Bits Bucket for February 25, 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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Seattle, WA Housing Prices Slip 7% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/seattle-wa/market-trends/
“For baby boomers, divorce has almost become, like marriage, another rite of passage. The post-World War II generation is setting : Americans over 50 are twice as likely to get divorced as people of that age were 20 years ago.”
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/24/282105022/older-americans-breakups-are-causing-a-graying-divorce-trend
All of those McMansions will go unloved. So sad.
It’s no big deal. You sell the house, take the loss and move on.
Black hawk would like to encourage those who are married to work as hard as you can to keep the marriage ties vital. Visualize the cat hanging from it’s fingernails. But it takes two so - - -
Why are divorces so expensive???
Because they’re worth it!
May your marriage survive your mortgage.
May your marriage never have to survive a mortgage.
Skye…Your words from a few days ago regarding Nugent;
“One of my good friends in his 40s married an 18 year old. He was very good to her, she to him also, and they loved each other like a story book for 30 years. She still mourns his death. Be careful how you judge”
Nugent already had five children I believe by the time he was 40…He cut the “deal” with the parents to be this 17 year old teenagers guardian likely because he wanted to tap the Virgin lowland and did not want to go to prison over it…
When did he initially meet this little teenager ?? 16 ?? 15 ?? Is a teenage girl capable of falling in love with a 40 year old man ??
I am not making any judgement on your friend or anybody marrying someone 20 + younger than their age but a teenage girl…Oh please…We all know what the motivation here is particularly with a creep like Nugent…
That is a father-daughter relationship. Her motivation is that of a child. His motivation is that of a creep.
I don’t know anything about this Nugent guy.
I married a teenager. I was a teenager too and needed my mother’s signature. I loved that woman the best I could for over 30 years up to the day I lost her. I am probably a little more cool headed and slower stepping in my 60s than I was as a teen, but the emotions are all still the same as they were. That’s all I was thinking.
Blue
Sorry to hear you lost your wife of 30 years. That’s tough. Big cyber-hug.
My husband and I are on our second marriage to each other, over a 35 year span. If I go first, he’ll become a hermit.
I tell everyone he met me while I was in pre-school. lol
Thanks Incher,
I started acting like a teenager.
Blue
Pimples and hormonal swings? lol
Every Halloween, we dress up and get into it. We skip in parking lots, and stay up and tell ghost stories. Growing up is for the young folks! Second childhoods as well.
Rick Springfield’s icky new memoir: we read it so you don’t have to
At age 25 he dated a then 15-year-old Linda Blair. “I am her first lover and she is an enthusiastic learner…. We share a love of dogs and sex–separately, not in combination. Most of the time we don’t leave the apartment. She’s invited to premieres and Hollywood parties and we go as a couple, blindly and innocently to the media slaughter. We’re actually really shocked by the incensed articles in both teen and regular press about our affair. Either we have zero understanding of what makes the press tick, or it’s a really slow month for news.”
True confession: I dated a teenage girl when I was 25 years old. However, she passed the “half your age plus seven” rule:
(1/2)*25+7 = 12.5 + 7 = 19.5. Or at least she did by the time she was 22: 2*(22-7) = 30, so (1/2)*30+7 = 22.
I learned my lesson, and eventually married someone who is seven years my junior, when we were well past the point where the rule was satisfied.
In 25-year-old Springfield’s case, as shown above, he missed the “half your age plus seven” rule by 4.5 years.
And millions of underemployed millenials will not be “snapping up” all those $500,000 “starter homes” anytime soon.
CRATER!
The very concept of a starter home is ridic stupid. “Hey here’s this house that’s bigger than you need, yet not really any better than the apartment you rent, so you can live in it for 5 years and avoid saving any money up for retirement or for a house you really do need or want someday if you have a family. Oh, and there are transaction costs, coming and going.”
Thanks, Lawrence Yun!
Good Morning Liberace…. you’re busy today.
(busy living in your skull, rent-free)
Only in your mind.
“Please proceed, Governor…”
“You liar”!
median sales price in your ZIP is a tad over $400k, btw.
I haven’t asked my coworker how much they paid for their new house in Highlands Ranch. I know they sold their dump in Arvada for almost 400K, so I’m guessing they paid 600K for the new place.
In metro Denver.
Freaking unbelievable.
There is nothing special about Denver, nothing. It isn’t on a bay. It doesn’t have warm winters. It’s smoggy. It’s culturally weak. The town is ugly. It has plenty of traffic jams. The infrastructure is crumbling. The football team is cursed and the other sports teams suck. There aren’t any top rated Universities. There are tons of illegals. And the ski resorts are only accessible via an overwhelmed and unexpandable I-70.
Proximity to and views of 14K peaks (e.g. from the balcony outside my sister’s condo…)
There is nothing special about Denver, nothing.
No disagreements with any of your points. But for me, having grown up around mountains, just seeing them there every day (and living in the dry, high elevation climate they provide) is just as big a deal as a coastal person seeing the water out there every day even if they never go to the beach. So for me the Rocky Mountains are special, including Denver. Denver just happens to be “where the jobs are” if you’re like me.
“But for me, having grown up around mountains, just seeing them there every day (and living in the dry, high elevation climate they provide) is just as big a deal as a coastal person seeing the water out there every day even if they never go to the beach.”
Rocky Mountain High
I wish the out of staters would read and understand that all of that is true and stop moving here!
Sorry, we’re full. Go skiing, buy some weed, and then go home!
I could say the same for where I live - each day the commute is longer and longer because of all the people flocking here (of course, the part about ‘weed’ doesn’t apply).
Couldn’t you get a lot of Denver’s mountains for like 1/2 the price in NM or in the Boise area? My dad grew up in Abq area (Belen) and said it was also a mile high. I think that area is also now full of illegals, though. I believe back in the 60s/70s there were more native americans.
Yeah, I went to Denver and found it lacking.
Couldn’t you get a lot of Denver’s mountains for like 1/2 the price in NM or in the Boise area?
The good stuff in NM is just as expensive or even more so and it’s not near the tech jobs as far as I know. Boise isn’t bad. It’s hard to make as much money there, though. They have tech, but much less of it.
Couldn’t you get a lot of Denver’s mountains for like 1/2 the price in NM or in the Boise area? My dad grew up in Abq area (Belen) and said it was also a mile high.
ABQ is not a good place to live. It compares poorly to DEN. ABQ can be a nice place to visit, though. Then there is RE pricing.
They will. There’s a sucker born every…..
… every four seconds.
No they will be inheriting those houses, then live in them and if they can find any jobs will sell them to pay off the student loans then become hippies….living on little cash
The old will become new…..and the new policy will be…buy a house for cash, get a green card
The X Generation won’t inherit anything because their Boomer parents have already reverse-mortgaged it. The Y Generation still has young parents who won’t be dying for 20-30 years.
Baby boomers got their selfish divorces back in the late 70s to early 80s.
1945-63ish. They started passing 50 in 1995 20 years ago. The very late boomers are closer to Xers.
Here is the quote:
“Back in 1990, fewer than 1 in 10 persons who got divorced was over the age of 50,” says Brown. But today, “1 in 4 people getting divorced is 50 or older.”
That could mean a million things. Thanks, npr, for more fuzzyheadedism.
Plan your divorce before your wedding day
February 23, 2014 12:15 am • By Jim Gallagher jgallagher@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8390
Greg Adamson called his friend with the happy news. He was getting married.
Greg’s friend is a lawyer, and his reaction was coolly practical. “You have to get a prenuptial agreement,” he said.
That’s a contract in which couples agree on the terms of their divorce before they get married.
Greg and his fiancée Melissa Reifers are young people in love. A prenup is not in their plans.
“We’re not concerned about divorce,” she said, as they strolled through the Burnin’ Love Festival last week in Forest Park. They’ll be married in May.
…
Never, ever take marriage advice from an attorney.
as they strolled through the Burnin’ Love Festival
Hmmm…
That’s a contract in which couples agree on the terms of their divorce before they get married.
IIRC, everyone who gets married under the law thus becomes party to a contract, which includes any future divorce arrangements, which applies whether they know about it or not, whether they are interested in it or not, and whether they admit it or not. Might as well be conscious & aware of what you are getting into. IANAL.
The kids will need some place to live.
Roof over your head is overrated. All they need is a bed to crash for 5 or 6 hours….my frinds mostly live in the digital world.
ever meet those second lifers weird….like they need to be committed or somthing
“Roof over your head is overrated.”
Absolutely not.
My sister’s husband left her and two kids (ready to start/in college) homeless.
My nephew is living in a private high school dorm on charity (he’s bright) and my niece is in a junior college on a pell grant, living with a friend at her parent’s home.
My sister lives with our 80 yr old mother.
Her husband is a pos. Ph.D. and all.
Having a place to call home is a base. OMFG Dolly! You must be a young’in.
How to never get an expensive divorce: Don’t marry in the first place.
How to end up in a $200,000 house in Riverside: Buy a $500,000 McMansion in Riverside.
How do you end up a millionaire? Start with $Ten million.
…I was out partying with my colleagues at about four bars last night in San Francisco. One of the business partners, an engineer got somehow the most expensive suite at Francis Drake and we were drinking and talking at that place.
Talking shop while having beer after beer after beer. I lost count. We used Uber to get around. Did not eat much though. My boss is not much on eating but is much on drinking.
I had enough beer for two weeks. I am surprised I’m clear headed today. My flight is rescheduled for the night back to Orange County and I will be going to the exposition all day. Hungry for a breakfast that a lumberjack would eat.
Wednesday late afternoon is a pub crawl - I think I will gladly miss. I am not really social. But it’s good to meet with engineers who I will work with in the future. There’s so much info at the RSA Conference that I could not absorb it all. I hope to return again next year.
Our demo was, IMO, successful. Even though we had some problem with the speed using the ssh setup. It seemed to work smooth at the office - that’s how it usually goes. But the audience did not seem to notice. We got a good amount of attention. Lots of people asking for info. Business cards exchanged.
Bill, I’ve been telling young people not to go to law or biz school but to teach themselves and get into tech. How would you advise they do this? What are the best things to start with? I assume rails? Or should they focus on mobile? TYIA.
MOOCs; e.g. try Coursera’s tech offerings. Also go to schools like MIT which offer online courses for $0 tuition. (I don’t say “free” because the time investment can be considerable.)
P.S. Now that I have suggested this, I may look into further beefing up my programming skills. (Have already completed a couple of Coursera courses in R stat programming language.)
A lot of companies are using tools that are open source mostly. So open source - anything…
Ruby on rails is good. Python is good. Java and SQL - for database is still a hit (particularly, IMO, in Phoenix and I note this because I have a residence in Phoenix and may want to stop traveling this this…).
Linux is still hot - Linux engineers supposedly had an average 5% salary increase last year. And Linux is open source.
There are niche areas in software that are hot. Of course networking (TCP/IP). Cryptography is getting more of a demand in commercial and that’s what I do.
It is worthwhile to go to dice.com and enter the words “software engineering” and see what you come up with. It’s my favorite job site since it allows boolean searches. Software engineering is so big that you need to do boolean searches in areas you are interested in.
Of these, which 2 or 3 would you suggest someone to start with? Maybe Rails, java, SQL?
I have heard python is tough.
TYIA
Because all programming languages do a lot of similar things, a great place to start is with theory.
Take an intro-to-programming class online or in person.
You will learn basics which can be applied to just about any programming language.
Of these, which 2 or 3 would you suggest someone to start with? Maybe Rails, java, SQL?
Well I would say SQL for number one. Then Java for number 2. Ruby for distant third
Where I’m at we mostly use C and of course open source. that means gnu C. We make interface calls to openssl - C libraries on our linux system for the secure socket layer stuff. None of us that I know of use Java.
JavaScript is also very useful in combination with HTML.
For new computer types, general programming skills are number one.
In 2000 I had little C experience. I was hired in a frenzy to work on some crypto stuff and I came from an avionics background. When companies need bodies they don’t care what they pay and they don’t care if you did not have much experience with the language and tools. This happens occasionally.
What’s in now as I said is open source. Companies do not want to pay for tools. Oracle Java is awesome. gnu C tools are very decent compared to the gnu (that i “knew”) in the early 90s. Companies are impressed with what you can do with open source.
Although VMWare is not free - it’s worth buying because lots of companies use virtual machines. You can make a linux environment on a Windows machine and a Windows environment (I’ve been told) on a Linux machine. You can make a virtual machine copy a Linux build running on a particular architecture (x86_64 perhaps) and it’s a matter of loading the .iso file as a VM.
Funny thing: The last time I drank as much as it sounds like you drank last night was when I was on a business trip in SF. I doubt I will ever drink that much again…
I could not even finish my last beer. I think I drank only a fifth of that last glass I was in a penthouse suite on the 16th floor and just did not feel like drinking much at that point. No hangover. I never get hangovers the next morning.
“I never get hangovers the next morning.”
Same here; perhaps we should thank our beer-guzzling German forebears for that? No need for hair-of-the-dog cures if you have German ancestry.
I’m jealous. I always get bad hangovers. One beer gives me a mild hangover.
Same here; perhaps we should thank our beer-guzzling German forebears for that? No need for hair-of-the-dog cures if you have German ancestry.
Don’t get them either no true German ancestry but Viking so I guess that is close enough.
Yes it could be from our ancestors’ tolerance of great beers. Cheers! Had another long day and at my gate waiting for my plane back. No drink coupon.
How to do well at your new job: Don’t try to impress your coworkers by drinking with them on weeknights. I agree that you should gladly miss.
My strategy is to offer up as the designated driver. Then you don’t have to drink, but you (sober) get to listen to their drunken ramblings and maybe pick up on some personal dirt (which could come in handy later…)
oxide…LOL
Drinking is not healthy and I need to preserve my “detox machine”, my liver, for all the toxic life challenges.
Got mold?
$200 per square foot is now the minimum asking price in the 80210.
‘$200 per square foot is now the minimum asking price in the 80210.’
Money’s tight, nothing free
Won’t somebody come and rescue me
‘denver is the most expensive inland city to buy a house, according to a study released tuesday by hsh dot com, a mortgage information website.
denver was wedged between portland, ore, and seattle as the 18th most affordable city out of 25, requiring an annual salary of 48,122 to afford a median-priced home here.
hsh dot com used a mortgage rate of 4.43 percent and a median home price of 279,300 to calculate its denver salary requirement.’
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/finance_etc/2014/02/how-much-salary-do-you-need-to-buy-a.html?page=all
Craterland, CO.
head a couple miles south and this newly listed gem could be yours for the bargain basement price of $199 a square foot. that classy paint job must have added at least $20,000 of instant equity.
http://m.realtor.com/#details?listing_id=569481016
Nostalgic and appears in pretty good shape…Craftsman with a little bit of Queen Ann touch…
(laughing)
That’s crazy. I don’t know that area, but 200/sq/ft is way too high for a “normal” area. I purchased my house for about 115/sq/ft (livable, about 100/sq/ft if you include the garage) and it’s on the water in S. FL. And it’s relatively new, so it is built to hurricane standards, which, as I understand it, makes it quite a bit more expensive to build; materials in particular. All CBS, hurricane tiles on the roof, etc.
Zillow says my house is now worth about 150/sq/ft. I’m not sure I’d pay that for it. But I’m pretty sure, unless those Denver houses come with ski in/out and incredible mountain views, 200/sq/ft is way too much to pay.
The invasion of all-cash Chinese buyers no longer limited to the coasts:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_25204204/agents-report-more-chinese-buyers-active-colorado
Seems like a nice place to live. Young, well-educated, about 60% single.
——-
For population 25 years and over in 80210:
•High school or higher: 96.3%
•Bachelor’s degree or higher: 65.4%
•Graduate or professional degree: 29.4%
•Unemployed: 6.3%
•Mean travel time to work (commute): 18.8 minutes
For population 15 years and over in 80210:
•Never married: 46.8%
•Now married: 38.9%
•Separated: 0.9%
•Widowed: 3.6%
•Divorced: 9.8%
Zip code 80210 compared to state average:
•Median house value above state average.
•Black race population percentage significantly below state average.
•Hispanic race population percentage significantly below state average.
•House age significantly above state average.
•Number of college students above state average.
•Percentage of population with a bachelor’s degree or higher above state average.
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/zips/80210.html#ixzz2uLGrho6t
No crime statistics in all that date…..but that one line says it all….Black race population percentage significantly below state average.
Crime statistics are notoriously unreliable. I think it’s safe to guess that ZIP is not dangerous or high crime given the demos.
Crime statistics are notoriously unreliable.
Except for homicide rates. Burglaries often do not get reported in high crimes areas but bodies tend to get reported. I usually judge the actual crime rate of an area by the homicide rate or at least cross reference and assume a high homicide rate area has more unreported crime.
If you look at a homicide map, the usually cluster. So if you search by ZIP, you may get erroneous results. Something like 80% of homicides in DC and Baltimore area along just a handful of short corridors coming into/out of the city. I believe route 40 corridor in Baltimore and route 50 corridor in DC. But even then, you’re talking a 6-8 block stretch.
You can still find a bargain up the street in the 5 points area.
And you’re selling it right?
You can still find a bargain up the street in the 5 points area.
There’s a reason for that. That nabe is still being “gentrified”, IIRC.
still being ‘gentrified’ = push the last remaining black people out of denver and over the city line into aurora
“an economy that does not provide shared prosperity is, by definition, a poorly performing one. Further, such an economy will not provide sustainable growth without relying on consumption fueled by asset bubbles and escalating household debt. The collapse of the housing bubble and the ensuing Great Recession have laid bare the consequences of this model of unbalanced growth.“ epi dot org
Which raises the question:
Have Americans been propagandized into becoming a Trickle-Down Economics worshiping cult? What good is GDP growth and “markets” worshiping if it only benefits an ever richer plutocracy who then spends billions to further indoctrinate America’s Trickle-down, economically failing cult?
A Decade of Flat Wages
The Key Barrier to Shared Prosperity and a Rising Middle Class
http://www.epi.org/publication/a-decade-of-flat-wages-the-key-barrier-to-shared-prosperity-and-a-rising-middle-class/
The nation’s economic discourse has finally shifted from talk of “grand bargain” budget deals to a focus on addressing the economic challenges of the middle class and those aspiring to join the middle class. Growing the economy from the “middle out” has become the new frame for discussing economic policy. This is long overdue…….
……The wage and benefit growth of the vast majority, including white-collar and blue-collar workers and those with and without a college degree, has stagnated, as the fruits of overall growth have accrued disproportionately to the richest households. The wage-setting mechanism has been broken for a generation but has particularly faltered in the last 10 years, once the robust wage growth of the late 1990s subsided. Corporate profits, on the other hand, are at historic highs. Income growth has been captured by those in the top 1 percent, driven by high profitability and by the tremendous wage growth among executives and in the finance sector (for more on wage and income growth among the top 1 percent, see Bivens and Mishel 2013)….
…..The weak wage growth since 1979 for all but those with the highest wages is the result of intentional policy decisions—including globalization, deregulation, weaker unions, and lower labor standards such as a weaker minimum wage—that have undercut job quality for low- and middle-wage workers. These policies have all been portrayed to the public as giving American consumers goods and services at lower prices. Whatever the impact on prices, these policies have lowered the earnings power of low- and middle-wage workers such that their real wages severely lag productivity growth. Macroeconomic policies have often added to the forces disempowering the vast majority of workers by tolerating (or causing) unnecessarily high unemployment rates to forestall (often hypothetical) increases in inflation or interest rates.
Have Americans been propagandized into becoming a Trickle-Down Economics worshiping cult?
have american been propagandized into becoming a socialist worshiping cult? yes comrade, they have!
What good is GDP growth and “markets” worshiping if it only benefits an ever richer plutocracy who then spends billions to further indoctrinate America’s Trickle-down, economically failing cult?
the socialists are taxing citizens to pay MANY billions to further indoctrinate america’s socialist cult that has always been an economic failure.
A Decade of Flat Wages
caused by the steady creep of socialism into this country, comrade. aren’t you proud?
your hatred of ‘the rich’ is class warfare, comrade.
would you hate the rich if you were one of them, comrade? if you are already rich, do you hate yourself?
A Decade of Flat Wages caused by the steady creep of socialism into this country, comrade. aren’t you proud ??
Please expand…I am a little confused…What part of;
out-sourcing, off-shoring, job displacement by technology and free money to wall street is “socialism” ??
job displacement by tech isn’t caused by the creep of socialism.
but the creep of socialism has caused most of the outsourcing, off-shoring and crony capitalism.
A Decade of Flat Wages caused by the steady creep of socialism into this country, comrade. aren’t you proud ??
So which is it…Was outsourcing, offshoring socialism or was socialism the effect of this policy ??
Socialism is a social and economic system characterised by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy,[1][2] as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system.[3][4] “Social ownership” may refer to cooperative enterprises, common ownership, state ownership, citizen ownership of equity, or any combination of these.
was socialism the effect of this policy ?
no, socialism effected the policy.
marx’s definition of socialism is more widely accepted and accurate.
Zerohedge had a good article on how liberals pushed the “Free-trade” mantra in the 60’s in an effort to strip the nation state of power and advance their New World Order plans.
Google “Liberal Politicians Launched the Idea of “Free Trade Agreements” In the 1960s to Strip Nations of Sovereignty” to find the article… just make sure you’re wearing your tin foil hat.
“Liberal Politicians Launched the Idea of “Free Trade Agreements”
free trade needs no trade agreements.
liberals pushed the “Free-trade” mantra ??
Then the counter to that would be that the Capitalist were against it right ??
Hey Cave Man of the North:
Have you read the Republican party platform? They fly the Free Trade flag high and proud. I think the original cavemen were smrtr than u.
They fly the Free Trade flag high and proud.
they can name it whatever they want. but there’s no such thing as a ‘free trade agreement’. there’s only ‘freer trade agreements’ or ‘more restrictive trade agreements’.
and they’re all forms of protectionism. price fixing. and to the extent that they restrict trade, to that extent they hurt themselves the most.
and they all depend on what some outside authority deems is ‘fair’.
who gets to decide what’s ‘fair’? is that fair?
TJ:
It is an enumerated power of the US Congress to regulate international trade. That isn’t up for debate.
>and to the extent that they restrict trade, to that extent they hurt themselves the most
Bull … huckey … Restricting trade to prevent slavery, environmental damages, foreign market intervention (governments strategically subsidizing key national industries), and a host of other social, political, and human rights abuses are KEY FUNDAMENTALS of keeping a strong and prosperous nation. If you tout democracy in your home country while allowing free trade with human rights abusing dictatorships and communist gulag nations, you aren’t touting democracy at all, and screwing both your citizens and the citizens of those foreign nations by endorsing the abuses of their leadership. “Free trade” is a bullshit propaganda word, applied way too liberally, to try to mask and obfuscate the non-democratic policies of foreign interests, simply to allow a few factory owners who want to increase profits the ability to do so at the expense of the citizens of this country. If you think pricing is the only cost of a good we should just Fu-king bring back slavery to this country so you can get cheap cotton.
If you have a problem with who gets do decide what is “fair” don’t put me in charge because I will throw your ass in chains and make you a slave as punishment for being stupid and trying to misinform the electorate.
It is an enumerated power of the US Congress to regulate international trade.
incorrectly interpreted.
Restricting trade to prevent slavery
you don’t even know what free trade is, do you?
foreign market intervention (governments strategically subsidizing key national industries)
hurts themselves most, but i wouldn’t expect you to understand that.
and a host of other social, political, and human rights abuses are KEY FUNDAMENTALS of keeping a strong and prosperous nation.
you don’t know what keeps a nation strong and prosperous and free.
If you tout democracy in your home country while allowing free trade with human rights abusing dictatorships and communist gulag nations, you aren’t touting democracy at all, and screwing both your citizens and the citizens of those foreign nations by endorsing the abuses of their leadership.
i’m not touting mob rule. let’s stick to the subject. i’m ‘touting’ free trade.
and stop insinuating things i haven’t said. i don’t endorse any country’s abusive leadership.
“Free trade” is a bullshit propaganda word
no, that would be the bullshit ‘fair trade’ touted by the price fixers.
If you think pricing is the only cost of a good we should just Fu-king bring back slavery to this country so you can get cheap cotton.
why should we ever do that? slavery is uneconomic. and i’m talking about genuine slavery, not low wages.
If you have a problem with who gets do decide what is “fair” don’t put me in charge
i sure as hell wouldn’t. why would i want to put a little self-righteous dictator like you in charge?
>i’m not touting mob rule. let’s stick to the subject.
your motivations become clear as day:
democracy = mob rule QED socialism for the win
Endorsing unrestricted “free” trade with nations like North Korea is clearly endorsing abusive leadership. If you can’t see that… Then again, you do refer to democracy as mob rule and want socialism for all.. so..
>why should we ever do that? slavery is uneconomic.
Lol so great: tj = bring back slavery if we can find a way to make it economic .. you know.. cuz no other reason to not have slavery.. TJ FTW!!!
Endorsing unrestricted “free” trade with nations like North Korea is clearly endorsing abusive leadership. If you can’t see that… Then again, you do refer to democracy as mob rule and want socialism for all.. so..
free trade means that two entities can choose who they want to trade with. that doesn’t mean that they’d choose any particular entity. most probably wouldn’t choose to. but you have no right to interfere.
most here would say you’re pretty daft to believe i’m for socialism. but do keep tossing those red herrings out there.
tj = bring back slavery if we can find a way to make it economic .. you know.. cuz no other reason to not have slavery..
another strawman, which is about all you’re good at. of course slavery is immoral. but most people DON’T know it’s uneconomic.
more strawmen?
So should trade restriction only be about economic encumberance, or should we place a moral value in the consideration pot?
When someone asks you the reason not to enslave someone, and you reply, it’s uneconomic.. that is indeed a stupid answer. It’s not a strawman argument to point out your stupidity. The economy of a situation does not override the morality of it. This is why we have laws about stealing and murder.. or did you not get the memo on that?
In the same way that allowing theft and murder for the economic benefit of some is disallowed and punished with prison, certain trade is and should be restricted to curb these abuses in the same way prison sentences are applied as punishments for the same moral failings.
When someone asks you the reason not to enslave someone, and you reply, it’s uneconomic.. that is indeed a stupid answer.
it just seems stupid to someone who doesn’t understand. you think it’s economic, don’t you? if not, explain why it isn’t.
It’s not a strawman argument to point out your stupidity.
it’s stupid to claim something that’s false. you’re a master of it.
The economy of a situation does not override the morality of it.
the economy of a situation?? care to explain what the economy of a situation is?
This is why we have laws about stealing and murder.. or did you not get the memo on that?
another great strawman. but really, you can do better.
In the same way that allowing theft and murder for the economic benefit of some is disallowed and punished with prison
now this is a much better strawman. trouble is, i’m not saying anything like that, and all anyone has to do is read through these posts to see it.
certain trade is and should be restricted to curb these abuses in the same way prison sentences are applied as punishments for the same moral failings.
trade doesn’t cause abuses. only in the demented liberal mind.
your turn.
So should trade restriction only be about economic encumberance, or should we place a moral value in the consideration pot?
trade restriction is immoral all by itself.
>it just seems stupid to someone who doesn’t understand. you think it’s economic, don’t you? if not, explain why it isn’t.
Hint: It’s not stupid because of its incorrectness. The correctness is not even being questioned. The stupidity of it is in being the answer you provide to the question “why shouldn’t we have slavery”.
It’s like asking the question: why shouldn’t we pollute our drinking water? and you reply: “it’s the aesthetics of it!” Then saying, well I am right, because green murky water doesn’t look as nice as clear pure water! Hmm… maybe you don’t want to ignore the entire main reason for not doing a thing in your answer as to why not do it?
>trade restriction is immoral all by itself.
well that really clears things up.. Because TJ said so everyone!
>trade doesn’t cause abuses. only in the demented liberal mind
kiddie porn market would disagree with you here tj.. you keep setting em up.. i’ll keep knock’n em down!
>only in the demented liberal mind
this is great.. advocating improved human rights makes me have a demented liberal mind…. You should really check whatever playbook you’re working out of because I’m pretty sure that the concepts of “bill of rights”, freedoms reserved to the people, etc don’t really happen in North Korea…
Is that what you’re advocating for your “world vision” ?
The stupidity of it is in being the answer you provide to the question “why shouldn’t we have slavery”.
you can’t even keep your argument straight, can you? where did you ask me “why we shouldn’t have slavery“?
keep twisting your strawmen. you think you’re clever, but you’re not.
It’s like asking the question: why shouldn’t we pollute our drinking water? and you reply: “it’s the aesthetics of it!” Then saying, well I am right, because green murky water doesn’t look as nice as clear pure water! Hmm… maybe you don’t want to ignore the entire main reason for not doing a thing in your answer as to why not do it?
what does this garbled mess mean?
well that really clears things up.. Because TJ said so everyone!
no one can help you see something you don’t want to believe. if you don’t believe in free trade, then go ahead and believe in price fixing instead. couch it in as much pablum as you need.
kiddie porn market would disagree with you here tj.. you keep setting em up.. i’ll keep knock’n em down!
comical how you keep thinking you’re ‘knocking em down’. kiddie porn is as immoral as restricting trade. but please keep serving up your strawmen. do you ever wonder how stupid your arguments are?
mathguy, do you see why trade in slaves and kiddie porn isn’t free trade? and no, it’s not just that it’s immoral.
>mathguy, do you see why trade in slaves and kiddie porn isn’t free trade? and no, it’s not just that it’s immoral.
Finally we arrive at the same conclusion. Trade with a dictatorship is not free trade in the exact same way.
>Finally we arrive at the same conclusion. Trade with a dictatorship is not free trade in the exact same way.
Which is btw, why I call the term “free trade” a bullshit term, because it is constantly referred to as reasons to take trade barriers away that are enabling these dictatorships, and the people profiting of the misery of those they domineer. If it was all about making sure Canadians don’t pay import tax on Legos made in Scandanavia, this would be a different conversation.
trade with a dictatorship CAN be free trade, whereas trade in slaves and kiddie porn can’t be.
if the dictator wanted to trade in human beings, it wouldn’t be free trade. but if he wanted to trade in computers or some such commodity, it would be.
we may have arrived at the same conclusion, but i don’t think it was for the same reasons.
do you know why trading in slaves can’t be considered free trade?
>and no, it’s not just that it’s immoral.
Uhh yes.. yes it is immoral.. and the reason is.. it’s not free. And that is exactly why I held those things up as my examples. Because they highlight the ways in which “free trade” is used to hide the abuses of the people. It’s almost 1984ish doublespeak. “But the trade is free!” Yeah but the people are brutalized, so it IS IMMORAL so I don’t give a *%^& that you get a better price on your iphone.
>trade with a dictatorship CAN be free trade trading in slaves isn’t free trade
is your definition changing now? some trade is free trade and some isn’t? should we have regulation to identify that trade which is allowed and that trade which isn’t?
Hmm, so we should have some kind of regulated trade then….and there should be some kind of sanction or punishment when people try to trade in slaves, and harvested kidney’s, and products built that dropped radioactive cesium into the drinking water of the local population near the manufacturing plant? Damn son, I AM ONBOARD.
Everyone help me chant along with TJ now..
“DOWN WITH FREE TRADE!!! LETS HAVE REGULATED TRADE!!!”
Damn, if I can just get the idiots in charge to do this we can make some progress around here…
Uhh yes.. yes it is immoral..
you’re not reading what i wrote. i wrote that it wasn’t that it was ‘just’ immoral. in other words, i agree that it’s immoral but i’m saying it’s not the only reason it’s not free trade.
it’s like i said in one of my first posts to you on this. you don’t have a deep understanding of what a free market entails.
is your definition changing now?
no
some trade is free trade and some isn’t?
yes
should we have regulation to identify that trade which is allowed and that trade which isn’t?
no. even you haven’t identified what free trade is yet. i have said exactly what it is on this blog quite a while (years i think) ago.
Damn son, I AM ONBOARD.
you can’t be onboard without a good understanding of what free trade is, and isn’t.
if you don’t think slave trade is free trade, what makes it not free trade? again, i’m saying that it’s more than just immorality.
You are using a colloquialism , “free trade” , that has a widely used and agreed upon meaning.. commonly available on wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade
If you intend other than the colloquial usage of the term you damn well better define it. It is again stupid to promote a non-colloquial usage of a term without saying that you have some non-colloquial meaning to “your phraseology”. In fact, some would say it is disingenuous and being a shill for the colloquial usage, and conveniently dropping all the “gotchas” that go along with your non-colloquial usage the second legislation starts getting drafted… Aka misrepresentation.
In other words, being a lying dirtbag.
TJ, now that we have properly attributed the bullshit “free trade” term to it’s proper place in the exploitationist’s spin book, let’s make sure we don’t confuse the issue by pretending we are promoting some other bullshit spin term like ‘fair trade’. In other words, lets define in short words what an equitable trade policy (not in quations) should be.
In my humble opinion, this policy should be legislatively overseen per country by a rather detailed list of restrictions, import tariffs, export tariffs, enumerated sanction penalties for violation, and (perhaps) some kind of “foreign reward system” to promote a humanistic and nationalistic agenda. The end goal should be to promote a minimal encumbrance of trade among nations and people that support basic human rights (including the freedom to choose their leadership and live peaceably in a clean environment), and a more highly encumbered and sanctioned trade among countries abusing these basic rights.
Hey tj,
Hey bro! Wasssuppp?
I have you on ignore because you are so predictable, irrational and consistently obtuse. (And you have a mean humorless vibe about you) But I had to see what so many posts were about after my post above.
I see after Mathguy ripped you a new one about 20 times, (and him and I don’t even agree on a lot) that you are still the same and don’t even realize how snarlingly idiotic you sound. But hey, you’re are an awesome tool for the rational “left” to make their points. You make the far-right seem like The Creatures from the Black Lagoon. Your “free-trade” ideas would make Jefferson Davis blush.
I might see you again after 40 responses to my posts. But Rock On Ted~!
what lies dirtbag?
i can’t help it if all your dumbass delusions put you in a constant state of contradiction. it’s like i said. you don’t know the difference between free trade and fair trade. you, like my comrade, constantly run to dictionaries for inferior, pedestrian definitions that don’t help you understand anything.
i answer your questions but you don’t answer mine. that’s what usually happens when someone is afraid of exploring an issue because they think they might be proven wrong. go on believing your delusions. they fit you.
you’ve got the mindset of a little tyrant. you want to make decisions for others because you believe you know what’s best for them and everyone else. what hubris.
go ahead and run away. you would have eventually looked like the fool you are anyway.
hello comrade!
But I had to see what so many posts were about after my post above.
curiosity killed the cat, comrade.
and him and I don’t even agree on a lot
i know. you’re considerably dumber than he is comrade.
Your “free-trade” ideas would make Jefferson Davis blush.
you’re another one that doesn’t have a clue, comrade. you could take lessons from mathguy on everything but trade. that means you’re a real mess.
I might see you again after 40 responses to my posts.
don’t run off komrude closer. we’re a team, remember?
I think you whipped Lola into a feverish frenzy.
I don’t know if Americans have been propagandized to believe in trickle-down theory. They voted for Obama twice, so it seems not.
The number of HBB catch phrases in this (pretty short) article is amazing. I especially like the “kick the can down the road” from a chief financial analyst.
Rates Rising for Modified Loans
FEB. 20, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/realestate/rates-rising-for-modified-loans.html?ref=realestate&_r=0
The federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP, was designed to keep borrowers from losing their homes to foreclosure. It has resulted in lower monthly mortgage payments for more than a million homeowners.
But some industry experts are now questioning whether HAMP has only prolonged the inevitable. HAMP modifications are a five-year deal, and after that, the interest rate on the loan, which was typically reduced to as low as 2 percent, begins to gradually adjust upward.
Given that household incomes have been largely stagnant since the first HAMP modifications were approved in 2009, as the payments on these loans begin rising this year, many homeowners will find that they are once again at risk of default.
“From the beginning, it was very evident this was going to be a problem,” said Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com. “HAMP was only ever designed to kick the can down the road.”
Almost 90 percent of the roughly 900,000 homeowners with an active HAMP modification are scheduled for interest-rate increases from 2014 to 2021, according to a January report from the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Most HAMP borrowers received a rate reduction as one step toward lowering their mortgage payment to 31 percent of their gross monthly income. After five years, the reduced rate may rise by up to 1 percent annually to whatever the national average was for a 30-year fixed-rate loan at the time of the modification. The interest rate on some of these loans could rise to as high as 5.4 percent, and monthly payments could soar by as much as $1,724, the report says.
The median increase would be closer to $200 a month, but even that could be too burdensome for borrowers who couldn’t afford their payments to begin with and whose incomes haven’t changed since, Mr. McBride said. As it is, he added, about one in four HAMP borrowers already has defaulted on the modified terms. “There’s just not enough breathing room in most American household budgets,” to absorb a sizable rise in loan payments, he said.
More of these homeowners may have enough equity now to refinance, but that would still mean a mortgage with a market-level interest rate.
HAMP did help to set a new standard for an affordable loan modification based on borrower income and the value of the property, said Bruce Dorpalen, the executive director of the National Housing Resource Center, a nonprofit advocacy group for housing counselors and consumers. But it hasn’t been as effective as it might have been because participation by loan servicers is voluntary, he said. And borrowers only have “one bite at the apple.” Those who get a modification and then lose employment and fall behind by 90 days or more can’t go back and get a remodification under the same program.
“HAMP was designed for a two-year crisis,” Mr. Dorpalen said, “and we had a five-year crisis.”
The people most at risk as their rates start to rise are those who haven’t recovered from the recession or are on fixed incomes, he said. His organization has joined with other housing advocates to call for renewed, permanent modifications for HAMP borrowers who will be unable to afford their payments after the rate resets.
HAMP borrowers are concentrated in four states: New York, California, Florida, and Illinois. The median payment increase for borrowers in New York is an estimated $286, according to the inspector general.
HAMP was set to expire at the end of last year but was extended through 2015.
If the hampers aren’t sure whether they can make the payment, then they should use that equity to sell, not refi.
^^ It’s telling that even Oxy is saying this.
HAMP is going to be a full-blown second wave of foreclosures in FL, btw. Demand is far, far lower than it would need to be to snap up all the inventory. And lots of FL retirees die or go to nursing homes each year….
Even at fixed interest, mortgages are frontloaded in favor of the bank and backloaded in favor of the buyer.
When I bought, I had a stable job, liquid down payment, able to make the PITI with extra, location with desirable commute, rent too damn high, house with potential, and so on. If I keep my job and health I can sustain the house at least until the mortgage swings in my favor.
The Hampers will never have enough equity to swing it. That has “rent” written all over it. If you’re economically down, best to be mobile and go Oil City if need be.
Back in Vegas, we have a saying:
I think that saying applies equally well to this case. You can get an egg for the value of a hampster and 99 cents.
You just have to add punctuation and use ebonics.
Eats, shoots, and leaves.
Central Banks have too much control over governments, markets and society.
Whack-A-Mole Housing Bubbles Offer Evidence of Market Manipulation
http://wealthcycles.com/blog/2014/01/03/whack-a-mole-housing-bubbles-offer-evidence-of-market-manipulation
Canada is among a handful of industrialized countries that appeared to come through the global economic crisis of 2008 in good shape, thanks largely to a strong banking system, more stringent lending standards than many industrialized nations, and a “resilient housing sector,” according to the Financial Times. Others held up as examples of how to weather a global crash are New Zealand and the Scandinavian nations of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. But a closer look tells a different tale: In all those shining examples, government and central policies to artificially suppress interest rates and inflate the currency supply are having the usual results: malinvestment and bubbles that threaten the banking sector and put taxpayers on the hook.
In Canada, a housing bubble has inflated to the point that hedge fund investors are smelling blood. The Spartan/Libertas Real Asset Opportunities Fund is expected to launch this quarter, offering brokers, developers or pension funds an opportunity to “mitigate a possible downturn in the real estate market,” Financial Times reports.
“A lot of things people observed in the U.S. in the run-up to 2007-8 crisis are happening here,” Michael Brown, manager of the new fund, told Financial Times.
Canadian bankers and developers disparage reports that Canada’s housing market is in peril, and are particularly defensive about comparisons to the U.S. housing crash.
Whack-A-
MoleBubbleFinally, something. Too little to late?
A New Era of Antitrust Enforcement
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/a-new-era-of-antitrust-enforcement/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
Compliance chiefs on Wall Street have had their hands full lately, thanks to sweeping reforms initiated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Yet complying with Dodd-Frank is hardly the only serious challenge they face. That is especially true now that federal antitrust authorities are focusing on bid-rigging, interest rate manipulation and other forms of collusion on Wall Street trading desks and turning up the heat on the world’s biggest financial services firms and banks.
…In addition to its Libor cases, the Justice Department’s antitrust division announced a criminal investigation into suspected manipulation of foreign exchange rates. This comes after several years of investigations into possible bid-rigging in the municipal bond market, as well as anticompetitive conduct in the market for credit-default swaps. The department recently opened a preliminary inquiry into possible price-fixing in the metals warehousing business. The question there is whether Wall Street firms that hold controlling interests in those warehouses conspired to artificially drive up storage rates for aluminum and other metals.
Until recently, antitrust regulation was never regarded as a high-priority concern. Wall Street has long had to face a laundry list of enforcers who were more focused on rooting out fraud, insider trading and other market crimes. But the Street largely avoided the watchful eye of antitrust authorities.
The industry was put on notice that things were about to change. In 2009, the antitrust division announced that banks would be receiving closer scrutiny along with four other sectors. Later that year, the division joined the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies on President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force — trumpeted as “an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.”
How effective that effort has been is a continuing source of debate. Still, there is no denying that the antitrust division has made good on its pledge to crack down on anticompetitive conduct in the financial sector.
good on its pledge to crack down on anticompetitive conduct ??
And why Major League Baseball is the only business in America thats granted a Anti-Trust exemption is just bizarre to me…Passed by congress in the late twenties is was done to help a fledgling league get is footing…
Now, 80+ years later, the exemption protects billionaire owners and multi-millionare players…Go figure…
But, the city of San Jose is suing to overturn the antitrust exemption…Seems like MLB does not want to allow one of the larger and wealthiest cities in the country to have a MLB team…
NFL is basically exempt as well. The outcome of the USFL case ~1980 was that yes, the NFL is a monopoly, but the damages to the USFL were only $1.
NFL is basically exempt as well ??
I don’t know what “Basically” means but they do not have a antitrust exemption…They can freely move…See Oakland Raiders to L/A and the back to Oakland…There are other examples also…
“They can freely move”
Not really. NFL controls that and owners must approve it. I am pretty sure it requires a supermajority. The NFL allowed Al Davis to take the Raiders back north specifically to send Los Angeles (and other cities) a message about how they should subsidize their teams to build and finance stadiums.
The NFL can also block people or groups from buying a team. Rush Limbaugh (as part of a group) was blocked, for example.
Then there is the whole issue with the NFL “blacking out” games in home markets when there is not a sell out. That’s written into the TV contracts. And the TV contracts themselves are highly monopolistic.
Farming, yeah ‘Murika, ef yeah! :
http://maine.craigslist.org/lab/4348444168.html
Russ Roberts actually did a good EconTalk podcast on this (organic farming on a small scale). Seems interesting.
On the downside, there is so much subsidy money thrown at larger farms. That’s where the real money is and it has nothing (yet everything) to do with food price increases. The farmers get the subsidies and we pay for them. So even if food stays relatively cheap, you’re paying for Big Agra’s big profits in your taxes.
BTW, the farm bill is really about subsidies given to farmers, NOT about food stamps. Never forget.
Last week I spoke with a couple of 88-year-old ladies, one of whom was a childhood friend of my recently deceased uncle. Even they notice the insanity of land prices out on the prairie. My guess is that if you looked it up, you would discover land prices went similarly parabolic in the 1920s, just before the “farm foreclosure crisis” of the 1930s that sent so many Oklahomans packing for California.
I have doubts but…
Brazil and South Africa to lead house price rises at end of 2014, says Fitch
http://www.opp-connect.com/brazil-and-south-africa-to-lead-house-price-rises-at-end-of-2014-says-fitch/
….USA house prices: Rapid growth rate not expected to persist
…Brazil and South Africa market values are set to rise most in 2014, according to the Global Housing and Mortgage Outlook, from Fitch Ratings, but interest rate rises will hit values, it predicts
Property price increases in many countries are set to slow by the end of the year and decline further as interest rates rise, says leading ratings agency Fitch.
The emerging nations of Brazil and South Africa are set to see nominal property prices increase by 6% year-on-year at the end of 2014, followed by the UK at 5%, Australia at 4%, Germany and Ireland at 3% and 2% in the United States, according to its Global Housing and Mortgage Outlook.
The special report compares house prices and affordability around the world by looking at house price/income ratios, house price/GDP per capita, and house price/rent.
Since 2012, the outlook has improved in Germany, the UK, Ireland and Portugal, and remained broadly flat in the other 17 countries examined in the Fitch Ratings report.
In Europe, by the end of the year, there will be further falls in real estate markets in Spain, Greece, the Netherlands and Italy, but in 2015 prices should bottom out in the first two and become steady in the last two, it predicts.
“For all 17 countries in this report, the mortgage/housing market outlook has either improved or remained broadly the same compared to 12 months ago. This is partly in step with the economic recovery for a number of countries but also as a result of government and central bank policy changes which are boosting supply and demand for residential mortgages and housing. “
The Fitch outlook for property prices country-by-country is:
USA house prices: Rapid growth rate not expected to persist
Since a post-crisis trough in 4Q11, home prices have risen steadily across the country and are up more than 14%, with many Western states’ prices up by more than 25%. A number of factors have contributed to the increase but overall, the stabilisation of prices has encouraged both purchase and investor buyers to return to the market after a prolonged downturn in demand. However, sales volume remains low compared with historical standards, and absent a stronger economic recovery, continued high growth rates are unlikely.
According to Fitch’s Sustainable Home Price model, national prices are now approximately 15% overvalued in real terms. Due to market momentum, the effects of inflation, and an improving economy, large declines are not expected in 2014. However, risks may be increasing, especially in markets where prices are growing in excess of economic improvement.
Yes because housing prices always rise during a recession (not).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/14/brazil-economy-ibcbr-idUSL2N0LJ0IH20140214
Yes because housing prices always rise during a recession (not).
Yours is a blanket statement that does not see the big picture. Of course home prices can rise during a “recession” in Brazil. Will they? I don’t know, but they can. Brazil has a huge massive shortage of housing and it’s people are better off in general.
Brazil’s economic structure is also a bit different than the USA’s in that the past 20 years have seen a greater distribution of its progress to the poor, bringing them up to the lower middle-class. Unlike the USA’s topline GDP “growth” which only has helped the rich, Brazil’s GDP growth is more shared equally with the people.
Also, unlike the USA, even with “weak” topline GDP growth the past couple years, unemployment remains low and real wages are rising. When has the USA ever had a “recession” when unemployment drops and wages rise?
The silver lining for Brazil is that unemployment rates remain at record lows and wages are growing. Unemployment in six of Brazil’s largest metropolitan areas dropped to an average of 5.4% in 2013, from 5.5% in 2012, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Average monthly wages rose 1.8% in real terms. wsj dot com Feb 14, 2014
Gotta love it. SA, a country where it’s pretty much unsafe to venture out at night, has rising prices.
Probably because that “safe room” drives up the cost of construction.
Heck yeah, farming!!
http://maine.craigslist.org/etc/4347785031.html
8 acres of frozen dirt is now considered a “farm”? LOL
You get the cops to enforce against this haughty “employer” for breaking the laws against using illegal Mexican labor, and the pay for that work will go up. Oh wait, they’re migrants. yeah
25 maps and charts that explain america today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/02/24/25-maps-and-charts-that-explain-america-today/
“More than six million households in the United States have liquid assets worth more than $1 million, according to new estimates that show the greatest concentrations of wealth in the United States are along the Interstate 95 corridor. (Click through for an interactive map.)”
MD and NJ tops. If you have a married couple with college degrees, all you have to do is reject debt donkey lifestyles and you WILL be a millionaire. It’s just a question of how quickly and whether you want to back off working really early (like age 40). I’m surprised that more people don’t look at that option. People get locked into commuting and consuming… ugh, so stupid.
MMM had a case study about people yesterday who wanted to leave BOSWASH for Portland or Seattle. Seems like if they’d be willing to move to “are country” they could do it even sooner. The south is tough because of the schools situation, so maybe the mountain west somewhere.
Seems like if they’d be willing to move to “are country” they could do it even sooner. The south is tough because of the schools situation, so maybe the mountain west somewhere.
I could tolerate you but please don’t bring Lola with you.
Map#12: Washington state, that dark vertical strip in the center. Few signs of recession where I’ve been holed-up likely due to cheap reliable hydro power, which has steadily attracted business to the region. The typical uninspiring, 3/2, 1500-sqft spec house fetches about $145k these days.
Very interesting…Thanks Goon…
“Former Vice President Dick Cheney responded Monday night to the Obama administration’s proposal to cut the U.S. Army to its lowest point since before World War II.
Cheney also said America’s allies are losing confidence in the United States and that the president’s budget reflects his priorities.
“He would much rather spend the money on food stamps than he would on a strong military or support for our troops.”
http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/24/cheney-obama-much-rather-spend-the-money-on-food-stamps-than-the-military/
My take is that the concern is a possible military coup. So, cut the military, but grow the NSA and the spy/industrial complex.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_long_knives
The Obama administration has been purging the upper echelons of the Officer corp, most likely removing any who aren’t loyal to the Commie-in-chief. There are also significant doubts about the loyalty of the average soldier and marine following orders in a “domestic” operation.
There are also significant doubts about the loyalty of the average soldier and marine following orders in a “domestic” operation.
And there should be. It will be important that whoever plans the operation uses soldiers in areas far far away from “their” people. Maybe require actually creating units based on home of record. Sounds like a job for the Guard…deployed far away from their home states.
his purge of generals continues even now.
“his purge of generals continues even now.”
+1 The jöz don’t want to see a popular general make it to the oval office and make sweeping changes that threatens their influence on the state department and department of defense.
One individual isn’t going to break their grip. Get the public to follow the money is a good start.
The Obama administration has been purging the upper echelons of the Officer corp, most likely removing any who aren’t loyal to the Commie-in-chief.
Most likely it’s part of the drawing down of 2 wars and the military. And the numbers don’t add up to a “purge”.
According to examiner dot com
“Since Obama came to power, Dr. Garrow said, over 30 senior officers have been let go.”
but:
“In 2010, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called for eliminating more than 100 general and flag officer positions”
The Pentagon Has Too Many Generals
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/07/24/the-pentagon-has-too-many-troops
This bloat at the top has had a trickle-down effect that hinders troops and wastes money.
In 2010, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called for eliminating more than 100 general and flag officer positions as part of his Efficiency Initiatives. Despite this clear plan and Pentagon assurances that “we did cut generals,” the top ranks remain largely intact.
And Presidents “purge” no?
Bush purges Iraq command to prepare military escalation
By Bill Van Auken wsws dot org
6 January 2007
The Bush administration is making sweeping personnel changes in the top leadership of the US military, intelligence and diplomatic establishment in preparation for a major escalation of the war in Iraq.
I believe only 2 Generals were fired under Bush’s 2 terms total. There are currently 48 4-Star Generals.
[link to en.wikipedia.org]
Many of these below have spotless records, 25 and up years service, many medals and honors such as
Brig. Gen Bryan W. Wampler and Command Sgt. Major Don B. Jordan.
Commanding Generals fired:
General John R. Allen-U.S. Marines Commander International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] (Nov 2012)
Major General Ralph Baker (2 Star)-U.S. Army Commander of the Combined Joint Task Force Horn in Africa (April 2013)
Major General Michael Carey (2 Star)-U.S. Air Force Commander of the 20th US Air Force in charge of 9,600 people and 450 Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (Oct 2013)
Colonel James Christmas-U.S. Marines Commander 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit & Commander Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response Unit (July 2013)
Major General Peter Fuller-U.S. Army Commander in Afghanistan (May 2011)
Major General Charles M.M. Gurganus-U.S. Marine Corps Regional Commander of SW and I Marine Expeditionary Force in Afghanistan (Oct 2013)
General Carter F. Ham-U.S. Army African Command (Oct 2013)
Lieutenant General David H. Huntoon (3 Star), Jr.-U.S. Army 58th Superintendent of the US Military Academy at West Point, NY (2013)
Command Sergeant Major Don B Jordan-U.S. Army 143rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command (suspended Oct 2013)
General James Mattis-U.S. Marines Chief of CentCom (May 2013)
Colonel Daren Margolin-U.S. Marine in charge of Quantico’s Security Battalion (Oct 2013)
General Stanley McChrystal-U.S. Army Commander Afghanistan (June 2010)
General David D. McKiernan-U.S. Army Commander Afghanistan (2009)
General David Petraeus-Director of CIA from September 2011 to November 2012 & U.S. Army Commander International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] and Commander U.S. Forces Afghanistan [USFOR-A] (Nov 2012)
Brigadier General Bryan Roberts-U.S. Army Commander 2nd Brigade (May 2013)
Major General Gregg A. Sturdevant-U.S. Marine Corps Director of Strategic Planning and Policy for the U.S. Pacific Command & Commander of Aviation Wing at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan (Sept 2013)
Colonel Eric Tilley-U.S. Army Commander of Garrison Japan (Nov 2013)
Brigadier General Bryan Wampler-U.S. Army Commanding General of 143rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command of the 1st Theater Sustainment Command [TSC] (suspended Oct 2013)
Commanding Admirals fired:
Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette-U.S. Navy Commander John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group Three (Oct 2012)
Vice Admiral Tim Giardina(3 Star, demoted to 2 Star)-U.S. Navy Deputy Commander of the US Strategic Command, Commander of the Submarine Group Trident, Submarine Group 9 and Submarine Group 10 (Oct 2013)
Naval Officers fired: (All in 2011)
Captain David Geisler-U.S. Navy Commander Task Force 53 in Bahrain (Oct 2011)
Commander Laredo Bell-U.S. Navy Commander Naval Support Activity Saratoga Springs, NY (Aug 2011)
Lieutenant Commander Kurt Boenisch-Executive Officer amphibious transport dock Ponce (Apr 2011)
Commander Nathan Borchers-U.S. Navy Commander destroyer Stout (Mar 2011)
Commander Robert Brown-U.S. Navy Commander Beachmaster Unit 2 Fort Story, VA (Aug 2011)
Commander Andrew Crowe-Executive Officer Navy Region Center Singapore (Apr 2011)
Captain Robert Gamberg-Executive Officer carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower (Jun 2011)
Captain Rex Guinn-U.S. Navy Commander Navy Legal Service office Japan (Feb 2011)
Commander Kevin Harms- U.S. Navy Commander Strike Fighter Squadron 137 aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln (Mar 2011)
Lieutenant Commander Martin Holguin-U.S. Navy Commander mine countermeasures Fearless (Oct 2011)
Captain Owen Honors-U.S. Navy Commander aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (Jan 2011)
Captain Donald Hornbeck-U.S. Navy Commander Destroyer Squadron 1 San Diego (Apr 2011)
Rear Admiral Ron Horton-U.S. Navy Commander Logistics Group, Western Pacific (Mar 2011)
Commander Etta Jones-U.S. Navy Commander amphibious transport dock Ponce (Apr 2011)
Commander Ralph Jones-Executive Officer amphibious transport dock Green Bay (Jul 2011)
Commander Jonathan Jackson-U.S. Navy Commander Electronic Attack Squadron 134, deployed aboard carrier Carl Vinson (Dec 2011)
Captain Eric Merrill-U.S. Navy Commander submarine Emory S. Land (Jul 2011)
Captain William Mosk-U.S. Navy Commander Naval Station Rota, U.S. Navy Commander Naval Activities Spain (Apr 2011)
Commander Timothy Murphy-U.S. Navy Commander Electronic Attack Squadron 129 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, WA (Apr 2011)
Commander Joseph Nosse-U.S. Navy Commander ballistic-missile submarine Kentucky (Oct 2011)
Commander Mark Olson-U.S. Navy Commander destroyer The Sullivans FL (Sep 2011)
Commander John Pethel-Executive Officer amphibious transport dock New York (Dec 2011)
Commander Karl Pugh-U.S. Navy Commander Electronic Attack Squadron 141 Whidbey Island, WA (Jul 2011)
Commander Jason Strength-U.S. Navy Commander of Navy Recruiting District Nashville, TN (Jul 2011)
Captain Greg Thomas-U.S. Navy Commander Norfolk Naval Shipyard (May 2011)
Commander Mike Varney-U.S. Navy Commander attack submarine Connecticut (Jun 2011)
Commander Jay Wylie-U.S. Navy Commander destroyer Momsen (Apr 2011)
Naval Officers fired: (All in 2012)
Commander Alan C. Aber-Executive Officer Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 71 (July 2012)
Commander Derick Armstrong- U.S. Navy Commander missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (May 2012)
Commander Martin Arriola- U.S. Navy Commander destroyer USS Porter (Aug 2012)
Captain Antonio Cardoso- U.S. Navy Commander Training Support Center San Diego (Sep 2012)
Captain James CoBell- U.S. Navy Commander Oceana Naval Air Station’s Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic (Sep 2012)
Captain Joseph E. Darlak- U.S. Navy Commander frigate USS Vandegrift (Nov 2012)
Captain Daniel Dusek-U.S. Navy Commander USS Bonhomme
Commander David Faught-Executive Officer destroyer Chung-Hoon (Sep 2012)
Commander Franklin Fernandez- U.S. Navy Commander Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 (Aug 2012)
Commander Ray Hartman- U.S. Navy Commander Amphibious dock-landing ship Fort McHenry (Nov 2012)
Commander Shelly Hakspiel-Executive Officer Navy Drug Screening Lab San Diego (May 2012)
Commander Jon Haydel- U.S. Navy Commander USS San Diego (Mar 2012)
Commander Diego Hernandez- U.S. Navy Commander ballistic-missile submarine USS Wyoming (Feb 2012)
Commander Lee Hoey- U.S. Navy Commander Drug Screening Laboratory, San Diego (May 2012)
Commander Ivan Jimenez-Executive Officer frigate Vandegrift (Nov 2012)
Commander Dennis Klein- U.S. Navy Commander submarine USS Columbia (May 2012)
Captain Chuck Litchfield- U.S. Navy Commander assault ship USS Essex (Jun 2012)
Captain Marcia Kim Lyons- U.S. Navy Commander Naval Health Clinic New England (Apr 2012)
Captain Robert Marin- U.S. Navy Commander cruiser USS Cowpens (Feb 2012)
Captain Sean McDonell- U.S. Navy Commander Seabee reserve unit Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14 FL (Nov 2012)
Commander Corrine Parker- U.S. Navy Commander Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 1 (Apr 2012)
Captain Liza Raimondo- U.S. Navy Commander Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River, MD (Jun 2012)
Captain Jeffrey Riedel- Program manager, Littoral Combat Ship program (Jan 2012)
Commander Sara Santoski- U.S. Navy Commander Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 (Sep 2012)
Commander Kyle G. Strudthoff-Executive Officer Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 (Sep 2012)
Commander Sheryl Tannahill- U.S. Navy Commander Navy Operational Support Center [NOSC] Nashville, TN (Sep 2012)
Commander Michael Ward- U.S. Navy Commander submarine USS Pittsburgh (Aug 2012)
Captain Michael Wiegand- U.S. Navy Commander Southwest Regional Maintenance Center (Nov 2012)
Captain Ted Williams- U.S. Navy Commander amphibious command ship Mount Whitney (Nov 2012)
Commander Jeffrey Wissel- U.S. Navy Commander of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (Feb 2012)
Naval Officers fired: (All in 2013)
Lieutenant Commander Lauren Allen-Executive Officer submarine Jacksonville (Feb 2013)
Reserve Captain Jay Bowman-U.S. Navy Commander Navy Operational Support Center [NOSC] Fort Dix, NJ (Mar 2013)
Captain William Cogar-U.S. Navy Commander hospital ship Mercy’s medical treatment facility (Sept 2013)
Commander Steve Fuller-Executive Officer frigate Kauffman (Mar 2013)
Captain Shawn Hendricks-Program Manager for naval enterprise IT networks (June 2013)
Captain David Hunter-U.S. Navy Commander of Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 12 & Coastal Riverine Group 2 (Feb 2013)
Captain Eric Johnson-U.S. Navy Chief of Military Entrance Processing Command at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, IL (2013)
Captain Devon Jones-U.S. Navy Commander Naval Air Facility El Centro, CA (July 2013)
Captain Kevin Knoop-U.S. Navy Commander hospital ship Comfort’s medical treatment facility (Aug 2013)
Lieutenant Commander Jack O’Neill-U.S. Navy Commander Operational Support Center Rock Island, IL (Mar 2013)
Commander Allen Maestas-Executive Officer Beachmaster Unit 1 (May 2013)
Commander Luis Molina-U.S. Navy Commander submarine Pasadena (Jan 2013)
Commander James Pickens-Executive Officer frigate Gary (Feb 2013)
Lieutenant Commander Mark Rice-U.S. Navy Commander Mine Countermeasures ship Guardian (Apr 2013)
Commander Michael Runkle-U.S. Navy Commander of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 (May 2013)
Commander Jason Stapleton-Executive Office Patrol Squadron 4 in Hawaii (Mar 2013)
Commander Nathan Sukols-U.S. Navy Commander submarine Jacksonville (Feb 2013)
Lieutenant Daniel Tyler-Executive Officer Mine Countermeasures ship Guardian (Apr 2013)
Commander Edward White-U.S. Navy Commander Strike Fighter Squadron 106 (Aug 2013)
Captain Jeffrey Winter-U.S. Navy Commander of Carrier Air Wing 17 (Sept 2013)
Commander Thomas Winter-U.S. Navy Commander submarine Montpelier (Jan 2013)
Commander Corey Wofford- U.S. Navy Commander frigate Kauffman (Feb 2013)
http://investmentwatchblog.com/list-of-names-military-purge-high-officers-terrifying/
Cheney also said America’s allies are losing confidence in the United States ??
Coming from a criminals lips…I am sure our allies did not lose any confidence due to the two Bush/Cheney wars…Your either with us or your with the terrorists…Remember how the “Coalition” ended up…Coalition of basically #1…Thats likely why we are not in Syria…Nobody else willing to help pull the wagon…If you want to go, go it alone…
I know, who quotes Darth Cheney anywayz? We all know that he literally pockets the profits from US wars.
“An unusual swarm of volcanic eruptions over the past 14 years may be partially responsible for the slowing of global warming, a new report suggests.
The 17 eruptions from 1998-2012 pumped sulfur dioxide into Earth’s upper atmosphere, where it formed liquid particles that reflected more sunlight back to space, moderating the larger scale warming of the planet surface, according to the study published online Monday in Nature Geoscience.
Adding the volcanic activity into calculations effectively reduced the discrepancy between observed temperature trends and the models that underpin the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s reports on climate change attributable to human activity.”
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-volcanoes-climate-20140224,0,877383.story
Online article comment:
“I have a feeling from global warmiests that they would more then be happy for it to get warmer so that they can say “I told you so and I was right.”
So to counter global warming we should maybe pump sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere?
Some have suggested that but personally I think it is a very bad suggestion. The cure is worse than the disease, even if the AGW crowd is right and their models have been proven to be very wrong, we know what a 2 C increase will do to the world since it is the normal high in an interglacial period we do not know what our monkeying will do. Besides I can easily see us spending tens of billions putting sulfur into the air only to see a super volcano going off soon after throwing us into an ice age. Due to man’s impacts being puny compared to nature the only expenditures that make sense our to increase resiliency. For example, you raise sea walls since they protect you against hurricanes or tsunamis caused my asteroids or landslides, or even oceans rising due to climate change natural or manmade.
our=are
Man’s impact is “puny” compared to nature? There are more than 6 billion of us! We are the largest biological force on this planet.
Man’s impact is “puny” compared to nature? There are more than 6 billion of us! We are the largest biological force on this planet.
Umm, no. Insects and plants have more numbers and more biomass than humans, and in terms of largest overall impact, I would have to say that would be ocean-born algae… but feel free to throw around pseudo-scientific terms like “largest biological force” in your posts and completely ignore that 2/3 of our planet is ocean. We can all have a good laugh.
Cave Man:
There is no single insect or plant that has as much impact as the human race. Do algae dig up fossil fuels that have been underground for millions of years, and then burn them? No. Do algae utilize nuclear energy, thereby creating nuclear waste? No. Do algae know how to modify their environment in any way? No! Only humans do that. All 6+ billion of us.
in terms of largest overall impact, I would have to say that would be ocean-born algae…
Yep. It’s the ocean-born algae burnin’ the Amazon, that cut down America’s forests, polluting the air, land and seas. Nuke accidents are caused by ocean-born algae. Ocean-born algae is spewing CO2 into the air at the highest rate in 650,000 years.
Did you know that you get a fine for littering ocean-born algae on the streets of Rio now?
For an “educated”, “hard science” gal, you really don’t know your place in the natural order of things…
All life modifies it’s environment by virtue of existing in it. Conscious thought in regards to that modification has no bearing on the impact.
As to your comparison of algae vs humans digging up fossil fuel: human exploitation of fossil fuels is about finding and releasing stores of efficient energy from the past for today’s activities. Algae use solar energy present today for today’s activities. Both release waste products that can influence and “pollute” the environment around them.
One is a conscious exploitation of the environment, one is not, yet both serve a similar purpose with results that can impact life further on from it. Both are about flows of natural energy and both impact the environment and life around it. Only one accounts for the vast majority of biomass on earth however… can you guess which it is? Here’s a hint, it’s not humans.
But Cave Man:
6 billion hyoomans can do more than all the algae on the planet. Algae are only slightly more intelligent than you, so they can’t do as much as the hyoomans can do. If u were smrt, then you would see that. It is clear as day.
It is interesting to note that space is the place where our planet’s ecosystem doesn’t “affect the climate”. It’s -273 degrees celcius there (about 0 Kelvin). Our planet’s atmospheric conditions regulate this temperature up about 300 degrees C. Man made “global warming” has contributed about 1degree C “all on it’s own” . That’s a .3% variation on what the planet itself is doing, IF you accept that the 1degree is 100% man made (it may be only 50% or 25% or 1/7 as Dan likes to say).
In the past, lifeforms on this planet have MUCH more radically changed the atmospheric composition… i.e. when the first chloroplast based life started pumping oxygen and breathing CO2, then again when the CO2 based ones started pumping that into the air. My point is, even fully accepting that this 1 degree C (soon to be 3 degrees) rise over the past 150 years has happened due to man… we shouldn’t be so quick to try to counteract it. The most damaging events to life systems on the planet have been ice ages. The warmer the planet is, the more rain, fresh water, and plant life there is (especially as CO2 levels rise).
Absolutely, preventing acid rain and pollution should be priorities, but treating CO2 as a pollutant and charging massive taxes and enabling wealth transfers shouldn’t be the go to conclusions of finding that CO2 levels and global temperatures are rising.
mathguy:
When the atmosphere became oxidizing, the first organisms to produce oxygen died from oxygen poisoning.
You seem to be focused on taxes. You seem to be worried that if you admit the obvious (that humans are causing global warming and it’s bad for us), then someone will make you pay a tax. Do you think that global warming itself might cost money? What happens to money when entire swaths of a country become unlivable, but swaths of other countries suddenly open up?
Actually the rising co2 levels are very good for plants it has actually worked like increased fertilization. We have gained from adding co2 to the atmosphere and since most of the warming occurred prior to most of the co2 being admitted, it is not very clear how much of the warming has been caused by man. However, many experts place man’s role in the warming much less than 50%.
When the atmosphere became oxidizing, the first organisms to produce oxygen died from oxygen poisoning.
You seem to be focused on taxes. You seem to be worried that if you admit the obvious (that humans are causing global warming and it’s bad for us), then someone will make you pay a tax. Do you think that global warming itself might cost money? What happens to money when entire swaths of a country become unlivable, but swaths of other countries suddenly open up?
Yes, it’s called the natural order of things… there is life and there is death. From death, other life arises.
As to taxes, they are an impediment to economic activity and a redistribution of wealth and labor, both of which I and any sane person abhor beyond what is reasonable for the common good of society. Is it right that everyone should pay for some to be able to live 100 feet from the ocean? That’s what subsidized (aka tax and redistribute) flood insurance allowed for some time. Taxing and regulation for “global climate change” amounts to the same thing…
Actually the rising co2 levels are very good for plants it has actually worked like increased fertilization.
Yes. Repeat:
Pollution is Good…..White is Black….And Trickle-Down Economics will make us ALL better off.
Fox News claims pollution is good for the environment
http://www.examiner.com/article/fox-news-claims-pollution-is-good-for-the-emviroment
Recently a program on the Fox News network called “America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum” aired a segment which claimed that pollution was good for the environment. Fox also published an article on the very same subject, while citing a study recently completed by Auburn University. In typical fashion Fox chose to trumpet out of context facts to get attention, while off-handedly mentioning their entire segment’s premise was untrue.
…..So while the study concluded that pollution did help the trees grow, it also found the pollution would ultimatley damage the environment. Fox, staying true to form, elected to show a graphic for the entire segment (see image above article) which claimed “STUDY: POLLUTION HELPED GROW FORREST ACROSS SOUTHEAST U.S.”
The article that was published on Foxnews.com was even more slanted. In total it contained 300 words, of which over 250 were written before the author elected to disclose that the entire premise of the article was false, and that pollution was indeed not beneficial in the longterm to the environment.
The article contains seven paragraphs. The author clarified his misleading statements in the last line of the sixth paragraph.
It should also be noted that the good people at Fox did not provide any documentation to verify their claims, or any information on how to find the study they cited.
On the one hand, the cave man of the north insists that it would be GOOD for some places on Earth to die, while other places are born. On the other hand, he detests taxes as a “redistribution of wealth”. Don’t you think, cave man, that wealth will be redistributed when existing cities go poof?
Hurricane Katrina.
On the one hand, the cave man of the north insists that it would be GOOD for some places on Earth to die, while other places are born. On the other hand, he detests taxes as a “redistribution of wealth”. Don’t you think, cave man, that wealth will be redistributed when existing cities go poof?
Hurricane Katrina.
Did the Romans rebuild Pompei? Foolish girl…
> You seem to be worried that if you admit the obvious (that humans are causing global warming and it’s bad for us), then someone will make you pay a tax.
You complete moron. Can I just stop there? …
1) I just showed that all claims to human caused warming amount to .3% of the heat retained in our atmosphere..
2) I brought evidence that wider temperature fluctuations historically have caused greater change in the planet than we are currently experiencing.
3) I indicated that the contra-positive to warming is cooling and cooling is (TM) a very bad thing historically.
4) I indicated that since “something is happening” people are using it as an excuse to use taxation as an economic sanction according to policy that “they” want to dictate, without sufficient repurcussive analysis.
To me this all seems like reasonable logical deduction and scientific skepticism of policy enaction “promises” that
a) fails to sufficiently consider economic impacts of proposed tax schemes (or worse actively screws the working class)
b) may be misguided in its attempts to alter environmental factors in a way that could actually be a detriment to potential worldwide production (by ignoring increased rainfall and newly cultivatable land)
c) burdens the United States disproportionately to the rest of the world
d) subjects the sovereignty of the US to international jurisdiction in a potentially detrimental fashion
From that you draw some fear based reactionary anti-tax “denialism”…
So don’t get me wrong… I’m not saying global warming or climate change policy or whatever is made up and shouldn’t be believed. I’m saying take your policy and shove it up your ass.
What is my policy?
“Some have suggested that but personally I think it is a very bad suggestion.”
Yes! I drove an atmospheric scientist to the airport a few years ago. He didn’t mention sulfur dioxide, but rather a plan to “cloud the Earth” that was being studied. OK, clouds will reflect more sunlight, but they also keep heat in at night. And even if it had the desired effect, there’s not much room for error in overshooting in the cool direction. Not to mention the “unforeseeable” stuff like a rash of volcanic eruptions. I guess it’s worth running models on, but the thought of carrying something like this out is scary, to say the least.
the thought of carrying something like this out is scary
Then I won’t mention Halliburton’s top secret volcano and earthquake research. Ask Dick Cheney about that.
What could possibly go wrong?
That would cause acid rain.
So to counter global warming we should maybe pump sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere?
My second choice is having the Yellowstone super volcano blow its top. My first choice, as before, is a massive asteroid with a thick 24K gold crust and a creamy nougat center of light sweet crude impacting a joint session of Congress as the Prez gives his SOTU message. Unexpectedly, of course.
Very puny to eruptions that occurred in the 19th century, read about the snow in July in New England in the early 1800’s due to a volcanic eruption. Sorry volcanoes are part of the normal climate pattern, they cool things off and then we rebound, if they are big enough they can impact the climate for decades, years to get the sulfur out of the air and then the increased amount of ice keeps things cool for years after that.
From Wikipedia:
The Year Without a Summer (also known as the Poverty Year, The Summer that Never Was, Year There Was No Summer, and Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death[1]) was 1816, in which severe summer climate abnormalities caused average global temperatures to decrease by 0.4–0.7 °C (0.7–1.3 °F),[2] resulting in major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere.[3][4] Evidence suggests that the anomaly was caused by a combination of a historic low in solar activity with a volcanic winter event, the latter caused by a succession of major volcanic eruptions capped by the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), the largest known eruption in over 1,300 years.
Also from Wikipedia, funny the data shows that we have warmed since it occurred:
Krakatoa, or Krakatau (Indonesian: Krakatau), is a volcanic island situated in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The name is also used for the surrounding island group comprising the remnants of a much larger island of three volcanic peaks which was obliterated in a cataclysmic 1883 eruption, unleashing huge tsunamis (killing more than 36,000 people) and destroying over two-thirds of the island. The explosion is considered to be the loudest sound ever heard in modern history, with reports of it being heard up to 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from its point of origin. The shock waves from the explosion were recorded on barographs around the globe.
In 1927 a new island, Anak Krakatau, or “Child of Krakatoa”, emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 and is the current location of eruptive activity.
keep fighting the good fight Dan.
“keep fighting the good fight Dan.”
This message paid for by Koch Industries.
This message paid for by Koch Industries.
this message paid for by soros inc.
this message paid for by koch industries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Industries
your message is being paid for by koch industries? seems redundant.
“Were climate change denialism solely confined to the foaming comment threads of the internet it would be bad enough, but this is not the case — publications such as the Daily Mail, Wall Street Journal and other Murdoch publications give editorial support of this view.
A study in 2011 found that conservative white males in the US were far more likely than other Americans to deny climate change.”
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/05/denying-climate-change-scepticism-motivated-reasoning
climate change denialism</b
nobody denies that the climate changes.
“I have a feeling from global warmiests that they would more then be happy for it to get warmer so that they can say “I told you so and I was right.”
Summer’s only 4 months away.
we had our first wildfire in colorado on march 15 last year, and just under three months later we had this, the most destructive fire in colorado history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Forest_Wildfire
Cool PDO and warm AMO it will cause droughts every time it happens like now.
You’ve also had forest fire prevention policies in place for about 80 years allowing buildup of undergrowth and unrestricted burn paths…. Wanna take a guess if those same areas will burn this year? My bet is that due to the lack of fuel now, no further fire problems will show in those areas for a good 20-30 years.
True I talked about this in an indirect way numerous times. If you allow forests to burn off naturally you avoid crownfires and just burn off the under brush. This is similar to the Fed keeping small recessions from happening, small recessions are good to free up people and destroy inefficient businesses prevent the cycle and you have massive recessions that actually destroy good businesses and keep very productive people from entering the workforce or reentering the work force depressing the long term growth.
And another Winter only ten months away, funny how that works, almost like a cycle.
funny how that works, almost like a cycle.
Here’s the cycle. (Brought to you by people who can add and subtract) There is no “pause” and since the 80’s we’ve entered “Heat City” baby! You can’t stop this train.
You can’t deny global warming after seeing this graph
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/09/you-cant-deny-global-warming-after-seeing-this-graph/
Nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1998. But forget individual years. That data is noisy. A single year can see its temperatures rocket for reasons having little to do with climate change.
Look, instead, at decades. There, the data is a little clearer, as the idiosyncrasies of any one year are balanced by its nine compatriots. That’s exactly what the World Meteorological Association did in a recent report. Here’s the graph:
You must be a paid liberal shill per the Snowden article below… only a paid shill could be so obtuse as to use an article which only looks at data over the last 100 years as absolute proof that climate change is heavily impacted by human activities.
Let’s look at data over the last hundred thousand years, 1 million years, and 10 million years to get a better understanding of the climate cycles over many time periods before we rush out and enact schemes like carbon tax credits (and the associated Wall St. skimming) and additional government taxes on energy that curtail economic activity.
Focusing on a short time frame (by the geologic record) for study that supports an agenda may make for good sound bites, but lousy science and poor public policy.
Enjoy the weather in DC the next two weeks, you can spin like a whirling dervish but the fact that we are 1 degree Celsius below the models’ predictions by now cannot be changed. None of the models predicted we would be as cold as we are right now, that is a fact, the rest is just excuses.
Cave Man:
The Earth doesn’t have climate cycles. It has had climate changes, catalyzed by events. For instance, the dinosaurs became extinct because of an event that caused global freezing. Funny how living beings will adapt to a certain climate and then, when the environment changes, those beings are suddenly less-well-adapted.
so obtuse as to use an article which only looks at data over the last 100 years….Let’s look at data over the last hundred thousand years, 1 million years, and 10 million years to get a better understanding of the climate cycles
Woa.. You’re a frikin’ genus! Why didn’t anyone think of that? Dude. Tell NASA. Tell 95% of the world’s scientific community.
I’m sure, NASA and 95% of the egg-head scientists have only been looking at that 135 year old chart I showed.
You are one impressive thinker to come up with this new idea. (Looking back farther than 100 years…….who would have thunk it?
Not the people at the U.N. or they choose to ignore it. Anyone can go to climate4you and see the history of temperatures over the last 440,000 years and you will see that we are still 2 Celsius below the typical peak for an interglacial period with the timeframe for an interglacial period almost over.
but the fact that we are 1 degree Celsius below the models’ predictions by now cannot be changed.
Really? That’s your new “argument”. That’s really an impressive scientific argument that “we are 1 degree Celsius below the models’ predictions”
Who cares what certain models predicted? Why do you think they call them “models”. How does that affect the reality of what is happening. That’s like me saying:
But the fact that we are 1 degee Celsius above the global cooling models of the 70’s cannot be changed.
Who cares? It a meaningless argument.
But here’s the facts:
“The difference between 2011 and the warmest year in the GISS record (2010) is 0.22 degrees F (0.12 C). This underscores the emphasis scientists put on the long-term trend of global temperature rise. Because of the large natural variability of climate, scientists do not expect temperatures to rise consistently year after year. However, they do expect a continuing temperature rise over decades.
The first 11 years of the 21st century experienced notably higher temperatures compared to the middle and late 20th century, Hansen said. The only year from the 20th century in the top 10 warmest years on record is 1998.” NASA
and
“Nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1998″
Not the people at the U.N. or they choose to ignore it. Anyone can go to climate4you and see the history of temperatures over the last 440,000 years and you will see that we are still 2 Celsius below the typical peak for an interglacial period with the timeframe for an interglacial period almost over.
Sorry dan, that doesn’t fit the liberal “climate change” agenda so we have to ignore it. We certainly can’t discuss those data points when trying to sway public opinion by linking to articles that ignore said data points.
the history of temperatures over the last 440,000 years and you will see that we are still 2 Celsius below the typical peak for an interglacial period with the timeframe for an interglacial period almost over
Yea dude, I’m sure NASA and 95% of the world’s scientific community dealing with the subject missed that memo. But we’re glad you caught it. Thank God for bloggers who took a Biology class.
Jeeze.
Maybe instead of butting heads over climate change or lack thereof, we could agree that human activity has for the most part been detrimental to all the other species on the planet, whether flora or fauna. Not to mention the negative human impact on a large number of humans.
Can we agree on that?
Can we agree on that?
no. all the plants and animals should be cheering us on. because we’re their only hope of saving their planet from a life extinction impact from space. we’re their only long term chance, because statistically, it HAS to happen again.
Correction 420,000 years of data but here is an excerpt for Climate4you.com big picture section:
The typical length of a glacial period is about 100,000 years, while an interglacial period typical lasts for about 10-15,000 years. The present interglacial period has now lasted about 11,600 years.
According to ice core analysis, the atmospheric CO2 concentrations during all four prior interglacials never rose above approximately 290 ppm; whereas the atmospheric CO2 concentration today stands at nearly 390 ppm. The present interglacial is about 2oC colder than the previous interglacial, even though the atmospheric CO2 concentration now is about 100 ppm higher.
The last 11,000 years (red square in diagram above) of this climatic development is shown in greater detail in the diagram below (Fig.3), representing the main part of the present interglacial period.
Hey MiddleCoaster:
The religious fanatics can only believe that God created a natural order of things, and that each individual fanatic is supposed to be on top. Damage to the lowlies is irrelevant.
PS the ppm are now 400 and the plants are loving it, however no increase in temperature since this was written.
http://www.naturalnews.com/039720_carbon_dioxide_myths_plant_nutrition.html
For instance, the dinosaurs became extinct because of an event that caused global freezing.
An asteroid that set off a global fire storm prior to the freezing. Trying to compare an increase in co2 with that type of event is comical. We know animals can adapt to a 2 C increase which occurs over a few hundred years because it has happened numerous times, as has the cooling period, it is the glacial and interglacial periods which have been very common for millions of years.
>You can’t deny global warming after seeing this graph
Please put the graph up showing the temperature of the earth over the past 1 million years. The left scale should have 0Kelvin at the bottom and 350 Kelvin on the top. The line for temperature should be in blue. On the same graph, on the y axis, place a CO2 conventration as % of atmosphere. The bottom should be 0% and the top 100%. The line representing CO2 concentration should be in red. Please highlight the portion of the graph representing ice ages as light blue. You will clearly see this debate is about nothing but trying to enact tax policy.
mathguy:
The temperature on Earth was never 0 Kelvin. The [CO2] has never been 0%. Comparing human-caused warming right now to cataclysmic events in the past is useless. You are basically saying that as long as we’re not experiencing a cataclysmic event that is beyond our control, then we should do nothing. The opposite is true. If we are experiencing a gradual event that IS under our control, and it’s bad for us, then we can and should do something.
The science is verrrrrry well documented.
If you want to talk about taxes, then that’s a separate issue.
No I am NOT saying that anything other than a cataclysmic event out of our control should be ignored. I am responding to a post of a graph with highly manipulated axis scales claiming to be everything you ever needed to know about global warming. In responding, I mentioned altering the graph with
a) more reasonable time scale
b) full temperature scale so that deviations in temperature can be seen as a change in total retained heat percentages
c) correlated CO2 data from historic times to give a clear picture of its effect.
I advocated nothing but showing data. I took no position. If you think looking at data in a different way is counteracting a position on global warming, then maybe the position on global warning is all spin if it doesn’t hold up to simply looking at data on a different scale.
I recall reading that when Krakatoa blew its lid, that the following winter was brutal and global weather patterns we messed up for years.
Also very beautiful sunsets. The gunk in the atmosphere makes for extreme colors. When I was in the big firm in NYC we used to go to the library to watch the sun set over New Jersey late on winter afternoons. Bad air, but the visuals were fanstastic.
“An unusual swarm of volcanic eruptions over the past 14 years may be partially responsible for the slowing of global warming, a new report suggests.
There have been dozens of “slowing of global warming” periods the past 135 years and 5 since 1970 but you can’t stop this train.
Here is in changing, snappy graphic form with cool colors and moving lines and stuff:
How skeptics view global warming.
How realists view global warming.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/graphics.php?g=47
That’s a good illustration. It’s true.
The only “skeptics” are actually religious people who can’t believe that God would do something mean to the human race. That’s why you see that most of the deniers are white, middle-aged men. God created the Earth for them, see? Never mind the part where Adam is supposed to tend the garden. These guys want to have the garden, but they don’t want to tend it.
There are thousands of scientists that do not believe in CAGW and many of them are agnostic or atheists, it is a nice narrative, has no basis in fact but it is a good “story”.
It’s not just a matter of not believing… You can believe 100% that something is happening and still not want these terrible policies put in place that are being proposed.
There are thousands of scientists that do not believe in CAGW and they’re shilling for The Koch bros/Exxon Propaganda Ministry.
Any of these tactics sound familiar on this board?
Manufactured Uncertainty by Climate Change Deniers
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog438w/node/432
As stated earlier, climate change deniers use dishonest or unethical tactics to counter climate change theory. Most people find it difficult to believe that the climate change debate is rigged, and this gullibility is the basis of the deniers’ success.
One of the most damning indictments of deniers’ culpability is a 2007 publication by the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Smoke, mirrors and hot air: How ExxonMobil uses big tobacco’s tactics to manufacture uncertainty on climate science.” Here is the executive summary from that report:
In an effort to deceive the public about the reality of global warming, ExxonMobil has underwritten the most sophisticated and most successful disinformation campaign since the tobacco industry misled the public about the scientific evidence linking smoking to lung cancer and heart disease.
As this report documents, the two disinformation campaigns are strikingly similar. ExxonMobil has drawn upon the tactics and even some of the organizations and actors involved in the callous disinformation campaign the tobacco industry waged for 40 years. Like the tobacco industry, ExxonMobil has:
Manufactured uncertainty by raising doubts about even the most indisputable scientific evidence.
Adopted a strategy of information laundering by using seemingly independent front organizations to publicly further its desired message and thereby confuse the public.
Promoted scientific spokespeople who misrepresent peer-reviewed scientific findings or cherry-pick facts in their attempts to persuade the media and the public that there is still serious debate among scientists that burning fossil fuels has contributed to global warming and that human-caused warming will have serious consequences.
Attempted to shift the focus away from meaningful action on global warming with misleading charges about the need for “sound science.”
Used its extraordinary access to the Bush administration to block federal policies and shape government communications on global warming.
You can believe 100% that something is happening and still not want these terrible policies put in place that are being proposed.
True.
That’s why you see that most of the deniers are white, middle-aged men.
Happens to be one of the best educated demographics… and you should really get some psychiatric help for your “daddy” issues.
Asian women are the best-educated demographic. By the way, I love the way you contrasted “conservative men” with “educated women” (was it yesterday?). Because women are different than men, and educated is different than conservative.
By the other way, you have to stop making misogynistic comments in response to every valid point that a woman makes. I say “corn”, and you say “women on the front lines”. That is a serious psychological disorder, and the women of Earth are not letting you get away with it. You and all your boyfriends are miserable for a reason. Men are losing the Republican war against women (especially cave men).
That’s why you see that most of the deniers are white, middle-aged men.
Happens to be one of the best educated demographics…
Stunning college degree gap: Women have earned almost 10 million more college degrees than men since 1982
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/05/stunning-college-degree-gap-women-have-earned-almost-10-million-more-college-degrees-than-men-since-1982/
back in 1978, when for the first time ever, more women than men earned Associate’s degrees. Five years later in 1982, women earned more bachelor’s degrees than men for the first time, and women have increased their share of bachelor’s degrees in every year since then. In another five years by 1987, women earned the majority of master’s degrees for the first time. Finally, within another decade, more women than men earned doctor’s degrees by 2006, and female domination of college degrees at every level was complete.
Asian women are the best-educated demographic.
Yes and my favorite demographic.
Finally, within another decade, more women than men earned doctor’s degrees by 2006, and female domination of college degrees at every level was complete.
Yep… and the student loan bubble grew to unsustainable levels in the same time frame. Coincidence?
Not much different really than housing activity peaking and declining due to boomer economics.
Just imagine how much cheaper it would be to educate the women, if only all those low-performing men would be banned.
Just imagine how much cheaper it would be to educate the women, if only all those low-performing men would be banned.
Did the thread switch to talking about sex and I missed it?
There are some guys in Seattle I think (one idea is to blast female mosquitoes with mini-lasers to reduce the spread of malaria).
Two of the other interesting crazy ideas:
1. Put rubber tubes in the ocean to reduce surface ocean temperatures (genius really); and
2. Create hoses to the sky that would pump sulfur dioxide into the atmostphere to cool the planet. It’s actually quite cheap…they would put the first plant in Canada, getting the sulfur from the oil sands, and they would need to find a place in the southern hemisphere. Total cost was something like $100MM per year per plant.
They see #2 as a disaster scenario fix, not a base plan.
I think these were described in “Super Freakonomics”.
When in doubt,
bail ‘em out.
No Easy Bailout Plan for Ukraine
KIEV, Ukraine February 25, 2014 (AP)
By DAVID McHUGH and JUERGEN BAETZ Associated Press
Associated Press
Ukraine needs money, and fast — in weeks, not months. But bailing out the country of 46 million people will not be as easy as simply writing a big check.
For one, Ukraine has already burned the main global financial rescuer, the International Monetary Fund, by failing to keep to the terms of earlier bailouts from 2008 and 2010.
Now it needs help again, and its economic and financial problems are worse than before.
The currency is sliding, raising concerns that companies that owe money in foreign currency could go bust. Banks are fragile. A rescue with outside lenders can’t be agreed until there’s a government. And Russia could make things worse by demanding payment of money owed for natural gas supplies.
Even with a bailout, the country would face testing times. It would likely be asked to make painful reforms — including a potential doubling in the price of gas — that would hurt standards of living as the economy recovers.
…
Real journalist Paul Krugman who writes for real newspaper the New York Times declares Obamacare is working, and that Republican opposition to Obamacare is failing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/opinion/krugman-health-care-horror-hooey.html
It is working for Republicans running for office in the Fall. Instead of the Rube Goldberg plan, he could have just expanded Medicaid. His base would have received 90% of the benefits without 95% of the backlash due to people that have been adversely impacted. As I said the nation is lucky that he is incompetent but the Nation is in mourning. With 60 Senators an overwhelming House majority and 70% approval which he had on day one of his administration, he could have passed the entire leftist agenda.
From Paul Krugman’s wikipedia page, commenting on the Obama administration:
“I’m trying to make this progressive moment in American history a success.”
Now that is real journalism in a nutshell.
Replace “Progressive” with “Socialist” or “Communist” and you get much closer to the truth.
Replace “Progressive” with “Socialist” or “Communist”
Those words are boring. You guys overused them. And now your trial balloon of “Subhuman Mongrel” did not get past the focus group.
You’re running out of scary words.
Those words are boring.
you’d rather not see them, right comrade?
You guys overused them.
like the words ‘water’ and ‘air’? why should we call you something different than you are?
You’re running out of scary words.
you socialists are running out of places to hide, comrade.
But Obamacare is not socialism. It’s fascism, and the Republicans love it. Remember, Romney was not ever going to not give us fascist health care. The Repubs didn’t vote yes because they knew that it would pass with only Democrat votes. They wanted to retain the right to complain about it later, but they never intend to get rid of fascist health care. As a matter of fact, they only want to make it more fascist by removing the parts of it that require medical companies to pay taxes and providers to cover services.
Fascism is state sponsored socialism, when the state disappears it is true communism. Good luck with that happening.
But Obamacare is not socialism. It’s fascism,
I suppose we can pretend that things aren’t as complex as they are and say “Fascist” instead of “Socialist” to distract from the fact that Obamacare is both:
It is socialism when Obamacare economically redistributes resources from one class to another (young subsidizing old, rich subsidizing poor) and it is fascist in that it forces people to transact with private corporations in a state-controlled monopoly. It was bad policy in MA, as proven by our nationwide highest health care costs, and it is bad policy on a national level.
It’s fascism, and the Republicans love it.
i’ve told this board many times that i’m not a republican. the GOPe is too far to the left for me. i’m an independent.
It is socialism when Obamacare economically redistributes resources from one class to another (young subsidizing old, rich subsidizing poor)
You think this is all something new to America? Really?
In USA employee based health care the young have subsidized the old for over 80 years.
“Obamacare is just replicating a situation that has long been present in the much larger employer provided insurance system.” CEPR dot net
Rich subsidizing the poor;
USA has had progressive taxes for 90 years. (Until lately)
What country are you from anyway?
I’ve never heard that Paul Krugman was a journalist.
Economist
Commentator
Not journalist
Senator Dianne Feinstein, not you, will decide who is and is not a “real journalist”
http://www.infowars.com/feinstein-youre-not-a-real-journalist-unless-you-draw-a-salary/
Krugman gets paid by the New York Times, and regularly pens columns declaring that Obama is doubleplusgood, therefore Krugman is a “real journalist”
Krugman gets paid by the New York Times, and regularly pens columns declaring that Obama is doubleplusgood, therefore Krugman is a “real journalist”
He didn’t have 60 senators on day 1. It took months to install Al Franken. And Dems don’t vote in lockstep anyway.
Took months, o.k. not on day one ? But 59 Senators not enough to draft the bill? Don’t vote in lockstep just how many Republican votes passed the stimulus and Obamacare? How many democrats voted against? Oxide please, you listen to NPR a little too much. The left will be lamenting this administration for years although it is too early for them to admit it publicly, at least for most of them.
The left will be lamenting this administration for years
Huh? Why would the left really be “lamenting” Obama for years when the alternative would have been a Republican.
That just doesn’t make sense in the big picture of alternatives and realistic possibilities, then and now.
the Nation is in mourning
I know. That’s why American’s Re-elected Obama by over 50% even during a recession. I guess our President just makes Real ‘Mericans feel better when they’re feelin’ a li’l blue.
The Nation as in the magazine, as opposed to the earlier part which was the nation.
Did your bitcoin cyber bank suddenly vanish?
This story brings the concept of “poof money” to a completely new level.
Feb. 25, 2014, 8:21 a.m. EST
Mt. Gox bitcoin site disappears
By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — Bitcoin prices tumbled to levels not seen in months on Tuesday after the popular bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox went blank amid reports that trading was halted earlier and that the website may have been deleted.
…
I hate that when you hit the delete button by mistake. I think that people that owned bitcoins may have paid for the Ukrainian revolution.
Feb. 25, 2014, 9:12 a.m. EST
Regulator sounds alarm on bitcoin
A warning to some users to stop trading in the virtual currency
By Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch
While plenty of consumers and investors ponder both the value and future of bitcoin, one U.S. state securities regulator is warning about dealing with exchanges that handle trading in the virtual currency.
…
Bitcoins!
Proof positive that there is a sucker born every minute.
Set ‘em up, shake ‘em down.
Send me some cash and I’ll cyber you some bitcoins.
Lol.
“You can’t lose with the stuff I use.” - Rev. Ike
I won’t let anyone else on the planet know where your bitcoins are stored or how many are stored there, either.
My bitcoins are in a landfill…..
I read stories like that people had millions of dollars worth of bitcoins on hard drives that are in dumps. Of course, they were not worth that when they were dumped.
AKA, the “bit bucket”
AKA, the “bit bucket”
Good one!
Sounds like the NSA took them down.
They must have forgotten their contribution to Rand Paul’s Presidential campaign.
They must have forgotten their contribution to Rand Paul’s Presidential campaign.
More like they made a contribution to Paul and did not donate to Obama.
This guy lost $2MM in bitcoins.
http://www.reddit.com/user/goxloser
… and that’s based on the post-crash prices. At the December peak his coins were worth over $5M
Gold is the original bitcoin. We see people monetize/make-currency-out-of anything possible. Gold has stood the test of time. You can get all the other currencies out there for it.
Gold is physical; bitcoin is imaginary.
Any other similarities?
Divisibility and anonymity are there. The means of transfer are polar opposites, but bitcoin ain’t easy to hide or retrieve if the jig is up.
You may think I am “anti-gold,” due to my many devil’s advocate posts on PM investing, but I am not. I would never, ever invest in bitcoin unless I had so much money that I felt comfortable in high-risk gambles; by contrast, I have previously owned gold coins, and would probably own some today if I had the free cash flow (I don’t).
CIA use to finance some of its activities selling drugs, I wonder if they branched out to stealing bitcoins.
All of your electronic monies are belong to us.
Are you trying to say that Bitcoin is base?
Was until the correct pronunciation of Mt. Gox was clarified.
Old theories:
1. Mount Gox.
2. M-t Gox.
New theory:
Empty Gox.
Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox goes dark in blow to virtual currency
By Ruairidh Villar, Sophie Knight and Brett Wolf
TOKYO/ST LOUIS Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:07pm EST
Mock Bitcoins are displayed on a table in an illustration picture taken in Berlin in this January 7, 2014 file photo. Mt. Gox, once the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange, looked to have essentially disappeared on February 25, 2014, with its website down, its founder unaccounted for and a Tokyo office empty bar a handful of protesters saying they had lost money investing in the virtual currency. REUTERS-Pawel Kopczynski-File
Bitcoins created by enthusiast Mike Caldwell are seen in a photo illustration at his office in Sandy, Utah, in this September 17, 2013 file photo. Mt. Gox, once the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange, looked to have essentially disappeared on February 25, 2014, with its website down, its founder unaccounted for and a Tokyo office empty bar a handful of protesters saying they had lost money investing in the virtual currency. REUTERS-Jim Urquhart-Files
A mock Bitcoin is displayed on a table in an illustration picture taken in Berlin January 7, 2014.REUTERS-Pawel Kopczynski
(Reuters) - Mt. Gox, once the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange, abruptly stopped trading on Tuesday and its chief executive said the business was at “a turning point,” sparking concerns about the future of the unregulated virtual currency.
Several other digital currency exchanges and prominent early-stage investors in bitcoin responded with forceful statements in an attempt to reassure investors of both bitcoin’s viability and their own security protocols.
The website of Mt. Gox suddenly went dark on Tuesday with no explanation, and the company’s Tokyo office was empty - the only activity was outside, where a handful of protesters said they had lost money investing in the virtual currency.
Hours later, Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles told Reuters in an email: “We should have an official announcement ready soon-ish. We are currently at a turning point for the business. I can’t tell much more for now as this also involves other parties.” He did not elaborate on the details or give his location.
…
Is bitcoin a bailout-worthy currency?
Not until the banks control it.
Profts Per Partner, $3.6 MM in 2013. The .1% get richer:
————————————————-
For Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, which saw its financial fortunes improve yet again in 2013 while making plenty of news, there appears to be at least a strong correlation between the two. Paul Weiss’ profits per partner increased more than 8 percent last year, to $3.62 million, while its gross revenues rose nearly 7 percent, to $934.5 million, according to The American Lawyer’s reporting. On the hiring front, the firm added two partners and 51 lawyers, to increase its partnership ranks to 131 and its total attorney head count to 854.
http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202644041323/The-Am-Law-100%2C-the-Early-Numbers%3A-At-Paul-Weiss%2C-Making-Headlines-And-Profits#ixzz2uIcz5agI
Another one:
“Paul Hastings registered across-the-board improvements in its financial performance last year, with gross revenues rising 3.6 percent, to $941 million, profits per equity partner climbing 4.6 percent, to $2.175 million, and revenue per lawyer up a full 5 percent, to $1.06 million, according to reporting from The American Lawyer.
http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202644248857/The-Am-Law-100%2C-the-Early-Numbers%3A-Deal-Work–a-Boon-for-Paul-Hastings#ixzz2uId7Z7yz
“Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday injected the Obama administration into the emotional and politicized debate over the future of state same-sex marriage bans, declaring in an interview that state attorneys general are not obligated to defend laws that they believe are discriminatory.
Mr. Holder was careful not to encourage his state counterparts to disavow their own laws, but said that officials who have carefully studied bans on gay marriage could refuse to defend them.
Six state attorneys general — all Democrats — have refused to defend bans on same-sex marriage, prompting criticism from Republicans who say they have a duty to stand behind their state laws, even if they do not agree with them.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/us/holder-says-state-attorneys-general-dont-have-to-defend-gay-marriage-bans.html
Pandering: Another successful tactic used by progressives to garner votes.
I wonder if the LGBTQ community realizes they are just useful idiots in the globalist progressive movement’s quest for power. Just look east to see how authoritarians deal with gays.
It is interesting this administration is not saying much about what is happening in Uganda or Nigeria with gays. Political correctness can get really messy sometimes.
I’m having a hard time connecting your dots, reed.
- Democrats think it’s OK for gay people to get married.
- Some eastern authoritarians disagree.
- Therefore … what?
Democrats/Progressives are authoritarians (mandatory heath care, gun control, speech bans, food bans, smoking bans etc.), they want power and need votes to obtain that power. They pander to the LGBTQ, Black, guilty white and immigrant communities to get their votes…they claim to be simpatico.
I guess my main point is being perplexed by how gays, blacks, guilty whites and immigrants think that voting democrat will bring them more freedom and opportunity, when just the opposite will happen over time. How do these groups prosper under a controlled authoritarian state?
Do the Republicans seem authoritarian too? They certainly seem that way to me.
yes, the GOPe is very authoritarian.
progressives in the republican party are as well. The republican party had progressives, evangelicals, conservatives and libertarians. No argument that the progressive republicans like john mccain and chris christy are authoritarian.
I guess my main point is being perplexed
Yes.
In that case, Montana should refuse to defend Citizen’s United.
Ignore a supreme court decision? Not even Holder, this week, is willing to go that far.
But he lies to Congress about the unconstitutional activities of the NSA, so why not?
Your best point of the day, the cave men are making progress.
You say Koch* brothers, I say Soros.
*(pronounced “coke” by the way…I know, I was disappointed too)
‘meanwhile, the climate change ‘counter movement’ has been helped along by an infusion of cash from, among others, some in the powerful fossil fuel industry.’
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/24/opinion/costello-debate-climate-change/
Soros group triples its lobbying spending
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/soros-group-triples-its-lobbying-spending/2014/02/23/c9af9f8e-9a33-11e3-b88d-f36c07223d88_print.html
Do things go better with Koch?
You say Koch* brothers, I say Soros.
Comparing Apples with Mangos. If you like Democracy and the middle-class, the Koch brothers are evil. Soros is a smaller player and much more transparent than the Koch brothers and the Koch brothers play dirty pool. The Koch Brother’s SCOTUS “Citizens United” ruling put the nail in America’s Democracy coffin. See the numbers below.
Let’s Get this Straight, the Kochs Are Menacing, Soros is Benevolent
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/20/lets-straight-kochs-menacing-soros-benevolent.html
the Kochs have approximately $68 billion dollars combined wealth whereas George Soros has $20 billion. Right away, common sense should prevail upon a conservative afraid of a Soros boogeyman that he doesn’t have the resources of the megalomaniacal brothers.
Visit Fox So-Called News or right wing blogs, and soon you hear that George Soros has spent “$550 million” since 1979 in the United States on liberal causes and fail to note that he has disclosed every dollar, because he believes in a transparent and open society. Conversely, just try and find a record of the Koch brothers’ donations to conservative causes since 1979 without a full-time investigator.
Political Action Committee Spending (1989 to 2010)
Koch Industries: $12.1 million
Soros Fund Management: $0
SuperPAC Spending (2011-2012)
Koch Brothers: unknown, but they even created their own SuperPAC
Soros: $2.6 million*
*Alternative source from OpenSecrets.org
Individual donations to federal candidates, parties and political action committees (1989 to 2010)
Koch Brothers: $2.58 million
George Soros: $1.74 million ($3.9 million)*
Individual donations to federal candidates, parties and political action committees (1989 to 2010)
Koch Brothers: $2.58 million
George Soros: $1.74 million ($3.9 million)*
*Alternative source for 2011-2012, similar numbers for the Kochs through 2012 are not possible to calculate, because post-Citizen’s United, they give their money to their pet groups like Americans for Prosperity who would then donate millions for them. Laundered donations, if you will.
Individual donations to 527 organizations (2001 to 2010)
George Soros: $34.2 million
Koch Brothers: $4.06 million
Lobbying Expenditures (1998 to 2012)
Koch Industries: $79.9 million
Soros Fund Management/Open Society Policy Center (Soros-Funded): $12.8 million
Think Tanks (1979-2013)
Koch Brothers: Multi-untold millions
(funds Freedom Partners, Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Bill of Rights Institute, Institute for Humane Studies, Heartland Institute, Reason Foundation, FreedomWorks, Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University Foundation, Mercatus Center, Institute for Justice, Institute for Energy Research, Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Center to Protect Patient Rights, Generation Opportunity, American Enterprise Institute, Manhattan Institute, Ayn Rand Institute, The Federalist Society, Competitive Enterprise Institute, etc.)**
**Many of these are dark money groups that also fund elections without disclosing donors
George Soros: $550 million in the U.S., 8 billion worldwide in 70 countries
(Funds Open Society Institute, Center for American Progress, Institute for New Economic Thinking, Center for Public Integrity, Brookings Institute, the Democracy Alliance, Tides Foundation, etc.. These in turn fund numerous liberal causes like National Organization for Women, the Free Press, or ProPublica.org)
Dark Money Groups (2011-2012)
Koch Brothers: No one knows, but they pledged to spend $60 million on the 2012 election
Soros: $1 million, given his openness about how he spends his money, likely not more
George Soros has tried to influence American politics by making a great deal of individual donations to 527 groups.
Soros is Benevolent
was soros being ‘benevolent’ when he was taking jew’s properties shortly after hitler came to power?
was he ‘benevolent’ when he said he enjoyed doing it?
is he being ‘benevolent’ when tries to destroy economies, ‘just to see if he can do it’? is he being benevolent when he says it’s fun?
Soros was born in 1930. Hitler came to power in ‘33.
Yes but he was a teenager who cooperated with the Nazis.
ino, rite?
With zeal which was not necessary, loved his cut of the money.
From the Sociopath himself, others have described the zeal, but you do not see any remorse in his own comments, quite chilling:
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/george-soros-on-helping-the-nazis-during-the-holocaust#.Uw0KcVKYaT8
yep, and it kinda tells you where my comrade is at when he tries to say that soros is ‘benevolent’.
Yes but he was a teenager who cooperated with the Nazis.
That couldn’t have been shortly after Hitler came to power.
i said ’shortly’ to cover a time frame that i could remember the exact dates for. but keep nit picking. how do you know that a decade isn’t ’shortly’ in the right context?
could=couldn’t
Read above and read his own Sixty Minutes Interview posted above.
thanks Dan. i didn’t remember where i’d seen it. i guess he has no idea how evil he is.
Sixty Minutes Interview posted above.
You’re talking about Soros and the Jewish thing? A teenager facing death? And you compare that with the damage of Citizens United and the Koch Brothers? Pathetic Saul Alinsky tactics applied to smear a kid facing death every day. Typical Glenn Beck propaganda. Have you no sense of Decency?
Jewish leaders outraged at Glenn Beck attack on George Soros
http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/jewish_leaders_outraged_at_glenn_beck_attack_on_george_soros_20101111
Soros’ World War II childhood.
Beck, the Fox News Channel provocateur, is running a series this week on his radio an TV shows, portraying Soros as attempting to control the U.S. economy.
In his radio show Wednesday, Beck revived an unfounded claim that Soros, as a child in Hungary, helped ship Jews to death camps.
“And George Soros used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off,” Beck said. “And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps. And I am certainly not saying that George Soros enjoyed that, even had a choice. I mean, he’s 14 years old. He was surviving. So I’m not making a judgment. That’s between him and God. As a 14-year-old boy, I don’t know what you would do.”
In fact, Soros, then 13 and living under the protection of a non-Jewish Hungarian, on one occasion joined the older man when he was ordered by Nazis to inventory the estate of a Hungarian Jew who had fled. On another occasion, the local Jewish council had ordered Soros to deliver letters to local lawyers; Soros’ father, Tivadar, realized the letters were to Jewish lawyers, and meant to expedite their deportation. He told George to warn the targets to flee, and ended George’s work with the council.
Soros has been strongly criticized in some Jewish circles over his calls for increased U.S. engagement in the Middle East peace process and his strong criticism of Israeli policies. In recent months, some pro-Israel advocates and pundits have slammed J Street for accepting his money and then lying about doing so. But, in this case, the loudest Jewish voices belong to those defending Soros from Beck’s attacks.
“This is the height of ignorance or insensitivity, or both,” said Abraham Foxman, the director of the Anti-Defamation League.
Foxman noted that, as a child, he was protected by non-Jews who had not revealed his background to him.
“As a kid, at six, I spit at Jews—does that make me part of the Nazi machine?” Foxman said. “There’s an arrogance here for Glenn Beck, a non-Jew, to set the standards of what makes a good Jew.”
His own lack of remorse in his Sixty Minute interview indicts and convicts him.
But don’t worry Rio, you can tell Maxine you tried to defend him.
It’s just one of those things. Knowledge of the basic timelines would allow one to know that it’s highly unlikely that anyone who did anything of signifigance in the early years of the Nazi period would still be active today in business and politics.
On the other hand, I suppose that shortly could mean anything. All of human history is but the blink of an eye as far as the universe is concerned.
His own lack of remorse in his Sixty Minute interview indicts and convicts him.
BS. He was 13 and it was 7 decades later. You reach for straws because you have nothing. Like saying there is no climate change because “Gore’s predictions were wrong”.
You can only influence idiots.
You can only influence idiots.
in your case that’s true, komrude.
So we’re back to Koch bros evil and Soros good because Koch bros are reps and Soros is a lefty. So we’re also back to you say Koch, I say Soros.
Koch bros are reps and Soros is a lefty.
Nope.
If the Koch bros were Democrats, and destroyed America with “Citizens United” and their other subversive actions detrimental to the middle-class, they would still be the horrible and dangerous Un-American slimeballs of privilege that they are.
There was nothing “Conservative” about “Citizens United”. There was nothing American about it.
Hell, there was nothing even GOP of 30 years ago about “Citizens United”. “Citizens United” was a coup d’état of the billionaires taking over our democracy. Money is “freedom of speech” is a crock of sh!t.
‘home depot inc. posted fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates, marking six straight years of meeting or exceeding projections, as the u.s. housing rebound spurs spending on renovations.’
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-25/home-depot-profit-tops-estimates-as-housing-spurs-sales.html
’san francisco’s private bus drivers are at the center of a swelling debate about income inequality and the role of technology’s nouveau rich in turning the city into a place that’s becoming unaffordable for everyone else. with the highest rents in the country and rental evictions at a seven-year peak, the rising presence of company-funded buses in densely populated neighborhoods has led to protests and occasional violence in a city known for tolerance.’
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-25/google-buses-fuel-inequality-debate-as-boom-inflates-rents-tech.html
Uber is superior to anything else in SF. Taxi monopolies hate it.
‘the average teacher in san francisco county makes $59,700 a year’
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2014/02/25/literally-zero-homes-in-san-francisco-that-a-teacher-can-afford-survey-finds/
That’s what the average googlehead spends on puppy daycare.
So why don’t people just move? SF is a hole anyway.
I enjoy my visits but I would not like to live there.
shrinking the size of government so you can drown it in the bathtub:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?317883-3/washington-journal-grover-norquist-tax-code
The sure and fast way to shrink your taxes is to give yourself a tax cut. You can. You are paying too much in taxes. Just find the right tax credits in the tax code and keep what belongs to you.
As for shrinking the size of government - it won’t happen unless all of us taxpayers give ourselves a tax break - we just have to be angry enough to do that.
That only works if gov’t spending is limited by tax revenue. That does not seem to be the case at present.
(and I wish I could give myself a tax cut this year. Paying more in taxes this year than my gross income last year. Yikes!)
The GOP plan appeared to be to cut taxes annually along with uttering “deficits don’t matter” if anyone asked. The hope is that the deficts and debt would eventually cause some sort of crisis that force reduction in popular programs.
I meant to write, “that would force reduction in popular programs”.
Bill:
Do you think that everyone isn’t already taking their deductions and credits?
“Do you think that everyone isn’t already taking their deductions and credits?”
Yes. Another way to say it though is some people are not taking their deductions and credits. I think well over 50% of the taxpayers ignore some credits and could cut their taxes substantially.
Strapped? Don’t treat your home like a cash cow.
By Ron Carson, Special to CNBC.com
February 22, 2014 8:00 AM
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/strapped-dont-treat-home-cash-130000263.html - 247k -
Another “Successful Banker” Found Dead
Zero Hedge
February 25, 2014
The dismal trail of dead bankers continues. As The Journal Star reports, a successful Lincoln businessman and member of a prominent local family died last week. Former National Bank of Commerce CEO James Stuart Jr. was found dead in Scottsdale, Ariz., the morning of Feb. 19. A family spokesman did not say what caused the death. This brings the total of banker deaths in recent weeks to 9 as Stuart is sadly survived by three sons and four daughters.
Mr Stuart’s background (via The Journal Star),
Stuart was a native of Lincoln and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in Business Administration.
In 1969, Stuart joined Citibank in New York City and served as a loan officer until 1973, when he joined First Commerce Bancshares (then NBC Co.) as executive vice president.He was named president in 1976, chairman and CEO in 1978, and also became chairman and CEO of National Bank of Commerce in 1985. Stuart spent his life building the organization into an important business voice in Lincoln, friend and colleague Brad Korell said.
“He was a very successful banker,” said Korell, who worked with Stuart for more than 30 years. “I always felt that he was a visionary. He really did build one of the most successful and admired banking organizations in the Midwest.”
Stuart spent much of his career with First Commerce Bancshares, a $3 billion multi-bank holding company headquartered in Lincoln. First Commerce was sold to Wells Fargo in 2000.
He is a former member of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and was appointed by Gov. Dave Heineman to the board of the Nebraska Environmental Trust in 2008. Stuart was also involved with natural resources-related groups such as Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited and U.S. National Forest Foundation.
He served on the international board of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the boards of the University of Nebraska Foundation and Nebraska Wesleyan University.
According to Korell, Stuart was living in Scottsdale, overlooking his family’s financial investments, as well as golfing and fishing.
Which brings the total number of recent banker deaths to 9 (via Intellihub):
1 – William Broeksmit, 58-year-old former senior executive at Deutsche Bank AG, was found dead in his home after an apparent suicide in South Kensington in central London, on January 26th.
2- Karl Slym, 51 year old Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym, was found dead on the fourth floor of the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok on January 27th.
3 – Gabriel Magee, a 39-year-old JP Morgan employee, died after falling from the roof of the JP Morgan European headquarters in London on January 27th.
4 – Mike Dueker, 50-year-old chief economist of a US investment bank was found dead close to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State.
5 – Richard Talley, the 57 year old founder of American Title Services in Centennial, Colorado, was found dead earlier this month after apparently shooting himself with a nail gun.
6 -Tim Dickenson, a U.K.-based communications director at Swiss Re AG, also died last month, however the circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown.
7 – Ryan Henry Crane, a 37 year old executive at JP Morgan died in an alleged suicide just a few weeks ago. No details have been released about his death aside from this small obituary announcement at the Stamford Daily Voice.
8 – Li Junjie, 33-year-old banker in Hong Kong jumped from the JP Morgan HQ in Hong Kong this week.
Stop this war on Men!
They usually don’t start jumping to the crash, combine this with Soros going short and it does feel like we are in the eye of the hurricane.
Seems suspiciously like murder.
Anyone from here still in Austin TX? I don’t know if “Brett” reads here anymore. I’ll be down at our Austin office all next week. Would appreciate any tips on things to do, good local food, etc. Also if anyone wants to grab some artisanal* craft beers, I’m buying.
* I threw “artisanal” in to increase the millennial flavor by 62%
Downlow Joe’s gonna catch himself a cowboy?
Remember, they say everything is bigger in Texas
This also say something about steers and queers
https://austin.craigslist.org/m4m/
Auto correct error: This=they
What did I tell you yesterday?!!!! Didn’t I say that Liberace would go from his NFL theme to cowboys and bullriders?
One hit wonder Boys Don’t Cry’s 1986 song “I Wanna Be A Cowboy”
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s05jcrJw0as
The NFL is deciding whether your repeated use of “Liberace” is even worth the 15 yard penalty, RAL. They’ll get back to you on that.
And we’re wondering how long it’s going to take you to come up with something original Liberace.
Where you staying, Joe? I can help with some recommendations - lived down there prior to moving up here to Seattle, and have visited a few times in the past year…
This is the list of approved hotels. Anything stick out as far as being well located?
The Hilton Austin
500 East 4th Street
(512) 482-8000
The Stephen F. Austin
700 Congress Avenue
(512) 457-8800
The Radisson
111 East Cesar Chavez
(512) 478-9611
Four Seasons Hotel
98 San Jacinto Blvd.
(512) 495-9423
The Hyatt Regency on Townlake
208 Barton Springs
(512) 477-1234
You snob.
If you’re not paying, I’d choose the four seasons of those. The Hyatt is the worst located of all of those. Hilton is closer to 6th street, which likely means it will be noisier in the evenings. The bats are out of season, so being right on the water isn’t as big a perk, but there’s a nice hike+bike trail if you’re a runner, or just want to go for a walk.
As far as things to do in Austin, I’d say go to Shady Grove and get some green chile cheese fries. Have weekend brunch at Moonshine. Definitely get a drink at the Driskill bar (preferably on a Friday or Saturday night - they’ll have a piano player + singer). Eat breakfast at the cafe in the Driskill, but sit out in the foyer (get the texas-shaped waffle). Go see the Resentments at the Saxon pub on Sunday night. If you’re in to Jazz music, check out the Elephant room on Congress.
2nd street is all built up West of Congress ave…some good restaurants there. The wine bar on 2nd was good when I was there. The Austin W Hotel bar(s) is pretty cool. La Condesa (in that area) has decent Mexican food.
There’s a ton to do, and a lot of good food. Lots of good bbq options, though I’m sure everyone has their opinion of their favorite.
Comment by Al
2014-02-24 19:48:46
Or maybe things are misunderstood because the statement is vague. Do houses lose value, or physically depreciate? If you are a bear with the mental capacity of a realtor, you might tend to muddy the waters and cause confusion.
the ‘value’ of a housing throughout history is immutable.
the value of a home is the highest after it is first finished. it steadily declines in value until it becomes worthless, where it is torn down or abandoned. when it is maintained, the cost of the maintenance must be subtracted from its present value. price should reflect value, but it often doesn’t. especially in manias. house prices have way overshot value and one way or another, they’ll have to come back to equilibrium.
the confusion you speak of is the confusion over the difference between price and value.
it’s natural law that everything deteriorates over time. as things deteriorate, they depreciate in value until they’re worthless. eventually every home will become worthless through obsolescence. that is, it will make better economic sense to tear it down than maintain it (or it will be abandoned). if a house is built with good materials and well maintained, that process could take a very long time. but it is inevitable.
then, when you toss in taxes with the constant loss in value, you can see that owning a home is overall, a loss. and if you use a mortgage, it is obviously even worse.
good thinking on your part Al.
Are you buying a building or a place? My house if located in Coronado, CA would sell for close to a million but in the Albuquerque area a small house albeit very energy efficient sells for less than $150,000. People in CA knock down perfectly good houses all the time to rebuild since they bought the house for the location not the building. HA is right on building costs being very similar across the country but I have never been sure if he considers lot prices in his equation.
My house if located in Coronado, CA would sell for close to a million but in the Albuquerque area a small house albeit very energy efficient sells for less than $150,000.
a cave by the sea is worth more than a cave in the desert. the value of each is immutable.
People in CA knock down perfectly good houses all the time to rebuild since they bought the house for the location not the building.
simply creative destruction. nothing to be concerned about.
HA is right on building costs being very similar across the country but I have never been sure if he considers lot prices in his equation.
HA is right on a lot of things that people on this blog don’t realize. many things go into the valuation of a location. i bet if you asked him, he’d tell you.
Michelle Obama: ‘Young People Are Knuckleheads,’ So They Need ObamaCare
By Paul Bremmer | February 21, 2014 | 11:22
First Lady Michelle Obama insulted the young people of America during an appearance on Thursday night’s Tonight Show. Host Jimmy Fallon asked her why young people should sign up for ObamaCare if they can’t afford it, and Mrs. Obama struck a condescending note in her response. [Video below. MP3 audio here.]
“[A] lot of young people think they’re invincible,” she said. “But the truth is, young people are knuckleheads. You know? They’re the ones who are cooking for the first time and slice their finger open. They’re dancing on the bar stool.”
Below is a transcript of the segment:
JIMMY FALLON: While you’re here, I have to talk to you — I want to talk to you about the Affordable Care Act. It’s March, is there a deadline?
MICHELLE OBAMA: The end of March, absolutely, yes it is.
FALLON: And why – because a lot of young people watch our show. Would you like to tell me why would they — because a lot of people don’t have money to spend on this.
OBAMA: Well, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, young people can stay on their parents’ insurance until they’re 26. But once they hit 26, they’re on their own. And a lot of young people think they’re invincible. But the truth is, young people are knuckleheads. You know? [Laughter] They’re the ones who are cooking for the first time and slice their finger open. They’re dancing on the bar stool. They’re –
FALLON: Young people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
OBAMA: Yeah, the young people.
FALLON: I would never do both of those things this last past summer. No, no, no, no, no.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/paul-bremmer/2014/02/21/michelle-obama-young-people-are-knuckleheads-so-they-need-obamacare - 59k -
Michelle Obama: ‘Young People Are Knuckleheads,’ So They Need ObamaCare
Correction: Michelle Obama: ‘Young People Are Knuckleheads,’ So They voted for ObamaCare
Congress voted for Obamacare. Those are old people.
No Obama, no Obamacare, they voted for Obama thus they voted for Obamacare. Young people own it or they have a mortgage for it which they will pay for the rest of their lives.
Beware the weak hands shakeout.
Feb. 25, 2014, 11:33 a.m. EST
Shaking out the weak hands
By L.A. Little
Acceleration moves many times lead to false moves, and false moves are a great way to separate the weaker hands from the strong. That separation happens on both the long and short side of the trading equation. On Monday, the process of shaking the trees began. The first shake out was the poor old short-sellers who hopelessly began to cover their shorts on the apparent breakout on the S&P 500. The question now is “Will the longs be shaken next?”
…
Hey JingleFraud aka “General Contractor”…. where’s my quote?
Here is a quote for you: “To the moon, Alice!”. HA. HA. HA.
And there it is…. you’re a fraud.
Jingle Funny!
Are you ready for a massive paradigm shift in how central banks deal with bubbles?
Feb. 25, 2014, 11:45 a.m. EST
Fed must ‘actively’ plan for fighting bubbles: Tarullo
Monetary policy not off the table as a response
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — There are no broad asset bubbles emerging at the moment that should cause the Federal Reserve to shift monetary policy, but the central bank must pay close attention to confront the threat to financial stability in the future, said Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo, on Tuesday.
“Now is a good time to consider these issues more actively,” Tarullo said in a speech to the National Association for Business Economics.
His comments suggest the Fed is hyper-alert to bubbles with interest rates at zero since December 2008 and now projected to stay there until the middle of next year.
…
This person sees no bubbles, but believes that he would be capable of seeing a bubble if it were right in front of his face.
Ukraine bond investors remain anxious despite relief rally
Mon Feb 24, 2014 1:51pm EST
* IMF deal unlikely before May 25 elections
* Ukraine in “pre-default state” -acting president
* Bond curve indicates possibility of debt restructuring
By Sujata Rao
LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - While bond markets have reacted jubilantly to the possibility of Western aid for Ukraine, big-name investors are worried about how fast Kiev can secure a rescue and whether an IMF bailout may reschedule its debts.
The faith of funds such as Templeton, Fidelity, Amundi, ING and Stone Harbor Investment Partners in Ukraine’s ability to repay its debts seemed to have been vindicated late last year when Russia offered Kiev a $15 billion rescue.
That deal is doubt following the weekend overthrow of Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich, and Ukraine’s new authorities have turned to the West, appealing for urgent financial help to avoid a default.
Hopes for a deal with the International Monetary Fund boosted Ukrainian dollar bonds by 5-9 cents across all maturities on Monday, reducing the country’s bond yield premiums to U.S. Treasuries by a half percentage point on average, according to JP Morgan’s EMBI Global index.
This offered some relief to bondholders whose punt on one of the highest-risk emerging markets has fared poorly this year. Ukraine, along with Venezuela, is this year’s worst bond performer, recording losses of 13 percent by end of last week on the JPMorgan index.
Bondholders’ worries are by no means over. “Ukraine is still a risky call. It is not out of woods as there is a lot of short-term debt coming due,” said Sergei Strigo, head of emerging debt at Amundi, which has a total of $1 trillion under management. “If you look at the bond curve you can see it still indicates potential for (debt) restructuring.”
…
New Snowden Documents Show that Governments Are “Attempting To Control, Infiltrate, Manipulate, and Warp Online Discourse”
Posted on February 25, 2014
by WashingtonsBlog
Spy Agencies Manipulate and Disrupt Web Discussions to Promote Propaganda and Discredit Government Critics
The alternative media has documented for 5 years that the government uses disinformation and disruption (and here) on the web to discredit activists and manipulate public opinion, just like it smears traditional television and print reporters who question the government too acutely.
We’ve long reported that the government censors and manipulates social media. More proof here.
New Edward Snowden documents confirm that Britain’s spy agency is doing so.
As Glenn Greenwald writes today:
One of the many pressing stories that remains to be told from the Snowden archive is how western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction.
Under the title “Online Covert Action”, the document details a variety of means to engage in “influence and info ops” as well as “disruption and computer net attack”, while dissecting how human beings can be manipulated
using “leaders”, “trust, “obedience” and “compliance”:
The documents lay out theories of how humans interact with one another, particularly online, and then attempt to identify ways to influence the outcomes – or “game” it:
No government should be able to engage in these tactics: what justification is there for having government agencies target people – who have been charged with no crime – for reputation-destruction, infiltrate online political communities, and develop techniques for manipulating online discourse?
Here are the newly-released Snowden documents in full:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/02/british-spy-agency.html - 73k -
So who are the .gov infiltrators here on this blog? I have my list of liberal-minded suspects…
The admins at Western Rifle Shooters regularly post screenshots of their IP log of visitors from various dot gov and dot mil domains.
Regarding this blog, there are at least two known posters in direct employ of Uncle Sugar.
Those freewheeling, bootstrapping government contractors don’t count.
Those freewheeling, bootstrapping government contractors don’t count.
Many of the government employees can’t count.
It’s you, cave man.
Actually, Uncle and Rio both fit the profile of a plant quite well… liberal, combative and quick to ad hominem attacks. Are you sure you aren’t an Obama plant?
No, it’s you.
Uncle, that was a brittle response.
New Snowden Documents Show that Governments Are “Attempting To Control, Infiltrate, Manipulate, and Warp Online Discourse”
Please Rio that is your cue.
Warp Online Discourse”
Please Rio that is your cue.
Albuquerquedan,
I don’t offer anything warped. I offer facts. And It drives you nuts because you can’t counter nearly well enough to make your “case” but it’s obvious that I live in your head rent free.
You one the other hand offer warped views and imagery on many things. Science, Race, Sex for money and Sexual Orientation are a few that come to mind.
Here’s an example of your warped online discourse just yesterday. You have others that involve race and lying as well.
Comment by Albuquerquedanhttp: comment-2290922
2014-02-24 16:11:25
Don’t come out to my part of the country, you will be waiting on the corner in Winslow, Arizona in drag a long time before you get a hit. …they don’t have any homo hos and I expect don’t want any.
You are one creepy dude.
“Take it easy”, Lola.
Lola is autistic. He doesn’t get things like that.
Ground Zero for both DEMS and GOP are those in the top 10 to top 1%. While both parties put the top 0.1% in safety bunkers that are untouchable.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An election-year plan by House Republicans to simplify the tax code would cut income tax rates but impose a new surtax on some high-income families.
The plan, which is to be unveiled Wednesday, would lower the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent, said a GOP aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. However, the plan would impose a new 10 percent surtax on some earned income above about $450,000.
The aide was not authorized to speak publicly about the plan before its release.
The new surtax would not apply to capital gains or dividends, sparing many of the superrich who make the bulk of their money from investments.
The plan has no chance of becoming law without Democratic support. Instead, it could become a political document for House Republicans to show what they stand for, and for Democrats to attack, as the midterm elections approach in November.
Republicans have touted the upcoming plan as a major overhaul of the tax code that would dramatically lower tax rates for individuals and corporations, but recoup the revenue by eliminating or reducing popular tax breaks. Overall, the plan is designed to raise about the same amount of tax revenue as the current system, though the system would be much simpler.
It is an important political point for Republicans that the plan is not seen as a big giveaway to the rich. The new surtax on high-paid workers would help ensure that wealthy taxpayers as a group continue to pay about the same amount as they pay today, said the GOP aide.
What they would like to do is jack up the rates on the top 1-2% decrease the rate on the top 0.1% and be able to say look the top 1-2% are paying more taxes. It provides excellent cover for the elites.
Warren Buffett discussed RE in his annual letter to BH investors.
“What you can learn from my real estate investments”
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2014/02/24/warren-buffett-berkshire-letter/
A surprisingly good view on housing non-recovery:
“For many good reasons, housing sales and prices may never fully recover to pre-crisis levels, and the U.S. housing market and the broader economy are now permanently downsized.
Since 2001, the economy has created only 30,000 jobs a month, whereas at least four times as many are needed to keep up with population growth. A historically staggering one out of six men between the ages of 25 and 54 are without jobs and many are without any prospects of gaining meaningful employment. ”
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12446491/1/morici-more-than-winter-chill-gripping-housing-economy.html
Living in a rental will never feel like a real home.
I love the twitter link in your tag line.
Amy, Babe. You’re hooked on a “feeling”.
JPM said it would eliminate about 8,000 jobs in the consumer and mortgage banking units this year as demand for refinancings declines. The reductions would bring total staffing cuts to 24,500 in the two divisions since the start of 2013, Last year, the firm said it would eliminate as many as 19,000 in the two divisions by the end of 2014.
Competitors including Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Bank of America Corp. have been dismissing people as higher interest rates discourage the refinancings that banks relied on to fuel profits.
Mortgage banking results and applications slipped in the fourth quarter and JPMorgan said last month that “revenues will continue to be challenged.”
YEP?? sounds like a massive credit wave is coming that will push housing prices higher??
Lower salaries, higher food and fuel prices, less credit means what for housing?
Yep. Heard it on Bloomberg this morning. It was like heavenly harps.
Revolt Against Western Banker Takeover of Ukraine Grows
Russian Mayor installed in Sevastopol as backlash intensifies
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
February 25, 2014
Russian-speaking Ukrainians in Crimea are resisting the western banker takeover of their country by installing a Russian Mayor in the town of Sevastopol as part of an emerging revolt against the US-backed coup d’état that saw the overthrow of democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych.
“Sevastopol’s city council handed power to Aleksei Chaliy, a Russian citizen, during an extraordinary session on Monday evening while more than a thousand protesters gathered around city hall chanting “Russia, Russia, Russia,” and “A Russian mayor for a Russian city,” reports the Guardian. Former incumbent Vladimir Yatsuba resigned in order to allow Chaliy to take power.
The Russian military has also moved to secure the city against opposition militants by positioning armored personnel carriers in the town’s main square. Yesterday, it was reported that the Russian landing ship Nikolai Filchenko was on its way to Sevastopol with a contingent of 200 armed Russian soldiers.
“The day’s events marked the first stages in the establishment of an anti-Kiev administration amid tumultuous development that will cause headaches for the group of politicians that have replaced the administration of ousted fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych,” reports RIA Novosti.
Meanwhile, in an effort to afford the coup some kind of legitimacy, the Ukrainian parliament voted in favor of trying Yanukovych before the International Criminal Court, a development that came shortly after it was revealed that secretive British investigators are combing central Kiev for evidence that government snipers were used to massacre demonstrators.
While it’s admitted that both sides used firearms during the clashes, the clandestine nature of the investigation suggests that it is merely meant to be a rubber stamp for implicating Yanukovych as being responsible for a massacre.
Indeed, before the investigation even properly began, once of its anonymous members, who spoke to the BBC with his face blurred, had already concluded that the government was responsible for a “bloodbath”.
“The investigators – who do not wish to be identified – say they have already pinpointed four sniper positions, states the report. “The Foreign Office declined to comment on whether the UK government was assisting in the investigation.”
In other words, the British Foreign Office already has its agents in Kiev either manufacturing or planting evidence which will subsequently be used to demonize Yanukovych as a barbarian who ordered the massacre of protesters.
The fact that innumerable images show “protesters” also carrying guns is likely to be overlooked because that doesn’t fit the narrative of an organic and righteous uprising which in fact more closely resembles an externally-backed violent coup.
California ‘Lifers’ Leaving Prison at Record Pace
SAN FRANCISCO February 25, 2014 (AP)
By PAUL ELIAS Associated Press
Nearly 1,400 lifers in California’s prisons have been released over the past three years in a sharp turnaround in a state where murderers and others sentenced to life with the possibility of parole almost never got out.
Gov. Jerry Brown has let a record number of inmates with life sentences out since he took office in January 2011, and he has gone along with the parole board about 82 percent of the time.
Brown’s predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, authorized the release of 557 lifers during his six-year term, sustaining the board at a 27 percent clip. Before that, Gov. Gray Davis over three years approved the release of two.
Crime victims and their advocates have said the releases are an injustice to the victims and that the parolees could pose a danger to the public. More than 80 percent of lifers are in prison for murder, while the remaining are mostly rapists and kidnappers.
“This is playing Russian roulette with public safety,” said Christine Ward, executive director of the Crime Victims Action Alliance. “This is a change of philosophy that can be dangerous.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/california-lifers-leaving-prison-record-pace-22663628 -
The typical liberal bait and switch, life without parole for the death penalty telling people that it is worth than death and then let them out.
worth=worse.
The typical liberal bait and switch,
The typical right-wing bait and switch, saying Trickle-Down Economics will make everyone well off, then 30 years later middle-class is shafted.
yes, shafted by increasing socialism while trying to blame capitalism. as usual, you’re wrong comrade.
The LIEeral mindset is fascinating. With a LIEeral, you have one of two conditions;
a)The LIEeral is an operative for the statist power pigs. He spins, weaves and distorts the truth by playing Santa Claus but this particular Santa Claus doesn’t give anything. He takes. He lies to assist in robbing others for the benefit of the power pigs.
or;
b) A mindless sucker so gullible as to believe the the statist power pigs will actually do something beneficial for the mindless sucker and others like him. He believes the LIEeral whirl spun up by the LIEeral operative. He develops faith in the system run by the power pigs yet the system works to diminish the mindless suckers strength as he’s bled dry and heavily loaded with obligation that is not his… yet he willingly demands more obligation yet is blind to the fact there is no benefit to anyone except for the statist power pigs.
yup, that’s about it in a mango shell.
Time to double down on locks and double up on ammo.
Majority Balk At Idea Of Government Policing The News
But a sizeable portion are not fazed at threat to freedom of the press
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
February 25, 2014
A large majority of Americans stand in line with the First Amendment, saying that it is not the role of the government to monitor the output of news organisations. However, according to a new poll, almost 30 percent did not express that view.
The survey, conducted by Rasmussen, found that 71 percent of voters were unhappy with the notion that the government should police the media. The question was raised in response to a White House plan to place spies in newsrooms, details of which were leaked by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai last week.
A further 76 percent, according to the poll, said they were at least somewhat concerned that the FCC’s proposal to analyse news content could lead to state controlled news that pushes government agendas. Almost half said they were very Concerned that this could occur.
However, 18 percent said that they do think it is the government’s job to monitor news output, with a further 11 percent saying they were not sure. That means that close to a third of Americans either do not understand, or do not care about the notion of a free press, a right enshrined in the US Constitution.
Even more respondents to the survey, 38 percent, indicated that they would be happy to see government mandated “equal commentary”, in other words a “fairness doctrine” mandate that all stations supply an equal amount of conservative and liberal political commentary.
Only 49 percent said that such a government mandate was disagreeable. More Democrats favour the idea than oppose it, while a majority of Republicans and Independents oppose the idea.
FCC Commissioner Pai told Fox News that journalists and news industry leaders are worried about being subjected to government coercion regarding the plan which the government agency described as part of an effort to meet the public’s “critical information needs.”
“A lot of folks that I’ve heard from from the industry are telling me that they are worried about the inadvertent coercion that might happen if the FCC says ‘look we’re just asking questions’,” said Pai.
The FCC has since backed off the plan, which would have dispatched researchers working on behalf of the federal agency “to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run.”
Judge Andrew Napolitano described the plan to have bureaucrats monitor newsrooms as a “radical new era of tyranny”.
That’s another great benefit of unlimited immigration. The immigrants don’t understand why it’s important to limit government. They LOVE government control. They are attracted to the shiny things in America, but they strongly disagree with the principles that make those shiny things possible.
Civil Litigation Woman Listed as Deceased Files Lawsuit Claiming She’s Alive
By Jacob Gershman
Feb 10, 2014
But weeks later Ms. Haman, who was also at the time applying for a new mortgage, discovered that her application for refinancing was put on hold because Heartland was reporting her as “deceased” on an EquifaxEFX -0.44% credit report, according to her lawsuit, which was reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Dear Kimberly Haman,” wrote the lender. (A copy of the letter appears below.) “We regret to inform you that we are unable to proceed with you loan as of today June 20, 2013. The reason for your denial is that your status from Equifax is reporting you as deceased.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/02/10/woman-listed-as-deceased-files-lawsuit-claiming-shes-alive/ - 118k -
Is getting a mortgage akin to a near death experience?
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/ralph-nader-book-103908.html
Obama the executioner!!!
The Sex Pistols perform “No Fun”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RPvfJXh-n0
“Pretty Vacant”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcauCclfytI
“Problems”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKlLI94xx8k
“Surrender Your Firearms,” Connecticut Tells Unregistered Gun Owners
State orders owners of newly-banned, unregistered firearms to turn them all in
Kit Daniels
Infowars.com
February 25, 2014
The State of Connecticut is now demanding that gun owners across the state turn in all newly-banned, unregistered firearms and magazines or face felony arrest.
The State Police Special Licensing & Firearms Unit began mailing out notices to gun owners who attempted to register their firearms and accessories with the state but did not do so in time for the Jan. 1 deadline of Connecticut’s newly enacted gun control law.
The law bans the sale of magazines holding over 10 rounds and “assault rifles” manufactured after 1994 and requires that residents who possessed either before the ban to register them with the state.
“We are returning your application for [an] assault rifle certificate and/or [a] large capacity magazine declaration because it was not received or postmarked prior to January 1, 2014 as required by law,” the notice states.
The letter breaks down the gun owner’s “options,” including surrendering their firearms and magazines to the police, selling them to a gun dealer, removing them from the state or rendering them inoperable.
Because these owners attempted to register their guns and accessories, the state can now prosecute them at will because they know exactly who they are.
But when it comes to the vast majority of gun owners who did not register at all, Connecticut lacks clout.
Last month it was revealed that out of the over 2.4 million high-capacity magazines in Connecticut, only 38,000 have been registered.
“So, where did these millions of magazines go?” reporter Warner Todd Huston asked. “All that can be said is that it appears that gun owners in Connecticut are not quite the sheep that jackbooted government officials may have imagined they were.”
“After all, if there really were millions of high capacity magazines in the state – and it is very likely that there are – and they have now gone unregistered, that means that thousands of gun owners have refused to bow to this unconstitutional, anti-Second Amendment law.”
Likewise, only 50,000 semiautomatic rifles were also registered, further proof that Connecticut’s gun owners are revolting through civil disobedience.
These gun owners correctly realize that registration only leads to confiscation and that the overall agenda of gun control is to completely ban private gun ownership.
Last year, the New York Police Department began confiscating guns which were previously registered but are now banned under New York’s newest gun control law.
The NYPD knew exactly which gun owners to target by using the city’s centralized firearms registry which was already in place.
Connecticut’s anti-gun politicians want their own registry so they can eventually confiscate firearms in the exact same manner.
(H/T: capitalisminstitute.org)
“California couple finds $10M in gold coins buried in yard”
http://www.wfla.com/story/24819821/california-couple-finds-10m-in-gold-coins-buried-in-yard
Y CAN’T THIS HAPPEN 2 ME?
Why can’t more Americans be like this guy, taking charge and making good money at it:
http://maine.craigslist.org/edu/4350247750.html