Bits Bucket for November 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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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Realtors are liars.
“WAVE OF EQUITY CREDIT RESETS SPELLS TROUBLE”
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/nov/10/tp-wave-of-equity-credit-resets-spells-trouble/
And you thought mortgage resets were over? And you thought housing somehow magically bottomed?
Guess again. As you all know, asking prices of resale housing have been 40% higher than new construction costs(lot, labor, materials, profit)… and still are.
*Don’t forget…. the subprime debacle and disposition of those assets still needs to be dealt with.
The National Association of Realtors is a satanic pedophile death cult.
They are the high priests of cultish housing religiosity.
No tale is too tall.
Which puts the Azz in association.
we need a guy like angelo to help loosen credit and underwriting so home prices can keep going up. I need to buy some more durable goods and put people back to work.
And in that sarcasm you have identified the reason this recovery has no legs. Replacing two full time positions with three part time positions may reduce unemployment (as it is reported) but it leaves even less people able to buy durable goods or qualify for a mortgage.
Remember in the past few days when I said NASA uses ground based and not satellite measures of temperatures. Here is a great cartoon to explain why:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/11/15/friday-funny-9/#more-97467
Sorry try this one: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/11/15/friday-funny-9/
Happy days are here again!
“Japan Bails Out on CO2 Emissions Target”
http://www.trust.org/item/20131115160502-4u3nd/
Japan just junked it’s CO2 reduction pledge. That adds one more country to the growing list of countries (Canada, Australia, Russia) that have concluded that near term economic growth trumps long term environmental concerns. Japan cited the shut down of their nuclear fleet as the reason for their reversal on CO2 emission goals while Canada, Australia and Russia are looking at the economics of selling more fossil fuels.
Jack Smith AKA Bluestar
Maybe Bluestar they just think that the economic costs are too high when the computer models projecting global warming are proving more and more inaccurate.
Well the economic computer models wrong about QE causing inflation too. Printing infinite money is no more dangerous than doubling CO2 emissions.
I am not falling the logic here. We have numerous examples of printing infinite money causing run away inflation. At the rate we are increasing co2, it will take several centuries to double co2, we have plenty of time to react. I think in some ways both models have failed for the same reason. They have failed to consider other variables. QE has caused some inflation but the deflationary pressures of a very weak economy have offset the inflation.
With the computer models for global warming, they attributed virtually all the warming between 1978 and 1998 to co2. They then decided since the temperature increased by x amount and the amount of co2 increased by y amount, you could figure out the impact the future impact. Thus say since the temperature increased by .30 F and the co2 increased by 30 ppm every 1 ppm increase going forward would result in a .01F increase in temperature. The problem is it very likely that something like .26F of the increase was caused by natural causes and only .04 F was caused by co2, thus when you project it forward, your estimates get more and more wrong. This is what is actually happening.
falling =following
Economics vs Climate Science.
Money only has value as long as it has the trust of the public who uses it as a medium of exchange. If we do experience hyper inflation the FED can just jack up the interest rate and the the system will return to balance in a few years time. Simply put, economics is mostly psychology built upon a model of population/demographics coupled with supply and demand theory.
As things stand right now we don’t have a mechanism that can reverse Green House Gas emissions if the models turn out right in 20 or 30 years. We are running a global experiment with our planet. The assumption is that *IF* there are huge negative feedbacks from our emission we can just invent an inexpensive way to suck all that bad stuff back out of the environment. Remember, it’s not just the CO2, it’s the hundreds of other chemical compound we are injecting into the biosphere that are the true cause of concern. We are lucky in that you and I are not the ones who will have to deal with that.
Yesterday I linked to a blog discussion on a new climate study that shows the famous 17 year pause is an illusion. The reason that the major climate models don’t match the observations was because there are so few measurements in the areas that are experiencing the fastest warming like the Arctic and parts of Africa.
http://qz.com/147049/as-it-turns-out-the-global-warming-pause-doesnt-exist/
“The study, released this week in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, attempts to correct for the fact that widely cited datasets on global surface temperatures are incomplete. The data gaps exist primarily in the Arctic, where recent summers have a experienced a stark decline in sea ice. Significant data holes also exist in hard-to-reach places like the Amazon, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Australia, and the Antarctic. Together, those gaps account for about 16% of the Earth’s surface.”
One thing we can be sure of though, science and technology will keep making progress and there will be plenty of stuff to argue about for years to come.
As things stand right now we don’t have a mechanism that can reverse Green House Gas emissions if the models turn out right in 20 or 30 years
See I just can’t understand how they can be wrong now but somehow will be right in 20 to 30 years. Based on the models we should be almost 1 F warmer than we are now. There are actually numerous models and are actual temperature is colder than 95% of the models yet they continue to assume that the midpoint of the models should be used. Since the models were created we have learned by CERN experiments that the Sun has a much more powerful impact of the Earth than the .1 F variable they use between sunspot cycles. For a period of 70 years we had the most active sun in 8000 years. Much of this heating was hidden because the PDO was in a cold phase during the peak of the solar activity.
Sorry but you are requesting that we spend trillions of dollars to offset something that we really don’t know is a problem. Money that could be better spent on things that we know are real problems including real environmental problems.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/11/04/rss-reaches-santers-17-years/
This shows measured over 17 years we have an insignificant cooling but still a cooling when we should have had rapid warming since we have never put so much co2 in the air, year after year.
First thing I want to clear up is I don’t want anybody to have to spend trillions of dollars to ‘fix’ climate change. What needs to happen is we need to shrink the global population till we can equalize the standard of living for the long term health of all humanity. I think 4 or 5 billion should be the target.
Back to the climate/economy analogy;
“since we have never put so much co2 in the air, year after year.”
So we have never printed so much money either. Trillions and trillions of dollars/yen/euros year after year. But when we look at the official inflation numbers it’s flat (a pause?). By using only one statistic (surface temperature/CPI) can we just assume there will won’t be any negative consequences? Just like some climate scientist claim the missing heat is in the oceans and due to it’s cyclical nature it will come back out in the future with a vengeance. And there are some pretty smart economist that are warning us that the excess money is just being hidden in bank reserves and will flood back into the economy in the future. One time this happened before in Germany and when it blew up we ended up with WWII - nobody wants that, and nobody wants the global temperature to go up 5 degrees either.
The one statistic you are talking about is the only statistic that is relevant. We know that co2 helps plants to go and higher amounts act like a fertilizer and crop yields have been going up throughout the world due to it. The whole theory of AGW is that rising co2 levels cause rising temperatures. Actually, I agree with that part. You actually do have a 95% consensus on that. However, the real debate is how much of a rise does a given amount of co2 cause and all the data supports that far less than claimed by the Hansen’s of this world. Keep looking for the “hidden heat” but waiting for significant AGW is waiting for the great pumpkin.
I think something arbitrary, therefore something else arbitrary.. QED.. bigger government to control it! Empty your wallets!
Also as this University of Denver article shows, arbitrary policies can have bad consequences:
DENVER (Nov. 15, 2013) – More than 600,000 bats were killed by wind energy turbines in 2012, a serious blow to creatures who pollinate crops and help control flying insects, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Denver.
“The development and expansion of wind energy facilities is a key threat to bat populations in North America,” said study author Mark Hayes, PhD, research associate in integrated biology at CU Denver. “Dead bats are being found underneath wind turbines across North America. The estimate of bat fatalities is probably conservative
The development and expansion of wind energy facilities is a key threat to bat populations in North America
Do they mistake the blades for REALLY BIG mosquitos?
News flash! Human modification of biosphere is killing all the wildlife.
Seriously though I saw that research paper about bats last week. There is actually a web site http://www.batsandwind.org dedicated to preventing wind turbine bat deaths. Some of the solutions include using sonar to ward off curious bats, using special colors on the blades that bats naturally avoid and stopping the turbines during low wind conditions.
But the real problem for bats is white nose syndrome (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) which is killing tens of millions of bats and could wipe out the remaining populations in less than a decade.
Do you think the government should spend (waste) any money to cure white nose syndrome?
For some good news I noticed the government has finally stopped trying to force us to burn food for fuel! I’m sure there are some pissed off farmers in Iowa right now.
You have nothing to worry about.
Markets
11/14/2013 @ 12:59PM
Janet Yellen: No Equity Bubble, No Real Estate Bubble, And No QE Taper Yet
…
Several Senators chose to push Yellen on the issue of asset bubbles, which the Vice Chairwoman said are notoriously hard to anticipate. Yellen rejected the notion that stocks are in bubble territory, despite the major indexes hitting record highs in the context of a stagnant economy and high unemployment, pointing to the equity risk premium and other valuation metrics. “[There is] no federal rule to support the stock market,” she replied to Senator Dean Heller (R-Nev.).
It was Heller who also pushed her on the issue of gold, asking Yellen if she followed gold prices. “To some extent,” the nominee responded, adding that there are no good models to predict price swings in the yellow metal, but that it has a following as a hedge to tail-risk and catastrophe. “That’s a better answer than I got from Chairman Bernanke,” Heller said.
Yellen was also asked about the housing market, which Fed Chairman Bernanke has consistently raised as one of his tenure’s successes in the aftermath of the crisis. With stocks in homebuilders like KB Home and Toll Brothers (TOL +2.6%) going through the roof, and major financial names like Blackstone buying up single family homes, Yellen said that is nothing more than “a rational response by the market.” She spoke of markets like Las Vegas, which had been hit the hardest by the crisis and had rebounded strongly as of late.
On the issue of QE being an elitist policy, favoring those holding financial assets and failing to trickle down to Main Street, Yellen was diplomatic in her attempts to answer. Admitting asset purchases harm savers, she tried to emphasize the wealth effect and the fall in unemployment, but never acknowledged the marginal decline in the efficiency of the policy.
…
Riding asset bubbles is your ticket out of that 9-5 your stuck in.
I’m beginning to believe you.
“Riding asset bubbles is your ticket out of that 9-5 your stuck in.”
+1 And god will be right there with you.
“Yellen was also asked about the housing market, which Fed Chairman Bernanke has consistently raised as one of his tenure’s successes in the aftermath of the crisis. With stocks in homebuilders like KB Home and Toll Brothers (TOL +2.6%) going through the roof, and major financial names like Blackstone buying up single family homes, Yellen said that is nothing more than “a rational response by the market.””
“On the issue of QE being an elitist policy, favoring those holding financial assets and failing to trickle down to Main Street, Yellen was diplomatic in her attempts to answer. Admitting asset purchases harm savers, she tried to emphasize the wealth effect and the fall in unemployment, but never acknowledged the marginal decline in the efficiency of the policy.”
Yellen to the elderly, savers, working stiffs, and the poor: “FU*K YOU.”
‘So when you were on last week I asked you, if they don’t get enough people in the exchanges, then what happens?” said host Megyn Kelly. “And you said then the premiums go up very, very high. Now, was that ball put in motion today?”
“We don’t know yet,” said Cutler. “So what the president is trying to do is to say the website is not working, the exchanges are not working. Let’s try and slow the process down and delay it by a year. And if it turns out to be a delay of a year, then we can work through that. It would be uncomfortable as it has been for the past month, but it will turn out okay. If it becomes a permanent situation that people who are healthier stay away and people who are sicker go into the exchanges, that becomes a very big problem.”
“Is that the beginning of the so-called death spiral?”
“That could be the beginning of a death spiral,” said Cutler.”
Dang, this real world stuff is harder than the Sad Pandas thought it was.
Think about how many businesses were involved here. The doctors, hospitals, the equipment, the insurance companies. They were going to wave a big government wand and re-arrange everything; it would be cheaper, better and you could keep your plan, it wouldn’t add a dime to the deficit!
Has there ever been a more colossal load of horse-shit sold to the people in this country?
Has there ever been a more colossal load of horse-shit sold to the people in this country?
Iraq war. To me the O’care debacle hasn’t reached the Iraq war level just yet.
just buy some insurance so someone else can get free coverage.
http://news.yahoo.com/not-fast-obamas-health-care-law-changing-222047704–politics.html
“just buy some insurance so someone else can get free coverage.”
+1 Wow AZ, you’re firing on all eight-cylinders today.
The Iraq war did not involve 1/6 of the US economy. I know people will say people are not being killed but if you impact the delivery of health care you will lose more than a few thousand people a year so that is not true either. I think extracting ourselves from this mess will be more difficult than getting out of Iraq.
The Iraq war did not involve 1/6 of the US economy.
Obamacare does not “involve” 1/6 of the economy - not even close. It’s a lie. Look at the math.
80% of people under 65 already get their insurance through their employers, 30% of American are already covered by existing Medicaid/Medicare and most of the people covered by ACA will be buying private insurance. This BS line of “This is a Government Takeover of 1/6 of the economy” is a lie.
Medicare and Medicaid are impacted by the ACA both in cuts to Medicare and increases to Medicaid funding. Thus, ACA is running the entire health care system which is 1/6. But continue to be the propaganda minister for Obama administration.
ACA is running the entire health care system which is 1/6.
Wrong. I just showed by my math that it is not. Yours is propaganda set to affect the dull.
But continue to be the ineffective (and bad at stats, math and trends) propaganda minister for Koch brothers.
Continue to be the cross dressing Lola of Brazil.
You can continue to say that ACA does not impact the entire health care system over and over but it does not make it true.
“But continue to be the ineffective (and bad at stats, math and trends) propaganda minister for Koch brothers.”
BTW, if you had any analytical skills and any knowledge of positions, you would know that the Koch Brothers support amnesty, thus a person that is trashing amnesty would not be working for them.
Apparently, Housing Analysis has identified your only skills.
Housing Analyst (auto correct)
“cross dressing Lola….” lmao
Nor was the Iraq war pushed through with only one side voting for it.
You can scream all you want about the bad intel, and VERY questionable benefit to the US (I know I was screaming at the time), but at the end of the day, there were plenty of Democrats that were complicit.
Nor was the Iraq war pushed through with only one side voting for it.
+100
ACA was entirely partisan… not a single Republican voted for it. Democrats own this POS and will pay dearly for screwing up our modern health-care system for the middle-class.
There is an article in the NYT trying to liken Obama’s response to the ACA rollout to Bush’s response to Katrina.
Pretty poor analogy, IMHO.
Bush was responding to a natural disaster, and did a crappy job, even though he had several days notice.
Obama is responding to a man-made disaster; in fact, he designed the “storm” and had several YEARS to prepare for his custom designed “storm”–and now he is discovering that his “storm” is more powerful than he thought, and the lack of preparation is making it worse.
Iraq war. To me the O’care debacle hasn’t reached the Iraq war level just yet.
What was so hard to understand about the Iraq war? It was never about WMD’s… that was just the excuse for initiating hostilities again. It has always been about the oil… and creating regimes friendly to US interests while marginalizing Iran.
As much of a debacle Iraq was, it pales in comparison to Obamacare. Obamacare is demolishing the Healthcare and Health Insurance industries, about 25% of our economy. It impacts every single American and is blatantly anti-middle-class and re-distributive. Iraq impacted less than 1% of the US population (service men and women), and while expensive, helped fund defense contractors and further our technical and tactical know-how fighting insurgency in urban areas. I’m not defending the lies that led to Iraq, rather just showing how Iraq is nothing compared to Obamacare.
Obamacare is demolishing the Healthcare and Health Insurance industries, about 25% of our economy.
Not even close. Just chicken-little right-wing propaganda.
See the math in my above post.
Obamacare impacts the entire healthcare and health insurance industry, not just the individual marketplace. It taxes employers who offer insurance, it created a tax mandate for all Americans, it penalizes hospitals that don’t meet government standards for efficiency, it reduces medicare reimbursements to doctors, etc.
Your math is disingenuous as you are only focusing on a small part of the entire ACA law… a law that none of our lawmakers bothered to read because it was so voluminous.
+1
Obamacare is demolishing the Healthcare and Health Insurance industries
If only it were.
Obamacare is demolishing the Healthcare and Health Insurance industries
If only it were.
Oh, it is…
for October:
* 100,000 signed up for Obamacare (not paid, but with a plan in the shopping cart, mind you).
* 4.02 million plans dropped
* Enrollment -3.9 million…
Does that sound like a money maker for insurance companies? How about doctors and hospitals? How about the pre-existing condition clause? You honestly think healthy people won’t just pay the penalty and then sign up once they get sick? How about all those financial penalties for hospitals that aren’t “efficient” based on the government-mandated standards? That should help struggling hospitals… not. What about adding millions of previously uninsured or uninsurable sick people to the system… think that won’t increase demands on services? Think that won’t increase wait times?
You bleeding heart progressives just don’t understand how markets work, supply and demand, etc.
Obamacare impacts the entire healthcare and health insurance industry,
“Impacts”? Yea. That is what might happen when an advanced people’s elected government tries to give real health care to 1/3 of its people.
But “impact” is different than a takeover. It’s a Repub plan. Do you all even know what you stand for? A big fat load of nada?
Also this whole debacle does something else which affects not just the healthcare sector but the whole economy, which is it provides uncertainty. The libtards were all to happy to point to the devastation this uncertainty would cause from the shutdown, now it is happening so fast to them they don’t know which Teleprompter to read.
This affects 100 percent of the economy. I told you weeks ago, you can’t take a turd out of the pumpkin pie it was baked in.
speaking of death spirals…
health care is 18 percent of u.s. gdp. what will it be when over 50 percent of this country is obese, and 50 million ‘mercans have diabetes?
Simple. The healthy ones get robbed at libtard gunpoint to pay for the obese and diabetics. Welcome to the continued “progressivism.”
Re-post of article about food stamps, obesity, diabetes in South Texas:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2013/11/09/too-much-of-too-little/
The people profiled in the article are America’s future demographic majority.
And yes, you will pay.
And yes, you will pay.
Of course I “will pay”. Because I am an American and I will pay for the policies my country pursues. It’s called being a member of a society and a citizen of a country. There are prices to be paid.
And when our first lady tries to fight obesity, she’s called a “socialist”.
Goon, as I said yesterday the US and Mexico will soon be one. The good news is we will be the most competitive country in the world and the profits of our corporations will be at all time highs. The standard of living for Mexicans will soar and they will be quite happy in the new joint country.
The bad news is the wages of all working Americans will plunge, and virtually all manufacturing will occur in what was Mexico and if you have advanced skills in the manufacturing area you will have to move there just to be able to support yourself. Finally, virtually all the increase in profits will go to the .01 percent.
However, the Tea party will be given a silver lining. Mexico can become the new south. Since it is socially more conservative we can re-fight the gay marriage issue and the abortion issue. New voters for the wedge issues!! Carl Rove who knows the plan is just waiting to dust off his old playbook.
Sorry, I happen to believe there are limits on the amount of freedom that can be taken away from me by government and that is why we are a constitutional government and not a pure democracy.
I said yesterday the US and Mexico will soon be one.
In fantasy land.
The good news is we will be the most competitive country in the world and the profits of our corporations will be at all time highs…..The bad news is the wages of all working Americans will plunge
That would be a corporate sponsored betrayal of the American people.
“In fantasy land.”
I think you’re right here. I mean, if Puerto Rico hasn’t become a state by now, it’s not gonna happen with Mexico. Besides, it’s a matter of Mexican pride, which is fierce. Just because they’re here, doesn’t mean they want to be part of the US, or even become citizens, unless they can keep dual citizenship like their US born progeny.
It’s strictly about the Benjamins.
Question in that vain, why did Mexico change the law to allow them to have dual citizenship?
The healthy ones get robbed …to pay for the obese and diabetics. BlueCross spokesman, 2008
Rio, go peddle your socialism in Venezuela… I hear the masses actually like it there.
Venezuela jails over 100 capitalists…
Yes, Brazil is already choking on the socialism it has as it falls further and further behind Chile just as I predicted and Rio denied a few years ago.
Rio, go peddle your socialism in Venezuela…
You wouldn’t know Socialism if it bit you on your a$$.
Your level of ignorance of words, history and political realities is astounding.
Either that or you are a lying mouthpiece for right-wing fascists.
grrr Woff Woff!
Your level of ignorance of words, history and political realities is astounding.
Either that or you are a lying mouthpiece for right-wing fascists.
LOLZ. Every reader on this blog knows what you are… a lying mouthpiece for progressives and socialists. Is it any wonder why you would try and paint me with the same brush?
As to my “ignorance”, the beauty of our blog posts is that they present a recorded history that can be searched. What does that history say of you? That you’re a socialist hack. We have years of your posts to go by so there is no denying it.
Me? I’ve always presented myself the same way: a Libertarian-leaning Republican. I’ve never been coy about my profession: software development. What’s yours? Ah, all we ever get from you is “Capitalism has been good to me”. And that you purport to reside in Brazil. None of which I believe. Me? I’ve been very clear about working in the Boston-metro area. How about home ownership… the topic of this blog? You? You bought your house for cash in Brazil, right? Me: I own a multi-unit in MA that I obviously paid too much for given the housing bubble run-up. Does any of that sound like a “lying mouthpiece for right-wing fascists”?
So, which is more believable on a blog about housing: that we have a supposed independently-wealthy by virtue of their capitalist successes ex-pat residing in Brazil who paid cash for their house in Brazil and supports every progressive mandate pushed by Obama and his cronies or that you’re a political hack pushing progressive ideology for money on a blog?
“You wouldn’t know Socialism if it bit you on your a$$”
Speaking of death spirals:
Progressivism/Marxism -> Socialism -> Communism -> Mass Killings/Starvation
Progressivism/Marxism -> Socialism -> National Socialist German Workers Party -> Mass Killings/Genocide
Why would anyone in their right mind want that for this great nation? Control? Really?
–
In other news, it has been recently reported that the North Koreans (Marxist Communists) had as many as 80 public executions by machine gun firing squads. Those executed were guilty of such serious crimes as reading the bible and watching south korean television programs.
You see, it’s that whole authoritarian thing that blows the benevolent sounding propagandist’s arguments right out of the water.
It always comes down to “Respect my authority!”, preferably said in a Cartmen-South-Parkesque voice…
Yet the Tea-Party and libertarians are the bad guys… can anyone say “liberals have a psychotic disconnect”?
“……supports every progressive mandate pushed by Obama and his cronies or that you’re a political hack pushing progressive ideology for money on a blog?”
I think you nailed it. I too have often wondered why some one who hypothetically adopted/moved to a new country would spend so much time on an american housing blog spouting political ideology more than information on housing ……then I realized he probably gets paid by the post. What is the going rate?
go peddle your socialism
There’s a difference between determining where to apply a redistribution of wealth (if at all) versus selectively deciding what a redistribution of wealth is. You do the latter, while saying no to the former.
Your posts suggest that all redistributions are evil and then you turn around and suggest the IT industry wasn’t a redistribution. What’s that saying? “C’mon, man…”
Progressivism/Marxism -> Socialism -> Communism -> Mass Killings/Starvation
Progressivism/Marxism -> Socialism -> National Socialist German Workers Party -> Mass Killings/Genocide
What does this symbol -> represent here?
I too have often wondered why some one who hypothetically adopted/moved to a new country g ……
Because you are a little simplistic, and you’ve never lived anywhere but 100 miles from your home?
Speaking of death spirals:
Speaking of? Your post is intelligible Read it and see if you can understand it. A sad example of logic and the English language.
There’s a difference between determining where to apply
Nice post. They are too dumb to understand it.
Me? I’ve always presented myself the same way:
Borderline paranoid, moronic and predictable.
(and on the wrong side of history)
So, which is more believable on a blog about housing: that we have a supposed independently-wealthy by virtue of their capitalist successes ex-pat residing in Brazil who paid cash for their house
Waaaa…You are jealous. Too bad amigo. I paid $300 last month for a house that would rent for more than 12 times as much. Every month.
I “won”. You have not yet. And you cry about the “injustice”.
Pre-op is not a preexisting condition.
“So, which is more believable on a blog about housing: that we have a supposed independently-wealthy by virtue of their capitalist successes ex-pat residing in Brazil who paid cash for their house in Brazil and supports every progressive mandate pushed by Obama and his cronies or that you’re a political hack pushing progressive ideology for money on a blog?”
It really does not make any sense. Somebody that posts virtually nothing about housing who claims he doesn’t even live in this country and supposedly has money being on this blog. For most everyone else you can see their stake in the issue. Some are involved in construction. Some have been priced out or are reluctant to buy because of the craziness (my own situation). Some who have taken the plunge and are defending their own decisions. Even some obvious speculators or realtards. But you can tell from their posts that they are all watching the housing markets in their area and elsewhere trying to get a handle on it.
Then we have someone who only seems to post political stuff on the bits defending his Messiah. What gives?
Progressivism/Marxism -> Socialism -> Communism -> Mass Killings/Starvation
The -> (arrow symbol) means the next item follows the previous…
American healthcare has been a joke and in a slow but steady death spiral for decades. It was already utterly unaffordable three decades ago. Now we’re getting perpetual housing bubbles to go with it.
What a country!
The Pikes Peak Ascent half-marathon is exactly nine months from tomorrow, 7,815 feet of vertical gain over 13.3 miles. The squad is in it to win it, baby!
what do you get if you win?
‘7,815 feet of vertical gain over 13.3 miles’
Back in my prime hiking days, I did the Pikes Peak hike on the Barr trail with a buddy. In May. Camped at the lean-to at the the timberline level. Got altitude sickness on the last few hundred vertical feet. Glad they had donuts in the shop. Wanted to hike on down to Florissant Fossil fields after that but my buddy chose to get us the train ride down. Those were the days where I could fuel up the diesel VW for $10 and get lost for a weekend in AZ and not care about money or anything except hiking. I want those days back.
“what do you get if you win?”
A busload of squadettes to induct me into the 2.673 Mile High Club.
“what do you get if you win?”
A busload of squadettes to induct me into the 2.673 Mile High Club.
Is that anything like the “100 virgins in paradise” reward touted by Jihadists?
Just kidding. If it’s true, I need to rethink some of my life choices…
Anybody who can run 13 miles ending at 14k and have anything left for a busload of squadettes can’t be human. My prediction is that the 2.673 Mile High club actually involves medical marijuana.
Yes, when he gets older he will know to walk to the bus load of squadettes.
“American healthcare has been a joke and in a slow but steady death spiral for decades.”
This!
The do nothing or voucher plans that Republicans have proposed would have left more of us without health care every year. This would have resulted in more hospitals closing outright or closing their Emergency Departments, especially in rural areas where population density and poverty contribute to their problems.
Rural hospitals have been in trouble for years. When they close, emergency care to stabilize accident victims disappears. Goon and others who enjoy the great outdoors are at greater risk of death from injuries when they can’t be stabilized within the first few hours.
http://money.msn.com/now/post–rural-us-hospitals-are-in-a-world-of-pain
Medicaid expansion was supposed to replace subsidies for these hospitals. In states that have rejected Medicaid expansion, rural hospitals are in serious trouble. Will Congressional Republicans pass a bill to reinstate the subsidies for states that have rejected Medicaid expansion or will they let the hospitals close? My bet is that the political game is more important to them than keeping hospitals open.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/09/health/cuts-in-hospital-subsidies-threaten-safety-net-care.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0
Assuming at some point those rural hospitals were not in trouble, and those were “better times”, what were the conditions that led to those “better times”. Did we have subsidized insurance exchanges then? Or rather than being about government being able to improve the situation, is our worsening condition really about corporatist control of our government offshoring good paying jobs that enabled a strong middle class capable of privately funding a great healthcare provider network?
This O’Care debacle and election year next year, Yellin will print for at least one more year.
did janet yellen really see the housing bubble?
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/-clueless–yellen-will-trigger-collapse–hopefully—peter-schiff-192921791.html
I think bloggers that were here 10 years ago saw more the yellen.
I remember conversations with our own ben jones about the ridiculous prices of real estate in sedona during the bubble.
did janet yellen really see the housing bubble?
She saw as much as Palin saw Russia from her porch.
Are you confusing a SNL skit with reality? In reality, Janet Yellen should have seen the housing bubble in her position but she did not. Now, we must rely on her to raise interest rates prior to an even bigger bubble bursting.
I think 2014 will be my 10 year anniversary, yikes!
(ACA)- Has there ever been a more colossal load of horse-shit sold to the people in this country?
Of course there has been. Here’s just a few.
1. The Iraq War
2. Lowering taxes for the rich will create jobs and investment in America.
3. Free trade will create Jobs and investment in America.
4. Illegal aliens only do the jobs American’s don’t want to do.
5. America is a still a “free country”.
6. The Civil War was “not about slavery”.
7. The Tea Party is about “smaller government”. (unless it’s their Medicaid, SocSec and Medicare.
8. The Republicans stand for liberty and a “smaller government”.
I can go on. ACA or even its modification is going to give millions access to health-care. That ship has sailed.
Brazilian Tranny!
“When my baby, when my baby smiles at me I go to Rio..de Janeiro…myohmeoh…”
Pablo Cruz
Mango! Welcome back to take your medicine! Can’t wait to hear how you defend the Messiah’s banana republic power grab to save his own political skin. Must be hard to see Slick Willy and Ole Crow Diane throw you under the bus so quick.
Welcome back to take your medicine!
What possible “medicine” could I need to take except Advil for my shoulder?
Can’t wait to hear how you defend the Messiah’s banana republic power grab
What are you referring to?
I don’t think Man-Goo is gonna get the chance.
Rio loves ObamaFascism.
Well… The Man-Goo Tranny keeps the bar real low… he has to due to his stock in trade.
What are you referring to?
He means reinforcing the private, for profit, medical industrial complex’s grab on 20% of our GDP.
It is still government-controlled. No fascism without the government flak jackets and guns.
“What are you referring to?”
I don’t know what they were referring to, but I would be referring to their passage of the ACA with NO bipartisan support, and then constantly deciding who should and should not be affected by the massive law (waivers, etc.).
The latest is his unilateral decision to allow insurance companies to keep plans they have already canceled–which hasn’t even been approved by state insurance regulators, and completely f’s up how the ACA is supposed to work…all to try to save his political backside from the backlash from the law…that was known to have this problem all along.
The ACA was estimated to cancel tens of millions of policies as early as the first presidential debate last year (as quoted by Romney when asked about the ACA), when he was still lying about keeping your policy to get re-elected…
Read this:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-14/obamacare-is-whatever-obama-says-it-is.html
By the way, the article references how states need to approve this (since they need to approve all plans), and the state of Washington has already said no (for lots of reasons).
Health care has been controlled by the government for a long time. Think about it. The government decides who gets to call themselves doctors, nurses or pharmacists. If a pharmceutical company develops a new drug, they have to get the government to approve it before they can sell it. So a group of brilliant, hard-working scientists have to get the approval of lazy bureaucrats to sell life-saving medicine.
Health care has been controlled by the government for a long time.
No. The government regulates the healthcare industry, just as it regulates the insurance industry, the legal industry, the financial industry, the airline industry, the telecommunications industry, etc. You obviously don’t understand the difference between a free-market, where participants are free to make choices about what products they purchase and market-providers offer and charge and the socialist-fascist “obamination” that is the ACA.
That was supposed to be a bit a joke, though it’s not very funny. I understand it all. However, to be more serious, the regulations that I described certainly mean that health care in America has not been “a free-market, where participants are free to make choices about what products they purchase” for a very long time.
Regulation is not the antithesis of free-market principles. However, government control of pricing, supply, and participation are signs of over-reaching government power, ala fascism or socialism.
What is the difference between you purchasing a car and you purchasing raisins? One product is regulated by the government, but is entirely a free-market transaction between participants. The other product has annual supply and annual pricing set by the government. It is central-planning, which is the antithesis of free-markets.
It depends where you draw the line. If you want to talk about cars, you can consider the original VW Beetle, which was a very popular car in the United States in the ’60s and ’70s. VW continued to produce the Beetle in Mexico up until around 2003. If they would have been able to ship them north of the border and sell them, many Americans probably would have purchased them. But that wasn’t possible because that car didn’t meet government safety standards. Many fans of the free market would object to that. Who needs this government nanny state telling us that some cars are unsafe? Let the consumers decide for themselves.
I would be referring to their passage of the ACA with NO bipartisan support,
Who gives a F? That is a “point”? This is a surprise?
Maybe in a pig’s eye.
The Repubs didn’t care. The Repubs don’t care. They had NO solution. Are you blind to the reality and history of your country? What a crock.
No, you seem to be missing my point (see that little “,” at the end of my quote?…there was more).
The point is that Obama has been dictating when, how, and for whom Obamacare should be enforced.
Don’t you see that as just a teeny bit problematic?
The history of our country goes back farther than the healthcare debate and is one of strong laws and enforcement of those laws. No president should have the power to keep making up how laws are enforced as they go.
In this case, it’s even more offensive due to the fact that he shoved this HUGE law onto a large portion of Americans who don’t want it.
Oh, and the BS about Republicans offering no plan?
Did you forget this?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-5093897-503544.html
And here’s a juicy quote from 2009 regarding the same plan (from a WSJ article):
“The government would run a health plan “with the compassion of the IRS, the efficiency of the post office, and the incompetence of Katrina,” according to a summary of the Republicans’ plan unveiled on Wednesday. Called the Patients’ Choice Act, it would eliminate the tax break that employers receive for providing health-insurance benefits to their workers. Instead, it would give an annual tax credit of $2,300 to each individual and $5,700 to each family that they could use to offset the cost of their health insurance. Low-income families would get extra money to buy into private insurance plans.”
And
“The Republican plan introduced Wednesday shares some things in common with measures Democrats are pushing. Both parties want to create insurance exchanges that make it easier to comparison-shop for health-care plans. They also want to shift health-care dollars toward preventing chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes, not just because it will make Americans healthier, but because prevention is cheaper than treating people once they get really sick.”
Oh, and before you say that it was just a 4-page summary, and they weren’t serious about trying to do anything further:
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2009/november/03/republican-health-bill.aspx
They fleshed out 200+ pages of legislative language.
“The bill’s general approach expands state-based high-risk insurance pools for Americans with pre-existing health problems, permits trade associations to organize to purchase group insurance, imposes caps on medical liability lawsuits and allows health insurance companies to sell policies across state lines. Most of these ideas — particularly efforts to reform medical malpractice laws — were left out of the Democratic approaches.
The GOP plan would also explicitly prohibit all federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. Rep. Bart T. Stupak (D-Mich.) is leading an effort by anti-abortion forces to include such a prohibition in the House Democrats’ legislation.
A one page summary of the bill released by House Republican in the late afternoon highlighted these other provisions: allowing dependents to remain on their parents’ policies through age 25; enhancing Health Savings Accounts, and promoting healthier lifestyles by giving employers greater flexibility to financially reward employees who adopt healthier lifestyles; and encouraging innovative state programs that reduce premiums and the number of uninsured.
The party released the bill on the GOP Web site, saying: “The full text of the 219-page, common-sense Republican alternative to Speaker Pelosi’s 1,990-page government takeover of health care is now available.” Over the weekend, House Minority Leader John Boehner called the Democratic bill “unaffordable.”"
I personally can do without the BS about not covering abortions–I’m tired of wasting breath on the subject. People need to get over the fact that R v Wade is THE LAW.
But to claim that the Republicans didn’t put forth an alternative is disingenuous at best.
Health care has been controlled by the government for a long time.
No. The government regulates the healthcare industry Northeastener
Thank you Northeastener for acknowledging that government regulation is not the same as government control.
At least some may now get it. Government is less like those guys in the control room when Nasa landed a guy on the moon (sorry Spook), and more like the Post Office where you wait in line to send a package.
It could be cut in half with no real world effect other than putting a bunch of federal employees (including soldiers) out of work.
“It could be cut in half”
Every single federal retirement in my office is backfilled with a contractor.
Feds drool, contractors rule!
Now sit down, shut up, and pay your taxes. At $500,000,000,000+ a year, we’re not cheap
Can one of those contractors get fired if they aren’t producing?
What percentage are employees and what percent contractors?
“Can one of those contractors get fired”
Yup. We fired one this summer for incompetence. Hiring him was a mistake. He had a few decades at Raytheon in an unrelated area, and exaggerated his credentials to get the job here. This dude couldn’t even handle basic MS Excel functions.
I have seen that with several 50-something contractors. Funny thing is they were all obese. One of them diabetic.
he was a nice guy, cordial albeit incompetent, but his life choices represent the absolute opposite of my life direction.
age 63 with 2 teenage children at home, bought colorado house near bubble peak and is barely above water (btw this house was a 43 mile one way commute from our office), justed dumped his former arizona house and had to take an ira withdrawal to pay the taxes on that sale, and doing a $25,000 kitchen remodel to keep the younger wife happy.
meanwhile, my rate of savings is accelerating, even with some spending on the fun budget (4 days of skiing at loveland for $129), it really sucks having all this money left over after throwing money away on rent every month.
It really is nice to have a half million or million in loose cash available.
Even just to be able to pull a dozen $100 bills out of your pocket puts you way ahead of the vast majority of credit card rollover American Debt Donkeys.
Sadly you are correct.
What I find strange is those who so willingly throw themselves into debt slavery via by any debt when in fact all they have is a few hundred dollar bills.
If having a few thousand dollars is better than a few hundred, how is it that going in reverse and shouldering tens or hundreds of thousands of debt is preferable? (huh?)
I don’t get it.
and more like the Post Office where you wait in line to send a package.
The US post office rocks. For buck you can send a letter 3000 miles in a couple/few days for less than half a buck. And many of their package services are cheaper than UPS/FedEx.
And many of their package services are cheaper than UPS/FedEx.
Agreed. I use the USPS frequently for shipping stuff. Their media mail rate can’t be beat.
Amazon just inked a deal to do Sunday delivery via US Post Office, so pricing must be more than competitive… of course, that’s because taxpayers subsidize the Post Office and it has been operating in the red when pensions are taken into account.
of course, that’s because taxpayers subsidize the Post Office
Not since the 1980’s, IIRC.
But they are like Fannie Mae when they go bankrupt we pay the bill so they have been able to borrow money to stay in operations. It is an indirect subsidy but it is a subsidy.
a subsidy coming out of YOUR pocket. And mine.
The US post office rocks. For buck you can send a letter 3000 miles in a couple/few days for less than half a buck
———————————————————————–
Not only that, they can also simulate sending your package to the moon and returning it safely to earth.
Don’t forget the redistribution. It’s got to cost a lot more to deliver mail to people in tiny town in Utah or Alabama than it does to people in NYC or Chicago. Yet everyone pays the same amount for postage.
Is mail indispensable service infrastructure that serves society or something we as a society can do without and are willing to relegate to the free-market to provide?
Do you know the difference? How about roads and bridges? How about defense? How about health care?
Government is supposed to provide the framework for society and it’s tax structure should support that representative framework. The difference between a socialist government and one based on capitalism and free-market principles are very clear, with many examples globally. Can you tell the difference?
Government is supposed to provide the framework for society and it’s tax structure should support that representative framework.
It’s clearly a matter of opinion when you use the words “is supposed to”. I’m sure many people who participate on this blog would say that the post office could be shut down and Federal Express and UPS could fill the gap. In other words, the post office represents the government getting involved in something that private sector could handle better.
Certainly, the idea of charging the exact same postage whether someone is sending a letter 2 miles or 2,000 miles has got to be directly in contradiction of free market busisess principles. Private shipping compaines like UPS wouldn’t never do that.
“Has there ever been a more colossal load of horse-shit sold to the people in this country?”
Yes. Iraq and other wars, er, uh, military actions.
However, domestically you are correct.
BTW, the Chicago Tribune, the O-man’s hometown paper and a firm supporter of his in the past carried an op-ed yesterday that was titled “Stop Digging, Start Over”. And that’s not the only MSM fishwrap putting this line out there. The pig is DOA. It’s just a matter of how long they’re going to drag out the unworkable “fixes” before they let the dang thing RIP. It’s ugly, and it wants to die.
“domestically you are correct”
Beg to differ. The non-enforcement of immigration laws and lack of border control for the past several decades has done more damage to this country than the enactment of Barrycare.
But you can’t criticize either, cus that’s racis.
So we have a new tag line to go with the fix of the day.
Obamacare; it’s not as bad as the Iraq war.
Obamacare; it’s not as bad as the Iraq war.
Obamacare: Will give life
Iraq War: Took and takes life
Obamacare. It is as bad as Obama’s war in Afghanistan. Quagmire.
‘Obamacare: Will give life’
‘President Barack Obama is criticized every day for the problems and difficulties associated with the Affordable Care Act. But in the long term, it’s likely history will scrutinize the CIA’s use of drone strikes during his administration with a far more critical eye.’
‘As first reported in a book review by the Washington Post’s Peter Hamby, Obama told aides in connection with the CIA’s drone program that he is “really good at killing people.”
http://news.yahoo.com/new-book–obama-told-aides-that-drones-make-him–really-good-at-killing-people–144734667.html
Obamacare: Will give life
Iraq War: Took and takes life
Correction: Obamacare: Will give death panels
But will Obamacare give mangos?
No, but it mandates coverage for nuts.
Obamacare: Will give death panels
When will this happen?
Already happening as the federal government decides to cut funding for procedures provided to the elderly.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/07/29/Howard-Dean-Politifact-lie-of-the-year
What do you mean by cut funding and which procedures are you talking about? What is the name of the panel that makes these decisions and who are its members?
“Obamacare; it’s not as bad as the Iraq war.”
……which by the way was……you got it….BUSH’S FAULT!!!
Excerpt from article names the panel, I do not have their names:
And Democrat Howard Dean agrees. In a Monday Wall Street Journal op-ed, Dean writes:
One major problem [with ObamaCare] is the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB is essentially a health-care rationing body. By setting doctor reimbursement rates for Medicare and determining which procedures and drugs will be covered and at what price, the IPAB will be able to stop certain treatments its members do not favor by simply setting rates to levels where no doctor or hospital will perform them.
Here is what Palin wrote four years ago:
The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course.
I think that Palin’s notion of a death panel was one which makes decisions about individual patients.
Of course, people like Sarah Palin are always complaining about government spending. Then, once an attempt is made to save a few bucks on Medicare she invents the specter of death panels and morons believe her.
If you Google up Howard Dean you can find this article that shows he works for a lobbying firm whose clients include health care and pharmaceutical companies. People who complain about IPAB are concerned about the profits of such companies, not any harm to senior citizens.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114072/howard-dean-obamacare-payment-board-and-k-street
But will Obamacare give mangos?
Call me names. Act like teenagers. You look like fools. Your
“ideas” are trite and without substance. That’s why I scare the s%!t out of you.
No? Watch your freaking out.
Already happening as the federal government decides to cut funding for procedures provided to the elderly.
You are such a false hypocrite. Like this never happened under private insurance.
Liar. It happened all the time. Get real.
Actually, that’s not racist.
“The non-enforcement of immigration laws and lack of border control for the past several decades has done more damage to this country”
I will continue to say, until someone hears me, border safety should be about ensuring that no one trips as they safely cross the dotted line into or out of a free country. It’s not immigration you have a problem with, it’s free services to free-loaders. Take away the free services and immigration becomes a non-issue.
I agree with you strongly on this. All nations should do the same.
But, what if I get pregnant?
But, what if I get pregnant?
Men are not subsidizing women in ACA and women are not subsidizing men, because man and women are each halves of the whole of humankind.
Now I’m sure some non-thinking morons will call such a truism “Socialism”.
Men are not subsidizing women in ACA and women are not subsidizing men, because man and women are each halves of the whole of humankind.
Now I’m sure some non-thinking morons will call such a truism “Socialism”.
Your an idiot. A free-market would allow insurance companies to offer maternity care if the consumer required it and not offer it if the consumer didn’t require it. How many single men need maternity care? How many women over 50 need maternity care? 0. Why pay more for coverage you don’t need? Cause ‘merica, that’s why… and because Obama said so (he wants you to pay for poor people). That’s socialist.
“Your an idiot.”
That’s funny. I know, I know– you can’t always measure intelligence by writing ability, but you really should do a proofread if you’re going to throw insults like that.
You should terminate the pregnancy.
Again with the visuals!!
“Stop Digging, Start Over”. And that’s not the only MSM fishwrap putting this line out there. The pig is DOA.
You guys consistently miss the big-picture. You think Small-Ball - miss the forest for the trees. The premise has changed and ground shifted. Now health-care is more or less a right, not a benefit. The Repubs will have a very difficult time reverting to the old premise. If ACA is changed, the Repubs will have to offer a plan to adjust to the new premise that Obama changed. That was the change. I’ve said this for months and months. My position has not changed.
IMO, the new premise will not “Start Over”. USA will not go back to 100 million uninsured or with junk insurance. That ship has sailed. The way to implement the premise might be changed, but the now-changed premise will not be reverted.
That my amigos, is playin’ ball with the big boys and the “big fkn deal”.
If ACA is changed, the Repubs will have to offer a plan to adjust to the new premise that Obama changed
If the democrats for repeal, the Republicans do not have to do anything. It will be just like the late 1980’s when the democrats just had to retreat. However, they will propose something insurance sold across state borders, malpractice tort reform and health care accounts all things Obama would not even consider thus the 0 republican votes for the final plan and thus 0 responsibility for the turkey law and that is the big fkn deal.
However, they will propose something insurance sold across state borders, malpractice tort reform and health care accounts
If this is such a panacea, then why hasn’t the House introduced a bill for this already? They’ve certainly held enough ACA votes.
They made all these suggestions when Obamacare was proposed and Obama refused to negotiate and put anyone of them in this bill. They voted on ACA to show their continued opposition, it was not about creating an alternative.
Neither side is interested in doing what’s right. Not for the healthcare crisis, not for the immigration crisis, not for the economic crisis, not for the erosion of rights. These politicians are interested in ONE thing: Obtaining wealth and power for themselves at the expense of the citizens they were elected to serve. Wake up America.
If the democrats for repeal…the Republicans do not have to do anything.,
You’re babbling and redundant. Repubs never do anything on health care. Do you have a knowledge of their past 30 years on the subject? What country do you hail from?
Try to make some sense.
“Let’s try and slow the process down and delay it by a year. And if it turns out to be a delay of a year, then we can work through that. It would be uncomfortable as it has been for the past month, but it will turn out okay.”
Wasn’t a one-year delay already proposed and rejected?
Wasn’t a one-year delay already proposed and rejected?
That rejected, proposed delay was a much more comprehensive delay and Obama made the point that he would not “negotiate” facing a barrel of a gun of the “government shutdown”.
So he pointed the gun at the Republicans when they passed bills to delay and stated that he would never sign a bill with no delay. He was elected president not dictator but he has never accepted that. Negotiation is part of the job and refusing to go along with raising the debt ceiling unless you get concessions was done by him as a Senator.
“He was elected president not dictator”
His brain dead followers would say otherwise.
“He was elected president “
President’s are not required to sign every bill that comes across their desk. He set his bottom line very clearly. That is part of negotiations.
“refusing to go along with raising the debt ceiling unless you get concessions was done by him as a Senator”
And as a Senator, he was no more successful than the Republicans were this time.
Yes but because he did not sign the one year extension of the time of the individual mandate like he did the business mandate, he has to deal with the mess. He could have avoided it and blamed the lack of coverage on the Republicans. Lucky for Republicans he is no Bill Clinton. But wasn’t it Bill that remarked, Obama would have been carrying our bags a few years ago, or something close to that.
From Breitbart Sept. 2, 2012
In 2008, during that contentious Democrat primary that pitted Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, the former
president was in full sales mode to get his wife the nomination of the Democrat Party. In an effort to enlist Ted Kennedy to his cause he uttered what any journalist would immediately brand as a racist remark.
According to Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker, Clinton said, “A few years ago, this guy would have been carrying our bags.”
You might recall, as does Lizza, that Bill Clinton was already being accused of acting in a racist manner by discounting Obama’s primary wins that year. But the former president was even more vehement in private.
“Has there ever been a more colossal load of horse-shit sold to the people in this country?”
Progressivism
Multiculturalism as well, what a crock. Just ask those living in Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Great Britain, France and parts of the United States…ask how the growing communities of Islamic Jihadists from the middle east and Africa are working out for them.
“progressivism” is a mental disease. It is not limited to Democrats, although a far higher percentage of Democrats are “progressive” than Republicans.
Progressive Republicans: Teddy Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Bob Dole, both Bushes, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Lindsey Graham, John
I have to put Ronald Reagan on the above list because he publically gushed about FDR, and did not cut spending. But he repeatedly said he is only cutting the rate of increase in spending. That’s how modern conservatives define “conservative”, just a slower walk on the road to serfdom, but on the road nonetheless.
Non-progressive Republicans: Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater, Ron Paul.
Anything good going on on this Friday, November 15 2013? Any good news?
Look at the price reductions at the bottom:
http://www.movoto.com/statistics/az/phoenix.htm#city=&time=1Y&metric=Inventory&type=0
Holy chit!
Price reductions up 100%, demand off by 20%…… and list prices down 3% in a month….. LOLZ
Inventory up about 150%, MOM listing price down a small bit, lots of price reductions, days on market up significantly, but YOY listing prices up 30%.
This tells the story right here. The increased price in the rear view gets the hopes up to list thinking it will go on. Ignore that the trend has reversed and things are sitting and prices are being dropped. Better hope your neighbor doesn’t get divorced or a new job out of state and need to sell bad.
rich people own assets to gain wealth while the working people are taught how to punch a time clock.
I don’t get those Movoto inventory figures. Weren’t there something like 50K homes on the market in PHX a few short years ago? Where did all the sellers go?
“Any good news?”
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
And this moment is as young as you’ll ever be.
And now you’re older… and now you’re even older…
Donkey,
You forgot to add, “better buy a rapidly depreciating shack at an inflated price before you’re too old like I did.”
There…. I did it for you.
can we expect more money printing and asset price increases under calamity yellen?
around the water cooler people are starting to think they are good stock pickers again.
So what did you pay Oxide… You said $74/sq ft. You paid $148k for a house in DC?
No wheeling out blog knitting club names….. no running away….no more excuses.. just tell the truth this time.
What did you pay for the house, price per square foot?
“You said $74/sq ft…”
IIRC she arrived at that by assuming the postage stamp under the house was worth twice as much as the building. Maybe her tax assessor made that up. It doesn’t really matter. There are no U-turns on the Debt Road.
How about transaction price/square footage?
And this moment is as young as you’ll ever be.
And now you’re older… and now you’re even older…
IOW, one day closer to death
Not true.
“I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now” - Bob Dylan
It ain’t over till it’s over.
That gets old Goon. Real old. We need a new, catchy saying. Like “If you wait long enough, good things happen”.
“Any good news?”
Linked from Drudge - Christie Half-Way To Weight Goal:
“Since Governor Christie won the gubernatorial election last week, many have been speculating about him making a potential run for president in 2016. Many have questioned if he can win the presidential election at his current weight.
Christie has noted that since his secret lap band surgery, he is more than halfway to his goal weight. He said that he is eating differently and even sleeping better.”
That’s good news.
“Christie has noted that since his secret lap band surgery, he is more than halfway to his goal weight”
I think Bill Clinton had a secret lap dancing procedure but I am not sure if he lost weight. However, I hear he want to lose about 125 pounds of ugly fat but he will wait to after the 2016 election to dump Hillary.
want = wants
” more than halfway toward his weight goal” could mean instead of weighing 350 he wants to weigh 340. So he lost six pounds?
Any good news…we’re getting a brand new Dollar Tree store in our area, looking for overnight stock cashiers greeters.
“Any good news?”
Proof that the D.C. gun ban is working, as reported by the Washington Post:
“A woman was killed and a man injured early Friday when both were stabbed outside a strip club along Georgia Avenue in Northwest Washington, D.C. police said.
Authorities said the woman died of her injuries at an area hospital shortly after the 2 a.m. incident. The condition of the male victim was not immediately divulged. Police said a second man was seen running from the scene.
D.C. police said the double-stabbing occurred in front of the Macombo Lounge along a commercial stretch in the 5300 block of Georgia Avenue NW, near the intersection of Jefferson Street in the District’s 16th Street Heights neighborhood.”
That is not good news.
I tell you people should only be allowed to buy plastic knives and not the good ones from Costco. No metal knives, there is no need for them.
“Remember what I told you? Debt is bondage”~Suze Orman, November 09, 2013
Which one is Rental Watch? I see Toxide looking directly at the camera….. who are the other two?
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8194/8088427564_ef783eb8fb_o.jpg
There is a saying in Tennessee, maybe Texas…….
Here’s a Realtor surrounded by satisfied home buyers:
http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wlrn/files/styles/card_wide/public/201301/Jonestown.jpeg
cue Charles Barkley:
“thats turribl, just turribl”
So now that this idiot for president is $hitting all over himself backpedalling from the disaster that is ObysmalCare designed to pickpocket smart prudent money, this could be the start of a grassroots movement against FedResCorpGov.
(swat the nest with J6P)
Something that does not seem to be discussed much is how the “no bid” contracts for designing the ACA website were awarded.
I read somewhere (maybe here) that Michelle O.’s colleague from Princeton was a CEO(??) at one of the companies and that some relative of Valerie Jarret was also associated with one of the companies.
Were the most qualified companies awarded the contract or is the website disaster the result of nepotism over competence??? They certainly seemed to need “outside” help to fix the problems….not to mention the cost (has anyone looked into justifying the $$$$?)
I saw a cost of $600MM for the website, and an article criticizing the rollout.
One of the commenters on the article was trying to blame the GOP for getting in the way of funding, which hampered the creation of the website.
Seriously? How many complicated websites in the world have been designed and created for a small fraction of $600MM? Nearly all of them?
This is good news if you acquired bitcoins when they were a lot cheaper:
http://preev.com/btc/usd
Bitcoins are not in a bubble (or so I have been told…).
More good news:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Silverbugs/comments/1qp0ir/silver_for_sale_below_spot_1997_per_1oz_round/
Enjoy your pewter coins.
Yellen coins.
From a real expert:
http://www.birchgold.com/jim-rogers-interview-qe-currency-gold-inflation/
One of the better parts of the link:
BGG: Yeah that’s right. And I read somewhere, tell me if this is true, that you were shorting real estate in 2006?
JR: Yes, yes, 2006, 2007, 2008. Yes, yes. I was short Fannie Mae, I was short all of the investment banks. I was short all the banks.
BGG: And I bet, were people rolling their eyes at you, were they laughing at you?
JR: Oh very much so. I went on television quite a lot in those days saying it’s crazy. And I was on CNBC and I explained that I was short Fannie Mae and had been short Fannie Mae and Fannie Mae finally started to collapse. And the lady said to me, “Well it’s your fault that Fannie Mae is going down, it’s the short sellers that are causing problems with Fannie Mae.” And I explained to her, “Listen lady, if you really think that short sellers are making Fannie Mae collapse, you better get another job, because that’s not the way the world works.” Short sellers do not make Fannie Mae go from $70 to $0, I assure you, the only thing that can make that happen is serious fundamental problems. So yes, everybody knew I was nuts back in those days!
From Bloomberg:
Data today showed manufacturing in the New York region unexpectedly contracted in November. A separate report showed total industrial production in the U.S. fell 0.1 percent in October as output at mines and utilities declined. Factory output rose more than forecast. Wholesale inventories widened by 0.4 percent in September, the Census Bureau said.
I cannot wait for the depression to begin then my 401K will really take off.
More bad data = more QE3 = higher stock prices.
I think you are in for some big stock market wealth effects going forward.
Nothing seems to post below HAs post so I will try it here. HA, it was sarcasm, I do not believe a depression will be good for stocks.
The stock market and the real economy are diverging, as Wall Street fully understands that worse numbers indicate an increase in size or duration of QE3. The DJIA is headed for 16K today, and to the moon next year!
do you think there will be a day when the FED is the only buyer of treasuries as other countries turn their nose?
No. But I do expect foreign demand to wane at the long end of the yield curve as rates head up. Higher rates or increased Fed purchases will be needed to maintain the flow.
Bloomberg News
U.S. Bond Demand Declines as Investors Favor Shorter-Term Debt
By Susanne Walker November 14, 2013
Treasury’s auction of $16 billion in 30-year bonds drew lower-than-average demand as investors favored the three- and 10-year note sold this week on signs the Federal Reserve will push on with its bond-buying stimulus.
The bid-to-cover ratio at yesterday’s bond sale, which gauges demand by comparing the amount bid with the amount offered, was 2.16, the least since August and less than the average of 2.48 at the past 10 auctions. The sale attracted the lowest demand in seven months from indirect bidders, a class of investors that includes foreign central banks.
…
You paid hacks fooled a few people for a little while.
HA you need to understand my sarcasm. I am taking the belief that slow economic growth is good for the stock market to its illogical conclusion that a depression would be good for stocks. Of course, it cannot be good that companies are not making profits.
HA you need to understand my sarcasm
That would require intelligence. He don’t got much.
HA, you need to recognize sarcasm. Do you really believe that I think a depression will make stocks increase in value?
Dan, don’t be so sensitive! The Hacks are pumping leveraged house buying.
Wasn’t necessarily directed at you… at all.
Amy Hoak has realtorrhea. Wear protection if you hook up with Amy.
Are all known antibiotics resistant to this bacteria and does ACA cover treatment for it?
It’s a virus and there is no cure… kind of like Herpes.
So it is the gift from your realtor that keeps up giving?
“HUD Said to Fail in Bid to Sell $450 Million of FHA Mortgages”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-13/hud-said-to-fail-in-bid-to-sell-450-million-of-bad-mortgages.html
The market (bidder) speaks, HUD fails to listen.
Now just who is it that makes housing such a rip off?
YOUR GOVERNMENT. Your corrupt, filthy government.
That’s cool with me though. Hold onto to those melting ice cubes. Millions of them.
The refusal to accept bids on some of the pools may reflect that the FHA reached its limit on the losses it was willing to realize to keep some borrowers in homes or stabilize markets.”
so they will be foreclosed on ?
Mike Whitney’s latest discusses the criminal cartel Federal Reserve:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/11/15/fed-insider-exposes-giant-central-bank-easing-swindle/
people screwed the banks by walking away form their homes and now the banks are making you pay for it via inflation.
Well somebody has to pay and you can’t possibly think it should be the banks.
“people screwed the banks”
Can you get realtorrhea from doing that?
Are the banks using this windfall to shore up their balance sheet? My guess is it’s all goes to the salary and bonus and we will be in the same situation if Yellin ever tapers.
twtr and facebook are top investments. Also gambling in commodities so you can pay more for things you need.
twtr reminds me of pets.com.
Stocks were rallying Friday morning, putting the Dow and S&P 500 on track for yet another record-setting session. If the gains hold, brace for another round of articles this weekend about how the market is in a “bubble” and there’s excessive froth in technology, specifically.
The “bubble” meme picked up steam in the past 10 days in the wake of Twitter’s blockbuster IPO, Snapchat reportedly turning down Facebook’s $3 billion offer and Christie’s record-breaking $691.5 million art auction, featuring the $142.2 million sale of a Francis Bacon triptych.
Indeed, there’s a mini-bubble brewing of stories about how we’re living in a bubble, and the dangers thereof. Here’s three examples:
Business Insider’s 19 Unmistakable Signs That We’re In Some Sort of Bubble
Doug Kass’ 10 Laws of Stock Market Bubbles
Warning Signs Flash as Stock Market Soars to Records
“We’re living in a boom,” not a bubble, says Howard Lindzon, chairman of StockTwits. “These articles are all focused on reasons to keep you fearful and under-invested.”
has twtr ever made any money? Turned a profit? used money other than borrowed money to fund and grow the business? I think twtr just got a bunch of money to keep the doors open for a few more years.
I mentioned the housing slow down to a co-worker. They laughed and told me their spec house in Pacific Palisades is now under contract for 3.35 M. The buyer even wrote a letter. Unbelievable we all laughed at that. Said to raise the price. Sale is contingent so nothing’s in the “bag’ yet.
It was a complete tear down and rebuild. 4000 square feet 2 story.
Bankers and Movie people move to this area I think.
Housing investor remarked there is tons of money out there.
uh Ok ..
Housing investor remarked there is tons of money out there.
$85B a month, to be exact.
Not to diminish the effect of $40B going into the mortgage market each month, but isn’t the $85B made up of $40B into mortgages, and $45B into Treasuries?
Ah true, but the cynic in me figures that the $45B finds its way back to the GSEs somehow.
I think I read that 85% of QE is ending up ultimately as excess reserves sitting back at the Fed. My guess is that a fair portion of the $45B has a pretty direct path there…lent to the government, paid out to government employees, seniors, medicare recipients, government contractors, etc. From there, the money either ends up as profit on company’s balance sheets, or is paid to employees to pay bills (which then ultimately ends up at companies, banks, etc.). After it spins through the economy a little while, it ends up in a final resting place in someone’s bank account, and dropped back into the Fed as excess reserves.
I’ll bet only a small amount of that $45B ends up being invested in RMBS. After all, how can you make such investments when the Fed is taking $40B of the action each month!
“Ah true, but the cynic in me figures that the $45B finds its way back to the GSEs somehow.”
Unless the purpose of the $40 bn in MBS purchases is to take MBS off financial institutions’ books at above-market value, it is a bit murky what is the extra benefit of dividing QE3 across MBS and Treasurys. Since the asset classes are close substitutes, made even closer now that the formerly implicit GSE loan guarantee is explicit, the interest rate suppression due to purchasing $85 bn in Treasurys would equilibrate into lower GSE lending rates.
Perhaps the key purpose is to stuff the mortgage market’s mouth with cash in the hopes that something good will spill out of the other end into prospective homebuyers’ open arms?
The Fed is buying a half TRILLION in mortgages every year.
They are making the market. Nobody else. And when they stop, you’ll know it.
As someone who lost a cousin to cancer at a young age, “make-a-wish” stories always make me smile…this one is particularly good.
http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/batkid-make-a-wish-miles/