX and the ETF’s last year, but again, proved to be more tin foil type stuff…. or perfectly manipulated by the powers that be…. The recent moves in gold prices and lease rates are well within a normal market move one way or the other.

 
 
Comment by cobaltblue
2009-05-29 05:41:42

Just a little more K.D. this Friday morning:

“The government’s game of “a chicken in every pot” is directly contrary to the desire to have low and stable borrowing rates for mortgages and other purposes. The Obama Administration is making the precise same set of mistakes that were made in the early 1930s - believing that the government was “omniscient” it spent like a madman and the market forced liquidity to be withdrawn and rates to rise, causing a devastating second-order crash that turned the 1929 market rout into The Depression.

We are headed down the precise same path and intervention cannot prevent it - only an alteration in government policy can change the outcome!

The Fed knows the risks: If they try to meet the “call” of their bluff by the Bond Market, they risk a potentially-ruinous death-spiral of people tendering into The Fed’s programs. That is, increasing the buyback amounts in response to this pressure only leads to the market demanding more, just like a heroin junkie who gets his free “fix”.

The Fed has already sabotaged the recovery: By preventing asset prices from correcting they have made the inevitable “work out” out of the bad debt far worse than it would have been back in August of 2007 if they let the people who made the bad bets go bust. We’ve seen oil prices double in the last few months despite every possible barrel and ship in which to store it being filled - why? The reason is simple: The rest of the world believes The Fed is debasing the dollar by effectively exchanging good dollars for trash, thereby “in essence” printing money rather than lending it. As I have repeatedly pointed out many of these programs, particularly the MBS, AIG and Bear purchases, are unlawful. The damage already done is severe but it can and will become much worse if The Fed was to “double down”; we could see oil spike up well over $100 and gas rise beyond $4/gallon, instantaneously destroying any prospect for economic recovery. Bluntly put we cannot recover until the bad debt is flushed out of the system, and attempts to short-circuit this process only cause more damage.”

Comment by edgewaterjohn
2009-05-29 06:43:26

Gasoline prices are the ultimate regressive tax. So it’s amusing to see them rise - probably as a response to all this gov’t meddling. From the look of it, the gas price rise of this spring has already obliterated those couple extra bucks in most paychecks.

The retail bounce in early 1Q coincided with the nadir of gas prices, so this is going to get really interesting this summer.

Comment by Bad Chile
2009-05-29 07:16:58

Based on my once-a-week fill up, gas prices are up 25% in the past eight weeks.

I think we - as a population - were innoculated from the negative thinking normally associated with $2.50 a gallon gas last summer when it hit $3.50 a gallon. I suspect anything under $3.25 a gallon will result in simply a shrug of the shoulders this time and little to no MSM coverage.

Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 09:04:38

I suspect anything under $3.25 a gallon will result in simply a shrug of the shoulders this time and little to no MSM coverage.

I don’t know about that, Chile. Since last summer’s high gas prices things have overall gotten worse for Joe 6-pack.
A whole lot of people are pretty skint right now. If you’re barely, barely hanging on to that wispy little branch then it doesn’t take too much more of a burden to finally knock you off.

I read an article the other day about a couple FB’s, the rate reset on their gigantor McShack, not very much, yet they soon were in default, scheduled for foreclosure, and went on to rent another house in the same subdivision, (so their kids wouldn’t have to switch schools), renting for a bit less than $200.00 than they were paying for their mortgage on their ‘own’ house. They were very mad and grumbling about it, which provided me with some enjoyable schadenfreude over coffee and a blueberry muffin… I remember what I was eating, but I don’t recall the article, dadgummit.

My point was, though, that less than two hundred extra bucks a month broke them. Harshed their mellow, big time. Ruined their ‘American Dream’, etc etc.

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Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 09:13:36

Ahhhh, I’m dissatisfied with my example and don’t feel I made my point clearly. I’m trying to say that a whole lot of people are on teetering on the precipice and it won’t take much, maybe not any more than paying 1 buck extra per gallon for gas, to knock some of ‘em off.

 
Comment by Bad Chile
2009-05-29 09:23:14

Oly:

I agree with you completely about it breaking people, but I really don’t think the MSM is going to go up in arms about gas prices hitting $3.50 a gallon like they did last year. It may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for a number of people; but people getting broken by one event is old news now. Last summer it was only the second story (first being resets).

What is this summer’s story? Unemployement? Crime? Housing and gas prices are played out and won’t sell papers….

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 10:35:37

What is this summer’s story? Unemployement? Crime?

We should start a betting pool. I’ll mail the winner a geoduck!

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 11:49:18

I’ll mail the winner a geoduck!

Well, I’ll overnight it. Regular mailing would not work so good, likely. I don’t even want to think what the package would look like when you opened it, or how much your mail-lady would hate you.

 
Comment by Bad Chile
2009-05-29 12:08:18

After seeing Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs I’m in! Let me think for a weekend…

Crime? Unemployment? Tax revenue falling? Gas Prices? Inflation? 1/8 of all loanowners behind on repayment?

 
Comment by SanFranciscoBayAreaGal
2009-05-29 12:39:15

Invasion of South Korea by North Korea
China buys up all the gold
Inflation
Deflation
Stagflation
FED Reserve Board Dismantled

 
Comment by oxide
2009-05-29 12:51:06

What is this summer’s story?

Shark attacks. Geez, that’s what it always is.

 
Comment by polly
2009-05-29 13:16:23

Sharks?

 
Comment by Eudemon
2009-05-29 13:37:25

All bets are off.

2009 is not an election year.

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 16:21:33

After seeing Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs I’m in! Let me think for a weekend…

Yar, Chile! The geoduck episode! Taylor Shellfish guys! They’s all super.
Plus the mussel raft one, also Taylor Shellfish, that was a good episode too, although not strictly speaking as ‘dirty’. Did you see that one, too?
The mussel raft ‘Dirty Jobs’ episode was filmed half a mile down the road from me. I think the geoduck episode was filmed in Quilcene. I can’t recall.
Anyway, yeah, Taylor Shellfish.
http://www. taylorshellfishfarms.com

 
 
 
Comment by Skip
2009-05-29 08:29:16

That extra money spent on gasoline has to come from a cut back some where.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 07:45:32

‘…believing that the government was “omniscient”…’

Ongoing mistake numero uno…

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2009-05-29 05:55:00

Bond Vigilantes Confront Obama as Housing Falters (Update1)
By Liz Capo McCormick and Daniel Kruger

May 29 (Bloomberg) — They’re back.

For the first time since another Democrat occupied the White House, investors from Beijing to Zurich are challenging a president’s attempts to revive the economy with record deficit spending. Fifteen years after forcing Bill Clinton to abandon his own stimulus plans, the so-called bond vigilantes are punishing Barack Obama for quadrupling the budget shortfall to $1.85 trillion. By driving up yields on U.S. debt, they are also threatening to derail Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to cut borrowing costs for businesses and consumers.

The 1.5-percentage-point rise in 10-year Treasury yields this year pushed interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to above 5 percent for the first time since before Bernanke announced on March 18 that the central bank would start printing money to buy financial assets. Treasuries have lost 5.1 percent in their worst annual start since Merrill Lynch & Co. began its Treasury Master Index in 1977.

“The bond-market vigilantes are up in arms over the outlook for the federal deficit,” said Edward Yardeni, who coined the term in 1984 to describe investors who protest monetary or fiscal policies they consider inflationary by selling bonds. He now heads Yardeni Research Inc. in Great Neck, New York. “Ten trillion dollars over the next 10 years is just an indication that Washington is really out of control and that there is no fiscal discipline whatsoever.”

Investor Dread

What bond investors dread is accelerating inflation after the government and Fed agreed to lend, spend or commit $12.8 trillion to thaw frozen credit markets and snap the longest U.S. economic slump since the 1930s. The central bank also pledged to buy as much as $300 billion of Treasuries and $1.25 trillion of bonds backed by home loans.

For the moment, at least, inflation isn’t a cause for concern. During the past 12 months, consumer prices fell 0.7 percent, the biggest decline since 1955. Excluding food and energy, prices climbed 1.9 percent from April 2008, according to the Labor Department.

Bill Gross, the co-chief investment officer of Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co. and manager of the world’s largest bond fund, said all the cash flooding into the economy means inflation may accelerate to 3 percent to 4 percent in three years. The Fed’s preferred range is 1.7 percent to 2 percent.

 
Comment by wmbz
2009-05-29 06:28:21

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of bond mutual-fund giant Pimco, on Thursday offered investors a sobering market outlook in which he sees lower returns, decreased U.S. growth and the loss of the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.

In a speech delivered to advisers and investment managers at the Morningstar Investment Conference, Gross outlined what Pimco colleague Mohamed El-Erian has termed the “New Normal.”

In a world of more regulation, private-sector deleveraging and less consumption, “it’s hard for [Pimco] to imagine” the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (INDU 8,404, +103.78, +1.25%) climbing back to 14,000 or home prices returning to 2006 levels, Gross said.

“Growth will be stunted,” he said. “It will be a different type of world and we have to get used to that.”

The U.S. economy will grow at between 1% and 2% a year rather than 2% to 3% a year for the next three to five years at least, Gross said. “That will make a significant difference for corporate profit growth,” he said.

Moreover, unemployment will hover around 7% to 8% rather than the recently typical 4% to 5%, he added, and the higher rate would be around “for a long time to come.”

Gross added that inflation would also start to accelerate in about three to five years’ time.

Comment by Jon
2009-05-29 12:02:53

Sounds pissed because he will have to work for his money.

 
 
Comment by rms
2009-05-29 07:02:12

Looks like the Countrywide website is history; now it says Bank of America Mortgage.

Comment by realestateskeptic
2009-05-29 08:00:28

Same cra* different name.

 
 
Comment by cobaltblue
2009-05-29 07:04:33

Now, why did I invite them here to Mesa, AZ for a discussion? Well, I could tell you, but then I’d have to bail you out:

May 29 (Bloomberg) — Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a lifelong Republican, boarded Air Force One for the first time in February. Neither President George H.W. Bush nor his son, President George W. Bush, had invited her on the world’s most famous jet in the five years she worked for them. It was a Democratic president, Barack Obama, who asked her to fly to Washington after the two had unveiled his administration’s foreclosure relief plan in Mesa, Arizona.

“Sheila, come on back. I want to talk to you,” Obama told Bair, who was seated in the plane’s conference room. He then escorted her into his airborne Oval Office for their first private meeting, where they discussed the government’s role in alleviating the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

“It was great,” Bair says of her meeting with the president. “He’s got an agenda which we share. Banks are a means to an end. You stabilize the banks to support the economy. But you don’t stabilize the banks for the sake of stabilizing the banks.”

After being left out of big decisions by Bush administration officials, such as the push last year for the $700 billion bank bailout, Bair, 55, has become one of the most powerful policy makers in Washington. Driven by a combination of circumstances and her own candor, Bair has presided over the biggest expansion of the FDIC’s authority since its founding in 1933 to insure bank deposits.

‘Bites Like Jaws’

“She looks like Bambi and she bites like Jaws,” says Wade Henderson, president of the Washington-based Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, who has known her for 27 years. “There’s a quiet intensity about her. She’s idealistic in spite of her 30 years in Washington.”

Comment by Arizona Slim
2009-05-29 09:09:15

“But you don’t stabilize the banks for the sake of stabilizing the banks.”

Sheila, Sheila, Sheila! Come on now. There’s been more than a little stabilizing of banks for the sake of stabilizing them. Ever heard of the term “Zombie Banks?”

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 10:09:14

True that, but as the article states, Bair had little to do with the zombification. That came out of Treasury and the Fed, not FDIC.

 
 
 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 07:06:26

“Growth will be stunted,” he said. “It will be a different type of world and we have to get used to that.”

Hey, by golly… things could be worse…from the article about the second largest extinction on earth due to a volcano in China:

“…After the eruptions, it took another 500,000 years for life to return to the same level as before,…

Volcanic Eruption Caused Ancient Mass Extinction:

By Ryan Flinn May 28 (Bloomberg)

Mr. Bear will not always be someone who has to call the landlord to replace the garbage disposal…:-)

Comment by Blue Skye
2009-05-29 09:35:14

I imagine, therefore I conclude.

How fossilized lifeforms in sedimentary layers above the lava deposits prove they were mass extincted, gets by me.

 
Comment by MrBubble
2009-05-29 09:57:58

Thanks for the heads up. I’m heading to Italy to check out the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (minor extinction) this summer. Yeah, I’m fun at parties. Good to know of this mass-extinction. I wonder how it will compare with the current “anthropocene” extinction?

MrBubble

Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 12:01:21

Yeah, I’m fun at parties.

Do you ever say, ‘Do you wanna see my fossil crabs?’
Because don’t, is my advice unto you.

Comment by MrBubble
2009-05-29 12:42:31

LOL. Actually, I don’t get the chance much anymore. Since I don’t own a house, a car or a TV, there’s not much to talk about with people who like to talk about things (or people). Once people start talking about ideas, dinner parties won’t be so dreadful.

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Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 20:32:33

*TEST!!! *

(That’s a noisy shout! )

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by wmbz
2009-05-29 07:30:22

Watch for more of this. . . .

Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop operator, is pushing some U.S. landlords for as much as a 25% reduction in lease rates, taking advantage of a declining real estate market to save on rent.

This is unusual in an age of inflation. It’s downright deflationary!

Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 07:49:38

Good move, SBUX! I often think small business establishments should be more aggressive about negotiating lease reductions, rather than valiantly trying to hold the ground on prices against a shrinking customer base. Case in point: I took my son to get his hair cut a couple of nights ago, and the place was empty except for us, two hairdressers, and the sign announcing their $18 hair cuts. That price worked fine in San Diego circa 2005, but not any more. They would do much better by cutting prices to levels where they can run a full shop, and letting the landlord know that they are not generating enough revenues to pay the lease at 2005 rent levels.

Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 07:50:56

P.S. We had a free coupon (actually one we bought at a fundraiser auction) for my son’s haircut. I would have had my hair cut, too, if the price had been $10…

Comment by DinOR
2009-05-29 09:07:58

Professor Bear,

Agreed. My only question is, what took them so long? Hey, “I” went back to virtually -everyone- to which I have a service relationship and said “Can we talk?”

Actually since one of my clients is a strip mall operator, they’ve shared a lot w/ me over the years. This is pretty standard in a recessionary environment.

One thing I ‘do’ though in these times is stop by my favorite places more often! You get better service more personalized attention not to mention eternal gratitude. Not the “like it or lump it” BS we’ve all been subjected to for years.

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Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 09:30:51

We had a free coupon (actually one we bought at a fundraiser auction)

I’m glad you explained that, PB, before I rebuked you for your frivolous spendtriftery. :)

Well, then, who DOES cut your shaggy ursine pelt? Do you do it? I hope so. I cut my own hair. When people compliment me on my pretty tresses I nod agreeably and say ‘Thanks! I squirt it out of my head this color and then I cut it myself, when I’m drunk.’ which is true.
My dad used to cut our hair when I was a wee lass. He favored a marine-style buzz cut, which clashed with our girlish dresses, although not as much as it would have, had the dresses not been sewn by my mom from durable and attractive camouflage fabric.
(I had an interesting childhood.)

Hahahaah! I have a few photos of me and my sisters on the mantel and new visitors sometimes ask ‘Who are those cute little boys?’
That’s probably why I have long hair now, and probably why no one cuts it but ME.

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Comment by mikey
2009-05-29 12:15:40

My Dad was an officer in the USAF. My older brother used to complain that he was born with a flat top and the 1st words my Dad taught him were “Yes Sir!” My Dad would just Smile.

The US Army got a hold of my bother and me and the flat tops contuned. We weren’t always happy campers. My Dad would just Smile.

Many years after the military, I was remained fairly clean cut and flew home for a Xmas. When all the presents were opened, my little sister noticed what appeared to be an over-looked Xmas Card stll in the tree that was addressed to me.

I opened it up and there was $10 Dollar bill in it and it was signed, “Love, Santa”. I asked everyone what this ten bucks was all about.

“A flat top” and my Dad just Smiled. I miss that man, his haircut opinions and mostly…his Smile.
:)

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 20:34:00

That’s a cool story. Thanks mikey.

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 20:36:09

…I was thinking about your story. I don’t think my dad ever smiled. Unless he was pleased that his shot had just hit the ATF guy spang on.
‘Course, that would bring a smile to ANY face, right?

 
 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 10:02:35

“…I would have had my hair cut, too, if the price had been $10″

Why do I have the feeling that of all people on this blog…Mr. Bear would be very keen about the price of “haircuts” ? :-)

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Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 11:04:48

I honestly am not that cost sensitive about haircuts (though I certainly avoid the $200 coifs favored by guyliner politicians). However, I do tend to be keenly aware of empty small business establishments and the prices they try to charge their nonexistent customers.

 
 
 
Comment by incredulous
2009-05-29 11:28:04

Prof Bear, When I returned to SD a few years ago, the price of haircuts was indeed shocking to me. I’m not talking fancy salons or anything, regular old barber shops and supercuts charging 15-20 bucks even for children is freakin’ ridiculous (most anywhere else is 8-10 with a couple knocked off for the little ones).

Comment by Observer
2009-05-29 12:16:10

I often go to a Vietnamese place for a haircut, they charge $7.

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Comment by Skip
2009-05-29 08:32:41

How does Starbucks renegotiate a 20 year lease? A contract is a contract isn’t it?

Are there going to be rental cram downs next?

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2009-05-29 09:58:17

I still say Starbucks might go BK. Regardless of how many stores they closed, they still have to service that debt, with shrinking revenues from fewer stores.

 
 
Comment by mrktMaven
2009-05-29 07:45:08

Bought a Winston-Matic 2000.
Can’t make the darn thing stop.
Green shoots everywhere.
Oh, the humanity.

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 10:22:05

We are eating are seed corn at present.

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 10:42:41

Second are=our.

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 07:57:43

Bottom callers will call bottoms. San Diego must exist in an economic vacuum, as there is no mention in this article of the looming GM bankruptcy, the recent uptick in l-t interest rates (including mortgage rates), the prospect that CA state employee worker unemployment will soon tic up or that the state may take money from the San Diego city budget to patch up its $21 bn black hole.

Some signs local slump near bottom
USD data point to first economic uptick in 2 years
By Dean Calbreath
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. May 29, 2009

Despite growing unemployment, continuing home foreclosures and a crippling state budget deficit, there are growing signs that the economic slump in San Diego County could be approaching a bottom.

Home builders are returning to the market. Home sales are on the rise. Consumers are feeling more confident. Local companies are doing better in the stock market.

“Things aren’t falling as badly as they have been,” said Kelly Cunningham, economist at the National University System Institute for Policy Research. “Consumer sentiment is improving. People seem to be realizing the worst of the downturn may have already occurred.”

The questions are how real are these “green shoots” of growth – as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls them – and are they strong enough to withstand the continuing drought in employment?

Perhaps one of the least-expected signs of improvement is a recent uptick in home-building. In April, 418 building permits were issued in San Diego County. Though down from 521 in March, it’s up dramatically from 87 in January and 86 in February, the worst months for local home construction on record.

In contrast, builders were putting up more than 1,500 homes per month at the peak of the construction boom in 2003.

“The March and April numbers are not great, but they are less bad than what we have been doing,” Gin said. “These numbers make me think that we’ll do better than we did last year, which was the worst year on record.”

In another positive sign, sales volume has been creeping back up. Last month, 3,375 homes were sold in the county, a 20 percent increase year-over-year.

Moreover, after two years of decline, prices have begun to stabilize. The median home price in San Diego County remained flat at $285,000 in both February and March and inched up to $290,000 in April. But the vast majority of purchases involved either foreclosures or short sales – properties being sold at a loss by lenders.

“People are tiptoeing back into the market, but they’re not coming back like they did after the downturns in the 1980s and 1990s,” London said. “We’re still at the bargain-basement phase, and we could see another wave of foreclosures before there’s any bid-up in pricing.”

“The key to turning things around is if this increased consumer confidence translates into increased purchases, particularly of bigger-ticket items such as houses and automobiles,” USD’s Gin said.

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 10:10:40

O.K. Mr. Bear, take it easy…it’s Friday…you’re a cinch for this weeks HBB “Eeyore’s Certificate of Appreciation” ;-)

Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 11:03:03

I humbly cede my “Eeyore’s Certificate of Appreciation” to Ben Jones for his devastating Friday desk clearing post.

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 08:00:32

Foreclosures increasing for prime loans
Rate has doubled in the past year
By Emmet Pierce
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. May 29, 2009

The mortgage crisis that has shaken the nation’s economy is expanding beyond the subprime market to include borrowers with prime loans and solid credit ratings, said a survey released yesterday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The rate of foreclosure on prime, fixed-rate mortgages doubled in the past year, said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. Nearly 6 percent of such mortgages were in the foreclosure process or behind by at least one payment at the end of the first quarter.

Among all types of mortgages, the survey showed that a record 12 percent of homeowners had fallen behind on their payments or were going through foreclosure. The report reflects a significant threat to the ailing housing market as well as the overall economy, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com.

“As long as foreclosures are rising, house prices will decline, which will undermine household wealth,” he said. “It will be very difficult for the economy to gain any traction. A lot more foreclosures are coming.”

Comment by milkcrate
2009-05-29 09:23:42

With a nod to combo, that wealth destruction surely puts a premium on the cash that remains.
Also, the spouse and I are going to ask for a monthly lease reduction for medical business this summer. Developers of new buildings built on spec are really prowling for tenants, which are also in short supply.

 
 
Comment by measton
2009-05-29 08:11:18

May 29 (Bloomberg) — Nouriel Roubini, Dr. Doom himself, has found an economy even he can love: South Korea.

That might sound surprising for a nation in the news for the wrong reasons. North Korea’s nuclear test, the suicide of former President Roh Moo Hyun and stock-market-bubble worries are making for some very ugly headlines this week. Getting Roubini’s seal of approval has been a rare and welcome news- cycle counterpoint.

Recent Korean data “suggest there is the beginning of an economic recovery, and growth might be already positive in the second quarter,” Roubini said at a May 27 conference in Seoul.

Roubini, among the few to predict the global crisis, is likely to be right about Korea, too. And there are two reasons the world should be paying more attention to Asia’s No. 4 economy. One, the lessons larger economies can draw from its experiences. Two, what recent events suggest about North Korea.

The first point isn’t an insignificant one for the U.S. The reason Roubini says Korea may grow more than 1.5 percent next year is the economic-policy changes made over the last 10 years. The 1997-1998 Asian crisis seemed like a curse at the time. It devastated the nation of 49 million and forced the government to accept a humiliating International Monetary Fund bailout.

Today, that experience is proving to be a blessing in disguise. The government assessed the magnitude of its problems and admitted how bad things were. It allowed weak companies and commercial and merchant banks to fail. It acted quickly to rid balance sheets of bad assets. As a result, Korea was the first Asian economy to recover from the crisis and repay the IMF.

Korean Lessons

Economists pondering how bad things might get in the U.S. tend to look at Japan. More insights may be found in Korea. Even though they are spending trillions of dollars stimulating the economy, U.S. officials remain in denial. Adding liquidity isn’t enough. Steps to restore confidence and trust among corporate executives, investors, and consumers are far more important. Korea did it. The U.S. still needs to.

Comment by ecofeco
2009-05-29 19:16:58

The FIRE mafia will NEVER allow this.

 
 
Comment by dude
2009-05-29 08:21:15

Ariana Huffington scored big points toward credibility with me today. She is a confessed Obamaniac but really blasted the administration for it’s actions to prop up the zombie banks.

Comment by Skip
2009-05-29 08:41:00

It would be funny to see people not be able to use their Visa check cards because their institution folded.

Comment by Pinch-a-penny
2009-05-29 08:49:45

Huh? Where on earth do you get that? So far all of the banks that have failed, their depositors have been made whole within a fairly short period of time, and except for MAYBE a weekend were able to access their money on the following monday?
This is Exactly the BS that prompted the mentally challenged politicians to pass a really bad bail out bill.
Look at what has happened with other failures, and you can see how things would operate. Let those banks that made bad decisions fail, their employees fail, their bondholders fail, and their stockholders fail. Do not get ME involuntarily, and at the end of a gun, involved, by giving them money I do not have.

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 10:28:49

Thanks pinch, I think my larger point, other than kudos to AH, was that the honeymoon for the candy crappin’ unicorn(tm) is nearly over. Rats on a sinking ship, on both sides of the aisle.

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Comment by Pinch-a-penny
2009-05-29 10:39:16

Agreed. Honey moon coming to an end. Too many things happening to make a lot of people angry, not only on the right side of the spectrum, but also on the left, center, up, down, green, grey, and every other political inclination.

 
 
Comment by Skip
2009-05-29 12:37:06

If all of the zombie banks are shutdown tonight, the FDIC does not have enough money or people to get those banks back open on Monday.

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Comment by Pinch-a-penny
2009-05-29 12:47:01

The FDIC would not, but the treasury would most likely print however much was needed to make anybody under 100K whole.
Those with over 100K in the bank (or 200 for married couples) would find that they are SOL. Much more troublesome would be WS and the financial markets IMHO, but saying that the failure of these banks would be a catastrophe guarantees their TBTF status, that NO bank should ever be able to hold.
If the big banks would be allowed to go BK, pay off their under 100K customers, and start paying whatever else they can after that, and then do the decent thing, and go hang themselves in the closet out of view, we would be getting back on track with this recovery.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 08:35:50

So what’s the etiquette when you’re on a first date a the girl mentions that she wants to buy a house by the end of the year to get the 8k tax credit.

Do you:

a) Smile and nod
b) Encourage her as it’s a good idea
c) Try to explain why it’s not a good idea
d) Get up and walk away immediately

(strictly hypothetical of course…I most certainly didn’t find myself in this situation last night)

Comment by Blue Skye
2009-05-29 08:45:34

change the subject to that night’s lodging.

 
Comment by Anonymous Coward
2009-05-29 08:53:43

I vote for option c). If it becomes clear that she’s stupid, not just uninformed, then proceed to option a), followed by losing her phone number.

Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2009-05-29 09:48:35

Aah, the “rational” option. It won’t work though - it seldom does.

 
 
Comment by Blue Skye
2009-05-29 08:58:26

Get a hotel room for the night.

Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2009-05-29 09:27:24

In short, be a renter not a buyer.

Going to the bathroom before the check arrives, and busting the joint is also a valiant and admirable move.

What’s a little more debt on her CC, eh? ;-)

Comment by packman
2009-05-29 09:40:23

In short, be a renter not a buyer.

LOL.

Also best for boats and other similar money pits. There’s a saying though I forget exactly how it goes.

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Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2009-05-29 09:41:43

If it floats, flies or f*cks, rent it don’t buy it.

 
 
 
Comment by Danger
2009-05-29 09:35:28

Tell her she’s about the get f#%ed, but not by you.

 
 
Comment by Arizona Slim
2009-05-29 09:14:33

I choose Option C. And, if your explanation is not accepted, don’t go out on a second date.

 
Comment by MrBubble
2009-05-29 09:18:11

e) Start ordering Manhattans?

 
Comment by Blano
2009-05-29 09:19:20

I’ve forgotten what a first date is…..can’t help you.

 
Comment by Skip
2009-05-29 09:21:57

f) Convince her to get one with a pool so you will be able to work on your tan this summer.

Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 09:30:22

I suppose option g) could be to encourage her, but make sure she goes in with the intent to default on the loan…not a bad gig if she can only put a little down and life mortgage/rent free for a year or so.

Wait…why haven’t I gone and done this?

 
 
Comment by exeter
2009-05-29 09:33:24

Don an adult diaper and bonnet and say gaga googoo when she walks in the room. Anything to make her get away from you….. and quickly.

 
Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 09:41:19

e) Tell her about your awesome new MLM product, napkins! You’ll sell her that entire dispenser of napkins for $40, and she can sell individual napkins to customers at the restraunt for $2 each (giving you another $0.50 commission) and be rich enough to buy that house!

 
Comment by Al
2009-05-29 10:20:32

b) Say you think it’s a great idea that you buy a house together. Describe all the features you like in a house, and what locations you prefer. Get a firm commitment when you’ll go shopping. Also, be sure to let her know how many kids you think the two of you should have together. Throw out a couple of name suggestions, say 2 or 3 for each gender. If she’s mentioned any pets up to this point, say you really can’t tolerate having a cat/dog/gerbil/ferret living in your house and offer to have it put down. Make sure you’re holding her hand and making lots of eye contact the whole time.

Drumminj, what did you hypothetically do?

Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 11:36:25

Al, I just imagined a woman doing those things to *me*. I’m going to have nightmares for weeks!

I believe I said “please don’t buy a house right now”, and explained that all the tax credit has done is prop up the price of houses. Also pointed out that houses by me are $700k…asked how many people she knew who could afford that. Answer: not many, thus, prices must come down.

Then I shut up and got back to my hypothetical gnocchi :)

Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 12:04:43

and got back to my hypothetical gnocchi

Well, how WAS it? What did you eat with it?
Yer skimping on the importantest details here, man!

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Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2009-05-29 12:18:42

Totally! The hypothetical sauce is the only thing that matters at this point ’cause the hypothetical bimbo wasn’t quite cutting it.

 
Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 12:37:27

It was interesting…pesto cream sauce *with* marinara. Didn’t know what to expect, but gave it a shot. It was tasty, but the pasta was a little overcooked.

Had white wine with it - Soave.

 
Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2009-05-29 12:59:25

Scary! That sounds more strange than the bimbette.

I can see a red sauce working or a pesto working with gnocchi but BOTH?!?

As I said, it’s scary when the sauce sounds crazier than the date.

 
Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 13:22:45

Well, to be fair the date wasn’t crazy - she’s a nice woman. And I figured, after reading the menu, it was a “one or the other sauce” kind of thing..but no, it was both..figured I’d give it a shot. I think straight up pesto would’ve been gross, but pesto cream + red sauce was good.

 
Comment by Gadfly
2009-05-29 15:43:50

Go with b). After she becomes a broke-@$$ starving house slave, she’ll put out for stockings, chocolate and chewing gum.

 
 
 
Comment by LehighValleyGuy
2009-05-29 12:03:59

Kids?? What are you saying? We can’t encourage that! We’ll have overpopulation, pollution, depletion of resources and the earth will croak under the weight of all these people!

 
 
 
Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 08:39:41

K, this is really *really* the last time I’m going to post about this.

For the Firefox users, I have a web page up now that’ll allow you to “automatically” install the extension I’ve been working on, as well as a feature list and screenshots. The extension is a nice aid for keeping up with this blog, especially later in the day.


http://home.avvanta.com/~drumminj/joshuatree.html

Makes this blog a lot easier to keep up with and navigate, IMO.

Comment by Carl Morris
2009-05-29 09:15:11

As someone who has used this for quite a while now, I’d strongly encourage the regular posters to try it. Besides all the nice touches, it makes checking back later in the day a whole new experience. Being able to skip to just the new posts makes checking back regularly easy and pleasant. Being able to easily skip past people you find annoying is just icing on the cake :-).

 
Comment by Arizona Slim
2009-05-29 09:20:52

I downloaded and installed JT.

One request: Think you could post a readme file on your site? Just to get us up to speed with how to work the features in JT?

Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 09:57:01

Yeah, I need to do that. Really, I’ve been meaning to for a while. Most of it happens “automatically”, though, but yes, there are some things that should be explained. I’ll work on that this weekend.

Quick summary of the non-automatic stuff:

* to ignore a user, right click on their name in the post heading and choose “Joshua Tree >> Ignore User”. OR, go to Tools>>AddOns and bring up the preferences dialog for the Joshua Tree Extension.

* To use the formatting buttons when making a new post, select the text you want formatted and click the button and it will add the tags around the selected text. For an anchor/link, it will pop up a dialog asking for the URL to link to

* If you have text selected when you click “Reply to this comment” it will automatically ‘quote’ that text in your reply.

Hope that helps.

 
 
Comment by AdamCO
2009-05-29 09:34:36

This is what open source software and plugins are all about. installed and using, thanks!

 
Comment by Zombie Banks
2009-05-29 10:25:16

it is faster!

Comment by Arizona Slim
2009-05-29 11:39:23

It also does a better job of displaying long-long Bits Buckets. I used to get “blackouts” in certain parts of the Bucket.

Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 11:56:23

I assume y’all are referring to Firefox? Safari is actually far better in my experience, but the extension system of FF is quite nice…bugmenot, adblock, etc.

FF 2 used to choke on long Bits Buckets, but FF3 handles it quite nicely.

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Comment by dude
2009-05-29 10:33:16

Hey dj, you didn’t leave in a back door that will force us all to buy homes before the $8K credit runs out, did you?

Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 11:42:44

Not a ‘back door’, just subliminal messages. It’s like those paintings you stare at and an image appears..I just rearrange a letter or two to create a stereoscopic image saying “it’s a great time to buy!”

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 12:02:33

Thus the JT nomenclature, LOL.

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Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 12:00:11

By the way, I know I suck at web page design. If anyone wants to tell me how to make it pretty, drop me an email :)

Comment by milkcrate
2009-05-29 16:54:20

Appreciate the tip and JT application. Seems to work wonders.

Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 17:40:32

Glad to hear it..the more people that can make use of it, the better.

If you’re interested in being notified of updates, please drop me a line at the email address on the web page…actually, it’d be nice simply to know how many people are using it.

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Comment by ecofeco
2009-05-29 19:26:47

Your page looks fine. Less is often more.

Far too many websites are badly junked up.

 
 
 
Comment by wmbz
2009-05-29 08:48:17

Gov’t allows short-term loans for tax credit
Government allowing FHA borrowers to get advances on $8,000 tax credit

Alan Zibel, AP Real Estate Writer
On Friday May 29, 2009, 10:40 am EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of first-time homebuyers will be able to get short-term loans so they can quickly make use of a new $8,000 tax credit that was designed to boost the battered U.S. housing market.

The Federal Housing Administration on Friday released details of a plan in which borrowers who use FHA loans can get advances from lenders that effectively let them receive the credit before they complete their taxes.

The FHA had no estimate of how many borrowers would qualify. But the agency, which backs about a quarter of new home loans, is projected to guarantee about 2.2 million loans in the next budget year.

Borrowers can claim the credit by filing an amended 2008 tax return or can wait for their 2009 return.

The change “will present an enormous benefit for communities struggling to deal with an oversupply of housing,” Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a statement.

Borrowers will still have to come up with the FHA’s required 3.5 percent down payment, unless they work through a state or local housing program. But officials say the money can still be used for closing costs or a larger down payment.

The tax credit was included in the economic stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama in February.

Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 09:42:53

Selling those houses at 50% off would help those communities no longer have an oversupply of houses.

Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 09:47:33

How would your solution help put money into the pockets of REIC constituents?

Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 10:02:32

I would solemnly swear to make sure they got every dime they deserved.

Then I’d flip ‘em the bird!

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Comment by Lost in Utah
2009-05-29 09:00:01

California is talking about closing many many state parks. Won’t post a link as this will never go through, but it’s all over the news.

So…

Q: Who exactly owns that land?

A: The State of Cali manages it for its citizens, who own it.

But YOU won’t be able to access it, even though it’s yours, if THEY close it. So much for public land. And don’t bother to mention the argument that they have to close it or people will wreck everything if there’s no one there to mind it. In my home state of Colorado, volunteers have taken over some of that watchdog status quite successfully (e.g. Yankee Boy Basin above Ouray). Just another lockstep in the march to the Nanny State.

And I’m an environmeddler and don’t want to see things destroyed either, but I also want to be able to visit such places, they belong to US, not the gubmint.

OK, guess I’d better head back to Montana where my anarchist peers live. :)

Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 09:44:24

I’d say it’s time to evict them. They all work in public buildings, right? Let’s go kick ‘em out and tell them they can’t use them as we don’t feel they can be left unsupervised without causing damage.

Comment by Lost in Utah
2009-05-29 09:56:04

:) :) :)

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 09:45:41

Sites such as Ana Nuevo State Reserve, Torrey Pines State Reserve and Anza Borrego Desert State Park are big draws for out-of-state and international tourists. I am guessing the cost of keeping these open may be less than the revenues generated from tourism, but perhaps not for the near term, given that the bottom has dropped out of the CA tourism industry?

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 10:35:49

By international, do you mean illegal resident alien?

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 10:55:23

Hey dude,…wait till my Sequioa camping post to Losty shows up… ;-)

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Comment by iftheshoefits
2009-05-29 09:59:31

This is typical state budget politics. When they’re forced to cut by the economy or by the voters, they always put a couple of plums out there on the chopping block that don’t save much money, but really get noticed quickly. Rather than make the painful cuts that they need to. It’s a tit-for-tat battle, and all the usual suspects choose their usual sides.

 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 10:48:04

“…volunteers have taken over some of that watchdog status quite successfully”

Hey Losty, let me tell ya about one night last week in Sequioa Nat’l Park:

The group sites were full @ Crystall Springs / Kings Canyon…so, the “I got a spanish boombox in my SUV with spinning hubcaps” crowd decides to take up x4 camp sites max of x6 person per site…So, they then ALL (x24+) decide that drinking cerveza’s under really big trees is almost exactly the same thing as drinking cerveza’s in a pesticide plume of fog on the outskirts of Bakersfried or Modesto…now, since it’s past 10pm and no cell service & the “rangers” have just finished with their 9:35 pm pass thru it’s time to crank up the music and let the “fat a$$ women folk howl like hyena’s” (Hwy notes, after careful observation, that not x1 women had an a$$ that would fit inside an 6 cubic yard wheel barrel, and thus names camp #17: the “Camp Fat A$$’s)
Next to us is a visiting America Japanese family of x4 …above us a fun group of Stanford college kids (all Bollywood Indian)…next to them a family from Sweden…a few shout out in the darkness “Shut up”…

So, Hwy decides to go into the visitor center market for another bottle of Shiraz, Oh, what a coincidence…a Ranger! “Oh, Mr. Ranger do you you know where camp #17 is…” (sub story: the Ranger had an assault rifle, a shot gun, what looked like an M16, an a 45 caliber sidearm, a GPS unit & a computer. He’s about 38 years old and could be a poster boy for the US Marines…Hwy makes mental note:…put Park Rangers in same category as Reference Librarian’s: ” Do not mess with!”)

By the time I got back to camp the x4 Ranger Swat team had surrounded “Camp Fat A$$’s”/// Oh, wow, it was so quite…not x1 hyena howl, not x1 SUV boombox, not x1 drunken cackle, just the distant sounds of murmured voices & an occasional flushing toilet, and silently quenched camp fires…

Yes, they all left the next day! :-)

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 12:07:31

I love stories with a happy ending! (wipes away a tear)

BTW, I love me the illegal aliens so much I married one. 20 years of marital blisters.

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 12:08:35

the Ranger had an assault rifle, a shot gun, what looked like an M16, an a 45 caliber sidearm, a GPS unit & a computer. He’s about 38 years old and could be a poster boy for the US Marines…Hwy makes mental note:…put Park Rangers in same category as Reference Librarian’s: ” Do not mess with!”

An armed park-ranger who’s a mixture of Marine and reference librarian!?
*falls off chair *

…Say, did you get his name, by any chance, I wonder?

Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2009-05-29 12:23:30

Trust Oly to ask all the “pertinent” questions!

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Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 12:25:23

“…Say, did you get his name, by any chance, I wonder?” ;-)

I did: Park Ranger David / Grant’s Grove visitor center Sequioa / Kings Canyon Nat’l Park

I didn’t notice if he was wearing a ring…sorry Losty;-)

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Comment by tresho
2009-05-29 12:43:10

I saw a Ranger outfitted just like that in Yellowstone last time I was there. He was going up a trailhead into the backcountry. I examined his insignia closely to make sure he wasn’t military, nope, the badges he wore said National Park Service.

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Comment by DennisN
2009-05-29 13:46:32

I dunno….OlyGal may have to stay away from certain Rangers. Here’s a story about getting busted for digging too many clams.

http://www.adn.com/outdoors/story/810564.html

Alaska Wildlife Troopers ran a widespread bust targeting illegal clam diggers on Kenai Peninsula beaches over Memorial Day weekend, citing at least 22 people for misconduct with mollusks.

Gee, “misconduct with mollusks” is a crime in AK. Now who do you think I thought about upon reading that charge.

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Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 15:21:20

That’s why you gotta go out and become pals with the various forms of the po-leece. Then they don’t bust ya for your various activities. Because they were there when you did whatever you did, offering advice, or because their colleagues were there, offering advice.
Friendship is a wonderful thing. :)

Plus, they come with handcuffs.

….Say, are you on some sort of ‘invertebrate/mollusk Bizarre News net? Yesterday you produced the frog-hunting meth-heads story, which I enjoyed. I saw it too late last night to comment but now I say ‘Thank you, and please sign me up to this newsnet.’

 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 15:37:57

“…citing at least 22 people for misconduct with mollusks.”

I’m sorry I can’t resist: one of ‘em was: Levi Johnston right? :-)

 
Comment by DennisN
2009-05-29 18:44:49

Could be worse: “cohabitating with quahogs”.

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 20:42:21

Could be worse: “cohabitating with quahogs”.

:shock:
Wow! I never even thought of that!

 
 
 
Comment by Lost in Utah
2009-05-29 12:11:20

LOL!! Hwy, you did good. Use the big firearms to YOUR advantage. You reminded me of a guy I used to work with who was a hotshot computer programmer and very smart and imagined he was Hayduke in his other life, he even signed in at trailheads as Hayduke. When we went hiking together, he signed me in as Bonnie (references to the Monkey Wrench Gang for those of you who don’t know who Ed Abbey is).

Anyway, for being Hayduke, he was a total pacifist, I remember him getting mad once when we came upon a dead lizard some mtn biker had accidentally ridden across, he mourned that lizard like I would one of my dearly departed dogs. He was a good-hearted guy and would never hurt a soul, he wouldn’t even step on ants (which I don’t either, although the Kamikazi ones I can’t account for).

His technique for having quiet camp spots was to take out his firearm (Colt .44) and target shoot whenever anyone else came near the campground, they’d freak and leave. He ALWAYS had the camping areas to himself, but we’re talking Utah, not California, not so many people, and backcountry boondock spots.

I kind of lost track of him when I quit that job, last time I talked to him he called me from Back of Beyond Bookstore in Moab and told me he’d just spent 21 days hiking the Pariah River all alone down by Escalante and had been followed by aliens the entire time.

Apparently his Colt .44 wasn’t very effective in that case. Or maybe he was smokin’ weed, I dunno. Or maybe it was true. If it were me, I’d hire that ranger you mentioned to carry my pack and stuff, no worries about nuthin’ then. Gotta use our guvmint assets wisely.

Comment by Bad Chile
2009-05-29 13:34:01

Nice reference to good old Cactus Ed.

When I was in senior year high school my English teacher introduced me to Edward Abbey. Good man (both the English teacher and Ed). Anyway, nice to see a reference to Ed.

May he rest in peace.

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Comment by Lost in Utah
2009-05-29 13:45:31

He has inspired some of my most interesting adventures. RIP.

 
 
 
Comment by Carlos Cisco
2009-05-29 13:15:00

Interesting note on the size of the demographic mentioned. On my trip to Reno/Sparks earlier this month I noted that the average body size of the hopeful citizen to be crowd seemed to have doubled in my two year absence. Mentioning this to my host brought the comment that yes, there are no starving in Nevada. Welcome to USA.

 
 
Comment by sfrenter
2009-05-29 12:42:11

Folks here are pretty upset about these potential park closures. But CA is going to get a whole lot worse than park and beach closing.

Comment by BanteringBear
2009-05-29 13:20:08

I fail to see how the math works in the case of the park closures. Not only do they provide direct revenue via fees, but indirect revenue in many other parts of the economy from in and out of state visitors. This is going to blow up in CA’s face. Stupid, stupid move.

 
 
 
Comment by measton
2009-05-29 09:04:41

From Krugmans home page

The focus these days is on the mismatch between China’s electricity consumption and a key measure of industrial output.

For most of the past decade, China’s industrial value-added growth (IVA) –industry output less input costs – has moved broadly in step with movements in electricity consumption. But the relationship’s broken down recently: electricity use is still seeing negative growth, while IVA is growing at a decent positive rate again.

Some China analysts are crying foul: If IVA growth figures are being cooked, surely that means China’s recent GDP data have been overstated too. China’s statisticians use IVA output to estimate what accounts for nearly half of China’s GDP.

China’s association of electricity generators has a solution: it’s stopped publishing consumption data.

Comment by Pinch-a-penny
2009-05-29 09:57:32

Yey… Lets all invest now in a communist country with no transparency, and a radical leadership that will do anything to obscure the facts…
I have been saying for years not how bad of an idea it is to invest billions of dollars opening up factories in a land where the most you get is a promise by the gov not to touch you in 99 years…
But the gov makes all the rules, and they can be changed in times of need, like right now.
I believe that Chindia will go to any length to maintain the illusion, and that illusion is easier to maintain in a totalitarian state with strict media controls, and limited outside access. Not that something like that can’t happen here either.

Comment by packman
2009-05-29 10:07:49

This is another indicator of the crux of the American (and world) economic problem. We’ve lost all focus on the big picture, which includes detecting and managing risks - including geopolitical ones. Instead the “big picture” is

Profits = Revenues - Expenses

and that’s it.

Comment by Pinch-a-penny
2009-05-29 10:19:49

Years ago a family member of mine had to write a paper supporting a decision to locate a factory in China. He had to research all of the data, and amazingly enough, it was not all that cost effective, even with slave labor, to locate a factory there once you include the mandatory paybacks to the local political establishment.
What is more, as the hiring was seasonal, and the employees had to be “housed” on the premises, it led to another set of nightmares, as security, beds, bathrooms, etc had to be provided, and you had no guarantee that the model employee that you had last year had not been run over by a drunk ox driver.
He was poring over data, trying to make it work, when I told him to dump the idea, and look to other places, even here in the states, to locate. Amazingly enough there are still enough places that are cheap in the US, and have fairly small governments where a factory can be both productive, and get a semi qualified work force. In fact so much of the rust belt has been slaughtered, that there are lots of very qualified people left behind that could work at a fairly high level, without taking into account that there are a lot of commercial factory space that is empty looking for tenants. Add abundant natural sources, and you have incredible potential within 2 to 3 hours of Ny or boston.
Unfortunately, companies like McKinsey and their associates, that have the upper Managers ears are screaming into them to open up factories, in China, and outsource IT to India, even though it makes less sense to do so every day that passes.
Now I believe that the factories in china, were never intended to sell stuff back to us, but to cultivate that market, but the prime problem with that, is that you need an open government that allows their citizens the freedom to buy, and to sell their things. Remember that there is no private property in China, and that the whole thing becomes moot if there is ever a revolution over there.

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Comment by tgun
2009-05-29 10:52:59

Good points- check out this quote from “The Economic Times” dated 20 May 2009:

“The United States has also significantly closed the gap to hte degree that China’s total manufacturing costs are now only six percent below those of American factories, the study by AlixPartners business consultants indicated.”

“Gone are the days when companies could see cost savings of 30 percent or more by making ‘no-brainer’ manufacturing foot-print and outsourcing decisions, to China in particular.”

The article went on to say that Mexico and India were less expensive than China.

That 6% in savings (”on-paper”) would quickly get consumed by any product quality snafus (shoddy workmanship, non-spec. components, etc.).

Just dealt with one this week. Supply chain decided to switch to a source in China to save $0.06 cents per item… had to stop production on the finished good due to a quality issue. Yep, you guessed it, non-conforming component. We would have been better off using the U.S. mfg. instead of the Chinese supplier. Oh, and Supply Chain never consulted with Product Management or Enginering. Nice, huh?

 
Comment by Pinch-a-penny
2009-05-29 10:59:59

I am in IT, so I have little manufacturing experience, but I deal with people in India all day… My company had a competition between the help desks based in India, and the ones here in the States. The ones here in the States would consistently out perform the ones in India by a factor of 50% or more. The India help desks in fact NEVER won one. It got so bad, that they resorted to monetary incentives in India only. After a while that did not work either.
In fact, after about 6 months, any contests pitting both help desks were quietly abandoned, and the people in the US help desk have been quietly being let go, in order to save the reputation of the manager that decided to outsource to India.
Office politics.. gotta love them…

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2009-05-29 12:42:34

I’ve never had good service when I’ve dealt with Indian CS reps. The language barrier is always a problem. Also, their fictitious names and cheer grate upon my nerves. I do my best to abandon companies who rely upon this cheap labor at the expense of US citizens.

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 15:01:55

Also, their fictitious names and cheer grate upon my nerves.

Hey, me too!
*picks up phone and dials up the help center *

“Oh, hello, ‘Steve’ Savapandit and/or ‘Nancy’ Chakrabarty…
Okay, yeah—can you show me how to make the computer go, because right now it’s screaming fretfully?
…. Hello? Helloooo…?”

 
 
 
Comment by dude
2009-05-29 10:40:36

“Yey… Lets all invest now in a communist country with no transparency”

USA?

Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 11:07:11

Why did you leave off the other descriptor?

and a radical leadership that will do anything to obscure the facts…

Sounds like 95% of American Politicians/Bankers/Lobbyists/CEOs to me!

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Comment by iftheshoefits
2009-05-29 11:50:22

Y’all beat me to the punch, I see!

 
Comment by dude
2009-05-29 12:09:07

True that SFBB, I figured “no transparency” covered that.

 
Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 13:28:03

I dunno… I kinda of saw it as degrees. “No transparency” and “Obscuring the facts” are pretty much interchangeable, except one implies a passive versus active cover up. It’s like ‘hitting a pedestrian with your car’ versus ‘running a guy down’. “No transparency” could be just because it’s more economical or the process is non-intuitive, or just that nobody’s asked. “Obscuring the facts” seems to me to be willfully trying to refute and cover up facts that have gotten out.

But let’s at least agree that the zany fun of a ‘radical leadership’ needs to be in there. :D

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by measton
2009-05-29 09:31:34

Is Your Home a Good Investment?

finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/107122/Is-Your-Home-a-Good-Investment?

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 10:28:17

From today’s Seattle P.I. :

“Mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures continue to rise”

http://tinyurl.com/lqk638
During the first quarter, 0.74 percent of Washington mortgages started the foreclosure process, and 1.8 percent were in foreclosure at the end of the quarter. These were up 64 percent and 145 percent, respectively, from a year earlier and 12 percent and 22 percent from the fourth quarter…
Washington’s small quarterly increase in delinquencies is deceptive because delinquency rates generally decline from the fourth quarter of one year to the first quarter of the next. While the nationwide delinquency rate dropped nearly 5 percent, it actually increased nearly 16 percent when adjusting for seasonal variations. The mortgage bankers do not provide seasonally adjusted state numbers.

….Interestingly, the association warned that its seasonally adjusted rates “should be viewed with a degree of caution because the statistical models behind the adjustments were estimated based on a much more benign environment…

Soooo, which IS it? Are we ‘different’ here, or not?
Me confused!
*paws at brow in puzzlement *

 
Comment by michael
2009-05-29 11:35:05

wife and i signed a new annual lease for the townhouse we are renting five minutes from both of our offices in northern va…and at the same time we told our landlord it looks like we need a new air conditioner…ouch.

i always tell my wife that you can’t hardly put a price on piece of mind.

Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 11:50:29

It’s funny how much one has to worry about when owning a house. I had a hackberry tree in my back yard (Texas) that was slowly splitting down the middle. Had a few other trees that were slowly dying as they were non-native. It’s not a ton of money, but worrying about having the trees cut down (and fences fixed if they fell on their own), as well as replacing the trees, not having much shade in back, etc…

I’m happy I don’t have to even think about that anymore. Not to mention having the roof replaced after hail storms, cleaning gutters, yadda yadda yadda

Comment by Faster Pussycat, Sell Sell
2009-05-29 12:15:35

Weekends at HD or weekends spent “horizontal jogging” - it’s not even a competition! ;-)

Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 13:24:49

Some of us only have the option of the weekend at HD :(

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Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 14:55:20

…Because, drumminj, you foolishly told your ‘hypothetical first date’ she was dumb, is why. :lol:

Look, don’t tell your dates they’s dumb, although, if you’re dating humans, they probably ARE dumb.

Look, do it like this, sa to them: ‘Sure, buy a house!’ and then say, ‘What I like about you, besides your amazing beauty, is your incredible smartness’.

Horizontal jogging, before you know it…

 
Comment by BanteringBear
2009-05-29 15:42:53

Oly, what I just love about you is your unmatched wit and mesmerizing beauty. ;)

 
Comment by drumminj
2009-05-29 17:46:19

…Because, drumminj, you foolishly told your ‘hypothetical first date’ she was dumb, is why.

Yes, I need to get better and just staying quiet and looking pretty…

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 20:40:49

Comment by BanteringBear
2009-05-29 15:42:53

Oly, what I just love about you is your unmatched wit and mesmerizing beauty. ;)

Hahahah!
:lol:

 
Comment by Olympiagal
2009-05-29 21:10:44

Oly, what I just love about you is your unmatched wit and mesmerizing beauty.

Okay, trying again…

Hahahaha! :)

 
 
 
Comment by Lost in Utah
2009-05-29 12:25:25

Yup, the house I’m in had water in the basement from the flashfloods we had last week. Not much, but enough that I was all stoked cause it wasn’t my house.

Although it’s a cool house and I wouldn’t mind owning it. Oh well, not for the amount they’d want…

 
Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2009-05-29 13:34:06

The last place I rented in Wisconsin had a neighbor’s storm damaged tree’s huge branch leaning way over onto our property. The tree’s owner was out the next morning worrying about the tree crushing the fence between the properties and costing a ton to fix. So he and I got out some saws and started at one end of the branch and kept hacking off chunks until we got it well onto his property, then hacked through the split part to get the branch down. This branch was almost 2 feet in diameter and had split off the tree and sagged down and was being held by the other branches and about four inches of still connected tree. The arborist showed up later that week and recommended pulling the whole tree.

I didn’t offer to help him with that one.

 
 
 
Comment by Lost in Utah
2009-05-29 12:22:39

HBBers, is life crazy or what?? My lease is up on my beautiful custom house here in Moab in 3 days. I can stay, but it’s costing me an arm and leg and fortune. No luck finding anything else, and I need to be back in Montana in August anyway for school.

Some of you may recall I sold my house here a couple of years ago and a very wealthy woman bought it, added a story, and completely remodeled it, it’s really cool. She just called and told me I can spend the next 3 weeks there free, as she and her husband are traveling. I have an entourage of cats and dogs, but she’s OK with that, loves animals.

After that? Well, maybe one of you has a guest house or will be travelling… :)

If not, I’ll just go camp out for awhile, Hwy, where are you gonna be next? I like your style…Bantering Bear, you can join us…

Comment by Lost in Utah
2009-05-29 12:57:20

Hey, anyone want a free raft trip? C’mon out, the trip starts Monday, but you have to show tomorrow morning to get signed up.

(It just dawned on me that I need to get a storage unit and move all my stuff ASAP, need help…)

 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 13:14:41

Hey Losty,
Taking Mr. Cole to Denver for the “G” scale train convention July 6th…travel dates are Wednesday July 1st … July 12th

Going:
Meteorite in AZ
Train ride to Grand Canyon
Mysterious Microbrew Beer drop off in Flagstaff for HBB founder
Painted Desert / Monument Valley
Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Train ride up the Arkansas river

Returning:
Crossing little bridge over Colorado river east of Moab
Capital Reefs
Zion
Back roads through the Mojave
Home

Comment by Lost in Utah
2009-05-29 17:14:13

Sounds like an awesome trip! When you go to the Black Canyon, look down and think of me and my older sister sliding down all 2000 feet on our rear ends, tossing our packs down ahead of us. We then camped at the bottom for a couple of nights, waiting for the fishermen who were already there to hike out ahead of us, since we were now wearing our camping longjohns, having worn major holes in our pants. :)

Have a good trip! My brother and I used to do the HO thing, great fun.

 
 
 
Comment by Lost in Utah
2009-05-29 12:29:20

Hey, you HAVE to watch this, it’s very short - this little girl puts our politicians to shame with her knowledge of geography, very very cute… (put dots in the spaces)

http://www thisisbozeman com/detail/smarty-pants-dance/

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 13:24:31

Awesome! lol…maybe Lola knows where “Ground Zero” is? ;-)

I used to able to do that dance…well, a slightly drunken version of it anyways. ;-)

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2009-05-29 12:32:46

Israel to ignite all-out regional war?
Mon, 25 May 2009 10:39:47 GMT

Israeli soldiers
The Israeli military holds its most extensive nationwide drill, signaling its intentions for a possible attack on Iran which they admit can ignite an all-out war in the region.

The nationwide exercise “Turning Point 3″ will begin on May 31 and will last five days, Ynetnews reported.

During the drill, Israeli forces and civilians will exercise a war against Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran and will also practice counterinsurgency tactics against Israeli Arabs.

Last week, Israel’s Air Force held a three-day drill to exercise possible missile and air strikes by regional countries — a clear warning to regional foes such as Syria and Iran.

Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Sunday’s cabinet meeting tried to placate Israel’s regional countries, saying “this is a routine drill, which was planned several months ago and is held every year in order to coordinate between civil and military systems.”

Tel Aviv accuses Tehran of nuclear weapons development - a charge rejected by both Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog, which has so far made over 14 snap inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities.

This is while Tel Aviv is widely regarded as the sixth-largest nuclear power in the world and the sole possessor of an atomic arsenal in the Middle East.

In the early 1970s, Israel had already developed missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads to most countries in the region, including Iran and Russia.

Moreover, Israel reportedly houses at least 100 bunker-busting bombs, which come in the form of laser-guided mini-nukes with the ability of penetrating underground targets.

The right-leaning government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran’s enrichment facilities out of existence.

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 13:03:48

I remember a speech so time ago, something about an “axis of evil”. I think Iraq was one of the three. Could someone remind me who the other two were?

Comment by dude
2009-05-29 14:39:05

Nevermind, I remembered. The puppet states of Israel and South Korea, right?

 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 14:46:49

“…Could someone remind me who the other two were?”

Yeah, I hear ya, I think it was Pakistan & Grenada…speaking of which, what the National Terrorist Flag color alert today? How do people who are color blind deal with that anyhow? Maybe Cheney knows? …you think he might know? Does he consider it before he goes fishing in Montana along the Madison River with the Secret Service Shadow agents carry his “drinks”? :-)

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 14:50:12

Run Hwy, …run!

DinOr has a Cheney replica wupp’in paddle, with spikes! ;-)

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2009-05-29 13:04:30

“…out of existence.”

Seems to be a key recurring word with these “brothers” ;-(

Rodney King: “…Can’t we all just get along”

Bugs: “eh, I don’t think so Doc”

 
 
Comment by sfrenter
2009-05-29 12:49:55

I posted this a couple of days ago, but with a link, so it got eaten (I think).

From the ground in San Francisco:

About 80% of all blocks in the city have at least one FOR RENT or FOR SALE sign. In my twenty years of living here I have never seen anything like it.

All the people who droned on about how “real estate never goes down in San Francisco” are very very quiet right now.

Yesterday I even saw a for sale sign that said PRICE REDUCED in Specific Whites (Pacific Heights).

Of course, it’s still ridiculously expensive here, to rent or to own. People seem excited about the chance to buy a fixer-upper shack in the ghetto for just barely under half a million…”now’s the time to buy!”. Shaddup.

Been reading this blog for a few years and feeling like the bubble would never burst here, but it has and it is. Not real capitulation yet, but I think it’s coming.

I am in my 40’s and I have yet to meet a single peer who has been able to buy a house in San Fran without help from mommy and daddy.

Schadenfreude has made me a *little* less of a bitter renter. And the landlord just visited and didn’t mind a bit that we have 3 hens in the backyard. Phew.

Comment by BanteringBear
2009-05-29 13:27:56

I really enjoy visiting SF, I get there at least once every few years, but I don’t care for much of the housing stock. Not only is some of the architecture hideous, IMO, but there is little privacy, outdoor space, or parking. I wouldn’t be interested in buying most of it, even if it were cheap. Just not my cup of tea.

 
 
Comment by aNYCdj
2009-05-29 13:18:17

Hey new Yorkers…..Sunday looks like nice day To see my Band The Catholic Girls…let meet up ..it will be fun

The Catholic Girls will be playing live in New York City this Sunday, May 31st at 3PM at the Riverside Park on The Pier as part of NYC’s “Summer On The Hudson” series. Here’s the scoop:

Mamapalooza - Sunday May 31st
Riverside Park So. (On the pier. Entrance at West 68th St)
Noon - 5PM
Celebrate mothers and the people who love them at our annual music and art filled afternoon featuring Swingset Mamas, Moey’s Music, tot- rocker AudraRox, and The Catholic Girls at 3PM, plus a Gymboree Play Tent, arts & crafts, food and fun! FREE (Rain or Shine)

 
Comment by whino
2009-05-29 13:26:15

Is Congress finally waking-up? They better start looking toward the FED’s hand in this also.

Senator asks government to curb oil speculators

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has asked the federal futures market regulator to crack down on speculators whom he blamed for pushing up crude oil and gasoline prices.

He said the CFTC should immediately classify bank holding companies, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as speculators and impose strict contract position limits on them.

Sanders said such companies “should not be allowed to make windfall profits in the oil market when in one division their analysts predict that oil prices will skyrocket, thereby driving new buyers to make investments in oil futures, while in another division their traders harvest huge returns on their oil positions.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE54S4KA20090529

 
Comment by wmbz
2009-05-29 14:59:36

LOL! If any country should know!

American capitalism gone with a whimper!
Front page / Opinion / Columnists
27.04.2009

Source: Pravda.Ru

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

Comment by cobaltblue
2009-05-29 16:41:19

Isn’t great to read Pravda, and get some realism in reporting vs. the politically correct crap they puke up here in the States???

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2009-05-29 17:11:35

“…the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed…”

It is downright indecent.

 
Comment by jeff saturday
2009-05-29 17:36:10

Tsaritsa Pilosii and Tsesarevich Biden may object to that arcticle.

 
 
Comment by neuromance
2009-05-29 15:36:49

What’s a good place to find out about foreclosure listings?

I keep hearing about prices being pulled down by foreclosures, and am interested in trying to find out for myself.

 
Comment by cobaltblue
2009-05-29 17:22:32

Whenever you hear the liberals discussing another “tax the rich” scheme, try to remember the practical realities:

“Millionaires Gone Missing”

Here’s a two-minute drill in soak-the-rich economics:

Maryland couldn’t balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians in Annapolis created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25%. And because cities such as Baltimore and Bethesda also impose income taxes, the state-local tax rate can go as high as 9.45%. Governor Martin O’Malley, a dedicated class warrior, declared that these richest 0.3% of filers were “willing and able to pay their fair share.” The Baltimore Sun predicted the rich would “grin and bear it.”

One year later, nobody’s grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller’s office concedes is a “substantial decline.” On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year — even at higher rates.

No doubt the majority of that loss in millionaire filings results from the recession. However, this is one reason that depending on the rich to finance government is so ill-advised: Progressive tax rates create mountains of cash during good times that vanish during recessions. For evidence, consult California, New York and New Jersey.

The Maryland state revenue office says it’s “way too early” to tell how many millionaires moved out of the state when the tax rates rose. But no one disputes that some rich filers did leave. It’s easier than the redistributionists think. Christopher Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, notes: “Marylanders with high incomes typically own second homes in tax friendlier states like Florida, Delaware, South Carolina and Virginia. So it’s easy for them to change their residency.”

All of this means that the burden of paying for bloated government in Annapolis will fall on the middle class. Thanks to the futility of soaking the rich, these working families will now pay Mr. O’Malley’s “fair share.”

-WSJ Online 5/27/09

Comment by wmbz
2009-05-30 04:14:08

“Whenever you hear the liberals discussing another “tax the rich” scheme, try to remember the practical realities”

Funny how tax the evil rich does not apply to the super rich politicians, some of the biggest tax dodgers on the planet.

Of course it’s for “our” own good, they know what’s best for the poor dumb masses.

 
 
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