Bits Bucket for June 4, 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.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
May 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
June 4, 2012, 3:13 a.m. EDT
Europe stocks open lower, led by DAX 30
MADRID (MarketWatch) — European stock markets opened lower on Monday, with German stocks leading the negative direction, with autos such as Volkswagen AG (DE:VOW3 -3.70%), down 2.3%, among the decliners after data showed weakness in China’s service sector.
…
How about Japan? Here’s an excerpt from today’s news:
TOKYO: Asian shares tumbled on Monday, pushing the broader Tokyo market to a 28-year low, as investors extended a rout of global stocks and worried about a nightmare scenario of euro-zone breakup, U.S. economic relapse and a sharp slowdown in China.
Tokyo’s broader Topix index lost 2.1 percent to 693.35, a level not seen since late 1983, as Asian markets plumbed new lows for 2012. Japan’s Nikkei average fell 2 percent after last week marking its ninth straight week of losses, the longest such losing streak run in 20 years………..
that’s what a Zero Interest rate policy leads to…the total destruction of capital markets, because no one knows what anything is worth, and the continually spending by the government just bleeds the country dry.
good work, Japan. Let’s watch Bernanke, Geithner and the FED kill us, too.
June 4, 2012, 12:08 a.m. EDT
Asia stocks skid after weak U.S. jobs data
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Asian markets skidded Monday as investors took their first chance to react to much weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data that added to a long list of ongoing worries about global growth, including the drag from Europe’s debt crisis.
…
My comment on today’s markets via another excerpt:
Bab·y·lon
[bab-uh-luhn, -lon]
1.an ancient city of SW Asia, on the Euphrates River, famed for its magnificence and culture: capital of Babylonia and later of the Chaldean empire.
2.any rich and magnificent city believed to be a place of excessive luxury and wickedness.
3.a city on S Long Island, in SE New York.
Note definitions 2 and 3.
Revelation Chapter 19:
Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
11
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12
The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13
And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all…….
Poof~!
Uhhh . . . regarding definition #3:
- a nice little town by Long Island standards; hardly a place of “excessive luxury and wickedness.”
Maybe the merchants of the Earth are weeping and mourning but at least we’ve still got Bunger’s surf shop.
June 3, 2012, 8:33 p.m. EDT
Australia stocks fall sharply in regional sell-off
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Australian stocks rushed lower in early Monday trading, falling in tandem with other Asian markets in reaction to weak U.S. employment data and a subsequent Wall Street sell-off Friday, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO -1.94%) falling 1.5% to 4,002.60, briefly touching below 4,000 to its lowest level of the year. Companies with global exposure — especially in the mining and airline spaces — saw heavy drops for their shares. Rio Tinto Ltd. (AU:RIO -4.74%) lost 2.6%, and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG -4.81%) fell 3.9%, while Qantas Airways Ltd. (AU:QAN -3.07%) dropped 2.7%, and Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. (AU:VAH -3.53%) gave up 3.5%. BlueScope Steel Ltd. (AU:BSL -9.38%) lost 3.1%, while gold producer Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM +1.74%) offered one of the very few bright spots, climbing 4.4% after gold futures rebounded over the weekend.
Sounds as though Germany will either make Soros appear to be a prophet or a liar over the next three months.
I don’t know exactly how he came up with three months, but the timing seems a little suspect. Hasn’t Europe already been playing extend-and-pretent for years by now? Who, besides Soros, gave them a three-month doomsday timeline?
June 3, 2012, 11:59 a.m. EDT
Europe has 3 months to address crisis: Soros
Euro will stay intact as Germany does just enough
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The European Union has three months to address its financial crisis before the markets stop giving it time, but in the end the euro is likely to remain, said George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC.
Europe is struggling with a fundamental flaw of its original design: that’s it’s a monetary and economic union but not a political or fiscal one, Soros said at the Festival of Economics in Trento, Italy, according to remarks posted Sunday on Soros’s website.
The solution will require European deposit insurance to stem the outflows of deposits already being seen from peripheral countries’ banks, he said. It will also require allowing banks to access direct financing from the European Stability Mechanism — the region’s permanent bailout mechanism which currently is designed to be tapped by sovereign governments.
That will need to go hand-in-hand with euro zone-wide supervision and regulation, he said. Read Soros’ remarks.
“The heavily indebted countries need relief on their financing costs. There are various ways to provide it but they all need the active support of the Bundesbank and the German government,” Soros said.
The challenge will be convincing Germans that it’s in their interest to take those steps, he said.
“Nothing can be done without German support,” he said.
…
“The challenge will be convincing Germans that it’s in their interest to take those steps, he said.”
How exactly is Germany supposed to help? Maybe Spain should be the white knight.
http://nationaldebtclocks.com/greece.htm
http://nationaldebtclocks.com/germany.htm
http://nationaldebtclocks.com/spain.htm
“How exactly is Germany supposed to help?”
By lending a lot more money to the ECB so they in turn can lend it to deadbeat countries and zombie banks. Good luck with that.
Small wonder Romney is so eager to “take this country back!”
Obama win could cost Romney $5M in personal taxes
Boston.com - 20 minutes ago
WASHINGTON—To see where the presidential candidates stand on taxing the rich, just look at how they’d tax themselves. Under his own proposal, Mitt Romney would pay half what he would under President Barack Obama’s tax plan.
…
I’d like to impose a special doggie on cartop tax on Romney. Just on him.
Romney ate a dog?
Nah — just strapped one to the roof of his car…
I can’t help recalling… someone… ate a dog.
And that’s the reason for my special tax.
I mean, come on. Put the dog in the kennel, Mitt. Or get a doggie sitter while you’re on vacay.
Didn’t… someone… eat a dog?
Barry thinks he ate dog, but the restaurant owner was probably cutting corners and served him cat.
Or a parking garage tax….
“What’s the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom?…
Pit bull is delicious.”
-Barack Hussein Obama at the WH correspondent’s dinner, 2012.
(That’s a joke, Maaaaaac.)
Heh heh…
Aside from the steady drone of Republican blowhards dishing on Obama, is he really much different from Romney?
How?
Mitt Romney adviser Glenn Hubbard takes tax ideas from President Obama’s playbook
Hubbard tells CNN that ‘upper-income households’ need to pay more to cover cuts in tax rates
By Alison Gendar / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, June 3, 2012, 11:13 PM
AN ECONOMIC adviser to Mitt Romney channeled an unlikely source Sunday — President Obama.
Glenn Hubbard told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that Romney wants to reduce marginal tax rates and to pay for the resulting cuts by broadening the tax base. He said “the bulk of the adjustment [must] be borne by upper-income households.”
“Everything has to be on the table, and again, the adjustment really has to focus on upper-income households,” Hubbard added.
…
Indeed, ordinary people getting excited over Obama vs. Romney reminds me of fans getting all exited when “their” team makes it to the Souperbowl, when in fact it’s not “their” team, but rather it’s some uber rich guy’s team.
Oh how I miss Pat Bolen and his full length fur coats.
And I miss Patrick Boland (sp?) of TRex. Bang-a-gong and all that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Bolan
Thank you, goon squad! I stand corrected.
Yes indeed. We must tax more. Because every $1 spent by the govt today is spent effectively and wisely therefore no govt spending cuts are possible.
What’s funny to me is even though Romney = Obama on 90% of issues, leftists are still making him out to be Hitler (as are all Republicans of course) and kool aid drinking Republicans are making him out to be Reagan Part 2.
I’m convinced if tomorrow Obama became a Republican and Romney became a Democrat the very same people who call Obama a communist would be praising him and the very same people who call Romney a Nazi would be praising him. It’s all about R vs D, my team vs your team.
“It’s all about R vs D, my team vs your team.”
Correct. And as my Souperbowl analogy pointed out, they aren’t really our teams at all.
Like when local fans get all excited when the Broncos win, thinking that they are “our team”, when in fact they are Pat Bowlen’s team. Witness how fan’s darling Tim Tebow was sent packing at the end of the season, without the fans even being consulted.
Fans demanded that the new stadium, built with tax payer money, retain the name Mile High Stadium….
And yet the naming rights were sold off. Oh, sure. The fans got a nod and a wink when it was called Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium, but whenever the name was used on national TV or in national print, it was shortened to just Invesco Field.
I think the only difference between RvD politics and the sports analogy is that sports fans know that there is nothing but bragging rights and a few moments of drams attached to sports. People seem to think that with politics, one party is truly evil and will destroy the country as they know it, while the other party is pure good and is the defender of the faith in what they see as the “true path” to a great future.
In short, sports fans know that it doesn’t really matter. In politics, the dogmatic devotees believe that it does matter.
is that sports fans know that there is nothing but bragging rights and a few moments of drams attached to sports
Don’t tell that to Broncos fans. The team has sucked for 10+ years now and yet Mile High … I mean Invesco … scratch that … Sports Authority Field at Mile High never has an empty seat.
Personally … I find the NFL to be boring. I guess I don’t get all that excited seeing 300 lb behemoths maiming each other.
NFL football is a metaphor for war. Establish a line, come up with a plan of attack, invade the other side’s territory. It appeals to a very base desire to see your side win and the other side lose.
And, yeah… Colorado fans are rabid about the Broncos. When I moved to Colorado in 1993, I couldn’t get a driver’s license without swearing an oath of allegiance to the Broncos.
BUT, at least they haven’t shot fans of opposing teams, like Oakland fans.
Bronco fans are LOOSERS.
Well, that’s not exactly true. Republicans are having a “war on women”, as I am sure all of the women in the Republican party can attest. (wonder why they would be consorting with the enemy?)
It’s really too ridiculous to contemplate the stupid remarks that are made in the press of their various claims as the evilness of the Republicans…..Now, they’re trying to keep Blacks and minorities from voting, but Eric Holder has refused to prosecute black panthers who intimidated White Voters, in many cases, not just one. So, who is making a “war” on who??
They are keeping homosexuals from realizing their “rights”, because everything is now a “human right” as decided by various world-wide unelected governmental councils.
Yes, republicans are “evil” and the democrats are “good”. They are especially good at spending other people’s money.
They are especially good at spending other people’s money
Again I’d go to Zfacts dot com and see who our big spenders are.
Defits don’t matter cheney
Newt Gingrich when asked why the gop was spending like drunken sailors after taking power.
“To the victor go the spoils”
I’m not sure homosexual marriage needs to be argued as a human right. I think a more effective argument is to appeal to the equal protections clause of the Constitution.
I’m not sure that heterosexual marriages needs to be argued as a human right. Just allow for civil unions for everyone for legal purposes and leave the “marriage” part to the families and churches.
+1, oxide. Most people don’t see the distinction. And, to be fair, I didn’t completely get it either until I went through the whole religious prep part of my marriage. Government shouldn’t be involved in who or what one should marry.
Government shouldn’t be involved in who or what one should marry.
I’d take it one step further, and throw out the idea of ‘civil union’, which really is just the legal definition of marriage under a different name.
Get rid of the legal concept of civil union and/or marriage. Make all rights currently conveyed by law assignable via contract. Why, if I’m single, can’t my best friend have the ‘rights’ that my civil partner otherwise would? Ability to visit in hospital, inheritance, etc.
Completely agree as well. And ‘civil union’ should cover any kind of relationship pair (and does it even need to be limited to pairs?) that you need to create for legal purposes including for example single grown child/elderly parent if legal rights currently conveyed with marriage are not conveyed via the relationship without it.
I totally agree, sleepless and oxide. And I’m not just saying that because I’m an Arch Deacon in the Universal Life Church. (My sister gave me the choice of that or Mother Superior.) How many people can say they’ve married their sister?
I will pile on my agreement. The legal aspect should be called Civil Union for everyone, and leave rules of marriage up to whatever religion someone wants to join/create.
Actually, this raises a question for me, the more I think about it as I’ve had a few friends “get married” on the courthouse steps.
In a religious wedding, the state recognizes that ceremony as a legal union (”by the power vested in me…”) at the same time as a religious union, but what happens when the reverse occurs? At the court house, certainly there is a legal union but no religious construct.
And you apply for a “marriage license” which is also only for the purposes of the state, correct?
Was there a time when “marriage” ONLY meant a religious union?
Yes, now, depending on the Church. Urban legend has it that Jim Morrison married his girlfriend in a Wiccan-type knot-tying ceremony but it was never legally recognized.
I thought that after the couple marries in the church, they sign all the legal forms separately in the back of the church. Maybe the marrieds can pitch in.
I dont care about religion or morality Its about JOBS JOBS that awful 4 letter word the politicians cant seem to grasp.
Think of the JOBS legalizing gay marriage will create….
I thought that after the couple marries in the church, they sign all the legal forms separately in the back of the church.
As a “married,” I can say yes this was true for us which is why I say the state recognizes the ceremony as the legal basis as well. No need to have two ceremonies. Other than the license, it’s basically a one-stop shop to handle both the religious and civil angles.
My question was the opposite as in, what happens in a civil ceremony on the courthouse steps? Certainly there is no religious recognition of the union. But it’s still called “marriage” which I always considered to be the religious portion, not the civil portion…
I call BS. Hubbard is taking a page from Obama’s playbook only to sound moderate to win the election. I’ve seen Hubbard’s “commentaries” on Nightly Business Report, and it’s all tax cut all the time. If Romney wins, do you honestly think he’ll put moderate ideas into practice?
“Broadening the tax base” is Republican code for taxing the half of the country that doesn’t make enough income to tax. Hubbard would gladly tax the rich an extra $5 if he could get 10 Lucky Duckies to pay an extra $1 each. Never mind that those Lucky Duckies need the $1 far more than the rich need their $5.
““Broadening the tax base” is Republican code for taxing the half of the country that doesn’t make enough income to tax. ”
Those monsters!! Imagine the horror of living in a country where everyone pays at least a minimum amount of income tax!!!
It’s almost as horrifying as living in a country where the jobs base has been systematically offshored, driving millions of formerly middle class Americans into poverty and the humiliation of depending on food stamps to feed their families.
Careful there Colorado. Don’t you know. For every job shopped off shore, more jobs are created here.
Or so I’m told.
In fact, the economy would be booming if NO ONE had any jobs and EVERY job was done by robots.
Maybe I misunderstood, but I don’t think he meant more jobs are created HERE. I think the argument was that jobs (and possibly more of them, albeit at much lower salaries) are created…somewhere.
I’d also guess, however, that it also depends on where automation enters the discussion as to whether or not it’s true.
“NO ONE had any jobs and EVERY job was done by robots.”
Now, that would depend on who owns the robots, although I think I can infer from your tone in this scenario it would be the Koch Bros.
I love hearing people repeat the lie that the poor pay no taxes. It tells me they’ve NEVER been poor or they would know it for the lie it is. Yes, I DO mean income taxes.
That and the lie also includes children and the retire who have neither jobs nor income to pay taxes on.
only to sound moderate to win the election.
Exactly. It’s run-to-the-center time, now that they’ve locked up the nomination.
More like etch-a-sketch time…
Op-Ed Columnist
This Republican Economy
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: June 3, 2012
What should be done about the economy? Republicans claim to have the answer: slash spending and cut taxes. What they hope voters won’t notice is that that’s precisely the policy we’ve been following the past couple of years. Never mind the Democrat in the White House; for all practical purposes, this is already the economic policy of Republican dreams.
So the Republican electoral strategy is, in effect, a gigantic con game: it depends on convincing voters that the bad economy is the result of big-spending policies that President Obama hasn’t followed (in large part because the G.O.P. wouldn’t let him), and that our woes can be cured by pursuing more of the same policies that have already failed.
For some reason, however, neither the press nor Mr. Obama’s political team has done a very good job of exposing the con.
…
JPMorgan So-Called Hedge Is Awkward for Fed Knowing Its Meaning
By Cheyenne Hopkins and Caroline Salas Gage - Jun 3, 2012 4:01 PM PT
When is a hedge not a hedge?
That’s the question regulators from the Federal Reserve to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are confronting after JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) reported a $2 billion trading loss from a credit-derivatives position Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called a “hedge.”
Regulators are under pressure to respond to JPMorgan’s loss as they finish writing the so-called Volcker Rule, which restricts banks’ proprietary trading and is the most controversial provision in the Dodd-Frank Act. They’re scrutinizing the so-called hedging exemption in the proposed regulation and probably will narrow the exceptions for trades banks say are designed to mitigate risk, according to two people familiar with the matter.
JPMorgan’s loss “will reinforce the position of those who want to be tough,” Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat and co-author of the financial-overhaul legislation, said in a telephone interview. “I do think it will mean Volcker will not allow” such trades.
…
As I’ve said, you can break the law and get away with it as long you change the name of the crime and can afford expensive lawyers.
Banks Cut Cross-Border Lending Most Since Lehman: BIS
By Boris Groendahl and Gavin Finch - Jun 3, 2012 3:00 PM PT
Global banks scaled back cross-border lending to companies, governments and each other at the fastest rate since 2008 in the final quarter of last year, with lenders based in the euro area leading the way.
Lenders reporting to the Bank for International Settlements, the record-keeper of the world’s central banks, shrank their cross-border assets by $799 billion, or 2.5 percent, in the three months ended Dec. 31, data released by the BIS on June 3 show. The decline was the sharpest since the fourth quarter of 2008, when interbank lending markets froze worldwide following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Enlarge image Banks Cut Cross-Border Lending by Most Since Lehman, BIS Say
The Societe Generale SA headquarters are seen in the La Defense business district in Paris. Euro-area banks slashed cross-border lending by $584 billion in the quarter as institutions including Societe Generale SA, Commerzbank AG and UniCredit SpA cut assets to meet European Banking Association capital rules. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
“The decline was led by a significant drop in interbank lending arising from the spillover of the euro-area sovereign debt crisis to bank funding markets,” BIS said in its quarterly report. “The reduction was especially marked for cross-border claims on residents of the euro area and was mostly attributable to euro-area banks.”
…
ECONOMY
June 3, 2012, 8:35 p.m. ET
Fed’s ‘Sensible Center’ Wants No Policy Shift
By JON HILSENRATH
At a time when the Federal Reserve looks persistently polarized, Sandra Pianalto, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, has positioned herself as a consensus seeker who tends to find herself right in the middle of the pack.
She isn’t running with the crowd at the Fed that wants early interest-rate increases to stave off higher inflation. Nor is she running with those arguing for more action to drive down unemployment. For now, at least, Ms. Pianalto wants to keep Fed policy where it is, planning to keep short-term interest rates near zero through late 2014, and be prepared to do more if her economic forecast substantially deteriorates.
A recent stream of bad economic data—including Friday’s report that job growth slowed in May and the unemployment rate rose—haven’t persuaded her that the time is right for more Fed action. Though she said the report was disappointing, she said she isn’t yet convinced the economy is taking a turn for the worse. The bad figures might just be payback for the strength seen earlier in the year due to an unusually warm winter.
“I’d have to see a substantial change in my outlook” to be convinced the Fed should do more, Ms. Pianalto, 57 years old, said Friday, in the second of two exclusive interviews with The Wall Street Journal over consecutive days. “I don’t think this employment report, in and of itself, is likely to lead to a substantial change in my outlook. Consequently, it would not lead me, at this time, given what I know about my outlook, to change my position on policy.” It was her first interview with a national news outlet in her 10 years as a regional Fed chief.
…
My adopted home of Cyprus needs a bailout too. Thank God the Russians fronted us 2.5 billion Euros to tide us over! They won’t want any consideration for that kind of money, will they?
http://tinyurl.com/6rbdb28
That’s $2500 Euros for every man, woman and child in Cyprus. About 10% of GDP.
More money that won’t get paid back, I suppose.
sounds normal…not a dime for the peasants to spend on shoes clothes food
Hmmmm….
$23B GDP. $2B international trade deficit.
And they are struggling with debt.
It is almost like trade deficits and excess debt are somehow related…..
I wonder what is going on here. Anyone have any ideas?
Pretty stupid of them not to have put a bunch or oil, coal, and other key resources under their country.
“oil, coal, and other key resources ”
I said the other day that these are a source of money that is not debt.
Just because you can trade a commodity for money doesn’t make it money. It is two separate systems unless you are in a barter/”good money” economy, and we are not. You are right that commodities are not debt.
I don’t understand how natural resources aren’t money… or at least one step away from money. You barter the oil for some bits and bytes in a computer somewhere, and *whoomp* you have money.
Or you could do it California gold-rush style, where you literally dug money out of the ground.
“I don’t understand how natural resources aren’t money… or at least one step away from money.”
Apparently not.
Natural resources are not something people normally use to buy food, shelter, entertainment, education services, transportation, military or law enforcement services, or anything else on that list. In a barter economy, an owner of natural resources would face the ‘double-coincidence of wants’ problem: For instance, if they owned oil, they would need to either find a farmer or grocer who wanted to buy oil, or else go hungry.
Money and market prices eliminate the need for barter, as trade in all directions becomes possible. The oil owner sells for currency at the going price, and uses said currency to buy food. With money, the double-coincidence of wants goes away, as the oil producer does not need to find a farmer or grocer who needs oil in order to be able to eat.
P.S. I learned the above long ago in a course which used Hubbard’s textbook.
Looks like futures and Europe/Asia markets are down…
Anyone want to speculate how far down the markets will go or will the Bernak grunt really loud and unleash a 50T Tsar Money Bomb upon us all QE3-style…
Does the PPT have any teeth anymore… We shall see!
I’m thinking they will tread water with occasional stealth liquidity injections for a while before executing your scenario under cover of a major policy announcement.
Just a hunch here, as the opening bell selloff that lots of Wall Street pundits predicted for this morning did not materialize…
or will the Bernak grunt really loud and unleash a 50T Tsar Money Bomb upon us all QE3-style
That would be about $7000 for every man, woman and child on Earth. Why do I have a sinking feeling that the 99% around the globe won’t see a single penny of that money?
It seems like Mr Market wants to selloff, but the invisible hand of intervention is stopping him.
Factory data derail Street
U.S. stocks in the red after a report on factory orders shows a decline, in contrast to economists’ expectations. Concerns over sluggish U.S. jobs growth, a China slowdown, and a tottering Spanish banking system are all weighing on sentiment.
yes they do. they have the ESF and have used it to manipulate the markets in currency and bonds. In other words, they have basically have a naked short position against other traders, which would be illegal (and actually is) if this wasn’t done clandestinely by the Treasury.
Here’s a short explanation by Rob Kirby a financial writer who contributes to the Financial Sense blog: (old article):
Historically, the Federal Reserve/U.S. Treasury ONLY had control of the VERY short end of the interest rate curve – specifically the Fed Funds rate [the rate at which banks and investment dealers borrow and lend to each other on an overnight basis]. With the advent and proliferation of interest rate derivatives – specifically Interest Rate Swaps [IRS], the Fed/Treasury gained effective control of the “long end” of the interest rate curve. Thus the Fed / Treasury has been practicing an undeclared form of financial repression for a very long time.
In free market economies the laws of usury dictate that the interest rate mechanism serves as the arbiter as to where scarce [finite] capital is allocated. Historically, it was a group of industry professionals known as the bond vigilantes who enforced this discipline – primarily on spend-thrift governments – by making them pay more, through elevated interest rates, when they demonstrated poor stewardship of national finances. Pre “neusury” – when we had truly free markets – when the bond vigilantes “sold” – interest rates WENT UP. To illustrate this point look no further than Bill Gross – the closest thing there is to a bond vigilante today - who heads the world’s largest bond fund PIMCO. It was CNBC who reported back on March 9, 2011 that,
“Pimco has dumped all of its US Treasury bond exposure in its flagship Total Return Fund. The move makes sense given Pimco chief Bill Gross’s public statements that Treasurys are over-valued.”
u.s. government bond 10 year
Pre “neusury” – such a pronouncement would have caused a MAJOR SELL OFF in bonds [higher rates]. Nowadays, the Fed / U.S. Treasury and their ‘captive’ investment banking vassals high-frequency-trade pre-determined outcomes through the Interest Rate Swap complex to show folks like Bill Gross who’s really in charge. The cascade in 10 year yields depicted above just happens to coincide with the first half of 2011 – when, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Morgan Stanley just happened to grow their swap book from 27.2 Trillion to 35.2 Trillion in notional – for a cool increase of 8 Trillion in six months at one investment bank.
The sheer volume physical U.S. government bond trade created by the interest rate swap derivative complex has resulted in “neusury” and OVERWHELMED the bond vigilantes – rendering them either impotent, extinct or perhaps just plain-old confused and afraid [take your pick?].
The incapacitation or extinction of the bond vigilantes has enabled the U.S. government to spend like drunken sailors, prosecute wars and misallocate resources on a grand scale – all the while lowering and / or keeping interest rates at or near ZERO. This arbitrary, gross mispricing of capital helped to spawn further abuses like the real estate and equity bubbles – the development of which produced new sub-sets of equity derivatives and cdo’s which also enabled the macro-management of these markets. Economics 101 tells us that capital is scarce and finite. By arbitrarily rigging interest rates too low – capital markets created the false impression of abundance – and loose lending practices resulted.
Control over the long end of the interest rate curve works as follows: The U.S. Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund [ESF], a secretive arm of the U.S. Treasury unaccountable to Congress, began entering the “FREE MARKET” – deals brokered by the N.Y. Fed - as a receiver of “all in” fixed rates - in terms from 3 to 10 years in duration. Interest rate swaps [IRS] trade at a spread – expressed in basis points – over the yield of the 3, 5, 7 and 10 year government bond yield. Banks are virtually all spread players. When trades occur between spread players – one side of the trade sells the other side of the trade the proscribed amount of U.S. Government bonds. This creates superfluous settlement demand for bonds. When the U.S. Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund [ESF] intervenes in this market – they are not spread players.
When the ESF trades with “spread players”[Morgan, Citi, BofA, Goldman, Morgan Stanley] – the banks are forced to purchase cash, physical U.S. Government bonds in the proscribed terms [3-10 years], almost dollar-for-notional-dollar – as hedges for each trade they do with the ESF [because the ESF does not supply them]. This is why – instead of the hollow, contrived, official excuses offered by the Fed – despite record, off-the-charts, government bond issuance – a remarkably large percentage of U.S. Government bond trades fail to settle.
++The ESF participates in these trades taking “NAKED INTEREST RATE RISK” – meaning they do not provide their counterparties with the requisite amount of bonds to hedge their trades – thus forcing them into the “free market” to purchase them. This generates UNBELIEVABLE “stealth” settlement demand for U.S. Government securities. This is how/why U.S. Government bonds and hence the Dollar can be made to appear “bid-unlimited” - even when economic fundamentals are SCREAMING otherwise. The amount of demand for cash government bonds that can be conjured out-of-thin-air in the derivative interest rate swap complex, which might be best described as “high-frequency-trade” on steroids - measured in hundreds of Trillions in notional - literally OVERWHEMS the cash bond settlement process. This means bond yields are set arbitrarily – in accordance with Fed / Treasury policy - NOT IN FREE MARKETS. This also explains why there are no identifiable end-users for the dizzying growth in interest rate derivatives [swaps] – the trade is all attributable to the Treasury’s ‘invisible’ ESF – an institution that is not publicly accountable to ANYONE or ANYTHING. This is why other nations can and do have, from time to time, failed bond auctions while America never has and NEVER WILL BE ALLOWED TO. This is all done in stealth to facilitate and give an air of legitimacy to the U.S. Treasury’s ZIRP [zero interest rate policy].
End of excerpt. The article is too lengthy to post, but I think you can get the gist of it without all the charts and tables. The BOND rates are rigged and scarce capital is substituted by FED providing ZERO (negative real interest).
An enterprising entrepreneur should come up with a piece of clothing called “Naked shorts”.
diogenes
Would you please post the link to this article? Very interesting.
They will go down until Europe decides to become the United states of Europe. Then a wall of money will flow out of Germany and the US.
Seems like the PPT propped the DJIA back up to the opening bell level…
Glad they’re on top of it, on a dangerous day like today. Where would we be without them?
Puke
Make your home offer stand out with a handwritten love letter
May Buying Advice: In some hot housing markets, a personal touch can help your purchasing plea rise above the others.
By Melinda Fulmer of MSN Real Estate
Just as temperatures are starting to rise, so are multiple offers on prime properties in some recovering markets. To stand out from the pack, an increasing number of buyers are taking the old-fashioned approach and penning a love letter to sellers telling them what they adore about the house and why they are the best suitor to end up with it.
In this installment of Buying Advice, we’ll look at what buyers stand to gain by writing these letters and what the letters should contain to be most persuasive.
Courting the owner
In this digital age, there’s something nice about getting a personal letter written (or even typed out) on paper, even if it comes from someone you are doing business with. That’s why an increasing number of sellers are writing letters to owners when competition for properties gets stiff — especially given that bids considered too high often won’t meet lenders’ appraisal rules.
Anna and Buzz Hays recently wrote a letter to shore up their bid on a midcentury home in a coveted Glendale, Calif., neighborhood. “I thought about it and said, ‘I might not have all cash to pay for the house, but I do have writing ability and I can use that,’” says Anna Hays, a teen-fiction writer.
Read: Potential homebuyers hit mortgage brick wall
She described what she liked about the home, including how well-maintained it was, the beautiful rock waterfall by the pool, the friendly neighbors and the “nature and calm” in the wooded neighborhood that surrounded it. She also included a few lines highlighting her and her husband’s résumés and assured the couple selling their home of 15 years that they would take steps to make its pool safe for their school-age twins.
The strategy worked. Hays and her husband beat out the other three offers and recently closed on the property. “They called me when the bid was accepted and said it was because of the letter,” she says.
http://realestate.msn.com/make-your-home-offer-stand-out-with-a-handwritten-love-letter - 229k -
OK I will try.
Dear Deadbeat
The time has come for you to move on and leave your wonderful home where you have lived payment free these many years. I know you will look back with fond memories at the vacations and new vehicles you purchased with your many equity extractions during the boom years. I know it will be difficult to leave your granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances behind as you move on to the next stage of your life where you actually have to pay rent.
I have a job and I pay taxes so not only will your house be current for the first time since 2007 but it will give you a better shot at the Social Security Disability you will undoubtedly be applying for this year.
Thanks and best of luck
The UNKNOWN TENANT
The really big question, having not read the letter is:
Did they offer to feed the squirrels??? What about the squirrels?
remember the ridiculous “boom” requirements to be able to purchase so you wouldn’t get “priced out forever”??
I would demand that they feed the squirrels to their dogs.
And then feed the dogs to Barry!
If someone were to send me a love letter with mucho money attached, well, goh-lee, I might just be a whole lot more interested in this romance stuff.
But you have to promise to water the garden with harvested graywater or rainwater. That’s all I ask.
“harvested graywater or rainwater”
I like you style Slim! But we are getting close to the end of the 1000 gallons of rainwater that I topped up after the last storm. I was hoping for one more storm, but I doubt we’ll see rain again until October. Back to city water with drip. I did pull 13 lbs of zucchini, half a pound of squash blossoms, a pound and a half of snap peas, 3 bunches of mustard greens, 3 bunches of chard and three eggs out of the backyard so far today. Reminds me that I forgot to check the cukes!
Frittata!
My wife made one the other day. Sorrel tart tomorrow!
I am usually the perennial optimist on this blog. Now, not so much.
Lately because I am losing my ass in the stock market.
Zillow says my house is worth half of what it was worth five years ago.
Banked some savings, but they no longer reap rewards.
Three months from 60, no pension.
I am not alone.
I am the second tier, with many, many lower tiers to follow.
Meanwhile, I want to apologize to the generations that follow for not doing a better job ensuring your future.
We inherited excrement and have excreted more.
Is your generation capable of doing a better job than us and turning it around?
I sincerely hope so!
What do you think about all these people suggesting we get rid of Social Security and Medicare?
I suspect most of them are wealthy people who could somehow get even wealthier through abrogation of the Social Security contract.
I think it is that they realize they are going to have to pay for it through higher taxes, since they are the only ones that have money to be taxed away, and do not want to pay.
These same people will deny the tenants of macro economics, that if others had not borrowed and spent, then there would not have been money in the economy for them to have earned in the first place.
It is fundamentally, mathematically impossible for EVERYONE to be spending less than they earn. Can not happen! And still, they will stand on high and proclaim that everyone should do exactly this.
Does a bear poop in the woods?
“What do you think about all these people suggesting we get rid of Social Security and Medicare?”
If I got back all of my Social Security contributions plus what I have matched for employees over the last 20 years I could retire tomorow. As it stands now I will not be able to retire until the day I die. Of course one good illness could wipe all of that out in a couple of month stay in the hospital without health insurance which I don`t have now anyway so what the hell. Party on! Oh wait, I haven`t done that in 24 years either.
Cmon now Folks….. Lets go down this path. “Let it wither on the vine”. We can re-live the guilded age and show everyone just how great it was. Take a chance, take the issue off the table. Afterall, these two fawking loser political parties have been using this “issue” for 30 years now.
What do you think about all these people suggesting we get rid of Social Security and Medicare?
Let’s just say if I uttered the words anywhere near my beloved radio station, I’d be banned from the airwaves.
At age 60 you should:
Not have that much invested in the stock market
Have a fully paid off house
‘In May, the House did vote to shift the first year of automatic defense cuts to domestic spending, but the legislation did not get a single Democratic vote and will go nowhere in the Senate. Even some Republicans recoiled at foisting Pentagon cuts onto programs like food stamps and school lunch programs.’
‘Senator Lindsey Graham’s intention is to separate defense from the larger deficit issue by aiming his arguments high and low. The high argument is about American greatness.’
“The debate on the debt is an opportunity to send the world a signal that we are going to remain the strongest military force in the world,” he said. “We’re saying, ‘We’re going to keep it, and we’re going to make it the No. 1 priority of a broke nation.’”
‘Then there is the low road: fear “The soft underbelly that I’m trying to exploit is, ‘What does this mean to your state?’ ” he said.’
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/us/politics/budget-control-act-military-cuts-raise-concerns.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2
Question for you banana,
Are you saying that 60-year olds TODAY should have a paid off house, or are you saying that everybody should have a paid-off house when they are 60?
The options for most American worker bees are: house, kids, retirement. Pick one and just one because you likely won’t be able to afford the other two.
At age 60 you should:
Have a fully paid off house
If only life were that clean, tidy and predictable. IIRC, we are now supposed to be a “highly mobile” workforce, ready to shove our families into a U Haul and skedaddle like gypsies to another city to find the next job.
Kind of hard to have a paid for house under such circumstances.
At age 60 you should:
Have a fully paid off house
Well I am approaching 50 and still renting, thanks to the bubble. So if and when I do buy a house, it will not be paid off by the time I reach 60.
The longer I wait for this thing to unravel, the less likely it is that I will ever have a paid off house.
It’s looking like by the time this settles out, I’ll have a paid off house the minute I sign the check.
Look at it this way: Depreciation is making your future mortgage payments for you.
Tell that to my colleagues in San Jose, where a 1200 sq foot condo goes for 600K and prices are rising again.
I think your problem may be your location. You will be able to buy a house for cash in Phoenix for what would not even be a good 20% down in San Fran.
Also known as “going Oil City.” Retirees in Florida have been doing it for decades. Amazing what housing deals you can find if you’re not tied to a commute.
Funny how houses are cheap where it’s either infernally hot or humid (or both). I wonder why?
Exactly. And you can say “well…it’s actually about where the jobs are and where the jobs aren’t”. OK, so why aren’t the jobs there?
The jobs aren’t there because there’s a LOT more land in the sticks than there is land for cities and jobs.
If you gave every man woman and child in the US a quarter acre, they would occupy all of California, or half of Texas…or the original 13 colonies… or the states bordering the Great Lakes, leaving the rest of the country dead empty. That’s a lotta land to fill with jobs.
If you’re a homebody and all you want is a satellite dish and a Wal-Mart, you do well in the semi-sticks.
I think a lot of us (besides 2ti-fruity) are riding in that boat…
“At age 60 you should:”
“Not have that much invested in the stock market”
That is sound advise.
“Have a fully paid off house”
That is just not realistic, too many variables. Going forward a 20 year old today will have a real tough time pulling that off…everything including used houses are too expensive.
“inherited excrement and have excreted more”
21st century American “free market” capitalism in a nutshell
Don’t apologize for me. I took to the streets AND waged underground media warfare and all I got was screwed as well.
The PTB quit answering to anyone when Ronnie Raygun took over. Deregulation destroyed us.
We were NOT given a choice or a chance.
But we *were* “given” a choice, turk, and some of us took it. The underground economy is alive and well and still waging media warfare, subverting from within.
RESIST! CO-OPT! DON’T FEED THE BEAST! (Now hand me my walker, sonny.)
We all owe a debt of gratitude to AlGore for creating the internet!
“subverting from within”
To what end? What type of system? Just asking.
Robin said: “Lately because I am losing my ass in the stock market. [...] Three months from 60, no pension.”
Sorry, but who told you that you should be playing in the stock market at your age? If you’re “losing your ass” then you’re in it far too deep.
You’re only a few short years from SS retirement. Your “portfolio” should have very little to do with stocks. That’s common sense. When did common sense become so uncommon?
Twenty-Eight short years and it’s easy street for me…
AIG Chief Sees Retirement Age as High as 80 After Crisis
American International Group Inc. (AIG) Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche said Europe’s debt crisis shows governments worldwide must accept that people will have to work more years as life expectancies increase.
“Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old,” Benmosche, who turned 68 last week, said during a weekend interview at his seaside villa in Dubrovnik, Croatia. “That would make pensions, medical services more affordable. They will keep people working longer and will take that burden off of the youth.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-03/aig-chief-sees-retirement-age-as-high-as-80-after-crisis.html
“Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old”
Will? FOr the majority it already is/ Contrary to popular belief, most seniors today don’t have pensions, and many who do could be in for an unpleasant surprise when their pension plans, which have been relying on non existent 8% returns and are woefully underfunded, slouch into insolvency and wind up paying pennies on the dollar.
I know plenty of seniors in their late 60’s who still work. Tons of them. For most, SS is the only thing they’re gonna get, while the 1%, as correctly predicted by George Carlin, are starting to clamor to have SS dismantled.
They simply need to get a government job and put in 10 years. In Nancy Pelosi’s district, that entitles them to a small pension and LIFETIME healthcare, all at the taxpayers expense.
In most other places, like here in Florida, I personally know several County and City workers, my age, who are already retired and collecting lifetime benefits….Minimum age 50 to 55.
That’s right folks, in the GOVERNMENT sector, you get in your 30, and it’s time to take it easy for the next 40.
This sham got off to a really big bang with the 80s stock market scam and the CFP’s assurances that Stocks and investments would go up 8 to 10% forever.
Well, the haven’t. So, we must make some adjustments to all those Promises of eternal economic security. Thus the WAR. Public sector vs. private sector.
The FED gives the best benefits, so if you can, get a FED job. It helps if you are black or “native american”, like Elizabeth Warren.
30 years is the standard everywhere, no mater what sector you work in.
Anything different is the exception (as in, you’re being screwed) not the rule.
If you’ve spent decades working a company and you’re not getting a retirement, you got screwed by the company and NOT by people who ARE getting a pension.
Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old
My mother is 75 and just retired last year. She is super fit and healthy, but unfortunately I can tell that she is really not as sharp as she used to be, and is sometimes stymied by small tasks. She technologically literate, but last month she went to make an online donation and ended up donating $10,000. instead of $1,000.
There are many many jobs that I would be frightened for my safety if people in their 70’s and 80’s were still at the wheel.
The trouble with working until 70 or 80 is that we have all kinds of evidence demonstrating that businesses will throw their 45-50 year olds under the bus at the first opportunity.
Soon, your “Peak Earning Years” will be 25 to 40. After that, you make too much money, and your insurance is too expensive for employers to keep you around.
I worked at a place with a bunch of portly guys that were in their 60’s and 70’s. Health care premiums were eating the business alive.
When Social Security began in 1937:
You could start to collect to age 65
The average life expectancy was 58 years
You all can do the math on that…
and don’t forget to ADD in the effects of all the anti-smoking campaigns…It worked …making us live even longer
Even military pensions have to be changed to at least 25-30 years of service before getting even partial retirement.
Deceptive. The average life expectancy included a relatively large infant/child mortality. They didn’t contribute much to the cash pool before they died. Better question is what was average life span for those who already had lived to 21. The gulf from that to today’s numbers… smaller than one might guess.
Social Security Disability Fund A Last Resort For The Unemployed As Benefits Dry Up
The Huffington Post Bonnie Kavoussi
First Posted: 12/28/11 01:39 PM ET
As more jobless people run out of unemployment insurance, they are turning to a last resort to make ends meet: government disability benefits.
Two new studies cited by The Wall Street Journal find that when jobless Americans exhaust their unemployment benefits, they turn to Social Security disability benefits to survive. The number of Americans receiving Social Security disability benefits has risen to 10.6 million since 2002 — an increase of 47 percent, the WSJ reports.
With more and more people coming to depend on Social Security, the program’s long-term prospects are starting to seem endangered. Most people who start receiving disability insurance stay in the program until they retire, and the average person in the disability program ultimately receives more than $240,000 in benefits, according to a 2006 study by economists David Autor and Mark Duggan cited by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/social-security-disability-unemployment_n_1172682.html - 409k -
That must be some real fine living, high on the hog, collecting $800/month of disability.
The 21st century will be the century of Lucky Ducky
Yep. Amazing how $800 a month pays for Escalades and steaks, is it?
Amazing how $800 a month pays for Escalades and steaks, is it?
Half the guys I grew up with have been drawing that for the past twenty years. They also get MediCal, which is often worth more than the monthly check. They work under the table…never paying into the system.
Social Security Disability Fund
aka welfare for dysfunctional men.
The point is valid, though the data is slightly incorrect.
Average life expectancy from birth was 62, not 58, but at birth you are not paying anything in yet. A better number would be expectancy from 20, when you are paying in. Life expectancy for someone that had made it past all those nasty childhood illnesses and was now paying into SS was 68.
It is now 79.
So, in 1937, the average 20 year-old could expect to collect for 3 years, whereas now, they can expect to collect for 14.
Of course, the SS tax was 2% and now it is 14.4%.
When Social Security began in 1937:
Did they have alcoholics and drug addicts drawing in 1937?
How will “people working longer” “take the burden off of youth?” If the old don’t retire, what jobs are the young going to have?
I guess the answer lies in that “seaside villa in Croatia.”
“How will “people working longer” “take the burden off of youth?” If the old don’t retire, what jobs are the young going to have?”
Really hard manual labor jobs that old people can`t do and strippers. I don`t think there is going to be too much demand for 70 year old pole dancers or 80 year old moving men.
I’m not sure how many of today’s 20 somethings are fit enough to be movers.
I got to see a team of movers in action a couple of years ago and they were definitely much stronger than I was and had much more endurance than I did when I was in the army. And some of them weren’t that big. Looked like really tough work to me.
I got to see a team of movers in action a couple of years ago and they were definitely much stronger than I was and had much more endurance than I did when I was in the army. And some of them weren’t that big. Looked like really tough work to me.
Okay, I’ll go all HBB Librarian on you and recommend the book Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard. Among other jobs, he worked as a mover. Not the easiest job, but it can be learned.
Mr. Benmosche is living proof that things can work out really well for a person whose company gets a big government bailout!
Damn government interference!
Oh wait, wrong context. That only applies to rules and regulations.
What happens to people like my Cousin Sue, who was showing signs of Alzheimers in her late 50s/early 60s. She died as a ward of the state of Vermont. No retirement at 80 for her.
And how about my dad? He made it until age 84, and well, sorry, that’s all. He’s not able to do simple tasks for very long, and he used to run an engineering lab. We had to lock up the guns a few months ago so that he would get at them and kill himself and us too.
Pay attention people! He has just told us what the master plan.
But that’s OK. Marie Antoinette didn’t get it either.
Ah the sweet days of high school graduation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TrixLbdqGg
Two of my Daughter’ s basketball games had to be rescheduled to home games after shootings outside the gym.
At least the comments are right on target…can’t speak English…
These are “high school graduates” of the successful “integrated” school system. Great. What a joke.
These are useless thugs that couldn’t read a diploma.
But, at least, white folks won’t be able to get a decent education, either, so that will make it “fair”.
I wouldn’t let anyone I know attend a “school” like that. What a waste of taxpayers money.
Eric Holder will be prosecuting you for Racism® for that comment.
Question for all the big heads here:
Is there a connection between illegal immigration and Fed “money printing?”
In other words, can currency devaluation (inflation) that results from printing money, be off set by new people entering the country and working for lower wages?
I’m not sure considering illegals are heading back south and have been since 2009.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-03/californias-illegal-immigrant-shortage
The prospect of a recovery and the uncertainty over immigration reform has farmers thinking about how to adjust. For Jack Vessey, taking business over the border someday isn’t out of the question. “If I can’t get people on this side of the border to pick the crops before they wilt and die, then we may have to go where the labor is,” says the Holtville farmer.
Lawrence Cox has already gone south, transferring more of his labor-intensive crops such as cilantro, asparagus, and kale from Brawley to land in Mexico’s Mexicali Valley, which he started farming in 1991 when cost pressures from the looming Nafta trade deal were his biggest worry. “We can’t draw enough labor to get it done in America,” he says. “There’s been a huge migration of skilled agricultural labor into Mexico.” Cox says he now employs 2,000 people there, compared with 1,200 in Southern California.
Another example of free trade.
What if he had to pay a hefty tax on the money that he earned in the USA, then used to pay the people in Mexico. Suddenly, off shoring the jobs is not as attractive.
“We can’t draw enough labor to get it done in America FOR THE WAGES WE PAY.”
There. Fixed it.
It’s not just the recession; it’s the saturation. It took about 10 years to fill all the unskilled jobs with illegal immigrants. Janitorial, meatpacking, construction (which really shouldn’t be low skill), landscaping, short-order cook. Why hire an illegal when you already have one.
And these were jobs that Americans DID do.
One of the trends that doesn’t get a lot of play in this country is improving conditions in Mexico.
Birth rate per woman is down to about two children. Secondary school attendance is up. And there’s a growing middle class.
So, yes, Mexicans are seeking a better life. In Mexico.
If it wasn’t for the drug violence Mexico would be the cream of the crop in the developing world, right up there with Brazil. That the Mexodus has been reversing itself says a lot about this.
I suppose that depends on whether they spend their earned money here, or send it out of the country back home.
Why would that matter?
Why would that matter?
“Velocity of Money * Supply of Money”
FWIW, they’re related.
When I do my math on debt growth, I always adjust for population and inflation. I expect the kids of the illegals (now 20% of births in the USA) to be responsible for a share of the total debt.
And still, we’ve been increasing debt at 3x the rate that would be sustainable, adjusting fro population and inflation.
Without immigration, legal and illegal, and their higher birthrate than those born here, than the population of the USA would be in for a drastic drop as the boomers die off.
Need 2.1 babies per woman for ZPG, and we’re at, if I recall, 1.7 for native born, and 2.5 for immigrants.
All the “laws” of the last 20 years TARGET single white men to rob them of 1/2 of their income if they have children and their women move on to live “independent” lives.
Blacks get on the welfare program and live off the state. They don’t know who the baby daddy is and don’t want to know or they would have to pay up.
This discourages white people from having children. It’s very risky.
The STate has made having children a PRISON sentence if you are separated. 20 years of payments for the other person, who, usually is a woman, can collect food, home and Childcare benefits in addition to the income of the working MAN.
Illegals just bleed the system. They aren’t required to pay for anything, but their kids rob us of free food, medical care and education money.
so, of course, we are losing the population game. It’s rigged in favor of unemployed, illegal, and ill-educated slobs. That’s whose having most new children.
The white women are encouraged to go after “dead beat” dads. the others just turn to the government for a check. It’s a rigged system.
Idiocracy is winning
NOW maybe my idea of forcing welfare recipients to sit in English classes 25 hours a week for their bennies, makes sense, 1/2 will quit the first week.
It’s rigged in favor of unemployed, illegal, and ill-educated slobs
that and they consume…while the baby boomers consume less after the kids have left.
What if the Fed used illegal workers to build more printing presses and even more illegal workers to run all of the new presses? There could be whole “farms” of these presses accross the countryside like the windmills. Everybody could just go shopping all day every day. True Utopia.
I still say we should just outsource printing to China and anytime they want to cash in their IOUs they can just print some off for themselves.
Brilliant idea!
If we just borrow from further and further in the future, we can keep it all going. Time is infinite, right?
We read several reports this weekend about how big the federal deficit was for the past year and a half.( 1.6 Trillion)supposedly equal to 200 years of federal deficits ,up to about 1984.
And that is not counting all the 50 State’s overspending. We usually don’t get too alarmed about those types of reports , but if this one is at all close to being accurate , this cakewalk will stop ,or reset or something , and quite soon .
The republican congress authorized all this crazy spending ,with Pres. Obama at the helm. Where will it all end at ?
The republican congress authorized all this crazy spending ,with Pres. Obama at the helm. Where will it all end at ?
Didn’t Obama rely on a democratic congress to get some stuff through? Like Obamacare?
You mean the legislation that compels Americans to purchase insurance provided by the private sector?
yeah, that unconstitutional 2,700 page law. with all those pages it manages to increase spending in spite of what we were sold.
Too bad we didn’t get single payer, like in countries like Canada where they spend half per capita of what we do with comparable, if not better outcomes.
Instead we got a disaster that puts even more money into the pockets of the medical-industrial complex while millions remain uninsured or with crap HD policies.
And before anyone kvetches, I know single payer isn’t perfect, but what I do know is that my European relatives would never even think about ditching their system for ours.
Before becoming tapped out, it was households and businesses that were adding the extra debt. One way or another, we’ve been increasing total debt at 3x the rate of inflation and population for 30 years.
Does it really matter whether it is households and businesses, or the government, that is going into debt at a rate that is 10% of GDP?
Check out the Federal Reserve Z.1, table D3. $4T total debt in 1980. $38T total debt today.
The unsustainable debt growth has been going on for WAY longer than the 4 years since the US federal government stepped up with $1.5T a year new debt/money creation.
Is there a connection between illegal immigration and Fed “money printing?
there’s no connection. but there are economic illiterates that think that inflation creates jobs.
In other words, can currency devaluation (inflation) that results from printing money, be off set by new people entering the country and working for lower wages?
working for a lower wage isn’t a big factor. more people working in the economy is a big factor. the more people working, the stronger the economy is. the stronger the economy, the stronger the dollar.
“…working for a lower wage isn’t a big factor.”
Maybe not if the discussion is limited to immigrants into the U.S. working for a lower wage.
If you extend the discussion to the global labor pool, then working for a lower wage is one of the biggest factors. In the 1970s, high U.S. inflation was driven in part by manufacturing union labor contracts with cost of living adjustments. Any current attempt by unions to combat inflationary pressures through negotiated wage increases is likely to be offset by imports of cheap substitutes from other countries with lower labor costs.
“…but there are economic illiterates that think that inflation creates jobs.”
You mean like that illiterate Phillips dude?
You mean like that illiterate Phillips dude?
yep, like him. the phillip’s curve has been debunked, although there are still lots of people that believe it.
the keynesians still believe it. so do the power elites in washingington. that’s why we’ve been having the QEs. they believe the philips curve crap. the problem is that the misery index will rise before employment returns to normal levels. you just can’t make people believe some things, even if the past evidence is right there before them. inflation kills jobs, it doesn’t create them.
Krugman’s a big advocate of sparking inflation to create jobs. His attitude is that companies are sitting on big piles of cash. Inflating them away will force the companies to invest the cash if they want to maintain the wealth.
“…but there are economic illiterates that think that inflation creates jobs.”
A rather less illiterate statement is that under the right conditions, there is a tradeoff between low unemployment and low inflation. An example is the early 1980s episode, when Paul Volcker used tight money to stamp out an episode of raging inflation in the U.S. economy. In that case, reduced inflation came at the cost of eliminating jobs. The short-term policy alternative would have been to allow inflation to continue increasing, with temporarily higher employment.
The policy choice described above was short-term; presumably the direction that high, uncontrolled inflation would soon take the U.S. looked worse at the time than swallowing the self-imposed temporary austerity measures of high interest rates with high unemployment.
I realize you already understand all this; otherwise you wouldn’t have pejoratively referred to those suggesting a connection
between inflation and employment as ‘illiterates.’
Paul Volcker used tight money to stamp out an episode of raging inflation in the U.S. economy. In that case, reduced inflation came at the cost of eliminating jobs.
there’s an interesting background to volker and raising interest rates back then. i read accounts online.
turns out volker really fought raising rates. he was forced into it. now he’s a hero. go figure.
there’s a lag effect to everything. the raised interest rates enabled capital formation to start businesses. the rising interest rates didn’t hurt job growth as much as they helped it later.
Bloomibergi:
Wal-Mart Helps Housing: Cutting Research
While the world’s largest retailer often runs into local opposition when opening a new store, those protesting may benefit: The price of houses located within 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometer) can rise by as much as 3 percent and by as much as 2 percent for homes a mile away, economists Devin Pope and Jaren Pope found.
The finding is based on a study of over 1 million housing transactions near 159 Wal-Mart outlets between 2000 and 2006. For the average priced home, the arrival of the company translates into about a $7,000 increase in price for the nearest homes, the economists said.
The research suggests a “preference by many households to live near a Wal-Mart and the stores that naturally agglomerate nearby,” the Pope brothers wrote.
———-
Not sure whether to believe any data coming out of 2000-2006. How do they know that 2% of the increases came from Wal-Mart, especially during the run-up?
And again, the presumption that rising house prices is a good thing.
We don’t think the price of anything else going up is good. Why housing?
Uh, cuz if the price of your house rises, you can HELOC it, and use the money to buy an Escalade and take the family to Disneyworld?
Sure, that’s not good for us, but I’m pretty sure that Cadillac and the Disney Company like it just fine.
We don’t think the price of anything else going up is good. Why housing?
From the perspective of an asset that you already own, like stocks, rising prices means rising profits.
This is just one more example of housing as a financial asset as opposed to housing as shelter…
Sorry for the all italics post… slow going this morning.
It could very well be that Walmart chose to build in areas where prices were already rising, which would make sense from Walmart’s point of view.
Walmart has an interest in building stores where there is a strong customer base, and this same strong customer base will tend to increase the price of houses.
I think they should have done this study on Whole Foods Market. Nothing gentrifies a ‘hood like a Whole Foods.
I’d like to see Tiffany and Gucci stores built in Compton so as to revitilize the area just as they revitalized Beverly Hills.
If the price of houses rose 3% a block from Wallymart and they rose 7% everywhere else, it would make sense to me.
Agreed, Skye. In what twisted universe does proximity to a WallMart qualify as an “improvement”?
Liars Sell Used Houses®
From the WSJ a few days ago - A Pension Battle Erupts in San Jose With Cops and Firefighters at Center
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304821304577438452821346064.html
Uh-oh. Guns vs. firehoses. This one could get ugly.
job creation
i started a business and hired people.
did i THINK i knew how to create jobs? yes i did.
did i REALLY know how to create jobs? no, i didn’t.
do i know how to created jobs now? yes i do.
do i know WHY employers hire people? yes, i’ve always know that. they hire people to make more profit. there’s no other reason to hire anyone.
so if i wasn’t creating jobs, what was i doing? i hired people. hiring people isn’t creating jobs. what does it mean if i hire people and the economy is losing jobs? would you say that i’m ‘creating jobs’?
hiring people is different than creating jobs. and none of the politicians know how to create jobs, most especially, job killing obama. but they all THINK they know how to create jobs..
“so if i wasn’t creating jobs, what was i doing? i hired people. hiring people isn’t creating jobs. what does it mean if i hire people and the economy is losing jobs? would you say that i’m ‘creating jobs’?”
Of course you are creating jobs. If before you did what you did X people were working and after you did what you did X+1 people are working, then yes you have created jobs. Now if the business next to you fires 10 people, that doesn’t make your 1 new hire any less “real”. And the net job gain/loss increases by 1 due to your actions regardless of what anyone else does.
Not really….. you are satisfying demand. Whether you supply demand with robots, machinery, people or martians…… you are attempting to meet demand.
you are satisfying demand. Whether you supply demand with robots, machinery, people or martians…… you are attempting to meet demand.
that’s a good way to put it. in truth, the economy would thrive if robots did all the work people are doing now.
What would the people be doing? Would they have incomes?
If income and not work, then what would be the source of the income?
If they do not have income, then what would be done with the goods the robots produce?
I understand it would be great for a business owner to not have to pay any employees, but if no one was paying any employees, to whom would you sell your goods?
This is what I mean when I say people have trouble taking that leap from micro (one company) to macro (the entire economy).
What is good for one (not having to pay employees) is bad for the whole (there is no one with money to buy what you produce).
Jobs and wages are the primary method of wealth distribution under our current system. If people aren’t working, they are not contributing to demand.
Anyone care to guess as to the consequences of 100% employment?
> the economy would thrive if robots did all the work people are doing now
Think about that for a minute. The (relatively few) robot/business owners would - at least in the short term - thrive. The (former) workers would starve. This is the direction we’re heading.
The (relatively few) robot/business owners would - at least in the short term - thrive.
no, everyone would thrive.
The (former) workers would starve.
the former workers would find new, much higher paying and easier jobs.
all the production that we’re doing now would be done by robots/automation. that means that our present production would be nearly free. with the old things being make automatically, we could turn our attention to new production. yes, everyone would still have to find work. but jobs would be incredibly easy to find and high paying. the increased productivity would probably at least double the buying power of the dollar.
what kinds jobs would there be? no one can say. there would be types of jobs that no one has invented yet. and our prosperity would even help lift the rest of the world.
Someone said they spotted a candy-crapping unicorn over here.
Someone said they spotted a candy-crapping unicorn over here.
where!? where!? (looking back and forth)
i’m answering this because you really made me laugh.
anyway, you can’t stop the chihuahuas from barking..
what kinds jobs would there be? no one can say. there would be types of jobs that no one has invented yet.
You mean the ones performed by fully automated systems, like the camera factory in Japan that was discussed here recently?
Don’t get me wrong, I agree that there will be “jobs that no one has invented yet”, it’s just that:
1) There won’t be all that many of them, at least that’s the current track record.
2) Most people lack the intellect to perform these “jobs of the future”, and the bar continues to rise.
1) There won’t be all that many of them, at least that’s the current track record.
you haven’t seen anything yet. we are doing all the wrong things. job numbers will continue their decline as well as wages and working conditions. soon more people will be fighting just for a chance to get a job.
2) Most people lack the intellect to perform these “jobs of the future”, and the bar continues to rise.
people won’t have to be any smarter to do jobs in the future. and technology will make things easier. that is, if we reverse on our path into socialism.
but jobs would be incredibly easy to find and high paying… what kinds jobs would there be? …no one can say. there would be types of jobs that no one has invented yet.
You’re stuck in 1994.
“if we reverse on our path into socialism”
You just shut down the conversation with that beaut.
Later.
people won’t have to be any smarter to do jobs in the future. and technology will make things easier.
That’s a knee slapper. Technology won’t just make jobs easier, it will automate them away completely. The only people who will have jobs will be problem solvers, who are are a minority of the populace or those who do menial work that can’t be automated.
Ever heard of a “lights out” datacenter? Imagine a 100,000 sq ft data center where the only person present 24/7 is the low paid, outsourced security guard and an IT person only comes in when something breaks, possibly driving from as far as 100 miles away.
Or if you work at any large company there are no “IT Guys” or “HR People” anymore. Those processes are now self serve and automated. Need to reinstall Windows and all of the company’s “operating environment’ on your laptop? You get to do it yourself now.
the former workers would find new, much higher paying and easier jobs.”
Government jobs ?
“Not really….. you are satisfying demand. Whether you supply demand with robots, machinery, people or martians…… you are attempting to meet demand.”
You’re comparing apples to apricots and then to bananas.
In either case you’re supplying demand. If you do that by buying an additional robot you’re not creating a job. If you hire a human, you are creating a job. And indirectly buying a new robot means new jobs are created by the company supplying the robot.
The point isn’t “creating a job”. Jobs aren’t “created” IS the point. Demand results in;
a) New Equipment
b) Automation
c) New employee
Take your pick.
“so if i wasn’t creating jobs, what was i doing? i hired people. hiring people isn’t creating jobs. what does it mean if i hire people and the economy is losing jobs? would you say that i’m ‘creating jobs’?”
Did we quit after the German’s bombed Pearl Harbor? He11 no!
Forget it 2b is on a roll.
Is this from the micro level, where you are concerned about selling goods for more than they cost to produce, or the macro level where you need to be concerned as to whether or not the potential customers have access to money to buy the goods?
Many people have difficulty taking that leap from micro economic to macro economics. At the micro level, paying your employees less is good for you. At the macro level, if everyone pays their employees less, then your potential customers have less money to spend buying your goods and services, which is bad for you.
For 25 years, this wasn’t really a concern since your potential customers had access to debt. Even if they didn’t have any money, they could borrow the money they needed to buy your goods. Unfortunately, there is a limit to how much debt they can carry, and we hit that wall in the housing bubble.
Now we demand the Fed do something to get people borrowing again… something, anything. Sorry, but the Fed can do nothing to alter the fact that since 1980, we have increased each household’s share of the total debt from 2.5x median income to 5.5x median income. The Fed can not wave a magic wand and make $15T in debt go away, nor can they double incomes, so that people will be in a position to resume borrowing and spending.
‘Many people have difficulty taking that leap from micro economic to macro economics’
It’s not hard really. They are just in different class rooms.
There is a saying; you are over thinking this. The economy is the combination of millions of decisions made by individuals. They are pulled this way and that by life’s needs, prices, etc. And people sitting around a table somewhere trying to ‘fine tune’ the economy are almost always distorting the economic landscape and making things worse, not better.
Recessions are how the economy purges bad investments, and the associated debts. Just get out of the way and let people make the decisions they need to make. Prices will find their level and we can move on.
See, that didn’t take 100 long winded posts.
I was referring to the paradox of thrift.
You spending less is good for you. Everyone spending less is bad for you since their spending is related to your income.
It is possible for one entity in an economy to spend less than they earn. It is impossible for every entity in an economy to spend less than they earn.
Things like that.
Just yesterday, there were posts about how debt destroys wealth. Well, spending makes a person poorer, and if they generate debt while spending, then the interest they will owe will compound that. However, if there is no spending, then there is no economy,
I think that a lot of people on this board (and the population in general) have a HUGE problem taking those leaps from understanding how micro economics effects a single household or a single business into the “big picture”.
That said, I think you may be attempting to change the subject back to Keynesian economics and the philosophy of attempting to fine tune an economy.
Again, there is nothing “fine tuning” about the government spending $500B a year into an economy that is already generating $1T a year new debt to fund massive trade imbalances.
Nothing Keynes spoke of has ANYTHING to do with the US economy of the last 40 years.
…. please God. Please?
And people sitting around a table somewhere trying to ‘fine tune’ the economy are almost always distorting the economic landscape and making things worse, not better.
Oh man, ain’t that the truth? Man should be humble enough to know his limitations. Having Ivy league degrees and PHD’s may distort the reality and make a person arrogant but I posit that even the god can’t “fix” this stupid world economy.
I am sure you can “fine tune” it for a yr or two, then back to what? Soviet Union tried it. We have been trying it forever and Bernanke is trying as hard as he can. Let’s look at the results and learn from them.
One could do an exhaustive global search for the world’s smartest German Shepherd dog. However, even that dog, which is impossibly smart, will never be able to learn calculus.
Similarly, there’s no one person or even group of people (a committee!) who can manage the complexity of the economy. The best they can do is put in rules which encourage societally beneficial economic decisions.
People in charge of course don’t believe this. So we have a continuous pull towards consolidation of political power and centrally-planned economies. These are probably the greatest threats to our freedom and prosperity over the long run.
Just get out of the way and let people make the decisions they need to make. Prices will find their level and we can move on.
The PTB have a vested interest in not letting prices find their level…
Anyone with exposure to the stock market, housing market, debt market, and job market has a vested interest in not letting prices find their level. The only people who are prepared for this have cash and hard assets with no debt, i.e. virtually no one.
George Soros says three months to save the euro
BBCNews
Billionaire investor George Soros has warned European leaders they have a “three-month window” to save the euro.
He said he believed Greece would elect a government willing to abide by loan conditions imposed by the EU in this month’s elections.
But he said the German economy would begin to weaken in the autumn, making it much harder for Chancellor Angela Merkel to provide further support.
He said leaders did not understand “the nature of the crisis”.
He said that while European leaders were focusing on debt levels, the crisis was “more of a banking problem and a problem of competitiveness”.
For this reason, he said they had “applied the wrong remedy”.
“You cannot reduce the debt burden by shrinking the economy, only by growing your way out of it,” he added.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18320881
ME: “This stuff that we buy imports with. What is it? Where does it come from? It there an unlimited supply of it?”
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower©
2012-06-03 21:38:43
“It is exports, and no, there is not an unlimited supply of it.”
Oh, if only this were true. Then there would not be a trade imbalance. In reality, we have a $700B a year international trade imbalance. That is $700B a year more imports than exports.
So, I ask again, that $700B, what is it? Where does it come from? Is there an unlimited supply of it?
The answer, of course, is money, that was borrowed into existence, and the ability of a nation to carry debt is the limit. This is why virtually every nation in the wold that is struggling with excess debt ALSO has a large international trade deficit.
“Oh, if only this were true. Then there would not be a trade imbalance.”
That’s akin to saying, ‘If only people had to work to pay for their houses, there would not be this huge overhang of mortgage debt.’ The existence of a deficit does not imply that reciprocal exchange of goods and services no longer is necessary to continue with trade; rather it loosens the terms, including the timing and certainty of payment.
Your rants seems to be clouded by black-and-white thinking.
I am not saying that we SHOULD not be trading exports for imports. I am saying that we HAVE not been.
I will add, in a global environment where the wages vary by an order of magnitude ($2 an hour there and $20 here), it is unlikely that imports and exports will balance in a free trade environment. So, are we more likely to raise the standard of living of the 6 billion in the under developed world to that of the developed, or lower the standard of living of the 1 billion in the developed down to that of the developing?
“So, are we more likely to raise the standard of living of the 6 billion in the under developed world to that of the developed, or lower the standard of living of the 1 billion in the developed down to that of the developing?”
Ours has to come down a bit, and theirs has to rise, but not to even numbers. There’s a point where even though labor may cost more here, it’s still more cost-effective to make it here. But yeah, the workers’ standard of living here vs. there will have to come a bit more in line with each other before our manufacturing base starts to recover.
How soon will the percentage of jobs/people with no pensions in
lesser-developed countries match the percentage of pensionless
jobs/people in the US?
Seemingly not far off.
How long has it been since you have seen a help-wanted ad
promoting their great benefits while expressing their deep
appreciation of experience?
Stop buying things you can not pay for.
The market is booming(?)
But where are the buyers?
Inventory is looming,
Realtors are Liars.
It`s all good. Puke
FHA Bad Credit Mortgage
Bad-Credit-Approval.FHAMortgage.org
Very Low Rates and Easy Approvals Bad Credit Programs & Free Quotes
Yep….. your govt at work keeping you competing with empty pockets.
PS- Don’t bother endorsing or demonizing a political party. It’s a false dichotomy… and besides….. it’s boring too.
Michele Bachmann is NOT boring.
Oh the characters are fascinating but the endless debates or left/right etc is exactly what they want. Gridlock.
I have to start tuning out all the depressing economic news. A bear can only take so much before he feels like going back into hibernation.
June 4, 2012, 10:06 a.m. EDT
April U.S. factory orders decline 0.6%
By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Orders for goods produced in U.S. factories decreased 0.6% in April, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected orders to rise by 0.1%. Factory orders fell a revised 2.1% in March, down from a prior estimate of a 1.5% decline. Orders for durable goods - products meant to last at least three years - were flat in April. Orders for nondurable goods tumbled 1.1%.
One of our largest trading partner, the Eurozone, is in full recession, and factory orders dropping is unexpected?
“One of our largest trading partner, the Eurozone”
Isn’t “trading partner” jut a euphemism for a country that runs a large trade surplus with us?
One of the remaining few who buy anything from us.
Oh bother…
June 4, 2012, 10:18 a.m. EDT
Get ready for Dow 11,000
By Dr. Alexander Elder and Kerry Lovvorn
The bull market has ended, but the bear has not yet reached its full force.
Our studies made us turn bearish in April, when we published ” Three major signs the bull market is ending .” On May 21, we followed it up with ” Expect to see Dow 11,000 before Dow 14,000 .” Last Tuesday we warned ” This bear market rally is living on borrowed time ” — and you saw what happened last week when that loan got called in, with interest. Now let’s re-examine the readings of our tools for measuring the balance of power between bulls and bears.
…
I used to remind that the correction of the biggest credit bubble in history would take a path like bouncing down a flight of stairs. It will take longer than you think, and it will not go in a straight line. If you grasp that any correction we have seen in the past very few years is tiny compared to the runup, then you can relax about the daily headlines.
‘There are some real signs that Facebook may be in real trouble and could turn out to be a disastrous investment. I wouldn’t call this piling on, per se. I would say that Facebook’s stumble out of the starting gate has given us all pause to consider the merits of the company in closer detail.’
‘What I’m starting to get from the Facebook deal is some kind of equivalent for tech companies entering the market that represent a tipping point of sorts investors should heed. That is, when enough cockamamie ideas are peddled to the public as the next big thing, maybe it’s time to run for the hills.’
‘no investor can say they weren’t warned. A famous anonymous phrase of the last Internet bubble was, “It’s different this time,” which was sage foresight at first, then, finally, the ultimate statement of hubris. I can say this much with confidence: It’s absolutely no different this time.’
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-one-worst-investments-ever-100000262.html
The pushers of the stock love to point out the nearly 1 billion users. They rarely offer up the data that FB makes about a penny per day on each of those users, top line gross.
When the penny per day per user gross is mentioned, it is spun into an excellent opportunity. First you get the eyeballs, they you monetize them. FB has the users, and now the easy part is the monetization. Oh really. So easy? Then why have they not done that before? Why have so many other sites had so much difficulty converting eyeballs into profits?
They rarely offer up the data that FB makes about a penny per day on each of those users, top line gross.
The question you need to ask is “does FB have staying power?”, i.e. will people continue to spend time using their products/services?
The next question you need to ask is “Do I have faith in the management of the company to continue to successfully innovate?”
The last thing you should ask is “How much of a premium should I put on the stock price given the existing fundamentals and my answers to the above questions?”
It is really that simple. Given all that, this company is probably a $12-15.00 stock in my mind. Everything else was hype and a blatant attempt at Wall St. to part money from fools.
So, their potential profitability has nothing to do with the price of the stock? Really?
So, their potential profitability has nothing to do with the price of the stock? Really?
See my third point above. That’s part of the “fundamental” analysis of the stock. Based on current earnings, the company is worth x. What is the expectation of earnings growth in the future? That’s where my first two points come into play.
P/E astronomical with a narrow moat.
Nancy Reagan says, “Just Say No.”
Why have so many other sites had so much difficulty converting eyeballs into profits?
The thing about having a website is that you still need to make an effort to sell your visitors.
And, sorry to say, their reading your sparkling website copy may not be enough. You’ll still need people to call prospects, visit them, and make the sale.
You’ll still need people to call prospects, visit them, and make the sale
I started saying that in 1996.
FB investors (and depressed and narcissistic FB users) are capital L, double o, LOOSERS!
—FB investors (and depressed and narcissistic FB users) are capital L, double o, LOOSERS!—
Better than being a TIGHTER, I s’pose
I guess big chit-chat sites aren’t so valuable after all.
And what really gets me going is how social media is being shoved down the throats of businesses, large and small. As if having 1,000 people like us on Facebook is going to keep our bills paid. It’s a whole lot better when 1,000 people like us at the cash register.
Or how about those 1,000 people following us on Twitter? How lovely. Anyone of them customers? Or planning to be? If so, when? Now, in a month when federal estimated tax is due? Or five years from now?
The Fed and its’ corrupt proxies have paid posters all over the internet.
ECB Must Print Euros or Italy May Say ‘Ciao:’ Berlusconi
By Lorenzo Totaro and Jeffrey Donovan - Jun 1, 2012 9:12 AM ET
Bloomberg
Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Italy should say “ciao, euro” if the European Central Bank doesn’t start printing money to tackle the debt crisis and Germany should quit the single currency if it won’t back a bolder role for ECB.
On May 25 Berlusconi, who heads the party with the most seats in the Rome-based parliament and whose support is crucial for Monti’s government, called for an overhaul of the country’s constitution to strengthen the powers of the president. He also said he would seek the office if his party requested him to.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-01/berlusconi-says-ecb-must-print-euros-or-italy-may-say-ciao-1-.html
Berlusconi, who heads the party with the most seats in the Rome-based parliament and whose support is crucial for Monti’s government, called for an overhaul of the country’s constitution to strengthen the powers of the president. He also said he would seek the office
Oh the totalitarians love those central bankers and WS types, they produce such rich fertilizer for facist dictators.
Wanna stop debt-driven bubbles? Force lenders to retain repayment risk. Ain’t rocket science. However, as Upton Sinclair put it lo these many years ago, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
But, bubbles are like a drug to politicians and the societies which elect them. Enjoy now, maybe pay later.
Iceland Property Bubble Grows With Currency Controls: Mortgages
By Omar R. Valdimarsson - May 30, 2012 8:16 AM ET
Bloomberg
Iceland’s crisis-management policies are creating the island’s next property bubble less than four years after its banking meltdown threw the economy into its worst recession.
Prices for new homes touched a record last quarter, having surged 40.1 percent since the final three months of 2010, according to estimates by the National Registry of Iceland in Reykjavik. Average house prices have risen 11.3 percent since the market bottomed at the end of 2009, according to central bank data at the end of the first quarter.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-29/iceland-property-bubble-grows-with-currency-controls-mortgages.html
Wanna stop debt-driven bubbles? Force lenders to retain repayment risk.
That’s precisely the rule that the QRM provision in Dodd-Frank tried to emplace. They got hundreds of comments saying it would kill real estate. Not sure of the status of that rule.
You have just re-emphasized why the equity retaining provisions of Dodd Frank are among the most important of all provisions.
“You can sell any poorly underwritten mortgages you want, as long as people have put 20% down. Otherwise, you need to keep 5% of those underwritten loans on your books.” - that sounds pretty good
Unfortunately what I think we are going to get is:
10% down (or less); and
less than 5% for the holdback.
As I’ve said before, taxes should go to public goods, not FIRE sector profits. Government guarantees on bad loans is just tax money being funneled to Wall Street and the NAR.
Unfortunately what they should do, they don’t have the guts to do.
Enact policies that are a glide-path…increase the down payment required for any Fannie/Freddie loans by 1% every 6 months, no cliffs. Predictable, no “rush to borrow”.
Over a 10 year period, the requirement will be upwards of 25%.
Over a 25 year period, the requirement will be 50%.
If anyone still wants to borrow the cheap government money, they will be earning it through high down payments, and taxpayers will have less and less risk.
In the meantime, the glidepath will give private industry time to get their act together, and over time, as the volume of Fannie/Freddie loans drops, the people working for Fannie/Freddie would transition to similar jobs for other lenders.
We need to get beyond the “stop Fannie/Freddie now” and “keep Fannie/Freddie forever” debate, and move toward the “the government has no place in the mortgage market” discussion, and figure out how to get there without plunging us into a depression.
The Irish are accepting austerity quietly. Greece, Spain and Italy are howling bloody murder. What’s the difference?
Irish “yes” to give euro zone scant respite
By Padraic Halpin and Harry Papachristou
DUBLIN/ATHENS | Fri Jun 1, 2012 7:19am EDT
Reuters
(Reuters) - Ireland was poised to announce a “yes” vote to a European budget discipline treaty on Friday, but the referendum result brings little respite to a euro zone tormented by doubts over Greece’s future in the currency bloc and Spain’s wobbly banks.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/01/us-eurozone-idUSBRE8500HI20120601
Ireland is the only one of these 4 that does not have a large international trade deficit, so its economy could function without large amounts of new money being borrowed into existence.
The other 3 have large trade imbalances that must be funded…
Or the others could stop buying what they cannot afford to pay for.
Saturday Night Live had a very amusing skit on that subject:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff
How unexpected.
FHA Loan Problems Mounted in April as Foreclosure Starts Soar 73%
Mortgage New sDaily
Jun 1 2012, 9:35AM
The performance of FHA loans dominates the April Mortgage Monitor report released Thursday by Lender Processing Services (LPS). While GSE and private loans saw significant drops in foreclosure starts and portfolio loans trended down slightly, foreclosure starts for FHA loans soared, jumping 73 percent in April. While all 2005+ vintages of FHA loans had increased numbers of starts, the increases for loans originated in 2008 and 2009 were dramatic.
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/06012012_foreclosures.asp
I posted that earlier but it got hung up in moderation…. I think.
“…foreclosure starts for FHA loans soared, jumping 73 percent in April.”
Nothing to see here folks, move along…
Looking at the chart, it looks like the 73% is quarter to quarter…. Almost like someone was sitting on them. A paperwork issue as part of the robo signing crud?
Otherwise, I don’t see how it is flat, flat, flat for 2 years, then 73% spike one quarter to the next.
My link never showed up…HUD apparently is claiming that LPS’s view into the FHA market is showing an anomolous reading here, and that the new foreclosures weren’t that high.
LPS says they are working to get to the bottom of it…while LPS doesn’t have perfect data (they have a sampling of a lot of mortgages), I still trust them more than the Feds, especially since they appear to not be sugar coating what could only be considered bad news.
Somebody made an egregious error, as both sides can’t be right.
Let’s keep our eyes peeled over the next few days for a proper ‘fess-up!
Real Estate
FHA Foreclosures Soared in April
Published: June 1, 2012
FHA foreclosures rose 73 percent in April, driven primarily by defaults of loans made in 2008 and 2009 vintage loans, raising new questions about the solvency of the popular government program, which accounts for about a third of all new mortgages.
New foreclosures on FHA-backed loans rose to 63,126 in April from 36,311 a month earlier, mortgage-data provider Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) said yesterday.
“In 2008, when the loan origination market virtually dried up, the FHA stepped in to fill the void,” explained Herb Blecher, senior vice president for LPS Applied Analytics, which released the data of FHA foreclosures in its May Mortgage Monitor Report. “FHA originations tripled that year, and increased to five times historical averages in 2009. High volumes like that, even with low default rates, can produce larger numbers of foreclosure starts. That represents a lot of loans to work through – the 2008 vintage alone represents some $14 billion of unpaid balances in foreclosure, and the overall FHA foreclosure inventory continues to rise.
The FHA immediately challenged the data, saying its own numbers showed an 11 percent drop in April foreclosures to 18,975. LPS may have erred extrapolating numbers from its database of information on 40 million loans, said an FHA spokesman.
…
HUD apparently has 100% of the data.
LPS seens x% of the data and extrapolates the 100% number based on their understanding of total number of FHA loans.
There is definitely something amiss…let’s see what happens, because if LPS is way off, it throws into question other data they provide (which I like to review regularly).
If HUD is way off, then we can add HUD to the list of agencies with their collective heads where the sun doesn’t shine.
This is the text from a Business Week article:
——————-
“The Federal Housing Administration is disputing a report that foreclosure starts on loans it insures spiked by 74 percent from March to April.
Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) (LPS) may have erred extrapolating numbers from its database of information on 40 million loans in reporting yesterday that new foreclosures on FHA-backed loans rose to 63,126 in April from 36,311 a month earlier, FHA spokesman Lemar Wooley said in an e-mail. The FHA said its own numbers showed an 11 percent drop to 18,975.
“The bottom line is that the numbers in the LPS report for April simply don’t accord with our data,” Wooley said.
The FHA is expecting an uptick in foreclosures because legal disputes between state and federal officials and mortgage servicers over faulty foreclosures were resolved with a $25 billion settlement in February, Wooley said. Foreclosures had been slowed while the parties were negotiating.
The report by Jacksonville, Florida-based LPS, which said overall foreclosure starts declined 2.6 percent in April to 181,584, attributed the FHA spike to the expanded role the government mortgage insurer has played since the collapse of private housing finance in 2008. Loan originations backed by the FHA, whose website bills it as the world’s largest mortgage insurer, tripled that year.
“LPS has every confidence in its data and believes that there is likely a simple explanation for the difference between our numbers and FHA’s reported foreclosure starts for April,” said Herb Blecher, senior vice president for LPS Applied Analytics. “We have reached out to the FHA directly on this, and will share our findings as soon as we have a definitive answer.””
It’’s going to happen sooner or later…how many people with 540 to 620 credit scores will faithfully make their payments?
It Can Happen Here: Europe’s Screwed Generation and America’s
Daily Beast | June 4, 2012 | Joel Kotkin
In Madrid you see them on the streets, jobless, aimless, often bearing college degrees but working as cabbies, baristas, street performers, or—more often—not at all. In Spain as in Greece, nearly half of the adults under 25 don’t work. Call them the screwed generation, the victims of expansive welfare states and the massive structural debt charged by their parents. In virtually every developed country, and increasingly in developing ones, they include not only the usual victims, the undereducated and recent immigrants, but also the college-educated.
Even America, traditionally a beneficiary of European woes, seems to have turned on its young. College debt is crushing many young people with degrees—particularly those outside the sciences and engineering—that are not easily marketable. The spiking number of people in their 30s working as unpaid interns reflects this erosion of opportunity. This has happened even as the price tag for college has shot up; 94 percent of students who earn a bachelor’s degree now owe money for their educations, compared to 45 percent two decades ago. Here’s a tribute to futility: today a majority of unemployed Americans age 25 and older attended college, something never before seen.
Governmental priorities here continue to favor boomers and seniors over the young. For a generation, transfer payments have favored the elderly, a trend likely to accelerate as the boomers continue retiring and demand their due. According to Brookings, America spends 2.4 times as much on the elderly as on children.
Across the developed world, wages are being cut for young Americans, Europeans, and Japanese as politicians prefer to offer less to the young than to take anything away from those already ensconced in employment, particularly if organized into unions. In the U.S., everything from government jobs to employment in auto factories and even supermarkets is now on a two-tier track, with older workers’ guaranteed pensions and higher salaries not shared by newer hires.
In the U.S., everything from government jobs to employment in auto factories and even supermarkets is now on a two-tier track, with older workers’ guaranteed pensions and higher salaries not shared by newer hires.
Maybe of you work in a union shop. But how many people do that? And if you are part of the overwhelming majority that doesn’t, your seniority is not only not an asset, it can be a liability as your employer will probably replace you with a younger and lower paid pup.
Labor unions and food stamps are destroying this country!
No way dude…. the $10/hr lunch ladies have reeked havoc with the global economy. These twisted monsters can found it public schools across the country! Every day they’re working on the inside subverting our children. Their wanton criminality needs to be corralled and these these horrific monsters should stuffed into concentration camps for criminal psychopaths. These lunch ladies stepped off a space ship powered by the Koran and piloted by Bin Laden himself and are now taking over the world!
Was it their parents who made the decision to export jobs to low wage/no regulation countries?
And, I hate to clue in everyone, but many times there is a reason why guys like me make more money than newbies.
As far as “politicians preferring to offer less to the young, than to take anything away from those already ensconsed in employment, particularly if organized into unions”……I haven’t seen a shred of evidence that says the PTB will change a single thing, if they take anything away from J6P.
Unions…..union membership has been dropping for 30 years. Co-incidentally, so has J6P’s pay. So the answer is to reduce union membership/right to organize even more?
Obviously, the problem is all of those parasite Socialist Democrats, who don’t buy into the plan.
Really, I hope Romney and the Gang of Thieves get control of all three branches of government. Evidently what’s happened between 2008-2012 is not enough of a slap upside the head to get people to pull their head out of their azzes.
The banksters and Wall Streeters want Romney and the Repubs in power. That should tell you everything you need to know.
And, I hate to clue in everyone, but many times there is a reason why guys like me make more money than newbies.
Ummmm, let me guess: Because you’ve seen the particular problem that’s vexing the younger mechanics. And you know how to fix it quickly and effectively in a lot less time that it would for the young guys to puzzle it out.
“Unions…..union membership has been dropping for 30 years.”
Not true for public sector unions.
Yeah, I’m talking private sector.
Private union membership down …….. private pay/salaries/pensions/benefits down. And even that isn’t enough for the vampire squids.
Of course, doubling down by hacking public sector salaries and pensions will fix everything, according to the Republicans. Yeah, that will work……pay our guys like Mexican Highway Patrolmen, and assume that they won’t end up getting compensation from other sources.
I can’t see how impoverishing public sector workers along with private sector workers is going to fix anything. Especially when any benefit will go to the squids. Much of the whining about public salaries/pensions is of the “I’m screwed, and I won’t be happy until all of my neighbors are as screwed as I am” variety.
But I’m a former Republican/Socialist. Pay no attention to me.
Of course, doubling down by hacking public sector salaries and pensions will fix everything, according to the Republicans. Yeah, that will work……pay our guys like Mexican Highway Patrolmen, and assume that they won’t end up getting compensation from other sources.
Bingo, I’d throw in that nepotism will become a bigger and bigger issue. When junior can’t find a job on his own no matter how hard he works he’ll turn to mama and pappa and unlce joe or throw out a bribe.
We should also mention that at least this gov spending get’s recirculated in the local economy as opposed to bank bailouts and tax cuts for the elite. I think a lot of small business owners are learning or will learn what happens when the krill die. The mid section of the food chain starves and the whales start consuming them. Finally the whales turn on themselves. Even CEO’s at what are now large corporations will not be safe as consumption craters.
Just to clarify…. they’re not really “unions”. They’re associations where interests are aligned between employer and employee. Both sides benefit.
Anyways….. public sector employment has been cratering since 2010.
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2629/publicsectoremployment.png
But as a whole union membership has been in free fall. The public unions only seem so big because private sector unionism is pretty much extinct. It wasn’t that long ago that being in a private sector union was fairly normal. I can’t say that I know of anyone who is in a private sector union, and the only public sector union types I know are cops and firefighters, who are less than 0.1% of my community.
So at least where I live, unions are very rare.
Apparently, to those on the right, the only acceptable unions are those to which those on the right belong.
My BP agent buddy and his similarly employed friends claim that unions (private) are the downfall of US business and the government spends too much. Meanwhile, and something that appears to be lost on them, fewer workers (union and otherwise) = fewer taxpayers = fewer tax dollars = less money for his union job, not to mention his pension.
And they all support Romney, the job creator who kills jobs. Aye. Race to the bottom, indeed.
Oh, I should add that their defense of this position is that they are in defense which, lest ye be labeled as unpatriotic if you think otherwise, is of critical need and the area where we need to keep spending. Given MR’s comments about increasing defense spending, now I can see why they support him.
Which brings us back to, if it’s THEIR job that is in question, then unions are okey-dokey.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something if his salary….”
The banksters and Wall Streeters want Romney and the Repubs in power
True. Not long ago, they wanted Obama and Dems, too.
They play both parties like fiddle so I don’t see your point as to why repubs are any worse.
+1. OpenSecrets is helpful in seeing where the money goes in this regard. At least in the FIRE sector, the money flow seems to be well correlated with who is the more heavily favored candidate to win. In 2004, it was 50/50. In 2008, it slanted more heavily to BO.
The glory of free trade.
How do people stay employed when there are people in the world willing to do the same job for 1/10th the wage? Answer: only for a little while.
And that applies to the guy willing to work for 1/10 the wage, as the now unemployed in the first world can’t buy what his job produces.
Isn’t the race to the bottom a thing of splendor?
I’m one of those creative types, so don’t go calling me a lawyer. But even from my artistic perch, this looks like a fraud case:
Merrill Losses Were Withheld Before Bank of America Deal
Here’s a fugly house from a few blocks away. Place was last on the market, oh, two or three years ago. Back then, it was one of those Phoney/Frauddie-listed places that had previously been foreclosed.
Methinks that this property is seriously overpriced. I mean, come on. $175k for this garbage?
It looks even worse in person.
What really cracks me up is the fact that a lot of all-cash in-VEST-ors will snap places like this up so they can have a rental close to the University of Arizona.
Well, there’s this little problem called a glut of rentals here in Tucson. Including those that are near our leading institution of higher learning. Which leads to a lot of “for rent” signs creaking in the breeze.
But look at all that sand! It must be no more than a block from the beach. I’ll see your 175K and raise you 25K. The house “love-letter” is already in the mail.
Check out this one right across from a park. Such an eyesore (probably a knock-down; new roof at the very least) compared to this one >/a> down the street. Sign out front said sold before we could even looky-loo.
I wouldn’t want to back to the park… imagine having to deal with all the paid parties (looks like a setup for a wedding…)
The Allen street is a cutie-patootie for sure. I wonder who bought it.. certainly not a flipper. It doesn’t seem to need any improvements. Love the landscape.
It’s nice, but the lots on our side of the street are double the size. We pay $1900 in rent, but I wouldn’t pay 190K for it since it needs so much work. Well… maybe I would, but the LL’s wouldn’t sell since they’ve already done so much work.
“Methinks that this property is seriously overpriced. I mean, come on. $175k for this garbage?”
It isn’t the most handsome thing, but that seems to be around $80 per square foot.
The outdoor laundry room is a nice touch.
So is the flame red paint on the front and the cool vanilla paint on the back, at least I think that’s the back.
Here’s a fugly house from a few blocks away.
Not many (any?) green lawns around there. $175k, hehe.
Is the filibuster unconstitutional?
I know there are those who believe a gridlocked government is the best government. I do appreciate that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” even moreso when it comes to politicians. However, the net result of Congressional gridlock is that the executive and judicial branches, as well as the Federal Reserve gain more power, as Congress sits idle, posing and preening to the public to gain political points.
The net result of Congressional gridlock is less representative government. Our elected representatives aren’t calling the shots, the president and the unelected branches are, especially on the big issues of the day.
Is the filibuster unconstitutional?
Posted by Ezra Klein at 10:02 AM ET, 05/15/2012
Washington Post
Bondurant thinks the filibuster is unconstitutional. And, alongside Common Cause, where he serves on the board of directors, he’s suing to have the Supreme Court abolish it.
… And even then, filibusters were a rare annoyance. Between 1840 and 1900, there were 16 filibusters. Between 2009 and 2010, there were more than 130. But that’s changed. Today, Majority Leader Harry Reid says that “60 votes are required for just about everything.”
At the core of Bondurant’s argument is a very simple claim: This isn’t what the Founders intended. The historical record is clear on that fact. The framers debated requiring a supermajority in Congress to pass anything. But they rejected that idea.
In the end, the Constitution prescribed six instances in which Congress would require more than a majority vote: impeaching the president, expelling members, overriding a presidential veto of a bill or order, ratifying treaties and amending the Constitution.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/is-the-filibuster-unconstitutional/2012/05/15/gIQAYLp7QU_blog.html
Opinions
Euro zone on the brink
By Roger C. Altman, Updated: Monday, June 4, 8:03 AM
Roger C. Altman is chairman of Evercore Partners and former deputy Treasury secretary under President Clinton from 1993 to 1994.
Europe is on the verge of financial chaos. Global capital markets, now the most powerful force on earth, are rapidly losing confidence in the financial coherence of the 17-nation euro zone. A market implosion there, like that triggered by Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008, may not be far off. Not only would that dismantle the euro zone, but it could also usher in another global economic slump: in effect, a second leg of the Great Recession, analogous to that of 1937.
This risk is evident in the structure of global interest rates. At one level, U.S. Treasury bonds are now carrying the lowest yields in history, as gigantic sums of money seek a safe haven from this crisis. These yields are deeply alarming, as they are below those seen at the worst moments in 2008. At another level, the weaker euro-zone countries, such as Spain and Italy, are paying stratospheric rates because investors are increasingly questioning their solvency. And there’s Greece, whose even higher rates signify its bankrupt condition. In addition, larger businesses and wealthy individuals are moving all of their cash and securities out of banks in these weakening countries. This undermines their financial systems.
…
G7 to hold emergency euro zone talks, Spain top concern
By Allison Martell and Andreas Rinke
TORONTO/BERLIN | Mon Jun 4, 2012 4:36pm EDT
(Reuters) - Finance chiefs of the Group of Seven leading industrialized powers will hold emergency talks on the euro zone debt crisis on Tuesday in a sign of heightened global alarm about strains in the 17-nation European currency area.
With Greece, Ireland and Portugal all under international bailout programs, financial markets are anxious about the risks from a seething Spanish banking crisis and a June 17 Greek election that may lead to Athens leaving the euro zone.
“Markets remain skeptical that the measures taken thus far are sufficient to secure the recovery in Europe and remove the risk that the crisis will deepen. So we obviously believe that more steps need to be taken,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said ministers and central bankers of the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, Germany, France and Italy would hold a special conference call, raising pressure on the Europeans to act.
“The real concern right now is Europe of course - the weakness in some of the banks in Europe, the fact they’re undercapitalized, the fact the other European countries in the euro zone have not taken sufficient action yet to address those issues of undercapitalization of banks and building an adequate firewall,” Flaherty told reporters.
…
Cool — Wife and I are part of a “trend”…sorry 2ti-fruity.
Poll: Political independents outweigh partisans
Jun 4, 2012 4:50pm
American moderates are abandoning the Democratic and Republican parties in large numbers, and calling themselves politically independent.
…
Now is the time for a real 3rd party. There is no need to delay.
I bailed on the Democrats 20 years ago. Wasn’t too happy about their courting of the yuppie classes over their traditional base in the working classes and the poor.
I still have no regrets about re-registering as an Independent.
Ditto, except I ditched the GOP.
Ditched the GOP in 1988 and ditched the Dumbo’s in 2012.
Same here, I registered Independent in 04.
Check it out: Bill Clinton has stolen the Republican’s anti-Obama line and used it against Romney.
Clinton: Romney would be ‘calamitous’ for US
By ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Bill Clinton is joining President Barack Obama for a major fundraising push in New York, and the former president is telling donors that electing Mitt Romney would be, in his words, “calamitous for our country and the world.”
…
Recall Walker!
Recall Obama!
Recall Yun!
I think we need an HBB bank and political party.
Nice to know that crack-ho skinny waitresses in tiny outfits is still a winning formula for a business.
http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/dining/articles/2012/05/30/20120530tempe-based-tilted-kilt-plans-national-expansion.html
The story comments aren’t as glowing as the news of this chain restaurant’s expansion plans. Here’s my fave comment:
“The bigger problem I have is that the atmosphere is just OK - the women are generally speaking attractive. But a decent percentage of them have mind-bogglingly stupid tattoos, like tats of serpents which wrap around their torso. At least for me that goes a long way towards devaluing the attractiveness of the talent. Maybe I’m just old…”
I’m thinking the target audience is into the tats.
Maybe she can rent space on her body for ads.
Maybe the next employment numbers will be better, ‘Octomom’ found a job.
Reports: ‘Octomom’ to start stripper career in suburban West Palm
By pbpulse.com Staff | Celeb Stalker, Events | June 04, 2012
Several entertainment news sites report that Nadya Suleman, the “Octomom”, will be starting a part-time career as a stripper, with her first gig coming in July at T’s Lounge in suburban West Palm Beach.
TMZ was among the first to report that Suleman will be performing two shows a night July 11-15. The site reports that Octomom, so known because she has had 14 children, including octuplets in January 2009, will be appearing topless at the adult entertainment lounge.
Us magazine reports that Suleman filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April, with assets less than $50,000 and liabilities between $500,000 and $1 million. In addition, according to the New York Post, Suleman’s home is in foreclosure.
I’ve neglected to inform you that….
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Realtors Are Liars®
Oh, darn! I almost forgot.
Thanks for the reminder.
Anytime.
Saaaaay whaaaat?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47678760//
“Is Obama a Socialist?”
“Steven Hayward, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of a two-volume biography of Ronald Reagan, said Obama is not a socialist under the strict definitions of that term — central economic planning and government control of production.
‘However, socialism has a secondary meaning that is harder to explain — government regulations, supervision of the private economy,’ Hayward said. ‘The problem now with Obama is, `What does he really think?””
Let me see if I understand. Socialist has a very negative connotation. It doesn’t REALLY apply to your opponent, but you want it to, so you simply redefine the term to kind of fit.
Obama is a pedophile. No, no.. not the strict definition of the word pedophile involving sex with children. Just the secondary meaning, which is harder to explain, but involves thinking that poor kids should have access to health care, food, and perhaps even an education.
“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
It covers most of what passes as political speech nowadays.
I was listening to Meet The Press this past Sunday. A gaggle of pundits were discussing Romney’s Massachusetts record. They presented figures completely at odds with each other. Diametrically opposed in fact. I said out loud, involuntarily, “One of you is lying.” *
* It is possible they both were lying.
Got censorship?
June 4, 2012, 6:54 p.m. EDT · CORRECTED
China index level spells bizarre Tiananmen message
By Michael Kitchen
Corrects the anniversary of the incident.
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — In what may have been a bizarre coincidence, Monday’s opening level and daily loss for China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (CN:000001 -2.73%) spelled out the date of the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square — on the 23rd anniversary of the incident. The index fell by 64.89 points, matching the 6/4/89 date of the event, which is known in Chinese as the “6-4 Incident.” The Shanghai Composite’s opening level, meanwhile, was 2,346.98, the last four digits of which contain the fateful date backwards. The strange congruence of the numbers didn’t go unnoticed, creating chatter on the Internet and prompting Chinese sensors to block all microblogs referencing the Shanghai stock market, according to a Reuters report Tuesday.
June 4, 2012
Reagan, Bush, and Obama: We Are All Still Keynesians
Posted by John Cassidy
The reaction to the May employment report has been depressingly predictable: Republicans have been gleefully proclaiming that President Obama’s fiscal stimulus didn’t work. Many people who commented on my post about the political impact of the job figures parroted the same line, arguing that the lackluster economy demonstrates Keynesianism is a bust.
Having spent much of the past three years reading and writing about this subject, I wonder whether it is even worth engaging with these arguments. The aversion to government spending, and government activity generally, which animates many Americans isn’t actually based on economics, or logic: it is an emotionally driven belief system, founded upon a cockeyed view of American history and buttressed by a variety of right-wing shibboleths.
In the real world that rarely intrudes upon conservative economists and voters, both parties (and all Presidents) are Keynesians. Whenever the economy falters and private-sector spending declines, they use the tax-and-spending system to inject more demand into the economy. In 1981, Ronald Reagan did precisely this, slashing taxes and increasing defense spending. Between 2001 and 2003, George W. Bush followed the same script, introducing three sets of tax cuts and starting two wars. In February, 2009, Barack Obama introduced his stimulus. The real policy debate isn’t about Keynesianism versus the free market, it is about magnitudes and techniques: How much stimulus is necessary? And how should it be divided between government spending and tax cuts?
On both questions, Obama took the middle ground. His $800 billion stimulus program was smaller than many Keynesians, such as Christine Romer and Paul Krugman, wanted. (Romer reportedly pushed first for a $1.8 trillion package, then for $1.2 trillion.) Concentrated over a three-year period, it amounted to 1.1 per cent of G.D.P. in 2009, 2.4 per cent of G.D.P. in 2010, and 1.2 per cent of G.D.P. in 2011. So far, some $750 billion in stimulus money has been paid out: about $300 billion went to tax breaks for individuals and firms; roughly $235 billion was dispersed in the form of government contracts, grants, and loans; and another $225 billion was spent on entitlements—unemployment benefits, Medicaid, food stamps, and so on.
…
Come on, America — use those minds God gave you and think. The President does not control the sun, the moon, the stars or the job market! Find a better reason to vote for Obama or Romney (or to write in Ron Paul) than the unemployment report…
June 1, 2012
Jobs Slowdown Could Cost Obama the Election
Posted by John Cassidy
I hate to ruin your weekend, but let’s be honest: Mitt Romney now has a good chance of being the next President.
How good is good? Your guess is worth as much as mine, but we both know that the likelihood of a Romney victory went up considerably this morning with the release of a shockingly bad jobs report. According to Intrade, an online betting site, it jumped six per cent, and is now more than forty per cent. Obama is still the favorite, but the gap is narrowing.
Yes, it’s just one month of job figures, and things could look better a month from today. But, from President Obama’s perspective, this was a truly horrible jobs report. Nobody, and I mean nobody, was expecting the May figure for growth in payrolls to come in as low as it did: sixty-nine thousand. And nobody was expecting the April figure—at a hundred and fifteen thousand already pretty anemic—to be slashed by nearly fifty thousand, to seventy-seven thousand.
With the May unemployment rate ticking up from 8.1 per cent to 8.2 per cent, the White House’s misery was virtually complete. Talk of a new recession is overblown, but the economy has clearly stalled at a very awkward moment for Obama. Between January and March, it created two hundred and twenty-six thousand jobs a month, according to the Labor Department’s payroll survey. In April and May, this figure fell by two thirds—to seventy-three thousand.
No wonder the Republicans are cock-a-hoop. “These jobs numbers are pathetic,” Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, said on CNBC this morning. “And I think it cries out now for us to try something new…. The policies coming out of the Administration have not worked.”
That is the Romney argument, of course. “This week has seen a cascade of one bad piece of economic news after another,” Romney said in a statement. “Slowing GDP growth, plunging consumer confidence, an increase in unemployment claims, and now another dismal jobs report all stand as a harsh indictment of the President’s handling of the economy.”
From an economic point of view, this is misleading. Obama’s policies helped prevent a Great Depression. Since the spring of 2010, payrolls have risen by more than four million. If the do-nothing Republicans in Congress had passed the Administration’s American Jobs Act, which contained more financial help for cash-strapped states that are still laying off teachers and other employees, many more Americans would be working.
In short, the Republicans are full of it.
…
Are we getting anywhere with reforming the FIRE sector to be less parasitic, or will it come back in an equally or even more pernicious form after the housing bubble finally completes its denouement?
Only time will tell, I guess….
If the eurozone is truly in an emergency, then why haven’t asset prices made an emergency landing? Is it all the trading curbs, which are designed to artificially buffer the pace at which stock market corrections play out, artificially propping up global stock markets at temporarily high plateaus?
ft dot com
June 5, 2012 7:11 am
G7 to hold emergency eurozone talks
Reuters
TORONTO/BERLIN, Finance chiefs of the Group of Seven leading industrialised powers will hold emergency talks on the eurozone debt crisis on Tuesday in a sign of heightened global alarm about strains in the 17-nation European currency area.
With Greece, Ireland and Portugal all under international bailout programmes, financial markets are anxious about the risks from a seething Spanish banking crisis and a June 17 Greek election that may lead to Athens leaving the eurozone.
“Markets remain sceptical that the measures taken thus far are sufficient to secure the recovery in Europe and remove the risk that the crisis will deepen. So we obviously believe that more steps need to be taken,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty said ministers and central bankers of the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, Germany, France and Italy would hold a special conference call, raising pressure on the Europeans to act.
“The real concern right now is Europe of course – the weakness in some of the banks in Europe, the fact they’re undercapitalised, the fact the other European countries in the eurozone have not taken sufficient action yet to address those issues of undercapitalisation of banks and building an adequate firewall,” Mr Flaherty told reporters.
…
Prediction: Merkel will be viewed through the lens of history as the leader who saved the Eurozone.
Germany Is Open to Pooling Debt, With Conditions
Guido Bergmann/Bundesregierung, via Reuters
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany with José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, in Berlin.
By NICHOLAS KULISH
Published: June 4, 2012
BERLIN — Pressed by a banking crisis and turmoil in the markets, Germany has indicated that it is prepared to accept a grand bargain that would provide greater support for its most indebted euro zone partners in exchange for more centralized control over government spending in Europe.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that finding the way to “more Europe, not less” was the next task for Europe’s leaders. “The world wants to know how we expect the political union to complement the currency union,” Ms. Merkel said at a news conference here Monday with José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission. “We have to find an answer in the foreseeable future.”
German officials remain adamant that they are not talking about euro bonds, or jointly issued debt, which they have dismissed as unconstitutional. More likely is a plan to combine much of Europe’s bad debt into a single fund with the idea of paying it off over 25 years, an idea gaining traction in Germany as an alternative to euro bonds, officials say.
The worsening crisis has led to a sweeping effort to chart a new path forward for the union, one that encompasses fiscal integration, Europe-wide banking supervision, and tighter coordination of economic policies.
German leaders have not provided details of a potential deal — and not every country may be eager to sign on — but it would be likely to mean an expansion of executive power in Brussels over fiscal targets in member states and supervision of their banks, along with Europewide deposit insurance. It would go far beyond what was contemplated for Europe even six months ago.
Changes on this scale would not be easy, involving an arduous process of treaty alterations that could take years, and it is unclear if they would be enough to reassure markets of the stability of the euro. But as Ms. Merkel has repeatedly made clear, Germany would be open to rescuing ailing banks and member states in the region only if that were part of an overhaul of the basic architecture of European governance.
Such an expansion of central authority is not assured of universal support. While the weaker countries might be expected to sign on, it may well be opposed by Britain, which opposed an earlier effort to increase fiscal discipline out of concern for the effect on its banks.
…
Investors from Norway, Sweden find bargains is South Florida real estate
By Dennis Glade Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 6:08 p.m. Monday, June 4, 2012
WEST PALM BEACH — Lars Heldre is having a really good year.
Heldre, the founder of Superior Florida Realty, recently closed a 31-unit sale to a Norwegian investor.
The 31 two-bedroom condos located in Delray Beach’s Pineapple Grove Village each were sold for an average of $269,371.
Heldre, a native of Norway, began a career in real estate in 2005 based solely on the fact that a large amount of Norwegians buy property abroad each year.
Over the past seven years, Heldre has bought online advertising in Norway and Sweden to entice investors to buy property in South Florida.
So far, it appears to be working.
Heldre said that word has gotten around Sweden and Norway that the Florida housing market has turned. He said that investors are taking advantage of the great price point: The 31 units would have had an average price of $500,000 in 2005, he said.
“There are very few places that have as much going on as Delray Beach with all the restaurants and festivals that they offer,” Heldre said.
“There is always something going on and people want to live there.”
Daniella Collin, head of sales for Pineapple Grove Village, has noticed an influx of investors from Sweden and Norway.
“Traffic from European investors has really picked up, because our prices are very low. They were 40 percent to 50 percent higher in 2005,” Collin said.
Heldre explained that South Florida’s year-round warm climate is a big attraction for those used to the cold winters in Norway and Sweden.
In addition, Norway is one of the richest countries in the world when it comes to income per capita.
“Smart investors realize that at some point the prices will get back to 2005 levels and Norwegians are looking to manage properties for five or six years and then make a profit,” Heldre said.
Superior Florida Realty employs Norwegian and Swedish Realtors. Heldre believes this makes potential buyers more comfortable.
“It makes all the difference to the buyer. It’s a trust you can’t fake,” Heldre said.
2 COMMENTS
Suckers!!!!!
2005 is Gone
7:26 PM, 6/4/2012
Tell the Norwegians to bring their guns and ADT is extra. Above all don’t read the crime section of the Palm Beach Post.
HeyZues
9:46 PM, 6/4/2012
Black bear euthanized after eating Canada murderer
By JEREMY HAINSWORTH The Associated Press
Posted: 10:16 a.m. Monday, June 4, 2012
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canadian conservation officers have euthanized a black bear that ate the remains of a convicted murderer.
British Columbia Environment Minister Terry Lake said Monday the bear’s description matched that of one seen guarding a cache that contained the remains of Rory Wagner, 54. Examinations of fur at the scene as well as teeth and claw marks confirmed the bear that was euthanized is the one that ate the remains.
Lake said the animal was put down because bears remember food sources.
Officials suspect the bear pulled Wagner’s body from his car after he died on a remote logging road.
Wagner pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 1994. He and two others were charged with a killing a man who they believed had sexually assaulted a family member. He served his prison time and was released.
Wagner, who was living in Kamloops, British Columbia, was reported missing May 23. Police said his death was not suspicious. Hunters found the site last week.
Regional coroner Mark Coleman said it is not yet known how Wagner died. Coleman said an autopsy showed the man was dead before the bear got him out of the car. Coleman said toxicology results to reveal how Wagner died would not be complete for several weeks.
Royal Canadian Mounted Poilce Sgt. Grant Learned said Wagner was on life parole and had been living in an approved facility in the city. He said Wagner had attended work May 21 and said he wouldn’t be coming in to work in the following days.
When he failed to show up at his residence May 22, a warrant was issued for his arrest. His body was found shortly after.
“The degree of decomposition would suggest the body had been removed (from the car) after death,” Learned said.
And the circle is complete.