The Housing Bubble

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-millennials-want-in-a-home-2014-09-15

From the page you reference: “Mount Vernon home values have gone up 3.8% over the past year[...]”

Does that sound like cratering?

From the page you reference: “Edgewood home values have gone up 2.7% over the past year[...]“

“…neo-liberalism’s ecoonomic utopia distopia.”

Fixed it for ya…

Paging AB Dan…China’s dropping faster than Bristol Palin’s prom dress.

http://www.businessinsider.com/everything-associated-with-china-is-going-down-2014-9

Krugman was calling early on for a massive public works program to pump money into the economy, and fix the infrastructure that needs fixing so badly (roads, bridges, sewers, etc.). Rates were low, and still are, so then and now would be the best time to borrow money to fund these projects. But the tea baggers were afraid that a good economy would help Obama (news flash, he won reelection anyway). Now our roads still suck, and we have to rely on the Fed to prop up the economy. Instead of money going into the hands of construction workers and small businesses, it’s going to wall street and and defense contractors. Not all debt is bad when it’s paying for the right things, only when it’s being used to line the pockets of insiders.

Clearly you don’t understand why the Fed was created in 1913 - to faciliate the wholesale theft of wealth from the 99% to the 0.1%. Read “The Creature from Jekyl Island” and do some research on the Fed’s activities since its surreptitious founding and your vague “feeling” that the Fed is a rip-off of the productive might be validated.

Is collecting interest work?

It’s God’s work, at least according to Mr. Banker

“When you give a Congressman a dollar, he’ll take a hundred billion. The initial tax rates of 1% to 7% were rather modest. That did not last long. The top tax rate reached 92% during the 1950s and today rates are still 500% to 1,000% higher than they were in 1913. The government is addicted to tax revenue.”

Grand Illusion - The Federal Reserve
by James Quinn. March 11, 2009

1913 – A Bad Year for America

Karl Marx published his Communist Manifesto in 1848. It included 10 planks. Two of the ten planks were as follows:

A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
Centralization of credit in the hands of the State by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

Rothschild, J.P. Morgan & the Federal Reserve

“Those few who can understand the system (check book money and credit) will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on it favors, that there will be little opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear it burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.” Rothschild’s Bros. of London

A recent article by David Galand from Casey Research pointed out the insidious methods by which the government extracts our money for their self serving schemes:

Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax Dog License Tax
Excise Tax Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax IRS Interest /IRS Penalties
Liquor Tax Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax Property Tax
Real Estate Tax Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Utility Taxes Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax Well Permit Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax Workers Compensation Tax.
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax

After digesting this disgusting list, do you feel under taxed?

Depression, Collapse & Revival

The future is cloudy but the direction is clear. Government will spend trillions of dollars. Congress will increase taxes on the rich and secretly raise taxes on the masses by calling them cap and trade fees. The Federal Reserve will pull out all stops to create inflation. When you owe the rest of the world $11 trillion, inflation makes the debt less burdensome. The dollar will decline versus gold. With the enormous amount of currency creation and spending by the government, the economy will eventually pull out of this depression. The acceleration will take the Federal Reserve by surprise. They will be hesitant to raise interest rates. The inflation genie will get out of the bottle and will not go back. The hyperinflation that takes hold will lead to social unrest, rioting, and a drastic reduction in the American standard of living.

There is no solution that will not be painful to everyone in the United States. The only solution that would put America back on a path of sustainable prosperity would be a gold/precious metals backed currency that would force government and its citizens to live within its means. Congress would need to vote for something that would take away its power. With our current political system, this is impossible. Money is power. This leads to only one conclusion. The existing Ponzi scheme will have to collapse before we can adopt a rational financial system for America. It may take decades, or it may happen in 2010. No one knows. If the country can be convinced to follow the wisdom of Ron Paul, we still have a chance to avoid this fate.

When the Federal government spends more each year than it collects in tax revenues, it has three choices: It can raise taxes, print money, or borrow money. While these actions may benefit politicians, all three options are bad for average Americans.

http://www.financialsensearchive.com/editorials/quinn/2009/0311.html - 49k -

Note that the photo included with the article is from the Aspen Ideas Festival in June 2014.

That tells you who Hillary’s real “base” is, the Davos crowd of 0.01%er pigmen.

And the article includes a quote that Hillary already has such a rich donor base that defeating her in the primaries would be unpossible.

I didn’t know the Hillary Clinton poverty tour was still ongoing.

National Public Radio and the New York Times have confirmed the imminent coronation of Empress Hillary.

The Republican primaries and the general election itself are just radio static distracting you from the inevitable.

Which is, of course, the Permanent Democrat Supermajority.

there is no ‘pent-up demand’ for $500,000 starter homes, not today, not tomorrow, not ever

http://www.denverpost.com/smart/ci_26523353/millenials-and-home-ownership-5-reasons-theyre-not

a nation of broke @ss loosers

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-09-12/america-s-poor-deeper-in-debt-than-ever

Where are the fraudsters to report on their liquidation of their “investment” portfolios?

We know it is happening fraudsters. The numbers have turned against you and the trend is not your friend.

Tell us about the meeting where your boss came in, shut the door, and told everyone about the new plan to exit as quickly as possible.

They will thank you for it.

Just remember: Today’s low-income home buyer is tomorrow’s foreclosure victim and bailout recipient.

“The government operates as kind of a Robin Hood, taking/stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.”

They take from the middle class to give to the poor. Just ask Hillary who is not “truly well off” because she pays ordinary income.

Hillary Clinton says she’s unlike the ‘truly well off’

By Philip Rucker June 22

Hillary Rodham Clinton defended scrutiny on her and her husband’s personal wealth by contrasting herself in an interview published Sunday with other multimillionaires who are “truly well off.”

The comment immediately drew scorn from Republicans, who have highlighted a series of stumbles the former secretary of state and potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate has made on her book tour this month when talking about her personal fortune and six-figure speaking fees.

In an interview with Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Clinton was asked whether she could be a credible champion for fighting income inequality in the United States despite her wealth.

“But they don’t see me as part of the problem,” she told the paper, “because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off, not to name names; and we’ve done it through dint of hard work.” The Guardian wrote that Clinton let off “another burst of laughter” in answering the question, suggesting that she found the question “painful.”

Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have earned well over $100 million giving paid speeches and writing books since leaving the White House in 2001.

Clinton’s quote could be interpreted in multiple ways. Rather than suggesting that she is not “truly well off,” she may be counting herself among the “truly well off” but saying that she, unlike other multimillionaires, pays “ordinary income tax.” A Clinton spokesman did not respond to a request for clarification of her remarks.

At the start of her book tour this month, Clinton sparked a conversation about her wealth by saying in an interview with ABC News that she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the White House under a mountain of legal debt and “struggled” to buy two homes and pay for their daughter’s college education.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/22/hillary-clinton-says-shes-unlike-the-truly-well-off/ -

As far as…

“The Fed operates as kind of a reverse Robin Hood, taking/stealing from the poor and middle class and giving to the rich.”

Better have some more False Flags to take the Second Amendment away from the poor and middle class before they figure that out.

The federal government takes less from the rich (and gives them more) than at any time in the history of the United States.

Jihadi John is a sadistic serial killer. He’s found his calling in the failed-state terrorist space. He enjoys beheading noncombatant hostages on film. Everyone’s got their kink. But, perspective: We have about 15,000 murders a year in this country. Many of them as brutal or more brutal than Jihadi John’s handiwork.

We know what terror groups are capable of. See 9/11. I’d suggest focusing on stopping that threat to the homeland plus the simple goal of doing justice to sadistic serial killers.

Learning the difference between Shia and Sunni would be a start. When I heard Kerry rule out inviting Iran to a summit dealing with ISIS, I thought, ‘These people aren’t serious about dealing with this threat. This smells like another attempt to get our armies ensnared in the Middle East.’

I have no doubt that these three handcuffed men did in fact die with bravery and dignity at the hands of a sadistic masked murderer. I have no doubt that the group that did this would love nothing more to inflict mass casualty attacks on the US.

I do think neutralizing this group is an important goal. I think capturing Jihadi John, wringing him for information, then efficiently dispatching him are useful and worthy courses of action.

But we shouldn’t be hemorrhaging blood and treasure in an attempt to reshape and occupy the Middle East with our armies. “Experience keeps a dear school but fools will learn in no other.” - Ben Franklin. We’ve already attended the school of experience. It would take a very special type of fool to ignore that course.

Not a peep from Region X, sorry kidz but your teamz are loosers…

There has never been a better time to sell.

Abreast of the Market
Stock-Market Bears Turn Docile, Predict S&P 500 Gains
A Healthier Economy, Solid Corporate Profits and Low Rates Overwhelm Wall Street Pessimists
By Alexandra Scaggs and Steven Russolillo
Sept. 14, 2014 2:08 p.m. ET

The U.S. stock market’s bears have gone into hibernation.

With no end in sight to a market rally now in its fifth year, once-pessimistic Wall Street forecasters are espousing rosier views.

For some investors, the disappearance of negative views is cause for concern. They worry that with bulls so dominant, whenever any shocks do hit, the damage could be much worse than if there were more skeptical investors around.

But a healthier U.S. economy, solid corporate profits and low interest rates have persuaded many bearish analysts that a major pullback for stocks isn’t in the cards at least well into next year.

That is the case even though the Federal Reserve seems set to raise short-term interest rates next year. And, come October, it will have been three years since the S&P 500 last was in a decline of 10% or more. The S&P 500 closed at 1985.54 on Friday, up 7.4% for the year.

To be sure, the former bears are predicting only small gains for the S&P 500 for the remainder of the year, after a rally that has seen the index nearly triple from its financial-crisis lows.

Still, in the past month, three of the last bearish brokerage-firm strategists, who provide market forecasts and recommend strategies to investors, have waved the white flag and ditched their pessimistic predictions.
…

A bear has to love a never-ending Treasury bond rally against a backdrop of naysayers whose stopped-clock prediction of higher interest rates never seems to happen.

Credit Markets
U.S. Government Bonds Trade Higher
Market Is Taking a Pause, Fed Meeting Could Be a ‘Game-Changer,’ Trader Says
By Min Zeng
Updated Sept. 15, 2014 4:03 p.m. ET

U.S. Treasury bonds strengthened Monday following the biggest weekly selloff in a year, though investors and traders remain cautious before the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later this week.

In late afternoon trading, the benchmark 10-year note was 7/32 higher, yielding 2.589%. Yields fall as prices rise.

Buyers were drawn by the highest yields in more than two months. Also boosting demand for haven bonds: China’s industrial output growth expanded in August at its lowest level since the 2008 global financial crisis.

“The market is taking a pause,” said Anthony Cronin, a Treasury bond trader at Société Générale. “The Fed meeting could be a game-changer for the Treasury market.”

The 10-year Treasury yield tumbled below 2.4% in August to the lowest level in more than a year as investors sought refuge in relatively safe assets amid rising geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East. Falling bond yields in the eurozone, driven by an expansion of the European Central Bank’s easy-money policies, made U.S. bonds more attractive to investors.

But U.S. bond yields have climbed in September as the path of the Fed’s interest rate outlook has taken the center stage. Investors are concerned that the Fed may send a stronger signal about raising its official interest rates when it concludes a two-day policy meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Higher interest rates make newly sold bonds more attractive to buy, causing the value of existing bond prices to fall.

The 10-year yield jumped by 0.15 percentage point last week, the most on a weekly basis since September 2013. Earlier Monday, the yield touched 2.621%, the highest intraday level since July 8.

Debate has grown among Fed officials about the timing on raising short-term interest rates, which have been held near zero since December 2008.
…

Me thinks Colorado soon to follow - There is alot of existing inventory on the market - doesn’t seem to be moving - and yet the new stuff - can’t see a sign without “SOLD” on it anywhere - what’s with that?

Even with a 6 year loan the monthly nut would be over $1000.

For a truck?

“$60,000 trucks are for debt donkeys”

Upscale trucks during a depression?

Venezuelan women are complaining. While the citizens of the socialist utopia can withstand shortages of food, toilet paper, and now even news paper, in a nation thought to have one of the world’s highest plastic surgery rates, AP reports beauty-obsessed Venezuelans face a scarcity of brand-name breast implants, and women are so desperate that they and their doctors are turning to devices that are the wrong size or made in China, with less rigorous quality standards. No one is giving the frustrated women much sympathy, especially not the government where late President Hugo Chavez called the country’s plastic surgery fixation “monstrous,” and railed against the practice of giving implants to girls on their 15th birthdays. However, many have taken to Twitter under the hashtag “Without Boobs, There’s No Paradise.”

Twice a month, whether he could afford it or not, 25 percent of his pay — the legal limit — would go to his debt, which had ballooned with interest and fees to over $15,000.

It’s unsecured debt. This is what bankruptcy is for, which is a pretty sweet deal - to be able to walk away from debts you’ve incurred (and presumably reaped benefits from)

Too many people have come to expect a lifestyle well beyond their earning capability. The banks deserve losses though since they issue credit cards too easily. The credit system is broken.

Feelin’ alright?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIYLZOp_Bzc