Bits Bucket for September 4, 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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I still can’t get over the sheer number of rental listings in the Washington DC area. Page after page of houses listed by the same people. “Rentals by Eddie!”
Good houses at good prices move quick but most of these places are sitting. Some people apparently believe they can buy up crap houses, install the cheapest of appliances and a cheap wood floor, and charge a premium. Many of the of the landlords are delirious. $2500 for a junky, 60 year old brick box with tiny rooms, radiator heat, and window units? $3500 because you took the same house and put a fake, McMansiony facade on it?
If I had the time I’d try to trace the money behind these new slum lords and find out if it’s individual investors or the big boys.
But this is what HGTV taught me on how to “Flip that house”
Remember - a new crappy electric stove adds $10,000 to the equity of the house (and $500 to the rental bill)
Had an opportunity to sack out in front of HGTV recently. Their newest schtick is to ratchet up the drama by limiting the reno time: “You have 48 hours to renovate this bathroom or else one of you gets voted off the team,” “We have to buy a house before the wedding,” “We’re doing a reno in a five-hour dinner date window,” “Go away for the weekend and your house is done when you get back.. surprise!,” and the worst “We have to renovate/buy/sell before the baby comes [show growing baby bump].”
Even House Hunters has gone soap opera.
Dump HGTV. Switch to BBC Amercia. Messing around with cars and other vehicles means that they are doing it in interesting places (Vietnam, Spain, etc.) not generic suburban America/Canada. And it is a lot funnier.
Sorry, I left out that I mean switch to Top Gear on BBC America. “The Worst Car in the History of the World” was a very funny episode.
They’re just trying to generate cash flow until they can sell down the road at a higher price. It doesn’t much matter if they let these places sit vacant, as there is less wear-and-tear on a flip home with no occupants.
This sounds like my in laws or parents. It’s not the big boys, they don’t use stupid names and they actually fix things up pretty well. And yeah, LL’s will respond to what tenants want. For some reason, tenants often care about how a place looks rather than if it has forced air with a good duct system vs baseboard/radiator heat. (Some old houses are hard to do w/ ductwork bc of the interior layout and the materials used - lots of plaster, brick, concrete block.)
And LOL @ anyone paying extra for a new electric stove. Shows how out of touch 2Banana is. If you have an electric stove, even renters will LOL at you. Electric stoves are SPS, big time. Same for water heaters. The only exception is if you have a tankless.
Can’t really follow you there Joey. Next time wait until the bus stops before you thumb in a comment.
Maybe he forgot his headgear before he got on the shortbus today.
Electric stoves are SPS,
Somali Postal Service?
SPS is “shit poor shit”.
Artful, I know.
We bought an LG suite for our home. The digital temp. control of the stove top is fantastic. Cleaning the glass top with a sponge beats our former gas stovetops.
I cook most of my meals on a little stainless marine propane gas grill attached to the railing on deck. It works great and all I have to do is go over it with the wire brush after every steak, burger or kabob. It’s a great unit, but depreciates completely in about 10 years.
Blue
Sounds good. You evidently have the perfect living arrangement for yourself for now. Enjoy!
Caught any tasty fish lately?
Yes I have indeed. Life is good.
Blue
Every night we walk down to our local duck/geese/fish pond and watch people of all ages catch and mostly release. When a fish is worth eating (big enough), they catch to chow. One day I’m going fishing!
We feed the ducks and geese oats cereal. Way fun. The little rascals are cute.
We walk an hour every night. The hell w/ the treadmill on a warm summer night, fresh air rocks. I’m envious of ya, Blue.
^^^^
LOLZ
Do not be envious of me. By your standards I have very little and want even less. Your distraction by things that are practically free is only momentary and will be washed away by the joy of posessions that cost a lifetime of hard labor.
. “Rentals by Eddie!”
I told you EddieTard is a fraud.
“With 25 million excess, empty and defaulted houses and another 35 million houses to be vacated as boomers die off, what do you think is going to happen to housing prices?”
Interest rates are going up. And when interest rates go up, house prices go up.
Buy now or be priced out forever!
“Interest rates are going up. And when interest rates go up, house prices go up.
Buy now or be priced out forever!”
But… Ahhhhahahaaa! I get it! Its a joke, right? Its like, ‘What kind of moron would buy a house when prices are rising’. Good one. Both witty AND humorous. Its like going to a car lot and having the salesperson say, ‘We’re needlessly jacking the price of these things up every 2 hours, so you’d better buy one right now!’ And then the idiot would say, ‘ Oh really? Then I’ll buy TWO!’ Funny stuff. Good times.
Well most people laugh at those who buy sector mutual funds or insurance (precious metals) when their prices are tumbling. More often than not they are wrong.
And the corollary, most people double down or more their investment when prices are rising on some asset. LOL. That is why we had to go through TARP, HAMP, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE…. so that your tax money would bail them out.
except if you don’t realize any gains, no realization, no tax!
Good morning HBB. I just googled “housing market”. Oh well.
Sacramento’s frenzied housing market becomes more settled
Sacramento Bee-Sep 1, 2013
Prices shot up this year faster than anyone predicted because of a tight supply of homes for sale and heavy competition from investors and …
Peoples Home Equity Bullish Chicago Housing Market
PR Web (press release)-13 hours ago
Peoples Home Equity, a lending organization located in Oakbrook, IL is bullish on the Chicago housing market as median home prices …
Rising prices, tight supply complicate house hunting
Boston Globe-Sep 1, 2013
Tight supplies have made house hunting difficult for Carrie and Rich Garfield. The couple has lost out in three bidding wars on homes in …
For Washington area, real estate market turnaround is in full swing
Washington Post-Aug 30, 2013
Five years after the housing market collapsed, sending the economy tumbling with it, here’s what recovery in the Washington area looks like:
Healing Housing Market Fuels Construction Spending in July
Wall St. Cheat Sheet-18 hours ago
Construction activity in the United States continued to gain steam in July, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The seasonally adjusted value
Barrington Realtors celebrate uptick in housing market
Barrington Courier-Review-19 hours ago
That was the good news shared Aug. 28 as North Shore Barrington Association of Realtors members were honored at a luncheon at the Chevy …
Advent of seller’s market seen for Staten Island real estate
SILive.com-Sep 3, 2013
homes.jpg Among the homes for sale on Staten Island is dwelling at 71 Oxford Place in Tompkinsville. Realtor Greg Sokol and Traci Cangiano …
Forest Lake housing market continuing to recover
Minneapolis Star Tribune-Aug 31, 2013
The housing market in Forest Lake has turned a corner, with existing home sales rising to levels not seen since the housing boom in 2006, …
Chinese Home Prices Outpace Construction
Wall Street Journal-by Esther Fung-Sep 2, 2013
The pent-up demand driving China’s housing prices ever higher was on full view at the launch of the manicured Shanyucheng apartment …
Tallahassee Housing Market Rebounds In First Half Of 2013
WFSU-Sep 2, 2013
One obvious measure of a city’s economy is its housing market. It’s a good time to buy a house in Tallahassee—if you have cash or if you’re …
Canada’s housing market among most ‘bubbly’ in world, Economist …
The Globe and Mail-1 hour ago
Canada’s housing market is still among the frothiest in the world, more than a year after the federal government moved to head off a bursting
What does SD’s all-cash housing market mean?
U-T San Diego-by Lily Leung-Aug 31, 2013
Nearly 30 percent of San Diego County homes sold in July were purchased with cash, much higher than the historical average of 16 percent.
Online Housing Market Flourishes
AllAfrica.com-Sep 2, 2013
HOUSE and land prices are galloping to an all-time high, mainly fuelled by an influx of non-resident Ghanaians and foreigners,malcU1g …
Rising Interest Rates and the Fate of the Housing Market
TIME-Aug 28, 2013
The U.S. housing market is still on a hot streak, as evidenced by yesterday’s Case-Schiller housing numbers which showed home prices rising …
Yet housing demand is at 14 year lows…. and falling.
Seems like the “housing market” is big news all over the globe.
Does anyone recall how exciting this topic was twenty or thirty years ago (before the Housing Bubble)?
In short: NOBODY GAVE A DAMN.
Exactly. That alone signals something is seriously wrong with today’s housing market which is talked about every single waking moment. When houses became speculative “investments,” everything changed.
“something is seriously wrong…”
How about that the houses are way too expensive?
Not as bad here as in some places though, like Brazil.
With a debt based economy, we need stupid expensive housing so that households will have an asset to borrow against.
How else is the money going to get created so that the few can accumulate it?
Darryl: blah blah blah…. ____ (insert misrepresentation here), blah blah blah….___ (insert lie here).
Thats you Darryl.
If you take the time and effort to type your above response, you might as well include what you think the misrepresentation is. No?
And look who shows up defending.
“With a debt based economy, we need stupid expensive housing so that households will have an asset to borrow against.”
How’s that plan working out for the California homeowners who bought in 2006 and are still 50% underwater seven years later?
We had to burn the village down…
In order to save it.
—————–
In 13 States Plus D.C., Obamacare Will Increase Individual Health Premiums By An Average Of 24%
Forbes | September 4, 2013 | Avik Roy
As of September 4, the bulk of the data we have is from the subset of Democratic-leaning states that decided to set up their own insurance exchanges, instead of letting the federal government do so on their behalf. (Of the 13 states plus D.C. for which we have the required data, all but one — South Dakota — voted for President Obama in the 2012 election.)
While these mostly-blue states will see an average premium increase of 24 percent, the impact of Obamacare is highly variable. Nine of the states will see increases on average, and five will see decreases on average. New Mexico, Vermont, South Dakota, and Connecticut will see the steepest rate hikes: on average, 130, 97, 83, and 59 percent, respectively. Four states will see meaningful declines in rates: Maine (71 percent), Colorado (34 percent), Ohio (30 percent), and New York (27 percent).
american exceptionalism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_(PPP)_per_capita
Not to worry. Everyone will just buy insurance from the exchanges in Maine. Yep, across state lines. See Alena’s posts from yesterday.
I’m so happy to have another expense forced on me. Just like these guys:
‘The unions were a key ally in the passage of the Affordable Care Act. They spent a large sum of money on the congressional campaigns of Democrats in 2006 and 2008, and union leaders lobbied in favor of the health care reform in 2009 and 2010. But labor has grown increasingly worried that the law’s provisions will prompt employers to trim workers’ hours and tax the union-negotiated health plans, forcing workers off their union health plans and onto Obamacare’s potentially more expensive insurance exchanges.’
‘When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act, you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat,’ read their July letter. ‘Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.’
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/unions-our-obamacare-pleas-have-fallen-on-deaf-ears.html/?ref=YF
But….but, Ben! I thought Obama was a political genius!
Polly’s right. Ethics and morality mean nothing in Washington. Politics is all that matters there.
Funny how the typical Washington response to bad policy is to talk up a favored one’s brilliant political maneuvering.
Better to run the country into the ground than allow your sworn enemy score a basket. Right?
The Neocon-Progressive Party runs the country.
Conservatives are more than happy to live under the same laws they want for every citizen.
Liberals/progressives assume they will be exempted from the laws they want for the “little people” and get very upset when they have to live under the same laws they wanted for everyone else.
Really? When? In 2016 after rates in lower cost states are forced upwards to be much more in line with rates in the most expensive states?
Your (and apparently ahansen’s) views are incredibly naïve on this particular matter.
ObamaCare was written and enacted by the Neocon-Progressive Party. Don’t ever forget that.
Do not question Our Savior. He will wave his magical statist wand and all problems will be solved.
My predictions:
Hillary is elected president in 2016.
Obama becomes head of the UN.
Bloomberg becomes head of DHS.
Hillary dissolves USA sovereignty.
Obama is anointed Marxist dictator of the world.
Bloomberg confiscates all the guns.
All white males are forced into gay marriages.
All white females are married off to coloreds.
Within a few decades, all white people are eliminated.
This is what Obama wants.
Here’s what I know. I don’t have health insurance because I can’t afford it. So now I will be “taxed” if I don’t buy something I can’t afford, and the cost of this insurance will almost certainly go up. I’m simply overjoyed…
Yes. And in another Brilliant political move, he has further weakened the United States in his waffling response to all things Syria.
No matter what the US does now, we lose. If we do nothing, we come across as a dog with its tail between its legs (which clearly is Obama’s goal). If we do something, we come across as Bush.
Some here thinks this equates to Brilliant Politics. I don’t.
I think it equates to just the opposite. If one thinks Brilliant Politics leads to Power, then Obama has curbed it considerably for his own Neocon-Progressive Party. (Fantastic! - a dull, dyed-in-the-wool Socialist might say. See- Obama IS brilliant!).
No, he’s not.
It’s a funny thing among Socialists. They believe that a powerful, central government results in increased power.
Real, lasting power does not come through threat, regulation or surveillance. Such tactics diminish power.
That Obama favors issuing threats, regulations and surveillance against “his” people (domestic imperialism) rather than other people (foreign imperialism) doesn’t change the end result. Imperialism over time tends to destroy wealth, power, influence of the imperialist.
Projection of power is costly, whether done militarily OR legislatively. Considering the sheer size of the United States, the cost of Obama’s domestic imperialism quest may indeed finish off Pax Americana. And then what?
Don’t fret, Ben. Polly, sloth and oxide will ensure that your increased taxes will be put to better use.
For example, the IRS legal defense fund needs a boost. Your money can help replenish the kitty. Heck, maybe it’ll help an IRS manager artfully circumvent the law a second time.
Importantly, it could be used to support Obama in his quest for Political Brilliance.
His Brilliance needs to steal your money (alas, his Brilliance has yet to find a way to generate a profit on his/its own so it/he must steal).
Some may even get to spend your money on some paperclips for their woefully under-funded office.
That you pay lots of money for nothing is besides the point.
What IS the point is that the recipients of your money don’t need to spend as much of theirs.
GOT IT?
Domestic imperialism rapes the masses.
I’m not that worried about it cuz if I’m having trouble seeing how I’ll make it work, I’m pretty sure there are a few million like me. Basically, it isn’t going to work IMO.
I don’t have health insurance because I can’t afford it. So now I will be “taxed” if I don’t buy something I can’t afford, and the cost of this insurance will almost certainly go up. I’m simply overjoyed…
My brother in Massachusetts has been in that fix, for some years now.
Of course it’s not going to work. That’s the plan.
Do nothing, Ben, and you will automatically have health insurance at $95/month or 1% of your declared family income — whichever is lower (at the lowest penalty rate) starting in October. To those who are currently paying for your share of our public health system, that looks like a real bargain.
For you, of course, it’s another tax imposition — assuming you don’t get in a head-on with a drunk or fall off a ladder on your pelvis; but then, you never know….
If some sort of coverage is automatic, then why is there an IRS fine for anyone who does not sign up for insurance?
How do you think they fine you?
something like this from CNN:
“Under the new rules, individuals choosing not to carry insurance are subject to a penalty of $95 per person each year, or 1% of household income, whichever is greater, beginning in 2014. Over time, the penalty increases, so that by 2016 the penalty is $695 per person, or 2.5% of household income. Subsequent years will be calculated based on a cost-of-living formula.”
Actually, Wonkblog covered that a while ago. Someone else can check, but my recollection is that they can’t do any collection activity other than withhold tax refunds to cover the fine, so if you are very careful with estimated taxes and/or withholding, you won’t actually pay it. Of course, you will have to be that careful for a very long time, but that is what I am remembering. No recollection if accumulated fines can come out of SS when that time comes.
posted a reply but it did not show up yet. Google IRS penalty obamacare. The IRS would collect in their normal ways I would think.
OK, this is rather old, but it is after the bill passed, so it should still be accurate about what can’t be done:
The individual mandate will be phased in between 2014 and 2016. The new law says that if you don’t buy health insurance, you’ll have to pay a fine of either $695 or 2.5 percent of your income, whichever is higher. People who don’t earn enough to pay income tax or who, if forced to purchase health insurance, would end up spending more than 8 percent of their annual income, are exempt.
What if your failure to obtain health insurance means you owe the penalty but you nonetheless refuse to pay it? That’s where things get tricky. The IRS can’t throw you in jail, because the health reform law explicitly states (on Page 336): “In the case of any failure by a taxpayer to timely pay any penalty imposed by this section, such taxpayer shall not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalty with respect to such failure.”
Nor can the IRS seize your property, because the law states (also on Page 336) that the health and human services secretary may not “file notice of lien with respect to any property of a taxpayer by reason of any failure to pay the penalty … or levy on any such property with respect to such failure.”
full article here:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/prescriptions/2010/04/maybe_the_individual_mandate_is_enforceable.single.html
“All white males are forced into gay marriages.
All white females are married off to coloreds.”
Is this part of the HUD forced diversity plan?
And here I thought the bill was written by lobbyists, and not even read by those who voted it in, nor the President who demanded its passage.
But both parties are to blame!
———————
Obamacare passed the House on March 21st, 2010 with 219 democrat votes and ZERO republican votes
Obamacare passed the Senate on December 24, 2009 with 60 democrat (and independents who caucused democrat) votes and ZERO republican votes
Obamacare was signed into law by President obama on March 23, 2010.
So - who OWNS obamacare?
“who OWNS obamacare?”
Unitedhealth
Wellpoint
Kaiser
Aetna
Humana
HCSC Group
Coventry
Highmark
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Cigna
Health Net
Regence
Carefirst
Wellcare
Ding ding ding!
Well played, Gary–precisely correct.
Read it in a HBB article link, Kaiser is 1200% above its required legal reserves, yet they jacked up premiums again. $12B in reserves isn’t enough?
We need REAL reform. Obamacare isn’t.
When Kaiser hit $1,200+/mo for an individual plan for 2, we had to bail. We started at $500ish. Very year without fail they pumped it. Non-Profit, my arse.
Non-Profit is a license to steal for the healthcare companies. Their CXO’s pay should be regulated.
In the USA, we spend more than $7500 per person, per year.
So, a plan for 2 people would cost $15,000 a year. So, yeah, $12,000 a month.
It seems to me that ANY solution on healthcare should start with the question “Where does the money go?”
“WHY does it cost twice as much to provide healthcare to an American than someone in ANY other country?”
BUT none of the “solutions” have EVER started with that question. Hmmm… I wonder why?
2 possibilities that is see.
1) The People that are on the receiving end of the spending provide lots of campaign contributions to politicians to ensure that the “solutions” do not start with a comprehensive analysis of WHY the current costs are so high.
I.E. Instead of starting with the question “How do we get more people insured?”, we start with the question “How do we get more people insured without cutting the profits of the people that got us elected?”
2) The reason we look for “solutions” is to increase the profits of those profiting off the current system, NOT actually get more people insured.
I.E. “How do we increase the profits of the people that got us elected, while pretending that our goal is to get more people insured?”
I think the Dems are #1, while the Republicans are #2.
“Gary Condit”
Now there’s a name I haven’t seen in print for ages. Got interns?
“Now there’s a name I haven’t seen in print for ages. Got interns?”
+1 Who is taking his conduit these days?
Yet, my premiums have gone down 3% in the last billing cycle….
I don’t have any premiums. And I’m wondering where the money is going to come from to pay for this thing. Can I put it on a credit card?
I don’t know the rules…does your income level qualify you for subsidy? Or are you in one of the growing number of donut holes, where your taxes go to pay for something for someone else, but you can’t practically afford it for yourself at your income level? I’m fortunate that I get my healthcare from my wife’s employer (who is VERY pro-employee). I can see how you are thrilled…
“Can I put it on a credit card?”
What about those who don’t have credit cards, and simply don’t have the extra cash for some mandated health care? Are they going to be fined, then sent to collections with their credit driven further into oblivion? Is the government going to place liens on any property they own?
It can’t be that hard to join a Mennonite church and be excluded.
People who don’t have insurance are dumping on those that do already. Most people who get sick even without insurance get treated. Drug companies hospitals doctors etc charge paying customers more and give care to those that don’t have insurance. They write it off as charity which reduces tax bills. People without insurance end up on Medicaid when they get sick paid for by the tax payer.
Not many people who are uninsured decide to get no therapy when push comes to shove and they get sick.
“I don’t have any premiums. And I’m wondering where the money is going to come from to pay for this thing.”
I haven’t had health care for 20 years, I certainly can’t afford it. But based on my 20,000 annual income, it will only cost me $100 a month with reasonable copay and maximum out of pocket limits. I realize that if you make 70K or more per year, it might not be such a benefit, but if you do make that much, you can probably afford health insurance.
If you haven”t checked it out, go here:
https://www.healthcare.gov/ and go to “see my options”.
wall street journal - obama’s economy hits his voters hardest:
‘according to a new report on median household incomes by sentier research, in 2012 millions of american voters apparently cast ballots contrary to their economic self-interest … those who were most likely to vote for barack obama in 2012 were members of demographic groups most likely to have suffered the steepest income declines … in the four years between the time the obama recovery began in june 2009 and june of this year, median black household income fell by just over $4,000, hispanic households lost $2,000 and female-headed households lost $2,300 … this is a stunning reversal of the progress for these groups during the expansions of the 1980s and 1990s’
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323324904579042830303535934.html
more hope and change
‘huge leaps in the income and wealth of the top 5 percent mask the decline of income and wealth of the bottom 95 percent. average all wealth and income and it appears the economy is expanding to the benefit of all, when in fact only the top 5 percent have escaped the recession; the recession never ended for the bottom 95 percent.’
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/09/01/recovery-recession-economy/2748843/
I clicked thru to see what income was the cutoff for the top 5 % and see that the chart this is based on only goes up to 2008. When did the recession begin?
While I agree with the sentiment this story is stretching its facts.
This is a trend that goes way back and with technology and endless labor in the world willing to work for peanuts it won’t change until we change our trade and tax and bailout policy. The rich will have none of that. Expect more poverty. Where will future demand come from is what I want to know.
If you are black you must vote for the black guy. Otherwise you are a traitor.
Race or ethnicity based group politics is far worse than interest based politics.
The party of the Working Man doesn’t exist (and if it did someone would object to the “man” part as sexist).
Egad, do you need a tune-up, goon?
To the more discerning eye (which, alas, apparently you do not possess) it is quite obvious that the Evil Whitey side of Obama is winning out. Otherwise, blacks, Hispanics and women wouldn’t be losing ground.
Your racis - ism is showing its abhorrent head. Cut it off.
hope and change
‘the u.s. economy looks headed for a rough autumn, with slowdown threats looming from the housing market, the middle east and washington.
oil and gasoline prices are rising and could shoot up further if western countries launch military strikes on syria, pinching u.s. consumers who do not have much disposable income to spare.
in washington, the federal reserve could be poised to start winding down its latest round of monetary stimulus as soon as this month.
it also looks increasingly likely that democrats and republicans will allow the federal budget cuts known as sequestration to persist for another year, even as the economy is showing more strain from the sequester this year.
the typical worker’s income has fallen since the recession ended more than four years ago, and the economy, still far from full employment, is creating far more low-paying jobs than good-paying ones. polls show that workers remain discouraged by the economic picture, with more than half believing the united states is still in recession.’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/for-workers-and-the-economy-autumn-could-be-scary/2013/09/03/26448f9e-118a-11e3-85b6-d27422650fd5_story.html
hope and change
‘paul, who is an all-but-certain 2016 presidential candidate, is the most high-profile voice opposing the idea of using american military might to punish syria for an alleged chemical weapons attack against its own people the obama administration says killed more than 1,400 people — a stance that not only sets him against obama but also puts him on the opposite side of many within his own party.
win or lose on the coming votes, paul has already succeeded at one level. he has installed himself at the center of a critical foreign policy debate that has both short and long term impacts and consequences — and in so doing has presented himself in a very real way as a different sort of republican spokesman/candidate.’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/09/04/the-most-important-moment-of-rand-pauls-young-career/
there’s that word again…alleged.
wow
a candidate that doesn’t want to bomb the world into oblivion
for fiscal discipline
for popping the housing bubble
yeah but…
He doesn’t want the government to pay for abortions one second before birth and call it a celebration of woman’s rights
So we will vilify him.
permanent democrat supermajority:
‘boston public schools will begin serving free lunches to all students this school year even if families have the financial means to pay, school officials are expected to announce tuesday.
the meal program, more than a year in the making, is part of an experimental federal initiative that aims to make it easier for students from low-income families to receive free meals by eliminating the need to fill out paperwork, including potentially invasive questions about income.
cities such as atlanta, detroit, and chicago have been or will be participating in the free-meal program. starting next school year, the program will be open to any school district across the country with high concentrations of students from low-income families. the cost of the free meals will be covered by the federal government.’
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/09/02/boston-public-schools-will-offer-free-lunches-all-students/2aaUy5sxJjIak9ndGDHxkJ/story.html
even if families have the financial means to pay
What’s the end goal here?
what’s the end goal here?
increasing the numbers of the free sh1t army who when they turn 18 will vote 100 percent for the democrat party. the public education system isn’t about edumacating the youfs, it’s a taxpayer funded babysitting service for the products of low-investement parenting, with free bekfusses and obamaphones for all.
forward
and transporation company.
the public education system isn’t about edumacating the youfs
Another example of the failure of our edumacation system: The plural of youf is “youf”. IIRC, “youfs” is the dual form.
What’s the end goal here?
Well-nourished kids.
The free school lunches will come in Happy Meal boxes with a picture of Obama on them to remind those kids who their daddy is. Every one of them will grow up to vote Democrat in every election. When Obama dies, all the white people will be put in chains and forced to build pyramids and monuments by hand to celebrate and memorialize the Dear Leader.
Nevermind that the majority of free lunchers are white.
‘the majority of free lunchers are white’
not for long…
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/u-census-minority-babies-now-majority-surpassing-whites-144319476.html
“Nevermind that the majority of free lunchers are white.”
+1 Certainly true up here in Flyoverville, and based on girth none of ‘em [need] that lunch.
What is the breakfast in Detroit? Bricks and ashes?
Detroit’s 500,000 black voters delivered over a million votes for Obama in each of the last two elections, therefore they get steak and lobster for breakfast.
If Ian Fleming was alive today, he would have called America the $hit Finger…everything it touches turns into $hit.
Special report: We all thought Libya had moved on – it has, but into lawlessness and ruin
Libya has plunged unnoticed into its worst political and economic crisis since the defeat of Gaddafi
independent..co..uk..
“Libya has plunged unnoticed into its worst political and economic crisis since the defeat of Gaddafi.”
How about BECAUSE of the defeat of Gaddafi.
Not saying Gaddafi was a great guy but he did keep the country together. Now that there is nobody to keep the country together the country is falling apart. And It will continue to fall apart until another strong man emerges who will be able to put it together again and keep it together.
And this new guy may make everyone wish that Gaddafi never left.
(Nothing new here, really.)
Hope and change for Libya…
Kinda like hope and change for health care.
Yes, but is the oil still flowing? Don’t forget about the oil.
Let’s see…
We deposed Saddam and his oil producing country turned to chaos.
We deposed Gaddafi and his oil producing country turned to chaos.
We deposed Mubarak and his oil producing country turned to chaos.
We deposed Saleh and his oil producing country turned to chaos.
We deposed Ben Ali and his oil producing country turned to chaos.
Maybe we WANT oil-producing countries in chaos?
I guess big US oil is selling risky assets.
“Shares of Apache (APA) are rising again after Friday’s big gain following its announcement that it had sold a piece of its Egyptian business to China’s Sinpoec (SHI).
Siemens AGCanaccord’s Robert Christensen Jr. and Sam Burwell explain why the market has reacted with a big gain for the independent oil producer’s shares:
While we were aware that APA was intent on “validating the value of Egypt,” the timing and the solid valuation it received come as a pleasant surprise. This sale, along with the previously announced sale of the Gulf of Mexico Shelf, will enable the company to pay down debt, repurchase additional shares and leverage itself ever more to its US onshore “nucleus.
Even better, Apache could convince Sinopec to take some of its Argentine assets off its hands, the analysts say. They write:
APA has now raised $7B in 2013. However, it mentioned the Egypt deal was only a “first step” in its partnership. We believe Sinopec could buy an interest in Argentina, which we had already identified as a divestiture target.
Christensen and Burwell raised their price target on Apache to $113 from $106. The stock was also upgraded to Buy at Mizuho today.
Apache’s shares have gained 0.9% to $86.46 in early trading this morning, while Exxon Mobil (XOM) has risen 0.5% to $87.61, Chevron (CVX) has advanced 0.4% to $120.90 and ConocoPhillips (COP) has ticked up 0.5% to $66.63.”
We deposed Mubarak and his oil producing country turned to chaos.
All hail Obama for that one. In any case, Egypt was and is doomed to chaos. The only way “we” could have prevented that would be with massive cash subsidies, a burden recently taken up by some others.
Hey, we have to sell all this obsolete military hardware to SOMEone…
Lets go back a bit further(say 60-70 years) and look for the common thread to all of the current cluster f*cks that are occurring in these countries. If you answered England, you get the oil soaked cupie doll prize. Most(if not all) of these countries were colonised by the British during the 1st half of the 20th century. England force fed western politics and culture to a people that were tribal, self sufficient, and reasonably functional for thousands of years. The “blowback sh*t”(in my opinion) has been hitting the fan over the past 20-30 years as the result of the british exploting these territories and then leaving them to be run by fascist regimes under the careful eye of the USA, who essentially picked up the baton from jolly ‘ol England. England got the early spoils. USA got sloppy seconds, and now it’s time to do the dishes. The problem is that the dishwater is very dirty and there are lots of sharp knives at the bottom of the sink. Sub Saharan Africa is a wash, rinse, repeat of what is going on in the middle east.
+1 Good post!
Oh, man, that post is AWESOME! I’ve been thinking and saying this for a LONG time about England. They try to say that England is the US’s poodle, but it’s the other way around and has been for a while. Also note that England dumped the responsiblity for Israel on the US as well.
Yup and don’t forget the maps drawn by drunk Churchill.
Great insight!
And if you look at the financial innovation taking place England now is where it was in oil 7o years ago. There is video (no link) that shows a country’s slow demise - one would mistakenly assume that it was the USA, but it really highlights England’s history over the past 200 years. I need to look for that video.
1) Hit hornet nest with a big stick.
2) When hornets begin swarming, kill a few.
3) Let a few stay alive so there will be more to hit with sticks down the road.
‘ lawlessness and ruin
Libya has plunged unnoticed into its worst political and economic crisis’
Just like Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s almost like it was planned or something.
As I said yesterday, golden boy is not to be confused with FPSS, who has no political agenda other than equal opportunity mockery.
And a far more snarko-eloquent style of writing. Also gb didn’t take the exotic food bait, an obvious tell.
Mockery, darlings, like schadenfreude is severely underrated.
PS :- Chicharrón is fried pig-skin. Cue Homer Simpson. Are we experiencing a shortage of pork-rinds in this country? Since when?!?
PPS :- Delicious, Filipino-style dipped in cane vinegar with large quantities of booze.
Please somehow convince us that you are not the golden boy!
“Also gb didn’t take the exotic food bait, an obvious tell.”
Never mind; already done…
Thank the gods you’re back. All is right wid da woild…
If Ian Fleming was alive today, he would have called America the $hit Finger…everything it touches turns into $hit.
It’s kind of been that way since Vietnam.
And the really funny thing? The other nations, they don’t see our imperialism as Republican vs. Democrat policy.
They see it as American policy.
Ian Flemming would probably appreciate America’s overseas undertakings as it would give him plenty of ‘real-life scenarios’ to immerse his Bond James Bond characters in.
sweet.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics-live/the-senates-syria-hearing-live-updates/?id=ed01ca14-222b-4a23-b12c-c0b0d9d4fe0a
what a friggin’ douche.
Meghan McCain should be the first one sent into combat in Syria.
Pleaseohpleaseohplease….
the black sea fleet is moving to the med and mccain is caught playing poker on his iphone during the hearing.
This was being spun as a positive on the radio in Phx yesterday. He’s so far ahead of the others on Syria that he’s playing poker waiting for them to catch up!
megalomania more like it.
just remember…this is the same genius whose housing policy consisted of the U.S. goverment subsidizing mortgage payments to prop up housing values because a foreclosure hurt everyone on the block.
No one is swayed by what the politicians say in public. All the real info and deal making is behind closed doors.
The public part is just politicians rambling so they can get their opinion “on the record” as being for or against.
Apparently one of our key trading partner’s police interrogations can get a bit rough.
4 September 2013 Last updated at 06:06 ET
Chinese official Yu Qiyi ‘drowned by investigators’
File photo: Yu Qiyi poses for a photo at an exhibition held at a hotel in Beijing, 2 September 2012 Yu Qiyi was detained for internal investigations for more than 30 days
A Chinese official who died during interrogation was allegedly drowned by Communist Party investigators, a state-run newspaper has reported.
Yu Qiyi, who was the chief engineer of a state-owned company in Wenzhou, died on 9 April.
His head was held in a tub of icy water by six investigators attempting to extract a confession, the Beijing Times reported, citing prosecution documents.
The investigators will be tried for intentional assault, the report said.
Mr Yu’s head was submerged under water several times during his interrogation on the night of 8 April, the newspaper reported on Wednesday.
He was taken to hospital, and died in the early hours of 9 April, the report said.
An image published on the Beijing Times website of a document recording the coroner’s appraisal of Mr Yu’s death said the official died after inhaling fluids that caused his lungs to malfunction.
Photos published by the Beijing Times also showed several bruises on Mr Yu’s body.
The story appears to have been previously published on state-run news agency Xinhua’s website as well. However, the link to the story now leads to an error message saying the article has expired or been removed.
…
Those Chinese, they copy everything we do!
Those Chinese, they copy everything we do!
I hate to think of what happens when Chinese investigators “grill” a suspect.
“The losses associated with buying resale housing at current massively inflated asking prices is irrecoverable.
Rental rates are half the cost of buying.”
Correct.
That explains why housing demand is at 14 year lows… and falling.
Yeah right demand at 14 year lows and falling. My neighbor sold his house within three days of listing. I just pulled some equity and bought a pair of jetskis for the lake house. Have fun playing X-Box in Mom’s basement for the rest of your life!
‘John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band’
Your name changes are getting boring. How about, ‘Miley Cyrus’ tongue is not her most attractive feature’?
I heard a guy on NPR say her tongue thing was like watching a bear with honey on his face.
Darryl Liberace suits him perfectly.
Other than the Fed, who is buying long-term bonds now?
S&P500 is now at 1644. Why would a drop below 1600 qualify as news?
Sept. 4, 2013, 9:54 a.m. EDT
Pimco Total Return Fund sees 4 months of outflows
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By Ben Eisen
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Pimco’s signature Total Return Fund (PTTRX -0.28%) experienced $7.7 billion in customer redemptions in August, extending withdrawals to a fourth straight month for the bond fund, run by legendary manager Bill Gross, according to Morningstar estimates Wednesday. Investors also pulled $7.5 billion in July, $9.6 billion in June, and $1.3 billion in May as bond yields turned sharply higher on fears that the Federal Reserve would scale back its easy money policies. The Total Return Fund returned negative 1.07% in August, under-performing the negative 0.51% recorded by the benchmark Barclays Aggregate Bond Index. Estimated year-to-date outflows for the fund are at negative $23.2 billion, or 8.2% of assets at the end of 2012, according to Morningstar data.
experienced $7.7 billion in customer redemptions in August, extending withdrawals to a fourth straight month for the bond fund,
As long as investors don’t redeem more than $85 billion/month, things should be just fine–think of the Fed as the cashier’s window at the casino that cashes people out.
Proof the Bond Bull is Over: PIMCO Selling Hedge Funds
by Barry Ritholtz - August 29th, 2013, 7:29am
If you have been seeking unequivocal proof that the 30 year bull market for bonds is over, look no further than this WSJ headline: Bond-King Pimco Plans to Push ‘Alternative Funds’.
Think about what this means: From 1980 to 2013, PIMCO enjoyed three decades of rising bond prices — read falling interest rates — and accumulated a massive pool of over $2 trillion in assets under management (AUM). Founded in 1971, the firm rode the bond Bull better than anyone else. The bond bull also led them to manage the world’s largest mutual fund, their Total Return Fund, which has amassed $242.7 billion in assets.
…
Other than the Fed, who is buying long-term bonds now?”
Deflationists ? You know save your money you are going to need it..
I think the FED will push inflation on the economy for longer than usual being so afraid of deflation they will risk inflation above what is prudent.
Prudent? How much theft is “prudent”? How much wealth transfer to the banking clan is “prudent”? Deflation is the best thing for the rest of us.
‘How much wealth transfer to the banking clan is “prudent”?’
If you are the Fed and the banking clan owns you, the evident answer is ‘quite a lot of wealth transfer is “prudent.”‘
“Commuters who drove between Oakland and San Francisco on the Bay Bridge before the sun came up on Tuesday only had glowing things to say about the $6.4 billion engineering masterpiece, which took more than a decade to build and came in at $5 billion more than first projected.”
Juxtapose this investment with Bernanke’s $85B per month, or the two and a half middle east wars, oops…soon to be three, but costing $ billions per month. That new SF to Oakland bridge sort of put the value back in the dollar.
I thought they were gonna save money on that bridge because it was Chinese made?
So the government promised the taxpayers to build a bridge for $1.4 billion…
And the actual cost came in at $6.4 billion?
And we wonder why no one trusts the government?
Another questions for liberals/progressives.
If someone gove you $10,000 that you must invest for retirement.
Would you out it into your social security “account?”
Or into your own 401k/IRA in your own name and your own investments?
That bridge would have built itself if Romney was president.
‘Juxtapose this investment with Bernanke’s $85B per month, or the two and a half middle east wars’
‘if Romney was president’
You forgot they bailed out the banks.
It’s really weird any more. You can’t make me pay back what I borrowed; they bailed out the banks! So what if things are screwed up; Romney! You don’t want to bomb Nowherestan? 9-11!
So the government promised the taxpayers to build a bridge for $1.4 billion…
And the actual cost came in at $6.4 billion?
FWIW, the bridge wasn’t built by the government, it was built by private contractors who lied about the cost to build it. And one of the lies was that by buying a Chinese bridge they would save money.
it was built by private contractors who lied about the cost to build it.
Contracts can be written in such a way that contractors bear the risk of bidding errors, rather than the taxpayers.
Why don’t we do that, you might ask yourself?
We might also ask whether any contractor would have agreed to a fixed-price contract on such a complex project.
They wanted a more expensive bridge…they could have built a cheaper design…but they didn’t.
If the darn contractors were required to deliver for the amount of money they bid, we would find out very quickly what the real estimate to build is. I know the obstacles (the first time anyone actually tried to enforce a contract, the contractor would just declare bankruptcy) are large, but there has to be a way. If the contractor has no risk of losing money, then they aren’t really a contrator - just a subdepartment whose expenses get put on a different line than the other departments. Oh, and they get paid more.
(the first time anyone actually tried to enforce a contract, the contractor would just declare bankruptcy) are large, but there has to be a way.
I’m sure the Chinese have a way around that obstacle. I very much doubt the USA would.
That’s BS. Contractors do not get paid more. Federal employees get 15 weeks of annual vacation and valet parking and unlimited free refills and retire at age 31 with pensions of 150% of their highest salary. It’s all true I read it on Breitbart.
Correction: Federal employees get 53 weeks of annual vacation.
Anyone who earns income from the government is a government worker.
It’s all “paid” by an entity that doesn’t generate a profit.
If the government generated a profit, that bridge would not have been $5 billion over budget.
And the actual cost came in at $6.4 billion?
+1 True. However, we have a bridge that might last 40-yrs.
What are we going to get for our $ trillions spent in the middle-east?
They could have built a cheaper bridge that would have lasted just as long. But they “needed” something pretty, because SF has the Golden Gate, and Oakland deserved something pretty.
Having been in the oil and gas mechanical contracting business the “lift” is truly surprising. Sure contractors are always looking for extras, but four times quote is ridiculous.
Anyways, why didn’t the city enforce a performance bond at 1.4 ?
Yes contractors will go bankrupt to dodge their responsibilities, but only can do that when their customer doesn’t do his job properly.
http://home.comcast.net/~david.goodyear/wsb/Bay-Bridge-IABSE-CS.pdf
“The single-tower cablestayed concept was chosen for its architectural statement, as it was clearly the most dramatic presentation when site models were developed. However, the extreme seismic criteria for the Bay Bridge site resulted in close scrutiny of system ductility under lateral load. Our commitment to the Client was to offer a single-pylon system that could achieve the same reliability as that of a traditional portal tower. This reliability was achieved with an innovative pylon link system that is described later in this paper.”
“The design combination of composite deck, shear-linked tower and splayed cable configuration represents a unique and progressive solution which is a departure from the classical design approach of a cable-stayed bridge. The innovations in this design were developed in response to the challenges of design for the unique seismic demands and architectural requirements of this bridge site. Of particular note is the excellent performance of the shear-linked pylon design, which contrasts sharply with the conventional approach of weak-column/strong beam used in seismic design of contemporary bridges. The superior performance of the weak-beam solution allows all ductility to reside in replaceable steel links, greatly improving the reliability of the vertical load carrying tower sections. The resulting structural system improves performance over traditional solutions, and provides a new benchmark in major bridge design for cable-stayed structures in regions of extremely high seismicity.”
Sounds to me like they spent the money building a new mousetrap, when a traditional mousetrap would have worked, but wouldn’t have made the appropriate “architectural statement”.
With the engineering problems they had in building the project, it took more time (ie. money), and they had to troubleshoot along the way.
The fault lies with the brilliance of using taxpayer money to experiment with a new solution (single tower) to an old problem (earthquakes)…for the sake of architecture.
There are other issues with the new bridge, but they will studied and solved over the years by upcoming engineers, and in the end we will be wiser and have a bridge with intrinsic value despite the cost overruns.
“Corrosion plagues new Bay Bridge span”
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/18/5431401/corrosion-plagues-new-bay-bridge.html
‘If someone gove you $10,000 that you must invest for retirement.
Would you out it into your social security “account?”
Or into your own 401k/IRA in your own name and your own investments?’
Obviously we all would be better off if Social Security were shut down and everybody’s money was handed over to Wall Street…
“Obviously we all would be better off if Social Security were shut down and everybody’s money was handed over to Wall Street…”
+1 You’re on a roll, stucco.
“Houses are never investments. They are depreciating assets.”
Exactly.
They’re an expense for owner occupied houses. They’re an expense for tenants. They’re a business for LL’s.
And they depreciate…. rapidly. Add in multi decade financing and the losses are magnified tremendously.
Depreciation can be your friend if you’re an LL. You use depreciation aggressively to wipe out any taxable profits over the years and then when you remodel, you do it better and jack the rent up. You are right that this only works if prices don’t key-raaaaater.
Mout buyers (suckers) aren’t landlords thus the losses are massive.
“Depreciation can be your friend…”
Rot and decay are not your friend. Find different friends.
Rot and decay aren’t depreciation. They are deterioration if you insist on a word starting with “d” that has a lot of syllables in it.
Depreciation is a technical accounting term and is largely unconnected to the physical condition of an item.
WRONG.
Yet you’ll insist that the word never existed until AICPA was founded in 1887.
They developed the word? Really? Of course not. You know what depreciation means. Why misrepresent it?
There is a difference between a depreciation allowance in the tax code and the depreciation itself. The depreciation of my comment is not appreciated.
When you pay rent, you’re just paying your landlord’s mortgage.
When you buy a home, you build equity with every mortgage payment.
Why buy when renting is half the monthly cost? Buy later after prices roll back to trendline at 1997 prices or 70% lower.
I bought a home and now I can paint the walls any color I like.
And I don’t have to listen to neighbors in other apartments, and I can play my Creedence tapes as loud as I want!
Yes .enjoy the losses
You’re just sour grapes cus you can’t afford to buy a house and will spend the rest of your life in Mom’s basement.
I would love if, 10 yrs from now, “must buy a house” logic became a laughing stock bc all the neckbeards living in their parents’ basements end up better off than the debt donkeys who got married, bought a house, shitted out 2 kids, and then divorced.
It would be awesome if neckbeards end up buying McMansions for 65% off, basically.
Who wants McMansions? I just want a fat stack of Mr Money Mustache passive income and to go live in a van down by the river.
Mr Money Mustache passive income
I thought he was a landlord.
Mr Money Mustache passive income
I thought he was a landlord.
I don’t think Mr. Money Mustache subscribes to the “houses always depreciate” meme.
shitted out 2 kids
Don’t forget to thank your mom on Mother’s day for “shitting you out”.
That said, I agree that a lot of people have no business getting married, and shouldn’t.
mr. money mustache ‘works’ on his rental properties and ‘works’ as a landlord, which he admittedly enjoys and does not consider work.
living off of dividends and municipal bonds sounds better than having to deal with tenants and maintenance.
“shitted out 2 kids”
I just knew this whole gay marriage thing would not end well.
BRAIN BLEACH!!!
LL’ing really isn’t work unless you’re a d-bag about it. Some people feel like they have to be d-bags about it because they really don’t own the house - the bank does. Moreover, bad landlords usually have very bad mortgages where they’re underwater or the rental payments don’t cover PITI.
Now I know where Mr. Hankey came from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qhDyM-knNs
Thank you Suite Joey for introducing the term “neckbeard” here to the HBB. Reddit will rule the world.
Mortgage/Purchase Applications Sink
http://www.inman.com/wire/purchase-apps-slip
The stock market always goes up, in the long run. Buy stocks and guarantee yourself the path to riches!
Sept. 4, 2013, 8:30 a.m. EDT
You’re a sucker to believe Wall Street
Commentary: What were advisers saying five years ago?
By Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
Bloomberg News/Landov
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — You’re a sucker to believe Wall Street’s current mantra that another Lehman Brothers-like collapse is not in the cards.
I say that not because I think such a collapse is imminent, though I am less sanguine than many right now. The reason I say we shouldn’t believe Wall Street is that they were also telling us not to worry five years ago, right before Lehman declared bankruptcy.
• Need to Know: Crucial gut checks before the U.S. markets open
Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. That, in turn, triggered the near collapse of the entire financial system: The stock market quickly entered into one of its worst two-month stretches in U.S. history.
If ever there were a time for Wall Street’s gurus to warn us of the impending doom, that would have been the time.
Click to Play
Hulbert: Be choosy when investing in emerging markets
Marketwatch columnist Mark Hulbert explains that when investing in emerging market stocks, it pays to be choosy.
But that’s not what I found upon reviewing what the several hundred advisers I track were saying in those crucial weeks prior to that financial tsunami. On the contrary, with very few exceptions, they were remarkably complacent at that time — if not downright upbeat.
Consider the following sampling of comments from late August and early September of 2008:
I could go on and on, but you get the point.
…
I know your statement about stocks being the path to riches is laden with sarcasm, but I recall hearing just this weekend that the long-term returns of the stock market dramatically outpace that of home prices.
The punchline was that a home is a place to live, not an investment…if you want to invest, look other than housing.
True…if it comes down to a choice between buying stocks or investing in housing, stocks win hands down.
“Mortgage Defaults Skyrocketing”
http://www.billsbills.com/blog/mortgage-defaults-skyrocketing-hamp-has-failed
Default is what happens when the price of housing is grossly inflated.
Zero Hedge
Housing Affordability Plummets
The following chart from Bank of America shows that while as a result of record low interest rates housing affordability until very recently was at record highs (if mostly for those with access to subsidized REO-to-Rent loans or the 60% “all cash” flippers/buyers), this index has plunged in recent months, is back to 2008 levels, and has effectively trimmed its spread to the long-term historical average by half.
Who cares about affordability? Obama is gonna provide free housing for all:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/08/obama-administration-using-housing-department-to-compel-diversity-in/
Unaffordable means bigger loans, and that means more money creation, and that means the economy can function a little bit longer despite the massive imbalances.
is you hood “normalizing” sacramento is.
still hot hear in fx co s of DC
Homebuyers in Cleveland can get $15,000 toward down payment
Article didn’t specify if the “assistance” was a grant or a loan. Lots of Cleveland homes aren’t worth even $15,000.
Only bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes can lead us to prosperity…
———————–
Study: Right-to-Work Laws Lead To More People, More Jobs and Higher Pay
CapCon | 9/1/2013 | Jarrett Skorup
States that have passed right-to-work laws have seen increased employment, higher pay and expanding population, according to a new study.
The report, released today, analyzes data from a 64-year period, 1947-2011. The year 1947 is when federal legislation first allowed states to give workers the choice of whether to financially support unions as a condition of employment. The study is co-authored by Michael Hicks, an economics professor and director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University, and Michael D. LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
“It is impossible to totally disentangle right-to-work from every other business friendly policy,” Hicks said. “That being said, the best studies in this area acknowledge that right-to-work laws are really the king of business friendly policies.”
“There was and remains a lot of debate over whether or not right-to-work laws are economically beneficial,” he said. “We believe our study confirms that right-to-work laws have a measurable and positive impact on the economic well-being of a state and its citizens.”
The report looked at how much of an effect right-to-work laws had during three different time periods. The data show that from 1947 to 1970, there was no statistically significant impact of these laws in states that had them. From 1971 to 1990, however, right-to-work laws increased average annual employment and personal income growth by almost 1 whole percentage point and population growth by 1.3 percentage points in these states. From 1991 through 2011, the effect of worker freedom laws was less than the previous period, but still positive and statistically significant.
http://www.policymic.com/mobile/articles/14007/food-stamp-use-is-highest-in-red-states-the-truth-republicans-do-not-want-you-to-know
+1 I see toothless Oregon is maxed out on that chart.
No fraud here…
————–
Former Home of Kwame Kilpatrick’s Sister Now Asks $40 K
Curbed - Detroit ^ | September 3, 2013 | Sarah Cox
When last we heard of 7435 LaSalle Boulevard in Detroit, it was busy going into foreclosure in 2010. At the time, disgraced Mayor Kilpatrick’s sister, Ayanna, and her husband owed more than $210,000 on a mortgage. Now for a mere $40K, you can own the home where Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick once shoved two county sheriffs handing a family friend a subpoena! The 3,500 square foot abode has four bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 2 half bathrooms, and a two-car garage. The price is $39,900.
7435 La Salle Blvd
Taxes are about $3,000/year or 7.5%
But you get a lot of city services for that insane tax rate…
“According to a new report on median household incomes by sentier research, in 2012 millions of american voters apparently cast ballots contrary to their economic self-interest … those who were most likely to vote for barack obama in 2012 were members of demographic groups most likely to have suffered the steepest income declines.”
Oh come on. The Republican perspective is that those who have experienced income declines are a bunch of moochers who should be even worse off.
You must be pretty smart to be plugged into what 100 million people think!
Not to mention that the statement assumes things would have been better under Romney.
Worse now than 6 years ago does not prove that thing would have been better had Romney won.
I’m so sick of this “It’s Bush’s fault vs. It’s Obama’s fault” BS.
40 years ago we embraced trade imbalances. 30 years ago we embraced unsustainable debt growth as the solution to the stagnant economy caused by the trade imbalances.
30 years of debt based economy, we increased each household’s share of total debt from 2.5 x median household income to 6.7x median household income.
Our current economic troubles are not the fault of the current clown, now were they the fault of the last clown.
It is the fault of all of us that the believed the lies of the clowns that were in charge 30-40 years ago.
Now, those lies are believed so strongly by the masses that ANY attempt to point out the flaws in the 30-40 year old lies is met with disbelief, angry counter attack, and accusations that you simply must be insane.
Heck, people can’t even accept where money comes from and why it has value.
cast not stones if thou liveth in a house of glass. Yours is one of the worst understandings of money to date.
The Housing Crime Syndicate dominates the discussion on every single internet media outlet except for one.
Guess………
Let me guess…
… the one where some guy using the name Housing Analyst:
1) Talks to himself, posting the same comments, and his agreement with his own comments, like EVERY day.
2) Insists on destroying his own credibility by repeatedly posting statistics that are so laughably wrong that a smell test shows them to be off by an order of magnitude.
3) Won’t answer questions, just responds with ad hominem attacks.
4) Refuses to spell peoples’ name correctly.
5) Accuses those who generally agree with him, of being housing pimps, simply because they don’t agree with his obviously BS assertions.
Tell me, Housing Analyst- I was listening to NPR this morning while enjoying a chai latte and getting ready for pilates and the discussion revolved around housing. Near the end of the segment, the host pointed out that a person can always refinance a loan at any time in the future to take advantage of interest rate fluctuations, but that a buyer can NEVER renegotiate a grossly inflated purchase price. Can this be true? Is this where the term, “f@cked buyer” originated?
That’s like spotting a white whale.
“That’s like spotting a white whale.”
+1 Indeed. Unfortunately most economists are looking the wrong way through the proverbial binoculars, so the whale goes unnoticed until it can’t be avoided.
Indeed it did B&G Guy.
You see…. we work hard and are diligent in our research and are the originators of and developed the f&cked borrower profile. There are millions of them. The street nomenclature is sucker. 60 millions suckers who will never recover the losses on what is always a depreciating asset.
So…. If I were to buy a house today and for the next 6 months interest rates remained stable, but the comps in my neighborhood went down because others were lowering their asking price, I couldn’t just go to the bank and demand that they change the terms of my loan? They have to change my loan don’t they- my house is now essentially ‘worth’ less than what I paid for it!
But wait…. Didn’t the realtor tell you that housing is an investment and it always goes up?
So how did this massive loss on a house happen??????
HA
I was thinking about you at lunch today. A friend and I were discussing our remarkable timing (she called it), I called it luck, that housing bounced, it came down another $100K, and we found our home at a decent entry point. We got another $20K off that. All things considered, we have no regrets.
I am smitten over the Sears and Montgomery Wards (Ward Way) kit homes (built up to 1940). The more I study them, the more intrigued I get. Maybe we’ll buy a Craftsman and be bi-coastal.
You got ripped off in the neighborhood of $200k.
Now what are you yammering about?
Beer & Cigar Guy, why would the others in your area just give their houses away?
There is a government program which can force a farmer to hand over nearly half of his or her annual crop without getting paid for it.
The removed crop is put into a national reserve.
It’s not corn, the nation’s No. 1 crop and a commodity which can move markets. It’s not soybeans, wheat, cotton or even rice.
It’s raisins.
Under a World War II era program, raisins can be forcibly set aside under the Raisin Marketing Order to help support prices. Other crops have had similar set asides over the years, but nothing has survived like the raisin reserve.
In the past, “We got paid for our raisins,” said fourth-generation California farmer Laura Horne of the program. That changed a little over a decade ago. Now the USDA can take the grapes without paying a dime.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101007496
Is there anything where prices aren’t manipulated in this country. This committee doesn’t even pretend to be about anything other than raising prices. Not like the ethanol mandates.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101009051
Article from CNBC on land prices.
What’s Really Going On With California Housing
Why are foreclosures falling dramatically in CA? Because law firms have paused to determine the impact of CA going from a non-recourse state recourse. There are millions of defaulted properties with defaulted borrowers still living in the house.
Don’t be fooled.
And at the national level, because California is so disproportionately large when compared with the rest of the country, foreclosure numbers also dropped significantly. It’s not because foreclosures slowed down everywhere, it’s because California’s drops had huge impact on national averages.
“Best Explanation on the Fake Housing Market Recovery I’ve Seen”
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/best-explanation-fake-housing-market-recovery-ve-seen-162530153.html
First the HBB, then Mark Hanson, then Ritholtz…… now it’s gone mainstream.
The dead cat bounce that was falsely characterized as “the housing recovery” is now under the full control of gravity.
For a “best explanation” it is exactly what everything else is saying.
Private equity firms raised billions of dollars and bought tens of thousands of houses.
End user demand has remained soft.
Looking at the Federal Reserve Z.1, we see business debt increasing hundreds of billion a quarter, while household debt remains flat to down.
Now the private equity money is slowing, the weak end user demand is falling, and private equity that bought up the houses is going to have a hard time renting them all out.
Price gains have slowed and will likely turn flat to negative.
The job market sucks, with no reason to believe it will be improving anytime soon.
Government borrowing and spending has been the only thing keeping the economy from crashing, but patience is running thin and spending cuts are inevitable.
The real root cause of our troubles are the trade imbalances, but all indications are is that we’re going to continue to embrace free trade and our WAY too flat tax code.
No Darryl,
“End user demand” for housing is at 14 year lows… and falling.
And the root cause of our troubles is liars like you.
“Private equity firms raised billions of dollars and bought tens of thousands of houses.
End user demand has remained soft.”
Next up:
1) Private equity firms dump en masse in a futile attempt to lock in gains which morphs into a race to the exits.
2) Recently mortgaged end-user buyers discover they were left holding the bag.
3) Cascading debt default to depression when the mortgagees realize how far underwater they are.
Each year there are fewer people with jobs. The unemployment number looks kind of stable because we stop counting those out of work past their benefits running out. Those that do have jobs generally are working shorter hours and making less money. Many of the jobs have been GovStim make work jobs. Interest rates near zero for years and people can’t pay their debts down. Meanwhile the cost of food and fuel has gone up 50 to 80% in the past few years. This is what a depression looks like.
“This is what a depression looks like.”
Do depressions normally feature rising home prices?
“This is what a depression looks like.”
My wife commented recently on the number of Cadillac Escalades parked at the apple orchards, which have been harvesting.
San Jose CA One Of The Top Dirties Cities In America
http://local.msn.com/americas-12-dirtiest-cities
Wow, seven out of twelve in California. That should make prices climb higher.
Guess what, average investors? YOU’RE TOAST! THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE. GETOVER IT!
Sept. 4, 2013, 12:01 a.m. EDT
Pimco sitcom: dreamer Gross vs. worrywart El-Erian
Commentary: If these guys can’t agree, average investors are toast
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Yes, the fighting’s on at Pimco, the $2 trillion money manager. The two leaders of one of America’s most powerful money firms, Bond King Bill Gross and CEO Mohamed El-Erian, sound like parents at war on a television sitcom. One an aggressive optimist. The other a pessimist who even calls himself a “worrywart.”
What should you do? Go to your room and put the covers over your head? Maybe. If these guys can’t get their act together on a strategy going forward, if they seem to be fighting about what to do with two trillion dollars, what chance do you have? Little to none.
Seriously, this is crazy-making. What a year. Pimco’s squabbling parents are a microcosm of the bigger picture. Stocks hot. And unpredictable. Volatile. Politics driven.
Stay tuned. In next week’s episode it will get worse. More fighting. Everybody jumps in. The volume ratchets up. Congress returns. Politicians go ballistic with war, the deficit, debt ceiling, immigration, health care, government shutdown and more parental stuff in a totally dysfunctional uncertain world.
Yes, crazier: Bond King Bill Gross already announced the end of a 30-year bull run in bonds. Now Gross is driving his $2 trillion Pimco bus into bigger, bolder, more complex “alternatives,” maybe hedge funds, commodities, real estate, high-yield bonds, distressed debt — riskier stuff like derivatives “linked to interest rates, currencies, mortgages, credit and commodities,” says Kirsten Grind in the Wall Street Journal.
But doesn’t that sound a little like the same kind of shadowy casino betting that triggered the 2008 Wall Street banking meltdown?
…
Wall Street is a rigged casino.
“It’s going to be great for our military to able to send vehicles into combat without people in them,”
Real life Roblox — here we come!
That post was a misfire; meant for the story below on the military Robocars…
All war all the time:
‘A Pennsylvania congressman caught a cutting-edge ride to the airport on Wednesday. Rep. Bill Shuster, a Republican from Altoona, made a 33-mile trip from Cranberry Township to Pittsburgh International Airport at about 11 a.m. in a computer-operated car.’
‘Shuster said he can now imagine a future where such vehicles enter the mainstream, potentially reducing accidents, fatalities and congestion on roads. But there’s also a military angle. “It’s going to be great for our military to able to send vehicles into combat without people in them,” Shuster said.’
‘The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency began holding competitions for driverless vehicles in 2004, and a Carnegie Mellon team won the 2007 race, along with a $2 million prize.’
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/computer-operated-car-transports-pa-congressman
And this:
‘Facebook, Twitter and Google have been caught snooping on messages sent across their networks, new research claims, prompting campaigners to express concerns over privacy. Cyber-security company High-Tech Bridge set out to test the confidentiality of 50 of the biggest internet companies by using their systems to send a unique web address in private messages.’
‘Experts at its Geneva HQ then waited to see which companies clicked on the website. During the ten-day operation, six of the 50 companies tested were found to have opened the link.’
High-Tech Bridge chief executive Ilia Kolochenko said: ‘We found they were clicking on links that should be known only to the sender and recipient. If the links are being opened, we cannot be sure that the contents of messages are not also being read. The fact that only a few companies were trapped does not mean others are not monitoring their customers. They may simply be using different techniques which are more difficult to detect.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2407949/Test-reveals-Facebook-Twitter-Google-snoop-emails-Study-net-giants-spurs-new-privacy-concerns.html
‘We found they were clicking on links that should be known only to the sender and recipient. If the links are being opened, we cannot be sure that the contents of messages are not also being read. The fact that only a few companies were trapped does not mean others are not monitoring their customers. They may simply be using different techniques which are more difficult to detect.’
Anybody who uses Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, or Twitter on the assumption that their privacy is protected IS A COMPLETE MORON! How else do you think companies whose supposed business model is based on clicks and eyeballs could make gobzillions of dollars besides selling your data to spies?
Yeah but advertising is one thing, this is intrusive. No one gave permission to open links.
My point is that I was perpetually mystified for years over how firms like Google or Yahoo could possibly make gobs of money with their “clicks and eyeballs” advertising model; maybe the fact that I never, ever bought a single item that I saw advertised on Google, even though I use their site on a daily basis, tipped me off.
But now that the cat is out of the bag about all the snooping these firms are doing, I can better understand how they stay afloat. For heaven sakes, if high school graduates can pull down six figure incomes handling top-secret data for the NSA, just imagine how much Google can get paid for handing over your personal gmail to Big Brother?
“The fact that only a few companies were trapped does not mean others are not monitoring their customers.”
Some cybersnooping operations are slicker than others, I guess?
“It’s going to be great for our military to able to send vehicles into combat without people in them,” Shuster said.
Will we have to bow in reverence for an empty carriage?