Bits Bucket for March 1, 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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Nothing beats getting an entire year’s rainfall in one weekend.
What is the old saw about California’s seasons? If I recall correctly, they are drought, fire, flood and mudslide.
After forest fires and drought, now rains torment Southern California
By Kyung Lah and Ben Brumfield, CNN
updated 4:07 AM EST, Sat March 1, 2014
Mudslides wreak havoc on Southern Calif.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* The rains are the first since the weather system behind the drought collapsed
* Though desperately needed, the rain has not been great news
* The deluge has come down at more than an inch an hour at times
* It has sent walls of water and mud into valley towns
(CNN) — Mario Vazquez grabbed his dog and got out of the way, as a stream of water and mud came gushing on to his streets Friday.
Since California has been in the middle of its worst drought in 100 years, it would seem that the sight of rain would be good news.
But in Glendora and other towns in Los Angeles County, it wasn’t.
The rain has been much needed, but this deluge — coming down at more than an inch an hour at times — has landed on bone-dry hills scorched by recent wildfires in and around Los Angeles.
With little vegetation left to stop them, walls of water have gushed into valleys below. They have spewed mud and debris into quiet residential streets, turning them into thick, brown creeks.
More could hit before Saturday is up, the National Weather Service says. It has placed Los Angeles and Ventura counties under a flash flood watch.
By the time it’s over up to six inches will have landed on the foothills of Los Angeles County and as much as 10 inches on the ridge line.
…
But everyone is California dreaming!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-aK6jnyFmk
Dag nabbit maybe this one will work better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN3GbF9Bx6E
I imagine a lot of Californians use illicit drugs* to take their minds off the many inherent problems with living here.
* In fairness, I consume coffee in the mornings and a glass of wine with dinner, but completely avoid illegal drug use.
Personally I will consider Mary Jane in a non smoke form if I get to the point of severe chronic pain. But two glasses of wine is enough for me per evening. Except on occasions I bar hop with the boss and other colleagues.
“Personally I will consider Mary Jane in a non smoke form if I get to the point of severe chronic pain.”
The conductor of one of my college orchestras had glaucoma. The rumor was that he used marijuana as a treatment.
Glaucoma is part of our daily life. Mary Jane isn’t that beneficial, and it’s not good for the lungs. I would bet he just liked to get stoned. Real surgery (not laser) is the best solution at the moment. A stem cell cure in the future.
Too much rain is better than no rain…
Rain is important but snow pack is critical…..These flash floods with mud are not uncommon…And the mudslides in fire ravaged areas are pretty typical also…
Unless you live in an LA Canyon and a debris flow is headed your way…
Actually some serious engineering effort has gone into reducing the debris flow risk near the LA Mountains. A fascinating account can be found here:
The Control of Nature
Los Angeles Against the Mountains—I
by John McPhee September 26, 1988
In “Los Angeles Against the Mountains,” a 1988 installment in the New Yorker series “The Control of Nature,” which was later published as a book, John McPhee described how Southern California’s dry chaparral produces devastating fires.
Evergreen oaks were fingering up the creases in the mountainsides, pointing toward the ridgeline forests of bigcone Douglas fir, of knobcone and Coulter pine. The forests had an odd sort of timberline. They went down to it rather than up. Down from the ridges the conifers descended through nine thousand, seven thousand, six thousand feet, stopping roughly at five. The forests abruptly ended—the country below being too dry in summer to sustain tall trees. On down the slopes and all the way to the canyons was a thicket of varied shrubs that changed in character as altitude fell but was everywhere dense enough to stop an army. On its lower levels, it was all green, white, and yellow with buckwheat, burroweed, lotus and sage, deerweed, bindweed, yerba santa. There were wild morning glories, Canterbury bells, tree tobacco, miner’s lettuce. The thicket’s resistance to trespass, while everywhere formidable, stiffened considerably as it evolved upward. There were intertwining mixtures of manzanita, California lilac, scrub oak, chamise. There was buckthorn. There was mountain mahogany. Generally evergreen, the dark slopes were splashed here and there with dodder, its mustard color deepening to rust. Blossoms of the Spanish bayonet stood up like yellow flames. There were lemonade berries (relatives of poison ivy and poison oak). In canyons, there were alders, big-leaf-maple bushes, pug sycamores, and California bay. Whatever and wherever they were, these plants were prickly, thick, and dry, and a good deal tougher than tundra. Those evergreen oaks fingering up the creases in the mountains were known to the Spaniards as chaparros. Riders who worked in the related landscape wore leather overalls open at the back, and called them chaparajos. By extension, this all but impenetrable brush was known as chaparral.
…
Building a house in a canyon…what could go wrong??
I warned everyone.
3′ of fresh snow at my house
I woke up this morning to the first sight of sunshine in several days. However now it is cloudy again, with a humid southerly air flow that would qualify as tornado weather if this were the Midwest. I take the impression that we are not out of the woods yet regarding this storm system.
In East Ventura County (So Ca) it’s coming down in buckets. We had to siphon water out of our pool with a garden hose.
Yeah…. empty it entirely so hydrostatic gw pressure implodes it completely.
HA
Not going to happen here. EE husband replied. Not enough rain. It’s trickling into the hose. water in-water out, just about even.
Uncle Fed- It could destabilize the block wall and trees next door. Better to be pro-active. And if it overflowed into the house through the sliding door tracts….
It’s trickling into the hose. water in-water out, just about even.
A “trickling” siphon is the hardest one to maintain; a fast-running siphon flushes air bubbles out, but a trickling one can let them accumulate in the line and eventually break the siphon.
A great, simple trick: put the exit-end of the hose in a bucket; the bucket will overflow as the level at the source raises. However, if the level at the source drops below to the level of the bucket, the siphon will automatically stop flowing. And also will restart nicely if the source later rises above the level at which the bucket is placed. Nice, huh?
I kept a stairwell with a plugged drain clear that way for a while…
Pour 10 gallons of gasoline in the pool. It will help maintain the siphon.
Why can’t you just let it overflow?
March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.
California storms: 12-foot waves, tornado warning, more rain ahead
March 1, 2014 9:17 AM PST
California was lashed Friday by heavy rains that the parched state so desperately needs, though with the soaking came traffic snarls, power outages and the threat of mudslides.
* Mandatory Evacuation Order Remains in Effect for Glendora
* SoCal Storm Impacts Oscar Preps
* LAPD Closes Sepulveda Basin Due To High Water Levels
* TV news employee rescued after being trapped in waist-deep mud
* Major storm brings needed rain to L.A., but at a cost Major storm brings needed rain to L.A., but at a cost
* Funnel cloud spotted crossing I-5 near Sacramento
* California storms: The dramatic view from space
By Ruben Vives and Rong-Gong Lin II
March 1, 2014, 5:57 a.m.
A flash flood watch remained in effect for large parts of Southern California amid a powerful rainstorm that will keep the region wet through Sunday.
Officials warned of possible coastal flooding and waves topping 12 feet at some beaches Saturday. In the mountains, snow levels dropped to 5,500 feet. On Friday night, the storms brought lightning and strong winds.
Early Saturday morning, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for parts of L.A. County. The weather service posted on Twitter a map showing what it said was “a weak tornado” near Walnut and Azusa. No injuries were reported.
…
Bloomberg News
Mt. Gox Bitcoin Exchange Sued in U.S. for ‘Misappropriation’
By Andrew Harris March 01, 2014
Mt. Gox, once the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange after starting as a marketplace for illustrated trading cards used to play Magic: The Gathering, was sued for fraud by a U.S. customer within hours of filing bankruptcy.
With prosecutors and regulators already probing the use of the digital currency, the Mt. Gox exchange said Feb. 24 it had lost 750,000 Bitcoins belonging to users and 100,000 more of its own. The exchange filed for bankruptcy yesterday in Tokyo, saying in a statement that its debt exceeded its assets by 2.7 billion yen ($26.4 million).
“This catastrophic loss has not only revealed the instability of a burgeoning new industry, it has also uncovered a massive scheme to defraud millions of consumers into providing a private company with real, paper money in exchange for virtual currency,” Illinois resident Gregory Greene said in a Feb. 27 complaint in federal court in Chicago that may be the first lawsuit against Mt. Gox.
…
So what’s the problem? Why not go to the bitcoin mine and dig out some more bits?
Sheesh.
Perhaps the problem stems from that algorithm, which only allows so many bitcoins to be virtually mined over a given period of time. It might take a very protracted amount of mining effort to replace the bitcoins which were stolen.
Or why can’t they just be re-created out of the thin air that bore them? Is it because somebody stole the bitcoins, but that person can’t be found and those coins still exist in an unkown account? Do the coins still have value, now that such a heist has been pulled off (an entire exchange)? I don’t feel like reading the actual news. If someone on this board knows what’s going on, can you please tell me?
LOL! Suddenly Bitcoins aren’t sounding so enticing. It was only a matter of time before hackers began to steal them and now the herd is spooked. And if Mt. Gox couldn’t defend itself, what chance do you have?
At least you can stuff fiats in a mattress. But managing your Bitcoins will require far more computer savvy than the average Joe possesses.
‘But managing your Bitcoins will require far more computer savvy than the average Joe possesses.’
It is reminiscent of Buffets axiom about if you can understand an investment, why put your money in it? When I look at the posts on reddit about bitcoins, I could not figure out the ease of the currency other than that there are nilch middlemen fees, for the most part. That, in its own right, is pretty good, but too many variations of what bitcoins can be accessed by and how, all gobblygook to me. Why touch it? Feels more like you are sold bitcoins versus buying them.
“At least you can stuff fiats in a mattress.”
Likewise you can store your gold coins in cans and bury them in the ground.
Buried gold coins found in California could hit Amazon by late May
California couple finds $10 million in rare coins
February 26, 2014 11:04 AM PST
By Samantha Schaefer
February 27, 2014, 11:45 a.m.
A rare cache of buried 19th century gold coins discovered by a California couple on daily walk could be hitting Amazon.com as early as May.
Whatever portion of the find is put on the retail site for sale will no doubt attract great interest among rare-coin enthusiasts, who have been set abuzz by what experts are calling the most valuable find unearthed in North America.
PHOTOS: California couple discovers cache of gold coins
If the coins were melted down, the gold alone would be worth $2 million, said David Hall, co-founder of Professional Coin Grading Services in Newport Beach, who recently authenticated the coins.
On the market, however, the “Saddle Ridge Hoard,” named for the area on the couple’s property where the coins were found, may fetch more than $10 million.
Among the coins is the finest known of its type, valued at around $1 million, experts said Wednesday.
It’s an 1866 $20 coin printed without the “In God We Trust” motto — the 1866-S No Motto Double Eagle, said Hall.
When the motto was added to the coin in 1866, some coins were still minted in San Francisco without the phrase, he said.
At that time in San Francisco people were concerned with staying alive and feeding themselves, not preserving these coins for posterity, Hall said.
“It was the Wild West, so the coins weren’t saved. And this one survivor, it’s kind of a miraculous coin. It’s never been in circulation. It was saved from the day it was minted,” he said.
…
I have some St Gaudens gold in MS-65 condition. They are keepers and reminders of the era before FDR’s socialism.
I wonder what happened to the person who buried the coins. I wonder if it was a bank robber. This is more fun than the bitcoin disappearance.
It looks like a new market may have just been created for Bitcoin security and possibly Bitcoin theft insurance as well.
Is the dollar considered to be a ’stable electronic currency’? It is definitely electronic, and seems to be far more stable than, say, bitcoin.
“PAID FOR AND POSTED BY GOLDMAN SACHS”
I have no idea about why this appeared when I copied and pasted the NYT article. I decided to not didact this statement in case it happens to be of tangential relevance to interpretation of the article.
Business Day
In Search of a Stable Electronic Currency
MARCH 1, 2014
PAID FOR AND POSTED BY GOLDMAN SACHS (SIC)
By ROBERT J. SHILLER
Bitcoin, an experiment with a radically new kind of electronic money, has exhibited many of the characteristics of a speculative bubble. That was clear long before the collapse of the Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox last week.
Bitcoin’s future is very much in doubt. Yet whatever becomes of it, something good can arise from its innovations — even if the results are very different from its current form or its numerous competitors. What I have in mind isn’t another wave of price speculation. Instead, I believe that electronic forms of money could give us better pricing, contracting and risk management.
The Bitcoin phenomenon seems to fit the basic definition of a speculative bubble — that is, a special kind of fad, a mania for holding an asset in expectation of its appreciation. Further, a bubble is publicized and amplified by news of price increases, often justified by some kind of inspiring “new era” story that attracts more attention as the price rises. In this case, the narrative was that a computer whiz invented a new kind of money in the form of electronic currency units, as part of a decentralized computer-driven system for a world economy that extends beyond the reach of any single government.
The central problem with Bitcoin in its present form, though, is that it doesn’t really solve any sensible economic problem. Nor should it substitute for banks and the governmental institutions that regulate them. They are reasonably effective institutions, despite their flaws, and should not just be scrapped and replaced by a novel electronic system.
Unfortunately, the Bitcoin success story has been tied intrinsically with instability, with excitement and envy for those who have become rich through investing in it — rich for a while at least, because the value of the electronic currency has fluctuated wildly. The instability of Bitcoin’s value in dollars is a measure of failure, not success. It means that any commerce using Bitcoin or its competitors would be buffeted by enormous inflation and deflation.
But if we go back to the electronic-money drawing board, we may conclude that Bitcoin has been focused on the wrong classical functions of money, as a medium of exchange and a store of value. Bitcoin offers a way of “mining” electronic coins that can replace our dollar bills and bank accounts. Yet there is no fundamental need for this. Money, as we’ve known it for decades, works quite well in these respects. It would be much better to focus on another classical function: money as a unit of account — that is, as a basic standard of economic measurement. Scientists spend a lot of time thinking about ways to improve systems of measurement. Business people should, too.
…
ISTM that the dollar is backed in one of two ways: either it’s electronic but tracked, OR it’s anonymous but physical. So stolen money never really “disappears” entirely. It still exists in some form, even if there is a different owner. There is some that is lost, but it is not enough to disrupt the system.
Bitcoin is physical AND anonymous. If it disappears, we don’t know if it’s just hiding with a different owner, or if it’s gone forever and therefore it’s okay to mine more. For this reason, I’m not sure if any virtual currency will ever catch on.
For this reason, I’m not sure if any virtual currency will ever catch on.
Why would that prevent it from catching on? The idea that other people can be careless and destroy their currency, THUS INCREASING THE VALUE OF MINE, should not really bother me.
In fact, I should be in favor of it, assuming that I believe that I can keep _my_ currency safe from loss.
Agreed, though, on the fundamental problem with virtual currencies: there is no notion of rolling back a fraudulent transaction. This can be worked around with trusted escrow firms, but at some cost and with some friction.
“For this reason, I’m not sure if any virtual currency will ever catch on.”
Bitcoin already caught on. The question is whether the sudden realization of all its shortcomings will lead to its imminent demise.
Is this the first virtual currency bank run on record, or has it happened before in other virtual currency contexts?
Restructuring & Bankruptcy February 28, 2014, 6:45 am
Erosion of Faith Was Death Knell for Mt. Gox
By RACHEL ABRAMS, MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN, HIROKO TABUCHI
Mark Karpeles, second from left, attended a news conference after his company, Mt. Gox, filed for bankruptcy.Yuya Shino/Reuters Mark Karpeles, second from left, attended a news conference after his company, Mt. Gox, filed for bankruptcy.
As the Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox was careening toward collapse in early February, its owner, Mark Karpeles, found that even some of his fellow virtual currency advocates were losing faith.
Members of the Bitcoin Foundation’s board, an important promoter of virtual currencies, were losing confidence because the exchange had been associated with another foundation member who was arrested in January on money-laundering charges. The young currency in recent months had been increasingly backed by prominent investors, but the taint of any criminal activity was starting to take over the headlines.
Some wanted Mr. Karpeles, chief executive of Mt. Gox, the Tokyo-based site that once had been the favored place to buy Bitcoins, to either resign from the foundation or be removed from its board, said people briefed on the matter.
It was that steady erosion of faith in the Bitcoin community that ultimately served as the death knell for Mt. Gox, which had been enduring a series of problems, including having accounts frozen by authorities in the United States last year. Without the public backing of Bitcoin believers, Mt. Gox lacked the ability to get the financing it needed, those with knowledge of the discussions say.
On Friday, Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection, five days after Mr. Karpeles resigned from the foundation and just days after its website suddenly went dark. The exchange said that most likely it had lost 750,000 of its customers’ Bitcoin holdings and more than 100,000 of its own coins, or more than $450 million worth.
At a news conference in Tokyo, Mr. Karpeles, dressed in a suit instead of his usual T-shirt, bowed in contrition and apologized in Japanese.
“There were weaknesses in the system,” he said. “I’m truly sorry to have caused inconvenience.”
…
While in Korea, my father got part of his pay in Army script during the Korean War. He said they would trade out the script ever so often and only allow a certain amount to be exchanged for the new script.
He said they would trade out the script ever so often and only allow a certain amount to be exchanged for the new script.
Wow, what a great way to discourage saving!
I still don’t know what happened to the coins. Were there no paper certificates (or PDFs, or a spreadsheet) to show who owned what? Did the individual traders get confirmations by e-mail? Can’t this all just be re-uploaded?
I will buy a bitcoin when the sell price gets down to 75 cents per coin.
Meanwhile I think my chances are better accumulating red wines (as long as I keep them around 53 to 57 degrees in a wine storage rental. I think first I ought to accumulate about fifty bottles before seriously paying for a rental space).what I cannot sell, I will drink.
Rare coins are in my mix as well. 5% or so of my physical precious metal collection is certified rare. This is the year to buy another PCGS - I do price comparisons and my favorite shop in L.A. still charges less for same grade than the national dealer.
A good idea would also be accumulating firearms and auto parts for popular cars. I just need more space. Somewhere in the Phoenix area I should be able to find an upscale neighborhood where I can rent a two bedroom apartment with garage. I like my current place but it lacks a garage.
Somewhere in the Phoenix area, someone’s stash of firearms and auto parts is getting stolen.
Because they advertised to others where they were.
Bill, to be honest — and you won’t like my saying this — but if you’re truly looking for a garage-type safe stash for bulky barter goods, you might be better off buying a small house outright. Many rental apartments have “garage parking,” but it’s usually communal parking with a sticker. Units with an individual locked garage next to the unit will likely cost more per month than a mortgage.*
If you buy a house yes, your $$ yields will be lower than rent/investing. But you’re talking about defending a bulky pile of wine and car parts from thugs and zombies. At that point, you have to break out of the greedy mindset of 2% ROI vs. 6% ROI, and forget about the mobility too.
This is why I’m so amused when Prof Bear says that those Chinese buying safe-houses in CA will “take the financial bath of their lives” in buying the “always depreciating asset.” Really? When you have a couple million and the mobs are coming for you head, losing $200K on a $600K house isn’t really on the front burner, you know?
—————–
*I saw this 5 years ago when I lived in the Midwest. My complex charged ~1250 for a garaged townhome-like unit. An equivalent small SFH nearby was $150K ($900 PITI/month), tops.
Oh, and if there’s a breakdown in the system, which is more likely? The LL coming after you for rent, or the country government coming after you for unpaid taxes? Doesn’t it take a year or so before the county comes for the taxes even in good times? By then, you could probably pay the taxes with wine. An angry LL with weapons, not so much.
Coroner confirms body in desert is slain Las Vegas landlord
Tenant says LL attacked him with a knife when trying to evict him, so he choked her, whacked her in the head and buried her in the AZ desert.
I looked for myself in several places in Phoenix. My eyes do not deceive me. Attached garages with inner entries to house in North Scottsdale. The rent for a three bedroom is $2000. Very reasonable.
Is the weather sending a chill through your economic growth expectations?
Fourth-quarter economic growth cut to 2.4 percent
By Jim Puzzanghera, Published: February 28
Ben Margot/AP - Container ships wait to be off-loaded in a thick fog at the Port of Oakland in Oakland, Calif. The new GDP figures indicate that the recovery had less momentum heading into the new year.
Fourth-quarter economic growth was revised down sharply Friday to 2.4 percent as new data show that consumers opened their wallets less in the face of severe weather and that businesses sold fewer goods abroad than initially estimated.
The new figures indicate that the recovery had less momentum heading into the new year and add to concerns that recent lackluster economic data could signal even weaker growth in the first quarter.
In January, the Commerce Department estimated that total economic output, known as gross domestic product, expanded at a 3.2 percent annual rate in the final three months of last year.
The new figure, released Friday, was in line with economists’ expectations for the scheduled revision, which is based on updated data.
Growth at the end of the year fell off from a strong 4.1 percent annual rate in the July-through-September period and was the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2013.
Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of TokyoMitsubishi in New York, noted that the growth slipped below the 3 percent level that many believe will provide “escape velocity” for the recovery.
“The economy had it and now has lost it,” he said.
“The first quarter is unlikely to be anything to write home about, although the colder-than-seasonal weather will generate some growth from consumers turning up the thermostats in their homes,” Rupkey said.
…
That is a HUGE revision. More reason not to pay current inflated housing prices.
So, instead of the economic activity being approximately $15.7T, it was only approximately $15.575T, with the 0.8% change at least in part due to delayed activity from weather?
Time to panic.
“The first quarter is unlikely to be anything to write home about, although the colder-than-seasonal weather will generate some growth from consumers turning up the thermostats in their homes,”
but but…. it’s the weather!!! errrr…. umm…
Let me see if I understand this:
If consumers turn up their thermostats in their homes then we will have more economic growth. Got it.
So it follows that the higher the thermostats are turned up the more economic growth we will end up with. Yes?
If so, then all these efforts that drive the conservation of energy ends up screwing economic growth, which means - what? - waste is good for the economy? That maybe we should rip out all the energy saving insulation from our homes?
IMO one has to question the way economic growth is measured if it is measured by how much money ends up being spent.
Consumption
“Consumption.”
Hmmmm, the more money I spend consuming energy the less money I will have to spend on other things.
So you can grow the energy consumption of the economy by spending more money for energy but this growth will end up being paid for from some other area (or areas) of the economy.
UNLESS!
Unless more money can be somehow be taken from somewhere else (by borowing from the future? By borrowing from China?) and this money that is taken from somewhere else is poured into the economy THEN all of our economic problems will be solved.
Why, it’s a miracle!
“If consumers turn up their thermostats in their homes then we will have more economic growth. Got it.
So it follows that the higher the thermostats are turned up the more economic growth we will end up with. Yes?”
+1 I knew you’d “get it.”
I didn’t say it was good or prudent. Just sayin’.
“IMO one has to question the way economic growth is measured if it is measured by how much money ends up being spent.”
The definition of GDP is fraught with broken-window shortcomings.
For instance, suppose a crime wave occurred which involved a large increase in the number of criminals breaking the windows of homes while the occupants were away, in order to steal the most valuable contents of said homes. These windows would need to be repaired, increasing the slice of GDP that goes to the glazier industry. The criminals who were caught and sent to prison would increase the revenue flow through the criminal justice system, due to increased prison space and corrections officer services needs. The criminals who were not caught would increase the demand for police surveillance of homes while the occupants are away. The occupants who could afford to replace the valuable contents of their homes which were stolen would do so, contributing to the bottom lines of jewelers and watchmakers.
Which of the impacts mentioned above failed to contribute to economic growth?
If the consumption is paid for with debt then it is unfortunate growth. Lipstick on a wolf, a pig in sheep’s clothing.
It has been unseasonably warm all winter long in Arizona.
Things like this are bound to unsettle the brainwashed “money is everything” worshipers. Apple to the brainwashed…….“Up yours”. 3-2-1………
“we do a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive,” the CEO said. “We want to leave the world better than we found it.”……Anyone who had a problem with that? They should sell their Apple shares. “Get out of the stock,”
Tim Cook to Climate Change Deniers: Get Out of Apple Stock
http://mashable.com/2014/02/28/apple-ceo-tim-cook-climate-change/
Apple has made vast improvements in its use of renewable energy since Cook took over from Steve Jobs. More than three-quarters of the company’s facilities worldwide, including all of its data centers and its Cupertino HQ, now run on solar, wind, geothermal or hydro power, up from about a quarter under Jobs. Last year, Cook hired Lisa Jackson, former head of the EPA, to lead the company’s sustainability efforts.
None of that sits well with folks who don’t think climate change is a big deal — such as the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. and an Apple shareholder. At the company’s annual shareholder meeting, the NCPPR urged Cook and the board to pledge that Apple wouldn’t pursue any more environmental initiatives that didn’t improve its bottom line.
“We object to increased government control over company products and operations, and likewise mandatory environmental standards,” wrote NCPPR general counsel Justin Danhof in a statement before the meeting. “This is something [Apple] should be actively fighting, not preparing surrender.”
Cook’s response was blistering. First of all, he insisted, environmental efforts also make economic sense. Even so, “we do a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive,” the CEO said. “We want to leave the world better than we found it.”
Anyone who had a problem with that? They should sell their Apple shares. “Get out of the stock,” Cook suggested. Danhof’s proposal was voted down by shareholders.
It’s a measure of the strength of Apple’s position that Cook can afford to irritate such a large and powerful shareholder on a matter of principle.
1970s - Global Cooling
2000s - Global Warming
2010s - Climate Change
ALL of them required bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes to “solve”
“we do a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive,”
That’s just unpossible. There is nothing in the world worth anything besides the profit motive.
The profit motive is why God created people.
Jesus died on the cross to save us from the inability to worship the profit motive.
The climate change hoax is the devil’s tool to take our eyes off the ball of the profit worship.
Government does care about profit.
It cares about power.
Government also killed Jesus.
Because HE threaten its power.
Government also killed Jesus.
All governments are evil. That is why our founding fathers were the devil. Because their main contribution to the world was to create a government.
And it was a government that killed Jesus.
The same Jesus who died on the cross to save us from the inability to worship the profit motive.
Greenpeace co-founder demolishes liberals’ ‘cult-like’ agenda on global warming, climate change
February 28, 2014
by Michael Dorstewitz
A co-founder of the liberal environmental advocacy group Greenpeace separated the hyperbole from the climate change issue that has become its hallmark to get at the facts — and they don’t support the Al Gores of the world.
Patrick Moore, who holds a PhD in ecology, told Fox News host Sean Hannity Thursday that he left Greenpeace after 15 years when the group began taking up positions on issues unsupported by scientific fact.
He referred to man-made climate change theory as “a kind of nasty combination of extreme political ideology and a religious cult all rolled into one” — a perfect storm.
“It is a powerful convergence of interests among a very large number of elites, including politicians who want to make it seem as though they are saving the world, environmentalists who want to raise money and get control over very large issues like our entire energy policy, media for sensationalism, universities and professors for grants – you can’t hardly get a science grant these days without saying it has something to do with climate change,” he said.
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2014/02/28/greenpeace-co-founder-demolishes-liberals-cult-like-agenda-on-global-warming-climate-change-103690 - 79k -
Apple worships profits, but the best way for Apple to ensure its profits is to stay on the good side of Obama.
Sleep it off Lola!
Because their main contribution to the world was to create a government.
If you read the Constitution, a large portion of the text appears to be intended to _restrain_ the government.
I’m sure someone has done an analysis of the text from this perspective to determine what proportion does so, but a quick Google search did not readily turn up one. Anyone?
You puny earth pukes make me laugh. Here’s a hint as to what I may be up to:
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/ssn_predict_l.gif
Good one — it’s true!
The Jews killed Jesus because he declined to be their warlord. Darth Cheney was the last Republican Vice President and a warlord. Man, you Republicans really are off your rockers, aren’t you?
It’s a bit early to be struttin’ your stuff isn’t Lola?
He just came home from his night at the YMCA.
He’s passed out in a pool of his own vomit by now. Mango flavored.
The Prophet of profit? Shirley you gest?
How cute..
Good morning J_Fraud.
how about those fed vulcanologists- can’t do w/o them
Vulcan is an unproved theory.
… Which is why the number of government employees has been shrinking since 1962.
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-reports/historical-tables/total-government-employment-since-1962/
Shriek little tree monkey, shriek!
Stop interposing facts in the way of 2tifruitti’s diatribes!
Fox news keeps telling him otherwise, in an ever-more-outraged tone of voice, so it must be true.
Government has contracted most of its work to Contractors. Only an idiot would conclude that fewer govet workers mean fewer govt spending.
Nobody concluded that, idiot.
You did it moron.
Nobody concluded that
Ummm, you did bring up the count of employees as an argument against the thesis that government was growing bigger and bigger.
A less deceptive metric to raise would have been the combined total of employees and contractors, wouldn’t it?
Well, Prime, since the Republicans are the ones who prefer to use contractors (since private business is always more efficient), and the Republicans are the ones decrying the ever-growing size of government, then I think the Republicans are caught in a bit of a snare when someone uses the shrinking number of government employees to dry the Republican tears.
Repubs have two choices. Either claim that government is shrinking (not growing), or admit that contractors cost even more money than government, and there are TONS of them, and it’s a conflict of interest.
since the Republicans are the ones who prefer to use contractors (
Can you provide any evidence to support this statement? My impression is that the number of contractors has grown under both R and D governments. And yet you blame only one side—why is that?
“A less deceptive metric to raise would have been the combined total of employees and contractors, wouldn’t it?”
No, because private contractors are bootstrapping entrepreneurs and job creators.
Prime:
If you have been paying even the slightest bit of attention to national politics over the past few decades, then you have heard the Republicans’ nonstop declarations that we should outsource all government functions to private contractors. Do you hear the Democrats saying that? I have never heard them use that as a talking point. The move toward contractors is definitely driven by the Republicans. These things don’t just start and stop when a new President is elected.
“Which is why the number of government employees has been shrinking since 1962.”
Active Duty Military Personnel, 1940–20111
1965 2,653,926
2011 1,468,364
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004598.html - 38k -
Tutti Fruitie:
You and Danhof suffer from the same disease. You see a corporation making its own decisions for its own reasons, and you start yammering about the government. This has nothing to with government. It has to do with Deniers who are just fuming mad at the fact that science is, in fact, a good method. Better than religion, even.
And with science, we can even recognize trends that might lead some people to pay for different things than they used to buy, thereby leading to a transfer of wealth from the rightful pockets of Chevron into the wrongful pockets of whomever makes solar panels. o no.
I suppose I can’t really criticize, because I use an iPhone, but I’d feel better if Apple had chosen instead to dig into its profit motive to do something about those suicide nets.
Dead people don’t produce CO2.
Actually, they produce ALOT (sic)—at least up until the point where they stop decomposing (ewww).
A lot less than when they’re alive, driving around and taking plane trips. Though I guess you could put them on a plane, or drive them around in your car.
‘Anyone who had a problem with that? They should sell their Apple shares. “Get out of the stock,” Cook suggested. Danhof’s proposal was voted down by shareholders.’
They’re fighting the man. Makes their market share more teethy. You buy an Apple product, you know you are in solidarity against mean people.
Good grief. I lost even more respect for Apple. My boss is hinting of more pressure for me to buy an iPhone though. My boss is all for Apple. He is a liberal. No wonder.
Their decision translates directly into less oil purchases from middle eastern whackjobs.
Are you FOR funding middle eastern whackjobs, or what?
Are you FOR funding middle eastern whackjobs, or what?
You must be a mega idiot. Take a close look at the moosleem rebels starting with Muzaheedeen and Osama, who funded them? It’s the US government. Your oil money doesn’t fund any terrorist, your government does.
Did I say terrorists? I was talking about the House of Saud, the bunch of decadent monarchs that George Bush loved to hold hands and play kissy face with.
If you keep knee jerking like that, you’re gonna hurt your knee joint.
You should be thankful that our oil money goes to House of Saud. At least the Saudis are trying to create a counter force to imperialist America. Would you rather hand your money to Obama and MIC so that they could drone more children? I bet you do…I bet you voted for them.
Uh oh, it looks we have a self-hating American on board. Zima: No one is saying that America is perfect, but it’s better than Saudi Arabia.
I wrote in Ron Paul last time I voted, unlike you chickensh*t Romney voters.
Only Liberals buy iPhones?
Did not know that.
Wow, the Deniers really are getting irritated, aren’t they? What would a Denier gain by railroading Apple into using energy sources that it doesn’t want to use? This particular Denier even went to a shareholder meeting and bothered to waste his own energy on the diatribe. I think the Deniers have stepped way out of the “I’m not sure; I don’t like science” category, and into the “WAAAAAAHHHHHH, I wanna be right!” category.
Time Magazine???
———
Spike Lee’s Racism Isn’t Cute: ‘M—–f—– Hipster’ Is the New ‘Honkey’
Time Magazine | 26 Feb 2014 | John McWhorter
It’s interesting that the director of the richest oeuvre of black films in the history of the medium doesn’t understand what the Civil Rights revolution was for. In his expletive-laced comments about the gentrification of Fort Greene during an interview at the Pratt Institute, Spike Lee seemed to think that what we Overcame for was to be grouchy bigots.
Basically, black people are getting paid more money than they’ve ever seen in their lives for their houses, and a once sketchy neighborhood is now quiet and pleasant. And this is a bad thing… why?
Lee seems to think it’s somehow an injustice whenever black people pick up stakes. But I doubt many of the blacks now set to pass fat inheritances on to their kids feel that way. This is not the old story of poor blacks being pushed out of neighborhoods razed down for highway construction. Lee isn’t making sense.
“Respect the culture” when you move in, Lee growls. But again, he isn’t making sense. We can be quite sure that if whites “respected” the culture by trying to participate in it, Lee would be one of the first in line to call it “appropriation.” So, no whites better open up barbecue joints or spoken word cafes or try to be rappers. Yet if whites walk on by the culture in “respectful” silence, then the word on the street becomes that they want to keep blacks at a distance.
In his interview with Anderson Cooper on Wednesday to clarify, Lee mentioned the controversy in Harlem some years ago over park drumming, which new white residents protested. Lee thinks whites were supposed to put up with being woken up on weekend mornings by the drums. That was a subtle issue.
Spike Lee
Spike Lee has always been a bit to uppity for me.
Spike Lee observed the plantation he lives in and and saw nothing but same old white racists, although a subtle kind and called them out.
Multimillionaires whining about racism is hilarious. Spike Lee’s been rich for how long, since the early 90s at least. He’s a 1 per center preying on us the same as the rest.
Yes, they are racist for thinking that people should not be really loud for no good reason. Or maybe black people just have a bad habit of being really loud for no good reason, and they should grow up and learn how to get along with people better. Generally, being really loud is not a great way to make friends with your neighbors.
maybe blacks don’t own but just rent, or use the house as an atm
No one want to pay for the insane union goon pensions…
And PS Renters - if landlords do get a property tax break - you are not going to see any of it.
——————
Class action suit slams city’s property tax system as discriminating against blacks, Hispanics
New York Daily News ^ | February 27, 2014 | Corinne Lestch
The city’s property tax system has long been criticized for favoring homeowners over renters, but a bombshell lawsuit filed Wednesday charges that it discriminates against blacks and Hispanics as well.
The allegation, if upheld, could force a radical overhaul in how property taxes are levied — potentially forcing homeowners to pay billions of dollars more each year.
“The state would have to alter the property tax system to address the disparities, which would change the distributions of property tax burdens,” said Doug Turetsky of the Independent Budget Office.
The class action lawsuit seizes on a long-documented imbalance: one-, two- and three-family homes account for 48% of the market value of all city property, yet generate 15.5% of property tax revenues.
Conversely, apartment buildings account for 23% of total market value, but pay 37% of all property taxes. When abatements for condo- and co-op owners are factored in, the share of taxes paid by rental apartment buildings is even greater.
But the lawsuit says the imbalance amounts to discrimination, because homeowners are disproportionately white or Asian, while renters are disproportionately black or Hispanic, compared to the city’s population.
Two renters agreed to lend their names to the litigation - Ernest Robinson, identified as an African-American living in the south Bronx, and Rosa Rodriguez, who lives in a 12-unit building in Middle Village, Queens.
“It’s really important that the playing field is level for the working and middle class,” Rodriguez told The Daily News. “Why should those that make less pay more?”
The suit cites a 2006 IBO study that said taxing all classes of property equally would save owners of rental apartment buildings $1,237 to $1,854 per unit each year - savings that likely would be passed along to tenants.
McLaughlin said ending the tax imbalance would help reduce income inequality, a major goal of Mayor de Blasio’s.
However, shifting the tax burden away from rental buildings likely would trigger a political uproar by homeowners whose tax bills would soar.
gov unions are much scarier than towlheads w ak’s
when I see them I can shoot back
“The Helpful Union Guys” are more of a terrorist threat.
—————-
Union ‘Thugs’ Indicted For Burning Down Quaker Meetinghouse That Employed Non Union Workers
TownHall | 2/22/14 | Barkoukis
The federal government indicted several union members on Tuesday for burning down a Quaker meetinghouse in 2012. Why? Because it was employing non-union workers, of course.
Ten members of Philadelphia’s Ironworkers Local 401 were charged with “allegedly participating in a conspiracy to commit criminal acts of extortion, arson, destruction of property, and assault in order to force construction contractors to hire union ironworkers,” the FBI statement reads. “Eight of the 10 individuals named in the indictment are charged with conspiring to use Ironworkers Local 401 as an enterprise to commit criminal acts. … The indictment details incidents in which the defendants threatened or assaulted contractors or their employees and damaged construction equipment and job sites as part of a concerted effort to force contractors to hire and pay Local 401 workers, even when those workers performed no function. Among the criminal acts set forth in the indictment is the December 2012 arson of a Quaker Meetinghouse under construction in Philadelphia.”
“The indictment alleges that business agents would approach construction foremen at those work sites and imply or explicitly threaten violence, destruction of property or other criminal acts unless union members were hired. The defendants relied on a reputation for violence and sabotage, which had been built up in the community over many years, in order to force contractors to hire union members,” the statement continues.
And they truly were union thugs. One of the ‘goon squads’ the defendants used, which consisted of union members and associates, called themselves THUGs—an acronym for “The Helpful Union Guys”.
Using violence, intimidation, extortion, and other crimes to further union goals will not be tolerated, the FBI said, and they’re hoping this indictment will serve as a warning to other unions.
No more goon bedtime stories please. It gives the kidz nightmares!
These people get it:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/economics/2062209-americans-losing-interest-housing.html
Brrrrr, 3 degrees outside.
I lost Ben’s chart of the day showing that housing demand has cratered to 17 year lows.
I lost Ben’s chart of the day showing that housing demand has cratered to 17 year lows.
YES!!!
I was quite excited to see this; thanks for bring it up, HA.
One good indicator of “organic” Housing Demand is the MBA’s Purchase Mortgage Index; it measures how many people applied for mortgages in order to buy houses. Since it does not include the cash sales (mainly investors), I consider it a good proxy for organic end-user demand.
The MBA’s Purchase Mortgage Index had been hovering at 1997-ish levels for several years. But it finally cracked lower recently.
It had been trending down steadily for the last six months or so, but the last reading pierced the recent lows, and is now at 1995 levels!. This is BIG news!
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2014/02/mba-mortgage-purchase-index-lowest_26.html
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
MBA: Mortgage Purchase Index lowest since 1995
by Bill McBride on 2/26/2014 07:01:00 AM
‘Tis a mere flesh wound!
New Wells Fargo layoffs push total past 10,000 mark
Feb. 26, 2014 | Wells Fargo / Getty Images
Written by Victor Epstein
The largest U.S. mortgage lender and servicer announced Wednesday that it’s laying off another 700 employees nationwide.
About 80 of the cuts will occur in the Des Moines area, which serves as the headquarters for Wells Mortgage Home Mortgage, according to Wells Fargo spokesperson Angela Kaipust. The new layoffs mean Wells Fargo, the world’s largest bank by market value, has now laid off more 10,000 of its own since July 1.
The bank is the largest employer in the Des Moines area, with more than 13,000 employees. It has a global workforce of more than 270,000 and its mortgage arm is based in West Des Moines.
Kaipust said the latest round of layoffs is being driven by faltering mortgage origination activity.
“Mortgage application volume declined significantly in the last six months of 2013, and we currently expect mortgage origination volume to decline in the first quarter, reflecting seasonality in the purchase market and lower refi volumes,” Kaipust said in a statement. “We will support our team during this process, identifying other opportunities in the company as well as providing them access to resources and tools to support their job search.”
…
JPMorgan plans more layoffs; will cut 8,000 jobs this year as mortgage business slows
Article by: JOSHUA FREED , Associated Press
Updated: February 25, 2014 - 4:15 PM
JPMorgan Chase plans to eliminate 8,000 jobs this year as its mortgage business shrinks and the giant bank aims to control costs at its branches.
About half of those job cuts had already been announced. JPMorgan Chase now plans to cut more jobs — about 3 percent of its workforce of 251,000 — as it tries to reduce $2 billion in consumer banking expenses by the end of 2016. But the bank said it would add about 3,000 jobs in other areas this year.
The new job cuts announced Tuesday are in its mortgage and retail banking businesses. The bank also cut 16,500 jobs last year in those areas.
JPMorgan’s mortgage business, like that of other big banks, is declining as fewer Americans refinance their home loans. In the years following the recession, low interest rates caused a boom in mortgage refinancing. But interest rates began rising midway through 2013.
“We’re seeing much lower volumes as we’re going through the first quarter of 2014,” said Gordon Smith, who runs the company’s consumer and community banking business. The company said its mortgage business will lose money this year. Smith and other JPMorgan executives spoke at the company’s investor day in New York, which was webcast.
…
Feb 19, 2014, 2:56pm CST
Updated: Feb 19, 2014, 3:42pm CST
More mortgage layoffs hit St. Louis area
Jacob Kirn
Digital Producer- St. Louis Business Journal
Nationstar Mortgage LLC is laying off 115 employees in St. Louis County, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) document filed with the state of Missouri.
The layoffs are effective April 13.
Texas-based Nationstar Mortgage opened a loan originations, operations and fulfillment center in Westport in 2012. It hired 300 people at that time.
Nationstar spokesman John Hoffmann said that with the rise in interest rates last year, demand for refinancing has curtailed, impacting the company’s originations business.
Between 25 and 35 employees will remain at the Westport office, Hoffmann said.
Bank of America laid off more than 280 mortgage employees earlier this month in St. Charles County.
Check out this week’s edition of the Business Journal for an expanded look at what other institutions are doing in the wake of the mortgage slowdown.
…
Feb 21, 2014, 11:19am EST
Updated: Feb 21, 2014, 4:08pm EST
PHH Mortgage to lay off 135 workers in Amherst
Allissa Kline
Buffalo Business First Reporter- Business First
Layoffs are underway at PHH Mortgage Corp. where 135 employees in Amherst will be terminated between now and July 2.
The Mount Laurel, N.J.-headquartered mortgage servicer filed a Feb. 21 WARN notice with the New York State Department of Labor, announcing plans to cut jobs due to “economic” reasons. The reductions are being driven by “lower industry-wide demand” in the mortgage business, spokesperson Dico Akseraylian said in an email.
An unknown number of Amherst employees are already being let go. Akseraylian confirmed that layoffs took place Feb. 20, but he did not say how many workers were affected.
The affected employees will receive 90 days of continued pay and benefits, Akseraylian said. He added that construction of the company’s new building on Wehrle Drive in Amherst — a $34 million back-office complex that received $4.5 million in incentives from the Amherst Industrial Development Agency — will continue and said PHH “remains committed” to maintaining its presence in the Buffalo area.
PHH Mortgage entered the Western New York market in 2013 when it took over HSBC Bank USA N.A.’s mortgage processing operations. Under the agreement, HSBC transferred, but did not sell, the mortgage arm of its business to PHH Mortgage.
When the deal was announced, PHH said it would maintain operations in Western New York and initially hire as many as 400 local workers, many of whom would likely be former HSBC workers who had been employed at HSBC’s mortgage center in Depew.
It is not known how many people are currently employed at PHH’s offices at Northpointe Parkway in Amherst or how many HSBC employees were hired by the company. Requests made by Business First to PHH for that information have not been answered.
…
‘The reductions are being driven by “lower industry-wide demand” in the mortgage business, spokesperson Dico Akseraylian said in an email.’
Is anyone willing to conjecture how this year’s mortgage banking industry meltdown is likely to compare to the 2007 vaporization of the subprime lending industry?
The low in organic housing demand is even more significant when you add in the fact that Millenials are 25-30 — the exact age where they should be forming housholds and starting families and wanting houses.
Only proles marry in 20’s these days.
and the mindset has changed too. The silliness a house means success has been exposed for the fraud that it is. It’s now a sign of failure and weakness.
I can’t keep this straight. Are Millenials just the Y Generation, or does it include X too?
by hindsight2020
Homesteading as a staple of our society is gone like a fart in the wind. I had a house…had to move a year and a half later for my first decent job. Luckily I bought a really cheap house so the transaction costs weren’t as bad. I took advantage of the first time home buyer credit as part of the purchase that house, and with the military exemption I didn’t have to repay the credit inside of the 3 year window normally required to hold the property, in order not to have to return the credit. The transaction costs ate the credit, instead of my entire down payment. I still lost a couple grand. Which is to say, I would have taken a bath if it hadn’t been for the credit. Thank God that was single income financing and mortgage servicing as well. What a nightmare would it have been unloading that property while having to rely on my (ex)spouse’s income in order to service my housing obligation. Eff that dual income “relationship mortgaging” noise.
That was in 2009-2010. Im now 32. I’m not going through that BS again just to “have a house”. My labor circumstances are too unpredictable these days and begrudged/imposed landlordship sure as hell is not a proposition I wish to add to my daily life circumstances any time soon.
I don’t know how other young people do it. Right now with a wife and baby, I can get away with cheap apartment living. I’ll continue to do that until the kid needs a school, then we’ll purchase the cheapest effing tract house we can find within the district we want. I’ll put 10% down and finance to 30 years. Cheaper the better.
I have no intention on building a nest egg on real estate. I’m not putting more liquid than I have to either, on a house. Those things are unwanted boat anchors; albatrosses of daily life. Housing may be the icon of American Dream for many but to me a house is a liability. The biggest household expenditure of the prole is housing. What an American Nightmare. I value other things over housing. The extra disposable income saved on housing costs affords me my hobby and the ability to travel with the family without hawking every penny. It also keeps the monthly budget nice and flexible. It’s incredibly liberating and rewarding. A cheap house meets the basic criteria of shelter in the same way one twice as expensive does, so undercutting housing is quite literally the recipe to allow my family to actually achieve the real American Dream: Freedom of choice without the economic duress of debt servicing in working life.
Boomers hate this Gen Y perspective, because it removes buyers from their necessary pool of suckers. If I’m unwilling to purchase my father’s paper for the inflated values he needs in order to make black, then boomers take a paper wealth bath. Boomers need inflationary buyers. The only way they’re gonna find that is with foreign investors, for the American youth no longer has the means to afford it. I personally welcome the price downgrade my generation will place on housing by necessity. Houses shouldn’t cost what they do anyways, just like the unadjusted health care billing costs shouldn’t cost what they currently do either. I recognize those are “intergenerational warfare” fighting words. Oh well. Time for the American Cost-of-Living Downgrade. I’m personally very much prepared financially for it. I don’t need two car garage, 2600sq ft and granite countertops to have happiness in America. I DO need disposable income to travel, eat out, save for a rainy day and enjoy discretionary pursuits with my family, not to mention sock extra money for retirement. An extra 700-1000 dollars a month NOT spent on housing gets me just that.
We’re all renters in life, really. Those who overestimate the concept of “ownership” in mortal life are really holding on too tightly anyways…
You do realize you could RENT a place in a good school district?
Yes. Been there, doing that.
+1000
“I don’t know how other young people do it.”
1. Drop your pants.
2. Bend over.
3. #%@&@*…
4. NAR: Ah yeah!
Yeah, I love the way the Boomers associate “not being in debt” with “not wanting to work”. The Boomers lived a life on credit, always saying that they could pay it back by working and earning money in the future. That’s what they said, but it’s not what they meant. They meant that the price of stuff would go up later on, and young people would work for the money to buy that stuff from said Boomers.
Then the Boomers voted to get rid of our tariffs, making it extremely difficult for young Americans to pay increasing prices. That’s why inflation is so low.
Poor, poor Boomers.
“….So, if the peak of the prior bubble was 35% higher than the low point and we have bounced back by 25% and expect it to rise another 5% which brings us to within 5% of the 2006 peak price (acknowledged by the author as an “out of whack price” then how does this statement hold true:
seems unlikely, because prices haven’t gotten nearly as out of whack as they did in 2006
Whac, can you provide us with your formula showing prices are not whacked back to 2006?
You know, 35% off $200,000 (2006 price) is $130,000 at the low. A 25% increase on $130,000 is $162,500…..so prices are about 81% of the peak in 2006, which means we are 19% below the 2006 peak.
…. and 200% higher than long term trend.
Williston, North Dakota wind chill is -45-degrees F this morning.
I bet that pace has yobs.
I wonder why more people don’t move there.
‘Williston, North Dakota wind chill is -45-degrees F this morning.’
That is the freezing point of oil.
But I don’t think oil experiences wind chill.
But I don’t think oil experiences wind chill.
Sure it does, if it is rapidly cooling by sitting out exposed to the wind. In the oil-pan, though, you are correct.
Oil doesn’t have body heat. The wind doesn’t make it cooler.
Oil doesn’t have body heat. The wind doesn’t make it cooler.
You don’t understand what wind-chill actually means. It has nothing to do with “body heat”.
Wind-chill is the word used to describe the increase in CONVECTION cooling of an object that occurs when the air that has already been warmed (and would thus rise naturally away from a surface) is instead blown away more quickly by wind, and replaced by cooler air sooner.
This results in faster cooling of the object. It can happen with any object. The object can be made of any substance.
The only requirements for wind-chill to occur are:
1) Wind must be present.
2) The object’s temperature must be above the temperature of the surrounding air. Convection currents do not occur when an object is the same temperature as the surrounding air, because in that case the object is not warming the surrounding air.
So, to restate: oil does experience wind-chill, if it is exposed to the air, is warmer than the air, and there is wind.
When the press/government says NOT to panic…
Lower GDP Growth No Reason to Panic
Morningstar - 2/28/2014
Developed-country equity markets rebounded this week, showing some reasonable improvement. The S&P 500 Index was up over 1% for the week, with other developed markets tracking just slightly behind. Emerging markets didn’t fare as well, showing little change with ongoing concerns from China related to their lending policies and currency management. Not surprisingly, commodities were slightly down for the week, and interest rates ticked downward slightly with the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond now yielding 2.68%.
This week’s data seemed to indicate that the economy wasn’t making much progress in either direction, and the fourth-quarter GDP growth rate was downgraded to 2.4% from the previous reading of 3.2%. The bond market and commodity markets both seem to doubt the probability of any rapid improvement in the economy. Equity markets seem to be benefiting from the lack of many alternatives and declining interest rates since the beginning of the year, which came as a complete surprise to most investors.
But yet John Corzine is still a free man…
—————–
‘Ready to plead guilty’: Teresa & Joe Giudice set to reach plea deal - fraud and tax evasion
Daily Mail | 2/28/14 | Bobbie Whiteman
Real Housewives Of New Jersey stars Teresa and Joe Giudice are reportedly close to making a plea deal with the US Attorney’s office on 41 counts of fraud. An insider told Touch Weekly that Joe will serve at least five years in federal prison while Teresa, 41, could escape with a maximum of five years probation - if they plead guilty to the charges and if the judge approves the deal in court on Tuesday.
That’s a big break on the 50 years jail time the pair were initially threatened with. Joe, 41, is also likely to be given permission to remain in the country. Because he is an Italian and not a US citizen, he could have been deported after conviction, according to prosecutors.
However, the couple will reportedly have to pay up to $11 million in restitution. The Giudices were charged with 39 counts of fraud last July plus two more counts in November. The charges allege that between 2001 and 2011 they engaged in conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. They were both charged with bank fraud, loan application fraud and bankruptcy fraud. Joe also is charged with failing to file tax returns for 2005-2009. They pleaded not guilty and the judge denied their request for separate trials.
“…Teresa & Joe Giudice…”
A “Google Image” search of these two depicts a spoiled couple likely living well beyond their means. Upstairs they’re both probably sixteen.
“tax evasion”
If our tax system is based on “voluntary compliance,” it is also based on voluntary noncompliance. Those people should not be jailed for tax evasion.
Yeah, everyone should pick and choose whether or not to pay taxes. Or maybe our system of democratic representation is good enough to justify the taxes that society imposes on itself.
Did you sign a social contract? I didn’t.
No man is an island, Bill. You can vote and you can run for office. You passively benefit from living in society, and you don’t give enough credit the other people who make that possible for you.
I did not ask for more than 50% of my income to pay for this big ipwasteful leviathan empire. You are a boiled frog, Big V and you do not know it. Sad.
Report from the Oil patch
Just got back from my latest biz trip to SE New Mexico, where the oilfield industry is going gang busters. In my line of work I talk to many small business owners and nearly every one of these reported the same problem.
They needed more people!
Several companies were buying equipment to help them meet their customers demand, but there weren’t enough people.
So if you want a job or you want to make more money, think about moving. Texas (no state income tax), NM, ND or where ever the state is allowing this to occur.
What???
And leave my hipster lifestyle of culture and Starbucks and the PC thin people of the NE or California???
to make more money, think about moving.
Texas, New Mexico or North Dakota sound awesome.
You should rather work there than a street corner in DC, freezing in a mini-skirt.
What sort of skillz do these oilfields need? Is it something that a middle-aged unemployed zydeco DJ in New York City can do?
Skills vary. Mostly you need to be able to pass a drug test and show up every day.
With overtime and “ticket time”, truck drivers are making over $100,000. I heard a rumor that one guy professed to making over $300,000 but this requires working way more than the DOT laws allow. Falling asleep when you’re driving a big rig is dangerous.
Ticket Time is basically an agreement between the driver and the employer that they can bill double time.
The reason? Companies need drivers so they do almost anything to keep them employed. If you allow ticket time, you can have a steady stream of employees. I suppose the big companies will be clamping down on this in the future.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
Hawk - Details, please? Cities and towns?
I have several colleagues with Gen Y offspring who are underemployed. I’d like to pass on your guidance.
I’ll frame it better than “some poster on the internet said…”, lol!
Thanks.
A million peeps and almost a billion dollars injected into the Rio economy. Now that’s a party. Of course it’s FOX that’s interested in the money aspect of “the biggest party on the planet”. Money is all that matters with Carnival for FOX. (But I hear drums right now)
1 million expected as Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival begins
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02/28/rio-de-janeiro-raucous-carnival-begins-massive-street-parties-attract-upward-1/
RIO DE JANEIRO – Rio de Janeiro’s mayor has opened the seaside city’s raucous Carnival, the self-billed biggest party on the planet and Brazil’s last big bash before it hosts this year’s World Cup football tournament.
….Rio’s tourism officials project that 918,000 tourists will descend on the city for Carnival. That’s expected to inject more than $730 million into the local economy
More parties = better and growing economy
(But I hear drums right now)
You will soon hear voices, if you do not get back on your meds. DC is not Rio.
DC is not Rio.
Neither is Albuquerque. I’ve been there.
No while our crime rate is high Rio is off the charts.
It’s a back alley carnival. No webcam (which could be another stream of income).
Tucker Carlson Visits Infowars: Wall Street United With Obama …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKlI_Ubo9G0&feature=youtube_gdata - 146k - Cached - Similar pages
9 hours ago …
Because “science” is socialist, European, and probably gay:
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/02/28/over-100-published-science-journal-articles-just-gibberish/?cmpid=edpick
Scientists is so stooped LOL!
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/europe/ukraine-politics/
Teddy, speak softly and carry a big stick. Obama speak loudly and then get a big stick up the azz. Putin has done it to him twice in Syria and now. Not that we should have been involved in either country just that he should have kept his dumb mouth shut.
Remember you do not have to run faster than the bear, you have to run faster than Obama.
For a heterosexual male, you are really fond of big sticks.
Obama can’t have a big stick because Bush and republicans ruined it for him. No country is afraid of this debtor’s prison called Amerikka. The people you voted were fully complicit in the making.
When does this president have to take the blame for his own actions? Considering the link that Goon always posts about Obama’s Chicago days, it would be neglect not to post that joke? Goon, please provide the link for Zima guy.
That’s hilarious as the Republicans critiqued Obama for remaining ambivalent on the Ukraine a few years back.
Palin helpfully offered four scenarios for such a crisis, one of which was this strange one:
“After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.”
As we’ve said before, this is an extremely far-fetched scenario. And given how Russia has been able to unsettle Ukraine’s pro-Western government without firing a shot, I don’t see why violence would be necessary to bring Kiev to heel. Watch the upcoming parliamentary elections in December to see if Moscow gets the pliable new government it wants.
Science is never wrong…
The debate is over…
Anyone who does not believe is a low class redneck bubba with no education…
———————-
Over 100 published science journal articles just gibberish
Fox News | March 01, 2014 | Maxim Lott
Do scientific papers ever seem like unreadable gibberish to you? Well, sometimes they really are.
Some 120 papers published in established scientific journals over the last few years have been found to be frauds, created by nothing more than an automated word generator that puts random, fancy-sounding words together in plausible sentence structures. As a result they have been pulled from the journals that originally published them.
Them thar pointy headed science people trying to put the devil into good Christian folk and gonna make the negroes get uppity with the book learnin
Only bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes can save us…
Goddamm politicians in Dee Cee taking hard working folks money away and giving to the knee grows and messicans!
Where’s my crop subsidy Mabel?
How many people are farmers getting subsidies? 1/10 of 1 percent of the population? Not so many Mabels.
Shhhh…goon is on a roll.
“Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”
Toga
And the incentive behind this is …
(drum roll)
Publish or perish.
but if people put together the fraudulent papers, it’s people that are sometimes wrong, not science. there’s more about science that we don’t understand than do. I love how humans explain the unknown with mysticism though. could it be that people are not “smart”?
At one time the best scientists thought the earth was flat, disease came from “swamp gas” and you could cure most diseases with leeches (to get rid of the “bad blood”).
But debate was allowed and better theories came about.
With global warming v2.0 - the debate is settled and it can only be solved with bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes…
Anyone who disagrees is ironically a “flat earther” who deserves scorn and ridicule.
Anyone who disagrees is ironically a “flat earther” who deserves scorn and ridicule.
Let’s face the facts.
Most are impressionable, angry white men who fit a certain unenviable pattern of rigid thinking and a narrow world view. Some or morons. A lot of them are bigots who are mad because they know they can’t get their “country back”.
Your facts are very sparse.
“Most are impressionable, angry white men who fit a certain unenviable pattern of rigid thinking and a narrow world view. Some or morons. A lot of them are bigots who are mad because they know they can’t get their “country back”.
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”
2ban:
Those flat-earth scientists were not scientists. They were philosophers.
Science goes through a process of skepticism. All new ideas are met with fierce skepticism within the scientific community. Only with years of research, loads of data, and lots of cross-examination does science move us forward. Once we get to a point of scientific consensus, it will take the same process to move away from that consensus. Does that make sense to you? It’s as it should be.
This has nothing to do with the quality of the work or the editing. This looks more like somebody hacking a journal’s website or editorial process in order to jack up their publication count. And yes, there is tremendous pressure to do that.
Someone I know likes to dig into papers which are old, because there was less pressure and therefore the quality is better. In fact, he likes the stuff that comes from former commie countries. The system where you pretend to work and they pretend to pay you is lousy for economics but actually very good for science. Scientists had all the time they wanted to do things right.
1) What is an “established scientific journal”. Are those peer-reviewed? Or are they similar to the “philosophy journal Social Text”?
2) Where did Faux news get this information? Oh, It’s in the article. “The fraud was first reported in the journal Nature.” That’s a peer-reviewed journal. Funny how the scientific community detected this “problem with science”, and then Faux news wants to act like science can’t be trusted. Faux news didn’t notice it.
It will be funny hearing the progressives/liberals scream when a republican administration does an “obama” on them…
————————–
Exercising the Mighty Pen and Phone
Eagleye Blog ^| March 1, 2014 | Bethany Stotts
Has President Obama’s power gone to his head as he attempts to avoid lame duck status and promote his party for the upcoming elections? He announced to the press in January that “I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone,” remarked glibly in February that “I can do whatever I want” an hour after the administration took controversial executive action on Obamacare, and is promoting a video that celebrates the executive orders of his “Year of Action” on his official website.
“America doesn’t stand still and neither will I,” says Obama in the video highlighting his 2014 State of the Union, a clear campaign rallying cry. “So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunities for more American families, that’s what I’ll do.” For the conservative-minded, who often disagree with the president’s more progressive policies and promise of societal change, this could be seen more as a threat rather than the extension of a helping hand.
Tom Mullen, writing for the liberal Huffington Post, explained the President’s seemingly power-hungry belligerence thus in early February: “What most Americans are hearing is, ‘I’m going to solve these problems myself, whether I have the legal or constitutional power to do so or not.’”
“Now, he not only has continued and expanded Bush’s real abuses, but has taken to flouting the Constitution rhetorically to score cheap political points,” remarked Mullen. “Senator Obama, where have you gone?” he laments.
Then-Senator Obama stated in 2008 on the campaign trail that “The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the Executive Branch and not go through Congress at all, and that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States of America,” according to Fox News. Evidently, that statement had an expiration date as well.
The Heritage Foundation has listed President Obama’s “Top 10 Abusive Executive Actions,” which include
-“amending Obamacare’s employer mandate,”
-“waiving the mandatory work requirement under the 1996
comprehensive welfare reform law,”
-“deciding not to defend the constitutionality of the federal definition of marriage in court,”
-“imposing the DREAM Act by executive fiat,” and
-“refusing to enforce federal drug laws in states that have legalized marijuana.”
The President has “unilaterally delayed parts of” Obamacare “29 times,” reported Fox News on February 15. This has since gone upward and will likely continue to do so: The Administration continues to use executive action to salve the wounds brought about by failures in the implementation of, or structural defects in, Obamacare rather than seeking legislative remedy in a fractured Congress where the House seeks full repeal.
“We are now at the constitutional tipping point for our system,” maintained George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley, one of three constitutional scholars invited to testify at a February 26 hearing looking into the president’s constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws of the land.
“To be clear, I do not view President Obama as a dictator, but I do view him as a danger in his aggregation of executive power,” he said. Professor Turley asserted that the president’s power needs to be checked before he leaves office, and said that while he disagreed with President George W. Bush’s abuses of power, President Obama has accelerated this process.
“Separation of powers was designed as a protection of liberty,” said Professor Turley.
Where was Heritage when Bush was doing the same $hit? Oh, I suppose it’s ok because we were trying to kill the evil moosleeems…
Oh, I suppose it’s ok because we were trying to kill the evil moosleeems…
If that is the metric for goodness, then Heritage should be wildly in favor of Obama as well—he seems to be killing plenty of them with drone strikes.
Customers tell horror stories of solar company that gets $422M in tax dollars
watchdog.org | February 26, 2014 | Tori Richards
Most of us generally hang up. But in 2012, Jeff Leeds, who lives in the Northern California town of Half Moon Bay, listened. His 3,100-square-foot home features 91 incandescent bucket lights, a 180-gallon fish tank, three large refrigerator-freezers and a huge entertainment system. His electric bill was averaging $350 per month.
The sales pitch Leeds was hearing on the phone sounded ideal: Lease a system from SolarCity, the nation’s second-largest solar electrical contractor, for a low monthly fee and reap the rewards of cheap electricity.
“For a $600 fee up front, I would pay $182 a month for the next 20 years,” Leeds said. “They have a performance guarantee. If I don’t make enough electricity, they said, ‘No problem, don’t worry, we will write you a check.’ I thought, ‘I’m covered.’”
A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES: Jeffrey Leeds is reminded of SolarCity every time he looks at his house. Tacked on to that would be what the company called a small bill from the local utility company allowing the customer to use the grid and to cover the use of any electricity Leeds drew from the utility rather than from his SolarCity solar panels.
Now, 15 months later, the local utility company has raised its rates and instead of a lower bill, Leeds is pushing $500 a month with no way out for the next two decades. And he has the eyesore of solar panels that cover most of his roof.
“As a customer, you have no say,” Leeds said. “With a solar lease, you are putting the stuff on your roof. You have a signed contract with the devil and you are stuck with the stuff.”
Half Moon Bay and Solar Panels? Really?? I hope Jeff Leeds enjoys his 20-yr Joshua Tree shagging.
agreed…I lived in Half Moon Bay for about a year and it is VERY foggy or overcast most of the time, hardly an ideal location for solar power…FWIW SC is constantly hiring on Craigslist, but don’t know if that is due to growth or high turnover
This story does not make sense. The guy signed up to save money and the utility company socks it to him in the end? Is this like Arizona utility companies going apeship over solar energy use their and trying outlaw panels on roofs?
And there is this lady in Florida:
http://www.xojane.com/healthy/florida-woman-can-no-longer-live-off-the-grid-says-florida-town
My brother is super frugal. He has a composting privy in the house (yes, and I laugh the time he had fly problems with it because of improper ventilation, like living on the trail using a smoldering privy. Guess his garden does well with it though, yep.). Also lowers his natural gas use to near zero during the winter and uses the woodstove for heating. This is in suburban NJ and a semi-wealthy suburb zone too. Cracks me up when he carped some years back how the utility company still charged him some basic low fee per a month even though he used zero natural gas.
The utility company raised its rates, so that’s why he’s paying more for that lavish electric setup over there.
“enabled borrowers to skip mortgage payments for years”
Foreclosures Surging in New York-New Jersey Market
By Prashant Gopal
Feb 26, 2014
The epicenter of the U.S. foreclosure crisis is shifting to New Jersey and New York, threatening a housing rebound in one of the country’s most densely populated areas.
New Jersey has surpassed Florida in having the highest share of residential mortgages that are seriously delinquent or in foreclosure, with New York third, a Mortgage Bankers Association report showed last week. By contrast, hard-hit areas such as Arizona and California have some of the lowest levels of soured loans after allowing banks to quickly foreclose after the 2007 property crash.
The number of New York and New Jersey homeowners losing their houses reached a three-year high in 2013. Banks in these states have been slowly working through a backlog of delinquent loans that enabled borrowers to skip mortgage payments for years. Now these properties are poised to empty onto a market where affluent Manhattan suburbs neighbor blighted towns that are struggling most with surging defaults.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-26/foreclosures-climaxing-in-new-york-new-jersey-market-mortgages.html - 107k -
A couple of thoughts.
It is always better to take your medicine and get the bad over with asap. Imagine if we did that under Greenspan. We might even have a real recovery by now.
All these NYers and NJers who skipped their mortgage payments for years are victims. Except (I bet) everyone of them paid their property taxes.
Why?
Government doesn’t fool around when you owe THEM money. Especially in public union goon territory.
Now imagine NY and NJ tipping back into a recession with their foreclosure issue now peaking.
No one could have seen this coming…!
“Except (I bet) everyone of them paid their property taxes.”
Nope.
I personally know three NY’ers who haven’t paid their mortgage or their property taxes since 2008.
Years worth of treats for the intelligent, civilized, skinny Beats.
Foreclosures Surging in New York-New Jersey Market
“enabled borrowers to skip mortgage payments for years”
“New York State Of Mind” Lyrics by Billy Joel:
It was so easy living day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times, The Daily News
It comes down to reality
And it’s fine with me ’cause I’ve let it slide
Don’t care if it’s Chinatown or on Riverside
I don’t have any reasons
Cause I’m six years behind
I’m in a New York state of mind
“Now why did you pay a massively inflated price for a house…. and then double down on the losses and finance it for decades?
Good question.
Which begets the question;
Do you really believe wages are going to triple to meet massively inflated housing prices? Especially with the millions of excess empty houses lenders are holding and hoping won’t impact prices? Of course not. Housing prices will continue to fall by two-thirds to meet wages that are still in the 1990’s range.
and in housing news…
A House With a Modified Loan Is a Symbol of Servicers’ Tug of War With Investors
In short, the investment firms are concerned that they are taking unnecessary losses when Ocwen modifies loans. And one subprime mortgage, made in 2007, illustrates why they are suspicious. That mortgage, for $382,500, was packaged with hundreds of other loans into a bond, forgettably named MSAC 07 NC4…
The bond’s data suggest that Ocwen did quite a big favor for the borrower behind this mortgage recently. The borrower had not made a payment on the loan for over six years, according to the data. Yet in January, Ocwen modified the loan.
The amount owed on the loan is now $176,085, the bond disclosures say, less than half the mortgage’s original amount. The interest rate was also slashed. The overall monthly payment was reduced to $601.38, from $2,314.73, according to the data. The borrower has made a payment in recent weeks.
It is hard to know what Ocwen could get from selling 573 Northern Parkway right now, but an estimate on Zillow’s website says the house is worth around $260,000. That’s considerably more than the $176,085 that the borrower owes on the house after the modification. Investors in the bond might wonder whether money they could have recovered has in fact been eaten up by the modification.
link here:
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/a-house-with-a-modified-loan-is-a-symbol-of-servicers-tug-of-war-with-investors/?_php=true&_type=blogs&partner=yahoofinance&_r=0
_______________________
Borrower purchased in 2007, made no payments for 6 years ($147,000 in missed payments), now has a $176,000 loan on a $260,000 house with a loan payment of $600/mon. The madness continues……
The free sh*t army votes.
That is all you need to know.
You know, the first couple hundred times you posted that comment I didn’t think it was funny, but now I find it hilarious!
Did they vote for Ocwen?
Ocwen outsources everything to India. The people who work there have no clue how much stuff you can buy with a dollar. Actually, neither do I. The gas station wants more than a dollar for chocolate now.
LOL
http://maine.craigslist.org/fbh/4355044680.html
That sounds about right for the economy in Maine. Per diem pie tossing.
Mamma mia!
“Sorry no visible piercings or tattoos”
200.00 a day plus expenses and a daily $50 bonus for a handlebar mustache…
Not too bad for making pizza.
$11K for this?
http://maine.craigslist.org/bfs/4355417375.html
That a lot of szechuan chicken.
February 28, 2014
by Michael Dorstewitz
Patrick Moore, who holds a PhD in ecology, told Fox News host Sean Hannity Thursday that he left Greenpeace after 15 years when the group began taking up positions on issues unsupported by scientific fact.
He referred to man-made climate change theory as “a kind of nasty combination of extreme political ideology and a religious cult all rolled into one” — a perfect storm.
“It is a powerful convergence of interests among a very large number of elites, including politicians who want to make it seem as though they are saving the world, environmentalists who want to raise money and get control over very large issues like our entire energy policy, media for sensationalism, universities and professors for grants – you can’t hardly get a science grant these days without saying it has something to do with climate change,” he said.
Behind the Green Mask - Rosa Koire - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDtCb45Lqt0 - 151k -
If it’s on Fox News, it must be true.
Patrick Moore (environmentalist)
From Wikipedia
Patrick Moore (born 1947) is a Canadian ecologist, known as one of the early members of Greenpeace, in which he was an environmental activist from 1971 to 1986. Today he is the co-founder, chair, and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies in Vancouver, a consulting firm that provides paid public relations efforts, lectures, lobbying, opinions and committee participation to government and industry on a wide range of environmental and sustainability issues. He is a frequent public speaker at meetings of industry associations, universities, and policy groups.
He is an outspoken proponent of nuclear energy[3] and skeptical of sole human responsibility for climate change.
Moore was born in 1947, in Port Alice, British Columbia and raised in Winter Harbour, on Vancouver Island. He is the third generation of a British Columbian family with a long history in logging and fishing. His father, W. D. Moore, was the president of the B.C. Truck Loggers Association and past president of the Pacific Logging Congress.[5] Moore obtained a Ph.D. in ecology from the Institute of Animal Resource Ecology, University of British Columbia under the direction of Dr. C.S. Holling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Moore_(environmentalist) - 98k -
Another faux story.
They aren’t making any more Toronto:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/in-toronto-its-a-sellers-market-but-sellers-cant-find-a-place-to-buy/article17133739/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/life-video/video-what-home-buying-is-like-in-toronto-now-bring-extra-cash/article17084682/
I think it’s weird that condos are going down in Toronto, but SFHs are going up.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/19/toronto-condo-prices-have_n_3780106.html
http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/02/03/canadian_home_prices_10_per_cent_too_high_td.html
I think it’s weird that condos are going down in Toronto, but SFHs are going up.
I thought it was common for condos to bubble last and hardest, and bust first, and hardest.
Seems like Toronto is right on track…
Now with housing sinking once again, the fraudsters are busily scripting new victimhood narratives for the free $hit army.
I can’t wait to read them.
Besides homeownership being a major cause of cancer and job loss, my favorite victim story was from a NACA event where the wife or daughter said the dude mowed his toes off so he lost his job and couldn’t pay the mortgage.
When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park after being absent nearly 70 years, something astounding happened.
http://www.flixxy.com/how-wolves-changed-an-entire-ecosystem.htm
The dancing owl is incredibly cute.
Who?
Very cool. Canine induced climate change!
The propaganda is strong with that one. Not that some of the facts weren’t true…we could tell that from the British accent and the music. But the initial statement/assumption that people had tried to control the “deer” (actually elk according to the video). The fact is that no hunting was allowed in the park. So we start from a position where if humans do it it’s evil, but if wolves do it it’s wonderful. Nobody is trying to make the case that the elk hadn’t overpopulated. The disagreement is over whether wolves (and all the issues that come with them) were necessary. But the video didn’t want to dwell on that.
Wow! What a great clip! Thanks much!
Bitcoins, Coca Cola and this and then life will be non-Future Shock:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/1z6wlu/driverless_cars_are_going_to_kill_insurance/
La Raza
La Raza is a Spanish language term translating to “The Race”
Yeah, I’ve always thought that name smacked of ethnocentrism and racism.
Mz. Craterton dons a pair of magic glasses. Being underwater doesn’t look half bad anymore:
http://www.picpaste.com/goggles.png
lmao
Bill:
Timing the market has nothing to do with timing. It has everything to do with seeing that prices are too high and thinking “dang, I shouldn’t buy that because it won’t make any money for me”. Other investments will make more money for me. You don’t have to know the time when it might/i> be a good deal in the future. You only have to know that it’s not a good deal at this time.
The italics demon strikes again.
But you were complaining that you were too late to the stock gravy train, you should have invested a lot in 2009 and 2010 in stock index funds. By now you would be taking money off the table, as I have.
no bill, i was buying houses. my gravy train will last for decades.
How many houses did you buy, BigV? I missed that info somewhere along the line…
I bought a house in my own name, and then I bought shares in Ben’s Joshua Tree Fund. So many shares equals like a few houses.
Drudge link from the Hill, that Senate is very responsible (not):
Senate Democrats will not write a budget for the next fiscal year.
One year after writing and passing the first Senate Democratic budget resolution in four years, Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said her conference will not make an effort in the 2014 midterm election year.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/199579-senate-dems-to-skip-2015-budget#ixzz2ukOrHhaz
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
Isn’t this illegal?
When are the Republicans going to get some balls?
By Harriet Alexander
9:15PM GMT 01 Mar 2014
• “Military intervention would be the beginning of war and the end of any relations between Ukraine and Russia,” says Ukraine PM
• UN Security Council meeting now
• Ukraine’s president puts army on alert
• Vladimir Putin receives authorisation for use of force in Crimea
• Russian ambassador to UK summoned to Foreign Office
• Watch: President Barack Obama delivers blunt warning to Russia
20.35 Details emerging from the UN Security Council meeting, held in New York and convened at the request of Britain.
Ukraine has asked the United States and other key members of the U.N. Security Council to help safeguard its territorial integrity after Russia announced plans to send armed forces into the country’s autonomous Crimea region.
Yuriy Sergeyev, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN, said:
We can stop the expansion of this aggression.
Now what we are doing is we are addressing for other guarantors (of Ukraine’s sovereignty) - the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and China - to perform their guarantees.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10669670/Ukraine-live-Crimea-leader-appeals-to-Putin-to-help-as-Obama-warns-of-costs-to-Moscow.html - - Cached - Similar pages
1 hour ago …
It would be awesome if the US and China teamed up against Russia. Everyone would watch it.
White House Confirms Obama Chose Not To Attend National Security Briefing On Ukraine/Russia Crisis
By: Grant (Breaking911 Newsroom)
March 1, 2014 | 4:58 PM
Officials say he was briefed by Susan Rice -@ZekeJMiller.
http://t.co/QoBTnl8uch
None story. Obama doesn’t need to attend the meeting. He will read perfectly from the teleprompter.
Russian Forces Flood Crimea; Ukraine Warns of War
Pro-Russian protesters with Russian flags take part in a rally in central Donetsk March 1, 2014. The banner reads, “In Russia, we have brothers, In Europe, we are slaves.”
By Bill Neely
First published March 1 2014, 12:23 PM
Russian troops flooded the Russian-speaking Ukrainian region of Crimea on Saturday, giving President Vladimir Putin abundant options should he decide to use the new military authority his parliament gave him.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Putin by telephone Saturday after the upper house of Russia’s Parliament unanimously voted Saturday to authorize military force in Ukraine. The White House said the U.S. was “suspending” its preparations for the next G-8 summit of industrialized nations — scheduled to be held in Russia.
Moscow already had thousands of military personnel in Crimea, where the Russian Black Sea naval fleet is based, and Ukraine’s defense minister claimed Saturday that 6,000 more Russian troops had arrived.
Masked, well-armed men ringed the Interior Ministry and the Parliament buildings in Simferopol, the Crimean capital, after as many as a dozen Russian transport planes flew in men, weapons and ammunition overnight.
The Russian forces appeared to be establishing “legitimate” defensive positions around some of Moscow’s military bases in a “self-defense posture only,” U.S. officials told NBC News on Saturday.
But Ukraine’s acting national leaders reacted aggressively, saying any Russian military action would inevitably lead to war and bring an end to relations with Moscow. They said they had put the country’s armed forces on “highest” combat alert.
Meanwhile, diplomats worldwide were working to defuse the tension:
•The U.N. Security Council was meeting Saturday afternoon in an open session over the objections of Russia, a permanent member with veto power over any council action. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, saying he was “gravely concerned about the deterioration of the situation,” also spoke by telephone with Putin.
•Obama was briefed by his national security team and spoke to several foreign leaders throughout the day, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, that there was no change in the U.S. military posture Obama announced Friday — that Russian military action would be unacceptable.
•European Union foreign ministers scheduled crisis talks in Brussels for Monday, said Catherine Ashton, the E.U.’s head of foreign affairs and security. “We must push all sides in Ukraine to sit around a table and stop this escalation,” Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a member of the Armed Forces Committee and a leading Republican spokesman on foreign policy, urged Obama to take an even harder line after the upper house of Russia’s parliament gave Putin the power to use military force.
“Every moment that the United States and our allies fail to respond sends the signal to President Putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in Ukraine,” McCain said.
“It is now essential for the president to articulate exactly what those costs will be and to take steps urgently to impose them,” McCain said.
But just because Putin was granted new powers to use military force doesn’t mean he will do so any time soon, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said.In what might have been an attempt to put a velvet glove on an iron fist, Karasin said Putin’s power may not be activated quickly.
He gave no time frame for military action, and diplomats said it was possible that the announcement was intended more to send a message to international powers that Russia wouldn’t back down over the future of Ukraine.
Jim Miklaszewski and Kristen Welker of NBC News contributed to this report.
Yawn…so what? Do you think Obama should force American troops to die for Ukrainians? I think Obama learned something from Main Street’s protest of the sable rattling over Syria.
“so what? Do you think Obama should force American troops to die for Ukrainians?”
No, I don’t think Obama or Victoria Nuland should pick PMs for Ukrainians either.
Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call
7 February 2014
The alleged conversation between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt,
Jonathan Marcus: The US says that it is working with all sides in the crisis to reach a peaceful solution, noting that “ultimately it is up to the Ukrainian people to decide their future”. However this transcript suggests that the US has very clear ideas about what the outcome should be and is striving to achieve these goals. Russian spokesmen have insisted that the US is meddling in Ukraine’s affairs - no more than Moscow, the cynic might say - but Washington clearly has its own game-plan. The clear purpose in leaking this conversation is to embarrass Washington and for audiences susceptible to Moscow’s message to portray the US as interfering in Ukraine’s domestic affairs.
Nuland: Good. I don’t think Klitsch should go into the government. I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think it’s a good idea.
Pyatt: Yeah. I guess… in terms of him not going into the government, just let him stay out and do his political homework and stuff. I’m just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead we want to keep the moderate democrats together. The problem is going to be Tyahnybok [Oleh Tyahnybok, the other opposition leader] and his guys and I’m sure that’s part of what [President Viktor] Yanukovych is calculating on all this.
Nuland: [Breaks in] I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience. He’s the… what he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know. I just think Klitsch going in… he’s going to be at that level working for Yatsenyuk, it’s just not going to work.
Pyatt: Yeah, no, I think that’s right. OK. Good. Do you want us to set up a call with him as the next step?
Nuland: My understanding from that call - but you tell me - was that the big three were going into their own meeting and that Yats was going to offer in that context a… three-plus-one conversation or three-plus-two with you. Is that not how you understood it?
But Bill, imagine the new movies that would be made from something like this. China and the US against Russia!
Discussions with U.S. and European Union?
Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said F#ck the EU.
NATO to Consider Ukraine’s Plea for Help
By M. Alex Johnson
March 1 2014, 4:37 PM
NATO said Saturday its top policymakers would meet after Ukraine urged the U.S.-led alliance to step in to protect its “territorial integrity” from incursions by Russia.
Foreign Minister Sergei Deshchiritsya said he made the request after discussions with U.S. and European Union officials. He specifically mentioned the threat to “nuclear facilities on Ukrainian territory.”
The North Atlantic Council, NATO’s top policy committee, said it would convene a meeting Sunday afternoon, followed by a meeting of NATO’s Ukraine Commission, which coordinates the alliance’s relations with Kiev.
Kristen Welker of NBC News contributed to this report.
See, if the Ukranian government had simply allowed the pro-EU protestors to protest and then go home, then there would have been no pretext for the globalist army to move in, and then Putin wouldn’t be sending his army in now. This is why it’s annoying when people support violent reactions by cops against protestors. As soon as the cops get violent, then you allow antigovernment forces to move in. It’s antidemocratic. Government brutality can never lead to good things. So I wish people in the United States would stop defending US cops who act that way.
I would be surprised if the US did anything. The globalists definitely have their claws in our system, but not enough to get our military to make Crimea join the EU. People in the United States are becoming more and more aware of the globalist agenda, and there is actual political resistance to it now. So if Crimea goes to Russia, then the EU will be all sour-faced because they won’t have another country in their dum empire.
That was a pretty good summary.
What the heck do consultants do? I always hear about consultants and the hourly rates they charge.
How is Brett doing? Last we heard, he was in a windfall vortex.
Consultants do what experienced engineers do. And are hired because of a lack of experienced engineers in the task they are hired for. Consultants have no overhead costs. Experienced engineers hired at that company do have overhead costs.
Technically, that’s a contract engineer. You hire those guys when you have a very defined task that needs to be done.
“Consultants” are hired to perform tasks that are less defined and more vague. And they are usually not techies. Fortune 500 companies hire consultants for all sorts of tasks. You know, like determining if the business should be expanded into country X.
Soros, Paulson Embrace Spanish Property REIT Investments, FT Reports
Saturday, 1 March 2014 (10 hours ago)
Hedge fund managers George Soros and John Paulson have both taken a 92 million euro ($127 million) stake in a new Spanish property investment vehicle called Hispania, the Financial Times reported on Saturday citing sources close to the deal.
http://www.onenewspage.com/n/Europe/750aze4xy/Soros-and-Paulson-bet-on-Spain-property.htm - 34k -