The Housing Bubble

Media fluffing the NAR:

Would-be homebuyers are sweetening offers with written letters to sellers

“Some buyers are solving housing woes with prose.

They’re not writing poems or romantic novels — just short notes to sellers, telling them how happy they’d be to buy their homes.

The simple gesture is paying off in today’s market, where inventory is tight and bidding wars are typical.”

http://www.denverpost.com/smart/ci_23318311/homebuyers-sweetening-offer-writing-letters-sellers

For those of you who have the time and inclination, a very interesting story on the India pharma company Ranbaxy and their fake generics. Ah, the joys of globalism! And catch a load of those two grinning, oily f*cks who head the firm. Not to mention, where was the FDA in all of this? OH, wait, maybe the persons in charge in Washington are posting away on this blog (and others) instead of doing their job?

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/05/15/ranbaxy-fraud-lipitor/

Moo-oooooooooo:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_23328096/california-woman-surprised-give-birth-13-pound-10

Dang!

There is nothing like a vote of confidence for an unelected leader’s policies.

Oh wait…

The recession is over!
I just spent the weekend in pensacola beach, and people are spending major ca$$h everywhere!

“After organizing FIGHT (an acronym for Freedom, Independence [subsequently Integration], God, Honor, Today) in Rochester, New York,[12] Alinsky once threatened to stage a “fart in” to disrupt the sensibilities of the city’s establishment at a Rochester Philharmonic concert.”

I had no idea!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky

In Europe, a Fed President Urges Quantitative Easing
By JACK EWING
Published: May 21, 2013

FRANKFURT — A top official of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday urged the European Central Bank to take more aggressive action to restart growth, warning that the euro area risked becoming mired in the same kind of economic stagnation that has plagued Japan for two decades, with far-reaching implications for the global economy.

James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and a voting member of the Fed’s policy-setting open markets committee, said Europe’s central bank should consider quantitative easing similar to that undertaken by the Fed — large bond purchases meant to drive down market interest rates.

The public comments were highly unusual. While central bankers from different countries frequently confer in private and offer advice and criticism to their peers behind closed doors, it is rare for any official to go public with even the mildest criticism of another central bank.

But with official interest rates in almost every advanced economy already close to zero, Mr. Bullard said, central bankers must reach for stronger tools to avoid getting trapped in economic doldrums.

“The lesson of Japan is that once you get stuck, it’s very hard to get out,” Mr. Bullard told an audience at Goethe University in Frankfurt. “One way to get stuck would be not to take aggressive action.”

Mr. Bullard sent a message to Wall Street not to expect the Fed to begin rolling back its own quantitative easing program soon, saying that there was no sign of inflation risk, and that even if there were, the central bank could deal with it.

“We just haven’t seen it so far,” Mr. Bullard said of inflation. And when it starts to appear, he added, “we know how to fight that problem — we can raise rates.”
…

Is a bigger debt pile good for economic growth or isn’t it?

May 27, 2013, 12:49 a.m. EDT
Oil futures extend losing run, fall below $94
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — U.S. crude-oil futures declined Monday, stretching last week’s losses which came in part on worries about slowing growth in China.

Crude for July delivery fell 61 cents, or 0.7%, to $93.54 a barrel in electronic trade.

Floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange was slated to resume Tuesday, following Monday’s U.S. Memorial Day holiday.

Oil futures in Nymex action on Friday recorded their fourth consecutive loss.
…

May 26, 2013, 11:09 a.m. EDT
Global protests against Monsanto’s GMO seeds
By MarketWatch

Organizers say marchers in more than 400 cities across 52 countries took part in protests against seed giant Monsanto (MON -0.15%) on Saturday, the Associated Press reported. March Against Monsanto protesters say they wanted to call attention to the dangers posed by genetically modified food and the food giants that produce it, the AP said.

Who is better at science: Women or men?

And would the global economy be more efficient if rich countries like the U.S. dumped traded pollutants for dollars with poor countries?

Good observation by Ben from yesterday:

How could something not go wrong? Then consider the other side effects of low rates; stock bubbles, govt. bonds markets with trillion$ earning less than inflation. Junk bond markets pouring billions into corporations, many of whom should have gone out of business years ago. With all that, many of the largest countries are either in recession or on the brink. Everywhere there’s debt, debt, debt. I don’t think the central banks will raise rates. IMO, circumstances are going to do that for them.

The big question is what will those people that are employed in these companies, govt do?

IMHO, we have reached the maximum in production of everything that the first world can buy (TVs, cars, furniture etc.) There is only the replacement market in the developed countries.

The south and east Asian and African markets are too poor to afford these products. The production of goods are saturated. Hence the need to produce junk stuff and nick-knacks that people here don’t mind paying for 10 times than spend the same amount once to buy a quality item.

Check out the late response on the 5/24 thread “The Answer to Every Problem”!

It appears to be from the fellow who was attempting adverse possession in that FL case!

Comment by Housing Analyst
2013-05-26 14:28:30

Wages and Salaries as a percentage of GDP.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=2Xa

Holy-moly, that graph is one of the most compelling and damning that I have seen. It makes crystal-clear what has been happening in our hollowed-out shell of an economy over the past 40yrs.

Yikes.

This would make houses cheap. I personally could have done without the three 6s in this bill. Nonetheless, if FEMA can’t keep enough bottled water stocked for the aftermath of a hurricanne, how are they going to handle the coordination of mass fatalities from a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster?

PS

I don’t think they are going to be able to hold it down to just the teabillies.

H.R. 6566 (112th): Mass Fatality Planning and Religious Considerations Act

112th Congress, 2011–2013. Text as of Sep 28, 2012 (Introduced).

HR 6566 IH

112th CONGRESS

2d Session

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 28, 2012

Ms. RICHARDSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide guidance and coordination for mass fatality planning, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘Mass Fatality Planning and Religious Considerations Act’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:

(1) Emergency preparedness often plans for how to prepare and provide for survivors of a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster, but fails to plan for how to prepare for and respond to mass fatalities that result from such an incident.

(2) Funeral homes, cemeteries, and mortuaries could be overwhelmed should mass fatalities arise from a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster.

(3) Different religions have different customs surrounding death; for example, the Jewish and Muslim religions call for burial of the deceased not later than 48 hours after death.

SEC. 3. PREPAREDNESS FOR MASS FATALITIES RESULTING FROM A NATURAL DISASTER, ACT OF TERRORISM, OR OTHER MAN-MADE DISASTER.
Section 504 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 314) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

‘(c) Preparedness for Mass Fatalities- In carrying out this section, the Administrator shall provide guidance to and coordinate with appropriate individuals, including representatives from different communities, private sector businesses, non-profit organizations, and religious organizations, to prepare for and respond to a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster that results in mass fatalities.’.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr6566/text - 24k -

May 27, 2013, 12:56 p.m. EDT
Bears cite performance chasing as stocks rise
By Wallace Witkowski, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The bears are warning: A herd mentality on Wall Street is driving stocks to unsustainable levels.

As an extended rally prompts some strategists to raise their price targets for the year, the pessimistic ones are arguing that those prices are being supported more by performance-chasing investors than by any real improvement in fundamentals.

“My experience is when managers are overly focused on performance on a near-term basis, and worried they’re missing out, it means they’re buying stocks for the wrong reasons,” said Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets.
…

Gomer McSame in Syria wants to arm the rebels, who really are Al Qaeda

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/free/20130527sen-mccain-makes-trip-syria-visit-rebels.html

Scotland: Every Child to Have “State Guardian” From Birth

Dystopian plan would see government social worker assigned to spy on every family

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
May 27, 2013

Every child in Scotland is to be assigned a “state minder” from birth under draconian new proposals that would enable the government to spy on families under the justification of preventing “child abuse”.

Writing in the Scotsman of how he penned a dystopian novel based around this very scenario of every child being assigned a government mentor, sociology and criminology lecturer at the University of Abertay Dundee Stuart Walton writes, “Unfortunately, this dystopian future has arrived a little faster than I imagined, as last week the Scottish Government’s plan to give every child a state guardian from birth was launched.”

“This state-appointed overseer will be a specific, named individual, and every child will have one, from birth. The responsibility for creating this named guardian will fall on the heads of the health boards for the first five years of a child’s life, before being transferred to councils.”

The program is a statutory initiative built into the Children and Young People Bill. Children’s minister Aileen Campbell justified the proposal by asserting it would “make sure there is someone having an overview of what is happening to that child, to make sure that early indicators of anything that would pose a threat or risk to that child are flagged up”.

Walton speculates on what kind of behavior could eventually be deemed “child abuse,” including the contents of a child’s school lunch box or a re-definition of “bullying” to include a parent shouting at their kid.

Indeed, as we have previously documented, schools are now encouraging children to spy on their parents’ recycling habits in the name of protecting mother earth. Could the alleged eco-crime of failing to place a piece of cardboard in the correct trash can prompt the child to report his parents to the “state guardian” and spark an investigation?

In the aftermath of the Jimmy Savile scandal, concern about child abuse is rampant in the UK but it is a fear that has largely been generated by media scaremongering and not an actual marked increase in cases of child abuse.

Top judges like Alan Goldsack QC are also calling on the government to intervene to remove children from “criminal families” at birth. As part of what it calls “Family Intervention Projects,” the British government has also forced thousands of families to install surveillance cameras inside their own homes while subjecting them to home visits to ensure that children go to bed on time, attend school and eat proper meals.

The idea of having a government social worker assigned to spy on every family via the child is an abhorrent notion that would only be accepted in despotic hellholes like North Korea, Maoist China, or Stalinist Russia, yet it is calmly being proposed in current legislation.

The secret police of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu also recruited thousands of children aged 12-14 to spy on their school friends, parents and teachers, according to communist-era archives. At the height of the dictatorship, a staggering 15 per cent of the country’s informants were children. They were encouraged to report anyone who expressed a political opinion contrary to the status quo or those who merely made a joke of Ceausescu.

Is the Scottish government also taking cues from George Orwell’s 1984? In the dystopian classic, “children who turned in their own parents as traitors” are treated as heroes by the Party.

The notion of children being the collective property of the state is also creeping into American society. As we reported last month, college professor and MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry caused an outcry amongst conservatives when she remarked, “We have to break through our private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families,” as part of a promotional video for an MSNBC campaign entitled ‘Lean Forward’.

Watch the video below.

http://www.infowars.com/scotland-every-child-to-have-state-guardian-from-birth/ - -

‘Common Core’ Nationalizes and Dumbs Down Public School Curriculum

Ron Paul
Infowars.com
May 27, 2013

In addition to shredding civil liberties, launching a utopian global war for democracy, and going on a spending spree that would make LBJ blush, the so-called “conservative” Bush administration dramatically increased federal control over education via the “No Child Left Behind” act. During my time in Congress I heard nothing but complaints about this law from teachers, administrators, and, most importantly, students and parents. Most of the complaints concerned No Child Left Behind’s testing requirements, which encouraged educators to “teach to the test.”

Sadly, but not surprisingly, instead of improving education by repealing No Child Left Behind’s testing and other mandates, the Obama administration is increasing national control over schools via the “Common Core” initiative. Common Core is a new curriculum developed by a panel of so-called education experts. The administration is trying to turn Common Core into a national curriculum by offering states increased federal education funding if they impose Common Core’s curriculum on their public schools. This is yet another example of the government using money stolen from the people to bribe states into obeying federal dictates.

Critics of Common Core say it “dumbs down” education by replacing traditional English literature with “informational texts”. So students will read such inspiring materials as studies by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the EPA’s “Recommended Levels of Insulation,” and “Invasive Plant Inventory” by California’s Invasive Plant Council. It is doubtful that reading federal reports will teach students the habits of critical thinking and skepticism of government that the Founders considered essential to maintaining a free republic.

Like Obamacare, Common Core (now dubbed “ObamaCore” by some) has sparked a backlash in the states, leading some to propose legislation forbidding state participation in the scheme. I hope these efforts lead to states not just opting out of Common Core, but out of No Child Left Behind and all other federal education programs as well.

Parents can also effectively “opt out” of programs like Common Core by seeking alternatives to government education. It is no coincidence that, as federal control over education increases, the quality of public education has declined and more parents have chosen to homeschool.

To support these parents, I have established my own homeschool curriculum. Unlike Common Core, we do not dumb down any of our offerings. Instead, the goal is to provide students with a rigorous education in history, math, English, foreign languages, and other core subjects necessary to a well-rounded education. Unlike the top-down model of nationalized education, the homeschool curriculum is deigned to encourage maximum input from parents and students. While the curriculum will reflect my belief, and interest, in Austrian economics, libertarian political theory, and the history of the struggle against state power, the curriculum is being carefully designed to not show bias toward any one religion. I hope all parents of any faith—or no religious belief at all—will feel comfortable using the curriculum.

I believe it is important for those of us concerned with education and liberty to fight our battles locally. We must oppose further encroachment on the autonomy of local public schools and work to roll-back existing interference, while encouraging and supporting the growth of homeschooling and other alternative education movements. The key to restoring quality education is to replace the bureaucratic control of education with a free-market in education. Parents should have the freedom to select the type of education that best suits their child’s unique needs.

Former Congressman Paul’s article first appeared at the-free-foundation.org, the temporary home for his weekly column until his personal web page is up and running.

54 Responses to “‘Common Core’ Nationalizes and Dumbs Down Public School Curriculum”

poobah53 says:
May 27, 2013 at 3:22 pm

“I have an earache in my eye!”

World Bank Insider Blows Whistle on Corruption, Federal Reserve

by Alex Newman
The New American
May 25, 2013

A former insider at the World Bank, ex-Senior Counsel Karen Hudes, says the global financial system is dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve. The network has seized control of the media to cover up its crimes, too, she explained. In an interview with The New American, Hudes said that when she tried to blow the whistle on multiple problems at the World Bank, she was fired for her efforts. Now, along with a network of fellow whistleblowers, Hudes is determined to expose and end the corruption. And she is confident of success.

Citing an explosive 2011 Swiss study published in the PLOS ONE journal on the “network of global corporate control,” Hudes pointed out that a small group of entities – mostly financial institutions and especially central banks – exert a massive amount of influence over the international economy from behind the scenes. “What is really going on is that the world’s resources are being dominated by this group,” she explained, adding that the “corrupt power grabbers” have managed to dominate the media as well. “They’re being allowed to do it.”

According to the peer-reviewed paper, which presented the first global investigation of ownership architecture in the international economy, transnational corporations form a “giant bow-tie structure.” A large portion of control, meanwhile, “flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions.” The researchers described the core as an “economic ‘super-entity’” that raises important issues for policymakers and researchers. Of course, the implications are enormous for citizens as well.

Hudes, an attorney who spent some two decades working in the World Bank’s legal department, has observed the machinations of the network up close. “I realized we were now dealing with something known as state capture, which is where the institutions of government are co-opted by the group that’s corrupt,” she told The New American in a phone interview. “The pillars of the U.S. government – some of them – are dysfunctional because of state capture; this is a big story, this is a big cover up.”

At the heart of the network, Hudes said, are 147 financial institutions and central banks – especially the Federal Reserve, which was created by Congress but is owned by essentially a cartel of private banks. “This is a story about how the international financial system was secretly gamed, mostly by central banks – they’re the ones we are talking about,” she explained. “The central bankers have been gaming the system. I would say that this is a power grab.”

The Fed in particular is at the very center of the network and the coverup, Hudes continued, citing a policy and oversight body that includes top government and Fed officials. Central bankers have also been manipulating gold prices, she added, echoing widespread concerns that The New American has documented extensively. Indeed, even the inaccurate World Bank financial statements that Hudes has been trying to expose are linked to the U.S. central bank, she said.

“The group that we’re talking about from the Zurich study – that’s the Federal Reserve; it has some other pieces to it, but that’s the Federal Reserve,” Hudes explained. “So the Federal Reserve secretly dominated the world economy using secret, interlocking corporate directorates, and terrorizing anybody who managed to figure out that they were having any kind of role, and putting people in very important positions so that they could get a free pass.”

The shadowy but immensely powerful Bank for International Settlements serves as “the club of these private central bankers,” Hudes continued. “Now, are people going to want interest on their country’s debts to continue to be paid to that group when they find out the secret tricks that that group has been doing? Don’t forget how they’ve enriched themselves extraordinarily and how they’ve taken taxpayer money for the bailout.”

As far as intervening in the gold price, Hudes said it was an effort by the powerful network and its central banks to “hold onto its paper currency” – a suspicion shared by many analysts and even senior government officials. The World Bank whistleblower also said that contrary to official claims, she did not believe there was any gold being held in Fort Knox. Even congressmen and foreign governments have tried to find out if the precious metals were still there, but they met with little success. Hudes, however, believes the scam will eventually come undone.

“This is like crooks trying to figure out where they can go hide. It’s a mafia,” she said. “These culprits that have grabbed all this economic power have succeeded in infiltrating both sides of the issue, so you will find people who are supposedly trying to fight corruption who are just there to spread disinformation and as a placeholder to trip up anybody who manages to get their act together.… Those thugs think that if they can keep the world ignorant, they can bleed it longer.”

Read the rest of the article

http://lewrockwell.com/spl5/world-bank-insider-blows-whistle.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=world-bank-insider-blows-the-whistle - 17k -

Moving new money into the 80/20 stocks to bonds ratio:

Okay for Whac especially to note, I got into Vanguard’s investor shares of the REIT index fund. $3,000 to get in VGSIX. Figuring in a little over 30 months they will put me in the admiral version of that fund, based on my future monthly investments.

Looking at their midcap, VMGRX. I weighed that compared to VHCOX and vmgix. Might get into that one this Fall. VHCOX is a good performer, but not truly a mid-cap.

Scaled back on VSGAX, the small company stock index fund which has been my best performer the last several years.

My advisors say I should get out of the high yield corporate bond fund, and as soon as I’m permitted by Vanguard, I will stop my contributions to that one. It’s yielding about $71 per month income, which is fine by me.