Bits Bucket for November 16, 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.
So are the 39 dumbocrats that voted with the Republicans to “keep your plan” knowing that it will fail in the Senate and the Liar in Chief will also veto it. What insurance co. is going to rewrite a policy for one year? If they do, the premiums will soar. It’s all about putting on theater to get Dumbocrats reelected in 2014. Then even people with company plans will lose them next in 2015. They are next on the Obama hit list.
single payer via hitlery dude.
it’s over, relax and take your meds
DC area RE booming as fed hiring pics up
Then even people with company plans will lose them next in 2015.
Here’s what I don’t understand. Seriously. People with company plans or Medicare are the ultimate collectivists when it comes to health insurance. So how can anyone on Medicare or a company plan criticize ACA as collectivist? Is that not like, “it’s OK for me to have it but not you”? Is that not being a hypocrite?
Let’s think this through and tell me if I’m wrong:
1. Health insurance is a “form of collectivism by means of which people collectively pool their risk”.
2. Recipients of company plans take that collectivism even further because their risks are collectively pooled one step further by being grouped as employees of a company. (a collective)
3. Medicare is another form of collectivism as the risks are collectively pooled and paid by premiums and taxes.
4. The majority of Company plan and Medicare recipient are generally happy with their collectivists plans. Even Ayn Rand took her Medicare when she actually needed it.
So the question is:
How can Medicare and Company plan health insurance recipients possibly criticize ACA and not be hypocrites? Medicare and Company plan health insurance recipients are the ultimate collectivists when it comes to being insured but some of you criticize ACA’s goal of making health-insurance available to individuals as “collectivist”?
Either you don’t have a good grasp of the issue, you ignore reality or you are the ultimate collectivist hypocrites.
They will come for your house and your money. It will be for “the poor.” You won’t even be able to afford a mango.
This is the same Republican Party criticizing the Dems for telling insurance companies what kind of coverage to provide? But they would do it too? Is this not the definition of hypocrisy? Seriously people….
http://www.gop.gov/indepth/pledge/healthcare
Pledge: Ensure Access for Patients with Pre-Existing Conditions
Health care should be accessible for all, regardless of pre-existing conditions or past illnesses. We will expand state high-risk pools, reinsurance programs and reduce the cost of coverage. We will make it illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage to someone with prior coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition, eliminate annual and lifetime spending caps, and prevent insurers from dropping your coverage just because you get sick. We will incentivize states to develop innovative programs that lower premiums and reduce the number of uninsured Americans.
They will come for your house and your money.
The questions were:
How can anyone on collectivist Medicare/Company plans criticize ACA as collectivist? Is this not hypocrisy?
And your answer is:
“They will come for your house and your money” ?
You are a shill. That is my answer S/heango.
You are a shill. That is my answer S/heango.
I’m not surprised that is your non-answer. I don’t think even objective and smart people can counter the fact that anyone on collectivist Medicare/Company plans who criticize ACA as collectivist are hypocrites.
Company plans are based on the consent of the covered you stewed tomato. Messiahcare is imposed at the point of a gun, robbing from some and giving to others. And don’t say it was passed and is the law of the land because it was passed based on lies, lies, lies, which is now finally clear.
There are several ways out.
Even the Amish are not covered under Obamacare.
Brazilian Tranny!
Rio,
You have no say in the matter. I turned
65 and bingo, I was enrolled in medicare, no
choice. I personally hate it with a passion, as
it reams my personal physician even with supplemental insurance coverage.
“We have to pass the bill in order to find out what’s in it.”
-Nancy Pelosi (C) California
“If you like your plan, you can keep your plan…period.”
-Barack Hussein Obama (C) POTUS
We get the government we deserve.
“We get the government we deserve.”
reedalberger I doubt you voted for Obama. I doubt you voted for your congressional district’s equivalent of Pelosi. I doubt if you voted for your state’s equivalent of Harry Reid or John McCain.
If you did not, how can you modestly use the term “we?”
We get the government that the majority voted for. I want nothing of it.
Fugeddaboudit. What do you expect from the bunch of drug-addled retards in Congress? The sooner people wake up and realize these folks are not in their right minds, the better. Anyone who saw Max Baucus on camera when the law passed would realize this POS is the work of a bunch of drunks and druggies.
They were for it before they were against it.
It was fun to watch Mark Shields’ jowls shaking with indignation over the whole debacle on PBS last night. He’s a rare bird, a truly sincere liberal. And so it was interesting to watch him express disgust with his comrades in DC. It’s starting to dawn on some of these folks who and what the O-man is, too. Jeebus, what took them so long?
Even more fun to watch Debbie Wasserman Schlitz try to rationalize the O-man’s “If you like your insurance policy….” and say what he really meant.
Ok put peeps quit the name calling today and put your thinking caps on.
What are the differences between this Ohbahmakkkare and Hillary’s plan 20 years ago?
As I have said many times before: Obama should have gone after real financial reform instead of healthcare. The golden opportunity was wasted.
Hillary had more lawyers crafting hers. Also you were “fined” if you went to your own private doctor. That will teach you, you wich wepublicans! Hillary and Bubba Bill 2016!!! Forward!!!
Hillary did not have an individual mandate.
The individual mandate came from the Heritage Foundation.
bama should have gone after real financial reform instead of healthcare.
Bite the hand that feeds you? Obama is smarter than that.
The individual mandate came from the Heritage Foundation.
Who knew Obama was/is a HF disciple..
There is almost no difference between Obama and George W.
Except for Obama being a Muslim.
Except for Obama being a Muslim.
Is that a bait? Lose an argument then bring race and religion?
“Except for Obama being a
MuslimMuzzlum.”Is the FED helping or hurting the avg joe by encouraging reckless gambling in stocks such as TWTR and FB? It seems that the common man is being set up again with the premise that stocks are a for sure bet. I thought they wanted to help people get work and shore up their balance sheet after the last bubble popped?
It seems there is this idea that they will be able to keep stocks from crashing again. They are making people feel real comfortable and smart.
“Is the FED helping”
The only thing the criminal cartel Federal Reserve “helps” is the 0.1% PIGS.
The Fed’s “dual mandate” of full employment and stable prices is a joke.
Pass the 59 ounce “half gallon” of OJ, yo.
Now that it’s back to QE3-to-infinity-and-beyond, watch for more and more gamblers to pile into stocks until critical mass is reached for the 0.1% to pull out the rug from under the latest, greatest fools. But for now the bull has room to run again, given the events of the last couple of days.
How an Obamacare disaster could make stocks ‘go vertical’
November 15, 2013, 2:46 PM
By Russ Britt
How much could Obamacare affect the economy?
That’s a question investment strategist Ed Yardeni posed in a newsletter to clients on Friday, and the conclusion is that President Obama’s health-care overhaul could put a damper on the economy — but there could be several side-effects that could boost growth.
“Lots of Americans may get increasingly anxious over the remainder of the year that they will have more out-of-pocket health care costs next year to pay for doctors who aren’t in the networks of the policies available to them as a result of Obamacare,” Yardeni says in a note to clients. “If their concerns are realized, then they might actually have to spend more of their budgets on health care and less on everything else.”
That scenario could prevent stocks from a “melt-up,” or the near-vertical ascent that tends to rattle stock watchers on alert for bubble conditions.
The caveat, he says, is that if economic growth remains subpar, the likely next Fed Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, is likely to keep monetary policy easy.
“If the Yellen-led Fed tries to offset the negative economic consequences of Obamacare with more easy money, watch the stock market go vertical,” he says.
…
It could be bad. It could be good. What do they do, just print whatever someone willing to answer their phone calls says?
I don’t own FB or TWTB. The Fed had nothing to do with my decision not to own. Further, I put more money in T-Bills and Precious Metals than I did individual stocks this year.
Compare the effect of seeing either of these stocks rocketing up and how that would be spun for the economy versus now having this massive overhang of uncertainty in the economy — the whole thing — from the ObamaTurd debacle. How much is this uncertainty gonna knock off GDP?
Or add to the gdp. I mean when your forced to spend more on healthcare…isn’t that a boon to gdp?
Just read another article about how many automakers are coming out with fuel cell cars in 2015. Great for platinum. Also, shows how government will pick losers in technology, battery electric cars over fuel cells. Government does have a role, basic research but private enterprise should decide on which technology is commercial.
Batteries are fuel cells.
“Fuel cells and batteries are similar because they use a chemical reaction to provide electricity. A battery stores the chemical reactants, usually metal compounds like lithium, zinc or manganese. Once used up, you must recharge or throw away the battery. A fuel cell creates electricity through reactants (hydrogen and oxygen) stored externally. A fuel cell will produce electricity as long as it has a fuel supply. In short, a fuel cell vehicle is refueled instead of recharged.”
Link: http://cafcp.org/index.php?q=faq/what-difference-between-fuel-cell-and-battery
Which leads to a four minute re-fueling instead of a four hour re-charge.
“Government does have a role, basic research but private enterprise should decide on which technology is commercial.”
I know the govt. offers subsidies for certain vehicles, like a plug-in hybrid or an electric. But I assume that they will do the same for fuel cell cars, no?
HAHA get to work shore up peoples balance sheets……you must want to be a comedian.
There are no job training funds for welfare or unemployed people in NYC unless you want to be an armed security guard or home health aide.
“It’s a great time to unload inventory.”
Foreclosure auctions jump in South Florida
By Donna Gehrke-White, Sun Sentinel
5:00 a.m. EST, November 14, 2013
The number of foreclosed homes scheduled for the auction block in October skyrocketed by 76 percent in Palm Beach County compared with a year ago, according to figured released by RealtyTrac on Wednesday.
Lenders are aggressively finalizing foreclosures now that prices have rebounded enough to make the transactions worthwhile. The county’s auction listings grew to 1,055 homes compared with 610 in October 2012.
Banks “are working through the backlog of foreclosures,” said Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac vice president. “Now we are seeing property actually going to auction — they are moving the ball forward. It’s a great time to unload inventory.”
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-realtytrac-foreclosures-20131113,0,2591639.story - 122k -
The interior looks like an airport. Wonder if the engineers who will work there will get anything done?
Apple is also building facilities in Mesa or Gilbert in Arizona. They will hire hundreds of people who prefer the low Arizona taxes and less of a nanny state.
That was meant for SCDave’s post below about Apple. How my iPad switched this is beyond me.
They will hire hundreds of people who prefer the low Arizona taxes and less of a nanny state ??
What a wonderful country we live in…You can come and go as you please…Choose freely where you want to live…
True. But it is not meaningful with the big federal government. What’s the so in California I pay 37% or 38% of my income in income taxes. In Arizona it would be 31% or 32%. Not really a significant difference.
The only way to make this “lab experiment of 50 states with differing governments” work is to withdraw consent at the federal level.
Apple is moving in to the facility that they built for some solar company. I think a huge amount of govt dollars were wasted on the solar thing and building the area up then it went belly up and Apple swooped in. But where the solar company was supposed to bring like 4000 or so jobs, Apple is bringing like 700 permanent.
Some jobs are coming, but my read is the public is getting hosed by the interests.
Imagine if Apple built near Oil City:
http://www.zillow.com/oil-city-pa/
Harry Lennix Interview - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQZQWfsGEEA - 115k -
This was just sent to me a few days ago. It is relatively close to were I live and I was aware that it was approved but I had never seen renderings of it..Its not a pipe dream either…Demolition has started…The project is under way…
The entire area that surrounds this new facility is all residential with the typical neighborhood shopping centers, office & medical…The point that I am trying to strike here is that it is not out in some research & development park or industrial area…
The saying does that all real estate is local…Effectively, we have probably many thousands of micro areas in the country that function differently, as far as real estate valuations are concerned due to the many different varibles…
So I ask you, plop this new facility into any community throughout the country, including where you live in Flagstaff Ben, what would happen to the values of the residential housing that is surrounds and is in close proximity to it ??
I would like to add one more thing…It is basically impossible to add any new housing units (SFR’s) because of the lack of land…Yes, much high density residential is being built but not any single family units..
Well, what you suspect would happen has…Prices have exploded…$700.+ per foot for the small houses (1200 sq.ft.)…$500-$550 per foot for the larger stuff 2500 sq.ft +
Have a nice Saturday everyone…Here is the link;
http://shopping.yahoo.com/blogs/digital-crave/28-photos-apple-mothership-campus-190816020.html
Now apple can hire people assemble those useless gadgets right here in cali.
“With 25 million excess, empty and defaulted houses in the US, 4 million of which are in California, there is plenty of “housing supply”.”
Ask yourself this question and be prepared to respond as you will be asked by us;
Are you an agent of price fixing and housing crime or are you an agent of truth?
Backdoor shamnesty as reported by Associated Press:
“The Obama administration will allow some relatives of U.S. service members living in the country illegally to stay, according to a policy directive issued Friday.
The nine-page memorandum is the latest in a series of immigration policy changes made by President Barack Obama since he took office. The department has long had the power to stop deportations for relatives of military members and veterans, but Friday’s memo lays out how and when it can be used.
The latest order gives U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials the power to “parole in place” immigrant spouses, children and parents of current U.S. service members, reservists and veterans. The change means that those immigrants can apply to legally live in the United States.”
Support our troops
These colors don’t run
Power of pride
Let’s roll
Freedom isn’t free
Mission accomplished
et cetera …
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/15/legalizing-illegal-immigrants-solution-obamacare-d/
I think that there is a kernel of truth in this. Obama was counting of amnesty for illegals by now. Keeping illegals from getting expensive care in emergency rooms was and is critical to keeping private insurance plans affordable by preventing cost shifting for unpaid services. However, I have an alternative plan to keep health costs down, I call it deportation.
“deportation”
Racis.
Rome relied on foreign troops back in the day.
The community organizer in chief gets to throw around a bunch of yellow ribbons and flags and eagles with this, and for every illegal who enlists, 20 of their cousins who are MS-13 members get legalized too. What’s not to love?
Don’t forget their cousin in the military will sell them military weapons.
Some crazy stuff can go on in combat zones, but one thing the military goes pretty well inside the USA is account for issued weapons.
“The community organizer in chief”
Oprah says you were marinated in it and you have to die.
By Noel Sheppard | November 15, 2013 |
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/11/15/oprah-racists-have-die-racism-end#ixzz2kr8WN6PY
Oprah Winfrey, one of the wealthiest people in the world, is throwing the race card again.
During an interview with the BBC Friday, she not only said that President Obama is treated with disrespect because he’s black, but also that entire generations of racists are going to have to die for racism to end (video follows with transcript and commentary):
“I said this, you know, for apartheid South Africa, I said this for my own, you know, community in the south - there are still generations of people, older people, who were born and bred and marinated in it, in that prejudice and racism, and they just have to die.”
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/11/15/oprah-racists-have-die-racism-end - 65k -
It takes alot to get me to defend Oprah, but she is singling out the older people in the old south as opposed to the nation as a whole, and I believe she is correct in this case.
Oprah is a moron in her old age……Blacks didn’t give two craps about south Africa…..imagine telling a black woman im not buying you a diamond ring because it world be supporting the racist government of south Africa……..what would she say.
You cheap slimy bassstard get out of here… It was white people who boycotted South Africa
She is correct that societal change happens on a generational time-scale.
“Foroohar: Housing Will Not Save the Economy”
http://business.time.com/2013/10/31/foroohar-housing-will-not-save-the-economy/
Telegraphing the Housing Collapse II has begun.
Do you ever think about why these guys are always a dollar short and a day late?
Hint: It has to do with rounding up suckers. If you bought a house, look in the mirror.
“When asked about the recovery in housing, he said, ‘I’d much rather see the government raise taxes and fund infrastructure spending to create a recovery …’”
So would the Chineese, because after the money goes into paying the workers that will work on fixing up the infrastructure these workers will zip on down to Walmart and plunk their money down to buy junk that is made in China.
Pump money into the infrastructure and it ends up in China because China is where most of the stuff that people want to buy is manufactured. What used to be made here is now made somewhere else, and, IMHO, until this problem is resolved there is no hope for us as to having a recovery.
Combo, that’s probably the best reason not to go all out for high speed trains except on the coastlines
But bridges and tunnels that’s a different story, so many are in sad shape its just a matter of time before something like the west side highway collapse happens…..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Highway
Feds drool, contractors rule, as reported in the Washington Post:
“The lead contractor on the dysfunctional Web site for the Affordable Care Act is filled with executives from a company that mishandled at least 20 other government IT projects, including a flawed effort to automate retirement benefits for millions of federal workers, documents and interviews show.
CGI Federal, the main Web site developer, entered the U.S. government market a decade ago when its parent company purchased American Management Systems, a Fairfax County contractor that was coming off a series of troubled projects. CGI moved into AMS’s custom-made building off Interstate 66, changed the sign outside and kept the core of employees, who now populate the upper ranks of CGI Federal.
They include CGI Federal’s current and past presidents, the company’s chief technology officer, its vice president for federal health care and its health IT leader, according to company and other records. More than 100 former AMS employees are now senior executives or consultants working for CGI in the Washington area.”
Government contractors = $500,000,000,000+ a year
Take the money and run…to Belize…and laugh at the libtards who voted for the politicians to pay you excess.
Says the government contractor…
Yuck foo. You are a lucking fiar.
Don’t be so touchy. Regular readers know you’re strictly private sector now.
We, on the other hand, are gonna ride this gravy train until the wheels fall off
This government consultant gravy train has been good to me. I earn triple the cha-ching on contract work versus what I would earn in state gov.
My counterparts in state Highway/Bridge and Facilities construction offices? Well….. they haven’t build a fawkin’ thing in 10 years.
“Yuck foo. You are a lucking fiar.”
Wow. That’s something I’d expect on a college football forum.
“Yuck foo”
Was she in an Austin Power’s movie?
But one thing I have learned on the HBB, government employees are lazy, over paid, and get huge pensions.
Outsourcing government jobs leads to cheaper, faster, and higher quality.
If you don’t like the schooling, skip class…… Donkey.
Gotta love that 0.01% that Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund pays. The 800 pound gorilla of ZIRP wins. First-world problem as I tell my friends. First day of the rest of our lives? I’ll tell you what, here is some Daft Punk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeEQDtk63H
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B5zmDz4vR4
Why not park some of your hard earned dollars here instead?
What’s the difference between this and payday loans?
What is Lending Club?
Lending Club is an online financial community that brings together creditworthy borrowers and savvy investors so that both can benefit financially. We replace the high cost and complexity of traditional lending with a faster, smarter way to borrow and invest.
“Lending Club”
Interesting. I’ll have a closer look this evening.
FWIW, last week I cut-loose BofA for Ally. We’ll see how cloud banking works out; don’t really need a branch anyway.
Curious: why are you not with a CU?
“Curious: why are you not with a CU?”
I looked closely at the veteran’s credit union, but the comments on sites that rate banks seemed to imply that Ally had the best online bill-pay features, which is where my attention is focused since ordering, writing, mailing and the processing fees for paper checks is too expensive. I’ve got file cabinets full of “dead” paper that really should be in searchable PDF files.
I gained access to some personal loan data from a course I am taking. The graph linked here is a simple linear regression line of interest rate on FICO score.
The question that comes to my mind on viewing this is, who pays 25% interest on a 3 or 5 year loan?
My guess is that this peer-to-peer lending scheme will pay its investors an “above market” rate up until the next recession, when they will either realize massive losses and/or watch the peer-to-peer lending scheme go tits up. The rates paid on those loans and their lack of collateral suggest they may be among the first obligations on which debt-strapped households default the next time hard times hit.
Please take my bearish pessimism with a grain of salt.
I’ve read that the bigger boys are moving in on the peer-to-peer lending market, much like they buy up liens on property at wholesale slaughter rate, so I have not been intrigued by it.
“bigger boys”
Do you mean like LendingClub board members Lawrence Summers and Connie Mack?
It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it. –George Carlin
Lemming Club
Check out the qualifications for becoming a LendingClub investor. It’s different in Kentucky and California!
Financial suitability
Except as set forth below, to purchase Notes, investors must satisfy minimum financial suitability standards and maximum investment limits. In states other than California and Kentucky, investors must either:
• have an annual gross income of at least $70,000 and a net worth (exclusive of home, home furnishings and automobile) of at least $70,000; or
• have a net worth (determined with the same exclusions) of at least $250,000.
In California, investors:
• must have an annual gross income of at least $85,000 and a net worth (exclusive of home, home furnishings and automobile) of at least $85,000; or
• must have a net worth (determined with the same exclusions) of at least $200,000
If a California investor does not satisfy either of the above tests,
• the investor may still invest up to, but no more than, $2,500.
It has a .16 expense ratio. I have money in that fund, but moved nearly half out to VTIP, with a 0.10 ratio. VMMXX is only where I park small reserves to be able to make quick exchanges to other Vanguard Funds. Every January I open up a new Vanguard nondeductible traditional IRA. I need $3000 minimum to do that. It is always in VFINX. I like to make the move quick, so it is from VMMXX that allows me to do this. Then I set up 50 weeks of automatic investment through ACH to this account to get to the legal max by the 50th week. In December after the distributions I do a tax free conversion of this IRA to my current Vanguard Roth IRA, which is the 0.05 expense ratio VFIAX admiral version of VFINX. I also do a taxable conversion of any gain in the traditional IRA to the Roth. I do it quickly by phone with a Vanguard agent. They are very helpful. Piece of cake. And a slam dunk. I turn 59 and a half in five years and two weeks and can start distribution tax free. Of course I replenish my VMMXX too this time of year to build up reserves again for the exchange 14 months ahead too.
“Gotta love that 0.01% that Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund pays.”
It’s better to be in a position to grumble about 0.01% interest than it is to not have Jack Chit in your account. Every once in a while I find a discarded ATM receipt still in the slot; $20 withdrawal, and $55 balance. The “hand to mouth” 47%.
The various governmental tax-collecting entities are on your side and feel your pain - actually share in your pain; They also would love for you to earn something greater than a measly 0.01% because then they would have something to tax.
Not have something to tax is a bitch if taxing is the way you pay your bills.
No problem. They will just do a “one time” (sure) ten percent confiscation of your electronic accounts.
I’ll repost on more time here since I didn’t make the weekend topics. Very fun twitter responses to JPMorgan’s attempt to use twitter to manipulate public opinion…
http://www.newser.com/story/177559/jpmorgans-twitter-qa-blows-up-in-its-face.html
heh…. and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Do you know which posts here are genuine and which are made by paid PR hacks?
“heh…. and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
+1 Got that right.
I’ve read that all of the foreign news bureau offices are located in Tel Aviv where virtually every sentence is carefully sanitized before being submitted to the American presses. Legions of bloggers in offices are employed to steer public opinion or disrupt groups like Occupy Wall Street.
-1
The HBB isn’t drawing attention from anywhere. It’s a dwindling group of posters that say the same stuff over and over.
Poor Alwog……
+infinity
It’s good you see the light Ol’ Barbara.
Al, you should try looking at the BBC or The Economist websites for English language news regarding the Mediterranean and Middle-East countries, and compare the content with our mainstream media outlets; very disappointing, IMHO. I was trying to locate where I read about Israel’s paid bloggers, but couldn’t find it as Google seems to yield fewer results these days when “our friends” are included among the search terms. Manipulation and propaganda appear to be strongest whenever Israel is involved.
Testing 1-2-3 Testing
Poland Confiscates Half Of Private Pension Funds To “Cut” Sovereign Debt Load
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/06/2013 14:50 -0400
While the world was glued to the developments in the Mediterranean in the past week, Poland took a page straight out of Rahm Emanuel’s playbook and in order to not let a crisis go to waste, announced quietly that it would transfer to the state - i.e., confiscate - the bulk of assets owned by the country’s private pension funds (many of them owned by such foreign firms as PIMCO parent Allianz, AXA, Generali, ING and Aviva), without offering any compensation. In effect, the state just nationalized roughly half of the private sector pension fund assets, although it had a more politically correct name for it: pension overhaul.
By way of background, Poland has a hybrid pension system: as Reuters explains, mandatory contributions are made into both the state pension vehicle, known as ZUS, and the private funds, which are collectively known by the Polish acronym OFE. Bonds make up roughly half the private funds’ portfolios, with the rest company stocks.
And while a change to state-pension funds was long awaited - an overhaul if you will - nobody expected that this would entail a literal pillage of private sector assets.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said private funds within the state-guaranteed system would have their bond holdings transferred to a state pension vehicle, but keep their equity holdings. The funds would effectively be left with only the equities portions of their assets, even this would be depleted, and there will be uncertainty about the number of new savers joining.
But why is Poland engaging in behavior that will ultimately be disastrous to future capital allocation in non-public pension funds (the type that can at least on paper generate some returns as opposed to “public” funds which are guaranteed to lose)? After all, this is a last ditch step which no rational person would engage in unless there were no other option. Simple: there were no other option, and the driver is the same reason the world everywhere else is broke too - too much debt.
By shifting some assets from the private funds into ZUS, the government can book those assets on the state balance sheet to offset public debt, giving it more scope to borrow and spend. Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski said the changes will reduce public debt by about eight percent of GDP. This in turn, he said, would allow the lowering of two thresholds that deter the government from allowing debt to raise over 50 percent, and then 55 percent, of GDP. Public debt last year stood at 52.7 percent of GDP, according to the government’s own calculations.
To summarize:
Government has too much debt to issue more debt
Government nationalizes private pension funds making their debt holdings an “asset” and commingles with other public assets
New confiscated assets net out sovereign debt liability, lowering the debt/GDP ratio
Debt/GDP drops below threshold, government can issue more sovereign debt
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-06/poland-confiscates-half-private-pension-funds-cut-sovereign-debt-load - 225k
My response to this: movable, hidable wealth.
Hey Phony Scandals, Casey (Doug Casey) Research interviewed an international investor. The thing that caught me is you can set up a Roth IRA in such a way that it is based overseas. It would be very difficult for the US government to confiscate an overseas-based IRA. For instance, farmland in a foreign nation can be all held in a Roth IRA. I am intrigued. This is “advanced calculus” to me in regard to personal finance. But it is provoking my drive to protect some of my wealth.
Key points; People with even mediocre assets can internationalize their assets. You can arrange with a broker your Roth IRA so that it is based completely outside the US. It is very prudent to internationalize and be free from man. The ultimate status symbol is to have diversification of wealth safe from the US thugernment. These guys visited Cyprus. Some businessmen based in Cyprus had Swiss accounts and were unaffected by the theft of the Cypriot thugernment. Finally, you don’t necessarily have to be 50% in movable, hidable assets to protect from electronic confiscation.
here is the link you would be interested in.
http://www.caseyresearch.com/articles/the-ultimate-layer-of-financial-protection
But what are the odds of someone in the host country overseas confiscating some of your money?
Yes good question. Argentina, often touted by Doug Casey as the place to buy farmland, has confiscated private pensions too.
I would guess the places with the best track record are still the ones to turn to. Switzerland is probably still a perfectly legal place to diversify overseas.
It is NOT illegal to go international. If that illegality happens, we have a furious civil war between the libertarians and the progressives.
This part is interesting
“there are turnkey ways to do it. I touched on some of the details above. With a couple of important exceptions and limitations, it is possible and practical to structure your IRA so that it can open offshore bank and brokerage accounts denominated in foreign currencies, and invest in assets like foreign real estate and certain types of physical gold held abroad.”
Someday we will all look back and say why didn’t the civil service get cut to a level that taxpayers could afford.
Too many gov jobs being called essential.
We keep electing people who think it is good to borrow for everything and pay later. This is the way most of us live anyway, so what’s the problem?
I dont care so much about number of jobs, just make it EASY to fire a worker, like in private business 3rd written warning you’re out..
Then consolidate the jobs. Attrition will take care of it in a few years.
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – An Albuquerque woman who was threatened with eviction from her own home for painting her garage door red is now painting it a new–and similar–color her homeowners association chose.
http://touch.krqe.com/10001/146309155
Hmmph! Ownership is freedom but freedom is slavery!
Waldrop’s house goes on the market on Monday…..at $50K less then she hoped to get….thanks HOA!
UC- San Diego’s Graduate School of
International Relations and
Pacific Studies (IR/PS) looks interesting, but I wonder if long term it will be a lucrative time and money roi. I have a nephew looking into the program.
I recommend it, but I am biased, as I work about a mile down the road and personally know some faculty members.
Princeton University meningitis outbreak prompts vaccine import to New Jersey
Saturday, November 16, 2013
AP
PRINCETON, N.J. — Federal health officials have agreed to import a meningitis vaccine approved in Europe and Australia but not the U.S. as officials at Princeton University consider measures to stop the spread of the disease on the Ivy League campus.
The Food and Drug Administration this week approved importing Bexsero for possible use on Princeton’s campus, said Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Princeton officials confirmed the school’s seventh case of meningitis in 2013 this week and a spokesman said trustees will discuss the issue this weekend.
No vaccine for use against the type B meningococcal bacteria which caused the cases at Princeton is available in the U.S., Reynolds said, adding that the decision to receive the vaccine would be optional if Princeton and CDC officials agree to offer it to students.
Bacterial meningitis can cause swelling of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. The disease is fairly rare in the United States. Those who get it develop symptoms quickly and can die in a couple of days. Survivors can suffer mental disabilities, hearing loss and paralysis.
The bacteria are spread by coughing, sneezing and kissing, and most cases occur in previously healthy children and young adults. The disease can easily spread in crowded conditions, like dorm rooms. All students living in dorms are required by state law to have a licensed meningitis vaccine, but it does not protect against type B.
The school is telling students to wash their hands, cover their coughs and not to share items such as drinking glasses and eating utensils.
(Copyright ©2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Most stolen cars in America today are Honda Accords, Civics, full sized pickup truck from the “big 3.”
I’m now wondering what are the most common maintenance parts for these vehicles? Oil filters, spark plugs, air filters, brake pads.
Maybe spare parts for the above are good to buy and collect. Someone on your block has one of those vehicles. and will need to buy a replacement to get to work. You could go all out and rent a storage unit to store all the stuff.
But I’m not sure how fast those spare parts go up in cost. Many full sized trucks have been on the road for umpteen years and I am sure the parts today are just as good as the parts for them 15 years ago.
Also a complete tool set is good to have. You can loan it out to the DIY types if they trade, say, a weekend at their cabin for some of your parts.
You can loan it out to the DIY types if they trade, say, a weekend at their cabin for some of your parts.
I would only loan my tools to someone who gives me a deposit = the amount it would cost to replace them +15% extra for the aggravation. Bad things happen to tools that are loaned.
Current: Most of California Underwater
http://www.zillow.com/visuals/negative-equity/#4/39.98/-107.01
Metallica S and M, best album ever or one of the best albums ever?
Is that the new one?
1999 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
I am viewing listening to “Live Shit: Seattle (1989)” now. - but have to wake up early. Continued Sunday, my Metallica day.
An over-leveraged debt donkey.
http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/sites/default/files/donkey_2.jpg