Bits Bucket for November 11, 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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Continental Resources CEO ordered to pay $995 million in divorce
(Reuters) - Continental Resources (CLR.N) Chief Executive Officer Harold Hamm has been ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to his ex-wife in one of the largest-ever U.S. divorce judgments, according to a court filing on Monday.
In an 80-page ruling following a more than nine-week divorce trial that ended last month, Oklahoma Special Judge Howard Haralson ruled that oil magnate Hamm should pay his ex-wife a total of $995.5 million.
Although the award could make Sue Ann Hamm, 58, one of the 100 wealthiest women in the United States, according to Forbes’ rankings, it is far smaller than the amount her lawyers sought and does not require Harold Hamm to sell shares of Continental.
====
Through his stake in Continental, Harold Hamm is believed to own more oil underground than any other American.
The Hamms wed in 1988 and had no prenuptial agreement. For years, Sue Ann Hamm was also an executive at Continental.
Some of the largest-ever U.S. divorce settlements have been kept private, but the Hamm judgment is among the biggest on record.
===
Among the assets that will go to Sue Ann Hamm, according to Haralson’s judgment, are the couple’s $17.5 million ranch in Carmel, California, and a home worth $4.7 million in Oklahoma City.
Good timing for Sue Ann, given the oil crash in progress…
Sue Ann, darling, don’t believe those other Boy Toys who say they love you. I’m the real thing, so that pre-nup won’t be necessary.
I’m available for adoption, Sue Ann.
And we wonder why the marriage rate is dropping - like some have said here in the HBB - the risk outweighs the reward when marrying. The savages known as the women of rich men - will eventually vacate and hollow out the poor guy in the process.
Men - think before you leap!!!
For some strange reason, I’m just not thinking this guy is “hollowed out.”
Do you need a groundskeeper, Sue? I’ll happily live in a guest house on your Carmel ranch, and take care of the property for a meager $150K.
Realtors are liars.
I love realtors. Realtors supply me with fresh fish.
They work, I reap.
“Realtors are liars.”
You can say that again.
“You can say that again.”
Realtors are liars.
Thank you.
University of Pennsylvania Deletes, Reinstates Obamacare Architect Video After Backlash
by Paul Joseph Watson | November 11, 2014
A video of Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber saying a “lack of transparency” was crucial in fooling ‘stupid Americans’ which caused controversy was subsequently deleted by the University of Pennsylvania only to be reinstated after a backlash.
The clip, which featured Gruber speaking at the October 2013 Annual Health Economics Conference, first emerged on YouTube yesterday and was viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.
However, after the story made headlines across the board a full version of the video was pulled by the University, being replaced by a message which read, “This video has been removed by the user.”
The removal of the video prompted complaints from many, including Bloomberg columnist Megan McArdle who tweeted her disgust at the University for engaging in political censorship.
Megan McArdle ✔ @asymmetricinfo
Follow
This is pretty shocking behavior by my alma mater. Why would @Penn pull down a public video that has political implications?
1:18 PM - 10 Nov 2014
Presumably the University was unaware of what has become known as the Streisand effect – whereby the attempt to censor information only results in it becoming more widely distributed.
The clip of Gruber making his “lack of transparency” comment had already been uploaded to innumerable different YouTube accounts, but the Unversity’s ham-fisted effort to censor the video after the fact provides a disturbing insight into the mindset of those making such decisions.
Following the backlash, a new version of the video was uploaded to the University’s conference page, but the institution has failed to offer an explanation as to why it deleted the original footage.
‘stupid Americans’
My bread and butter.
” saying a “lack of transparency” was crucial in fooling ‘stupid Americans’”
That’s a Kinsey gaffe, isn’t it? When a politician accidentally tells the truth.
Man, that’s got to damage the ego if you’re a so called “progressive”. You only gain political power by lying to stupid people…ouch!
#FundamentalTransformationOfAmerica
What’s the problem. America knows it’s stupid.
Comment by phony scandals
2014-11-11 05:58:22
University of Pennsylvania Deletes,
Reinstates Obamacare Architect Video After Backlash
by Paul Joseph Watson | November 11, 2014
http://www.infowars.com/university-of-pennsylvania-deletes-reinstates-obamacare-architect-video-after-backlash/
“This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure CBO did not score the mandate as taxes,” stated Gruber. “If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. Okay, so it’s written to do that. In terms of risk rated subsidies, if you had a law which said that healthy people are going to pay in – you made explicit healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed.”
Obamacare, Year One: 78 Percent Premium Hikes
by Sarah Hurtubise | The Daily Caller | November 10, 2014
In its first year, Obamacare hiked health insurance premiums by up to 78 percent, according to a new analysis comparing insurance costs before and after Obamacare.
HealthPocket, a nonpartisan health insurance research company, analyzed government data on individual health insurance premiums in the 2013 market before Obamacare reforms and 2014′s Obamacare exchanges, and the results are in: Average premiums are higher for all ages– far above the norm for annual increases.
Young customers have been hurt the worst by Obamacare– a big potential problem for the Obama administration, which failed to attract enough young and healthy customers during the first round of exchange enrollment. But people just several years away from Medicare have been hit with double-digit hikes as well. The average, non-weighted premiums across three different age groups are higher by over 20 percent for both men and women.
The hardest hit are 23-year-old men, who are being charged 78 percent more this year than they were in 2013; 23-year-old women pay a paltry 45 percent more in 2014 than they did before Obamacare. The picture isn’t much rosier for 30-year-olds, though: The average premium rose 73 percent for men, and 35 percent for women.
Men are seeing their premiums skyrocket because Obamacare bans insurers from charging women more — even when they use more health care services. The health-care law also requires insurers to cover a boatload of services in every plan, whether customers want it or not. Included in that 78 percent-higher premium for 23 year-old men: maternity and newborn coverage– just in case.
Read more
We are having open enrollment at work. The total cost for our coverage went up about 0.5%
Another example of the “I have mine, so screw you” mentality?
I would hope you never voiced approval of ObamaCare. If so, congrats on your support of screwing massive swaths of the general population.
Big Government never produces wealth. It only removes it.
Another example of the “I have mine, so screw you” mentality?
I don’t see anything in what Colorado wrote to support that. He just stated a fact.
Exactly. And my friends at other large employers tell me the same story: no change.
The real moral of the story here is that if you want to have good insurance in the USA you either need to work for Corporate America, the government or be in a good union. Otherwise be content with a crappy HD plan.
Of course, once an American reaches the age of 65, he can relax.
Except when big gov bails out, GM, B of A, AIG….
Reagan raised taxes 8x, 3x’d deficit, and increased the size of gov. Were you against it then?
We just got our letter. Up 6% here, for no real reason.
Lucky you, my family coverage premium is going up 28% and it went up by about the same amount last year, also going from 90/10 after deductible to 85/15 This is a fortune 500 company.
#FundamentalTransformationOfAmerica
Ours is up about 8%, but it is pretty awesome coverage, no deductible.
“…if you had a law which said that healthy people are going to pay in – you made explicit healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed.”
Isn’t that the standard bet you make when you buy health insurance?
Of course, up until recently, the bet was voluntary…
Told ya.
Those not covered by their employer (an increasing number of people) can pay those 78% higher premiums OR they can pay a fine that also is much higher than it was the previous year.
ObamaCare.
Such a deal.
Music to my ears, listening to the Obama Zombies of ‘08 and ‘12 wailing about “We didn’t vote for this!” Sure you did, so bend over for another helping of hope ‘n change.
RomneyCare needs tweaking….. we will get there if we dont quit.
America does not quit!
I would hope that anyone reading this blog recognizes that ObamaCare is a big win for the government, no matter what the populace chooses to do.
Government wins when insurance costs for all businesses increase.
Government wins when individuals pay “exchange” premiums.
Government wins when individuals choose to opt out.
ObamaCare.
Such a deal.
I agree, ACA stinks. Bring on Single Payer.
Romney care / ACA - why did congress gut it before they passed it?
Why cant I buy my CA health insurance from a firm in Texas? Why were they against competition?
Is the insurance lobby that powerful?
‘why did congress gut it before they passed it’
‘Is the insurance lobby that powerful’
The insurance companies wrote it (per NPR), and the Democrats voted it in. Maybe you should ask them.
Why cant I buy my CA health insurance from a firm in Texas? Why were they against competition?
I read somewhere that the ACA has provisions for purchasing health insurance from another state. California and Texas would have to get together and agree on how it would work.
Comment by phony scandals
2014-11-11 06:08:35
Obamacare, Year One: 78 Percent Premium Hikes
by Sarah Hurtubise | The Daily Caller | November 10, 2014
Comment by phony scandals
2014-11-11 06:08:35
Obamacare, Year One: 78 Percent Premium Hikes
by Sarah Hurtubise | The Daily Caller | November 10, 2014
http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/29/obamacare-year-one-78-percent-premium-hikes/
Double posts, sorry. Fight broke out between husband and my mother. Very unusual, not cool on his part. The joys of a multi-generational household, all the rage now.
How to Function In a Multigenerational Household
Yeah, right.
All I can say is- your poor husband. If I bought the cow and had to live with the mother-in-law too, I’d be a basket case.
Seriously? Cow?
It was a light criticism. As I said, not his habit. However, and it could be me, I think if a grown man tells a 83 yo chronically ill woman who I have been taking care of for many years to keep her out of a nursing home to mind her own business while we were discussing a family matter, it is bad manners. He apologized to her. I apologize to all here for mentioning it, TMI.
Bad manners abound.
Cows, donkeys, grass fed chickens….We’ve got all sorts of barnyard friends around here.
And all kinds of bad manners around here, too. Thank goodness the perpetrators are few.
That’s what happens when ones wallet collides with truth and reality.
Lighten up, Tarara. I didn’t mean you are a “cow.” Have you never heard the expression “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?” That’s all I meant. He “bought the cow,” but he got more than he bargained for!
Nice backing up. “Whaaaat? Whaaaaat? You took it like that?”
Okay, you’re forgiven, but you’re “udderly” lame.
For all the insomniacs and just bad sleepers…
Overkill - Colin Hay (flashcard version)
Surely you can come up with a flattering euphemism for MIL if wifey is “cow”. Dusty Udder? Powder Teets? Bovine Battle Axe?
Discuss.
My coverage only went up by about $10 a month, so no biggie. Too bad every single one of my doctors cancelled their contracts with my insurer (one of the largest in the US) and I now have to pay cash.
I really love paying more for my insurance, while at the same time being classified by my doctors as “uninsured.” I feel both ripped off and deadbeat, at the same time…
You sound like a victim. Maybe you can get the gov to help you. Whatever you do, dont try to fix it yourself. Just keep complaining.
If you like your, ah forget it.
“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” he added. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really really critical for the thing to pass. Look, I wish Mark was right that we could make it all transparent, but I’d rather have this law than not.”
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-issue-MAD-MAGAZINE-norman-mingo-POSTER-signed-by-ANNIE-GAINES-vg-/111510366034?pt=US_Comic_Magazines&hash=item19f6892752
If you take on mortgage debt at current massively inflated housing prices, you’ll enslave yourself for the rest of your life.
“Debt is bondage.”~ Suze Orman, May 11, 2013
Don’t Be A Debt Donkey®
Hush!
You thought you heard Amy callin’ your name now?
Amy, she be mah fishmonger. Amy, she bring to me da fish.
From Wiki:
“A fishmonger (fishwife for women practitioners - “wife” in this case used in its archaic meaning of “woman”) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers, and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, merchandising and selling their product. In some countries modern supermarkets are replacing fishmongers who operate in shops or fish markets.”
“… gutting, boning, filleting …”
Yup, that be her.
“so part of it is that we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents, or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities. Once it’s everybody’s responsibility and not just the household’s, then we start making better investments.
Do you want me to read the card?
Obama’s Mental Health Screening in Schools Will ‘Disarm’ Gun Rights: “Databases to Follow Academic Career and Beyond”
Students will be screened not for their own benefit, but to further the aims of total gun control
by Mac Slavo | SHTFplan.com | November 11, 2014
Under the auspices of helping struggling school children to grapple with complex emotions and mental health issues, students will be screened not for their own benefit, but to further the aims of total gun control.
The Obama executive orders written in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting introduced a number of policy-laws designed to mandate mental health programs and screening, and include ‘gun talk’ as part of the deal.
Funding for these programs has now followed suit.
WND reported:
Using “gun violence” as its cover, the Obama administration has quietly unleashed a cache of federal dollars that will be used for testing students for signs of mental health issues in K-12 schools.
Critics say personal information scooped up in the screenings will be logged into databases that will follow the child throughout his or her academic career and beyond.
Public schools, which have increasingly taken on aspects of psychiatric clinics in recent years, will get infused with more than $150 million in federal grants to further this agenda under the auspices of Obama’s 2013 executive action titled “Now is the Time to Do Something About Gun Violence.”
And while it may initially sound reasonable to some, the influx of guidance counseling and mental health services is designed to create a paranoid snitch culture inside the doctor-patient and counselor relationship to put a black mark against potential future gun owners that may well haunt them.
On Sept. 22, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced $99 million in new federal grants to school districts for mental health services. The money will be used “to train new mental health providers, help teachers and others recognize mental health issues in youth and connect them to help and increase access to mental health services for young people.”
[...] Both HHS and DOE cited Obama’s “Now is the Time” declaration as the basis for the new programs.
Of the DOE’s $70 million package, $13 million is allocated to aiding school districts in creating “high-quality school emergency plans.” Another $14 million goes toward “Project Prevent grants” for violence-plagued schools to “be used for school-based counseling services, or referrals to community-based counseling services for assistance in coping with trauma or anxiety.”
It is undoubtedly a net that will be used to disbar any number of children from their 2nd Amendment rights before they even reach adulthood.
Why don’t they just make it illegal for anyone diagnosed with a mental illness for which psychotropic medication is required to possess a firearm? Most of the mass shootings over the last 20 years have the same common denominator, yet for all the talk of gun control, no one wants to touch the mental health angle. You could probably come up with a list of 20 medications that would cover 95 percent of the problem.
but almost all of one on one shootings are by a certain minority with illegal guns, no one seems to go after them and its thousands of deaths each year.
There are tens of thousands prosecuted and jailed every year, tens of thousands.
and its still not enough to end this once and for all…..5 years no bail for carrying an illegal gun on public property….and public housing is public property
“Why don’t they just make it illegal for anyone diagnosed with a mental illness for which psychotropic medication is required to possess a firearm?”
Tens of millions of people take SSRI’s/SNRI’s/Benzodiazepines and other substances for more minor issues like stress and anxiety. These people are completely sane and productive members of the community. You can not paint with such a broad brush unless your goal is to completely disarm the public.
You should have to be deemed a danger to yourself or others by a qualified medical professional or the courts before you become a prohibited possessor.
#DisarmAndConquer
If a person wishes to harm himself, isn’t that his own business? Why should the government get involved?
I think that would fall into the realm of local public safety.
Okay, so don’t include those for minor conditions. But what about Lithium, Haldol, things like that as a start?
You should have to be deemed a danger to yourself or others by a qualified medical professional or the courts before you become a prohibited possessor.
This is the way it is now and it clearly is NOT working. The nature of mental illness is that you become such a danger quickly in many cases when you go off meds or the meds get screwed up. Courts adjudicating this happens rarely and even then takes a long time.
“The nature of mental illness is that you become such a danger quickly in many cases when you go off meds or the meds get screwed up.”
Many drugs have off label uses, was just saying that would be a difficult way to deem a person unqualified for a firearm without infringing on the rights of many others who take medications and are completely qualified.
Psychiatrists treating those with extreme anti-social behavior and those with schizophrenia and psychotic episodes, should be able to request court action.
This is probably the most difficult part of firearm regulation and will require a tempered approach.
Psychiatrists treating those with extreme anti-social behavior and those with schizophrenia and psychotic episodes, should be able to request court action.
By the time court action is requested, someone is dead. People on Haldol should not own guns.
This is probably the most difficult part of firearm regulation and will require a tempered approach.
Shouldn’t this be an issue with automobile licensing as well?
Or is it okay to use this as an excuse to limit firearm ownership, but not other items?
Governments do not have a good track record with grey areas.
Comment by phony scandals
2014-11-11 06:45:52
Obama’s Mental Health Screening in Schools Will ‘Disarm’ Gun Rights: “Databases to Follow Academic Career and Beyond”
Mac Slavo
November 10th, 2014
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/obamas-mental-health-screening-in-schools-will-disarm-gun-rights-databases-to-follow-academic-career-and-beyond_11102014
——
Obama orders ‘mental-health’ testing for schoolkids
Quietly unleashes cache of federal dollars under auspices of ‘gun violence’
Published: 3 days ago
http://www.wnd.com/2014/11/schools-to-mine-kids-for-mental-health-issues-with-feds-money/
I would fact check these sources. They seem like the might be infiltrated by NRA fear mongers. The good news is, that 1980’s actress that I saw on an old Love Boat re-run the other day, but could not for the life of me remember her name, writes for one of them! Good old Morgan Brittany! Who would have thought she was an expert on immigration?
“If you have to borrow for 15 or 30 years, you can’t afford it nor is it affordable.”
BINGO
The Hummer is back. Thank falling oil prices.
By Chico Harlan November 10 at 6:36 PM
The military-style Hummer H1, more tank than truck, disappeared from the new car lots long ago, killed off by General Motors for the sin of guzzling a gallon of gas every 10 to 12 miles. And as the cost of gas hung above $3.50 for four years, even used Hummers languished on used lots, too.
That is, until the price of crude oil — and gasoline — started to nosedive. “We’ve sold a few just in the last few weeks,” said Blake Sharkey, an assistant sales manager at Stadium Auto in Arlington, Texas.
Over the last month, auto analysts say, consumers have shown a fresh interest in the kind of SUVs — Hummers, Lincoln Navigators, Ford Explorers — that typified America’s bigger-is-better mindset of twenty years ago. The new mindset among some car buyers is one of the most unexpected consequences of a domestic oil boom that has helped cause global crude prices to plummet in recent months, with the cost of a gallon of gas now below $3.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/10/the-hummer-is-back-thank-falling-oil-prices/
You should buy one.
Heh. Never went away. See ‘em around here all. the. time.
You need one to navigate that wild Florida terrain.
I can understand having one out west where there are innumerable places to get lost off-road, but Florida? Talk about stupid.
I wonder what percentage of civilian Hummers are ever taken off road. I bet it’s less than ten percent.
I look forward to some great deals on gas-sippers if fuel prices continue to slip. People are stupid, with short memories, so they run out and buy gas-guzzlers like cheap fuel is here to stay (if you call $3 per gallon cheap). There will be another price spike down the road, guaranteed, and all of a sudden all the guzzlers will crater again in price.
One can reap tremendous deals on other peoples short term memories…
…”Sure I’ll take that 2012 Prius of yer hands for 14K while you roll your old loan into that new Sequoia HAAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAH!!!!!!!”
+infinity
Article repost for the white trash teabillies, because this is the closest they will ever get in their lifetimes to self-actualization at the top of the pyramid of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
http://www.businessinsider.com/conservatives-purposely-making-cars-spew-black-smoke-2014-7
Is this another one of their little inside jokes? Blowing cole dust because they hate our black president? I mean, they can’t be stupid enough to think … Never mind. I saw one of those things the other day. Come to think of it, it tooted dust on my Hybrid Lexus. Mother F-er.
We will rebuild!
http://www.chron.com/news/science/article/Slow-moving-lava-sets-house-ablaze-in-Hawaii-town-5884693.php
A new one to add to the list of homes in the path of natural hazards.
Was your home destroyed by wildfire? Flood? Earthquake? Hurricane? Tornado? Lava?
No need to re-locate. Be stubborn and stupid. Stay and re-build!
Iceland once solved their lava flow problem by using fire hoses. Maybe Hawaii could do something similar.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1997/of97-724/methods.html
Iceland also taps its underground for geothermal energy, which probably bleeds off a lot of pressure.
I had the same thought! Iceland had the advantage of having a readily available supply of frigidly cold ocean water, but perhaps compared to the temperature of lava, the Pacific waters surrounding Hawai’i are cold enough?
I believe the issue would not be the temperature of the water used but the temperature differential between the temperature of the water and the temperature of the magma.
The temperatures of magma, according to Wiki, is between 1300 degrees F and 2400 degrees F.
If the temperature of Iceland’s water is something like 35 degrees F and the temperature of Hawaii’s water is something like 80 degrees F then the temperature difference between the two water temperatures would be of minor consideration as compared to the temperature differential of either source of water when compared to the temperature of the magma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magma
The issue would be that it’s not worth doing such a large and expensive project to save some little village. It’s cheaper to move ‘em. Iceland was trying to keep a harbor open, they let much of the nearby town get covered.
In addition, as the water (either source of water) hits the magma it will turn into steam at a temperature of 212 F and it does this by drawing out from the magma an enormous amount of heat.
It’s not just the cool water hitting the magma that cools the stuff, it’s what happens to the water after the magma transfers its heat to the water and turns the water into steam.
‘Iceland once solved their lava flow problem by using fire hoses. Maybe Hawaii could do something similar.’
I was thinking that same thing (sans the Iceland source) the other day. Then considered that maybe the outlay costs and environmental hobgoblin redtape would intrude. Can only picture how they would find the resourcing to pump ocean water inland on a the drop of a hat as it probably cheaper to let the houses burn and just re-evaluate the property for even higher value ( I mean, you know they are not making anymore land in Hawaii….)
” I mean, you know they are not making anymore land in Hawaii….”‘
It sounds like they are, actually.
“Can only picture how they would find the resourcing to pump ocean water inland on a the drop of a hat …”
If it were a California brush fire they would consider using airdrops.
“People have learned that a highly leveraged, illiquid, high-transaction cost “asset” requiring regular annual maintenance of thousands of dollars is not worth the risk”
You better believe it.
“Now why did you pay a massively inflated price for a house…. and then double down on the losses and finance it for decades?”
Good question.
Which begets the question;
Do you really believe wages are going to triple to meet massively inflated housing prices? Especially with the millions of excess empty houses lenders are holding and hoping won’t impact prices? Of course not. Housing prices will continue to fall by two-thirds to meet wages that are still in the 1990’s range.
So I met with a realtor about purchasing a foreclosed home. The home was in pretty good condition, in one of the nicest gated communities in East Orlando. The bank’s asking price was in line with the price it sold for in 1999. The house needed to be painted inside and out as well as new carpet. Otherwise, in very good condition.
Interesting discussion with the realtor though. Lots of price decreases locally and the realtor mentioned a house that went under contract and couldn’t close that I found interesting. Seller had two offers, accepted the lower offer (I believe she said $360k) and the house couldn’t appraise to get the deal done. Neither party apparently has the funds or the desire to close the deal (though I’m sure the seller has the desire).
A definite change is in the air in East Orlando. Definitely no longer a seller’s market.
I can’t imagine a house or mutliple houses appraising for $360k. The notion is laughable.
“Neither party apparently has the funds or the desire to close the deal…”
Why would someone offer $360k if they didn’t intend to make good on it?
They assume that it will appraise and they can get full financing. That would be the most apparent reason. Or perhaps they came to their senses and realized they were upside down on their new mistake before the ink even dries?
“Thank a veteran”
For what? When was the last time American freedom was defended? Arguably when we fought back against Japan’s invasion of the USA. That was nearly 70 years ago.
America has been imperialist ever since. And it makes sense because the establishment of the income tax meant a certainty about revenue to finance imperialism. Before the income tax, America had to rely on tariffs, and they were not steady. Especially if they had soured relations with other trading partners - oops, no more widgets from country X so the revenue is down…
The 16th amendment was all about making the USA the imperialist.
Make sure you take advantage of all of the Veteran’s Day freebies today. Applebee’s, Outback Steakhouse, Red Robin, Krispy Kreme, IHOP, Denny’s, and on and on. Free meals all day for Vets or active duty in so many places.
If they ask for proof of service, just say, “My proof is your freedom.”
+1
I plan on using all the State bennies that I’m “entitled” to. That means get back what I and my companies paid into Social Security on my retirement date.
As a patriotic anarchist, it’s my duty to be a drain on the State.
“For what?”
Because it’s Veteran’s Day. Narcissist’s Day is in a couple of weeks, thanks in advance.
#FreedomIsNotFree
My best friend from high school, a big Clinton fan as I recall, posted last year on FB that her son joined the Marines in order to defray college tuition costs. She and her husband had divorced and then the ex mysteriously died, (was never able to find out how…) and I guess money was tight, (God forbid the kid should go to community college instead of getting his head blown off, but whatever). The war in Iraq was over and combat was unlikely, so she said. I haven’t seen many posts from her lately, but, not being a particularly patriotic person when I knew her, I was shocked to see her posting all this freedom isn’t free stuff all the time, and in a real entitled way, like it was my fault they hit hard times and her kid enlisted. I’m sorry, but it kinda pissed me off. I agree that none of the wars fought in my lifetime and probably before, have anything to do with freedom. They are merely vehicles to make rich Americans richer at the expense of poor Americans’ children’s lives. I would rather my kid scrub toilets or was cars than join the military. It’s a thankless E ticket to crazy town at best, a death sentence at worst. I respect them for doing it and all, but I am under no illusions that their sacrifice is of ANY benefit to me. And they shouldn’t be either.
^took the words right out of my skull. Right down to the sentiment.
Capitol Report
The high cost of flying in the Clintons to help you lose your campaign
Published: Nov 11, 2014 9:41 a.m. ET
By Steve Goldstein
D.C. bureau chief
Bloomberg
It cost at least $700,000 for candidates to fly in Bill and Hillary Clinton this cycle.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A Clinton appearance on the campaign trail is no act of charity.
It cost at least $700,000 this election cycle for Democratic candidates to fly in Bill and Hillary Clinton to campaign for them, according to a tabulation compiled by Buzzfeed. The report said that when more campaign filings come in, the total cost may well exceed $1 million. While the Clintons legally are not allowed to pay for their flights to campaign for others, the report points out that they weren’t required to fly private charter planes. Many of the big names that the Clintons campaigned for, including Charlie Crist, Alison Lundergan Grimes and Kay Hagan, lost.
…
Can anyone who grasps this explain why economists expect interest rates to rise soon?
Bulletin
Stock benchmarks tap new record highs in early trades before retreating
Capitol Report
Wall Street economists more hawkish than Wall Street traders
Published: Nov 11, 2014 8:00 a.m. ET
By Steve Goldstein
D.C. bureau chief
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Bond traders are at odds with Wall Street economists as to when they forecast the first increase in interest rates from the Federal Reserve.
Economists polled by Blue Chip Economic Indicators for the November issue see the first rate hike in June, but the bond market, as measured by federal funds futures contracts, see the first increase in September.
There’s also divergences as to how high interest rates will eventually go.
Economists expect the federal funds rate to end next year at 0.92% and end 2016 at 2.17%.
By contrast, markets are pricing in a federal funds rate of 0.57% at the end of 2015 and 1.51% at the end of 2016.
The bond market for some time has diverged with the economist consensus. That could reflect bets on more extreme positions, that by definition wouldn’t be included in median projection of economists.
…
Capitol Report
Fed’s Plosser: Low rates ‘should make us nervous’
Published: Nov 11, 2014 10:26 a.m. ET
By Jeffry Bartash
Reporter
Bloomberg
Charles Plosser worries that low interest rates will boomerang on the economy.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Federal Reserve hawk Charles Plosser says he’s nervous about low interest rates — and that you should be, too.
The president of the Philadelphia Fed warned yet again that the central bank is effectively playing Russian Roulette with the U.S. economy by keeping interest rates at zero for so long.
“There are many indicators that tell us interest rates are too low,” Plosser told CNBC at a conference in London. “There is no precedent in history to have rates at zero. I think we are really behaving in a way which is outside of historical norms and that should make us nervous.”
Plosser has been an outspoken advocate for higher interest rates to stave off the possibility of rising inflation, an overheated economy or a dangerous asset bubble — scenarios that could force the Fed to raise rates suddenly in a manner harmful to the economy. Plosser has been pushing for a gradual increase in rates.
Yet the majority of the Fed’s top policy makers, including chairwoman Janet Yellen, maintain the economy is not strong enough to warrant the first rate hike since 2006.
They point to a low level of inflation and to some 18.2 million Americans who still cannot find a full-time job even though the unemployment rate has fallen to a six-year low of 5.8%.
Plosser, for his part, countered that rates are “below” where they “would normally be” based on the current level of inflation and unemployment.
Asked about the rising dollar, Plosser said the Fed should not react to short-term fluctuations in the value of the currency or U.S. stock markets.
…
EU balking at pouring more billions down the oligarch-run black hole that is Ukraine?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-11/ukraine-currency-crashes-after-senior-eu-official-says-ukrainians-are-manipulating-u
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Currency/USDUAH?countrycode=US
Time for US taxpayers to ante up yet another bailout, this time for Ukraine. Or more acccurately, for the banksters and oligarchs who are stealing Ukraine blind.
A Bartender Explains Liquid Assets
The Meaning of Money: The difference between liquid and illiquid assets brought to life through mixology.
Posted November 10, 2014
I’m slowly building up my liquid assets. Blankiet Estates Paradise Reserve (2006) price already up 10% since June.
ft com > Companies > Transport > Shipping
November 11, 2014 11:14 am
Maersk warns of slowing global trade
Richard Milne, Nordic Correspondent
AP Møller-Maersk lowered its forecast for growth in global trade as the owner of the world’s largest container shipping line said a slowdown in emerging markets and Europe was weighing on demand.
The Danish group, seen as a bellwether for global trade as it carries 15 per cent of all seaborne freight, said demand had slipped in the third quarter compared with the start of the year and was now expected to increase by 3-5 per cent this year, down from 4-5 per cent.
“We see a slowdown in emerging markets, partly driven by a lower need for raw materials from China. Europe – it’s very slow growth, if any, at the moment, and there’s no reason to expect a big change here,” said Nils Andersen, Maersk’s chief executive.
…
It’s likely to be a big tanker.
Mission Accomplished for the Fed: the top .1% now have amassed more wealth than the bottom 90%.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/11/daily-chart-2?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/somearemoreequalthanothers
And where does that wealth tend to congregate?
In Washington, D.C. - the wealthiest metropolitan area across all the land.
Quite an achievement, considering the area produces very little wealth.
ahh…. trickle down economics…. smoke and mirrors and the sheeple bought it and continue too.
Update on the suggestions here to solve my irritating google ad frustration. I have succeeded in convincing google that I am a spendthrift Victoria Secret shopper. The banners are much less irritating now. Thanks!
How did you do that?
Did you visit the Victoria’s Secrets website or do a google search for “thigh highs sticky Vicky” ?
I did the google search for lace and the store name. Then I clicked on one of the ads that came up later and suddenly advertising became a thing of beauty.
A couple of weeks ago I was researching a Buick model. I keep getting ads for the Buick Verano.
C’mon, Angels!
You are welcome. I’ve been experimenting with branching out to Fredericks also.
Try American Apparel.
“American Apparel”
If you like your 18 year old girls who look like 12 year old boys, you can keep your 18 year old girls who look like 12 year old boys
Aeyaeyi! Good one. Don’t look 12 to me.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-9-billion-witness-20141106
Six years after the crisis that cratered the global economy, it’s not exactly news that the country’s biggest banks stole on a grand scale. That’s why the more important part of Fleischmann’s story is in the pains Chase and the Justice Department took to silence her.
She was blocked at every turn: by asleep-on-the-job regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission, by a court system that allowed Chase to use its billions to bury her evidence, and, finally, by officials like outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, the chief architect of the crazily elaborate government policy of surrender, secrecy and cover-up. “Every time I had a chance to talk, something always got in the way,” Fleischmann says.
This past year she watched as Holder’s Justice Department struck a series of historic settlement deals with Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America. The root bargain in these deals was cash for secrecy. The banks paid big fines, without trials or even judges – only secret negotiations that typically ended with the public shown nothing but vague, quasi-official papers called “statements of facts,” which were conveniently devoid of anything like actual facts.
When ethics and morals are considered subservient to law, what else would one expect?
When wealth preservation and redistribution trumps production of wealth, what else would one expect?
It’s interesting how the two mindsets complement each other.
Just pulled this from the google banner on my internet search……
I suppose obamacare is not gonna fix ebola?
Help fight Ebola. For every $1 you give, Google will give $2.
It’s good to be a banksta, especially when the Fed ensures you’ll never have a losing trade.
http://www.businessinsider.com/becoming-a-partner-at-goldman-sachs-2014-11
And the GOP supports this. Exactly why I cant vote for them.
And so do the LIEberals.
So who do you vote for?
this is today’s problem
Elizabeth Warren is the only one who stands up to these crooks.
Your naivete is precious, sweetheart.
This is the top story on the Drudge Report right now, a map of well-below normal temperatures across much of the north-central US
http://vortex.plymouth.edu/uschill.gif
Your narrative has been framed
Polar Vortex year, El Nino on west coast. Buy stock in wool.
Something tells me our veterans didn’t make the sacrifices they, or fellow citizens, can have their assets ripped off by the boys in blue without any due process.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/10/363102433/police-can-seize-and-sell-assets-even-when-the-owner-broke-no-law
The NY Times has a longer story on this complete w/ video, etc….well worth a look.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/us/police-use-department-wish-list-when-deciding-which-assets-to-seize.html
One good thing about NPR covering the story: I heard it discussed at work this week. Shining light into the dark corners is sometimes the first step towards change.
This particular dark corner has been long in need of some light; I’ve been ranting about it for many years.
And for the John Oliver fans, his take on Civil Forfeiture.
John Oliver on HBO
I just again heard on the radio the question, “How much longer to a normal housing market?”
I thought, “By normal, you mean the one underpinned by fraudulent lending and economy-destroying derivatives, which sent prices and sales volumes to stratospheric levels? That ‘normal’? The market that the Fed and government are desperately trying to bring back because it’s so profitable for existing asset holders and Wall Street? That one?
The mortgage finance market that went from private, to public-private, and now is purely public, after the previous model failed? Now purely taxpayer supported? Now purely a Reverse Robin Hood model? Built solely to support the God-decreed levels of profitability to Wall Street? That “normal”?
I dunno. You’ve suppressed interest rates, punishing savers and retirees and blown asset bubbles. You’ve pumped tremendous amounts of printed money into the economy, which somehow only boosts the wealth of absolute upper tier, and yet wages for most Americans have been dropping in real terms since your interventions. You’ve been pushing inflation which is a de facto tax on the populace to benefit your cronies.
Just keep doing what you’re doing. This spring should bring back the ‘normal’ market.”
PS: Per the radio followup, Zillow says the “normal” market should return by 2018.
To the Obama Zombies: The arcitect of Obamacare regrets calling you “stupid” in an unguarded moment, though the fact that you are indeed idiots is not in dispute.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/key-obamacare-architect-regrets-calling-voters-stupid-2014-11-11?link=MW_home_latest_news
As an investor, I am happy with O. DOW up 150% since he started.
Unemployed from 10% to under 6%. Exports up 40%.
And just think what the economy would look like if there wasn’t 4+ years of massive uncertainty surrounding Dodd Frank and the ACA (both of which had incomprehensible impacts on the economy).
Would we have still had the slowest recovery in 80 years?
If Dodd Frank and the ACA incomprehensible effects on the economy, there’s no way to answer that question.
I think you’re missing my point.
For 4 years business didn’t know what the ultimate effects of the laws would be. The ACA only became effective years after its passage, and in the case of Dodd Frank, the actual rules took years to write (the QRM rule was only finalized this October for instance).
And the greater the uncertainty, the more conservative businesses are in hiring and capital investment. Less hiring and less capital investment equals slower recovery.
I don’t know if I can find a link, but I recall some surveys a few years ago. Business owners were asked why they weren’t investing and hiring. Uncertainty was not a major reason. The lack of spending by consumers was much more important.
Beyond that, there is always uncertainty
“The lack of spending by consumers was much more important.”
+1 Broke azz losers don’t have two nickels to rub together.
“For his birthday, little Joseph asked for a 10-speed bicycle.
His father said, ‘Son, we’d give you one, but the mortgage on this house is $289,000 and your mother just lost her job.
There’s no way we can afford it.’
The next day the father saw little Joseph heading out the front door with a suitcase.
So he asked, ‘Son, where are you going?’
Little Joseph told him, ‘I was walking past your room last night and heard you telling mum you were pulling out.
Then I heard her tell you to wait because she was coming too.
And I’ll be damned if I’m staying here by myself with a $289,000 mortgage and no bike.”
And then little Joeseph’s father told him, “Ah, son, it’s time we had ‘the talk’ about moral hazard. You see, if we decide to stop paying our mortgage, your Auntie Janet who works at the Fed would simply take those toxic mortages off the hands of the ‘too big to fail’ banks, then print a few trillion dollars to cover those liabilities and keep the asset bubbles inflated for a bit longer. So you see, fiscal responsibility and accountability are SO 20th Century!”
Radiation from Fuk u shima - wonder what this will do to Cali coastal real estate values?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-11/fukushima-radiation-detected-100-miles-california-coast
Let’s talk about your Region
Everyone Must Check In
The sign right behind Gene said so.
Tell us about your Region, kidz
Climate Activists Claim Deep Freeze Due to “Global Warming”
Activists previously claimed “climate change” would make the world hotter
by Kit Daniels | Infowars.com | November 11, 2014
Despite spending years claiming “climate change” would make the world hotter, not colder, climate activists are now blaming “global warming” for the arctic front pounding the U.S.
As 44 states brace for snow in the coming week, multiple “climate change” articles have been published recently which attempt to attribute the record cold – or any change in climate for that matter – to “global warming.”
An op/ed published last night, for example, suggested the freezing temperatures throughout the U.S. are an “indirect result of the world getting warmer.”
“Global warming could be making parts of the world colder,” the author claimed, even though the phrase “global warming” refers to the entire world getting warmer, not just specific parts of it.
The author even attributed record-level ice in Antarctica to “global warming.”
“Warmer temperatures are not only causing more snowfall in Antarctica, scientists believe, but could also be producing more sea ice,” he stated.
The op/ed did not resonate well with readers.
“These so called experts haven’t a clue what is going on, but politicians know exactly what is happening – the greatest opportunity to control the masses ever presented,” one reader, Steve Nosympathy, commented. “Never before has such an opportunity presented where the government can steal huge amounts from the public by instilling fear.”
A similar article published today by The Energy Collective blamed “global warming” for current “extreme weather.”
“Global warming is worsening,” the article harked. “It seems that new reports appear with increasing frequency emphasizing the worsening of global warming due to increased accumulation of man-made greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere.”
“They show that extreme weather or climate events already appear to be more severe and/or frequent than in the past, and will continue to worsen.”
Of course, none of this corresponds to what the largest proponent of global warming, former Vice President Al Gore, has said in the past.
“…Science is warning us that if we do not quickly reduce the global warming pollution that is trapping so much of the heat our planet normally radiates back out of the atmosphere, we are in danger of creating a permanent ‘carbon summer,’” Gore proclaimed during his Nobel Lecture in 2007.
He also famously predicted the North Pole would be ice-free by 2013, but instead ice sheets expanded to record levels that year.
“Satellite photos of the Arctic taken by NASA in August 2012 and August 2013 show a 60 percent increase in the polar ice sheet, more than half the size of Europe, despite ‘realistic’ predictions by climate scientists six years ago that the North Pole would be completely melted by now,” reported CNS News.
It’s hilarious that climate activists claim the “science is settled” and that “global warming is real” yet over and over again their predictions have been proven patently false.
It is 10F degrees in Region VIII, and Drudge even headlined it, but it’s not going to bring the dead coral reefs back to life anytime soon
Infinite growth, finite resources, et cetera
What Did the Continents Look Like Millions of Years Ago? - The …
http://www.theatlantic.com/…/279892/ - 191k -
once again, what is the time it takes for infinite growth at a finite rate? that would be infinite bob. So you can worry about infinite growth an infinite time from now. In the mean time, how about an estimate of growth at our current 7% or so??? how about some impacts in a reasonable time frame like 50 or 100 years from now?
K thx bye.
“The United States and China have just turned the international climate change negotiation on its head,” Tandeen said.
“This is the most important climate relationship in the world,” said Timothy Wirth, vice chairman of the United Nations Foundation. “If the two biggest players on climate are able to get together, from two very different perspectives, the rest of the world can see that it’s possible to make real progress.”
Buckle up because we’ve got some intriguing compelling data lined up for tomorrow.
Tease.
craydur
phony scandals