Bits Bucket for January 25, 2013
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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A few selected thoughts from CA Governor, Jerry Brown’s State of the State speech yesterday:
-This means living within our means and not spending what we don’t have. Fiscal discipline is not the enemy of our good intentions but the basis for realizing them.
-Constantly expanding the coercive power of government by adding each year so many minute prescriptions to our already detailed and turgid legal system overshadows other aspects of public service.
- Lay the Ten Commandments next to the California Education code and you will see how far we have diverged in approach and in content from that which forms the basis of our legal system.
-Montaigne, the great French writer of the 16th Century, in his Essay on Experience, wisely wrote: “There is little relation between our actions, which are in perpetual mutation, and fixed and immutable laws. The most desirable laws are those that are the rarest, simplest, and most general; and I even think that it would be better to have none at all than to have them in such numbers as we have.”
-This year, as you consider new education laws, I ask you to consider the principle of Subsidiarity. Subsidiarity is the idea that a central authority should only perform those tasks which cannot be performed at a more immediate or local level.
-We also need to rethink and streamline our regulatory procedures, particularly the California Environmental Quality Act. Our approach needs to be based more on consistent standards that provide greater certainty and cut needless delays.
http://www.kcet.org/shows/socal_connected/rawfeed/politics/jerry-brown-state-of-the-state-2013.html
Is he a republican?
reagan?
One of my co-workers has this hanging on his office wall:
http://www.amazon.com/Reagan-Ranch-2013-Calendar-Ronald/sim/B0090PTF1Q/2
He is a Grover Norquist, shrink-the-government, Romney/Ryan voter.
And also a “double dipper” contractor employee who is also collecting a federal pension.
Funny how that works, isn’t it?
michael and bunga, please don’t muddy the water here.
It’s no longer time to hold fast to “we” versus “they” culture war dogma.
Look where it’s gotten us. All are guilty, republicans and democrats alike.
So here’s Brown saying something sensible. Be happy that he is. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Remember that neocons (or if you want, call them progressives, since their basically the same) flood all areas of federal and state government. Neocons and progressives alike are bad.
Doubt me?
Consider how easy it was for Chris Christie to cross the aisle and be accepted so readily by Democrats.
That he had no qualms about it - and that Democrats had no qualms embracing him - is yet another example/proof of the incestuousness of today’s politicians.
Most are neocons. Most are progressives. One and the same.
I’m not sure if you are a Republican, but you (Macbeth) are the most credible right-leaning contributor on HBB.
squad:
1) It’s easy to be in favor of creative destruction when one’s job is not at risk.
2) It’s easy to be for bootstrappiness while one is pulling a steady paycheck from the government.
3) It’s easy to be brave from a safe distance.
However, bravery in battle exists and is lauded. Creative destruction can lead to good outcomes. And bootstrappiness is good for motivated individuals and the society.
It’s just gross when a fatcat starts being “brave from a safe distance” with other people’s lives.
Mac,
Are you seriously conflating Glenn Greenwald with Karl Rove, or am I taking this out of context?
“…Remember that neocons (or if you want, call them progressives, since their basically the same)….”
joe bobo smith = MacBeth
As IF Reagan had the chops to deliver a speech like this from memory. Let alone write it.
Is he a republican?
He is Jesuit educated.
Jerry Brown (aka Governor Moonbeam) is a lifelong Democratic son of a lifelong Democratic father — who was also a Governor of California, Edmund G. (Pat) Brown.
“Is he a republican?”
This is an “only Nixon could go to China” moment, and I think Gov. Brown realizes this.
Cool…maybe He will finally understand a War on Ebonics helps everyone??
Subsidiarity is the idea that a central authority should only perform those tasks which cannot be performed at a more immediate or local level.
Tell that to people who want to defund public schools.
Why should it take more $$$$….Its a policy……from the top
Either learn English or fail…..the only real cost would be paying lots of teachers to teach English in summer school. Kids would not be happy with that…..
Hopefully the next year they get the message and and lots of students would have their vacation back..casue like um they passed…
Dude, it’s all the teachers can do to keep control of their classes in Ebonics-land. I’m sure they try to teach standard English, but the kids revert to their charming patois as soon as they’re back in the hallway.
And what can the teachers do to those who refuse to learn? Fail them? They don’t care if they fail. And if you take their cheese away from them, they’ll just resort to crime and end up in our expensive prison system.
we could empty out prisons of the non violent small time drug users lots of spaces could open up for those violent losers.
I dunno Ohbewanna says nothing about functional Illiteracy yet 90% of prisoners have that “quality”.
My plan was always to give the maximum sentences consecutively, and if you want early release read the NYTimes in front of a parole board….since most barely read at the 6-8th grade level….it will take them some time to overcome the stigma of acting white. But again maybe Ebonics has such a hold on them it’s hopeless.
Those kids are all capable of speaking perfectly standard English, dj. They don’t choose to use it when you hear them on the sidewalk or the subway, but they can and almost certainly do when they are in school. Even in the unlikely situation where they didn’t hear from their relatives growing up, they watch the same darn TV shows as every one else.
Your ignorance of the fact that there are plenty of people who are “bilingual” in standard English and a slang form of English remains disturbing.
And what can the teachers do to those who refuse to learn?
It’s gone out of style since the advent of more “liberal” thinking around education, child-rearing, and human rights in general, but corporeal punishment worked back in the day…
My mom told me numerous stories of her and her sisters living in fear of the nuns who ran their catholic school back in the 50’s. It didn’t make them perfect little angels, but they damn well never acted out like kids today.
Ok Polly if they are capable….why isn’t your president making this an important part of education reform? Does he want to keep the status quo, and the schools here in Jamaica and far rockaway are just training grounds for Rikers Island?
Just what do you have against black people Polly? It is the only real difference between a failing school and a good one, the expectation you will speak English while on school grounds.
Perhaps, Northeastener, it did work for your mother and your aunts, but I was reared by nonviolent parents and a school system that eschewed corporal punishment and I didn’t act out (beyond what was pretty typical boy behavior).
The facts surrounding punishment are well studied. Punishment causes an immediate reduction in the behavior, but mostly it causes the recipient to avoid the punisher at all costs. It also causes the recipient to habituate to the punishment and therefore require more forceful punishment. The truth is the reason parents and educators use corporal punishment is that it is immediately gratifying (and therefore reinforcing). Say stop and give a child a slap and they probably will stop. Long term it’s a barbaric and poorly chosen approach.
I work with children with autism with severe behavior problems, and generally keep everything under control with positive behavior support. Which is not to say that punishment should never be used, but it should be a last resort.
And I hope the only one here who finds himself scratching his head at aNYCdj’s pointing fingers at those who not use language correctly. I’m sorry, I generally avoid ad hominem attacks, but dj, read your posts carefully some time, they’re generally rambling and barely coherent.
Lionel…you just have to think outside the box and it will make sense.
Why are we so scared to try anything new? we know what is being taught today doesn’t work very well or at all.
So lets start at square ONE…..demanding those born in America …..to speak English.
Forcing people to only speak one language (or, rather, one particular dialect of one language) in public places is a violation of the right to free speech. It is unconstitutional.
Why do you care about the way kids talk on the sidewalk?
Watching Polly talk sense to the obstinate dj is one of the gear joys of hbb.
I, myself, am happy I can speak (and more importantly understand) the local dialect as well as being conversant in standard english.
“We also need to rethink and streamline our regulatory procedures, particularly the California Environmental Quality Act. Our approach needs to be based more on consistent standards that provide greater certainty and cut needless delays.”
This is coming from the person that when AG of CA teamed up with the Sierra Club to sue the City of Stockton on their General Plan. I’ll believe the streamlining of CEQA when I see it. This is the biggest impediment to housing construction in CA.
yeah, and if there’s anything we need in CA, it’s more houses !(for people who can’t afford them)
We absolutely need more housing. This is the biggest reason prices are high here…we don’t build enough.
Look at Texas–they can build forever, easy to get entitlements, etc. They never had NEAR the spike in prices that they had in California.
Plus in Texas being near the coast is not a good thing, unless you like super humidity and hurricanes.
East Texas is nice.
‘We absolutely need more housing. This is the biggest reason prices are high here…we don’t build enough.’
Hey fool… there’s millions of empty houses in CA.
the biggest reason prices are high here are the people who will pay any price and bear any burden to live here.
“there’s millions of empty houses in CA.”
Do you have a source for this claim other than a sunshine-less and stinky hole?
“But the government IS putting a gun to my head, forcing me to support programs I don’t agree with.”
So interesting that we must have a contingent of non-U.S. posters here on the HBB, hailing from countries that have taxation without representation, etc.
Best quote of that thread, for sure!
Then you must be not that bright.
And you must think it is appropriate to make ad hominem attacks here when you disagree with what someone else is saying.
And you must think it is appropriate to make ad hominem attacks here when you disagree with what someone else is saying.
I know you sure do and you don’t even think anything of it. I think you’re so warped in your echo chamber that you’ll never even be able to realize it.
Strawman mirror technique: Accuse the accuser of committing the exact same infraction he just called out in others.
And your stopped-clock application of this technique is getting tiresome. Why not instead contribute an interesting post every so often?
Michael, I hate to break it to you, but your stopped-clock posts suggest that you must not be that bright.
Michael,
Smart People listen to NPR, read the Huffington Puffington Post, and watch MSNBC.
Dumb people listen to conservatives and libertarians and watch Fox News.
You are too dumb to know what’s good for you, I will have to report you to central planning.
Rush Limbaugh is laughing at you. All of you. 400 million laughs.
He’s the epitome of a fat cat Republitard.
And he’s got 400 million reasons not to care what you think
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-01-25 08:58:51
And you must think it is appropriate to make ad hominem attacks here when you disagree with what someone else is saying.
And he’s got 400 million reasons not to care what you think
If money could make Rush happy, we’d have quit hearing from him 300 million dollars ago.
Michael Viking, why do you take it personally when I point out that Rush is a bloated, bloviating windbag? You aren’t actually a ditto-head, are you?
Rush laughing? Yes, addictions to painkillers, obesity and unrelenting anger obviously correlate to happiness.
I always wonder why Rush (supposedly a “rugged individualist”, who has money to burn) doesn’t seriously try to improve his health. Even if he’s lazy… why not get lap band surgery?
Read his biography “An Army of One” and you’ll be surprised to learn how bootstrapping he actually is.
Despite coming from a wealthy, established family in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Limbaugh resisted his parents’ wishes that he complete college.
His life in his 20’s and early 30’s was essentially a failure. Getting fired from DJ jobs, moving around the country, getting divorced. He was in his mid-thirties when he got his big break with national syndication.
Nobody handed him a $400 million radio contract because he was the son of a 1%er, he earned it.
I doubt that he, or other radio personalities like Michael Savage really believe the tripe they say on the air. They just know that will sell.
Michael Wiener, nee Savage, was actually a well-respected botanist and herbalist before embarking on his new persona. I still rely on his classic reference guide, “Wiener’s Herbal”.
PS.
Nice one, goonie.
I think Rush believes the “tripe” but I don’t think he gets terribly upset about things either.
He’s very obviously a happy camper and enjoys his life immensely.
Limbaugh resisted his parents’ wishes that he complete college.
‘Round here we call it flunking/dropping out, even though mum and pop were paying. They probably continued to pay for his apts as he ‘found himself’.
I’m sure Rush thinks it makes him a freedom fighter.
Savage, nee Wiener. Sorry.
Savage, nee Wiener. Sorry.
Savage, born Weiner?
Kind of explains it all.
And a botanist to boot.
“Even if he’s lazy… why not get lap band surgery?”
I would never characterize someone as financially successful as Rush Limbaugh as ‘lazy.’ His considerable girth is a testament to his success.
hailing from countries that have taxation without representation, etc.
I thought the new meme was any taxation is theft. It doesn’t matter if the monkey pack voted on it.
You thought incorrectly.
You should get out more. Or read more HBB.
I thought the new meme was any taxation is theft.
I’ve heard that as well.
Obamacare was “passed” without the public having any idea of its contents.
You call that representation?
I don’t remember any public forums being held to review and discuss its contents.
Obama now has the “legal right” to imprison people without cause no trial.
You call that representation?
I don’t remember any public forums being held to review and discuss the matter. I wasn’t consulted. I wasn’t asked.
Perhaps our ideas of “representation” differ.
I expect my politicians to speak on MY behalf. That’s what “representation” is to me.
Politicians are servants. They are not given carte blanche simply because they hold office.
Who is paying you to serve up such eloquent defenses of the Republican platform here on the HBB?
He’s the only credible one, as I pointed out above. If Macbeth made a defense of Romney, I would listen up. It’s unlikely I’d change my mind, but I would hear him out for sure.
Why are you posting under a different name to compliment yourself?
I expect my politicians to speak on MY behalf. That’s what “representation” is to me.
So every single person gets their own representative?
I think you’re mistaking representative democracy with the demands of a toddler.
have taxation without representation
All political power is held at the muzzle of a gun. The comment has less to do with “taxation without representation” than the continual overreach of government, whether in the illegal and immoral use of force overseas to the continual stripping away of personal freedoms here in the homeland. The question of taxation and distribution is a large one, given the amount we are taxed, and where those tax dollars go. Not to mention the fact that we are borrowing $ .40 of every dollar in our budget.
Democracy isn’t perfect, and as can be seen in our case, easily co-opted by those with the money, resources and power to control media, messaging, and our “representatives” via lobbyists. I personally think we have the best form of democracy in the world, but I also think we are rotting from within. When more reasonable voices fail, violence is always an option, as can be seen from the founding of our country through the Civil War and the protests of the 60’s…
All political power is held at the muzzle of a gun.
Iceland has no standing army. Maybe that’s why it’s populace was able to tell the banksters to get lost.
+1
Iceland was able to tell the bankers to get lost because they were British bankers, not Icelandic ones. The Brits paid for the defaults and then asked Iceland to repay them. The Icelandic government said yes until the population nearly revolted. Then they had a referendum and voted it down because the goverment couldn’t stand up to the Brit bankers on their own.
Guns had nothing to do with it.
Maybe it was the mobs of people carrying pitchforks and torches rather than gunpowder.
“…All political power is held at the muzzle of a gun….”
Which is why the Vatican is so heavily armed these days. And how women keep abortion rights. Don’t be silly.
Must be an MSM lie, as tax-and-spend Democrats don’t balance budgets, ever…
I hadn’t realized that was JB’s background, but I do know a few from that background among my contacts from over the years; makes perfect sense.
Peoples’ backgrounds occasionally surprise me.
Look at William Kunstler and Daniel Ellsberg for two examples.
Just wait few months for a revised budget.
I do not think that in the end it will be balanced. However, I still give him props for trying to balance what people want from government with what government can afford.
Politicians balanced budget is as real as Manti Te’o’s girlfriend.
I already posted this yesterday, but this is definitely one of the most hi-larious articles about Realtors™ ever written; seems worth a repost for the benefit of today’s readers…
Cover Stories
Realty’s new reality | San Diego Reader
Bunny, bunny, bunny…
By Siobhan Braun, Jan. 16, 2013
I am in a conference room at the Hillcrest Keller Williams office among roughly 75 realtors that are pretending to be bunny rabbits. A middle-aged woman places her hands in front of her face, simulating buck teeth. She shouts, “Bunny, bunny, bunny!”
A woman in a pink-and-black-striped sweater lifts her lanky arms above her head, giving them the appearance of floppy ears. She hops in place before yelling, “Bunny, bunny, bunny!”
A man with a microphone hushes the bunnies.
“Very good,” he says enthusiastically. The room applauds.
“That was about lowering your inhibitions,” he continues. “Moving out of that fear of this will make me look stupid is really valuable in real estate. This next game pushes that teamwork thing even further.”
He instructs the agents to break into groups of 12. One person will pretend to be a tree; two are to imagine they are something related.
“I’m the tree,” says a man in a three-piece suit. He stretches his arms, making them branch-like.
“I’m a Christmas present!” a petite woman says, rolling herself into a ball at his feet.
“I’m a little girl opening that Christmas present,” says a blonde in a tight blazer. She bends down and pretends to unwrap the woman.
A spiky-gray-haired agent to my left says with a cynical sigh, “And what exactly does this have to do with real estate?” She looks exasperated.
A nearby realtor raises a judgmental eyebrow.
Five minutes later, the announcer again hushes the room. The realtors fill the available seats. Some must stand at the back of the room.
“That game is a great example of what real estate is really about,” says the announcer. “We have no idea what’s going to happen next.”
…
Oh, here it is….thanks CIBT
A spiky-gray-haired agent to my left says with a cynical sigh, “And what exactly does this have to do with real estate?” She looks exasperated.
A nearby realtor raises a judgmental eyebrow.
Okay, show of hands: Who had to sit through BS exercises like this at their workplaces? Y’know, like the “fall and the others will catch you” thing. Or the rope climbing. Or other nonsense.
And, on Arizona Slim’s Friday schedule, there are meetings with a potential client (wish me luck!) and a potential vendor (wish me luck!) and my acting class. Where I’ll be doing warmup exercises every bit as ridiculous as those done by the real estate agents in the story posted by CIBT.
But that’s the point. It’s acting class. You warm up by doing silly things.
Good luck and hope we can all avoid the team building classes in the new year.
My idea of a “team building” exercise is going out to an expensive restaurant on the company’s dime.
no, we escaped all that, but I followed the trend with horror. we did have a sales mgr who insisted we all go to his ski cabin for a retreat, but I refused. soon he left to start an internet B to B, and then went TU circa 2000.
At my old company years ago we had to go through some bullshit exercises. Not as bad as these.
The best one was when they had us all split up into random groups of 5 to get to know each other better. We had to introduce ourselves to each other, say something personnel about ourselves and then tell a little bit about what we do for the company.
I had the good fortune to have the CIO (Chief Investment Officer) in my group. He was one of the top 5 persons at the company. He seemed nice…got an MBA from Harvard or Yale or something. The best part was when he had to explain what he did.
True story…he started with…”well…I don’t actually “do” anything”.
He left the company a few years later…a multi millionaire from stock options
It’s not cheap to retain that kind of talent.
our ex CEO was really good at wind surfing he would stop off at Hawaii on his way to Korea
he left with about 9% of the company stock plus millions for his kids as well
I got down rounded which is only just as I was one of the first employees and he came on the scene very late
thus God’s will is made plain
At my old company years ago we had to go through some bullshit exercises
My all-time favorite was walking barefoot on hot coals, sending some of the participants to hospitals.
I think I just burst an aneurysm. Make me “do not resuscitate” and let me die.
For those Douglas Adams fans, the above people would be the 1st on the Golgafrincham Ship B.
If I ever need a realtor in San Diego, I want spiky grey haired lady.
Don’t tell them about the leaves.
Realtor - Bunnies??
Call Hugh Hefner.
Are interest-bearing investments soon to once again provide significantly positive nominal returns? Because it seems like safe long-term U.S. government debt has pretty much exhausted its nominal capital gains potential, leaving only deflation as a potential source of further real investment gains.
And deflation as a source of real returns on U.S. assets has about a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving for very long…
Soros sees soaring interest rates, strong euro
January 25, 2013, 4:44 AM
The U.S. economy is picking up steam and the Fed’s quantitative-easing approach is helping, but investors should watch out for a possible spike in interest rates once growth is well under way, billionaire financier George Soros warned as he made the rounds at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“Once the economy gets going, then interest rates are going to take a big leap,” Soros, the founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, told CNBC in an interview late Thursday.
Soros said the move is likely to happen in 2013 and “may have already begun.” Once uncertainty over the federal budget is overcome and investment decisions are made, “I think you’ll see it,” he said.
…
Seems like we could have some room to run in home prices.
The way car dealerships keep prices high is extending the loan length and lowering interest rates.
Housing has turned into the same payment game. as long as the payment doesnt change much no one really cares about price.
So with rates at 3.5% seems like they could go to zero and home purchasing power could expand. then add in a 50 year loan and you have some mojo to keep things up for awhile.
mom and pop are tired of being burned by jim cramer so they are turning to real estate. at least you know what you got.
mom and pop are tired of being burned by jim cramer so they are turning to real estate.
You have to have money to play stocks for most people. Mom and pop are in housing because they don’t have any money but can borrow cheaply to buy houses.
“You have to have money to play stocks for most people.”
+1 Homeowners can borrow against their equity to buy stocks. All aboard! What could possibly go wrong?
Thats OK bernake says he can control inflation no problem
it’s deflation he fears..
So I bet he lets inflation run for longer than a rational investor would expect seeing how he can control it so handliy
then when all is about lost he jack’s interest rates and we fall into a deflation again
I was listening to NPR (har har) the other day and heard an interesting story about Israel’s new “There is a Future” party. The interesting part had nothing really to do with politics, rather it was the more honest talk given by the candidate.
Watching a video of Lapid talking to English-speaking voters in Tel Aviv last month, you can almost feel the audience fall under his spell. Prowling the stage in a black T-shirt and sport coat, the 49-year-old former TV anchor warns the mostly young crowd that Israel’s high cost of living is taking away their future.
“I have some bad news. You will never have an apartment,” he says to laughter.
That’s because they will never be able to afford a mortgage in Israel’s out-of-control real estate market. The crowd seems to instantly see that this is what they should be worried about.
He moves on to another threat: the rapid growth in the number of Orthodox Jews, who don’t serve in the army and often rely on government support so they can study the Torah.
“And this will be the end of Israel. No country on earth can survive if 50 percent or more of the population are not participating, neither in defense or in the economy,” he says.
If only we had someone, from any party, who realized what the real housing problems were in the US.
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/23/170092293/an-israeli-political-newcomer-who-may-soon-be-an-insider
My apologies if this was posted earlier.
No country on Earth can survive when 50% of the population don’t participate?
Thank goodness we only have 47% who aren’t participating!
The Washington Post reports that 70% of Pentagon spending is for private sector, for profit, bootstrapping, rugged individualist, John Galt, invisible hand of free market, government contractors.
70% of the Pentagon’s $600B budget is $400+ billion a year (more than the GDP of Sweden or the Philippines according to CIA World Factbook).
Food stamps are $80B a year. But when the Drudge Report posts a link of people rioting at a welfare office, it reinforces the meme that hard-working Whitey is being taxed to death to pay for all those black and brown poors.
It’s not about the economic conditions that led to $80B of annual food stamp spending, it’s about the meme.
Know your meme. Love your meme. Live your meme.
Listen, we have nothing to worry about. We only have 47%, we’re good. No need to stir up the Drudge reporteth so it shalt be crowd.
The Pentagon is far more wasteful than food stamps. And, as goon notes, when we say “Pentagon” these days, we really mean Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, L-3 Communications (and it’s billion wholly owned subs), etc.
If we weren’t directing so much money towards unproductive, destructive, liberty-reducing “homeland security” and “defense” spending, we would actually have a functioning lower-end of the economic spectrum, thereby incentivizing marginalized people to work because it would be far superior to handouts. Furthermore, imagine if we took just 10% of the Pentagon budget and put it into early childhood education. If you don’t think that would be far more productive, you are not intelligent enough to walk around independently on city streets.
Better yet! What if we took just 10% of the military budget and didn’t spend it at all!
What a foreign concept, huh?
“its” not “it’s”
47% not earning enough money to have a net tax bill after taking into account the standard deduction, personal exemptions, child tax credit and EITC and a variety of other tax advantaged types of income is very different than 50% sitting around all day praying, reading a small selection of books and talking about them. To be fair, a lot of the wives do some kind of paid work.
Heck, a chunk of our 47% might actually be IN the army.
“70% of the Pentagon’s $600B budget is $400+ billion a year (more than the GDP of Sweden or the Philippines according to CIA World Factbook).”
Wall Street Walks as Defense, Tech Back Obama’s Campaign
By Jonathan D. Salant - Sep 17, 2012 12:00 AM ET
Defense Industry
Employees at the three biggest defense-contractors, Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), Boeing Co. (BA), and Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), have contributed $187,523 to Obama and $124,375 to Romney.
Defense analyst Bryon Callan of Washington-based Capital Alpha Partners LLC said defense workers have two reasons to back the incumbent: Many are members of unions and the president hasn’t sought to gut the Pentagon’s budget.
“The Obama administration has not been bad for the defense industry,” Callan said. “There haven’t been any big program kills. People are considering this along traditional party lines.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-17/wall-street-walks-as-defense-tech-back-obama-s-campaign.html - 154k -
“Employees at the three biggest defense-contractors, Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), Boeing Co. (BA), and Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), have contributed $187,523 to Obama and $124,375 to Romney. ”
This is peanuts compared to what Super PACs (e.g. Karl Rove “Crossroads GPS”) contributed.
Like it’s not even a rounding error.
“Defense analyst Bryon Callan of Washington-based Capital Alpha Partners LLC said defense workers have two reasons to back the incumbent: Many are members of unions and the president hasn’t sought to gut the Pentagon’s budget.”
WSJ: Unions contribute four times what FEC disclosures show
posted at 12:41 pm on July 10, 2012
by Ed Morrissey
In looking at this graphic, it’s clear that Democrats — which receive nearly all of union donations and support in elections — had their first billion-dollar-plus campaign in 2008, not in 2012. The FEC-reported combination of political spending in 2010 for the three big PEUs was $171.5 million, but that’s dwarfed by the actual level of political activism from Big Labor in that cycle, which went above $1.3 billion, when counting 2009 and 2010 together.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/10/wsj-unions-contribute-four-times-what-fec-disclosures-show/ - 81k
The smart people are getting out of Israel.
And where might they be going? Well, I’ll give you a hint: To a country with the initials U, S, and A.
But don’t we oppress our rich? Why would they come here? Why don’t they go to where the other rich people are threatening to go?
Oh wait…
…….where they will lobby the Federal government to “support” Israel, come hell or high water.
I can see it coming now…….the Israelis will continue to annex Arab lands, and stock them with Orthodox draft-dodgers/freeloaders.
When the Arabs finally get around to kicking them out, the Israeli lobby will demand that we send OUR guys over there to protect them from the Muslim hordes.
All of which will be rabidly supported by the red state, earth is only 6,000 years old, Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs like horses, awaiting the rapture, fundamentalist nutjobs.
Intelligent Design loving, sex-ed hating, women-should-have-babies-not-careers, etc.
Or maybe the people leaving Israel for the US are the ones who are appalled at what their government is doing in their name?
“He moves on to another threat: the rapid growth in the number of Orthodox Jews, who don’t serve in the army and often rely on government support so they can study the Torah.”
This sounds like an issue for the U.S. Congress to fund.
BY: Adam Kredo
January 22, 2013 4:01 pm
The State Department has refused to cancel or delay the delivery of several American-made F-16 fighter jets to Egypt, claiming that the arms deal serves America’s “regional security interests,” according to an official State Department document obtained by the Free Beacon.
The news that the Obama administration would uphold an aid package to Egypt that included the military hardware prompted concern on Capitol Hill from lawmakers who said the deal was not prudent given the political situation in Egypt, where Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohammed Morsi has clashed with democratic protestors.
“Sixteen F-16s and 200 Abrams tanks are to be given to the Egyptian government before the end of the year under a foreign aid deal signed in 2010 with then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,” Fox News reported Tuesday.
“President Morsi has failed to promote promised democracy in his country and neglected to continue Egypt’s legacy of maintaining peace in the region,” said Senator James Inhofe (R., Okla.). “I am alarmed and disappointed in the Obama Administration’s decision to decline my request to delay delivery of F-16s for further consideration.”
The State Department maintained in a January 8 letter to Inhofe that the arming of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood serves the U.S.’s “regional security interests.”
“Delaying or cancelling deliveries of the F-16 aircraft would undermine our efforts to address our regional security interests through a more capable Egyptian military and send a damaging and lasting signal to Egypt’s civilian and military leadership as we work toward a democratic transition in the key Middle Eastern State,” the State Department said.
“Egypt is a strategic partner with whom we have a long history of close political-military relations that have benefited U.S. interest,” said the letter, which was authored by assistant secretary for legislative affairs David Adams. “For the past 30 years the F-16 aircraft has been a key component of the relationship between the United States military and the Egyptian Armed Forces.”
“Maintaining this relationship and assisting with the professionalization and the building of the Egyptian Armed Forces’ capabilities to secure its borders is one of our key interests in the region,” Adams wrote.
“Egypt continues to play an important role in the regional peace and stability,” according to the letter. “In all of our engagements with President Morsi and his staff, they have reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to its international agreements, including its peace treaty with Israel.”
“Egypt was instrumental in negotiating the Gaza ceasefire, and continues to work with the parties involved to implement it and secure a more lasting peace,” the letter states.
Morsi was recently criticized for calling Jews the “descendants of apes and pigs.”
Observers on Capitol Hill said that it is dangerous to arm an unstable Islamist regime.
One senior GOP aide familiar with the deal said he is ”incredulous that a country that doesn’t have peace and stability within itself is playing ‘an important role in regional peace and stability’ as this letter claims.”
ok, so don’t give them the fighter jets, there are others whom they’ll buy it from, i.e Sweden, China, Russia, Argentina, etc. wait, it’s an aid so the way it works is that uncle same gives them X amount of hardware and they are than required to purchase X amount of ’services’ from the private , boot-strapping, rugged industrialists based in the US. read ‘confessions of a economic hitman’ for a nice overview of how these ‘aids’ to the 3rd world conuntries work - very enlightening.
+1 for Confessions of an Economic Hitman
The Argies make fighter jets? Or you mean they can buy used jets from them?
The Argies make fighter jets? Or you mean they can buy used jets from them?
According to Wikipedia, the Argentinian Air Force primarily flies French Mirages… makes sense, during the Falklands War with the UK, Argentina managed to hit British warships with Exocet anti-ship missiles, the Exocet missiles being of French design and manufacture.
ok, so don’t give them the fighter jets, there are others whom they’ll buy it from, i.e Sweden, China, Russia, Argentina, etc.
I’m not so worried about the F-16’s, as we control the spare parts and electronics supply, which could be cut off from Egypt if we had a falling out… same way the F-14 Tomcat’s provided to the Shah of Iran became obsolete the minute the radicals took over, as we cut off all necessary supplies for the maintenance and upkeep which prevented them from ever flying. Also, the F-16 is an old design and very much inferior to our F-22’s and the soon-to-be-in-service F-35.
The Abrams Main Battle Tanks are a different issue, as even the previous generation M1A1’s have superior armor and fire control to most tanks fielded by other countries (British Challenger II and German Leopard II being the exception), especially when augmented by additional layers of reactive armor. Again, we could cut off maintenance supplies and equipment, but the wear and tear and overhaul and maintenance schedules of an MBT are not as rigorous as those of fighter jets (gas turbine engine being the exception here).
If I was Israel, I would be lobbying very hard to not have those tanks delivered to Egypt. The Israeli Army supposedly only has about 300 Merkava Mark IV in service, which are probably the equal of the M1A1. The majority of Israel’s tank force are Merkava Mark III’s…
To put the M1 Abrams performance in perspective, in a tank battle in 2005, during the Iraq Invasion, a platoon of M1A1’s (the same version we sell to Egypt) took out 7 Russian-made T-72 MBT’s in an urban tank battle at ranges as close as 50 meters without suffering any casualties. This was the battle of Mahmudiyah…
Are the tanks and planes going to the Egyptian president? Or to the Egyptian armed forces?
I’m not so sure they’re the same entity.
There was an Arab Spring.
And while it wasn’t widely reported, it also came to Israel.
There’s a saying - well there should be - that when the US farts, the rest of the world’s eyes water. One has to wonder if US money printing has had an impact on the rising cost of living in the Middle East, and in developing countries:
“The Fed is expected to end one phase of its easing programs by the end of June. Under so-called “quantitative easing,” the Federal Reserve has been buying $600 billion in U.S. Treasury securities in an effort to keep U.S. interest rates low and drive investors into other riskier asset classes. One result has been a falling dollar and rising commodities prices, which has been felt much more in the emerging world than in the U.S.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42702751/Brazil039s_Rising_Inflation_Hampers_Growth
Here’s a decent chart of median house prices vs. median income. Scroll down a little bit, past the new house price graph (which is interesting in itself):
http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-recovery-in-housing-prices.html#.UQJntr-YtJI
The blogger also expects house prices to drop sharply when interest rates rise. I used to agree with this, but there are confounding factors: (1) interest rates do not rise sharply, so why would prices fall sharply? (2) Prices dropped 2008-2011 even when interest rates dropped at the same time (3) Even if interest rates rise, any resulting fall in prices will be checked when houses are snapped up by bottom feeders who buy cash and don’t care about interest rates. Isn’t that happening now? (4) The graph does not figure in regional factors.
1. What’s the definition of “sharply”? 25 bases point a quarter and you get 1% rate in one year. Is that slow?
2. Prices would have dropped even further if not for the massive support.
3. There’s not an endless supply of bottom feeders. The bottom feeders from today’s will be looking to unload and so will the chinese buyers when they realize that they have bought shite.
When you look at aggregates, it always masks important trends. Like oxide, I suspect that the decline in prices will be a “slide” rather than a “drop”. Of course, after a 5-10 yr slide, we could be looking at “CRATERING” prices. It’s just a question of the shape of the curve.
The other problem with aggregates is that “housing prices” is a pretty jumbled concept. It seems like prices would behave very differently for small houses where 80-90% of the sq ft is useful/lived-in space, whereas McMansions and larger houses could be hammered due to older demographics and a focus on value.
It’s an accepted economic principle that prices can be quite “sticky”. It doesn’t mean they won’t fall, just that there are a good number of basic economic principles mixed with behavioral economics that will moderate the drop.
“1. What’s the definition of “sharply”? 25 bases point a quarter and you get 1% rate in one year. Is that slow?”
When was the last time rates rose >25 b points in a quarter. I’m asking because I really don’t know. But it also seems unlikely.
Good news: Water usage is down in my town, thanks to more efficient appliances, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and conservation!
Bad news: Because of this, the water company wants to raise rates.
Lesson: If you want cheap water, waste it. For no dollar shall be allowed to escape.
Wait until the next fun chapter arrives. Due to the prevalence of low-flow appliances, you municipality will likely be replacing large sections of the sewer infrastructure. That will cost a pretty penny.
“Due to the prevalence of low-flow appliances”
The Best Of Kramer - The Shower Head - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrtQb24Qxw - 205k - Cached - Similar pages
Aug 11, 2008 … Kramer and Jerry are not pleased with the new “low-flow” shower …
Another example of micro clashing with macro.
If a system is set up and dependent on MOST people acting a certain way then most people need to keep acting in that way for the system to keep on working.
In this particular example, the environmentally conscious will be vividly reminded that their sh-t still does stink.
Al Gore’s sh*t doesn’t stink. It smells like money.
If you have a federally-enforced low-flow toilet, it’s quite possible that your shit does stink…at least longer than it might.
And that you must clean your throne more frequently.
HAHA i have old flushometers…..whoosh…loud boisterous Manly….take that!!!
Always loved the opening credits of “Married with Children” where the fountain in the park looses pressure with a flushing sound in the background.
There doing the same with electric cars. Gas consumption is falling due to conservation.
Virginia wants to do away with the gas tax and make it a sales tax, so that non drivers in the city can subsidize drivers in the country.
It get’s worse they also want to add a tax on electric cars. Nevermind that the same bill does away with the gas tax.
Hasn’t anyone here paid to pave their driveway? Gasoline tax was always a substitute for a road use tax. As long as most vehicles ran on gasoline or diesel, a tax per gallon consumed was an approximation of the actual usage of roads and the wear/tear of a given vehicle on public roads. Farmers or others who did not run their vehicles on public roadways were often exempted from these fuel taxes. Off-road diesel is dyed a certain color to verify whether or not taxes have been paid on diesel in on-road trucks. Some semi trucks in some states are exempt from paying the state tax at the pump and instead pay the state a fee based on miles driven in that state.
AFAICT, compressed natural gas is not being taxed for road use at the moment, and its use will increase as long as it’s a great deal cheaper than gasoline or diesel.
The obvious trend is a per-mile driven tax of some kind, or even making all public roads toll roads. Paving and maintaining of roads costs $, somebody’s got to pay the bill.
Virginia wants to do away with the gas tax and make it a sales tax, so that non drivers in the city can subsidize drivers in the country. Vehicle emissions standards are getting tighter and more expensive here in NE OH, a nexus of transcontinental truck traffic (look at a map of interstate highways). Drivers & local businesses in NE OH are paying dearly to support semitruck traffic here that is only passing through.
Due to the
prevalence of low-flow appliancesinadequate design, new EPA regulations, and extreme age of existing infrastructure,you municipality will likely be replacinga court will order the replacement of large sections of the sewer infrastructure. That will cost a pretty penny.Yep, we had the same thing with Commonwealth Edison a few years ago. Electricity use was way down, so…have to raise rates!
As I’ve pointed out numerous times, voodoo, er, supply side economics means charging people more when times are good and because of (artificial) scarcity of product and charging people more when times are bad because of scarcity… of profits.
Heads they win, tails you lose.
Commie talk. If you hate living in Invisible Hand Of Free Market USA so much, why don’t you go live in Cuba or Venezuela?
i hear you…i am sure the drinkable water industry is a bastion of Hayek-like free market principles.
At least on the east coast… you’re not paying for the water (there is plenty of it). You are paying for the maintenance and improvement of the infrastructure.
MD state and some of the counties have passed tough laws about sewers (to protect the Chesapeake Bay). And, closer to the city, some of the newer McMansion-y developments have to pay fees for the piping because the water system (wisely) realized that laying the amount of pipe needed for these sprawling developments doesn’t make economic sense.
They probably want to raise rates because while water usage may be down, so is water supply — which is what prompted the usage restrictions in the first place. And it’s only going to get more and more expensive as fracking contaminates more and more aquifers, and climate change redistributes water patterns.
Then there are the giant resource conglomerates er, oil industry, buying up potable water rights all over the planet. Water will be THE geopolitical issue of this century.
Wars will be fought over the “blue gold”
What article?
In the midst of an “AuctionDotCom” house buying experience (FL). Will provide details when available…
Some observations:
Holy Rush,rush,rush!, batman.
This takes balls of steel.
Inital impression is that the robo-signing shadow is starting to be released onto the market in a big way.
Anybody else buying anything at acution these days?
“Initial impression is that the robo-signing shadow is starting to be released onto the market in a big way.”
Release them and they will come, that is if you release them slowly enough.
Balance Supply with Demand and it’ll all work out.
Maybe.
What’s really crazy about all of this is that rising prices spawns rising demand. Raise the prices and the buyers come out of the woodwork.
In stores if goods are needed to be moved off the shelf then the store owners put the goods on sale - the store owners LOWER the prices.
In the real estate market if houses are needed to be moved then this happens when prices are raised.
“What’s really crazy about all of this is that rising prices spawns rising demand.”
This is the basis for Supply Side economics and why it works… for the PTB.
Creating artificial scarcity creates demand and enables prices to rise.
“What’s really crazy about all of this is that rising prices spawns rising demand. Raise the prices and the buyers come out of the woodwork.”
With a leveraged acquisition, this is how it works. When prices are falling, no one wants to put their down payment at risk. When prices are rising, people who would have bought on the way down (were it not for the direction of price movement) rush in.
Tell me if I missed it, but did anyone here predict the current RE bubble being re-inflated so soon?
If I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it.
I pointed out the S&L disaster lasted 6 years.
2007 to 2013 is…?
But it’s not over yet and too early to bet on it. We’ll know for sure by the end of the year.
Nope. I was expecting a bounce along the bottom for at least another 3-4 years.
We’ll know for sure by the end of the year.
Elaborate please.
I was expecting a bounce along the bottom for at least another 3-4 years.
I’m still waiting for the bottom.
From what I can tell, lenders have finally stopped the endless cycle of delaying/cancelling courthouse sales on their properties and are working with the online auction to list the houses within a day or two of the sale. Bam. The buyer has 24 hours to come up with the cash. It seems like they are trying to move the courthouse sale to the internet and I suppose that makes sense and will work.
The average buyers appear to be deep-pocketed investor group/profesionals who are looking to re-sell.
In other words, the average price of housing will go down, but for end users, prices will only go up as the infestors act as middlemen and extract a profit from each cosmetic flip.
Your thinking is more corrupt than we ever imagined.
My experience with auctions in general is that they are no bargain.
YMMV.
Same observation. The banks — who are in the best position to know the condition of the property, the status of the title, and so forth — will scoop up anything they think would be auctioned too cheaply. Then they will negotiate a low-rate deal with a Realtard (TM) to get a better price.
So you *could* get a bargain at an auction. But you could also get a house that has been wrecked, has structural problems, etc.
A buyer could easily think they’re getting a deal, only to later find out that the “bargain” house is in a neighborhood where half the other houses are in foreclosure and the “neighbors” aren’t so… nice.
I have become convinced that I never saw a person who drove a nice car, was well dressed and had a smart phone who received SNAP benefits from the government. I have also become convinced that I saw people who fit that description using SNAP cards after they paid 50 cents on the dollar for them. Which would make those people truly the scum of the earth.
Posted: 4:03 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013
Food stamp fraud costing Floridians millions
By Ana M. Valdes
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Guerra received $23,549 in food stamp benefits from 2009-2011, despite not being entitled to the aid.
The study, released during the quarterly meeting of the Medicaid and Public Assistance Fraud Strike Force, found a 7.5 percent rate of fraud within Florida’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food assistance to the state’s neediest residents.
In addition, the study showed, the state lost more than $100 million in fiscal year 2010-2011 because of overpayment of benefits.
“The results of this study confirm what my Division of Public Assistance Fraud has been seeing for years — public assistance fraud is a financial burden on our state and robs deserving Floridians of access to needed benefits,” said Florida’s chief financial officer, Jeff Atwater, in a statement.
“For the first time, this study shows us the scope of the fraud problem in this federal program and is the first step in laser focusing our efforts toward combating the fraud and ensuring that those who legitimately need assistance are receiving it,” Atwater added.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/breaking-news/food-stamp-fraud-costing-floridians-millions/nT6FS/ - -
A Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report
Buyers, sellers of food stamps use Facebook to connect
Trading benefits is illegal, but brazen business goes
By Jason Stein and Raquel Rutledge of the Journal Sentinel
June 4, 2011
In interviews and the Facebook posts themselves, the scammers say the deals work like this: The buyers typically pay 50 cents on the dollar for the benefits on Quest cards, either taking the card outright or borrowing it along with the seller’s private PIN number.
The buyers get twice the food for their money, and the sellers get cash to use on non-food items.
In effect, it’s an online version of the in-person solicitations and sales the newspaper found occurring at Milwaukee-area stores.
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/123172423.html - 289k -
Food stamps* and Obama phones** are bankrupting this country.
* as reported by the Washington Times
** and linked from the Drudge Report
“Food stamps* and Obama phones** are bankrupting this country.”
I guess you are right, there is so much fraud and waste why look at this fraud and waste. So what if there isn`t enough money for people who need it.
“The results of this study confirm what my Division of Public Assistance Fraud has been seeing for years — public assistance fraud is a financial burden on our state and robs deserving Floridians of access to needed benefits,”
U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ - 214k -
I believe that it has been documented that it would cost more to catch foodstamp cheaters than the money that would be saved, what with all those extra union goons retiring on 200K pensions and what not.
Of course, its probably worse than average in Floriduh. What isn’t worse than average there, crimewise?
The only fraud problem Florida is having is its failure to enforce.
“In effect, it’s an online version of the in-person solicitations and sales the newspaper found occurring at Milwaukee-area stores.”
Mortgage Brokers Unhappy with New CFPB Rules</b.
“Following the previous rules, CFPB has come up with another set of regulations for loan officers and mortgage brokers that could lead to many of them leaving the market.
…The CFPB rule will also ban the practice of increasing the total loan amount to cover credit insurance premiums, reports Housing Wire.
…Apart from the prohibitive rules, mortgage brokers will now have to pass eligibility standards depending on their nature of work. The standards require the broker to pass fitness requirements and character and background checks. Additionally, loan officers are required to undergo training to guarantee complete knowledge of loan rules prescribed by the government, reports National Mortgage Professional.
…However, NAMB - The Association of Mortgage Professionals expressed its outrage at the new rules…According to the executives at NAMB, the new rules will wipe out competition and make operation of small business units impossible.
http://www.realtytoday.com/articles/3352/20130125/mortgage-brokers-unhappy-new-cfpb-rules.htm
—————
So to them, throwing the scheisters and swindlers out of the origination market is “wiping out competition.”
For those who think the Dems and Repubs are the same, here is an example of where they are different. These regulations are a result of abuse encountered during the bubble. The framework for the rules was passed under Dodd-Frank,* CFPB was set up by Senator Elizabeth Warren,** and led by Richard Cordray.*** Would any Republican government have done this?
*Dodd-Frank was a Dem bill passed only with the cloture vote of retiring Senator George Voinovich (R-OH).
** Avowed lib Dem
*** Dem who was recess appointed by Dem Pres Obama
Boldly stated, oxide.
sorry… :blush:
Who helped them write the bill? Did the banks have any input?
Who do the banks bankroll politically? Both the Dems and the R’s.
http://www.picpaste.com/oligarchy-aKJuiSRb.jpg
That poster is for sale. I am so tempted to buy it & hang it in the back window of my camper shell.
“Mortgage Brokers Unhappy with New CFPB Rules”
Private mortgage lending would clean up this industry without the need for additional regulations. When the payments stop coming in on those used car loans, the bank simply recalls the loan. If the used car businessman doesn’t come in with cash for that loan balance it’s “game over” for any future loan discounting. Out of business!
Housing prices will never align with income while government provides mortgage guarantees.
“Private mortgage lending would clean up this industry without the need for additional regulations”
You must be joking.
Are you saying prviate mortgage didn’t particiapte in the bubble or was not invovled in fraud as well?
Naw, you couldn’t be.
The private banks only participated because they knew they could sell up the food chain. If they had to hold the loan to term, they would never have lent the money so recklessly. Or, as Polly says, they would have run out of reserves and made a lot fewer deals.
Of course, they would only lend to rich people and the working class and poors would be throwing away money on rent for life.
Of course, with the lower demand from fewer people able to borrow the money to buy, prices would have come down in an equilibrium shift.
I disagree. If loans are really that hard to get, then the middle class still wouldn’t be able to afford houses even if they were half the price. By the time house prices dropped that much, the rich would buy up the houses and rent them out. Isn’t that how it worked a hundred years ago?
prices would have come down in an equilibrium shift.
With demand cratering, prices would crater, you mean.
According to the executives at NAMB, the new rules will wipe out competition and make operation of small business units impossible.
An Oxide, what if that is exactly what the rules do and in fact were designed to do? Then, the democrats are just concentrating banking and I am suppose to be for that? I concede that the democrats and republicans use different tools to concentrate wealth at the top but don’t see how they differ in the ends just the means. I have friends at major brokerage firms and they are jumping through these hoops to become mortgage brokers required by their bosses.
Does requiring a plumbing licence concentrate plumbing? Or electricians? Has requiring a bar exam restricted the number of lawyers, and are lawyers required to join a big monopoly firm and not allowed to be their own business? What about doctors or professional engineers or pilots or teachers, or even Realtors? They all have requirements, why not loan originators?
I don’t know about you, but I like my professional services to prove that they have some competence.
Here’s a Drudge link worth sharing.
Filed under: one set of rules for me, another for thee
http://m.weeklystandard.com/blogs/feinstein-gun-control-bill-exempt-government-officials_697732.html
See also:
http://www.examiner.com/article/eric-holder-time-to-ask-hard-questions-about-constitutional-rights
After fast ‘n furious we should have been asking Holder more hard questions about whether not he was still qualified to keep his constitutional rights. But, alas; One set of rules for he, another for we.
Like most huckster politicians this guy is running negative credibility, the only way to regain any of his credibility he would need to perform ritual seppuku on the lawn at the national monument.
Reminds me of the Rosie O’Donnell fiasco where she was vehemently opposed to guns yet her bodyguard for her child carried one.
Our fruity friend asked if I wanted the DMV to be my parts supplier.
Depends on whether the DMV is being run by an experienced Democrat, or a Tea-bagger.
As it so happens, we had this very transition in out state a year or so ago.
Formerly, the DMV (both tags and licenses) was pretty efficient. Several sub stations, usually you were in and out in under 30 minutes.
Then we got Brownback.
-Lays off a bunch of staff. Shuts down a bunch of satellite offices. Selects cronies to develop the new computer system to “save money”
-Cronies drop the ball. Waits for tags become (and I’m not kidding) all-say affairs. Lots of unhappy bootstrapping car dealers.
-Renewals by mail are screwed up, because some tags/vehicles don’t make it into the new system. (Never received renewals on two of my cars……..took three visits to the DMV office to get them back on the system. My experience was not unique).
Recently found out that the smart money/people are driving to the tag offices in small/BFE counties for title work…….yeah, it’s an hour drive each way, but you are 99% sure that you will actually get it done.
On one of my visits to the big city tag office, I showed up at 8:30am, and at 2:30 they were sending people home (me included) because they couldn’t get to them before 6pm. Of course, you couldn’t get a “reservation for the next day.
Their recommendation? “The court house opens at 6AM”.
I’ve lived the Tea Party Dream, both personally, and in my job. It sucks, unless your #1 priority is a low tax bill, no matter how bad government services get.
Your entire life seems to be an endless stream of misery.
Thanks for sharing.
Your entire life seems to be an endless stream of misery.
He’s just willing to admit it, unlike most people who are too embarrassed to admit they are getting screwed.
“They told me “Cheer up, things could be worse…….Sure enough, I cheered up, and things got worse…..”
I used to like my job. I should have just stayed a dumazz wrench-turner, because as a salaried exempt, I deal with ten times the crap, but I don’t get ten times the pay.
Now it’s just a general pain in the ass, for many reasons.
One of them is “over-regulation”, which in my case adds to my workload, with no additional compensation. But what is the root cause of said “over-regulation”? The FAA trying to put the clamps on Galtian/bootstrappers, who insist on cutting corners. And lobbyists, for businesses who will sell services to the wretched refuse, as soon as they can con/convince the FAA into making it a mandate.
The business is 60% of what it was back in 2007. Nothing I’m seeing says its getting better anytime soon. The only people buying airplanes are the ones who already have airplanes, who are replacing their old ones with newer,bigger, better ones at fire sale prices. So the net gain in the job market is zero.
Nothing is more frustrating than working 20 years getting yourself into the exact place you need to be (experience, training, personally) to make the big bucks in a growing job market, then watch the whole thing go blooey. And that looks to remain “Blooeyed” for the forseeable future.
Assuming the economy stays “good”.
It could be worse. I could have gone to work for the airlines. Airlines were a great place to work circa 1960 (like my uncle did). Good thing I didn’t, because I’d have been subjected to 30 years of management screw jobs, instead of the 20 years we’ve been getting in Corporate.
I was talking with one of my mech school buddies the other day. (There were about 10-15 of us in the class, all of us were pretty much the same attitude/intellect wise). He’s pulling down about $150K/year. A couple of others are pulling down six figures. The rest of us who work in Corporate aren’t doing nearly as well. And we don’t even discuss what’s happened to our buddies in the airlines.
The high earners (unlike our Galtian/bootstrapping/”cream rises to the top”/Born-on-third, and think-they-hit-a-triple types) will be the first to admit that luck and (especially) knowing the right people had about 90% to do with their current status, not skill, education or experience. The smaller the company, the more likely this is, in my experience.
Most big companies, you see have “HR Manuals” and “Union contracts” that promote people based on merit, not on playing favorites. I can only assume that most businesses operate this way, and feedback from this blog seems to confirm it.
This is why I get so frustrated. Nobody can tell me that there aren’t about a million people who could run Wall Street better than the pukes that are running it now.
Hell, I can blow up the economy as well as Jamie Dimon/Richard Fuld/Bernanke/Geitner, etc, on 1/10 the salary these losers are getting paid.
“The high earners (unlike our Galtian/bootstrapping/”cream rises to the top”/Born-on-third, and think-they-hit-a-triple types) will be the first to admit that luck and (especially) knowing the right people had about 90% to do with their current status, not skill, education or experience. The smaller the company, the more likely this is, in my experience.”
Having parents with high standards, willingness to sacrifice, and who plan ahead means a lot. Someone on HBB recently said something about limosine liberals thinking they are “born better” than the rest of people. In a way, many are. Whether its genetics or parental input, most people who do well in life had some luck. There are differences in how the asset owning/managing class and the wretched refuse act; they are cultural and they are passed down.* To pretend otherwise is foolish.
* Obviously there are exceptions like top athletes or rappers. Overall, it’s far too small of a % to worry about.
Here’s what the Third base crowd doesn’t get.
Being born rich gives you more options. And more opportunities to “fail” before you get it right.
Say a bankster kid decides to start a business. He’s probably got more money to start with. He “knows” people. And if it blows up in his face, there’s always the family to fall back on.
Losing $100K would be embarrassing, but not a life long disaster.
The poor kid has none of these advantages. Do you risk $100K (usually borrowed, assuming you can get that much together at all) on starting a business, if failure means you and the family get to move into a homeless shelter.
I’ve identified a few business opportunities. None are even close to sure things, in fact, they may not pan out for 5-10 years. Assuming that I could save $100K, do you risk it, if the downside is “the cardboard box under a San Diego bridge?”
Poverty makes you risk-aversive.
Poverty makes you risk-aversive. And truly bad luck makes you dead.
Having parents with high standards, willingness to sacrifice, and who plan ahead means a lot
It’s interesting that you’re calling yourself a bobo now, because this is the sort of thing that David Brooks tends to write about a lot. For some reason he likes to de-emphasize the fact that having parents who have lots of money is also beneficial to the life prospects of children. There are also things like the knowledge of how to “work the system” that eventually gets a kid a good job and a nice life.
Goon suggested the Bobos in Paradise book last week. The concept is interesting, but I’ll have to read the book in full before I decide if the label fits. I just received the book last night. My guess is that I’m too cynical to actually be a bobo.
the Tea Party Dream
When the Tea Party held their rally on the National Mall, nobody got raped, nobody overdosed, and they left it cleaner than when they got there.
When Obama voters wanting “gifts” gather in New York, this is the result:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046586/Occupy-Wall-Street-Shocking-photos-protester-defecating-POLICE-CAR.html
This is your meme. Run with it.
“Stinking up Wall Street: Protesters accused of living in filth as shocking pictures show one demonstrator defecating on a POLICE CAR ”
Is that a “low flow” police car that protester is using?
“Nobody got raped” (because they forgot their Viagra, and the missus wouldn’t give them a Kitchen Pass)
“Nobody overdosed” (on drugs……. Beer? Now that’s different)
“Left it cleaner than when they got there” (Then how do you explain the mess left after the typical NASCAR race?)
As far as defecating in police cars…… maybe the cop deserved it.
“As far as defecating in police cars…… maybe the cop deserved it.”
Posted: 3:49 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, 2013
Sheriff’s deputy fired over sex allegations
By Alexandra Seltzer
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s road patrol deputy was fired last week after an internal affairs investigation determined that he received oral sex from a victim he was interviewing while on duty.
Yuval Arama, 41, who was assigned to district four in suburban Delray Beach, was placed on paid administrative leave July 20 after the sheriff’s office began investigating the July 15 incident. Documents obtained by the Palm Beach Post Friday show that the former deputy has a history of complaints and investigations, including an incident in 2008 when he was suspended after he had an affair with a married woman while on duty.
GPS history shows that Arama did go back to the residence later that day.
The woman later told the sheriff’s office that the two were sitting at a table filling out paperwork when Arama got up and kissed her. He then pulled her tank top down, exposed his genital area and pulled her to his crotch.
She claims to have questioned the deputy, said she didn’t want to do it and tried to pull away.
The woman later told detectives she was “appalled” and felt like she was “raped,” documents say. She feared retaliation and that she wouldn’t sound credible, she said.
Citing that the crime of sexual battery requires proof of lack of consent, Antonacci said the woman never stated that Arama made “any overt act that would serve as a threat or show of authority.”
Antonacci added that before the alleged incident, the woman appeared to have a personal interest in Arama as she commented on his tattoos and said her next boyfriend should be a cop.
A charge of misconduct could not be founded, Antonacci said, because while Arama did not report the sexual activity happening that day, what was in the report was not inaccurate.
“Though Arama’s conduct is reprehensible and certainly would seem to violate Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office policy, the facts as described by the alleged victim fail to establish the necessary elements of the crimes,” a document read.
With the help of the sheriff’s office, the woman made a controlled call to Arama July 19. She said to Arama that she wanted to talk but Arama soon hung up and then called back minutes later from a private number.
The woman said she wasn’t used to what happened between them and just needed to know that it wouldn’t happen again, to which Arama allegedly responded, “It won’t.”
With his PBA attorney nearby, on Oct. 3, Arama admitted to the sheriff’s office that he received oral sex while on duty. He denied that he forced her into the act.
The confession came months after Arama repeatedly denied the accusations and failed a polygraph test.
Selects cronies to develop the new computer system to “save money”
A lot of people think computers are magic, and have no idea of how hard it is to develop reliable enterprise software that actually does what needs to be done.
And don’t forget the SW/HW license, support and maintenance costs.
And then you also have to setup the infrastructure: servers, networks, workstations, etc.
The DMV in my state kicks butt. Serious butt.
I WISH they ran more parts departments.
It’s pretty well run here too. I can renew plates on a website, but if I have to go in, I’m usually out of there in an hour or less.
Yup, here in “Say WA” the online tab renewals are awesome - a few minutes online, and tabs show up in the mail a week or so later.
“-Lays off a bunch of staff. Shuts down a bunch of satellite offices. Selects cronies to develop the new computer system to “save money””
As a general rule, you don’t want to elect people who are absolutely positive that government can’t do anything right to run a government. Their prophecy becomes self-fulfilling even when the previous system worked pretty well.
The humanoid species is DOOMED!
This article discusses the squad’s (correct) assertion that the capitalist model of infinite growth in a finite ecosystem is not possible.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/25/natures-capital-is-the-limiting-resource/
Thank you for not breeding
While promising “energy independence,” fracking actually threatens to destroy our fresh water supplies.
But we can keep on driving our F-350’s with the required truck nutz.
“While promising “energy independence,” fracking actually threatens to destroy our fresh water supplies.”
Most people do not realize just how bad this is. It’s “end of our world” bad. And that’s no hype.
Why? Because we are also depleting our major aquifers and droughts have become the norm. So what’s our response? Destroy the remaining supply.
Most people do not realize just how bad this is. It’s “end of our world” bad. And that’s no hype.
Agreed, there’s nothing like opening a tap and have no water come out. I suppose that we’ll adapt by letting our lawns die and using water at third world usage rates.
The other day someone mention the ubiquitous water tanks on house rooftops in Mexico. When I lived there you could tell when there was no water service as the only pressure was from the rooftop tank, in other words, it was weak.
When that happened (water from the tank) you took your shower REALLY fast. As in a minute.
I remember getting up in the morning to get ready for school and the first thing I’d do was open a faucet in the bathroom sink. If there was ample pressure I’d sigh in relief, knowing I could take a real shower, and when it was weak I would curse.
I cursed a lot in the mornings.
Some fancier houses (as in mansions) had huge underground tanks with pumps (AKA, a “cisterna”), so for them it wasn’t an issue. Usually the outages only lasted an hour or two, but sometimes they lasted longer and our tank would end up depleted. Lots of fun (and lots of unflushed toilets).
When I moved back to the US, it was like being paradise, there was always water on tap.
Another one on growth from Counterpunch.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/17/what-is-wrong-with-america/
The real enemy is growth.
And trust me, we WILL have population control a la China, and I’ll bet it will be even more stringent. Of course, it will come too late.
The easiest way to accomplish that will be to seal the borders and stop the flow of illegals. Without them our birth rate will fall well below the replacement rate
“stop the flow of illegals.”
Well, don’t tell that to the Right Reverend Cardinal Mahoney. He wants a constant flow of tender young male illegall immigrant buns to warm the wieners of his flock of pedo-priests.
That’s a very *vivid* description there palmetto.
We prefer Jerry Sandusky’s phrase “horsing around”.
oops, I’m sorry, I meant they want to “dispense some spiritual guidance”.
Well, don’t tell that to the Right Reverend Cardinal Mahoney
He, and many other vested interests out there don’t want it to stop.
FWIW, today’s seminarians go through a barrage of psychological tests before being admitted to the seminary. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be a Priest these days, as they are all automatically tarred and feathered as pedophiles. And yet, there are still those who do sign up.
Right Reverend
FWIW, I think that’s a Church of England title.
Amazing, isn’t it? Much of the U.S. has been in a drought for some time, and nobody knows how long it will last. Yet fracking continues unabated while water supplies are relentlessly declining. Stupid is as stupid does. It’s hard to believe that no limits for water usage have been imposed on the oil and gas industry.
Yet fracking continues unabated while water supplies are relentlessly declining.
B-b-b-but why do you hate capitalism so much? There’s money underground and we don’t need no stinkin’ government regulations getting in our way of making money.
Mike Whitney nails it again in this piece:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/25/the-all-powerful-fed/
In the space of just a couple of weeks Greece’s largest shopping mall has been targeted in a bomb attack, gunmen have fired on the headquarters of the ruling New Democracy party, and gas canisters have been set off outside an array of political party offices, banks and the homes of journalists.
Now three days after the attack on the shopping centre – which sent counter-terrorist officials on a painstaking hunt that has, as yet, borne little fruit – fears are mounting that Greece’s fragile political stability could be shattered by extremists determined to exploit fury over unpopular austerity.
“The government is very, very concerned,” said a senior aide to one of the coalition’s tripartite leaders. “Political stability is essential to getting through the year.”
In a nation that thought the spectre of terrorism had been laid to rest – with the dissolution, a decade ago, of the notorious November 17 group – the appearance of gangs prepared to take unprecedented risks has put authorities on edge.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/23/greeces-political-stability-violence-escalates
“Political stability is essential to getting through the year.”
Should have thought of that when you were cutting those deals with the banks.
Yep the angry masses could probably stomache their decent into poverty a bit better if they saw those at the top taking the same medicine instead of sipping wine in the penthouse and lecturing the masses on why they should just shut up and eat their sht sandwich.
“Your Highness, the peasants are revolting!”
“Yeah, they stink on ice….”
The Euro experiment is a stable, resounding success!
“The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.4%), Luxembourg (5.2%), Germany and the Netherlands (both 5.4%), which are near full employment. Spain (25.8%) and Greece (25.1% in July) had the highest unemployment in the eurozone, while France looks much like Italy (both at 10.8%), with a steady rise in joblessness. August data for Greece will be published next week, although the true picture is probably worse than the official figures show as a growing number of Greek workers remain nominally employed but have not been paid for some time.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/31/eurozone-unemployment-record-high-eurostat
As long as the PIGS believe that the common currency is a better bet than a sovereign currency, the situation will continue.
And while I’m ranting…….
Re: Faked Moon landings.
I find it funny that people believe the moon landings were faked.
Nobody denies the existence/performance of the A-12/SR-71, or NASA/USAF’s “X-15″. Both projects are/were arguably technically more difficult to do, than putting a guy in orbit with a rocket.
“Zee Ass-tro-nott goez up like ze cannon-ball, and he returnz…….like zee Cannon-ball………”
What always amazed me about the Apollo moon missions was the fact that no one has to date matched the lift capability of the Saturn 5 launch vehicle, to include later US rocket development: 260,000lbs to LEO; 100,000lbs to TLI.
The space shuttle, in comparison, has a 24,400lbs capacity to LEO…
The other interesting bit about the Saturn 5 was that it was designed by Wernher von Braun, the German scientist who ran Hitler’s rocket program during WWII.
Guess we were lucky to get him instead of the Soviets…
I’ve always liked this summary of the space race:
Out Germans are better than their Germans.
Those were cool aircraft, especially the Sr-71
I’m sure X-GSfixr could provide more insight, but I understand that the SR-71 leaked like crazy while on the ground because the engine seals and airframe were designed around it’s cruising speed of mach 3+.
The fuselage panels were manufactured to fit only loosely on the ground. Proper alignment was only achieved when the airframe heated up and expanded several inches. Because of this, and the lack of a fuel sealing system that could handle the thermal expansion of the airframe at extreme temperatures, the aircraft would leak JP-7 jet fuel on the runway. At the beginning of each mission, the aircraft would make a short sprint after takeoff to warm up the airframe, then refuel before heading off to its destination. - Wikipedia
third level suburban = way out in the boonies ?
“You’ve got to be very selective about your locations,” warns Miller. “We stay pretty thoughtful about where there are imbalances and too much building going on. This is not a market where you can start building any place.”
Miller is not concerned with competition from investors in the single family rental market, again focusing on location as his leg up. A lot of the foreclosed properties being absorbed by hedge funds and the like are not concentrated in the top markets targeted by Lennar. They are either inner city or third-level suburban, according to Miller.
Oh ho ho ho ho *great shaking belly laughter*
Yesterday Barack Obama announced he would nominate Mary Jo White as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, … she’s been a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, a white collar firm that specializes in defending Wall Street firms.
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/01/capital-eye-opener-jan-25.html
The political parties really are two heads of the same hydra. There are single issue voters on both sides who swear their party is the party of righteousness and the other party is the spawn of Satan. But on issues of immigration, the economy, taxes, government power and war, the issues important to everyone, they are the uniparty.
So much for him being a left wing communist
She’s going to be in that government position briefly, for a fraction of her previous pay. She’s not going to annoy/anger the clients or other employers who pay the real money. This position will be a resume enhancer and prestige and connection generator.
Yesterday, I posted the case of Michael Powell, chairman of the FCC who left to become the head of a cable industry lobbying assocation. I anticipate that sort of thing with White.
Just… wow. They’re not even trying to pretend anymore.
Wonder who Mary Jo White’s daddy is. I doubt Mikey would have been named FCC chair if daddy hadn’t been Colin….
Jim Jubak
“The urge to jump in because stocks are rising can be an especially powerful fuel for a market rally when there’s a lot of money that can move into stocks. That seems to be the case now, with cash flows into equities soaring as the stock market climbs.
To cite one indicator: According to the Investment Company Institute, back in November investors took a net $23.2 billion out of mutual funds that invest in stocks. That was up from an outflow of $16.4 billion in October and continued a pattern (which had held for much of 2012) of money flowing out of stock funds. Those outflows slowed in December and reversed in January.
For example, in the week that ended on Jan. 16, $9.32 billion flowed into equity mutual funds. That followed inflows of $14.3 billion into equity funds for the week before. The money flowing into equity funds seems to be coming from the sidelines, where it was in cash or cash equivalents, or from bonds and bond funds.
When stocks are going up, investors want to put more money into stocks. That’s a pretty good description of a momentum market.
Posted: 4:29 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, 2013
S&P lowers Illinois credit rating, blames pensions
The Associated Press
CHICAGO —
Standard & Poor’s has lowered Illinois’ credit rating due to concern over the state’s failure to address its $96 billion pension fund deficit.
The company said Friday that it downgraded Illinois’ general obligation bonds from A to A-minus and has given an A-minus rating to $500 million in general obligation bonds that the state plans to issue in February.
Ratings agencies have been downgrading Illinois’ credit over the last several years. Moody’s Investors Services and Fitch Ratings both downgraded the state’s credit outlook in recent months.
Standard & Poor’s says that given the Legislature’s track record, it doesn’t think lawmakers will fully address the pension fund deficit. The downgrade could mean taxpayers will pay a higher interest when Illinois issues bonds to pay for construction projects or other major expenditures.