Bits Bucket for September 7, 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
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
June 2025 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
Is the China housing bubble scare over by now?
ft dot com
Last updated: August 25, 2014 11:55 am
Property bubble is ‘major risk to China’
By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing
The Conch Bay development stands across the river from the Manhattan-inspired Yujiapu financial district in the Tianjin Binhai New Area CBD of Tianjin, China, on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011. A replica of Manhattan, complete with Twin Towers, Lincoln Center and what passes for the Hudson River, is under construction 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Beijing. And like New York City in the 1970s, it may need a bailout. Photographer: Sim Chi Yin/Bloomberg©Bloomberg
The Yujiapu development aims to replicate Wall Street
On desolate salt flats on the far outskirts of China’s sixth-largest city, dozens of enormous half-built skyscrapers stand as a monument to the excess and optimism of the Chinese real estate market.
As physical manifestations of China’s property bubble go, few examples can beat this effort to replicate Wall Street in a wasteland 40km outside Tianjin and 150km from the capital Beijing.
Blueprints for the Yujiapu Financial District are intentionally modelled on Manhattan’s skyline, complete with an ersatz Rockefeller Center and twin office towers that look uncannily similar to the ones destroyed on September 11 2001.
Officials in charge of the project boast that when Yujiapu is eventually finished in 2019 it will be one-third larger than the City of London and more than three times the size of New York’s financial district, at least in terms of surface area.
But after years of soaring prices and frantic construction across the entire country, China’s real estate bubble is showing serious signs of strain and this project’s fate is now in question.
The country’s property market is barely 15 years old and nobody has ever experienced a real crash because, before the late 1990s, most urban residents in post-Communist China were still provided housing by their “work unit”.
Chinese banks started issuing home loans in 1997 and as recently as 1994 a central bank official charged with translating an American financial document had to look to Taiwan for a translation since no dictionary in Beijing included a Chinese word for “mortgage”.
Even before the global financial crisis of 2008 many were already warning of a property bubble in China, prompting the government to introduce purchasing and downpayment restrictions to slow soaring prices.
But when the crisis hit and the economy went into freefall, Beijing decided it had no choice but to refill the property bubble with a tidal wave of credit.
…
“Chinese banks started issuing home loans in 1997…”
That, coincidentally, was the year when the U.S. manifestation of the Housing Bubble went into overdrive.
I know long term it is a disaster, but how much does China matter to the housing market in the short term, like for the next year?
I think the lack of flippers and hedgies willing to buy at current prices and cutting the already low demand in half is more what is going to take prices down in the short term.
China matters. When their borrowing and building useless cities stops, the bubble in construction materials will pop and construction costs will fall. There is tremendous overcapacity everywhere.
“I know long term it is a disaster, but how much does China matter to the housing market in the short term, like for the next year?”
It will matter ‘in the next year’ at the point when the music stops across the Pacific, and the Chinese investor slice of U.S. residential demand suddenly disappears.
1 in 3 SoCal homes paid for with cash: Who’s buying?
Wendy Lee
May 08 2014
A home for sale in Arcadia, Calif. In Arcadia, 59 percent of home sales in the first quarter were paid in cash, according to RealtyTrac. KPCC
About 33 percent of all home purchases in California were paid in cash in the first quarter, the highest level since 2011, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac.
“When you do have a home that comes for sale and there are multiple offers, you have the cash buyers often winning out because their offers are the ones that move the most quickly, so sellers are accepting those first and that’s putting the cash buyers at the front of the line,” said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s vice president.
Blomquist estimates more than half of the all-cash buyers are investors or second-time homeowners, with a portion of foreign buyers from places like China.
…
Chinese, most paying with cash, lead international investors in U.S. housing recovery
Tuesday, July 08, 2014 4:16 PM
International buyers are nudging the U.S. housing recovery along, with the Chinese providing the biggest boost, according to the National Association of Realtors, CNNMoney reported.
Chinese buying was up nearly 80 percent to $22 billion, accounting for nearly 1 in 4 dollars of all foreign purchases, the Realtors said, with most of the buying concentrated in California and Washington State.
Canadians actually buy the most houses in the United States, but the Chinese favor more expensive properties. More than 75 percent of Chinese purchases are all-cash buys at an average price of $591,000.
Many Chinese buyers don’t plan to settle here, with 39 percent saying they intended to use their purchases as their primary home.
Some may buy condos for their children attending U.S. colleges. They hope that, in addition to saving on dormitory fees, they can make benefit from home price appreciation by the time the students graduate.
Others are becoming landlords, buying cheap homes in distressed economic pockets, like Detroit, and renting them out. Some are buying vacation properties.
…
The move to turn the U.S. residential real estate market into a playground for oligarchs with hundreds of millions or more in liquid cash has been a disaster for young American families who just want a home to live in.
All-cash offers crushing first-time homebuyers
Diana Olick
Thursday, 23 Jan 2014 | 2:21 PM ET
CNBC.com
Morgan and Tyler Brasfield are “dying” to buy a home, especially since the birth of their second child six months ago. Unfortunately they just don’t have the cash to compete in today’s San Francisco housing market, so they continue to rent.
“People are coming in with full-cash offers that are significantly higher than asking,” said Morgan, as she corralled her two-year-old on the playground. “So if you find a home for a little over a million, which would be a fixer-upper here, you can expect to pay two to three hundred thousand more than asking.”
…
This is funny to me. Way back, I had a little group of posters from San Diego. If I posted something from Palm Desert, some of them would say, “what the heck does Palm Desert matter?” I don’t know what’s going to happen in China. Could be nothing. Might be the beginning of a global depression like none the world has ever seen.
All real estate is global now.
“When you do have a home that comes for sale and there are multiple offers, you have the cash buyers often winning out because their offers are the ones that move the most quickly, so sellers are accepting those first and that’s putting the cash buyers at the front of the line,” said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s vice president.
Not sure about this line of thinking. Most folks I know would wait 30-days for another $50k. Easy money.
“It will matter ‘in the next year’ at the point when the music stops across the Pacific, and the Chinese investor slice of U.S. residential demand suddenly disappears.”
This won’t matter much to anyone outside of California.
Further, California isn’t the be-all and end-all, much like New York City isn’t. (The only disaster California will face that may damage the rest of the country economically for any real length of time is a 9.0 earthquake that tosses San Francisco or Los Angeles proper into the Pacific).
“China matters. When their borrowing and building useless cities stops, the bubble in construction materials will pop and construction costs will fall. There is tremendous overcapacity everywhere.”
This may matter more. We’ll have to wait to see. Anyone have any meaningful worldwide import/export figures of construction materials and labor?
I don’t mind Chinese buying up Cali. They seem not to like Arizona. I want it to stay that way. When they become citizens they become Democraps.
What I do not understand here is why don’t banks foreclose the underwater homes, especially the ones that the loanowner is occupying without paying the mortgage and unload them to these Chinese buyers, who are anxious to get out China with their loot.
It seems like a very good opportunity to offload - sight unseen - if they have a conduit for this purpose, the used home salespersons will be ready to accommodate this. Unless of course there is such a thing as “honor amongst thieves”.
I have no doubt that China matters, Palm Desert matters, Vegas matters, but I tend to agree that the Chinese buyers are concentrated in SoCal and the Bay Area mostly. I still think short term over the next year China is not going to explode in catastrophe. They’ve been reporting on those ghost cities for years and I think China can continue their lying and shenanigans to hold it together for some period still. Longer term than the next couple of years I agree they are toast.
Here’s a comment thread on the Morgan-and-Tyler-Brasfield CNBC article:
——————
Rental Watch • 7 months ago
Here’s a better idea…
Considering rental rates are half the cost of buying at current grossly inflated asking prices of resale housing, RENT.
Then buy later after prices crater for 65% less.
blaster man -> Rental Watch: • 7 months ago
It depends on the market. In some markets rental rates are HIGHER than owning.
Rental Watch -> blaster man • 7 months ago
Wrong.
Rental rates are half the cost of buying at current grossly inflated asking prices.
—————
“Here’s a comment thread on the Morgan-and-Tyler-Brasfield CNBC article…”
LMAO. Exeter is using Rental Watch’s moniker over there, and they are deleting his insults and troll posts.
From the comments:
BrianBallsOfSteel:
“Where do you get your BS numbers”
Rental Watch (aka Housing Analyst, aka Realtors Are Liars, aka Exeter):
“Angri-Boi, Don’t be so lazy and go look for yourself.”
Looks like RAGE BOY is trolling everywhere, with the SAME falsified info.
Your engagement with enragement is causing your derangement.
The Enrager
‘A replica of Manhattan, complete with Twin Towers, Lincoln Center and what passes for the Hudson River, is under construction 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Beijing. ‘
It is like China is one big 3-D printing machine.
Opinion
Op-Ed Contributors
Housing bubble in China will burst without tax reform
Yi Xianrong
2014-09-05
11:20 (GMT+8)
New buildings in Fuzhou, Fujian province. (Photo/CNS)
A large housing bubble is brewing in China, posing major risks for the real-estate market. According to Reuters data released in 2011, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Tianjin ranked in the top 15 cities in which residents were unable to afford a home.
The nation’s real estate industry has created the world’s largest housing bubble in history, posing major risks when it bursts.
The core issue is that macro-economic policy still depends heavily on the real estate sector.
When the property market grows too fast, the government intervenes to constrain growth and when the economy slows down, the government implements new measures to stimulate real estate investment.
More importantly, the central government turns a blind eye to local governments’ speculation on the market when the pressure of an economic downtrend deepens, allowing them to adopt favorable lending policies for people buying more houses, drawing in investors and boosting real estate growth, so that GDP growth remains stable.
Although it was suggested during the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee that such a pattern of economic growth should be adjusted, this has not happened in practice.
When adjustments occur in the property market, a moderate price decline exposes the country to several risks, such as mounting local debt and bank loans, which puts more pressure on narrowing economic growth.
Since no one is willing to bear the risks, local governments intervene in the market by implementing new policies in response to the risks posed.
As every government official only serves for a short term in office, they seek their own interests and try to demonstrate their own abilities and the real estate development is the best way for these officials to accomplish these goals.
Local governments are allowed to buy land cheaply from farmers and sell it at much higher prices. As a result of this power, land sales have become the most effective catalyst for developing the local economy.
Under the current financial system, land mortgages are the easiest way to generate funds at a low cost. Since it is easy for local governments to acquire land and thereby funds, the scale of urban infrastructure construction keeps increasing.
In other words, serious flaws exist in the real-estate system. Such speculation in the property market is prohibited in other countries. Residents of Toronto, for example, who seek to get rich through speculation on the housing market will be heavily taxed by the city.
China’s taxation system, in contrast, lags far behind in the real estate sector, and does not impose enough taxation, allowing a minority of Chinese nationals to get extremely rich through speculation on the market.
…
Buy stocks and homes cause the dollar will continue being dilluted, there is simply no other choice. Once you take away the punchbowl it all goes to sh@t again. They know it and you know it.
Look yourself in the mirror today and admit you are powerless to the printing press.
I want to join the big club!!
If you dollars are so worthless, send them to me.
UK markets and the GBP will not react well if the Scots repudicate the UK political establishment by voting for independence. Judging by the increasing angst among oligarchs on both sides of the pond, that is a real possibility.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/scottish-independence/scottish-independence-yes-vote-takes-shock-lead-in-poll-for-first-time-9716619.html
On September 18th Scotts will go to the polls for a referendum on succession from the UK. The UK political establishment - an adjunct of the City of London banking establishment - may be in for a nasty shock as they belatedly realize they have lost the all-important consent of the governed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/11079941/Scottish-independence-Yes-campaign-ahead.html
I smell fear…the oligarchs are not pleased that their pliant UK political establishment may “lose” Scotland after a 300-year union.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-07/uk-full-panic-mode-rains-fire-and-brimstone-bribes-scotland-yes-independence-poll-cr
Diluted and deluded are the same word to the illiterate.
Azdude has a point. Given the Fed’s relentless debasement of the currency, and its imperative of kicking the can down the road to defer the inevitable financial reckoning day, buying a house or other tangible assets that will be repaid in debauched Fed greenbacks makes sense in a perverse sort of way. Not to mention, in a time of universal fraud, possession in nine-tenths of the law.
“Not to mention, in a time of universal fraud, possession is nine-tenths of the law.”
I assume you mean possession by nominal owners (i.e., those who borrower circa 100% of the proceeds to buy a home), but not renters, who can get evicted the moment they stop paying rent.
Yes.
“Is the China housing bubble scare over by now?”
You looking to buy a house in China?
‘Tasmania could gain from the booming real estate market in Sydney and Melbourne. Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Adrian Kelly said the state could receive flow-on benefits from resurgent sales and escalating mainland house prices.’
“The good thing about what is happening in Melbourne and Sydney is that a lot of people are being priced out of the market, so they will look to more affordable places such as Tasmania,” he said.’
‘Mr Kelly said Tasmania was “a long way off” a housing bubble. “We [Tasmania] don’t have the strong sales in terms of auctions they’re having every Saturday, we don’t have all the Chinese money pouring in and Tasmania’s economy is very different to what’s happening over there.”
No. I’m expecting the flood of Chinese equity locusts buying along the west coast to eventually dry to a trickle.
Same thing happened to California equity locusts who invested in WA, OR, ID, UT, NV, AZ, etc. before the subprime collapse: They vanished overnight, leaving behind no support for bubble-era prices in distant locations where they formerly invested.
Fullerton, CA Housing Prices Sink 4% As Inventory Surges 37%
http://www.movoto.com/fullerton-ca/market-trends/
Which one of you schlocks is going to provide cover today?
http://www.movoto.com/midland-tx/market-trends/
movoto only works for huges cities
Midland is not in the tank folks
Az… DC. You just can’t keep your stories straight.
movoto’s data aggregation is quite accurate. You simply don’t like what the data shows.
movoto’s data aggregation is quite accurate. You simply don’t like what the data shows.
LOL. You are funny, HA.
Sure, the data is accurate. It also shows that only a single house was for sale last month, and only a single house was for sale a year ago. How statistically-significant is a sample size of n=1?
Comparing the two houses on either a median list price, or on a price-per-square-foot basis, is obviously ridiculous, as it is like comparing apples and oranges.
Or did you fail entirely to grasp taxpayers’ point?
You’re ducking and weaving again.
Please buy a house today at the top of the market.
Dallas/Fort Worth, TX Housing Demand Plunges 18% YoY; Falls To 2012 Levels
http://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public/Metro/Metro_Turnover_AllHomes.csv
dallas/fort Worth prices up over a year over year!
http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/tag/case-shiller/
What does it matter considering demand is collapsing.
Remember; You can ask $300k for your run down depreciating 20 year old shack but where are the buyers at that price?
Case-shiller is based on asking prices?!?!
Lol! Take yer meds duuuuude.
Worse yet, CS excludes defaulted and foreclosed properties.
Once again…. where are the buyers at that price?
Good morning Region IV
Region IV: AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN
Good evening. Region X.
Eric Margolis: Don’t Bomb ISIS
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/09/eric-margolis/hands-off-isis/
Interesting opinions are offered in that article…
Exactly. I am probably filtered among my FB friends who don’t like my posts about the police state, the endless wars, the heavy debt, the gun confiscation and asset seizures, but I won’t stop exposing the lunacy of statism.
+1.
“Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”
– George Orwell, 1984
I love that Orwell quote!
Eric Margolies is a Canadian. If that helps.
In high school reading 1984 and Animal Farm was part of the syllabus, but a couple of years ago I re-read them as an adult and was astonished at how prescient Orwell was. How long before the NEA bans Orwell and similar non-PC books from the classroom?
More timely Orwell quotes:
http://classiclit.about.com/od/orwellgeorge/a/George-Orwell-Quotes.htm
what’s your handle on FB!
Sorry Ann. Not about you but there are statists on HBB who seriously want to get the thugs after me. School marm is 1) a federal employee, 2) in Washington D.C., 3) a socia
It’s, and 4) has some specialty in the legal professin (but pretends to know about things outside her specialty).
They’re livid, LIVID, I tell you.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/06/obama-deportation-relief_n_5777512.html?ir=Politics
Obama’s “broken promise” is a cynical ploy to get past the midterm elections before going full retard on amnesty and open borders. Trust me, the Republicrat Duopoly wants and will get amnesty and uncontrolled immigration - Pelosi needs a DNC entitlement supermajority, and the corporate-owned GOP needs Third World wage slaves to boost corporate bottom lines for their oligarch masters. The American middle and working classes will be the big losers, but they have shown they will mindlessly vote for the status quo regardless, so their shafting will continue unabated.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-to-delay-executive-action-on-immigration-2014-09-06
This is so funny to me. Normally in politics you need to pin a candidate down on their position and they lie and dissemble and then do what they want after the election no matter what they said on the campaign trail. Here, even though everyone knows it is coming after the election somehow not doing it before the election prevents from being an issue?
Like, I’ll cheat on my significant other, but only after we get married.
“Like, I’ll cheat on my significant other, but only after we get married.”
Hat’s off to you - yours is an even better statement than you might realize, shallow.
A politician who cheats on his “significant other” (in other words, the population at large) knows that he or she will be given a free pass once they’re in office. Largely, this is because the few laws that can stop him or her have been debased and/or ignored.
Further, it’s not as if a sense of ethics or morality is about to stop him or her.
Getting that ring on the finger gives the politician license to be corrupt.
Shallow, I like that!
And here is the predictable result of the Republicrat Duopoly’s ceaseless importation of cheap Third World labor and offshoring of manufacturing jobs.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-06/no-country-white-men
Thank you, Pelosi. Mission almost accomplished. Californians should be fenced into their state so they can stew in their own juices and live in the DNC socialist paradise they’ve created.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/09/05/Gov-Jerry-Brown-Nearly-30-of-CA-Kids-Illegal-or-Don-t-Speak-English
and live in the DNC socialist paradise they’ve created ??
I thought legal & illegal immigration was a federal issue ?? How is it that California “created” this situation or is it just your California hate meter just spiking again…??
Pelosi and the Democrat-run state government in California have been enthusiastic proponents of open borders.
have been enthusiastic proponents of open borders ??
Does not matter how “enthusiastic” they may be dude…Its a federal law issue that is or is not enforced…Texas & Arizona are not very “enthusiastic” about illegals and how is that working out for them ??
Like I said, your “hate california” meter is spiking…
In case you hadn’t noticed, Nancy Pelosi is also a NATIONAL politcal figure who has been a driving force in the DNC’s efforts to push through “immigration reform” aka amnesty and open borders. Not coincidentally, she and her husband have amassed a fortune from Wall Street’s rigged casino market.
http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/politician/democrat/nancy-pelosi-net-worth/
Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 4 January 2007, which made her the first woman ever to hold the post. Nancy Pelosi graduated from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. in 1962, then married businessman Paul Pelosi and moved to his native San Francisco. She worked her way up through the state Democratic party before entering Congress after a special election in California’s 8th District in 1987. The 8th District, which includes much of San Francisco, is considered one of the more liberal districts in the United States, and thus Nancy Pelosi has often been accused of extreme liberalism by her political opponents. She was named Minority Leader in November of 2002, becoming the first woman to lead a political party in the history of the U.S. Congress. After Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in the national elections of November 2006, Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House for the session beginning in 2007 and then re-elected in 2009 as fellow Democrat Barack Obama took office. Republicans won control of the House in the elections of 2010, and Pelosi was replaced as Speaker by Republican John Boehner of Ohio. She continues to represent the 8th District.
“Like I said, your “hate california” meter is spiking…”
Gee, and here I was, thinking I had the market cornered on that one. Apparently, I need to step it up.
Who elected Pelosi, Feinstein, and their ilk and foisted them on the nation? Californians. Who keeps returning them to office? Californians. If the shoe fits….
California, meet your future.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/07/us-mexico-violence-insight-idUSKBN0H20JG20140907
Incidentally, in generality, I agree that Californians ought to be fenced in. Especially those who voted for socialists.
No need for Neocon-Progressives infested with the delusions of big government to escape, only to ruin the healthier areas of the country.
Incidentally, it’s interesting in that California is largely a dump economically-speaking with a smattering of uber-wealthy enclaves scattered about, don’t you think?
What’s up with that, you pro-California enthusiasts?
Quite obviously, you’ve yours and just as obviously, everyone else can just go to h@ll. No wonder you’re so in love with Washington, D.C. Same attitude prevails there.
Well there certainly are millions of “progressives” in California who turn a blind eye away from the police state. My gun grabbing friends love to point out mass shootings in other states but did not comment on the Isla Vista rich kid who shot two people and stabbed three people and ran over a cyclist. Or the junior college shooter in Santa Monica who built his own AR-15. They did not comment on the cops who beat Kelly Thomas to death in Orange County. These LIEberals were prolly the same ones who in 1994 cheered O.J. fleeing in the white Bronco.
“…stew in their own juices…”
Henry Morgenthau, Jr.?
Just curious, but aren’t we near some sort of ceiling for importing all this cheap labor? Around here, it seems that any job that can be done by an illegal is already filled by an illegal. So what is the goal of importing even more illegals? Cannon fodder for the warmongers? Dem votes from anchor babies? I can’t imagine that…Congress doesn’t plan 18+ years ahead.
The answer is self-evident. Pelosi still doesn’t have her permanent DNC supermajority. Therefore the illegals will keep flooding in.
It’s interesting that you express no animosity towards the businesses that employ the illegal immigrants.
I wish I had a quarter (and anti-nausea medication) for every time Obama proclaimed one of his executive decisions is “the right thing to do.” Obama concedes the influx of “unaccompanied minors” temporarily derailed his open borders agenda, but all but confirms he’ll double down once the midterms are over.
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/exclusive-obama-blames-border-crisis-immigration-reform-delay-n197441
Maybe. But I wouldn’t be surprised if something wicked this way comes (some other crisis) that again delays or even finishes off this long, drawn out situation for good.
Spanish language TV and radio stations are popping up like weeds around here.
Another smidgen of USDA Bovine excrement
IRS SAYS IT HAS LOST EMAILS FROM 5 MORE EMPLOYEES
The agency blamed computer crashes for the lost emails
by STEPHEN OHLEMACHER | AP | SEPTEMBER 6, 2014
The IRS says it has lost emails from five more workers who are part of congressional investigations into the treatment of conservative groups that applied for tax exempt status.
The tax agency said in June that it could not locate an untold number of emails to and from Lois Lerner, who headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. The revelation set off a new round of investigations and congressional hearings.
On Friday, the IRS said it has also lost emails from five other employees related to the probe, including two agents who worked in a Cincinnati office processing applications for tax-exempt status.
The agency blamed computer crashes for the lost emails. In a statement, the IRS said it found no evidence that anyone deliberately destroyed evidence.
Sgt. Schultz never found and evidence in Hogan’s barracks either.
Dang it, “any evidence.”
“IRS SAYS IT HAS LOST EMAILS FROM 5 MORE EMPLOYEES”
Suuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrre it did. Lost them, I mean.
No doubt it my mind whatsoever that the IRS said that. Those at the IRS says plenty things to cover their tracks.
Almost heaven, Region III,
Blue ridge mountain, Shenandoah river,
Life is old there, older than the trees,
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong,
Region III,
Mountain mamma,take me home
Country roads
Well Region II girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear
And the Region IV girls with the way they talk
They knock me out when I’m down there
The Region VII farmer’s daughters really make you feel alright
And the Region VIII girls with the way they kiss
They keep their boyfriends warm at night
I wish they all could be Region IX
I wish they all could be Region IX
I wish they all could be Region IX girls
Region IX is going to have problems cause California doesn’t mix well with Az and NV.
Standing on the corner of Winslow, Region IX,
Such a fine sight to see,
It’s a girl, my lord, in a flat bed Ford
Slowin down to take a look at me,
“Region IX is going to have problems cause California doesn’t mix well with Az and NV.”
That’s why you have a …
“Psychological Operations Officer,” whose job it is to design “PSYOP products that are designed to pacify and acclimate detainees or DCs to accept U.S. I/R facility authority and regulations,”
U.S. ARMY DOCUMENT OUTLINES PLAN FOR RE-EDUCATION CAMPS IN AMERICA
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Thursday, May 3, 2012
A leaked U.S. Army document prepared for the Department of Defense contains shocking plans for “political activists” to be pacified by “PSYOP officers” into developing an “appreciation of U.S. policies” while detained in prison camps inside the United States.
The document, entitled FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations (PDF) was originally released on a restricted basis to the DoD in February 2010, but has now been leaked online.
The manual states, “These operations may be performed as domestic civil support operations,” and adds that “The authority to approve resettlement such operations within U.S. territories,” would require a “special exception” to The Posse Comitatus Act, which can be obtained via “the President invoking his executive authority.” The document also makes reference to identifying detainees using their “social security number.”
Aside from enemy combatants and other classifications of detainees, the manual includes the designation of “civilian internees,” in other words citizens who are detained for, “security reasons, for protection, or because he or she committed an offense against the detaining power.”
Once the detainees have been processed into the internment camp, the manual explains how they will be “indoctrinated,” with a particular focus on targeting political dissidents, into expressing support for U.S. policies.
The re-education process is the responsibility of the “Psychological Operations Officer,” whose job it is to design “PSYOP products that are designed to pacify and acclimate detainees or DCs to accept U.S. I/R facility authority and regulations,” according to the document.
The manual lists the following roles that are designated to the “PSYOP team”.
- Identifies malcontents, trained agitators, and political leaders within the facility who may try to organize resistance or create disturbances.
- Develops and executes indoctrination programs to reduce or remove antagonistic attitudes.
- Identifies political activists.
- Provides loudspeaker support (such as administrative announcements and facility instructions when necessary).
- Helps the military police commander control detainee and DC populations during emergencies.
- Plans and executes a PSYOP program that produces an understanding and appreciation of U.S. policies and actions.
http://www.infowars.com/…/ - 72k -
In which Region can you still get your kicks on Route 66?
“In which Region can you still get your kicks on Route 66?”
Regional Operations | FEMA.gov
http://www.fema.gov/regional-operations - 74k -
Regions 7, 6 and 9, it appears. Especially Region 6.
I wonder in which quadrants of Region 6?
Our Friends at FEMA must further subdivide the Regions at least a few times, no?
‘To the editor:’
‘Following the Lehman banking debacle of 2008, the government-sponsored bailout of the banking sector to boost the economy created an illusion of recovery by means of phantom wealth…The U.S. economy is crashing as major retail chains close thousands of stores because 70 percent of the economy is consumer driven. The decline in consumer spending is due to the permanent loss of jobs resulting from the collapse of the housing bubble with many mortgages still underwater…’
‘We are a Christian nation with Judeo roots and God has a solution for our economic dilemma. The Jubilee law described in Leviticus 25 provides a national cancellation of private debts every 50 years. This will ensure that no one would ever become forever trapped in debt and poverty. Providing immediate and future Jubilee debt relief for mortgage, student loan, and credit card debt will be a start to save our nation.’
Robert
Orange, California’
LOLZ! Invoked by a clown from where else but the State Of DebtDonkey AKA California.
Seeing as the asswipe is getting sanctimonious, why is it that God made CA home of the free shit army?
The U.S. economy is crashing as major retail chains close thousands of stores because 70 percent of the economy is consumer driven ??
Demand is only part of the story…
They are closing stores because there has been and continues to be a major shift in how people shop in retail, the demographic age shift and more people moving out of the suburbs and rural areas and closer to city core’s…
And, at least based on everything I have heard or read, it will continue…
No Dave. The demographics are that demand is collapsing because of;
-massively inflated asking prices
-aging population
-collapsing population growth.
I had a long lucrative career as a Shopping Center Manager & Marketing Director, and also managed Mixed-Use. There are approximately 109, 500 shopping centers (all kinds-regional, strip, community, outlet (gimmick) etc,…
*Consumers have no disposable income
*Aging Demographics - they seldom want or need “chit”
*Way too many retailers, etc…
ICSC Mgmt School grad here. The International Council Of Shopping Centers is the TRADE Assoc. for the 109, 500 centers of all sizes in the USA alone. I just saw that 55+ age group statistic about controlling the wealth (Lennar Home article below). Most boomers I know are f**king broke. They raised smart kids who went to good universities, bought them cars, and so forth.
“They don’t have a cash flow problem, they’re f**king broke.” -George Carlin
“Providing immediate and future Jubilee debt relief for mortgage, student loan, and credit card debt will be a start to save our nation.’
An excellent idea, IMO. Christianity is not the only religion that provides for debt relief. I think Judaic law holds that people should forgive any debts owed to them after 7 years. Muslims have laws against usury.
People can mock religion all they want, but belief in the spiritual life of a being has sustained people for centuries and throughout the life of the planet, religions have often been the sole civilizing influences.
It’s when religions get twisted and used to degrade others that they get a bad name.
“People can mock religion all they want, but belief in the spiritual life of a being has sustained people for centuries and throughout the life of the planet, religions have often been the sole civilizing influences.”
The moderating influence of religion upon many people cannot be denied. If religion serves as the basis upon which people build functioning, respectful communities, then fine.
You know, it’s a good that Mexico is largely Roman-Catholic. The United States would be in real trouble if Mexico weren’t Christian. Imagine if Mexico were Iran or Syria.
I’m an ancient civ buff on sort of a dilettante basis. One of the things I found interesting was that Christianity, up until the time of the Emperor Justinian, held a belief in human rebirth (not to be confused with reincarnation, which holds that people can be reborn as trees, bugs, animals, etc.) The implications of this were bad for the TPTB of that time, in terms of inheritance and property claims and such. So the belief was outlawed, and to preach it was to invite the penalty of death. In other words, the belief was suppressed out of all existence.
I often wonder how different the world would be today if people held a belief in re-birth. In other words, if you knew you were coming back, you’d have more of a stake in the future of the planet and its people, rather than shuffling off to Buffalo-In-The-Sky.
“At Play in the Fields of the Lord,” by Peter Matthieson. “Tartuffe,” by Moliere. Anything by Voltaire.
“Following the Lehman banking debacle of 2008, the government-sponsored bailout of the banking sector to boost the economy created an illusion of recovery by means of phantom wealth…”
Among whom is this illusion of recovery? Those of us in the trenches don’t perceive much of a recovery. My costs continue to increase yet my income does not. Further -
I have not seen a recovery of ethical business practice.
I have not seen a recovery of ethical governmental conduct.
I have not seen much of a recovery of ethical individual conduct, either, although I am beginning to see it happen.
I would be curious to see what is on your list of “ethical business practices.”
To paraphrase the overused line, I don’t think that ‘debt relief’ means what the writer thinks it means…
In places and times that practiced debt jubilees, I’m sure that the lenders were all individuals of means, not governments, and they were not bailed out. Consider what that would mean - the debt jubilee not only clears the bad debt, a good thing, but it also makes future lenders much more circumspect about making foolish loans, no? The end result is to make lending far less likely, and with a 7-year cycle, on very short terms if and when lending did happen.
This bears no relation to our current system. In fact it is the exact opposite. What the writer seems to be proposing is an open spigot of cheap government backed credit that no one ever really has to repay, because they know it will be forgiven.
Such is the ‘religious wisdom’ of our times. You don’t have to be religious in the least to come up with this type of nonsense.
The 1796 Treaty with Tripoli spells out in Article 11 that the United States is by no means a Christian Nation.
True, but that doesn’t matter much. I’d rather the U.S. follow the Christian tradition (if it were going to follow one) rather than Islamic or Hindi, for example.
You should thank your lucky stars that Mexico largely follows the Christian tradition - even though you are an atheist. You could be an atheist in Kurdistan.
Following whatever tradition best supports the notion of liberty for individuals is the way to go, if one were to support a tradition.
Your biggest personal threat isn’t Christians in the U.S. It’s the atheists in Washington D.C. who are at the opposite end of the philosophical spectrum from you.
Not all atheists are created equal. Many are statists. Many fewer are not. You’d be wise to remember that, Bill.
The deists and atheists have actually been the ones responsible for freeing people from government. Most of the founders were deists. And of course Ayn Rand, the atheist, is worshipped by religionists Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. Ayn Rand introduced a lot of today’s top scholars to Austrian economics. Dr. Murray Rothbard was a former disciple of hers and was one of the top buys in the Austrian economics movement.
The problem with social conservative Christians is that they are far more social conservative than economically for free markets. Their top agenda is to force religion down people’s throats, put police in every bedroom and back seat of every teenager’s car, and force women to have unwanted children.
Today’s social conservatives are so pro-Israel that they don’t mind sacrificing American lives to defend Israel. They don’t care if it causes the terrorists to do blowback against US citizens as long as their idiotic religion makes them so in love with Israel. What a bunch of nuts.
“terrorists to do blowback against US citizens”
Again, Islamist Terrorists don’t give a rat’s a$$ about our relationship with Israel. They just want to kill what they consider to be infidels…period. They are following a literal interpretation of the “Prophet” Mohamed’s teachings in the Quran.
We have to find some sort of sane middle ground policy regarding the fight against the global islamic jihadists, a policy somewhere between the Alex Jones Nuts, the Progressive nuts and the Neo-con nuts.
They just want to kill what they consider to be infidels…period”
Very true. It’s why jihadists have no hesitation slicing the heads off monks.
“Again, Islamist Terrorists don’t give a rat’s a$$ about our relationship with Israel. They just want to kill what they consider to be infidels…period. They are following a literal interpretation of the “Prophet” Mohamed’s teachings in the Quran.”
Again you are wrong. They did not attack Switzerland which is neutral. Which non-middle east countries did those Muslims attack before 2001?…crickets…
They do not attack the USA for its freedoms. We are far less free than Hong Kong, Singapore. We have less economic freedom than even Australia and New Zealand! You are blind by your neoconservatism.
The UK political establishment, which threw open the country to decades of unrestricted immigration along with accepting asylum seekers (and benefits scammers) from every Third World cesspool, are now having to deal with the monster they created. Or more accurately, the British public and taxpayers will end up paying the price.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11079386/British-female-jihadis-sign-up-to-the-Islamic-States-all-women-police-force.html
Obama punts on immigration action until after midterm election
By Laura Barron-Lopez - 09/06/14 10:07 AM EDT
President Obama is pushing back any executive action on immigration until after the November midterms, a White House official said on Saturday.
“The reality the president has had to weigh is that we’re in the midst of the political season, and because of the Republicans’s extreme politicization of this issue, the president believes it would be harmful to the policy itself and to the long-term prospects for comprehensive immigration reform to announce administrative action before the elections,” a White House official emailed to the The Hill.
After numerous conversations with his cabinet, members of Congress, and stakeholders, the official said, Obama decided that postponing any executive action was the best route.
The decision goes against the pledge Obama made less than 24 hours earlier on Friday that he would act “soon.”
The president does plan to act before the end of the year, the official added.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/216853-report-obama-to-delay-immigration-action#ixzz3CddOAB9B
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
———————————————————————————
Nearly 1 in 3 schoolchildren in CA are illegal or ‘don’t speak English’.
During Thursday night’s California gubernatorial debate against Republican Neel Kashkari, California Governor Jerry Brown (D) revealed that nearly 30% of the state’s schoolchildren are either illegal immigrants or do not speak English. Brown, who recently said that illegal immigrants from Mexico were “all welcome in California,” praised his administration’s immigration policies. He said that California is “setting the pace” on immigration laws and mentioned bills he signed that gave driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, made California a sanctuary state (Trust Act), and granted in-state tuition to illegal immigrants (CA DREAM Act). Brown then said that these policies were necessary because “about 30%” of schoolchildren in California are “either undocumented or don’t speak English.” A California Immigrant Policy Center report found that there are 2.6 million illegal immigrants in California (or 26% of all immigrants) while illegal immigrants make up nearly 10% of the state’s workforce, including “38% of the agriculture industry and 14% of the construction industry.” According to The New York Times, 28% of Californians were born outside the United States in 2012 and, according to Pew Research, “Latinos make up nearly 40% of the state’s population and have made California ‘only the second state, behind New Mexico, where whites are not the majority and Latinos are the plurality.’” Breitbart
endtimeheadlines.org/…/nearly-1-3-schoolchildren-ca-illegal-dont-speak-english/ - 85k - Cached - Similar pages
5 hours ago
Stop and seize
Aggressive police take hundreds of millions of dollars from motorists not charged with crimes
After the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the government called on police to become the eyes and ears of homeland security on America’s highways.
Local officers, county deputies and state troopers were encouraged to act more aggressively in searching for suspicious people, drugs and other contraband. The departments of Homeland Security and Justice spent millions on police training.
The effort succeeded, but it had an impact that has been largely hidden from public view: the spread of an aggressive brand of policing that has spurred the seizure of hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from motorists and others not charged with crimes, a Washington Post investigation found. Thousands of people have been forced to fight legal battles that can last more than a year to get their money back.
Stop and Seize: In recent years, thousands of people have had cash confiscated by police without being charged with crimes. The Post looks at the police culture behind the seizures and the people who were forced to fight the government to get their money back.
Part 2: One training firm started a private intelligence-sharing network and helped shape law enforcement nationwide. (Coming Monday)
Part 3: Motorists caught up in the seizures talk about the experience and the legal battles that sometimes took more than a year. (Coming Tuesday)
Behind the rise in seizures is a little-known cottage industry of private police-training firms that teach the techniques of “highway interdiction” to departments across the country.
One of those firms created a private intelligence network known as Black Asphalt Electronic Networking & Notification System that enabled police nationwide to share detailed reports about American motorists — criminals and the innocent alike — including their Social Security numbers, addresses and identifying tattoos, as well as hunches about which drivers to stop.
Many of the reports have been funneled to federal agencies and fusion centers as part of the government’s burgeoning law enforcement intelligence systems — despite warnings from state and federal authorities that the information could violate privacy and constitutional protections.
A thriving subculture of road officers on the network now competes to see who can seize the most cash and contraband, describing their exploits in the network’s chat rooms and sharing “trophy shots” of money and drugs. Some police advocate highway interdiction as a way of raising revenue for cash-strapped municipalities.
“All of our home towns are sitting on a tax-liberating gold mine,” Deputy Ron Hain of Kane County, Ill., wrote in a self-published book under a pseudonym. Hain is a marketing specialist for Desert Snow, a leading interdiction training firm based in Guthrie, Okla., whose founders also created Black Asphalt.
Hain’s book calls for “turning our police forces into present-day Robin Hoods.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/ -
This article belongs in the HBB hall of fame.
Are these pigs really making your life any better or any safer?
“Stop and seize”
Seizures and forfeitures began in earnest with Saint Ronnie’s war on drugs.
Guide to avoiding being a ‘boomerang kid’
By Phil Blair
5 p.m.Sept. 6, 2014
It’s awkward for parents and it’s really awkward for kids. There is nothing fun about being a “boomerang kid.”
There is nothing fun about the excitement of leaving for college, making grown-up decisions about what to study, and graduating with nowhere to go but back home to your childhood bedroom at your parents’ house. How can you feel like more of a failure than that? Well, 20 percent of America’s college graduates do exactly that.
The number of college graduates living back at home in 2013 is 21.6 million. And to add to the pain, the average school debt that these boomerang kids have is about $29,000 — debt that keeps them from buying cars or houses or in many cases building the nest egg needed to get married.
How does this happen? How does this situation creep up on bright, articulate, educated and once-optimistic students? What should you do to prevent this from happening and to get back on track?
…
there is no ‘pent-up demand’ for $500,000 starter homes, now or anytime soon.
Are boomers the new coveted demo?
See you kids, the older generation is huge and hugely wealthy
By Michele Parente
11 a.m. Sept. 6, 2014
Let Hollywood continue to chase after the 18-34 demographic, Lennar Homes is going after the baby boomers — and the 70 million-plus demographic’s massive spending power.
After studying U.S. census data showing that 51 million Americans live in a multigenerational home, Lennar drew up plans for its “NextGen” home. It combines a primary residence with an attached but totally private “Home Within A Home,” outfitted with a bedroom suite, garage, great room and laundry for grandma or grandpa or even boomerang kids moving back in.
Lennar’s shift to accommodate the changing way Americans are living reflects an economic reality: people 55 and over control three-fourths of the nation’s wealth, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
“The aging of the baby boomers has set it all in motion,” said Janice Hinshaw, vice president of marketing-West for Lennar, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders.
…
Investing 9/05/2014 @ 4:51PM
Why Fall May Bring Fresh Highs for Stocks and Higher Bond Prices
Leave it to the world’s central bankers to bring an abrupt end to the lazy days of summer. First we had the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole gathering in late August, where the rock stars of monetary policy—Fed Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi—hit the stage amid the twin pyrotechnics of easy money and a vision of the future where every worker has a job. Then, Dr. Draghi promptly delivered on his promise to add stimulus to the euro zone economy with lower interest rates and asset purchases. His action came as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe used a cabinet reshuffle to show he has not given up on Abenomics just yet.
Heading into fall, the promise of more easy money bodes well for equities and bond prices. The recent high of the New York Stock Exchange Advance-Decline Line supports this optimistic hypothesis, suggesting that stock prices will continue to reach new highs.
…
Home Buyers Lose as U.S. Bond Rally Skips Mortgage Rates
By Jody Shenn Sep 3, 2014 2:31 AM PT
Potential home buyers arrive to an open house in Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Potential home buyers watching this year’s plunge in 10-year Treasury yields can be forgiven for wondering why their borrowing costs aren’t falling at the same pace.
The last time the benchmark Treasury rate fell as low as the 2.34 percent level reached last week, in June 2013, interest rates on typical mortgages were almost 0.2 percentage point less than they are now. There are a number of explanations: Yields on five-year Treasuries, which also help determine loan rates, have actually increased. And lenders that cut staff aren’t competing as aggressively by adjusting their pricing.
No matter the cause, the effect is that a potential catalyst to get the faltering U.S. housing recovery back on track is failing to materialize. With home-loan rates stagnating at about 4.1 percent during the past three months, a renewed boom in refinancing also sits just out of reach.
“People that had an optimistic bent about housing are certainly disappointed here,” Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. in New York, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “Obviously it couldn’t hurt” to have rates even lower, “though it’s not going to be a magic bullet.”
…
Region VIII checking in.
TeeVee is increasingly for the olds:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2014/09/05/tv-is-increasingly-for-old-people/?hpid=z15
And is there some pro concussionball on TeeVee today? All the posts are before noon eastern time
I got 3 mega chocolate chip cookies from papa johns.
Every time Peyton wins, 50% off all regular price orders at Papa John’s.
And then I head over to Dunkin’ Donuts and down a dozen cuz’ Eli won.
the Fat Boys - All You Can Eat:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BDPk6OQkpeI
I’m looking forward to trying Donks new specialty. Deep Fried Crater Taters.
‘Merica, f* yeah
It’s “game time” in America
The “economy” and your enthusiasm for it depends on it
Rah-rah, whatever…
Americans are forting up (the succession of the successful). So are the upper classes in the rest of the world as class and societal divides become deeper, thanks to Fed/central bank “wealth effects” and plundering/offshoring of the productive economy.
http://wolfstreet.com/2014/09/07/fear-loathing-and-paranoia-in-an-all-exclusive-society/
Another centrally-planned Keynesian economy heads for disaster.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-07/omgodzilla-japanese-macro-data-revisions-even-more-disastrous-expected
Sounds utterly dismal. And the official denial is extremely thick!
And the solution as always? Print moar “stimulus.” Because it’s worked so well so far. At least for the 1%.
Selfish Hoarder laughed (”Howard Roark laughed” - first three words from Fountainhead)
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/report-its-your-fault-fed-says-americans-who-hoard-money-are-to-blame-for-poor-economy_09062014
From the link above:
Now, as we face a crisis in America on a scale never before seen, the government is attempting to change the story. In the end, when the worst of it hits and people start rioting in the streets because they can’t afford food or shelter, they’ll turn the blame on the “hoarders” who have selfishly saved cash and precious metals, stored long-term foods for an emergency, and prepared to deal with the very situation the politicians, central bankers and business elite have created.
Interesting site. Some of the links are interesting as well. Thanks for posting.
You’re welcome!
As the corporate media slides further into utter irrelevance, with disaffected viewers tuning out their lies and propaganda in favor of citizen journalists on the Internet who deliver real news and real truth (i.e. Ben Jones & posters), NBC, despite being water carriers for the DNC, recognizes that they will not attract viewers as long as they maintain their craven subservience to TPTB. So now NBC, at least, is trying out a talking head who will timidly stray on the margins of asking Obama (for whom NBC has been a complete lapdog) actual “uncomfortable” questions. NBC and the captured corporate media still sucks, however.
http://news.yahoo.com/chuck-todd-helped-obama-launches-meet-press-did-200220438.html
I can see why the MSM is trying so desperately to keep Max Keiser out of the US broadcast market. We can’t handle the truth, especially when it’s delivered with such scathing humor.
http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/185548-episode-max-keiser/
Dangit, my friends! I just placed another sell order of $3,000 worth of my former company (staffing) stock. My new mantra is to maintain a cash balance (savings, CDs, money market, Credit union, brokerage cash, and T bills) above $110,000. I noticed tonight the drop of 4%. So the sell order.
This is how it’s done. You sell your best performng asset. And my company stock dropped 20% recently - yet it still did a stellar performance compared to my stock index funds. The lesson here folks is to sell your BEST performing investment out of an asset class when you need to rebalance.
Selfish Hoarder needs to keep his mattress level and comfy. Fiat currency also is good insulation…Cold temperatures ahead in Southern California as Fall approaches.