March 9, 2014

Bits Bucket for March 9, 2014

Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.




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149 Comments »

Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2014-03-09 05:41:04

Maybe Europe should push its tourism more. Bring money in from the outside utilizing the history and geography they have so much abundance of. Is there a Laffer curve for attracting more tourists and their $$? :

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/washing-machine-factory-tests-italys-082928516.html

Comment by LolaLOL
2014-03-09 07:25:48

It is my understanding from the local PHX area media that tourism to Mexico has picked up again for some unknown reason. Seems odd as from my point of view things down there seem as bad and dangerous as ever.

My only guess is that they are somehow misinterpreting what the data about increased legal border crossings means in the context of 12-20 million illegals in this country.

Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-03-09 08:53:44

Tourism from Phoenix will slow down again for a couple months after the next news of beheadings and jailed gringos get published.

 
Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2014-03-09 12:03:12

I have no interest in ever vacationing in Mexico again. If things changed for the better I may reconsider, but I don’t honestly see any chance of that in my lifetime.

Comment by Bill, just south of Irvine
2014-03-09 12:42:10

Same here. I loved Mexico many years ago. I figure it will take a generation after the drug war ends for violence to be washed out of Mexico.

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Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 15:10:44

Coincidene? I think not. I am planning a trip to Europe right now, but I won’t be actually going for a while.

 
 
Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 05:49:37

Sacramento Foothills Rental Inventory Report….

Available rentals are down by about 60% from 9 months ago. Asking rents are up about 5-10%. In the fall of 2013, inventory was up about 25% and rental rates were softening about 3-5%.

I am not sure what is contributing to this trend, but Uncle Fed theorized that some homes may be taken out of the rental market as they are put into the for sale market.

I pulled population growth numbers and the demographics indicate Sacramento and the foothill communities are growing at about 1.0%/year. This is about 20,000 people. If the average home has 2.6 people, this indicates we need about 7,500 new housing units per year. We are only building about 4,000 year including SFR and Multifamily.

There seems to be a shortage of 3,500 units/year needed to meet demand and this may be creating a pinch.

Comment by Kidbuck
2014-03-09 06:01:03

As purchasing power falls, I am seeing number of people per dwelling increase. Think third world or America pre WW2.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 07:07:55

“Purchasing power falls”?

What are you talking about?

Comment by Combotechie
2014-03-09 08:04:00

No money = No purchasing power?

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 08:15:28

The allusion was “inflation”. There is no inflation.

 
Comment by oxide
2014-03-09 10:20:36

You are correct. Retailers of “needs” industries are simply raising prices to what the market will bear. And if you dare to charge a high rent and a three-income household can pay it, then your rent is now “market rate.” I saw this in my old complex in 2012 and saw the writing on the wall. I can’t compete with rents which were raised each year to suck up two or three incomes. And that was in 2012. I shudder to think what rents will be in 2017 or 2018. At the county “suggestion” (which is ignored) of 3-4% increase, even a one-bedroom apt would eclipse my 3/2 PITI within 10 years.

You may make fun of my debt donkeying, but the bank has yet to raise my rent and tell me that if I didn’t like it I’m invited to move.

 
Comment by SUGuy
2014-03-09 10:25:43

The allusion was “inflation”. There is no inflation.

A half a gallon of fresh Orange juice went from $6 to $8 and yesterday it was $10. Must be the polar vortex? I can write about many other items that have increased by about 20 percent in the last year or so.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 11:01:33

That’s not inflation.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 11:04:14

“And if you dare to charge a high rent and a three-income household can pay it, then your rent is now “market rate.””

In know I know. It’s your old stand by donkeyism right? There is no ceiling to rental rates.

It’s strange you put these flat out patently false notions out there. It’s more strange you acted on them at your own economic peril.

 
Comment by scdave
2014-03-09 11:19:46

and tell me that if I didn’t like it I’m invited to move ??

And that may be the most important part of the equation…

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 11:39:15

“I can’t compete with rents which were raised each year to suck up two or three incomes.”

For every place where two or three potential households double or triple up to pay rent, another one or two housing units sits unoccupied.

 
Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2014-03-09 12:54:56

No money = No purchasing power?

Declining earnings = No purchasing power.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-03-09 14:40:45

A $100,000 sudden loss in value of a mortgaged house would dwarf any conceivable rent increase on an apartment. Maybe that can’t happen again, since we’ve “recovered”.

 
Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 15:06:41

A half-gallon of orange juice is $3.50.

 
 
 
Comment by In Colorado
2014-03-09 08:40:10

I’m seeing no lines at restaurants on Saturday nights. I’m sure that I’m a contributor to that as going out has become a rare treatfor us. Plus it’s cheaper to make steaks at home than to eat burgers at a place like Red Robin.

Comment by scdave
2014-03-09 09:39:53

Went to lunch thursday at one of my favorite places…A quaint Vietnamese resturaunt…Wonderful food…Seats about 40…Its next to our mega destination shopping mall (Valley Fair/Santana Row) but its in a neighborhood shopping center anchored by BevMo & Michaels…

We walked in at 11:45…Place was empty….One couple walked in about 12:00 or so…We left around 12:45…When we left the two people who came in after us were the only two there…

I can then go down the street to the mall and the Yard House will be packed….Bifurcated…Some places doing well…Other not so well….Italian restaurant been in business here 3 generations just closed…Another larger restaurant been in business for 70 years or so is still operating but only because family has a boat load of money and just refuses to shut it down…

It just seems like if you are not a destination business (downtown city core or major mall) its becoming very difficult to make a go of it…

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Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 11:44:49

We hit the local Panera Bread franchise establishment at peak dinner hour last night (shortly after 6pm). I assumed on the drive over we would wait in line to place our order, then again for a table, but was pleasantly surprised to see no order line and only about 1/4 of the tables occupied. It worked well for us, but if that’s where Saturday night demand is, it bodes poorly for their business.

The thought that went through my mind was, “I wonder if this has something to do with those 400 positions at Rancho Bernardo Sony that are going away?”

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 11:50:03

Sony Electronics announces layoffs; 400 affected in San Diego office
Feb 26, 2014
11 days ago
Sony Electronics President and COO Mike Fasulo speaks during a Sony press event at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the 2014 International CES on January 6, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO - Sony Electronics announced Wednesday that it will layoff about 400 employees in its Rancho Bernardo office in an attempt to remain competitive in the market.

The Toyko-based company said the restructuring will affect a total of 1,000 employees in the U.S. It will also close 20 stores excluding its Fashion Valley and UTC mall locations.

Sony president and COO Mike Fasulo described the move as “extremely tough” but “absolutely necessary.”

“I am entirely confident in our ability to turn the business around, in achieving our preferred future, and continue building on our flawless commitment to customer loyalty through the complete entertainment experience only Sony can offer,” he stated in a press release.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 06:08:15

No J._Fraud.

Sacramento rental rates are down 5% YoY and those declines are accelerating as housing demand slides to 17 year lows.

See for yourself.

http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Sacramento-home-value/r_20288/#metric=mt%3D48%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D5%26rt%3D8%26r%3D20288%26el%3D0

With 4.4 million excess empty houses in California, there is no “shortage of housing.”

Comment by LolaLOL
2014-03-09 06:59:37

Jingle fraud’s message:

Buy as many Sacramento houses as you can. Borrow all you can get. You can’t lose.

Say that out load and hear how silly it sounds.

Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 10:47:36

Lola, you are funny, LOL.

I am not saying your suggested message. I have not bought any real estate since 2010. Why would I buy something with negative cash flow. That does not make sense.

You sound so silly when you misquote me out loud.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 11:09:49

J._Fraud,

You already bought a depreciating shack with negative cash flow.

 
Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2014-03-09 12:59:34

Why would I buy something with negative cash flow. That does not make sense.

Agreed.

But isn’t the flip-side of that coin that it DOES make sense to sell properties when the market prices suggest negative cash-flow for new entrants? That’s a classic over-valued signal…

 
Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 16:36:21

I prefer to keep my positive cash flow. I have owned most of my houses for 4-5 years now. I do not raise rents on existing residents, because I like to keep the properties 100% occupied. However, if the current residents leave, the new rents will just add another $200/mon in cash flow.

This is the first time in my life I have had strong cash flow. I really enjoy it. The 30% appreciation is just a bonus if I ever want to sell. The principal reduction on the loans is just nice attribute. Buying real estate in 2008-2010 was the best investment of my lifetime.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 16:51:44

With your latest lies like “I’m a general contractor”, nobody believes a word you say.

 
Comment by LolaLOL
2014-03-09 19:47:26

You are a fraud shill which is why you post things trying to convince yourself that you are not already broke. Sell now and minimize your losses.

 
 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 08:14:44

Maybe J-M missed the negative sign?

Sacramento Home Prices and Home Values
Median rent list price / sq. ft. ($)
$0.95
-4.9 %Y-o-Y

Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 10:56:10

Whac, I did not miss any signs. I acknowledge the negative factor. Again, I am telling you real time observations. You are quoting lagging data (which I agree with btw, as rents did drop). What I am saying now is rental inventory in my submarket is down 60% from the level it was in the fall of 2013.

It happened fairly quickly and many of the listing are at rental rates 5-10% above where they were 6 months ago. This has all occurred in the last 30-60 days.

I am just curios about why this is happening and offering possible explanations, hypotheses and theories.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 13:28:54

No. Inventory is up 60% and rising.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-03-09 14:43:16

How lagging was your 1% population growth statistic I wonder? 2012 maybe?

 
Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 16:44:18

HA, rental inventory is down.

Blue Skye, the population growth in my market is as follows:

2011 - 1.74%
2012 - 1.21%
2013 - 0.88%
2014 - 0.92% (projected)
2015 - 1.18% (projected)

For California as a whole:

2011 - 0.70%
2012 - 0.68%
2013 - 0.77%
2014 - 0.87% (projected)
2015 - 0.91% (projected)

For Sacramento

2011 - 0.74%
2012 - 0.63%
2013 - 0.79%
2014 - 0.85% (projected)
2015 - 0.95% (projected)

Population growth of 1% a year is considered moderate growth and is quite common.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 16:49:56

Population growth is the lowest in US history per 2010 census.

Whether rental or for sale inventory, overall inventory is up 60% in Sacramento… and rising.

 
 
 
Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 10:44:49

HA, you are using lagging indicators and I agree, rental rates dropped for the last 6 months. What I am telling you now on a real time basis, is rental inventory is getting very scarce and it appears rental rates have increased substantially in the last 1-2 months. Please try to comprehend the meanings of my posts when you read them and respond with something meaningful, rather than give your canned speech of $55/SF cost and 25 million empty houses.

Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2014-03-09 12:36:21

Riiiiiight. Because Jingle Fail has realtime data. What a lying troll you are.

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Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 16:50:57

HA, ha, ha, what am I going to do with you. Zillow shows the rental listing price went from $1650 to $1750 between Nov 2013 and Jan 2014. That supports what I am seeing in the market.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 16:58:52

Just like your other substantiation. It amounts to nothing more than claims and tall tales.

 
 
 
 
Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2014-03-09 06:19:57

‘I pulled population growth numbers and the demographics indicate Sacramento and the foothill communities are growing at about 1.0%/year. This is about 20,000 people.’

How the heck is that happening? Is that mainly from birthrate growth? Having a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea that Sacramento can handle that growth with job matching. Reading about California and having visited it numerous times, I’ve noted that nearly all the people live in the cities. You’d have to or else face enormous costs of commuting. Wonder what the next round of Californication looks like once the next locust trap state gets the carpet bagging bug.

Comment by LolaLOL
2014-03-09 07:07:27

Sacramento is booming. The seat of state government. California has never been richer in taxes and bureaucrats. They’ll be expanding their reign on and on for years to come. Unlimited growth and progress there.

Oh wait, California doesn’t have a printing press.

Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2014-03-09 07:12:51

‘Sacramento is booming.’

And, the employment scene pays what kind of wages to support the house costs? Real estate can overshoot wages easily. We see it all the time. IMHO, it is more the norm than organic growth, if there was ever organic growth by definition.

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Comment by taxpayers
2014-03-09 07:15:34

moonbeam is raising taxes at will. CA is in competition w IL to see who goes BK 1st.

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Comment by scdave
2014-03-09 07:57:52

CA is in competition w IL to see who goes BK 1st. ??

I see the California gang bangers are out in force this morning.

Better get ready to open your wallet then because the lost revenue will need to be made up somehow…Be careful what you hope for;

Rank State Gross collections[2] Revenue per capita (est.) Ratio to GSP[3]

1 California $292,563,574,000 $7,690.66 14.6%

Thats as much as the bottom 23 states “COMBINED”….Think about that for a moment…

 
 
 
Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 16:28:01

Absolute, why don’t you just google CA population growth. There is no point in debating measurable facts.

 
 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-03-09 06:42:23

Reality check.

Don’t worry, half those new people will have no jobs and there are thousands of houses for sale. Housing starts are at century lows, as they have been for several years. The market is telling you there are too many houses.

Comment by rms
2014-03-09 07:17:06

“Reality check.”

Talked with a guy out in the field (work) yesterday who is 5-months into a divorce. He was rattling-off who gets what debt since both work full time; these peeps are SOOooo… fugg’n far in hock you gotta wonder why anyone would continue lending to them? Insane.

Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-03-09 08:09:12
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Comment by ibbots
2014-03-09 09:04:40

They can sort out their debt all they want but their agreement is not binding on their creditors.

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Comment by polly
2014-03-09 13:45:08

Bingo. If the creditors your ex-spouse was supposed to pay go after you, you can sue the ex-spouse to pay you back under the divorce decree, but you that is all you get.

 
 
Comment by Neuromance
2014-03-09 09:23:20

As long as the taxpayer guarantees it, the politicial donors keep forking over cash.

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Comment by LolaLOL
2014-03-09 06:43:18

All realtors are liars.
Jingle Fraud is a realtor.

Therefore…

Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 11:00:43

I am not a realtor. I have a full time job and work 40+ hours per week just like most people.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 15:12:19

Your’e still a fraud.

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Comment by JingleMale
2014-03-09 22:01:14

If you think I’m a fraud, that just shows you are an idiot! HA!

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-10 04:27:53

We know you’re a fraud.

 
 
 
 
Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 14:54:13

Was there enough excess inventory in 2008 to suck up all the population growth that has occured since then? If the shadow inventory were put on the market and sold to occupants, would you still have a pinch?

The other day, I was looking at a real-estate website and I saw a duplex that I might want to buy. I changed my mind when I realized that the entire street is vacant, with the exception of one condo in a four-plex of condos. Only two of the buildings are for sale. There is an eight-plex with a door that is busted open, and the parking lot of the building is becoming an unofficial dumping ground. If I bought the duplex, then no one would want to move in. Who wants homeless squatters for neighbors? It is going take someone with enough money and connections to buy up the whole street, and to convince all the owners to acually sell what they have.

Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 16:26:04

Sounds like an opportunity for…..Blackrock!

Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 16:45:03

Yes, it would make me happy if a Blackstone would buy the eight-plex at the very least. There are other people who might buy it, but those people aren’t special enough to call up the owner and get them to sell it.

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Comment by Jingle Male
2014-03-09 17:01:38

Also, in answer to your comment about housing supply in 2008, in California, this was studied by Christopher Thornberg.

“He was one of the earliest and most accurate predictors of the sub-prime mortgage crash that began in 2007. He was also a predictor of the global economic recession that followed.”

Here is what he says about CA inventory:

“….the fact that California has not built enough housing for the last two decades, even in the midst of the crisis with prices plummeting. Back in 2009 and 2010, we still had the lowest housing vacancy rate in the nation, which is astonishing when you think about it.”

Comment by rms
2014-03-09 18:49:43

“He was one of the earliest and most accurate predictors of the sub-prime mortgage crash that began in 2007. He was also a predictor of the global economic recession that followed.”

+1 Agreed.

But Thornberg is also a turn-coat real estate media shill. Too bad that telling the truth means being ostracized. Sorta liked him at first.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 19:08:01

Thornburg burned through his credibility long ago.

Make no mistake. There is no housing shortage in CA considering there are 4.4 million excess, empty and defaulted houses there.

 
 
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-03-09 20:24:33

‘He was one of the earliest and most accurate predictors of the sub-prime mortgage crash’

I don’t remember Thornberg saying diddly about subprime. On the other hand:

‘December 11, 2004′

‘Pricing bubbles often end in a parabolic rise, which we probably saw last year. It is no surprise that what is holding up the market now is lending to so-called subprime borrowers. I view this as bad news for this market as these folks will be in financial trouble even faster. Consider that the risk to mortgage lenders increases, suggesting some desperation for borrowers. “Overall, new originations of subprime mortgages totaled an estimated $375 billion through the end of September, a figure that marked a 63 percent year-to-date rise. Putting that number into perspective, one out of every six new residential mortgages made this year has gone to a credit-impaired”..borrower.’

http://thehousingbubble.blogspot.com/2004/12/subprime-lending-surges.html

Prior to this episode, subprime lending had been under 2%.

Thornberg has always said there was a shortage of housing California. Just before there were tens of thousands of abandoned units he said there was a shortage of cheap apartments. But none the less, he’s consistently said there was a shortage. And he’s always been wrong about that. Pretty much everything he got right could have been found by any visitor to this blog.

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Comment by oxide
2014-03-09 06:10:54

News from the nabe:

A couple of houses in my neighborhood have For Rent signs in front. One of them had a typical bubble history of foreclosure and non-arms-length sales, ending with a Under Contract->Listing Removed->For Rent. A third house is clearly empty with boarded up windows. Two others were cosmetically flipped. One sold for IMO a too-high price, the other one is For Sale with the usual flappy sign that says “I’m gorgeous inside.” :roll:

A couple more are squatted. Sometimes a realtor will manufacture a legit-sounding offer just to put the house Under Contract and stave off an eviction for a couple months, repeat until the bank catches on. My realtor had told me this trick was common among immigrants with sellers’ agents of the same ethnicity. I guess they view housing as transient anyway. They buy time month by month and just carry on until they don’t. Bonus points for sticking it to the American man.

A good chunk of my neighborhood changed hands in 2010-2012. There was a small frenzy in 2013, but inventory has slowed to a relative trickle. I don’t know if the place is on the way up or down.

(Yes, HA, we all know that it’s on its way Craaaaaaterville.)

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 07:02:25

“A good chunk of my neighborhood changed hands in 2010-2012.”

If this were true, and I don’t believe it is, the exchange went from weak hands to weaker hands.

Comment by taxpayers
2014-03-09 07:48:56

this is gov worker land- bama is hiring more 13,000 IRS bedside agents and 12 new agencies for HC. When they are not getting “raises” they are getting cola and step increases.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 08:56:59

That doesn’t seem to be helping the growing inventory and collapsing sales in the DC area.

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Comment by LolaLOL
2014-03-09 07:21:27

Here is the state of the market: FB wants way too much for house. House sits and sits for months to years. FB doesn’t rent it out thinking they are still making money from the appreciation. House still sits.

Prices start to drop. A variety of other factors work to make falling prices a further reality, FHA loan limits, new qualification rules, etc.

Now we go where? This is the question that I do not see truthfully and objectively answered in business or real estate articles. Everyone is just hoping and wishing for higher prices. Seriously, how can you ignore the FHA drops?

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 07:39:35

“Here is the state of the market: FB wants way too much for house. House sits and sits for months to years. FB doesn’t rent it out thinking they are still making money from the appreciation. House still sits.”

That’s it precisely. Weak hands that get weaker as the duration grows.

 
 
Comment by rms
2014-03-09 07:27:45

“A good chunk of my neighborhood changed hands in 2010-2012.”

Out with those sweet-n-low Prop13 taxes…

Comment by polly
2014-03-09 11:43:23

Prop 13 is for California, yes? What does that have to do with a house in Maryland?

Comment by rms
2014-03-09 21:38:42

“What does that have to do with a house in Maryland?”

Oops, thought oxide was in OC for some reason. I was in a hurry to get out the door this morning, and I’m missing the sunny weather and coastal climate.

However today was a nice day for a stroll with the jacket unbuttoned. I’m seriously thirsting for sunlight; can’t wait to play catch with my son down at the school yard in denim shorts, sans tee shirt. Icy winters at 47°19′ N are not my style.

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Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 14:45:57

If you have squatters, then it’s on the way down.

 
 
Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2014-03-09 06:25:00

Great job for someone who wants to learn about real estate:

http://maine.craigslist.org/lab/4366650962.html

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 07:18:02

You seem to spend alot of time on CL looking for employment.

Have you found any yet?

 
Comment by rms
2014-03-09 07:23:44

“Great job for someone…”

Worker: Journeyman skills and pickup truck.

Employer: Apprentice wages.

 
 
Comment by Carl Morris
2014-03-09 06:28:23

Been in Shanghai again for a few days now. Just caught back up. Nothing new to report except everything definitely seems quieter now after Chinese New Year.

Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 14:38:37

Did you get a present for new years?

Comment by Carl Morris
2014-03-10 02:19:10

I brought one back to the USA for someone else. Didn’t receive one…that I know of.

 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 07:32:52

Scientists from NOAA served as three of the four lead editors on the report.

New analyses find evidence of human-caused climate change in half of the 12 extreme weather and climate events analyzed from 2012

September 5, 2013

The “Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective” report was published today by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. (Full report).

Human influences are having an impact on some extreme weather and climate events, according to the report “Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective” released today by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Overall, 18 different research teams from around the world contributed to the peer-reviewed report that examined the causes of 12 extreme events that occurred on five continents and in the Arctic during 2012. Scientists from NOAA served as three of the four lead editors on the report.

The report shows that the effects of natural weather and climate fluctuations played a key role in the intensity and evolution of the 2012 extreme events. However, in some events, the analyses revealed compelling evidence that human-caused climate change, through the emission of heat-trapping gases, also contributed to the extreme event.

“This report adds to a growing ability of climate science to untangle the complexities of understanding natural and human-induced factors contributing to specific extreme weather and climate events,” said Thomas R. Karl, L.H.D, director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). “Nonetheless, determining the causes of extreme events remains challenging.”

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20130905-extremeweatherandclimateevents.html - 21k - Cached - Similar pages
——————————————————————————–
NOAA

Annual budget US$ 4.5 billion (2009)
US $4.9 billion (est. 2010)
US $5.6 billion (est. 2011)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Wikipedia

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce

Agency overview

Formed October 3, 1970; 43 years ago (1970-10-03)
Jurisdiction Federal government of the United States
Headquarters Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
Annual budget US$4.5 billion (2009)
US $4.9 billion (est. 2010)
US $5.6 billion (est. 2011)
Agency executive Kathryn Sullivan, Administrator
Parent agency Department of Commerce
Website http://www.noaa.gov

Comment by albuquerquedan
Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-03-09 08:39:48

Excerpt:
Over the next two decades, the EPA’s rules to fight global warming will cost the economy $2.23 trillion, raise energy prices and lower families’ incomes.

Using economic models based on the federal government’s National Energy Model System, the conservative Heritage Foundation found that, by the end of 2023, EPA climate regulations will cost the U.S. nearly 600,000 jobs and reduce a family of four’s income by $1,200.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/04/report-epas-global-warming-agenda-will-cost-the-economy-2-23-trillion/#ixzz2vTqhJQZM

Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 10:18:13

BEHIND THE GREEN MASK

UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development is the action plan implemented worldwide to inventory and control all land, all water, all minerals, all plants, all animals, all construction, all means of production, all energy, all education, all information, and all human beings in the world. INVENTORY AND CONTROL.—-Rosa Koire

http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/ - 41k

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Comment by Blue Skye
2014-03-09 15:00:10

No one at the EPA even understands how the Greenhouse Gas thing supposedly works.

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Comment by jose canusi
2014-03-09 08:40:53

I’m currently reading a fascinating book called “The Greenlanders”, and although the characters are mostly fictional, the background, events and setting are not. From about 900 to about 1400, Greenland was settled by Norse peoples, with thriving farmsteads and other enterprise. During this time something occurred called The Medieval Warm Period, from about 950 to 1250.

I bring this up because people freak out about the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. That ice sheet had largely retreated during that period and the world survived. Then it got cold again, The Little Ice Age, which was the end of the Norse settlements in Greenland.

My point is that these climate phenomena come and go. Although I’m sure they are intensified by population increase.

Comment by jose canusi
2014-03-09 08:53:22

It’s also interesting to read relocation websites like City Data and note all the people freaking out about the cold weather up north and looking to relocate to warmer areas like Florida and other parts of the South.

I grew up in the Northeast where we had snow, ice and cold during the winter. I know it was a pain in the neck for my parents, but that was just part of life, and spring would eventually come. Chains were put on tires to navigate the roadways, snowplows came out. In the meantime I enjoyed ice skating, sledding and just generally playing in the snow. I think a lot of the freakout is caused by the media, but also by economic conditions, because it’s harder to deal with cold weather with less money.

 
Comment by Jane
2014-03-09 16:06:19

Jane Smiley is a fabulous author. IMHO, that is her all-time tour de force (although she is by no means a one trick pony). She’s been prolific over the years, and all of her books swim in moral ambiguity and angst. My cuppa tea!

I bought Greenlanders when it first came out in the trade paperback edition. Wish I could strangle whoever I lent it to that didn’t give it back. What survivors! There is one young woman in that community who noted the changes in the winters, the increased mortality, the hardships that had gotten progressively worse throughout her life. She probably had parents who were willing to be open about the matter. She up and ran off with a skraeling, a Greenlander Inuit. Reviled by her former community, she and her progeny appear to have been the sole survivors of those stark days.

I was completely bound up in the narrative. Hindsight is 20/20 of course - but imagine being caught up in a frog-slowly-freezing in the water scenario?

Your current supplies cannot be replenished from year to year because the growing season is getting shorter, and you’re getting iced in. The winter die-off increases year over year. The trading ships come with decreasing frequency, and then stop coming. The winning bet seems to be: identify your decision point well ahead of time, be ruthless in your examination of fact, and when the fact pattern says you are at your decision point, act without hesitation. In this case, the right decision would have been to abandon ship and catch a ride back home.

The facts were there for all to see at the inflection point, for over twenty years’ duration. With the exception of the woman who went skraeling, the community persisted in putting a good face on things while their members perished. A mass delusion.

Instructive for our times, IMHO - while reading, it was impossible not to consider that there was a universal message. Q: How do villages die? A: By suppressing facts.

Enjoy the read! For an in-depth look at that austere culture, consider also the Kristin Lavransdottir trilogy, I think Sigrid Undset is the author.

 
 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-03-09 15:29:41

“Earth and its ecosystems – created by God’s intelligent design and infinite power and sustained by His faithful providence – are robust, resilient, self-regulating, and self-correcting”

Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 15:40:41

“Over the next two decades, the EPA’s rules to fight global warming will cost the economy $2.23 trillion, raise energy prices and lower families’ incomes.”

Comment by Oddfellow
2014-03-09 16:15:11

Does the source of your info have an economic interest in the issue?

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Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 18:27:52

That you alpha?

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-03-09 19:16:41

You data theta?

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 19:18:28

AlphaLola

 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 19:44:01

“Does the source of your info have an economic interest in the issue?”

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.

As a result, funds are being misspent and poorly allocated.

“There are millions of children dying every day from preventable vitamin deficiencies and diseases and we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a problem that may not exist.”

He emphasized that climate models, popularly used to make predictions, are notoriously unreliable. “You could learn more about the future by throwing a bunch of bones on the ground.”

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2014/02/28/greenpeace-co-founder-demolishes-liberals-cult-like-agenda-on-global-warming-climate-change-103690 - 199k -

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-03-09 19:52:55

gabagool?

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-03-09 21:11:19

¨Moore has earned his living since the early 1990s primarily by consulting for, and publicly speaking for a wide variety of corporations and lobby groups such as the Nuclear Energy Institute.[39]¨

wikipedia

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-03-09 07:42:19

‘Q: My home was foreclosed a few years ago. At that time, I had a home equity line of credit on the property. I am not responsible for the main mortgage. Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to affect my equity loan, and I am still making payments on it. What options do I have? I’d like to stop payment or settle for a lesser amount owed.’

‘A: It won’t be a consolation to you, but you are not alone. A home equity line of credit is a second mortgage (deed of trust). In recent years, to avoid having to pay private mortgage insurance premiums, many lenders worked out deals in which the homeowner would give a first trust in the amount of not to exceed 80 percent of the purchase price, and a second trust in the amount of 10 or 15 percent of the contract price. Generally, homeowners did not have to pay private mortgage insurance if their loan did not exceed that 80 percent target.’

‘Now, when the first trust is foreclosed upon, it wipes out the second deed of trust. In other words, the home equity line of credit lender has no security (no lien) on the property. But, when you get a mortgage loan, you sign two legal documents, the promissory note and deed of trust, or mortgage.’

‘So, in your case, while your home equity lender does not have a security interest in your house, it still can go after you for payments based on the note you signed.’

‘Talk with your lender, particularly someone at a high level who has authority to reach a negotiated resolution. Explain that you have no house they can foreclose on and would like to not only reduce the second mortgage rate, but reduce the amount owed.’

‘Never hurts to try. Otherwise, you signed a promissory note and unless you file for bankruptcy relief, you are legally obligated to honor what you signed.’

Let’s see here:

‘I’d like to stop payment or settle for a lesser amount’

So you walked away from thousands of dollars borrowed on the house, and now you’d like to walk away from many more thousands on the equity loan. No claim of hardship, or bad lending practices, although a good sob story can be invented without much effort.

Comment by scdave
2014-03-09 08:08:00

the home equity line of credit lender has no security (no lien) on the property ??

Home equity loan or line of credit loan ?? I can see where a line of credit does not have a security instrument like a DT but I am quite sure that a home equity loan does…

 
Comment by Lemming with an innertube
2014-03-09 10:56:34

Wow, Ben, it sounds like you are implying that the person who signed a contract to pay back a loan should be the one accountable to pay it back (and not us, the taxpayers?). Don’t you know that you’re going to make this person feel bad about himself?

Comment by Lemming with an innertube
2014-03-09 10:57:56

or herself?

Comment by Ben Jones
2014-03-09 11:50:53

I think it’s worth noting how casually we in this country toss off the idea of paying back money these days. Especially since we borrow more than anyone else.

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Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 11:51:35

“…the person who signed a contract to pay back a loan should be the one accountable to pay it back (and not us, the taxpayers?)…”

Enough already with the crazy talk.

 
 
Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 14:35:18

I have a car loan and some credit card debt at 0% interest. I would like to stop payments. What should I do?

Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2014-03-09 23:08:23

You should stop paying.

 
 
 
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-03-09 07:50:12

‘Political snipping from the state’s Democratic governor hopefuls over an increase in the number of home foreclosures in the state in recent months ignores the history of the issue or the fact that predictions from six years ago are coming true today.’

‘According to RealtyTrac, Maryland saw a 126 percent increase in the number homes where foreclosure processes were started last year. That put Maryland near the top of the list nationally for foreclosures.’

‘But the increase in foreclosures should not be a surprise to Brown, Gansler, Mizeur or anyone else. In 2008, Maryland enacted several measures designed to help homeowners. HB 360, the Mortgage Fraud Protection Act, and HB 361, the Protection for Homeowners in Foreclosure, as well as legislation that lengthened the foreclosure process from 15 days to about 150 days passed as emergency legislation.’

‘Opponents said that, while the changes in the law gave homeowners a reprieve, ultimately all it did was push the inevitable back to a later date.’

‘None of the candidates should be trying to score political points or make jabs at their competitors based on an issue that has impacted so many Maryland families, especially since all of them were intimately involved in helping to bring about the very results we are seeing today.’

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 08:18:25

‘Opponents said that, while the changes in the law gave homeowners a reprieve, ultimately all it did was push the inevitable back to a later date.’

AKA kicking the can down the road…

 
 
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-03-09 07:56:10

‘California has experienced a “significant” slowdown in residential home sales activity over the last few months, with numbers down 14 percent from last year. Selma Hepp, senior economist at the California Association of Realtors, listed a few factors that could be contributing the state’s slowdown in sales, including low inventory; the Fed’s tapering of its bond buying stimulus program causing interest rates to increase; drastically increasing home prices scaring people away from the market; and investors leaving the market.’

‘First-time homebuyers are continuing to be priced out of the market. The long-run average share of first-time homebuyers is about 38 percent, and has decreased to 28 percent. That number reached about 50 percent in 2009 when tax credits were available.’

‘Housing affordability has dropped from about 55 percent in 2012 to 32 percent in 2014. For each percentage point drop, about 120,000 households in the state are unable to qualify for a median-priced home, Hepp said. Between 2012 and 2014, about 2.4 million households were disqualified in California.’

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 08:07:17

“listed a few factors that could be contributing the state’s slowdown in sales, including low inventory;”

These CA realtor fraudsters don’t come off their script do they?

Comment by Ben Jones
2014-03-09 08:30:17

’slowdown in sales…low inventory’

A few months ago, this low inventory was the cause of multiple offers and double digit price increases, we were told. Now it’s supposed to be the cause of falling prices and purchases. Oh and inventory is rising. Is that the result of low inventory?

Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 14:23:02

Funny how a realtoR can see increasing inventory, and say with a straight face that “inventory is low”. When the trend is in their favor, the REIC will scream from the rooftops that prices are headed up. When the trend is against them, then it needs to be ignored.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 14:32:58

Afterall…… realtors are liars

 
 
 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 08:19:25

‘…and investors leaving the market.’

If that trend gathers momentum, watch out below.

 
Comment by LolaLOL
2014-03-09 08:39:34

“senior economist at the California Association of Realtors”

That’s like the Executive Chef at Taco Bell.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 09:07:05

Sale team leader at Walmart.

 
Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 14:28:55

Funny you bring that up. My favorite item at Taco Bell is the enchurrito. It’s a hybrid between an enchilada and a burrito. When I was a pup, the enchurrito came with olives and green onions, but Toco Bell axed those ingredients, but I still stayed loyal to the enchurrito. Can you believe that Taco Bell (after the death of their dear founder) got rid of the enchurrito all together? If you order one, they will say “We no longer serve enchurritos. Would you like to try a smothered buritto?”

A smothered burrito is like an enchurrito, but with amateurish tortilla folding, no onions, sour cream on top, rice inside, and that gross chipotle sauce. So I’m always like “Can I please have a smothered burrito with no rice, no chipotle sauce, and add onions?” I like the sour cream.

This was all done at the behest of their new executive chef. The executive chef of Taco Bell. She basically added rice to everything, put everything in a bigger container, nixed the proper folding of all tortillas, reduced the quantity of meat in everything, and has a Mexican last name.

Nothing to do with housing. Just bothers me.

Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2014-03-09 23:17:58

I just never could stomach Taco Bell much after a guy in high school said he took a dump in the beans. Not sure if it was true or not, but the thought was enough for me.

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Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 08:08:48

Tragic news for affluent U.S. homeowners: Relatively less affluent renters may soon no longer be required by Congress to help you pay for your house.

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 08:11:10

Tax reform proposal would cut many real estate deductions
Many long-standing home real estate tax benefits would be eliminated or sharply reduced under Rep. Dave Camp’s tax overhaul plan.
By Kenneth R. Harney
March 9, 2014, 5:00 a.m.

WASHINGTON — You may have seen reports about a major tax reform proposal floated recently by Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

But you probably didn’t see the grisly list of long-standing home real estate tax benefits that would be eliminated or sharply reduced under Camp’s plan.

Here’s a quick overview. But first, some basics:

•This is no back-of-the-napkin set of proposals. Camp and his committee — the primary tax-writing panel in Congress — have been working on this for two years. They’ve held extensive public hearings and done significant research.

•Though Camp’s reform package has zero chance of enactment in an election year, many of its core concepts are likely to reappear on Capitol Hill as early as 2015, when new chairmen at both Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee take up fundamental tax reform.

•Even the most die-hard proponents of real estate tax benefits concede that with the right combination of lower federal income tax brackets and higher standard-deduction levels, housing’s special carve-outs in the tax code would be less compelling to many homeowners. Why itemize when you can just take the standard deduction and save more? Once this sinks in, the political support for retention of owners’ unique tax privileges in the code will begin to crumble.

So what did Camp propose? For the vast majority of individuals and corporations, enticingly lower marginal rates of 10% and 25%, plus a substantially increased personal standard deduction — $22,000 for married joint filers, $11,000 for singles. Individuals with annual incomes above $400,000 and joint filers above $450,000 would pay taxes at a marginal rate of 35%.

In exchange, say bye-bye to the mortgage interest deduction in its current form. The $1-million limit on mortgage amounts that qualify for interest deductions would phase down to $500,000 in four annual steps, with no indexing to inflation. This would effectively diminish its value year after year as inflation takes its bites.

The good news on interest deductions: Anyone with an existing mortgage of $500,000 or higher on the date the tax bill takes effect would be grandfathered for the life of the loan. The bad news: Interest write-offs on home equity borrowings, currently limited to $100,000, would be prohibited unless the money was being used to improve your property.

Comment by LolaLOL
2014-03-09 08:44:12

Those things are proposed in order to hold the REIC up for campaign contributions. They are just leverage. Nobody wants anything fixed. That would cost jobs and entrenched interests their power.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-03-09 08:59:50

If you every retire your username, let me know because I want it.

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Comment by scdave
2014-03-09 09:06:54

You may have seen reports about a major tax reform proposal floated recently by Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan ??

Although I would agree that major tax reform is in order I just don’t think its going to happen in a piece-meal way and this would be piece-meal…This reform targets one particular industry and leaves all others alone…The tax relief and subsidy list is quite long…The free chit list is quite long also…Nothing is free…You get assistance your going to give “something” back in return…

We need total overhaul….That can’t happen until after the 2016 election…One if not all presidential candidates will need to have major tax code reform as a part of their slate…I think Hilary will…I know Paul will…I suspect Jeb will…

Comment by The Zima Guy
2014-03-09 10:05:21

The bigger the bill the bigger the scam.

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Comment by polly
2014-03-09 11:57:32

New House GOP tax reform plan drops tax rates, popular deductions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/02/26/new-house-gop-tax-reform-plan-drops-tax-rates-popular-deductions/

…[description of some of the provisions]…

But as the screaming started in the K Street lairs of industry lobbyists, Camp’s prospects for passing any part of his plan before he gives up his chairmanship early next year were surpassingly dim.

“To get to a 25 percent rate, it was always the view that you couldn’t get there without having blood in the streets. Well, they’ve proven that. They’ve just gotten rid of everything,” said Dean Zerbe, a longtime Republican tax aide in the Senate who now serves as national managing director for the Alliant Group.

 
Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 14:17:55

no. that would make house prices go down.

Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 18:16:37

“that would make house prices go down.”

Kenny Chesney - When The Sun Goes Down - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGLdbpmXrbQ - 155k -

Cause when the price goes down, we’ll be groovin
When the price goes down, we’ll be feelin all right
When the price sinks low, they’re underwater
Ain’t gonna be no squatters when the price goes down

All day long just takin it easy
Layin in the hammock where it’s nice and breezy
Sleepin off the night before
Cause when the price goes down, we’ll be back for more

[Chorus:]
When the price goes down, we’ll be groovin
When the price goes down,we’ll be feeling alright
When the price sinks low, they’re underwater
There will be no squatters when the price goes down

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Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 08:20:27

Are your investments safe?

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 08:23:13

Sunday Journal
How Safe Are Your Investments, Really?
History Suggests Many Delude Themselves About Real Returns
By Brett Arends
March 8, 2014 8:20 p.m. ET

What returns are you expecting from your investments? Fifteen percent a year? Ten? Do you have no idea at all?

The stock market swung sharply at the start of last week after the Russian invasion of Ukraine—the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping more than 200 points before recouping all its losses and hitting highs as the week progressed.

But while eyes are on the short term, for most investors the more important question is the long term.

Your long-term expectations are key to your financial plan. They determine how much you need to save to reach your financial goals, what goals you are likely to attain, when you’ll be able to retire—and, for some, whether you’ll be able to retire at all.

If you follow popular rules of thumb, or the standard presentations from Wall Street banks, mutual-fund companies or professional financial advisers, you may be expecting somewhere between 5% and 10% a year.

Money managers point to historical data going back to the 1920s to show that in the past stocks have produced total returns of about 10% a year over the long term and bonds, about 5%—meaning a standard “balanced” portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds would earn just over 8% a year. (Naturally, their legal departments quickly add that the past is no guide to the future.)

Are these forecasts realistic? Are they sensible? Are they even based on actual logic or a correct reading of the past data?

A close look at the data reveals a number of disturbing errors and logical flaws. There is a serious danger that investors are deluding themselves and that returns from here on may prove far more disappointing than many hope or believe.

This has happened before. Money invested in a balanced fund of stocks and bonds at certain points in the past—such as in the late 1930s, or during the 1960s and 1970s—ended up losing money for many years, after accounting for inflation.

Far from making an annual profit, investors went backward in real, purchasing-power terms. And those losses were even before deducting costs or taxes.

Wall Street strategists Rob Arnott and the late Peter Bernstein, in research published just after the 2000 dot-com crash, explained the dangers of trying to extrapolate from the past. From the 1920s through the late 1990s, they said, investors benefited from some huge one-off gains that couldn’t be—or were unlikely to be—repeated.

Wall Street won’t tell you that.

For example, from the 1920s through the early 1990s stock investors collected an average annual return of 4% just from their dividends. Today the figure is less than 2%. Logically we should expect future total returns to be at least two percentage points lower.

Back in the 1950s, U.S. stocks traded at an average of about 11 times the previous year’s earnings, according to analysts. In the 1940s and the early 1980s, valuations fell as low as eight times earnings.

But after 1982 they became sharply revalued upward. Today the S&P 500 trades at about 18 times earnings. To expect the same again is to engage in Bubble Logic—the belief that things will keep going up simply because they have.

Dow 10000?

If stocks were simply to fall back to valuations considered normal in the 1950s, the Dow Jones Industrial Average would be about 10000, not 16400.

Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 14:13:35

But that would only yield a 39% drop. We are going to have a 53% drop.

 
Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2014-03-09 16:57:46

For example, from the 1920s through the early 1990s stock investors collected an average annual return of 4% just from their dividends. Today the figure is less than 2%. Logically we should expect future total returns to be at least two percentage points lower.

The other way to interpret this data might be to conclude that dividends might reasonably revert to the mean of 4%; one way for them to do that would be the market to go down by half.

 
 
 
Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-03-09 08:21:06

Tragic news for affluent U.S. homeowners: Relatively less affluent renters may soon no longer be required by Congress to help you pay for your house.

It is a good proposal. But because it is phased in so slowly it would not start to have an impact for quite a while even if enacted. Of course, if it would impact large numbers of present homeowners it would never be passed.

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 08:25:26

“It is a good proposal. But because it is phased in so slowly it would not start to have an impact for quite a while even if enacted.”

I guess you don’t buy into the Rational Expectations School of economic thought?

Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-03-09 08:50:16

I guess you don’t buy into the Rational Expectations School of economic thought?

Actually, I do but it takes time to price expectations into the market. This is particularly true when you are pricing a consumptive item like housing instead of true investments.

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-03-09 11:48:59

Fair enough. One might argue the advent of national price indexes like Case-Shiller should speed the adjustment process, but even then, we are talking about several months’ time lag from the sales that are represented when their data is released.

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Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 08:51:31

Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Ukraine’s Military Mobilizes, Prepares For Combat: Trucks, APCs, SAMs, Howitzers, Tanks Rolling Out

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/08/2014 15:52 -0500

Did somebody say de-escalation?

Earlier today, photos were distributed showing the latest military convoy reinforcements heading into the Crimea, accompanies by a Police car demonstrating Moscow license plate numbers, most likely providing further support to the pro-Russian forces in the peninsula.

Supposedly the trucks are carrying troops to reinforces the members of the new Crimean army, pictured below:

While at the same time along the makeshift border between Crimea and the mainland, the Pro-Russian forces are putting down minefields.

However, the Ukrainians, having already been mobilized for over a week, finally appear set to seize back the offensive:

The first clip below captured the 80th Airborne Regiment out of Lviv moving out, direction mainland, preparing to repel foreign attack.

The next video shows what are allegedly Buk SAM batteries deployed in the Donetsk region, a city in Eastern Ukraine which in the past week has swayed between Ukraine and Russian authority.

The clip below shows the 95th Airborne brigade also moving out of their barracks in Zhytomyr in western Ukraine, heading East, with an impressive deployment of trucks and APCs.

2S19 “Msta-S” 152mm Howitzers on the move to Crimea.

Finally, 20 T-64 tanks preparing to depart in Bila Tserkva, a city in central Ukraine:

So where again are all those pundits who were so eager to explain away the Ukraine confrontation as one that will promptly be forgotten, and is by now most certainly priced in?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-08/ukraines-military-mobilizes-prepares-combat-trucks-apcs-tanks-rolling-out - 121k -

Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 09:57:40

Imperial Hubris: Ukraine as a ‘regime change’ too far for the American Empire

Joe Quinn
Sott.net
Sat, 08 Mar 2014 05:44 CST

just a few weeks previous to Obama and Kerry’s statements on Ukraine, a plot was being hatched behind the scenes between US Asst. Sec. of State, Victoria Nuland and the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. Note that Nuland’s husband is Council on Foreign Relations member, PNAC founder and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Robert Kagan. The Brookings Institution is one of Washington’s oldest “think tanks” and ranked “the most influential think tank in the world” which means that it is the source of most of the US government’s policies on “strengthening American democracy and securing a more open, safe, prosperous, and cooperative international system”, which is a covert way of saying, ‘how to make the world safer for American corporate and banking interests’.

The key points of Nuland and Pyatt’s conversation make it very clear that the US State Dept. was under orders to choose a new Ukrainian Prime Minister without consulting the Ukrainian people:

Nuland: “So I don’t think Klits should go into the government, I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think it’s a good idea. [...] I think Yatz is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience, what he needs is Klits and Tyahnybok on the outside, he needs to be talking to them four times a week, I just think going in, he’s gonna be at that level working for Yatzenyuk, it’s not gonna work [...]

so I think you reaching out directly to him helps with the personality management among the three and it gives you also a chance to move fast on all this stuff and put us behind it before they all sit down and he explains why he doesn’t like it.”

He’s now gotten both Serry and Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, you know, Fuck the EU”.

Pyatt: No, exactly. And I think we’ve got to do something to make it stick together

But anyway we could land jelly side up on this one if we move fast. So let me work on Klitschko and if you can just keep… we want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing.

Nuland: Biden and I said probably tomorrow for an atta-boy and to get the deets [details] to stick. So Biden’s willing”. And yet, both Kerry and Obama have the audacity to feign concern for Ukraine’s ‘independence’.

http://www.sott.net/article/275265-Imperial-Hubris-Ukraine-as-a-regime-change-too-far-for-the-American-Empire - 178k -
——————————————————————————-
“Note that Nuland’s husband is Council on Foreign Relations member, PNAC founder and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Robert Kagan.”

Hillary Clinton accidentally admits that the CFR runs this nation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfpgl6NqF0I - 136k -
—————————————————————————–
“Note that Nuland’s husband is Council on Foreign Relations member, PNAC founder and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Robert Kagan.”

Welcome Aboard, Mr. (Ex) Chairman Bernanke

David Wessel | February 3, 2014 9:00am

Today we at the Brookings Institution and its new Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy are excited to welcome Ben S. Bernanke as a Distinguished Fellow in Residence.

Mr. Bernanke, of course, has just finished eight tumultuous years as chairman of the Federal Reserve. He was sworn in as Fed chairman in early 2006 unaware that fissures were opening in the foundations of the U.S. economy and financial system.

Two years later, he was rescuer-in-chief during the worst financial crisis in 75 years. His mantra: Whatever it takes. As Glenn Hutchins, vice chair of the Brookings board, put it at the recent Hutchins Center inaugural event: “Despite the massive deleveraging of the last few years, we are still deeply in debt to Ben Bernanke.”

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2014/02/03-welcoming-aboard-ben-bernanke-wessel - 108k -

Comment by jose canusi
2014-03-09 12:20:54

The globalist squids.

 
 
Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 13:54:04

This is happening because the UN needs one world government, supposedly to prevent any more wars. The only trouble is that the EU can’t actually force everyone into their empire. A lot of people feel that they are better off with their own government, and they don’t really like the plans that the EU/UN/IMF have in store for them.

 
 
Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-03-09 08:59:40

Well I had success again this weekend. Drove home to Phoenix and passed another emissions test. My Toyota is a keeper. It allowed me to invest more in different asset classes while others pay more than triple for show off cars that are always in the service department getting repaired.

Opened my municipal bond fund statement. For the first time, my muni income for the current month passed $700. It is probably equivalent to $800 taxable income. Or more.

I noticed saving bond interest is creeping back up as well. Interest seemed to bottom in November but my savings bond income the last few months has been getting higher every month.

This all pays my Phoenix apartment rent.

Comment by Muggy
2014-03-09 10:11:23

“This all pays my Phoenix apartment rent.”

Goon is probably out burning up fossil fuels for recreational purposes. So, in his absence:

BILA = WIN

 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 10:40:23

The foreclosure nightmare isn’t over yet | MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/foreclosure-nightmare-isnt-over-yet - 79k - Cached - Similar pages
2 days ago … RIDGELY, Md. — The house is full of everything the Moody family wants to leave

 
Comment by aNYCdj
2014-03-09 10:47:57

Icon 52 touting ‘affordable luxury’ more than 50% leased, according to The Real Deal

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/03/07/woodsides-upscale-icon52-more-than-half-leased/

Comments:

http://sunnysidepost.com/2014/03/07/icon-52-more-than-50-leased-according-to-the-real-deal/

I viewed all the bedrooms they had to offer. It just ok. The building west of it blocked the view. Its not that great view of the Man. skyline. It does have an outstanding view of that cemetery.

 
Comment by "Uncle Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2014-03-09 13:45:49

Curious about her southern brethren, Mz. Craterton jumps the fence and visits the south. She learns that yankees aren’t so different after all.

http://www.picpaste.com/Craterton_South.gif

 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-03-09 15:30:06

SXSW Anti-Gun Event Fails

Kit Daniels
Infowars.com
March 9, 2014

Very few attended a panel discussion on gun control in Austin, Texas yesterday even though the event was heavily promoted by media, proving once again the popularity of the Second Amendment and basic human freedoms as a whole.

Very few attended yesterday’s gun control event. Photo: Stuart Dredge/The Guardian

Key leaders from the three largest gun control groups – Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Americans for Responsible Solutions and Moms Demand Action – not only organized the event but also spoke to the handful in attendance who occupied at most 10% of the available seats.

This despite the fact that the panel discussion was a registered event of South by Southwest, an internationally-known set of film, interactive and music festivals and conferences that takes place every spring in Austin with an attendance of at least 100,000 from across the world.

The lack of attendance for a gun control event is not unusual.

In San Antonio back in October, only around three people showed up for a gun control event organized by Moms Demand Action as a counter-protest to an open carry rally occurring simultaneously at the Alamo, of which an estimated 1,500 showed up in support for the Second Amendment.

The lack of attendance at these anti-gun events reveals that not only is gun control unpopular, but the groups organizing these events are not grassroots as they claim but are rather top-down front groups led by corrupt politicians such as former N.Y. mayor Michael Bloomberg.

These groups pretend to be grassroots to shift attention away from Bloomberg and his true agenda: the complete disarmament of all Americans.

“Under the guise of helping mayors facing a crime and drug epidemic, MAIG intended to promote confiscation of guns from law-abiding citizens,” Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Mayor John C. Tkazyik wrote shortly after leaving Bloomberg’s gun control group.

Bloomberg is unfortunately not alone.

At a gun control event last year, Austin, Texas City Council Member Mike Martinez admitted that gun control is simply a step-by-step process to completely eliminate the Second Amendment.

While pointing at a sign held by a protestor which read “Stop Gun Ban,” Martinez said that “someone needs to inform him that there is no gun ban currently, but because of the work we’re doing today, we will make [his] sign legitimate shortly.”

“So you hang on to that [sign],” he said to a cheering crowd of gun control advocates.

Bloomberg’s supporters are also working with Facebook to restrict free speech when it comes to pro-gun talk on the social media site, which was discussed at yesterday’s event.

“Last week, Facebook and Instagram announced nine new policies that they were putting in place in response to our campaign,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action and a former Monsanto PR exec, said to the Guardian.

With these nine new policies, including restrictions on users under 18 from seeing firearm-related content and the forced indoctrination of gun control propaganda, Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram are now placing guns in the same category as porn.

But why would Bloomberg and these other authoritarians want to do all of this? Simple, citizens who lack liberties are easier to control.

“He who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watch-word of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget,” noted 16th-century historian Niccolò Machiavelli wrote as advice to tyrants.

By taking away basic liberties as recognized by the Bill of Rights, authoritarians are preventing real grassroots resistance to upcoming laws worse than New York’s soda ban or Obamacare because subjugated citizens no longer have any fight left in them.

In other words, Americans are being conditioned to become slaves.

But many are still standing up for their rights and it’s also been reported that gun owners are planning another rally in Austin in the near future.

270 comments

what the F • 17 minutes ago

Don’t get to excited, they telegraphed their next move last week with the poll (Washington times story) that shows “the overwhelming majority wants gun control, and registration”. This fight has only just begun! They will do anything to win! We haven’t seen anything yet! The next poll will be “well designed” and nation wide!

Suspect >what the F • 19 minutes ago

nobody believes polls but the illegal immigrants

Spooky3 >Suspect • 17 minutes ago

Yes, illegal immigration will destroy America. Don’t believe me, just look at what it’s done to the WH.

Philip Kirschner • an hour ago

I am JEWISH and I am leaving for ISRAEL very soon as I hear the call from my faith to go, and be quite frank because of what is happening here in America. In principal, I agree with keeping firearms out of the hands out of mentally ill people with serious illnesses like schizophrenia and other select illnesses where they could become a danger to themselves or others along with felons who have been convicted by a court of law. At the same time, I have to oppose what your attempting because of my faith and History of mass exterminations and political movements. As we know the road to hell is paved with the best of intentions. And this is a fact. The Nazi Weapons Law of 1938 replaced a Law on Firearms and Ammunition of April 13, 1928. The 1928 law was enacted by a center-right, freely elected German government that wanted to curb “gang activity,” violent street fights
between Nazi party and Communist party thugs. All firearm owners and their firearms had to be registered. Sound familiar? “Gun control” did not
save democracy in Germany. It helped to make sure that the toughest criminals, the Nazis, prevailed.

The Nazis inherited lists of firearm owners and their
firearms when they ‘lawfully’ took over in March 1933. The Nazis used these inherited registration lists to seize privately held firearms from persons who were deemed not “reliable.” Knowing exactly who owned which
firearms, the Nazis had only to revoke the annual ownership permits or decline to renew them. In 1938, five years after taking power, the Nazis enhanced the 1928 gun law. The Nazi Weapons Law introduced handgun control. Firearms ownership was restricted to Nazi party members and other “reliable”
people. The 1938 Nazi law barred Jews from businesses involving firearms. On November 10. 1938 — one day after the Nazi party terror squads (the SS) savaged thousands of Jewish persons, synagogues and Jewish owned businesses throughout Germany in what is called Kristallnacht also known as the night of broken glass. –new regulations under the Weapons Law specifically barred Jews from owning any weapons, even clubs or knives. As a member of the Jewish faith and is someone who studies the holocaust a subject that is poorly taught in schools today concerns me. I even have families members listed in
the SHOA database at YADVASHEM. And I will be pushing for adding a curriculum on the activities of the NAZI government that led to it.

America as a nation is far from perfect, and should always
be considered a work in progress. I am not saying, that what happened in GERMANY can happen here. What I am saying is, when you have a democracy ruled by the mob versus a constitutional republic where the rule of law is respected and the minority is protected, than you are setting up circumstances
where another Jewish HOLOCAUST could happen and/or occur against other marginalized groups, like MUSLIMS and even Christians along with gun ownership activists. Stalin and MAO were other dictators who did the same and millions more people died who were not even members of one faith or another, just people who did not fit their values of the current revolution. The attempt to register any firearm should be considered a first step at finding who has one and who can oppose any given ideology. And for that reason, I will work diligently to wake up the press and anyone willing to listen in order to prevent history from repeating itself, we must learn from it.

We cannot not deny the mass purges of China under Mao/
Stalin and Lenin in Russia and Hitler of the Jewish people in Europe. Mayors against illegal guns is taking a haphazard misguided approach at stopping gun violence. Reducing poverty, encouraging jobs by creating sound economic policies and education and promoting a value system seated in Torah and the Ten commandments will be key to recognize when a problem exists and how to address populations like the mentally ill and poor and treating them will address these issue further and prevent any Columbines, or Sandy hooks or Virginia Techs from occurring. If you wish, I know of a RABBI who would be willing to debate this in the press, his name is Rabbi Dovid Bendory and he is the rabbinical leader of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms ownership. He pulls no punches, and Bloomberg ought to know history. And as a state official, your state police have to take a look at history. Just visit the Hall of rememebence in
Jerusalem.

I will give whatever level of support I can to the
resistors. I would not have been born had my grandfather not been a member of a JEWISH Germany resistance.

Shalom

Peasch Beril Kishner

goodgravy >Philip Kirschner • 44 minutes ago

Good info. … can you bring me back a t- shirt from Israel?

Comment by goon squad
2014-03-09 16:24:47

At least SXSW has Snowden as a speaker this year.

 
Comment by rms
2014-03-09 22:24:18

“I will give whatever level of support I can to the resistors.”

+1 More people should support their beliefs, but please don’t lobby the senate for my money too; I may not share your ideals.

 
 
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