Bits Bucket for April 27, 2014
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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The market is booming,
But where are the buyers?
Inventory is looming,
Realtors are liars.
It occurred to me as I was driving past a development yesterday that things change, sometimes very rapidly, to the point where you say, jeez, what were we even thinking. Like the colors of all those bathrooms and appliances from the 60s and 70s, pinks and avocados.
I had this thought driving by the development and seeing how closely all of the houses were built together. I think someday people will be looking back on those houses and asking, jeez what were we even thinking, wanting to buy something so packed in together.
Some people value their freetime instead spending their weekends bereft of tedious costly BS like cutting grass, planting pansies, etc.
mowing grass = bad
posting the same thing over and over on a blog = good
got it
There is nothing wrong with people wasting tons of fossil fuel, pumping greenhouse and noxious gases into the atmosphere, squandering valuable water, polluting local streams with fertilizer runoff and blowing their hard-earned money on the effort to maintain a beautiful carpet of green grass around their faux chateau, if they are into that sort of thing.
posting the truth about housing on a blog =Good
Lying to the public=You
+ 1 WAB, +1 HA
Sitting in the lodge at Loveland now taking a break from skiing a foot of freshies. Enjoy your lawn care lifestyle. The Monkees wrote a song about it called Pleasant Valley Sunday
Because homeowners can’t ever go skiing. Good point.
Because homedebtors don’t have two dimes to rub together.
Next.
ibbots = bitter loanowner
Loanowner. Good one!
Ibbots = Lawnowner.
LieFloater
“I have so much money left after “throwing money away on rent” every month that I don’t know where to throw it.”
Oh wait. I have a few ideas, like the new crampons I bought for my alpine/touring ski boots today. And our rafting trip on the Arkansas River next month.
This really sucks, I wish I could spend my weekends mowing the lawn or hanging out at Home Depot.
Life cycle of a vinyl-clad exurban development. First five years, almost all owned by the tenants, neighborhood kept up relatively well, a nice place to raise a family. Second five years, more renters, more density, more cars parked in the street, starts to skew toward more younger partiers mixed with some established families, a reasonable place to raise a family. Third five years, goes mostly rental, cars parked everywhere, much younger, parties spill out into streets and merge with other parties, for better of worse. Police are regularly called. Fourth five years, slum.
I’ve seen this happen in several developments my friends and coworkers were stupid enough to buy into.
Oddball,
All neighborhoods go to slum eventually.
Probably. But vinyl exurbs go faster than most. You can watch a century of wear and tear and demographic shift to slum happen in 10 to 20 years in vinylville exurbia. Its kind of fascinating, really, unless you own a house there.
As opposed to rural vinyl?
“All neighborhoods go to slum eventually.”
Tiny Agenda 21 Homes for the Homeless
If the Fed is allowed to continue its polices we may all soon be living in micro-homes made of garbage
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
April 26, 2014
Rabbit hutches in our impoverished future?
In addition to ePodments, rabbit hutch-like apartments of 200 square feet, the homeless, unemployed and poor may soon be relegated to “mini-homes,” tiny dwellings made of straw, casein, junkyard scrap and other cheap materials. (See the infographic below.)
MPHOnline wants to make “mini-home communities viable, cost-effective and sustainable” in response to the economic crisis. It cites as an example Allan Graham’s Community First Village in Austin, Texas.
While helping the poor is admirable, we have to ask: why is there an economic crisis? Why are millions of Americans unemployed and underemployed?
Sheltering folks is certainly required, but so is making sure a tiny international financial cartel does not have the power to command and destroy economies at will.
The current economic crisis was created by the Federal Reserve. It manufactured the housing bubble that burst and took down the economy. It has engineered no less than ten economic recessions since 1950. It admits to having unleashed the Great Depression.
When too big to fail casino banks and corporations go bust, the Federal Reserve bails them out. The Frank-Dodd audit of the Fed revealed an astounding $16,000,000,000,000.00 has been given in bailouts to banks and corporations throughout the world from December 2007 through June 2010 after the manufactured subprime housing bubble popped. The $16 trillion figure dwarfs both the national debt and the annual gross domestic product for the United States.
“From now on, depressions will be scientifically created,” warned Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. in 1913 when the Federal Reserve Act was passed in the dead of night on Christmas. “The financial system has been turned over to the Federal Reserve Board. That Board as ministers the finance system by authority of a purely profiteering group. The system is Private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people’s money.”
Homes are needed for the homeless and unemployed. But what is really needed is to deconstruct the Federal Reserve and return America to sound and honest money, not inflated fiat currency designed to benefit a small cabal of international bankers and impoverish everybody else.
If the Fed is allowed to continue its bust polices – we are now told the boom aspect is a thing of the past – we may all soon be living in micro-homes made of garbage recycled from our ancestors.
Community First Village: An Austin development with the homeless in mind
Jan Buchholz
Staff Writer-
Austin Business Journal
Feb 26, 2014, 4:52pm CST
Real estate stories aren’t usually known for their heart-warming qualities, but this one is. On Wednesday, the Austin chapter of the Urban Land Institute invited Alan Graham to talk about the creation of Community First Village, a real estate development in East Austin designed expressly for the homeless.
“It’s been a seven-year, arduous process,” said Graham, president and co-founder of the Mobile Loaves & Fishes ministry, which serves Austin’s homeless community. “Thank God for my former life in the real estate business.”
The Community First Village will include 60 repurposed recreational vehicles as well as a neighborhood of microhomes, which will provide a place for the homeless to regain their bearings. Each will pay rent, depending upon the income they can reasonably produce. There’s a community garden, an arts facility, a medical center and an income-producing community outreach center for showing movies and providing lodging for visitors. The community is gated, so it’s a safe retreat.
“It’s like a KOA master-planned community on steroids,” Graham said.
Comments
gt6303c (signed in using yahoo)
Alan Graham wants to build a homeless park/center in a developing community in east Austin, because no other Austin community wants it. Children won’t be allowed in, presumably for their safety. Yet, he has no problem placing it right next door to an elementary school. The only bus access the homeless in this park will have, will require them to cross this elementary school. Anyone who has actually spent time with the homeless will tell you that mental illness prevalent in the community. Some of the housing that will be provided will have no running plumbing, and will actually be teepees. If you can contemplate that in your neighborhood, try imagine what it will do to this developing East Austin community that has recently made great strides to rid itself of crime and stigma. But, I guess this might be of little concern to a guy like Alan Graham who lives in a $500k mansion in West Lake Hills. Loaves and Fishes? Sounds more like classic hypocrisy to me.
Reply · Like· March 25 at 3:15pm
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/real-estate/2014/02/community-first-village-an-austin-development-with.html?page=all - 109k -
I’ve come up with a few neighborhoods that haven’t gone to slums in 2000 years. A very few. Nicer, more secure areas in Rome, Athens, Jerusalem,and the like have probably always been relatively upscale, non-slum areas, for 2 millenia.
I’ve come up with a few neighborhoods that haven’t gone to slums in 2000 years.
Locusts arrive in Sidon and its suburbs
Affordable housing programs that require all communities, regardless of desirability or locational attributes, to allocate some minimum percentage of housing units to low-income owners, have a potential to plant the seeds of future slumdom.
There are no slums in those cities? Really?
Good thread odd fellow. I have seen the parents nabe go ghetto after ten years.
But I also have a relative who ran is white trash and is now homeless, evicted from her trailer. Her group is part of the ghetto culture.
A marked increase in effort, initiative, and reasoning ability takes over when OPM runs out.
There are neighborhoods in those cities that have never gone slum.
“Affordable housing programs that require all communities, regardless of desirability or locational attributes, to allocate some minimum percentage of housing units to low-income owners, have a potential to plant the seeds of future slumdom.”
Which, my friend, makes me ask why am I so stupid to even think of throwing a big chunk of my net worth away on a house, just to see the nabe go ghetto?
I would be smart to stay on strike until housing subsidies are abolished. But that could mean I will rent until I kick the bucket. No big deal for me.
There are no “neighborhoods” inside the Vatican or Dome of the Rock.
¨ no “neighborhoods” inside the Vatican or Dome of the Rock¨
There are neighborhoods in some of those areas, such as on some of the original seven hills of Rome. And arguably the Vatican is a neighborhood, a small town really with no slums in it ever. But yes, that could be a long term problem, keeping your house from being seized by the state or the oligarchs. They like the nice secure spots too. I was just playing a mind game, I agree that 99% of neighborhoods will go slum eventually. But some are reborn and become nice again. I’m not sure that cycle will occur in vinylville.
And it ended just as quickly as it began.
¨ I have seen the parents nabe go ghetto after ten years.¨
Yeah, twenty years for vinylville to go slum was probably generous. It really happens after the first wave of ¨owners¨, who are usually eager beaver newbies with kids who bought on some developer’s sign-and-drive deal, give way to younger people who are renting and want to party. Once the partying begins, the nabe gets progressively worse. Eventually the better quality, college kid partiers move on because it’s gotten too nasty even for them, and the nabe is left to meth heads and gang bangers. Ten years, really.
I’ve never seen a neighborhood become a slum in 20 short years. Parties merging with other parties in the streets? Are you sure? That is very odd, fellow. Are these minority hoods?
I’ve actually lived it. My friend bought a vinyl house in a new development when we were in college because his mother worked for the builder, he got some great deal supposedly, and his parents railroaded him into it. We were the young partiers in a neighborhood of newlyweds with babies, who parked in the garage and kept nice yards. We parked our cars all over the street, drank beer, jammed music, and had parties all the time. But we were law abiding college students for the most part. Within a few years, the newlyweds moved out and more younger and marginal people moved in, the parties got bigger, people were busted for dealing drugs, and within ten years my friend moved out because the place had gotten ghetto.
Yes, on weekends, parties would spill out of the houses and the guest would intermingle. Often they were friends who lived in nearby houses. We were white, as were most of the nabes, but it went from white newby quality families to white trash in a decade.
Oddfellow, “the ghettofier”.
I like to think we were a symptom, not the cause.
While Hermosa Beach is not really near the big colleges USC and UCLA, it does have a bunch of bars popular with the trust fund young hipsters there. Houses starting in upper $900s. I used to park in one of the few free parking areas if I was lucky, then walk down through the two and three story odd looking houses. Walls a foot apart in some cases, as I made my way down to the bars. I always thought I would not like drunks walking through my hood late at night as they returned to their cars. Buddy of mine thought it would not be a problem to him. Redondo Beach along the esplanade is a different flavor. No bars south of Avenue A. But still a bunch of LIEberals.
Why do they build houses so close together in developments that are surrounded by oceans of land? WHY? There are people living in 5,000 square foot houses, with literally 12″ of space between them and the house on the right, the house on the left, and the house behind them. And most of these 5,000 square foot occupants are dumb as rocks. I have met a few of them. They remind me of the Simpsons, mostly.
“Why do they build houses so close together in developments that are surrounded by oceans of land? WHY?”
Because in a mania, it is easy to dupe buyers into thinking that we have entered a new era, where today’s postage-stamp sized lots are just as valuable as yesteryear’s spacious expanses of grass.
I recall seeing nabes in Maricopa county like that. Driving through a new subdivision was a jaw dropping experience.
Kool-aid bowls keep coming and the FBs gulp it down fast.
“Why do they build houses so close together in developments that are surrounded by oceans of land? WHY?”
Because the bubble is in land prices, and when the builders overpay for land in grotesque fashion, they have to cram more and more houses on each parcel to make a profit.
“There are people living in 5,000 square foot houses, with literally 12″ of space between them and the house on the right, the house on the left, and the house behind them. And most of these 5,000 square foot occupants are dumb as rocks.”
Once the builders design the product, they have to actively “sell” it. So they spend large amounts of money influencing sheep to buy into their projects, making it seem like they are building what people want, rather than building what they have to in order to profit from such ridiculously overpriced dirt.
We are working on an entitlement in a city where they are pushing for higher density.
In other words, if you propose something with fewer homes on the same land, you don’t get your approval. They want to see more people crammed onto less land so the open space can be preserved.
It makes the environmental folks happy, which makes constituents happy, which gets the politicians re-elected.
Then don’t build inside city limits.
“the development…so packed in together.”
And miles and miles from anything.
“I think someday people will be looking back on those houses and asking, jeez what were we even thinking, wanting to buy something so packed in together.”
They were thinking in terms of price per square foot for the house but this thinking fell well short of thinking about the price per square foot for the lot that the house was sitting on.
If a selling point goes something like “They’re not making any more land” then the first consideration for someone who wants to buy a plot of land should be the price per square foot of the land he wants to buy.
But the price per square foot of the land is hardly mentioned; What is mentioned - and pushed - is the price per square foot of the house.
The phrase I’ve always been told (and firmly believe) “building a house is just the most efficient way to sell a piece of land”.
The difference between profitable real estate developments and unprofitable ones is the land cost.
It’s all in the land cost.
For once you’re correct.
Now the question is;
Why did you pay 20x the price for a piece of dirt?
TD Bank eases mortgage rules
Cherry Hill-based TD Bank, which has 45 Bergen County branches, is making it easier for first-time home buyers to qualify for financing by offering them loans that require little money down and no mortgage insurance, a company official said.
Last week, TD dropped the down payment requirement for its “Right Step” first-time home buyer program to 3 percent of the home’s value from 5 percent, and it stopped requiring mortgage insurance – which is paid by the borrower but protects the lender from default risk and can add more than $100 to a monthly payment.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/td-bank-eases-mortgage-rules-1.1002611#sthash.vQLvhMeN.dpuf
“Cherry Hill-based TD Bank, which has 45 Bergen County branches, is making it easier for first-time home buyers to qualify for financing by offering them loans that require little money down and no mortgage insurance, a company official said.”
I like it, I love it, I want some more of it.
1. First time home buyers = fresh meat.
2. First time home buyers = buyers for those who want to sell and move up.
Both 1 and 2 offer to Amy and I some big bucks. Amy gets her big bucks in one shot, I also get my big bucks in one shot but also I get some more of these big bucks - a LOT more of these big bucks - spread over many years - even for as long as forever if I can swing it.
Truly, you can’t lose with the stuff I use.
In addition to this, the first time home buyer will most likely be moving into an empty house, a house that needs to be furnished.
And because he doesn’t have any money to spend on furnishings (which is evident since he could barely squeak into buying the house) he will have to - (snort) - he will have to BORROW it. And what better place to borrow money from than from the very same bank that carries his mortgage?
This is a double gotcha: One gotcha gained by floating the loan to him so as to allow him to commit to buying the house, and a second gotcha for supplying him with credit so he can furnish the house that he just committed himself to buying.
Now all he has to do is pay back what he borrowed. And to do this he will somehow have to become an earner, and a large chunk of what he earns as an earner he will have to be forwarded to me.
IOW he will do the working and I will do the reaping.
People are smart, but some people just happen to be a bit smarter than others.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
peel me a cheeto
again ?
first-time home buyer program to 3 percent of the home’s value from 5 percent, and it stopped requiring mortgage insurance
3% down and 5%to 6% to resell means the house has to inflate over 9% just to break even if there are no extra fees at closing.
No, you saved millions on tax deductions also.
And you also accomplished the rite of passage, so you could move out of your mom’s basement.
Loose underwriting standards in U.S. mortgage lending is what led the world financial economy into a frozen state of panic in 2007-2008.
So why is it that some commentators are clapping their hands as lenders slide back down the same slippery slope again?
Case in point:
Mortgages may be easier to get than potential home buyers believe
Many potential buyers think they need near-perfect credit scores to get a home loan. But lenders may be loosening their tight underwriting standards.
By Kenneth R. Harney
April 27, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Are you on the home-buying sidelines this spring because you think you won’t be able to qualify for a mortgage? Do you know what sort of FICO credit scores are being accepted by lenders at the moment — they’re lower than they were a year ago — and whether yours could now be good enough?
You may be part of the surprisingly large crowd of folks who fear the home-loan unknown. A new national consumer survey found that 56% of potential purchasers of homes say they’re out of the market because they don’t want to face the possibility of rejection by lenders. Even 30% of current homeowners believe that they wouldn’t pass muster today.
…what’s the statistical reality on debt ratios, FICO score minimums and down payments? What are lenders approving?
The best answers come from a company called Ellie Mae, whose loan origination and tracking software is widely used by lenders. Every month Ellie Mae analyzes a huge sample of new mortgage originations nationwide and issues an overview report rich with the sort of detail that buyers sitting on the sidelines could use.
Here’s what it found in its report on March:
•Thirty-three percent of new loans last month had borrower FICO scores below 700. A year ago it was just 27%. (FICO scores max out at 850, which is considered excellent credit; applicants with scores under 700 present higher credit risks to lenders.) Federal Housing Administration-insured home purchase loans had an average FICO in March of 684. Conventional mortgages, those designed for purchase by investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, still have relatively high FICOs — they averaged 755 in March, but that was down slightly from 759 a year before. Lenders are doing far fewer refinancings this year, so they are loosening up on FICO minimums for purchasers.
•Debt ratios also are more generous than many sidelined potential borrowers probably imagine. The FHA’s average front-end (housing costs) ratio last month for purchase loans was 28%. In other words, if your projected housing and mortgage-related costs represent 28% of monthly income, you’re average. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans averaged 22% ratios on the front end. Back-end (total recurring debt) ratios for FHA averaged 41%. For Fannie and Freddie it was lower — 34%.
•Down payments can be small if that’s what you need. FHA’s average down payment last month for home purchases was 5%, but many borrowers put down just 3.5%. Fannie and Freddie allow 5% down as well, provided that you can pay mortgage insurance premiums. VA loans can go to zero down if your veterans status allows you to qualify. Department of Agriculture home buyer loans, which are designed for people who live in small towns, also allow for no down payments.
…
Its just like the auto industry. If no one’s buying, give ém easier credit. No money down! Sign and drive!
‘So why is it that some commentators are clapping their hands as lenders slide back down the same slippery slope again?’
There are houses everywhere waiting to be adopted. Please call now.
“There are houses everywhere waiting to be adopted. Please call now.”
+1 Operators are standing by!
People have a way of believing whatever is most convenient. I know a guy who believes that the housing bubble popped because Intel opened a plant in Phoenix. He also loosely connects the whole thing to every Democrat President since FDR, but gets a little turned around when you ask him to explain the connections. Something about the Diner’s Club a lack of random acts of violence coming from the United States. He recently bought a house, just a few short years after being foreclosed upon. He has a very shaky job, and he lives in a town with basically no jobs.
So he needs the loose credit. He has to believe that the loose credit is a good thing. The global financial panic must have been caused by something else. Mostly Intel and Democrats.
Is it WWIII yet?
I recall the fear of seeing a mushroom cloud or two on the horizon someday, heralding the beginning of the end. It was within the realm of non crazy possibilities when I was a kid.
Thanks to Ronald Reagan children in this country have not had to have this fear for many years.
You’re probably right, as I recall growing up with similar fears, but don’t believe this has been at the forefront of our kids’ minds…they are probably more worried about airplanes crashing into skyscrapers and such.
And if that is so, it is a huge win. Planes hitting buildings is small potatoes and localized. Global thermonuclear war might have even been worse than AGW.
Remember: “Shall we play a game?”
Nowadays people don’t have to waste their mental energy and money on things like building bomb shelters and deluding themselves into believing that hanging out a few feet underground will somehow save them from a nuclear holocaust.
LOL. I know a dr. In Bakersfield who purchased a house in the 80’s that had a bomb shelter in the back yard. He converted it into a great wine cellar.
I know a dr. In Bakersfield who purchased a house in the 80’s that had a bomb shelter in the back yard. He converted it into a great wine cellar.
My dad built our house in the 50’s with foundation bolts for a basement bomb shelter, which we never developed beyond that point. We moved out of state a few months after the Cuban Missile Crisis. I used to tell my little brother to never look up at any bright flashes that might suddenly appear in the sky.
April 7, 2014 - 6:39pm
Underground house used as Cold War hideaway sold for $1.15M
‘The property includes the original home built 26 feet underground in 1978 by Girard “Jerry” B. Henderson, who, planned to survive the end of the world there.’
Soon to be the site for the newest Austin Powers movie “Real Estate is Forever”.
+1 AB. Only someone like Aus Powers would fend off the zombie apocalypse in a hot tub eating BBQ. Watching himself in the mirrors on the ceiling.
Dilbert the prepper
“I have your home address.”
Seriously, I agree. And this makes the “War on Terror” such a big wast of our taxpayer money. Dirty nuke might happen somewhere in the USA and kill 10,000 Americans. But that should not mean we must end civil liberties and spend $trillions on NSA and defense.
IOW, I don’t fear a global thermo nuclear war anymore. The social conservatives might want one so that they can prove “Armagadden.”
If you ever read Heinlein’s “Friday,” it basically predicted corporations owning the world and having puppet governments. No global nuclear wars, but there was terror every now and then where thousands were killed by rival factions. In essence humanit survives and anticipates thousands will die here an there, but live with it!
there was terror every now and then where thousands were killed by rival factions. In essence humanit survives and anticipates thousands will die here an there, but live with it!
History of China in a nutshell for the last 2 millennia or so.
“Demand for Home Loans Plunges”
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304788404579522051733228402
Once again the media is a dollar short and a day late. Six months ago we announced here that housing demand is collapsing.
With 25 MILLION excess empty houses, housing demand at 19 year lows, you better get to slashing those prices if you ever want to offload your depreciating house.
“Six months ago we announced here that housing demand is collapsing.”
I’ve heard that the word “crater” is a good way to describe it.
I, too, have heard this term (”crater”) used to stir the imaginations of astute people and donkeys who read this blog. Even the blog mascot, quite coincidentally, is named Mz. Craterton. By what manner of magic did The Creation conspire toward the birth of this donkey, with this name, and at this time? IT IS FATE.
God loves the Housing Bubble Blog.
Even more remarkable, Mz. Craterton was born at roughly the same historical moment as bitcoin’s creation. These latter daze truly are remarkable times in which we live.
“Mortgage Lending Slows To 14 Year Lows”
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-home-loans-20140426,0,4288446.story
Why sign up for 30 years of debt slavery on a depreciating house when you can rent it for half the monthly cost?
Hey, LolaLOL, regarding your comments about payola, I agree completely. Nothing wrong with it at all. But the gummint got involved because money was changing hands at lower levels and nothing drives the gummint crazier than to see folks other than banksters making a buck and enjoying themselves while they’re doing it.
The early days of rock radio was like the Wild West. The DJs were sort of just doing their own thing, playing the music and making some money and having a blast. There was sort of a code of honor among the jocks. Sure, the’d take payola, but only if they liked the music to begin with. This was not to be ALLOWED!
So they had the payola hearings in Washington, and Alan Freed was defiant and as a result, the IRS seized all his property and he died at a relatively young age, a broken man. Dick Clark, on the other hand, proclaimed that he never took payola but rather invested in various music industry properties and that was the right way to make money. He ended up elevated to sainthood status.
The end result was that the industry was corporatized. Instead of the DJs doing their own programming, they brought in “program directors” who made the playlists and told the DJs what to play. This morphed into various “formats”, Top 40s, AOR, Easy Listening, etc. It pretty much sucked after that. It was no fun anymore.
That’s the whole point of corporatization: everything’s formatted and formulized and there are all these rules, etc. And the government and its cronies get their cut. And it’s no fun.
I saw the same thing happen with ebay. In the beginning, it was fun and very much a Wild West sort of mentality to selling on line. Yes, there was some fraud for sure, but lots of money was being made and people were enjoying themselves, both the buyers and sellers. And then it became a public corporation with all its rules and regulations and panty sniffing. It’s even worse now that it’s globalized.
From this, I have drawn the conclusion that if you can get in on the ground floor of a new business model, when it’s in the Wild West days, that’s where a schmoe can make some money in the industry. Do it fast, make a lot and get out, before the gummint and Wall Street mainstream everything.
It all seems so hilariously quaint in retrospect. Probably a few hundred or few thousand dollars changing hands and everyone gets all worked up. Seriously, congressional hearings?
Meanwhile I watched The Wolf of Wall Street last night and the guy in that movie only got 3 years and is still rich, I guess.
That was back in the mid 90s, since the housing bubble you can’t lose with the stuff they use.
“From this, I have drawn the conclusion that if you can get in on the ground floor of a new business model, when it’s in the Wild West days, that’s where a schmoe can make some money in the industry.”
I especially like it when these Wild West schmoes come to the bank wanting to borrow money so as to implement their ground floor ideas.
If the bank is to float a schmoe a loan then the banker is going to want to be allowed a peek at the schmoe’s business plan and if the banker likes the schmoe’s business plan then he probably will decide to float the schmoe a loan.
But if the banker LOVES the schmoe’s business plan then the banker just might decide to steal it and implement it himself.
I know this is impossible for many here on this message board to believe but some bankers just cannot be trusted.
“… float a schmoe a loan”
LOL!
Well, the FCC just ruled that it’s legal for companies to pay extra for first-in-line internet bandwidth. So payola was illegal back then (for the radio), but it’s legal now (for the internet). This is yet another step toward forming an Aristocracy in the United States.
Things have changed.
Message from FEMA Region IV
Everyone Must Sign In
Region IX signing in.
Signed.
http://www.skiloveland.com/themountain/photoslivecams/photos__live_cams.aspx
Rising interest rates are the essence of housing market recovery from the mania.
Unless you want to lose a lot of money, don’t buy until rates have reverted to historic norms.
Don’t trust REIC-funded MSM propaganda on this. In fact, if your dead tree paper publishes misleading articles suggesting that rising rates are impeding the housing market recovery, I would consider cancelling your subscription.
WSJ 2. SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2014. THE AGGREGATOR.
Rising Interest Rates Impede Housing Recovery.
The last paragraph in the article sums up the MSM propaganda perspective quite well:
Notice how there is no mention here of the insanely overvalued levels U.S. housing prices have reached, thanks to easy-money policies designed to reflate the bubble?
And don’t buy until housing subsidies are abolished.
In other words, just don’t ever buy.
Housing subsidies affect renters just as much, though.
But you can move to escape them. Just end the lease and use the online ratings for apartments, plus use other apartment for rent web sites to screen the places. You might have to fork over extra money per month rent to escape the unruly types, but it is worth it.
Not only will rising interest rates help the housing market recover, but higher interest returns on savings may help retirees who rely on them as an income source to avoid the prospect of purchasing their future meals in the pet food aisle.
Steadily increasing purchased of Series I bonds at the low fixed rates is okay for now. In a couple years the fixed rate might be 1% and that is when I will buy more than $4,000 worth a year.
San Bernardino, CA Housing Demand Craters 10% YoY; Collapses To 10-Year
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-San-Bernardino-home-value/r_20328/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D8%26r%3D20328%26el%3D0
Cleveland: Third Federal Savings says consumers still reluctant to buy homes in Northeast Ohio
Leading commentators say “D’oh!”
I love the realtoR shill who is using his supposed purchase from TWO YEARS ago as a reason for everyone to buy a house today. Probably because he needs a buyer for the flip to pan out.
too late.
Salinas, CA Housing Demand Nosedives 25% YoY; Plunges to 5 Year Lows
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Salinas-home-value/r_54288/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D5%26rt%3D8%26r%3D54288%252C35767%252C113865%252C27215%26el%3D0
The best part about houses with lot of square footage AND with big, empty closets is money has to be spent in order to fill up the empty spaces.
And money that needs to be spent that is not at hand has to be borrowed.
(chuckle)
And thanks to buying a house they can’t afford, the new owners will have to rely on credit card spending to pay for empty closet space filler.
Yes! And such a person will no doubt proudly place on his car a bumper sticker that proclaims:
“I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go”.
Which informs those of us who are in the know that he is an idiot.
At least people stopped hanging plastic testicles from their trucks. I’m pretty sure that was a homemoaner trend. Dumb as rocks, got a house, got a truck, got plastic testicles. I blame you, Mr. Banker, for that trend.
“I blame you, Mr. Banker, for that trend.”
I didn’t make them fools, I merely financed their expressions of foolishness.
Mr. Banker, don’t forget the empty yard. Have you seen the price of grass seed and annuals and small shrubs lately? Not to mention pavers and fencing and crappy lawn sculptures? (at least we don’t have to deal with those wooden-fat-ass-folk-art things from the late 80’s.)
An example of land held by the Feds:
‘The Prescott National Forest is seeking comments about its analysis of a plan to trade road easements with the owners of the huge Yavapai Ranch. Comments on the environmental assessment are due Monday.’
‘The 50,000-acre ranch about 30 miles north of Prescott is interspersed in a perfect checkerboard fashion with about 50,000 acres of the national forest, with each square comprising a section of land.’
‘The U.S. Congress approved the largest land exchange in Arizona history so the Ruskin family and Prescott Forest could consolidate their lands into larger blocks, but then Fred Ruskin and his family backed out of the deal because they wanted more control over the appraisal process.’
‘In late 2012, the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors approved Ruskin’s request for a zoning change for the right to build 12,500 homes and 96 acres of commercial development on his remote 50,000-acre ranch.’
‘The median home value in Prescott is $263,700. Prescott home values have gone up 8.3% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 1.3% within the next year. The median list price per square foot in Prescott is $162, which is higher than the Prescott Metro average of $144. The median price of homes currently listed in Prescott is $365,000 while the median price of homes that sold is $267,700.’
From this PDF:
http://www.workforce.az.gov/pubs/labor/prescottmsa10.pdf
Median wage, all occupations: $14.48
Bring on the 50 year mortgage.
“Bring on the 50 year mortgage.”
+1 And 12-yr loans for the four-door pickups. Giddy up, ‘Merica!
I am going to have to cut this middle school teacher some slack, she probably thought this was part of the new Common Core standards.
Middle school teacher gives student ‘full-contact’ lap dance in class for his birthday before telling him, ‘I love you baby’
By Daily Mail Reporter
Published: 13:14 EST, 25 April 2014
A 42-year-old middle school teacher is facing charges for giving one of her students a birthday lap dance during class.
Felicia A. Smith allegedly performed a ‘full-contact’ lap dance for the boy as he sat in a chair in the front of the classroom at Stovall Middle School in February.
Smith ended the dance by hugging the boy and saying, ‘I love you baby, happy birthday,’ according to court documents.
Court records show that Smith admitted to police that she gave the student a lap dance on his birthday after the class ‘convinced her to do it.’
KHOU reports that the student told police that at the beginning of his third-period class, Smith placed a chair in front of the room and music began playing.
The class began yelling for the boy to sit down, and when he did, Smith began dancing for the boy.
He said he became aroused as Smith fondled him and rubbed her hands and buttocks on his body and allowed him to slap her buttocks.
Smith told police she remembered ‘circling the student while he was sitting in the chair and losing her balance a few times which made the students laugh,’ reports KHOU.
The dance lasted almost four minutes and was reportedly captured on video.
Smith was charged with having an improper relationship with a student on Thursday.
‘The teacher was removed from the campus during the investigation and has not returned. The district takes this allegation seriously and is fully cooperating with prosecutors. The safety and security of our students will continue to be a top priority in Aldine ISD,’ the Aldine Independent School District said in a statement.
Bail has been set at $30,000.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2613326/Middle-school-teacher-gives-student-contact-lap-dance-class-telling-I-love-baby.html - -
I got it made,
Got it made,
Got it made,…
I’m hot for teacher…
“Got it made”
Hate to be a lyric nazi, but I am. “Got it bad”.
i checked and by golly I had it wrong all this time. So he was saying sounded like:
I got it bade got it bade got it bade…
I got it bade so bad - Okay “bade” and “bad” sound different. So I assumed he was saying “made”…
Yeah, he has that affectation. Don’t feel bade.
While the storm clouds gather far across the sea
Let us swear allegiance to a land they tell us is free
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair
Even if Harry Reid’s son wants you out of there
God bless America, Federally owned land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with a light from above
From the mountains, to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America
My land backed loan
Group:
Regrettably, Amy Hoax is unable to comment because she has been hospitalized “for a while”. She was found sitting on her couch, catatonic, and surrounded by Cheeto peels. After losing her morning spot on NPR as a repetitive real-estate shill, she had to take a min-wage job to pay the rent on her mom’s basement. Someone has to remove the peels before the Cheeto fruit is placed in the bag. She couldn’t handle the pain. Let’s all send good vibes for a speedy recovery.
She fell into a crater and hurt herself when fetching me a fresh bag of Cheetos.
I wish her a speedy recovery so that she can run to the fridge and get me a beer.
If she can make me a sandwich, I’ll get another one just like her. dime a dozen.
McDonalds is running a buy one get one free special on BigMacs. I’m gonna send Amy to fetch me a half dozen of them.
Here’s the gummint solution when you have the incompetent in charge of things they have no clue how to do: just don’t do it, and justify it in the name of humanitarian reasons or whatever.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2014/04/27/obama-jeh-johnson-deportation-immigration-abc-this-week/8281575/
Oh, and regarding my post on Homeland Security that hasn’t shown up yet.
If you have someone who is incompetent and has no clue what he or she is really responsible for on their post or assignment, you may take it to the bank that sooner or later, there will be some sort of huge screw-up on the job, or some disaster that takes place as a result of the person’s failure to know what their duties are or how to do the job or what they’re really supposed to be in charge of. And that incident will be followed by a pathetic bewilderment on the part of the person who was in charge, but didn’t really realize they were responsible.
That’s the problem with elevating people to a post they have no clue how to handle. Sometimes in the dim recesses of an equally dim mind they know they can’t handle it, so they hope and pray or even expect that one of their underlings will do the job for them. Sometimes the underling in question is resentful of this and just lets the whole shebang cave in.
Sometimes, not wanting to be sabotaged by the underling, the boss will do what he or she can to eliminate the duties their supposed to perform, while retaining the power, the pay and the title.
“their supposed to”
THEY’RE supposed to. Good grief. And I’m such a spelling Nazi.
Definition of ‘Peter Principle’
The 545 People – Charley Reese
August 25, 2011
On August 30, 2008, Reese wrote his final column, citing health reasons for his retirement. I caught the raw version some years back and thought it would be a good idea to reprint the man’s last words of wisdom.
Mr. Reese’s parting thoughts are extremely salient in our current climate of hyper-partisan rhetoric. You may have seen it as it became a chain e-mail. Its clear and easy to understand as it can be. Non-partisan, as both party’s claim the vain of glorious righteousness. He defines clearly who it is that in the final analysis, must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day.
As he said good-bye to his readers on a blog, he wrote: “My goal as a columnist has always been to stimulate and, if necessary, provoke people into thinking for themselves. If we fail to do that, a free society won’t last. I wish you all a fond farewell.”
His final column… By Charley Reese:
“Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They and they alone, have the power.
They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
What you do with this article now that you have read it… is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren’t so sad & true.
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won’t be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He’s good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he’s laid…
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
‘Taxes drove me
to my doom…’
When he’s gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.
This article was first published by the Orlando Sentinel Star newspaper.
Let’s all hope Charley is enjoying his retirement.
Notes:
Original short version written in 1985.
Past articles by Charley Reese on LewRockwell.com
“Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.” – Charley Reese
http://klsouth.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/the-545-people-responsible/ - 105k -
The 545 People – Charley Reese
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago & our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the heck happened? Can you spell ‘politicians’?
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 545 times!”
This article was first published by the Orlando Sentinel Star newspaper.
Let’s all hope Charley is enjoying his retirement.
http://klsouth.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/the-545-people-responsible/ - 105k -
Not one of those taxes existed 100 years ago?
Well what happened 100 years ago?
From Wikipedia
The Federal Reserve System (also known as the Federal Reserve, and informally as the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act,
I think you forgot the death tax.
“I think you forgot the death tax.”
In the post above I think he covered that at the end of the poem.
“When he’s gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.”
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Vote everyone in Congress out of office. Think about it. What happens next? They get replaced by other politicians, who this clown says are all a bunch of bums.
The article is a bunch of incoherent, content-free nonsense.
“The article is a bunch of incoherent, content-free nonsense.”
Touch a nerve there Mighty?
“One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.”
“I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.”
Great posts, jeff. I read that a few years ago, it was true then and truer now. He has named the correct parties.
They, and nobody else, are responsible.
As to the elitist responses, it’s just statism flapping its gums.
agree with jose. nice series of posts.
Touch a nerve there Mighty?
The nerve it touches is the logic nerve because it makes no sense.
It reminds of campaign ads that I see on television every couple of years. Someone running for Congress, usually a rich business owner, will brag about the fact that they’ve never been to Washington before. Vote for me! I’m not a politician! I’m a business person! Well, guess what, you big dummy. You’re running for office. You’re a politician now.
Vote everyone in Congress out of office.
not everyone. keep the teapartiers.
Not to mention that most of the taxes listed are state taxes or fees, which are controlled by state legislatures, which are NOT voted on by those 535 people. Not directly.
Is he suggesting we go back to the original Constitution, where the Senate was elected by the House? That’s even fewer people.
And in his vaunted 100 years ago, there wasn’t much of a middle class.
Is he suggesting we go back to the original Constitution, where the Senate was elected by the House?
we’d have had more of our republic if it would have stayed that way. and yes, don’t get rid of the electoral college either. those things were put there for a reason. to slow the creep of tyranny.
And in his vaunted 100 years ago, there wasn’t much of a middle class.
becoming prosperous takes time and effort. if we’d have stayed on that path a 100 years ago we’d be like the jetsons today. we’d have technology we can’t even imagine now.
i’m sure we’d have planetary defenses and the asteroids mapped behind the sun that we don’t see now. there would have been plenty of wealth to do those things. in that sense, socialism may have already doomed the whole planet.
Yeah, the question that occurs to me when right wingers list out all those taxes, is isn’t the total amount of tax that you pay the thing that matters? What if the IRS taxed your income and distributes some of it to state and local governments and there were no other taxes. If the total amount that you paid was the same, would that be better?
If the total amount that you paid was the same, would that be better?
no, it would be worse in large part because the taxers are further from their constituents. there are other reasons as well, but i’m going to watch some tv..
There’s an old Python skit where govt. officials are sitting around a table discussing a revenue problem. They need “something new to tax”. They agree that everything that can be taxed is already taxed. One of them (Terry Jones) suggests with a whisper, “thingy”, implying sex. No one knows what he means. Graham Chapman says, “Poo poos?!” The guy says no, Chapman says “thank god for that” and exits the room.
Eventually the guy suggesting taxing sex makes himself understood. John Cleese’s character says, deadpan, “Well, it would certainly make chartered accountancy a much more interesting job.”
Firearms applications surge, swamp registration system
Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
12:29 a.m. EDT April 25, 2014
WASHINGTON — A record surge in recent firearms production and transactions have swamped the federal government’s automated registration system for select weapons, including machine guns.
In a notice earlier this month to the firearms industry, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was temporarily suspending parts of its computerized system to shore up capacity in part to process the required registration and transfer of National Firearms Act covered weapons, which also include silencers, short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles and some explosive devices.
The application deluge tracks a record annual increase in overall firearm production to more than 8.5 million guns in 2012, the most recent year for which the ATF collects such data. In 2011, there were 6.5 million firearms produced.
The increase was aided by a spike in the manufacture of rifles and pistols, continuing a trend that has been highlighted by industry representatives for the past several years.
“We have seen dramatic, unprecedented … growth in the firearms and ammunition industry as the direct result of consumer demand for our products in the last five years,” the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry’s trade association, said on its website. “Not surprisingly, growth has placed added demand on the (ATF’s) Office of Enforcement Programs and Services.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/24/atf-guns-registration/8115273/ -
Robots will account many tasks in the years to come:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/242gea/47_of_all_jobs_will_be_automated_by_2034_and_no/?sort=old
California racking up huge debt for employees’ stored leave
By BayAreaObserver
Sun, 27 Apr 2014, 5:29am
California paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars last year alone to compensate departing and retiring state workers for vacation and other leave time saved during their careers, and one public employee topped the list with a $488,000 check.
Data show that 24,000 state employees are banking vacation time while exceeding a state cap on such mass accumulation of benefits, according to a 2013 report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office. That’s a 140 percent increase from 2005.
And the state’s bill is sure to grow, too. The most recent calculation, done in 2012, showed the state owing its employees $3.9 billion in unused leave pay. There are no estimates of what that unfunded liability is today.
The state’s cap on banked vacation leave for an employee in most departments is 640 hours, which is considered generous compared with the private sector and other state governments. But managers complain that the cap is hard to enforce because public employees aren’t penalized when they exceed the limit.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/State-racking-up-huge-debt-for-employees-stored-5432656.php#page-1
So, I was surfing CL and looking at sample real estate for sale in various Oil City locations. If I wanted to find a head hunter to line up possible candidates for real estate purchase, do such services exist? Is there a website that compiles Oil City potential houses and lets you review them? Currently, I am looking at southwestern Virginia for its nearness to the mountains and workable farm land w/ water and roads nearby. Looks like you could buy a house down there for a third of what one costs up here in New England. Now, for work, I am working on that, as I am sure Lucky Ducky jobs are few. In fact, they have to be, as real estate mirrors jobs.
That’s the deal that gets me wondering. The cart is before the horse when people investigate their fantasy “American a dream.” it always exists but where there are no jobs or no decent medical care.
Always comes back to the point of staying put in an urban area where you are familiar with and can get decent pay.
Like someone posted the other day. You work 30 or 40 years in a big city and then want to be a prepper. Then you think about it, when you are older and have to go to some specialist once a month, there are none in the boonies. You take a big fall and no one there to help you.
Might want to investigate large cities for retirees. Phoenix, Tampa, Dallas, etc. my former endocrinologist in L.A. told me Phoenix is a hub of good endocrinologists. I filed that away.
The oil city plan is flawed. My dad had that, then always came back to the idea of staying put where there is decent medical facilities.
‘The oil city plan is flawed. My dad had that, then always came back to the idea of staying put where there is decent medical facilities.’
Bill, we could theoretically make it another 30 years past our retirement age. Some ways it is scary. Almost a Schrodinger’s Cat problem. People strive to stay healthy but an accident can mess them up or maybe they die from a massive heart attack after a morning run. Or they fade slowly with accruing ailments until their 90’s. With those possibilities, planning calls. Foremost, we know we need crack healthcare. I can only guess what the next decades will produce in affordable care.
Are you in the farming biz? Dirt farming? Dairy?
‘Are you in the farming biz? Dirt farming? Dairy?’
No. At best, I’d want to do organic gardening to help with food in the pantry if I set up base in the agrarian zones.
That doesn’t require a “farm”. 20′x20′ plot of dirt in the suburbs gets you a garden.
‘20′x20′ plot of dirt in the suburbs gets you a garden.’
I’ll want a few of those square plots. Plus, actually the suburbs have nosy neighbors.
So you need 1200sq ft of dirt. Not a farm.
‘So you need 1200sq ft of dirt. Not a farm.’
Any realtor or bank dealt with me would feel like they were buying the farm from me. I couldn’t care less about what they’d say it is worth. I’m with Bundy.
Here’s one, and it is near the trail and it is cheapity cheap:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/112-Hidden-Meadow-Dr-Pearisburg-VA-24134/107894053_zpid/
Worthless housing… worthless worthless housing. It’s worth less and less with each passing day.
OK, I’m convinced. I admit it. I just want to hike anyway. Real estate is for rich people.
Farming operations are for profitable farmers.
worthless, worthless housing. buy today and you’ll be sorry you did.
Watching this YT video on the fly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmlX3fLQrEc
Learned about these guys via the video:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanjul_brothers#Intentions_in_Cuba_and_Reaction
Might have to get my sugar from Canada.
“Mr Yatsenyuk said the seizure of 13 international observers by pro-Kremlin rebels, who accuse them of being “NATO spies”, was “another proof and evidence that these so-called peaceful protesters with Russian ideas are terrorists”.
—————————————————————————
So let me get this straight, if they are Victoria Nuland’s U.S. - EU - UN backed protesters over throwing a governmnet to install “Yats” they are Freedom fighters and if they are Russian backed protesters looking to remove “Yats” they are terrorists with Russian ideas.
PS
———————————————————————————
Nuland: [Breaks in] I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience. He’s the… what he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know. I just think Klitsch going in… he’s going to be at that level working for Yatseniuk, it’s just not going to work.
Pyatt: Yeah, no, I think that’s right. OK. Good. Do you want us to set up a call with him as the next step?
Nuland: OK… one more wrinkle for you Geoff. [A click can be heard] I can’t remember if I told you this, or if I only told Washington this, that when I talked to Jeff Feltman [United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs] this morning, he had a new name for the UN guy Robert Serry did I write you that this morning?
Jonathan Marcus: An intriguing insight into the foreign policy process with work going on at a number of levels: Various officials attempting to marshal the Ukrainian opposition; efforts to get the UN to play an active role in bolstering a deal; and (as you can see below) the big guns waiting in the wings - US Vice-President Joe Biden clearly being lined up to give private words of encouragement at the appropriate moment.
Pyatt: Yeah I saw that.
Nuland: OK. He’s now gotten both Serry and [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, you know, F#ck the EU.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957 - 110k -
———————————————————————————-
Russian military aircraft crossed border ‘to provoke war’, PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk says
ABC Australia
April 27, 2014
Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has accused Russian military aircraft of crossing the country’s airspace “to provoke Ukraine to start a war”.
“Russian military aircraft … crossed and violated Ukrainian airspace seven times,” he told journalists at a briefing in Rome on Saturday, following a meeting with Pope Francis and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi.
“The only reason is to provoke Ukraine to start a war.”
Mr Yatsenyuk said the seizure of 13 international observers by pro-Kremlin rebels, who accuse them of being “NATO spies”, was “another proof and evidence that these so-called peaceful protesters with Russian ideas are terrorists”.
Full article here
This article was posted: Sunday, April 27, 2014 at 6:20 am
Tags: war
I’m very sketchy on this. Does this parallel in any way the Serbian war in the early 1990’s?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/04/sharing-economy-is-about-desperation.html