Bits Bucket for October 15, 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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Has the shutdown put a wrench in your local housing market?
It sounds as though the mortgage lending mania has been severely impacted, at least as regards the LA-area housing market.
Case in point (horror of horrors): If a bank makes a mortgage loan to someone who lied about their income, the bank currently has to eat the loss, as there is no way for them to offload fraudulent loans to Fannie and Freddie during the shutdown, as they normally would do.
Government shutdown puts a wrench in housing market
The shutdown is delaying home sales and approval of loans because lenders rely on government data, such as verification of borrowers’ income, that aren’t available.
By Walter Hamilton, Andrew Khouri and E. Scott Reckard
October 11, 2013, 5:01 p.m.
The shutdown is delaying loans around the country. And some experts warn that home lending could be much more severely disrupted if the political stalemate in Washington persists much longer. (Patrick T. Fallon, Bloomberg / September 23, 2013)
Jay Joerger was set to close a long-planned sale of his Palm Springs condominium this week until he was blindsided by an unexpected problem: the shutdown of the federal government.
The condo sits on land owned by an Indian tribe, so the sale must be approved by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. But the bureau has ceased nonessential functions, delaying many home sales in Palm Springs and nearby areas.
“It’s stopped cold right now,” said Joerger, a painting contractor from Fullerton. “I’m dumbfounded.”
The government closure that ended its second week Friday is beginning to weigh on one of the most important parts of the U.S. economy — the housing market.
Housing lenders rely on a variety of government data, such as verification of borrowers’ income, which are unavailable with the partial closure of the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies.
The mortgage industry has found creative ways to work around the shutdown. Banks are getting data from other sources. Sometimes they’re simply taking the risk of making loans without some information.
Nevertheless, the shutdown is delaying loans around the country. And some experts warn that home lending could be much more severely disrupted if the political stalemate in Washington persists much longer.
“How much momentum are our fragile housing markets going to lose?” said Debra Still, chief executive of Pulte Mortgage and head of the Mortgage Bankers Assn. “The longer we’re shut down, the more it’ll negatively affect housing.”
The biggest effect so far has been on nontraditional specialty loans.
Many FHA-backed reverse mortgages and property improvement loans have run into trouble. So have home loans in rural areas that are guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Most jumbo loans are going through. But a few providers are declining to write them without IRS tax transcripts. Jumbos are loans that are too big to be backed by housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or by the Federal Housing Administration.
The fear is that more types of loans will be affected by a prolonged shutdown. For example, the availability of FHA loans, a key source of lending throughout Southern California, could be threatened because most agency workers have been furloughed, experts say.
Lenders are continuing to use automated systems at Fannie, Freddie and the FHA to process loans, and so far delays have been slight, bankers say. But they can do that for only so long before backlogs develop.
As for income verification, many lenders are writing mortgages without getting tax returns from the IRS. Instead, they have the borrowers show them the returns, which they plan to confirm with the IRS when the agency fully reopens.
For the time being, banks are funding deals themselves. They can’t sell the loans to Fannie and Freddie, as they normally do. Lenders run the risk of being stuck with a bad loan if the borrowers lie about their income.
“If it turns out to be absolute fraud, then we own the loan and we’ll have to deal with it,” said Fred Arnold of American Family Funding in Santa Clarita.
…
Whac-a-Bubble™: Case in point (horror of horrors): If a bank makes a mortgage loan to someone who lied about their income, the bank currently has to eat the loss, as there is no way for them to offload fraudulent loans to Fannie and Freddie during the shutdown, as they normally would do.
Fannie Mae Survival is Back on the Table in Washington
By Clea Benson & Cheyenne Hopkins - Oct 15, 2013 12:01 AM ET
Bloomberg
The consensus in Washington that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be dismantled is weakening amid opposition from hedge funds, regional banks and others who could benefit if the companies survive in some form.
Some Democrats said they are leery of engineering a switch that would depend on private entities to risk their own capital on home loans.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-15/fannie-mae-survival-is-back-on-the-table-in-washington.html
Someone here noted in the past few days that it would be hard to envision that the Enron executives would be prosecuted today. So continues our slide into a banana republic.
“Some Democrats said they are leery of engineering a switch that would depend on private entities to risk their own capital on home loans.”
Dumbocrats = party of too-big-to-fail housing market guarantors of last resort
Someone here noted in the past few days that it would be hard to envision that the Enron executives would be prosecuted today. So continues our slide into a banana republic.
Point taken. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they got prosecuted today as long as it didn’t endanger any banksters. As I recall they were at least one level removed from the people who count.
Kenny Boy Lay was one level removed from those who count?
no the party is going strong. we need to make it easier to get a loan. angelo mozillo is dearly missed in this run up.
With housing demand at 1997 levels and slipping, the wrench already did its’ work before the gov shutdown.
Got Cash?
The 1% and the 0.1% are doing just swell, thank you
Aspen Times - Aspen area real estate sales soar in August:
“The Pitkin County real estate market experienced its best August performance in five years, according to a report by Land Title Guarantee Co.
The dollar volume of all sales was $138.45 million, an increase of 31 percent from the $105.50 million recorded last year, the report showed.
The average single-family-home price for 2013 through August was $3.46 million … The median single-family-home price was $2.3 million”
Nowhere is the disparity in wealth between the haves and have nots more obvious than places like Aspen, Incline Village, Jackson Hole, etc. These places have seen an explosion in mansions since the 1990’s. Not since the days of slavery plantations have such ostentatious eyesores been on full display.
Nowhere is the disparity in wealth between the haves and have nots more obvious than places like Aspen, etc…..an explosion in mansions since the 1990’s. Not since the days of slavery plantations have such ostentatious eyesores been on full display
TheBushTaxCutsForTheRich in a winner-take-all system of crony-capitalism.
That or the democrat push all the money to the bankers via fannie, freddie, FHA, and QE. It’s not like voting for dems fixes anything. Who is the party of raise taxes on the rich and lower federal spending? Cuz I would actually vote FOR them.
“That or the democrat push all the money to the bankers via fannie, freddie, FHA, and QE.”
Did anyone ever do the maths on how much Timmy Boy handed off to the banksters when he summarily guaranteed the GSE debt during the Fall 2008 financial collapse?
It has to be in the trillions, but I’d love to see the figure if it is available.
Did anyone ever do the maths on how much Timmy Boy handed off to the banksters when he summarily guaranteed the GSE debt during the Fall 2008 financial collapse?
It was Hank Paulson under Bush.
“The federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refers to the placing into conservatorship of government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the U.S. Treasury in September 2008. It was one of the financial events among many in the ongoing subprime mortgage crisis.
On September 6, 2008, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), James B. Lockhart III, announced his decision to place two Government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), into conservatorship run by the FHFA.[1][2][3]
At the same press conference, United States Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, stated that placing the two GSEs into conservatorship was a decision he fully supported, and that he advised “that conservatorship was the only form in which I would commit taxpayer money to the GSEs.” He further said that “I attribute the need for today’s action primarily to the inherent conflict and flawed business model embedded in the GSE structure, and to the ongoing housing correction.”[1]
The same day, Federal Reserve Bank chairman Ben Bernanke stated in support: “I strongly endorse both the decision by FHFA Director Lockhart to place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship and the actions taken by Treasury Secretary Paulson to ensure the financial soundness of those two companies.”[4] The following day, Herbert M. Allison was appointed chief executive of Fannie Mae. He came from TIAA-CREF.[5] ” wiki
“It was Hank Paulson under Bush.”
I’m glad this was such a big issue during the elections, seeing as now it came smack dab in the middle of the presidential campaign season.
At least Bush’s DOJ prosecuted Kenny Boy Lay.
Has the shutdown resulted in weeds springing up in your garden with vegetables mouldering on the ground and Squirrels gorging themselves on tomatoes and peppers?
Squirrels relish White House kitchen garden as shutdown sidelines staff
By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON | Mon Oct 14, 2013 6:01pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the famous White House kitchen garden, tomatoes are rotting on the vine. Herbs have gone to seed. And the sweet potatoes - a favorite of President Barack Obama - have become worm food.
It’s another impact of the government shutdown, one that only the fox and the many squirrels that live on the White House grounds could love.
A foodie blog called Obamafoodarama that obsessively covers the White House “food ephemera” and the administration’s food policy has posted photos of the normally immaculate garden looking more like what most gardeners’ plots appear at this time of the year - overgrown.
“Due to the shutdown, garden maintenance has been reduced considerably and only being watered as needed,” a White House official confirmed, speaking on background.
First Lady Michelle Obama started the garden on the White House south lawn in 2009, the first time vegetables had been grown there since Eleanor Roosevelt’s “victory garden” during World War Two.
She uses the garden as a vehicle to talk about healthy eating and reducing childhood obesity. Some of the produce is used at the White House, while much is donated to a local soup kitchen.
The foodie blog, run by editor Eddie Gehman Kohan, said White House gardeners are allowed only to water the plots and cannot harvest the vegetables. White House staff who normally volunteer to pick the weeds are off on furlough, Gehman Kohan said.
“Pounds and pounds of ripe organic bounty have gone to waste,” she wrote.
“Weeds are springing up everywhere, and the vegetables that have already fallen off the vines are now mouldering on the ground,” she said.
She posted photos from cameras near the garden beds at obamafoodorama.blogspot.com, including one of a squirrel eating a cherry tomato.
Squirrels are like “kids in a candy store, gorging themselves” on tomatoes and peppers, Gehman Kohan said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/14/us-usa-fiscal-obama-garden-idUSBRE99D0PU20131014 -
I was gonna say “wait, isn’t that Michelle’s garden”? Isn’t she allowed to work on it during the shutdown? She must be angry about that.
White House staff who normally volunteer to pick the weeds are off on furlough, Gehman Kohan said.
This doesn’t make sense, unless these “volunteers” are actually paid employees who take on extra duties to keep their jobs. In that case, the work wouldn’t be voluntary.
Interns are not paid anyhow.
Why isn’t Michelle Obama out working the garden then?
For the same reason that wealthy landowners let their fruit rot if the Mexicans don’t show up. They’re above it.
That’s exactly what it looks like. Can’t wait to see the damage control on this story.
“Has the shutdown resulted in weeds springing up in your garden with vegetables mouldering on the ground and Squirrels gorging themselves on tomatoes and peppers?”
Sounds as though the WH garden has morphed into Dad’s garden.
What’s throwing a wrench in the Used Housing market in suburban Maryland is, counties have made it easier to develop land they were holding back in earlier times. If BillinLA (or Irvine) went back to White Marsh, MD today, he wouldn’t recognize it from 2007-08. They’ve added a few major bypasses along the I-95 Corridor that run right through what was formerly marshes and forests. And between them? Lots and lots of townhouses and “luxury” apartments.
I think the county really needs the fees and property taxes. Baltimore County has had some layoffs of county personnel and I think even some teachers.
Not in D.C.
This slideshow details what $1 million will buy in metro D.C. And it doesn’t buy alot…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/what-you-can-buy-for-1-million/2013/10/11/eb99f2da-31d7-11e3-8627-c5d7de0a046b_gallery.html
To be fair, those DC houses they show are walking distance to Capitol Hill. If you want to be walking distance to the Capitol but live in a safe area, your options are limited. Most people who walk from Cap Hill don’t have hours to commute each week.
How could the Capitol be anything but safe?
The Capitol itself is swarmed by armed-to-the-teeth security. But go a few blocks… very eye opening. SE DC is the worst part of DC. There are legit ghettos a short walk from the Capitol. I don’t mean just rundown houses, I mean dangerous areas with very high crime rates.
According to HA, these should be $60 / ft!!!! Same price as the slums he builds!
Theyre all slums and shanties. Just like the one you go home to every day.
And yes……every single one of the are built for $55/sq ft…… Profit included.
Why does that piss you off so much?
Pathetic . Better get out a bit more!
It does not p*ss me off so much as it is laughable. I’d love to buy at 55 / ft in rye ny or concord ma or palo alto ca or beverly hills ca or midtown nyc . You cannot deliver.
It enrages you because you got burned. burned.
That’s some good cherry picking you got going on RedA$$.
My friend wants to sell his house. I told him that was a good idea.
he bought it a few years ago we will see how it goes.
^lolz
+1 on the lolz, with a smh thrown in.
Why do people buy houses and then sell within “a few years”? More details please, cactus.
Because most of the people buying within the past few years were nothing by speculators.
bybutON NPR this am the Shut down has closed much of the Los Padres national forest and sheriffs are finding cut locks and trespassers.
Big Government when its not fed enough can and will turn on the hand that feeds it.
trespassers in the Kings forest
Is the Tea Party going to take America back?
Op-Ed
Tea party wants to take America back — to the 18th century
Their ultimate destination appears to be the 1780s and our dysfunctional government under the Articles of Confederation.
By Joseph J. Ellis
October 15, 2013
When matters become extremely dire and disheartening, as they have been in the blatantly dysfunctional Congress, historians are usually the designated dispensers of perspective. As bad as things are, we like to say, they have been worse and the nation somehow survived.
But for the life of me, I cannot recall an occasion when a minority of elected representatives with such an absurdly partisan agenda was capable of stopping the government of the United States in its tracks. To be sure, stoppages have happened before, but not with a looming debt ceiling decision, which has threatened to throw the American economy back into recession, send the global financial markets into free fall and permanently damage America’s fiscal reputation. Such mindless political and economic devastation is unprecedented.
…
I was going to make the same joke when I saw your question. Yes, the TP is going to take America back to the Fugitive Slave Act era.
I can’t believe someone as smart as Ted Cruz, with his credentials and foreign birth, really thinks that his policies of Big Military and Social Conservatism and Defund Social Programs would be good for America.
@JoeSmith
Here commie Counterpunch discusses the Tea Party, the South, and racism:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/15/the-souths-lost-cause-addiction/
Republicans shoot themselves in the foot
By Robert Bennett, For the Deseret News
Published: Monday, Oct. 14 2013 9:21 a.m. MDT
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, emerges from the Senate Chamber after his overnight crusade railing against the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013.
J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press
As I write this, there is still no deal on the shutdown or debt limit. I can’t predict what will happen over the weekend, but I can comment on how this all came to be.
As I write this, there is still no deal on the shutdown or debt limit. I can’t predict what will happen over the weekend, but I can comment on how this all came to be.
When the end of the fiscal year approached, just ahead of the date when we hit the debt limit, polls showed that a majority of Americans disapproved of Obamacare and some Republicans thought the time and circumstances were ripe to force its “defunding.” Many conservative voices, including some very seasoned political observers, disagreed, saying it would be a very bad move politically, but they were ignored and the confrontation came.
The doubters were right. The strategy shifted the public’s attention away from the shortcomings of Obamacare over to a discussion of the merits of the government shutdown, stepping on the original message. Obamacare’s troublesome start on Oct. 1, which validated Republican arguments that it is a very poorly written law, went virtually unnoticed because public opinion hated the shutdown more than it hated Obamacare. Most of the blame for the situation has been attributed to Republicans. Yes, the president’s approval rating has dropped, but Republican approval numbers have dropped far more.
The decision to force a shutdown violated one of the first rules of politics, going all the way back to Machiavelli: “Exploit the inevitable.” When something is certain to happen, you should use it, however you can, to your own advantage.
Initially, that’s what the Republicans were doing with Obamacare. It is one of the most unpopular laws passed in recent memory, a subject many Democrats do not want to talk about. It was inevitable that its implementation would be full of difficulties and expose its many weaknesses. Focusing on those weaknesses would have provided Republican candidates an issue around which they could build an effective campaign in 2014.
However, by forcing a shutdown in an attempt to kill Obamacare now rather than later, House Republicans went from exploiting the inevitable to ignoring it. They were warned; time and again they were told, “There is no way Democrats can lose this fight. They control both the Senate and the White House. Opposition to a default comes from a united front of business leaders and economic experts who are appalled at the thought of it. You don’t have the votes to win and you’ll get blamed for whatever goes wrong.”
That is how it has played out. The Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, filibuster was good political theater — the “Green Eggs and Ham” bit will be remembered for a long time — but in the end, when the vote was taken, even Cruz voted with Harry Reid. His efforts were an empty gesture and did nothing to help Republicans. The polls are reporting record-high disapproval levels, and the shutdown strategy is hurting them in this year’s campaigns.
…
Robert Bennett, former U.S. senator from Utah, is a part-time teacher, researcher and lecturer at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics.
For those who are unfamiliar with Utah politics, it was the only state to vote in 1992 for George H.W. Bush, then H. Ross Perot, with Bill Clinton in last. In other words, it is among the reddest of red states. And the Deseret News is the newspaper targeted at LDS church members — i.e., deeply conservative and Republican leaning. Hence an Op-ed in the Deseret News about the Republicans shooting themselves in the foot says a lot.
Bennett was defeated by a tea party person I believe. Sour grapes?
Perot is a lot of things, but Conservative he’s not.
“According to Gallup, approval of the Republican Party has sunk 10 points in two weeks to 28 percent, an all-time low. In the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, approval of the GOP has fallen to 24 percent.
In the campaign to persuade America of their Big Lie—that the House Republicans shut down the government—the White House and its media chorus appear to have won this round.
Yet, the truth is the Republicans House has voted three times to keep open and to fund every agency, department and program of the U.S. government, except for Obamacare.
And they voted to kill that monstrosity but once.
Republicans should refuse to raise the white flag and insist on an honorable avenue of retreat.
And if Harry Reid’s Senate demands the GOP end the sequester on federal spending, or be blamed for a debt default, the party should, Samson-like, bring down the roof of the temple on everybody’s head.”
The above is from a Pat Buchanan article. I agree with bringing down the roof of the temple on everybody’s head, on the basis that it would take down the US corporate-spy complex and it seems therer’s no other way to do it. And in the fullness of time, the much maligned Tea Party would come to be known as the plucky little group that stopped the Evil Empire in its tracks, from within.
My oh my, another day and people here in the bits bucket are so concerned about the future of these Republicans. If they are ruining their political future, you’d think all these detractors would be happy about it.
Or maybe there’s something else? Like the public seeing that we don’t have to have the federal government lording over ever part of our lives to function. Is there anyone else out there that would like to turn on the news and not watch the “here’s what the government did today” show.
When I was just becoming aware of the world and things, I wondered why when the network news came on, it always lead off with “what was the president doing today”. Like we are all peasants, just waiting to find out what our King did this afternoon.
“Like we are all peasants, just waiting to find out what our King did this afternoon.”
Speaking of which, has anyone noticed that we haven’t heard much from the kang in the past few days?
He called for a basin and washed his hands.
Read Peter Bainart’s recent article to read who’s actually winning the shutdown war.
I’m concerned about the Republicans because I really do think the Dems as a whole believe that government can fix underlying cultural/social problems with programs. And yes, I know I should be supporting a third party (I guess?), but there is none right now. It would be great if the Republicans actually cared about working people and the country’s future rather than a smattering of braindead teatash and the demographic doom of selling out to Boomers.
Is it too much for the GOP to field a candidate a working person can vote for without holding his nose? Or at least not ACTIVELY shut down Ron Paul or Gary Johnson? The things the GOP did to Ron Paul in their teabilly-infused primaries and convention were shameful.
Oh, please. Tea Party didn’t marginalize Ron Paul or Gary Johnson, the KKKarl Rove neoconnery wing did that.
Something rather symbolic about that Tea Party, here, too. They might actually bring down this whole pop stand. It’s not lost on me that during the original Tea Party, it was tea from China that got dumped as a symbolic gesture of tax protest. Today we have the prospect of default on loans from China. So what? I figure it’s a fair trade. Their crappy products for our crappy securities. Neither work.
“Read Peter Bainart’s recent article to read who’s actually winning the shutdown war.”
Sort of interesting. Warms the cockles of my heart to see CIR sidelined. I’m almost ready to go back to my former and much beloved moniker of “palmetto”. What I’d like to see is the issue ended once and for all, with no prospect of ever raising its ugly head again, and massive enforcement procedures per existing law, including retroactive penalties for fraudsters and retroactive withdrawal of citizenshp from any and every child born to an illegal immigrant. Since they retain the citizenship of the country of their parents, it wouldn’t be any big deal.
I’ve heard some left-wing guy on the radio say that the Boston Tea Party was a result of the Tea Tax, because the British East India Company had tons of tea they couldn’t sell, and the company was exempted from paying the new tea tax.
I heard a poll today that said that 60% of those polled would choose to kick EVERY SINGLE politician out of office if they could.
60% wants a do-over with the entire political establishment.
There should be no gloating on either side.
I heard a poll today that said that 60% of those polled would choose to kick EVERY SINGLE politician out of office if they could.
Polls like that appear repeatedly, yet incumbents running for re-election are overwhelmingly approved in the only polls that actually count.
I think people have wanted to do that for a long time. They’ve been pretty clear that they’re willing to sacrifice their guy to get rid of the rest. But a system has been created where they can only sacrifice their own guy at a high price and whenever they try to elect people to change the system they get the bait and switch.
The 60% was a high for that kind of poll.
BTW Carl, keeping “their guy” is not always irrational. I spoke to some folks pretty tied in to Nevada politics, and when Reid was up for re-election, a lot of business leaders decided to support him, even though they don’t support his politics/policies. Why? Because even though they don’t necessarily like him, he’s senior enough that he can bring home the cheese for the items that really matter to them.
I don’t really care if the Republicans commit suicide.
But instead of shooting themselves in the head, they are intentionally steering the ocean liner into the icebergs.
Then forcing the steerage folks into using their bootstrapping skills, by learning how to swim in 35 degree water.
“But instead of shooting themselves in the head, they are intentionally steering the ocean liner into the icebergs.”
Murder-suicide is a very popular way to go around San Diego County. At least in the political variant, usually nobody literally dies.
Spouses who died in murder-suicide identified
By Susan Shroder
8:46 p.m.Feb. 21, 2013
VALLEY CENTER — A Valley Center couple who sheriff’s officials said died in a murder-suicide were identified Thursday by the Medical Examiner’s Office as Miguel and Eleonore Ataide.
The 48-year-old woman died of multiple gunshot wounds, and her 41-year-old husband died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, an investigator for the office said. Her death has been ruled a homicide.
Miguel Ataide’s mother heard her son arguing with his wife Tuesday night at the couple’s house in Valley Center, the investigator said. Gunshots were heard moments later. The son told his mother he had just shot his wife, and he went into his bedroom and closed the door. The mother called 911.
…
Government’s been shutdown for like 2 weeks now, and no catastrophe… How is this like the titanic again?
The titanic reference was not meant to suggest that the shutdown is a catastrophe per se; rather it was used to invoke the metaphor of deliberately steering a ship into an iceberg.
Government’s been shutdown for like 2 weeks now,
Because the government has not been shut down. Only like 20 percent.
Because even though they don’t necessarily like him, he’s senior enough that he can bring home the cheese for the items that really matter to them.
That’s what I meant by a high price to get rid of your own guy.
the much maligned Tea Party would come to be known as the plucky little group….
They need to have more rallies with Sarah Palin and Confederate flags.
Keep it up. Get more creative, though, because this crap is really starting to bore me.
obamaphones versus the confederate flag.
…is what the PTB want you to think it’s all about.
because this crap is really starting to bore me.
Bore you?? How can Confederate flags and Sarah Palin rallies ever be boring?
I mean think about it. The Tea Party’s leadership is sittin’ round the table trying to come up with a cool way to liven up the upcoming rally. One dude says “let’s bring a loud PA” and the other dude says “Yea yea, good idea, and let’s get Bobby Lee to bring his Confederate flag and maybe if we’re lucky Sarah Palin will make a speech and hopefully wear those red high heels too”.
A Tea Party rally with Confederate flags and Sarah Palin doesn’t sound boring to me. The visuals alone are awesome.
‘Confederate flags and Sarah Palin’
You forgot “Romney! Bahh!”
You forgot “Romney!
Oh yea. There is a tie-in with Romney, the Tea Party and Confederate flag mentality.
I think Romney could have won if the Tea Party influenced Republican Primaries had not turned Romney into the “severely conservative” candidate that he was not.
Extremism turns off the vast majority of American voters. We’re seeing it in the Repub polls declining every day.
Keep sniffin’ those panties, Rio.
Keep sniffin’ those panties, Rio.
You just can’t handle the truth on this issue. Don’t feel alone.
what’s worse…denying the truth or ignoring the truth?
what’s worse…denying the truth or ignoring the truth?
Denying that you’re ignoring the truth.
I don’t understand why telling someone to sniff panties is an attack.
To a LIEberal, an compliment is taken as an insult.
Are the Republican extremists still trying to defund the AFA, or have their ransom demands evolved?
McCain: Obamacare fight was ‘a fool’s errand’
Published: Thursday, 10 Oct 2013 | 5:38 PM ET
Drew Sandholm
Efforts by House Republicans to tie the debt ceiling fight to the repeal of Obamacare sent policymakers on “a fool’s errand” that ultimately resulted in a partial government shutdown that nobody wants, Sen. John McCain, told CNBC on Thursday.
Though the Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress, signed by President Barack Obama and upheld by the Supreme Court, some politicians still opposed the law, including select Republicans and members of the fiscally conservative tea party.
But with Obama’s reelection in 2012, “it was pretty obvious that we were not going to defund Obamacare, and we were sent on a fool’s errand,” the Arizona Republican said.
…
And today McSame is back to criticizing democrats. How he can be the Senator from a conservative state like Arizona is beyond me.
‘a partial government shutdown that nobody wants’
Um, I want a government shutdown. Shutdown the NSA, shutdown the arms flows to Al-Qaeda, shutdown the drone strikes, shutdown Obamacare. And for Gods sake keep the panda cam shut down.
Of course, anyone who opposes the status quo is an extremist. Ron Paul was an extremist, but people (like McCain) who want to bomb and torture all over the world are compassionate! It’s funny to watch people fall all over themselves to line up with the neocons.
My sentiment exactly. End it. Return my SS contributions, stay out of my emails, credit card invoices and off my phone calls, quite using my taxes to fund the MIC, REIC, higher EIC, FIRE, Wall Street, etc.
It really is stunning to see half-wits toss their beloved “issues” in the trash just to line up with a personality.
“Shutdown the NSA, shutdown the arms flows to Al-Qaeda, shutdown the drone strikes, shutdown Obamacare.”
Besides ’shutdown Obamacare’, where are the two sides of the aisle on the other issues you mentioned?
My impression is they are nowhere to be found.
“Return my SS contributions, …”
Given the way things are headed, I wouldn’t count on ever seeing those again.
Um, I want a government shutdown.
+1.
I just wish more of the military was considered “non-essential”.
‘I just wish more of the military was considered “non-essential”.’
We already have a shutdown, plus essential ongoing NSA activities, arms flows to Al-Qaeda, drone strikes, Obamacare, and for good measure, FHA lending.
FHA will keep lending during shutdown
By Les Christie @CNNMoney
September 30, 2013: 4:18 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Applications for all government-backed mortgages will continue to be processed during a government shutdown, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD originally said on Friday that it would stop working on applications for loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration if the lights go out in Washington. But it reversed that position over the weekend.
…
‘Besides ’shutdown Obamacare’, where are the two sides of the aisle on the other issues you mentioned?’
Oh please, the two sides are Obama and the Democrats, allied with the neocons, against the Tea Party. I have never been to a TP meeting. I don’t even know one personally. But they are the only ones fighting against indiscriminate war, drones, NSA and Obamacare.
These messages sponsored by the Democratic National Committee.
^LOLZ
Republicans are bad. Bad Republicans, bad. Therefore we need more progressive leadership like Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Moody’s put out a paper saying the debt limit doesn’t have anything to do with a default. They said it was about revenues, and the government has the income to pay interest. How come nobody even talks about that in the media?
It’s almost like they are making more of this than it really is. After all, why doesn’t the president just do what Moody’s is saying? Or do one of those executive order things he likes so much?
And more money thrown at every social program. More money for jobs! Give everyone a job now. At a living wage. Where they can’t be fired. With an awesome pension. That kicks in at 50.
We libertarians will take our America back.
You’re not taking anything.
In fact, we’re taking you to the FEMA Camp for having Thought Crimes against Dear Leader.
Police & Vets Clash At White House #1MVetMarch - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t5yDaGAgbY - 143k - Cached - Similar pages
1 day ago … Police and US War Veterans have clashed outside of the White House on October 13, … Police & Vets Clash At White House #1MVetMarch.
When Russian POW’s captured by Germany during World War II returned to Russia after the war, Stalin sent them all to the gulag. Expect similar policies from the “most transparent administration in history”
Forward
“Hey you shoulda’ brought more guys”
Police And Vets Clash At White House #1MVetMarch – 14 October …
http://lucas2012infos.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/police-and-vets-clash-at-white-house-1mvetmarch-14-october-2013/ - 121k
Police And Vets Clash At White House
“Looks like something outa Kenya”
Classic
Is Germany still holding American POWs?
to the 14th century. Take that, republicans!
“Is the Tea Party going to take America back?”
This was from a different question but it has the same answer.
“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.”
PF Louis
Natural News
October 13, 2013
Again, why is this not in the media today? They spell it out pretty clearly:
‘In a memo being circulated on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Moody’s Investors Service offers “answers to frequently asked questions” about the government shutdown, now in its second week, and the federal debt limit. President Obama has said that, unless Congress acts to raise the $16.7 trillion limit by next Thursday, the nation will be at risk of default.
Not so, Moody’s says in the memo dated Oct. 7.
” We believe the government would continue to pay interest and principal on its debt even in the event that the debt limit is not raised, leaving its creditworthiness intact,” the memo says. “The debt limit restricts government expenditures to the amount of its incoming revenues; it does not prohibit the government from servicing its debt. There is no direct connection between the debt limit (actually the exhaustion of the Treasury’s extraordinary measures to raise funds) and a default.
The memo offers a starkly different view of the consequences of congressional inaction on the debt limit than is held by the White House, many policymakers and other financial analysts. During a press conference at the White House Tuesday, Obama said missing the Oct. 17 deadline would invite “economic chaos.”
The Moody’s memo goes on to argue that the situation is actually much less serious than in 2011, when the nation last faced a pitched battle over the debt limit.
“The budget deficit was considerably larger in 2011 than it is currently, so the magnitude of the necessary spending cuts needed after 17 October is lower now than it was then,” the memo says.
Treasury Department officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.’
Again, why is this not in the media today? They spell it out pretty clearly:
Have not versions of that possibility been in the news for weeks?
But all it would do would be to switch default on debt to default on Soc/Sec, Medicare, the Military etc. Such “default” would cripple the American economy, greatly affect the world economy and make USA look so fooked up that interest rates would rise sharply.
It is a dangerous, damaging and needless option for the USA pursue.
we’re merikans’ dammit…we deserve perpetually low interest rates…anyone again’t it just hates our freedom and are economic terrorist!
cuz we’re special!
There was a story about it on the Washingont Post website a few days ago.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics-live/liveblog/live-updates-the-shutdown-4/?id=c1e3ada3-dc00-41d8-92cb-327c5c814d82
cuz we’re special!
No, cuz we’re exceptional!
during a press conference at the White House Tuesday, Obama said missing the Oct. 17 deadline would invite “economic chaos.”
What he really meant was that he would cause “economic chaos” if he doesn’t get his way. And he is fully capable of doing that.
This would have been over weeks ago if Democrats had simply agreed to do everything the Republicans want - defund Obamacare, cut Social Security and Medicare, allow employers to limit insurance coverage for birth control, permit the Keystone pipeline, etc.
And give them an opportunity to do it again in a few months.
But you are correct that this is Obama’s fault. He should never have given them anything in the summer of 2011. He is their enabler.
Obama could have just rolled over and lost the 2012 election, for that matter. No wonder the Republicans blame everything on him — he kicked their butts too hard.
” We believe the government would continue to pay interest and principal on its debt even in the event that the debt limit is not raised, leaving its creditworthiness intact,”
this chicken little strategy will back fire
Then what will politicians do to scare us ?
If you have anything to lose, you should be worried.
If you have nothing to lose, then it’s all good.
The owner of the window firm that installed our windows had a cute bumper sticker he left us for a chuckle:
“Republican are thieves
Democrats are morons
Now What?”
It was all about the “now what?”
The stopping of bond sales will cripple an entire whole division at Gildman Sachs.
The Affordable Care Act = Not one dollar shall be allowed to escape.
It also means: F*ck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.
Wall Street Journal - Health Care CEOs Earn Top Pay:
“Sometimes it’s good to be a health-care CEO. Health-care company chief executives had the highest median pay of any industry captured by the recent Wall Street Journal CEO Compensation Study.
The median CEO pay in the industry was $10 million”
Are you experiencing difficulty finding what you need at your local Walmart?
Black Friday comes early as computer glitches cause welfare benefits frenzy
Published October 14, 2013
FoxNews.com
In some Walmart stores, customers emptied shelves like it was Black Friday, while in others, no one could buy anything — all thanks to a weekend of glitches with the nation’s welfare system.
Problems involving Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, the government payments to the poor that are administered by states with the help of private companies, plagued at least 17 states Saturday and Sunday, creating retail riots. At Louisiana stores in Springhill and Mansfield, cards registered no spending limits, prompting recipients to go on buying binges.
“It was worse than any Black Friday,” Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd told local station KSLA-TV.
Customers said shelves were picked clean in a mob scene that left employees rattled. Walmart spokeswoman Kayla Whaling told the station the company made a conscious decision to keep ringing up goods rather than to cut people off.
“We did make the decision to continue to accept EBT cards (and purchases on WIC and SNAP) during the outage so that they could get food for their families,” she said.
But when order was restored and the cards began reading properly, it became clear that some customers were out to take advantage of the taxpayer-funded program. One woman had $700 worth of merchandise in her cart and an EBT card with a balance of just 49 cents.
…
“But when order was restored and the cards began reading properly, it became clear that some customers were out to take advantage of the taxpayer-funded program.”
Take advantage? I’m shocked I tell ‘ya…shocked.
racis
“…customers were out to take advantage of the taxpayer-funded program.”
which wal mart was quick to oblige.
Same old scene at the local walmart. Do you think people that unload product out of the semi trucks and put it on the shelve deserve to be paid well?
It seems like walmart has the distribution model down. order product , have it delivered to one of the hubs, then sort and send it out to nearby walmart stores.
Where did kmart go wrong?
According to my biz school profs, Kmart failed because:
1) They didn’t play hardball with their suppliers.
2) Their distribution system wasn’t as good
3) They had oodles of old, small and dirty stores.
I don’t often go to WalMart, but the last time I was there, the shelves seemed pretty well stocked. This was the WalMart on the north side of Loveland. The local demographic at that store seems to be middle to upper middle class, unlike the “WalMartinez” in nearby Greeley, which had a drive by shooting in its parking lot last Summer and now has a full time security guard who patrols the parking lot in a golf cart.
“I don’t often go to WalMart, but the last time I was there, the shelves seemed pretty well stocked.”
Was that before or after the EBT ‘early Black Monday’?
Barack Hussein Obama
Think about it…
Was that before or after the EBT ‘early Black Monday’?
As far as I know the EBT cards never stopped working in the Centennial state.
Kmart is canadian. That’s all you need to know about that company.
LOL
the ammo case at wallymart yesterday had no .22lr or 9mm
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20131014_101715_766-hAqWir6R.jpg
We libertarians will take our America back.
When I told a guy from Singapore that you can buy assault weapons and ammo at most WalMarts, he was flabbergasted. Then again, weapon ownership in Singapore is forbidden (memo to Bill In LA: don’t move there).
I am finding it difficult to find quality building materials, tools, hoses, and many other things.
^LoLz.
I was talking about all stores not Walmart. Couldn’t buy anything locally for my koi pond, had to order everything on line and wait a week for delivery.
Nothing like throwing good money after bad on junk.
“Koi pond?” Good lord…
It’s a home depot’ed Debt Junkies dream date.
Do home prices in your area seem a bit ‘bubbly’ these days?
One out of three Nobel prize winners says so.
And much to his credit, he identifies the Fed’s economic stimulus policy as a primary cause.
Nobel prize winner warns of ‘bubbly’ home prices
Monday, 14 Oct 2013 | 8:36 PM ET
One of three American economists who won the 2013 economics Nobel prize on Monday for research into market prices and asset bubbles expressed alarm at the rapid rise in global housing prices.
Robert Shiller, who shared the 8 million Swedish crown ($1.25 million) prize with fellow laureates Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen, said the U.S. Federal Reserve’s economic stimulus and growing market speculation were creating a “bubbly” property boom.
…
Very bubbly. But nothing is selling.
Housing demand has collapsed.
They don’t seem, they are! The latest sale puts my house at $225K above what I paid a year ago April, absurd. My house is worth no more than I paid and with a RE commission it would be less. I look at things on the negative side when it comes to finances. I bought at $80K over the original purchase when the house was built in 1991.
My house is worth no more than I paid
Guess again Donkey!
Your shanty is worth about $35/sq ft. Not a penny more.
The latest sale puts my house at $225K above what I paid a year ago April, absurd. ‘
Caused by cheap money because of abnormally low interest rates.
Good for borrowers not so good for savers.
Good for borrowers not so good for savers.
Never forget. Savers = deadbeats.
I bought at $80K over the original purchase when the house was built in 1991.
Sure, the house is now worth less—but the dollar was worth more.
Not at all. The dollar today is worth exactly what it was then.
Do you expect to work during your ‘retirement’?
Most Americans expect to work during ‘retirement,’ poll finds
By Walter Hamilton
October 14, 2013, 1:26 p.m.
More than 4 in 5 older Americans expect to keep working during their latter years, a sign that traditional retirement is out of reach for vast swaths of society, according to a new survey.
Among Americans ages 50 and older who currently have jobs, 82% expect to work in some form during retirement, according to the poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
In other words, “retirement” is increasingly becoming a misnomer.
“The survey illuminates an important shift in Americans’ attitudes toward work, aging and retirement,” said Trevor Tompson, director of the AP-NORC Center. “Retirement is not only coming later in life, it no longer represents a complete exit from the workforce.”
…
retiring is a dream for most people at this point. after wall street gets done with people they are basically surviving on alpo from social security checks.
“after wall street gets done with people they are basically surviving on alpo from social security checks.”
That’s why we need to get rid of Social Security. We can’t get rid of the boomers until they can no longer afford to buy alpo.
By 2020, I/4 of the US workforce will be those over 55yo. How will young people ever get jobs?
I talk to twenty-somethings quite a bit about their employment prospects. It’s tough, and they are struggling.
In short, the QE3 plan to use mortgage backed security purchases into stimulating the housing market to create jobs is failing.
At some point the oldsters just won’t be able to work anymore, especially those who are morbidly obese.
Most of the morbidly obese are dead by 55. The merely obese and overweight can survive into their 70s.
But can they work until they are 70?
I’m guessing that most lucky duckies won’t be able to perform their menial, manual labor jobs once they’re past 55.
“Do you expect to work during your ‘retirement’?”
No. But I want to work during my ‘retirement.’
“retirement” for me will be taking my computer with me four months of the year to the left coast or to the high mountains of Arizona four months of the year. Also will have a lightweight mountain bike with me for the mountains. I have software projects to do. And part of the mornings will be working in areas with free wi-fi.
Free wifi is Socialism.
Riverside, Ca had a city wide free wifi effort a few years back. It was a miserable failure. Didn’t work for jack and I think eventually it was abandoned. Whoever they hired to do it should have been shot and prosecuted along with whoever from government was overseeing them. Instead they probably all got rich.
Are you prepared for a ‘Black Swan’ debt default?
A Microsoft short, a Black Swan default and yields through the ages
October 15, 2013, 6:44 AM
By Shawn Langlois
There’s no way word of an actual agreement to shut down the shutdown will be anywhere near as powerful as the “reports” leading up to it.
We’re seeing the classic buy-the-rumor, sell-the-news pattern take shape. Earnings might have some say on where we go from here, but they’ll definitely be overshadowed by index-goosing headlines like “Almost There!” and “Lawmakers Optimistic!”
Michael O’Rourke of Jones Trading says, eventually, quarterly results should start impacting stocks. But since that hasn’t really been the case over the past two years, why would it be any different now? “One would like to believe that equity prices still have some connection to earnings growth, but the picture will remain muddled as long as we are on Washington Watch,” he wrote in “The Closing Print” newsletter.
Indeed, earnings are the bearded lady at this circus. A mere sideshow. A deal this week is a definite possibility, and that’s what the market has been positioning itself for. And at that point, there just won’t be much room left to run when the power players figure it out, regardless of what earnings tell us.
But what happens if they don’t? If there’s that nasty curve ball? The scenario that almost nobody realistically believes will happen. The default — otherwise known as millions of investors beating a hasty market retreat at the same time. That’s a long shot, but Jani Ziedins of the Cracked Market blog says investors might want to gird for that Black Swan 15% plunge anyway.
“A prudent trader will protect long positions with cheap insurance, and an opportunist could place a low-cost bearish bet that will pay off handsomely if the low-probability event becomes a reality,” he wrote.
…
The chart of the day: “With a couple days to Armageddon”, Ralph Dillon of Global Financial Data sent me this great chart of 10-year bond yields going all the way back to 1800. “While default is nothing new for many countries, it is for the United States,” he said. “Borrowing costs would essentially skyrocket, global equity prices would be leveled, dollar’s status as a benchmark questioned and most importantly, a reversal into another deeper and darker world recession.”
Here is a bit of a surprise to me: I had thought recent Treasury bond yields were at a record low, but it turns out that is not the case. They actually were at similar levels in the 1920s, but didn’t bottom out until over a decade later, at the end of the Great Depression.
Though everyone assumes it is the Fed’s QE3 policy which explains why long-term Treasury yields are so low, could the low yields actually mean something entirely different?
August 18, 2011, 12:01 PM
U.S. Long Term Bond Yields, Back to 1800
By Matt Phillips
For financial geeks and history nerds bond yields provide a treasury trove of detailed data that tells a story that spans — in some cases — centuries. So, when we dipped below 2% on the 10-year yield earlier this morning after really ugly Philly Fed data on the economy, we have held back from declaring this an out-and-out record, as we have respect for the long trail of data that comes along with Treasurys.
Anyway, we figured we’d spotlight a few long-term looks at the bond market. This one comes from a really great report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which shows “long term” government bond yields since 1800. Now it gets difficult to compare bond yields over extremely long periods of times because there are some points in time when say the U.S. doesn’t sell bonds with the same maturity. For instance, the Treasury stopped issuing 30-year bonds in 2001, and only restarted again in 2006. Anyhoo, we figured we’d put up some interesting charts that make the case about exactly what a remarkable interest rate environment we’re in.
…
“Borrowing costs would essentially skyrocket, global equity prices would be leveled, dollar’s status as a benchmark questioned and most importantly, a reversal into another deeper and darker world recession.”
AKA the Tea Party “taking America back”.
An un-cashed out pension is a terrible thing to waste.
It looks as if only 79 percent of pensioners choose to take the lump sum instead of the annuity and many of these lump-sumers regret the way they used the cash.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_sum
There is still work to be done in this area:
First of all the 79 percent figure needs to be addressed in that there is too much money being left on the table. Effort need to be applied in pushing this figure towards one-hundred percent.
Second, many who take the lump sum regret the way they used the cash is not good enough. ALL of them taking the lump sum and regretting the way they used the cash should be the goal.
We bankers have been put on this planet to do God’s work, to offer freedom to all, the type of freedom that has been described in a song:
“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.”
what % of your revenues actually coming from lending money vs gambling in stocks and commodities?
100%. Shadow banking? Embrace it.
Will China successfully cut a politically dysfunctional America out of the deal?
ft dot com
October 15, 2013 9:31 am
Osborne positions London as renminbi hub
By Lucy Hornby in Beijing
UK Chancellor George Osborne on Tuesday moved to cement London’s position as a global trading hub for the Chinese currency, announcing new investment quotas, foreign exchange trading and relaxed requirements for Chinese banks doing business in the city.
The two countries also agreed to allow direct renminbi-sterling trading in Shanghai and offshore, making the pound the fourth currency to trade directly against the renminbi, while Chinese banks will be permitted to set up branches in London.
The greater scope for financial services and a separate memorandum of understanding that opens the UK to Chinese nuclear power investment mark what both sides are billing as a new step in relations after a recent diplomatic chill.
That positions London to profit from China’s growing integration with the global economy. China has been taking steps to open its currency and gain greater prominence in the international financial system, while attempting to minimise the destabilising effects of hot money flows.
Chief among the concessions is a quota for UK-based financial institutions to invest up to Rmb80bn (£8.2bn) in Chinese securities, a move that Osborne said would help Britain’s financial firms attract China-related investment flows.
“The internationalisation of the renminbi and use of London as the pre-eminent centre outside of China and Hong Kong, all that business is a huge boon for British financial services, for Britain as a centre of global finance,” Mr Osborne told reporters at Beijing’s elegant Diaoyutai Guest House, after a morning of trade and investment talks with Ma Kai, the Chinese vice-premier.
…
Oh yeah, China has a lot of people. Imagine if every one of the population there bought an XYZ widget or some financial product or something. One can only guess the myriad of franchise opportunities (if possible by China laws) for Chipoltes, KFC and Cracker Barrel, etc.
Just imagine the housing boom if every Chinese real estate investor owned ten houses!
Imagine if the Chinese go on strike for more money.
London’s just trading in one partner in crime for the next. This is their parlay to not go down w/westerner’s ship.
I remember reading on one thread where a woman said in Russia people could always tell an American walking down the road. They knew because Americans stand up straight, proud and confident while people from other countries try not to stand out.
I wonder if we’ll eventually be the ones hiding in the shadows.
And Russians will be the ones standing tall. They gave Snowden asylum. And, just a couple of days ago, in a riot between Russians and migrants, it was the migrants who were arrested. Of course, Slime (Time) Magazine is up on its hind legs about it. But Russians were pissed because a migrant stabbed one of their countrymen, and they went ballistic. Their police supported them. As it should be. As it should have happened here back in 2006 when colonizers occupied the streets in many major cities. Police and national guard should have rolled all over them.
this is racis
our differences only make us stronger
if you don’t want your kids’ school full of ms-13, you are racis
bad racis, bad
It’s sort of interesting, both Russia and the US have oligarchs, who are essentially granted their franchises by the government.
The difference is, however, that Russia leaves no doubt as to who is boss, the government. Step out of line, you lose your franchise, your freedom and possibly your life.
In the US, the franchisees get their franchises and start telling the goobermint what to do and holding it hostage to its demands.
If Jamie Dimon had to live under the Russian system of government granted oligarchy, he’d need to bring a food taster to lunch at Four Seasons (or wherever it is the US Masters of Universe lunch)
he’d need to bring a food taster to lunch at Four Seasons (or wherever it is the US Masters of Universe lunch)
He would also need a geiger counter to detect polonium in his food or maybe even more advanced tech. Polonium is tasteless, killing slowly & surely whether or not a food taster might be used.
“London’s just trading on one partner in crime for the next.”
The Willie Sutton approach: Go to where the money is.
But, what if China is but a paper tiger? Some of the recent stories would seem to indicate all is not well in China.
“Some of the recent stories would seem to indicate all is not well in China.”
Which spells: OPPORTUNITY!
Bring me a problem, any problem, and I will supply a solution.
If you don’t have a problem not to worry, I’ll assign one to you.
It’s raining out.
“It’s raining out”
Thank you for that information. The rental rate for the umbrella I lent you just went up.
The rental rate for the umbrella I lent you just went up.
1. You’re supposed to ask for the umbrella back, not raise the rental rate.
2. I am “renting” my umbrella at a fixed interest rate. You don’t get to raise the rent on it.
3. Soon enough I’ll pay off that loan and tell you where to go.
If you don’t have a problem not to worry, I’ll
assigncreate onetofor you.Bring me a problem, any problem, and I will supply a solution.
In the form of a loan!!
“3. Soon enough I’ll pay off that loan and tell you where to go.”
And Mr. banker will send you title equal to 20% of the amount you paid him.
Got cash?
In the form of a loan!!
Doesn’t the gobmit propose the same? Hard to distinguish between Banks and gobmints these days. But we need more of them.
Question for the liars and distortionists:
How long are you going to continue lying to the public about housing for NAR and MBA cash?
“Buying a house would not be a big deal if people could be confident they could sell it without a major loss.
Well….. Let’s be honest. Housing is loss at any price, ALWAYS. Now at current inflated asking prices, the losses are tremendous compared to any other option. And these losses are irrecoverable.
One of the greatest things about the phrase the housing bubble is this;
http://bit.ly/10yMxfA
Do you see the first result? Is that not the coolest thing ever?
CHART OF THE DAY: Here’s The Perfectly Timed Quote When Robert Shiller Predicted The Housing Bubble
Sam Ro Oct. 14, 2013, 10:30 AM
Robert Shiller was one of three people to be awarded the 2013 Nobel prize in economics.
The Nobel committee praised Shiller’s work in forecasting asset prices.
Among his many accomplishments, Shiller predicted that the U.S. housing market was in a bubble during a time when everyone thought prices had nowhere to go but up.
And many are pointing to David Leonhardt’s prescient August 2005 New York Times article titled “Be Warned: Mr. Bubble’s Worried Again.”
The then “largely unknown Yale economist” nailed it.
Here’s a chart of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showing that home prices peaked not long after this quote.
…
Be Warned: Mr. Bubble’s Worried Again
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: August 21, 2005
ABBY JOSEPH COHEN, the Goldman Sachs strategist then making a name for herself as Wall Street’s optimist in chief, sat directly to Alan Greenspan’s right. One chair away was Robert J. Shiller, a largely unknown Yale economist.
As they ate lunch in a stately dining room at the Federal Reserve that day in December 1996, Mr. Shiller argued that the stock market had risen to irrational levels. In a soft, Midwestern-tinged voice, he asked Mr. Greenspan, the Fed chairman, when the last time was that somebody in his job had warned the public that the stock market had become a bubble.
Mr. Greenspan listened without giving his opinion, and Mr. Shiller went home assuming that he had been farther away from Mr. Greenspan than Ms. Cohen in more ways than one. Three days later, however, driving his son to school in the family Volvo, Mr. Shiller heard on the radio that stocks were plunging because Mr. Greenspan had asked in a speech whether “irrational exuberance” was infecting the markets.
“I may have just started a worldwide stock-market crash,” the professor told his wife, Virginia, who accused him of delusions of grandeur.
…
Robert Shiller and his wife, Virginia, near the vacation home they bought in 2002 near a Connecticut island. “This is the biggest boom we’ve ever had,” he says, and predicts a bust. Schiller, a Yale economist, says housing prices may drop sharply, as they did 300 years ago on the Herengracht in Amsterdam.
Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
“Housing Demand is at 1997 levels and falling.
Indeed it is. Why is that you ask?
Collapsing housing demand is the result of grossly inflated prices.
I”ll buy some UGA if this happens:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/gas-prices-could-dip-below-3-end-lutz-112631980.html
Remember when gasoline dipped below $2 about 4.7 years ago? It did not last long. I think I saw for like a day a price of $1.89/gallon here in Maine. We see with Walmart and EBT holders how that goes down. Nearly as important as food, gasoline is something that you do not jimmy with lightly. We are used to paying ~$4 for a gallon of gasoline. I think the marketplace and government keep score on that.
$1.69/gal in NJ.
Got price fixing?
I’m already seeing 3.25 in my neck of the woods.
I work 2-3 days a week from home. And I know others are doing this too. I’m spending a lot less on gas than I did just a few years ago.
How about we turn the surveillance cameras around and zoom in on the feds? That’s where the focus needs to be.
Bullsh*t
We can trust Nancy Pelosi. We can trust Eric Holder. We can trust Dianne Feinstein.
Barack Obama, Coward Dean, Jesse (shakedown) Jackson, Al Scharpton, Rio - all the stooges.
You better shut that mouth unless you want some of this:
“Dekulakization was the Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, and executions of millions of the better-off peasants and their families in 1929-1932. The richer peasants were labeled kulaks and considered class enemies.
The stated purpose of the campaign was to fight the counter-revolution and build socialism in the countryside.
All kulaks were divided into three categories: (I) to be shot or imprisoned as decided by the local secret political police; (II) to be sent to Siberia, North, the Urals or Kazahkstan, after confiscation of their property; and (III) to be evicted from their houses and used in labour colonies within their own districts.
And this time there will be dog meat and teleprompters involved.
Actually, this talk of kulaks does provoke some thoughts. One of the things that fans of Fox News complained in the early years of the Obama years was that he appointed too many czars. In Russia it was the Bolsheviks who assassinated the lasted the czar. It makes you wonder who the real commies are in America.
Czars = Politburo members
A difference without a distinction, no? I don’t think Obama is a commie…you have to be somewhat honest to be a communist. No mainstream american politician can pass the honesty test.
Reagan appointed the first Czar.
Czars = Politburo members
A difference without a distinction, no?
The czar was a king and the Politburo was committee. Also, as I wrote, the communists killed the czar. So we need to worry about these people who express such extreme animosity towards czars.
Reagan appointed the first Czar.
I thought that the term went back to the days of Eisenhower or maybe FDR. It turns out that Woodrow Wilson has a czar. I wonder how many people think that Obama invented the concept.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czar_(political_term)
I wonder how many people think that Obama invented the concept.
60 million? Give or take…
Rio - all the stooges.
LOL, this is coming from you Bill the self-described “anarchist”?
The guy who’s sucked the teat of the government for decades then calls himself an “anarchist” and an anti-government “libertarian”?
How are you an “anarchist” Bill?
Do you pee in the pool?
You are so dangerous.
ot, but cool. There goes revenue-municipalities (tickets) ambulances, ER…
Self-driving cars at dealerships by 2020?
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/car_tips&id=9287456
The problem with self driving cars is their inability to recognize the difference between a person attempting to cross the street and a n*g who stands in the street in front of the liquor store ALL DAY.
I had one guy stop in the middle of the street and give me a dirty look as I drove by.
WTF?
Why are you stopping to grit on me?
(((shakin my head)))
I had one guy stop in the middle of the street and give me a dirty look as I drove by.
WTF?
Why are you stopping to grit on me?
(((shakin my head)))
There’s something happenin’ here.
What is ain’t exacly clear
…. there’s a man with a badge and gun over there….
Tellin’ me, I got to beware.
Do you, Mr. Jones?
If the pedestrian doesn’t exit the street quickly enough, the car horn will play this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iOpUdsMeqM
“The problem with self driving cars is their inability to recognize the difference between a person attempting to cross the street and a n*g who stands in the street in front of the liquor store ALL DAY.”
Yeah, working on the disability gig with a cherry on top…trying to be struck by a newish vehicle with full coverage policy being operated by a gifted teenaged girl from the suburbs with orthodontic braces.
Will self driving cars know the slow down in school zones during certain hours? Or when you can/can’t make left turns at certain busy intersections (many near me have no left turns from 7-10a and 4-6p)? Or when you can or can’t turn right on red?
I’m thinking there will still be driving control with driverless cars. It’s hard to believe all of that will be figured out.
I also really doubt most Americans will be able to afford the driverless versions of cars or that all classes of cars will come driverless. I can picture a loaded Accord with the driverless technology, but it wouldn’t make as much sense in the entry level Civic, for example. You still need to be competitive on price.
How much faith do you have in the incredibly complex software that drives the car being bug free? How will these cars react to unusual (and thus unanticipated) circumstances?
As for availability, new tech quickly trickles down to cheaper cars. It wasn’t so long ago that only luxury cars had stability control systems.
“How will these cars react to unusual (and thus unanticipated) circumstances?”
Since they rely on ’seeing’ lines on the road, driving in snow might be a problem.
The great thing about self driving cars is that you don’t have to teach each one individually. As more data and scenarios are seen and dealt with in software, that new knowledge can be nearly instantly distributed across the entire automated car population.
If something kills driving, IMHO it will be that insurance rates for non-automated vehicles become much more expensive than for driverless ones.
Will self driving cars know the slow down in school zones during certain hours? Or when you can/can’t make left turns at certain busy intersections (many near me have no left turns from 7-10a and 4-6p)? Or when you can or can’t turn right on red?
And what happens when the car is unoccupied on its way to its parking spot? Does the owner still get the ticket?
Do self driving cars know the slow down in school zones during certain hours? Or when you can/can’t make left turns at certain busy intersections (many near me have no left turns from 7-10a and 4-6p)? Or when you can or can’t turn right on red?
——–
Spend $100 on a tomtom and those questions will be answered for you.
From a housing perspective, self-driving cars would expand the range of possible commutes in miles. Self driving cars plugged into a grid that coordinates all traffic would eliminate much gridlock making the commute that is now 1 hour into less, maybe much less, like 1/2 hour. The result from this is that those places that are now considered too far because of the longer commute (1.5 hours) will now be an option. I think for most normal humans the 1 hour each way is the limit of commute willing to be suffered. What will be 1 hour away with a self driving car?
Begin buying property there now!
Longer commutes (in distance OR time) = lots of loss of political and social capital. Great if you’re happy being stuck in middle management or lower, very bad if you want social connections and a better chance at moving up the ladder where you’re not canon fodder anymore.
Longer commutes also = wear and tear, energy costs, and increasingly tolls.
In other words, it’s still for losers.
How much of a commute makes a person a loser? It is anything over half an hour?
No of course not. It’s dependent on the cost and country of origin of the car you are driving.
Any commute more than 14 minutes 17 seconds, you are a big FAT looooser.
I could’ve said it more artfully, but there is a body of research on how social and political capital decline based on commutes and population density generally.
In a future where energy might not be so cheap and where public budgets are strained, it’s not going to make as much sense for states to focus on constructing or maintaining roads that go out into the exurbs. The bang for the buck is terrible.
That would be pretty bad if states and counties were to stop maintaining roads that go from cities out to exurbs where lots of people live. There’s a big story on the front page of the New York Times today about a road in Russia between Moscow and St. Petersburg which is very poorly maintained. The lack of maintenance is making life quite miserable for the people who live along the road.
Google cars should also undercut all that money being wasted on the scams of public transportation and light rail. It’s way cheaper to run a fleet of robot cars or buses on existing roads than to buy all that land and build all those tracks.
You will be a loser, of your mind with that commute day in and day out. It’s no way to live.
When one robocar crashes into a second and kills all the occupants due to a software malfunction, who will be held liable?
Let me guess: The Chinese engineers who designed it?
Who is held liable now with all of the crashes? It’s No Fault. Every day on my commute there are multiple crashes. That is only one route. Multiply that by all the other routes where I know there are crashes from hearing the traffic reports on the radio.
I’m willing to put my faith in Google compared to all the nimrods on the roads now.
From the UK:
We’ll never have it so good again
The middle classes can no longer afford the houses and schools that their parents did – and the future looks even more squeezed for their children
—-
By David Thomas 7:57PM BST 14 Oct 2013
I guess HBB is about 5 years ahead of the mainstream media. LOL
Couple of days ago FT had one article talking about how immoral QE’s are. LMFAO
So what next? There are 30 millions empty houses in USA? ROFLMAO
We here at the HBB establish the trend in telling the truth.
Ha!
Truth passes through three phases:
First it is ridiculed.
Second it is fiercely and violently opposed.
Third, it becomes self-evident.
You’re on step 1 “Steve”.
Fourth it gets retroactively embraced by the liars.
Yeah, that hyperinflation is right around the corner!
LOL!
Hyperinflation? Lost again? “Steve”?
So my father went to Eton. I went to Eton. And my son goes to Bishop Luffa Church of England comprehensive.
Misinformation Joe’s children will not make it to HYP either. Unless misinformation Joe’s daughter is a guatemalan migrant worker who has excelled in high school while working FT on the fields, there’s no way she’s making it to the top. Other seats will be taken by the children of rich overloards from all over the world.
Blimey! This sounds like a job for The Doctor and his sonic screwdriver!
One thing I liked about this article is the plain description of the hollowing-out of the middle class, in words that are seemingly taboo in the USA.
British parents trying to get their children into private schools are having to compete against children – and their hyper-ambitious, money-no-object parents – from Russia, China, India, South-east Asia and the Middle East.”
oh for a second I thought he was writing about California USA
7 billion is allot of competition or is it 8 billion now ?
How will the derivatives market react to a technical default on U.S. debt?
Let us know when you find out.
derivatives market - Since ISDA lost control and now many are otc, who the hell knows what lurks.
I remember years ago reading in I think a ‘Parade’ magazine about a guy in his 40’s that was laid off maybe from a Detroit GM factory job or something. The article was one of those real people features things about how he was going back to college in his 40’s to get an accounting degree and he was an oddball sort of demographic because a person going back to college in their middle ages to start a new career was bizzaro. That was an anomaly back in the day I guess. Now I see articles like this:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/returnship-older-workers-proceed-caution-173515095.html
As I find in real life, all that matters is whether you get paid somewhere along the way and how much. Job status and longevity of the job are variables I do not think about much lately.
HEARD ON THE STREET
October 14, 2013, 12:20 p.m. ET
Europe’s Bank-Government ‘Doom Loop’ Still Holds
Lenders Are Buying Ever More of Their Own Governments’ Debt—a Risky Trend
By ANDREW PEAPLE
CONNECT
When in trouble, stick together.
European banks’ balance sheets may be shrinking but they are managing to buy ever more government bonds. Sovereign debt accounted for 5.6% of all bank assets in the euro zone at the end of August, up from 4.2% at the end of 2011, according to European Central Bank data. In Europe’s troubled countries, the figures are more dramatic. Italian banks now have 10.1% of their assets in domestic government debt; in Spain the ratio stands at 9.0%.
The banks’ heavy bond buying has helped dampen sovereign-debt yields in such countries. But it means the so-called “doom loop” between banks and governments is far from broken.
The ECB itself is partly to blame. It provided billions of euros in medium-term funding to banks at the end of 2011 via its long-term refinancing operation. Banks in stressed euro-zone countries such as Spain and Italy have used those funds to stock up on high-yielding domestic government debt, a profitable “carry” trade.
Regulation has encouraged the trend: Since government debt is deemed to be risk-free, banks don’t have to hold capital against those assets. Banks can also use government bonds as collateral to obtain more market funding. Governments, meanwhile, have automatic buyers for their debt.
But as banks buy more government bonds, they are using less of their shrinking balance sheets for more economically productive activities such as lending to companies and households. Perverse incentives to invest in government bonds could also mean their real risk is being mis-priced.
…
Lenders Are Buying Ever More of Their Own Governments’ Debt—a Risky Trend
So it’s not just us! That’s a relief.
Top Nuke Commanders Fired Following Missing Nuclear Warheads Report
by Anthony Gucciardi
October 11th, 2013
Updated 10/11/2013 at 2:04 pm
Two of the top nuclear commanders within the United States have now been suspended and fired following the exclusive high level military leak report by Alex Jones and myself regarding the secret and unsigned nuclear weapons transfer from Dyess Air Force base to South Carolina. Disturbingly, the high level suspensions from top generals within the military establishment are not the only red flags to follow the leaked report.
Even before it was announced that the second highest nuke commander in the United States was suspended on the same day of the secret nuke transfer just weeks later, it was Senator Lindsey Graham who went on record hours after our report in saying that a ‘nuclear attack’ could come to South Carolina in the event that we did not move militarily against Syria and Iran — pushing even harder to action against both Iran and Syria. This alone generated hundreds of thousands to view our video reports and millions to examine our reports, which had immediately gone from concerning high level military intelligence to an international topic.
But now, even after we had Lindsey Graham warn against a nuclear strike in the exact region we told you the nuclear warheads were being transfered without a paper trail, we have the absolute highest level military nuke commanders being removed. But what’s more, the terminations were not meant to be leaked — especially not the fact that the suspension of the #2 in command was issued on the exact day of the nuke transfer.
From a report in the Daily Mail over the suspension of the second highest nuke commander in the country, we read how the commander was suspended on the exact same day as the transfer:
“Kunze said Strategic Command did not announce the Sept. 3 suspension because Giardina remains under investigation and action on Kehler’s recommendation that Giardina be reassigned is pending. The suspension was first reported by the Omaha World-Herald.”
It is also revealed in the mainstream media reports that the government did not want these suspensions and firings to go on record, and that it was an anonymous government insider who provided leaked emails to the Associated Press:
“An internal email obtained by the AP on Friday said the allegations against Carey stem from an inspector general probe of his behavior while on an unspecified ‘temporary duty assignment.’ The email said the allegations are not related to the operational readiness of the ICBM force or recent failed inspections of ICBM units.”
commanders were terminated behind the scenes in a move that was not meant to hit the public eye — especially not the fact that the second in command was fired on the same day of the leaked nuclear transfer. More importantly, shedding light on the secret transfer of nuclear weapons and the numerous red flags that prove its validity is key in stopping the psychopathic control freaks in government from going through with Graham’s ‘warnings’ of a nuclear explosion that would lead to a war with Syria.
The highest level generals have now installed a new commander, Pentagon Air Force Commander Jack Weinstein, who may be willing to do the bidding of higher ups that the previous two nuke commanders would not.
http://www.storyleak.com/top-nuke-commanders-fired-following-missing-nuke-report/ - 83k -
Hee Haw!!
http://www.theequinest.com/images/donkey-hole.jpg
Don’t Be A Debt Donkey
Do you want me to read the card?
Dunblane: How UK school massacre led to tighter gun control
By Peter Wilkinson, CNN
updated 5:57 PM EST, Wed January 30, 2013
London (CNN) — The deaths of 16 children aged five and six together with their teacher in the Scottish town of Dunblane in 1996 was one of Britain’s worst incidents of gun-related violence. The massacre stunned the country, but what did the UK do to try to prevent such a tragedy happening again?
What happened at Dunblane?
Shortly after 9 a.m. on March 13, 1996, Thomas Hamilton, a 43-year-old former Scout leader, burst into the gymnasium of a primary school in the tranquil Scottish town of Dunblane.
Within minutes 15 children aged five and six had died in a hail of bullets. One died later in hospital. Their teacher, Gwen Mayor, a 44-year-old mother of two, died in the attack, reportedly while trying to shield her pupils. Two other teachers were also seriously injured while heroically trying to protect children. Hamilton turned one of his four handguns on himself and was found dead at the scene.
What was the reaction to the massacre?
After the massacre, appalled residents of Dunblane and bereaved relatives demanded to know how a person like Hamilton could be allowed to own guns. A highly successful public campaign in the months after Dunblane against gun ownership culminated in a petition being handed to the government with almost 750,000 signatures, according to British media reports.
In response, then Conservative Prime Minister John Major set up a public inquiry to look into gun laws and assess ways to better protect the public.
What happened next?
In the wake of the 1987 Hungerford massacre, in which one lone gunman killed 16 people, Britain introduced new legislation — the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 — making registration mandatory for owning shotguns and banning semi-automatic and pump-action weapons.
Within a year and a half of the Dunblane massacre, UK lawmakers had passed a ban on the private ownership of all handguns in mainland Britain, giving the country some of the toughest anti-gun legislation in the world. After both shootings there were firearm amnesties across the UK, resulting in the surrender of thousands of firearms and rounds of ammunition.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/17/world/europe/dunblane-lessons/index.html -
Excerpted from The Hill: Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) warned Sunday that Edward Snowden could be carrying a trove of classified information as he meets with Russian authorities.
“We need to know exactly what he has. He could have a lot, lot more. It may really put people in jeopardy,” Feinstein said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“The only thing I’ve learned is that he could have over 200 separate items,” she added. “That’s been relayed to me.”
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 16: U.S. Select Committee on Intelligence chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein speaks to members of the media after a hearing on the Benghazi attack Nov. 16, 2012 on Capitol Hill. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Feinstein calls for banning more than 150 types of firearms during dramatic press conference
11:54 AM 01/24/2013
http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/24/feinstein-calls-for-banning-more-than-150-firearms-during-dramatic-press-conference/ - 83k -
dianne feinstein = it’s for the children
if you oppose her, you hate children
forward
WOT?
Here is a footnote to the recent San Diego mayoral scandal.
Cities
Ex-San Diego Mayor Filner pleads guilty to felony false imprisonment, battery
Published October 15, 2013
FoxNews.com
FILE: July 26, 2013: San Diego Mayor Bob Filner at a news conference in San Diego, Calif.AP
Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to felony false imprisonment and two misdemeanor counts of battery involving three women, just weeks after he left office amid a storm of sexual harassment allegations.
The plea came in California state Superior Court. Prosecutors did not elaborate on the details of the allegations to which Filner pleaded guilty. The victims were identified only as Jane Does.
“This conduct was not only criminal, it was also an extreme abuse of power,” state Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement. “This prosecution is about consequence and accountability.”
Under the agreement, Filner will serve probation for three years and “home confinement” for three months. He will be barred from public office, prohibited from voting while on probation, and forced to surrender part of his pension.
He’ll also be compelled to undergo treatment, under threat of jail time. Fines and other fees will be determined at his sentencing hearing, set for Dec. 9.
Filner, 71, resigned in late August, succumbing to intense pressure after at least 17 women brought lurid sexual harassment allegations against the former 10-term congressman. He had been on the job less than nine months into a four-year term and was San Diego’s first Democratic mayor in 20 years.
…
I wish we actually had a free market economy instead of a government-planned economy…
Gas prices could dip below $3 before year’s end
The vast majority — around 90% — of American cars don’t work with an ethanol blend over 10%. When the ethanol requirements continued to rise while demand for end product fell, the refiners were reduced to buying and selling RINs or Renewable Identification Numbers, which are, in effect, credits that allow refiners to meet the terms of the 2005 Clean Air Act without producing fuel that is unsuitable for most cars.
So as demand for gas falls, refiners need to buy more RINs. From just pennies-per-gallon in January, RINs had soared over $1.40 by last summer. Lutz says as much as 75% of the additional cost was passed along to the consumer.
Therefore, in an attempt to force cleaner burning fuels into the marketplace, the EPA created a policy that ended up artificially inflating the cost of refining gas when demand fell. So the refiners and consumers got gouged for not burning enough fossil fuels.
Amazing how the EPA has made driving more expensive for the average American than it needs to be. Similar to how the Obamacare makes healthcare more expensive for the average American than it needs to be. When will idiots realize that government creates more problems than it solves?
One man’s “tax” is another man’s “incentive”.
Nobody seems to mind when state/local governments “incentivize” (bribe) employers to relocate to more “business friendly” climates.
Especially when most of the “incentives” are coming directly out of JQP’s paycheck.
http://tinyurl.com/mymc5mg
(Note: Cerner is the “fair haired boy who can do no wrong” around here. Their business? Software systems to manage medical records. This includes billing. IOW, a company getting rich, not by curing people, but by making the billing system more “efficient”)
Job incentive packages = legalized extortion/bribery
When will idiots realize that government creates more problems than it solves?
When the Republicans win the White House, The House and the Senate.
IDK, the 108th and 109th Congresses proved otherwise. Or, did I miss a sarcasm tag?
IDK, the 108th and 109th Congresses proved otherwise. Or, did I miss a sarcasm tag?
Repubs weren’t as crazy as s$!t house rats back then compared to now. That party has really gone downhill fast.
I wish we actually had a free market economy instead of a government-planned economy…
What field would you be working in without the planning?
Hope and Change
“If the EBT system is shut down for even three days, every supermarket will be looted, and riots will sweep our cities that will make 1968 look like a picnic. This is not an accident, this is deliberate.
http://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2013/10/15/bracken-department-of-agriculture-to-suspend-snap-1-november/#comments
As long as they stay away from Whole Foods, it’s all good.
It’ll give the Western Rifle Shooters a golden opportunity to show all of us how it should be done, and cull the zombies/herd, with all of that ammo they’ve been hoarding.
Especially if the government shutdown means the cops and National Guard won’t get paid.
Little Brother is into week 2 of the “IOU, in lieu of a paycheck Plan”……this follows 8-9 months of the Sequester, aka “Work one day out of ten for free” plan.
Maybe he can get a job with one of the Mexican drug/smuggling cartels.
http://twitchy.com/2013/10/12/riot-time-food-stamp-users-in-near-panic-over-ebt-card-failures/
http://www.infowars.com/ebt-card-users-threaten-rodney-king-style-riots/
http://www.infowars.com/isn‘t-it-amazing-how-many-racist-morons-get-rich-with-their-dopey-radio-shows-and-websites/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/10/14/obamacares-website-is-crashing-because-it-doesnt-want-you-to-know-health-plans-true-costs/
“A growing consensus of IT experts, outside and inside the government, have figured out a principal reason why the website for Obamacare’s federally-sponsored insurance exchange is crashing. Healthcare.gov forces you to create an account and enter detailed personal information before you can start shopping. This, in turn, creates a massive traffic bottleneck, as the government verifies your information and decides whether or not you’re eligible for subsidies. HHS bureaucrats knew this would make the website run more slowly. But they were more afraid that letting people see the underlying cost of Obamacare’s insurance plans would scare people away.”
“This political objective—masking the true underlying cost of Obamacare’s insurance plans—far outweighed the operational objective of making the federal website work properly. Think about it the other way around. If the “Affordable Care Act” truly did make health insurance more affordable, there would be no need to hide these prices from the public.”
If the “Affordable Care Act” truly did make health insurance more affordable, there would be no need to hide these prices from the public.
Bureaucrats and politicians were so concerned that plan pricing without the subsidies would create discontent, they added the registration requirement so they could try and soften the blow if you qualify for a subsidy.
they added the registration requirement so they could try and soften the blow if you qualify for a subsidy (Obviously because subsidies soften the blow.)
Life’s such a big mystery.
It’s only more mysterious because the government is trying to make it more mysterious.
For people who don’t qualify for the subsidy (or are simply browsing), it makes actually signing up or browsing a complete disaster.
Wouldn’t it have been better to provide the insurance quote with great big letters right under it, saying “you may qualify for a subsidy, please click here to determine if you qualify”? That way, people get to the cost number right away, and if there is shock at the cost, that should be alleviated equally as quickly.
Also, only people who think they might qualify for a subsidy will take the time to provide the additional information, and the computer will only need to analyze those people who filled out the info (not everyone).
We are really FAR beyond the time where people should actually understand what healthcare costs. Trying to hide the ball even further for whatever reason is counterproductive generally, and even more counterproductive when hiding the ball makes the website less workable for people who couldn’t possibly get a subsidy.
As an example, I get my insurance through my business. However, so each partner is treated fairly (some partner’s insurance cost is more than others), each partner writes a check back to the company each year for their individual insurance cost.
There is no way I would get a subsidy (or should). However, I might be interested in learning if I could get another policy for a lot less than I am paying now through our company. Why should I be required to spend the time to provide a bunch of information to determine my subsidy when I know I won’t get one?
As an example, I get my insurance through my business.
It figures. Most people complaining about ACA already have health insurance. (Or Medicare they want to keep the government’s hands off)
Why should I be required to spend the time to provide a bunch of information to determine my subsidy when I know I won’t get one?
IDK, but Northeastener would parrot “life’s not fair, get over it”.
I have health insurance because I pay my company for my health insurance…you mustn’t have read my post (or understood it).
I have a right to gripe about the ACA because 1) I’m paying for it through increased taxes; and 2) I might like to use the exchanges as an alternate source of health insurance, if they worked and/or didn’t require me to provide a bunch of information to just get a quote.
I find it odd that you think is OK for the government to purposefully waste millions of Americans’ time, and unnecessarily gather information from millions of Americans (they already have the information, but not necessarily linked to medical issues, etc.) for political reasons (as to not frighten or upset lower income folks).
I have health insurance because I pay my company for my health insurance…you mustn’t have read my post (or understood it).
I read it and understood it. You have health insurance. Period. Millions don’t. Millions could not get it before because of pre-existing conditions. Didn’t you get the memo?
I have a right to gripe about the ACA because 1) I’m paying for it through increased taxes;
Cry me a river.
I find it odd that you think is OK for the government to purposefully waste millions of Americans’ time
Find “odd” whatever you want. At least the government will now make it illegal to waste millions of Americans’ time and money buying JUNK, B.S. insurance that doesn’t cover squat. You having to spend an hour at your computer for a quote doesn’t mean a thing in the big picture.
I might like to use the exchanges as an alternate source of health insurance,
Then quit posting your whining and get to work.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to provide the insurance quote with great big letters right under it, saying “you may qualify for a subsidy, please click here to determine if you qualify”?”
I thought you were in Ca, maybe not, but the Covered California site does just what you describe, before you have to register or anything like that. We don’t even have the option of going to the federal website. Anyway, for kicks, I entered 72,000 as your income, household of one (for simplicity).
It reveals the 8 plans you are eligible for. No subsidies for you, but the cheap plans w/higher deductibles would run you $350-$390 a month. The more expensive plan w/ lower deductibles and out of pocket stuff would range from $468 to $573. but then, this thing wasn’t designed for singles making 72K a year, as that’s way above median.
I should have mentioned, before I even clicked “go”, but after I had entered the data, a box popped up that read,
“Based on your income and family size, it looks like you are not eligible for premium assistance at this time. However, you may purchase affordable health coverage through Covered California for you and your family. Click here to see our affordable options.”
Wow - these guys diagnosed a complex IT system with no access to source code, design documents or diagnostic tools?
They are freekin’ geniuses!!!
Do you enjoy playing Russian roulette with your finances?
U.S. default: Stocks think it can’t happen here
October 15, 2013, 2:35 PM
A U.S. default isn’t in the cards, the way stocks are acting. They seem to be saying, “It can’t happen here.”
While the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA -0.87%), S&P 500 Index (SPX -0.71%), and Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP -0.56%) all pulled back slightly Tuesday, they’re all still hanging onto gains for the month.
Given the recent Nobel wins of Eugene Fama and Robert Shiller, ConvergEx Chief Market Strategist Nicolas Colas looked at the academic take on how stocks are approaching the threat of a U.S. default in a recent note.
On Fama’s approach to efficient markets Colas writes, “if there were even a 1% chance of a Treasury default, the VIX (VIX +15.81%) would be over 20 and stocks would be retreating, not advancing. Too much of the world’s financial system is predicated on Treasuries as 100% reliable collateral to believe anything else. Russian roulette with a 100 chamber revolver is still too dangerous a game.”
…
Big upward move in the VIX today:
CBOE Volatility Index
18.62 Change +2.55 +15.87%
Oct 15, 2013 3:04 p.m.
52 week low 11.05
52 week high 23.23
Market’s next big move is likely 300-point drop
October 11, 2013, 11:58 AM
Commentary
By Cody Willard
Into the weekend we head, but before we get there, we’ve got gold off more than 2% today in a continuation of the “crazy currencies blowing up” that I wrote about yesterday. The volatility amongst the global fiat currencies is also being played out in the precious metals as reflected in their own spiked volatility over the last few months.
There sure seems to be a lot of confidence that the markets can get back to recent all-time highs and keep right on going straight up into the year end. I remain near-term bearish and expect we get another panicky sell-off and a 300 point down down in the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.87% at some point in the next week or two. Not exactly an earth-shattering prediction there, and not one, I’m necessarily trying to game. But you know there are other issues and reasons for markets to go down than just “debt ceiling negotiations,” right? It happens. Be ready just in case.
…
Watch out below if House Republican hardliners hold sway in tonight’s vote.
House GOP disarray surfaces over possible shutdown plan
By Tom Cohen, CNN
updated 3:44 PM EDT, Tue October 15, 2013
NEW: White House supports Senate effort, but notes still “far from a deal at this point”
Jake Tapper has the latest breaking news on the shutdown on ‘The Lead’ at 4pm ET and a special report ‘Shutdown Showdown’ at 11pm ET on CNN.
[Breaking news update 3:45 p.m.]
House Republicans have dropped two demands related to Obamacare from their proposal to end the fiscal stalemate in Washington, sources told CNN. These include a proposal to delay the medical device tax and another to tighten income verification of those seeking subsidies to purchase health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Separately, Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California told CNN’s Dana Bash that he expects the House to vote on Tuesday night on its plan to reopen the government and avoid a possible U.S. default.
[Original story moved at 3 p.m.]
Disarray among House Republicans surfaced Tuesday as the Senate closed in on an agreement to reopen the government and avoid a possible U.S. default as soon as this week.
House Speaker John Boehner was “struggling” to come up with enough votes to pass a GOP counter-proposal to the Senate plan, a House Republican leadership aide and other sources told CNN’s Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh.
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Sounds like it might be high time to foam the runway.
Government shutdown: Fiscal negotiations stumble in Congress as deadline nears
3:00 p.m. CDT, October 15, 2013
The House GOP pitched a plan Tuesday to counter an emerging Senate deal on the debt limit and reopening the government. House Speaker John Boehner said he’s ‘trying to find a path forward’ but underscored there have been “no decisions.” (Oct. 15)
Tribune staff and wire reports
WASHINGTON —
Negotiations in Congress to end the fiscal impasse sputtered on Tuesday, leaving both chambers grasping for a way to reopen the government and raise the country’s borrowing authority with a Thursday deadline drawing near.
The Senate halted discussions on its own plan, as it waited for the fractious Republican-controlled House of Representatives to come up with an alternative proposal ahead of the October 17 deadline, when the U.S. Treasury says the government will reach its borrowing limit.
Senate leaders had been close to a deal that would reopen the government and raise the debt limit until early 2014, while the initial alternative plan proposed by House Republican leaders failed to gain enough support in a closed-door meeting for the House to proceed.
“There are a lot of opinions about what direction to go. There have been no decisions about exactly what we will do,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters after the meeting.
“We’re going to continue to work with our members on both sides of the aisle to try to make sure that there is no issue of default, and to get our government reopened,” he said.
The disarray among House Republicans raised questions about what the House will be able to pass. Conservative House members, driven by support from Tea Party small-government activists, have demanded changes to Obama’s signature healthcare law as part of any budget deal.
Those demands sparked the shutdown that began with the dawn of the new fiscal year on October 1, temporarily throwing hundreds of thousands of government employees out of work.
If Congress fails to reach a deal by Thursday, checks would likely go out on time for a short while for everyone from bondholders to workers who are owed unemployment benefits. But analysts warn that a default on government obligations could quickly follow, potentially causing the U.S. financial sector to freeze up and threatening the global economy.
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4:50p Fitch: U.S. role as reserve currency undermined
4:49p Fitch rating watch reflects debt ceiling events
4:48p BREAKING Fitch puts US AAA rating on credit watch negative
4:50p Fitch: U.S. role as reserve currency undermined
4:49p Fitch rating watch reflects debt ceiling events
4:48p BREAKING Fitch puts US AAA rating on credit watch negative
Many Republican politicians have gone nuts. They don’t give a rat’s a$$ about America.
I think you are confusing personal greed with insanity.
The House seems to want a near-term opportunity to relive the current experience.
Oct. 15, 2013, 4:02 p.m. EDT
House Republicans plan budget, debt vote
Senate talks on hold; House plan shortens time government re-opened
Stories You Might Like
House Republicans to push own debt, shutdown bill
Sen. Reid: Downgrade could come Tues. without deal
By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — House Republicans plan to vote Tuesday on a bill to reopen the government and lift the U.S. debt ceiling, as Senate negotiations were paused while waiting to see details of the House bill.
The House’s plan would open the government through Dec. 15, instead of Jan. 15. The debt limit would be extended to Feb. 7, the same as in a Senate plan.
With the government shutdown on Day 15 and the Treasury’s Thursday deadline for raising the borrowing limit rapidly approaching, House Speaker John Boehner told reporters Tuesday morning that Republican leaders are “working with our members on a way forward.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned that credit-rating agencies could downgrade U.S. debt “as soon as tonight” without action to raise the debt limit.
Senate leaders are within striking distance of a deal to sidestep a debt crisis and reopen the government, lawmakers appear to be considering a delay of the health law’s “reinsurance fee,” a look at today’s market action, and more. Photo: AP.
“Extremist Republicans in the House are attempting to torpedo the Senate’s bipartisan progress,” Reid said. He said he was “blind-sided” by the House proposal.
Spokesmen for Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s had no comment on Reid’s statement. Take MarketWatch poll: Have you changed your portfolio because of the debt-ceiling turmoil?
U.S. stocks dropped Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.87% ending 134 points in the red, as investors waited for a deal from Washington. Read Market Snapshot.
Yields on short-term Treasurys most impacted by the debt-ceiling standoff spiked again Tuesday. Read Bond Report.
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ft dot com
October 15, 2013 9:57 pm
US rating put on negative watch on default fears
By James Politi in Washington
Fitch Ratings on Tuesday placed the triple A credit rating of the US on negative watch, as efforts to strike a deal to end the impasse in Washington faltered in Congress.
As the chances of the US missing the deadline to raise its $16.7tn borrowing limit increased, top House Republicans were scrambling to rally their conservative rank-and-file around a plan to raise the debt ceiling until February and reopen the government until mid-December.
The move came as America faced a Thursday deadline when it will not be able to borrow more money to pay all its bills.
The decision by House Republicans to pursue their own legislation caught the Senate off guard, and prompted the suspension of discussions on a compromise in the upper chamber between Republicans and Democrats.
Earlier in the day, John Boehner, Republican House speaker, emerged from a closed-door meeting with his party members without any concrete plan to solve the crisis.
“There are a lot of opinions about what direction to go – there have been no decisions about what exactly we will do but we’re going to continue to work with our members on both sides of the aisle,” Mr Boehner told reporters.
Later in the afternoon, Mr Boehner and House leaders finally converged on a bill – though it was still unclear whether it would have the votes to pass.
If it misses the October 17 deadline to raise the debt ceiling, the Treasury would be left with $30bn in cash to pay its bills, and would have to manage its finances as best it could with income revenue. At some point in the next few weeks, it could potentially default on its debt.
One-month Treasury bills maturing on October 31 shot up 21 basis points to a new debt ceiling peak of 53bps late on Tuesday, as investors grew alarmed by the lack of a deal so close to the Treasury’s self-imposed deadline of Thursday.
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We’re getting plenty of helpful advice from across the pond.
ft dot com
October 15, 2013 7:19 pm
The debt-ceiling doomsday device
By Martin Wolf
The ceiling is so dangerous because Obama could not obey it in a non-destructive way
Some laws are too dangerous to be allowed to remain on the books. Take, for example, the US debt ceiling. It is the legislative equivalent of a nuclear bomb aimed by the US at itself, with the rest of the world within its blast radius. What must never be used should not exist. Regardless of the outcome of the current negotiations, the law needs to be repealed. Orderly government cannot be pursued under so destructive a threat. It is quite different from a partial government shutdown. Albeit foolish and unjust, that is just about manageable. Failure to lift the debt ceiling is not.
The imbroglio over the ceiling does have a darkly amusing side. Many will recall Republican insistence that “uncertainty” was thwarting economic recovery. Yet it is difficult to imagine policies better designed to create maximum uncertainty than a possible default by the world’s most important debtor. Asked about the consequences of a failure to reach a deal on the ceiling, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, responded: “You don’t want to know.” But we must seek to know; the results would be calamitous.
Why is the debt ceiling too dangerous to use? This question has two answers.
The first is constitutional. In a recent article, Neil Buchanan of The George Washington University and Michael Dorf of Cornell argue that a binding debt ceiling would create a “trilemma” for the president: “Ignore the debt ceiling and unilaterally issue new bonds, thus usurping Congress’s borrowing power; unilaterally raise taxes, thus usurping Congress’s taxing power; or unilaterally cut spending, thus usurping Congress’s spending power.” Thus, a binding debt ceiling would force the president to violate his obligation to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”. The authors conclude that the president should choose the “least unconstitutional” course and ignore the debt ceiling. But, inevitably, whatever the president did would create a constitutional crisis. No responsible Congress would seek to put the president in that position.
The second reason why the debt ceiling is so dangerous is that the administration could not obey it in a non-destructive way. At some point between October 17 and the end of the month, the administration would lack the money to pay its bills. All choices would be dire.
One much discussed choice is “prioritisation”: the federal government would pay “high priority” claimants, such as the Chinese government, and default to “low priority” claimants, such as beneficiaries of Social Security or Medicare. Yes, the idea is that awful.
The US Treasury has two potent objections. First, prioritisation would not protect the “full faith and credit of the United States” – it would still be a default. Second, the US government’s computer systems do not allow it to choose among the close to 100m payments it makes a month. But Fedwire, the system that handles sovereign debt payments, is distinct from the systems making payments to government agencies and other vendors. So maybe the US Treasury could pay the former obligations first and then use any remaining money for the latter, a possibility it denies even exists, to preserve its bargaining credibility.
Even if possible, which is unclear, the politics of prioritisation would be disastrous.
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What is this idiot also known as Globalist Bankster’s minion talking about?
Obama still has the upper hand. If the date ever comes (i doubt it ever will as republicans will fold well before the midnight), Obama should first service the debts that ought to avoid the discussion of any default. Then cut the social security, EBT, medicare and all other $shit and tell everyone to go talk to Congress if they want get paid. Simple as that. Why these banksters minions from a country full of bad teeth are whining about…I just don’t get it!
Magazine / Heartland Monitor Poll
The American Dream—Under Threat
The new Heartland Monitor Poll shows a widespread belief that today’s children won’t have the same opportunities as their parents.
(Owaki - Kulla/CORBIS)
By Ronald Brownstein
September 19, 2013
It’s a tough time to be a kid in America. Or a parent.
In the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll, an overwhelming majority of American adults say it was better to be either a child or a parent when they were young rather than now. Over two-thirds believe that when today’s kids grow up, they will enjoy less financial security than adults today. And another two-thirds say today’s children face more challenges than opportunities. On all of these questions, the anxiety crosses lines of gender, race, and class.
Teenagers, responding to a separate survey, were noticeably more upbeat about their prospects—and even adults were more optimistic about kids in their families and neighborhoods than in the country overall. And Americans across racial and class differences delivered a generally favorable assessment of the opportunities available to children to receive a quality education, good health care, and equal treatment regardless of their race or gender.
Yet this comprehensive look at attitudes about the state of childhood in America conveys a widespread sense that families today face complex and interconnected challenges rooted in an economy that typically requires earnings from two parents—and leaves them too little time to shape their children’s values, especially against the tug of an inescapable media and online culture. Parents are “letting technology raise their kids,” says Chris Hupp, a 29-year-old bartender from San Antonio who responded to the survey. “Back then, a family could sustain itself on one income. Now both parents have to work, and the kids end up raising themselves … and that leads kids to make poor decisions.”
These are anxieties that have waxed and waned through American life since women started moving heavily into the workforce after 1960. But the poll leaves little doubt that the Great Recession and its grueling aftermath have sharpened these worries. Some respondents focused more on economic pressures, others on cultural and media influences, but both sets of concerns led most to the same place: a sense that family life is under enormous strain. For kids today, worries Connie Rivera, a security guard and a parent from the Bronx, N.Y., it’s a challenge “just trying to stay afloat. It’s a competing world…. They’re going to have to settle for less.”
With the economy still struggling in low gear, the survey also captures a noticeable chill in public attitudes about the nation’s direction and political leadership. The share of Americans who say the country is on the wrong track spiked in the poll to its highest level since December 2011, and President Obama’s approval rating skidded from last June to just 40 percent—the lowest measured in any of the 18 quarterly Heartland Monitor polls conducted since April 2009. (See “Bad News for Obama”) Attitudes toward Congress also hit a new low. When asked whom they trusted to make decisions affecting children, Americans expressed modest confidence, at best, in any figures beyond those closest to home, such as teachers. That finding reaffirmed one of the most powerful trends in the Heartland Monitor polling: the skepticism of most Americans that they can expect help from any institution more distant than the “little platoons” of community and family.
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Early proposal for weekend topic: Collateral damage of debt ceiling crisis on other countries.
Listening Post
China Rails Over U.S. Fiscal Crisis, Seeing Its Own Money at Risk
By MARK LANDLER
Published: October 15, 2013
WASHINGTON — China has become shrill in its criticism of the fiscal train wreck in the United States, arguing that the answer to a potential government default is to begin creating a “de-Americanized world.” Beijing’s alarm is understandable, given that it is the world’s largest investor in American public debt, with at least $1.3 trillion in holdings.
But China does not have many options beyond wringing its hands. Despite its efforts to steer its economy away from exports and toward domestic demand, China generates billions of dollars of excess cash that it needs to park somewhere. And for all the chaos in Washington, Treasury bonds remain a safer investment than most of the alternatives.
That dependence may help explain the stridency of a recent commentary published by the official Xinhua news agency. It called for the replacement of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency “so that the international community could permanently stay away from the spillover of the intensifying domestic political turmoil in the United States.”
“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,” the news agency said, “it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world.”
Chinese officials made similar noises five years ago, when the United States was being buffeted by a banking crisis. In March 2008, the president of China’s central bank, Zhao Xiaochuan, proposed creating a new “supersovereign currency” that would diminish the importance of any individual national currency, not least the dollar.
But economists who follow China’s monetary policy say that while Beijing has somewhat diversified its foreign exchange reserves, it continues to rely heavily on Treasury bills and other American government-backed debt. Part of the problem is the lack of easy alternatives: euro-denominated debt has been hurt by the European Union’s crisis, except in Germany. Analysts estimate that 60 percent of China’s $3.66 trillion in reserves are still in dollar-denominated debt, though the precise numbers are a secret.
In its commentary, Xinhua embellished its call for a new reserve currency with a scathing indictment of the United States’ broader role in the world, saying that the Obama administration claimed “the moral high ground” while covertly “torturing prisoners of war, slaying civilians in drone attacks and spying on world leaders.”
“This is political blather,” said Edwin M. Truman, an economist and former Treasury Department official. “It is a politically defensive response to the choices China has made.”
That does not mean a brush with default will not have long-term damaging consequences for the United States. Even if China continues to buy Treasury bonds, economists said, it may opt for those with shorter maturities, which would drive up long-term interest rates in the United States, hurting home buyers and owners of small businesses.
The sour taste from the budget impasse will also motivate the Chinese to intensify their efforts to deepen their own debt markets. Already, China has negotiated swaps for its currency, the renminbi, with the European Central Bank and other institutions, a step toward making the currency convertible and, someday, a rival to the dollar and euro.
“This gives them a kick in the pants to do it,” said Kenneth Rogoff, professor of public policy and economics at Harvard and a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.
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If the creditor countries don’t learn from this, they deserve to lose all their money.
USA will not pay it back…DO NOT LEND THEM ANY MONEY.
I keep reading MSM articles suggesting higher interest rates would follow a failure to raise the debt ceiling. Between the Fed’s QE3 purchases of Treasurys and MBS, plus the downward pressure on long-term interest rates due to a flight-to-quality into Treasurys in the wake of a major stock market selloff on Wall Street, is it safe to conclude this fear is overblown?
Texan Congress Woman Sheila Jackson Says “We have martial law”
October 9th, 2013
Congress woman Sheila Jackson, Rep. (D – TX), said today on the House floor:
“We have martial law, what that means, and my colleagues know what that means, is that you can put a bill on in just minutes.”
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/texan-congress-woman-sheila-jackson-says-we-have-martial-law_102013 - 84k -
CBC recommends Sheila Jackson Lee for Homeland Security post
By Jessica Chasmar
The Washington Times
July 29, 2013
Just two weeks after Janet Napolitano announced her resignation as Secretary of Homeland Security, the Congressional Black Caucus has suggested Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston fill her spot.
A letter dated July 25 and signed by Rep. Marcia Fudge, Ohio Democrat and caucus chairwoman, urges President Obama to consider Miss Jackson Lee for the position, calling the Democrat a “voice of reason” that the agency could stand to gain, the Houston Chronicle reported.
“Representative Jackson Lee would serve as an effective DHS Secretary because she understands the importance of increasing border security and maintaining homeland security,” the letter reads.
Mrs. Jackson Lee currently serves as a ranking member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, a position that the caucus said she “stands as a strong and honest ‘voice of reason.’”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/29/cbc-recommends-sheila-jackson-lee-homeland-securit/ - 96k
Florida foreclosure backlog dips below 300,000 for first time in years
by Kim Miller
Florida’s foreclosure courts have 299,055 cases pending as of the end of August, the first time in five years that fewer than 300,000 cases were backlogged.
According to a new report from the Office of the State Courts Administrator, judges cleared 41,547 cases statewide in July and August, including 2,793 in Palm Beach County.
Palm Beach’s backlog now stands at 25,697, down 22 percent from July 1, 2012.
Florida’s courts have been hustling to clear foreclosures from their dockets since getting an infusion of money from the legislature to hire additional senior judges and case managers to process files.
But it may not be how fast the courts are moving as much as the drastic drop in new filings from lenders since the state’s new foreclosure law went into effect July 1.
Just 4,386 new foreclosures were filed in July and 7,045 in August statewide. Last year, the number of new filings averaged 15,434 per month.
About 42 percent of the closed cases statewide were dismissed. Just 35 were disposed through a Jury trial.
While 299,055 cases on backlog may still seem like a lot, it’s a 20 percent decrease from where it was in July 2012.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 14th, 2013 at 11:55 am and is filed under Foreclosures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
5 Responses to “Florida foreclosure backlog dips below 300,000 for first time in years”
1
gethefax Says:
October 14th, 2013 at 1:39 pm
Truth and Lending Laws are still being violated and ignored by the Jurisdiction of the Courts, favoring the Plaintiffs (Banks) in most cases. Moreso, the Judges are allowing more time for banks rebuttals than allowed by Law (usually 20-30 days). The backlog has been a result of Mortgage Deed Holders Attorneys pressing those issues onto the Courts. Usury (Exceedingly high interest rates) involving Balloon Loans by “Switch and Bait”, or “Promises” of a lower interest rate down the road are other culprits that left Home Owners holding a Mortgage Notes of a property worth half its true value.
2
Robert Says:
October 14th, 2013 at 7:02 pm
Is this what passes for “good News” these days?
3
Condo Owner Says:
October 14th, 2013 at 7:24 pm
Boo Hoo, what about the deadbeats who just decided they didn’t want to pay because the value dropped? The ones who still work, who buy shiney new cars and trucks, but don’t pay their condo maintenance, or mortgage? The ones that leave the rest of us PAYING THEIR DEBT? We pay for the deadbeats, and we are sick of it. I hope they continue knocking out these cases, free rides should have been over a long time ago!!!!
We had one, a city employee who paid NOTHING FOR OVER 6 YEARS, so sorry, no pity at all!!!!
Nick……
How much do you get paid for lying about housing on the WSJ?
What a bunch of clowns:
The first House Republican attempt was shot down in a closed-door meeting that had begun with members singing the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
The second plan was scuttled hours before it was expected to hit the House floor for a vote after the influential Heritage Action for America, a conservative group, urged a “no” vote because it did not do enough to stop Obama’s healthcare law. reuters dot com
What a bunch of clowns
You and people like you are the only non-clowns around. It must be something to be so cool and right all the time. How do you stand it? If you give me your address I can send you one of those old “It’s hard to be humble when you’re so great” t-shirts. I’d be glad to do it. Just give me an address and a size.
I’d be glad to do it. Just give me an address and a size.
My size is XL. Maybe you can send it to me c/o The U.S. Consulate General Rio de Janeiro. I bet they know who we are.
Autocrat Feinstein Defends High-tech Stasi Surveillance State in Op-ed
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
October 15, 2013
Senator Feinstein says Khalid al-Mihdhar is to blame for the destruction of the Fourth Amendment right.
Senator Diane Feinstein on Sunday took the pages of the Wall Street Journal to defend the federal government’s brazen defilement of the Fourth Amendment and the constitutional rights of all Americans.
Feinstein has consistently supported authoritarian government, including numerous proposals to outlaw firearms guaranteed by the Second Amendment, but her exploitation of the so-called terror threat and defense of the NSA reveal how desperate the government is to defend the high-tech Stasi state now operational in America.
Her defense of totalitarianism under the ruse of an omniscient terror threat is remarkable: “Our safety depends on the ability of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies — including those at State, in the military, and at the FBI — to discover unfolding plots by tracking connections between terrorists, especially plots tied to the U.S. homeland. This is why NSA’s call-records program is an essential component of U.S. counterterrorism efforts,” she writes.
Interestingly, Feinstein mentions Khalid al-Mihdhar, the supposed al-Qaeda operative said to be involved in the 9/11 attacks, as she makes her argument that the NSA should be allowed unrestricted access to the private information of all Americans.
“Consider the case of 9/11 hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar, who was being watched by the CIA while he was in Malaysia. U.S. intelligence agencies failed to connect the dots before the attack to recognize that al-Mihdhar had flown with (future) hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi to Los Angeles in January 2000,” she writes.
Feinstein continues:
Intelligence officials knew about an al Qaeda safe house in Yemen with ties to al-Mihdhar as well as the safe house’s telephone number, but they had no way of knowing if anyone inside the U.S. was in contact with that phone number in Yemen. Only after 9/11 did we learn that al-Mihdhar, while living in San Diego, had called the safe house.
In congressional testimony in June, FBI Director Bob Mueller said that if intelligence officials had had the NSA’s searchable database of U.S. telephone-call records before 9/11, they would have been able to connect the number to al-Mihdhar and produce actionable intelligence on participants of the developing plot. NSA Director Keith Alexander testified before Congress in October that if the call-records program had existed before 9/11, there is a “very high” likelihood that we would have detected the impending attack that killed 3,000 Americans.
Ms. Feinstein, however, fails to tell the whole story, which is a pathological trait of far too many government employees citing the supposed terror threat as they prepare to steal our liberty.
Khalid al-Mihdhar settled in the United States with the help of a Saudi intelligence operative, Omar al-Bayoumi. The FBI knew about al-Bayoumi and his activities, but Feinstein neglects this inconvenientfact. The shady Saudi acted as co-signer and guarantor for the apartment rental application of al-Mihdhar and fellow supposed hijacker, Nawaf Alhazmi. He also paid their rent, introduced the pair to the local Muslim community, and hooked them up with another supposed hijacker, Hani Hanjour, the failed flying student who we are told acrobatically flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. Although the FBI would later claim Hanjour was not on their radar, informants have stated otherwise.
In addition to working with a Saudi intelligence operative, the pair had closed door meetings with Anwar al-Awlaki, at the time the imam of a San Diego mosque. In addition to a connection to al-Bayoumi and Saudi intelligence, al-Awlaki — who is said to planned the comical Christmas day underwear bomber fiasco, the Fort Hood shooting, and the aborted fireworks Times Square bombing – dined at the Pentagon following the 9/11 attacks.
“American-born cleric Awlaki’s role as a key figure in almost every recent terror plot targeting the United States and Canada, coupled with his visit to the Pentagon, only confirms our long stated position that Awlaki is a chief terrorist patsy-handler for the CIA – he is the federal government’s premier false flag agent,” Paul Joseph Watson wrote after Fox News broke the story in October, 2010.
“The U.S. must remain vigilant against terrorist attacks against the homeland,” Feinstein continues. “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), considered the world’s most capable and dangerous terrorist organization, is determined to attack the United States. As we have seen since the ‘underwear bomber’ attempted to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, AQAP has developed nonmetallic bombs that can elude airport screeners, and the organization’s expert bomb maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, remains at large.”
Once again, Feinstein fails to tell the whole story. The so-called underwear bomber, the hapless Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was deliberately and intentionally allowed to keep his U.S.-issued entry visa as the result of a national security override that effectively blocked the State Department’s planned revocation of that visa, Webster Tarpley noted in February, 2010. Moreover, Detroit lawyer, Kurt Haskell, who was present on the flight, reported that a disheveled Abdulmutallab was placed on the flight by a “sharp-dressed man” despite objections by airport staff in Amsterdam.
Feinstein also fails to report that Ibrahim al-Asiri, paraded by the establishment media as a scary al-Qaeda bombing mastermind, has yet to manufacture and deploy an effective bomb and take down an aircraft.
Additionally, Feinstein’s reference to “nonmetallic bombs” is nothing if not a comical red herring. Explosive experts, including renowned terrorism expert and Pentagon adviser Marvin Cetron, have dismissed the idea of an al-Qaeda liquid bomb as a Hollywood fantasy.
Liquid bombs “require hours to prepare even after being smuggled on board, plus a lot of ice to keep them cool during the process,” Cetron said in 2006. “To remain undetected, they also need passengers and a flight crew with a defective sense of smell. And they are likely to blow up in mid-preparation with just enough force to kill the would-be chemist, but no one else.”
Feinstein’s flaccid excuse for the treasonous violation of the Constitution is so riddled with fallacy and illogical reasoning, it should have been posted on the Onion website, not the Wall Street Journal.
But then the Wall Street Journal, along with the New York Times and the rest of the CIA’s Mockingbird corporate media, have served the state well as it continues to peddle lies, half-truth, self-serving fictions and other fabrications that are used to rob America of its birthright.
This article was posted: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 at 12:08 pm
At what point does complacency give way to panic?
Panic Sets In With the Davos Crowd
by Daniel Gross Oct 14, 2013 11:46 AM EDT
When the normally level-headed titans of high finance start to sell off in a frenzy, you know things are bad. Daniel Gross on the debt ceiling’s newest freak out.
The Davos crowd – bankers, finance ministers, central bankers, large-asset managers – is generally not prone to panic. These are people who traffic in incremental change, who wear stiffer upper lips to match their bespoke suits, who avoid hyperbole the way they avoid flying coach.
But as the U.S. government remains shut down for a third week, and as America careens toward the debt ceiling, this normally unflappable crowd is starting to sweat. It’s as if they haven’t been paying attention to the absurd pageant of brinksmanship that has been playing out in Washington over the last few years, and are only now waking up to the horror that one house of Congress – and hence a branch of government – is essentially controlled by a group of people who care not a whit for the prerogatives of global bondholders.
Fidelity Investments, among the largest, most-sober asset managers in the world, said it had sold the short-term government bonds held in its money-market mutual funds that were supposed to mature around the debt ceiling cut-off date. In theory, it sounds like a smart move. Who wants to be caught holding the bag if Republicans really decide not to raise the debt ceiling? And since investors tend to treat money-market funds like cash, it makes sense for funds to maintain maximum flexibility. In practice, though, perhaps it was not a particularly smart move. One way or another, the government will pay the interest and principal on the bonds in time. And should the government actually default on those bonds, the evasive maneuver won’t really count for much. The bonds sold account for only a small percentage of the company’s overall U.S. Treasury bond holdings, which are sprinkled liberally throughout other Fidelity mutual funds. And their value would surely plummet in the event of a default.
Over the weekend, there were two big events in the world of global finance: the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the Institute of International Finance. Each featured panels and events at which very high-profile speakers spoke in near-apocalyptic terms about the situation in Washington.
At the IMF confab, one of the most well-attended sessions was a panel on restructuring sovereign debt. (The subtext was that, instead of sussing out how a restructuring of Argentinian or Malaysian debt might look, the world might have to think about what a restructuring of America’s much larger debt might look like.) On Sunday, IMF Managing Director Christine LaGarde appeared on Meet the Press and warned that casting doubt on the credibility of America’s bond offerings could push the global economy into recession for only the second time since World War II. “If there is that degree of disruption, that lack of certainty, that lack of trust in the U.S. signature, it would mean massive disruption the world over,” she said. Jim Hong Kim, the former Dartmouth president who now helms the World Bank, said the global economy is “days away from a very dangerous moment.”
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The gods of high finance are getting anxious.
Debt Ceiling Dysfunction May Spark Market Panic — Even If U.S. Makes Bond Payments
Zach Carter
Posted: 10/15/2013 5:56 pm EDT | Updated: 10/15/2013 6:23 pm EDT
WASHINGTON — Financial experts warned Congress Tuesday that a U.S. default may set off financial mayhem that cascades through the global economy. Even if the American government doesn’t miss a bond payment, the panel emphasized, Congress would jeopardize the stability of the dollar if it fails to raise the debt ceiling by Thursday.
The event, organized by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), is the only congressional inquiry into the potential consequences of failing to raise the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said the government will have no legal way to pay all of its bills after Thursday unless the debt ceiling is raised.
Several Republicans have said the government can avoid missing Treasury bond payments after Oct. 17 by “prioritizing” spending — failing to pay some bills like Social Security or government contracts, so that it can pay interest on bonds. But the experts, most representing the GOP-friendly financial industry, said this was wrong. The bond market would punish the U.S. government for failing to pay its bills, even if those bills were due to other people. It’s similar to a household getting a lower credit rating for failing to pay utility bills or make car payments, even though it sends in a mortgage check, the experts said.
“Once you stop paying in one sector, where you stop that, how you have certainty that you’re going to pay in other sectors, is an open question,” said Rob Toomey of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. “That uncertainty, again, has to be priced in.”
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Boehner sees his control of House Republicans slip away
By Rosalind S. Helderman and Jackie Kucinich, Updated: Tuesday, October 15, 8:00 PM
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) started Tuesday with a last-ditch attempt to exert control over his restive caucus, proposing a new plan to open the government and raise the debt ceiling in an effort to give Republicans a bit of leverage.
But as evening fell over the Capitol, it was increasingly clear who had control over the House GOP: no one.
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Senate leaders race to draft debt-limit bill after House effort collapses
By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane, Updated: Tuesday, October 15, 8:06 PM E-mail the writers
A campaign to persuade House Republicans to lift the federal debt limit collapsed in humiliating failure Tuesday, leaving Washington careering toward a critical deadline just two days away, with no clear plan for avoiding a government default.
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“But unless one materializes by Tuesday at the latest, you may expect the market to shed its complacency and swoon.”
Meh. The Fed has it all contained.
Oct. 15, 2013, 8:30 a.m. EDT
Time for Wall Street to break the logjam
Commentary: Only stock crash will bring Washington to its senses
By Irwin Kellner, MarketWatch
PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. (MarketWatch) — With the politicians still bickering over the government shutdown and the need to lift the debt ceiling, it’s time for the stock market to give these pols a swift kick in the pants by taking a dive.
A plunge in equities seems to be the only language the pols understand. You would think they learned their lesson from the debacle of 2008, but they apparently need to be reminded.
As I observed last week (see column), five years ago the economy was declining because of the bursting of the financial bubble. The president asked the Congress to pass a $700 billion bank bailout bill, which the House promptly rejected. Just as swiftly, the stock market responded by dropping 778 points on the Dow industrials — the largest one-day point loss in history.
The bill was passed several days later, but it was too late. The economy’s decline morphed into what soon became known as the Great Recession.
The rise in stocks late last week and on Monday of this week was based on hopes of a deal that would avoid a default. But unless one materializes by Tuesday at the latest, you may expect the market to shed its complacency and swoon.
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6 ways a default could hurt the world
By Maureen Farrell
@CNNMoney
Invest October 15, 2013: 4:28 PM ET
A real U.S. debt default is expected to lead to financial Armageddon.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Top execs at big U.S. banks have said that a debt default by the United States is unthinkable and probably won’t happen.
But many financial institutions have admitted that they’re still engaged in debt disaster planning.
Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) CFO John Gerspach said Tuesday morning that the bank “remains hopeful” a deal can be worked out to avoid a default. But he added that “hope is not a plan” and that the bank has prepared for different contingencies over the past few weeks.
So what could happen in a worst-case scenario if the U.S. actually defaults? It’s impossible to predict. But here are six ways that financial markets could respond if the U.S. stops paying all of its bills — even briefly.
Two words of warning though: Thursday’s widely quoted debt ceiling deadline may not really be the drop-dead date to get something done. Congress and the Treasury Department could have some wiggle room.
Second, reader discretion should be advised. These outcomes are all pretty terrifying.
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