Bits Bucket for November 25, 2014
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Will the criminals who are tearing up Ferguson be brought to justice?
What about the criminals who incited them?
That is some serious “blame game.”
pants up, don’t loot!
http://m.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/in-ferguson-businesses-burn-police-cars-torched-as-violence-much/article_47fc89b3-b0d2-5c41-a1fa-f4636673aac0.html?mobile_touch=true
Somebody is waking up this morning and realizing, damn, we burned down our Little Ceasars, I’m gonna miss that bigtime.
Some mental midget ran up to a reporter’s camera and shouted “Dis id watcha get when you do dat tuss.” Oh, yeah, you really showed them buddy- you burned down a black man’s BBQ restaurant!
I am surprised with those English skills they cant find jobs. These losers have no skills, no education, just a drain on society.
I wonder why they waited until nightfall to announce? Seems easier to battle the crooks in the daylight. Not my problem.
“I wonder why they waited until nightfall to announce? Seems easier to battle the crooks in the daylight.”
I’d rather be at home with my family (not work) where I can protect them if the natives become agitated.
Grading the riot
Car Flipping F
Do not hire these rioters
Raw: Ferguson protesters try to flip police car
http://www.mcall.com/…deo-ferguson-protesters-flip-police-car-20141124-embeddedvideo.html - 118k -
Comment by phony scandals
2014-11-25 07:35:56
mcall.com/mc-video-ferguson-protesters-flip-police-car-20141124-embeddedvideo.html
FWIW, there’s no property insurance coverage during civil unrest.
Standard commercial policies cover civil unrest.
And if business owners move away, they’re rayciss….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2844491/Ferguson-Missouri-Police-officer-Darren-Wilson-NOT-face-charges-shooting-unarmed-black-teen-Michael-Brown.html
They are just creating jobs!! Someone has to rebuilt the town and produce new cop cars!
Thanks fellas!
MO should have legalized weed. Then the protesters would have stayed home and played video games.
They should have found the cop “guilty” with a wink. Then witness relocation.
“Standard commercial policies cover civil unrest.”
Mom owns commercial property adjacent to a urine soaked metro bus/rail station, and the insurers excluded the street level retail plate glass among other things. The Rodney King verdict 500-miles south stirred the local natives, and crash go the windows. Police reports were written, but local leaders berated property owners for the lack of plexi-glass; someone could get injured while breaking windows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JARDvdrAxk
“Meet me in St. Louis” sorry but no thanks!
It was a great town…back in 1904!
I stopped in East St. Louis for fuel once- one of the poorer decisions in my life.
I stopped in East St. Louis for fuel once
National Lampoon’s Vacation
Clark gets lost in the hood
I once had a gig over in East St Louis. I was duly impressed by the bullet holes in the windows of the building where we rehearsed.
Footnote: Ferguson looks much more like East St. Louis today than it did three decades ago.
National Lampoon’s Vacation
Kids, you noticing all this plight?
Ferguson, what a riot!
“Ferguson, what a riot!”
Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadali says it’s a “race war”.
State Senator: This Is St Louis’ Race War
Breitbart TV 24 Nov 2014 2009
Monday night on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” Missouri State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadali (D) said of the riots after the grand jury announcement that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson will not face charges for fatally shooting Michael Brown, “This is St. Louis’s race war. We didn’t have a race war like other cities throughout the U.S. This is our race war.”
Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadali said, “I have to tell you that there has been systematic racism, institutionally in state government for decades, including my own state party. So what we are looking at right now is a symptom of racism that has been swept under the rug for decades. and I am so glad now that the truth is out, and I’m very grateful to your network for telling the truth in reporting the truth of what’s going to go down in the coming days.”
“As it was said earlier today, and because of the systematic racism that we have in our state government, and our state party, and we do not bring the truth to bear, then we will not recover from what we are going on. What we are experiencing right now, and I have to tell you, this is St. Louis’s race war. We didn’t have a race war like other cities throughout the this is our race war. country. and people have to be open, and they have to be honest. and they have to earnest, and they have not been earnest for decades. I know people in my own party, in my own government structure who disregard things that we say and how we feel, and we are not going to allow it anymore,” she added.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
http://www.breitbart.com/…/2014/11/24/State-Senator-This-Is-St-Louis-Race-War - 88k -
There’s never been a better time to buy in Ferguson.
Ferguson Market Overview
Data through Oct 31, 2014
No data ZHVI
No data 1-yr forecast
$54,900 Median listing price
No recent data Median sale price
And when insurance costs make staying in Ferguson (and other DNC hellholes) prohibitive, people stuck living there are going to have a long trek for overpriced goods and services.
Luckily the real estate prices are so low there that potential insurance claims are fairly small.
” potential insurance claims are fairly small.”
Stores like ORielly’s and Autozone will have inventory loss, business interruption claims. Who knows if they own or rent those buildings.
They will likely close those stores and move the heck out of Ferguson.
All those protestors accomplished was to reinforce a stereotype.
All those protestors accomplished was to reinforce a stereotype.
No, they were engaging in “undocumented wealth equalization”.
“undocumented wealth equalization”
More like negative wealth effect generation — in their own hood! Next thing you know, the same folks will complain that there are no jobs to be had anywhere near where they live.
Obama: “We are a nation of laws.” Said with a straight face.
Ferguson will be OK cause Reverend Al is on his way.
DARREN WILSON NOT INDICTED: Parents of Michael Brown Jr. to meet with Rev. Al Sharpton, call for police body cameras
‘We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence,’ Brown family said after a St. Louis grand jury chose not to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting.
BY Jason Molinet
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 12:16 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/…rents-michael-brown-jr-meet-rev-al-sharpton-article-1.2022740 -
Allow me to hit the fast forward on all this, in order to save bandwidth, etc, as we’ve seen this before. Lot’s of huffing and puffing, and then we’ll get back to the regular programing.
I suspect what many long for is a return to the moral high-ground of the civil rights movement. It’s interesting that the fight for the right to vote didn’t produce exactly what people hoped for. Turns out, the right to vote in a corrupt political system doesn’t mean very much. Let’s take a recent huff and puff news item; amnesty, temporary or not. Notice nobody asks this simple question; why is it millions of people feel they have to leave their homes south of the border? The poverty in Mexico and other regional countries has its roots in politics. Yet they can vote in Mexico. Why don’t they just change their system?
When Occupy Wall Street first started, some polls showed it had 90% support. IMO, this was because people thought, things might actually change! Optimism soon vanished as we fell back into the cynicism and division the system is so good at producing. My point is, a political arrangement that so few are content with, but is completely resistant to real change is its own indictment.
“things might actually change”
Voters are vegetables. And nothing, repeat nothing, will ever change that will diminish the 0.1%’s ownership and control of this country.
Last post from me on this, at the bottom is a 28 second youtube video showing what can happen when an unarmed charging dude gets where they’re going.
If this doesn’t make it I apologize and understand.
Ferguson Witnesss Told Investigators That Michael Brown Charged Cop “Like a Football Player. Head Down”
November 24, 2014
The unidentified witness wrote that the 18-year-old Brown “has his arms out with attitude,” while “The cop just stood there.” The witness added, “Dang if that kid didn’t start running right at the cop like a football player. Head down.”
The witness told of hearing “3 bangs,” but “the big kid wouldn’t stop.”
The witness’s account of the unarmed Brown charging Wilson–even after he had been shot in the hand during a struggle at the cop’s patrol car–supports the officer’s contention that he fired a series of shots as Brown bore down on him.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/…/darren-wilson/witnesss-said-brown-charged-wilson-897043 - 220k -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ9lxXWMR-U - 364k -
My point is, a political arrangement that so few are content with, but is completely resistant to real change is its own indictment ??
+1 Ben….Will change come when the weight of the problems facing our country can no longer be supported ?? We can discuss many issues but the shear political might of the Military complex and the police state could be the wall we can’t climb…IMO, Everything else will be sacrificed at their alter…
Maybe thats why so many are not malcontent…Maybe we need compulsory voting…It would defang the big money in politics…Many others do it;
As of August 2013, 22 countries were recorded as having laws for compulsory voting and 11 of these 22 countries as enforcing these laws in practice.[
Cynicism can’t be helped. With this going on, Obama’s off to Chicago to pitch his executive shamnasty.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obama-heads-chicago-immigration/2014/11/25/id/609403/
Wonder if Luis will kiss his ring, or get in his face and demand moar?
“The witness’s account of the unarmed Brown charging Wilson–even after he had been shot in the hand during a struggle at the cop’s patrol car–supports the officer’s contention that he fired a series of shots as Brown bore down on him.”
I wonder if NPR will get into some of those pesky details of the case, after having played their headline soundbite about ‘an unarmed black teenager’ 8,955 times?
“My point is, a political arrangement that so few are content with, but is completely resistant to real change is its own indictment.”
The solutions we seek won’t be found in or via the political arena. For now, that area of society is useless, if not destructive.
Instead, the solutions will be found in morals and ethics and the new understandings, focus and goals to be found in them. It has been several decades since morals and ethics have been allowed to rise above law.
Not religious ethics. Not “environmental” ethics. Both are part of the present-day political arena. I’m not talking about racism or homosexuality. Both of those also are part of the present-day political arena. Politics has strong desire to legislate of all of those things.
Legislative involvement in any “ethic” results in that ethic tending heavily toward being divisive.
I’m talking about things that cannot be legislated: personal ethics. Community and societal ethics. Things that cannot be sold or offered for a vote.
“Cynicism can’t be helped. With this going on, Obama’s off to Chicago to pitch his executive shamnasty.”
Well the South side of Chicago
Is the baddest part of town
And if you go down there
You better just beware
Of a man named Juan “Cruzito” Garcia
————————————————————–
Attack on family in Compton latest incident in wave of anti-black violence
A Latino gang is intimidating blacks into leaving the city that was once an African American enclave. It’s part of a violent trend seen in other parts of the L.A. area.
January 25, 2013
By Sam Quinones, Richard Winton and Joe Mozingo
The trouble began soon after they arrived.
The black family—a mother, three teenage children and a 10-year-old boy—moved into a little yellow home in Compton over Christmas vacation.
When a friend came to visit, four men in a black SUV pulled up and called him a “nigger,” saying black people were barred from the neighborhood, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies. They jumped out, drew a gun on him and beat him with metal pipes.
It was just the beginning of what detectives said was a campaign by a Latino street gang to force an African American family to leave.
articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/25/local/la-me-0126-compton-20130126 - 50k -
Here’s a graphical depiction of how Brown’s shooting (allegedly) went down.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/michael-brown-shootings-this-is-what-prosecutors-think-happened-in-ferguson-9882433.html
I suspect what many long for is a return to the moral high-ground of the civil rights movement. It’s interesting that the fight for the right to vote didn’t produce exactly what people hoped for. Turns out, the right to vote in a corrupt political system doesn’t mean very much. Let’s take a recent huff and puff news item; amnesty, temporary or not. Notice nobody asks this simple question; why is it millions of people feel they have to leave their homes south of the border? The poverty in Mexico and other regional countries has its roots in politics. Yet they can vote in Mexico. Why don’t they just change their system?
Well said, Ben. People deserve the government they get. Mexico’s endemic corruption exists because the population tolerates it, if not actively taking part. ‘Muricans have crony capitalism because that’s what they vote for. The sheeple bitch, but vote for the status quo every time, then refuse to acknowledge they’re part of the problem.
‘Muricans, meet your future. This is what you’re voting for. This is what you deserve.
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2014/11/how-pena-nietos-house-of-cards-crumbled.html
“My point is, a political arrangement that so few are content with, but is completely resistant to real change is its own indictment.”
It’s the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few, at the expense of the masses. You will find it in every country in the world.
Yeah, this kind of rioting is just what the PTB want. Real change will require a little more thoughtfulness. What those folks need is some leadership!
“Maybe we need compulsory voting”
Noooooooo! Things are bad enough already. We’re probably about 25 years from full banana republic status, compulsory voting would accelerate that process dramatically. Have you ever watched the show cops? You really want these people deciding your family’s future?
After last night’s episode, I would say we need a civics test requirement for voting.
#ClowardAndPiven
#ChaosToCollapseTheSystem
Speaking of the show cops, how would you like to be a police officer going out every day and having to confront some of the most violent and ignorant people in our society?
Prosecute the bad cops, but be thankful that good people still sign up for that thankless job.
#ImagineYourTownWithoutPoliceProtection
Black Friday arrived early in Fergadishu this year. Door buster specials everywhere!
“…Fergadishu…”
+1 LOL!
Yea riiiiiight Obamao!!
A lot of their jobs, their neighbors’ jobs, their family’s’ jobs have also been destroyed.
Not to excuse the police action though.
Last post on this topic.
Remember, Bill, it is all about scripting a narrative.
Cliven Bundy protesters = domestic terrorists.
Michael Brown protesters = social justice warriors.
Both of these groups oppose the overreach and militarization of law enforcement, but one is politically and socially acceptable to the “real journalists” who script the narrative, and one is not.
And just think if those two groups were to finally come together and see their common ground. That would truly threaten the PTB.
Hence the race baiting.
It’s not quite that simple. You can be opposed to the militarization of the police, and yet support individual policemen like Officer Wilson who used lethal force when attacked by a thug. You can also support a forceful LE response to deal with rioters and looters masquerading as “protesters.”
“You can also support a forceful LE response to deal with rioters and looters masquerading as “protesters.””
So they should have gone in in force against Bundy? Sent in the police tanks?
Cliven Bundy is breaking the law. Why should he have special rights to PUBLIC lands?
Exactly, we don’t need no lease ranchers when the Chinese are willing to pay Senators good money to use the public land.
Pretty simple: This is part of the Fundamental Transformation Of America, it’s going to be messy. Up will be down, black will be white and rule of law will mean whatever the community mobs want it to mean. This is just the beginning.
By the way, did you see some of those young “Journalists” at the announcement…fresh out of indoctrination camp, the looks on their faces were almost as priceless as the asinine questions they asked.
#FundamentalTransformaitonOfAmerica
#ClowardAndPiven
I get it!!! Ohhhhhh, the irony!
“Remember. Houses depreciate rapidly.”
That’s right. A house will never put a dollar in your wallet but they sure do take dollars from it.
Tacoma, WA Rental Rates Crater 16% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/wa-98422/home-values/
Seattle, WA Sale Prices Plunge 13% YoY On Rising Defaults And Ballooning Inventory
http://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa-98119/home-values/
Heh, young folks can be enterprising.
http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Police-Student-led-high-school-prostitution-ring-5916232.php
Didn’t Tom Cruise already do this?
Houses in my neighborhood are definitely not selling at current prices.
House A was bought during the bubble, foreclosed in 2009, reno-flipped in 2010, and put up for sale again this fall. They’ve been dropping the price about a thousand bucks a day. Sounds like the seller is motivated, but they still aren’t undewater vs. 2010 price. They still have room to drop.
House B on the corner was abandoned for months if not years. It was cleaned up and given a total makeover, including basement. It was overpriced accordingly, didn’t sell, the realtor dribbled a total $25K price rop over several months, still didn’t sell. The house was pulled off the market.
House C just went on the market $20K overpriced. This one looks like it had a cheap reno, but it has a walk-out basement (a plus if you want to rent out). I think this one will sell, but not until Spring.
Hot off the wires…Case/Shiller September numbers;
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDYQqQIwAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2Fid%2F102214295&ei=z4×0VKSJOcWdPY6EgHg&usg=AFQjCNG3t85D_n1jauuiIwHnvTXkAamSXQ&sig2=oOGJ5_yg1AW0UCrCcdCsYg&bvm=bv.80185997,d.ZWU
Remember. … CS excludes defaulted and foreclosed properties.
Dallas-area home prices were up 7.4 percent in the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.
The gain from a year ago was the fourth highest in the country and it was significantly ahead of the 4.9 percent nationwide gain.
http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/11/case-shiller-dallas-area-home-price-gains-fourth-highest-in-u-s.html/
And remember … CS data is 6 months old.
Given the fact prices are now falling at a fairly good clip in Dallas/FW, are you seeing more inventory hitting 5 he market i.e., panic selling?
That’s a small and temporary consolation for you Halfamil. The national market is already rolling over. You’ll get the memo eventually.
Blue, is there a “national market?”
How else could there be statistics about it?
Just yesterday the Housing Hoodlums howled about localized falling prices. Now they’re squealing about the broader scope of falling housing prices.
Falling housing prices here there and everywhere.
“national market?”
For those who haven’t paid much attention here, the Housing Bubble has transformed residential real estate into an international gambling racket. Not sure whether that qualifies as a market or not?
The stubborn belief that one’s own little neighborhood is uniquely special has been a consistent hallmark of the bubble.
The stubborn belief that one’s own little neighborhood is uniquely special has been a consistent hallmark of the bubble.
I think they have invisible fences….the fences protect them from the the problems 10 miles down the road.
“…one’s own little neighborhood…”
There is also ongoing confusion about the ever-present differences in prices depending on local factors versus the general effect of the Housing Bubble to pump hydrogen gas into prices in markets around the planet.
Too bad there’s a shortage of Helium. Hydrogen balloons blow up.
LolZ
“Hydrogen balloons blow up.”
That was my point, which presumably was not lost on Oxide.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-25/case-shiller-reports-broad-based-slowdown-home-prices-first-monthly-decrease-novembe
While the just revised Q3 GDP surprised everyone to the upside, the Case Shiller index for September which was also reported moments ago, showed yet another month of what it called a “Broad-based Slowdown for Home Prices.” The bad news: the 20-City Composite gained 4.9% year-over-year, compared to 5.6% in August. However, this was modestly above the 4.6% expected. However, what was more troubling is that on a sequential basis, the Top 20 Composite MSA posted a modest -0.03% decline, the first sequential drop since February. And from the report itself: “The National Index reported a month-over-month decrease for the first time since November 2013. The Northeast region reported its first negative monthly returns since December 2013 and its worst annual returns since December 2012 due to weaknesses in Washington D.C. and Boston.”
‘the obesity rates of many u.s. states are actually higher than previously thought, a new study finds.
the new findings are based on doctors’ measurements of people’s height and weight, whereas many previous reports were based on people’s reports of their own measurements.
only hawaii had an obesity rate under 30 percent, and a few states, including louisiana and mississippi, had obesity rates over 40 percent.’
http://www.businessinsider.com/many-states-are-even-fatter-than-we-thought-2014-11
Deadly eating disorder stalks those obsessed with ‘eating healthy’
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2014/11/25/deadly-eating-disorder-stalks-those-obsessed-with.html?page=all
Yeah, I wonder how long it will take Big Agribusiness and Big Pharma to decree that anyone who wants to eat healthy, natural foods, i.e. raw milk and cheese, somehow has a “disorder” that must be medicated away.
+1
The article refers to people who are so obsessed with eating healthy that they feel everything is unhealthy and eventually develop anorexia. I did take issue with the article’s author wirting that people are “gluten free and won’t stop talking about it.” Well, stop shoving baked goods on them and they will shut up.
Meanwhile, Big Ag is already fighting. They fought GMO labeling and won. They fought country of origin labeling and eventually lost. As it turns out, the best diet appears to be time and money. Money to buy good ingredients and time to cook them from scratch. Which, of course, is exactly what people no longer have.
If they don’t spend too much on real estate, they just might. I can attest.
I agree. If you spend half your gross on taxes, and the other 60% on housing and getting to work, there is little time for home cooking.
I cook or at least prepare some food from scratch daily. Of course I don’t have to waste my free time mowing the lawn or repairing the home we rent — those are the landlords’ responsibilities.
Eat less at one sitting and exercise.
#FreeAdvice
Those Red states spend their food stamps on pork rinds and Cola.
LolaLOL
I met her in a club down in old Soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola
See-oh-el-aye cola
What do you spend your food stamps on?
food
In the sandwich isles we marvel that we have the least obesity, because there are a LOT of huge okoles around here. To be fair, we have a healthy percentage (pun intended) of super fit people (surfers, iron men, choke joggers), so maybe it balances out.
Wall Street Journal subscriber paywall article blurb
CFOs Don’t Trust Cheaper Gasoline to Fuel Holiday Sales
Forecasts Haven’t Been Raised to Reflect Any Boost in Shoppers’ Buying Power
“The average U.S. price of a gallon of regular gasoline fell below $3 this month, the lowest in four years and almost $1 less a gallon than it was in June. The plunge could give shoppers an extra $40 billion to spend during the holidays alone.”
Americans are broke, broke, broke
No extra gifts under Lucky Ducky’s tree this year
The best gift my niece and nephew can get is to earn their own money. That comes within.
That was the best gift I gave myself in my early 20s. They are in their 30s (sadly). The girl is graduated from college but they are destitute and lazy.
You must be their favorite uncle. LOL
They think I have no money. People with no money are boring.
Interesting. You are so open about your money in this blog, but you hide this from family?
Destitute, lazy and not too bright. Even if you never mentioned money to your niece and nephew, it should have been pretty obvious to them that you have been clearly living waaaaaaay below your means for decades. They didn’t wonder where the money was going, even once?
@Scored by CBO
What is my address and phone number?
What is my address and phone number?
Don’t push it, buddy! - NSA
riiiiiiiiiiiigggggghhhht. the agency workers freely identify themselves. uh huh.
Destitute, lazy and not too bright. Even if you never mentioned money to your niece and nephew, it should have been pretty obvious to them that you have been clearly living waaaaaaay below your means for decades. They didn’t wonder where the money was going, even once?
lazy and not too bright - those are really their trademarks and they just don’t have ambition or care about living as a human. And that means, like any organism, working for at least its own survival and future. They…just…don’t…care.
20 years ago my dad (when he had another 6 years of life), me, and two other sisters tried to encourage them. We tried other times. It was all about cleaning up, getting physicals at the doctor, in case some illness was the cause of their sluggishness, then get the prescriptions, take frequent showers and change into clean clothes every day. Very simple decent human concepts. But 20 years ago they needed all that.
rejected.
Rejected 18 years ago.
Rejected 15 years ago.
Whoops, grandpa died and he was actually subsidizing them. Guess what? the mother (my oldest sister) was forced to get a job. Been about 13 years since she started working and she is now about 61. She will work til she drops. Her kids are older than 30. All adult age. All able to make their own choices.
But yes we tried to intervene over the years. Always rejected.
My only hint of money is that I fly a lot to Arizona. And I rent two places and occasionally eat steak. Occasionally go to my timeshare in Hawaii for a week. But that’s all.
They cannot tell. But of course the CBO (and school marm) know all about me. They claim to be with the “N”utsyIn”s”ecurity”A”lcholic club
We’re digging deep in the kids closets and wrapping stuff they’ve forgotten about.
Merry sustainable Christmas!!
Unemployed people don’t drive or shop, unless they’re members of Comrade Pelosi’s FSA.
so 5.9% don’t shop?? Maybe dad makes the gifts out of trash? Kids love giant card board boxes! haha
rate just hit 5.3% in my county.
Merry Christmas!
5.9% LOL
Hard working Americans are far from “broke.” Lots of spending in my hood. It is a big country. From Silicon Valley to Ferguson. Like different planets.
24/7 Wall Street - The Least Educated Cities
Article notes that “Boulder, Colorado, led the nation last year with 58.5% of adults having attained at least a bachelor’s degree”
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/11/25/the-least-educated-cities/
Meh, Who cares about college degrees. Just those with them trying to protect their investment.
So many cities in California alone?
Big difference between coastal CA and inland.
“Big difference between coastal CA and inland.”
+1 Actually like different states.
Same story for the Columbia Basin v Seattle-Tacoma, red state v blue state, respectively. Major differences in education, obesity and lifestyle.
Agriculturally driven (inland)
Technology and media driven (coastal)
Guess which one needs more education?
It is so easy to get a degree, that is why 70% quit.
Denver Post - Income growth slowed in 2013 in most Colorado counties
“The annual growth rate of personal incomes per resident in Colorado fell from 4.8 percent in 2012 to 1.3 percent in 2013, according to the income report. Nationally, per capita personal incomes rose an average of 2 percent in metro areas and 2.1 percent in rural areas last year.”
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_27002988/income-growth-slowed-2013-most-colorado-counties-kiowa
Hmmmm….and high end homes sit and sit and sit…..
No home for the avg. wage earner, right?
http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/high-end-housing-is-going-to-get-slaughtered/
Ukraine Central Bank Admits Gold Outflow, Calls It “Optimization Of Reserve Structure
by Zero Hedge | November 24, 2014
A week after we reported that the head of the Ukraine central bank admitted in an unofficial, informal interview that Ukraine’s gold is gone, all gone, moments ago the Central Bank revealed that, sure enough, the gold holdings in the civil war-torn country have tumbled, as a result of a decision in September to “increase the share of US dollars in a reserve basket”, or in other words, to sell the gold. Just don’t call it that: in fact, as of today we have a brand new buzzword for gold liquidations: “optimization of international reserves.”
From the central bank:
National Bank of Ukraine has optimized the structure of international reserves. This is due to timing structure of international reserves and the external position of the country. National Bank of Ukraine decided in September 2014 to increase the share of US dollar in a reserve basket, because the structure of the trade balance of the country is 70.3% in US dollars, 15% in euros. 77.7% of gross foreign debt denominated in Ukraine USD in EUR – 11.2% in SDR – 5.8%.
Recently, there was a significant volatility in global currency markets associated with the strengthening of the US dollar against other world currencies.Therefore, the National Bank of Ukraine decided to reduce the share of gold in foreign exchange reserves to 8%. To this end, the international markets has sold 0.46 million. Troy ounces of gold in US dollars, respectively proportion of gold in international reserves declined to 7.9%.
According to the IMF, the proportion of gold in global reserves at an average of 11.7%, while international reserves of developing countries, the proportion of gold in an average of 4.4%.
So Ukraine’s central bank decided to convert its gold into dollars just as the USD has been surging to levels not seen in years? Just who says central bankers are bad traders. Furthermore, while one assumes this is the asset update as of the end of October, we can’t wait to learn just what happened in the first days of November when the Valeria Gontareva interview took place.
And while the fate of the Swiss gold referendum may lie in the hands of the Zurich subsidiary of Diebold, perhaps it is time for Ukraine’s population to ask its “elected” rulers just where Ukraine’s gold has gone, pardon, been “optimized” to.
Not sure how legalizing 34 million criminal invaders and incorporating all of them into the Free Sh*t Army will help “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/11/24/Grover-Norquist-Keeps-Standing-With-Michael-Bloomberg-s-Amnesty-Lobby-Group
What happens when government guarantees everything…
At least no banker lost money.
—————–
Fraudster Must Repay $564K of Student Loans
Credit.com - Christine DiGangi - November 25th, 2014
A 32-year-old Texas woman was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in federal prison for taking out more than $564,000 in fraudulent student loans, the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Texas announced in a news release Nov. 18.
Mindy Ritch, of Flint, was arrested May 31, 2013, on charges of student financial aid fraud and tampering with a witness, which carry maximum sentences of five and 20 years, respectively. Ritch pleaded guilty to the fraud charge May 5, 2014, and in addition to the prison time, the judge ordered Ritch to pay $564,447.72 in restitution.
The district attorney’s office didn’t provide details on what she did with the money, but between January 2010 and February 2013, Ritch obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars through the Federal Pell Grant Program and the Federal Direct Loan Program.
That’s an insane amount of money, especially considering the limits set on how much people can receive from these programs. For example, this academic year, the most a student can receive for a Pell Grant is $5,730, and the amount depends on the student’s financial need, cost of attendance, full- or part-time student status and plans to attend school for an entire academic year or less.
Federal Direct Stafford loans also have borrowing limits, and subsidized loans depend on a student’s financial need. When it comes to large federal loan balances, like Ritch’s, PLUS loans tend to be involved, because you can borrow much higher amounts, as long as it’s all related to education expenses. PLUS loans carry the highest interest rates of federal student loans, but they’re often still more appealing than private loans, because they’re not contingent on a student’s credit rating. That’s what makes them easy to get. (You can see your credit scores for free on Credit.com.)
It’s unclear what she did with her fraudulent fortune — people have done weird things with education loans, like get plastic surgery — but it’s difficult to understand why someone would think they could get away with student loan fraud, especially on such a large scale. Education debt generally can’t be discharged in bankruptcy, and there are severe financial consequences for failing to pay it back, like wage garnishment, debt collection and a trashed credit score.
But Obama bundler and “former” Goldman Sachs bigwig Jon Corzine will never held accountable for the theft, er, “rehypotecation” of $1.6 billion from customer accounts to cover his wrong-way bet on European bonds.
Decelerating home price gains on shrinking volume…what could it possibly portend?
another bailout?
Maybe we should put a gun to peoples head and make them buy. People bought en-mass without this tactic. Think how many will buy with force.
Gruber will say something like…
Animal House–”You F’ed up, you trusted us” - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOXtWxhlsUg - 334k -
———————————————————————————-
‘Stupidity’ consultant agrees to testify
Former ObamaCare adviser in hot water for his comments about “stupidity of the American voter”
by Sarah Ferris | Read more | November 25, 2014
Jonathan Gruber, the former ObamaCare adviser in hot water for his comments about the “stupidity of the American voter,” has agreed to testify at a House panel next month, setting up a healthcare showdown in what could be the final week of this Congress.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will also hear from Obama administration official Marilyn Tavenner, who is under fire this week for using inflated enrollment figures for the healthcare law.
“Both Mr. Gruber and Administrator Tavenner have agreed to testify,” committee spokeswoman Caitlin Carroll told The Hill.
Both figures have played a role in major political headaches for the Obama administration, which is facing new attacks about “repeated transparency failures and outright deceptions” by committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will be grilled for a number of speeches he has given since 2010 that blame the Obama administration for intentionally obscuring details of the healthcare law in order to assure its passage.
Tavenner, who leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has taken flak after an investigation by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee revealed last week that ObamaCare enrollment figures had been inflated by nearly 400,000 people.
Define irony: the bloviating corporate puppets elected by the “stupid voters” of Gruber’s accurate description will stage a meaningless Kabuki-theater interogation of a primary architect of yet another enormous scam on taxpayers sanctioned by the sheeple and their vote for “hope ‘n change Wall Street can believe in.”
“Stupid voters” are not limited to any one party. Benghazi didn’t work, so let’s try the Gruber thing.
85% of Americans think that >50% of the people are stupid. Some must be too stupid to know, they are stupid.
Reminds me of a saying…something like “75% of people think they are of above-average intelligence”.
Can any state what they don’t like about Obama’s Immigration reform that goes after 4 mill illegals ( who have been here 5 yrs) and get them to pay taxes, adds resources to our border patrol and does not give amnesty nor citizenship? People say they are against it, but no other info as to why.
Why should illegal workers not pay taxes? Why should employers cheat?
I am a fiscal conservative. I approve.
You lie!
Still no answer. Just state why it is bad for America.
“Just state why it is bad for America”
Report: Immigration Amnesty Will Cost American Taxpayers $2 TRILLION
Nov 24, 2014
The president’s immigration amnesty will cost $2 trillion - about $40 billion a year - over the next 50 years, the Heritage Foundation projects.
insider.foxnews.com/…s-immigration-amnesty-will-cost-american-taxpayers-2-trillion - 86k -
Comment by phony scandals
2014-11-25 17:45:00
insider.foxnews.com/2014/11/24/heritage-foundation-obamas-immigration-amnesty-will-cost-american-taxpayers-2-trillion
Is that to protect or borders?
War cost money.
Do you want to just keep it as is?
Wait…. that is from Fox News…. oh…. you got me good! I thought it was real.
ISTR reading about spanish speaking tax preparers in Los Angeles doing taxes for illegal immigrants. In other words, there is a large enough subset of illegals who have been paying their taxes that is has spawned a sub-industry of accountants.
Why are illegals paying taxes?
Because they believe (probably rightfully so) that if there ever IS a program to make them legal, paying taxes will likely be a prerequisite.
Now, of course (just like citizens of the US who are paid cash) if they’ve been paid cash over the years, the likelihood of accurately reporting their income is quite low.
Deafening Silence From Fox News on Benghazi
“Fox News has gone silent on Benghazi amid reports that the House Intelligence Committee concluded that there was no intentional wrongdoing in the Obama administration’s response to the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. …the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee concluded that there was no deliberate wrongdoing by the Obama administration in the 2012 attack. [The committee's findings were] a clinical, point-by-point refutation of the Benghazi hoax Fox has pushed for nearly 2 years.” — Media Matters
Clearly the writers at Fox News are not real journalists. Darn. I thought they were Fair and Balanced.
ISTR someone here saying that if the Rs took the Senate, there would be an implied “Impeachment is off the table” approach. I was thinking maybe this announcement by the HIC, was that.
So it was the Youtube video!
Whoa, are the long knives out for Obama within the demorat partay?
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/schumer-dems-should-have-pushed-jobs-over-health-care-2009-n255846
And here’s a quote:
“Schumer said that Democrats must embrace strong government policies that focus on the middle class in order to win back the support of the white middle class voters most likely to vote in midterms.”
Sure thing, Chuckie. And the way to do that is to be one of the Gangbanger 8 and shove the Obamnesty down the throats of said white middle class voters.
Super majority in the house
Filibuster proof senate
obama in the white house
The democrats could have passed anything without a single republican vote…
And all the democrats got was obamacare.
Nothing on immigration
Nothing on gun control
Nothing on jailing bankers
Nothing on controlling wall street
Etc.
“I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.”
Will Rogers
And Bush had the super majority for 6 yrs and 9/11.
The GOP gave us:
we got a $5 trillion war
Patriot Act
deficit spending
too big too fail
Great Recession
no border security
no infrastructure rebuilding
Nothing on immigration
Nothing on gun control
Nothing on jailing bankers
Nothing on controlling wall street
know you party for what they do, not what they say.
Are you ready to fill up on even cheaper gas than last week?
Futures Movers
Oil drops to 4-year low as traders await OPEC
Published: Nov 25, 2014 3:44 p.m. ET
Cartel seen moving toward compromise: Wall Street Journal
OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem el-Badri
By William Watts
Reporter
NEW YORK (MarketWatch)—Oil futures slumped to their lowest close in more than four years Tuesday, as traders grew more doubtful the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will deliver meaningful` production cuts when cartel officials meet later this week.
…
Listo amigo!!!
Here’s how I check HBB and save a lot of time: Click the menu button on Chrome and go to Find and type in Ben J.
Doing what is right for the people.
“The Obama administration on Tuesday threatened to veto a bipartisan tax deal that would reportedly create permanent tax perks for corporations without advancing key tax breaks for middle- and low-income families.
“The President would veto the proposed deal because it would provide permanent tax breaks to help well-connected corporations while neglecting working families,” White House spokeswoman Jennifer Friedman.”
Unarmed White Man Killed By Black Cop; Here’s How The Media Reacted
By Steve Straub - 379 Comments · In US, Video
The shooting may be completely justified, we don’t know yet, but that’s not the point, it’s the media’s non-reaction to the event that is the issue here.
Via WND:
While national news media continue to focus on race in Ferguson, Missouri, where a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, they apparently don’t think a similar case in Utah with the races reversed is that newsworthy.
Police in Salt Lake City are continuing their probe into an Aug. 11 shooting outside a 7-Eleven convenience store, when a black police officer, whom local media are referring to as “not white,” shot and killed 20-year-old Dillon Taylor, who was unarmed at the time, according to his supporters.
Police Chief Chris Burbank said the entire incident was captured on the body camera of the officer who shot Taylor.
“You will see on camera … the actions of everyone involved, including up to the point where our officer utilizes deadly force and his response thereafter,” Burbank told reporters.
He said the video, along with the officer’s identity, will be released at the “appropriate” time, adding it could be days, weeks or months.
“It would be wholly inappropriate to take the most vital piece of evidence that we have and put it out to the public prior to the officer having some due process,” he said.
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/…e-man-killed-by-black-cop-heres-how-the-media-reacted - 582k
I tried to bust down the door at Best Buy when I read that!
Comment by phony scandals
2014-11-25 16:20:54
thefederalistpapers.org/us/unarmed-white-man-killed-by-black-cop-heres-how-the-media-reacted
The dirty little secret the MSM has suppressed in its reporting on Brown and similar incidents: Whether you are white, black, yellow, orange or whatever color, certain forms of criminal and borderline-criminal behavior, such as forcing yourself inside the door of a police car and punching the cop inside, are quite likely to result in you getting shot, and him (or her) getting exonerated for following standard operating procedure.
9435 Lucerne Ave, Culver City, CA 90232
2 beds, 1 bath, 874 square feet
list price 550k
buy now !
No thanks!!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Take a walk after your “fill up”.
Enjoying my PianoDisc Conservatory Grand Piano, listening to “Phantom Of The Opera” and Elton John tunes this evening. Just came in from moon watching. What a cool planet.
Life is good, not perfect, but I’ll take what I can get.
Life is good, not perfect, but I’ll take what I can get.
Sure beats the only known alternative. But then, what do I know?
Take it from a dead poet:
Housing Affordability Drops Despite Government Targets
Federal policies to boost housing access tend to have opposite effect
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BY: Daniel Wiser
November 25, 2014 4:00 pm
The pace of home price increases slowed in September, according to figures released on Tuesday, but other data show that houses have not become more affordable despite government efforts.
The nationwide home price index rose by 4.8 percent for the 12-month period ending in September, according to an S&P/Case-Shiller report. Increases were higher in August at 5.1 percent.
Analysts pointed to weak housing demand and stagnant incomes as explanations for the dip in rising home prices. Homes have also become less affordable in recent years, other records show.
According to the annual Demographia report by the Wendell Cox Consultancy, about 36 percent of U.S. homes were considered affordable in the third quarter of 2013. The group determines affordability by dividing the median house price in markets by median household income.
About half of homes were viewed as affordable at the same point in 2010. The decline in cost-effective housing occurred as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—known as government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)—and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) continued to guarantee access to mortgage credit.
Housing affordability also declined before the 2008 financial crisis. Almost 90 percent of markets were affordable in 1995, but that share dropped to less than one-third near the peak of the housing boom in 2005.
Houses became more expensive in that era despite affordable lending goals implemented by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the early 1990s.
Peter Wallison, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and former counsel to President Ronald Reagan, wrote in the New York Times last month that the affordable housing goals were linked to low down payments and credit standards on mortgage loans. Those riskier loans defaulted in large numbers in 2008, but the majority of homes actually never became cheaper, he argued.
“Consider this: If the required down payment for a mortgage is 10 percent, a potential homebuyer with $10,000 can purchase a $100,000 home,” he said. “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,” he added.
Rising home prices do have some positive effects in that they provide value to current homeowners. However, critics warn that recent moves by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to lower lending standards could raise prices artificially and create another damaging bubble. Homes might also not become more affordable.
FHFA Director Mel Watt told senators at a recent hearing that his agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, will continue to assess the “safety and soundness” of mortgage loans as it works to maintain “access to credit.”
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Daniel Wiser Email | Full Bio |
Need…mo…credik!
I think go time has finally arrived.
“I think go time has finally arrived.”
Next stop, Willoughby?
Next stop, Willoughby?
That was a good one.
Twilight Zone - A Stop at Willoughby
It’s on youtube.
WTF is a “mini flash crash,” and why should we care?
Two mini–flash crashes rock stock market Tuesday
Published: Nov 25, 2014 6:09 p.m. ET
By Eric Garcia
Reporter
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — In two separate instances Tuesday, stocks plummeted sharply for a brief period before returning to normal.
At around roughly 10:18 a.m. Eastern, 88 stocks fell or rose by 1% or more. Eric Hunsader, founder of Nanex LLC, pointed out the changes on his Twitter feed.
…
Hopefully the Ferguson PD has a few extra cruisers on hand.
As for the guy who was shot to death then set on fire, I’m sure it happens all the time around Ferguson, and has no link to the intifada.
Protesters torch police car in another tense night in Ferguson
By Moni Basu and Faith Karimi, CNN
updated 12:46 AM EST, Wed November 26, 2014
Source: CNN
[Breaking news update 12:20 a.m. ET]
St. Louis police have identified a man who was found shot to death and set on fire. Police Chief Jon Belmar told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that he isn’t discounting the possibility that the death was linked to the violence that ravaged Ferguson on Monday night. Deandre Joshua, 20, was found Monday night behind the wheel of a Pontiac in a parking lot, just down the street from Canfield Green Apartments where Michael Brown was killed by Officer Darren Wilson. Joshua had been shot in the head, police said. An accelerant was used to light him on fire, but the fire went out on its own, police said. He had burns to his arm, fingers and both legs.
[Updated 11:30 p.m. ET ]
As midnight approaches, the tension here gets thicker. Everyone fears that just like Monday, things could turn violent at any moment.
Outside the City Hall, crowds flip a police cruiser on its side briefly, broke out its windows, then set it on fire. Police move in quickly to put it out. They use pepper gas and tell the crowd over loudspeakers to disperse.
…