Bits Bucket for January 26, 2012
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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In 1989 I got transferred off LHA1 Tarawa to shore duty in Hawaii. My leuftenant listened to talk radio and he got me into Rush Limbaugh. I was a real ditto head for a good 5-6 years. (Agreed with people that said the show was great, NOT everythign that Rush said.)
In 1990 “homeless advocates” were encouraging the homeless to avoid being counted because they didn’t want it shown that there were way fewer homeless than the advocates had been claiming. One of the arguments that Rush made that I really agreed with went like this, “Homeless, jobless bum = bad because what if everyone tried to do it?”
If everyone tried to be a jobless, homeless bum, then there would be no economy. No enonomy = bad. Jobless, homeless bum = bad.
Let’s flip it around.
People that spend less than they earn, accumulating money. (not stuff… money) What if everybody did it?
Oh, how GREAT the economy would be if everyone spent less than they earned accumulating money!! These are the “job creaters”.
Except there is no money without debt, and it is fundamentally impossible for everyone to spend less than they earn. If no one borrowed money and spent it, going into a negative cash position, then there would be no money and no economy.
Isn’t it great that there are people like Romney and Buffet creating all this wealth? No. No it’s not great for that much money to end up in the hands of too few people. It is every bit as destructive to the economy as everyone trying to be a jobless, homeless bum.
Too much debt is bad. Money is the offsetting factor to debt. Too much money is bad.
There is a substanitial base of money that is not created by debt. Consider fractional reserve banking.
If everyone had a job and saved a week’s wages in cash, the payday loan guys would be out of work.
All money is offset by debt.
It is the promise of paying back the debt that gives money its value.
The government prints up some bonds (debt) and sells them to the Fed creating money. The government then spends the money. People accept the money in return for stuff because the know at some time in the future the govt will have to trade them stuff for the money for the govt to be able to pay on its debt.
The people that receive the money put it into a bank. The bank retains a portion of the money as a reserve, and loans out the rest. The loan creates new money and new debt.
But, doesn’t the bank just loan out the same money? No. The money is still in the account of the person that deposited it, AND it is also in the hands of the person taking out the loan… New money, always equally offset by new debt.
The debt of the person taking out the loan, and their promise to pay back that loan, is what gives the new money value. At some time in the future they will have to trade goods and services for money to repay their debt.
With fractional reserve banking, the total money supply is “fed balance sheet” x leverage. With fractional reserve banking, the max leverage is the inverse of the reserve requirement. $1T owed the Fed and 10% reserve, max money supply $30T.
There are 2 options to fractional reserve banking (let them loan some some of the deposited money out), NO LENDING or NO RESERVE.
Think about it. Either we let banks loan none, some, or all the money out. None means 0 leverage and the ONLY money in the whole economy is that which the government owes the Federal Reserve. No Reserve allows unlimited leverage.
Fractional Reserve banking is the only way to allow banks to make loans, while at the same time limiting the max leverage.
The great “innovation” of Reaganomics, that put us on the path to doom was to reduce the reserve requirement for most loan types from 10% to 3%, increasing max leverage from 10 to 33. This is how we managed to increase debt at 3x the sustainable rate for the last 30 years without hitting a max leverage limitation imposed by fractional reserve banking.
Yeah us.
We went from each household’s share of total debt being 2.8x median income, to each household’s share of total debt being 6.5x median income.
Now, that’s what I call sustainable economic policy….. NOT!
” increasing max leverage from 10 to 33…”
I do believe that things have gotten much worse than you imagine.
Still, there is a base of money that was not loaned into existence. Bread would be 1p if we had to rely on this alone, but it would not be the end of the world.
Where did all this money that was not loaned into existence come from?
I’m becoming increasingly convinced you really do not understand modern economics, which is why my ideas probably sound so crazy to you.
It’s like trying to explain a hashed bucket algorithm to someone that doesn’t understand what an integer is.
Hey buddy, it’s not your “ideas” that sound crazy, per se. I do suspect though that you haven’t thought this through completely. I also am getting it that you might not have a spare room available for visitors.
In a far away place, long before you were born, I’ve held in my hand real money. Amazing, but true!
“All money is offset by debt.”
Sources, please?
Suppose that back in 1849, somebody found a gold nugget in a California stream. He found that he could trade that nugget for provisions, such as food and shelter, which could help him look for more gold nuggets.
The gold is money, but where is the debt offset in this story?
Given that today all “money” is fiat money, then yeah, its all borrowed into existence.
In 1849, gold was a common barter currency.
You could walk into a store in CA with a bag of gold dust. The store had scales. You could weight out an amount of gold in exchange for your purchases.
It is not 1849. No one accepts gold for purchases in their stores. You have to take your gold to a dealer and exchange it for money.
In 1848, the population of the world was less than 1.2 billion people. There was enough gold that at 1/4 ounce per coin that each person on the planet could have 17 coins. Now it is 8 billion people, each person gets 2.5 coins.
Even in 1848 there was not enough gold on the planet to run the economy. Sure, gold was more commonly used than today (especially in mining towns), but even then the vast majority of money was borrowed into existence.
“In a far away place, long before you were born, I’ve held in my hand real money. Amazing, but true!”
So, you are one of those that believe the only real money is barter money?
You do realize that even in the days of gold and silver standards, more than 90% of money was borrowed into existence, right? Fractional reserve banking goes back hundreds of years.
This is why there were bank runs, bubbles and collapses, booms and depression, long before the fed.
So, you advocate NO loans? No banks, no debts, no lending, no coins except silver and gold. No bills except those backed by physical gold with 0 leverage.
8 billion people on earth. 5 billion ounces of gold and 25 billion ounces of silver. So, $42 to an ounce gives each person on the planet 2 $10 gold pieces and a $5 gold piece.
A silver dollar was .85 of an ounce. So this everyone on the planet another $3.67.
So, if we go back to the old definitions of dollar as 1/42 an ounce of gold and .85 an ounce of silver, and then we say this is the ONLY real money and no leveraging or lending money into existence is allowed, then each person on the planet gets right about $30.
then each person on the planet gets right about $30.
Even the deadbeats?
then each person on the planet gets right about $30.
Even the deadbeats?
LOL
“So, you advocate NO loans? No banks, no debts, no lending, no coins except silver and gold. No bills except those backed by physical gold with 0 leverage.”
Don’t be silly.
The riddle is simple, it just takes some meditation.
“Isn’t it great that there are people like Romney adn Buffett creating all this wealth?”
I don’t know about Romney but Buffett seems to be more about collecting wealth than creating it.
have you seen the youtube video of him singing…”i’ve been working on the railroad” on chinese television?
“Homeless, jobless bum = bad because what if everyone tried to do it?”
Did you ever you see homeless people on the street and realize what a miserable life it must be?
Last time I was in San Diego.
Yeah, which is why the advocates were pushing for better conditions for the homeless.
I remember when the Navy built the new Balboa hospital in San Diego in the late 80s, the homeless advocates were asking for the old hospital to be turned into a dorm for the homeless… Each could get a private room, or maybe 2 to a room, 3 hot meals a day, etc.
Yeah, that is what San Diego needed. 10s of thousands more homeless people living in Balboa park.
The argument against it was that being a homeless bum should be a miserable existence to discourage more people from going that route.
What if everyone did it?
Well, flip it around.
What is everyone spent less than they earned, never having any debt, just accumulating money?
The answer is, there would not be any money in the modern economic sense of the word money.
what a miserable life it must be ??
My bet is none of us would last 72 hours….
My leuftenant listened to talk radio and he got me into Rush Limbaugh.
I never took the time to listen to the show but if you didn’t like Clinton hanging with the dittoheads in 93-94 was a really fun way to drown your sorrows. I actually went to Dan’s Bake Sale in Ft. Collins, CO and saw him in person since it was only an hour from UW. Quite the party atmosphere.
It’s been disappointing in the years since to understand how the 0.01% manipulate with the help of people like him.
Rush was outrageously funny back in those days..or around 1991 anyway.
Rush, Newt, Carl Rove - Big fat asses with giant domes. You have to have a large deck to store all of your genius ideas; for example: “Let’s make the Moon the 51st state”, brilliant!
Some weeks ago, I caught a few minutes of Mark Steyn hosting Limbaugh’s show. He was a riot. One snippet: American Airlines was going into bankruptcy and they assured customers they would see no difference. Steyn: “That’s what I feared.”
‘Cause EVERYBODY wants to be homeless– if only they could.
What an idiot that man is.
Barely worth it to itemize deductions.
Standard dedcution for married couple is $11,300.
Mortgage interest = $160K-$150K at 4.75% = $7500
Property tax = $1100
State Income Tax = $4000
charatiable deductions = $2000
Total $14,600
Medical expenses? Nope. Whould have to be more than $10K.
Capital loss for auto accident? Nope, would have to be more than $15K for a single incident.
So, within 5 years, as I pay down the mortgage, there will be no reason for me to itemize.
Each extra $1 I earn, $.45 goes to government. Oh, but I’m just a stupid worker that creates goods and services.
I should be like Romney and just accumulate other peoples’ unrepayable debts by helping those people go ever deeper into debt. That is such a worshipped role in our society that I would only have to pay $.15 marginal tax.
I won’t get into the tax comments (we had a good discussion yesterday about that), but will comment on the MID. I’ve said on here many times, the MID is just a way to get RE scum to get people to buy houses. Most people don’t understand that you need to get over the STD deduction before it helps you. And, by far, the biggest beneficiaries are the well off folks who own houses that are in the 400-1M dollar price range. There’s a very small fraction of this country that can “really benefit” from the MID; mostly single folks that own homes in high RE/income tax states. For most people buying the median priced home, it’s just a ruse to get them to buy more house (”Think of all the money you’ll “save” on taxes!”).
Between RE taxes and mortgage interest (and my other deductions which I would not itemize if not for the MID) I save close to 10K a year in taxes. I think that this is grossly unfair; and also encourages terrible behavior (like taking on more and more MTG debt to reduce taxable burden, especially in an environment like this when debt may be cheaper than inflation, IMHO).
Also, the other secret is “don’t get married” (a rule I’m breaking this year). That way one person can take the STD deduction and the other can itemize, it makes the hurdle much lower for seeing some benefit from the MID.
Related to the MID I think they should repeal the tax exemption for profit from the sale of primary residences. This little tax loophole was put in to law to spur real-estate sales, especially second homes and flips. Prior to 1997 if you sold your home for more than your cost basis the gains were taxed (don’t remember the tax rate). What that law did was a massive distortion to the RE market.
How do second homes and flips benefit from a tax exemption on primary residences?
“How do second homes and flips benefit from a tax exemption on primary residences?”
fraud.
but some folks think there is a magical law that will stop all fraud.
Timing the sale and purchase was the legal way to do this. I remember when this went in to effect the number and $ value of RE started exploding. There was only one reason for that change in tax law, so the rich could cash out.
Hey, if you don’t like the tax exemption for houses, feel free to send any extra money you get from yours to the IRS, but leave the rest of us out of it (isn’t that how the argument goes?).
BlueStar…If your going to rail against the exemption then at least understand the rule in the tax code…
especially second homes and flips ??
The 500k exemption applies only to your primary residence of which you have lived in as a primary residence for two out of the last five years….Flips & second homes don’t qualify…
Actually they changed that “2 out of 5 years” rule, I think in 2007. Now it is apportioned over the entire life, so if you rent it out for eight years and live in it for two, you can exclude 20% of the gain.
Not familiar with that new provision Chili but the 500k exemption of which bluestar spoke is two out of the last five…
The new rules went into effect January 1, 2009. So if you lived in the house for all of 2010 and 2011, and you rented the house for all of 2007-2009, and you sold it on December 31, 2011, you can exclude 4/5 of the gain.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p523/ar02.html#en_US_2010_publink1000200867
Refer to Lines 8-12 in Worksheet 2.
Yeah, you’re right if you always lived in the house you are still able to exclude $500k.
I was referring to the trick where you could move into your fully depreciated rental house that you owed for 30 years and after two years you could exclude 100% of the gain. That trick is being phased out.
Most people don’t understand that you need to get over the STD deduction before it helps you. And, by far, the biggest beneficiaries are the well off folks who own houses that are in the 400-1M dollar price range.
And less wealthy who tithe to their churches. You don’t have to make nearly as much to benefit from the mortgage deduction if you’re already paying a good chunk of the standard deduction in tithing.
You get a deduction for an STD?
Only if the cost of treating it is more than 7% of your AGI. No, not AIG.
Only if the cost of treating it is more than 7% of your AGI.
AID$?
You could pay a ZERO tax rate.
Give 50% of your money to charity
Invest the rest in munis.
How does that get a wage earner making in the low 6 figures to a zero tax rate? Come on bananas. You can do better than that.
Darrell, did you remember to include gasoline taxes, sales taxes and all else in your 0.45 calculation? Me thinks you send more than that to the government.
As more people get sucked into unproductive class warfare arguments (which seems to be the latest fad amongst the educated - even on this board), I’m increasingly in favor of a flat tax. A flat tax has its problems, but would certainly help squelch all the divisiveness.
The elite love what is happening right now. Substitution of political cultural wars (neolibs versus neocons) with class warfare (haves versus have nots). It’s perfect! For them, not us.
A flat tax will work only if you allow millions of poor and elderly to die from lack of health care.
So what’s the problem? Audience members would cheer your point at a GOP debate.
Sickening, but probably true.
The Republicans have become the party of Ebenezer Scrooge… the before visited by the ghosts of Christmas, not post.
Are there not orphanages? Are there not work houses?
do you write for Newsweak?
So what’s the problem? Audience members would cheer your point at a GOP debate.
And then they’ll head off to their Prosperity Gospel churches.
Funny…the same argument can be made for taxing the hell out of the rich (i.e., class warfare).
Let me clue you in: the rich have no where near enough money in total to pay for everyone else’s Obamacare.
We need to find other solutions, oxide, not class warfare. It’s not going to work.
When I’m paying twice the tax rate that a guy earning $20 million per year, there is something very wrong.
the same argument can be made for taxing the hell out of the rich (i.e., class warfare).
You see? There’s the Big Lie right there. Any talk of taxing the rich at even slightly higher levels is called ‘taxing the hell out of the rich’ and ‘class warfare’.
Propaganda at work.
There is $37T in total money in the economy. I know this because the Federal Reserve Z.1 shows there is $37T in total debt. Money and debt are always equally offset.
Republicans like to say that socialist polices die when we run out of other peoples’ money to spend. In reality, it is impossible to run out of other peoples’ money. The government taxes it away, spend it, and it is magically someone else’s money again, ready to be taxed away again.
In reality, socialist policies die when we run out of goods to buy with all that money that is being repeatedly circulated through the economy.
We already found an “other solution:” Medicare for all. And if anything, it would prevent class warfare because the money for everybody’s Obamacare could come from everybody, and not just single out the rich.
We need to find other solutions, oxide, not class warfare.
Uh … the rich have been waging class warfare on the middle class for decades. They just don’t want us to fight back.
“They just don’t want us to fight back.”
And neither does “Posers”.
Medicare for all.
Great…but how do you keep doctors on the reservation with their fees being cut all the time? it’s bad enough now.
how do you keep doctors on the reservation with their fees being cut all the time?
Where else are they going to go? Welcome to the world the rest of us live in, doctors.
keep doctors on the reservation with their fees being cut all the time ??
maybe competition would be the answer….Open the borders to any MD’s…Its common knowledge that you can get excellent health care over-sea’s 25 cents on the dollar…My bet is the USA medical profession is no different than the government unions…Make it near impossible to inject competition for your trade…
Any talk of taxing the rich at even slightly higher levels is called ‘taxing the hell out of the rich’
+1 google.
So, taxing the rich at my tax rate would be ‘taxing the hell out of [them]‘, and yet somehow taxing ME at that same rate is not taxing the hell out of me??
Ya gotta love double standards.
Open the borders to any MD’s
And increase the number of med schools in the US. There’s a long waiting list of qualified applicants wanting to become doctors, but the number of med schools is purposely limited in the US, in order to keep doctors’ salaries high.
Let’s call it what it is. Like realtors are liars, a double standard is HYPOCRISY.
Open the borders to any MD’s
And increase the number of med schools in the US.
Be very careful what you wish for. You think there’s a lot of Medicare fraud now? Just wait!
A good share of the money that used to go to doctors is now going to insurance companies.
I don’t need to go into the cost of medical school, or the low pay during the years of postgraduate training. So I won’t.
i pay 25% in taxes and buffet pays 15% in taxes.
liberals want buffet to pay 25% in taxes.
conservatives want me to pay 15% in taxes.
conservatives want me to pay 15% in taxes.
Baloney.
+1
conservatives want me to pay 15% in taxes.
Nope—conservatives want you to keep paying 25%, while Buffett keeps paying 15%.
But it’s stunning that someone actually believes the conservatives.
Oxide:
But we keep so many zombie elderly alive when so many others need a little help to get back into productive work. Why do we torture our elderly??… yet the ACLU will go bananas if a guard hits Charles manson while deflecting the poop he threw at him.
“A flat tax will work only if you allow millions of poor and elderly to die from lack of health care.”
Huh? The Medicare tax is, and always has been, a flat tax. 1.45% from you and from your employer, or 2.9% if you’re self employed.
A flat tax for the little people, who earn their money as income. A non-existent tax for those who earn their money through capital gains.
A flat tax for the little people, who earn their money as income. A non-existent tax for those who earn their money through capital gains.
Exactly.
Darn those facts. (suporting Alpha)
1. US needs X dollars to operate.
2. You need to tax everyone at the same %, what % would that be?
3a. Let’s try 5%, the $40K earners are okay, but you don’t get enough dollars.
3b. If it’s 50%, you get enough dollars but those making $40K are taxed to where they can’t live.*
4. Only way to keep a flat tax but not eviscerate the voters is to operate on fewer X dollars.
5. Gov spending is mostly Medicare/Medicaid. Fewer X –> less Medi.
6. Flat tax –> fewer X –> cut in Medi –> poor and elderly die.
————
*Meanwhile, 50% tax would leave poor Mitt Romney with only $24 million or so.
Since money is always equally offset by debt, both always existing in equal, offsetting amounts, is it possible for those in debt to pay it back (down) without those that have money ending up with less money?
is it possible for those in debt to pay it back (down) without those that have money ending up with less money?
Yes, by those in debt borrowing more money to pay their earlier debts. Like we’ve been doing for the last 30 years.
It just doesn’t last forever, eventually you have the Big Crash, like we just had. Then we blame it on the deadbeats, and take away whatever separates them from third world peasant status.
From the Denver Post - Mike Rosen: Occupying a cliche
“Were it not for massive over-coverage by the liberal media, the Occupy-Wall-Street-and-Any-Other-Place-They-Can-Contrive movement would have faded away long ago. Those same media liberals who disdained the Tea Party movement relate to the “Occupiers” and sympathize with their agenda, politics, and style.
This occupy nonsense has become a cliche. First there was Occupy Wall Street, then Occupy _____ (fill in the name of a city), Occupy Congress, Occupy the Courts … The original Occupy Wall Street organizers should charge a franchise fee for the use of the name (but that would be capitalism, wouldn’t it?).
What these people ought to occupy is a job.“
Were it not for massive over-coverage by the liberal media,
Yeah, you never heard it mentioned on Faux News. [snicker]
“You damn hippies get off my lawn!”
So you’re suggesting they just stay home and bitch on the internet like you?
did you remember to include gasoline taxes, sales taxes and all else in your 0.45 calculation? Me thinks you send more than that to the government.
Don’t forget that when you buy a Farmer John hot dog, you’re also paying for all the taxes Farmer John paid: income taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes, estate taxes for the heirs of the shareholders, etc.
So basically we’re all paying 98% of our income to the government.
“So, within five years, as I pay down the mortgage, there will be no reason to itemize.”
If you pay down the mortgage then you won’t need to earn as much money to finance the same lifestyle you now enjoy.
And earning less money means you have to pay fewer taxes.
While what you say makes good sense for a 1040, it also signifies a very sorry state of affairs.
It means lack of investment and R&D, lack of business start-ups, lack of motivation to improve one’s state of affairs, a distrust and lack of respect of government, lack of choice that increases wealth affords. Loss of ethics. Loss of freedom.
Your ideas are a means of beating them at their own game. Not bad, but hardly an ideal scenario.
We need to FIX our problems, not find ways to skirt around them.
“.. distrust and lack of respect of government.”
You are absolutely correct.
“Loss of ethics.”
Thanks, I’ll try to work on this.
“Loss of freedom.”
Lol. I have never felt as free as I do now.
While I share your views, a great many people do not “feel freer” using our approach, combo. It’s a Freedom For All concept, not just for you and me.
If other people’s freedom is wiped away, ours will be next. By whatever means possible, it will be next.
A great many of the reasons why we do what we do these days as individuals is due to loss of societal ethics, not loss of mitigation. The rise of Class Warfare is just the latest scam of the mitigators.
Resultingly, I think both you and I will increasingly look for ways to beat the warfarists at their own game. While increasingly necessary, it’s not a good development.
Alas, mitigators continue to encourage the need.
Posers, if you trust the government to invest wisely in R&D and business start-ups, then instead of castigating Darrell to pay more taxes, why don’t send extra taxes yourself as a donation to the US government? No one is stopping you.
” you won’t need to earn as much money to finance the same lifestyle”
Maybe it’s just me, but one of life’s ironies is that I have earned a lot more money in these debt free years than I did when I was a slave to the bank.
Same here.
When you start out at zero you have to spend a lot to get what you need. After you’ve gotten all you need then you can coast.
Starting at zero eats heavily into your income; Starting at zero also means you have little income to eat into.
But later on everything is reversed. Your income is highest in the later years (usually) while your expenses are at their lowest (usually).
Combo,
I fully intend to have the house paid off by the time I’m 55. Also, am “this close” to convincing the wife we need to take $70K out of 401(k) to pay off our debt.
I am at the point where I see no reason to really work harder to increase my income. My wife talked about getting a second job teaching. Why? So the government can take half that marginal increase in income.
She could get a job at $15 an hour, but after tax she’s working for minimum wage.
Why bother?
“I should be like Romney and just accumulate other peoples’ unrepayable debts by helping those people go ever deeper into debt.”
Not all assets are debt-based. There are also equities (e.g. stocks), where you purchase a share of a company’s future profit stream (value of output minus cost of producing it). In the case of stocks, the company doesn’t owe you anything in advance; if they do well in the future, so will the share price.
I don’t claim to know anything about how Romney’s portfolio is structured; simply pointing out that it is not a given that he is buying up I.O.U.’s.
If you were in NY the taxes alone are enough to put you over the top. Property tax $4,000 in NYC with $4,000 in local income tax, plus $8,000 in state income tax.
In the suburbs, it would be a straight $8,000 in property tax plus $8,000 in state income tax.
Home sales prices are higher to, thus mortgages are as well.
Of course you would be earning more if you lived here. But your taxes would be higher as well, and so would your housing costs if you wanted to live the same way.
lil’ Opie’s gonna have to find another general for the “Army of the Potomac”, you know, one that “…can fight!”
(Do you think Timmay needs to print out Google directions to Goldenman$uck$Inc. NYC headquarter$ for the po$$ible re-hiring interview?)
Was listening to prime minister of UK talking at Davos.
He was encouraging all of Europe to do what UK did. Slash govt pension plans cutting the long-term cost of the program in half, cut government employees, freeze wages… Then slash corproate taxes, red tape and regulation. Deregulate stock and bond markets, not increase regualtion. Their goal is to make the UK the best place in the world to do business.
The result is their borrowing costs are the lowest they have been in a generation.
1) Hello dude, you are selling goods and services to people that have not cut thier spending. If those people cut too, your income crashes.
2) If everyone cuts corp taxes and business regulation, then it becomes impossible for you to be the best environment for business in the world.
3) Your low borrowing costs are due to a suck econmoy, loose ECB, and being the best looking house in a REALLY ugly neighborhood.
He is trying to take a plan that worked for one, and extrapolate that to everyone doing it.
Does he not see that it is fundamentally impossible for EVERY nation to be the BEST nation in which to do business? Does he not see that one persons’ income is someone elses’ spending? Does he not understand that the low borrowing costs are a product of the suck economy?
Are these “leaders” stupid or lying? Oh, right… both.
It reminds me of those first people that were running cars on waste cooking oil. Hey man, if everyone ran their car on waaste cooking oil we could be off foreign oil. Hello morons. There is not enough waste cooking oil to fuel 100K vehicles, and there are 200 million motor vehicles in this country.
It wasn’t too long before the restaurants started selling their waste oil instead of paying to get it taken away. Soon, it was no cheaper to fuel your vehicle on bio diseal than oil. Yeah. DUH! It was not a scalable solution.
EVERYONE slashing spending and making their country the absolute BEST place to do business is NOT a scalable solution.
“Whatever you decide to do in life daughter, be the best at it.”
Dad
I have raised 5 kids (though I only made 1 of them).
I started out with this whole, “study hard, work hard, do the right thing” BS line I was told as a kid.
The way we treat Billionaires and Wall Street has broken me of that. I now tell the kids to lie, cheat and steal… everything and anything you can do to get ahead of, and stomp on the head of, the other guy. That behavior is what our society now worships.
It is called a meritocracy. Those with the least empathy for their fellow humans deserve to be the masters of the universe.
” I now tell the kids to lie, cheat and steal…”
This is what happens when a person’s standards are not forged in fire, rather they are gathered like so much flotsam.
It is what happens when you wake up and realize you’ve been playing a rigged game, those that were winning were the ones bribing the people running the game.
The people draining the fruits of my labor from me are not the homeless bums. The real parasites on society work on Wall Street and along the National Mall.
Hopefully you’ve got their insider skills tweaked to boot.
In that arena the weak get eaten.
” I now tell the kids to lie, cheat and steal…”
be the best at it ??
Be the best or “do” your best ??
Be the best or “do your best??
Depends on what you want your child to learn:
Do your best. If you fail, learn from that failure so that your next attempt is more successful than the first…
Strive to be the best because there are no points for 2nd place…
or to quote the movie “The Rock”:
John Mason: Are you sure you’re ready for this?
Stanley Goodspeed: I’ll do my best.
John Mason: Your “best”! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and #### the prom queen.
Stanley Goodspeed: Carla was the prom queen.
John Mason: Really?
Strive to be the best because there are no points for 2nd place ??
What the F@#&$ is wrong with 2nd place ?? The fact that you competed and presented a legitimate challenge is not enough for you ??
Part of the problem with many parents that I see…If your not first then your a loser mentality…See it all the time in youth sports…Plays just the same in academics…
I’ll take…Do your best…Learn how to lose…Have a life….
Have a life….
Eyes know many people that have “Thee Be$t!” or are “Thee Best!”,…”a life?”, not. really.
Daily consumption$ of Vital Energie$ = Their “Career’$”
follow by:
their wife
their kids
their mistress
their introspection’s
I’ll take…Do your best…Learn how to lose…Have a life….
Learning how to lose or fail is a critical life lesson. Without it, when we encounter difficulties or an unfavorable outcome, we get discouraged and quit…
Having said that, when was the last time an unfavorable outcome or failure meant your life? War, like nature, is capricious and darwinian, and coming in 2nd place often means death. Hopefully that puts it in perspective for you, youth soccer games and “civilized” society not withstanding.
You keep harping on “if everyone does it” it could be a bad thing.
If the US government would live within it means - it would be a long term GOOD thing.
If most families would live within their means - it would be a good long term thing.
40 years of ever increasing debt will lead us to bad things. It is going to hurt no matter what course of action we take. But there are clear ways to limit the pain LONG TERM.
If everyone ate chicken tonight and for the next week there would be a national shortage of chicken. The price of chicken would skyrocket to $20/lb.
Everyone is not going to eat chicken tonight.
Well imagine if Black people commited crimes at the same rate as white people ….Imagine how much better our country would be, and how much we could save, starting by laying off say 100,000 cops because they would have no work to do…
You keep harping on “if everyone does it” it could be a bad thing.
You’d be playing music at waltzes if it wasn’t for black people, dj. Your whole career is based on their contributions to music. You should be out thanking them every day.
If we could lift black people up the the socio-economic situation of whites, statistics indicate they would commit crime at the same rate as white people.
Crime is a product of low socio-economic status and effects all races the same. Blacks commit more crimes than whites because more black people are among the lowest economic rung of society than whites.
You are exactly wrong. Crime creates poverty, not vice-versa.
Ghettos are ghettos because the former residents of the once prosperous neighborhoods move away when the criminals are left to run wide in the streets. Then, they are left with only themselves to fight over who gets to take over the “government” and skim off whatever wealth is left to take.
I’ve watched this in neighborhoods I have left.
I left because I was tired of having my house broken into and the things I had worked for stolen by some black welfare recipient who had all day long to sit on his porch, drinking malt liquor and watching the “schedules” of those of us who went off to work everyday. stealing was easy.
In my new house, which borders apartment houses filled with these same “subsidized” housing folks, I have already been robbed. They walk down my street from the apartments and “inventory” what can be taken. I was busy working on house repairs and had left the front and side doors open to walk through the house. While I was working in the back nailing some boards, someone walked into the front and stole a brand new Makita Saw. My cost $125.
CraCK value: $20.
I know who did it because there was a black guy on a bicycle, pretending to be a “friendly neighbor”, that was inventorying my tools as I unloaded them from my vehicle.
I didn’t pay much attention to the curiosity seeker until after the theft. I had engaged him when I saw him sitting at the end of my driveway looking into the open trunk of my car.
The defenders of these people always make excuses. We’ll let me tell you something, fool, I was born into a poor white family and have working some kind of job since i was a boy of 10., while attending jr. high and high school. The slobs you are defending won’t do a day’s honest WORK, they are too busy “hanging out” and being Kool and laughing at people who actually do work for a living.
The would rather steal than work, and when their stealing effects the neighborhood, good, hard-working people leave.
All that’s left is a zone of parasites, dependent on the Government for free food and housing. Then, you need more government programs to “integrate” these same degenerates back into more stable neighborhoods where they can have better access to more goods.
I have personally witnessed the decline of neighborhoods, and the POVERTY didn’t create the CRIME, it was just the opposite.
POVERTY didn’t create the CRIME, it was just the opposite ??
And I would add, given our legislators in conjunction with our criminal justice system they make it “very easy” to commit a crime that will lead you to poverty (lack of a good job opportunity)…
With the information technology that we have today if you have committed “ANY” act that they classify as “criminal” it is now basically tattooed on your forehead..
Crime is a product of low socio-economic status and effects all races the same.
Disagree.
If that were true then there would be no such thing as white collar crime.
The difference is that money buys better legal representation.
Most crime in African-American neighborhoods is one-on-one or small groups. Lots of random, small scale violence. If all the white-collar crime that has affected millions of people were to be prosecuted, methinks the tables would be turned. Sorry, I don’t buy into your contention that black people commit more crimes. They just get caught and sent to jail more often. And you really need to lay off the racist comments.
But it’s making housing a lot more expensive, to always have to flee the cheaper neighborhoods to get away from crime. And white people always do, if they can.
And white people always do, if they can.
There are also those who move into marginal neighborhoods and turn them into nicer ones. Usually gays, artists, bohemians, punkers, hippies and the like. And quite often white.
Damn commies!
And you really need to lay off the racist comments.
Sam (moral authority) Waterston would be proud of you.
Well imagine if Black people commited crimes at the same rate as white people
Imagine if white people got arrested and put in jail for white collar crimes at the same rate that black people got arrested and jailed.
Thanks for that comment sfrenter. In terms of the sheer amount of money that is stolen, I’d say that whites are WAY out in front. Set of tools or a bike vs. “Gramma Millie’s” electricity bill (x 1,000,000) anyone?
If the US government began living within its means, with the current trade and tax policies fostering trade imbalances, all money drains out of circulation and we get cascade default into depression.
2banana: “Man, there is a lot of blood on the operating room floor. Perhaps we should stop pumping blood into the patient.
Darrell: “Ummmm… don’t you think we should patch up the gun shot wounds that created the need for us to pump in blood into the patient in the first place, before we stop pumping in the blood?”
One person’s spending is another person’s income. One person’s money is another person’s debt.
The $1.5T a year new debt the government is creating, is $1.5T a year new money that is needed to fund our trade imbalance and widening wealth disparity. Cut off the new money without first fixing the drains on money from circulation, and the economy WILL crash into depression.
Do I think the massive debt is the road to doom. Sure.
Do I think we can just stop spending without first undoing most of the financial innovation of the last 50 years? HECK NO!
I’d prefer to not have a depression, thanks.
all money drains out of circulation and we get cascade default into depression.
Sooner or later we are going to have to accept depression. There’s no way out. Why not now?
There is a way out.
It would, however, require a complete reversal of everything we’ve been doing for the last 50 years.
People with a vested interest in the status quo won’t allow us to talk about it, let alone do it.
Darrell in Phoenix: Just give the drunk some more booze. Just give the junkie some more meth. See - it makes him feel good so I feel good about myself. See - I care about people and want to help them (with other people’s money)…
Not even close.
Darrell in Phoenix: 30 years of the war on drugs, trillions spent, millions jailed. It has accomplished nothing but increase prices, caused gang wars over distribution territories, encouraged pushers to addict more people, and cause users to commit more crime to get the money needed to buy the drugs.
Drug use (legal and illegal) is a social and mental disorder that needs to be attacked with socio-economic opportunity, counseling and medical treatment.
2banana: But what we’ve been doing has worked so well, we need more, not less.
I’m not in favor of more debt.
I’m in favor of directly attacking the underlying economic trade imbalances that created the need for the debt in the first place, then stopping the debt once it is no longer needed for the economy to function.
If your “cold turkey” on the debt were to result in a global cascade debt default into depression where virtually all money value is destroyed, is that still your ideal solution to the problem?
30 years of the war on drugs, trillions spent, millions jailed ??
2nd biggest scam in the country…2nd only to the Pentagon…
“Slash govt pension plans cutting the long-term cost of the program in half, cut government employees, freeze wages…”
Screwing public workers is a time-tested means for the 1% to further enrich themselves.
Ah the Davos crowd. Where else could you find several thousand Marie Antoinettes moaning about how the world would be a better place if they didn’t have to pay any taxes. Of course, only they would pay no taxes. The rest of us are expected to bend over and grab our ankles.
Close your eyes and think of English austerity.
I thought this was high comedy. Billionaires bemoaning high income inequality. Yeah, between themselves no doubt.
Another thought - if it’s a no brainer for billionaires to pretend to care about income inequality, and Obama is playing up the populist angle, on what planet is the GOP suggesting it’s all envy and that corporations are people, yadda yadda. Talk about a party in disarray. They’re campaigning like it’s 1999 (apologies to Prince)
Billionaires Occupy Davos as 0.01% Bemoan Income Inequality
Bloomberg
By Matthew G. Miller - Jan 25, 2012 2:18 AM ET
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/billionaires-occupy-davos-as-0-01-bemoan-economic-inequalities.html
Bernanke news conference on Fed policy
Reuters
4:32 p.m. CST, January 25, 2012
BERNANKE ON FORGIVENESS OF MORTGAGE PRINCIPAL:
“It seems very likely that principal forgiveness could be helpful, depending on how it is structured, in reducing delinquencies. There are also some potential drawbacks. One of them is the fact that the amount of negative equity in the United States is about $700 billion, which is enormous and so there is no conceivable program (that will get) everybody in the country above water. And so I think the issue then becomes if we have $20 (billion) or $25 billion or whatever the number may end up being in this settlement, what is the most cost effective way to help as many people as possible. And I think that is an ongoing debate.”
BERNANKE ON HOUSING:
“The weakness of the housing sector is an important reason why the economy is not recovering more robustly, and the problems in housing finance (are) a part of the reason why monetary policy has not been more powerful because part of our transmission mechanism is through lower interest rates which affects refinancing. It affects sales and purchases as well. And so in addition to that as bank supervisors we have considerable interest in servicing, loan modifications, in delinquencies and all the aspects of mortgage lending.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-usa-fed-bernanketre80o2fs-20120125,0,6232850.story -
Bernanke Doubles Down on Fed Bet Defied by Recession
By Jody Shenn - Jan 11, 2012 12:00 AM ET
Ben S. Bernanke is signaling his willingness to double down on a three-year bet that’s failed to revive housing, showing the extent of the Federal Reserve chairman’s effort to wrest a recovery from the deepest recession.
Since the Fed started buying $1.25 trillion of mortgage bonds in January 2009, the value of U.S. housing has fallen 4.1 percent, and is down 32 percent from its 2006 peak, according to an S&P/Case-Shiller index. The central bank is poised to buy about $200 billion this year, or more than 20 percent of new loans, as it reinvests debt that’s being paid off. Some Fed officials have said they may support additional purchases that Barclays Capital estimates could total as much as $750 billion.
“They’re definitely frustrated and disappointed,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC and a former Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond researcher. “I’m sure they would have anticipated they would have gotten more bang for their buck.”
Eventual Losses
Bernanke’s report urged Congress and President Barack Obama’s administration to consider steps with short-term costs for taxpayers, such as widening the role of Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FRE), the government-supported mortgage guarantors.
At the same time, the central bank’s purchases of mortgage bonds with yields at record lows is increasing the risk of eventual losses for the Fed, said Anthony B. Sanders, a professor of real-estate finance at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Remove Obstacles
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley, Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Fed, and Fed Governor Elizabeth Duke followed Bernanke in highlighting the need to fix housing to speed the recovery.
The Fed has taken unprecedented steps to lower borrowing costs as it held short-term interest rates near zero since 2008. It acquired $1.25 trillion of government-backed mortgage securities and $172 billion of federal agency bonds from December 2008 through March 2010, as part of a process known as quantitative easing, or QE. It embarked on a second stage involving $600 billion of Treasuries through last June.
Government Limitations
The limitations of the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program meant that Karthik Narayanan, who bought a house in Gilbert, Arizona in 2007 for $300,000 that he estimates has lost $100,000 in value, gained only minimal benefits.
The software engineer refinanced under HARP in October 2009 into a 5.3 percent rate, using cash to pay off a $30,000 home equity loan that he had used to fund half of his down payment, because he was told he couldn’t otherwise qualify for the program. Then he heard that HARP was being expanded and looked to cut his costs further, only to discover that loans made after May 2009 still don’t qualify.
“Help the people who are responsible, who are trying to stay in their home, that’s what I would say to” Bernanke and policy makers reading the Fed chief’s report, Narayanan said in a telephone interview. He might pay down his mortgage faster or buy a second home to rent out with the savings, he added.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-11/bernanke-doubling-down-on-housing-bet-asks-government-to-help-mortgages.html - 199k
‘the amount of negative equity in the United States is about $700 billion, which is enormous and so there is no conceivable program (that will get) everybody in the country above water’
$700 billion? I’d bet a few counties in California would hit that number.
‘Bernanke is signaling his willingness to double down on a three-year bet that’s failed to revive housing…Since the Fed started buying $1.25 trillion of mortgage bonds in January 2009, the value of U.S. housing has fallen 4.1 percent’
These people are either idiots or they are lying about what they are up to. Either way, they can’t be trusted. How about this:
‘World stock markets rose on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates low until late 2014 to nurture the country’s stubbornly slow economic recovery.’
‘The Fed cut rates to near zero in December 2008 during the financial crisis, and has held them there ever since.’
The article fails to mention the ‘low rates’ the Fed pushed leading up to the housing bubble. So this interest rate distortion has been going on for how long, 12 years? Turning Japanese.
I think I’m turning Japanese,
I think I’m turning Japanese,
I really think so….
No sex, no drug, no wine, no women
no fun, no sin, no you no wonder its dark…
everyone avoids me like a
cyclone rangerpsyched lone ranger(one of the many things I’ve learned here- even most lyric sites have it the wrong way- not that either version makes a lot of sense)
I thought it was “psycho ranger”.
I thought it was “psycho ranger”.
Makes even a little more sense. We’re getting to the bottom of this one!
No it`s…
burning out his fuse up here alone.
I have the album with the lyrics…It’s psyched lone ranger, whether it makes sense or not
I have the album with the lyrics
Cool.
Considering the subject that probably does make the most sense.
“$700 billion? I’d bet a few counties in California would hit that number.”
The Fed is well known for tossing around figures that are off by orders of magnitude. Remember when Bernanke said subprime would be contained to $200bn?
“Turning Japanese.”
Damn! You beat me to it!
Yes, but is that really a bad thing. We are only at 100% GDP to debt or just over. The Japanese are at about 200 - 230% if I recall correctly and still pretending that they can print and spend their way out of a 20 year recession.
What that proves to our intellectual elitists is that we still have a long way to go to pretend to have money to cover our debts, and can still extend and pretend for another 8 years, minimum.
The Japanese have led the way.
WE keep expecting the economy to crash and the YEN to go into trash status, but it hasn’t happened, yet. so what does this show our “leaders”? Since we are a reserve currency and have the oil link, well, we might just be able to print to eternity without any real disastrous effects to the overall economy….and Money to Banks is FREEEEEE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
The way the rest of the world calculates it, the money the government owes itself in the form of trust funds is not counted.
If you are comparing US debt/GDP to, say, Greece, you should calculate it in the same way or you are comparing apples to oranges.
Using the rest of the world’s formula, our debt/gdp is $10B/$15B or 66%, not 100%.
And, why would we count $5T of SS obligations and not all of it? Because $5T is how much we’ve accumulated in the accounting gimmick know as government trust funds?
That’s a silly way to measure how much we will be obligated to pay.
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/26/145863423/growing-pressures-prompt-plunge-in-iranian-currency
This is the inevitable end result of the Fed’s liquidity gusher.
“It seems very likely that principal forgiveness could be helpful, depending on how it is structured, in reducing delinquencies.”
It could also be very helpful to keep renters from getting evicted if Uncle Sam would pay their rent for as long as they want to stay housed.
+1
Have you not heard of federal housing assistance? We spend tens of billions of dollars a year on helping people pay their rent to keep rent prices inflated.
I guess obama’s poster child for the unwashed masses is doing pretty good.
How many secretaries make $250K?
She IS PART OF THE 1%ers.
Where is OWS when you need them????
————————————–
Despite Unfair Tax Burden, Warren Buffett’s Secretary Was Just Able To Buy A Second Home
thesmokinggun.com | January 25, 2012
Despite a heavy tax burden, Warren Buffett’s secretary last year was able to purchase a second home in Arizona, a residence complete with a swimming pool and a “professional PGA putting green,” according to real estate records.
Debra Bosanek, 55, and her husband Gerald bought the 2100-square-foot home in Surprise, a city outside Phoenix. The Bosaneks paid $144,000 for the four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath property (the purchase was financed, in part, by a $115,200 mortgage).
The principal Bosanek residence is in Bellevue, Nebraska, several miles from Buffett’s corporate headquarters in Omaha. The couple’s 2568-square-foot home, built in 2000, also has four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths. But the modest property, which Sarpy County assessors last year valued at $217,716, offers no outdoor amenities for swimmers or golfers.
Bosanek, who last night attended the State of the Union speech, has become the face of President Barack Obama’s so-called Buffett Rule, which contends that the secretary of a wealthy individual should not pay a higher tax rate than their boss.
Kudos to Buffett. At least he pays his Secretary well. Can’t be said the same about most rich people.
And I believe Buffett only takes a salary of $100k himself.
And I believe Buffett only takes a salary of $100k himself.
That does kinda seem like obvious tax-fraud, doesn’t it?
Name one CEO of a similarly-sized operation that gets paid so little.
Oct 16, 2008 1:29pm
“And then he’s trying to suggest that a plumber is the guy he’s fighting for,” Obama said, in a reference to Joe Wurzelbacher. “How many plumbers you know makin’ a quarter million dollars a year? I have a different set of priorities, I’ll give a middle-class tax cut to 95% of all workers.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/10/obama-on-joe-th/ -
She IS PART OF THE 1%ers.
Nope. She’s not even close (But I know ‘facts’ like this make great fodder for the right-wing talking point providers, so I expect to hear about this false ‘gotcha’ repeatedly for the next few days):
“According to the Wall Street Journal, a person needs to earn at least $506,000 annually to be in the top 1% of the income distribution in the United States.”
wikipedia
And of course even if she were in the 1%, it would have nothing to do with Buffet’s points about tax fairness. But logic has never gotten in the way of a talking point.
If she were Jamie Dimon’s secretary instead of Buffet’s, she would be hailed by Rush & Co. as a “producer,” a success story of talent and hard work who earned every penny she makes…you know, just like Mitt Romney does.
Instead, she is attacked as a proxy for a boss who dared to rock the boat.
With cost of living adjustment, she must be 1%er in NYC or SF.
This is why it’s so meaningless to talk about 1% vs 99%. It means $hit.
Especially when you’re talking about income, which is how the little people earn their money. 1% is really about wealth, not income (which is why the Wall Street Journal and other proxies for the wealthy try to link it to the income of your favorite ball player or the like, to muddy the waters.)
BUFFETT SECRETARY A ONE-PERCENTER? - Forbes’ Paul Roderick Gregory: “Warren Buffet’s secretary, Debbie Bosanek, served as a stage prop for President Obama’s State of the Union speech…. Bosanek’s prominent role in Obama’s ‘fairness’ campaign piqued my curiosity, and I imagine the curiosity of others. How much does her boss pay this downtrodden woman? … The IRS publishes detailed tax tables by income level. The latest results are for 2009. They show that taxpayers earning an adjusted gross income between$100,000 and $200,000 pay an average rate of twelve percent. This is below Buffet’s rate; so she must earn more than that. Taxpayers earning adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 to $500,000, pay an average tax rate of nineteen percent. Therefore Buffet must pay Debbie Bosanek a salary above two hundred thousand.” http://onforb.es/wT1ENc
You can’t convert averages over a range of $100,000 to firm conclusions on one person’s salary. Here are a few things to consider:
Does her husband work? What is his salary? Does Nebraska have an income tax? At what rate? What did they pay for their house? Are they still paying a mortgage? If so, what percent of it is interest? They just bought a retirement place with a mortgage. What is their interest rate on that place? Do they have any dependent children they can take as deductions? How much money is she putting in her 401(k)? What about him, if he has one? Are they selling shares at a gain to get their portfolio less risky for retirement? How much of their income is non-salary (interest, dividends, cap gains)?
Seriously. You can draw zero conclusions from her federal tax rate until you know more facts. Zero.
Explain this to me again?
Why should someone that makes $250K pay a lower effective tax rate than someone that makes $21 million?
If SS is factored in, why should someone that makes $250K pay a lower marginal rate than someone that makes $95K?
Sorry, flip the first lower to higher.
Quiet, Darrell. You’re getting in the way of the talking point:
She’s a 1%er (almost)! Therefore Buffett’s whole point about tax fairness means nothing! It’s been proven wrong!
That’s how talking points work. If you bring in logic, it screws everything up.
“Why should someone that makes $250K pay a lower effective tax rate than someone that makes $21 million?”
They shouldn`t. But I wouldn`t trot out a secretary that makes $250k to drive that point home. I will leave the loophole thing up to you smart people but even at that there is probably a big difference between a secretary in Bellevue Nebraska who makes $250k and somone who works in NYC and lives in Ct. who also has to pay NYC income tax, Ct. state income tax and Ct. property tax.
I don`t think there are any four bedroom 2568-square-foot homes built in 2000 that are valued at $217,716 within several miles of NYC, are there?
“Sorry, flip the first lower to higher.”
Me too.
Rates are a red herring. Taxes are paid in dollars. Get it? Dollars.
Romney paid $3 million and it’s still not enough for the bleeding heart spendthrift liberals. They sure had business and money but are first in line with their hands out for (other people’s) money.
Rates are a red herring. Taxes are paid in dollars.
BS right-wing talking point. The rich paying half of the rate that I pay is obscene.
Hew 2b
Thanks again for your firm defense of Keynesian spending yesterday. Your example of Germany was perfect.
Germany:
Rearmament played the greatest role in economic growth, although government investment in industry, public works programs, and tax relief for major industries also contributed to the rapid recovery. Unemployment, which had reached six million in 1932, fell to less than one million by 1936
Yep. If people would bother learning 20th century history, they’d know that the whole austerity versus Keynesian stimulus during a depression thing has been played out- and Keynes won.
But it’s different this time!
The wealthy, recognizing the danger of the successful middle class that arose from Keynesian economic theory (middle classes expect things like level playing fields and equal rule of law, things that get in the way of long-term oligarchies) decided that you could get the same results as Keynesian stimulus-for-the-little-guy, by just flooding the financial system (ie the rich and their enablers) with money during a crash- thus avoiding the annoyance of having a middle class, who think they are ‘entitled’ to things like a decent life.
We’re now watching how this experiment will work. Prediction: Not well for most of us. Quite well for the 1%. (At least for a while.)
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven’t got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don’t know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they?
And then they post songs about it.
I love you to alpha. If I ever become a 1%er I`m gonna take you and diver4life out on the town. Don`t hold your breath though, I wouldn`t make a very good secretary.
La, la, la, la, la,
Live for today.
And don’t worry,
About the need to repay…
(Jeff, I am diver4life.)
LOL
That was pretty good alpha.
ARTIST: The Grass Roots and alpha
TITLE: Let’s Live for Today
When I think of all the worries people seem to find
And how they’re in a hurry to complicate their mind
Paying on their mortgage, no money when they’re through
I’m glad that we are different, we’ve better things to do
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, no need to pay
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, no need to pay
And don’t worry ’bout no taxes, hey, hey, hey
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live free today
Live free today
We were never meant to worry the way that people do
And I don’t need to hurry as long as I’m with you
We’ll take it nice and easy and use my simple plan
You’ll be my Deadbeat woman, I’ll be your Deadbeat man
We take the most from living, have pleasure while we can
Before we get evicted, we`ll get a work out plan
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, no need to pay
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, no need to pay
And don’t worry ’bout no taxes, hey, hey, hey
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live free today
Live free today
I got to have me some HARP now, please, please, please
Gimme some-a HARP now, gimme some-a HARP now
Gotta gimme some-a HARP now, gimme some-a HARP now
Bammy gimme some-a HARP now
Gimme some-a HARP now, I need all your HARP now
Gimme some-a HARP now, I need all your HARP now
Give me some-a HARP now, now
I need all your HARP now
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, no need to pay
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, no need to pay
And don’t worry ’bout no taxes, hey, hey, hey
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live free today
Live free today
Constitutional rights are all well and good, unless you try to use them to criticize the 1%:
Press Freedom Index 2011-2012
United States and Chile affected by protests, Brazil crippled by insecurity
The worldwide wave of protests in 2011 also swept through the New World. It dragged the United States (47th) and Chile (80th) down the index, costing them 27 and 47 places respectively. The crackdown on protest movements and the accompanying excesses took their toll on journalists. In the space of two months in the United States, more than 25 were subjected to arrests and beatings at the hands of police who were quick to issue indictments for inappropriate behaviour, public nuisance or even lack of accreditation
http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.htm
Dorothy: Do – do you suppose we’ll meet any squatters?
Tin Man: Mmm, we might.
Dorothy: Oh!
Scarecrow: squatters that – that use drugs?
Tin Man: Uh, some. But mostly mold and vermin and vandalism
Dorothy: mold?
Scarecrow: And vermin?
Tin Man: [nodding] And vandalism
Dorothy: Oh! mold and vermin and vandalism. Oh my!
1 in 4 third-quarter home sales were foreclosures in Palm Beach County
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 12:28 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012
A quarter of all home sales in Palm Beach County during the latter part of 2011 were of properties in foreclosure, higher than both the state and national rates and a reminder of the strain distressed homes continue to put on the market.
Palm Beach County foreclosures sold for an average price of $115,082 during the third quarter, a 26 percent discount from the price of a traditional sale, according to a report to be released today by the Irvine, Calif.-based firm RealtyTrac. The price is also a 15 percent decline from 2010’s foreclosure price tag of $135,158.
Statewide, 19 percent of sales between July and September last year were foreclosures with an average price tag of $111,618. Nationally, foreclosures made up 20 percent of sales and carried an average price of $165,332.
While Palm Beach County’s foreclosure sales may seem high at 25 percent, they are actually down from the third quarter of 2010 when distressed property sales accounted for 35 percent of total sales. Statewide, the total is down from 39 percent.
“There’s a lot more of the shadow inventory coming through,” said Jeff Shanley, president of Pembroke Pines-based Ambire Group Holdings, which manages foreclosed homes for banks. “My workload in Palm Beach County has quadrupled.”
RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist said that increase was higher than in most other Florida counties and a “positive sign in that the market in Palm Beach County seems to be disposing of bank-owned homes more efficiently than other Florida markets.”
But there’s a hitch, Shanley said. The quality of foreclosed homes coming on the market is lower because they’ve been sitting empty longer and are increasingly plagued by mold, vermin and vandalism.
“The shape of the homes has gotten worse and worse and worse,” Shanley said. “A lot of these places the banks are releasing have been wrapped up a long time.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/1-in-4-third-quarter-home-sales-were-2126425.html - 75k
Just back from working in Changchun, China - well north of North Korea. I’ve spent two of the past 3 months there. In Beijing they say that Changchun is a “small town.” But it’s a 60 minute drive from Changchun’s airport to the center of town and that ride can only be described as the most amazing display of real estate development ever seen on our planet. Endless megacondo highrise structures with names like “Forrest Lakes”, “Lake Forrest”, “Golden Lakes”, “Golden Forrest” - all massive and all vacant. The sky is so filled with construction cranes it’s like looking through masts at a marina. The temperature hovers around zero. Every major European auto manufacturer has opened a fab there. The people are great - well educated, smart and hard working, the food is fantastic. But I can’t for the life of me figure out who will come live in those buildings - neither can the Chinese, Dutch nor English that I work with. I suspect we are witnessing the greatest real estate bubble in history?
Are the Chinese all fans of the movie Forrest Gump?
Forgot to mention, no forrests or lakes anywhere near the structures - don’t think they get the US cultural references in Gump.
lol
“But I can’t for the life of me figure out who will come live in those buildings - …”
Maybe there expecting everyone of Chinese descent to return from around the world?
Follow the water.
What has got me wondering is that as China’s one child policy really kicks in and its population begins to decline, they will have a serious surplus of apartments. I seem to recall someone here speculating on a single child inheriting property from not only his parents, but also from grandparents. If married, the couple could wind up inheriting 6 apartments. Sounds great, until you realize there will be no one to be a tenant in any of them, so they will be essentially worthless.
Very interesting views on Googly Earth. Blocks of vacant towers clearly visible inside the expressway loop.
Pile up those brick over there……
OK, now take them down……
“Pile up those brick over there……
OK, now take them down……”
LOL, actually not that unusual in a Communist society. The old Soviet Union was notorious for that sort of make-work. Back in the 1980s, I knew a guy who had emigrated to the US from Russia and he had some stories to tell. One of which was about a job in the USSR counting the number of people who went up an escalator and came down an escalator. That’s all the person would do all day long, count how many people went up and down the escalator.
He was a point of contact in Florida for Russian or Soviet emigres and would help them get acclimated to life in the US, including getting a job. He got one young lady a job at a local Denny’s. She was horrified by it and did not last long. (Neither would I).
IIRC a favorite slogan about the USSR was “Everybody has a job, but nobody works”.
“We pretend to work and the government pretends to pay us.”
“That’s all the person would do all day long, count how many people went up and down the escalator.”
Still, that job provides more value to society than many.
Six million people are under correctional supervision in the U.S.—more than were in Stalin’s gulags.
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/01/30/120130crat_atlarge_gopnik#ixzz1kbGq98OB
Zimbabwe Ben’s latest gusher of soon-to-be-worthless greenbacks is already causing commodity prices to soar. The hard-pressed Chinese masses may not react well. I wonder if Third World food riots are an “unintended” consequence of QE to Infinity and Beyond.
“Zimbabwe Ben’s latest gusher of soon-to-be-worthless greenbacks is already causing commodity prices to soar.”
I’m guessing this post has been floating somewhere in the aether since it was written last September, and it just showed up on the blog today.
Every food commodity quote I looked at shows prices are LOWER today than they were in September. On the non-food side some items are up a bit while others (like lumber) are down considerably.
“The sky is so filled with construction cranes it’s like looking through masts at a marina.”
Reminiscent of Honolulu circa Fall 2006…the joke at the time was that HI’s state bird was the crane.
“Just back from working in Changchun, China”
I’m sure it was cold and miserable. I just got back from Shenyang.
Update on Slye Studio Short Sale Rollercoaster ride:
A day after recieving the letter from my lawyer cancelling the deal due to failure of Seller to perform their legal responsibilities in the transaction, due to lack of “means”, the particularly Realtor person informs that Seller has retained a lawyer to do the title work, discharge the second, & etc. and that I will not be approached to pony up for any additional costs.
I didn’t agree right away to going forward. The Realtor questioned me as to what my other objections were, so as to counter argue. I simply told her “being lied to.”
After processing overnight, I will inform today that the deal is back on.
I really can’t say that I gained any sort of moral high ground with the Realtor. She seemed not to acknowledge my comment. Still, the $25 letter from my lawyer seems to have been well spent.
No you gained the high ground. By virtue of the fact she didn’t respond to your “being lied to” comment further strengthens your position.
Game of chicken. You didn’t blink because you were willing to walk away from the deal when they told you it couldn’t go forward at the agreed price. So they had to blink.
Well played, sir.
Well thanks, but I still feel like I need to bathe.
Baths are cheap compared to “fixing” someone’s second mortgage and paying for their legal work.
And just think. Maybe the realtor had to chip in part of her commission to help the seller (even though he obviously isn’t as broke as she claimed he was). After all, she almost certainly assured him that you wanted the property enough to pony up the extra. He must be pretty pissed at her.
Blue didn’t blink because he could afford not to. If Blue had no other residence and had been moving from an apartment into that house, the moral high ground would have taken an extra month and cost upwards of $1000-$1500(?) for an additional month’s rent. Much of America has no such cushion to play with.
Unless Blue is paying cash, the rent payment will be replaced by a mortgage payment, and the move must still take place at some point.
Way to stick to your guns.
I know it is obvious - but read EVERY piece of documentation carefully (and understand it) and make sure they live up to every agreement they make.
And get it ALL IN WRITING.
Oh. OH. OH! Snap.
Nice, Blue. Very nice indeed. This just keeps getting better and better. Hang in there.
‘An expanded federal task force is planning a new tack, cracking down on financial firms suspected of improperly bundling home loans into securities for investors, officials said Wednesday. The Obama administration tried to instill confidence in the effort by installing Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York state attorney general who is viewed by liberal groups as a crusader against big banks, as one of the leaders of a new unit within the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.’
‘Mr. Schneiderman’s office carries the informal title of Sheriff of Wall Street.’
Window dressing? Election year tactics?
I think there is actually a pick up in white collar crime prosecution in the last year. The sad part is almost nobody goes to jail.
My impressions:
1) This is mainly a palliative without teeth.
2) From the standpoint of Megabank, Inc, fines in the millions in exchange for profits in the billions pencil out handsomely.
Looking at the optimistic side of this development, unlike his Republican rivals, who are snuggling up to Wall Street while pretending to represent the interests of all Americans, Obama is dropping hints that he might take a hard line to stamp out the criminal element on Wall Street if he is reelected.
What does the Party of the 1% have to offer in response? I recall reading that Mitt Romney had a personal visit with Jamie Dimon around the time of the earthquake last year; what came out of their discussion!?
I wonder if Newt’s people recall this meeting? It would be great to see a bit of interaction on this topic in the Republican candidate gladiator pit.
Wednesday, Sep 28, 2011 9:01 AM 07:20:45 PST
Sensitive banker Jamie Dimon comforted by Mitt Romney
Still smarting from an off-hand insult to the all-powerful financial sector, JPMorgan’s CEO cozies up to the GOP
By Alex Pareene
Topics: 2012 Elections, Bank Reform, Mitt Romney, Mortgage Crisis, Bank Bailouts, Contraception
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is not supposed to endorse a presidential candidate, because he sits on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but he is out partying and attending fundraisers with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. (Of course, Dimon also probably shouldn’t have accepted billions of dollars from the Fed while sitting on the New York Fed board either, but that happened.)
Dimon is a Democrat and former BFF of President Barack Obama, but one day Obama said “fat cat bankers” and everyone on Wall Street threw a tremendous tantrum. The president has gone on to lightly criticize the financial industry and endorse a plan to slightly raise income taxes on very wealthy people, which has reportedly driven scores of Democratic backers from the finance industry into the open arms of the GOP.
…
Yeah all those guys have little lapel pins that flip from D to R. Some do it for money, others… are more dangerous.
So Obama, who since 2008 has been throwing the 99% under the bus while enriching the .01% and expanding crony capitalism, has now decided he’s a populist? Seriously, hope ‘n change lemmings, how stupid and gullible ARE you?
Elections are a lot like dating.
“…a lot like dating.”
Romance =>
Wedding =>
Honeymoon =>
Disenchantment =>
Divorce
Sodomy?
Yeah, I was thinking more along the lines of
“fu&k and chuck”
Give us an good alternative, and I would LOVE to vote against Obama.
Hint: none of the people in the Republican race are a good alternative.
Says he’s in the pocket of Wall Street or wants to crash the global economy into depression is not a better alternative to someone that says he’s not in the pocket of Wall Street but really is.
Vote for Gary Johnson, then. It’s a way of giving the Republicrat duopoly the finger and saying, “None of the above.” A vote for Obama is a vote for more of the same. How’s that working out for ya?
Here is the issue: how do you punish the banks and save them at the same time?
They are doing a little better, so they will be punished a little more.
“…how do you punish the banks and save them at the same time?”
Piece of cake:
1) Don’t let managers who oversaw spectacular failures retain their positions; let competant managers replace them.
2) Don’t let criminals who committed felonies stay in their positions; put them in prison.
Any other questions?
1) is up to the board of directors. The time to demand accountability on that level was when TARP passed, and Hank Paulson insisted the universe would explode if they did and Congress and Bush believed him.
AS for 2)? Well you have to catch them and then you have to prosecute them. You up for quadrupling the funding of the federal agencies that do that?
“You up for quadrupling the funding of the federal agencies that do that?”
Perhaps a temporary increase in funding for rooting out white collar crime high up in the financial system is the price tag of restoring trust.
1) Don’t let managers who oversaw spectacular failures retain their positions; let competant managers replace them.
With who? Talent like that isn’t just sitting around waiting to get hired you know.
Yes, we are.
It was a joke :-).
Nationalize them, keep them running during the collapse and then sell them on the open market. Investors and bond holders get nothing.
so why do we have the SEC, NYC DAs, State DAs, CFTC, etc?
http://news.yahoo.com/nm-man-pulled-own-tooth-jail-awarded-22m-224826036.html
Welcome to the gulag. A society is truly judged by how it treats “the least of these.”
That’s sad as well as horrifying.
BTW, people don’t realize how dental problems can escalate and have serious impacts on a person’s health. Dental infections can affect the brain, heart and other organs, not to mention the pain.
Yup. I read somewhere that gum diseases are linked to Strokes and Heart problems.
“…linked to…”
This is weaker than saying gum disease ’causes’ heart disease…
Big Bang Theory: Sheldon spends time with a dentist.
When his friend asks how it went he says “Okay I guess. She lectured me on the link between dental hygiene and heart disease. Nothing I didn’t already know.”
Do dental problems cause heart disease, or do both represent symptoms of a disease process which causes teeth to rot and hearts to fail?
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
Dental problems, especially gum disease, do, indeed lead to heart problems. My former dentist referred me to his UCLA professor for $40k in gum surgery.
My wife’s dentist sold his house a while ago (lucky for him it was before he was underwater) to get training and purchase a LanApp laser machine. Far, far less painful than conventional gum surgery at 25% of the cost.
Highly recommend.
“Abscess in Mouth Being Lanced”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfJ5MMsbuMo
Chinese for tree: 木
Chinese for Forrest: 木木
Bing Bang Theory
Sheldon, “Why do you have the Chinese symbol for soup on you butt?”
Penny, “It means courage.”
Sheldon, “I guess it could be considered courages to put a soup tattoo on your butt, but that’s the symbol for soup.”
Do you really mean Forrest, as in a person’s name? Or do you mean Forest, which is a large area where trees grow?
Then would 木木木木木木 mean condos?
ehh, more fallout..
‘Owens said financial advisers recommended by Rosenhaus lost much of his money in highly leveraged ventures, then houses and apartments he thought he could rent out in a worst case scenario became dead weight in a housing market collapse (none of the properties is particularly excessive, but total a yearly mortgage of about $750,000), and $2 million was lost in an Alabama entertainment complex investment. That venture turned out to be illegal, and also claimed former Redskins running back Clinton Portis as a victim. ”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46143485/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Someone call the census bureau and tell them their vermin count is off by one.
Memorable quotes for
Gran Torino
Duke: What you lookin’ at old man?
Walt Kowalski: Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn’t have f#cked with? That’s me.
Greatest satire of right-wingers ‘get tough’ fantasies:
(looking at himself in the mirror)
“You talkin’ to me?! You talkin’ to me?! You talkin’ to me?! Well, who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well, I’m the only one here. Who the f–k do you think you’re talkin’ to?!”
(Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver (1976))
“right-wingers ‘get tough’ fantasies:” ?
According to police, the 65-year-old was riding his bicycle when the teens knocked him to the ground, the station said.
Police said two teens then assaulted the man, who drew his gun and shot them.
I don’t live around there, but I assume that knocking him off the bike was phase 1 of some greater robbery or assault plan and that all parties involved understood that?
“but I assume that knocking him off the bike was phase 1 of some greater robbery or assault plan and that all parties involved understood that?”
The last time I was on the ground getting kicked I was pretty sure I knew what the plan was. I am pretty sure the 5 guys kicking me knew what the plan was too. I wasn`t on a bicycle but got knocked down a flight of stairs before I knew I was in a fight. Got up swung once and missed, that was it. About 11:30 PM at a bar called Richard`s in Port Chester N.Y. 1981
Police said two teens then assaulted the man, who drew his gun and shot them.
He was lucky that they didn’t take the gun from him and shot him with it. I know of people this has happened to, and they weren’t even being beaten.
Conservative fantasy?
Liberal fantasy?
Other than those particularly predisposed to Stockholm Syndrome, it’s probably safe to say that very few like to be victimized.
You guys seem like you need help with your fantasies, so here you go. Have a nice day
http://www.miamidolphinscheerleaders.net/squad - 37k
I am going to read the article in the Liberal fantasy magazine about waiting for the police to arrive as soon as I am done with this one.
Two apparent homicide victims found in Lake Worth
By Alexandra Seltzer
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 11:00 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012
LAKE WORTH -Palm Beach County Sheriff’s detectives this morning are investigating a possible double homicide, a spokesman said.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 1826 Pierce Drive in Lake Worth around 10 p.m. Wednesday and found the bodies of two men, said sheriff’s spokesman Eric Davis in a statement released this morning.
The names of the men have not been released pending notification of relatives.
The men’s bodies were found in an “advanced state of decomposition” and they appear to be victims of a homicide, Davis said.
Neighbors were stunned by the news.
Next door neighbor Kathy Maher said the coral-colored house was occupied by a man everyone in the neighborhood called “Grandpa” and his son-in-law, who is the father of three young girls.
She was worried about them because she had seen neither man since Saturday.
“It’s just as bad as can be,” Maher said.
Another neighbor, Patrick Bernard, said he frequently saw “Grandpa” riding a bicycle.
“I just can’t believe this has happened,” he said.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/two-apparent-homicide-victims-found-in-lake-worth-2127299.html
Florida sounds like a scary place
“Florida sounds like a scary place”
Not even the hamsters are safe.
Boynton Beach woman charged with throwing ‘Boobie’ the hamster from 3rd-floor balcony
By Cynthia Roldan
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 12:17 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012
DELRAY BEACH — A Boynton Beach woman was arrested on Wednesday after she got into a fight with her girlfriend in her Delray Beach home, and threw the woman’s pet hamster from a third-floor balcony.
Breana Shakari Smith, 19, is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $3,000 bond. She is facing charges for battery and animal cruelty.
When the officer arrived, 19-year-old Krystina Shanice Sears said she had a fight with her girlfriend, Smith, and that Smith had thrown Sears’ pet hamster “Boobie” from the balcony of her third-floor apartment, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Sears added that during the argument, Smith had thrown a vase that had fallen on her feet and shattered, the affidavit stated. Sears also said that Smith then grabbed Boobie from his cage and tried throwing him out the window. When the window screen prevented her from doing so, Smith picked Boobie up and ran to the balcony where she threw him out, the affidavit stated.
The officer noted in the affidavit that Boobie was crawling in circles, which meant that he had an internal or head injury because his equilibrium was off. When the officer picked him up, Boobie’s right front leg was twisted under his body and was “shaking violently.”
When asked if she threw Boobie from the balcony, Smith said, “Yes, I was mad,” according to the affidavit.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/boynton-beach-woman-charged-with-throwing-boobie-the-2127523.html -
“You guys seem like you need help with your fantasies, so here you go. Have a nice day”
Oh my
Romney and Santorum singing along with the National Anthem - Newt and Paul mute.
Any inferences??
Newt has too much gravitas (he likes to think). Paul probably has some philosophical problem with a ‘national’ anthem.
My guess is Romney and Santorum have sung a lot more in public (church) than Newt and Paul. Could affect how readily a person sings in that situation.
measton
The first thing I said in this exchange yesterday was “It`s not criminal” and I never said it was. Then you said…
Thanks for not answering the question.
1. Obama kept the Bush appointee - True, but this is not a policy nor is it criminal.
2. The FED operates independently, certainly he did not appoint all the FED governors.
and then…
“Is loony. One he isn’t in charge of interest rates. Two he didn’t have some long relationship with Bernanke before appointing him. He did what most presidents have done he reappointed the guy in the seat. There is absolutely no meddling that Obama has done that has resulted in low interest rates and certainly no criminal meddling. All your deflection to other talking points just points out the weakness of your position.”
You are right, “There is absolutely no meddling that Obama has done that has resulted in low interest rates and certainly no criminal meddling.” Having said that I don`t think there is any argument about President Obama`s policies working “in concert” with “historically low interest rates” and massive printing of money. HARP, HAMP, Hardest Hit, stimulus etc. Or is that also “loony”?
Forced to explain that “traditionally, Fed chairs and presidents act in concert and without partisanship,”
The Fed is structured to remove the influence of politics from monetary policy. Accordingly, the president nominates candidates for the Board of Governors, but, once approved by the Senate, the governors are granted 14-year terms that can’t be cut short by the executive branch. The chairman of the Board of Governors, also nominated by the president, is limited to four-year terms, but after he’s confirmed the president has no authority to remove him unilaterally. Furthermore, the chairman is also a member of the Board of Governors, so even if a President were to replace Bernanke when Bernanke’s term expires in 2014, Bernanke could choose to fill out the remainder of his 14-year term as a governor.
Why don’t you take a look at how the thread started. My initial post was to Liz. You chimed in with a defense, unless you and Liz are the same. My point was if your going to foam at the mouth have something to back it up. She did not.
I don’t know if this statement is looney or not
“I don`t think there is any argument about President Obama`s policies working “in concert” with “historically low interest rates” and massive printing of money. HARP, HAMP, Hardest Hit, stimulus etc. ”
Which policies and working in concert to do what? Keep housing prices high? If this is what you meant I agree 100%.
I’m in the camp that speculartors and banks should have been allowed to fail, banks nationalized and resold and savers protected. Obama Bush etc protected the gamblers and the elite.
“Which policies and working in concert to do what? Keep housing prices high? If this is what you meant I agree 100%.”
That`s what I meant.
You don’t have to nationalize a bank that goes bankrupt. The shareholders get wiped out. The creditors fight it out with each other as to who gets the bits and pieces (option 1), the cash if the bits and pieces get sold (option 2) or the creditors can just become the new shareholders if the org has significantly more value as an ongoing entity than as the bits and pieces.
Rick Santorum is now kissing Romney’s and Gingrich’s butts. Methinks he knows he won’t get the nomination but may qualify as the VP lap dog.
The problem is if the bank stops functioning and companies that depend on the bank can’t make payroll and the depositors don’t feel like they are going to get their money.
As long as you have FDIC insurance I think it mandates the gov taking over the bank paying the depositors and then letting the bond holders fight over what’s left which in most cases should be nothing.
How is $21,800 in compensation going to work out for Californians who lost $100Ks and their homes?
California attorney general rejects foreclosure settlement
By Rick Daysog The Sacramento Bee
Last modified: 2012-01-26 T0 6:05:06
Published: Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 6B
Calling it “inadequate for California,” the state is rejecting the latest settlement proposal between states and major U.S. banks over lending abuses that fueled the foreclosure crisis.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris pulled out of nationwide talks with the banks in October, saying the proposed $25 billion deal gave too much immunity to lenders and didn’t provide enough relief for homeowners in a state hard hit by the mortgage meltdown.
On Wednesday, Harris’ office said a new version of the settlement plan still falls short of those goals.
“At this point, this deal does not suffice for California,” said spokesman Shum Preston.
For more than a year, the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders – Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Ally – have been working on a settlement agreement with a coalition of attorneys general in 50 states.
The latest settlement proposal seeks to help nearly 1 million homeowners, who could see the size of their mortgages lowered by an average of $20,000, according to the Associated Press.
The deal also calls for payment of about $1,800 to homeowners harmed by deceptive lending practices, the AP said.
…
How many of these FBs were truly victims of “deceptive lending practices”? The vast majority were victims of their own lemming-like belief in NAR propaganda and an oversized sense of entitlement.
Jan. 26, 2012, 12:01 a.m. EST
Betting on inflation? Don’t bet on gold
By Michael A. Gayed
“Everyone is looking for the sure thing. They are looking to hedge their bet. They think the way to do that is to go with a proven quantity, a remake of something you have already seen. That is their mindset.” - Leonard Maltin
I’ve tracked gold over the years, with 2011 being one of the most interesting environments for gold in recent memory. With fears over an implosion in Europe and a debt deflation scare, gold did perform well on the year, all the way up until late-August, when despite fears seemingly at their highest, stocks ended up doing better than gold at the height of volatility.
…
I remember getting some strong emails from readers of my work, particularly when on September 13th, I said to a Bloomberg Reporter that gold could fall as much as 20% over the next two months. I noted that the day the GLD was reported to have more assets than the largest ETF in the world, SPY, that it marked a potential peak in price. Since that day, stocks have performed considerably better.
…
Hmm, let’s see. Listen to an MSM fluffer for the Wall Street Ponzi, or look at Zimbabwe Ben’s destruction of the dollar and hedge accordingly. What to do, what to do….
Whad’ya know? Easy money for longer is great for the stock market!
Watch out from here, as the easy-money-forever policy getting priced in today is likely to lead to a near-term stock market bubble reflation which is destined to end in tears tomorrow.
Jan. 26, 2012, 9:07 a.m. EST
U.S. futures up after data; Caterpillar reports
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
U.S. stock futures rose Thursday, as investors considered earnings from companies including Caterpillar Inc. that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations.
Stock-index futures rose further after the release of economic reports, which included jobless claims remaining below 400,000 last week. Another report had orders for U.S. durable goods rising 3% last month.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 64 points to 12,752, while those for the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 6.3 points to 1,326.50.
Futures for the Nasdaq Composite rose 9 points to 2,469.50.
Fed officials said they expect short-term interest rates to stay close to zero “at least through late 2014,” even longer than previously indicated.
Futures had reversed losses amid a positive reaction across Europe to Wednesday’s news from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which said it will keep interest rates low for three more years. That was a more dovish stance than the market had expected.
`Easy money for longer’
“For the bulls, this is ‘easy money’ for longer, low rates will work. For the bears it’s a sign of incoming depression when the Fed feels obliged to signal low rates for longer,” said Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank, in e-mailed comments. “The truth is probably somewhere in between.
“There is reason for low rates, but also printing money to the extent [that] the major central bank does it makes all of us speculators, chasing again, investments which we would not normally engage in such as commodities, metals, housing et al,” Jakobsen said.
“We are effectively all being forced to take more risk for same return with low interest now predicted into the financial ‘forever,’” he said.
…
It’s nice for the 1% to be able to enjoy this Fed-fueled stock price runup while 99% of the debt-strapped, unemployed or merely frightened American households sit on the sidelines and watch. Once the 99% percent are able to get back into the stock market, the biggest of the gains will already be in the 1%ers’ money bags.
Actually, some 46% of the population pay no taxes and are card-carrying members of the Free $hit Army, eager and willing to vote themselves more benefits that you and me will have to pay for.
Muslims’ charges to be dismissed in NY park clash
Posted: Jan 24, 2012 12:12 PM EST
By JIM FITZGERALD
Associated Press
RYE, N.Y. (AP) - Fifteen Muslims on Tuesday won conditional dismissals of charges stemming from an amusement park disturbance that started when women were told they couldn’t wear religious headscarves on some rides.
A Rye Town Court judge told the defendants their cases would be dropped if they stayed out of trouble for two months. Most had been charged only with disorderly conduct, but the charges ranged up to second-degree assault.
All the female defendants wore headscarves.
Some of the defendants said after the court session that they plan to file a civil rights lawsuit against Westchester County, alleging police brutality and racism in the disturbance. The county owns Playland Park in Rye, a national landmark, where the disturbance occurred.
About 3,000 Muslims were at Playland on Aug. 30, celebrating the end of Islam’s holy month of fasting, Ramadan. Officials say Playland bans baseball caps, eyeglasses and other headgear on several fast rides.
County officials said at a hearing in September that some Muslim women who were wearing religious scarves known as hijabs objected when told they couldn’t go on certain rides. They said the county had made the policy clear to the trip organizer, the Muslim American Society of New York.
They said dissatisfied patrons were being given refunds when scuffles broke out within the group. Deek said Tuesday that it was just an argument between two Muslim women.
Police were called, five people were arrested, and things began to calm down until a flash mob, summoned by texting, gathered rapidly outside the park police station, said county police Commissioner George Longworth. The crowd became unruly and 10 more arrests followed.
Deek said the arrests were carried out with “a great deal of brutality,” injuring several Muslims.
“This is the result of stereotyping and racist ideologies and beliefs … toward Muslim communities, the idea that for some reason these Muslims would be more violent,” she said.
http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/16589070/muslims-charges-to-be-dismissed-in-ny-park-clash?clienttype=printable -
And if you don’t believe us we will riot in your park and maybe even cut off your head…
“This is the result of stereotyping and racist ideologies and beliefs … toward Muslim communities, the idea that for some reason these Muslims would be more violent,” she said.
Just ran across this.
Just.the.religion.of.peace…
‘Strict Muslim’ raped four women at knifepoint to ‘punish them for being on the streets at night’
Mail Online | January 26 2012 | NICK ENOCH
A Muslim man who raped women to ‘teach them a lesson’ for being on the streets at night was jailed indefinitely today because of the danger he poses to women.
Sunny Islam, 23, who comes from a strict Muslim family, dragged his terrified victims - including a 15-year-old - from the street at knifepoint, bound and assaulted them during a two-month reign of terror.
Police fear that Islam may have attacked many more.
Just wondering, but if Christian commits rape, is that also an incitement of a religion? Or does this guilt by association only apply to Muslims?
Jan. 26, 2012, 10:09 a.m. EST
December new-home sales dip to end worst-ever year
Sales for 2011 slump to new record
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. sales of new homes retreated in December, perhaps a fitting end to a year which saw a new record low level of sales.
Sales fell 2.2% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The decline brings sales back to its level in October, wiping out a gain in November where sales had risen to their highest level since April.
Economists has expected a further gain in sales in December after the strong rise in November, according to a MarketWatch survey.
Several factors, including warm weather at the end of last year, along with low interest rates and aggressive discounting by builders were expected to help boost sales.
By region, sales jumped 46.7% in the Northeast in December. Sales also rose 9.0% in the West, while sales fell 10.1% in the South and fell 3.7% in the Midwest.
For all of 2011, sales of new homes fell 6.2% to a record-low level of 302,000. Sales of new homes peaked at 1.28 million in 2005. The records date back to 1963.
In December, the supply of new homes fell 0.1% to 157,000. The supply in relation to sales rose slightly to 6.1 months in December from 6.0 months in November.
Median sales prices have fallen 12.8% in the past year to $210,300. This is the lowest level since October 2010.
The government cautions that its housing data are subject to large sampling and other statistical errors. Large revisions are common.
Meh…it looks like the PPT is back at work propping up the market against the worst annual new home sales number in fifty years.
U.S. stocks lose bulk of gains on home-sales data
By Kate Gibson
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks turned mostly lower on Thursday after the Commerce Department reported the sale of new homes declined 2.2% last month. “From what I can tell, it was the disappointing sales number on new homes, which fell in December, when we had been expected it to be up,” said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank. Scaling back, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lately up 38.52 points at 12,795.48. The S&P 500 Index fell more than a point to 1,324.64. The Nasdaq Composite shed 2.39 points to 2,815.92.
Amazing. On DC news radio this morning, this information was presented with a very positive spin and tone.
Presumably one could argue that new home sales can (eventually) only get better off a half-century nadir.
So they prop up the home debtors at expense of savers.
Low interest rate to try to keep home prices up (failing), at the e3xpense of savers.
I’m getting .6% return on CD’s to keep this going.!!
When interest rate go up (and they will eventually) more will default.
Bad news is prices will really crash. I don’t want it to get that bad, as the results will be catostropic for all areas, not just housing prices.
The unintended consequences are never thought through.
The low interest rates are not just to hold up housing prices.
They are also to hold down student loan interest, credit card interest, car loan, and even government borrowing costs.
We’re an economy that has increased each household’s share of total debt from 2.8x median income to 6.5x median income over the last 30 years.
If interest rates were higher, we would have a cascade debt default into depression.
Of course, I guess we’re just delaying the inevitable since we’re arguing about how much more of the same stuff that got us here are we going to keep doing.
Teacher: “Johny, If you have five apples, and Alice asks you for two, how many apples do you have?”
Johny: “Five.”
If you borrow 5 apples promising to pay back 6 and then never do, how many apples do you have?
I keep wondering who’s more foolish, the people who borrow money they can’t possibly pay back, or the people who lend it to them.
The one who buys the loans from the original lender.
Money isn’t apples.
Money is a promise to pay back.
Teacher, “Johny, you have 5 apples. You loan 2 to Alice and Alice gives you 2 IOUs. The IOUs pay 100% per day interest. What is your net worth?”
Johny, “5 apples.”
Teacher, “The next day, Alice brings you 4 apples and asks for the IOUs back. How many apples do you have?”
Johny, “3. I also have 4 IOUs. I have no interest in buying her apples. I have all the apples I need, and only want IOUs.
She said that she could not pay the interest unless I bought the apples. So, I agreed to loan her 2 more apples, then accept those 2 apples as interest.
Now she is my debt slave.”
Teacher, “But, what if she gives up trying to pay back the loan and your IOUs become worthless?”
Johny, “Then she is a no good deadbeat that never planned on paying me back. The economic collapse is all her fault. She is the scum of the earth, no good Welcher. We should create jails to lock up people like her.”
Teacher, “Well, didn’t you have some obligation, when accepting her IOUs, to then accept the apples in return for the IOUs? Isn’t the economic collapse from debt default and IOUs becoming worthless because the people with the IOUs would not spend them, at least partially the fault of the people with IOUs?”
Johny, “I am under no social or legal obligation to spend my IOUs”.
Teacher, “Then debt default is inevitable.”
Johny, “Only because people like Alice are stupid idiots and didn’t accumulate IOUs like me.”
Teacher, “ummmmm Hello!!! All IOUs are just other peoples’ debts, and if no one went into debt, then there wouldn’t be any IOUs.”
Johny, “Well that isn’t the way it worked back in 1849 when everyone traded real IOUs backed by real apples instead of these silly IOUs we have today”.
Teacher, “Sorry to tell you Johnny, but even in 1849 there were never enough apples for everyone to trade all their IOUs into apples all at the same time. It has been 500+ years since there was an apple in the warehouse for every IOU in existence.”
In our modern economy, people want other peoples’ IOUs, not their stuff. The PotUS can ask nicely for the people with money to spend it, buying stuff and employing people. The people with money have politely declined.
“no good Welcher”
send her to the Debtor’s wine press?
That is your come back? That I misspelled welsher?
Wow, welsher, as in not paying back debts, comes from Welsh, people from Wales. Holy molly. I’m 50% Welsh (my mom was first gen US, her parents having immigrated from Wales between the WWs).
I guess in keeping with expectations, I should only pay back half my debts.
And, as a man of Welsh ancestry, I should really be offended any time I hear “welshing” being used to describe someone that doesn’t pay what they owe.
Don’t go all Grapes of Wrath.
I guess in keeping with expectations, I should only pay back half my debts.
And, as a man of Welsh ancestry, I should really be offended any time I hear “welshing” being used to describe someone that doesn’t pay what they owe.
Yes. Both of those things. At the same time :-).
No ‘welch’ means the same thing. I used to play poker with a guy who said it all the time. It’s like ‘Scottish’ and ‘Scotch’.
welch (wlch)
v.
Variant of welsh.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
welch [wɛlʃ]
vb
(Group Games / Gambling, except Cards) a variant spelling of welsh
welcher n
Welch [wɛlʃ]
Verb 1. welch - cheat by avoiding payment of a gambling debt
(Linguistics / Languages) (Social Science / Peoples) (Placename) an archaic spelling of Welsh1
All the health care stocks sinking this morning. It seems the companies are rapidly ‘adjusting’ to the new 20% overhead limits by suddenly collapsing their margins. I seem to remember the insurance and HMO companies have to issue refunds to the customer starting in 2014 if they keep the overhead over 20% and it amounts to several hundred $ per policy. It may also hint the game is afoot on the Supreme Court decision. Anyone taking bets on this landmark decision?
I think Medicare spends 5% or so on administration. Cry me a river insurance execs making 10’s of millions a year.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2011/06/30/the-myth-of-medicares-low-administrative-costs/
Butters just served up the biggest pile of steaming BS around
But most important, because Medicare patients are older, they are substantially sicker than the average insured patient — driving up the denominator of such calculations significantly. For example: If two patients cost $30 each to manage, but the first requires $100 of health expenditures and the second, much sicker patient requires $1,000, the first patient’s insurance will have an administrative-cost ratio of 30%, but the second’s will have a ratio of only 3%.
How much does it cost to administer a plan where the person is healthy and needs no medical care. These giant medical plans have computers that do all the billing so I imagine it takes almost nothing to administer such a plan. What costs money is getting the bill from the medical provider, verifying that it is correct, that services were provided and that the patient was not over treated or overcharged. The cost per person argument is more right wing think tank activity at work. Seriously take a look at what the CEO of United Health makes and compare it to the head
The CEO of United Health made over 100 million in 2009 I believe.
The head of Medicare is around 200k
Medicare is much bigger.
Then just go on down the list of administrative jobs. At some point down the tree you reach parity but it’s way down. Throw in corporate jets and all the other bling and you get the picture. United Health also get’s the luxury of terminating people who have the nerve to get sick. I read a story that they had a team who would scour medical records of women diagnosed with breast cancer to see if they could find some reason to terminate their insurance ie unreported htn things like that. They can terminate whole companies if they have too many sick employees.
And still we have lemmings who believe this right wing corporatist think tank garbage.
I agree. I follow the health care sector with Wendell Potter’s blog, the former Cigna V.P. of Communications (i.e. damage control). In his book on the corrupt sector, he talks about his former executive life of luxury. Meanwhile, the sick weren’t being taken care of. The man did a moral turn around, back to his roots. Slim is a huge fan, too.
This is a story that will make you all sick.
It comes from my brother the doctor
Patient comes in and asks if she can get cancer care at a local oncologists. She states that the insurance plan she has paid for is garbage and she has no way to pay. She is currently getting treated at another facility but the bills are racking up even though they’ve managed to get discount or free drugs. The woman works for Taco Bell. She has done so for years. She has paid 80 dollars or so every 2 weeks for this insurance, this part was not verified but was word of mouth from the patient. The director of the clinic calls the insurance company which I believe was Cigna but I’m not sure. The patients insurance has a cap of 750 dollars. The director not believing this can be true asks if this is a catastrophic plan where they get more if they are in the hospital. The insurance employee says yes it goes up to 2000 dollars. Then adds don’t get mad at me I just handle claims I don’t sell the policy.
Think about all the levels of evil in this.
1. There is the insurance company that markets the plan.
2. There is Taco Bell that offered the plan to employees Apparently they were given cards that said they would have only a 20 dollar co pay, and 100 dollar deductible. There was nothing on the cap written on the card.
3. I suspect there was a sales job by the manager of the Taco Bell.
4. There’s the state insurance commissioner.
All played their part to take advantage of a financially illiterate person. They told her to go to the press with this. It’s an f’n crime if true. Just offering any policy with a 750 coverage is a crime they are better off having nothing. The real heart breaker was the woman claimed that if she didn’t get good hours at work sometimes her husband chipped in to cover the insurance plan.
“I think Medicare spends 5% or so on administration. Cry me a river insurance execs making 10’s of millions a year.”
Perhaps Medicare has low administration costs as a percentage since they pay ANY D**** claim submitted (how about seventy zillion electric scooters?). This doesn’t take much administration and drives up the total cost which is used to establish the percentage basis. Touting Medicare administrative cost percentage is a non-starter in my book.
Hey Hi Z you couldn’t be more wrong.
1. There is an application for the scooter that has to be filled out by the physician.
2. This must be reviewed by a person at Medicare and then approved.
3. A check must be written. They have to make sure it’s an approved provider.
4. Then there are occasional audits to look for fraud.
Now compare to insurance companies who take care of a guy like me who hasn’t been to the doctor in 3 years.
Now tell me who pays more in terms of administration.
Even if the insurance company does the exact same job for the exact same person factor in that the CEO makes 100 million a year vs the Chief of medicares 200k.
Watch Housing Prices Crater. Then Buy Later
Is this a haiku equivalent of a short sale?
Home prices are toast.
Why catch a falling knife now?
Wait for the bottom.
It a homespun expression to shutdown realtors on the net and in person. Use it.
Saw.you.post.this.on.marketwatch.article.today(mortgage.national)sorry.space.bar.not.working
Query: IIRC, the stock market usually goes up in an election year, I assume due to some meddling, ie loosening up credit by lowering prime. If it works, the incumbent gets re-elected, if it doesn’t then he loses. Sorry this is all impressions I’ve had, no proof.
Anyway, how could they manage that this year with rates already so low? isn’t that basically all they got? yet it seems like the markets are bullish for some weird reason.
QE to the infinity is the main catalyst for this melt up.
Hello fellow HBB’ers - I need some advice,
I recently came into a couple hundred dollars that I hadn’t planned on having. Believing that found money should be spent frivolously, I have decided to blow it on the stock/commodities market - just for fun.
I’m certainly not looking for investment advice, although I do firmly believe that anything I could get here would likely be some of the wisest counsel available anywhere - really.
What I’m wondering is - what is the best outfit out there for online trading/investing?
Like who has the lowest transaction fees, fewest hiddens gotchas, etc?
Thoughts?
Much appreciated,
Ed.
Zecco
I recently came into a couple hundred dollars that I hadn’t planned on having. Believing that found money should be spent frivolously, I have decided to blow it on the stock/commodities market - just for fun.
Why not donate it your alma mater?
anecodote:
i vowed never to donate 1 cent to my alma mater after they delayed my diploma due to $ 15 unpaid parking ticket.
thousands of dollars in tuition yet they withheld my diploma due to a $ 15 unpaid parking ticket.
20 years many solicitations later…not 1 cent.
A man after my own heart. So far I have not donated at all to my alma mater (graduated 1995). I think about it every year and try to decide if my feelings have changed, but not yet.
When I was there you would hear a lot of debate over the way that they intentionally have much less parking than they should for the number of students there. What you would hear from the administration is that Wyoming kids needed to get used to the idea that you couldn’t park right in front of wherever you were going even though they were always able to in their home town. There was plenty of land right around campus (and inside of campus) where parking garages or at least lots could be built, but they stated that their goal was to change behavior and the students needed to ride the public transportation provided.
My opinion was that in a place with big open spaces, plenty of parking should be a perk, and I don’t buy into social engineering done in that way. So I decided when they changed their stance on parking I’d change my stance on donations. Neither of us has budged so far.
At least you’ve parked your money.
University parking brings back memories. Like how to park without money. Crammed on the end of a street; inside a newly dug basement; directly in front of a nuclear reactor; and above all good timing.
I refuse to donate as well - but my kids all make up for it.
Memories - of my long gone friends who I competed with for those parking spaces !
Never once paid.
Why are you mad at the school for your error? Pay your bills you cheapskate.
The Reverend Sammy S. will assure you a mansion in the afterlife for a tidy donation now.
I’ve used etrade, ameritrade, and bank of america, and for regular equity purchases, I’ve never noticed any difference.
Blogs and financial sites across the internet are crawling with realtors.
Well who else has the time to get the truth out there?
Republicans at it again.
They just love to pretend that payroll taxes do not exist. When Buffet first brought up his secretary, he said that including payroll taxes, his effective tax rate was 17%. If you calculate tax burden on that basis, then his effective tax rate is less than his secretary’s.
Suddenly, for his secretary to be paying a lower TAX (not income tax, TAX) rate than Buffet, she must be making more than $250K a year.
PAYROLL TAX.
You know the 6.2% (which it was when he said this) + 1.45%.
Nothing like taking comments out of context, totally changing the meaning, then making unsupported assertions with them.
If this is the party that is the only alternative to Obama, than it looks like I will be voting Obama again.
Of course you will. Adding $5 Trillion of debt? Go obama. The US now borrows 40 cents of every dollar it spends. Go obama. Bailout every bank and wall street house and not ONE prosecution. Go obama.
And PS. Social Security was founded and sold to the American people as an INSURANCE plan. NOT as a tax. It was to be a “bond” between the American people and the US Government. ALL would pay in to SS and ALL would get a minimal level of benefits if they were needed.
Yep - But now it is just a tax (at an almost 15% rate - at least get THAT right) to be spent as the goverment pleases. Wars, illegals, insane public union pensions - whatever.
Nothing like taking comments out of context, totally changing the meaning, then making unsupported assertions with them.
If this is the party that is the only alternative to Obama, than it looks like I will be voting Obama again.
How much debt was added in 2008, Bush’s last year?
You are including $1.5T Bush debt from 2008 to Obama. Debt on Jan 20, 2009 was $6.3T.
Bush started the bailouts. He signed TARP. He did the first round of handouts. Do you honestly expect me to believe that McSame would have prosecuted more Wall Street insiders?
Yes, Social Security was a Pay-In-Get-Back system. By 1936 people were disgusted by the tiny checks, that some would pay in and never collect, and that the spouse of someone that paid in could not collect what their spouse had paid in.
So, in 1939 SS was broken. It was decided that 1+1 actually equals 4.
It was broken again in 1973 when COLAs were added, and magically, 1+1 = 8.
Doesn’t change the fact that it is a tax, taken from me under threat of prison if I do not pay.
Doesn’t change the fact that when Buffet mentioned his effective tax being lower than his secretary’s he specifically stated that it was including payroll tax.
Again, I hate Obama.
I just hate what the Republican party has become, even more than I hate Obama.
Sorry, typo. $1.2T debt Bush’s last year.
Let’s say for a minute that Republicans win all 3 houses in Nov 2008. Jan 2009 and we’re projected to have a $1.3T deficit for the fiscal year.
What exactly are the Republicans going to do to shrink the deficit….
GO!
Convince me to vote Republican.
If debt is money do we even want to shrink the deficit?
Can someone help me decipher an article?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46152450
“many baby boomers and retirees may be forced to either: live on less, erode their portfolio’s principal, take on more risk, or depend on gains from the stock market.”
How are 3 and 4 not the same thing?
And, what stock gains? A year ago we were at 1300 S&P, and last week we were at 1300 S&P.
“# Ladder bonds and CDs at different maturity dates so that they can capture potential higher rates and yields.
# Buy global bonds, not only treasuries, to maximize total return.
# Invest in dividend-paying stocks, again paying attention to the total return…
# Finally, look for alternative investments. Glassman suggest merger arbitrage funds, which invest long and short in companies involved in a merger or acquisition. ”
Buy global bonds, like Greek?
Merger arbitrage funds?
These options don’t sound anything like his stated goal, “Boomers and retirees need conservative investment strategies”. If these are his conservative ideas, I’d hat to see his aggressive.
Now, here is the one I’m really confused about….
“retirees should tap taxable accounts first and take only the required minimum distributions from Traditional IRAs for now, Glassman says.”
I do not get this.
Let’s say I have $10K cash and $11,100 in an IRA. Let’s say if I take the IRA money I get hit by, say 10% tax and end up with $10K. Then what is the difference?
Pay the tax now or pay the tax later. If you are retired and your tax rate is unlikely to fall further, what’s the diff?
In fact, shouldn’t I take the IRA money out steadily over time to reduce to increase the chances of hitting a higher tax bracket? If I have no other income, wouldn’t it be better for me to take out as much IRA as possible to cover at least my standard deduction and personal exemptions, if not the lower tax brackets?
Or is social security more than enough to eat up those?
Unless he just makes more commission managing your $11K in an IRA than he makes when you have $10K in a CD at a bank.
I guess the real question is, assuming already retired and income will not fall further, why continue to delay the tax?
I think he is suggesting you take your own contributions back from the taxable accounts - you have already paid tax on them, so there is no tax or penalty associated with accounts designated for retirement like IRAs.
So if you have a Vanguard account with $12000 in it, and you personally have contributed $7000, then only take up to $7000.
The taxable accounts may be producing earnings that shift your tax bracket. By running them down first, you may be reducing the tax rate you will pay when you tap the pre-tax accounts.
But there are other good reasons to do this as well. For example, the pre-tax accounts are generally protected in BK, and the after-tax accounts generally are not (I say generally because it depends on the specific type of account, and even the specific language of its trust documents, from what I understand).
Jan. 25, 2012, 2:31 p.m. EST
How to catch a falling knife
Commentary: Is now finally the time to buy home builders, banks?By Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — I’d be a wealthy man indeed if I had a nickel for every time an adviser declared that the home builders had finally bottomed. So forgive me if I am skeptical of those who are, once again, making such a declaration.
…
Perhaps Hulbert missed the memo about the Fed’s plan to reflate the housing bubble?
http://news.yahoo.com/low-iq-conservative-beliefs-linked-prejudice-180403506.html
Totally off topic.
“There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb,”
“The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults.”
“Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice,”
So, are you racist because you are dumb? Or are you just a conservative because you are a dumb, and that makes you racist?
Do I believe it? One study is not sufficient to prove anything… but, understatement of the year ahead…
“They’ve pulled off the trifecta of controversial topics,” said Brian Nosek, a social and cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia who was not involved in the study. “When one selects intelligence, political ideology and racism and looks at any of the relationships between those three variables, it’s bound to upset somebody.”
I one time in my life I was very economically conservative, socially liberal. Then I lived the tech bubble from the inside, saw the exploding debt that is the basis of reaganomics, looked at the data to see that the Laffer Curve is insufficient to describe maximum gain since it ignores need for revenue, etc. etc. etc.
Guess I’m getting smarter as I’m getting older since I’m ever lees conservative.
I saw that study. Come to think of it there have been studies like this since the 70’s with similar results. This is sort of the dark side of modern psychology and even though it fans the flames of social discontent you can bet your life Roger Ailes milks it for every last dime. In fact, if you go back to the early part of the 20th. century the big thing then was eugenics. I seem to remember Randolph Hearst and most of the ‘learned elite’ went in for that big time.
On the plus side maybe this research will help identify the ’stupid gene’ and lead to effective treatment of this human affliction.
You don’t have to be intelligent to be rich or command corporations or governments. I think this has been proven.
“One study is not sufficient to prove anything…”
Oh, there are plenty of similar studies:
Brain structure differs in liberals, conservatives: study
(AFP) – Apr 7, 2011
WASHINGTON
Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.
“We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala,” the study said.
Other research has shown greater brain activity in those areas, according to which political views a person holds, but this is the first study to show a physical difference in size in the same regions.
Liberals are linked to larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that “monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts,” it said.
“Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, allowing them to accept more liberal views.”
It remains unclear whether the structural differences cause the divergence in political views, or are the effect of them.
But the central issue in determining political views appears to revolve around fear and how it affects a person.
“Our findings are consistent with the proposal that political orientation is associated with psychological processes for managing fear and uncertainty,” the study said.
Some of this is probably developed. ie if you spend your days in a world where everyone is afraid of change, new ideas, others and darkies that part of your brain will develop more. If you spend your days in a world where people debate one another, where their is variety in every aspect of life then other parts of your brain will develop. You can see this sort of thing in athletes scientists, the area they use repeatedly becomes larger and more active.
Double bubble,
Toil and trouble!
Printing money
Leads to rubble.
1/25/2012 @ 4:25PM
Obama and Bernanke: Cooking Up Another Market Bubble?
“Ben, look. You have to keep interest rates low or I am toast, dude.”
The two most important leaders on planet earth each delivered major public speeches in the last 24 hours. Last night U.S. President Barack Obama, in what might be the last State of the Union address of his political career, suggested that the economy is improving, unemployment is heading down, the world is safer, and America’s standing in the world vastly improved all because of his administration’s policies. In a press conference this afternoon, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (by far, the most powerful non-elected person on the planet) delivered a more cautious assessment, suggesting that improved economic conditions, including decreased unemployment and steadily low inflation, will be affected by what happens in Europe and in the broader non-U.S. global economy (hint: China). Today’s upward rise in the U.S. stock market suggests that investors believe both men might be right. That is, there will be economic headwinds, but the U.S. will manage those headwinds well.
Just to make sure, Bernanke signaled that the Fed would keep interest rates low at least through 2014. This is unhappy news to America’s savers and the rabidly anti-Fed Ron Paul (who believes Fed money printing is the root cause of our economic malaise), but music to the ears of investors, new homebuyers, and for what Obama terms those “responsible homeowers” seeking home refinancing (who will now pay a 30-year mortgage rate of just 3.88%). Who knows, maybe housing principal forgiveness is on the way too (ah, heck, throw in a toaster while’s you’re at it).
But, with such initiatives, are Obama and Bernanke just cooking up another housing and market bubble to go along with the current student loan bubble?
…
I am pretty sure I am going to lose my job next week. The good news is that I will likely be promoted to something else. Shazam! This is quite the ride. Things are better with me and the old lady, but we’re still working through some stuff.
Anyway, the real reason I’m here:
1. My boss told me she is underwater and has essentially lost 16 years of equity. She’s in her early 40’s and on her third house. She bought/sold about every 5 years since 1995. Poof.
2. A colleague of my wife got a principle write down. Shazam!
3. A colleague of mine has a neighbor who walked away from their house, only to be contacted by the bank to be informed that their “mortgage not has gone missing.” So my colleague’s neighbor is now collecting rent from a young family and living in an apt. Shazam!
4. My ‘hood is still a ghost town, even during peak season. Poof!
5. A school I work with made substantial gains and is getting bonus money. During the process of deciding how to divvy the bonus money, everyone basically said it didn’t matter because they were all in debt, underwater, broke, etc. Shazam/Poof!
6. My LLs taxes went down again. I will remember this come June. I’m hoping we can stay with the same terms/price and maybe lock in a 2-year lease.
7. My realtor is still trying like hell to get me to buy. With agflation, clothing, daycare, etc. my family is running at capacity. We’ve basically been wittled down to month-to-month. We occasionally get a couple grand ahead, but then the inevitable car repair or dentist bill pops up. Every day I’m hustlin’. When I put a pencil to paper, it’s clear that we’ll be in this position for at least two more years. If I do get promoted I suspect my raise will just feed the many beasts with their snouts in my wallet. And no, other than the occasional family meal out, we don’t buy anything we don’t need.
8. We’ve made friends with neighbors a few houses down because our sons play together. That’s been a lot of fun and helps me stay focused on the meaningful stuff.
What have I missed? Anything good?
We’ve basically been wittled down to month-to-month. We occasionally get a couple grand ahead, but then the inevitable car repair or dentist bill pops up.
That pretty much sums up the family provider’s life.
“mortgage not has gone missing.”
Huh? I’m guessing the ‘not’ shouldn’t be in there, but then you’re saying the bank contacted them to tell them they’d lost the mortgage? Really? In the MERSea? That’s kind of…shocking. I don’t think I understand.
divvy the bonus money, everyone basically said it didn’t matter because they were all in debt, underwater, broke, etc.
I would have said, “I’m debt-free, so I’ll just take it all!”
Things are better with me and the old lady,
Good to hear.
America has had the first black President. Time now for the first Mexican-American Presidente?
Vox News
Mitt Romney, the first Mexican-American president?
With a father who was born in Mexico and a son who lived in Chile and is fluent in Spanish, Mitt Romney has a compelling story to tell to Latino voters, some experts say.
By Gloria Goodale, Staff writer / January 26, 2012
…
BAAAHAHA.
Please he’s the Al Gore of the republican party.
“I live in a San Francisco environment of strange fantasies and strange understandings of reality.”
We put an offer on a house yesterday.
In the neighborhood we want. 4 bedroom, 3 bath, huge yard. In-law apartment with full kitchen. Rents going for 3K a month for similar homes nearby.
Here’s the shocker: 40K down payment assistance from the city, interest free and forgivable after 10 years. 490K loan from credit union that offers loans with less than 20% down and no PMI. 13K of our own money (plus we pay closing costs).
Money is cheap. WTF. It’s surreal, to be sure.
In the neighborhoods we are looking (in San Francisco proper) rents and PITI are equivalent. Prices are at about 2002/03 levels.
It may drop further down, but they really aren’t building many more SFH here in our 7X7 square mile city.
Wherever we land we stay at least 10-15 years.
We are in our mid 40’s and I have spent the last 10 years playing armchair economist and waiting for this bubble to play itself out, raising my kids in a rental that’s really too small anymore with a crazy landlady and no rent control.
Time to get on with my life. If we don’t get this house (which we probably won’t because there are a ton of Chinese investors in SF and in this neighborhood esp., and many have all cash, contractor family. etc.) we can stay in our rental and wait until the right house comes along.