April 12, 2014

Bits Bucket for April 12, 2014

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




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Comment by that_guy
2014-04-12 01:02:10

From Honolulu Star Advertiser:

April 08–The Hawaii Medical Service Association said costs related to Obama­care are responsible for the bulk of a 12.8 percent proposed rate hike for most of the 77,000 small-business workers covered by the insurer.

If approved by the state, health insurance premiums are set to rise for roughly 8,100 employers renewing health plans July 1.

The rate increase request is the largest in at least five years for HMSA’s dominant Preferred Provider Plan members, with Affordable Care Act fees accounting for 60 percent of the hike and higher medical and drug costs the remainder, the company said.

This is the first full year that HMSA factored in costs related to the ACA, including a 2 percent fee to pay for the Hawaii Health Connector, the state-based insurance exchange that has experienced significant problems since its rollout in October.

Don your crash helmets, this sucker is going DOWN!

Comment by azdude
2014-04-12 07:06:14

looks like lot of people will be paying the 1% fine of net income.

Well with 50% of people with virtually no net income looks like they will be going after the producers again.

I believe in CA someone on the gravy train makes about the same as someone working and making ~ 50k in gross income.

doesnt take a genius to see why people are choosing not to work.

Comment by goon squad
2014-04-12 14:26:17

Taxable income, not net income.

You can make alot of money and still have no taxable income.

 
 
Comment by Skroodle
2014-04-12 07:21:22

Isn’t 12% pretty much the normal yearly increase?

Comment by In Colorado
2014-04-12 11:14:46

And that’s on a good year. On bad years it’s been higher.

 
 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 07:31:20

I am withholding judgement on the ACA, but I will say I got coverage under it that’s comparable to what I used to have for about 40% less than I used to pay. Perhaps that coverage was always available, but it’s a lot easier to shop around now than it was before. And my old coverage went up about 10% every year. It started around $120 a month in I think 2003, and it had gone up to $290 a month in 2013. Of course, I was getting older, so I’m sure that was part of the reason for the increase. I could well imagine the new coverage going up 10% a year too, but at least I’m starting at a lower base line.

Comment by Hi-Z
2014-04-12 09:08:02

You are fortunate to be in the 25% that benefited and not the 75% that lost ground.

Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 10:11:04

You are fortunate to be in the 25% that benefited and not the 75% that lost ground.

You are fortunate to be in the 25% who can pull 75% of their statistics out of thin air.

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Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 16:41:05

When we are all out of work with no taxable income, why then Rio, like all principled socialists, is willing to redistribute his wealth to us, the less fortunate.

Oh wait..there are no principled socialists.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2014-04-12 17:47:11

There are no socialists.

 
Comment by LolaLOL
2014-04-12 17:52:03

75 % of the time Lola is wrong every time.

(Also the other 25% of the time Lola is correct about the price of Mangos at DC halfway houses).

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 03:47:42

Remember…. Housing depreciates rapidly.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 03:50:03
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 04:10:19

Encinitas, CA Housing Prices Sink 7% YoY; Inventory Up As Buyers Evaporate

http://www.movoto.com/encinitas-ca/market-trends/

Comment by ann gogh
2014-04-12 08:01:55

when I lived in Encinitas I was looking at a home in my hood going for 343k. that was 2002. next week it popped to 425k and sold. in 2006 it was at 640k. I rent. oh and that house could not fit a king size bed in the master.

 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 04:14:10

Solana Beach, CA Housing Prices Crater 16% YoY; Inventory Rises

http://www.movoto.com/solana-beach-ca/market-trends/

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
Comment by Blackhawk
2014-04-12 06:49:52

“The fact that this decline in household formation and lack of job creation is occurring simultaneously with a rebound in housing activity would appear to be odd, at first.

In reality, housing activity has been reflecting purchasing activity by investors, both individuals and organizations, who are intent on providing rental housing to the generations of people behind them who do not have the income confidence to form a household or purchase a home.

The bottom line is that the increase in housing activity in the past year has not been broad-based, nor has it resulted from a rebound in economic activity. It’s been driven by a small portion of the society that has the cash and credit available to capitalize on the situation.

That money has now been put to work, but the stocks of companies involved in the real estate space are reflecting expectations that these one-off events are recurring ones.

At some point soon, traders and investors will realize this mistake.”

Well it’s not surprising that any good news would be trumpeted that everything is going well. Obviously things are not well.

How long will investors continue to prop up this industry?

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 06:56:21

Even if labor force participation rate were to skyrocket, it wouldn’t have any bearing on the moribund housing market.

Comment by Blackhawk
2014-04-12 08:19:34

HA. Not sure I’d go that far. In areas where the oilfield industry is expanding, housing is limited and prices are rising.

Check out areas like Hobbs NM, Lubbock TX and ND towns.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 08:24:47

Yet falling in the Marcellus shale region.

 
Comment by oxide
2014-04-12 10:12:41

BH.. and in DC and Denver and other places with 5-year jobs.
The real problem is student loans. I don’t know this, but what’s the average student loan payment? $300-$400/month? That’s more than my property taxes.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 10:26:02

Only in DebtJunkyWorld is student loans responsible for the housing debacle.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 11:53:03

The picture has worsened considerably since last August!

Business
Economists fret as young adults seem unwilling to fly the coop
By Jeff Collins
The Orange County Register –
updated Saturday, April 12, 2014 - 10:16am

Burdened by $85,000 in college debt, attorney Bobby Waltman lives with his mom and grandmother in a three-bedroom house in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Past frugality led the 29-year-old to live in a van parked at the beach, a one-room casita behind a Santa Ana, Calif., house and a tent in Alaska. Now, he’s counting the days until his finances are sound enough to afford a home of his own.

“I’ve had this plan to move out for a while, and it just keeps getting postponed,” said Waltman, who works for a Newport Beach, Calif., personal injury firm. “I’m working at a really good firm and I’m still living at home, and I figure it’s time I move on. (But) it’s hard to take on a mortgage with law school debt.”

Waltman may be symptomatic of a problem that’s still plaguing the housing market — and, to some extent, the economy as a whole. The recession forced millions to move in with parents and relatives, or delay leaving, and to double up with roommates.

Not only did those people put off buying or renting homes of their own, but the impact has rippled through the economy in the form of reduced demand for furnishings, appliances and home and garden supplies.

Although job growth has returned and the housing market has turned a corner, some economists worry that not enough young people are leaving the nest.

Whether it’s because of student loans, credit card debt, a foreclosure hangover or a need to save for a mortgage, “household formation” has yet to get anywhere near pre-recession levels.

At a time when investors are buying fewer homes, the slow pace of household formation means fewer first-time buyers taking up that slack, which could limit the housing market going forward.

“Low household formation during the recession meant weaker demand for housing, which held back construction,” said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist.

Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau highlight the problem.

While the nation averaged nearly 1.2 million new households a year in the past five decades, that number fell to about 650,000 annually in the past five years, census figures show. Last year, 160,000 new households were created.

“During this past recession, household formation really got affected negatively because some of these kids lost their jobs and moved back with their parents, or they coupled up,” said Chapman University economist Esmael Adibi.

But Adibi noted that some people — like his neighbor’s 26- and 29-year-old children — still are living with their parents long after getting rehired.

“You need more than job creation,” he said. “You need job security.”

Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-04-12 14:40:34

A guy my wife used to work with had over $100k in debt, most of which was student debt from biz school at U of Oregon.

Along came his grandparents and wiped it all out. Anecdotal for sure, but there are bailouts and money everywhere.

See also: $300k homes selling here in Portland for $750k.

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 14:47:33

“Along came his grandparents and wiped it all out. Anecdotal for sure, but there are bailouts and money everywhere.”

I’m totally fine with private bailouts. It’s the ones which add private gambling debt to the national debt burden which chafe me.

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Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-04-12 15:40:38

Agreed. I’m probably just salty because I never seem to be the beneficiary of such wealth but I’m still forced to compete with it when it comes to delaying purchases of things such as cars, houses, etc. This kid’s now free to overbid on an overpriced house, which he’s in the process of doing.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by goon squad
2014-04-12 04:15:50

I do not want to buy any house at today’s inflated, delusional asking prices.

Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-04-12 04:46:54

Would you buy it
In a box?

Would you buy it
with a fox?

Comment by frankie
2014-04-12 04:52:07

If I put a bow on it and painted it pink would it help

Comment by goon squad
2014-04-12 04:55:09

That sounds like justification for a $20K asking price hike.

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Comment by Mr. Banker
2014-04-12 05:58:34

Do not allow something as simple and inconsequential as price to deny to you what should rightfully be yours, instead smarten up and use other people’s money to get whatever it is that you want.

Visit your friendly lender today and all your dreams can be fulfilled. It will be as simple as signing a dotted line.

 
 
 
Comment by LolaLOL
2014-04-12 06:14:31

Do you like greenshirt webcam?
Do you like him Sam I am?

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 06:53:35

Did you call her mam?

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Comment by RonniesLeftMango
2014-04-12 09:37:58

Joe is very polite and always says, thank you ma’am. He also leaves a tip.

 
 
 
Comment by rms
2014-04-12 15:03:00

“Would you buy it
with a fox?”

Would you buy it
for a fox?

 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 04:17:08

Poway, CA Housing Prices Collapse 23% YoY

http://www.movoto.com/poway-ca/market-trends/

 
Comment by jess from upstate SC
2014-04-12 04:33:25

Beautiful spring weather for the Augusta Golf masters. At $1K for a ticket at the gate I won’t get to watch ,but my friend who went noted there are a hundred or so brand new Mercedes being used as courtesy cars …..Ah, to be rich …..

Comment by Skroodle
2014-04-12 07:22:31

And white.

Comment by rms
2014-04-12 12:13:37

“And white.”

:)

 
 
Comment by Hi-Z
2014-04-12 09:10:36

I think the courtesy cars were Buicks in the distant past.

 
 
Comment by oxide
2014-04-12 04:41:11

Comment by measton
2014-04-11 12:06:15
Trust me I’m not arguing again’t universal health care, I think the ACA will improve care for those on the edge which is a larger and larger percentage of Americans. I’d rather see single payer or at least regulate insurance limiting profit margins and ceo pay and advertising.

Without going into too much detail, I’d like to point out that this is an example of why Obamacare ACA gets such low ratings in all the polls. The more liberal side doesn’t like ACA either.

Comment by Blackhawk
2014-04-12 07:11:12

Why do progressives think a single payer system will work better?

Don’t we have enough evidence that government can’t handle this task? The ACA roll out, problems at the VA, funding problems with Social Sec, Medicare, etc.

What if universal healthcare brings equally bad healthcare to all?

Comment by MightyMike
2014-04-12 08:01:31

Why do progressives think a single payer system will work better?

Every other developed country on the planet pays much less for health care than we do. In all of those countries the government provides a larger portion of health care and private, for-profit insurance companies play a much smaller role.

Comment by Blackhawk
2014-04-12 08:25:55

And when the inhabitants of those countries need healthcare, where do they come if they have money?

What we’re doing is not going to improve your healthcare since many of the best hospitals and doctors aren’t working for the ACA.

If you think waiting in line for your doctor is good, then you’re getting what you want.

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Comment by MightyMike
2014-04-12 08:57:33

The vast majority of all people all over the world get their healthcare in their own countries.

The ACA is a law. What do you mean when say that many of the best hospitals and doctors are not working for it?

 
Comment by Blackhawk
2014-04-12 10:02:05

Mike.

I’m shocked that you don’t know this.

If you like your Dr you don’t necessarily get to use him under the ACA. In fact that the better the Dr the slimmer the chance.

BH

 
Comment by In Colorado
2014-04-12 11:27:38

The vast majority of all people all over the world get their healthcare in their own countries.

Yup. My SIL in the UK had virtually no wait to have her gall bladder removed. She didn’t have to come to the US to get it done, contrary to popular right wing mythology. Heck, I’ll bet more Americans are going outside the country for healthcare than foreigners coming here. How many patients in other countries use mail order Canadian pharmacies to save money?

And unlike when I had my gall bladder removed here in the USA, she had NO out of pocket expenses. NONE. So in that regard the National Health is superior to my low deductible “Cadillac” plan (which most Americans can now only dream about). And I’ll bet she and hubby and their employers do not pay $18K (which is what my Cadillac plan costs) in National Health taxes.

When I tell them about how “high deductible” plans are becoming the norm in the USA, their eyes widen in horror. They can’t fathom how we get by with such an expensive system where the average American has to pay thousands of dollar out of pocket before the insurance will pay for anything. It simply boggles their minds.

 
Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-04-12 15:03:37

Yup. My SIL in the UK had virtually no wait to have her gall bladder removed.

And my Polish father-in-law had the same experience when admitted for a lower back surgery.

This canard of “waiting times” needs to stop. For everyday care, maybe there are extended wait times. For critical care, no.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2014-04-12 16:27:42

If you like your Dr you don’t necessarily get to use him under the ACA. In fact that the better the Dr the slimmer the chance.

There are two doctors that I have been seeing since before the ACA and I still see them now. Your second sentence there doesn’t make sense. Are the better doctors going to start working fewer hours?

 
 
 
Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-04-12 11:56:27

The market will always be there for those that can pay. Sure, the government will make a mess of it, but it’s already a massive mess, and Obamacare is just going to make it worse.

Some will win, some will lose, but the majority of people will be better off with single payer. That’s the best you can hope for, there’s not going to be some magical perfect solution.

 
Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 16:47:26

Because progressives have faith in self appointed elites who somehow in Washington D.C. can exactly satisfy the needs and desires of someone they never met 3,000 miles away. And progressives are by their own definition, smarter than nonprogressives.

Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-04-12 17:00:44

The insurance company I deal with has never met me, and is not located within 1000 miles of me. Does the magic of capitalism give them some secret knowledge?

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Comment by FED Up
2014-04-12 21:32:41

You can change insurance companies…..

 
 
 
 
Comment by scdave
2014-04-12 07:14:38

this is an example of why Obamacare ACA gets such low ratings ??

Lets fix it then…The fundamental premise is that we need universal health care and everyone needs to pay something into the system….No free rides on someone else’s nickel…

Comment by oxide
2014-04-12 10:10:24

I’d like to see more research about “selling insurance over state lines.” This has been touted over and over again as being the cure-all, good for what ails you. Yet, if it’s so wonderful, have the Republicans in the House passed a bill to sell insurance over state lines? If not, why not? If they really meant it, they could pass the bill 50+ times.

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 10:17:05

And when the inhabitants of those countries need healthcare, where do they come if they have money?

To their doctor down the public street.

If you think waiting in line for your doctor is good,

I always got in line in the USA to see my Doctor - and a long line for a specialist.

Comment by In Colorado
2014-04-12 11:32:49

I always got in line in the USA to see my Doctor - and a long line for a specialist.

My experience as well in the past. Of course now that most people have ultra high deductible plans, it’s easier to see the family doctor, because most people are now “toughing it out” and skipping the doctor altogether. I have found that specialists can still have long lead times. My wife had some carpal tunnel work done a few years ago and the surgeon was booked for months.

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Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-04-12 11:58:20

Same here. Took 3 months to get in to have my carpal tunnel problem looked at, and i had to pay for it all because I hadn’t got through my insurance deductible. The existing system sucks, bad.

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Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-04-12 15:10:19

It took me 2 months to get in to see a dermatologist when I had what I thought was an allergy earlier this year.

Not life-or-death but 8 weeks of discomfort nonetheless. And simple things can turn into life-or-death when you don’t know what’s causing it. All that wait for a 15 minute appointment.

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Comment by frankie
2014-04-12 04:50:40

Foreign buyers dominate London’s luxury housing market

Young buyers ‘don’t have a chance’

In an earlier phase of the development of the Thames-side Battersea power station, half the apartments built in former power station’s shell were sold outside the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26980299

Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 06:38:37

Democrats in Congress didn’t like it either. They didn’t even know what was in it.

Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-04-12 06:50:55

Yes, I am sure that the liberals that did not like it voted for the Republican in the Florida election. (sarcasm off). It is just another Democratic talking point that ACA rates low in the polls due to liberal opposition. It is interesting that when Liberals say that Congress rates lower than Obama they don’t acknowledge that is because conservatives don’t like Congress either and they object to liberals and RINOs.

Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-04-12 15:20:31

It is just another Democratic talking point that ACA rates low in the polls due to liberal opposition.

How else would you explain it? Are they only polling supporters of Republicans? If not, then you have to admit this country is made up of far more than people that self identify as Democrats, Republicans, libtards and conservatards.

they don’t acknowledge that is because conservatives don’t like Congress either and they object to liberals and RINOs.

Now you’re going off the deep end. Who can look at an approval rating of, what, 8% and not understand that voters of all political beliefs have a problem with Congress?

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Comment by Jane
2014-04-12 20:33:54

Speaking with a little bit of insight about the matter: the laws are vetted by 25 year old staffers. Congressmen and Senators get two page talking points. It is quite conceivable that the staffers skim over the boring bits. When you’re 25, things look different and small adders or inclusions or recursions are easily overlooked. Especially if your mind is on where you’re going Friday night.

This is why the legislative branch speeches are so vacuous, particularly when they go over twenty minutes. The blowhards literally have nothing to say. Nobody home and they have such contempt for us that they believe we the citizens do not know the difference.

You heard it right. The country is governed by horny 25 year olds.

 
 
 
Comment by MightyMike
2014-04-12 08:03:44

What didn’t they like? And why didn’t they like it if they knew nothing about it?

Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 08:26:05

How could they like it if they didn’t know what was in it? We pay these guys big bucks to carefully consider laws. They passed a 1,000 page law not caring what the content was. It still just about makes my head spin.

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Comment by MightyMike
2014-04-12 09:06:16

We’re getting silly now. One could the ask the question, how could they dislike it if they didn’t what was in it?

More importantly, this whole business about nobody reading the text of the ACA before voting for it is a bunch of nonsense. Its most important provisions were well known. Furthermore, the Congress passes many thousands of phase of laws every year. No member of Congress reads even a tiny fraction of what they vote for or against.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 09:26:34

“it is a bunch of nonsense.”

I am in agreement.

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 10:21:38

They passed a 1,000 page law not caring what the content was. It still just about makes my head spin.

Maybe it makes your head spin because your premise is head spinningly wrong.

 
Comment by Neuromance
2014-04-12 10:47:34

Blue Skye: How could they like it if they didn’t know what was in it? We pay these guys big bucks to carefully consider laws. They passed a 1,000 page law not caring what the content was. It still just about makes my head spin.

I wonder how much of a politician’s time is spent on considering policy and gathering information, and how much is spent on fundraising. This would be a fascinating data point.

 
Comment by Jane
2014-04-12 20:37:40

Literally none of their time is spent analyzing that which they vote upon.

Their time is spent in getting their palms greased and in pontificating before cameras. Straight out fundraising has public disclosure (”$100 per plate dinner”). That is the tip of the iceberg.

 
 
Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-04-12 11:59:23

Liberals are omniscient AND disdainful. It’s in the book they all carry around that tells them how to behave.

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Comment by MightyMike
2014-04-12 16:29:59

They’re not always disdainful. But often the anti-liberal just don’t make sense.

 
Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-04-12 16:42:09

Liberals eat babies and poison our lakes and streams. They make the baby Jesus cry. Don’t be fooled by their friendly mellow exterior, liberals are the pawns of satan, sent to make earth into a hell for God’s children.

 
Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 16:51:20

AmazingRuss, you of course are unaware there is a growing number of capitalists who are atheists.

 
Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-04-12 16:58:45

Jesus loves them anyway.

 
 
 
Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-04-12 17:02:06

Everybody knows you need to pass legislation before you can find out what’s in it.

 
 
 
Comment by Can Bubble
2014-04-12 05:51:01

A successful realtor friend of mine at the bar last night:

“You’ll see, in another ten years house prices in Toronto will be double what they are now and people will be saying that they should have bought that house at eight hundred thousand.”

I argued with him for six years and prices are higher than ever. So, now I just smile quietly.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 05:53:34

Your friend has a big problem.

 
Comment by azdude
2014-04-12 06:06:20

another year and more free equity my way. owning a home is like having a piggy bank and all you have to do is hold the asset to get paid.

Thank you bernake and janet yellen for bringing me prosperity with your printing press.

I figure in another year I will pull some equity and quit work for about 5 years.

Comment by Mr. Banker
2014-04-12 06:15:14

“… all you have to do is hold the asset to get paid.”

No, no, no … you need to CASH OUT the asset to get paid.

You need to visit your local banker today and make it happen.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 08:04:01

My piggy bank doesn’t charge me interest when I take equity out of it, so that’s one way a house and a piggy bank differ. You may want to rethink your retirement strategy.

 
 
Comment by LolaLOL
2014-04-12 06:24:31

Six years? I been doing it for ten, with inlaws and others. They got real quiet during the crash but picked right back up once prices got unaffordable again. A move caused me to not be ready to buy where I am at when prices were more affordable and once we had a decent idea where we wanted to live, prices had already crept up too far. And shenanigans limited supply to where you didn’t even get a chance to bid.

It amazes me that people can see prices go up by 25 percent in a year and think that is sustainable. They can easily believe that it can go up 25 percent in a year but not down the same even though they witnessed it only a coupe of years ago.

Comment by In Colorado
2014-04-12 11:35:10

It amazes me that people can see prices go up by 25 percent in a year and think that is sustainable.

They want it to be sustainable, because they’re hoping to sell their shack to some greater fool someday and retire to some cheaper locale.

Comment by LolaLOL
2014-04-12 12:28:48

The Oil City Plan should be our national strategy, not just for housing but for lots of other things.

We have too much of everything, food, entertainment options, educational options, coffee options, whatever.

The goddamn chicken McNugget didn’t even come into existence until 1983 (Reagan’s fault).

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Comment by Neuromance
2014-04-12 15:04:40

Too much of the things we don’t need, and not enough of the things we do.

 
Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-04-12 16:43:21

I haven’t had a chicken nugget since 1985, and I think I’m just fine without that futuristic miracle.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 17:20:34

“The Oil City Plan should be our national strategy, not just for housing but for lots of other things.”

Totally agreed! Why hand greater fools among American households the money to let the Chinese investors profit off their stupidity? Let American families with no incomes move to Oil City, and let the Chinese investors enjoy the losses that come to those who catch themselves falling knives at top bubble prices. They are rich, and hence will have no problem shouldering the losses. On the other hand, Subprime Sam ought to mind his spending from here on out.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:46:12

Behavioral economics has a name for the magical thinking that unsustainable trends will continue forever: “over-extrapolation.”

Next time you see your “friend,” point out that he may be over-extrapolating the Toronto price trend.

Comment by LolaLOL
2014-04-12 07:06:04

Like a realtor is going to care about over-extrapolation. Here’ll be his response: “thanks Poindexter, but you’ll be shining my shoes”

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 11:54:40

My response in turn: “You’ll be shining my shoes once today’s over-extrapolation leads to tomorrow’s price collapse.”

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Comment by LolaLOL
2014-04-12 12:38:45

You see this watch, this watch costs more than your car.

 
Comment by Jane
2014-04-12 20:46:19

Great allusion, and apropos.
From Glengarry Glen Ross. The immortal speech by Alec Baldwin. Pure evil.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Skroodle
2014-04-12 07:25:18

That friend is probably correct.

Of course the Canadian dollar will drop like a stone.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 08:50:24

Why would that be considering every western central bank is desperately fighting deflation…. and losing.

Comment by Skroodle
2014-04-12 12:20:08

Currency Wars are under way. Everyone is in a race to devalue their currency.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 12:56:05

Its a fight to prevent deflation. And its having the opposite effect.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Neuromance
2014-04-12 10:52:25

When I saw skyrocketing real estate prices, my first inclination wasn’t, “OMG I gotta get in before they go higher!” No, my first inclination was “Why is this happening?”

Looking into that question has revealed just how things work in government and central banking. It’s revealed corruption and cronyism, that, had someone told such a thing in the 90s, I would have thought them a kook.

But… it’s all true.

 
 
Comment by Salinasron
2014-04-12 05:53:06

WAC, sorry I didn’t know before yesterday morning when I had to go out of town that you were in the area or I would have driven over and bought you coffee and a pastry.

Comment by Maynard G. Krebbs
2014-04-12 05:58:44

Coffee is for closers.

Comment by LolaLOL
2014-04-12 06:47:05

Pastry is nice, but pretty much the entire country needs to lose 20 percent of their body weight if not more.

TOO MUCH is the chronic problem with our society.

Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 07:40:26

Pastry: I gave up that habit in favor of steel cut oats. The first few months of every year I do a lot of weekend travel and miss some workout days. Particularly on those days I don’t miss the scones or muffins. Today was a great day to walk around my neighborhood in Phoenix. A cool morning.

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Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:47:40

I have so much money left over every month after paying rent, I can buy Starbucks coffee by the bucket!

 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:02:30

No worries…the plan wouldn’t have worked, anyway, as my wife was in “homing” mode. The last day of a vacation with her is never a relaxed affair!

We did have a very nice visit to the John Steinbeck National Center in Salinas yesterday, though. I’ll touch base with you ahead of time next time I’m in the area (and most likely won’t be encumbered with wife and kids who don’t drink coffee!).

 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:03:30

Did you dump your bonds yet?

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:06:30

Bloomberg News
Pimco’s Gross Cuts U.S. Government Debt as Treasuries Dropped
By Susanne Walker April 09, 2014

Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., decreased its holdings of Treasuries in March as comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen sent shorter-term U.S. securities tumbling.

The proportion of U.S. government-related debt in the $232 billion Total Return Fund was cut to 41 percent, the company’s website showed yesterday, from 43 percent in February. Mortgage-bond holdings were reduced to 23 percent, the lowest level since June 2011, from 29 percent in February. The fund lost 0.6 percent last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The 1–5 year portion of the curve, beaten up recently due to Fed ‘blue dot’ forecasts and Yellen’s ‘six months after’ comments, should hold current levels if inflation stays low,” Gross wrote in his monthly investment commentary on Newport Beach, California-based Pimco’s website on April 3. “But 5–30 year maturities are at risk.”

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 12:22:20

Was it pretty much a given that Treasurys would rally the moment that Pimco dumped them?

One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken. Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you’re going to wind up with an ear full of cider.

 
 
Comment by azdude
2014-04-12 06:07:30

I dumped some stocks onto some greater fools last week.

Comment by The Zima Guy
2014-04-12 06:20:16

The greater fools are most likely your parents’ pension funds.

Comment by azdude
2014-04-12 06:29:59

the greater fool was probably you most likely. Got equity?

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Comment by The Zima Guy
2014-04-12 07:33:39

Hit a nerve there?

 
 
 
Comment by ann gogh
2014-04-12 08:07:40

I sold some GE yesterday. tax free! now which government program can I send it to? ACA or BLM?

Comment by oxide
2014-04-12 10:32:20

You could send it to Afghanistan. Or the CEO of Lockheed Martin. Or to make yourself feel good you could send it to some hardworking mid-career lab rat at a national lab.

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Comment by The Zima Guy
2014-04-12 12:14:08

Hardworking by blogging all day?

Sure I will.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:11:10

UPDATE 2-Pimco Total Return cuts mortgage, U.S. gov’t holdings in March -website
Wed Apr 9, 2014 7:47pm EDT
By Sam Forgione

(Reuters) - The Pimco Total Return Fund, the world’s largest bond fund, cut its holdings of U.S. government-related securities and mortgages for the second straight month in March on continued bets that the Federal Reserve will conclude bond purchases this year, data from the firm’s website showed on Wednesday.

The fund, which has $232 billion in assets and is managed by Pimco co-founder and chief investment officer Bill Gross, cut its holdings of U.S. government-related securities to 41 percent in March from 43 percent in February, and cut its mortgage holdings to 23 percent in March from 29 percent in February.

The fund’s decreased holdings of mortgage securities in March kept the stake at its lowest level since at least late 2011, while the decrease in U.S. government-related holdings kept the stake at its lowest level since last November.

On March 7, Gross tweeted that investors should “Sell what the Fed has been buying because they won’t be buying them when Taper ends in Oct.”

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:13:01

Will the 30-year Treasury yield retrace beyond May 2, 2013?

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:15:45

Credit Markets
Treasury Bonds Rally as Investors Seek Safety
Sale of $13 Billion in 30-Year Bonds Draws Strong Demand
By Min Zeng
Updated April 10, 2014 3:38 p.m. ET

Treasury bonds strengthened Thursday as investors cashed out of U.S. stocks, sending the benchmark 10-year note’s yield to the lowest level in a month.

The sale of $13 billion in 30-year Treasury bonds drew strong demand as investors dialed back risk appetites and the results gave an extra boost to bond prices. Buying was particularly strong among U.S. investment firms—with an indicator of the bidding rising to the highest level since November.

We are seeing a growing flight-to-quality trade,” said Kevin Giddis, head of fixed income at Raymond James (RJF -2.08%) in Memphis, Tenn.

In late-afternoon trading, the benchmark 10-year note was 16/32 higher, yielding 2.628%, according to Tradeweb. When bond prices rise, their yields decline.

The 10-year’s yield had at one point touched 2.612%, its lowest level since March 14.

U.S. stocks, a barometer of investors’ appetites for risk, fell broadly. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell hardest, by more than 3%. Technology and biotechnology shares, which were hit by waves of selling in recent weeks, led Thursday’s declines.

Analysts said further selling in stocks could push prices of Treasury bonds higher and their yields lower.

One concern for investors is whether U.S. stocks may suffer a big selloff in the months ahead with the Federal Reserve continuing to dial back its bond-buying program. Equity prices have roared over the past year and hit record highs earlier this month, thanks partly to generous liquidity provisions from major central banks.

Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at National Alliance Capital Markets in New York, said many investors have moved cash from bonds and into stocks betting on bond yields to rise further at the start of the year. Now with bond yields falling, such investors are prompted to rebalance portfolios buy selling stocks and buying bonds again.

There are too many hedge funds in the same momentum trade, which is not washed out yet,” said Mr. Brenner, adding that the 10-year yield could fall below 2.5% if U.S. stocks suffer bigger selloffs.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:20:05

April 11, 2014, 4:48 p.m. EDT
30-year Treasury yield hits nine-month low
Market gains on the week
By Ben Eisen, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Long-term Treasury prices gained Friday, sending the 30-year bond yield to its lowest since last July as the broader market notched weekly gains.

The long bond (30_YEAR -0.03%) yield, which falls as prices rise, was down 1.5 basis points on the day and 10 basis points on the week at 3.488%, according to Tradeweb. The last time it was that low on a closing basis was in July 2013, as yields were rising sharply on fears about Federal Reserve policy normalization.

The 30-year bond yield holds little indication for most other borrowing costs, though it serves as somewhat of a long-term outlook on economic growth. The security has at times been an early indicator for movements in other Treasury maturities, according to Anthony Valeri, fixed income strategist at LPL Financial. He noted that the 30-year yield topped out last summer a week before the rest of the market.

“To me, that’s an early sign that bond strength may continue here,” Valeri said.

Comment by azdude
2014-04-12 06:56:32

how much in rent do you pay per month?

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Comment by ann gogh
2014-04-12 08:09:33

1900.00 one mile from the beaches of Carlsbad. No noise, no traffic, just birds and coyotes!

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 08:34:02

less than $100. On the water. Includes all utilities.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 09:33:23

How is that possible, Blue Skye? Are you camping, or living in a beach house commune?

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 09:35:30

Or maybe you were joking.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 10:13:39

Not joking. I am what is called a “live aboard”. Most of the year I live on my boat, a modest yacht called the Blue Skye. I “own” a dock at a nice club. That just means I get to rent it as long as I wish. Power, water, cable and internet are included, for less than $100 per month. Living outside the accepted norm for the last decade has freed me from the debt donkey syndrome. July and August I go cruising the Great Lakes and associated river systems, which costs extra. I’m a little crazy, but it works for me.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 11:31:32

Nice! Are you retired? I sometimes fantasize about retiring on a smallish sailboat, but my wife requires a 100 square foot bathroom.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 11:39:51

If she is willing to go over the railing, she’d have a 100 mi2 bathroom! Just kidding there, tradeoffs are part of the deal for sure. My cruising companion actually likes to shower on deck though. No one complains. We’re all boaters.

I’m not retired yet, just practicing. I am grateful for wireless everything. I suggested retirement in January this year and my company freaked. They want a few years to bring on another expert-to-be and don’t care if I have plenty of “down time”. Trapped by greed then for the while.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 12:14:28

That’s what I told her! It’s the biggest bathroom in the world. She didn’t buy it.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 12:46:55

Take heart, San Diego Looky-Lou’s: La Jolla’s market is turning. Check out the plethora of listings flooding the market during this year’s red hot spring sales season!

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 12:48:57

You could always try to break her in a little bit at a time. Any respectable marina has at least a 200 ft2 bathroom. My partner scatters her stuff all around the cabin, you’d think the whole boat is her bathroom suite.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 13:05:47

“How much do you pay in rent?”

About half the amount you pay in rent to the bank.

 
Comment by rms
2014-04-12 14:13:17

“Nice! Are you retired? I sometimes fantasize about retiring on a smallish sailboat, but my wife requires a 100 square foot bathroom.”

Sound like a yacht is in your future.

 
Comment by Patrick
2014-04-12 15:07:47

Blue Skye

Do you have a power or sailboat, what kind, how long?

I have a Kirby30.

Where do you intend to sail this summer?

I will be among the Georgian Bay Islands off an on.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 15:39:38

Hey Patrick,

I’m on a Marinette 32. I won’t do Georgian Bay this summer. A few years ago I was up the Trent as far as Bobcaygeon. Shoe shopping central, LOL. My partner only has two months to cruise, so if I do Georgian Bay, I’d be single handed to at least Peterborough. This summer I’m only planning on white sandy beaches in Lake Ontario.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:31:01

April 11, 2014, 8:30 a.m. EDT
U.S. wholesale prices advance 0.5% in March
By Jeffry Bartash

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. wholesale prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in March, mainly because of higher costs for service providers such as food and clothing retailers, the Labor Department reported Friday. The price of wholesale services jumped 0.7% last month, while the cost of goods were flat. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 0.1% gain in the PPI. Wholesale food costs increased 1.1% last month, but energy prices sank 1.2%. Excluding the volatile categories of food and energy, core PPI prices rose 0.6% after falling 0.2% in February. Personal consumption, a new index that could foreshadow changes in the consumer price index, rose 0.6% in March. Over the past year producer prices for final demand have risen an unadjusted 1.4%. That’s up sharply from 0.9% rate in February and is the highest since last August. Core prices have also climbed 1.4% in the same span.

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 12:30:27

You’d think with wholesale price inflation signalling inflation in the pipeline, investors would be dumping long-term bonds like hot potatoes.

What gives?

 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 06:21:13

Report claims cell towers in Bundy ranch area shut down

Joe Newby
Examiner.com
April 12, 2014

On Friday, Static Media Hub posted a tweet that said cell towers in the Bundy ranch area were shut down. According to the message, only radio communications were possible.

“Alert: On the ground reports ~ cell towers shut down, comms thru radio only,” the tweet said.

Earlier in the day, a Facebook page supporting the Bundy family said some people were having difficulty using their cell phones. The tweet asked supporters to bring satellite phones if possible.

“Folks, there is a possibility the cell towers have been shut down. People are having trouble calling out, and I cannot get a hold of my people on the ground. I will update as soon as I know more,” the tweet said.

“If you are headed to #BundyRanch and can get satalite (sic) phones, they are very much needed,” the page said later.

Full article here

Related: Harry Reid, China, Behind Nevada Land Grab

Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-04-12 06:54:17

it seems whenever there is corruption in Nevada and often times in Utah, Reid is involved.

Comment by Skroodle
2014-04-12 07:26:47

LOL! Yes, the Mormons are behind all the fraud in Nevada.

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 12:31:42

Probably also the majority of the fraud victims.

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Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:24:17

Hillary Clinton ducks flying shoe (video)
Tradition of lobbing footwear at politicians upheld in Las Vegas.

Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-04-12 07:00:16

Clinton’s stance after the “attack” reminded me of something else but I just could not figure it out, then it occurred to last night. The way she is holding her hand is just like the wicked witch in the wizard of Oz when she says “I will get you my pretty”.

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 12:33:17

Wizard of Oz Witch
By Daniel Kurtzman

 
 
Comment by Skroodle
2014-04-12 07:30:32

In a bizarre lawsuit, Ernst said Holmes ‘enters my head like Dennis Quaid in ‘Innerspace’ and he zooms to my heart and plays with it and forces me to care for him.’ She said she wanted a restraining order to keep Holmes from invading her head.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/hillary-clinton-shoe-thrower-identified-article-1.1753512

 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:27:19

Drove through LA last night…KB Homes sure does have a big-@$$ HQ building!

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:29:07

March 31, 2014, 12:01 a.m. EDT
Spring Cleaning? Toss Homebuilders
Opinion: Investors aren’t buying the housing story
By Michael Kahn

New York (MarketWatch) — After a nice six-month run, the housing recovery story has soured, at least according to the stock market. Shares of homebuilding companies are in decline and look to have plenty more room to fall.

That deals a big blow to those looking for stronger housing propping up the fragile economic recovery. And even though there was good news on the earnings front from the likes of KB Home (KBH -1.55%) and Lennar (LEN -1.15%) in the middle of last month, the overall industry news is questionable. For example, existing-home sales in February were the slowest since July 2012. Builder confidence plunged that month, too.

 
Comment by azdude
2014-04-12 06:33:44

stocks and homes will make u a rich man too.

 
Comment by rms
2014-04-12 15:01:42

KB Homes sure does have a big-@$$ HQ building!

Off the 405 on Wilshire?

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 17:21:34

That’s the one…pretty hard to miss unless you are a blind man.

 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 06:34:47

“save the tortoise” my @ss

Thursday, 06 September 2012 10:09

Harry Reid Bolsters Son’s Interests in Chinese Solar Plant Deal

Rory Reid, the eldest son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), is the chief representative for a Chinese energy firm planning to build a $5-billion solar plant on public land in Laughlin, Nevada. ENN Energy Group, a clean-energy firm that manufactures a range of renewable-energy products, is seeking to construct its solar panel facility on a 9,000-acre stretch of land on a Clark County desert plot.

The controversy stems from the fact that Clark County officials voted to sell ENN the public land for $4.5 million, a figure startlingly below the $38.6-million appraisal. Conveniently, Sen. Reid has been one of ENN’s most prominent supporters, having helped mobilize the firm during a 2011 trip to China. Reid’s influence in the Chinese company has been so compelling that, according to Reuters, last month he tried to “pressure Nevada’s largest power company, NV Energy, to sign up as ENN’s first customer.”

Both Rory and his father have since denied having ever discussed the $5-billion deal. A spokeswoman for Sen. Reid, Kristen Orthman, insisted that he’d never deliberated over the project with his son. Rory Reid added, “I have never discussed the project with my father or his staff.”

Despite his assertions, critics say Rory Reid’s political ties in the deal seems rather explicit. In addition to being the son of a prominent U.S. senator, he also formerly chaired the Clark County commission. Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen, said Rory’s father is implicating himself in “an iffy ethical landscape” and should recuse himself from the solar project. “Is this just happening because … it benefits the Reid family, or did Harry Reid actually believe in this?” Holman queried.

To expedite the project, ENN recruited Nevada’s largest and most renowned law firm, Lionel Sawyer & Collins, where Rory Reid works. Moreover, Richard Bryan, who has an extensive history in the state’s political system — a former Nevada governor, attorney general, and U.S. senator — heads the Chinese energy firm.

As reported, the ENN deal ignited a heated controversy, mainly because separate appraisals valued the plot of land at $29.6 million and $38.6 million, tens of millions of dollars more than the selling price. However, the county commissioners drafted a series of conditions that must be met before the project can launch, including achievements in job creation and investment, and a provision stating that ENN must have a power company committed to purchasing energy from the new plant. The latter requirement has been the primary obstacle — then, Harry Reid stepped in.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/energy/item/12730-harry-reid-bolsters-son%E2%80%99s-interests-in-chinese-solar-plant-deal - 50k -

Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 07:01:36

Thu Apr 10, 2014 at 02:11 PM PDT.

Cliven Bundy: right-wing extremist domestic terrorist lawbreaker

by JGibsonFollow .

The far right-wing extremists and their enablers are defending a far-right domestic terrorist lawbreaker by the name of Cliven Bundy, who is threatening a “range war” against the federal Government.

SPLC’s Hatewatch Blog:

The core of the dispute is Cliven Bundy’s ongoing claim to the right to graze his cattle on a sensitive piece of southern Nevada’s Mojave Desert known as Gold Butte. Bundy’s family had grazed cattle in the area for generations, but in 1993 Cliven Bundy stopped paying his fees on the land, claiming that the United States government was not the legitimate landlord.

Nevada Progressive:

It’s unfair to all the rest of us to allow one rancher to let his cattle trample upon the habitat of an endangered species (the desert tortoise). It’s especially unfair to let that rancher let his cattle run rampant and ruin land that belongs to all of us. And it’s particularly unfair to let this one rancher let his cattle run rampant when he’s refused to pay the fee that all area ranchers must pay to use that public land. (After all, the BLM has to maintain this land for everyone.)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/10/1291105/-Cliven-Bundy-right-wing-extremist-domestic-terrorist-lawbreaker - 121k -

Comment by LolaLOL
2014-04-12 07:20:54

Where are the cop haters on this one? They have to support a right winger to hate the cops right?

Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 07:45:23

“Where are the cop haters on this one?”

“The BLM’s official reason for encircling the Bundy family with sniper teams and helicopters was to protect the endangered desert tortoise, which the agency has previously been killing in mass due to “budget constraints.”

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Comment by jose canusi
2014-04-12 09:04:42

Amy Lueders, the vicious BLM enforcer. Joining the ranks of such lady luminaries as Janet Reno, Janet Napolitano, Victoria Nuland, Kathleen Sebelius, Hillary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice, Susan Rice, Diane Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, et al. Feel free to add to the list.

Proving that the ladies can be just as, if not more, vicious than the men. Yessiree, that’s equality for you. And yet everyone moans about Margaret Thatcher, who, as far as I know, didn’t order the immolation of women and children.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 07:07:29

Is this the same land that’s involved in the Bundy cattle dispute?

Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 07:25:59

“Is this the same land that’s involved in the Bundy cattle dispute?”

“representing ENN, helped it locate a 9,000-acre (3,600-hectare) desert site that it is buying well below appraised value from Clark County, where Rory Reid formerly chaired the county commission.”

BLM attempted cover-up of Sen. Reid/Chinese gov’t takeover of ranch for solar farm

Kit Daniels
Infowars.com
April 11, 2014

The Bureau of Land Management, whose Director was Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) former senior adviser, has purged documents from its web site stating that the agency wants Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle off of the land his family has worked for over 140 years in order to make way for solar panel power stations.

The first segment of the document pulled by the feds from BLM.gov.

Deleted from BLM.gov but reposted for posterity by the Free Republic, the BLM document entitled “Cattle Trespass Impacts” directly states that Bundy’s cattle “impacts” solar development, more specifically the construction of “utility-scale solar power generation facilities” on “public lands.”

“Non-Governmental Organizations have expressed concern that the regional mitigation strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone utilizes Gold Butte as the location for offsite mitigation for impacts from solar development, and that those restoration activities are not durable with the presence of trespass cattle,” the document states.

The second segment of the document pulled by the feds from BLM.gov.

Another BLM report entitled Regional Mitigation Strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone (BLM Technical Note 444) reveals that Bundy’s land in question is within the “Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone and surrounding area” which is part of a broad U.S. Department of Energy program for “Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States” on land “managed” by BLM.

“In 2012, the BLM and the U.S. Department of Energy published the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States,” the report reads. “The Final Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement assessed the impact of utility-scale solar energy development on public lands in the six southwestern states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.”

“The Approved Resource Management Plan Amendments/Record of Decision (ROD) for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States implemented a comprehensive solar energy program for public lands in those states and incorporated land use allocations and programmatic and SEZ-specific design features into land use plans in the six-state study area.”

In 2012, the New American reported that Harry Reid’s son, Rory Reid, was the chief representative for a Chinese energy firm planning to build a $5-billion solar plant on public land in Laughlin, Nevada.

And journalist Marcus Stern with Reuters also reported that Sen. Reid was heavily involved in the deal as well.

“[Reid] and his oldest son, Rory, are both involved in an effort by a Chinese energy giant, ENN Energy Group, to build a $5 billion solar farm and panel manufacturing plant in the southern Nevada desert,” he wrote. “Reid has been one of the project’s most prominent advocates, helping recruit the company during a 2011 trip to China and applying his political muscle on behalf of the project in Nevada.”

“His son, a lawyer with a prominent Las Vegas firm that is representing ENN, helped it locate a 9,000-acre (3,600-hectare) desert site that it is buying well below appraised value from Clark County, where Rory Reid formerly chaired the county commission.”

Although these reports are in plain view, the mainstream media has so far ignored this link.

The BLM’s official reason for encircling the Bundy family with sniper teams and helicopters was to protect the endangered desert tortoise, which the agency has previously been killing in mass due to “budget constraints.”

“A tortoise isn’t the reason why BLM is harassing a 67 year-old rancher; they want his land,” journalist Dana Loesch wrote. “The tortoise wasn’t of concern when [U.S. Senator] Harry Reid worked with BLM to literally change the boundaries of the tortoise’s habitat to accommodate the development of his top donor, Harvey Whittemore.”

“Reid is accused of using the new BLM chief as a puppet to control Nevada land (already over 84% of which is owned by the federal government) and pay back special interests,” she added. “BLM has proven that they’ve a situational concern for the desert tortoise as they’ve had no problem waiving their rules concerning wind or solar power development. Clearly these developments have vastly affected a tortoise habitat more than a century-old, quasi-homesteading grazing area.”

Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 07:59:23

Google says that Laughlin and Bunkerville are 176 miles apart.

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Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 08:09:20

Another BLM report entitled “Regional Mitigation Strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone” (BLM Technical Note 444) reveals that Bundy’s land in question is within the “Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone and surrounding area” which is part of a broad U.S. Department of Energy program for “Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States” on land “managed” by BLM.

Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone and surrounding area (Click to enlarge.)

http://www.infowars.com/breaking-sen-harry-reid-behind-blm-land-grab-of-bundy-ranch/ - 71k -

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 08:19:09

Not that I doubt that a Senator’s son is cashing in on his daddy’s connections, that’s the oldest story in the book, but I don’t think the two disputes are over the same land.

 
Comment by reedalberger
2014-04-12 08:31:38

Progressive drones don’t care about corrupt progressives as long as they keep putting boots on the necks of free people.

 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 08:43:42

“but I don’t think the two disputes are over the same land.”

You may be right.

BLM fracking racket exposed! Armed siege and cattle theft from Bundy ranch really about fracking leases

Thursday, April 10, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles…)
Tags: BLM lies, fracking leases, Bundy ranch

(NaturalNews) The Bureau of Land Management says its 200-man armed siege of the Cliven Bundy ranch in Nevada is all about protecting an “endangered tortoise.” But a Natural News investigation has found that BLM is actually in the business of raking in millions of dollars by leasing Nevada lands to energy companies that engage in fracking operations.

This document from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology(1) shows significant exploratory drilling being conducted in precisely the same area where the Bundy family has been running cattle since the 1870’s. The “Gold Butte” area is indicated on the lower right corner of the document (see below), and it clearly shows numerous exploratory drilling operations have been conducted there.

What’s also clear is that oil has been found in nearby areas and possibly even within the Gold Butte area itself.

It is, of course, customary for the U.S. government to bring armed soldiers to an oil dispute. (Operation “Iraqi Freedom” for starters…) Heavily armed snipers, helicopters and militarized soldiers have never been invoked over tortoises. (Anyone who thinks this siege is about reptiles is kidding themselves.)

Here’s the map showing the oil exploration conducted on the land where Bundy runs his cattle (all the red crosshairs are oil and gas exploration drilling operations):

http://www.naturalnews.com/044670_BLM_lies_fracking_leases_Bundy_ranch.html - 83k -

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 10:30:53

Progressive drones don’t care about corrupt progressives as long as they keep putting boots on the necks of free people.

Thank goodness the Repubs passed the ACA that took the huge boot of “job lock” off the necks of free people.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Blackhawk
2014-04-12 06:37:32

True the Vote President: Cummings Emails ‘Tip of an Ugly Iceberg’ - Newsmax. Friday, 11 Apr 2014 05:05 PM

The ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee actively conspired to inappropriately target and silence tea party-affiliated groups, says Catherine Engelbrecht, president of True the Vote.

House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa released emails this week that suggest Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland Democrat, prompted the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the conservative organization as it was applying for nonprofit status, according to The Washington Examiner.

Emails, my friends, are a permanent record of what you’ve said and done, as the congressmen should know. If Rep Cummings is the tip of the iceberg, this story is going to lead us into the midterm elections. I think Lois Lerner is going to jail, unless she plea bargains for immunity. IMO she deserves jail time.

Comment by Neuromance
2014-04-12 11:00:38

I think Lois Lerner is going to jail, unless she plea bargains for immunity. IMO she deserves jail time.

The government and the MSM tell us things like “corporations are people” and “money is speech” and individuals giving tens of millions to candidates is not bribery or undue influencing. All of which are, of course, complete nonsense.

However, if the charges against Lerner are true, this is a real attack on free speech. And should be dealt with in the most vigorous terms possible.

 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:39:10

Would you buy a home at a 40% reduction to recent prices in your area?

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 06:40:10

Warning signs of trouble in China’s markets
By David Ignatius, Published: April 10, 2014

China’s financial markets seem to be signaling trouble, as a government crackdown on corruption and loose credit begins to bite and jittery local investors scramble for safety.

China remains an opaque country, and even the most knowledgeable experts say they aren’t sure how to read the tea leaves. But the warning signs are growing that, after decades of economic expansion and exploding wealth, China is moving toward the scary side of the perpetual seesaw between greed and fear that drives financial markets.

An early warning that China might be facing a liquidity squeeze came from Patrick Chovanec, chief strategist of Silvercrest Asset Management, at a conference I attended in Shanghai in February. In a subsequent report, he explained that “a steady stream of defaults has raised awareness of China’s mounting bad debt problems” and that “China’s existing growth model has reached its sell-by date.”

Signs of trouble abound: A report last week by the China Index Academy noted that real estate sales during the first quarter of this year in China’s four biggest cities were more than 40 percent below the levels of a year ago. To sell property and raise cash, developers are said to be cutting prices sharply in some smaller cities. According to Anne Stevenson-Yang, a Beijing economist who blogs for the Financial Times, 40 percent price cuts have been offered by developers in Changzhou and Qinhuangdao, and developers in Ningbo, Wuxi and Suzhou have offered discounts of up to 40 percent.

The slowdown in China’s super-hot property market appears to be part of a broader pattern of difficulty. In mid-March, a big developer in Zhejiang province defaulted on $600 million in loans, according to the Wall Street Journal; a few days later, a commercial bank in Jiangsu province was hit with a run by skittish depositors. Investors’ nerves were frayed partly because China had suffered its first modern bond default in early March, when a solar energy company in Shanghai failed to make scheduled payments.

Comment by azdude
2014-04-12 06:54:41

their central bank will print a bunch of cash to sustain home prices.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 06:58:58

That’d be great except for the fact that it drives demand to 20 year lows.

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Comment by azdude
2014-04-12 07:09:29

deflation is a bankers worst nightmare.

they need to keep all those loans performing.

when did it become the FED’s responsibility to manipulate asset prices?

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 07:21:10

Dunno but it means no new loans. Starve the beast.

 
 
Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-04-12 07:07:18

Actually they are turning to Reaganomics to get their economy going:

Global Times)
Updated: 2014-04-09 10:21
Counter:12

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced on Tuesday that it has decided to lower tax burdens for small firms in an attempt to boost economic growth and employment.

Small firms with an annual taxable income of less than 100,000 yuan ($16,100) can now enjoy a 50 percent reduction of their annual taxable incomes and a tax rate of 20 percent, the ministry said in a statement.

Currently the corporate income tax rate for other firms on the Chinese mainland is 25 percent.

The new policy will last from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2016.

Previously, the MOF had allowed small companies with an annual taxable income of no more than 60,000 yuan to have their income taxes halved from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2015.

The announcement came after a State Council meeting chaired by Premier Li -Ke-qiang on April 2, which said the 60,000 yuan upper limit would be further raised and the policy would be extended to the end of 2016.

Micro and small-sized firms have faced with increasing difficulties given the complicated domestic and external economic environment, so they need further policy support, the MOF said.

The new policy will not only lower their tax burdens, but also help bolster economic growth and boost employment, it noted.

Heavy tax burdens and financing difficulty are major challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, -China Everbright Bank and Beijing National Accounting Institute said in a report jointly released on March 26.

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Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-04-12 07:12:44

What is also interesting is China’s regular corporate tax rate is 25% while ours is 35%, remind me again which country is socialist.

 
Comment by jose canusi
2014-04-12 07:21:59

“remind me again which country is socialist.”

Make that Communist.

 
Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-04-12 07:29:59

Yes. I am off to the gym but I will leave you with a picture of the real life Barbie in a bikini. But Ken you need to buy her the house and car:

http://www.women24.com/Wellness/Body/Facts-about-Valeria-Lukyanova-20140408

 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 07:40:00

“remind me again which country is socialist.”

Here Are The Two Soviet Propaganda Posters Hanging In The White House Press Secretary’s Home

Hunter Walker
Apr. 11, 2014, 7:50 PM

Washingtonian MOM magazine’s spring issue has a profile of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney’s wife, ABC News contributor Claire Shipman, that features a picture taken inside their home. In the background of the photo, you can see two framed Soviet-era propaganda posters.

One of Carney’s posters is a version of this iconic design by artist Dmitry Moor with a soldier pointing his finger alongside text that says “Have YOU Enlisted?” in Russian:

The other poster features a female factory worker. According to this eBay seller, who is offering one for $1,660, the poster was printed on June 26, 1941, days after Russia began fighting the Axis powers in World War II. It encourages women take jobs vacated by men who have gone to fight. The woman in the poster is switching out a tag with a man’s name to one with hers and the text says: “Women! Learn production, replace workers who went to the front! The stronger the hinterland - the stronger the front!”

Carney and Shipman have a lot of history with Russia. They met in Moscow in the 1990s while he was writing for Time and she worked for CNN. Carney did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider Friday.

http://www.businessinsider.com/soviet-propaganda-posters-jay-carney-2014-4 - 123k -

 
Comment by The Zima Guy
2014-04-12 08:36:17

Here Are The Two Soviet Propaganda Posters Hanging In The White House Press Secretary’s Home

These are arts, FFS! I know the press secretary and most of the MSM jornos are lying sack of $hit and embarrassing to say the least. The small mindedness the right exudes day after day on issue like this is even more embarrassing.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2014-04-12 08:46:43

I agree, Zima Guy. I sometimes feel like I live in a country full of crazies. I am desperately hoping for a new political party called The Sane, or better yet, no political parties at all, so people can quit mindlessly defending their team.

 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 08:49:48

Kleptocracy

From Wikipedia

Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, (from Greek: κλέπτης - kleptēs, “thief”[1] and κράτος - kratos, “power, rule”,[2] hence “rule by thieves”) is a form of political and government corruption where the government exists to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population, often with pretense of honest service. This type of government corruption is often achieved by the embezzlement of state funds.

 
Comment by Hi-Z
2014-04-12 09:26:37

“The small mindedness the right exudes day after day on issue like this is even more embarrassing.”

I suppose the exact same small mindedness exuded by the left does not give you any problem as you think they have the correct viewpoints.

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 10:36:57

China’s regular corporate tax rate is 25% while ours is 35%

Real math is hard huh Adan?

GAO: U.S. corporations pay average effective tax rate of 12.6%

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/01/news/economy/corporate-tax-rate/

Large, profitable U.S. corporations paid an average effective federal tax rate of 12.6% in 2010, the Government Accountability Office said Monday.

The federal corporate tax rate stands at 35%, and jumps to 39.2% when state rates are taken into account. But thanks to things like tax credits, exemptions and offshore tax havens, the actual tax burden of American companies is much lower.

 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 12:19:41

“Government Accountability”

Now there’s an oxymoron.

 
Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-04-12 14:47:51

Than Obama was lying about this being a tax cut, wasn’t he?

http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/is-obamas-corporate-tax-plan-a-good-idea

You assume that the other countries do not have loopholes or tax credits which is pure B.S. Just like all your other posts.

 
Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-04-12 14:53:46

I guarantee corporate America would jump at a chance to pay 15% with no credits, or loopholes. Hey but why doesn’t Obama propose it instead of 28% if the liberal think tanks numbers are accurate?

 
Comment by albuquerquedan
2014-04-12 15:02:34

The numbers you quote just show how Obama supports the globalists. He doesn’t want to help businesses that are just in the country, he would rather keep a system that favors countries that have operations overseas. The American only countries are paying the high corporate rate and it puts them in a disadvantage with the most of the world’s companies. In fact, including American companies that have operations overseas.

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 15:24:11

You assume that the other countries do not have loopholes or tax credits

No I don’t. According to the OECD, USA’s taxes on corporate income as a percentage of GDP averaged 2.3% in 2010-2011 whereas the other 33 OECD countries averaged about 3%. USA is a low tax country compared to our competition. But it did not create jobs as the Trickle-Downers promised.

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/taxes-on-corporate-income_20758510-table5

 
Comment by MightyMike
2014-04-12 16:35:09

There you go. The OECD is an internation organization, like the UN. It’s more globalism.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 07:46:05

No. 40% off plus an end to the section 8, HUD, FHA, and the organizations that steal your property: U.S Forest “service,” BLM, EPA.

 
Comment by Jingle Male
2014-04-13 02:25:02

“….40% reduction?”

I already did right here at home. 60% reduction in 2008, 09, & 10.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-13 05:29:51

Yet you still overpaid by 250% for a depreciating asset.

Remember…. Reproduction costs (lot, labor, materials and profit) is $55/sq ft. A 20 year old used house is worth far less than that.

 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
 
Comment by Kristopher
2014-04-12 07:59:02

In my haste to post yesterday I put this in an older bits bucket accidentally, so here it is again. 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!

Comment by ann gogh
2014-04-12 08:21:59

I feel your pain. I live and rent in fire mt Oceanside. its nice but not trendy! I want del mar!

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 08:41:33

Popcorn has been the best investment of the decade.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 08:56:28

Considering price are grossly inflated and falling in San Diego area, sit tight, rent and count your cash.

Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 09:42:26

It is nice to have a big supply of cash. And savings bonds. And T-bills and medium term municipal bonds!

 
 
Comment by rms
2014-04-12 15:14:25

“…I’m 25 y/o with $100k in savings and zero debt with a very secure $100k+ career.”

If you drop your keys in front of a realty office you better kick ‘em down the street before bending over for them.

 
Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-04-12 15:31:58

The answer to all of your questions is right there in your very own post.

 
Comment by oxide
2014-04-12 17:23:52

With your large down payment, it is probably better to rent anyway. Most people put so little cash down that the lost opportunity cost from investing the down payment is negligible. But if you start with $100K up front, those compounded returns will far outstrip the advantage of a house, even at a low % return.

My suggestion is to pack that $100K in some sort of tax advantaged account for retirement, rent for $1500/month, start another account for a down payment and emergency fund, and enjoy life.

Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 20:50:15

Enjoying life and staying out of debt is good advice.

 
 
Comment by Jingle Male
2014-04-13 02:49:12

You are young and have plenty of time. Invest over time in mutual funds, dollar costing $10k/Mon. If you have a 401k, max it. You don’t say what you want to buy (condo, SFR?), but if you are single, you could more easily operate in the winter off season than most, and find a good location and quality offering. If you buy a $500k house, 20% down is the $100k. The payment is going to be $2,200 PITI. How does that compare to rent? Do you have friends with whom you can offer a room & share expenses and cut costs your first few years?

I cannot tell you if the market is going up or down in San Diego, but I do know it is a great place to live and rent will likely increase over time. Good luck. Remember, those who forecast the end of the world have never been correct.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-13 05:27:23

J._Fraud,

Falling housing prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels in “the end of the world”? Don’t be silly!

Falling housing prices is positively bullish and good for the economy.

 
 
 
Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 09:45:21

Why is it I can only stand Fox News Channel for ten minutes until they have some idiotic push of social conservatism or religion. And I could only stand CNN for ten minutes until they air some socialist propaganda?

Don’t these networks know there is a huge number of atheist capitalists in America?

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 10:02:06

And MSNBC is a bastion of truth? WTF. All three are the mecca for tens of millions of lemmings and the Free $hit Army. These three are the front line in the stupidification of America.

 
Comment by goon squad
2014-04-12 15:05:40

Live without the TeeVee, Bill.

I get all of my “newz” online, with the volume muted.

Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 15:13:59

I watch TV maybe 6 hours every couple of weeks or so when I go home to Phoenix.

 
 
Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-04-12 15:28:32

Fox seems to cater the 15%-tards on the far right while MSNBC caters to the 15%-tards on the far left.

I’ve oft thought that CNN was fairly balanced but it seems they’ve drifted left the past 5 or so years. That said, I think the country in general has drifted that way as well so perhaps it’s a reaction to that.

 
Comment by Lemming with an innertube
2014-04-12 16:06:33

Amen to that brother! My husband is a great guy, but he watches fox news and it drives me crazy! I have coined the term “selective indignation” to describe both fox and msnbc. You’re right Bill (pardon the pun), there’s no media outlet for a conservative atheist!

 
 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 09:54:24

Our fellow Americans in red states who refuse to expand MediCaid will die because of Republican politics. Now this is a fact. There is no debate about this fact. None. Some of you will bitch and moan or make wisecracks but none of it can alter the fact. You Repubs own it.

The perils of Florida’s refusal to expand Medicaid

http://orlandoweekly.com/news/the-perils-of-florida-s-refusal-to-expand-medicaid-1.1665144

Charlene Dill didn’t have to die.

…..She was selling vacuums on a commission basis for Rainbow Vacuums. On that day, in order to make enough money to survive, she made two last-minute appointments. At one of those appointments, in Kissimmee, she collapsed and died on a stranger’s floor.

Dill’s death was not unpredictable, nor was it unpreventable. She had a documented heart condition for which she took medication. But she also happened to be one of the people who fall within the gap created by the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed states to opt out of Medicaid expansion,

…….Congressman Alan Grayson, who received significant criticism for his “Die Quickly” placard, which he released in reaction to Republican obstruction of the ACA, replied more specifically to the case.

“Charlene(Dill’s) sad and unnecessary death (Florida did not expand Medicaid) illustrates what I have said all along: For the 1 million of Floridians who cannot afford health care coverage, the Republican health care plan is simply this: ‘Don’t get sick,’” Grayson says. “If you do get sick, and if you cannot afford coverage, the GOP has nothing for you but prayer. The Republicans have no answers, no alternatives, no ideas, no safety nets, no sympathy, no empathy and no compassion. Just these three words: ‘Don’t get sick.’ The GOP’s refusal to expand Medicaid, at no cost to Florida, has put the GOP’s appalling disregard for human life on full display. As far as they’re concerned, if you’re not a fetus, you’re on your own. The Republicans would literally rather watch people like Charlene die than give them the care that they need to stay healthy and alive. It’s disgusting and sadistic.”

Grayson entered Woolrich’s account of Dill’s death – which she published online – into the Congressional Record, even having a representative deliver the document at Dill’s funeral, which was, again, crowd-funded by Woolrich on GoFundMe.com. Woolrich raised $4,000 in less than a week to pay for the funeral.

“I memorialized Charlene’s life and death in the Congressional Record, because the Republicans want to pretend that none of this is happening. That Charlene didn’t die as a result of their callous neglect – that no Floridians will die as a result of their willful refusal to expand Medicaid at no cost,” Grayson says. “But I’m not going to let them forget. I’m not going to let them pretend. This is not a game; this is very real. This is life and death.”

Comment by The Zima Guy
Comment by The Zima Guy
2014-04-12 10:36:06

That is killing.

 
 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 10:34:30

The language of an abuser is pretty easy to cut through. Since the Party that you hack for had the power to pass anything they wanted, why didn’t they make direct provision for this poor creature?

Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 10:44:21

Since the Party that you hack for had the power to pass anything they wanted, why didn’t they make direct provision for this poor creature?

Um, they did. It’s called Medicaid expansion. Then the SCOTUS changed the law 2 years after the ACA was passed and allowed states to opt out. Only Repub states opted out, out of spite for Obama. Now, thousands of people in those red states will DIE because of Repub politics. Pure and simple. It is fact. Repub politics will kill thousands of our fellow Americans. There is no debate.

You did not know this and you attempt to make valid posts on the law that you don’t even know about? Is you head still “spinning”?

Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 11:05:37

So you say. The Dem’s law would have saved this poor woman and Obama inked in the changes to kill her, without their approval? Why did he do that? Sounds like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Do you hate Obama for this?

(Comments wont nest below this level)
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 11:33:01

Is you head still “spinning”?

The Dem’s law would have saved this poor woman and Obama inked in the changes to kill her, without their approval? Why did he do that?

That incoherence answers my question.

 
Comment by polly
2014-04-12 12:16:45

SCOTUS = Supreme Court, not the president

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 12:45:13

Thanks Polly for straightening out my acronyms.

So Rio, don’t you absolutely hate the Supreme Court for this? And Regan?

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 13:30:49

The Govt Monitor PolyOxide is on duty.

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 14:01:25

So Rio, don’t you absolutely hate the Supreme Court for this?

No. I hate the state GOPs that are not expanding Medicaid out of spite for Obama. Thousands will die every year because the GOP hates Obama.
You really know your stuff on the ACA. Not.

And Regan?

Who’s Regan?

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 15:47:13

Not like you never have a typo! I am sure you hate the Supreme Court for what they did the poor lady creature you post about. With her working three jobs, isn’t it a pretty good bet she was a Republican? Wouldn’t that mean you hated her too?

What’s up with your party shoving through unconstitutional laws? Couldn’t they have done something to save Miss Charlene? Don’t you hate them for that?

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 16:21:43

What’s up with your party shoving through unconstitutional laws?

What are you talking about? Most all of the ACA was deemed Constitutional by the SCOTUS and the part that was not was changed. Didn’t you get the memo? I’ve never been a registered Democrat and I’ve voted Republican for major offices in the past.

Couldn’t they have done something to save Miss Charlene?

They did. But the Repub governor of Florida did not expand Medicaid. Didn’t you get the memo?

Don’t you hate them for that?

No. I hate the state GOPs that are not expanding Medicaid out of spite for Obama. Didn’t you get the memo?

With her working three jobs, isn’t it a pretty good bet she was a Republican?

Who cares what party she was. She died probably because her Repub controlled state did not expand Medicaid.

Wouldn’t that mean you hated her too?

I have a lot of Republican friends. I don’t discuss politics much with them.

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 16:32:17

GOP: “awesome in its evilness”

The number of uninsured Americans is dropping much faster in states accepting Medicaid expansion than in states rejecting it.

What’s amazing about this wave of rejection is that it appears to be motivated by pure spite….

…The health economist Jonathan Gruber, one of the principal architects of health reform — and normally a very mild-mannered guy — recently summed it up: The Medicaid-rejection states “are willing to sacrifice billions of dollars of injections into their economy in order to punish poor people. It really is just almost awesome in its evilness.” Indeed.
NYT

 
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 16:43:02

Don’t you hate them for that?

We’re going to see a lot of “hate” as real people die in Red States. These people have friends and loved ones. These dying people have people who love them. There will be real horror stories firing up the Democratic base.
The GOP is morally bankrupt and overplayed their Obama hatred on this one.

Here’s a comment by one of the dead mother’s friends in a Florida paper:

“As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I was originally offended by the denial of medicaid expansion in Florida for all of the economic reasons. It is hard for me to keep listening to our Governor talk about jobs, jobs, jobs when you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that an influx of $51 Billion to your state will create jobs, and not just the minimum wage jobs he is so proud to take credit.

Then it made me mad that Florida taxpayers send their taxes to the federal government and our current Florida legislators refuse to let us get it back and are happy to send our tax dollars to other states to insure their working poor.

But now, I am furious. I am furious that someone I knew; someone I cared about as a decent, caring and hard-working Mother of three, (now Motherless children) died while at work in a stranger’s home, just so Will Weatherford could thump his chest and his cronies play their tea party terrorist politics with people’s lives.

These “fiscal conservatives” now have three motherless children to raise when all their Mother needed was health care that was being paid for with federal tax money and wasn’t even coming out of the state’s budget.

Now, I have another good friend and single mother of three with real and severe health problems that is being denied medicaid because she worked too much last year but got paid too little. I pray every night before I go to sleep that Kathleen will make it through the night and I’m going to make it my business to fight every day to replace those chest thumpers in Tallahassee with real leaders that care about the people that work and live in this state.”

 
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-04-12 17:23:12

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/Bxauqa7rJgI/hqdefault.jpg

What you get for counting on the government to take care of you. Man Rio, this Obamacare disaster is making you an angry panda!

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 10:38:20

Lola! Your owner let you out of your cage!

 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 12:13:25

Reid: ‘Why Would We Want To’ Help One Kid With Cancer?

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
October 2, 2013 2:31 pm

BASH: But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?

REID: Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. This is — to have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing maybe means you’re irresponsible and reckless –

http://freebeacon.com/politics/reid-why-would-we-want-to-help-one-kid-with-cancer/ - 46k -

 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 10:48:31

Breaking: BLM to Cease Bundy Ranch Operation

Infowars.com
April 12, 2014

The Sheriff of Clark County, Nevada, Douglas Gillespie, announced to tremendous applause Saturday that the Bureau of Land Management would cease their efforts targeting cattle rancher Cliven Bundy.

In an emotional response, Bundy told the Sheriff he had one hour to disarm the federal agency and to bring the arms to the platform where speeches were made this morning, and to take down their barricades.

Last Saturday, the BLM, with the aid of helicopters, low-flying aircraft and hired cowboys, began rounding up Bundy’s cattle, and forbade him from interfering with the operation, as Bundy announced he was prepared to weather a full-on assault.

The sheriff’s announcement coincided with a press release put out by the BLM today stating that they would back off due to safety issues.

From the director of the BLM, Neil Kornze:

“As we have said from the beginning of the gather to remove illegal cattle from federal land consistent with court orders, a safe and peaceful operation is our number one priority. After one week, we have made progress in enforcing two recent court orders to remove the trespass cattle from public lands that belong to all Americans.

“Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public.

“We ask that all parties in the area remain peaceful and law-abiding as the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service work to end the operation in an orderly manner.

Ranching has always been an important part of our nation’s heritage and continues throughout the West on public lands that belong to all Americans. This is a matter of fairness and equity, and we remain disappointed that Cliven Bundy continues to not comply with the same laws that 16,000 public lands ranchers do every year. After 20 years and multiple court orders to remove the trespass cattle, Mr. Bundy owes the American taxpayers in excess of $1 million. The BLM will continue to work to resolve the matter administratively and judicially.”

The BLM did not mention giving Bundy his cattle back, but he hadn’t asked for them, he asked for his freedom back and for the BLM to lay down their arms.

Check out our LIVE streaming coverage below.

This article was posted: Saturday, April 12, 2014 at 11:54 am

 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 12:40:20

Trailer Parks Lure Wall Street Investors Looking for Double-Wide Returns

By Anthony Effinger and Katherine Burton
Apr 10, 2014 12:01 AM ET

When Dan Weissman worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and, later, at a hedge fund, he didn’t have to worry about methamphetamine addicts chasing his employees with metal pipes. Or SWAT teams barging into his workplace looking for arsonists.

Both things have happened since he left Wall Street and bought five mobile home parks: four in Texas and one in Indiana. Yet he says he’s never been so relaxed in his life, Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its May issue.

Weissman, a University of Michigan economics graduate, attributes his newfound calm to the supply-demand equation in the trailer park industry. With more of the U.S. middle class sliding into poverty and many towns banning new trailer parks, enterprising owners are getting rich renting the concrete pads and surrounding dirt on which residents park their homes.

“The greatest part of the business is that we go to sleep at night not ever worrying about demand for our product,” Weissman, 34, says. “It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”

Better yet, Weissman says, the field isn’t packed with the hyper-driven geeks and MBAs who crowd technology and finance in the San Francisco Bay area, where he and David Shlachter, his business partner and brother-in-law, both live.

“You’ve got a lot of really smart people trying to come up with a better way to put a calendar on an iPhone,” says Shlachter, 32, who has a master’s degree in development economics from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “We’d rather sit at a different poker table, where none of those people dare to go because it doesn’t sound good at a cocktail party.”

Rougher Stuff

Weissman and Shlachter are part of a white-collar exodus to rougher industries, as investors seek yield amid chronically low rates or steady income after being cast out from finance or law. Steven Uster, a former investment banker at Zurich-based UBS AG, moved back to his native Toronto to start Zillidy Inc., an online lender that charges as much as 2.99 percent a month, or 35.9 percent a year, loaning against jewelry, watches and gold.

The owners of Jaffa Parks — Dan Weissman, left, a former Goldman Sachs trader, and David Shlachter, a tech entrepreneur — have four mobile home parks in Texas and one in Indiana. Photographer: Nolan Conway/Bloomberg Markets

In 2009, Ed Vasser left his job at a hedge fund and started investing his own capital in a wide range of down-and-dirty investments, including subsidized housing, storage units and tax liens. He’s in the midst of buying part of a truck wash.

“I like to say I turned in my Rolex for a pinky ring,” Vasser says.

Mobile-Home Economics

The economics of mobile homes are particularly alluring to folks who’ve made their living in the markets. Many counties in the U.S. have banned or discouraged construction of new trailer parks because the inhabitants are poor, pay little in taxes and drain resources. Yet demand is higher than ever, new investors in the parks say, because so many people never got back on their feet after the recession.

David Protiva, a former mortgage-backed-bond salesman at Kidder, Peabody & Co. and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc., now owns four trailer parks in Georgia. He’s noticed that until 2008, most people coming into his parks were moving up; they owned nothing before buying a trailer. Since 2009, half of his residents have come to him from conventional homes, moving down, he says.

Roughly 6 percent of Americans lived in mobile homes in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Until recently, billionaire Sam Zell and a few other investors who run real estate investment trusts had the market to themselves.

“We like the oligopoly nature of our business,” Zell said on a 2012 analyst conference call for his Chicago-based Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc., which owns 71,500 trailer sites.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 12:57:13

According to Zillow, San Diego County now has 8,918 homes for sale plus another 4,617 either in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure status. 14,603 homes are now listed in some category of inventory for San Diego County. This is more inventory than I have seen in many years!

Where have the Realtor®s been hiding all that shadow inventory since the big 2007-08 financial collapse?

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 13:34:27

Here is something odd: The vacant home next door still has a For Sale sign in the yard, yet the online listing sites all show it as “not on the market” but not sold, except Redfin shows the status as “Pending.” One site shows the home going on the market on April 1, then taken off the market a few days later.

What could this mean? Could it be a Realtor®’s idea of an April Fool’s joke?

Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-04-12 15:22:05

There’s a condo near me that’s been “Sale Pending” for 6 months and it’s not a short sale so I wonder what could be holding up it’s sale. :-)

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 17:29:06

I guess there is no law that says a sale can’t remain pending forever…kind of like owners in default indefinitely living in their zombie foreclosure homes.

At any rate, I seriously doubt the home is actually under contract. If it were, why wouldn’t the Realtor® take down the For Sale sign in the yard?

Besides that, the listing PPSF is something like 25% higher than the comps. Even my non-financially astute neighbor on the opposite side expressed shock and awe in casual conversation last night at the ridiculous degree of overpricing. Fat chance the investor will find a sucker willing to overpay by that much, given the swelling inventory of homes coming on the San Diego market this year.

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Comment by Ann Gogh
2014-04-12 17:39:23

Tell us when we can buy….

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 17:51:18

Your friends will let you know the right time to buy:

Wait until prices are clearly falling and all your friends say you would be crazy to buy.

 
Comment by rms
2014-04-12 22:39:09

“Tell us when we can buy…”

“Where there is blood on the streets, buy property” –Baron de Rothschild

 
 
Comment by Jingle Male
2014-04-13 03:02:49

Interesting….and Kristopher, posting above says he can find nothing to buy…….

 
 
Comment by SUGuy
 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 14:08:04

Feds Back Down In New Bundy Standoff, Agree to Release Cattle

Epic confrontation “like something out of a movie”

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones
Infowars.com
April 12, 2014

In an epic standoff that Infowars reporter David Knight described as being like “something out of a movie,” supporters of Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy advanced on a position held by BLM agents despite threats that they would be shot at, eventually forcing BLM feds to release 100 cattle that had been stolen from Bundy as part of a land grab dispute that threatened to escalate into a Waco-style confrontation.

Despite the fact that Bureau of Land Management officials agreed to cease their operation to seize Bundy’s cattle after a massive public backlash, Bundy demanded that Sheriff Douglas Gillespie disarm BLM officials and return his stolen cows.

When this didn’t happen, hundreds of Bundy supporters, including cowboys on horseback, descended on a nearby cattle pen outside of Mesquite where the seized cows were being held.

In a tense standoff, armed BLM feds, backed up by at least one SWAT team, threatened to shoot at Bundy supporters if they marched any closer to a line of vehicles.

Infowars reporter David Knight, who was at the head of the march, described the scene as like the moment from V For Vendetta when the military is forced to stand down.

Despite threats such as “one more step and you’re dead,” the protesters continued their slow march towards BLM agents as bullhorns blared.

Refusing to back down, the protesters marched straight past the armed men and towards the cattle pen.

Sheriff Gillespie eventually appeared to inform Bundy supporters that the BLM had finally caved and agreed to release the 100 cattle they had seized that were inside the pen.

After around 30 minutes, Bundy supporters saw the cattle being released about a mile away in the distance.

It cannot be overstated how much of a gargantuan victory this represents for the American people in their battle against big government tyranny.

“The people have the power when they unite,” Ammon Bundy told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “The war has just begun.”

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71
FOLLOW Paul Joseph Watson @ https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

This article was posted: Saturday, April 12, 2014 at 3:43 pm

Tags: government corruption

Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 15:17:40

This is encouraging. And we patriots will remember this when the next standoff against tyranny occurs. And it will reoccur.

Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2014-04-12 15:35:26

And we patriots will remember this when the next standoff against tyranny occurs. And it will reoccur.

I hope you “patriots” remember it in the RedStates that are killing people for not expanding Medicaid - letting people suffer and die because they hate Obama.

tyr·an·ny

noun \ˈtir-ə-nē\

: cruel and unfair treatment by people with power over others
merriam-webster

Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 16:55:16

Now they are killing the people who do not expand Medicaide? Outrageous! Don’t you hate them though?

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Comment by MightyMike
2014-04-12 18:32:00

What are getting at with all of this hate talk?

 
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-04-12 18:46:58

‘Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil…I hate the state GOPs that are not expanding Medicaid out of spite for Obama.’

http://static.tumblr.com/xjkj82s/JVWluze0g/pandaa.jpg

BTW, anything the Republicans are doing to oppose Obamacare they are doing because they want to be reelected.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-04-12 19:14:48

Lola… The Owned and Enraged Tranny

 
 
Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 16:56:19

Blather. I saw your screen name so I did not read your LIEberal lunacy.

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Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 19:02:18

Today was another reason which showed why we need the second amendment. We had several armed militia groups defend individual liberty against whimsical government. What a day to be American! If not for those armed patriots, the thugernment would have wiped out the Bundy business for sure. A government should not change a law based on whim like it did in the early 1990s to destroy generations-old grazing rights. The bigger picture Cliven Bundy was protesting about was the rule of men, which replaced rule of law. When rule of men replaces rule of law there is tyranny. The silly excuse for protecting a stupid tortoise has been used elsewhere in the desert to strip the rights of landowners. Enough is enough. Fortunately many people blogging are aware of the nature of the beast and know the battle today was won. But the war continues.

Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 20:07:38

“the war continues”

I saw a source that the Feds are regrouping tonight in hotels in Mesquite, NV. Best Western and Holiday Inn. Completely booked for a few days. I would not call this standoff over. Hopefully the militia will accumulate at least ten times more people in the meantime.

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Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 20:16:39

Jane Doe • 17 minutes ago

FYI….

This is from:
Doug Hagmann

At 1750 hours ET, I was contacted by my source within the Department of Homeland Security regarding the
current situation at the Bundy Ranch. To put it bluntly, the people are being hoodwinked into believing that the situation is being resolved. Itis not. It is a strategic de-escalation to fool the public.

This sourcestated that the retreat of the BLM agents and the release of the cattle
was actually crafted as a potential plan yesterday (Friday, 11 April 2014) based on the following:

1. A military assessment of satellite and drone surveillance imagery of the “patriot resistance.
Drones under the control of the U.S. military were in use, taking real-time photographic images of not just the activity at the ranch, but “identifying the protesters, any arms and any supplies they might have or be carrying. “Mission accomplished.”

2. Real-time communication intercepts between patriots on-site and their off-site support;

3. Active monitoring of internet traffic regarding the coverage of events at ranch;

4. The monitoring of real-time video from the scene.

This source stated that a response by the patriot movement was anticipated, although exceeded their expectations. Although this was a real operation, they also ran this as a test case for future government
operations once they saw the response. They were also actively managing the media, in some cases threatening to cut off White House access to anyone covering the event.

Despite this, the coverage by the alternative media began to create a public relations problem that was
not easily managed. Note the lack of acknowledgment by the White House regarding this event. They are intentionally framing it as a state issue, despite the fact that all federal response has been and continues
to be from the White House. There is a reason for this – a reason that has not been identified in any of the public reports to date. I will explain in further detail in a follow-up report on Sunday, after this source attends [redacted] to obtain more specific information about future federal operations. Regardless, according to this source, the
government will take back ‘their land’ as they must to fulfill international obligations. It was never about grazing rights or anythingother than (1) “securing clear title” to the land, and (2) further demonizing any patriotic resistance. It is my understanding, based on
the information from this source, that it is a critical task to create a situation that will also advance their agenda of gun control and confiscation.

A more detailed report will follow on Sunday, 13
April 2014, with additional and much more specific information about
their inside plans and future operations.PLEASE MAKE THIS VIRAL!

Remember to check his site tomorrow for another update after his source has (I assume) some kind of a meeting. People …. we have a big bunch of trouble in the future. Dirty Harry thinks he is God and he wants the power and wealth he gets by lying and cheating his own people. NEVER drop your guard … this is the
beginning …..

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-04-12 20:44:38

Will these patriots be referred to in history books as “aborigines”?

 
Comment by phony scandals
2014-04-12 22:22:17

renee • 44 minutes ago

No troll is going to stop me by accusations in sharing the truth. Just like BLM wasn’t able to kick the Bundy’s off their land. The same blood runs through many of our veins. I have been sharing information on the bigger reason why Walmart was listed as a donor on the environmental study that claimed Bundy’s cows needed to be removed from the land slated for a reserve. That reserve was being established because of a deal BLM announced in February 2014. A deal that approved FIRST SOLAR, a company Walmart has controlling interest in as their largest shareholder, was going to build a solar plant in Nevada and California. Part of the deal was that a large reserve had to be built to mitigate the environmental impact these plants would have on native species. BLM also needed the Bundy’s cows off the land. According to Nevada Open Range laws, if Bundy’s cows were removed, Bundy’s rights would return to the state. His cows have to occupy the land in order for him to have legal standing to ownership of the rights. Bundy refused to remove his cows, so BLM did it by force. Once the cows were removed, the State of Nevada, and BLM could have claimed legal ownership of the rights. I do not doubt that Harry Reid and his son was also involved, especially since his buddy was just promoted to the head of BLM. There were probably all kinds of deals being made. Putting this information out there on Walmarts more direct interest in Bundy’s cows being removed doesn’t in any way take away from Harry Reid’s connection. They are all in bed with each other. There are just more in the bed that is being reported.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 14:39:14

How much longer will it be until Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are finally wound down and replaced by private market institutions which can do their jobs more efficiently without putting the taxpayer on the hook for future too-big-to-fail bailouts?

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 14:44:13

Oldfangled GSEs = FHLMC and FNMA

Newfangled GSE = FMIC

Why not just get the gubmint out of the mortgage business entirely? Other nations’ housing markets function better than ours without federal Leviathans to prop them up.

Name a single federal government household-level insurance scheme in the history of the U.S.A. that didn’t turn out to screw the taxpayer…just one, please!

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 14:45:51

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The ugly twins of finance
America’s huge mortgage-market distortions seem likely to endure
Apr 12th 2014 | From the print edition

YOU could argue that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two “government-sponsored enterprises” (GSEs) in the mortgage business which received the biggest bail-out of the financial crisis, have paid their debt to society. At any rate, the revenues they have generated for American taxpayers since the Treasury took charge of them in 2008 now exceed the $187 billion spent to rescue them. It might be a logical time for the government to stop underwriting Americans’ personal loans. Yet the thrust of the bill to reform their status that is gaining some momentum in Congress is the opposite. For an example of how a post-crash crutch becomes a permanent financial distortion, look no further.

Federal support for mortgages started as part of the New Deal, in 1934. The Federal National Mortgage Association, or “Fannie Mae”, was made private in 1968, and was joined by a twin, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, “Freddie Mac”, in 1970. They aimed to ease mortgage finance by buying loans from banks and pooling these into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) which could be sold to pension and mutual funds. They also held MBS directly, funded by issuing debt.

The GSEs’ business was risky, and it rested on implicit state support. A 1996 study valued this subsidy at $6.9 billion. As the GSEs grew, the estimates did too. A 2003 Federal Reserve paper put the subsidy between $119 billion and $164 billion. Around 50% of this went straight to shareholders. But the GSEs were seen to serve the politically popular goal of expanding access to housing, so they enjoyed lower tax rates and lighter regulation than other financial firms. Leverage magnified short-term profits: with equity ratios of just 3.5% their returns on equity hit 20%. Contented congressmen and shareholders ignored the warnings of conservative think-tanks about this cushy arrangement.

Under the Johnson-Crapo plan, Fannie and Freddie would be replaced by the Federal Mortgage Insurance Corporation (FMIC). Banks would use its securitisation services, and be charged a fee to reflect the FMIC’s costs. Strong rules would tamp down risk. For each $100 of mortgage lending securitised by the FMIC, the banks that issued the mortgages would have to hold $10 of capital. The winners would be investors in MBS. The FMIC would completely neutralise risk for them. In the event of widespread defaults, the lenders’ 10% capital would offer an initial buffer, with the FMIC backstopping the remaining 90%.

The plan is neatly packaged, but worrying. For one thing the transfer of ownership runs in the wrong direction: privately built plumbing is becoming public. Moreover, it is not clear that this utility is worth having: American home-ownership rates are decidedly mid-table (see chart). Borrowers are able to get 30-year fixed rates, but loans are not especially cheap. Studies show that unsubsidised mortgages are just a fraction dearer than the government-insured sort.

And whereas the FMIC’s benefits are debatable, the costs are not. Stripping all risk from markets removes investors’ incentive to check on the lenders they are buying bundles of loans from. It is true that those making the loans will have “skin in the game”. But shareholders have a poor record in constraining red-blooded CEOs. This is why most other countries are trying to get bondholders to provide more market oversight, not less.

For those who would like to see the government out of the mortgage industry, there is a chink of light. The Johnson-Crapo bill deliberately backs away from the full privatisation under consideration in the House of Representatives and attempted in the Senate three years ago. But it includes a requirement, eight years in, to asses whether the FMIC could be privatised. The problem is that history, and Washington’s enduring fondness for state-supported lending, suggest reasons will be found to keep it in government hands.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 18:11:10

The Economist
Essay
Financial Crises
The slumps that shaped modern finance

Finance is not merely prone to crises, it is shaped by them. Five historical crises show how aspects of today’s financial system originated—and offer lessons for today’s regulators

What is mankind’s greatest invention? Ask people this question and they are likely to pick familiar technologies such as printing or electricity. They are unlikely to suggest an innovation that is just as significant: the financial contract. Widely disliked and often considered grubby, it has nonetheless played an indispensable role in human development for at least 7,000 years.

Oct 1929

It was the blackest week in the darkest period of American finance. Regulators examined banks’ books, and more than 2,000 banks that closed that week never opened again. After this low, things started to improve. Nearly 11,000 banks had failed between 1929 and 1933, and the money supply dropped by over 30%. Unemployment, just 3.2% on the eve of the crisis, rose to more than 25%; it would not return to its previous lows until the early 1940s. It took more than 25 years for the Dow to reclaim its peak in 1929.

Reform was clearly needed. The first step was to de-risk the system. In the short term this was done through a massive injection of publicly supplied capital. The $1 billion boost—a third of the system’s existing equity—went to more than 6,000 of the remaining 14,000 banks. Future risks were to be neutralised by new legislation, the Glass-Steagall rules that separated stockmarket operations from more mundane lending and gave the Fed new powers to regulate banks whose customers used credit for investment.

A new government body was set up to deal with bank runs once and for all: the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC), established on January 1st 1934. By protecting $2,500 of deposits per customer it aimed to reduce the costs of bank failure. Limiting depositor losses would protect income, the money supply and buying power. And because depositors could trust the FDIC, they would not queue up at banks at the slightest financial wobble.

In a way, it worked brilliantly. Banks quickly started advertising the fact that they were FDIC insured, and customers came to see deposits as risk-free. For 70 years, bank runs became a thing of the past. Banks were able to reduce costly liquidity and equity buffers, which fell year on year. An inefficient system of self-insurance fell away, replaced by low-cost risk-sharing, with central banks and deposit insurance as the backstop.

Yet this was not at all what Hamilton had hoped for. He wanted a financial system that made government more stable, and banks and markets that supported public debt to allow infrastructure and military spending at low rates of interest. By 1934 the opposite system had been created: it was now the state’s job to ensure that the financial system was stable, rather than vice versa. By loading risk onto the taxpayer, the evolution of finance had created a distorting subsidy at the heart of capitalism.

The recent fate of the largest banks in America and Britain shows the true cost of these subsidies. In 2008 Citigroup and RBS Group were enormous, with combined assets of nearly $6 trillion, greater than the combined GDP of the world’s 150 smallest countries. Their capital buffers were tiny. When they ran out of capital, the bail-out ran to over $100 billion. The overall cost of the banking crisis is even greater—in the form of slower growth, higher debt and poorer employment prospects that may last decades in some countries.

But the bail-outs were not a mistake: letting banks of this size fail would have been even more costly. The problem is not what the state does, but that its hand is forced. Knowing that governments must bail out banks means parts of finance have become a one-way bet. Banks’ debt is a prime example. The IMF recently estimated that the world’s largest banks benefited from implicit government subsidies worth a total of $630 billion in the year 2011-12. This makes debt cheap, and promotes leverage. In America, meanwhile, there are proposals for the government to act as a backstop for the mortgage market, covering 90% of losses in a crisis. Again, this pins risk on the public purse. It is the same old pattern.

To solve this problem means putting risk back into the private sector. That will require tough choices. Removing the subsidies banks enjoy will make their debt more expensive, meaning equity holders will lose out on dividends and the cost of credit could rise. Cutting excessive deposit insurance means credulous investors who put their nest-eggs into dodgy banks could see big losses.

As regulators implement a new round of reforms in the wake of the latest crisis, they have an opportunity to reverse the trend towards ever-greater entrenchment of the state’s role in finance. But weaning the industry off government support will not be easy. As the stories of these crises show, hundreds of years of financial history have been pushing in the other direction.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 18:15:40

The Economist is calling out the U.S. Congress on the folly of the newfangled GSE insurance scheme.

Any chance they will hear the message?

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 18:16:46

The future of finance
Leviathan of last resort
State subsidies and guarantees are once again corroding the financial sector and creating new dangers
Apr 12th 2014 | From the print edition

EVER since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008 a common assumption has been that the crisis happened because the state surrendered control of finance to the market. The answer, it follows, must be more rules. The latest target is American housing, the source of the dodgy loans that brought down Lehman. Plans are afoot to set up a permanent public backstop to mortgage markets (see article), with the government insuring 90% of losses in a crisis. Which might be comforting, except for two things. First, it is hard to see how entrenching state support will prevent excessive risk-taking. And, second, whatever was wrong with the American housing market, it was not lack of government: far from a free market, it was one of the most regulated industries in the world, funded by taxpayer subsidies and with lending decisions taken by the state.

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 22:32:21

…whatever was wrong with the American housing market, it was not lack of government: far from a free market, it was one of the most regulated industries in the world, funded by taxpayer subsidies and with lending decisions taken by the state.”

Where is the gubmint’s propaganda brigade today? Normally one of them steps up to deny this kind of factual statement.

They must be putting on a bender this weekend…

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Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2014-04-12 14:56:51

test

Comment by goon squad
2014-04-12 16:27:47

Microphone check microphone checka — Days Efx

 
 
Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 17:25:30

Hey professor Bear, emerging market index has gone back up. I see you were quiet when this happened. Your wife hopefully is still invested. VEMAX yields above 2.5%. So while the last couple of years the charts have gone sideways, at least the dividend is better than cash. And reinvested, means to prepare for the next market cycle. I “threw away” $4,000 additional into VEMAX last year in summer when it was under $32. Then it went above $$35 and then below $33 when you were posting daily about EMs. Now that it’s above $34 I guess I missed your posts…

Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 17:48:22

I honestly don’t actively follow the EM stocks. The little bit of money my wife has parked in an EM fund has pretty much gone sideways over the time since she owned it. After whatever is currently playing out in China has ended, I may give EM stocks another look, but not before.

 
 
Comment by Ann Gogh
2014-04-12 17:43:00

Oh bill let’s compare ports!

Comment by Bill, just South of Irvine
2014-04-12 18:54:05

My PC has an HDMI port. Several USB ports, port for headphones…is that what you mean?

 
 
Comment by Ann Gogh
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 22:37:29

My computer can’t deal with that URL. But I will take a stab at posting the article you seem to be referencing.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 22:40:38

WND EXCLUSIVE
Stocks dive as Russia abandons U.S. dollar
Moscow accelerates move in retaliation for Obama sanctions
Published: 6 hours ago
Jerome R. Corsi

NEW YORK – The stock market dive Friday that brought the Dow Jones Industrial Average to near 16,000 and the Nasdaq to below 4,000 might reflect an accelerated move by Russia away from the petrodollar in retaliation for the Obama administration’s threatened economic sanctions over Russia’s takeover of Crimea.

Russia’s politically motivated attack on the petrodollar could trigger a major U.S. stock market collapse amid a global loss of confidence in the dollar caused by the Federal Reserve’s continuing policy of buying billions of dollars monthly in U.S. Treasury debt.

The Fed hopes to stimulate the economy by artificially keeping already depressed interest rates at zero.

With the Fed having limited options to address a panic caused by a bear market that could continue into next week, the risk of heavy selling of the U.S. dollar in international markets could raise prices in the increasingly import-dependent U.S. economy.

Hyperinflation could result, pushing the struggling economic recovery into a renewed economic recession.

On Friday, the third straight day of stock market losses, the Nasdaq plunged 54.37 points, or 1.3 percent, to 3,999.73. The Dow dropped 143.47 points, or 0.9 percent to 16,026.75, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 17.39 points, or 1 percent, to 1,815.69.

U.S.A. Today reported Friday that after the market selloff last week, investors remain jittery as the Nasdaq has dropped 3.1 percent, its worst plunge since November 2011, the S&P 500 has fallen 4 percent from its record high close of April 2 and is 1.8 percent lower for the year, while the Dow has retreated 3.3 percent from its Dec. 31 record close of 16,576.66.

Economist Peter Koenig, a former staff member of the World Bank, warned last week Russia is in the process of abandoning the “petro-dollar” as the trading unit for oil and gas transactions, with Russian hydrocarbon trade estimated at approximately a trillion dollars per year.

“The main supporters of this plan are Sergey Glaziev, the economic aide of the Russian president and Igor Sechin, the CEO of Rosneft, the biggest Russian oil company and a close ally of Vladimir Putin,” noted Voice of Russia radio April 4. “Both have been very vocal in their quest to replace the dollar with the Russian ruble. Now, several top Russian officials are pushing the plan forward.”

On March 21, Reuters reported Russia and China were close to finalizing a “Holy Grail” deal in which the Russian state-owned gas firm Gazprom would pump 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to China starting in 2018. The gas would flow through the first pipeline between the world’s largest supplier of natural gas and the world’s largest user of natural gas, with the transactions to be valued in the Russian ruble, Chinese yuan or possibly in gold.

ZeroHedge.com, an economic blog that has been warning Russia’s war on the petrodollar could trigger a major collapse in U.S. stock markets, reported March 20 that Putin thanked China for standing by Russia in Crimea.

In addition to negotiating energy deals with China, Russia is also continuing to negotiate a deal with Iran to barter 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day for Russian goods. The deal would enable Iran to sell an additional $20 billion in crude oil without having to value the transactions in dollars.

Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., warned President Obama in a letter addressed to the White House that if Iran “moves forward with this effort to evade U.S. sanctions and violate the terms of oil relief provided for in the [Iranian interim nuclear deal reached in Geneva in November 2013], the United States should respond by re-instating the crude oil sanctions, rigorously enforcing significant reductions in global purchases of Iranian crude oil, and sanctioning any violations to the fullest extent of law.”

Era of dollar debasement

Economist John Williams, editor of the ShadowStats.com economic blog, has warned that the Federal Reserve’s policy of Quantitative Easing, or QE, committing the Fed to buy U.S. Treasury and agency-issued debt, has undermined worldwide confidence in the dollar.

As WND reported, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated in March that the Federal Reserve had not yet done enough to combat unemployment even after holding interest rates near zero for more than five years and engaging in a policy of Quantitative Easing that has pumped its balance sheet to $4.23 trillion.

Yellen’s remarks were widely interpreted by investors as indicating the Federal Reserve would continuing buying U.S. debt for the foreseeable future.

Under Yellen’s direction, the Fed has engaged in a policy of “tapering” the amount of QE, reducing by $10 billion a month the amount of U.S. debt the Fed purchases, with the aim of reducing the $85 billion a month amount of QE under former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to zero before the end of the year.

Williams warned in an April 2 commentary: “With the federal government and Federal Reserve locked into their respective systemic-destructive fiscal and monetary policies, a related, continuing massive loss of global and domestic confidence in the U.S. dollar, should lead to an outright dumping of the U.S. currency in the global markets, setting the initial stages of a hyperinflationary great depression.”

The timing of the hyperinflation onset by the end of 2014 remains in place, with the odds of that occurrence estimated at 90 percent,” he wrote.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 22:57:50

Russia drops the US Dollar for trade
by Peter Koenig
April 10, 2014

April, 2014 “ICH” – Russia has just dropped another bombshell, announcing not only the de-coupling of its trade from the dollar, but also that its hydrocarbon trade will in the future be carried out in rubles and local currencies of its trading partners – no longer in dollars – see Voice of Russia

Russia’s trade in hydrocarbons amounts to about a trillion dollars per year. Other countries, especially the BRICS and BRCIS-associates (BRICSA) may soon follow suit and join forces with Russia, abandoning the ‘petro-dollar’ as trading unit for oil and gas. This could amount to tens of trillions in loss for demand of petro-dollars per year (US GDP about 17 trillion dollars – December 2013) – leaving an important dent in the US economy would be an understatement.

Added to this is the declaration today by Russia’s Press TV – China will re-open the old Silk Road as a new trading route linking Germany, Russia and China, allowing to connect and develop new markets along the road, especially in Central Asia, where this new project will bring economic and political stability, and in Western China provinces,where “New Areas” of development will be created. The first one will be the Lanzhou New Area in China’s Northwestern Gansu Province, one of China’s poorest regions.

“During his visit to Duisburg, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a master stroke of economic diplomacy that runs directly counter to the Washington neo-conservative faction’s effort to bring a new confrontation between NATO and Russia.” (press TV, April 6, 2014)

“Using the role of Duisburg as the world’s largest inland harbor, an historic transportation hub of Europe and of Germany’s Ruhr steel industry center, he proposed that Germany and China cooperate on building a new “economic Silk Road” linking China and Europe. The implications for economic growth across Eurasia are staggering.”

Curiously, western media have so far been oblivious to both events. It seems like a desire to extending the falsehood of our western illusion and arrogance – as long as the silence will bear.

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-12 23:01:07

Pravda
Can Russia break dollar’s spine?
08.04.2014

Gas, oil and defense products for rubles. This is what Russian monopolists think to do on the world market. The initiative came from the head of VTB Bank, Andrei Kostin. According to him, the move to switch to payments in a different currency will strike a blow on the dollar system. The question is whether other market participants, in particular in the oil and gas field, are going to agree to such terms.

Russian bankers and big business, in light of recent threats from the West, may break the dollar peg of the world market. The initiative from the head of VTB looks too ambitious, but this is only an impression at first glance. There are Russian experts who believe that abandoning the dollar settlement in exports of gas and oil products, as well as the products of Russian defense enterprises, is quite simple. In this case, the omnipotent dollar system may incur losses. Thus, according to the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation of Russia, as of the results of 2013, the volume of deliveries of Russian military equipment amounted to 15.7 billion dollars. By early 2014, the order backlog reached $40 billion. That is, the demand on the products of the Russian defense industry has been growing. Yet, most payments are made in dollars, which means that the American system benefits from the Russian trade. Now that the U.S. introduces sanctions against Russia, wouldn’t it be logical for Russia to abandon the widespread support of the American national currency?

“I think that this is a kind of a good initiative that tomorrow nobody will be able to realize, - chief editor of Arms Export magazine, Andrei Frolov, shared his opinion with Pravda.Ru. - There are contracts with a long term of execution, and if contracts are executed in dollars, it is highly unlikely that they would agree to recalculate them in rubles. It would be possible, though, if Russian rubles were used in trade with the CIS countries. If this lesson is successful, it would then be possible to apply it to foreign countries.”

 
Comment by Whac-A-Bubble™
2014-04-13 00:18:55

I don’t know whether I have the Russian marauders to thank, but the $4.25/g I paid for gas today hurt my pocketbook!

 
 
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