Bits Bucket for July 12, 2012
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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I just watched “Inside Job” again…for about the 10th time.
If you haven’t watched it, you need to. Great documentary about the incestuous nature of the financial services industry and the government.
Also nice and ironic to see Strauss Kahn and Spitzer speaking as “good guys” in the story, in close proximity with respect to time in the documentary to discussions about the use of prostitutes by the financial industry. Seems there are fewer and fewer “good guys” out there.
Seems there are fewer and fewer “good guys” out there.
+1 A democrat is a republican that hasn’t been caught yet.
BTW: The smug academic near the end of “Inside Edition”, the creepy freak who gets all squirmy and huffy when questioned about collusion between Wall Street and Bush Treasury cronies, is Glenn Hubbard, Mitton Romney’s Senior Economic Advisor.
Spitzer is still a ‘good guy’ in regard to the things discussed in Inside Job. Who cares what he does in private?
Are any of Strauss Kahn’s issues related to the financial industry? The accusations are a little more loaded than hiring an adult escort would be, but I don’t recall it being related to insider trading or fraud or anything like that.
Must read.
Middle Class? Here’s What’s Destroying Your Future
According to the conventional account, the Great American Middle Class has been eroded by rising energy costs, globalization, and the declining purchasing power of the U.S. dollar in the four decades since 1973. While these trends have certainly undermined middle-class wealth and income, there are five other less politically acceptable dynamics at work:
1. The divergence of State/private vested interests and the interests of the middle class
2. The emergence of financialization as the key driver of profits and political power
3. The neofeudal “colonization” of the “home market” by ascendant financial Elites
4. The increasing burden of indirect “taxes” as productive enterprises and people involuntarily subsidize unproductive, parasitic, corrupt, but politically dominant vested interests
5. The emergence of crony capitalism as the lowest-risk, highest-profit business model in the U.S. economy
http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/79194/middle-class-destroying-future
Not sure how it got there. Meant to start a new thread.
Jim Cramer, who has admitted on air to market manipulation, is best friends with Spitzer. That makes Spitzer suspect.
Just read Spitzer was an investor in Cramer’s hedge fund where this manipulation occurred. hmmm….
Wall street on drugs http://www.cnbc.com/id/48149955
Traders on Wall Street are always looking to get an edge and pull ahead, especially in this catch-a-falling knife market. The latest secret weapon isn’t some complex trade or computer algorithm, it’s something more primal — testosterone.
Testosterone has been blamed for many a bar fight but for some aging traders and executives — and aging on Wall Street means 30 and up — who feel these young kids breathing down their necks and the economic screws tightening, say boosting their testosterone levels has helped them get their edge back.
I’ve also heard that, as women get older and produce less estrogen and progesterone, their testosterone levels also rise. I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on teevee, so I’m willing to be corrected on this point.
All I know is that I’m a lot more aggressive than I was back in my earlier years.
Just finished the book Predator Nation by the director of “Inside Job,” Charles H. Ferguson. Highly recommended by your HBB Librarian.
i just watched the documentary “the weather underground” …didn’t know that these revolutionaries broke dr. timothy leary out of jail (for a couple of joints)… he escaped to algeria with eldridge cleaver…
We weren’t all passive cretins, angus. Some of us believed in the United States of America back then….
Posted: 1:00 a.m. Thursday, July 12, 2012
Palm Beach County foreclosure activity increased in the first half of the year, RealtyTrac says
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
“We are seeing a decrease in the number of sales at the courthouse steps, so to speak,” Bock said. She believes banks may be working out deals with distressed borrowers.
Jack McCabe, chief executive of McCabe Research & Consulting in Deerfield Beach, said the actual foreclosure filings and the fact they are much higher than the number of foreclosure sales provides the most accurate picture of what’s happening.
Banks are once again ramping up their new foreclosure filings, following the robo-signing debacle, McCabe said.
“The problem is we still have so many open foreclosure files that will either be foreclosed on and sold or sold as short sales. Those, because they are of a distressed nature, will be sold at lower prices,” McCabe said.
“If you are a homeowner considering putting your property on the market right now, even though the Realtors show a low inventory, the amount of distressed sales coming up in the next two years is going to overwhelm the typical Realtor,” McCabe said.
“It will put downward pressure on the market,” McCabe said. “Just as the U.S. is possibly facing falling back into a recession, so is our real estate market.”
McCabe said most of the distressed properties are going back to the bank because many Floridians cannot get loans and can’t take advantage of the low prices.
“The only ones buying them are investors,” McCabe said.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/ - 73k -
“The only ones buying them are investors,” McCabe said.
Did that include you?
“The only ones buying them are investors,” McCabe said.
“Did that include you?”
No.
“McCabe said most of the distressed properties are going back to the bank because many Floridians cannot get loans and can’t take advantage of the low prices.”
That didn’t include me either
But it probably included the person who owned the UNKNOWN Casa before me.
many Floridians cannot get loans and can’t take advantage of the low prices.”
That didn’t include me either
So you bought because you thought now was a good time, prices are at or near bottom in Florida?
“So you bought because you thought now was a good time, prices are at or near bottom in Florida?”
No, I bought because a house I had been looking at and called BofA on that had been empty for 2+ years was put on the market by Fannie Mae.
I bought because this particular house fit my criteria which included….
1) CBS
City water
2) Hip Roof
3) No HOA
4) Decent Neighborhood
5) Good Mechanicals AC/ Plumbing
6) Decent Fenced Yard
7) Decent Price (not dirt cheap but $190k less than the last owner who bought in 2006)
There are other nice things about it like low insurance, it was built in 2004/2005 and anything built after 2002 gets much lower rates when it is CBS has hurricane shutters and a hip roof it`s $1,300 a year including wind for this place. The interior is really nicer than I would have had on a wish list kitchen/baths/flooring nice fixtures, ceiling fans and PGT windows.
It`s a 3/2/2 which is not the 4/2/2 I started looking for in 2004 but my kids are now 20,18 and 15 so that changed. I posted this house here about 2 months ago and some people liked it which is niether here nor there because nobody here has to live in it or pay for it. My wife loves it but the best thing about it is…….
I DON`T HAVE TO PAY A DEADBEAT RENT EVER AGAIN!
Good for you. I know you have had rentals foreclosed out from under you. I would say that the stability of owning is worth buying, even at, say, 10% above bottom. So you’ll be underwater for a couple years. Whip de do.
That might make you feel better but lying to yourself is like using booze or drugs…. you wake up to reality and a hangover.
You’re already underwater and there is no coming to the surface.
Being underwater doesn`t scare or bother me one bit. I lived and worked through it before when I bought my first place. My goal is not to make money on this house, my goal is to pay it off in the next 13 years. I have a lot more confidence in my ability to do that than I have in our elected officials, Fed chiefs, banksters and Deadbeats to do the right thing and let it go.
Now having said that I would not want to be underwater as far as the last owner of the UNKNOWN Casa. Cause if it goes to 0 I wouldn`t be that far underwater.
Linky Jethro linky!!!!! I wanna see the new Jethro Crib.
I guess you were a special case, Oxide.
Jeffsat,
Good for you, son. Hope this one works our for you! If anyone deserves a homeoftheirown, it’s youse.
Hugs.
ahansen
Thank you.
You are one of many here that I value the opinion of and respect. My first place that was purchased in 1983 worked out fine too, that is until my third kid was born at which point it had just shrunk too much. But it was underwater from probably 1984-1991, but it didn`t matter. I had a lot of great parties there, got straight there, started a family there, got through some bad times that went along with a lot of good times there and when I sold it in 2005 wasn`t underwater there.
But to go along with your warm hearted sentiment (which you always seem to have even when you are teaching someone a lesson, like me )
I hope everyone on this blog past and present has it work out for them, because as you put it they all deserves a “homeoftheirown”.
Huge thanks to a Great American Ben Jones. I`ll be in touch.
Escoja Foreclosed Casas - Mira casas en Foreclosure Horita.
foreclosedcasas.reply.com/
Listings son Gratis sin Obligacion!
Realtors Are Liars®
Realtors Are Mentirosos.
The word liar in Spanish is “mentiroso” (from verb mentir, to lie).
So are you RAL, so are you.
RAL es un buen hombre.
RAL es un boring hombre as well. He also lies.
There’s my favorite lying realtor.
Hows business liar?
Jojo
Your attitude about RAL`s posts reminded me of this song…..
WHO PUT THE PEPPER IN THE VASELINE by Barefoot- YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhGFNmrjMDs - 125k - Cached - Similar pages
Dec 28, 2009 … from the “Barefoot & Andy” LP BAREFOOT RECORDS BF-5704 1970s? STEREO .
The futures ain’t what they used to be.
Futures fall on gloomy economic picture
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK | Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:33am EDT
(Reuters) - Stock index futures were lower on Thursday as the global economic picture remained bleak and minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting indicated more stimulus is unlikely in the near future.
Investors will eye weekly initial jobless claims at 08:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) for clues on the health of the labor market, the first data point on the jobs picture since Friday’s disappointing payrolls report. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a total of 372,000 new filings compared with 374,000 in the prior week.
Minutes from the central bank’s June meeting showed the U.S. Federal Reserve was open to the possibility of buying more bonds to stimulate the economy, but conditions might need to worsen for a consensus to build.
The S&P 500 has dropped 2.4 percent over the past five sessions as weak economic data compounded concerns the slowing global economy could dent corporate profits.
…
grain futures are up as heat wave in Midwest stunts grains
But yea the stock market is a flat line adjusting for it’s double digit returns from 1980 to 2000
Luv the pun.
from yesterday:
Comment by Mr. Smithers
2012-07-11 09:39:06
I’d agree that “basic” health care provided by the govt isn’t a bad thing necessarily. But you know full well, the day after “basic” health care is free, there will be a push for basic and a little more. And then a little more. And more.
I’m glad you can see the advantage of basic health care being provided by govt. It’s too great of a benefit of society to be dismissed. And your concern over the tendancy to push for more, while legitimate, shouldn’t be regarded as a trump card. It’s a slippery slope argument. Just because there is a push for more doesn’t mean it has to be granted. If the system ultimately fails, then it will be just like every other system ever created.
Similarily, apply a similar slippery slope argument to a private system. We know there is a tendancy for private for profit industries to try to eliminate competition by any means necessary. Private health care tries to give as little service for as much money as possible, and will try everything to avoid providing treatment to those who really nead it. A private system will reach the point where it collapses on itself because people can no longer afford it, or won’t bother paying premium money for denial of service. The logical conclusion is that there shouldn’t be any private for profit health care because it will fail. But in the mean time, many people will suffer for it.
Can we please stop calling single payer healthcare or universal healthcare “free”? Calling it free is wrong, misleading and attempts only to score cheap ‘gotcha’ moments. It’s NOT free. It’s paid for by taxes collected.
For those who are not paying much income taxes relative to the benefits they are drawing, “free” is code for someone else is paying. The whole system is rife with words that do not mean what they are used for. Sometimes I think it is intentional thought stopping.
It is. It’s pyshc warfare 101. That is NOT an exaggeration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_warfare
Also note that “affordable” is a code for “more expensive for everyone besides members of the specially privileged group.”
Example of what the government means when it says it’s going to make something affordable:
You and nine friends go to dinner and agree to split the check evenly beforehand. Dinner is done and everyone orders the $ 10 dessert. The waiter gets to you and you reason…”well…I may as well get it…it’s only going to cost me $ 1.”
The restaurant owner is happy you are a fool.
I noticed that when I talk to many people these day that when I say “I can’t afford it,” people seem to hear, “I have the money and just don’t want to spend it.”
“everyone orders the $ 10 dessert. The waiter gets to you and you reason…”well…I may as well get it…it’s only going to cost me $ 1.””
Yes, that’s exactly why everyone in Europe has a heart transplant or at the very least a hip replacement (like ordering a coffee instead of dessert).
“Cheap gotcha moments” are the accepted political discourse in this moron-infested time.
Not on this blog they’re not, Russ.
“It’s NOT free. It’s paid for by taxes collected.”
And we pay for much of it now, through higher costs and higher premiums.
The hospital billed $52 to give my husband his regular medication dispensed from their pharmacy for 1 day. I am sure this charge covers costs associated with the pharmacy that are not paid by those who don’t pay, either through charity/uncompensated care or bankruptcy.
I hear the argument that people will use more care if they don’t have to pay for it. Yet I still haven’t scheduled that colonoscopy I am overdue for, even though we have met our out of pocket maximum for the year.
I think people would use more acute care if health care cost nothing out of pocket and was wholly paid by taxes. They will go to the doctor when they are sick instead of trying to tough it out on their own. But most people do not want to spend their time at the doctor and will go only when they perceive it as necessary.
But most people do not want to spend their time at the doctor and will go only when they perceive it as necessary.
That’s how I deal with doctors.
Colonoscopy - No sweat, and I was 3 lbs lighter from not eating 3 days. I took advantage of the no eating/clear liquid purge and got off my sugar addiction. I didn’t follow their instructions. Go online. There are actually good tasting, non gagging alternatives for the same results, imho.
Thanks, Awaiting. I’ll check out some prep alternatives.
I have not scheduled it due to perceived difficulty of the test or prep. Simply inertia. I know it is something that needs to be done, but it is not an immediate problem and gets pushed down the priority stack on a daily basis.
My point was that even routine wellness care gets postponed. The hassle of finding a doctor, scheduling, and taking time out of the workday for the doctor visit are enough of a barrier to reduce usage, even when money is not an issue.
We have great insurance. Still, my colostomy (colectomy - 6 inches removed) cost over $5,200 plus in copay.
“A private system will reach the point where it collapses on itself because people can no longer afford it….”
I find it hard to come up with a real life example. I do wonder if you came up with this on your own.
The concept of an insurance death spiral has been around as long as people have thought seriously about insurance.
How about our current system, with its ~15% per year policy price increases? The one that emptied my GP’s practice and forced it to sell out to a corporation?
As someone pointed out yesterday, healthcare isn’t like buying a TV or a trip to Disneyworld. Those are luxuries, and the laws of supply and demand bring prices into balance. Unlike consumer goods, the cost of healthcare has steadily outpaced inflation for decades. Trick after trick (HMO, PPO, etc.) to contain costs have been tried and all have failed. Now we are playing the High Deductible game.
What’s the next trick? $5000 deductibles? $10,000 deductibles?
The cost of deductibles defeat the entire purpose of insurance.
Biggest scam ever.
What’s the next trick? $5000 deductibles ??
Mine is $3500…Only way I could get the premium down significantly from the $2400. per month I was paying…
from the $2400. per month I was paying…
How uniquely American!
Which is why I believe that it’s only a matter of when, not if, before our for profit healthcare system collapses.
Mine is $3500…Only way I could get the premium down significantly from the $2400. per month I was paying…
The other HUGE problem with our current system: you will pay even more if you are not part of a large group. One of the reasons I’m back in Corporate America is the health insurance. You’ll have a hard time these days finding a small employer that offers something other than an HD plan. And if you’re doing it solo, you’d better be in impeccable health, which is something that can’t always be accomplished via “exercise” and “good living”, or it will utterly unaffordable.
As alpha-sloth said (quoting the great W): How uniquely American!
Mine is 4000, though it’s waived for some things. Not for ER, I found out, unless you’ve had an accident. I paid it out of pocket for an illness that nearly killed me.
And no, I don’t think this was something that the ACA or other “reform” would fix.
2400 x 12mnths + (x)yrs.
Wow. Who needs insurance if you can save that kind of money?
Wow. Who needs insurance if you can save that kind of money ?
Save ?? Chump change compared to the cost of a serious, life threatening illness or worse, something like MS….
#1. I have sufficient assets that it would be ignorant of me along with my wife to go naked pretty much no matter what the cost…
#2. Its priority #1 to perserve those assets…
#3. I enjoy life and I want to enjoy it as long as I can given a reasonable quality of it…Having no insurance risks both my assets and my future quality of life…
Now, if you choose to have no insurance, I understand…You can always turn to the emergency room or county hospital and let someone else pick up the tab…That, assuming, you have nothing to loose…
I had assets and insurance. Now after I needed the latter, I ended up with neither.
What’s the next trick? $5000 deductibles? $10,000 deductibles?
Many of us self-employed folks are already dealing with deductibles like that. And it’s not like the monthly premiums are cheap either.
I bet they will even market the 20 thousand deductible plan . What would limit them on marketing a 50 thousand dollar deductible plan ?
Some Banks lately have been trying to market the old
$300 dollar a day hospital insurance plan if you happen to end up staying in a hospital .
isn’t it all about tricks to get something for nothing ,to the point of being insulting to any thinking person .
Why not take a trick from the insurance industry and buy re-insurance to cover what our insurance policies won’t cover?
We pay the first, say, $500 out of pocket, and buy a reinsurance policy to cover what that doesn’t cover. Then we buy another policy to cover what THAT doesn’t cover. And another to buy what THAT one doesn’t cover, etc. until we’ve out-deductibled the insurance company’s co-pays and deductibles!
Seriously. This is how the insurance industries do it. (Look at AIG for an example of how it works.)
I’ll repost this tomorrow.
But isn’t it a bit like buying food? Also: “Unlike consumer goods, the cost of healthcare has steadily outpaced inflation for decades.” False. For about $30 you can get 2 weeks of antibiotics that will kill infections that would have buried you 6 feet under or left you permanently disabled just 100 years ago. You can get a full set of dental x-rays with 1/10th the radiation and 1/2 the cost using digital usb “film targets”. Sterile gauze is available down the street from you in any rite aid for like $2 per roll. Do you even know if you could get sterile gauze in 1950 outside a hospital?
What would a liver transplant cost in 1970?
Until the past two decades current diagnoses that result in serious but perhaps routine procedures were death sentences. Death is a lot cheaper than medical treatment. Hence, keeping people alive is costing more, not the specific medical procedures and supplies.
This is bull, while living longer means you may use more healthcare services, it also means you pay more years in premiums. Both sides of the ledger are increasing, but while it may cost $30 for the anti-biotics, it will cost you many times more than that to get 20 minutes of a doctors time to prescribe it.
Right arm, mathguy. Well spoken.
The concept that ”Cheaper is better” is now being played out at Wal-Mart , and I can’t wait till they hit their wall.
When it comes to health care , the biggest blessing is to stay half-way healthy , which is often a life-style choice. If you look at photos of crowds on streets in the early 1960’s , there are no obese people to see .
But then i guess back then you could walk almost anywhere without getting shot or raped. You could bike or drive all over the country and camp out on the side of the road when you got too tired and no one would bother you.
You could pick up hitchhikers and have a great driving companion to ease the boredom
Also people did eat sugar
I can personally attest to the fact that biking all over the country and camping by the side of the road was possible during the 1980s and 1990s. And did I mention that when I biked the 50 states, I never, ever had a gun with me?
Me again.
And this one goes out to aNYCdj: I just bought The Catholic Girls’ latest CD. I so-o-o-o want to play it on the all women! all the time! show on KXCI.
If the regular show host puts a contract out on me after all my silliness as a substitute deejay, HBB guys and gals, it’s been nice knowing you.
cool….Gail has a unique voice….their original LP…back in the 80’s is incredible…they also had 2 videos on MTV….
They were ahead of madonna and opened for the Ramones the clash and only a severe snowstorm canceled the gig with Springsteen
Also they were to be on SNL…but the producer said No the bands name was too controversial….they could have been the supergroup of the 80’s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgy_7RUPMNI
Catholic girls epk …..I got Little Steven to stay and watch them….and he put them on his show..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3mUHvDm-qQ
If you look at photos of crowds on streets in the early 1960’s , there are no obese people to see .
+1 Our journey with socialism hasn’t been for the better.
Funny how the Euros are far more socialistic than we are, and thinner too.
Also funny how obesity is at its highest in the “right to work”, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, “no commies or socialists wanted here” south east USA.
Darn those facts.
Also funny how obesity is at its highest in the “right to work”
True about the southeastern states. Obesity is also higher among Blacks and Hispanics who often vote for a party that promises more “affordable” goodies.
Funny how the Euros are far more socialistic than we are, and thinner too.
Culture in the Eurozone is such that
1. Smoking is still very prevalent. Nicotine increases your metabolism, hence smokers tend to be skinny, all other things being equal.
2. Fast food isn’t as prevalent. Home cooking is the norm, as are fresh foods. This tends to lead to healthier meals and less calories consumed than fast food meals in the US.
3. EU workers, except Spain, have more time off and work less hours than the US. This means less time sitting in an office or commuting and more time walking/exercising/biking/cooking. All things more healthy for you than sitting in an office 50+ hours a week and sitting in a car/train 10+ hours a week like in the US.
Nicotine increases your metabolism
I thought it was an appetite suppressant. That’s what some girls told me in college. Bring back smoking, I say.
“Smoking is still very prevalent.”
Have you ever been to the south? When my late mother was in the hospital in NC, I was shocked to see nurses coming off their shifts and lighting one up as they left the building. And these smoking Nightingales were nice and plump too.
“Fast food isn’t as prevalent. Home cooking is the norm, as are fresh foods.”
I blame that on socialism! Everyone knows that “time is money”! Cooking meals at home is a waste of valuable time that could be spent working at a 3rd P/T job!
“EU workers, except Spain, have more time off and work less hours than the US.”
Again, I blame that on socialism!
Nicotine causes an increase in blood pressure, heart rate and blood flow to the heart. Additionally, the carbon monoxide in the smoke impairs hemoglobin from binding with oxygen, making your lungs have to work harder just to breath normally.
All amount to an increase in calories burned while smoking vs. not smoking…
Obesity is also higher among Blacks and Hispanics who often vote for a party that promises more “affordable” goodies.
It’s also lower among the granola munching, bike riding white lefties.
Maybe it has something to do with poverty and the poor HFCS diets that are associated with it? And since half of all Americans are at or near poverty ($500 weekly median wage) is it surprising?
I’m not saying socialism promotes thinness, but it certainly doesn’t promote obesity or Europe would be fatter than we are.
3. EU workers, except Spain, have more time off and work less hours than the US. This means less time sitting in an office or commuting and more time walking/exercising/biking/cooking. All things more healthy for you than sitting in an office 50+ hours a week and sitting in a car/train 10+ hours a week like in the US.
That part is due to the governments in Western Europe, which require a minimum number of weeks of vacation per year. It may even be EU law that requires a minimum of four weeks.
By the way, that’s not socialism.
No, smoking keeps your hands busy so you’re less likely to be mentally hungry.
The biggest contributor to obesity is not socialism, but gliadin.
By the way, that’s not socialism.
I don’t know, it sure sounds like “redistribution of wealth” to me. That’s it’s accomplished via a mandate vs. taxes doesn’t really make that big of a difference in my mind.
Socialism isn’t just about food stamps.
Funny how the Euros are far more socialistic than we are, and thinner too.
Socialism requires shared responsibilities too, which likely work better in a xenophobic culture rather than our melting-pot of “poor people.” Recall that poor isn’t about the lack of money.
Add “shift work” to the list of things causing obesity. And forced overtime. None of this happens much in Europe, but is SOP in the US of A.
As I’ve said before, try working 3-pm to 3am Mon-Friday, Saturdays 26 out of 52 weeks, and 12 hour plus shifts on both Saturday and Sunday every fourth weekend, in an understaffed (natch, otherwise why work O/T?) high stress environment …….
Do that for 4 years, and then come back and tell me that a weight problem is a lack of self discipline.
The movers and shakers have figured out it’s more cost effective to run your current workers into the ground, instead of being adequately staffed. If they die off early and suddenly, it still helps the bottom line. Besides, with 20% defacto unemployment, any you lose will be easy to replace. Turn the ones that survive to 50 into “independent contractors” and offload even more costs.
Correction: cortisol is almost a big a contributor as gliadin. Calories are far down on the influence list.
By the way, that’s not socialism.
I know that it’s not always interesting to discuss the meaning of a word, but in this case it’s necessary. The standard short definition of socialism is this:
a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
So a socialist economy wouldn’t have things like profits, dividends, stock markets, etc. or private ownership of businesses for that matter. In Germany, they call their system a Social Market Economy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_market_economy - a combination of private enterprise and government regulation.
“And since half of all Americans are at or near poverty ($500 weekly median wage) is it surprising?”
I read some silly things on HBB. This has to rank up there as one of the sillier.
“Euros are far more socialistic than we are”
First of all, those systems are coming down, one by one.
Second, all of those countries have the de facto support of the US military saving them trillions over the last 50 years.
Get real.
is to stay half-way healthy , which is often a life-style choice ??
And often it is not…Ever been to a children’s hospital ??
I feel no tendency (proper spelling) to escalate the level of basic services under Obamacare.
I am diabetic. A pre-existing genetically-caused condition. Thanks to the Ob, I shall be able to get coverage at a reasonable price until I die.
What if I were your brother?
P.S. : No elective surgeries planned at government expense.
However, Mr. Smithers, if you want to alter the shape of your nose, I can offer you a Machinist’s Set of tools, ranging from hacksaws, band saws, nippers, tin snips, and more!
P.P.S: The poor should be precluded from entering the E. R. at any hospital if their medical condition doesn’t warrant it. The rich, too!
Anybody ever hear of triage?
Geesh!!
More foreclosures = housing rebound?
Hmmmmmm……….
The housing rebound rhetoric becomes ever more incoherent as we go.
Housing Rebound Signaled as Banks Resume Foreclosures: Mortgages
By Prashant Gopal - Jul 11, 2012 10:01 PM MT
U.S. lenders are notifying more delinquent homeowners they face foreclosure, a step toward clearing a backlog of properties and helping to accelerate a housing recovery.
Initial notices of foreclosure, the start of the process, jumped 6 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the first annual increase since 2009, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of housing market data. Banks at the same time found alternatives to the final step of seizing the home, either by working with the borrower or by agreeing to sell properties for less than what was owed, with repossessions falling 22 percent.
Demand for real estate is rising amid record-low borrowing costs and tight inventories of available real estate. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
“You have to get to the point where the market can heal itself and foreclosures and price adjustments are the only way that can happen,” said Anthony B. Sanders, economics professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
The housing market’s rebound has been restrained by the so-called shadow inventory of homes with mortgages at least 90 days delinquent, in foreclosure or already owned by banks, while foreclosures had been stalled since late 2010, when state attorneys general and federal regulators began investigating abuses by banks, including lost or doctored paperwork. They started to pick up again after the nation’s five biggest banks settled the probe for $25 billion in February.
“The market has to deal with these distressed properties at some point and I believe we’ve delayed it long enough so seeing these increases isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” said Daren Blomquist, a spokesman for Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac. “The market has strengthened and is more equipped to absorb this additional foreclosure inventory.”
…
A “rebound in housing” is dramatically lower prices by definition.
During the mania the demand outpaced the supply; they couldn’t build houses fast enough - there was no overhang of supply to put a lid on the price rise.
But now there is a great supply overhang - realized and potential -which is something that a price rise will need to chew through.
When somebody says “I want to sell my house but I can’t because I am underwater and thus to sell my house I would have to bring cash to the table - something that I am fresh out of” he is saying “As soon as the price of my house reaches the break-even point then I am going to put it on the market”.
As the price rise puts people into the break-even point then these people will become sellers. And as sellers they will increase the supply of houses, and this increase in the supply of houses will act to put a lid on the price rise.
Depends on how compelling their reason to sell is. If they really hate the house, then, yeah, maybe they will dump it as soon as they can. If not, then they might believe that since it went from underwater to break even over x amount of time that it will then continue to increase in value. If they think they have an asset with an increasing value, they might find that they don’t hate the house as much as they thought. This would be the overwhelming factor in an investment property, but it can also be a factor in a primary residence. Again, if they really can’t stay, they might get out right away, but if the speculating aspect looks good enough, I think people will try to wait it out beyond their break even point. This, of course, assumes they ever get to a break even point - not a given at all.
Everyone who reaches the break-even point doesn’t have to be a seller to halt the price rise, just barely enough will do it.
“…this increase in the supply of houses will act to put a lid on the price rise.”
Add to that the demographic lid of baby boomer empty nesters trying to cash out of their family-sized homes, and you have a really heavy lid for prices to lift. The only way I can imagine housing price increases is for a general inflation to lift them along with the price of everything else, but that would really sink the ability of a large and growing number of retirees on fixed-income pensions to survive.
Checkmate!
Checkmate!
Except there are more Millenials than Boomers, without even counting Gen X and those following the Millenials. (Will this canard that the Boomers are a pig in a python never end?)
King me!
I thought I read somewhere that gen x + millenialls = boomers. I didn’t think millenials were bigger. Where did you get your stats?
Those stats are from the Census.
You can also confirm this on Wikipedia.
Sorry, on a different PC today or I would post the links I have bookmarked.
I’ve just finished running more searches and it’s amazing how hard it is to find those numbers again.
Plenty of articles but nobody citing hard numbers. Insane.
I thought I read somewhere…
http://www.rclco.com/generalpdf/general_Sep2320101200_PCBC-Gen-Y_in_the_marketplace_-_Underwood-6-17-09_%5BCompatibility_Mode%5D.pdf
Slide 3.
Better link:
http://www.socialmarketing.org/newsletter/features/generation3.htm
“Except there are more Millenials than Boomers, without even counting Gen X and those following the Millenials.”
Lotsa Millenials + $1t in student debt = no housing demand
I’m not trying to be a douche by asking for links. I’m just generally interested and would like to read more on the subject. Sorry if I came off that way.
It’s difficult to find definitions of generations after baby boomers. I was born in 81 and depending on the studies I have read I fluctuate between gen x and a millennial.
Also, above alpha mentioned an Echo boomer. What is that?
Lotsa Millenials + $1t in student debt = no housing demand
“On average, college seniors who graduated in 2010 carried $25,250 in student loan debt, according to the Institute for College Access and Success’ Project on Student Debt.”
Charlotte Post
I don’t think $25,000 in debt will be a long-term burden for most of them. It’s not a good thing, but it won’t affect house prices as much as the geographic shifts that will occur during this depression.
Echo boomer is a child of a boomer. Since there were a lot of boomers, there are a lot of kids of boomers. The Birth Dirth is Gen X and Y, who were born in between.
25K of student loan debt should be about $250-$300 month. A bear if you make 30K per year, not so much if you make a lot more.
100K+, now that sounds like a nightmare.
I don’t think $25,000 in debt will be a long-term burden for most of them.
I graduated from CalPoly, SLO with $22k of student loan debt, and I paid it in full in 5-yrs, and I was also supporting a stay-at-home wife and two kids.
I was just ribbin’ ya, Crab Cakes. Here’s a list of generations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations#List_of_generations
As the price rise puts people into the break-even point then these people will become sellers. And as sellers they will increase the supply of houses, and this increase in the supply of houses will act to put a lid on the price rise.
Makes sense…except I don’t think there are many buyers at the average bubble-era-purchase break-even point. So can these people hang on until they’ve paid it down that much or inflation has brought up incomes that much? Many can’t and are just waiting to be kicked out. Them not being kicked out yet is the only thing holding this up, I think. Meanwhile the “investor” class thinks that rents will stay high enough throughout all this to justify buying at the break-even point right now. I don’t think there’s that many of them, though, and soon enough it’ll be apparent that they’ve been suckered into donating their money to the system, too.
+1. My question was, what if break-even doesn’t happen?
Although, I gotta say, I’m surprised that much of ANYTHING is selling…but it seems to be, in several sub markets “where people want to live” here in Oregon. Who has all these saved dollars?
Who has all these saved dollars?
I don’t think it’s saved dollars at all. It’s the availability of loan money — again.
BTW, I just got back from the post office. Check I was expecting wasn’t there. (Story of my life.)
What was there? A postcard from a mortgage guy. He was offering refis for people in underwater houses. I’ll bet the closing fees on those aren’t cheap.
I recycled said postcard before leaving the post office.
The bottom end is selling here in Bend but not so much the higher priced props. Wife’s foreclosure she bought for 392k. Fannie put it on market for 200k; then pulled it. There are plenty of others exactly like it so not likely to have so much demand; however I notice it resold finally for 177k after Fannie repo-ed it. We still have $$ saved in one home we have not sold yet in bubble “funny money”.
Meanwhile an acquaintaince lost his house. He only got a year of free rent while my wife was given two. The higher $$ the more time you seem to be given in delinquency; perhaps there is less demand for these properties so not kicked out as fast.
He paid 270k; Freddie put in on the market for 140k. It was bid up by 15% and sold for 162k. Average Joe is getting outbid on these low end props, while the “step up market” is soft, slow and spongy. Both places rent for $1000 per month; probably why they both sold for roughly similar numbers.
I am glad I own a low end home as it is more liquid than bigger ones; I paid less than $90/sq foot and now it is worth more, based upon wishing prices. I believe I could easily break even if I sold but would be giving up a good tenant and regular income. Would not be so for a higher priced property. Did not end up selling it as I had planned as we kicked the can down the road with 0% credit offers.
Inequity abounds as hard working people like Ben can’t afford private health insurance but we have been paying our costs averaging at least 20k per year for last 10 years. with bubble bucks.
IMO as long as people like me get to leave Cali with $$, Oregon properties will sell; even though the economy sucks in Bend, what does a retiree with a pension care if they get a lower cost of living than they had in CA? A Russian bought our cali home for 3.5x what we paid in 1995 for it in 2004. We still have 100k locked into my paid off home; but losing $$ quickly but surely mostly due to continuing to pay for health insurance and medical services.
Just some observations. Don’t really grasp the big picture as I did not realize people who have decent jobs are not paying their health insurance; while people like us with multiple part time jobs and bubble bucks are still insured. I have been scorned here for not paying the mortgage on the home wife bought for too much at 60x her income; that sold at a 200k loss; while if an uninsured gets sick; that bill will also go unpaid. Seems everyone is robbing Peter to pay Paul; only in their own ways.
The higher $$ the more time you seem to be given in delinquency;
The higher $$ means that the bank takes a much higher hit on the balance sheet when it’s sold. It’s much more attractive to wait for a market rebound on a high-price house. Also, a high price house probably had a nicer owner so it’s better maintained. You want to take alow-end $ hit by getting rid of a low-end low-qual house as soon as possible, if only to take it off your mind.
Oxide, the bank that is servicing the loan doesn’t own it. Does Not Own IT. No direct balance sheet hit.
“As soon as the price of my house reaches the break-even point then I am going to put it on the market”.
happens in the stock market all the time “overhead resistance” or some fancy name like that.
cactus & all
Did you guys hear that Ca’s Gov Brown signed The Home-Moaners Bill Of Rights yesterday. Banks can’t double track a mod and a foreclosure anymore, and the FB’ers can sue if they believe fraud or nasties were done to them. Talk about a Pandora’s Box. As much as I hate the Banksters, this new law effective Jan 1, 2013 is insanity. If inventory is low now, just wait!
I’m glad it isn’t starting until January 2013. According to RealtyTrac, there was a burst in Foreclosure activity in CA in June. Hopefully banks will try to blow it out before the law comes into effect.
Also though, I don’t think this law is as bad as the one in Nevada, so while I think it will slow the processing, I don’t think it will bring it to a screeching halt.
Agree 100%.
Isn’t a dearth of loanable funds supplied to the market a direct result of central banks cutting rates to the bone? What am I missing here?
ECB Says Overnight Deposits Fall to Lowest in Seven Months
By Jana Randow - Jul 12, 2012 3:52 AM MT
The European Central Bank said overnight deposits from financial institutions dropped by more than half to the lowest level in almost seven months after policy makers stopped paying interest for the funds.
Banks in the 17-nation euro region parked 324.9 billion euros ($397.2 billion) at the ECB yesterday, down from 808.5 billion euros the previous day, the Frankfurt-based institution said. That’s the least since Dec. 21.
Financial institutions are no longer remunerated for the money they deposit at the ECB overnight after last week’s interest-rate cuts took effect yesterday. Policy makers reduced the main refinancing rate on July 5 to a record low of 0.75 percent and cut the deposit rate to zero to stimulate credit supply and lending.
“It’s a miracle that banks used the facility at all,” Christoph Rieger, head of fixed-income strategy at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in an interview. “Most banks are putting their money into reserve accounts instead. There’s no reason to believe that excess liquidity is declining.”
…
Seems there still has never been a better time to own Treasurys!
Luckily, none of the globally terrible economic news will affect the U.S. housing market, which will recover no matter what, as it is decoupled.
Stocks Fall on Growth Concern as Euro Drops; Bonds Rally
By Stephen Kirkland and Richard Frost - Jul 12, 2012 5:28 AM MT
Stocks (MXWD) dropped for a seventh day, extending the longest losing streak since November, on concern the global recovery is faltering. The euro weakened to a two-year low, the yen rallied and government borrowing costs from Germany to South Korea declined to records.
The MSCI All-Country World Index lost 0.8 percent at 7:25 a.m. in New York. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slid 0.8 percent after the U.S. gauge closed little changed yesterday. Germany’s two-year note yield fell to a record minus 0.029 percent, with 10-year U.S. Treasury yields within five basis points of the lowest ever. The yen strengthened more than 0.5 percent against all 16 of its major peers, while the euro depreciated to the lowest since June 2010 against the dollar. Oil slipped 1.3 percent and silver slumped 1.6 percent.
South Korea lowered interest rates today for the first time in more than three years and Australian employers unexpectedly cut payrolls. Manufacturing output in the euro area rebounded in May as growth in Germany offset a drop in France. Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting showed yesterday that only two policy makers backed more bond purchases to bolster growth.
“The global economy is deteriorating faster than central banks can ease policy,” said Tomomi Yamashita, a senior fund manager in Tokyo at Shinkin Asset Management Co., which oversees about $6.3 billion. “Your best bet is to hold on to cash.”
…
What did Tim know? Geithner’s Libor labors
“When Obama named him for Treasury, the banking industry hailed Geithner as a godsend.
But the dirty little secret on Wall Street is that the New York Fed is a horrible regulator: It sees its chief job as keeping the banking system intact. Since it needs its member banks to buy US government debt and to control the money supply, the last thing it wants to do is shed light on the banks’ shady practices.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/what_did_tim_know_NQ113lKVCrJPZHUhVCVVfM#ixzz20PYVSZrA
Who knows, but this could be another example of how the governmental bureacracy is screwing all of us.
I cannot imagine why anyone would want to put the government in charge of health care. They will screw it up so many ways.
Year after year of double digit premium inflation and increased deductibles along with even more denial of payment, along with more and more treatment “exceptions”, isn’t screwed up?
Seriously?
It seems to me that the so-called regulators were there just to give the illusion that things were regulated .
So many of the key players from the” financial crime sprees ” were put in key positions of being the bail out team and the obstruction of justice team .
Hank Paulson ( former CEO of Goldmans) all of a sudden retires
and becomes the Treasury Sec . of the United States ,and he was in charge of the Tarp Bailout ,along with other major bailouts for that industry .
You got it in one, H.W. This is a fraud from the top to the bottom. There’s no justice in any government action whatsoever, except for some piddling mortgage-fraud investigation (a few 100, maybe 1000, out of MILLIONS of such events). That’s why we entered the Greatest Depression in 2008 and we’re not going to leave it for the rest of the lives of we Gen-X types, since we’re going to run right into the effects of the Petroleum Starvation Age. From systemic fraud to mandatory economic contraction. The middle class in the USA is doomed. It was assassinated on purpose.
I tell people that the SEC should be disbanded since it performs the exact opposite task it was allegedly implemented for. It doesn’t actually stop the big fraudsters, since all those guys are already connected to SEC personnel, so it gives the market the false confidence that there’s oversight. I get a lot of blank stares or scowls. I’m pretty sure that people suspect that I’m right (note: I am) but they are facing a system so broken, everywhere, that they feel powerless to do anything about it, and they sure as fuck aren’t going to be voting the Libertarian ticket. Heavens! And throw their vote away? O_o
Bears still hold Street sway
Sellers call the early tune as investors fret over what China’s GDP will show, among other things.
Weird. To me a “healthy China” means:
More jobs offshored.
Bigger trade deficits for the USA.
Higher American unemployment.
This is good for us because? … We are “confident enough” to borrow even more money to buy imports?
Your 401k goes up slightly.
Because communist capitalism is better than hippie socialist communism.
Dammit! Meant “socialist capitalism.”
Itchy enter key lately, turkey. You should have that looked at with your free health care.
Right?
Thank you to everyone who weighed in on advice re: Manhattan buy vs. rent yesterday.
Here is more of the news that has me weighing the options:
curbed.cc/N5c0LW
again across the river in queenzzzz you could wait out the crash at probably 1/2 the price or only pay the brokers fee for a rent stabilized apartment.
Queeenzzz is basically third world. My friends who live in Manhattan and Greenwich look very down on Queeennnzzz.
And there you have it. In the end it’s all about “what will the people in Manhattan think of me if I live in Queens?”. As the guy who currently lives in a trailer park in Boulder, you can guess what my choice would be.
Ah but it’s a trailer park in Boulder, as opposed to one in Aurora
The park brings a little bit of Aurora to Boulder…but not much :-).
So YOU post a chart developed by Realtors? Really? REALLY?
Posted: 1:00 a.m. Thursday, July 12, 2012
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Foreclosure activity decreased 43 percent in Palm Beach County in June, compared to June 2011, but rose more than 6 percent for the six months ended June 30, according to a RealtyTrac report to be released today.
“We are seeing a decrease in the number of sales at the courthouse steps, so to speak,” Bock said. She believes banks may be working out deals with distressed borrowers.
Jack McCabe, chief executive of McCabe Research & Consulting in Deerfield Beach, said the actual foreclosure filings and the fact they are much higher than the number of foreclosure sales provides the most accurate picture of what’s happening.
Banks are once again ramping up their new foreclosure filings, following the robo-signing debacle, McCabe said.
“The problem is we still have so many open foreclosure files that will either be foreclosed on and sold or sold as short sales. Those, because they are of a distressed nature, will be sold at lower prices,” McCabe said.
“If you are a homeowner considering putting your property on the market right now, even though the Realtors show a low inventory, the amount of distressed sales coming up in the next two years is going to overwhelm the typical Realtor,” McCabe said.
“It will put downward pressure on the market,” McCabe said. “Just as the U.S. is possibly facing falling back into a recession, so is our real estate market.”
McCabe said most of the distressed properties are going back to the bank because many Floridians cannot get loans and can’t take advantage of the low prices.
“The only ones buying them are investors,” McCabe said.
“It will put downward pressure on the market,” McCabe said. “Just as the U.S. is possibly facing falling back into a recession, so is our real estate market.”
Falling BACK into recession? I wasn’t aware that we emerged from the Great Recession, er, Depression 2.0.
All government has to do is fudge the inflation numbers. Under report inflation and what is actually a contraction suddenly becomes “growth” and voila! The recession is “over”.
Turkey,
In response to your post yesterday about the economy improving:
The drop in UE claims was due to a holiday shortened week and seasonal adjustments (statistical smoothing). The non-seasonal adjusted number had claims rising by 70k. Also, last week’s initial claims was revised up, which seems to be the norm, but never reported.
Note that a number of corporate bell-weathers have given lower forward guidance because of the economic conditions of the EU. The recent declines in the stock market are a leading indicator of problems in the EU (our largest export market) and the banking sector (LIBOR scandal is spreading to the US). This is causing havoc with financial markets, and what happens there impacts Main St (as we well know from 2007).
See Zerohedge for more. I’d link to the articles, but zerohedge links tend to get lost in the filter here…
Thanks. Good references.
More news:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/12/us-jobless-claims-idUSBRE86B0O620120712
(Reuters) - The number of Americans signing up for new jobless benefits fell to a four-year low last week but an unusual pattern for summer factory shutdowns suggested layoffs might pick up again in coming weeks.
Turkey Lurkey,
I guarantee that they’re playing with the numbers and that the UE numbers will be revised up (when no one is paying attention).
It occurs to me that rules are not for the rule makers or rule shapers, they’re for the little guys or outsiders.
I see no criminal blowback from the MF Global incident, no criminal blowback from the financial crisis and mortgage crisis, the government shamelessly manipulating markets, no criminal blowback from the Greek situation.
I guess it’s not a new observation:
“Laws are like spiders’ webs which, if anything small falls into them they ensnare it, but large things break through and escape” — Solon
You have to be a bundler.
lead free solder sucks expect all your electronics to fail within 5~7 years
With that said I’m back to the reflow furnance to try and get this junk to flow, burned up one of my PCB’s yesteday. Lucky for me the assembly expert is back today. Now she can burn up the 1000 dollar PCB, company can panic and I can work all weekend.
Interesting. I’m FAing (not really my job as a software guy) a board right now that may need to be reflowed. I can get it to fail under the right conditions with the RAM in one slot but not with it in the other.
Server board on a big computer? high speed bus probably 1 gb/s or better, all SMT tiny packages hard to trouble shoot.
reflow the whole thing or replace chips. I guess I would replace chips first. you have a rework station ? That’s what I’m dealing with. IR heat top and bottom I think the top bulb is weak and needs to be replaced which I guess I have to do since the technician who did it retired a week ago.
And the assembly Engineer quit and went back to China to start a LED factory. I don’t know why they haven’t replaced him but instead figured the PCB designer ( me ) should also be the assembly expert. Plus I’m also a test technician which is handy when I trouble shoot my PCB’s.
You got cold spray there ? The stuff in a can.
you have a rework station ?
No, we’re just trying to find clues to point the Asian contract manufacturer to the problem because all we’re getting from them so far is that they can’t duplicate the problem.
I’m ordering some cold spray, we don’t seem to have any in the building. Other than a couple of power supplies we don’t normally design or debug PCBs here.
Carl….Yesterday you suggested I was wrong regarding the Trinity as it is viewed by the LDS…I believe Colorado agreed with you…Now, it was long ago but I had two roommates that were both Brigham Young LDS guys..Since I grew up Catholic, I was interested in the difference between the two religions…So they gave me the whole speal including Gabriel & the horns etc…Part of that discussion I distinctly remember them saying that they did not recognize the trinity…If I am wrong thats fine but that the way I understood them…
Dave how about jesus was a test tube baby and the holy ghost was the doctor who performed the artificial insemination on mary? Much more accurate account of the ordeal.
I have no idea what they might have told you, or what “recognize the trinity” may have meant in the context of that conversation. And I have no idea what “Gabriel & the horns” means. But LDS doctrine is that Christ lived a perfect life and took upon himself the sins of the world and then allowed himself to be crucified, making him the savior of all mankind through his atonement for everyone’s sins if they repent. As far as I know that matches other mainstream Christian religions…the major difference being that LDS doctrine is that Jesus and God The Father are two separate people. And then there’s the whole extra scriptures thing that Colorado mentioned yesterday…
“Part of that discussion I distinctly remember them saying that they did not recognize the trinity”
There are other quasi-christian sects that also reject the Trinity, but they mostly adopt a “unity” approach, basically saying that God wears three hats, so to speak.
The early church came up with the doctrine of the Trinity to reconcile the Abrahamic belief that there is only one God with the Christian belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The LDS make no attempt at such reconciliation and accept that there are many gods. This is why pretty much no other Christian denominations accept the LDS as Christians.
The LDS do not engage in ecumenical dialog with any other churches. Even the Catholic Church engages in ecumenical dialog with Protestants and vice-versa. But no one talks to the LDS that way.
LDS doctrine is that Jesus and God The Father are two separate people ??
Which is exactly my point with the trinity…LDS recognizes Jesus existed and was crusifies but at best only possibly a prophet…Catholics recognize the trinity, which is the foundation of the faith as God, Jesus & the Holy Ghost as one being….
Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being (Greek: οὐσία).[2] The Trinity is considered to be a mystery of Christian faith.[3]
So, I stand by what I said, the LDS may accept that Jesus existed, but they completely reject that Jesus is also the one God…
By the way, as it was explained to me, when the entire world hears trumpets blowing, they will know that God has returned for Judgement day…The Trumpeting will come from atop every Mormon temple throughout the world when Gabriel comes to life and through the trumpets announce the arrival of almighty God…Look atop a Mormon Temple…You will see the trumpeters…
LDS doctrine is that Jesus and God The Father are two separate people ??
Yes. If not, who was Christ talking about when he referred to (and talked to, and prayed to) his father? LDS doctrine as I understand it is that with God The Father as his physical father, and having lived a perfect life and been resurrected to return to his father, at some point in the process became a God like his father. The rest of us sinners need his atonement to have any hope of doing the same. And they believe you can’t live in God’s presence without being elevated to His level through Christ’s atonement after doing all you can do and repenting when you screw up.
Thanks for the explanation of the Gabriel thing…I must have missed Sunday School that day.
Per LDS, I don’t think Christ had a requirement to lead a perfect life but he did need to perfect himself during his lifetime or afterward.
I must have missed Sunday School that day. ??
No, you missed the discussion with my two roommates…Do the LDS have Sunday school ?? I thought that was a Catholic gig…
Yeah, LDS services are three hours and one of those hours is referred to as “Sunday School”.
CT, the LDS believe that Christ did have a requirement to lead a perfect life, which is what qualified him to pay for everyone else’s sins.
Realtors Trade Sex For New Business
http://www.businessinsider.com/there-are-real-estate-brokers-out-there-who-will-trade-sex-for-a-listing-2012-7
Seems that the sellers didn’t understand what the real estate agent meant by “party.”
Kinky.
RealtorWhores turning tricks shouldn’t be any suprise……
“But realtors are professionals” you say? Yeah… They’re real pro’s alright…. prophylactics at best.
It has been said realturds will screw you, but I didn’t take that literal. What trash! Granted, that’s better pay than having a pimp when you’re hooking.
The word trash certainly is one of the best descriptors for these lying, corrupt pieces of $hit.
Can you imagine the shamelessness it takes to tell the public to buy housing when prices are falling?
Is that what they mean by having a “Open House” ??
If you want to stop having your henhouse raided, stop putting the fox in charge of henhouse security.
Gary Gensler, the head of the CFTC was the youngest partner at Goldman Sachs and an advocate of deregulation. Paulson was the CEO of Goldman. If you ever wondered how a Goldman Sachs CEO would have responded to the financial crisis, well you don’t have to wonder.
It’s like Dimon sitting on the New York Fed board - the regulated directing how they will be regulated? What kind of bizarro world is this? The response is, “these people are the only ones with the expertise to understand this industry.”
These people, plus the politicians they fund, are responsible for creating a financial system that is little but a parasitic drain on the real economy.
The past 30 years were a debt-driven illusion. Household net worth is back to what it was in the early 90s, 20 years ago. Fannie loses more in one year, in 2008, than it made in the previous 37 years. Illusions eventually implode.
Policies built on illusion eventually crash on the shoals of reality.
Capital Account with Lauren Lyster discusses PFG Best and the missing 220 million of customer money: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y7GjKu5xaE
You have a problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism?
Wells Fargo to pay $175M in lending settlement
“[T]he bank’s discriminatory lending practices resulted in more than 34,000 African-American and Hispanic borrowers in 36 states and the District of Columbia paying higher rates for loans solely because of the color of their skin.”
My gawd My LL asked a guy at Home Depot to install some Blinds after our new windows were installed…he finally gets here then tell us he has to Order the blinds 2 week …..Idiots morons losers and i need a real job.
He’s a loser slacker. You can get blinds cut to fit any window at either box box hardware store in 5 minutes on the spot.
Not much choice in colors….
“big box”
*sigh*
I’m cool with my cream-colored Levelors and always have been.
Realtor Charged With 17 Counts of Grand Theft and Forgery
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/07/jong_huh_torrance_real-estate_agent_gambling_clients_money.php
Never trust a realtor. They’re all crooks.
Someone said on a prior thread words to the effect that the growth of the great middle class in America was a abberation in history in part due to the unique conditions for America following World War 2 .
Somehow those laborers got out of hand and began to obtain more of the American pie .
So one assumes that the taking back of America by the 10 percenters
and putting laborers back in their place on being dependant on the capitalist for bare existence as a laborer,who never aquires property or investments,was the natural progression from this freak of nature that the Middle class got ahead for a while .
So all advances that were made for the Middle class between 1945 and 1980 lets say were a freak of nature and the natural progression
of capitalism would be the transfer of wealth back to the Capitalist class or the Monopolies . Than the natural progression from that would be the slave labor class revolts and trys to take back the wealth in few hands by any means possible, even by communist ideas /
One of the most blantant examples of wealth in to few hands with slave labor was the Pharaohs of Egypt .Think of how much labor was spent making tombs for the Power Elite of those days .
But unlike in history ,isn’t the situation today different in that we have 7 billion people all struggling for even basic existence ,with limited resources ( based on our current ability ) making it even more
likely that revolt from the labor class and unemployed class will take place ,especially since they have nothing to lose ?
They are too busy watching TV.
If the US of A goes “Zombieland”, they are counting on the zombies fighting each other, instead of applying retribution where it really belongs.
When you get right down to it, the bankster class really only needs to secure the following areas
-Manhattan and parts of NYC
-Washington DC
-Miami, Palm Springs in the winter
-Aspen/Vail and Jackson Hole in the summer
-SoCal/LA, west of US-101, from (say) Huntington Beach to Vandenberg AFB.
Use the tax code to run out/evict most of the wretched refuse. Hire the Blackwater boyz to run out/shoot/starve the rest, and secure the perimeter.
Almost all of these places have airports big enough to land B-747 freighters, and most have ocean access. No need for America’s “Heartland”…….in fact, starvation will force a mass migration to the farm states. This also (conveniently) has the benefit of moving the WreRef 1000 miles away from your security perimeter.
All of these jackazzes who think they are going to ride things out in their converted missile silos are delusional.
Other than Jackson/Aspen/Vail none of those places look very easy to secure, to me. And that’s only with the cooperation of the locals.
I doubt there will be a mass migration to the farm states. I think mass starvation in place is much more likely. I guess maybe if it plays out over a longer period of time and the farm states actually need the extra laborers.
Most NYC residents have No cars and No drivers licenses
I doubt there will be a mass migration to the farm states
Rivers and mountains make excellent barricades. So do oceans.
A barbed wire covered, 10 foot high wall on the west side of US-101 gives you a wide, unobstructed, free fire zone, easily patrolled by UAVs……cluster bombs will make a comeback. And mines.
UAVs and robots are tremendous “force multipliers”. Especially in a “Zombieland Scenario”, where there isn’t a Geneva Convention, or a US Constitution for that matter. The Golden Rule.
All it would take is money, and the will to implement the plan.
But until you’ve pushed out all the “undesirable” locals that are already inside the wire, you’re not secure. That’s what I see as their challenge in the non-mountain locations. In the mountain locations there just aren’t that many of them, and they would probably be helpful if you played your cards right.
“cooperation of the locals”
Easy. Co-opt the local cops. Use the law to run off/scare most of the undesirables, and get rid of the remainder by force/arrest. See Germany, circa 1937-43, Yugoslavia, circa 1995, and Rwanda for some examples.
This is one of the reasons I got off the Republican bus. Too many of them think the “Zombie Apocalypse” is a viable/desirable/mainstream option. A lot of Republicans I know who will be disappointed if this scenario doesn’t happen.
What they will find is that most of them are also considered zombies.
But how will they feed themselves, locked away in these small pockets of ’safety’? Sweet talk the serfs into sending some food their way?
Somehow those laborers got out of hand and began to obtain more of the American pie .”
they were soldiers then but they lost in the end to their children the Boomers and traded power for entitlements.
their children who are running the show now
How do you like it ?
“So one assumes that the taking back of America by the 10 percenters.”
The top 20 percent did well in the 1980s, and the top 10 percent in the 1990s. It was the one percent in the 2000s.
Since 2008, it’s the 0.1%. The rest of the one percent blame Obama.
What percentage of the population would you need for a
rebellion to be successful . There are many forms of rebellion ,
such as boycotting and other methods that don’t have to be violent ,or would they always have to be violent ?
Are you aware of the weapons at our Government’s disposal? A simple EMP puts all of us back in the stone age.
H.W. you seem to think revolutions run on the underdog outnumbering the overdog. Hardly. With billions struggling to stay alive and well for enough decades to raise a family and see them to adulthood, you’re going to find that they are far too busy surviving to engage in the business of revolution. In short, revolutions require ignition from a dispossessed elite.
Humans may be violent animals, but they are more assuredly hierarchical ones. So the billions of sufferers will just suffer until the elites organize a minority of them into resource-theft armies, which will kill off a billion or two to make sure the elites have sufficient stockpiles of critical materials. In the USA, the bad neighborhoods will fall apart into bouts of infighting before an external military group arrives and wipes them out to “restore order”.
There’s no future really worth looking forward to, unless you’re one of the already rich. Petroleum starvation ensures that. The natural state of Humanity (the biogram) can’t be denied. Delayed by various logograms (”liberté, égalité, fraternité”), yes, but only delayed. Eventually the biogram must rule. And the Human biogram is hierarchical and violent. There’s no fairness or justice to be found in it.
How does the end of the Bush Tax cuts effect foreclosures? I thought I read that the write offs are changed, but I cant find any articles on this topic. thanks
from a Greenspan interview I think he’s correct about this
Greenspan went on to say that he did not think the economy was creating enough GDP to implement and fund entitlement programs.
“Obviously, health care entitlements are the critical issue where the expansion is occurring,” he said. “But when I look at the data, what I see, basically, is an extraordinary set of pressures which say to me that by, say, 2030, government will not be able to fulfill the promises now legally on the books in real terms.”
Sure.
Offshore/outsource/kill the middle class tax base, and the only people who have anything left to tax all threaten to take their balls, and play somewhere else = much lower revenues.
Of course, can’t cut services to the banksters/1%ers. And let the government try to put taxes/user fees on the bankster/1%ers government cheese, and you are “penalizing the high performers”.
And the biggest piece of government cheese to the Bankster/1%er/MNC class is the US Department of Defense. A lot of outsourcing/offshoring would make a lot less sense, without the threat of Tomahawk missile/SEALs/Marines/Army Deltas and Rangers to keep the locals toeing the line.
“The US Navy…….keeping container ships shipping safe (and rates low) from Somali and Malacca Strait pirates since 1993……..”
http://www.mbkhomes.com/home_finder/neighborhood/?neigh_id=1042
So what would you make an offer for on one of these….? Prices are between 450K and 700K. Nice places but I think they’re priced about double what they should.
They’re Dryvit boxes with built up roofs.
$50/sq ft plus lot costs. I wouldn’t own a Dryvit structure if you gave it to me.
I clicked on the virtual tour of the office space with the home above it: in this case, the hairdressers.
I looks pretty cool, but it’s a little too contempo for me. Disadvantages: it’s a lot of stairs, and what hairdresser can afford a $500K row house?
“Foreclosure Starts On The Rise”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/foreclosure-starts-on-the-rise-2012-07-12
If you buy housing today, you’re going to lose alot of money. ALOT of money.
“If you buy housing today, you’re going to lose alot of money. ALOT of money.”
Short term or long? Perhaps you mean “if you *invest* in housing today with an expectation of a good return”.
Short or long. Housing is always a loss. It’s a massive loss at current inflated asking prices.
I hadn’t checked my credit in a while, so I did the other day. 719.
What a joke:
There is insufficient information, or no account history, for revolving accounts There is insufficient information, or no account history, for credit card accounts There is insufficient information, or no account history, for mortgage accounts.
So I have average credit, because I have no debt. America, *uck yeah!
BTW, I knew this would happen. I just like to complain, you know.
Even when I was living a cash-money life, I purposely used my credit card at least twice a year, usually for travel. I would take two months to pay it off, just so that Visa would get $20 or so of finance charges. I purposely financed half my car (cost about $500). I purposely pay an annual fee on the CC so as to look like a faithful customer. I purposely let my credit limit creep up to where I had a nice cushion limit but not enough to impulse buy myself into bankruptcy. I purposely did not use my card for everything and pay it off every month, so as to avoid being flagged as a “deadbeat.” I purposely avoided the consumer tricks like calling customer service all the time to bother them about waiving this fee or that, figuring that would get me flagged as a troublemaker. All this made me look like a subservient girl who knew how to keep track. Result: an extremely high FICO to where my house purchase sailed through even the tougher new requirements. The lower interest rate will cancel out the cost of using the credit within months.
This has been common knowledge for at least a decade. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
3/4’s of the stuff you did has no effect on your credit score at all.