Bits Bucket for April 10, 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.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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My desktop computer has something going out on it. Today or tomorrow I’m supposed to send it back to the manufacture to be repaired; should take 7-9 days they say. So I’ll be limping along on this little notebook. I doubt I’ll be doing more than moderating.
Remove that hard disk.
It’s not the hard drive. It’s a noisy fan that’s inside a little black box which is mounted on a circuit board which is mounted perpendicular to the mother board. It’s under warranty, so I’m going to let them handle it.
Sounds the fan on the video card.
The black box is shaped like a deck of cards only thinner, and the fan is inside the casing. When I put my finger on the box, the noise decreased. Do you know what the noise might mean and how long it can run before something bad happens?
I’m guessing that a bad bearing is causing the fan to vibrate. Will the bearing completely fail? Eventually, I suppose. When? Probably sooner than later.
I ran into a recent case on a Terminator Salvation arcade game which uses a modern Dell PC inside. The Nvidia video card fan had totally died, and the video board was smart enough that when it would start to overheat it would slow down to keep temperature in check. It would only overheat when the game would start doing heavy 3d graphics, as long as it was just playing a movie during the attract mode it was fine. Once you started a game though it quickly started to slow down real bad.
The fan was not spinning. They start to rattle often just from build quality, and LOTS of them do it.
Mid 2000’s video cards would burn up and get damaged. The board in the Salvation machine was a $70 one from a few years ago.
I had a Toshiba which had a screw back out and start rubbing on the fan blade. It eventually ruined the fan then started overheating.
I replaced it with an HP which I ordered direct and paid dearly for, assuming I could get a solid 5 years of service out of it. It’s only been a year, and it has to go in for warranty because the hinges for the screen are breaking off at the top of the keyboard. After Googling this problem, I see countless others are experiencing it as well. Turns out this thing is a POS.
Now I’m going to have to replace the Toshiba fan before I can send the HP in so I have a computer, but the Toshiba has some nasty virus which took out the virus software. Can’t win with these things.
“Remove that hard disk.”
Before shipping.
They said to back everything up. I don’t have much on it as I’ve only had it for 6 months and I only store a few excel/word files and photos from property preservation work. Don’t they need the hard drive in place to do their repairs?
“Don’t they need the hard drive in place to do their repairs?”
They should have a “fresh” image to drop on a bare hard drive to perform their diagnostic work.
Good luck, Ben.
These computers are fantastic until they don’t work, at which point they are a scourge.
My sister had to send in her Sony Viao and finally got it back (or a new one). She is gung ho on Sony for PCs. I am fixated on Dell.
I’m 99% convinced the Aussies have found jack-squat regarding the missing Malaysian plane but are prodded by the media to give us daily reports because Americans like their accents and it boosts their ratings.
They gave us Olivia Newton Joh. What more do you need?
Ac/dc
Her missing boyfriend?
Hugh Jackman
I will take Olivia Newton John (if I was sent back to 1977).
I will pass up that stupid Gecko lizard.
DJ, have you paid your credit card off yet?
If you do not keep your credit cards maxed out then you are not handling your finances efficiently.
Beautiful.
When I used to work for you at TARP bank, we would call up customers with open HELOCs with low or zero balances and nudge them into using them.
Elizabeth Warren tells the story of when she consulted(?) for a banking conglomerate on how to reduce the number of credit defaults. She analyzed the data and found that the the defaults were on the low end, indicating that the bank was extending credit to the non-credit worthy. To reduce the number of defaults, the bank should simply (duh) stop extending credit to the non-creditworthy. She was presenting these results to a meeting of higher-ups when the head honcho walked in and said “Ms. Warren you’re correct, but that’s where all our profit comes from.”
My question is, if it’s the people with the bad credit who are defaulting, or not paying, then how is the bank making profit? Merchant fees, late fees, and repos don’t seem to be enough to make up for the loss from the original purchases.
Merchant fees, late fees, and repos don’t seem to be enough to make up for the loss from the original purchases.
They actually were for a while since not everyone in that income group defaulted. This was particularly true when many that were falling behind had the option to HELOC their homes and pay all those fees. Banks during the boom made a major percentage of their profits from the least responsible borrowers.
Interest and late fees. The low end, as a group (individuals don’t matter), are paying more in interest and late fees than they cost in defaults. Probably a lot more.
During my tenure at TARP, we had access to all of the customer account activity. The HELOCs came with a debit card supposedly intended for use at Loan Depot or Blowe’s or whatever nonsense these loanowners spend their borrowed money on. There was a minimum $100 charge on the card or a $5 fee. But some of the debt donkeys never read the fine print on that, randomly hitting Starbucks and McDonalds several times a week and getting hit with the $5 fee for every Crappy Meal or pumpkin spice latte.
LOLZ
Elizabeth Warren tells a lot of stories. She’s a virtual Scheherezade or Lieawatha.
What Al said.
Their interest rates are sufficiently higher to compensate the bank actuarially.
On FB I got a suggested post from Bank of America. It portrayed some gal named Tuanagama (or something like it) and you know she is not of ivory-colored skin. It was glorifying giving people a chance.
I had the temptation to post a response “great, now do your shareholders have the same pride in giving loans to people who have more of a chance of not paying back?”
I am glad I sold all my B of A stock years ago. Stupid “progressive” corporation that took the socialist bait. Like the James Taggart of banking.
Goon, I think you need to get into the business of selling carbon credits.
Spellcheck on your username, Dannyboy.
lobsterboy lol
Thanks. BTW, I thinking about Denver and its brown air. it reminded of a news report I heard out of a LA paper a number of years back. It talked about how some cars would put out 100 times the emissions of a new properly running vehicle. However, when they tried to crackdown they ran into the trouble that the owners were illegal, had no registration, no license and perfectly willing to run from the police. The emissions control efforts had the effect of clogging the jails and the Feds would not take them for those offenses. Have you ever read anything in Denver about controlling emissions and illegals?
Have not seen but Cinco de Mayo (which In Colorado informs is not even really celebrated in Mexico) will be here soon and they’ll be tooling up and down Federal Blvd all day waving flags and blasting mariachi music prowling for acts of love.
My question is, if it’s the people with the bad credit who are defaulting, or not paying, then how is the bank making profit? Merchant fees, late fees, and repos don’t seem to be enough to make up for the loss from the original purchases.
Illegals aren’t as prevalent out here. When the housing boom ended here many just disappeared. It’s very noticeable at the local Walmart, which has stopped selling many food items imported from Mexico.
Some years ago we were on vacation in SoCal and my son remarked, while we were stuck on the freeway, that people either drove a really cool car or a beater, and that there was very little in between. My brother from NC also remarked on what he thought was the relative lack of beaters out here in the Centennial state. I have read stories that Colorado is a “beater exporter” with most of them being sold and sent to Mexico.
As for the brown cloud, it’s always been an issue out here, due to geography and thermal inversions. It also doesn’t help that the Front Range has grown so much in the past 20+ years. Increase the population over 50% and even if everyone keeps their cars well tuned, you’re still gonna get more smog.
I have noticed that that Fort Collins/Loveland/Greeley mini metro area now also has a brown cloud of its own, unlike in the 90’s when we moved here. We now have to get our cars smogged every 2 years instead of every 4 (Greeley used to be exempt).
which In Colorado informs is not even really celebrated in Mexico
It’s a Chicano holiday. People south of the Rio Bravo think it’s cute how Americans and Pochos make a big fuss over it.
Could not find the illegal article but did find an interesting article on the role that old cars play in creating
smog:http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/04/01/archives-getting-the-nitty-gritty-on-street-level-smog/
Trying to find a way to blame pollution on illegals and all you can come up with is an article that supports the cash-for-clunkers program? That’s not going to fly well at corporate HQ.
Can’t put two and two together, the illegals drive the clunkers. Cash for clunkers did not destroy vehicles based on their emissions it destroyed them based on mileage for the most part not the same thing. It might have reduced emissions by half but not 50 to 100 times. As long as a car was able to meet the emissions standards destroying a useful car does not make sense, it is liking dumping milk during the depression. You Gore, alright.
For total environmental impact here is a good link to what migration from third world countries to the U.S. does to the environment:
http://www.carryingcapacity.org/DinAlt.htm
Interesting reading for Goon and Colorado:
http://newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty696.htm
Thanks, Obama.
http://amarillo.com/stories/102500/tex_havefake.shtml
Thanks again, Obama.
Why do those demonic Kochs support even more illegal immigrants coming here and polluting the country? I guess they don’t care about the environment, just want cheap compliant workers. They are certainly anti-american, eh Dan?
Just like Obama, Soros and Pelosi they only care about their narrow interests on that issue. eh Igor?
“If we could just go back to slavery, these damn illegals wouldn’t be pollutin’ so goddamn much.”
-Good ‘ol boy Retardican
From yesterday:
Comment by oxide
2014-04-09 07:52:01
Ostensibly, the original merit was that the US was a “world leader” and that if the US cut fossil and carbon, then India and China would follow along to be a cool kid like the US.
Comment by mathguy
2014-04-09 17:59:44
We’re basing national and global policy on being “cool kids” now? Please please tell me you aren’t serious.
Unfortunately yes. The world leader thing is not my own opinion; it’s what I had heard in interviews on the news (which is why I said “ostensibly” and used quotes). The attitude of the India and China is: the US became a superpower using energy-packed fossil fuel, and it’s unfair for the US to demand other countries try to build facroties and militaries off inefficient and expensive sunlight. It’s also unfair that the US demand other countries develop renewables when the US still uses fossil. Clean your own house, so to speak. That’s probably an exaggeration, but that’s the general idea.
The attitude of the India and China is: the US became a superpower using energy-packed fossil fuel, and it’s unfair for the US to demand other countries try to build facroties and militaries off inefficient and expensive sunlight
So Oxide are you implicitly admitting that solar is inefficient and expensive? BTW, except for c02 which is a beneficial gas, our coal plants are relatively clean unlike China and India which bellow out unlimited amounts of so2 and heavy metals like mercury. So closing down factories here due to high energy costs only increases the amount of real pollution in the world.
Compared to fossil? Of course solar is inefficient and expensive. That’s what fossil fuels ARE: superduper compost created by a whole lotta solar energy enery growing and decomposing a whole lotta algae over a whole lotta years. I read somewhere that each year, the world burns through one million years’ worth of solar power in the form of fossil fuel.
That might be an exaggeraton to, but the point is, you can’t build factories and militaries and raise huge populations when you have one millionth (or one hundreth) of the energy concentration. That’s the root of the whole energy problem: we started at the top and we have nowhere to go but down.
I didn’t add this to my original comment, but I was going to say that I don’t think China is promoting nuclear just because the US told them to. I think it’s because of peak fossil. If they thought they had unlimited fossil, they could simply clean up the non-CO2 pollution like the US did. Instead, they are building the more difficult nuclear.
It’s also unfair that the US demand other countries develop renewables when the US still uses fossil. Clean your own house, so to speak. That’s probably an exaggeration, but that’s the general idea.
Our love affair with trucks and SUVs raises more than a few eyebrows overseas. Telling other nations to get with it while we drive around in our 10 mpg behemoths goes a long way to irritate them.
Breaking News: Banks are still cheating customers.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-banks-haven-t-improved-much-in-the-last-year-200512376.htm
In most businesses if customers are regularly cheated then the customer base will vanish. But in the banking business when customers are cheated they keep on coming back.
That’s because people are smart.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Mr. Banker, you should be saying that it is not cheating. It is imposing a fee on being stupid.
Check this out (from the article):
“Consumers can even incur overdraft fees at the ATM. Three-quarters of banks in Pew’s study let customers overdraw their accounts at ATMs. A bank teller wouldn’t let customers withdraw more funds than they have available, so it makes little sense that they could do so at an ATM and get hit with a $35 fee for the privilege.”
See? People are smart.
(snort)
Shoot, I should go to an ATM and overdraw my account by $100,000.
Be ready to be gay for the stay. Mr. Banker does not fool around when you do something like that. But orange is the new black.
With resale housing prices at levels 250% long term trend and twice the monthly cost of rental equivalent, are you sure you want to buy that house?
Are you really sure?
Renter for life.
Are you really sure?
Maybe HA is only renter for life of the bubble?
Hi Sandy
Skanky Sandy?
How many more times will the FOMC lower the unemployment rate bar for tightening before they stop delaying?
Imagine a football game where the referees could move the goalposts any time they didn’t like the way the game was going.
Bulletin Jobless claims fall to 300,000, a near-seven-year low »
The Fed
April 9, 2014, 3:41 p.m. EDT
Fed dropped jobless target in secret meeting
Minutes show concern over interest-rate forecast
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
Federal Reserve
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants gather at the Marriner S. Eccles Building in Washington, D.C., for a two-day meeting held on March 18-19, 2014.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Federal Reserve officials had a secret video conference call in early March and reached a general consensus that the 6.5% unemployment rate threshold for the first rate hike was outdated, the central bank said Wednesday.
A summary of the video conference was included in the minutes of the Fed’s March 18-19 meeting released by the Fed.
The central bankers were clearly worried that changing the forward guidance would impact markets.
They noted that, going into the video conference, the central bank and the markets were on the same page about the outlook for short-term interest rates.
The minutes of the March 18-19 meeting also reveal that there was concern that the markets would read too much into the “dot plot,” which showed an upward shift in the Fed’s expectations for short-term rates. The so-called dot plot reflects where each Fed official expects interest rates.
The “dot plot” showed the Fed’s median forecast of the fed funds rate rose by a quarter of one percentage point to 1% for 2015 and by a half a percentage point to 2.25% by the end of 2016, according to Barclays.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen specifically said in a press conference afterwards not to pay attention to it.
She stressed in their statement that the guidance shift did not indicate any change in the Fed’s policy intentions.
Officials also spelled out in much greater detail the headwinds that would keep short-term rates low even after the first rate hike. These headwinds included higher precautionary savings by U.S. consumers, higher levels of savings around the globe, demographics and credit restraints.
…
It’s really crazy for them to rely on any data regarding the unemployed. We all know that the government’s numbers are skewed for the benefit of making the Administration look good.
“Higher savings” in this economy means failure to borrow. That’s the Fed’s war, not unemployment.
We all know that the government’s numbers are skewed for the benefit of making the Administration look good.
Who told you that?
Then what is the purpose of the skewed data?
http://nypost.com/2013/11/18/census-faked-2012-election-jobs-report/
Remember, when I called this fraud prior to the election, I was told I was wearing a tin-foil hat and mocked by the Obama supporters.
Political Questions About the Jobs Report
from this article:
Before the heavy lifting of analyzing how the data is prepared and crunching the numbers, consider the perspective of Keith Hall.
Mr. Hall was commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2008 to 2012 under both President George W. Bush and President Obama, and was appointed to the job by President Bush. Before that, he was the chief economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers, again under President Bush, from 2005 to 2008. He is now a senior research fellow at the free-market-oriented Mercatus Center of George Mason University.
In other words, he doesn’t have a dog in the hunt politically. “I’m skeptical,” he said. “It sounds like a workplace performance issue. This is somebody being lazy, or a supervisor really cutting corners. It’s certainly not evidence of an attempt to move the numbers.”
So let’s look at the facts in question. For starters, the former Census Bureau employee named by Mr. Crudele in the article Tuesday hadn’t worked for the agency since August 2011, more than a year before the election, according to the Census Bureau.
But what if it continued after he left, with pressure from supervisors in the Philadelphia office? Well, as James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute notes, the jobless rate for Pennsylvania actually rose in September 2012.
In fact, as Mr. Pethokoukis points out, the big drops in unemployment that month were in states nowhere near the supposedly tainted Northeast – instead happening in California, Utah, Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/political-questions-about-the-jobs-report
“Remember when I called this fraud before the election?”
When you were shilling incessantly for Romney and giving us bad data from Rassmusen about how Romney was going to win? That fraud?
It should have apparent to everyone the census report was bad data since it did not match the actual data from the states that month. The NYT can try to cover that fact all it wants in its opinion piece. I was not shilling for Romney and both Rasmussen and I based on that data said the election was too close to call. You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts
Of the two people quoted in the excerpt that I posted, one worked for George W. Bush and the other is a conservative who writes for the National Review and works at a conservative thinktank.
Also, consider the fact that nothing has been been heard about this story in six months. If there was any evidence of malfeasance, there would probably hearings in the House as there have been on the Benghazi and Lois Lerner controversies.
“If there was any evidence of malfeasance…”
Penny wise and pound foolish? The official statistic totally masks the number of working age adults who do not have a job. It only sort of points to those collecting insurance benefits. It is a fraud in total. Who would start an investigation into slighting the details?
Blue:
That’s a common misconception that the unemployment rate only includes people collecting unemployment insurance. There are flaws and limitations in the headline rate, but that’s not one of them.
The answer to your question is that House Republicans would be interested in exposing the doctoring of the official statistic for the same reason that all of the right wing websites wrote about it - to make the administration look bad.
Imagine a football game where the referees could move the goalposts any time they didn’t like the way the game was going.
The FOMC aren’t the refs, they are the NFL owners. And when you think about it, the NFL is constantly changing the rules, though they usually wait for the off season to do that. Contrast that with FIFA, which is glacial in making rule changes.
What is interesting too is that if your football league wants to be FIFA affiliated, then it has to abide by FIFA rules, which is why leagues around the world, including the US/Canadian MLS, all play by the same rules.
all play by the same rules.
How un-american!
Don’t be too discouraged. NCAA Soccer rules do not resemble FIFA’s:
Unlimited substitutions are allowed
The clock on the scoreboard is the official clock, it counts down (Gridiron style), and it is stopped for all sorts of reasons
Overtime with sudden death
Referees use Gridiron style signals and gestures
Card system is different
etc.
April 10, 2014, 8:30 a.m. EDT
Jobless claims fall to nearly seven-year low
By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week fell to a nearly seven-year low of 300,000, a sign the labor market might be experiencing a spring revival. Initial claims in the seven days ended April 5 sank by 32,000 from a revised 332,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The last time claims were that low was in May 2007, six months before the Great Recession began. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected claims to total a seasonally adjusted 320,000. The average of new claims over the past month dropped by 4,750 to 316,250, marking the second lowest read since the end of the recession.
…
Why would most businesses have to lay-off anyone these days? They are running as lean as possible, in fact they have placed too much work on their remaining employees, and they have large number of employees either retiring or going on disability. I do not see reduced lay-offs as a sign of economic strength just the reality that the boomers are aging some rather badly. Of course, firings will still occur so a number around 300,000 seems to fit the new demographic reality.
“as lean as possible…”
What gives you that impression? My outfit went extremely lean in 2009, but has since added back all the fat and more and is making more money than ever.
The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week fell to a nearly seven-year low of 300,000, a sign the labor market might be experiencing a spring revival.
All that really means is that fewer people were laid off. A better metric of a “spring revival” would be either labor force participation rates or total employment (plus median wages).
It would be useful to consider the shift to part time jobs.
Correct, a P/T job is considered the same as a F/T job when calculating workforce participation.
So while we have in theory recovered all of the jobs lost after the crash, it is very obvious that they are not of the same caliber.
Also since more and more people are part timers they do not need to lay people off just cut-down on their hours.
If anyone understands the graph that accompanies the article posted below, please explain.
Also, the headline says Treasurys cut gains, but the information in the article suggests that yields fell, which would add to gains.
I’m very confused.
April 10, 2014, 8:39 a.m. EDT
Treasurys cut gains after drop in jobless claims
By Ben Eisen
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices cut gains Thursday after a report showed the number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped more than expected last week. Jobless claims fell by 32,000 to 300,000, nearly a seven-year low. After the data, the benchmark 10-year note (10_YEAR -0.71%) yield, which falls as prices rise, was down 1 basis point at 2.674%. The 30-year bond (30_YEAR -0.45%) yield fell half a basis point to 3.558%, and the 5-year note (5_YEAR -0.06%) yield fell 1.5 basis points to 1.618%.
…
I believe the graph shows the percentage drop in yields on the treasuries over the trading day.
The disconnect in the article is curious. With unemployment dropping (better economy), the prices of treasuries should fall, driving yields UP on treasuries. Sum ting wong.
Glad to know I am not the only one confused by that article.
Here is the only convoluted explanation I can muster:
1) Good jobs numbers suggest the QE3 taper will not be delayed by as much as expected.
2) Support for the stock market is hence going away quicker than expected.
3) Fears of a stock market correction are driving a flight-to-quality move into Treasurys, which is pushing yields down and prices up.
4) The writer of that article is confused, as he suggests that Treasury prices are dropping.
Here is another data point to bolster my “flight-to-quality” theory:
Not only Treasurys, but also gold, is having a stellar morning.
Not so much risk assets.
Sum ting wong.
Hu knew.
There were two big muppet harvests within a decade - the tech bubble implosion and the debt crisis. Despite Wall Street calling out, “Hey look! Look how much money we’re making here! Come on in, the water’s fine!” the outsiders are still too scared to venture in.
Fear and greed drives Wall Street behavior. Two big muppet harvests in less than a decade leaves the muppets still in fear mode. The deer stay spooked for a while after hunting season ends.
How about a third data point: The VIX is screaming,
“BLACK SWAN COMING IN FOR A LANDING!!!“
April 10, 2014, 3:54 p.m. EDT
Volatility index jumps 17% as Nasdaq gets hit
By Wallace Witkowski
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX +14.98%) surged Thursday as stocks sold off across the board and the Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP -3.10%) was looking at its worst day since late 2011. Heading into the close, the VIX was up 17% at 16.17, its largest one-day percentage jump since January 24. The Nasdaq was down 3% and was looking at its worst percentage decline since November 2011.
…
Code red: Stocks tank on Wall Street
By Patrick M. Sheridan @CNNMoney
Invest
April 10, 2014: 4:36 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Investors might have used Wednesday’s rally as a chance to rest up so they could get back to what they’ve been doing best lately: selling.
The Nasdaq lead the carnage today with a 3.1% loss. It’s fairly uncommon for the Nasdaq to have a triple-digit fall, but today it was down nearly 130 points.
Trading screens were awash in red as investors once again dumped technology and biotechnology stocks.
The Dow finished down 1.6% and had its third biggest point loss of the year. The S&P 500 was off 2%. Only a handful of stocks in the S&P 500 list ended in positive territory today, and most of those barely nudged up.
Craig Johnson, senior technical research strategist at Piper Jaffray said today’s plunge will set-up for an “interesting Friday”.
“No one wants to get caught long going into the weekend so I think people will be sitting on their hands tomorrow. There will be a lack of buyers and we’ll drift lower,” he predicted.
…
Can the Fed figure out a way for the unemployment rate to go negative? <;} Then we can start employing “virtual people”
We have virtually 20 million in virtual labor already.
Virtual labor == playing Xbox all day in Mom and Dad’s basement?
Virtual labor= Lola posting for George Soros when not engaged in his night work.
Dan calling someone else a troll. Priceless. Dan, have you ever posted anything that wasn’t straight kochGOP propaganda? I would love to see an example. If they aren’t paying you, they should be.
Dan, have you ever posted anything that wasn’t straight kochGOP propaganda?
Everything I say about immigration is contrary to the Kochs’ position. If I bothered to check on their other positions I am sure I would find numerous other examples. Igor? Lola has never posted anything that Nancy Pelosi or George Soros would not endorse.
My oh my you have throngs of admirers.
Dan, have you ever posted anything that wasn’t straight kochGOP propaganda?
Better the Kock/GOP propaganda then the Socialist/Bolshevik drivel that comes out of what passes for progressive Democrats today.
Give us one more example please. You have to fake break with the Kochs on immigration, because you know you have to fit in, share the predominant “concerns”. Prediction, after Jeb Bush wins the GOP primary, you’ll find some way to justify his immigration position so it will be safe for us to vote for him.
‘it will be safe for us to vote for him’
That’s Limbaugh and Hannity’s function.
I would not vote for Hillary or Jeb Bush, if Satan was her/his opponent. I will vote for Cruz or Rand Paul or any combination of the two. You can print this post for safe keeping and I do not change my screen name (at least on purpose but I do like Maine lobster).
I will!
King crab is better.
Lola has king crabs and Joe will confirm this fact once Lola unties him at Paddles.
http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2014/04/10/murdoch/
Of course, Murdoch could live with Hillary. It is Cruz and Rand Paul he could not live with.
Who is Joe?
Never could find even one other issue where you disagree with the Koch bros, Dan? Except immigration? And of course we all know the KochGOP scam where they pretend to be anti-illegals to fool their base, while blocking any real reform because they love cheap disposable labor. I guess you think we’re sheep too.
“Can the Fed figure out a way for the unemployment rate to go negative?”
The Labor Participation Rate is the issue.
W came closest to that. If everyone works three jobs and the Fed would treat each of those positions as being staffed by separate person we would end up with more jobs than people. Come on lets be creative if Philadelphia can have more voters than registered voters we can achieve negative unemployment. Yes we can. (just joking people, I know the problems with that calculation).
April 10, 2014, 9:00 a.m. EDT
Stock futures lower after weak China data, earnings
Jobless claims at nearly 7-year low, earnings from Family Dollar, Rite Aid in view
By Barbara Kollmeyer and Anora Mahmudova, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures were volatile on Thursday but trimmed losses after a larger-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims.
Markets seemed uncertain to build on previous session’s gains as downbeat Chinese data renewed concerns about the health of the second-largest economy.
In economic news, the number of people who applied for U.S. unemploymenet benefits last week fell to a nearly seven-year low of 300,000, a sign the labor market might be experiencing a spring revival.
…
Private non-farm payrolls finally climbed above the last peak in 2007. 7 years…
San Diego, CA Housing Prices Plunge 11% YoY; Supply Skyrockets 67%
http://www.movoto.com/san-diego-ca/market-trends/
You wagered a stupendous amount of borrowed cash on a depreciating asset. You believed the lie. Now you’re learning the truth and you’re running scared.
How are you going to fix your problem?
You’ve compounded your problems with that in-ground pool and hot tub that no longer works. Oh the horror. Talk about paperweights.
April 9, 2014, 10:43 a.m. EDT
Yes, stocks are rigged and Fed is the biggest rigger
Commentary: Markets stacked since 1792; ‘Flash Boys’ will always find a way to cheat
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Rigged? Yes, the stock market’s rigged. No surprise. Everyone knows it. Always has been rigged. Always will be rigged. Started when 24 stock traders met under Wall Street’s Buttonwood Tree in 1792. Called their new auction system NYSE. Part contract, part monopoly, part conspiracy.
Wake up. Wall Street was rigged from Day 1 when those 24 stock traders agreed they would jointly control all buying and selling of your stocks.
Big question today: Will Michael Lewis’s new book, “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt,” stop the rigging that’s been going on for over two centuries? No, never.
Lewis is all over the media promoting his new book tour — the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, CNN, New York Times, CBS, BusinessWeek, Bloomberg, Vanity Fair — a media version of carpet bombing. In fact, he’s so intense, you start believing it must be true, that the bad guys will lose this time.
But “Flash Boys” is actually “magical thinking,” fueling the illusion that not only “this time” we know Wall Street really is rigged, “this time” we’ll get some real reform. Freud warned us: This kind of thinking is tied to hard-line narcissism, an eternal optimism and belief that if we wish really hard for something, it will magically appear.
Warning, stopping high-speed traders is a fantasy: Believing that maybe this time Congress, the SEC and some magical Washington hero will rise up to fight for the masses? Will “un-rig” the latest bad guys of “Flash Boys?” Will enlightened our clueless public? And then Wall Street’s historically rigged stock market will finally be safe for all of America’s 95 million defenseless Main Street investors?
Forget reform. Wall Street will still be rigged in 2092, in 2392.
Don’t fall for the gag. Michael Lewis’s book tour will be over soon. The media will move to the next big thing. Time will fade. And Wall Street lobbyists will dampen any enthusiasm for reform.
…
But “Flash Boys” is actually “magical thinking,” fueling the illusion that not only “this time” we know Wall Street really is rigged, “this time” we’ll get some real reform. Freud warned us: This kind of thinking is tied to hard-line narcissism, an eternal optimism and belief that if we wish really hard for something, it will magically appear.
This is so true. The spread between stock prices use to be at a minimum of 1/8 of a dollar or 12.5 cents. Now even with “flash boys” involved it is 1 to 2 cents and flash boys come in an make me pay an additional one cent per share. So if I buy a 100 shares of say SWC, they cost me one dollar. Should I be more concerned with that than with the fact that they have manipulated the stock market so badly that outside the metals, I cannot find any stocks that do not seem to be overpriced? I am suppose to worry about the dollar and not paying thousands of dollars too much for a stock. I am suppose to be willing to jump back into the market when they fix the minor problem and leave the major problem in place?
“Lewis is all over the media promoting his new book tour — the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, CNN, New York Times, CBS, BusinessWeek, Bloomberg, Vanity Fair — a media version of carpet bombing. In fact, he’s so intense, you start believing it must be true, that the bad guys will lose this time.
But “Flash Boys” is actually “magical thinking,” fueling the illusion that not only “this time” we know Wall Street really is rigged, “this time” we’ll get some real reform. Freud warned us: This kind of thinking is tied to hard-line narcissism, an eternal optimism and belief that if we wish really hard for something, it will magically appear.
Warning, stopping high-speed traders is a fantasy: Believing that maybe this time Congress, the SEC and some magical Washington hero will rise up to fight for the masses? Will “un-rig” the latest bad guys of “Flash Boys?” Will enlightened our clueless public? And then Wall Street’s historically rigged stock market will finally be safe for all of America’s 95 million defenseless Main Street investors?
Forget reform. Wall Street will still be rigged in 2092, in 2392.
Don’t fall for the gag. Michael Lewis’s book tour will be over soon. The media will move to the next big thing. Time will fade. And Wall Street lobbyists will dampen any enthusiasm for reform.”
Yep. This is pretty much what Ben said. Lewis is the perfect insider hack.
Meanwhile, we are not focusing on how the NASDAQ is getting hammered after being pumped up by Wallstreet manipulation.
I wonder about this. The book coincides perfectly with Goldman Sachs moving out of HFT. I doubt it’s a coincidence.
A high-speed retreat keeps Goldman out of a tangle
By John Gapper
April 2, 2014 6:32 pm
Financial Times
What is Goldman Sachs up to? The bank has been behaving strangely this week. When Michael Lewis unveiled his book Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt, in which he alleged the equity market is “rigged” by high-frequency traders, the bank discreetly lent him support.
When Goldman abandons the floor of the NYSE and shows more affection for IEX (the new equity exchange praised by Lewis) than for Sigma X (its own dark pool), I wonder about the health of high-frequency trading and the banks’ trading forums.
Goldman could be acting purely on principle, having had a Damascene conversion about the error of its ways. Without being rude, however, I think we can dismiss this possibility.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/90d700ee-b9b9-11e3-a3ef-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2yVEXOln5
It’s the big firms like Goldman that get front-run by the HFT traders. They aren’t front-running grandma when she’s buying 6 shares of Kellog’s (K).
What next, housing is a scam?
San Jose, CA Housing Demand Dives 8% YoY; Plunges To 5-Year Low
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-San-Jose-home-value/r_33839/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D8%26r%3D33839%26el%3D0
Salinas, CA Housing Demand Crumbles 23% YoY; Near Collapsed Levels of 2008
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Salinas-home-value/r_54288/
We’re headed to Salinas tomorrow. Hopefully we can drive through some residential areas so I can scout out the number of “For Sale” signs on peoples’ lawns.
Pacific Money
China’s Residential Property Market: Ghost Towns and Gilded Lilies
Change is coming to the Chinese property market, but the impacts on the middle class and the rich are likely to differ.
By Sara Hsu
April 10, 2014
For China’s residents, the property glut is now quite evident, and despite unusually generous price cuts they have for now stopped buying mass market real estate in a number of cities. Ghost towns are more prominent than ever. At the same time, high-net-worth individuals continue to purchase luxury apartments in Beijing and suburban homes in California. How can we describe this bifurcation of the residential property market, and what implications does it have for China’s economy?
…
The implication is that some poor people will be able to buy affordable houses, and some rich people will lose money on their investments.
Newly started foreclosures head higher in 19 states
April 10, 2014, 8:23 AM ET
While national trends for troubled properties are improving, there are 19 states where newly started foreclosures are heading higher, according to data released Thursday.
…
California Foreclosure Starts Skyrocket 57%
http://www.realtytrac.com/images/reportimages/california_foreclosure_starts.jpg
That’s outrageous — just after Jingle Male and Rental Watch assured us the California foreclosure crisis is over!
A 57% YoY increase is Jan is noteworthy, but it should be mentioned this is after 75%ish decrease in 2013, 25%ish decrease in 2012, break even in 2011 and a 35%ish decrease in 2010.
If I did my math right, forclosures are at about 20% of 2009 levels, as compared to in 2013 where it was 2% of 2009 levels.
Apparently the first round was not enough to clear the table. Heading into the second inning?
Heh…… The usual suspects line right up to deny it.
Might well be a second inning, but it will take more time to tell. BTW, the 2% above should read 12%.
It would also be interesting to know the breakdown of the foreclosure starts by age of mortgage. How many are hold outs from the early 2000s, and how many are people that ‘bought the dip’?
Should mention the reason why I think it would be interesting to know the breakdown between old and new. If predominantly old mortgages, then the increase could simply be clearing out the old and end quickly. If it’s newer buyers, then it could be the start of an ongoing trend. Not so much the second inning, but a whole new game of take-back-the-house.
One more observation. It appears for the whole Q1 2014, the increase in foreclosure starts over the year before was only 10% (see RWs link below). The 57% was a Jan 14 to Jan 13 comparison.
Stick with the main fundamental; Housing prices are 250% higher than long term trend.
January 2014 compared to January 2013.
January 2013 was the first month of the Homeowner Bill of Rights, and was artificially depressed, making the move from January 2013 to January 2014 look large.
In the meantime, the non-current loan rate in CA has fallen to 5.1% (9th lowest in the country), and a far cry from the 11%+ rates of NY/NJ/FL.
http://www.realtytrac.com/content/foreclosure-market-report/march-and-q1-2014-us-foreclosure-market-report-8034
I believe this is the source of the data.
The piece of information that I have not heard is the percentage of REO that are still occupied. That was surprising (about 50% still occupied despite having been foreclosed).
“Our estimates indicate only 10 percent of these bank-owned properties are listed for sale and more than half are still occupied by the former homeowner or tenant.”
That’s about right. 2.5 million foreclosure at or near market. Only another 22.5 million to process.
When will the liars ever learn to be truthful?
My man Louis CK comments on the banks and being broke. lol, I have to admit that, unlike all the posters on here who have been financially responsible since they were embryos, I’ve been there, lmao.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0rSXjVuJVg
It appears our “independent” media outlets and “real” journalists have abandoned the Syrian civil war story. Good thing they’re all on the same page. Lockstep.
The “real journalists” have better things to focus on this week:
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-body/news/kim-kardashian-booty-bikini-photoshoot-pictures-201484
It is their duty to report on the big booty.
“…the big booty.”
White, and plenty of it. Ghetto.
For some reason seeing that left me craving a ham sandwich.
Lolz….. That fawkin clan is ghoulish.
For some reason seeing that left me craving a ham sandwich.
That butt could make enough Soylent green to feed Denver for a year.
That butt could make enough Soylent green to feed Denver for a year.
Don’t get Peyton the Pizza Man any ideas!
Only Al Jazeera covers it now. It is bad and as long as Syria can fly its helicopters fairly low and drop barrel bombs, advantage Assad. However, the Saudis are getting ready to buy Chinese designed, Pakistani manufactured MANPADS to shoot them down with or without U.S. permission and then the advantage would be back with the rebels. The Saudis have been waiting a long time for Obama to green light this and the strikes by the U.S. were suppose to be instead of approving this. Of course, if they do supply them then terrorists might obtain them. When Google and the CIA (is there a difference) started the Arab Spring they set off a chain of events that they just did not understand.
Just out from the EIA today, the first build since early fall and its is quite minor. I cannot believe how low the amount of natural gas in storage is in America notice the total amount in storage is less than 1/2 the amount at the same time last year.
Working gas in storage was 826 Bcf as of Friday, April 4, 2014, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 4 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 849 Bcf less than last year at this time and 997 Bcf below the 5-year average of 1,823 Bcf. In the East Region, stocks were 448 Bcf below the 5-year average following net withdrawals of 5 Bcf. Stocks in the Producing Region were 411 Bcf below the 5-year average of 772 Bcf after a net injection of 9 Bcf. Stocks in the West Region were 137 Bcf below the 5-year average after no net change. At 826 Bcf, total working gas is below the 5-year historical range.
Plenty of jobs if U R really smart and want to work really hard long hours
XXX is excited to announce our Employee Referral Bonus Campaign!
Earn $6,000.00 for selected positions!
In addition, for every employee referral resume submitted towards these specific positions the employee will be eligible to participate in a raffle to win the following prizes: 60” Flat Screen TV, GoPro Camera and an iPad. The raffle drawing will take place at the end of Q2 2014.
IT jobs?
What skills are in most demand these days that can’t be filled by h1-b’s?
Ones that require a security clearance.
Not IT MicroChip design
H1B we hire many of them but the 6K is senior level position no longer a H1B.
There is no bonus for hiring IT specialists as far as I know.
No Bonus for H1B engineers either
MicroChip design
They don’t teach that at IIT, do they?
But an IIT can learn to do it quickly and master it if they want to.
I’ve bought multiple dairy products made from milk coming from cows not given bovine growth hormone. The stuff is banned in the EU, Australia and Canada. Several states acting with FDA approval have forced manufacturers to put a label on products without growth hormone milk which says, “There is no difference between milk coming from cows given bovine growth hormone and those not given it.”
More amazing regulatory capture. At the state level.
Some interesting reading from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_somatotropin :
“In response to concerns from consumers and advocacy groups about milk from cows treated with rBST, some dairies, retailers, and restaurants have published policies on use of rBST in production of milk products they sell, while others offer some products or product lines that are labelled “rBST-free” or the like.
In 2007, the U.S. state of Pennsylvania adopted a regulation that would have banned the practice of labeling milk as derived from cows not treated with rBST.
This prohibition was to go into effect 1 January 2008, but after the comment period the guidelines were adjusted to only ban “rBST-free” claims and instead allow claims that farmers had pledged not to use rBST and accompany such claims with a disclaimer such as, “No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-treated and non-rbST-treated cows.”
Actually, I think it’s a good thing. The sort of person who’d be interested in bovine growth hormone and reading labels is going to have a very different reaction to the notice than the agricultural lobby wants.
Dow craters$200+.
Yes, how does one “invest” during bubbles which goes to my point above about flash trading. I invested in in a San Diego company years ago called ISIS which is biotechnology company. Due to writing calls on it I have a cost basis of about $15 a share. Last year it began a run and I wrote a 30 leap call on it and collected about $7.50 in time premium. So I am feeling pretty smart about $37.50 for a $15 investment. Except ISIS then makes a run to the low sixties and I am feeling quite dumb. However, it is now back down to around $37 so I am not feeling quite so dumb but I have to wait to the option expires to really collect maximum profit, assuming it stays above the strike price. I would just like a market that moves on fundamentals but the PTB have created a casino and they want me to worry about flash traders “stealing” one dollar of profit for every hundred shares.
In what cities will you find the most mortgage deadbeats still occupying the foreclosure? You guessed it!
San Jose CA, Washington DC, New York
http://www.realtytrac.com/images/reportimages/occupied_REOs_top_metros.png
Washington, DC Housing Demand Craters 3 Months Straight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/wp/2014/04/10/homes-sales-in-d-c-region-fall-for-third-straight-month/
D.C. = District of CRATER
LOLZ
CratertonDC
The area maybe is depressed because a lot of Democratic congressional staff members know they will not have a job in a few months.
They can thank Obama and Obamacare.
Once again, thanks Obama.
FIFTY-THREE PERCENT!
Janet the weather lady is no fun. Meanwhile ben b get millions to speak in his timid, hesitant style…………
Meanwhile Mr Market is predictably having a bad case of Fed Chair turnover blues.
THE CHINESE ARE COMING TO THE INLAND EMPIRE!!!
Fei Fei, of Beijing, traveled to the United States a few weeks ago to meet with Riverside real estate broker Frank “Paco” Licea, right, to explore prospects of investor field trips from China to Southern California in 2014. The two snapped this photo at the Mission Inn in Riverside after their meeting.
Frank “Paco” Licea, a Riverside-based real estate broker, who works with six Chinese investors and teaches a workshop on leveraging global and Chinese real estate sales, agrees.
One key contact of Licea brings over 50 investors every quarter from Shanghai and Beijing. He works through a translator from Hong Kong who is fluent in Mandarin, English and Cantonese to help leverage deals.
FULL STORY
http://www.pe.com/business/business-headlines/20140404-real-estate-leju-partnership-with-zillow-creates-new-sales-links-to-china.ece
Dream On
realtors are liars
Foolishly buying up IE properties. This reeks of a scam.
And desperation. I’ve got a live on by email today.
Oh fine. 50,000 additional Chinese males to glare at the white males who get more Chinese girlfriends.
True the Vote Calls Out Rep. Cummings for Role in IRS Targeting Scandal
“No more lies, Mr. Cummings: Tell America the truth.”
4.10.2014
Catherine Engelbrecht, president of True the Vote—one of the conservative organizations that claim to have been targeted by the IRS—called out Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) after new revelations about his role in the IRS scandal, calling for an end to the “lies” and stating that the information revealed Wednesday has proven that Cummings played a clear role in the collusion of two branches of government “to target and silence private citizens.”
After the information released by the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee Wednesday, showing collusion between Cummings and former IRS chief Lois Lerner, True the Vote has amended its ethics complaint to include Cummings. In the announcement of the amended complaint, Engelbrecht asserts that “America has come to a tipping point” and that True the Vote will not be intimidated into silence, stating, “I will not ask Rep. Cummings, Lois Lerner, Barack Obama, or anyone else, for permission to exercise my constitutional rights.”
Here is the full statement True the Vote released Wednesday:
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/true-vote-calls-out-rep-cummings-role-irs-targeting-scandal - 79k
Let’s bring this up on Fri.
The Progressives have no idea what’s about to happen to their team. This subject is going to change their world as they begin to figure out the Admin is dirtier that Dick Nixon.
No lie, Chicago style politics don’t play nationwide.
‘Expect To See A Band Of Soldiers’: Militia Members Arrive At Nevada Ranch
April 10, 2014 3:39 AM
LAS VEGAS (CBS Las Vegas/AP) — Militia groups are rallying behind a rancher whose cattle are being seized by the federal government.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that two militia members from Montana and one from Utah have arrived at Cliven Bundy’s ranch.
“We need to be the barrier between the oppressed and the tyrants,” Ryan Payne of the West Mountain Rangers told the Review-Journal. “Expect to see a band of soldiers.”
Payne said that militias from New Hampshire, Texas and Florida are likely to join and stand with Bundy and stay at his ranch.
“They all tell me they are in the process of mobilizing as we speak,” Payne told the Review-Journal, adding that hundreds of militia members are expected.
The Review-Journal also reports that Bundy’s son, Ammon Bundy, was shot with a stun gun by law enforcement officers Wednesday and that the rancher’s sister, Margaret Houston, was pushed to the ground.
“I pulled the tasers out of him,” Cheryl Teerlink told the Review-Journal.
Lawmakers are adding their voices into the fray, criticizing the federal cattle roundup fought by Cliven Bundy who claims longstanding grazing rights on remote public rangeland about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada said he told new U.S. Bureau of Land Management chief Neil Kornze in Washington, D.C., that law-abiding Nevadans shouldn’t be penalized by an “overreaching” agency.
Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval pointed earlier to what he called “an atmosphere of intimidation,” resulting from the roundup and said he believed constitutional rights were being trampled.
Heller said he heard from local officials, residents and the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association and remained “extremely concerned about the size of this closure and disruptions with access to roads, water and electrical infrastructure.”
The federal government has shut down a scenic but windswept area about half the size of the state of Delaware to round up about 900 cattle it says are trespassing.
BLM and National Park Service officials didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to criticisms of the roundup that started Saturday and prompted the closure of the 1,200-square-mile area through May 12.
It’s seen by some as the latest battle over state and federal land rights in a state with deep roots in those disputes, including the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s and ’80s. Nevada, where various federal agencies manage or control more than 80 percent of the land, is among several Western states where ranchers have challenged federal land ownership.
The current showdown pits Bundy’s claims of ancestral rights to graze his cows on open range against federal claims that the cattle are trespassing on arid and fragile habitat of the endangered desert tortoise. Bundy has said he owns about 500 branded cattle on the range and claims the other 400 targeted for roundup are his, too.
BLM and Park Service officials see threats in Bundy’s promise to “do whatever it takes” to protect his property and in his characterization that the dispute constitutes a “range war.”
U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, noted that BLM officials were enforcing federal court orders that Bundy remove his animals. The legal battle has been waged for decades.
Kornze, the new BLM chief, is familiar with the area. He’s a natural resource manager who grew up in Elko, Nev., and served previously as a senior adviser to Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid.
http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2014/04/10/expect-to-see-a-band-of-soldiers-militia-members-arrive-at-nevada-ranch/ - 72k -
Cueing up Waco v.2.0 in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
With all the potential issues at hand, you’d think these bureaucrats could find something else to do.
I bet American Indians get a good laugh out of some rancher claiming ¨ancestral rights¨.
How are your bitcoin investments holding up?
April 10, 2014, 2:05 p.m. EDT
Bitcoin slides below $400 on China concerns
By Saumya Vaishampayan
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Bitcoin fell below $400 on major exchanges Thursday, as concerns about Chinese regulation of the virtual currency continued to weigh on prices. China’s central bank has reportedly banned domestic banks from doing business with bitcoin exchanges. BTCChina, a popular exchange in China, has seen its trading volume fall more than 80%, according to a report by PCWorld . The CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, which tracks prices on three exchanges, fell below $400 for the first time in 2014. The index was at $398.17 in recent trade, down 9.6% from Wednesday.
I’ve posted once or twice before regarding my search for a home in San Diego. To recap, I’m 25 y/o with $100k in savings and zero debt with a very secure $100k+ career. Prices just keep going up here in San Diego County and I’m at a point where I have to stop looking due to pure frustration and disgust. The only thing left on the market at this point are absolute dumps that won’t be able to be mortgaged, or cheap shoddy flips that have been marked up 3x the renovation cost.
To that end, what should I do with my savings over the next couple of years since I don’t intend to purchase a home in this market? I almost feel guilty leaving it in a savings account. My disgust with the housing market extends to the stock market and it’s distorted bubble-like valuations. I feel that we are on the cusp of something very painful in this country, and almost feel paralyzed with my situation. I can’t begin to imagine how others less fortunate feel. Anyways, rant over!
What’s wrong with a bank account? Imagine your losses if you paid current grossly inflated asking prices for a rapidly depreciating house.