July 1, 2014

Bits Bucket for July 1, 2014

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




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124 Comments »

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 03:45:12

Realtors are liars

Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 06:37:51

Never trust a Stealtor

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 07:48:44

Not even to get you a sandwich or two.

 
 
Comment by Amy Hoax
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 16:40:41

Cheetos. PRONTO!

 
 
 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 04:47:28

From Iafrica.com The slowing of the Chinese housing market is not destroying China’s economy:

Chinese manufacturing activity expanded at its fastest pace this year in June, an official survey showed on Tuesday, in a sign that Beijing’s attempts to tackle slowing growth in the world’s number two economy are gaining traction.

The official purchasing managers index (PMI) hit 51.0 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement. The figure is up from 50.8 in May and the best since a similar reading of 51.0 in December.

The index tracks manufacturing activity in China’s factories and workshops and is a closely watched indicator of the health of the economy. A reading above 50 indicates growth, while anything below points to contraction.

The result, however, was marginally below the median 51.1 forecast in a survey of eight economists by Dow Jones.

Separately, a private survey published by British bank HSBC put China’s PMI at 50.7 in June - slightly below the preliminary reading of 50.8 released last month but well above May’s 49.4. The expansion was the survey’s first since December.

Authorities have since April rolled out a series of measures to bolster growth, including tax breaks for small enterprises, targeted infrastructure outlays and incentives to encourage lending in rural areas and to small companies, steps dubbed as “mini-stimulus” by economists.

“The continued recovery in manufacturing comes despite subdued property sales data for June,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist for Capital Economics, said in a report.

“It therefore appears that the downwards pressure on the economy from the property sector is still being offset by the recent state-led rebound in infrastructure investment as well as healthy external demand.”

House prices in major Chinese cities fell for a second consecutive month in June, an independent survey showed on Monday, providing more evidence of a deflating property bubble.

The average price of a new home in 100 major cities was 10 923 yuan ($1 775) per square metre last month, down 0.50 percent from May, the China Index Academy (CIA) said in a regular monthly survey.

“The economy continues to show more signs of recovery, and this momentum will likely continue over the next few months, supported by stronger infrastructure investments,” Qu Hongbin, HSBC’s chief China economist, said in comments accompanying HSBC’s announcement.

But he cautioned that “downside risks” in the property market will remain a negative factor.

The PMI data comes after China said earlier this year that economic growth for the first quarter of 2014 hit its weakest pace in 18 months.

 
Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 04:50:14

“Real journalism” at its finest, LOLZ

Politico - I Was a Washington Post Reporter And a Crack Addict

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/i-was-a-washington-post-reporter-and-a-crack-addict-108454.html

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2014-07-01 19:35:44

Since Washington Post “journalists” are nothing but corporate statist shills, I can see why even a crack addict could crank out lies and DNC talking points without missing a beat.

 
 
Comment by ibbots
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 06:50:46

And lawyers are liars.

Comment by ibbots
2014-07-01 07:28:58

Well paid liars indeed!

 
 
 
Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 05:53:51

Real journalists report on “the most transparent administration in history”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/court-gave-nsa-broad-leeway-in-surveillance-documents-show/2014/06/30/32b872ec-fae4-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html

Statist, progressive-fascist Dianne Feinstein is an evil hag

Time to drag her @ss off the Senate floor and toss her in Guantanamo Bay

She has done more to destroy freedom in America than any of the alleged terrorists who attacked on 9/11

Comment by plasmacutter
2014-07-01 17:46:55

Please don’t act as if the NSA was innocently walking to grandma’s house with cookies while bush was in office.

 
 
Comment by azdude
2014-07-01 05:54:17

drive until you qualify!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 06:01:20

Oligarchs don’t need to drive, they live in the nice old rich neighborhood, close to all of the amenities. If you work for a living you can no longer afford to be their neighbor.

Comment by azdude
2014-07-01 07:25:02

does it feel like working for a living is becoming less respectable?

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 07:28:14

It feels like it is becoming less profitable as they price people out of houses, college, cars, etc.

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Comment by azdude
2014-07-01 07:35:22

I see big change occurring as working people are giving up and getting on the gravy train.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 07:36:32

Collapsing housing demand. Gotta love it.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 07:38:27

Amy/$hithouse Poet,

Unemployment is the gravy train?

 
Comment by azdude
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 16:37:08

Well woman?

 
 
 
Comment by j-j-j-joe
2014-07-01 08:30:07

^^ this.

People who win the game financially aren’t the clown car commuters.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 16:39:36

Don’t you have a chauffer Liberace? Scott somebody?

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Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 17:39:31

Wise up and dig this

the UK Subs - I Live In A Car

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FxwEORDeng

 
Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 18:50:38

Joes parents are on the other side of the 1 percent divide. Hence all his pontificating.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 05:58:32

Think of the irony of what is about to happen on the immigration issue. Obama is about to use executive authority to allow many millions here to legally work and not be deported. But they wont get to be citizens or vote.

That is kind of how I think most people want it resolved and it is the obvious compromise between open borders and “deport em all,” neither of which seem realistic. The Rs will blow a gasket on the whole executive order thing, but Obama will be passing something they could never get passed as a proposed solution.

Of course they are going to kill us in social benefits now too.

Comment by Blue Skye
2014-07-01 06:14:05

Just remember when you hear the jobs numbers the government puts out: All those “jobs created” go to the immigrants. All of them. The native born employed has not gone up at all in the last six years.

“Most people” I know would like it to be illegal for illegals to be hired. They would then go home without deportation. “Most people” I know would like the President to uphold the law.

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 06:21:30

And I agree with you on both of those sentiments. But it ain’t going to happen. And 11 to 20 million would not go home, they would stay and work under the table for peanuts and have their families on social services like it is now. There always has and always will be people working under the table. They wont self deport back to a place where they make 50 dollars a month.

Comment by Combotechie
2014-07-01 06:25:28

“They wont self deport back to a place where they make 50 dollars a month.”

They won’t want to leave and their employers won’t want them to leave either.

The only ones who will want them to leave are the ones who are not benefiting from them staying.

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Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 06:38:10

The only ones who will want them to leave are the ones who are not benefiting from them staying.

Which, to be fair, is the other 99 percent of the population.

 
 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 06:51:31

They wont self deport back to a place where they make 50 dollars a month.

Why do so many self deport after the housing bubble burst and there were no construction jobs, if that is true?

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Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 06:56:21

do=did

 
Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 07:32:25

Why do so many self deport after the housing bubble burst and there were no construction jobs, if that is true?

Fair point. But all throughout that time we still had many coming across, millions a year I think. I’d like to see a real study of this, but such studies never are allowed. I would guess that those who left viewed it as temporary until jobs returned, which from the building in my area, they seem to have.

 
 
 
 
Comment by catfish
2014-07-01 06:14:18

No, the real reason is that our congressmen and women and the rich want to hire cheap labor and not be caught hiring illegals.

Comment by j-j-j-joe
2014-07-01 06:21:45

Exactly this. We have 2 parties that conspire to screw over the taxpayers who send them to Washington. All the back and forth fighting is an illusion to make it look like they have legitimate disagreements over the particulars of how to enforce the border or enforce labor laws. Elections are about money. People and corporations that donate tens or hundreds of thousands naturally get more attention from politicians. It’s not surprising, nay, it’s exactly what one should expect.

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 06:43:41

Nay?

Neigh? Oxide has a pony story for you.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 06:52:48

LIBERACE!

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Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 07:06:35

Downlow Joe has entered the building.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 06:15:08

That is kind of how I think most people want it resolved and it is the obvious compromise between open borders and “deport em all,” neither of which seem realistic.

Most people? Maybe most .01% but not most people. Why is deporting them all not realistic despite the MSM repeating that over and over?
Anyone that believes that the U.S. can run a health system certainly should believe we can deport 11 million people over an extended time period. Particularly since most will self deport if we seriously punish employers for employing them. Obama by giving them hope has caused this flood of illegals, if they knew there will never be amnesty or even a green card they would not come.

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 06:27:08

I knew i shouldnt have said “most people”! I agree that the preference for most would be that they all go back. But that will not happen. It is as unrealistic as the government grabbing all the guns.

It is not realistic to think that there is the will in this country to do what it takes to deport 11-20 million people.

Comment by jose canusi
2014-07-01 06:42:04

“It is not realistic to think that there is the will in this country to do what it takes to deport 11-20 million people.”

Oh, there’s the will all right, just not among the freaks in Washington.

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Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 06:45:47

No there is not the will. There is the desire. But it is the same desire as a fatty couch potato who desires to lose weight. Will requires more than just the desire.

 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 07:00:12

all it will take is people making it a priority, if people made it their voting priority it would happen. Cantor’s defeat scared enough people that it was voter’s priority to derail amnesty for this year. However, it only people make it clear that they will always vote for the hardliner on immigration will enforcement of immigration become a priority.

 
Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 07:51:28

All it would take to end the obesity epidemic in this country is people making it a priority.

 
Comment by rms
2014-07-01 12:46:04

“All it would take to end the obesity epidemic in this country is people making it a priority.”

I’m not confident about that. We can’t even get a height v. weight, or a smoker’s adjustment to set health insurance premiums, which would serve to nudge consumers in the right direction regarding their personal health. FWIW, life insurance premiums have these rankings.

 
Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 18:56:04

If it was a priority, you would get those adjustments, but in context it was making the point that it is not realistic to think this is going to happen.

“We can’t even get a height v. weight, or a smoker’s adjustment to set health insurance premiums,”

Is that true that smokers don’t pay more for insurance? For life insurance they ask.

 
 
 
Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2014-07-01 06:54:12

‘Why is deporting them all not realistic despite the MSM repeating that over and over?’

Not advocating it, but what US laws prevent citizens from banding together and rounding up illegals and driving them to the border and dropping them off? I know US citizens have no right to enforce laws in this way. Would like to see a court case make national news about it. Did Sheriff Joe in Arizona do something like this or was just his pink jumper suit prisoners that caused the media to go after him?

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 07:33:41

The law against kidnapping.

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Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2014-07-01 07:53:51

‘The law against kidnapping.’

It is illegal to do a citizen’s arrest?
So, they have rights as an illegal in the USA against kidnapping? What is it when the ICE rounds them up? I know, beyond semantics. Them that have the guns will keep us from kicking out the illegals.

 
Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 19:01:47

So, they have rights as an illegal in the USA against kidnapping?

Absolutely. Ice is acting under color of law if they do it, they are no more kidnapping anyne than any cop that makes an arrest. I do not know, but I don’t think there is a right to enforce federal law through citizen’s arrest. Also if someone punches or robs someone and you see it that is one thing, but how could you know they were illegal without access to immigration databases?

 
 
 
 
Comment by 2banana
2014-07-01 06:20:29

It is a great thing that presidents can ignores laws they don’t like and just make up laws they wished they had.

Don’t complain liberals and democrats when these very same tactics are used against you.

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 06:24:13

Can you imagine if a president refused to enforce any of the civil rights laws since he or she believed they were unconstitutionally based on the commerce clause?

 
Comment by plasmacutter
2014-07-01 17:52:52

This was pioneered under Reagan, who chose not to enforce the labor laws on the books, allowing his cronies to bust unions nationwide and ship millions of jobs to mexico.

 
 
Comment by reedalberger
2014-07-01 11:22:29

“But they wont get to be citizens or vote.”

Oh, they will vote, and that is precisely why Progressives in power are opposed to voters having to show picture ID.

 
 
Comment by j-j-j-joe
2014-07-01 05:59:38

Here’s a little reminder on how badly SoCal is screwed when it comes to good real estate…

Check this house out. “Only” 1.6MM but the price is much lower than nearby houses because… it’s just across the line into a bad school district (the HS is 80% minority).

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/1181-Mcclellan-Dr-90049/home/6760585

So then, let’s say you want the benefit of good public schools. Nearby, you get this for $1.9MM. This place is in a very good school district.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Santa-Monica/1127-Berkeley-St-90403/home/6762411

The combination of demographics and relatively poor public schools (when compared to other states with similar COL/incomes) is really laughable in CA. Oh, and here’s the info on demographics at the public HS for that cheaper house: http://www.greatschools.org/california/los-angeles/2440-University-Senior-High-School/?tab=demographics

10% white. ROFL. CA is __done here__.

Comment by Elanor
2014-07-01 06:52:35

The new, $1.5 million McMansion shoehorned onto an 8800 sq ft lot on my street has sold and the new neighbors have moved in. It was no surprise to learn they moved here (Chicago suburbs) from California. They probably saw it as a bargain. With a big yard. :D

 
Comment by ibbots
2014-07-01 07:30:34

$300k pays for a lot of private schooling though.

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 07:38:22

Does it? Joey says this would barely cover 1 kid K-12. Can you borrow for private schools same as for a house? God forbid govt subsidizes elementary school loans.

Comment by Northeastener
2014-07-01 08:02:10

See my comment yesterday… $140,000 gets you 4 years at an elite private high school. K-8 doesn’t matter nearly as much as high school does for college entrance.

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Comment by ibbots
2014-07-01 08:18:12

A small % of people send their kids to ‘elite’ schools that cost $35k / yr. That’s why they’re ‘elite’.

A lot of people are happy with ordinary private schools. Dallas Jesuit is $15k/yr. Not an ‘elite’ northeastern school but pretty darn good.

 
Comment by j-j-j-joe
2014-07-01 08:42:55

Or… you can go to a very good (doesn’t have to be elite) public HS. A little over half of HYPSM (top 5) students went to public HS. If you include the lower Ivies, it’s probably close to 2/3. The trick is, which publics are they coming from? If you look in a student directory, you see the same HS names/locations over and over.

BTW, I’m not sure how much it helps kids to go to Andover, Deerfield, Lawrenceville, etc.

You know why? Because those schools have artificially high admission #s to Ivies because a) the parents are loaded so the school can count on full tuition + generous annual giving, b) the parents are alums so the kids weren’t in the general admission pool to begin with and, c) the quality of the students was higher to begin with.

The “elite” private schools do well in top college admissions bc the pool was much stronger to begin with. But if you look at “bang for the buck”, the best bet is a good public school. By far. Schools like Stuyvessant, Hunter College HS, and Thomas Jefferson do better than even 40k/yr private HS’s.

 
Comment by j-j-j-joe
2014-07-01 11:04:56

BTW, elite private HS’s are apparently more like $50k/yr.

I just saw this article today and looked up Lawrenceville. It’s 53k/yr. http://nypost.com/2014/07/01/black-student-president-resigns-after-mocking-rich-white-guy-classmates/

LOL, holy s****.

 
 
 
 
Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 07:35:49

Why are you even commenting on specific CA real estate properties? Considering a move?

Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 08:04:28

Downlow Joe is an I-95 northeast corridor snob (spending a summer in Pittsburgh doesn’t count), but he will reluctantly acknowledge the existence of parts of Southern California, only if within an acceptable proximity to the 405 freeway.

 
Comment by j-j-j-joe
2014-07-01 08:36:18

Because it shows what a “liberal utopia” is really like — and it’s pretty scary.

CA shows where much of the rest of the US is headed. Largely non-white. And if you want to stay in an area with good schools, you’re going to pay for it. CA is the canary in the coal mine. It once had an enviable K-12 system and the best public universities. Now? You’re on your own unless you can afford to buy into the good districts. And its public universities have gotten quite pricey and dropped in relative quality. Outside of Berkeley, they’re not any better than other colleges on the west coast.

It’s going to get worse for CA, because how do you get people to assimilate into the culture if they’re in 90%+ minority schools? And if their MS-13 parents can’t afford the “public” universities? They’re not going to assimilate, CA is increasingly going to become “haves” and “have-nots”.

Comment by Salinasron
2014-07-01 09:07:26

“Outside of Berkeley”? Forget Berkeley as an undergrad, it is the graduate programs that give Berkeley the statis.

You want the better schools in CA then go to CalTech, SLO, Davis, UOP, St. Mary’s, Stanford.

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Comment by Arizona Slim
2014-07-01 10:55:17

And the Claremont Colleges.

 
Comment by Rental Watch
2014-07-01 18:52:47

Harvey Mudd…last I saw had the top pay for students nationwide…great school.

 
 
Comment by Cactus
2014-07-01 09:19:14

“liberal utopia” is really like — and it’s pretty scary.’

3 strikes and you’re out that law says allot about Liberal fairness.

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Comment by MightyMike
2014-07-01 11:05:32

What you’re doing is just saying in an elaborate way that house prices in coastal California are outrageously high. The current bubble was built on top of an earlier bubble that got started back in the ’70s. Of course, if you’ve read this blog, you should have seen evidence that at least one of those bubbles will burst some time in the next few years.

 
 
Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 06:06:38

Smear piece written by real journalists against “men’s rights activists”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/mens-rights-activists-gathering-to-discuss-all-the-ways-society-has-done-them-wrong/2014/06/30/a9310d96-005f-11e4-8fd0-3a663dfa68ac_story.html

So much fail in this article, the real “activism” isn’t a “movement” and doesn’t require a conference. Marxist feminism has infiltrated government, media, the legal system, and popular culture, but it is powerless against men who Go Their Own Way.

And sorry, cupcake, you don’t all get to be Sheryl Sandberg when you grow up :(

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2014-07-01 06:11:07

Nancy Pelosi gushes at the prospect of all those new Democrat-on-Arrival Central American migrants who can count on entitlements for life as long as they vote straight “D.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/30/nancy-pelosi-border-breach-opportunity-serve-spark/

 
Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 06:12:24

I wonder if there is some way to code a blog site to allow only a single screen name to post from a certain IP address per day. If it required too much sophistication for the average shill to work around, I think it’d be interesting.

I think Ben approves screen names for posting somehow, and I’m not sure how this affects the process of shilling here.

(Apologies Ben, i try to keep changes infrequent)

Comment by Blue Skye
2014-07-01 06:15:48

Are you a new poster here Rage, or a changeling?

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 06:18:00

Judging by the last line I would say a changeling.

 
Comment by j-j-j-joe
2014-07-01 06:24:08

It’s obviously someone who’s been around for a while. It was about 2-3 months ago that Ben discussed how he has to approve new screen names, which is why I haven’t changed mine since March. I didn’t realize it required him to go into the filtering system and approve names.

Comment by ibbots
2014-07-01 06:42:55

I haven’t changed mine since 2006. It is unclear to me why some posters require multiple handles.

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Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 07:47:32

How long do you think it would take to go back and read the entire Bits Bucket from day 1 to present? How many pages of text would it be?

Has it been around since 04 or so? 365 x 11 years x 10 pages of text roughly a day = 40,000+ pages?

Better than Game of Thrones.

 
Comment by ann gogh
2014-07-01 08:02:01

I was agitated in SD, then I was oro verde, now I’m still ann gogh!

 
 
Comment by oxide
2014-07-01 10:30:26

If I remember correctly, Ben only had to go deeply into the filters for you, because all the hyphens in your joe joe joe name looks like a spambot.

I admit, Favela and Shrimp dude sound familiar but I can’t pinpoint them. At first I thought Kressel was a longtime lurker diving in, but I guess he’s a changeling too. I don’t have the gumption to fish through the archives to figure it out.

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Comment by Arizona Slim
2014-07-01 10:58:46

Since I joined this blog-fiesta back in 2006, I’ve been Arizona Slim. If it still works for the rest of you, it also works for me.

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Comment by rms
2014-07-01 12:55:03

“Since I joined this blog-fiesta back in 2006, I’ve been Arizona Slim.”

Are ‘ya still slim? :)

 
Comment by Arizona Slim
2014-07-01 14:25:07

Yes, rms, I’m still Slim in name. And in reality.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2014-07-01 15:52:07

And I am still the Captain of the Blue Skye.

 
Comment by shendi
2014-07-01 17:54:28

Always reminds me of the Allman Brothers’ Blue sky

 
Comment by rms
2014-07-01 18:31:29

“Yes, rms, I’m still Slim in name. And in reality.”

+1 Kudos; trim is in.

Still dating my wife. :)

 
 
 
Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 06:28:16

Today I will be accused of being a quisling.

Comment by MightyMike
2014-07-01 07:57:42

No, what you’re approaching is called hypocrisy.

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Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 19:06:50

I post under only on name per day, usually. I don’t change that often.

 
 
 
Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-07-01 21:41:27

Pretty sure WalmartShrimpRage = FavelaTouro = Strawberry Picker.

Who he/she was before that, don’t know.

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 23:33:20

You must have me confused with someone else.

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Comment by sleepless_near_seattle
2014-07-02 00:01:37

:lol:

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2014-07-01 06:13:23

China’s political class - put in place to “serve the people” - seems more inclined to amass ill-gotten wealth at the expense of the masses. Seems oddly familiar somehow….

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/30/china-xucaihou-graft.html

Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 07:40:54

Does that link say “graft”? What does that mean?

Comment by Blue Skye
2014-07-01 07:49:59

Oxide?

Comment by oxide
2014-07-01 10:33:46

No, I haven’t changed my name at all.

Graft is an old word for general corruption like kickbacks and bribes, and I guess no-bid contracts.

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Comment by Pete
2014-07-01 11:31:55

I think it was “AuntieFed….” who kept asking what graft is.

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Comment by WalmartShrimpRage
2014-07-01 06:31:29

Bodies, dead bodies. I told you there would be dead bodies. It is a numbers game. Heat + kids + desert = death.

A humanitarian crisis worse than Katrina is happening. Why no visit?

I cant wait for someone to blame Bush and Cheney.

Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 07:35:46

Regardless of the circumstances that led to their deaths, dead kids are just pawns to Obama. Dead kids at Sandy Hook Elementary, dead kids at the Mexican border, are exactly what Obama needs, what Obama wants, when it’s time to “never let a crisis go to waste”.

Comment by AmazingRuss
2014-07-01 10:00:26

Obama feeds on their souls to gain power, and has implanted a computer chip in your head so the satellites can track your every move!

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 10:11:33

Not even the chip is made in America.

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Comment by Cactus
2014-07-01 13:22:44

Most are not

The companies that can manage this feat of nano-scale manufacturing for a variety of microchips are Intel, Samsung, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), and GlobalFoundries, the last of which announced today that it aims to be the world’s leading contract chip manufacturer by both volume and revenue.

Intel is currently building a high-volume fab for its most advanced processors, and outfitting two others with the same technology. This is typical: These structures are so expensive and complicated that companies start with a few, or sometimes even just one, and wait for the volume to justify the enormous capital expenditures required to build more.

By 2014, most new electronics that think with silicon will be using chips built in these factories, which means we will be more dependent than ever on just a handful of manufacturers. These facilities are spread across the globe, which is good in terms of the overall system’s susceptibility to natural disasters. But there’s not much spare capacity at these facilities. As the world—and Apple—discovered after the earthquake in Japan, supply chains are long and full of unexpected vulnerabilities.

 
 
Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 10:25:32

I used to think GWB was the worst president in my lifetime, but Obama is even worster. I voted for him in 2008 thinking it would flush all the neocon turds out into the ocean, but the neocon progressive-fascists who replaced GWB are no better.

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Comment by jane
2014-07-01 19:46:56

You guys are a tough crowd.

I was brought up staunchly Protestant, went to church school. Part of the drill was memorizing and reciting Scripture and other foundational dogma, as the occasion demanded. I do not say this in a pejorative way. There is something very empowering about being able to recite “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” crisply, and with the appropriate inflections.

I believe the requirement to memorize did something to our brain wiring. We have all grown up skeptical, with (err) GOOD memories. Successful on our own terms. (Success is having a bigger cr*pshack than Joe’s and debt is wealth? —-naaah. )

That framework is dominated by the awareness of choice. Teaching focuses on growing adequate equipment to make informed choices. Conservative Protestantism - the kind that required memorization, thinking, oration and analysis - is far from an easy road.

How does this relate to housing?

The One has all of the characteristics of the Anti-Christ. List ‘em up, top to bottom. Check
‘em off.

In the spirit of informed choice, Ima gone go buy my bug-out location this weekend.

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2014-07-01 19:40:21

I’m no fan of Obama, but don’t you think that kind of demonization is excessive?

Comment by jane
2014-07-01 23:40:18

RH, It’s sorta funny that you thought Goonie’s moderately phrased opinion excessive. Peace.

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Comment by rms
2014-07-01 13:01:53

“A humanitarian crisis worse than Katrina is happening. Why no visit?”

The UN estimates that roughly 500,000 deaths of Iraqi children and youth were the result of the US imposed sanctions by the Clinton and Bush administrations.

 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 06:57:06

The fraud that is Corinthian Colleges is based where else but California.

What is it about that state that so much fraud starts there?

Comment by azdude
2014-07-01 07:29:25

CA always leads the country out of a recession, always!

Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 12:32:26

Fixt for you Amy/$hitHousePoet.

CA always leads the country out of a recession into disaster, always!

Comment by azdude
2014-07-01 13:46:58

stocks and home dude!! U cannot foreclose on deadbeats in CA. Home prices need to stay high for bankers and local govts who depend on the tax money!!

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2014-07-01 16:35:44

Disaster Poet disaster.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Cactus
2014-07-01 09:24:13

Calabasas CA ground zero for bad mortgage origination.

 
 
Comment by Neuromance
2014-07-01 07:05:03

Politicians and bankers knew exactly what was going on in the housing market as of 2002. See the below written in June 2002 by a well known politician:

Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Free Housing Market Enhancement Act. This legislation restores a free market in housing by repealing special privileges for housing-related government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). According to the Congressional Budget Office, the housing-related GSEs received $13.6 billion worth of indirect federal subsidies in fiscal year 2000 alone.

The Free Housing Market Enhancement Act also repeals the explicit grant of legal authority given to the Federal Reserve to purchase the debt of housing-related GSEs.[ed. note: They knew what was up.] GSEs are the only institutions besides the United States Treasury granted explicit statutory authority to monetize their debt through the Federal Reserve. This provision gives the GSEs a source of liquidity unavailable to their competitors.

Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market.

However, despite the long-term damage to the economy inflicted by the government’s interference in the housing market, the government’s policies of diverting capital to other uses creates a short-term boom in housing. Like all artificially-created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing.

Perhaps the Federal Reserve can stave off the day of reckoning by purchasing GSE debt and pumping liquidity into the housing market, but this cannot hold off the inevitable drop in the housing market forever. In fact, postponing the necessary but painful market corrections will only deepen the inevitable fall. The more people invested in the market, the greater the effects across the economy when the bubble bursts.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for Congress to act to remove taxpayer support from the housing GSEs before the bubble bursts and taxpayers are once again forced to bail out investors misled by foolish government interference in the market.

http://www.ronpaul.com/2008-09-26/ron-paul-on-the-housing-bubble-july-2002/

They knew how to manipulate this market to allow certain favored sectors to profit. William K. Black has been talking about “control fraud” for a long time. This was pure control fraud. And none of the architects has suffered an iota of consequence, other than being dramatically enriched.

 
Comment by Neuromance
2014-07-01 07:39:17

The Economist’s take on British housing prices. They chalk it up entirely to a lack of supply and downplay government mortgage subsidies :) Regardless, the point here is that even politicians and central banks sometimes - SOMETIMES - grow concerned of housing price increases.

A very British binge
The housing market is a huge problem in Britain. Blame the government, not the banks
May 24th 2014
The Economist

HAVING risen by 8% in the past year, British house prices are almost back to the double-digit pace that preceded the financial crisis. That parallel makes many anxious. Vince Cable, the business secretary, calls runaway house prices a “real, real, real worry”. Sir Jon Cunliffe, the central banker responsible for Britain’s financial stability, says housing is “too dangerous to ignore”. David Cameron, the prime minister, describes the rampant market as the biggest risk to Britain’s recovery.

The big worry is not the house prices themselves: a house is an asset, after all. The problem is the debt that sits behind it. Britons are stretching to meet ever-rising prices by borrowing more. Average loan-to-income ratios have passed their 2007 peak. This threatens to throttle the economy.

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21602699-housing-market-huge-problem-britain-blame-government-not-banks-very

 
Comment by jose canusi
2014-07-01 09:55:31

He died. The lesson? Soccer sucks.

And no, we are NOT one big happy family of man, certain immigrant groups are just resentful and don’t belong here.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/07/01/michigan-ref-brutally-punched-during-game-in-critical-condition/

Well, I guess the sheeple are learning some tough lessons, one fatal encounter at a time.

Comment by goon squad
2014-07-01 10:50:48

“learning some tough lessons, one fatal encounter at a time”

Such as: never get between a cat and its boy.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2014-07-01 11:40:44

AP doesn’t say that the pucher was an immigrant.

 
 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 13:26:34

AP doesn’t say that the pucher was an immigrant.

No and you can’t get a more American name than: Baseel Abdul-Amir Saad

Comment by MightyMike
2014-07-01 13:45:35

Thanks - we haven’t had enough statism yet today.

I know that it’s a rather trite thing to say, but there was probably a time when people said that names like Eisenhower or DiMaggio didn’t sound American.

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2014-07-01 14:11:15

But the question is whether he is an immigrant or not and with that name the odds clearly favor that either he or his father was an immigrant. The question is not whether he is an American.

 
 
 
Comment by azdude
2014-07-01 13:48:12

Does this market remind anyone of the pets.com days?

Comment by Arizona Slim
2014-07-01 14:26:06

Yep, it sure does.

I mean, come on. A seven-figure valuation for an app that says “Yo!” Give me a break.

 
 
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