Bits Bucket for November 1, 2014
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Remember. .. a house is a depreciating asset that costs you money every day you own it.
I always a say - a 30 years roof gets 1/10950 [ercent thinner every day!
Unless you bought in 1996 and sold in 2006.
10 years of fraud out of hundreds of years of reality?
It actually does rain in SoCal!
It pours, man it pours
Not enough money, can’t afford a stucco
Can’t compete with Chinese money launderers
Underloved and underfed
But girl don’t they warn ya
It pours, man it pours
It came down pretty heavy in my part of the OC. I thought it was going to last all night. What a pleasant surprise to walk out and just a few puddles and not get rained on as I went for my morning of burnt coffee in the dark early hours.
YES. Over 1.5 inches on the Central Coast so far!!!
That means real flooding in Los Osos.
Region VIII
8. Don’t overact.
It is very important to play your assigned role the best you can, but this does not mean you should overact. Overacting can be dangerous for yourself and the emergency workers in the exercise. When you arrive at the exercise site, you will be assigned an injury or role and will be briefed about your roles and what will happen during the exercise. If you do not know how to play your role or have questions about the briefing, ask the volunteer coordinators. If you are assigned the role of a psychologically distressed person, please act upset, not out of control.
9. If you get hurt or have a real problem, say “This is a real emergency.”
You must use the phrase “This is a real emergency” to tell exercise staff members that you have a real problem and are not just acting.
10. You must check in and sign out.
Reference/link?
Item 10 is fascinating.
HSEEP Actor Information Sheet and Waiver Form « Memory Hole
memoryholeblog.com/2013/04/30/hseep-actor-information-sheet-and-waiver-form/ - 257k -
Area 51
Area 50.
It’s posted on the net so it must all be true.
http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Area_50
Stalag 13
Heinz 57!
Dock C
Look how much candy you have!
milwaukee.wisgop.info/2014/10/look-how-much-candy-you-have/ - 33k
milwaukee.wisgop.info/ - 67k -
Tarara
Look how much candy you have!
October 31st, 2014 | Author: milwaukeeco1
Cartoon
I have driven through the south, “kids” there will never, ever go tick or treating (get a job). NO one will hire these unskilled, toothless, zombies. What do we do with them?
I’ve several bags. Technically had two trick or treaters. Kind of awkward because I was just getting home from work at 7pm last night and two little ones were turning around the corner headed up my stairwell. They actually were sort of startled by me and kind of scared to wait as I ripped open a bag of candy.
We have not had many kids for a good 10 years now….Maybe a dozen for the entire night…20 years ago we would have 100 or more…
Working families can’t afford the SF bay area, me included.
Seems like trick or treating only takes place in the small, safe towns these days. You know, where kids still ride their bikes to a park.
We had about 25 kids from 6 to 8 PMish. Still not very good because I bought three giant bags of chocolate from Costco and even though we gave each kid a lot, we still have half left. I thought there might be more kids because it was also Nevada Day (school holiday here.)
I asked one woman why so few? She said the kids don’t bother with our end of the block because nobody ever opens the door (most of the neighbors are even older than us.) This year I put a flashing light outside.
In years past in my parents’ neighborhood there would be 100 kids. Now I’m wondering if some went home, got a different outfit and returned! Dracula 30 minutes ago and Superman now!
People even at this apartment complex take their kids into SFH neighborhoods. The assumption is renters are so fiscally irresponsible and have no money.
Let’s keep that assumption the way it is. Let the thieves work the SFHs.
People even at this apartment complex take their kids into SFH neighborhoods. The assumption is renters are so fiscally irresponsible and have no money.
That’s the way it is in the little SFH development in which I rent. Very few kids here, mostly old people. The kids come from the two apartment buildings nearby.
One funny moment. After I dealt out the candy to one bunch of kids and was saying goodbye, I saw the adult (no costume) with them had a funny look on her face. Then I saw she was holding a pillowcase, so I gave her her candy, too. Jeez.
After I dealt out the candy to one bunch of kids and was saying goodbye, I saw the adult (no costume) with them had a funny look on her face. Then I saw she was holding a pillowcase, so I gave her her candy, too. Jeez.
Wow, and these days adults take it more seriously every year. Actually glorification of frightening people does not really impress a libertarian like me. Halloween is more likely for statists.
This is hardly a news flash, but I think the candy giving should be for kids only. What the hell is an adult thinking, begging for candy?
The neighborhood kidz have around 200 pieces handed out at our door.
No Health Insurance? You’re Running out of Time to Avoid an IRS Fine — Which Soon Doubles
Fees are about to double – or worse
by Hal Bundrick | Main Street | November 1, 2014
Procrastination has a price. For Americans who have gone without “minimum essential health coverage” as defined by Obamacare, fines are imminent.
But there is a last-minute escape hatch opening in two weeks: the ACA open enrollment period beginning November 15. And even if you did sign up for coverage this year, you will need to renew your current health plan – or choose a new one – before the end of the year in order to continue your coverage in 2015.
While the Affordable Care Act calls the penalty for not having health insurance coverage a “fee,” most people would probably consider it a fine. Especially when you file your 2014 income tax return next year looking forward to a tax refund. If you didn’t have coverage in place this year, that’s when you’ll get bit. The IRS can deduct the “fee” from your tax refund.
And those fees are about to double – or worse. For this year, going without health coverage will cost you 1% of your annual household income that is above the tax filing threshold for your filing status. The maximum penalty is the national average premium for a bronze plan; the IRS says that’s almost $2,500 for an individual and over $12,000 for a family with five or more members. Or, the fine may be based on a flat dollar amount of $95 per person for the year ($47.50 per child under 18). The maximum penalty per family using this method is $285.
The government forcing you to buy products/services from a private corporation at the point of fines and a gun.
Who says hope and change is not for the little guy?
Insurance companies have bigger brains the gov employees and they love to rip off the little guy. Why Did Romney-care/ACA get so watered down? It needed to add competition across state lines, not limit it.
Only a fool would stop working on ACA.
Welcome to the Nanny State (that benefits mainly “health” insurance companies and the medical syndicate, not consumers). This is what you voted for, America. This is what you deserve.
(that benefits mainly “health” insurance companies and the medical syndicate, not consumers) ??
Well, rather than cry about it propose an alternative…Have yet to see one come from the neocons…
What do neocons care about nationalized health insurance? Most of them either support it or couldn’t give a sh**. They’re busy planning war games in the Middle East.
If you’re going to be a political hack, at least get your epithets straight. It’s all about the Koch bros, dude!
ObamaCare IS a neocon proposition!
Pony Rides for Illegals, Slashed Benefits for Americans
Recipe for economic and social disaster
by Kurt Nimmo | Infowars.com | November 1, 2014
Illegal immigrant children entering the country without their parents or adults, now called “Unaccompanied Adults,” or UACs by the government, are receiving a tax payer subsidized bounty.
From petting zoos with miniature ponies to a tilapia fish farm operations and guitar lessons, UACs are lavished with perks, according to documents released by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican.
Preferred contractors reap handsome profit when they provide these dished out perks, in some cases upward to $329 per child a day.
Meanwhile, for citizens, federal and state government have decided to cutback on food stamps and unemployment benefits.
As of January a record 20% of households in the United States, or one in five, received government food stamps according to USDA data. The cost of the SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, reached an all time high in 2013.
In December, around 1.3 million unemployed Americans lost unemployment benefits after a federal program instituted after the engineered subprime crash was slashed. The program added benefits from the state for people who had exceeded 26 weeks of unemployment insurance.
“In no prior case has Congress allowed special extended benefits to expire when the unemployment rate was as high as it is today,” a report generated by the White House Council of Economic Advisors and the Labor Department notes.
The federal government consistently underestimates the unemployment rate. The most recent estimate puts the rate at 5.9%, a figure wildly out of whack with the real unemployment rate. Forbes counts in discouraged workers no longer seeking work and part-time workers who would prefer full-time work into the estimation. Considering the true character of unemployment and underemployment, the real unemployment rate stood at 14.3% in September.
In April, when the government said the unemployment rate was around 7%, Zero Hedge remarked:
According to shocking new numbers that were just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20 percent of American families do not have a single person that is working. So when someone tries to tell you that the unemployment rate in the United States is about 7 percent, you should just laugh. One-fifth of the families in the entire country do not have a single member with a job. That is absolutely astonishing. How can a family survive if nobody is making any money? Well, the answer to that question is actually quite easy. There is a reason why government dependence has reached epidemic levels in the United States. Without enough jobs, tens of millions of additional Americans have been forced to reach out to the government for help. At this point, if you can believe it, the number of Americans getting money or benefits from the federal government each month exceeds the number of full-time workers in the private sector by more than 60 million.
This is a recipe for economic and social disaster. As usual, the government is not interested in remedying problems afflicting the people, but is dishing out goodies to a preferred minorities in order to secure its political authority.
“The Hispanic population grew to 53 million in 2012, a 50% increase since 2000 and nearly six times the population in 1970, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data,” Pew Research reports. Mexicans are the fastest growing segment of the population. “Meanwhile, the overall U.S. population increased by only 12% from 2000 to 2012. Hispanic population growth accounted for more than half of the country’s growth in this time period.”
“In no prior case has Congress allowed special extended benefits to expire when the unemployment rate was as high as it is today,” a report generated by the White House Council of Economic Advisors and the Labor Department notes.
Huh???
But I just heard obama say YESTERDAY:
In his weekly address, Obama detailed the economic growth during his time in office — including an unemployment rate below six percent. Economic growth was at its fastest six-month pace since 2003 and consumer confidence is also at a seven-year-high.
http://www.ibtimes.com/obama-focuses-economic-growth-equal-pay-working-families-ahead-midterm-elections-1717358
There’s no inconsistency between those two statements. Also, the first one was 11 months ago.
It may be a good time to buy real estate in Japan!
Or you can wait for the implosion.
————————
Gold Price Falls, Stocks Record Highs As Japan Goes ‘Weimar’
The Market Oracle | 10-31-2014 | Gold Core
Stocks globally surged, while gold fell sharply today despite renewed hopes that the Bank of Japan’s vastly increasing money printing will fill some of the gaps left by the apparent end of Federal Reserve bond buying.
The BOJ decided to increase the pace at which it expands base money to a whopping 80 trillion yen ($726 billion) per year. Previously, the BOJ targeted an annual increase of 60 to 70 trillion yen.
The BOJ sailed into deeper uncharted monetary territory with the announcement that they would triple annual purchases of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and Japanese real-estate investment trusts (REITS) to 3 trillion yen and 90 billion yen respectively.
The Nikkei surged 5% in minutes to a seven year high after the Bank of Japan decision, while gold fell.
Crazy how the BoJ timed the onset of Shock and Awe QE for the very week QE3 ended, no?
Crazy how the BoJ ??
And check our stock market action the 10 business days before the BOJ announcement….Our market is rigged big time…Thats why when there is a sell off, most average investors crap their pants…You just figure that the ba$turds know something that you don’t so you sell along with it…
“most average investors crap their pants”…
You sure about that? I’m very average and I didn’t crap in mine. The “events” of the past four weeks weren’t much then and still aren’t.
Don’t get caught up in the media hype - whether the hype is good or bad.
Don’t get caught up in the media hype ??
Very little to do with the media…They get the information same time you do….
I will state again; And check our stock market action the 10 business days before the BOJ announcement…
I’ve already checked it out - so what?
Very little happened. Don’t get caught up in all the “swoon” nonsense.
Round-robin money printing seems to be the game.
Whose turn will be next?
Whose turn will be next ??
Draghi….When Germany capitulates…Its coming…Just need to have a bit more turmoil in the EU…Maybe a bank failure in Italy or France…
Draghi….
+1. Already in the cards.
Though maybe not strictly “next”—I expect China to do some significant pumping (whether publicized or not) before Europe is softened up enough to be ready for their turn at QE-infinity.
Low-flation gonna get you, banksters!
Economy
Eurozone Inflation Picked Up in October
But Weak Figures Show How Entrenched Problem of Low Inflation Has Become
By Paul Hannon
Updated Oct. 31, 2014 11:11 a.m. ET
The annual rate of inflation in the eurozone picked up slightly in October, but marked its 13th straight month at less than half the rate targeted by the European Central Bank.
The persistence of very low inflation and weak economic growth has led to calls on the ECB to engage in large scale purchases of eurozone government bonds to minimize the risk of a slide into deflation, or a period of self-reinforcing price falls.
The difficulty of escaping from deflation were underlined Friday by the Bank of Japan’s surprise announcement of additional stimulus measures, bolstering its asset purchases for the first time in over a year and a half.
Japan is struggling to escape a period of deflation that began in the early 1990s and has impeded economic growth, stifled investment and put downward pressure on wages.
“From our experience of deflation, my advice would be to escape from deflation if you have the available policy tool to do so,” said Genzo Kimura, an economist at Sumi TRUST in Tokyo. “Deflation is very sticky and difficult to change. The required policy tool available to the ECB is an injection of money.”
…
If deflation is such a horrible scare, maybe it was unwise to make it inevitable by causing decades of inflation.
It’s about as bad as having to give back some of the money you stole.
My 14-year-old son was asking me about deflation when we were out shopping an hour ago. I think it was the $2.959/gal gas price at CostCo, plus the lines of 10+ cars waiting to buy it, that sparked his curiosity.
We went to Shell station next door and drove right up to the pump with no waiting to pay $3.239/gal. I guess our cash-strapped homeowner neighbors would rather sit in line and burn another gallon of gasoline in order to get that $0.28/gal discount. I suppose it could pencil out: Suppose you had to wait 20 minutes at CostCo for your ultra-cheap fillup, and your tank held 15 gallons. You would save 15 X $0.28 = $4.20 for 20 minutes wait time. So as long as you value your leisure time at below $12.60/hour, it is economically rational.
Was in the Costco area tonight and pleasantly surprised to learn the gas station remains open till 8pm, and apparently few people show up there after dark. It was pretty sweet to fill up the tank at $2.959/gallon. I’m still pinching myself! I have so much cash left over after renting at at a 30% discount to owning plus paying 25% less for gas than just a few months ago that I’m thinking about buying myself some Starbucks gift cards to celebrate with an expensive coffee binge!
Crazy how the BoJ timed the onset of Shock and Awe QE for the very week QE3 ended, no?
As I was saying… ahem… (polishes fingernails on front of jacket)
“The company planned to charge $250,000 for the experience.”
One way SuperSaver Coach flights now available from $199.00
‘Tough day’ for space travel as Virgin Galactic’s spaceship crashes
By Melody Petersen , W.J. Hennigan, Christine Mai-Duc, Shan Li
October 31 2014
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, part of an ambitious commercial space venture founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, crashed during testing Friday and broke into several pieces over the Mojave Desert. One test pilot was killed and another was injured.
“Space is hard and today was a tough day,” said George Whitesides, the CEO of Virgin Galactic. “The future rests in many ways on hard, hard days like this. But we believe we owe it to the folks who were flying these vehicles … to move forward, which is what we’ll do.”
Passengers would experience weightlessness at the suborbital altitude and see the curvature of the Earth. The spaceship would reenter the atmosphere and glide back to a runway. The company planned to charge $250,000 for the experience.
http://www.latimes.com/…fi-virgin-galactics-spaceship-anomaly-testing-20141031-story.html - 186k
in a free market a company offers goods/services and people decide what they want to pay for it.
It does seem silly - about 15 minutes in sub-orbit for the cost of what a nice house will cost you anywhere but in the E/W coasts.
But it was entirely their choice to pay for it.
Been a bad week for space flight, apparently. First the NASA contracted rocket explodes, now this one. This one had fatalities/injuries.
Gee, I can’t wait to spend $250,000 to donate my organs to space.
I dunno -
Ya think it might have anything to do with being LIED to for the last 6 years?
——————–
Voters disgruntled with economy [not buying Obama's happy talk]
The Hill | November 1, 2014 | Rebecca Shabad
Voters are deeply frustrated with the economy as they head to the polls Tuesday for a midterm election Republicans hope will yield them control of the Senate.
While the unemployment rate is dropping, the economy is expanding and gas prices are below $3 per gallon, polls show that most voters feel the recovery has passed them by.
“We find that most people say they’re falling behind or at best staying even,” said Alec Tyson, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center. “Even as the overall employment picture may be improving, people aren’t feeling it in their own wages and day-to-day lives.”
The persistent dissatisfaction in year six of President Obama’s term is an ominous sign for Democrats, and could foreshadow major losses for the party on Election Day.
While Obama has increasingly tried to trumpet positive news about the economy, polling shows the message hasn’t resonated with voters.
People who are not successful will always blame others for their failures.
Gold and Silver.
Wow silver down to $16 oz.
What are your favorite and most trust worthy online dealers?
silver.com?
aydincoins.com?
apmex.com?
or even the US mint?
I have used both apmex & usmint. Ebay is not bad as well.
I’ve used US Mint. You cannot go wrong with them. I’ve used a New York City dealer in the 90s. Not sure if they are there still. Jules J. Karp. Can’t go wrong with Monex and Blanchard. I’ve used Monex in the 1990s.
There is a link somewhere on U.S. Mint where they list coin shops in your nearest large city where they are certified dealers of Us Mint coins. That is how I found out about my L.A. coin shop.
Sometimes I order rare coins to be shipped to my address from the L.A. coin shop that I usually drive to. I go for the MS-65 only. Nothing but the best. You must also be sure they have referrals and also check to see which coin organizations they belong to. If they’ve been in business for decades too.
A question for you:
I go to the US Mint:
An American Eagle 2014 One Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin is $43.95
http://catalog.usmint.gov/american-eagle-2014-one-ounce-silver-uncirculated-coin-ES2.html?cgid=silver-coins
I go to Silver.com
An 2014 1 oz Silver American Eagle Coins (BU) is $18.90.
http://www.silver.com/2014-1-oz-silver-american-eagles/
Am I missing something? Why such a disparity over what looks like the same exact coin?
A friend once picked up some uncirculated $10 rolls of 2010 P and D Kennedy half dollars direct at the Denver mint as a gift for me. I think they said they paid $14.95 for each roll. Don’t know if there was any tax added. So, add to the seigniorage another 50% layer of mark-up. No thanks US Mint. I’ll go to Provident or Apmex for the silver Eagles.
Hmm…
That’s a good question, as BU is slightly higher quality. That one from the mint looks to be like a proof, and I would think $43 would be more a proof-quality of a price. Maybe they mislabeled it.
I tend to only buy proof gold and silver from the US Mint. But it is a small percentage of what metals I have. Same for rare coins in those plastic containers that are PCGS rated.
I buy circulated modern bullion eagles from my favorite coin dealer and the PCGS / MS-65 rare coins from ‘em too.
And on a different topic my investment in Blankiet Estate Paradise Hill 2006 wines has already started moving. I bought a few bottles at $206 per bottle. If I bought them today I’d be paying $229 per bottle. Colleague of mine says in five years they will probably be double. He’s sold some wines of his to wealthy Chinese. They don’t care as much on taste as on collectibility - kind of odd. They even want it in the original tissue container. You can put maybe 20 boxes of 12 bottles at least in a rental storage - $200 per year and they keep the temperature right. To be competitive to VFIAX which has a 0.05 expense ratio you’d need $400,000 worth. To be competitive to a typical low expense fund you’d need $40,000 worth. But there are other aspects of wine investing that can offset the expense of storage.
You store your precious wine standing up?
You store your precious wine standing up?
No. On the side.
And temperature fluctuations matter immensely. Because the gas in the bottle expands/contracts with variations. When contracting that lets in air and you see the telltale evidence years later when the amount of liquid has diminished some, due to evaporation.
There’s a lot I have to learn.
I just bought several bottles of $7/bottle wine at Trader Joe’s for under $5/bottle. Who says deflation is a bad thing? It pays to buy wines from countries with serious economic problems, as they tend to export wine on the cheap.
I normally buy this brand for myself for my nightly 2 glasses: http://www.vinumcellars.com/ I tried their white wines and enjoy them, but I’m a red wine guy and I get their North Coast Cab.
100 oz for $40 is equivalent to $10 per bottle. I bit more than I pay for the Mouton Cadet Bordeaux.
Trader Joes Charles Shaw was what I used to be into, which was $2.50 per bottle, a great deal.
The Vinium folks expect you to finish their wine within 8 weeks. Some wines like this do not get better with age. Pedigree matters.
The correct link is http://viniumwine.com/
Do you really trust the government enough to buy their gold coins?
Umm…the coin shops don’t mint their own coins, last time I checked. And government discourages private mints. Here’s about Liberty - they went defunct. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar
You either get US-minted gold, Canadian gold, Chinese Pandas, South African Krugerrands, or Australian gold. Not much else out there. You can find old British Sovereigns and French Angels at coin shops. I have a few. Imagine before those countries turned “progressive” they had real hard currency! And they don’t even have modern mints these days!
Don’t you worry that all of these governments could be putting copper or other metals in the middle of those coins?
Nope. Not for an instant - the people I buy from would go quickly out of business if word got out that someone bought fake metal from them. That business trades in the $10 millions per month easily. They even get customers flying in from overseas.
And if I go out to a swap meet and deal in gold, I would do things like the “ping test” - like as follows.
http://goldsilverworlds.com/gold-silver-price-news/detect-fake-gold-silver-coins-with-an-easy-ping-test/
Remember Keynes’ beauty contest and you needn’t worry about governments substituting copper for The Precious.
Remember Keynes’ beauty contest and you needn’t worry about governments substituting copper for The Precious.
If it became news that some government coins didn’t contain what the mints claimed, that news could reduce the value of those coins. It could, in fact, affect the value of all gold and silver coins. You have to a lot of faith in the federal government not to be concerned about that possibility.
“If it became news that some government coins didn’t contain what the mints claimed, that news could reduce the value of those coins.”
That’s why I don’t worry too much about this (besides the fact that I own no physical). What government wants to be the looser in a Keynesian beauty contest?
No faith required. The Federal government competes against a non “five eyes” nation, China, in minting gold. The China Panda series for example.
I love to see posts from people who never ever bought gold or have bought once, say 1980 in January when it was $800 and got so mad that it stopped going up and stayed away from it even though buying it regularly the next 20 years would be a windfall of value now.
I remember when gold was priced in the $600s per ounce. A couple of colleagues asked me how to buy gold. And how I can tell they are not counterfeit. I told them. They stayed away. Still unconvinced. Whereas they could have bought four ounces back then and turned around and sold them in 2011 for a 200% realized gain.
It’s odd how here on this blog the very same people who ridicule buying houses when the prices are high are so anti asset when an asset is near its 5 year low.
Happens all the time. Happens in stocks too. Human nature. When an asset is beaten, the peanut gallery won’t have anything to do with it. When everyone hates the investment that is when you scoop up even more and be laughed at by the peanut gallery.
The same doofuses were the ones who told you to buy gold above $1800 and load up on it because it will go to $5000 soon.
I truly have no dog in the fight as regards gold, and have nothing against it as a diversification tool. But it seems like the quantitative easing period has completely overturned traditional reasons to own gold, as the suppression of interest rates on bank accounts, CDs and bonds plus the extreme panic of Fall 2008 and preceding runup in hard asset prices all contributed a most extraordinary backdrop for high gold prices.
Will gold maintain its popularity when the end of quantitative easing and other interest rate suppression measures results in a return of decent returns on savings, fixed income and other interest bearing assets? Time will tell.
‘to buy their gold coins’
Once you buy them, it isn’t theirs anymore.
The more common problem has been counterfeit coins. Some crook makes look-alike coins and sells them into the market. Funny though; the central bank, privately owned, unaudited, prints up money and buys gold. Why would someone who can print as much money as they want buy gold?
While we’re at this government and money stuff; why did we stop making or backing our money with metals? There’s not even copper in the penny anymore. And it wasn’t long after that that real wages stopped going up in the US. Curious.
“Why would someone who can print as much money as they want buy gold?”
To prop up the price of gold, thereby suppressing the value of the currency, which in turn increases domestic labor demand and employment.
Just a hunch…
Nice WAB.
Why would someone who can print as much money as they want buy gold?
That should asked by everyone. Hell, the Chinese were smart to make that question a meme. But Americans have not caught on.
Methinks the Chinese are going to get the short end of the stick on currency and asset price manipulations. After a half century of communistic rule, they are the newbies in the realm of capitalist monetary trips and traps.
Again, just a hunch…
Or was it tricks and traps?
Methinks the Chinese are going to get the short end of the stick on currency and asset price manipulations.
Methinks not.
The Chinese are not dumb often. They were dumb to allow communism I admit. But we are dumb to allow the Wilson Doctrine to be in effect for over 100 years and rob us blind to be a bully of the world.
We have a history of 250 or so years. Compared to thousands of years of Chinese. The Chinese have been into gold for thousands of years. They are certainly not new to gold.
http://blogs.wsj.com/totalreturn/2012/03/30/why-china-loves-gold/
Methinks:
More on China and gold.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/11/alasdair-macleod/chinas-gold-strategy/
“…why did we stop making or backing our money with metals?”
Is that actually the case when metals and currency are freely exchangeable? It seems like the change was to go from fixed to floating exchange rates; nonetheless the dollar is implicitly backed by gold (currently at an ‘exchange rate’ of $1,180/oz.).
1. Reintroduce Glass-Steagall Act
2. RICO charges for AIG, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup and Bank of America for massive and on going mortgage and securities fraud.
3. Fully Audit the Federal Reserve.
4. Clawback of Banker Bonuses that were funded with taxpayer dollars
5. Allow Student Loans to be discharged during bankruptcy proceedings.
6. Overturn Citizens United vs. FEC
7. Repeal Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000
8. Repatriate Overseas Corporate Profits and tax at the current rate
9. Treat all Capital Gains as income for tax purposes
10. Ban High Frequency Trading and Quote Stuffing
11. Remove FICA tax cap
12. Reinstate FASB 157
All pretty good except the communist #8.
Why not just lower the “highest in the industrialized world” US Corporate Tax Rate?
Add in, no more bail-outs, no more QEs and no more government buying mortgages.
GE pd zero, how are we the highest? There is a difference in the “rate” and what corps actually pay. Huge diff. HUGE!!
You are exactly making my point.
Since the US has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world - large global companies (like GE) just keep their profits OUT of the US. No profit, no US corporate taxes. And it is why many large companies are merging with foreign firms - LOWER TAXES.
No sane company is going to relocate to America just like no sane company would relocate from Texas to Chicago. The taxes will kill them.
You know who also killed with the insane corporate tax levels in the US? Small and medium business that can’t keep profits overseas. And those are the very same companies that fuel new jobs and the economy.
Liberals - would rather have ZERO tax receipts but have high rates rather than get SOME/LOTS tax receipts at an average tax rate.
Because that would be unfair and children would suffer…
This is a good reference list for people who want to know how to begin fixing the havoc wrought by the Financial Political Complex. Fairly straightforward and simple. Not easy, simple, as in not complex.
People know what needs to be done, they just don’t do it for reasons of self interest, laziness, weakness, whatever. Kind of like parenting or dieting, a few basic principles can guide you a long way, and usually succeed pretty well.
In other words, the final solution?
Sounds great. But neither the Dems or GOP has shown they want to do any of those.
I am going to law school if this one passes: Allow Student Loans to be discharged during bankruptcy proceeding.
Free $$ and easy to file bk as an attorney.
Sounds like a run on law school admissions may result from a student loan debt jubilee? Another reason to celebrate not being an attorney…
I’d go for the ride. Maybe study water rights. I hate attorneys too.
“Maybe study water rights.”
That’d be interesting, plus marketable in the drought-stricken West.
P.S. Maybe look at Boalt if you are serious, as you could find a whole cross-campus community of folks in various departments at Cal with an interest in water rights.
You miss the point.
If student loans could be discharged in bankruptcy - the free and easy money train would immediately STOP
And college tuition levels would PLUMMET.
But then the democrats could not bribe the students FSA so it is never going to happen.
13. All Federal Reserve and Treasury Department officials, starting with Greenspan, Bernanke, Yellen, Geithner, and Paulson, held personally liable and accountable for debasement of the currency and transferring banker liabilities and losses to the public books. Every dime of taxpayer money given in bailouts to be recouped from the TBTF banks and their senior officers.
“Every dime of taxpayer money given in bailouts to be recouped from the TBTF banks and their senior officers.”
14. Tarring and feathering of the senior officers.
Horse-whipping for every Congress Criter who voted for TARP despite overwhelming opposition from their constituents.
R u trying to get urself added to the NSA’s “persons of interest” list?
I am here for your enragement. You’re here for my entertainment. Have you blown a head gasket yet? Feel like throwing yourself off a bridge? You will.
Man arrested for having 4 wives, 7 fiancees AND 5 girlfriends
The Malaysia Chronicle | November 1, 2014
A Gambian national who goes by the name Sonko Tijan is languishing behind bars after being arrested in Austria for secretly and separately keeping four wives, seven fiancées and five girlfriends.
By this, the prolific lover has set Austria’s record for polygamy.
According to Cameroon-info.net, it ended with a honey trap at Vienna Airport after two of his wives realised they were married to the same man and complained to police.
Reports say the seducer had picked up women all across the country, using them for room and board whenever he was nearby and borrowing money from them which he never returned.
News reports said Tijan’s downfall came after he met Sonja Maier, who believed she had found love at first sight when she was swept off her feet by Tijan after meeting him in a bar. The 28-year-old from Gambia told her he felt the same, and after a whirlwind romance – and against the advice of her family – they were married a month later.
According to Dailymail, after a year of happy marriage she was pregnant and browsing Facebook when she happened across somebody with the same surname and a strikingly similar-looking husband.
crater
Pinch me, it’s not a bubble we are in:
https://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/tom-cruise-lists–59-million-telluride-ranch-204442401.html
November 1, 2014
Kaci Hickox: Ebola’s Sandra Fluke
By Jeannie DeAngelis
Two perfect examples of bleeding hearts choosing a cause and then demanding that the cost be exacted from the hides of others are two liberal women who have made national news despite caring little about the expense of their personal wants.
The first woman is Sandra Kay Fluke (pronounced fluck), an attorney and women’s rights activist who, in her last year of Georgetown University Law School, used polycystic ovary disease as a rationale to denounce the Catholic university’s refusal to comply with an Obamacare insurance mandate to provide women with free contraception and abortion.
Fluke was unabashed in her demands, citing $3,000 in birth control expenses as one of the reasons Americans should be forced to finance contraception for women who feel others should fund their sex lives.
After well-deserved criticism and much controversy, with the help of Democrat handlers, Sandra became the left’s spokeswoman in the fabricated “war on women” and was elevated to the status of patron saint of polycystic ovary disease awareness. The epitome of liberal activism, Ms. Fluke made it quite clear that her desire for free birth control took precedence over the religious convictions of those she felt should be forced to foot the bill for her contraceptives.
In other words, Sandra Fluke was unwilling to sacrifice her own money, yet she had zero compunction about citing polycystic ovary disease as a way to force others to absorb the cost of her birth control pills.
In order to raise awareness about the “war on women,” Sandra was more than willing to wage all-out war on religious liberty and oppress anyone who disagreed with her personal views.
Now we have Sierra Leone Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox. While defying quarantine requirements instituted by the state of New Jersey and the CDC in her home state of Maine, Kaci, who seems unconcerned about the welfare of her friends and neighbors, was concerned enough about herself to don a bicycle helmet while out cycling with boyfriend Ted Wilbur.
In West Africa, Kaci was concerned about West Africans, but back home in America, Kaci is more concerned about Kaci than the safety of those she could expose to a fatal hemorrhagic fever. So, unlike Sandra Fluke, Kaci Hickox’s message does not involve the “war on women”; rather, it focuses on the futility of a mandatory “self-quarantine” even though it is now being reported that her roommate in Africa is infected with Ebola.
Kaci Hickox cared so much for West African Ebola patients that she was willing to risk her life. However, once home in the U.S., when asked to inconvenience herself for 21 days by participating in a cautionary self-quarantine, self-sacrificial Kaci refuses to comply.
Leaving aside arguments about the dangers and ramifications of asking a free people to submit to government-mandated quarantines, or whether the Ebola crisis is fabricated or not, there is a huge measure of hypocrisy that needs to be pointed out on Kaci Hickox’s part that is typical liberal modus operandi.
Liberals like Kaci love for government oversight to be enforced on everyone else, but when government tries to dictate something they would rather not do, like pay for their own contraceptives or stay indoors for 21 days, liberals cry the loudest.
Then, in a stunning example of stupidity trumping science, in a statement that encapsulates the negative impact that moral relevancy has had on America, Kaci’s boyfriend Ted said, “We don’t believe that we can get anyone sick.” That’s because in Obama’s America, a regime Kaci and Ted both proudly identify with, declaring one’s belief places that belief on par with the truth, even if it’s false.
That’s why just like Sandra Fluke, Kaci Hickox may portray herself as altruistic, but as it turns out, her type of progressive philanthropy comes with a price. Because when Kaci’s hypocrisy is factored into the equation, just like Sandra Fluke, she embodies the high cost of liberal double standards.
Jeannie hosts a blog at http://www.jeannie-ology.com.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/11/kaci_hickox_ebolas_sandra_fluke.html#ixzz3HpdQmeMU
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
2banana’s rule:
Conservatives are more than happy to live under the same laws/taxes they want for everyone else.
Liberals expect and demand to exempted from the same laws/taxes they want for everyone else.
“Conservatives are more than happy to live under the same laws/taxes they want for everyone else.”
Unless the last name is Bush.
There are no “real conservatives” in the GOP. They are like Unicorns.
The god-like Reagan tripled the deficit and raised taxes 8x. He also helped create the Taliban and traded arms to Iran and made abortions easier to get in CA and grew the size of the gov.
+1. Anyone who votes for the faux-conservative corporate statists of the GOP is a dupe and a moron. That goes double for anyone who votes for the phony “progressives” running as Democrats, who have also been captured by Wall Street and the corporate cartels.
Liberals like Kaci love for government oversight to be enforced on everyone else
A quick Google search shows that the only evidence for this assertion is that she’s a registered Democrat.
Apparently you are not well schooled in circular logic.
“Leaving aside arguments about the dangers and ramifications of asking a free people to submit to government-mandated quarantines”
But should we really leave those aside? Do we want the gov to be able to quarantine whomever they choose? Seems like a lot of people (one in three?) are arguing both sides of this issue.
Here’s a guy with all the answers (snort):
“The Bank of Japan shocked financial markets overnight by announcing that it is going to start printing Yen at a more rapid pace, 80 trillion a year instead of the 60-70 trillion that it’s been issuing since last April. That sent Japan’s stock market index soaring upwards, and pushed the value of the Yen down. Almost nobody saw it coming and it’s incredibly controversial in Japan. Central bank chief Haruhiko Kuroda was only able to muster a thin 5-4 margin in favor of the action.
“After all, Kuroda clearly stated when he took office that he wanted to everything possible to boost the economy until the inflation rate got above 2 percent. Nobody thought 2 percent was a crazy inflation target. The USA, UK, Canada, and the Eurozone all target 2 percent. And nobody doubts that Japanese inflation has been running below 2 percent. Printing money at a faster pace seems like a really obvious thing to do when inflation is running below your target.
So Kuroda is doing it. And the best thing is that he’s not promising to stop any time soon. He described the action as a demonstration of “our unwavering determination to end deflation” in a key indication that if even more is needed in the future, he is not going to hesitate. That is how you beat the secular stagnation blues.
“Americans might want to ask ourselves why our central bank isn’t doing the same thing.
“As Danielle Kurtzleben wrote on Wednesday, the Fed’s own money-printing exercise (”QE 3″) seems to have helped the economy while it lasted, and our own inflation rate remains below 2 percent. Yet instead of responding to the limited success of QE by doing even more QE, the Fed decided to respond to the limited success of QE by declaring victory and going home.
“That’s what we’ve come to expect from the world’s central bankers. But people should ask themselves why more banks don’t take the Japanese approach. Building complicated macroeconomic models is hard. But telling whether inflation is above your target level or below your target level isn’t brain surgery. If it’s too low, then why not print more money? At the very worst, it won’t do anything. At best, it’ll provide the kind of powerful economist boost that Japan’s stock market is anticipating today.”
Link:
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/31/7137041/japan-monetary-policy
The logic,
Governments want a 2% inflation rate (to inflate away their debts) but expect their bond rates to stay near zero.
It is NOT going to work.
Especially when you consider - if Treasuries (or Japanese) Bonds ever return to a “normal” range for interest - interest payment ALONE would consume all tax revenue…
And that is when you default and turn into present day Greece or 1925 Germany…
My favorite part …
“… why not print more money? At the very worst, it won’t do anything. At best, it’ll provide the kind of powerful economist boost that Japan’s stock market is anticipating today.”
What’s up in the Treasury bond market these daze?
Liquidity squeeze in Treasurys
Oct 27 2014, 13:09 ET | By: Stephen Alpher, SA News Editor [Contact this editor with comments or a news tip]
* Busy fighting the financial crisis six years after it happened, regulators are doing an excellent job laying the groundwork for the next one as evidenced by the panicky action in Treasurys on October 15. It was on that morning when the 10-year Treasury yield in the space of a few minutes tumbled to 1.90% from 2.20%, before ending the session at 2.15% (for those who don’t play in fixed-income, U.S. Treasury yields very rarely ever move that much).
* The panic buying in Treasurys also leaked over into jumpy selling in stock index futures.
* “It was like turning the clocks back to pre-electronic trading,” says Charles Comiskey, head Treasury dealer at Scotiabank. “Once we recognized things started getting out of control, we shut [the electronic trading system] off immediately.”
* Laser-focused on forcing banks to cut back on risk, regulators have forced lenders to vastly scale down their inventory of bonds, and the thinner markets make outsized moves more likely. JPMorgan estimates the amount of Treasurys available to trade at one time without moving prices has plunged 48% to just $150M since April.
* “There’s a thin line to keeping the customer happy while also giving a level that you can at least get out of without taking a big loss right away,” says Guggenheim’s Jason Rogan, whose firm also shut off the machines that morning.
…
1:49 pm ET
Oct 31, 2014
Credit
Demand From Japan Pension’s Fund Could Cap Treasury Yields
By Min Zeng
CONNECT
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The world’s largest public pension fund is going to join yield-hungry Asian investors by buying up Treasurys.
Japan’s $1.2 trillion public pension fund — the Government Pension Investment Fund — said Friday it plans to slash how much money it puts in domestic bonds and ramp up its investments in stocks and foreign bonds. Under the new allocation guidelines, the ratio for overseas bonds will rise to 15% from 11%.
Foreign investors’ buying interest in ultrasafe Treasury bonds underscore continued hunger for yields in a low yield world. U.S. Treasury bond yields are near historical lows, but are much higher compared to their counterparts in many of the developed countries including Japan, Germany, the U.K. and France. The $12 trillion U.S. government bond market is the world’s most liquid bond market, and the rising dollar further increased the allure of U.S. bonds to foreign buyers this year.
The news come as the Bank of Japan announced it will ramp up its purchases of financial assets including Japan’s government bonds as a way to boost a tepid economic growth. The news sent already slim yields in Japan’s government bond markets even lower Friday, making U.S. bonds more attractive to foreign buyers.
The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond fell to 0.457% Friday, about one fifth of the yield investors can get from buying a 10-year Treasury note.
Investors and traders say the relative value theme has kept a lid on the selling in Treasury bonds Friday. The 10-year Treasury yield rose only modestly to 2.344% despite a strong rally in global stocks. Yields rise as prices fall.
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average stock index hit the highest intraday level in seven years and the Dow hit an intraday record high.
“Japanese institutions can buy higher yield assets” as the BOJ steps up buying in Japanese government bonds, said Jack McIntyre, portfolio manager at Brandywine Global Investment Management, which has $60 billion in global assets under management. “We’re talking about a lot of capital so they need deep liquid markets. That means Treasurys.”
David Keeble, global head of interest-rates strategy at Crédit Agricole in New York, said other Japanese pension funds tend to copy what the GPIF does, which means these funds may also buy more Treasury bonds.
Another allure for U.S. bonds is a roaring U.S. dollar which increases the return on a foreign currency base. The dollar jumped to the highest level in more than six years against the yen on Friday following the BOJ announcement.
“Investors will want to buy dollar assets for the dollar appreciation and sell yen assets fearing further yen deterioration,” said Larry Milstein, head of government and agency trading at R.W. Pressprich & Co. in New York.
…
Bond Report
Treasurys retreat after Japan’s surprise easing measures
Published: Oct 31, 2014 5:35 p.m. ET
Bank of Japan’s stimulus talk jolted global markets
By Ben Eisen
Reporter
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices retreated Friday as investors pushed into riskier assets after a surprise easing measure by the Japanese central bank.
The Bank of Japan said Friday that it would quicken the pace of its purchases of Japanese Government Bonds as it fights a falling inflation rate. So-called quantitative easing measures tend to have the effect of encouraging investors to buy riskier securities like stocks.
As equities surged across the globe Friday, investors left the perceived safety of U.S. government debt. The moves in Treasurys underscored a broader shift in the market.
“I think what we continue to see is that interest-rate markets have become global in that cross-economy impacts are becoming greater,” said Scott Kimball, portfolio manager at Miami-based Taplin, Canida & Habacht, a unit of BMO Global Asset Management.
The 10-year Treasury note (10_YEAR, +0.09%) yield, which rises as prices fall, was up 3 basis points on the day at 2.337%. The yield closed at its highest level in three weeks. It rose 6.5 basis points on the week but fell 17 basis points on the month, according to Tradeweb.
…
11:47 am ET
Oct 31, 2014
Politics & Policy
Fallout From Fed Tapes Reaches Capitol Hill
By Victoria McGrane and Ryan Tracy
The New York Fed tapes are going to get their day on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) announced Friday that he will hold a hearing on the issue of “regulatory capture” on Nov. 21 in his Senate Banking subcommittee, with the blessing of the Senate Banking Chairman Tim Johnson (D., S.D.).
[UPDATE: New York Fed President William Dudley will testify at the hearing, according to a person familiar with the matter. More details follow at the end of this post.]
The hearing will investigate accusations that Fed regulators are too cozy with the nation’s largest financial institutions, concerns that were stoked by a report last month by nonprofit news organization ProPublica and the “This American Life” radio program. The story featured a secret internal investigation conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that revealed troubling cultural problems that discouraged bank supervisors from voicing concerns about the firms they oversaw. The stories also featured secretly recorded tapes by a disgruntled ex-employee of supervisory conversations with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS +1.62%) that raised further questions about how tough New York Fed supervisors are on the firms they supervise.
“The recent media reports are troubling because they raise new questions about regulators being captured by the financial institutions they regulate,” Mr. Johnson, the Banking panel chairman, said in a news release.
“American taxpayers deserve regulators who will fight each day on their behalf, rather than cozy up to the very industry that they are meant to police,” Mr. Brown said in the same release. “The allegations brought forth by the release of the recordings deserve a full and thorough examination.” Mr. Brown is chairman of a subcommittee on financial institutions and consumer protection.
…
Woman, you’re fetching as a cheeto.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/10/katy-perry-was-a-forlorn-cheeto-for-halloween.html?wpsrc=nymag
I wonder if Amy Hoax would wear that kind of costume while she fetches cheetos?
She did. And let me assure you, the costume made an improvement.
It is only fair…
—————-
Spanish dad told to pay child support to daughter, 29
the Local (Spain) | 29 Oct 2014
A Spanish judge has ordered a father to pay his 29-year-old daughter €500 ($630) a month in financial assistance, citing the difficulties under 30s have in finding work because of the country’s crisis.
A man who has been been paying child support to his daughter for 24 years will have to do so for a little longer after a judge in southern Spain’s Cádiz province ruled he would have to continue to support her until she completed her studies.
The man who separated from the woman’s mother nearly a quarter of a century ago had gone to court asking that the child support payments be stopped.
But the presiding judge decided the assistance would continue until the woman finished her studies in two years time, noting both Spain’s poor economic situation and the fact that the father in the case was in a good economic situation, Spain’s 20 minutos newspaper reported.
The unemployment rate in Spain is currently 23.7 percent while the youth unemployment rate is over 50 percent.
“The unemployment rate in Spain is currently 23.7 percent while the youth unemployment rate is over 50 percent.”
They had similarly high unemployment back in the early 1990s, as I recall. I had a friend over there married to a Spanish national. They eventually broke up their family when he found employment in the U.S. and she refused to move away from the Bank of Mom and Pop to join him. And the courts screwed him over royally to boot.
this is how region viii parties at elevation 14,265′
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20141101_111938_772-qzeBU7ha.jpg
and this event is open to any interested participants:
http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=44985
Underwriting the Next Housing Crisis
By PETER J. WALLISONOCT. 31, 2014
WASHINGTON — SEVEN years after the housing bubble burst, federal regulators backed away this month from the tougher mortgage-underwriting standards that the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 had directed them to develop. New standards were supposed to raise the quality of the “prime” mortgages that get packaged and sold to investors; instead, they will have the opposite effect.
Responding to the law, federal regulators proposed tough new standards in 2011, but after bipartisan outcries from Congress and fierce lobbying by interested parties, including community activists, the Obama administration and the real estate and banking industries — all eager to increase home sales — the standards have been watered down. The regulators had wanted a down payment of 20 percent, a good credit record and a maximum debt-to-income ratio of 36 percent. But under pressure, they dropped the down payment and good-credit requirements and agreed to a debt-to-income limit as high as 43 percent.
The regulators believe that lower underwriting standards promote homeownership and make mortgages and homes more affordable. The facts, however, show that the opposite is true.
In the late ’80s and early ’90s, down payments were 10 to 20 percent. The homeownership rate was 64 percent — about where it is now — and nearly 90 percent of housing markets were considered affordable (that is, home prices were no more than three times family income). By 2011 only 50 percent were considered affordable, and by 2014, just 36 percent — even though down payments as low as 5 percent are now common.
How could this be? Consider this: If the required down payment for a mortgage is 10 percent, a potential home buyer with $10,000 can purchase a $100,000 home. But if the down payment is dropped to 5 percent, the same buyer can purchase a $200,000 home. The buyer is taking more risk by borrowing more, but can afford to bid more.
In other words, low underwriting standards — especially low down payments — drive housing prices up, making them less affordable for low- and moderate-income buyers, while also inducing would-be homeowners to take more risk.
That’s why homes were more affordable before the 1990s than they are today. Back then, when traditional standards for “prime” mortgages prevailed, homes were smaller; they had fewer bathrooms, and the kitchens were not appointed by Martha Stewart. A family could buy and live in a “starter home” for several years before selling it and using the accumulated equity to buy a bigger or better appointed home.
In a competitive housing market not subsidized by lax standards, home builders would similarly adjust by reducing the size and amenities of new homes to meet the financial resources of home buyers entering the market. Home prices would stabilize and not rise faster than incomes. Low- and moderate-income families and millennials might have to wait to save for a first home, but they would be able to afford it.
(Higher down payments are not the only way to limit excessive borrowing. The “standard” 30-year mortgage is a subsidized, archaic result of our government’s distorted housing policies; very few home buyers stay in a home for 30 years. A 15-year fixed-rate mortgage means higher monthly payments, but the homeowner starts to accumulate equity sooner, reducing the lender’s risk.)
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
If the government got out of the way, would sound underwriting standards come back? History suggests yes. Although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were government-backed, they were shareholder-owned, profit-making firms. They adopted strong underwriting standards to avoid the credit risk of subprime and other high-risk mortgages. But after Congress enacted affordable-housing goals, administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in 1992, underwriting standards declined.
Republicans generally favor eliminating the government’s role in housing finance, while Democrats worry that without government support, mortgages would be too expensive for low- and moderate-income families. Although it runs counter to the current Washington view, good underwriting standards can satisfy the objectives of both parties.
It’s clear that today’s policies create winners and losers. The winners include real estate agents and home builders, who want to increase borrowing and sell ever-larger and more expensive homes. The losers, as we saw in the financial crisis, are borrowers of modest means who are lured into financing arrangements they can’t afford. When the result is foreclosure and eviction, one of the central goals of homeownership — building equity — is undone.
After the financial crisis, Representative Barney Frank — the Massachusetts Democrat who led the House Financial Services Committee during the crisis, and a champion of credit programs for low-income buyers — admitted, “It was a great mistake to push lower-income people into housing they couldn’t afford and couldn’t really handle once they had it.” Policy makers who support homeownership would be wise to consider who is hurt and who is helped when we abandon traditional underwriting standards.
Peter J. Wallison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of the forthcoming book “Hidden in Plain Sight: What Really Caused the World’s Worst Financial Crisis and Why It Could Happen Again.”
Why not? Housing crises serve to further enrich the K Street / Wall Street Real Estate Industrial Complex alliance.
“In the late ’80s and early ’90s, down payments were 10 to 20 percent. The homeownership rate was 64 percent — about where it is now — and nearly 90 percent of housing markets were considered affordable (that is, home prices were no more than three times family income). By 2011 only 50 percent were considered affordable, and by 2014, just 36 percent — even though down payments as low as 5 percent are now common.”
It didn’t take very long to ruin the housing market.
Do you find yourself holding your nose as you buy ‘risk assets’ in order to protect yourself from the central banker cartel’s War on Savers?
(I do, though I buy nonetheless. Who wants to be the looser in a Keynesian beauty contest?)
TY