The Housing Bubble

regarding your article below ‘the vanishing yokel’, it took obama, holder, reid, feinstein no time at all to pull out the kkk boogeyman yesterday. everybody hates the klan, they’re as unpopular as al qaeda. this alleged ‘former grand dragon’ fits the bill perfectly for what the statists need.

need to structure a narrative and guide the ‘real journalists’ reporting? just pull out the scary old white man with a gun™ meme, it works like a charm every time.

it works like a charm every time ??

because its the truth…

Someone is murdered in NYC more than once a day.

Treatable injuries from human bites human occur in NYC three times a day.

“because its the truth…”

Just more reported and focused on than the scary black, brown or yellow person with a gun. Or knife. Or whatever Those don’t fit the narrative.

Got Virginia Tech?

Got Knoxville Horror? (now THERE was a real buried story if ever there was one)

Got Detroit?

I can go on.

it took obama, holder, reid, feinstein no time at all to pull out the kkk boogeyman yesterday.

Well then that’s a major fail as Rush was saying today that it makes sense that he’s KKK and hates Jews because hating on Israel is what the “Democrat Party” is all about. And this guy is a Democrat and has run for office as a Democrat. Oh, and the KKK has always just been Democrats. Etc, etc.

Got Virginia Tech?

From what I can remember, Virginia Tech was covered extensively by the MSM.

The BLM manages land that the government controls as the owner of the land under the property clause of the constitution not as a sovereign as is the case with an air force base or even a national park which have been reserved and are governed by the Enclave clause of the constitution. The BLM land was suppose to be sold or given away to promote development and unlike land held under the Enclave clause state law applies unless it is in conflict with federal law. The rancher’s claim is that he perfected his rights to the land prior to the federal government ending the homestead program. If so, charging him fees to graze would be a violation of his fifth amendment rights since he does own the land. This is not a simple situation and just trying to paint him as a deadbeat is not fair.

Exactly. I don’t want this rancher using MY public lands for his own financial benefit without paying up.

The rancher’s claim is that he perfected his rights to the land prior to the federal government ending the homestead program.

Actually, his ancestors perfected their claim. It is very much like the IRS going after the children of people that received Social Security if you are fair about it.

Frankly, I feel the BLM should send a couple Apache attack helicopters in to shoot up the herd that is trespassing and that would be that.

The coyotes and buzzards would love that.

He admits that he owes the government $300,000. Why would he owe anything if it was his land?

¨ his ancestors perfected their claim ¨

Do American Indians get to assert ancestral rights to land?

Do American Indians get to assert ancestral rights to land?

Actually, they did and they were paid for them but the amount was not adequate.

¨ but the amount was not adequate ¨

So where does that leave us? Can they claim their land back?

Yes, on reservations.

Yep, that knocks the Bundy Ranch off the front page and shifts it back to “the narrative”.

I heard on the radio today that none of the three people who were were actually Jewish. So the MSM would have to change that part of the story too.

Oh, okay. I sort of misunderstood. Cashed out equity via HELOC or refi does indeed pay azdude’s bills and your bills. At the bill-paying point, of course, it’s no longer equity.

Blinded by your empty purse again.

Imaginary equity converted to debt. A caricature of the plague of debt donkeys that are dragging our country down the drain. The spendthrifts in DC are the generals in the war against the stability and prosperity of our nation. House debtors are the collaborators and the foot soldiers. They are the backbone of the largest financial mania in history.

Blue Skye: A caricature of the plague of debt donkeys that are dragging our country down the drain.

Out of 316 million people in the US, and about 130-some million housing units, it’s only a few million that really are debt-indifferent and who helped trigger the debt crisis (in addition to the architects of the debacle of course - politicians and their big donors on Wall Street).

However, our economic policy is bank-centric. It is set by central bankers, and the FIRE sector is the arguably the biggest donor to politicians - local, state and federal - over the past 25 years (simply sum the FIRE organizations on that list and it blows away the top individual contributor).

Hence, for a relatively small percentage of people, the central bank and the government quickly instituted the No Banker Left Behind Act, and here we are today.

If politicians can firehose money at the big donors, receive a portion of that money back (a kickback in less polite terms), and still stay in office, it’s a system they’ll continue until there’s some consequence to them.

If politicians can firehose money at the big donors, receive a portion of that money back (a kickback in less polite terms), and still stay in office, it’s a system they’ll continue until there’s some consequence to them.

A similar principle works to assure former Federal Reserve Chairs handsome speaking fees for appearing in bailed-out states.

Oxide, you go to the “Head” of the class.

Mortify the traditional economy while fortifying the underground economy.

Brilliant GovFedResCorp.

Taxes are part of the problem, not part of the solution ??

I disagree….Tax avoidance, both legal & illegal ARE the problem…Tell me again how Romney was able to develop a 100 mil tax deferred IRA

“No one has time to run a homestead now.”

A backyard garden is not a homestead. A working person does have time to tend a small garden. A dollar saved in the garden is $2 earned.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I assume that your grandmother didn’t have an office or lucky ducky job, so she had time to tend to the farming ??

Buzzer….Wrong assumption….Strike one…

Grandma worked full time at the packing plant…I think there were a couple months off in the winter…Children helped with the garden & fruit…She would do some chores after work and both days on weekends…

Skye, I’m responding to scdave’s grandmother growing “most of the vegetables that the family ate.” Sure, you can have fun with a small garden, but to grow ALL the food for a family, including the winter and spring months? Yes, I think that’s full-time. What’s the food budget for a family of four? $700/month, or $8400/year? A full-time McJob pays $15K. Even after taxes the McJob pays better than the small garden.

Let’s look at that math again. How much of that $700 per month is of the stuff that a kitchen garden produces? Dave said “most”, not “all” of the “veggies and fruit” not the entire menu. Exclude field crops like corn and wheat products and exclude ice cream and meat and sweets & etc. What percentage of the food budget is that? What is half of that?

An hour in the garden, especially with children, is nothing like an hour flipping burgers at the Greasy D!

Farming ranching and gardening co mingled and used interchangeably is a fools errand.

I just planted 3 acres worth of Cheeto seeds. Last years Cheeto harvest wasnt as bountiful as we expected. We ran out of Cheetos before Christmas and had to go commercial.

Now go fetch me a fresh bag of Cheetos. And be quick about it!

How many days to harvest on the Cheetos? Are you using heirloom seed or hybrid?

I hope you are staying away from planting any of that GM crap. The roundup is wiping out stands of milkweed and devastating the Monarch butterfly. Those little guys are down to 1.6 acre in their winter roost.

Heirloom(traditional) of course. My heart bleeds orange blood for Cheetos.

Did she fetch your sandwich yet?

No. I think she is overwhelmed. Going into math was rather abusive of me.

ALL the food for a family, including the winter and spring months ??

What part of this in my post did you miss ??

“Jar-ed everything for winter months”…

I ate fruit year round along with many pickled vegetables…

I missed the part in your post about meat and grains.

ISTM that weekends + chores in the evening + children helping adds up to a half-time job, and that was just for fruits and vegetables. If you add in raising meat or growing grain, that’s close to a full-time job. That doesn’t include money for equipment or supplies.

Skye talked about a “small garden.” A small garden will produce food for the summer months, but not enough for all the family for the whole year.

But still, a family today could buy the same food for less than a McJob would pay.

Refuse to understand if you must. Gardening with your children is super quality time. Gardening by one’s self is pretty high quality time too. If you teach your children some of life’s most basic skills, good chance they will not grow up to be a slave to borrow now pay later.

I tended a 100 ft x 100 foot garden with my four kids for almost 20 years. Had a 60+ hour per week job. Canned or froze 200 jars of veggies and fruit every year. I did up venison as well. I do not have the acres any more, I am a boat bum. I still do the canning. Peaches to die for in January.

Challenge to the Ox. Grow a tomato. Just one.

“This is the “fundamental transformation” that Obama promised us, you’ll see”

It has occurred to me that this is the reason for all this warmist hysteria. They’ve got, what, two years to institute the desired policies and laws and Obama’s their main chance. They’re not kidding when they say time is running out. Except it’s running out for Agenda 21.

“all this warmist hysteria”

To paraphrase Jack Nicholson in his role as the Joker, “this global ecosystem needs an enema.”

The 70 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2050 that the UN’s latest alarmist bleating of doom says is necessary to save the humanoids will never happen.

Happy Monday and enjoy the die-off, kidz

The 70 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2050 that the UN’s latest alarmist bleating of doom says is necessary to save the humanoids will never happen.

We do agree on that. However, the average UN member is much more interested in receiving hundreds of billions of dollars from the west than actually fighting climate change anyone.

“…”just in time” logistics/distribution model of modern capitalism…”

I call this the “not in time” model. Nobody carries inventory anymore, so whether you’re looking for a tractor part, laptop part, auto part, etc., if it’s something that’s not vanilla then you’re waiting a week. It’s a HORRIBLE model.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

Factory farms won. Family farms, and the yokels they supported, lost.

Reuters wrote that Reid’s son’s plan (two years ago) was to buy land from the county near Laughlin, NV, which is around 180 miles from Bundy. Is there any real evidence that the son had an interest in buying BLM land near Bunkerville?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-usa-china-reid-solar-idUSBRE87U06D20120831

Grow up. You’re a joke.

NOW!

Good help is hard to find.

Hey AmyCheetoFetcher….. Is your head flat enough to set a beer can on?

You think Ronald Reagan would not have advocated cutting the corporate tax rate to stay competitive?

That’s not relevant to what you wrote. It’s Reagan’s fault.

No Mighty mike is entirely relevant. Keeping your tax rates competitive is basic Reaganomics and he cannot be held responsible for actions taken after he did not have power and was in fact dead.

We know for a fact that Jack McCabe reads it… in fact I suspect HBB planted the idea of investors buying up disstressed housing cheap and shutting J6P out of the buyer market altogether.

“The Great Recession” phrase was heard on HBB long before it was on the news… but to be honest, that’s such an obvious phrase that a hundred people probably coined it independently.

There used to be a poster, Arroyogrande… that might have been Paul Farrell(?).

I am just responding to the people that try to falsely accuse me of predicting a Romney victory because after eight years on this blog and having an excellent record of predictions, they hope to discredit me.

It’s not important enough for you to respond. Pulling your chain is all it is.

“It’s not important enough for you to respond.”

How many HBB posters get paid by the post?

Just prove your claim scdave or admit you were wrong about what I said, it is not hard.

“center left, center or center right”

Exactly where the statist badge lickers want the electorate.

Safety in numbers, with the comforting warm smell of the herd.

‘The repub’s will continue to lose presidential elections until they jettison the neocon platform’

‘As a U.S. senator and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton often followed a neocon-style foreign policy, backing the Iraq War, teaming up with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on an Afghan War “surge,” and staking out an even more hawkish stance than Gates on Libya, Robert Parry reports.’

‘Victoria Nuland is a career Senior Officer of the United States Foreign Service and has worked for both Democratic and Republican administrations. During the Bill Clinton administration, Nuland was chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott before moving on to serve as deputy director for former Soviet Union affairs. During the George W. Bush administration, she served as the principal deputy foreign policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney and then as U.S. ambassador to NATO. During the Barack Obama administration, she was special envoy for Conventional Armed Forces in Europe before assuming the position of State Department spokesperson in summer 2011, which she held until February 2013.’

‘Nuland’s husband is historian Robert Kagan, Council on Foreign Relations member, and co-founders of the think-tank “Project for the New American Century” (PNAC). The PNAC called for, among other things, regime change in Iraq and a strategy for securing global control.’

Just prove your claim scdave ??

Easy…2012 election…A despised blackman with no birth certificate in the middle of a great recession wins re-election by a wide margin…

That says nothing about my prediction. It was no Reagan landslide. Obama is helped not hurt by being black, as the Rasmussen poll shows blacks will back him even when they are being financially destroyed by his policies.

The repub’s will continue to lose presidential elections until they jettison the neocon platform and move in the direction that most of the country is in….The middle…

BS. The dems had no problem winning while being all that.

Rasmussen poll shows blacks will back him ??

What was the blacks alternative, Romney ?? Kind of funny really…

Besides…You mis my whole point Adan…The black voters in this country do not decide elections…Just like the red-necks don’t…

That comment makes no sense, take the black vote away from Obama and he loses the election. Around 12% of the vote was black and he won by a few points.

‘What was the blacks alternative, Romney?’

I’m reminded of Uroboros. Romney, bahh. Obama, bahh.

Let’s tie together a few threads from this morning. I’ve always been fascinated by ancient Rome. There were always factions vying for control of the Empire. Why? To control or share in it’s immense power and wealth. The US government heads an Empire. Witness the invasion of Africa. But it’s not an Empire like Rome. It uses political/economic bodies like the WTO, the UN, the IMF and World Bank. And when necessary, it can send in armed forces. And boy, what armed forces! Imagine how much power you’d have if outspent the world combined on the military, for decades.

And currency. This Empire created $16 trillion and loaned it out around the world a few years ago. No law was passed, no vote in congress. It was a fluke that we even found out about it. Is it so hard to imagine that vast sums are created to enrich the inner circle in some way? Are we so naive to think this would be impossible?

Bernanke ran that little operation; now he strolls around the globe, talking for 15 minutes and collects hundreds of thousands. That’s chicken feed for the Empire, but it hints at how much money is to be had here.

While we work away at earning little pieces of paper that these guys create by the warehouse-full, what about the BLM. They “own” most of the west. And we get up every morning in part to pay for our little square of dirt to park our car and rest our head, while they sit on many millions of empty acres they rent out to cattle ranchers. What did they pay for this land? Who does it belong to? Why are we in Flagstaff paying 30%+ of our earnings to lease land when we are surrounded by empty government land in every direction?

Back to Uroboros. Envision a new type of Empire. This one can’t be defeated on a battlefield. It’s only foe is the people. And the people think that there is a real choice of how our government will work. That there are ideologies and philosophies involved. When in fact it’s just the Empire and who’s going to run it. And the people are only given two choices. They will always say, Red, Bahh! And Blue, Bahh! It’s unassailable, as long as the people don’t realize the false choices they’ve been presented. The head, or the tail.

Excellent post, Ben Jones.

What we are up against is human nature, and we cannot win. While the technologies have changed since the Roman Empire, the human psyche has not, and so we are destined to make the same mistakes over, and over, and over again until we no longer exist as a species.

We have been here before and we will be here again…

Around 12% of the vote was black and he won by a few points ?

And what percentage of those black votes Adan came from RED states which Obama lost ??

Does it really matter? Without black votes Obama would not have won any of the swing states so you cannot say that blacks do not elect a president. Because they vote
95%+ for one party they have a major impact on elections. However, the Obama administration just might push whites to vote more tribal.

Obama is helped not hurt by being black, as the Rasmussen poll shows blacks will back him even when they are being financially destroyed by his policies.

Do you not know that black voters have supported Democratic presidential candidates for decades?

Without black votes Obama would not have won any of the swing states so you cannot say that blacks do not elect a president.

A number of statements along these lines could be made. Without female votes Obama would have lost. Without white votes Romney might not have gotten any states at all.

You are the one that said that blacks do not elect anyone and of course they do. The difference in the other groups you talk about is that there are a significant number of women voters that vote Republican, it is only at the margin that they favor Democrats. There use to be a number of moderate Republicans that had a long history of supporting black causes however people like Senator Percy of Illinois were voted out because on election day blacks did not return that support.

The only good thing about Obama winning in 2008 is that McCain would have pushed through amnesty. The fact that Hispanics did not support McCain has convinced many Republicans that supporting amnesty really will not get them more Hispanic support and they are right.

When Arizona had a referendum on a law to start tightening down on illegal immigration in 2003, it passed with Hispanics overwhelmingly supporting it.

I didn’t say blacks do not elect anyone, that was someone else. You missed my main point. You seem to think that black voters support the president because he’s black. It’s quite well known that black voters prefer Democratic candidates regardless of the color of their skin.

“That says nothing about my prediction. It was no Reagan landslide. Obama is helped not hurt by being black, as the Rasmussen poll shows blacks will back him even when they are being financially destroyed by his policies.”

For that reason, I don’t understand why he didn’t run as a Republican?

Or is he actually a Republican president who ran as a Democrat to fool the electorate?

Its a huge advantage and boundless opportunities to execute and maintain control when everyone is using your product to transact.

as is always the case when dishonest people are involved.

Precisely.

Gold or silver, except briefly during the civil war which issued a parallel currency which was a fiat currency. When people talk about a greenback they are really making a reference to that currency which was back by nothing but its green ink.

So never in its history was the dollar backed (supposedly or otherwise) by gold? Pardon me.

a gold backed currency is still a fiat currency.

IMO the coins were hard currency.

Not according to the definition used by Wikipedia and most Fiat money is money that derives its value from government regulation or law. The term fiat currency is used when a fiat money is used as the main currency of the country. The term derives from the Latin fiat (”let it be done”, “it shall be”).[1]

Fiat money was first used in China about a thousand years ago. Fiat money has been used intermittently by various countries since, concurrently with currencies that were backed by metals, primarily silver or gold. After World War II, the Bretton Woods accord set up a world-wide system of currencies that was pegged to the US dollar, while the US dollar was itself pegged to gold. The Nixon Shock of 1971 ended the convertibility of the United States dollar to gold. Since then, all reserve currencies have been fiat currencies, including the U.S. dollar and the Euro.[2]
people:

IMO the coins were hard currency.

depends on the coins..

$20 gold eagles are fiat currency.

1 ounce gold krugerands are not fiat currency.

metal coins can be either.

Not according to the definition used by Wikipedia

the guy who wrote that doesn’t understand what money is or what currencies are.

TJ, I understand where you coming from. However, the important distinction is a currency that is backed by something and can be redeemed for that item (usually gold or silver) or one that is just backed by the government saying it is worth something. Currencies actually backed by something are enduring, currencies just backed by the governments word end in an inflationary episode that makes them worthless.

However, the important distinction is a currency that is backed by something and can be redeemed for that item (usually gold or silver) or one that is just backed by the government saying it is worth something.

Dan, you know you’re one of the guys i hate to be in an argument with because you tirelessly go after the socialists. but your above statement is wrong. let me ask you this.. what is the currency backing?

Currencies actually backed by something are enduring, currencies just backed by the governments word end in an inflationary episode that makes them worthless.

there are many types of currencies that have different properties.

what is the currency backing?

sorry, this may be confusing… this instead.. what is the gold or silver backing?

Then there is the whole grey area in between called fractional banking.

Then there is the whole grey area in between called fractional banking.

i don’t know what you you’re getting at Blue. can you go into more detail?

“So never in its history was the dollar backed (supposedly or otherwise) by gold?”

On one level it was never backed by gold. For one example, witness what happened in the 1930s when possessing gold was suddenly declared illegal. For a second one, look at what became of the dollar’s gold “peg” in the early 1970s.

One a second level, it was always backed by gold, and remains so. If you want to test this theory, head out to the nearest gold coin dealer in your area and ask them whether they will accept payment in dollars for a 1-oz gold coin. I’m guessing the answer is yes. This seems strange, given how gold bugs continually insist the dollar is worthless fiat.

The worth of the dollar. In US, a dollar was worth some fraction of an Oz of gold. FDR reset it at I believe from 1/20 to 1/35. I should actually check the numbers since that is from memory. But TJ, I do not want to get in a semantics type argument either since I think we are in general agreement here.

If you want to test this theory, head out to the nearest gold coin dealer in your area and ask them whether they will accept payment in dollars for a 1-oz gold coin. I’m guessing the answer is yes.

that’s merchandising, not backing.

In US, a dollar was worth some fraction of an Oz of gold.

when that was the case we had a paper currency that was NOT fiat.

But TJ, I do not want to get in a semantics type argument either since I think we are in general agreement here.

we can talk about it if you want. the semantics are important if you wish to have the deepest understanding.

“i don’t know what you you’re getting at Blue”

Nixon knew. Not enough gold to cover but a tiny fraction of the notes. People talk about going back to the gold standard. It was always fractional backing. That only works until people want the gold instead of the paper.

Not enough gold to cover but a tiny fraction of the notes.

not needed if it’s an honestly run fiat. all ‘backing’ is, is a dubious promise to pay something in gold or silver for the currency, so you don’t lose everything if the currency fails.

the swiss now back their currency in one fourth gold. as long as they continue their free market economy and let the market set their interest rates, they’ll never need to use the backing.

It was always fractional backing.

fractional banking can work without fiat a currency. for instance, a bearer certificate for a specified amount of gold or silver would do.

That only works until people want the gold instead of the paper.

the only way people won’t want paper instead of gold is if they no longer trust the paper. and we are headed in that direction.

Or tj, if they are French.

yes, france believed that gold was a much better value then. and it was. but US citizens weren’t even allowed to own gold back then. gold was price fixed when it should have been allowed to float, like any other commodity.

if people trust the paper, they’d much rather carry it than gold. i like owning gold, but wouldn’t want to carry more than an ounce or two around with me.

I was there tj, and I owned gold then too.

“FDR reset it at I believe from 1/20 to 1/35.”

Yep. Currently around 1/1327, with a highly-volatile denominator.

“…that’s merchandising, not backing.”

…I do not want to get in a semantics type argument either since I think we are in general disagreement here.

It seems like gold might be too heavy and bitcoin too light for either to be of much use at “go” time.

I suspect that the real go-time currency will be painkiller pills like ibuprofin or naproxin. Or morphine.

Bullets and can goods with be the currency during go time, but soon after when a society starts to reform, gold and silver will perform their natural roles as money.

I’m only going to let out this secret once. When the lights go out, hard copy porn. Save up now.

Like my discussion with TJ, I think we are on the same side on this one Ben, the command structure was put in place before Libya but Libyan weapons have flowed out to the areas of conflict to Islamic rebels that are not being targeted by U.S. drones:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31801.htm

not= now, as in “Islamic rebels that are now being”

This appeared after our discussion of this morning. Coincidence? You be the judge:

http://peakoil.com/publicpolicy/why-the-sudden-rush-into-africa-its-the-oil