Bits Bucket for April 7, 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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Always good to start the day with a good, uplifting thought. Mine is “reduce the size of government.” Wall Street Journal, not surprisingly, agrees.
A Golden Fiscal Rule Nurtures Prosperity – from WSJ
http://tinyurl.com/q5et9av
“…What matters, as Milton Friedman taught us, is the size of government. That’s the measure of how much national income is being redistributed and reallocated by Washington. Spending often is wasteful and counterproductive whether it’s financed by taxes or borrowing…”
Hold on a minute. Yesterday a poster here said we should thank the government for something. She didn’t say which government, or what department, so I suppose she meant government in general. So if we’re giving thanks to government, that would make the people in government sorta like priests and nuns. And the people who regularly praise government, they’re like the faithful. Like in a church.
See if someone tells me, you should get down on your knees and thank God for this or that, I might have the option to say, I’m agnostic or atheist, so no way Jose. But with the government, there’s no doubting the governments existence. It’s on TV! Just look at how every news show starts. You might have the ‘if it bleeds it leads’ thing, like a plane is missing. But that is quickly followed up with, what is “The Government” doing about it?
I like that; The Government. Let’s capitalize it, like God. It’s an entity, to be thanked. I don’t thank they guys who pick up my trash. They used to be part of The Government, but it was decided The Government wasn’t very good at picking up trash, so now there are 2 or 3 companies that compete for my money to do it. Besides, The Government has more important things to do! Consider what we are told all the time; They keeps us safe! Gosh, now that’s a big job. They protect the innocent, police the world, stop disease, control unruly crowds after basketball games, you name it!
Of course, if I see a private contractor paving my street, I still have to thank The Government. They made it happen after all. My little tithe at the cash register every time I pay for something didn’t pay for it, right?
We have GovLoving Hallway Monitors here. Lying, scheming POS GovHacks.
‘Britain and its Nato allies must respond to Russia’s “illegal aggression” against Ukraine by spending more on defence, the alliance’s secretary general has said. Anders Fogh Rasmussen appeals for Nato members to modernise their armed forces as Russia tries to “carve up” Europe.’
“Every ally needs to invest the necessary resources in the right capabilities,” writes Mr Rasmussen. “That means modern equipment, intensive training for our forces, and closer cooperation among Nato allies and with our partners. I know how challenging this is in today’s economic climate, but the security climate makes it vital.”
‘Mr Rasmussen adds: “In the long run, a lack of security would be more costly than investing now and we owe it to our forces, and to broader society.”
‘The burden of defending Nato’s 28 members falls increasingly on just one: the United States. Last year, America accounted for 72 per cent of Nato defence spending, up from 59 per cent in 1995.’
‘Mr Rasmussen writes: “Our motto remains: all for one, one for all. Our solidarity is our strength.”…“We must stand up for our values, on which we have built a new and better Europe, and for the system of international rules that has underpinned prosperity.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10748432/Nato-chief-tells-allies-spend-more-on-defence-to-deter-Russia.html
Amen, Brother Rasmussen! And thank you, thank you! Where do I send the check?
Europe is not a country.
“…the government, be sure to thank them for inventing email”
It’s amazing the things people think they know. I saw first hand in the ’60s, in my fathers office at Bell, digital call records sent to the Philippines via satellite for processing into customer billing statements and then sent back digitally for printing. This was decades before the government “gave” us the gift of email, as if it was forged on Mt. Olympus.
Yes, because we all see how good the government it at technical feats (like setting up a website…the ACA).
Lolz. Listen to you. Yet quoting POSgov statistics to substantiate the grand housing fraud.
http://mises.org/daily/6716/Why-Keynesian-Economists-Dont-Understand-Inflation
Talks about housing prices although I think you might disagree with parts of it.
Not really. Replace the word inflation with price fixing and its right on. And think about it. How sustainable and enduring are fixed prices? Not at all. They fall right back to where they started….. At the income foundation.
Want sustainable inflated prices? Start rapidly raising wages but that’s not going to happen.
I take data wherever I can get it–and as CONSTANTLY noted, I cite my sources whenever I quote data (which includes plenty of private sources–see my post below from LPS).
While I shudder to think of the government doing anything complicated, they DO get to see a lot of data.
No my friend…. Yo do everything to distract from the issue of massively inflated housing prices.
Yes, because we all see how good the government it at technical feats (like The WPA, The Hoover Dam, That Bomb, man on the moon, basic research, Obamacare, winning WW2, Medicare, Energy independence (Not USA though, we rely on the Koch Bros and ExXon for that.)
While I shudder to think of the government doing anything complicated
Such as conceive, guide and nurture the USA to become the number one economy in the world? Yea. It’s complicated.
I like how Lola has decided to come in and offer a Happy Ending for all these threads. He must be raking in the dough today. Call the mop man.
lol
It’s amazing the things people think they know. I saw first hand in the ’60s, in my fathers office at Bell, digital call records sent to the Philippines via satellite for processing into customer billing statements and then sent back digitally for printing. This was decades before the government “gave” us the gift of email, as if it was forged on Mt. Olympus.
AT&T was a monopoly that charged outrageous rates for long distance calls until they were broken up in 1984. The monopoly and the high rates were made possible by the government.
Wait, are you being sarcastic?
I think what he meant was that AT&T was granted a monopoly as a utility by the government.
Of course, with the never ending mergers between mobile phone service providers we could potentially end up with one provider who has the lion’s share of the market.
I seem to recall that UNIX supported email even before there was an internet.
Someone should look up the details on that. I think that Unix and the Internet were both developed around the same time - 1969/70.
I recall UNIX boxes using modems to transmit emails to other UNIX systems.
uucp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UUCP#Mail_routing
You should all give thanks for AT&T. LOUDER!
When I worked for ultrix (DEC’s unix OS), we had to plan out the route of our e-mails to places outside the LAN. I had a little US map with the main nodes on it. And a lot of them were only connected for a short time once a day, so you had to know when the nodes were “up” or your e-mail might get sent to one node at 1 AM and not be able to be sent to the next node until it connected the next day (for 45 minutes) at midnight.
They protect the innocent, police the world, stop disease, control unruly crowds after basketball games, you name it!
The girl from U of A who got body slammed by a Jack-Booted Thug for no reason is creating quite a stir… I know those of us on Northeastshooters were quite up in arms about that video. Cop should be up on charges, but there are different rules for the King’s Enforcers.
Girl gets decked by a cop
The police department is threatening to jail all the people who have written letters of disgust about the girl-hating cop.
I know those of us on Northeastshooters were quite up in arms about that video.
Of course you are. Because most of you are liberals.
How did you decide that the government should be made smaller? What process did you use to determine the optimal size?
Please explain to me what part of our lives government is not involved in. You don’t need to have a process to determine optimal size, all you need is to look around and open your eyes.
Today, government, from local to Federal have a say in my family’s:
housing,
employment,
wages,
insurance,
investments,
education,
security,
safety,
food,
water,
retirement,
transportation,
health,
entertainment…
Should I go on or have I covered it all. Which parts of the Constitution or Bill of Rights cover everything that I mentioned above?
That’s not an answer to my question.
Yes it is, you just ignored it. They answer to your question is right here: ” Which parts of the Constitution or Bill of Rights cover everything that I mentioned above?”
The Federal government has gone beyond it’s Constitutional mandate and Federal, State, and local governments regularly ignore the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Start there and you’ll start to see how far back we can cut government.
The Federal government has gone beyond it’s Constitutional mandate
I think not to the degree you imagine. That’s why it was designed as a living document. (As if USA is still in 1787….come on, get real.)
It’s not unreasonable to say a government is too big or could be too big. It just makes for more interesting conversation if some explanation is given. For example, there’s the British journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. I’ve been reading his columns for a few years since somebody posted links to him on this blog. His has written that government spending over 40% has generally led to lower growth in European economies outside of Scandinavia.
So he has a size of maximum size of government and he has a reason for choosing that size. He has examples, such as France, to back up his ideas. That’s a lot different from simply stating that government is too big.
His has written that government spending over 40% has generally led to lower growth in European economies outside of Scandinavia.
“Lies, damn lies, and statistics”.
Why is Scandinavia an anomaly? Why does the US spend more on “National Defense” than the next three countries combined, when the last war fought the US fought in self-defense was WWII? How many countries can say they have the Global Reserve Currency? Might this have an impact on a government’s ability to fund expenditures outside of it’s natural mandate?
You want a quantifiable answer to the optimal size of government. That is bunk, as not all societies, economies, and thus governments are created equal and what works for one may not work for another.
Better to support the premise that liberty and personal freedom should be the basis for all societies and government intrusion on those elements should be minimized.
“That’s a lot different from simply stating that government is too big.”
Not only that, everyone (well, virtually everyone) agrees in principle that “our govt is too big”. It’s where it needs cutting that gets us into pissing matches.
Why is Scandinavia an anomaly?
Because it balances capitalism with social programs. That the USA spends more on defense is not why they are better at taking care of their people. So maybe they spend 1.5% and USA spends 6%. So what. We could make that up because they spend 10% on healthcare and we spend 18%. The money is there. USA spends it dumbly in a trickle-down manner.
I wasn’t necessarily endorsing Evans-Pritchard’s ideas. But when he argues against governments being too big he has a maximum size and he states a reason for it. You may disagree with his argument, but at least there’s something there to disagree with.
You want a quantifiable answer to the optimal size of government. That is bunk, as not all societies, economies, and thus governments are created equal and what works for one may not work for another.
People making the “government is too big” argument are talking about the American government today, in 2014.
Regardless, your argument is not really about the size of government. It’s really about what activities the government should be engaged in. In that case, if you want to have an interesting conversation, it would be better to discuss these specific areas, such as food, water, insurance and explain the details of how you would like the government to reduce its involvement in each area and why you propose such changes.
Which parts of the Constitution or Bill of Rights cover everything that I mentioned above?
Most of it. Read it. It was designed to serve Americans, not versa. It lives. It’s not the Bible.
The Amendment process and provisions for another convention show you do not know your mango from a hole in your …
‘How did you decide that the government should be made smaller? What process did you use to determine the optimal size?’
‘New American Standard Bible: And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”
http://biblehub.com/luke/4-12.htm
Also in Deuteronomy 6:16
realtors are liars
I just got hold of season 1 of “House of Cards” and I’m lovin’ it.
I rate it right up there alongside “The Wire”.
FWIW.
I heard the same thing. if/when I get Netflix, it’ll be because I want to see house of cards.
also, was not disappointed with the opening episode of game of thrones last night!
Wait till you see season 2…
Wait till you see season 2…
Yes, I’m impressed by their ability to make me hate Kevin Spacey’s character more and more each episode!
Comment by Ella58
2014-04-06 16:36:43
…So if it took solvent sellers over 5 years to cave on unrealistic prices before, think how long it will take next time around now that their “housing always comes back” bias has been confirmed!
———-
This is what concerns me most. Zombie banks, zombie sellers, zombie pricing… and why not? There’s no reason to give in if you’re an FB. It drives me nuts. If I walked into a 7-11 and stole a $20 bill from the register, they’d be pulling video and tazing my ass.
House = license to steal.
If earned money is to compete against borrowed money then earned will always lose out if borrowed money has no limits.
Some irony:
If earned money is heavily taxed and borrowed money is given tax breaks then when it comes to the price bidding earned money will lose out to borrowed money because of the cost differences.
Plus …
If it is deemed by the PTB that tax revenues (tax revenues that are in part extracted from money you earn) should be allocated to supporting RE prices then high RE prices are what you are going to end up with. IOW, part of your own tax dollars are spent in such a way so as to help exclude you from obtaining an affordable house.
Taxes, plus whatever is borrowed or printed.
Thank you Mr. banker for making this Monday morning even more Monday.
Reality can be a bitch.
It works both ways with this psychologically. The housing always comes back will have to compete with this time people believing housing can crash bigtime. Last time people didn’t think it could happen.
I personally think that it will play out more like a cancer scenario that goes into remission, then comes back more aggressively with an equally depressing loss of hope.
‘Thank you Mr. banker for making this Monday morning even more Monday.’
Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h81Ojd3d2rY&feature=kp
If you are an earned money home buyer then you price bidding competitors are:
People who are willing to become debt slaves.
All cash buyers from far-away places such as China.
All cash buyers from investment institutions.
If you are unwilling to join the ranks of the debt slaves then you lose. If you do not have the ready cash to compete against the Chinese (or whomever) or to compete against the investment institutions then, again, you lose.
But you can “make-up” some of that money by:
1. Not paying your mortgage for several years
2. “Fighting” for your house and modifying your mortgage
3. The banks got bailouts and so should I - where is my government free sh*t
4. If all else fails, rip out the copper piping and flush cement down the toilets
Don’t forget to unleash wild pigs in your foreclosed home before you vacate.
I hope he spends time in jail for what he did to the pigs.
Agreed. In this case, I’d vote for the cement flush. Just can’t get over the fact that people who were current on their payments were booted out of their domiciles. Documented here. Selection bias, primarily in FL, just what I read here. I didn’t comb the net.
“If earned money is heavily taxed and borrowed money is given tax breaks then when it comes to the price bidding earned money will lose out to borrowed money because of the cost differences.”
If the earned money is heavily taxed and borrowed money is loaned out at near-zero interest rates, the potential productivity of money earners is greatly diminished, undermining idle money lenders’ ability to reap future productive value out of the economy.
When borrowers become exhausted (after their parabolic rise) there is bound to be a violent crash. It is why the end of the banquet will see both borrower and lender liquidated. Ironic.
The situation you described gets far worse if the borrowed money is printed without limits.
Goes back to Ben’s point over the weekend. Things that go parabolic crash.
“The situation you described gets far worse if the borrowed money is printed without limits.”
+1 Fibonacci number sequence. Herd mentality.
Muggy.
Correlating government largess to stealing holds some merit, but probably isn’t helpful.
Be patient, keep looking and someday the right deal will present itself. There will always be another house, another deal. Maybe try talking to your landlords about rental/purchase options. That way you get to try out the house before you sign.
BH
Good morning, republitoR.
Hey Uncle Fed,
Please, I am an independent, conservative libertarian.
I don’t mind conversing at all but I’d prefer a civil conversation about ideas.
How’s your day going so far?
Don’t patronize me, republitoR. I have read your comments.
I am an independent, conservative libertarian.
Looking forward to his Medicare and Soc Sec.
Don’t forget about zombie bailout authorities!
And no one is worried about taking a credit hit for a foreclosure or BK any more. It used to be one of the worst things you could imagine. Who cares now, you’ll be buying a house again in 3 years.
Much worse to be 60 days late on a phone bill.
Much worse to be 60 days late on a phone bill.
If you are, it will be disconnected.
So if it took solvent sellers over 5 years to cave on unrealistic prices before,
And a solvent seller is obligated to put their house up for sale at a reasonable price why?
hmmmm…. gee wiz… Because he’s a seller and wants to sell an item?
And a solvent seller is obligated to put their house up for sale at a reasonable price why?
This is actually a very cognizant point. A market is made up of buyers and sellers. Transaction price is determined by a willingness of buyers to meet the ask or the willingness of sellers to meet the bid, depending on the trend. Strong hands don’t need to sell into weakness, hence the propensity for high ask prices (that and greed).
The issue is that a market is made by buyers and sellers with different timelines and different financial means. Thus, while strong hands don’t need to sell into weakness and can wait until the market hits their ask, weak hands do, and price is set at the margins…
Understand, that it is the trend that is your friend and the trend can turn. When it does, it will be the weakest hands setting the market price, not the strongest.
“it will be the weakest hands setting the market price, not the strongest…” [in a falling market]
There is the wisdom that a rent/buy spreadsheet cannot impart.
What are the things that can make a home debtor a weak hand?
Marriage.
Divorce.
Children.
Death in the family.
Illness.
Nervous Breakdown.
Transfer or new job.
Your branch or agency gets cut back or shut down.
You say “no” to the wrong person at work.
You say “yes” to the wrong person at work.
You are the wrong person at work.
Government causes the price of food and energy to double or triple and your pay doesn’t go up.
Debilitating injury from yard work, car accident or just falling out of bed.
Your partner or dependent suffers one of the above.
From what I’ve done and seen, the chances of avoiding all of these possibilities in one’s mortgage paying years is pretty close to nil.
Or you get a new cat that doesn’t really like the house that much.
“And a solvent seller is obligated to put their house up for sale at a reasonable price why?”
Good point, they aren’t. And this is a huge unanswered (unanswerable?) question in how we will ever unwind such a massive real estate bubble.
Should the Dutch man - who bought a tulip bulb for $100 and saw its value soar to $100k and then collapse back to $150 - sell and take the $50 gain, or keep the bulb to enjoy the flowers and his imaginary $99,900 that he still hopes of getting one day?
I have no answer, but I did find that during the last collapse, it was the people who paid the least for their property and saw the largest (500%+) phantom gains during the bubble who were most attached to those ludicrous, unearned, imaginary returns.
In a collapsing market, no one will ever be a “stong hand” seller. If they don’t compromise on price, they simply won’t succeed in selling.
The difference between the tulips and houses is that people have to live somewhere. Despite what HA says, renting and buying are financially roughly equal if you don’t need the instant mobility. Our Dutch dude would have known full well that the nobody needs his tulip bulb, and that his bulb would deteriorate within months, long before anyone wants it again. The house will always have some value, if only in the land it sits on.*
So yes, if someone has to sell, they will have to take what they can get. But house prices are not limited to J6P incomes. In the 2013 bubblet we saw that house prices are limited to what investors, Chinese, and idiot Canadians can pay. One of my co-workers just bought a house from a relocation company, so that is also an option. THEY are the strong hands setting the market, not weak-handed J6P.
————-
*I always think of housing as an SFH or possibly TH on a plotch of dirt. F-ing floating boxes of air (condos) have little value to me.
“renting and buying are financially roughly equal”
Only in your world where you refuse to do the math. Someday you’ll explain why you fail to do it but by that time it won’t help you. Not as if it would help you now.
A seller that has remained “solvent” for five years is a ticking sell-bomb.
Zillow Study Shows 1 In 3 Homes Are Unaffordable, But Vacation-Home Sales Are Soaring
Zero hedge | 4/5/14 | tyler durden
In a further demonstration of the socially destructive and ever widening gap between the haves and have nots, we see that the affluent are buying second homes at an ever increasing clip (up 30% last year), while first home buyers recede into the abyss as private equity and Chinese buyers make purchasing a home unaffordable for the average American.
Specifically, a recent study from Zillow showed that more than half the homes in seven major American cities are unaffordable based on historical standards. Those cities are: Miami, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Denver, San Jose and Portland, Ore. Nationwide, it found that 1 in 3 homes were unaffordable. The results seem to back up housing analyst Mark Hanson’s recent conclusion that despite low interest rates, housing is even less affordable than the most bubbly year ever, 2006.
This also appears to be a primary reason behind Zillow now actively pitching its U.S. real estate listing to the Chinese, many of whom are corrupt and looking to launder ill gotten gains.
Whatever government touches - it destroys
—————————
Get Ready For The Real Obamacare Disasters As People Start To Use It
Forbes | April 5, 2014 | By Jeffrey Dorfman
We have finally (almost, sort of) reached the end of Obamacare signups. The White House is claiming over seven million people have signed up with several million more now on the Medicaid rolls. Democrats are desperate to find a success somewhere in the Obamacare narrative, so reaching seven million is the story of the moment. However, as bad as the open enrollment period and its infamous healthcare.gov website was, the real problems are about to begin. Now people are going to try to use their new insurance.
The problems that will create the next headlines will come in three main flavors: lack of access to doctors, failures of the system to verify coverage and pay claims, and the incredibly high deductibles and co-pays on many of the exchange insurance policies.
Insurance companies believed that people shopping for health insurance on the government exchanges were very price sensitive so that low prices were needed to attract buyers. Thus, the insurers only signed up doctors and hospitals willing to agree to low reimbursement rates to their exchange-offered plans. That means that many of the plans, especially the silver and bronze ones, come with much more limited networks than Americans are used to. The newly insured are likely to find that, similar to Medicaid patients, it will be hard to find doctors who accept their new insurance. Having health insurance does not mean you can get care; you actually need a doctor for that, and a lot of people are in for a nasty surprise when they realize how limited their choices of providers are. U.S. Senator Tom Coburn finding out his cancer doctors were not part of his new Obamacare plan is just one famous example of this access issue. . .
The Democrats will lead the charge to rescind the ACA after the elections this Nov. The voter’s message will be clear.
If it becomes a crisis, the politician’s answer will be more control, not less.
The Democrats will lead the charge to rescind the ACA after the elections this Nov
And they will push to raise taxes on the poor and make prayer in school mandatory.
Lotsa substance here Mango.
what ever happened to proton therapy centers- many planned ,now not built. Under socialism you get nursing and meds,not surgeons or protons
taxpayers
The AMA, FDA (Fraud and Death Administration) and Big Pharma might have put the breaks on proton. Standard Care (aka scare) narrows options for treatments. Our sickness system has been broken for years. Both parties have ignored a solution. Clean up the big 3 I mentioned as a start. Forgo the fines and give the higher ups JAIL time. There are no provision on a financial stmt for slammer time.
I despise standard of care.
“Science advances one funeral at a time.”
other countries are building them Czech republic etc. They’re already seen and dismissed the workers paradise.
taxpayers
If you’re in So Ca, Loma Linda Medical Ctr was a pioneer in proton. Clinics are still out there, but it might be a long haul. Love the concept. Focus on the bad cells, and leave the healthy ones alone. God, I love the real stars in life, Scientists!
Carlin had a great observation. We are such a bright animal, and we waste it. We should have most, if not all, our problems and health concerns solved.
http://www.proton-therapy.org/
taxpayer
Found the organization the clinics belong to. Hope this helps in your search.
http://www.proton-therapy.org/
In case my first attempt didn’t post, I found the organization the proton centers belong to. I hope this helps.
‘Carlin had a great observation. We are such a bright animal, and we waste it. We should have most, if not all, our problems and health concerns solved.’
I think we keep pushing the margins for sake of growth and profit and ?
Imagine taking a hard-working Charles Ingalls type from the 19th century and transport him to today. Other than being mesmerized and maybe troubled by what he sees, he would never feel like he would go without if he could live his simple life. Enter Madison Avenue selling its wares. He’ll be goaded to want more and more.
Charles Ingalls was a Freemason, a group I find most interesting. I think of the FMs as the moral glue of manmade religion. Danny Thomas of the St. Jude’s Hospital legacy was a FM as well, as were/are some very GOOD people.
‘Charles Ingalls was a Freemason, a group I find most interesting.’
So, Laura Wilder was one of the Illuminati?
Carlin had a great observation. We are such a bright animal, and we waste it. We should have most, if not all, our problems and health concerns solved.
Depends on your definition of waste. Yes, we put most of our energy and resources into attempts to enslave each other rather than make everyone’s life better. Is that waste?
Laura and Almanzo were too poor and overworked as farmers to be very activist, although Laura did exhibit a bit of women’s liberation when she refused to say “obey” in her wedding vows in 1883, and later when she wrote a few essays in a local Missouri farm paper. However, their daughter Rose Wilder Lane is considered a founding mother of libertarianism. It is widely accepted that Rose heavily edited and possibly ghost-wrote some of the Little House books. There are several patriotic passages which are probably the voice of Rose.
Who wrote the racist stuff about the Native Americans?
I don’t think anyone knows exactly who wrote what. My guess is that the Native racism was Laura, who was there first hand and found out later that the family had nearly been massacred. All the housekeeping and homesteading stuff was probably Laura too.
However, there are several Fourth of July celebrations where townspeople read the Declaration and talk about being “free and independent” and I suspect that was Rose.
taxpayers
http://www.proton-therapy.org/
The association of proton clinics
“U.S. Senator Tom Coburn finding out his cancer doctors were not part of his new Obamacare plan is just one famous example of this access issue. . .”
Well, we all know he is lying. Just like the other tens of millions who find ObamaCare burdensome.
I have private insurance covering $5 million of cancer therapy/surgery should I need it. Hopefully I never will.
I bought it four years ago.
Annual premium for life is $285 a year.
‘Annual premium for life is $285 a year.’
Is that an outright policy or just the Chinese menu add-on price to a base premium?
$285/yr…Ok, did you read it? And if you ever needed it, will it actually pay up? I doubt it. The premium and cost of cancer care doesn’t relate. I don’t buy it.
Like the saying goes: If it’s too good to be true, then it isn’t true.
That only covers cancer. It doesn’t cover anything else.
I have hangnail treatment coverage for life for $1.32 a year by Mutual of Istaravshan.
What did the operation cost?
No, The Obamacare Debate Isn’t Over
American Spectator | 4/7/2014 | David Catron
Last Tuesday, our President swaggered into the Rose Garden to announce that 7.1 million people have signed up for health coverage through Obamacare’s exchanges and that all further argument about the future of his “signature domestic achievement” was pointless: “The debate over repealing this law is over. The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.” The problem with this claim is that no one with a basic grasp of arithmetic believes Obama’s enrollment figures, only about a quarter of the electorate supports his “reform” law, and it is still the target of multiple lawsuits challenging its constitutionality.
The debate is over is the way the left handles any issue when the evidence is against them. Take global warming the models have been shown to be very inaccurate so guess what the debate is over. Look at this link and compare the AGW models to the actual data and you will see why the no longer want a debate. Similarly, it is exactly because Obamacare failed to sign-up young people at the required percentage, if their lucky it is 30% compared to the needed 40% and they failed to make a significant dent in the uninsured, most of the people signing up switched from other insurance often because they were dropped due to Obamacare and insurance premiums rose instead of dropping $2500 year as promised by Obama they want the debate to end. Sorry it has not ended for AGW or Obamacare because the data on both is against them:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/04/07/un-wgii-report-relies-on-exaggerated-climate-model-results/#more-107124
warmists gonna warm
Alarmists have to alarm.
What is this thing “debate” that you keep mentioning. I see no signs of a debate anywhere.
Goon and I debate.
It’s similar to the evolution vs. creationism debate. There’s only a political debate.
The AGW crowd uses their computer models the same way that the Fundamentalists use the bible in an evolution debate. They cannot understand that what the models predict is not evidence particularly when they have been so wrong for so long. Similarly, the people using the bible just recite the bible passages over and over. Interestingly, in many ways the bible is more accurate than the AGW models in many things it says, if you do not take every word literally and understand it as a God trying to teach a scientifically illiterate population about what really occurred. An example for decades we thought that chemical reaction that formed DNA happened is some ooze but now scientists think that it occurred in some form of clay. The bible talks about life forming in clay.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1106/Did-man-form-from-earth-New-research-suggests-early-life-began-in-wet-clay
You obviously aren’t a gardener. Every time it rains, my clay turns into some serious ooze.
I do garden and it does not meet my definition of ooze.
“my clay turns…”
add sand and compost.
Skye, I’ve heard that sand doesn’t really work. Counterintuitive, but it doesn’t work. Mushroom compost is supposed to be the best but it’s very expensive. Instead, I’ve been working in bags and bags of leaf compost, cow poop, and in one bed I turned under last year’s cedar mulch. It also helps to fill beds with native perennials which have roots strong enough to break the soil and grown down 2-3 feet.
Last week one gardener told me to plant daikon radish and let it grow and grow. It’s strong enough to break clay. That’s news to me..
Good garden soil has a healthy proportion of sand. It does help with drainage. Not just sand and not just compost. Both. Leaf compost needs a lot of nitrogen to help it break down, or your plants will not be well fed. Carbon N2 balance.
Back to day zero.
Lola claimed success and has moved on to the big issue in November, transgender equality.
lolz
Lola claimed success and has moved on to the big issue in November, transgender equality.
I think he wants the minimum wage raised to $10.10 an hour for transgender sex workers.
For some people transgender equality is an important issue. It’s about tolerance.
You mean the tolerance that the left shows for anyone that disagrees with them even on religious grounds?
You can’t expect your religious beliefs to be considered as a matter of debate in scientific or secular realms.
All you have ever expressed is a religious belief in the AGW computer model and a lame excuse that no one gets a model perfect. As the graphs I have posted show, the models have been getting more and more wrong as the years pass.
Unfavorable opinions of the new national health care law are at their highest level in several months, while the number who think the quality of care in this country will get worse is at its highest level in over three years.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 58% of Likely U.S. Voters have at least a somewhat unfavorable opinion of the health care law, with 43% who view it Very Unfavorably. Just 39% have a favorable view of the law, including 16% with a Very Favorable one. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Despite the Obama administration’s claim that it has exceeded its March 31 goal of signing up seven million Americans through new health insurance exchanges, overall unfavorables for the health care law are up from 54% two weeks ago. Most voters have had an unfavorable opinion of the law in regular surveys since the beginning of last year. But the latest finding matches the all-time high first reached in mid-November. Favorables fell to a record low of 36% in that same survey.
Insurance companies believed that people shopping for health insurance on the government exchanges were very price sensitive so that low prices were needed to attract buyers. Thus, the insurers only signed up doctors and hospitals willing to agree to low reimbursement rates to their exchange-offered plans. That means that many of the plans, especially the silver and bronze ones, come with much more limited networks than Americans are used to. The newly insured are likely to find that, similar to Medicaid patients, it will be hard to find doctors who accept their new insurance. Having health insurance does not mean you can get care; you actually need a doctor for that, and a lot of people are in for a nasty surprise when they realize how limited their choices of providers are. U.S. Senator Tom Coburn finding out his cancer doctors were not part of his new Obamacare plan is just one famous example of this access issue. .
This is the nature of competition, supposedly one of the best features of the free market.
When private companies did it with HMOs in the 1980’s the left screamed about such a system. Now that Obama has forced people into networks far worse than the HMOs, it is fine. No inconsistency there.
No, it is NOT “fine” to the left. They hold their nose and *sigh* and say that at least an HMO network is better than no network at all.
Why do you think the disapproval for Obamacare is so high? That ~60% disapproval are not all adoring Ron Paul fans waving pocket Constitutions. About half of that disapproval is the left, screaming for public option and single payer.
They are being 100% consistent.
Whatever government touches - it destroys
That’s why the government better keep it’s hands off my Mom’s Medicare.
Arlington, VA (DC Metro) Housing Prices Dive 14% YoY; Inventory Balloons 32%
http://www.movoto.com/arlington-va/market-trends/
Median price per square foot down only 1% (to $358 per square foot)
Could be anything. Current listings have a pool? Outbuildings? Newer house? 3 car garage? Finished basement? A 10 year old house is worth more than a 20 year old house.
A good question
————————–
What is our obligation to those who make bad decisions?
Bookwormroom.com ^ | 4-6-2014 | Bookworm
One of the things I’ve tried to drill into my children is the truism that the single biggest indicator of poverty is single motherhood. That data, incidentally, does not reflect the old-fashioned kind of single motherhood, which was the result of widowhood or abandonment. Instead, we’re talking about modern single motherhood, the kind that sees women who are deluged with birth control choices nevertheless get pregnant with boyfriends or hook-ups who feel no emotional connection or sense of economic obligation to either mother or baby.
One of my children has a part-time job at a cafe and is, for the first time, meeting adults who have full-time jobs but who aren’t middle-class professionals living in single family homes in solidly upper middle class neighborhoods. One of these adults is pregnant and is unhappy about the fact that the cafe, where she’s been working for only five months, will not give her maternity leave.
Inquiry revealed that the pregnant woman is not married; that she’s living with a boyfriend who may or may not be the father of her child (my kid doesn’t know), and that the boyfriend doesn’t work. Except for getting regular nooky at night (assuming that the pregnant woman still wants that kind of attention), the mother-to-be will be, for all practical purposes, a single mother.
My child found it concerning that the boss won’t pay this single mother not to work for him. My child was therefore stymied when I asked this question: ”Why should he pay for her foolish choices?”
I noted that, while it’s entirely possible that this woman was using enough birth control to protect six woman, and nevertheless still managed to get pregnant, the greater likelihood was that she was careless. Indeed, if she really wanted to protect against single motherhood, she could have abstained from sex until she had a ring on her finger and some economic prospects.
I threw in the fact that it’s incredibly costly to do business in California, especially in the food service industry, which have extremely low profit margins. Employers generally are drowning in regulations, which makes businesses very expensive to run. Add in taxes and all the other costs of business (rent, insurance, salaries, benefits, supplies, etc.), and it’s guaranteed that the employer is clearing just enough money for his personal expenses (mortgage, insurance, food, etc.). This owner is almost certainly not living extravagantly but is, instead, living a very temperate life.
Much of the money that the federal and state government are taking away from this man, both from his business and from him personally, is going to welfare programs for single mothers, something this employer must know. Since he’s already paying for the welfare this young woman will inevitably end up using, why should he pay twice by carrying her on the books even though she’s contributing nothing to his business? Even if he was feeling charitable, the government has left him nothing with which to be charitable, not to mention the fact that the government, by snatching money from his pockets, has already decided on his behalf which charities he should support — including economically foolish single motherhood.
Such a simple question: ”Why should he pay for her foolish choices, when the government is already taxing him heavily in advance to pay for all the foolish choices of intentionally single mothers across America”?
“Why should he pay for her foolish choices, when the government is already taxing him heavily in advance to pay for all the foolish choices of intentionally single mothers across America”?”
Not only does he get to pay more for her welfare via taxes, but SHE has the potential to write off baby for 18 years on five different lines on her income taxes.
There’s lots of single mothers out there because they are rewarded for having babies out of wedlock. It’s a game they play.
What’s interesting in this country is that those who are productive get creamed economically. The non-producers (the scabs and the leeches) at the top and the bottom get to enjoy the fruit.
It’s not the womyn’s fault that they’re single moms, it’s the beta males who refuse to “Man Up” and marry them and raise their alpha thugspawn.
How do alpha thugspawn morph into beta males?
How do alpha thugspawn morph into beta males?
The Man takes care of that…
How do alpha thugspawn morph into beta males?
They are beta males when it comes to intelligence and work ethic, they are alpha when it comes to be thugspawn. The prisons are full of them. The best part of prisons, if they do not have conjugal visits, is that it takes the prisoners out of the breeding pool. However, at $30,000 to $40,000 a year it is an expensive way to get them out of the gene pool. Offer both the male and the female $5000 and a free operation to get “fixed” and they would probably jump at it. $10,000 is much more cost effective.
The moms don’t want to marry the beta males, since they can get more money by staying girlfriends and collecting state assistance.
And the taxpayers pay for the medical costs of the whole thing also. And I’ve heard that there is a Medicaid rule that won’t even let her get her tubes tied at the same time as the delivery if she wants to.
We subsidize all of this. We have no societal consensus answer on what you should do to people who make foolish choices other than to not hold them responsible for their choices by bailing them out in one way or another with someone else’s money.
Of course the young naive girl in the story should be a bleeding heart, but no reason for that to be your worldview once you start actually working a job and living in the real adult world like some of the mushy headed bleeding heart statists here.
The free sh*t army votes. That is all you need to know.
I think some do vote. I think a lot, a huge majority, do not.
Unfortunately, the percentage that does vote is enough.
Someone mentioned The Wire. Very good but depressing show about the drug problem in Baltimore. We’ve been dealing with this same issue for 40+ years and it isn’t one lick better. In lots of ways it is much worse. Replay this in DC, Philly, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, on and on.
Lolalol, don’t assume just because he or she would not bother to vote, that someone is not using his or her name to vote. You do not get 100% voting participation in Philadelphia voting districts without a lot of people helping.
Free Sh## Army Votes
I disagree. I think the active portion of the electorate decides that “aid” is the best way to help those who have been left behind (or won’t get up and go.)
So how do you think housing will be affected by the latest news about HFT, tech stocks going down, some hedge funds unwinding, etc. And China.
Many years ago I used to follow the market but lost interest when things started to get more complex and family, life starting taking up more time. Now I’m just a regular guy who’s seeing all this negative news and wondering what it means. It may just be me, but are there enough things going on to provide a tipping point? Enough to overcome the Feds easy money policy?
Those late to the party in a Ponzi get crushed. Don’t be a fool.
All I know is that it’s not worth it to buy stocks. As far as housing goes, it should be affordable. If it’s not, you should probably wait.
Invisible hand of the free market
“The surge of cheap heroin spreading in $4 hits across rural America can be traced back to the remote valleys of the northern Sierra Madre.
With the wholesale price of marijuana falling — driven in part by decriminalization in sections of the United States — Mexican drug farmers are turning away from cannabis and filling their fields with opium poppies.
Farmers in the storied “Golden Triangle” region of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, which has produced the country’s most notorious gangsters and biggest marijuana harvests, say they are no longer planting the crop. Its wholesale price has collapsed in the past five years, from $100 per kilogram to less than $25.
“It’s not worth it anymore,” said Rodrigo Silla, 50, a lifelong cannabis farmer who said he couldn’t remember the last time his family and others in their tiny hamlet gave up growing mota. “I wish the Americans would stop with this legalization.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/tracing-the-us-heroin-surge-back-south-of-the-border-as-mexican-cannabis-output-falls/2014/04/06/58dfc590-2123-4cc6-b664-1e5948960576_story.html
Rodrigo Silla should look at the price of fruits and vegetables lately…
Fruits and veggies don’t wholesale for $25/kg, much less $100/kg.
Fruits and veggies don’t wholesale for $25/kg, much less $100/kg.
Give Obama a few years, he is working on it.
Do your investments sometimes make a screeching sound?
April 6, 2014, 8:59 p.m. EDT
That screeching sound is the market losing momentum
Opinion: Complacency and overconfidence blindsides the bulls
By Dave Fry
The much-awaited Non-Farms Payroll Report didn’t produce any positive result for bulls.
The report on Friday showed 192,000 jobs vs. 206,000 expected and the prior report was revised higher to 197,000 from 175,000. The unemployment rate remained at 6.7% vs 6.6% expected. Inside the numbers though conditions weren’t that rosy.
In fact, looking at Janet Yellen’s “dashboard,” many data points weren’t positive including: declines in wages from 0.4% to 0.0%; only 1,000 new manufacturing jobs created; temporary Help came in at 29,000; retail was just 21,000 and leisure and travel was a mere 29,000 — not to mention that in combo these jobs are dominated by low-wage paying part-time work.
Plus, underemployment, the labor participation rate and the long-term unemployed numbers are still bothersome.
Overall the report is dovish for the Fed, as these data points were so weak the Fed is less likely to raise interest rates any time soon.
So, why the market decline?
Bulls are too complacent and too many sectors were overstretched.
…
Hey the hourly earnings went up by 1 cent per hour, Obama delivers again, the debate is over the economy is back.
Hey the hourly earnings went up by 1 cent per hour, Obama delivers again
Reagan’s SupplySide/TrickleDown philosophy dream, year 34 .
I’ve heard them making roaring sounds like that of a stalled airplane in a cartoon.
What could go wrong with Amazon and Facebook at 1000 P/E ratios?
Those lofty P/Es are a clear indication that future profitability will increase by leaps and bounds.
A few years ago, Illinois cut the projected return on retirement accounts from 8.5% to 8% and bragged about it. Does anyone really think the funds are going to earn 8% this year or next? The Fed has inflated the stock market and now moving it higher is going to much harder, the bond market is under pressure due to higher interest rates caused by the taper. Expect Meredith Whitney to be vindicated within the next few years”
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120921/NEWS02/120929946/state-teachers-pension-board-lowers-expected-rate-of-return
Almost as bad in CA:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/calpers-314001-pension-rate.html
From the California article that is about to post. Think about it, Jerry Brown is bragging about a 1 to 2 billion dollar budget surplus that may or may not materialize due to a stock bubble, which BTW is now popping, but he is not addressing a pension shortfall that may be up to $885 billion. However, the sheep believe he has fixed the state.
“Now that a swarm of local governments wants to abandon the floundering retirement trusts, the state plans are willing to credit only a 3.8 percent expected return,” former Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street explains. If CalPERS used that 3.8 percent number rather than the rosy 7.75 percent figure for calculating its overall pension liability, he argues, the state retirement plans’ “published $288 billion in pension shortfall would metastasize into an $884 billion California state insolvency.”
Excerpt from article, I have another post that I will not repeat it if it is lost:
“Now that a swarm of local governments wants to abandon the floundering retirement trusts, the state plans are willing to credit only a 3.8 percent expected return,” former Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street explains. If CalPERS used that 3.8 percent number rather than the rosy 7.75 percent figure for calculating its overall pension liability, he argues, the state retirement plans’ “published $288 billion in pension shortfall would metastasize into an $884 billion California state insolvency.”
“If CalPERS used that 3.8 percent number rather than the rosy 7.75 percent figure for calculating its overall pension liability, he argues, the state retirement plans’ “published $288 billion in pension shortfall would metastasize into an $884 billion California state insolvency.””
That pretty much explains that 7.75 percent annual return figure on pension investments, doesn’t it?
Earnings? Who needs earnings? American Homes For Rent (AMH) consistently looses money but nevertheless it pays out a dividend.
Why, it’s pure genius!
Last year AMH had a negative net income of $19,066,000 and it still was able to pay out $$12,989,000 in dividends. So, if the company lost all that money where did the money come from to pay dividends?
(Hint: Last year the company raised $1,761,376,000 by selling stock, so if you were a buyer of some of this stock then you were financing the dividend, which means the money that came to you in the form of dividends - in which you paid income taxes on - was in fact part of the money that went to buying the stock.)
The genius of Charles Ponzi is reincarnated over and over again!
I heard his former house is now on the market, seriously.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/04/04/charles-ponzi-slept-here-swindler-former-home-for-sale/6bkSMf8vCOGthHctigF01M/story.html
Built for $40,000 to $50,000 for sale for $3.3 million, you just have to love fiat currency.
“American Homes For Rent (AMH) consistently looses money but nevertheless it pays out a dividend.”
This is what I’m talking about. Losses on housing.
Or … perhaps the money was borrowed. Not only did AMH raise $1,761,376,000 by selling shares of itself to investors (choke) it also raised $356,603,000 in the form of borrowing.
Either way - debt or equity - the money that was paid out in the form of dividends wasn’t money that was earned.
And when some stockbroker goes to Hermes to buy a scarf for his mistress, you think the clerk is going to ask “earned or unearned?”
She was only a stockbroker’s mistress but everyone got his share.
“Either way - debt or equity”
I did a pretty extensive look at Canadian REITs a couple of years ago. Almost none had cash flow from earnings adequate to cover the distributions. All of them were adding to long term debt every year. Decided to stay away from that sector.
I believe that is a Ponzi scheme.
Are housing pains hammering your stock market gains?
Bulletin S&P 500 pulls back in early trade; Pfizer among steepest decliners »
April 7, 2014, 6:00 a.m. EDT
Housing pain could halt stocks’ gain
Opinion: Weaker demand for real estate could spread to other asset classes
By Jeff Reeves
With talk about a 1987-like stock-market crash, geopolitical unrest in Ukraine and the risk of a debt crisis in China, investors are starting to get jittery.
The S&P 500’s (SPX -0.41%) outsized gain of 30%-plus last year certainly can’t be repeated. And if the first quarter is any indication, not many investors will make much money by owning the benchmark index.
For the record, I do not think a major correction is in order for equities. CLICK! I expect the volatility we’ve seen this year — something that’s held back the S&P 500 to a gain of only 1.3% — is pretty much what’s in store for the rest of 2014. I predict we’ll finish with the S&P 500 around 1,950 on Dec. 31. (It’s now at about 1,897.)
But while I’m not too worried about stocks, I do think the housing market may take a hit. And the fallout of negative sentiment could affect other assets and consumer spending as a result.
A big narrative of our economic recovery has been a resurgent housing market. As a result, a slowdown or decline could be bad news for investors of all stripes.
Here’s what I think investors and homeowners should be watching in the real estate market, and the warning signs worth noting.
…
Does anyone besides me recall when the Wall Street denialists insisted that Main Street housing had nothing to do with Wall Street finance?
It was around 2006, to my recollection…
And yet the PTB are causing these housing pains to some extent by causing the FHA limits to drop. Why, why, why?
Why would they do anything that could lead to housing falling, much less drop amounts that could be borrowed by 20+ % . Everything I can see is them always increasing limits on the credit card, never dropping them.
From the Daily Beast linked from Google News:
“Jeb Bush said Sunday that illegal immigration is “not a felony” but an “act of love.” Speaking at a 25th anniversary celebration of his father’s presidency, the former Florida governor said this: “I honestly think that this is a different kind of crime. There should be a price paid, but it shouldn’t rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families.”
illegals are just Americans citizens anyways…
——————-
Biden: Undocumented immigrants ‘already American citizens’
CNN - Sara Fischer - 27 March 2017
Washington (CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden echoed the West Wing’s “we can’t wait” mantra Thursday, telling a crowd at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Summit that “undocumented aliens” are already American citizens.
“You know, 11 million people that are living in the shadows. I believe they’re already Americans citizens,” Biden said. “These people are just waiting, waiting for a chance to be able to contribute fully. And by that standard, 11 million undocumented aliens are already Americans in my view.”
Did Murdoch take over CNN? The quote in most news source “they’re already Americans” not “they’re already Americans citizens”.
The problem the left wing media has when it attacks Fox for getting it wrong, there just might be a video tape which shows that Fox got it right, Biden may have slurred it but he said it exactly like Fox reported it:
http://www.100percentfedup.com/news/1080-joe-biden-on-illegals-i-believe-they-re-already-american-citizens
The globalization effort is stopped in its tracks without creating the North American Union, that does not happen unless you have enough people in the U.S. that would vote for a union of the U.S. with Mexico and that does not happen without chain migration caused by amnesty. The PTB push hard every day for open borders despite the nation and general and the average Republican and independent being against open borders. It is their end game and the Bush and Clinton families support the globalists. We need an operation “wet back” like Eisenhower launched not amnesty when the real unemployment rate is well into the teens.
Stop being a hater, Dannyboy!
When Ever Olivos-Gutierrez killed a teenager in a hit and run last month and got arrested for his third DUI and has never held a valid drivers license, he was only in this country illegally trying be hard worker and American dream and put food on his family.
Act of love, Dannyboy.
He was such a hard, hard worker, that’s why he was so thirsty that he had four times the legal blood alcohol limit. And the only reason he fled the scene of the accident was because he was in a hurry to get to work on time. He’s so busy being hard worker and doing act of love that he forgot that his visitor’s visa to USA expired in 2004.
I hope Jeb’s message of love resonates with voters in 2016
“I hope Jeb’s message of love resonates with voters in 2016″
I doubt it. Except for the hard core party faithful who will believe and act on whatever the party tells them. The message of love will resonate with those who will vote democrat.
BTW, some of you may have seen me refer to JEB! and wonder what that’s all about. It’s a Florida joke. That’s what was on his campaign signs during his run for governor. His name in capital letters with an exclamation point after it.
The pubs may run him in 2016. It would be a real gift to the demos. They’ll do nothing but hound him with GWB’s legacy, 24/7. And that’s a strategy that will work like a charm, hanging chads and all. I’m sure the demos would like nothing more than for the stupid party to run JEB! 2016. I almost hope they do, because the circus would be a real barrel of fun. Even disgruntled Rs would get in on it with great mean-spiritedness and spite. It’d be quite a show.
The PTB want an election between the two since that way they cannot lose. They want amnesty soon before the old illegals decide to go back to Mexico since they are too old to do hard physical labor and they can live cheaper down there. Plus the push out of Mexico is less since unemployment is down and the wage gap between the countries is slowly narrowing.
Dan:
Go read the Republican party platform. They are not against open borders. Open borders are a necessary component of free trade.
Open borders are a necessary component of free trade.
Since when do you need to have people move here to trade with them?
BTW, here is an article on the Republican platform from the NYT, sounds pretty good to me:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/republican-immigration-platform-backs-self-deportation/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
Link does not work well but here is an excerpt:
Republicans have adopted a party platform on immigration that would require employers nationwide to verify workers’ legal status and deny federal financing to universities that allow illegal immigrant students to enroll at lower in-state tuition rates.
In their debates this week in Tampa, Fla., over the party platform, Republican delegates hammered out an immigration plank calling for tough border enforcement and opposing “any forms of amnesty” for illegal immigrants, instead endorsing “humane procedures to encourage illegal aliens to return home voluntarily,” a policy of self-deportation.
The party’s platform stance comes as Mitt Romney has been moving to court Hispanic voters before the general election. During the nominating fight last year, he took a hard line on immigration, embracing the concept of “self-deportation” and saying he would veto legislation known as the Dream Act, which would give legal status to illegal immigrants who came to the United States when they were children.
But recently, Mr. Romney has sought to soften his stance, saying he would consider a Dream Act for illegal immigrants who serve in the military.
The party platform offers no support for that proposal. A number of immigration amendments were offered by Kris Kobach, a conservative who is secretary of state of Kansas and was an author of laws in Arizona and several other states to crack down on illegal immigration.
Mr. Kobach proposed the plank calling for mandatory use by employers of a federal electronic system known as E-Verify to confirm the legal immigration status of new hires. “If you really want to create a job tomorrow, you can remove an illegal alien today,” Mr. Kobach said.
At his urging, the delegates also adopted a call to complete a double-layer border fence and to end federal lawsuits challenging state enforcement laws like Arizona’s.
Both parties support the shamnesty.
No the leadership of both parties support the shamnesty, that is quite different than the rank and file or even the average member of Congress particularly on the Republican side.
The leadership are the parties. Don’t kid yourself. They pick who gets to run in the primaries. Witness what happened to Ron Paul during the previous GOP primary season. He got shut out, some people like Ben Jones complained but the crowd accepted robber baron Romney and voted for him in November.
This is the reason I am now an unaffiliated voter. I told the local GOP that I was fed up with illegals and H1-Bs. They told to go pound sand, that both were needed, blah, blah, blah.
Of course this means that every election I end up voting for third party candidates that have zero chance of winning, but that’s the breaks.
It’s though-provoking when talk about illegals and H1-Bs in the same sentence. You can find some politicians against amnesty for illegal aliens. I bet you can’t identify five members of Congrees interested in reducing the number of H1-Bs.
This is probably due to the fact that illegal Mexicans work for small businesses. The H1-Bs, on the other hand, work for some of our largest, mightiest corporations, who have tremendous clout on Capital Hill.
The Chamber of Commerce loves illegals, especially since middle class foots the bill for their education, healthcare, EBT, etc.
If the leadership supports it, then the party is doing it. You should not defend a party with a platform that disagrees with you on major issues.
In other words, Republicans LOVE illegal immigration, since it dilutes the labor pool and reduces the market value of labor.
Not defending the republican party but there are a lot more individual republican senators and particularly house members opposing amnesty than there are democrats. In fact, Fed name one democratic Senator that opposes Reid and Obama’s amnesty plan.
\/
Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat! Why all this confusion on amnesty? The positions aren’t a secret. The President supports amnesty, as does Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, along with Marco Rubio, John McCain, that Flake guy from AZ, and Lindsey Graham. Basically, the progressives and the neocons support amnesty.
Golly, then why haven’t they passed it? Who is holding this up in DC? Tea Party congress people. They are the only reason it’s not the law today. I’m not in the TP, I’ve never been to one of their meetings and I don’t think I’ve ever even met someone from the TP. But there’s no doubt who is for and against amnesty in DC.
I agree Ben and while I am not a member of the TP, I certainly support their stand on immigration.
“You’d have to have rocks in your head to buy a house at these massively inflated prices.”
You can say that again Mister.
Is your presidential field frozen due to the presence of one Lookie-Lou candidate?
Politics and Policy
Hillary Clinton’s Phantom Presence in 2016 Campaign Freezes Other Democrats
Presidential Hopefuls Faces Hurdles in Early Stages of Raising Money
By Peter Nicholas
April 6, 2014 7:30 p.m. ET
Polls show Hillary Clinton lapping the field of potential Democratic rivals, indicating that she could take the nomination without a fight. European Pressphoto Agency
Hillary Clinton’s phantom presence in the Democratic presidential-nomination stakes—neither in nor out—is freezing the rest of the field, creating formidable obstacles for other candidates needing to raise money and set up an organization.
When advisers to a fundraising group backing a prospective 2016 Clinton bid came calling in late January, hedge-fund manager and political heavyweight Orin Kramer said he met them in his New York office and agreed to write a check. When another potential candidate, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, tried to reach him, Mr. Kramer said he didn’t take the call.
“She’s Gladys Knight and all the rest of them are the Pips,” said Robert Zimmerman, a longtime Democratic donor, comparing Mrs. Clinton with potential opponents from both parties.
…
Sounds like the Dems want to field their own “Romney”. Sure, the Democrat base will vote for her, just like the GOP base supported Romney. But what will swing voters do? If the GOP can field a charismatic, non fundy, non robber baron candidate (I know, I might as well wish for a Candy Cr@pping Unicorn while I’m at it) they could win it.
How about Rick Santorum? He’s a Catholic, but the fundamentialists love him.
Possibly … some might perceive his as a fundy though. I remember last time he didn’t make a lot of hay about being Catholic.
Polls show Hillary Clinton lapping the field of potential Democratic rivals, indicating that she could take the nomination without a fight.
How is that different than in 2005?
Everything is still wide open, but yeah, the Dems have a pretty shallow bench. Obama had been seen as a potential candidate ever since his breakout red-state blue-state speech at the 2004 convention. There haven’t been any breakouts on either side since. Republicans are have been introducing their bench, one at a time, after Obama SotU addresses, but they have a tendency to flame out.
I suspect 2016 will belong to governors.
Politics and Policy
Jeb Bush to Decide by Year-End Whether to Run for President
Former Florida Governor Calls Actions of Many Who Come to U.S. Illegally an ‘Act of Love’
By Brody Mullins
April 6, 2014 10:35 p.m. ET
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Sunday that he would make up his mind this year on whether to run for president, and waded into the immigration debate by describing the actions of many who come to the U.S. illegally as an “act of love.”
Mr. Bush, 61 years old, said he has delayed reaching a decision on whether to follow in his father’s and brother’s footsteps in part because he doesn’t want to think about it right…
Is America turning into a Third World nation, including political dynasties whose family members are entitled to the front-runner position, should they decide to run for president?
Third world nation?
As defined as an El Presidente who just makes up the laws he wants, ignores laws he doesn’t like and does not implement the laws he pushed for if it might affect an election?
“makes up the laws he wants”
No kidding. And now he’s trying to push more big government down the throats of bootstrapping, rugged individualist, government contractors!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-planning-to-use-executive-orders-to-continue-reforms-for-contracting-workforce/2014/04/06/d62ddde6-bda8-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html
Limp wristed, throws like a girl, coastal elitist New York Times bemoans college spending on concussionball programs instead of academic (insert victim class here) studies programs:
“Even as their spending on instruction, research and public service declined or stayed flat, most colleges and universities rapidly increased their spending on sports, according to a report being released Monday by the American Association of University Professors.
“Increasingly, institutions of higher education have lost their focus on the academic activities at the core of their mission,” the association said in its report. “The spending priority accorded to competetive athletics too easily diverts the focus of our institutions from teaching and learning to scandal and excess.”
Liberace?
Lib’s not gonna make it today, rough weekend at Paddles…
rough weekend at Paddles
Isn’t that why he car pools with Loda to make the drive up there?
Loda=Lola.
from his facebook status update, apparently he was subbing with some new boys and there was some confusion about the “safe word”
Might he still be strapped up in Paddles alone and nobody knows?
Is he more strapped than the average homeowner?
If you are a university and you have a winning sports team then you grant your alumni some highly-valued bragging rights, and these highly-valued bragging rights act to open up the wallets of the alumni and hence rain money on the university, and some of this reined-down money ends up in the university’s endowment fund which helps to finance the university.
And the best part of all this - this using your sports teams to finance the needs of the university - is, although you may pay out some hefty bucks for coaching, you get the players on the cheap.
concussionball programs
Also known as “dude, where’s my brain?”
But it’s all good. The next Peyton is already playing at some Football Factory program. Bronco fans need not worry about getting stuck with another Tebow.
http://blog.berecruited.com/expectations-from-aau-club-teams
Read it and weep, boys!
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/4-reasons-why-rising-mortgage-rates-are-good-2014-04-07
Selling overpriced houses to people with a 580 score, what could possibly go wrong?
“For conventional mortgages backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, you might need a 620 FICO score, versus the 640 or 660 you needed last year, Jacobs said. For loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, you might need a 580 FICO, whereas lenders required a 620 or 640 a year ago, he said.”
It wasn’t that long ago that a 580 FICO borrower had to buy their cars on the bad side of town at 20% rates. It’s difficult to imagine anyone would be eager to put them into a $350k plus, 5% rate mortgage.
The Left Isn’t Pro-Gay — It’s Pro-Power
FrontPage Magazine | April 7, 2014 | Daniel Greenfield
Those on the right who insist that conservatism should be reduced to fiscal issues imagine that the culture war is a fight that the right picked with the left. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The left does not care about gay marriage. In most left-wing regimes, homosexuality was persecuted. It was illegal in the USSR. Gay men were locked up in Cuba and are still targeted in China. Nicolas Maduro, the current hero of the left, openly uses homophobic language without any criticism from his Western admirers. It goes without saying that homosexuality is criminalized throughout the Muslim world.
The left’s shift on this issue, as on many issues, was purely tactical. The left’s leading lights were racists who jumped into civil rights. They were sexists who became feminists. They were advocates for the working class who despised the idea of working for a living.
The culture war does not emerge from the left’s deeply held beliefs. Its leaders could care less about the things that they pretend to care about. It emerges instead from the need to maintain a constant state of domestic conflict.
Did the activists who claimed Eich’s scalp care about him or his $1,000 donation to defend marriage? They’re already forgetting his name and moving on to the next target. Eich just happened to make a good target. The Mozilla Foundation is shaky, its board was insecure, and once an online dating company cynically came out with a publicity stunt to keep the news cycle churning, the scalp of the man behind Javascript was claimed. If he had hung on for another few days, the whole thing would have gone away.
Next week it will be someone else. And then the week after that.
Every gang needs to hurt and terrorize people in order to feel its power. Unlike a Chicago street gang which goes in for an honest mugging or beating, the online activists of the left do their dirty work in this way. Afterward there is no blood and there are no bruises, but lives are destroyed and its social justice activists chortle to themselves coming off an adrenaline high before going after someone else.
The purpose of these purges is not to make the country more tolerant, but to make it more afraid. The message of the Eich purge is not, “accept gay marriage,” it’s “don’t question us.” As many have pointed out, Eich had the same view of gay marriage at the time he made that donation as Obama and Hillary.
Members of the club can and do make racist jokes. They can oppose gay marriage. They can sexually harass female employees, pay them less and even kill them. They can do all these things because the “club” is not about gay marriage or equal rights for race or gender.
It’s about the supreme power of the club.
You can call the club, liberalism, progressivism or simply “the left.” You can call its members Marxists, Socialists or anything else you like. They go by many names, some real and some fake, but they are the “club”; a totalitarian organization dedicated to absolute power in the name of any available lie.
The left is a totalitarian movement that inverts everything it touches. It fights against poverty by making more men poor. It helps black people by keeping them down, and it promotes tolerance through displays of intolerance. Its endgame is simply raw power. It wants as much of it as it can get its hands on.
The idea that any part of the left’s agenda can be delinked and ignored is wishful thinking. The left’s incessant accusations of racism show that the refusal to engage an issue does not take it off the table. It’s the left that determines the content and the context of the conflict. And that’s why the right is losing. It imagines that it can unilaterally retreat to more favorable ground.
Excellent piece, great points.
I don’t know what the elites think, but I consider myself a progressive.
I don’t want a bigot running any enterprise of consequence. Whether people are bigoted against race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, they should be deprived of any position of influence.
Of course that’s only my opinion. I feel much more reassured that more and more of my fellow countrymen agree with me.
But yet you voted for obama.
Just like the article said - it is not about gay marriage - it is about power.
——————–
“I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.” - Candidate Obama, April 17, 2008, defining marriage at the Saddleback Presidential Forum.
“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.” - Candidate Obama - Nov. 2, 2008, while running for president, in an interview with MTV.
“I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.” - Candidate Obama, April 17, 2008, defining marriage at the Saddleback Presidential Forum.
Sure, that was his view at the Saddleback Presidential Forum but he changed his mind at the Brokeback Presidential Forum.
“I don’t want a bigot…”
The problem with that is you have to take an intolerant bias to label one or the other on a right/wrong disagreement a bigot. It’s an irony.
The Weimar Republic was very “tolerant” and then it collapsed and looked what followed. If the economy collapses it is going to get ugly out there in a hurry and any group associated with supporting the leadership that was in power during the collapse will pay a heavy price. That is just the lesson of history and we ignore history at our own peril. The added problem is that if the U.S. becomes a totalitarian nation which country is going to rescue it? It could very well end up the 1000 year Reich.
It is entirely possible for a tolerant person to run across a bigot. Why do bigots demand that tolerant people should not be allowed to use the word “bigot”? Is it because bigots see themselves at the top of the totem pole?
For instance, it is permissable to drone endlessly on the Housing Bubble Blog about how girls and women are pure trash (90% of the male commentators on the this board), but to call the droner a bigot is not permissable. It is permissable to whine about non-Christians, non-heterosexuals, non-Republicans, non-whites, and non-cops, but to call the whiner a bigot is not permissable.
Whatever.
Permissible yes, but sometimes ironic.
but to call the whiner a bigot is not permissable.
It’s totally permissible. Watch. ADan is a pure bigot. Now this is a fact.
See?
you have to take an intolerant bias to label one or the other on a right/wrong disagreement a bigot.
That is one of the dumbest things you’ve ever written.
Talk about Orwillian Doublespeak rationalization of American bigotry.
Of course you consider yourself a progressive, as long as everybody else falls in blindly behind you and cites the party line. Anybody who does not, will be obliterated.
See the contradiction between what you claim to be, and what you really are?
You are not a progressive. You are a card-carrying member of the thought police. You will do everything in your power to form with other bullies like yourself to make us productive people pay so that you can cram your follies down our throats.
Tuitie-Fruitie thinks that Democrats are represented by the USSR and Cuba.
But there is a connection between higher educational spending and bigger and more powerful teacher’s unions - who support democrats 99-1 with their union dues.
————————————
Study: No connection between spending, student outcomes
Watchdog.org | April 7, 2014 | Rob Nikolewski
SANTA FE, N.M. – For decades, it’s probably the most troublesome question facing education: Why are results for U.S. public school students so mediocre, despite the billions of taxpayer dollars spent?
Andrew Coulson thinks he’s got the answer: Because there is no discernible correlation between spending and outcomes.
“The takeaway from this study is that what we’ve done over the past 40 years hasn’t worked,” said Coulson, director of the Center For Educational Freedom at the CATO Institute. “The average performance change nationwide has declined 3 percent in mathematical and verbal skills. Moreover, there’s been no relationship, effectively, between spending and academic outcomes.”
While spending has just about tripled in inflation-adjusted dollars and the number of school employees has almost doubled since 1970, reading, math and science scores for students have remained stagnant.
“That is remarkably unusual,” Coulson wrote in his study. “In virtually every other field, productivity has risen over this period thanks to the adoption of countless technological advances — advances that, in many cases, would seem ideally suited to facilitating learning. And yet, surrounded by this torrent of progress, education has remained anchored to the riverbed, watching the rest of the world rush past it.” .
Wall Street Journal - The Unemployment Puzzle: Where Have All the Workers Gone?
“A big puzzle looms over the U.S. economy: Friday’s jobs report tells us that the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.7% from a peak of 10% at the height of the Great Recession. But at the same time, only 63.2% of Americans 16 or older are participating in the labor force, which, while up a bit in March, is down substantially since 2000. As recently as the late 1990s, the U.S. was a nation in which employment, job creation and labor force participation went hand in hand. That is no longer the case.”
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304441304579477341062142388
“Where have all the workers gone?”
If you are in Southern California you may discover that many of the workers went on disability. This might have something to do with lots of lawyer-sponsored radio ads touting the joys of receiving disability payments instead of receiving a paycheck.
Employer’s Insurance Group (EIG) - a disability insurance company - is pulling back to its exposure to California in general and Southern California in particular due to the explosion of disability claims that suddenly emerged right after the radio ads suddenly emerged (funny how that came about).
What’s great about all this, from the lawyer’s point of view, is if the client if faking his injury (the injury you and he are both profiting from) and he gets nailed HE, the client, gets to do the time and YOU, the lawyer, get to skate.
You and he share in the profits while he takes all the risks.
Better Call Saul!
For a “criminal” attorney.
You need to rephrase your statement.
It usually isn’t because they have the option of disability or a paycheck. Not when there are no jobs (and I’m talking real jobs, not $8/hour McJobs), especially for people in their late 40-50s.
Whats really going to be funny is when all of these boot-strappers get thrown under the bus, and join the rest of the “Wretched Refuse” class.
It usually isn’t because they have the option of disability or a paycheck. Not when there are no jobs (and I’m talking real jobs, not $8/hour McJobs), especially for people in their late 40-50s.
Plus disability only replaces a fraction of your former income. I’m sure those oldsters would be happy to give up their $1500/mo disability check if they could get their old $3-4000/month jobs back
Going on disability may not be the smartest thing a worker can do but nevertheless a lot of them seem to be doing it.
Here’s an excerpt from EIG’s latest quarterly report:
“Dirks continued: “In the fourth quarter, we noted increases in indemnity claim frequency and severity in our book of business for the current accident year, 2013. The major driver of these increases was attorney involvement in open claims in Southern California. For example, the number of our open indemnity claims that have legal representation in California increased by 14 percentage points from January 1 through December 31 in 2013. Approximately 8 points of that increase occurred in the last three months of 2013. Industry data from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute suggests that the cost of litigated indemnity claims is more than seven times the cost of non-litigated indemnity claims.”
As I mentioned before, EIG is pulling much of its operation out of Southern California and this pulling out is sure to leave a big hole in disability insurance coverage. The hole won’t last forever and it is most likely destined to be filled as most holes of this nature are most likely filled but the filling will probably be at a much higher cost.
It’s already costly to do business in California for various reasons and here is yet another reason to be added to the already large pile of reasons.
Do they claim that these attorneys are able to get benefits for people who are not legitimately disabled?
From some of the ads I’ve heard the term “stress” is mentioned as a disabling condition, as in “If you are stressed out at work then you may be entitled to disability benefits” - or words to that effect.
What’s really going to be funny is when all of these boot-strappers get thrown under the bus, and join the rest of the “Wretched Refuse” class.
I local boy scout leader who was a big Republican booster got laid off (mid50’s, middle level management) and was out of work for 18 months. Now he’s selling fishing poles for Cabella’s.
Haven’t checked back to see if his political views have evolved.
My neighbor next door is in the same boat, same demographics. At the peak of his career he had 100+ people reporting to him. Now he can’t get any job, not even bagging groceries, as he’s overqualified for menial work but no one wants his decades of managerial experience either.
He’s a hard core republican too. I wonder how long until he folds and applies for disability.
I’ll bet that ex-middle manager at Cabela’s is thrilled about taking orders from his 24 year old “boss”.
“My neighbor next door is in the same boat, same demographics. At the peak of his career he had 100+ people reporting to him. Now he can’t get any job, not even bagging groceries, as he’s overqualified for menial work but no one wants his decades of managerial experience either.”
Hopefully he isn’t wallowing in debt.
If you are in Southern California you may discover that many of the workers went on disability. This might have something to do with lots of lawyer-sponsored radio ads touting the joys of receiving disability payments instead of receiving a paycheck.
The average disability paycheck is a pittance (about $1000 a month). I guess it’s sufficient if you live in your parent’s basement and play XBox all day.
What I do suspect is that some disability recipients work under the table, redirecting income to a spouse’s SSN. I guess that is my rule of thumb, when you see someone living it up on government cheese, they’re cheating.
Wall Street Journal - The Unemployment Puzzle: Where Have All the Workers Gone?
They went into the same place their jobs went: into a big, black hole.
What does the PTB expect when they offshore entire industries? Do they really expect displaced, middle aged workers with a HS education to become high tech entrepreneurs? Heck, even young people with college degrees have a hard time doing that. And look at how many of them end up in menial, P/T jobs, unable to repay their student loans.
As recently as the late 1990s, the U.S. was a nation in which employment, job creation and labor force participation went hand in hand. That is no longer the case.
Actually they still are, we’ve just rigged the unemployment numbers to not count “discouraged workers” who would work if they could find a job.
‘Where Have All the Workers Gone’
There’s a shortage of workers. CEO’s will one day camp out on the lawns of potential workers and bid against each other every day for the privilege of having a worker do work. And it will be more expensive every day, forever.
So that’s why the CEOs of Intel, HP, IBM, Google and Qualcomm are camped out in my front yard?
I’m not giving me away for free!
Sorry but your market value is governed by supply and demand.
There’s a shortage of mes.
Why because they are not making any more Uncle Feds?
That’s what the Black Death did in Europe and Asia. The people who were left never returned to the serf class. In fact, serfdom was gone until the Industrial Revolution.
I’m tellin’ ya, the confiscatory policies of the thought police are all working toward the outcome of reducing median age in this country by 5 years.
Housing pain could halt stocks’ gain
MarketWatch - Jeff Reeves - 4/7/2014
But while I’m not too worried about stocks, I do think the housing market may take a hit. And the fallout of negative sentiment could affect other assets and consumer spending as a result.
As it becomes increasingly clear that the Federal Reserve is on track to raise key interest rates in the next 12 to 18 months, the rate on mortgages has been creeping higher too.
Mortgage rates were elevated in March, and interest rates are flirting with a monthly average of 4.5% on a 30-year fixed – which, according to Freddie Mac mortgage survey data, would mark the highest levels since July 2011.
Consider that a $200,000 loan at a 3.5% rate works out to about $900 per month, while a 4.5% rate is just shy of $1,015 — a difference of $115 monthly for the same home. And for more expensive houses, the difference is even more dramatic.
Through February, housing starts had fallen for three straight months, in part, due to the harsh winter weather. And while January’s numbers were revised up, the massive 11.2% dip still has had a big effect on inventory during the all-important spring buying season.
Additionally, there’s a chance that March could continue that trend, too, keeping supply limited for some time.
In other words, there are a lot of people who have been sitting on their homes waiting for them to rebound in value and may look to get out while the getting is good.
But it’s worth noting that by and large, prices have been supported by tight supply more than red-hot interest in home ownership again. That doesn’t leave a lot of margin for error as we face higher interest rates and home prices that have rebounded to peak levels in many places.
I’ll admit that much of the “shadow inventory” of foreclosed homes has been largely eaten up, with a 35% drop in foreclosure inventory over last year worth about $70 billion. That’s undeniably a good thing.
With housing demand cratering nationally, they now have an excuse not to raise rates which is meaningless anyways considering…… cratering demand.
A peer inside the mind of your typical dumb. borrowed. money. house buying candidate.
http://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/rocks.jpg
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2127963-sprotts-john-embry-gold-and-silver-making-a-bottom
“the problem that they [the Fed] have is they basically have two conflicting issues, one is that they are trying to support the U.S economy, and at the same time, they are trying to support the U.S dollar, and I think that those are mutually exclusive and in the end, when push comes to shove, I expect that the dollar will be the one that is going to take the hit.”
I agree with that. I figure the next two years gold prices will range between $1150 and $1450 and be very close to either of those two numbers a couple times each. And Silver and Platinum prices will be range bound as well. But after that the dollar will take a severe dive, which, translated, will mean precious metals prices will go very high. I figure two years more of buying opportunities.
Trying to support the dollar? Do you mean they are trying to support the buying power of the dollar?
But … but … but … the Fed wants inflation, and inflation destroys the buying power of the dollar.
It’s DEFLATION that supports the buying power of the dollar and this, this deflation, is what the Fed is trying to combat.
(Not saying that they are really having all that much luck in this area.)
Gold to Iran:
http://peakoil.com/publicpolicy/iran-cant-withdraw-much-oil-revenue-under-interim-nuclear-deal
Enough with the “Hero Pilot” stories already.
(If what I suspect happened, happened, there is another word to describe him……..starts with “dumb” and ends with “azz”)
http://tinyurl.com/m6k467r
Of course, the simpleton TV and newspaper reporters don’t do even basic investigation anymore……. That’s okay……I can help.
Distance from Jacksonville Executive to Lee’s Summit = 920 miles.
Cessna T210 range = 1036 miles
(Range determined using a brand new airplane, with a brand new engine, with tanks fully topped, at 10K ft., on a standard day…….he filed to fly at 8K feet, so he burned more fuel)
“Witnesses reported he had engine trouble……”
(Like maybe it didn’t have fuel?)
No post crash fire……
(Like maybe it didn’t have any fuel left?)
Reminds me of the nasty-gram sent out by our flying club president, after a rash of fuel exhaustion incident involving the club’s T210s.
“Gas, Av-gas, go-juice, fuel, petro…….call it what you will, it has been proven countless times that no aircraft powerplant will run without it. This is a fact, no longer theory and no more studies are needed. By regulation (them damn regulations…-fixr) a pilot must plan on having something left in the tanks when he completes his flight……”
Among the incidents:
“T210, VFR to Tampa: In an attempt for the Chuck Lindbergh long distance, non-stop award, this member missed the record book and airport by only a quarter of a mile……the airplane was totaled, and turned into beer cans, however, the fuel guages were salvaged because of their accuracy. They read “E”….”
Thanks everyone…..I feel better…….
Basic boating safety: 1/3 to get there, 1/3 to get back, 1/3 for margin. If there is fuel at the destination, 1/2, 1/2 for margin.
Thank you, fixer. Still love your reality check posts about your industry.
Over at ericpetersautos.com I saw this interesting comment:
I did an IT project for a company that re-finances auto loans. One of the tasks was to expand the field the holds the number of months financed. When they designed the system just a few years ago, who would have imagined that it needed more than two characters?
Sure enough, though, the days of the 100-month auto mortgage are here.
I worked in indirect auto finance for TARP bank several years ago, I’m actually surprised this hasn’t happened sooner.
Goon, have you ever worked at a socially useful job?
Big insurance
Big education/publishing
Big banking
Big government contractor (this was a different one that actually built stuff that killed people)
Big academia
Big accounting
Big environmentalism (DoE contractor)
And the biggest big daddy of them all, big military industrial complex (xxx dot mil)
What’s your point?
To go along with “That Suburban/Tahoe costs as much as my House” talk, that you are hearing more and more, out here in BFE.
Of course, this is before the magic of the under the counter dealer incentives.
Three guys I know bought new trucks within the past two months……an F-250, and F-350, and a Tahoe. All “stickered” in the low to mid-$50K range.
But with the magic of various incentive programs, the “out the door” prices on all three were in the low $30K range. Before the trade was calculated in.
Of course, this is before the magic of the under the counter dealer incentives.
Just curious, were the trucks advertised at these heavily discounted prices in the newspapers?
No. These were nicely equipped, on the lot examples.
When I bought my new car last year, the dealer finance guy seemed stunned that I had:
-A $5000 down payment.
-Told him I wanted to finance for four years MAX.
Seems like they don’t see too many buyers like me anymore.
But what I meant is how do they get the word out that you can buy a rig with a 50K MSRP for “only” thirty something.
Like everything else, this will continue until it can’t. Auto prices will continue to rise and consumers will continue to buy as long as they have cheap monthly payment options.
When negative equity overwhelms consumers’ ability to trade into another vehicle without a large cash down payment and loan terms begin to exceed the useful life of the vehicle without large repair bills, this will end.
This isn’t rocket science…
Like everything else, this will continue until it can’t.
It WILL go on forever. As long as the free sh*t army votes.
Take GM for example.
It was bankrupt. It’s financial Arm (GMAC) was bankrupt. GMAC was lending $50,000 to people to buy GM cars at 120% LTV ratios (because they were underwater with the car they were trading in) when the dealer knew not one payment was ever going to made.
GMAC went bankrupt too.
obama bailed them out and all those crap loans went on to the taxpayer in a sham of a bankruptcy.
GMAC is now Ally Bank.
And now Ally Bank in making those same subprime loans again for people to buy GM cars…
Between the FB and other high tech valuations, the subprime mortgages, and the auto loans, it looks like we are intent of making all the mistakes we made from 1999-2008 at the same time. Add in very high energy prices and we have a toxic mix that should make the “Great Recession” seem like the good old days.
GMAC went bankrupt too.
I seem to recall that GMAC was the one part of GM that was still making money, which is why it was sold to Cerberus and became Ally. It did have a real estate division which was sold off and became known as Capmark Financial. Unlike the motor vehicle financing arm, Capmark did file for BK after being sold off.
Sure enough, though, the days of the 100-month auto mortgage are here.
I thought the “howmuchamonth” crowd leased their cars.
For leasing to work, you need to be able to stay close to the mileage limits.
Also, the pre-owned vehicle market requires traditional loans (unless it’s a program car and a captive finance company). Have you seen the price of a 2 year old GMC Yukon? They sticker out well over $50k new, so used is still over $40k, which is $800/mo for 5 years.
“Have you seen the price of a 2 year old GMC Yukon? They sticker out well over $50k new, so used is still over $40k, which is $800/mo for 5 years.”
+1 Fugg’n insane isn’t it?
And now, some good news for a Monday morning:
http://www.infowars.com/trend-analyst-yes-there-will-be-riots-in-major-cities/
Is it “go time” yet
The free sh*t army votes.
From the article:
They want you to feel good about the government pointing a gun at somebody else’s head, taking their money and taking their stuff and redistributing it to everybody else.
Are you ready for go time?
I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near the northeast I-95 corridor, Southern California, South Florida, or any other clusterfark of FSA zombies when go time happens.
Got 7.62×39?
Thanks Goon love the ads, there is nothing hotter than a woman will a .50 caliber sniper rifle.
will=with
The free sh*t army votes.
They want you to feel good about the government pointing a gun at somebody else’s head, taking their money and taking their stuff and redistributing it to everybody else.
When liberals protest liberals.
It is fun to watch!
————————
Silicon Valley backlash: Protesters VOMIT on Yahoo workers’ bus…
Daily Mail UK - 4/7/2014
A protester so aghast with Silicon Valley’s impact on the Bay Area has gone as far as to vomit on a Yahoo shuttle bus.
The mystery demonstrator was among a group of protesters picketing the buses that ferry employees of the big tech corporations to work, deeming them indicative of everything wrong with the hyper-gentrified Silicon Valley.
On Tuesday, the group blocked an intersection in San Francisco’s Mission area, and protestors consisted of dancers in clown suit onesies.
But Valleywag.com reported that in Oakland, almost 50 ‘rebels’ blocked a pick up zone for tech buses and one apparently vomited on the windshield of a Yahoo bus from its roof.
A disturbing picture shows the sick, which supposedly was hurled on cue.
The action reportedly delayed shuttle buses from Apple bus, Google bus and Yahoo bus for more than half an hour.
“A protester so aghast with Silicon Valley’s impact on the Bay Area has gone as far as to vomit on a Yahoo shuttle bus.”
Would this impact on the Bay Area have anything to do with bringing money into the Bay Area?
Perhaps they would be better off in, maybe, a place such as Detroit?
New show on HBO called Silicon Valley… pokes quite a bit of fun at the ridiculousness of the entire area. Being in the business and having worked on/at a number of start-ups (without seeing a huge financial success as of yet), I was quite amused.
Ah, the UK Daily Mail, beacon of journalistic excellence and reporter of all things bodily excretion related, such as this Pulitzer winning piece from a few years ago:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046586/Occupy-Wall-Street-Shocking-photos-protester-defecating-POLICE-CAR.html
Those vomiting bedwetters can move to Oakland, all your San Francisco are belong to 23 year old app developers!
Maybe everyone should move out of San Francisco. It’s really not that great of a place.
they are not liberals
collectivists-statists- nannyist(hilery)
see lp.org =liberal
N. Bethesda, MD Housing Prices Crater 34% YoY; Inventory Balloons 50%
http://www.movoto.com/north-bethesda-md/market-trends/
Price per square foot up 5% (to $357 per square foot, one year ago it was $340).
Also, that ballooning inventory? A year ago it was 18. Now it is 27. How statistically significant! (sarcasm off)
Could be anything. Current listings have a pool? Outbuildings? Newer house? 3 car garage? Finished basement? A 10 year old house is worth more than a 20 year old house.
And at what level must sales volume be in order to be acceptable to you?
Hint: your motive is showing again.
You think that houses or condos (there are some huge condo buildings in North Bethesda) with a median size of 1331 square feet on either postage stamp sized lots or no lots at all (the condos) have out buildings and/or pools?
No. Not at all. Not even close.
Precisely my point; The lot sizes aren’t postage stamp which explains the disparity between median unit and median sale.
http://tinyurl.com/nvujlxx
So…….Turkey creates a civil war in Syria, knowing that, as a NATO member, Syria can’t retaliate without drawing in the rest of NATO.
Not a whole lot of incentive for the Turks to change their behavior.
Now that the Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation is greatly reduced, it seems that nobody in the world can resist screwing with their neighbors.
Time for the US to put it’s money where it’s mouth is, and sell all of the weapons we can, to whoever has the cash. After all, if you are consistent in defining the “Prosperity Gospel”, God picks out the winners and losers, by making sure that the winners have enough cash to but the stuff to defend themselves.
‘1 September 2013′
‘Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that the U.S. now has evidence that sarin nerve gas was used in Syria and that ‘the case gets stronger by the day’ for a military attack.’
‘Kerry said in a succession interviews on the Sunday news shows that the administration learned of the sarin use within the past 24 hours through samples of hair and blood provided to Washington by first responders in Damascus.’
‘Kerry said he was confident that Congress will give Obama its backing for an attack against Syria, but the former Massachusetts senator also said the president has authority to act on his own if Congress doesn’t give its approval.’
‘Kerry said that Assad ‘has now joined the list of Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein’ in deploying chemical weapons against his population and that ‘the case remains the same’ for a U.S. response. Kerry echoed Obama in saying the world cannot stand by and watch Assad use chemical weapons.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408405/Assad-joined-Hitler-Hussein-John-Kerry-says-Syrian-president-used-deadly-sarin-nerve-gas-Damascus-attack.html
Kerry can say whatever he wants but Section 8 of the U.S Constitution says Congress, among other things, has the power:
“To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water”
The President doesn’t get to declare war, it’s Congress that gets to declare war.
(At least this is how it used to be.)
NATO is not going to war over Turkey.
NATO is not going to was over the Crimea.
The whole world knows it.
The Europeans put nothing into their own defense. The sacrfice no treasure and will NOT sacrifice their young men.
They expect America to defend them forever. Even with the US Defense budget get slashed.
But obama is not going to send troops to fight the russians or to defend Turkey.
They expect America to defend them forever. Even with the US Defense budget get slashed.
Maybe that was the secret price we paid for the rest of the world to give us reserve currency status and accept pieces of paper we could print at will as money.
The problem is, power is a narcotic.
Whether it’s military power able to project force around the world, or whether it’s the ability to become involved in every larger sections of the economy, those in power cannot resist drawing power unto themselves. They will not voluntarily cede it.
Arlington, VA Housing Demand Collapses 21% YoY; Sales Sink To Mid-2008 Levels
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/VA-Arlington-home-value/r_30258/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D8%26r%3D30258%26el%3D0
Please, oh PLEASE, Repubs, just for the amusement value of it all, run JEB! 2016. LOLZ!
So, I started reading “Flash Boys” last night. Very interesting. The first chapter is about how a group built a dedicated line from NY/NJ to Chicago in order to shave a couple of milliseconds off of the time the signal takes to travel between the two cities.
I’ve seen some (not nearly all) of the interviews with Lewis on the book. If half of what they say is true, some of these activities really SHOULD be cracked down on…otherwise, it’s just a tax on the whole system siphoning money to the big banks (at the expense of practically anyone else), and the most egregious activities (automatic frontrunning) are not adding a thing to the liquidity of the system.
It’s totally a Superman III scheme.
The most egregious point I think is that regulators have known about this for a long time and ignored it as there is a revolving door between Wall St. and the government regulators, not to mention all the money Wall St. gives to politicians to keep the gravy train running.
FWIW, the exchanges are also to blame as they sell the CoLo services that allow HFT’s to shave those miliseconds from their feeds. They also provide financial incentives to HFT’s to churn the stock in the name of providing liquidity, while also providing no financial penalties to quote stuffing.
All this could be fixed easily by placing a .01/share transaction tax and a .1 second delay between order placements. Simple regulation that would kill HFT profits and even the playing field between Wall St. and Main St.
But if everyone has the tax and the delay, then the same disparity will exist.
But if everyone has the tax and the delay, then the same disparity will exist.
Incorrect. The delay will prevent HFT’s from quote stuffing, which is to place orders they have no intention of ever having filled, only to pull them, replace them with a higher or lower priced order so quickly that non-HFT’s can’t react. It will also prevent the front-running that goes hand-in-hand with quote stuffing. As to the transaction tax, for Main St., the $9.99 commission for a buy or sell is much larger than any transaction tax they would pay. The transaction tax however would remove the profit motive from high-speed trading and churning, as HFT’s don’t hold anything for more than a few seconds and are flat at the market close.
Understand, HFT’s are profitable because they have the fastest data feeds, the fastest, purpose-built trading servers, along with specialized software designed to use their speed advantage profitably. Take away their speed advantage and their entire strategy to make money disappears.
My partner noted that one exchange that is meaning to take out this speed advantage requires any bank that wants to hook up directly to their server insert 60kM of fiber between the two machines (even if they are in the same building), which takes away the speed advantage.
Sounds like capitalism at it’s finest, yes?
I read a review of that book that made an interesting point. If the concern is really for Joe SixPack and his 401(k) account with $50,000 in it, the big fees charged by some mutual funds cost him a lot more.
Yes, but those fees are up-front and disclosed. Joe 6-Pack can choose Vanguard or Fidelity, or smaller mutual funds and pay what he chooses. If he doesn’t like the 401k options, he doesn’t need to participate. If he thinks there are better options, he can bitch to HR until they change to a cheaper plan.
What HF traders are doing is using a speed advantage to take your money, a few pennies at a time, in a substantially risk-free way.
My understanding is that one of the things that happens is akin to frontrunning.
Example. 10,000 share of XYZ company are offered for sale at $10 per share. Those offerings might be a combination of asks on different exchanges around the country (for sake of simplicity, let’s say split between Chicago and NYC area). You are in NY. You make a market bid for the 10,000 shares and hit “enter” on your screen. You think that you are essentially buying what is offered on the screen.
However, what actually happens when you push “enter” is that you buy 5,000 shares of XYZ at $10.00, and 5,000 shares at $10.01.
Why? Because a HF Trader saw you place the order for the 10,000 shares, and before part of your order was matched to the 5k shares in Chicago, they jumped in front of you because their network speed was 2 milliseconds faster than yours, and they bought those 5,000 shares before your order got there first, and resold them to you for a small profit ($0.01 per share).
This activity is not “making a market” as I’ve seen others argue, it’s skimming through an informational and speed advantage, and should be illegal. Without their intervention, the market would function just fine, and the buyer would have saved that penny per share.
These lost pennies add up and end up in the big banks’ hands. Essentially taxing a lot of trades at a small amount per share, which isn’t a big deal, right?
A banker probably wrote that review…nothing to see here–look over there! The number are MUCH bigger, right? SQUIRREL!
Now, there are other potential uses for such high speed networks. Namely to keep the different exchanges around the world trading in rough parity. I can see how these machines serve to narrow the bid/ask spread. This is NOT the same as frontrunning one particular order however.
New mortgage monitor out today. Their focus this month seems to be on the origination side. Doesn’t seem like the credit spigot is opened for all borrowers.
http://www.lpsvcs.com/LPSCorporateInformation/CommunicationCenter/DataReports/MortgageMonitor/201402/MortgageMonitorFebruary2014.pdf
See page 8.
From eyeballing the graph, from 2004-2008, about 10% of borrowers had a credit score of less than 620. Now it looks like small single digits (1%? 2%?). From 2004-2008, about 50% of all borrowers had a credit score of less than 720. Now that percentage is about 30%.
Credit score have nothing to do with it. Paying massively inflated prices for a rapidly depreciating asset is the problem.
Therefore, How are current sales at massively inflated prices any different than the previous sales at massively inflated prices?
If that’s the case, Rental Watch, then I guess we should look out below. There won’t be a huge crowd of Joe Six-Packs to pick up the slack in today’s market.
I see it differently (shocking, I know).
There are reports of the more recent vintages of mortgages (post crash) having among the lowest default rates seen in a long time…the trend of only higher FICO scores getting mortgages would seem to explain that. I these default rates are what was reported in Fannie’s most recent credit supplement.
Also, it was pretty easy to point to VERY easy money (have a pulse, get a loan) as a major reason prices were going up rapidly during 2004-2007. Whatever is happening now doesn’t seem to be reflective of that kind of easy money. Rates are low, but the lending is not as indiscriminate.
Some questions:
If money isn’t going to the worst borrowers today, what is driving prices up?
(little supply, low rates, and/or some job growth)
If money is only going to the best borrowers, thus reducing default rates, what will cause prices to fall?
(additional supply, higher rates, and/or job losses)
I think there are more reasons to believe in a moderating of prices (flattening, go down slowly, or go up slowly), as opposed to a continual rocket upwards, or near-term collapse.
There aren’t as many “weak hands” who have been giving another try at the big casino, or “weak hands” that will be allowed to add to the mania. Giving low FICO score borrowers mortgages seems to add volatility to the market.
Personally, I think that this kind of financial market (less money available for low credit borrowers) is why we have seen coastal communities (likely to have better job prospects/better FICO scores, etc.) rocket back up to peak in the face of cheap credit, while farther inland has seen more measured increases.
Here is the big question:
In light of low FICO borrowers getting little love from the mortgage fairies today, will there be pressure on politicians to loosen the reigns? If so (and I think the answer is “yes”), will the Free Sh*t Army get what they want?
It is less clear to me that the answer is yes (but with constant elections, anything is possible).
Better credit borrowers getting loans with below trend construction of new housing units (today’s situation) doesn’t seem like the same kind of recipe for disaster as ANY credit risk getting a loan during a time of above-trend construction of new housing units (like 2004-2007).
BTW, I’m sure you saw it, but I recently heard of the first real conviction I’ve seen from the housing bubble…Crisp and Cole from Bakersfield (using straw buyers to defraud banks) will EACH do 17 years, and need to pay $28MM of restitution. Finally.
You’re ducking and weaving.
How are current sales at massively inflated prices any different than the previous sales at massively inflated prices?
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2014/04/02/investors-scale-back-home-purchases-who-will-fill-the-gap/
Another explanation is the high prices.
Nah, it couldn’t be that.
+1 - that is what’s scaring off this potential homeowner.
And if there is no manipulation (loosening credit standards to allow people to buy high priced homes), then we should have market-based changes. High prices SHOULD increase supply (homebuilders trying to take advantage of strong pricing), which should bring down prices.
MORE excess empty houses RenTroll Hogwash?
Moran: Members Can’t Afford to Live Decently in D.C. (Audio)
By Hannah Hess
Posted at 5:26 p.m. on April 3
Despite what constituents outside of Washington might think, members of Congress are underpaid, a House Legislative Branch appropriator suggested Thursday.
Virginia Democrat James P. Moran said he plans to highlight the injustice by introducing an amendment to the Legislative Branch bill during its full committee markup, and at floor consideration of the bill. Moran made the comments while the bill that funds members’ $174,000 salaries was being marked up in the Legislative Branch subcommittee.
“I think the American people should know that the members of Congress are underpaid,” Moran told CQ Roll Call. “I understand that it’s widely felt that they underperform, but the fact is that this is the board of directors for the largest economic entity in the world.”
The senior appropriator pointed out that some members have taken to living out of their offices to save money, while others have “small little apartment units” that make it impossible to spend the time they should with their families.
http://blogs.rollcall.com/hill-blotter/moran-members-cant-afford-to-live-decently-in-d-c/?dcz=
Maybe they shouldn’t consider a political appointment as a Senator or Representative as a career… get in, do the job, get out and let someone else take a turn at their civic duty. Professional politicians are like leaches on the body politic. Why would we make their existence even more comfortable than it already is?
If viewed as such, I think we’d be talking about plea bargains, not pay raises.
At least a breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit.
crater
Consumer debt at an all time high but according to the story we should consider that a positive:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/04/07/consumer-borrowing-february/7429379/
From a bank-centric viewpoint, a heavily indebted population is indeed a good thing. And since it is central banks setting economic policy, they are only going to continue policies which incentivize debt.
Classic trickle-up policies.
yeah I saw that on another story line. The Kool-Aid is still tasty to J6P. Student Debt is growing ever higher.
And the Hoaxster thinks we will be sorry for not buying RE.
“The overall increase in consumer debt pushed total borrowing to a record $3.13 trillion.”
Where’s the problem?
This could have easily been a story run in 2007. Except this time around the Gov’t doesn’t have enough powder to pick up the slack when things go kablooey.
a poor man confuses “Leverage” for “wealth”.
A faithful man will abound, But he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished.
-Solomon
Everyone must sign in
I didn’t sign in.
Sports addiction: The ability to rattle off statistics of any team in any sport as if you are an encyclopedia. This is a sign of drinking Kool-Aid..
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/08/sports-greatest-hypnotic-distraction.html
- have you ever heard guys at the office or locker room discuss “the game” last night. I’m like…”What game? Baseball, Hockey, basketball, football? Some or all of these sports overlap each other. Then there is pro or college. There is triple A.”
The link above drives makes an interesting point that it gets the knuckleheads’ minds off of ObamaScare, the higher and higher taxes, the bigger police state, and that as long as the stars and stripes are flown, everything is peachy keen.