Bits Bucket for June 30, 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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News is my state dropped 200 Million dollars (pinkie held to lips) for Zerocare website. Comes to $24,000 per enrollee.
This is what a banana republic looks like - by, for, and about, stupid.
This is what a banana republic looks like
Or this. America does not really have a party of the “left” anymore when it comes to benefiting the people. When it comes to banana republic oligarchy, the Democrats are Repubican-lite. And even when Obama speaks against wealth inequality, the blind hatred of him from the right labels him a “socialist” and no action can be taken to battle the problem. USA is no longer exceptional. USA is a bought and sold “corporation” and almost none of us are shareholders. USA is The Matrix.
Dawn of the Age of Oligarchy: the Alliance between Government and the 1%
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/28/dawn-of-the-age-of-oligarchy-the-alliance-between-government-and-the-1.html
Thanks to their cozy relationship with the Obama administration, a new class of super-wealthy oligarchs keeps getting more powerful while the country’s middle class shrinks.
When our current President was elected, many progressives saw the dawning of a new epoch, a more egalitarian and more just Age of Obama. Instead we have witnessed the emergence of the Age of Oligarchy.
The outlines of this new epoch are clear in numerous ways. There is the diminished role for small business, greater concentration of financial assets, and a troubling decline in home ownership. On a cultural level, there is a general malaise about the prospect for upward mobility for future generations.
Not everyone is suffering in this new age. For the entitled few, these have been the best of times. With ever more concentration of key industries, ever greater advantage of capital over labor, and soaring real estate values in swanky places such as Manhattan or San Francisco which , as one journalist put it, constitute “vast gated communities where the one percent reproduces itself.” The top hundred firms on the Fortune 500 list has revenues, in adjusted dollars, eight times those during the supposed big-business heyday of the 1960s.
This shift towards oligarchy well precedes President Obama’s tenure. It was born from a confluence of forces: globalization, the financialization of the economy, and the shift towards digital technology. Obama is not entirely to blame, it is more than a bit ironic that these measurements have worsened under an Administration that has proclaimed income inequality abhorrent.
Obama’s Oligarchs
Despite this administration’s occasional rhetorical flourishes against oligarchy, we have seen a rapid concentration of wealth and depressed conditions for the middle class under Obama. The stimulus, with its emphasis on public sector jobs, did little for Main Street. And under the banner of environmentalism, green cronyism has helped fatten the bank accounts of investment bankers and tech moguls at great public expense.
Wall Street grandees, many of whom should have spent the past years studying the inside of jail cells for their misbehavior, are only bothered by how to spend their ill-gotten earnings, and how not to pay taxes on it. The Obama Administration in concert with the Congress , have consented to allow the oligarchy to continue paying capital gains taxes well below the income tax rate paid by poor schmuck professionals, small business owners and high-skilled technical types.
In this, both political parties are to blame. Republican fealty to the interests of the investor class has been long-standing. But Obama and the Democrats are also increasingly backed in their “progressive” causes by the very people — Wall Street traders, venture capitalists and tech executives — who benefit most from the federal bailouts, cheap money, low interest rates, and low capital gains tax rates.
Large financial institutions also have benefited greatly from regulations that guaranteed their survival while allowing for increased concentration of financial assets. Indeed in the first five years of the Obama Administration the share of financial assets held by the top six “too big to fail” banks soared 37%, and now account for two-thirds of all bank assets.
Wow, did Lola just criticize Obama without blaming Reagan? Trouble in paradise? Somebody might need a new job soon.
As for “USA is The Matrix,” where have I heard that before?
and a troubling decline in home ownership.
A _troubling_ decline? No, the regression toward the mean in homepwnership is the only SANE thing to have occurred!
A _troubling_ decline? No,
You have a point but the other way to see it is that the decline in home ownership is troubling in that it reflects the consequences of the warped housing market the past 20 years. Almost everything about the American housing market is troubling.
but the other way to see it is that the decline in home ownership is troubling in that it reflects the consequences of the warped housing market the past 20 years.
The _increase_ above sustainable rates of homepwnership is what I found troubling, not the return of sanity.
Demographics alone are responsible for part of the drop in home ownership, as more and more Greatest Generation and older boomers either reverse mortgage or sell off their paid-off homes to pay for end-of-life health care. Millenials are not picking up the slack.
Meanwhile, mixed-use mini-cities are still busting out of the ground here at the DC metro stations. Office buildings, high-rises, Whole Paycheck at ground level. And ISTM that the developers don’t decide whether the units will be condos or apartments until the last minute. The units are certainly interchangeable.
Donk,
U need a new phoney narrative.
the socialist governmentarians are doing well
an extra 17 day paid vacation for most “the sequesrer”
retire at 55 etc
I have a pony narrative. That good enough?
It is all about the Oligarchs. Want to know what is really going on in your area? See how many people are paying 10k plus a year for their kids to get an elementary school education. These are your rulers.
$10K? LOL. I spend more than that on my vacation. Does that make me an oligarch?
I said sending kids to elementary schools. U no go skool?
10k doesn’t get you a good school in DC/NYC type suburbs.
10k a year to get your kids a quality education isn’t just for “oligarchs.” I know plenty of middle class couples who scrimp and sacrifice so their kids won’t have to attend public school to get what passes for an education these days.
Are they paying 10 K a year for multiple kids to go to elementary? If so, then you know Oligarchs. Those in the ruling class.
Middle class people cannot afford this.
Zer0Care=Another conduit to drain the public dry a’la SS and Medicare.
You’re gonna get less than you pay for. Alot less.
Socialism at work.
Stupidity in the electorate is the Achilles heel of democracy.
Here’s the thing, the US is not a democracy to begin with, it’s a Republic. Supposedly. The purpose of a republic vs democracy is to override the mobocracy through the hopefully more level headed individual representatives of the people. Except, when the representatives become the mob, there’s a problem. Such as we have now.
The purpose of a republic vs democracy is to override the mobocracy…..Except, when the representatives become the mob, there’s a problem
Right now, the main purpose of our government should be to override corporatism and oligarchy. The problems of “mobocracy” pale in comparism.
If we were in fact a mobocracy, or even if much more power was in the hands of the people, we’d have a higher minimum wage, universal health-care, much less corporate money in elections more progressive taxes, more worker’s rights and less power for huge corporations. All of these things poll or polled in the majority and not having these things is a proof that we do not in fact live under a mobocracy. Instead we live under unbridled corporatism and oligarchy.
This is the main problem of our day.
Except, when the representatives become the mob, there’s a problem
I agree. And as you know, I would say our representatives have become the mob because they are owned by corporations and huge money - Dems and Repubs alike. However, it is only the Dems who make occasional attempts to address the issue.
“Here’s the thing, the US is not a democracy to begin with, it’s a Republic.”
+1 Bravo!
It’s only the LIEberals who monkey chant that the US is a democracy, as if it’s self-evident. I don’t remember when I heard a Republican say the US is a democracy. But I’m not a Republican anyway.
And they love the idea of mob rule. They think there is no such thing as tyranny by the majority, but we’ve had such tyranny the last 50 years.
US is not a democracy to begin with, it’s a Republic.
In theory, it’s actually both.
most dictionaries agree that a democracy is government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
A republic has two forms and definitions. A republic can be a form of government with an elected president instead of a monarch, or a form of government with an elected president and elected representatives responsible to the people.
Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language brings a democracy and a republic closer together by defining a republic as “a form of government in which the sovereign power is widely vested in the people either directly or through elected representatives.”
Cuba’s President Fidel Castro, Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein and the presidents of many totalitarian governments fit the first definition of a republic. However, they are tyrannical presidents that wield the sovereign power of monarchs.
The United States fits the second description of a republic, which, combined with the definition of a democracy, makes us a republic of representative democracy or what some call a democratic republic.
In the definitions of both a democracy and the second definition of a republic, however, the supreme power is supposed to be widely vested in the people. But in our democratic republic, the power of the people has been compromised by those who have assumed greater powers.
The word “democracy” is not contained in the Constitution, yet it begins with the democratic statement, “We the people of the United States. do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The only place the word “republic” is mentioned is in Article IV, Section 4. “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government.”
realdemocracy dot com
It’s only the LIEberals who monkey chant that the…..
I’m interested to know how a “libertarian” can justify being so hostile to such a huge swath if their fellow countryman. Are not liberals at liberty to be liberals?
Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and freedom of choice, emphasizing political freedom, voluntary association and the primacy of individual judgment.[1][2] wiki
Are not liberals liberals partially because they are simply taking advantage of the libertarian ideals of their freedom of choice, voluntary association and their individual judgment?
huge swath
ifof their fellow countrymanRio, libertarians don’t have fellow countrymen.
Rio, libertarians don’t have fellow countrymen.
There is a lot right there. And it points out some of the the irrationality of many “libertarians” in the context of their “revering” The Constitution (but ignoring main reasons of its creation) while vilifying the society and the state The Constitution created which enables their “libertarianism”.
‘There is a lot right there’
Not really. Just some people discussing something they don’t have a clue about.
Hmmm…. maybe I’d better define “fellow countrymen.”
To a hard-core liberal, one only need to be a citizen of the same country to be a fellow countryman. To a liberatrian, most of these citizens are NOT fellow countrymen. They are “freeloaders,” little weapons in the Free Sh!t Army. Thieves come to take taxes to feed and god forbid offer health insurance to the FSA.
To a libertarian, REAL fellow countrymen are few. He earns his fellowship by working hard and assembling a stockpile of goods, be it money or gold or 7.62×39. A fellow countrymen lives down the road. He stands with you to fight off the attack from the FSA.
‘To a libertarian, REAL fellow countrymen are few’
There are all sorts of libertarians with many various ideas about this stuff.
The purpose of a republic vs democracy is to override the mobocracy through the hopefully more level headed individual representatives of the people
Why would you think that it would be better for some small group of politicians to subsitute their preferences for the desires of the population as a whole? In practice it just means that the government is more responsive to the wealthy than to the average Joe.
So you’re saying you’re better educated and better prepared to determine, based soley on your own abilities, experiences and knowledge of human governance throughout human history than the founders of this Republic?
That was a rhetorical question, btw… the answer is obviously no, you’re not.
Sorry, that should have been “determine a more fair, free and resilient form of government than the founers…”
Damn smart phones.
So you’re saying you’re better educated and better prepared to determine, based soley on your own abilities, experiences and knowledge of human governance throughout human history than the founders of this Republic?
Who knows? Maybe I am.
In any case, that’s not much of an argument. We should have a government in which rich individuals have a greater influence than the rest of us because that’s what the founders wanted. Did it ever occur to you that most of the founders were probably rich guys who were just looking after their own interests?
on not voting:
“I have solved this political dilemma in a very direct way: I don’t vote. On Election Day, I stay home. I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. Now, some people like to twist that around. They say, ‘If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain,’ but where’s the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who did not vote — who did not even leave the house on Election Day — am in no way responsible for what these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created.” — George Carlin
Actually it’s the monkey chanters who chant “If you don’t vote you have no right to complain.” They just hear others say that monkey chant and they chant it from the high treetops in the Savanna.
Those monkeys just chant and don’t think.
If you didn’t have the liberals to shriek about, you’d have no way to explain your failings, would you?
It’s all them Them THEM! They’re coming to take my lucky charms! They’re GOING TO DESTRY THE EARTH!
All you do is sit on your ass, shriek, and point your finger. You do nothing to fix the problems you froth about, a perfect example of what is destroying the republican party.
Well I am sitting on my ass but l am also doing something about “it,” being the religion called statism. I am vocal. I tell everyone I know how statists suck.
In other words, you spew a lot of content-free anger.
In other words, you spew a lot of content-free anger.
Only from your perception, since you are also one of the LIEberals.
And back at us, you LIEberals spew drivel.
That’s just more content-free nonsense. What’s a lieberal?
What’s a lieberal?
A liberal when his lips are moving.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk
George Carlin on the meaninglessness of voting.
Thank you! That was awesome! I’m going to save that link besides the “Pay up or Die” to post here every 3 months when an amnesiac HBBer keeps repeating “you didn’t vote so you have no right to complain.”
Just like every 3 months the Laurence Vance article “Pay Up or Die” that I have to repost for the dimwitted donkeys who tell me not to drive on the roadddddddzzzzzzzzzzz since I’m a libertarian.
“Muh roadz!”
Anarchist highway.
http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/6/30/anarchist-highway.html#6423
And don’t ask me again “what about the roads? There will be no roadzzzzzz without my beloved gubment!”
And so it begins…coming soon to a bubble market near you.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-30/dubai-stocks-plunge-led-by-property-companies-as-investors-flee.html
China’s housing bubble starting to implode?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinese-home-prices-fall-for-second-month-in-a-row-2014-06-30?link=MW_home_latest_news
Economies and capitalism do not need to be “managed”. Governments should just “get out of the way” of our ability to make a buck.
“Because of weak government policies and corruption, there are likely hundreds of thousands of workers in forced labor situations in Thailand”
Shrimp sold at Walmart, Costco tied to slave labor
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/shrimp-sold-at-walmart-costco-tied-to-slave-labor/
Shrimp is a summertime delicacy, but some consumers may lose their appetites after learning that shrimp sold at top retailers such as Walmart (WMT) and Costco (COST) is tied to slave labor.
Men are pressed into service and “bought and sold like animals” in the shrimping industry off the coast of Thailand, according to a six-month investigation by The Guardian, published on Tuesday.
The investigation found that slave labor is producing a basic yet essential part of the shrimp industry. Slaves — who are reportedly beaten, chained, tortured and sometimes killed by their captors — are forced to haul up huge “trash fish” harvests. According to the report, those fish are then ground to fishmeal and sold to CP Foods, a giant Thai food conglomerate which uses the meal to feed its farmed shrimp. Those shrimp are sold to Walmart, Costco and U.K. retailers such as Tesco, the Guardian found.
You rang?
But what about the tender shrimp? What about THEIR feelings? They’re literally being torn apart by these slaves!
Time for a new wardrobe Lola.
buying a house will allow you a shot t some free equity some day.
Don’t forget the rent is due tomorrow.
If done correctly it can be arranged so as the rising value of the house’s equity will end up paying for the house.
A house that buys itself! Why, it’s a miracle!
Come see me to learn how it can be done!
(And get for yourself a free cup of coffee thrown into the bargain.)
Works for me. My housing cost is $2,500/mon PITI. The house has gone up in value $222,000 since I bought it in Nov. 2010.
My housing cost is $2,500/mon PITI.
Wow, and that’s after-tax loot.
Interest is tax deductible.
And the welfare checks come in da mailbox or the EBT Snap gets reloaded.
Somebody here likes rap. Somewhat Old Skool on this topic Bone, Thugs and Harmony’s First of Tha Month:
The asking prices are dropping like Cheetos on to the floor. Are you a buyer’s or a seller’s agent? What did you need to drop to get that listing? What will you drop to close the deal?
2 sandwiches now.
Hey Amy, your office called. They need you to shuttle a bunch of subprime loser buyers to look at 50 homes today. Get on it.
Being a real estate agent will never feel like having a real job.
Read it and weep, boys!
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-would-you-do-for-a-down-payment-2014-06-24
Reposting this again?
What would you do for a listing?
2 free sandwiches, now!
Houses have significant carrying costs as well, even after the mortgages are paid off.
Food, clothing, shelter. The powers that be have gamed one of the basic necessities radically higher than it would be without the price supports. Artificial supply restrictions (foreclosure moratoriums, limiting sales to large companies) boosts both purchase and rent costs.
If the populace ever realizes that politicians are behind this, a few might lose their jobs. Granted, there is a large group which seems to enjoy / benefit from the market manipulations. But I don’t see that group holding sway indefinitely. In Britain, the continuing rapidly increasing house prices are no longer considered a good thing.
And the interesting thing is, with food, medical care, education, the rationale for government intervention and support is that of helping the poor. This slams a double whammy on the middle class: not only do their costs go up and they become indebted to pay for them, but they have to continue to pay taxes for the government to purportedly subsidize the poor.
With housing, there is some rationale to help the poor, which again leads to the above dynamic. On top of that, the poor disproportionately suffer from debt and foreclosure. In addition to that, it’s a barely concealed subsidy to the FIRE sector when loan limits remain spectacularly high - over a million dollars in some places.
The smell of corruption is heavy here. “The more he spoke of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” Ralph Waldo Emerson. For the modern day: “The more he spoke of helping the poor, the more tightly we held onto our wallets.”
You’re stumbling Amy/$hitHousePoet.
Now fetch me a beer.
Renter for life!
Beer. Now. MOVE.
Grow up already.
And get yourself MiracleEar while you’re at it. Now get a move on woman!
Region X, checking in.
Senator Dianne Feinstein thanks you for checking in.
Region VIII checking in for the day.
Denver Post - Millennials may be about to move out
“While the recession pushed young adults to move in with their parents, a study just released suggests that the Millennial generation is poised to move out in droves, lift the number of new households formed and maybe even transform the housing market.
The sheer number of young adults in this generation (nearly 86 million) is what makes them an especially influential force in the housing sector. The decisions they make about their living arrangements will, by extension, affect the economy, which has traditionally relied on the housing market to create construction jobs and generate consumer spending for everything from dishes to furniture to pricey appliances.”
Traditionally relied on the housing market? Was this article written by the National Association of Realtors?
Ignore the $1.2 trillion of outstanding student loan debt, NAR shills.
There are no jobs, there is no “pent-up” demand.
None of these kidz are buying your $500,000 starter homes.
Denver Business Journal reports on CRATER
“The value of contracts awarded for future construction in metro Denver dropped 11 percent in the first five months of this year from the same period of 2013, and were down 23 percent statewide, according to a report Friday from McGraw Hill Construction.
Total value of construction contracts awarded from January through Mayof this year in the nine-county metro area was $2.04 billion, down from $2.298 billion in the year-ago period, McGraw Hill said.
For May alone, new metro-Denver construction contracts declined 28 percent, to $521.4 million, from May 2013, the report said.”
There is no “pent-up” demand for your $500,000 starter homes.
Now sit back and watch the grand collapse
Business Insider - More Young People Would Be First-Time Homebuyers If Not For Their Student Loans
http://www.businessinsider.com/household-deleveraging-2014-6
There is no “pent-up” demand for $500,000 starter homes.
Welcome to the recoveryless recovery.
Trigger warning for teabillies…
Family Values GOP candidate has fetish for jacking off in stolen cars
——
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2014/06/saginaw_republican_running_for.html
“I want to be the Republican, the conservative candidate that says, you know, conservatism is for you. Because conservatism, real conservatism, true red-blooded American conservatism is about grit, hard work, loyalty and traditional values. Your family values. The three values that make up my stool of conservatism are faith, family and freedom. And I believe that many of the citizens of Saginaw share those same values.”
–YET…–
“‘Cranking’ fetish
Haskins admitted to police that, on both occasions, he broke into the yard where vehicles were parked, incident reports from the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Department show. He said he pulled spark plug wires on sheriff, mosquito control and other vehicles parked there.
“Jordan would remove the spark plug wires and sit in the car and masturbate while the motor was sparking and making noises,” the police report states.
Haskins was charged with additional misdemeanor offenses related to a third incident at the mosquito control property in October 2010.
According to that incident report, Haskins again said that he damaged county vehicles by pulling spark plug wires to “masturbate while cranking the engine.” Deputies said he told them the act is a sexual fetish he learned about online.
Haskins told The Saginaw News that he has difficulty explaining what drove him to again and again repeat that behavior.
“I was in a messed-up state of mind mentally and emotionally when I did what I did,” he said. “That’s the only way I can even explain it.”
Wonder how much this guy is getting paid by the neocons?
Interesting theory. Were Larry Craig and Lindsay Graham on the neocon payroll too?
Joe or the guy running? The 23 year old multiply convicted felon who just sticks his name on the ballot as an R. Clearly screwed up, but hey, he ain’t no Ted Kennedy.
The unionistas are up for disinfo early this AM, wonder why?
Liberace!
I’m shocked that a politician got caught doing something “wacky”.
I guess the stress of being a family values guy was too much for him.
“Jordan would remove the spark plug wires and sit in the car and masturbate”
Confucius say, “Man who jack off in car have hot rod”.
LOL
Drudge link to a Washington Post article reports on the Permanent Democrat Supermajority
“Long an enclave of predominantly white, middle-class families with a top-class school system, Fairfax has experienced a dramatic demographic shift in recent years that is nowhere more obvious than in the county’s kindergarten classrooms. The white student population is receding and is being replaced with fast-growing numbers of poor children and children of immigrants for whom English is a second language.
More than one-third of the 13,424 kindergartners in the county this year qualified for free or reduced-price meals, a federal measure of poverty, and close to 40 percent of the Class of 2026 requires additional English instruction, among the most ever for a Fairfax kindergarten class.
During the past five years, costs for English language instruction increased by more than $18 million, and elementary school teachers say they spend an increasing amount of their time on remedial education.
School Superintendent Karen Garza, who fought for budget increases this year and got less than she believes the schools need to maintain their excellence, said she expects these trends to continue.
“There are additional costs associated with these changes that will continue to challenge our budgeting in the years ahead,” Garza said. “We view these demographic shifts and our growing diversity as a strength that we will continue to celebrate.”
The Oligarchs can send their kids to 10K+ a year private schools K thru boarding.
Too bad the home equity that allowed some to pretend they were worthy of the Coach bag and BMW and private school and exotic vacation is long gone, even the recent fake resurgence won’t bring it back like it was.
More like 20k+ for good private schools, 30k+ for very good/great ones.
10k might get you a basic catholic school?
At $30K a pop, it’s almost cheaper for one of the parents to quit the job and homeschool.
Can’t speak to $30k grade schools as we send our kids to Catholic School for K-8 and it is significantly cheaper than that.
Now High School is a different story. I have family that sends their teenager to La Salle and I think it runs them $25k+ per year. Why? Good college prepartory program, financially elite families, and the political connections that make for a guaranteed successful career for those who attend.
Reptiles MAF about Kennedy’s concurrence in Harris v Quinn which was released a few mins ago. They wanted a killshot on unions but got a very narrowly tailored opinion that does almost nothing.
Who cares? Are your masters mad? Did they make all of you get up early to post about this and control the spin?
lawyers are liars
Lawyers are liars, no argument there.
But the “who cares” crowd (see above) is full of B.S.
They would care a lot of the S. Ct. came down on their side. Hobby Lobby was also an extremely limited ruling. And the concurrence suggests the government can still pay for that coverage — which would have to be done through regulation that we’re like to see come about within the next couple weeks.
Liberace, u and your liars club toadies are busy today.
New York Times - Supreme Court Declines Case Contesting Ban on Gay ‘Conversion Therapy’
“The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a challenge to a California law that bans “conversion therapy” aimed at changing the sexual orientation of gay and lesbian minors.
Some conservative and religious groups continue to argue that sexuality is not innate and that a person could change his or her sexual orientation. Scientific and medical groups, however, have said that there is no evidence that sexual attractions can be changed. They also said that conversion therapies can be harmful.
“I am deeply saddened for the families we represent and for the thousands of children that our professional clients counsel, many of whom developed these unwanted attractions because of abuse of a pedophile,” the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, Mat Staver, said in a statement.
“The minors we represent do not want to act on same-sex attractions,” he said, “nor do they want to engage in such behavior. They are greatly benefiting from this counseling.”
Some conservative and religious groups continue to argue that sexuality is not innate and can be changed
I just thought of something hilarious. (Or frikkin brilliant and totally astounding in it’s pure genius and it’s perfect example of a massive level of intelligence’s ability to point out logical fallacy and hypocrisy) lol But seriously, I’d like a serious answer to the following question.
If some conservative and religious groups argue that sexual orientation is not innate and can be “changed”, then how could they possibly say being gay was unnatural and being straight was natural? Let’s look at the definition and we see that the first synonym of “innate” is “natural“. So if conservative and religious groups argue that sexual orientation is not innate and can be changed through “therapy” then they are arguing that there is no “natural” sexual orientation. It makes no logical sense. No?
in·nate
1.
existing in one from birth; inborn; native: innate musical talent.
2.
inherent in the essential character of something:
Synonyms
1. natural, congenital. Innate, inborn, congenital, hereditary describe qualities, characteristics, or possessions acquired before or at the time of birth.
totally astounding in it’s pure genius
“it’s pure genius”
Now that’s funny!
My portfolio is way up and I didn’t earn it!
Thanks Brack!
No time to comment or even read all the comments but thanks Obama, China loves you:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/06/28/canada-pulls-the-plug-on-the-u-s-keystone-pipeline-will-send-oil-to-asia/
Dude, my dog ran into a sticker bush this morning, it took me ten minutes to cut those suckers out of his hair.
Way to go Obama!
I just smashed my finger with a hammer, go*damn it. Thanks, Obama.
Isn’t fracking going to make us self sufficient? If it is, who cares where the Canadian oil ends up.
Hello MGTOW Rockstar
Nobody that knows anything about oil demand in the U.S. has ever argued that fracking alone would make the U.S. oil independent.
With fracking we will get above 9 million but you are still looking at only half our needs:
http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/foreign_oil_dependence.cfm
Nobody that knows anything about oil demand in the U.S. has ever argued that fracking alone would make the U.S. oil independent.
Sounds like “tricky” lawyer phrasing to obscure basic facts that make the Keystone Pipeline not a big issue.
U.S. may be inching toward oil independence
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/07/falling-oil-imports/5268819/
U.S. oil imports fell sharply again in 2013 while petroleum exports rose, leading some analysts to proclaim that a new era of energy independence is just a few years away.
Experts largely credit new drilling techniques that have unearthed vast troves of previously inaccessible oil embedded in shale deposits in states such as North Dakota and Texas.
“We’re at the beginning of a long upswing,” says Citigroup analyst Eric Lee…..Lee attributes the exports’ increase to the abundance of U.S. oil and reduced U.S. consumption as fuel-efficient vehicles proliferate.
….The EIA expects production to rise another 16% by 2020. But Citigroup’s Lee expects even more dramatic gains by then, leaving the U.S. a net exporter of oil and making it virtually self-sufficient in oil production.
A 16% increase as stated by the EIA does not even come close to making us self-sufficiency. I do not know where the reporter is getting the quote from Lee, there are no numbers supporting that belief and I doubt that the reporter understood what he met because no that believes U.S. production is going to go up by 8 millions barrels a day without us drilling off both coasts and in ANWR, fracking does not get you that level of production.
met=meant
A 16% increase as stated by the EIA does not even come close to making us self-sufficiency.
Yea. ThisThatAndTheOtherThing. We understand that you’re smarter than NASA and oil experts, and economists and just about every expert on anything.
met=meant
Thanks! We were really wondering. I’m glad you cleared that up.
NASA has been caught altering numbers so once again I was right. You only are capable of posting Maxine Walter’s talking points.
Show me a story where someone that actually quotes some numbers and suggests that we will reach 16 plus million barrels a day production. All you are capable of is talking points and ad hominem attacks.
“Isn’t fracking going to make us self sufficient? If it is, who cares where the Canadian oil ends up.”
People who own (or who work for people who own) refineries that would have made money off of refining the oil from Canada.
http://www.infowars.com/blackwater-threatened-to-kill-state-dept-official-in-iraq/
LOLZ
Zerohedge is reporting that I happen to live near two of the riskiest housing markets in the country, based on a new study. Providence, RI and Boston, MA.
We beat out New York, Detroit, San Francisco, Vegas , etc. May the odds ever be in your favor.
President Executive order strikes again. We will get the Cloward-Piven Strategy period. How will this make the lives of our citizens better?
http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/30/noaa-quietly-reinstates-july-1936-as-the-hottest-month-on-record/
guess what dannyboy?
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warmists gonna warm!
No warming in 80 years, looks like the lukewarmists were right.
What happened to all those justifications about measuring device placement? Looks like just more fraud.
Guilty plea: BNP Paribas fined $8.8 billion for rogue-regime banking
“This outcome should send a strong message to any institution — anywhere in the world — that does business in the United States: illegal conduct will not be tolerated,” Holder said. “And wherever it is uncovered, it will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
Only if you’re a foreign bank?
I have an idea, let’s allow all the major banks to become foreign banks and then we can prosecute them for fraud.
I can’t wait for the crony-capitalist foreign AGs, who would never prosecute their own sociopath banksters, to repay Holder in kind by going after the likes of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
Eric Holder: Some banks are too big to prosecute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3zwhp5-jXA
“Eric Holder: Some banks are too big to prosecute.”
Ditto for Lanny A. Breuer.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/30/bnp-paribas-guilty.html
Now let’s wait for the other shoe to drop as the French AG goes after our rating agencies or banks for THEIR fraud.
The riskiest housing markets in America.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-30/riskiest-housing-markets-america
Remain calm, Bulgarians…all is well.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/30/bulgaria-bank-savers-withdraw-cash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro
David Stockman (Reagan’s former budget director) tells it like it is on California’s housing bubble:
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/california-housing/
Treasury Two-Year Notes Cap June Loss as McCulley Sees Rate Rise
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-01/treasury-two-year-notes-cap-june-loss-as-mcculley-sees-rate-rise.html
“Treasury two-year yields will climb to 0.76 percent and 10-year yields will advance to 3.12 percent by Dec. 31, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists with the most recent forecasts given the heaviest weighting.”
That’s what it’s all about! The time to slowly increase duration in treasuries is now! Stay mostly in T-bills through December 31, but start buying 2 year notes.
When ten year note yield go above 5% start slowly buying them as well.
Quicken the pace as the rates go up
Looks like that horrible gold scandal in China did not cause a sell off
http://www.kitco.com/news/2014-06-30/Large-Speculators-Ramp-Up-Net-Bullish-Positioning-In-Gold-Silver-CFTC-Data.html
Gold spot is $1327.60 at 7:20pm PST
Another Asian housing bubble bursting.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-01/singapore-home-prices-slide-for-third-quarter-on-property-curbs.html