Bits Bucket for July 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
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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https://optin.stopwatching.us/
We’re getting a mostly simplistic version of what the Feds/NSA have been up to. Remember how it’s all to stop terrorists?
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/07/02/come-on-down-to-the-malware-cafe/
‘Now it turns out that much of what Snowden exposed is all about the US ginning up a cyberwar offensive by sniffing out “targets” overseas. Please don’t tell me the NSA is snooping around the European Union’s government computers because they’re out hunting “terrorists.” And what about Japan – are we really supposed to believe the US is all that concerned about Al-Qaeda-in-Nippon, or is something else going on here?’
‘Snowden is generally described in the media as an “IT specialist,” a “computer whiz,” etc., but his actual job title was “infrastructure analyst,” according to the New York Times: “It is a title that officials have carefully avoided mentioning, perhaps for fear of inviting questions about the agency’s aggressive tactics: an infrastructure analyst at the N.S.A., like a burglar casing an apartment building, looks for new ways to break into Internet and telephone traffic around the world.’
‘What the Snowden revelations underscore is an under-appreciated fact that is now staring us all in the face: the US is at war with the world. As the Times put it: “A secret presidential directive on cyberactivities unveiled by Mr. Snowden – discussing the primary new task of the N.S.A. and its military counterpart, Cyber Command – makes clear that when the agency’s technicians probe for vulnerabilities to collect intelligence, they also study foreign communications and computer systems to identify potential targets for a future cyberwar.”
“Infrastructure analysts like Mr. Snowden, in other words, are not just looking for electronic back doors into Chinese computers or Iranian mobile networks to steal secrets. They have a new double purpose: building a target list in case American leaders in a future conflict want to wipe out the computers’ hard drives or shut down the phone system.”
‘They claim it’s all in the interest of protecting us from our enemies – but who is the real “enemy” here when the NSA is busy setting up our allies for cyber-attack, as well as spying on millions of innocent Americans? Which brings us to my so far favorite part of Datagate: how the Brits in cooperation with the NSA spied on diplomats and government officials attending London gatherings of the “Group of 20,” which negotiates key trade agreements. They did this “partly by luring delegates to fake Internet cafes,” as the Times reports.’
‘According to secret NSA documents detailed by the Guardian, these fake Internet cafés were customized to be “able to extract key logging info, providing creds (credentials) for delegates, meaning we have sustained intelligence options against them even after conference has finished.”
‘I wonder how many such Malware Cafes have been set up in the US? How many Washington, DC, Internet cafes are bugged? How about Dearborn, Michigan? Or around the UN building in New York? Is the NSA going to Starbucks and demanding a back door to their WiFi?’
‘For years, anti-interventionists have been warning the American people that Washington is infected with a hubristic virus, one that has driven our rulers mad with a reckless abandon that threatens not only us but the whole world. If this isn’t the proof of it, I don’t know what is.’
Which brings us to my so far favorite part of Datagate: how the Brits in cooperation with the NSA spied on diplomats and government officials attending London gatherings of the “Group of 20,”
Player #2 in the Triaxis.
Player #2 in the Triaxis.
Perhaps we’re #2 :-).
Reminds me of the old tv series “the prisoner”
who is number 1?
“thats easy for you to say. You’re Mr. White, you got a cool name”
Call me Heisenberg.
Cop pulls Heisenberg over for speeding.
“Do you know you were doing 100 miles an hour?”
“Great”, says Heisenberg. “Now I’m frikkin’ lost.”
Housing Analyst
What part of the country are you in?
Baltimore.
Wow! So close to Orange County, CA that you have your finger on the pulse. Not.
I paid off our house at age 53, when I retired early, without a pension or SS. Sadly, you’ll never experience that joy.
You. Sir, are an ignorant ass. And maybe a R/E Troll?
Thank you, Robin.
I’m in east Ventura County, and Housing Analyst has been VERY nasty to me. We own a paid off home as well.In So Ca, that’s something to be proud of.
It feels great not to write that check!
Glaucoma changed our lives.
5 surgeries later, all is stable.
Math works different in Orange County?
Ditto, Robin, inch. Having a house to call home and owing no mortgage on it is right up there with remembering the first time your baby ever smiled at you.
These poor guys can’t even begin to know how good that feels….
LOLZ
And we’re supposed to put all of our sensitive data into the amorphous “cloud”. I’m sure that foreign businesses and government agencies are not all that keen on entrusting their precious data to USA based IT firms and their “clouds”.
the nobel peace prizing winning president?
get out of town!
Or at least get out of Ireland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_-Ie6JQquM#at=220
Wow. I wish she’d stop beating around the bush and tell us how she REALLY feels about Obama.
Erin Go Bragh
Erin go “Bleech!”
‘What the Snowden revelations underscore is an under-appreciated fact that is now staring us all in the face: the US is at war with the world.’
It almost sounds as though Uncle Sam is gripped with paranoia.
What exactly shoud one do when under the power of control freaks?
StopTorturingYourselfByPayingAttentionToMyBoringPrivateLife.com
Remember, Boys and Girls: Interest rates go up and interest rates go down and a mortgage can always be refinanced throughout the life of the loan. But accepting a sh!tty price is forever…
It ain’t necessarily so.
http://www.youwalkaway.com/
Neighbor is a buy and bail.
Bought this home FHA 3.5% down.
Remodeled on $ from skipping
the former house pymts and a current refi.
Brand new high end BMW in the driveway this AM. And stupid us, we’re honest, no debt, w/
some reserves… (older paid off cars)
This cheap money is like heroin to some.
Party on!
“we’re honest”
LOLZ
You’re a donkey who paid a massively inflated amount for a dump and threw good money after bad after that.
Recently i was browsing channels on my car radio and I somehow tuned to a right wing radio station.Although I normally just listen to music in car, but the station that I tunded to was so crazy about obama and government conspiracy that I now always listen to that station when alone in my car
They talk about low information voters among other things and what is ironic is that the listners (believers) of these stations are the low information voters (I listen to to the station just for entertainment and remind me that how much crazy these folks are)
Aren’t you grand?
You were listening to Rush Limbaugh and you sir are a low information voter(i.e. liberal with their head stuck in the sand).
No Sir
I am not liberal. I base my vote and opinion on what I think is right and do not let crazy people decide what my opinion should be.
Why do liberals never want to admit they’re liberals?
Because there comes a point when the gnats become bothersome?
I think George Carlin can settle this.
Barack Hussein Obama
think about it. that’s the same middle name as the last name of the iranian dictator who baked yellow cakes and threatened our friend and ally israel and flew his planes into world trade centers because they hate our freedoms and have to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here
are you crazy and absolutely no idea about the world except you subscribe to low information of fox. There is 0% link between Iraq and 9/11. and why is Israel “our”friend? They may be your friend but not others. Israel is the most oppressive regime in the world.
goon, that was simply masterful comedic genius, as evidenced by the response. You should frame that conversation on an important wall. Well done, sir.
That one was pretty good, but he can do longer ones and not lose the quality even while extending the quantity. Some day we should do a contest for the rest of us to write posts in the style of goon squad. Like they do for Hemingway. (In the rain.)
Oh I agree polly, one of my favorites was where he just wrote Obama like 200 times and then put some other words in it like socialism and muslim and kenya. The thing that put this most recent one over the top was getting an actual rebuttal.
“Israel is the most oppressive regime in the world.”
Certainly not the most oppressive, but our near blind support of extensive financial aid and modern military resources has definitely emboldened them to commit numerous shameful atrocities over the decades.
Lemme guess RMS, you are a Ron Paul fan?
Lemme guess RMS, you are a Ron Paul fan?
-1 No. Sorry to disappoint you.
Ya it’s funny how when someone like Saddam murders his own people it’s our duty to send in the troops, but when Isreal murders their own people. Remember - they don’t recognize Palestine as a separate state, therefore the Palestinians are just as much “Israel’s own people” as the Kurds were “Saddam’s own people.”
Cognitive dissonance much?
“but when Isreal murders their own people.” should read “but when Isreal murders their own people it’s somehow ok.”
Let me guess, Smithers, you are Zionist?
Good one Goon…Don’t forget the Balsa-wood drones that they were going to fly across the oceans to drop WMD’s on us…
And the forced Sharia law gay marriages.
I know right. The idea that there would be Sharia law in N. America is just right wing crazy talk. It can never happen. Even the idea of it happening is nuts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2008/feb/08/sharialawincanadaalmost
“The introduction of sharia law in Ontario, Canada, was effectively recommended by a 2004 report which prompted debate and street protests, both for and against its findings.
The act was an attempt to deal with a backlog of court cases. It enabled groups to use the guiding principles of their faith to help settle disputes over divorce, inheritance and custody. In 2003, the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice said it intended to establish similar tribunals for the 400,000 Muslims who live in Ontario.”
Smithers,
In Colorado/goon didn’t say “Sharia Law in N. America”, they said “Forced Sharia law gay marriages”. There’s a pretty significant difference between the two, right?
Also, it’s a pretty far cry from Sharia law. In reality it’s voluntary arbitration in a cultural context that both parties agree to, just like they currently allow for Catholics and Jews.
That said, the guy further down the article does have a point about women being at a disadvantage in this situation. As far as I can tell, both parties still have the option of demanding their case be handled by the regular court system.
Personally, I’ll take the court systems over the sky wizard and his talking snake any day.
Nice troll btw - extra points for catching people.
CSPAN call-ins for the housebound. AND they solicit hack jobs of ALL ideologies. The moderators are so preternaturally even-handed one suspects they’re on drug regimens.
Murken ignorance at its finest.
My wife was staying with her folks and she was remarking how Rachel Maddow was on the TV pretty much as often as possible.
I would put them also in the low information voter camp.
And that forever is a lifetime.
No it’s not. That “forever” is actually 30 years. 23 years if you make an extra payment each year.
At this point, some people have been waiting “forever” for these supposedly sh!tty prices to drop, and paying rent every month while waiting. Each situation is different.
Paying off a mortgage is for loosers.
One HBB poster pulled some equity last week to buy a new car and said he was enjoying steaks and fine wines while the rest of us eat Big Macs.
Which HBB poster took a home equity loan? Is this flame or did I miss something? (If flame, kudos, because it did stir some rage from within.)
I have a mortgage, very oppressive @ 11% of net inc.
Last night’s dinner was three really good courses at La Tavola in Little Italy.
The one who said he understood the game.
Who in reality knows very little to nothing.
A friend took out aaall the equity in her home in 2006 to go on European vacations, buy steaks and drink wine. Now she is looking at spending her “golden years” living in low income senior housing. Makes you proud to be a Murkin, don’t it?
“Which HBB poster took a home equity loan?”
azdude, I believe, but I read it as a joke in an attempt to get HA going.
30 years is a lifetime of wages thrown at an asset that always depreciates resulting in irrecoverable losses.
“If you have to borrow for 30 years, it’s not affordable nor can you afford it.”
To summarize:
Paying for 30 years then being finished (buying) = unaffordable.
Paying forever until you die (renting) = affordable
You always say the bubble started in 1998, those waiting since then to buy could have been halfway done already. How much longer should they wait? Another 15 years, at which point they would have been completely done?
And hello from across the country.
Let me help you out with some truth seeing as you’re truth challenged.
Paying an inflated price for a depreciating asset when the price is doubled as a result of interest because it’s unaffordable in the first place=massive loss.
Paying a fraction of that monthly amount (taking an option) while banking the rest=massive gains
You debt donkeys and sneaker wearing fools don’t have any idea the value of a dollar. That’s why you’re all broke and drowning in a lifetime of debt.
Smarten up.
“Each situation is different…”
Yes.
If one rents modestly it is possible to accumulate the cash to buy a place without debt in 1/3 that time.
Modesty varies.
that’s our plan.
the hbb posters who live on the bubble coasts love to paint themselves as ‘victims’ of their eeevil landlords who keep raising their rents, which ‘forced’ them to buy.
living on bubble coasts is a choice, not a requirement.
’so much cash, gotta keep it in hefty bags’ - ice t, new jack hustler
So what about “the coasts”?
Prices are falling in NY, CT, RI, ME, DE, NJ, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, WA and OR.
If one rents modestly it is possible to accumulate the cash to buy a place without debt in 1/3 that time.
Nope. Tried it, calculated it. It didn’t work out.
You didn’t try anything. You couldn’t say no and got suckered.
You know I’m not in HA’s camp, oxide, but weren’t you renting a three bedroom townhouse? That isn’t renting modestly for a single person. That is renting housing specifically built for families with two earners. Now, if you prefer to have lots of rooms, that is a choice you are welcome to make, but it isn’t the same as “living modestly” when you are just one person.
Even I know that am not renting “modestly” since I live in an absurdly high end neighborhood with a very large apartment in a full service building and a very short walk to the metro.
Housing - what part of the country are you in?
“weren’t you renting a three bedroom townhouse? That isn’t renting modestly for a single person. That is renting housing specifically built for families with two earners.”
First house I bought was 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2400 sq ft and had a pool. I was single at the time. Where is the law that says single people have to live in a studio or 1 bedroom apartment?
And who stated there is a law Slithers?
Ya know…… Stucco is right. You are the king of strawmen.
Polly, I did my comparison with rough numbers from 2000 - 2009, when I lived in one-bedroom apartments. I lived very frugally and still was able to save barely enough for an Oil City house.
I didn’t use the numbers from the three-bed townhome. I rented a 3-bed townhome as a test. I knew I wanted to buy an SFH, and most SFH are 3-bed. So I rented something similar in size to make sure I was able to take care of a sizable dwelling, before I spent oodles of money.
And you’re underwater…. and sinking.
Your point?
Larry! Larry Yun! Is that you?
I paid off my mortgage fifteen years ago, HA. How long have you been paying rent?
Recently I saw one post from some right winger who said he was paying around $500/month for health insurance for private insurance for his family. I think he is either crazy or works for right wing propaganda machine or is low information person.
I work for one of the biggest health insurance company and I pay $500/month (family of 4) for my contribution for medical and dental and company pays $1000/month. So the premium month for private would be around $1500/month
Health care = 18% of USA GDP
That’s “American Exceptionalism”, we’re number one!
USA! USA! USA!
Health care is the #2 scam going in America….#1 is the Pentagon…
Know your meme.
Government employees are worthless wastes of space and oxygen just counting down the seconds until they can retire at age 33 with $650,000 annual pensions and unlimited free breadsticks and salad at Olive Garden for life.
Government contractors are the Invisible Hand of the Free Market. Government contractors are the American Dream. Government contractors are Hog Butcher for the World. Government contractors are Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat. Government contractors are Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler. Government contractors are Stormy, husky, brawling. Government contractors are City of the Big Shoulders.
OK, now you are just showing off.
Let him show off. That’s all he’s got.
Government contractors are hiding in Russia so they don’t get taken out..
Who watches the watchers ?
The tinfoil brigade of HBB?
drop that to 0% and all that disposable income goes to buy chinese crap…increasing the trade deficit and craashing GDP.
our economy is health, education, finance, insurance and real estate.
that’s why the skyrocketing prices for all of the above must be propped up.
Michael
I so totally and respectfully disagree with you.
The USA economy is one of the best mixed economies in the world. It has a great mix of farming, fishing, mining, energy, government, manufacturing, education, finance, construction - but best of all it is the best in the world at Yankee Ingenuity = the best at innovation.
Your economy and markets are so strong they give innovative freedoms to your experienced, well capitalized, entrepreneurs. We in Canada envy you, and we are no slouches at this either.
The problem with the way the US economy is managed is your real problem. You have a fantastic market but you let the world have easy access so that your multinationals can swing freely around the world. Only they can’t. Try swinging freely in Latin America, Japan, etc.
Until both Canada and the USA decide to enforce free market access in both directions the rest of the world will eat our lunches.
I was paying 800 for my wife and I, befor she got insurance through work.
You gotta get on the Right-Winger Health Insurance Plan. They have cheap full-coverage from friendly, helpful companies for less than $100 a month for individuals, less than $200 a month for a family of four.
The catch? Only right-wingers are able to find this coverage at this price.
I lean to the right. I should at least get a discount.
It’s probably a plan with a $10,000 deductible.
I know, just for kicks I’ve asked for quotes for private, non group HD plans (with a $1500 deductible) for a family and received quotes of $1000+ per month.
Smithers said that he’s had surgery. If that is true he’s already considered “high risk” and would pay even more for his insurance. This is why so many people stick with an employer, as their past history and pre-existing conditions make non-group insurance prohibitively expensive.
You have to take what he and 2Banana say with a grain of salt (or maybe a whole canister) as they are known for deliberately providing misinformation.
Or as I like to put it, “Please don’t feed the troll(s).”
“$500/month for health insurance for private insurance for his family”
This may be possible for a high deductible plan. If your family is young and healthy, it is a reasonable gamble to offload the expensive risk to an insurance company and pay out of pocket for routine medical care.
When I did this, the insurance company paid about a quarter of the retail price of emergency/hospital care and I paid about a quarter. Over the years that I did this, the insurance company paid out more than I paid in due to some expensive care that my husband needed. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best that I could afford.
For some reason, the deductible on my homeowner’s insurance is all of $1,000. Yet State Farm manages to stay in business.
Why are health insurance deductibles so sky-high?
Because it is more likely you will need to use your health insurance than your homeowners insurance.
My State Farm agent recently advised us to raise the deductible on our homeowners ins. from $1000 to $5000. Haven’t done it yet. The insurance is already pretty inexpensive.
Mine’s less than 500 bucks a year. So, I think I’ll keep my $1k deductible.
As for health insurance? It doesn’t work. It’s not insuring against infrequent events like house fires. Everyone gets sick, after all.
A lot of people would be better off if fees for routine medical care were, you know, reasonable, and they could purchase coverage for catastrophic illness/accidents. But that will never happen.
We had catastrophic health ins (private plan) and when I had a claim (at no fault of my own) it was a huge fight to get the claim paid. It sounds good, but it doesn’t work. It is a great revenue stream and BS line. I have met others who had the same experience.
The cheap payout is preventive and minor care. The big ticket items are catastrophic to their bottom line. Why would the premium be affordable?
My deadly intestinal bacteria issue was a $22K ER episode. That’s not a high priced catastrophic event, and all hell broke out. I can’t imagine a claim in the 100K range or higher. An Attorney coached me, and they paid. IIRC, my out of pocket was $2K.
(fast food/hand washing was the docs suspicion.)
“…Why are health insurance deductibles so sky-high?”
The USG doesn’t (directly) subsidize homeowners’ insurance?
This may be possible for a high deductible plan.
It would have to be VERY high deductible. I have asked for quotes on conventional HD plans and the premiums are $1000+ for a family. Bump that deductible to $5000 or higher and the typical family won’t get a penny back, except for “preventive” care which is exempt from the deductible. So on top of paying $400-500 a month for the insurance they get to pay for every non-preventive office visit and for every prescription. Or they do the American thing, and just “tough it out” when they get sick. Might as well, most go to work when they’re sick.
“Recently I saw one post from some right winger who said he was paying around $500/month for health insurance for private insurance for his family. I think he is either crazy or works for right wing propaganda machine or is low information person.”
Good Morning Comrade, recruiting for the Obamacare Maoist agent army today are we? Sorry those of us with free minds don’t want to follow the false prophet of central planning and the nanny state. Things would be much easier for the authoritarians if we would just play ball…right?
Sorry those of us with free minds don’t want to follow the false prophet of central planning and the nanny state.
Correct, we prefer to pay twice as much or more for our healthcare than those damn commies.
You willingly give up so much for so little.
Balderdash, our current for profit system is an unmitigated disaster. It is by far the most expensive and inefficient system in the world and we still have millions who have no access to healthcare, who do not seek healthcare for economic reasons. And the price tag continues to skyrocket.
+1 Colorado….I was getting absolutely Raped for heath coverage until I bumped my deductible up to $4,000. each…Still paying $1100…Was paying $2560…
It blows my mind that anyone would defend our dysfunctional healthcare system. The way things are going eventually NO ONE will be able to afford insurance, and when that time comes the entire system will collapse. That of course is when we will collectively be dragged, kicking and screaming, into socialized health care.
As long as you guys are happy I guess the ends justify the means, the hell with the rest of us. Keep bringing in millions of poor mexicans and eurotrash to vote for socialism, it’s your world the rest of us are just living in it. You were not born into the country you are attempting to create, you owe it to those that came before you to protect our system and protect liberty, stop being so selfish.
By the way, the so called “successful” models for socialism and single payer health care had the benefit of de facto military support from the USA. They got to spend their money on infrastructure and grand socialist schemes while we rebuilt post WWII europe and japan and won the cold war. Your schemes will not work in this environment, the system will collapse…period.
Also, let’s not forget we are turning over voluminous amounts of information to the authorities, do you think that information will ever be used against you? Do you? Or do you not care as long as we fundamentally change the United States of America to please our false prophet in chief and make sure you don’t have to pay your own way?
Smithers has a $10,000 deductible or some such absurdity (which, after the company finishes with “reasonable and customaries” “medically necessary” and “your policy does not provide for”s, will end up being $30K. Per year of an ongoing illness. Per person.
Oh, and did I mention that when that deductible is satisfied it will only cover 50% (if that) of what the company deems reasonable and necessary and medically indicated? Then there is the cost of medication — which I’m betting isn’t covered. And dental. And optical.
One family car accident, one mutant virus, and he’s easily looking at 100K+/per year out of pocket– all while there’s no consulting money coming in. Oops.
But let him stew in his blissful ignorance. He’ll learn.
Allena, why would it be $100K “per year?”
Four people get in a car wreck. Let’s say two are burned and one suffers permanent brain injury. Another loses an arm. Any one of these injuries would cost the insured the maximum deduction each year of a multi-year recovery.
Keep in mind that the deductible is only fulfilled after all the insurance caveats have been fulfilled. So maybe that $10,000 surgery only gets allotted a $2,000 “reasonable and customary” reimbursement. He’s already out 8K and still only has satisfied 2K of his 10K deductible. Multiply that by six surgeries and four people. Then multiply that by the 50% the company reimburses after it’s satisfied…
Dismissing a reality check as ignorance is ignorant. “Decision” has nothing to do with it.
With all due respect….;-)
I’m sorry oxy. The deductible applies to EACH person on the policy each year.
Also, “ignorant” comment should have gone below.
Dismissing opposing viewpoints as ignorance can be a sign of a closed mind. Have you already made your decision so the “right choice” is no longer open to debate?
When it comes to navigating the health insurance system, I’ll take Allena’s post over anyone else.
I actually pay $430 a month.
Go to ehealthinsurance.com and see for yourself. You can get coverage for under $500 for a family of 4. Well until next year when you know what happens….
And since I am self employed that $430 is really about $300 taking into account the tax destructibility.
The plan is an HSA plan. I contribute $6400 a year to the HSA which nets me a tax savings of $1750 roughly.
Thanks to Obamacare HSAs will be a thing of the past. And my $430 premium will rise to a minimum of $675 according to the Obamacare calculator.
But doesn’t the HSA savings part have to be added to the monthly premium to get the real cost of your insurance? You basically have a high deductible policy where you have to fund the deductible part up front. Not saying this is a bad thing, but it is part of your annual health care cost.
“But doesn’t the HSA savings part have to be added to the monthly premium to get the real cost of your insurance? You basically have a high deductible policy where you have to fund the deductible part up front. Not saying this is a bad thing, but it is part of your annual health care cost.”
No. HSA is a savings account. If it’s needed, it’s used. If it’s not needed it just sits there. It has no expiration date, so I don’t have to use it in the same year I make the contribution. And it can be used for anything medical related…doctor visits, medication, glasses, contacts, dentist visits, you name it.
Mr. Smithers
Remember, you don’t know the quality of your coverage your paying for, until you need it. Paying a cheaper premium means nothing. We tried that experiment and it failed. I hope you never find out.
No, I do know the quality. You see insurance policies have to disclose what they cover and what they don’t cover upfront. I signed a contract and I know very well what is covered and isn’t. And yes some things are NOT covered like chiropractic services or drug rehab. Which is fine by me since I’m not an addict, I would never go to a chiropractor.
Now when Obamacare kicks in, I will be forced to buy a “comprehensive” plan that covers drug abuse programs and chiropractors and every other service I neither want nor need.
And for that privilege of getting things I don’t want or need, I will pay anywhere from 60-100% more in premiums. And the real fun part is an illegal that just came over the border yesterday, will get amnesty and will have the exact same plan for free since they are “low income”.
VIVA OBAMA!!
SI SE PUEDE!!
Mr. Smithers
I thought that to, and I read the legal stuff, but things in the grey were the wiggle worm. I wish you all good health.
I’m a political atheist. I wish the reform was a real reform. Our health system is fubar and is going to get worse.
Glad I didn’t vote.
Everyone (even HA)
Happy 4th! Brilliant Founding Fathers.
Is Wall Street still decoupled from other nations’ stock markets?
New York Markets Open in: 1:19:26
Pre-Market Indications | Analyst Ratings
Futures: S&P 500 -0.5% DOW -0.5% NASDAQ -0.5%
Wall Street rattled by crises in Europe, Egypt
• Gut checks: Weighing greed and despair
European Markets Slump on Political Crises
Luke MacGregor/Reuters
Britain’s benchmark equity index fell on Wednesday.
By DAVID JOLLY
Published: July 3, 2013
PARIS — Global stocks fell and oil rose above $100 a barrel on Wednesday, as concern about the political crises in Egypt and Portugal added to traders’ growing grab-bag of anxieties.
Egypt was at the center of geopolitical concern after President Mohamed Morsi on Tuesday night defied an army ultimatum that he resign, raising the risk that the country would descend into bloodshed and chaos.
“Egypt’s not a major oil producer compared with Libya next door,” said Damian Kennaby, director of research for oil market services at IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates in London. “But there’s a whole of ‘what if’ going on right now, and that’s being built into the oil price.” Egypt produced 728,000 barrels of oil per day on average last year, while Libya produced about 1.5 million, according to figures from BP.
In afternoon trading, American crude oil for August delivery was trading at $100.93 a barrel in Europe, up 1.3 percent, its first time above $100 in nine months.
The Euro Stoxx 50 of euro zone blue chips was down 2 percent. In London, the FTSE 100 index fell 1.6 percent, and trading in Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index futures pointed to a decline at the opening bell on Wall Street.
In a worrying reminder that the euro zone crisis is not over, Portuguese stocks slumped, and the price of Portuguese 10-year government bonds also fell, pushing the yield past 8 percent, its first time at that level since last November.
…
The New Europe
Portugal may re-ignite Europe crisis
By Mark Thompson @MarkThompsonCNN July 3, 2013: 8:07 AM ET
Portugal’s political crisis is contributing to new concern about Europe’s economic stability.
LONDON (CNNMoney)
Political turmoil in Portugal is threatening to re-ignite Europe’s debt crisis after a year of relative calm.
Having won praise for taking tough measures to restore the financial health of the eurozone state, Portugal’s government has been rocked this week by the resignation of two ministers who quit because of waning public support for its program of austerity.
Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has refused to accept the resignation of his foreign minister, who heads a junior partner in the center-right coalition. But anxious investors sold stocks and bonds heavily Wednesday on fears that the government may collapse.
Portuguese media said two other ministers could follow their party leader in tendering their resignation Wednesday. New elections could delay economic reforms and prolong Portugal’s dependence on bailout funds.
Yields on its 10-year government bonds surged above 7% for the first time this year and at one stage hit 8%. Shares on the country’s benchmark stock index fell by about 5.5%, with banks particularly hard hit. Major European stock markets and government bonds in other peripheral eurozone states also suffered losses.
“We think the risk is that the combination of such higher yields and political uncertainty reduces the prospect of Portugal regaining full market access in the next year, and hence leads to expectations of a new ‘full’ [bailout] program being required,” noted Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a research report.
Related: Greece shuts state broadcaster in austerity push
…
China slowdown, Portugal tensions spook markets
By Marc Jones
LONDON | Wed Jul 3, 2013 3:53am EDT
(Reuters) - World shares pulled back on Wednesday as signs of slowing Chinese growth and escalating political tensions in Portugal, one of the euro zone’s crisis hot-spots, spooked investors.
European shares .FTEU3 opened down 1.2 percent and euro zone periphery bonds tumbled after two high profile government resignations in two days threatened to plunge Portugal into a political crisis.
Portugal’s bond yields surged more than 1 percentage point to 8 percent. Spanish, Italian yields jumped too while nervousness over the state of Greece’s next tranche of bail-out money also caused jitters.
“With disorder and uncertainty over the political situation in Egypt threatening stability in the Middle East, and a Greek deadline looming to prove it can action its bail-out conditions before receiving the next tranche of aid, volatility is likely to be high,” Mark Ward, head of trading at Sanlam Securities, said.
It came after Asian stock markets had dropped overnight as official figures showed that growth in China’s services sector sagged to its weakest pace in nine months in June, adding to signs of a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.
The U.S. dollar hit a one-month high against a basket of major currencies, staying firm after a recent string of generally solid U.S. economic data supported the view that the Federal Reserve could scale back its monetary stimulus later this year.
…
Investors panicked by Eurozone politics, China slowdown
Portuguese political crisis, bailout concerns in Greece, weak Chinese data and US stimulus questions knock 100 points off FTSE.
by Chris Marshall on Jul 03, 2013 at 09:58
Investors chugged back a toxic cocktail of Chinese economic concerns, eurozone political angst and QE stimulus uncertainty, and spat back out world shares, at the cost of a near 100 point loss from the FTSE 100.
The FTSE’s 1.5% fall to 6,206 was however paled by a 6.4% tumble in Portuguese equities, with banks suffering the most. Portuguese, Spanish and Italian 10 year bond yields also rose sharply – past 8% in Portugal’s case – while the euro fell 0.2% to $1.2953.
In Portugal, a full-blown political crisis threatens to derail the country’s economic progress after both finance minister Vitor Gaspar and foreign minister Paulo Portas quit amid public opposition to austerity measures.
‘The fallout from Portugal going rogue and rejecting the Troika medicine could spread far beyond its border,’ warned analysts at Gavekal. But, ‘while events could easily spiral, the reason to bet against a further bout of eurozone panic is that Merkel will do her best to delay that question being asked.’
…
By Constantine von Hoffman /
MoneyWatch/ July 2, 2013, 12:52 PM
Is China slowdown government policy or impending crash?
Visitors on a tour of the Baosteel steel mill, Shanghai / PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images
(MoneyWatch) Is China’s economic slowdown the result of Premier Xi Jinping’s efforts to reform the economy or the sign of a crash in the making?
On Monday China’s purchasing managers’ index registered its sharpest fall of the year, declining to a nine-month low of 48.2 in June. Anything below 50 on the index means that Chinese factory output is contracting. The primary reason for the slowdown is the government’s move to a tighter currency policy. This is part of Premier Xi’s plan to rein in GDP expansion in order to get the nation on a path of slower, more sustainable growth.
“Falling orders and rising inventories added pressure to Chinese manufacturers in June,” Hongbin Qu, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC, said in a statement. “And the recent cash crunch in the interbank market is likely to slow expansion of off-balance sheet lending, further exacerbating funding conditions for SMEs [small and medium enterprises]. As Beijing refrains from using stimulus, the ongoing growth slowdown is likely to continue in the coming months.”
…
Stop saying “China Slowdown”!! The filthy-rich Chinese investors are all that stand between us and Houseageddon!! If Housing Dementia 2.0 pops like the last time, wherever will I go?!? Whatever will I do?!? I have always depended upon the blindness of Greater Fools!! (Yes, I’m sorta mixing metaphors.)
(Yes, I’m sorta mixing metaphors.)
Metaphor Mash ups?
Can we rest assured that gold’s June gloom is over now?
July 2, 2013, 2:29 p.m. EDT
Gold futures log first loss in three sessions
By Myra P. Saefong and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures finished lower on Tuesday, pulling back from a nearly 4% climb over the past two trading sessions, as U.S. factory orders for May came in better than expected.
Gold for August delivery fell $12.30, or 1%, to settle at $1,243.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Prices had lost more ground after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that factory orders climbed 2.1% in May. That compared with a rise of 1.9% expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch.
With the U.S. Independence Day holiday on Thursday and the much-anticipated jobs report due out Friday, “it is difficult to say whether gold has resumed its downward trajectory,” said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at GFT Markets.
But with prices having turned lower even before reaching the $1,270/1,275 resistance area, that shows “there’s not much conviction from the buyers,” he said.
Gold on Monday climbed 2.6% after a 1% Friday gain.
A ‘torrid’ time
Prices slid 23% during the April-June period, according to FactSet data, marking the worst quarterly decline since modern trading began in the mid-1970s.
“Gold investors had a torrid time in June, but such price action isn’t unprecedented,” said Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault.
“We think it offers a long-term bargain, but either way history says it’s very likely to offer a strong short-term rally at least,” he said in emailed comments.
Improvement in the U.S. economy — leading to speculation of a slower pace of monetary stimulus, gains for the U.S. dollar and a sudden spike in U.S. bond yields — each played roles in gold’s recent price plunge, analysts have said.
While “we came into the year with a view that investors should maintain a benchmark weight to gold, we would now suggest trimming that position,” BlackRock’s global chief investment strategist Russ Koesterich told clients Monday in a review of its 2013 calls.
“As we’ve seen in recent weeks, with real (inflation-adjusted) interest rates rising, gold is particularly vulnerable,” he wrote, with real interest rates referring to the return on bonds minus inflation.
Barclays on Monday cut its gold-price forecast for this year to $1,393 an ounce, down from its previous outlook of $1,483 an ounce. Analysts there said additional weakness for gold prices came later in the second quarter than they had expected.
Investors have had it pretty good lately, with the Federal Reserve underpinning the stock market’s gains. But the markets will soon be harder to play.
Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and HSBC are among the other banks that have recently downgraded their 2013 price projections for the precious metal.
…
Just my gut feeling that the June gloom will continue through August 31, but will reverse big time after that. I intend to buy more GDXJ in early October after selling another large qty of my former staffing company’s stock. My motto of course is to cash in on the biggest gains and buy the biggest “loosers!”
Enjoying the July gloom of the South Bay - keeping cool. Going home to Phoenix for the weekend and Saturday’s forecast is 104, which I can handle easily. It sure won’t be 119!
I’m pretty sure that poster was getting low, first year “teaser” rates. Can you find out if that is an industry standard? I belive he lives in Washington State. Can you find out if they have consumer protections that aren’t available in most other states? I believe he is 40. Too young for most chronic conditions to appear. My guess is the injuries he recieved treatment for fall into the realm of “accidents” and aren’t considered preexisting conditions.
They are now.
Have spiraling mortgage rates thus far had any discernible effect on the U.S. housing market?
July 3, 2013, 7:38 a.m. EDT
U.S. mortgage applications down 12% last week: MBA
By Nathalie Tadena
The total number of mortgage applications filed in the U.S. last week fell 12% from the prior week as interest rates jumped to their highest level in two years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.
The refinance index decreased 16% for the week ended June 28 from the previous week, according to the weekly survey covering more than three-quarters of all U.S. residential-mortgage applications. MBA also reported the seasonally adjusted purchasing index slipped 3% from a week earlier.
Interest rates have increased in recent weeks amid stronger economic data, curbing some individuals’ appetite to buy a new home. Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics, said fewer homeowners have an incentive to refinance at the current interest rates. Refinance-application volume dropped more than 15% last week.
…
Nope. Housing in US runs on hot air provided by our policy makers.
Its a new paradigm. Its different here. Etc.
BREAKING NEWS ADP Says Companies in U.S. Added 188,000 in June
Mortgage Bonds Drop Up to 22% in June as Some 2013 Gains Erased
By Jody Shenn - Jul 1, 2013 1:23 PM ET
U.S. home-loan bonds without government backing tumbled last month to leave several types of the debt trading at their lowest prices of the year.
Declines reached almost 22 percent in June among certain subprime-mortgage securities, according to a June 28 report by Bank of America Corp. While returns remain positive this year among subprime-backed bonds, including gains of 12.5 percent for those notes, losses in 2013 for other non-agency securities are as high as 4 percent and bonds tied to mortgages known as prime-jumbo and Alt-A loans now trade below values at the end of last year, according to the report and data from Barclays Plc.
The debt is slumping, after soaring earlier this year, as concern that the Federal Reserve will curb its bond buying roils credit markets and boosts interest rates. Investors are also finding trading more difficult after an $8.7 billion sale of holdings by Lloyds Banking Group Plc in May that was the largest of its type since at least 2010 bloated dealer inventories.
“The non-agency market is likely to remain volatile over the near term,” New York-based Barclays analysts including Sandeep Bordia and Jasraj Vaidya wrote in a June 28 report. “We believe that current prices represent attractive entry points for investors with long-term capital, who are able to take some mark-to-market volatility.”
…
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
Don’t Be A Debt Donkey®
Being a debt pony is ok.
–pw
Debt can turn a youthful pony into a wizened old donkey.
Ooooph! And look at that- the sharpest drop in mortgage apps since 2010. Wow. THATS going to leave a mark… And just when the banks started releasing more inventory and the biggest ‘hedgies got out of the RE flipping game… Huh… Oh well, it looks like there will be even MORE houses out there for the wannabe RE moguls to flip back and forth to one another! Snap ‘em up, Boys!! Snap ‘em up…
http://www.zerohedge.com/node/475997
Do you know what a “refinance” is? Hint: it doesn’t involve Mayflower trucks.
Junkie……. purchase apps fell.
…..Push the needle in….
Wow. Having only owned 3 houses in the past, I did not know that. Thank you, oh Buddha, for your perfect wisdom… So you are saying that drop in apps was solely due to re-fi’s? If not all, then how many? What percentage? Don’t know? Just talking out of our tooter, are we? Vigorously defending a concept that we have a vested interest in? Whistling through the graveyard, perhaps? You know, for someone who is unconcerned with housing prices since you have already purchased one, you seem VERY concerned with housing prices. Why is that?
The drop is mostly in refinances. Also a slight drop in purchase applications, although they are still way above last year.
“The Mortgage Bankers Association index of refinance applications declined 15.6 percent in the week ended June 28 to the lowest level since July 2011, the Washington-based trade group said today. The gauge for purchase applications fell 3.1 percent, while remaining 12 percent higher than a year ago.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-07-03/mortgage-rates-for-30-year-u-dot-s-dot-loans-drop-from-a-two-year-high
“Also a slight drop in purchase applications, although they are still way above last year.”
“…The gauge for purchase applications fell 3.1 percent, while remaining 12 percent higher than a year ago.”
Wait a minute- 12% above last year?! Oh, hell-YES! That is HUGE! Oh yeah! Look at the morbid double-digit inflation of bubble prices in the last year compared to the trillions of $$ thrown into the economy to prop up the housing market and it is easy to see that this ‘housing recovery’ is obviously sustainable AND organic! This thing has ‘WIN’ written all over it. I think that this is definitely the time for RE fans to double-down on purchases and show their true support for housing everywhere. C’mon kids, what do you say?
Your outburst doesn’t change that the drop in mortgage apps was generally due to drops in refis. Save your bile for zerohedge, who I am sure knew full well where the drop in apps came from, but chose to write up some poutrage for his blog anyway.
And besides, a drop in mortgage apps isn’t that great of an indicator. It could be due to a drop in refis. It could be due to a drop in available inventory. It could be due to a rise in cash buys.
Purchase apps fell. that’s the reality. Sales fell. Another reality. Demand fell. One more reality.
Why the struggle with reality for all you underwater debt-donkeys?
Does today’s jobs number increase or decrease the prospect of a near-term end to QE3?
July 3, 2013, 8:18 a.m. EDT
ADP: U.S. adds 188K private-sector jobs in June
By Ruth Mantell
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Private-sector employment growth picked up in June, as the economy gained 188,000 jobs, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported Wednesday morning. Economists had expected an increase of 160,000 private jobs, compared with an original May estimate of a gain of 135,000.
…
Private-sector employment growth picked up in June, as the economy gained 188,000 jobs ??
On the other hand, ISM dropped to 52.2…Lowest since 2010…Expectation was 54….Many mixed signals going on…
My guess is that when the numbers are crunched we will find that a lot of the jobs gained are part time jobs. Companies are gearing up to off load employee insurance costs onto the gov by shifting more of their workers to part time.
If you need 1200 hours of work per week then you need
30 workers working 40 hours a week or
40 workers working 30 hours a week.
That’s a massive increase in employment. I’ve spoke to a couple of people who have been moved to 30 hour work weeks.
The problem of course is that there is less money in circulation, people working 30 hours a week are less likely to buy houses cars and all sorts of other things.
They’re also more likely to wind up in medical bankruptcy.
My guess is that when the numbers are crunched we will find that a lot of the jobs gained are part time jobs.
That’s been the trend for the past 30+ years.
“That’s a massive increase in employment. I’ve spoke to a couple of people who have been moved to 30 hour work weeks.”
Hmmm…I wonder why that could be. I know for a fact that it has NOTHING to do with Obamacare and the fact that anyone working more than 30 hours a week will be considered “full time” and will have to be given health insurance. MSNBC and the HBB have both repeatedly told me Obamacare is going to be an economic boom and create millions of jobs. So that can’t be the cause.
So what is it? I dunno. But I know Bush is to blame.
188,000 new jobs? No way. I have been told repeatedly by the HBB that nobody can get a job and everyone lives under a bridge. Well except for everyone on HBB who makes $200K a year and laughs at lowly $100K a year IT jobs.
Higher jobs number - QE will continue
Lower Jobs number - QE will continue
Higher than expected jobs number - end-of-QE market freakout will continue
Of course it will continue. Without QE the housing market will crash again! Of course, it will crash anyway, just later. By then it will be “someone else’s problem”
Bulletin U.S. jobless claims drop; trade gap widens sharply
New York Markets Open in: 0:45:48
July 3, 2013, 5:01 a.m. EDT
Central banks play chicken with markets and lose
Commentary: QE will be around for longer than investors realize
By Matthew Lynn
LONDON (MarketWatch) — What is the most useful piece of economics for analyzing the end of quantitative easing?
Monetary policy? Demand theory? You could make a case for any of them. But in reality it is game theory. The central banks are starting a game of chicken with the markets, and it is a game they will end up losing.
We have seen the clearest evidence of that in the last two weeks. First, the Federal Reserve starts discussing the gradual winding-up of the program of printing money. The result? The financial markets go crazy. Bond yields start to spike sharply upwards. The gold price tanks and the equity markets start to head down.
So what does the Fed do? It could simply shrug and point out that it is its job is to keep the U.S. economy on track.
But in reality that’s not an option. The economy is now so dependent on the health of the financial markets the central bank had little choice but to row back from its earlier comments. By the end of last week some officials were suggesting that the earlier remarks had been interpreted too harshly, and the end of QE was not nearly as close or as certain as people had started to assume.
William Dudley, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, argued the U.S. economy had fallen short of its employment objectives, striking a markedly dovish tone. After that, no one was quite sure whether QE was really on the way out — or whether the central bank was just testing the waters.
It is pattern we will have to get very used to over the next few years. A central bank wants to bring QE to an end. It sends out a few signals to see what the reaction to that might be. Once it sees the carnage that results, it gets nervous and immediately goes back to promising it will print just as much money as it always did.
…
–Regarding the incident with the Bolivian president’s flight yesterday
Is there anything left to say how far the civilized (?) western countries have fallen?
“they are far more servants to political power than adversarial watchdogs over it, and what provokes their rage most is not corruption on the part of those in power (they don’t care about that) but rather those who expose that corruption, especially when the ones bringing transparency are outside of, even hostile to, their incestuous media circles”
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/06/24/greenwald-beltway-media-types-are-courtiers-to-power/
Would the Europeans have reacted differently if Bush were the president?
I think the Euro honeymoon with Obama ended a long time ago, once they realized that from a foreign policy perspective (which is what they care about) he was just a continuation of the previous admin.
From Egypt:
Obama Your Bitch is Our Dictator
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qkeWcCGDZ0Y/UdItUdTkHOI/AAAAAAABNRA/XkM3Gy0ZIUM/s600/130701-obama-egypt-054.jpg
Ben, I also saw that one yesterday and saved it as a ‘keeper’. Did you get the one of the guy holding the scroll-sign?
http://tinypic.com/r/2rxjvvn/5
Cue Liberace with some apology and excuse.
I tell you….those racists white republicans in Egypt….
Well now I see what Pimpy can build for $50 / sf in bum-f-egypt. “Top Quality” as in “Yugo” car quality.
HUD homes are the most economically affordable houses starting around $50 per square foot. They do not meet the “stick built” standard that IRC homes do, but are built under rigorous federal government guidelines insuring that you get a top quality house at a very affordable price. IRC homes start at around $70 per square foot, and appraise gain value exaclty as a stick built home.
http://greatwesternhomesinc.com/Floor-Plans-Galore
Where’s my $5000 lot in Rye NY; Downtown Concord, MA; Pemberton Hts, Austin, TX; or Morningside, Atlanta, GA?
I do agree with Pimpy (HA) that houses will go down in many locales, no doubt. But he’s dreaming in fantasy land if he is going to find a high quality location and house for the kind of money he talks about.
“They do not meet the “stick built” standard that IRC homes do
This beaut should make everyones Liar Meter tack.
ICC is ICC irrespective of location, contractor or building official.
Looks like for $50/sq you get a mobile home on a slab.
I can’t tell if you the buyer supply the slab, but since it’s unclear, I assume you do.
I can’t tell you if the buyer supply the slab
Yes on the HUD homes, which are evidently mobile homes not-on-a-slab. The 3/2 bed at the bottom of the list clocks in at ~$50.75/ sq ft.
“These park site prices include delivery, set, skirting, 2-sets of temp steps and tie downs but does not include any foundation, utility hook ups, or sales tax.”
http://greatwesternhomesinc.com/Cavco-Durango
Clearly you’re concerned about your own tragic error…. and you should be.
The other thing is, when Pimpy is building for $50/sq ft, you’re probably getting vinyl or aluminum siding (on 3 sides if not all 4), you’re not getting hardscaping or landscaping (just some basic crap shrubs), you’re getting a very basic roofline, you’re getting basic fixtures and counters, and he’s including the garage and/or basement in the square footage. He’s also not going to be wiring the house with HDMI cables (buried, of course) or giving you a jacuzzi tub, etc. Basically he’s giving you a house where most of the cool s**t isn’t included.
And you know this how Lib? No site work? Really? No asphalt? No sidewalk?
I tell you what…. I’ll box out a powder room just for you. What color would you like? Pink? Lavender? And I’ll power trowel the garage floor until it’s black so it can double as a ballet room. I’ll even send a truck over and a couple laborers to fetch your harpsichord.
I don’t mean no sidewalk, but I mean no terrace or patio, no built-in stone BBQ, no real landscaping. Which is fine. But comparing a basic new home to an upgraded, nicely-kept home in an established neighborhood is apples & oranges.
And I bet you do include basement or garage to make the sq ft larger and bring down $/sq ft ratio.
It’s OK, I think your general point is valid, so please carry on. You’ve saved alot [sic] of people alot [sic] of money, including myself. You brought down the price point of houses we looked at by at least 50%.
But comparing a basic new home to an upgraded, nicely-kept home in an established neighborhood is apples & oranges.
You’re right. The new one is new and the old one has 20+ years of depreciation on it, therefore is worth far less.
And no…… the garage isn’t included.
Now back to your powder room…..
In many places of the country, a 20-year-old “manufactured home” is borderline unlivable.
Livable or not, a 20 year old house is worth substantially less than a new one.
What about a 200 year old house?
When you get to 200 years, selection bias kicks in. Any 200 year old house that is still standing is probably very good. If it were a bad house, it would have fallen down 100 years ago.
Not so for houses that are 30-50 years old. They haven’t gotten to falling-down age yet.
The main difference between US (or any first world country) and any third world country is mainly this(there are others too). People rarely die/starve in first world country because of not getting food no matter what job that they have but in third world countries it happens all the time.
Politicians are corrupt (party affiliations do not matter) every where. They work for corporations and rich folks and make believe the population that they are working for them by various cheap tricks and people ae so much low information that they believe in them.
My prediction is that as long as there is cheap food available in fast food resturants (like mac,bk,wendy etc.), folks are happy no matter how much the government and military industrial complex screws them.
People rarely die/starve in first world country because of not getting food no matter what job that they have but in third world countries it happens all the time.
Mexico is a 3rd world country, and it has an obesity rate as bad as, if not worse, than the USA. No one starves to death in Mexico.
My prediction is that as long as there is cheap food available in fast food resturants (like mac,bk,wendy etc.)
Cheap? Have you seen how much a double burger (1/2 lb) costs at any of those places?
Yes. $4.99 with coke and fries.
Yes. $4.99 with coke and fries.
You haven’t been to a burger joint for while, have you?
http://www.fastfoodmenuprices.com/wendys-prices/
Dave’s Hot ‘n Juicy 1/2 lb.. Double with Cheese $4.89
Dave’s Hot ‘n Juicy 1/2 lb.. Double with Cheese - Combo $6.89
http://www.fastfoodmenuprices.com/mcdonalds-prices/
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese $4.69
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese Meal $6.39
http://www.fastfoodmenuprices.com/burger-king-prices/
Double Whopper $4.39
Double Whopper - Meal $6.79
You haven’t walked in a mickey Dee’s today have you? Sandwich meals are $5.55.
The main difference between US (or any first world country) and any third world country is mainly this(there are others too). People rarely die/starve in first world country because of not getting food no matter what job that they have but in third world countries it happens all the time.
Politicians are corrupt (party affiliations do not matter) every where. They work for corporations and rich folks and make believe the population that they are working for them by various cheap tricks and people ae so much low information that they believe in them.
My prediction is that as long as there is cheap food available in fast food restaurants (like mac,bk,wendy etc.), folks are happy no matter how much the government and military industrial complex screws them.
US drone kills 16 suspected
militantsinnocents in PakistanThe continued handiwork of the Nobel Peace Prize President.
Forward
Hope and Change
“The World Meteorological Organization says the planet “experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes” in the ten years from 2001 to 2010, the warmest decade since the start of modern measurements in 1850.
Those ten years also continued an extended period of accelerating global warming, with more national temperature records reported broken than in any previous decade. Sea levels rose about twice as fast as the trend in the last century.”
http://m.guardiannews.com/environment/2013/jul/03/unprecedented-climate-extremes-last-decade-un
This is Al Gore’s fault, somehow.
Don’t forget your meme.
It’s always been Bush’s fault.
Bush has his own litany of sins. Leave him alone.
It’s Bushes all the way down…
2001 to 2010
Makes sense it’s Gore. Al Gore didn’t lower his carbon footprint (by flying in private planes and hosting/attending lavish parties) until after he left the office.
To say nothing of that coal powered rocket char he rides around on.
o say nothing of that coal powered rocket char he rides around on.
No he powers his rocket with his own hot air, which is the largest substance know to cause the global warming.
Comment by Ben Jones
2013-07-02 21:12:21
I mentioned recently that my regular searches of state run media in China were suddenly turning up nothing on the housing bubble.
‘In a directive written last week and transmitted over the past few days to newspapers and television stations, local propaganda departments of the Communist party instructed reporters to stop “hyping the so-called cash crunch” and to spread the message that the country’s markets are well stocked with money.’
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b7d312f8-e2c5-11e2-87ec-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2XsOozN2T
_______________________________________________
This should sound familiar to everyone here.
The only difference is the order filters down through the highest levels on Wall Street to corporate media outlets.
“The only difference is the order filters down through the highest levels on Wall Street to corporate media outlets.”
+1 Disgusting isn’t it?
The hubris of the Fed is what is disgusting. I’m indifferent to the mechanics of how they pull it off.
“If you have to borrow for 30 years, it’s not affordable nor can you afford it.”
Housing Prices Crater 11% In Exclusive Los Angeles Neighborhoods
http://picpaste.com/pics/15b0288c9a4ed6710dfd98adbfae729c.1372250662.png
“Even in the absence of the excess empty housing inventory estimated in the tens of millions, historically housing prices fall. Why? Because houses depreciate. ALWAYS.”
“If you buy a house today at these massively inflated prices, you will be underwater instantly and you will never recover financially. Beware.”
“Are you fearful of buying a house? You should be given the fact that prices are still at the massively inflated bubble levels. If you proceed, you’re losses are massive and irrecoverable. Rent for half the monthly amount and buy later after prices crater for 70% less.”
Joe smith here. Rainy day in DC. Listening to the Bread* channel on Slacker radio, reading a redonkulous contract, and thinking about whether the document signed on that famous 4th of July in 1776 would be considered unamerican if we really applied it to post-1970 U.S.A.
* underrated band, right up there with Kansas and America as some of my favorite recent discoveries
Bread? Lib…… c’mon now.
Here’s to everyone in your office on an early Friday. Turn the volume to 11.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UhTyTSUXFA
Enjoy Lib.
Kiss is very… subtle.
Try this for a change - -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46xV1SIJt-M
A former NY’er with no appreciation for Kiss? Somethings gone wrong with you Lib.
Looking forward to most of this:
http://riotfest.org/denver-lineup/
Thanks for the tip, Joe Smith!
Here in Tucson, I’m listening to the blues from Dallas, Texas. KNON-FM, the best frickin’ community radio station on the planet.
When are you on the radio next? What’s the web link? I haven’t seen you post it in some time.
Slim left the radio station some time ago.
Here, I’m listening to some Bach variations for pianoforte. My interest in classical musical is beginning to revive.
Somebody’s training to be a serial killer….
JFYI, Family Members Of “Barry” call him Rocky.
To Goon Squad, Smithers, and “Uncle Fred…”
“Mandate delay removes catalyst for Temporary Staffing”
http://tinyurl.com/mzhoezv
My former company stock, staffing stock took a hit today. Partly because of the delay in ObamaScare mandate.
The delay is an admisssion by the Donkeys that ObamaScare is bad for American business. It’s a scam to wait until after the mid-term elections to implement it.
Maybe it was beyond intuitive that I sold off ten percent of my shares of staffing stock near the all time high yesterday. Maybe ObamaScare will not happen at all and this trend toward temp staffing is going to poop out.
IMO, temp staffing is only worthwhile if you make $10 per hour more over 2080 hours than you would otherwise with a direct hire PLUS compensation. I told a recruiter outside my company this. Any recruiter who does not realize this is going to be a “looser!”
If temps flood the job market then such competition among them will drive hourly rates down to where they just are not worth it anymore. After all, in my line of work I have to sometimes live far away from home for months at a time among surrounds and cultures I am not used to, and avoid having girlfriends, because I know my stay far from home will be temporary anyway.
I have said it before and I will say it again.
Iraq War = ObamaCare = Comprehensive Immigration Reform
My observation, at least out here in flyover, is that professional temp work pay dropped like a brick a long time ago. I remember when it was relatively easy to find work that paid twice the going rate of a comparable full time position. Now it seems to be about the same. I have recruiters contact me about $50/hr 3-6 month contract jobs. Why would I even consider that?
$50 per hour with no paid vacation, no sick days, no health insurance, and those recruiters expect that to appeal to temps? I laugh at those recruiters.
I have been contacted every couple of weeks from recruiters outside my staffing firm. Finally when I was canned from my last gig I emailed a recruiter the rate I want. He never got back to me.
A good rule of thumb is that if the hourly rate is not $10 higher over 2080 hours than the total salary and compensation of a direct job, it’s not worth contracting.
I said it before, a buddy of mine has been out five weeks still waiting for a recruiter to get him decent pay. Had only one interview. If he’s out eight weeks he would have been better off going direct.
These are lean times. Either the staffing companies are flooded with temps and the recruiters have the cockiness to lowball the temps but charge clients high rates, or the job outlook is still “wait and see” by the employers.
There is another new “trend” on the rise: temp-to-hire. The number of positions that are under this category is not trivial. I once had a recruiter get angry with me for not considering such a move. He insisted that it was the “new normal”. And the hourly rate is junk.
I once saw a Visual Basic contract job advertised for … get a load of this … $20/hr. Sure, it’s VB, but come on … $20/hr
All I can say is that they are offering lowball pay for the same reason full time employees are not getting raises: because outside of some narrow specialties there is a glut of people to hire.
Yup. I believe it. It’s ugly out there.
It’s same everywhere except for Smirther. He’s had tremendous good luck to say the least.
That’s if he’s telling the truth.
In my own experience, my rates kept going up all the way into 2010. That was the peak. I was at $92 per hour.
Luckily the staffing stock made up for the falling rate. I think it could go higher for another couple of years before the investors catch on that temporary staffing outperforms…temporarily!
Today after lunch with some friends in the area I am driving down to Orange County to look at a model apartment unit that sounds very good and available August 1. I want to nab it.
Figuring on 3 weeks of long commutes and 1200 miles added to my car mileage (41 miles from my current place to the job site). After that I will be driving 10 miles each way, so put on 100 miles a week.
I’m not lucky, I just know how the game is played.
About 15 years ago I worked for a consulting company, it was my first “real job”. I was making about $85K a year salary. I was getting billed out at $150+. I was fresh out of college I had no clue what I was doing and to me at the time $85K a year was like $85M a year. It was stupid money. I was in my early 20s, single and living it up. But after a while I realized that I was getting ripped off by my employer big time.
FF 15 years. I do essentially the same thing, but with 15 years experience under my belt. The same consulting company now bills out their senior people at $275-325 an hour. I sometimes sub contract to my former employer at $125-130 an hour. If I don’t go through a 3rd party and work directly for a client I can get as high as $150/hr.
Over the past 15 years I have made connections far and wide and I have a great reputation for doing good work. I guess clients could find someone willing to work a little cheaper. There are always desperate people out there. But with me clients know they’re getting top quality work. That’s the thing with independent consulting, your reputation and network is everything. And you you can demand top dollar as both of those variables increase.
You are not common in consulting. I suspect you have a niche field.
I was in defense work and my peak annual take was in 2005.
Now with sequester and the uncertainty of defense work and the finicky customer that throws $millions onto projects and then suddenly stops spending and does not buy the projects, well it means time to retool and start from the ground up.
I’m going commercial now, for the first time. Although I still will have my clearance. I hope to stay commercial and get a niche once again. I would like to eventually be a software developer consultant working gigs mostly in Silicon Valley and otherwise in other parts of Taxifornia, keeping my base address (where I can own “scary” firearms) in Arizona.
I’m 54 but have plenty of energy remaining in my batteries.
In my last gig the senior directs had a fee of $200 per hour (including overhead), which is more expensive than what job shops were charging. This is in the South Bay part of L.A. Not Kansas. I guess you must be operating within a fast commute of NYC to have seniors billed in the high 200s.
In defense contract work this would not fly, particularly these days when defense spending is drawing down and clients are looking at all ways to trim labor costs.
I live about 2500 miles from NYC. Rates are national not local since the talent pool is national as well. Whether a client is in NYC or Cleveland makes no difference in my bill rate. I travel a bit, but not 100%. Some people choose to travel or relocate for projects, I don’t. I split my time 70/30 usually between home and the client’s office.
And the best part is I live in a relatively low cost of living area. I am making SF Bay/NYC money with 1/2 the living costs. That’s the real value proposition in being indepedent IMO. The ability to live anywhere yet make top dollar as if you lived in the “important” cities. And there are a lot of people who do this all over the country. There’s simply no reason to live in an “important” city unless you want to be there. But to be there because of a job? No way.
Big 4 seniors bill in the high 200s to low 300s. Partners in the high 300s to low 400s.
I am an IT Manager for a large organization. I do interview and hire contractors in our projects all the time….mostly on the software side. The rates Bill and Colorado talk about are what I am used to….even in the east coast (DC Area). I have never had somebody demand like what Smither’s rate is. May be he is in niche area like Bill said. Unless you drop golden nuggets each day, you are not getting what Smither and his seniors/partners are making in 99% of IT. May be things are different in defense contracting with security clearance and such…may be….
M. Slith is not a real person. He is a fictional online persona. No one makes $85k straight out of college, especially not 15 years ago. The dude is a teenager. He also occasionally pretends to have a wife and two kids.
M. Slith is not a real person. He is a fictional online persona. No one makes $85k straight out of college, especially not 15 years ago.
I don’t dispute that because I also came out of college just before the dot com collapse and I was also making crazy money….didn’t last for long in my case…but for a short time I was making alot just out after college. He’s also right I didn’t know what I was doing either.
Uncle Fed,
Wow, I’m a teenager in my mom’s basement. Gee, how original, never heard that phrase before. Did you think it up all by yourself?
$85K was nothing extraordinary for my peer group. I went to a top tier college, graduated with a 3.6 GPA in a very tough major. I also had 2 summer internships, one with an evil broker, the other with a management consulting firm.
I had 5 job offers before my senior first semester was done. I would have had more, but I stopped talking to recruiters or attending recruiting events. I didn’t pick the highest salary by the way, I picked what I thought was the best long term opportunity. The highest offer was a boutique investment bank that with bonus would have paid me in the $110-120K range. But I knew that consulting would in the long run open more doors for me even if the pay was a little less to begin with. And I was right. Getting that consulting experience was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sort of a related story….very first person I met in college…my freshman neighbor. Electrical engineering major from SoCal who looked, talked and dressed like a surfer. Biggest party animal, but crazy smart guy. He’s the guy who got straight As without studying at all. Anyway he got a job with one of those evil IBs you all hate after college. I’m sure he made more than $85K I made. He went the trading route and ended up making a fortune. He was a millionaire many times over at 26/27 years old. I still keep in touch with him today. He’s retired from finance and spends his days investing in….drum roll please….real estate. He owns dozens of houses in Texas that he rents out. But what does he know about investing? He’s bound to lose 65% of his money, Housing Analyst says so.
Prayer:
Are you hiring code monkeys or architects? People throw around “IT Work” as if it’s all the same. As you should know, there is a huge variety of work and corresponding pay.
A good code monkey will get $90-110. A good architect will get $120-150.
Here’s an example I found in about 30 seconds searching on dice.
$850/day for a Java developer which is $106.25 an hour.
http://www.dice.com/jobsearch/servlet/JobSearch?op=302&dockey=xml/8/e/8e06f30b5e2f375d9308d25cf8bf55c7@endecaindex&source=19&FREE_TEXT=130%20&rating=&src=19&q=130
Well back in 2002 I worked with a contractor from New York state. He told me his friends in software in Manhattan raked in $500,000 per year doing software for brokerage firms. I had no reason to doubt.
Most people I know who work long days are obese and frail. They make a lot of money but they are in poor health and would probably not be mis-identified as a movie star by any random stranger.
Health and fitness is the ultimate wealth.
Guess what? I got an e-mail from ANOTHER recruiter yesterday. This guy has a job at Intel (the other one has a job at IBM). He says Intel has perpetual contractors that work indefinitely at an hourly rate with no benefits. I said no problem, what’s the hourly rate? He writes back and tells me the hourly rate is the same as what I’m making now, but I have benefits now. I wrote back and told him I thought the going rate was about $10/hour more than what he was offering. I cited health insurance, payroll taxes, days off, and retirement. I asked him if the pay is negotiable. We’ll see what he says.
Is Intel broke or something?
Intel is not broke. Either the pimp is trying to lowball you (that’s their job, to lowball you) or the market is saturated with temps who are willing to be screwed.
A few years ago a recruiter called me about a $37 per hour job (I was making $70 at the time - and my rate was on the way up). I laughed at him. He had the nerve to ask “what’s so funny?” I said I could make much more than that as a direct with compensation!
Back in 2003 I was offered $110,000 at my former client. Then on top of it health insurance all paid for. Of course I would get vacations too. That’s equal to at least $60 per hour.
Bill,
I got better….I got an email from an Indian recruiter. I should have known better but I actually replied since the gig was right up my alley. I asked him what the rate was. He replied back $15. I wrote back and said, I’m assuming you meant to type $115, right? He replies back, no that’s not a typo, the rate is $15/hr. I wrote back to him that if he actually finds someone at $15/hr I would love to meet this person as he/she is undoubtedly the world’s biggest moron for accepting that rate.
Ha Ha!
Thanks! Wow $15!
I got a call from someone who sounded Indian. I asked the person (forgot if it was a he or she) and they admitted to being in Mumbai.
You know, if these recruiters can be outsourced, and of course they can and are, they too, will go through the decline in incomes.
A few years ago a recruiter called me about a $37 per hour job (I was making $70 at the time - and my rate was on the way up). I laughed at him. He had the nerve to ask “what’s so funny?” I said I could make much more than that as a direct with compensation!
I have had similar experiences with “contract” work offered that pays less than my full time job.
I did have a $125/hr gig recently, but it was super niche. I was retained as an expert witness because of my domain knowledge in printer drivers and the HPGL printer language. I doubt I will ever see something like that again.
My best was $92 - but they got rid of EWW by that time (Extended Work Week, i.e. overtime and that included for contractors).
Have you ever bought a car from a dealer? If so have you ever paid what the sticker price on the window says?
Negotiating with a recruiter is no different. He’ll always low ball you because the lower your rate is, the higher the profit margin is for the recruiter. If he said the rate is $X, your conter should be X + 30 and you’ll settle on X + 20ish. And the recruiter will bill you to Intel at X +45
Of course. But in dry times when temps flood the market the temps will do the low balling for you. Not the recruiter. IOW, he will get the schleps who will be happy with X instead of X+30.
Usually it’s the newcomer schleps, new to consulting, who are naive about the rates, that spoil it for the veterans. This happens every few years. Cyclical.
Last time it happened was in ‘02.
They will wash out of the market in 2015 or 2016 and the rates will go up again I suppose.
Besides that do you really want to work for a client that is looking for someone at the bottom of the barrel? I don’t. If all they want is the cheapest body available, chances are EVERYONE that works there is the cheapest body available. Which means a nightmare work scenario.
Remember as a consultant you’re hiring your clients as much as your clients are hiring you. It’s perfectly OK to say, nope, not going to work there, thanks for applying.
Problem is the HBB and elsewhere has this view that every worker out there is downtrodden and bullied by the big mean evill (racist) corporations. And if someone offers you a job - ANY JOB - you have to jump on it no matter how crappy the pay is. If that’s your attitude, then yeah, you’re not going to make a lot of money. If on the other hand you understand that you are as valuable to a client as they are to you, then the terms get much better.
True.
Well you are still young, I figure around 37 if you graduated 15 years ago. You have the energy to travel to strange new cities, might not exercise at all so you stay up late anyway and are not bothered by other guests in hotels like I was. I wake up very early to swim in a good fitness pool. Meaning I have to be sleeping early in the evening. Hotels are part of contracting. Two mile swims take a lot of energy and you cannot sleep four hour nights, work all day and swim early in the morning without getting severely low resistance.
On the other hand if you can find a city to consult where the apartments by law allow you to break a lease when your gig is up (2 month penalty rent or less) then you get an apartment right away.
I just took a four hour round trip (80 or 90 miles) to put a deposit on an apartment. 14 month lease. A “lily white” area with Asian thrown in, about seven miles from John Wayne Airport / Irvine. Like most Orange County places, Mission Viejo is a clean area with smooth streets / parkways.
At 54 I don’t really have the desire to travel so much, although travel for a couple days or so now and then might be part of my work (who knows). But I’m referring to long weeks on end. I want to focus more on health and fitness. In fact, health has really been my number one deal since I was a teenager. Very active physically, lifting weights, running, biking, swimming. Staying buff is my way of wealth. Not accumulating material things. And I regard myself an anarcho capitalist - Austrian economics fan. Nothing wrong with focusing on health over wealth. Nothing wrong with renting.
Looks like 4th of July in Egypt.
Yeah like thew dictator will be much better than the old dictator. It’s amazing how gullible people are.
Looks like they intend to keep throwing out dictators until they get one they like.
Beats the alternative.
The two party system?
No, not being able to get rid of one they don’t like.
It’s amazing how gullible people are.
You must be speaking for yourself. Democracy in Iraq and Afghani, remember that?
“You must be speaking for yourself. Democracy in Iraq and Afghani, remember that?”
When did I say that would work?
Oh wait you mean because Bush said it that means I automatically agreed with him. Nope. Sorry. Unlike your side, I actually can think for myself and don’t need MSNBC/Kos to tell me what to think.
Obama presidency in a nutshell
State Department bureau spent $630,000 on Facebook ‘likes’
“if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon” — Barack Obama
http://www.infowars.com/sanford-police-chief-fears-violence-in-response-to-zimmerman-verdict/
The verdict is mistrial.
…and his private security detail would have beat the crap out of mall cop Zimmerman.
Why would anyone come to a blog where the fundamental discussion is inflated housing prices and attempt to rationalize massively inflated prices?
I know- seriously, I have wondered that many times. Its like, ‘Who are these @sswipes and why are they even here’? If they are realtors or RE-affiliated, do they really think that the hubris, smarm and insults are going to make anyone more comfortable buying a house? It would be like me going to a pro-life forum and babbling about abortions. What is their point? Honestly, I believe that it is all about the ‘misery loves company’ syndrome.
Echo chambers are boring.
Funny you mention that. I have been thinking lately that you yourself have been getting boring. At first, you mad me mad, then you started to wear off and became merely annoying. Now that’s starting to wear off too, and now you’re just boring.
Does anyone else feel the same way on here?
Yeah. Boring and without any real data or substance Just smarm, spite and ill-will mashed together and rolled up into a greasy, tasteless burrito. And ‘azdude’ is the side of shill-sauce that is well past its expiration date.
I think Jonesy keeps him around because he’s like a 10 car collision. You don’t want to look but you can’t help it.
Sorta like you.
Only in your twisted mind dear junkie.
Who is one of the HBB’s ‘broken record’ style posters? It ain’t me, babe.
Who get’s trolled on a daily basis? It’s you babe.
Investors make up 1-in-4 to 1-in-5 buyers in the real estate market, per the Wall Street Journal.
Surveys Highlight Changing Role for Investors in the Housing Market
July 3, 2013, 11:31 AM
Wall Street Journal
Are real-estate investors starting to run out of gas? Single-family home investors, whose mostly cash purchases played a central role in healing the U.S. housing market, have started to slow down their buying, according to several surveys.
Investors accounted for 20.2% of home purchases in May—still high by historical standards, but down from a peak of 23.1% reached in February, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance survey of real estate conditions. A separate survey conducted for MemphisInvest.com and Premier Property Management Group found that investors planned to slow their home purchases in the next year.
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2013/07/03/surveys-highlight-changing-role-for-investors-in-the-housing-market/
And those polls/stats were probably provided by the NAR. No offense intended, but I have seen so many lies, laws broken, so much intentional disinformation and abject stupidity from ALL players in RE (the government, The NAR, the banks, individual realtors, etc) that I don’t trust anything that I can’t see with my own eyes. They conspired to manipulate the LIBOR rate to influence mortgages. I mean, seriously, the banks, NAR and Gov won’t even release an honest or accurate number of how many empty homes there are or how many are realistically in foreclosure so that citizens can make an honest and informed decision. Anyone who is accurately informed has ZERO credibility remaining in RE ‘professionals’. The whole thing is a pathetic joke.
Remember….
NAR overstated (Pimped and lied) sales every single month for 5 years straight.
I wish them luck. A lot of them are going to get schooled in the realities of landlording.
Homebuyers Beware! Short-Term Money And Investors Dominate The Real Estate Market
by Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes Staff
6/13/2013 @ 3:49PM
Forbes
Ben Bernanke can pride himself in having contributed to the housing recovery by pushing interest and mortgage rates to record lows, but he seems to have encouraged the wrong type of buyers. A report by Radar Logic shows that the share of institutional investors in the housing market is rising, to the point that the entire year-over-year gain in aggregate transaction activity was fueled by them, as opposed to home owners.
Data to March 2013 on 25 metropolitan areas compiled by Radar Logic show institutional investors accounted for 12% of home purchases, up from 9% a year ago. You say 12% doesn’t sound like that much? Stripping institutional investors from the statistic, home purchases actually declined on a yearly basis.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2013/06/13/homebuyers-beware-short-term-money-and-investors-dominate-the-real-estate-market/
You say 12% doesn’t sound like that much? Stripping institutional investors from the statistic, home purchases actually declined on a yearly basis.
Truth.
There is little demand for resale housing when you can get a brand new house for 30%-40% less.
but he seems to have encouraged the wrong type of buyers.
I bet he didn’t see it coming.
Dude, a sales’s a sale. Next you’re going to be saying nonsense like, well left handed people born on a Tuesday made up 3% of all sales. If you take them out of the mix, then sales are actually down.
A sale is a sale whether to a left handed person born on a Tuesday, a right handed person born on a Wednesday or an institutional investor.
With housing demand at 1997 levels and staggering, it’s a distinction without a difference.
Dude, a sales’s a sale.
Yup sale’s a sale…just like the odometer of a car. As long as the odometer’s moving up, why bother where where the car is going?
“Dude, a sales’s a sale.”
Mindless and transparent flipper-realtor bullshit. Either that or you have huffed so much of your own ether that you can’t see the truth. Investors ALWAYS need a Greater Fool to sell it to. They aren’t buying a house to live in, they are day-trading highly illiquid, depreciating assets. They ALWAYS have to find a bigger, more gullible, more impressionable idiot than they were if they are going to make money. Its a classic pyramid scheme, nothing more. Nothing special. It is not really “different this time”, just much worse. Hang in there. Go buy some more real estate if you believe in it so much. Seriously- why aren’t you buying more? Load up. Stick with the forum as this thing implodes and keep us posted on how well you are doing.
Typical….anyone who doesn’t think the world is about to blow up is a flipper-realtor. Sorry to burst your bubble of self importance, but I’m neither. I own a house, that’s about it. I bought it 2 years ago at pretty much the bottom of the market. My PITI is just slightly above what I was paying in rent for a comparable house. When the tax deduction (interest and property tax) is taken into account my monthly cost is about $250 less.
Since I bought then prices in my area have appreciated 15% on average. So yeah, I’m doing pretty well thank you very much.
Uh huh. And now that you are so incredibly smart, successful, safe, secure and- by your own admission no longer involved in RE- you spend your time… trolling a housing bubble blog? That doesn’t make sense. That would be a real weiner move. Are you a liar? Are you a weiner or a liar? Maybe both? Where do you work? Why are you here, successful, safe and secure weiner-troll? What do you gain?
Sorry, I just re-read your earlier post more carefully:
“…Sorry to burst your bubble of self importance,..”
So, you are immediately defensive at the challenge and mention, “self importance”. Your ego is bloated and damaged. If I were secretly questioning whether I had bought at the wrong time, I would be hyper-sensitive too.
“…Since I bought then prices in my area have appreciated 15% on average. So yeah, I’m doing pretty well thank you very much.”
And then you go on to explain and justify your purchase decision to a bunch of strangers and publicly masturbate your ego/reassure yourself that you made the right call. Well, I’m sorry that you paid too much for a house, but there is nothing that anyone here can do about that now. Its OK. Lots of people got sucked in. Man-up, own it and consider it a life-lesson. And you don’t have to keep coming back to this forum to reassure yourself that you did the right thing and try to goad others into the same, sad decision by attempting to act superior. We understand your folly. Be at peace. I release you…
The world is going to blow up if housing prices fall to dramatically lower and more affordable levels????
Nonsense.
Housing prices falling to dramatically lower and more affordable levels will accelerate the economy like nothing else.
Stay Class Democrats (the party of love and tolerance)
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/352583/pro-life-texas-legislators-receive-threats-betsy-woodruff
“Pro-life legislators in the Texas statehouse have faced threats and abuse from pro-choice protesters, prompting at least one to bring in extra volunteers to help with security. State senator Donna Campbell, who issued the third point of order against Davis’s filibuster (which ended it), has also been the target of extensive verbal abuse from pro-choice protesters, according to her spokesman Jon Oliver. They’ve received Facebook messages and e-mails saying, “I hope you’re raped” and “I hope your daughter’s raped,” Oliver tells me. “Lots of language — ‘You’re an effin’ blank,’ ‘You are a traitor to women’ — those kind of things,” Oliver says. “I wouldn’t say anything’s necessarily a direct threat, but they’re the kind of e-mails that make you a little nervous, especially when you start talking about family members: ‘I hope your family members are raped.’”
All this over a bill that says you can’t abort a fetus past 20 weeks.
Fun fact: Several European countries have similar restrictions on abortion including France, where the limit is 14 weeks. I am always told by my liberal betters that we should be more like France. Well, in this case I agree.
They aren’t pro-life, just anti-abortion. Also anti-already born humans.
If they were really pro-life, they would concern themselves with making it easier to obtain low cost medical care, contraceptives, child care, preschool and K-12 education, job training and actual jobs for all.
Pro-life? Nah.
And repealing the death penalty. Don’t forget that.
Yes, that hypocrisy is huge.
Uhm, no. The bill in question is pretty clear…you have 20 weeks to decide if you want an abortion. If you want one, get one. After 20 weeks, it’s too late. The fetus is developed beyond the point of “it’s just cells”.
Has nothing to do with child care. Nice try changing the subject though.
The bill is NOT simply about abortion after 20 weeks and you know it. And if you don’t know it, you haven’t been paying attention.
“The bill is NOT simply about abortion after 20 weeks and you know it. And if you don’t know it, you haven’t been paying attention.”
So if it was JUST about 20 weeks, you’d be OK with it?
And putting aside all that, the point I was making was how vile Democrats are. Wishing a woman gets raped or wishing her daughter gets raped. Lovely people on your side. What happened to the party of tolerance? The party of inclusion?
I guess you only tolerated and include people who think exactly like you. Anyone else…..hope they get raped.
The sad irony is democrats ended up making everything unaffordable while promising to make it affordable.
150 years ago today this dude named Pickett (among others) had a really bad day.
This General Lee guy had this like 4 part plan that would have been a really good plan if it had like, worked.
He sent a bunch of dudes to take Culps Hill but evidentally it’s really hard to take a hill when your at the bottom and the dudes at the top don’t want you to have it. So that didn’t work. Then he fired lot’s of cannons for a really long time at the dudes that he thought were behind the Union lines that he wanted to break. Problem was none of those dudes were behind the lines, they were all like on the line so all that cannon fire fell for the most part harmlessly behind them. Strike two.
Then he had sent a couple of thousand dudes on horses led by this Jeb Stewart dude to split the Union line from behind. But this dude named Custer (who would later in life have indian problems) had like 500 dudes from Michigan on horses too and they slammed right into Jeb Stewart’s horse dudes and like made them like turn around.
So now cause they didn’t have cell phones 150 years ago this dude Pickett thinking this other stuff like worked, brings these 12,000 dudes out of the trees and on like almost a mile walk across this open field. (that was part of a farm owned by a freed black slave) Well they catch hell cause like all those Union dudes and their cannons are all still there being that the other parts of the plan didn’t work and no cell phones and everything.
Anyway, 150 years ago today this dude named Pickett had a really bad day.
Title: “Pickett’s Other Charge”
Snippet: “The reunion launched Sallie Pickett on a career as a professional widow, promoting her husband’s fame and protecting his reputation for courage and chivalry. But on that July day in 1887, Sallie was also harboring a family secret: George Pickett had lived with a young Native American woman before the war, when he was stationed in the remote Washington Territory, and their mixed-race son, James Tilton Pickett, was now demanding his share of the general’s property.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323893504578555281194469040.html
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