Bits Bucket for July 26, 2012
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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
-
April 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
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
There are many developers and builders lining up to acquire options on residential lots and entitled land these days. Northern California is really buzzing with activity.
Jinglemale, do you know if this is a smarter breed of developer? Would they explored the shadow inventory, done market research on the job base in the area, assess the condition of the existing stock? Or are they following this false mania?
Interesting question, but I can’t imagine it matterig to a developer if there is a mania or a real need based on fundamentals. If the money is available to them does it matter what the outcome will be?
does it matter what the outcome will be ??
If they have to pay it back with interest it matters…..
If they have to pay it back with interest it matters if it happens to be his own money. It the money belongs to somebody else then it still matters, just not to him.
The name of the game is not paying back the money, the name of the game is to extract from the money what you can before time and events catch up with you.
It the money belongs to somebody else then it still matters, just not to him ??
Non-Recourse loans “do not” exists in the development game combo….Just ask all the developers who went BK since 2008..Furthermore, since the development bubble, only the strongest, deepest pockets get funding these days, and, frankly, they are making money hand over fist…Lend me money @ 2.5% and I would make a fortune in short time…
It doesn’t matter that non-recourse loans don’t exist in development. If you put every building in its own corporation and keep the capitalization thin, you don’t lose much.
every building in its own corporation and keep the capitalization thin, you don’t lose much ??
Only in the movies Polly….In real life, the principals in the Corporation would need to sign personal guarantees or put up other collateral or BOTH !!…The option you describe above may have existed to some degree in fantasy circa 2006 but it is long gone now…
Put the money in the wife’s name.
The wife will sign. So will the trust.
Ummm, oxide, you’re asking deep thinky-brain questions that just don’t occur to developers. No way. Not never.
True, they’re the sort of questions that would be second nature to us here on the HBB. But, hey, that’s the way we are. We’re a bunch of thinky-brain question askers.
Fish gotta swim
Birds gotta fly
RE developers build, or they’ll die
Can’t help buildin’ too many homes
One of my most savored housing bubble memories is from 2006 when the ex-hubbie of a neighbor who used to own* the home four units up the street from us showed up in town to visit his son. This real estate developer lectured me on how the Phoenix boom would never end and how home prices there always go up, etc etc etc. He looked at me as though I was from Mars when I suggested the boom would soon go to bust. We parted company after agreeing to disagree.
* The woman who used to be his wife went in with a new husband on a purchase up the street, reportedly for $500K; houses like that are off by about 20% now. The grapevine rumor was that they were too broke after the purchase to afford a stove for the kitchen. The marriage didn’t last, but her more recent ex- and his brother (both cops) now share the place, and presumably make the monthly off their combined incomes.
I think everyone, including the developers got burned last time around, so they are cautious today. The market studies are being done, the pundits are making recommedations……but can anyone really see into the future? It is a game of chess….or rather poker. So it boils down to how much does it cost me to “ante up” and how much is in the “pot” if my hand wins. It is a simple business calculation and the answer seems to be favoring lining up land on which to build new homes.
Riiiight, because we have a shortage of homes….
“I think everyone, including the developers got burned last time around, so they are cautious today.”
I fail to see what building on top of a massive shadow inventory glut has to do with caution. Maybe Sacramento is working off a whole new model?
OPM despertely searching for a return, maybe?
OPM handed over to a money manager because of a sure-thing-in-the-bag promise of an eight-percent return is going to be yanked away if the actual returns barely keep up with the manager’s hefty management fees. So, what’s money manager to do?
Chase the latest fad, that’s what he will do. (It’s not as if he has a choice.) Either he chases it or the next guy will get the OPM and will do the chasing.
And why not use real estate as the vehicle to be chased? It’s not as if the stuff doesn’t always end up going up. There not making any more of it, interest rates are low, prices have bottomed, blah blah blah.
And if the money managers are wrong? What if the hefty returns do not mateialize? Well - just think bout it - just whose money is it that is being laid down? Who is it that is taking the risks?
The incentives are all wrong; The incentives that drive the money manager is to perform.
If conditions call for a defensive position (i.e. cash) then the money manger is is a tough spot because a defensive position such as cash is something that his client can do on his own - and he will do on it on his own after the management fees are subtracted and the returns go negative. So the money manager has to reach out a bit, reach out for a high return. But what if the risk/reward ratio for these high returns are just not all that favorable?
Well, again, just whose money is it that is being put at risk?
Enter the song and the dance. Whoever the money manager is that sings the best and dances the best wins the prize and gets to manage a pile of OPM, while the other money managers get to watch.
Sounds like being wary of professional money managers is a very good idea.
Me? I’m one of those defensive position takers. I’m very heavy in cash and Treasuries right now.
And, sotto voce, I will confess to having invested in a real estate development 11 years ago. Took five years to get my money out of that one, but yes I did. And I also got every morsel of the interest I was promised.
Enter the song and the dance. Whoever the monkey manager is that sings the best and dances the best wins the prize and gets to manage a pile of
OPMbananas?, while the other monkey managers get to watch.Sorry…just having an Oly moment.
Oh goody. Sounds like the makings of a speculative bubble. All we need now is unlimited liar loans for the jobless masses.
It would help if said loans included a taxpayer-provided guarantee, to cover the investors’ risk of losing money on the loans.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012Last Update: 8:33 AM PT
Two Accused of Bilking Taxpayers in Loan Scheme
MANHATTAN (CN) - The operator and sales manager of Buy-a-Home Entities defrauded taxpayers of more than $1 million by deceiving the government into insuring $7.5 million in mortgages to “unsophisticated, unqualified” borrowers, federal prosecutors say.
Buy-a-Home operator Mitchell Cohen and sales manager Erin Davis “recruited unsophisticated and financially unqualified borrowers to buy homes in which Cohen had a financial interest,” according to the four-count indictment.
They then lied about the borrowers’ qualifications to secure mortgage insurance through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which made the loans more enticing to banks.
…
Wall Street Bankers/Investment Firms defrauded the World by misrepresenting loan securities ,they didn’t even tranfer title right ,and than a bunch of them mickied with the Libor index to improve their situations that they had a interest in ,than they made a bunch of leveraged bets against their own clients in some weird unregulated markets that the Government doesn’t know what was going on with that market ,and they don’t even tax the transactions ,than the Government gave them Bailout rewards for their acts ……….Oh ,I guess its all ok ,they are to big to fall .
Matt Taibbi is one of my few heroes in this world. I look forward to the chance to meet him some day.
To answer his question,”…where’s the outrage here in America?” I fear most of our fellow citizens are too clueless to even be aware of the story, much less to feel outraged. Romney is so confident about this collective American obvlivion, he is currently across the pond, cavorting with the Barclays CEO who resigned in disgrace.
I hope Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert nail his ass for it.
Why is Nobody Freaking Out About the LIBOR Banking Scandal?
POSTED: July 3, 9:04 AM ET
The LIBOR manipulation story has exploded into a major scandal overseas. The CEO of Barclays, Bob Diamond, has resigned in disgrace; his was the first of what will undoubtedly be many major banks to walk the regulatory plank for fixing the interbank exchange rate. The Labor party is demanding a sweeping criminal investigation. Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, responded the way a real public official should (i.e. not like Ben Bernanke), blasting the banks:
The furor is over revelations that Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and other banks were monkeying with at least $10 trillion in loans (The Wall Street Journal is calculating that that LIBOR affects $800 trillion worth of contracts).
The banks gamed LIBOR for two semi-overlapping reasons. As noted here last week, there were instances of Barclays traders badgering the LIBOR submitters to “push down” rates in order to fatten their immediate bottom lines, depending on what they were trading or holding that day. They also apparently rigged LIBOR downward in order to produce a general appearance of better health, essentially tweaking their credit scores a few ticks upward.
Most intriguingly, or perhaps disturbingly, there were revelations last week that Bank of England deputy Governor Paul Tucker had a conversation with Diamond at the peak of the crisis in 2008. The conversation reportedly left Diamond, and subsequently his traders, with the impression that the bank had carte blanche to rig LIBOR downward in order to help allay spiraling public fears about the banks’ poor financial health.
British officials, and Tucker individually, deny that Tucker gave Diamond permission to rig rates. But a report by British regulators did conclude that the two were talking about Barclays LIBOR submissions on October 29, 2008, and that as a result of that conversation, Diamond came away with a “misunderstanding.” The Daily Mail quotes the Financial Services Authority report:
That is explosive stuff. Members of Parliament will be grilling Tucker tomorrow about those events in what is sure to be a far more combative and entertaining legislative inquiry than the Jamie Dimon dog-and-pony show we just went through here in the states in recent weeks.
The implications of that part of the story should be particularly chilling to Americans, who in recent years have been party to a number of revelations about strange and seemingly inappropriate contacts between senior regulatory officials and big bankers during the heat of the crisis.
We know that American officials in 2008-2009 were extremely concerned about the appearance of weakness in the financial markets, so much so that they may have resisted pursuing criminal prosecutions against big banks, and we also know that they spent a lot of time commiserating with Wall Street figures before and during the crisis.
If Bob Diamond and Paul Tucker were having these talks about LIBOR, is it fair to wonder what else Hank Paulson and Lloyd Blankfein were talking about in the 24 discussions they had in the six days following the AIG disaster? When Paulson had a secret meeting with the entire board of Goldman Sachs in, of all places, his hotel suite in Moscow, in June of 2008? Or what other material nonpublic information was exchanged when Paulson met with a gang of hedge fund chiefs at the offices of Eton Park management in July 2008, and laid out for them a possible scenario for putting Fannie and Freddie into receivership?
Anyway, the LIBOR story is leading the front pages of most of Britain’s dailies, it’s on TV, and it’s producing blistering editorials and howls of outrage amongst politicians and activists. But as compadre Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism put it, where’s the outrage here in America?
…
P.S. My impression is that although both presidential candidates are in bed with Wall Street in every way possible, Obama is clever enough to downplay his love affair. By contrast, Romney seems too politically tone deaf to hide it.
+1 to Obama for successful financial subtrafuge.
It would help if said loans included a taxpayer-provided guarantee, to cover the investors’ risk of losing money on the loans.
+1 The coefficient for the hedge side of the formula needs to be at least 0.90 for this deal to work.
I can attest to that fact. I talked to an electrical contractor this week in Sacramento and they said that they were starting to get a lot of new work in Stockton.
IMO the banks are keeping too much hidden inventory and those that want to buy don’t want to wait.
Lip…Is he/she a residential or commercial contractor ??
So…they can hold it off the market until prices are what they insist on…except new ones can be built for less than that. Hmmm….
The same Stockton that’s reordering its finances in bankruptcy court? The same Stockton where crooked city officials are scrambling to hide misappropriated assets? That Stockton?
**SHILL ALERT**
+1
Maybe a shill but…..
they continue to build steadily in the Cincinnati area.
Maybe, but we also have anecdotes from posters like sfrenter who tells us that there are indeed bidding wars in the desirable parts of the bay area.
there are indeed bidding wars in the desirable parts of the bay area ??
Thats a fact……..
The “bay area” is what percentage of the total market?
That’s right…. <0.000000001.
Nothing like cherry picking an exception and misrepresenting it as the rule.
The original poster did specify that there was activity in the Bay Area.
You did.
“Northern California is really buzzing with activity.”
No, he did.
GB, I have never shilled anyone. You know better….
Heh…. Yeah we know better. You’re here everyday lying to the public about housing.
“AK-47s Belong in the Hands of Soldiers Not Criminals”.
LMAO
Exactly which “Soldiers” does he think carry AK-47s?
AK-47s belong in the hands of honest hardworking law-abiding Americans–so we can protect ourselves against the Mexican Drug Cartels who now have them, thanks to Obama and Holder’s Fast and Furious operation!
Why don’t we fix our mental health system instead of worrying about guns everytime we have a shooting. Whether it is biting people faces off, running over them with a car or stabbing them the problem is the person is often times nuts. The lay people can see it but the mental health “professionals” cannot or if they can the law prohibits the detention of these individuals only when they pose an imminent danger.
In this case the gun club owner saw that he was too nuts to be on the shooting range but apparently his professors that were in a field that claims to understand human behavior could not. I think that it is time we start make it a lot easier to detain people that can’t or won’t take there meds and pose an unacceptable risk to the public even if it is not imminent.
Law prohibits their detention unless they are an imminent danger. (sorry need coffee)
A good start would be providing mental health care to those who know they need it and want it.
“A good start would be providing mental health care to those who know they need it and want it.”
Nearly half of the guys I grew up with claim they’re nuts, of course they can’t work, and SSDI provides their green while MediCal picks-up their medical needs. Reality — they decided against going back to college.
Half? That’s interesting. I don’t know anyone who claims to be too mentally incapacitated to work. Most of the non college educated people I know are good little lucky duckies, holding down 2-3 P/T jobs. I even know a lunch lady, who also works P/T at the library and at a paint store.
I guess it depends on which circles you hang out.
I guess it depends on which circles you hang out.
Most of them are/were self employed blue collar skilled workers. They would likely do much better up here in eastern Washington or anywhere in flyover country, but the weather is nicer in California, and besides that’s where they’re accustomed to living; we can’t suggest any hardships that might endanger self esteem, right?
When I grew up in socal we didn’t know any blue collar workers, like nurses or tradesmen. Just office workers, salesmen, teachers, the TV repairman and the Japanese gardener. A kid might think he wanted to learn a trade, but there was no one to give any guidance on that.
My mother would roll over in her grave being called a blue collar worker (nurse).
Your commentary points to the uselessness of so-called “mental health” “professionals” and is a condemnation of the EDUCATIONAL system.
I agree with you on both counts.
The idea putting science after the names of various ideological programs, like economics and social studies and civics has been a really bad concept.
I understand the desire to try and add legitimacy to a program by inserting some vague mathematical equations as ‘models” and trying to guess at outcomes, but none of this is “science”.
Hear, hear.
Predicting the behavior of complex systems, like the human brain or masses of them or weather, is problematic. Studying them is worthwhile, because we do get better over time. Weather reports are more accurate now than they were 20 years ago.
Models are best guesses at how a complex system works. The wrong answers you get from a model are more educational than the right answers.
Sure, human behavior does involve biochemical reactions, and that is sciencey.
Goosing the numbers on an .xls? Not really…
Economics is silly. SHAZAM!
In this case the gun club owner saw that he was too nuts to be on the shooting range but apparently his professors that were in a field that claims to understand human behavior could not.
When I was growing up, my father and I made regular trips out to the gun club. Great memories of that place. The guys — and, yes, they were all guys — taught me how to shoot the right way.
You’ve probably heard a lot of talk about law-abiding gun owners, and these fellows fit that description to a tee. I learned a lot about marksmanship from them. And a lot about life.
Why don’t we fix our mental health system instead of worrying about guns everytime we have a shooting.
Because no one wants to pay for it. Because in the past likely due to poor regulation some of the institutions that used to take care of them treated them like animal.
In this case the gun club owner saw that he was too nuts to be on the shooting range but apparently his professors that were in a field that claims to understand human behavior could not.
Quite likely this guy was able to control himself better in the lab. I doubt he was spouting off about guns and shooting people.
It is not an explanation to say a perp is “nuts” because only a crazy person would act like that. The courts in my state certainly do not accept that “diagnosis” because it’s circular.
The every day impression, “OMG, he’s nuts,” doesn’t come close to the legal definition of insanity sufficient to find that a person is not guilty of a crime even though they carried out the actions that generally define that crime. The level required to be unfit to stand trial is even harder.
This guy knew exactly what he was doing and crafted a detailed, sophisticated plan that took months to implement. I wish his attorneys rotsa ruck with an insanity defense.
I am not arguing for the insanity defense. I am well aware of the insanity standard. I am merely pointing out that in the early to mid 60s most of these individuals would have been identified as having serious mental health issues and institutionalised prior to committing the carnage and maybe we should allow the pendulum to swing back to allowing more placements.
If an adult suddenly dying his hair orange, talking like the joker, ordering explosives through the college and stockpiling weapons is enough to alert a lay person to the danger, but the mental health professionals have no clue maybe we should not entirely leave the decision to detain to them.
If an adult suddenly dying his hair orange, talking like the joker, ordering explosives through the college and stockpiling weapons is enough to alert a lay person to the danger, but the mental health professionals have no clue maybe we should not entirely leave the decision to detain to them.
Sorry to say it, but a lot of mental health pros could use some help. Of the mental health sort.
A lot of people go into the mental health field to understand their own screwed up selves better.
Not sure what could have been done that wouldn’t have seemed like police harassment, invasion of privacy or involuntary commitment. It doesn’t sound like anyone in Aurora was that close to him either.
“If an adult suddenly dying his hair orange, talking like the joker, ordering explosives through the college and stockpiling weapons is enough to alert a lay person to the danger, but the mental health professionals have no clue maybe we should not entirely leave the decision to detain to them.”
It’s tragic from every possible angle, but the guy is clearly a whack job. That won’t stop some ambitious DA from trying his best to fry him.
Whether it is biting people faces off, running over them with a car or stabbing them the problem is the person is often times nuts.
That’s true. But I saw an interesting thing recently that implied that as a society we only seem to recognize that in white guys. The middle eastern ones would be called terrorists and the black ones would be called thugs, even though they’re actually all mentally ill.
Again, this is circular, medicalizing bad behavior. It explains nothing.
Sometimes mental illness is the only explanation you get. Just because it’s not helpful doesn’t mean it isn’t correct.
“Just because it’s not helpful doesn’t mean it isn’t correct.”
Spot on. You can’t undo carnage.
I guess one question to worry about is whether declaring more (seemingly) nutty people unaccountable due to insanity encourages not-so-nutty people to commit heinous acts, then try to get off by pretending to be insane. I’m not sure how one could test for this contingency…
Me and my varmit rifle say “amen”, Dan. Very literally just got in from early morning defense of my orchard from marauding sapsuckers and scrub jays. I’m probably the only person in California who has a trained bird cat who sits quietly at heel while I shoot, then runs down the hill and subdues, dispatches and retrieves the little sucker to my lap. Damned fine cat, that.
Probably couldn’t get away with it in the ‘burbs, though. Different er, ordinances for different municipalities. Personally, I support handling gun control like they did in the Old West– check your guns with the sheriff at the city limit and pick ‘em back up on your way out of town.
What a fine YouTube video that would make!
Gotta admit I have fantasies about shooting the rabbits marauding through my garden. Rabbit stew, mmm mmm good.
Factoid of the day:
“…Rabbit stew, mmm mmm good….”
Quite true, but tularemia is grotty. Wild rabbits, like oysters, should only be taken in the “R” months, and then with great caution. (Which is a bummer, because rabbits only rampage your garden in the harvest months when you can’t eat them, the clever little buggers.)
So get yersef a garden spaniel…and presto! No more bunnies. (Or a good bird cat like Mingus, who catches rabbits, too.)
Oh dang it, I forgot all about tularemia. And the cats, contented to watch the great outdoors from indoors, would not take well to the presence of a dog in their domain. Now if a hawk were to take up residence–and they have been spotted in our suburban neighborhood–that would be great.
Now if a hawk were to take up residence–and they have been spotted in our suburban neighborhood–that would be great.
We have hawks, owls, and, occasionally, coyotes in this nabe.
Remember the Anaheim!
Oh, uh, wait…
Sad to see a once pleasant American city descend into the turd world. Small wonder the gangbanger’s own mother is pleading with the gangs to stop the violence. She knows it won’t take long until the only “law and order” is the Mexican drug cartels, and the police just become corrupt extensions of them.
Well, doya love it, doya hate it, there it is, the way ya made it.
Exactly Palmy
Everyone seems to forget the 3 others in the car with Rodney King were treated with respect from the cops, because they listened to them.
I took the impression that Rodney was too wasted to behave appropriately. Not trying to defend what the cops did to him, but I suspect his behavior under the influence of controlled (or uncontrolled) substances was a precipitating factor.
When I went to the Interbike trade show in the early 1990s, it was still in Anaheim. It has since moved to Las Vegas.
Any-hoo, the show was in the convention center a few blocks south of Disneyland. From my hotel room, I had a lovely view of the nabe south of the convention center grounds. Place looked like a dump.
So, I’m not surprised to hear about such trouble happening in Anaheim. Outside of Disneyland and the convention center, it’s a run-down place.
Actually, the Anaheim convention center is on Katella and is literally across the street from the “Disneyland Resort”.
But you are quite right about what Anaheim looks like outside the “Disneyland district”, which has grown to be several blocks from ground zero. The area south of the convention center has been gentrified, filled with hotels and restaurants.
But oh yeah, once you leave the gentrified resort “district” it;s a different world, and not in a good way. And what’s even crazier is that those Anaheim houses with bars on the windows cost more than a McMansion in flyover country.
those Anaheim houses with bars on the windows cost more than a McMansion in flyover country
No price can be too high to live in the happiest place on Earth!
From what I’ve read, the neighbors don’t have much love for the mouse. For instance, they are always complaining about the noise from the nightly fireworks show.
This is why Disney bought up so much of Orlando to build Disney World. He wanted to do it right this time.
I seem to recall someone predicting that this year would begin the “long hot summers”.
Yeah…so far it’s been relatively quiet compared to expectations.
I have one Russian, and an SKS copy which is made in China. Both are good guns and use NATO 7.62 rounds. That is why they are so popular around the world. Reliable with plenty of ammunition.
The US government sold Hughes mfgr. garbage to our soldiers in Viet Nam that were subject to jamming and were not very reliable. But war is at its most basic, a money making operation for arms dealers and traders
Oh, buy the way, it’s not that the Hughes guns were poorly manufactured. They weren’t. The guns tolerances were so close, that any dirt or “muck” from jungle warfare cause jamming. The more poorly made weapons could be dragged through a swamp and still fire. Even under wet conditions.
The Defense dept., like ALL other govt. agencies in the US, are slow learners and too closely tied to their suppliers.
“Oh, buy the way, it’s not that the Hughes guns were poorly manufactured. They weren’t. The guns tolerances were so close, that any dirt or “muck” from jungle warfare cause jamming.”
Some of us in ‘nam carried are own side arms (American made) as well. I bought mine from someone leaving after his tour of duty and I sold it to the next guy when I left. Some of us also bought foreign stuff from the Aussies as well.
I was an avid hunter before ‘nam and haven’t owned a gun since. I had to fire at the range on occasion because I carried a badge as part of my work but chose not to carry a weapon. To carry for safety the weapon has to be loaded and you have to make damn sure that you are ready to use it without hesitation when the need arises. When I was a freshman in HS I had a guy pull a knife so I used a broken beer bottle, didn’t need a gun. For safety at home I have a good bat and a golf club and my brain. The key is to always watch where you are and what’s going on around you so you don’t find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time. And always remember in spite of the movies, there is no such thing as a fair fight. A crow bar, 2×4, etc work real good and go for the shins first; hit them in the head and they get mad, the shins and they fall to the floor.
When we talked about self defense in karate class, the teacher generally recommended shoving the arms out the way so that a part of the attackers back was toward you and using a side kick on the knee. First defense is always don’t get in a fight in the first place (in a variety of ways), but inverting a knee was the back up plan if you just couldn’t avoid it.
We were a short (in stature) class. Messing around with necks and faces wasn’t always going to be an option and people can protect those areas because they see something coming. The assumption is always that faster is better. Forget movies because if it takes more than 3 or 4 seconds you have already lost. You block the first hit and make sure your response means the guy can’t possibly follow you. People who are untrained don’t think about their feet and legs and tend not to look down. They might not even see your kick coming.
“Messing around with necks and faces wasn’t always going to be an option and people can protect those areas because they see something coming.”
The most sensitive parts on a large, imposing male are far below the neck or face, anyway…
Whether you carry concealed or not, the best recommendation I’ve heard to come out of the CO shooting, and one that I have used for years, is to carry a tactical flashlight with you at all times.
These are small, hand-held, easily concealed flashlights with 200+ lumens. They often have multiple light modes including strobe and should use LED lights. The idea is that if you are put in a dangerous situation, you can blind and disorient your opponent with the 200+ lumen flash/strobe for up to 4-5 seconds, giving you time to either fight or flight.
Google Surefire for an example… the G2X Tactical is a good choice. The 5.11 Tactical ATAC L2 is another good choice and the one I carry on my rifle as well as on my person.
“The idea is that if you are put in a dangerous situation, you can blind and disorient your opponent with the 200+ lumen flash/strobe for up to 4-5 seconds, giving you time to either fight or flight.”
I’m missing how that would work with a deranged ex-graduate student aiming a Glock your direction.
Simple. 200+ lumens shined directly at you will blind and disorient you. In the case of the shooter, he was in a dark theater with a gas mask on… the light would completely ruin his vision for the 4-5 seconds it would take to close on him or move to some sort of cover.
Try it on yourself or your friends some time if you think I’m kidding…
I have one Russian, and an SKS copy which is made in China. Both are good guns and use NATO 7.62 rounds.
Did you mean 7.62×39? I haven’t seen AKs and SKSs that shoot NATO 7.62×51. If they exist that would be interesting to me…
Yes.
David Hackworth spoke of an incident where they found a buried arms cache in Vietnam. Near it they found a loaded AK-47 buried in the muck. Hackworth was as fed up as anyone with the unreliability of the M-16. He said he stepped into the hole, called his troops around said, “Watch this,” as he pulled the bolt back on the AK, put a round in the chamber, and emptied the magazine into the ground. No jams or misfires.
The AK-47 has knockdown power from the larger round and it is a rifle designed for the dirty, bloody, chaotic battlefield, not the tidy rifle range where contracting officers inspect the weapon.
The AK-47 has knockdown power from the larger round and it is a rifle designed for the dirty, bloody, chaotic battlefield, not the tidy rifle range where contracting officers inspect the weapon………
My point exactly.
But what did the US Defense Dept. Issue???
The one that worked really well on the Firing range and made Hughes lots of money.
I guess it had as an added advantage the need to constantly clean the weapon, so that could keep soldiers busy during slack times……disassemble, clean, reassemble……disassemble, clean, reassemble.
It’s a firefight and the weapon’s jammed. What now??
A few points:
I own both a Romanian WASR-10 (AKM/Ak-47) and a S&W M&P15T. In the service, I carried an M16A2/A4 when I wasn’t carrying a SAW or M60/M240.
AK’s are very reliable because of the low tolerances of it’s manufacture and design (to include the magazine), However, those same tolerances mean it is less accurate than many other rifles. My semi-auto AK firing 7.62×39 shoots 2″ groups (4 MOA) at 50 yards (depending on ammo). That translates to 4″ at 100, 8″ at 200, 16″ at 300, etc. Also, the recoil/muzzle rise of the heavier 7.62 round means follow up shots are less accurate or take additional time to align properly. Because of the heavier, bulkier 7.62 round, you can’t carry as many per lb… a factor when soldiers are on patrol away from easy supply.
AR15/M16 platform is very accurate. My 16″ M&P shoots 1″ groups at 100 yards (1 MOA) with Federal XM855/XM193 ammo. That translates to 2″ groups at 200 yars, 3″ groups at 300, etc. Much more accurate than the AK. The 5.56 round is lighter and less bulky than 7.62, so you can carry more per lb (again, important for individual soldiers carrying on patrol). Even with the lighter bullet, it is still lethal out to 400+ yards. As to reliability, it has been proven time and again that most FTF/FTE are caused by faulty magazines and poor maintenance.
Standard practice today is to replace 30-round magazines with no-tilt followers and heavier springs to reduce problems. As far as the weapon goes, buffer springs, extractors and extractor springs need to be replaced every 4-5 thousand rounds. The amount of lubricant used needs to be tailored to the environment (i.e. less in a fine sand environment). Do this, and the M16/AR15 will fail much less often.
I’ve fired thousands of rounds with both my AR and AK and have never experienced FTE/FTF with either of them… properly maintained and lubricated, the AR will shoot reliably and more accurately than the AK.
The 5.56 round is lighter…than 7.62,
I like shooting the 5.56 more than the 7.62. I also like shooting a 20 gauge more than a 12.
But in handguns I like shooting the .40 S&W more than the 9mm.
I also liked my .22 rifles and pistols because I would buy 500 rounds at Big 5 Sporting goods for $9.99 and shoot a couple thousand rounds for cheap.
Sold all my guns moving to Brazil. That’s my story and I’m
Agree with you on all counts, including the .40 S&W.
My favorite gun to shoot right now is a tricked out Ruger 10/22. Replaced the stock with a Troy T22 TRX Tactical chassis and added a bull barrel. Now my kids and I have contests shooting steel flip targets at 50 yards using the iron sights. Then I throw on an Eotech Holographic and a vertical grip for tactical training. Nothing beats shooting 500 rounds for $10-20.
Regarding the AK’s heavier ammo and thus lower amount of carryable ammo - that is predictable. A jam is not.
Also, lower accuracy is predictable. A jam is not.
A predictable weapon with known parameters is, IMHO superior to an unpredictable one.
All you wussies/girly men can carry AKs/ARs all you want.
AKs can’t hit squat beyond 200 yards. ARs can’t either, unless you have zero wind.
I’ll take my Garand anyday. Or an M14/M1A/HK G-3/FN-FAL. I’ll live with the recoil and heavy ammo.
In the book “Blackhawk Down” one of the Delta guys mentioned that he thought Sgt.Shughart was the smartest guy in the outfit. He was the only guy carrying an M-14.
They could see Somalis take repeated hits from the 5.56mm, get up and continue shooting. Said it was like trying to kill someone by stabbing them with an icepick.
When hit with a 7.62 NATO round, they didn’t get up.
The M1 Garand is a fine weapon and the 30-06 is a great round. The M14 is also a beauty. However, both are very heavy guns. Note that Sgt. Shugart was riding overwatch in a Blackhawk, so weight wasn’t a factor. He might have chosen differently if he had to run and gun like the rest of Delta and Rangers on the ground…
I’ve talked to 11B’s deployed in the sandbox and the reality is “the less weight I’m carrying, the happier I am”. To the extent that these guys humping in rugged, mountainous terrain, at high elevations, are taking gear off their M4’s to make them lighter… and the M4 is already lightweight compared to all the guns mentioned above. Ounces matter and Pounds = Pain.
Also note that the US originally deployed to Vietnam with the M14, before it was replaced with the M16. The most common complaint, aside from almost uncontrollable in full auto? The weight…
Lastly, the Soviet Union changed calibers in 1974 to 5.45mm from 7.62mm to match what the US had done in 60’s with the M16’s 5.56. Why? All the reasons I listed above: accuracy, flatter trajectory, weight, recoil, etc. Of course, they did a few things differently… like design a bullet that tumbles on impact.
A predictable weapon with known parameters is, IMHO superior to an unpredictable one.
As I stated in my post, the AR15/M16 is very reliable and predictable. I’ve never had any issues and the same goes for the guys I served with. If I had to deploy tomorrow, I would take an M4 over an AK-47/AK-74/M1/M14 all day long. Of course, I would immediately replace the buffer spring and stock carbine buffer with an H2 buffer and the extractor/extractor spring with the new SOPMOD bolt kit. But as I said earlier, that is actually part of regular maintenance that most Armorers just don’t get around to doing. Once you understand how the gas impingement system in the M16 family operates, these things begin to make sense.
The only weapon I might take over an M4 would be the new FN SCAR17. Fires 7.62 (.308 Win), but with AR accuracy and AK reliability (piston-based). It’s also a very light weapon, being primarily plastic. Of course, the price-tag for a semi-auto SCAR approaches $3,000, compared to the AR’s $1,000. So for 3x the money, yeah, it better be a damn big improvement.
I have heard that the m-14 has been reissued (in limited numbers) in Afghanistan because it also has the superior range to the M-4 or M-16. Makes sense with the heavier round but I do not know if the source was true. Does anyone know?
It’s true. The army is going back to having the “dedicated marksman” as part of an infantry squad. Most are being issued either an M14 with a new modern, lighter tactical stock or an AR10 type SASS rifle with a long range optic. These marksmen don’t replace the traditional sniper role, but augment the firepower and range of a typical rifle squad.
The problem in Afghanistan is that in the average rifle company, the only weapons with the range to hit Taliban at higher elevations are snipers and machine gunners shooting 7.62 and up. So out of 120 man company, maybe 5-6 have the range to shoot out past 450 yards. As any marksman can tell you, when you shoot down from elevation (like the Taliban who frequently own the high ground), you don’t use straight line distance, you use horizontal distance, or the X-axis, giving the adversary occupying higher ground the range advantage.
As an aside, the Soviet Union SVD rifle was designed as a marksmen rifle for infantry squads to augment the firepower and range of a rifle squad… this doctrine originated in the early 1960’s…
A predictable weapon with known parameters is, IMHO superior to an unpredictable one.
Another case in support of the reliability of the modern M4/M16/AR15:
Bravo Company Carbine Goes 31,165 Rounds
I run a BCM bolt carrier group on my AR… I can’t recommend this company enough.
They’ve been used “over there” for several years…I guess it depends on what you mean by reissued. I don’t know if they dragged any of the old ones out of mothballs, I think everything I’ve seen pictures of was from the new generation gun makers using modern assault rifle stocks and accessories. One report I heard was that they were needing to shoot through stuff (car panels/glass and walls) and the 5.56 just wasn’t having the desired effect after going through the barrier. The rule of thumb I heard was that to shoot through a car panel or windshield you really needed a 7.62 and to shoot through cinderblock only the .50 BMG really worked.
David Hackworth spoke of an incident where they found a buried arms cache in Vietnam.
He also said that when he was asked to test the first M16s that he reported back that we shouldn’t buy them and was advised to shut up and buy stock in Colt.
Contractors are adding inventory to the already massive inventory acrosse the country. You can buy a new house for a fraction of the price of a resale house.
The cottage country that I knew in my youth north of Toronto is gone. The shores are nearly fully developed with monstrous year round houses. Lots of vautled windows. Not that the Canadians think that they’ve overdone things, I just wonder about the future.
New construction priced below used houses. Next, smaller new construction much much below 3 to 4,000 ft2 monsters. I don’t think most people would actually want a 3,000 ft2 chalet with all the overlandscaping unless they thought for sure it would make them rich.
And they are ugly.
We took an abbreviated beach vacation in Rehoboth Delaware. Construction is cranked up in all the developments after it shutdown in 2008. Last year there was some activity but now it’s everywhere.
Talked to a few trade contacts and walked down a few houses in progress….
Contractors are undercutting resale housing prices by large margins. New product is out the door at $70/sq ft on 0.75+ acre lots. Current *resale* asking price is anywhere from 65-$150 per square depending on the amount of gingerbread and lot size.
The hard reality is that contractors have huge margins at $70/sq and alot of room to compete with resale. If you’re trying to sell your used house, you better get ready to compete on price. The longer you wait, the greater your losses.
Rehoboth Delaware…contractors have huge margins at $70/sq and alot of room to compete with resale.
For how long in Rehoboth? Is there enough land/lots for sustainability?
There are miles of ag land in all three directions. Much like any other state in the US.
“Contractors are undercutting…….”
Another HBB prediction circa 2007-2008 fulfilled.
Forecasted or not, it’s a reality for some time to come.
Undercut or undersell — it’s entirely the developer’s choice.
Foreclosure Filings Increase in 60% of Large U.S. Cities
(Bloomberg) Foreclosure filings rose in almost 60 percent of large U.S. cities in the first half of 2012, indicating many areas will have more distressed homes on the market later this year, RealtyTrac Inc. reported.
More than 1 million homes in metropolitan areas with populations of at least 200,000 received notices of default, auction or repossession, up 1.5 percent from the last six months of 2011, the Irvine, California-based data provider said today in a statement. Among the 20 largest markets, Tampa, Florida; Philadelphia; Chicago and New York City had the biggest percentage increases in filings.
The gain in foreclosure actions followed a probe into abusive lender practices that delayed bank seizures nationwide. More repossessions will buoy deals “in many local markets where a shortage of aggressively priced inventory has been holding up sales,” RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer Brandon Moore said in the statement.
A $25 billion bank settlement announced Feb. 9 eased loan terms for some borrowers and set new guidelines for the five largest U.S. mortgage providers. Recent laws passed in Nevada and California, meanwhile, have made it harder for loan servicers to resume property seizures, Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman, said in a telephone interview.
The new regulations have been “a clock-stopper on lenders and led to more artificial decreases,” he said. Throughout the U.S., first-half filings, while up from the previous six months, were down almost 11 percent from a year earlier, RealtyTrac said.
How does news of an increase in foreclosure filings in so many large U.S. cities square with the assurances from many MSM-favored ‘experts’ that housing has bottomed and a recovery is underway?
My take is that we have an uneven economic recovery and thus an uneven real estate recovery. Locations where the job market has recovered and labor is tight are doing significantly better than areas where there was no job recovery. Boston, San Francisco, Washington DC, North Dakota, etc. have economies that are recovering and tight labor markets. Real estate prices are recovering while supply remains tight.
Add in OPM looking for investment returns in real estate and banks colluding to keep supply limited, and you have the makings of a bifurcated recovery.
“Add in OPM looking for investment returns in real estate and banks colluding to keep supply limited, and you have the makings of a bifurcated recovery.”
And probably a temporary recovery. I think the next big move down will come when the FHA folds or is forced to stop being a subprime lender. Less availability of cheap money should hit everywhere, including where the economies are doing better
Availability of money is indeed important, but from what I here, if you have good credit, a decent down payment (10+%), and low debt-to-income, you can still get a mortgage loan, FHA notwithstanding.
FHA is too big to fail. The government knows very well that in the housing market (as in the economy), if the plankton die, so to the whales… the plankton in our economy rely on the FHA for low-down payment and laxer credit standards. Most of these are lower income buyers or first-time buyers, without which, many of the move-up buyers have no market.
Look for a government bailout of the FHA if and when it begins to falter. You think after backstopping Fannie and Freddie, the Federal government will stop there? Not likely…
Concerning the “debt forgiveness” discussion yesterday, I missed my most salient point concerning the idea of money as claim on future labor, and Debt as form of servitude.
The idea that debt can be forgiven and the “net” effect is a wash because one side that made the loan doesn’t get paid back, but other party still has the “money” is really foolish.
I was trying to make a distinction between “secured” debt and unsecured debt and lost my focus. The focus should have been that unsecured debt is CONSUMER items. The money has already been consumed. The vacation the borrower took last year is unrecoverable as “money”. It’s gone.
The DEBT is the promise to pay a future income stream in exchange for the current “consumption”.
There is only Loss of income to the lender. The debtor takes a “free ride” whenever such debt is forgiven. But he doesn’t have more money. It’s gone.
Conversely, if the debt was for a “secured” loan, as a house, then the lender is simply giving the house to the borrower, without compensation. In this case the money actually would exist in an x goes to y type of transaction, whereby Y still has money in the form of an asset. (i’ll ignore that the borrower overpaid).
He would still need to “liquidate” the asset to move the money around in the so-called “economy”. That probably won’t happen, unless the property was “purchased” by a house-flipper.
Under any scenario, the dynamics as to how the money flows would ensue after any type of forgiveness plan is unpredictable. My major point summarizing this line of thinking is that the OUTCOME will be a resistance to lending, which is always bad for business. It will kill many small businesses, as they depend on lending to stock inventories and float their operations till they can sell off the current inventory.
It also is a degradation of the “social contract”. When you can’t trust anyone to perform on their contracts, all society collapses. It is the beginning of lawlessness. Loans are a contract. Contracts should be upheld.
“…money as claim on future labor…”
Your definition is too narrow. I don’t have to buy future labor with money; I can use it to buy eggs if I want (yesterday’s labor by chickens, farmers, truckers, etc) or gold, for that matter.
It is not too narrow, it is a perfectly reasonable definition.
By your own example, you would have already have had the money to “buy” the eggs. The farmer and all the accessories used to create the eggs are a current operation.
You “saved” money for a future expenditure. ALL things are the result of HUMAN LABOR.
IF you buy gold, someone had to first mine and refine it. IF it exists from past labor, you still need to do an exchange, requiring someone’s labor.
With your “money” you expect to have people do things for you and provide things for you, in the future, with your present holdings of cash.
Perhaps gold is a bad example, as gold is often considered a form of “money”. So perhaps that transaction is a hedge against the loss of the current value of your currency. Most often that is why it is bought and sold.
There is absolutely no reason to have money, except to expect to exchange it in the future for some form of labor-intensive product, whether that future is tomorrow, next week, next year, or just few minutes from now.
Why try to redefine money all the time. There is a perfectly time tested definition of money. Gold qualifies(among other things). Stop fighting it. FIAT currency partially qualifies but misses a key component of not being easily created. Everyone is constantly fighting to try to eliminate the part of the definition of “good money” that has been time tested to show that it is a good characteristic for “good” money.
I’ve accepted that the FIAT currency we are using is “less than good” but can still be readily exchanged within our current economy. Knowing there is the possibility of strong inflation within that currency, I’ve diversified a bit. It seems kind of pointless to argue that which is really isn’t, and bury your head in the sand against the current reality of an accepted currency but the historical failure of FIAT currencies.
The only other thing I wish I could do now is begin exchanging my labor for compensation outside the confiscatorial taxation system we currently have where I am paying approximately 50% of my income in taxes in US dollars. I recognize that a civilized society uses taxes for the betterment of all of it’s people, but by centralizing all that money into the US Federal Gov’t, ceding control of the money supply to the Federal Reserve, and bailing out financial institutions, the real result is an attack on the monetary power of the working and middle classes of the country (intentional or unintentional).
Even at 50% taxation, with local (city and county) control of the majority of the revenue and a non-FIAT currency, IMHO we would be better off in terms of educational systems, medical care, transportation, infrastructure, employment and retirement insurance/security, and food security.
Let me just ask all the gold/commodity standard fighters this question… If we DID experience hyper-inflation would you refuse to use a defacto gold/silver/commodity/barter system because you firmly believed that it was “morally correct” or something to use the US dollar?
Money is a
- medium of exchange
- store of value
- a means of settling debt.
This definition is right of Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, and requires no lengthy diatribe regarding claims on future labor or qualifications about whether the money is “good” or “bad.”
I particularly agree with this point:
“Why try to redefine money all the time.”
mathguy said: “There is a perfectly time tested definition of money.”
Yes, there is: An object made by a government and stamped in some way as being authentic.
Better, no.. government FIAT *currrency* is ONE type of money. The definition of money is as Cantankerous said.
The argument of “good or bad” money is the discussion as to which extent a FIAT currrency can function effectively as a “store of value” as its value is liable to be inflated away, or otherwise lost with a loss of faith in the backing government.
“An object made by a government and stamped in some way as being authentic.”
Too narrow, once again. No cigar(ette) for you.
Cigarettes as Currency
Sorry CIBT, but that’s wrong. The qualifiable challenge was “time tested”. What’s stood the test of time as money, is an object made by a government and stamped in some way as being authentic. Sometimes it’s metal, sometimes it’s paper. But the core object is an icon of TRUST. It’s trusted to function as money, and the only such thing over time that’s done that, is by government sanction.
DOW to the moon! Pay no mind to real world conditions. This feels a lot like late 2007, when the market kept driving higher in the face of ominous economic signs. Methinks a crash is on the horizon as the global depression really takes hold.
Sell.Into.All.Rallies.
B.I.N.G.O.
This substantial change in the housing area where contractors are undercutting resale housing prices by large margins is just getting underway.
Look out below.
It is more like the Zimbabwe stock market when the creation of money fueled the norminal increase in the market. It was for a number of years the best performing market in nominal terms.
Speaking of that, the Republican house has passed a bill to audit the Fed but the Democratic senate will not consider the bill.
One reason I find some of the republican/conservative bad and democrat/liberal discussion on this blog tedious.
The bankers will run this country as long as the Fed controls the money supply. An audit is the first step in reigning in the Fed’s crony capitalism and restoring a true democracy. I think the left has missed the boat on this one with the exception of Bernie Sanders. The Tea Party has this issue right and the left should support them. The bankers hate the tea party and people like Sarah Palin just because they do understand that the Fed and its creation of fiat money is the reason that wealth has been concentrated in crooks/ hands.
Having typing issues today as the post above demonstrates. But as far as gold ,over a year ago we talked about whether gold was in a bubble or whether social media stocks were in a bubble. The PTB supported the social media bubble and are working to keep gold down since it speaks truth to power. Thus, I repeat what I said, gold cannot go into a bubble since it is being suppressed by those that want to continue fiat money. Stocks and particularly government bonds are where you should look to find bubbles.
gold cannot go into a bubble since it is being suppressed by those that want to continue fiat money.
IMO gold is not in a “bubble” however from here, gold could go into a bubble which could be the 3rd “blow off” phase of the bull market. That might put us towards the end of phase 2 of the current gold bull market.
No asset class will go unscrewed by the squids
the Republican house has passed a bill to audit the Fed but the Democratic senate will not consider the bill…..I think the left has missed the boat on this one with the exception of Bernie Sanders. The Tea Party has this issue right and the left should support them.
I agree. It’s total BS the Senate is blocking this. And Reid was for FED Audit (1995) before he was against it.
I can’t see how this will help Democrats.
The reason is simple. We have only one party system. If there was a repub president, democrats would be for it and repubs against. This is just a game.
Wha’d'ya know: Withholding homes from the market reduces the number of sales transactions…
Pending homes fall in June, supply blamed
A foreclosed home is seen for sale in Santa Ana, California, May 24, 2011. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
WASHINGTON | Thu Jul 26, 2012 10:07am EDT
(Reuters) - Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly fell in June as fewer properties came on the market, an industry group said on Thursday, pointing to weak home resales in July.
The National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in June, slipped 1.4 percent to 99.3. May’s reading was revised down to show a 5.4 percent increase from a previously reported 5.9 percent.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected signed contracts, which become sales after a month or two, to rise 0.2 percent.
“Buyer interest remains strong but fewer home listings mean fewer contract signing opportunities,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
“We’ve been seeing a steady decline in the level of housing inventory, which is most pronounced in the lower price ranges popular with first-time buyers and investors.”
Pending home sales were up 9.5 percent in the 12 months to June. Home resales fell sharply in June.
…
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Larry (fun)Yun and his Liars Club is at it again.
Meanwhile, there are 25 MILLION excess empty houses in the US and contractors are adding more by the day.
Those 25 million empty houses have already been sold- to the taxpayer. They just don’t know it yet. Its all about selling new ones now and making more new loans.
Those 25 million empty houses have already been sold- to the taxpayer.
They just aren’t allowed to live in them because that would take money away from the .1%.
4277 Granadilla Dr, Moorpark, CA 93021 * Pending
Pending ? unbelievable this is a POS
$434,900 1770 square feet year built 1978
If this keeps up we will be right back to 2006
Already I’m getting twings of selling fever and moving back to AZ..
So I found an article in the Ventura County Star FEB 2005 about locals selling in Ventura Co. and moving to AZ mostly Mesa as Scottsdale was too expensive. Example one Ojai couple sold for 1.6M and bought in Mesa for 1M , another Ojai clown bought 4 homes right off the property developers map when all their was to see was pins in the lot model in the RE office.
This is what the FED wants ?? This is the big plan to get the economy going again?? I’m no economist but really?? I’ll roll with it but it seems like a foolish waste of resources.
Culture of Ojai CA is alot like Sedonna AZ but without the pink jeeps.
Culture of Ojai CA is alot like Sedonna AZ but without the pink jeeps.
Ah, Sedona. When it comes to being a target-rich environment for satire, nothing beats that town.
…. and the imagine the losses on the horizon for these suckers.
Does anything drive asset markets these days besides interplay between Eurozone fears and central bank bailout hopes?
ft dot com
July 26, 2012 1:39 pm
Gold braced for renewed haven boost
By Ruona Agbroko
Gold prices rose to a three-week high, supported by rising expectations of further monetary policy easing in the US and hopes that the European Central Bank could lend more to bail out troubled eurozone countries.
Gold rose 1 per cent on Thursday morning to $1,619.46 per troy ounce, the highest since early July. The precious metal has rallied 4.3 per cent from a low of $1,554 two weeks ago.
Analysts said that investors had begun to return to the gold market amid rising expectations of a third round of quantitative easing – known as “QE3” – by the Federal Reserve. The US is due on Friday to release gross domestic product figures, which analysts said would influence next week’s meeting of the Fed’s rate-setting committee.
Any hint of coming fiscal problems for the US means the yellow metal would reclaim its place as a less risky asset in the mind of investors. Moreover, traders are reporting a slight pick-up in physical buying from Europe and India.
“There are increasing signs that the US will have to do more monetary policy easing such as QE3 and that change in perception has given a little boost to gold prices. It seems investors are starting to think there is some potential in gold,” said Matthew Turner, precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi Corporation.
…
QE3 is not coming. This is too fooking easy.
This kind of market may not be good for the retail buyers, I bet the Insiders are making a killing. I expect no change until November.
We’ll see.
Stephen Roach: Fed dangles QE3 ‘crack’ cocaine as ‘raw meat’ for markets
Edward Harrison | 26 July 2012 08:00
Stephen Roach knows that quantitative easing represents what got us into this mess. But the market is addicted to it like an addict wanting “crack”. So, the Fed is going to give the addict what it wants because advocates of easy money are everywhere in both liberal and conservative circles. Will it work though? No.
Bloomberg Television copy below.
These people are saying it now. I figured it out after the 1st QE and I don’t work in Finance.
Are these people really daft? Or, they made their killing and now it’s OK to pontificate?
Stephen Roach says Bernanke has no choice but to invoke QE3 next week. He says Jon Hilsenrath is the Fed’s WSJ mouthpiece. He also says QE3 will not work in the future, and that the Fed’s research to prove QE works is a piece of crap. (FYI, Roach used to be a FedRes bank research assistant
).
Any dissenting views? Please share if you can come up with any scenario whatever where the Fed punts on QE3, either next week or indefinitely.
Pardon me for being a braggin’ dragon, but here goes:
Got the word yesterday afternoon, and here it is…
I passed the KXCI deejay class! I am now officially a deejay! Woo-hoo!
Just for you Slim: enjoy!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eULy0Erhqs
True story: The deejay class I started out with had 17 people expressing interest. Only seven came to the first class. Here’s what happened to that seven:
One lady dropped out due to work obligations. She has since resumed her deejay training in a later class. I ran the mixing board on a show she substituted for last month. She was extremely nervous on the mike, and it showed. So, she’s still shadowing various on-air deejays and getting additional training.
One guy already has his own show.
Two other people got the same “passed the class” notification that I did yesterday.
We don’t know what happened to the other two people. I guess they weren’t so interested in being on KXCI after all.
Very cool. Congrats.
Enjoy!
WOOT!
Ain’t bragging if its true. Congrats.
Congratulations!
Does it pay?
KXCI doesn’t pay most of its deejays. There are staff who do get paid for things like morning and afternoon drive-time programming.
Like about 70 other people, I’m a KXCI on-air volunteer. But I’m using the radio experience as training for other things. Such as paid speaking gigs. And live spoken word performances like this one.
Will share more info on these activities in future HBB posts.
Congrats, Slim!
When it comes to diversification models, you take the cake! I mean that in a very, very admiring way. We all have the same number of hours in a day. You do a LOT with yours.
Best to you - health, and the capabilities with which to make your own choices, tilt the odds in your favor on that one!
Bloomberg
.Breaking Up Banks Won’t Make Them Safer, Ex-Senator Says
By Christine Harper - Jul 25, 2012 11:00 PM CT .Facebook Share LinkedIn Google +1 40 Comments
Print QUEUEQ..Phil Gramm, the former U.S. senator who helped write the 1999 law that enabled the creation of financial giants such as Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp., said his legislation didn’t make the system any riskier.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealed the 1933 prohibition against federally insured depository institutions combining with securities firms and insurers. While his law allows deposit- taking banks to affiliate with securities firms through holding companies, depositors and taxpayers are protected because affiliates can’t take capital out of the banks, Gramm said in a telephone interview yesterday.
****
To some extent what we saw in the 2007-2008 crash was the result of the throwing off of Glass-Steagall,” Parsons said in April at a Rockefeller Foundation event in Washington. “Have we gotten our arms around it yet? I don’t think so because the financial-services sector moves so fast.”
Thomas J. Bliley Jr., a former Republican congressman from Virginia and another co-author of Gramm-Leach-Bliley, said that the financial industry had been lobbying ever since the 1930s to overturn Glass-Steagall.
“All of a sudden in the late ’90s they all came together and agreed that we should get rid of it and of course we did,” said Bliley, 80, who now lives in Richmond, Virginia, and is a senior government affairs adviser for Steptoe & Johnson LLP. “I don’t know enough to really give you an answer” on whether it was a mistake.
The guy was an author of the bill and doesn’t know enough to really give you an answer???***#@$%^. This probably true because the bill was probably drawn up by Citibank accountants and lawyers and handed to him and Gramm along with the promise of a large pile of cash down the road in some form or another.
The reason it took 50 plus years to overturn is it took that long for the banking sector to consolidate down to giants big enough to buy off our gov. This is happening in all industries. The death of democracy and fair capitalism, the birth of corporatism.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-26/breaking-up-banks-won-t-make-them-safer-ex-senator-says.html
“The reason it took 50 plus years….”
Everyone old enough to remember what actually happened during the last great mania had died.
That’s pretty much it.
“I don’t know enough to really give you an answer” on whether it was a mistake…………..
If that is a true statement, then I suggest, sir, that you did not know enough to support it’s repeal and the “Financialization” of Wall street.
Playing games with money and creating vast amounts of “leverage” doesn’t make society richer, it just mis-allocates resources.
And, of course, someone like yourself, who doesn’t know enough to give an answer had a job as an “advisor”. How fitting.
Oh, and inspite of what this schmuck says:
.Breaking Up Banks Won’t Make Them Safer, Ex-Senator Says………
It most certainly will.
Here’s why. When any of the smaller “COMMERCIAL” banks ( you could say the same for investment banks), makes really stupid loans and goes broke, you can send it into receivership and LIQUIDATE it and it is then GONE. It will be a lesson to the others.
And most importantly, when it is GONE, you will see that it wasn’t “TOO BIG TO BE ALLOWED TO FAIL”.
Thereby, the US TAXPAYERS won’t be held accountable to paying huge salaries to incompetent bankster cronies who feel entitled to Millions of dollars in annual pay for doing nothing worthwhile, but placing bets with highly leveraged funds.
KILL all of the Big Banks and CLAW BACK all the pay and bonus money since 2007. That’s what
CONgress should have done. With Dodd and Frank the 2 biggest Cronies of the Banksters, you could expect a bailout and a handwashing.
WE can Still do it. Get to it boys.
With Obama as friend of the Banksters, I am sure he would veto and taking of money from finance. He wants to rob productive businesses. Too bad.
Banks and investment Firms just wanted the ability to make more money based on leverage than the Glass -Stegall act allowed . It would be the same as the Bank allowing you to put up 10 dollars and leverage it to 400 dollars ,as if the 10 dollars was worth 400 dollars . Than a bunch of bets were made on the fake leverage of the underlying 400 bucks without any capital to back those bets .
This is just a way of betting ( or investing ) without really having the money or more normal capital requirments .AIG didn’t have the money to back their bets or their so called credit default insurance bets .
Investment firms need money to make investments . The more they can create money ,the more money they make .They went hog wild with using the mortgage securities/credit debt as the underlying asset,based on driving up fake values of real estate based on faulty lending ,or qualifying by faulty lending ,that drove up the price of theunderlying asset that was real estate .
. So they were making loans based on viewing real estate values as always going up ,rather than the present value of real estate based on peoples ability to qualify .
Loans are suppose to be made based on current value of a asset ,and the ability for the borrower to pay the debt and proper risk analysis of that ability to pay the loan . Investments are made on the notion of future value or a bet on the future yield or value of a investment .
So ,you can see why lending is a different principal than investment ,as it should be . Glass -Steagall Act credited
a protection against this conflict of interest realtionship between investment and proper lending .
But the fact that they allowed all these unregulated markets
in which all these bets could be made without proper capital requirments is just insane . Some say that the derivative markets
have pending bets to the tune of 1.2 quadtrillion world-wide ,and others say it adds up to 596 trillion in which 85% of those bets are
based on the underlying assets being loans and debt ,with some saying that banks/securities have 59% exposure and Corporations have 35% exposure in these markets . Others say that the potential for loss when everything is said and done is about 4 trillion when everything is said and done . You can do your own research because different experts say different amounts .
So anyway, I don’t know about you guys ,but I think this situation is nuts .
Phil Gramm, the former U.S. senator who helped write the 1999 law that enabled the creation of financial giants such as Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp., said his legislation didn’t make the system any riskier.
Phil Gramm: P.O.S
You took the words right off of my keyboard, Rio.
I would have said “traitor” but that’s just me.
7/26/2012, 11:39 am, CNBC- “Builders getting a bigger share of the market.”
Now ask yourself why….
I also saw in the news yesterday that builder’s stock prices are rising again.
Why?
A little anecdotal story about how awful the economy is, how everyone is starving and how nobody has more than $2 in the bank.
I like camping. I don’t much like camping in a tent with 2 small kids. So we looked at getting a travel trailer. While they’re nice, they’re for the most part a pain in the derierre to maneuver and you’re limited to where you can go, especially state parks.
Next option, a tent trailer (or pop up as it’s sometimes called). Thought of getting new, but they depreciate faster than a car. So looked at used, just to get an idea of what was out there, different sizes, etc. So we settled on the type we want, size, features, etc. Then the fun began looking on Craigslist for them. Any tent trailer in good condition priced right was gone within hours of being posted. And yesterday came the ultimate WTF moment. Went to see one priced at $4800 at 3:00. Got there at 2:55. The seller was waiting in the driveway, came up to me and said sorry, someone else who saw it this morning called and said he’d take it. Full price. Oh well, you win some, lose some. No problem, said thanks, on to the next one. Got to the next one at about 3:45pm. Aw crap, someone else is there looking at it as well. This one’s priced at $5200. We like it, I make the guy an offer of $5000 (I brought $5K in cash with me fully intending to buy if either of these two were in good shape). Nope. No sale again. The first person there decided she wanted it as well and since she showed up first, she got. Paid full price, cash on the spot.
Obviously now is the worst time to buy anything camping related since it’s peak camping season. But the fact that within 2 hours, I was out bought on two $5K item tells me the average American isn’t in quite the dire financial straits so many think he/she is. I also went through a similar situation last year when I bought a used boat. It wasn’t quite 2 lost boats in an afternoon. But over the course of about a month there were several I was interested in that someone else got before I made up my mind on them. The boat I did end up buying was through a friend whose grandfather retired to AZ and didn’t want to take the boat along. Got a great deal on it and I knew the boat had been well taken care of. He could have sold it for $3000-4000 more, but he didn’t want the hassle of dealing with buyers and let me have it for less in exchange for a quick and painless sale. Selling a boat is time intensive, not like selling a car as you have to put it in and out of the water for each prospective buyer.
EddieTard!!! Welcome back!
Same deal for guns… sales are through the roof while prices are going up, supply is limited, and most importantly, ammunition is getting more expensive.
I have two co-workers who just received their LTC and are shopping for AR15’s and 9mm pistols. Not much in terms of supply to choose from (MA compliant) and most dealers are back-orderd from the manufacturers. We’re all asking the same question, if the economy is so bad, where are people getting the money? Credit cards? Cashing out 401Ks? Or do they have adequate income/savings and are confident enough to make big-ticket purchases?
“We’re all asking the same question, if the economy is so bad, where are people getting the money?”
My guess is that while people’s situations are getting worse, they’re getting worse from a fairly high standard. They can still afford to shop but have to change their choices.
Buying guns? Probably a fear thing.
Buying tent trailers? It’s a lot cheaper than flying to Sandals or Disney and staying in a hotel.
I’m betting that most of the gun purchases around here are going on the plastic.
It’s a win-win. If the Zombie Apocalypse that is predicted to occur when the Republicans cut off food stamps, welfare and disability to the freeloaders, there won’t be a financial system around to pay back anyway.
It’s a win-win. If the Zombie Apocalypse that is predicted to occur when the Republicans cut off food stamps, welfare and disability to the freeloaders, there won’t be a financial system around to pay back anyway.
LOL. Sounds about right…
Or maybe they’re buying them to live in. Down by the river.
You’re reading this all wrong.
This is people who can no longer afford a home or rent down sizing to a fancy tent.
Ahhh…. How could we forget Strawman EddieTards false assertion of financial suicide or a tent.
EddieTard,
You’re very busy all over the net.
Or have downgraded from a Winnebago to a trailer.
My experience is that when demand for “used” is so great (like it is with cars) that items sell quickly (new stuff, which costs twice as much, doesn’t sell)
That said, after a quick internet search I found plenty of pop up trailers in the $3K price range.
“Went to see one priced at $4800 at 3:00. Got there at 2:55. ”
So, you are lying or you have a time machine?
I read that to mean he showed up 5 minutes early to his scheduled arrival time.
I think I’ll let polly explain this one…
Uh-oh! Look out for the tent bubble!
The best way to camp is to find trails where there are established shelters. They are usually off the ground which discourages varmints and have three sides. The open side will be away from prevailing winds so even if it rains you are unlikely to get soaked. And there is often a privy (well away) and a decent if not perfect water source. Maybe you don’t have this system out west, but a lot of the Appalatian Trail uses it and it works very well. I went AT hiking many times and never carried a tent.
Sorry…..the last place I want to go on vacation is out in the boonies with the wretched refuse.
Maybe it was the time my dad decided it would be a good idea to camp our way to California, where we camped in a pop up trailer in consecutive nights:
-in 110 degree/50 mph wind weather, out somewhere in BFE/Texas panhandle, north of Amarillo.
-beside the railyard in Gallup, New Mexico, listening to couplers banging all night
-in Needles, California, in 40 degree temperatures and 70mph winds……..
that cured me of the camping bug.
But the fact that within 2 hours, I was out bought on two $5K item tells me the average American isn’t in quite the dire financial straits so many think he/she is.
Or they were desperate for something to live in?
I’m actually shocked that a one-percenter such as Smithers would be shopping such entry level junk. Anyone who’s done even a modicum of research knows that the below $5k RV market is where all the people with very little money shop. I figured Smithers would be looking for a brand new Airstream Bambi at the very least, but more likely a Prevost diesel pusher in the seven figure range. Looks like Smithers is “just another pawn in their game.”
“Reasons to Avoid the ‘Bull Story’ on Housing”
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2012/07/25/qa-reasons-to-avoid-the-bull-story-on-housing/
Guy sounds like a certified HBB-er.
From the WSJ no less? Well knock me over with a feather.
We’ll see how quickly you political and election monkeys change your message if the white house changes hands.
Why? Delusion is not something that is easily cured.
More and more Washington insiders are asking a question that was considered off-limits in the nation’s capital just a few months ago: Who, exactly, is Attorney General Eric Holder representing?
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/07/26/REVEALED-Corzine-s-MF-Global-Was-a-Client-of-Eric%20Holder-s-Law-Firm
Breitbart?
Might as well reference Drudge while you’re at it.
Or, for that matter, Rush. And I don’t mean the Canadian rock band.
Is it your contention that the facts in the article are true or not true based on your dislike of the source?
Breitbart? Is this a trick question?
Breitbart is notorious for lies.
From the Breitbart article:
“Obama’s Destroyed American Dream: Only 46% Believe Buying A Home A Good Thing, Down from 73% in ‘08″
Maybe instead of the “Destroyed American Dream” it looks like Americans have wised-up a bit under Obama.
‘Americans have wised-up a bit under Obama’
Yeah, everything that happens under the sun while a person is president can be attributed to that person.
Yeah, everything that happens under the sun while a person is president can be attributed to that person.
Nice strawman.
If someone is to be blamed for a consequence, then they should also receive credit for a benefit.
Anything less is hypocrisy.
Housing…… Just bouncing off a tread on the way down the stairs….
Yesterday I Googled up some images of Kristen Stewart when Measten asked who she was; I didn’t know either. She looks really unhealthy for a 22-yr old with absolutely no muscular tone and early signs of cankles developing.
And now, no boyfriend either!
Cankles??
It’s when the leg fat forms a crease at the ankles. Do a search on the word and you’ll see pictures. It’s not a pretty thing for your legs and ankles. And, guys, I’m talking to you too.
Whether true or not, they lose credibility when they fail to investigate Republicans with the same vigor.
We need a network whose motto is: “Outing scumbags wherever we find them”
It already exists. Where have you been?
http://www.republicanoffenders.com
Facebook is crashing even more after the earnings report. Getting close to half the level of the top on the first day. The problem when a stock is priced to perfection. Nothing terrible about its performance other than it cannot reach bubble projections. Wasn’t Facebook going to save California or at least seriously reduce its deficit? I hope they had a plan B.
The thing that gets me about Facebook is that it’s a free service. And there isn’t any incentive to upgrade to a paid version. I’ve also heard that FB makes less than five bucks a year per member.
Not a sustainable business model, if you ask me.
“FB”
The ticker symbol speaks volumes of those who buy this stock.
Probably OK as long as you don’t put too much money into it :-).
I’m glad for anything that makes people question the logic of giving money to the casino. Assuming that IPOs always go up is a great assumption to destroy. Thanks for pricing to perfection and giving “everyone” a good shearing, FB.
How many dream homes will not be bought anymore? sfrenter may find her place soon.
Facebook was and always will be, about one thing and one things only: making Zukerberg rich.
Mission accomplished.
Okay. Now I get it.
Facebook was and always will be, about one thing and one things only: making Zukerberg rich.
I thought it was originally to get chicks?
As if there was any doubt the Euro was TBTF…
Draghi Says ECB Will Do What’s Needed to Preserve Euro: Economy
By Jeff Black and Jana Randow - Jul 26, 2012 6:50 AM PT
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers will do whatever is needed to preserve the euro, suggesting they may intervene in bond markets as surging yields in Spain and Italy threaten the existence of the 17-nation currency bloc.
“To the extent that the size of these sovereign premia hamper the functioning of the monetary policy transmission channel, they come within our mandate,” Draghi said in a speech at the Global Investment Conference in London today. “Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro,” he said, adding: “believe me, it will be enough.”
…
$116 TRILLION economy is NOT going to be left to fail.
Steve Schaefer, Forbes Staff
If you can put the word market after it, I cover it.
Markets
7/25/2012 @ 7:06AM
Real Talk With Sheila Bair: Leave These Folks Penniless Or In Jail
Former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair says regulators should go after people, not companies, and by extension, shareholders. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
In January 2008, then-FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair faced criticism for being too strict on financial regulation. By October, her critics complained that she hadn’t done enough to fix the financial crisis.
Such is the plight of financial regulators these days but Bair, who now chairs the Systemic Risk Council, a private sector group focused on monitoring and encouraging regulatory reform of the U.S. financial industry, says that is no reason for the “timidity” she sees in the regulatory response to the crisis.
In an interview with Forbes Tuesday, Bair covered all the bases of the financial industry, from the Volcker Rule and JPMorgan Chase’s hefty trading losses to the ongoing Libor scandal and how regulators should punish wrongdoing.
The conversation began though, on the topic of money market funds, and whether the long-entrenched policy of stable net asset value (NAV) poses a systemic risk. Bair argues it does, and the SRC supports SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro’s calls for either a floating NAV or higher capital requirements, urging the Financial Stability Oversight Council to take action since the SEC has been unable to move forward on the issue.
The money market fund business – funds famously “broke the buck” in 2008 to spark the debate about an asset often equated with being as safe as cash – is but one aspect of financial regulation that needs an overhaul in Bair’s view.
…
Steve Schaefer, Forbes Staff
If you can put the word market after it, I cover it.
Markets
7/26/2012 @ 4:25PM
Sandy Weill’s Bank Breakup Call: Years Late And Billions Short
In Thursday’s Forbes Markets Desk video, Investing Editor Matt Schifrin and I discussed Sandy Weill’s change of heart on big banks and what investors can expect from Facebook after its first quarterly earnings report since going public in May:
Weill’s comments Wednesday came as a major reversal from an executive who famously played a crucial role in shattering the Glass-Steagall as he combined Travelers Cos and Citibank into a financial behemoth.
The about-face from Weill was met with criticism in many quarters, even from some who have advocated for bank breakups in the past.
…
SCHWEIZER: No justice in Corzine case
The Washington Times | July 25,2012 | Peter Schweizer
One of the most glaring examples of the cronyism that has ground the process to a halt can be seen in the lack of any real action against former MF Global chief Jon Corzine.
Sixty-five members of Congress have signed a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. requesting that he appoint a special prosecutor to investigate MF Global’s collapse and the loss of $1.6 billion in customer money. As the New York Times has noted, “Mr. Holder has the ultimate authority to decide whether a special counsel is necessary.”
Some contend that the fact that Mr. Holder, Mr. Corzine and Associate Attorney General Tony West all previously served as fundraising “bundlers” for President Obama’s presidential campaign is enough to warrant Mr. Holder’s recusal and the appointment of a special prosecutor. Indeed, a letter signed by 65 members of Congress cites Mr. Corzine’s $500,000 in fundraising for Mr. Obama as one of the reasons a special counsel is needed. A subsequent report by Bloomberg revealed that MF Global had written clauses into bond offerings indicating that Mr. Corzine, a former Democratic U.S. senator and governor of New Jersey, might join a future Obama administration as a Cabinet officer, a revelation that surprised even experienced Wall Street executives.
This issue alone should have won the presidency if Romney wasn’t so compromised himself.
Uncompromised people are so boring…who wants to vote for one of them?
Student-loan debt: The next bailout?
Hotair | 07/26/2012 | Ed Morrissey
Haven’t we seen this one coming for a while? Back in November at the height of the Occupy movement, when activists demanded a bailout on student loans, Reason TV offered this helpful reminder of all the reasons a bailout would do more damage than it would undo:
Nevertheless, the newly-formed Consumer Financial Protection Board has proposed wiping out student-loan debt — but only those debts from private lenders:
A federal agency is asking Congress to consider letting people wipe out some of their student debt by filing for bankruptcy protection. Consumer advocates, however, say the move will do little to help the vast majority of families struggling with college loans.
But even if Congress changes the private-loan policy, federal loans — which account for about 85% of the more than $1 trillion in outstanding student debt — would still not be dischargeable through bankruptcy, says Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid.org, a student loan tracker.
In my column today for The Fiscal Times, I argue that the problem is twofold — the irrational higher-education bubble and the lack of sound economic policy to drive job growth. In both cases, a bailout would make matters worse:
According to the New York Federal Reserve, student-loan debt for those under 30 has risen 56% since 2005 alone, thanks to The Higher Education Bubble, as law professor and political commentator Glenn Harlan Reynolds titled his recent book on the subject. Reynolds warns that this bubble is ready to pop. “Bubbles form when too many people expect values to go up forever,” Reynolds writes in his introduction. “Bubbles burst when there are no longer enough excessively optimistic and ignorant folks to fuel them. And there are signs that this is beginning to happen already where education is concerned.” What would be the scope of the damage done by a bubble burst in higher-ed lending? The aggregate debt from private student loans stands at $150 billion, with 2.9 million borrowers, averaging $51,724 per student.
“But even if Congress changes the private-loan policy, federal loans — which account for about 85% of the more than $1 trillion in outstanding student debt — would still not be dischargeable through bankruptcy, says Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid.org, a student loan tracker.”
Bailout for who? The Banksters? Their butts are already covered by federal guarantees.
“Tampa businesses criticize Obama at Romney event, but live off government work”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/tampa-businesses-criticize-obama-at-romney-event-but-live-off-government/1242207
That reminds, Diogenes, do you or will you rent to section 8?
Because to liberals - even though the government takes half of GDP in taxes - if you get just one dollar in any kind of government spending for GOODS AND SERVICES (not welfare) and you are a conservative…
You are a hypocrite.
“If you have a business, you didn’t build that”
Just like people who were FORCED to pay into Social Security for 40 years. But if you are a conservative and receive social security, you are a hypocrite.
blah, blah, blah…
It gets so old.
“It gets so old.”
Refresh my memory, how do you feel about unions?
If you take just one dollar?? Did you read the article
According to its website, A.D. Morgan — a construction firm — has received at least $150 million since 1999 for work on government buildings, prisons, schools and libraries. The figure represents only the total from the fraction of news releases that included a dollar figure. The company lists more than 130 projects that it has completed; nearly ALL OF THEM ARE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR.
Value Enterprise Solutions —an information technology company — boasts strong government bona fides, as well. Its Facebook page describes the company as “providing value added service/education to business, local government, federal government, Department of Defense and industry contract organizations.” The Facebook page also describes the company as a “minority/service disabled veteran owned small disadvantaged business.” That’s a designation that gives companies a special status, so in some cases they can be a lone bidder on a project. But that designation is recognized by government, not the private sector.
Then another one of Romney’s stars
Gilchrist Metal, “received $800,000 in tax-exempt revenue bonds issued by the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority ‘to set up a second manufacturing plant and purchase equipment to produce high definition television broadcasting equipment’…” In addition, in 2011, Gilchrist Metal “received two U.S. Navy sub-contracts totaling about $83,000 and a smaller, $5,600 Coast Guard contract in 2008…”
Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com
The businessman, Jack Gilchrist, also acknowledged that in the 1980s the company received a U.S. Small Business Administration loan totaling “somewhere south of” $500,000, and matching funds from the federally-funded New England Trade Adjustment Assistance Center.
We didn’t even get to the point where the work force was educated by the gov, the roads used to ship goods were built by the gov, the country was defended by the gov, the rule of law was enforced by the gov etc etc.
F’n bunch of Blow hards.
“If you have a business, you didn’t build that”
If you’re going to quote out of context, at least punctuate it honestly.
“… If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business. you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen….”
ST. PETERSBURG —
Foreclosure can be humiliating and the latest numbers from RealtyTrac reveal that nearly 21,000 homes in the Bay area had filings since January of this year.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2012/7/26/bay_area_foreclosure.html
A new report wants to burst the idea of a Toronto housing bubble.
Yes, condo sales and construction are booming, but the Royal Bank of Canada report says there is no housing bubble because the city’s number of new housing units is in line with demographic needs.
The Greater Toronto Area sees an influx of close to 100,000 people each year.
That translated to approximately 38,000 new households per year from 2006 to 2011, according to RBC and Statistics Canada data in the report.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported last fall that only 10 to 15 per cent of new condos are listed for sale within 12 months of registration.
Tuesday’s report says the majority of condo investment properties are actually helping to fill a gap in the rental market.
“The biggest risk that we see for the coming years is a possible mismatch between the types of condo units bought by investors and the types ultimately demanded for occupancy,” says the report.
A mismatch could occur with a greater emphasis on small, single-unit apartments when currently about three-quarters of rental demand is for high-rise multi-family units.
However, the report is quick to dismiss these concerns, pointing to the demand for rental units.
The report suggests that recent changes that tightened mortgage rules will push more people into the rental market.
As of last month, the maximum amortization period dropped from 30 to 25 years for government-insured mortgages, and the refinancing limit was capped at 80 per cent down from its previous 85 per cent.
The report notes that while the city saw an 18 per cent increase in condo rental units, the rental vacancy rate dropped to 1.1 per cent last year.
Woman steals beer under her skirt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=572QlTVN4AI
Third world shopping at its best!
One man’s crime is another man’s capital gain.
Matt Taibbi: ‘I Can’t Imagine How A Sane Person Could Possibly Describe This As A Victimless Crime’
The Huffington Post | By Bonnie Kavoussi
Posted: 07/20/2012 12:48 pm
Updated: 07/20/2012 12:51 pm
Matt Taibbi called out CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow for claiming that banks’ rigging of a key interest rate did not hurt anyone.
“I can’t imagine how he [Kudlow] could possibly — a sane person could possibly — describe this as a victimless crime,” Taibbi told “Democracy Now!” on Thursday. “Even the tiniest manipulation downward, when you’re talking about a thing of this scale, would result in tens of trillions of dollars of losses.”
“It’s an enormous scandal,” said Taibbi, the Rolling Stone contributing editor who infamously dubbed Goldman Sachs the vampire squid. “It eclipses anything we’ve seen since 2008.”
Sixteen major banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup, are under investigation for allegedly rigging the Libor, a benchmark interest rate that banks set and use to lend money to each other. It is the basis for hundreds of trillions of dollars’ worth of loans and derivatives and its manipulation possibly cost some cities and states millions of dollars.
Taibbi said in the “Democracy Now!” interview that ordinary Americans are victims of the Libor scandal because lower interest rates probably contributed to forcing state and local governments to slash spending.
“If you live in a town that had a budget crisis, that had to lay off firemen or teachers or policemen, or couldn’t provide services or textbooks in their schools, you know, that might be due to this,” Taibbi said. “Basically, every city and town in America, to say nothing of the rest of the world, has investments that are pegged to Libor.”
…
Geithner looks downright shifty in his interview. I guess that seems unsurprising given his earlier tutelage under Richard M. Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger.
Didja ever notice that these hits keep on coming? Exposures of fraud keep arriving. But then nobody goes to jail, even with billions stolen. Penn State has more people in jail, than these bankers do. Penn State is paying a higher fine, than these bankers do.
So what major fraud will be uncovered in 2013? 2014? 2015? How much more will we take, before we admit the system is built on fraud?
God bless and protect Matt Taibbi from the international financial crime syndicate.
Matt Taibbi: Libor Rate-Fixing Scandal “Biggest Insider Trading You Could Ever Imagine”
Posted on July 19, 2012
Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi: the pattern of systemic corruption by 16 banks accused of rigging a key global interest rate used in contracts worth trillions of dollars. The London Interbank Offered Rate, known as Libor, is the average interest rate at which banks can borrow from each other. “Ordinary people actually suffered when Libor was manipulated downward, mainly because local governments, municipal governments tended to lose money,” Taibbi says. “Even the tiniest manipulation downward, when you’re talking about a thing of this scale, would result in tens of trillions of dollars of losses. … The banks weren’t doing this just to make themselves look healthier, they were also doing this just to make money. They were trading against this information in what essentially was the biggest kind of insider trading you could possibly imagine.” Taibbi is author of the book “Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History.”
So if QE3 is in the bag, how long will the bulls run before the collective realization that “it didn’t work”?
It’s a yin-yang market!
Asia rallies on Europe hope
Asia markets rise, matching sharp U.S. gains, as investors cheer an apparent pledge from the European Central Bank to keep euro zone intact.
• Sen. Schumer wants ‘hardball’ on Cnooc deal
• Samsung Electronics posts record Q2 profit
• Oil extends Europe-inspired gains
Japan deflating faster
Japan’s deflation accelerates in June, making the Bank of Japan more likely to ease further and sending the yen briefly lower.
• Japan’s retail sales worsen in June
God damn the filthy lying Housing Crime Syndicate operators in the media and on Main Street.
“God damn the filthy lying Housing Crime Syndicate operators in the media and on Main Street.”
You never know how deep this corruption will cut into main street before hitting a serious nerve. It would be nice to see some of these shameless criminals leap to their death to avoid angry mobs intent on hanging them from the nearest thing that will support the weight.
After 25 years of U.S. asset market spectating, I have to say this is the most interesting situation I have yet witnessed. Take the Treasury market, for instance: 30-year bonds were yielding around 8% back in 1987. Look where they have recently gone:
3/19/2012 3.48% $1000
7/26/2012 2.49% $1208
Someday? 0% $2044
The first number to the right of the date is the closing 30-year Treasury yield on the day in question. The next figure, assuming my calculations are correct*, is the value of $1000 worth of 30-year Treasurys purchased on 3/19/2012 through today, then out to a hypothetical future date when the yield drops all the way to 0%. I don’t actually expect that to happen; merely wanted to illustrate there is plenty of upside potential from here for those who own long-term Treasurys if the Fed decides to drive long-term yields down even further.
Did anyone expect 30-year Treasurys to go up by 20.8% since mid-March?
* Here is the formula I used in MS Excel:
=PV(YieldCurr/200,60,-10*Yield3.19.12/2,-1000),
where YieldCurr is today’s yield (2.49) or 0, and Yield3.19.12 = 3.48.
Can anyone offer any insights on whether Romney agrees with the findings in the Bain bank breakup study?
INSIGHT-Banks bristle at breakup call from Sandy Weill
Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:30am IST
* Top Wall St executives disagree with Weill
* JPM ex-CEO Harrison: ‘I don’t buy that’
* Citi, others have studied breakups in the past
* Bankers say being big has many benefits
By Lauren Tara LaCapra, Rick Rothacker and David Henry
July 27 (Reuters) - Sandy Weill has a lot of convincing to do.
The former Citigroup Inc CEO, who was in many ways the architect of the “too big to fail” giant bank system, dropped a bombshell on Wall Street on Wednesday by proposing that universal banks should be broken up because they are too big and complex to manage.
But the idea is hardly resonating with top bankers and dealmakers of the past 20 years.
“I don’t buy it,” said William Harrison, who was succeeded by Jamie Dimon as chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co . “It gets back to management and risk-taking, and you can screw that up at a small bank or a large bank.”
Harrison, a Weill contemporary who was instrumental in building JPMorgan into the largest U.S. bank, said in an interview on Thursday that he would hate to see the anger toward bankers lead to a breakup of big banks and the efficiencies they bring to the U.S. financial system.
Other Wall Street sources said the idea is also not new.
During the financial crisis, for example, U.S. regulators asked Citigroup to do an analysis about whether it would make sense to separate its commercial and investment banking operations, a source familiar with the situation said.
But consulting firm Bain & Co, which was hired by Citigroup to do a study, concluded that tax considerations made a breakup inefficient, the source said.
The report, which was kept hush-hush due to the sensitivity of the matter, was not widely circulated even internally at the bank. It couldn’t be learned what exactly the tax implications would have been.
Citigroup declined to comment. A Bain spokeswoman and Weill did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
Since the crisis many other major U.S. banks have also studied whether breaking up would be a good idea, Wall Street sources said, but have decided to remain in one piece.
…
“Bain & Co, which was hired by Citigroup to do a study, concluded that tax considerations made a breakup inefficient, the source said.”
No, it’s not the company Mitt Romney helped found and where he was long-term CEO, but he has an interesting history with them nonetheless.
I was going to pitch this question to the HBB brain trust, but I see that Robert Reich has already asked it.
I will say that this is a wedge issue which could potentially decide the election outcome in favor of whichever candidate decides to side with Weill. I, for one, would probably vote on this issue, alone, for whichever candidate does this. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, or anything, but I suspect a fairly large number of other swing voters would follow a similar course of action. I’m fed up forever with the too-big-to-fail business model.
Robert Reich
NationofChange / Op-Ed
Published: Thursday 26 July 2012
If any single person is responsible for Wall Street banks becoming too big to fail it’s Sandy Weill.
The Man Who Invented “Too Big to Fail” Banks Finally Recants. Will Obama or Romney Follow?
I’m in Alaska, amid moose and bear, trying to steal some time away from the absurdities of American politics and economics. But even at this remote distance I caught wind of Sanford Weill’s proposal this morning on CNBC that big banks be broken up in order to shield taxpayers from the consequences of their losses. Forget the bear and moose for a moment. This is big game.
If any single person is responsible for Wall Street banks becoming too big to fail it’s Sandy Weill. In 1998 he created the financial powerhouse Citigroup by combining Traveler’s Insurance and Citibank. To cash in on the combination, Weill then successfully lobbied the Clinton administration to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act – the Depression-era law that separated commercial from investment banking. And he hired my former colleague Bob Rubin, then Clinton’s Secretary of the Treasury, to oversee his new empire.
Weill created the business model that Wall Street uses to this day — unleashing traders to make big, risky bets with other peoples’ money that deliver gigantic bonuses when they turn out well and cost taxpayers dearly when they don’t. And Weill made a fortune – as did all the other executives and traders. JPMorgan and Bank of America soon followed Weill’s example with their own mega-deals, and their bonus pools exploded as well.
Citigroup was bailed out in 2008, as was much of the rest of the Street, but that didn’t alter the business model in any fundamental way. The Street neutered the Dodd-Frank act that was supposed to stop the gambling. JPMorgan, headed by one of Weill’s protégés, Jamie Dimon, just lost $5.8 billion on some risky bets. Dimon continues to claim that giant banks like his can be managed so as to avoid any risk to taxpayers.
Sandy Weill has finally seen the light. It’s a bit late in the day, but, hey, he’s already cashed in. You and I and millions of others in the United States and elsewhere around the world are still paying the price.
What’s the betting that one of the presidential candidates will take up Weill’s proposal?