Bits Bucket for June 3, 2013
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
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Hope and change boyz…
Don’t worry - with housing prices coming down people should be able to adsorb these higher costs…
Oh wait.
————————
Obamacare To Double Cost Of Insurance For Average Californian
Tyler Durden - 06/02/2013 - ZeroHedge
Last week, the state of California claimed that its version of Obamacare’s health insurance exchange would actually reduce premiums. But, as Forbes reports, the data that the executive director of California’s ‘exchange’ released tells a different story: Obamacare, in fact, will increase individual-market premiums in California by as much as 146 percent.
The exuberance that Peter Lee exclaimed over the ’savings’ is a misleading comparison. He was comparing apples - the plans that Californians buy today for themselves in a robust individual market-and oranges - the highly regulated plans that small employers purchase for their workers as a group.
Socialized medicine delivers better results at half the cost.
Obamacare = welfare for insurance companies.
The happiest countries in the world, according to MarketWatch (slideshow, clicky, multiple page-load) article, listed as follows. And guess what, most of them have commie socialized medicine!
1- Switzerland
2- Norway
3- Iceland
4- Sweden
5- Denmark
6- Netherlands
7- Austria
8- Canada
9- Finland
10- Mexico (WTF? must be because of all that free Obama money we send them)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-10-happiest-countries-in-the-world-2013-06-01
Looks like being white and christian helps out a lot. Why doesn’t socialism bring happiness to brown, yellow and black people?
Why doesn’t socialism bring happiness to brown, yellow and black people?
Which non-white countries are ’socialist’ the way Norway, Sweden, Canada etc are?
Why doesn’t socialism bring happiness to brown, yellow and black people?
I guarantee most poor brown Brazilians are happy they have access to public healthcare even as imperfect as it is. 80% of Brazilians rely on it.
And it’s cheap. (too cheap imo)
A Healthy Debate: Does the Brazilian Healthcare Model Offer a Guide to the U.S.?
http://www.foreignpolicydigest.org/a-healthy-debate-does-the-brazilian-healthcare-model-offer-a-guide-to-the-u-s/
…..the U.S. currently spends about $670 billion a year on healthcare for its approximately 300 million citizens compared to a mere 50 billion reais (approximately $22 billion) a year spent in Brazil, for a nation with a population of roughly 200 million…….
……the program has achieved undeniable success in certain areas. Brazil’s AIDS program has emerged as a global model in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for developing nations around the world. In addition, S.U.S. has proved highly successful in providing complex procedures such organ transplants, gastric bypass, and even sex-reassignment surgeries for free.
By improving public sanitation through one of its programs that emphasize prevention, treatment, and education, S.U.S. was able to reduce infant mortality in Brazil by 50% and radically reduce certain preventable illnesses. As a result, Chagas disease has been completely eliminated from the country, and the prevalence of numerous other dangerous diseases has been significantly reduced.
These advances, combined with highly successful mass vaccination campaigns, including what has been labeled as the largest vaccination campaign in the world for rubella, has yielded tangible health benefits even for those individuals who do not directly participate in the government health programs.
Wait but why isn’t our form of socialism giving us the cheaper medical options those countries have? Oh yeah, because this is really a corporatacracy, and not socialism.
White and Christian?
Weekly Church Attendance, 2004:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_attendance
Denmark 3%
Norway 3%
Finland 5%
Sweden 5%
Austria 18%
Canada 20%
United States 43%
While I’d never tread on one’s religious choice, I do like the correlation here.
10- Mexico (WTF? must be because of all that free Obama money we send them)
Mexico has socialized healthcare.
“Socialized medicine delivers better results at half the cost.”
If you don’t mind waiting 6 months for surgery and you don’t mind a system where cancer survival rates are 1/2 that of the evil USA. Then govt run health care is wonderful.
Not the case for my Polish father-n-law. If you need it, you get it. And he did.
The “6-month-wait” meme is one heard by some guy who repeated it to some other guy who posted it on a forum somewhere, where some other guy heard it and repeated it to some other guys…
“6 months for surgury”
Yeah, sure, our system is much more efficient.
I badly sprained my ankle last week. Swelling continued to get worse, couldn’t sleep Wednesday night,so tried to make an appointment to see my doctor on Thursday.
He said he might be able to squeeze me in on June 21st.
Ended up going to the emergency room. Can’t wait to see what I’m going to get billed for that little 45 minute visit.
Playing devil’s advocate here. You couldn’t press the emergency aspect of this to your regular doc?
My doctor holds off on fully booking, knowing that there will be emergencies. I had to go in a few years ago and got the “We can’t see you for 3 weeks” business from his nurse.
IIRC, I had an onset of pneumonia coming on (hurt when I breathed, etc). I must’ve sold her because she got me in that afternoon. Otherwise, I’d have done what you did.
Smithers - you know how I know you’ve never actually lived in a country with universal health care?
My understanding is that in the UK (where there is universal HC), it is quite common for people to keep private insurance as well as the public coverage.
I’m sure there are various reasons why.
Any any event, this seems like pretty strong evidence that a public option isn’t always a 100% solution.
this seems like pretty strong evidence that a public option isn’t always a 100% solution.
Thus the word “option”?
I’m using “option” in a different sense. Obamacare was one option of the Federal government…single payer would be a different option.
…single payer would be a different option
I don’t know of any single payer countries that don’t have private options as well. In Brazil, I have private insurance but I’ve used Brazilian public health-care a few times too when it was faster and more convenient.
The U.S. spent $8,233 on health per person in 2010. ….. The average spending on health care among the other 33 developed OECD countries was $3,268 per person. OECD
Canadian healthcare as % of GDP: 12% Universal coverage
USA’s healthcare as % of GDP: 18% No universal coverage
Canadian wait times:
Although life-threatening cases are dealt with immediately, some services needed are non-urgent and patients are seen at the next-available appointment in their local chosen facility.
The median wait time in Canada to see a special physician is a little over four weeks with 89.5% waiting fewer than 90 days.[53]
The median wait time for diagnostic services such as MRI and CAT scans [54] is two weeks with 86.4% waiting fewer than 90 days.[53]
The median wait time for surgery is four weeks with 82.2% waiting fewer than 90 days.[53] wiki
53. ^ a b c d “Healthy Canadians: Canadian government report on comparable health care indicators”.
54. ^ Diagnostic tests defined as the following: non-emergency magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices; computed tomography (CT or CAT) scans; and angiographies that use X-rays to examine the inner opening of blood-filled structures such as veins and arteries.
See also Wall Street Journal - Risk-Averse Culture Infects U.S. Workers, Entrepeneurs:
“Among the possible explanations are the rising cost of health care, which makes it riskier to quit a job and more expensive to hire more employees”
http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/a/SB10001424127887324031404578481162903760052?mg=reno64-wsj
These WSJ idiots are a piece of work.
Hand me a blank check for effing up, like the financial guys get, and I’ll go all entrepeneur, and open up a chain of deer jerky stores.
As noted many times, there aren’t enough people who are willing to pay for my services to justify leaving my full time deal, and go the “independent” route. Can’t make money on parts, because the aircraft OEMs won’t “discount” parts to anybody outside their approved dealer network. And there is no money to be made selling labor, no matter how highly skilled.
In fact, I’m thinking about quitting my part time stuff. I’m not making enough money to justify the PITA.
Note that none of these things have anything to do with Obamacare, or over-regulation. They have to do with not having enough billable hours to justify going “full time contractor”, and this mental defect that rich people/airplane owners seem to have, which is that nobody working-stiff’s labor is worth more than $50/hour, no matter how skilled/qualified.
These guys just cherry-pick their numbers, too, and neglect to point out the differences in the coverage you’ll receive. One big difference: You can’t get dropped from your insurance for getting sick (or being one day late paying your bill after being diagnosed with something), as you can now. That’s a big difference.
They also don’t include the subsidies available to people buying O-care.
One big difference: You can’t get dropped from your insurance for getting sick (or being one day late paying your bill after being diagnosed with something), as you can now. That’s a big difference ??
Exactly…Which raises the age old question…Should health care be a right or a privilege ??
What say you 2-fruit ??
Getting free cheese from government is never a right.
Because for you to get your free cheese government had to take that cheese away from someone else.
Your free cheese is tyranny to some else. And guess what? It will soon be tyranny to you.
Rights are freedom FROM government.
The right to speech without government interference
The right to privacy without government interference
The right to religion without government interference
You get the drift.
The USSR had all the right government cheese as “rights.” Did they really have any rights?
You get the drift ??
No, I don’t….Pretty simple question really…Don’t need all your tea party rant….
Should health care be a right or afforded privilege ?? You can answer with one word…
“Should health care be a right or afforded privilege ?? You can answer with one word…”
You have the right to health care. You don’t have the right for me to provide it to you free of charge.
If the govt can run health care better than evil private companies, why stop there? Let’s nationalize oil companies. And auto companies. And airlines. Come to think of it, why have private industry at all? The govt should just run everything.
Serious question. If the govt can tun 18% of the economy better than private industry, why can’t it run 100% of the economy better?
Sweet talking points, bro. Because there is no middle ground, it’s all or nothing. Did you drive to work today on socialized highways? Brush your teeth with socialized drinking water?
We’re in the middle of reading Harrison Salisbury’s book “The Soviet Union: a Fifty Year History 1917-1967″ because we learn about how command economies don’t work from books, not from Drudge Report talking points. Maybe you should pick up a copy from your socialized library and read it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0151846057
Amazingly - we had highways and drinking water before government had a debt/GDP ratio of over 100% and borrows 46 cents of every dollar it spends. Even before we had income taxes.
But you knew that already. Because highway and water infrastructure cost are less than 1% of the Federal budget.
But it is a nice talking point for progressives.
Why - if we do not nationalize health care you are a hypocrite by driving on a government road.
Sweet talking points, bro. Because there is no middle ground, it’s all or nothing. Did you drive to work today on socialized highways? Brush your teeth with socialized drinking water?
If you don’t mind waiting 6 months for surgery….
I’ve known many Americans who’ve waited years for procedures because they lacked coverage or they had lousy private insurance, pre-existing conditions, unaffordable co-pays and/or needed things that were not covered. (And so do you.)
If the govt can run health care better……The govt should just run everything.
Strawman. I’ve seen a 10-year-old argue using better reasoning.
Why we need to fix our health care
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/29/why-we-need-to-fix-our-health-care/
…..(Hospitals) charge massively for routine procedures and medicines. He found, for example, a routine blood test, prophyrin (ph) 1, was billed to patients at a hospital at the rate of $199.50. Medicare pays for that same test, $13.94.
…Perhaps that’s why in every other rich country in the world, we have found that markets don’t function properly in health care – and that includes very free market nations like Singapore and Switzerland, both of which score higher than the United States on the Heritage Foundation’s Index for Economic Freedom.
And yet all of them provide universal health care….at much, much lower costs than we do with in many cases much better health care outcomes than we have.
Brush your teeth with socialized drinking water?
Voters in Portland rejected fluoride being added to our water a few weeks back. I find that awesome. The loony left and freaky right finally came together on an issue.
No $5M subsidized handout to the industry, no vote pushed through by council without public input (which is what they were trying to do - wonder what the kickback to the council was), no forced injection of the stuff to those of us who know how to brush/floss.
Gee, I wonder if there could be a connection between all this and the “legal” private counterfeiting operation known as the Federal Reserve?
Is it possible they could be causing the distortions in the free market?
It comes down to deciding which services we should put under free market operation and which we should provide collectively. If you’re honestly advocating that we go back to private Fire companies who will only put out the fire on your house if you have the correct badge displayed on your door, you are a moron.
As a people we have decided that some services are worth providing collectively, and at this point it’s becoming pretty obvious that we would be better off if some base level of health care were one of them.
An as far as government inefficiency and incompetence go, I ask you how much of that is caused by “free enterprise” enthusiasts bilking the government with nepotistic sweetheart bilk-the-government contractors?
If the free market is *so* efficient at *ALL ASPECTS OF HUMAN EXISTENCE” how come we pay so much more than EVERYONE else in the entire world?
I’ll answer my own question in economic terms: the demand curve for healthcare is perfectly inelastic. When you or someone you love is dying, you will pay any amount to save their(your) life, and an unrestricted free market ensures that any number of unscrupulous ghouls will happily take advantage by providing you a monopolistic/oligopolistic/colluded pricing model.
The fact that the ghouls can then use the monetary gains from their extortion to buy the cooperation of our legislative and executive branches insures that nothing will change unless the population demands it and votes accordingly en masse.
That vote of course would be for basically ANY third party as the two headed snake we have now is thoroughly bought and paid for.
To the Smithers and Two-banannas and other ignorant trolls I would ask you to consider this:
If I’m not free to prescribe my own medications, tests, and procedures, then we already have government controlled health care - not a free market by any means. It’s an oligopoly at best, collusion at worst. How does that benefit anyone except the oligopolists?
I’ve had private insurance for 20+ years. I have never been denied a procedure and I have never been “dropped for getting sick”. Insurance companies cannot drop a policy holder for being sick. This is a myth, just like the myth of “free health care” under socialized schemes.
I see this going one of two ways now…
1. People understand what govt run socialized health care really means and turn on Obamacare fully
2. People think evil insurance companies are to blame and demand even more govt intervention
I hope it’s 1. But Americans are idiots so I’m not holding my breath.
Insurance companies cannot drop a policy holder for being sick (since Obamacare)
What country did you say you live in? A myth??
Blue Cross praised employees who dropped sick policyholders, lawmaker says
Workers received high marks on performance reviews after policies were rescinded, documents show….
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/17/business/fi-rescind17
…..An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period.
It also found that policyholders with breast cancer, lymphoma and more than 1,000 other conditions were targeted for rescission and that employees were praised in performance reviews for terminating the policies of customers with expensive illnesses.
1. People understand what govt run socialized health care really means and turn on Obamacare fully
(But only until they turn 65 and get their much beloved govt run socialized Medicare)
You have the right to health care. You don’t have the right for me to provide it to you free of charge ??
Got it…So, unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying then what you propose is health care for anyone who can afford insurance or has the capacity to pay for the health care themselves…
For all others, go die underneath a bridge ??
I also find it interesting that Smithers had to answer the question for you 2-fruit…
scdave, go die under a bridge is exactly this school of thought:
If you don’t have the money for health insurance, then “you didn’t work hard enough” and you need to get off your duff and find a job that provides health insurance. If you don’t have the education for such a job, then you need to “better yourself” and go get educated. If you’re too lazy to better yourself and get educated or you’re too lazy to work hard to find a job, then you’re not a “producer” and you don’t deserve to mooch off those who do produce.
Comment by Mr. Smithers
2013-06-03 07:12:35
I’ve had private fire service for 20+ years. I have never been denied a fire fighting and I have never been “dropped for having a fire”. Fire companies cannot drop a policy holder for having a fire. This is a myth, just like the myth of “free fire fighting” under socialized schemes.
I see this going one of two ways now…
1. People understand what govt run fire companies really means and turn on socialized fire fighting fully
2. People think evil insurance companies are to blame and demand that we provide it collectively as a common service.
I hope it’s 1. But Americans are idiots so I’m not holding my breath.
I’m sure this same conversation took place near Mrs’ O’leary’s house in Chicago at some point….
Oxide.. To push the envelope just a bit on this, how high should we push taxes to save how many people, and at what cost? Do we start capping medical expenditures per person? Do we start putting limits in place on how many kids people can have as that is a capped medical expense?
One way of doing it is to let providers say “you (or your parents) can’t pay me enough to save your life”. Since doctors are providers and some of the most compassionate people on the planet, I vote that we choose this option instead of a centralized gov’t bureaucracy to decide for me based on a formula. Doctors tend to be more compassionate than bureaucrats.
“Do we start capping medical expenditures per person?”
SPECIFICALLY with respect to end of life care, this is how some (many?) of the other countries with socialized medicine keep costs down. EOL care/procedures are frequently dictated solely by doctors in other countries, not family members. ISTR reading where a significant portion of the difference in health care costs in the US vs. elsewhere can be traced to how EOL issues are dealt with.
A difficult public conversation to have, and so we’ve been sweeping it under the rug for a long time.
99% of HBBers prefer big thugernment.
Or should we deny people health care because they are to rich for welfare but too poor to pay their own way? Yet prisoners can change their sex on the public dime?
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/bureau-of-prisons-gender-identity-list-678543
then you need to “better yourself” and go get educated ??
What if you get sick or hurt on the way t school ??
Thats the point dave we dont need and never did need ohbewanna care….just needed to fill in that gap…
“These guys just cherry-pick their numbers, too, and neglect to point out the differences in the coverage you’ll receive.”
Did you read the article? It specified clearly that the benefits will be the same more or less while prices will double.
Did you read the article? It specified clearly that the benefits will be the same more or less while prices will double.
No, it didn’t. It cherry picked certain certain scenarios in which a person might pay more- that person generally being a healthy, young person buying individual coverage.
But even when comparing similar people who get approximately the same benefits under a current plan and under the new O-care plan, the fact that you can’t lose O-care because you get sick or older makes any comparison with current private insurance an apples-to-oranges comparison, if you want to get picky about it.
Yes, a healthy young person who makes a good income may pay a bit more under O-care, but an unhealthy older person will pay a lot less. The costs have been spread around better, in a more humane way that doesn’t punish you for getting old or sick.
FUD
Obamacare did NOT force the insurance companies to raise rates.
The lack of return on the float is what did.
When the return on the float was large this large return acted to subsidize the rates. Now that the return on the float has fallen rates have to be hiked to make up the difference.
Hiked rates appear to be a sign of inflation but actually it is a sign of deflation.
I havent’t read this blog in quite a while but it looks like it hasn’t changed. Same old socialists and closet communists beating up on
2banana because he dares to challenge their crackpot views. Nothing to see here folks, move along. How’s that hope and change working
out for you? Hey and when are the boys and girls coming home from the wars? I can’t wait to pay “less” for my new Obama health plan.
Found out this past week while visiting with relatives that I have a couple of cousins who travel around training health care professionals on obamacare. They both make about $ 80 to $ 120 per hour (that’s $ 160K to $ 240K per year for a full time 40 hour work week). One has no college education and the other has a degree in accounting but only worked in the “real world” for 3 months before she decided to go back to cleaning houses for a living.
I know these cousins and wouldn’t want them to train me on how to take a dump.
That’s your obamacare right there.
I know these cousins……That’s your obamacare right there.
That’s your reasoning right there?
not reasoning…just a metaphor.
That’s your obamacare right there.
Wow. Destroyed by your unverifiable, rather unlikely ( a maid who suddenly trains health-care workers for a six-figure income) anecdote.
Why argue back and forth about Obamacare? It’s being put into place and we’ll know soon enough if it’s going to be a disaster or not. The insurance companies wrote it, so I’m sure it’ll work out fine.
Maybe falling back on this is what posters do when their hero turns out to be a combination of Richard Nixon and George W Bush. Let’s ask Bradley Manning.
My hero is Keith Richards.
But I agree, we’ll see what Obamacare is when it gets here. I will predict that if it fails or is wildly unpopular, it will be replaced by universal single-payer coverage, not a return to our current system.
‘My hero is Keith Richards’
Like rats leaving a sinking ship.
‘if it fails or is wildly unpopular, it will be replaced by universal single-payer coverage’
So the Republicans are going to put in a single payer system? Because if it ‘fails or is wildly unpopular’ there aren’t going to be very many Democrats in DC.
Because if it ‘fails or is wildly unpopular’ there aren’t going to be very many Democrats in DC.
We’ll see. The millenials are coming of age, and they’re a lot more liberal than most previous generations (and more numerous). They’ll favor universal single payer, for the same reason they favor marriage equality and legalizing mj- it’s the logical thing to do.
“it will be replaced by universal single-payer coverage”
then it will have worked as intended.
then it will have worked as intended.
lol, I had the same thought…
Correction: the millenials are a lot more libertarian than most previous generations.
Are the young and good looking?
Reminds me of pharma sales girls….
one is one isn’t…they are sisters so maybe since one is hot they were ablet to get a twofer.
And then there’s this:
Marketwatch: Why Your Boss Is Dumping Your Wife
“About a fifth of companies had policies to discourage spouses from joining their health plan in 2012, according to Mercer, though most just charged extra—$100 a month, on average—to cover spouses who could get insurance elsewhere, rather than deny coverage entirely. Indeed, large firms including generics maker Teva and supply chain manager Intermec have spousal surcharges costing $100 a month, or $1,200 annually, while Xerox charges $1,000 for the year. See: 10 things your office won’t say
But experts say more firms are likely to drop spouses altogether, whether they work or not—especially when the new federal health-care exchanges open in 2014, providing an alternative for spouses left out in the cold. “When there’s a place for people to go, employers won’t feel as beholden or compelled to cover the spouse,” says Joan Smyth, an employee benefits consultant with Mercer.
Firms that recently decided to drop spouses from their plans range from private insurance agencies to school systems and universities like Ball State, as well as large companies like pump and valve manufacturer Flowserve. Wisconsin-based furniture company KI carved out spouses this year when couples flocked to its plan for the first time during open enrollment. “Now, each employer is responsible for its own employee,” says Timothy Van Severen, corporate risk manager for KI, which insures about 1,700 employees in its health plan. “We were going to see a higher claim cost if we didn’t do that, because of the migration coming back to us.”
Some companies drive spouses away using other tactics, such as making spousal coverage prohibitively expensive through higher surcharges or by making reimbursement rates so low that spouses can’t afford the plans. The share of employers who allow spouses in their plan but don’t pay for any part of it rose from zero to 3% this year, according to human resources consulting firm Towers Watson. Northrop Grumman, the large security firm, will cover spouses who can get insurance through their own employers, but only if they first enroll in their own plan, and use Northrop’s as secondary coverage. (Some companies actually pay spouses an incentive if they enroll in their own plan, though insurance experts say the incentive is a waste of money—and that employers would do better by just cutting spouses off.) “You’re making it kind of a no-brainer for the other adult dependent to get on his or her own plan,” says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. “No one wants to be just a dependent magnet.”
But like any breakup, the separation of spouses into different health plans can be traumatic for families. Greg Fischer, a vice president in the employer solutions division at HMS, says demand has increased for the company’s dependent audits, which have revealed that 3% of spouses are ineligible for the health plans, either because of plan rules or divorce and legal marriage issues. The news can be upsetting to couples when one partner is forced to pay more for coverage or accept lesser benefits: One spouse may even have to stop seeing the family doctor if his or her new plan stipulates a different set of providers. “I think that’s where the pain point comes in for the employee—that their spouse may have to be covered under a different plan, or their benefits might be reduced,” Fischer says.”
My staffing company loves ObamaScare. More companies getting rid of directs and hiring temps so as to avoid ObamaScare. Great for my company stock.
obama housing bubble v2.0 sighting…
——————
Homebuilders struggling to find workers
CNNMoney.com - By Les Christie | 03 JUN 2013
Sales of new homes are on a tear, but builders can’t find enough workers to keep up with the demand.
After the housing bust, many workers left the building trade in droves, said Michael Fink, CEO of Leewood Real Estate Group in Trenton, N.J.
“A lot of our workers are immigrants and they went back to their home countries,” he said. “Our subcontractors can’t get people; they can’t start on time; they can’t get things done on time.”
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported in March that 46% of its members say they have fallen behind schedule on finishing projects, 15% turned down jobs and 9% lost or canceled sales because they can’t find enough workers.
After the housing bust, construction fell off a cliff and many workers moved on to other occupations or they retired. With the supply of skilled workers short, subcontractors have had to raise wages.
The competition for workers has gotten so heated that some construction companies are even poaching workers off each others’ job sites, according to Jan Maly, president of JM Maly, a construction company in the Houston area that builds high-rise condos, schools, hospitals and other commercial buildings.
The (bipartisan) immigration bill will solve this worker shortage.
It will also create a permanent democrat supermajority.
“It will also create a permanent democrat supermajority.”
You should be happy then. You’ll get your beloved govt run health care.
It will also create a permanent democrat supermajority.
I think fears of this are overblown. In a two party system it just means the Rs will have to adjust to get back to 50/50. The only question is how much and in what ways. Hispanic culture seems pretty conservative…maybe you have to let them take over the lower levels of the party like the southern Christians did for a while. All while steering them into supporting the 0.1% agenda, of course.
LOL.
With unenjoyment in the 15% range they “can’t find” help?
Here’s a hint for you all….. call the carpenters local and ask how many guys they got on the bench.
“the carpenters local”
What kind of commie sh1t is that? Real American, bootstrapping, rugged individualist, job creators don’t call no carpenters local. They pick up a truckfull of Nuevos Americanos in the Home Depot parking lot, pay them cash (which they send half of back to Mexico), not pay payroll taxes, and offload the social costs of their multiple anchor babies onto the taxpayers.
With unenjoyment in the 15% range
Unenjoyment in America is much higher than 15%.
Will houses still be $50/sq ft if we have to pay legal citizens to build them?
“Sales of new homes are on a tear, but builders can’t find enough workers to keep up with the demand at wages only illegals would take.”
Fixed.
Seems like the masters of the universe are having a hard time getting the muppets to jump back into the stock market.
finance.yahoo.com/news/u-wealth-chiefs-investors-come-104759127.html
There has been a lot of talk about the rise of all cash investors and Black Rock’s dive into real estate. I suspect they are using the same techniques used in the stock market to manipulate the price of housing. I wonder if anyone has looked into the identity of these cash investors. Maybe it is fund A and B buying up real estate in a particular market and then holding supply on the sidelines and selling houses back and forth to each other at inflated prices to drive up the comps and to drive the perception that the market is hot.
muppets are tired of seeing their savings stolen via promises of large returns on pieces of paper.
Can’t spend what you don’t have.
They don’t give NINJA loans for stock speculation to J6P.
Bingo. Muppets are too busy trying to keep their heads above water to speculate in the stock market.
The whole word is addicted to cheap US money.
Housing is addicted to cheap US money
Colleges are addicted to cheap US money
——————
Nikkei ends 3.72% lower on fear of U.S. stimulus scale-down
Xinhua | 06/03/2013 | Yang Yi
TOKYO, June 3 (Xinhua) — Nikkei ended 3.72 percent lower at its lowest level in more than a month on Monday, amid caution over the possible scale-down of U.S. stimulus measures.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average closed down 512.72 points, or 3.72 percent, from Friday at 13,261.82, the lowest closing mark since April 18 and the third largest point fall this year.
Cheap for who? Certainly not J6P.
But yes, you are right. They are indeed.
I was reading an article in the Financial Times about exactly this subject. The conclusion was that when all is said and done, the cheap money is what’s going to crash the system. This is from the BIS, Bank of International Settlements.
the cheap money is what’s going to crash the system
In the long term, it will. But not cheap money will also cause a lot of pain, and it will do it know rather than later (though the later pain will be worse).
I think this guy got tired of living next to a Robo-signed foreclosure victim. “Looks like you owe me now,”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H05bsvZxCCs - 143k -
stocks and housing will lead you to riches unimaginable
u should invest in the maker of alpo.
inconceivable
Obama creates Ministry of Pure Thoughts, designates Re-Education Camps for gun owners, Tea People, and other enemies of the State:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9520BN20130603?irpc=932
..and is still going to take away our guns.
Any day now. Any day now. Any day now!
Really? That’s what you get out of “Obama urges greater openness in dealing with mental illness”
So the idea that “Americans need to become more open about mental health issues so that people struggling with problems are not ashamed to seek help” translates to labor camps and gas chambers in your mind?
Unless you’re just trolling(likely), for your own good PLEASE see your doctor and ask for a referral to a good counselor/therapist.
Barring that, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzoXQKumgCw
IMO, we’re all on a spectrum of mental illness. I think we’re in denial about it…that it’s much easier to deal with by referring to it as a problem “those people” have to deal with.
“Obama urges greater openness in dealing with mental illness”
“….More than 60 percent of Americans with mental illness do not receive treatment, many of them because they are embarrassed or afraid of being ostracized, Obama said, speaking at a White House conference on mental health.”
Can they afford it? How many private insurance plans cover mental illness? Do Republicans in states not expanding Medicaid even care?
Report: 64,000 mentally ill Kan. and Mo. residents would benefit from Medicaid expansion
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2013/05/30/report-medicaid-expansion-would-save.html
….A new report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness showed that expanding Medicaid could provide coverage to more than 64,000 individuals in Kansas and Missouri…
…..So far, the legislatures in both Kansas and Missouri have opted out of expanding Medicaid eligibility limits, despite the federal government’s promise to pay 100 percent of the costs during the first three years and 90 percent of the costs thereafter.
Schiff on housing: “Travelling down this same exact road again is not going to lead to a different destination.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=HIyEKn6GEAs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DHIyEKn6GEAs%26feature%3Dyoutu.be
If you bought a house in the last 14 years, you doubled your shelter costs by paying massively inflated prices.
IRS Administered Obamacare Mental Health Test:
Q1. Do you love Obama?
Yes: You are mentally sound
No: You are insane and cannot own guns
Q2: Do you want to own a gun?
Yes: You are insane and cannot own a gun
No: You are sane and can legally buy a gun
Current mental health test for gun ownership:
*crickets*
Mr. Smithers is a Troll - please don’t feed.
I know a guy who owned a house in Wellington and used to move out for 3 months in the winter and rent his house to Polo people. He didn’t call it ‘Glamping’ but he rented a cheap place and including the cost of the 3 months cheap rent, he paid almost his whole mortgage for the year.
Newest Trend: Well-To-Do Hamptons Residents Go ‘Glamping’ In A Trailer Park
Homeowners Rent Out Their Spacious Digs For Big Bucks And Then ‘Rough’ It
May 30, 2013 8:05 PM
MONTAUK SHORES, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — As summer approaches, some families are trading their year-round homes in East Hampton, for “trailers.” And it’s all to make some serious cash.
“It’s a piece of paradise. That we live here [is] a blessing to me,” Montauk resident Jeanette Esposito told CBS 2’s Jennifer McLogan on Thursday.
Esposito was talking about the Ditch Plains Trailer Park at Montauk Shores sitting at ocean’s edge — for 200 lucky families, complete with swimming pools and playgrounds.
Some call it “glamping” — or glamour camping.
“We don’t like to refer to them as trailers. Some people have the connotation it is rundown. I would say 90 percent of our residents live elsewhere for most of the year and they spend their summers here,” said Hugh Herbert of Montauk.
And some savvy Hamptonites are taking full advantage, squeezing in for the summer and renting out their sought after luxury million-dollar digs for the season.
Even owners of more modest homes are collecting $50,000 in rent for July and August. They will pay $1,400 a month to lease trailer space at Montauk Shores – quite a profit.
Hamptons realtors said the new trend makes financial sense.
“We are finding a lot more homeowners are putting their houses up for rent, due to paying for college, or economic distress,” said Jacqueline Dunphy of Corcoran Group Real Estate. “We have a place in Montauk called Ditch Plains is a very trendy trailer park. The homeowners go and live in that for whatever time period they’ve rented for.”
The Roupells from England are renting a trendy Hamptons home. Its owner went on a cruise with the cash collected. When asked if they feel they are getting bang for the buck, one said, “We definitely feel we are getting warmer weather than we ever have in London.”
Matthew Bergman lives full time in East Hampton and said he plans to rent his home for the month of August
“It’s just too much money to refuse,” Bergman said.
But the trailer park in Montauk is full and there’s a waiting list for interviews. The trailer park in Montauk has been around for more than 50 years. The people who run the place said this is the first time they remember seeing Hamptons families moving in for the summer.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/05/30/newest-trend-well-to-do-hamptons-residents-go-glamping-in-a-trailer-park/ - 96k
“Glamping”?
Idiocracy. We haz it.
(this is just seasonal renting. Is that too hard to say?)
“(this is just seasonal renting. Is that too hard to say?)”
I think it’s kinda like how QE sounds better than printing money at at cocktail parties.
In response to:
Comment by Mr. Smithers
2013-05-31 17:03:03
“Not in all cases. Not in mine. I struggle, but I do it on my own”
No you don’t. You get free education for your children from the state. You get a tax child credit. You get (or got) daycare tax credits. You get all sorts of govt bennies whether you realize it or not.
Is my child’s education free if I’m paying taxes? Which I am. Yes, I get a child / dependent care tax credit. So do all married couples so that’s moot.
What I’m not getting (or seeking)…any type of government assistance that married couples are not also afforded regarding children.
The original post was about how single parents get all sorts of assistance to raise their kids. My point is that’s not always true.
In Smithers’ drudge-addled mind, you get a free Cadillac Escalade, $2,000/month of food stamps to buy steak and lobster, free Obamaphone, free school breakfasts and lunches, $6,000 Earned Income Tax Credit, free home heating assistance, free Section 8 vouchers, et cetera…
Never mind that the real welfare queens are Lockheed, General Dynamics, Raytheon, because that doesn’t make a good talking point.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324767004578489202247919668.html
Ease up on EddieTard.
According to his post in yesterday’s bits, the only people who should rent are “25 and single and own nothing but a TV and a bed”
He must be singlehandedly trying to avert another crash in the hopebuilder stocks he owns!
At $10.1 billion a year somebody better be getting free school bekfusses.
“The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from it’s profits or so dependant on it’s favors, that there will be no opposition from that class.” — Rothschild Brothers of London
Reimbursement and Funding
In FY 2011, federal spending totaled $10.1 billion for the National School Lunch Program. This federal support comes in the form of a cash reimbursement for each meal served.
Provision 2
Provision 2 is an option that enables schools and institutions to provide free meals to all of their students while reducing paperwork and administrative costs. While any school that participates in the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program may opt for Provision 2, generally schools with high percentages of low-income students (75 percent or more) are able to utilize this option. Under Provision 2, all students receive free meals, regardless of income, and schools collect applications for free and reduced-price meals once every four years, at most. Also, schools under Provision 2 do not have to track and record the different categories of meals served for at least three out of every four years. Provision 2 schools pay the difference between the cost of serving meals at no charge to all students and the federal reimbursement for the meals.
School nutrition programs should contact their State Agencies for assistance on how to implement Provision 2 in some or all of their schools.
http://frac.org/federal-foodnutrition-programs/national-school-lunch-program/ - 56k -
“bekfusses?”
Is that supposed to be a joke about Ebonics? Cus it ain’t funny, and maybe you need some Diversity Training. Because our differences only make us stronger.
“Is that supposed to be a joke about Ebonics? Cus it ain’t funny”
Every now and then I enjoy stirring up the politically correct crowd. Believe it or not, in the real world blacks, whites and hispanics still joke around with each other. It’s not like I said Richard Maddow or anything, I don’t think she jokes around.
At $10.1 billion a year somebody better be getting free school bekfusses.
In our “above average” little burg about 25% of students get them. And they are mostly WHITE.
“And they are mostly WHITE.”
Mother: And remember, the Lord loves a working man.
Navin: Lord loves a working man.
Father: And son, don’t never, ever trust whitey.
Navin: Don’t trust whitey. The Lord loves a working man, don’t trust whitey. (he hugs his mom)
Mother: Ah baby!
Navin: Daddy! (he hugs his dad)
Navin: Pierre come here. Don’t you forget to grow up now.
Father: O.k. Now let the boy go. We got work to do.
Mother: And I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for.
Navin: I will Ma. I know it’s out there.
Taj: It’s out there alright, and if you catch it, see a doctor and get rid of it.
Navin: See a doctor and get rid of it.
Taj: Good luck.
Navin: Good luck. The Lord loves a working man, don’t trust whitey, see a doctor and get rid of it. Bye Grandma!
In our “above average” little burg about 25% of students get them. And they are mostly WHITE.
This of course is courtesy of low wages for lower IQ workers.
There are a lot of lazy white people.
“You mean I’m going to STAY this color?!?!?”
Never mind that the real welfare queens are Lockheed, General Dynamics, Raytheon, because that doesn’t make a good talking point ?/
+1…
“The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from it’s profits or so dependant on it’s favors, that there will be no opposition from that class.” —
Rothschild Brothers of London
We should fix that too, not stick our heads in the sand on the welfare problems because business is feeding at the trough too.
Never mind that the real welfare queens are Lockheed, General Dynamics, Raytheon, because that doesn’t make a good talking point.
The Federal Budget:
58%+ goes toward entitlements
19% goes toward the military
The government borrows 46 cents of every dollar it spends.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2011.png
Psst. SS is NOT entitlement. Nor is Medi-whatever.
Both of those come out of my paycheck and I sure hell want them back.
Psst. SS is NOT entitlement. Nor is Medi-whatever.
Both of those come out of my paycheck and I sure hell want them back.
Open your eyes ecofeco:
Do you even know that in 2025 Social Security + Medicare + Interest on the Debt ALONE will consume 100% of all revenue coming into the federal government?
Psst: What do you call getting more from the government than you put in? Welfare.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-03/guest-post-fleeting-beauty-bubbles-and-bonds
$628 BILLION corporate tax breaks.
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/02/09/10-Big-Corporate-Tax-Breaks.aspx
“$628 BILLION corporate tax breaks.”
How do they manage that?
Some people have started realizing that there are large financial groups that dominate the world. Forget the political intrigues, conflicts, revolutions and wars. It is not pure chance. Everything has been planned for a long time.
Some call it “conspiracy theories” or New World Order. Anyway, the key to understanding the current political and economic events is a restricted core of families who have accumulated more wealth and power.
We are speaking of 6, 8 or maybe 12 families who truly dominate the world. Know that it is a mystery difficult to unravel.
We will not be far from the truth by citing Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers, Loebs Kuh and Lehmans in New York, the Rothschilds of Paris and London, the Warburgs of Hamburg, Paris and Lazards Israel Moses Seifs Rome.
Many people have heard of the Bilderberg Group, Illuminati or the Trilateral Commission. But what are the names of the families who run the world and have control of states and international organizations like the UN, NATO or the IMF?
To try to answer this question, we can start with the easiest: inventory, the world’s largest banks, and see who the shareholders are and who make the decisions.
The world’s largest companies are now: Bank of America, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Let us now review who their shareholders are.
Bank of America:
State Street Corporation, Vanguard Group, BlackRock, FMR (Fidelity), Paulson, JP Morgan, T. Rowe, Capital World Investors, AXA, Bank of NY, Mellon.
JP Morgan:
State Street Corp., Vanguard Group, FMR, BlackRock, T. Rowe, AXA, Capital World Investor, Capital Research Global Investor, Northern Trust Corp. and Bank of Mellon.
Citigroup:
State Street Corporation, Vanguard Group, BlackRock, Paulson, FMR, Capital World Investor, JP Morgan, Northern Trust Corporation, Fairhome Capital Mgmt and Bank of NY Mellon.
Wells Fargo:
Berkshire Hathaway, FMR, State Street, Vanguard Group, Capital World Investors, BlackRock, Wellington Mgmt, AXA, T. Rowe and Davis Selected Advisers.
We can see that now there appears to be a nucleus present in all banks: State Street Corporation, Vanguard Group, BlackRock and FMR (Fidelity). To avoid repeating them, we will now call them the “big four”
Goldman Sachs:
“The big four,” Wellington, Capital World Investors, AXA, Massachusetts Financial Service and T. Rowe.
Morgan Stanley:
“The big four,” Mitsubishi UFJ, Franklin Resources, AXA, T. Rowe, Bank of NY Mellon e Jennison Associates. Rowe, Bank of NY Mellon and Jennison Associates.
We can just about always verify the names of major shareholders. To go further, we can now try to find out the shareholders of these companies and shareholders of major banks worldwide.
Bank of NY Mellon:
Davis Selected, Massachusetts Financial Services, Capital Research Global Investor, Dodge, Cox, Southeatern Asset Mgmt. and … “The big four.”
State Street Corporation (one of the “big four”):
Massachusetts Financial Services, Capital Research Global Investor, Barrow Hanley, GE, Putnam Investment and … The “big four” (shareholders themselves!).
BlackRock (another of the “big four”):
PNC, Barclays e CIC.
Who is behind the PNC? FMR (Fidelity), BlackRock, State Street, etc.
And behind Barclays? BlackRock
And we could go on for hours, passing by tax havens in the Cayman Islands, Monaco or the legal domicile of Shell companies in Liechtenstein. A network where companies are always the same, but never a name of a family.
In short: the eight largest U.S. financial companies (JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, U.S. Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon and Morgan Stanley) are 100% controlled by ten shareholders and we have four companies always present in all decisions: BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard and Fidelity.
In addition, the Federal Reserve is comprised of 12 banks, represented by a board of seven people, which comprises representatives of the “big four,” which in turn are present in all other entities.
In short, the Federal Reserve is controlled by four large private companies: BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard and Fidelity. These companies control U.S. monetary policy (and world) without any control or “democratic” choice. These companies launched and participated in the current worldwide economic crisis and managed to become even more enriched.
To finish, a look at some of the companies controlled by this “big four” group
Alcoa Inc.
Altria Group Inc.
American International Group Inc.
AT&T Inc.
Boeing Co.
Caterpillar Inc.
Coca-Cola Co.
DuPont & Co.
Exxon Mobil Corp.
General Electric Co.
General Motors Corporation
Hewlett-Packard Co.
Home Depot Inc.
Honeywell International Inc.
Intel Corp.
International Business Machines Corp
Johnson & Johnson
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
McDonald’s Corp.
Merck & Co. Inc.
Microsoft Corp.
3M Co.
Pfizer Inc.
Procter & Gamble Co.
United Technologies Corp.
Verizon Communications Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Time Warner
Walt Disney
Viacom
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.,
CBS Corporation
NBC Universal
The same “big four” control the vast majority of European companies counted on the stock exchange.
In addition, all these people run the large financial institutions, such as the IMF, the European Central Bank or the World Bank, and were “trained” and remain “employees” of the “big four” that formed them.
The names of the families that control the “big four”, never appear.
http://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/category/bilderberg-group-2/ - 239k -
Dude, that’s chilling. Is there any third party confirmation on their shareholder information?
Smithers is a troll - please don’t feed him. Ignore and stick to reasoned discourse.
Is my child’s education free if I’m paying taxes?
At one point we had 3 kids in public schools at the same time. Even at Colorado’s relatively low pupil spending that was about 20K per year. We pay about 2K in property tax. Even 40 years worth of property tax wouldn’t cover them K-12, not even close (80K in property tax vs. 260K of school costs). So yeah, it was a subsidized freebie. Even factoring in our state income tax it wouldn’t cover it.
Then I went to school for free, too. As did my sister and brother. My lucky parents with that huge government hand out! Please.
The numbers don’t lie. Someone else is paying for it. And if you’ve ever sent your kids to private school (we have) you realize what a deal it is, at least here in low tax Colorado.
Perhaps, but you can’t count that as free money for single parents (like the original post was all about).
your tax dollars at work in the denver public schools:
‘i had no respect for the teachers. we didn’t know them. they were new, and it seems like a lot of the kids were hispanic, and it seems like all the teachers were caucasian, and we felt, not mistreated, but like our school was going to become so professional and we’re not used to that…
the circle of power and respect is a chance for kids to share their own stories, their fears, and sometimes really painful things. kids learn empathy, build trust in each other, and learn how to respect other opinions.
it’s all part of trevista’s attempt to make students feel more engaged.
http://www.cpr.org/tag/Trevista
So whose fault is it? The lazy, union teachers who are trying to make the school “so professional” or the parents who want their kids to feel good about themselves?
Read the article. We heard the audio of this driving this morning.
Can’t recall the kids’ parents mentioned, but if you want to assign “fault”, it belongs to the parents for not being parents, not because they want their kids to feel good about themselves.
This story is typical
ColoradoCommie Public Radio bedwetter libtard puke. These anchor babies will not grow up to be astronauts. The only thing they’ll be when they grow up is the Free Sh1t Army constituency of the permanent democrat supermajority.These anchor babies will not grow up to be astronauts.
You don’t have to tell me that. I am 100% opposed to amnesties.
Colorado:
How about this anchor babies are born Americans but they and their families will be deported until they are 18. The person can then can enter the US legally and sponsor their parents.
Re-post from yesterday’s bits, USA health care costs the most in the world, cus bootstrapping, rugged individualists ain’t no commies:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/health/colonoscopies-explain-why-us-leads-the-world-in-health-expenditures.html
The bigger government gets - the more expensive health care costs get.
Quick - let’s raise taxes some more and pass even more regulations.
The irony is that medicine that is NOT covered by insurance or government (cosmetic surgery, lasik, etc.) has actually gone DOWN in price.
Funny how prices react when people have to PAY for a service.
+1
The health care system is a parasite on the economy.
Why do hospitals charge highly inflated prices? Because they can.
The bigger government gets - the more expensive health care costs get.
Uhhh … our healthcare system is privately owned and for profit, unlike in those socialist, nanny state, big government countries where they spend much less on healthcare than we do.
No worries though. In about 10 more years no one in the USA except for the wealthy will be able to afford healthcare. That is when our system will come crashing down, with hospitals and clinics folding as they won’t be able to adjust their cost structures.
Just look at all the belly aching coming out of the healthcare “industry” over “how little” Medicare and Medicaid pays them (which btw is still much more than what they spend in Europe), whining that they can’t cover their costs. Newsflash: lower your costs or the entire healthcare sector will collapse. And that means that the high wage, high profit gravy train is over.
FUD
“The bigger government gets - the more expensive health care costs get.”
Actually I’ll just say it: you’re a damned liar and worthless troll.
I agree. I give him 2/10 for the troll. Not really believable.
Wall Street Journal - Rising Sea Level Tied to Faster Melt:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324682204578517312171788462.html
And a re-post of this UK Guardian piece, just for the haterz:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/may/16/climate-change-scienceofclimatechange
But there was a cold snap somewhere! Climate change has to be a fraud!
And when there is a cold snap somewhere, Drudge will link to an article about it.
I did read a really interesting article on line about how climate change is greening some desert areas. To me, that’s a plus. And interesting, too. Reminds me of the Jeff Goldblum quote in Jurassic Park: “Life always finds a way.”
In this case, trees have been eliminated in various parts of the globe in the name of development. Most notably in the US whole swaths of trees and plant life have been taken out to clear the way for development. But trees are the lungs of the planet, they take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and provide shade and cool. If we’re going to have more people, we need more trees.
And then I note that trees and vegetation are springing to life in desert areas, which is interesting, because those are areas where no one really wants to live except a few hardy souls, gamblers and nuke plants. It’s like the trees are trying to find a place where no one will bother them. And trees create micro-climates.
Please do continue with your rant based on ZERO facts.
————————-
The United States has never had a thicker forest cover since colonial times. According The State of America’s Forests, net deforestation in the United States ended a century ago and the volume of hardwood and softwood trees standing in U.S. forests has grown by half since 1953.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/05/28/why-burning-american-forests-to-heat-european-homes-is-as-crazy-as-it-sounds/2/
The United States has never had a thicker forest cover since colonial times.
Let me guess, this is because of government reforestation mandates? Is this also true in the rest of the world? I seem to recall reading that the same is not true in South America, Africa and Asia.
I am reminded of a Beijing based colleague who remarked during a US visits that the air in metro Denver was “unnaturally clean.” I guess it was, thanks to those pesky, business unfriendly government mandates and rules.
2banana
Errrrnnnt! Thank you for playing, we have some lovely parting gifts for you.
While the sheer number of trees is higher, they are tiny and packed in super tight. In the PNW we call it “dogwood” and it is NOTHING like a pristine and well developed old growth forest ecosystem, and definitely no replacement for it.
Guys I think this is the same guy who argued that NAFTA was a great idea because the majority of all laptops are(were) manufactured in the the US. Assuming of course that putting the last 4 screws in the case counts as “manufacturing.” All one had to do at the time was open the case and see there wasn’t an American made component anywhere to be seen inside.
Yet this guy blatantly used that as a persuasive argument that NAFTA was a grand idea and wouldn’t affect US jobs.
The guy’s name? Rush Limbaugh.
Please don’t feed the trolls - they’re idiots. Lets get back to reasoned discourse on here please.
I guess it was, thanks to those pesky, business unfriendly government mandates and rules.
Replanting is the law in Oregon. I imagine that’s only for public lands (or perhaps includes private land abutting rivers or some such). In any event, it’s a “mandate” I’m good with.
For a population that sits on an island, it’s rather amazing the amount of vehement deniers they have.
Oh well, this is a problem that will ultimately self correct.
“Rising Sea Level Tied to Faster Melt”
I’m at 4ft. elevation. I’ll keep you posted.
Mortgage rates may be heading higher
Julie Schmit, USA TODAY 7:34 p.m. EDT May 29, 2013
Mortgage rates are moving higher, but are still near all-time lows.
Mortgage rates
(Photo: Nick Ut AP)
Story Highlights
* Mortgage rates rose sharply this month, taking a bite out of refi activity
* Higher rates could spike the home buying market as people try avoid higher rates
* Freddie Mac economist sees 30-year rate topping 4% next year
Mortgage interest rates are back to their highest levels in a year — and may creep higher still.
After hitting a five-month low in early May, rates have made an abrupt turnaround
The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage for loans under $417,500 hit 3.9% for the week ended Friday, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.
That’s the highest since May 2012, and up from 3.59% for the week ended May 3.
The latest increase spurred a 12% drop in refinance applications for the week, the largest single week drop in refinance applications this year, the MBA says.
The rise in rates has “been a very dramatic move,’ says Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Loans. “Mortgage rates have jumped more in the past week than they have in years.”
…
the obama education bubble is popping:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/law-school-applications-continue-to-slide/2013/06/02/db4929b0-c93f-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html
I’m confused goon. The govt can run student loans well. But yet you are certain the govt can run health care well. Odd don’t you think?
The stronger the evidence of U.S. economic recovery, the weaker the rationale for continuing QE3 becomes.
June 3, 2013, 9:05 a.m. EDT
Final U.S. May manufacturing PMI rises to 52.3
By Greg Robb
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The final reading of Markit’s manufacturing purchasing managers index picked up to 52.3 in May from a six-month low of 52.1 in April. Markit said the PMI was consistent with only a modest rate of growth. The flash, or initial, estimate of May was for a reading of 51.9, which was the lowest reading since last October. “The May survey paints a downbeat picture of U.S. manufacturing business conditions. Output, order books and employment are all growing modestly, suggesting the sector is at risk of stalling,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.
Stocks up / gold down … lather, rinse, repeat.
What is the mythical “economic recovery” you speak about? Even if manufacturing has improved it doesn’t mean they are hiring.
“What is the mythical “economic recovery” you speak about? Even if manufacturing has improved it doesn’t mean they are hiring.”
You guys still have a 1950s mentality where a high school dropout goes to work for GM and makes $70 an hour. That’s never going to be the case again. Never. Ever. The sooner you understand that, the better.
And this is a good thing. That high school dropout union worker was not producing $70 of value. He was an economic inefficiency. The fact he no makes $15 an hour or isn’t needed at all benefits everyone in a macro economic sense.
Thank EddieTard for speaking to the deflationary spiral.
Now speak honestly about price fixing. You think you can do that EddieTard?
Just because lower level workers getting a bigger share of the profits is an “economic inefficiency” doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Is it “economic inefficiency” when upper management manages to scoop it up rather than it trickling it out to the shareholders as the system was originally envisioned?
You guys still have a 1950s mentality where a high school dropout goes to work for GM and makes $70 an hour. That’s never going to be the case again.
No one is saying that it will, in fact I said the opposite (if you were paying attention). Manufacturing doesn’t need workers, which is why they aren’t hiring (pretty much like everyone else).
As for workers being low paid helping at the macro level, that depends if prices actually come down, which experiences tells us that they don’t. For instance, new UAW hires earn those lower wages you love so much. Yet cars are more expensive than ever. So where is the benefit?
I also fail to see how having a large permanent low paid underclass is “good”. Poor people need welfare. I would prefer that their employers pay them a living wage as opposed to expecting the taxpayer to provide food stamps, but that’s just me. And in the new economy, people with average IQ’s simply cannot perform the jobs that pay decent wages.
“I also fail to see how having a large permanent low paid underclass is “good”.
You’re right. Everyone has to be above average.And we’ll tax evil rich people to make it happen. God forbid if someone on welfare doesn’t have the latest ipad and doesn’t have HBO. Why that’s criminal.
Everyone has to be above average.
I never said that. I said why do they have to be poor? Why can’t they earn a living wage? Or is a living wage “above average” in your book?
Right wing BS like yours is why I left the Republican party.
Dude, don’t feed the troll. Smither’s is either a kid or a really ignorant adult living in his parents basement.
He has no idea that more than 90% of government aid goes to the elderly, disabled, and WORKING households. (http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3677)
He further has no idea that of the working households who receive benefits, 70% have one person working FULL TIME and they STILL can’t afford to live.
But sure, keep on with your bullsh!t about how the real problem is that Mitt Romney pays too much in taxes….
I lived in the poor section of town while I worked my way through college. The single mom’s on welfare(with very few exceptions) desperately wanted to GET OFF WELFARE, but were unable to find any kind of job that would allow them to keep a roof and feed their kids.
I guarantee anyone buying lobster tails with their food stamps was eating ramen noodles at the end of the month. And if the tails were on sale for like $5.00/ea, so what? Everyone needs protein…
sorry to feed the troll everyone, but it’s time to call out and shame these people for the ignorant, bubble-living-in dumbschitts they are.
/don’t feed the troll
//taking my own advice
You guys still have a 1950s mentality where a county looked after, invested in and more equally shared its increasing productivity with its citizens.
Heaven Forbid! We all know that a God fearing country has to have a permanent underclass. It’s only in godless socialeest countries were poverty is rare.
“where a county looked after…”
….where a COUNTRY looked after…..
(I guess a county too)
The coming permanent democrat supermajority, courtesy of the homogay marriage haterz:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-03/tennessee-gays-can-t-marry-making-young-doubt-republicans.html
Renewing my Ca R E License. In one of the
textbooks it’s all about new laws and foreclosure
procedures.
I just read that the intelligent thing to do
if you’re underwater is to default, go rent
a place for a couple of years, keeping up your other
payments and heal your credit. Then go out and buy
a home again if you like. Nice to know what
UHS are reading in a TEXTBOOK.
Interesting that a default on a mod
is a double hit on a credit score.
No wonder morals are out of fashion.
Consequences are old world. OK, I get it.
Refi away.
Hee Haw
Please, Michael Douglas. Too. Much. Information.
jose
What?
I also read that FHA loans can
refi for cash out. Great.
3.5% down and milk the system.
I believe you can get 85% of the
the equity.Pinch me. Did the ptb
learn nothing from housing bubble 1.0?
Thanks, inch. I’ve been trying to get that dang headline out of my mind ALL MORNING! Well, that’s what I get for trying to distract myself from the PTB. I thought I was going to read some health article with celeb advice.
Really, the celeb culture has just descended into depraved freakdom. I get that these folks have problems, but I really, really don’t want to know. Sometimes a little silence is golden.
Just? Where have you been for the last 3000 years?
Kim K had a baby shower yesterday.
Why worry about your fiscal health,
or this country’s future.
Sometimes, I just set up a neighborhood kid
activity. Yesterday was Puppet Show day.
In July, I was thinking about Kid’s Stand Up
Comedy and Ice Cream Social w/ a prize. (my treat)
We’re child free, but I was that kind of leader of the
pack kid in the neighborhood. Neighborhood memories
are happy flash back memories.
These kids are over scheduled and don’t get the simple childhood stuff.
Hey Bloomberg, how’s that gun ban working out in NYC?
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/25-people-shot-48-hours-article-1.1361388
It would well if only we could ban guns in the rest of America.
Get with the program.
“Mayhem in the city: 25 people shot in 48 hours”
I think it’s OK as long as the shooters only had 7 rounds in a 10 round mag and nobody was holding a Big Gulp.
If only we had background checks, none of these gang bangers would have owned guns.
If just had a better class of criminals the gun control laws would work…
or….. how about instead of paying private enterprise more than $30,000.00 per person to maintain the largest prison population, we spend that much money per student on education and eliminate contractor waste, fraud and abuse in public education?
How about instead of b1tching about the unions, we actually try to do something about it:
How about a new law that says that every ballot must have a space for the voter to write down the name of the WORST 3 teachers they know in their district.
Whatever three teachers get the most votes are summarily dismissed - democracy in action.
We need a way to fire crappy teachers and reward the good ones.
Ten-year T-bond yield is dropping like a rock; in the time it took me to prepare this post, the drop increased from 1.41% to 1.92%. And this is right on the heels of Goldman’s already-failed prediction.
Goldman: S&P 500 poised to rise with bond yields
June 3, 2013, 9:12 AM
The S&P 500 index (SPX -0.04%) still looks attractive, despite the fact that we are beginning a month with the 10-year Treasury note (10_YEAR -1.92%) yield roughly half-a-percentage point higher than the start of the previous one.
So says Goldman Sachs, the investment bank that predicted back in April that interest rates would rise to 2.5% by the end of 2013. They are hanging onto that prediction, but say that as rates rise higher, U.S. and European equities can too.
…
The ISM manufacturing gauge is not cooperating with Goldman’s bullish optimism.
June 3, 2013, 11:24 a.m. EDT
ISM manufacturing gauge worst in 4 years
New orders, production shrink in May, global slowdown cited
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Executives at American manufacturing companies reported sharply lower orders in May and the biggest contraction in their business in almost four years, according to a closely followed survey released Monday.
The Institute for Supply Management’s index fell to 49.0% last month from 50.7% in April, well below the MarketWatch forecast of 51.0%. Any number below 50% signals that business is shrinking instead of growing.
The ISM index is compiled from a survey of executives who order raw materials and other supplies for their companies. The gauge tends to rise or fall in tandem with the health of the economy.
After heavy losses during the Great Recession, manufacturers rode a strong performance in 2010 and 2011 before momentum waned in 2012. A slower U.S. expansion and more economic turmoil in key export markets have hindered American manufacturers and restrained their growth.
“Several comments from [executives] indicate a flattening or softening in demand due to a sluggish economy, both domestically and globally,” said Bradley Holcomb, chairman of the ISM survey committee.
…
AZ Slim, if your still researching, there’s a nice article in the San Jose Mercury about the Ooma phone service.
link
Thank you!
your=you’re
cripes
Some of this weekend’s links led me to this one regarding dumb money in the rental housing market that I thought was interesting…
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/05/so-who-is-the-dumb-money-ruining-the-housing-rental-market.html
Beat me to it! I was going to post that one.
Thanks for sharing it, Carl.
What a shell game. I wonder where do you go to learn how to build these financial time bombs?
The frat houses and country clubs of the Ivies.
Where else?
I again heard a policy maker tell the crowd that they shouldn’t be “cynical.” This time, it was Bernanke speaking to a graduating college class.
It’s not “cynical” to realize that policy makers are normal, rational people for the most part, and therefore self-interested. And they’re not going to behave contrary to their own self interests.
That’s not cynicism. It’s just an awareness of how the world works. The Founders were not “cynical” when they instituted a system of checks and balances, versus relying on the saintly, ethereal, altruistic nature of leaders. Merely realistic.
These are young adults. It’s time to stop bullsh••ting them with fairytales.
Like government does provide you with candy cr@pping unicorns?
That free government cheese is not free?
That the bigger government grows - the less personal liberty and economic freedom you will have?
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
–George Washington
The cynicism young grads are feeling is to toward too big to fail Corporate America, not the government. You shouldn’t project your feelings on others.
What is the difference?
NOW we’re getting somewhere. The difference is that government is supposed to be of, by and for ACTUAL LIVING BREATHING people. Not the legal fiction we call “corporation” which has been granted defacto human status.
Honest question 2bananna - would you be willing to support the revocation of corporate personhood?
You do know that they were almost non-existing in this country after our independence - and this was by design? The founders saw the damage that the British East India company(and others) had done and left it out on purpose.
‘would you be willing to support the revocation of corporate personhood’
You do realize the ‘united States’ were incorporated and that’s now called the ‘United States of America’? All the individual states were strong armed into becoming corporations too. Bonus points if you can say who “owns” who.
Sorry - I should have specified PRIVATE, for-profit corporations. I’m not talking about when a town/county/state/nation has a right be represented by counsel, etc.
‘I should have specified PRIVATE, for-profit corporations’
So what type of corporation is the United States of America? I passed the CPA exam and I never heard what it is. What does being represented by counsel have to do with it? And every corporation has an owner. Who owns these corporations?
‘The founders saw the damage that the British East India company(and others) had done and left it out on purpose’
So how did this country end up a corporation?
‘The difference is that government is supposed to be of, by and for ACTUAL LIVING BREATHING people. Not the legal fiction we call “corporation”
The government IS a corporation. I’m guessing you haven’t put much thought into this corporation situation. It might be a lot deeper than you think.
I listened to the weekly real estate segment on DC news radio yesterday. The realtor said buy now or be priced out. The bubble’s back.
If Roubini is right, then this obviously would be a good time to hold on to cash (dollars) and avoid gold like the plague.
Roubini: Why gold, ‘that barbarous relic,’ will trade below $1,000 by 2015
June 3, 2013, 4:43 AM
The week could be a big one for gold (GCQ3 +1.46%). If Friday’s key payrolls data disappoints in some fashion, then many may relax on the idea the Federal Reserve will pull back on its bond-buying program. And that could be supportive of gold’s view as an inflation hedge against a weak dollar.
But that’s not the whole story for gold, which is also up against some bearish investor flows. Barclays analysts point out the latest CFTC data shows a big fall in long positions on gold, while short positioning is on the rise. And while physical demand has been strong, from China and India for example, exchange-traded outflows are still a problem, the strategists note.
Enter the latest big bear view on gold.
Nouriel Roubini, an economist affectionately known as Dr. Doom, laid out a six-point case over the weekend as to why the gold bubble has burst and it will be under $1,000 by 2015. The metal dropped 5.4% in May — dropping seven out of the last eight months — and is lolling under the $1,400 level.
…
Hope Roubini is right for a change.
What ever happened to the massive Chinese stockpiles of copper, nickel and zinc?
That means its a great time to buy gold. Today I did.
Let me see if I understand.
1. Roubini is scaring many gold owners into selling.
2. Roubini is wrong, as the gold price always goes up.
3. Therefore this is a great time to buy the dip.
Correction: It is a great time for Bill in Los Angeles to buy the dip. Lower dip may occur before October (and I hope it does). But last time I checked our government is no less socialist. Nor are any European governments less socialist. Nor Japan’s. Socialism = fiat currency = ever decreasing valuation of currency.
But last time I checked our government is no less socialist.
When’s the last time you checked a dictionary?
Huh?
%)
Huh?
You can’t even figure out what I’m talking about? Your “Huh?” says a lot and everything I could expect.
Yeah it says to stay away from nuts like you.
IRS: Cheapest Family Plan Under Obamacare Will Cost $20,000 a year
“In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year. Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS.
The IRS’s assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan. The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan. The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000,” the regulation says.”
++++++++++++++++++
This will be fun….
Why does this remind me of a giant ponzi scheme?
———————–
Survey shows that up to 2/3 of uninsured don’t know if they’ll buy insurance
American Thinker | 06/03/2013 | Rick Moran
I wonder how many of them realize that if they don’t buy insurance, they’re going to be hit with a big fine from the IRS?
And less than half of those in the survey released by InsuranceQuotes.com think they’ll get better health care after Obamacare takes full effect. Nearly 50 percent believe the ACA will make it more difficult for them to get tests and procedures done in a timely manner, according to the phone survey of 1,001 adult Americans conducted in early May.
And a whopping 68 percent of low-income Americans aren’t sure they qualify for tax credits that would subsidize their purchase of health insurance–despite they fact that they almost invariably will qualify, the survey found. That population is most likely to benefit from government subsidies under the health-care reform law.
Laura Adams, senior insurance analyst at InsuranceQuotes.com, said public uncertainty about Obamacare–particularly a lack of commitment to signing up–could end up driving up health-insurance costs under the program because not enough healthy people will participate to offset benefits payouts.
Not true. From FactCheck: http://www.factcheck.org/2013/03/obamacare-to-cost-20000-a-family/
I tried the Health Reform Subsidy Calculator link near the end of the article. My costs for a silver plan would be on par with my current contributions to my employer plan. Bronze would be cheaper.
Gotta love how the right will violate one of the 10 Commandments they hold so dear (bearing false witness) to kill a program they hate so much.
how the right will violate one of the 10 Commandments they hold so dear (bearing false witness)
First, you dehumanize your opponent, for example by saying they’re socialist or communist or some such.
Then all is fair in your heroic, godly battle against them!
If only there was some example from recent history where this was done to a particular religious group…..
First they came for the healthcare, and I did not speak out –because I did not have health insurance….
On one hand we have the IRS in an official report on how obamacare will cost you more for you healthcare.
On the other hand we an anonymous blogger who used “factcheck.org” to “prove” that costs would stay about the same.
And the progressives flock and support which “conclusion” while insulting those who disagree?
Is FactCheck not akin to Snopes for weeding out some truth?
Snopes and factcheck are on par with Wikipedia for accuracy.
The IRS will be administering O-Care. The IRS says the cheapest plan will cost $20,000. Why do you doubt it? Why would the IRS make it up?
The IRS will be administering O-Care.
No they won’t. It’s going to be administered by private, for profit insurance companies and hospitals. It was written for them.
The IRS says the cheapest plan will cost $20,000. Why do you doubt it?
Because it’s deceiving Smithers bulls$#t?
the regulations weren’t a “cost analysis” at all. A spokesperson for the Treasury Department confirmed to FactCheck.org in an email that the IRS wasn’t making any declarations or projections about what prices will be.
“[Twenty thousand dollars] is a round number used by IRS for a hypothetical example,” the official wrote. “It is not an estimate of premiums for a bronze plan for a family of five in 2016 source: factcheck dot org/US Treasury Dept.
“I tried the Health Reform Subsidy Calculator link near the end of the article. My costs for a silver plan would be on par with my current contributions to my employer plan. Bronze would be cheaper.”
I tried it too. It says the cheapest plan I can have is $9333 a year. And since I am an evil rich person, ie I dare to succeed and have a decent income, I have to pay the full amount.
Right now I have a plan I am perfectly content with that costs $5124 a year.
Math is hard for liberals, I realize. But 5124 is not less than 9333.
On the other hand if I worked at Starbucks or if I were an “artist” I’d get a subsidy that covers the whole thing. O-care is nothing more than a scheme that taxes evil rich people and gives money to the lazy. Which is odd because Obama swore up and down that nobody making under $250K would have to pay more taxes and yet here I am, making well under $250K and I will be paying an extra $4,000 in taxes via higher health insurance premiums to subsidize illegals among others.
You’ll also be subsidizing your ability to have affordable insurance as you grow older and/or your health declines.
In the long run you may pay less.
It says the cheapest plan I can have is $9333 a year.
Show us the numbers. We’ll plug it in and compare it to what you say is available for $5124 a year.
‘this will be fun’
it will be more fun when obamacare fails and is replaced with a national system of socialized medicine that eliminates for-profit insurance companies from the health care system.
But then it will cost $30,000 a year! And they’ll take your guns away too and force you into a sharia gay marriage.
Sales tax in Canada: 15-20%
Gas in Canada $6-7/gallon vs. $3.50 in the US, difference being taxes
But yeah health care run by the govt is FREEEEEEEE. Nobody pays a dime.
With the added bonus of a 6 month wait for surgery.
health care run by the govt is FREEEEEEEE. Nobody pays a dime.
You sound like a fool.
I took a quick looksie; The top rate in Canada is 15% and in some provinces its as low as 5%.
A quick looksie into Canadian gasoline prices show s about $5
As usual, your facts are wrong.
And no one said that Canadian Heathcare was free. Just that everyone is covered. And they spend A LOT LESS on healthcare than we do, with comparable outcomes (even for cancer).
And my dad and I were on the operating table LESS THAN ONE WEEK after our tests showed we were a match for kidney donation. This was in Vancouver at St. Pauls hospital.
Keep in mind I live in the US and he lives in Canada - so I have seen both systems up close and personal. I would choose the Canadian system hands down EVERY SINGLE TIME.
How can your view of single payer health care possibly explain that Smithers? Is it possible you may need to rethink?
The only major waits I’ve heard of in Canada are for non-life threatening stuff like hip/knee replacements. And there are places where you can pay to get it done on the free market if you don’t want to wait….
Everyone, please stop feeding the troll.
“And they’ll take your guns away too and force you into a sharia gay marriage.”
Spoken like a true Better. You didn’t get audited by the IRS in the past 4 years did you.
Just a few non-political rogue employees in Ohio…..who did nothing political and were absolutely NOT told what to do by anyone associated with Obama.
“The agent in the Cincinnati office, in which the targeting took place, told congressional investigators that he or she was told by a supervisor in March 2010 to search for Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status and that “Washington, D.C., wanted some cases.”
The agent said that by April the office had held up roughly 40 cases and at least seven were sent to Washington. The agent also said a second IRS employee asked for information on two other specific applicants in which Washington was interested in.
When asked by congressional investigators about allegations and press reports about two agents in Cincinnati essentially being responsible for the targeting, the agent responded:
“It’s impossible. As an agent we are controlled by many, many people. We have to submit many, many reports. So the chance of two agents being rogue and doing things like that could never happen. … They were basically throwing us underneath the bus.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/03/interviews-with-irs-agent-suggest-tea-party-targeting-came-from-washington/#ixzz2VAjlY6S7
“Cash buyers” huh? It’s a lie. Just like the “housing is an investment” lie.
“Subprime mortgages are back”
http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listedblogpost.aspx?post=e7e44f4a-6edb-4179-b869-1b008a4fe9ef&_p=d57d9588-9957-47ac-aa6d-4171a4943cdb
And of course….. subprime and zero down lending created the previous bubble and collapse. Imagine the losses resulting from the coming collapse?
But you can always dollar cost average into my favorite insurance against 401k confiscation: physical precious metals.
Every year America gets more wolves and loses more sheep, and the wolves are getting hungrier and more desperate.
If you take on mortgage debt at current massively inflated housing prices, you’ll enslave yourself for the rest of your life.
“Debt is bondage.”~ Suze Orman, May 11, 2013
Make no mistake about it: because of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason,” conservative Justice Antonin Scalia said in a sharp dissent which he read aloud in the courtroom. “This will solve some extra crimes, to be sure. But so would taking your DNA when you fly on an airplane — surely the TSA must know the ‘identity’ of the flying public. For that matter, so would taking your children’s DNA when they start public school.”
Twenty-eight states and the federal government now take DNA swabs after arrests. But a Maryland court was one of the first to say that it was illegal for that state to take Alonzo King’s DNA without approval from a judge, saying King had “a sufficiently weighty and reasonable expectation of privacy against warrantless, suspicionless searches” under the Fourth Amendment.
But the high court’s decision reverses that ruling and reinstates King’s rape conviction, which came after police took his DNA during an unrelated arrest. Kennedy wrote the decision, and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer. Scalia was joined in his dissent by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Arrested at a protest and you are in the system. FBI wants your dna, just ask local police to say you appeared drunk and bam they have your DNA. F’n amazing
Clarence Thomas bucked Scalia?
Wow.
Not just that, but Scalia was joined by Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan.
I am not surprised by this ruling.
Scalia read his ruling in the court for effect.
The sad fact is our constitution is ill equipped to secure our rights in the face of relentless advancements in technology. It’s a relic from a different time. The ideas expressed in the constitution are eternal so there is no reason they couldn’t be re-written to address the realities of the 21st century and beyond. We will just have to wait till when this government falls… maybe.
Housing Demand in California Down 12.1% Year over Year
http://picpaste.com/pics/b34fc67d702d45f290c8295f9f25ad92.1370282811.png
Did you really think demand would go up at these grossly inflated prices?
26% Of All Housing Sales In California Resulted In A Loss For Sellers
http://picpaste.com/pics/a1077ea0bd452d09d90cb060c7c05b55.1370283098.png
Housing is always a loss anyways so this is no real surprise.
26% Of All Housing Sales In California Resulted In A Loss For Sellers
Housing is always a loss anyways so this is no real surprise.
Those two sentences do not reconcile when properly utilizing the English language and mathematics.
Refute it.
Refute it.
That’s the point. The headline itself refutes your false assertion. Here’s how it works.
Headline:
26% Of All Housing Sales In California Resulted In A Loss For Sellers
Your false (and boring) assertion:
Housing is always a loss anyways so this is no real surprise.
As I said, those two sentences do not reconcile when using the English language and math. (and reality)
The fact that housing is a loss and a depreciating asset is a reality. Whether you agree with that reality doesn’t change it.
Refute it. You won’t because you can’t. You can’t because it’s reality.
You can’t because it’s reality.
Your “reality” absent the understanding of the English language and math.
That you don’t understand the refutation, the language and the percentages, says you are lost.
Them:
26% Of All Housing Sales In California Resulted In A Loss For Sellers
You:
Housing is always a loss anyways so this is no real surprise.
Do you read or do math?
Housing depreciates. ALWAYS.
Do you comprehend english?
Do you comprehend english?
You just made my point.
“english”? There is no english language. I comprehend English.
The only english I comprehend is the english put on a billiard ball.
Housing depreciates. ALWAYS. Just like your cliff hung shanty next to the unregulated landfills of south america.
Just like your cliff hung shanty next to the unregulated landfills of south america
I LOVE your descriptions. They are funny. (But to be honest I live on the flatlands near the beach in the Zona Sul. My “investment” has almost quadrupled. Everybody wants to live on the flats because they are not making any more flat land here.
And the landfills are totally regulated. (just not enforced) It’s the best of both worlds. Left-wing regulations and right-wing F. U..
And you couldn’t find a buyer for a fraction of what you have in it.
Vegas Housing Sales Collapsed A Whopping 34% This Year
http://picpaste.com/pics/cb512d0ef53b95d6364d28c7e7017444.1370283725.png
Phoenix Housing Demand Falls A Staggering 26% Year over Year
http://picpaste.com/pics/e9fb4aa321ddab1f7d641def12e4501c.1370283845.png
Suburban Atlanta Poverty Skyrockets An Extraordinary 158%
http://homes.yahoo.com/news/cities-where-suburban-poverty-is-skyrocketing-213342422.html
This is what happens when housing prices are grossly inflated.
…and wages fail to keep up with real inflation.
You don’t make any sense. Rising wages is inflation.
Blame it on Bush.
Listing #13005652
$430,000 (LP)
$445,000 (SP)
Price/SqFt: 366.86
SP % LP: 103.49 13508 Laurelhurst Rd, Moorpark, CA 93021 * Sold
Beds: 3* Baths: 2 (2 0 0 0) (FTHQ)* Sq Ft: 1213* Lot Sz: 5246sqft*
Area: SMP Yr: 1976*
Small house
Within approximatley 10% of a 2005 sales price is scary. Rebubble appears to be nearly fully formed along the coast…properties still seem to be close to half of 2005 prices farther inland (not fully rebubbled there yet).
And it sold for $500k 8 years ago.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/13508-Laurelhurst-Rd-Moorpark-CA-93021/16418067_zpid/
Who took that loss? But it shows how housing depreciates.
“Who took that loss?”
Not China.
“Bass Pro Shops could only have happened in America — the home of the free enterprise system that rewards things like hard work, value, innovation and genuine friendly service,” the billionaire said in a hand-written note sent to Bloomberg News. “Being included on your list is not my favorite thing, but then again things could be worse.”
The company disputed its valuation.
“Bass Pro’s financials are and always have been private,” the company said in written responses to questions. “Any valuation of the company by outsiders is nothing more than speculation from people with no first-hand knowledge of Bass Pro Shops.”
Taxpayer Subsidies
Bass Pro’s critics complain about the company’s practice of accepting municipal subsidies to build megastores in their communities, often with the understanding they would create jobs or increase tax revenue.
The Public Accountability Initiative, a Buffalo, New York-based research group, estimated in a 2010 report that Bass Pro-anchored retail projects had won more than $500 million in taxpayer subsidies.
Another watchdog group, the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, based in Alexandria, Virginia, estimated in August 2012 that Bass Pro and its closest competitor, Sidney, Nebraska-based Cabela’s, received or were promised more than $2.2 billion from taxpayers over the prior 15 years.
“Far from being surefire, Disney World-type attractions, Bass Pro stores often fail to spur growth and do not produce outsize economic advantages for the cities that subsidize their arrival,” the Public Accountability Initiative said in its report.
If you want to start a business remember your larger competition has massive advantages in finance, zoning, tax rates, direct cash from states, regulation etc. I wonder how many campaign contributions bass pro makes each year at the local level.
“Stocks rose on Monday as weaker-than-expected factory activity last month supported views that the Federal Reserve will need to keep economic stimulus in place, while gains for Merck & Co lifted drug companies.”
Merck & Co
According to the comment above by non-conformist woolly mammoth, Merck is owned by the “big four”…hmmm
The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever: Conspiracy Theorists Were Right !
Posted by talesfromthelou on May 29, 2013
Politics News | Rolling Stone
The Illuminati were amateurs. The second huge financial scandal of the year reveals the real international conspiracy: There’s no price the big banks can’t fix
Illustration by Victor JuhaszBy Matt Taibbi
April 25, 2013
Conspiracy theorists of the world, believers in the hidden hands of the Rothschilds and the Masons and the Illuminati, we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. The players may be a little different, but your basic premise is correct: The world is a rigged game. We found this out in recent months, when a series of related corruption stories spilled out of the financial sector, suggesting the world’s largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything.
You may have heard of the Libor scandal, in which at least three – and perhaps as many as 16 – of the name-brand too-big-to-fail banks have been manipulating global interest rates, in the process messing around with the prices of upward of $500 trillion (that’s trillion, with a “t”) worth of financial instruments. When that sprawling con burst into public view last year, it was easily the biggest financial scandal in history – MIT professor Andrew Lo even said it “dwarfs by orders of magnitude any financial scam in the history of markets.”
That was bad enough, but now Libor may have a twin brother. Word has leaked out that the London-based firm ICAP, the world’s largest broker of interest-rate swaps, is being investigated by American authorities for behavior that sounds eerily reminiscent of the Libor mess. Regulators are looking into whether or not a small group of brokers at ICAP may have worked with up to 15 of the world’s largest banks to manipulate ISDAfix, a benchmark number used around the world to calculate the prices of interest-rate swaps.
Interest-rate swaps are a tool used by big cities, major corporations and sovereign governments to manage their debt, and the scale of their use is almost unimaginably massive. It’s about a $379 trillion market, meaning that any manipulation would affect a pile of assets about 100 times the size of the United States federal budget.
It should surprise no one that among the players implicated in this scheme to fix the prices of interest-rate swaps are the same megabanks – including Barclays, UBS, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and the Royal Bank of Scotland – that serve on the Libor panel that sets global interest rates. In fact, in recent years many of these banks have already paid multimillion-dollar settlements for anti-competitive manipulation of one form or another (in addition to Libor, some were caught up in an anti-competitive scheme, detailed in Rolling Stone last year, to rig municipal-debt service auctions). Though the jumble of financial acronyms sounds like gibberish to the layperson, the fact that there may now be price-fixing scandals involving both Libor and ISDAfix suggests a single, giant mushrooming conspiracy of collusion and price-fixing hovering under the ostensibly competitive veneer of Wall Street culture.
The Scam Wall Street Learned From the Mafia
Why? Because Libor already affects the prices of interest-rate swaps, making this a manipulation-on-manipulation situation. If the allegations prove to be right, that will mean that swap customers have been paying for two different layers of price-fixing corruption. If you can imagine paying 20 bucks for a crappy PB&J because some evil cabal of agribusiness companies colluded to fix the prices of both peanuts and peanut butter, you come close to grasping the lunacy of financial markets where both interest rates and interest-rate swaps are being manipulated at the same time, often by the same banks.
“It’s a double conspiracy,” says an amazed Michael Greenberger, a former director of the trading and markets division at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and now a professor at the University of Maryland. “It’s the height of criminality.”
The bad news didn’t stop with swaps and interest rates. In March, it also came out that two regulators – the CFTC here in the U.S. and the Madrid-based International Organization of Securities Commissions – were spurred by the Libor revelations to investigate the possibility of collusive manipulation of gold and silver prices. “Given the clubby manipulation efforts we saw in Libor benchmarks, I assume other benchmarks – many other benchmarks – are legit areas of inquiry,” CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton said.
But the biggest shock came out of a federal courtroom at the end of March – though if you follow these matters closely, it may not have been so shocking at all – when a landmark class-action civil lawsuit against the banks for Libor-related offenses was dismissed. In that case, a federal judge accepted the banker-defendants’ incredible argument: If cities and towns and other investors lost money because of Libor manipulation, that was their own fault for ever thinking the banks were competing in the first place.
“A farce,” was one antitrust lawyer’s response to the eyebrow-raising dismissal.
“Incredible,” says Sylvia Sokol, an attorney for Constantine Cannon, a firm that specializes in antitrust cases.
All of these stories collectively pointed to the same thing: These banks, which already possess enormous power just by virtue of their financial holdings – in the United States, the top six banks, many of them the same names you see on the Libor and ISDAfix panels, own assets equivalent to 60 percent of the nation’s GDP – are beginning to realize the awesome possibilities for increased profit and political might that would come with colluding instead of competing. Moreover, it’s increasingly clear that both the criminal justice system and the civil courts may be impotent to stop them, even when they do get caught working together to game the system.
If true, that would leave us living in an era of undisguised, real-world conspiracy, in which the prices of currencies, commodities like gold and silver, even interest rates and the value of money itself, can be and may already have been dictated from above. And those who are doing it can get away with it. Forget the Illuminati – this is the real thing, and it’s no secret. You can stare right at it, anytime you want.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/everything-is-rigged-the-biggest-financial-scandal-yet-20130425#ixzz2UjMBUgFQ
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Asia shares are dropping again overnight. Luckily for Wall Street investors, U.S. stocks always go up.
Latest News
BREAKING
Shanghai Composite drops 0.3% in initial trading
9:30p
Hong Kong H shares lose 0.2% in early moves
9:30p
BREAKING
Hang Seng Index slips 0.1% in opening minutes
9:10p
Japan stocks slide on yen firmness
Fear not. PPT monitors automatically upgraded us to Threat Level Orange on this news.
Hindenburg Omen: Explosive market indicator or just hot air?
June 3, 2013, 1:52 PM
Oh the humanity, Damien! No, the “Hindenburg Omen” isn’t a mid-1970s movie mashup where a pint-sized Antichrist causes a Zeppelin to explode. Rather, it’s a mashup of technical indicators that’s meant to signal a high probability that the stock market will crash and burn.
And the reason it’s been getting so much chatter lately is that the stars have already aligned, just as they did in October 2007.
But exactly what are the signs of the Hindenburg Omen? Well, a series of market breadth indicators need to occur twice within 36 trading days of each other to portend a serious market decline within the next 40 days.
* Both the daily number of 52-week highs and 52-week lows on the New York Stock Exchange are equal or greater than 2.2% of NYSE stocks that day.
* The 10-week (or 50-day) moving average is rising.
* The McClellan Oscillator, a measure of market breadth based on exponential moving averages of advancing and declining stocks, must be negative, or bearish.
* New 52-week highs are not more than twice the number of 52-week lows.
All four of those conditions were met on April 15 and May 29, according to Jonathan Krinsky, chief technical market analyst at Miller Tabak & Co. On April 15, there were 70 new 52-week highs and 77 new 52-week lows, exceeding 2.2% of issues, while on May 29th there were 58 new 52-week highs and 104 new 52-week lows.
“According to Bloomberg, the last ‘confirmed’ omen was in October 2007,” Krinsky wrote in a recent note. “It makes some sense given the dispersion between new 52 week highs and lows. Therefore, it is always good to be aware of it, even if it proves to be nothing more than a silly topic to bring up at your next cocktail party.”
The Hindenburg Omen (HO), however, has garnered a fair amount of savage criticism. While the HO preceded market downturns in 2008 and 1987, critics point out that stock market declines occurred only 25% of the time after conditions of the HO were met.
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Roubini on CNBC: Two more years of QE, positive on Japan
June 3, 2013, 5:56 PM
In an interview on CNBC Monday, Nouriel Roubini, co-founder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics, said he sees two more years of easy money and said the Federal Reserve will need to exit its QE program slowly. He also said he was “reasonably positive” on Japan.
Economic growth is “anemic,” he said on CNBC, adding that the latest economic data suggest that growth is “not going to pick up and inflation actually is falling.”
So the markets are worried about tapering sooner but that is going to occur later and “therefore the market is going to rally,” he said.
Right now there are two forces: the “gravitational forces” of weak economic growth should push down those asset prices but then there’s also the wall of liquidity chasing assets and “the second effect for now is dominant but of course over time it cannot trump those forces of economic fundamentals.”
Essentially, “we’re going to have QE until at least until the middle of next year,” said Roubini, with an announcement of tapering possibly at the end of that year and no change in zero policy rates until the unemployment rate is 6.5% – possibly at the end of next year or maybe the beginning of 2015.
The Federal Reserve will need to exit QE slowly “in a way the market can digest.”
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It sure looks like they may have already started last month. I expect interest rates to lurch up in a period of fits and starts. Once they finally announce a QE3 exit, I expect the market to have already priced it into Treasury yields.
“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years……It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supernational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries.”
― David Rockefeller
Kennedy speech April 27, 1961 Warns us of New World Order …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tql3lrnRC1Q - 205k -
So JFK is a hero/martyr after all?
Are you sure JFK wasn’t talking about communism?
Hi All
Not visited you all in a long time……have given up on California and we are moving to Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia - does anyone local to that area have some good insight into the houses and school districts around Wayne? Or close to there?
We finally plan to buy a house - recommendations?
Thanks
Claire
I have a cousin who gave up on California and resettled to Philly. The story generally had a happy ending, in the sense that she was able to get reestablished in a new locale and never look back.
However, this all played out over a decade ago, so I am sorry to not have any current information to offer.
Actually, come to think of it, I do have one more recent story, through the family grapevine. One of my SIL’s and family moved to Philly in 2009, during the aftermath of the Fall 2008 financial collapse. They followed my advice to avoid purchasing a home. A year later they were moving back home (to Utah) and were able to purchase a family homestead near work (for my SIL’s husband) at a fire-sale price.
Generally speaking, folks who heeded my precautions have come out quite well; those who ignored them got burned.
CREDIT MARKETS
June 2, 2013, 8:26 p.m. ET
Mortgage Investors Get Blindsided
Bonds Backed by Subprime Loans Had $1 Billion of Previously Undisclosed Losses
By AL YOON
Some mortgage investors got an unexpected refresher course on the risks of subprime debt when they received notice of $1 billion of previously undisclosed losses.
The unhappy surprise came with May’s monthly statements on dozens of bonds backed by 75,743 home loans made before the financial crisis to borrowers with less-than-pristine credit. Many of the losses on the $15.2 billion of loans outstanding likely weren’t reported to bondholders for a year or longer.
Behind the sudden losses is a standoff between Wells Fargo (WFC +0.44% & Co.), the nation’s largest mortgage lender, and Ocwen Financial Corp., (OCN +0.49%) the largest servicer of subprime loans, over the treatment of loans subject to a type of modification in which the borrower’s repayment schedule has been extended to reduce the monthly payment.
Both companies play roles in the complicated process of converting monthly mortgage checks into scheduled payments to investors. But so far in this case, neither is accepting responsibility for the errors.
The losses themselves likely aren’t backbreaking for investors in the $1 trillion market for nongovernment mortgage bonds. Like other riskier assets such as high-yield corporate debt, subprime mortgages have rallied since early 2012 as the economic recovery has gained steam and U.S. home prices have begun rising after a sustained decline.
Still, the development stunned analysts and investors, renewing concerns that were common during the subprime meltdown and subsequent financial crisis about the accuracy of financial reporting and the risks of certain assets associated with the housing and mortgage markets.
“It’s highly troubling,” said Michael Canter, head of securitized assets at AllianceBernstein about the surprise losses.
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MARKETS
June 2, 2013, 7:02 p.m. ET
AIG Fights BofA Mortgage Accord
By SHAYNDI RAICE
Bank of America Corp.’s (BAC -0.81%) fight for approval of an $8.5 billion settlement with investors over soured mortgage securities has one giant hurdle in its path: American International Group Inc. (AIG +0.65%)
A hearing in New York State Court kicks off on Monday in which a judge will decide whether to approve the 2011 pact.
A decision could help the Charlotte, N.C., bank put a chunk of its financial-crisis-era litigation behind it.
But insurer AIG has sought in recent weeks to adjourn the proceeding. At the same time, AIG is pushing Bank of America to pay billions of dollars to settle other claims over mortgage-backed-securities losses.
The hearing is part of a broader battle between Bank of America, the nation’s second-largest bank by assets, and AIG over which company should bear the brunt of losses suffered during the financial crisis. AIG says it has $10.5 billion worth of claims against the bank that it hopes to settle, which would help put an end to its own chapter of heavy losses suffered during the financial crisis.
For Bank of America, a settlement could cap a period of costly litigation that has weighed down its stock price for years. The bank has spent nearly $50 billion on legal costs tied to the financial crisis.
Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. analyst Todd Hagerman said the outcome will serve as a “critical litmus test” for Bank of America in seeking to put its troubles tied to its 2008 acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp. behind it.
“An adverse ruling simply extends the shareholder pain tied to [Bank of America's] legal albatross following the recent string of critical legal settlements,” he said.
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Scare mongers say that getting rid of Fanne Mae and Freddie Mac would be “catastrophic.” Another real estate fluffer says they are going “nowhere” because they are making huge profits.
Would End of Fannie, Freddie Be Bad for Housing?
TBWS Daily Show hosts Frank Garay and Brian Stevens on the potential impact on the housing market of ending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Duration 5:03
This is a hilarious interview, especially at the end when Frank and Brian make a mockery over GSE-provided forbearance.
Senators want to move forward with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac reform
By Vicki Needham - 05/18/13 01:10 PM ET
A bipartisan group of senators want to largely eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of an overhaul of the mortgage finance market.
Although legislation isn’t imminent, senators and industry representatives have signaled they are closing in on a broad framework that would wind down and eventually end the government-backed mortgage giants.
While details are still being hashed out, the basic premise is that the government’s role in the housing finance market would be reduced in favor of more private capital during a transition that is expected to take several years.
“Obviously we’re discussing lots of options but I don’t know of anybody that’s working on an option where Fannie and Freddie are what they are today,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told The Hill.
“No one is looking to re-IPO [initial public offering] them or anything else.”
Corker said that talks are ongoing and “there have been a lot of very fruitful discussions”
While reforms of the mortgage industry is far from the forefront of the legislative agenda, there are some indications that it has a pulse.
Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, last week during a hearing said he believed “a bipartisan consensus” was emerging that the status quo for Fannie and Freddie was unacceptable.
“A nationalized housing market with an implicit government guarantee I would argue is not good government,” he said.
If Congress rallies around an approach to at least reduce the government’s role, it would probably squash the efforts of hedge fund investors who are betting that lawmakers will allow Fannie and Freddie to exit conservatorship with a structure similar to their current form and buying up preferred stock issued by the entities before they came under government control during the financial crisis in 2008.
Given Fannie and Freddie’s role in the financial crisis, David Stevens, head of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), characterized those efforts as putting “the wolves back into the pen with the sheep after the slaughter we just went through.”
“It won’t pan out for them,” he told The Hill.
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There is no end in sight yet to the denial over the real costs of the housing-related Fall 2008 financial collapse to the American economy. If anything, efforts to sweep it all under the rug have thus far proven wildly successful.
Even though the policy to turn all American households into homeowner households has been an abysmal failure, unflagging efforts to continue the policy continue.
Government Homeownership Interventions Have Enormous Costs
June 3, 2013
As the five-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the collapse of the mortgage market approaches, Americans are still struggling to cope with the consequences of the Great Recession. More than four million households have lost their homes to foreclosure. Millions of breadwinners are still out of work. Meanwhile, households have seen an estimated $2 trillion in wealth evaporate.
Pundits and politicians have spent nearly five years pointing fingers, but too few have questioned the root cause of the crisis—a deeply held belief that Americans should own their own home and that the government should help make that dream possible.
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