The Housing Bubble

Are home sales slowing in your area?

Gold spot price crossed the 200 day MA. A couple days ago gold junior miners did the same. POT at this time of post is above $1318

Burn baby burn

“Across the Western United States, officials tasked with fighting forest fires worry that a confluence of factors, including climate change and human development, are conspiring to create conditions ripe for a landmark fire year. That would mean hotter fires that burn longer and threaten more homes, sapping already-strained budgets and putting at risk the lives of thousands of firefighters.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/amid-drought-california-and-other-western-states-gird-for-a-landmark-year-in-forest-fires/2014/02/13/ec23fbae-9417-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html

I can’t believe people are buying this crap:

http://www.ryanhomes.com/find-your-home/our-communities/maryland/clarksburg/clarksburg-village-towns?gclid=CMHVsrDey7wCFaE7Ogod7T8Afg

A three-floor townhouse from the upper $370’s, a 20-minute drive from the furthest subway station. The design flow is horrid. How can you build 2,200 square feet only fit in 3 bedrooms, one of which is a tiny 9 feet x 10 feet? Most of the square footage is saved for “optional” add-ons.

I would do better to buy some expensive land and hire Connecticut Valley Homes build me something for $75/sq ft.

hope and change in the uk telegraph linked from google news

‘until now facebook users have had to identify as ‘male’ or ‘female’ when signing up for an account, but from today people will be able to select one of 50 gender options including ‘intersex’ and ‘androgynous.’

forward

si si puede

new york times - ‘with an estimated 15 percent of the country’s uninsured population, california is crucial to the success of president obama’s health care overhaul. here, that success cannot come without enrolling latinos, who make up more than half of the state’s uninsured.

but so far, enrollment of latinos has fallen strikingly below the hopes of the law’s proponents, accounting for 20 percent or fewer of those who had signed on the state-run health insurance exchange by the end of december. now, state officials are rushing to expand marketing efforts and hire additional spanish-speaking staff, hoping to sharply increase that number by march 31, when open enrollment in the new insurance plan ends.’

Permanent Democrat Supermajority

Time to shovel the poop out of the corporate pigmen’s poopy pigpen:

“Other comprehensive income, which includes items initially excluded from net income in a particular accounting period, has gotten a reputation as a sort of dumping ground where companies are allowed to store information that would be too damaging to earnings.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/cfo/2014/02/13/accounting-dumping-ground-headed-for-clean-up/

We are ALL a few paychecks away from poverty. You are kidding yourself if you think otherwise. Unless you are in the 1%, you are a few paychecks away from poverty.

All of your money could be inflated away faster than you can blink, and that gold stockpile will be confiscated by the government. The 1% is about power, and they know that in a doomsday scenario. They are the only ones that can “buy” their way out of the mess.

The 10% may last an extra few months of years at most in a total collapse… But they’ll be broke like the rest of the 99% rather quickly.

hope and change linked from drudge

‘americans are increasingly pessimistic about their chances of achieving and sustaining the american dream, according to a new marist-mcclatchy poll.

they see an economic system in which they have to work harder than ever to get ahead, and a political system that’s unresponsive to their needs. they see the wealthy allowed to play by a different set of rules from everyone else.’

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/02/13/218026/mcclatchy-marist-poll-american.html#storylink=cpy

Drudge is currently headlining several articles about snow and winter weather for the Koch fluffers to click and generate more page loads and ad revenue.

At any given time, some 20% plus of Drudge links are to articles on various regional subdomains of the ad-choked website cbslocal dot com. How much is Drudge getting paid for these sponsored links? Maybe some real journalists need to look into that.

chamber of commerce ceo pimps the shamnesty in piece linked from drudge

http://m.weeklystandard.com/blogs/chamber-ceo-us-needs-more-low-skill-immigration-americans-are-not-qualified-or-willing-do-such-work_781624.html

Is Tom Perkins a parody?

People who live in overpopulated places take it for granted that land has infinite value. I think those people should move.

I live in a place with ample land. I live in a detached pod with space surrounding me. People in my nabe have horses and chickens. There is even one brood of chickens that roams the neighborhood like a gang. They used to escape from their coop a lot, and I guess the lady got sick of trying to herd them back in. Now they just hang out in other peoples’ yards, eating bugs and stuff. Whenever I start to look at them, they always start acting all scared, like I might try to eat them.

Then there are folks who think that “living near the subway” is a benefit. I don’t need a subway because I drive my Prius on an uncrowded freeway, followed by large, uncrowded roads, to and from work every day. It takes me 15 minutes.

It’s hard to comprehend why people would crowd themselves into three-story town”homes”, subject themselves to every sound made by the neighbors on both sides of them, crowd their chickens and horses into their 100 sq. ft. “yards”, and pay so much for the privilege that they literally can’t miss one single paycheck.

Y?

Not even a smidgen of corruption…

It’s just the Chicago way.

—————–

IRS Insider Blows Lid Off “Culture of Corruption”
The New American | 2/14/2014 | Alex Newman

As a growing cloud of perpetual mega-scandal continues to swirl around the embattled Internal Revenue Service, an IRS insider who has worked as an attorney at the tax agency’s Office of the General Counsel for over 26 years is now blowing the whistle on what he says is systemic, massive corruption as well as routine abuse of taxpayers. In an explosive exposé posted on Power Line, William Henck accused the agency — currently under fire for targeting political groups the Obama administration disagrees with — of embezzlement, bullying elderly taxpayers, retaliatory audits, scams, and more.

Federal Judge Confuses Declaration of Independence With Constitution In Court Ruling

“Our Constitution declares that ‘all men’ are created equal,’” she wrote.

Kit Daniels
Prison Planet.com
February 14, 2014

A federal judge confused the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution Thursday night in a court ruling which overturned Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriages.

In yet another example of a judge being totally ignorant to the supreme law of the land, U.S. District Court Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen wrongly attributed the line “all men are created equal” to the Constitution when it in fact appears in the Declaration of Independence.

“Our Constitution declares that ‘all men’ are created equal,’” she wrote in the ruling. “Surely this means all of us.”

Judge Arenda was referring to the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, which states that:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

So in essence, a federal judge who confuses the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence is ruling on the constitutionality of laws and treaties of the United States.

It is also interesting but unsurprising to note that President Obama appointed her in 2010.

Arenda is unfortunately not alone when it comes to federal judges who are seemingly clueless on the basics of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and even their own duties.

Back in December, a federal judge in New York ruled that the NSA’s bulk, warrantless collection of phone records and overall abuse of the Fourth Amendment were legal.

“While Americans depended on technology for the conveniences of modernity, al-Qaeda plotted in a seventh-century milieu to use that technology against us,” Judge William H. Pauley III wrote, who was appointed by former President Clinton. “It was a bold jujitsu… The bulk telephony metadata collection program represents the Government’s counter-punch.”

Judge Pauley’s opinion sounded more like a NSA press release than a legal argument.

“Judge Pauley’s role is to decide whether or not the government’s actions are legal,” David Knight wrote in response. “Whether they are effective or not, it is the role of various federal organizations to protect the country (which is not necessarily the same as protecting the government).”

“Those organizations will come up with strategies, tactics and policies to protect the country. The judicial system’s role is to ensure that those strategies, tactics and policies don’t violate the law or violate the rights of the people — the purpose for which the government was created.”

This unfortunate trend of federal judges who are either clueless about the Constitution or are openly hostile towards it reveals the real damage that U.S. presidents can do to the Bill of Rights through their appointments.

Government Lays Groundwork To Confiscate Your 401k and IRA: “This Is Happening”

Mac Slavo
SHTFplan.com
February 14, 2014

This morning Reuters obtained a leaked proposal disclosing that European Union officials are looking for new and innovative ways to fund their immense debt levels.

As noted by Zero Hedge, they’re no longer turning exclusively to central bankers to simply print more money as needed. Because last year’s bank bail-in forcing the confiscation of funds from average depositors in Cyprus worked so well, EU regulators and bankers have determined that they’ll use a similar method to fund their future endeavors.

In a nutshell, and in Reuters’ own words, “the savings of the European Union’s 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says.”

The solution? “The Commission will ask the bloc’s insurance watchdog in the second half of this year for advice on a possible draft law “to mobilize more personal pension savings for long-term financing”, the document said.”

Mobilize, once again, is a more palatable word than, say, confiscate.

This is what happens when governments run out of money.

But if you think this is limited to just Europe, then consider the words of President Barack Obama in his recent State of the Union address.

For all intents and purposes, a similar groundwork is being laid right here in America.

They’ve already taken over the health care industry… why not nationalize our retirement savings while they’re at it?

(Reprinted with permission from Sovereign Man. You can read the full analysis here.)

This is basically the offer that the President of the United States floated last night.

And like an unctuously overgeled used car salesman, he actually pitched Americans on loaning their retirement savings to the US government with a straight face, guaranteeing “a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in. . .”

This is his new “MyRA” program. And the aim is simple– dupe unwitting Americans to plow their retirement savings into the US government’s shrinking coffers.

We’ve been talking about this for years. I have personally written since 2009 that the US government would one day push US citizens into the ‘safety and security’ of US Treasuries.

Back in 2009, almost everyone else thought I was nuts for even suggesting something so sacrilegious about the US government and financial system.

But the day has arrived. And POTUS stated almost VERBATIM what I have been writing for years.

The government is flat broke. Even by their own assessment, the US government’s “net worth” is NEGATIVE 16 trillion. That’s as of the end of 2012 (the 2013 numbers aren’t out yet). But the trend is actually worsening.

In 2009, the government’s net worth was negative $11.45 trillion. By 2010, it had dropped to minus $13.47 trillion. By 2011, minus $14.78 trillion. And by 2012, minus $16.1 trillion.

Here’s the thing: according to the IRS, there is well over $5 trillion in US individual retirement accounts. For a government as bankrupt as Uncle Sam is, $5 trillion is irresistible.

They need that money. They need YOUR money. And this MyRA program is the critical first step to corralling your hard earned retirement funds.

At our event here in Chile last year, Jim Rogers nailed this right on the head when he and Ron Paul told our audience that the government would try to take your retirement funds:

I don’t know how much more clear I can be: this is happening. This is exactly what bankrupt governments do. And it’s time to give serious, serious consideration to shipping your retirement funds overseas before they take yours.

As former Congressman Ron Paul notes, the government will stop at nothing.

“They’ll use force and they’ll use intimidation and they’ll use guns, because you can’t challenge the State and you can’t challenge the State’s so-called right to control the money,” warns Paul. “It’s already indicated that they will confiscate funds and they will [confiscate] pension funds.”

This didn’t just happen over night. The move to make this reality has been going on for quite some time. The first time it was mentioned publicly in any official capacity was at a 2010 Congressional hearing:

Democrats in the Senate on Thursday held a recess hearing covering a taxpayer bailout of union pensions and a plan to seize private 401(k) plans to more “fairly” distribute taxpayer-funded pensions to everyone.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee heard from hand-picked witnesses advocating the infamous “Guaranteed Retirement Account” (GRA) authored by Theresa Guilarducci.

In a nutshell, under the GRA system government would seize private 401(k) accounts, setting up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax to dole out a “fair” pension to everyone using that confiscated money coupled with the mandated contributions. This would, of course, be a sister government ponzi scheme working in tandem with Social Security, the primary purpose being to give big government politicians additional taxpayer funds to raid to pay for their out-of-control spending.

You’d think that such an idea would be immediately dismissed by the American public, but it has only gained steam since, as evidenced by a 2012 hearing held at the U.S. Labor Department:

The hearing, held in the Labor Department’s main auditorium, was monitored by NSC staff and featured a line up of left-wing activists including one representative of the AFL-CIO who advocated for more government regulation over private retirement accounts and even the establishment of government-sponsored annuities that would take the place of 401k plans.

“This hearing was set up to explore why Americans are not saving as much for their retirement as they could,” explains National Seniors Council National Director Robert Crone, “However, it is clear that this is the first step towards a government takeover. It feels just like the beginning of the debate over health care and we all know how that ended up.”

…Such “reforms” would effectively end private retirement accounts in America, Crone warns.

A few years ago the government of the United States of America nationalized nearly 1/6th of our economy when they took over the health care system with forced mandates. In the process they essentially took control of $1.6 trillion in yearly industry revenues.

But that’s nothing compared to private savings. The total amount of retirement assets in America, including 401k, IRA and savings accounts is around $21 trillion. With our national debt coincidentally approaching the same, the government sees big money and potentially a way out of our country’s fiscal disaster.

This will start voluntarily with the MyRA and other state-sponsored programs. But when not enough Americans are making it their patriotic duty to turn over their funds to their government, they’ll mandate compliance with the stroke of a pen just as they did with thePatient Affordable Care Act.

And just like Obamacare it will be enforced by the barrel of a gun. Failure to comply will mean confiscation without recourse and prison time.

All they need now is a trigger.

And that trigger will likely come in the form of another stock market collapse. Wipe out Americans’ in a stock market crash and scare the heck out of them with more economic bad news, and millions of our countrymen will be all too willing to hand it over to Uncle Sam. Panic is a powerful motivator and what better way to get people on board than by threatening them with squalor and destitution in their old age if they don’t go along with it?

Government officials have been actively working to make this a reality for years. The Europeans are doing the same.

You can put your head in the sand or cover your ears and pretend this is not happening, but that won’t change the outcome.

They will take everything they can get their hands on.

Tags: domestic news, police state

Former US Attorney General Tom Clark later wrote this about EO 9066 and the ignorant support provided by the Supremes, support which remains unrescinded to this day:
“The truth is—as this deplorable experience proves—that constitutions and laws are not sufficient of themselves…Despite the unequivocal language of the Constitution of the United States that the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, and despite the Fifth Amendment’s command that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, both of these constitutional safeguards were denied by military action under Executive Order 9066.”
from Wiki