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@spook: regarding your excellent post on the ghetto and racism. i’d like to take what you said further.. and in a later post to combo you claimed you didn’t know what to do about it (ghetto/racism).. i believe i do. i’ll explain.
If Im told I must tolerate homosexuals because they were “born that way” and their preference for men is natural… why can’t a white person who prefers white people use the same “born that way and its natural…” logic to get tolerance for their position?
indeed, why can’t anyone of any race, prefer any race. as you astutely pointed out, preferences do no harm.
White people do many great and vast things. When it comes to solving problems, they have proven themselves qualified.
yes, whites have done great things.. but not because they are white. whites in the USA just had the luck to be born in a country that valued freedom along with the protection of personal and property rights. one has to wonder why countries like norway and finland haven’t done much in the way of great things. after all, they have many white people too.
the US government was formed to protect personal and property rights, freedom and its citizens. any race would have thrived with such a system. we can be grateful that the founders loved freedom, and feared tyranny. that their system of government followed and enhanced natural law, is what made it seem that whites did great and vast things. sure there was progress before the USA. but it was very slow. the USA brought an explosion of progress. freedom brought an explosion of progress. our standard of living rose at a pace that has never been seen in written history.
i had an argument with a racist that fancied himself a conservative. he argued that whites had a higher IQ than blacks or hispanics. he claimed it was the higher IQ of whites that allowed them to do great things. i asked him why asians didn’t do greater things than whites, since they had higher IQs than whites. he admitted that he didn’t know.
he wanted the government to round up other races and send them back to their ancestor’s home lands. i told him that he was asking for big powerful government. i told him there were two major reasons he couldn’t be a conservative. 1) he wanted big government even though he claimed he wanted small constitutional government. 2) he didn’t believe in freedom. to believe in freedom, one has to believe in freedom for everyone. in all the blogs i’ve been on, he’s the only one i’ve seen that i’d consider to be a racist, that claimed to be a conservative. he was a hypocrite, and he couldn’t see it.
But the key is, they can’t do it if they are being mistreated on the basis of lacking color.
they can’t do it if they are being mistreated based on anything. no one can do great things if they are being mistreated for any reason.
You put anybody in a ghetto and their constructive ability will be replaced with a focus on survival; at the expense of all others around them (including the Earth).
very true.
Also, (this is my own opinion) Racism in the form of white supremacy is evidence of at least some form of integrity. Im constantly annoyed that people I meet have no concrete foundation, there is no solid core that you can depend on to build a relationship with them… part time Muslim, kinda sorta maybe feminist, sometime if Im being paid enough conservative…
But a racist, they are usually solid (about their racism) and can’t be bribed or bought off.
but they are still wrong. racists can’t be brought off because racism is out of fear. all anger and hate begins in fear, in every instance.
i also have to admire Dio’s courage and honesty to admit to being a racist. he may be a racist, but what he wrote doesn’t make him one. he believes he’s a racist, but he most likely just misunderstands what racism is. like you said, not liking cats doesn’t mean that you’ll mistreat them.
let’s define racism. racism is always manifested in some kind of action. if racism is in someone, but never acted on, one can never know if that person is a racist. racism is action for or against another, based on race. shortened, racism is action based on race. Dio’s comments didn’t indicate he would do anything for or against anyone based on their race, he just prefers one race over others.
spook, it’s not the fault of blacks that so many are in dire straights, in this country. the fault lies with racist government programs (action based on race) that were well intentioned, but disastrous. blacks could no more withstand such racist policies than any other race could. dependency often brings immorality with it. accepted standard morality should have rejected these programs outright. but the well intentioned people won out. principles and morality were sacrificed in hopes that government could bring equality. it couldn’t. it backfired as so many knew it would. government brought inequality instead. but there just wasn’t enough of those who knew it was bad, to be able to stop it.
it should be clear what to do about racism.
racism dies in freedom. people think if you’re free, that you’re free to be a racist. but racism has a price in freedom, that often doesn’t get paid in tyranny. in freedom, being a racist isn’t free. racism is punished by the conscience decent people who live in freedom. and racism is also punished by the free market. all races can flourish and thrive in a country that embraces freedom, and free market capitalism. preferences don’t matter. wrong action matters, and all action that’s based on race is wrong. it’s immoral.
OK, thats all fine and well TJ. But if black people don’t care about black people, should we blame white people?
or look in the mirror?
White people are not “magical” or “Gods…” they gotta put in work, I watch them. Thats what they do.
Black people USED to be like that. How do I know?
Because there was a time when we could not blame white people because white people did not exist.
So how did we exist then?
“White people are not ‘magical’ or ‘Gods …” They gotta put in work, I watch them. That’s what they do.”
That’s what they do? Lol. You need to to get out a bit more and meet more white people - meet some of the white people I know (and get to work with).
Lol. I love this blog.
OK, my bad Combo.
Replace “white people” with “white supremacists”
Exactly spook…black people almost never dropped out of my HS but being in Southern CT its was a sign of a loser, a failure if you did.
Black people USED to be like that. How do I know?
OK, thats all fine and well TJ. But if black people don’t care about black people, should we blame white people?
or look in the mirror?
anyone that ‘cares’ about another race, is a racist. no one should care about any race. even their own. if one cares about any race, then one should indeed look in the mirror.
White people are not “magical” or “Gods…” they gotta put in work, I watch them. Thats what they do.
yes they do, but that’s not the point. did you know in the 40s blacks had the same unemployment rate as whites? after the racist government programs, that began to change.
Black people USED to be like that.
true.
Because there was a time when we could not blame white people because white people did not exist.
yes, race is a false but convenient excuse.
So how did we exist then?
the same way every other thing on the planet has existed. work.
So how did we exist then?
the same way every other thing on the planet has existed. work.
That’s where it gets a bit stickier. In a hunter/gatherer society where all resources are natural and everyone has just as much claim on them as everyone else, it’s simple. Everyone works the same way to get what they need by harvesting the natural resources. And it doesn’t matter how anyone else feels about you as long as they don’t attack you.
But in a modern society where all the resources are already claimed and you have to talk someone else into giving you a slice in return for your labor, now how they feel about you suddenly becomes very important.
But in a modern society where all the resources are already claimed and you have to talk someone else into giving you a slice in return for your labor, now how they feel about you suddenly becomes very important.
a society in which resources can be claimed, is tyrannical in nature. in a free society, resources that are produced are earned. oil, food and shelter are all earned, and claims are only made on the right to look for and if found, produce the resource. only kings, tyrants and dictators claim resources. in a free society, if you earn something you own it, you don’t claim it.
Comment by tj
2012-10-11 10:00:04
a society in which resources can be claimed, is tyrannical in nature. in a free society, resources that are produced are earned. oil, food and shelter are all earned, and claims are only made on the right to look for and if found, produce the resource. only kings, tyrants and dictators claim resources. in a free society, if you earn something you own it, you don’t claim it.
—————————————————-
But what happens if colored people ARE the resource?
Can you really own anything if someone else owns your mind?
But what happens if colored people ARE the resource?
if you are talking about slavery, forced labor is very inefficient. some have calculated that forced labor is only 10% as efficient as paid labor. the reasons for that are many. but it boils down to slavery dying out in a free market system.
Can you really own anything if someone else owns your mind?
no one can own your mind if you stand on principle.
a society in which resources can be claimed
I think he’s talking about natural resources: land, water, etc. They are all owned by someone or by the government.
oil, food and shelter are all earned, and claims are only made on the right to look for and if found, produce the resource. only kings, tyrants and dictators claim resources. in a free society, if you earn something you own it, you don’t claim it.
I’m not quite following you. Are you saying the land is everyone’s and we should all be free to live off the land, or are you saying that the people who already own the land (including the government) should have full control over that land and somehow that will trickle down to non-owners in a way that allows them to support themselves?
<Are you saying the land is everyone’s
definitely not. that’s ‘tragedy of the commons’ territory.
and we should all be free to live off the land.
land is never free. but if you buy it, you should be able to live on it as you see fit.
or are you saying that the people who already own the land (including the government) should have full control over that land and somehow that will trickle down to non-owners in a way that allows them to support themselves?
first, it is a terrible mistake to allow government to own land or anything else. people that own land should have full control of it as long as they don’t infringe on their neighbors with pollution, noise etc. owning property doesn’t give one the right to be violent.
“first, it is a terrible mistake to allow government to own land or anything else.”
No public parks. If you want to enjoy nature, you better be able to afford it.
No military bases. I wonder how long before some group of people that favors common ownership would violently take over your land.
Your ideal society is based on ideal behavior.
OK, so how does a non-landowner begin to support themself when dropped into a system where all resources are already owned by someone else? They can only sell their labor, right?
slavery, forced labor is very inefficient…forced labor is only 10% as efficient as paid labor. ….it boils down to slavery dying out in a free market system.
Wrong. They thought slavery would die out for economic reasons after the abolition of the slave trade in 1808 but the number of slaves doubled to 2 million by 1830 and 4 million by 1860. After the invention of the cotton gin, slavery was even more wildly profitable.
In many occupations, slavery could be the natural end result of totally “free-markets” - markets without any laws, rules and regulations. Think about it. People are paid to provide for themselves food, shelter, healthcare, things, entertainment, travel etc. That’s what our labor and our pay provides.
In slavery, the slave owners can provide MUCH inferior food, shelter, healthcare, things, entertainment, travel etc. Thus lowering his costs from having to pay workers.
I think the argument that free-markets would have made slavery die-out in America is a deflection on the horrors of Slavery and the South’s bringing on the Civil War. It’s like they are trying to convince us that “The North’s “War of Aggression” was uncalled for because slavery was not profitable and would have died out anyway”. Would it have? I think eventually yes but NOT from the forces of the free-market. Heck, there is slavery even today in some countries that practice “free-markets” in this area.
OK, so how does a non-landowner begin to support themself when dropped into a system where all resources are already owned by someone else?
no one comes into this world owning anything, unless they inherited it.
non-land owners rent until they can save enough to own.
They can only sell their labor, right?
correct. and as you gains skills your labor becomes worth more. you can save for a down payment or you can save enough to buy outright.
Heck, there is slavery even today in some countries that practice “free-markets” in this area.
slavery would exist as long some people believe that slavery gives them an advantage (something for nothing). when the truth of it is seen, it would be dropped like a hot potato.
No public parks. If you want to enjoy nature, you better be able to afford it.
you don’t need parks to enjoy nature. your thinking is entitlement based.
No military bases.
the land for military bases can be leased. it should be leased.
I wonder how long before some group of people that favors common ownership would violently take over your land.
it would never happen in a country whose government had responsibility to protect property, rights and citizens from all enemies.
you seem to mistakenly think i’m for no government.
In many occupations, slavery could be the natural end result of totally “free-markets” - markets without any laws, rules and regulations.
And in a pure democracy what’s to stop 50.1% from voting to enslave 49.9%?
They can only sell their labor, right?
correct. and as you gains skills your labor becomes worth more. you can save for a down payment or you can save enough to buy outright.
But this is where racism starts to matter. If you need to sell your labor because you can no longer simply live off the land, now your relationship to those who you must sell to matters. If none of them want to hire you, you’re screwed. And yes, we can say that they’d be stupid not to hire you if you are the best person for the job and maybe someday they’ll go out of business due to their poor decisions, in the meantime you starve if they’re racist.
In your earlier statements it seemed like you were saying as long as they were willing to work, they should be fine. I’m saying it’s not that simple. They may not be fine.
“you don’t need parks to enjoy nature. your thinking is entitlement based.”
If you can’t afford to pay to get in the zoo, you can’t see the animals. If you can’t afford to pay to get on the beach, you don’t get to enjoy it. Would Central Park exist? No access = no enjoyment.
Are you advocating for spaces that nobody owns? I am thinking along the lines of laws that say that below high tide line is not owned by the property owner whose land is above high tide line.
“the land for military bases can be leased. it should be leased.”
Will this be cheaper than owning the land? What happens when the owners decide not to renew the lease? Are they really free to do so?
But this is where racism starts to matter. If you need to sell your labor because you can no longer simply live off the land, now your relationship to those who you must sell to matters.
if government makes laws against businesses firing a certain race, if you were a businessman, would you hire someone of that race? consider that the government has made it easy for someone of that race to sue you!
jackie robinson was hired because the owner of the team wanted to win. he broke the race barrier with the help of the free market.
if someone of any race gives you a chance to make a profit, you’ll hire that person unless government has made that person a liability. even if you don’t like a certain race, the free market will force you to hire the best option, unless government poisons the market.
If none of them want to hire you, you’re screwed.
if you’re the best qualified, and none of them want to hire you, they’re screwed. racism dies in free markets.
And yes, we can say that they’d be stupid not to hire you if you are the best person for the job and maybe someday they’ll go out of business due to their poor decisions, in the meantime you starve if they’re racist.
they aren’t the whole world. there are always plenty of people that aren’t racists. and there are also plenty of people who are racists that will hire you anyway, if you can make them a profit.
Are you advocating for spaces that nobody owns?
no, i’m advocating the right for anyone to buy and own any property that they can afford and want to buy.
Will this be cheaper than owning the land? What happens when the owners decide not to renew the lease? Are they really free to do so?
both the government and land owner have to negotiate wisely. they must be bound by the terms of the lease. the land owner could lease the land in perpetuity if he chose. the government may wish to only use the land short term. the needs of both can be met.
if you’re the best qualified, and none of them want to hire you, they’re screwed. racism dies in free markets.
In theory…if you allow time to go to infinity. In reality, in our lifetime…not so much. I think someone else covered that above.
there are always plenty of people that aren’t racists. and there are also plenty of people who are racists that will hire you anyway, if you can make them a profit.
Once again…in theory. But if you have no resources you may not be able to find them (and they, you) before you starve.
Bottom line: Just being willing to work is necessary but not sufficient when living off the land isn’t an option.
“you don’t need parks to enjoy nature. your thinking is entitlement based.” 1907, Governor Henry Buchtel addressing Republican President Theodore Roosevelt
jackie robinson was hired because the owner of the team wanted to win. he broke the race barrier with the help of the free market.
And the “free-market” only took about 100 years to do it too!
Now that puts the “invisible” in “the invisible hand”.
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2012-10-11 11:42:03
It’s like they are trying to convince us that “The North’s “War of Aggression” was uncalled for because slavery was not profitable and would have died out anyway”.
————————-
Died out?
Questionable.
But it would have become even more peculiar.
Thats why I sometimes call it:
“The War to make Black People Need Money”
And the “free-market” only took about 100 years to do it too!
it would have taken much less time if government hadn’t institutionalized racism in the first place. you can’t fight city hall.
it would have taken much less time if government hadn’t institutionalized racism in the first place. you can’t fight city hall.
Government institutionalized racism because people were racist first.
Government institutionalized racism because people were racist first.
yes, racism has probably been here longer than slavery. if you read what lincoln said, you’ll see that he was a racist also. we have the ability to rise above all that, if we are free. we can leave racism behind.
“i had an argument with a racist that fancied himself a conservative. he argued that whites had a higher IQ than blacks or hispanics. he claimed it was the higher IQ of whites that allowed them to do great things. i asked him why asians didn’t do greater things than whites, since they had higher IQs than whites. he admitted that he didn’t know.”
Because, (speaking in VERY general terms) the education system in Asian countries spends most of it’s time teaching “conformity” rather than “innovation”. There have been some studies that show that Asian people are dramatically higher in “rule following” than any other races. It’s ingrained in their culture; particularly for those born in other countries, but also for those born to traditional Asian parents here in the US. This is changing though, and Asians are starting to do “greater things” than whites in many fields of study (in particular, those that are very IQ dependent).
“spook, it’s not the fault of blacks that so many are in dire straights, in this country. the fault lies with racist government programs (action based on race) that were well intentioned, but disastrous. blacks could no more withstand such racist policies than any other race could. ”
You mean like Jews, perhaps the most maligned and hated race on the planet? This argument doesn’t hold water, being a “disadvantaged” race does provide additional hurdles to greatness, but it’s not insurmountable, it’s just harder than it is for other races. Jews, despite their status in the world, have been some of the most innovate people the world has seen over the past few hundred years. This is, IMHO, a mix of IQ and culture, the Jewish culture puts a very high value on education, and also, is typically not so rigid as to break the innovate spirit in their younger generations (they encourage free thinking).
Take a peek at “The Bell Curve” if you’d like to get very in depth with the numbers… Don’t expect to like the results (they point to some terribly un-American conclusions), but, doesn’t mean it’s not worth a read. I found it fascinating; it was shocking how different IQs, even by just a few points, can result in such dramatic differences later in life. IQ, more than anything else, is probably the number with best defines a person, it’s shown it’s predictive value in study after study. Interestingly, employers are not permitted to screen by IQ, so they use crude measures that “approximate IQ” based on some other criteria (like completion of college; or post-graduate work, both of which indicate a IQ at least 1SD from the mean). One could argue that it would be better to allow employers to screen for IQ rather than make people sit through 4 years of college to prove they have an IQ >115 or so. Not sure I would agree with that, but it’s very interesting how dramatic the differences are between a 120 IQ and an 80IQ.
The other good read is “Coming Apart” by one of the Bell curve authors. Here the author turns away from racial differences and examines, in more depth (just for whites, so less controversy around this book) the difference that intelligence makes. Very interesting.
http://www.sq.4mg.com/IQgap.htm
the IQ arguement is the lazy mans excuse for black pathology. It reminds me of the white guys who score 1500 on the SAT but can’t get laid because they don’t understand females.
In both cases the fault is the same; trying to make something irational RATIONAL, before engaging in compensatory behavior.
I alway wonder, what was John Lennon’s IQ? Matter of fact, what was the IQ of each member of the Beatles?
Does it matter?
When it comes to the “write a song section” of the IQ test, how much should that count for?
In both racism and “lack of p—yism”, the biggest problem is getting the “victims” to emotionally step outside of their mistreatment and then produce a compensatory code of speech and action to make up for whats missing.
How do you get a person to assign a high enough value to “whats missing” if they have never experienced it?
Is that IQ?
How do you get a person to assign a high enough value to “whats missing” if they have never experienced it?
I have no idea what you’re talking about above. Bottom line, our society values intelligence (there are many kinds, not just as measured by IQ) and good work ethics. Every black I have met in business and technology (and there haven’t been many) has been very similar to me in both work ethic and intelligence. Every ghetto black I have met has been lazy (no job, limited education) and ignorant in speech, mannerisms, dress, and the basic understanding of the greater society around them, not just their ghetto locale.
Are there whites, latinos and asians who fall in the same category? Yes, and I dislike them all. What most would call racism, I call socioeconomic discrimination. I prefer to be around people with similar levels of intelligence, similar values and similar economic standing, whether they be white, asian, black or latino.
How do you get a person to assign a high enough value to “whats missing” if they have never experienced it?
__
I have no idea what you’re talking about above.
Exactly.
“That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.”
Comment by Northeastener
2012-10-11 08:14:27
How do you get a person to assign a high enough value to “whats missing” if they have never experienced it?
I have no idea what you’re talking about above.
———————
Northeastener, what are black people missing?
(and before you answer, don’t forget theres one in the white house)
> Every ghetto black I have met has been lazy (no job,
> limited education) and ignorant in speech, mannerisms,
> dress, and the basic understanding of the greater
> society around them, not just their ghetto locale.
So what’s the cause and effect relationship? Are they in the ghetto because of this reduced level of awareness, motivation, and understanding?
Or, is it their situation (being in the Ghetto) which leads to these effects on their education level and work ethic?
I would hypothesize it to be the latter. After a generation or two, I also think you end up with a significant, re-enforcing, feedback loop; reducing the probability that an individual will find their way out of this situation.
I would hypothesize it to be the latter. After a generation or two, I also think you end up with a significant, re-enforcing, feedback loop;
This is the basis for environment vs. genetics in terms of success in life. It is absolutely a combination of the two, with environment being an immediate influence and heredity being a longer-term influence.
But environment goes beyond just being in a poor economic area. Most immigrant areas of this country were poor at one point, yet immigrants of all types were able to eventually move into higher socioeconomic standing after a few generations. What culture does the black and latino ghetto embrace? Tupac, thugs and gangstas… see how far that get’s you in life. There is a reason blacks are over-represented in US prisons and it goes directly to the “street” culture.
Northeastener, what are black people missing?
they are missing non-racism. they are missing a truly free country. it’s not so much what they’re missing as what they’re getting. they’re getting racist government programs that makes them dependent. implement the US constitution in africa (and follow it), and africans would begin to do great and vast things also.
It’s the MUSIC people…that awful swearing ghetto rap music….we are Katrina flooded with it daily….everybody and their mother sends me links to their music and lo and behold maybe 1% speak English
In fact the most discriminated musicians are Black people who are not ghetto…just find a commercial station that plays soul or blues from 2012.
I’ll see her saturday if my tentative gig falls through
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P4OKxms8hc
Charles Murray’s faulty conclusions are myriad and well-discussed, the most notable embodied in hypothetical IQ questions like:
What is heavier: a tennis ball, a golf ball or a racket ball?
Which word doesn’t fit: chitlins, collards, fatback?
One suspects that IQ tests conducted entirely within a similar socio-economic sampling (not incoming college freshmen or military recruits) would demonstrate similar IQ’s. Moreover, Murray’s conclusions were based largely upon pre-internet population samples.
That said, “race” is an increasingly quaint conceit among young Americans and will be interbred out of relevance in another generation or two. Socio-economic status, however, is a glaring marker of intellectual potential.
Are there whites, latinos and asians who fall in the same category? Yes, and I dislike them all. What most would call racism, I call socioeconomic discrimination
And the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider as we speak.
Yes, it’s a feedback loop. But for blacks the origin of that loop goes back to the fact that African Americans were involuntary immigrants (slaves).
Black Africans and West Indians who immigrate to the US do very well, in terms of education and economics.
“There is a reason blacks are over-represented in US prisons and it goes directly to the “street” culture.”
See the discussion yesterday about the stop and frisk laws in NYC. 87% of stop and frisks are young black or Hispanic men. A young black male is “suspicious”, so he gets stopped frequently, occasionally twice in a few blocks. The police try to goad him into violent behavior so they can justify the stop and make their arrest numbers.
If young white males are as likely to commit crimes (and I am not saying they are or aren’t) as young black males, and blacks are stopped more frequently than whites, then young black males will become overrepresented in the prison population. It is a self-reinforcing stereotype.
Street culture may contribute to crime, but I haven’t seen any studies that support that conclusion.
> What culture does the black and latino ghetto
> embrace? Tupac, thugs and gangstas… see how far
> that get’s you in life. There is a reason blacks are
> over-represented in US prisons and it goes directly
> to the “street” culture.
Is there a difference between prejudice against a race, and prejudice against a culture (say the black “street” culture)?
I would say “yes”. For example, I wouldn’t call it unreasonable to pre-judge someones work ethic, based on their affiliation and identification with such a culture; something you might quickly determine via dress and speech pattern.
But, concluding that somebody adheres to the norm of that culture, simply because of their race, is (I think, by definition) racism. Ascribing behavioral traits to an individual, based on race (not culture) goes against the basic principles of our “all men are created equal” society… even if, statistically in your locale, you might be making a fairly safe guess.
the IQ arguement is the lazy mans excuse for black pathology. It reminds me of the white guys who score 1500 on the SAT but can’t get laid because they don’t understand females.
In both cases the fault is the same; trying to make something irational RATIONAL, before engaging in compensatory behavior.
[snip]
How do you get a person to assign a high enough value to “whats missing” if they have never experienced it?
Is that IQ?
Good stuff. I think it would fit it with the theory of multiple types of IQ.
“How do you get a person to assign a high enough value to “whats missing” if they have never experienced it?”
If you are talking about intelligence, I’m sure we’ve all met someone who’s “quite a bit” more intelligent that we personally are. It doesn’t take me long to realize that someone is working on a “higher plane” than I am, and to show the due deference to that person’s opinion and ideas.
I had a friend in high school, who, to date, is the brightest person I have ever met. His abilities were so far beyond mine that it was almost beyond comprehension. I would read a book that he had already read and talk to him about it; he could quote passages from the same page I was reading even if he last read the book years ago. It was so amazing, I’ll never forget it.
Both of my parents are PhDs. When we were about 14 years old, he came over to my house for the first time and met my parents. They told me years later; “The first time we met Jason we could tell he was “toying” with us, trying to see if we could keep up”. They both taught college and spent a lot of time in academic circles, so people with very high intelligence were folks they dealt with all the time. Jason was just on another level.
He works as a cashier at a grocery store now. Talk about wasting a gift.
He works as a cashier at a grocery store now. Talk about wasting a gift.
Did he choose that intentionally to avoid the stupidity of the “real world”, or is he missing some key ability needed to work in an environment that would make full use of his intelligence?
is he missing some key ability needed to work in an environment that would make full use of his intelligence?
The majority of the few super-duper “smart” I’ve met were missing that.
He works as a cashier at a grocery store now. Talk about wasting a gift.
May be he was smart enough to realize that the whole thing is nothing but a rat race and took the easier route.
“is he missing some key ability needed to work in an environment that would make full use of his intelligence?”
He’s missing the ability to relate effectively to “normal” people. However, there are lots of folks like that who all work together, we call them theoretical physicists.
I think he would view his intelligence as a liability rather than an asset. He has no tolerance for stupidity, and, if you mingle in society, you’re going to be confronted by almost nothing but stupidity on a regular basis.
I think he would view his intelligence as a liability rather than an asset. He has no tolerance for stupidity, and, if you mingle in society, you’re going to be confronted by almost nothing but stupidity on a regular basis.
So he IS missing a key ability. Sounds like he needs to find something that interests him and work by himself in the basement after his cashier shifts.
if you mingle in society, you’re going to be confronted by almost nothing but stupidity on a regular basis.
And in some lands more than others…………………….
“he needs to find something that interests him and work by himself in the basement….” 1977, overheard conversation between two of Ted Kaczynski’s friends
“he needs to find something that interests him and work by himself in the basement….” 1977, overheard conversation between two of Ted Kaczynski’s friends
:-). And also many people who have changed the world in positive ways even though they couldn’t deal with society.
many people who have changed the world in positive ways even though they couldn’t deal with society.
True Dat.
Intelligence has never directly translated to initiative or monetary success. Why this comes as a surprise to some is a mystery to me. One of the smartest guys in my high school works as a baggage clerk for an airlines. He had scholarship offers from the top colleges in the country. I also know wealthy business owners who never finished high school and couldn’t spell algebra on a bet.
“Because, (speaking in VERY general terms) the education system in Asian countries spends most of it’s time teaching “conformity” rather than “innovation”.”
This is exactly correct.
One thing that everyone seems to forget about the United States is not its racism or lack thereof.
Rather, it’s the roots from which many of those who built this country came.
Not skin color or cultural roots.
Idea roots.
A vast proportion of Americans came here because of what the country represented at ne time (freedom, innovation, the place to “take chances” and strike out on one’s own). Most people came to the United States on their own free will.
People brave enough to take such chances carry with them an orientation to life that many who stayed behind did not have. Many came to the United States without a dime to their name.
Those that stayed behind influenced the direction their government would take, and the extent to which tradition held sway over innovation.
That the United States has been highly innovative is no fluke; our constitutional form of government attracted such people.
Things have changed here.
No longer is innovation highly regarded - towing the line is. Political correctness, for example, is anti-innovative.
So is the thousands of new, onerous regulations put on the books at every level of government.
So is the IRS.
So is the numerous cameras on every street corner.
So is the concept of HOAs.
And so on.
A great many people in the U.S. no longer feel as free as they used to. Consequently, they become increasingly lazy, selfish and deceptive.
Because, (speaking in VERY general terms) the education system in Asian countries spends most of it’s time teaching “conformity” rather than “innovation”.
Do you think our education system teaches innovation? I don’t know about now, but in Wyoming in the 70s and 80s I can report that conformity was taught much more than innovation. I suspect that it’s more about what our culture allows and encourages AFTER you get out of the education system that makes us innovative than anything learned while in the education system.
You mean like Jews, perhaps the most maligned and hated race on the planet? This argument doesn’t hold water, being a “disadvantaged” race does provide additional hurdles to greatness, but it’s not insurmountable, it’s just harder than it is for other races. Jews, despite their status in the world, have been some of the most innovate people the world has seen over the past few hundred years.
and where are the racist government programs that bring dependency to to jews? those are the problem, not being ‘disadvantaged’ (whatever you mean by being disadvantaged).
Here the author turns away from racial differences and examines, in more depth (just for whites, so less controversy around this book) the difference that intelligence makes.
my argument isn’t that IQ makes no difference. my argument is that any race can do great things with a constitution like ours, that gets followed to the letter.
and you say that asians have taught conformity.. is conformity freedom?
“my argument isn’t that IQ makes no difference. my argument is that any race can do great things with a constitution like ours, that gets followed to the letter.
and you say that asians have taught conformity.. is conformity freedom?”
I’d never argue against that thesis, I’d just say that looking at outliers doesn’t tell the whole story as to how our country/world works. There are white people in the ghetto and a black man in the white house. Does that mean that whites are the disadvantaged race? Of course not…
Conformity is not freedom, that’s for sure. But freedom and intelligence aren’t intrinsically related.
Conformity is not freedom, that’s for sure.
Conformity can bestow some freedoms as well as hinder some.
Conformity can bestow freedom from ridicule, freedom from poverty, freedom from injury, addiction, scorn, people’s jealousy, hate etc etc.
But freedom and intelligence aren’t intrinsically related.
that has been my point. but freedom and doing great things are related.
and where are the racist government programs that bring dependency to to jews? those are the problem, not being ‘disadvantaged’ (whatever you mean by being disadvantaged).
Have you SERIOUSLY never heard of Israel? We helped create and maintain an entire nation dependent on military and monetary welfare that cannot survive without it. Now, whether or not they will ever be able to make it ‘off the dole’ is up to debate, but it sure hasn’t seemed like it over the last 60+ years.
“it was shocking how different IQs, even by just a few points, can result in such dramatic differences later in life. IQ, more than anything else, is probably the number with best defines a person, it’s shown it’s predictive value in study after study.”
I would say the jury is still out on this one.
This American Life took a look at education, IQ, and life outcomes a couple of weeks ago. The conclusion was that non-cognitive skills, like persistence and self control, have a greater influence on life outcome than IQ.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/474/back-to-school
And then there is the influence of maternal nutrition, pre-natal care, and infant and child nutrition on IQ.
For the record, The Bell Curve has been thoroughly refuted by better scientific minds than mine. See Stephen Jay Gould for starters.
There are NO genetic differences in “IQ” among the races.
So the IQ numbers for subsahara african countries which can easily be found are just made up? PC people are no different than Fundies about science.
“…So the IQ numbers for subsahara african (sic) countries which can easily be found (sic) are just made up?…”
Yes.
Your lack of intellectual depth is staggering for someone of your education. Here’s a good place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence
Human biodiversity is a fascinating subject. I’m also fascinated with the fact that so many folks believe what they want to believe. What I want to believe is that there are no differences between races. Unfortunately that’s simply not true. There are many differences. For those ready to take the red pill here’s a good place to start:
http://www.humanbiologicaldiversity.com/#Dictionary
Ya’ll wake me up when you get to the part that justifys mistreating people.
zzzzzzzzzzzz
I think Frederick Douglass nailed it when he observed that if you give a person complete power over another person they will eventually mistreat them, no matter how “good” of a person they started out as. I saw it myself in the army. I think it’s always justified as being the mistreated person’s fault for making them do it. But the root of the problem starts with that power differential that corrupts everything it touches.
Stephen Jay Gould’s Mismeasure of Man is an academic fraud. Here’s Arthur Jensen’s refutation of it:
http://www.debunker.com/texts/jensen.html
observation:
i am a CPA with over 20 years of experience and i can count on one hand the number of black male CPAs i have met. i have met many black females.
not sure what that’s all about.
Because debits and credits are Racist®?
Our Intermediate Accounting I class started out with about 40 students, by the end of the semester there were less than 20 left, all white and Asian.
I just say ,try going from being a slave not that long ago in America History to the top of the heap . I’m white ,but I can see that it was a unfair race starting from the bottom .
One of the reasons that homeland Africians didn’t thrive as much is the crops in Africa were not as good as the European crops, and yes that can make a difference .If Africians had to spend more time on survival ,than they don’t have as much time to spend on education and all that jazz ,if you go back in history . Europeans started storing their crops and they lasted longer ,while Africians had shorter storage time for their main crops ,so they had to spend more time on immediate survival .
There is usually a reason why some cultures thrived and others didn’t .Opportunity is a big factor and races without opportunity develope systems for survival .
Look at the millions of people in India that live a poor life because they are born into a class that doesn’t allow anything other than their station in life .
Ok so how long are we going to go with that rationale? Spook sounds to me like he wants to move on.
And Africa should be a lot easier place to live than Europe! But maybe that’s the problem.
And Africa should be a lot easier place to live than Europe!
On the contrary, the place in nature where you’re supposed to be, is the place where you will most naturally be kept ‘in check’. Proto-man leaving the rain forests for the savannahs- breaking free from his natural environment- was the beginning of the best thing that ever happened to him, culminating with when he left the tropics and got to the temperate zones, where there were much fewer natural pathogens to cull his numbers.
We’re the original invasive species. And just like all invasive species, we thrive away from our natural environment. (Until AC was invented, of course.)
Wiz, this kind of thought process is counterproductive, to say the least. This isn’t the 1960s. That was 50 years ago.
Black men in the United States have been given the shaft as a result of the 1960s Civil Rights Act and 1970s-era feminism.
The federal government robbed black men in the 1960s by essentially telling them that they couldn’t succeed without the government’s help. They needed help getting jobs and then got placed in government skyscrapers.
10-20 years later, women did the same thing to them.
I don’t say that I have the answers to how to solve racism
and what will solve all these problems ,but people get locked into systems that are difficult to break out of . Like I’m going to be able to study when gun fire is going on in the background.
I’m just saying that I would like people to stop thinking that some races are born to thrive ,while other aren’t born to thrive . In other words ,everybody wants to thrive and what forces prevent natural thriving . Are the forces Politicial systems that steal from the people ,or what .
It’s more complex than just saying it’s time to move on .
Easier said than done .All the unemployed right now would like to move on ,but what is preventing that ?
What I can’t figure out is why so many black people wanted to even come to American from about 1700 to 1808. What was the attraction? The restaurants? The weather?
I mean, most of America was white, and the blacks who immigrated to America had to learn a new language and probably had to work harder than a lot of white people to get their paychecks.
The Italians, Swedes, Czechs, Poles, Germans, French, Russians that came to the U.S. also had to learn a new language.
Why did they do it?
Because of An Idea. Because what they were facing at home was worse.
This was before the United States become Evil, of course.
also had to learn a new language…..Why did they do it?
I have no idea why so many blacks wanted to come to America in the 1700’s and why someone would move to another country and have to learn a new language.
i have no idea why my ancestors chose to come from ireland and scotland…i just try to make the best of it.
Also ,it takes a long time to build generation wealth . You can’t expect Blacks to build generation weath when the Whites had such a head start on them because of the slavery issue .It’s a factor for upward mobility and nobody can be in denial about it .
I’m not saying that supporting a people by a welfare system creates anything but dependant behavior ,but I don’t think that people really naturally want that .People want to be free ,they want to thrive ,they don’t want prejudice against them ,and they don’t want to be held down .How do you explain the lack of thriving in other Countries for instance for vast segments of the population ,such as in India ? You could say a population problem comes into play here in holding down huge segments of the population ,or you could say a Social order comes into play as in class system which does not allow upward mobility .
Interesting Michael ,but when the potatoe crops failed a
lot of your people came here to avoid starving .
I’m just saying that weather and crops and things like that ,or what is the nature of the land you have has bearing on thriving .
The World wasn’t exactly thriving during the
“Little Ice Age “,and the experts say the weather went a long way toward creating all the deaths from the plauge .
Or was it the other way around???
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4755328.stm
“racism dies in freedom. people think if you’re free, that you’re free to be a racist. but racism has a price in freedom, that often doesn’t get paid in tyranny. in freedom, being a racist isn’t free. racism is punished by the conscience decent people who live in freedom. and racism is also punished by the free market. all races can flourish and thrive in a country that embraces freedom, and free market capitalism. preferences don’t matter. wrong action matters, and all action that’s based on race is wrong. it’s immoral.”
This is plain wrong. If a culture is racist, it will drive non-racists to act against their convictions and behave as if they are racist. I recently talked with a business owner who had a business in a small town in the south in the 1950s. He said that if he had allowed blacks in, no whites would have come. And then he would have had no business. In a different state, where the culture was more open, he was happy to have all customers.
But maybe you are talking about a libertarian utopia where people act rationally and there is true freedom to allow market forces to work.
I recently talked with a business owner who had a business in a small town in the south in the 1950s. He said that if he had allowed blacks in, no whites would have come.
i don’t believe him that “no” whites would have come. i’d bet more would come than wouldn’t come. he probably would have got around the same number people with black and whites. he might have even gotten a little more. the real problem would have been the violence from the racists. violence could have easily shut him down. lawlessness hurts everyone because it hurts the economy. they don’t know that they’re actually hurting themselves also.
tj–
Obviously you weren’t alive in the 1950’s South.
As long as we have a race thread going, have y’all tuned into this story?
Sunday, Oct 7, 2012 08:08 AM PDT
Ark. GOPer: Slavery a “blessing in disguise” for black people
Jon Hubbard says slavery may have been a good thing
By Jillian Rayfield
…
Jon Hubbard (R) says slavery may have been a good thing
And the slaves who were “legitimately raped” by their masters never got pregnant because women’s bodies have way to “shut that stuff down” according to another Repub.
Maybe true for some, though not for Thomas Jefferson’s mistress…
Lots of “Occam’s Butterknife” being applied to this race discussion!
From Muggy:
If someone could re-post this in the morning, I’d appreciate it. My theory is the TBTFs have been secretly “nationalized” via being made whole for dead loans. Here’s why…
I get home from work, check the mail…. boomer couple from Illinois rolls up on the abandoned house next to me. We use that driveway for our second car. She asks me, “does someone live here now?”
“Naw, we just use the house for parking”
“Oh, so what’s the deal?
“It’s been abandoned for three years.”
“Yeah, we tried to buy it last year, but BofA said they couldn’t release it yet.”
Well somebody had to make those mysterious Level 3 assets worth something.
But I think you have backwards. THEY didn’t become nationalized, the government became commoditized.
But I think you have backwards. THEY didn’t become nationalized, the government became commoditized.
Interesting. Or it’s all become one monolith of something new…
Corporate Communist Capitalism, baby!
It’s the New World Order!
I’m assuming this is about Florida (I think that’s Muggy’s stomping ground). Florida is a judicial foreclosure state.
It is possible that post abandonment, the bank was mired in the court process of getting title to the property.
Without tracking that particular case through the courts you won’t know whether the bank was slow playing the case, or whether the courts were slowing things down. Either is possible…given the fact that judicial states have been much slower than non-judicial in foreclosing, I think the courts slowing things down is more likely.
Why do I say this? Because if the banks were purposefully slowing things down across the board, then there wouldn’t be as stark a difference between judicial and non-judicial states (ie. the lenders would be the bottleneck–which would be common to both types of state).
Thanks for re-posting… I’m mostly a part of the night crew now.
“Without tracking that particular case through the courts”
It’s still in the owners name, of course.
“It’s still in the owners name, of course.”
Which means the bank has yet to take possession. The question then is are they pushing as hard as they can?
No notices either, only a lien from utilities. So why doesn’t the county (utilities) snap it up and auction it?
I hope cities start ramping up eminent domain, then we’ll see the truth (and by truth, I mean more piles of turds).
I wonder if there are restrictions on other actions while foreclosures are pending…
No clue, I am an RE amateur.
I know that with other court actions (like BK), other kinds of actions are halted by the court. I would not be surprised if there was a similar story with foreclosures in judicial states.
Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner are in Mumbai. I wonder what new is going to happen. Are they seeing India to grow to infinity with their massive property bubble. Or are they telling them to take more of our IT jobs.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444799904578047993580134814.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#articleTabs%3Darticle
Offering some useful advice on plunge protection measures, perhaps?
Record Crash Prompts Indian Exchanges to Seek New Limits
By Santanu Chakraborty - Oct 8, 2012 4:04 AM PT
Indian exchanges asked the market regulator to narrow the range it allows some stocks to trade after erroneous orders caused a record plunge in the S&P CNX Nifty (NIFTY) Index, according to officials familiar with the proposal.
Price limits for 216 of the biggest and most liquid stocks should be lowered from 20 percent to 9 percent, the three officials said. The measure was proposed to the Securities & Exchange Board of India by exchange executives at a meeting in Mumbai on Oct. 6, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks were private.
Trading in the benchmark Nifty and some stocks stopped for 15 minutes on Oct. 5 after the 50-stock gauge sank 16 percent. The incident, which briefly erased $58 billion in value, is the latest in a series of mishaps that has put pressure on regulators globally to prevent market errors. Bad trades sent Kraft Foods Group Inc. (KRFT) up as much as 29 percent on Oct. 3, and in May, the Nasdaq Stock Market blamed software for delays in order confirmations in the debut of Facebook Inc.
“Everyone is very sensitive to these electronic errors,” Adam Mattessich, head of international trading at Cantor Fitzgerald LP, said by phone from New York on Oct. 5. “It’s the kind of thing that could be nothing or it could become a financial calamity.”
…
Or are they telling them to take more of our IT jobs.
Possibly.
Well, you and your colleagues created inexpensive products that can be used by anyone anywhere for pennies on the dollar (or rupee, whatever) and incrrease their productivity many times fold.
What do you think is going to happen?
Do you not realize that the product you are designing and selling to eliminate jobs domestically also will force your job overseas (or to be eliminated also)?
You IT people can be so short-sighted. You create products that eliminate jobs wholesale, then expect to be paid highly into infinity for continuing to do so.
Ain’t gonna happen.
You IT people are sowing the seeds of your own demise, but so often don’t recognize it.
FWIW, most “IT” people have never worked on internet products or appliances (like routers or switches). Most work on ordinary software applications that don’t enable offshoring.
Of course.
Yet it still doesn’t answer/solve my premise.
In some ways, the IT field is parasitic. Most of those in the business don’t view themselves as such.
Perhaps rather than focus on speed and capacity of devices and software, they ought to begin focusing on that which enables wealth creation across industries.
Efficiency and productivity are great things…but at what point are the costs they save outweighted by the expenses that result?
As any good business leader knows, you can cut only so far until you achieve diminishing returns. Has the IT husiness gone too far in providing cost-cutting products rather than asset producing products?
Tough question to answer. Even harder to accomplish. Talk to some of your buddies and see what they think.
The gurus in the field need to focus more on the symbiotic relationship. Otherwise, they too will go “Poof!”
The gurus in the field need to focus more on the symbiotic relationship. Otherwise, they too will go “Poof!”
IT sets up equipment made by telecom companies like Cisco. you need to ask Cisco what they think about “symbiotic relationship”
better yet ask Huawei
see what they say
I wonder how much the top managers at these welfare corporations were paid? How much they funneled back to the obama campaign?
A half billion dollar scam of taxpayer money for some of obama’s buddies. Nothing to see here. Move along. Hope and change. Forward….
——————————————————–
IRS says ‘tax avoidance’ at heart of Solyndra bankruptcy plan
Washington Times | October 10, 2012 | By Jim McElhatton
The Internal Revenue Service urged a bankruptcy judge to reject solar panel maker Solyndra LLC’s bankruptcy plan Wednesday, saying it amounts to little more than an avenue for owners of an empty corporate shell to avoid paying taxes.
“The undeniable conclusion is that tax benefits drive this plan,” attorneys for the IRS wrote in a bankruptcy pleading.
What’s more, government attorneys said that as far back as 2010, owners had “planned meticulously” to be able to use Solyndra’s net operating losses to offset future tax liabilities.
“The only reason for the shell corporation to exist post-confirmation is to enable its owners to exploit these tax attributes, which would be lost in liquidation,” the IRS argued in court papers.
But the IRS said in court papers there was little reason for the shell company to even exist other than to help the owners avoid taxes. Argonaut is the investment arm of a family foundation headed by Oklahoma businessman George Kaiser, who was a fundraiser for Mr. Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
I’m no fan of the Solyndra scam, and I called it that way here when everyone thought it was the yellow brick road. Still, what is wrong with planning to ofset taxes with losses? Are we going to tax losses now?
Let us know when it reaches the scale of the Wall St, bailout and the TARP that Bush signed.
Heck, wake me up when it reaches ONE TENTH the size of the Wall Street ongoing and perpetual bailout.
All of this Solyndra fascination reminds me of the guy worried about ticks giving him Lyme’s, while a giant herd of buffalo are about to run him over.
+1
So small pieces of rampant corruption are OK; just not the big ones.
“Let us know when it reaches the scale of the Wall St, bailout and the TARP that Bush signed.”
I guess that makes it ok…right?
We had the privilege of “working” on many lower-dollar, lower-visibility, DoE projects funded with Recovery Act money. Solyndra is just the tip of the iceberg
Many of these regularly flunked their audits (i.e. not having an effective accounting system or reporting blatantly unallowable costs) and the response from these hippie-dippy “green energy” people defending against the failed audits was, in the most memorable instance, that they “are good people doing good things.”
DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency) is so bogged down with DoD audits that there is a 2-5 year backlog at many DCAA field offices, these DoE projects are just slipping through the cracks.
No more specifics on this, but oh the tales we could tell were it not for confidentiality agreements…
Damn bloated government over-regulation!
Oh wait…
IRS says ‘tax avoidance’ at heart of Solyndra bankruptcy plan
ARRRGGGGG! This tax avoidance type thing makes me sick to my stomach and really pi$$es me off. That’s why I’m voting Romney 2012.
That’s funny.
His net worth 250mill
But via offshore accounts and financial trickery 100 million is in an IRA.
His effective tax rate is reported as 13%.
His real effective tax rate assuming equal earnings in IRA.
real effective tax rate = (13% * 150)/250 =7.8
and that’s before we investigate trust funds, off shore accounts, and of course financial trickery.
One goonster is more than enough, darlin’.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/real-estate/florida-ranks-first-in-foreclosure-activity-first-/nSZQ7/
We’re number ONE!!!! Who said we couldn’t commit to something and look, we’re winning!!
Imploding parking garages next!
Comment by Muggy
2012-10-10 17:46:42
If someone could re-post this in the morning, I’d appreciate it. My theory is the TBTFs have been secretly “nationalized” via being made whole for dead loans. Here’s why…
I get home from work, check the mail…. boomer couple from Illinois rolls up on the abandoned house next to me. We use that driveway for our second car. She asks me, “does someone live here now?”
“Naw, we just use the house for parking”
“Oh, so what’s the deal?
“It’s been abandoned for three years.”
“Yeah, we tried to buy it last year, but BofA said they couldn’t release it yet.”
I’m sure that BofA thinks that this abandoned house is just sitting there, appreciating to the sky. Think they’ll release it this year? Or next?
They will release it when it becomes worth more dollars than they have in it OR when they are forced to account for its true value on their books. I don’t see any other circumstances under which they will sell it.
“Spain merits Wall St. shrug”
WTF? Is the Plunge Protection Team now generating “confidence building” headlines?
New York Markets Open in: 1:00:00
Pre-Market Indications | Analyst Ratings
Futures: S&P 500 +0.4% DOW +0.3% NASDAQ +0.5%
Spain merits Wall St. shrug
Wall Street, hit hard by a recent wave of selling, points higher as investors await a clutch of U.S. economic reports and shake off a downgrade of Spain to just above junk status.
Wow. $60 TRILLION in derivatives just went “meh.”
Close to 800 tillion in derivatives that could blow up ,and people wonder why they have a game plan that defies logic
to keep that time bomb from going off .
That’s over $100,000 for every man, woman and child on the planet, which is more than most of them will earn in a lifetime.
It’s also 11x the global GDP
Why don’t they cancell all those stupid ass bets and start from stratch again rather than contorting the World to support these schemes that came about in the unregulated markets that didn’t have any money backing it ? Most of those bets are based on ….guess what …….
real estate loans and cc debt ( about 80 % ) .Leverage games that went beyond all reason .
Monkey egos, that’s why.
Was that a trick question?
The debt shrinking by reducing borrowing is undermining the downgrading of the rating. Are you following?
U.S. Downgrade Seen as Upgrade as U.S. Debt Dissolved
By John Detrixhe - Oct 9, 2012 1:43 PM ET
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-09/u-s-downgrade-seen-as-upgrade-as-u-s-debt-dissolved.html
US debt has shrunk to a six-year low relative to the size of the economy as homeowners, cities and companies cut borrowing, undermining rating companies’ downgrading of the nation’s credit rating.
Reduced borrowing means there is less competition for the U.S. Treasury Department as it sells debt to fund spending programs to help the nation recover from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Total indebtedness including that of federal and state governments and consumers has fallen to 3.29 times gross domestic product, the least since 2006, from a peak of 3.59 four years ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Private- sector borrowing is down by $4 trillion to $40.2 trillion.
Reduced borrowing means there is less competition for the U.S. Treasury Department as it sells debt to fund spending programs to help the nation recover from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Credit-rating firms are discounting the improvement even as debt, equity and currency markets suggest the U.S. is more creditworthy than before Standard & Poor’s stripped the nation of its AAA grade in 2011.
“Most people don’t pay much attention to ratings when it comes to Treasuries, as they are still considered to be risk- free assets,” Donald Ellenberger, who oversees about $10 billion as co-head of government and mortgage-backed securities at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh, said Oct. 5 in a telephone interview. “Until that perception changes Treasuries will continue to be” in demand, he said.
The FedGov borrowing isn’t keeping up with personal defaults, which undermines the downgrade.
Downgrade is undermined. Got it.
“We have always been at war with Eastasia.”
Coming soon, under the Obamney administration:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Love
Department of Peace?
Department of Rainbow Coalition?
Department of Greed(n) Energy?
At least we can now disband the Department of Fairy Tale WMDs and Where’s Waldo Bin Laden.
Suppose Uncle Sam duped wealthy people into buying stocks at a premium, then let the bottom fall out of the market. Wouldn’t that be a cool way to soak the rich and not tell them they were getting taxed? (Not making a suggestion or saying this is happening; just making an observation…)
Oct. 10, 2012, 5:55 p.m. EDT
The case for a 40% drop in the markets
Big Picture views range from don’t fight QE3 to ‘just avoid risk’
By Sam Mamudi, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The U.S. economy is in bad shape, the Federal Reserve is doing untold damage and investors are terrified – and there may be evidence that we’ve entered another recession.
As if that wasn’t enough, we’re heading into a quarter where there’s likely to be falling profits among publicly-traded companies.
Stocks slumped, sending the Dow industrials toward a second-straight triple-digit drop, toward a fourth-straight daily decline, as sluggish outlooks from industrial, commodity and energy heavyweights added to concerns about a global economic slowdown.
But though there was a strong atmosphere of negative sentiment at The Big Picture Conference in New York Wednesday — one speaker went so far as to outline a case for a 40% drop in equities (SPX -0.62%) — there were also arguments in favor of investing in the stock market.
James Bianco, president of Bianco Research LLC encapsulated the more upbeat feeling. Bianco decried the expansion of central banks’ balance sheets in the past half-decade, and said that the Federal Reserve’s monetary expansion policies won’t help great jobs or grow GDP. He was, however, bullish on the stock market because he believes in Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s avowed intention to use the quantitative easing to boost the market.
“The Fed is all about getting the stock market up,” said Bianco. “I’m going to go with the idea [of being bullish]…QE3 will be big and long-lasting.”
…
Pension funds. State and Municipal governments. 401(k)’s….
Truly wealthy aren’t dependant upon American markets.
Oct. 10, 2012, 3:24 p.m. EDT
Should seniors bother paying off debt?
By Quentin Fottrell
At some point, is one too old to bother paying off a debt?
Consider this Kansas couple saddled with $120,000 in debt on 13 credit cards. Jim Bostick, then 68, and his wife Francine, then 57, feared they’d spend their golden years in the red. Then “Jim was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and I knew he wouldn’t be able to continue working,” Francine says in this interview with The National Foundation for Credit Counseling . “With the debt that we had there was no way we could pay it. I lay awake at night,” she says.
The couple finally took action. Francine reached out to the non-profit Housing and Credit Counseling Inc. in Topeka, Kan., a member of the national foundation. In addition to her full-time job, she took an evening cleaning job and launched her own Avon business. Despite his condition, Jim, who was a maintenance and custodial supervisor at Kansas State University, worked 30 hours per week to help the couple stick to their household budget and $2,500 a month repayment plan. “It was probably the greatest thing I ever did,” Francine says.
But was it the smartest?
Based on their age, they should have explored filing for bankruptcy, some experts say. “I think the couple did the ethical thing, but it probably was not in their financial best interest to do what they did, especially at their age,” says Wade Westhoff, a financial adviser based in Danville, Calif. Couples facing retirement – especially if they have already paid off their mortgage – have less reason to worry about the impact of a bad credit rating, he says. “They could have wiped the slate clean.”
…
What’s the old saying? “You can’t take it with you!”
He who dies with the most debt… wins!
Well, the couple might only be able to protect so much of their
equity in their house in BK ,depending on the State they live in .
But ,giving a older couple like that 120k in debt is the fault of the easy credit system we have come to know so well . Did they borrow the money for medical needs ,or did they pull money for living expenses ,or did they buy stuff ,or what ? The situation suggests to me that their income did not support the debt that was given to them ,especially given their age .
My God ,120 thousand in debt given to a older couple who wasn’t rich and who clearly didn’t have assets to support that sort of debt .This is a criminal debt system that sets up people for a big fall . This couple will eventually sink ,or they will get sick from trying to do the right thing .
Its just like the housing boom in which they were giving loan amounts that far exceeded the qualifying of the borrowers based
on real estate going up and covering all sins .Do the lenders think that this older couple are going to go up in income as they get older . Who knows what other factors changed the older couples circumstances ,maybe they lost money because of the war on savors .
My point being ,no mention on the Lenders being incompetent in lending this much to a older couple ,especially credit card debt .
Does the drug pusher have some liability ?
To suggest that corporations of any kind have some responsibility and liability to NOT practice malfeasance is just liberal government over-regulation socialist talk!
Caveat Emptor… SUCKER!
But my main theme song is the Corporations/Banks /Wall Streets malfeasance ,and how they stack the deck to get bailed out ,or transfer the loss or damage to people . When they pollute a river for instance they are transfering the damage to people . Big Government is to serve the Masters ,and the only Government we should fear is DUMB GOVERNMENT ,or bribed Government ,or Monopoly Corporation Government . For God sakes when they commit major crimes they get slapped with small fines these days . They must laugh because it’s just a cost of doing business .
People have it totally wrong what entities are playing the systems and distractions to the food stamp people and
Social Security entitlements is your typical distraction from the truth .Never talk about outsourcing or out manufacturing , faulty trade balance and tariffs ,just talk about Americans not being competitive . The evidence is the transfer of wealth and power to the Corps and upper brackets ,and the protections to their systems and stacked decks that the Politicians support .
They are spending millions trying to defeat prop 37 right now in California ,a bill that would force them into labeling GMO foods . WHile Europe and Japan and other Countries are not stupid enough not to have GMO’s labeled ,we Americans have to have crap crammed down our throats and not even know what we are eating .( Animal studies suggest that GMO’s are harmful ,a fact that you aren’t going to see on Main Stream News).
Just got the first mailer today. Here’s the text:
“Would be a windfall for trial lawyers and the special interest promoters behind it…
Written to benfit trial lawyers——– Sponsors stand to profit”
Looks like they’re pimping that only primary producers would be forced to label (not restaurants and heat-to-serve products)
U.S. banks are not financial institutions, they’re loan sharks. Easy money and large VIGS on car loans, credit cards, student loans and eventually mortgages, that is their business model. Naive, desperate people are their targets.
Cue up the tinfoil hat wearing Republican party conspiracy theorists…
US stock futures reverse losses ahead of reports on employment and trade deficit
Article by: Associated Press
Updated: October 11, 2012 - 7:23 AM
NEW YORK - Stock futures are rebounding for the first time this week, a day after a triple-digit sell off on Dow Jones industrial average.
It was the third straight day of losses for major stock indexes and investors appeared to be looking for bargains Thursday, rather than acting on any strong economic signals.
Dow Jones industrial futures are up 35 points to 13,303. The broader S&P futures have gained 5.2 points to 1,431.50. Nasdaq futures are up 11.75 points to 2,734.50.
Economists expect the Labor Department to report a slight rise in the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits and most believe that the Commerce Department will reveal that the U.S. trade deficit grew in August from July, as weaker global growth cut demand for American-made products overseas.
Global markets are mixed.
…
Krugman: Conspiracy theories about job numbers
By PAUL KRUGMAN
First Published Oct 09 2012 01:01 am • Last Updated Oct 09 2012 01:01 am
If anyone had doubts about the madness that has spread through a large part of the American political spectrum, the reaction to Friday’s better-than expected report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics should have settled the issue. For the immediate response of many on the right — and we’re not just talking fringe figures — was to cry conspiracy.
Leading the charge of what were quickly dubbed the “BLS truthers” was none other than Jack Welch, the former chairman of General Electric, who posted an assertion on Twitter that the books had been cooked to help President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. His claim was quickly picked up by right-wing pundits and media personalities.
It was nonsense, of course. Job numbers are prepared by professional civil servants, at an agency that currently has no political appointees. But then maybe Welch — under whose leadership GE reported remarkably smooth earnings growth, with none of the short-term fluctuations you might have expected (fluctuations that reappeared under his successor) — doesn’t know how hard it would be to cook the jobs data.
Furthermore, the methods the bureau uses are public — and anyone familiar with the data understands that they are “noisy,” that especially good (or bad) months will be reported now and then as a simple consequence of statistical randomness. And that in turn means that you shouldn’t put much weight on any one month’s report.
In that case, however, what is the somewhat longer-term trend? Is the U.S. employment picture getting better? Yes, it is.
…
Jack “The Slasher” Welch who, along with Romney, are the DIRECT cause of today’s permanent job insecurity and offshoring.
Don’t forget Chainsaw Al:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_J._Dunlap
A friend of the family was a Scott Paper layoff casualty. A brilliant man and a very gifted engineer. He died way before his time, and I can’t help thinking that the layoff contributed to his demise.
My family misses him to this day.
FWIW Fox is saying a large state was omitted from the report. Didn’t file in time or something.
Yes, somehow the largest state in the union, California, didn’t get their numbers in on time. I wonder how many unemployed workers were “accidentally” left off that report???
So Mr Krugman, while things might be improving somewhat, your guys still can’t help but fudge the numbers.
“Jobless Claims Number Doesn’t Include California” Breitbart
It is getting to the point where any good news for Obama needs to be inspected with a magnifying glass to figure out how then got their figures.
Small wonder corporate leaders distrust Uncle Sam’s data releases…
20% of Corporate America is cooking the books: study
October 11, 2012, 1:08 PM
All this talk about cooking the books lately has made us hungry for data, so imagine our delight when Myles Zyblock, chief institutional strategist at RBC Capital Markets, pointed out a recent academic paper estimating that about 20% of public firms are “managing,” or misrepresenting, their earnings figures, and that the typical misrepresentation is about 10% of the reported earnings per share.
“We’ve known for quite a while there is some room to put stuff in the cookie jar, but this [study] is the first to my knowledge to provide a value on how pervasive and how large it is,” Zyblock said.
The RBC strategist said the 10% deviation should really call into question why Wall Street gets so excited when a company beats or misses earnings by a penny a share.
At the end of the third quarter, about 78% of S&P 500 SPX +0.02% companies providing an earnings outlook said they’d miss the Wall Street consensus. Read more on third-quarter earnings outlook gloom, and other metrics to consider.
“We should focus on other metrics like cash flow,” Zyblock said. “Cash is cash.” See: 5 companies whose cash flow tells the tale.
In the survey, titled “Earnings Quality: Evidence from the Field,” researchers at Emory University and Duke University surveyed 169 chief financial officers at public companies and conducted 12 in-depth interviews with 12 CFOs.
The complete study can be found here.
…
IMF urges Europe to put brake on deep budget cuts
By Gernot Heller and Tomasz Janowski
Published October 11, 2012
TOKYO – The IMF on Thursday backed giving debt-burdened Greece and Spain more time to reduce their budget deficits, cautioning that cutting too far, too fast would do more harm than good.
But Germany pushed back and said back-tracking on debt-reduction goals would only hurt confidence, a stance that suggested some disagreement between the International Monetary Fund and Europe’s largest creditor country.
“The IMF has time and again said that high public debt poses a problem,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters. “So when there is a certain medium-term goal, it doesn’t build confidence when one starts by going in a different direction.”
“When you want to climb a big mountain and you start climbing down then the mountain will get even higher.”
The IMF released new research this week showing that fiscal consolidation has a much sharper negative effect on growth than previously thought. Since the global financial crisis, these so-called fiscal multipliers have been as much as three times larger than they were before 2009, the IMF research shows.
That means aggressive austerity measures may inflict deep economic wounds that make it harder for an economy to get out from under heavy debt burdens.
“It is sometimes better to have a bit more time,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said. “That is what we advocated for Portugal; this is what we advocated for Spain; and this is what we are advocating for Greece.”
But the IMF was less willing to be patient with Europe on following through with its efforts to seek a more cohesive fiscal and banking union. It said that process was critically incomplete, and blamed the plodding pace for contributing to economic uncertainty that was hurting global growth.
…
” cutting too far, too fast would do more harm than good.”
This is why I don’t believe we will see real deficit reduction in the near future. If the Republicans get control, they are not so stupid that they will cut the budget and trigger a recession. I do believe we will see a different set of winners and losers. Winners - big oil and other fossil fuels, losers - alternative energy. Winners - military contractors, big losers - 45-55, losers -under 45s. Winners - health insurance companies, losers - Medicaid recipients and care facilities that depend on them.
I do believe we will see a different set of winners and losers.
Yes. But you’ll notice we’re not in the winners group in either scenario.
Updated October 10, 2012, 10:44 a.m. ET
China IMF Cancellations Raise Concerns
By PHRED DVORAK And YUKA HAYASHI
China’s central bank Gov. Zhou Xiaochaun is the latest banker to pull out of the annual International Monetary Fund meeting in Tokyo. The WSJ’s Jacob Schlesinger explains why China’s method of protesting against Japan may not be viewed positively on the international stage.
TOKYO—Souring relations between Japan and China, which suffered another blow Wednesday when China’s central-bank governor and finance minister pulled out of a high-profile gathering of global finance chiefs in Tokyo, are starting to cause serious economic damage that could deepen if passions stay high, investors, analysts and politicians here warned.
The revelation that China’s two highest-level delegates had withdrawn from the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Tokyo amid an escalating dispute between Asia’s two biggest economies, sent stocks to a two-month low and heightened worries about real-world impacts.
The Chinese central bank governor’s “nonattendance at the IMF-World Bank meeting is not only bad for Japan-China relations, but also for the global economy,” Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said at a news conference Wednesday. “I believe it also won’t be a plus for China, considering how the international community will view such moves.”
The spat—nominally over who owns a set of tiny islands in the East China Sea—has already sparked anti-Japan protests, battered sales of Japanese goods in China, and decimated tourism between the two countries.
On Wednesday, some analysts lowered their forecasts for car makers and other companies that do a lot of business in China, while China’s auto association blamed a small sales drop in September on Chinese consumer anger at Japan over the islands. J.P. Morgan (JPM +0.93%) Tuesday estimated that Chinese boycotts of Japanese goods and services could shrink Japan’s economy by 0.8 percentage point in the last quarter of the year, and—if tensions stay high in 2013—could curb growth by as much as 0.2 percentage point next year.
“I am very concerned” about the escalating tensions between Japan and China, said Tomoya Masanao, a portfolio manager who oversees Japanese investments for giant asset-manager Pacific Investment Management Co., or Pimco. Mr. Masanao said he expects the situation to be temporary but warned the fund needs to “monitor how long this situation will continue. We need to re-examine how this is going to affect Japan’s growth rate and how this will impact trade data.”
…
Wha’d'ya know — top-down manipulation of the housing market by the Politburo actually works! Who’d've thunk?
U.S. NEWS
October 10, 2012, 3:45 p.m. ET
Housing Is Bright Spot in Update on Economy
By KRISTINA PETERSON and JEFFREY SPARSHOTT
The housing market showed broad improvement as the economy continued to expand modestly in late August and September, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.
The Fed’s “beige book” report reinforced a host of recent data suggesting the housing market’s recovery is picking up steam. The report, which is based on anecdotes from business contacts and economists, said existing-home sales strengthened in all 12 Fed districts, while selling prices rose or held steady.
In general, the Fed noted that economic activity “generally expanded modestly” since its last report, with consumer spending inching up or staying level.
Some districts noted that uncertainty over the presidential election, the U.S. budget outlook and the European sovereign-debt crisis were keeping some employers from hiring.
The economic snapshot was prepared by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York based on information gathered on or before Sept. 28 and will be used for discussions at the Fed’s next policy meeting, Oct. 23 and 24.
The beige book observed that “residential real estate showed widespread improvement since the last report.” That is in line with data showing a nascent firming in a sector once rocked by the collapse in housing prices and the recession. Sales of previously occupied homes reached their highest level in more than two years in August, the National Association of Realtors said last month.
The Fed noted that shrinking inventories of houses helped push up prices in some districts. Some regions saw robust growth in the construction of multi-family units. The commercial real-estate market was “mixed,” with some softening in the office market.
At its policy meeting in September, the Fed took action to boost the housing market. The central bank launched a bond-buying program, under which it will purchase an additional $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities each month until the labor market significantly improves. The Fed opted to buy mortgage-backed securities to help put downward pressure on mortgage interest rates.
…
The government and the Fed are driving the MBS and housing market, not market forces. Is it sustainable? 9 out of 10 mortgages are backed by the federal government.
Also, is it prudent of the powers that be to be faking underlying demand in the housing market? The demand for MBS is not driven by market forces, it’s almost totally driven by government intervention, buying and guaranteeing. In a speculative market, it just lures in investors. But without market-driven demand, any attempt at a government pullback leads to a decline, leading to government feeding more tax dollars at the market.
The fundamental conceit of the housing bubble has been dashed - namely that house prices will relentlessly march higher, beyond the rate of inflation, resulting in larger and more profitable mortgages and MBS. It was a self-feeding spiral driven by unsustainable lending. Until the scheme collapsed. Yet the Fed and the government are trying to again reach bubble levels in that market, with itself being the insatiable maw for bad debt, instead of the private market. It seems ill-advised. Market forces are real, and exist for a reason.
They’re comfortable funneling OPM (other people’s money) to their favored sector and cronies in it. They’re putting our great grandchildren on the hook for profits now. But taxes should only be used for public goods. And Wall Street profits are not a public good, by definition, as the profits are private. While losses of course, are borne by the public.
“Also, is it prudent of the powers that be to be faking underlying demand in the housing market? The demand for MBS is not driven by market forces, it’s almost totally driven by government intervention, buying and guaranteeing. In a speculative market, it just lures in investors. But without market-driven demand, any attempt at a government pullback leads to a decline, leading to government feeding more tax dollars at the market.”
I think you’ve nailed it. Where is the downside?
EUROPE NEWS
Updated October 11, 2012, 8:54 a.m. ET
Pressure Mounts on Spain to Ask for Bailout
BY DAVID ROMÁN AND ART PATNAUDE
MADRID—Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Thursday came under increased pressure to ask for a European Union bailout after Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services slashed the country’s credit rating to leave it teetering just above speculative-grade, or “junk” status.
S&P’s surprise two-notch downgrade represents the latest blow for a government grappling with an economic contraction of a scale only surpassed by Greece, a massive banking overhaul, soaring unemployment and a pro-independence push by Catalan nationalists unhappy by the effects of austerity measures on their wealthy north eastern region.
…
Posted: 6:00 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012
Florida ranks first in foreclosure activity, first time since 2005
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Florida ranked first in the nation last month for foreclosure activity, a dismal title it hasn’t held since 2005 and evidence that the Sunshine State’s housing recovery is lagging, some economists said.
A 24 percent increase in new foreclosures from the same time last year, as well as a 23 percent increase in final bank repossessions, helped Florida skip into the top spot from its second-place finish in August, according to a RealtyTrac report to be released today.
RealtyTrac experts said it’s not just that Florida’s filings jumped but that activity in other hard-hit states, especially those that don’t require court approval for each foreclosure, has abated.
Foreclosure activity nationwide in September was the lowest it’s been since July 2007.
In California, new foreclosures in September decreased 18 percent last month from August and were down 45 percent from 2011 to reach a 69-month low. Arizona’s overall foreclosure activity, which includes new filings, auction notices and bank repossessions, was down 9 percent from August and 21 percent from September 2011.
“In Florida, it’s not so much a sign of new distress, it’s just taking longer for Florida to work through the distress that’s already there,” said RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist. “More than any other state, Florida’s foreclosure process was thrown into dysfunction by the fallout from the robo-signing controversy, which just bogged things down and built up a backlog.”
Florida had about 377,700 foreclosure cases in the court system as of June, according to the state courts administrator. A one-time stipend of $4 million was given to the state’s 20 circuit courts in July to target foreclosures. Palm Beach County was able to hire five additional case managers and two senior judges with its share of the stipend, said Chief Judge Peter Blanc.
RealtyTrac calculates it took 858 days for a bank to foreclose on a home in Florida during the third quarter of the year, down from 861 days in the previous quarter but still the third longest in the nation. New York has a foreclosure timeline of 1,072 days. A New Jersey foreclosure takes 931 days.
“The fact we’re number one in activity may just reflect the fact that we’re able to give this more resources and get these cases through the system,” Blanc said.
Jed Kolko, chief economist for the real estate analysis firm Trulia, said improvements in the housing market nationwide and a drop in foreclosure activity have quieted the housing crisis as an issue for the presidential candidates. Foreclosures didn’t come up a single time during last week’s debate between President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney.
“There’s just not as much urgency as there has been in the past three years,” Kolko said. “From the national perspective, nearly every measure of housing is doing better. Florida is unusual because it has such an overhang of foreclosures, but that’s a local issue.”
In September, new Palm Beach County foreclosure filings were down 23 percent from August, but up 16 percent from 2011, ranking it 18th for foreclosure activity among Florida’s 67 counties. Broward County ranked first for foreclosures last month, with St. Lucie County coming in second.
And Florida homeowners still dealing with a foreclosure don’t want to hear that the nation is over the crisis.
Loxahatchee resident Diane Gabrele has been fighting foreclosure since July 2010 after her mother died and she no longer could afford her home. With housing values down, she couldn’t sell it either, and banks weren’t as generous with short-sale approvals at the time.
The last contact the 62-year-old had with the bank was in March when they met at an unsuccessful court-ordered mediation.
“It’s like I’m on a ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ merry-go-round,” said Gabrele, who works at a Burlington Coat Factory and tries to make extra money through boarding horses. “People are losing their homes all around me. It’s tragic.”
Another article on the judicial vs. non-judicial commentary from RealtyTrac today:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/49371943
Time to end “too big to fail”?
BUSINESS
Updated October 10, 2012, 7:42 p.m. ET
Fed Governor: Put Cap On Big Financial Firms
By VICTORIA MCGRANE And ALAN ZIBEL
A top Federal Reserve official Wednesday called on Congress to consider capping the size of the nation’s financial firms, marking one of the most high-profile challenges to the way Wall Street does business.
In a Philadelphia speech, Fed governor Daniel Tarullo recommended curbing banks’ growth by putting a limit on their nondeposit liabilities, which are sources of funding for operations that go beyond consumer deposits. The idea takes direct aim at the biggest U.S. banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs and Citigroup Inc., all of which rely heavily on such funding. Firms outside of this tier make much greater use of regular deposits.
Mr. Tarullo, who drives much of bank policy-making at the Fed, is the highest-ranking regulatory official to call for limiting the size of banks. Even though the chance of congressional action depends in part on the outcome of November’s election, the concept also fits into a growing chorus from across the political spectrum. Critics have voiced concern that the U.S.’s largest financial institutions are too big to fail and pose too great a risk to the financial system.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board member Thomas Hoenig, a registered independent who was picked by Republicans for his current post, is pushing a plan to break up the largest banks, something many liberals as well as former Citigroup Chairman Sanford Weill would like to see. Most Republicans stop short of embracing such ideas, but some have called for big banks to face substantially higher capital requirements, which also would have the effect of curbing their size.
,,,
Oh nos! That’s just liberal over-regulation socialism!
If I were a big money man I would want a bank that I - and my big money customers - could depend on always being in a position to clear all my - and my big money customer’s - transactions. IOW I would want a bank that would be guaranteed to not ever fail.
I would want a TBTF. My heart may be for supporting a smaller bank but the heart of my big money customers will need to be in the same place. But most likely it won’t be because:
At the end of every transaction everyone needs to get paid. A smaller bank cannot guarantee this to happen but a TBTF can.
And thus a TBTF has a lock. Not necessairly a good thing but there it is.
And here we are.
And if I needed TBTF banks to clear transactions, I’d prefer they be reined in by a corporate governance structure that did not encourage them to operate like giant hedge funds that can play “heads we win, tails you’re screwed” games, enabling them to blow up every few years and soak the tax/monetary base for bailouts.
So would I, but we are not about to get it anytime soon because, as I said, the TBTFs have a lock.
The TBTFs have several locks. One of these locks is political.
They have convinced the PTB that they are to be saved at any cost, that the ones who run the TBTFs are the only ones smart enough to understand how to run a TBTF and thus it is they that should be given free reign to call the shots.
“What’s good for Megabank, Inc is good for America!”
So true that they are calling the shots ,and that will lead us off the cliff into more waste and more delays in getting a economy that actually functions in terms of balanced ,while the Politicians are their pawns,so Government becomes their pawn .
I am getting sick of the World ticking around Wall Street
bubbles and casino games ,or real estate artificial bubbles ,or price fixing monopoly gains ,or Fed printing ,or Global economy theory that is just a excuse for slave labor exploiting, putting more money in the Corporations and Middle men and Money Changers pockets .Austerity for the people is their theme song . Their nuts .
I would add that whats good for price fixing Monopoly Corporations ,Wall Street and Banks ,the Job Givers ,1% and the price fixing monopoly health care system and big food monopoly ,and anything else that has bribed the
Politicians into faulty policies ,is good for America these
days ,but it really isn’t .
These forces have become so powerful ,its no joke .
Which is why the TBTF should be run like a utillity, ie highly regulated, with capped profits and capped CEO compensation and less risk taking. If these guys want to run hedge funds let them.
“If these guys want to run hedge funds let them.”
Exactly! Let the 0.1% gamble however they please, so long as Joe6Pack doesn’t get thrown under the bus to cover gambling losses…
Risk and ambition: Stockton’s bankruptcy a morality tale for cities around the nation
By Eric Schulzke, Deseret News
Published: Saturday, Sept. 22 2012 5:47 p.m. MDT
Summary
The aftermath of Stockton’s mismanagement will haunt the city’s residents for years to come. Essential services are already being short-changed to pay debts and employee pensions.
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Pixie dust: How Stockton gambled its way from bad to worse
“It went wrong when, in 2002 and 2003, the city decided things were going so well that they could issue bonds for other major projects.”
Stockton Mayor Ann Johnston
This is part one in a two-part series.
Read part two: Pixie dust: How Stockton gambled its way from bad to worse.
STOCKTON, Calif. — The marina is beautiful, sparkling and new. So are the baseball park and the hockey arena, home to the Stockton Ports and the Stockton Thunder. Across the street is a stunning refurbished historic theater. The facilities glisten in the evening August sunshine, while teenagers do backflips off a pier and children fish for bass.
A stone’s throw away is Stockton’s City Hall. Above the entrance is an “All-American City” banner, reflecting faded glory from awards won in 1999 and 2004, but beneath the banner the lamp post foundations are badly cracked. It’s one of many clues around the city that something has gone badly awry here.
Wells Fargo repossessed an eight-story office building meant to be a new city hall earlier this summer. The city had defaulted on its loans. The bank also seized underperforming parking garages, which the city built when boom times seemed here to stay.
At a city council meeting in that fading city hall on that warm August evening, the word “bankruptcy” is never mentioned but lies heavy in the air.
The council approves a renegotiated pensions deal with the fire unions. The private management company that oversees the shiny new venues reports on its progress filling seats. A 53-year-old retired police officer unloads his frustration about losing his promised free medical care.
The aftermath of Stockton’s mismanagement will haunt the city’s residents for years to come. Essential services are already being short-changed to pay debts and employee pensions.
Stockton’s path to bankruptcy is an object lesson in how exuberance, naiveté and false hopes can supplant prudence. It’s a lesson that cities, counties and states around the nation are rapidly learning.
Stockon is easily the largest U.S. city ever to file for bankruptcy. The next closest, San Bernardino in southern California, also filed this summer. But it may not hold the record for long. Former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan told FOX Business Network in August that he expects his city to be insolvent within two years.
…
Forgotten in all this is the fact that they also participated in the creation of a tax break, er, “incentive” business zone.
Maybe they shouldn’t have done that, either?
“It went wrong when, in 2002 and 2003, the city decided things were going so well that they could issue bonds for other major projects.”
Ahem.
Editorial
Fontana Unified School District shifts pain to future with bond sale
Posted: 10/06/2012 07:12:03 AM PDT
There’s a new wave of risky borrowing washing over California.
More and more school districts are taking on questionable loans that are pain-free now but will become burdensome decades hence.
Fontana Unified School District is the latest to jump into the “buy now, pay way the heck later” approach. The district this week will begin selling $108 million in capital appreciation bonds to pay off a short-term “bridge” loan it took out in 2009 to complete construction projects that included Citrus and Jurupa Hills high schools.
San Bernardino County Treasurer/Tax Collector Larry Walker criticized the borrowing, saying it “represents a generational transfer of debt created by a financing mistake, and is clearly not in the interest of the taxpayers.” Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Josie Gonzales and Supervisor Janice Rutherford, whose 2nd District includes Fontana, also questioned Fontana Unified’s move.
District board members hit back, with Gus Hawthorn saying the criticism is “far from the realism of what goes on in a school district.”
He’s probably right. And that’s a bit scary.
FUSD needs $106 million now to pay off its 3-year-old bridge loan of $48 million. That doesn’t instill much confidence in board members’ financial stewardship.
When a district sells traditional school bonds, the taxpayers of the district are assessed to pay back the principal and interest, year by year, usually for 30 or 40 years; the payback total is usually three times the original amount borrowed.
But with capital appreciation bonds, repayment is pushed far off into the future. As a result, the interest compounds and the size of the payback explodes.
It’s unusual for Walker to speak out on something like this, but we’re glad to see him raise the issue. Los Angeles County Treasurer/Tax Collector Mark Saladino wrote an open letter to school finance officials warning against the use of long-term capital appreciation bonds, so Walker is far from alone on this. San Diego County Treasurer/Tax Collector Dan McCallister has proposed legislation that would limit the loans to 25 years’ duration, which state Treasurer Bill Lockyer supports.
The poster child for this kind of borrowing is the Poway Unified School District. As reported by Voice of San Diego, that district’s 2011 borrowing of $105 million through capital appreciation bonds will cost district taxpayers $981 million by 2051 - almost 10 times the loan amount. No payments are due until 2031, but then taxpayers will fork over $49 million a year for two decades.
FUSD plans to borrow $106 million, with no payments due until 2029. Payments would run from then until 2048 and total about $400million according to Walker, or $200million according to the district’s financial adviser. (It takes some heavy-duty rounding errors to come up with that kind of discrepancy.)
Community college districts use CABs too. A California Watch report cited San Bernardino Community College District’s $56million in bonds that will cost $493million to pay off, and Victor Valley Community College District’s $34million in bonds with a $271million payback.
SBCCD Chancellor Bruce Baron has explained that, at a presumed 4 percent inflation rate, today’s dollar will be worth $2.19 in 20 years and $4.80 in 40 years, meaning that the payback “falls in line with acceptable shorter term alternatives.”
Maybe, but it’s hard to predict the course of the economy and future assessments of property values.
But one thing is for sure. These types of loans will be paid off not by today’s homeowners, but those who live in these districts two, three and four decades from now. Today’s district leaders will be long retired.
…
More and more school districts are taking on questionable loans that are pain-free now but will become burdensome decades hence.
Well, if you’re going to play kick the can, you might as well kick it decades into the future. With a little luck you’ll be dead by then and it won’t be your problem.
“SBCCD Chancellor Bruce Baron has explained that, at a presumed 4 percent inflation rate, today’s dollar will be worth $2.19 in 20 years and $4.80 in 40 years,…”
It’s this kind of bullcrap insanity that has caused all our problems.
Money does NOT appreciate with inflation. WTF?!
(don’t EVEN try to explain it means the money borrowed. That’s the insanity rationalization that is the whole damn problem)
I think that he was saying that in 20 years what costs $1 today will cost $2.19
Not what he said / meant. The point is that future inflation will reduce the value of the dollar so that $4.80 in 2052 dollars will buy the same basket of goods that $1.00 buys today.
Oh I get it, it’s just the way it is stated that is all part of the hyperbole down the rabbit hole.
It’s not “worth”, it’s “cost.”
Properly phrased:
“SBCCD Chancellor Bruce Baron has explained that, at a presumed 4 percent inflation rate, today’s dollar will COST $2.19 in 20 years and $4.80 in 40 years,…”
“SBCCD Chancellor Bruce Baron has explained that, at present rates of monetary policy debauchery, today’s dollar will COST $2.19 in 20 years and $4.80 in 40 years,…”
Dumb question of the day: Has public financing always been as whacky as it is today, or is this a new development, thanks to so much recent financial innovation?
Kinda sums up all that is wrong with public unions.
Soon, cities will collect lots o’taxpayer money from property taxes and not perform ANY city services. All the money will go to pensions and medical care of retirees.
And this cop thinks he is a VICTIM.
Public servants - yep.
A 53-year-old retired police officer unloads his frustration about losing his promised free medical care.
“Former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan told FOX Business Network in August that he expects his city to be insolvent within two years.”
We will see numerous sanctuary cities bite the dust in the coming years. Can you say unsustainable?
Gold has caught a serious whiff of QE-fueled inflation and is taking flight.
Gold is at $17,000 per oz according to that chart. Surely busted.
Must have been some kind of “fat finger” decimal point entry error in that chart, no?
You’d think they’d fix this embarrassment after a couple of hours, no?
Gold - Electronic (COMEX) Dec 2012
Market open $17,711.00
Change +15,946 +903.40%
Volume 90,627
Oct 11, 2012, 11:25 a.m.
Quotes are delayed by 10 min
Previous close $1,765.10
Day low $1,760
Day high $1,777
Open: 1,764.90
52 week low $1,543
52 week high $1,812
Yo, cap.
what happened to all of those daily pollsters posts?
not much of a peep since the debate.
just curious…the betting one…what’s the status on that now?
I’ve posted this at least once since the debate, whose influence shows up clearly in the IEM 2012 US Presidential Election Winner Takes All Market prices, in terms of a rapidly narrowing gap.
Gary Johnson polling at 5% in Colorado reported as of two days ago
http://www.policymic.com/articles/16114/gary-johnson-spoiler-latest-presidential-polls-show-a-third-party-disaster-in-the-works-for-mitt-romney
Gary Johnson is getting my vote. I donated enough to Dr. Paul’s campaign and voted for him in 2008. Gary’s turn. Besides, he is more social liberal than Ron Paul.
There is a statewide ballot initiative here in Colorado to decriminalize marijuana possession that is likely contributing to Johnson’s poll numbers.
It is already quasi-legal for adults over 21 with a “chronic pain” diagnosis who pay the annual permit fee.
Just like the casinos, once one state outright legalizes it and taxes it, the floodgates will open and others will follow.
There’s a similar initiative here in Washington (502), but it’s really a Trojan horse for big businesses to take control of the industry. Just like the recent privatization of the liquor industry, it will dramatically push up the prices of cannabis, while greatly increasing the penalties for growers that do not gain state licensing. There are all sorts of issues at hand here, so it will probably be voted down. Unfortunately, the MSM will take this to mean that Washingtonians are opposed to legalization of cannabis.
Normally Libertarians are seen as stealing more from the Rs than the Ds. But due to the MJ issue I can see how in Colorado the Ls might actually steal more from the Ds than the Rs this election. It’s not like the pothead vote was going to go R if L wasn’t an option.
the betting one…what’s the status on that now?
Odds tighten in casino-land!
Ladbrokes’ odds:
Obama 2 to 5 (bet $5 to win 2)
Romney 15 to 8 (bet 8 to win 15)
Johnson appears to no longer be offered as a choice.
My guess is Johnson will not even reach 1%.
Rassmussen has Romney up in Montana.
he’s sure down at Intrade
I hear Obama is polling well in Venezuela and Iran.
Given how hard the Republicans have hammered Obama on the economy, I’m surprised he hasn’t claimed more credit for the improving labor market picture.
Oct. 11, 2012, 9:11 a.m. EDT
Jobless claims plunge to four-year low
Claims fall 30,000 to 339,000, well below expectations
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The number of U.S. workers who filed new applications for unemployment benefits dropped sharply, by 30,000, last week to 339,000, the lowest level in more than four years, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected initial claims in the week of Oct. 6 to rise 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 368,000. Last week’s number was revised up by 2,000 to 369,000.
…
He has, but try to remember that Clear Channel is one of the largest MSM outlets and is owned by… Bain Capital.
The tip of the layoffs at CC: oct 2011…come on biden use the ammo
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/98162/clear-channel-reduction-in-force-begins
Jim Edwards /
MoneyWatch/ October 28, 2011, 12:54 PM
Is Romney to Blame for Hundreds of Layoffs at Clear Channel Radio?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-42750896/is-romney-to-blame-for-hundreds-of-layoffs-at-clear-channel-radio/
I know someone who was a Clear Channel downsizing casualty. After CC let her go, she briefly worked at the radio station where I used to volunteer. (Said station and I parted ways last month.)
She lasted about two months at her post-CC job, then she found something full-time with benefits. And not in the radio field.
awwww and you were good on the radio….
Interestingly, Drudge has a link to a story that those “professionals” just happen to leave out the statistics from a major state which would certainly dropped that number of new claims. For last month one survey which is easy to confirm put job creation at just over one hundred thousand and the one that is far easier to fake found what around 800,000 jobs and we cannot be sceptical?
Actually the number was closer to 900,000. Whether it was deliberate or not, we did not create 900,000 new jobs last month even if most all of them were part time. Seasonal adjustments should have caught that. So BLS is either incompetent or crooked to produce that number and I am sure there will be revisions but probably not to after the election.If they did just “happen” to leave a state out today, then I lean toward deliberate.
I’ve noticed a tendency of private citizens who don’t like the information in official data releases to frantically search for conspiratorial explanations.
How does that tinfoil hat fit you, Dan?
Drudge has a link
This explains everything, LOLZ!
http://www.gallup.com/poll/157841/nongovernment-job-creation...
Personal attacks instead of an explanation for how the two government reports could be so different. Also the link above is a private survey for the same month that found the worse job creation since February at the same time the government found the best since Reagan.
Just like difference between the polls closed once the oversampling of democrats ended, using the debate as a smoke screen, and the truth about Libya is coming out despite the lies of this administration the truth will come out about the job numbers.
“I’ve noticed a tendency of private citizens who don’t like the information in official data releases to frantically search for conspiratorial explanations.
How does that tinfoil hat fit you, Dan?”
I see the same thing from people on this board…Ahem…when I (and others) post data on housing that doesn’t reflect their leanings…
According to the WSJ, the DOL has confirmed that one large state did not report all its data and that caused the majority of the fall in the new claims and they expect the number to bounce when reported next week.
I guess it is just coincidental that this occurred just prior to the debate. I much rather wear a tin hat than a dunce cap and accept numbers that make no sense.
This happens every time. Why is this news?
Of course it will be readjusted. It always is.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-11/data-massaging-continues-initial-claims-tumble-339k-lowest-2008-far-below-lowest-exp
Of course it will be readjusted. It always is.
And the prior 2 month’s added jobs were adjusted higher too:
Unemployment Rate Drops Lower Zacks – Fri, Oct 5, 2012
The key positives are in the drop in the unemployment rate and the positive revisions to the preceding two months
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (:BLS) reported September non-farm payroll gains of 114K, broadly in-line with expectations, but August’s 142K tally (August was revised higher from 96K). The revisions trend was clearly positive – with August and July both revised higher… yahoo dot com
Still does not explain the difference between the government’s own reports. But no body in the know believes the higher number or the stock market would have soared. Just like today, as word spread about the bogus number the market actually dropped.
Still does not explain the difference between the government’s own reports.
It totally does. These things happen EVERY time a report is released. It is the initial report. Thus revisions EVERY month.
The 2 differences IMO are that:
1.
This month’s better number is getting much more scrutiny by the right’s crybabies crying sour grapes because the numbers did not go their way.. waaaaahhhhaaaahhhh (tinfoil hat time)
And 2.
The revisions have been revise UPWARD lately instead of downward. But that HAS to be ignored by the right and they are too busy going waaaaahhhhaaaahhhh (tinfoil hat time)
Like Obama you think if you repeat a lie over and over it becomes the truth.it did not work on Libya and it will not work now.
A private report shows that it was a horrible month for employment. One government report shows just over 100,000 jobs created but another report shows 900,000 a number which has not happened since the boom years of the Reagan recovery. It is pure BS and the stock market knew it. Had it been accurate the stock market would have soared 500 points.
Show me one time in the history of BLS reporting when the two measure differed so much.
when I (and others) post data on housing that doesn’t reflect their leanings…
You don’t post data. You post distorted commentary and opinion.
The blog knows you’re a liar. The blog knows you can’t be trusted.
Show me one time in the history of BLS reporting when the two measure differed so much.
It’s no lie. The BLS does not “lie”. They might be given bogus criteria to determine the “unemployment rate” but they are not biased.
It is pure BS and the stock market knew it. Had it been accurate the stock market would have soared 500 points.
Not that is pure BS. As if you know what the stock market would do. I’ve seen stock markets drop on good unemployment rates many times. I’ve seen “buy the rumor, sell the fact” all my adult life. AND I’ve watched the stock market rise strongly on bad employment news for years. The stock market doesn’t care about main street unemployment as much as they care about corporate profit. This is all tin foil hat waaaaaaahhhaaaaa.
Not that is pure BS. As if you know what the stock market would do
Correction:
NotNOW that is pure BS. As if you know what the stock market would doWe have had many 100 point plus day when the jobs report was up only 50,000 more than people expected and came in at say 150,000 instead of 100,000. 800,000 additional jobs and no reaction? Once again show me one example of the two measures ever being so far off? the BLS does not lie? How do you know? I believe governments can and do lie. When the government’s own reports so contradict each other, the possibility of dishonesty cannot be ruled out.
However, my original post said that whether it was deliberate fabrication or not, the number just is not believable and that is what the stock market is saying to anyone bright enough to listen. I stand by that and it is not a tin foil hat theory to reject the number but it is dunce cap belief to believe in the number given the other numbers.
When the government’s own reports so contradict each other, the possibility of dishonesty cannot be ruled out.
That’s why those reports are REVISED every month.
Once again show me one example of the two measures ever being so far off?
As if I have that info or would spend hours on it. It’s your sour-grapes accusation so the burden of proof is on you, not me. So far you’ve proved nothing.
And here’s the kicker. The Employment revisions have been revise UPWARD lately instead of downward. We’re moving forward!
“You don’t post data. You post distorted commentary and opinion.
The blog knows you’re a liar. The blog knows you can’t be trusted.”
LOL.
I post ridiculous amount of data, including the sources…like the ACTUAL data on underwater mortgages in CA–which post has yet to arrive (which makes CA look even worse than your data, which you mischaracterize as being for underwater mortgages).
You post Bull$hit and everyone knows it.
Instead of calling out every post RW shares with us, why not use the info for what it’s worth? Saves a huge amount of sourcing, neh?
RW– thanks for keeping us all honest.
Oct. 11, 2012, 12:01 a.m. EDT
Foreclosure activity drops to 5-year low
Filings up most in states with judicial foreclosure
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch)—Foreclosure activity dropped in September to the lowest level since July 2007, RealtyTrac reported on Thursday.
Activity was down 7% compared with August, and down 16% compared with a year ago, the online foreclosure marketplace reported. Foreclosure filings were reported on 180,427 U.S. properties. Filings include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.
The number of properties entering the foreclosure process dropped 12% over the month and 15% over the year. It’s the second month in a row that foreclosure starts were down over the year.
“We’ve been waiting for the other foreclosure shoe to drop since late 2010, when questionable foreclosure practices slowed activity to a crawl in many areas, but that other shoe is instead being carefully lowered to the floor and therefore making little noise in the housing market—at least at a national level,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, in a news release.
“Make no mistake, however, the other shoe is dropping quite loudly in certain states, primarily those where foreclosure activity was held back the most last year.”
…
Excellent article on how the Invisible Hand Of The Free Market handles food safety:
“During the past two decades, the food industry has taken over much of the FDA’s role in ensuring what Americans eat is safe. The agency can’t come close to vetting its jurisdiction of $1.2 trillion in annual food sales.
In 2011, the FDA inspected 6 percent of domestic food producers and just 0.4 percent of importers. The FDA has no rules for how often food producers must be inspected.
The food industry hires for profit inspection companies, known as third party auditors, who aren’t required by law to meet any federal standards and have no government supervision. Some of these monitors choose to follow guidelines from trade groups that include ConAgra Foods Inc, Kraft Foods Inc, and Wal-Mart.
The private inspectors that companies select often check only those areas their clients ask them to review. That means they can miss deadly pathogens lurking in places they never examined.”
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-11/food-sickens-millions-as-industry-paid-inspectors-find-it-safe.html
…and the rise in salmonella cases (and rocket fuel in baby formula, anti-freeze in toothpaste and dog food and medicine that kills) has just been a co-inkydink.
There has never been a better time to start saying grace before you eat.
I have been trying to tell you guys that the Big Corps own the regulatory agencies now and you consume at your own risk these days . Another byproduct of Monopoly Corporations
calling the shots .
No kidding. By all indications, the quality of our food supply is going to get worse. The more you read, the scarier it gets. A similar situation is occuring with beef in Canada at the XL Foods. It’s great to see them following the stellar capitalist model of the US. Who needs regulations, let them self-police their opearations.
“Self-policing”
An oxymoron that only stupid people don’t understand…. like Americans.
…the rise in salmonella cases (and rocket fuel in baby formula, anti-freeze in toothpaste and dog food and medicine that kills)
The market regulates better than socialist government regulation.
Example of a self-regulating market:
If a mother has twin babies and one baby dies from rocket fueled baby formula, the mother can then make the choice of not feeding her remaining living baby the rocket fueled baby formula.
If enough mothers who have lost their babies make this same choice, the sales of the rocket fuel baby formula will fall. After a few weeks of falling sales and media coverage, the baby formula manufacturer will then be faced with the business decision of eliminating or reducing the rocket fuel in the baby formula in order to bump up sales. Regulating is best left to business decisions.
This is just free-market capitalism 101 people. Wake up America! It’s time to take our country BACK. We need to go back.
BACK! Back to 19th and a half, Cen-tury!
Liberals and socialists are funny. Touch one insane government program or cut one outrageous regulation or reduce the amount of increase in spending and we turn into Somalia and die in the streets overnight.
Only bigger and bigger government can save us.
Funny how socialists countries throughout history and up to today have had massive famines and starved millions of their citizens. In what used to be “breadbaskets” before socialism.
“You didn’t build that!”
“socialists countries throughout history and up to today have had massive famines and starved millions of their citizens.” 2012, 2banana describing modern-day Scandinavia.
20 arrested in housing protest in Castro
“In San Francisco we have anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 homeless people, yet we have all these empty buildings,” he said. “Do the math. Why are we not using them?”
I am doubtful that this group did their homework, but if the masses ever do the math and figure out how many vacant houses are owned by the banks….
California, the land of fruits and nuts (and labor unions)
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Human-waste-shuts-down-BART-escalators-3735981.php
Those Occupiers need to occupy a shower and get a job!
Mmm, yes, warehouse the homeless in empty residences. I can see nothing wrong with this plan. After all, I doubt they’ll bring any of the problems associated with chronic homelessness with them. /sarcasm
It’s an insane idea which fits in perfectly with San Francisco politics.
You’ll get no disagreement from me on that.
I know people who work in the field, so I have a different perspective than most. Here goes:
Housing the homeless — and those with troubles that often put them among the homeless — is not an easy job. You’re dealing with a population that has substance abuse issues, mental illness, and all the other things that add up to little or no success in life. You have to be very patient with them. And we’re talking patience that makes Job look like a slacker.
Clearly defined rules and regs are a must. And you have to be pretty firm about enforcing them.
Do people rise up from such dire circumstances? Sure. Happens every day.
What she said. ^
+1 Slim
I could use a neighbor or two that greets me with a cheery “PURPLE MONKEY DISWASHER RUTABEGA THE RADIO! THE RADIO!” instead of a boring “hello”.
Got shrinkage?
Oct. 11, 2012, 11:36 a.m. EDT
NYSE overall volume decreased last week
By Melodie Warner
Program-trading activity and overall volume on the New York Stock Exchange decreased last week, according to data from the NYSE Euronext unit.
For the week ended Oct. 5, daily program-trading volume totaled 377.2 million shares, making up 29% of the average daily trading volume. A week earlier, program-trading volume totaled 507.8 million shares, making up 34.4% of the average daily trading volume.
Overall average daily volume totaled 1.3 billion shares, down from the previous week’s 1.47 billion shares.
…
Either hyperinflation is here now, or a fat finger problem has inflicted the Marketwatch web site!
Crude Oil - Electronic (NYMEX) Nov 2012
Market open $9,246.00
Change +9,155 +10,033%
Volume 154,401
Oct 11, 2012, 11:30 a.m.
Quotes are delayed by 10 min
Previous close $ 91.25
Day low $91.09
Day high $9,294
Open: 91.27
52 week low $78.84
52 week high $9,294
“Total indebtedness including that of federal and state governments and consumers has fallen to 3.29 times gross domestic product, the least since 2006, from a peak of 3.59 four years ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.”
It was 1.5 times GDP for 50 years before 1980. When it gets down to double, perhaps we’ve gotten out of this. But basically, Romney/Ryan are promising to restart the party, and Obama doesn’t seem to understand that what has happened is that the party ended.
The banks must be getting a little anemic, having lost so many slaves.
Imagine the outrage if this was organization that solely supported republicans
——————————————-
Video: Unions Fine Members Who Don’t Show Support for Elizabeth Warren
Weekly Standard | October 11, 2012 | MICHAEL WARREN
A source sends along this video of a union member supporting Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren outside of a debate Wednesday night in Springfield, Massachusetts. The cameraman asks the union member if he was at an earlier debate between Warren and her Republican opponent, Senator Scott Brown.
“Uh-huh,” the union member says, nodding.
“Did you guys get fined if you weren’t there?” the cameraman asks.
“Yeah,” the union member replies.
“How much did you get fined?” the cameraman asks.
“A hundred and fifty,” the man says, although he later adds, “It’s two-fifty if you don’t go.” Watch the video below:
https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/are-unions-fining-members-who-dont-support-warren_654203.html
Imagine the outrage
Currently linked on Drudge, top story on right column.
Keep picking that low hanging fruit
Guy doesn’t look like a union guy. Looks more like one of those little twerp Republicans.
I’m throwing the BS flag.
This isn’t the first instance in a Massachusetts Senate race where unions have been accused of generating fake grassroots support for the Democrat.
In 2010, before Brown’s victory in the special election, a union member wearing a shirt supporting the Democratic candidate, Martha Coakley, told a local blogger on camera that he had been paid $50 to wear the shirt but that he was actually voting for Brown.
Certainly wouldn’t be the first incident of the other side using staged propaganda. See ACORN videos and selective editing.
Ok - so tell me. What is a union guy supposed to look like?
Be specific. Race. Gender. Facial hair. Blank look in his eyes. Etc.
What is a union guy supposed to look like?
Like Clint Eastwood.
SAG, LA Local baby!
“A source?”
A source? Like that ACORN source?
Ye…ah. We’ll see.
Hope everyone is doing okay! It’s been a little while since I’ve posted (but I do check in still.) It’s been a ride. I’ve watched the landlords of the commercial space I rent go to prison. One got 11.5 years other is awaiting trial. Bank and historic tax credit fraud related to Bank of the Commonwealth. The building I rent in ended up having it’s loan bought by another sketchy investor guy who is converting it to 119 apartments. He bought the 7 million dollar distressed loan for 3 million and foreclosed. Originally the prior owners were going to probably avoid bankruptcy on the building but once all the fraud with the Bank of the Commonwealth hit all bets were off.
Looking for a new spot I’ve pretty much found that most property owners in our area are liars / slimeballs. But not to be unexpected.
A *whole* bunch of other stuff came out on the landlords, all the way down one of them holding a female employee at gunpoint in the stair well demanding sexual favors.
What a coincidence. I just heard about someone I vaguely knew going to the federal slam for fraud. Someone that some other people I knew thought were trustworthy.
Fed time. That’s some damn serious fraud, there!
Oops.
Beatch! Nice to see you again. Keep up posted?
“A *whole* bunch of other stuff came out on the landlords, all the way down one of them holding a female employee at gunpoint in the stair well demanding sexual favors.”
Wow!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-11/california-leading-u-s-out-of-housing-bust-mortgages.html
I got this from CNBC
Foreclosure activity jumped on a year-over-year basis in 14 out of the 26 judicial foreclosure states. New Jersey saw a 130 percent increase, New York a 53 percent jump and Pennsylvania a 35 percent increase. This will make it harder for overall home prices to improve in those states, as distressed home sales bring values down.
It is a far different story in California, where overall foreclosure numbers are still high, but are down 45 percent from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac. Eager investors, as in Arizona, are standing ready to buy distressed properties, but they are finding little supply, and that is putting upward pressure on prices at the low end.
The inventory of lower-priced homes, in fact, is down more than 40 percent in California from a year ago, according to a new report from Zillow ( Z). That is making it harder for first-time home buyers, who are in competition with often all-cash investors.
“First-time homebuyers are being squeezed out of the market by falling inventory and the rapid influx of investors looking to buy basic homes to rent out to the growing population of people who have recently been foreclosed upon,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow chief economist. “Investors are paying in cash and can close sooner, which is more favorable to banks and homeowners looking to sell.”
I rent out an upstairs room in my house. Without exception, the female housemates always paid rent promptly on the first of the month. On only one occasion, one woman was a week late and felt horrible about it.
On the other hand, the male housemates all were chronically late and had to be reminded that rent was due. On more than one occasion they had to move out because of not being able to make rent. The only one that paid on time had his wife (at the time living in the Midwest) writing the checks.
Draw your own conclusions, I just found my experience to be interesting. I also wondered how much different our country – both in business and politics - would be if run by females versus males.
Because nothing says “leadership” like this:
http://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/img_4441.jpg
Do you really want me to post a link to hillary in a bathing suit dancing with bill on the beach…
I will take a gun toting, bear hunting, ex-governor any day…
Me too, because they quit before they spend enough time to do some REAL damage. Love the lazy politicians!
Draw your own conclusions, I just found my experience to be interesting. I also wondered how much different our country – both in business and politics - would be if run by females versus males.
That’s what we gals have been trying to tell the world.
We have had a female leader, at the present time so do Germany. I can only say they seem to be more male than the males
The Premiers of both Alberta and BC are both female and they both seem to know how to hold their own. They’re in a head-to-head over the pipeline from the oil sands to the coast.
Many thousands of years ago, it was.
I always wonder what happened.
Violent forced evictions are increasing in China as local governments seek to pay off debts by seizing land and selling usage rights to property developers, Amnesty International said in a report on Thursday.
The report, entitled “Standing Their Ground”, said growing numbers of Chinese have been forced from their homes in both rural and urban areas, with evictees sometimes beaten, imprisoned, or even killed at the hands of authorities.
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/China_forced_evictions_on_the_rise_rights_group_999.html
Can you have a successful capitalistic economy without private property rights?
Can you have a successful capitalistic economy without private property rights?
Never.
You might not be able to build one without them, but you can probably take a strong one and then coast a long time after taking them away.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/11/the-republican-or-the-war-criminal/
Obamney 2012!
It has been said here before; the public retirement systems are there for the sharks.
CalPERS poised to buy major Chicago-area mall
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/11/4903085/calpers-poised-to-buy-major-chicago.html
A new study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology reports that live insects were found in 47% of firewood bundles purchased from big box stores, gas stations and grocery stores in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121008134224.htm
I wonder how much of that firewood (mostly pine) is from diseased trees? This (diseased trees) is a big problem in the Rocky Mountain region described above.
In most metro areas of Colorado, wood burning fireplaces are not allowed in new construction.
If you were going to pick some trees to burn and others to leave standing, would you choose to burn insect-infested trees or healthy trees to burn?
Socialists never think that the producers and the entrepreneurs will just get up and leave taking their money and jobs with them.
Socialist truly believe that it is ALL their money and assets to spend how THEY see fit. After all, they know what is best.
Socialism works until you run out of other people’s money.
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Greece’s biggest company flees, bottler CCH to Switzerland
Reuters via Yahoo News | 10/11/12 | Harry Papachristou
Greece’s biggest company, Coca Cola Hellenic, is leaving the country, the drinks bottler said on Thursday as its move to Switzerland and a London listing for its shares dealt a blow to the crippled Greek economy.
The immediate material impact on Greece is limited - its Greek plants stay open and CCH said the small portion of it activity that the world’s second-ranked Coke bottler has in Greece will be unaffected. But analysts quickly saw it as bad news for a nation struggling to compete inside the euro zone.
Leaving socialist Greece for new HQ in socialist Switzerland and listing on stock exchange in socialist UK. Nice try
Switzerland and UK socialist? Nice try.
UK has socialized medicine and state pension. I thought that was the definition. Switzerland has Obamacare.
Does medicare and social security make us socialist? There is no question that the move from Greece was to escape the taxation that comes with a true socialist state and there is no question that the two countries mentioned are less socialist than Greece. That was the overall point of the post and 2bannana was correct, businesses and productive people will flee excessive taxation caused by too many socialistic programs.
also they both have great public transportation.
Does medicare and social security make us socialist?
No. Thank you and that’s the point. Almost all American people advocating for such things as universal health-care, higher wages, unions, and protecting Medicare/SocSec are NOT socialists.
Highest federal income tax rate in Switzerland 11.5%. London is one of the capitals of the capitalist system.
Socialism works until you run out of other people’s money.
Capitalism works until you “earn” all the 99%’s money.
…and avoid hiring them to do anything productive with it.
The truth about California?
Negative Equity By State. California? In The Top 10
http://mhanson.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/EFF-NEG-EQUITY-ALL-STATES-3.png
The truth is that this slide is not about people who have “negative equity” as you note. This is a slide about people who’s loan is more than 80% LTV. Which the author says is “effectively” negative equity, implying that they are “trapped” in their homes. This is wrong. At 85% LTV, there is nothing that is keeping me from selling (unless of course, I have a 2nd DOT, which the author doesn’t have data on).
In any event, just how bad is CA with THIS metric relative to the US as a whole?
US Average 49% of homes more than 80% LTV
CA 53% of homes more than 80% LTV
Pimp….. you lie so often you’ve completely lost track of what the truth is.
Folks,
DO NOT trust housing…. realtors… mortgage salesmen or liars like “Rental pimp”.
LOL…wait for my next post, which has yet to arrive due to the link attached…
PW - don’t know if you saw my post yesterday, but put an offer on a fannie mae owned property during the “first look” (owner occupied period) and i’m pretty sure the realtor didn’t even submit my offer. he claims it was rejected with no counter. i’m watching to see the price lowered for the “investor” he’s already got lined up. i really detest liars.
Demand a written rejection. I just walked someone thru the process in CT. You have to pull the state code and verify that it’s a requirement before you invoke it.
In the case of my coworker in CT, the realtliar didn’t provide it until he demanded it and quoted the state code. Only then did he get the written response. According to the Liar, there were two other offers on the house(advertised as a short). The house is still for sale, two 6 weeks later.
Play hardball. Offers at 40% of asking. Demand accountability. KNOW what you’re talking about when working with Liars. You don’t have to be nasty. Just ask the simple question and do not move on to the next subject until they give you a solid answer. If they don’t know, ask them to get you an answer and establish a deadline. Do not backpedal. YOU steer it. You’re the one with the $$.
Thanks PW - i just sent the e-mail requesting the response from to my offer. he previously said he would e-mail me the response since i’m in japan (of course he doesn’t seem to respond to anything until i e-mail him and there’s proof of my request). he wouldn’t take my offer until i requested it via e-mail either. i am going to call fannie mae and verify they received the offer too. this property is listed with a no name agency that was formed 2 years ago and the agent that showed me the property just hung his license there the week before he showed me the property. it’s all moot, since my husband and i feel that the house will go for way more than we’re willing to pay. in the unlikely event they call us back, we’ll lower our offer. we offered 50% of asking and i really don’t want the house! (long story).
and i love the ‘ole “we have other offers” thing. a realtor tried that on me once and I managed to find out from the listing agent that my offer was the only one coming in and when I got to the meeting, to put the offer in, I lowered it by 30k. haha he was shocked. we ended up still backing out of that deal when fannie mae wanted to extend closing. guess what, that house went down another 30k from what we negotiated over the next months. a wise man once said “housing is a depreciating thing, don’t buy now”. i do enjoy your posts! thanks for responding to mine.
The Stones just pinched out a new tune, ‘Doom and Gloom’.
http://news.yahoo.com/rolling-stones-sings-zombies-video-160031417.html
Such a perfect song for our times. It’s time for a reality reboot, maybe Bishop Romney can lead us to our manifest destiny.
That’s “President Romney” to you :-).
A little Mormon humor…he was also Stake President, which is considered a higher office and is over several bishops.
Stake Presidents generally are part of the 1% if not the 0.1%.
Question for you, Carl (or anyone else who thinks they know): Is financial independence, in the form of sufficient savings to pay for all possible future living expenses, a precondition for stake presidency?
(P.S. This is a trick question, as I already know the answer…)
I’d be curious to hear your answer then, because you must know more than I do. I don’t generally run in those circles, although I did run into a member of my Stake Presidency in the Boston airport recently, and yes, he is financially secure.
The Stones just pinched out a new tune, ‘Doom and Gloom’.
nice!
My son’s soccer team has TEA party parents swarming the sidelines. I’m tempted to ask them how they feel about playing on a municipal field…
And remind them that they got to the soccer game on a government road.
Well, don’t give them any ideas.
Next they’ll be pushing for charter roads (as part of transportation reform). These roads will be the same as current roads, or worse, and not everyone in the community will be allowed access to them.
I should add that a previous resident warned me that waterfront parents do not associate with non-waterfront parents… I did not believe him, but it’s mostly true.
“My son’s soccer team has TEA party parents swarming the sidelines. I’m tempted to ask them how they feel about playing on a municipal field…”
Mr. Potato head…The tea party is not anti-government, but keep throwing out those bogus arguments.
It looks like Ryan is going to mop the floor with Biden’s face.
Or maybe not.
How sad that statesmanship these days is associated with bombast. Would have loved to hear what they had to say in an actual debate debate.
That said, Martha Raddatz came out on top.
Biden was chosen to keep the anointed one alive…and it worked!
Not really. I was duly impressed with the bit of the debate I heard with how both candidates were holding their own. Ryan is much slicker when it comes to speaking off the cuff, but Biden seemed pretty strong once you got past his clumsy oratorical style.
I found myself relieved that whoever ends up heartbeat away from the presidency will be well-qualified (unlike when Dan Quayle was VP, or how I would have felt if Sister Sarah had made it to the office…).
IMHO, Biden should have wiped the floor with Ryan on foreign policy, and while I think he “won” on the the subject matter, Ryan held his own and beat the spread, so to speak.
And Ryan should have wiped the floor with Biden on issues of tax, debt and deficit, and Biden’s interrupting, bumbling through the numbers I think handed Ryan the “win” there.
Biden’s laughter came off condescending.
Ryan came off sincere.
Overall, I think the goal of Ryan was to not give up the ground Romney gained in the last debate…I think he succeeded.
I think the goal of Biden was to try to make up ground that Obama lost during the last debate…I think he failed.
“Biden’s laughter came off condescending.
Ryan came off sincere.”
In America, acting counts more in politics than substance, and Ryan is a much better actor than Biden is.
I kept thinking that if you closed your eyes, Biden sounded just like the announcer from the movie “Best In Show”. (the dark haired annoying guy).
I missed the debates ,but I guess I can pick it up later .
It seems by the after talk that Dems want to cut costs of Medicare by lowing costs ,Rep’s want the private sector to accompolish that goal by competition .
My question is, hasn’t this price fixing insurance monopoly we call the medical system, in which we pay high retail for BIG Pharma , proven that costs will skyrocket .We don’t have a free market competitive medcal system ,so why the suggestion from the Rep’s that this is going to drive costs down .
I also don’t understand this death panel thing . I watched the private insurance companies push medical choices for their greater profits ,so who are these people trying to kid .
I just think the Rep’s are spinning the same old free market BS when everybody knows every system is so rigged now that free market is
a illusion . It’s stacked decks and picking winners and losers .
Best choice is for people to just decouple from the systems because the systems have decoupled from the people in this Military /Industrial takeover .
Went shopping for my wife tonight and was struck by the price of bread — almost all the loaves were in the $3-$5 range.
The Bernanke’s QE3 seems to be working great!
CCIBT….I went shopping also and I also noticed the price of bread and a number of other items that had gone up .
Oct. 11, 2012, 8:01 a.m. EDT
Treasurys and dollars are your best bets now
Commentary: Stock and commodity bubbles are in trouble
By Keith McCullough
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (MarketWatch) — The stock market is not the economy but, eventually, they collide. To get stocks right, you need to get both growth and earnings right.
While some say “stocks are cheap,” I say “cheap” gets cheaper if you’re using the wrong growth, margin, and cycle assumptions. Although they’ve tried, the Fed can’t smooth those bumps.
Accordingly, I’m bearish on both stocks and commodities, for three reasons:
1. Economic growth in the U.S. and globally continues to slow.
2. U.S. corporate earnings slowing is a major market risk.
3. Bernanke’s commodity bubble is primed to deflate.
In other words, the bear case is quite similar to the October 2007 and October 2008. While bulls remind me (daily) that the “market is up year-to-date,” I’ll remind them that it was up double-digits in October 2007 too. That was the all-time top.
It didn’t matter then — until it did — but US Growth was slowing in the third quarter of 2007. While October 2007 was an “up” month for the market, bears will recall that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index SPX lost 4.4% in November 2007 and didn’t look up for quite a while thereafter.
Wall Street against the wall
To make the bear case even bubblier, Ben Bernanke has signed off on the third major policy-driven asset bubble of the last 15 years: The Internet in 1999; housing in 2006, and now commodities.
With the U.S. dollar debauchery (down dollar = up oil) driving correlation risk across asset classes again, this balloon in commodities is Bernanke’s.
While the words “correlation risk” have never found their way into the vernacular of our almighty central planning overlords, they are driving gross exposure to massive commodity inflation bets.
CFTC data measures futures and options contracts. At the Bernanke Bubble top (printing to Infinity & Beyond in the 2nd week of September), gold and oil contracts busted a move to test their all-time (and February 2012) highs.
Yes, all-time is a long time, and bubbles are bubbles, until they pop. But we also heard that popping sound which crushed gold, oil, and the S&P 500 from the March 2012 highs to the June lows.
Ladies and Gentlemen prefer bonds here for good reason. Are they expensive? Sure. So is hurricane insurance in Louisiana.
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Beware the Ben Bernanke put
October 11, 2012 by Chris Rees
This market walks on the dubious crutches of the good Doctor Ben Shalom Bernanke. Our dollar bills should read ‘In Ben we trust’. The Bernanke Put will protect us all. This new invincible Atlas can carry the world on his shoulders. His medicine will cure all ills. Fear not. Buy the dips. Invest with abandon. Ben has your back.
This market wide reliance on the Federal Reserve Bank’s chairman’s belief system makes us nervous. We truly have arrived at a faith-based economy. But is it smart to buy the Bernanke ‘wealth effect’ doctrine lock, stock and barrel or is some caution warranted? We’ve been thinking about this and when we do two words keep pushing their way to the front of the thought process. Those two words are ‘event risk’.
During 1999 and through to mid-2001 (pre-Covestor) we had built an investment portfolio heavy in hotel stocks. While our exposure to hotels had grown uncomfortably high, we weren’t overly concerned as each was very close to our sell targets and we expected to reduce exposure within days or weeks.
Then September 11th came. All hotel stocks got brutally crushed. On that day the world changed for many people. As investors it changed our world too. We decided we needed to incorporate a permanent additional discount to our valuation work to help insure against unforeseen and unrelated event risk.
This additional protection has served us well over the years. And we’ve been thinking about whether the current market carries an adequate event risk discount for one simple reason: Nobody seems to talk about it anymore. We were intrigued. It seemed to us event risk was discussed much more a few years ago. Had investor complacency set in due to the euphoric stimulant effect of one too many Bennies?
In search of answers we hotfooted over to Google Trends and punched in ‘event risk’. Google only has data since 2005 but it still tells an interesting story. In July 2005 ‘event risk’ search volume reached a high of 100 on their scale. It’s fallen steadily since then. As of September 2012 it stood at 25.
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