March 7, 2013

Bits Bucket for March 7, 2013

Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.




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324 Comments »

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 04:53:21

Bloomberg - Paul’s Drone Filibuster Delays Senate’s Vote on Brennan:

“A Senate vote to confirm John Brennan as CIA director was delayed by a filibuster, as Republican Senator Rand Paul demanded that the Obama administration pledge it won’t use drones to attack Americans on U.S. soil without an “imminent threat.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, abandoned efforts to move to a vote yesterday, saying he would seek final action on Brennan’s nomination as soon as today and no later than March 9.

Brennan’s eventual confirmation wasn’t in doubt, as Paul acknowledged while holding the Senate floor for more than 12 hours of talking with help from like-minded colleagues. His filibuster ended early this morning. Such tactics are often threatened by lawmakers but seldom used these days.

President Barack Obama’s choice of Brennan, 57, to head the Central Intelligence Agency has become entangled in growing tensions between Congress and the administration over its use of armed drones to attack suspected members and allies of al-Qaeda. Brennan oversees the drone program as Obama’s counterterrorism adviser.

The Senate intelligence committee voted 12-3 behind closed doors on March 5 in favor of Brennan’s confirmation after the administration allowed panel members a look at Justice Department documents making the legal case for using pilotless aircraft to attack U.S. citizens abroad linked to terrorism.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-07/rand-s-drone-filibuster-delays-senate-s-vote-on-brennabn.html

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 07:04:48

The sad thing is most R senators will vote for the drone master.

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 07:13:28

Virtually all will, a lot of Dems will vote for Brennan as well.

It’s about money. Neither party really cares about working people, but they do care about getting re-elected and the funds to accomplish this come from the big donors (think Koch Brothers, Karl Rove, etc). And from private sector defense contractors who stand to make a killing from domestic drone use, surveillance, facial recognition technology, and so forth.

Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 07:28:23

You have an amazing ability to rationalize.

A democratic president nominates Brennan
A democratic controlled senate committee confirms the nomination to the full senate
A democratic controlled senate will easily confirm the nomination with nearly EVERY democratic senator voting for Brennan.

A few republican senators try an old fashion filibuster to stop the nomination. With the leader of democrat senate vowing to move ahead with the confirmation the MINUTE the filibuster stops.

Yet – in your kool-aid drinking world…

This is somehow ALL the fault of the republicans….

Truly amazing.

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Comment by Michael Viking
2013-03-07 08:16:26

Yet – in your kool-aid drinking world…

This is somehow ALL the fault of the republicans….

+1. I also like how it’s those big donors, the Koch brothers and Karl Rove…Those democrats just don’t have any big donors!

And don’t forget those republican-voting defense contractors…

 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 08:25:46

republican-voting defense contractors…

We are literally surrounded by Grover Norquist, shrink-the-government, retired military or retired Feds who see no hypocrisy in “double dipping” collecting a contractor salary and a federal pension.

 
Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 10:06:37

We are literally surrounded by Grover Norquist, shrink-the-government, retired military or retired Feds who see no hypocrisy in “double dipping” collecting a contractor salary and a federal pension.

Hate the game, not the players.

 
 
Comment by Ryan
2013-03-07 07:28:52

Sadly, the majority of America don’t understand or even take the time to hear the issue that Rand Paul speaks about. Kim Kardashian and the NBA take precendence.

We get what we deserve.

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Comment by goon squad
 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 08:14:21

Kim Kardashian

“The four months pregnant reality star flew to Paris on Sunday to join baby-daddy Kanye West at a Givenchy show and dinner after, with guests including Frank Ocean and designer Riccardo Tisci.

But sources say that when the E! star arrived back in LA on Tuesday, she was immediately rushed to her doctor in tears.”

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/03/07/kim-kardashian-reportedly-has-pregnancy-scare/

 
Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 08:15:26

NBA really? I hardly hear any of my friends talk about NBA like they do NFL.

March Madness on the other hand….

 
Comment by Lip
2013-03-07 08:18:54

What about the Chicago Blackhawks???

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 08:24:40

I completely agree that we get what we deserve.

Both parties are horrible.

But I don’t blame them, I blame us - the voting public. The people who defend *either* party are part of the problem.

BTW, it is not just going to be a few Republicans voting for Brennan. And some will vote “present” or not vote at all, as a cop out.

Both parties are sick but our electorate is sick as well. We should blame ourselves.

 
Comment by aNYCdj
2013-03-07 10:30:20

I wanna talk about KIM…..KIM KIM…..i dont care about some idjit runnin da CeyeA….

The four months pregnant reality star flew to Paris on Sunday to join baby-daddy Kanye West at a Givenchy show and dinner after,

 
Comment by Montana
2013-03-07 10:56:35

NBA? Thought it was March Madness time.

 
Comment by Ol'Bubba
2013-03-07 17:53:06

I believe this Sunday is “Selection Sunday” when the NCAA selects the teams, sets up the brackets, and announces who’s in and who’s out.

Go Gators!

 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:12:44

Should be good for the San Diego economy to have a pro-drone CIA director in place. Northrup Grumman has a corporate office within walking distance of our rental home, which may help explain why we can’t afford to buy the home we rent.

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Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 09:15:24

You could afford to buy it, but you couldn’t afford to take the losses when its value drops by 65%.

Why buy now when you can buy later for 65% less? (at which point, why buy at all?)

 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:18:03

Joe — your posts are starting to sound like those of a housing crash drone…

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 09:46:54

RAL tweeted me to ask if I could cover for him while he gets over his hangover this morning. I’m just keeping the Word alive.

 
Comment by cactus
2013-03-07 09:47:28

General Atomic is in Poway big maker of drones

many ex-military work there after they retire form the military

yes thats probably why it’s fairly expensive

 
Comment by cactus
2013-03-07 09:49:51

You could afford to buy it, but you couldn’t afford to take the losses when its value drops by 65%.”

I wonder what will fall faster the housing prices or the vaule of the dollar ?

What will hurt joe 6 pac more getting paid in peso’s or being 65% under water on RE ?

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 10:41:00

“I wonder what will fall faster the housing prices or the vaule of the dollar ?”

I agree with this, which is why I am not fully on board with the “65% nominal cratering” schtick.

The U.S. *will* be paying its debts because a) we have our own currency, b) powerful forces are on the side of repayment (banks, SS/MC recipients), and c) nothing in the political DNA of Americans suggests they will reject the two-party system we have, where both parties kowtow to the parties named in factor (b).

I could believe a 65% cratering in real terms (adjusted for inflation), I’m just not seeing it nominally. It’s just not that simple, too many powerful people and special interests at play. Either way, the losses to the howmuchamonth crowd will be devastating, if not incalculable.

Also, I just want to preempt RAL and say that yes, I admit, I am a Realtor (TM). Since I think the losses will be somewhat less than 65% nominal. Yup. :-P

 
 
Comment by ahansen
2013-03-07 10:56:40

If the issue is money, deploying a drone is a lot cheaper than deploying multiple human beings.

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Comment by mathguy
2013-03-07 16:07:08

Not deploying anything is cheaper yet.

 
 
 
Comment by Salinasron
2013-03-07 08:12:16

I love it. You get pissssed when the repub’s don’t vote with the dem’s and now you are pissssed because they will!

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 08:20:06

Not me. The bi-partisanship has brought nothing but clusterfook to this country.

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Comment by ahansen
2013-03-07 14:33:28

Kudos are due Senator Rand Paul for reviving the talking filibuster (after 30 years) and for his principled (if misguided) efforts to keep the drone issue in the public eye. The fact that BFFs McCain and Graham both dismissed his gutsy effort as a “stunt” tells us he’s on the right track.

On the downside, look for more embloldened legislators stepping up to the camera to get talking airtime. :-(

Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 14:58:13

+1

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Comment by Bill in Los Angeles
2013-03-07 20:16:55

misguided?

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Comment by ahansen
2013-03-08 00:10:36

Perhaps I should have used the word “cynical”? Drones have been in military use for decades; unmanned zeppelins were used in WW1, radio-guided torpedoes were used in WW2, Reagan’s “Star Wars Defense” was essentially a laser drone in the sky, and Google Earth was only the latest in civilian-use surveillance technologies developed under GWB. And what do you think all those “communications” satellites you’re working on are?

Let’s face it, if a gang of blood-thirsty Oregon commies was holed up at The Rhino threatening to nuke Las Vegas unless it forbade the women there from hooking, you’d be the first one screaming to drone their arses. This isn’t about the rights of American citizens, (where were these guys when the Patriot Act was passed? Oh yeah, that’s right, pitching hissy fits because those progressive liberals were “emboldening the terraists”), it’s about that Socialist Kenyan Muslim in your White House having the power to make the same decision every other POTUS in American history has had.

 
 
 
Comment by Bill in Los Angeles
2013-03-07 20:15:44

Interesting that 13 R senators supported Rand Paul’s filibuster. Only one D Senator supported him.

Jeff Flake (R) AZ supported Ron Paul.

John McLame (R) AZ was schmoozing with the enemy Obozo in a restaurant and insulted Rand Paul and libertarians.

Puzzled why only one Democrat is dovish. IOW, 13 dovish Reps and one dovish Dem?

I’m sure that there would be a big uproar if it was GWB and his Secty of sTate pushing for drones against US citizens - by the Dems and media. Not much peep out of the media for support of Rand Paul.

 
 
Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 08:48:07

“Republican Senator Rand Paul demanded that the Obama administration pledge it won’t use drones to attack Americans on U.S. soil without an “imminent threat.””

Works for me.

Comment by polly
2013-03-07 09:34:35

I think what he really wanted was a clear definition of what imminent threat meant. No politician ever does that. They know that they can’t predict all situations, so they give vague generalities or nothing at all.

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 09:58:43

Yep. That’s how the game is played, but it is still a fair question.

I would personally like a more refined definition and I really don’t care who it puts in the hot seat.

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Comment by Oxide
2013-03-07 10:45:07

I don’t have time to find it right now, but the infamous 16 (?)-page Memo does define “imminent,” or at least gives one interpretation of it. Now, whether or not anyone agrees with that interpretation is the next issue.

Did we ever find out who wrote that Memo? That’s the guy who should be in the hot seat (wonder if it was Brennen himself).

 
 
Comment by ahansen
2013-03-07 11:07:41

Like those two Asian newspaper carriers in the Chris Dorner case? That kind of imminent threat?

What’s the difference if you get blown up by a drone or a federal SWAT team? The drone issue is simply cover for the larger question of civilian privacy vs national “security”.

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Comment by SV guy
2013-03-07 12:55:00

“Like those two Asian newspaper carriers in the Chris Dorner case? That kind of imminent threat?

What’s the difference if you get blown up by a drone or a federal SWAT team? The drone issue is simply cover for the larger question of civilian privacy vs national “security”.”

+>1

That some are here parsing words while roasting marshmallows over the burning constitution leaves me speechless.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 04:55:57

Bloomberg - Low Inflation Alone Can’t Deliver Promised Land

“Cleaning up after the housing bubble burst seven years ago turned out to be a lot harder than the Federal Reserve imagined. And for a while, it seemed as if the cost of risk-taking run amok was enough to put the fear of God in central bankers.

Then the pressure to find a cure for the prolonged period of slow growth and high unemployment superseded the effort to understand the cause. The role of asset prices moved to the back burner, even as the Fed made a concerted effort to reflate them.

That’s too bad. Unless the Fed acknowledges that a credit- fueled asset bubble was responsible for the current malaise, it is doomed to sow the seeds of the next one.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-06/low-inflation-alone-can-t-deliver-promised-land.html

Comment by Blue Skye
2013-03-07 07:42:54

Doomed? I suspect not. The Fed is determined so. The role of the Fed is not to protect the wealth of the citizens, it is to rob them of it through perpetual inflation. That is what it does and will always do as long as able.

 
Comment by Pete
2013-03-07 11:06:24

“Unless the Fed acknowledges that a credit- fueled asset bubble was responsible for the current malaise,”

Acknowledging it and acting accordingly on that acknowledgement are two different things.

 
 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 04:58:09

Bloomberg - China’s Richer-Than-Romney Lawmakers Reveal Reform Challenge:

“The ranks of China’s ultra-wealthy in its legislature swelled 20 percent this year, highlighting the vested interests that may oppose any measures by incoming President Xi Jinping to reduce the nation’s wealth gap.

Ninety members of the National People’s Congress are on a list of China’s 1,000 richest people published by the Shanghai- based Hurun Report, up from 75 last year, according to a review of the data by Bloomberg News. Everyone on the Hurun list had a fortune of at least 1.8 billion yuan ($289.4 million), more than former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The growing presence of wealthy people in the legislature coincides with efforts by Xi to stem corruption and the public display of luxury by officials as he seeks to address concern the Communist Party no longer represents interests of ordinary Chinese. Xi’s task may become more difficult as the rich move to cement their gains through legislation, said Yang Fengchun, an associate professor of government and management at Peking University.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-06/china-s-richer-than-romney-lawmakers-show-xi-s-reform-challenge.html

Comment by Dale
2013-03-07 10:26:06

….some animals are more equal than other animals.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2013-03-07 18:07:43

“the Communist Party no longer represents interests of ordinary Chinese…”

That’s odd. When I was a pup, Mao was sending tens of millions off to scratch the ground in the mountains and starve to death. Those ordinary Chinese?

 
 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 05:05:06

MarketWatch - Dow’s back on top — but are you?

“The sentiment on Wall Street may be that our long national fiscal nightmare is finally over, but the stock market is just one barometer of prosperity, many economists and consumer experts argue. And the problems that have plagued the United States in recent years — declining household income, surging prices for many key goods and services, low interest rates for savings — remain very much in place, they say.

If there’s any reason that investors are feeling the pain, Young argues, it’s because they’ve bought into a media-fed notion that the economy is still broken, despite evidence to the contrary. “Negative headlines sell,” she says.

Still, many financial experts say that there’s a rationale behind those headlines, despite the market’s rosy return and other improving economic indicators. In short, they view the current state of affairs as the Great Disconnect that has followed in the wake of the Great Recession. And it’s a story that they say can be told in one sobering statistic after another.

Begin with income. On the one hand, wages have basically kept pace with inflation since late 2007. But on the other, unemployment and underemployment have affected overall household income – to the point that there’s been about a 6% dip to the current median figure of $51,584 after adjusting for inflation, according to Sentier Research, which tracks income. “During this so-called recovery, we’ve gone down,” says Sentier principal Gordon Green.

And what about expenses? While the Bureau of Labor Statistics may say prices are in check, some consumer watchdogs say what applies to overall prices may not apply to some key expense categories.

Consider the cost of fuel: A gallon of gas has gone from around $2.75 in October 2007 to $3.75 today, according to AAA. Or medical care: Annual premiums for family coverage for employees in large firms (200-plus workers) have increased from $2,831 in 2007 to $3,926 in 2012, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Or even a steak: In a January 2013 survey by Teri Gault, founder of the coupon and savings site The Grocery Game, Gault noted that the price for top sirloin had surged from $2.99 to $6.99 a pound at one California supermarket in the past year — a 133% spike.

Little wonder, says Gault, that dollar stores have become all the consumer rage in recent years. Shoppers are “desperate for value,” she says.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dows-back-on-top-but-are-you-2013-03-05

Comment by michael
2013-03-07 07:04:36

can’t believe i was naive enough to think back in 2008 that we were actualy a capitalist society.

i guess they were right…don’t fight the fed.

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 07:06:44

Fight the Fed and still make some money along the way.

 
Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 09:20:24

“…can’t believe i was naive enough to think back in 2008 that we were actualy a capitalist society.”

We are a capitalist society. Just have to put the word “crony” in front of it, is all.

Actually, we’re a socialist country… for the rich. The rest of us get no-holds-barred bare knuckle capitalism.

 
 
Comment by Salinasron
2013-03-07 08:21:39

“Shoppers are desperate for value”???? How about shoppers are just trying to meet their needs and survive. How does Gault define value?

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 08:35:49

desperate for value

Another phrase the clueless corporate media loves to describe the long lines at Wal-Mart just before midnight on the last day of the month (when SNAP cards get reloaded) with is “paycheck cycle”.

Comment by aNYCdj
2013-03-07 10:41:54

Really bizarre or desperate? does WM have red light specials at 2am for snap card users only?…like. for the next hour till 3am hamburger is $1 off per pound just $1.99 lb …..

or 15% off food with snap card between midnight and 6am on the 1st?

Can’t happen in NY since the website states your card gets refilled on the date you were originally approved.

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Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 10:59:29

In the states that reload SNAP cards at midnight on the first of the month, the broke-azz Lucky Ducks fill up their carts and then bum-rush the cashiers at midnight.

It’s not because stuff is on sale, it’s because they are broke-azz Lucky Ducks. The clueless media calls this the “paycheck cycle”. The demand is created by food stamps, not paychecks.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:16:26

‘If there’s any reason that investors are feeling the pain, Young argues, it’s because they’ve bought into a media-fed notion that the economy is still broken, despite evidence to the contrary. “Negative headlines sell,” she says.’

The media created the whole Great Recession, and are also to blame for the misperception that your mortgage is underwater.

 
 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 05:13:47

Washington Post - Administration debates stretching 9/11 law to go after new al-Qaeda offshoots:

“A new generation of al-Qaeda offshoots is forcing the Obama administration to examine whether the legal basis for its targeted killing program can be extended to militant groups with little or no connection to the organization responsible for the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. officials said.

The Authorization for Use of Military Force, a joint resolution passed by Congress three days after the strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, has served as the legal foundation for U.S. counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda over the past decade, including ongoing drone campaigns in Pakistan and Yemen that have killed thousands of people.

But U.S. officials said administration lawyers are increasingly concerned that the law is being stretched to its legal breaking point, just as new threats are emerging in countries including Syria, Libya and Mali.

“The farther we get away from 9/11 and what this legislation was initially focused upon,” a senior Obama administration official said, “we can see from both a theoretical but also a practical standpoint that groups that have arisen or morphed become more difficult to fit in.”

The waning relevance of the 2001 law, the official said, is “requiring a whole policy and legal look.” The official, like most others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/administration-debates-stretching-911-law-to-go-after-new-al-qaeda-offshoots/2013/03/06/fd2574a0-85e5-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_story.html

 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 05:17:13

New York Times - With Positions to Fill, Employers Wait for Perfection:

“American employers have a variety of job vacancies, piles of cash and countless well-qualified candidates. But despite a slowly improving economy, many companies remain reluctant to actually hire, stringing job applicants along for weeks or months before they make a decision.

If they ever do.

The number of job openings has increased to levels not seen since the height of the financial crisis, but vacancies are staying unfilled much longer than they used to — an average of 23 business days today compared to a low of 15 in mid-2009, according to a new measure of Labor Department data by the economists Steven J. Davis, Jason Faberman and John Haltiwanger.

Some have attributed the more extended process to a mismatch between the requirements of the four million jobs available and the skills held by many of the 12 million unemployed. That’s probably true in a few high-skilled fields, like nursing or biotech, but for a large majority of positions where candidates are plentiful, the bigger problem seems to be a sort of hiring paralysis.

“There’s a fear that the economy is going to go down again, so the message you get from C.F.O.’s is to be careful about hiring someone,” said John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University who runs a human resources consulting business. “There’s this great fear of making a mistake, of wasting money in a tight economy.”

The hiring delays are part of the vicious cycle the economy has yet to escape: jobless and financially stretched Americans are reluctant to spend, which holds back demand, which in turn frays employers’ confidence that sales will firm up and justify committing to a new hire. Job creation over the last two years has been steady but too slow to put a major dent in the backlog of unemployed workers, and the February jobs report due out on Friday is expected to be equally mediocre. Uncertainty about the effect of fiscal policy in Washington is not helping expectations for the rest of the year, either.

“If you have an opening and are not sure about the economy, it’s pretty cheap to wait for a month or two,” said Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University. But in the aggregate, those little delays, coupled with fiscal uncertainty, are stretching out the recovery process. “It’s like one of those horror movies, an economic Friday the 13th, where this recession never seems to die.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/business/economy/despite-job-vacancies-employers-shy-away-from-hiring.html?hpw&_r=0

Comment by oxide
2013-03-07 07:13:04

Job market jumping for temp employees

12-Feb-2013 By: Mason Lerner
KDHnews.com

———-
Jason Linder, branch manager of Labor Ready in Killeen [TX], said the area might be outpacing even those numbers. He said his company, which works closely with the construction industry, has grown by “leaps and bounds” over the last three years.

“From the downturn in ’08 and ’09, it got pretty slow,” Linder said. “A lot of people were cautions about hiring, especially our customers. It was an initial shock for us, because activity dropped in 2009.”

Linder said things changed abruptly in late 2009. “Since the slowest part of 2009, we have increased by about 60 percent,” Linder said. “I think that’s accurate.”

————–

http://www.blackdiamondnet.com/announcements/job-market-jumping-for-temp-employees

Comment by Bill in Los Angeles
2013-03-07 20:40:56

My company is a staffing firm and it trades publicly. Most staffing firms are reaping the rewards in the stock price. Nice to have ESPP. I sold off 30% of my shares last year though.

 
 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 07:40:08

The “reader picks” comments on the Times article are excellent.

Comment by oxide
2013-03-07 08:10:16

The one from Rockville MD is awesome:

“My younger son graduated with honors in aerospace engineering. He was once turned down for a job in the his field 29 minutes after he submitted his application. Obviously, he was screened by an algorithm…

His older brother is in IT, he told me that he saw a listing for a job requiring 5 years of experience in a computer language that is 3 years old. “

Comment by cactus
2013-03-07 09:56:57

He was once turned down for a job in the his field 29 minutes after he submitted his application. Obviously, he was screened by an algorithm…”

thats why I keep interviewing applicants with PADS , Allegro, Orcad, VNA testing, high speed scopes, etc on their resumes but when I interview them they have no clue about these programs or test instruments. They just stuff their resumes with key words.

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Comment by aNYCdj
2013-03-07 10:50:16

Well you know Ive been saying this for years….HR are stuffed with clueless airhead chicky poos…and its impossible to find a real professional HR person you can hold an intelligent conversation with……

 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 11:04:00

Sorry DJ, but in the same amount of time you’ve been repeating this, we finished grad school, got a new job, got laid off, improved our skill set, moved cross country, got a better job, improved our skill set more, and then got an even better job, all while navigating the same HR airhead chicky poos.

 
Comment by aNYCdj
2013-03-07 11:08:09

Nice you had the $$$ to do that……I could have too if i moved into my moms basement….i know i should have…..

 
Comment by ahansen
2013-03-07 11:11:08

Thank you.

 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 12:05:26

Nice you had the $$$ to do that

We would not have if we lived in New York. After grad school we continued living like a graduate student but threw all the extra $$$ into savings and debt repayment. And by renting a place for far less than what we could afford, were able to survive ten continuous months of unemployment, and stringing along on short-term contract gigs after that before landing something more stable.

 
Comment by aNYCdj
2013-03-07 14:01:06

agreed goon, but we could live here without a car, and there is not much accessible public transportation in flyover areas…unless you really get lucky and find an apartment and a day job on the same bus/light rail line…

 
 
 
Comment by rms
2013-03-07 08:36:23

“The “reader picks” comments on the Times article are excellent.”

Sure, it might not be the ideal job, but the key to landing your desired compensation quickly is a willingness to move. Of course being stuck with an upside down house is a common barrier.

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 08:45:41

Another reason the “Bill In Los Angeles” lifestyle is the way to go.

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Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 08:48:30

I’d rather relax in Oil City/College Town Flyover, than run the hamster wheel coast to coast.

 
Comment by polly
2013-03-07 09:40:28

Bill’s exact lifestyle is enabled by a security clearance. I wouldn’t recommend anyone who doesn’t have one even try to replicate his vagabond ways - never mind the crap life you end up with. Most employers want you to show you have ties to their area before hiring you.

 
Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 10:03:00

Most employers want you to show you have ties to their area before hiring you.

That’s must be the reason companies started off-shoring jobs by boat load.

 
Comment by polly
2013-03-07 12:38:26

Yup, if they want you to stay, you need to demonstrate that you are willing to stay in the area. Even better if you couldn’t find another one locally so they can keep your pay low and not risk you switching without very high transaction costs (like moving). They want to be able to move your job where ever they want. They want you stuck with what they will give you.

Different deal if you are just working on a short term contract and their cost of hiring another (equally or better qualified) person is getting them security clearance which is expensive and can take months or longer.

 
Comment by Bill in Los Angeles
2013-03-07 20:11:29

Bill’s exact lifestyle is enabled by a security clearance.

Bull phooey school marm. Shut your yap until you know what you are talking about.

I got a headhunter whose been bugging me monthly. He called today and is trying to get me to go commercial. My recruiter as well as this headhunter say the security clearance jobs are drying up.

Fact. Hourly rates are going down.

Fact: Commercial software engineering contracts are in demand and there is beaucoup overtime. I’m tempted to cross over. I did not know about this.

Fact: My hourly rate has come down - due to security clearance jobs drying up.

 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 21:26:06

Bill in Los Angeles is in the muthaphucking hizz-nouse.

Word.

Thank you for showing us the light, for teaching us that there is more to life than breeding and loanownership.

And for the other bedwetters on this blog, just a reminder that 50% of marriages in USA end in divorce.

Bill is correct. Always correct. And for the rest of you, your losses will be incalculable.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 05:44:32

Posted: 7:01 a.m. Thursday, March 7, 2013

Bank of England opts against another stimulus

The Associated Press

LONDON —
The Bank of England has opted against injecting more money into the ailing British economy, which has one foot in recession.

In a statement Thursday, the Bank’s main policymaking body, the Monetary Policy Committee, decided to maintain its asset purchase program at 375 billion pounds ($563 billion).

A number of economists were expecting another 25 billion pounds infusion. Last month, Governor Mervyn King had pushed for such an increase in monetary stimulus.

Under the program, the Bank buys government bonds from financial institutions. The hope is they use the new money to boost lending and encourage growth.

Critics say it’s done little to revive the British economy. Its proponents say it has prevented a depression.

The Bank also kept its main interest rate at the record low of 0.5 percent.

Copyright The Associated Press

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 08:34:29

Weird…I thought Carney was the king of easy money circus.

 
 
Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 06:05:25

A brave man in a sea of government parasites.

Death by drone on American soil? Will that threat be serious enough to break party loyalty and move them?

Or does free cheese trump all?

————————————–

Rand Paul ends filibuster against CIA director nominee after almost 13 hours
CBS News / The Associated Press | March 7, 2013

Sen. Rand Paul ended his self-described filibuster against the confirmation of President Obama’s nominee to lead the CIA early Thursday - at 12:39 EST — just short of thirteen hours after the Kentucky Republican and tea party favorite began speaking.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, also a Kentucky Republican, said he would continue to oppose Brennan’s confirmation and try to keep the debate going.

After Paul yielded the floor, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., filed a motion to cut off debate on Brennan’s nomination and bring it up for a vote.

Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 06:45:20

Dems block vote to denounce drone-killing of US citizens on US soil
Washington Examiner | 3/6/13 | Timothy P. Carney

Sen. Rand Paul just offered to end his filibuster and allow a vote on CIA nominee John Brennan if he could get a vote tomorrow on a non-binding resolution regarding drone killing of US citizens on US soil.

But Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin objected to allowing a vote on the resolution. So Paul resumed speaking.

Paul’s resolution said it was the sense of the Senate that “the use of drones to execute or target American citizens on American soil who pose no imminent threat clearly violates Constitutional rights” of due process.

Comment by michael
2013-03-07 07:06:58

“Sen. Rand Paul just offered to end his filibuster and allow a vote on CIA nominee John Brennan if he could get a vote tomorrow on a non-binding resolution regarding drone killing of US citizens on US soil.”

i thought that resolution was called the 5th amendment?

Comment by oxide
2013-03-07 08:04:15

That’s what the hubbub was about that internal memo which was leaked, whether drones could be used against American citizens who are senior A-Q and in other countries. Can that be applied to American citizens on US soil? According to the memo, Imminence trumps 5th Amendment. And the memo justifies locations outside of Afghanistan, and doesn’t exclude the US. So, at least according to the memo (assuming the you buy what’s in the memo), American soil isn’t any more sacred than, say, Yemeni soil.

————
On another note, and according to MSNBC: “Twelve other Republicans, including Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Texas’ Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio of Florida and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who had just had dinner with Obama, took the floor to ask Paul questions during the filibuster, giving him a break.”

So that’s how they get around the potty problem. Ask a long-winded 6-7 minute “question” so the speaker can cut out and return. I had wondered about that. I guess by that reasoning, could Senators switch off and turn their questions into mini-filibusters, thus extending the whole thing indefinitely?

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Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:21:38

“…Imminence trumps 5th Amendment…”

Sounds like a judgment call which could be retroactively justified if necessary.

 
 
 
 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 07:16:57

You realize Brennan is going to get a ton of GOP Senate votes too, right? (Perhaps some will vote “present” to keep it off the record.)

And a lot of independents like myself can manage to hate both parties AND hate drones. I hate drone use anywhere, except as a true last resort. Yet you would call me a communist because my positions on some things are left of center.

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 07:17:59

And I’ll save you the work of calling me a Communist - here’s a picture that proves it: http://picpaste.com/nripyD1U.jpg

I’ll post some pictures of my glittery bike with rainbow flags later.

 
Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 07:20:17

You are more like a chinese communist.

Comment by michael
2013-03-07 07:25:09

a keynsian?

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Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 07:29:57

No more like a rich Maoist.

 
 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 07:32:38

Does China have a single payer healthcare system? (I’m asking because I don’t know.)

Describe how you think I’m similar to a Chinese communist. For one thing, I think centralized planning is a horrible idea. China has many state supported industries and routinely violates international trade policies.

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Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 07:28:32

call me a communist

See article posted above about the ultra-rich taking over China’s legislature. Not much difference anymore between “capitalist” USA and “communist” China.

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 08:12:52

Ding ding ding!

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Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 09:35:40

You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™?

Welcome to the New World Order, comrade consumer!

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Comment by measton
2013-03-07 11:31:49

The big difference

In china the gov officials are the billionaires

In the US the billionaires use puppets in gov to do essentially the same thing, ie stripping wealth from the country.

The US billionaires are smarter, they keep the people fighting over which side is worse R’s or D’s and thus not thinking about the real problem. If and when the torches come out it will be the politicians who hang while the elite withdraw into the shadows and wait to buy off the next round of politicians.

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Comment by michael
2013-03-07 07:29:15

i mentioned the filibuster to my brainwashed neo-liberal co-worker. she lights up like a rabid pit bull with the slightest mention of any political position contrary to her master…obama.

i don’t agree with paul on every issue but i respect what he is doing with this and i do not think it is at all a partisan ploy.

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 09:00:22

IIRC, China has pay your “own medical expenses” system but there government hospitals and clinics (either free or minimal cost) for doctor visits and such for the masses.

If you are rich, of course you make a trip to Europe or America.

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Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 09:03:06

If you are rich, of course you make a trip to Europe

Why in the world would you voluntarily go get their horrid socialist health care?

 
Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 09:06:46

It works because people are fatalistic and accept diseases and death as part of life unlike USA, where the masses are quick to blame someone else for the diseases, doctors, hospitals, pharms and lawyers need these diseases managed because you can keep on making money on other people’s misfortunes, politicians need an “issue” because elections can be won or lost.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by you're my boy, blue
2013-03-07 06:08:28

“A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 07:46:37

The losses in suburban Maryland and in San Francisco will be incalculable.

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 08:30:28

VA going to be hit worse than MD, IMO, but your point is true.

VA housing stock is newer and the outstanding mortgage balances should be higher, leading to more underwater borrowers and likely foreclosures.

“Why buy now when you can buy for less later?” (My question to a stupid DC realtor)

Her response:
“INVENTORY IS LOW, IT’S STUPID TO WAIT. HURRY UP, BTW CLEVELAND PARK IS MY SPECIALTY, SO GIVE ME A CALL.” (I’m paraphrasing, but this is pretty close)

LULZ.

 
Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 08:38:36

San Francisco

Not San Francisco! Where would all the smug people go then?

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 08:46:55

They’ve been exporting the surplus to Boulder.

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Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 08:57:19

Is South Park near Boulder?

 
Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 09:04:56

Luckily you can identify them by their Coexist stickers before they get out of their cars :-).

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 09:17:24

Sounds like Takoma Park.

 
Comment by polly
2013-03-07 09:44:55

That is the People’s Republic of Takoma Park, comrade.

 
 
Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2013-03-07 10:44:10

We’ve also had some sitings here in Portland.

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Comment by Blue Skye
2013-03-07 08:01:49

“Debt, grinding debt, whose iron face the widow, the orphan, and the sons of genius fear and hate;–debt, which consumes so much time, which so cripples and disheartens a great spirit with cares that seem so base, is a preceptor whose lessons cannot be forgone, and is needed most by those who suffer from it most.”

Also from Emerson

Grinding debt on a grandiose house makes a double whammy.

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 09:39:36

Feudalism in one form or another has been the natural state of societies and governments more often than not.

Beginning hundreds of years ago, banks have created the more modern form we have today: Debt slaves.

 
 
Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 09:37:29

“A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yeah, because living in a drafty shack/tent/cave is sooooo much better. :roll:

Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 10:02:48

It can be preferable to having a master, depending on the situation.

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 10:07:00

Take my word for it: only temporarily.

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Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 10:17:25

Eventually being a slave is better because living below your means just gets so old? I don’t think I can get on board with that. I say that as someone living in the equivalent of a shack…

 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 10:22:46

After “throwing money away on rent” we have so much money left over we don’t know where to throw it.

 
 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 10:20:44

having a master

We have an employee who works for us called the landlord.

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Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 06:13:04

Trending: Where the rent is high

Published 10:52 pm, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

“it’s ridiculous,” she said. “I’ve been pretty frustrated about the whole thing. All I wanted was to find a nice place in a nice area. Is that too much to ask?”

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Trending-Where-the-rent-is-high-4334629.php -

Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 06:51:34

She is complaining because it was hard to find an affordable 1,350-square-foot apartment for TWO people in Connecticut?

With a fresh coat of paint, new carpets and a small wooden deck for Green and her daughter Jahniya to enjoy, the 1,350-square-foot apartment seemed to fit the bill. Finally.

 
 
Comment by Hard Rain
2013-03-07 06:19:01

What could possibly go wrong?

“Buybacks have been the main driver of higher equity prices during the current credit boom, which began in 2009, as all other major stock market participants combined have been net sellers.”

The credit boom, especially the increased issuance of collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) has sparked worries of a return to the heady days before the financial crisis.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/credit-boom-warning-sign-buybacks-101555560.html

Comment by Combotechie
2013-03-07 07:18:21

Let me see …

If I’m a company and I decide to buy back shares of myself and as a result of this buyback the price of myself goes up then this is a good thing.

It is a good thing because I don’t have to worry about increasing sales of my product or increasing the earnings generated from the sales of my products, no, all I need to do is buy up shares of my stock.

And since the number of shares I need to buy up to get the price up is but a scant percentage of all the shares of myself that has been issued then the return to myself ends up being tremendous.

Buy a few shares and as a result the price of ALL the shares go up.

What’s not to like?

All I need is money. But wait! If the price of my shares go up then the value of my equity has also goes up. And if I have more equity then I cn borrow more money against this equity. And if I can borrow more money then I can buy up more stock.

Sort of like real estate.

Comment by Combotechie
2013-03-07 07:42:10

And if I am a corporate officer who get awarded a lot of stock options then I have a great incenntive to get the price of the stock up so as to cash in my options at a high price.

The higher the price of the stock the more money I get to cash in. If the company has to borrow money to get the price up what do I care? I do not OWN the company - the stockholders are the owners - I merely CONTROL the company.

I am awarded stock options as an incentive to get the price of the stock up and this is what I intend to do. It’s not as if I plan to keep the shares that are awarded to me or anything close to being as stupid as that.

Comment by Combotechie
2013-03-07 08:06:27

But … but … but what about the feelings of the TRUE owners, the stockholders?

If depends of just who these TRUE OWNERS are. If the true owners - the stockholders - are individuals then some of them (the Price equal Value folks) will be happy. Some others will be pissed. And if they are pissed then they will end up selling the stock and thus will be selected out.

But if the stockholders are pension funds and insurance companies (aka vast pools of OPM) then they have a great incentive to get the price of the shares up because they have too many commitments to fulfill and they can’t fulfill these commitments if the value of the stock is down. So they will be in support of the corporate PTB to do whatever it takes to get the stock price up.

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Comment by Combotechie
2013-03-07 08:08:24

Which means there are very few stockholders left to say “no” and a whole bunch of stockholders who have an incentive to say “yes”, so yes is what it ends up being.

 
Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 08:23:21

so yes is what it ends up being.

How would the free market solve this problem?

 
Comment by HBB_Rocks
2013-03-07 10:48:22

What stock buybacks mean is that the executives couldn’t come up with any new business investments with return equal to that of the buyback. That can be a troubling sign depending on the industry.

 
 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:25:27

“If I’m a company and I decide to buy back shares of myself and as a result of this buyback the price of myself goes up then this is a good thing.”

Conceptually speaking, is there much difference between companies propping up the prices of their shares through buybacks and the Fed propping up the prices of Treasurys and MBS through QE purchases?

The one big difference that comes to my mind is that the Fed has a printing press technology, but with borrowing rates so low, it seems like corporations also have ready access to a big pile of cash…

 
 
 
Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2013-03-07 06:30:02

If you had lucrative capital gains accrue while holding a 401k, might not be the most horrible thing to do to get at the cash:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/03/06/study-shows-more-americans-are-raiding-401k-accounts-to-pay-bills/

Me wonders if you can sell off portions of an old 401K and take the 10% penalty hit but still keep your MAGI low enough that the added cashed 401k income does not budge your taxes much. Just wondering. I can understand if people want to liquidate their holdings. I don’t blame them.

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 07:13:53

Welcome to the recoveryless recovery.

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 09:49:18

…again.

 
 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 07:27:16

I plan to avoid any of these 401k/IRA traps as well, because I’m almost certain SS/MC will be means tested (if they still exist) long before I’m eligible. And I’d wager that the means-testing will kick in at surprisingly low amounts. They avg American has only like 75k in his/her 401k. So for means testing to make sense at all, they’re going to have to start doing it at some very moderate amount, like 100-200k.

I don’t know what my long term strategy will be yet, for right now it is a) no non-mortgage debt b) pay off mortgage once MID no longer provides a benefit (probably in 3-4 yrs) and c) horde cash.

Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 07:30:37

Move to a public union controlled, high tax, blue state state?

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2013-03-07 08:07:06

A horde of cash is also Mr. Bernank’s strategy.

A cash of cash, or a magazine of cash safely hoarded would be my strategy.

 
Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2013-03-07 08:07:13

I wonder how Roth IRA holders will get bent over in the years to come.

Comment by Arizona Slim
2013-03-07 08:14:10

I’ve wondered the same thing. Which is why I’ve resisted moving my money into a Roth.

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Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 08:34:45

And yet, I routinely see “financial planners” suggesting people use Roth IRAs.

Of couse, all these people really care about is the fee they get for putting you into such an account.

If they looked at the overall picture and really recommended a good plan, they wouldn’t get their fees from the account providers. People are stupid - they’re going to pay a fee either way, either for good advice or the commissions, which ultimately come out of your investment gains (and you still pay them even if your investment doesn’t gain). Why do people prefer to pay the commission instead of a fixed fee for the advice? It’s madness.

 
 
Comment by drumminj
2013-03-07 09:51:42

This is why I liquidated my Roth this past year.

I don’t care for the uncertainty, nor a bunch of rules around gaining access to my money. I just wish I had been smart enough not to put the money there in the first place.

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Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 10:47:56

Ding ding!

This is what I’ve said on here before and people disagree with me. But for most people (under 50 yrs old, say) the threat of means testingor future tax increases should be enough to dissuade you from locking money up. The idea that you can’t “save” without handing your money over to a “financial planner” is absurd. And then having your exact savings and investment income documented just increases the risk if things really do get bad here in the U.S.

One last thought - most people would be better off paying down debts (to zero) and re-evaluating their lifestyle/expectations in a holistic way, rather than checking a few boxes on HR forms and blindly handing money to Fidelity.

I’d only suggest people contribute to accounts if they get a decent employer match and the vesting period isn’t too long. For example, if you’re getting a 2% match and the vesting period is 2 yrs or less, then just contribute as much as you need to get the match. Because that is 100% ROI so it’s worth a shot. But there’s some risk even in that, because if you are young you have to wait more than 3 decades to touch the money without a penalty. For the very young people, it is 4 decades.

 
Comment by HBB_Rocks
2013-03-07 12:40:22

Maybe because most of the people with the means to invest additional funds into 401ks and IRAs don’t really care that much if the gov’t means tests SS anyways or they think the gov’t doom scenarios don’t hold much water. What’s the max SS withdrawl from SS right now? Just under $5k for a couple a month?

Is that really worth ignoring the compounding effects of time for $5k a month? Only if you think your household wouldn’t be able to save that much in the first place, which would be about $1.2 million or so in today’s dollars.

—-
If money is in one of these accounts and you need to move it, it costs a significant amount in penalties/fees, on top of the taxes which are taken out.
——-
No it doesn’t, especially for an Roth IRA, unless you take out more than you put in. You can take out your own contributions from a Roth IRA whenever you want without any penalties or taxes. You can take contributions from your 401k without pentalty as long as you are not laid off, which requires automatic repayment.

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 14:06:28

HBB Rocks - The *average* amount in a 401k account right now is something like $77k (someone correct me with the exact amount if you remember).

$77k. That’s it. That’s not median, that’s average (mean).

In other words, it’s not rich people.

Wealthy people have much, much better ways to get returns & avoid taxes without worrying about 401k or IRA rules. Sure many (most?) upper middle class professionals have a retirement account or two, but these are not wealthy people. 401k’s and IRA’s are not a major source of the top 1-2%’s wealth. The limits on contributions are too low and the tax-free appreciation is not attractive enough, especially because your taxes (on the money put in or pulled out, depending on the account type) can’t be avoided. You’re going to pay taxes one way or the other. For the 1%ers, there are better ways to go.

 
 
Comment by Rental Watch
2013-03-07 17:33:48

VAT–

Too many lower income folks have Roth IRAs for the government to explicitly begin to tax Roths.

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Comment by Bill in Los Angeles
2013-03-08 07:52:54

You folks are making very good arguments for buying (periodically) precious metals. Movable. Hidable.

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Comment by polly
2013-03-07 09:52:21

Much more likely that they will do it based on income (most likely adjusted gross income or even taxable income) than assets, though I expect that money taken out of a Roth would be added back in to the total.

Last time I saw anyone propose a number it was to start means testing SS around $82K a year and phase out around $110K a year. Think I saw it on Wonkblog yesterday, but it might have been elsewhere on the Washington Post. Now that I think about it, that is probably the only time I have seen numbers associated with a means testing proposal.

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 10:55:54

The use of income sounds simple, but I have a hard time imagining they’d completely ignore 401k’s or IRAs (not that I would agree, it seems sensible to me just to use income). I agree with you that valuing assets is difficult, but it’s not difficult to see how much someone has in an IRA or 401k.

If they did decide to choose IRA/401k’s as part of means testing, I really do think it would be a low amount because we know that the average person approaching retirement has less than 100k saved in these accounts.

There is too long of a road before I reach retirement for me to trust in any of this. If money is in one of these accounts and you need to move it, it costs a significant amount in penalties/fees, on top of the taxes which are taken out.

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Comment by polly
2013-03-07 12:44:19

IRAs (not sure about 401ks, but most people roll over to an IRA at retirement to get access to better investments) have required minimum distribution amounts after a certain age so your income does reflect your assets at that point. Roths do not have required minimum distributions, which is why I think they would at least add in any money taken from a Roth, but they could impute income from the Roth based on the same minimum distribution requirements of the other IRAs whether you actually take it out or not. If they do it, it will be complicated.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by joesmith
2013-03-07 06:37:59

It’s always funny getting pro housing ads on this site. Right now I’m seeing one for buying a vacation house so you can make money renting it out.

I suppose they don’t know about the craters and the 65 percent. It’s not my fault, I’ve been trying to spread the gospel to all who will listen.

Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 07:18:10

“I suppose they don’t know about the craters and the 65 percent. It’s not my fault, I’ve been trying to spread the gospel to all who will listen.”

It’s gonna be hard to convince Ms. Swift:

Taylor Swift Reportedly Makes $1M After Flipping Hyannis Port Home

http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/taylor-swift-reportedly-makes-1m-flipping-hyannis-port-173326187.html

The “I Knew You Were Trouble” singer has reportedly made a $1 million profit on the Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, estate she bought last summer when she was dating the high school senior.

In the April issue of Vanity Fair, a source close to Swift reveals that she recently sold the seven-bedroom home, which she bought in August, just two months before she and Kennedy split. “It was like a house-flip,” the insider told the magazine. “A good short-term investment.”

[Related: Taylor Swift: I Don't Want to Be a 'Typical Hollywood Sad Cliche']

That would be an understatement. Swift, 23, sold the Cape Cod-style home – which is right next door to the compound belonging to her ex’s grandmother, Ethel – two weeks ago for $5,765,000 … nearly $1 million more than she paid for it, realtor Bob Kinlin confirmed to E! Online. The new owners are a couple who had been previously interested in it.

Comment by Neuromance
2013-03-07 08:34:54

Good for Taylor, seriously.

I know people who have won both at the horse track and in the stock market. I know people who’ve lost their shirts in the real estate market.

If people want to take risks - gamble even - that’s great. However, if their activities create public costs (for example, oil speculators raising the price of oil, wheat speculators raising the price of bread, or house speculators raising prices of houses), then there should be regulation of their activities. And if there is the threat of a government bailout when they lose their gambles, again that indicates the need for regulation.

1) Government should be out of the business of guaranteeing private debt.
2) Government should force banks to separate consumer deposits from their betting operations.
3) Government should force lenders to retain repayment risk.

These basic rules should allow people to engage in whatever financial activities they wish in their private lives without imposing public costs. If they win, they reap the rewards. If they lose, they incur the costs. Instead of our current system where the public incurs the cost.

Do these things, and I encourage people to play whatever games they want, as long as they don’t generate public costs.

Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 08:42:19

I agree, Taylor got lucky because she’s in the world of the .1%, and they’ve still got plenty of money.

Ans yes, there needs to be strong government regulation of the financial marketplace, just as you say.

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Comment by Neuromance
2013-03-07 10:11:37

Ans yes, there needs to be strong government regulation of the financial marketplace, just as you say.

I think there needs to be strong regulation where the possibility of public costs exist.

I’m all for letting people decide how to live their lives, what activities they wish to engage in, what games they want to play. People doing this and achieving their goals is how society and economy provide a high life satisfaction.

A light, hopefully non-existent government touch in areas where there are no public costs. An iron fist in areas where public costs do exist.

 
Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 10:14:42

A light, hopefully non-existent government touch in areas where there are no public costs. An iron fist in areas where public costs do exist.

+1

 
 
Comment by Pimp Watch
2013-03-07 10:35:10

“I know people who’ve lost their shirts in the real estate market.”

A SFR is a loss always.

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Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 12:53:16

Can you explain how Taylor Swift lost money on the Hyannis house?

 
Comment by Pimp Watch
2013-03-07 14:17:33

Can you explain how Taylor Swift made money on the Hyannis house?

 
Comment by joesmith
2013-03-07 16:15:49

She it for much more than her purchase price, renovation costs, taxes. Good for her. most people lose money, she didn’t.

 
Comment by Pimp Watch
2013-03-07 16:23:15

She did? How do you know this? Or did the realtor that wrote article tell you?

Again…. explain how Taylor Swift made money on the Hyannis house.

 
Comment by joesmith
2013-03-07 16:33:06

Everyone always losses money on houses. Always.

And you wonder why people think you are nuts.

 
Comment by Pimp Watch
2013-03-07 16:44:45

Duck and weave you coward. You lied.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by scdave
2013-03-07 06:47:23

Market Observation…95050-95054

Looks like people maybe getting off the fence…Inventory (although still extremely low) is starting to increase…Not due to days on the market but because of more new listings…Trend or blip…We shall see…

Comment by inchbyinch
2013-03-07 08:02:36

I am seeing a few more listings as well, but the wish prices have a $100K premium for a basic home w/a small pool. That’s insane. I hope they sit on the market.

We bought a fixer (w/ a pool) in Sept (2012) for $115K less than these homes, although they are a little bigger, and a two-story, on a smaller lot.

Any buyer who pays those prices needs their head examined.

Comment by Blue Skye
2013-03-07 08:11:35

“Any buyer who pays those prices needs their head examined…”

Word of the day!

You paid “those prices” too, with all of your granite and such. Tears of joy are priceless though.

Comment by inchbyinch
2013-03-07 09:50:18

Blue
Our friend is a General Contractor, so we paid wholesale. (We got his favor paybacks!) We saved 10’s of $1,000’s on our updating. Our cost to live here for the rest of our lives is less per mo. than renting a room. We have a great life now.

Be happy for us. Glaucoma isn’t a cakewalk.

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Comment by Blue Skye
2013-03-07 10:25:05

You don’t need our permission to be happy, but to say your neighbors need their heads examined for being in the same spot is ironic.

 
Comment by inchbyinch
2013-03-07 11:16:45

Blue
The current homes on the market are fixers as well, but our home is now cherry inside, and now we’re working on the yards.

We had a great broker (owned firm) who hammered the price down for us. The rest of our lives we will have low housing costs. Even did a 50 yr roof. Our housing issues are behind us.

 
Comment by inchbyinch
2013-03-07 11:22:34

It’s wonderful to close our eyes at night debt free. We did without, to design our lives after the diagnosis. For us, this was the best answer. If we would have waited, we would be facing…who knows?

Better to look ahead…the past is gone.

 
Comment by oxide
2013-03-07 13:00:48

I can taste the salty tears of joy from here.

The increase in listings is probably sellers seeing the rising prices casting a line to see if anyone bites. The “Make me move” function on Zillow has been hopping.

But when buyers have more choice, the price rise will stop. Other sellers will decide to wait until the inventory squeezes again. Result: bouncing along the bottom. Nothing new.

 
Comment by Pimp Watch
2013-03-07 16:25:06

we paid wholesale.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

What does that mean? You paid $45-$50/sq foot?

 
Comment by inchbyinch
2013-03-07 19:42:57

I was talking about our upgrades, pimp. Wood floors, granite, chocolate cabinets, built-in bookacse in LR cost us $25. All the cosmetic pretties, and the plumbing and electrical fixes. We did well. Our money went far.

 
Comment by Pimp Watch
2013-03-07 20:11:18

Paying $200/sq ft for run down used up houses isn’t “doing well”.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 06:58:32

And our local nanny-state gun-grabbers assault on the Constitution:

“At least three of the Democrats’ signature gun bills are in danger of dying when they are debated on the Senate floor Friday.

Democrats have a 20-15 majority over Republicans and know they can’t afford to lose more than two members on any bill. The dynamic has led to an intense lobbying effort.

The three gun bills that Democrats have expressed the most concern about are measures that limit ammunition magazine rounds; ban concealed-carry weapons on campus; and assign liability for assault-style weapon damages to manufacturers and sellers.

Several Democratic senators who were polled by the Denver Post said they are undecided. Others said Friday’s debate could change their minds on proposals that they are currently supporting or opposing.

Proof of just how high stakes the battle has become. Vice President Joe Biden called four lawmakers on the House floor on Feb. 15 during a debate on four gun measures, outraging Republicans who argue Democrats are getting their marching orders from the White House and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns.”

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22735050/colorado-gun-bills-dems-need-18-votes-or

Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 07:13:13

Welcome to hope and change

Now get back to work and pay your fair share

I am sure glad the 47% have spoken

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 07:21:33

Make that 51%. Next election it will be 54.37%.

 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 07:49:37

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before” — Rahm Emanuel

 
 
Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 08:02:13

They could save a lot more lives banning booze, bats and knives.

Baaaaaaaaah Baaaaaaaaah Believe what you are shown (even if you don`t really see it but think you did.) AND DON`T LOOK ANY FURTHER!

Now we won`t see any of this on CNN, it would not advance an ideological agenda.

in 2009, there were 348 deaths by rifle (all rifles including gang related which I can not find a stat on but I would think at least 50%) There are some husbands and wives who come home earlier than expected and don`t have a knife or a bat handy.

“As David Kennedy, the head of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control, put it, “The majority of homicide victims have extensive criminal histories. This is simply the way that the world of criminal homicide works. It’s a fact.”

in 2009, there were 348 deaths by rifle

in 2009, there were 1,825 stabbing deaths

in 2009, there were 611 who were killed with a blunt object.

In 2011, 9,878 people died in drunk driving crashes - one every 53 minutes

FBI figures show more Americans are killed with hammers, clubs, hands and feet than rifles

Tuesday, January 15, 2013
by: J. D. Heyes

According to the data:

– In 2005, there were 445 people killed with rifles, compared to 608 who were killed with a “blunt object” (club, hammer, etc.);

– In 2006, the numbers were 438 and 618 respectively; in 2007, 453 and 647; in 2008, 380 versus 603; and in 2009, there were 348 deaths by rifle compared to 611 who were killed with a blunt object.

Rifles rarely used to kill in the U.S.

In addition, during the same periods, stabbing deaths far surpassed murders with blunt objects and rifles. By year, from 2006-2009: 1,920; 1,830; 1,817; 1,888; and 1,825.

http://www.naturalnews.com/038687_homicides_hammers_rifles.html - 151k -

America Doesn’t Have a Gun Problem, It Has a Gang Problem

December 31, 2012 By Daniel Greenfield

America’s horrific murder rate is a result of the transformation of major American cities into Sierra Leone, Somalia, Rwanda and El Salvador. Our murder rate now largely consists of criminals killing criminals.

As David Kennedy, the head of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control, put it, “The majority of homicide victims have extensive criminal histories. This is simply the way that the world of criminal homicide works. It’s a fact.”

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/america-doesnt-have-a-gun-problem-it-has-a-gang-problem/ - 83k

Drunk Driving Statistics

One in three people will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime

On average, one in three people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime.

Almost every 90 seconds, a person is injured in a drunk driving crash.

In 2011, 9,878 people died in drunk driving crashes - one every 53 minutes

An average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before first arrest.

Adults drank too much and got behind the wheel about 112 million times in 2010 - that is almost 300,000 incidents of drinking and driving each day.

Drunk driving costs each adult in this country almost $500 per year.

If all 17 million people who admitted to driving drunk in 2010 had their own state, it would be the fifth largest in the U.S.

Drunk driving costs the United States $132 billion a year.

Every day in America, another 27 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes.

50 to 75 percent of convicted drunk drivers continue to drive on a suspended license.

http://www.madd.org/statistics/ - 44k -

Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 08:27:53

Rifles rarely used to kill in the U.S.

How often are handguns used to kill? Odd that they forgot to give that statistic.

Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 09:01:07

“How often are handguns used to kill? Odd that they forgot to give that statistic.”

Thank you alpha, you proved my point.

Number of Murders by Firearms, US, 2009: 9,146

in 2009, there were 348 deaths by rifle

So banning rifles with 30 round mags is obviously the way to go. Now you just have Double Barrel Joe and Feinstein scurry their little butts into the cities and take the handguns away from MS-13 and their playmates and we can all sleep better.

Mara Salvatrucha (commonly abbreviated as MS, Mara, and MS-13) is a transnational criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles and has spread to other parts of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America.[5] The majority of the gang is ethnically composed of Central Americans and active in urban and suburban areas. In the U.S., the MS-13 has an especially heavy presence in Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California; the Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas of Fairfax County, Virginia, Montgomery County, Maryland, and Prince George’s County, Maryland; Long Island, New York; the Boston, Massachusetts] area; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Houston, Texas. There is also a presence of MS-13 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 09:11:43

Odd that they focus so much effort on banning rifles and ignore handguns this time around.

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Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 09:28:48

Odd that they focus so much effort on banning rifles and ignore handguns this time around.

I think it’s because assault rifles are being used in the big bodycount mass slayings that terrify people due to their randomness (they occur in the nicest of neighborhoods, movie theaters, etc) and lethal effectiveness of the ARs in such events.

Handguns are involved in far more day-to-day killings, but many of those are gang-bangers and the like, who are less newsworthy, and the killings occur in the hood, where you expect such things.

So average, non-hood-dwelling people see assault rifles as more of a threat to them than handguns, even though handguns kill far more people.

 
Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 09:41:37

“I think it’s because assault rifles are being used in the big bodycount mass slayings that terrify people due to their randomness (they occur in the nicest of neighborhoods, movie theaters, etc) and lethal effectiveness of the ARs in such events.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-t8PngHgWY - 198k -

 
Comment by Northeastener
2013-03-07 10:13:08

Odd that they focus so much effort on banning rifles and ignore handguns this time around.

The efforts at banning semi-automatic rifles have everything to do with disarmament of the populace as an end-run on the 2nd Amendment being the last true defense against a tyrannical government.

The helmets and body armor that LEO and military personnel wear are rated for protection against handgun ammunition only. The only protection LEO and military personnel have against rifle munitions are steel or ceramic plates that are inserted in the front and back of body armor. Those inserts provide limited protection for a small area of the vitals organs in your upper chest and back. That leaves a large area that is vulnerable to damage from rifle fire.

Bottom line, get shot by a rifle in the head, face, or neck and you’re most likely done. Get shot in the groin or legs and damage an artery, you’ll bleed out. Just the kinetic impact and penetration of a larger caliber rifle round, like .308, will most likely incapacitate you for a period, even if you’re wearing trauma plates…

 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 10:31:43

The State of New York’s ban on handgun magazines of more than seven rounds is a de facto ban on handguns, as most handguns take 8, 10, or more rounds.

Cuomo and Bloomberg should be impeached, tried for treason, and sent to Guantanamo Bay. And then waterboarded with a bucket of warm urine :)

 
Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 10:40:29

as most handguns take 8, 10, or more rounds.

Even six-shooters?

 
Comment by Northeastener
2013-03-07 11:22:24

Even six-shooters?

The majority of handguns in circulation today are semi-automatic magazine-fed. There is a very good reason. They can be made extensively using polymer, keeping weight and cost down, and can be reloaded quickly using magazines. Why would you ever need more than 7 or 10 or any other arbitrary number of rounds?

Statistics from the NYPD, show the following:
Overall police hit potential was 17%. Where distances could be determined, the hit percentages at distances under 15 yards were:

Less than 3 yards ….. 28%
3 yards to 7 yards …. 11%
7 yards to 15 yards … 4.2%

Let’s do some simple math to show why magazine limits are a bad idea. A law-abiding CCW-holder encounters one bad guy at a range of 3-7 yards. With a 7 round magazine, .77 of my shots should hit before I have to reload. In real terms, it means statistically I probably won’t hit my target once before reloading.

With a 15 round magazine, 1.65 hits should occur. So, the CCW holder managed to shoot his intended target 1-2 times before having to reload. That may or may not have stopped the bad guy, as it depends on where the hits were. Now add a second bad guy. How many hits is that per bad guy? Less than 1. This isn’t Hollywood… unless you hit a critical area like the heart or brain (difficult for the best shooters), the bad guy may continue to do whatever it was you wanted him to stop doing.

Stop with your anti-2A nonsense. It is our constitutional right to bear arms and protect our persons and our families. A magazine limit does nothing to help protect us and everything to protect criminals…

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 11:23:23

Maryland Gov. O’Malley just rammed a gun control bill through the State Senate (will also pass the House) so you can add another state to the list that de facto bans handguns (it’s already nearly impossible to get a permit to carry).

At the same time, Maryland is getting rid of its death penalty, which the current governor never uses anyway.

 
Comment by Northeastener
2013-03-07 11:28:08

Maryland Gov. O’Malley just rammed a gun control bill through the State Senate (will also pass the House) so you can add another state to the list that de facto bans handguns

Good. That will give Beretta the excuse it needs to leave, taking with it the jobs and tax revenues the gun manufacturer has provided.

Liberals will never learn…

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 11:33:33

It’s already illegal to carry a handgun in both DC and MD, so I’m not sure why they would leave now if they haven’t already left. I really don’t like O’Malley & I think making the gun thing a priority is a mistake - there are bigger fish to fry. As I’ve said many other times, the murders that happen in Balt or Washington are concentrated in areas with valuable “drug territory” - the blocks surrounding the best places to sell to suburbanites. And this happens when most decent people are sleeping. No one really cares about gangs killing each other or we’d have legalized drugs and put drug pushers out of business years ago.

 
Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 16:44:11

“The efforts at banning semi-automatic rifles have everything to do with disarmament of the populace as an end-run on the 2nd Amendment being the last true defense against a tyrannical government.”

And for that to happen in this country, dead inner city kids are just not gonna cut it. What you need to put forth a serious effort to ban semi-automatic rifles is dead kids in “the nicest of neighborhoods”. The people pushing this agenda in 2009 found that out. (come to think of it. people in the inner cities should really be pissed) Thus the planning began.

Homeland Security’s outrageous insult to veterans, conservatives and firearms owners

PoliticsApril 15, 2009
By: Dave Workman

The report made headlines in the Washington Times, and the ensuing controversy was also covered by Reuters and WorldNetDaily.

The DHS document, titled Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment has outraged people who don’t even own firearms, but who do advocate smaller government, and criticize government intrusion into their personal lives. It appeared on the heels of another controversial document issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center that linked Libertarians to the militia movement. Release of that report, and the angry public reaction to it, caused the removal of the director of that agency.

“The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergency of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.

Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the Bellevue-based gun rights organization, has demanded an apology to veterans, conservatives and gun owners from Napolitano and the Obama administration. He sees this document as a not-so-subtle attempt by the administration to stifle dissent by silencing, or at least marginalizing and demonizing those who disagree with the Obama agenda.

“Proposed imposition of firearms restrictions and weapons bans likely would attract new members into the ranks of rightwing extremist groups, as well as potentially spur some of them to begin planning and training for violence against the government. The high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by rightwing extremists in anticipation of restrictions and bans in some parts of the country continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement.

http://www.examiner.com/article/homeland-security-s-outrageous-insult-to-veterans-conservatives-and-firearms-owners - 103k -

 
 
 
Comment by MiddleCoaster
2013-03-07 09:42:28

The only gang killings that make the news in Chicago are those in which an innocent bystander, usually a teenage honor student, is killed. It doesn’t bother me much when gangbangers kill other gangbangers. In fact it might be best if certain areas of the city were cordoned off after removing all the non-gang-members. Think “Escape From New York”.

Only half kidding.

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 11:28:37

Same thing in any big city over here. There is no generalized sense of violence or lawlessness. If you look at a map of violent crimes plotted out for Baltimore, Washington, or Philadelphia, you can quickly see where the “rough areas” are. Out of hundreds of homicides in these cities each year, a tiny fraction are in decent areas and those are usually domestic or family situations.

Every once in a while a gang will happen upon a person of interest (”target”) in an upper class area and the results are shocking. During Christmas season of 2011, some ‘hoods from the East Side of Baltimore spotted a guy from a West Side gang at the Towson Town Center mall. They followed him around and then killed him when he left the mall. I forget if it was in a parking garage or while he was waiting for a bus, but it was something like that. It was shocking because it never happens. Stupid white people freaked out, as if it was some random act that could’ve happened to them. Yeah, sure, it could happen to you in retaliation if you kill a gang member.

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Comment by aNYCdj
2013-03-07 17:47:05

Exactly Joe Just like Trayvon 1 lone “white” person and the whole country goes Insane….

Not to mention he was suspended from school for 10 days, in Maimi… and they had 8 burglaries in the same complex last year, and ALL were black, and he was transitioning from a cute kid to a gangsta thug, all his FB pictures were quickly deleted. I hope FB will be subpoenaed to produce the pictures.

Not to mention a car with 30 bullet holes and hit a pregnant woman less then 1 mile from the complex

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-04/news/os-three-shot-sanford-pregnant-woman-20120404_1_pregnant-woman-gunshot-wounds-stable-condition

Those people simply forgot Sanford FL is a very high crime area.

 
 
 
Comment by Neuromance
2013-03-07 10:25:56

The problem is, is that Newtown is an unacceptable incident. No credible response has been yet created which would prevent another Newtown.

One option - schools should be built like banks. We have the experience of Columbine, Virginia Tech, Newtown, and several other less lethal school mass shootings.

Or schools could be like airports.

Or we could profile people. The Israelis, who have been in existential crisis for millenia, don’t screw around. El Al is the greatest target that any jihadist could dream of. But they haven’t been able to bring one down because the Israelis focus on certain individuals who raise red flags and to hell with the public niceties.

But the bottom line is, no credible response has been created. Just like politicians don’t want to take on the financial sector, the arms industry is a big power player in shaping elections. And politicians don’t want to be seen as stigmatizing certain students with mental difficulties, 99.999% of whom who will never harm anyone. And stigmatizing them will result in net harm.

Quite the Gordian Knot due to political considerations.

The desired result is quite simple really: One has to keep firearms out of the sociopathically homicidal.

Probably, the solution is three-fold: Taking an Israeli approach to trying to identify red-flag individuals; Beefing up physical security in schools; Increased regulation of semiautomatics consistent with the 2nd Amendment.

Comment by polly
2013-03-07 11:08:47

“One option - schools should be built like banks. We have the experience of Columbine, Virginia Tech, Newtown, and several other less lethal school mass shootings.

Or schools could be like airports.

Or we could profile people.”

Sounds expensive. Very expensive.

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Comment by Northeastener
2013-03-07 11:25:35

Sounds expensive. Very expensive.

Yes, very expensive… much cheaper to just trample over the 2nd Amendment and ban and confiscate guns, ban and confiscate magazines over a certain limit, destroy a domestic industry that employs tens of thousands and is profitable and turn us all into the disarmed sheep that Communists, Socialists, and Fascists love.

 
 
Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 11:25:08

The problem is, is that Newtown is an unacceptable incident.

Most murders are unacceptable incidents. But they are the price of living in a free society. Attempts to reduce them by reducing freedom are likely to result in more lives lost than are saved. Such is life on a planet full of humans.

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Comment by ahansen
2013-03-07 11:40:23

Or we could simply accept that sometimes sheet happens and there’s really nothing we can (or should) do about it except comfort the bereaved and watch our six.

Why America seems to think it’s supposed to be immune from occasional internal mayhem is beyond me….

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Comment by Northeastener
2013-03-07 12:05:30

Why America seems to think it’s supposed to be immune from occasional internal mayhem is beyond me….

+1

It must be because we’re special.

 
Comment by aNYCdj
2013-03-07 17:53:23

One thing that CAN be done is make it easier to commit a person against their will….

The mom tried to get Adam committed at least temporally, but failed…… i think that’s what set him off….

We need to thank Geraldo for exposing Willow Brook, but times change people change there seems to be a lot more violent kids today…not just people who used to bang their head against the wall and cry all day.

 
Comment by tresho
2013-03-07 20:13:19

Why America seems to think it’s supposed to be immune from occasional internal mayhem is beyond me….
Because America is utopia, the land of the free lunch, getting something for nothing and widespread refusal to read history.

 
 
Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 14:10:20

“The problem is, is that Newtown is an unacceptable incident. No credible response has been yet created which would prevent another Newtown.”

It takes years to plan.

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Comment by azdude
2013-03-07 07:22:27

home equity will take you to the promises land.

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 07:27:52

Yes it does. True story, a distant relatives of a friend traveled to Europe and Isreal in the heydays. HELOC money was involved.

Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 07:31:52

I will put up a pizza bet that now they are crying they are “victims”

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 07:42:41

No, surprisingly they are still doing great. I run into the daughter once in a while, her parents have made several trips abroad since then. They must have hit the jackpot or something.

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Comment by azdude
2013-03-07 08:02:23

home prices need to rise for the real (avg joe) wealth effect to occur.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by azdude
2013-03-07 07:47:49

Can our economy rely on stock and home prices instead of real jobs?

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 07:52:03

The 1%, Job Creators©, “Producers” sure can without producing anything tangible to show for it.

Comment by azdude
2013-03-07 08:00:39

according to the corporate shrills at your favorite business channel the DOW is a safehaven, lmfao.

Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:48:58

I’m just itchin’ to buy into this latest parabolic bubble price blowout. I am 100% certain I will be able to time my exit before the next big crash.

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Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:28:47

I don’t see why not…It’s already worked that way since 1980 or so.

Comment by azdude
2013-03-07 10:44:18

how high do prices get where it leaves enough people behind where they become disgruntled? Are 200.00 a month food stamp checks going to shut them up?

 
 
Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 09:56:38

“Can our economy rely on stock and home prices instead of real jobs?”

It doesn’t need real customers, either!

http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/citigroup-attempts-to-disappear-its-plutonomy-report-2/

 
 
Comment by Brett
2013-03-07 08:12:37

Is it me or the Federal government is cutting $$$ where it hurts people the most to try to make a point about the sequester?

——

Texas congressmen up in arms over White House tour cancellations

On Tuesday, White House officials announced tours of the president’s home will be cancelled until further notice because of sequestration. Ever since, Texas lawmakers have expressed outraged at the decision.

Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler proposed an amendment to the 2013 continuing spending resolution on the House floor Tuesday that would prevent the government from funding President Obama’s golf trips, the Huffington Post reports. Obama’s most recent golf game was with famed golfer Tiger Woods.

“None of the funds made available by a division of this act may be used to transport the president to or from a golf course until public tours of the White House resume,” the amendment states.

Comment by Hi-Z
2013-03-07 08:25:19

“Is it me or the Federal government is cutting $$$ where it hurts people the most to try to make a point about the sequester?”

Nah, say it ain’t so! Can’t be!

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 09:54:49

I don’t often agree with you, but you nailed it this time.

 
 
Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 08:29:01

If the congressman was any smarter, he would bring a bill that quadruples Obama’s vacation and other entertainment expenses.

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 08:43:08

Obama should have to ride a Greyhound bus if he wants a vacation.

50 million Americans on food stamps and the president eats $900 dinners.

Forward

http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-guide/wp/2013/02/15/obama-picks-minibar-for-romantic-valentines-day-dinner/

Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 09:00:37

I think the president and all members of congress, and the supreme court justices, should all have their personal wealth put in a blind trust, and then be forced to live on the national median income while they are in office. And they’ve got to find their own places to live, their own transportation, their own healthcare etc. And lobbying will be a capital offense.

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Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 08:37:20

Of course, if the White House tours had continued, the headline would be:

White House Tours Continue Amidst Mounting Federal Layoffs
Faux News

Certain perks of the presidency seem immune to the sequester cuts, and the PR-heavy White House tours appear to be one of those programs. The tours continue unabated, helping the president ‘connect’ with voters, while other not-so-lucky federal workers are seeing their paychecks reduced…yadda yadda

Comment by Brett
2013-03-07 09:14:51

I highly doubt that’s the case. Touring the white Isn’t partisan.
Families travel to DC to see it!
Taking it away from people is a way to inflict unnecessary pain IMHO…

Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 09:30:24

Touring the white Isn’t partisan.

Tell it to Faux News.

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Comment by polly
2013-03-07 11:10:07

You have a very odd idea of what is painful.

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Comment by In Colorado
2013-03-07 14:09:26

Agreed. Fluffy, non essential stuff like WH tours is exactly what should go onto the chopping block.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:31:05

Sequester: Yosemite access road could stay closed, hurting mountain towns along 395
Molly Peterson | February 28th, 2013, 11:38am

The dramatic Tioga Pass road provides access to Yosemite from the eastern Sierra region along Highway 395. Tioga closes each winter. In the spring the National Park Service opens it after checking for avalanche danger, turning on the park’s wastewater treatment services, and reopening the visitor center. But the federal budget standoff may change the park’s plans.

“With the potential sequestration we would have to delay the beginning of operations, which could potentially postpone the opening of the road by at least a month,” says Yosemite National Park spokesman Scott Gediman.

And that possibility makes the mountain tourist towns along Highway 395 to the east nervous.

“They live and die by the opening of that road,” says Gediman.

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 12:16:11

Rocky Mountain National Park would be a lot nicer to visit if they closed all of the roads in the Park and people had to hike in 10 miles to photograph the elk.

 
Comment by CharlieTango
2013-03-07 15:37:46

In the spring the National Park Service opens it after checking for avalanche danger, turning on the park’s wastewater treatment services, and reopening the visitor center.

Tioga’s opening date and cost depends on snow depth more than anything else. After the driest January and February since 1920 there is less than 15′ of snow on hwy 120 that needs to be removed.

The author sounds clueless in not even mentioning the snow removal which takes weeks or months and is the issue that determines when the road can be opened. With the current lack of snow we would normally expect an early opening.

Good find PB, your scaring us up here, we already hate republicans.

Comment by ahansen
2013-03-08 01:07:29

CT-

Leave me a message at Snowbear next week if you’d like me to buy you a drink.

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Comment by Arizona Slim
2013-03-07 08:17:40

Longtime readers of this blog are probably familiar with my stories of bicycle riding around Tucson. For years, I enjoyed playing a game called “Count the For Sale Signs.” I’d count the signs and come up with quite a number.

Alas, this game got tedious. Because I kept counting and re-counting the same signs outside of houses that just weren’t selling. Methinks that the prices were too high.

Fast-forward to the present. Not much “for sale” inventory out there. But rentals? Oh, man. Yesterday evening, I went for a 5.1-mile ride and counted 14 SFRs and apartment complexes that had “for rent/now leasing” signs out front.

I can’t help thinking that Tucson’s 16% rental vacancy rate is biting a lot of these places in the posterior.

Comment by brother_jimmy
2013-03-07 09:03:42

Slim, just wait for prices to pull back a bit. That’s when you’ll see the recent cash investors and flippers try to lock in their recent gains. it will be like 2006 all over, a standoff between sellers and buyers who don’t show up, with a mad rush to the exits.

Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower©
2013-03-07 11:35:21

I agree with you that fundamentals suggest a rush to the exits. But given the Fed’s heavy hand of housing market intervention, don’t you expect they will take all due precautions to ensure it never happens?

Otherwise, a lot more recent buyers will find themselves deeply underwater and up to their necks in shasta, to boot.

 
 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 11:36:05

The 16% is probably going to be 20+% if UA enrollment flattens out. Or if builders keep building massive apartment complexes like you’ve mentioned previously.

Comment by Arizona Slim
2013-03-07 11:41:02

The UA recently revised its long-term enrollment projections. Downward, not upward.

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 12:24:24

That’s even worse than I would’ve thought. I thought it would flatten out for a while since UA seems to be popular with out of state students.

Demographically, Big Ed is in for Big Trouble. The # of college aged people who are *citizens* (and thus able to get federal loans) is going to start dropping soon. It is at near-peak levels now. I think we might be slightly past-peak, but my statement is based on an Education Week article I read over a year ago.

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Comment by In Colorado
2013-03-07 14:07:39

The # of college aged people who are *citizens* (and thus able to get federal loans) is going to start dropping soon.

Just wait, eventually illegals will be eligible for federal grants and loans.

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 15:29:43

I’ve said this before but polly disagreed. I’m assuming that amnesty will get done, since *both* parties want it done (for different reasons, of course).

Neither party cares very much about regular wage-earning citizens.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Arizona Slim
2013-03-07 11:40:02

I just took another bike ride. In just slightly over one mile, I counted 13 SFRs and apartment complexes seeking tenants.

 
 
Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2013-03-07 08:18:06

Papa John’s PZZA trading at an all-time high. Better ingredients.

Comment by nine pizza sliders
2013-03-07 08:41:48

Hope Peyton Manning cashes those stock options now. Football ain’t looking good for him.

 
Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 10:01:27

Crap pizza. Crap employer. Crap stock.

Like crap pizza, it’s only good while it’s still hot.

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 10:39:22

Crap employer

Speaking from experience?

We worked at one as a team lead and driver before college. Many of the drivers also sold weed while out on deliveries. How else would they afford $2,000 sound systems in their cars while making minimum wage plus tips?

 
 
 
Comment by brother_jimmy
2013-03-07 08:50:00

Good morning all from Phoenix, a beautiful morning here in the valley of the sun. From an airplane yesterday, after just finishing the Feb 25 issue of business week, which featured the Phoenix housing revival as its cover story, I saw many builders working on dirt lots building homes as far as one could see. Everyone here is talking real estate, how it is the road to riches, blind to the oblivious reality that homes are again being priced out of reach of the local population. Blind that having boom and bust economy is not desirable or stable, nor that 3% mortgages are sustainable. It just feels so 2005 again, with the same ominous writing on the wall.

Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 09:14:42

As the spinning top slows, the wobbles come quicker and quicker before the final wipeout.

 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:35:49

I had one of my favorite ever pre-bubble-collapse conversations with a PHX builder circa 2005. He was here visiting his ex-wife and kid, who lived about four houses up the street from here. Convincing him that a real estate crash was imminent was harder than it would have been to make him believe that we were under attack by Martians.

Within two years of that conversation, his ex-wife and new husband were divorced, and the house they bought together had dropped in value by 20%. The new (ex)-husband’s brother moved in, and they both work full-time, so they have managed to stay current on the underwater loan.

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 10:42:10

his ex-wife and new husband were divorced

We love housing bubble stories that end this way :)

Comment by rms
2013-03-08 00:06:58

“The new (ex)-husband’s brother moved in…”

Real life hillbillies. :)

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Comment by Arizona Slim
2013-03-07 11:42:12

Everyone here is talking real estate, how it is the road to riches, blind to the oblivious reality that homes are again being priced out of reach of the local population.

That’s Arizona for ya. More real estate stupidity per square mile than any other state in the Union.

Comment by rms
2013-03-08 00:10:26

“More real estate stupidity per square mile than any other state in the Union.”

I think Florida holds the stupidity title.

All this nonsense has to do with the sunbelt, IMHO.

 
 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:39:14

How does this thing break from here?

1) With so many people so convinced that the U.S. real estate market is back on its feet for good, and the Fed supplying all the liquidity needed to make sure that anyone who needs a home loan can get one, massive future real estate price gains are in the bag?

2) With so many people convinced that now is the time to buy U.S. real estate, prices are overheating way beyond sustainable levels, setting the stage for the next leg down, and there is nothing the Fed or anyone else can do to stop the cratering.

Door number 1) or door number 2): WHICH IS IT?

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 10:02:52

Ah, the lady or the tiger, eh?

 
Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 10:13:00

Whenever the spinning top is stable, it looks like 1. Whenever it wobbles it looks like 2. Which one wins depends on whether the top is speeding up or slowing down, I think.

 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 10:47:03

2 and only 2.

When does the robust, continuing wage inflation to support currently overpriced housing start happening?

Crickets chirping…

Comment by measton
2013-03-07 14:58:03

See plutonomy paper from Citibank above

 
 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:42:49

More good news here for the stock market — OR IS IT!?

March 7, 2013, 10:54 a.m. EST
U.S. fourth-quarter productivity falls 1.9%
Revised decline still the biggest since 2008; more hiring on way?
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The deterioration in fourth-quarter U.S. productivity was a touch less than originally estimated.

The government on Thursday revised the drop in year-end productivity to a 1.9% annual rate from 2.0% in its preliminary tally. The output of goods and services and the amount of time workers put in on the job were both somewhat higher compared to the earlier estimate.

Even with the revision, the decline was the steepest since the fourth quarter of 2008.

Lower productivity is bad for a country in the long run, a sign of poor or declining economic health. Yet in the short term, declining productivity can be a signal that companies need to hire more workers to keep up with rising demand while maintaining strong profit margins. Read more on employment.

In the fourth quarter, the amount of goods and services produced, known as output, rose 0.5% instead of 0.1% as originally reported. And the number of hours employees worked climbed 2.5% instead of 2.2%.

Hourly pay for American workers rose 2.6% in the fourth quarter, but adjusted for inflation, earnings only increased 0.4%.

What’s worse, inflation-adjusted hourly wages fell 0.6% for the full year, following a revised 0.6% decline in 2011. Only the three-year period of 1993-1995 was worse for American workers.

Unit-labor costs, meanwhile, grew a revised 4.6% in the fourth quarter, little changed from the prior estimate. That number reflects how much it costs a business to produce one unit of output, such as a cubic foot of fertilizer or a barrel of beer.

For all of 2012 unit-labor costs rose a much smaller 0.7%. Slow wage growth is a big reason why corporate profits remain high and inflation is still tame despite billions of dollars pumped into the economy by the Federal Reserve in an effort to stimulate growth.

The government will revise the productivity figure one more time. Productivity is determined by dividing the amount of goods and services businesses generate by how much time their employees work.

In 2012 productivity rose 0.7%, down from the prior estimate of 1.0%. That’s slightly faster than the 0.6% rate in 2011 but well below the 3.1% pace in 2010, a trendline that usually occurs several years into a recovery.

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 10:49:21

Productivity = the extent of penetration of the 1%ers’ rape of middle class employees.

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 15:07:12

BOHICA

 
 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:44:02

Proposed Megabank, Inc stress test:

1) Announced Glass-Steagall Act will be reinstated
2) Announce Sherman Antitrust Act will once again be enforced
3) Observer how much share prices of Wall Street Megabanks go up in anticipation of breakups

Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 09:46:40

The Fed’s stress test may not be stressful enough
By Stephen Gandel, senior editor
March 7, 2013: 7:44 AM ET

Bank examination may understate the risk of a huge and growing financial product.

130306104109-destroyed-fortress-614xaFORTUNE — In the past year or so, bank executives have taken to referring to their balance sheets as fortresses. It could be a drinking game.

The phrase is supposed to signify how banks are better protected against loan and trading losses since the financial crisis. Later Thursday we’ll get a chance to see just how strong the banks’ surrounding walls have become … or if they would come crashing down in the next crisis.

After the market closes, the Federal Reserve will release the first set of results of its annual bank stress tests.

In the first step, called the Dodd-Frank stress test, the Fed will reveal how it thinks the big banks and the industry in general would perform if the economy were to hit another major rough patch. A week later, the Fed will say whether the banks, based on those stress test results, have enough in their vaults to pay dividends and buy back shares.

But some economists and bank regulators think the stress tests may be missing a key vulnerability for banks — their derivatives.

 
Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 10:04:31

“Proposed Megabank, Inc stress test:

1) Announced Glass-Steagall Act will be reinstated
2) Announce Sherman Antitrust Act will once again be enforced
3) Observer how much share prices of Wall Street Megabanks go up in anticipation of breakups

Oh hell YES!

You sir, are a genius.

 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower©
2013-03-07 13:31:14

“Congress must act”

We’re in trouble, folks!

Darrell Delamaide’s Political Capital Archives
March 7, 2013, 12:39 p.m. EST
Holder admits megabanks are ‘too big to jail’
Commentary: Congress must act, because Justice Dept. won’t
By Darrell Delamaide

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Attorney General Eric Holder, the top U.S. law-enforcement official, finally admitted this week that bank executives truly are above the law and may commit crimes with virtual impunity.

Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder acknowledged under questioning by Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking member, that the megabanks are too big to jail. “I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them,” Holder said. Read related commentary by David Weidner: Benghazi on Wall Street.

He continued: “When we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute — if you do bring a criminal charge — it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large.”

Holder went on to suggest that, until Congress does something about it, the size of these banks will preclude bringing them to justice.

“I think it has an inhibiting influence, impact, on our ability to bring resolutions that I think would be more appropriate,” Holder said. “I think that’s something that we — you all — need to consider.”

Comment by rms
2013-03-08 00:28:50

“While Holder may have been too quick to let himself off the hook regarding criminal prosecutions, he was right that it will be up to Congress to rein in the banks, since it has clearly been beyond the capability of President Barack Obama and his administration.”

I’m not counting on our venal congress to do anything.

 
 
 
Comment by cactus
2013-03-07 10:03:32

I figure I got 6 more years in S. CA then I can “oil city” and work remotely or something.

so where are the favorite oil cities these days ? For people past middle age so Alaskan wilderness is out for me.

Nevada no state taxes ?

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 10:05:58

Almost anywhere between the eastern Rockies and the western Appalachians.

 
Comment by alpha-sloth
2013-03-07 10:29:42

Can you handle winter? Small town or bigger city? College town or total Oil City dead factory ghost town?

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 11:38:50

Don’t you still get an oil dividend if you live in Juneau or Anch.?
Why would you have to be in the wilderness?

 
Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 11:39:42

For use as a filter

1. Low or no state income taxes
2. Low property taxes
3. Right to work state
4. Living in city without massive budget deficits
5. Public unions with little power

Comment by In Colorado
2013-03-07 13:39:49

Wyoming sounds like your kind of place.

Keep in mind that there is a reason there are only 576,412 people in the entire state.

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 14:50:54

1) Most people don’t have several hundred thousand in the bank and therefore need a job

2) Most people who *are* old enough to have savings also have some health concerns or soon will have health issues related to age (think 50+)

3) Most people who do have money in the bank and don’t have health issues have another reason for staying put - family ties, kids in a good school, or they actually like their job/life.

There are good reasons people don’t just run off to random states. I love how party-line types (on both sides) will always assume “if people only knew what know what’s good for them, they would do x, y, z”. Uh, a lot of people know the south or mountain west are cheap but avoiding taxes is not everything there is to life.

That said, it would be awesome to live in Wyoming a few months a year.

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Comment by In Colorado
2013-03-07 15:53:50

There jobs to be found in Wyoming. Some pay OK

 
 
Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 15:10:06

Keep in mind that there is a reason there are only 576,412 people in the entire state.

Yup. It’s lack of desire or ability to attract production of anything that doesn’t come out of the ground. But it may not be possible.

People who start new businesses need to be closer to customers and expert potential employees, and people with established businesses (and/or their families) like the perks of being close to lots of people ready and willing to serve them in any way for their money. And then there are the people who just plain don’t like rural culture or politics. So it ends up being chicken or egg…the people who would like to produce there can’t, and the people who can don’t want to.

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Comment by In Colorado
2013-03-07 15:50:58

One of Laramie’s few tech firms, In-Situ, moved a few years ago from Laramie to Fort Collins. I knew the owners, who grew up in Laramie (their father started the company) and they couldn’t wait to get the H E double hockey sticks out of Laramie and were not deterred by Colorado’s somewhat higher taxes. For one thing, it was much easier for them to hire engineers in Fort Collins than in Laramie, even with UW right there in town.

 
Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 16:00:52

Back in the day I sent them a couple of resumes because I liked their location. It seemed to me that they were pretty picky about who they hired…I never even got a nibble from them. So I didn’t feel too sorry for them when they complained about not finding what they were looking for. I think that what Wyoming grads may have lacked in exact experience they wanted would have been nicely offset by the willingness to be more loyal and work cheaper? But as with everything, nobody wants to train, they want exactly what they want right out of the box.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2013-03-07 16:46:12

They were picky and the pay was low.

If you ask me, Laramie is proof that taxes, while nice when they are low, can be too low. The city is an eyesore with its crumbling sidewalks and overall rundown look. Snow plowing was an afterthought too. US 287 is always nicely plowed on the Colorado side of the border, then you cross the state line and it’s another story altogether.

 
Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 17:01:19

Not sure how I feel on that. In business you can save yourself out of business, but in government I’m not sure you can run too lean…at least until it costs more than it saves in damages or fraud.

 
 
 
 
Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 12:22:29

Salida, CO

Not an expensive ski town.
Mild climate.
Water from Arkansas River.
2 hours from major cities.
Excellent whitewater rafting and trout fishing.

 
 
Comment by Pimp Watch
2013-03-07 10:39:59

WBBR Bloomberg Carolyn Baum’s analysis this morning was a honest look at housing. Her analysis?

It’s a fraud. No linky…. seek and ye shall find.

 
Comment by Patrick
2013-03-07 11:23:11

US banks are rapidly selling 80B non cum preferreds to cover current capital shortfall before the expected rate hikes to help pull their capital shortfall into place.

Forced realization of AFS securities by Basil are not insured like housing debt.

And today the MSM are talking about how great the banks are and that they should be distributing dividends, etc ! ! !

Get Real.

The UK won’t even be repaying their gov debt and they are still 60B short - and the world 486B.

Better hope there are no runs on ANY bank in the world.

The only figures that don’t lie are 36-24-36.

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 12:17:19

The only figures that don’t lie are 36-24-36.
———

If only this were true. Plenty of those women lie too.

Comment by goon squad
2013-03-07 12:26:59

Plenty of those women lie

Discussed extensively on online dating forum link we recently posted, specifically what the check-box “a few extra pounds” body-type self-description means.

For many, “a few” = 50 or more :)

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 12:57:18

Good point, I intended to say that even if a woman is 36-24-36, she’s not that much different than any other human being. And some of them take extreme advantage of their looks.

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Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 15:11:31

And some of them take extreme advantage of their looks.

Everybody uses whatever they’ve got.

 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 15:27:15

True, but being an attractive woman is like hitting the Mega Millions jackpot. It’s one of the best cards to be dealt in life. Maybe the single best.

 
Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-07 16:04:14

It’s a good card, but I think it’s easily trumped by having the right parents. Would you rather be a hot chick, or be able to have all the hot chicks you want?

 
Comment by Patrick
2013-03-07 17:59:36

Me being 70; if she is friendly, attractive, rich, smiles a lot, attends to my every whim, no longer wants to travel and waste money, shy, smart, never argues, has all her teeth, doesn’t know what lawyers do, well educated and is 21 to 24 - - - also 36-24-36 - - - she can lie all she wants.

But I wonder what my wife of 46 years would say !

“Get out.”

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 11:41:26

Where’d Banana go?

The GOP leadership is telling Rand Paul to calm down. McCain and Lindsay Graham in particular are livid with Paul.

Both parties blow, Banana Boy. Get over it.

Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 12:26:11

Lemmie see.

Democrats in Power: Both parties stink. No differences. They both are at fault. Might as well keep what we got.

Republicans in Power: They are evil and must be removed from power immediately. They are responsible for ALL that is wrong. Nothing will change without voting them out of office in the next election. The fate of the country and earth depends on it.

Got the memo.

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 13:01:14

This is a pathetic strawman post.

Both of the major parties are bad, I don’t troll for either one. This time around, Romney was more disgusting because of his social values, so it didn’t require a lot of handwringing. Neither party has a lot to be proud of, IMO. Both are thoroughly disgusting.

I wasn’t yelling that “George Bush should be impeached” or whatever. We get the government we deserve. If people held Obama to a higher standard and were more informed, a lot of things would be different. Same thing for Congress.

Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower©
2013-03-07 13:29:13

Ignore the partisan troll.

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Comment by Michael Viking
2013-03-07 15:10:18

the partisan troll.

You’re his mirror image. If you could only take the plank out of your eye, you’d be able to see it!

 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower©
2013-03-07 17:08:11

Luckily there is no law against lying, Michael.

 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower©
2013-03-07 17:09:24

St00pid was also legal the last time I checked…you’re in luck!

 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 20:01:01

If you want an honest comparison of my posts to 2banana’s, count how many of each of our posts either start a thread or change the subject to the topic of something related to a Democrat or Republican sitting in office (e.g. Obama) or make some blanket statement about Democrats or Republicans.

What you will soon discover is (a) almost all of 2banana’s posts initiate or change the subject to partisan politics; (b) almost all of my posts with any reference to partisan politics are in response to somebody else’s unchallenged post.

Since most of the unchallenged partisan politics posts here are 2banana’s anti-Democrat or anti-Obama posts, Michael Viking incorrectly concludes I am anti-Republican, when in fact I am merely anti-stupido.

 
 
 
 
Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 16:54:24

“Both parties blow,”

One of the many things I have learned on the HBB.

 
Comment by Bill in Los Angeles
2013-03-07 20:31:59

Of course the Ron Paul fans like the split. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and company splitting off of the John McLame / Lindsey Graham dirtbag RINOs.

Two scenarios:
1) The Republican Party is undergoing a change to sweep away the establishment military-industrial, church and state, country club side and replace it with the real Republican side, the pro gun, capitalist, small government, non-interventionist side.
2) The Republican Party is dying and will be replaced temporarily by the Libertarian Party. Former libertarians, reeking from the stench of religionists, and “pro-life” types destroying their party just drop out for good and become voluntaryists.

(A voluntaryist drops out of politics. The 1 million anarcho capitlists who used to vote for the likes of Ed Clark (1980) and Gary Johnson (2012) will be more productive by focusing on working in the underground economy, building up wealth, guns, and ammo for the second American revolution.

 
 
Comment by Northeastener
2013-03-07 12:11:24

McCain is a hawk. You’d think he would be less in bed with the MIC given his time in a POW camp, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I guess he figures it’s his due given the experiences he endured for God and Country…

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 12:20:43

At least he’s not a chickenhawk like Ted Cruz. Both of McCain’s sons have been active duty mil, including one who inexplicably enlisted in the Marines right out of H.S. That’s more than you can say for Teddy C.

Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 12:29:57

How many kids has Ted Cruz killed in drone strikes?

How many Americans does he have on his own personal kill list?

How many wars has he started? How many wars has he kept going?

Got it.

He is an evil republican Chickenhawk and is evil.

But I was told by democrat talking points that both parties are the same…?

Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 13:03:08

Ted Cruz is a chickenhawk. He’s in favor of continuing our large presence overseas, of continuing super-high military spending, of an ever-larger private defense contractor sector, and he’s sabre-rattled about Iran and other potential future interventions. That is sickening. He’s an idiot and a chickenhawk.

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Comment by joe smith
2013-03-07 13:08:28

Both parties are in general agreement on the major things that screw over the public. Neither one deserves any praise. Neither one deserves my vote.

I’m not saying the Dems are better. But you seem to be saying the GOP is better, which is LOLable, but seems to fit with your mouth-breathing level of intellect.

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Comment by Neuromance
2013-03-07 14:12:41

I caught some of Hannity today discussing the Rand Paul filibuster on drones. And the discussion of killing US citizens without a trial, on American soil.

The killing of US citizens on American soil without a trial happens all the time though. Cops shoot and kill suspects all the time. Whether it’s done with a 9mm bullet or a Hellfire is a trivial discussion.

I understand the politics of this - keeping the focus on Obama’s Kill List. But… keep the focus on the Kill List then, not ancillary stuff like this. Yes, the word “drone” sounds like a killer slave robot, a Terminator-type nightmare. But it’s not. A drone is more like remote control set of very powerful binoculars, with munitions attached.

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 15:04:02

Exactly.

More people are killed by cops each year then we will ever have to worry about by drones.

 
Comment by Bill in Los Angeles
2013-03-07 20:24:01

People here are still reeling about the LAPD (Hollywood division) firing dozens of rounds into a truck with two hispanic women who the cops mistook for 270-lb Christopher Dorner, and the related incident a block away of Torrance police ramming and firing at a surfer.

Shoot first, ask questions later.

No, not all of us are focused on just the drone issue. For me the issue is the State.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_2gFfR6KCs

 
 
 
Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 12:41:44

Has there EVER been a recovery where gasoline consumption goes down year after year?

Quick - print even MORE money…

————————–

U.S. liquid fuels consumption fell in 2012, the 6th decline in the last seven years
Energy Information Administration | March 6, 2013 | Energy Information Administration

In 2012, overall U.S. liquid fuels (a category dominated by petroleum products) product supplied (a proxy for consumption) was 2.1 percent, or 394,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), below its 2011 level. The 2012 decline in total liquid fuels consumption marks the second consecutive year in which consumption fell, and consumption has now declined in six of the last seven years dating back to 2006 (Figure 1). With declining domestic liquid fuels use, U.S. refiners, particularly on the Gulf Coast, have turned to export markets as an outlet for their production. The release of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) February Petroleum Supply Monthly (PSM) provides the first look at monthly petroleum data for all of 2012.

Despite declining consumption, production of refined products at U.S. refineries has remained relatively stable since 2005, decreasing by only 215,000 bbl/d (1.4 percent), significantly less than the decrease in consumption. Instead of reducing production as a result of lower demand, strong global demand for refined products has allowed U.S. refiners to sell product into the global market. Since 2005, global consumption of liquid fuels has increased 5.1 million bbl/d (6.0 percent). U.S. refiners have increased total product exports by 2.0 million bbl/d per day, from 1.1 million bbl/d in 2005 to 3.1 million bbl/d in 2012. Over the same period, imports of product fell 1.5 million bbl/d, from 3.6 million bbl/d to 2.1 million bbl/d, turning the United States into a net exporter of liquid fuels beginning in 2011.

Comment by Blue Skye
2013-03-07 13:54:38

I wonder if fuel we send to fight our wars counts as “exports”.

 
Comment by Bluestar
2013-03-07 16:58:58

Why is this not a good thing? By most measures being more efficient is a sign of a healthy economy. I’m not sure the old axiom of higher energy consumption = higher GDP is the best measure of how well off we are. Maybe a better measure is how wisely we use the resources we consume.

 
Comment by Patrick
2013-03-07 18:05:46

One of the biggest reasons for declining gasoline consumption is because of the six speed transmission - not necessarily economics.

Next the eight speed.

Comment by rms
2013-03-08 00:39:29

“One of the biggest reasons for declining gasoline consumption is because of the six speed transmission - not necessarily economics.”

+1 It sure took the American car companies a long time to discover over drive transmissions. It was much easier to set 55-mph as the nation’s top speed. I suspect corruption and lobbying was involved.

Comment by Carl Morris
2013-03-09 19:11:03

Reducing rpm at cruise speed helps, but it’s just one ingredient. I’m impressed at how much direct injection helps, too.

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower©
2013-03-07 14:14:03

“Lion experts: Intern’s death was avoidable”

Ya think!?

Why make rare and endangered animals following their natural instincts face a death penalty for human stupidity?

Somehow it makes perfect sense this is a California story…

Lion experts: Intern’s death was avoidable
Natalie DiBlasio, USA TODAY3:12p.m. EST March 7, 2013
As officials investigate the death of an intern killed by a lion at a zoo in California, wildlife experts say humans should never come into contact with big cats.
Cous cous
(Photo: Vicken Massoyan, AP)

After a lion killed an intern at an animal sanctuary in California, experts are saying it never should have happened.

“People should have zero access to big cats, even when they are cubs,” says Patty Finch, executive director of the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. “There is no safe way to be inside of an enclosure with a lion that is conscious.”

Since 1990, there have been at least 22 people killed by captive cats and more than 248 people have been mauled, according to Big Cat Rescue, an animal sanctuary in Florida.

Dianna Hanson 24, an intern at the Project Survival’s Cat Haven, was killed by a 4-year-old male lion on Wednesday. The African lion, named Cous Cous, was shot and killed by a deputy after the attack.

Investigators are trying to determine why the woman entered the lion’s space.

“It is a huge problem that there aren’t any federal regulations that prohibit the people who keep these big, giant carnivores from allowing their workers, volunteers and interns into the adult lion pens,” says Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin. “Laws protect the public, but not the workers.”

Baskin says many people are misled when they see pictures of people cuddling with cubs or petting the big cats. Ellen DeGeneres had Cous Cous on her television show when he was about 3 months old. DeGeneres fed him from a bottle.

Comment by ecofeco
2013-03-07 15:02:17

Is it just me or does it seem that the most deaths from trainer vs. wild animal are in… California?

Comment by ahansen
2013-03-08 01:21:04

Hollywood makes a lot of movies….

 
 
 
Comment by michael
2013-03-07 14:20:51

“The country needs more senators who care about liberty, but if Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. He needs to know what he’s talking about,” said Mr. McCain

those “impressionable libertarian kids in their dorms” just may be “on to you” and the other members of the ruling class…sir.

 
Comment by Resistor
2013-03-07 14:45:38

In case you missed this a while back.

“HELP! An abandoned house is on fire and only the LEGO® City firefighters can save the day!”

http://city.lego.com/en-us/products/fire/60003/

Comment by In Colorado
2013-03-07 15:42:18

Damn made in China union goons!

 
Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 16:59:26

Do they have a LEGO drone yet?

Comment by Resistor
2013-03-07 19:23:34

http://api.ning.com/files/DyU8LapLOMnQDOjTcM3nmAuBmROUG1rNElka2ol05RC*UJ2zCEOAhMOmoV3fFph5xQ0Xg4*CTUe5uDDFn0NvwUOXZDwW6u6w/legouav.jpg

 
 
 
Comment by 2banana
2013-03-07 16:30:25

Senate Vote of the Confirmation John Owen Brennan to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency:

Democrats:
YEA: 50 (to include one I who caucuses with the D)
NAY: 2

Republicans:
YEA: 13
NAY: 31

And remember. When democrats are in power - both parties are just as bad, there is no difference between the parties, it really doesn’t matter who is in charge so we may as well keep who we have.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=1&vote=00032

 
Comment by Rental Watch
2013-03-07 17:39:01

LPS came out with their new mortgage monitor today.

CA’s non-current loan rate is down again, now at 7.4% (page 23)…despite the new law.

http://www.lpsvcs.com/LPSCorporateInformation/CommunicationCenter/DataReports/MortgageMonitor/201301MortgageMonitor/MortgageMonitorJanuary2013.pdf

Still on pace to be down to 5% by about the end of the year.

 
Comment by Pimp Watch
2013-03-07 17:57:02

You’re a liar. You’re making sh*t up again. Why is that?

What’s really going on in California

California imposed a new law on banks innocuously called “Homeowners Bill of Rights” which forces banks to switch over to a judicial foreclosure process, which they can opt to do on their own, but takes a year or more to renegotiate contracts and compensation structures for the foreclosure law firms who do all the leg work for the banks. And while those changes are being made… it makes it appear that foreclosures have slowed down dramatically in the state.

The reality?

Defaults (undeclared) are spiraling upward that yet have to pass through the foreclosure pipeline.

The truth?

California is still the highest foreclosure state in sheer volume and percentage.

The low-down?

Resale housing is still massively overpriced as a result of unprecedented interference by individual states and the federal government. The market distortions will be removed and the down draft will continue allowing the market to correct.

If you play with fire, you will get burned.

 
Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 19:00:19

Dead skunk in the middle of the road (lyrics) - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaN7xuAIjXI - 200k -

 
Comment by hazard
2013-03-07 19:09:24

Guitarzan - Ray Stevens - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OqbbOhoOfQ - 190k -

They’ve got a pet monkey who likes
To get drunk and sing boogie woogie
And it sounds real funky
Come on your turn boy
Sing one monkey
Let’s hear it for the monkey

 
Comment by tresho
2013-03-07 20:31:14

Future Leg down in the Great Housing Crisis: the Senior Sell-off
I changed the original headline, which implies there is no current housing crisis.

Demographers often describe the baby boom generation as if it were an indigestible mammal – maybe a pig, or a rabbit, or a really big rat – slowly moving through the python that is America’s population. As this generation has aged, the baby boom bulge has remade society in its image…In the 20 years between 1990 and 2010, these consumers were at their peak family size and peak income. And suddenly, there was massive demand in America from the same kinds of people for the same kinds of housing: big, large-lot single-family homes (often in suburbia). In those two decades, calculates researcher Arthur C. Nelson, 77 percent of demand for new housing construction in America was driven by this trend.

Looked at another way, he adds, in all that time “there was virtually no demand for starter homes.”

In the coming years, baby boomers will be moving on (inching further through the python, if you will). “They will want to sell their homes, and they’re hoping there are people behind them to buy their homes,” says Nelson, director of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah. He expects that in growing metros like Atlanta and Dallas, those buyers will be waiting. But elsewhere, in shrinking and stagnant cities across the country, the story will be quite different. Nelson calls what’s coming the “great senior sell-off.”
Demographics will further complicate this picture. We’re moving toward a future in America when minorities will become the majority. But given entrenched educational achievement gaps, particularly for the fast-growing Hispanic population, Nelson fears that the U.S. is not doing a good job educating the “new majority” to make the kinds of incomes that will be required to buy the homes we’ve already built.

As the Hispanic population expands, and more baby boomers retire, the gap between the two groups in the housing market – expressed in unsellable houses – will only widen.

I got lost at this point of shilling for ever greater public outlays on education, as if outsourcing of jobs & other issues regularly raised on the HBB don’t exist, or don’t count.

Comment by Pimp Watch
2013-03-07 21:13:42

You better believe. Boomers have already started dying off and the number of houses they’ll leave is roughly 35 MILLION. That doesn’t include the 20-30 excess empty houses held off the market.

It’s a long way down for housing prices.

 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 23:23:16

March 7, 2013, 9:56 p.m. EST
China central-bank chief warns on money supply
By MarketWatch

BEIJING–The high ratio of money supply to gross domestic product in China means risks are excessively concentrated in the banking sector, according to a top official.

This demonstrates the need for financial reform, People’s Bank of China Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan was quoted as saying in the China Business News on Friday.

The comparatively high level of M2 is the result of China’s high savings rate, Mr. Zhou said in an interview with the newspaper. Other East Asian countries with high savings rates also have high ratios of M2 to GDP, he said in the report. M2 is China’s broadest measure of money supply and includes various kinds of bank deposits.

But at the same time the M2 level shows that China remains reliant on “indirect finance”–bank lending as opposed to forms of “direct finance” such as equity and bond issuance, Mr. Zhou said in the report.

China’s ratio of M2 to GDP rose to 188% of GDP last year–up from 154% in 2002, according to the report.

 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-07 23:25:29

Don’t make the mistake of confusing exchange rate movements with changes in the gold price, which is set internationally.

March 6, 2013, 7:00 a.m. EST
The secret bull market in gold
Commentary: Why the precious metal’s run isn’t finished just yet
By Brett Arends

Have you heard about the new boom in gold?

You won’t hear about it in the usual places. Everywhere you turn these days, all you hear is that gold is down, it’s finished, it’s heading for something called a “death cross,” which sounds terrifying. But away from the headlines, gold just rocketed to a new, all-time high.

Where? In Japan — the world’s fourth largest economy.

 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-08 00:46:20

Why does the government love subsidized, guaranteed-to-blowup insurance schemes so much?

Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-08 00:51:38

Are the people who favor this kind of scheme strategically cynical, or just too stupid to realize what a bad idea they are supporting?

OPINION
March 6, 2013, 6:23 p.m. ET
Peter Wallison: How to Repeat the Mortgage Mess
Look out, here comes another ‘bipartisan’ plan for federal housing guarantees.
By PETER J. WALLISON

In September 2008, amid the financial panic and collapse of the housing market, the federal government bailed out and took control of Fannie Mae (FNMA -2.31%) and Freddie Mac, (FMCC -3.13%) two government-sponsored enterprises that dominated the mortgage market. After four years and $180 billion of taxpayer funds to keep them afloat, they are beginning to make profits from their near monopoly. This week, the head of the federal agency that supervises Fannie and Freddie, Edward DeMarco, outlined a sensible plan that would prepare the companies—which remain the dominant players in housing finance—for either full privatization or government ownership.

These are the obvious alternatives, but there is a third idea in the mix, one that is as seductive as it is dangerous: a private system but with an explicit government mechanism for future bailouts when they prove necessary. The rationale? If there’s a problem in housing finance, the government will inevitably step in as it did in 2008. So why not create a government insurance program now, compensating taxpayers for the burdens they will have to shoulder eventually anyway?

This argument has been advanced many times since Fannie and Freddie went under, most recently by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank. The center’s plan, released to the public late last month, is already getting some favorable media attention. It is likely to get increasing attention in Washington, since it is headlined by two former Housing and Urban Development secretaries (Mel Martinez and Henry Cisneros) and two former senators (Democrat George Mitchell and Republican Kit Bond).

A system for private housing finance with a government insurance backstop may sound reasonable, even sophisticated. But it is seriously flawed.

If an insurance backstop program such as the one proposed by the Bipartisan Policy Center is put in place, the same dismal process will be repeated. Congress loves programs that deliver financial benefits today with the inevitable catastrophes put off into the future. These programs are even better when lawmakers themselves can tell their constituents—and may even believe—that this is merely a federal backstop to a private system.

Once a fund of any size is created to back a particular industry, the arguments against a bailout virtually disappear. After all, what is the program for? Aren’t the funds already there to cover the losses? In reality, sufficient funds are not going to be there. In a perpetual-deficit world, the money also has to be borrowed, adding to the national debt.

Since Fannie and Freddie were bailed out, there has been no end of plans to maintain the government’s role as guarantor of mortgages for housing and other real estate. They will all end up putting the country back on the road to another crisis. The only way to ensure a stable mortgage market is to get the government out, and keep it out.

Mr. Wallison is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

 
 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-08 00:53:25

Are you ready for the next stock market crash?

DON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN!!!!

Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-08 00:56:44

The awesome thing about bubble pricing is, the more confident the bovines get that this time is different and the market has nowhere to go from here but up, the closer the parabolic bubble price blowout gets to collapsing.

S&P 500 chart appears to repeat history
March 7, 2013, 2:32 PM

We won’t get fooled again, The Who once sang. Are we so sure of that?

While past performance is no guarantee of future results, there’s something downright eerie about the five-year patterns of the S&P 500 Index (SPX +0.18%) in a chart put together by Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.

Frederick took the five-year chart of the S&P 500 from Jan. 2, 2003 through Dec. 31, 2007 and compared it with the S&P 500 since Jan. 2, 2009. What results is a remarkably similar climb from the 900s to the 1500s, except the current climb takes nine months less and gets what appears to be some quantitative easing turbocharging.

“With this comparison in mind, it sure seems reasonable that the SPX could exceed 1565 in March, experience a small correction, pull back a bit in the summer (sell in May and go away?), move higher again in late summer, correct again in the fall, but then still finish in the range of about 1540 – 1550; which would put it right about +8% to +9% for the year,” Frederick said in emailed comments.

The S&P 500 set an all-time high of 1,576.09 on Oct. 11, 2007, and a closing high of 1,565.15 on Oct. 9, 2007.

While the S&P 500 was down below 700 less than 17 months later, Frederick thinks it’ll be different this time around. Interest rates are much lower than they were in 2008, the housing market is in a recovery rather than in a bubble, P/E ratios are lower, and while unemployment is higher, manufacturing jobs are beginning to return from 2008′s migration overseas, he said.

 
Comment by Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower™
2013-03-08 00:59:54

Have you profited so far from the sequestration stock market rally?

 
 
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