Bits Bucket for July 8, 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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Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Investor Outlook
Welcome to the Everything Boom, or Maybe the Everything Bubble
JULY 7, 2014
Neil Irwin
In Spain, where there was a debt crisis just two years ago, investors are so eager to buy the government’s bonds that they recently accepted the lowest interest rates since 1789.
In New York, the Art Deco office tower at One Wall Street sold in May for $585 million, only three months after the going wisdom in the real estate industry was that it would sell for more like $466 million, the estimate in one industry tip sheet.
In France, a cable-television company called Numericable was recently able to borrow $11 billion, the largest junk bond deal on record — and despite the risk usually associated with junk bonds, the interest rate was a low 4.875 percent.
Welcome to the Everything Boom — and, quite possibly, the Everything Bubble. Around the world, nearly every asset class is expensive by historical standards. Stocks and bonds; emerging markets and advanced economies; urban office towers and Iowa farmland; you name it, and it is trading at prices that are high by historical standards relative to fundamentals. The inverse of that is relatively low returns for investors.
…
“Only suckers pay retail.”
Only fools pay retail plus 250%.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
+1 Yep, man against man; other way ’round, here.
London house prices leap by 25% in rise unequalled since 1987, new data shows
Average house price in capital breaks through £400,000 barrier – double UK average – reports Nationwide
Hilary Osborne
theguardian.com, Wednesday 2 July 2014 05.59 EDT
Ireland house prices raise fears of a new bubble
Vincent Boland
18 Hours Ago
Financial Times
No. 36 Burford Drive might be any family’s ideal home. With its five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and high-quality kitchen, this terraced house in landscaped grounds on the site of a former golf club in the Dublin suburb of Dun Laoghaire was attracting strong interest from potential buyers one recent Sunday afternoon.
Six months ago, homes in this new development sold for just under 600,000 euros ($815,500). Now the asking price is 10 percent higher. Yet potential buyers appear unfazed. “It is cheaper than the house we live in,” says Mark Cheesmore, a 51-year-old telecoms engineer who is viewing the house with his wife Emer and their eight-year-old son Liam.
…
Bricks and Mortar
Langi Chiang
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 08 July, 2014, 1:10am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 08 July, 2014, 1:10am
Slow progress in housing reform adds to bubble fears in China
Lack of consensus among policymakers leads to the delay in property registration system
Property inventories on the mainland have been building up since late last year and home prices are losing steam. Photo: Reuters
When the central government missed its end-of-June deadline for publishing an ordinance governing the registration of immovable property on the mainland, such as housing, land and forests, it was a heavy blow to hopes that the Xi-Li administration is different from its Hu-Wen predecessor.
The failure came amid rising concerns that major reforms being pushed by the leadership are progressing too slowly, adding to worries about the bursting of the mainland’s real estate bubble and an abrupt slowdown in the broader economy.
…
Is a Property Bubble About to Burst in China?
July 7 (Bloomberg) –- In today’s “Global Outlook,” Bloomberg’s David Ingles takes a look at China’s property market in Bloomberg Television’s “On The Move.” (Source: Bloomberg)
…
China’s property bubble slowly deflating
July 08, 2014 12:10PM
HOUSING prices in major Chinese cities have fallen for a second consecutive month in June, an independent survey shows, providing more evidence of a deflating property bubble.
The average price of a new home in 100 major cities was 10,923 yuan ($1920) per square metre this month, down 0.50 per cent from May, the China Index Academy (CIA) said in a regular monthly survey.
Prices had dropped 0.32 per cent month-on-month in May, the first such decline in nearly two years, but the academy said the pace of the fall accelerated in June.
Prices fell in 71 cities and rose in just 29, it said.
China has long sought to contain rising property prices, while also promising to increase the supply of affordable housing, as surging costs stoke discontent among ordinary citizens unable to afford new homes.
…
The latest bubble is a bubble bubble!
Today’s bubbles aren’t like those of the past
July 8, 2014, 10:58 AM ET
We’ve got a bubble in bubbles: Everyone from Neil Irwin of the New York Times to Irwin Kellner of MarketWatch is writing about investment bubbles.
Kellner’s piece was at the top of the page on MarketWatch Tuesday morning, while Irwin’s piece led the print edition of the New York Times, with a provocative headline: “Welcome to the Everything Boom, or Maybe the Everything Bubble.”
He notes that prices of almost every asset class – from equities to bonds to farm land — are very high, the result of investors across the globe reaching for higher yields in a world of zero interest rates.
It’s hard not to see bubbles everywhere you look.
But if the world is bubbly right now, it’s a very peculiar bubble.
In the past, bubbles were fueled by irrational optimism. Investors were positive they were going to amass great fortunes by investing in tulips, or in stock of the South Sea Company, or in Internet stocks, or in newly built condos in Las Vegas. The bubbles were fueled by hope.
It’s exactly the opposite now. No one thinks they’ll become a trillionaire by investing in Spanish bonds, or in the Indonesian stock market, or gold. The people with money to burn are just trying to preserve their capital, not double it overnight.
Today’s bubbles are not driven by hope, but by fear.
We may have a savings glut, as Ben Bernanke has opined, but we certainly have a pessimism glut. And no one has yet figured out how to puncture the bubble in despair.
—Rex Nutting
Paso Robles, CA Housing Prices Plunge 2% YoY At Season Peak; Inventory Explodes 416%
http://www.movoto.com/paso-robles-ca/market-trends/
HA, HA, HA you are hilarious. Prices “plunged 2% YOY” in Paso Robles???
What word do you want to use when you observed the median house size was 4% smaller?
“Median house sizes ‘double-plunged’ by 4% YOY in Paso Robles” ?????
You are a laugh a minute!
You’re flailing again Jingle Fraud.
Nothing can save you now from a lifetime of incalculable losses.
……certainly not a goon. Not even a squad of them!
Thanks for trying.
And thanks for lying J._Fraud.
Fixt it for you J._Fraud
Paso Robles, CA Housing Prices Plunge 25% YoY At Season Peak; Inventory Explodes 416%
http://www.movoto.com/paso-robles-ca/market-trends/
Fixt?
Paso Robles, CA Housing Prices Soar $1/SF YoY.
HA, HA, HA, another laugh a minute.
Down 25% and falling J._Fraud.
House SIZES are down, PRICES are up $1/SF YoY.
No “Crater” HA. HA, HA, HA, you are a laugh a minute.
2013 Median List Price, $659,000
2014 Median List Price , $499,000
Sorry J._Fraud.
Average price per Square Foot, up $1.
Are you really that dense that you don’t see smaller houses sell for less?
Wrong J._Fraud.
Ventura, CA Housing Prices Crater 27% YoY; Demand Collapsing
http://www.movoto.com/ventura-ca/market-trends/
Yes HA, HA, HA.
Ventura, CA Housing SIZES Crater 26% YoY; HOUSE SIZES are Collapsing…….
Post something meaningful or go home.
Good morning J._Fraud. Call your bankruptcy attorney instead of hanging with lying Realtors.
HA, HA, HA, you’re a riot.
I don’t hang with Realtors, though I am meeting one on Saturday to discuss building a house on one of my land parcels. This would be a lot I purchase for $50k from BofA in 2010. The neighboring lot just sold for $294,000.
Yes, this is the same property where I will pay $90,000 for all the permits needed to start construction, although the city just told me the developer pre-paid $18,500 of that amount in 2004, so my net cost will be $71,500.
I don’t hang with Realtors, though I am meeting one on Saturday to discuss building a house on one of my land parcels.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to meeting with a builder, then, rather than a Realtor(tm)?
His tales get taller and taller with every post.
Liberace? Lola? Is that you?
I am meeting with the architect and the realtor. We need to determine the best product to build in this market. A HA tarpaper shack won’t cut the mustard here.
Now you’re meeting with an architect. LOL
Another day of J._Fraud’s ducking and weaving.
JM: Why do you need a realtoR to tell you what type of product to build? Can’t you find that out on your own? realtoRs just sell stuff, dude. They don’t actually know anything. They are hired to sell whatever you got.
This agent has sold 2 houses in this market for another builder and is working on two more. $1,500,000 is a lot of money to invest. I like to have a knowledgeable and competent team. That leads to success more often.
“builder”? Too funny John_Fraud. You’re a “general contractor”.
Remember that one? We do.
Your alleged empire of worthless dirt and rotting shacks will bankrupt you and drag you into an early grave.
Interesting Goon. The reality is they will provide me economic benefits for many years. They already have.
You need a bigger squad of goons…….then you will make more sense and perhaps make more cents!
They’re eating you alive J._Fraud. Remember, houses are a depreciating asset that never pays you.
You have been saying that for years now HA. I’ll just keep going to the bank with my cash flow and laugh. HA, HA, HA. You’re a laugh a minute.
Cash flowing right in the toilet. Good Job J._Fraud.
I think it was median list price in Ventura that caught HA’s attention:
Median List Price
Today $499,900
One Month Ago $499,900
One Year Ago $682,000
Year-on-year decline 27%
Yes, in one breath, he treats list price as if it were the oracle of Delphi. In the next breath, he “lists” his used Honda at $50K to prove that list price means nothing.
Even a donkey can see through that.
List prices are falling Donk. ….. Putting you ever deeper underwater.
“Even a donkey can see”
Your losses are blinding you, you can’t see anything.
Except maybe between the hours of 11:59am and 12:01pm when a sliver of sunlight briefly touches the incalculable depths at the bottom of your CRATER.
How much of that was mix-shift?
Exactly Prime.
House sizes were 17% smaller. The price/SF was up 15% YoY and up 3% MoM.
HA is a laugh. Meaningless data mining, selective stats noted, with no disclosure for the rest of the facts.
The data certainly doesn’t seem to say what he suggests that it says; however, the mix-shift IS pretty interesting. IIRC, didn’t we see a similar mix-shift as affordability waned in the 2005/2006 time-frame?
And the mix shows falling prices. Down 25% in Ventura CA.
“House sizes were 17% smaller.”
Which is where the demand is landing given that owners of bigger places have priced out the buyer pool…
“I have so much money left after “throwing money away on rent” every month that I don’t know where to throw it”
You better believe it.
dango goon you should have sent all that loot on cupcakes….our economy is doing so well lately
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/07/07/cbs-2-crumbs-bake-shop-closing-down-all-locations/
Cupcake stores have proven to be a fad. We had a very successful operation in Sacramento become full of themselves, expand to four stores and go BK about 12 months later.
Sac is behind the times. The cupcake craze in DC came and went 4 years ago. The last remnant is “cake pops” which IMO are being kept alive only by SBUX.
This was four years ago Oxy, though I will venture that DC probably led the way.
From Sept. ‘09
The Cupcake Bubble
“The trend started, as most trends do, in Los Angeles and New York. In Los Angeles, Sprinkles, which bills itself as the first cupcake bakery, has expanded from its base in Beverly Hills to five locations in California, Texas, and Arizona—with 16 more outlets in the works.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2009/09/the_cupcake_bubble.html
Does big rump k^2 do cupcakes?
Could this be the black swan?
At this point the stock market is down over 100 points.
And by less than 1%!
Lots of cash and no debt.
I need to buy another wine fridge to store more $100 bottles of investment grade wines.
Wow Bill, the carrying costs on your electricity usage may drink up your profits…..
That’s the conundrum. I don’t have enough of the big wines to cost effectively place in dedicated wine storage rental. But have enough where I need to store them correctly.
Just drink up and give the house a good name….
Oh, wait, it is the HBB. No one here gives a house a good name!
I recently overheard a realtor say,“If you have to borrow for 15 or 30 years, it’s not affordable nor can you afford it.”
I recently heard a Realtor say Housing Analyst is a laugh a minute.
speaking of laughs, here’s a joke of an article your girlfriend amy wrote:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/creative-ways-to-win-a-bidding-war-2014-07-07
J._Fraud lied his way into a corner again.
A 30 year mortgage is 30 years of slavery. Save up and pay cash. But wait ’till this current bubble has popped.
My prediction will come true Ohbewannas legacy will be the death of political correctness….
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/why-is-obama-encouraging-illegal-immigration-when-we-cant-take-care-of-millions-of-our-own-citizens
This current mini crisis of diseased kids flooding our border cities and the Federal government ordering no talk from the Americans involved - well there is talk that this could be Obama’s Katrina.
A form of biological warfare. Goon talks about lice and scabies. It’s way worse than that, there’s tuberculosis and an ailment comparable to dengue fever, some sort of swine flu, etc. With the added bonus that much of this is drug resistant.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/07/todd-starnes-illegal-immigrant-children-have-lice-so-severe-they-can-be-seen-crawling-down-their-faces-video/
That’s way gross. Of course with Faux News, you also have to wonder whether the entire story was fabricated…
Well, that’s one positive I hope will come out of it. But you have to remember, the real action is between two groups of whites who hate each other with a passion, and one group uses people of color against the other.
It appears most people are not saving currency anymore and instead relying on asset appreciation for savings. can you blame them?
“relying on asset appreciation for savings” = relying on opinions of total strangers.
If these total strangers change their opinions then these savers will be left stranded.
What’s interesting about these opinions about asset prices is the higher the rise in the prices of the asset the higher is the rise of opinions of the asset’s value.
People who would never think of buying an asset when prices were low will rush in to buy when prices get high.
The value of an asset SHOULD be tied to the ability for that asset to generate cash over time.
Not to get all theoretical, but the higher the risk-free rate of return on capital, the higher the rate of return is needed to justify buying assets (and vice-versa).
The Fed dropped the risk-free rate to nothing…and so acceptable market yields also dropped to low rates (thus driving up asset values).
There is a tremendous focus on the value of the asset, and much less focus on cash flow stream generated from that asset.
Neither are static.
The value of the asset is specifically tied not only to the risk-free rate, but also the expectations of future cash flow generation. The challenge is to predict the future cash flow generation.
And this is where money-printing comes into play…in a global market for commodities, the more money you print, the more of that printed money it takes to buy commodities. In MANY cases, those commodities are a key component to creating more cash-flow producing assets.
Aside from predicting yields on commercial real estate, I think where lots of money will be made is predicting rental rates. As vacancy rates tighten, rents will rise until they justify new development…if at the same time, yields are rising, rents will need to go even higher to justify new development.
The bet on many commercial RE investments is that rents rising will more than offset yields rising. In some cases, that will be true…however, if the starting yield is VERY low, I don’t think rents stand a chance of keeping up.
A move in yields from 4% to 5% means your rents need to go up by 25% to just keep the asset value the same. If your starting yield is 8% moving to 9% (because the asset isn’t pretty, or is out of favor), rents need to rise only by 12.5% to keep the same asset value.
Long story short, today from an investment standpoint, you should be “selling cash flow” (selling assets that generate predictable cash flow), and “buying basis” (buying assets that are expensive to replace relative to the income they generate or could generate today).
And I completely agree with you…people tend to be buyers when everything is going great, when really they should be sellers (and vice-versa).
It also drove up Fed denial that their policy actions have any effect in creating asset price bubbles.
Great summary, RW!
Why spend a lifetime of earnings on a depreciating asset like a house?
Asset appreciation:
You have to be careful. Unless your only holdings are 1) A house you bought in 1997, gold you bought in 2001, Series I savings bonds you bought in 2000, stocks you bought March 1 2009, you have to also have a bunch of cash and / or T-bills.
Load up your brokerage account for the next 2009.
Just curious Bill, when do you expect the next 2009 (50%+ fall peak to trough) to occur? Some might argue that 2009 was a standard stock market correction after a period of exuberance, like there was after the dotcom (40%+ S&P fall) and in 1987 (30% S&P fall)–and thus the “next 2009″ could be within the next few years.
Others might say that the depth of the crash in 2009 was a generational event, not previously seen since the Great Depression.
From my perspective, the dotcom was a bit unique in that a hallmark was stock market valuation without income (and thus a runup that was too high, and a fall that was pretty extreme).
I expect there to be a significant market correction in the next few years, but I don’t expect it to be to the same extent as the correction in 2009…I see that particular extreme event as a generational market collapse.
Could it be 30%? Sure…perhaps even 40%. My big problem is that whenever I think about selling some of my big winners in my NON-tax advantaged account, I do the math on the certain tax I’ll be paying (close to 30% of the proceeds–yes, I have a low basis in my winners), and the then need to keep the money at 0% while I hope a 30% correction occurs (and forego dividend income in the meantime).
Selling in my tax advantaged accounts requires me to get the timing of the peak just right, and then hope the collapse is 30% or greater, so I can buy back in and be net positive on an after-tax basis. I don’t think I’m that good at picking tops (or bottoms). So, in my tax advantaged accounts, I’m holding…but not buying any more.
In tax advantaged accounts, it’s a much different story…there you can pare back and build cash easily without concern for tax. I haven’t started to pare back, but shifted my allocation considerably from small cap to other stocks early in 2014…perhaps a bit early, but I’d rather be early than late.
I expect an epic drop, similar to 2003 and 2009 to occur the next three years.
The longer put off the correction, the sharper the drop. That is my reasoning. Had the S&P 500 finished 2011 (or 2012) down by 10% then it would have been a needed correction. But the S&P 500 was down maybe at most 1% for the 2011 year. So we essentially had a 64 month bull market, which is very rare. So a bigger drop than a mere correction is what I expect.
I’m not good at picking tops or bottoms.
As for selling within tax advantaged accounts, I assume you mean tax deferred ones. I was 100% into stock funds in my tax deferred accounts until I turned 54. A few months later I moved 10% into a 30-month maturity mix bond fund that averages 2% yield. If you are more than 15 years from retirement I would stay in stock funds. I was 100% in stock funds in my retirement plans in the correction years 2001-2003 and 2008-2009.
And I don’t time stock funds. I just think I’m anywhere from 8 to 12 years from retirement and should have a 60%, 30%, 10% stocks and stock funds to government securities to precious metals ratio. Precious metals so I won’t end up eating dog food. Government securities so I won’t be in a bread line. Stock funds because the wall of worry theory is usually true.
If you are in your 50s why worry about timing? I was surprised how great I felt when I moved 10% into bonds. And two or three months ago I upped it to 12%.
I especially like to sell my staffing stock on Mondays. It gives me a “happy boost” to get more cash while having zero debt. I want to get $120,000 in cash and I only need to save $10,000 more - that’s outside my savings bonds, TIPs, notes, and municipal bonds.
I think the first part of the bull market starting in 2009 was coming off of an credit coma-induced low. I don’t expect another credit-driven crash, but I do expect a correction. In other words, I think the correction will be less extreme than 2009, but could be in the 30-40% range. I do agree though that the longer this bull runs, the harder it will fall.
All my retirement funds are in Roth accounts, so I do mean tax advantaged. I still have plenty of time before I’ll be taking any cash out (15+ years). I’ve been pre-paying my tax in large amounts (I have $0 in non-Roth retirement accounts despite maxing out IRAs x2 and 401k x1 for close to 20 years).
My big question is what to do with the kids’ 529s. You only can change the mix once per calendar year. I did very well keeping them in cash until the first part of 2009, at which time I went “all in” (the “riskiest” mix). I got VERY lucky in timing the bottom to nearly the week. If S&P hits 2,100, I’ll seriously think about going back to cash in the 529s…if it hits 2,250, I definitely will. Yes, they each still have 10+ years before they would go to college, but given how well I’ve done, I’d hate to give back a lot of my gains.
And when the defaults begin the cascade globally you’ll be changing your theme R._Fraud. But it will be too late for you.
Because our Sky Wizard is better than your Sky Wizard
Washington Post - Israel launches major operation against Hamas in Gaza Strip
“The Israeli army, air force and navy launched a major operation Tuesday against the Islamist militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, striking 50 sites in the coastal enclave and mobilizing infantry troops along the border for a possible ground incursion designed to stop rocket attacks on Israel.
Netanyahu was quoted as instructing the army to “take their gloves off” against Hamas and increase attacks on Gaza.
The operation began as tensions remained high in both Israel and the West Bank over the recent kidnapping and killing of three Israeli students and an apparent revenge killing of a Palestinean teenager. The 16-year-old Palestinean was snatched from the street outside his home, taken to a forest and, according to Palestinean prosecutors, burned alive.
“They chose the direction of escalation,” said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman. “So the mission will go on as long as we feel it is necessary to carry it out. We don’t expect it to be a short mission on our behalf.”
I think you’ll find that the Palestinians were firing many rockets from the Gaza Strip.
If A terrorist group was firing missiles on Denver, wouldn’t we go out and wipe them out?
Also, the people that killed the Palestinian kid are in an Israeli jail waiting for their murder trial.
Sky Wizard never told me to go kill anybody.
You been reading the wrong chapters of your Skywizarding books!
If someone was bombing the goon squad house, would you just sit there and let it happen?
If trees could scream would we be so cavalier to cut them down? Probably, if they screamed for no reason.
The Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated territories in the world, has been compared to open air prison. So one could ask a similar question. If you were part of a community of ~1.7 million people crowded into a small patch of land and cut off from the rest of the world, would you not take some action, perhaps violent action, against the forces imprisoning you?
A re-post from yesterday’s bits, only with Ben Jones’ gracious permission
the Subhumans - Religious Wars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFDpvk_fEM
This is the only album that has ever really spoken the truth to me in my lifetime. Never mind the Bollocks, here’s the Sex Pistols:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bucVwI0RfEg
Whoda thunk you can’t build an economic recovery based on charging $5 muffins on your HELOC?
MarketWatch - Crumbs Bake Shop throws in the towel
“Crumbs Bake Shop Inc. notified employees Monday that it would be closing all of its stores at the end of the business day, a spokeswoman for the New York-based cupcake maker said.
“Regrettably Crumbs has been forced to cease operations and is immediately attending to the dislocation of its devoted employees while it evaluates its limited remaining options,” the company said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.
Crumbs went public three years ago at the height of the gourmet-cupcake boom. Since then, its financial outlook has grown bleak amid several years of losses, a dwindling cash supply, and a food craze that is petering out.
Be careful where you put your discretionary income. Wonder if the pet rock fad woulda had legs in the I-society ? :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-Vintage-PET-ROCK-1975-In-Original-Carrier-with-Manual-/121325325825?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c3f8d8e01
Because warmists gonna warm
“Crews fought through a rugged landscape, triple-digit heat, gusty winds, and the stark and chronic dryness of California’s long drought to make hard-earned progress against a wildfire burning for its fourth day.
Such dry conditions have hurt the fight against other wildfires in Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah and Washington state.”
http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Chronic-dryness-hinders-fight-against-West-s-fires-5605796.php
Yes the Anasazi destroyed their civilization with SUVs too.
I was thinking about what a normalizing in interest rates would do to this country and I understand why the MSM wants to talk about China and not what a mess Obama has put us into.
If interest rates were to rise by 3%, just the interest on the debt would soon rise $540 billion dollars putting our deficit back to the one trillion dollar mark but it does not end there. Fannie and Freddie have been sending “profits” to the treasury but if interest rates rise they would be losing money on their old mortgages, we might even have to bail them out, so lets add another 100 to 200 billion dollars to the deficit. But this is not the end, the Fed needs to cut its balance sheet and part of the reason for a 3% rise in interest rates would be as a result of this cutting back. If they cut back the Fed’s “profit” would be cut by tens of billions of dollars. Thus, without even assuming that the rise might cause a recession, we are looking at budget deficits between 1.2 trillion and 1.5 trillion just considering the impact of normal interest rates. Now, add in the fact that Obama has not even proposed a fix for the disability trust fund, the Medicaid trust fund, the social security trust fund and other time bombs and you can see the Obama rolled the die that he could restart this economy with deficits and money printing and he has failed and we will be literally paying for this failure for decades.
Yet there is no money for any kind of job retraining, no War on Ebonics to end functional illiteracy. No plans of a CCC type program or a Draft to make everyone participate in America.
Yet the repubs sit idly by and let things get worse. Not a visionary in the bunch.
“…why the MSM wants to talk about China and not what a mess Obama has put us into.”
The world is not quite the dichotomy between Obama versus everything else that you envision. For instance, the incipient crash in China would be newsworthy whether we had a Democrat, a Republican or a Libertarian in the WH.
But that is the point, China does not have an incipient crash. Thanks largely to Obama the Yuan is taking more and more of the world’s trade and by the time it hits 50%, it will the U.S. that crashes.
I was mainly talking about housing; not sure about the future direction of trade. Though this is worrying:
Markets
Chinese Port’s Missing-Metals Mystery Deepens
Citic Resources Can’t Locate Alumina at Qingdao, Amid Probe Into Commodities-Backed Loans
By Chuin-Wei Yap And Enda Curran
Updated June 18, 2014 6:27 p.m. ET
…
This is an old story. Recall the salad oil swindle back in the early 1960s. Tanks filled mostly with water with a couple of feet of vegetable oil floating on top. Warehouse receipts for all though.
the Yuan is taking more and more of the world’s trade and by the time it hits 50%, it will the U.S. that crashes.
You still haven’t explained why this matters at all.
Because the dollar is backed by little more than faith and soon people will want a currency backed by something like gold. When that day comes we will have to live by the same rules as the rest of the world and will not be able to just print money to pay for our massive Current account deficit and our budget deficit.
http://www.naturalnews.com/040651_US_dollar_economic_collapse_monetary_reserves.html
Fannie and Freddie have been sending “profits” to the treasury but if interest rates rise they would be losing money on their old mortgages, we might even have to bail them out
This doesn’t make sense to me—they securitize the mortgages and send them downstream to bondholders. Wouldn’t those bondholders bear the losses if interest rates rise? Or are Fannie/Freddie still holding unsecuritized mortgages?
the Fed needs to cut its balance sheet and part of the reason for a 3% rise in interest rates would be as a result of this cutting back.
Why would the Fed ever “need” to cut its balance sheet? They can keep it at $4T forever if they wish.
http://www.fanniemae.com/resources/file/ir/pdf/quarterly-annual-results/2014/q12014_release.pdf
When the market turns this income spigot will shut off and become a siphon. Yes the government can keep its balance sheet at 4 trillion and we can have hyperinflation too because of it.
Interesting to watch the repubs kneeling down on the ball, hoping to run the clock out. That’s why they’re the stupid party.
you know it is the same thing I said toward the end of the Romney campaign, the country would be slightly better off if the republicans won the presidency since they have a slim chance of avoiding a complete collapse. The Republicans on the other hand would be better off losing and letting the collapse occur on the Democrats’ watch. An example is Iraq, we are back up to about 1000 troops now.
Can you imagine if Obama had lost and after he withdrew the troops how the media would have gone after the Republicans for sending 1000 troops back in? I think there are many in the Republican party that just want the Senate and House and would happy if Clinton won.
I’m no fan of Obama, but I place the blame for much of this FIRMLY on the repubs. Screw them (and lol, I’m still registered with the party, but that’s so I can dick around with primaries).
The immigration disaster began with Reagan’s bogus shamnasty (I don’t care if he did get sandbagged by the dems).
Bush the Younger REALLY did us in, and all the “conservatives” lined up right behind him. Immigration on steroids, Patriot Act, NSA spying, war all over the place, militarization, etc. The pubs forged the weapons and handed them to the dems.
How about Romney? We need someone to manage this mess.
On Monday’s “Hardball” on MSNBC, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) told host Chris Matthews that he sees a scenario playing out in which former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), the 2012 Republican Party nominee, will be once again the presidential nominee in 2016 and ultimately the next president.
Partial transcript as follows:
MATTHEWS: Now that I got you here, excuse me, Congressman Cummings, I’ve got this guy in the chair here. My question to you, I talk about it all the time lately. I think mitt Romney in his head — he looks at the polls beating the president if there was another election. There won’t be — that he wants to run for president again. What do you think? What would you advise him?
CHAFFETZ: I think he is actually going to run for president. He probably doesn’t want me to say that. A hundred times he says he’s not. But Mitt Romney has always accomplished what he has set out to do. I think he’s proven right on a lot of stuff. I happen to be in the camp that thinks he’s actually going to run and I think he will be the next president of the United States.
MATTHEWS: Thank you so much. You’re a loyal Utahian and that’s a great thing to say
“I happen to be in the camp that thinks he’s actually going to run and I think he will be the next president of the United States.”
Nice fantasy. Ain’t gonna happen.
Agree, but we could do worse.
I do not want any globalist and he is one. He may manage the decline of the US better but we will still decline until we have a nationalist that supports the constitution in office.
I couldn’t agree more, Dan. Anyway, the neocon consultants will eat his lunch the second time around.
Real journalists at the Los Angeles times shape the narrative of the humanitarian crisis
“The unwillingness of the House of Representatives to discuss immigration reform — let alone actually pass a bill — has left the debate in the hands of a crowd of screaming hotheads in Murrieta, Calif, who show no inclination to let facts get in the way of their paranoia about brown-skinned hordes subverting the America they revere.”
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-murrieta-protesters-oversimplify-20140707-story.html
If you like your lice, scabies, and MS-13, you can keep your lice, scabies, and MS-13
Now, here’s the interesting thing. The Feds backed right off in Lawrenceville, Kansas, which i believe has a majority black population.
http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/21/feds-back-off-plan-to-house-child-immigrants-at-virginia-school/
So why the emphasis on Murrieta? Because most of the protesters are white, with a few blacks in the mix. So they can fling around accusations of racism. And I’m pretty sure the writer of that article is white. Which backs up my statement about two groups of whites opposed, one group using people of color against the other.
Excuse me, I meant Lawrenceville, Virginia.
http://www.infowars.com/mexican-flag-wearing-la-raza-militants-arrive-in-murrieta/
Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!
Denver Business Journal - Denver ranked in top 10 for best places for STEM graduates
“Denver is a growing hub for workers looking to land a job in the growing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries, according to a NerdWallet study released Monday.
That study placed the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area at No. 9 out of 75 of the largest U.S. metros for the best places for STEM graduates based off income level for STEM jobs and the size of STEM industries.
For income level, NerdWallet looked at the annual mean wage for STEM occupations and factored in median gross rent as a cost of living. The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area’s annual mean wage for STEM jobs was $84,380.42, and its median gross rent was $961.”
To give you an idea of the kind of person this flipper I was working for is; he discussed IN FRONT OF ME how to make sure no one noticed the toilet was hooked up to the hot water supply line.
He was not joking.
What those kidz need are $500,000 starter homes!
Bloomberg - Class of 2008 Grads in U.S. Earned Average $52,000 Four Years On
“Bachelor’s degree holders with full-time jobs had an average salary of $52,200 in 2012, four years after graduating at the height of the Great Recession, a study showed.
Students who graduated with a degree in a science, technology, engineering or mathematical (STEM) field earned an average of $65,000, 31 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts.”
The funny thing is that lately American-born (third generation and later) young people are less apt to go into STEM than second generation Americans - notably Vietnamese descent and Chinese descent.
For gosh sakes WHY?
My niece has a degree in art and never worked in her life. Sailor Moon is her passion.
This is a definite cultural problem. Not an outsourcing problem. Shame on our culture.
True. If you receive Al Jazeera you need to watch China Rising. After seeing their young people, you will see why they have such an advantage over us. You will see young person after young person who entered life as a genuine peasant and now enjoys a standard of living that most American’s would envy. China is the biggest market in the world for automobiles and most buyers are paying cash not using seven year loans.
Speaking of which:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/consumer-credit-in-u-s-jumped-in-may-as-auto-lending-picked-up.html
I just saw a young (early twenties) couple and their baby this morning climbing into a shiny pickup truck. Ford Motor Credit is going to suck the joy of life from these feckless parents.
Because the future belongs to Lucky Ducky
Reuters - Wal-Mart CEO: Things Aren’t Getting Better For America’s Middle Class
“U.S. employers may be hiring again, but the job market’s recovery is not giving ordinary consumers enough confidence to increase their spending, a top Wal-Mart executive said on Monday.
In an interview with Reuters at the retailer’s headquarters, Bill Simon, the president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart U.S. said, “It’s really hard to see in our business today, that it’s gotten any better.”
Real journalists at the New York Times ask are neocons getting ready to ally with Hillary Clinton?
“Even as they castigate Mr. Obama, the neocons may be preparing a more brazen feat: aligning themselves with Hillary Rodham Clinton and her nascent presidential campaign, in a bid to return to the driver’s seat of American foreign policy.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/opinion/sunday/are-neocons-getting-ready-to-ally-with-hillary-clinton.html
Yes, read above which I wrote before reading this.
See also: New York Times - Wall Street Offers Clinton a Thorny Embrace
“As its relationship with Democrats hits a historic low, Wall Street sees a solution on the horizon: Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mrs. Clinton was the industry’s home state senator, and the financial sector was the second-largest giver to her presidential campaign in 2008. In her post-State Department life, she has been showered with lucrative speaking fees from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and other financial firms. In her talks, she says it is unproductive to vilify the industry, and she avoids the kind of language that puts off financial executives, as when President Obama referred to “fat cat” bankers in 2009.”
All wars are bankers’ wars, Dannyboy
It’s a new day. Have you smiled and thanked yourself for renting and building up cash yet?
I have.
Cash is like a warm comfortable blanket.
sometimes i get cold at night and the bed feels a little lumpy, so i just pull out a few wads of cash from under the mattress and cover myself with them.
loanowners can’t do that.
loanowners
LOL
Would now be a good time to take your stock market gambling gains off the table and go to cash?
Journal Reports
With Stocks So High, Should Investors Move to Cash?
Trimming Exposure Has Hurt Returns Lately, but Proponents Say It Will Pay Off
By Michael A. Pollock
July 6, 2014 4:47 p.m. ET
As stock indexes hit record highs, nervous investors increasingly face a difficult choice: Do they keep betting as heavily on the markets, or do they move more money into cash?
Cutting exposure with the aim of putting cash back to work when valuations drop can be soothing at first, but maddening if stocks continue climbing. What’s more, many nonprofessionals don’t have the expertise to accurately gauge valuations.
And there is a fine line between adjusting exposure based on valuations and timing the market, which few individual or professional investors have done successfully.
…
July 8, 2014, 6:16 a.m. EDT
Dow 17,000 is on the wrong side of history
Opinion: Since 1929, stock-market rallies have had things in common that this one doesn’t
By David Weidner, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Today’s bull market is the fourth biggest since the 1929 crash after stocks have nearly tripled since the financial-crisis low set in early 2009.
But more than any modern bull market, this one stands alone in that it’s squarely out of step with economic growth. It’s being driven higher by just a few wealthy participants and traders who have tacitly, perhaps even unknowingly, agreed to drive prices higher.
The main reason for that is two-fold.
First, low interest rates have made other investments unattractive. The 10-year U.S. Treasury (BX:TMUBMUSD10Y -1.84%) is yielding only 2.62%. Inflation is running at an annual rate of 2%. That makes corporate bonds, certificates of deposit (which yield less than T-bills) and other fixed-income products largely a losing proposition. Those who have been buying bonds have been doing so for safety.
Second, the investing public isn’t really buying stocks. A study by the Pew Research Center, published in May, found stock ownership by households is shrinking, at 45%, down from more than 65% in 2002. Even with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA -0.81%) reaching the 17,000 milestone, investors are leaving stock mutual funds, not buying them.
This series of circumstances is unique. Unlike central bankers’ response to the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve has embraced Keynesian economics and flooded the economy with dollars on a scale never seen before. The Fed’s balance sheet has more than quadrupled to $4.3 trillion since 2008.
In short, stocks have become more attractive not because of a surging economy or strengthening corporate profits, but because they are the last-place finishers in an ugly contest. That’s a significant difference with boom markets of the past.
…
“Would now be a good time to take your stock market gambling gains off the table and go to cash?”
I realized I’ve been taking money off the table practically once a week from my staffing company stock lately. Staying the course of throwing more in my stock funds in my Roth 401k and taxable vanguard accounts’ stock funds though.
Trying to maintain $110,000 base in brokerage accounts, T-bills, cash, Credit union and bank in the meantime, and another $70k in 30 month maturity fund in my traditional 401k. Total of $180k to move back into stocks after a 30% descent from whatever peak. That’s my plan.
The Fed’s ultra-low rate policies have worked out fabulously for investment banks that could borrow at near-zero interest and plow money into profitable ventures like Facebook and Crumbs.com.
But how has the policy worked out for pension plans that anticipated investment earnings to pay for future retirements of plan participants?
Markets
Franklin, Calpers Clash on Stockton Pension Issue
Investment Titans Disagree on Whether Stockton, Calif.’s Pension Payments Should Be Cut to Pay Back a Loan
By Dan Fitzpatrick
July 7, 2014 6:32 p.m. ET
If a judge rules that Stockton, Calif., can curtail pensions, more cities may seek to file for bankruptcy. Reuters
Two U.S. investment titans are clashing over whether public pensions should be protected in municipal bankruptcy, a major test that has implications for workers, investors and distressed cities across the country.
Payments into pension funds are usually considered sacrosanct, but fights are breaking out around the U.S. over who gets priority when a municipality seeks protection from creditors. The latest battle involves the bankruptcy of Stockton, Calif., and pits mutual-fund giant Franklin Templeton Investments against California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest public pension fund in the U.S.
The firms disagree on whether Stockton’s retirement contributions should be reduced to free up money for a loan repayment. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Klein in Sacramento could rule on the dispute as early as Tuesday.
Many troubled municipalities are grappling with how to bring down pension costs while municipal-bond holders are trying to figure out how to protect their interests before or during a municipal insolvency. Franklin Templeton is separately challenging a new law in Puerto Rico allowing some troubled public agencies to restructure their debt, saying it violates the U.S. Constitution.
A ruling that Stockton’s pensions can be curtailed could embolden more cities to use bankruptcy as a way to seek retirement concessions. In December the judge overseeing Detroit’s bankruptcy case ruled that pensions aren’t entitled to “extraordinary protection” despite state constitutional safeguards against benefit cuts. Calpers has argued in court that the ruling on Detroit’s city-run retirement systems doesn’t apply to California’s state-run plan.
The outcome in Stockton “is being watched by everyone,” said Suzanne Kelly, co-founder of Scottsdale, Ariz., pension strategy and restructuring firm Kelly Garfinkle Strategic Restructuring LLC. If the judge rules that pensions can be curtailed, Ms. Kelly added, it could push cities “on the brink” to see bankruptcy as a “feasible option.”
…
Nobody put a gun to any investor’s head and coerced them into loaning money to municipalities teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
Nobody put a gun to any investor’s head and coerced them into loaning money to municipalities teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
Unless you consider the Federal Reserve’s suppression of interest rates as “putting a gun to the head” of investors (especially seniors), forcing them to move out along the risk-curve to earn any yield at all…
Which I do.
Or they could just sit in cash (like me) and curse while their purchasing power erodes…
I can see why folks would chase yield, even if the risk doesn’t fit their profile, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
Or they could just sit in cash (like me) and curse while their purchasing power erodes…
I resemble that remark—which probably explains why I sound a little bitter on this point.
I can see why folks would chase yield, even if the risk doesn’t fit their profile, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
+1.
Does anyone besides myself find it fascinating how long-term Treasury yields have trended down all year against the backdrop of QE3 tapering?
Wasn’t the taper supposed to make yields GO UP?
What gives?
July 8, 2014, 8:30 a.m. EDT
Say hello to U.S. economy’s newest bubble
Opinion: Stocks are way overdue for a correction
By Irwin Kellner, MarketWatch
PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. (MarketWatch) — When good news is good news, and bad news is good news, it’s time to take some money off the table.
Call it irrational exuberance, part two. Like old man river, the stock market just keeps rolling along. Last week it was Dow 17,000. Will this week see the market go even higher?
Before you jump on the bulls’ bandwagon, let me call to your attention a couple of salient statistics. At today’s level, the Dow industrials (DJIA -0.70%) are up 5% since the beginning of this year. This is on top of a 35% leap in 2013. And in case you are keeping score, the Dow is now a whopping 155% above its low back in March 2009.
All that said, there are a number of warning signs out there that suggest the party may soon be over.
For one thing the economy has not grown anywhere near as much as stocks over the past 5-1/3 years; neither have corporate profits.
Additionally, price-to-earnings ratios are well above average. Robert Shiller, the noted Yale professor, economist and author, thinks that the market today is about at the valuation it was running at in 2008, just before stocks plunged.
In the past, the stock market has managed to avoid such excesses by dropping in price. A decline of 10% (a.k.a. a correction) used to occur about once every 12 months.
This bull market has managed to avoid a correction for 33 months — far longer than average. And correction or no, the current bull market is the fourth-longest since the Crash of 1929.
If you don’t have angst yet, here is another bit of history to chew on: Stocks usually take a header late in the third quarter, as well as in October. Indeed, some of the market’s biggest declines have occurred during this period.
Here is another tidbit: Bond prices are up — the yield on the bellwether 10-year Treasury note (10_YEAR -1.42%), at 2.61% Monday night, is down from over 3% at the end of last year. This suggests that bond buyers are concerned about the longevity of the economic recovery.
…
Key points from the article: For one thing the economy has not grown anywhere near as much as stocks over the past 5-1/3 years; neither have corporate profits.
Additionally, price-to-earnings ratios are well above average. Robert Shiller, the noted Yale professor, economist and author, thinks that the market today is about at the valuation it was running at in 2008, just before stocks plunged.
‘Additionally, price-to-earnings ratios are well above average. Robert Shiller, the noted Yale professor, economist and author, thinks that the market today is about at the valuation it was running at in 2008, just before stocks plunged.’
I remember 2008. Paralysis kicked in to some degree. Five years later, and I bet the same exacting of incredulity would affect me if the market plunged. Probably my biggest concern would be my job being on the line. My employer wouldn’t let any crisis go to waste to cut the payroll. So, how does one hedge? Have savings and a go-to place to find work in a pinch.
So, how does one hedge? Have savings and a go-to place to find work in a pinch.
The longer the career, the more connections you should have. Those are resources to fall back on in a crash. Cultivate the friendly relations with former colleagues who liked your work.
I still add more connections to this day. Aiming for staying in the tech areas of the west coast for the duration of my career.
A continuous job in essence, very little downtime, is extremely important - like Combo said about cash flow. A reasonably paying long career is the smart way to go about things. But if you spend all the money you make, what’s the point, particularly for those young people today who do not expect social security to be there for them. So you have to be very frugal and resist the demented dimwitted conformity to be a debt donkey. You have to save, starting at an early age.
Fortunately for me I like the simple things in life. Don’t have to buy $100 bottles of investment wine every week ya know. And I mostly consume $7 Bordeaux. I like road trips in the car in the lower density parts of California and in Arizona. Don’t need any European vacation and would never care if I die without going overseas
“Debt IS dumb”
Debt is for demented dimwitted donkeys
Debt is for desperate demented degenerate dimwitted donkeys.
“Even if I fell, I land on a bunch of money” — Jay Z
535 people
Got 99 problems
Sacramento, CA Housing Demand Collapses 15% YoY; Now At 10-Year Low
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Sacramento-Metro-home-value/r_395045/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D6%26r%3D395045%26el%3D0
and yet the delusional fools getting paid by the national association of realtors to post here can’t stop posting about their alleged empire of cash-flowing rentals.
there’s only one way their cash is flowing, and that’s down the toilet.
Realtors are just plain corrupt liars.
http://news.yahoo.com/detroit-another-city-ponders-bankruptcy-175150788.html
The growing bubble in:
McMansions
Boomer retirees
student debt
stock prices
Federal debt
government per se
Chinese house buyers
Chinese
Obese Americans
what else?
Tattooed single moms.
Time to “man up” and become a provider for one of them, Bill.
Goon, if one had the tramp stamp ” I hate AGW” you would marry her in a minute.
LOL both responses
You have no idea.
The dating pool of 27 to 35 ALL have tattooes. Not small, unobtrusive ones like an anklet of flowers, but full-sleeves, tats on thighs and ta-ta’s, full back murals. It is absolutely revolting.
They’ll get rewarded with one night of goonly goodness, but after seeing their bare ink I stop responding to their texts.
tattoos, tramp stamps, and nose rings don’t do anything for me anymore. I haven’t gone to a skin joint in years so I would be upset if I see the dancing girls with half their skin in ink.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2014/07/07/hell-motherfking-yea/
The last few years in Wildwood I haven’t gone to the beach much. I was content to sit on the deck, read a book, and watch the sights go by. But Joyce and Mike upgraded their Section 8 Estate in the off season by installing a storm door, so they could keep their door open all day long and allow their two yappy dogs to bark at anyone and everyone on the porch. So, the lesser of two evils is now to spend a few hours on the beach among the tattooed, pierced, obese, ignorant land whales.
Don’t get me wrong. There are your fair share of hotties in bikinis, but they are astronomically outnumbered by the morbidly obese diverse masses speaking foreign languages who find it funny to feed the seagulls with no concern for those around them on the beach. The ignorance and lack of acceptable social skills is breathtaking to behold. How 250 pound women think they can or should wear a bikini on a beach is beyond my limited comprehension. I need sunglasses to prevent my eyeballs from burning at the sight of some of these people.
I had one week left in Florida two years ago in February so I took a half day trip to Siesta Key beach, my favorite sand. So the younger set is all working or in school. Leaving the retirees.
I was one of the youngest people at age 52. The toothless cougs in their 70s were glancing at my flat belly.
But nearly everyone else there had potbellies, men and women.
It sounds as if this guy had a really great day at the beach, He found lots of people that he could look down upon which must make him feel good about himself. I think that the term “social skills” is getting overused. Is knowing when you’re too fat to wear a bikini a skill?
Did you mis-post this intending to post on Tumblr to impress some tumblrina princess?
You are some kind of spy/plant/false-flag and smell very suspicious
I seem to get a lot of incoherent criticism from you and others. But I couldn’t be a false flag because false flags only exist in theory.
Ben Jones’ IP logs will confirm that
You smell like dot gov trolling for stooges
That would make you a stooge.
“Did you mis-post this intending to post on Tumblr to impress some tumblrina princess?”
That is more likely his intention.
Note the quote (not my quote)
“I like them big…(and round)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ImZTwYwCug
Coming soon to a centrally-planned crony-capitalist paradise near you:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/tax/10954702/HMRC-raid-on-bank-accounts-goes-against-Magna-Carta-say-MPs.html
Gotham City (short-seller) takes down Spanish Joker.
http://wolfstreet.com/2014/07/08/gotham-city-takes-down-spanish-joker/
The new asset bubbles blown by the Fed and its ECB accomplices are hiding epic levels of false valuations and outright fraud, it seems. But the MSM and its intrepid investigative journalists are on the case, looking out for the public interest and speaking truth to power.
Oh, wait…gotta go to the blogosphere for real news and real truth.
The Only Thing More Shameful than the Shelling of Eastern Ukraine is the Silence From the Left
Eastern Ukraine is being shelled relentlessly, but Huffington Post and the likes are silent
by SCGNews | July 8, 2014
After four failed attempts at occupying eastern Ukraine with ground troops, Kiev has resorted to the cowardly and shameful strategy of indiscriminately shelling entire cities. This has been going on for over a week now.
Most of the casualties are civilians. If just hearing about this doesn’t phase you, then go look at some of the images (warning: graphic) or footage taken on the ground.
Of course the big names in the corporate media like Fox, CNN and NBC are silent about this. That’s no surprise. Scorpions will be scorpions after all. However when “progressive” news outlets like the Huffington Post whitewash the story, that’s a special kind of despicable.
Why do I reserve a special mark of shame for pseudo left? Because they dress themselves up as champions of humanitarian values and compassion. If you were to take the image they project at face value, you might be inclined to believe that they were against all forms of violence, especially war. After all, anytime someone gets shot in the United States they plaster it all over the front page, but somehow the use of heavy artillery against entire cities in eastern Ukraine doesn’t qualify (nor did the toppling of Libya or the funding and arming of the Syrian rebels for that matter).
In terms of foreign policy, the left has taken a six year hiatus. Don’t worry, they’ll all become geopolitical news hounds again, puffing with righteous indignation once the next right wing president is elected (just like the neo-cons that started caring about government spending as soon as Bush was out of office). That should be entertaining.
Too bad Poroshenko doesn’t own Hobby Lobby. We would never hear the end of their selective outrage if he did.
A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb3iPP-tHdA - 141k -
Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale, live in Denmark 2006 …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St6jyEFe5WM - 145k -
A Whiter Shade of Pale Lyrics
Procol Harum
We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The waiter brought a tray
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale
She said, there is no reason
And the truth is plain to see’
But I wandered through my playing cards
And would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open
They might have just as well’ve been closed
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale
{the following were only sung in concerts}
She said, ‘I’m home on shore leave,’
Though in truth we were at sea
So I took her by the looking glass
And forced her to agree
Saying, ‘You must be the mermaid
Who took Neptune for a ride.’
But she smiled at me so sadly
That my anger straightway died
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale
If music be the food of love
Then laughter is its queen
And likewise if behind is in front
Then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
Seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
And attacked the ocean bed
And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale
i did not know about the lyrics sung only at the concerts.
I was in grade school when that came out but it’s one of those songs of that era that returns vivid memories - no I did not get force fed psychedelics
“i did not know about the lyrics sung only at the concerts.”
I didn’t either until tonight.
Ice T - Microphone Contract
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc5RXiTJFrA
Meanwhile, the corrupt Chicago political machine that spawned Obama and his handlers is having a tough time explaining why, despite some of the nation’s most restrictive gun-control laws (for law-abiding citizens) the mayhem continues unchecked.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/american-independence-day-2014-mayhem-in-chicago-sees-police-chief-admit-we-lost-it-after-82-shootings-and-14-deaths-on-deadly-4-july-bank-holiday-9593017.html
Did you read the whole thing? There’s an explanation at the end.
Your whitehouse dot gov IP address is explanation enough
Just another day in the “fundamental transformation” of America that Obama promised.
Border Patrol Union Official Under Gag Order, Says No Agents Securing Border
on Breitbart TV 7 Jul 2014, 7:03 AM PDT
California Border Patrol union representative Ron Zermeno told ABC 10 San Diego that he has been placed under a gag order in an attempt to avoid negative news about the state of the southern border from getting out to the public. Zermeno said that the order was designed to prevent him from saying that no agents will be securing the southern border.
He said, “As long as they send the bodies up there [to Murietta] to be processed, there will be no agents patrolling and that’s what the agency doesn’t want me to say.”
The order also comes after agents spoke out about the spread of infectious diseases near the border, which, according to ABC 10, they argued the public deserved to know about because it was a danger “like a threat to national security.”
http://www.drudgereportarchives.net/Article.php?ID=525724& - 16k -
All of you Realtors just make me sick. There’s no use in trying to talk any sense into the general public anymore. Ben, thanks for everything…
I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend.
You could cut ties with all Obama lies that you’ve been living in
And so it was that later
As Obama told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale
Buy gold if you think interest rates will rise.
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/buy-gold-if-you-think-interest-rates-will-rise.html/?a=viewall
“But this intuition is historically unfounded: A rising Fed funds rate has, more often than not, coincided with rising gold prices.”
This time is different, as the big runup in gold price that we recently witnessed reflects yield chasing when interest rates were artificially suppressed, not the traditional inflation hedge gold demand that accompanies rising interest rates in the face of increasing inflationary pressure.
In short, more likely than not, the return of interest rates to normalcy this time around will be accompanied by falling gold prices.
I would agree if it were not for one inconvenient deal: cost of production is very close to the current spot price.
It’s late in the day but for those who go back and read the previous day’s posts (usually JT Extension users):
The Joshua Tree Extension is now hosted on Mozilla’s addons site. I fear this will mean there’s a public history of my bad coding and bugs, but I think it will make life easier for everyone else (automatic notification of updates, etc).
To get it hosted on Mozilla I had to clean up the implementation a bit (to meet their guidelines), and in the process sped things up (cut about 1/3 of the initialization time), so the page (and toolbar) should layout/show faster.
Joshua Tree Extension on mozilla.org
Note that this new version breaks compatibility with previously stored data, so clear out the stored data (via preferences) before installing.
Thank you.