Bits Bucket for October 14, 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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Started a new job [have been retired for 2 years, but only 61 so I am getting bored] from Criag’s List. Working for ….. yes a developer of …. McMansions. He has been sitting on several vacant subdivisions and feels now is the time to start building the spec dwellings. So far it is fun, filling out permits, stuffing envelopes and doing some QuickBooks input. Here it is …. he works hard! Will it fly? His only concern is to make a profit, no eveil intent, just try to spend less money on things then he hopes to sell it for. We shall see, but it is NOT an evil empire that some people decribe. Just selling buggy whips in different forms.
He has been sitting on several vacant subdivisions and feels now is the time to start building the spec dwellings ??
What area may I ask ??
I don’t think anyone up here suggested contracting is inherently evil. You’re going to see how it works on a very small scale but you’ll be in the dark on much of the estimating and costing if he’s not self-performing certain disciplines and trades.
the evil are the ones not trying to make a profit-=socialists
and they’re lying
Thanks for saying that. Remarks like that ward off Rio, Oxide, Alpha, Jesse Jackson, Al Scharpton, and their like - all crazy leftists.
No one thinks it’s evil. Some of us believe that today is not a day to profit from spec houses.
and if he fails, hopefully tax payers can bail him out like we always do.
socialized losses, and privatized gains and they call the leftists, socialists?
I don’t much like developers because they are the ones who really drove up the prices on land and lost all sense, throwing up (yes, vomiting forth) disgusting product in the name of greed without a care in the world as to the impact on the community at large. They are extremely sleazy in their dealings with local politicians. They’ll purchase a number of rural 40 acre parcels zoned for 1 residence per 10 acres, then pay off the politicians for a zoning change so they can cram 12 houses per acre on each parcel, then sell off the land to builders making a mint due to the fraudulent zoning change. Neighboring landowners are left scratching their heads in anger as they all fought the new development which was somehow crammed through anyway. They are left with the traffic issues and the very lifestyle they had moved away from in the first place.
A new home builder is your best friend for holding prices to reasonable levels. Adding to the inventory at cost is the best way to create a stable market provided there is no overbuilding.
It’s a little late for that Jingle Balls…..
“but it is NOT an evil empire that some people decribe. Just selling buggy whips in different forms.”
Nice try to convincing us nattering nabob prune-deficient types here on HBB
Nothing in life is much worse than a sore looser.
did you see robert schiller won the economics nobel , lmao.
Why is that a ‘lmao’? He is one of the few economists who was on the right side of history all along with respect to the stock market and housing market bubbles.
How do you explain he was one of the 300 economists who wrote a letter to Obama requesting Yellin as the Fed Chief?
The nobel must be for his other works….not for gettting it “right” on the stock and housing markets.
Who would you recommend for the post instead of Yellen?
Nassim Taleb
Jim Grant?
Even that democrat, tall and old Paul will do it.
I confess to finding Taleb’s ideas far more interesting than main stream economic thought. I also believe the lens of history will hold his ideas in higher esteem than those generated by the present day wave of Fed-controlled economic research, especially when anyone but a complete moron can see what a wreck Fed policy has made of the U.S. economy.
When you read “overcentralised” in the article below, think “central bank” executing “command and control” economic policy from a little room full of group thinkers who hold all the levers in their hands.
October 13, 2013 2:25 pm
Commonsense ideas behind Taleb’s rhetorical flourishes
John Authers
Western economy is overcentralised, creating extra risk
How fragile we are. Five years on from the Lehman Brothers collapse, political and regulatory errors have made the world’s financial system even more fragile.
This alarming line of thought comes from Nassim Nicholas Taleb, best known for The Black Swan, which explained markets’ difficulties in pricing extreme events for which they had no precedent.
Mr Taleb, who spoke to me in London last week, divides opinion. For some he is a genius, for others a charlatan. What seems clear, however, is that his gloriously charismatic act and polymath choice of imagery, drawn from philosophy, mathematics and the Classics, can get in the way of underlying ideas which are not in fact far-fetched. Indeed they contain a hard kernel of commonsense truth.
Here, then, is an attempt to render Mr Taleb’s poetic arguments in prose. Those wishing to see the man in action can watch the videos on FT.com.
He argues first that natural systems work by allowing things that do not work to break. This did not happen after the Lehman bankruptcy. True, letting Lehman fail was an attempt to instil discipline in the banking system, but it came too late. Moral hazard – the risky behaviour that people indulge in when they are insured against the worst – had steadily been allowed to take root ever since the rescue of Continental-Illinois in 1983, which gave the world the phrase “too big to fail”.
A policy aimed at making it easy for financial institutions and their managers to survive – which has been in force since Lehman – shows that politicians and regulators do not understand the properties of a healthy system, which would allow for errors to occur without “socialising” them – or inflicting the cost of an error on everyone.
Many would agree. But starting from where we are now, how do we move to a healthy system? Taleb repeats, ad infinitum, the concept of “skin in the game”. Those making decisions in the market have to stand to suffer from the consequences of any mistakes. This was not true, for example, of lenders who could immediately sell the risks carried by subprime mortgages to someone else via the securitisation market.
For Taleb, this implies that hedge funds should now become the dominant model. One of the few disasters that did not happen in the dark days of late 2008 was the collapse of a systemically important hedge fund. Why not? Because they were diversified, and their managers know that hedge funds can, and do, fail all the time. Generally, by the time they fail they are not big enough to have a systemic impact.
Taleb says that a hedge fund manager typically has between 20 and 50 times the exposure to the fund of his next biggest customer. This makes them far more careful, and also makes them vulnerable to exiting the “gene pool” if they prove not to have the necessary talent.
Hedge funds have attracted much new money post-crisis, despite failing to beat the stock market, and are developing strategies that aim to disintermediate the banks, such as loan funds. So this process is already at work, albeit very slowly.
Decentralisation should not only be applied to the banking system. Companies have been allowed to get bigger. As he puts it, the S&P 500 is on its way to becoming the “S&P1” – and note that the price of the S&P has increased 480 per cent since 1990, while its market value has increased 700 per cent, thanks to takeovers that allowed big companies to take a greater share of the economy.
He also applies this notion to public debt. At the municipal level, one bankruptcy will not destroy the system – as the calm reaction in the muni bond market to Detroit’s bankruptcy this summer shows. With the discipline of default hanging over them, those running city governments need to be responsible.
At the national level, the system is more fragile. One tall tower is more likely to fall in a storm than a lawn of grass. This leads to Taleb’s contention that US federal debt is the most fragile of all, and should be decentralised, because default is unthinkable. Hence, “I’m kind of happy with what’s happening in the US now. We’d like the government periodically to come back with a plan, just like a corporation that has a debt addiction.”
Implementing this idea in practice without extreme volatility will be hard. But the Taleb arguments remain strong. Fragility, he insists, trumps growth. If a plane has an elevated chance of crashing, even if that chance is very small, we would give that priority over its speed or its price. So, governments should have a risk manager’s mindset, and not try to prod the economy into growing. Without a risk-averse mindset, risks will grow.
…
‘He is one of the few economists who was on the right side of history’
‘In recent months, Shiller has warned that some regions are looking “bubbly”, referring to the dramatic annual price gains in cities such as Las Vegas and San Francisco. But overall, he does not believe we are in a bubble..yet.’
“Home prices right now are just reasonable. They are where they have been for a century in real terms. They are not high or low. They are OK,” he said in a Bloomberg Television interview last week.’
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12067948/1/nobel-winner-robert-shiller-says-there-is-no-housing-bubble-yet.html
My, what a firm call. It’s bubbly, not a bubble…yet. Plenty of room for a revision later.
Shiller is the establishment go-to guy for the housing bubble in the US. Like when he went all in on the government propping up prices a few years ago. His early writings on the housing bubble make him an “authority” on supporting bail-outs, etc.
Shiller=Fed and private banking consultant and proxy.
This same dynamic repeats continually. Someone calls it like it is, then is co-opted with blandishments. Then the lone voice in the wilderness has their own stake in the broken system and their own millions to protect and the opinions change/morph into “more reasonable” views that amount to just licking the boots of the overlords.
But the cocktail parties are great!
As a nation, we haven’t seen the same bounce (dead cat?) in prices as has happened in coastal CA. So when shiller says bubbly and refers just to CA, that kind of makes sense. Not like there is a bubble going on in vegas or detroit. BUT, there could be some infaltion of prices there still due to fed QE. Just means in places where prices are “normal” when QE is removed, they will still have to go through their depressed price phase…
Nonsense.
Prices are inflated by 200% or more irrespective of location.
“Not like there is a bubble going on in vegas or detroit.”
Are you really this stupid, or do you just play that way on the blog? Vegas is in a massive bubble.
‘He is one of the few economists who was on the right side of history’
Point taken about recent pattern of shillery.
Can I ask a serious question?
Who is left who was warning about the bubble, and is STILL warning about prices being too high?
Ivy Zelman is now a bull.
Shiller is now at best neutral.
Chris Thornberg has turned.
I recognize that at least with Ivy and Thornberg have now started their own shops, so they are less “pure” in their analysis.
Which bears are still bears?
I forgot to add the dude from Pimco (who sold his house in Orange County during the bubble, but is now on the other side).
“Which bears are still bears?”
I believe all the MSM-cited bears are all-in now, which provides a contrarian signal that the next leg down in housing prices may have already begun.
Ben Jones still has it framed.
During 2005-2007, there were a number of people who were bearish (as noted). The last time, the indicator of the bubble being long-in-the-tooth was a combination of regular Joe’s and the bulk of the MSM being bullish, but a few well-informed people being bearish (Zelman, Shiller, Pimco guy, Thornberg, etc.).
Where are the well-informed bears?
“Where are the well-informed bears?”
It’s so lonely out here, I am considering starting my hibernation this year in mid-October.
But don’t worry — the housing market will come back again after the Souper Bowl!
Hey Liar…. Who cares?
Housing prices are massively inflated by 200% +.
I prefer a different question asked here: Where are my mules at?
“Nothing in life is much worse than a sore looser.”
The fall of 2000 into early 2001 - sore loserman
Will Wall Street continue its collective shutdown shrug this week?
13 October 2013 Last updated at 19:00 ET
IMF chief warns a US default could spark recession
Angry protests took place outside the White House on Sunday, as Mark Mardell reports
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has warned that a US default could tip the world into recession.
In a US TV interview she said a default would result in “massive disruption the world over”.
The US Treasury will start to run short of funds on Thursday if no agreement is reached for it to raise its debt limit.
Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate held direct talks for the first time in weeks on Saturday.
But there is little sign of any breakthrough, correspondents say.
In an interview with ABC’s Meet the Press Christine Lagarde said America must now raise the debt ceiling before Thursday’s deadline.
“If there is that degree of disruption, that lack of certainty, that lack of trust in the US signature, it would mean massive disruption the world over and we would be at risk of tipping yet again into recession,” she said.
…
I do not understand why a foreigner (head of the IMF) feels the need to comment on US politics and economy. Does she not realize that our economy is falling apart because we are shipping our jobs off to other countries, all the while importing as many legal and illegal immigrants as possible? The IMF chief is, by definition, a globalist and elitist of the worst sort. I think she is being confronted with the dark fruits of her own globalist agenda, and she is looking for someone to blame.
She’s worried about the collateral damage a U.S. default would inflict on the other westernized national economies, including the Eurozone, the BRICs, and anywhere else which has modernized from autarkic agrarian self sufficiency.
Given the readiness of central banks around the globe to offer bailouts, I suspect the worries may be overblown.
Ah, there it is again! COULD = FEAR = CONTROL of the masses by immobilization.
Debt deal deadlock to weigh on stocks
By CNNMoney Staff
@CNNMoneyInvest
October 14, 2013: 6:48 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Markets look set to erase some of last week’s gains as investors lose confidence in Washington’s ability to raise the all-important U.S. debt ceiling.
U.S. stock futures were moving lower ahead of the opening bell Monday, as investors saw no signs of progress in negotiations to resolve either the debt issue or the partial federal government shutdown.
“Just when you thought it was safe to assume progress on the budget impasse, the weekend has proved to be frustratingly slow in terms of positive developments,” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Gael Gunubu, in a client note. “Markets are responding accordingly … as last week’s hope that we would see an early-week deal has evaporated.”
If progress isn’t made Monday, the U.S. bond market could be in for a bumpy ride. U.S. Treasury markets and the partially shut federal government are closed for Columbus Day.
…
A bunch of people are going to protest agains deportations in front of an ICE building somewhere. Ironically, the ICE building will be closed that day because of government furloughs. Funny, ain’t it?
Illegal immigrants (who have helped to make us poor) protesting against the possibility of deporting them, even though we can’t actually deport them right now because we’re so poor. Why protest? Just keep flooding on over and sending the money back to Mexico. Problem solved!
Today’s illegals, tomorrow’s debt owners.
Think…who will pay for your SS and Medicare?
Illegal immigrants take more government money than they pay in taxes. They are illegal, but they still qualify for Section 8 housing, food stamps, free college, and Medicaid. That’s how they manage to live here on such cheap wages (and still send half their paycheck back home).
Besides, the South/Central American culture is cool with welfare. They see welfare as a right of the people. The rich people are supposed to own the country, but then make up for it by giving welfare to the poor people. Illegals have absolutely no intention of playing by the rules (i.e., earn money, pay taxes, minimize reliance on welfare, etc). They just want free stuff.
They will get a rude awakening once they become citizens.
Why spoil the fun? Everybody learns the hard way.
Besides, the South/Central American culture is cool with welfare. They see welfare as a right of the people.
How can that be when it doesn’t exist down there? They don’t have section 8 or foodstamps in Mexico or other places south of the Rio Grande (or Rio Bravo as the Mexicans call it).
Free college? Last time I checked you had to prove that you are either a citizen or a legal resident to qualify for federal aid.
WHY do illegals qualify for Section 8, food stamps, and Medicaid?
in colorado:
illegals get free college in california, and free tortillas in their home countries
Last time I checked you had to prove what your income was to get a mortgage. See how that works.
Rio, Oxide, Polly and Alpha offer to pay for the illegals.
ahh yes… our blog LIEberals.
We need them to renounce their southern citizenship so they become forever enslaved as a U.S. debt donkey. They will soon find out those fences were put in place to keep them IN the U.S. to pay to infiniti. Oh yeah, all that free crap is great now until you can’t ESCAPE!!! OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
For me it is simple: giving welfare is cheaper than putting in prison.
but I am a fiscally conservative lefty.
It’s not the immigrants making us poor. It’s the failed government policy of money handouts (to corporate AND social programs) . No handouts = no reason to hate immigrants. You don’t think politicians are going to get rid of that distraction do you?
Yes, building interstate highways has bankrupt our nation.
No handouts = no reason to hate immigrants
They still depress wages and displace Americans from jobs.
“They still depress wages and displace Americans from jobs.”
You have to pick your immigrants, many are job creators.
Doesn’t the US have a 500K investment in a business and you get a green card ?
” Entrepreneurs (and their spouses and unmarried children under 21) who make an investment in a commercial enterprise in the United States and who plan to create or preserve ten permanent full time jobs for qualified United States workers, are eligible to apply for a green card (permanent residence).
Up to 10,000 visas may be authorized each fiscal year for eligible entrepreneurs.
You must invest $1,000,000, or at least $500,000 in a targeted employment area (high unemployment or rural area). In return, USCIS may grant conditional permanent residence to the individual.
For more information, see Section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and 8 CFR 204.6 (see the “INA” link to the right).”
You have to pick your immigrants, many are job creators.
No argument there. But the overwhelming majority are not job creators. And due to the lust this country has for cheap labor, I don’t see any significant change coming down the road.
The immmigrants (temporary/illegal) are being imported for the purpose of flooding the market with cheap workers. If they live in Mexico, then they can pack five guys to an apartment in the US for a few years, and send enough money home for their families to buy houses free and clear back home. In the meanwhile, they don’t consume much, they may or may not pay taxes, and they are willing to undercut Americans on wages. They do not anticipate having the costs that an American would have long-term.
Mathguy wrote
“No Handouts = no reason to hate immigrants”
I highly agree with you. But The Demobcraps only want the immigrants for voting in socialism. The Demobcraps are focused only on permanent mob rule. There can be no mob rule if there were no handouts.
I’d be the first one at the border to greet them if I was guaranteed they would not get any taxpayer money at all. Heck, I’d marry a foreign lady in fact. But A is A.
I frankly don’t understand the Democrat argument in favor of admitting illegals into the country while making legal immigration nearly impossible.
Would anyone who thinks they grasp the logic please elaborate?
Oct. 14, 2013, 6:03 a.m. EDT
U.S. stock futures sink as Senators talk sequester
By Barbara Kollmeyer and Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock-index futures pointed to a sharply lower open for Wall Street on Monday as Senate leaders remained deadlocked over a deal to raise the nation’s debt limit, due to a clash over previously passed budget cuts known as the sequester.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ3 -0.64%) slid 91 points, or 0.6%, to 15,084, while those for the S&P 500 (SPZ3 -0.67%) fell 11.30 points, or 0.7%, to 1,687.70. Nasdaq futures (NDZ3 -0.40%) traded down 14 points, or 0.4%, to 3,211.50.
…
Oct. 14, 2013, 7:01 a.m. EDT
Are we setting up for a Lehman-type event?
Avi’s latest posts
It will not be different this time
Dark clouds are rolling in over the S&P 500
Can the S&P 500 still get to 1780?
By Avi Gilburt
Since 2009, the S&P 500 has trained market participants to “buy the dip” in a Pavlovian sort of manner. Market participants have also been conditioned to believe that not only does the Fed “have its back,” but that the Fed can prevent a market crash. However, those market participants are about to learn a hard lesson, as they will undoubtedly attempt to continue to buy the dips. Don’t allow yourself to be included among those masses, as the tide may very well be about to turn in a big way whether a debt deal gets done or not.
…
Why buy the dip, when you can buy the crash?
I also advocate shorting the stock market, which probably means we’re in for a secular bull market. But whatever.
LOL.
Hedge Fund Bears at Year High as Equities Focus on Budget
By Nikolaj Gammeltoft & Whitney Kisling - Oct 14, 2013 12:27 AM PT
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Hedge funds, whose bearish bets on stocks have held their returns to half the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in 2013, pushed short sales close to the highest level of the year just as the U.S. budget impasse spurred a doubling in volatility.
Rising bets against equities sent a gauge of manager bullishness compiled by ISI Group LLC within 0.2 point of its lowest reading in 2013 last week. Short sales have backfired as the S&P 500, up 19 percent this year, posts one of its broadest rallies on record. Futures on the index slid 0.7 percent at 9:04 a.m. in Tokyo, paring the biggest two-day rally since January as lawmakers struggled for an accord to raise the debt ceiling. It has swung an average of 0.82 percent a day in October, compared with 0.45 percent in the third quarter.
Enlarge image New York Stock Exchange
Pedestrians pass in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York. Equity gains this year have pushed a Goldman Sachs index of the 50 most-shorted stocks in the Russell 3000 to rally 38 percent in 2013, almost twice the Standard & Poor 500 Index’s 19 percent gain. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg
Dubin, Lasry, Richards on Hedge Funds, Strategy
27:36
Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — Glenn Dubin, chairman and co-founder of Highbridge Capital Management LLC, Marc Lasry, chairman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group LLC, and Bruce Richards, chief executive officer and co-managing partner of Marathon Asset Management LP, participate in a panel discussion about hedge-fund strategies and the outlook for financials. Bloomberg’s Stephanie Ruhle moderates the panel at the Bloomberg Link Markets 50 Summit in New York. (Source: Bloomberg)
U.S. Budget Impasse Seen Going `Down to the Wire’
6:31
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Lena Komileva, managing director and chief economist at G+ Economics Ltd., discusses U.S. talks on raising the debt limit, default risk and the outlook for Treasuries. She speaks with Guy Johnson on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Dichtl Says Repo Market Vulnerable to U.S. Default
7:52
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Otto Dichtl, managing director of Stifel Nicolaus Europe Ltd., discusses the potential impact of the U.S. budget impasse on banks and the repurchase agreement market. He speaks with Anna Edwards and Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television’s “Countdown.” (Source: Bloomberg)
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The embrace of bearish trades has squeezed returns for professionals and is one reason stocks have repeatedly rallied in 2013 amid slowing economic and profit growth, according to Cambiar Investors LLC and Pension Partners LLC. Rather than falling, shares that investors have shorted the most are up 38 percent since January, a consequence of forced buying during rallies by speculators who borrowed and sold them, data compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. show.
“There still are people out there who are convinced the whole market and financial system is some house of cards,” said Brian Barish, president of Denver-based Cambiar Investors, which manages about $8 billion, said Oct. 10. “I think they wind up shooting themselves and their investors in the foot with the permabear mentality, but it persists.”
…
“There still are people out there who are convinced the whole market and financial system is some house of cards,” said Brian Barish, president of Denver-based Cambiar Investors, which manages about $8 billion, said Oct. 10. “I think they wind up shooting themselves and their investors in the foot with the permabear mentality, but it persists.”
People have been working in the house of cards so long they can’t see it.
People have been working in the house of cards so long they can’t see it.
When you have a vested interest in not seeing it, you don’t see it.
i no ryte
Why wouldn’t anyone have a permabear mentality when we live in an era of permanantly rolling bubbles? It’s fine to buy stocks when they’re cheap, but you eventually get to a point where you can see that they are overpriced by about 100%, so you figure one of those good ole crashes should be coming along soon.
Obama Says Real Boss in Default Showdown Means Bonds Call Shots
By David J. Lynch & Cordell Eddings - Oct 10, 2013 9:01 PM PT
President Barack Obama knows who is the boss: the bond market.
“Ultimately, what matters is: What do the people who are buying Treasury bills think?” the president told reporters this week, when discussing measures he could take to end the threat of a historic default on the nation’s debt.
Even with the U.S. budget deficit down by more than half since 2009 as a percentage of the economy, the Congressional Budget Office says the government this fiscal year will need to borrow an average of almost $11 billion each week. That’s why Obama is so sensitive to what investors will tolerate.
“The market is the final arbiter of any policy, the ultimate barometer and enforcement mechanism,” says Russ Certo, a managing director at Brean Capital LLC in New York. “The market holds risk-takers and policy makers accountable.”
After weeks of confidently expecting a resolution of the standoff in Washington over the government shutdown and the debt ceiling, bond investors this week began to betray nervousness in their approach to short-term government borrowing.
The yield they demanded at the Oct. 8 auction of four-week Treasury securities almost tripled from a week earlier, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew highlighted in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee yesterday. The government was forced to pay 0.35 percent for four-week borrowings, up from 0.12 percent.
…
Do brokers make you “broker”?
For sale by owner: Homeowners ditching brokers
By Les Christie @CNNMoney
October 11, 2013: 1:00 PM ET
The Andersons sold their Dallas home by themselves, saving a little more than $14,000 in broker commissions.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Bolstered by the housing recovery, a growing number of homeowners are going it alone when selling their homes hoping to save thousands of dollars in commissions.
The hot housing market in Cambridge, Mass., gave Jon LaRosa the confidence to sell his condo on his own. So in late May, the 34-year-old freelance IT worker listed it for $429,000 on ForSaleByOwner.com and scheduled an open house for the weekend.
“I figured that even if I sold it for $5,000 less… I was still making out well,” he said.
In the next week or so, more than 100 people came to see the place. LaRosa received 7 offers and sold for $450,000, closing the deal by mid-July.
Not only did LaRosa get much more than he asked for, but he only had to pay a 2% commission — of $9,000 — to the buyer’s agent. That’s instead of the roughly $22,500 in commissions he would have had to pay if he had a broker.
Related: Selling your home? What you need to know
Broker commissions typically range from about 5% to 6% of the sale price, or about $10,000 to $12,000 on an average sale of $200,000.
Usually, about half the commission goes to the listing (or seller’s) agent and the brokerage they work for. These agents get paid to put the home on the Multiple Listing Service so agents who represent buyers see the home and bite. They also host open houses and help in negotiations. The other half of the commission goes to the buyer’s agent and their brokerage.
“I think the pay structure is out of whack,” said LaRosa. “I don’t think agents put in $22,500 worth of work.”
…
The USA is pretty much unique with the stratospheric commissions realtors charge. In most other countries its 1-2%, not 6%. And they don’t have all the other parasitic closing cost fees we are used to paying.
And people don’t have to leave a tip in most other countries either.
Yes you do. It’s already priced in the service you received.
I’m always confused by the tip jar at Starbucks.
I always tip Baristas, sandwich shops, etc. I do it because I know it helps them out, as they are paid extremely poor wages.
“I’m always confused by the tip jar at Starbucks.”
They do work their butts off, but IIRC they are paid fairly well and get health insurance, no?
I don’t think agents put in $22,500 worth of work.”
But the agents have $22,500 worth of spending to do. Lexus aren’t cheap, people.
Has this guy seen HGTV’s “Selling New York?” The show lists the potential commission — the norm seems to be upwards of $150-200K for a property that sells for $10 million.
IIRC, NYC is the only place agents don’t use MLS.
We sold our McMansion during the DOJ vs. NAR’s lawsuit using a online MLS service, paying $1,500 to list and the buyer’s side commission. Boycots, nasties, and so foth, but we saved a bloody fortune. I hope j6p wises up. Commissions are a waste of $. A lawyer can do it for a hell of a lot cheaper. In Ca for instance, the laws are such you need to know the “gotchas”. You don’t want a lawsuit.
Is Leslie Appleton Young a liar?
“Is Leslie Appleton Young a liar?”
http://picpaste.com/yes-MLv5HKsy.jpg
Many people who have gone from house to house using brokers don’t see that they lost money.
Several ways to be a “looser” of money in real estate:
You lose your job and have to take a lower paying job to stay in the community because your spouse works in that community and your kids are in a good school
1) Buy when interest rates are low
2) Buy when the cheerleaders say it’s the last chance to get in
3) Buy when people are camping out in new housing tracts to get a chance to purchase
4) ARM loans
5) HELOCs
6) Maintenance costs that were conveniently forgotten
7) property taxes increasing
9) You sell a house every 5 years and fatten the wallet of a broker.
FWIW Nolo Press publishes and regularly updates an excellent book on how to sell your own house…I bought one when I was selling my place in Spring 2007 as there was a LOT of good info on the process, also used their house buying book when I bought in 1997, read it cover to cover and thus was well informed.
they get paid well for shuffling paperwork around.
If you are a long-time employee with a company that has a good pension plan and you reach your mid-Sixties then you will get to experience the wonders of having brokers come out of the woodwork to become your newest best friend.
You have some big bucks if the form of pool of forced savings - meaning your pension - and they want you to retire and cash it out so they can tap into it.
And they are relentless. But why not? Being relentless means making a bunch of phone calls, making a bunch of misrepresentations, things that are cheap to do.
An excellent return on investment, from their point of view.
Nothing that a swift kick to the balls, followed by a cane to the cranium can’t fix.
Do brokers make you “broker”?
And “financial advisors” invest and reinvest your money until it’s all gone.
“financial advisors”
The worst vice is ADvice.
How is the red-hot D.C. area housing market withstanding the shutdown?
Breaking News
Fama, Hansen, Shiller Share Nobel Economics Prize
Foreclosures Surge in D.C. Area After Federal Budget Cuts
By Dan Levy & Elizabeth Dexheimer - Oct 10, 2013 12:16 PM PT
Foreclosure starts in the Washington suburbs rose last month following federal budget cuts that may have made it harder for some homeowners to pay their mortgages, even as defaults fell across the country, RealtyTrac said.
Initial foreclosure filings climbed 144 percent from August in Fairfax County, Virginia, and more than doubled in Prince William, Loudoun and Fauquier counties, the real estate research firm said today. Fairfax’s jump was the biggest in the U.S. among counties with populations of 1 million or more.
This year’s across-the-board budget reductions have led to “sequester pain” including work furloughs that began in June, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Homeowners may be hurt further by the partial government shutdown as President Barack Obama and House Republicans wrangle over spending, said Brian O’Reilly, president of Collingwood Group LLC.
“There is no question that the sequester has had an impact on the economy in Washington,” O’Reilly, whose Washington-based firm advises financial clients, said in a telephone interview. “And against the backdrop of the current shutdown, I would say it would not be a surprise to anyone to see continued softening in this area.”
In Maryland, where required court approvals for home seizures lengthen the foreclosure process, first-time notices in September more than doubled from a year earlier in Montgomery County, and tripled in Frederick County, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac said. Maryland’s 230 percent gain statewide ranked second in the U.S., behind a 263 percent surge in Maine.
…
“There is no question that the sequester has had an impact on the economy in Washington,” O’Reilly, whose Washington-based firm advises financial clients, said in a telephone interview. “And against the backdrop of the current shutdown, I would say it would not be a surprise to anyone to see continued softening in this area.”
They probably don’t understand that to the rest of the country that means the sequester is a good thing and should be continued.
Where We Live
D.C. metro area housing market sluggish leading up to shutdown
By Kathy Orton
October 10 at 10:00 am
The federal government shutdown didn’t take place until this month, but the D.C. area housing market was already starting to feel its effect in September, according to the latest data from RealEstate Business Intelligence.
Typically, activity picks up in the fall before the holiday season. However, the economic uncertainty swirling around the pending federal government standstill sent potential home buyers to the sidelines as they worried about being furloughed. The number of properties sold and the amount of pending sales last month slowed from August.
There were 3,651 sales in the D.C. metro area last month, down from 4,621 in August but 12.1 percent higher than September 2012. There were 4,260 homes under contract in September, down from 4,536 in August.
Those numbers will likely decline even further as a result of the shutdown, which is stalling home loans for many potential home buyers. An inability to contact either the IRS or the Social Security Administration for needed documents is hampering loan processing, which likely will cause a drag on home sales this month.
…
very hot- bama still hiring
16,000 new IRS agents and 12 new agencies for bama care
Is a U.S. default still on the table?
U.S. Risks Joining 1933 Germany in Pantheon of Deadbeat Defaults
By John Glover - Oct 13, 2013 4:01 PM PT
Reneging on its debt obligations would make the U.S. the first major Western government to default since Nazi Germany 80 years ago.
Germany unilaterally ceased payments on long-term borrowings on May 6, 1933, three months after Adolf Hitler was installed as Chancellor. The default helped cement Hitler’s power base following years of political instability as the Weimar Republic struggled with its crushing debts.
“These are generally catastrophic economic events,” said Professor Eugene N. White, an economics historian at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “There is no happy ending.”
The debt reparations piled onto Germany, which in 1913 was the world’s third-biggest economy, sparked the hyperinflation, borrowings and political deadlock that brought the Nazis to power, and the default. It shows how excessive debt has capricious results, such as the civil war and despotism that ravaged Florence after England’s Edward III refused to pay his obligations from the city-state’s banks in 1339, and the Revolution of 1789 that followed the French Crown’s defaults in 1770 and 1788.
Failure by the world’s biggest economy to pay its debt in an interconnected, globalized world risks an array of devastating consequences that could lay waste to stock markets from Brazil to Zurich and bring the $5 trillion market in Treasury-backed loans to a halt. Borrowing costs would soar, the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency would be in doubt and the U.S. and world economies would risk plunging into recession — and potentially depression.
…
U.S. Risks Joining 1933 Germany in Pantheon of Deadbeat Defaults
I suddenly had a vision of a hall full of Greco-Roman style statues, but instead of being gods, philosophers or Roman Caesars, they were American deadbeats, “people of Walmart”, FIRE industry notables, etc.
This article assumes that it is somehow possible for a nation to pay crushing debt against a backdrop of offshoring and a flood of illegal labor from other countries. Why bother discussing the potential impact of default, when we can see that default is more or less baked into the equation? It is only a question of how the default will occur. It will probably be an “agreement” of some sorts, to make it look softer. We will not end up with a civil war or a new Nazi government, but things will not be the same for a while.
but things will not be the same
That goes without saying.
Here is some news to cheer the gold bugs:
Dollar Downgraded as Standard Life Predicts Damage
By John Detrixhe - Oct 14, 2013 3:20 AM PT
Washington’s wrangling over a partial government shutdown and lifting the U.S.’s borrowing limit has strategists cutting their forecasts for the dollar for a third straight month, the longest stretch this year.
From Credit Suisse Group AG to Westpac Banking Corp., firms have lowered the median estimate for the U.S. currency versus the euro, pound, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and Japanese yen by an average 1.2 percent in October, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That follows a 1.7 percent reduction last month, which was the biggest this year, and a 1.2 percent cut in August.
With a lapse in U.S. borrowing authority now just three days away, a deal which averts a default and restores full government operations continues to elude politicians. That may encourage the Federal Reserve to keep printing dollars to inject cash into the financial system by buying bonds.
“The dollar should increasingly trade across the board on the back foot,” Richard Franulovich, the chief currency strategist for the northern hemisphere at Westpac in New York, said in an Oct. 9 phone interview. “If and when the situation is resolved, there will be a relief rally for the dollar, but I don’t expect that rally to have any legs.”
‘Lasting Damage’
The Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against 10 counterparts including the euro, yen and pound, is down 4 percent from a three-year high in July amid speculation the Fed won’t reduce its bond purchases before year-end. The gauge fell to 1,011.38 as of 11:20 a.m. in London, from 1,054.48 on July 5, paring its increase this year to 2.6 percent.
The 1.2 percent aggregate reduction across the five currency pairs this month matches the second-biggest cut in forecasts this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In April, firms surveyed raised the median prediction for the dollar against its peers by 2.2 percent.
Repeated episodes of government dysfunction are eroding faith in the U.S. currency, according to Andrew Milligan, the Edinburgh-based head of global strategy at Standard Life Investments Ltd., which oversees about $271 billion.
…
Yeah, um, borrowing more than you can afford would generally tend to devalue your currency. Defaulting is just the realization of the risk. The already borrowed money (without the long-term means of repayment) is the actual problem.
Now how can we increase our tax base such that repayment becomes possible? How …let me think. Oh, I KNOW! Let’s stop offshoring our labor to slave countries, and stop allowing American companies to hire foreign labor on our own shores with no penalty. That would decrease unemployment, increase wages and, voi-la, replenish the half-empty well of government resources.
“Now how can we increase our tax base such that repayment becomes possible? ”
why not.. now how can we reduce our spending such that we have excess revenue at current income levels to initiate repayment and lowering of debt…?
Mainly because we already borrowed the money. We can decrease future spending, but we can’t decrease past spending that was borrowed. Besides, it’s better to be flush than poor.
It’s not the days headlines that make a flea’s whisker of a difference in the price of gold in the future.
It’s the mobocracy. The majority of voters will vote for agents that steal some percentage of every saver’ electronic assets, including Combo’s money market funds (assuming so, since he is only interested in the asset of the dollar) and everyone’s brokerage accounts, 401k accounts, and IRA accounts. But far more difficult will be the confiscation of your violins, my gold and silver metals, and my wine. They have to get beyond the range of the barrel of my Colt LE6940 first.
Debt-ceiling breach would push economy into free fall, without a government safety net
By Zachary A. Goldfarb and Jim Tankersley, Published: October 13
The Obama administration will have to decide whether to delay — or possibly suspend — tens of billions of dollars in Social Security checks, food stamps and unemployment benefits if negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling are not resolved this week, experts say, one of the many difficult choices officials will have to make at a time when the government will essentially be running on fumes.
The government will begin Monday with about $30 billion cash in the bank and a little more room to borrow as a result of extraordinary measures launched in the wake of the debt-ceiling crisis. By Thursday, administration officials say they will exhaust all borrowing authority and have only that cash on hand.
Experts on federal finances say that money might be enough to make payments for a few days, but certainly not for more than two weeks. In any event, they say, President Obama will have to make untested decisions about who and what to pay because daily tax receipts will make up only about 70 cents of every dollar of necessary spending.
Economists roundly agree that no matter which course Obama chooses, a drop in federal spending that large would exert a huge drag on economic growth. And in contrast to what happens during a traditional downturn — the safety net expands to help the vulnerable — assistance to seniors and low-income people could be delayed or reduced if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling.
…
There is no way they are going to stop paying Social Security.
If their goal is actual revolution, then they could do that… It would be soooo funny to see medicare offices be stormed by the very scootaround chairs they paid ofr.
Maybe that’s why a billion rounds of ammo were purchased by the feds.
If they stop paying Social Security, but Congress continues to collect their pay, I am all for open season on politicians.
Economists roundly agree that no matter which course Obama chooses, a drop in federal spending that large would exert a huge drag on economic growth.
Always left UNdiscussed is the likelihood that the economy will go in reverse if federal spending simply stays at the level of the previous year.
The underlying rationale of a perpetual 4% or so annual increase in federal spending is to create the illusion of economic growth, since there has been no real growth.
In MSM-speak, if the feds increase their outlays by <4%, they are “cutting” spending and crippling the economy.
Perhaps like sequestration, the prospect of a government debt default is so terrible that it will force a deal to happen.
Oh wait…
No deal yet in Senate as debt-ceiling talks stall
Monday, October 14, 2013
Antonio Planas
Racing against the debt-ceiling clock with a deadline and possible national default looming Thursday, Senate leaders met yesterday in what was billed as a possible breakthrough — but yet no deal was struck to end the stalemate and two-week government shutdown.
Senate Republicans and Democrats hit an impasse yesterday over spending. After inconclusive talks between President Obama and House Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) took charge in trying to end the crises. The senators bumped heads over Democratic demands to undo or change the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts to domestic and defense programs that Republicans see as crucial to reducing the deficit.
McConnell insisted a solution was available in the proposal from a bipartisan group of 12 senators to re-open the government and fund it at current levels for six months, while raising the debt limit through Jan. 31.
Observers say they expect the divided Congress to find some middle ground this week because defaulting could be catastrophic.
“Nobody really understands what it’s going to do to world markets,” GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said. “If the world markets spiral, we’re all in trouble.”
Democratic strategist Jason Stanford said the bipartisan bickering has to end because the stakes are too high.
“We’re going to have a deal. We can’t afford not to,” Stanford said. “It’s not about partisan advantage. They know they can’t cause a worldwide recession.”
…
“They know they can’t cause a worldwide recession.”
They don’t know that certain decisions have already put the world into a wide recession? The United States cannot be responsible for employing everyone in the world. Our current system relies on that, but it’s not possible. We can’t borrow our way to prosperity, and the world can’t parisitize its way to prosperity either.
Of course the globalists don’t actually want prosperity for the world. They want to destroy the middle class, so as to leave more power and resources for the elite. Just ask the UN. The middle class is destroying the world, doncha know?
The United States cannot be responsible for employing everyone in the world.
AKA, the consumer of last resort.
I don’t know why the Senate is bothering. The House will refuse to act on anything that can pass there.
Oct. 11, 2013, 11:58 a.m. EDT
Why America needs a debt ‘default’
Commentary: Is it time to hit the reset button?
By Anthony Mirhaydari
Bloomberg
It’s clear the fiscal fight in Washington isn’t going to end anytime soon.
Sure, a short-extension to the debt ceiling is under discussion, according to reports, but that will only open the door to contentious budget talks over issues like entitlement reform and changes to the tax code. The two parties remain far apart: Republicans want to balance the budget in 10 years, while Democrats want another trillion in taxes and spending.
There’s too much at stake and the choices are tough. But what if we didn’t have to make it?
What if we took the easy way out that didn’t require the sacrifices — such as higher taxes, lower spending, and fewer entitlement benefits — that Democrats and Republicans are playing hardball over in the first place?
What if we could avoid the nightmare that would be a debt-ceiling breech, which would force us to choose between ruining the Treasury’s reputation as a risk-free investment but provide checks to seniors on Social Security, or leave grandma in the lurch but pay our creditors in Tokyo and Beijing?
The more I think about the extent of the problems facing this country, the more apparent it is that a hard reset is needed. I’m talking about a debt default, but not in the traditional sense. And the Federal Reserve would play a key role.
Before I get into all that, I need to understand just how bad a situation we’re in.
…
Oct. 14, 2013, 7:34 a.m. EDT
Why Fidelity dumped short-term Treasurys
A guide to understanding how money-market funds work
By Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch
When word got out last week that Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest manager of money-market mutual funds, had dumped all of its short-term U.S. government debt, the pundits, talking heads and political partisans all started spinning the story to their advantage.
It was positioned as a statement on the safety of government bonds in light of the federal shutdown and the looming debt-ceiling issue, it was discussed as a step that shows the country could soon see a cut in its credit rating, and it was labeled as the next step in a downward spiral with politicians fiddling while Washington (and the rest of the country) burns.
…
What’s Next
Doomsday investor: Debt ceiling no black swan
By Maureen Farrell @maureenmfarrell
October 13, 2013: 11:30 AM ET
A hedge fund manager who thrived in 2008 says the debt ceiling is not a black swan. But he’s still worried about an eventual Washington crisis hurting the market.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Mark Spitznagel expects the stock market to crash in the next year, but the chief investment officer of the hedge fund Universa thinks a debt default by the United States is unlikely to be the catalyst.
“The debt ceiling is much ado about nothing” said Spitznagel. “This is a sideshow.”
Spitznagel, who also author of “The Dao of Capital: Austrian Investing in a Distorted World, knows a thing or two about investing in a crisis. His fund manages several billion dollars and promises portfolio protection in the event of a market correction or crash. In 2008, it returned more than 100%, while the S&P dropped by more than 40%.
Universa also has Nassim Taleb, who’s famous for coining the term “black swan” to explain unforeseen events that wreak havoc on global markets, as an advisor. Spitznagel does not think a potential debt default would be such a black swan. There’s been too much discussion about it.
But Spitznagel is still worried about Washington. He says the real problem facing the market is the nation’s overall debt burden — not the arbitrary debt ceiling set by Congress.
Spitznagel expects Congress and President Obama to do what it takes to avoid a near-term default. But he’s concerned that neither can control the Federal Reserve’s bloated balance sheet.
…
It never has been, except for the very gullible.
Which is most everyone.
It’s called the Debt Donkey Put.
Goldman’s Jan Hatzius: shutdown could cut GDP growth to 2%
October 14, 2013, 8:36 AM
Goldman Sach’s chief economist has laid just how much of a hit the U.S. economy will take from the shutdown mess. In a note that published after the markets closed on an optimistic high note on Friday (what a difference a weekend makes), Hatzius said the shutdown effects are two pronged:
Hatzius sums up:
The Goldman note was written ahead of the weekend, before a new wrinkle was introduced into the equation. Senate leaders remained at loggerheads after meetings ran late Sunday, but flexing some fresh political muscle, Democrats reopened the thorny issue of automatic spending cuts. Known as the sequester, those cuts are due to take effect early next year and most Republicans refuse to back down, so the weekend move has put another hurdle in front of reaching a budget/shutdown deal before Thursday’s debt-ceiling deadline.
…
Walmart shelves in Springhill, Mansfield, cleared in EBT glitch
Posted: Oct 13, 2013 1:38 PM EDT
By Carolyn Roy
MANSFIELD, LA (KSLA) - Shelves in Walmart stores in Springhill and Mansfield, LA were reportedly cleared Saturday night, when the stores allowed purchases on EBT cards even though they were not showing limits.
The chaos that followed ultimately required intervention from local police, and left behind numerous carts filled to overflowing, apparently abandoned when the glitch-spurred shopping frenzy ended.
Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd confirms they were called in to help the employees at Walmart because there were so many people clearing off the shelves. He says Walmart was so packed, “It was worse than any black Friday” that he’s ever seen.
Lynd explained the cards weren’t showing limits and they called corporate Walmart, whose spokesman said to let the people use the cards anyway. From 7 to 9 p.m., people were loading up their carts, but when the cards began showing limits again around 9, one woman was detained because she rang up a bill of $700.00 and only had .49 on her card. She was held by police until corporate Walmart said they wouldn’t press charges if she left the food.
Lynd says at 9 p.m., when the cards came back online and it was announced over the loud speaker, people just left their carts full of food in the aisles and left.
“Just about everything is gone, I’ve never seen it in that condition,” said Mansfield Walmart customer Anthony Fuller.
http://www.ksla.com/story/23679489/walmart-shelves-in-springhill-mansfield-cleared-in-ebt-glitch -
This is awesome! Four HBB posters posted the same story before they made it through the link filter.
Watch the video linked to the article and see the Permanent Democrat Supermajority in action.
Hope and Change
Forward
It’s interesting that it’s such a popular story. For a second I wondered how we had so many people following local Louisiana news. Then I checked and I saw that it’s the top story on Drudge with giant headlines.
Yup, it’s a Drudge link. What Dianne Feinstein would call “real journalists” don’t report stories like this.
Actually, as the Drudge defenders frequently point out, Drudge just links to news on other sites. That TV station in Lousisana would be considered a journalist by Feinstein.
What’s interesting that Mr. Drudge decided that this partuicular story is the most important story of the day.
I listened to Rush Limbaugh in the car for at 10 minutes today. Of course, he was talking about this story too. He said that 48% of the country was on food stamps. One of hist staff had to correct him and tell him that it was 48 million people.
At least he got the number 48 right.
Or was it 47 percent? I can’t remember, either…
Any time I am in Walmart, which is almost never, I become extremely disenchanted with the human race, or whatever that subspecies is which grazes there.
Ironically, Springhill, Louisana, in Webster Parish, is decisively Republican, in a Repulican stronghold state. I wonder if Jindal will weigh in on this one…
Republican welfare queens are quick to jump on a glitch like that. Welfare capitalists, to a man.
Then let them vote to tend their welfare. If they want to end it, why are democrips fighting them?
The Republicans have proposed a cut to food stamps. They haven’t suggested ending the program. The Democrats oppose that proposal because they think that it’s a bad idea.
Those don’t look like Romney voters in the videos, except maybe the ones calling it straight up theft. My guess is that it started in Mansfield, not exactly Romneys demographic and then spread to other close by Walmarts once the opportunity for theft was discovered.
‘This is awesome! Four HBB posters posted the same story before they made it through the link filter.’
Some of the comments said it was a dry run test…..OooKaayy
It does show how people behave when they have a “good” problem. A good problem being defined here as having a windfall that is abnormal and probably erroneous. Whether they were thinking that they should grab all the food now and worry later about consequences, I do not know. It does show the other side of the Bell curve -ie- there was no food shortage or hurricane or zombie attack coming. It was a cash surplus ala EBT funds and people decided to take the money and run until they found out the cards were not charged up after all. If my employer suddenly put in my direct-deposit account a check with extra zeroes on it, I’d not quit work and hit the underground or buy a new car or whatever. Not that I am a saint, but I have learned that people come after you for money not yours usually.
The EBT outage on Saturday that effected 20+ states was a dry run test.
Test of what?
I would withdraw the money. If the employer wanted it back, they would have to give me good reason to give it back. Continued employment would be the obvious, but still.
summfin fo nuffin
like FREEer hc - home loans etc
From wikipedia:
“1st of tha Month” is the first single by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony from their album E. 1999 Eternal.
It was certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 copies. It peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their first top twenty single, and was later was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1996.
The title is a reference to when welfare checks are paid out.
Irony is, as one commenter posted, that the EBT cards have ID#s, so any spending over what would be a legitimate allotment can be traced. It would be akin to the bank depositing a million dollars in an account by accident and the account holder thinking they could deduct all the loot and get away scotfree’-ish? Personal responsibility is declining. I know I feel it at my workplace. Things that used to bother me morally now are just business decision reflexes. I kind of go with the flow of times and so do EBT clawback candidates.
there will be no clawback of the overspent ebt because that would be racis
Really just a good lesson on having a couple of months of food and water on hand. Wally super store stripped clean in 2 hours.
Of course if ypu have more than seven days of food in your house you can be considered a potential terrorist. So I guess you have to weigh your options.
only in your head
“Of course if ypu have more than seven days of food in your house you can be considered a potential terrorist. “
So all Mormons are terrorists?
So all Mormons are terrorists?
It wouldn’t surprise them to be labeled as such eventually for such things. They do go out of their way to share and help as much as possible during disasters to try to avoid that sort of thing though.
“only in your head”
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Pay Attention! Having More Than 7 Days of Food Makes You A Suspected Terrorist!
“Someone missing fingers on their hands is a [terror] suspect according to the Department of Justice, someone who has guns, someone who has ammunition that is weather proofed, someone who has more than seven days of food in their house can be considered a potential terrorist.” -Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) on the Senate Floor discussing the indefinite detainment provisions of the pending defense spending bill
http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2011/11/pay-attention-having-more-than-7-days.html - 111k
I did some searching with Google and there were many references to this speech but no details explaining what he was talking about. If any journalists ever asked him about that, I couldn’t find any record of it on the internet.
This is a major failing of the journalists in DC and Kentucky. I started thinking about the food I have in my house. I could probably get by for seven days. I’d like to ask the senator if I need to worry about this.
More importantly, Rand Paul is not some guy with a talk show on AM radio. He’s an actual member of the US Senate. If this is a real problem, it would be nice for him to introduce some legislation to remedy it.
If this is a real problem, it would be nice for him to introduce some legislation to remedy it.
Are you talking about legislators? Federal legislators? Introducing legislation to remedy real problems? Get real. That is not the business they are running.
The only thing LESS likely than their introducing legislation to remedy real problems is for them to cut their own pay and benefits.
there will be no clawback of the overspent ebt because that would be racis
Depends on your definition of clawback. In my experience with government accounting in the army, these kinds of situations were no big deal. You just got a “no pay due” slip until everything was back in order and it was your problem to make do until then.
Telling the Free Sh*t Army they can’t have more free sh*t is racis
The way the screwed up system works I’d bet it would end up costing far more to track down and deal with the people who benefitted from the glitch. It shouldn’t but it probably would. A few hundred or maybe a thousand dollars in extra food per person?
Someone should just admit they screwed up and ask them to donate some of the extra to the food bank. Maybe tell them to have a barbecue and invite some neighbors and friends, count their blessings, and move on.
Way bigger fish to fry.
Happened in Texas years ago and they had no problem debiting the accounts from future benefits.
How many years ago is years ago? The world is different now.
i love to racism - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqETyU9k0lM
This reminds me of looting that used to happen in Brazil. I have been told by Brazilians that in decades past mobs would form outside a supermarket and when they reached a critical mass they would storm the store and loot it until every shelf was bare. The supermarket chains simply factored in the looting losses in the cost of doing business.
They were just getting an early start:
http://www.xmasclock.com/
New iCrap release date (late summer or early fall) is the official start of xmas.
That’s one of the reasons Jobs will never make it to heaven.
He’s been reincarnated as a budding Droid programmer!
Except this is different, since the people were not breaking the law by presenting cards without limits. Wal*Mart had a tough choice to make, but it was their choice.
Makes me wonder what would happen if EBT was recharged every six months or 12 months instead of every months. Would the recipients learn to budget, or would they spend every penny now and moan later that they were starving?
Aesop wrote a fable about this.
Makes me wonder what would happen if EBT was recharged every six months or 12 months instead of every months. Would the recipients learn to budget, or would they spend every penny now and moan later that they were starving?
I’ll just assume you’re joking. Even the average person tends to have issues with looking that far out. Let alone the type of person who already has enough problems to be in that situation in the first place. Remember the article going around recently about how being poor actually makes your brain malfunction more than normal?
Speaking of empty shelves at Wal-Mart, this from my local Wal-Mart today:
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20131014_101715_766-hAqWir6R.jpg
Those empty shelves are where all the .22LR and 9mm would be. I picked up another 3 boxes of 7.62×39
“I picked up another 3 boxes of 7.62×39.”
So you’re one of “them.” I talked to a guy at a local sporting goods store. He said the “same people” are the ones buying up all the ammo every week. He said it’s annoying. The so-called shortage is due to a small number of people hoarding.
The nice part about it is if production ever catches up in spite of the hoarding, we’ll be awash in cheap ammo for years. If not, then the hoarders will have turned out to be right. Win/win.
humorous…the .1% and lower 50% can rape the forgottan man over decades and hardly a peep…but when they gorge themselves on his toil all at one time in one place…everybody freeks the shit out.
humorous…the .1% and lower 50% can rape the forgottan man over decades and hardly a peep…
Nothing humorous here, just a fact of life.
Just to give you an idea how massively inflated resale housing prices actually are.
http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/7812/caseshiller.jpg
650 million for the Obamacare website and it doesn’t work. He won’t get any of the blame for it either just like every thing else he’s screwing up. Just go to the printing press for more money to waste.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but:
1) Doesn’t each state have its own ACA (”Obamacare”) website?
2) Aren’t those websites set up and run by private contractors?
Healthcare.gov is the main site. It is a failure. Try to get on it and see.
Healthcare.gov
I was able to get to the website just fine. I guess IBM, EDS or whoever the contractor is that “owns” that website got it back online.
Try getting a quote now.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/10/11/Obama-Admin-s-Healthcare-gov-Website-Fail-Stark-Contrast-to-Obama-Campaign-s-Tech-Superiority
I’m not a buyer but I’ve been on there now about 5 times, testing whether I can get a quote and every time I’ve had no issues getting onto the main site and then onto my state’s site (Cover Oregon), including just now.
Maybe I’m eating up too much bandwidth for others to get on?
“Healthcare.gov is the main site. It is a failure. Try to get on it and see.”
As always, when I enter my state, it tells me to visit the Covered California website to get a quote. Which works fine.
1) Some states aren’t hosting their own programs.
2) Who cares if they’re run by private contractors? If the gubmint decided to run the new gubmint health-fleece system using contractors, then those reps should be held accountable for voting that way.
when i use contractors i am just passing the work….not the responsibility.
the obama administration is responsible for nothing…ever.
I think some states have set up their own exchange, but others simply utilize the Fed’s exchange.
Only 14 states setup thier own exchanges.
“Houses never give back. They always take take take. Houses depreciate…. rapidly.”
Hence the reason you should never overpay. And at current inflated asking prices of resale housing, you’re overpaying by 120%. That loss is magnified tremendously by financing.
““Equity” is a fallacy. It doesn’t exist. Either you own it or your don’t.”
“Equity” is a lender scam. Slave for me for 30 years and at the end, I give you a certificate for 20% of what you paid me.
Yup. And after then, when your “paid-off house” is your largest retirement “asset”, you still get to pay and pay and pay to replace the roof, the furnace, the paint, the windows, et cetera of that “asset”.
Don’t forget property taxes and assessments!!
“Houses deliver an negative rate of return.”
The notion of ROI on a single family residence is comedic. It’s a loss every time.
Game over man, game over!
http://www.ksla.com/story/23679489/walmart-shelves-in-springhill-mansfield-cleared-in-ebt-glitch
Bloomberg - More Republican Districts Have Low Health-Coverage Rates:
“Republicans represent more U.S. congressional districts with below-average health-insurance coverage than Democrats, an irony ensnared in a government shutdown triggered by a law designed to expand access to care.
Districts with less coverage are especially common in Texas, where each of the 36 House seats represents an area with a rate lower than the national average, according to U.S. Census Bureau data compiled by Bloomberg. The state, home to Obamacare opponent Republican Senator Ted Cruz, also has the nation’s highest uninsured rate.”
Thank god some people have good sense in not wanting to make Insurance CEOs more richer.:)
Oh but they do, because you and I pay for the uninsured through higher insurance premiums.
Yup. And when those Lucky Ducks get sick/injured, they bootstrap down to the emergency room to get treated at a cost well above a normal doctor visit.
Yup. A few years ago I went to see my GP for my annual physical. While I was waiting a couple that looked like they were in their late 30’s or early forties showed up for an appointment. Apparently the appointment was for the woman and when the receptionist told her how much the office visit would cost ($140) and that it had to be paid upfront … they left.
Which is why people either go to the ER or do without. Urgent care centers also require insurance or being paid upfront.
I recall reading that every insured household contributes about $2000 a year to cover the bills the uninsured don’t pay. Life is good for fat cat CEOs.
Oh but they do, because you and I pay for the uninsured through higher insurance premiums.
Yes, we do.
But with people no longer being allowed to stay uninsured, why aren’t premiums going down instead of up?
Maybe that’s because people in Texas are more likely to be able to count. Health insurance is too expensive and not worth it. I keep accidentally telling people that my employer pays $350/month to insure me (just me). That’s actually wrong. It’s $350 per biweekly paycheck. That is overpriced, much like a San Francisco house is overpriced. Overpriced things should not be purchased.
You should make them stop insuring you.
State law mandates the insurance. I would rather have that money on my paycheck. I would use it to buy things that are worth it.
Health insurance is too expensive and not worth it.
And I’m certain that when these enlightened Texans need medical care they have plenty of cash on hand to pay for it.
Nah! They just go to the ER and not pay the bill.
And I’m sure that the doctors in Texas haven’t raised their rates in proportion to the artificial demand caused by mandated insurance, either. State governments have been forcing employers to purchase health insurance for their employees for about 15-20 years now, depending on the state. The money comes right out of the otherwise wages.
What have these governments done to increase the supply of medical care? Oh, nothing. Today’s health care prices are unpayable because the government keeps forcing more and more people onto the insurance queue, thereby separating the consumer from the price.
Back in the day, when I was a kid, no one had insurance. Everyone paid for health care out of their pocket. It was affordable. There is no good reason for a hospital Band-Aide in 2013 to cost $20, when that same item would have been $0.50 twenty years ago. And yeah, we DID pay for poor people to get health care twenty years ago.
Back in the day, when I was a kid, no one had insurance.
If you’re that old, you must be on Medicatre by now.
Mike:
I’m 37 years old. Health care only started becoming unaffordable about 15 years ago.
I suppose that I was being overly literal again. The practice of including health insurace as an employment benefit goes back to World War 2.
So you must mean that when you were a kid, no one that you knew had insurance. Where is it that you grew up?
Any person’s opinion on whether health care is affordable depends on his or her income level and health. Even 20 or 30 years ago, a family on the average income would probably have found a week’s stay in a hospital to be unaffordable.
Mike:
There is a big difference between a government mandate a choice made by an employer. When the unions first began to convince employers to give benefits, they got health insurance to cover major emergencies. It didn’t cover 80-100% of all medical bills. I grew up in the United States, mostly California. Why do you ask? I sure hope you aren’t trying to be snippety just because your daddy had health insurance. My daddy had it too, but only because he worked for a big company that gave those types of benefits.
My grandparents didn’t have health insurance until they retired and qualified for Medicare. It was well known that a person needed to leave an emergency fund in the savings account to cover medical bills.
Where did you grow up, Mike? Malibu?
Drudge headline - Walmart shelves in Springhill, Mansfield, cleared in EBT glitch:
“MANSFIELD, LA (KSLA) - Shelves in Walmart stores in Springhill and Mansfield, LA were reportedly cleared Saturday night, when the stores allowed purchases on EBT cards even though they were not showing limits.
The chaos that followed ultimately required intervention from local police, and left behind numerous carts filled to overflowing, apparently abandoned when the glitch-spurred shopping frenzy ended.
Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd confirms they were called in to help the employees at Walmart because there were so many people clearing off the shelves. He says Walmart was so packed, “It was worse than any black Friday” that he’s ever seen.”
Yeah, yeah…it’s from Drudge. But it applies to things we’ve talked about here, and it’s something I hadn’t thought about relative to EBT cards. I guess bottom line is that going forward nobody is going to take them if the system isn’t working correctly…
http://www.ksla.com/story/23679489/walmart-shelves-in-springhill-mansfield-cleared-in-ebt-glitch
nobody is going to take them if the system isn’t working correctly
Doubtful. EBT = $80+ billion a year. Wal-Mart gets more of that than any other retailer.
I just mean if they can’t read the limit, they won’t process the card in the future if they don’t get paid this time.
It will be factored into the cost of doing business. As long as the glitches are few and far between, WalMart will eat the occasional losses associated with them. Now if it happens everyday, then no, they won’t accept the cards anymore. But I really doubt it will come to that.
Our system is precariously balanced and we all know it. A couple of weeks of no electricity, no gas, and no food deliveries nationwide would be disastrous. Imagine hungry people, with no more meds, tobacco, booze; freezing cold, with no tv, play station, Facebook, cell phones or Internet to distract them.
But so far I haven’t seen any credible scenarios for something like this to happen on a wide scale basis. Just a bunch of zombie, EMP, Chinese cyber attack scenarios, never really fleshed out because doing so would show their absurdity.
Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
haven’t seen any credible scenarios for something like this to happen
Fiction piece by Matt Bracken on TOTWAWKI scenario:
http://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/bracken-alas-brave-new-babylon/
Matt Bracken’s scenario for collapse is not very specific from what I read in Alas Babylon. Just some unspecified un delineated fiscal crash that somehow immediately caused the power grid to go out. Like I said, I haven’t seen any credible scenarios.
I haven’t seen any credible scenarios.
Having the power grid go out is a VERY credible scenario.
A couple of weeks of no electricity, no gas, and no food deliveries nationwide would be disastrous.
FWIW, that didn’t happen in either Mexico or Argentina when their economies cratered.
Argentina
The masses could not get to their money at the bank, so they were stopping cattle trucks by force, slaughtering the cattle and splitting the meat. One well dressed Argentine set herself on fire in the bank from the stress. Argentina was a freak’in nightmare.
I read the series of articles in the Washington Post. All hell was going on. Early 1990’s iirc. Our house painter was from Argentina, and he told us stories from hell.
There were a couple of weeks of no electricity, no gas, and no food in Mexico and Argentina? Or did the economies collapse but there was still power and they figured out how to deal with it.
That is what I’m saying, we’d figure it out, even assuming some fiscal difficulty, at least enough to keep the lights on and food on the shelves.
Or did the economies collapse but there was still power and they figured out how to deal with it.
This. It wasn’t TEOTWAWKI in Mexico. Hard times? You bet! But the lights didn’t go out and the shelves at the store were stocked. In third world Mexico.
And after the big earthquake hit in 1985 it wasn’t TEOTWAWKI either, though that came close. Even then, the lights stayed on in most of the metro area. Most, but all TV stations were out as their broadcast towers collapsed. My mom and siblings were there when it happened. According to them life mostly went on.
You could have limited each purchaser to a limit of say $100. I would think that someone’s head in management is about to get axed.
It does make me think seriously about stocking the pantry with several weeks supply of staples and refilling the gas tank anytime under a half tank of gas.
I would think that someone’s head in management is about to get axed.
Only if somebody besides the taxpayer has to eat a loss. We’ll have to wait and see. I predict they will get paid, so no reason for anybody to lose their job. If the accounting is done army style nobody will lose…it will just be interesting to see if there are side effects from people getting 2-3 months worth of groceries at once and then have to wait that long to buy more.
The UK Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald - The perfect epitaph for establishment journalism:
“if the government tells me I shouldn’t publish something, who I am as a journalist to disobey? Put that on the tombstone of western establishment journalism. It perfectly encapsulates the death spiral of large journalistic outlets.
Lest you think that the headline does not fairly represent the content of the column, Blackhurst, in explaining why he would never have allowed his newspaper to publish any of the documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, actually wrote:
“If the security services insist something is contrary to the public interest, and might harm their operations, who am I (despite my grounding from Watergate onwards) to disbelieve them?”
Most people, let alone journalists, would be far too embarrassed to admit they harbor such subservient, obsequious sentiments. It’s one thing to accord some deference or presumption of good will to political officials, but the desire to demonstrate some minimal human dignity, by itself, would preclude most people from publicly confessing that they have willingly sacrificed all of their independent judgment and autonomy to the superior, secret decrees of those who wield the greatest power.
That this mentality condemns - and would render outlawed - most of the worthwhile investigative journalism over the last several decades never seems to occur to good journalistic servants like Blackhurst. National security state officials also decreed that it would “not be in the public interest” to report on the Pentagon Papers, or the My Lai massacre, or the network of CIA black sites in which detainees were tortured, or the NSA warrantless eavesdropping program, or the documents negating claims of Iraqi WMDs, or a whole litany of waste, corruption and illegality that once bore the “top secret” label.
Fascism … it’s a beautiful thing!
At least under Fascism we have private industry and all the cool stuff it produces, unlike the Soviets, who couldn’t make a decent TV! So what if we give up our freedoms and rights? You’ll have a cool car to drive (assuming you have a decent job)
You will not be allowed to have a cool car to drive. That would be a middle-class sin. Under fascism, the masses are made into servants for the elite.
Some people might say that we have that situation currently.
Oh please. How many 30K “millionaires” drive luxury cars?
I was referring to the masses being the servants of the elites. You know, like Larry Ellison buying a Hawaiian island while his minions go years between getting raises.
You will not be allowed to have a cool car to drive. That would be a middle-class sin.
You’re confusing communism with fascism. There was plenty of conspicuous consumption in Nazi Germany. It’s what got the masses to back Hitler until it was too late to do a U-turn.
Yes, Spain in the 60’s&70’s was well known for producing cool things, especially cars.
Wanna bet they were more productive under Franco than under the communists? As for not producing cools things … this is Spain we’re talking about. They wouldn’t regardless of economic system.
From what I understand, the city of Barcelona is full of cool art and architecture. On the other hand, many of the people there don’t consider themselves to be Spanish.
On the other hand, many of the people there don’t consider themselves to be Spanish.
They most certainly do not consider themselves Spaniards. That part of the world is Catalunya!
You gotta give’em credit…… they successfully made 40 million financial basket cases in about 14 years.
Can you imagine having 40 million slaves at your disposal?
That’s called power….
Treble damages are fun!
The Guarantee That Banks May Fear to Invoke
By FLOYD NORRIS
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/the-guarantee-that-banks-may-fear-to-invoke/?src=recg
The mortgage orgy that banks entered into before the financial crisis has caused them — and their borrowers — immense pain since then. I have lost track of all the settlements and payments.
Now The American Banker newspaper is reporting that banks may be hiding losses from their shareholders:
The nation’s four largest banks are holding $57 billion of seriously delinquent loans that they’ve been slow to move into foreclosure over concerns that the Federal Housing Administration, the government mortgage insurer, will refuse to cover the losses and hit them with damages, according to industry sources.
The banks — Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) — have assured investors in the footnotes of quarterly filings that the loans are government-insured and therefore pose no threat to their bottom lines, even if they end up in foreclosure. What’s more, the banks have used these supposedly ironclad government guarantees as a pretext for continuing to classify the loans as performing and for holding no reserves against them.
Normally, an F.H.A. guarantee can be taken as meaning that the lender will be repaid. (We are going to ignore the possibility that the F.H.A. could be unable to meet its obligations.)
But as the article points out:
The FHA’s guarantee does not apply if lenders are found to have violated underwriting or servicing standards, or to have engaged in misconduct. Banks can also be held liable for treble damages under the False Claims Act if they are found to have “falsely certified” that mortgages met all FHA requirements.
Rebel Cole, a former Federal Reserve Board economist who is now a professor of finance and real estate at DePaul University in Chicago, says the banks could face heavy losses on the loans because the F.H.A. might refuse to cover them. The article adds:
Some lenders acknowledge that they will likely end up eating losses on defaulted loans held on their balance sheets and settlements related to past claims. They are also likely to try to avoid the risk of getting hit with damages by forgoing the FHA claims process and absorbing some losses themselves.
There are other possible reasons for delays in the banks’ foreclosing on loans and filing claims with the F.H.A. But if banks have made the decision not to file claims, they should be taking losses. That is an issue for bank auditors to address.
“Now The American Banker newspaper is reporting that banks may be hiding losses from their shareholders:
The nation’s four largest banks are holding $57 billion of seriously delinquent loans that they’ve been slow to move into foreclosure over concerns that the Federal Housing Administration, the government mortgage insurer, will refuse to cover the losses and hit them with damages, according to industry sources.”
Dumb question of the day:
Is hiding losses from shareholders legal?
Accouting gimmicks are legal.
Yeah everyone thinks the IRS is the last word on what’s legal but the Financial Accounting Standards Board is the real power behind the throne.
Luckily they would never just change the rules at the request of TPTB.
Luckily they would never just change the rules at the request of TPTB
Bloomberg - April 2, 2009
FASB Eases Fair-Value Rules Amid Lawmaker Pressure:
“The Financial Accounting Standards Board, pressured by U.S. lawmakers and financial companies, voted to relax fair-value accounting rules that Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. say don’t work when markets are inactive.
House Financial Services Committee members pressed FASB Chairman Robert Herz at a March 12 hearing to revise fair-value, which requires banks to mark assets each quarter to reflect market prices, saying it unfairly punished financial companies. FASB’s proposals, made less than a week later, led to criticism from investor advocates and accounting-industry groups, which say the rules force firms to reveal their true financial health.”
Like the ones Enron used?
If someone told you today that the Bush administration actually prosecuted Enron, would you believe it?
If you are a public company and the losses are fairly sure according to the relevant accounting standards and you don’t have a special exception to those accounting standards going on (not true in this case because were are talking about individual loans, not CDSs) and a reasonable shareholder would consider the information relevant (we aren’t talking about $500 here and there in a multi-billion dollar company)? No it is not legal. Securities laws have disclosure standards. It is, however, most likely a civil issue, not a criminal one, but still not legal.
It is a heck of a position to be in. If they put reserves against the losses (as they almost surely need to be doing) they are admitting that they do not have the documentation required to get the FHA to pay out on the insurance. If they don’t put aside the reserves, they are kind of saying that they are sure the FHA will pay on the insurance. However, if they actually foreclose and apply for the insurance payout, the FHA will reject it and impose additional fines for filing for the insurance when the loan doesn’t meet FHA requirements, either because it never did, or because they didn’t bother to document that it did.
If they foreclose and take the loss, they risk getting sued for not disclosing the loss position to their shareholders and not putting reserves against the losses (which messes up earnings and screws up executive bonuses). If they foreclose and try to get the FHA to pay out on the insurance against the loss, they risk getting fined by the FHA and STILL taking the original loss AND also getting sued by shareholders who will claim they should have known the loans didn’t qualify for FHA insurance.
Banker, welcome to your own petard.
It’s not a petard. It is a mountain. And it is made out of gold. It comes with a get out of jail free card and blanket immunity for past acts all for the price of a negotiated fine that is a minuscule fraction of the profits made.
Maybe a few amoebas here and there get their slaps on the wrist when they fall under the SEC microscope.
“If they put reserves against the losses (as they almost surely need to be doing) they are admitting that they do not have the documentation required to get the FHA to pay out on the insurance. If they don’t put aside the reserves, they are kind of saying that they are sure the FHA will pay on the insurance.”
Sounds like quite the bankster’s conundrum!
This assumes the FHA will actually do something to THE BANKS! Looking at recent history, I don’t think a reasonable auditor needs to make that assumption. Why would the FHA rock the boat?
“They are also likely to try to avoid the risk of getting hit with damages by forgoing the FHA claims process and absorbing some losses themselves.” The operative word there is “some”. That some is a tiny fraction of the losses already covered by the current reserves.
What was the commissions and earnings (for banksters) on $57 billion loan?
At the end of the day some banksters made their money at the expense of shareholders/taxpayers. Shareholders or taxpayers? Time will tell I suppose.
very interesting polly, thanks for posting. Any thoughts on what will happen?
I don’t know what will happen. I think it is fairly clear that what they are hoping will happen is that the value of the properties will increase enough that they can sell each one for an amount sufficiently close to the outstanding balance so that the losses won’t be big enough to support shareholder lawsuits. I’ve never heard of a successful suite based on the opportunity cost of not having that capital doing something useful for the shareholders.
Then again, if someone could actually get their hands on all the information now, while the losses are so gigantic, you could have a very good case. But the work would be enormous. You would have to go through a statistically valid sample of each bank’s bad loans and confirm that the paperwork they have wouldn’t support an FHA claim. Also, from what I understand, FHA has beefed up their requirements for proving claims a lot. They used to accept that a certain number of loans would have some issues in their paperwork. Now it all has be there.
Thank you for your analysis, this is fascinating. I suppose they’ll just let it drift as-is, hoping the value of the properties goes up, as you say. Really makes sense why there are so many properties held off the market.
Eh, not really that significant. The article is talking about seriously delinquent loans. That means the $57 billion is the total loan amount (not the amount not paid or the estimated losses or some other smaller number). At $150K each that is less than 400,000 loans - fewer if the loan balances are higher. Also, these are only the FHA guaranteed loans of those 4 big banks that are on their books - only the ones that were FHA and not sold and only those 4 banks. The numbers aren’t that impressive. But it is still a mess. But I’d guess the bigger mess comes from the securitized ones.
“They used to accept that a certain number of loans would have some issues in their paperwork. Now it all has be there.”
There is no way this is correct. Those spigots are opened again.
The article implied that the paperwork is only reviewed when the claims are made, not when the loans are originated, so there would be no influence on originating loans. They either don’t expect them to go bad (don’t care) or don’t expect them to go bad until the current executives have moved to a different job so their own bonuses won’t be at risk.
My bad, I see that you wrote for proving claims, not originating. So the spigots are still open, and when the time comes for the next bail out, they’ll just disregard the rules, again!
I think it is fairly clear that what they are hoping will happen is that the value of the properties will increase enough that they can sell each one for an amount sufficiently close to the outstanding balance…
This is the very essence of the Housing Bubble. FB’s use the same rationale.
Only $57 billion? BS.
Hee Haw!!
http://www.theequinest.com/images/donkey-hole.jpg
Don’t Be A Debt Donkey®
Did you find that link on Drudge? If so, it is a fake donkey and further proof that Obama is a God.
further proof that Obama is a God
Dianne Feinstein will decide who the “real journalists” are and what they get to report on.
We often hear drama queens invoke the word “scarey” but that monsters idea that journalism should be run through fed gov before release is truly something to fear.
It is my desktop wallpaper at work now.
Here’s a couple of stories that when compared will make you think:
‘Global wealth has more than doubled since 2000 to reach $241 trillion this year, according to a new report from Credit Suisse. Wealth is up almost 5 percent from last year, and 68 percent over the past decade. Average wealth per adult also reached a new all time high of $51,600.’
‘Surrounded by loose monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, the United States accounted for 72 percent of the latest increase in global wealth. The report explains, “Fueled by a recovery in house prices and a bull equity market which drove the Dow Jones to new highs, the United States added $8.1 trillion to the global wealth stock, increasing wealth ownership by 12.7 percent to $72.1 trillion. This is 20 percent more than the pre-crisis high in 2006.’
‘The American consumer is expected to have one of the worst years of disposable income growth in the last half century, says Wells Fargo Senior Analyst Gina Martin Adams.’
‘In her most recent report, Martin Adams writes: “[Consumer] Staples earnings revision momentum dropped at a rate seven times as fast as the S&P 500 over the last three months, and we suspect further downward pressure to continue with U.S. consumer disposable income growth hovering near 50-year lows, and commodity prices on the verge of deflation.”
‘Over the last three months, disposable income growth fell to 2.4%, the lowest it’s been since in the last 50-years excluding the financial crisis in 2008-2009. Lower disposable income growth means lower sales growth for consumer staples (According to Martin Adams, a 1% growth rate in disposable income means a 1.3% increase in staples revenues). Martin Adams also says that the temporary increase in food stamps set to expire on October 31 leave “1 in 7 Americans with 5% less in monthly benefits starting next month.”
As I’ve been saying here for years, the future belongs to Lucky Ducky
Got stagflation?
“Got stagflation?”
Yes.
Thank you, sir. Nay I have another?
Global wealth has more than doubled since 2000 to reach $241 trillion this year
Money is too tight to mention. No raises, again, now get back to work.
You want to risk inflation? LOL
Inflation? This is supposed to be existing wealth, which is all flowing into the banksters and other elite’s coffers.
‘Fueled by a recovery in house prices and a bull equity market which drove the Dow Jones to new highs, the United States added $8.1 trillion to the global wealth stock, increasing wealth ownership by 12.7 percent to $72.1 trillion. This is 20 percent more than the pre-crisis high in 2006.’
So long as the Federal Reserve PR consulting team can keep the focus on the increase in average wealth levels and avoid any MSM mention of the concentration towards the greatest disparity in U.S. household wealth since the years leading up to the Great Depression, their propaganda campaign should be a stunning victory!
Eric Zuesse
Investigative historian
U.S. Wealth Is Now the Most Concentrated at the Top Since 1916
Posted: 09/27/2013 11:33 am
A new report shows that income in the U.S. in 2012 was more concentrated at the top than at any time since 1916.
A bit more than one twenty-fifth of all income in the U.S. is now being taken in by the top one-ten-thousandth of the U.S. population. That one rich statistical person is bringing in considerably more income than all of the poorest 2,000 people do in that same statistical 10,000 Americans.
We must go back nearly a hundred years to find a time when the top 0.01 percent, the top 1 in 10,000 people in the U.S., were making more than 4 percent of the nation’s total income, as they were in the latest calculated year, 2012. This figure of income-concentration among the top 0.01 percent was the all-time high of 4.4 percent in 1916. In 1915, it was 4.36 percent. Before that, it was under 3 percent. And it has never again been anywhere near 4 percent, until 2012, when it broke through the 4 percent barrier yet again, for the very first time in 97 years, at 4.08 percent. Other than in 2012, the highest it has been in recent decades was 3.53 percent in 2007, under Bush, at the peak right before the 2008 crash. This money-concentration is now more extreme than it was even then — even at Bush’s peak.
The details are being reported at the global academic database of income-distribution, which is called “The World Top Incomes Database,” and which is headed by the world’s four leading researchers on income-distribution: Tony Atkinson, Facundo Alvaredo, Thomas Piketty, and Emmanuel Saez.
Here is how this top-end income-figure has changed or evolved during the past century: After 1916, it gradually declined from 4.4 percent down to 1.67 percent in 1920. Then it rose again to 3.23 percent in 1928, right before the 1929 crash. Then, it gradually declined from there, to .97 percent in 1943. It then remained consistently between .97 percent and .50 percent until it reached back again above .97 percent, to 1.00 percent for the first time, in 1986, after which it passed 2 percent in 1992, and then passed the 3 percent mark in 2005.
However, after the 2008 crash, some people expected that this rise would stop, as it had stopped after the last crash; but, instead, it just continued rising under Obama, so that the 4 percent barrier was passed last year, in 2012, for the first time since 1916.
This type of rise had never happened before — continuing to climb even after a Wall Street crash.
Evidently, the trillions of dollars in bailouts to Wall Street banks and to their top investors, which didn’t happen under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the 1930s, has been having the result that Wall Street and their friends could be expected to have sought: it has prevented them from sharing in the hardships that the public — who have bailed them out and are still experiencing lost jobs, lost pay, and lost wealth — are suffering through in the aftermath of 2008. It’s now a wealth-transfer from everybody else to the super-rich.
The top ten-thousandth of the U.S. population have done very well under President Obama’s leadership, even if they had predominantly voted for Mitt Romney, who promised them an even better deal. Wall Street donated overwhelmingly to the Republican Romney campaign, against Obama. A (supposedly) democratic election in 2012 offered American voters a choice between a hero for Wall Street, versus only an angel and savior for Wall Street; and voters chose Wall Street’s angel and savior, over Wall Street’s favorite. The result is now clear and undeniable, in the economic data. Wall Street frauds caused the crash, and the U.S. Government holds them harmless, transferring those losses to everybody else.
…
‘Only around 24 percent of Chinese seniors nationwide could live on their pension in 2010, the Beijing Times newspaper reported Sunday, citing data released by two social security agencies at a seminar held in Beijing.’
‘At present, around 40.7 percent of elderly people depend on their own families especially their children, and 40 percent of them thought they had become a burden for their families, according to research done by the China Association of Social Welfare and School of Labor and Human Resources.’
‘In rural areas, only 4.6 percent of seniors could live on their pension, and 41.2 percent of them still have to work to earn enough to support themselves, the research said.’
It must hard to rely on your kids when you live in a country with a one-child policy.
Sounds like a western thinking is becoming mainstream in China.
Who wants to be a minor inconvenient in their children’s lifestyles? Their children would rather have the parents rot in a government facility somewhere anyway. Hopefully there’s a heat wave in near future.
Sounds like a western thinking is becoming mainstream in China.
It will be an interesting clash with thousands of years of tradition. Bear in mind that we Americans are pretty weak when it comes to “tradition”.
Greed is a powerful motivator to jettison tradition. Time will tell.
Brown shoots are back.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/banking/mortgage-investors-corp-lays-off-nearly-500-stops-making-new-loans/2147126
“ST. PETERSBURG — Mortgage Investors Corp. is laying off nearly 500 workers, including 256 in its St. Petersburg headquarters, and will stop making new loans effective today.”
Another mortgage outfit laying off hundreds or thousands of people.
The reality is that housing demand is at 14 year lows and we’re swimming in a sea of excess empty houses……25 MILLION of them.
NSA created this to distract me (it’s working):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE
Visited Myakka State Park yesterday. I was surprised to learn about a giant sinkhole full of gators there…
Sharknado - tornado full of sharks - FAKE
Allisink - sink hoe full of gators - REAL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D5WZsEyWDo
hole… sink hole.
Geez.
Let’s go ahead and mark it down:
Bubble 1.0 RIP June 2006
Bubble 1.1 RIP October 2013
Home-builder shares fall as Congress argues
October 14, 2013, 4:47 PM
Shares of home builders dropped in recent weeks as discord among U.S. lawmakers led to a government shutdown and brought the U.S. closer to defaulting on debt, two results that could hit the housing market’s rebound.
Since the end of September, shares of D.R. Horton DHI have dropped 6%, extending a decline that started last month, compared with a decrease of less than 2% for the S&P 500 SPX . Meanwhile, shares of PulteGroup PHM and Lennar LEN have both lost about 3% since the end of September, also extending declines that started last month.
The trouble began in September, with Congress arguing over funding the government. The showdown led to a shutdown and less staff for federal services that support the housing market, like income verification and some loan processing.
If the government’s shutdown is prolonged, home builders that generate much of their business from entry-level buyers such as first-time purchasers face the most risk, according to a recent analyst note. But the housing market also faces a threat from a possible U.S. debt default that could send mortgage rates higher.
–Ruth Mantell
Debt Ceiling
Ted Cruz Could Force a Debt Default All by Himself
By Joshua Green
October 14, 2013
Senator Ted Cruz talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 25, 2013
Photograph by J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Here’s a cheerful thought as Congress remains deadlocked over the debt ceiling and the hours tick away toward default: Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who basically forced the shutdown and whose own private polls have convinced him that it has been a glorious success, at this point could probably force a default and global economic calamity on his own—if he were so inclined. The Treasury Department says U.S. borrowing authority will expire on Thursday.
How could this happen?
…
I smell a “Hobbit hole” bubble.
Living on $5,000 a year, on purpose: Meet America’s ‘intentional poor’
Sun Oct 13, 2013 4:16 PM EDT
By Nona Willis-Aronowitz, NBC News contributor
More than two decades ago, then-33-year-old Dan Price had a wife, two small children, a high-interest mortgage, and a stressful job as a photojournalist in Kentucky. He worried daily about money and the workaday grind.
“I told myself, ‘buck up and pay the bills,’” said Price. “This is just the way normal life is.”
Then he learned about what he calls “the simple life.” Price read Payne Hollow, a 1974 book about author Harlan Hubbard’s rejection of modernity and his primitive home on the shore of the Ohio River. Price’s marriage dissolved soon after, and the whole family moved to Oregon, where he grew up. Price opted to move alone into a tiny cabin in the woods, then a flophouse, then a teepee, and finally into an underground “Hobbit hole” on a horse pasture near a river, where he still lives. During the winter, he decamps to Hawaii to surf and avoid the harsh weather.
Price’s version of the simple life costs $5,000 a year, which he earns from publishing a wilderness zine and doing odd jobs around Joseph, his eastern Oregon town. “I like being able to do what I want to do,” said Price, who pays $100 a year for his land. “I don’t believe in houses or mortgages. Who in their right mind would spend their lifetime paying for a building they never get to spend time in because they are always working?”
http://inplainsight.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/13/20923154-living-on-5000-a-year-on-purpose-meet-americas-intentional-poor -
“Who in their right mind would spend their lifetime paying for a building they never get to spend time in because they are always working?””
Apparently everybody.
society will label him as an outcast.
He can live this way because we have a surplus of basic essentials, like food, so those essentials are cheap. If he had to acquire all of his food himself, he would have almost no time for anything else, just like our ancestors.
I watched an interesting show about the California Gold Rush of 1849. By the time most of the 49ers got to SF, essentials were very expensive. They had to acquire an ounce of gold per day to live on.
One shop owner, Samuel Brannan, acquired all of the mining equipment he could find and marked the price up. He became a very rich man through his monopoly. I thought about all of our free-marketers and how they would have perceived this prime example of the free market in action.
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-cities-with-most-foreclosures-in-q3-2013-10?utm_source=hearst&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=allverticals#cape-coral-fort-myers-florida-1
Add Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco to that list. There are 4.4 MILLION excess, empty and defaulted houses in CA, most of which are in those cities.
Don’t you think that if SF/SD and LA were on the list, they would have highlighted that? Oh, the number is now 4.4MM? Up from 4MM? Where did you find the other 400k?
And MOST of those 4.4MM are in SF, SD, and LA? LOL, just LOL.
SF County, LA County, and SD County have about 14 million people (way less than half the entire state), yet they have MOST of your mythical 4.4MM figure of “excess, empty and defaulted houses”?
I must say, you certainly don’t waver one degree in your mythology. You might even pass a lie detector test, you believe so much in your mythology. I’ve heard people deem such fervent belief “pathological”…you can guess the other word.
Oh the irony! You calling someone else pathological. It doesn’t get any better than tat.
Property Radar just updated their foreclosure information for the State of California for the month of September:
http://www.propertyradar.com/california-foreclosures
Keep eatin’ up the housing establishment lies Pimpster.
So Foreclosureradar (changed name to Propertyradar specifically for CA) is now the “housing establishment”?
If the shoe fits, wear it.
Congratulations “Mathguy”…. you were moved to the Liars List today.
“Mathguy” eh?
He’s been on my liars list since he first opened his pie hole.
Bob Costas on Redskins name: ‘It’s an insult, a slur’ - Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/10/13/bob-costas-on-redskins-name-its-an-insult-a-slur/ - - Cached - Similar pages
14 hours ago … Every week during halftime of Sunday Night Football, Bob Costas gets to recite a personal essay about whatever hot topic strikes his fancy.
——————————————————————————-
Well Bob I’d like to help. How about we run these politically correct and socially acceptable names up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes them.
Crackas
Lilly Whites
Teabillies
Undocumented Immigrants
But first we will have to see how they fit into the Redskins fight song. I will try one and you all can try the others and we’ll see if we can find a winner.
Hail to the Redskins is the fight song for the Washington Redskins. It is sung by the faithful after every touchdown.
Hail to the Undocumented Immigrants!
Hail Victory!
Immigrants on the Warpath to citizenship!
Fight for old D.C.!
Run or pass and score — illegal immigrants no more!
Beat ‘em, Swamp ‘em,
Touchdown! — Let the votes soar!
Fight on, fight on ‘Til you have won
Sons of Wash-ing-ton. Rah!, Rah!, Rah!
Hail to the Undocumented Immigrants!
Hail Victory!
Press 2 for ENGLISH!
Fight for old D.C.!
Wow. Read the comments. Why are so many people offended at a name change request? I’m left questioning their motives more than those of Costas.
And why the disdain for Costas’ comments? He points out that we go a little too far in being PC over names like Chiefs and Braves, but that Redskins is in a league of its own. IMO, he describes it pretty accurately.
Just move the Redskins to Oklahoma, call em’ Teabillies and change the name of the state.
What does Oklahoma mean?
Oklahoma is based on Choctaw Indian words which translate as red people (okla meaning “people” and humma meaning “red”). Recorded history for the name “Oklahoma” began with Spanish explorer Coronado in 1541 on his quest for the “Lost City of Gold.” Oklahoma became the 46th state on November 16, 1907.
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Oklahoma/Oklahomanameorigin.html - 34k -
Saw this on Reddit: keep the name Redskins, just change the mascot to a potato!
Easiest solution I’ve heard proposed!
Bob Costas on Redskins name: ‘It’s an insult, a slur’ - Washington Post
The worst slur is naming the team after Washington DC.
Guy Adami says he is “not a believer of the housing recovery.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/video/not-believer-housing-recovery-trader-212200568.html
this guy has blown so many calls n the past he has no credibility.
I find this article from last week interesting for its hyperbole regarding Wall Street fear over the debt ceiling standoff. If traders didn’t realize the threat to default on the U.S. debt was no more than a political Kabuki dance on the world stage, stocks would have sold off by now. Instead, the market appears to have settled onto a permanently high plateau around DJIA = 15K pending the anticipated announcement of a resolution.
October 11, 2013 2:01 pm
Markets on edge while stupidity prevails
By John Authers
While political risk remains, managing money is hard
When investment managers blame politicians, it is usually an excuse. What politicians decide will rightly not always be in the short-term interests of people playing the markets. Investors should just get on with it.
But this time is different. Investors have good reason to complain about their elected representatives.
The two best days for the S&P 500 index this year were January 2, when it rose 2.5 per cent after Congress thrashed out a resolution to the “fiscal cliff” issue, and Thursday of this week, when it rose 2.2 per cent after news that Republicans in the House were asking the president to agree to a temporary six-week rise in the “debt ceiling” – which would postpone a possible default.
The pattern is clear. Markets dislike dysfunction in Washington, and react with relief when politicians opt not to do something stupid. But measuring the risk of political stupidity is impossible. You need to put a price on the damage that would be done by a default for securities treated by the rest of the planet as truly risk-free. This has no precedent. It also requires putting odds on the chance that it would happen, which requires access to the inner thoughts of many dozens of politicians.
Models based on market trends, or economic or corporate data, cannot predict whether politicians will do something dumb. Pricing risk, speculative at the best of times, descends into total guesswork.
Judging by the yields on treasury bills that mature in the next few weeks, people took the prospect of default seriously, but still rated it very low. As for stocks, this has been a great year for the S&P, which was only slightly below its all-time high after two weeks of grinding speculation about a sovereign default. While default is perceived as a risk, but only a small one.
This is a post-Lehman phenomenon. The Lehman disaster showed that political common sense cannot be taken as given, and that gross policy mistakes can happen.
This was shown not only by the decision not to rescue Lehman, but also by the subsequent vote by Congress not to authorise the $700bn “Tarp” rescue plan for the banks – which, when implemented, proved to be the critical step in allowing the bank system to recover from the crisis.
Neither decision was as self-defeating as a vote to force a US default would be. But they changed perceptions of political risk. Before Lehman, this risk was underestimated by the markets. Now it is arguably overstated.
It is not only politicians who markets find it hard to second-guess. They also have trouble predicting the actions of voters – or at least how votes will be refracted through the political systems of different countries.
In the US, polls show that most voters believe that the deficit is rising, when in fact it has halved during the past five years. This makes their attitude to the debt stand-off harder to predict.
…
Are the Democrats really caving to changes to Obamacare? Talk about creating moral hazard! But I guess they are experts in that area; look no further for the evidence than their illegal immigration policies.
White House meeting with congressional leaders postponed
By Tom Cohen and Matt Smith, CNN
updated 4:54 PM EDT, Mon October 14, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: Democratic sources say changes to Obamacare under consideration
* The partial government shutdown is in its 14th day
* President Obama chides House Republicans for partisan brinksmanship
* Wall Street reverses early losses on optimism for deal by Senate leaders
Washington (CNN) — Two steps forward, one step back.
A surge of optimism on Monday for a possible compromise to end the partial government shutdown and avoid a U.S. default as soon as this week got jolted by the sudden postponement of a White House meeting between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders.
In a brief statement, the White House said the meeting announced earlier in the day was postponed “to allow leaders in the Senate time to continue making important progress” toward a solution. Two hours later, sources in both parties said it was unlikely to happen on Monday.
…
While U.S. politicians on the two sides of the aisle continue their drag-em-down, knock-em-out fight, China is busy making preparations for a future divorce.
Can China Build A De-Americanized World?
Panos Mourdoukoutas Forbes
2:05 p.m. CDT, October 14, 2013
“As U.S. politicians of both political parties are still shuffling back and forth between the White House and the Capitol Hill without striking a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world,” writes Liu Chang in Xinhua, China’s official news outlet. But can China build a de-Americanized world? Can China lead the global economy?
As we wrote in previous pieces, the answer is most likely not, as China lacks four conditions that make its economic growth sustainable.
First, China doesn’t have an “infinite” world market frontier for its manufacturing products, as its genuine expansion to world markets comes at a time when capitalism is already approaching its last frontier, having conquered almost every market around the world.
This means that China is pushing against capitalism’s last frontier, and, therefore, it has little room to maneuver before clashing with other world market players that are already well positioned in the global market.
But what about China’s domestic frontier?
…
The end is near!
Senators say debt, shutdown deal is near
USA TODAY - 3 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Senate leaders said Monday they are close to an agreement to reopen government and avoid an unprecedented U.S. debt default before the Thursday deadline.
Liberals in state of shock as they realize free health care was another Obama fairy tale
PF Louis
Natural News
October 13, 2013
Finally, though too late, the chickens have come home to roost for many Obama supporters and apologists.
It isn’t from the endless invasions and occupations, Wall Street bailouts, drones, increased gestapo security measures, NSA or several other corrupt episodes swept into the memory holes of mainstream media.
Nope. The wake-up call that has many on the other side of the aisle saying “I told you so” is Obama’s “Affordable Care Act” insurance premium price hikes for those whose private plans are now more expensive than before.
Already, there have been several reports of tremendous premium hikes from Obama supporters upon enrolling for Obamacare, even though they haven’t had major health issues or medical care. They are truly shocked.
A few sample horror stories
The San Francisco Bay Area is a liberal strong-hold. But the San Francisco Chronicle came out recently with the headline “Health Insurance Shoppers Suffer Sticker Shock.”
One example they cited was SF Bay Area resident 47-year-old Shelley Ross, self employed, who was looking forward to getting a better deal through Obamacare. After registering, she lamented that “every plan is going to cost more than what I pay now, and what I pay now is ridiculous.”
Another San Francisco resident, 63-year-old John Lonergan lost his reasonably priced Kaiser Permanente plan, because it can’t comply to Obamacare mandates. In order to maintain the same level of coverage with Obamacare that he had with Kaiser, his annual premium cost will increase by over $3,600.
In nearby San Jose, California, the San Jose Mercury News reported, “Like many other Bay Area residents who pay for their own medical insurance, they were floored last week when they opened their bills.”
This paper featured Cindy Vinson’s and Tom Waschura’s sticker shock. Both are Obama supporters. Vinson’s annual premium bill went up $1,800, and Waschura’s annual premium spiked incredibly to $10,000 over what he was accustomed to paying.
Cindy Vinson explained that she’s in favor of everyone having coverage, but “[she] didn’t expect to be the one paying for it personally.” Waschura told the Mercury News, “I really don’t like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so pissed about this.”
The Christian Science Monitor reported a case where the cost increase of $8900 annually for North Carolina couple Michael Yount and his wife has them considering going without health insurance.
The Younts need to be alerted about those tax penalties for not complying with their unaffordable Affordable Care Act coverage, which can be enforced by the IRS with their tyrannical police powers.
Are there real options or is it catch-22 forever?
San Francisco health insurance agent, Jeff Sher, who ironically does conceptually favor a universal plan, pointed out that the Affordable Care Act may help those whose incomes are low enough to warrant subsidies, but most will suffer higher prices from this “horribly complex and ill-designed system.”
To consider options, it’s wise to drop the foolish left-right political schism meant to keep us arguing while politicians deceive us. Both sides of the aisle house the same monster that really only wants to feed itself by catering to the so-called one percent.
So why should people go bankrupt over medical bills? And why must only the most monopolistic, dangerous and least effective medical system take the spotlight with oncologists making up to a half-million per year poisoning patients, often making them die faster than cancer can kill them?
Until a single payer-system with minimal bureaucratic complexity and overhead allows individuals coverage for so-called “alternative” medical practices instead of catering to the Medical Mafia’s excessive profit monopoly, it will be catch-22 forever.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.shtfplan.com
http://www.weeklystandard.com
http://news.investors.com
http://www.sfgate.com
This article was posted: Sunday, October 13, 2013 at 5:30 am
Tags: healthcare
Alternative medicine won’t solve it. The trick is to take insurance out of the picture. Let people buy it if they want. If they don’t want to buy insurance, then let them pay the doctor per visit. Then doctors would be forced to compete for patients on the free market, based on a combination of quality and price. The 1% can’t afford to keep all those doctors in business.
How angry are San Diegans? The sky’s the limit
Posted: Oct 14, 2013
6:33 PM PST Updated: Oct 14, 2013 6:51 PM PST
By Shannon Handy, Reporter
SAN DIEGO (CBS
- It seems that people all over the country are fed up with the government shutdown. But one San Diego man is taking his anger and dismay to new heights, literally.
Ron Lee has skydived an estimated 5,000 times, but never with an upside down American flag. He did that on Monday, calling the move symbolic.
“I hope it has some effect. I hope people understand its purpose and intent and I hope it moves them to do something,” he said.
While the image of an upside-down American flag may be considered disrespectful by some, Ron Lee says that couldn’t be further from what it represents.
“It’s not disrespectful in any way. If anyone bothers to read the US flag code, they’ll understand that when you fly the US flag upside down, you are making a statement of distress,” Ron said.
Fed up with the government shutdown, Ron decided to voice his opinion by doing what he knows best. He runs an aerial entertainment company, and has been flying the American flag for years. He was scheduled to open the Miramar Air Show, until the annual event became a casualty of the shutdown.
“They’re all furloughed. We can’t operate without the work that they do,” he said.
…
Senators Near Fiscal Deal, but the House Is Uncertain
Gabriella Demczuk/The New York Times
The Senate could vote on an agreement as soon as Wednesday if the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid, above center, and the minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, discuss the deal with their members on Tuesday.
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: October 14, 2013
WASHINGTON — Senate leaders neared the completion Monday night of a bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown while the rest of the world braced for the possibility of an American default that could set off a global financial disaster.
Negotiators talked into the evening as senators from both parties coalesced around a plan that would lift the debt limit through Feb. 7, pass a resolution to finance the government through Jan. 15 and conclude formal discussions on a long-term tax and spending plan no later than Dec. 13, according to one Senate aide briefed on the plan.
But while both Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, praised the progress that was made in the Senate, it was already clear that the most conservative members of the House were not going to go along quietly with a plan that does not accomplish their goal from the outset of this two-week-old crisis: dismantling the president’s health care law.
“We’ve got a name for it in the House: it’s called the Senate surrender caucus,” said Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas. “Anybody who would vote for that in the House as Republican would virtually guarantee a primary challenger.”
There have been other showdowns between Republican lawmakers and President Obama that went to the last minute; in 2011, lawmakers reached a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling two days before officials said a default was possible, resulting in a stock market plunge and the downgrading of the nation’s credit rating. But the real possibility that as of Thursday the government would not be able to meet its obligations prompted grim warnings of an economic catastrophe that could ripple through stock markets, foreign capitals, corporate boardrooms, state budget offices and the bank accounts of everyday investors.
…