Bits Bucket for February 4, 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.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Do you fear investments that go BUMP in the night?
Abreast of the Market
Investors Brace for Bumps
After Rocky January, Managers Shift to Defensive Stocks and Short-Term Bonds
By Tom Lauricella, Kaitlyn Kiernan and Katy Burne
Updated Feb. 3, 2014 1:40 a.m. ET
A choppy start to 2014 underscores the need to play defense, say market veterans.
Many portfolio managers are shifting away from the kinds of investments that did exceptionally well in 2013 but are vulnerable to large swings. For some, that means paring back on U.S. small-company stocks in favor of shares of large companies with growing dividends. Others are focusing on shorter-term bonds based on expectations that rising economic output will lead to higher interest rates.
The S&P 500 index gained 30% last year, amid an improving U.S. economy and exceptionally loose Federal Reserve policy. Even more remarkable to many observers was that declines in the stock market were generally short and shallow.
Accordingly, many investors entered 2014 expecting a slower advance marked by rocky stretches—a forecast that has been borne out by a 5.3% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average since the start of the year.
After last year’s big rally in stocks, the market this year might gain “8% to 10%, but it’s going to be a hard 8% to 10%,” says Robert Smith, chief investment officer at Sage Advisory Services, which manages $10 billion out of Austin, Texas. “Investors are going to have to be really careful.”
…
Luckily for investors in U.S. real estate, Wall Street is completely decoupled from the housing market, just as it was circa 2007-08.
I wonder what the difference is between a short term bond and a treasury note is? A ten year note is not a bond, but it is longer term than many corporate bonds. So the difference is government versus corporation?
Lately I have been building up more and more of my US treasuries. But still very short term TBills.
Heard on the Street
Commodities: Winter Is Coming
By Liam Denning
Feb. 3, 2014 12:09 p.m. ET
A month into 2014, the winning position in the commodities market is to be frozen with fear—literally.
Last year was, on average, another one to forget for investors in raw materials: The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity index fell 10% against a 24% increase in the MSCI World Index of stocks. But those trends reversed in January. The MSCI index finished the month down …
I got my gas bill for january and I noticed the price of natural gas went up even though people in CA are using a lot less.
I used 65 therms for january 2014 compared to 90 therms in jan 2013.
one trick PG&E is now using is having two billing cycles in one month. for a 30 day bill they will break out into a 5 day bill and a 25 day bill.
The purpose of this dual billing cycle is to get you to have more energy use in the next tier rate which is highly profitable. SCAM
What do you pay per therm of NG? I’m at 49.9 cents/therm. I wonder how that compares nationally.
(Note: that is the commodity price and doesn’t include service fees or taxes.)
that is cheap. my bill for 65 therms was 73.00 or 1.12 / therm
Was 38 cents, just went up to 42 cents per therm
I think my local utility’s default rate is .65/therm (if you don’t choose your own supplier via energy choice).
I don’t use much NG so even in a really cold month my lower rate only saves me like $15. (I use about 100 therms in January, the coldest month here.)
azdude, your rate probably includes fees and taxes.
Our fees and taxes probably add .30/therm to the price we actually pay.
Our electric is 7.95 cents/kWh but with fees/taxes it works out to 11 or 12 c/kwh.
We also pay 8 cents a Kwh, but unlike with the nat gas bill, the electric bill has no junk fees. I just looked at my nat gas bill, and the junk fees are about 25 cents per therm
Commodities- what a speculative, fraudulent joke. The “drill baby, drill” mantra which promised cheaper prices at the pump has now morphed into “export baby, export” which promises the same thing. The only thing missing so far is the lower prices. Consumers got the shaft on that- again.
This is getting very boring and predictable to watch, even worse than that stupid Souper Bowl.
ft dot com
NEW MARKETS
Japan sell-off leads broader market slide
Japanese equities in the grip of their worst sell-off since June
Global Market Overview EM contagion spreads to major bourses
Comment EM haven hunt turns up few bargains
Investors pull $12bn from EM stocks
The Japanese market needs a massive blow off. It is as overheated as their reactor.
Yes, it is a little bug flying around, waiting only on a windshield to come by at 60 MPH.
all the speculators need to be flushed due to excessive risk taking encouraged by bernake.
Now that Bernanke is gone, who is left at the Fed to spike the speculators’ punch bowl with Bacardi® 151?
And the fallout from the next leg down in Japanese stock prices is sure to be radioactive.
How long do y’all expect this stock market swoon to last?
1. Dead cat bounce on the way any day now?
2. 30 days +/-, just like previous EM stock selloffs?
3. Until the taper delay announcement at the next FOMC meeting?
4. Over a matter of months, like the Y2K tech stock collapse?
5. For decades, like the Japanese stock market collapse (roughly 1990-2010)?
6. Other?
DCB on the way today. Start your engines…
Feb. 4, 2014, 8:58 a.m. EST
U.S. stock futures rebound after heavy losses
Factory data due to be released at 10 a.m. Eastern
By Anora Mahmudova and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures pointed to a firmer open on Tuesday, rebounding from the previous day’s sharp losses, ahead of December factory data and speeches from two members of the Federal Reserve.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJH4 +0.45%) rose 58 points, or 0.4%, to 15,355, while those for the S&P 500 index (SPH4 +0.69%) gained 9.7 points, or 0.6%, to 1,742.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index (NDH4 +0.54%) added 16 points, or 0.5%, to 3,446.
The moves came after steep declines posted on Monday, when both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day with their biggest loss since June. The selloff was spurred by much-weaker-than-expected manufacturing data from the U.S. and by concerns over a slowdown in China, driven by mediocre reports on that country’s services and manufacturing sectors.
But even with stocks on track for a positive day on Tuesday, some analysts worried that more losses could be in the cards. Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital, said the markets are now in the midst of a correction — that came after the S&P 500 broke below the 1,775 level — which could take the index down another 4% to 5%. The total pullback is likely to be around 8% on the light side and 10% on the heavy side, he said. The S&P 500 closed Monday 5.8% off its record-high close.
…
when will the PPT react to wall streets temper tantrum? Is this a wall street bluff or the real thing?
DOW up 33. What did they drop that cat onto? Glue?
I expect the market to finish down in 2014, perhaps by a few thousand points. I do not think we are in a Japan situation, though.
Five more months.
V, sorry for being dense - can you elaborate? From your comment, I don’t know if I am advised to pull the trigger; keep my powder dry; jump in both feet first; drop, roll and cover; or what all. Yes, I’m confused, lol! Thanks.
I am saying that the market swoon will last for five more months, until I get my 53% drop.
Thoughts:
1) Fed has been very vocal about the tapir. A unanimous tapir vote at the last FOMC meeting? Really? Even the uber doves? There must be some data which concerns them. Other insiders probably have this information.
2) What about other Fed stock market manipulations?
While on the one hand, the Fed is signaling that it wants to reduce the amount of gambling money it gives to the financial sector, on the other, they are deeply enamored of the stock market. So they’re probably not going to sit idly by while it tanks.
A very sick economy can have a booming stock market (see Venezuela).
Politicians want a booming stock market because of wealth effect psychobabble and it enriches the big donors. Wall Street likes a volatile stock market as it makes money on the transactions.
Summary: My guess: A slow leak in the stock market going forward. Overriding effect caused by Fed indications it wants to reduce currency injections, but tempered by its and the politicians desire to have a high stock market, and the resulting actions to do just that.
“A very sick economy can have a booming stock market (see Venezuela).”
I think Kyle Bass said that Zimbabwe’s stock market was the best performing on earth, but the problem was that now your entire portfolio only bought 3 eggs.
yeah, down 1 pc. wow.
Well, I pulled the trigger…I sold all my small/mid cap stocks in my IRA (very nice run on the year), and moved into industrial REITs. Get some dividend return, and benefit from generally lower vacancies/limited construction.
I think this is a 2-3 year holding pattern for me (although I reserve the right to change my mind)–these rent cycles tend to play out over a long period of time (with leases that are 3-5 years, it takes a while for them to “roll” to market).
I don’t plan on setting the world on fire with returns…certainly not like the small/mid cap play, but the fundamentals make me quite comfortable. If there is a major correction will I be immune? No, but I’m far less exposed than in small and mid caps.
Whac:
Don’t you know that only wussies have fear about investment outcomes? Only the brave risk-takers get anything in life. Stop panicking and put all your money into the stock market ASAP.
True confession. I bought a long-term Treasury fund too early, late last summer, before the long-term bond rout had played out. It subsequently went underwater and stayed there, right up until the past couple of days.
Interesting Whac. I sold VFIIX a couple of months ago at $10.54. Today it is $10.66. I bought it at $10.10 in 2009 and received some nice yields along the way, so I am not complaining, but I do find it interesting you believed rates would drop when many believed rates would rise (including me).
It will be interesting to see where rates will go from here. I am mostly holding dividend funds and cash right now. I will be ready to buy more stock sometime after we drop 10-15% in the Dow.
“…but I do find it interesting you believed rates would drop when many believed rates would rise (including me).”
After reading the 100th MSM article predicting further long-term rate declines ahead, one tends to become suspicious.
Oops… meant to say “…100th MSM article predicting further long-term rate increases ahead…”
will wall street send the DOW down another 1000 pts to get janet yellen to print some more cash?
“It will be interesting to see where rates will go from here. I am mostly holding dividend funds and cash right now. I will be ready to buy more stock sometime after we drop 10-15% in the Dow.”
I scaled back late last year and early this year and will buy back in if we go down 10% or more.
I expect a big tax bill for 2013 because of this oh well
I expect rates to continue up AFTER a 10% pullback in stocks is over
Why do you think it will only drop 10-15%?
To prevent you from getting in and making any money.
Why do you think it will only drop 10-15%?”
Why would it go down more ? You expect a recession ?
We get a recession and then yea 20% or more down.
This correction looks like a BRIC thing, easy money drying up a little and we stop exporting inflation and wham fast money bails from the BRICs as predicted here on this Blog a few years ago. No Surprise, no black Swan, no reason for a full scale melt down like 2008 when the Banks were Brain dead about mortgages.
Where is the fast money going to go next ? I should say fast and free money these ivy league investment bozo’s can borrow very cheap.
bought a long-term Treasury fund too early, late last summer, before the long-term bond rout had played out.
????
Weren’t you posting your “Have you sold your bond fund yet?” regularly right around that time??
Prime, you must be referring to this in early December:
____________________________________________________
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2013-12-04 06:27:11
In case anyone thinks I post too much on the subject of long-term bonds, considering this is a housing blog, let me point out the connection. Mortgage rates and long-term Treasury bond rates have near-perfect correlation. It’s been a few years since I ran the numbers, but the correlation is well north of 95%. The upshot is that higher Treasury bond yields lead to higher mortgage rates, and the latter can potentially lead to a collapse in housing prices.
Get it?
______________________________________________
Yes, Whac, we get it….. you were implying rates were going up and housing would crater……..Hmmm, what do you say today? Refer to the statement above…..
Considering housing prices are inflated 250% above long term trend, borrowing costs have little impact on the downward momentum of housing prices.
I posted it on a regular basis for about as long as the MSM was urging the masses to sell long-term bond. I have an untested theory that MSM’s financial journalists and shills act to set up the opposite side of the trade for their Wall Street masters, but it is just a theory, and untested.
I think Prime means weren’t you advocating behavior opposite than your own about then. Advocating others to sell while you bought believing the “rout” was over,not just posting the articles.
He was being sarcastic. He was indicating that the low interest rates were a way to force people into stocks, and he said multiple times that the Fed taper would somehow end up playing into the hands of the 1%, and that rates would somehow end up not going up, or they would go up “less than expected”. Reason being that the 1% wants house prices to be as high as possible.
Of course we never know when the PTB will change course. That’s how they make their money. They want us to predict their next move incorrectly. Hence, Whac’s untested theory.
I have an untested theory that MSM’s financial journalists and shills act to set up the opposite side of the trade for their Wall Street masters, but it is just a theory, and untested.
You’re not far from the truth, but remember that any scam needs to have some semblance of legitimacy to get the suckers to bit. Zerohedge has an ongoing series of posts about trades Goldman Sachs recommends to it’s clients… and how they are almost always wrong and unprofitable. The current thinking is that GS is taking the other side of the trade, and profiting from it.
I have an untested theory that MSM’s financial journalists and shills act to set up the opposite side of the trade for their Wall Street masters, but it is just a theory, and untested.’
I also suspect this
I don’t think it’s theory, I think it’s fact. All I have to do is remember back several years ago before the financial meltdown when the big guys were talking about the decoupling of the emerging markets from the US, and how it was a great time to invest in them. Anybody who took their advice went down in flames. The big guys were actually selling to those they were setting up as buyers.
So you only true confess once you are made whole? Psychology lesson for all here, especially the debt donkeys defendig their purchase during times of massive punchbowl spiking.
Yo hello, this debt donkey already confessed. If I hadn’t confessed, you wouldn’t have even known that I was a debt donkey, much less demand that I defend it.
Hello Oxide:
How was your trip to space the other day? We all saw the great pic of you in the space suit.
breathtaking
Houston… SpaceDonkey is back in earths orbit.
http://nationalspacestudiescenter.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/donkey.png
You only confessed because you think you are whole or indeed up. Now that you are sinking not much fessin up coming.
If you buy and hold, you may as well get Vanguard’s lower expense ETF version of that fund. Otherwise dollar cost average to the fund. My first ETF I bought last summer was VTIP. It is not doing too hot. I add batches of shares every few months. But it has a .10 expense ratio while my VMMXX has a .16 ratio.
I have been steadily buying VWESX monthly for years. It has a 4.48% yield. With all I reinvested, I am not worried about the ups and downs.
I looked at Realtor.com ,homes being sold under $150,000 in Moreno Valley,Perris,Hemet, etc are quickly being bought up by investors .Very low inventory for homes priced under$150,000 that pay good rent yields in IE. Same thing is happening in Las Vegas i heard it from ‘The grapevine’.
how many did you buy?
I’d buy as many as I could, same as if they still had beanie babies.
God all of those areas are awful disasters. The Chinese or Canadians are in for a huge surprise when they realize that the “California” house they bought is more like a house in Tijuana or Detroit or West Virginia, respectively.
“Remember…. Housing is a depreciating asset that results in loss.”
That’s right.
I have so much money left after “throwing money away on rent” every month that I don’t know where to throw it.
I feel the same way about owning houses purchased in the bust. The cash flow is providing a nice cushion. I am just putting it into my Vanguard MMF waiting for a good time to invest it. It might be a while….!
Your math skills are highly suspect.
buy a new chevy silverado quad cab, 2500 4×4 for 50k.
Double down on another depreciating asset like a pickup and magnify your losses by borrowing?
but there is no inflation. these trucks are not worth 50k dollars. The only way people will be able to buy them is through financing that will magnify their losses.
Leasing is becoming very popular now. people figured out by the time the bought and paid for the car its value was essentially next to nothing.
one of the greatest benefits of leasing is that you do not have to pay sales tax on the purchase price. you do pay sales tax on your monthly payments.
Leasing as means to affordability?
More DebtDonkeyism from you.
leasing as a means to have transportation ding dong.
So you can’t buy a $10k used car? You have to borrow a $50k truck from the stealer?
only if it comes with these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_nuts
‘In 2011, a South Carolina woman was ticketed for adorning her truck with truck nuts. The case is pending trial.[8]‘
Well, there goes my whole business plan of having rolling LED message boards in the rear window bay. One can bet that the DOT would consider that a safety violation or some sort. Too bad, a message board that flashes things like ” Your driving sucks ” is less trouble to relay than me lifting my middle finger. Plus, who knows, people might drive more civil.
Too late. I already thought about and patented it. Too many slow moving Prii in the left lane not to.
I have to laugh when I see people commuting in full size SUVs and heavy duty pick ups. Just… wtf? (Note: I don’t laugh at people who need these things for a business or work reason, just the debt donkey commuters.)
The laughs with gusto occur when I see some sneaker wearing fool or tie-wearing office boy driving a hauling rig like a Powerjoke or DirtyMax.
I always laugh heartily at people who pass judgment on others vehicle choices without knowing the circumstances of their lives, ie. a man in suit and tie driving to work in a full-size diesel pickup because his commuter car is in the shop. The ridiculousness of your post is limitless.
Every day? Same truck? Same highway? Same suit?
Sounds like he needs buy a different car.
“Every day? Same truck? Same highway? Same suit?”
Riiiiiight. You are acutely aware of everything about everybody. Uh-huh. You guys need to chill out, and stop trying to enforce every single one of your beliefs on others. It’s getting tired. If a guy wants to drive his diesel truck 24/7/365, that’s his prerogative. What are you, the fuel police now? Geezuz, Exeter has truly morphed into an unrecognizable troll.
I see the same few asshats with white collars on the interstate every day. Only on your planet is laughing at asshats forcing beliefs on them.
When you’ve been had, you cry troll.
Actually, you’ve been had. You don’t know if that “asshat” hauls a 5th wheel every weekend for the enjoyment of his loving family, and would prefer to not insure multiple vehicles, using his truck for business and pleasure. Or maybe he put 60k per year on it for business, and the diesel ends up being cheaper in the long term due to cost of operation. Or, maybe he just loves the truck and it is what makes him happy. But none of it really matters, because this is still a free country, and we drive what we like regardless of control freaks like yourself who get off on judgment and ridicule.
You’ve managed to alienate just about every single person here with your bizarre attacks. What used to be useful information regarding housing has morphed into personal assaults on just about anything and everyone. You’ve gone so far off the rails that you’re bordering on mentally ill. You’ve become a caricature.
I know I know. My ridicule oppresses the asshat. What a tragedy!
You’re unhinged.
No, I’m right. Deep down you know it. You are consumed by bitterness and resentment because the world didn’t go your way. I was always on board with your message until your personal attacks became a bit too much. It looks like everyone is living in your head, rent free. Rather than stick to the message you have started to tear people down to the core. I have no use for people like you who think they know the proper way for me to live my life. If you had your way I’d probably be hauling my goods to market in a goddamn Prius.
You can be right all you want… and take it personally too.
I bought SPY shares two weeks ago. Not many but I still feel quite stupid
You have nothing to be ashamed of, UNLESS you based your decision on Smithers’ last post here.
Why didn’t you tell us? No offense, but when Joe Q. Public investor starts buying outside of regularly scheduled 401k investment purchases, it’s time to sell the longs and go neutral or short.
That’s OK. I still feel stupid for buying SPX in September. Like I said above, we never know when the PTB will change course. As long as you didn’t gamble more than you can afford to lose, then you’re fine. It’s a learning experience. Now that I’m an official chicken, I will never short anything again. I will just sell things that are too expensive, and buy things that are too cheap.
Keystone: The Pipeline to Disaster
Oh my. If anyone has the time to read this post, please do so and tell me one thing.
If the Canadians are going to develope the oil sands anyway, what does it matter how they transport it to market? A pipeline to the US is obviously the most efficient way and it would put many people to work.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4716229
That’s a very well written article which couches its argument with underlying philosophy instead of the usual logical fallacies and Luntz-tested clichés.
As to your question, the article itself answers it:
“What would make Canada not develop these resources? And why shouldn’t Americans profit from the oil sands? The answer should be the future survival and wellbeing of humanity, an idea admittedly of little apparent interest in Washington or Ottawa, centers of greed, cynicism, and shortsightedness. There is money to be made NOW, the future be damned.”
And there you go again, “jobs.” Contrary to popular belief, conservatives and progressives are NOT alike, not on the issue of jobs. One faction believes that jobs are the goal. The other faction uses jobs as a concession.
No one has said that conservatives and progressives are alike.
Where’d you get that idea?
NeoCons are not conservatives. They are progressives.
Got it from the libertarians, of which there are many:
[warning: "paraphrase and or/or interrupted quote" type of ellipses follows]
“Two sides of the same coin…they’re all the same… they are fluffing the 1%… Obama is center right… vote for Ron Paul.”
As for neocons and progressives being alike, I don’t know anyone else who thinks that. The general opinion is that Progressives are dirty libs trying to change their brand name, the neocons lied their way into Iraq, and the twain shall never meet.
“All these attacks on libertarianism are a good sign: we don’t need to ask “Why do they hate us?” We’ve earned their hate – and that is a measure of our success. Their hate is rooted in fear – and that, too, is justified, from their perspective. Because the power and influence of outright authoritarians of Sunstein’s ilk is threatened by the very existence of our movement, let alone its recent upsurge in popularity. Sunstein & Co. would love to take measures against us, “legal” measures that would limit our ability to influence the public discourse. For now, they are confining those measures to the realm of High Theory and the op-ed sections of our newspaper: tomorrow – well, we’ll see….”
“Progressivism today is increasingly an openly authoritarian movement: shorn of their liberal roots, progressives in the year 2014 sit atop a decidedly illiberal state. Sunstein’s job is to provide the theory behind this hideous sea-change, while Clapper and the NSA demonstrate the practice. But never fear: the more these latter day neo-Stalinists come out of the closet, so to speak, and show their true colors, the better it is for us. So here’s to the prospect of many more columns by Sunstein (who is, by the way, one of President Obama’s closest advisors) – keep talking, buster!”
Ben Jones, the narrative will be determined by real journalists.
We have successfully framed anti-progressivism as racism, and there is no greater thoughtcrime in 2014 America than to be racist.
If you advocate civil liberties and individual freedoms, you are racist until proven otherwise.
The assertion of the individual is theft from the collective, and this too is racist.
““Progressivism today is increasingly an openly authoritarian movement:”
Yes it is, don’t say you haven’t been warned.
But don’t forget that conservatives attack libertarians even more than liberals do.
I do have concerns about “the direction” that a policy points us towards.
In Bangladesh, it was described as a “coup by installments.” And ultimately just one final action tipped the country into de facto dictatorship.
It’s a balance of course. Anything can be a slippery slope. But one has to always consider the “direction” in which a policy points us.
The Polar Vortex: Climate Alarmism Blows Hot And Cold
Tollefson then claims that: “climate skeptics have seized on the temperature trends as evidence that global warming has ground to a halt. Climate scientists, meanwhile, know that the heat must be building up somewhere in the climate system, but they have struggled to explain where it is going, if not into the atmosphere.”
Then his wrenching dilemma: “Some have begun to wonder whether there is something amiss in their [climate] models.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2014/02/02/the-polar-vortex-climate-alarmism-blows-hot-and-cold/
No, in fact, to the degree it makes any difference and it is slight a pipeline has less emissions than moving it by rail. It only makes a difference to Buffet who makes more money if it is moved by rail. He should be thanking Obama every day for holding up the project.
The supporters of Obama who should be upset are young people. Many that graduated the year he took office are still not employed in their field of study. If they get employment now, they will be investing their 401Ks in a fully valued stock market that will appreciate slowly so it will be very difficult for them to retire. They would be better off if the market crashed now. But it was manipulated up and probably will not be allowed to crash but will not appreciate. Retirement and homeownership does not look promising for them due to government manipulation. Of course they voted for him because it was the cool thing to do, so you reap what you sow.
Wish I had time to post more but it will be another busy day.
we need some shovel ready jobs. part of the problem with the economy is all the BS you have to jump through to actually get something done.
I had a post but maybe I didn’t hit the button right.
The notion that progressives and conservatives are the same party is NONSENSE when it comes to jobs. For progressives, jobs are the end goal.
[warning: "pause" type ellipses to follow]
For conservatives, jobs are a concession in negotiations.
We’ll give you jobs… IF you cut our taxes.
We’ll give you jobs… IF you let us bring profits on shore.
We’ll give you jobs… IF you let us go through with this merger.
We’ll give you jobs… IF you let us pay squat.
We’ll give you jobs… IF you pay for supplement our squat pay with SNAP and Medicaid.
We’ll give you jobs… IF you get rid of pesky regulations.
We’ll give you jobs… IF you continue to subsidize our industry.
We’ll save some jobs… IF you let us not pay SS contributions for a couple years.
We’ll save some jobs… IF you let us break the union.
We’ll save some jobs… IF you let us offer a lousy health plan.
We’ll give you jobs… IF you approve our oil pipeline.
We’ll give you jobs… IF it doesn’t interrupt our profits.
Always a string attached. Always.
That list sounds like a summary of the “Texas Miracle” economy created by bootstrapper Rick Perry.
So these people you call Progressives own all the rules, taxes and benefits, and the other people, the Conservatives, own all the jobs and the stuff. One group trades gifts with the other. Why is it that all the jobs are going away?
BTW, worst punctuation ever.
Blue:
As explained ad nauseum by myself and others, the jobs are going away because the United States has made the mistake of experimenting with “free trade” among countries that do not participate in the free market. Hence, we have imported slavery from our trade
partnersparasites. That’s why it seems more and more that “conservatives” own all the stuff.The only thing is that conservatives do NOT own all the stuff. The 1% has become increasingly associated with “conservative” opinions, which were never considered conservative before. The new normal is for elected officials to actually be bought officials. The bought officials then do everything they can to feed the 1%, all the while distracting voters into thinking that they are getting a conservative or a liberal representative. Those words don’t even have a definition.
Supposedly, a conservative applies government conservatively, while a liberal applies government liberally. Do you see conservatives pushing for less government? I don’t.
I see them calling for higher taxes on the poor, but lower-than-ever taxes on the rich, all while expanding our budget into foreverland to pay for wars and corporate welfare. I see conservatives attending the biggest budget defecits ever.
I see them calling for harsher and harsher legal punishments without civil rights for individuals, all while resisting even the most basic environmental protections and safety regulations for large corporations. They don’t resist regulations for small companies.
I see them voting against the ACA, while also working behind the scenes to help write the ACA in such a way as to unfairly benefit a couple wealthy industries. If the Republicans thought for a second that the ACA was not going to pass, then some of them would have voted for it. They witheld their votes to make it appear that they’re against it (because it’s welfare for young brown women), when they are actually all for it (because it’s welfare for old white men).
They do this because it makes them look conservative. The Republican party is trying to redefine the meaning of the word, so as to distract you from the actual problem of public-private partnerships, which are inherently corrupt.
So are there any conservatives any more?
I’d venture that there are still conservatives in the world. With 6 billion people, there must be. The Republican party is not a party of conservatives.
I wonder where they are, who they vote for.
They don’t have a lot of options for candidates.
There are a few different issues with the pipeline that I see:
1. It will actually increase oil and gas prices in the Midwest as the pipeline will reduce the supply glut to Cushing, one of the largest storage sites for domestic distribution in the US while moving supply to the Gulf Coast where refined product is more easily exported overseas.
2. The pipeline, which will be underground, comes within 10 miles of one of the largest underground aquifers in the country.
3. The southern portion of the pipeline is already built and in use. In order to build it, land was taken via Eminent Domain from ranchers who refused to sell. This land seizure will continue for the unbuilt portion of the pipeline as there is still much opposition among property owners on the planned northern section.
Having said all that, I support the pipeline the Canadian tar sands will be developed with or without US refining assistance. The pipeline also reduces the need for more rail transport of crude, which I see as dangerous. Lastly, the US is the largest exporter of refined crude products, and this helps balance our trade deficit.
I bet tank cars on railroads are more cost-effective and carry less environmental exposure. Pipeline rupture spillage is indefinite. Railcar spillage contained to what’s on the damaged tanker cars.
Wealthy folks owe poor folks a huge debt of gratitude. Because if poor folks didn’t exist, then there wouldn’t be any wealthy peeps.
Pol Pot had the solution to take care of the parasite 1%er pigmen
The wealthy peeps don’t exist because poor folks are poor, the wealthy peeps exist because whenever the poor folks get a bit of money they end up sending large chunks up up the line to the wealthy peeps, and this is what keeps the poor folks poor and the wealthy peeps wealthy.
The wealthy set up their game and the poor folks willingly play it. The poor would be much better off if they would ignore the wealthy folks’ game but this is something the poor will not do largely because they do not understand that they are being played.
Poor people. Why can’t they just buy more money?
http://meatballcandy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/why-dont-poor-people-just-buy-more-money.jpg
What money they can’t buy they rent, and the hefty rental fees of this rented money moves up the line and ends up in the coffers of the lenders.
People are smart.
“Local Realtor, Others Indicted In Federal Case”
http://m.oaoa.com/news/crime_justice/law_enforcement/article_068a62de-795c-11e3-b66d-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=jqm
old news realtors are a protected class.
Talk about a Gloomy Gus.
Elite Insider Predicted Massive Crash in 2012: “Very Large Probability… Around March 4, 2014″
Mac Slavo
SHTFplan.com
February 4, 2014
We understand that Doomsday predictions are aplenty these days, but given what’s going on around the world right now it may be time to revisit the eerily prescient forecast of an elite insider.
Grady Means is a former advisor to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, a former economist at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and has managed multi-billion dollar firms over his career. Back in October of 2012 Means penned a commentary and analysis for the Washington Times in which he noted that “America’s fall will take global economies with it.”
But he didn’t stop there. Means gave us a target date.
There is a very large probability that the real end of the world will occur around March 4, 2014.
The doomsday clock will ring then because the U.S. economy may fully crash around that date, which will, in turn, bring down all world economies and all hope of any recovery for the foreseeable future — certainly over the course of most of our lifetimes. Interest rates will skyrocket, businesses will fail, unemployment will go to record levels, material and food shortages will be rampant, and there could be major social unrest.
Any wishful thinking that America is in a “recovery” and that “things are getting better” is an illusion.
The central issue is confidence in America, and the world is losing confidence quickly. At a certain point, soon, the United States will reach a level of deficit spending and debt at which the countries of the world will lose faith in America and begin to withdraw their investments. Many leading economists and bankers think another trillion dollars or so may do it. A run on the bank will start suddenly, build quickly and snowball.
At that point, we will need to finance our own deficit, and we will not be able to do so. We will raise bond rates to re-attract foreign investment, interest rates will go up, and businesses will fail. Unemployment will skyrocket.
The rest of the world will fully crash along with us.
This article was posted: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 6:08 am
Tags: domestic news, economics
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/elite-insider-predicted-massive-crash-in-2012-very-large-probability-around-march-4-2014_02032014 - 378k -
This “article” of alarmist nonsense was not written by real journalists.
Lets see
$6 trillion in insured deposits - $41 billion in reserve = uh oh
I might be a little concerned if any of these articles had been written by a Feinstein approved journalist.
Harvard Economist Fears Starting “Bank Run” on BoA by Withdrawing $1 Million
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
February 4, 2014
Former Harvard Professor of Economics Terry Burnham fears starting a “run” on Bank of America after he made public his decision to withdraw $1 million dollars from his checking account as a protest against Janet Yellen beginning her term as Federal Reserve head this month.
In an article for PBS entitled Is your money safe at the bank? An economist says ‘no’ and withdraws his, Burnham, an ardent critic of the Fed, writes, “Why do I risk starting a run on Bank of America by withdrawing my money and presuming that many fellow depositors will read this and rush to withdraw too? Because they pay me zero interest. Thus, even an infinitesimal chance Bank of America will not repay me in full, whenever I ask, switches the cost-benefit conclusion from stay to flee.”
Burnham explains that Bank of America may be “unwilling or unable” to return his money should one of a number of different circumstances arise, such as depositors demanding their money back en masse, or if the investments on which 90% of depositors’ money Bank of America has loaned out to cover go bust.
In addition, Burnham points out that the FDIC, which guarantees to insure deposits up to $250,000, only has about $41 billion in reserve against $6 trillion in insured deposits.
The Harvard economist pins the blame of economic uncertainty on government intervention, and specifically Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve for pursuing absurd quantitative easing policies which will “unravel in the U.S. as it has every other time it has been tried from Weimar Germany to Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.”
Burnham’s words are sure to send another ominous chill through markets already beset with paranoia following a drop of 1000 points on the Dow Jones since its height in December. Global markets are also getting crushed with the Nikkei falling over 4% yesterday and European markets also suffering drastic downturns.
A recent spate of banker suicides has stoked fears that a major financial crash could be just around the corner, one indication of which could be banks like HSBC imposing capital controls on customers attempting to withdraw larger sums of money. Last week, Russian lender ‘My Bank’ also temporarily banned all cash withdrawals.
As Mac Slavo highlights, Grady Means, economist and advisor to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, predicted that the 4th of March 2014 would be the date on which the economic collapse accelerated, followed by, “A run on the bank (that) will start suddenly, build quickly and snowball.”
“The doomsday clock will ring then because the U.S. economy may fully crash around that date, which will, in turn, bring down all world economies and all hope of any recovery for the foreseeable future — certainly over the course of most of our lifetimes,” wrote Means in a 2012 Washington Times editorial.
I’m buying copper.
Wait until after the Chinese sell theirs.
A recent spate of banker suicides has stoked fears that a major financial crash could be just around the corner
Mr. Banker, please tell us that you’re OK!
Combotechie is not a banker.
I was referring to the poster going by “Mr. Banker” (who obviously isn’t a banker).
Yeah, Mr. Banker is Combotechie.
Dang! I thought I was the only one who figured that out.
(There is a key tell)
(There is a key tell)
Saw that…
“Remember this…… Housing as a rental investment is a huge gamble considering it’s negative cash flow at current inflated asking prices of resale housing.
Beware.”
Exactly
“With 25 million excess empty houses, housing demand at 17 year lows and falling and housing prices inflated 250% above long term trend, housing prices have a very long way to fall. A very long way.”
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images/2013/Feb/us-housing-bubble-11.gif
Living in a rental will never feel like a real home.
“Renting money from the bank to finance depreciating houses always results in irrecoverable losses.”
You can say that again.
A Rash of Deaths and a Missing Reporter – With Ties to Wall Street Investigations
By Pam Martens: February 3, 2014
In a span of four days last week, two current executives and one recently retired top ranking executive of major financial firms were found dead. Both media and police have been quick to label the deaths as likely suicides. Missing from the reports is the salient fact that all three of the financial firms the executives worked for are under investigation for potentially serious financial fraud.
The deaths began on Sunday, January 26. London police reported that William Broeksmit, a top executive at Deutsche Bank who had retired in 2013, had been found hanged in his home in the South Kensington section of London. The day after Broeksmit was pronounced dead, Eric Ben-Artzi, a former risk analyst turned whistleblower at Deutsche Bank, was scheduled to speak at Auburn University in Alabama on his allegations that Deutsche had hid $12 billion in losses during the financial crisis with the knowledge of senior executives. Two other whistleblowers have brought similar charges against Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche Bank is also under investigation by global regulators for potentially rigging the foreign exchange markets – an action similar to the charges it settled in 2013 over its traders’ involvement in the rigging of the interest rate benchmark, Libor.
Just two days after Broeksmit’s death, on Tuesday, January 28, a 39-year old American, Gabriel Magee, a Vice President at JPMorgan in London, plunged to his death from the roof of the 33-story European headquarters of JPMorgan in Canary Wharf. According to Magee’s LinkedIn profile, he was involved in “Technical architecture oversight for planning, development, and operation of systems for fixed income securities and interest rate derivatives.”
Magee’s parents, Bill and Nell Magee, are not buying the official story according to press reports and are planning to travel from the United States to London to get at the truth. One of their key issues, which should also trouble the police, is how an employee obtains access to the rooftop of one of the mostly highly secure buildings in London.
Nell Magee was quoted in the London Evening Standard saying her son was “a happy person who was happy with his life.” His friends are equally mystified, stating he was in a happy, long-term relationship with a girlfriend.
JPMorgan is under the same global investigation for potential involvement in rigging foreign exchange rates as is Deutsche Bank. The firm is also said to be under an investigation by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for its involvement in potential misconduct in physical commodities markets in the U.S. and London.
One day after Magee’s death, on Wednesday, January 29, 2014, 50-year old Michael (Mike) Dueker, the Chief Economist at Russell Investments, is said to have died from a 50-foot fall from a highway ramp down an embankment in Washington state. Again, suicide is being presented by media as the likely cause. (Do people holding Ph.D.s really attempt suicide by jumping 50 feet?)
According to Dueker’s official bio, prior to joining Russell Investments, he was an assistant vice president and research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis from 1991 to 2008. His duties there included serving as an associate editor of the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics. He also was editor of Monetary Trends, a monthly publication of the St. Louis Fed.
Bloomberg News quotes William Poole, former President of the St. Louis Fed from 1998 to 2008, saying “Everyone respected his professional skills and good sense.”
According to a report in the New York Times in November of last year, Russell Investments was one of a number of firms that received subpoenas from New York State regulators who are probing the potential for pay-to-play schemes involving pension funds based in New York. No allegations of wrongdoing have been made against Russell Investments in the matter.
The case of David Bird, the oil markets reporter who had worked at the Wall Street Journal for 20 years and vanished without a trace on the afternoon of January 11, has this in common with the other three tragedies: his work involves a commodities market – oil – which is under investigation by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for possible manipulation. The FBI is involved in the Bird investigation.
Bird left his Long Hill, New Jersey home on that Saturday, telling his wife he was going for a walk. An intentional disappearance is incompatible with the fact that he left the house wearing a bright red jacket and without his life-sustaining medicine he was required to take daily as a result of a liver transplant. Despite a continuous search since his disappearance by hundreds of volunteers, local law enforcement and the FBI, Bird has not been located.
When a series of tragic events involving one industry occur within an 18-day timeframe, the statistical probability of these events being random is remote. According to a number of media reports, JPMorgan is conducting an internal investigation of the death of Gabriel Magee. Given that JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Russell Investments are subjects themselves of investigations, a more serious, independent look at these deaths is called for.
http://wallstreetonparade.com/2014/02/a-rash-of-deaths-and-a-missing-reporter-%E2%80%93-with-ties-to-wall-street-investigations/ - 39k -
They could be murdered, or they could be faking their own deaths, or someone from Anonymous could have befriended them with the intent to plant the seeds of suicidal thoughts in their heads.
Real journalists discuss the racist backlash to Coca Cola’s Super Bowl ad featuring “America the Beautiful” sung in languages that are not English:
http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/02/coca-colas-its-beautiful-super-bowl-ad-brings-out-some-ugly-americans/
Real journalists will decide the “correct” attitudes about Diversity™ and Multiculturalism™ that you are allowed to have.
DJ should have sung in that ad.
…….
Meh. Really, how desperate are the globalist multinational corporations? Can’t produce a decent spot, so I guess the next best thing is to manufacture a controversy. The media had their talking points all lined up, I notice Time Magazine had their department of diversity editorial already in the can, as it appeared almost simultaneously when the few disgruntled tweets popped up, some of which were probably tweeted by diversitards anyway.
As someone who has been in the business (production), along with some family members, what was really offensive about the spot was the production. Absolutely horrendous production values, just abysmal. Many, if not most, of the shots were fuzzy and indistinct, and at best poorly edited. It looked like something out of the Blair Witch Project, and I apologize for insulting that movie.
The music was thin and reedy, as I commented before, it sounded like a cross between a Chinese funeral dirge and Conan O’Brien’s “In the Year 2000″ comedy bit. They might as well have cut to a shot of people holding flashlights under their chins. I was waiting for them to cut in a bit from Andy Kaufman’s Mighty Mouse routine, the uncomfortable look on his face as he stood next to the phonograph would have summed up the correct reaction to a really. bad. production.
And of course, the piece de resistance: the angry, red Coke bottle, which resembled a glowing dildo.
The message? No matter who you are, no matter where you are from on the planet, you, too, can get screwed and drink Coke Red.
Just awful. If anyone should be offended, it’s the people who were featured in the production.
You’d think a multinational corp could do better, but Coke has never been known for its commercials. And New Coke was a textbook marketing disaster.
Next manufactured controversy!
Gotta hand it to the ad agency and “creative” people who made the spot, though. They did a masterful job of providing cover for their amateur production, lack of creativity and production skills. It’ll be at least a year or so before they can safely be let go.
Blech, having been present at many an editing session in the past, I can almost hear some hag-ridden creative type screaming frantically at the editor “PUSH the color on that bottle. PUSH IT! PUSH IT! Make it GLOW, make it PULSE, you idiot!”
“For God’s thake, put thome THEXTH in it!”
LOL.
Did you write that or was it cut and paste?
Heh, I wrote it. A real journalist would have done a much better critique.
That said, the commercial won’t deter me from drinking Coke. As sugar water goes, it’s the best, IMO. Drinking Pepsi’s like sucking on a beehive. I purposely don’t purchase liter bottles or sixpacks of Coke to bring home, otherwise they’d eventually discover me on the bathroom floor like Philip Seymour Hoffman with a sticky hypodermic needle in my vein, surrounded by empty bottles and cans.
I have to limit myself to the occasional drink of Coke when I’m out to lunch or dinner.
I used to love Fresca years ago. I swear I could not tell it was using fake sugar. Now I shudder to think about brominated oil or whatever ingredients go into it. Not that I eat all whole foods or something, but I used to be a regular soda junkie. I drink too much coffee now.
Drink Mexican Coke if you can get it.
No high fructose death syrup, just real cane sugar.
See? They’ve got us talking about Coke. Mission Accomplished!
It’s the Real Thing!
Anyway, as far as “message” goes, Coke’s been on this globalist kick for decades. But they did it much better in the 1970s, when their jingle became a hit song.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I‘d_Like_to_Teach_the_World_to_Sing_(in_Perfect_Harmony)
I’d like to buy the world a COKE!
Low production value? Fuzzy editing? I don’t buy it. I’m not sure it’s even possible to film something that badly anymore — a newbie with an iPhone would do better. The dim and thin look MUST have been a creative decision. So you can fire them for that instead.
Of course the media had the talking points lined up. Many of those commercials were released early to create buzz and to give the media time to write their copy. News sources are forced to post their editorial the moment the commercial was aired on TV, or else they would lose eyeballs.
“The dim and thin look”
Whew, you NAILED it. I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with my eyesight, like cataracts or low vision or something.
Creative decision? Maybe that was the idea to show contrast between the footage and the red dildo bottle.
Just one godawful production.
They should have saved themselves the trouble and just re-run their 1970s “I’d Like to Buy The World a Coke” spot. Much better production, way more upbeat. In fact, if you contrast the two productions, it looks like there’s been a serious devolution or degradation in creativity and production.
I’m wondering if that was all just stock footage cut together. Probably not, though. Stock footage is usually shot better.
Real journalists discuss the racist backlash to Coca Cola’s Super Bowl ad featuring “America the Beautiful” sung in languages that are not English:
Try singing the Mexican National Anthem in English in Mexico and see how that goes over (yes, I know America the Beautiful is not the national anthem).
In case anyone is wondering, unlike the USA, Mexico has an official language. Don’t even dream about being able to fill out government forms and paperwork or taking a driver’s license test in English south of the Rio Bravo (that’s what they call the Rio Grande)
Rumor has it that Mexican law enforcement aren’t so jolly with Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Hondurans etc who are in Mexico illegally.
But real journalists would never report that, because only white people are ever xenophobic/racis.
I heard a guy at work mention that aorund 10 years ago. I assumed that he heard it on right-wing radio. My immediate reaction was “Why should we care what Mexico does?” There are a number of reasons to support beefing up the Border Patrol to cut down on illegal entries, but that’s not one of them.
It’s important because there are no objective arguments to justify the overmigration of Mexicans into the United States. People try to justify it by using emotional appeals of “fairness”. It’s not FAIR to restrict immigration, and it’s definitely not fair to ask immigrants to learn the local language. Waaaaaa. The fairness starts to peek out a bit when you realize that Mexicans don’t allow American immigrants to move in without even learning Spanish.
I think that there are actually extremely few people making an argument in favor of completely open borders. You might find some professors somewhere. If there was actually a debate going on whether it is unfair to ban foreigners form entering the country without the proper documents, I don’t think anyone would be convinced that something is fair because the Mexicans do it.
And that’s a fact, jack!
Even if you knew English, but never heard America the Beautiful before, you couldn’t understand what they hell they were singing anyway.
Real journalists are sometimes hired by the CocaCola company to defend something dum that was done by said CocaCola company.
Because it’s different in D.C.
Dupont Circle row house converted to six one and two bedroom condos from 500 to 1,200 square feet and priced from $409,900 to $899,900.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/wp/2014/02/04/town-square-1921-dupont-row-house-converts-to-modern-condos/?tid=hpModule_34d54128-919e-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239
Rent in DC for a small fraction of the cost of buying.
Washington DC Rental Rates Down 7% Year over Year
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/DC-Washington-home-value/r_41568/#metric=mt%3D46%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D4%26rt%3D8%26r%3D41568%26el%3D0
DuPont Circle update:
Some weeks ago I reported an entire endcap of Duck Dynasty merchandise for sale in the CVS on DuPont Circle. I checked into that CVS again last week, and there was NO DD merchandise at all except for a few greeting cards hidden in the Hallmark aisle. I don’t know whether the DD merchandise was removed because their paid end-cap time was up, or because of DD’s anti gay statements, or because it didn’t sell. Probably all three. (To be honest i was surprised see it in the first place.)
Maybe it all sold out. It could be a new trend among DC hipsters to wear Dick Dynasty hats, t-shirts, etc.
And into the trash heap of yesterday’s social networks with Friendster and Myspace:
“The problem with Zuckerberg’s philosophy of privacy, of course, is that over Facebook’s 10-year history, users’ ability to control their information has largely decreased. Default settings lean toward making information public, and new advertising and third-party platforms are increasingly spreading users’ information beyond their direct control.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/mark-zuckerbergs-theory-of-privacy/2014/02/03/2c1d780a-8cea-11e3-95dd-36ff657a4dae_story.html
Anyone remember LiveJournal? Or still maintain a GeoCities page?
Due to a technical glitch I can’t often acess BB threads after I post to them, so this reply is a few days late.
I think HA should ask his structural guy if he thinks 1×12 sheathing boards are equivalent quality to 1/2″ osb.
No, I don’t have a materials lab but experience tells me that lumber holds up to weather a lot better than osb and the older lumber holds up better than newer.
The main benefits to new construction are: Hardi board siding, metal roofs, and better caulking/less air infiltration. Insulation R-values have gone overboard. I blame the foam insulation lobby for that.
Kind of boggles me that someone who lives around so many 200+ yr old houses in new england will constantly claim that houses don’t last 20 years.
Why are your walls “exposed to weather”?
It sounds like you have other problems to address with a 100 year old shack.
You say that in your world rain always falls straight down.
I remember a day a few years back when the rain was blowing horizontal. Seriously. Ironically that was the day GWB had come to town. As soon as he left the sun came out and the skies cleared.
I’ll conclude that living around democrats makes for good weather. Or at least well behaved rain.
If sheathing is exposed or is getting wet or saturated, you have other problems. OSB, ply or 1x is a distinction without a difference. It’s there to keep your primary frame from racking and a provide a means of attachment for EFS.
How about this…. 100 year old 1x sheathing is useless because the fasteners corroded to powder 50 years ago because they weren’t coated.
You follow?
Real journalists anoint the new Trayvon Martin:
“black 17-year-old, Jordan Davis, was killed by a 45-year-old white man, Michael Dunn, now charged with first degree murder.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/opinion/when-loud-music-turned-deadly.html?hp&rref=opinion
What’s next in Florida? Some geezer wasting a kid because he didn’t stay off his lawn?
So you’ve seen the Clint Eastwood movie El Torino?
El Torino
Nice. What do you get when you mix a Gran Torino and an El Camino?
LOL. Yeah, that was my bad Google Fu.. I couldn’t remember the title of the movie.
No problem…I just wish Fixr was here…he’d have gotten a chuckle.
Being kind to strangers and giving them food or money does not prevent you from being killed by those cretins you help. My dad could have ended up the same way as Mr. sonnenberg. Wors, my dad was hearing impaired, blind, and lived alone in a run down neighborhood.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/free/20140203minnesota-good-samaritan-killed-arrest.html
Anyone reading the link will see that the Sonnenbergs had an UPSIDE DOWN MORTGAGE and could not move out of their bad neighborhood.
Owning real estate is self slavery and you paint yourself into a corner.
Don’t be financially “stoopid.” don’t expect sheer kindness to be returned.
My college roommate at Football Factory State University bought a house in south Columbus, specifically Merion Village, some years ago. He was convinced that the gentrification of German Village just south of downtown would continue south to his neighborhood.
Instead, the opposite happened. The neighborhood has serious problems with heroin, meth, prostitution, burglaries and car thefts. He is underwater, but not by that much, as the Midwest only got moderately bubbly.
He is afraid to do jingle mail, because he’s too worried about his debt donkey credit score and its impact for future hamster wheel debt slave borrowing. Sad…
Renting is always better. Always.
My parents own their home free and clear. I have friends that bought their house in 2001 and have maybe 2 years left on the mortgage. They are late 30’s…
It’s really simple:
Don’t buy at peak bubble prices. Buy and hold, not buy and flip, as transaction costs are high. Take out the shortest mortgage with the largest down payment you can afford.
Oh, and don’t buy in up and coming, “gentrifying” neighborhoods. Buy in well established neighborhoods with solid demand driven by location, amenities, prestige, schools, etc.
I.e. buy in expensive, established neighborhoods, not bargain neighborhoods.
And don’t buy if you have unstable income or job prospects, plan on moving within 7-10 years, etc.
I would add that if you can, live close to where you work. Being able to feed your kids breakfast, walk them to the school bus stop, and still get to the office by 8:45 is great (my morning so far).
I watched my dad commute for 40 years, 45min to 1 hour each way…no thanks.
Unfortunately, not commuting isn’t in the cards for me.
Of all the rules listed above to not “GetStucco”, the hardest is probably “Not buying at peak bubble pricing”. I remember thinking back in 2000 that housing prices were too bubbly in MA and needed to stall or correct. Well, prices doubled from there and didn’t begin to correct until 2005 or 2006.
While certain metrics can help, like rent vs. own calculators, cap rates on rentals, etc., at the end of the day, if you can’t pay cash for a house or put at least 50% down, and then be able to absorb a loss of that down payment, it’s all a gamble on pricing… just like the stock market.
My parents own their home free and clear.
My parents did too. What does that have to do with not being stuck. Let me tell you about it. They had no debt and a paid off house. But they spent a great amount of money on my sister’s family, as they were not earning much. At the same time the Section 8 tore up the neighborhood very bad.
So if you spend $300,000 on a house in, say, Culver City, and you think you are done because you paid it off, then Inglewood expands into Culver City and your value plummets to $100,000. But your $300,000 was your entire net worth.
You are stuck
Where’s Arizona Slim? Mineral show this month in Tucson.
What about X-GSfixr? He’s MIA.
Mr. Banker? His/her alias is..?
I am off from work today. Alex Jones is caught up with the Seahawks saying they cracked Manning’s hand codes. Maybe they are full of it and are just rubbing it in ? Maybe they enjoy talking BS to infuriate Manning? IDK. I do know that money is god to many people. Many.
Alex Jones is caught up with the Seahawks saying they cracked Manning’s hand codes.
The Broncos lost when they blew the first play and gave up a safety. They never recovered psychologically from that.
It reminds me of a Vikings-Raiders SB, where early on a Raider clocked Ahmad Rashad. They Vikings folded after that play and lost the game.
The Broncos lost when they blew the first play and gave up a safety. They never recovered psychologically from that.
I thought I saw several credible attempts at a comeback and the Broncos were simply unable to play at the tempo the Seahawks were setting. Although if the allegations about breaking the hand signal code are true, that might explain a lot. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a reasonably good team get consistently outclassed that badly for an entire game.
The SB game was not nearly as close as the score indicated.
Mr. Banker is Combotechie. Fixr is truly MIA. Hope he didn’t die. He had a lot of great posts.
Fixr went MIA at exactly the same time a KC mechanic was in the news for going postal. We joked about it at the time but now I am worried.
Looked up the story. Showed a picture, mentioned a wife, it’s not him. I wonder if the whole thing made him nervous for some reason though?
Hope and Change from the Wall Street Journal:
“The Affordable Care Act is projected to reduce the number of full-time workers by roughly 2.3 million people through 2021 and insure 2 million fewer people this year than previously estimated, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.”
Forward
Yeah. It’s always encouraging to know that they “underestimate” the bad news and “overestimate” the good.
angelo has no regrets:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/angelo-mozilo-no-regrets_n_2293901.html
You can’t fix stupid… how many liberals voted for Obama and Democrats on the back of “Affordable Health Care”? Well, not so affordable now, and no, you don’t get much healthcare for your dollar once you factor in deductibles and co-pays.
Never say that the Shamnesty wasn’t a bipartisan creation
Politico - Chuck Schumer, Paul Ryan talking on immigration
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/immigration-chuck-schumer-paul-ryan-103057.html
The cheap labor is irresistible, even if the GOP is too short sighted to see the long term political outcome.
They’re not shortsighted, they know EXACTLY what the outcome will be. They’re GREEDY. They can’t resist the money.
If you take on mortgage debt at current massively inflated housing prices, you’ll enslave yourself for the rest of your life.
“Debt is bondage.”~ Suze Orman, May 11, 2013
Don’t Be A Debt Donkey®
Buy a home, build equity with every mortgage payment, deduct $2 from your federal income taxes for every $1 of mortgage interest and property taxes paid, and after thirty years own a paid off home.
Rent for thirty years and be left with nothing but an empty bank account.
After you pay for your losses then maybe.
Affordable Care Act (ACA) Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program
MIECHV
Number: 93.505
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Office: Health Resources and Services Administration
Program Information
Program Number/Title (010): 93.505 Affordable Care Act (ACA) Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program
Popular Name (020): MIECHV
Beneficiary Eligibility (082):
• Eligible families residing in communities in need of such services, as identified in a State needs assessment
• Low-income eligible families
• Eligible families who are pregnant women under age 21
• Eligible families with a history of child abuse or neglect or have had interactions with child welfare services
• Eligible families with a history of substance abuse or need substance abuse treatment
• Eligible families that have users of tobacco products in the home
• Eligible families that are or have children with low student achievement
• Eligible families with children with developmental delays or disabilities
• Eligible families who, or that include individuals serving or formerly serving in the Armed Forces, including those with members who have had multiple deployments outside the US
https://www.cfda.gov/programs/93.505 - 47k -
Joshua Cook August 14, 2013
“Clearly, any family may be visited by federally paid agents for almost any reason.”
According to an Obamacare provision millions of Americans will be targeted.
Constitutional attorney and author Kent Masterson Brown states,
“This is not a “voluntary” program. The eligible entity receiving the grant for performing the home visits is to identify the individuals to be visited and intervene so as to meet the improvement benchmarks. A homeschooling family, for instance, may be subject to “intervention” in “school readiness” and “social-emotional developmental indicators.” A farm family may be subject to “intervention” in order to “prevent child injuries.” The sky is the limit.
Although the Obama administration would claim the provision applies only to Medicaid families, the new statute, by its own definition, has no such limitation. Intervention may be with any family for any reason. It may also result in the child or children being required to go to certain schools or taking certain medications and vaccines and even having more limited – or no – interaction with parents. The federal government will now set the standards for raising children and will enforce them by home visits.”
Part of the program will require massive data collecting of private information including all sources of income and the amount gathered from each source.
A manual called Child Neglect: A Guide for Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention includes firearms as potential safety hazard and will require inspectors to verify safety compliance and record each inspection into a database.
Hope and Change
53% of 26 year olds made less than $25,000 in 2011. Thanks, Obama.
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-03/going-on-30-living-with-mom-and-dad.html
Your prediction of a very small “middle class” in the future appears to be right on schedule.
A thought to ponder: Will there still be SNAP, Medicaid, Section 8, etc. when 85% of the population is poor? My guess is “no”. When that comes to pass, will the poor continue to breed?
Good question, but I can’t answer it.
One thing that is absolutely guaranteed is that the 0.1% will continue their financial rape of the bloated carcass of the USA middle class (no surprise the 0.1% pigmen are into kinky stuff like necrophilia) for a few more decades.
Meanwhile, lucky ducky will continue to receive his bread (I took this photo just for you)
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20140203_164911_263-jenudq4N.jpg
And circuses
http://www.picpaste.com/bfgzmaocmaepbu8-1-hlPY4wTG.jpg
Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-02-03 21:00:07
I am the wrong color. What do I know?
In the 60s when I was in grade school, our class, about 95% white, went on a field trip to a corresponding school of mostly black children for an afternoon. We did not take classes but had different activities, like team-building and so on.
Before that point I never met any black person. I was too young to have any notion on them. But I met some nice kids and they were not really different from us. I think that is what the whole lesson was about. It was a way to have us experience before any prejudices take hold.
————————————————————————————
No Bill, there is no such thing as a “wrong color smart person”, being smart is the only qualification necessary to give a presentation for Black History Month at a local school.
Do you think the black people giving presentations are as smart as you?
Do you think the black people giving presentations have traveled as much as you?
Met as many diverse and interesting people as you?
Know money and finance better than you?
You could just walk in and give a presentation on gold, its history and impact on culture…
Bring a couple of 1 oz pieces with you…
I guarrentee yours would be voted the most interesting presentation.
You don’t have to connect gold to black people; the students will do that part.
Mr. T, the bible… black people know about gold; just not the way you do.
Thats the part you explain.
I had no idea where you were going with that…<<< :-), but that’s an interesting thought.
It’s not about race, it’s about economics. The problem is now one of the chicken and egg. To increase the wealth of blacks in America, they need to change their culture and values to orient them towards family-values, hard work, responsibility, education, etc. Making that transition while in the embrace of poverty is difficult, if not impossible. And yet, without that change in values, blacks as a demographic will not see increasing wealth.
So the answer is how do you break the cycle of poverty and corrupt culture? Liberals would increase the social safety net and education spending. These actions have generally resulted in failure. Of course, I don’t see a viable plan from conservatives other than “lower taxes, more bootstrapping”, also isn’t a viable plan.
Of course, I don’t see a viable plan from conservatives other than “lower taxes, more bootstrapping”, also isn’t a viable plan.
Here’s a viable plan: start giving very near-term incentives in the areas where we want to modify behavior.
Example: if we want poor people to value education more, start by giving it more value in their eyes: bribe them, plain and simple. Give kids $X for every A, $X/2 for every B, $X/4 for a C, nothing for a D or F. The rewards need to be immediate. People who may not have the ability to think long-term (e.g. I’ll earn more LATER when I graduate from college) may still have the ability to think short-term.
Much more politically thorny, but also worth a shot: start using negative incentives in addition to positive incentives.
Example: your welfare payments will be reduced, rather than increased, for each additional child that you conceive while you are already on welfare.
Never underestimate the value of incentives, as Munger likes to say…
No matter what color of the skin, we all have a natural curiosity. Therefore by presenting a subject in a novel and captivating way, then yes I agree with you. You can ignite a fire in their minds and they can expand the knowledge of that field as it becomes their passion.
Interesting study… this is data from the 25th reunion class of Harvard Business School. (pulled from the ‘86 graduating class, so they’re probably around 55 yrs old, give or take)
http://poetsandquants.com/2012/06/15/25-years-later-class-portrait-of-the-lives-of-harvard-mbas/2/
excerpts:
- median salary $350,000 (remember, this is median not average, the avg is definitely a lot higher)
- 25% make $1mil or more/year
- 8% make $5 mil or more/year
- The big one I noticed: 20% divorce rate, vs 50% for general population. Wow. For all the talking that reptiles do about “bad values” and “secularism” of the elites, everything I’ve seen shows that elites divorce much less, raise their kids much better, and have much stronger “family values” than Palin-admiring reptiles. Any map of divorces will show you that rates of divorce, abuse, and addiction are higher in very red areas. And it’s interesting to see how relatively few HBS grads divorce, even though they have more than enough money to divide up and go their separate ways.
Not related to Harvard, but I read somewhere that 20% of American women under age 40 now will never have children, would be interesting to get some deeper stats on that regarding location and educational attainment.
Some non-scientific research from the dating website sometimes known as Plenty of Whales reveals that red states have alot of uneducated and divorced or single moms. Lolz to the ones who are barely past age 35 or 40 and have the “all my children are over age 18″ box on their profile.
Is that a real site you mention?
www dot pof dot com
pof = plenty of fish
I have heard that PoF is the eHarmony of trailer parks.
PoF is free. At least for now it still is, some formerly free features are now available only to “upgraded” paid profiles.
Anything free will attract the lowest common denominator.
The pof forums aren’t linked from the main page but are available without logging in at:
http colon slash slash forums dot plentyoffish dot com
Some non-scientific research from the dating website sometimes known as Plenty of Whales reveals that red states have alot of uneducated and divorced or single moms.
A lot of those gals completely ignore what you put in your profile, and contact you anyway, at least in my experience. You can specifically state “I am a non-smoker, maintain a healthy weight, like to exercise and eat healthy, and prefer the same.” Nonetheless, you’ll have like 20 messages from morbidly obese women who “smoke daily” and “want to meet you”. The quality is definitely poor on that site.
‘A lot of those gals completely ignore what you put in your profile, and contact you anyway, at least in my experience.’
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/1267874/ernest-do-not-want-scared-o.gif
Dude, seriously give it a rest… what is the political distribution of the “elite” class you’re discussing? How many conservatives graduate from Harvard Business School and go on to high dollar careers? You think liberals have a monopoly on that? All it shows is that money does in fact buy happiness, and that happiness is a good predictor of fidelity and commitment in marriage.
As far as your BS “high rate of divorce in very red areas”, you are forgetting that the blue states like IL, MA, NY, etc, have a large number of poor urban areas that also have high divorce rates and poverty. Again, this isn’t a red/blue thing, though you love to play that card… it’s an income/wealth thing.
High poverty and low income = high divorce rate. High income and low poverty = low divorce rate.
Nailed it.
Yeah, teabilly/WT apologist really “nailed it” by citing a bunch of states out of the blue… and being wrong on them.
Also, LOL @ northTeastener’s passionate defenses of the GOP, which is great for me because my family relies primarily on assets, not income, while he commutes 100 miles/day to serve his overlords and still has to pay for private school for his kids despite living in a high COL state that has among the best schools in the U.S. Basically, he’s a bootlicker to the max.
The plural of his anecdotes is not data, btw. Because his next retort is bound to involve a bunch of trashy WT anecdotes about black people or something… bc yeah, that will make him feel better about his piss poor choices.
“Lies, damn lies and statistics”… but I’m sure you’ve heard that before Joe. Have any of these liberal-minded studies looked at the correlation of delayed marriage and high housing cost as well as correlation of high housing cost and high population density?
Of course not… they would rather support their political bias of blue > red in their conclusions.
Let’s get this straight: more education -> better career -> delayed family -> lower divorce rates. All I see is a family with a higher income that can more easily absorb the cost of raising a family and being involved, thus minimizing the chance for divorce… but divorce is a red/blue thing, huh Joe? Troll…
Why the rage and personal insults?
I truly love the anonymity of the internet as it allows one to truly speak his/her mind without any fear of reprisals.
However, it also means that one (at times) has to read the holier than thou ramblings of other anonymous posters bragging about their valuable “assets” and “investments” when in reality they probably don’t have either.
I miss the pre-bust days on this site. We had an amazing group of posters on the forums at that time.
Now we get individuals who burn through 20-30 minutes of research/posting time to try and prove the point that Harvard Business School grads “elites” actually believe in family values based on their divorce rates.
A decade of fermentation is sure to attract flies. Perhaps we will all die or go crazy before the suspension of reality ends.
Funny you threw Mass. in there.
Massachusetts has one of the _lowest_ divorce rates in the nation, bro. The northeast dominates for the lowest divorce rates. This is from CENSUS figures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/fashion/weddings/new-jersey-has-lowest-divorce-rate.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
You = pwned.
I don’t know. He might actually have a point this time. MA and NJ are also among the states with the highest incomes. If divorce, out-of-wedlock births, etc. are simply negatively correlated with income, the whole thing is rather uninteresting.
It’s more about culture and education and not marrying young. And LOL @ your hypo that ivy league grad students are some conservative group. Just LOL. Ever been a student at one of these? I have and I was one of the most conservative around, just by simply being an independent who is skeptical of the welfare state.
—————————-
From the study:
““They tend to delay marriage until an age when they’re emotionally and financially ready,” said Deborah Carr, a sociology professor at Rutgers. “Higher education and high age at marriage are two of the most important factors that protect against divorce risk. And the current recession not withstanding, New Jersey is among the wealthier states in the nation, and economic stability also contributes to marital stability.”
Those factors also place New York and Massachusetts among the states with the lowest share of divorced people. “This is the classic blue-state divorce pattern,” said W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. (Hawaii and North Dakota ranked low, too, but that’s attributed to relatively low unemployment in those states.)
“In general, the northeastern states have lower divorce rates because their citizens are more highly educated and marry at older ages than do people in other regions,” said Andrew J. Cherlin, a professor of public policy at Johns Hopkins.
“There is an odd and interesting relationship between states where people hold conservative values at higher levels, like the South, and higher divorce rates in those regions,” said Rose McDermott, a political scientist at Brown. (New Jersey also had a much lower marriage rate than southern states, perhaps bolstering a credo of Raoul Lionel Felder, a prominent divorce lawyer in New York, that marriage is the first step on the road to divorce.)
marrying young
I think that the marriage age is an important data point, but that there is a correlation versus causation issue going on. I think the real root is having religious/cultural beliefs that sex outside of marriage is wrong. It drives people to marry younger, and then divorce if cheating occurs. It seems like those without such beliefs are more likely to feel little pressure to marry (while still having plenty of sex) and then feel less pressure to divorce (while still having plenty of sex outside the marriage). Just my speculation…
Why are progressives so politically divisive and so obsessed with racial, gender, national origin and sexual demographics?
A: It’s the death by a thousand cuts strategy or some perverted version of political chaos theory. Keep hitting hard working “flyover” Americans from all sides, hit them with political correctness and authoritarian measures…but keep them small and nonsensical as to frustrate the masses but not bring them to pitchforks. Basically a slow desensitization to allow a gradual acceptance of authoritarian Marxism.
Is it working? Or will the progressives have to give up their little nudges and start shoving?
Ad hominem troll is ad hominem…
Joe thinks anyone cares he graduated from an Ivy League University and his family lives on “assets” while denigrating anyone who lives primarily on income.
It’s also typical of liberal elitists and quite droll in any social circle worth being a part of.
Maybe I will see Stanley at the job fair next week?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0HX4a5P8eE
Real journalism defined:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/09/12/Senate-panel-Oks-measure-defining-a-journalist
FWIW, the lucky duck who cuts your hair has to be licensed.
On a quasi-related note, there is probably more truth discussed in the barber shops and hair salons of USA than in the printed pages, online text, or spoken words of the real journalists on any given day.
There is HUGE money and power in controlling the media which, capillary-like, reaches into every home.
I’m a little surprised the internet and web still exists in its current form. You can bet there’s a relentless push to control it by government and big media interests.
Banker gets hot stock tip. Forced to resign:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/02/04/nyc-sanitation-worker-forced-to-retire-for-accepting-20-tip/
Matt Bracken piece discusses Police State USA
(Warning: this was not written by real journalists)
http://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/repost-bracken-dear-mr-security-agent/
And speaking of Police State USA, this list details what the NSA is up to
(Warning: this was not written by real journalists)
http://www.lawfareblog.com/catalog-of-the-snowden-revelations/
I have a Police State story for you that should show up below shortly.
Why knock on the door when you can send the SWAT team over and kick it in. Great video from the local news, the Police State police lose all credibility when they are busted ripping the surveillance cameras off the house.
RAID FILMED: Ankeny Police ‘Traumatize’ Family
Posted on: 9:51 pm, February 3, 2014, by Aaron Brilbeck, updated on: 03:43pm, February 4, 2014
Original story
Members of a Des Moines family say they were terrorized in their own home by Ankeny police.
Sally Prince is afraid to stay in her own home. “I’ve been so traumatized. I don’t sleep at night,” Prince says.
On Thursday, Ankeny police executed a search warrant looking for someone they suspected of using stolen credit cards to buy clothes and electronics.
The whole search was caught on surveillance video.
Ankeny police tell us they knocked first, but the video shows one officer pounding on the side of the house and seconds later, officers use a battering ram to force their way in.
The video also shows an officer destroying a security camera outside the home.
Two people in the house were arrested on unrelated charges, and the family says none of the items listed on the warrant were found.
Prince’s son, Justin Ross, was in the bathroom when police burst in, and he was carrying a gun that he has the legal right to carry. “I stood up, I drew my weapon, I started to get myself together to get out the door, I heard someone in the main room say police. I re-holstered my weapon sat back down and put my hands in my lap,” Ross recalls.
“This is over property purchased with a stolen credit card,” Prince adds. “It doesn’t make any sense to go to such extremes for something that simple.”
Two of the people there had no criminal history. Justin Ross was honorably discharged from the Army recently. The third person does have an arrest record, but the most serious charge was theft and that charge was dismissed.
The family says they would have answered the door if police had just knocked.
Ankeny police executed the warrant in Des Moines because the alleged theft took place in Ankeny, but the suspects live in Des Moines.
Ankeny police say they do not have a written policy governing how search warrants are executed. They’re not commenting further because it’s an ongoing investigation.
http://whotv.com/2014/02/03/raid-filmed-ankeny-police-traumatize-family/ - 263k -
““We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
- Barack Obama
http://www.costar.com/News/Article/Hit-by-Slowing-Growth-at-Home-Chinese-Investors-Shift-Billions-to-US-Real-Estate/156777
Looks like part of the reason for increased Chinese investment in the US is that now their government is more easily allowing it…
Do they have “No More Hesitation Targets” where the people have their backs to the police with their hands up in the air?
Police In Arizona Fatally Shoot Unarmed Man Who Has His Back …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvMhcTAFBnA - 122k - Cached - Similar pages
Jan 27, 2014
I like this quote from Mr MoneyMustache today:
‘If you put a human in a permanently comfortable situation, he will adapt to it and live a stagnant, boring life. Given enough comfort and convenience, we become huge water balloons, expanding and becoming more delicate until the first sign of trouble, at which point we squeal and spray whiny fluids all over ourselves and our politicians. What kind of life is this?’
I don’t want to be a water balloon.
May you live in “interesting” times.
Another good quote:
‘Your retirement date is not “65″ or “Never”. It is the day you have 25 times your spending invested, or sooner if you develop other sources of side income. For a motivated 18-year-old, this could easily mean age 25.’
Bill in Phoenix, what’s in your wallet?
It is the day you have 25 times your spending invested, or sooner if you develop other sources of side income. For a motivated 18-year-old, this could easily mean age 25.’
Using those numbers, you would have to be capable of saving 3.57 times your annual spending for each of those seven years, in order to accumulate 25 times your annual spending. In other words, you would have to be earning close to 5X your annual spending.
That’s a tall order for your average 18-year-old—either earning WAY above average, or spending very very little.
I haven’t determined how much I spend. I guess the easiest way is to add up all the checks I wrote, cash I withdrew at the bank, and credit card usage.
Rent, food, luxuries (eating out, flying home to Phoenix, Bordeaux wines), utilities, clothes, gas, auto repair, disability income insurance, LTC insurance, car insurance, and I don’t know if you include taxes in the mix.
My guess is $50,000 that I spend per year. Yes I have over 25 times that.
Scalia says internment ruling could happen again
Posted on Monday, 02.03.14
By AUDREY McAVOY
Associated Press
HONOLULU — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told law students at the University of Hawaii on Monday that the nation’s highest court was wrong to uphold the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the court issued a similar ruling during a future conflict.
Scalia was responding to a question about the court’s 1944 decision in Korematsu v. United States, which upheld the convictions of Gordon Hirabayashi and Fred Korematsu for violating an order to report to an internment camp.
“Well of course Korematsu was wrong. And I think we have repudiated in a later case. But you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again,” Scalia told students and faculty during a lunchtime Q-and-A session.
Scalia cited a Latin expression meaning, “In times of war, the laws fall silent.”
“That’s what was going on — the panic about the war and the invasion of the Pacific and whatnot. That’s what happens. It was wrong, but I would not be surprised to see it happen again, in time of war. It’s no justification, but it is the reality,” he said.
Avi Soifer, the law school’s dean, said he believed Scalia was suggesting people always have to be vigilant and that the law alone can’t be trusted to provide protection.
Soifer said it’s good to hear Scalia say the Korematsu ruling was wrong, noting the justice has been among those who have reined in the power of military commissions regardless of the administration.
“We do need a court that sometimes will say there are individual or group rights that are not being adequately protected by the democratic process,” Soifer said.
Scalia was appointed to the nation’s highest court in 1986, making him the longest-serving justice currently on the court.
The 77-year-old spoke after teaching a class. He didn’t take questions from media.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/03/3911109/scalia-says-internment-ruling.html - 134k
I said this about Korematsu long ago right here on dis blog.
Scalia cited a Latin expression meaning, “In times of war, the laws fall silent.”
George Orwell wrote “We have always been at war with …”
UBS Puerto Rico bond investors better look out; the giant investment bank’s research analysts just dropped the first shoe on your heads.
Last week, UBS issued a report stating that at least one of the Big 3 rating agencies, Moody’s, Fitch or Standard & Poor’s, will cut a swath of Puerto Rico’s debt to “junk” in the next month, according to Michelle Kaske of Bloomberg. The UBS report predicts that the other two agencies will soon follow.
The probability of a downgrade of the Commonwealth’s general obligation and related bond ratings by all three rating agencies into the non-investment-grade category by the end of the June 30 fiscal year is “very high,” according to Kaske.
The warning comes way too late for UBS’ retail customers in Puerto Rico whose portfolios are mostly concentrated in Puerto Rico bonds and UBS’ closed-end funds comprised largely of these bonds. These poor folks have seen their retirement accounts get crushed by 50-60% since September 2013.
Bond investors who read this UBS research report must feel like the 2000 dot.com and tech stock investors felt when they heard about research analyst’s internal emails describing their stocks as “junk” and “pieces of s—t”.
Obama is concerned with Darnell’s problems, if he could just get the repubs to raise the minimum wage to $10.25 Darnell wouldn’t feel the pay cut he took when his hours were cut from Obamacare.
A Fry Cook Asked Obama About Low Wages—And His Hours Being Cut Due To Obamacare
Darnell Summers, a fast food fry cook, joined President Obama on Friday for his first ever live Google Hangout. Summers told the president about his troubles making ends meet earning $7.25 an hour and how he has been on strike four times to increase his wages. Summers also told Obama how his work hours have been “broken down to part-time to avoid paying health insurance.” He asked how Congress and the president could help him and people like him “survive.” In his response, Obama urged Congress to pass a minimum wage increase, but did not address the health care part of the question.
posted on February 1, 2014 at 4:09pm EST
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/a-fry-cook-asked-obama-about-low-wagesand-his-hours-being-cu - 370k -
You didn’t fry that!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_the_Plumber
Without food stamps and welfare programs in general, such low wages would not be possible.
Yikes - I’m on the way to Boulder Colorado tomorrow afternoon. Going from 60 degree temps to 11 degree temps. Will be back home in the OC Friday night though. I think I will be recovering from the chill still and will use my fireplace Friday night!
-10 this morning. Should be above zero by afternoon, though. Kind of unusual for February this far south. Let me know if you want to get together before you leave…
De Blasio won’t be in NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
2/4/2014 5:25:38 PM ET
NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will not be marching in the nation’s largest St. Patrick’s Day parade, deciding to skip one of his city’s signature celebrations because the event organizers refuse to let participants carry pro-gay signs.
De Blasio will become the first mayor in decades to sit out the traditional march along Fifth Avenue.
“I will be participating in a number of other events to honor the Irish heritage of this city,” said de Blasio on Tuesday during an unrelated press conference at City Hall. “But I simply disagree with the organizers of that parade.”