Bits Bucket for August 11, 2012
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Big Mac Index
How The Economist’s Big Mac Index has gobbled up the financial world
The Big Mac Index, compiled by The Economist, takes the biggest symbol in fast food and uses it to measure the power of the world’s currencies. Metro examines what ‘burgernomics’ says about Britain’s economy.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/newsfocus/908157-how-the-economists-big-mac-index-has-gobbled-up-the-financial-world
Probably as valid as any other set of economic statistics
The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself
Paul Ryan for VP, woo-hoo!
Ryan voted for Iraq War.
Ryan voted for TARP.
Ryan voted for GM & Chrysler Bailout.
All you need to know about this guy as far as I am concerned. Weird Romney earned a slight respect from me. Props for not choosing a minority or woman candidate just because he is running against a black president.
+1
I was worried about that as well (woman/minority/etc./etc.). Ryan is quick on his feet and will be able to debate the economic issues. After all…..”it’s the economy stupid!”
I found the economics issue unfortunate. Although I think he is a good pick to get the budget issue on track for cutting spending (Obama and the democrats have chosen ‘continuing resolutions’), it may detract from things I would have liked to have seen.
Obama has spent all his time criticizing Romney and painting him as a villian and a tax-cheat, using Harry Reid to demand “all his taxes”.
I wanted Romney to demand all Obama’s school records in exchange for all his tax records.
A recent article by Wayne Allen Root describes how he, an alumni of Columbia and Harvard, who should have been amongst the classmates of Obama, never saw him, didn’t know him, and didn’t know anyone else the knew him or saw him.
In other words, he was too busy smoking pot and hanging out with radical buddies to attend class, and probably didn’t really manage to get anything better than a C average, which was probably a “given” grade.
But what’s most disturbing and the reason he suspects all those records have been “sealed” is that they would reveal that he attended as a foreign student from Indonesia, on a special scholarship grant.
Obama claimed to be Kenyan and records showed him to have attended Indonesian schools, exclusively for Citizens of Indonesia, until the tried to run for president.
Suddenly, he’s a native-born American from Hawaii.
Romney had a chance to push the “records” issue with all the campaign rhetoric that was coming for the Democrat side. I think this appointment will shift the focus and the opportunity for personal evaluations will be lost.
I am still hopeful that Obama is found to be a fraud and tried for perjury, but we need to dig up the records and he has spent Millions of dollars to keep them under wraps.
The Root article is compelling I believe he is on target.
The economics issue maybe unfortunate maybe not. If not now when?
VIDEO: Paul Ryan took apart Obama and Obamacare — in 6 minutes!
Obama has already offered his tax returns in exchange for Romney’s. Why whould Obama offer anything additional? Sounds like a bad deal.
“VIDEO: Paul Ryan took apart Obama and Obamacare — in 6 minutes!”
Does the video get into the distinctions between Obamacare and Romneycare?
“VIDEO: Paul Ryan took apart Obama and Obamacare — in 6 minutes!”
That’s why it didn’t pass?
“Paul Ryan took apart Obama and Obamacare — in 6 minutes!”
Six minutes deep..
And Ryan voted AGAINST the Simpson Bowles commission plan…
…sigh…
I was kind of hoping it’d be Meg Ryan.
Ummmm … Meg Ryan was a fox until the plastic surgeons got hold of her.
http:plasticsurgeryphotos.info/meg-ryan-plastic-surgery/
Oh, well, that didn’t work. Google her name up along with “plastic surgery” and you’ll see what I am talking about.
A cryin’ shame.
Poor Meg. She kinda screwed the pooch when she took up with Russell Crowe and threw Dennis Quaid under the bus. I’ll be she regrets that move. Never been the same since.
She looks like Mickey Rourke’s sister.
“She looks like Mickey Rourke’s sister.”
Looking better than Tori Spelling though.
“Looking better than Tori Spelling though.”
True dat.
By the way, this is a long form discussion of Paul Ryan and his influence on his party:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/08/06/120806fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all
“I’m very supportive of the Ryan budget plan,” Mitt Romney said on March 20th, in Chicago. The following week, while campaigning in Wisconsin, he added, “I think it’d be marvellous if the Senate were to pick up Paul Ryan’s budget and adopt it and pass it along to the President.”
You don’t need to be a weatherman to see where this leads…
Voted for Iraq war.
Voted for TARP.
Voted for Patriot act.
Voted for prescription Drug benefits.
Voted for NDAA.
Voted for Chrysler and GM bailout.
This is all you need to know about Paul Ryan.
Looks like the status quo prevails.
Palin was a t1tsy call.
This is a putsy call.
Bright kid….Key word being “kid”…
Nixon was a “bright kid” when he first ran with Ike in 1952. I recently found some great footage of Ike giving him a fly fishing lesson on the Fraser River…
I found this line interesting: “one was a campaigner for forty years…” Did the funny emphasis on “campaigner” turn it into a double-entendre? I guess a military service record was a pretty important quality in a candidate back then…
Ryan pick cements lack of military service in presidential race
Mitt Romney announces Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate during a campaign rally at the battleship Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va. (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images / August 11, 2012)
By Ken Dilanian
August 11, 2012, 7:22 a.m.
Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan makes this the first presidential election in 80 years in which no one on either ticket has served in the military.
The last time that happened was 1932, before the United States helped win World War II and became a military superpower.
Despite the martial pageantry of Romney’s introducing Ryan on Saturday aboard the battleship Wisconsin, the lack of a veteran in the race underscores the growing distance between today’s all-volunteer military and the vast majority of society which lacks contact with it.
…
What a great tagline:
“Victory for the Party and, what’s more important, the Country, my boy.”
The last time that happened was 1932
Interesting.
Perhaps we can get a Major world war going in the very new future so that more men will get a chance to “serve”. If you can draft 20% of the male population for military service, then you can have a much bigger pool of “veterans”.
Perhaps we can get a Major world war going in the very new future ??
Sorry Diogenes….Bush is not allowed to run for another term…
Sorry Diogenes….Bush is not allowed to run for another term…
Don’t need Bush for that. William Cohen came out said that US might be installing no-fly zone in Syria soon enough.
Yes, that is indeed a damning record for those of us who are against such things.
Obama was for expanding the Patriot Act.
He supported the bailouts, too.
But, then, at least Ryan has a record, after several terms in Congress of voting FOR something, rather than voting “present” 50% of the time to avoid having a record that opponents could exploit.
At least Ryan is trying to rein in the bugetary problems. Obama wants to spend, spend, spend and supposedly “tax the rich”. His spending exceeds the income of all the Millionaires and Billionaires of the US, even if they were taxed at 100% of everything. His pledge to cut the deficit in HALF was promptly forgotten.
You get votes by giving away stuff to particular groups, so you need more graft to go around.
You can’t “cut” spending and buy votes at the same time.
At least Ryan is trying to rein in the bugetary problems. on the backs of the poor to enrich the rich who sold poor up the river to become more rich.
Time will tell whether American voters agree that two wealthy conservative white guys are better than one.
That racist remark is uncalled for.
rotflmao
No surprises that an establishment type would be picked. Rand Paul’s endorsement of Romney was worthless.
Rand Paul was never a libertarian. He is an establishment republican now. He sacrificed principles for power like most of the tea partiers.
Yeah I never thought of him as a libertarian.
[Ryan] was voted prom king and “Biggest Brown Noser” at school
BBCNews
Beats bullying I guess?
I guess we know what kind of relationship he and Mitt will have :-).
At least Paul Ryan is not a multi -Millionaire,that claims to be unemployed , at least not yet. He’s got some good ideas .
Throwing seniors into the private health insurance market? Yeah, that’ll go over well in battleground Florida. Haven’t had time to read about it, but libs are pretty happy.
aven’t had time to read about it, but libs are pretty happy.
That sums up about the pathetic lives the libs have. Instead of focusing on the great achievements of the dear reader, they will tear down other people’s plans. The funny thing about plan is it never materializes in its original form.
“… but libs are pretty happy.”
Are you suggesting that Ryan will further sink Romney’s election prospects?
I’m sure the GOP base is happy with his choice, but you need more than the base to win.
People who have probably spent a lot of time thinking through the impact on future seniors and the middle class (making Medicaid a block grant to the states probably means that a lot of states would stop covering indigent nursing home care which means that mom and/or dad have to move in with you), think it would be a great proposal to run against. But if you can’t explain the numbers in a 4 second sound bite, it is hard. “End Medicare as we know it” isn’t terrible, but it isn’t very descriptive. I don’t know if the rest of the plan can be described that way at all.
And it only got to a balanced budget based on assuming that unemployment went to 2% almost immediately and stayed there. Even then, it took a very long time to balance - 30 years maybe? I don’t remember exactly. It was a decades long process.
means that mom and/or dad have to move in with you ??
#1. That assumes there is a “you” to move in with….
#2. That also assumes that “you” likes you…..
#3. Another assumption is that “you” has room….
#4. And what about “you’s” spouse, kids..What do they think ??
IMO, if a Ryan plan were to pass, you better have money to be able to take care of yourself in the later years…If not, it will be dorm room living for those last days…
Dave all good points
But you older folks may just want to die in their own homes, and its far cheaper to get hospice or even a live-in care then warehouse them in a nursing home…..but the state wont pay for the in home cheaper care….
I agree dj….
But the problem I see is that medical care and living assistance is expensive….Staying in your own home will always be the choice but the question is, can you afford to…Why do you think the reverse mortgage industry has become so popular and profitable I might ad…People want to stay in their home…They are using their equity in their house as a ATM machine because they cannot afford to stay in the house without it…What happens when the money runs out ?? What happens if you need 24/7 care ??
My mother (god bless her) is 87 years old…She lives close by and we see each other a lot…I stopped by a few Sundays ago I could tell she was emotionally very upset..I asked her what was wrong…She started crying and said that she went and visited her high school friend Laura at the nursing home…Laura had broken her hip and the doctors just determined that she was to old to perform any surgery..My mom said that she was laying on the mattress on the floor in a tiny room…Laura has no family other than a punk of a daughter..Daughter lives a few miles away and NEVER visits…
Sorry about being long-winded but if they gut medicare we may as well go the way of Soylent Green…
if they gut medicare we may as well go the way of Soylent Green…
Obamacare did gut medicare by $500,000,000,000. Ryan wants to address that.
Or Dave…allow Dr Kevorkian to be a viable option….why cant i choose my demise with my family around me?
I’m not going to OD or shoot myself or run my car off a cliff….hopefully i want a respectful end to my life without anyone getting sued or arrested.
Even if the kids do own the home its still far cheaper for medicaid to do in home visits and even pay someone i dunno $500 a week to live in most have extra bedrooms anyway.
How about….Maybe pay the family member something to cover their expenses….if they become a certified Home health aide with cpr etc.
Its called out of the box thinking and Americans are so lacking in these skills today.
—Now I know why I cant find a job—-
I hear you scdave ,but at the same time I just can’t see how they are going to be able to afford the welfare and a lot of the medical needs of the Baby Boomers 20 years from now ,just about at the time that Greenspan states that SSI is going to have funding problems .
I predict that they will enact a law that offspring has to
take responsibility ,( which is something that nobody would want ).
A long term medical insurance system should be designed that a certain percentage of the funds collected while the person is young and healthy goes into a account for older age .
I’m sure people would of made different decisions during their working life had they thought that SSI would be reduced or medicare would not be honored in the future or reduced .( However I think a lot of the Pharma drugs are junk anyway ) .
its odd that they enacted all these safety nets during the
Depression of the 30’s and now with what people would consider is a depression going on now ,they want to unravel all those safety nets 80 years later . We even have dust bowls going on right now and a apparent drought just like in the 30’s . Weird .
“…Obamacare did gut medicare by $500,000,000,000…”
By cutting redundant payments to private insurance companies. You bet your sweet hmmm-hmmm “Rand wants to address that.”
redundant payments to private insurance companies
Now your just making stuff up.
The reason people end up in nursing homes is usually they are no longer ambulatory, can’t handle stairs, or their houses can’t handle wheelchairs. And there is family who can handle it, or they have the same problem with stairs and wheelchairs.
Right now I’m trying to move my closest friend out of the nursing home because she can’t handle the stairs to her apartment. Oh it would be SO much easier if she could, because I’m the one cleaning out 40 years of living there for her!
..and there is NO family who can handle it…
You guys aren’t reading carefully. Medicare won’t put you up in a nursing home long term. Being old and infirm isn’t the same as being sick. It is Medicaid (the one for poor people) that will pay to put you in a nursing home. You have to be very, very poor to get the benefit. If Medicaid is turned into a block grant program, the states will be able to decide what Medicaid covers. It will start with one state realizing they could save a bundle by not covering nursing home care. Then another state, fearing the seniors from state 1 might move on over, will drop it. Race to the bottom.
My wife’s grandmother died recently. She was 92, and up until two weeks before she passed, she was very active (including driving). She had a massive stroke, and her family needed to make the decision to NOT undertake extraordinary measures to keep her alive. Frankly, because it was against her wishes for them to do so. I’m not sure if she had a written directive, but I’m guessing not, because there was far too much discussion about it for her to have had a written directive.
In any event, in my opinion (and her family’s), the right decision was made. Life did not wear her out…she wore out life, and if her family made a decision that would have had her continue “living” in a quasi-vegetative state, in the future, she would have reached back from the afterworld and strangled them.
My point is this…under the current system, her family could have made decisions that would have been FAR more expensive (feeding tubes, etc.) than calling hospice, and saying goodbye.
In other countries…countries that people often say US heathcare should emulate, that decision would have been made by the doctors.
Until we face the expense (as in who bears the expense under various circumstances) and decision making (as in who makes the decisions in those same circumstances) surrounding end of life care, we will not be able to control US healthcare costs.
It’s a tough conversation to have, but we need to have it.
This is why so many lose their inheritance, its too late to sign over the house or assets if you are dying.
I know Polly hates this idea, but its the only real asset old people have to pass on to their kids.. Rich folks set up all kinds of death trusts to avoid taxes….cant the middle class have just 1?
It’s a tough conversation to have, but we need to have it
CT–
I do not “make stuff up”, I do, however, report it. You might want to wiki “Medicare Advantage”, which is a privately-administered public benefit much like FNMA is to housing. One of many programs that put another layer of middlemen (and insurance reimbursements) between us and our providers. It’s on the block as a big part of that 500B.
There’s also an excellent and thoughtful examination of health care “delivery” practices (and what effect standardizing them might have) in this week’s New Yorker magazine (”Big Med”) which addresses this issue in depth.
Get back to me after you’ve read and digested them and analyzed how Ryan might be beholden to the insurance industry. Like I did here in a guest blog a couple of years ago.
“He’s got some good ideas”
What are his ideas?
And completely on another subject, what’s your opinion of the Landrum area? Are there any parts of SC along the western border with North Carolina that have a little bit of elevation for cooler weather?
“What are his ideas?”
Stop being such a crank! You are just supposed to nod and move on when you read an informative comment like that one.
Ha ha! Well a few years ago Paul Ryan talked the talk of small government and that was music to my ears. Alas, I am afraid he has gone statist.
You always have to worry about double-speak when it comes to Washington insiders…
He is the biggest protector in the House of the carried interest exception where hedge fund managers get to pay capital gains rates on the income they receive for managing the fund. Most people get to pay regular tax rates on the income they earn on their work.
He also worked for a family business before getting elected to Congress at 28. He has been in government for the majority of his adult life.
Sounds like sort of a lackey.
Not that it matters. Romney’s not going to win anyway.
“Not that it matters. Romney’s not going to win anyway.”
Palmy, “they” will win. “We” will lose. That much is guaranteed imo.
More like Assistant Lackey.
LOL, Bubba.
Oops. Also worked in DC before getting elected. Working for the family business must have been extremely limited:
Prior to running for Congress, Ryan served as an aide to Republican Senators Robert Kasten Jr. and Sam Brownback, former U.S. Rep. and Vice Presidential Candidate Jack Kemp, and as a speechwriter for Education Secretary William Bennett.
I guess anything is better than palin?
You mean this doesn’t look “presidential” ?
http://oi49.tinypic.com/10nic8h.jpg
He didn’t pick someone to try to deliver Florida or Ohio. He didn’t pick someone to try to get more of the Hispanic vote. He didn’t pick someone who had served in the military or at least had some connection to the military. He didn’t pick an “etch a sketch” candidate to appeal to independents.
This is a “consolidate the base” pick. More than that, it is a consolidate Wall Street pick. It is also a firm rejection of Simpson-Bowles.
Obama is a firm rejection of Simpson Bowles as well.
“You mean this doesn’t look “presidential” ?”
I’m Republican! I’m Republican!
More than that, it is a consolidate Wall Street pick.
Is that the new democratic talking point?
“Is that the new democratic talking point?”
No clue. I don’t read much of that stuff.
Obama is a firm rejection of Simpson Bowles as well ??
Don’t be so sure…..I would not underestimate the man….
Don’t be so sure…..I would not underestimate the man….
What makes you feel this way?
“…it is a consolidate Wall Street pick.”
As opposed to…
JP Morgan May Screw Up, But Obama Still Admires Jamie Dimon
Reuters
Adam Clark Estes
May 15, 2012
Despite chatter of Barack Obama and Jamie Dimon parting ways, the President continues to find time in his schedule to compliment the JP Morgan Chase chief executive. Tuesday morning’s airing of The View on ABC gives Obama another opportunity to praise Dimon as he makes his first public statements about the bank’s $2 billion slip-up. It sounds like he sugar-coated it a little bit: “JPMorgan is one of the best-managed banks there is,” Obama said (per Dow Jones). “Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got, and they still lost $2 billion and counting.”
It’s sounds a little bit strange for Obama to avoid casting any doubt on Dimon, but there’s a well documented history of a mutual affection between the two. Dimon, who got his first chief executive job at Bank One in Chicago, developed close ties with the Obama crew early on. Dimon became one of the Democrats’ biggest donors and once Obama got elected became a frequent visitor to the White House. Throughout the course of those visits, Dimon also became the banking industry representative that Obama trusted most to explain what was happening in the wake of the financial crisis. In 2009, The New York Times’ Jackie Calmes and Louise Story documented one meeting during which Citigroup chairman Richard Parsons attempted to explain banking. The President cut him off and said, “All right, I’ll talk to Jamie.”
…
I’m a true Conservative©!
Ditto!
What makes you feel this way ??
There is no question in my mind about Obama’s commitment to the common guy….He believes that the table has been titled so far in favor of the wealthy that the average citizen does not have much of a shot at reasonable prosperity and I would generally agree…
I also believe he is pragmatic…He will be in his last term, the re-election will cement his status as a President and not just the first black president…Without needing the approval of what some would call the Lib’s or far left I am thinking he will move to the middle and go for significant change that might surprise many on the center-right….
He will never get any cudo’s from the neocon’s…They hate the man…
History shows that nothing significant gets done in the second term of a president. If he gets a second term, come 2014, Obama will be a lame duck.
History shows that nothing significant gets done in the second term ??
History is meaningless…If Obama were to embrace Simson/Boles and even go further with radical tax reform you don’t think some Rep’s would roll over…I’d bet the ranch they will…
History is meaningless…If Obama were to embrace Simson/Boles and even go further with radical tax reform you don’t think some Rep’s would roll over…I’d bet the ranch they will…
What makes you think that Obama will suddenly change his mind after 4 yrs? Where’s that insanity definition again?
What makes you think that Obama will suddenly change his mind ??
I think I answered that question in my previous post…Weren’t Boehner & Obama close on a deal before ??
What makes you think that Obama will suddenly change his mind after 4 yrs?
No longer having to pander for re-election?
Crap politics for four years pandering to the world…just so I can get a second term where I can really fix things?
Brilliant strategy.
I don’t think it’s a strategy, Michael. That’s just how the campaign money chips fall.
Polly, I’m not sure that Romney has enough “base” to win, even if he consolidated it. Ryan isn’t going to deliver anything that Romney lacks, like independents and evangelicals. Wall Street was already fully behind Romney.*
—————
*and before anyone cites how much money Wall Street gave to Obama, note that WS only gives money to Obama if they think he’s going to win. If WS can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, as they say. But the Cordray appointment alone lost the WS hearts for Obama.
It is definitely an odd pick. My guess is it is mostly aimed at changing the conversation to be mostly on the economy and the federal budget. Not that this isn’t what most of the conversation has been about anyway, but that is what Romney wants to run on and the conversation will definitely be more about federal spending than it was before.
aimed at changing the conversation to be mostly on the economy and the federal budget
Good point. Rove et al also may be lining up Ryan for the next presidential election, after Romney loses this one.
I don’t think it’s a strategy, Michael. That’s just how the campaign money chips fall.
It’s a wishful thinking. Nothing happens in second term. Just look at the recent history. If you reward mediocrity, mediocrity is all you get. You missed the boat, there should have been a strong Deomocan primary challenger for Obama. Nobody dared and you live with the consequences.
“Crap politics for four years pandering to the world…just so I can get a second term where I can really fix things?”
Some things do need fixing, but please please please can we have someone besides Obama and his merry band of America hating Marxists to the fixing? Is that too much to ask?
That’s good, no? I think Obama chose Biden because Biden had a long steady presence in DC.
Biden also had extensive foreign policy experience, and carries a tremendous amount of middle-class street cred. He worked his way up from working class to the Senate, took the train from Delaware for decades, and is still one of the poorest politicians out there.
Biden cracks me up. I know alot of you have seen this, but for those who haven’t:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/biden-to-cool-his-heels-in-mexico-for-a-while,17996/
The Onion has a whole mess of pieces on Biden, most are hilarious.
Biden cracks me up. I know alot of you have seen this, but for those who haven’t:
Me too. I have said it before. McCain may have lost the presidency, Palin sure did become the vice president.
“Biden also had extensive foreign policy experience, and carries a tremendous amount of middle-class street cred.”
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA….hold on, let me catch my breath…BWAHAHAHAHHA!!!!
“Also worked in DC before getting elected.”
Sounds like a consummate Washington insider. Isn’t this the type of politician that Ronald Reagan used to vilify?
“…Ryan served as an aide to….”
Great. The gas behind the baggery.
Do these hedge fund managers pay capital gain rates on both the two and the twenty or just the twenty.
I understand paying the rates on the twenty but not on the two.
“I understand” = “I can understand”
I think it is the 20, but it is still a fee being paid for the management of somebody else’s money. Do you get to pay capital gains rates on your bonus?
From the IRS’s point of view they shouldn’ really care from whom they get the tax from, just so they get it. If twenty percent of the capital gains is cut from the investors then twenty percent of the tax on this capital gain is also cut. If the fund managers make up the taxes from what the investors didn’t pay in then the IRS ends up even.
But it should be converted to ordinary income when it is paid to someone as a fee for the work they did.
The issue is what is the only sector that the tax money can be taken from at this point . The sectors that were the greatest beneficiaries of the decade from 2000 to 2012
when the wealth transfer took place based on the lending crime spree . The sector that took the money and ran leaving Main Street in ruins . Guys like Warren Buffet ,Big Monopoly Corporations that got tax breaks for years ,while they gutted the job base and tax base ,and all the other 15% ,that benefited by the debt crime spree.
They should go back and tax every year that these entities
benefited to the destruction of the USA citizens ,including outsourcing and anything that created the current situation we have today . Call it a back tax . This Society need the money now ,that they thought they got away with
You have to ask yourself if all these big Corporations would of made all the money they made during the lending crime spree decade had it not been for these crimes ,along with their tax breaks . Would Buffet had made his fortune in the last decade if not for the crimes of Banks and Wall Street . In other words ,all the entities that took the money and ran ,leaving Main Street in ruins . Would Corporations and middle men and money changers made all this money had it not been for the voidable crimes ,as well as gutting the jobs in America . Back tax for outsouring and outmanufacting for starters .
I say we start with taking Hank Paulsons 1/2 billion he made from the the lending crime spree and bogus leverage . Call it a ill-gotten gain back tax .
All these entities are holding trillions from the crime spree and the only answer is to get the money back ,or get it back the next 10 years as well as enact proper taxes on them now ,start will a stiff tax on outsourcing or outmanufacturing .
Polly, if it should be converted to ordinary income, then the investors should get 100% of the capital gain and get an ordinary deduction for the “fee” paid to the manager.
Still a zero sum.
Carried interest is only taxed as capital gain if the source of income is capital gain.
Investing in a company and selling 12 months or later after qualifies.
Earning 2% on the managed money does not.
Nor does the kind of trading that typically happens within a hedge fund.
This is why hedge fund managers generally don’t care about the carried interest legislation. Venture capital fund managers do care, as do other types of private equity managers that generally make longer term investments.
By the way. Can we please stop making the tax code more complicated?
Monkeying with carried interest would make partnership taxation a nightmare.
Buffett rule? Please. Why waste political capital on such a small change.
How about Simpson Bowles-type reform? Take away deductions. Equalize capital gain and ordinary rates.
No need to make partnership taxation more complex. No need for the “Buffett Rule”.
Guys and gals,
He’s a young guy from Janesville, WI, where GM used to have a plant before Obama closed it down.
Came from a working class family. Catholic (yikees!) and wants the Government to balance their budget (double yikes!!!)
Watch how he gets attacked. The Affordable Healthcare Care took $500,000,000,000 from Medicare to make the books look good, but Ryan’s going to be attacked because he wants to gut it.
Yep, one again, Dem’s are good, kind and loving. Rep’s are EVIL!!!
Lip
Go flunkies! Go losers! Go flunkies! Go losers!
Gets tiring doesn’t it?
Painfully so.
Why don’t you look at Ryan’s voting records and tell us why we should vote Romney because of Ryan?
This only applies to very few of us here who are still capable of changing our mind. Vast majority here are Obama cheerleaders, so anything “R” is not welcome to them.
“Vast majority here are Obama cheerleaders…”
It seems like there also are plenty of Republican strawman caricaturists who rear their heads on a frequent basis.
“Yep, one again, Dem’s are good, kind and loving. Rep’s are EVIL!!!”
Case in point, replete with black-and-white labels and misspelling…
Moi? Blasphemy!
Is Professor Bear an English teacher?
No, but I did take spelling in grade school.
“Vast majority here are Obama cheerleaders…”
I’ll admit that I voted for Obama — gave him the opportunity to change things, but we got more of the same. No second chance!
Etch-A-Sketch picks Etch-A-Sketch running mate….
At an Atlas Society meeting celebrating Ayn Rand’s life in 2005, Ryan said that “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand”,[25] and “I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are. It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff.”[26] In response to criticism from Catholic leaders, in 2012 Ryan distanced himself from Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, telling National Review, “I reject her philosophy. It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview”, and noting that his views were more aligned with those of the Roman Catholic philosopher and saint, Thomas Aquinas, than Ayn Rand. “Don’t give me Ayn Rand,” he said in 2012.[
I don’t see these statements as contradictory. It says basically that he clarified his values by reading Ayn Rand. It doesn’t say he agreed or supported any philosophical ideologies of Rand.
It may, on the contrary, got him to think more highly of his own “catholic” values. I don’t know.
I have been doing some reading on some ideas of Richard Dawkins and some guy named Coyne on their atheistic views of Darwinian ‘evolution’.
I find fault in most of their basic premises. The fact that I am reading them does not mean that I am supportive of them.
Oh, an I started reading Atlas Shrugged a while back but didn’t finish it at the time. It’s still sitting on my bookshelf till i find time to finish the next 800 pages.
“Coyne is an atheist. He claims that religion and science are incompatible” Wiki
You should read up on Dr. Ken Miller. You might like what he says. Coyne’s problems are these (Miller’s thoughts)
1. Pitting science against religion creates a false dualism. You don’t need to give up religion to understand/appreciate science and vice versa.
2. Science must be falsifiable, therefore no scientist can use science to claim God doesn’t exist.
Pretty straight forward…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_Darwin%27s_God
I think Rand is great stuff for a young person on the way up. She inspires self reliance, up-by-your-bootstraps action. She turns a gimlet eye on dependency and dependency-mongers.
But it can’t really be an enduring philosophy for all the stages of your life, and would up half nuts at the end of hers.
Here’s one more:
http://www.amazon.com/Belief-God-Good-Bad-Irrelevant/dp/0830833773
Ryan must be a Rand fan . I have seen him talk on TV and
it reeks from him that he is a worshiper of Ayn Rand .
Main Street is shrugging from the weight of the parasites of
Industry and the 1% that Ann Rand exalted in her books . If the 1% went to a island ( as they did in the book Atlas Shrugs) ,this World would rid itself of greedy mad men who have no humanity at all ,and never had in the course of history . They can all worship the big dollar statue ,as in the book, and hopefully the Bankers and the Federal Reserve will
go also ,and they can than find out how much they need the people and worker bees and the worker bees would be better off without them .
Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck tout Ayn Rand also. But wait. They both tout religion. Ayn Rand was a strong atheist and wrote dozens of essays against religion.
So anyone’s endorsement of Ayn Rand does not mean they endorse her philosophy. Also anyone’s endorsement of her philosophy does not necessarily endorse Ayn Rand. There are big differences between her as a character and her philosophy. One main thing: She was a heavy smoker and that killed her. She even glamorized smoking to the extreme in her novels. She also was weak in politics. She had only a circular argument against libertarianism, particularly the anarcho-capitalism side of it.
Ryan went to a Atlas Society meeting in 2005 celebrating Ayn Rand . How many meetings have you gone to lately celebrating someones life,who is dead , that you considered a minor influence in your life ?
The problem is people won’t admit what they are when they are running for a office . Its all about what I want you to think I am and what will appeal to the most to get elected . Than they do what they want once they get into office .
Ryan went to a Atlas Society meeting in 2005 celebrating Ayn Rand . How many meetings have you gone to lately celebrating someones life,who is dead , that you considered a minor influence in your life ?
Ryan is a statist as they come. Look at the actions, not the words.
Romney has moved the issue of entitlement reform and controls on federal spending to the top of the Romney campaign agenda.
Voters are ready (some of us anyway) to accept Ryan’s prescription for fixing the federal budget, in particular his proposals for reforming Medicare.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/romney-goes-bold/article/2504631#.UCZFL2Oe6s0
You see, Romney see’s that we need to get our government spending (and budget) back under control. You will be hearing about it for the next 8.33 years.
The Washington Examiner is a free tabloid that is passed out in street boxes near Metro Stations. Its parent paper is the Washington Times (Moony paper). People mostly pick it up to check the movie listings. Citing an article in the Examiner is like citing the supermarket circular that gets dropped off on your doorstep.
Citing an article in the Examiner is like citing the supermarket circular that gets dropped off on your doorstep.
Looks like a very fitting newspaper for the people who work in Government and Politics.
Polly, that may be true, but the words in the article are also true.
Romney wants to fix Government by making it live within its means. Picking Ryan was a clear indicator of how he’s going to run his campaign.
The other guy can’t run on this record, so all he can do is attack, obfuscate and slander.
Wake up folks, someone in Washington has got to get the country back on track. What is Obama going to do to fix it?
Oh yeah raise taxes on the weathy. That won’t even get close to balancing the budget. Obama has to be willing to restrain government spending but he doesn’t want to. heck the Democratic controlled Senate hasn’t even passed a budget in the last three years.
“Romney wants to fix Government by making it live within its means. ”
You don’t do that by promising to raise military spending when we are in the process of winding down from two wars.
A nomination as remarkably tone deaf as the rest of Romney’s campaign. Pandering to the Rovians is not going to cut the mustard with seniors and independents, arguably the TeaParty’s base.
If they’re not intentionally shooting their toes off, what do you suppose they are thinking? All I can come up with is that this is a desperate ploy to consolidate a Republican majority in the House in advance of a second term administration.
Thanks for saying that, Polly. It sure does seem like the elephant in the room which supposedly fiscal conservative Republicans never mention.
Romney wants to fix Government by making it live within its means. Picking Ryan was a clear indicator of how he’s going to run his campaign.
And yet, just the other day in Denver, Romney said that we shouldn’t cut spending right away.
The other guy can’t run on this record, so all he can do is attack, obfuscate and slander.
It seems to me that all of the Mittster’s ads are attack ads, and dishonest ones too, especially the “you didn’t build it” ads.
I’m turned off towards Obama, but I find Romney to be utterly repugnant.
It all depends upon what you want your Federal Government to do. Most of all I want them to protect us from the crazies out there. I know that they can also waste some money, but they have been taking a lot of the budget cuts already.
IMO all segments of the government need to take a cut, all of them, and I favor an across the board spending cut for all agencies. Something like 5% every year until we get the budget balanced.
That would give each agency the chance to see where they’re wasting money and make the cuts where they deem appropriate.
“Something like 5% every year until we get the budget balanced.”
Since entitlements and military spending are a huge chunk of the budget hole, would you go for a 5% across the board reduction in those areas as well? And how about 5% cuts to top Congress, Executive and SCOTUS branch government leaders, as those all the little people in government could benefit from leaderships’ examples?
And how about an end to all the bailouts of private sector firms, which has already cost the government trillions and trillions of money up front? And how about driving a stake through the heart of too-big-to-fail Megabanks, which impose a huge unfunded liability on the U.S. tax base.
Wouldn’t all of these measures help to plug the budget hole?
By contrast, your stupid 5% agency cut plan would never get us near the budget gap finish line.
Yes, we know, and your “mainstream” Jewish run news organizations dig up their Jewish buddies like Krugman and Greenspan and Rahm Immanuel, et al. to give us the “facts”.
Yea, the New York Times reports the “truth”.
Dio, you are losing it.
Krugman is an opinion columnist for the New York Times. Neither Greenspan nor Rahm Immanuel work for there.
And exactly does being Jewish have to do with anything?
Right, Dio, because Greenspan and Krugman are such ideological peas in a pod.
You’ve got Dio all wrong. He said he was voting for Romney. You know, the candidate that was in Israel the other day raising money, said he would back making Jerusalem the Israeli capital and has packed his inner circle with hard-core neocons.
Israel, she must be really hot. Both Democans and Republicrats want to fook her so bad they are promising stars and sky.
Right, Dio, because Greenspan and Krugman are such ideological peas in a pod.
Only when it comes to R or D. As for the central bank policies, I don’t think you can tell them apart.
NIce, Polly.
Romney has an obsessive compulsive need to avoid taxes in all ways, which he can’t stop himself from doing. He supports an upper class that does not pay their share. He won’t show his tax returns because we would see that for years he paid less taxes than someone who makes $40,000/yr.
Guess we all can’t write off $77,750 dollars of horse hobby costs as a “business expense”. Or retroactively change what state we were filing taxes in so we can run for Governor in a state that would have cost us more tax to file there so we originally did not file there.
He won’t show his tax returns because we would see that for years he paid less taxes
Less taxes? You can’t be that stupid. Lower rate maybe…
No, I meant less taxes. You’re the stupid one. I am sure he could pull off paying less taxes or even zero taxes. He has no moral compass and an obsessive compulsive need to pay little or no taxes.
“He has no moral compass and an obsessive compulsive need to pay little or no taxes.”
Not a Romney supporter here, but I don’t really hold it against him. It’s very much human nature to do what one can legally do to pay as little as possible. And it’s often legal, as it probably is in Romney’s case. He’s had the White House on his mind for a while now, it wouldn’t make sense for him to even bend the rules.
Yes, there are folks who would rather pay their fair share, and kudos to them. But using the system to your advantage doesn’t necessarily point to the ‘lack of a moral compass’.
Agree Pete. Then again why would you want to pay more?
So that we could bomb more brown people? I don’t want t a penny of my money going to the mass killings and dismemberment of brown children all over the world period.
” Then again why would you want to pay more?
So that we could bomb more brown people?”
I think the bombing would go on no matter how much we paid. But I would pay more (if everyone else did) to balance the budget. I know, I know, *they* will just keep increasing spending. Bear with me, I’m preaching on a very hypothetical level.
It’s not that he did anything criminal (although you never know, and apparently we the people will never know), it’s that it would be so shocking and revelatory to Joe6Pack to see a multimillionaire paying such a small percentage of his income as taxes, and the dodges and tricks that enable it.
The 1% don’t want that publicized.
http://www.pensitoreview.com/2012/08/08/romney-hid-his-returns-in-2002-mass-governors-race-too/
Romney Hid His Returns in 2002 Mass. Governor’s Race, Too – and When One Secret Came to Light, It Proved He’d Lied about His Eligibility to Serve
As George Will said about Mitt Romney’s refusal to release his tax returns, “The cost of not releasing the returns are clear. Therefore, he must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them.” Last week we learned that whatever it is he is hiding may not be new.
Rachel Maddow and her producers did a little digging and found that, in 2002, when he was running for governor of Massachusetts, Romney was equally adamant that he would not release his tax returns. A key issue then was Romney’s eligibility to serve as governor. Massachusetts law requires that in order to serve as governor, candidates must have resided in the state for the previous seven consecutive years. Because Romney had lived in Utah full time while he ran the 2002 winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, it seemed obvious he did not meet that requirement.
One way to tell for sure would be to see which state, Massachusetts or Utah, Romney listed as his primary residence on his IRS forms. Romney and his adviser, Eric “Etch-A-Sketch” Fernhstrom vehemently denied that Romney had filed as a full-time resident of Utah. It was later revealed they were lying — Romney had amended his returns to change his claim of full-time residency in Utah to full-time residency in Massachusetts — retroactively.
“…Lied about His Eligibility to Serve…”
Hasn’t avoiding military service always been the prerogative of the wealthy?
Well, in this case, it refers to him lying about his eligibility to serve as governor . . .
Amazing how Rachael Madcow and the Left in the media can go digging up ALL kinds of information about candidates they oppose.
Why didn’t they look into Obama’s records, demanding school records, tax returns, and birth certificates to check on his “eligibility”???
Pure partisan politics.
Indonesian citizens are not eligible to run for president, but we have one in office.
Diogenes, why change the subject? Romney can’t be trusted and he makes it his business to cheat on taxes.
Harping on the birther thing as your comeback does nothing for your credibility. Apparently there is no amount of times Obama’s birth certificate can be officially presented by the state of Hawaii to appease you. You will insist it isn’t real no matter what.
If you want to see Obama’s tax returns from 2000 - 2011 go here:
http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/web/presidentialtaxreturns/
Romney is hiding his returns, so thankfully we do have some journalists who care to look into it.
I’m going to change the subject back for a moment to address Dio (I refuse to associate this poster with Diogenes) who seems fixated on his false conflations again.
Do you seriously not think that the Clinton machine, arguably the most powerful political network on the planet at that time, (and which fought the longest, toughest primary battle in recent memory with upstart Obama) did not turn over every fingernail clipping and DNA strand trying to get dirt on this guy? Seriously? And they somehow missed this sinister conspiracy that you and some defrocked dentist/real estate saleslady “discovered”?
How about the McCain campaign? Karl Rove was the undisputed master of manipulation, with a world-wide network of informants and operatives at his disposal. They missed this, too? Seriously?
You do realize that the seminal quote from the President’s grandmother from which all this springs, the woman who was indeed present at Barack Obama’s birth in Kenya. (”I was there”) is referring to the President’s father, Barack Obama Sr.?
No one loves a good conspiracy theory better than I do, but you have to apply logic and skepticism to it if you want folks to give you any credence.
And for the heaven’s sake please lose the racism and bigotry in public forums such as this? They immediately discredit anything you may have to say thereafter and brand you as a self-righteous tool.
Dio…..
You’re a Rainbow In The Dark.
I was waiting for something like that every time I see “Dio” :-).
“Amazing how Rachael Madcow and the Left in the media can go digging up ALL kinds of information about candidates they oppose. Why didn’t they look into Obama’s records”
When did Rachel Maddow ever claim to be nonpartisan?
hey carl….one of the best riffs ever… and most recognizable. Dio’s first and second releases is some of the best metal ever.
Ahansen, don’t forget the hundreds of millions of dollars behind Fox News and the network of conservative foundations. Wouldn’t they also be on the hunt for the elusive evidence on non-citizenship?
In answer to all the commentary on how all the opponents can dig up dirt on their opposition, I have a few comments of my own. First, ALL personal records are Personal, including medical, college, financial and tax. NO one can get them without breaking the law, without PERMISSION.
All we can get from Obama is Personal testimony of people who knew him when. We can’t find any. Believe me, they tried.
There are no Public records to find out anything about the mystery man in the Whitehouse. He was a non-person, except by the claims he makes in the 2 books about himself. In the copy on those books, it says he was born in Kenya. They rescinded that part of the “bio” after 16 years when the run for president started and he was questioned about it. He claims it was a “typo”. Typo my ass.
The claims of his grandmother can be whatever they want them to be. A cover story is always started when the cat gets out of the bag. You just push granny off to the side.
The People claiming Romney cheated on his taxes should be sued for making false claims. No one, except the Romney’s and their tax attorneys should have public access to the records, so they don’t know what his records are, except those that are released. I don’t approve of rich people paying less in taxes than poor people, but it is a LIE to say that someone who pays a smaller percent paid less taxes.
I don’t know what he paid and don’t care. At least he paid them.
As for the “birth certificate”, Hawaii is a Democratic enclave.
It would easy enough to manufacture a “birth certificate”. Very few people have access to those records, and just like the school records, they cannot be released without permission. So whatever is actually in the archives is unknown to me and everyone else. The certificate numbers behind and in front of Obama’s claimed certificate have been shown on-line and are the Black and white type using different reference numbers and form numbers. I don’t recall all the problems, but I did see the ILLUSTRATOR versions done by YouTube enthusiasts. Several people showed just how easy it is to forumulate the documents and how his on-line application was full of LAYERS. All changed.
If it had been scanned, it would not have been so.
As one person reviewing the “official document” commented, “his high school daughter could come up with a better birth certificate than that.
Document examiners noted SEVERAL type faces on the document. Since the type face needed to match 1961 type models, they believe they made copies of available types but did not distinguish between the two.
Also, Hawaii was in the habit at that time of allowing people to apply for certificates in Hawaii, a “certificate of live birth”, even when not born there.
I won’t go into all the piles of information that can be gleaned from fellow conspiratorists.
I don’t buy the sales pitch.
The failure to claim that Candidate Obama met the “constitutional requirements” for the office of president is another tell. Signed by Nancy Pelosi, i guess she was avoiding a possibility of perjury, also.
The “story” behind Obama, that he is so brilliant, is because he was elected to become President of the Harvard Law review. They had never had a “black” president and felt guilty, because the had every other “race”. He got into that office the same way he got into every other appointment, along with the best colleges…..”affirmative action”. His Papers, that every President of the Law review has published in the past, have never been published. They do not exist.
The Toni Rezco buddy problem and the Bill Ayers good buddy problem, along with a myriad of other shady characters tells me this Manchurian Candidate is a big fraud.
But people with political power and enough money can make a lot of coverups. If you can “hide” the evidence, it’s hard to make a case.
As for McCain, he was a pussy. The worst candidate of the lot that the Republicans could have put up to run for office.
HIs “‘cross the aisle ” tactics and his failure to attack Obama, calling him a really nice guy, clinched the deal for the current resident of the Whitehouse. Whatever things that could be dug up on Obama, McCain was too nice to put out there. He wanted a “gentleman’s” race, of some sort. Unwillingly to recognize that Obama is a Chicago ‘operator’ who is only glad to point fingers and sling dirt if he thinks he can make the other guy look bad. He knows the “media” will all cover for him, as they have for the past 4 years.
He’ll get a free ride into the election, while folks like Rachael Madcow and her minions dig up whatever they can, true or not, just to cast aspersions on the opposition.
I don’t know what kind of job a “community organizer” is, except that of some kind of upstart to promote government programs to select groups. I guess that is why Obama sees the solution to every problem as a new government program.
When you haven’t done anything that involves the free exchange of ideas, money and labor in the marketplace, it’s really hard to see how that would work, i guess.
Yes, I think the guy is a TOTAL FRAUD, who is good at reading a Teleprompter, at slow speed, and using gangsta style tactics to cover any mistakes made along the way.
That’s the MOST TRANSPARENT ADMINISTRATION, EVER.
And, I still haven’t seen any legislation on the Web for at least 5 days before he signs it. Ever.
Instead, we won’t know what’s in it, until he passes it, and even then, most of us don’t know what’s in it.
Sorry for the rant, Ben.
It’s late. I’m tired and i need to get back to my young earth studies. I hope to disturb a bunch of ‘evolutionists’.
“Dio’s first and second releases is some of the best metal ever.”
Word. Rest in Peace Ronnie.
Hello Nick..
Haven’t seen much of your posts here lately. You’ve missed alot of paid-to-print junk posted by NAR media consultants here.
Diogenes last fishing boat “Holy Diver”.
Alena, I think you’re right that the real Diogenes has been hacked or something. The other Diogenes was a old-school Republican boot-strap type who didn’t want to pay for other people’s health care etc. But he was never the fire breathing birther conspiracy theorist like this.
Howdy,
I’ve been busy this summer, a road trip or two, family drama and work’s been kicking my a$$. I have scanned the posts when I had time and saw some of the “paid-to-print junk” you mention.
I am back for the most part and will definitely chime in to counter the propaganda. Hopefully I can ignore the political stuff (unlike today) and stick to housing.
Peace.
I think you’re right that the real Diogenes has been hacked or something.
The writing style seems consistent with how Diogenes has always written, at least to me.
Romney lies about EVERYTHING. What is the point of discussing his “views”?
Are you the anti-Eddie?
“Romney lies about EVERYTHING. What is the point of discussing his “views”?”
“EVERYTHING” is a big word homes.
calurker: What did you have for breakfast today Mr. Romney?
Romney: Eggs and toast.
calurker: Liar!!
If Romney feels that people want to hear he ate something other than he ate, he will lie about it. I agree that “everything” is a big word, and I still believe it covers everything he is willing to lie about in his etch a sketch approach to winning.
Posted: 2:55 p.m. Friday, Aug. 10, 2012
US budget deficit totals $974B through July
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON —
The U.S. federal budget deficit increased $70 billion in July and is on track to top $1 trillion for the fourth straight year.
Have either of the two candidates had an honest discussion about the cost of a never-ending War on Terror against the backdrop of a coming wave of Baby Boomer retirements? These seem like two very expensive budget items, and it seems a lot harder to ramp down future retirements than future overseas military operations.
More guns and less butter is very important to protecting the assets of the wealthy in a Third World nation — consider North Korea as an extreme case in point.
Romney’s Pentagon Budget Out of Step
July 23, 2012
While advocating more tax cuts tilted to the rich, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also wants to expand military spending, meaning that social programs would take a big hit. But polls indicate Americans prefer cutting Pentagon dollars rather than Social Security and Medicare, writes Lawrence S. Wittner.
…
Romney is not a person that can relate to Main Street ,IMO. Politicians just bullshit Main Street America that they are going to help them . The rich Lobby powers
are the ones running the USA now .
This is absurd that we have a person running for the White House that refuses to show his history of taxes ,which suggests that he is hiding something . Form over substance these days . We have a Treasury Sec that evaded taxes and we have a President that there is even question that he is a natural born Citizen .
I have a theory that the Rich Elite Power Brokers want weak hands in key spots ,or even people they can blackmail into submission .
Exactly, Wizard.
What clinched the deal for me regarding the origins of the current president was that he took for himself the power of life and death over American citizens. He is not a natural born citizen. Even Bush didn’t go as far as making that power official.
“He is not a natural born citizen.”
What is your definition of natural born citizen?
Even Bush didn’t go as far as making that power official.
He just did it unofficially.
What is your definition of natural born citizen?
As for me naturally conceived. I will not let test tube babies or surrogate babies to be the president of this country as long as I am alive.
Sorry Sis….my niece is a test tube baby.
Ummm so was jesus……
Sorry Sis….my niece is a test tube baby.
I am agnostic so I could care less about Hesus.
I figure lets play along with the Christians…and jesus was a test tube baby the holy ghost was g-ds doctor who performed the operation on mary…see no mystery involved.
Does anybody get sick of these Political Hacks that want to preach who the winners and losers are going to be with no regard to prior promises ,or who the beneficiaries were of a
crime spree between 2000 and 20012 .
Wizard, ever look in the mirror?
Ok Lip ,it’s true I’m out for the majority population in the USA not being the losers ,I admit it .
On the off chance he does get elected, in 4 years you’ll just learn that you’ve been lied to again… a lesson you will reject immediately in favor of some new scapegoat for your gullibility.
AmazingRuss,
That was an amazingly truthful post.
It won’t take four years.
Why pay inflated price for a depreciate house when prices are falling?
Because you can have a house warming party, invite your friends and co-workers and show off your granite counter-tops.
Posted: 4:06 p.m. Friday, Aug. 10, 2012
Chase makes loan modifications easier
For some homeowners, no documents or signatures required
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
JPMorgan Chase is reducing home loan interest rates and cutting mortgage debt balances with nothing more than a homeowner’s signature, and sometimes even that isn’t required
No more faxing documents over and over again or waiting months for an answer.
The plan, which is ramping up nationally for eligible Chase-owned loans, is so easy that some homeowners think it’s a hoax.
When a client of Wellington foreclosure defense attorney Malcom Harrison got a letter from Chase offering to cut his interest rate and loan debt without a lengthy paperwork exchange, he brought it to the office to see if it was authentic.
“He asked if it was for real or a joke,” Harrison said. “After some checking and phone calls we verified it was for real.”
Chase’s program has two main components. Homeowners whose mortgage payments are seriously delinquent may get a letter offering them a lower interest rate, principal reduction or both, and all they have to do is sign and return the offer.
It’s even easier for homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth but have been current on their payments for at least a year. Chase will reduce the interest rate on its own, sending the homeowner their new lower payment amount with no effort needed on their part.
The average savings is $300-a-month for homeowners current on payments.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/real-estate/chase-makes-loan-mods-easier/nQKHh/ -
This article smells like an ad for Chase.
Kimberly is probably banging some chase executive.
“Chase is part of the 49-state attorneys general settlement announced in February, which requires it to provide about $4.2 billion in mortgage relief to homeowners. Nationally, the $25 billion deal with Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America and Ally Financial could provide up to $40 billion in cash, refinances and principal write-downs to homeowners.”
Apparently Chase’s program is only for loans they own. I wonder which loans they held on to?
Palmster, are you still in FL, or did you move?
It’s that time of year…
Hey, Muggy, still in Florida, but looking to get the snot outta here for the RNC. The BS is so deep, you gotta have waders to even walk around.
You are no where near the center of mass hysteria.
I am within a 3 mile radius of the downtown convention district.
MY traffic route in and out of town is via Ybor City where I connect with Interstate 4 to circumvent the downtown area.
I can’t escape. I am trapped.
My only route of avoidance is to head down Hwy 41 to your part of the State and gain some distance from the throngs of maniacs sure to fill the streets with protestations about the existence of republicans.
Do you live in Channelside? I often wonder if it’s cool, or not. It reminds me a lot of downtown Rochester in the mid-90’s. One nights, it would be vibrant and safe, and then the next night it wasn’t.
My wife and I had lunch without the kids yesterday in downtown St. Pete and it was amazing. I’d love to make a go of living downtown, but there are too many variables.
It’s so hard to tell what’s safe and what’s not.
I don’t live in “channelside” and never would. Channelside is the residential incursion of apartments into a working marine port.
It’s dirty, unappealing, has no redeeming qualities, other than it is near the demarcation point of passengers coming and going on the cruise ships.
Before all the “mania” about national security, I used to go the shops along the port and dined at some of the restaurants.
Since the FED’s, in their usual over-reaction to the citizens, while ignoring border problems, SHUT DOWN the port by fencing all the walkways, so you can no longer walk along the docks, I stopped going.
St. Pete is completely different. It is not a commercial port.
So, you can dine along the waterside, take trips out to the pier, which I am sad to see going to be replaced with some other concept.
Tampa was ruined by Agents of the Government. Even the shrimp docks, where for years I could drive into the port area and get shrimp, and crabs on the side of the causeway was FENCED OFF and a guard put up to watch for terrorists who might try to “target” the shrimp boats.
I despise everything the TSA represents.
I don’t fly unless I absolutely have to. In the past, I flew regularly. The American Police State is displayed in prime design in the City of Tampa. When the Convention gets here, I will try to avoid the area since I don’t want to get stopped an searched.
The Sheriff and the Tampa Police promise to keep us in line.
TO my way of thinking, it’s usually the wrong people they think they should lean on.
Do you guys have any idea how much hardware/security is going to be in town? It’s crazy. The FL Republicans will be staying at Innisbrook, which has a lovely family pool.
I might have to stop by and hang out with all of the Mama Grizzlies.
Mama Grizzlies, my arse.
I’d love to see Sarah Palin’s hair extensions hanging from the trees if she ever actually came face to face with one.
What a freaking poseur.
.
Alena,
I’m so glad you’re able to make a joke about that.
Yeah, but those shoes!
Rrrr!
Hair extensions? I wonder if she wears a merkin?
All true ‘mericans sport merkins.
“I’m so glad you’re able to make a joke about that.”
She’s been crackin’ on it since before she was totally recovered. IIRC, she was joking with the FD she drove to.
If you can’t celebrate life’s wackiness, what’s the point?
Posted: 4:39 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012
Thousands file claims after Chevron refinery fire
By PAUL ELIAS
The Associated Press
RICHMOND, Calif. —
Several thousand Richmond residents have filed legal claims against Chevron Corp., seeking compensation for a refinery fire that fouled the region’s air for hours and sent more than 4,000 people to seek medical care for breathing problems and irritated eyes.
Hundreds of residents showed up at a makeshift claim center in Richmond on Friday, and many more submitted claims throughout the week by calling a special hotline Chevron established after Monday’s explosion and fire. The company said a total of about 3,800 people had submitted claims through Friday afternoon.
“We are going to pay all appropriate and reasonable expenses,” Chevron spokesman Sean Comey said.
Others, like Percy Gallon who showed up without receipts and other proof of expenses, were told they faced an uphill battle to receive anything.
“It’s disappointing,” said Gallon, a 61-year-old Richmond resident who said he lived out of the area when others received payments of about $1,000 each after a fire at the refinery in the 1990s. “I want in on this one.”
Thousand bucks for having your lungs burned ,or perhaps a overall weakening of the body that might take months to overcome the side effects .
Long term ploy of Insurance Companies is to offer to settle early
before the victims even knows what the long term damage is .
“I want in on this one.”
Well, at least the next time someone tells me of the damage done by natural gas extraction, or how cng cars will blow up, I’ll just use this story as a counter.
I was in a construction meeting at a hospital very near Richmond. One of the client parties remarked people had been showing up at the local hospital and ‘wanted their check’.
At best these people will receive payment towards hospital services rendered.
A permanent underclass of people.
In 1929 the rich elite didn’t take the money and run ,they went down with the rest of the Country . What is different with this aftermath of a mania and a lending crime spree is that a certain sector of the
population got away with the money and the wealth from the crime spree and Main Street was made the loser in every way .
Yes ,its true that Main Street didn’t see it coming, but Wall Street ,the Bankers and Monopoly Corporations did see it coming and they made sure who the winners and losers were going to be .
So all the talk about taking from the majority population ,as if we have a situation in which Main Street America is strong and employed
and getting good wages is absurd ,while prices are going up .
The only place to take the money needed is from who took the money and ran and who got protected right when the crash occurred ,the winners in the biggest obstruction of justice cases in history . Take the money from the entities that gutted America and
no longer employ USA Citizens ,but rather employ slave labor elsewhere .
All the trillions that were a ill=gotten gain byproduct of the Lobby powers getting Politicians to betray the USA ,should be the parties that pay .
So now we know who really learned the lessons of the depression.
GS, SD RE Bear, et al,
I’ll be in San Diego the next 2 days. Any recommendations? Favorite sushi, Mexican eats?
Already planned:
Torrey Pines hike
Pacific, Mission Beaches
La Jolla/ LJ coves, Mission bay kayak
Roppongi’s happy hour (in La Jolla)
‘Any recommendations’
Skip it and go to Vegas.
Vegas
Your dollar would go a lot farther there, and so far as I am aware, there are no gambling opportunities in La Jolla. But if you like oceans, aside from Oceans 11, it’s hard to find them around Vegas.
Two more:
LJ Shores Beach
Birch Aquarium
Political machinations in Congress threaten imminent closure of the ONLY trauma center between Fresno and Los Angeles. SCOTUS ruled that “Obamacare” is Constitutional, but State and Federal funding is being held up as “symbolic statement”, led by our own Majority Whip, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, (R. CA), a man who never met a real estate development interest he didn’t like.
Fortunately, if he has a coronary while Congress is home on recess, he can afford to fly to Los Angeles for emergency treatment….
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/politics/local/x1925194677/Cash-flow-problems-jeopardize-county-hospital-services
If you buy a house today, you will sustained hundreds of thousands of dollars in irrecoverable losses.
Tell me about it.
“If you buy a house today, you will sustained hundreds of thousands of dollars in irrecoverable losses.”
Honestly, before I got married and had two kids, I was happy renting. I assumed I would be doing that for the rest of my life, and I was fine with that. My wife would not be. And no, she’s nothing like the wench from the Suzanne ads
Life is an endless parade of irrecoverable losses, and money isn’t everything.
“money isn’t everything”.
When all you have is a mountain of debt, 30 years of servitude and a rapidly depreciating liability like a house, I’d be inclined to say things like that too.
By your score, having two kids is a massive loss as well. Numerically speaking, you are correct. We’ve all debated the cost of ownership vs. renting thing, so there’s not much point in my going there.
I do feel that “pride of ownership” feeling, and despite the fact that I’m the cheapest bastard on the planet, I actually take pleasure in spending money on my house. This whole “pride of ownership” thing may indeed be psychological. As is our economy.
The truth of “shame of debtorship” is displaced the fallacy of “pride of ownership”.
The truth of “shame of debtorship” is displaced BY the fallacy of “pride of ownership”.
I think we are on the brink of dire circumstances in the USA .I think a lot of emergency measures are going to be needed if there will be any chance of turning the situation around . And who in the hell wants another War ,certainly the people in the USA wouldn’t want this ?
Don’t we just want to get out of the affairs of other Countries ?
Don’t we just want our own job base and tax base and manufacturing base and to hell with this Globalism that has created World instability and the gutting of the USA .
Don’t we just want Wall Street to stop being a casino global game player ,and banks to start being banks again ,who make loans to qualified people ?
Don’t we just want to be able to give humane treatment to all age groups and not single out who will win and who will lose ,however tempting that might be to do that .
Don’t we just want America to remain the land of opportunity .
Don’t we just want our freedoms to remain in tact.
Don’t we just want to maintain reasonable lifestyles ,rather than reduced to a Society begging for jobs or food or welfare .
Don’t we just want a reasonable health care system that doesn’t Bk a
person every time they get a disease ,or a system in which the insurance premiums are greater than rent these days for a
family of 4 .
Don’t we just want America to return to the systems and methods that
made it productive and basically go back to the past ?
Don’t we want to get rid of the Monopoly powers that seem to be
in control of elected government these days ?
Everybody says we can’t return to the past . Why not? The path we are on is not good for the majority population in the USA now .
A analysis has to be made of what made America stop being the
land of opportunity with plentiful reasonable paying jobs ,and what factors will create the balance that is needed to achieve this . And bringing on some stupid War isn’t the answer .And please give me a break in saying that the 1% and Monopoly Corporations need more tax breaks in order for the majority population in the USA to thrive again .
Look at everything that was going on when this land was thriving and
that is what needs to be returned to .
” And who in the hell wants another War ,certainly the people in the USA wouldn’t want this ?”
I agree wholeheartedly with damn near everything you said except this one. If a war is sold well, people will want it, at least in the short term.
Pete, Thanks for responding , I get beside myself sometimes with what is going on now .
Congrats to Mexico for winning the men’s gold in football, beating Brazil 2-1.
Hey Rio, are the cariocas crying in their beer tonight?
I doubt it. Olympics soccer has to be below World Cup and league soccer.
The Brazilian players did cry on the field. So at least for them it was a big deal.
There seems to be no foreseeable end to stock market gains grounded in stimulus hopes.
August 10, 2012, 4:30 p.m. ET
U.S. Stocks Rise Amid Central Bank Stimulus Hopes
–U.S. stocks rise despite weak Chinese data
–Stoxx Europe 600 posts first loss in six sessions
–China’s July trade surplus narrows unexpectedly
By Matt Jarzemsky
NEW YORK–Stocks rallied into Friday’s close, with the S&P 500 capping its longest streak of gains since late 2010, as investors shrugged off an unexpected drop in China’s trade surplus.
…
“The Bain Legacy”
Romney’s Bain Capital connected to Salvador death squads?
by: Emile Schepers
August 10 2012
A new dimension of the story of Mitt Romney’s connections to Bain Capital has now emerged, namely the possible connection of Bain, and Romney, to violent ultra-right-wing political circles in Latin America.
When Romney was, in the early 1980s, spinning off Bain Capital from its parent company Bain and Company, he was told that he had to find new people to put up the initial capital. So he made a connection with some members of the elite “14 families” that have historically run El Salvador, many of whom were living in Miami at that time because of the civil war raging in their homeland. Early contributors of a total of $9 million to Bain’s startup were members of the de Sola, Poma, Dueñas and Salaverria families. The facilitator for this hookup seems to have been Panamanian-born banker Frank Kardonski, who died earlier this year.
…
EUROPE BUSINESS NEWS
August 10, 2012, 9:03 a.m. ET
Euro Zone to Contract Despite German Growth
By PAUL HANNON and ALEX BRITTAIN
Germany’s government Friday said it believes the country’s economy grew at a moderate pace in the second quarter, but data from elsewhere suggests that won’t be enough to save the euro zone from suffering a return to economic contraction.
Figures on France released by statistics agency Insee showed industrial output was unchanged in June compared with May, and was therefore 0.6% lower in the second quarter than in the first—giving a gloomy signal for overall economic growth during the period.
The fall in production “confirms our view that GDP has been contracting in the second quarter, even though probably only slightly,” said Fabrice Montagne, an economist at Barclays.
Fears that France’s economy is shrinking were heightened by the Bank of France’s latest business survey this week that suggested gross domestic product will fall 0.1% in the third quarter. An earlier survey showed output falling in the second quarter of the year, meaning France would meet many economists’ definition of being in recession.
Germany and France, the two biggest economies in the currency bloc, will release official figures for second-quarter GDP Tuesday, as will the euro zone as a whole. But estimates for Italy, Belgium and Spain have already recorded contractions in the second quarter—of 0.8%, 0.6% and 0.4% respectively.
…