Bits Bucket for October 12, 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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“Houses are never investments. They are depreciating assets.”
Exactly.
“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?”
Foreclosure moratoriums in all 50 states and one of the main reasons housing prices haven’t collapsed entirely.
Is default on or off the table?
How to Handle a Debt Default. You Know. Just in Case.
By Ben Steverman - Oct 11, 2013 10:29 AM PT
On the ninth day of Shutdown I started to freak out.
Should I sell my stocks? What do I buy? I pictured my portfolio trashed, me without a job, my 60-something parents’ retirement delayed, the economy in chaos. The misery of 2008 and 2009, only worse.
This wasn’t like me. I’m an experienced personal finance reporter in my 30s who has absorbed, and given, many a lecture on staying calm in the face of fear. Now, at least in the investment world, I couldn’t seem to find anybody as agitated as I was, and that was agitating me. The stock market sits complacently near an all-time high. Where were my angsters-in-arms? I even got a pitch from a public relations firm letting me know of a financial adviser who could comment on “how to handle a government default.”
How to handle a government default?
While my head was filling with apocalyptic visions, Wall Street and Washington seemed to expect a last-minute deal. My worry was that the last minute would be too late, crushing our reputation as a haven, already shaken in 2011’s near-default. The U.S. Treasury might be able to avoid default without Congress’s approval, but not without sparking a deep recession.
In 2007 and 2008, I interviewed more than a happy few economists and strategists who kept saying it was going to be fine. Just before I took a long and poorly timed vacation in September of 2008, I wrote a blog post quoting three distinguished experts who thought stocks had hit bottom. “When people make predictions about this stock market,” I wrote, “I don’t know whether to congratulate them for their boldness or question their sanity.”
Now I know.
…
Dude quit posting your mainstream media drivel propaganda articles. If all you read is Bloomberg, CNN, fox, NBC you’re just reading filtered news from the associated press.
Many thanks for your opinion.
I’ll leave it to Ben Jones to notify me (or just stop me) if he doesn’t want to include my posts.
P.S. If you base your interpretation of the news on an unfiltered interpretation of whatever publications you choose to read, that’s your problem.
T-Bills Tumble as Talks Push Default Concern Out the Bill Curve
By Daniel Kruger - Oct 11, 2013 9:00 PM PT
Rates on Treasury bills maturing through the end of the year rose as officials in Washington sought a short-term budget agreement that may push back the deadline for a potential default by at least six weeks.
Rates on securities due in October fell from highs reached earlier in the week as those maturing in November and December rose on speculation that prolonged negotiations may put those securities at risk of default. The government has been partially shutdown since Sept. 30. Unless a deal is reached, the government’s authority to borrow will reach its limit on Oct. 17, according to the Treasury Department.
“The market is reevaluating the risks associated with short-term Treasury bills,” said Aaron Kohli, an interest-rate strategist in New York at BNP Paribas SA, one of 21 primary dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve. “People are happy to get out of these securities.”
Rates on debt due on Nov. 29 rose 12 basis points, or 0.12 percentage point, to 0.16 percent this week, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. They were negative as recently as Sept. 30.
Yields on benchmark Treasury 10-year notes rose four basis points on the week to 2.69 percent. The price of the 2.5 percent security maturing August 2023 fell 11/32, or $3.44 per $1,000 face amount, to 98 12/32.
…
Canadian Dollar Falls Most in 7 Weeks as U.S. Shutdown Persists
By Cordell Eddings - Oct 11, 2013 9:00 PM PT
Canada’s dollar fell the most in seven weeks as politicians in the U.S., its largest trading partner, struggled to end a stalemate on agreements to fund the government and raise the nation’s debt limit.
The currency, nicknamed the loonie, touched a one-month low as crude oil, the nation’s largest export, declined and a report showed Canada’s trade deficit widened in August as imports rose to a record. A report on Oct. 18 is forecast to show consumer prices rose 1 percent in September from a year earlier, the low end of the Bank of Canada’s target band.
“The weakness in the loonie reflects the uncertainty regarding the U.S. shutdown, and the possible economic implications it may have for the Canadian economy,” said David Watt, chief economist at the Canadian unit of HSBC Holdings Plc., by phone from Toronto. “The market has been optimistic about resolution, but until the uncertainty is cleared up the Canadian currency will show stress.”
The loonie fell 0.5 percent this week to C$1.0349 in Toronto, the biggest decline since the five days ended Aug. 23. The currency reached C$1.0420 on Oct. 10, the weakest level since Sept. 9. One Canadian dollar buys 96.62 U.S. cents.
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Republican Hostage Game Has Only Just Begun
By Francis Wilkinson Oct 11, 2013 12:42 PM PT
Democrats seem delighted. The new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Republicans sustaining historic levels of damage amid the government shutdown, with the party’s favorability falling to a dismal 24 percent and 70 percent of Americans concluding that Republicans are putting partisan politics ahead of the common good.
But Democrats shouldn’t be thrilled; they should be terrified.
…
Now that the Tea Party types have steered Republicans onto the rocks, Boehner and his leadership team should be able to retain control next time. But they will likely follow the course Boehner envisioned originally, before he was undercut by Senator Ted Cruz and his minions: Use the debt ceiling as leverage to extract outsize spending cuts that wouldn’t pass Congress otherwise.
…
Off. At least it will end up off. It probably was never on in the first place.
It’s useful to some to fire up the masses and dreaming up scenerios will do this.
The Wall Street guys sure do get to make out like bandits in that investors (choke) get sucked in by good news and shaken out by bad news over and over again.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. The overlords trying to convince everyone to SPEND, SPEND, SPEND.
…. and truth, honesty and dignity says save, save, SAVE. (because you’re going to need it in ways you cannot imagine).
8 HRs ago
Markets
Markets Are Anxious Over Fears of Default
Stocks Are Climbing, but Debt-Ceiling Worries Are Infecting Other Corners of Market
The debt-ceiling standoff has plunged large swaths of the markets into uncertainty, highlighting the vulnerabilities of the financial system and the government’s continued role in it five years after the 2008 crisis.
On the surface, investors appear to have shrugged off the latest Washington showdown, which follows a similar 2011 brush with calamity. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its biggest rise of the year on Thursday, then rose 111.04 points Friday to 15237.11.
But in other markets, participants have been scrambling to gird for a possible default, as unlikely as one is widely deemed to be, while complaining they have been left to operate in the dark. Some industry officials and bank executives say the implications and market reactions to a U.S. default are too vast and dynamic to fathom.
While the latest debt stalemate could soon be resolved with a short-term fix, the threat of a default is liable to rear its head again before year-end.
A repeat of the recent down-to-the-wire tactics could unsettle markets if a statutory borrowing breach becomes possible again later this year. Government officials and market observers worry such uncertainty could have an enduring effect on financial markets.
“The brinkmanship in Washington could easily create huge volatility in important funding markets that could easily get out of control,” said Jim Millstein, who oversaw the restructuring of American International Group Inc. at the Treasury Department and now runs restructuring-and-advisory firm Millstein & Co.
Some investors hope a possible relief valve lies with the Federal Reserve.
Bankers have pressed the Fed and the Treasury to say whether the central bank would accept defaulted Treasurys as collateral for emergency loans in the event of a liquidity crunch, but they haven’t received clear answers, they said.
Representatives of the Fed and the Treasury declined to comment.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, however, has tried to stress that the Fed isn’t planning any grand rescue for financial markets. He has said several times that the U.S. central bank isn’t in a position to cushion the financial system or economy.
At a news conference Sept. 18, he reinforced the message, warning that Congress and the Obama administration should try to avoid “any kind of event like 2011,” when lawmakers previously faced a U.S. default. “Our ability to offset these shocks is very limited, particularly a debt-limit shock,” Mr. Bernanke said.
…
If default is off the table, then why did all these major financial firms just clear the decks?
Oct. 11, 2013, 12:39 p.m. EDT
BlackRock sells T-bills in debt ceiling crosshairs
By Ben Eisen
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — BlackRock said Friday it has cut exposure to all short-term Treasury bills in its money-market funds that could be impacted by a Congressional delay in raising the debt ceiling. That includes bills maturing in late October and early November, whose yields have jumped in recent days, said a BlackRock spokesperson. BlackRock joins J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Fidelity Investments, and others in taking similar actions. “Over the course of several weeks, we have actively managed our 2a-7 money market funds with an eye towards the possibility that the government could reach its borrowing authority after October 17,” the firm said in a statement to MarketWatch. BlackRock also said it has not seen an unusual amount of redemptions from its funds during the debt ceiling impasse.
“…..not seen an unusual amount of redemptions…..”
“Ten years burning down the road……Nowhere to run, got nowhere to go…..”
U.S. default has happened before — and will again
By James Grant
Posted: 10/11/13, 1:41 PM PDT
“There is precedent for a government shutdown,” Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, remarked recently. “There’s no precedent for default.”
How wrong he is.
Default means to not pay as promised, and politics may interrupt the timely service of the government’s debts. The consequences of such a disruption could — as everyone knows by now — set Wall Street on its ear. But after the various branches of government resume talking and investors have collected themselves, the Treasury will have no trouble finding the necessary billions with which to pay its bills. The Federal Reserve can materialize the scrip on a computer screen.
Yet the U.S. government continued to find trusting creditors. Since the Nixon default, the public’s holdings of the federal debt have climbed from $303 billion to $11.9 trillion.
If today’s political impasse leads to another default, it will be a kind of technicality. Sooner or later, the Obama Treasury will resume writing checks. The question is what those checks will buy.
“Less and less,” is the Federal Reserve’s announced goal. Under Chairman Ben Bernanke (with the full support of the presumptive chairman-to-be, Janet Yellen), the central bank has redefined price “stability” to mean a rate of inflation of 2 percent per annum. Any smaller rate of depreciation is an unsatisfactory showing to be met with a faster gait of money-printing, policymakers say.
In other words, the value of money has become an instrument of public policy, not an honest weight or measure. In such a setting, an old-time “default” is impossible. How can a creditor cry foul when the government to which he is lending has repeatedly said that the value of the money he lent will shrink?
The post-1971 dollar derives its value from the stamp of the government that issues it. Across the seas, this imprimatur is starting to look a little tenuous. Lend us your dollars for 10 years, the Treasury proposes. We will pay you the lordly interest rate of 2.7 percent per annum. And at the end of those 10 years, we will hand you back your principal, which will almost certainly buy less than the money you lent.
This is the unsustainable conceit of the world’s superpower-cum-super debtor. By deed, if not audible word, we Americans say: “The greenback is the world’s great monetary brand. You have no choice but to use it. Like it or lump it.” But the historical record of paper currencies is clear: Governments always over-issue it. The people finally do lump it.
http://www.sbsun.com/opinion/20131011/us-default-has-happened-before-x2014-and-will-again-james-grant - -
This late-breaking news should give Wall Street traders pause to reflect. It looks as though any agreement on whether to raise the debt ceiling will have to wait until after the start of the trading day on Monday, which could make the action on Wall Street at the opening bell very interesting.
Perhaps the decision makers at Blackrock, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Fidelity Investments, and others taking similar actions saw something coming the folks who rushed into stocks the past couple of days may have missed?
Impasse Grinds On as House Says Its Offer Was Rejected
Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency
Speaker John A. Boehner, left, arrived for a meeting with House Republicans, who expressed anger at President Obama.
By ASHLEY PARKER and JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: October 12, 2013
WASHINGTON — Budget negotiations broke down on Saturday — just days before the nation reaches its borrowing limit — as angry Republicans said that President Obama had rejected their latest offer.
Democratic members of the House waited in line on Saturday to sign a petition to reopen the federal government at the Capitol in Washington.
“It’s now up to the Senate Republicans to stand up,” said Representative Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho after House Republicans left a closed-door meeting in the Capitol.
The message from Speaker John A. Boehner had been grim, Republicans said. Representative John Carter of Texas described Mr. Obama as “acting like a royal president.”
“He’s still ‘my way or the highway,’ ” Mr. Carter said.
With House Republicans insisting that they have all but run out of options, and the House not scheduled to meet again until Monday, attention turned to the Senate, where Republicans have spent the past several days trying to gin up Democratic support for a proposal they hope could reopen the government and extend the debt-ceiling through the end of January.
…
The Trade October 9, 2013, 12:00 pm
Complacency on Wall Street Could Be Worse Than a Panic
By JESSE EISINGER, ProPublica
John A. Boehner, the House speaker, and President Obama are at an impasse in budget negotiations, which has led to a government shutdown, but the market remains calm.Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images John A. Boehner, the House speaker, and President Obama are at an impasse in budget negotiations, which has led to a government shutdown, but the market remains calm.
Don’t look to a market panic to save us.
We are in upside-down world, where a freak-out now would help stave off financial devastation later. By staying cool, the markets are making a crisis more likely.
Sure, the stock market has ebbed lower, but it hasn’t plunged. Short-term bond markets have hiccupped. Spreads on United States credit default swaps have widened, indicating a slightly greater fear of default, but nothing drastic. The financial media keep grasping at any movement to demonstrate investors are worried. But market participants simply don’t think that the government will end up doing something so obviously reckless and harmful as refusing to pay its debts.
Wall Street’s lack of worry reflects cynicism about Washington (who doesn’t feel that?) but also a deep misreading of how significant the ideological fissures are in the capital. Wall Street is misunderstanding the extremism of the House Tea Party Republicans who precipitated the government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis.
There are debt-limit deniers among the G.O.P. and deniers on Wall Street of the faction’s power. This time, Wall Street and the big business lobbies still expect clearheaded grown-ups to prevail. They haven’t reckoned with their loss of influence. Last week, Wall Street leaders went to Washington, a town over which they normally have serious sway, and came away with their warnings having fallen on deaf ears. Business lobbyists, according to a Wall Street Journal article, are finding themselves stymied in the capital, with less influence than they are normally accorded. That’s no surprise. Last time, the establishment egged the crisis on, helping to create a monster it can no longer control.
The problem, of course, is fundamentally political, in a way that investors don’t grasp. Republicans’ success in rolling the Obama administration and wringing concessions in 2011, by holding the debt-ceiling negotiations hostage, led them to do it again.
This time, the Obama administration sees such extortion tactics as a constitutional crisis from which it can’t budge. Or so the administration officials say. But Wall Street thinks: Well, what else would they say?
This is the Obama administration’s terrible bind: Scare tactics don’t work, but acting responsibly staves off a panic that would be salutary.
…
The title of this article in the dead tree edition of the Wall Street Journal is far more interesting: “Debt Apocalypse Nigh, Date To Be Determined“
THE NUMBERS GUY
Updated October 11, 2013, 7:48 p.m. ET
Date of Any U.S. Debt Default Is Difficult to Determine
The Treasury Department says Congress must extend the government’s authority to borrow money by Oct. 17, or place “our economy in a dangerous position.” Some Republicans, fighting the administration on several fronts during the current shutdown, have ringed another date for disaster. They say any default on government debt might not happen until Nov. 1—and even then, a catastrophe won’t necessarily occur.
It is easy to paint this as just another political skirmish. But there are legitimate reasons to quibble over the date of calamity. Treasury has cited the time easiest to pinpoint: when the government is no longer able to borrow. But that is very different from running out of cash entirely. And that date remains elusive.
“It’s a fair point,” said Robert Kahn, an economist at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington, D.C., think tank, about the Republican objections, “though it’s being made into a political point.”
The unpredictable nature of Treasury’s cash flow means that even on the day before X Date, as some call it, we likely won’t know when it’s coming, said Shai Akabas, senior policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank that projects X Date will fall between Oct. 22 and Nov. 1.
Members of both parties discussed late this week a short-term fix that would extend the federal debt ceiling to conserve borrowing authority for another six weeks. Analysts say that wouldn’t solve the underlying issues, or make their forecasting jobs any easier.
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Deal to resolve fiscal crisis stalls in Congress
By Thomas Ferraro and Tim Reid
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) (C) talks to reporters on his way to vote on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, October 12, 2013. REUTERS-Jonathan Ernst
U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) (C) is trailed by reporters as she arrives for a vote on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, October 12, 2013. REUTERS-Jonathan Ernst
U.S. House Democrats line up single-file to march onto the House Floor for a Saturday session to address the current U.S. government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, October 12, 2013. REUTERS-Jonathan Ernst
WASHINGTON | Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:31pm EDT
(Reuters) - Hopes for an immediate resolution of Washington’s fiscal crisis faded on Capitol Hill on Saturday as angry House of Representatives Republicans accused President Barack Obama of shutting down negotiations with them and turning to the Senate.
Congress was racing against a Thursday deadline to extend U.S. borrowing authority and as Obama ratcheted up pressure on lawmakers to end a partial government shutdown. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed since October 1 when lawmakers failed to reach agreement to fund the government.
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There is an amazing silver lining to all of the wrangling over raising the debt ceiling, which is to offset the pernicious effects of the Fed’s ongoing War on Savers.
P.S. Not seeing any responses to my inquiry yesterday about the plummeting price of gold, I will draw the tentative conclusion that it may have been the flip side of a rising value of the dollar.
However, methinks the MSM got the story wrong. A rising dollar coupled with major financial players liquidating short-term Treasurys suggests the markets are betting on a failure to resolve the debt ceiling conflict and a resulting liquidity shortage.
Oct. 11, 2013, 3:29 p.m. EDT
Dollar strengthens against yen on debt-limit talks
By Saumya Vaishampayan and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar jumped against the yen Friday to net a 1% weekly gain, as Washington leaders said they would keep working on resolving their battle over the U.S. budget and raising the debt ceiling.
House Republicans have reportedly offered the White House a deal that would increase the debt ceiling and end the shutdown, now in its 1th day, in exchange for spending cuts. It’s not likely such a deal would be accepted since President Barack Obama has said he won’t pay a “ransom” or negotiate in order for Congress to raise the debt limit.
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For how much longer is the Total Extreme Anarchy (”TEA”) Party expected to hold sway over the House of Representatives?
Government shutdown debate grates on Congress members’ moods
By Rosalind S. Helderman and Jackie Kucinich, Saturday, October 12, 3:55 PM
View Photo Gallery — Obama, Congress search for an end to the impasse: Meanwhile, furloughed federal workers express their displeasure as the government shutdown seemed to be headed for a third week.
Even for a Congress where griping is endemic and insults routine, spirits were especially dark on Saturday.
For a legislative body that takes six weeks for its August break, the third consecutive working Saturday without any solution to the crises in sight meant short tempers and foul moods.
Most vocal in their bitterness were House Republicans, who voted midday and then left Washington until Monday, sputtering as they went that President Obama had halted talks with their leaders in favor of negotiating with Senate Republicans — and even angrier that their Senate colleagues seemed receptive to the president’s overture.
“They’re trying to cut the House out, and trying to jam us with the Senate. We’re not going to roll over and take that,” said House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), not generally considered one of the House’s bomb-throwers, advised Republicans in the Senate to “grow a backbone and stand up with the House Republicans, like they said they were going to.”
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Will housing and infrastructure investment be enough to keep the Chinese economy afloat going forward, giving waning demand for their exports?
China Exports Unexpectedly Drop
By Bloomberg News - Oct 12, 2013 2:07 AM PT
China’s exports unexpectedly fell in September, signaling constraints from global demand and highlighting distortions from fake invoices that have yet to be eliminated from trade data.
Overseas shipments dropped 0.3 percent from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said in Beijing today, trailing all 46 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey that had a median projection for a 5.5 percent gain. The trade slowdown resulted from a high basis of comparison with last year, the agency said in a statement.
Today’s report may add to Premier Li Keqiang’s challenges in defending the government’s 7.5 percent expansion goal for this year. The International Monetary Fund cut its global growth outlook this week as capital outflows further weaken emerging markets and warned that a U.S. government default could “seriously damage” the world economy.
“It’s all quite murky,” said Shen Jianguang, Hong Kong-based chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd., citing the impact of inflated export data that started late last year, fewer working days due to the timing of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday and currency volatility in Southeast Asia.
“There has been an export recovery since July to the U.S. and Europe but it’s been pretty weak,” Shen said. “The driving force for China’s recovery at this stage is still housing and infrastructure investment.”
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China’s economy is too big to fail. That, plus everyone wants to live in China. Remember yesterday’s desk clearing post: apartments will soon be going for $130,000 USD per sq meter. Sounds like there are still plenty of smokin’ hot flipper deals to be had. GET IN NOW!!!!
How will we even know if it fails? They aren’t gonna tell the truth and are more than willing to suppress, kill, whatever it takes to keep afloat.
It wasn’t that hard to tell when Japan’s astronomically overvalued real estate market collapsed. With over 1 billion citizens, what makes you think China’s collapse will be so much more difficult to read?
They can’t hide it forever. But they can bake the data for quite a while. I don’t think Japan censors google searches.
How is the Republican party’s approval rating weathering the government shutdown?
October 9, 2013
Republican Party Favorability Sinks to Record Low
Falls 10 percentage points from September’s 38%
by Andrew Dugan
This article is part of an ongoing series analyzing how the government shutdown and the debate over raising the debt ceiling are affecting Americans’ views of government, government leaders, political parties, the economy, and the country in general.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the Republican-controlled House of Representatives engaged in a tense, government-shuttering budgetary standoff against a Democratic president and Senate, the Republican Party is now viewed favorably by 28% of Americans, down from 38% in September. This is the lowest favorable rating measured for either party since Gallup began asking this question in 1992.
…
How is the Republican party’s approval rating weathering the government shutdown?
I haven’t seen any European style riots here, yet. According to the National Health Service over 70% of the draft age cohort would not physically qualify to enter boot camp. Would Tocqueville be disappointed?
According to the National Health Service over 70% of the draft age cohort would not physically qualify to enter boot camp.
The health of a nation is a strategic interest of the nation.
Have you ever posted an article from zero hedge or alternative news?
You ask questions as if there is a difference between republicans and democrats - then you follow up with another copy/pasted article from none other than one of the filtered mainstream media news outlets.
I would make a donation to this site if there were a button I could click to hide/ignore all of your posts.
If you use the Firefox browser, one of our posters wrote a macro called the Joshua Tree Extension which has an ignore feature. Anyone got the link?
Let him find it himself or figure out how to use the down arrow key on his laptop to skip over posts he doesn’t want to read. Even a complete moron could probably figure out that procedure.
Why don’t you learn how to post articles if you want to include these sources? It isn’t rocket science.
The problem is that you are devisive. You claim to be independent but constantly post inflammatory anti Republican views and articles. The problem here isn’t which party we are registered with. The problem is that the FedGov is irresponsible and outside our laws. The leadership of both parties are all in on this and the party bickering drama is a distraction. You are supporting the drama, you are supporting the distraction, thereby you are acting as a tool of the PTB. If you are not being paid to do this here, you could step back and offer some constructive thought on things forward.
He goes through phases. I agree w/you about the derogatory terms. I’ve seen PBear use them for Dems, though much less often. We know where he stands, but what’s with the “have you ever posted an article from zerohedge” crap? He may be partisan at times, but he sparks excellent discussion here and follows up respectfully. Half the fun, not to mention half the learning, is reading peoples’ reaction here to mainstream media articles. Also, the step from “alternative media” to kook media can be a short one.
You could post the articles you prefer in rebuttal to the articles you hate.
Too much trouble for these complainers…
Who cares about approval ratings. It’s time to do what’s right for the people of this country, whether you are on the left or right.
There are two types of people in this world. One type, when faced with a problem, will always, always, always, view it from the perspective of what is best for them. The other will ask what is the right solution to the problem.
When dealing with friends and family and coworkers keep in mind which category the person falls in. When dealing with politicians, know they all fall in category 1.
There is a third category, those who only seek to place blame. That is as far as they can go.
If they are placing blame correctly then they are in category 2. If they are doing it looking out for themselves they are in 1. It is a different axis.
“It’s time to do what’s right for the people…”
We’ve been doing what’s right for the people for the past forty years when we’ve should have done what’s right for the country, IMHO.
Mobocracy in action
The people are the country!
Denigrating this as mob rule is elitist. And I don’t want to hear about how the founding fathers set up a republic and not a democracy. The government we have now is far from what they envisioned. I think if they were alive now they’d be domestic terrorists.
“The people are the country!”
The laws, rules, infrastructure, etc., are the framework for people to achieve their goals and contribute along the way.
Show me a democracy where liberties never eroded. Or remain blind. The words “I don’t want to hear about how the founding fathers set up a republic and not a democracy” just stand by themselves. Particularly the first five in that quote.
Let me rephrase it, and I didn’t mean this as a shot at you Bill (sorry if I offended), the system set up in the constitution is not the government we now have. It isn’t even a republic. The executive function has long since usurped the system of checks and balances as has the centralization of power in the federal government.
For a republic to work, the stewards of the people need to have the interests of the people in mind. If they do not, then a direct democracy is better than a faux-republic whose plutocrats serve the 1%.
Actually, they were domestic terrorists back then too.
The government we have now is far from what they envisioned.
If the founding fathers were living in this day and age, the Constitution would be written differently.
Finally I agree with Rio on something!
Politics breeds strange bedfellows.
Maybe to a point, but it wouldn’t be written by you or your kind. It would be written by men and women who lost blood, possessions and family fighting for an ideal that is timeless.
What sort of policies would be good for the country but not good for the people?
Is mortgage origination running out of steam, now that almost anyone who could refinance has refinanced at generational low interest rates?
Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan report slump in mortgage originations
October 11, 2013, 11:31 AM
(This update corrects J.P. Morgan’s second-quarter originations.)
The country’s largest mortgage banks reported Friday morning that originations dropped in the third quarter as rising interest rates took a toll.
Wells Fargo, the No. 1 originator with almost one-quarter of the market, reported that its residential mortgage originations fell to $80 billion over the three months through Sept. 30, down from $112 billion in the second quarter. Originations in the third quarter were down 42% from $139 billion a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the No. 2 originator, J.P. Morgan Chase, which has about one-tenth of the market, reported that its originations fell to $40.5 billion in the third quarter, down from $49 billion in the second quarter. Over the past year, originations fell 14%.
Looking at the broad industry, home-loan applications, particularly to refinance, have dropped since early May as mortgage rates rose on speculation about the Federal Reserve pulling back on its massive asset-purchase program. That program spurred home buying by tamping down long-term rates, and keeping housing affordability high.
However, mortgage rates have eased in recent weeks after Fed officials decided to hold off on tapering.
…
The answer to this question may be lurking in the amount of employee shrinkage currenty being experienced by the financials.
There’s a bit of karma working here somewhere. From what I can see this karma is currently doing it work in the lower ranks but I’m looking for it to move up a bit and enter into the higher ranks.
Popcorn, anyone?
It’s not a business to be counting considering the sinking housing demand week after week translating into applications sliding into the abyss.
LPS tracks the number of “refinanceable” mortgages: High enough FICO, low enough LTV, and large enough differential in interest rates to make a difference.
They estimate that there are now approximately 5.7MM loans with “refinanaceable characteristics”, down from 10MM in December 2012.
I heard a news story today where in prior times, 80% of all mortgage originations were for new purchases. Recently, this was 30% of mortgages…in other words, there are were a HUGE number of serial refinancers out there keeping bankers employed making new loans.
California Housing Demand Collapsed 10% in 2013 and Falling
http://picpaste.com/pics/e94d1294da3bb02e1769425685140573.1381496567.png
Getting close to wifey finishing grad school… once she walks, we’ll enter resume season. I have determined that we are screwed if we stay in Florida.
Here are our top-three locations:
1. Fayetteville, AR
I have a family friend there, and a former co-worker.
2. Wilmington, DE
Close to most of our family
3. Somewhere in GA
Decent amount of family
I am applying to a few doctoral programs that offer full rides, but those are longshots.
I am mentally at a place in Florida that I got to in NYC ten years ago; basic daily functions are a constant battle, and its simply not worth the struggle. Now that I have kids, its triple double not worth the struggle.
The housing situation n Florida is absolutely awful. Way too expensive, or total garbage. Added to this already frustrating scenario, is the rampant fraud behind it all.
For my entire working adult life, housing has dominated… I’m over it.
“For my entire working adult life, housing has dominated… I’m over it.”
+1 I had similar issues in California since housing inflation grew at a faster clip than I was able to save for a down payment. My single income bought and paid for a new 3/2 spec home in less than ten years in eastern Washington state. It’s not where I want to be, but our finances are in order.
Yup.
We have some choices to make. When I explain to my wife that, on windstorm policy alone, by simply moving to a place where it is not required, we will have an extra $30k when our kids go to college.
That statement does not include flood, crazy car insurance, and so on.
If we were both teachers in Arkansas, we’d have a shot at a normal life. And by normal, I mean not running full steam 24/7.
Personally, I need to better avoid extremes. I’ve lived in NYC and Pinellas County. For my next move, the first metric I will plug in, is population density. Lordy.
If you’ve got kids I’d certainly think middle or small town America. Riding bikes to the park and all. If you can swing that and have a decent job in such a place you’d be a fool not to grab it. The rat race is for the birds, especially with kids.
Meth and other drugs are rampant in small town America now. I think there is no safe place.
But I think the pace of life is slower there and the cost of living cheaper. And with kids, I would be concerned about the schools. There are advantages to be a big fish in a small pond. Kids have a better chance to be a leader.
The downside is that the schools can’t offer as many options. Our school system has 3 high schools and can offer car repair, computer technology, and nursing prep in addition to an IB program, AP classes, and multiple languages.
“….basic daily functions are a constant battle…….”
Hate to tell you this, but it’s nationwide, not confined to Florida.
Since “growth” in the used-to-be-normal sense is a thing of the past, the new business paradigm is to try to steal customers from their competitors with lower prices, then nickel-and-dime them with hidden fees/charges, and keep labor costs low by constant turnover, which means that as soon as the employee figures out what he’s doing, he costs too much, and is kicked out the door.
Was talking about this yesterday with our hangar neighbors………our FBO is constantly sending down newbies to fuel/tow the aircraft (that WE have to train), because they treat the help so poorly, 99% of them quit after just a few months.
They are at the “fog a mirror” stage, when it comes to the “qualified” talent pool.
Mark my words, there is going to be an “incident” caused by an improperly screened/vetted person getting a “Ramp Pass”.
Of course, nobody will see it coming.
“Hate to tell you this, but it’s nationwide, not confined to Florida.”
I’m simply running the numbers on teachers spec. Salary compared to cost of house.
Look at population trends too. You don’t want to teach in an isolated town which is losing population and won’t have enough kids to keep all the schools open. Maybe a bedroom community burb on the edge of a medium-sized metro area: Pittsburgh, Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Nashville…
If you stay out of the mega-areas like NYC, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, you don’t have to go far out of town for the housing to cheapen.
Poway Unified School District
Personnel Support Services
William R. Chiment, Associate Superintendent
Lori Hath, Executive Assistant
858 521-2800 ext. 2761
15250 Avenue of Science
San Diego, CA 92128
Employment Information for
Teaching (Certificated) and Non-Teaching (Classified) Positions
I really appreciate that, Bear.
Wouldn’t housing costs totally annihilate me there?
Rent for now and buy when price/rent ratios come back in line with the rest of the country.
Despite its economy for the most part remaining in the toilet, California somehow has six of the ten highest-priced housing markets in the Nation.
San Diego Ranked Among Least Affordable Housing Markets
America’s Finest City is pricey for middle class buyers looking to purchase a home
By Chris Chan and Monica Garske | Friday, Oct 11, 2013 | Updated 8:07 PM PDT
If you’re looking to buy a home in San Diego, be ready to shell out some major cash: San Diego has just been ranked one of the least affordable places to buy a home. NBC 7’s Chris Chan reports.
If you’re looking to buy a home in San Diego, be ready to shell out some major cash: San Diego has just been ranked one of the least affordable places to buy a home.
According to a list released by the real estate website, Trulia, the housing market is pricey for middle class buyers looking to own a home in America’s Finest City. The list says San Diego currently ranks the 5th “least affordable housing market for the middle class” in the nation.
Meanwhile, San Francisco tops the list of least affordable housing markets for the middle class. It’s followed by: Orange County, Calif.; Los Angeles; New York City; San Jose, Calif.; Ventura County, Calif.; Fairfield County, Conn.; Honolulu; and Boston.
…
That’s what happens when you underbuild housing relative to population growth for 25 years.
“That’s what happens when you underbuild housing relative to population growth for 25 years.”
It’s also what happens when hedge funds plus all-cash Chinese and Canadian investors swoop in to bid up prices beyond the means of local households to compete, and when GSE conforming loan limits with federally guaranteed principle are set north of $500K at the same time the Fed keeps mortgage rates pinned to the floor in the face of dwindling fundamental demand.
“underbuild”?
You seem to be the type who thinks that repeating the same lie over and over will make it truth.
The reality is we’ve been overbuilding for 30 years and the resulting in 25 MILLION excess empty houses.
http://www.hcd.ca.gov/hcd_state_of_housing_ca2012update0812.pdf
Author:
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIVISION OF HOUSING POLICY DEVELOPMENT (State of CA)
Title:
“The State of Housing in California 2012:
Affordability Worsens, Supply Problems Remain”
Start of the Second Paragraph:
“Prior to the foreclosure crisis and current economic downturn, frequently referred to as the Great Recession, California had experienced decades of undersupply, contributing to significant price escalation and worsening affordability.”
And a section starting on page 9:
“The current inventory of foreclosed units does not offset
the need for more housing”
Still quoting from the very people who created this mess huh Liar?
You’re gullible.
Gold: The investment dog that’s not hunting
John Waggoner, USA TODAY 7:36 p.m. EDT October 10, 2013
Gold is supposed to protect you from catastrophe; its track record is not so good.
- Average gold price since 1975: $500
- 90% of the world’s gold has been mined since the California Gold Rush
- So-called ’safe haven’ may not be so safe
Let’s say you’re worried about burglars, and so you get a dog. The seller assures you he’s ferocious and will protect you should any burglars come by. You name the dog Fang, give him a spiked collar and feed him Purina Burglar Bits™.
A few nights later, you hear noises downstairs, and you see several burglars hauling off your possessions. Fang is pointing the robbers in the direction of your silverware.
Naturally, you’re a bit disappointed in Fang and his inability to live up to his name.
Gold investors may be having their Fang moment now.
After all, gold is supposed to be the great defense against currency collapse because gold is the ultimate currency. So when the U.S. is on the brink of defaulting on its debt, sending interest rates soaring and the dollar plunging, gold would logically be the portfolio defender of choice. But it hasn’t been — and not for a lack of being affordable. The price of the precious metal is more than 40% off its 2011 peak. What gives?
…
Wait until our Cypress days. Government will conffiscate x percentage of our electronic assets. This is what gold insures you for. Unfortunately for me my amount of gold is about one third of my comfort level for insurance. president Clinton will order confiscation sometime in her only term starting 2017.
“president Clinton will order confiscation sometime in her only term starting 2017.”
Hillary “moonface” Clinton should never be elected president in light of the Benghazi embassy attack and lackluster response.
She looks ancient and has as much charisma as a dirty old sock. No way will she get nominated.
Worst nightmare, circa 2016
Clinton vs. Palin
I think that a lot of people find her charismatic in certain settings. Also, Angela Merkel is no beauty queen and that hasn’t burdened political career.
Clinton vs. Palin
As entertaining as that might be, I suspect that the neocon right is trying to get Cheney’s daughter into the Senate in Wyoming to take the place of Palin in that scenario. Generally Wyoming people are not impressed with what they are trying to do at the expense of a fellow R who already has that seat.
Since 2008 it was well known the Free $hit Army makes up the electorate and they are not about to decide to stop asking for your property (and receiving your property). Redistribution from the producers to the Free $hit Army will pick up its pace. They will vote for Hillary in 2017. I think I should go to Vegas and place my bet on this. I hear you can bet on anything there.
But she’s a role model for all women. Who wouldn’t want their daughters to grow up like her!
president Clinton will order confiscation sometime in her only term starting 2017.
Haven’t you previously predicted that Obama would seize gold? Why have you changed your forecast?
“What gives?”
Lol. Such a question! Look around and count the number of “We Buy Gold!” stores popping up everywhere and add to them the number of payday loan stores that have already popped up everywhere and maybe you’ll get a clue.
(Hint: It has something to do with the shortage of cash that is circulating about.)
Or rather NOT circulating about.
I cannot reconcile this so called “shortage of cash” and the $35 billion per week of 5 day bills offered to auction. Or $30 billion of 4 week bills. Then approximately equal amounts of 13 week, 26 week, and 52 week bills.
“Cash that is circulating about. Okay you mean paper money? If so I agree, but it’s no big deal. How about paper savings bonds? If you are concerned like I am that your electronic assets are not safe, you would be stacking bills under your mattress - I prefer gold coins. Those fiat paper thingies started out as certificates, don’t forget. Certificates you could exchange for gold or silver. And those very same certificates (if you still have the real thing) are not recognized in any US bank. Why should we expect the fiat money to always be honored and redeemable in any US bank in our future?
One big Electromagnetic Impulse detonation could spoil an entire economy for a few decades.
Physical precious metals. Movable, hidable, cannot be destroyed by electromagnetic impulse device.
‘And those very same certificates (if you still have the real thing) are not recognized in any US bank. ‘
Bill, good point. Even pieces of paper crack me up. Thief kills for pieces of paper? Because the thief has confidence in the pieces of paper? Nick Cage forbid that large percentages of people start realizing pieces of paper and electronic debit/credit entries are what we amount to.
“Thief kills for pieces of paper? Because the thief has confidence in the pieces of paper?”
That’s exactly why he kills for these pieces of paper; He kills for them because he is confident that they can be exchanged for something that he wants.
The value of the pieces of paper lie in what they can be exchanged for - which happens to be everything that is offered for sale.
‘he is confident that they can be exchanged ‘
He kills based on that.
Of course mainstream media bashes gold. The powers that be don’t want gold to rise because that would indicate a weakening dollar. Paper gold is manipulated, yet the physical real stuff is in high demand.
This is why you can’t trust mainstream media news. It’s propaganda and the media outlets are tied in with big government to help manufacture your reality.
Chinas demand for gold and silver are at an all time high. India’s government has raised the tax on gold so much that it has to be smuggled in but I bet your little mainstream media news reader didn’t pick up that news because you won’t find it published by any American news outlet that the sheep of America follow.
‘The powers that be don’t want gold to rise because that would indicate a weakening dollar. Paper gold is manipulated, yet the physical real stuff is in high demand.’
Not that I don’t believe it is possible, but the tell will be if you can trade a briefcase of gold for a house or car or whatever large $$ purchase in the years to come. Playing devil’s advocate simply because people are not really into gold. It is banks and fringe individual that are interested.
I like metals I can not deny. Whether they are gonna hedge or draw circles around inflation, I think history shows that there are periods that they do. The rapid rise the last decade of precious metals over holding stodgy WS investments is indicator.
Some day I don’t really care if gold is plunging. Opportunity to buy on sale. It is the spectre of manipulation that leaves me on the fence. Money has to find a home. Once again, like the bitcoins thing needing a good foster program, gold needs people to recognize it is a vehicle that can exchanged if they are willing. Banks USED to have gold for the public to withdraw. Hmmmmm, and now it is a barbarous relic? The likes of buggy whips and outhouses? I don’t think so.
“It is banks and fringe individual that are interested.”
Spot on! I wonder which of those our newest poster Mr. Niner might be?
How much gold do you own that you are planning to sell, once prices come back?
Why does a radio show program have to canvas the airs to get investors:
http://www.moneyradio1510.com/node/337
Oil investing with these guys can not be so great because if it was, they would not have to have a radio show to boast about bringing you in on the company. The co. website:
http://pipelineoilandgas.com/
I can trade a brief case of gold for fiat money temporarily at my favorite coin shop, and within a half hour take the fiat money to the nearest Ferrari dealer (probably Santa Monica) and trade it for a shiny red Ferarri - from gold to car dealer within maybe an hour (but have to sign papers, disclaimers, etc at the car dealer so it would take awhile for anyone).
But…I don’t think in nanny state / “Patriot Act” / Homeland Security / NSA / DEA era if any car dealer in southern California accepts cash for a new car anymore.
Some coin dealers in OC do not accept cash for gold because of their excuse “Patriot Act.” I’m sure the same thing goes for cash for new ultra luxury sport cars.
“But…I don’t think in nanny state / “Patriot Act” / Homeland Security / NSA / DEA era if any car dealer in southern California accepts cash for a new car anymore.”
I traded cash for a new car as recently as January 2012. Last I checked, my paper money said “this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.” At what point did the rules change?
“this note is legal tender for all DEBTS, public and private.”
Note that your paper money must be accepted to settle a debt, but it is not required that it be accepted in exchange for any particular goods or services.
“…but it is not required that it be accepted in exchange for any particular goods or services.”
I’m missing your point.
Can you kindly provide an example where it applies?
At what point did the rules change? Patriot Act. That is the answer I got. From store owners.
Absolute Beginner writes the myth repeated by many people over and over. The variation is: tell will be if you can trade a briefcase of gold for a house or car or whatever large $$ purchase in the years to come. “
Why do you have to have a direct exchange of one asset for another when you can (and I have done so) do it in two exchanges within a short time such as an hour?
Why do people repeat this same fear “you cannot buy bread with it?” in light of the fact that it’s only within an hour you can exchange gold for cash and cash for x?
This never ceases to amaze me how people parrot a meme and think if the meme is popular, it’s not debunked.
Another variation of the thoughtless saying “I could care less” that people misuse. When I see that on any post I always respond “If you could care less, why don’t you?” They just don’t think!
Bill, you can trade a briefcase of gold, with a cost basis that may be ~$300/ troy ounce. Question is, try finding people who will want to do the trade. If I have my eye on a used Nissan and tell the seller ” Here, I have these precious metal American Eagles, let’s trade” the seller may get spooked or may try to go Goldman Sachs on me, lol.
I don’t doubt gold is fungible, it is finding a broad market as barter for it right now.
If your cost basis is cheap, cheap, cheap, making deals to turn an asset into something more lifestyle facilitating is a no-brainer.
What’s the smallest denomination of gold coin you have? 99% of the bullion I see for sale are 1 oz. coins. Seems a bit foolish to cash in your 1 oz. gold coin for groceries or gas. Around DFW you can only find gold dealers during normal business hours and most are closed two days a week so the owners can have a couple of days off like regular folks. Another thing I have noticed, did you ever visit a gold shop when the owner wasn’t in the store? Every place I know of the owner never leaves the shop in the hands of the hired help, too much at stake.
I have been buying quarter ounce gold eagles mostly this year.
That’s a good idea. I would add that coins are better than bars since a official government (US,Canada,S. Africa) imprint adds credibility.
“…gold…”
Here’s a great SLO story with gold as a backup plan:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/10/11/2729102/dovica-endowment-cuesta-college.html
My regular coin shop sells the gold eagles in tenths of an ounce too.
Still stacking bullion (and fiat money). And it would be nice to go into a car dealer or real estate office with a brief case of fiat money or gold and make a purchase. We have to get rid of the “Patriot Act” first.
You will know liberty is returning when that shameful “Patriot Act” is repealed. You will be able to tell it is repealed when you are not required to pay in a form that is untraceable, at any business.
Voting no longer is the way to pressure the thugernment to downsize. It is ineffective. The effective way is for everyone of us to cut our own taxes. My federal taxes I pay in April 2014 will be 35% less than what I paid last April. I am dam proud to do my part to cut off funding of statism.
Imagine if 80 million other American taxpayers are focused on doing the same thing, a taxpayer strike, the thugs will be forced to cut spending on its mostly unconstitutional pet projects, which are vastly less efficient than what the private sector can do.
My federal taxes I pay in April 2014 will be 35% less than what I paid last April.
Due to…. what? Decreased income? Not having to pay the independent-contractor side of SS?
Decreased income, realized less gains, and the second year tax on my conversion from Traditional IRA to Roth - all in 2012. No more big Roth conversion for me.
Bluestar, I forgot to mention it makes more sense to buy fractional gold while the gold spot price is lower. These smaller sizes have higher premiums than the one ounce sizes. So the dollar amount you pay at lower prices means that when the spot price of gold recovers (and I am expecting it will break $2,000 per ounce before the end of Bammy’s term), when you sell back that gold you get a few additional dollars above that spot. That’s how it worked with me when I sold off some gold in 2010 (needed money then, so I sold off my biggest gaining asset and gold was it. Stocks were not).
Bumped into a fellow at my L.A. coin shop a few months ago. He said he bought $150,000 worth of the 0.18 ounce Swiss Franc or was it the .18 oz French Angel…back in 2001. These were prolly running at $60 per coin if you added up the premium. I figured at the time I met the guy they were worth $750,000 this year. He said he bought them based on what a Chinese economist persuaded him to do back then. He said the same Chinese economist now predicts gold will go to $3,000 spot.
Remember: Buy low sell high. 2001 was a generational opportunity, for precious metals. But I think gold spot will certainly range between $2,000 and $10,000 the next 20 years. 2001 was also a generational opportunity for series I savings bonds purchases. 2013 is a good opportunity for gold and silver and mining stocks - a better opportunity than emerging market foreign stocks. But…I have to build up fiat money so I cannot go all into gold and mining stocks.
“Decreased income, realized less gains, and the second year tax on my conversion from Traditional IRA to Roth - all in 2012. No more big Roth conversion for me.”
Same story for me…I had a big stock sale in 2012, and the second half of my IRA conversion. I’m done converting…until my wife quits/retires, and her employee match goes to trad IRA and needs conversion.
India’s government has raised the tax on gold so much that it has to be smuggled in but I bet your little mainstream media news reader didn’t pick up that news because you won’t find it published by any American news outlet that the sheep of America follow.
It was all over the place.
India Raises Import Tax on Gold, Silver - WSJ.com
online.wsj.com/…/SB1000142412788732476970457901016428671090…
Aug 13, 2013 - The Indian government raised the import tax on gold and silver in a bid to stem the tide of dollars flowing out of the country, but the move is …
Gold Smuggling to Climb in India on Tax Increase, Festivals …
http://www.bloomberg.com/…/india-gold-tax-increase-festival-demand-seen-sp...
Aug 14, 2013 - The third increase in import taxes on gold this year by India, the world’s biggest user, is set to boost smuggling ahead of the festival and …
Denial ain’t a river in Egypt, brother!
“This is why you can’t trust mainstream media news.”
A better question would be why should they tell the truth at this point? They figured out a long time ago the best business model is to spoon feed their audiences what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.
Gold is good to bribe officials, to trade for contraband and separate paranoid folks from their cash. It seem to work really well with Fox news viewers because that’s where 90% of the TV commercials are shown.
I can foresee having to bribe the friendly police in a neighboring country with gold at some small airport to not search a plane (that landed for fuel) for any chest of gold and silver on the way to some other Central or South American country.
Think about this for a minute. If the police guy is corrupt enough to take a few gold coin to look the other way I bet he’s also corrupt enough to kill you for your stash too. I think the gold bribe only works reliably if the ‘official’ can clearly see that you and your possessions aren’t worth a lot more than the coins. I have had actual experience doing this back in the 70’s going between Mexico and Belize. The problem was that all I had at the time was US dollars and Mexican Pesos and the police wanted to take my passport. As it turned out I had a box of 32 cal. ammo that worked a lot better than cash. A man has to know his limits.
When I lived 30 miles from Mexico, a guy who was born down there gave me this advice; got to Mexico and buy a fake “gold” watch. A fancy brand that looks heavy, like a Rolex. Wear that when you go to Mexico and if hassled by the police, tell them you have no money but will give them the watch. Works like a charm, and you can get those watches for ten bucks.
Hmm…well there are other ways. I could imagine Aladinsane going for a nice Gulfstream jet leisure tour to some south American country with a half dozen friends. His luggage would be 50 lbs of gold…and you can skip refueling in Mexico. Fly out of San Diego and skip TSA.
The price of the precious metal is more than 40% off its 2011 peak. What gives?
People think we’re past the worst of the crisis and it’s all going to get better from here.
I’m not one of those people.
However, I am not whatsoever convinced gold is going back to $1900/oz any time soon, if for no other reason than because the Indian economy, a major source of gold demand, is headed downhill.
Gold bugs who prefer to live in denial, such as Mr. Niner, can ignore or skip my posts and ignore the handwriting on the wall as they please.
India curbing gold imports as inflows of the yellow metal wreak havoc
By: Ajoy K Das
11th October 2013
Circa 1913 – “Needless accumulation of the precious metals by Indians – an uncivilised and wasteful habit, which damaged the Indian economy by absorbing redundant bullion from the West.” John Maynard Keynes.
Circa 1958 – “Dethronement of gold from the position it occupies in India deserves serious consideration.” IG Patel, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
Circa 2013 – “I would once again appeal to everyone: Please resist the temptation to buy gold. If we can have this for six months . . . one year, it will dramatically change the situation of the current account deficit.” Palaniappan Chidambaram, Indian Finance Minister.
India’s fatal attraction to gold is a story foretold. Ingrained in social, cultural and religious mores, the fiscal remedies offered by government to wean Indians off the yellow metal could, therefore, have only a minimal impact.
Economic Affairs Secretary for the Finance Ministry Arvind Mayaram has said that gold imports during 2013/14 will be around 750 t, down just 11% from the previous year.
…
Indians and Chinese are just one factor. Hilary signing a bill to order confiscation of our 401ks and IRAs and a ten percent confiscation of outr bank savings accounts would be another factor when she starts her terror term in the white house in 2017. There are more reasons for buying gold, and some I won’t mention. But the key point: movable, hidable, compact form of asset. I am also starting a wine collection.
Report: Growth in Home Prices Slowing
By Tim Brugger
October 10, 2013
While still improving, the pace at which median home prices rose in the 24 metropolitan areas measured in ZipRealty’s (NASDAQ: ZIPR ) monthly survey for the month ended Sept. 15 slowed compared to last year. There was an average gain of 14% in September, which is down from August’s 16% YOY jump in home prices, ZipRealty said today in its latest report.
ZipRealty president and CEO Lanny Baker commented in a statement, “Median sale prices were higher than a year ago in all cities studied, but the year-to-year median price increases shrank in 19 out of 24 markets.” ZipRealty is a national real estate brokerage and related marketing technology provider.
The median sales price nationally in mid-September was $272,000, according to the survey, down about 2% from August’s figure. The median number of days homes stayed on the market showed a slight increase, rising to 30 days from the previous month’s 28-day average, ZipRealty said.
…
“Everywhere we look, we see rents a fraction of the cost of buying and holding a dead asset called a house. Across the country,sliding rents, bloated housing inventory and the public’s sober look at holding a depreciating asset like a house forewarns a moribund housing market for decades to come.”
Precisely.
“Based on our analysis, housing has yet to bottom and in fact the housing correction we’re facing will be much steeper and deeper than what would have occurred previously. We anticipate housing prices will be halved or more over the broader term.”
“Halved”? Considering current asking prices of resale housing are inflated beyond double, expect a decline of 60%, minimum.
We will have no recreating on the ruling elites Federal land and any jokes will not be tolerated and may result in your arrest.
Joking about the UnConstitutional & Traitorous TSA & their Sekurity Theater can and will get you ARRESTED!
Submitted by AnCapMercenary on Fri, 10/11/2013 - 12:18
Welcome to USSA (as if y’all didn’t know this already):
Police State USA
Published on Oct 10, 2013
HOUSTON, TX — Travelers are reporting threatening messages coming from the loudspeakers of the Travel Security Administration. The TSA has been broadcasting warnings that people will be arrested for making jokes in the presence of the infamous federal checkpoint agents. Policestateusa.com has obtained exclusive audio of the threats.
http://www.dailypaul.com/302155/joking-about-the-unconstitutional-traitorous-tsa-their-sekurity-theater-can-and-will-get-you-arrested - -
TSA loudspeakers threaten travelers with arrest for making jokes …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkWPMeLSk6M - 143k - Cached - Similar pages
1 day ago
It looks as if a sore spot may have been hit, which means it may be time to go underground.
Dream up a bunch of TSA jokes and then tell them everywhere EXCEPT at the TSA checkpoints. Maybe write them on the walls in the airport bathrooms, or print them up and leave them laying about in the airport lounges.
Does anyone here except me realize just how much fun we can have with this?
“It looks as if a sore spot may have been hit, which means it may be time to go underground.”
Obama’s alright, Pelosi’s alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, you won’t give your rights away, ay, aaaaaaaay.
Awaaaaaaay.
Awaaaaaaay.
Surrender, surrender, you won’t give your rights away.
(Obama’s alright, Pelosi’s alright)
Surrender, surrender, you won’t give your rights away.
(Obama’s alright, Pelosi’s alright)
Surrender, surrender, you won’t give your rights away.
(Obama’s alright, Pelosi’s alright)
Surrender, surrender, you won’t give your rights away.
Do the TSA understand Klingon?
What do you get when you cross the TSA with the NSA? Satans or Santas not sure which.
It wasn’t that long ago that we used to denounce the Soviets for this kind of behavior.
Now when I hear the Star Spangled Banner sung I wince when it gets to “the land of the free” verse.
They’ve been prohibiting security jokes since 2001, and maybe even before then. Don’t blame it on Obama.
“Don’t blame it on Obama.”
‘Sir, you are recreating,’
“Don’t blame it on Obama.”
Yeah, they’ve had signs up about this at airport security for a decade. So now they’re announcing the same message on a loudspeaker. Is this considered to be big news?
They have had signs up about not making jokes about airport security or you will be arrested for a decade? What airport? I have been in several and didn’t see it or hear about it.
I’ve seen the signs at most of the airports that I’ve been through during the last few years - Phoenix, Sacramento, Orlando, Philadelphia, Burlington, VT. Maybe you haven’t noticed them. They’re usually not large. I could imagine that many people don’t read them. Sometimes I read them because they’re amusing. For example, among the list of items that can’t be carried onto planes are cricket bats. Also, something that appeared to be added in the last couple of years was a change to the rule about removing shoes when going through security. Now, people under the age of 12 are over the age of 75 won’t have to take off their shoes. Have you heard about that?
“Yeah, they’ve had signs up about this at airport security for a decade.”
“They have had signs up about not making jokes about airport security or you will be arrested for a decade? What airport?”
“I’ve seen the signs at most of the airports that I’ve been through during the last few years”
Oh,a few years not a decade. So about the time this started.
November 2010 enhanced screening procedures[edit]Beginning in November 2010, TSA added new enhanced screening procedures. Passengers are required to choose between an enhanced patdown, allowing TSOs to more thoroughly check areas on the body such as waistbands, groin, and inner thigh.[38] or instead to be imaged by the use of a full body scanners (that is, either backscatter X-ray or millimeter wave detection machines) in order to fly. These changes were said to be made in reaction to the Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab bombing attempt.[46]
Pat downs[edit]See also: Frisking
The new pat-down procedures, which were originally not made public,[47] “routinely involve the touching of buttocks and genitals”[48][49][50] as well as breasts.[51] These procedures were controversial, and in a November poll, 50% of those polled felt that the new pat-down procedures were too extreme, with 48% feeling them justified.[52] A number of publicized incidents created a public outcry against the invasiveness of the pat-down techniques,[53][54][55] in which women’s breasts and the genital areas of all passengers are patted.[56] Pat downs are carried out by agents of the same gender the passenger presents at the screening.[57]
Concerns were raised as to the constitutionality of the new screening methods by organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union.[58] As of April 2011, at least six lawsuits were filed for violation of the Fourth Amendment.[59][60] George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Rosen has supported this view, saying “there’s a strong argument that the TSA’s measures violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.”[61] Concerns were also raised about the effects of these pat downs on survivors of sexual assault.[62]
Full body scanners[edit]Main article: Full body scanner
Screenshot from an active millimeter wave scanner
X-ray backscatter technology produces an image that resembles a chalk etching.[63]
A backscatter unit.In November 2010, the TSA began putting backscatter X-ray scanners and millimeter wave scanners machines into airports. The TSA refers to these two technologies as Advanced Imaging Technologies, or AIT. Critics sometimes refer to them as “naked scanners”.[64]
Passengers are directed to hold their hands above their heads for a few seconds while front and back images are created.[65] If the operator sees an anomaly on the scanner, or if other problems occur, the passenger will also have to receive the pat down.
Full body scanners have also proven controversial due to privacy and health concerns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_Security_Administration - 304k -
I suppose I can’t remember exactly when the rule about not making jokes appeared. As far as I can remember it was part of the new bundle of rules introduced when Homeland Security and the TSA were introduced towards the end of 2001.
You’ve reminded me of an incident that occurred back during the period of air travel anxiety. My cousin and his were taking a trip to Las Vegas. My cousin’s wife was carrying a big bag of quarters that she was bringing to play the slot machines. As she was going through the airport the TSA agent asked her to put the bag on the floor. For some reason, she moved to pick it up again a minute later before the TSA guy said that it was OK to do that. This was at that time when there were National Guardsmen in some airports. When she started to pick up her bag of coins, a Nation Guard soldier moved toward her to stop her picking up the bag. According to her memory, he took his rifle off of his shoulder when did that, though he didn’t point it at her.
It would be absurd to blame George W. Bush for this incident, just like it’s absurd to blame President Obama for these loudspeaker announcements.
“You’d have to have rocks in your head to have bought a house in the last 10 years.”
Or brain dead.
I have an extra $100,000 in my bank account. That works well for me!
Uh huh. And Ben Jones runs the federal reserve.
Goon!
Reports of EBT cards not working!! Lock and load! Super fun time!
Pew pew pew!
‘GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The Electronic Benefit Transfer system has malfunctioned statewide Saturday morning. The local retail store later announced that the system was back up and running. An official with the Michigan Department of Human Services told 24 Hour News 8 that the problem has to do with a systems update on the retailers end.’
From the comments:
‘In Mississippi there dowm too.’
‘It is still down in Maryland!’
‘I live in Calif. and according to my three Illegals living in my garage the system is as I speak, still down in California.’
‘I live in Calif. and according to my three Illegals living in my garage the system is as I speak, still down in California.’
LMAO
‘In Mississippi there dowm too.’
‘It is still down in Maryland!’
‘I live in Calif. and according to my three Illegals living in my garage the system is as I speak, still down in California.’
“Don’t blame it on Obama.”
Good thing it happened in the middle of the month and not the 1st…
“Reports of EBT cards not working!! Lock and load! Super fun time!”
Not to worry, the government has already prepared for this.
Black Hawks Used In Military Training Exercise In Miami
January 25, 2013 8:34 AM
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Some members of the U.S. military were busy in Miami Thursday night as they conducted exercises in Downtown Miami.
CBS4 captured video of Black Hawk helicopters flying over the city as part of a joint military training exercise.
Thursday night’s training took place near the Stephen P. Clark Center in Miami and a nearby Metrorail station where troops could be seen rappelling from the military choppers onto the Metrorail station platform.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/01/25/blackhawks-used-in-military-training-exercise-in-miami/ - 96k -
Military black hawks fly over Miami Florida firing blanks - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYf2xpVuX6g - 155k - Cached - Similar pages
Jan 29, 2013
Computer issue, not government shutdown, likely cause of EBT card failures
Oct 12, 2013 11:14 AM PST Updated: Oct 12, 2013 11:26 AM PST
By Matt Quillen
(RNN) - People nationwide have been unable to access welfare benefits through their EBT cards Saturday. Reports on the matter indicated the issue has no connection to the government shutdown.
People in Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi and Ohio are among those that have not been able to purchase groceries and other goods with the cards, which act similar to debit cards.
Station WLOX out of Biloxi, MS, relayed the newsroom had gotten many phone calls from people who said their cards were denied. Representatives from grocery stores across Alabama said people with carts filled with items had left empty-handed when their EBT cards would not work.
An employee at a Huntsville, AL, Walmart said she had been told a power outage related to the EBT system was the reason. Cleveland, OH, station WOIO reported a problem with the EBT system was the source, according to an area retailer.
In Michigan, WOOD reported the problem had to do with a system update on the retailers’ end, according to Michigan Department of Human Services. A retail store in Grand Rapids announced its system was running again.
The widespread outage came despite each state running their own version of the welfare program. The federal government does supply funding and guidelines for the states.
Fears that the partial shutdown, caused by Congress’ failure to pass a spending bill, was responsible may have been spurred by the USDA’s webpage for the EBT system. It states, “Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available.”
…
Trial balloon?
Testing, testing, 1,2 3…
“Reports of EBT cards not working!!”
You know it’s really a disgrace to see people, particularly those raising children, lacking in basic survival instincts. Most species work to insure that their progeny survive, adapt to their changing environment, but too many people now appear to have delegated this basic individual responsibility to “the man.” How do these pugnacious people become so trusting?
“lacking in basic survival instincts”
Isn’t that exactly what they do have, and the base of their overarching problem(s)?
Social Security raise details delayed
October 11, 2013, 1:56 PM
By Matthew Heimer
It may not quite be adding insult to injury, but it’s certainly adding annoyance to anxiety. Social Security recipients are already fretting about whether a debt-ceiling impasse could harm their benefits. Now, due to the ongoing federal shutdown, they’ll also have to wait to find out the size of their annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2014.
Stephen Ohlemacher of the Associated Press put the pieces together in a story earlier this week. Because of the budget deadlock, the Department of Labor has been unable to tabulate or publish many of the key economic reports it produces, including the monthly unemployment report. Yesterday, the department announced that it wouldn’t be able to publish the Consumer Price Index for September, the most widely used indicator of inflation, which was due to come out on Oct. 16. No alternative publishing date was set, and it’s assumed that no report will be produced until the shutdown ends. But as Ohlemacher notes, the government is required to use official inflation statistics for July, August and September to calculate the next year’s COLA. So no September report, no COLA announcement.
The COLA is already a point of contention for many retirement advocacy groups, who argue that the basic inflation rate doesn’t adequately reflect the real cost of living for older Americans (especially the fast-rising cost of medical care). Social Security’s COLA for 2013 was 1.7%; in 2010 and 2011, retirees got no raise at all. (Separately, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the COLA for 2014 will be 1.5%.)
There’s also a not-insignificant chance that any eventual budget deal in Washington will incorporate a proposal to base Social Security raises on “chained CPI,” an alternative method of calculating inflation that would make the annual increases even smaller. The takeaway: Get ready to hear from some angry pensioners as budget talks continue.
…
I remember these things going for $200 back in 1999:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-MZ-R50-Portable-Mini-Disc-Recorder-Player-w-Battery-NO-Power-Supply-/171143585022?pt=US_Personal_MiniDisc_Recorder&hash=item27d8f3dcfe
Now they are going for ~$50.
Nobody wants the minidisc technology. It is the 8-track tape of the digital music world now.
I guess MP3 players are easier and more versatile to deal with and are cheap. Heck, even the Edirol recorders I am sure caused many DAT recorder owners to switch:
http://www.rolandus.com/products/details/1077/495
Working today…..just found out that we don’t have any/very little water pressure. Acts like a water main break
Landlord/hangar owner doesn’t know anything.
Airport Authority must have started the Government shutdown early. Everything rolls to voicemail.
Not a problem, as long as everyone can cross their legs on tomorrow’s trip…….
Another sign of the “Banana Republic” Basic services are hit and miss.
“Don’t blame it on Obama.”
I don’t think PBS’s Tavis Smiley got the memo.
Tavis Smiley: ‘Black People Will Have Lost Ground in Every Single Economic Indicator’ Under Obama
By Noel Sheppard | October 11, 2013 | 12:34
PBS’s Tavis Smiley made a comment Thursday that every African-American as well as liberal media member should sit up and take notice.
Appearing on Fox News’s Hannity, Smiley said, “The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category” (video follows with transcript and commentary):
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: My last question to you. You often do these seminars with the state of black America. I’ve watched them on C-Span and different channels, right?
TAVIS SMILEY: Right.
HANNITY: Are black Americans better off five years into the Obama presidency?
SMILEY: Let me answer your question very forthrightly. No, they are not. The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category. On that regard, the president ought to be held responsible.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/10/11/tavis-smiley-black-people-will-have-lost-ground-every-single-economic - - Cached -
Kinda disspells the myth of the FSA, doesn’t it?
How can it be? The 47% that are the “takers” should be living it up on their EBT cards, and music downloads to their Obamaphones.
Maybe the question is: Who has prospered under Obama?
Then….Who prospered under Shrub?
Answer = The same people
In which case: Obama = Shrub
I really don’t understand all of the gut-level hatred of Obama, unless it has nothing to do with policy.
Kinda disspells the myth of the FSA, doesn’t it?
That’s only if you assume that blacks are mostly members of the FSA.
One thing to note is that there are probably close to zero African-Americans complaining about the war memorials and national parks.
“I really don’t understand all of the gut-level hatred of Obama, unless it has nothing to do with policy.”
Biden: The ‘affirmative task’ before us is to ‘create a New World Order’
Submitted by sharpsteve on Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:27
Video
Vice President Joe Biden calls for the creation of a “new world order” at the Export Import Bank conference in Washington on April 5, 2013.
http://www.dailypaul.com/280931/biden-the-affirmative-task-before-us-is-to-create-a-new-world-order - 153k -
“unless it has nothing to do with policy.”
Pelosi, Biden, Reid, and Feinstein are four more black politicians that sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. But you guys go right on with Jesse and the Reverand Al’s talilking points.
How can it be? The 47% that are the “takers” should be living it up on their EBT cards, and music downloads to their Obamaphones.
You forgot the free “Government Motors” Escalades.
I really don’t understand all of the gut-level hatred of Obama, unless it has nothing to do with policy.
I like GWB, Pelosi, Reid, Obama, Jesse Jackson Jr, McSame, and Feinstein. These people are just tools. In the very sense. What I do not like is the system that made people vote for those politicians. Of course, I do not like democracy.
The 10% approval rating of Congress only means the 90% of the a$$ clowns who disapprove of THE VERY SAME PEOPLE THEY VOTED FOR are the problem. Congress is not the problem.
The 10% approval rating of Congress only means the 90% of the a$$ clowns who disapprove of THE VERY SAME PEOPLE THEY VOTED FOR are the problem.
Actually I think it means they disapprove of the people everyone else in other states/districts voted for, and those people probably feel the same about their choice.
We all want term limits…not because we want to get rid of our guy, but because we’re willing to sacrifice our guy to get rid of their guys.
Posted: 5:09 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013
Palm Beach County home to vampire foreclosures
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Just in time for Halloween, RealtyTrac has issued a new report on so-called “vampire” foreclosures.
Vampire foreclosures are defined as homes that have gone through the court proceedings and are bank owned, but are still occupied by their previous owners.
Oh God! The Deadbeats are Undead.
Vampire REOs and Zombie Foreclosures Threatening Housing Recovery
Saturday, October 12, 2013
RealtyTrac has identified two threats that are harming housing recovery efforts right now: vampire REOs and zombie foreclosures.
According to the Irvine, Calif.-based data firm, about 47% of bank-owned homes across the country are still occupied by the previous owner who was foreclosed on by their lender, deemed to be vampire REOs.
These properties often will look like normal, nondistressed homes. But in reality, they represent a shadow inventory that is becoming more imminent as rising home prices motivate banks to sell off these types of homes to try to recoup their losses on soured loans.
Houston, which has a total REO inventory of 6,582 homes, has the highest percentage of vampire REOs with 65%, RealtyTrac said.
Another metropolitan area that has a large volume of vampire bank-owned inventory is Miami. Here, vampire REOs account for 64% of the city’s REO inventory of 30,868 assets.
Meanwhile, other notable markets in which vampire REOs are larger than 50% of the city’s bank-owned inventory levels include Los Angeles (61% of its 12,992 REOs), Cincinnati (57% out of 5,398), Cleveland (52% out of 5,523), Philadelphia (52% of the 4,881 bank-owned housing units), Riverside, Calif. (52% of 10,801 REOs), Dallas (51% out of 6,676) and Orlando (half of its 12,614 total REO inventory).
RealtyTrac also said homes that are still deteriorating through the foreclosure process but have been vacated by the homeowner—known as zombie foreclosures—make up 20% of its database. Often, these homes are not maintained properly and represent a threat to the quality of the surrounding neighborhood, therefore causing property values to fall in markets where these assets sit.
http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/dailybriefing/vampire-reos-zombie-foreclosures-threatening-housing-recovery-1039201-1.html -
So,
Vampire REO = house owned by bank but NOT vacant; and
Zombie Foreclosure = house in foreclosure AND vacant
Wouldn’t a higher percentage of Vampire REO mean a lesser degree of excess housing (ie. REO are still occupied by bodies), and a lower percentage of Zombie foreclosures mean a similar thing (people still living in their homes during the foreclosure pricess)?
And just to note, 2 of the 9 high “Vampire REO” markets are in CA, and 0 of 9 noted high “Zombie Foreclosure” markets are in CA.
25 MILLION of them Liar.
Posted: 5:40 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, 2013
Florida helps write down mortgages for underwater homeowners
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Florida’s key foreclosure prevention program has turned its sights on seriously underwater homeowners, offering up to $50,000 to pay down mortgage debt and help regain equity in the state’s still mending real estate market.
Announced Friday, the new plan differs from many previous foreclosure lifelines in that people do not have to prove a financial hardship.
anything to keep prices high.
No Pelosi’s/Obamas/Reids/Clintons/Marxists in space please: The universe belongs to voluntaryists. Not statists.
Are you serious Linked In? Saw this Job ad from a Seattle company:
Software Engineer
Planetary Resources Inc.
Job description
Planetary Resources, Inc (PRI), the asteroid mining company, is seeking a Flight Software and Ground Software Engineer (a combined role) for the development of its innovative spaceflight products and support systems at its Bellevue, WA facility.
Description:
As a software engineer, you will be responsible for creating the software products that enable PRI to deploy and operate state of the art robotic spacecraft. These software products cover the full spectrum of platforms and applications, from mission critical assembly-level code running on an embedded microprocessor to cloud-based high performance data processing.
Working with a small team of engineers, you will build the software components and tools that drive our platform, leveraging modern software techniques and open source technology.
Desired Skills and Experience
We need software engineers that:
• Possess a diverse experience base, with comprehension of low and high level software
• Work effectively and can deliver software in a fast-paced, dynamic team environment
• Are compelled to create high quality, excellent software
• Bring new perspectives to spacecraft development and operation
It is not expected that all software engineers are capable of debugging microcontroller assembly code and also writing sophisticated web applications (though that would be great). However, it is expected that every software engineer is able to contribute to all of PRI’s software products at some level.
Candidates should possess some of the following qualifications:
• Minimum BS in Computer Science, Computer Systems Engineering, or Electrical Engineering
• Have executed two or more complete product life-cycles
• Excellent technical writing and documentation skills
• Expertise in three or more of the following programming languages: C, C++, Javascript, Python, SQL, Assembly for x86, ARM, or microcontrollers
• Demonstrated expertise with event-driven, asynchronous, message based software architecture
• Demonstrated expertise in real-time embedded systems, mission-critical software, or distributed system software
• Demonstrated expertise with database, file-system, and operating system software
• Demonstrated expertise with data visualization or simulation software
• Demonstrated expertise with optimization, planning, or scheduling software
• Experience with Linux software development (kernel experience a plus)
• Understanding of real-time operating systems (Embedded Linux, QNX, VxWorks, etc.)
• Familiarity with open source tools and technologies
• Demonstrated expertise in software architecture development (UML or other modeling tools)
• Demonstrated experience with software configuration management tools/methods
• Experience with the development and execution of software test plans
• Experience with software quality metrics (path coverage, static analysis, etc)
Applicants must be eligible for employment within the United States of America.
Again, no Rio’s, no Slobs, No Polly’s, No Oxides. You all can have earth. The libertarians will take over the rest of the universe.
Again, no Rio’s, no Slobs, No Polly’s, No Oxides. You all can have earth. The libertarians will take over the rest of the universe.
Who was the first man in space? Who do we hitch rides with to get our people to the ISS?
Investments in Planetary Resources by Larry Page and Eric Schmidt.
I guess mining asteroids qualifies as a “moon shot” (pun intended).
How China, Europe and India are sidestepping the volatile US dollar
http://qz.com/134057/how-china-europe-and-india-are-sidestepping-the-volatile-us-dollar/
I had been wondering why I instinctively snapped up some shares of Vanguard’s long-term Treasury fund after the big selloff earlier this year.
Now I know.
Here is one more pearl of wisdom from Professor Cochrane, from the same article:
Owners in high-priced California housing markets, take note!
This fellow may know just a bit more about housing price dynamics than your friendly neighborhood Realtor® knows.
John H. Cochrane is the AQR Capital Management Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School
of Business. His recent finance publications include the book Asset Pricing, and articles on dynamics in stock and bond markets, the volatility of exchange rates, the term structure of interest rates, the returns to venture capital, liquidity premiums in stock prices, the relation between stock prices and business cycles, and option pricing when investors can’t perfectly hedge. His monetary economics publications include articles on the relationship between deficits and inflation, the effects of monetary policy, and on the fiscal theory of the price level. He has also written articles on macroeconomics, health insurance, time-series econometrics and other topics.
…
He writes occasional Op-eds, and blogs as “the Grumpy Economist” at johnhcochrane.blogspot.com.
P.S. Link to article is found here.