December 24, 2010

Bits Bucket for December 24, 2010

Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.




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239 Comments »

Comment by Big V
2010-12-24 00:08:27

Ooo, ooo, first post.

And it’s Christmas Eve, yay! May all y’all be merry and bright.

-Big V

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 05:04:48

And may all your Christ-mases be white
(unless you live in San Diego, that is)…

2010-12-24 09:10:22

Did y’all know that there is an “official” designation to be a White Christmas?

Seriously!

Silly me, I would’ve thought that if it snowed, it would be so but noooooooo. Apparently, it has to snow before noon or some such.

Anyway, on that note, may everyone have a happy holiday!

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:13:04

“Apparently, it has to snow before noon or some such.”

And no drinking before noon for you!

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Comment by Doug in Boone, NC
2010-12-24 11:56:44

“And no drinking before noon for you!”

It’s 1:54 PM, and wife just left for the liquor store. I’m being a good little boy (don’t wanna make Santa mad at me this late in the game), by waiting until after noon before drinking!

 
 
 
Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 09:48:53

No snow in the forecast. in fact it hasn’t even snowed here yet. It almost did one daya few weeks ago, we had some flurries that began to accumulate, but it stopped before the ground was covered.

Comment by mikey
2010-12-24 13:32:53

Snow, want snow…I got snow, Ho, ho, ho

We have about 20 inches on the ground, 4 new and it is still lightly snowing.

We also have our 1 st brand new grand NIECE in the family.

She is not exactly the Xmas baby but never fear, this little girls birthday, ever so close to Christmas, will not be forgotten by this family.

Mom and baby are doing fine.

My nephew seems to be doing remarkedly well.

It seems just like yesterday, that this once little boy, used to march through the house muttering in his older sister’s direction, “All you girls are crazy!”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to Everyone and their families.

I am off to munch at the neighbors Xmas Eve dinner and I have 3 more holiday dinner invitations lined up.

Okay, one more Jack Daniels eggnog and roll me home !

:)

.

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Comment by ahansen
2010-12-24 22:20:23

Oh, MIkey. You sound so…Happy!

Congrats to you and to your newest progeny. My very best to you and yours at this wonderful time of the year!

mwah

 
 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 13:08:53

Have yourself a sunny little Christmas…

 
 
Comment by Lenderoflastresort
2010-12-24 01:20:09

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 06:41:37

Refreshing to see people say “Merry Christmas” and not the cloying “Happy Holidays.”

Comment by polly
2010-12-24 07:25:26

How is happy holidays “cloying”? I am will to understand that you prefer that people only acknowledge your holiday. I even agree that on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself that merry Christmas is more appropriate or at least more immediate. But I do not get why happy holidays, when offered by a business (if your friends and family don’t know what holiday you celebrate, you need new friends at least) is disgusting or distasteful by reason of excessive sweetness. It is just a little more inclusive. And if a business wants to make the decision to piss off the “acknowledge my holiday or don’t say anything at all” crowd in order to include the people who don’t celebrate Christmas in their greeting, I say it is their decision. Actually it would be their decision whether there was a good reason for it or not, but the reasoning is theirs to make. It is their business, and their marketing decision.

Comment by Blue Skye
2010-12-24 08:37:14

Polly, I hope somebody makes you smile this Christmas!

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2010-12-24 09:21:40

I doubt Polly has any trouble smiling under most circumstances. It’s the evangelicals who are always demanding that things go *their* way who are inflexible and angry all the time (unless surrounded by their type).

 
Comment by polly
2010-12-24 09:44:08

I have every intention of smiling quite a bit. As a matter of fact, I am about to take off to see the sights in DC. I’ve never gone to see the decorations at Union Station and I understand that the botanic gardens are also quite lovely. I might even hit the last few hours of the “holiday market” later in the afternoon.

Sorry if I sounded a little over the top just then, but cloying is a very strong word. It has a very specific and extremely negative meaning. I respect words. I think they should be used carefully.

 
Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 10:53:13

Since this is 12/24, Merry Christmas to all. While me & mine don’t celebrate Ramahannakwanzmas, we respect those who do, while making no apologies for honoring our own traditions.

 
Comment by Lola
2010-12-24 11:34:53

May You and Your Loved Ones Enjoy Peace on Earth

A Politically Correct Christmas Poem
http://www.humormatters.com/holidays/Christmas/xmaspoliti.htm

 
 
Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 09:39:40

I am will to understand that you prefer that people only acknowledge your holiday.

I love it when belicose people attribute sentiments to me that I never expressed or feel. Yes, Christmas is “my” holiday, not Madison Avenue’s. Yes, I enjoy the traditions of my western Christian cultural heritage, without being a Bible thumper or being mawkish about “the joy of Christmas.” For those who don’t celebrate Christmas, all power to them. When someone wishes me Merry Christmas, I like that because it signifies we have a shared tradition. If someone is Jewish or Muslim or Jehovah’s witness or Hindu, and doesn’t observe Christmas, my respect for their shared traditions and beliefs is in no way diminished because I happen to celebrate Christmas. So, again, to all who celebrate it, Merry Christmas, and to all people of goodwill, Peace on Earth.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:16:17

I hope Santa Claus pays you a personal visit, Polly, or at least that your stock portfolio enjoys the Santa Claus rally to DJIA = 12K that our own Eddie has assured us will take place by year-end.

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Comment by michael
2010-12-24 12:59:51

Eddie Claus is coming to town!

 
 
Comment by CarrieAnn
2010-12-24 10:47:56

In the mid 80s, I always loved the giant Minorah next to the “entering Sharon” sign. Polly knows what I’m referring to. Although a practicing Christian it gave me joy to see it as I felt the locals there had respect for everyone. And that’s how I really wanted to live. I hope I wasn’t being naive about that situation.

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Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 10:58:51

I’ve attended several passover celebrations (though I’m a WASP) and think there are few things more moving than ancient, shared traditions deeply rooted in each group’s unique historical narrative. These traditions were not meant to be universal, though they should be universally respected.

 
 
 
Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 09:52:13

I am fine with acknowledging each holidy as it comes and goes. Also FWIW, Advent is NOT Christmas. We only celebrate Christmas during Advent because of the Merchantile class.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:14:47

A Merry ChrisHannuKwanzaSolsticeFestivus to all!

 
Comment by jbunniii
2010-12-24 14:15:59

This being America, I like to wish people a Profitable Gift-Receiving Day.

Comment by SaladSD
2010-12-24 18:25:51

Or, Happy Pent-Up Demand Day!

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Comment by bill in Tampa
2010-12-24 16:06:39

Happy Holidays Sammy,

From a mongrel ( part Tuskarora, part United Kingdom, part French, part Dutch, part German, and 100% Darwinist! ).

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 18:17:11

“100% Darwinist!”

I just finished reading a book I loved, by Darwin’s fifth generation descendant, Randall Keynes. His writing is so heartfelt and vivid in detail, you almost feel as though you are watching the Darwin family face personal tragedy through the window of Down House. Some how, Darwin rose above his struggle with his own health problems and the tragic loss of his daughter, Annie, at the age of 10 to make his momentous contribution to scientific knowledge. This book is truly an inspiration!

Darwin, His Daughter, and Human Evolution

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Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 08:48:22

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Right back at ya,…ALL of ya! :-)

Hwy50 & Family & Friends

http://movie-poster.ws/movies/wallpaper/cartoon/looney_tunes/looney_tunes_christmas.jpg

Comment by scdave
2010-12-24 09:39:03

Peace & health everyone…A short pause for thought of our lost Oly…Merry Christmas to all…

Comment by CarrieAnn
2010-12-24 10:49:34

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all that make this place the special place that it is.

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Comment by Housing Wizard
2010-12-24 12:55:07

Right ,again I say Happy Holidays ,whatever you celebrate
everybody out there . May the World start heading in the right
direction . May starvation and exploitation be put to a end .May the innocent be blessed and the constructive prevail for the
Majority . And most important ,may the children of the World
be protected .

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Left Ohio
2010-12-24 03:43:11

From yesterday’s bits:

“In my Jersey City place, lease renewal rates were set by some computer in a central office.”

“Friend said when she worked for a apartment complex in Cali it was part of her job duties each week to trade all the info about upcoming specials, sales, numbers with competitors in the market. They all traded information and management used it to price fix.”

They may be using MRI or something similar.
Wx3 dot mrisoftware dot com

I used MRI while working as a contractor for a Very Large nationwide property management company.

My former apartment complex (400+ units) uses MRI, before the end of my short-term lease they sent me a table of renewal rates ranging from 10% decrease to 25% increase, calculated not with any consistent pattern but based on MRI’s calculation of expected vacancy (industry term: Exposure) at the end of the lease renewal term.

In new, less expensive apartment (only 80 units in 2 buildings) now found on craigs list that does not use MRI. Life is good :)

Comment by va beyatch in virginia beach
2010-12-24 09:28:55

Interesting. I’ll have to see if I can find a pirated copy of that software to play with it.

 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:04:54

This is the REAL “free market.”

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 03:56:12

Christmas Eve shoppers may lead to spending record
Holiday shopping rush could give retailers their best season since 2007, or even set record.

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s Black Friday, The Sequel. Stores are rolling out deals and expect to be swimming in shoppers on Christmas Eve as stragglers take advantage of a day off work. For retailers, the last-minute rush caps the best year since 2007, and possibly ever.

With Christmas falling on a Saturday this year, Friday is a holiday for most U.S. workers. That lets shoppers hit the stores first thing in the morning.

“I’m calling it Fantastic Friday, because I really do think it’s going to be one of the busiest days of the year,” said Marshal Cohen, chief fashion industry analyst with researcher NPD Group.

Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 05:38:01

~ CBS Morning News: “Americans are finally back in the holiday spirit, they are in a shopping frenzy”

So you see, “we” know what Christmas is all about…shop,baby,shop!

We “need” more cheap plastic crap from China.

So Barry was right, the crisis has passed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Comment by NC Gal
2010-12-24 06:37:38

I haven’t seen so many folks out shopping in three years!

I guess it’s quite helpful to the retailers with so many people not paying mortgages.
Yes, I’m sure China figured we couldn’t hold out on spending much longer!

 
Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 06:44:03

How many of these free-spending Americans are FBs who haven’t made a mortgage payment in months, and don’t intend to, and now they’re loading up their plastic in the reasonable expectation that they can repudiate that debt, too. After all, insane Uncle Ben and his printing press will see to it that the TBTF banks get paid.

Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 09:54:45

Its easy to repudiate CC debt. It’s called a BK.

Then again, we know a lot of people value their CCs more than their home and will pays the CCs first.

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Comment by oxide
2010-12-24 14:08:50

And that would be the CC’s fault. They gave out the credit knowing full well it was unsecured. Color me unsympathetic if they go down. (which, of course, they won’t, if the Fed gets its way.)

 
 
Comment by denquiry
2010-12-24 12:00:45

After the TARP giveaway to the banksters perhaps the taxpayers feels like the govt “owes them big.”

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Comment by aNYCdj
2010-12-24 07:13:23

Nah Its about a Free Ham and fun music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN8jcAdElhM

So you see, “we” know what Christmas is all about…shop,baby,shop!

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:18:15

“Christmas Eve shoppers may lead to spending record”

I’m taking the day off so I can go out and do my part. I may even pay Santa Claus a visit at the local mall.

 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:08:19

There’s something very strange going on.

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 04:00:26

Market Slaughter Ahead? Herd Indicator Hits 3-Yr. High

Jesse Livermore, legendary trader of the early Twentieth century, had a rule: The stock market is designed to fool most of the people, most of the time. We may be in fool territory.

According to the most widely followed sentiment measure on Wall Street, the number of stock market bulls out there is eerily approaching the highest level since October 2007, the month the stock market hit an all-time high and the worst financial credit crisis since The Great Depression ensued.

Comment by Ol'Bubba
2010-12-24 06:30:46

The VIX, a measure of volatility, is down to about 16.5.

Comment by Ol'Bubba
2010-12-24 06:34:16

More on the VIX from Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIX

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:19:26

“…down to about 16.5…”

Is this somewhat akin to the time when all the naked swimmers frolicking on the beach look up to notice the ocean has receded from view?

Comment by oxide
2010-12-24 14:10:17

My understanding is that the naked swimmers were frolicking in the ocean. Only then do they look up to find that they are ON a beach that isn’t supposed to be a beach.

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2010-12-24 09:27:06

I’m not buying stocks until the second wave of foreclosures is knee-high. Then I’ll start averaging in.

Comment by polly
2010-12-24 09:46:55

If the state and local governments are really out of accounting tricks, watch out.

I don’t think this got posted yesterday. Town in Alabama ran out of money in its pension fund and stopped making payments:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/business/23prichard.html?src=me&ref=general

 
Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 09:56:41

My thoughts as well. And from we are hearing foreclosures willbe back with a vengrance. The “rent free” crowd is due for a surprise.

 
 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:09:24

“The stock market is designed to fool most of the people, most of the time. We may be in fool territory.”

My kind of guy.

 
 
Comment by michael
2010-12-24 04:18:46

Merry Christmas Everybody!

(said in my best james Stewart voice)

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
Comment by Housing Wizard
2010-12-24 13:03:35

Hwy ,here’s a Merry Christmas drink to you .

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 05:13:04

This movie reminds me of a little tract which was distributed a couple of centuries back, entitled Common Sense.

Inside Job Movie Exposes The Truth Behind American Financial Crisis
Posted by Christopher MacManus rss on August 24th, 2010

Inside Job is a 2010 documentary from Academy Award nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson (“No End In Sight”), and is the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

Narrated by Academy Award winner Matt Damon, the Inside Job was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China. The movie was screened at Cannes in May 2010 and is scheduled to be released in the USA by Sony Pictures Classics on October 8th, 2010. One of the first catchy marketing lines being used is that this is “The film that cost over $20,000,000,000,000 to produce.” Be sure to also check out the Inside Job official website and Facebook page.

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 09:13:03

Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia

Geez, my “TrueBeliever’s™ / “TrueDeceiver’s™” sew-it-on-yourself recognition & praise award patch is gonna have to be really really big if it’s gonna be applied to whole fabric’s of the “Grab-the-money-&-run-Society” Inc. ;-)

Here’s Hwy’s award patch that most HBB’er’s could easily recognize at a real estate fellowship / 12 step convention meeting in Vegas:

http://b.saaraa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/rd-sign-e1267828047806.jpg

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:21:07

That is a funny-shaped falling knife, Hwy…

 
 
Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 11:01:26

PB, you’re one of the ones in here - there are quite a few others, too - who give me reason for hope in the new year.

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 12:21:18

I’m staying optimistic for Hope and Change going forward, regardless of whether Barry O is involved.

 
 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:25:47

No,no,no! It was poor people and their NINJA loans mandated by Congress that caused this mess!

How dare they use non-neocon facts!

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 18:19:55

I’m frankly surprised that Eddie lets comments like that one go anymore. He seems to have fallen asleep on the job…

 
 
 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 05:28:03

Tonight is Christianity’s most sacred night but joy is tempered with sadness. America has drifted from Jesus’ teachings. Those who most profess love for Jesus have strayed as well.

The far right bears little resemblance to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace or Jesus Christ the Compassionate.

Jesus the Prince of Peace: Our military is necessary but where in Jesus’ teachings did he espouse imperialism and unbridled war lust? Torture? Conquest? And yet the right sees no problem supporting such and demanding what is not ours.

Jesus the Compassionate: The venomous, violent, and greedy message coming from our right is the opposite of what Jesus stood for. Hate and hypocrisy are our daily sermon. Screw the poor, middle-class and minorities. Cut taxes for the rich and send people’s jobs overseas so a few can make more. Prosperity gospel swill says nothing about corporate corruption- demands no banking criminals go to jail. On the contrary, we reward slime for their deeds. Money. This is our American “Christian” legacy today.

Do we even know Jesus anymore? Jesus would construct a corrupt society that strips people’s dignity, so the rich get richer and now we even kick our own people when they are down? Cut our frayed safety net more? Who are these “Christians” telling us we “need” to cut it? What do they already have and want? More.

We know “give a man a fish you feed him (only) for a day.” But when Jesus said “teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” the assumption was that the fish were still there. But today the “fish” (our jobs) are not here anymore. Our fish/jobs have been stolen by the same people who tell us we now need “austerity”.

Jesus did not teach us to fish a barren sea. This must mean that a central Christian goal is to have an economic system that provides the means for people to provide for themselves. “The Lord helps those who help themselves,” the right tells us. Yes. This is why we need good jobs because not all are entrepreneurs and not all are shepherds. This is key and a key to understanding Jesus.

Jesus was a shepherd of mankind because it’s the nature of mankind to thrive under benevolent shepherding. It is part of the responsibility of our society, leaders and system of government to act as shepherds of our people but they have broken this covenant by selling out Americans to benefit the few.

Our shepherds have led their flock (us) into a pack of wolves that paid them thirty pieces of silver to do it. Jesus would not have done this and the “conservative” followers of Jesus should not tolerate this but they do. This is a great sin that mocks Jesus.

Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you: Is this most central Christian value being followed? Can we say America’s economic and public policies follow the golden rule? Do the “doers” do what they would have done to them? Our CEO’s and top management would love extreme pay-cuts, their jobs outsourced, W-2’s changed to 1099’s pensions gutted, made part time and health insurance dropped? Our CEO’s would want to worry about choosing between buying food or medicine for their sick child?

We are a Christian nation?
Americans on the “right” awaken. You have been betrayed as Jesus was. Your masters have nothing in common with you or Jesus Christ and they use his name to manipulate.

Family values? Compassion? The Golden Rule? Our puppet masters don’t give a damn about any of this. They thirst for what Jesus warned against. Their goal is only more money and power for them. Their God is mammon and we are only a source to be played and looted.

There is no doubt in my mind whose side Jesus would be on in today’s America. It would not be on the side of the perversely greedy, blood-sucking destroyers of our once great society. The time of taking stands grows closer.

I will side with struggling Americans and not with greed and lust for power. I don’t doubt that Jesus’ teachings have more in common with our side than the side that cynically manipulates the far “Christian” right.

Today’s trickle-down temple of greed is one that Jesus would tear down.

These are days to feel joy and happiness but we would be missing much not remembering the things that Jesus stood for as well.
Merry Christmas.

Comment by 2banana
2010-12-24 08:05:49

Another “Jesus is Socialist and you should be too” post.

Your real question is what makes a good Christian when it comes to choosing a ruler or can government do the work of God?

What I have read and understood from the Bible is that God and Jesus wants us to help each other by using our own time, treasure and talent and to give from our hearts (”Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” - 2 Corinthians 9:7).

Nowhere have I found anything along the lines of “Go out and institute huge bureaucracies that will take money from some people at the point of a sword and give that money to other people as a politician sees fit.”

There are many interesting questions if citizens rely on government to do “God’s Work.”

If a government takes a portion of a man’s wages and does good with it, has the man also done good? If a government takes away a portion of a woman’s property and does evil with it, has the woman also done evil? When a rich man pays more in taxes than a poor person, is he more Godly? If the government then does evil, is he more to blame? A woman works for the government and uses other people’s tax money and does “God Work” with it, is this government woman now a good/Godly woman? If I legally try to avoid paying taxes, does that not make me an “Ungodly” man?

The Bible clearly states that we are to help those in need. The question is “Who should help those in need?” I firmly believe that scripture and the historical evidence strongly support that individuals, private organizations and churches should be the ones doing the heavy lifting. Government help should be the last resort. “Charity,” enforced by the government, is not charity, it is extortion. “Charity,” delivered by the government, is not charity, it is a bribe which corrupts both the giver and the receiver.

Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 08:32:16

Another “Jesus is Socialist and you should be too” post.

Hey. That’s funny but catchy too. We just need to shorten it somehow to fit on a bumper-sticker. And I’m glad my post got a rise out of you because yours is absolutely the target.

And if mine was that, your post was another “Jesus is an “independent cowboy of objectivism” and you should be too” post.

Which by the very nature of of Jesus’ teachings makes your argument vastly inferior.

Comment by michael
2010-12-24 13:27:34

a pox on both your houses.

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Comment by jbunniii
2010-12-24 14:22:15

+1

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 15:50:07

a pox on both your houses.

I’m sorry that truths make your head hurt.

lol (that was funny)

 
 
Comment by evildoc
2010-12-24 15:52:30

I don’t think “getting a rise” was what he did.

Rather, he smacked you down. Ouch.

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Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 16:38:40

Rather, he smacked you down. Ouch.

Read on. I guess not.

But you’re a Doctor not a philosophical theologian.

I guess you’re still mad at me. And I’m sorry for smacking you down so hard the other day. It was borderline opportunistic.

Regards

Rio

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 16:45:54

Rather, he smacked you down. Ouch.

Hmmm.. wait.

Hey Doc,
Your post could be read 2 different ways. I’m sorry if I read it the the wrong way.

 
Comment by CA renter
2010-12-27 02:04:33

Rio,

This is a couple of days old, but in case you are still reading this thread…THANK YOU for yet another wonderful post!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 18:43:19

Brain twister alert:

JESUS IS A REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST

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Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 18:54:19

Brain twister alert:

JESUS IS A REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST

Maybe as were Presidents Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

None were clowns afraid of labels.

 
 
 
Comment by Blue Skye
2010-12-24 08:57:29

Merry Christmas banana!

Socialism is never about helping somebody. It is always about who is in charge and who gets to take the skim off the top. Kind of like most churches.

Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 09:14:05

Socialism is never about helping somebody.

Socialism? Socialism?? What has happened to our minds? Are we that easily led? We should be laughed at and are.

Where have we come as a Society when peace, equal opportunity, equal justice and an economic system that provides good jobs is now viewed as “socialism”?

How can any Americans be so ignorant of our history and so manipulated that they would now regard those very American ideals and goals as such?

We’ve been played hard.

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Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 10:13:03

Matthew 7:21-23

“21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ”

And from Luke 18

18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’[a]”

21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

 
Comment by 2banana
2010-12-24 10:54:31

Good parable - but you need to finish it.

—————–

26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

—————

Rich or poor - no one gets into heaven on based on their works (good or bad deeds).

 
Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 12:06:39

I would say that Matthew 7:21-23 repudiates the whole “sola fide” deal pretty much.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”

Doing the Father’s will sound’s like a “work” to me.

“23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

And that sounds like “bad deeds” do matter, contrary to what Pastor Bob might say.

 
Comment by exeter
2010-12-24 12:36:11

I will ALWAYS be here to call you out on your endorsement of the fraudulent theology of north american evangelicals. If you are an actual follower of Jesus (even though I don’t think you are as you shown no evidence) I advised you to take note of this verse;

Proverbs 22:16 NIV-He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich–both come to poverty.

Furthermore:

James 5:4 NIV-The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

Your silence on the pro-war, pro-violence position of north american evangelical “leaders” is a implicit endorsement of those positions which are the antithesis of everything Jesus and followers of Jesus represent and believe.

And your little gem that “no one gets into heaven on based on their works” is another classic case of you using a strawman. Publicly, here and now explain how that reconciles with;

James 2:20 NKJV-But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead??

Feel free to post hate but expect this follower of Jesus to repudiate your two trick pony theology.

 
Comment by In Montana
2010-12-24 12:48:03

What bothers me is that we get preached to like this, as if we were not now doing anything. My church does the same thing. We must do more to help the poor….well, what is all this social security, medicaid, food stamp, section 8 and stuff we have going on now, if not the implementation of that ethic? Do we get no props for all that?

Granted, the fact that the state “takes care of it” takes the personal involvement out of it. But as a matter of fact, my church, other churches and plenty of secular service groups et al are doing plenty ALL the time to help the poor. I spent many hours in the soup kitchen when I would have rather stayed home. Then they advertise in the bulletin, do you know any poor people who need help? I mean they can’t find enough of them to do-good on.

It’s as if we’re always starting from nothing.

 
Comment by oxide
2010-12-24 14:19:44

If you’re helping the poor, then you’ve reached the “give a man a fish” phase. By then, it’s too late.

We need to start handing out BK’s and jobs which pay enough for a low-level life. Then we wouldn’t need to hand out food.

 
Comment by Overtaxed
2010-12-24 14:23:32

“My church does the same thing. We must do more to help the poor….”

I’ve got a suggestion for your (and almost every other) church. Lead by example. In many small towns, a church is likely the most valuable parcel of real estate in the entire area.

Sell the churches, sell the artifacts, give the money to the poor.

Then I’ll be willing to listen to you.

 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:35:11

“well, what is all this social security, medicaid, food stamp, section 8 and stuff we have going on now, if not the implementation of that ethic? “

In our country, not enough, is what it is.

Every heard of the phrase “a token gesture?” How about, “appeasing your conscious?” Or “soothing your guilt.”

Feel free to not contribute if you like, but DO NOT punish and persecute those who do.

Those who wish for social Darwinism should realize they will be the FIRST to be on the wrong end of it.

 
Comment by In Montana
2010-12-24 21:19:13

“Sell the churches, sell the artifacts, give the money to the poor.”

Sure thing. And the government can sell its assets and give to the poor, and then…right.

 
Comment by exeter
2010-12-24 21:51:42

Notice 2Bananas has not responded to my challenge to his twisted theology?

Take note. It doesn’t take much to shred the evangelical hate theology. Just a little theo101.

 
 
Comment by scdave
2010-12-24 10:31:42

Rio is on a roll…+ a bunch…

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Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-12-24 10:55:25

Yeah. I know what he’s talking about.

I was a Republican for a long time. But now I’m a Socialist, according to mainstream Republicans.

What’s funny is that my worldview hasn’t really changed. The only thing that’s changed is that I’ve witnessed 30 years of knee-jerk Republican dogma, and I’ve started thinking that maybe the last thing we need is more of the same.

 
Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 11:03:25

Pretty soon anybody who isn’t on board with the GOP’s craven subservience to the banksters won’t just be a heretic, they’ll be an “extremist.”

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 12:20:18

‘…they’ll be an “extremist.” an “enemy combatant.”

 
Comment by Housing Wizard
2010-12-24 13:13:47

Rio ,enjoying your posts …right on ….and I’m enjoying the posts that followed your original outstanding post above .

 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:36:57

Exactly, PB. Exactly. Thank god that could never happen in a land with civil rights and freedom.

Oh wait…

 
Comment by measton
2010-12-24 21:01:49

The elite control the gov thus they control the military and the fbi, cia. They control the media.

Thus the only enemy combatants will be those who rail against control by the elite. There is a guy under house arrest in England who is a perfect example of this.

 
 
 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:28:50

Wow 2banana. Really?

How far can you see from that petard?

 
 
Comment by va beyatch in virginia beach
2010-12-24 08:31:25

IIRC Christmas happens tonight not because it’s JC’s birthday but as an anti-competitive measure against competing religions. They wanted to rub out pagan holidays or some such.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2010-12-24 08:42:04

Easter has a higher message than Christmas, IMO.

Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 10:15:32

It does, but its much harder to merchandise it. Maybe the merchant class should rename it (like they did with Advent). Maybe they could call Lent and Easter “Christmas II - The Sequel”

 
 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 09:17:16

Today’s trickle-down temple of greed is one that AN ANGRY Jesus would tear down.

Amen!

 
Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 10:22:18

Well said, Rio. Christian morality is the antithesis of what the pulpit prostitutes of the so-called Christian Right are spouting. Christ took a whip & drove the thieves & money-changers from the temple, and I’d love to see him come back and do the same thing for the charlatans who fleece the sheep in his name.

Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 12:08:09

Amen!

 
Comment by SUGuy
2010-12-24 18:23:58

In my personal experience most born again Christians churches pastors are uneducated mostly high school. They hide behind the bible and think they are the right man next to God. God seems to talk to them a lot as they claim. Behind the scenes they are running a business and have family members being supported with employment within the church. These days the Churches are business diversified. They sell day care services, book stores, auto mechanic services, and restaurants. The churches are also in the building rental business. More than 50 percent of Syracuse commercial buildings are non profit. Guess what product or service is being offered in these buildings. Yes it is pay me 10 percent and go to heaven. The pastors seem to have the attributes to be a politician which I wholeheartedly mean a scumbag.

 
 
Comment by scdave
2010-12-24 10:25:48

The far right bears little resemblance to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace or Jesus Christ the Compassionate ??

Amen…..They are hypocrites and proud of it….

 
Comment by jeff saturday
2010-12-24 10:42:35

“‘And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.’”

“……That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

 
Comment by CarrieAnn
2010-12-24 10:59:26

If you read Revelations, the first chapters via parabal tell of churches at the point of judgement day that will be found to have veered off course. I’m too lazy to look up specifics but it was something like one church in seven was truly preaching God’s word while others had fallen into practices which more closely reflect one of the seven deadly sins.

Funny how I glommed onto those chapters way more than the people teaching the class who seemed to hurry over them, church politics et al.

Comment by Rancher
2010-12-24 12:54:03

Crystal Cathedral comes to mind…….

 
 
Comment by Cassandra
2010-12-24 12:30:09

“Tonight is Christianity’s most sacred night” ?

I always thought it was Easter/Pascha, the Resurrection of the Christ.

Christos Anesti! (”Χριστός ἀνέστη!”)

Comment by exeter
2010-12-24 12:40:11

It is Easter.

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 16:31:19

“Tonight is Christianity’s most sacred night” ?

I always thought it was Easter/Pascha, the Resurrection of the Christ.

“Night
“. Could this not be a case of subjective semantics ?

I know Easter is the most sacred day but is not Christmas Eve the most sacred night?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

 
 
Comment by Cassandra
2010-12-24 15:07:12

“give a man a fish you feed him (only) for a day.”

reminds me of one of my favorite sayings:

“build a man a fire, and you warm him for a night,
set a man on fire and you warm him for life”

but I could find The Biblical reference for that :-)

Comment by Cassandra
2010-12-24 15:10:09

could = could not

 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:39:04

:lol:

 
 
Comment by bill in Tampa
2010-12-24 20:41:38

The fictional Jeebuz was a socialist. You got it right Rio, but the problem is his mystical powers did not and do not exist.

Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 20:57:49

You got it right Rio, but the problem is his (Jesus’) mystical powers did not and do not exist.

If I were one to think as you, I would still find his message and legacy so powerful and meaningful that I would wonder if they might.

 
 
Comment by Little Al
2010-12-24 22:10:20

Truth is always on the gallows. Lies lie rich in mansions.

 
Comment by ahansen
2010-12-24 22:45:59

Thank you, Rio. Those who understand the Christ’s true message tend to sound very much like…you.

Blessings upon a true disciple of the Word. How very refreshing….

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 05:35:15

Sorry for the out-of-date post; I must have missed this one last fall.

U.S. Home Prices Face 3-Year Drop as Inventory Surge Looms
By John Gittelsohn and Kathleen M. Howley - Sep 15, 2010 9:14 AM PT

U.S. Home Prices Face Three-Year Drop

The slide in U.S. home prices may have another three years to go as sellers add as many as 12 million more properties to the market.

Shadow inventory — the supply of homes in default or foreclosure that may be offered for sale — is preventing prices from bottoming after a 28 percent plunge from 2006, according to analysts from Moody’s Analytics Inc., Fannie Mae, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc. Those properties are in addition to houses that are vacant or that may soon be put on the market by owners.

Whether it’s the sidelined, shadow or current inventory, the issue is there’s more supply than demand,” said Oliver Chang, a U.S. housing strategist with Morgan Stanley in San Francisco. “Once you reach a bottom, it will take three or four years for prices to begin to rise 1 or 2 percent a year.”

Comment by oxide
2010-12-24 09:32:09

According to this guy, we have three more years of price decreases as the shadow inventory and foreclosures shake out, three years of bouncing along the bottom, and then a normal market rise. So the best time to buy a house to live in is ~ 2014-2015, and the best time to buy for investment is 2017.

Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:41:39

That actually sounds about right to me. In the ballpark, at least.

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 18:22:32

Buh buh buh… the serial bottom callers said the housing market would bottom out NEXT YEAR.

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Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 18:41:15

:lol: Right?

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 05:37:28

China Fails to Complete 91-Day Treasury Bill Sale, Traders Say
By Bloomberg News - Dec 24, 2010 1:17 AM PT

China Fails Complete Bill Sale for Second Time One Month

China’s government failed to draw enough demand at a bill sale for the second time in a month as seasonal demand for funds and higher reserve-requirement ratios left banks with less cash. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg

China’s government failed to draw enough demand at a bill sale for the second time in a month as seasonal demand for funds and higher reserve-requirement ratios left banks with less cash.

The finance ministry sold 16.76 billion yuan ($2.53 billion) of 91-day securities, falling short of the planned 20 billion yuan target, according to a statement on the website of Chinabond, the nation’s biggest debt-clearing house. The average winning yield was 3.68 percent, higher than the 3.22 percent rate for similar-maturity debt in the secondary market yesterday.

China needs to return to a “prudent monetary policy” to curb prices and control money supply, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement posted on its website today. While inflation pressures are rising, regulators will allow reasonable growth in lending, the statement said.

Banks are badly short of cash,” said Qu Qing, a bond analyst at Shenyin Wanguo Securities Co. in Shanghai. “Given the cash squeeze, the central bank probably won’t announce any tightening measure by the end of this year.”

Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 10:23:54

How ironic that US central planners have far surpassed Communist China when it comes to running a command economy.

Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:43:13

How ironic that Wall St has far surpassed Communist China when it comes to running a command economy.

Fixed it.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:24:29

“Banks are badly short of cash,”

Paging ComboTechie

Comment by arizonadude
2010-12-24 10:57:11

Things cant be that bad.Bristol palin just bought a house with 172k cash in arizona:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/12/24/20101224bristol-palin-buys-home-in-arizona.html

Comment by Cassandra
2010-12-24 12:35:19

The joke is on Bristol if she’s going to live in Maricopa.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 18:23:49

Can you see Russia from Maricopa?

 
 
Comment by exeter
2010-12-24 13:12:12

lmao…. Bristol Palin… the beacon of conservative family values.

Orwell was right.

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Comment by oxide
2010-12-24 14:23:50

Say what you will, we should at least praise Bristol for buying cash and avoiding the mortgage mess. She can start a new life with Tripp(?), hopefully FAR from the public eye.

Now, where a 19-year-old would find $172 cash… maybe she raided Mom’s Nieman Marcus budget.

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Comment by bill in Tampa
2010-12-24 20:45:42

In the little hamlet of Maricopa. Well done I guess. For a 20 year old, a $172k house is a good deal there. In three years I will buy it from het for $110,000.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 05:42:23

If economists played baseball, this article would be a home run hit out of the park.

Economic Letter—Insights from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Vol. 5, No. 14
December 2010
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

The Fallacy of a Pain-Free Path to a Healthy Housing Market
by Danielle DiMartino Booth and David Luttrell

In the mid-1990s, the public policy goal of increasing the U.S. homeownership rate collided with a huge leap in financial innovation. Lenders shifted from originating and holding mortgages to originating and packaging them for sale to investors. These new financial products enabled millions of Americans who hadn’t previously qualified to buy a home to become owners. Housing construction boomed, reaching a postwar high—9.1 million homes were built between 2002 and 2006, a period when 5.6 million U.S. households were formed.

The resulting oversupply of homes presents policymakers with a formidable challenge as they struggle to craft a sustainable economic recovery. Usually a driver of economic recoveries, the housing market is foundering as an engine of growth.

Generations of policymakers since the 1930s have sought to increase the homeownership rate. By the late 1960s, it had reached 64.3 percent of households, remaining there through the mid-1990s, in apparent equilibrium with household formation during a period of sustained U.S. economic growth. A fresh push to increase ownership drove the rate up 5 percentage points to its peak in the mid-2000s. Home price gains followed the rate upward.

Reverting to the Mean Price

As gauged by an aggregate of housing indexes dating to 1890, real home prices rose 85 percent to their highest level in August 2006. They have since declined 33 percent, falling short of most predictions for a cumulative correction of at least 40 percent.[1] In fact, home prices still must fall 23 percent if they are to revert to their long-term mean (Chart 1). The Federal Reserve’s purchases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government-sponsored-entity bonds, which eased mortgage rates, supported home prices. Other measures included mortgage modification plans, which deferred foreclosures, and tax credits, which boosted entry-level home sales.

Comment by Jim A
2010-12-24 09:16:41

There’s little doubt around here about where we’re heading with housing prices. Huge government internention an alter how long it takes to get there, and it certainly IS altering who the bag-holders are, but it simply CAN’T alter the fundamental fact that in many markets houses are STILL too expensive.

 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 09:26:12

Lenders shifted from originating and holding mortgages to originating and packaging them for sale to investors…(who suddenly found themselves free from the binding shackles of Gov’t Regulation Inc.)..

Ol’ Foghorn gets kinda sensitive whenever anyone mentions: Slice & Dice! ;-)

http://memegenerator.net/Foghorn-Leghorn/ImageMacro/887752/Foghorn-Leghorn-boy-i-say-boy-I-think-yer-on-to-something.jpg

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:48:37

Home prices in our part of San Diego county are still remarkably close to 2006 price levels*, even as other parts of the country and even California have seen price declines of over 50 percent. But I am expecting the release of shadow inventory plus prime ARM and other exotic mortgage resets to get-’er done for our hood by year-end 2013. I expect many to be shocked and awed by the number of $500,000+ homes that get foreclosed by the time this is over.

*For illustration, the median SFR list price on the MLS for our zip code (92127) peaked at $1,395,000 back in 2006; according to data I just downloaded from RedFin dot com, it is currently at $692,900 for a 3,114 sq ft 4/3. I am sure the abnormally low median is just a holiday season aberration, and the prices will come back up after the Souper Bowl.

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 18:26:44

“…$1,395,000 back in 2006; according to data I just downloaded from RedFin dot com, it is currently at $692,900…”

(($692,900/$1,395,000)-1)*100 = -50.3% drop since the 2006 peak. ‘Tis a mere flesh wound (and the market has farther to fall in 2011!).

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 05:56:21

Japan Stocks Drop for Second Day as Metal Prices Fall; Exporters Decline
By Norie Kuboyama and Toshiro Hasegawa - Dec 23, 2010 11:38 PM PT

Japanese Stocks Drop as Metal Prices Decline

Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average expiring in March closed at 10,275 in Chicago yesterday, compared with the gauge’s close of 10,346.48 in Tokyo on Dec. 22.

Japanese stocks fell for a second day after the dollar weakened against the yen while the Tokyo market was closed yesterday, damping the outlook for export earnings.

Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second-largest carmaker, lost 1.1 percent. Kyocera Corp., an electronic-equipment maker that earns a third of its revenue from the U.S. and Europe, slid 1.1 percent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., a bank whose share price has advanced almost 15 percent in the past two months, retreated 0.7 percent. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., the operator of the world’s biggest merchant fleet, declined 2.5 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its rating to “sell” and cargo rates dropped to a five-month low.

“The stronger yen will likely lead investors to sell shares to lock in profits,” said Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings Inc.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.7 percent to 10,279.19 as of the 3 p.m. close in Tokyo. The broader Topix lost 0.5 percent to 901.66, with more than three times as many shares declining as advancing. Both gauges had the biggest drop since Dec. 20 and sank to the lowest levels since then.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 06:01:02

The New Freedom
‘Borrowed trouble’ isn’t just an expression

Until now, power has been defined largely by military strength, by control of vital resources like oil, or by the ability to embrace a form of supercharged capitalism, like China. But in 2011 and coming years, the ability to manage debt may be the best indicator of where global economic power resides. Back when George W. Bush was president, his “freedom agenda” was about democratic elections and ending one-party rule in the developing world. Now the No. 1 issue has become freedom from crippling debt and restoring fiscal balance in the developed world. Who will ring out 2011 in better shape than when it began? Those who can best manage the brutal deleveraging process in the advanced economies, those who can use the currently forgiving conditions to rebalance, and those not lured into fresh crisis by easy money.

Debt has always been two-edged, which is one reason Shakespeare could exploit it for such dramatic effect. One woman’s liability is another woman’s asset. Debt is leverage, a force multiplier that lets you lift something (a car, a company, an entire consumer economy) larger than you could under your own power. As such it’s a huge spur to freedom. For consumers at the bottom of the pyramid, microfinance has become a form of liberation theology. But debt can also limit one’s freedom—it’s a shackle, a contract. They’re called bonds because they bind parties together. Ever since the onset of the crisis in 2008, this latter sense has assumed primacy. Debt, it turns out, can be a liability for the borrower and the creditor, especially when it goes bad. It can restrict action, and impose harsh terms on those who have taken on too much.

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 09:44:25

the ability to manage debt may be the best indicator of where global economic power resides.

Manage Debt = Simultaneous ability to Destroy Debt by Creating Debt,…magical! :-)

Christmas Past:

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/83138/83138,1278357505,5/stock-photo-a-happy-cartoon-magician-pulling-a-rabbit-out-of-his-hat-56577118.jpg

Christmas Future:

http://www.toonpool.com/user/936/files/mutant_rabbit_114305.jpg

 
Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 10:29:27

Back when George W. Bush was president, his “freedom agenda” was about democratic elections and ending one-party rule in the developing world. Now the No. 1 issue has become freedom from crippling debt and restoring fiscal balance in the developed world.

Typical MSM drek. GW Bush’s agenda was doing what his neo-con handlers told him to do.

Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:46:26

Exactly.

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 06:06:58

Guess what happens when too much QE money chases too few good companies?

Dotcom Bubble 2.0
Are we headed for another hangover?

Remember that crazy dotcom bubble in the late 1990s and the huge bust that followed? It looks like we’re about to sit through the same movie all over again.

That’s what Fred Wilson, a well-known venture capitalist, has been saying lately. Wilson, who runs Union Square Ventures, a New York–based VC firm, says he sees “storm clouds” on the horizon, and he worries that we might be headed toward another disaster. “When I look at where we are right now, it reminds me so much of 1999 and frankly it scares me,” Wilson wrote recently on his blog. The 49-year-old venture capitalist’s fear is understandable. In 1996 he cofounded a New York venture fund called Flatiron Partners, which did booming business investing in Internet companies—until the bubble collapsed, wiping out a bunch of its portfolio companies. Wilson and his partner pretty much shut down Flatiron in 2001, while still helping to manage some of its portfolio companies that had survived.

Comment by va beyatch in virginia beach
2010-12-24 08:37:32

GOOG overvalued!? Say it ain’t so!

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 06:13:08

“A sound banker, alas, is not one who foresees danger and avoids it, but one who, when he is ruined, is ruined in a conventional way along with his fellows, so that no one can really blame him.”

John Maynard Keynes, 1931

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 06:16:55

Nowadays, ruined bankers walk away with hundreds of millions in severance pay.

Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 06:45:31

Courtesy of the taxpayers, thanks to the banksters’ Republicrat accomplices.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 12:23:26

“A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.”

– Mark Twain –

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 06:14:15

“No natural life survives the lifecycle. And no paper currency standard has ever survived a complete credit cycle. It is just a matter of time until we hear the explosion and see body parts flying.”

~Bill Bonner

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 10:34:42

A homeless person feeding the-get-a-nickle recycle machine… x1 aluminum can at a time… =

ab-a-rah ka-dab-a-rah recycle Shazam!:

http://image.internetautoguide.com/f/auto-news/2010-hyundai-genesis-sedan-disassembled-on-its-new-interactive-website/27465436/2010-hyundai-genesis-sedan-disassembled.jpg

Export the material, export the jobs,…import the $169.00 per month lease.

Click & Clackers GOOD NEWS! repair shop:
“Ok, here’s our repair estimate: brakes liners & rotors, oil change, replace air filter, rotate tires, environmental disposal charges, check engine light still works, inspect fuses…all of ‘em, verify heater works, wheels rotate, dome light works, horn works, turn signal work, check stereo system for Chinese malware bugs, inspect undercarriage for police GPS tracking device…let’s see, tossing in a free no-water-stain hose wash & jack-in-the-box antennae ball that be: $847.86… oh, wait, you have LE deluxe model… that’ll change things. ;-)

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 07:12:12

Real-A-Tards are are blatant liar’s are pure scum!

Merry Christmas exeter!

No kidding… Just read a sale flier on a house a few blocks from us, 100% misleading. So what do these used house sales people think? That when someone does look, they will be able to baffle them with bullshit? Pathetic!

Comment by jeff saturday
2010-12-24 08:22:18

What do you call 10 Realtors at the bottom of the ocean?

A good start.

Merry Christmas from me too exeter!

Comment by exeter
2010-12-24 12:37:58

Merry Christmas Brothers.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:26:55

Q. How do you know when a Used Home Seller is lying?

A. Check whether her lips are moving.

Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-12-24 11:01:17

What’s the definition of “mixed emotions”?

A Realtor driving your brand new Ferrari off a 1000 ft. cliff.

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 12:17:51

Q. If you see a bankster and a used home seller walking across the road, which do you run over first?

A. The bankster; business before pleasure.

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Comment by denquiry
2010-12-24 11:55:35

It’s all about the commissions and nothing else.

 
Comment by DennisN
2010-12-24 13:08:14

How many realtors does it take to shingle a roof?

It depends on how thinly you slice them…..

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 13:13:39

Q. You are walking along the sidewalk after a night of hard drinking, and up walk Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and an honest used home seller. They ask you for directions to the nearest pub. To which of them should you give directions?

A. None of them; they are all figments of your imagination.

 
 
Comment by CrackerJim
2010-12-24 07:15:58

Another Christmas Eve backdoor piece of pseudo-legislation through Executive order.

From the Washington Post
“EPA vows to enforce curbs on emissions”

Comment by CharlieTango
2010-12-24 07:58:53

their primary target? CO2, it was just last year when the EPA declared this plant food a pollutant.

a pollutant without which we would all die and so would almost all life on earth.

Comment by CharlieTango
2010-12-24 08:12:21

The next fraud, invoked as the first fraud started to falter, is the claim that carbon dioxide is
a pollutant in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the food for all plants and thus the food
source for all life on earth. It is not poisonous at any level likely to be experienced in the
atmosphere and there is clear evidence that more carbon dioxide makes plants grow faster
and bigger, and makes them more tolerant of drought, heat and salinity. Current levels are
below those optimal for life.

http://climatedebatedaily.com/pyramid-of-frauds-1.pdf

Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 09:20:51

Carbon dioxide is the food for all plants and thus the food
source for all life on earth.

Pollution is Food! T-Shirts S, M, L XL, $19.95

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Comment by Cassandra
2010-12-24 12:52:06

Hot house growers actually sometimes use CO2 generators. Especially for “cash crops”.

http://www.hydroasis.com/hy/productdetail.aspx?id=1270&product=liquid-propane-co2-generators

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Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-12-24 11:33:55

Last year, Republicans were still sitting in all the chairs at the EPA.

Which is another one of this countries many problems…….180 degree changes in direction of regulations and enforcement, depending on which party is sitting in office.

The reality is that the USA is not running the show anymore, when it comes to regulating anything. Instead of ours being the only economy that counts, you have several countries/regions that have as much, if not more power, than the US has. The trend is their friend.

In my business, the FAA used to be the leader, and the rest of the aviation world fell into place behind whatever the FAA was doing,

Now, it’s the ICAO, who is basically coming up with a world standard for everyone. And the FAA, rather than leading, is mainly working toward revising our regulatory environment to ICAO standards/requirements.

Aircraft sold in Europe have been required to comply with EASA regs since the 90s. Which basically means that since 1995 or thereabouts, FAA registered airplanes are compliant with EASA, since the manufacturers standardized the manufacturing process to build airplanes compliant with the more restrictive regs….basically, the same thing as people in Flyover being forced to pay for California/New York state compliant new cars and trucks.

We are coming rapidly to the point where you WILL be compliant with ICAO regs, or you are not going to be able to operate internationally.

I can only assume that the rest of the international business/regulatory environment is doing the same. Nobody in the rest of the world is likely to use the US regulatory environment as a standard, because of all it’s recent failures, and it’s exposure to political manipulation.

The rest of the world has made the decision that worldwide standards are required, and that those who choose not to comply will not be able to do business internationally.

Comment by oxide
2010-12-24 14:27:59

The same is happening in the nuclear field. France, Japan, and the IAEA in Vienna are improving safety while Americans dicker over how to form their business partnerships to build the next nuclear power plant.

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Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 17:53:40

“…while Americans dicker over how to form their business partnerships to build skim as many millions as they can by cutting corners and getting ways with it on the next nuclear power plant.”

Fixed it.

 
 
 
 
Comment by 2banana
2010-12-24 08:13:49

“Hope and Change” meets “Stoke of the pen, law of the land. Kinda Cool.”

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 11:11:21

“Stoke of the pen, law of the land.”

Filed under: “Tain’t necessarily so…”

How quickly some forget,…heheheehehe… ;-)

Shrub challenges hundreds of laws / President cites powers of his office
By Charlie Savage
Boston Globe Staff / April 30, 2006

WASHINGTON — President Shrub has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Comment by CrackerJim
2010-12-24 12:00:16

I detest:
Executive usurpation and denial of the powers given to Congress regardless of the source; Democrat, Republican, or Independent (if that ever happens).
Judicial legislation from activist courts and judges regardless of party affiliation or political leanings.

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Comment by SV guy
2010-12-24 11:25:43

We (USA) haven’t had good luck with some of these X-mas eve bills.

(The FED was created on Dec 23, 1913)

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 07:16:02

I had a recent email exchange on the subject of promoting a yearning for liberty and freedom among modern Americans. I contend there’s not much of a market for it any more.

H.L. Mencken came to the same conclusion many years ago.

“The average man doesn’t want to be free. He wants to be safe.”

Comment by CharlieTango
2010-12-24 08:00:44

even if your contention is correct, less govt does give us more freedom, does more govt give us more safety?

Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 08:15:17

You decide.

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 10:09:33
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Comment by salinasron
2010-12-24 08:10:49

““The average man doesn’t want to be free. He wants to be safe.”

He wants security, just like the guy in prison, that is until he really understands that it comes with a cost!

Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 11:56:46

Its hard to revel in your freedom when you’re starving.

Comment by exeter
2010-12-24 13:26:07

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.

In other words, the sanctimonious but short sighted fools who pander for the wealthy masters using words like freedom don’t know any better. They don’t care about opportunity because they’re poor and or wealthy beyond measure.

All of us here are poor. You can flail and deny… you can attempt to hide your peonage but you are poor. Just like me.

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Comment by 2banana
2010-12-24 08:15:14

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

–Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania Assemblyto the governor, November 11, 1755 <>

Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 10:05:03

Benjamin Franklin never meet Cheney-Shrub

Run Hwy,…RUN! ;-)

 
 
Comment by michael
2010-12-24 19:09:24

Freedom is to safety…what scarcity is to abundance.

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 07:34:18

On President Obama’s Hawaiian Reading List: Book on President Reagan

The White House says that President Obama plans on spending some of his Hawaiian vacation reading, and among the books on his list is one about President Reagan.

Obama will be digging into Lou Cannon’s biography, “President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime.”

The president has been reading up on books about other presidents in the past few months. Most recently before the midterm elections, he was reading “The Clinton TAPES” by Taylor Branch, among others.

Comment by 2banana
2010-12-24 08:16:48

he was reading “The Clinton TAPES”

I think those are XXX…

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:31:14

“Book on President Reagan”

Good choice. Perhaps Obama can enlighten himself on how we dug ourselves into such a deep hole of debt, or why a record level of something like 23% of all U.S. income currently goes to the top 1% of our society, as we slide down the Slope of Hope towards Third World status.

Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 11:21:49

LMAO! Good one! Barry is off to a great start.

 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 18:00:00

It’s much higher than that PB.

In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one’s home), the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 42.7%.

- ucsc.edu website

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 18:30:38

Wow — we have evolved into pre-revolutionary tsarist Russia. Here’s to hoping our top-heavy wealth distribution can be entropified without violence.

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Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 18:43:49

In the meantime, would you like some more cake?

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 07:35:29

Surge of money from bonds could stifle lending
A sudden shift in saving habits could spell trouble for borrowers as Americans exit bond funds

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are leaving bond mutual funds at the fastest rate in more than two years.

U.S. investors pulled $8.6 billion out of bond funds in the week ended Dec. 15, the largest withdrawal since October 2008 when financial markets were in free-fall. They pulled an average of almost $3 billion every week since Nov. 23, according to the Investment Company Institute. Prior to November, money had been flowing into bond funds every week for nearly two years.

“This is the real deal,” says Marilyn Cohen, founder of Envision Capital Management, which oversees $300 million in mostly fixed-income investments.

Comment by DennisN
2010-12-24 09:54:48

I saw this article too. It meshes will with the article about China not being able to complete a recent T bill auction that’s posted above.

If [Ms. Cohen is] right, the end of cheap credit is near. Interest rates would rise, which would ripple through the economy. It would become more expensive for cities, states and companies to borrow money to build schools, roads and expand their businesses. It would also cause the value of bond funds to fall, blindsiding Americans who thought they’d stashed their retirement savings in an investment that wouldn’t sink.

Cash may not be king yet, but the date for the coronation is approaching.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Surge-of-money-from-bonds-apf-4101830214.html

Comment by In Colorado
2010-12-24 11:55:04

If the Chinese are beginning to experience hyperinflation and their currency is pegged to the USD, what is the expected outcome?

1) Will we end up importing their inflation?
2) Will they decouple their currency from the USD?
3) ????

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 12:14:51

“Americans are leaving bond mutual funds at the fastest rate in more than two years.

U.S. investors pulled $8.6 billion out of bond funds in the week ended Dec. 15, the largest withdrawal since October 2008 when financial markets were in free-fall.”

Isn’t this where the Fed steps in to the rescue with QE2 cashola to serve as bond buyer of last resort?

Comment by arizonadude
2010-12-24 16:48:59

So who’s buying stocks?

 
 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 08:08:33

Front page of our states bird cage liner… We know what’s important.

~ Crunch time for shoppers
For last-minute shoppers, today is do or die. It’s now or never. It’s fish or cut bait. The idea of last-minute Christmas shopping itself might be cliche.

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 10:32:27

The idea of last-minute Christmas shopping itself might be cliche marketing.

 
 
Comment by wmbz
2010-12-24 08:13:52

Sounds to me like a life well lived…

LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) — Fred Hargesheimer, a World War II Army pilot whose rescue by Pacific islanders led to a life of giving back as a builder of schools and teacher of children, died Thursday morning. He was 94. Richard Hargesheimer said his father had been suffering from poor health and passed away in Lincoln.

On June 5, 1943, Hargesheimer, a P-38 pilot with the 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, was shot down by a Japanese fighter while on a mission over the Japanese-held island of New Britain in the southwest Pacific. He parachuted into the trackless jungle, where he barely survived for 31 days until found by local hunters.

They took him to their coastal village and for seven months hid him from Japanese patrols, fed him and nursed him back to health from two illnesses. In February 1944, with the help of Australian commandos working behind Japanese lines, he was picked up by a U.S. submarine off a New Britain beach.

After returning to the U.S. following the war, Hargesheimer got married and began a sales career with a Minnesota forerunner of computer maker Sperry Rand, his lifelong employer. But he said he couldn’t forget the Nakanai people, who he considered his saviors.

The more he thought about it, he later said, “the more I realized what a debt I had to try to repay.”

After revisiting the village of Ea Ea in 1960, he came home, raised $15,000 over three years, “most of it $5 and $10 gifts,” and then returned with 17-year-old son Richard in 1963 to contract for the building of the villagers’ first school.

In the decades to come, Hargesheimer’s U.S. fundraising and determination built a clinic, another school and libraries in Ea Ea, renamed Nantabu, and surrounding villages.

In 1970, their three children grown, Hargesheimer and his late wife, Dorothy, moved to New Britain, today an out-island of the nation of Papua New Guinea, and taught the village children themselves for four years. The Nantabu school’s experimental plot of oil palm even helped create a local economy, a large plantation with jobs for impoverished villagers.

On his last visit, in 2006, Hargesheimer was helicoptered into the jungle and carried in a chair by Nakanai men to view the newly found wreckage of his World War II plane. Six years earlier, on another visit, he was proclaimed “Suara Auru,” “Chief Warrior” of the Nakanai.

“The people were very happy. They’ll always remember what Mr. Fred Hargesheimer has done for our people,” said Ismael Saua, 69, a former teacher at the Nantabu school.

“These people were responsible for saving my life,” Hargesheimer told The Associated Press in a 2008 interview. “How could I ever repay it?”

Besides Richard, of Lincoln, Hargesheimer, a Rochester, Minnesota, native, is survived by another son, Eric, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and a daughter, Carol, of Woodbury, Minnesota; by a sister, Mary Louise Gibson of Grass Valley, California; and by eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Richard Hargesheimer said no services are planned.

Comment by 2banana
2010-12-24 08:19:35

Also happens today.

A good read is “Stones into Schools” and a good organization.

http://www.stonesintoschools.com/

 
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-12-24 10:00:06

Glad these Islander’s had a better experience with a native American than these folks in Tonga: ;-)

Jester:

Bogdonoff’s status as official court jester of Tupou’s court made sensational news copy when the financial scandal hit the media in 2001. Tonga was the first royal court to appoint a court jester in modern times, being appointed in 1999

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Bogdonoff

:-)

An accountant appears at Saint Peter’s gate

Saint Peter starts asking him all the usual questions required to get into heaven.
The accountant, it seems, has repeatedly helped people cheat on their taxes and embezzle funds. Finally, in exasperation, St Peter asks, “Well, have you ever done anything good, anything totally unselfish and altruistic in your entire life?” “Well,” says the accountant, “Once I saw this pretty lady being beaten up and about to be taken advantage of by a bunch of bikersdudes. So I yelled “Hey jerks, why don’t you pick on somebody your own size” and I then kicked all their Hardly-Davidson hogs over, all six of em, and took off running. They forgot about her for a second and she managed to run away.

Saint Peter asks, “I’m looking through the book of your life, and I don’t see this incident has been recorded. When did this occur?”

The accountant replies, “About five minutes ago.”

 
Comment by Sammy Schadenfreude
2010-12-24 11:07:32

I love knowing or reading about lives well lived.

 
Comment by SV guy
2010-12-24 11:30:42

LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) — Fred Hargesheimer, a World War II Army pilot whose rescue by Pacific islanders led to a life of giving back as a builder of schools and teacher of children, died Thursday morning. He was 94. Richard Hargesheimer said his father had been suffering from poor health and passed away in Lincoln.

On June 5, 1943, Hargesheimer, a P-38 pilot with the 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, was shot down by a Japanese fighter while on a mission over the Japanese-held island of New Britain in the southwest Pacific. He parachuted into the trackless jungle, where he barely survived for 31 days until found by local hunters.

They took him to their coastal village and for seven months hid him from Japanese patrols, fed him and nursed him back to health from two illnesses. In February 1944, with the help of Australian commandos working behind Japanese lines, he was picked up by a U.S. submarine off a New Britain beach.

After returning to the U.S. following the war, Hargesheimer got married and began a sales career with a Minnesota forerunner of computer maker Sperry Rand, his lifelong employer. But he said he couldn’t forget the Nakanai people, who he considered his saviors.

The more he thought about it, he later said, “the more I realized what a debt I had to try to repay.”

After revisiting the village of Ea Ea in 1960, he came home, raised $15,000 over three years, “most of it $5 and $10 gifts,” and then returned with 17-year-old son Richard in 1963 to contract for the building of the villagers’ first school.

In the decades to come, Hargesheimer’s U.S. fundraising and determination built a clinic, another school and libraries in Ea Ea, renamed Nantabu, and surrounding villages.

In 1970, their three children grown, Hargesheimer and his late wife, Dorothy, moved to New Britain, today an out-island of the nation of Papua New Guinea, and taught the village children themselves for four years. The Nantabu school’s experimental plot of oil palm even helped create a local economy, a large plantation with jobs for impoverished villagers.

On his last visit, in 2006, Hargesheimer was helicoptered into the jungle and carried in a chair by Nakanai men to view the newly found wreckage of his World War II plane. Six years earlier, on another visit, he was proclaimed “Suara Auru,” “Chief Warrior” of the Nakanai.

“The people were very happy. They’ll always remember what Mr. Fred Hargesheimer has done for our people,” said Ismael Saua, 69, a former teacher at the Nantabu school.

“These people were responsible for saving my life,” Hargesheimer told The Associated Press in a 2008 interview. “How could I ever repay it?”

Besides Richard, of Lincoln, Hargesheimer, a Rochester, Minnesota, native, is survived by another son, Eric, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and a daughter, Carol, of Woodbury, Minnesota; by a sister, Mary Louise Gibson of Grass Valley, California; and by eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Richard Hargesheimer said no services are planned.”

What a great story!

 
Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-12-24 12:50:01

Talk about a lucky guy. Only a handful of the pilots/aircrew that were shot down over New Britain came home alive.

Don’t have the numbers handy, but probably 95% of the guys who managed to bale out in the Southwest Pacific Theater were executed/used as bayonet or Samari Sword practice by the Japanese. Or worse.

Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 18:19:04

Or became shark bait while waiting for SAR that may or may not ever come.

 
 
 
Comment by Muggy
Comment by Professor Bear
Comment by exeter
2010-12-24 13:19:35

lmao….. it would be fun to watch you slap him silly again.

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 18:33:05

I miss those opportunities. Something in me likes verbal conflict.

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Comment by DennisN
2010-12-24 09:45:17

There’s never been a story about this in the local paper, so I have to give this as an eyewitness story.

One of the largest intersections in the Boise area is the corner of Eagle Road and Fairview Avenue in Meridian ID. The SW and SE corners contain large stip malls including a Walmart.

The NE corner has been bare for years. It’s about a quarter section (half mile by half mile). Pre-bust it was used for a sod farm, but the demand for new sod has dried up with the housing market. Many signs were posted pre-2006 with a message that some new housing subdivision was “coming soon”. These signs gradually faded and fell apart.

Recently new signs appeared, and some bulldozers began some prep work on the property. But the new signs proudly proclaim “coming soon……Meridian Memorial Park”.

No use for another subdivision of houses - so make it into a huge graveyard. :lol:

Comment by DennisN
2010-12-24 12:37:18

I did some more searching and found out I had jumped to a very wrong conclusion - the name “Memorial Park” does not mean it’s going to be a graveyard at all. Where’s that “red-faced” smily?

It’s a memorial city park named for the farmer who used to plow it.

The park is being built in memory of Julius M. Kleiner, who immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1916 and owned and farmed the site of the new park…..

When completed, the heavily treed urban park will include a new 15,000-square-foot senior citizens center, two large ponds, a bicycle and pedestrian trail system, open space for picnics and community gatherings, a band shell with amphitheater, a splash pad, bocce ball and volleyball courts, and an arboretum with labyrinth.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/07/07/1258551/meridian-breaks-ground-on-kleiner.html

Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 18:21:16

Nice!

 
 
 
Comment by albuquerquedan
2010-12-24 10:18:58

Another global warming post. While it might not seem to be related to a housing blog, I think it is. Governments have manipulated data to justify a carbon tax to pay for their ponzi schemes. Since this has not worked they have fallen back to the reliable hidden tax of printing money to cause inflation.

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/208819-Geologist-Declares-global-warming-is-over-Warns-U-S-Climate-Conference-of-Looming-Threat-of-Global-Cooling

Comment by arizonadude
2010-12-24 16:46:54

Scam of the next decade?

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 11:11:03

December 23, 2010
End the FED as We Know It

If Jane D’Arista were President, here’s what she would do with the FED

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 11:39:02

This is well worth the time it takes to watch it. The discussion of Marriner Eccles as the only Fed Chairman in history whose appointment was opposed by Wall Street was most interesting; she did not mention that he was also the only Mormon Fed Chair (as opposed to the traditional Jewish appointment — not that there is anything wrong with that!).

The one thing I would have liked to hear her address which she did not was the role of too-big-to-fail in encouraging foolish financial gambling activities. She described the role of regulatory roll backs in setting up the banking sector for failure, but did not explain how allowing banksters to directly experience the financial ruin they managed to foist onto others might have served to drum moral hazard out of the system. But her discussion of how to restructure the role of the Fed in the U.S. financial economy is certainly a step in the right direction.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 11:46:29

December 20, 2010
Foreclosures on People Who Never Missed a Payment

Yves Smith: Mortgage service industry makes more money from foreclosures than restructuring debt

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 11:51:06

I can’t tell whether deflation has hit the book sales industry, or if there are just so many good books out there on the financial meltdown that they are collectively pushing down the price point.

ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism [Hardcover]
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41 new from $15.75 22 used from $14.99

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 11:56:42

Intravenous Caffeine
Totally Unfair and Completely Unbalanced

Goldman Sachs–shorting America

Lloyd Blankfein as Matt Taibbi’s great vampire squid and his version of MAD–mutually assured derivatives–just as bad as mutually assured destruction.

The Great Vampire Squid testifies in front of Congress. Mutually Assured Destruc … Derivatives?

Oh, how I wish I’d come up with Matt Taibbi’s description of Goldman Sachs as a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.” A prescient lad, he said that even before the revelations this past week about “The Big Short”. Seems these very shrewd operators basically: 1) made a bunch of loans to people they knew had a very good chance of defaulting; 2) bundled them into a security that they noodged Moody’s and Standard and Poors to rate AAA; 3) sold them to unsuspecting investors as a solid investment; and 4) shorted them so that when the price fell, they’d clean up. In fact, the only way they could have lost money would have been for the loans to be repaid. Thus they not only screwed the poor schmucks who couldn’t repay loans (remember the sliding rates that went up after a few years? Let’s stack the deck while we’re at it.) But they screwed their clients.

And when the bottom fell out, they screwed everybody. Lloyd Blankfein–who has an eerie resemblance to Erich von Stroheim, the “Man You Love To Hate”–claims he was doing God’s work, but for the life of me, Blankfein’s God has little to do with any modern God I know–more like Cthulhu (and we’re back to great vampire squids). Senator Dodd from Arkham has heard the call of Cthulhu and has busily crafted a financial reform bill that keeps the monsters and their derivatives intact–it seems mostly concerned with restoring the power of the regulators to wank instead of work and watch internet porn. Not break up the banks that bet AGAINST AMERICANS.

Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-12-24 12:56:38

“..Betting AGAINST AMERICANS”

Seems to be the smart bet lately.

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-12-24 16:57:47

break up the banks that bet AGAINST AMERICANS.

Financial TERRORISTS??

That’s it! Maybe if we call them financial TERRORISTS
people will pay attention.

Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 18:23:13

Because that’s sure as hell what they are. :mad:

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 13:18:26

News that property taxes are rising in order to cover outlandish pension promises granted during the boom years should help housing prices reach an affordable bottom, as higher T in PITI (Principle, Interest, Taxes and Insurance) coupled with the reinstatement of prudential lending standards suggest there will be a smaller share of monthly payments available to cover P.

* ECONOMY
* DECEMBER 24, 2010

Pensions Push Taxes Higher

Cities Tap Homeowners for Revenue as Workers’ Retirement, Health Costs Rise
By JEANNETTE NEUMANN

Cities across the nation are raising property taxes, largely citing rising pension and health-care costs for their employees and retirees.

In Pennsylvania, the township of Upper Moreland is bumping up property taxes for residents by 13.6% in 2011. Next door the city of Philadelphia this year increased the tax 9.9%. In New York, Saratoga Springs will collect 4.4% more in property taxes in 2011; Troy will increase taxes by 1.9%.

Property-tax increases aren’t unusual, in part because the taxes are among the main sources of local revenue. But officials say more and larger increases are taking hold. “This year we have seen a dramatic increase in our cities and towns having to increase property taxes” for pensions and other expenses, said Jack Garner, executive director of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities.

Local officials and government workers say a confluence of factors is driving the increases, including the need to make up for staggering investment losses from the financial crisis and rising costs as more workers retire. In addition, benefit increases promised in flush times are coming due as revenue flounders, and some cities have skipped payments to their pension funds over the years.

Comment by rms
2010-12-24 15:22:03

So are assessed property values or tax rates rising?

 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 18:24:40

Cities across the nation are raising property taxes, largely citing rising pension and health-care costs for their employees and retirees.

Bullcrap. Loss of revenue because of foreclosures is why.

Now you know where all the anti-pension talk is coming from.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 13:23:01

Am I misreading this, or did GE take a 91.9% loss on this “$2 billion mortgage portfolio” which they are now selling for $162 million?

(162,000,000/2,000,000,000 - 1) * 100 = -91.9%

Kerplunk!

* DEALS & DEAL MAKERS
* DECEMBER 24, 2010, 11:37 A.M. ET

GE to Sell Mortgage Assets to Santander
By PAUL GLADER And BOB SECHLER

Spain’s Grupo Santander agreed to purchase a $2 billion mortgage portfolio of Mexican real-estate assets from General Electric Co.’s finance division for $162 million plus the assumption of debt.

The deal, expected to close next year, involves Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico acquiring all of GE’s consumer-mortgage business in Mexico, including its $2 billion consumer-mortgage portfolio.

The sale fits with GE Capital’s strategy “to exit non-strategic businesses that lack scale to help reduce GE Capital’s balance sheet while investing in core industrial” and other businesses said Mark Begor, president and CEO of GE Capital’s restructuring operations.

Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-12-24 15:34:59

$2 Billion Wall Street/Washington Make Believe accounting = $162 million in Real World Mark to Market accounting.

 
 
Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-12-24 13:37:17

All this discussion on whether Jesus is a Socialist or Republican has got me thinking (yeah, scary isn’t it?)

Let’s review the Declaration of Independence…..

“We hold these truths to be self evident (Self-evident meaning universally agreed upon, not as defined by Fox News or Rush Limbaugh), that all men are created equal (nothing about only taxpayers counting), that they are endowed by their Creator (notice they didn’t specify any religion…..in fact any God at all) with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life (sounds like they would be advocates of Universal Health Care), Liberty (how can you have Liberty, when the majority of the population are debt slaves, and a vampire squid stuck on the economy’s face?) and the pursuit of Happiness (don’t know about you, but all of my “Pursuit of Happiness” objectives are frowned upon, and would be outlawed by the Christian Right if they were given the chance).

For even more fun, substitute “The Banksters” in place of “the King of England/He” in the list of grievances.

Comment by Cassandra
2010-12-24 15:16:38

“Pursuit of Happiness”

If I recall, and maybe that brain cell died, I think the original draft used the term “Pursuit of Property”

Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-12-24 15:32:35

But it was changed.

Probably because they didn’t have as many Bankster lobbyists around as we have now.

 
 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 18:28:20

“For even more fun, substitute “The Banksters” in place of “the King of England/He” in the list of grievances.”

Because they were one and the same even then.

The East India Co. WAS the government of England at the time and was their commercial arm of colonization.

A corporate banking/trading company.

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 18:38:18

Market Crashes: The South Sea Bubble
By Andrew Beattie
When: 1711
Where: United Kingdom

The amount the market declined from peak to bottom: Stocks in the South Sea Company were traded for 1,000 British pounds (unadjusted for inflation) and then were reduced to nothing by the later half of 1720. A massive amount of money was lost.

Synopsis: In the 1700s, the British empire was the big dog on the block, and that particular block spanned the entire globe. For the British, the eighteenth century was a time of prosperity and opulence, meaning a large section of the population had money to invest and were looking for places to put their money. So, the South Sea Company had no problem attracting investors when, with an IOU to the government worth £10,000,000.00, the company purchased the “rights” to all trade in the South Seas.

The few companies offering stock at that time were all solid but difficult investments to buy. For example, the East India Company was paying out considerable tax-free dividends to their mere 499 investors. The SSC was perched on top of what was perceived to be the most lucrative monopoly on earth.

 
 
 
Comment by ecofeco
2010-12-24 18:36:31

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Happy Holidays. And good luck to all of us in the new year.

Comment by arizonadude
2010-12-24 18:42:08

merry xmas to all of you patriots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 22:51:38

MAKING SEN$E — December 24, 2010 at 4:30 PM EDT
2010, the Year of Foreclosure
By: Paul Solman

Of the two dozen “Words of the Year” cited by the New York Times the other day, two of them — “robo-signer” and “put-back” — were spawned by the foreclosure crisis. (See this link for the Gray Lady’s definitions.) One could, in fairness, describe 2010 economically as the “Year of Foreclosure,” a phenomenon we’ve been covering since 2009.

The end of the year seemed a good time to look back at the crisis and its breadth, from Hoover to Obama; Bedford-Stuyvesant to Boston; the Bank of America operation in Simi Valley, Calif., to the dean of the bankruptcy bar in Shelby, N.C.; the Brooklyn judge who first doubted the paperwork to the Foreclosures-R-Us tour in Cape Coral, Fla.

You’ll see a second look at several of our Making Sense pieces on the crisis during the week of Dec. 27 on the NewsHour.

One overall comment: I’ve never, in all my decades of economic reporting, interviewed so many frustrated people — often frustrated to the point of tears. Few saw the housing crash coming. Almost no one was prepared for its consequences. And it may not be over yet.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 22:57:27

This genie is out of the bottle for good.

YouTube postings set off legal furor

FORECLOSURES: Judge orders depositions in local case off website
By Todd Ruger
Published: Friday, December 10, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 9:20 p.m.

SARASOTA COUNTY - Normally, these videos would be considered mind-numbingly boring. A single camera is trained for 15 minutes on a low-level employee of a financial institution, who answers questions about the paperwork they create at their job.

The videos are anything but a YouTube sensation, but they have touched off a legal battle over First Amendment rights now that a Sarasota County judge has ordered them taken off the Internet.

A law firm posted the depositions from a Sarasota County foreclosure case to video-sharing website YouTube last month, calling them “nothing short of astounding.”

Amid growing public concern that the financial institutions used these employees as “robo-signers” to create bad paperwork and improperly foreclose on homes, the Sarasota firm says the depositions “revealed a widespread fraud.”

The four Nationwide Title Company employees shown in the videos told Circuit Judge Rick De Furia that they are private citizens, not named in the lawsuit, and some of the roughly 25,000 people who have viewed each video left hurtful, embarrassing and threatening comments.

The judge agreed — at least temporarily. De Furia ordered Sarasota attorney Christopher Forrest and his law firm to remove the videos from YouTube dot com until he heard more information from the attorneys.

De Furia will not get a chance. Forrest and the ACLU of Florida on Thursday appealed the temporary injunction to the Second District Court of Appeal.

The ACLU argues that De Furia’s temporary injunction violates Forrest’s right to free speech, and is an overbroad order going against recent attempts to make the foreclosure system more transparent.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 23:05:43

In Va., do not stop in court, go directly to foreclosure
The Washington Post
December 25, 2010

Since the meltdown in the housing market began more than three years ago, Maryland and the District of Columbia have changed their foreclosure laws to give borrowers greater protection. Virginia has moved in the opposite direction.

Last year, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a law making it easier for lenders to defend themselves when accused of giving homeowners too little warning of impending foreclosures.

The process moves so quickly in Virginia - one of the fastest states in the nation - that homeowners can receive less than two weeks’ notice that their house is about to be sold on the courthouse steps.

That confronts homeowners with an almost impossible deadline. To get a court to stop the sale in that narrow window, they must gather evidence, file a lawsuit and potentially post a bond with the court that could total thousands of dollars. Instead of trying to find a lawyer and prepare a suit, many borrowers run out the clock trying to deal with their lender.

At a time when lenders have been cutting corners and using phony documents to seize huge numbers of houses, the hurdles can be insurmountable, according to lawyers, consumer advocates and borrowers who have tried to save their homes.

There’s no question that people are losing their homes when they should not be,” said James W. Speer, executive director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, which is part of a legal-aid network.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 23:09:35

Foreclosure Filings 2010 Statistics Show No Shortage of Foreclosed
Friday, 24 December 2010

Record numbers of foreclosures hit the market in 2010, as well as record numbers of people looking to buy them, reports Foreclosure Deals, a leading online provider of foreclosure news and information, in a year-end Foreclosure Filings 2010 review. The record-breaking trend of 2009 continued throughout the year, as foreclosures have remained high and many experts are expecting them to climb even higher in 2011.

The year began with a customary January slump, as foreclosure activity fell 10%. By February, foreclosures were up by only 6% from the previous year, the lowest increase in foreclosures since the epidemic began. In March, the White House revealed its plan to curb foreclosures. The plan provided increased funding for foreclosure education while giving lenders incentives for providing loan modification and refinancing for troubled homeowners. Experts, however, warned that this would only stall foreclosures, as loan modification couldn’t help everybody with trouble paying their mortgage.

By the end of April, these fears seemed well founded. New statistics revealed that foreclosures in the first quarter were 35% higher than in 2009. A closer look at the numbers revealed that much of this increase was in bank repossessions and REO homes, the last stage of foreclosure. There was a much slower growth rate in new foreclosure listings coming onto the market. With moratoriums expiring and banks looking to clear out backlogs of defaulted homes, millions more properties were set to be foreclosed.

As the hot months dragged on, the trend of increased bank foreclosures, but slower-than-normal growth in new foreclosures, continued. Summer also saw large increases in metropolitan foreclosures, and the infamous foreclosure-hotbed states of California, Nevada, Florida, and Arizona suddenly accounted for 19 of the top 20 foreclosure cities in the nation.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 23:12:41

First Dancing, Now Real Estate
24 Dec 2010 03:07 pm
by Zoë Pollock

What’s next, world domination? Ken Layne responds to Bristol Palin’s new home purchase in Maricopa, Arizona:

Wonkette operative “Steve M.” suggests there’s something more to Bristol’s WTF home purchase than her congenital need for a shoddily-constructed exurban home she can fill up with babies and unused Bow Flex machines just like back home in Wasilla. He says this means she has political ambitions, beyond all her other obvious talents, such as being able to get pregnant without a condom:

So here’s the best part.

Maricopa is a half-empty town south of Phoenix. Most of the homes are either in foreclosure or heading in that direction. That’s why she could buy a 5 bedroom house for $172,000.

But guess what? Arizona will get a new, 9th Congressional District thanks to the new census. Most observers think Maricopa will end up smack-dab in the middle of this new district.

Bristol for Congress!

Think I’m joking. I live in the 3rd Congressional District, represented by none other than Ben Quayle!

We sure hope Santa kills us all tonight, because this is getting to be a bit much.

Comment by DennisN
2010-12-25 00:38:00

You have to be 25 to run for Congress.

Constitution Art. I sec. 2 para. 2 “No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years…..”

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-12-24 23:14:45

Agent showing luxury home is beaten, chased
She then escapes, and car chase ends in arrest.
By Guillermo X. Garcia
Published: 11:41 p.m., Thursday, December 23, 2010

A real-estate agent showing off a luxury home on the far Northwest Side was beaten by a man demanding $4,000, then made a daring escape that led to a car chase Thursday afternoon, Bexar County Sheriff’s officials said.

The woman’s nightmare ended when a police officer happened upon the scene and arrested a suspect.

The incident began when the agent was showing the man a home at the TerraMont Estates on Babcock Road, about three miles outside Loop 1604, said Bexar County Sheriff’s Sgt. Charles Campbell.

The gated community features what Campbell described as multimillion-dollar, custom-built homes on lots ranging from a half-acre to three acres.

“She was sorta bending over working the lockbox when the man she was showing the house to started beating her on the head with a stick several times,” Campbell said.

 
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