Bits Bucket for August 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.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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“Houses are never investments. They are depreciating assets and represent a massive loss at current asking prices.”
The best divestment I ever made was to get rid of my big old house, and the mortgage that it rode in on.
the best investment I ever made was buying a house and flipping it for quick cash.
The best investment I ever made was selling the house I built from scratch with no loans in 2005, and buying a condo in 2012 short sale for 45% off also with all cash and renting it for a tidy ROI.
‘the best investment I ever made was…’
Here I sit all broken hearted…
Yes. The $hitHouse Poet is talented.
Here I sit in a helluva vapor…
News flash!
US toilet manufacturers report they are subject to a secret FISA court directive to install waterproof cameras that allow the NSA to observe the one area in which terrorists had previously been able to avoid observation. Developing…
Since we’re talkin’ toilets.
New Obamacare plan: Porta-john ads are gonna get this thing right back on track
posted at 8:41 pm on July 10, 2013
by Mary Katharine Ham
Well, the nanny state wants to do everything else for us, why shouldn’t it write the jokes for us, too? Obamacare will be advertised on porta-potties. In an attempt to reach young adults without insurance, that’s just one of the ideas being tossed around by supporters. And, yes, you’re paying for all of this:
In Connecticut, selling Obamacare involves renting an airplane. Oregon might try to reel in hipsters with branded coffee cups for their lattes. And in neighboring Washington, the effort could get quite intimate: The state is interested in sponsoring portable toilets at concerts in an effort to reach uninsured young adults.
With 83 days left until the health law’s insurance marketplaces open for business, public awareness remains low. Most polling data suggest that few Americans are aware of how the Affordable Care Act works – or that it even exists.
A recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed 42 percent of Americans to be uncertain about whether the health-care law still stands. Gallup found last month that 43 percent of the uninsured were not aware of the law’s requirement to buy health insurance coverage.
States are spending millions to change that, using everything from television ads to free grocery bags to bus tours to sell President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. They are relying near-exclusively on federal grants to run the campaigns.
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/07/10/new-obamacare-plan-porta-john-ads-are-gonna-get-this-thing-right-back-on-track/ - 97k -
Also just in:
‘Following the success of Google Glass, the tech giant has launched Google Suppository (patent pending), a wireless device that gives wearers internet access in a most personal way. At the press conference, Google CEO Eric Schmidt demonstrated the ground breaking product and declared, “The future is here!” He also dismissed privacy concerns of critics, noting “You shouldn’t be worried if you don’t have anything to hide.” As for allegations that Google will allow NSA snooping, Schmidt asserted, “There will be no back door for Google Suppository.”
Sorry, Obamacare beat you to it. Free colonoscopies for all!
‘Free colonoscopies for all’
In a little known section of the Obamacare act, health insurance providers will require the use of Google Suppository for the ongoing prevention of colon disease.
“US toilet manufacturers report they are subject to a secret FISA court directive to install waterproof cameras…”
Is the pornography industry, one of the internet’s most profitable lines of business, in on this new deep-level security initiative?
It’s BOOSH’S fault! He initiated the War on Freedom.
Security v freedom in the United States
Liberty’s lost decade
The war on terror haunts America still; it should recover some of its most cherished values
Aug 3rd 2013 |From the print edition
THE case of Private Bradley Manning, convicted this week by a military court of leaking secrets to the WikiLeaks website and now facing up to 136 years in jail, looks as if it might be the high-water mark of America’s zealous security culture. It certainly ought to be. After the attacks of September 11th 2001, George Bush tipped the balance too far from liberty towards security, and it has stayed there under Barack Obama.
As Mr Manning awaits his sentence, Edward Snowden, a contractor for the American intelligence services, was reported on August 1st to have gone to Russia, where he has been offered a year’s temporary asylum. He had set out to shed light on the warrantless warehousing by the National Security Agency (NSA) of private data belonging to millions of American citizens, possibly in breach of the Patriot Act and the Fourth Amendment. His revelations continued this week. Meanwhile the Obama administration has seized journalists’ telephone records and pursued leakers with a legal sledgehammer.
Still unjust, unwise and unAmerican
This newspaper is a wholehearted supporter of the United States and its commitment to individual freedom. At the same time we acknowledge that any government’s first responsibility is to protect its own citizens. It made sense to adjust the balance between liberty and security after September 11th. But America’s values ought not to have become casualties of Mr Bush’s war on terror.
…
Purchasing far left “progressive” newspapers are never investments…
Boston Globe, once bought for $1.1 billion, sells for $70 million
AP via nbcnews.com | August 3, 2013 | AP
BOSTON — The New York Times Co. says it has agreed to sell The Boston Globe to the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox for $70 million, a massive drop from the record $1.1 billion it paid for it.
If the globe is worth $70 million, how much the herald worth? $70 dollars?
Seriously though, I think that’s the real worth of the globe. It was never wortth 100mil let alone $1bil.
You have to wonder if Amerikka is ready for its houses, stocks to collapse more than 90% soon.
The Times Co. is selling the Globe for far less than the $1.1 billion it paid for the paper in 1993, when the business was highly profitable and the Globe fetched a record price. The Times Co., like other business owners, withdrew a large stream of cash from the Globe during its ownership — a sum at least equal to the purchase price, according to several former high-ranking Globe executives.
Idea for new reality TV show: ‘Flip That Fishwrap’
On the contrary, it’s always an investment. But at some prices it is a very bad investment. The primary return from buying a house is NOT normally from selling it for more than you paid. It is HOUSING. With a 30 year FRM and the right price it CAN be a reasonable (though hardly outstanding) investment if you stay in it long enough. In a normal market, after 10-15 years rents have risen enough that your Principal and interest are less than equivalent rent. And of course if you pay extra or get a shorter mortgage you can be where I am, with neither mortgage or rent. Which I can tell you is very nice.
A depreciating asset is never an investment.
Have you ever really wanted a candy crapping unicorn?
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/113c/#tabs
OK, it is for sprinkles, not real candy. And the sprinkles come out of the top of the rump, so it isn’t really pooping the sprinkles, but it is darn close.
Hopefully you did not Google that along with anything to do with pressure cookers while at work.
That’s just wonderful, Polly.
“We’re doing a loan modification,” one woman complains. “How can they foreclose on us?”
Dog days in Palm Beach County foreclosure court
by Kim Miller
The goliath air conditioning system in the Palm Beach County courthouse is chugging full tilt as the temperature nears 90-degrees outside and, up on the fourth floor, the foreclosure court sign-in line grows.
It’s been more than five years since Florida was rocked by the housing crisis, three years since the robo-signing scandal brought everything to a crawl, more than one year since the National Mortgage Settlement was signed to make everything better, and nearly two months since the state’s fast-track foreclosure bill became law with the signature of Gov. Rick Scott.
Much of the country has moved on, but not here.
The crowd on this first day of August is mostly compelled by a local court order to clear aging cases from an overwhelmed docket, forcing dusty files to trial.
Assembly begins before 8 a.m. Soon, the line trails down the fourth-floor hallway, turning a corner to form a U-shape and blocking the entrance to a double row of elevators. People squeeze sideways through the quiet mob.
Court documents become makeshift fans.
Homeowners stand out amid the suited attorneys, dots of white T-shirts and shorts in a sea of dark suits. Children aren’t exempt from foreclosure court. On summer break, they come with their parents wearing Mickey Mouse and Justin Bieber sweatshirts, Ipods muting out the confused whispers of pro se litigants.
“We’re doing a loan modification,” one woman complains. “How can they foreclose on us?”
There is a man holding a rosary, clear beads accented by blue. He quickly shoves the string in his pocket as he enters a courtroom where Circuit Judge Roger Colton’s word is gospel.
An 89-year-old woman wearing slippers rests her head on her cane. She’s been in foreclosure since 2009, the victim, her son says, of a predatory lender who came to her door selling a mortgage she couldn’t afford.
Colton has a long morning ahead of him and dozens of cases to hear.
“How are you today Mrs. Murphy,” he says to one homeowner who is defending herself.
“Nervous,” Mrs. Murphy says.
“Take a deep breath,” he counsels.
“I would like an extension of the sale date because I have a short sale pending,” Mrs. Murphy pleads.
“You got it,” Colton says “You don’t have to worry about this home being sold at auction for 90 days.”
“I like you,” Mrs. Murphy says. “My question is how long can I stay in the home after it sells?”
The courtroom is so full _ standing room only _ that when one person leaves an entire bench scoots down in unison to make room for another.
Attorneys race back and forth between courtrooms. Up on the ninth-floor, Judge Meenu Sasser is speeding through foreclosure trials on cases that date back to 2009.
That’s where 89-year-old Idella Lindsey ends up, a white sweater draped around her shoulders and looking mostly unaware of what’s happening. Her son Zeb says Lindsey is trying to get a loan modification, but doubts she’ll be able to afford even a reduced payment.
Her monthly income is $1,500, and she has another foreclosure on a tiny cottage that she took out in 2006 for $75,000.
Attorney Jeff Glotzer wins Lindsey a 90-day reprieve on her primary residence, giving her another three months in her 796-square-foot home in the Happy Heights subdivision of Boynton Beach.
“Come back for the trial,” Zeb says. “At this point, they should just drop the whole thing.”
This entry was posted on Friday, August 2nd, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Foreclosures, Mortgages, Real estate bust. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Lots of free sh*t army sightings…
Hey judge - ho much longer can I stay in my house for free?
I took out lots of money in equity - but I aa a victim.
The curse of Alan Greenspan continues.
“… the victim … of a predatory lender who came to her door selling a mortgage she couldn’t afford.”
He came to her door?
Amateur. He should have worked it so she would come to his door.
“There is a man holding a rosary, clear beads accented by blue.”
Forgive me Father for I have treated my house as an ATM machine.
Go my son and refi no more.
Oh wait a second he wasn’t in church he was at the courthouse dealing with a foreclosure on his house that he hasn’t made a payment on in 5 years.
“There is a man holding a rosary, clear beads accented by blue. He quickly shoves the string in his pocket as he enters a courtroom where Circuit Judge Roger Colton’s word is gospel.”
Did the man remember to bring along his St Joseph statue?
The heck with a St. Josephs statue- what about a Joshua Tree? Does anyone else remember the Joshua Tree meme? It was an integral part of the FB Articles of Penitence and is of great importance in my personal belief system and in the culture of my people.
“Does anyone else remember the Joshua Tree meme?”
You’re early. Let’s resurrect it after then next wave of housing bubble price collapse.
JT and the frozen trout slap were my introduction to HBB. How could anyone resist?
This might have worked if it was posted at 5:42 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 2, 2002 instead of…
5:42 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, 2013
Intensive foreclosure counseling coming to Palm Beach County
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Palm Beach County is slated to receive $510,800 for an intensive housing counseling program that will walk borrowers through the financial steps needed to either save their home from foreclosure or lose it with the least harm to their families and credit.
The program, which is scheduled to begin this month, will be offered through housing counseling agencies in each county and approved by the Florida Housing Finance Corp.
$20 of which will actually be spent on the “counseling” for each person, with the rest going to “administration” costs.
Is it safe to assume the stock market will at least double from its current level, if not surpass DJIA = 36,000, before the next significant correction?
Does your grandma use bath salts?
Aug. 2, 2013, 7:24 a.m. EDT
The return of ‘Dow 36,000’
Commentary: Why Wall Street is now betting on that infamous forecast
By Brett Arends
Remember “Dow 36,000”, that farcical piece of bull market baloney published in 1999?
Well, guess what: It’s back.
No, I’m not kidding.
Fourteen years ago, economists James Glassman and Kevin Hassett secured a certain place in history when they published their claim that the Dow Jones Industrial Average was heading for 36,000 in short order.
Their book of the forecast, “Dow 36,000 — The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming Rise in the Stock Market,” published six months before the market peaked, became a best seller.
The two gurus laughed all the way to the bank.
Main Street cried all the way to the poorhouse.
Today, it is like déjà vu all over again. Once again, people on the Street of Shame are penciling in a 36,000 target on the Dow. But this time there is a big difference.
They’re not so stupid as to say it out loud. Instead they are using it, in secret, as the central economic forecast on which your grandmother’s entire retirement plan is based.
Yes. Seriously.
Let’s use some basic math, shall we? Oh, and you had better sit down first. Grandma, especially. Make sure her smelling salts are near at hand.
…
I swear to god, this guy or someone else wrote exactly the same article when S&P reached 1600.
I’m guessing we might see updated versions in September, October, November and December as the S&P500 powers through 1800, 1900, 2000 and 2100.
Don’t question the bull. Just buy stocks and wait, and you will soon be richer than Croesus.
Why tie your money up in depreciating assets like real estate and yuppie cars when your money can work for you in stocks and double?
MARKETS
August 2, 2013, 5:09 p.m. ET
ETF Inflows Get a Boost From Rising Stock Market
Exchange-Traded Funds Benefit as Major Gauges Hit New Peaks
By CHRIS DIETERICH
CONNECT
Investors pumped more money into global exchange-traded funds in July than in any month this year, according to data from BlackRock Inc., (BLK +0.47%) the biggest provider of ETFs in the U.S.
July’s haul of $44.1 billion was the most since September 2012. The gains were driven by U.S. stock funds, which gathered $31.6 billion as major stock-market benchmarks reached all-time highs.
ETF flows are viewed as a gauge of active traders and institutions like hedge funds, as opposed to mutual funds geared toward retail investors.
The surge into ETFs that favor stocks comes after many investors were flushed out of fixed-income investments in June amid fears that the Federal Reserve could begin pulling back from its $85 billion monthly bond-purchase program. Bond prices have since stabilized.
“There was this massive fear about what’s going to happen when the Fed tapers,” said Keith Goddard, chief executive at Capital Advisors, an independent investment manager that oversees $1.2 billion in Tulsa, Okla. “We had a selloff and a mini correction, and once we got through that, it was a green light to get back into the market.”
Since fears of imminent Fed tapering have receded, U.S. stocks have advanced, often at the expense of once-hot markets in less developed nations.
“If there was a sentiment shift [in July], it was that people started to feel safe with the fact that Ben Bernanke clarified his position,” said Kanellas Cafcules, managing director of Cantor Fitzgerald’s ETF trading desk. “We definitely saw that the U.S. was the place people wanted to be.”
The biggest recipient of ETF inflows in July was the market’s biggest and first fund, the SPDR S&P 500 Trust, which took in $13.8 billion. The iShares Russell 2000, which gathered $2.2 billion as its underlying index of smaller-company shares surged to record highs. Among funds that follow stocks in a particular industry, most in demand were financial-sector ETFs, which took in $2.3 billion. Technology-sector ETFs grabbed $1.2 billion.
Bond ETFs also saw big inflows last month. Bond flows totaled $6.4 billion in July, compared with a record outflow of $8.4 billion a month earlier. High-yield bond ETFs grabbed up $2.6 billion, their largest inflow since February 2012.
“Flows were back into stocks and bonds,” Mr. Goddard said. “With equities and yields going up, it confirms the notion that we’ve seen our fears about changes in Fed policies, and it wasn’t as bad as we thought.”
…
Pimco Bets on Bonds After Worst Run Since 1994: Australia Credit
By Candice Zachariahs - Jul 28, 2013 7:33 PM PT
Australian bonds are attractive after their worst run of losses since 1994 because the central bank will need to lower interest rates as mining investment drops, Pacific Investment Management Co. said.
Pimco, which runs the world’s biggest bond fund, is favoring federal debt and taking positions in interest-rate swaps on expectations a U.S.-led run-up in global yields is at odds with the slowing Australian economy, said Adam Bowe, a Sydney-based money manager. Sovereign notes fell for a third quarter in the three months to June 30, matching the length of a more severe slump 19 years ago.
“We don’t think we’re at the end of the RBA’s easing cycle,” said Bowe. “The growth outlook over the next 18 months is quite challenging: first we get the leveling off in mining investment and then the level of investment will likely come down resulting in a potentially significant detraction from growth from that sector.”
Areas such as residential construction and commodity exports are unlikely to fill the gap left by declining mining investment, the biggest contributor to Australian growth last year, Bowe said. The extra yield the nation’s 10-year bonds offer over U.S. Treasuries is narrowing for a third year, heading for the longest stretch of annual declines since the early 1990s, when the smaller nation last experienced recession.
…
Why would anyone accept the paltry yields on long-term Treasury bonds (e.g. 10-year = 2.74%, 30-year = 3.77 on 8/01/13) in a rising-interest rate environment when double-digit returns are available by merely buying stocks and waiting?
The equity premium puzzle is back, with a twist!
Is it same to assume it’s different this time?
We enjoyed a lovely dinner for two last night in tony La Jolla. At the next table over sat a pair of Edward D. Jones stock traders and their spouses, and you could tell from their tones of voices that the recent stock market gains have been very, very good for their business. I so wanted to ask them if they thought this year’s ongoing bond market crash would be the kiss of death for the bull, but I held my tongue.
How many more shoeshine boy moments should I expect to count before the next crash?
In 2000 I was eating fast food near Oro Valley, a scenic part along the Catalina mountains north of Tucson. Some obese middle aged man and his nephew, maybe son, were at a nearby table scheming about real estate, some great deal they were about to do. I haven’t checked Tucson real estate in a couple of years but I think it flopped. I think it is 2000 prices.
Which goes back to the same fundamental question;
“How do you expect to earn a profit by paying retail prices for a retail item?”
you need some euphoria to get the sheep in at the top so wall street cant hand over their pieces of paper to them. Then the market will tank.
A large dose of euphoria coming right up. This euphoria is also know as “rising prices”.
Get the prices rising and the buyers will come out of the woodwork. The higher the price rise the greater the increase in “value”.
Doesn’t make much logical sense but there it is.
This wouldn’t work for consumption items but it works just fine for invetments.
Suck ‘em in today, shake ‘em out tomorrow.
Suck ‘em in by raising the price, shake ‘em out by lowering the price.
Churn, Baby Churn!
Disco Inferno!
Churn, Baby Churn!
If humans were logical one would be able to suck them in by lowering the price and then shake them out by raising the price, but one is not able to make much money in doing this.
But since humans are illogical - at least illogical when it comes to investments - they can be sucked in by raising prices and shaken out by lowering prices.
All one needs to do this is to be in the position whereby they can control prices.
(Anyone here familiar with the term “market maker”?)
It’s totally logical for all these bovine-brained buyers to either presume that the stock market will always go up, or else that they will be able to unwind their holdings before the next major crash.
In fact, they needn’t even worry themselves about the crash scenario, as the Fed has shown a repeated willingness to squelch the first sign of stock market weakness with a renewed commitment to QE3 forever.
“If humans were logical one would be able to suck them in by lowering the price and then shake them out by raising the price, but one is not able to make much money in doing this.”
That runs contrary to Wall Street’s ‘buy low, sell high’ business model. What works well is for the Fed to make low-interest loans through its discount window to the largest, most powerful (”too-big-to-fail”) investment banks at the moment the global economy is on its back and stock prices are in the toilet. After these investment banks load up on stocks purchased at fire-sale prices, the Fed can then pump QE3 money into the global economy, driving up stock prices in at a rate which makes greater fools want to snatch them up before getting priced out forever. Once share prices get high enough, it’s time for another cycle of crash, bailouts, and stock price reflation to begin.
In short, it’s a perpetual money machine for too-big-to-fail investment banks.
Aug. 3, 2013, 6:41 a.m. EDT
The Roller Coaster way to hedge the next crash
Commentary: Bull till 2015? Or worst-case scenario?
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Love roller coasters? Who doesn’t, right. Everybody does. We’re thrill-seekers. Makes you feel like a kid again.
Well, folks, you’re on the biggest ride in the world. Bigger than Six Flags Kingda Ka. And it’s going higher. Maybe a lot higher. USA Today’s hinting at 2,000 for the S&P 500 by 2014. OK, so Bond King Bill Gross tells us the 30-year bond-market cycle just peaked, back on April 29. But so what, he’s been wrong before.
This is a red hot bull rally. Chugging along nicely since March 2009. Got real legs. Makes you feel it can go on forever the way it just keeps laughing at doomsdayers like Faber, Stockman, Prechter, even Gross.
So you just kept climbing the great wall of worry. Climbing higher, we just love counting our winnings, trading, investing, adding new money, having a ball … up, up and away. Yes, investing’s a bit like going to Disneyland, any theme park, you go looking for thrills, chills and lotsa fun riding that roller coaster. Again and again.
Love the thrills and chills, exciting rides, the screaming, wind in your face, gripping the crash bar tight. The twists, spins, jerking wildly. Your heart starts racing just thinking about driving to the park, waiting in line. Breathing accelerates. You edge forward.
You’ve been here before. Love it. Wait in line. Anticipation builds as you share experiences about past rides, other parks, with wide-eyed kids, smiling friends, the folks in line. Yes, just thinking about roller coasters is thrilling.
Suddenly, you’re strapped, the first jolt, the hook engages. Then the creaking as the chains start pulling you up, up. Last-minute warnings of the risks. Then the clanking as your car is slowly pulled up the steep climb to the first peak.
Roller-coaster thrills and chills: Brains love it, never want to get off!
Suddenly, you’re on top, free, a winner, for a moment suspended in air. You’re at the top, yes, 1,700 in the S&P, 456 feet on Kingda Ka. Then in 3.5 brief seconds rocketing down to speeds of 128 mph on a 418 foot descent.
Yes, psychologically riding a roller coaster is like investing … both flood your brain with endorphins, adrenaline, Red-Bull jolts … once again, you’re optimistic, climbing further up that wall of worry … reinforcing feelings of power … maybe a minute up to the first peak on a roller coaster … compared to the long glacial 52 months since the last bear-market bottom … enough dips, twists, turns and returns to keep you thrilled and chilled … keep you in the game, playing … wanting more, more, more, as the excitement repeats, time passes.
You never want to stop … you’re feeding on the thrills, setbacks, challenges, new surges … then you actually begin believing it will never stop … S&P 2,000 next … you’re a winner, you picked right as the market more than doubled since 2009 … you’re convinced you really know the game now, after all these months learning the lessons, the head-fakes, picking the right stocks, sensing the cycles … you got the edge, a savvy investor beating the market, richer, smarter … you’re at the top of your game.
Then, a sudden, unexpected, something, catches you by surprise.
Something bad will happen
…
Buy physical gold bullion while buying low expense stock index funds. I like VEMAX. It is a dog relative to VSGAX, VTCLX, and VFIAX.
Since the stock market always goes up and the Dow is headed to 36,000, thanks in part to the Fed’s QE3 guarantee, why not use leveraged stock purchase to make yourself more richer sooner?
Aug. 1, 2013, 11:26 a.m. EDT
The hidden pitfalls of being tempted by leverage
Commentary: Long-term results of leveraged ETFs can be skewed
By J.J. Zhang
A common question for many investors is how to generate higher returns with the limited capital they possess. With the common belief that the market always goes up in the long term, the question of leverage naturally arise. After all, if over a 30-year time frame the market always goes up, why not leverage it?
…
Only with massive inflation.
As Kyle Bass said (paraphrasing), the best performing market in the world has been in Zimbabwe, the only problem is that now your portfolio only buys 3 eggs.
The day a large segment of the population truly believe the market is going to 36,000 without correction, is the day I go back to cash.
If you are feeling glum about the U.S. jobs picture, you can console yourself with the knowledge that at least the housing and stock markets continue going up like gangbusters!
Wages Fell in July as Hiring Slowed in Uneven U.S. Job Market
By Shobhana Chandra - Aug 2, 2013 9:00 PM PT
Employees took home less pay and worked fewer hours in July and job growth was the weakest in four months even as the U.S. jobless rate fell, underscoring uneven progress in the labor market.
“We are losing a bit of momentum in the labor market,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, a New York-based strategist at TD Securities Inc., which projected a 165,000 gain in payrolls. “Earnings were a bit disappointing. Consumers really need to see wage growth to help accelerate their spending.”
…
“We are losing a bit of momentum in the labor market,” ??
And getting close to heading into Fall…Then 4 months of winter…
Falling wages. Wasn’t that the name of a movie starring Michael Douglass in the 1990s, years of BRAC?
VEMAX is a good way to profit from your own outsourcing. Be the boss of emerging market employees.
Forget the military industrial complex. Far worse is the financial-surveillance complex, imo.
Just another side of the same coin.
Look at it as 10 cents a gallon less if you use cash. This is a good thing, signaling the unwinding of the credit society.
Dang. Should have posted in the thread below. Kitty on the keyboard scenario….
Gas stations on long island are charging 10 cents a gallon more if you use a credit card…hmmmm.
they do that here too. I guess the credit card companies charge the merchant so they pass it along to the consumer.
Gas has come down a bit to ~ 3.65 Seems to be a glut of fuel.
Most states its against the law to do that. In Texas, the offer a cash discount. I think it’s mainly to get you to go inside and buy coffee, cigarettes, beer or candy.
Pretty sure they imposed new credit card surcharge fees this year. It’s now legal for the merchants to pass it on to the customers in more states than not.
Same here.
Cash is king! Too bad that with the 2% payroll tax hike, we don’t have as much of the stuff available as we had last year.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
How to build your home from scratch for $35,000
CNN Tech | August 1, 2013 | Arion McNicoll
Imagine if it were possible to build your own home, in this day and age, for less than $35,000. Or to cut up some timber and piece your new home together like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
What if you could create, with your own hands, a home that collects its own rainwater and generates its own power, so you never have to pay a bill again?
As far-fetched as it sounds, if you can’t afford to buy a house, then designing and building your own may be more viable than you assumed. Today, upcoming architects and designers are coming up with solutions to the problem of rocketing property prices, by building houses of their own and sharing their plans on the internet.
In the UK, a young architectural practice has devised the world’s first ‘open-source’ building. Made of simple materials and freely available plans, the ‘WikiHouse’ was conceived by English designer Alastair Parvin as a low-cost solution to the global housing shortage.
The aim of the project is to allow anyone in the world to design, share, download, adapt and ‘print’ a house that is inexpensive and tailored to their own needs…..
“from scratch” LOLZ
Anyone saying they did anything “from scratch” is BSing you.
Incredible story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss
http://www.DickProenneke.com - “Alone in the Wilderness” is the story of Dick Proenneke living in the Alaska wilderness. Dick filmed his adventures so he could show his relatives in the lower 48 states what life was like in Alaska, building his cabin, hunting for food and exploring the area
dj, thanks for posting. I have really enjoyed watching the Dick Proenneke series, very inspiring. Never could have done it myself, but he was made of the stuff that many pioneers were.
Liberals done believe you can do anything on your own. You need their “help” ALL the time. Let’s celebrate the NANNY state!!!!
It’s usually business that lobbies for laws and regulations to prevent competition.
“Don’t” believe
Yeah. The nanny state that requires structures be safe, solid and fit into the neighborhood aesthetic. Imagine that.
If you build houses that aren’t safe, solid and look good nowadays you won’t be in business long regardless of the nanny state.
^lolz
KB Home is still in business, despite their debacle down here. Can’t believe anyone would buy one of their homes, but they count on people from out of town not seeing the local news reports.
http://www.bradenton.com/2012/08/02/4139297/willowbrook-residents-ask-kb-home.html
Of course, KB delays everything by suing the subcontractors.
Add Perry Homes to that list of dangerous and shoddy construction.
Wiki House is alright, but Facit Homes is much better.
I am reading Theodore Roosevelt’s history of the Naval battles of the War of 1812. He states that some consider the revelation of the truth to be unpatriotic, and he mocks that idea.
The first casuality of war is the truth.
A lie is just another weapon that is employeed in order to win.
“The first casuality of war is the truth.”
+1
Spot on Combo….
Teddy was the first US President to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Unfortunately, his peace plan deeply embarressed and angered the Japanese and lead directly to the Japanese hostilities of WWII
“lead directly…”
Wow, and it only took about 40 years….
this is disturbing…i hope they get to the bottom of it…his last email read: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit.
http://www.sandiego6.com/story/details-of-reporter-hastings-death-remain-elusive-20130708
and while i’m on the subject:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fbi-shows-journalists-home-over-164136848.html
Quote:
If your vehicle is equipped with MBRACE, data is transmitted in the event of an accident.”
The manual continues: “The wireless devices of this vehicle comply with Part 15 of the FCC Rules Operation and is subject to the following two conditions: 1) These devices may not cause harmful interference, and 2) These devices must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
“I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit.”
That smoldering body in the crumpled car was a homeless person with a civil judgement who was foreclosed after living high on the hog using HELOC money. Michael Hastings needed deep cover to work on his upcoming story about Goldman Sachs cornering the market on the air we breathe. Details at 10:00 with sexy Lauren Lyster. Stay tuned!
Famed Non-Automotive Journalist Michael Hastings Turns A C250 Into A “Bomb”
By Jack Baruth on June 19, 2013
The writing-about-writing crowd is abuzz with discussion about the rather unusual death of Buzzfeed/RollingStone/Gawker writer Michael Hastings. Mr. Hastings, whose name is never mentioned in the press without the immediate mention that he was “the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal”, died in a single-car accident in Los Angeles yesterday morning. This in and of itself is not unusual, but the circumstances of the crash and its aftermath won’t do anything to quiet the conspiracy theorists who are already claiming that the military-industrial complex found a way to cap the guy.
The definitive video of the incident can be found here. It features everything you’d want in a crash story, including:
•The ejected motor and transmission (seen above)
•Video of the car burning with the fury of a thousand suns
•A man holding a goat in his arms and stroking it to keep calm as someone else discusses the incident
•The mention of Mercedes-Benz
I’m here to state that I’ve seen dozens of cars hit walls and stuff at high speeds and the number of them that I have observed to eject their powertrains and immediately catch massive fire is, um, ah, zero.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2013/06/famed-non-automotive-journalist-michael-hastings-turns-a-c250-into-a-bomb/ - 249k -
George Carlin speech at a Press Club luncheon. He disliked euphuisms and spoke of our govt and their manipulation of the English language. Carlin was great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc0ZHsoHAlE
No foul language, just food for thought. All true.
Excellent!
combo and all
one h*ll of an enlightened man
Politician exposed :
miscommunication
twisted my words
blown out of proportion
and when the heat is on:
I’m looking into it
I’ll get to the bottom of this
and get the truth out to the American people
and when busted:
it was someone in my office
what ever happen to innocent until proven guilty?
Boy did Carlin nail politicians. Funny stuff and SO true. He was a smart guy, the Mark Twain of our time.
And to think this was before 9-11, before the ipod….before the iphone, before fiber optic cable…heck in 1999 the really big deal was DSL….
“…our govt and their manipulation of the English language.”
Got affordable housing?
“If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?!”
Any suggestions about Carol Quigley?
Would you suggest this to a black person who wants to understand white history?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynVqPnMQ2sI
I would suggest this to any person who has trouble falling asleep.
Then check out Hillary Clinton admits the CFR gives the Orders and Ron Paul explains the Council on Foreign Relations below. Imagine, Dick Cheney and Hillary on the same page. They own both parties.
“Any suggestions about Carol Quigley?”
Yup, read his books or watch the youtube vid you posted.
“Would you suggest this to a black person who wants to understand white history?”
I would suggest this for any person who wants to understand world history (but be prepared to get called names).
But now you know where all those programs to “help” black people came from. Now you know who benefits from racial tensions. Now you know whose idea it was to ship out the U.S.jobs. Now you know who wants to ban rifles with 30 round mags from law abiding U.S. citizens and why. Now you know who paid for the Stones.
Georgia Guidestones
The Georgia Guidestones is a granite monument in Elbert County, Georgia, USA. A message clearly conveying a set of ten guidelines is inscribed on the structure in eight modern languages, and a shorter message is inscribed at the top of the structure in four ancient languages’ scripts: Babylonian, Classical Greek, Sanskrit and Egyptian hieroglyphs.
History
In June 1979, an unknown person or persons under the pseudonym R. C. Christian hired Elberton Granite Finishing Company to build the structure.[2
A message consisting of a set of ten guidelines or principles is engraved on the Georgia Guidestones in eight different languages, one language on each face of the four large upright stones. Moving clockwise around the structure from due north, these languages are: English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
1.Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2.Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3.Unite humanity with a living new language.
4.Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
5.Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6.Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7.Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8.Balance personal rights with social duties.
9.Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones - 67k
Thank you for your response phony scandals.
Although all people need to become smarter, I think Quigley’s work is especially helpful to black people who need a “language” to think beyond the concept of white supremacy.
Not only does Quigley’s work provide a good reason why white supremacists would give nonwhite people the right to vote; but it also shows why racial solidarity in any form (especially among white people) must be crushed if collectivism is to succeed.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if it took a holy racist to save mankind from total and complete enslavement?
Ironic? So why did we kill bin laden?
what are you talking about, he’s not white.
How democrats view money.
They have a right to take it - all of it.
They never stop - do they?
How we all end up like Detroit.
—————–
Rep. Ellison: ‘There’s Plenty of Money, It’s Just The Government Doesn’t Have It’
CNSNews | Aug 2, 2013 | By Eric Scheiner
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) told a gathering of Democrats, “The bottom line is we’re not broke, there’s plenty of money, it’s just the government doesn’t have it.” Ellison was discussing his ‘Inclusive Prosperity Act’ measure at the July 25th Progressive Democrats of America roundtable in Washington.
“The bottom line is we’re not broke, there’s plenty of money, it’s just the government doesn’t have it,” Ellison continued, “The government has a right, the government and the people of the United States have a right to run the programs of the United States. Health, welfare, housing – all these things.”
Buy physical gold bullion. Guard it with guns, ammo, Dobermans. 10 to 20 percent of your net worth should be in this insurance. It is insurance, not an investment.
“The government has a right, the government and the people of the United States have a right to run the programs of the United States. Health, welfare, housing – all these things.”
The government has inflated these programs making them more expensive than if they had done nothing. Today’s losers are not healthier, still rely on welfare and still require housing aid.
Hillary Clinton admits the CFR gives the Orders - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba9wxl1Dmas - 146k - Cached - Similar pages
Jul 22, 2009
Ron Paul explains the Council on Foreign Relations and the New …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4L7GKSfsDQ - 136k - Cached - Similar pages
Jan 22, 2012