The Housing Bubble

I think both SFrenter.

And well deserved too!

Go and forget all about QE3, inflation, and political zombies. Drink something with a little umbrella in it for all of us!

Think TEOTWAWKI

S.F. is a crowded peninsula to be on when the lights go out for the last time and the “just-in-time” supply chain of retail food distribution collapses.

Here in flyover we are better equipped, as we will take to the hills like in critically acclaimed film Red Dawn.

Goon squad,

So how many weeks or months worth of freeze dried food do you have stored up?

Nonsense. The zombie hordes will liberate you of your freeze dried goodies and before long you will be eating your pets.

You obviously did not see the critically acclaimed film Red Dawn because if you did you’d know how the squad will roll post-TEOTWAWKI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dawn_%282012_film%29

Have you seen the trailer for the remake? Gotta keep the propaganda up to date!

Hah, Ryan,

My kid is doing the internet publicity campaign for that remake. I’ll send him your shout-out. Muchos gracias!

There’s a new show premiering tonight on the teevee about America after the entire power grid goes kaput. It’s called ‘Revolution’. I forget what network. You may have seen the ad with the pic of Wrigley Field overgrown with vegetation. I love a good post-apocalyptic yarn. Although Cormac McCarthy’s The Road was too bleak for my tender sensibilities.

Although Cormac McCarthy’s The Road was too bleak for my tender sensibilities

Man o man that book is dark.

I think “the crash” will take one of two forms… melt-down or melt-up.

1) Melt-down: This is if we go with a “slash government spending, no TARP type re-bailouts, and generally, let it crash” plan.

Government stops spending, economy drifts into recession, prices resume falling, more defaults, cascade debt default rocks the banking sector. We end up about 2008 x 2. Stocks to 3K or less. Unemployment above 20%, with underemployment pushing 40-50%. All the big banks gone, massive downward wage pressure, falling minimum wage and general deflation across the board.

2) Melt-up: Foreigners lose faith in the dollar as a reserve currency, break pegs, allow massive devaluation of the dollar against their currencies, and the Fed just keeps buying bonds to keep interest rates low while government just keeps on borrowing and over spending.

15+% inflation for a decade, purchasing power of savings falls to 1/4th or less current. Everyone spends every penny they get, savings are virtually wiped out, debt shirks as % of GDP, eventually we pull a 1979-1980 Volcker style taking away of the punch bowl… Sharp recession to tame inflation… Repeat.

You may have seen the ad with the pic of Wrigley Field overgrown with vegetation.

You mean like this? feral houses

You don’t think we’ve had enough experience of neither party improving things to take a step back, yet?

IAT

Well…no workie no payie….. Bernanke is spending $400 per month for every household in America to buy bonds that will put how many people back to work?

End result, your food bill will go up by most of that amount. You will have to work at some point, or starve.

uneducated, obese, and lazy

You have a problem with American Exceptionalism? Commie!

Exactly sfrenter.

But do note that in Greece, it caused the turnover of government several times. I’m not sure what the current political situation is in Spain and if it has caused the leaders any pain. I haven’t been keeping up.

Ohh…. I see. And who was the “threat” in 1981 when we installed Mubarak?

Maybe you should better understand 1947-current history before invoking the same rusty rhetoric.

I not only understand WWII history, I understand that for around 1300 years Islam has been a threat to the world. Long before we were an empire we were being attacked by Islam. The marines sing about the shores of Tripoli for a reason and we were not interferring with their world when we were attacked.

Oh I see. Think Tank history.

Gotcha

The U.S. foreign policy has always supported individuals who from our ivory tower here in the west appear unsavory. But I have news for you, especially if you believe the Muslim Brotherhood is about to bring Democracy to the ME. You are wrong and we are trading one tyrant we know for many tyrants we don’t.

I see. And who was the “threat” in 1981 when we installed Mubarak?

Iran and the Ayatollahs, same as it is today.

Mubarak is a murderer, who tortured political opponents, and was a dictator over millions of people for decades. And the US kept him there.

Better the devil you know than the one you don’t. At least Mubarak was our puppet and supported the US and Israeli interests in the region. What can you say about the Muslim Brotherhood? Our interests don’t align…

At some point, everyone will need to pick a side. Make no mistake, there is a global Crusade against Shiite Muslims, just as there is a Jihad against what the Muslim world refers to as “The West” (Christianity/Judaism). The direction this conflict is taking will lead only one place.

“Iran and the Ayatollahs, same as it is today.”

I see. Those threatening guys with the bottles, sticks and rocks.

I see. Those threatening guys with the bottles, sticks and rocks.

Hmm, as I recall, those guys with bottles, sticks, and rocks killed a US diplomat the last time this happened, under Carter…

Funny thing about those guys with bottles, sticks, and rocks… they keep trying to create a nuclear weapon. What would they do with that?

It might have something to do with the fact that they’re pushed around by govts with nuclear weapons.

What would they do with that ??

Something Stupid probably which would in-turn reduce their country to an ash-tray….

Iran doesn’t keep saying that they will wipe Israel off the map nothing. They mean it, given the opportunity they will do it.

wipe out Israel…and we wipe out every mosque and kill every ayatollah in Iraq, Iran pakistan saudi arabia yemen egypt ..destroy all their holy statues shrines …wipe that religion off the face of the earth…..not a great idea but it would be Fair.

Keep saying? One guy said it once about another country whose loyalties are questionable.

“Long before we were an empire we were being attacked by Islam.”

What can the American Indians tell us about Islam?

“Iran doesn’t keep saying that they will wipe Israel off the map nothing. They mean it, given the opportunity they will do it.”

So what do you care? Are you going to send your son(s) over there in uniform, or are you saber rattling for someone else’s son(s) to do the dirty work?

BTW, since you care more about the rest of the planet than the U.S. maybe you can tell us about what’s going on in the middle of South America right now?

I’ve been there personally before.

What would you like to know about South America?

Do you have an middle eastern friends? What faith are they? Jewish? Islamic? Tell us about them. And when you’re done, I’ll tell you about my ME friends and coworkers who are Christian, Islamic, Jewish and agnostic.

Believe me, my statement isn’t to support conflict with Iran. It is just a statement of my belief, if they get the bomb, they will use it.

“if they get the bomb, they will use it.”

And why do you believe this?

Ryan believes this because when the U.S. got the bomb, they used it. Ryan presumes Iranians will be as narrow-minded as Americans. Country A usually presumes Country B will behave the just as Country A did. However, the U.S. is ALONE in using nuclear weapons against an enemy. So, maybe Ryan’s presumption is incorrect.

IAT

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaup!

And who can trump the nattering religio-fascists in the US who pander for war in the ME to bring about their crazy biblical Nirvana?

‘he was “OUR” scum’

No question about it. Interesting about this land of the free; no crime is too horrible as long as it’s done in the name of ‘us.’ If a citizenry fund murder, torture and oppression of millions of people, for decades what horrors would they object to? Is it any surprise we are now silent when our ‘leaders’ claim they can do the same to us? This is the immorality we have embraced, and we are all further down the road to tyranny because of it.

BTW- I agree with everything you said, with one important difference:

The Republicans are America is the cover for the British Empire, which was the last vestige of the Roman Empire, which captured and subverted the Christian church.

OK, yes, but then I couldn’t make an easy connection with R’s being especially evil.

but then I couldn’t make an easy connection with R’s being especially evil.

They’re the guys who destroyed the Roman Republic and brought on the Empire.

“America is the cover for the British Empire”

And the Israeli govt.

Yes, and just who established the country of Israel? Could it be the British? Coincidence? I don’t think so.

I work with a bunch of Brits; they still think they are coming back(!)

“but all those wussie doo-gooders though women’s rights in a foreign land was worth killing American solders over.”

So that’s why we went into Afghanistan. Silly me, I thought 911 was the excuse.

Who says they aren’t? Yeah, I know they helped with nuke technology, but they are never going to really allow Islamic fundies nuclear weapons. The idea is to keep us occupied and putting out fires.

In other words, keep their enemies fighting each other. Oldest tactic in the book.

The threat of a nuclear exchange has kept us from getting into a shooting war with Russia and China.

What is more likely?

-That Iran is packed with suicidal Islamists, who would launch a nuke against Israel the second they get one?

or

-A nuclear armed Iran puts a big crimp on the freedom of military action that the Israelis and US currently enjoys in the Middle East….therefore, the Israelis and US keep pushing the “Suicidal Islamist” meme, to extort support for their attempts to prevent Iran from getting nukes.

A long time ago, when adults who weren’t owned by the Bankster/Multinational corporation/1%er class ran the government, I might have been more likely to believe scenario “A”.

Not so much today, when Al Jazeera and the Russia Times websites have as much (or more) credibility than Fox News.

Part of the “game” as well.

We used to do this sort of thing.

-NACA (before it became NASA) up to about 1965, developed science (airfoils, low drag engine cowlings, engines), technologies, and materials to advance the aviation industry.

-The US Navy supported diesel engine development in the 30s, because any improvements made in diesel electric locomotives directly improved US submarines. (our most reliable submarine engines were built by EMC (later to become EMD) and Fairbanks-Morse.

-Navy funded improvements in fire suppression on ships (especially aircraft carriers) directly transferred to the civilian market.

This was all before the “Free Market will Provide All, and any other way of doing things is Commie” dogma took over.

The US government also dumped metric tons of money into the development of computers.

The first punched card systems were developed for the Census. The first programmable computer was developed to help design the A-bomb… but we actually got the bomb first, but the developments were funded concurrently.

The first microchip was the result of government funding to help miniaturize computers for the space program.

The first interconnection of computers was done on telecommunications networks built out via government decree of universal availability (if companies wanted the profitable high density markets, they also had to provide service to the rural markets).

And yes, the government really did fund the first high speed internet backbone, the upgrade of that backbone with high speed technology, and the opening of that backbone to commercial usage… creating the internet as we know it… Oh, and the first web browser was funded by government too.

I have to laugh at people who say government should not meddle in business.

Without government R&D, half of all industry and infrastructure wouldn’t even exist.

Then there’s that whole unrestricted right of Congress to regulate commerce in the constitution…

Do they do a good job of it? Not really. Do they have the right? ‘Fraid so.

Airplane, developed with money from US Army. First customers for fledgeling airplane industry…. US Army and US Postal Service.

If you do the math, the Bush tax cuts are a far bigger contributor to the deficit than food stamps.

So why is the Japaneses yen still have any value? Their debt is 200% of GDP and yet their economy still functions. Add in their death spiral demographics and extreme xenophobic culture and it seems like such a sure-thing bet that their economy would collapse? But it’s be a fools bet to short their bonds or yen. You want change? Go on STRIKE and the PTB will hear you.

Yeah but the Bush tax cuts went to the PRODUCERS and the food stamps and SSDI go to the f*ing parasites!

Rev. Ike: “No one has a right to be a parasite”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eskhhls0D1w

Remember when liberals used to complain on “how many teachers could be hired” when they used to care of the budget deficits of the Bush Days?

The deficits of the Bush Days are now the “good old days” and you never hear a peep out of liberals on the deficits, deaths of soldiers overseas, Cindy Sheehan and the homeless…

The deficits of the Bush Days are now the “good old days”

But most of the deficit today is the result of the wars, TheBushTaxCutsForTheRich and loss of tax revenue because of the Great Recession. Which of those is Obama responsible for?

No peep? So you’re saying Bush isn’t being blamed any more?

Still can’t bring yourself to give obama responsibility for anything - can you?

You’ll recall Obama promising to “cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office.”

Go back and drink some more kool-aid. All is good.

Here - you can even watch it on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJvkkNmR_8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaQUU2ZL6D8

Still can’t bring yourself to give obama responsibility for anything - can you?

I’ve blamed Obama for many things on this board. But not so much the deficit. Because most of Obama’s deficit is from wars, TaxCutsForTheRich and lowered revenue due to the Great Recession. All three of those were in place before Obama took office. Is this not correct?

You’ll recall Obama promising to “cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office.”

LOL. You really believed that? What kool-aid were YOU drinking?

“The deficits of the Bush Days are now the “good old days” and you never hear a peep out of liberals on the deficits, deaths of soldiers overseas, Cindy Sheehan and the homeless…”

Give it up, you are dealing with progressives. The only thing progressives care about is power and how to get it, those issues just helped them rile the electorate in 2008.

- IBP

Give it up, you are dealing with progressives people with facts.

“Give it up, you are dealing with progressives people with facts.”

The only FACTS you get from progressives are that they hate capitalism and western culture. So that tells us what?

It tells us that they will align with any other movement that also supports ending capitalism and the western way of life…like for example the Islamists, who just happen to be ruthless killers who execute homosexuals and subjugate women.

It tells us they will lie about their issues and basically say anything to get elected, because they have to move like locusts into positions of power and infiltrate all levels of the bureaucracy in order to bring about the demise of capitalism as we know it.

It tells us why they took over education in this country, why you see children brought up by good hard working tax paying Americans come out of public schools and universities having been brainwashed into supporting anti-capitalist and anti-American causes.

It tells us they will flip sides on any issue depending on who they are trying to vilify or defend. You see this with their sudden support for assassination via drone and cheering for the killing of Bin Laden.

Progressives are more dangerous to our society than Al Qaeda because they are working to bring about our demise from the inside.

- IBP

“The federal government now borrows 40 cents of every dollar it spends.”

Yeah.. Obama is stupid. He should have the private sector borrowing and spending all that money the way Reagan did, instead of the federal government.

Oh… the private sector was already tapped out when Obama won, so is unable to do the heavy borrowing?

Obama is stupid. He should have won PotUS in 1980, when each household’s share of total debt was only 3x median household income, like it was when Reagan took power, instead of 2008 when it was more than 6x… Obama is an idiot for taking office 28 years after Reagan put us on the path of unsustainable debt growth.

infiltrate all levels of the bureaucracy in order to bring about the demise of capitalism as we know it.

Hey, I like that part! Because “capitalism as we know it” has been hijacked by the crony, supply-side morons who have brainwashed you.

The only FACTS you get from progressives are that they hate capitalism and western culture.

“Hate capitalism and western culture” Says who? You don’t have an original thought in you head do you? Does Rush Limbaugh cut your meat and feed you too?

Progressives are more dangerous to our society than Al Qaeda because they are working to bring about our demise from the inside.

Sometimes meds need to be readjusted.

how about Teacher’s Unions are destroying our youth ??

I am no teacher union cheerleader but the teachers hands are tied….Between the lack of discipline in public schools and empty parents there is not much they can do but do the best they can with what they got….

Its no coincidence that private schools preform so much better…Has nothing to do with the teachers IMO…I remember when I first sent my children to a private school…The message was; “you are here by invitation and you can be un-invited”…

Take for instance, fighting…In my childrens high school, you got three strikes for diciplinary action…If you got into a fight, that was automatic two strikes for the remainder of your stay at the school…One more strike and your Gone-Ski…Does not matter what you last name is and how much Grandpa has contributed, your gone…Seen it happen

Guess what ?? There are very, very few fights…Very few…

I am no teacher union cheerleader but the teachers hands are tied….Between the lack of discipline in public schools and empty parents there is not much they can do but do the best they can with what they got

Understand that we have seen almost no gain whatsoever in terms of national test scores and student outcomes from 30 years ago compared to today and yet we’re spending twice today per pupil what we were spending 30 years ago (inflation adjusted). The Teacher’s Union, like every Union, doesn’t give a damn about child outcomes, only enriching it’s members (and thus itself).

As a democrat on NPR said recently: “We now have a 2-tiered education system. The rich have opted out of the public system the problem of Unions and send their children to private schools. The poor have no choice and send their children to public schools.” “So, in essence, the people with the least amount of say and least ability to fight for their needs politically are up against one of the strongest lobby’s in the nation”.

Northeasterner, back in 2003 the squad worked for a for-profit, private sector, Education/Publishing Corp that was responsible for doing the manual scoring of handwritten portions of standardized tests mandated under No Child Left Behind.

The drop in average reading comprehension scores for Massachusetts middle school students from 2002 to 2003 was great enough that we were forced to recalibrate the scoring rubric and re-score all 70,000+ tests so the kidz wouldn’t seem so dumb and mess up the statistics!

*Big Ed/Pub Corp has since been acquired by Bigger Ed/Pub Corp

The Teacher’s Union, like every Union, doesn’t give a damn about child outcomes, only enriching it’s members (and thus itself) ??

Well, Like I said I am no cheerleader for them, But, IMO, even if you eliminated the union, it would make little difference in the outcome of test scores…Just look at other countries public class rooms and compare….

Remind me again why it’s okay for companies, organizations and governments to maximize their profits, but not people?

This American Life had a good discussion of the effects of stress on brain development, among other things.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/474/transcript

“There’s an essay that’s being published this Sunday in the New York Times by Alex Kotlowitz, a reporter who writes a lot about kids and poverty in Chicago. And he points out how much we expect from teachers, especially teachers in a school system like Chicago’s where 87% of the students come from low income families. He writes that he’s been reporting in a high school lately where the staff has transformed and improved the school in lots of ways.

“And yet each day I spend there,” he writes, “I witness one heartbreaking scene after another. A young girl who yells at one of the school’s social workers, ‘This is no way to live,’ and then breaks down in tears. Because of problems at home, she’s had to move in with a friend’s family, and there’s not enough food to go around. A young man has retreated into his shell having witnessed a murder over the summer.

The stories are all too familiar. And yet somehow, we’ve come to believe that with really good teachers and longer school days and rigorous testing, we can transform their lives. We’ve imagined teachers as lazy, excuse-making quasi-professionals or, alternately, as lifesavers. But the truth, of course, is more complicated.”

I bring all this up here today because there is a new way to look at all this, a new body of science that’s just starting to get discussed in a widespread way. It looks at what a difficult home life can do to the brain of a school kid– literally to the biology of the brain– and how it makes it difficult to learn.

And this science suggests all kinds of things that schools could be doing that could improve teaching, get through to huge numbers of kids that teachers have a hard time getting through to today.”

even if you eliminated the union

I’m not saying eliminate the Union, rather temper their power. It is the power of the Teacher’s Union that is the problem.

Remind me again why it’s okay for companies, organizations and governments to maximize their profits, but not people?

It’s done every day in the private sector. The problem is we’re talking about “Public Teacher’s Unions”. We’re talking about a public service and “collective bargaining”, not individual bargaining, like almost all private employees. That’s the difference. It’s all about power, and right now Public Teacher’s Unions are one of the most powerful lobbies in the country.

Northeasterner wrote:

Understand that we have seen almost no gain whatsoever in terms of national test scores and student outcomes from 30 years ago compared to today and yet we’re spending twice today per pupil what we were spending 30 years ago (inflation adjusted).

This is a poor comparison. Much of the increase in per pupil expenditure is traceable to laws that made it illegal to bar kids with disabilities from school. Those laws made it necessary to hire specialists for those kids. Most of the increase in costs per pupil have gone to pay for special needs kids, and thus should not be expected to have changed test scores (as many special needs kids are exempted from the tests).

IAT

Anybody got an answer to turkey’s question?

Well, if they actually mailed checks to households (the $40B per month would translate into about $1.5K annually per US resident) then the money would get spent. The problem is that it would either end up in China or in paying off CC bills, so any stimulus would be short lived.

We need to kick our addiction to imports, but we all know that won’t be happening anytime soon.

And people are getting wise to the one-time only, $500/person bribes.

Things are gonna suck until some of that money made thru “improvements in productivity” makes it PERMANANTLY into the hands of the Wretched Refuse.

I’d be happy just to get back to what I was making in 2002. Even better, if that number was inflation-adjusted…..to the REAL cost of living, not the bogus government number.

I’d like to make, in inflation adjusted dollars, what I was making in 1998.

what I was making in 1998

So quit yer bellyaching and get bootstrapping, f*ing crybaby! There are 24 hours in the day and zero excuses for you not to get a 2nd and 3rd job.

I went to the BLS CPI inflation calculator and plugged in my 1998 income, interested to see how much I am above that now.

Oh…. In inflation adjusted, I’m exactly flat to where I was in 1998, despite nominal being $27K ahead…. $65K->$92K

The difference is that in 1998 I was a mid-level development engineer, 5 years out of college, with less than 10 years experience. Now I’m a principal, one of the most senior in my group, with almost 25 years of experience.

Just treading water…..

“The difference is that in 1998 I was a mid-level development engineer, 5 years out of college, with less than 10 years experience. Now I’m a principal, one of the most senior in my group, with almost 25 years of experience.”

Yeah, yeah, just show us the trophy wife…hehe, just kidding.

I’m glad we have people here with professional experience, and I admire your tenacity in the bare-knuckled bits bucket. FWIW, I’m surprised that you aren’t debt free at this stage of your life, but that’s just me and my distrust of financial matters.

Hey, I’d be happy if we could just get rid of Denver’s wintertime brown cloud.

wintertime brown cloud

Because you take the bus from Loveland down to Broomfield every day, right?

Commie!

There’s a bus?

Actually, I work from home 2 days a week.

How old is the Earth? Hell, even the Evangelical Christians agree it is 4000 years old or some such nonsense? Do you believe that this is the first time the Earth’s average temperatures have gone through a warming trend?

You think that because of this increase in the mean, which indicates a warming trend that we should be alarmed?

What do you believe is causing this warming?

Belief has nothing to do with it. That’s the first problem.

Ok. In your opinion what is causing it?

While the Medieval Warm Period saw unusually warm temperatures in some regions, globally the planet was cooler overall. To claim the Medieval Warm Period was warmer than today is to narrowly focus on a few regions that showed unusual warmth. You’re trying to use rhetoric to counter scientific fact.

Think of it this way: Just because house prices are rising in San Francisco doesn’t mean house prices are trending upwards all over the country. Conversely, one (projected) year out of 150 measured doesn’t statistically affect the global mean temperature rise– let alone its trending.

While the Medieval Warm Period saw unusually warm temperatures in some regions, globally the planet was cooler overall.

I may not have been clear in my post, but it was rate of change of temperature that I was referring to, not absolute temperature.

Carbon dioxide is a heat-trapping gas, some X watts per meter squared.

We’re generating massive amounts of carbon dioxide. So, it seems reasonable that we’re going to be trapping more heat.

Now, there could be feedback mechanisms taking up that CO2 offsetting the atmospheric concentration.

What about the sun? It’s burning hotter right? I haven’t heard any talk of that.

Anyway, more CO2 in the air, sun being the same, probably means a warmer planet to some degree.

Cantankerous
While I agree w/ your comment, this owner had to sell (Alzheimer’s), and we did OK. Higher bidders, but we were cash and the house is needy. We had an Attorney review the deal.

Sounds like you covered the bases. Congrats on your home purchase in the face of a tumultuous economic situation.

Buying a home in a bidding war market = WINNER’S CURSE

Here in this city houses that are priced at what the seller expects to get sit on the market. The name of the game in SF is to list 50-100K LESS than they expect to get.

Obnoxious and annoying, and ubiquitous.

Rental Watch
Thank you. Being cash, not much can go wrong. We’ll be happy in this toe-tag home.

One owner since 1980’s, paid off=title issues, zlich!

Rental,

because it is not about the soundest financial decision, it is about How-much-a-month.

I hear ya. The question of interest (rent on the money) vs. principal (real debt reduction) came up as I’m in the process of refinancing.

I haven’t taken any cash out, but am still finding that the way amortization schedules work, even though what I’m paying in interest has dropped 27% since I bought the house, my payment has only fallen 15%. The extra money is all going to reduce principal faster.

It is tempting to look at PITI vs. what my rent would be for the same place, but P is now such a large amount of the payment (about a third of each payment to start), that analysis doesn’t seem to make sense anymore.

Unless of course, you are howmuchamonthing it.

Question, why don’t people look just at MITI as compared to rents (Maintenance, Interest, Taxes and Insurance)?

AWESOME POINT, Rental Watch… Why haven’t I ever thought to put it in those terms??

How does your soon to be PITI compare to rents in SF?
Cheaper.
PITI will be $2100 month for a SFH with large yard. Similar homes in the neighborhood go for $2500 and up.

There you go to the person who keeps calling people “pimps” and “liars”.

None of us has all the answers and neither do you.

Not necessarily, there are unintended consequences. I wonder how much the food and energy increases are a result of operation borrow/print. Not just from the inflation factor, but from the money being injected to Wall Street which is always chasing returns, driving up various markets in food and energy.

People are seeing price increases. Call it “Pink Ponies”, “inflation”, “American Recovery” or whatever, the effect on the individual is the same. Stagnant or dropping real wages plus price increases doesn’t make happy campers.

I was already priced out before the QE3 announcement, and now am even more priced out. So I guess my plan is ‘rent till I drop, and hope for the best.’

Renting won’t work here because rents will move up with general inflation, which is exactly what the Fed’s policy is creating.

Hope so… that is what I was betting on when I chose to be in thrall to a bank rather than a LL.

“……rent til I drop……”

I’m swinging by Sears this afternoon. I’ll get you a cardboard box. We can be neighbors.

“Renting won’t work here because rents will move up with general inflation, which is exactly what the Fed’s policy is creating.”

QE won’t inflate the population. You can create artificial demand in housing but isn’t it all still zero sum?

-Those who purchase now are out of the rental market.
-Investors purchase more houses to rent out.

How does this inflate rental costs?

Renting won’t work here because rents will move up with general inflation, which is exactly what the Fed’s policy is creating.

Hope so… that is what I was betting on when I chose to be in thrall to a bank rather than a LL.

Fingers crossed.

I guess it could go either way, and I try not to let it keep me up at night.

but isn’t it all still zero sum

Only if all housing stock is identical, if market forces work instantly, and if everyone can teleport to the office.

Until then, there will be vast differences in quality of housing, location of housing, and games played by banks.

-QE won’t inflate the population. You can create artificial demand in housing but isn’t it all still zero sum?

How does this inflate rental costs?

More money chasing the same amount of goods will drive drive prices up, including rental rates. Then there are government programs like Section 8 and subsidized school loans that tend to put a floor under rental rates [especially in and around Boston]. Lastly, there are fixed costs with rental property like insurance, utilities, maintenance and upkeep, and taxes that go up over time. Those fixed costs invariably get passed into higher rental rates.

It’s not a purely supply/demand function.

Why do you lie so much cabana boy?

The far-right likes to throw a bunch of ignorant crap on the wall hoping some of it sticks with the ignorant. Like this:

Number of hammer and sickles sold under Obama - 1.2 million

Number of hammer and sickles sold under Bush - ZERO

Then they email it to all their friends.

“Then they email it to all their friends.”

I get this crap from my dad.

Obama is using the SSN of someone that was born in France, in 1890.

Obama is using an SSN that was issued in Connecticut, a state he has never lived in.

Obama never went to college.

Obama went to college on a scholarship that is only given to foreign born students.

Both Marchelle and Barack Obama got in trouble with the ABA and had to forfeit their licenses to avoid prosecution. Michelle, the exact year thier first child was born, and Obama the year he won the PotUS.

Obama is a Muslim.

Obama is a devout follower of Reverend Wright.

Blah, blah, blah.

My FIL is as bad or worse… Obama is about to turn the USA over to the UN, banning all guns, prohibiting the use of any fossil fuels, and…

I honestly wonder how much of this BS is so easily believed from an inherent racism.

“Blah, blah, blah”

Sounds like you have a lot of the same relatives/acquaintances as I do.

I think the entire “You’re racist if you vote for a candidate of Race X” is stupid, and that it has never been applied before a black presidential nominee was running raises serious questions about who is really racist.

Given this, I think the issue you raise about sexism is equally . . . distractive.

Do I think you are sexist? I don’t think in those terms. Do I think you are unwise? Absolutely. We have no time for 4-8 years of bad policy. If you really think the policies of the candidate are bad, then voting for her sends the wrong message to your daughters.

IAT

PS–Let’s think of this another way. About 88% of blacks vote for the democratic nominee, white or black. The remaining 12% vote Republican. Now, that 12% are not voting Republican. Is it more reasonable to argue that the 1 out of every 8 blacks who usually vote Republican are racist against whites and are thus switching to vote for a black man, OR, that Romney is so unpalatable to blacks that even black Republicans are rejecting him?

IAT

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1083335/Breakdown-demographics-reveals-black-voters-swept-Obama-White-House.html

I think the answer lies when comparing it to how many black voters voted for McCain.

The article here notes 95%-4%. This seems to imply that a significant portion of that 12% shift is race-related.

I just posted a link (that will take some time to show up), but as a quick aside, I think that when you are talking about 100’s of years of history, it IS pretty important to break down barriers to advancement when the opportunity arises (race, gender, etc.).

Can’t afford 4-8 years of bad policy? We can’t afford 1 day of bad policy. The problem is that even if you vote for a guy who has the right policy, the odds of that policy actually being enacted are shockingly low (Simpson Bowles as the simple example).

Breaking down race/gender barriers, once done, is permanent, and we’ve had VERY few chances to do so when it comes to the person sitting in the Oval Office. I personally would grab that chance.

If there was a reasonable candidate for president who was a woman,

If you were really sexist, you would not have used the word “reasonable.” You would have voted for any old tail just because it’s tail.

3. Voting for a woman just because she’s a woman is an INSULT to women’s intelligence. I’d rather that you vote for a decent male candidate than a lousy female candidate *cough*hack*sarah*wheeze*cough*.

I have daughters. If there was a reasonable candidate for president who was a woman, even if I disagreed with her policies, I would vote for her.

Hmmm, so you’re definitely saying I should vote for Romney, then?

lousy female candidate *cough*hack*sarah*wheeze*cough*.

Oh, please. If Sarah had a (D) after her name, she would be the best thing ever happened to Amerikka. I know how you think…..

“I think the answer lies when comparing it to how many black voters voted for McCain. The article here notes 95%-4%. This seems to imply that a significant portion of that 12% shift is race-related.”

This is from the Chicago Tribune. Titled, “Black Support for Obama”. Citing Pew Research Center and Gallup, he was polling 91% with blacks in ‘08, and is polling at 87% today. So this discussion may be moot. But the chart does note that black turnout increased 4.7% in ‘08, while white turnout dropped. The increased black voter turnout might be attributed to Obama’s skin color. Does that make the extra 4.7% racists for getting to the polls?

My boss is a black Republican. But he voted for Obama. But my boss is from Kenya, so who knows what the heck’s going on here?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-graphics-campaign-naacp-gx,0,2062007.graphic

He must be an uncle of Obama!! -

“Oh, please. If Sarah had a (D) after her name, she would be the best thing ever happened to Amerikka. I know how you think…..”

Sorry. Sarah is not well informed and seems to have no inclination to become so. There are a lot of better qualified women politicians, both Republican and Democrat. Condaleeza Rice would have been a much better choice, but I think she has said she is not interested in running for office.

If you ask whether the extra 4.7 percentage point black turnout were racists, why do you not ask whether white turnout falling occurred because whites were demoralized by McCain but unwilling to vote for a black man? In short, why not ask whether they were racists?

Again, a double standard.

IAT

“If you ask whether the extra 4.7 percentage point black turnout were racists, why do you not ask whether white turnout falling occurred because whites were demoralized by McCain but unwilling to vote for a black man? In short, why not ask whether they were racists?”

Because the topic at hand is the apparent racism of blacks. But I suppose it couldn’t hurt to ask why white voter turnout dropped 1.1% in ‘08.

Is somebody now claiming that 4.7% of the African-American population is racist? That’s really not earth-shattering news. I would bet that at least 10% of the people of every race in this country is racist.

Estimates: 1.1% of about 80 million is about 8.8 million. 4.7% of about 10 million is 470,000. Yeah, I think if someone wants to claim the 4.7 percentage point increase in black turnout was racist, they should apply the same standard and treat the nearly 20 times larger number of whites who decided NOT to vote in the same election as ALSO racist.

IAT

Of which the coastal elitist snobbery is the worst.

Realtors pimp snobbery frequently.

You’re quite correct though. Coastal snobbery is vomit inducing. Some of the worst of it is in new england. There are times I want to grab one of these sneaker-wearing, Vulva driving fems right by the hair with both hands and swing them in a circle and let go.

Do you expect presidents to pronounce on every crime occurring in the U.S.? Or is this something you only expect of black presidents?

Just askin’

IAT

IAT…..gangland killings black on black crime just weeks after from trayvon and not a peep….

Thats telling me whos side he’s on..

I am.

BTW, Florida has neither Subaru nor COEXIST stickers. This is a good and bad thing.

To repeat myself again: “Buy the rumor, sell the news.”

Oil plunges $5 in rapid, high-volume selling
Related News
CME Group says no technical issues in crude oil sell-off
3:15pm EDT
ICE declines comment on rapid Brent crude oil crash
3:15pm EDT
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK | Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:15pm EDT

(Reuters) - Oil prices plunged more than $5 in a few minutes on Monday afternoon as volumes spiked in a rapid selloff, sending Brent crude crashing through technical support as markets sought an explanation for the plunge.

Brent sank from $115.20 a barrel at 1:52 p.m. EDT to $111.60 three minutes later as trading volumes - which had been muted by the Rosh Hashanah holiday - shot up.

Ten thousand lots traded in one minute during the drop, up from 152 lots the minute before prices plummeted. Brent crashed through the 200-day moving average before beginning to recover.

U.S. crude also dropped, but not as deeply as Brent.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, but traders said it could have resulted from a problem with a computer trading program.

The market has also been watching for any move to release crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which government officials have said was an option to ease the pain of high oil prices on consumers.

“I’ve been doing this for 14 years and that’s the fastest move I’ve ever seen,” said John Gretzinger, energy risk manager at INTL-FCStone in Kansas City.

“I think it was too fast to be anything but HFT (high-frequency trading) or other algos. We just don’t know right now, but that’s my gut feeling.”
…

“I think it was too fast to be anything but HFT (high-frequency trading) or other algos. We just don’t know right now, but that’s my gut feeling.”

How must it feel to lose everything faster than the blink of an eye due to “HFT or other algos?” Scam market.

Algos… LOL! When it’s up, it’s, you know, awesomeness and other magical wonders, but when it’s down, it’s… well, dark magic or something.

Who are we kidding?

” But as Buchanan points out, both parties set things up so almost half don’t pay income tax.”

And more than half of those households that don’t pay taxes have a head of household under 25 or over 60.

AND… the Republicans don’t see a direct link between free trade off-shoring jobs, and more people on government assistance?

How about all that government assistance being spent into the economy and ending up on a corporation’s balance sheet, eventually ending up in the hands of the 0.1%?

I know better than to ask if they realize that all that “government debt” is really just money creation.

I don’t think Romney said what Buchanan said. Actually, Romney said:

There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax. . . . [M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.

IAT

Deadbeats for Ohbahhmah.