The Housing Bubble

Now you are looking toward the future. In our “I want it now!” society looking toward the future is old school.

Consider: If a buyer depends on debt then the seller also - indirectly - depends on debt; The seller depends on debt being taken on by the buyer.

If buyers cannot take on debt in order to buy then sellers will have nobody to sell to. If sellers have nobody to sell to then they will have to close up shop and send everybody home.

IMO it all has to do with the time element: Sales are booked immediately while the money that financed the sale - money that was borrowed - will (hopefully) be collected sometime in the future.

If you are somebody that lives from quarter-to-quarter then you need to make your numbers for that quarter. Collecting the money that financed the sale is pushed forward - is kicked down the road.

IMHO it is all about cash flow. Things prey on expansion too, as if everything can expand in unison in a finite consumer world.At least on paper things are planned to expand. It sounds good for the investors to hear it.

Or they could do what Xerox did in the late 90’s self finance the questionable quality buyers until you can’t and BOOM… the stock went from over 60 to under 4……and its still only $10

Talking about Debt;

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDAQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessweek.com%2Fnews%2F2013-10-22%2Fbiggest-china-banks-triple-debt-write-offs-to-brace-for-defaults&ei=TM9nUq36O8mdiAL_pYGICQ&usg=AFQjCNFgSJnVus1l55ZQUj2_ZEGHM6hOmQ&sig2=RVZqX-dhyb4sA7HWTcQleQ&bvm=bv.55123115,d.cGE

WRONG!!! Transfer the risk of lending to a third party. Book the sale, book the revenue, pass on the chance of not collecting.

“… pass on the chance of not collecting.”

But if the chance of not collecting increases then the cost of transfering the debt to a third party also increases, and this increased cost will ultimately have to be born by the borrower either in the form of paying a higher interest rate or by not being able to borrow at all.

It was easy to do a few years ago because then receivers of junk debt were deceived. Not so much anymore.

Or picked up by the government. Bail em all out. Guarantee all the loans! Raise minimum wage to $20. Free health care for all.

“But if the chance of not collecting increases then the cost of transfering the debt to a third party also increases, and this increased cost will ultimately have to be born by the borrower either in the form of paying a higher interest rate or by not being able to borrow at all.”

Soooooooo–you just EXTEND THE TERMS of the loan!!! See, now you’ve “hidden” the higher risk premium inside a LOWER MONTHLY PAYMENT!!!

(and the consumers line up by the thousands)

Here’s the answer!!!

Steve Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group LP (BX) has spent $7.5 billion acquiring 40,000 houses in the past two years to create the largest single-family rental business in the U.S. The private-equity firm is now planning to sell bonds backed by lease payments, the latest step in turning a small business into a mature industry.

Full article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-23/blackstone-creating-rental-home-bonds-after-buying-spree.html

Then sell the bonds to unsuspecting foreigners or pension plans you want to see insolvent…

But if the chance of not collecting increases then the cost of transfering the debt to a third party also increases,

Unless you have the clout to get the taxpayer to step in as the third party. The ultimate dumb money…

The Financial Accounting Standards Board makes all this wishful thinking that future debt must be paid off a joke.
Bag it, tag it and stuff it in the FED. FASB says no mark-to-market and we can’t do squat about it. Congress hasn’t acted to restrain the FED or the FSAB in decades so color me skeptical.

We all know for a fact that the debt won’t be paid back. So why not default NOW?

We all know for a fact that the debt won’t be paid back. So why not default NOW?

That might result in somebody not getting reelected.

Question: Is Blackstone’s scheme to securitize collected rents on 40,000 homes crazier or less crazy than Bowie Bonds?

I say less crazy…assuming the underwriting is conservative (like 2x coverage on payments at current rent levels).

People paying rent for shelter seems like a better bet than people continuing to pay for Ziggy Stardust (given that music seems to be getting harder to monetize).

Do we know what percentage of the 40,000 units are renters occupied by now?

I haven’t seen an occupancy number from Blackstone.

American Homes 4 Rent was at 50% leased when they went public, but homes available for rent for more than 30 days were at 90% leased, and homes available for rent for more than 90 days were at 97% leased, so the 50% was more of an indicator of where they were in their portfolio construction as opposed to the foretelling of a structural vacancy problem. AH4R’s last report was at 56% in their portfolio as a whole was leased. Their next report is scheduled to be released in the first week in November. I expect that their occupancy will be higher still.

We’re involved with two rental portfolios. The first, which stopped buying homes early in 2013 is now at about 95% leased. The other portfolio, which is still adding a trickle of homes, is about 80% leased currently, with most of the vacancy in the more recent acquisitions (which have not been made available to rent).

Get grim and grit your teeth. Poor folk are gonna see doctors and stuff.

I call more socialist BS from Rio. What happens when demand increases for a product or service without an increase in the corresponding supply of that product or service? What happens when government limits the amount that can be charged for said product or service? Take a look at every other government controlled health care system to see the answer… or take a look at Venezuela.

FWIW, I know personally of two primary care physicians who are leaving their private practices to go work in a large hospital group or outright retiring because they can’t make money in private practice any longer and are tired of dealing with the government BS. Anecdotal, but I guarantee this will accelerate. I’m sure Rio has an answer to that problem that involves more government…

I call more socialist BS from Rio.

Yawn..Of course you would. Because you don’t know the meaning of words and you are not original. And you’re mad. Almost everyone on the far-right is mad all the time. Grrrrr.

What happens when government limits the amount that can be charged for said product or service?

You get a Canadian/French system the VA and Medicare and less expensive health-care. Was that a trick question?

I know personally of two primary care physicians who are leaving their private practices to go work…..

I personally know of two universities that graduate 100’s of doctors every year.

I personally know of two primary care physicians who have a dog and a car.

canada = counting canes
and they are oil rich
socialized medicine scks everywhere and always

socialized medicine scks everywhere and always

Wrong.

For example:
France spends about 50% less per person and has better outcomes in many areas and a higher life expectancy. And everyone’s covered. And you can buy private options.

Poor folk are gonna see doctors and stuff.

ooops.. comrade closer, are you lying again?

you don’t mind if i paste an address or two for you, do you closer?

====

Health plans are sending hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters to people who buy their own coverage, frustrating some consumers who want to keep what they have and forcing others to buy more costly policies.

Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/October/21/cancellation-notices-health-insurance.aspx

====

(CBS News) CBS News has uncovered a serious pricing problem with HealthCare.gov. It stems from the Obama administration’s efforts to improve its health care website. A new online feature can dramatically underestimate the cost of insurance.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57608843/healthcare.gov-pricing-feature-can-be-off-the-mark/

====

oprah no likey either..

Talk-Show Queen Oprah Turns Her Back On Obama; Refuses to Endorse ObamaCare

and this

Oblivious Obama totally clueless of ObamaCare troubles, Sebelius asserts: By Andrew Malcolm

no links to the last two. just use your paste function comrade closer, to find them in google. you’re good at pasting.

looks like lots of poor folks aren’t going to be able to afford obamacare, comrade closer.

Yeah, and they have a 100% tax rate too. No thanks.

BTW:

‘Obamacare penalties may be delayed.
Official says effective deadline to have insurance could be postponed.’

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obamacare-mandate-may-be-delayed-2013-10-23?link=MW_home_latest_news

A comment:

‘Simple strategy to get the delayed pushed through on a bill….

have the Republicans say they will block any delay and the White House and Democrats in the Senate and House will stampede a bill through to delay it for sure. In the end the Republicans would have achieved what they wanted - a delay.’

‘(Really stupid how the Clowns in Congress do a fake representation of the American people)’

Really stupid how the Clowns in Congress do a fake representation of the American people

i liken them to traitors.

“ooops.. comrade closer, are you lying again?”

Of course she is. You, BJ, a few others and this blog is a threat to the system. That’s why there are paid liars here.

Here’s the
Obamacare pricing schedule… Everyone bend over and take it.

Co-pays way up, deductibles way up, pricing up… If you have insurance, you’ll be paying more. If you don’t have it, you’ll be paying more… Or paying the tax penalty. Either way, Democrats should all be tarred, feathered, and hung for this forcing this travesty of government abuse on a supposed free people.

Co-pays way up, deductibles way up, pricing up

and later you’ll find quality way down..

You, BJ,

“BJ”……, you got that right.

Democrats should all be tarred, feathered, and hung for this forcing this travesty of government abuse

You sound angry. It’s what you do.

You lie. It’s what you do best.

“You lie…”

Let’s call it “insult”. If the insult to the intelligence does not get traction, then it is the insult to the person. Just an abuser looking for a playmate.

I hope she sticks around to report first hand on the agony of the crashing Brazil bubble, and how she unfairly gets taken to the cleaners on the massive losses to her mama’s house down there.

You gotta wonder why a Brazilian spinster so wants to hang with Americans who think she is dull witted and mean spirited, and on a blog that is about her Big Mistake.

I hope she sticks around to report first hand on the agony of the crashing Brazil bubble,

I will. I don’t care. How can it be agony when I’ve almost already made up my money in rent?

You gotta wonder why a Brazilian spinster

Spinster? Whatever you were married, almost double it for me.

And I live in Rio if need be. wink

And I live in Rio if need be. wink

i think comrade closer is sweet on you Blue Skye. i gotta pull the covers over my head on that one..

I’m shut down on that too. Going fishing for a few days.

And I live in Rio if need be. wink

i think comrade closer is sweet on you Blue Skye.

Dirty mind and I don’t go that way. I live in Rio, the “sexiest city in the world”

If I needed action. I could get it any time.

There isn’t a guy on the planet that would get near it.

Ro des t care

You sound angry. Look at that.

Autocorrect. Keep spending other people’s money. It is limitless.

Interesting city council meetings?

IMO, Blackstone already has the upper hand, at least in DC. Existing older houses are already desireable because they are ~$250-$300K SFH with shorter commutes and larger yards. New builds would be $500K attached product with a much longer commute and very little public transport — not the kind of properties that renters gravitate to, or could afford.

‘what would the internet cops do with the bitcoins?’

Probably “lose” them like they lose dope from the evidence room.

Bernanke may as well join the mormon church and marry at least 4 liberal “jouranalist” wives. His rehabilitation is going to take a lot of work.

If he says he was wrong, is he saying that the current PTB are wrong?

I did read Endgame. He does not predict “massive inflation”, and in fact, lays out reasons why massive inflation (hyperinflation) is unlikely except in very specific circumstances, and they note it as a political choice.

The only two countries that he noted could have very high inflation are the UK (because the average duration of their sovereign debt is quite long, and for that reason they risk pissing off fewer creditors if they take an inflationary stance), and Japan, because their only two choices currently are massive inflation, or a massive depression, as the need to service their debt squeezes out their ability to spend on anything else.

What Endgame does talk about is the dangers of too much debt, and the potential ramifications (slower growth, the potential for inflation, the importance of the velocity of money in the inflation equation–questions whether current “low” monetary velocity is actually normal, etc.). There is also a discussion of the importance of exports to get out of debt problems, etc.

My biggest criticism of the book is that while a lot of what they say makes sense, it leans a lot on Reinhart and Rogoff’s book–the one where the conclusions were determined to be faulty because of some bad arithmetic. However, the book is not without merit.

For instance, they show a graph of price inflation/deflation prior to taking the dollar off the gold standard, and after. And what that graph shows is that bouts of price deflation were common while on the gold standard, but after coming off the gold standard, we pretty much only got inflation (to varying degrees).

I’m sure this book talks about the same kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, all these guys are guessing as to what’s going to happen next.

‘You sound like a mad, class-warfare Nazi…You sound angry.’

Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil

‘The TP are not saviors. They are more like destroyers. They don’t even love America - they only love their flawed “theory” of America. They only love a fuzzy idea of America that never was and never will be. They want no compromise for the good of America. Rigid. Intolerant. Their way or no way.’

Dang, you’ve got everything figured out from that far away? I live in Arizona and I don’t think I’ve ever met a person in the TP.

I live in Arizona and I don’t think I’ve ever met a person in the TP.

I met 3-4 on vacation in July in America.

you’ve got everything figured out from that far away?

I know my country.

I started taking piano lesson online free,

That’s great. Where online?

Rio
Search using “free piano lessons” and a bunch of websites will come up. As I progressed I changed free websites, until I could teach myself and use library resources (free again).

HA the troll-man
Can you speak in coherent language?

You got ripped off. It must be painful.

learning to play takes some brainpower, but learning to play well is just repetition.

Studies show practice and repetition boost brainpower.

Music practice can sharpen the brain

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266809.php

….A new study by researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland concludes that people who practice playing musical instruments have sharper brains because they pick up mistakes in their performance and fix them more quickly than other people…..

…..In other words, the more practice hours musicians had accumulated, the faster their reaction times in completing mental challenges, the better they were able to recognize and correct mistakes, and the less likely they were to go back and adjust their responses when they made mistakes.

…..”Musical activity cannot only immensely enrich our lives, but the associated benefits for our physical and mental functioning could be even more far-reaching than proposed in our and previous research.”

I really enjoy learning piano, and I know it has been beneficial to my self esteem, if nothing else.

It’s the 75 anniversary of The Wizard Of Oz (Harold Arlen-music, E. Y. Harburg-lyrics). “Over The Rainbow” was taken out 3 times, but finally allowed to stay.

75th…oops

For what its worth, learning to play takes some brainpower, but learning to play well is just repetition.

I can see how that might be a common viewpoint in classical piano, but I have a different definition of “play well” than they do. Classical people in general seem to have a pretty strict view of “play well” as “play exactly what it written, no more no less”. And yes…repetition is how you get there. To me for music to be art and not just finger yoga, it needs to communicate emotion in a way that simply reading what’s on the page does not accomplish. Really good emotional communication is what “play well” means to me. And for the most part you’re born with it or you aren’t. The repetition just gets you to the point where you can let it out.

“concludes that people who practice playing musical instruments have sharper brains because they pick up mistakes in their performance and fix them more quickly than other people”

So for those of us who don’t make mistakes, learning an instrument would be fruitless.

I have a theory about teaching math…I think one’s brain must be ready for it. I remember when I was in high school and taking advanced math/algebra there were these difficult bonus word problems at the end of each chapter that we would get extra credit for if we completed. I remember trying but just not getting it.

When my younger brother was taking the same class (he is 6 years behind me) he would ask me for help on the bonus word problems. I could do them every time with very little effort. The only math class I took in college was Calculus I…I clepped out of college algebra…so it wasn’t like I had any more advanced training.

I passed calculus I but failed miserably at calculus II. I can look back now at my calculus book and some of it makes sense to me now…where before…it was all greek. I also struggled with Trig in high school but just re-taught it to myself online for free…piece of cake.

I just don’t think my mind was “ready” for advanced math or problem solving when I was in high school or college.

I did rather poorly on Calculus II in college but still ended up with an A. I think I should have gotten C+ or B- based on my performance but the grading on the curve meant I got an A.

I never got more than 50% of the possible points on a college math exam (multi var calc, linear algebra). Same with a bunch of Econ courses where we had to derive formulas on our own. Always got at least a B, though. The professors’ reasoning seemed to be that any test where students were _expected_ to get 90% + of the possible points was too easy and compressed the grading too much. Focusing on calculation rather than derivation or explanation is stupid.

For the same reason, the chem and organic chem profs put way too many questions on the exams. Almost no one finished. But it became easy to separate out the A+ from the A from the A- and so on. The way to get a good grade was to solve (or at least map out) very difficult questions that were worth more points. These questions had a better ratio of credit to time required, whereas someone only solving the easier questions would get a C+ or so even if they got them all right.

I passed calculus I but failed miserably at calculus II.

Calc II is how I ended up in the army :-). Sounds like we learn similarly…when it works it just kind of happens by magic. For me the second attempt wasn’t any easier but I was a lot more motivated to do my homework after a few years of mud and sandbags and PT. It wasn’t natural for me, but I forced my way through it. And if I never need methods of integration I’m pretty confident the computer can do it for me now.

I’ve also found that there are people who can:

1. Naturally do “word problems”; and
2. Can’t

My #1 and #2 usually correspond with your #1 and #2.

lol

There was a great piece on the Daily Show where John Oliver got sucked into the ACA website (dressed as a Tron Character). Instead of seeing 1’s and 0’s, he was seeing 4’s and 5’s–

tea = tear

OK well how do you feel about 23andme.com ? I copped a membership to them too, to tell me if I’m susceptible to certain cancers, chronic conditions, and psychological conditions. Again, small price to pay ($99) for heading off potential problems.

23andme.com,

I don’t know if I would ever want to find out what disease I may get one day and how soon I am going to die. I will tell you this much I will never cut off my penis (a la Angelina Jolie) even if I were succeptible to Penile cancer.

My views on health (for that matter everything) are more naturalistic. Do the best you can do to live your life today…take care of your body, mind, etc. without relying too much on the flavor of the month or worse ingesting too much chemicals into your body. Disease will come one day (in my mid 30’s now) and I will deal with them the best way possible when they come. Accept death as it comes…In a world where a little girl’s body is blown apart by an incoming drone for no reason, it is foolishness to search for you own immortality.

Not searching for immortality, but if I could make small changes in how I live and thereby lessen the chances of becoming involuntarily sedentary or having a diseased brain, I want to know. I think getting dementia would be the worst of all. But I wanted to know, relatively speaking, if that’s one of my bigger risks or not. There are links in the chromosomes and more is being learned all the time. I just want to have some idea of the %s.

As it turns out dementia and alzheimers aren’t a big risk for me. Parkinson’s is a moderate risk. Same with colon cancer and non-hodgkin’s lymphoma. Over time the risks will be updated (23&me contacts you anytime there are updates based on your DNA code). Along with the updates you get some links to prominent research. Of course, I do some research on my own.

Obviously small tweaks in behavior can make big changes over time. Just think of someone who moderately exercises a few days a week vs someone who lays on the couch every evening watching TV. Over the decades, it’s not 100% certain, but I know which guy I’d bet to be in better shape mentally and physically.

I can’t find it now but I think some actuary calculated that average human life would be 126 or 136 years even if we take all the diseases out of the equation. Accidents and other misfortunes are a big killer, too.

Save yourself $99 and just take a look at your aged relatives (unless of course you are adopted or IUI or some other scenario) and see what they are suffering from - it’s a very strong indicator of what you will experience in the future, and if they are manageable then do what you can to counter act them.

Also stay active and purposeful in your old age if you want to live a long time. That means you can’t derive your purpose in life from your job or from something you can’t do in old age.

No, he won’t challenge states rights on pot. This is because he can’t do anything about it.

I watched Dirty Wars last night on netflix. I challenge you to watch it and see how dastardly this man is.

the coastal elitist, statist pigs don’t give a sh1t about legalized weed.

but when colorado voters initiated recall elections for two state senators because of their votes on gun control, the statist pigs dumped a torrent of cash into our state, and they lost.

that a state senate election would attract the attention and cash of pigs like bloomberg, biden, feinstein, et cetera tells you what the statists’ real concerns are.

I’m shocked! The USA has had such a long history of being such a peace loving nation it’s just criminal to see what Obama has done to it. What metric should we use to tell whose dastardly and who is really evil?
Total body count?
How fast the CIA & DoD budget grew?
Our position as the world’s most feared super power?
Number of domestic terror attacks?
How many Generals and Admirals are fired? <trick question.

Like Bush/Cheney, Obama will be gone in due time but the Military Industrial Complex endures and will still be giving the next President his/her daily briefing (with attached hit list).

“No, he won’t challenge states rights on pot. This is because he can’t do anything about it.”

How do you know this? Is there a court ruling or something I missed? We all have our opinions but is there something solid to base this on?

‘Is there a court ruling or something I missed?’

‘August 29, 2013. The Justice Department will not attempt to challenge state laws that allow for the medical and recreational use of marijuana as long as the drug sales do not conflict with eight new federal enforcement priorities.’

‘Although the directive issued by Attorney General Eric Holder will apply nationwide, it will largely affect the 20 states and the District of Columbia that allow for medical marijuana use, and Colorado and Washington where state laws allow medical and recreational use by adults.’

‘Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he “welcomed” the guidance that has been “long-awaited and in short supply.”

“The Justice Department should focus on countering and prosecuting violent crime, while respecting the will of the states whose people have voted to legalize small amounts of marijuana for personal and medical use,” Leahy said.’

“No, he won’t challenge states rights on pot. This is because he can’t do anything about it.”

Fed Drug laws trump state drug laws. I remember the Fed’s busting many medical California pot dispensarys that California law allowed.

So “can’t” is really “won’t” and there is no court case where the federal law was overturned. Has Obama threatened to veto legalization?

They can’t, because the people have spoken. These pot decriminalization laws are very popular, and spreading, not just in the US.

I hope I live long enough to see it in Texas. Maybe the trick is to dangle it in front of our politicians as a tax. As long as it skims money from the rubes it’s good legislation.

“A recent poll in Texas found that 58 percent of respondents either “somewhat” or “strongly” supported “changing Texas law to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, where stores would be licensed to sell marijuana to adults 21 and older.”

Dirty Wars was written by Jeremy Scahill, who is someone I’ve heard of. He works for The Nation, a left-wing magazine, and formerly worked for Democracy Now, a lefty radio show.

This marijuana issues touches on the issue that has come up lately regarding whether we have or should have a democracy or a republic. In states like Arizona, Colorado, and Washington weed has been legalized or patially legalized through referenda, where the voters got to directly change a law. It wasn’t done tby the state legislatures.

I wonder if the advocates of a republican form of government consider that to be a bad thing, allowing the voters to directly enact law.

I wonder if the advocates of a republican form of government consider that to be a bad thing, allowing the voters to directly enact law.

I don’t know…probably. But I’m not sure what their solution is to the lawmakers of the Republic being corrupted by money. If they weren’t they would have already done it themselves.

Obama’s death threats are 10 times that of Bush. Learn math and its implications.

maybe he’s hated ten times as much for all the misery he’s brought to the country, comrade closer.

LOL

maybe he’s hated ten times as much for all the misery he’s brought to the country, comrade closer.

It’s because he’s black and Democrat you idiot. lol (ba da ba boom)

Obama’s death treats spiked off the charts before he had a chance to do anything.

Racists in action.

It’s because he’s black and Democrat you idiot.

no, it’s because he’s scumbag communist like you comrade closer.

you’re race baiting again, like most vile marxists do, closer.

Obama’s death treats spiked off the charts before he had a chance to do anything.

link, closer?

it’s because he’s scumbag communist like you comrade closer.

I’m not communist and I’m not black.

Do you like me more now? lol

I’m not communist and I’m not black.

no one but you brings up skin color, race baiting comrade closer.

and yes, we know you ‘claim’ not to be communist. that’s a good one comrade closer. ba da boom!

btw, are you going to answer those articles i posted for you comrade closer? if not, i’ll repost them for you tomorrow if there are too many post here, and you can’t find it.

btw, are you going to answer those articles i posted for you comrade closer?

IDK, I probably read the first of your 2 sentences, got bored, laughed (and farted). Seriously, Step it up.

Post them again tomorrow, with something interesting at the beginning.

I don’t live for your posts enough to wade through the predictable BS.

I probably read the first of your 2 sentences, got bored, laughed (and farted).

if you don’t know what to say, then just type in LOL like you usually do, closer.

I don’t live for your posts enough to wade through the predictable BS.

oops.. comrade closer is backing away.

comrade closer is backing away.

I am. It’s 2:o5 here, you’re boring and It’s going to be sunny and warm tomorrow.

Secret Service: Threat level against Obama no greater than under Bush, Clinton

No evidence to support claim about threats against Obama
False
Share this story:

He’s the nation’s first African-American president. He’s infuriated many people with his policies on key issues, such as health care and taxes. He’s also a target of terrorists.

Because of some of these factors and others, some say the U.S. Secret Service has handled more death threats against President Barack Obama than anyone who’s sat in the Oval Office.

“The incidents of threats against (Obama) are greater than for any other president in modern times,” civil rights legend Julian Bond recently said on “The Colbert Report.”

PolitiFact Georgia received a request from a reader on Twitter to examine the accuracy of such claims. We tried to reach Bond, but our efforts were unsuccessful. We tried him through the American Program Bureau, a company that has arranged interviews and speeches for Bond. We emailed Bond at American University, where he is an adjunct professor in the School of Public Affairs. We called the university’s communications department, which said it would try to contact Bond for us.

Bond, 73, is the former chairman of the NAACP and a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He is a former Atlanta resident and member of the Georgia House of Representatives. Bond has taught college courses and was the narrator of the award-winning “Eyes on the Prize” television series about the civil rights movement.

Others have made similar claims about threats to Obama. And they seem to come from a single source.

A U.S. Secret Service spokesman told us the agency does not discuss the number of threats against any president. But the most recent director left some bread crumbs that we followed.

In August 2009, an author who’s written about the Secret Service estimated that the number of threats against Obama had increased by 400 percent in comparison with his White House predecessor, George W. Bush.

But that December, then-Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told a congressional committee that the number of threats against Obama had not — again, had not — increased by 400 percent.

“The threats right now … is the same level as it has been for the previous two presidents at this point in their administrations,” Sullivan said.

He told the committee he’d discuss specifics in private. The Secret Service doesn’t like to discuss threats against a president because it doesn’t want copycats to get any ideas.

Sullivan told U.S. News during an interview in March 2010 that the threat level had not increased since Obama became president. Sullivan retired last month.

In 2012, some news outlets reported that there had been a spike in threats against Obama. One report from WLS-TV, an ABC affiliate in Chicago, used the 400 percent increase figure that Sullivan had said was inaccurate. The station later added that it is believed that Obama is the most threatened president in U.S. history. But the report cited no sources.

PolitiFact has occasionally dealt with claims in which the federal government cannot discuss specifics. For example, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., claimed during the 2012 presidential campaign that GOP nominee Mitt Romney went 10 years without paying taxes. Reid said he got the information from a Romney business associate who wished to remain anonymous. Although the Internal Revenue Service can’t release Romney’s taxes without his permission, PolitiFact believed the burden of proof was on Reid since he made such a serious claim and rated it a Pants On Fire!

To recap, Bond said “the incidents of threats against (Obama) are greater than for any other president in modern times.”

But a former Secret Service director has twice said there has not been an increase. The Secret Service is, well, secret, so they won’t discuss the number of specific threats against Obama.

There’s no concrete evidence that Bond and others have produced to back up their claim.

We rate Bond’s claim False.

you’re boring

good cover for your hobgoblin, closer.

The incidents of threats against (President Barack Obama) are greater than for any other president in modern times.”

Julian Bond on Wednesday, March 6th, 2013 in an interview
No evidence to support claim about threats against Obama
False

He’s the nation’s first African-American president. He’s infuriated many people with his policies on key issues, such as health care and taxes. He’s also a target of terrorists.

Because of some of these factors and others, some say the U.S. Secret Service has handled more death threats against President Barack Obama than anyone who’s sat in the Oval Office.

“The incidents of threats against (Obama) are greater than for any other president in modern times,” civil rights legend Julian Bond recently said on “The Colbert Report.”

PolitiFact Georgia received a request from a reader on Twitter to examine the accuracy of such claims. We tried to reach Bond, but our efforts were unsuccessful. We tried him through the American Program Bureau, a company that has arranged interviews and speeches for Bond. We emailed Bond at American University, where he is an adjunct professor in the School of Public Affairs. We called the university’s communications department, which said it would try to contact Bond for us.

Bond, 73, is the former chairman of the NAACP and a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He is a former Atlanta resident and member of the Georgia House of Representatives. Bond has taught college courses and was the narrator of the award-winning “Eyes on the Prize” television series about the civil rights movement.

Others have made similar claims about threats to Obama. And they seem to come from a single source.

A U.S. Secret Service spokesman told us the agency does not discuss the number of threats against any president. But the most recent director left some bread crumbs that we followed.

In August 2009, an author who’s written about the Secret Service estimated that the number of threats against Obama had increased by 400 percent in comparison with his White House predecessor, George W. Bush.

But that December, then-Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told a congressional committee that the number of threats against Obama had not — again, had not — increased by 400 percent.

“The threats right now … is the same level as it has been for the previous two presidents at this point in their administrations,” Sullivan said.

He told the committee he’d discuss specifics in private. The Secret Service doesn’t like to discuss threats against a president because it doesn’t want copycats to get any ideas.

Sullivan told U.S. News during an interview in March 2010 that the threat level had not increased since Obama became president. Sullivan retired last month.

In 2012, some news outlets reported that there had been a spike in threats against Obama. One report from WLS-TV, an ABC affiliate in Chicago, used the 400 percent increase figure that Sullivan had said was inaccurate. The station later added that it is believed that Obama is the most threatened president in U.S. history. But the report cited no sources.

PolitiFact has occasionally dealt with claims in which the federal government cannot discuss specifics. For example, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., claimed during the 2012 presidential campaign that GOP nominee Mitt Romney went 10 years without paying taxes. Reid said he got the information from a Romney business associate who wished to remain anonymous. Although the Internal Revenue Service can’t release Romney’s taxes without his permission, PolitiFact believed the burden of proof was on Reid since he made such a serious claim and rated it a Pants On Fire!

To recap, Bond said “the incidents of threats against (Obama) are greater than for any other president in modern times.”

But a former Secret Service director has twice said there has not been an increase. The Secret Service is, well, secret, so they won’t discuss the number of specific threats against Obama.

There’s no concrete evidence that Bond and others have produced to back up their claim.

We rate Bond’s claim False.

There’s no concrete evidence that Bond and others have produced to back up their claim.

oops again closer. soon people might not believe one darn thing you post. wouldn’t that be a shame comrade?

Like I said, thanks for your concern.

‘I weigh the grand issues in the order of importance to me and in importance to me…’

‘In short, you don’t have to stop watching us – if you give us free stuff.’

‘In short, you don’t have to stop watching us – if you give us free stuff.’

That makes no sense. What “free stuff” do I get from the US Government? Do they send it through the mail to me down here?

Down here, LOL

I was reacting to the Infowars guy’s description of Watson as a “prominent spokesman for the movement”. I’ve never heard of him before.

Also, I’m not saying that all liberals are good on this issue. It’s just that this Tom Watson guy is not a good example.

It’s not infowars, it’s antiwar.com.

while simultaneously giving a free pass to the anti-Constitutional and criminal actions of the Obama administration because he is the first black president

No way Obama gets a “pass” because he’s black.

Obama gets a huge amount of flack from many Democrats. And even if they didn’t, the far right would impeach Obama in a heartbeat if he had “violated” the Constitution enough to be impeached. The meme that all Dems are wrong on NSA and all Repubs are right is BS too.

Obama deflects criticism over NSA surveillance as Democrats sound alarm

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/08/obama-response-nsa-surveillance-democrats

…..Earlier on Friday evening, two Democratic senators, who are privy to top-secret briefings about NSA programs as part of their work on the Senate Intelligence Committee, released a statement strongly criticising comments made by senior administration officials and calling for more information to be declassified.

“After years of review, we believe statements that this very broad Patriot Act collection has been ‘a critical tool in protecting the nation’ do not appear to hold up under close scrutiny,” senators Mark Udell and Ron Wyden said. “We remain unconvinced that the secret Patriot Act collection has actually provided any uniquely valuable intelligence.”

For at least two years the pair have warned about secret government interpretations of the Patriot Act, but have been restricted in what they can say because their concerns stemmed from classified briefings that could not be publicly disclosed.

Taking issue with remarks made by Clapper and Obama, the senators said: “We disagree with the statement that the broad Patriot Act collection strikes the ‘right balance’ between protecting American security and protecting Americans’ privacy,” they said. “In our view it does not.”

A third Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, said he was uncomfortable with the broad scope of NSA surveillance and indicated the attorney general, Eric Holder, should consider resigning.

There was a good article about Senator Ron Wyden just this week.

Ron Wyden: The Lonely Hero of the Battle Against the Surveillance State
The Oregon senator isn’t as famous as Edward Snowden or Julian Assange, but his push for limits on the NSA could result in much-needed reforms.

—
When historians write about the civil-liberties crisis of this decade, the story will be full of vivid figures—Bradley, now Chelsea, Manning, the fragile soldier who broke in a battle zone and has paid a high price; Edward Snowden, the high-school dropout who did a data-dump of the government’s deepest secrets and ended up cowering in Sheremetyevo Airport; Julian Assange, the flawed prophet of global leaks seeking refuge from sex-abuse charges in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

But if there is any good outcome to the current miserable situation, it will also be the work of a figure a who is a good deal less colorful but much more durable: Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon.
For years before the Snowden leaks, the Democratic lawmaker had been carefully balancing two imperatives: his own oath as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee to keep the secrets conveyed in confidence to the committee; and his larger commitment to the American people, who were being fed a diet of soothing lies.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/ron-wyden-the-lonely-hero-of-the-battle-against-the-surveillance-state/280782/

yep, that’s barry.

Written for Bush… but.. uh..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLUX0y4EptA

According to FOX, he exhibits 9

if there are more, i’m sure he’s got ‘em.

90% of the repubs are establishment rinos

Then you’re doubly fooked. ba da boom.

(Dude people are laughing)

Then you’re doubly fooked.

that’s true, we are. but what you don’t know is that you’re fooked along with us, comrade closer. ba da boom.

(Dude people are laughing)

yes, at you and obama comrade.

but what you don’t know is that you’re fooked along with us,

How could I be fooked unless I get sick? By being a good businessman, I’m financially independent. I own a great house and have no debts and an income. (And the opposite sex likes me) (thank god)

I have the rights to live more countries than one. I did not spend my life bitching about a country that never was and never will be. I made it.

If you can’t make it, buck up and quit whining. Take charge. But if you want someone to blame, blame the Repubs (yea, yea RINO’s etc, lol) that are most responsible for taking America’s jobs.

(My cigar is going out)

How could I be fooked unless I get sick?

you’re fooked because the tyranny you’ve championed is going worldwide an eventually you and your family will have nowhere to hide. no where to go. you won’t believe it until they come for you. then you’ll feel really embarrassed.

By being a good businessman, I’m financially independent. I own a great house and have no debts and an income.

the cronies you love will get around to taking it all away from you.

i’d write more answers but i don’t think you can answer more than a couple things at a time comrade closer.

So you are saying you have the financial means to escape from Marxism, which you highly advocate so you can go to the next country and enjoy liberty while advocating Marxism there. Understood.

the tyranny you’ve championed is going worldwide an eventually you and your family will have nowhere to hide. no where to go. you won’t believe it until they come for you. then you’ll feel really embarrassed.

LOL.

Wow, so let me get this straight……..

If “they” come for me and my family, I need to worry about…….. “feeling embarrassed”?

Wow.

ba da boom..

So you are saying you have the financial means to escape from Marxism, … so you can go to the next country and enjoy liberty ….

So, you are saying that you don’t have the intellectual means to make a valid argument without resorting to 9th grade straw-man BS comparisons?

If “they” come for me and my family, I need to worry about…….. “feeling embarrassed”?

as they’re lining you up against the wall, you wouldn’t feel a little embarrassed that you had been supporting them, comrade closer?

So, you are saying that you don’t have the intellectual means to make a valid argument without resorting to 9th grade straw-man BS comparisons?

no comrade. you always get things so turned around.

he’s saying that YOU don’t have the intellectual means to make a valid argument without resorting to 9th grade straw-man BS comparisons. and he’s right comrade closer, you don’t.

if you only knew the fun i was having, comrade closer.

Fun with a grimace…is weird. But common for a lot of TP’s imo.

It’s a weird sub-culture. Anger. Hate.

I’ve never seen such a lack of humor or good-will from such a large group. I think they’ve been brainwashed to hate.

no grimace comrade closer, no grimace.

It’s a weird sub-culture. Anger. Hate.

the anger and hate is only for socialism/communism/statism/facism comrade closer. nothing else. all the rest is in your small paranoid mind comrade.

I’ve never seen such a lack of humor or good-will from such a large group.

what? do you really think we’d ever like a race baiting socialist like you? you’ve got to be kidding comrade.

I think they’ve been brainwashed to hate.

no brainwashing by us comrade. we just know dangerous little tyrants like you when we see them, closer.

And we got you too. Don’t forget it.

I’m actually laughing a lot right now. Gonna smoke a big cigar and look at the ocean.

You’re doing a whole lot of lying is what you’re doing. You know it. So do we.

Gonna smoke a big cigar and look at the ocean.

while you’re at the ocean, hold a sea shell to your ear. that should confuse the heck out of it.