Bits Bucket for July 24, 2014
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Dallas, Texas Housing Prices Plunge 10% YoY At Peak Of Season; Inventory Balloons As Demand Craters Statewide
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/TX-Dallas-home-value/r_38128/#metric=mt%3D19%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D4%26rt%3D8%26r%3D38128%26el%3D0
same old rubbish, different day
Boulder, CO Housing Demand Craters 15% YoY As Prices Fall
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CO-Boulder-home-value/r_30543/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D8%26r%3D30543%26el%3D0
people are partying like rock stocks in boulder thx to their equity
Thousand Oaks, CA Housing Prices Crater 14% YoY; Demand Plunges
http://www.movoto.com/thousand-oaks-ca/market-trends/
Interesting article in The New Republic saying that, elite colleges are anti-intellectual because they reinforce the current the class system, rather than providing a “way up” for middle class kids. There is no real diversity–the kids from the coasts and the kids from the heartland both have the same sort of parents, etc. etc.
The comments on the article are better than the article itself (seems common with the media these days…). The excerpts I’m posting are from the comments.
—————–
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118747/ivy-league-schools-are-overrated-send-your-kids-elsewhere?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=TNR%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=TNR%20Daily%20Zephyr%20with%20LiveIntent%20-%20July%2022%2C%202014
“The truth is that the meritocracy was never more than partial. Visit any elite campus across our great nation, and you can thrill to the heart-warming spectacle of the children of white businesspeople and professionals studying and playing alongside the children of black, Asian, and Latino businesspeople and professionals. Kids at schools like Stanford think that their environment is diverse if one comes from Missouri and another from Pakistan, or if one plays the cello and the other lacrosse. Never mind that all of their parents are doctors or bankers.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few exceptions, but that is all they are. In fact, the group that is most disadvantaged by our current admissions policies are working-class and rural whites, who are hardly present on selective campuses at all. The only way to think these places are diverse is if that’s all you’ve ever seen.”
…
“Let’s not kid ourselves: The college admissions game is not primarily about the lower and middle classes seeking to rise, or even about the upper-middle class attempting to maintain its position. It is about determining the exact hierarchy of status within the upper-middle class itself. In the affluent suburbs and well-heeled urban enclaves where this game is principally played, it is not about whether you go to an elite school. It’s about which one you go to. It is Penn versus Tufts, not Penn versus Penn State. It doesn’t matter that a bright young person can go to Ohio State, become a doctor, settle in Dayton, and make a very good living. Such an outcome is simply too horrible to contemplate.”
…
“I’ve noticed something similar when it comes to service. Why is it that people feel the need to go to places like Guatemala to do their projects of rescue or documentation, instead of Milwaukee or Arkansas? When students do stay in the States, why is it that so many head for New Orleans? Perhaps it’s no surprise, when kids are trained to think of service as something they are ultimately doing for themselves—that is, for their résumés. “Do well by doing good,” goes the slogan. How about just doing good?”
…
“The education system has to act to mitigate the class system, not reproduce it. Affirmative action should be based on class instead of race, a change that many have been advocating for years. Preferences for legacies and athletes ought to be discarded. SAT scores should be weighted to account for socioeconomic factors. Colleges should put an end to résumé-stuffing by imposing a limit on the number of extracurriculars that kids can list on their applications. They ought to place more value on the kind of service jobs that lower-income students often take in high school and that high achievers almost never do. They should refuse to be impressed by any opportunity that was enabled by parental wealth. Of course, they have to stop cooperating with U.S. News.”
Ha-ha just posted the same article with a different quote.
Another quote I liked:
“he fakes being well-read by thumbing through the first and last chapters of any book he hears about and obsessively devouring reviews in lieu of the real thing. He does this not because he’s incurious, but because there’s a bigger social reward for being able to talk about books than for actually reading them.”
Ivy grads are a bunch of frauds.
“Look beneath the facade of seamless well-adjustment, and what you often find are toxic levels of fear, anxiety, and depression, of emptiness and aimlessness and isolation … a student at Pomona told me that she’d love to have a chance to think about the things she’s studying, only she doesn’t have the time.”
America’s future leadership right there.
Yeah, it’s elaborate flame to an extent. As they became more competitive (far more Asians, for starters) the idealism has died. A
s recently as the 90s, schools had acceptance rates in the 25% range. Now with HYP at like 6% acceptance, they only take kids who game the system. If you’re not URM, it takes parental prestige to afford the “right” activities, going to a “feeder” high school, and gamesmanship.
Say a kid wants to play soccer in HS but isn’t great (wouldn’t be a college recruit or league MVP). It won’t help on an HYP application, so should the kid quit soccer and cynically gun for Treasurer of NHS or President of Latin Club? The obvious answer is __yes__, which is sickening. Better yet, teach your kid to play squash and the viola from day 1. No normal kid wants to do either of those things, which is exactly why your kid’s application will stand out. Plus, far less Asians play viola than violin or cello (for obvious reasons, i.e. the viola blows and there is little interesting solo material).
How about “Tech Summer Camp?”
Tech summer camp is too common. Same with science fair, etc.
Only useful if you win an award the admissions committee will recognize. These schools get 30,000 applications for freshman class size of 1,500 or so.
“Ivy grads are a bunch of frauds.”
I agree. The truth is that most universities that are low cost use the same STEM textbooks / curriculum. I was impressed to find one 4.0 valedictorian from my high school on orientation day at my state university back in 1977. She ended up majoring in accounting there. Some went to Ivy league schools while others went to the University of California.
Bill, see anecdotal posts below.
What about this Ivy grad?
(33 yr old CEO of Burger King)
http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/214894-burger-king-is-run-by-children
LOL
“What about this Ivy grad?”
My nephew was a manager at Taco Bell years ago. The kid switched young women every week; surrounded by whet sweeties!
Thanks, that is a great article and I’ll probably buy the book when it comes out…but those excerpts (while most excellent) are from the article text, not the comments.
matter of fact I don’t even see a comments section…am I missing something??
The first thing that college is for is to teach you to think. That doesn’t simply mean developing the mental skills particular to individual disciplines. College is an opportunity to stand outside the world for a few years, between the orthodoxy of your family and the exigencies of career, and contemplate things from a distance.
Learning how to think is only the beginning, though. There’s something in particular you need to think about: building a self. But it is only through the act of establishing communication between the mind and the heart, the mind and experience, that you become an individual, a unique being—a soul. The job of college is to assist you to begin to do that.
Contemplate form a distance? Communication between mind and heart? WTF is this BS? Liberal arts? No one is going to pay for a “unique soul;” in fact in my experience the best pay is for the soulless. Exhibit A: Golden Sacks. That said, of all places, the Ivies are the only schools who can afford to teach this type of claptrap, since those grads are likely guaranteed jobs anyway. But for everyone else, be prepared to load up your laptop with Abaqus and Autocad, lay in a supply of GEP, and leave your soul at home with Mom.
When Goldman bros die, they do it in spectacular fashion.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-21/goldman-sachs-managing-director-nicholas-valtz-found-dead.html
——————
Nicholas Valtz, a managing director in cross-asset sales at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) in New York, was found dead yesterday by family members who went searching for him after he didn’t return from a kiteboarding outing.
Valtz, 39, was found in Napeague Harbor near the eastern end of Long Island, according to the East Hampton, New York, police. He was a “novice kiteboarder” and was found floating in the water secured to his kite, police said in a statement released yesterday. Other kite gear was found in a grassy area of the harbor, police said.
“We’re deeply saddened by this tragedy and our thoughts are with Nick’s family,” Michael DuVally, a spokesman for Manhattan-based Goldman Sachs, said in an e-mailed statement.
Ha-ha, YES! I read the comments on this story over at Zero Hedge. Whew! Just as raw as the ones on the Jamie Dimon throat cancer story. There was speculation if Goldman had taken out “key man” insurance on the guy.
Whac accused me of being mean spirited about Dimon and I’ll proudly own up to that. I’m also mean spirited about this one as well.
One less.
I’m sure GS takes out key man on all their managing directors. All those guys are adrenaline freaks. Apparently parasailing is a big thing in the hamptons now.
“those guys are adrenaline freaks”
They should come here and start climbing 14ers. If I pass a bankster pigman on the trail I’ll “accidentally” push him off a cliff
If I pass a bankster pigman on the trail
How can you know you haven’t already done so several times? It is not as if the pigmen walk around with signs flashing their identities.
Goon, climbing and skiing are big hobbies too. Luckily they’re not befouling your mountains since they’re in <3 with Tignes and Whistler, not so much our “puny” American mtns.
“When Goldman bros die, they do it in spectacular fashion.”
+1 Indeed. As the saying goes, “High as a kite.”
More of this, and faster, please.
“More of this, and faster, please.”
Wind chimes?
When Goldman bros die, they do it in spectacular fashion.
That’s not spectacular. “Spectacular” would be, say, the guy parasailing being partly swallowed by a great white shark, which then chokes to death on him, or better yet, dies of food poisoning.
“…dies of food poisoning.”
Article for j-j-j-joe
“Our system of elite education manufactures young people who are smart and talented and driven, yes, but also anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiousityand a stunted sense of purpose: trapped in a bubble of privilege, heading meekly in the same direction, great at what they’re doing but with no idea why they’re doing it.”
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118747/ivy-league-schools-are-overrated-send-your-kids-elsewhere
Decent article but the comments were better. It is true that intellectual pursuits have been thrown aside in pursuit of ca$h. Kids at top schools gun for a very narrow range of jobs from day 1. It feels embarrassing to admit this but I didn’t know the difference between Wachovia and, say, Lazard until college. I thought banking was banking. There really is a difference between kids who come from well-off but outside-the-loop families and kids who grew up in the Manhattans of the world.
It’s not that these kids know they want to work at MBB or ibanking from the start, but that they realize the way to have the most options is to have an unblemished record, the right schools on the resume, etc. These are smart kids, but they’re not taking courses that would stretch their minds. They have course-selection down to a science, knowing what courses will sound good but are actually easy courses. This shows a certain ambition and shrewdness, but it is very anti-intellectual.
The other advantage for these kids is, they don’t have to work… in summer, after graduation, whatever. If they don’t get the right job straight out, they do a 1 yr masters at LSE or work for a foundation while studying for the LSAT or GMAT. Sadly, it looks better to do a joke master’s degree and parlay your alumni or parental connections that it does to work your way up. Because if you come in on a lower level of the working world, you’ll likely never be a decision-maker. You’ll be a middle age account manager or software engineer, which is lower status and payoff than being a know-nothing 28 yr old who might be the lowest level of “management”, but he’s still management, still has those avenues open to him.
TLDR version — meritocracy is dead.
“you’ll never be a decision-maker”
I’d rather “decide” myself the Mr Money Mustache / Bill, just south of Irvine lifestyle than try to “be somebody” and boss other people around.
Ivy grads are frauds, longer anecdotal post to follow.
I’m not saying what anyone should want to be. I’m saying that the way compensation works, there are lower ceilings if you’re on the labor side of things vs management. And if someone doesn’t ditch the labor side of things by a certain point (not sure what it is, but seems like early or mid 30s) then management isn’t a real possibility. And management is where people get to make money off of others’ work. It’s also where our society valorizes people as “job creators”, “visionaries”, “leaders” and so forth.
The MMM way is a great escape route. I started with reading ERE but now read MMM. (ERE stopped blogging a while ago, he was before MMM and ERE was actually more extreme.)
“I’d rather “decide” myself the Mr Money Mustache / Bill, just south of Irvine lifestyle than try to “be somebody” and boss other people around.”
+1 Indeed. Better than sucking up to Sheryl “Lean In” Sandberg.
thanks. There is something refreshing about living a real life, rather than a pretentious life. For sure it’s far better for your own mental health to be real as early in life as possible. And stay real.
My ex-girlfriend and her family are my most direct exposure to the Ivy League. Her dad was Cornell Law (1970?) and mom went to one of the Seven Sisters before becoming SAHM. They were “helicopter parents” before that term existed to describe them.
Her and her older brother were raised in a house that could most
succinctly be described as *no fun* at all. Older bro went to Harvard (and parents had the Harvard sticker on their minivan, so they could look down their noses at the more prevalent Miami University or Case Western Reserve University stickers) for his BS in something STEM, followed by MS at Cal Berkeley and PhD Ohio State. He is literally a 40 year old virgin, and has, to my knowledge, never done anything fun or adventurous his whole life.
Anecdotal about ex-gf did not post (TMI perhaps, at risk of doxxing her?), TL,DR summary:
A decade of drugs, sex, parental bailouts (the total opposite of her angelic brother) and bouncing around academia somehow graduating with multiple degrees to become a Social Justice Warrior™.
Ivy grads are frauds, hypocrites, and even worse, conformists.
frauds, wastes and abuse of their own potential. And another case where they end up not being able to function in the real world. I know the term “organic” probably is progressive. But cheap universities with great books and faculty turn out people that function “organically” in team environments.
My ex-girlfriend and her family are my most direct exposure to the Ivy League.
Goon, my Ivy exposure is quite different than yours. My g/f went to HBS (after undergrad at a state school) and is in a role of “Decision maker” as Joe puts it. From what I’ve seen, the education and experience she got there far exceeded anything I got at a state school in terms of learning to think, lead, and just expand her world view.
Another good friend went to Princeton, and is a software engineer like me. Well, he’s now CTO of a successful company. What I have noticed over the years is his education there was far more valuable than mine (at a top-three CS school, top five engineering) in that it taught far more than hard sciences, but business chops and soft skills as well.
These are of course limited experiences related to my peer group, but outside of making connections (which they both certainly got), the quality of the overall education was higher as well from what I’ve seen. I’m jealous, and wish I had had those experiences - I think I’d have grown a lot as a person/in my skillset as a result.
never done anything fun or adventurous his whole life.
Accomplishing something in the world of STEM often takes a lot of work. If you read a biography of Isaac Newton, you might think the same thing about him. All he ever did was work, work, work. He never had any fun.
The only investment banker I know is my cousin’s husband who got his MBA from Duke in the 1980s and became a high flyer at Merrill Lynch in Chicago. Very smart, very well compensated, but still grounded in Midwestern values.
My ex-gf, and the overwhelming majority of her friends that I met, are Ivy or other upper-tier grads who exist in the world of foundations, non-profits, academia, or writing for journals that nobody reads.
It’s an echo chamber of progressive, statist conformity.
“My g/f went to HBS (after undergrad at a state school) and is in a role of “Decision maker” as Joe puts it. From what I’ve seen, the education and experience she got there far exceeded anything I got at a state school in terms of learning to think, lead, and just expand her world view.”
Love is blind.
Love is blind.
Well, certainly I’m biased but I’m also doing my best to give an objective account here.
“Her and her older brother were raised in a house that could most succinctly be described as *no fun* at all. Older bro went to Harvard (and parents had the Harvard sticker on their minivan, so they could look down their noses at the more prevalent Miami University or Case Western Reserve University stickers) for his BS in something STEM, followed by MS at Cal Berkeley and PhD Ohio State. He is literally a 40 year old virgin, and has, to my knowledge, never done anything fun or adventurous his whole life.”
+1 The advantage of an Ivy League degree is never having to say you’re sorry. Heck, these gilded elite have the gall to demand their bonuses paid by taxpayers if they’ve mistakenly bankrupted their corporations. Yeah, special indeed.
+1 The advantage of an Ivy League degree is never having to say you’re sorry.
You really think this is true of everyone with an Ivy degree? You really need to get out more.
Rage against the 0.1% all you want, but you’re painting with a pretty broad brush here.
Yeah, it appears that the mention of elite universities stirs up a lot odd feelings in people. Some of it might be envy or something similar.
Forty years ago outfits like the state(s) department of transportation were headed by an engineer who had worked their way up through the ranks. Today, all appointed elites who know very little, and they never will either because they’re not around for more than a few years before they move up the political system.
They always have their placards on the wall and photos with the governor, senator, etc., always grooming.
I’ll have to get back this thread later this evening.
TLDR version — meritocracy is dead.
Meritocracy is not dead, it has just changed. You have well described the new kind of meritocracy for the 1%-ers, based on connections, schmoozing, resume-polishing, grade-grubbing, etc. The great unwashed need not bother to apply.
There’s an old Norwegian-American saying: “Tell widdum!”
In California there is a two tier public university system: The elite is at University of California. The other side is California State University. Cal state is less expensive and that is where I went. And my grades were mediocre in high school. I blossomed in college and became a math whiz only in college. It was not an ordinary thing, but I owe it to the lack of peer pressure once I got into college.
I knew some people who went to the University of California. Some have done reasonably well in life.
Recently though one young bright co-worker from UCLA - well you can tell he’s bright, but his brain is not wired right. I think he somehow thinks it’s not worth listening to older experienced colleagues in his same field since he now “knows everything.” He’s not being successful, and moved to Arizona to work. Not a good thing to do either. He should have stayed in the Los Angeles area and become a team player at the work he’s in, then move to different companies every three years or so - or at least after he gets vested in matching contributions.
The key is many of the elitists cannot get “down in the gutter” with the team. They refuse to be team players and they get ostracized and overlooked. It does not take a high IQ to be a productive STEM type. It takes social skills.
UC system doesn’t have any elite schools for UG anymore. That’s not to say you can’t run up a good GPA at a UC and then cop a good grad degree afterwards. UCSF for med, Berkeley for law, and some of the others have good arts & sciences grad schools. None have a good MBA school, though Berkeley is close–but not a feeder for the top post-MBA jobs.
MBB might recruit at Haas (Berkeley’s B School) but they won’t hire many. None of the big ibanks recruit from Haas.
Stanford dominates __all__ the UC’s across the board. And U$C is where companies get their chill, fratty management types to supervise the drones in their programming activities.
Washington DC Housing Demand Plummets 19% YoY; Near 10 Year Low As Excess Empty Inventory Balloons
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/DC-Washington-Metro-home-value/r_395209/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D6%26r%3D395209%26el%3D0
data is flawed and old
Arlington, VA Housing Inventory Balloons As Housing Demand Plummets 24% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/VA-Arlington-home-value/r_30258/#metric=mt%3D30%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D4%26rt%3D8%26r%3D30258%26el%3D0
Reptile congresscritters lining up to protect for-profit colleges, even though the quality of education is uneven and many of these schools specialize in ripping off the students & the government.
I can’t believe these supposedly-conservative Reptiles are sticking their necks out for Devry, University of Phoenix, etc. LOL @ the decline of the party in the post-Ike period.
———————–
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/16/a_huge_student_loan_scam/singleton/
Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a bill with the impressive, everybody-can-get-behind-this title “Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act.” Sponsored by the ultra-conservative North Carolina Republican Virginia Foxx, the bill ostensibly took aim at an issue close to small-government-loving hearts: intrusive federal regulation of for-profit colleges — fast growing, highly profitable outfits like DeVry University or the online-only University of Phoenix.
“..fast growing, highly profitable outfits like DeVry University or the online-only University of Phoenix..”
Fast growing and highly profitable due to endless skyrocket growth of easily gotten government student loans. This is not going to end any better for main street Americans than the housing bubble. Stick it to the taxpayer and savers and make sure the banks don’t get hurt.
The people with student loans will eventually be stroked in so many ways because after all; they’re all victims. The $1 trillion plus (and growing fast) of student loans will probably eventually be bought by the Federal Reserve and monetized away just like the $4 trillion in housing losses.
It appears to me that a high priority is given by the Federal government (Dems and Reps alike) to making certain that the people who take risks are never the ones who ante up for the losses.
One guy I worked with from Phoenix is a Devry graduate. He was not very bright, but he has social skills. Came from a rich family. He’s been in the work force maybe 15 years or so. He’s sort of a goof off type. But he’s family-first. I respect him for that. He has a wife and kids to provide for. I think he will do well. I think the helicopter parents got him help for the house in Scottsdale and a weekend cool getaway in Payson.
One could argue that superior social skills are much more important that intelligence.
Are there schools that teach those skills?
Mike, the Ivies. Which promote critical assessment in public forums. E.g., how to argue nicely and stay on point, and go out and have a single malt afterwards. How to win and lose gracefully. How to maintain composure. How to assume a posture of giving a fair hearing to a contrary point of view, and actually responding on point.
That is the sub rosa agenda of the Ivies - teach the students to behave like CEOs.
You’ll never get this grooming at a state school.
Is inflation in asset prices a substitute for real growth?
That’s no inflation. Learn the difference kiddo.
u have no idea mr natty light
Napa, CA Housing Prices Sink 7% YoY At Peak Of Season As Demand Plummets 14% To 2007 Levels
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Napa-Metro-home-value/r_394900/#metric=mt%3D18%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D4%26rt%3D6%26r%3D394900%26el%3D0
boring
Cratering housing demand and growing excess inventory. Cheer up A._Fraud.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wages may be growing at a faster clip than envisaged by U.S. policymakers, with a recent raft of business surveys showing an increase in the number of companies raising compensation.
One closely watched wage growth measure, a gauge produced by the National Federation for Independent Business, has reached a seven-year high. A turn in this index, which began moving up late last year, historically has been followed by a pick-up in wage growth nine months later.
That and evidence of a tightening labor market has some economists worried the Federal Reserve may miss the signs of accelerating wage growth and end up with an inflation problem.
“The biggest threat to the Fed’s policymaking is that six years of not having to deal with wages doesn’t allow you to understand how wages will change when you come back to a more normal full-employment type of economy,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.
“When the dam breaks, it breaks and you don’t necessarily see a slow rise in compensation.”
It will take a miracle before you come back to a more normal full-employment type of economy
all of the jobs I see posted pay peanuts.
Most people earn less than 30k/ year in usa.
financing big ticket items the only game in town.
ArizonaD:
Yeah, but you can easily hide that factoid by using the word “income” to mean “household income”. That way, if you’re a realtoR, you can make your mark believe that everyone else is earning 2.5x what he earns. The fact may be that everyone’s household consists of 2 full-time employees and 2 part-time employees (kids). Nevertheless, the mark will become confident that house prices are not out of whack with incomes, and he will purchase. He will sign the dotted line, and you (the realtoR) will get PAYD.
http://news.investors.com/investing-mutual-funds/072314-710030-sec-introduces-new-money-market-fund-rules.htm
‘China’s debt went to more than 250 percent of the GDP by the end of June, according to a report released by Standard Chartered Plc on Monday. In the current economic situation, the nation’s credit growth should not have a momentum to accelerate strongly, the report said.’
‘Sheng Songcheng, head of the statistics department at the central bank, said on July 15 that total social financing is likely to hit about 18.5 trillion yuan ($2.98 trillion) in 2014 and new yuan loans will possibly reach 9.5 trillion yuan ($1.53 trillion).’
‘China continues to increase leverage, said analysts at Standard Chartered. They estimated that credit growth reached 19 percent in the second quarter of 2014 while nominal GDP growth remained at 9 percent.’
“The key quandary for policy makers today is not how to deleverage per se, but rather how to deleverage ‘beautifully’,” the earlier report said. “In other words, how does one reduce the debt burden while preventing a collapse in investment, maintaining relatively high nominal growth and minimizing job losses?”
‘Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase and Co, said at a media briefing on Monday: “It’s not the right time for China to deleverage because profit growth expectations have fallen in recent years and actual lending rates are climbing. Under current conditions, forced deleveraging will have a huge negative impact on the economy. It is in conflict with Chinese leaders’ pledge to stabilize economic growth.”
Hmmm.
‘credit growth reached 19 percent in the second quarter of 2014 while nominal GDP growth remained at 9 percent’
So where’s Dan? I bet he’s snapping up some sweet deals in Beijing. All cash, of course.
“So where’s Dan?”
Speaking of Dan’s absence from the blog today, it is just after 1pm local time and there has not been a single post today in the Bits mentioning Obama.
Weird coincidence, no?!
Almost like the way Applebee’s wait time posts ended right around the time when EddieTard stopped posting…but retarded people can’t really help themselves, so I really should be more charitable with these guys.
I just love the implication that deleverageing can only be forced by government decree. Like it can’t be forced by the mere inability to repay.
ABQDan: “This is no problem because…”
I drove through a bad neighborhood in the central valley yesterday.
Common theme:
lots of people on bikes
lots of recycling centers
lots of dollar stores
lots of rent to own stores
lots of liquor stores
lots of trash on side of road
I dont think they got the word about the recovery in CA.
probably true…though parts of the central valley have always been that way in my lifetime, had family in Stockton when I was a kid long ago and remember over the years when I visited invariably saw areas that had the vibe you describe, in boom and bust periods.
(BTW, a bit OT, but there is an really excellent book set in the gritty part of Stockton in the early ’60’s, “Fat City” by Leonard Gardner, still in print but originally published in 1969…highly recommended, especially if you have any interest in boxing)
Stockton, Modesto, etc. have always been that way.
“Stockton, Modesto, etc. have always been that way.”
+1 When California needs an enema they insert nozzle in Modesto.
Bluto - right on. The movie - with Stacy Keach starring - was powerful. A real classic, underrated. I think it’s because the critics were so far away from such a life that they simply could not relate. It was a movie very much in the same vein as Midnight Cowboy - but it never got the same critical acclaim. Go figure.
Thanks, good to know, will order the movie from Netflix as I have not seen it yet….I like the book so much I’ve read it a few times over the years.
This has been posted here before some time ago, an excellent read on the deteriorating economic and social conditions of the Central Valley:
http://m.nationalreview.com/articles/286354/vandalized-valley-victor-davis-hanson
The Central Valley is a dump…but it will be a dump with a shiny new section of high speed railroad (to nowhere). I wonder if the thieves will steel pieces off the HSR?
I’d like to chime in on this whole thing about not being able to have a government job if you believe taxation is theft. Bear in mind I only speak for myself and I do not speak for Bill or any other poster on this board. The way I have always seen it though is that part of the conservo-libertine mindset was that you take the world for what it is and do your best to thrive in it, while the viewpoint of the left was more that you idenfied what you thought was unfair or injust about the world and used the government to fix it. With that viewpoint in mind, even if you think of taxation as theft, if you find yourself in a world where your best chance at thriving involves taking a job that is paid for by those very same taxes, you take advantage of that opportunity. This doesn’t mean you can’t draw a line in the sand that you will not cross, but it is up to each individual to decide where that line is, and others do not get to draw that line for you.
I’d elaborate more but lunch is over and I’ve got work to do.
People will justify anything.
What is “conservo-libertine”? It seems like you are trying to say that Libertarianism is linked to other types of “conservative” political theories. I would even venture to guess that you are attempting to connect Republicanism with Libertariansim, under the guise of conservatism. Just remember that Republicans aren’t conservative, so that dog don’t hunt.
“conservo-libertine” There are certain areas where the two ideologies intertwine, but I would not lump conservatism in with the Republicans.
Most of what Bill says I tend to agree with. BUT, “Taxation is theft”, with no qualifiers, is head in the sand thinking to me. Income taxes .. yes bad.. Sales taxes, gas taxes, property taxes,car registration/smog fees, and the like, within reason, seem to be good ways to fund things like roads, police, fire, weights and measures dept, morgues, etc. They are basically voluntarily paid, and scale with use, rather than with effort made to work, or with pay rate.
As more driving happens, there are more funds for roads.. As more electricity or water is used there is more money to drill wells or desalinate, or build pipelines. It is really nice to have “public” infrastructure, like public beaches and parks. As long as the funding is reasonable, and comes from voluntary activities like driving, you can always choose not to drive if the taxation is “too expensive” for you.
It’s also really nice that we have a municipal code that requires houses in a subdivision to connect to and pay for sewer. It would be awful to have some protester doing his business in an outhouse next door to your back yard because he didn’t want to pay for sewer when building his house. It DOES impinge on your personal freedom when germs are travelling onto your property via a swarm of flies from the neighbor’s outhouse.
even if you think of taxation as theft, if you find yourself in a world where your best chance at thriving involves taking a job that is paid for by those very same taxes, you take advantage of that opportunity.
I’m the one who brought this all up. I don’t disagree with this. No one ever said that Bill shouldn’t take salary which is sourced by taxes. Using “stolen” tax money to buy gold still gets you gold; ends justify the means and all that. What I disagree with is his taking the tax-sourced salary and then complaining about (or trying not to pay) taxes himself, which denies some other conservo-libertine the same chance to thrive as he did. At the very least it makes him a hypocrite, which I took the libertine to call him out on.
You did not read the posts I put up by Murray Rothbard. Therefore you are ignorant. Or if you read them you did not comprehend them.
crater
Comment by “Auntie Fed, why won’t you love ME?”
2014-07-24 10:49:36
crater
Yes, please God, when, though?
Region VIII checking in.
Keeping score in Region IV.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to go read the card.
ILLEGAL ALIEN GANG MEMBERS ARRESTED FOR MURDER OF HOMELESS MAN
News report indicates several suspects were members of MS-13
Illegal Alien Gang Members Arrested for Murder of Homeless Man
by ADAN SALAZAR | INFOWARS.COM | JULY 24, 2014
Police in Maryland have arrested six illegal immigrants, several of which are admitted MS-13 gang members, in connection with the death of a homeless man killed outside of a liquor store earlier this week.
Amos Milburn Jones, a 56-year-old homeless man, was beaten and stabbed to death outside of a shopping strip in Suitland, Md., early Tuesday morning, after witnesses say they saw him arguing with a girl.
From the Hyattsville Patch:
…Amos was hanging out with friends near a liquor store when he confronted a girl. An argument reportedly began, the young woman became angry and left. But, she allegedly returned with a group of men who beat Jones and then stabbed him multiple times in the chest and neck.
Yesterday, Suitland police revealed the 17-year-old female and several of the other suspects were members of the notoriously hyper-violent, multi-national gang known as Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, and that all six suspects would be charged with first degree murder.
Buried in a video report by ABC affiliate WJLA is a quick mention that all six arrested were illegal immigrants.
The brutal homicide will no doubt stoke fears that a portion of the immigrants crossing into the country illegally are indeed gang members seeking new recruits, or simply wanting to cause trouble.
Jones’ death will also further bring into question the federal government’s practice of transporting illegal immigrants from detention facilities in South Texas to various other parts of the country, including Maryland.
So far two facilities in Maryland, near Baltimore, have been approved to house illegal immigrants still waiting to be processed, according to an interactive map provided by NumbersUSA.com. However, the facility closest to where the homicide occurred is about 30 minutes away in Alexandria, Va.
A University of Maryland report on gangs describes MS-13 as “..known to heavily recruit school aged members between 10 years of age and up. Gang members are known to hang around middle and high schools recruiting members as young as ten-years-old in and around schools…”
“MS-13 members have access to sophisticated weapons, thus making firearms trafficking one of their many criminal enterprises,” the report states. “Despite their access to weaponry, there have been many high-profile murders and assaults in which MS-13 have used machetes to attack their victims.
“The gang is heavily involved in burglaries, auto thefts, narcotic sales, home-invasion robberies, weapons smuggling, illegal firearm sales, car-jackings, extortion, murder, rape, prostitution, assault, and witness intimidation.”
“What the people don’t realize is that it is putting their own children at risk, because these children are going to be put in schools with their children,” former Border Patrol agent Zach Taylor recently warned, labeling the illegal immigrant influx “asymmetrical warfare” designed to bring the country to its knees.
Is this the “fundamental transformation” we were promised?
#FundamentalTransformationOfAmerica
Wonder if this will have any effect on the various states/communities lining up to take in the recently arrived illegals?
I’m sure Ben’s seen stuff like this…
Dear Whoever buys this house…
Good hearted of them.
Spin this, Lawrence Yun and NAR minions.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-24/new-home-sals-collapse-20-may-biggest-miss-year
Damn, I missed.
Maybe the next time you arrogant earth pukes won’t be so lucky.
http://news.yahoo.com/earth-survived-near-miss-2012-solar-storm-nasa-222404357.html
Can every HBB’er account for their whereabouts the night this happened?
http://www.news-press.com/story/news/crime/2014/07/23/bonita-beach-burglars-take-the-beef-leave-their-briefs/13040241/
July 24, 2014, 8:44 a.m. EDT
Greenspan says bubbles can’t be stopped without ‘crunch’
Former Fed chairman worries about false dawns and the looming Fed exit
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan speaks before the Economic Club of New York on April 28.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has always been a student of the economy. Since the financial crisis, he’s become a student of human nature.
Sitting in his office with a view of the Washington Monument in the distance, Greenspan is eager to share the insight distilled in his recent book, “The Map and the Territory,” due out in paperback this fall.
Greenspan, 88, who was chairman of the U.S. central bank for more than 18 years, from 1987 to 2006, managed to steer the economy through multiple crises, mainly by slashing rates and remaining upbeat. He suffered a remarkable fall from grace after leaving office and has apologized for trusting big banks too much. He has since gone back and re-examined his views on the economy.
Greenspan, now the president of Greenspan Associates LLC, an economic consulting firm, spoke to MarketWatch about the current stance of Fed policy, the economy and what to do about asset bubbles. The economy will do all right in the near term, he said, buoyed by a strong equity market, but he added that he remains worried that we could be facing another false dawn.
…
Tee hee…
“Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has always been a student of the economy. Since the financial crisis, he’s become a student of human nature.”
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan: Responsible for operating and tending printing presses. Performs traditional printing methods, such as offset lithography, gravure, flexography, and letterpress.
phony scandals