Bits Bucket for June 19, 2014
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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drumminj,
I see that Firefox wants to update to 30.0. Which as I recall JTE should support? But we’re getting down to the wire. I think this time you may as well just use 99 if you can make time to do it one more time.
Everyone who uses JTE, I’m just bringing it up because I think JTE will break after Firefox 30.0 unless it gets updated.
Hrm. Is the JTE even hosted somewhere anymore? I’ve not poked at that bag o’ bits in a while.
Folks still using it?
Folks still using it?
YES!
I had to use a non-JTE-compatible system for a couple of weeks, and it made my blog-reading painful…
testing preview
and one more test of italics, bold,
strikeout,, link, and a smiley
yes
Yes
Hrm. Is the JTE even hosted somewhere anymore? I’ve not poked at that bag o’ bits in a while.
The last version you created was good through 30.0 and I put a link to it in the Friends of the HBB area on FB so I could find it again. I think it will break at 31.0. So I don’t think we’re broken yet…but we’re getting close.
Looking at the code, it says it will work up to version 20. I recall a while back Firefox decided not to disable plugins by default, so it likely will just work.
I’ll try out bumping up the version # and see at some point - can’t do it this moment.
Just verified by installing 30.0 on my macbook that the extension still works. No need to do anything new/different.
I’ll probably update it anyhow, and will post in the ‘bucket if/when I do.
Be advised. Cash flow is negative at current grossly inflated asking prices of resale housing. This is why rental rates are half the monthly cost.
costs more to rent than buy here. Renters have no stake in the community. They build apartments for renters.
Thanks Amy. Sandwich x 2, NOW!
Over here I would say HA is spot on. Housing costs are more than double what you can pay in rent.
SoCal is a cluster because the good public schools are very limited, much more so than other states with similar income levels. (Contrast with plentiful good public schools in NJ, MA, CT, PA, MD, WA, OR, etc.)
People routinely pay 1.5 M+ so be near the better schools. This is just as true in the OC as in LA (although the 1.5 drops to 1-1.2)
You don’t know much about California schools I suppose. Or about the fact that after ten years in your professional field, it does not matter which college you graduated from. I used the same mathematics books and compiler theory books that were used at Ivy league schools. I worked the same problems. It’s all foolish snobbery to pay seven times more for just the name of a school when the reality is that your pay will not really be higher than mine after ten years as a salaried engineer.
Pasadena public schools are not good, especially in certain areas and those areas include the mansions on Millionaire’s row just behind Orange Grove Blvd. The elementary school there is rated like a 4 out of 10.
Pasadena real estate is way out of bounds with its schools.
“You don’t know much about California schools I suppose.”
Zactly. Pffffft to the know-it-all (nothing) jackwagon from the east coast.
@Bill — I’ve never actually said that the Ivies have a big advantage w/r/t teaching or curriculum. They have much better networking opportunities and brand recognition.
For many positions, it’s true — it doesn’t matter where you went to school. But in reality, for the top positions, it still plays a big role. It’s about networking, ties, and shared beliefs moreso than anything else. There will always be exceptions, people who come from nowhere.
I don’t know why you’re using yourself as an example. You’re a 50-something employee. A wage earner. You are to be applauded for saving prodigiously and attaining some career flexibility. But don’t fool yourself that you wouldn’t have had a big advantage moving up the chain and becoming part of the ownership and decision-making class if you had a different skill set and perhaps a degree from a top school.
At any rate, you mischaracterize my ideas about education. IMO, it has more to do with being “in the club” than the education. It also matters a lot who your parents are. All the things you talk about like they are life achievements? Many have those right out of the gate. Doesn’t make us better people by any means, it’s just life.
Yes, today’s CA public schools are shitty. Where have you been, under a rock? The areas with good schools are far fewer than for other states with similar income levels. Much of this is thanks to immigration and peculiarities about CA politics. Many formerly good schools are SPS nowadays. This is why people pay big money to get into the best zones possible, driving up SoCal prices. The alternative, a good private school (note: not a basic private school) ends up costing as much or more in the long run. Think 2 kids x 12 years of private school x $20k tuition per year = nearly $500k even before inflation. At that price, I’d just buy a house that is zoned for Bev Hills HS.
KnowNothing JackWagon. LOLZ!
Amy/$hithousePoet,
Rental rates are a fraction of the cost of buying at current asking prices irrespective of location.
bs look at your data once again
Its reality Amy/$hithousePoet. Get over it and get on with your life.
your reality is missing out on opportunities over and over again and then bitching for 5 years cause you made bad investment decisions.
Your grossly inflated mortgage on your depreciating shanty is double the rental rate.
Remember…. Housing is never an investment. Its a depreciating expense that drains your wallet.
how is renting these days?
The reality is that we are in the throes of a massive debt induced asset bubble and housing is one of the assets. No one on this site has any idea what is going to happen next. No one on this site has any idea when the next shoe will drop.
The current financial system is a zombie system which no longer provides the service of allocating capital. The current financial system is cannibalizing the market on which it depends. It is like the scenario when you run out of fire wood. You have two choices, go out and get more firewood or you start to burn the furniture and when you run out of furniture you burn the structure. The original purpose of the fire was to heat the house but now there is no house to heat.
Governments are buying their own debt. Corporations are buying their own stocks. Banks spend all their time buying and selling stocks based on insider information versus loaning money. Worker participation continues its long painful decline. The definition of GDP, inflation, unemployment, Dow, etc. changes more often than I change my socks. Every market is highly manipulated. Thank God the theory of supply and demand has been debunked because we would be really lost if where trying to predict price based on the debunked theory.
So is it a good time to buy? Sure, why not? Nobody knows what anything is worth anyways. So make it up just like our banking system. Mark your assets to your own fantasy and pretend your debt away. Better yet, when you are a little short on cash, just change the running balance in your check book. It’s all good!!!
‘No one on this site has any idea what is going to happen next. No one on this site has any idea when the next shoe will drop’
Well, you’d be a very rich person if you could. What do we know? That there’s a lot more shoes in the air than in 2008. Since then the central banks have created at least $30 trillions. Where did this money go? And since one can’t print wealth, where that money went will probably be what falls the most. I would expect these fresh bubble areas will see more damage in assets related to debt. And generally, these things occur as cascading events/defaults. You’re already seeing that in China.
What could kick it off? If I had to guess today, I’d say junk bonds or a panic in China/emerging markets. It’s hard to know much about China because of the lack of transparency. Similarly, we can’t rule out mortgage backed securities because they are still being issued in the US by the billions, but where are the Moody’s/Fitch and S&P reports on these? Why we don’t know much about what the GSE’s are doing. And how many is the Fed buying, or what year and grade? Again, no transparency.
If you believe housing and other areas are in a bubble, what would you expect before a peak? Complacency, exuberance, sharp price increases. You need the maximum number of greater fools involved. Ultimately, prices will fall the sharpest when lots of people stop paying back what they owe.
‘No one on this site has any idea what is going to happen next. No one on this site has any idea when the next shoe will drop’
Sure, no one has perfect insight—but I would note for the record that we got way more things right than wrong back in 2005/2006…
And since one can’t print wealth, where that money went will probably be what falls the most.
Brilliant.
So is it a good time to buy? Sure, why not? Nobody knows what anything is worth anyways.
Then do it. You publicly admit you don’t know what anything is worth.
In the meantime, we’ll continue building new SFR’s profitably for $50/sq ft.
What’s more important than knowing which shoes will drop next, of course, is knowing whether or not they’re the right size…
Are poor people being forced to pay higher prices so the rich can enjoy more stock market gains?
I never thought I was rich. And I enjoy my stock market gains. Thanks. Maybe I should go be cruising around Balboa Island on a yacht right now.
From yesterday:
—————-
Comment by FavelaTouro
2014-06-18 19:31:41
There you go again. No one here properly answered the question explaining the theory of why Repubs supposedly are for shamnesty.
—————-
Everyone is up in arms about a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants because “they vote.” But no one seems to talk about the millions of citizen kids of these undocumented immigrants who, in the next 5-10 years, will be of voting age themselves. Who are they going to vote for, the party that legalized mama or the party that deported mama? And ditto for all of the multicultural school friends of the anchor babies.
The Republicans have to thread needles. Their traditional base is anti-shamnesty, but they don’t have many years left and they are increasingly isolated in rural areas. Their business donor base likes the status quo. Their future voters will vote on the side of mama. There really is no win for Republicans here, so they are paralyzed enough that they can’t do much at all.
LOL the poor lower class doesn’t vote. And by Gen 3, many hispanics are conservative. And dont discount what shamnesty is going to do to the Dem coalition that includes labor unions.
It still doesn’t answer the question. Every time shamnesty gets brought up here, the typical LIEbs are quick to trot out and say that Repubs, business and the Chamber of Commerce are for it. No one seems to be able to offer any decent explanation for why that would be in light of the fact that legalization will drive up their labor costs for years to come.
Still, I agree that the CoC and garden party set of Rockefeller Repubs and Rinos do seem to be for it. I guess it is just lining their own pockets.
You might want to check the chamber of commerce’s position on amnesty. They are all for it, the sooner the better. As are many business leaders.
You might want to read his post, he already said the Chamber of Commerce was for it. Many of us are against the Chamber of Commerce because we know it is just a globalist organization pretending to represent the interests of mom and pop businesses.
¨Every time shamnesty gets brought up here, the typical LIEbs are quick to trot out and say that Repubs, business and the Chamber of Commerce are for it. No one seems to be able to offer any decent explanation for why that would be in light of the fact that legalization will drive up their labor costs for years to come.¨
How do you read that as saying that the chamber of commerce is in favor of amnesty? Hes saying the chamber of commerce is not in favor of amnesty, because it would drive up their labor costs. He is wrong, they are for amnesty. And your reading of his post is wrong too.
Ha, I just re-read his last sentence. It does negate everything he says in the rest of his post. Kind of an odd post, really. He implies the ¨LIEbs¨ are mistaken in believing the Coc and business leaders are in favor of amnesty, and then admits that they are actually correct.
People that rely on the government are going to vote for the Democrats and people that pay for the government are going to vote Republican with a few exceptions. Your whole question is based on the false premise that being for amnesty can somehow help Republicans gain more votes. If that really was true McCain would have won in 2008, Hispanics did not reward him for being for amnesty. There is no reason for Republicans to be for amnesty its bad for the country and the party. It is only good for businesses that want to keep the labor market in surplus and thus wages down.
‘Who are they going to vote for, the party that legalized mama or the party that deported mama? And ditto for all of the multicultural school friends of the anchor babies’
‘People that rely on the government are going to vote for the Democrats and people that pay for the government are going to vote Republican’
Oversimplification:
‘Among Hispanics, Obama’s approval rating has nosedived from 67 percent in January 2013, to 44 percent in the latest poll. Younger Americans, who have been hammered by ongoing high unemployment, have long been abandoning the president, with only 41 percent approving his job performance as of last December. Moreover many of them have “buyer’s remorse” with regard to casting their votes for him in 2012.’
Hispanics don’t like unemployment more than anyone else. Nor do they enjoy a bunch of freeloaders crashing the border to get on welfare. Come on, this isn’t the cable news you are playing to here.
Ben, to support your argument here is a fact.
The late Cesar Chavez hated illegals and called them wetbacks, a term the Mexicans here these days consider derogatory.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/cesar-chavez-wetbacks-immigrants-illegals_n_3008985.html
And of course when you are organizing unions you don’t want scabs taking over your lettuce picking profession.
I would think also that hikes in minimum wage would also discourage farmers from hiring and encourage more automation of harvesting. I grew up in the richest farm region on earth - Central California, and not for the harvesting equipment there would certainly be more farmworkers and higher food costs.
The late Cesar Chavez hated illegals and called them wetbacks, a term the Mexicans here these days consider derogatory.
Back then most “Mexicans” in places like California were multi-generational “natives”. Now most Mexicans are much closer to the old country. I really doubt Chavez and his contemporaries gave a rat’s tail about “El Tri” (Mexico’s soccer team), whereas today the El Tri can fill up the Rose Bowl or the LA Colliseum for a exhibition game.
The demographics have changed since then. I doubt the Chavez of the 1950’s would recognize today’s southern California.
Hey Bill what do you think of 30 dollar plus move in gold today? It actually cut into what I made on covered calls but I rewrote on some and made more money and have a higher strike price. so I am not complaining and still own the shares.
Gold at $1318. It makes sense that as interest rates go up fewer people like bonds. And many people are switching to cash and metals.
It makes sense that as interest rates go up fewer people like bonds.
As interest rates go up, I like bonds MORE—I just don’t want to be holding them WHILE the rates are going up…
Might Hispanic support for Obama be falling because he has so far failed to deliver a shamnesty?
FWIW, I’ve met very few Mexican-Americans who are against the shamnesty, often because while they are citizens or green card holders their parents and other relatives are here illegally.
Heck, I found out that I have a cousin who works as K-12 school counselor in California (she has a Psych degree from Mexico) and she’s illegal (don’t ask me how she pulled that off, I have no idea).
‘The temporary housing of hundreds of immigrant children at Fort Sill in southwestern Oklahoma and the influx of workers to take care of them could infuse millions of dollars into the local economy, city leaders said.
Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families, said in an email Wednesday that 524 children were being held at Fort Sill. The children are mostly teenagers from Central America who were detained after trying to enter the U.S. illegally. They are among the more than 47,000 unaccompanied minors taken into custody at the border since October. Immigrant children are also being housed at facilities in Texas and California. Fort Sill said earlier that it will house the children for up to four months, or as long as directed.’
“There are some federal staff overseeing the shelter’s operation, but almost all staff at the facility are contractors,” Wolfe said in the email.’
‘Locally, residents in Lawton and Fort Sill workers said they are surprised by the government’s plan. Shay Moss, a 30-year-old contract worker at Fort Sill who lives in Lawton, said she wasn’t even aware the government was housing the children on the Army base. She said she was surprised by the plan because people who work on the base usually have to have a security clearance.’
‘Rebekah Powers, a 33-year-old dental assistant who works at Fort Sill, said news about the plan has been “hush hush,” but that she supports what the federal government is doing.’
Why are these people not being deported? I don’t quite understand what’s going on, and why we’re “collecting” people but not sending them back to their countries of origin.
Why are these people not being deported?
Sounds like the PTB need new cheap labor.
You forgot to mention the corporate welfare queens that, for some reason, always seem to give money to Republicans. I wonder why that is?
It wasn’t my topic. But now that you mention it, I say throw them out too and cutoff their spigot. I am against public private partnerships. It is a bilking of the public usually.
Will you join me and now condemn the other welfare fraudsters? Thought mot.
Are you saying that everyone who gets welfare and food stamps is committing fraud?
It wasn’t my topic. But now that you mention it, I say throw them out too and cutoff their spigot
The interesting issue is the anger. Your response - “now that you mention it” - is quite typical. You post angry rants about poor people on your own initiative, but only get upset about corporate welfare if someone else bings it up. Do you know why that is?
Who was even talking about that? Yes, i am angry at people ruining our country and ripping it off. Go figure.
People that rely on the government are going to vote for the Democrats ??
You mean like Police & Military personnel ??
http://calpensions.com/2014/01/27/ventura-county-pension-reform-has-poster-child/
Backers of an initiative that would give new Ventura County employees a 401(k)-style plan, rather than a pension, sometimes mention a lawsuit filed last fall by a former sheriff.
Bob Brooks, whose salary as Ventura County sheriff was $227,600 a year when he retired in January 2011, received an annual pension of $283,000. He filed a suit last September seeking an additional pension of $75,000 under a supplemental plan.
If Brooks were in the California Public Employees Retirement System, his combined pension of $358,00 would be No. 2 on the current list of largest CalPERS pensions posted by a pension reform group.
It seems to me that both parties are for it, with the exception of the conservative/Tea Party type people. Or in other words, the liberal elite governmental folks, both parties, like amnesty. Considering these low wage workers would tend to become Democrats I’m baffled why the Republicans would be interested.
Strangely I don’t hear much from the unions, who must be against importing lower wage workers and have apparently been bought off regarding this subject. I’m not sure how.
The Republicans could have an opportunity to flip the unions, but they’re too busy fighting the conservative/Tea Party to realize they have the opportunity.
both parties are for it, with the exception of the conservative/Tea Party type people.
Both “parties” is not correct. The “leadership of both parties” is more correct. The party is the base and the base, even nonteaparty types are not for it.
Both “parties” is not correct. The “leadership of both parties” is more correct. The party is the base and the base, even nonteaparty types are not for it.
Yet at election time,”the base” marches into the voting booths and blindly votes for the candidate that has an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ next to his/her name. Events like Cantor getting his head handed to him, while refreshing, are still far too rare.
Yep. Congress’ approval rating is about 10% and their re=election rate is about 99%.
This whole measuring Congress’ approval is a bit of a scam and is used to argue that Obama’s ratings are not that low. When you ask about Congress Republicans rate the Democrats low in Congress and Democrats do the same when rating Republicans. It is no wonder that the overall total is so low.
Low is low. And Obama’s ratings are low. A lot of people were expecting cash and prizes and didn’t get them.
‘Their traditional base is anti-shamnesty, but they don’t have many years left and they are increasingly isolated in rural areas.’
Nice and snug and warm in that safe little cocoon of yours, there, huh? You really need to get out a little more, honey.
“Everyone is up in arms about a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants because “they vote.”
Having made that statement oxy, then tell me why the rank and file union member and leaders aren’t upset about these people taking away jobs. Do they really think they can unionize them into dues paying members. These people will make more money under the table and not be paying tax on most of their income. Just gotta love the do-gooders pushing things along.
I’m not so sure that illegals are taking away unionized jobs. Aren’t union jobs pretty skilled? Painting and plumbing arent’ the same. Private unions are so few anyway that I’m surprised they have any clout anymore.
My understanding is that unions are hoping to recruit the sons of Aztlan
The SEIU a strong supporter of Obama and Reid is filled with illegals.
“The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) told a congressional hearing Wednesday: “The Maliki government, candidly, has got to go if you want any reconciliation.”
Oh, boy, here we go again. Washington did this in Egypt, in Libya and of course already did it once in Iraq. Attempted it in Syria. How’d that all work out?
Filthington, the District of Insanity.
How America Is Bringing Peace and Democracy to the World
Eric Zuesse
Washington’s Blog
June 19, 2014
We brought peace and democracy to Iraq by our invading and occupying it in order to get rid of Al Qaeda and “Saddam’s WMD” (that war cost the U.S. $3 trillion):
And we brought peace and democracy to Ukraine by our overthrowing their corrupt but democratically elected pro-Russian President and installing a corrupt regime that on May 2nd massacred hundreds of civilians who opposed the coup and thus caused a civil war that now has our people bombing the residents of southeastern Ukraine whom we call “terrorists” while terrorizing them, into hoped-for submission to the regime that we have imposed upon them (those people refused to vote in the election that we held for them):
And, shortly after Obama had become President, he and Hillary Clinton brought peace and democracy to Honduras by our being the only government in the Western Hemisphere to back the junta that overthrew that country’s democratically elected progressive President and by replacing him with a string of fascist ones producing the world’s highest murder-rate in that country:
And, yet, despite all of the peace and democracy that we are bringing to the world, Gallup international finds that the nation most often cited around the world as being a threat to peace is the United States. Russian propaganda must have fooled them to believe that. Or did American propaganda fool us to believe what we do?
We are being lied to, again and again, without our holding to account the people (George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and the aristocrats who own and control our “news” media) who have lied to us, again and again.
And that’s why we believe the way we do: we don’t hold liars to account, because, if we did, then we’d understand such things as that (and why, and how — as only Bloomberg News, of all major media, had the courage to investigate and to report) we are subsidizing Wall Street by an estimated $83 billion per year, above and beyond the post-crash bail-outs of Wall Street (which Obama says have all been paid back).
So: when will we stop voting for Senators and Congressmen who vote for military appropriations that cause the United States to outspend all of the other nine of the top-ten biggest-spending military nations on Earth?
After all, why should we spend our tax-dollars to protect their investments?
When will enough lies and death, and trillions to Wall Street, be enough, to satisfy America’s aristocracy? Or, will it ever? Ever?
When will it stop? Isn’t it already outrageous enough?
Related posts:
US ‘Democracy Promotion’ Destroys Democracy Overseas
America is a Constitutional Republic . . . NOT a Democracy
Slavyansk shootout threatens to bury Ukraine peace deal
Obama bringing world leaders to Chicago for NATO, G-8 meetings
Nuland Says US Spent $5Bln to Back Democracy in Ukraine
This article was posted: Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 5:11 am
Or did American propaganda fool us to believe what we do?
“The US Navy - A global force for good.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3wtUCPWmeI
when senator dianne feinstein gets her way, only real journalists from the new york times, washington post, abc, nbc, cbs, cnn, msnbc, npr, pbs will decide what you are allowed to think
http://www.infowars.com/feinstein-youre-not-a-real-journalist-unless-you-draw-a-salary/
“The Maliki government, candidly, has got to go if you want any reconciliation.”
Are you sure it wasn’t Dick Cheney that said this?
We’re being feed a bunch of lies as usual:
‘Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—A prominent Anbar tribal chief has denied that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is responsible for the recent unrest in Iraq, portraying the situation as a “tribal revolution” against the government of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, in comment that contradicted the prevailing narrative about what is happening in the country.’
“It is the tribal rebels who are in control of the situation in Mosul. It is not reasonable to say that a group like ISIS, which has a small number of men and vehicles, could be in control of a large city like Mosul. Therefore, it is clear that this is a tribal revolution, but the government is trying to force us all to wear the robe of the terrorists and ISIS,” Ali Hatim Al-Suleiman told Asharq Al-Awsat.’
‘Suleiman is emir of the Dulaim tribe, which with over 3 million members is one of the largest Arab tribes in Iraq. Its members are predominately located in the western province of Anbar, the scene of fighting between ISIS militants supported by some Sunni tribes and government forces since December last year. He affirmed that a number of Arab Sunni tribes, including his own, are fighting against the Baghdad government.’
“The time for political solutions has passed. We will not permit a political solution. Maliki has used all his strength against the Iraqi people . . . So how can there be a political solution? The only solution is Maliki’s ouster. When we get rid of the government, we will be in charge of the security file in the regions, and then our objective will be to expel terrorism—the terrorism of the government and that of ISIS,” Suleiman said.’
‘The astonishing victories won by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have illuminated the incoherence in U.S. policy toward Iraq. Washington is understandably alarmed by ISIS’s progress across northern and western Iraq, reflected in the swift capture of Mosul, the second largest Iraqi city, and much of the Sunni heartland. At the same time, the orchestration of external support for the Syrian revolution and the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, in which Washington has been a key player, has undoubtedly redounded to the benefit of ISIS.’
‘The emerging strategic reality was given pungent expression by Ayad Jamal al-Din, a liberal Iraqi cleric and politician: “The war in Syria and the war in Iraq are one and the same,” he said on June 10. “Both in Syria and in Iraq, it is a war against ISIS. The United States strives to weaken the Syrian regime, and this benefits ISIS, but in Baghdad, it supports the regime against ISIS. This is suspicious and perplexing, to tell you the truth.”
‘He has stood bravely against the totalizing rhetoric pitting Sunni and Shiite against one another in Iraq. He argues, “the pressure on the Syrian regime, which is fighting ISIS, must be lifted. [America] should not try to strengthen the feeble Free Syrian Army [FSA]. There is no FSA. There is ISIS in Syria and Iraq. You cannot fight ISIS in Iraq, yet support it in Syria. There is one war and one enemy.”
‘On this issue, at least, Jamal Al-Din’s voice is hardly iconoclastic among Iraqis. A year ago, Michael Rubin reported after a trip to Iraq that “Not only Iraqi Shi’ites, but also Iraqi Christians, Iraqi Kurds, and even many Iraqi Sunnis oppose American provision of arms to the Syrian rebels on the grounds that the Syrian rebels are either more radical than the Americans realize, or that nothing will prevent the so-called moderates whom the United States arms from selling or losing the weaponry to the radicals.” The Iraqis deeply feared that they would be “the first victims of Sunni radicalism in neighboring Syria.” And so they have been.’
This is all just about destabilizing the people of the region.
No one is even paying attention to the lies. I think there is a huge swath of people who are just tuning it out after deciding it is all a mess and choosing who to blame.
Think about this for a minute:
‘It is the tribal rebels who are in control of the situation in Mosul. It is not reasonable to say that a group like ISIS, which has a small number of men and vehicles, could be in control of a large city like Mosul. Therefore, it is clear that this is a tribal revolution, but the government is trying to force us all to wear the robe of the terrorists and ISIS’
So we’re supposed to believe that 9,000 guys can take one third of Iraq from an army of 350,000? That they can hold cities of millions of people along the way? Here’s a man who heads a tribe of 3 million calling BS, and where’s the media? With all the attention, no one can pick up a phone and give him a call?
They are about 10% of the insurgency according to reliable sources BTW here was my New Year’s prediction and I was also referencing my prediction for 2013:Comment by Albuquerquedan
2013-12-30 09:20:18
I was the one that disagreed with oil dropping to $80 but I thought gold would hold up. The level of manipulation surprised even me. However, I predict for very similar reasons that I said last year, that both oil and gold will be up. Oil very slightly from here but gold to about 1450. Assad has a 50/50 chance of leaving office this year. If it happens it will probably be a negotiated settlement. Iraq has become even more unstable this year as predicted but it has not impacted oil production sufficiently to move the needle but I think that may occur this year.
BTW, the oilfield mentioned in this post was the oilfield that has been used by ISIL to fund a lot of its activities, this is commenting on the alleged deal with Iran on nuclear weapons:
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2013-11-24 08:15:29
The deal is the classic kick the can down the road deal. Both sides needed the deal, Iran for economic reasons and Obama for political reasons (get Obamacare off the front of the news cycles). Iran is getting billions of dollars of assets release but unfortunately the Iranian people will not see much relief. That money will go to support Iran’s war in Syria. The rebels have recaptured Syria’s major oilfield. Syria is broke and relies on Iran for economic support. Last year when many were predicting the imminent demise of Assad, I said his removal will be long and bloody. Very little has changed and he is, in fact, a little stronger. However, it is a war of attrition and his enemies have the numbers and Gulf cash on their sides and Iran cannot afford the economic costs of the war and their ally Hezbollah cannot afford the blood they are paying.
As long as Iran has the capacity to enrich uranium it has the capacity to make a bomb, it is only a question of how long after it makes the decision will it take. Therefore, I never see Iran giving up that right to enrich so I do not see how this ends without regime change. Six months we will be right back to where we were but I guess we can hope that the Iranian people remove the mullahs but I do not see how that happens.
ISIL and the other Sunnis have caused Iraq to recall thousands of militia fighters in Syria. On the present situation why are we attempting to prop up a country that has allied itself with Iran and Syria?
http://news.yahoo.com/us-must-not-iraq-air-force-shiite-militias-094421950.html
Air force of the Shiite militias, yes that is us. BTW, Baker Hughes has many contracts in southern Iraq and I own a fair number of shares in the company. Obama is doing me a favor by protecting my investments by sending Green Berets and providing air cover. I realize he is doing it for people that own a lot more shares than I own but nevertheless, thanks Obama. It is stupid from a national stand point to be involved in a religious war but America’s drillers need you.
I used to think that the main difference was that Republicans wanted a proactive foreign policy and a more hands-off domestic policy, and Democrats were the opposite.
There may have once been a little truth to that assertion (I’m no longer even sure of that) but certainly not anymore. Both of our main political parties in conjunction with the central banks, have been completely overtaken by a self-appointed class of compulsive meddlers.
I no longer see any difference between the war mongers, the AGW mongers, the gun control mongers, the ‘let’s fix housing’ mongers, etc. It all stems from the same root and it’s always the same group of clowns from both sides of this political ‘aisle’. The merits don’t matter any more: meddlers gonna meddle.
But anyone who thinks that way is a…. well, you know.
the donors are a little different but both of them pretty much have the same agenda; Get people to give you money for political favors.
Until that is gone it will be the same old bs. I guess that’s why a lot of people simply don’t even care.
This is all just about destabilizing the people of the region.
This is the theme of the commentary by 108morris108 on YouTube.
Uh-oh. “Energy independence” is looking dicey.
———————-
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil-20140521-story.html
Federal energy authorities have slashed by 96% the estimated amount of recoverable oil buried in California’s vast Monterey Shale deposits, deflating its potential as a national “black gold mine” of petroleum.
The Monterey Shale formation contains about two-thirds of the nation’s shale oil reserves.
the environment is too sensitive in that area to ever go after that oil.
CPDR is much tougher than EPA, that much is true. I would even say that CPDR is antagonistic towards EPA and actively encourages citizen suits over issues like EPA’s failure to consult with dept or interior/fish & wildlife/forestry which is required under many of the big federal laws, e.g. endangered species act, clean air act, clean water act, and RICRA
I’m glad other countries keep their people employed sending us stuff we need.
the environment is too sensitive in that area to ever go after that oil.”
you mean too many rich people live there
Are these “Federal employees” from the same mold that have made it almost impossible for the oil industry to explore/extract in public lands?
If so, I don’t believe “anything” they say. Heck they say our unemployment rate is under 7%!!!
The same people who are estimating oil reserves are calculating the unemployment rate? That is pretty arrogant!
Arrogant?
Name one government statistic that hasn’t been fudged for the benefit of making the government looking better.
Just one.
It was a little joke. It’s unlikely that a group of people could have both the geological skills to estimate oil reserves as well as the skills necessary to calculate the unemployment rate.
Regarding your other statement, the government must produce billions of statistics every year. How do you know that there’s not a single one that hasn’t been fudged?
Drilling rigs all over Moorpark CA. This is new I started seeing these rigs go up after I moved back in 2010.
I guess that cans the million dollar homes and fake lake they wanted back there.
Elkins lease I think its called ?
Oil companies have a right to drill on public lands at a rate that is profitable for them, and leave the clean up bill to the taxpayer? Why don’t you let them drill in your yard instead, and leave the public lands for the public.
Oil companies have a right to drill on public lands at a rate that is profitable for them, and leave the clean up bill to the taxpayer?
No, they do not, they have to bond and clean up the areas that they drill in.
Uh-oh. “Energy independence” is looking dicey.
Patience, grasshopper. When global supplies cannot keep up with demand the drilling will happen. Why foul our nest while foreign suppliers accept our funny money for payment?
I agree with this. I went to a CLE (continuing ed) yesterday on Citizen Suits. The entire time I was sitting there, enjoying the free lunch, I was cynically thinking that these states are smart in a way. Environmental degradation will come at some point, they just want it to be 50 yrs in the future when they are 6 feet below the ground.
The biggest thing I learned about the citizen suit process (when a group like Sierra Club sues a company because of the EPA’s failure to take action) was that the EPA doesn’t consult with the agencies on the ground (forestry/wildlife/interior) because none of those agencies are adequately funded. This means that in some way EPA’s determination on any issue can almost always be challenged by groups because they are always inviolation of their duty to consult and do fact-finding.
The second biggest thing I learned was that as a lawyer it is a great tactic if you can get an agency in a friendly state (e.g. Halliburton in Oklahoma) to pre-empt any citizen suits by having the state agency start an investigation first. Technically the environ groups can’t sue you until the state agency is finished its investigation. So if you have a friendly agency, they can prevent you from being sued by a group like Sierra Club.
RAL, I saw this on the web the other day. I assume you designed and built this beautiful building, no?
http://www.schaeffler.com/remotemedien/media/_shared_media/03_worldwide/01_worldwide_locations/sales_company/germany_1/location_30/143178_aaa_rgb.jpg
It’s Thor Thursday here in the BB. There is no truth to the rumor that Lola speaks with a lisp, or that he is tho thor he can hardly walk.
I don’t get the obsession w/ Rio. And when I do think of Brasil, I think of its reputation for beautiful women, not as a twink territory.
Looks like your kind of place Liberace.
How many boys do you have at your Dupont circle loft?
The homophobia and bigotry against transexuals on this blog is getting out of hand.
Real journalists have scripted the narrative that LGBT rights is the equivalent of the struggle for civil rights fought by black Americans to overcome the legacy of slavery and segregation.
June is pride month, let the real journalists guide you in how to show support for our LGBT brothers, sisters, and others.
Lawyers are liars.
FYI, I specified “brothers, sisters, and others” because it is chromosomist to limit your options to XX or XY.
Not LGBT, it is now LGBTQ. Get with the program!
Q is “questioning.”
The next frontier of gender reassignment surgery is to go well beyond the existing options of male-to-female or female-to-male.
The full range of human sexuality will only be realized when people can surgically change their reproductive organs to those of birds, amphibians, flowering plants, or even fungi.
And if you oppose that, you are a mammalist.
These Lola’s and Liberace’s will stop at nothing.
Let the harpsichording and webcamming begin.
Real journalists have scripted the narrative that LGBT rights is the equivalent of the struggle for civil rights fought by black Americans to overcome the legacy of slavery and segregation.’
yea I bet Black Americans love this comparison not
RAL, I saw this on the web the other day. I assume you designed and built this beautiful building, no?
That’s a British cigarette company, right?
It’s actually in Germany somewhere.
My remark was tongue in cheek. “Fag” is Brit slang for a smoke.
“BOLO” (“Be On The Lookout”) for Lois Lerner’s emails
Rep. Issa: ‘The IRS Has Some ‘Splainin’ To Do’
Hannah Bleau
6/18/2014
“We’re tired of in fact being misled or lied to,” he continued. “In this case, the American people clearly were targeted for their belief and free speech by a president and an IRS who disagreed with the Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United. That’s at the core of all this. … If Lois Lerner’s the king pin, so be it. But if we can’t see the connections in her emails fully, we won’t know all the people who work with her to target unfairly Americans for what they believe, what they say, and who they want to associate with.”
dailycaller.com/2014/06/18/rep-issa-the-irs-has-some-splainin-to-do/ - 91k -
———————————————————————————-
THE IRS SCANDAL: TIMELINE
August 2010: The IRS issues its first “BOLO” (“Be On The Lookout”) alert for “various local organizations in the Tea Party movement” that are seeking tax-exempt status as 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) groups. The IRS is also flagging applications by organizations that: (a) address such issues as government spending, government debt, and taxes; (b) promote the use of education, advocacy, and lobbying to “make America a better place to live”; or (c) criticize how the country is being run by the Obama administration. (Source and Source)
February 2011: In an email, IRS Exempt Organizations Division Director Lois Lerner Lerner advises her staff—including then Exempt Organizations Technical Manager Michael Seto and then Rulings and Agreements director Holly Paz—that a Tea Party matter is “very dangerous,” and that this is something “Counsel and [Lerner adviser] Judy Kindell need to be in on.” Lerner adds that Tea Party groups’ tax-exemption applications could end up being the “vehicle to go to court” to get more clarity on a 2010 Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance rules. Thus, at this point, Lerner—contrary to false statements she will subsequently make—is well aware of the fact that groups with “Tea Party,” “Patriot,” or “9/12 Project” in their names are being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny by the IRS. (Source and Source)
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=1935 - 102k -
this sounds like a job for the real journalists
‘former secretary of state and potential 2016 presidential candidate hillary clinton ridiculed matt drudge and karl rove as ‘gamers’ simply looking to ‘divert attention’ from real issues facing americans.
in an interview with national public radio, clinton responded to recent comments from the drudge report namesake and karl rove, dismissing claims that she may have posed with a walker on the cover of people magazine.’
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/06/13/clinton-matt-drudge-karl-rove-planting-false-information/
Diversion is a big part of politics in both parties. The PTB don’t give a crap about issues like Lois Lerner, Cliven Bundy or Rafalca. These topics are used to distract the majority of the population so that the elites can run the country without any interference from J6P.
Lois Lerner and the IRS scandal is worse than Watergate. It is the use of government to silence Americans. Republicans did not support Nixon when he engaged in half the conduct that the Obama administration has done. You have to be a naïve to believe that Lerner destroyed that evidence without knowing Obama had her back. It is a sad commentary that the issue is political all Americans should be outraged by her conduct and be calling for a special prosecutor to investigate this outrage.
real journalists report on house republicans from the south
‘the 11 states of the original confederacy now have almost 100 republicans in the house, not quite a majority of the 233-member caucus but a massive voting bloc that can tip the balance.’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/southern-republicans-bemoan-the-demise-of-their-power-in-the-house/2014/06/18/f0b29408-f634-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html
Speaking of the South, China’s latest colony:
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2014-06-03 09:39
Counter:78
A Chinese copper tubing company opened a plant in Alabama’s Wilcox County recently, giving residents of the poorest county in the US hopes for a better life, Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
The county, which is located in the southwestern part of Alabama and had no major industry for nearly half a century, traditionally led the southern US state in unemployment.
However, all this changed after the opening of the $100 million plant, GD Copper USA, which is expected to bring 500 jobs to the region.
“I’ve been waiting for this for three years,” Alabama Governor Robert Bentley told a reporter from Chinese newspaper People’s Daily Wednesday.
“The Golden Dragon Group brings us important opportunities, as some 500 families in America’s poorest county now have the chances to start a better life,” he said.
US Congressman Terri Sewell said at the plant’s opening ceremony that the plant’s start of operation marked an important day in Alabama.
The economy of Wilcox County had lagged behind due to a lack of good resources and opportunities, but now it has both, Sewell noted, urging the employees of GD Copper USA to work hard so as to help the plant achieve a big success.
GD Copper USA was built by Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tubing Group, which is located in Xinxiang in Central China’s Henan Province.
It makes copper tubing for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
The opening of the plant is described by some as “one of the largest economic development events” in the county’s history.
GD Copper USA is the third and also the biggest Chinese plant operating in Alabama.
articles written by real journalists at the new york times and washington post discuss the central american child migration to usa
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/us/border-centers-struggle-to-handle-onslaught-of-children-crossers.html?rref=us
real journalists are the official mouthpiece of the obama administration and build the foundation for the permanent democrat supermajority
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harold-meyerson-a-new-generation-of-poor-huddled-masses-heads-north/2014/06/18/9c93d164-f6f4-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html
and if you disagree with real journalists you are a racist
Cloward–Piven
Now I’m really confused. The Drudge Report (not real journalists) links to a Wall Street Journal (not real journalists) opinion piece by Rupert Murdoch (not a real journalist) titled “Immigration Reform Can’t Wait”.
Rupert Murdoch is an eeeevil rich Republican, but he is advocating amnesty just like the real journalists who are building the permanent democrat supermajority.
“We need to give those individuals who are already here — after they have passed checks to ensure they are not dangerous criminals — a path to citizenship so they can pay their full taxes, be counted, and become more productive members of our community.
If we are serious about advancing our economic future and about creating job growth here in America, then we must realize that it is suicidal to suggest closing our doors to the world’s entrepreneurs, or worse, to continue with large-scale deportations.”
That’s a good one. Are all those unaccompanied kids future entrepreneurs? How does Rupert know that. Besides, I don’t think that we’re suffering from any shortage of entrepreneurs. The news is full of them starting wacky companies.
then we must realize that it is suicidal to suggest closing our doors to the world’s entrepreneurs
I guess if you consider gangbanging as being an entrepreneur, they are half right. Not sure if I would consider it suicidal to prevent that type of entrepreneur coming to this country seems like it is suicidal to let them in.
Murdoch seems an odd choice to weigh in, since his industry is not directly impacted. Not like he can replace his media folks with a flood of illegals that don’t speak English.
And you don’t need to be physically in the US to be an entrepreneur.
Virtually all billionaires are globalists and I have pointed out his support for amnesty many times. His faux conservative network has been pushing amnesty with people like O’Reilly trying to convince conservatives that they must do it for the sake of the Republican party.
Article for Dannyboy written by Al Gore, because warmists gonna warm.
This was linked from the Drudge Report (not real journalists), directly below a link titled “Snow in June!” to an article reporting that it snowed in Montana.
When confronting the warmist warmers, any article reporting on unseasonably cold weather is effective clickbait.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-turning-point-new-hope-for-the-climate-20140618
Don’t worry Obama and his friendly staff at NASA have come up with an answer to the pause, just create fraudulent data, so now we have the satellite data showing stable to cooling numbers and the ground base data with the barbeque fire next to the thermometer showing warming, guess which one the Real Journalist will report on?
Warmists gonna warm, Dannyboy.
San Clemente, CA Housing Prices Collapse 20% YoY: Inventory Balloons As Housing Demand Stumbles
http://www.movoto.com/san-clemente-ca/market-trends/
Arlington VA Housing Prices Plummet 20% YoY As Housing Demand Craters Nationally To 19 Year Lows
http://www.movoto.com/arlington-va/market-trends/
Price per square foot PLUNGES 1% ($366 to $363).
By the way, if you look at just the single family houses (not the condos and the townhouses) the median list price is up 16% (to $1.2 mil) and the price per square foot is up 6% (to $341).
he does not understand numbers
Prices are falling Amy/$hitHouse Poet. Even you can understand that.
Polly, thanks for coming in to comment on an actual housing topic. So are SFH showing that they are more desireable than attached product?
The price per square foot is higher for the condos/townhouses, but that may be a location issue.
Except for the school system, political divisions aren’t the best way to look at the DC area. Even for schools, the city/town may be large enough to have better/worse zones for elementary and middle school and possibly high school. Even in my two bit home town, I went to the “worst” elementary school, though we were in town-wide schools starting in 5th grade.
Of course a newer house is going to priced higher than a 20+ year old run down shack.
What’s your point?
Just say it Kelly….you can do it…
Decline in Household Formation Hampering San Diego Economy
By Mike Allen
Thursday, June 12, 2014
A big reason why San Diego’s economy remains stuck in second gear is a marked decline in household formation, according to a new report from think tank National University System Institute for Policy Research.
Before the recession, the number of people per household in San Diego was about 2.7 persons, but it’s risen to 2.8 persons this year. That one-tenth of a point is significant because it translates to some 6,000 new households formed rather than the 27,500 that would have formed had the area maintained the historic average, the report says.
The reduced number affects new construction and reduced need for financing services, both of which used to be big drivers of the local economy.
“The combination of lower household formation, high unemployment and tightened lending standards crushed the local residential building economy,” said Kelly Cunningham, the NUSIPR economist who authored the report.
Using data on new building permits, last year the region created 8,315 units, yet that’s only about half of the average of 15,000 to 16,000 new units created from 1990 to 2006, the report said.
The report found that the key reason behind the lower household formation is because younger people aren’t leaving the nest. Pre-recession, 27 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds lived with their parents. Today that share is up to 31 percent, not because they prefer the arrangement but because they can’t find a decent job, the report said.
Even among those younger people who are employed, many don’t feel that secure and are carrying excess debt from student loans, severely limiting the amount they can spend on rent or a mortgage payment, the report said.
“Whatever the cause, the result is they are delaying signing a lease or getting a mortgage,” Cunningham said.
Until rates of household formation return to historic averages, the economy will likely remain stuck, and unlikely to be the jobs engine it had been in the past, he said.
Until rates of household formation return to historic averages, the economy will likely remain stuck, and unlikely to be the jobs engine it had been in the past, he said.
Does he seriously think that household formation creates jobs instead of the other way around?
Another left wing country runs out of OPM and cannot print more money due to inflation (from reuters:
Buenos Aires is locked in a 12-year legal fight with creditors who refused to participate in two restructurings that followed Argentina’s 2002 default on $100 billion in bonds.
The long impasse in the U.S. courts has kept the country from accessing international capital markets as its economy stagnates, inflation soars and central bank reserves fall.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by Argentina in its battle against the hedge funds which refused to take part in restructurings offered in 2005 and 2010. This left intact a ruling by U.S. Judge Thomas Griesa in New York ordering the country to pay the hedge fund “holdouts”.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday lifted the stay it had placed on an injunction by Griesa barring payment to holders of restructured bonds via U.S. banks unless the “holdouts” were paid $1.33 billion at the same time.
“The lifting of the stay by the Second Circuit makes it impossible to make the next payment on restructured debt in New York, and shows a complete lack of willingness to negotiate under conditions different from those dictated by Judge Griesa,” a statement from the Argentine economy ministry said late on Wednesday.
Is Argentina like Greece?
Yes, accept of course not having the EU to back it up.
Except
Yeah, after-thought on that one after I posted. Nations that are living paycheck to paycheck. Didn’t Argentina have some kind of currency problem in 2001? What would be the effects here in the USA if we had the same thing happen like it did to them?
Gold going up $37 an OZ per day would be the norm not the exception and you would pay $10 a gallon for gasoline while still getting 2% per year raises.
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=141446
http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=5697
This is what makes America great:
http://www.hangarone.com/
Another reason why the U.S. is much more likely to collapse than China:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-charts-show-chinas-scientific-192255174.html
FEMA Region VIII checking in
http://www.fema.gov/regional-operations
“Hundreds of young boys and girls covered with aluminum foil-like blankets next to chain-link fences.”
Media Get Disappointing Look at TX and AZ Illegal Immigrant Detention Centers
by Sylvia Longmire
19 Jun 2014, 6:35 AM PDT
Chris Sherman and Astrid Galván from the Associated Press were the first journalists to post a story about the visit. They described a clean but sad state of affairs inside: “Children’s faces pressed against glass. Hundreds of young boys and girls covered with aluminum foil-like blankets next to chain-link fences. The pungent odor that comes with keeping dirty travelers in close quarters.” They explained the minors were being kept inside a huge warehouse and segregated by age and gender with chain-link fences. They were being fed every six hours in groups of 200, and showering regularly with FEMA-provided facilities.
One journalist, however, was able to sneak in a few words with some teenagers out of sight of monitoring agents. Jon Justice from 104.1 KQTH in Tucson, AZ said via Twitter that many of the kids didn’t seem completely unhappy with being in the detention facility. When asked if it was because they were in a safe place and being fed better than they’re used to, he replied, “Actually its because they were headed to NY, New Jersey and Maine to meet family and knew they would be going soon, for free.” Justice added, “From the kids and what the agents were saying, most came for some type of ‘amnesty’ not because of conditions in Central [America].” 104.1 KQTH posted several photos—provided to them by one official photographer on site—on the station’s website.
http://www.breitbart.com/…ets-Disappointing-Look-at-TX-and-AZ-Immigrant-Detention-Centers - 62k -
Checking in isn’t so bad. Just be friendly with the
arresting officerhelpful dot gov employee and your checkin will go much more smoothly…And you can always check in early too. Even if you are not sure you need to check in, it can’t hurt to preemptively check in anyway…
It’s better to be checked in and not on the list of those who need to check in, than to miss your notice (if any given) that you need to check in. Dot gov thanks you for your cooperation…
foil-like blankets
check
Thank you.