Bits Bucket for February 2, 2014
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.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
April 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
I googled “How would you invest $200000? ”
Some response.
“Buy a house in an area you might want to live in (in the future) rent it out and have the option open to yourself to stop paying rent yourself in the future. ”
“For me, buy a house like a pp said and neg gear it. But, I would keep a small amount in a TD (eg $10K) for emergencies.
We want the cash for future house deposit so didn’t want to risk shares. Long term I’d go shares or property.”
“Personally, I would want to own a place when I retire, so maybe look a real estate negatively geared in an area where you might retire? I work in a rehab hospital, and have had several elderly patients being evicted when they are in rehab.
Dodgy landlords who don’t want to have rails put in the shower? Or just bad luck. Either way, risk of being evicted/having to move every 6 months when you are elderly, poor health and use a walking frame scares the hell out of me.
I’m using assuming due to that much money you would not be able to get public housing. ”
http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/forums/index.php?/topic/1113432-how-would-you-invest-200000/
Real Estate is the best investment made. Their is a reason the ‘American’ Dream’ is owning your own home.
Investing in stocks is not called the “American dream”.
I’ve never heard the expression “negatively geared” before. It’s Aussie slang for “losing money on real estate”.
Sink it all in a house in Moreno Valley or the high desert. You can’t lose. You’ll be a millionaire in 5 years.
BUY NOW, THEY AINT MAKING ANY MORE INLAND EMPIRE.
the whole system needs to be purged and bankers need to take some big haircuts.
Why do you hate your country so much?
“It’s called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it”
George Carlin
Its a big club and u aint in it!!!
Realize this: even when you stop paying the mortgage, you still have a significant yearly cost of taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance.
It’s not like your housing cost drops to zero, not even close. I think a lot of people forget that.
Buying is right for some, renting is right for some. One has to make an informed decision.
i asked you this yesterday, but perhaps you didn’t see it.
we can see the costs of inflation and the benefits of deflation.. and you said we only talk about one side of the equation. so let’s cover the other side.
what are the benefits of inflation?
what are the costs of deflation?
tj: what are the benefits of inflation?
what are the costs of deflation?
Benefits of inflation:
1) Reduces value of dollar so debts paid off in devalued dollars.
2) Encourages investments that require debt (which is common for businesses).
Costs of inflation:
1) Reduces value of current dollars held and earned by citizens, potentially reducing economic activity.
2) Imposes a de facto tax on citizens.
Benefits of deflation:
1) Increases value of dollars held by citizens.
Costs of deflation:
1) Discourages debt-based investment as value of debt goes up over time. This can limit debt-based investment and thus growth and possibly employment.
These are some conventional-wisdom type costs and benefits.
Benefits of inflation:
1) Reduces value of dollar so debts paid off in devalued dollars.
that’s common myth that’s even promulgated by schiff. you get weaker dollars in a struggling economy. it’s will be harder to earn those dollars, not easier. the fact that the dollars will buy less doesn’t mean that it’s easier to get them. it’s the same psychology realtors use to try to sucker people into home mortgages that the borrowers end up not being able to afford.
2) Encourages investments that require debt (which is common for businesses).
are you encouraged to get a loan in this economy? if so, why? the dollar is weakening and GPL are rising. people are losing jobs and business are closing. yet you think people are encouraged to get business loans so they can pay them off in weaker dollars? i don’t think so. people take out business loans to make profits, not pay the loans off in weaker dollars. only a fool would take out a 30 year mortgage just to pay it off in weaker dollars. (i do admit that there are some fools out there).
i agree with your costs of inflation.
Costs of deflation:
1) Discourages debt-based investment as value of debt goes up over time. This can limit debt-based investment and thus growth and possibly employment.
again, people don’t consider the value of future dollars to take out business loans. they consider their chances to make a profit while paying back the loans (so does the lender). deflation is a natural effect of a strengthening economy, even though most people don’t believe it. in a strong economy, many more businesses will be willing to risk taking out a loan. deflation means raw materials will be cheaper. it means that they can compete easier. if they sell overseas, and the dollar is strong, they can afford to lower their prices enough to make up for a rising dollar.
people make the mistake of thinking that companies have to lower their prices when sales fall off. but for most companies profit margins are thin due to competition. they won’t have much room to lower prices. especially when everything is costing more. with fewer sales, economies of scale begin to kick in (in reverse). higher prices for their construction materials add up. soon they are forced close their doors. lower prices are great for everyone, including manufacturers. rising prices are bad for everyone. of course you’ll never convince keynesians or politicians of that..
agree with your benefit of deflation, and there are more benefits also.
Utilities? The only complexes which include all utilities are hi-rises which were built before units were individually metered. Nowadays you’re lucky to not pay for water/sewer.
Which is pretty great when I basically leave the air conditioning on from June through September….
Is the EM crisis over yet?
Emerging markets
Locus of extremity
Developing economies struggle to cope with a new world
Feb 1st 2014 | HONG KONG | From the print edition
THE central bank of Turkey boasts an impressive art collection, including a canvas by Erol Akyavas entitled “Locus of Extremity”. That was pretty much where the central bank found itself at midnight on January 28th. Turkey’s currency, the lira, had fallen by 13% against the dollar in the previous six weeks, one of the worst casualties of a broader sell-off in emerging-market assets. Prices were rising (by 7.4% in the year to December) and yet the political pressure to suppress interest rates remained firm. At its unscheduled, nocturnal meeting, the central bank dramatically simplified and tightened monetary policy, raising what will henceforth be its key rate from 4.5% to 10%.
The Turks were not alone. Earlier that day India’s central bank also surprised people by raising rates (albeit by a less extreme 0.25 percentage points) for the third time in five months. South Africa’s monetary authorities followed suit the next afternoon, lifting rates by 0.5 points. The trio deemed their tightening necessary to keep a lid on troublesome inflation and to give a lift to their battered currencies. But it gave their exchange rates only a fleeting lift; late on January 29th they were wobbly again.
These three economies, alongside Brazil and Indonesia, belong to the “fragile five”. Their currencies suffered dramatic declines last year, after Ben Bernanke, the chairman of America’s Federal Reserve, was tactless enough to say that it would not keep printing money to buy bonds at the same pace for ever. The beleaguered five enjoyed some respite in September, when the Fed decided to maintain its “quantitative easing” for a few months more. But in the past two weeks foreign investors have once again found reasons to sell (see chart 1).
…
Can U.S. stocks survive emerging markets’ fall?
China may hold the key to what happens next
Feb. 1, 2014
Turkey?
Of all the possible catalysts to trigger an overdue pullback of an overextended equity market, a sell-off in the Turkish lira probably didn’t rank high on many lists of black swan events.
Not that the rocky start to 2014 for U.S. stocks can be attributed solely to currency weakness in Turkey or other emerging markets. After the biggest single-year gain since 1997, investors were looking for a rationale to take profits.
A tepid report on industrial production in China — with its ripple effects in certain developing economies — provided a plausible reason to take some chips off the table, especially in the context of a fourth-quarter U.S. earnings season that’s been good but hardly great.
And unlike last year, bullish investors have been reluctant to buy the dips.
That’s understandable in a globalized economic world. There will be other crisis management decisions to be made in emerging economies unhealthily dependent on foreign investment, such as Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa.
Along with Turkey and India, those five nations — recently dubbed the “Fragile Five” —have benefited from the prolonged period of ultra-low U.S. interest rates that has sent money scurrying around the globe in search of higher yields.
…
“A loan can be extended, it can be restructured, or it can be finagled in countless financial ways. But at the end of the day, if your creditors lost faith in your ability to repay it… it’s GAME OVER.”
Recap
1. US consumer working for less and part time and spending more on needs has less for wants
2. Globally interest rates rising and currencies crashing so their middle class also has less for wants.
3. Technology continues to crush demand for labor.
4. Banking whales have an unlimited supply of plankton to feed them forever more.
Record Cash Leaves Emerging Market ETFs on Lira Drop
By Lu Wang and Ye Xie
Jan 30, 2014 9:02 AM PT
Currency rates at a money exchange brokerage in Istanbul, Turkey.
Investors are pulling money from exchange-traded funds that track emerging markets at the fastest rate on record, as China’s slowing growth and cuts to central-bank stimulus sink currencies from Turkey to Brazil.
More than $7 billion flowed from ETFs investing in developing-nation assets in January, the most since the securities were created, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has seen its assets shrink by 11 percent, while the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF is poised for the biggest monthly redemption since the fund was started in 2005. The WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt Fund is on track for an eighth straight month of withdrawals.
Investors accelerated redemptions after data showed Chinese manufacturing contracted and Argentina’s unexpected devaluation of its peso dented confidence in Latin America. Surprise rate increases by central banks in Turkey and South Africa failed to boost their currencies, while the U.S. Federal Reserve opted to press on with reductions to its monetary stimulus.
“A lot of speculative money has been circulating in the emerging markets and the party seems to be over, at least for now,” said Howard Ward, the chief investment officer for growth equity at Rye, New York-based Gamco Investors Inc., which oversees about $40 billion. “There is a growing lack of confidence in the economic policies of many emerging markets at a time when growth is slowing and inflation is a real problem.”
…
Crashing emerging markets might let the FED cut QE and maybe unload some of those treasuries for a profit as those with money in emerging markets move to safe havens.
US Banks are heavily invested in those emerging markets.
Not everyone can fit thru the emergency door at the same time.
A new financial innovation for Mr. Banker: robbing from Peter to pay … Peter.
Crashing EMs offer a good opportunity for anyone looking for an exit from their long-term bond positions to get out while the getting is still good.
For companies, a rocky road ahead in emerging markets
By James B. Kelleher and Martinne Geller
CHICAGO/LONDON Fri Jan 31, 2014 2:04pm EST
People walk past a currency exchange showing rouble exchange rates in Moscow January 30, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
(Reuters) - International companies are taking steps to mitigate the effects of the turmoil in emerging markets, including hedging foreign currency exposure more aggressively, reducing some investment plans, cutting costs, and raising prices frequently.
While executives are not hitting the panic button just yet, and many say the risks they face are hardly unique, they are still aggressively tackling costs and making sure that revenue keeps up with inflationary pressures. And many warn that if China suffers a credit crisis as some fear, then things could get a whole lot worse.
From Africa to Asia to Latin America, policymakers are scrambling to prop up their currencies and prevent a sudden exodus of foreign capital by jacking up interest rates and taking other steps - all this just as many emerging economies were already starting to slow sharply after a decade-long boom.
The sudden onslaught of market volatility in Turkey, Argentina, South Africa and Brazil, along with worries about an abrupt slowdown in China, means companies are now bracing for deeper reversals in demand for their products in emerging economies. And this is happening at a time when their U.S. dollar or euro revenues from many of these countries are also taking a hit because of plunging emerging market currencies.
Automakers Ford Motor Co. (F.N) and Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), home appliance manufacturer Whirlpool Corp (WHR.N) and liquor giant Diageo (DGE.L) all cited weakness and a more sober outlook in once-roaring emerging markets in earnings reports this week.
Still, for many executives, especially those with decades of experience in the developing world, wild currency swings and economic ups and downs are a fact of life that they must deftly navigate.
“We have had quite a bit of currency changes, particularly in the very weak emerging markets. But let’s put it in context,” Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool’s chairman and chief executive said. “We’ve been in the Brazilian market for over 60 years and we’ve managed hyper inflationary periods, busts, booms, and we’ve never had a loss-making year in Brazil.”
…
They won’t publish it in the newspapers until it’s long over.
Then it will be too late to help.
Markets
Treasurys Feed on Market Turmoil
As Treasurys Rally, Investors Reassess Bets On Rising Yields
By Min Zeng and Katy Burne
Updated Jan. 31, 2014 12:27 a.m. ET
Rout? What rout?
Despite widespread predictions of a sharp selloff in Treasurys this year, government bond prices have actually risen. And that has driven traders and investors to rethink their outlook for the rest of the year.
Instead of falling as the Federal Reserve began reducing its purchases of debt securities, Treasury prices have climbed, sending yields on 10-year notes below 2.7%, on track for the biggest monthly decline in more than 18 months.
Many strategists last year had predicted that yields would by now be marching toward 3.5% or even 3.75%. And on Dec. 31, they edged up just above 3%.
Much of the surprise can be attributed to the sudden turmoil in emerging markets and worries about a slowdown in China’s economic growth, which have driven investors to investments perceived as safer, notably government bonds. That upheaval was unexpected by many analysts and hadn’t been factored into predictions made last year.
“Many of the bond-market dynamics this year may be distinctly different, in fact almost the opposite of what happened in 2013, and you have seen that playing out somewhat this month,” said Rick Rieder, co-head of Americas fixed income at BlackRock Inc., (BLK -1.63%) the world’s largest money manager with $4.32 trillion of assets under management at the end of December. Mr. Rieder shifted his thinking after being surprised by the recent selloff in emerging-market currencies and said his company has bought 30-year Treasury bonds in the past few weeks.
Pacific Investment Management Co. , whose main bond fund is the world’s biggest by assets, also has been buying Treasurys, according to a Wednesday tweet by Chief Investment Officer Bill Gross.
Some investors and strategists said the events of the past few days have been momentous enough for them to upend their predictions for the trajectory of Treasury yields for the rest of 2014. That could be good news for consumers, companies and countries around the world, whose trillions of dollars of borrowings are tied to the interest rates on U.S. government bonds and often the 10-year note.
Michael Swell, co-head of global portfolio management at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which oversees $360 billion of fixed-income assets, said he previously expected the 10-year Treasury to yield 3.5% to 4% by the end of 2014, but in light of recent market jitters he said “it’s probably more 3.5% to 3.75%.”
“There is more volatility in the markets [so] the outcomes could be more dispersed than we originally thought,” he said.
…
“The biggest problem with the epic Central Bank rig of the last five years is that propping up a bankrupt financial system by printing money only works for so long.”
Markets
Country’s Housing Bust Still Stings Spain Banks
By Jeannette Neumann
Updated Jan. 31, 2014 11:18 p.m. ET
MADRID—Three of Spain’s biggest banks are still paying for the country’s real-estate bust.
In earnings released Friday, the lenders— Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, BBVA.MC +0.21% Caixabank SA CABK.MC +1.38% and Banco Popular SA POP.MC -2.07% —showed improvement in their capital strength but reported rising bad loans and falling net interest income in the final quarter of 2013. Net interest income is the difference between what banks earn from lending and the amount they pay for deposits.
BBVA, Spain’s second-biggest bank by market value, reported a fourth-quarter net loss of €849 million ($1.15 billion), compared with a profit of €20 million a year earlier, The latest results included a charge related to a sale of shares in a Chinese bank.
BBVA said net interest income fell 3.8% in the fourth quarter, to €3.8 billion, from €3.9 billion a year earlier. The lender said 6.8% of its loans were more than 90 days overdue at the end of 2013, up from 5.1% a year earlier.
The bank set aside less than half the amount it did a year earlier to cover souring loans, making €1.2 billion in loan-loss provisions in the fourth quarter compared with €2.7 billion a year earlier. For the full year, the bank reported net profit of €2.2 billion, up 33% from 2012.
In October, BBVA cut its stake in China Citic Bank Corp. 601998.SH -2.96% to just below 10%, a move meant to bolster its capital ahead of balance sheet tests by European authorities. The bank said at the time the sale would trigger a €2.3 billion hit to its resultsThe sale generated an accounting loss but freed up capital, giving the bank a 9.8% capital ratio by the end of the year under new Basel III rules.
The results come after Spain’s largest bank, Banco Santander SA, SAN.MC -0.31% said Thursday that fourth-quarter net profit more than doubled as it set aside a smaller proportion of its earnings to cover loan losses, offsetting lower net interest income.
Caixabank, Spain’s third-largest bank, said its rate of bad loans as a portion of total lending in the fourth quarter jumped to 11.66% from 8.63% a year earlier and were up slightly from the previous period. Overall, bad loans held by Spanish banks have continued to climb since February 2013, representing an all-time high of 13.1% of total lending in November.
Caixabank said fourth-quarter net profit fell 21%, to €45 million, from a year earlier. Over the full year, net profit more than doubled to €503 million. Fourth-quarter net interest margin fell 0.8%, to €1.02 billion.
Banco Popular said it swung to a net profit of €98 million in the quarter, from a loss of €2.7 billion in the year-earlier period. Still, Banco Popular also posted a big increase in souring loans.
…
Stocks, rupee tumble as sell-off in emerging markets deepens
Press Trust of India | Mumbai
January 27, 2014 Last Updated at 18:59 IST
Don’t Invest in the Euro
The Dollar And Euro Are Doomed.
A sell-off in emerging markets today hit India hard as the rupee plummeted 44 paise to slide past the 63-level versus dollar and the BSE Sensex plunged 426 points to end below the 21,000-mark.
However, gold rose for the third day by adding Rs 70 to Rs 30,570 per ten gram in the national capital.
The week began on a sour note for most investors in India as the equity benchmark Sensex fell for the second day and ended at a three-week low of 20,707.45. The 426-point plunge was the worst singe-day drop in five months.
The rupee ended lower for the sixth session in seven as it dived 44 paise to end at 63.10. This was the first time in 10 weeks that the currency slipped below the 63-mark.
In an encore of Friday’s poor show when Sensex dropped by 240 points and rupee depreciated by 73 paise, today’s fall in rupee and stocks was attributed to a rout in emerging markets.
Reports of Argentina abandoning support to its peso on the open market is also said to have affected sentiments.
“The currency sell-off is causing a contagion effect as investors pulled money from emerging markets and other assets viewed as risky,” said Sugandha Sachdeva, an assistant vice president at Religare Securities.
In addition to the sell-off, rising fears of the US Federal Reserve tapering its monthly bond-buying programme by another USD 10 billion, also made investors jittery.
Domestic fund managers are already wary of tomorrow’s RBI policy meeting after Governor Raghuram Rajan described inflation as a destructive disease and a panel recommended making retail inflation a priority.
“…There is an anticipation in the market that RBI will keep its interest rates high in spite of some corrections seen in the inflation numbers,” said Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services.
…
Got high beta EM stocks?
Sunday Journal
Another Week, Another Walloping for Stock Investors
Many Regard the Correction as Long Overdue
By Brett Arends
Feb. 1, 2014 8:20 p.m. ET
Investors got slammed last week as markets around the world plunged for the second week in a row.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 149.76 points on Friday to 15698.85, taking it down 5.3% since the start of the year.
Asian and European markets also plunged, while so-called emerging markets, from São Paulo to Seoul, came close to a rout. The Brazilian and Turkish stock markets crashed 12% last month, and crisis-stricken Argentina by nearly 25%.
The selloff was sparked by a new wave of financial crisis and panic sweeping many emerging markets, as well as the Federal Reserve’s long-feared move to continue winding down, or “tapering,” its monetary stimulus campaign.
Meanwhile, investors piled into safe-haven Treasury bonds, driving down interest rates. (Bonds work like a seesaw: Yields, or interest rates, fall when the price rises.)
The yield on 10-year Treasury saw the biggest monthly fall since August 2011, and ended the month down 0.36 percentage point at 2.7%. Yields on the even more volatile 30-year bond, arguably the best indicator of bearishness, fell to 3.62% Friday, down from about 4% at the start of the year.
Many argue that a selloff in stocks was long overdue.
From June 2012 until last month, the S&P 500 hadn’t posted a single weekly decline of 2.5% or more, market expert and money manager John Hussman of the Hussman Funds warned his investors recently. “At typical historical frequency,” he said, “we would have had eight of them” during that time.
…
With broad REIT indexes falling around 17% from their highs, the time to strike on some of the higher quality triple-net REITs.
One of the best could be Realty Income (NYSE:O). The firm is a giant among REITs period and owns more than 3,800 different properties leased to such tenants as Walgreens (NYSE:WAG) and FedEx (NYSE:FDX). That size and diversification allows for no single tenant to make up more than 5.1% of O’s revenue. That size also plays another important role- steadily increasing dividends. Realty Income has managed to pay a monthly dividend that has increased for the last 19 years and counting. O currently yields a hefty 5.7%. Not to be outdone, smaller rival National Retail Properties (NYSE:NNN) has had a similar streak of rising payouts and yields 4.9%.
An interesting growth choice could be American Realty Capital Properties (NASDAQ:ARCP). Since going public in 2011- with just 60 properties- ARCP has undergone a massive transformation. Last year, ARCP bought REIT CapLease for around $2.2 billion. That transaction did wonders for its portfolio size. However, the firm’s biggest news is its pending merger with Cole Real Estate (NASDAQ:COLE). The planned merger will create the largest triple-net leased REIT. ARCP shares yield 7.1%.
Finally, triple-net-focused W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) could be an interesting choice. The reason is unlike O and ARCP, about one-third of WPC’s portfolio is located overseas in Europe. That provides plenty of global diversification muscle for investors. WPC currently yields 5.7%.
The Bottom Line
With the Fed’s taper tantrum sending many REITs into the basement, the time to buy could be on. And the triple-net players- like Lexington Realty Trust (NYSE:LXP) –could be some of the best bargains. They have the goods to fight rising interest rates due to their low cost structure and high rate of dividend increases.
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/012914/playing-boom-netlease-reits-o-arcp-nnn-cole-wpc-olp-lxp-fdx-wag-iyr.aspx
“With broad REIT indexes falling around 17% from their highs, the time to strike on some of the higher quality triple-net REITs.”
Too bad. I was either lucky or smart enough to heed Faster Pussy Cat’s warning and cashed out of mine a year or so ago.
P.S. Rising interest rates will make the value of both REITs and (stand alone) rental housing decline further.
I started getting into REITs. $50 per month. And from my Roth 401k maybe $200 per month.
Dividends are good.
Also of course this gets you in real estate without the disadvantage of owning a SFH.
So long as you DCA, you avoid the risk of getting crushed by interest rates when they eventually increase to normalcy.
Yeah my cost basis is slightly lower than when I ponied up $3,000 t get started in that vanguard fund last summer.
Million-Dollar Home Sales Jump in the Golden State
January 30, 2014
La Jolla, CA.—-The number of California homes that sold for a million dollars or more rose last year to the highest level in six years, the result of rising home prices and an improving economy, among other factors. The strongest sales gains were at the luxury market’s high end, with record sales above the $2 million mark, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 39,175 homes sold for a million dollars or more in 2013, up 45.1 percent from 26,993 in 2012. It was the highest number sold since 42,506 in 2007, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.
The all-time high was in 2005, when 54,773 homes sold for $1 million or more. Last year’s 45.1 percent year-over-year increase in $1 million-plus sales easily eclipsed the state’s housing market as a whole: Overall home sales totaled 446,319 last year, down 0.6 percent from 449,059 in 2012. Last year’s increase in luxury home sales reflects the combination of rising demand and sharp price appreciation that pushed many homes up over the million-dollar threshold.
“The luxury home market is unique, always has been. It responds to its own set of economic factors. Things like job growth, mortgage interest rates and migration patterns do not play the same role as IPOs, stock market performance or how well one type of investment does compared to another, and where one wants to park one’s excess money. The $2 million threshold seems to be a more interesting cutoff point. Homes selling below that level do seem more responsive to the more traditional market factors,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.
Price appreciation tugged many more homes up over the $1 million mark last year, but it was the multi-million-dollar home sales that set records. Statewide, 840 homes sold for more than $5 million last year, an all-time high and up 20.3 percent from the previous high of 698 in 2012. In the $4-$5 million range a record 596 homes sold, up 29.3 percent from 461 in 2012. In the $3-$4 million range, a record 1,455 homes sold, up 31.3 percent from 1,108 in 2012.
In the $2-$3 million range sales totaled 4,492, a record and up 37.4 percent from 3,269 in 2012. In the $1-$2 million range, 25,352 sold last year, up 42.5 percent from 17,791 in 2012 but still 26.1 percent behind the all-time high of 34,313 in 2005.
Last year 10,602 of the homes that sold for $1 million or more were bought with cash, a record number, up from 7,791 in 2012. Cash was used more frequently the higher up the price scale. Of those who did finance their purchase last year, the median down payment was 30.0 percent of the purchase price.
In some communities virtually all of the home sales were in the million-dollar category. Among them: Santa Monica, Rancho Santa Fe, Atherton and Los Altos.
The median-sized million-dollar home sold in California last year was 2,504 square feet, with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The median price paid per square foot for all $1 million-plus homes in 2013 was $682, up 6.9 percent from $637 in 2012. For the overall California market, the square-foot median was $208 last year, up 28.1 percent from $162 in 2012, DataQuick reported.
There are 8.8 million houses and condos in California. Of those, 270,591 are assessed for more than a million dollars by county assessor offices, DataQuick reported.
http://www.dqnews.com/Articles/2014/News/California/MDCA140130.aspx
“A total of 39,175 homes sold for a million dollars or more in 2013, up 45.1 percent from 26,993 in 2012. It was the highest number sold since 42,506 in 2007, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.”
Cool! The Echo Bubble must be nearing its peak.
Sadly, many of these homes sold at deep losses to what the owner paid for them.
“There are 8.8 million houses and condos in California. Of those, 270,591 are assessed for more than a million dollars by county assessor offices, DataQuick reported.”
What’ll they assess for when water no longer runs out of the taps?
“What’ll they assess for when water no longer runs out of the taps?”
And when the residents start glowing in the dark?
What’ll they assess for when water no longer runs out of the taps?
This is going to become a problem everywhere in the Southwest, not just California.
Kiss your green lawns buh-bye.
Our landlords must have a working crystal ball, as they replaced our backyard lawn with a rock garden last summer!
In the middle-east the wealthy build water fountains.
California real estate is a no lose proposition. Ask anyone who bought before 2000.
I’ll get my time machine revved up.
I live in one of the cities mentioned (Los Altos).
Believe me when I say there is a lot of $$ flying around right now.
I do believe you. But is it malinvestment?
Also NoCal and SoCal are really two different states. From what I’ve read, NoCal has done a much better job of water conservation.
“I live in one of the cities mentioned (Los Altos).”
Is that Los Altos, or Los Altos Hills?
In 1950, Cleveland had almost a million folks inside the city limits.
Then democrats and public unions took over.
Now Cleveland is under 400,000 and still dropping.
It will soon be another Detroit.
60%+ of flights to be cut…
—————————-
Travelers at Cleveland Hopkins Airport brace for cuts by United Airlines
cleveland.com | February 01, 2014 | Stephanie Kuzydym
CLEVELAND, Ohio – United Airlines confirmed Saturday that departures from Cleveland will be cut by about 60 percent due to unprofitable operations in the city.
Northeast Ohio Media Group spoke with several travelers to get their feelings on what the cutbacks will mean. Here’s what they had to say:
Omar Garcia of Cleveland uses United to fly to Puerto Rico. It’s what he’s flown since he came to America five years ago from Bayamon, Puerto Rico. It’s the same airline his mother, brothers, sisters and their families used to move to America.
He was at the airport Saturday to pick up another sister who was flying direct from the island.
“I fly United because it’s the cheapest flight I can find,” he said.
Get a life.
I lived there for decades. Globalization (tool of the 0.1%) and NAFTA (created by GOP Congress and signed by Clinton) destroyed Cleveland.
I don’t think the 1% was responsible for this, though.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323932604579054043391512038
Actually, I take that back. The globalists had a huge hand in this, because destruction of social capital through “diversity” and other Frankenstein monster social engineering tricks allows a sick bastard to keep three women in a torture chamber for 10 years.
I still wonder how many people really knew what Castro was up to and kept their mouths shut.
Well… I believe in identifying root causes whenever possible. I don’t know if its globalization that caused this particular issue. Recall that:
1) Josef Fritzl in Austria kept his daughter in a dungeon for 24 years and fathered 7 children by her.
2) “Detlef S.” who is accused of holding a reign of terror in a German town, and who raped his children.
This kind of evil can also happen in a single-race community. So I think there are other factors at play in addition to isolation caused by cultural differences.
And then there’s Woody Allen.
Man’s inhumanity to man knows no boundaries. But it does depend on the silence of friends, family and neighbors. I can believe this sort of thing happening in Germany.
Cleveland is a stretch for me. Something still stinks about the whole incident.
The Woody Allen thing stinks even worse, though. Because these days, social capital equals things like money and celebrity status. Screw the kids. It’s Bohemian Grove for them.
I love the way Dylan Farrow is calling out some of Hollywood’s finest. Even more interesting are the carefully constructed celeb responses to her statements.
Wouldn’t surprise me to discover that some of these jokers had at least an inkling, but got caught up in the status of being part of a Woody Allen production and shoved it out of mind.
I have to wonder at Mia Farrow as well.
Just read about Woody Allen. Holy $hit!
I believe her. 2 mistakes Jerry Sandusky made, he chose football and a wrong town.
I have to wonder at Mia Farrow as well.
She’s gotta be brain dead.
“Just read about Woody Allen. Holy $hit!
I believe her. 2 mistakes Jerry Sandusky made, he chose football and a wrong town.”
And even then, he got away with it for a long time. In NY and LA, it’s far worse for the kids exposed to this sort of thing. Even today Corey Feldman doesn’t dare name names as to the wealthy, powerful freaks who abused him and Corey Haim.
I hope this blows way, way up. And that this gal has given courage to other young folk with similar tales of abuse at the hands of the rich and powerful. There’s one NY politician I have some serious doubts about.
“She’s gotta be brain dead.”
WTF was she thinking, adopting those children with Allen on the scene? That’s like stocking an alcoholic’s house full of booze.
Not that he was involved in anything like this, but I see that Phillip Seymour Hoffman just bought the farm.
Or should I say “bought the pharm”.
Amnesty will fix this…
————
Heroin Kingpin Busted in Florida is an Illegal Alien…on FOOD STAMPS
Top Right News | 02-01-2014 | Brian Hayes
Yet another welfare and illegal alien insanity story — while amnesty pimps like Sen. Dick Durbin keep telling us “undocumented immigrants can’t collect welfare”.
The head of the largest heroin operation in Polk County, FL history, along with numerous others who work for him, are illegal aliens who collect foodstamps. Four of the operation’s women also collect WIC payments.
In addition to raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money, the ringleader collected $900 every month from the government.
“You, the hard working taxpayer of this state, were paying him for this,” the Polk County Sheriff said.
The plural of anecdote is not data.
But it gets Drudge more page loads and links clicked and ad revenue.
Pointing out something is a single anecdote is not evidence that the anecdote is not emblematic of a widespread problem either.
Is there a study from La Raza that shows all but this one heroin kingpin are law abiding tax paying oppressed currently undocumenteds?
A significant portion of all crimes are going to be committed by illegal aliens just because there are so many of them running around the country.
In DC talk this actually mean a 1% cut in the increase…baseline budgeting it’s called…
One trillion dollar deficits per year for the last five years.
And we can’t even cut 1% to any program.
————–
Democrats: 1% Cut In Food Stamp Funding Is “Stealing”
Townhall.com | February 1, 2014 | Kevin Glass
Elected Democrats and movement progressives are up in arms over the meager cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - commonly known as food stamps). Hot Air’s Erika Johnsen covered the non-drama over the farm bill yesterday and noted the very meager reforms included in the legislation, but some Democrats are bemoaning the $800 million in yearly cuts to SNAP in apocalyptic terms. The overall SNAP program costs $70 billion per year.
Hipster congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said “Congress has lost its way” and described the farm bill as “reverse Robin Hood legislation that steals food from the poor.” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) described the 1% of the food stamp budget being cut as “essential nutritional assistance” in a time when SNAP enrollment and spending is at all-time highs. Jim McGovern said that the legislation “increases hunger.”
All of this for a program whose expansion and cost has exploded in the Obama years. Some of this comes with the business cycle - the recession depressed many households’ income, pushing them onto SNAP rolls - but when the economy is back at full speed the SNAP program is projected to remain at historical highs.
The Congressional Budget Office finds that spending on food stamps has risen from $30 million to $72 million in the Obama years, and it’s not all attributable to the 2008 recession:
What these Democrats are saying is that not a single penny can be cut from a program that has ballooned in enrollment and spending over the last six years and will remain at historical highs in the future. It could be the case that the food stamp program is such an important program and that there was a starvation problem in America prior to this massive expansion, but that’s not the argument that’s being made - Democrats need to face up to the massive expansion in the food stamp program and defend it on the grounds of historical highs.
Food stamps = $80,000,000,000 a year
Government contractors = $500,000,000,000 a year
I know it hurts that some black and brown poors are getting some free sh*t (never mind that the majority of food stamp recipients are white, let’s keep it focused on the black and brown poors), sometimes when I’m clicking these Drudge links I just get so angry. I know it makes me angry, but I can’t stop doing it. And when that Drudge Report website auto-reloads (like it’s some kind of wire news service or stock ticker), and all those links to the Washington Times, the Weekly Standard, Breitbart, and the assorted regional subdomains of CBSlocal dot com appear, I can’t not click. And I especially can’t not copy and paste what I find to other websites, because whatever Drudge links to is so good the rest of the internets world needs to know about it …
Military Spending - 19% of the Federal Budget ($670 Billion) per year
Entitlement Spending - 58% of the Federal Budget ($1.65 Trillion) per year.
And we can’t even cut 1% of the proposed increase of any social program.
In 2010 (last year figures are available) - the deficit is 62% if GDP - a figure not seen in 60 years.
Were does it end? Look at Greece and Argentina today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_deficit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2011.png
Social Security does not fall under entitlement spending.
Study it out.
I can call a pig a duck but …
The federal deficit could not possibly have been 62% of GDP in 2010. There should also be data available for 2012 or 2013. You read all this stuff about the federal budget and yet you develop no sense about the issues.
these people should be doing hard labor for their food stamps. There are lots of things they could be doing to earn their money.
Do you mean indigent children and people who are too decrepit to work? Because lots of the beneficiaries of food stamps are too young to legally work in this country. But since child labor works so well in China, maybe we could make it work here too.
Walmart is very much in favor of food stamps.
As are people who do not want to work and would rather not follow any rules or have anyone tell them to do something they do not want to do. Also the lazy …
“Walmart is very much in favor of food stamps.”
I’d have to guess a lot of their customers pay with SNAP cards; but that is just a guess.
Thats pitiful……just make them sit in class 20 hours a week and learn to read write and speak English. that will thin out the heard very quickly.
“thin out the heard very quickly.”
DING DING DING! We have a winner!
And today’s intensive purposes award goes to: DJ!
(joshing with ya a little, DJ. I love ya, but I couldn’t let it slide.)
If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for everyone.
–Texas Governor “Pa” Hogg
Can’t rule out autocorrect, but this appears to be a blessing in the sky
DJ is blissfully unaware of how poor his English skills are.
Polly…you’ll never understand Our HS was more of a blue collar school, I had drafting print shop electronics and was assistant photographer of the year book, not exactly skills where a thesaurus is needed.
Then I wrote a lot of copy for a teleprompter these dots ….. means pause to a news reader….
And that’s what held me back as a paralegal, oh i could research cases, nuances, shepardize and i was very good at it, but writing was my weak point. oh well it was fun and i learned a lot.
“Can’t rule out autocorrect, but this appears to be a blessing in the sky”
The peeps with functional challenges still can’t rely on software for the oft “their, there and they’re” grammatical dilemma.
DJ,
It isn’t the “dots.” You have a horrendous homonym problem in the original post. Your use of English is consistently terrible. If you ever want to get a job, learn to write. You can use all the time you spend whining about other people not being able to speak and write English to study. Get a GED book and start with that.
Just in case you were wondering, the “dots” are called an ellipsis, and they are used to leave words out of a section of text without changing the meaning. They do not indicate a pause to an educated person.
If you learned how to write for a newsreader, you can learn to write for the educated world. Or can you? All sorts of people here have told you that no one gets a job by walking from place to place trying to force receptionists to accept resumes when the company doesn’t take applications that way. You don’t seem to learn anything from that advice. Maybe you are incapable of getting more educated.
polly … get it?
Foodstamps = zero products or services made or done.
Govt Contractors = things actually made and done.
Walmart would disagree with you.
And you missed the Farm subsidies that pay farmers not to plant crops.
Cut those also, as is always said on here when this comes up. You lib liars don’t want any cuts because they are cuts to your power to hand out free sh!t.
And the Chinese who make Walmarts stuff ain’t getting the stamps. Even the workers from Walmart are at least working. Criminy you shills want to just hand out other people’s money constantly.
You say cut farm subsidies “when it comes up”, but right wingers never bring it up themselves. Food stamps, on the other hand, are brought up on an almost daily basis. Providing food to poor families appears to generate a lot more anger than sending checks to farmers who are often quite prosperous. Why is that?
“You say cut farm subsidies “when it comes up”, but right wingers never bring it up themselves. Food stamps, on the other hand, are brought up on an almost daily basis. Providing food to poor families appears to generate a lot more anger than sending checks to farmers who are often quite prosperous. Why is that?”
That’s a good question. My RINO rep presides over an interesting district which is a weird combo of agriculture and retirement, and the people who serve both. Voted for the farm bill, natch. And preparing to vote for scamnasty. Former JAG who loves to trot out the military. Turns purple over the thought of “entitlements” (except for his retired constituents and farmers)
I said cut em both and you said why didn’t you bring it up sooner. Noticeably absent is you agreeing to cut em both. You have one solution. More taxes, more free sh!t.
Read what I wrote. I didn’t address the issue of what should or should not be cut. I simply observed that one program is mentioned by a certain sort of poster on this blog quite frequently, while the other is not. Such people say that they’re against farm subsidies when the program is mentioned, but they never sit down and write a diatribe against it on HBB without the program first getting mentioned by someone else.
i readed it and i thinks you likes free sh!t.
There’s plenty of diatribes on here against corporate welfare and handouts to anyone who is well off.
Govt Contractors = things actually made and done.
If we spend spend four or five times as much on “defense” as we would actually need to spend to defend the country, then the things that are made done represent a waste.
Give me your 4-5 times data point. I agree military should be drastically cut also. But those contractors are at least working, doing something.
“…never mind that the majority of food stamp recipients are white,…”
They don’t count in 2bananaland because they are part of the 47% Free Sh!t Army, plus they are all Democrats instead of bootstrapping Republican entrepreneurs who worked all their lives and never had any advantage due to birthrights.
When the meme has legs, the meme runs.
That’s why I’m trying to cut the legs out from under it. Everyone and his dog knows that all the trust fund babies and their children hide behind the myth that they worked hard for every penny they have. The truth is that America is no longer the land of opportunity it once was; why don’t we just declare the 1% “Royals” and merge with England again?
28 January, 2014 19:45
Upward mobility and the American casino economy
By Andrew Hiller
WASHINGTON (VR) – Each week, Professor of Law Jody Armour of the University of Southern California joins Radio VR to take on social and economic subjects that beset the United States.
This time, he addressed a January 24th Wall Street Journal Op-Ed by Tom Perkins, a founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers that compares the plight of the one percent and how they are being treated to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. In addition, he helps to review and analyze a study by Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Patrick Kline et al. that reports that the tide of upward mobility lies largely unchanged over the past twenty years.
Got luck, pluck, or neither?
Of course white people get the most food stamps because white people are 5 times the numbers of any other group….MATH is a wonderful thing to know.
If you work out the percentages of various populations, a much different picture emerges.
But you’re not supposed to notice.
Poor means black in the South.
Poor means black in the South.
It does in the north, too.
2banana doesn’t want to give out food stamps to any color race or creed that is able but not willing to work and also learn English.
But ignore that and go to play 1 of the lib playbook, call em racist.
Why are Republicans so mean spirited?
…and like to brag about it here so often!
“Why are Republicans so mean spirited?”
“…and like to brag about it here so often!”
I know right, they need to get on board with the compassionate Dems.
Then again, a baby with a skull abnormality can’t vote.
Sick Kids Denied Specialty Care Due to Obamacare in Washington
11:16 AM, Jan 31, 2014 •
By DANIEL HALPER
“Administrators at Seattle Children’s today said they predicted this would happen, and it’s even worse than they expected,” says the local news anchor. “Patients being denied specialty treatment at the hospital by insurance providers on the Washington health benefits exchange. Children’s filed request on behalf of 125 of their patients. Of those, they say they got only 20 responses, eight of which were denials. Dr. Sandy Melzer says all this comes after reassurances of certain unique specialty cases would still be covered.”
Dr. Sandy Melzer says, “Well, some of the patients who were denied are ones who clearly would fall into that unique category. A two-year-old with new significant neck mass that was being evaluated for infection or malignancy, an older child with a chronic severe medical condition requiring multidisciplinary care here, a baby that had a skull abnormality.”
The anchor explains, “Children’s went ahead and treated those cases anyway, but Dr. Melzer said they can’t afford to keep doing that it way.”
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/sick-kids-denied-specialty-care-due-obamacare-washington_776030.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed - 69k
Food fight!
This guy quotes a local news anchor as a source for his article? That’s breaking new ground when it comes to lazy journalism.
When you fall off a ladder that is the beginning of a Recession.
When you hit the ground and lie there flat on your back that is a Recovery.
The food stamp data is an indication of the number of fallen.
Almost 6 years into a recovery we have 50 million on food stamps and they still have to print a trillion a year?
Stock and home prices have recovered but people just don’t feel like it is a legitimate recovery. When people don’t believe there is no confidence.
When a third of the country falls off a ladder and can’t climb back up again, that’s a
DepressionPERMANENT DEMOCRAT SUPERMAJORITY.welcome to california.
California’s on track to become a national desert park.
“California’s on track to become a national desert park.”
Not sure about that Palmy. Maybe a Biblioteca.
Btw, it’s raining here right now.
Sometimes it rains in the desert, too. And the flowers that bloom afterwards are a sight to see.
I remember the droughts in California in the late 70s, then a record wet year. Then a few drought years in the 80s. Somehow California did not run out of water those 35 years. This is why I laugh at these myth mongerers announcing its all over!
“This is why I laugh at these myth mongerers announcing its all over!”
Last words of the Anasazi. “Look, ma, no rain!”
Welcome to obamonomics…
——————-
Millennials hit 30: It’s the economy, not us
NBC News Business KC | February 1,2014 | Allison Linn CNBC
Turning 30 used to mean hitting your stride as an official adult. But for many of the country’s millennials, it feels like being stuck in perpetual late adolescence.
Marriage eludes many. Children? Not anytime soon. Most millennials have some sort of job, but for many a career seems unobtainable. A home of their own? Lots of them have had to move back in with mom and dad or shack up with roommates. That’s not the place where many millennials expected or wanted to be as they enter their thirties.
What happened? One major culprit, say many millennials: The lousy economy
“It’s kind of a disillusionment that we’re facing,” Trowell said. “We were told that you can be anything you want, and now here we are and you can’t find a job.”
About 74 percent of the oldest millennials — those who are currently ages 25 to 32 — were employed in 2013, according to an analysis of government data prepared by Pew Research Center. That’s down from 79 percent who were employed in 2007.
Millennials also are getting married later. In 2013, the median age of a first marriage was 29 for men and 26.6 for women, according to Pew data. That’s up significantly from just 18 years ago, when the median age of first marriage was 26.9 years old for men and 24.5 years old for women.
“My whole outlook is, it’s all very delayed,” said Chris Quinn, 31, a talent manager for a large advertising agency in Chicago, who after years of furloughs and other setbacks finally feels like he is on a path to making big life decisions about things like buying a house and getting married.
For many, even now, it remains tough just to get a job.
Erika Trowell and her husband, Ben, 29, say they expected by now to have already paid off their debts, bought a house, settled into good jobs and perhaps even started raising children.
Instead, the couple is still struggling to whittle down the last of Ben’s student loans plus credit card debt they accrued when times were tougher for them.
About 46.6 percent of older millennials ages 25 to 32 were heading their own household as of March 2013, down from 47.9 percent of people in that age range who headed their own home in 2007, according to a Pew analysis of government data.
Some older millennials may be sharing a home with roommates or a romantic partner, but a rising number are staying at their parents’ home. About 16 percent of 25- to 31-year-old millennials were living at home in 2012, according to Pew, up from 13.8 percent in 2007.
“There is this notion that there’s been a change in cultural trends — that it’s more acceptable now to live with Mom and Dad,” said Pew economist Robert Fry. “Possibly, but it’s also very clear that … living with Mom and Dad is related to sort of how you’re faring in the job market.”
Katie Stanton, 26, lives with her parents in Darien, Ill., because her part-time retail job doesn’t pay enough for her to afford to live on her own. Like many millennials, she fumes at the notion that she just wants to rely on her parents, or isn’t trying hard enough to find a career that uses her college degree.
Obama my arse. You can thank the globalist RINOs for this.
He’s really fluffing the 0.1% today. What’s sad is that I think he has really internalized these beliefs and isn’t getting paid to post this.
There is hope for 2ban, though. He has a good post on the souper bowl below, but here it is, anyway:
“Best of all?
Paying $3000 for a ticket to watch multi-millionaires chasing an elongated ball in a billion dollar stadium built with taxpayer money in a “sports” league that s tax-exempt.”
What a scam the NFL is, and 2ban knows it.
Great point!
I will skip the super bowl this year. I don’t remember when I last watched one. I did see the one with Janet Jackson with the wardrobe malfunction.
“Janet Jackson with the wardrobe malfunction.”
A titillating moment.
“Obama my arse. You can thank the globalist RINOs for this.”
I agree with you on the RINO’s, but you can not discount the major influence of Marxist revolutionary democrats who are hell bent on collapsing our entire system. Together they are part of the same team working to destroy the American middle class.
These Millennials need to be more boot-strappy and follow in the foot steps of great leaders like George W Bush or Mitt Romney!
Or Al Sharpton
‘$350 million NASA project completed, then mothballed because of lack of need’
I guess its better than the money going to pay down bad loans at freddie and fannie? At least there was some production.
A question of what do you do?
You are building a test tower to test new engines for the new NASA manned space flight program.
Obama suddenly cancels the manned flight program without warning. (amazingly - government spending and programs can be cut…)
Do you stop building and lose all the money invested to that date? Or do you finish building the tower and hope that tower can be used on another NASA program?
Simply, if you are funded you spend every $.
Why are they building towers when our leader instructed them … to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science…and math and engineering.
We now have to hitch hike rides into space on Russian space craft but we can afford to have NASA do hundreds of millions of dollars of busy work?
As I’ve heard Krugman put it, “Unproductive economic activity is better than none at all.”
Keynes famously encouraged the burying of bottles full of currency and then letting citizens dig them up. Which is an insightful observation IMHO - it reduces the problem to a model. In order to maintain the value of the currency, it must be scarce and uncounterfeitable.
The perspective of someone who has access to the currency printing press is quite different than the perspective of someone who has to work for his money, and is far from the printing press.
Watched the NBC Nightly News last night. Seems the economic benefits of the souper bowl are, uh, elusive to say the least. Plenty of seats left available, plents of hotel rooms unbooked, local merchants on the ground doing about the same amount of business as they did last year at this time. Street vendors unable to get passers-by to cough it up. Best of all:
Christie got booed big time at the press conference!!!!!!!!!!!! Be still, my beating heart!
OMG thanks for the timely reminder. Time to start the guac preparation!
Forgot to add, though, that the security industrial complex is the big wiener here.
Best of all?
Paying $3000 for a ticket to watch multi-millionaires chasing an elongated ball in a billion dollar stadium built with taxpayer money in a “sports” league that s tax-exempt.
I think a lot of the sports attention goes to that fact it is a lot cheaper to turn on the TV and vegetate rather than having to spend a bunch of money doing an activity on your own.
For me it was a 3800 yard swim at 7:00 a.m. Followed by oatmeal and grapefruit. I am thinking of all the brontosaurus behinds getting bigger being sedentary and eating garbage today. Yeesh! Sadly, they repeat this on birthdays, holidays, vacations, and weekends. No wonder our nation is becoming an idiotic nation of whales!
Hahahahahahahaha
A radio friend of mine is doing something good today
NEW NAME: “Poorman’s Super Bowl Beach Bar Hop” brought to you by OC Weekly. I will hit 48 Bars during Super Bowl 48 tomorrow between 11 AM-10 PM, before, during, and after the game. The only way to pull this off is by doing it at bars in the OC Beach cities. I figure I’ll have 5 minutes in each bar and another 5 minutes to get to the next bar. That’s 480 minutes (8 hours) without travel!
https://www.facebook.com/jim.p.trenton
Crust is the Poorman still around? It’s been years since I heard him.
Murderous Games: Gladiatorial Contests in Ancient Rome
By Keith Hopkins | Published in History Today Volume: 33 Issue: 6 1983
Consider how the spectators in the amphitheatre sat: the emperor in his gilded box, surrounded by his family; senators and knights each had special seats and came properly dressed in their distinctive purple-bordered togas. Soldiers were separated from civilians. Even ordinary citizens had to wear the heavy white woollen toga, the formal dress of a Roman citizen, and sandals, if they wanted to sit in the bottom two main tiers of seats. Married men sat separately from bachelors, boys sat in a separate block, with their teachers in the next block. Women, and the very poorest men dressed in the drab grey cloth associated with mourning, could sit or stand only in the top tier of the amphitheatre. Priests and Vestal Virgins (honorary men) had reserved seats at the front. The correct dress and segregation of ranks underlined the formal ritual elements in the occasion, just as the steeply banked seats reflected the steep stratification of Roman society. It mattered where you sat, and where you were seen to be sitting.
When long-term peace came to the heartlands of the empire, after 31 BC, militaristic traditions were preserved at Rome in the domesticated battlefield of the amphitheatre. War had been converted into a game, a drama repeatedly replayed, of cruelty, violence, blood and death. But order still needed to be preserved. The fear of death still had to be assuaged by ritual. In a city as large as Rome, with a population of close on a million by the end of the last century BC, without an adequate police force, disorder always threatened.
Gladiatorial shows and public executions reaffirmed the moral order, by the sacrifice of human victims – slaves, gladiators, condemned criminals or impious Christians. Enthusiastic participation, by spectators rich and poor, raised and then released collective tensions, in a society which traditionally idealised impassivity. Gladiatorial shows provided a psychic and political safety valve for the metropolitan population. Politically, emperors risked occasional conflict, but the populace could usually be diverted or fobbed off. The crowd lacked the coherence of a rebellious political ideology. By and large, it found its satisfaction in cheering its support of established order. At the psychological level, gladiatorial shows provided a stage for shared violence and tragedy. Each show reassured spectators that they had yet again survived disaster. Whatever happened in the arena, the spectators were on the winning side.
Vestal Virgins were not men.
billion dollar stadium built with taxpayer money in a “sports” league
Isn’t that your kind of capitalism?
Best of all?
Paying $3000 for a ticket to watch multi-millionaires chasing an elongated ball in a billion dollar stadium built with taxpayer money in a “sports” league that s tax-exempt.
Why do you hate Capitalism?
That’s what happens when you bust prostitution and drug dealers.
I’m puzzled too, it’s not like any radiation from Fukushima leaked into the Pacific ocean or anything.
Mass sea star deaths off US west coast puzzle scientists.
By Jean-Louis Santini
19 hours ago
Washington (AFP) - Starfish have been mysteriously dying by the millions in recent months along the US west coast, worrying biologists who say the sea creatures are key to the marine ecosystem.
Scientists first started noticing the mass deaths in June 2013. Different types of starfish, also known as sea stars, were affected, from wild ones along the coast to those in captivity, according to Jonathan Sleeman, director of the US Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center.
http://news.yahoo.com/mass-sea-star-deaths-off-us-west-coast-200659719.html - 259k -
There has to be a government cover-up here.
Oh dear, oh my, however could THAT have happened? The geniuses are all soooooo confused. Such a mystery.
BTW, the guys from the US who went to help with Fukushima and started running at both ends shortly thereafter could tell you ALL about it.
“…and started running at both ends shortly thereafter…”
Blech!
Radiation sickness is not pretty. But, I shouldn’t have posted that, because it’ll probably draw Dr. Poo out of the shadows.
Any Moron can see it’s caused by global warming…….I mean climate change.
Heh, I put NOTHING past the gummint when it comes to twisting the facts, or even suppressing the facts. Fukushima would be a gift, because if you suppress it, you can blame the die offs on global warming.
“There has to be a government cover-up here.”
That’s the kind of crazy talk that gets people on lists.
Is The Government Stockpiling Iodine In Preparation for Fukushima Meltdown?
by Anthony Gucciardi
January 1st, 2014
Updated 01/01/2014 at 1:33 pm
Following the revelation that The Department of Health and Human Services has ordered 14 million doses of potassium iodide to be available by no later then the first of February, it is easy to see that the same federal government responsible for silently raising the allowable limits of radiation in the food supply and turning off key radiation counters positioned in the west coast may now silently be preparing for a future Fukushima meltdown.
The same type of Fukushima plant meltdown that has been predicted by leading scientists, such as those who spoke out against Fukushima’s dangers while attending the scientific symposium at the University of Alberta just a few months ago. Scientists like David Suzuki went on record in stating that Fukushima is just an earthquake away from devastating Japan and swallowing other nations with its radioactive fallout.
During the conference, Suzuki said:
“I have seen a paper which says that if in fact the fourth plant goes under in an earthquake and those rods are exposed, it’s bye bye Japan and everybody on the west coast of North America should evacuate.”
And Suzuki is not the only one with major concerns. In fact, Suzuki is perhaps one of the very few who actually received media attention due to his celebrity status as a recipient of 16 significant academic awards and host of the popular CBC Television program entitled ‘The Nature of Things’. Yale University professor Charles Perrow has voiced similar concerns in a telling piece entitled ‘Fukushima Forever’, which highlights the very serious threat of nuclear meltdown as a result of human error when it comes to removing the plant’s spent fuel rods.
A danger that the United States government certainly recognizes as legitimate based on the analysis of top experts, and undoubtedly is silently preparing for behind the scenes.
Perrow writes:
“Much more serious is the danger that the spent fuel rod pool at the top of the nuclear plant number four will collapse in a storm or an earthquake, or in a failed attempt to carefully remove each of the 1,535 rods and safely transport them to the common storage pool 50 meters away. Conditions in the unit 4 pool, 100 feet from the ground, are perilous, and if any two of the rods touch it could cause a nuclear reaction that would be uncontrollable. The radiation emitted from all these rods, if they are not continually cool and kept separate, would require the evacuation of surrounding areas including Tokyo. Because of the radiation at the site the 6,375 rods in the common storage pool could not be continuously cooled; they would fission and all of humanity will be threatened, for thousands of years.”
http://www.storyleak.com/government-stockpiling-iodine-fukushima-meltdown/ - 108k -
So is there a law that says no private individual can own a Geiger counter?
Funny how not one former media person or current one is whistle blowing about radiation affecting all the left coast.
I call BS on this Fuk u Shima radiation conspiracy nutters.
You can call BS all you want, for me Tuna is off the menu even though the World Health Organization said “radioactive particles that make their way to North America’s waters will have a limited effect on human health” it doesn’t look like it worked out too well for the Starfish.
If they have any problems with the remaining 1,535 spent fuel rods at the top of nuclear plant number four, Ohio is what I will consider the West coast.
Despite Fukushima, scientists say eating West Coast fish is safe
October 10, 2013
With 300 tonnes of contaminated water pouring into the sea every day, Japan’s government finally acknowledged the urgency of the situation in September.
It will take about three years from the time of the incident for the radiation plume to reach the West Coast, which would be early next year. Recent testing of migratory fish, including tissue samples collected from Pacific bluefin tuna caught off the California coast, assessed radiation levels and potential effects on marine food webs far away from Japan. Trace amounts of radioisotopes from the Fukushima plant were found, although the best available science puts them at levels below those naturally occurring in the environment around us. Natural, or background radiation, is found in many sources, including food items, medical treatments and air travel.
The most comprehensive health assessment, by the World Health Organization, concludes radioactive particles that make their way to North America’s waters will have a limited effect on human health, with concentrations predicted to be below WHO safety levels.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2013/10/despite-fukushima-scientists-say-eating-west-coast-fish-is-safe/ - 79k -
“World Health Organization”
- Stop right there! It’s akin to the UN, which you despise. So you agree with one of the socialist groups if it supports your thesis but you don’t agree with it’s world government plans?
Gotcha.
“Funny how not one former media person or current one is whistle blowing about radiation affecting all the left coast.”
No kidding. The fact that it’s been all over the internet for months means that most people are at least aware of the accusation. Covering it up under these conditions would take some doing.
And with about 33 million people living between Everett, WA and National City, California, you would think there would be at least one counter-establishment college professor in the mix who would use his geiger counter and announce the rumors as true.
This radiation hysteria is only hysteria. It happened before when Chernobyl fallout went into the jet stream.
“you would think there would be at least one counter-establishment college professor in the mix who would use his geiger counter and announce the rumors as true.”
Yes, you would think, given the following from today’s headlines:
NASA Sued for Failing to Investigate Martian Jelly-Donut Rock
“Rhawn Joseph, a neuropsychologist and author, filed a lawsuit in a California court earlier this week demanding NASA “thoroughly scientifically examine and investigate” the mystery object that seemingly appeared out of nowhere on the surface of Mars this month.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/nasa-sued-failing-investigate-martian-jelly-donut-rock/story?id=22335788
There has never been a better time to buy stocks!
Goldilocks is back, and she is buying stocks on bullish sentiment!
Perhaps the weak minds on this board who blame Obama for appointing Bernanke forgot that before becoming Fed Chair, Ben Bernanke served for eight months as head of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Should investors fear the Fed?
By Dan McSwain
5 p.m.Feb. 1, 2014
Out-going Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke leaves his office in the Federal Reserve building in Washington, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014. Bernanke took office on Feb. 1, 2006, more the shy Princeton professor than a likely combatant in Washington’s knock-down political culture, though he’d served on the Fed’s board and for eight months as head of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh) The Associated Press
Should investors fear the Fed?
The very question smacks of ingratitude. After all, the Federal Reserve has been very, very good to investors since 2008, when it launched history’s largest monetary stimulus.
For openers, Chairman Ben Bernanke and company probably prevented a financial panic from causing a Great Depression — which would have been catastrophic for nest eggs. I’ll ignore the Fed’s role in causing the panic to begin with, because economic historians will be arguing that question for years.
And besides, values of stocks and bonds set records in 2013 amid low interest rates, rising confidence and surging profits.
But now both stocks and bonds look expensive by historical measures. Cash deposits earn far less than inflation.
And last month the Fed began removing its stimulus, however gradually.
Investors see nowhere to run, and lousy places to hide. Many are asking advisers to build Fed-resistant portfolios.
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. We could be entering an environment of rising interest rates for the first time in 33 years. And today’s combination of high stock prices and low rates is rare.
Still, there is a case for optimism.
Bernanke and his replacement, Janet Yellen, say the Fed’s bond purchases had surprisingly little influence on rates. If they are right, less stimulus won’t matter much.
And besides, both say the Fed won’t end stimulus completely and start raising rates until unemployment falls “well below” 6.5 percent, inflation goes above 2.5 percent, and the financial system is stable. That combination won’t happen until 2015 or beyond, they forecast.
And since 1995 the average 10-year Treasury rate has stuck very close to the annual increase in GDP. With GDP growth ranging from 3 percent to 3. 5 percent lately, rate hikes could be restrained, says UC Berkeley economist Brad DeLong.
If rates do rise more swiftly, experts say the cause would be a more rapidly growing economy. That’s often good for stock prices, as profits rise along with wages and spending.
Most investment strategists predict that interest rates will rise gradually. If they are right, the present “Goldilocks” conditions could persist, extending the bull market for stocks.
“We’re going to be in an environment that’s less focused on Fed policy and more focused on earnings, sector and regional fundamentals,” said Jeffrey Kravetz, regional investment strategist for U.S. Bank’s wealth management division.
…
“This simple, back-of-the-envelope strategy would be to buy when the index is low and sell when it is high. In other words, people should stay out of the market when it is distorted and thus preserve their capital to deploy after the inevitable purge and correction, when productive assets become bargain-priced. Such an approach has resulted historically in an annualized 2-percent outperformance of stocks. Logically it makes sense, and when you look at it empirically, it’s incontrovertible. ”
BTFD!!!!
You just need to know when the music is going to stop and when it’s going to start. Simple
Would now be a good time to buy the dip in EM stocks?
Sunday Journal
The Silver Lining in Emerging-Market Jitters
Amid Equity Selloff, Prices Strike Some as Attractive
Feb. 1, 2014 8:15 p.m. ET
Financial advisers say they are undeterred by the selloff of emerging-market investments, but they are spending time calming jittery clients.
Some believe emerging markets may become an even better long-term investment if the selloff continues. “It’s starting to get to a point where emerging markets are becoming incredibly attractive from a valuation perspective,” especially when compared with U.S. stocks, says Daniel Dingus, director of portfolio management at Fragasso Financial Advisors in Pittsburgh.
In the week ended Jan. 29, global net outflows totaled $6.33 billion for emerging-market equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, and $2.63 billion for bond funds and ETFs, says fund tracker EPFR Global. Emerging-markets equity funds have now tied what was previously their longest outflow streak, a 14-week run in 2002.
Over the past decade, there have been 19 times when the MSCI Emerging Markets index dropped by at least 5%, according to Goldman Sachs (GS -1.04%) analysts. The average was 12%, and the pullback, on average, lasted about 35 days. The latest emerging-markets tumult has lasted about a month, during which the index has fallen more than 6%.
Goldman predicts more pain ahead. “Our emerging-market strategists believe some emerging-market equity markets have further to fall, and that they require significant current-account rebalancing before bottoming,” Goldman analysts wrote to clients.
…
word on the street is janet yellen is going to step up bond purchases to counter the recent decline in stock market margin debt.
“…going to step up bond purchases to counter the recent decline in stock market margin debt…”
That would make long-term Treasurys go up by even more than they have already in 2014.
Wwhatever necessary to get those yields u to 10%+.
This is funny, every night the sheeple tune into their local news and gets fed national propoganda.
New Conan O’Brien Segment Exposes Media Scripting Yet Again
by Storyleak
February 2nd, 2014
Once again, the Conan O’Brien show has revealed countless examples of local media reading off the same script, proving that most corporate news outlets do nothing more than push national talking points.
http://www.storyleak.com/new-conan-obrien-segment-exposes-media-scripting-yet/ - 58k -
I think Matt Bracken’s on to something.
Shrinking the size of government so you can drown it in the bathtub:
“The latest data and projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the federal workforce is actually shrinking. By December 2013, the government had lost more than 80,000 employees compared to the same time the previous year.
The GAO report showed growth because it covered only 2004 through 2012, during which time the workforce grew from 1.88 million to 2.13 million. BLS projections show that federal employment is now moving in the opposite direction, with a decline of 13 percent likely to occur over the next nine years.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/01/30/fed-worker-retirement-eligibility-to-skyrocket-by-2017-report-says/
Related article:
“The federal government has long relied on outside contractors to provide it with weapons systems and other goods. But starting with the Reagan administration, there has been a determined shift of work from government employees to private contractors, on the theory that they could do it better and cheaper. For a time, that was true. Much of the early outsourcing was for lower-skilled clerical and maintenance functions for which government workers received pay and benefits well above the market rate. Or it was for the design and operation of new computer systems that automated the work of government and had never existed before.
But in recent years, much of the outsourcing has been driven by politics and ideology.
To demonstrate their commitment to “shrinking” the size of the federal government, both Republican and Democratic politicians set about shrinking the federal workforce and then capping it at 2 million workers, despite continued growth in the economy, the size of the federal budget and demand for government services.
“This obsession with small government is a sham,” declares Daniel Gordon, who headed the Office of Procurement Policy in the first Obama term before joining the law faculty at George Washington University.
In the end, taxpayers are not only indirectly paying the higher salaries they refuse to pay directly to government employees — they also wind up paying for the contractors’ profit and the costs of winning and managing contracts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-federal-outsourcing-boom-and-why-its-failing-americans/2014/01/31/21d03c40-8914-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html?tid=hpModule_14fd66a0-9199-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239
The military industrial complex has moved onto other areas in the Federal government.
My foot. When you have 2 million feds on the payroll, and they are incapable of doing more other than positioning themselves against one another, you have 1.8 million useless drones who are doing nothing other than sucking at the teat.
I have worked with the C-levels at the DoD, NATO and a few of our more disliked civilian agencies. I have observed that every working moment is consumed by inward focus. Meetings to position departmental agendas for subsequent meetings. Any evidence of value added towards furthering the national agenda?
Negative - although the feds are titular overseers, they can’t think through dilemmas well enough to give anything other than platitudes as guidance. The horse is designed by committee. Really?
So, Congress is run by randy 25 year old staffers, and Fed agencies are run by talking heads with platitude.
We would save a boatload of cash as a nation, and get a whole lot more done, by canning the 1.8 million Feds who spend their days preening, positioning, downloading porn, and posting on the internet. Keep 5% of them to summarize legislative direction. Cut the capable contractors loose. That is to say, the ones who actually have the capability and know-how to run programs and to call a spade a spade (”change horses!!”).
Right now, we can’t do that because it might offend somebody’s special snowflake. Instead, blown out horses are flogged until they drop dead. That is to say, $200B/year is wasted on programs that every fool can plainly see are mal-investments. They must be kept on life support until their sponsors flee to another do-nothing post. Only then is the mal-investment permitted to expire.
Since there is so much dry rot in the fed bureaucracy, and since the boyz are all doing the same thing, there’s quite the carousel of dodging blame by going from one post to another.
I’m hoping that Gen X is not quite as cynical, and not quite as incompetent.
Oh wait.
Can 1.8 million out of the 2 million.
BEST POST EVER
+ 1.8 million
Some fun.
And remember your house was built by the same people…
http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=44930
After watching that, now I understand how three (not sure, I’m writing from memory) illegal immigrant workers got entombed in the concrete of a high rise building in Bal Harbor, Florida. And I believe their bodies were never salvaged, they just became part of the building, although my memory’s a little fuzzy on this.
Mz. Craterton goes to space (reposted from yesterday):
http://picpaste.com/asstronaut.jpg
Would now be a good time to buy a Utah condo?
Only with a zero down no doc loan guaranteed by the US government. And if you intend to flip it.
As I understand it, the inlaws are gonna pay cash.
I ask because I just heard my inlaws are planning to shell out a quarter of a million buckaroos to purchase a Happy Valley condo for my divorced SIL and her kids.
My initial thought was to warn them to sit tight, as the EM market crisis probably has another couple of months until it bottoms out. By that time, investors’ nerves may be so frazzled, and so many of the all-cash Canadian and Chinese investors may be sidelined, that the bottom could drop out of U.S. residential real estate investment demand in areas formerly noted to be a bit frothy.
But I’m tired of having my sage advice ignored, and usually save my breath these days. The worst case was when I warned my own sister about buying a lakeside property at year-end 2006 from a flipper who had marked it up by $50K over the recent purchase price. I knew there was a crash on the way, and warned my sister, who backed out of the contract. A week later I heard through the family grapevine that she was badgered by her skinflint hubby* into signing the contract. To this day they still own three homes in a saggy Midwest market.
* Skinflint = penny wise, megaton foolish, the latter due to a penchant to snap up falling-knife real estate investments at every opportunity.
Have U.S. stocks tended to do well or poorly in other years with negative January effects?
Stock market investors have no need to worry. The Fed has wealthy stock Ownership Society Members’ backs, and will shortly execute stock price stabilization measures, either announced or unannounced.
Jan. 31, 2014, 4:36 p.m. EST
U.S. stocks see worst monthly decline in over a year
Mattel, Amazon.com earning misses weigh on stocks
By Anora Mahmudova, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks ended the week and the month with deep losses following a selloff on Friday, which was prompted by disappointing earnings, renewed fears over deflation in the euro zone and a continuing rout in emerging markets.
Disappointing earnings from Amazon.com Inc. and Mattel Inc. set the downbeat tone early in the session. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished January with the steepest monthly declines since May 2012.
Investors found no solace from U.S. consumer spending data, which showed Americans spent more in December, but their incomes stagnated.
The S&P 500 SPX -0.65% ended the session 11.60 points, or 0.7%, at 1,782.59, and recorded its third weekly decline in a row. The benchmark index lost 0.4% over the week and 3.6% over the month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.94% closed 149.76 points, or 0.9%, lower at 15,698.85. The blue-chip index, which suffered six triple-digit losses this month, ended the week 1.9% lower and recorded a 5.2% decline for January.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.47% lost 19.25 points, or 0.5%, to 4,103.88. The tech-heavy index is down 0.6% over the week, its second-straight week of declines and 1.7% lower over the month.
…
January Effect
Filed Under: Small Cap, Buzzword
Dictionary Says
Definition of ‘January Effect’
A general increase in stock prices during the month of January. This rally is generally attributed to an increase in buying, which follows the drop in price that typically happens in December when investors, seeking to create tax losses to offset capital gains, prompt a sell-off.
The January effect is said to affect small caps more than mid or large caps. This historical trend, however, has been less pronounced in recent years because the markets have adjusted for it. Another reason the January effect is now considered less important is that more people are using tax-sheltered retirement plans and therefore have no reason to sell at the end of the year for a tax loss.
My read of the data referred to in the article I am about to post:
1) Whoever graphed it got the X and Y axes mixed up.
2) Years when the January effect is positive typically end positive.
3) The year-end market result is a coin toss for years with negative returns in January.
4) 2) and 3) are consistent with the observation that stock returns have been positive, on average, over the long run, though results vary by year.
5) After a closer look at the chart, it appears that 2009, when QE was initiated to rescue the global financial economy, was the only year when a January drop of over 5% led to a significantly positive whole-year return.
Unless the pace of the taper is significantly reduced, I wouldn’t bet the farm on stellar U.S. stock market results in 2014.
Markets More: Ed Yardeni Technical Analysis
Here Are The Complete Stats For The Stock Market ‘January Effect’
Ed Yardeni, Dr. Ed’s Blog
Jan. 7, 2014, 11:39 AM
It’s early January 2014. So it’s time for the Q4-2013 earnings season to begin. At the end of the month, it will be time for the financial press to analyze the so-called “January Effect.” As goes January, so goes the year–so they say. We’ve set up a little publication to track this relationship.
A scatterplot of the performance of the S&P 500 during each January and its full year from 1947 through 2013 shows that there is something to the effect. Over the past 67 years covered by our analysis, January and its full year have been up 55% of the time. During only four years (1966, 1994, 2001, and 2011) were up Januarys followed by full-year declines. Down Januarys aren’t necessarily bearish given that they were preceded by 11 years that were up. There were 14 down Januarys followed by full-year declines.
…
Denver’s CRATERRRRRING!
BWHAHAHAHAHAHA
Pull my finger and smell the equity.
Does it smell like cherries Potsy?
It’s unfortunate that all the Northeast teams are loosers and they had to import some teams to New York for the Souper Bowl.
Seattle has equity.
Denver has equity.
You have no equity.
The Donkeys are in the hole….. lmao
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NOXa1CXNsxg/SV-sCb10DaI/AAAAAAAADyw/E-GUYEW3hk8/s400/donkey.jpg
GO DONKEYS!
22 zip…I smell an incipient Denver real estate market crash ahead.
The silver lining: Guac is to die for.
Posted on Denver craigslist rants & raves:
“Were’s this #1 offense? Did they forget to pack it or did the TSA steal it? I know, you can always blame Bush like the dicktraitor in chief does. Name change in the works - Denver Geldings”
Ouchie! Hell hath no fury like the fans betrayed.
I like that dicktraitor thing, though.
Bring back Tevo. Payton’s not cutting it.
I had to laugh at the clip of Jimmy Fallon’s character “Tebowie” performing “Major Tom”.
Thank goodness the Red Hot Chili Peppers showed up.
I know, right? What a treat watching son of Iggy galumph around after James Brown Meets the Archies.
What a rout. Geez.
“What a rout. Geez.”
+1 No chit!
I’d have lost the wager had I wagered.
Now Eli the Utah ape has correctly picked the Super Bowl winner for seven straight years.
Comment by phony scandals
2014-02-01 11:35:42
“broncos 51 seahawks 10″
Nope, it’s over.
No need to even watch.
Eli has spoken.
Ape predicts a Seahawks victory
Updated: January 31, 2014, 6:51 PM ET
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah ape that has correctly picked the Super Bowl winner for six straight years predicted Thursday that the Seattle Seahawks will be the next NFL champion.
Eli the ape ran into an enclosure Thursday morning and swiftly knocked down a papier-mache helmet bearing the Seahawks logo, signaling his pick, said Erica Hansen of Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City.
“He made his pick without any hesitation,” Hansen said.
That could mean bad news for Broncos fans. The 13-year-old primate hasn’t been wrong since 2006.
Last year, Eli charged out and knocked over a papier-mache goal post decorated with the Ravens logo. Sure enough, the Ravens beat the 49ers 34-31.
Eli’s pick this year drew mixed reactions from his team of zookeepers that include avid Broncos fans.
“They are hoping that this is his first wrong year,” Hansen said.
After he made his prognostication, Eli was joined by his mate, Eve, and daughter, Acara, and allowed to smash, play and eat the papier-mache helmets.
Hansen said interest and excitement about Eli’s Super Bowl pick has increased as his streak grows. This year, people have been asking daily when he’s making his pick.
“He’s better than the Vegas odds-makers,” Hansen said.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/10379111/utah-ape-predicts-seattle-seahawks-win-super-bowl - 78k -
You never had any equity to loose to begin with.
Go play with your KISS dolls and pretend to be a construction magnate, little boy.
…. all that kitchen prep for a lost game enraged you Potsy.
I guess there will be no specials at papa johns tomorrow?
I’m going to die of starvation if I don’t eat a cheese stick soon
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20140202_192555_780-2isDL6L2.jpg
Buy a Coke and welcome the Shamnesty. Did you like Coke’s “America Is Beautiful” commercial?
That was a commercial? Dang! And here I was laughing my tuchis off thinking it was a parody.
Fellini was a visionary.
Too bad Preston Manning showed up instead of Peyton.
Even Preston didn’t show.
Strangest. Day. Ever.
Woody Allen X-posed. Philip Seymour Hoffman Buys the Pharm. James Brown Meets the Archies. Denver Broncos…somebody finish the sentence. I can’t go on.
I have more equity in the tip of my pinky finger than the alleged Housing Analyst will ever dream to own in the crack shacks he builds.
And RE Hoffman, go watch “Happiness” that film is A+
I think I’m gonna see if I can track down Strange Days. That’s more my speed right now.
I’d be angry too Potsy.
Seahawks beat Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl
Denver will get over this, they did just over 26 years ago when the Redskins defeated the Broncos by the score of 42–10 in the Super Bowl and pot wasn’t even legal in Denver then.
Somebody must’ve won his souper bowl bet, because I just made a nice sale on the ‘net.
What about Janet Yellen’s wardrobe malfunction?
Creepiest. Souper Bowl. Ever.
Oh, well, I suppose that was to be expected, considering the venue.
Ready for more stock market declines in February?