Bits Bucket For June 4, 2010
Post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here. The Florida/DC meetup link at the forum is here. Click here for the shadow inventory thread.
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Petition comments of the day:
‘The blight of unoccupied housing continues to drag down the living standards of our neighborhoods. We’d like to see these houses liquidated and have a chance for some affordable home made available to the people.’
‘As a homeowner I do not want further collusion to artificially prop up house prices and reduce the affordability of housing for my neighbors. I do, however, want a stable growth oriented community that only fair housing prices can assure.’
‘I’m a taxpayer and I am tired of all of this. My elected representatives are going to hear from me this November. I will vote against them all.’
‘Holding housing inventory off market long term is either the action of a cartel supported by the US Govt. or accounting fraud supported by the US Govt. My government should not be supporting either, and harms me in doing so.’
It’s nice to have a voice in this.
So your friends turned into selfish douche bags like you? Awesome story!
Hey we’re not getting enough partisan claptrap on this blog these days. Could you post a bit more dung here soon? Thanks.
Huh? Oh I remember. You are in the same league as excretor, grizzly and ecofeco
am I missing something? What is Mr Bubble responding to?
am I missing something? What is Mr Bubble responding to?
My guess:
Comment by Eddie
2010-06-04 04:23:08
You say that like it’s a bad thing!
Some great (but depressing) photos of the effects of the oil spill on wildlife:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html
(not for the weak of constitution)
Heartbreaking. Makes me Uncle Sam ought to throw BP out of the coastal oil drilling business to send a message to the heartless multinational corporations of the world that negligence will hurt them big time at the sovereign state level. Somebody else can figure out how to drill our coastal shelves without killing so many birds.
YEA!! Gem ‘em man. Fight those eeeeeevil corporations.
I say we go one step further. No more oil period. While China grows exponentially, we go back to where China was 30 years ago and all ride bikes everywhere.
It’s amazing to me that the same people who moan about Chindia taking away all the jobs are the same ones who daily come up with ways to stifle American commerce.
A disaster on the scale of Chernobyl isn’t good enough for you?
Really?
I think your true colors are now plain for all to see.
Many of us wish to prevent disasters like this. And we wish to continue the US dominance in global affairs. The two are not mutually exclusive. The choice between the two is a false one.
Also, I’m not personally impacted by this. I’m sitting in a comfortable air-conditioned den while it is hot and soupy outside. I just had dinner. Heck, gasoline is cheaper, just filled up yesterday. This place is quite clean and tidy. However, I have empathy for both the creatures that are being slowly killed and for the people living along the coast. It takes a certain sophistication to be able to see beyond one’s self. Empathy is generally not a quality of the simpler and more brutish.
I can see your viewpoint - sort of exagerating, but I read something today that if we shut down all drilling offshore and in deep water, gasoline in the US will get to $6 to $8 per gallon. Of course the loons will then blame the oil companies for price gouging when all drilling is banned.
Does Goldman Sachs have an oil drilling division? Perhaps O could give his good buddies that concession. This shouldn’t be much of a stretch since they have had so much experience drilling the American people for so long.
No but I suspect they are buying up BP knowing that a fix is in.
I’m not sure what to say. Shocking pictures, and for some reason it’s implied that we are to feel sorry for these animals. But why are there no pictures of the photographer pulling them out of the mire and washing them?
Good press I suppose, but at the end of the day, the press benefits. How much different are they from BP? Did the press save one bird? Did the press preserve one fisherman’s job?
The job of the press is to tell the story to the public.
When all is said and done, by publishing the photographs, writing the reports, the press brings the story to light and that public knowledge leads to actions that will rescue some birds and preserve some fisherman jobs.
And that necessary work by the press has been made much more difficult by the efforts of BP and of the federal government to limit media coverage of this disaster. BP has been working mightily to keep people from seeing the full scope of this disaster.
Evil men prefer that their evil deeds remain in the dark.
didn’t BP put that live cam down by the gusher? that is pretty damning, surprised they don’t pull the plug.
According to an MSNBC clip posted on youtube, that live cam would appear to be a diversion, at least according to the two energy industry people that were interviewed. Even though it looks bad, supposedly there’s another leak that is doing far more damage. Who knows? But it wouldn’t surprise me.
The satellite photos leave me awestruck, you can actually see the sheen from space - like a huge version of when our rube neighbors would change their oil in the alley and it would rain.
The live video feed was forced upon BP by Congress on May 19th.
http://www.energyboom.com/policy/live-webcam-feed-underwater-oil-spill-go-tonight
We’re Nigeria now.
By the way, Palmetto, I am actually a prince of this fair land. If you will send me a check for $6,000 I can recover my rightful throne and access to funds left me by my father, the late King Iamacrook. I will repay your $6,000 with great riches. Bless you, kind sir.
“I am actually a prince of this fair land.”
You’re on. Just tell me where that secret bank account is, and I’m there!
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/bp-feds-withheld-videos-showing-massive-scope-oil/story?id=10819367
“Coast Guard Admiral Mary Landry was sticking with estimates, calculated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which put the spill’s size at about 5,000 barrels a day for several weeks. Coast Guard officials said they were focused on the response, and advised the public not to worry about just how much oil was pouring into the water. I would caution you not to get fixated on an estimate of how much is out there,” said Adm. Landry.”
I’ve also seen the reports of multiple leaks with the one being shown on the BP video being much smaller than the largest. I consider those reports far more credible than the BP and government statements.
The amount being released isn’t just incidental, it’s a central part of knowing what type of response is needed. It’s mind boggling that it wasn’t until this week that one of the most sophisticated NOAA ships was made available to start evaluating where oil may be present and in what amounts. This ship was previously doing mapping of the ocean floor off Galveston. It wasn’t far away and that sea floor mapping couldn’t possibly have been more critical than assisting with the oil disaster.
The question is, who does all this benefit? It has become apparent in an age of universal deceit that every scam, every lie, benefits somebody…
1) This could be used to make oil a lot more expensive, especially if we cut back on drilling. That would help the green-nuts with their goal of reducing energy use by the masses by simply making energy too expensive for most people.
2) Goldman Sachs and other investment crooks: what is their angle? They must have some inside knowledge, somehow…
3) Other energy companies and/or a drive to nationalize the oil industry. This would benefit the “bigger government is better” people who are currently in power.
Just tossing out ideas.
“The question is, who does all this benefit?”
I don’t attribute any larger ulterior motives. BP cut corners on a well that was at the limits of the available technology which resulted in a massive oil release. What they’re doing now seems to be butt covering more than anything else.
Yeah I think I saw a Youtube video too, of Matt Simmons and another oil guy saying the video we saw is from a small leak. There is a much bigger leak in the related accident that we haven’t seen.
So if I’m a news photographer, and you are trapped in a burning car, I just document it? I have no moral obligation to pull you out?
Actually, I agree with you, Cassandra. I’ve always been irked when I see media at the site of some disaster, all well-fed and in their pressed outfits and bush jackets and all, photographing and commenting on all the misery all around them. Why not use their resources for humanitarian purposes?
One time I wrote some guy who was an online journalist, denigrating the American people for not rising up, after all the stuff he informed them about. I said, gee, you report, the rest of us schmucks get to fight and you’ll tell the world about our glorious struggle, while we end up shot or in some rape room somewhere? You first, buddy.
Media are spectators. Nothing more, nothing less. And most of the time, most of them are lying liars.
Nobody has a moral obligation to pull someone else out of a burning car.
If it is within my power, I have a moral obligation.
There is an old Sam Kinison skit where he talks about the film crews filming starving Africans. Absolutely hilarious.
It touches on photographers getting involved or not.
What I hate is when PBS shows nature documentaries that basically consist of scientists capturing frightened animals and putting tracking devices in them - for Science! I know, it’s legit (I guess) but after seeing this crap 60 years I want to tells these guys to go home and quit bothering these poor critters.
Cassandra you are not making any logical sense. Of course an outraged public is more powerful than a photographer with a shampoo bottle in his hand.
“Did the press save one bird?” No they saved hundreds if not thousands.
Where are these pictures of the outraged public? Hundreds or thousands? This photographer shows zero. Natalie, are you outraged? What did you fix?
You may be right Natalie, and honestly, I don’t really give a crap. But I do care about honesty and integrity.
This dude flies down from Boston (?) to Louisiana (?) publishes 6 pictures. He (presumably) has a couple beers, flies home, laments how awful things were, and cashes his paycheck. Maybe some Atlantic crab cakes that night.
At the end of the day not one man, not one stupid bird is better off, except the photographer.
Photojournalists take many risks for very little pay. Their job is to enlighten the uninformed. To impute on them moral obligations that are different than those which you impute to yourself is absurd. Anyhow, as set forth below, there is not much that can be done except for killing the animals quickly. There is no place for them to go except back into the oil unless they are flown to remote locations to start a new life. A shampoo and release back into the death trap is futile. As for honesty and integrity, unless you have actual facts about this particular person, why not begin at home?
So you’re more outraged by a photographer not helping a bird than about BP and the oil spill itself? You’re priorities are misplaced.
It’s not his job to help a bird, it’s to convey the seriousness of the situation to the public at large. And I can guarantee you that more than one person is now willing to volunteer their time and/or give money to help those oil-covered birds.
And a man in a burning car is NOT the same as a bird covered in oil. The photographer would help the burning man if he could, and if not, would be on 911 calling someone who could. There are many instances of journalists helping people in situations like that.
He probably took the time to have some gumbo while he was there as well.
“How much different are they from BP?”
1. BP would prefer to keep the story hidden from view; the press (if it’s doing its job) wants to give it maximum exposure.
2. So far as I know, taking photographs does not cause massive oil spills, but if you have evidence to the contrary, please share.
is anyone down there cleaning the stuff up yet? all i hear about is the leak and complaining fisherman…yet…it seems nobody is cleaning it up?
maybe they are and that’s just not the story.
Clean what up exactly? This is just the tip of the iceburg. The Gulf is pretty much a dead sea for the next 100 years. Where do you think the animals will go if saved with 100s of miles of deadly habitat?
I saw a report showing people in the marshes trying to sop up oil with some sort of shamwow cloths. That may have been just a PR setup however, like when Obama visited and advance staff had hundreds of people hired to pose as helpers.
Ah, but the Profit of Change is going to be visiting the Gulf area again to express his “outrage” over all this… while no doubt thinking of some way to exploit it to advance his agenda. Note that a Republican president would have done the same.
If only we could get all the clowns in DC to stand on the Gulf Coast and blow their their hot air at the oil slick, we could have prevented it from reaching shore!
Sounds like this would be a job for Superman if he existed.
“Profit” of change or “prophet” of change? I don’t think there will be profits at all the next few decades with all the major entitlements and bailouts that happened the last three years.
“is anyone down there cleaning the stuff up yet? all i hear about is the leak and complaining fisherman…yet…it seems nobody is cleaning it up?”
I saw video weeks ago of people cleaning up animals, birds, etc. and nursing them back to health. I’ve also seen pics of the clean up efforts on some of the Louisiana coastal areas, stories of clean up efforts in the Pensacola area, etc. There are lots of ongoing clean up activities. However, I fear that the impact may not be much different than spitting into a hurricane. This release of oil is massive and the impact will likely continue for decades, even in the unlikely event that the blowout is brought under control in the relatively near future.
I agree Greg. If it stopped today, there would be years, maybe generations of impact to coastline and fisheries. But it’s just oil, granted there is a lot of it, it will go away in time. It’s not nuclear waste. It’s not the first time, probably won’t be the last.
There is a massive effort underway. Miles long soaker booms in the Gulf. Dispersant everywhere. Coastal soaker booms everywhere. Ground crews all along the coasts.
But this makes the Valdez look like a rain puddle.
Thanks for posting this drummin. I’ve forwarded it to many friends who all have expressed how disturbing these are. Hopefully it will force people to look up from their double-half-caffs and take notice…
Not until the price of seafood quadruples (which it will) and gasoline doubles and there is no place to vacation in Florida anymore and there is a sudden influx of ex-Floridians/Louisianans/Alabamans/ and Mississippians, they won’t.
Ah crap, this is a disaster, now the tourists will come to Arizona!
Just got my copy of Thomas Sowell’s book, The Housing Boom and Bust. It looks like a quick but elucidating read, and the price was right, which may help explain why it is a best seller (at least it says so right on the cover).
One of the beautiful things about this book is that Sowell is a black economist, which makes it hard to throw accusations that he is a racist when he tears apart CRA and various other affordable housing initiatives designed to increase the level of minority home ownership.
From the linked article:
‘But though the market’s reaction in California shows that borrowers and lenders can learn with market discipline, one group has not learned: politicians. Or rather they have learned a lesson, that they can get away scot free simply pointing fingers at others and making pious statements. I have no doubt Barney Frank will get reelected. But if people had any idea of the damage he’s done [by promoting the “affordable housing at all costs” policies] he’d be out of there. This stuff has happened before, though not on this scale. Republicans in the 1920s were pushing homeownership which led to increased foreclosures, and in the 1930s the Democrats did and that led to increased foreclosures. This is all a cycle, though we’re in the worst of the cycles. But politicians don’t stop doing this because they never pay any price.’
I am personally optimistic that history will point ginormous fingers of blame at Dodd and Frank. I am glad Sowell has already taken the lead in the effort.
The victors write the history books. And these days Dodd and Frank are on the winning side.
Besides haven’t you heard yet…it’s all Bush’s fault. Everything. The housing bubble, the oil spill 2 years after he left office, the hurricanes, the weather, the bad call by the umpire costing a pitcher a perfect game….
But politicians don’t stop doing this because they never pay any price.
That’s because voters generally have no clue what’s really going on, as evidenced by all the people blaming “free markets” for the bubble, largely because the politicians are in bed with the media.
Voter don’t care because life in the U.S. has been easy … up to now.
I look to voters to suddenly begin to care again. I’ll bet the incumbents are looking as well.
In a normal year, 90+% of incumbents who run for re-election are re-elected. Named recognition counts for a lot to an uninformed electorate. As bad as things are, I would wager that this year, that number will not drop below 80%. Barney, Nancy, Harry ad naseum are well entrenched among thier consituents who are slaves to their particular special interest.
We’ll see. I’m just an interested bystander though. I’m finished with voting. I will bet any of you $500,000 that the Libertarian Party will not control the House starting in 2011.
If I lose, I will start voting again.
If I lose, I will start voting again.
So you’ll only vote if others manage to succeed without you?
How does abstaining from voting help at all?
“largely because the politicians are in bed with the media”.
Very true, but the good news is that the printed media is dying a slow death along with the big three.
With thousands of internet sources available, the cesspool is losing control of their typical lap dog press, and “they” don’t like it one bit.
“Promoting affordable housing at all costs”
As usual, a failure of critical thinking. If the housing was really “affordable,” there wouldn’t BE a cost, at least not in the medium-long term.
As for the tired concept that housing automaticlly causes riches, well, that’s the usual logical fallacy:
[WRONG]If B and C are observed together, then B —> C.
This is incorrect because B and C need to always occur together, but they occur together only most of the time.
[CORRECT] If B and C are observed together, then A —> B AND A —> C.
That elusive A is education, personal responsibility, hard work, frugality, AND a society where the deck isn’t stacked against you.
“…the usual logical fallacy…”
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
I think it’s the old forced-savings idea, like in the stupid universal health policies salesmen used to sell to young dudes in college. Then the guys would get married and borrowing against the cash value…my hubby still claims his was a good idea but that he had to cash out because first wife was so demanding. LOL.
Now it’s buy a house for forced savings but pull out the equity. At least you get a place to stay out of it.
Montana:
This is what i was taught by my parents about buying a house. You are forced to budget and save.
———————————–
I think it’s the old forced-savings idea
Yep, this type of lunacy was used in Baltimorgue.
If an area is run down, “clearly” the way to fix it is to demolish the housing and put in “luxury” (overpriced) condozes, etc. since expensive housing = better living for everyone. It could “sort of” work in if the criminals moved on and people with more more money moved in and maintained the place, but the reality is that the criminals are still out there, no jobs were added to the economy (and without jobs, nothing is affordable), and most of the people who bought those luxury condoze are in over their heads and are now underwater. Now, we just get to wait for the criminals to move back into their old ‘hoods where there’s more valuable stuff to steal…
” If B and C are observed together, then A —> B AND A —> C.”
Collinearity is often confused with causation.
“…AND a society where the deck isn’t stacked against you.”
Which, unless changed, makes the all the others moot.
Right.
Yeah, right. I don’t recall if it was Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams, but back in the throes of the bubble one of them was howling that the reason coastal housing was becoming so much more expensive was because of all the building regulations in California, New York et al. I guess hindsight is 20/20 for everyone…
So, I swallowed my pride and went for the credit-based insurance scoring. As luck (ok, good choices) would have it, I’m going to save over $500/year by doing it. Who knew?
Some things I was told (IIRC):
1. As an existing customer, this was optional. All new customers MUST have the credit check done. (I assume they would have changed the policy anyway eventually and made it mandatory for existing customers on some future renewal)
2. You can’t opt back out. But they won’t check it on each renewal. It is just done once. (I assume this policy will change in the future, or they will simply adjust the rate/score in their favor as needed.)
3. Supposedly a minor hit to your credit. Not seen as a loan inquiry.
3. Supposedly a minor hit to your credit. Not seen as a loan inquiry.
That’s what they say. In reality there is no difference when calculating FICO (old or new). A credit inquiry is a credit inquiry.
But one credit inquiry for an otherwise stellar score is insignificant.
Not sure what company you are with and how long you have been with it. I’ve had auto insurance on my own for about 15 years or so. I can’t ever recall not having a credit check done when getting a new policy with a new insurer. I’m not happy about it, but it’s one of those things in my life I don’t agonize over.
I know people like to say that driving skills have nothing to do with paying your bills on time. True. But paying your insurance bill on time does. As does the increased risk of insurance fraud committed by deadbeats.
Good for you. Good credit should have it’s rewards, beyond the obvious.
The stats must show those with good credit probably make good drivers else the insurers wouldn’t be making these offers.
GEICO, which stands for Government Employees Insurance Company, did well for years because it only insured government employees. For some reason government employees make better drivers than non-government employees.
Now it appears they have discarded their winning formula and are insuring everyone, at least that’s what I gather from all their TV ads.
They didn’t change their formula, everyone is a gov’t employee, aren’t they?
Lol, it sure seems that way whenever I file my taxes.
IIRC, mortgage lenders also considered goverment employment as an indicator of a better credit risk.
My guess is that government employees are those who prefer safety and security over more risk and higher profits/income. They want to do their jobs, and they don’t like surprises. They are also thought to have more stable jobs, so will be less likely to stop paying as a result of layoffs (though they do happen).
They’ve been insuring everyone for decades. It’s nothing new.
USAA’s gone the same way. Used to be for active/retired military and their dependents. Nowadays . . . if you’ve ever watched a war movie you’re in the club.
Buffett Expects ‘Terrible Problem’ for Municipal Debt
(Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has been trimming its investment in municipal debt, predicted a “terrible problem” for the bonds in coming years.
“There will be a terrible problem and then the question becomes will the federal government help,” Buffett, 79, said today at a hearing of the U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in New York. “I don’t know how I would rate them myself. It’s a bet on how the federal government will act over time.”
Berkshire’s investment portfolio included municipal bonds valued at less than $3.9 billion as of March 31, down from more than $4.7 billion at the end of 2008. The company had a maximum of $16 billion at risk in derivatives tied to such debt, according to the company’s annual report for 2009.
Terrible problem? No problem, next bailout coming right up! Bailouts will continue full throttle until the US is in the same position as Greece. Then things will get interesting. Who will bail US out? My guess is the FED printing press.
municipal debt ??
And unfunded liabilities….They are the two elephants in the room….
“There will be a terrible problem and then the question becomes will the federal government help,” Buffett, 79, said today at a hearing of the U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in New York. “I don’t know how I would rate them myself. It’s a bet on how the federal government will act over time.”
Just die already.
+ a number = to the nat’l debt
“Just die already.”
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!! I feel the same way about Kissinger. And Greenspan.
What a trifecta that would be!
If only they could be locked in a room, “Saw” style…
Uh, no sh#t Warren.
Typical gubmint morons, just don’t, won’t & can’t get it…
How not to save news ~ Bad gov’t ideas for journalism ~ NY Post
The Federal Trade Commis sion says it wants to save journalism. I’m not sure who asked it to.
In a just-released “staff discussion draft” of “potential policy recommendations to support the reinvention of journalism,” the agency only circles its wagons around old newspapers and their fading business models.
If the FTC wants to reinvent journalism, perhaps it should align with news’ disruptors. But there’s none of that in this report. The word blog is used but once in 35 pages of text–and then only in a parenthetical mention of soccer blogs. Discussion of investing in technology comes on the last page in a suggestion about tools for “improved electronic note-taking.”
Part of the solution? Matt Drudge of The Drudge Report certainly doesn’t need government help.
Part of the solution? Matt Drudge of The Drudge Report certainly doesn’t need government help.
I testified before these untechnocrats and told them about my research at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism into the emerging ecosystem of news. We found profitable hyperlocal bloggers selling $200,000 in ads per year. And we built new, less expensive business models for news (at newsinnovation.com). But that’s not mentioned, either.
Instead, the FTC staff declares defeat in the search for business models so it may explore many government interventions, including:
* Expanding copyright law and restricting the doctrine of fair comment to benefit legacy publishers.
* Granting antitrust exemptions to allow publishers to collude on pricing to consumers and to business partners.
* Giving news organizations tax exemptions.
* Subsidizing news organizations by increasing government funding to public broadcasting; establishing an AmeriCorps to pay reporters; giving news companies tax credits for employing journalists; creating a national fund for local news, and giving the press an increased postal subsidy.
I like the idea of tax credits for employing journalists and other tax breaks. There is no denying that investigative journalism is on the decline. MSM does more reporting than investigative journalism. People say that blogs are filling this roll. We get a little of that but most of what we get is commentary and reposting MSM/gov data.
The journalism model is dead because of the internet
Add revenue taken by ebay, Monster, craigslist etc.
also
People can usually get most of an article for free off the internet.
Tax breaks are a good non biased/non controlling way to help.
The “journalism” and investigating reporting is dead because just 5 companies own ALL of MSM and nobody, including the few indies left, can afford to have advertisers pull out.
The Free Press group are about the only ones still doing any decent investigative reporting.
News is really cheap if you make it up yourself.
The problem is the fact-checking.
How much did Jason Blair cost?
Or remember the big story NY times did on clubbing baby seals? Only problem was the hunt was canceled that year.
I prefer to stick to quality blogs (like this one) where facts are documented.
The problem is that blogs like this one won’t be around forever, or even a fraction of the time something like the New York Times.
This will end when Ben decides to end it, which can happen at any time for various reasons.
And I don’t shun a whole industry just because of a few examples of poor work. It happens in everything, even whatever industry you work in.
I think their concern is more that people are no longer believing whatever they are told to believe (Housing only goes up!, Bailouts are good for the economy, etc.)
So, we need to “save” old-school media to prevent the truth from getting out there… right…
Over the long weekend me and the mrs rented a cabin in the mountains with some friends. Two of my friends friends are (were?) bubble airhead types in college who wanted to save the world, feed the children, stop the pollution and all the rest of the nonesense. Big Obama supporters with the Hope, the Change spewing from their mouths a mere 2 years ago.
Both of the recently got married to guys making good money. One of them finally finished her masters and got a real job as well making good money. I thought their bodies had been replaced by Martians. A few drinks into the evening and we started talking about taxes. The newly employed one - formerly of the tax the crap out of the rich to help the unfortunate - sounded like Reagan on steroids. The other one was going on about how Obama lied to her. What he lied about I couldn’t really get because she wasn’t making much sense, but he apparently is a big fat liar and she’s very unhappy with him.
It’s amazing what paying your first sets of tax bills as a member of the $100K+ club while at the same time finding out how much ObamaCare will cost your husband’s business making can do to one’s political views.
I was tempted to to do a victory lap. But a) I was afraid I’d fall in the lake and never be seen from again and b) just the satisfaction of seeing two people come in from the dark side was good enough.
I think there may yet be hope for this once great nation that is teetering on 3rd World status.
Well my long time S.O. was about to vote for Ralph Nader for Pres. in 2008. She mentioned that in the spring. By Fall she voted for McSame - she probably did not understand Ron Paul. But she certainly got turned off of my hero, the Messiah at some point before that November.
Ever since, she’s been sending me spam against B.O.
The mystery I still have is how come she was ever impressed with Ralph Nader? He’s a big government type and has always been a tiger - never changed his stripes.
She was a rational atheist up to at least the age of 39 and then became a mother. I still think she is an atheist but she does not talk religion anymore.
A Jobless Rate Still Unaffected by New Hiring.
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — After hemorrhaging jobs for months, the economy is finally starting to add them. Yet the unemployment rate is not really budging because of people like Regina Myles.
Ms. Myles, 51, has been out of work for three years. After a grueling job search yielded 150 interviews but no offers, she simply stopped looking last fall. Then this spring, with a $3,000 government-funded grant to help pay for a training course at a local beauty school in this Chicago suburb, she began applying for jobs online and in stores again.
“I just know if I am given this chance to finish this course I can make it,” Ms. Myles said after practicing a facial on a classmate at the International Skin Beauty Academy. “I feel like it is my time now.”
Millions of people became so discouraged during the brutal recession that they gave up the job search altogether. Some entered training programs to redirect careers; others focused on caring for family members. Some college graduates, despairing of their prospects, enrolled in graduate school, rather than hunt for jobs.
Now many of them are beginning to look for work again, encouraged by four consecutive months of job growth and reports of a strengthening economy. But the initial return to the labor force may prove dispiriting, since so many people are already chasing too few jobs.
Oh god, more lame graduate degrees in the job pool..
What would you have her do? Not everyone is cut out to have an MBA.
Look, there just flat out aren’t enough jobs. Period. ~20,000,000 out of work and 41,000 jobs added last month. You do the math.
MBA?? MBA??
Until they start actually teaching business ethics, an MBA is far worse than worthless.
I’d say they could always set up Obamavilles across the country (like the 30s “Hoovervilles”), but then there are quite a bit shadow inventory houses that are empty that they could always become squatters.
N.Y. State Hammers Drivers With Slew Of New Fees
New Yorkers, Be Prepared To Pay Out Your Noses For Privilege To Drive On Empire State Streets And Highways NEW YORK (CBS)
The new license plates that have begun popping up on the streets of New York are a money raiser for the state, but that’s not they only way the state is sticking it to motorists. There are higher fees for just about everything.
It may be no coincidence that the state’s new license plates are called “Empire Gold” because the new plates — with their higher fees — will turn out to be a gold mine for the state.
“Makes me feel like taking money from my pockets, literally,” said Anthony Acevedo of the Lower East Side.
New York’s 9 million drivers are furious because in a rush to raise money — and to make it seem like they weren’t raising taxes — the Legislature increased fees on just about everything having to do with driving.
* The cost of license plates went from $15 to $25
* Driver licenses from $50 to $64.50
* Car registrations from $44 to $55
* And when you register your car you have to pay a county “use tax” of $10 to $60
This is why I have my car registered in CT at my moms house. 45 miles away and it’s a good reason to visit when i get mail.
Admitting fraud may not be wise.
My thought exactly. I don’t like people cheating the system like that.
Nancy Pelosi: Are you serious? Are you serious?
“* The cost of license plates went from $15 to $25
* Driver licenses from $50 to $64.50
* Car registrations from $44 to $55
* And when you register your car you have to pay a county “use tax” of $10 to $60″
That’s not a system, that’s a shakedown. I don’t like people encouraging blackmail.
So move. But if you live in a state, pay the state’s license/registration fees - like `em or not. I’m not fond of paying PA inspection and emission fees annually, but it’s part of having a car here.
“But if you live in a state, pay the state’s license/registration fees - like `em or not.”
Oh, please, I mean, really…
“* The cost of license plates went from $15 to $25
* Driver licenses from $50 to $64.50
* Car registrations from $44 to $55
* And when you register your car you have to pay a county “use tax” of $10 to $60″
I wonder if that’s included in the CPI. I’m guessing no.
Palmy, fraud is fraud whether it is Goldman Slacks or the dj. The people that pay the biggest price are those that are honest. You can’t yell and scream about CDO and CDS fraud while you are at the same time cheating. Dishonest men can’t complain about a dishonest system.
If you’re so concerned about fairness and justice, why don’t you talk to one of your Senators or your rep about the census scam? Or maybe the Wall Street bailouts? How about illegals who hoover up benefits meant for American citizens? I mean, rather than riding the arse of a guy who is just trying to get by?
+ infinity
character is what you do when nobody else is looking.
“character is what you do when nobody else is looking.”
dj sacrificed a good part of his life to take care of a sick parent. That’s character.
My grandfather worked his whole life for a pittance. He scrimped and saved and put a lot of money away. When my grandmother became bedridden he took care of her. This probably shaved years off of his life. The money he worked hard to save was used to cover the medical expenses for both him and my grandmother. He never once cheated on any tax or fee that I know of. He never hid money to get a bigger payment by the .gov.
Taking care of a sick parent or spouse does show character. Why sully it by admitting to fraud?
“Why sully it by admitting to fraud?”
So he shouldn’t have admitted it, I’ll give you that. I’m sure he knows better now.
Here’s a little story fer ya: When I was coming out of my puppage in the Northeast, and wasting the money my parents were paying for my college, I had a buddy up on the Cape (Cod). We were not really the best of kids, pretty spoiled, actually, cut up a lot. My buddy’s dad was an attorney who used to lecture us sternly about character and work ethic (oh, yeah, this guy was the very SOUL of rectumitude). Just found out recently the father turned out to be the drug running pilot featured in the book and movie “Blow”. Anyone see that? I was just noodling around on the ‘net one evening looking up stuff about my old stomping grounds and there was the whole sad tale. I’ll tell you, this guy had the greatest facade of “character” and “ethics” and “hard work” you ever saw. I believed him, too. Made me and my buddy feel like worms. In between flights from the Cape to the Bahamas to Colombia and back.
And then there’s Hank Paulson and his outrage over people not paying their mortgages.
“dj sacrificed a good part of his life to take care of a sick parent. That’s character.”
that is duty…not character.
Palmy, I love ya too much to get into a battle. Let’s just agree to disagree. Can we agree upon that?
Sure, I loves ya, too, nycboy. Let’s agree to lay off the dj there. There’s much bigger fish to fry. Right now the turds from that anus in the Gulf are rolling up on the formerly fair shores of Florida.
Hey Its ok guys…..I took a quite a few years to help my mom with my father and dj’ed literally every weekend.
But what I didn’t expect after he died was that employers were only concerned I had this big gap in my resume which made it next to impossible to get a day job
PS my 1996 ford escort SW has only 61K miles…paid off and i have safe drivers….Its costs about the same for me as getting a zip car once a month.
——————-
“dj sacrificed a good part of his life to take care of a sick parent. That’s character.”.that is duty…not character.
Admitting fraud may not be wise
DJ, I know Palmy told me to lay off. But I have never been one to listen to orders too well. Here is one of the biggest problems I have with your Connecticut plan. Many times you have complained on this site about the large potholes in this city. Then you openly state you avoid paying fees. How many other people are avoiding those fees and then complaining about the roads?
Between the politicians, the unions and the everyday citizens all practicing graft, and pointing their fingers at each other, it is no wonder that things are such a mess.
DJ,
Anything can retionalized but wrong is still wrong. Your offense barely registers on the overall scale.
It’s still wrong.
We luv ya man but when I’m faced with hypocrisy, I must speak out.
No problem NYCboy…maybe we should hold another NYC HBB after work meetin.
There’s a meetin here tonight…Kingston trio
That’s about what we pay in Texas already.
Bunch of whiners.
Really. You aren’t carrying your fair share of the Russian mob’s staged accidents.
My sentiments exactly. Of course, if he isn’t carrying his fair share of the Russian mob’s staged accident, the bluenose mob gets after him. “I’m paying off the crooks, so you should too”.
“The new license plates that have begun popping up on the streets of New York are a money raiser for the state”
And just to rub salt in the wound, there the ugliest plates I’ve ever seen. I’d pay extra to keep my existing plate. Maybe that’s what their hoping for.
Lots of folks in WA register motorhomes, airplanes and other kinds of high value limited use vehicles in Oregon and Mt. where there is no sales tax.
The Washington State Patrol has a unit devoted to doing nothing else but watching for this kind of stuff. They have a snitch hotline and will pay a fee for ratting out your neighbor’s Oregon registered Motorhome.
I worked for a company years ago that went so far as to forming a separate Oregon based corporation to own its aircraft. The kept the plane hangered in Spokane and put paper over the windows of the hanger to keep tax agents from seeing the Oregon registration sticker on the plane.
“They have a snitch hotline and will pay a fee for ratting out your neighbor’s Oregon registered Motorhome.”
Neat!
I know a CEO here who has a home in Washington to avoid MT income tax.
Lots of people in who live in N. Idaho and work in WA attempt to avoid Idaho income tax. The Idaho dept of revenue is pretty good at comparing property tax and ownership records to income tax records and finding Idaho residents who do not file Idaho income tax returns.
Most states use the domicile test and hold that if you are in the state more than 270 days, you are a resident, regardless of whether you own a home in a different state.
When I was stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA, some of fellow GIs would go to Oregon to buy their cars and register in the state of Oregon.
Spokaneman,
Perfectly legit as long as those who work in Washington are able to produce proof that they are paying rent/mortgage in Washington and paying utilities. Last time I checked, it is not illegal to pay rent or mortgage in more than one state and use the state where you EARN income as your legal residence. In fact, you can choose any state where you rent or own a house as your legal residence. You can even rotate between several states as legal residence as long as (again) you show you are paying rent or own a house, pay utilities, etc.
SF Girl,
It’s legal for military people to be able to choose a state for residence. The obvious selections are Florida, Texas, Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming, Washington, and New Hampshire.
That car registration fee, even with the additional county use tax, would still be cheap in California. The driver’s license fee is pricey, though.
Yep that is cheap my registration for my car in CA was $279
Where did they get the license figure? I renewed my license last week. It was $80.50. I haven’t driven a car since 2008. But I still need that license.
What is the penalty for failing to obtain a CA drivers license within the 10 day requirement? My daughter moved there in February, but has been “too busy” to go to the DMV. Of course she’s had time to go to Mexico on vacation and Palm Desert a couple of times but that a different story, I guess. My bet is that there will be a significant penalty and the state will not waive it. A good lesson, I suppose.
DMV lines in Cali were hellacious in the 1970s and I doubt they’ve improved…tell her to take a lunch.
They say they take reservations. She has the time just not the inclination.
Not sure, but check to see if she can get a new license at the AAA.
We do most of our DMV-related stuff at the AAA.
No biggie. I regster in AZ, have AZ license plate, pay AZ utilities, pay rent in AZ, and can document it. But I spend most of my time lately in Los Angeles. Car registration is cheaper in AZ.
Combined with massive, oppressive property taxes, chronic underemployment(most of state) and growing unemployment, you’d think the mass exodus would have begun by now but noooooo……
I heard just yesterday from an upstate NY Goober…. seriously… he said “they’re not building any more land”.
Stunning.
I don’t get you, Exeter. You are one of the most liberal posters on the HBB and here you are railing against high taxes. I am not passing judgment here. I just don’t know how those two things mesh. That is like saying you are a conservative but love taxes and big government (like many of the RINOs roaming the halls of Congress).
DINO.
Yeah…. you could say that Palmy.
I think most people are not aligned with one party on all issues.
Excretor wants to conserve the big government status quo, which was prevalent in the U.S. since the so-called “progressive” era of Woodrow Wilson.
That is CONSERVATISM.
A liberal is for economic and political liberty. Look up Frederic Bastiat, the leader of the French Free Trade Association and the original liberal.
Liberal is not a bad word. It is only used improperly for the most part and was stolen from the lovers of big government. Excretor is no liberal.
BilaBong, I still enjoy space in your skull rent free but I have to ask….. why announce it to the world?
“Combined with massive, oppressive property taxes, chronic underemployment(most of state) and growing unemployment, you’d think the mass exodus would have begun by now but noooooo…… ”
At this point, it’s as much about jobs as anything else. Taxes don’t matter as much if you have a job that pays enough and don’t matter much if you don’t have a job.
Not to be discounted is what a place might be like if things totally implode economically.
“Taxes don’t matter as much if you have a job that pays enough and don’t matter much if you don’t have a job.”
I disagree.
When your 5, 10 or 15k property tax bill comes due in late August and you don’t have a job or savings, your choices are limited.
I used to think conditions were bad years ago, but it’s gotten far worse in recent years. Completely unaffordable housing, no jobs, high taxes, etc. It used to be that housing was quite cheap and the yearly tax burden although high, you could make it. Now combine even a more crushing property tax burden with grossly inflated housing prices and limited jobs.
And you know what is so pathetic about it all? The natives(upstate) still believe there will be some sort of economic regeneration. They’ve bought that lie for over 30 years now. Suckers is all I can say.
If you have a house with a 5-15k tax bill, and no job for a significant time - priority #1 should be to sell your house, at whatever market price you can get for it. Rent for a while and/or move into a house you can afford.
If nothing else, it’ll be easier then to move to a better job location.
Consumers take note: living “the dream”* leaves one susceptible to a broad range of future taxation. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
* a lifestyle generally deemed as ideal or “acceptable” to the Joneses.
Eveyone but the rich.
Anyone following what’s going on in Hungary? Looks like the new hot spot for sovereign debt. They stopped the trading of their largest commercial bank - OTP bank - after it fell 10%.
Once again it appears the hand of Goldman Sachs is involved. Not sure the details though.
Yes, Hungary is in deep $h!t with Spain hot on it’s heels, the domino effect. All bail-out hands on deck!
New prime minister says economy in a “very grave situation”, says previous admin manipulated figures and lied about state of economy. Sounds like Greece where new admin trying to come clean and throwing old admin under the bus. Some saying economic situation doesn’t seem that bad and this new admin needs to learn how to communicate.
He also said that they needed to start with a “Clean Slate”…Code words for “Default”….
Can you say “$1500 spot price per ounce for gold?”
P.S. there are more details on Zero Hedge
During the early part of WWII there was a joke that went something like this. “When Hitler gets hungry he is going to have turkey with a lot of grease.” Hmmm. That sounds a little familiar.
Seems like the economy has been Hungary for Turkey but slipped on the Greece.
The sovereigns all got Keynesian Lemming Fever and now one by one they and their currencies are tumbling over the cliff. Unlike governments and their fiats, gold doesn’t lie. It exposes lies, corruption, and deceit.
June 4 (Bloomberg) — Hungary’s forint dropped to the weakest level in a year, stocks plunged the most worldwide and government bond yields had the biggest increase since November 2008 after a spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the economy is in a “very grave situation.”
…
Hungary’s economy is in a “very grave situation” because the previous government manipulated figures and lied about the state of the economy, Orban’s spokesman Peter Szijjarto said at a press conference in Budapest today. Talk of a default is “not an exaggeration,” Szijjarto said. European equities and U.S. stock-index futures fell after the comments.
“Talk of a default is not an exaggeration”.
In other words, bail us out now or we’ll keep saying things that crush the markets.
BINGO
They learned this from Hank Paulson and co.
What’ve they been doing? Why of course inventing the gomboc (www.gomboc.eu)! Now all they need to do is figure out how to build an economy like the gomboc so it will right itself from any position. almost…
Hungarian debt woes are great for U.S. Treasury Bond prices!
* JUNE 4, 2010, 10:01 A.M. ET
Treasury Prices Soar As Investors Seek Safety After Jobs Data
By Min Zeng
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Prices of Treasury securities soared Friday after a disappointing key U.S. jobs report added to worries over the global economic outlook, spurring demand for safe assets.
Bond prices had already risen as worries over the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis flared again, with fresh fear of the fiscal and economic health of Hungary adding to the unease. Riskier assets from stocks, to corporate bonds to commodities weakened, while the euro dropped below $1.21 against the dollar to the weakest level since March 2006.
Interest rate futures traders cut bets on an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve before the end of the year. Such bets have been significantly reduced over the past months as the euro-zone’s debt troubles made many investors question the pace of an recovery in the global economy, having just bounced back from a major financial crisis in 2008-2009.
…
Fresh worries over the fiscal and health of Hungary have emerged after Lajos Kosa, vice president of the election-winning Fidesz party in Hungary, said Thursday that the nation is facing a Greece-like sovereign credit crisis. That fanned fear that the recovery in the global economy could be derailed.
Friday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s comments failed to calm markets’ nerve. Orban said the Hungarian economy won’t go down the same path as Greece as the new government won’t let it, but he said Hungary was in a severe situation.
“Peripheral Europe is an issue again for investors. The euro is getting hit hard and worries about Hungary and a possible French credit rating downgrade seem to be the root cause today,” said Nick Brophy, head of North America rates trading at Citigroup Global Markets in New York.
The cost of insuring Hungarian sovereign debt against default rose to its highest level since July 2009 Friday. Hungary’s five-year credit-swap spreads–a key measure of credit risk–are now at 430 basis points, according to data provider Markit. That’s over 100 basis points wider on the day and 180 basis points on the week.
The Treasury market “will have a bid for the rest of the day,” said Tom Tucci, head of government bond trading at RBC Capital Markets in New York. After the weaker than expected payrolls report, and given ongoing concerns about euro zone debt and banks, “no one will want to sell (Treasurys) going into the weekend.”
…
Seriously… Goldman Sachs is involved here, too?
Is there any place left on this planet that has not been corrupted by the tendrils of the Vampire Squid?
Uh, that’s why they call it the Vampire Squid.
The loony conspiracy theorists have been worried about the Bilderbergs and the Trilateral Commission when they should have kept their eye on Wall St.
Even the Romans knew you should “follow the money.”
Stock futures fall after euro hits new 4-year low
Stock futures drop following decline in euro; ahead of monthly employment report June 4, 2010
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock futures fell Friday after the euro sank to a new four-year low. The big move comes ahead of the U.S. government’s release of its key monthly employment report.
Futures had been trading in a narrow range as investors avoided making any big bets before the jobs report, which is expected to show a big jump in hiring last month. However, after concerns resurfaced about the health of European banks, the euro fell quickly to a new four-year low. The drop in the euro helped push U.S. stock futures and major European indexes lower.
Market down 150 already. Seriously, this is inane. These traders remind me of students who are incapable of learning the material, but capable of intricate calculations to determine whether they will get a B- or a C+. There is no basis in fundamentals — you know, providing goods and services — anymore.
The stock market always goes up; time to buy the dip!
Exactly. In the long run. Plus the PPT has not yet begun to fight today.
They’d better commence to John Paul Jonesin’ then.
(oh the places that could go…)
I think the PPT might just take today off. Ya gotta know when to fold ‘em.
Jobless rate disappoints, futures way down. Calling all cars, PPT fire it up!
Suck ‘em in one day, shake ‘em out the next. A winning formula.
Wheeling out obama again today.this is just hilarious stuff.
I believe both Obama and Biden had assured us that it would be a great jobs number. I guess they meant it would be great for the stock market bears and the fans of Bernanke’s printing press.
obama is speaking at a truck leasing company touting the jobs numbers.the sheeple keep clapping.the market is tanking the more he talks.Biden in the background with a big smiley face.Now he is taliking about tax cuts, wtf?
“Biden in the background with a big smiley face”
Plugs is a helluva suck up!
I expect him to do what hair he has left up in corn rows any day now.
I expect him to do what hair he has left up in corn rows any day now ??
http://www.holytaco.com/10-new-haircuts-joe-biden-should-try
Just another example of BHO demonstrating that he is not ready for the deep end of the pool. No leader with any experience would make a prediction of “robust job growth” on Wednesday without knowing precisely what the number would be on Friday.
And furthermore Joe B’s pediction that BHO would be tested on the international front is coming true, in spades. Can’t see where Uncle Joe has been much help though. HRC seems to have her ducks in a row, but shes a bit like the dutch boy, too many leaks in the dyke.
My hero the Beleagured (formerly Barack) Obama is sounding like George W. Bush in June 2007. Only difference is that Bush had nineten months left of office.
Yep!
As we’ve discussed here before, we have a churn and fraud based eCONomy now. The fraud part is obvious, the churn less so… Get people to buy stocks at a peak, then sell them on the way down, then buy them again, then sell them again = more fees = churn for the win! Same idea with houses, cars, etc. The middlemen make more money if the rules of the game keep changing, the market is manipulated, and so on.
Not a shakedown, just value investors buying the dips. (yeah, right).
Earlier this week they ran a story entitled:
“Big job number could boost markets” - or some such.
Man, if that weren’t a tell - then what is?
Now you get it! Good eye! (not saying you didn’t. just a figure of speech)
I guess a trillion dollar stimulus doesn`t buy what it used to.
Good thing they had all those hard working census workers in this report.
Bankstas ain’t cheap, ya know! Gotta keep the “talent.”
“Seinfeld” The English Patient (1997)
KRAMER: Over there. The Dominicans.
JERRY: Aren’t they supposed to be rolling cigars?
KRAMER: Well, it didn’t quite work out, and now I’ve got nothing for them to do.
KRAMER: So, I taught ‘em all about Cuba, and they really took to it. You
know, Marxism, the Worker’s Revolution, the clothing.
In the corner, one of the Dominicans thumps the table, as if to underscore a point in his argument.
JERRY: Boy, they seem pretty angry about something.
KRAMER: (nervous) Yeah. I’m a little worried. When there’s no work,
and the people get restless, who do you think they come after? (pointing to himself, shrill) El Presidente!
Spring time stock market weakness is setting the stage for the utter demolition of recovery hopes and the next leg down in the housing crash.
SELL — EVERY — RALLY!!!
Can’t sell the rally if you are 100% in cash. Biding my time waiting for S&P 875 or so. A few more like today and we are there.
Ditto. My 401K cash is making about 1.7%, which doesn’t look too bad these days.
Where in the h*** do you get 1.75%? I think my MM is paying less than half of that.
Sad when I get excited about 1.75%
Annualized, my 401k since January 2009 is at 19.8%. Not bad for seventeen months. But it’s all stock index funds and dollar cost averaging.
Outside my retirement plan, I’m with you. It’s Treasuries and gold for the most part, and a few more stock funds.
Economy Stalling as Easy Money Effect Wears Off!
Clipped from ~ Mike Larson @ Money & Markets
The evidence is coming fast and furious — and it all points in the same direction! Washington’s “bought and paid for” economic recovery is stalling out as the easy money effect wears off.
Just consider what we’ve learned in the past several days …
• Building permits for single and multifamily homes tanked 11.5 percent in April. That left permits at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 606,000, the lowest since last October.
Builders pull permits before they begin projects. So this leading indicator of construction activity is pointing to a renewed slump in the coming months.
• Initial jobless claims stopped declining in February. After hitting 439,000; they’ve begun a gradual upward climb again.
• Almost 4.7 million Americans are now stuck on the jobless rolls, with little prospect of finding gainful employment. That’s roughly two million above average.
• Durable goods orders outside of the volatile transportation sector fell 1 percent in April. A key indicator of business investment in the report slumped 2.4 percent.
• First-quarter Gross Domestic Product growth fell to 3 percent from 5.6 percent at the end of 2009.
• Personal spending growth? Same story. It dropped from 0.6 percent in March to nil in April.
• To top it all off, a benchmark gauge of manufacturing activity lost steam in May, while purchase mortgage applications just fell to the lowest level in more than 13 years.
In reference to the above, I had an “Oh Sh#t” moment yesterday morning.
While driving over to Beverly Hills, I drove across the Sunset Strip. After seeing the first couple of “For Lease” signs, I started counting. Got up to 23 before turning down Doheny.
Mostly retail and restaurant properties with a couple of office buildings thrown in.
Been driving through this area on and off for the past 22 years. Have never seen more that 4 or 5 at the same time before this.
This area has very affluent housing all around it.
I would be interesting to know the most recent NNN lease cost of this space. I suspect it was huge.
Good info, RE Refugee.
(How’s everything going, BTW?)
Fidel Castro claims Obama lives in fantasy world.
HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro speculated Wednesday that a nuclear strike on Iran might help President Barack Obama win a second term in the White House and also suggested the United States could attack North Korea.
The former leader of Cuba, who has not been seen in public for nearly four years, also portrayed the U.S. president as a victim of fantasies planted in his mind by sinister advisers.
The column published by Cuban state media floated the idea that a nuclear attack on Iran — perhaps even without U.S. authorization — might help Obama win re-election in 2012.
“Could Obama enjoy the emotions of a second presidential election without having the Pentagon or the State of Israel, whose conduct does not in the least obey the decisions of the United States, use nuclear weapons against Iran?” he asked. “How would life on our planet be after that?”
It’s a question he did not answer, nor did he elaborate.
“Fidel Castro claims Obama lives in fantasy world.”
Takes one to know one.
No,no,no, Fidel is a very compassionate humanitarian, that just happens to live on fantasy island.
The plane, the plane!
Exactimento! Fidel has been living in fantasy land for over fifty years already, so his qualifications to judge are impeccable.
Say what you will, Fidel is on his 11th US president. Amazing.
You credit longevity or democracy for that fact?
“How would life on our planet be after that?”
Like Cuba, with flash burns.
“Seinfeld” The English Patient (1997)
The restaurant is in chaos as yells of pain come from all sides. Elaine,
Jerry and Kramer look round at the commotion.
JERRY: Why are the crepes spraying?
KRAMER: (looks over at the three guys) The Dominicans are rolling
them too tight. (regretful) Uhm, well, that’s why you gotta get real Cubans.
Another scream rents the air.
Speaking of “Just die, already”.
+1 pack
i was about to post the same thing.
What did one communist say to the other communist?
My, what a big cigar you have
Hahahaha!
Castro is one of the most “out there” dictators on the planet (assuming he’s still alive.) So, unless he’s sharing delusions with the Prophet of Change, he has no idea what’s he’s talking about, as usual!
Increasingly hawkish Fed ponders raising rates.
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Three top Federal Reserve officials said on Thursday it may soon be time to begin raising interest rates as the economic recovery in the United States gathers momentum, despite persistently high unemployment.
Thomas Hoenig, president of the Kansas City Fed, argued the U.S. central bank should raise benchmark borrowing costs from near zero to 1 percent by the end of summer.
The head of the Atlanta Fed, Dennis Lockhart, said policymakers should soon begin thinking about tightening monetary policy, though he stopped short of calling for an imminent move.
In other words, “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah”.
Don’t ya just hate it when the needle keeps skipping on your favorite LP?
Screw those guys - they’re meaningless. The one to watch is Dudley.
Better borrow quick before interest rates go up.
They will keep rates low until the fat lady sings.
How much gas do Fed bank presidents produce in the MSM on a daily basis? (Don’t feel compelled to answer that; it is a rhetorical question…)
Time to trot out the empty threat of rate increases!
We all know ZIRP benefits the Fed by propping up prices and destroying savings/earning potential of salaries. So, expect it to continue forever… until it can’t.
That’s why it’s still fun to buy T-bills paying 0.36% interest or so, when you have far more wealth in gold bullion. Eventually the Fed will be raise rates, but diversification is king. I have too much of my assents in gold, platinum, and silver for now.
“The ECB has only 66 billion euros in reserve and . . . Rumors of more derivatives losses at Societe Generale drag shares down up to 6%. The continuing and controlled demolition of every last penny of savings, whether in your pension account or your savings account, continues. These ‘losses’ will not stop until, as was discussed in the latest Keiser Report interview with Edward Harrison, the people say they have had enough of paying 100 cents on the dollar on these fraudulent derivatives”.
Clipped from: Max Kieser
Can’t they just print more Euros?
Census Worker Claims Job Numbers Are Being Inflated.
“What they do is hire you, they train you like a few weeks — 35, 40 hours of training and give you six hours of productive work and lay you off.” a former Census named “Maria” tells FOX News. “Maria” further explains they rehire you so it counts as a new job.
Yeah, I read that not long ago, wmbz. What a freakin’ scam. That’s why I had to razz eastcoaster a bit about the outrage over nycdj “cheating the system”.
Oh, please…
One wrong + one wrong = One right
Is that the new math?
“Is that the new math?”
How is he wrong?
It’s a temp job, Maria. How many they hire depends on how obtsue people are about answering the census.
My daughter has had weeks of steady census work, close to 40 hours a week, and from the looks of it there are many more weeks to go.
Cash-strapped National Cathedral may sell its treasures
~ RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON — Facing a reduced budget and a third round of layoffs, officials at Washington National Cathedral are considering disposing of priceless treasures — including a trove of rare books — that are no longer considered part of its central mission.
The cathedral has begun tentative talks with Washington’s Folger Shakespeare Library as it reorients itself as an Episcopal congregation, tourist landmark and promoter of interfaith dialogue.
The cathedral’s rare-book library, which dates to 1964, can no longer be considered a “core function” in the current economic climate, said Kathleen Cox, the cathedral’s chief operating officer.
“In tough times, you start having to pull away so you can make sure that worship continues,” Cox said. “So once that happens, you have to make sure that you are doing the best by those assets.”
If they are “priceless treasures” how will this raise any money. That is another term that is terribly overused. I love how often I see the word “countless” in articles about things that would be easily countable.
If all this stuff has no price then I guess they will be giving it away. Journalism at its finest, once again.
The age of the mercenary. If it doesn’t generate a cash stream to pay my bloated salary, it doesn’t fit the “mission”.
Hmmm… Didn’t the Church use to sell Indulgences? Since they are located in DC, a cesspool of corruption, they could make a fortune doing that!
They’re Protestant (Episcopalians). They don’t do indulgences, free or for cash.
Maybe they should sell carbon offsets?
Economy hurts the PhD job market too. ~ LA Times
The job market is tough for just about everybody — but people with doctoral degrees might deserve one of the bigger pity parties. After spending five to six years of intense study preparing for jobs as university professors, many are finding that there simply aren’t jobs to be had.
The number of jobs university math departments were trying to fill in 2009 declined 40% from 2008, according to the American Mathematical Society. There were about 1,000 positions advertised from October 2009 to February 2010 in the Modern Language Assn.’s Job Information List, a 27.5% decline from the year before. (The association’s conference this year will hold the foreboding title The Academy in Hard Times.)
It’s even harder in California, where budget shortfalls have led to cuts in both the University of California and California State University systems.
The Education bubble is massive. Its popping will sound like a sonic boom.
Part of the problem is a bunch of profs who had planned on retiring are taking a look at their portfolio and saying hell no I’ll work until they take me out on a stretcher.
True, measton. Also, more and more duties of a professor’s job are being done by cheaper labor. On the teaching side, poorly-paid “lecturers” who are little more than temp workers are teaching the lecture and writing the exams, grad students are running the labs, and scan-tron is grading the exams. On the research side, grad students do almost all of it.
The profs are going out and hustling cash like Donald Trump.
I teach as an adjunct at a couple of the local U’s in the MBA program. Neither place pays much when you consider the prep, class time, travel time, paper grading etc. I do it as a bit of a hobby (where else can you speak for four hours at a time and expect people to listen?) and hoping that I can keep a couple of teaching jobs after I retire. In some ways I think a good adjunct instructor has a better message than a tenured academic. I try very hard to introduce things into the material that I wish I had known fresh out of college, much of which took years for me to figure out. I usually get high marks in my student review as the students seem to appreciate the practical knowledge that a working professional can bring. Ocassionally, I will get a student that carps about paying big $ for the class and not having tenured faculty teaching it, but that is the exception.
Definitely agree with measton. I have a friend in the exact position he describes. He’s gonna make them pay to put him out to pasture. However, he is writing all of the grants, training his students and keeping all of the research balls up in the air, which isn’t exactly nothing. Just a fine point, oxide. Not wanting to get in a battle over an anecdotal story.
MrBubble
I hear you measton. I’m the only woman in my department, and the only one planning to retire in the next ten years. The oldest guys are 74, 58, 57, and 56, and all intend to work until they drop. All of them are fully invested in the stock market, despite my urgings to all of them to divest three years ago. On the other hand, they seem to enjoy their work most of the time.
In their defense, the blunderful actions of the Fed (keeping rates low forever) is making it hard for fixed-income solutions to work. This piles more people into the stock market in search of returns that’ll keep up with real inflation. In thurn, this allows for more people to be fleeced by Wall Street as part of the churn/fraud economic model.
Exactly right, PTM.
You know I have a few professor friends… ramble alert…
All of the 70+ people I know that are still working are doing it because they love science research or they care a lot about what they are doing.
Most of them have SS, pension and paid off houses.
As far as II can tell, most of the money they get goes back into the university in scholarships and grants. My old school’s docket of major donnors is filled with professors. Blow a heck of a lot of money on hopeful students as well.
They aren’t lving high on the hog type folks either. Comfortable but not crazy.
Basically they seem to be working till their minds and bodies fail them. Pasionate teachers as well.
Not sure what you and Oxide are seeing out there. A few bad apples and guys that were a PITA when I went through. Some professors waiting for a shot to have those fun research and teaching type positions.
I think maybe eight of my professors left their estates to the school. Incuding some of the guys I considered to be total PITA.
These were good people. I think the ones that are willing to wait out a few years of free work in student housing and poor lecture wages means they will turn into the good professors I remember.
We have these bloated pension discussions on here… look over my alumni news letter and look who is actively doing something for the school… For what it’s worth I see a lot of give back.
Plugs sez…
Stimulus ‘an absolute success,’ says Biden ~ The Hill
(Washington) The Obama administration’s signature stimulus program has been an “absolute success” so far, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.
Biden, who heads up the administration’s effort to implement the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), said the legislation will have saved or created between 3 and 3.5 million jobs before the end of 2010.
“An absolute success,” Biden termed the stimulus during an interview on “Charlie Rose” to air Wednesday evening. “We will create over 3.5 million or save over 3.5 million jobs before this is over.”
There’s no denying that things would be worse in the short term without a stimulus. You’ll get more arguement about the long term.
I’m all for trying to create jobs with unemployment at 10%. This type of stimulus does not create moral hazard like TARP and the other wall street bailouts.
Using stimulus money for creating more full-time government positions is beyond insanity and bordering on criminality.
Especially at $224,000 per job saved.
Not sure of where the 224 k comes from but all of our jobs cost much more for the companies than our salaries.
You should also note that 224 k, stimulates spending and thus a lot of other jobs, it also increases the tax base, finally it decreases the crime rate as poor desperate people are more likely to commit crime.
Agree with you, measton.
I’ve never had a problem with spending on jobs. It’s lining bankers’ pockets, and keeping asset prices artificially inflated, that I have a problem with.
Building infrastructure is not full time, and this is what I would focus on.
Mass Transit
Energy efficiency
Schools
That is what you would focus on. That is not what these massive stimulus packages have focused on.
online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/STIMULUS_FINAL_0217.html
List of what money was spent on. Tax cuts, education, infrastructure and energy efficiency rank high on the list.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
$17B extra for pell grants / student aid.
That’ll help stem rising tuition costs for sure
Next bubble, indeed.
I wonder if they did a follow up after the estimated costs rose to $862 Billion
As an investor almost all in cash, I’m all for this.
As a person who lives with a community of other people I’d like to keep unemployment and extreme poverty to a minimum. Unemployed poor people tend to band together in gangs and steal from those with money. You can see an increase in violence and political instabillity and when things get bad enough you get a Chavez moving into the Whitehouse.
Biden appointed as “Lie Czar”.
Even the kookiest libs know the “stimulus” and jobs “creation” is a pant load and is a flop, not to mention a giant waste of money. They will never say it though.
Then how do you know we know it??
Tell us how bad things would have been without any stimulus??
Are you willing to put up with 20-40% real unemployment?
Would this not just create a vicious downward cycle? Lower tax revenue higher unemployment lower spending less tax revenue higher uenmployment? What happens to political stability and crime rates when this happens??
Tell us again how different it would be under the GOP??
Save or created 3.5 million jobs?
What’s 10% of 154,000,000?
Ye… ah. Big help there.
You guys honestly think governments aren’t going to default or attempt to print/inflate (slow default) their way out of the housing bubble Keynesian monetary credit debacle?
June 4 (Bloomberg) — Credit-default swaps on sovereign bonds surged to a record on speculation Europe’s debt crisis is worsening after Hungary said it’s in a “very grave situation” because a previous government lied about the economy.
…
Swaps on Spanish government debt jumped 32.5 basis points to 288 after earlier reaching a record 295.5, according to CMA. Contracts on Portugal rose 41 basis points to 380, Ireland was up 34 basis points at 294, and Italian swaps climbed 30 basis points to an all-time high of 264, before retreating to 260. Contracts on Greece rose 72 basis points at 798.
“…because a previous government lied about the economy.”
I look forward to hearing that line again and again over the course of the next decade.
“You guys honestly think governments aren’t going to default or attempt to print/inflate (slow default) their way out of the housing bubble Keynesian monetary credit debacle?”
No, who said I did?
their way out of the housing bubble Keynesian monetary credit debacle?”
The problem with calling this Keynesian ignores the rampant spending and interest rate cuts that occurred when times were good. No one pulled away the punch bowl and cut spending when times were good, infact we did just the opposite.
Once again, you hit the nail on the head, measton.
with the stock market taking a big summer dive I feel I have some time before I buy a house
nice to be back in Moorpark less traffic than N San Diego Co. 23 freeway has been widened so my drive to Westlake Village is not too bad
the 56 ted williams from Poway to Serrento Valley way more crowded
Sounds like rentals move lightning fast in San Diego. Looks like my little sis may have snagged one, though, for a year’s lease. I am keeping my fingers crossed for her.
Yes, rentals in good neighborhoods rarely last more than a week here in San Diego.
Rents and prices have been very stable/rising in the better areas. Many homes are selling for *above* “peak” pricing.
Is today the day the bulls finally throw in the towel? The traders bid up the market the last two days hoping to sell into a 600K jobs number. Instead, they got squashed with a 400K number, most of it temporary. Ouch!
It looks to me like a great opportunity to buy the dip might be coming up soon! I am thinking by December 2010 or so, a once-in-a-lifetime buying opportunity may present it self in global stock markets…
The once in a lifetime was April 09. Great for those of us that got out sometime this spring, but even if a person were just getting out now it would still be a good ride. I’m biding my time for S&P’s in the mid 800’s again, with I think will be a “few in a lifetime” opportunity. One more carefully timed runup for me and I am done with equities forever. I’m getting too old for this nonsense. If the S&P stays above 900, I’ll sit on the sidelines and wait for the inevitable higher interest rates. Fixed income won’t stay negative forever.
I don’t predict stocks. I just keep buying stock mutual funds weekly in my 401k and IRA. I love buying more shares as prices go down and the nattering nabobs point and laugh.
That was a highly-predictable bovine nut crushing! The PPT is having a mighty struggle keeping the DJIA from dropping much below 10K (it has already crossed the line…).
Wait for the end of the day.
So, will the PPT pull it off?
After a month, I think the serfs might have taken a glance or two at the financial news recently.
Take this job and tolerate it.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — One of the key signs of trouble for the current labor market can be summed up by two words that are rarely spoken today: I quit.
With employers still trimming rather than adding jobs and a record number of unemployed looking for work, job holders are hanging onto their current positions, even if it means being unhappy.
The “quits rate,” or frequency of people leaving jobs, is close to the lowest point since 2000, when the Labor Department began tracking the data. And workers’ willingness to quit without having another job lined up is well below the historic norms going back to the 1960s, according to a separate government reading.
That’s me. I am not happy in my current job although I am making a good salary for doing not a lot. Few weeks ago pretty much decided that I should leave this company for other jobs even if they are contract gigs. As you know Full time jobs are little harder to come by. Let’s see how it goes…..
My sis in Baltimore got a 22% increase in pay to start a job in Oakland, Ca. Income of $112k per year. She has not saved a penny. If she had two years of living expenses in cash, I’d support her in private. But publicly (to her) I encourage her.
I think she should stay in Baltimore until she gets a lot of cash. Then move back to her beloved California. This is not a time to be a grasshopper and start fiddling.
Don’t look now, but the Euro is in an uncontained nosedive today.
$11 million slot jackpot a malfunction, casino says. June 4, 2010
CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. - MaryAnn and Jim McMahon thought their money troubles were over when they hit an $11 million jackpot at a Cripple Creek casino Tuesday. It turns out they were wrong.
The Wildwood Casino blamed a slot machine malfunction for the $11 million jackpot.
The machine was turned over to the Colorado Gaming Division for inspection.
A spokesperson says their initial investigation shows the McMahon’s didn’t really win the $11 million prize on June 1.
Gaming spokesperson Don Burmania said the machine failed to “reset” after the McMahon’s won the $1627.82 prize.
“They actually won $1627.82,” said Burmania, “The $11 million was what we call a ‘reset value.” It’s what the jackpot would have been after the prize was claimed.”
It’s the second time in three months a Colorado slot machine has made a multi-million dollar mistake. In March, a machine malfunction was blamed for a $42 million dollar jackpot.
“These things rarely occur, but when it rains it pours,” Burmania said.
Still, the McMahon’s feel they deserve the jackpot, and are feeling some mistrust with the gaming industry.
“If you do hit a jackpot are they going to come up with another story? It’s a malfunction? It’s not right,” Jim McMahon said.
I guess this is like the stock markets negating various trades made during the “flash crash” back in May. Since too much money would have been made by some and lost by others, the trades “didn’t count.” I wonder if people got their fees refunded… I also wonder if trades made by Goldman and the rest were also tossed out? I think I know the answer to that…
Kinda like those soccer regulations posted yesterday…
This will get settled in court for an “undisclosed sum”. Something in the six figures, I’d guess.
More buggy software doing its thing!
Reminds me of a trip to the carnival.
When I was a kid I played a game where you tried to knock over an L shaped piece of wood with a prize on it using a cork gun.
I pegged a nice watch about 10 times and knocked it right off the back of the shelf it was on.
The carny said I didn’t win because I had to knock it over not off the shelf.
I was about 12 yo at the time and it taught me a very important lesson about these types.
Do that very often and the industry will suffer.
“Mistrust of the gaming industry?”
Who’da thunk?
Gollum’s candidate has bought the lead in the race for the Republican ticket in the California governor’s race. I’m voting Democrat if she is the candidate. Whitman is in league with Gollum and friends.
Regulators cited a Meg Whitman meeting in lawsuit against Wall Street firms
The SEC said a Morgan Stanley analyst showed Whitman a rosy report of EBay stock — and then released it — to court her business. The bank agreed to a settlement but admitted no wrongdoing.
May 30, 2010|By Evan Halper and Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Sacramento — — When the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Wall Street firms of putting investors at risk by issuing rosy reports on the stock of companies the firms were courting for banking business, the regulators cited as part of their case a meeting involving Meg Whitman.
After the firm Morgan Stanley lost a bid to handle the 1998 initial offering of stock for EBay, where Whitman was chief executive, the bank’s star technology analyst embarked on what regulators called a market-deceiving strategy to win Whitman’s future business — which Morgan eventually did.
…
“Whitman is in league with Gollum and friends”.
Damn near everyone one of them is unfortunately, if you follow the trail. Gov.’moonbeam’ Browns sister can be traced right into ‘their’ back pockets.
I don’t think Whitman made a wise investment with her desire to become Gov.
It’s an Ego thing for so many of these politicians. After a while, they all start believing their own BS.
I guess it doesn’t help that they surround themselves with YES people who have their own agendas.
Few pols have succeeded in buying their way into high office in Cali, but that is not stopping Gollum’s candidate from trying.
Hefty spending key to Meg Whitman’s late lead in GOP primary
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman surged in the last week of campaigning before Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary in California, widening her lead over insurance commissioner Steve Poizner.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman speaks to a crowd of mostly senior citizens during an appearance in Roseville, Calif. on Thursday. The former eBay CEO leads insurance commissioner Steve Poizner by 25 points going into Tuesday’s primary.
Remember Michael Huffington running against Dianne Feinstein in 1994. At that time millions of dollars were spent by him. He lost in the general election by 1.9 percent of the vote to Dianne F.
Fast Traders’ New Edge. WSJ June 4, 2010
Investment Firms Grab Stock Data First, and Use It Seconds Before Others
Some fast-moving computer-driven investment firms are getting an edge by trading on market data before it gets to other investors, according to market players and researchers who have studied the trading.
The firms gain that advantage by buying data from stock exchanges and feeding it into supercomputers that calculate stock prices a fraction of a second before most other investors see the numbers. That lets these traders shave pennies per share from trades, which when multiplied by thousands of trades can earn the firms big profits.
Critics call the practice the modern day equivalent of looking at share prices listed in tomorrow’s newspaper stock tables today.
“It is a rigged game,” Sal Arnuk, co-founder of brokerage firm Themis Trading, said Wednesday at a Securities and Exchange Commission roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C., referring to the trading activity, which some call “latency arbitrage.”
While legal, the practice pushes the envelope of what is fair, critics say, and raises questions about the advantages some fast-moving traders are gaining in the market.
The SEC roundtable convened executives from trading centers and firms across Wall Street as the agency continues to probe high-frequency trading and the growth of dark pools, trading venues where trades take place away from the main exchanges.
If a small tax was applied to each stock transaction, wouldn’t most of these high speed trades go away?
This is great! At last we can have the various stock markets around the world completely and totally divorced from any of those silly economic fundamentals. Now we don’t have to worry about those hardheaded pessimists who always want to know about companies prospective earnings, profitability, liabilities, customer satisfaction, new products and productivity. Stupid stuff like that.
Roidy
(Some one please explain the above post to those of us (HBBers) who are sarcasm impaired. Tx, Roidy)
Good find wmbz.
Anybody still have any doubts?
Gotta keep the DOW above 10k, can’t go into the weekend without that “con-fidence”.
What with that great jobs report, I would think it would take off like a bottle rocket.
How about the gubmint give all of us jobs… problem solved!
Hang on! PPT up in a half an hour.
Roidy
Haaallllllooooooooooowwooooo?!?
PPT?
???
I don’t think they are out there anywhere.
Roidy
Whatever happened to Baghdad Bob? Perhaps Barry could give him a czar job feeding us the only propaganda that we should have access to.
Journalism ‘Reinvention’ Smacks of Government Control, Critics Say.
By Joshua Rhett Miller
A list of potential policy recommendations to reinvent the field of journalism that has been compiled by the Federal Trade Commission is a “dangerous” overreach of power and a waste of taxpayer funds, critics of the project told FoxNews.com.
FTC officials began a project in May 2009 to consider the challenges the journalism industry faces in the digital age. The federal agency recently released a discussion draft titled “Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism,” a 47-page document that outlines a major government push to rescue the country’s flailing media platforms — specifically newspapers, which have seen advertising revenues drop roughly 45 percent since 2000.
Among the numerous proposals mentioned in the document are:
– the creation of a “journalism” division of AmeriCorps, the federal program that places 75,000 people with local and national nonprofit groups annually;
– tax credits to news organizations for every journalist employed;
– establishing citizenship news vouchers, which “would allow every American tax payer to allocate some amount of government funds to the non-profit media organization” of their choice;
– increased funding for public radio and television;
– providing grants to universities to conduct investigative journalism;
– increased postal subsidies for newspapers and periodicals;
– a 5 percent tax on consumer electronics, which would generate roughly $4 billion annually, to pay for increased public funding.
This speaks volumes as to the sheer inability of today’s career pols to lead the nation into the future.
Oh, and that 75,000 journalist corps.? Yeah, that’s got “trout farm” written all over it.
“Trout farm.”
Yes it does.
I find it kind of funny Fox news is reporting this. I mean a fair and balanced news organization. I’m laughing while I type this.
What’s even funnier is that people trust a news system run by MSM that is owned by just 5 corporations but not the government.
Car PPT where are you?
When are the Monetarist going to acknowledge reflating Ponzi units is not a viable long term economic strategy?
Reflation only encourages the production of more and more Ponzi units (malinvestments), leading ultimately to bubbles and worldwide economic collapse.
Foreclosed properties up at banks
Birmingham Business Journal
Foreclosed properties on banks’ balance sheets increased within the past three months, according to an SNL Financial report.
In the first quarter, foreclosed properties held by U.S. banks jumped to $41.5 billion, versus $36.9 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, the data shows.
When compared year-over-year, foreclosed properties on banks’ books jumped more than 250 percent compared with $11.7 billion in the first quarter of 2009.
During the first quarter, one-to-four family properties in the process of foreclosure by U.S. banks increased more than 9 percent to $78.6 billion.
That means foreclosed properties on banks’ balance sheets will likely continue to pile up as more foreclosures are completed.
Total foreclosed properties on the balance sheets of local banks also increased in the first quarter.
When compared year-over-year, foreclosed properties on banks’ books jumped more than 250 percent compared with $11.7 billion in the first quarter of 2009.
And some people think we’ve reached a housing bottom because…
…housing prices always go up!
House tax bill could hurt many businesses.
Phoenix Business Journal -June 4, 2010
WASHINGTON — Retailers may like the House’s latest tax bill, but real estate developers and venture capitalists hate it.
U.S.-based multinational corporations and small professional services firms that operate as S corporations also are upset.
On a 215-204 vote, the House passed legislation May 28 that would extend various tax breaks and provide additional weeks of unemployment benefits for out-of-work Americans.
The National Retail Federation supported the bill because it extended a tax break that allows retailers and restaurants to depreciate the cost of renovations over 15 years instead of the usual 39 years.
Many other business groups, however, opposed the legislation because it would raise taxes on a wide range of businesses to help cover its $90 billion cost. Business lobbyists hope to stop these tax hikes when the Senate takes up the legislation.
NEW YORK (AP) — The story of corporate America’s comeback has a nice ring to it. That is, if it can last.
Wall Street stock analysts think it will. They’re almost chirpy the way they keep pumping up their earnings estimates and dismissing the stock market’s volatility, the financial crisis in Europe and risks to the U.S. economic recovery.
But their track record shouldn’t give anyone confidence. History shows analysts rarely get it right when it comes to predicting how much companies will earn.
“Analysts almost never see a recession coming,” says Ed Yardeni, who runs his own investment and economics consulting firm.
Yardeni says the problem is that analysts get most their information from the companies they cover. Corporate managers have every incentive to stay positive for as long as they can.
Analysts then use what they’re told to advise investors on whether to buy or sell stocks, and forecast corporate earnings, which are closely followed by investors to see if companies meet, beat or miss analysts’ estimates.
New research from the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. found analysts tend to be overoptimistic, slow to revise their forecasts to reflect new economic conditions and prone to making inaccurate predictions especially when economic growth declines.
Looking at data from the last 25 years, McKinsey found analysts have estimated annual earnings growth to be about 10 percent to 12 percent for Standard and Poor’s 500 companies, but actual growth has only been about 6 percent.
Who would have guessed this? I’m shocked.
The American dollar is sure having a great comeback as of late! From Bloomberg:
CURRENCY VALUE CHANGE % CHANGE TIME
EUR-USD 1.1983 -0.0180 -1.4773% 14:39
GBP-USD 1.4474 -0.0140 -0.9562% 14:38
USD-CHF 1.1605 0.0040 0.3446% 14:38
USD-SEK 8.0255 0.1711 2.1781% 14:38
USD-DKK 6.2060 0.0878 1.4359% 14:38
USD-NOK 6.6053 0.1427 2.2086% 14:38
USD-CZK 21.6730 0.3790 1.7799% 14:39
USD-SKK 25.1110 0.3378 1.3637% 14:37
USD-PLN 3.4844 0.0960 2.8332% 14:39
USD-HUF 241.4300 9.3775 4.0411% 14:39
USD-RUB 31.4760 0.3862 1.2424% 12:59
USD-TRY 1.6017 0.0154 0.9740% 14:38
USD-ILS 3.8764 0.0284 0.7381% 14:38
USD-KES 81.8500 1.7000 2.1210% 10:17
USD-ZAR 7.7788 0.0862 1.1212% 14:38
USD-MAD 9.1320 0.1076 1.1929% 14:39
Apparently it’s the lesser of 182 evils.
Says a lot about the other 181.
And this is exactly the game central bankers are playing.
Take away all safe places for cash. If currency A rises too far then Central bankers print a lot of B and C currency to purchase A.
Last week we just needed some jawboning from China to get the Euro up. Me thinks it will take a bit more next week, they may have to make a purchase or two in a very public manner.
A rising liquidity tsunami tide lifts all asset boats.
… and note that asset ownership backed by plunge protection, generated by central bank fiatsco printing press runs followed up by helicopter drops, provides the ownership class with a great life raft in these economically troubled times, while those who are heavily dependent on labor market income either tread water or drown.
“A rising liquidity tsunami tide lifts all asset boats.”
Yet drowns many people.
“Yardeni says the problem is that most analyists get most their information from the companies they cover.”
And if these analyists trash the company they cover then their source of information dries up.
There’s a weeding-out process that goes on; Rock the boat and you are an outcast. Becoming an outcasted analyist leads to becoming an unemployed analyist.
And if these analyists trash the company they cover then their source of information dries up.
————-
Precisely.
“The only things worth learning are the things you learn after you know it all.”
- Harry S. Truman
Going into the power hour, down 300. We’re gonna need a bigger PPT!
This Friday afternoon PPT drama is getting more interesting then watching the Mets.
Get it above 10,000 or Joe Sixpack will be hearing about the stock market plunge all weekend long!
Assume the fetal position and brace for impact.
Gonna need to keep raising taxes…
Meet The 8,074 New York Transit Workers Who Earn More Than $100,000
SeeThroughNY reveals that 8,074 MTA employees earned $100,000 last year. Fifty MTA employees earned more than $200,000 last year. And salaries are rising.
This is at a time when the New York City and State are struggling with a gaping budget deficit and billions in debt. Meanwhile, the MTA is cutting costs by reducing service and may remove cars to save electricity.
Past reports by the non-profit group include a list of 899 state employees who earn more than Governor David Patterson.
“Meet The 8,074 New York Transit Workers Who Earn More Than $100,000.”
Ahem. New York City Transit is the largest MTA subsidiary, and provides bus and subway service within New York City. It accounts for 2/3 of MTA employment but very few of the $100,000-plus workers. Those are found primarily on the suburban commuter railroads.
An important distinction in a state where the old central city with lots of poor people is in fact subsidizing the rest of the state rather than the other way around.
pocket change
8074 X 100,000 = 8.074 X 10^8 or 800 million. Damn not even a billion. That’s pocket chenge these days.
My colleague is applying for a 2.5 million $$ NIH grant I said what? $2.5 billion? He said, I am not Goldman Sucks.
Even if you took the total of the pension obligations in this nation, I’ll bet that number pales in comparison to the amount spent on keeping Wall Street “talent” employed.
People are being trained to look in the wrong direction.
It’s NOT the public unions that have created this mess. Some would rightly argue that they are the victims of Wall Street greed.
If not for the Fed’s pegging interest rates at artificial lows over this past decade, I’d bet most pension funds would be very near fully-funded.
Refinance and reflate the Ponzi unit. Refinance and reflate has been central bankers’ mantra. They ignore the fact nonviable entities don’t have the income to pay off their obligations.
“They ignore the fact nonviable entities don’t have the income to pay off their obligations.”
That’s why future inflation is critical to the success of the reflation plan.
Funny…”doubts about the pace of recovery” What recovery? Oh yea, the phony gubmint propped up “recovery”. How’s that working out?
Wall Street Plunges as Jobs Report Misses Mark, Dow Tumbles More Than 300 Points- Reuters
Stocks dropped sharply Friday after a weaker than anticipated U.S. jobs report raised doubts about the pace of recovery in the world’s largest economy.
Oh there’s a recovery happening alright… for the rich.
This is one of my states fat ass moron politicians, we are ‘blessed’ with a whole host of them.
S.C. State Senator Calls Rival, Obama ‘Raghead’
June 04, 2010 ~ Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C.– A South Carolina lawmaker on Thursday called a Republican gubernatorial candidate of Indian descent a “raghead,” saying we have one in the White House, we don’t need one in the governor’s mansion.
Republican state Sen. Jake Knotts later apologized for the slur, saying the remarks about President Barack Obama and state Rep. Nikki Haley were meant as a joke. Haley, born in Bamberg, S.C., is the daughter of immigrants from India.
Knotts made his remark on an Internet political talk show, Pub Politics. Co-host Phil Bailey said Knotts said, “We’ve already got a raghead in the White House, we don’t need another raghead in the governor’s mansion.”
What an idiot.
This type of thing from an idiot Republican does not make me want to vote for a Democrat, just reinforces my conviction of not voting.
Hilltop Homes goes out of business
Closing ends 40 years of manufactured home sales in NY Mills
East Otter Tail Focus
Overlooking Hwy 10, Hilltop Homes has been a fixture in NY Mills since 1983. The business is closing its doors.
After 40 years, New York Mills will no longer have a manufactured or modular home business. Hilltop Homes is closing its doors after opening so many for customers across the region for a long time.
The familiar staple overlooking Hwy 10 is another victim of poor economic conditions and sluggish home sales.
“We just ran out of money, that’s all,” said General Manager Mike Conlon.
Conlon has been in the manufactured and modular home business for over 38 years.
Shell closing Montreal refinery, cuts 500 jobs.
Reuters ~ June 04, 2010
Royal Dutch Shell Plc said Friday it will close its Montreal refinery and convert it into a fuel terminal after determining that two expressions of interest in buying it came up short.
Shell had announced plans to shut the 130,000 barrel a day plant in January, but at the request of the Quebec government gave potential suitors another six months to make proposals.
It had received two expressions of interest just before its June 1 deadline.
“There was a significant valuation gap and Shell will no longer pursue discussions with the interested parties,” the company said in a statement.
Shell did not disclose the identity of the suitors or the proposed terms.
The move will affect about 500 jobs at the plant, which Shell has run at the site for 76 years.
But I thought demand was up?
Well, I guess at least the supply will now be smaller, right?
Euro plummets below $1.20
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The euro fell to a fresh four-year low below $1.20 Friday, as investors cast fresh doubts on the European debt crisis and a global recovery after gloomy economic statements out of Hungary and a disappointing U.S. jobs report.
What prices are doing: The euro slipped as much as 1.6% against the dollar to $1.19721, a fresh four-year low for Europe’s shared currency. It was the second day in a week that the euro’s losses surpassed the four-year low in intra-day trading.
Meanwhile, the dollar fell 1.27% against the Japanese yen to ¥91.53.
What’s moving the market: Hungary’s bleak economic outlook is in the spotlight after key officials there said the central European country has a “grave situation” on its hands, a “slim chance of avoiding the Greek situation,” and must focus on avoiding “sovereign default.”
So much for the theory that the Plunge Protection Team was propping up the DJIA at a level of 10,000!
“When the facts change, I change my mind.
– John Maynard Keynes –”
U.S. Indexes Fall Sharply on Jobs Data
By CHRISTINE HAUSER and MATTHEW SALTMARSH
Published: June 4, 2010
Stocks in the United States were sharply lower on Friday after the latest unemployment figures raised concerns about the strength of the economic recovery and new worries emerged that the debt crisis in Europe was spreading.
Late in the session, all three indexes were down more than 3 percent, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling below 10,000. The euro continued its decline, dropping to less than $1.20 on concerns about the fiscal troubles in Europe.
…
Corrected link…
I have to say that more than most usual days, the action on the DJIA today seemed more due to competitive forces than intervention by a large, powerful financial manipulator.
“That which is unsustainable will not be sustained.” - Herbert Stein
I like that.
Roidy
Even if market intervention happens on occasion, the notion that markets can be propped up indefinitely is as preposterous as the idea that the Mississippi River can be indefinitely routed through NOLA. Gravity ain’t gonna allow that to happen, in either case, no matter how strong the forces of government hubris that oppose it.
How are govt-sponsored student loan programs, designed to make college more affordable for middle-class families, working out any more these days?
Your Money
Placing the Blame as Students Are Buried in Debt
By RON LIEBER
Published: May 28, 2010
Like many middle-class families, Cortney Munna and her mother began the college selection process with a grim determination. They would do whatever they could to get Cortney into the best possible college, and they maintained a blind faith that the investment would be worth it.
Noah Berger for The New York Times
Cortney Munna hoped for the best when she decided to attend New York University. Now she owes $100,000.
Noah Berger for The New York Times
Citibank gave Cortney Munna $40,000 in loans, though she had already amassed debt well into the five figures. It was like the “no doc” loans that home buyers used to get in over their heads.
Today, however, Ms. Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University, has nearly $100,000 in student loan debt from her four years in college, and affording the full monthly payments would be a struggle. For much of the time since her 2005 graduation, she’s been enrolled in night school, which allows her to defer loan payments.
This is not a long-term solution, because the interest on the loans continues to pile up. So in an eerie echo of the mortgage crisis, tens of thousands of people like Ms. Munna are facing a reckoning. They and their families made borrowing decisions based more on emotion than reason, much as subprime borrowers assumed the value of their houses would always go up.
Meanwhile, universities like N.Y.U. enrolled students without asking many questions about whether they could afford a $50,000 annual tuition bill. Then the colleges introduced the students to lenders who underwrote big loans without any idea of what the students might earn someday — just like the mortgage lenders who didn’t ask borrowers to verify their incomes.
Ms. Munna does not want to walk away from her loans in the same way many mortgage holders are. It would be difficult in any event because federal bankruptcy law makes it nearly impossible to discharge student loan debts. But unless she manages to improve her income quickly, she doesn’t have a lot of good options for digging out.
It is utterly depressing that there are so many people like her facing decades of payments, limited capacity to buy a home and a debt burden that can repel potential life partners. For starters, it’s a shared failure of parenting and loan underwriting.
But perhaps the biggest share lies with colleges and universities because they have the most knowledge of the financial aid process. And I would argue that they had an obligation to counsel students like Ms. Munna, who got in too far over their heads.
How many people are like her? According to the College Board’s Trends in Student Aid study, 10 percent of people who graduated in 2007-8 with student loans had borrowed $40,000 or more. The median debt for bachelor’s degree recipients who borrowed while attending private, nonprofit colleges was $22,380.
…
If you read the whole article, you’ll see that she got an “interdisciplinary degree in religious and women’s studies”. Totally worth the $200K, I’m sure.
Perhaps if she started up her own church, she could take up a collection to pay off her debt.
That is a brilliant idea and one my husband and I have somewhat seriously contemplated. If Joseph Smith could con hundreds of his contemporaries into believing the Maroni/gold tablet nonsense and they, in turn, continue spreading the mythology to millions the likes of Mitt Romney, clever people (prophets) like us could certainly come up with a fascinating story to feed the desperate masses in exchange for some of their hard-earned cash.
Can’t deny that the thought has crossed my own mind, but I am not interested, due to risk of divorce (from my LDS wife) or death (religion founders have higher-than-average assassination risk). Not worth the risks!
LOL! I was waiting for something like that!
I don’t shed a tear for her or her family.
Could have gone two years to a community college. And how come a NY state college costs $50,000 annually? I thought gubment schools did not cost much?
I didn’t owe a penny after college. Never had a student loan. Got my MS degree too. Worked my way through. And the books we used were the same books the big private colleges used. Somehow I think the mathematic proofs in the math textbooks were answered the same way by the pricey shools as the state schools. Go CSUF Bulldogs!
Which government sponsored student loan program?
The one where the private lenders were guaranteed payment by the government or the new one that bypasses the middlemen which hasn’t started yet?
Get dem numbers up, looks good on paper, and it’s only tax dollars.
Inspector General’s Memo: Census Says It Hired More Workers Than It Needed As a ‘Cost-Saving Measure’ ~ June 04, 2010
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Census purposefully hired more workers than it needed, telling the Office of the Inspector General of the Commerce Department that it did so as a “cost-saving measure,” according to a memorandum that Todd J. Zinser of the inspector general’s office sent to Census Bureau Director Robert Groves last week.
“According to Census,” said Zinser’s May 26 memo to Groves, “‘frontloading’ its workforce (i.e. hiring and training more enumerators than necessary to offset turnover) is a cost-saving measure.” The inspector general’s memo, however, suggested that in at least one Census Bureau operation excessive staff had increased the “cost of operations” and that in another operation deployment of an unnecessarily large number of workers “increased the operation’s direct labor and travel costs.”
80 bank closures in five months occurred at an annualized rate of (80/5)*12 = 192. So I expect the number of bank closures this year to be the highest since at least 1992.
* The Wall Street Journal
* BUSINESS
* JUNE 4, 2010, 6:18 P.M. ET
Regulators Close 2 Banks
By TOM BARKLEY
Federal and state regulators closed banks in Mississippi and Illinois, bringing the number of failed banks nationwide this year to 80.
Mississippi-based First National Bank and Arcola Homestead Savings Bank of Illinois were the latest to be taken over on Friday. Last year’s total of 140 banks was the highest since 1992.
…
Actually just saw a news blurb that we are up to 81 banks by now —
(12/5)*81 = 194/annum rate…
It’s the fault of each week’s Fridays. The banks are doing just fine until Friday hits, then they fail. Somehow more attention needs to be paid to Fridays.
From WSJ:
“The withdrawal of federal tax credits for home buyers led to a steeper-than-expected plunge in May home sales in much of the U.S., as the housing market struggles to wean itself from government support.
Economists and real estate analysts expected home sales to slow after the tax credit, of as much as $8,000, expired at the end of April. But early data from real estate brokers indicate that the sales decline has been far more substantial than expected, with some markets showing declines of 25% to 30%.”
Go into the way back machine (October 2009)
“New-car sales fell in September as the predicted post-”cash for clunkers” slump dragged the U.S. market down to its lowest sales rate in seven months.
Without government cash on the table, worried consumers shunned dealership lots, buying just 745,997 cars and light trucks, a 23% slide from a year earlier, when 964,873 vehicles were sold.”
We’ll see if home sales recover like car sales did…time will tell.
Hey Ate-Up,
Haven’t seen you posting for quite some time. Hope everything is going well for you.
LA Times
“My understanding is that BP had contracted for $50 million worth of TV advertising to manage their image in the course of this disaster,” the president said in remarks to reporters. “In addition, there are reports that BP will be paying $10.5 billion in dividend payments this quarter.”
“Now, I don’t have a problem with BP fulfilling its legal obligations,” Obama added. “What I don’t want to hear is that they’re spending that kind of money on shareholders and spending that kind of money on TV advertising, [but] they’re nickel-and-diming fishermen or small businesses here in the gulf who are having a hard time.”
Damn socialeest! Why does BP (and Transocean and Haliburton) owe anything to the people whose jobs and environment they destroyed?! For the next 20 years.
Don’t they have a god given right to be free of regulations an do business as they see fit?!
Way to mis-frame the issue.
No one’s saying they don’t have an obligation to pay for the damage they’ve done. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the freedom to advertise as other companies do, or to pay out dividends, as other companies do.
Until there’s a fine or legal settlement they’re obligated to pay (and aren’t), I don’t see an issue with their behavior.
That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the freedom to advertise as other companies do,
Freedom is not free.
Freedom is not free.
Are you suggesting BP must pay for the freedom that others enjoy for free?
“In addition, there are reports that BP will be paying $10.5 billion in dividend payments this quarter.”
Wrong by a factor of 4. BP pays out a dividend of $10.5 billion per year, not per quarter.