Bits Bucket for December 5, 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
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“Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean, that is fantastic that you’re doing that.”
Juggling three jobs wears down Dunkin’ Donuts worker
Maria Fernandes, a 32-year-old Massachusetts native who worked at three Dunkin’ Donuts in northern New Jersey, died in August while napping in her car between shifts. She did this often, according to news reports, keeping the engine running while she slept, with a container full of fuel in the back so she wouldn’t run out of gas. But the container overturned in her car, the fumes overcoming her as she slept, in her uniform, in a convenience store parking lot.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/12/04/juggling-three-jobs-wears-down-dunkin-donuts-worker/6CrnRhle1Og5eyzqFw2tQK/story.html?p1=Article_InThisSection_Bottom
Lieberal nanny state propaganda about part time work and wanting to raise the minimum wage. I applaud all who work and work hard these days but low end entry worker positions will now all be taken up by formerly illegals who will get their Emplyment Authorizations by the millions come January 15th.
More from the article:
“On Sunday, she gets up and does it all over again — sometimes working more than 70 hours a week.”
At Tim Horton if everything goes well a franchise owner can make 3 percent without being able to pay towards the franchise fee of 280K to 400K. In most cases the franchises are losing money. Guys owning 1 to 3 stores have huge debt and usually end up walking away after 5 to 6 years. Even when they can do between 1 to 2 million in sales they cannot make money in this business.
A nightmare being sold as a dream. Losing money in a house is small potatoes compared to the donut scam.
Somebody must be making money, because they just put up another Tim Horton’s by me just two miles away from another one. Now I only have to drive a half mile to stuff my face with donuts. That crappy Lebanese bakery with the greasy baklava better watch out.
As I understand a 35 year old South American invested heavily in Tim Horton before they went public. Tim Horton like American Homes is also in the real estate business. So Tim Horton would sell their franchises and finance it in house. They are not doing that now as they are a public company. The people who bought their franchises before Tim Horton went public have not been able to pay the initial franchise cost. Lots of franchises were sold to Canadians who thought owning Tim Horton was going to be a license to print money. They got the 5 year investor visas to the US also. Tim Horton is a culture in Canada not so much here in the US. The Guys who leave the franchise have to give 30 days’ notice and in most cases Tim Horton wipes their slate clean. Owning 2 franchises and being open 24 hours the owners are making about 40K and in many cases not even that. 40K and not be able to pay their debt. It is debt slavery at its finest.
Perhaps Mr. Banker can expound on it further as to figure who is making money at Tim Horton.
They also write the regulations to make it increasingly difficult for independents to start their own businesses. If you like your crony capitalism, you can keep your crony capitalism. Just be a good little sheep and vote that D or R ticket.
Lieberal nanny state propaganda about part time work and wanting to raise the minimum wage.
More from the article:
“On Sunday, she gets up and does it all over again — sometimes working more than 70 hours a week.”
Is that sentence propaganda?
Walmart get $6.9 in public aid for its workers, in second place is McDonalds.
Why do taxpayers need to subsidize cos that have billion is in profits?
Walmart should pay its employers more, so I dont have to.
Then there is Archer Daniels. http://www.allourkidsfund.net/corn-syrup-welfare/
$6.9 BILLION
WalMart has 1.4 million employees in the US. Let’s say that 1.3 million work in stores.
Last year WalMart made about $15B (total globally, the 1.4MM employees are US only). Let’s say that 2/3rds of the income is US, which makes sense, since about 2/3rds of employees are in the US.
So, $10 Billion in US based profit.
1.3 million workers at 30 hours a week, 50 weeks per year is a total of 2 billion hours of US based labor.
If they raise wages by $6.9B for their US workers, they wipe out 70% of their US profit.
Exactly how much do you think they will raise hourly wages before they start raising prices? And how much do prices at WalMart contribute to the COLA adjustments that the people who decide on foodstamp payments watch?
I agree that WalMart should pay more, but the extra cost won’t be entirely coming out of WalMart’s pocket. It’ll be coming out of WalMart customer’s pockets, many of whom I’m willing to bet are on food stamps.
In other words, higher wages paid by Walmart will be nice, but won’t save the taxpayers the entire $6.9B.
You’ve got a sharp pencil RW. It’s unfortunate you’re ethically challenged by allowing your wallet to get in the way.
I just don’t think a co with $17 bill in profits should get $6.9 in aid from taxpayers.
I am a fiscal conservative.
Your logic is flawed and you will never stop giving corporations handouts.
Fixt.
“I am a
fiscal conservativemoron.”hope and change
‘police and social-service workers on thursday began clearing away one of the nation’s largest homeless encampments, a cluster of flimsy tents and plywood shelters that once housed more than 200 people in the heart of silicon valley.
nancy ortega sobbed as she watched tractors load garbage into trash trucks. a passing motorist shouted at those who had just been evicted.
‘people drive by and look at us like we’re circus animals,’ she said.
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_27070537/crews-break-up-homeless-camp-silicon-valley
nancy ortega should have majored in stem, then she wouldn’t have these problems.
they are a threat to the environment.
Are they? One would assume they have excellent walk scores.
What about their carbon footprint metric?
http://www.walkscore.com/
You are living at the peak of human civilization. Never before, ever, has so much been available to so many. Some want to convince you there is no opportunity, no jobs, racism, sexism, ageism, whatever keeping you down. Nothing but a bleak future. It ain’t so. People will walk through deadly conditions in the harsh Arizoan desert in August for more than a week to get to the job opportunities here.
In this country right now we live like wizards.
‘People will walk through deadly conditions in the harsh Arizoan desert in August for more than a week to get to the job opportunities here’
That Mexico is a failed state isn’t great comfort. It isn’t reported in the US much, but right now that country is in turmoil because of the mass execution of over 40 students. When they went digging around for them, they found lots of mass graves, and it wasn’t bodies of the students they were looking for.
I hear you about the age we live in. There’s so much promise. Why do we read about inequality? I don’t know if it really exists, I can only go by what I read, hear and observe. Why is the media more and more concentrated?
When I was a kid, the films we watched at school told us the UN was going to put an end to wars. Now we are told we are in a perpetual war. How many failed states now? Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria. With all the advancements we have made, thousands have died from a virus. I understand the promise. I don’t understand the lack of progress.
That Mexico is a failed state isn’t great comfort.
Even crazier, it’s one of the better off third world nations.
Entropy and the diminishing returns on ever more complexity are the culprits.
Mexico’s institutions are corrupt to their core, because Mexico’s people tolerate, enable, and remain apathetic to such corruption. We are going down the same road, a trend that will only accelerate as Comrad Pelosi’s DNC permanant supermajority installs votes-for-entitlements candidates in all levels of public office.
I fail to see the difference between institutions in the US and Mexico.
Other than the sheer volume of money, there is no difference.
Tell anybody who got laid off from a middle or upper middle income job after age 50 about all their “opportunities”
Poppycock, I got a nice raise this year. Things are just great!
/sarc
Mexicans are being abducted and killed on a staggering scale.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/11275460/Revealed-the-full-scale-of-Mexicos-disappearances.html
“…San Jose homelessness response manager Ray Bramson”
+1 A modern age title.
FWIW, this San Jose shantyville is in the Guadalupe river channel next to Almaden road. It can easily be seen from Adobe’s headquarters tower by looking south-west. I was in San Jose two weeks ago, and the downtown area had more homeless people than I’ve ever seen there. Many are aggressive pan handlers, and they leave many storefronts soaked in urine and feces. Several churches in the area operate free kitchens, which attract these peeps.
Here in downtown Detroit we at least know all the beggars. Quarter Lady, 84 cent guy, Can you buy me some food girl and Whiny Guy are some of the many familiar people who inhabit our corners, or used to before they died or disappeared. It’s like were all one big family. One big screwed up, dysfunctional family.
they flocked there hoping the rich would give them handouts. Just like in Santa Barbara. SB has a lot more place to hide and not as cold.
Any ideas what to do with these zombies? They have no skills and are usually crazy. Should we have a zombie farm in Texas, let them all live together?
I used to literally work across the street from “The Jungle”.
It was mostly hidden from street view as it is down in a creek bed.
‘keeping the engine running while she slept’
Uh, why would she do this in August? It was fumes from a gas can that fell over on its own, or the fumes from the running engine? Top notch reporting there.
Why would you dig further into the story? It might upset the narrative. We see this time and time again. Happened all throughout the reporting of the deadbeat “victims” of the foreclosure crisis where no questions were asked about where all the equity went.
yeah that was a little confusing. I just don’t see how fumes from a gas can in a car tipping over could kill someone. Something is up with this story.
I could see someone keeping the car going in az during the summer to keep the car cool. Not sure about boston.
It was in New Jersey in August, which can be a hot and humid time there.
Ten to one she was cooking meth in her car as a fourth job?
I lived in Northern New Jersey. You want A/C in the summer in that car while you sleep in it. You want heat in the winter.
“Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean, that is fantastic that you’re doing that.”
That this quote is from a former President of the United States shows just how far gone this country is, and how far detached from reality our “leaders” are.
RIP, Maria.
This woman worked harder than any fatcat CEO ever did in his whole life. Nobody is worth what these executives are making. They would DIE if they tried to perform Maria’s work over the course of a month.
Grandpa always said, “you make the bed you lie in.”
Darwinian had a saying too. >
“Housing Is In Big Trouble”
http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2014/02/housing-is-in-big-trouble.html
From the article;
“If you want to sell your house because you understand the nature of the big lie being told, get it listed now and price it to move.”>
Which sounds remarkably similar to the wise advice seen here that goes something like get what you can get for your house today because it’s going to be much much less tomorrow for many years to come.
good morning bear pit.
We are in the early stages of a 20 year bull run in house prices.
Falling housing prices are indeed bullish.
Remember…. Deflation is your wallets best friend.
A good start in the east valley areas in PhX. Zillow links show sale prices down 10 percent t since peaking around April. It’s all right there in black and white for anyone who cares to pay attention to see. Thanks to HA for posting links to actual data.
For example 85224 zip peaked in July at $207K now is $189K and headed down. Chandler, Az.
Why pick out one zip code within Chandler, why not look at the City as a whole?
Oooops, oh yeah, that doesn’t fit with the narrative, since prices broadly in Chandler are up year on year.
Go look for some more cherries (zip codes) to pick.
You mean like the entire Boston metro area Rental_Fraud?
I didn’t say all areas were down 10 percent from peak so far, just some. Someone asked me the other day exactly where, so I gave an example. Sure there are some other places with different results but the trend from the many many articles posted here in the last 3 months is unquestionably down. Some places just haven’t reached it yet.
“We are in the early stages of a 20 year bull run in house prices.”
Could you possibly back up that claim with a bit of convincing sh!thouse poetry?
beggar they neighbor?
He understands clearly that falling housing prices is in fact a bullish trend although prices have a long way to fall before any actual demand materializes.
“San Diego falls into a short list of markets where I would say demonstrably already that demand outpaces supply,” Smoke said.
“That very tight supply condition puts it in a market that has next to zero chance of seeing prices decline.”
Its different this time bear pit.
Good morning $hithousePoet.
San Diego, CA Sale Prices Plummet 16%
http://www.zillow.com/san-diego-ca-92130/home-values/
Price peaked at $932000 in June and is now $769000. Even their bullshart “home value” metric is predicting a YOY decline for the coming 12 months. That chart should scare the pants off of anyone paying attention.
My prediction follows Clubber Lang’s prediction for the fight in Rocky III. “Pain.”
http://youtu.be/1IrdMyQSKr8
Yet San Diego as a whole shows increasing prices year on year.
Call me when you can post broad declines that aren’t cherry picked zip codes.
We post entire states Rental_Fraud. California as a whole isn’t far off.
‘Call me when you can post broad declines’
If you think a dam might burst, you look for cracks. Even tiny cracks. If you are waiting for broad declines, you’ll be hanging onto some rooftop 10 miles downstream.
This is a Drudge Report link
Reports: Obama Mulling Sanctions on Israel
White House, State Department refuse to confirm or deny
“The Obama administration is refusing to discuss reports that emerged early Thursday claiming that the White House is considering imposing sanctions on Israel for continuing construction on Jewish homes in Jerusalem.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/reports-obama-mulling-sanctions-on-israel/
I’d rather he place sanctions on Washington, DC.
Bet he doesn’t go there, though.
Considering that Washington, DC is Israeli occupied territory, he is effectively putting sanctions on Washington, DC.
Good. Then let’s see him put those sanctions on DC and not Jerusalem.
Because if he does otherwise, that’s him being an Imperialist.
Those Jews are getting upitty - how dare they think they can live where obama says they can’t…
the logic of christian zionism: all of the jews must be gathered in israel to hasten the rapture, in which the saved are all raptured up to heaven. they never say what happens to the jews and other ‘left behinds’ after the rapture.
but don’t worry, with the new congress we will once again have a foreign policy decided by people who believe that the earth is 6,000 years old.
The “left behinds” get to go through the Tribulation and the AntiChrist’s empire then ww3.
I guess we’ve been left behind.
For some reason the article left an important detail in the part that is in bold above, though it is included in the next paragraph. The issue has to with East Jerusalem, which most of the world thinks should become the capital of a new state of Palestine. For Israel to build homes there for its Jewish is an aggressive act which makes a peace deal less likely.
I have doubts that the administration will do anything more than issue statements. The whole Israel lobby is probably already working to prevent any sanctions that might actually bite from happening.
So your are saying multiculturalism and diversity is a one way street?
There a are lot of people consider East Jerusalem to be an occupied territory. From what I’ve read, there are provisions in the Geneva Convention and other treaties that prohibit an occupying power from settling its own people in an occupied territory. If you want to call that multiculturalism, that kind of multiculturalism is banned by international law.
However, I doubt that the Israeli Jews who are moving into Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem are doing so because they want to live in a diverse area. Their preference is probably to push the Palestinians out of Jerusalem altogether.
So are you saying the jews are illegal immigrants in Jerusalem?
It is hard to keep this progressive logic straight…
I suppose that they could be called illegal immigrants, though that term is not typically used when a government is settling its people in an occupied territory.
What are you having trouble keeping straight?
NEVER going to happen. The Israeli lobby owns Capitol Hill.
The HBB is the only place to read that truth. ^
Good! Lets stop giving them $8 billion a year!
Spend it at home!
Warren Buffett, Reluctant PAC Man, Is Ready for Hillary
Dec 4, 2014 1:45 PM MST
The world’s third richest man makes his first-ever donation to an independent political group aligned with a candidate.
Warren Buffett has said he’s willing to “put money” on Hillary Clinton winning the 2016 presidential race. Turns out, he really meant it.
The Oracle of Omaha gave the maximum donation allowed to Ready for Hillary last quarter, his first-ever check to the sort of independent political groups that he’s scorned in the past. Buffett, who is the third richest man in the world, gave $25,000, the most any individual can donate under the committee’s self-imposed cap, according to a person familiar with Ready for Hillary’s post-election financial disclosure report. The group has raised more than $11 million to finance its efforts to lay the groundwork for a Clinton presidential campaign. Their latest report is due to be filed with the Federal Election Commission by midnight Thursday.
The contribution marks a major shift for one of the country’s most famous business leaders, who’s long been known in Democratic circles as a bit of a political tightwad. Though he’s given hundreds of thousands to party committees and candidates, Buffett has shunned super-political action committees and other groups that can take unlimited sums. Last cycle, he headlined fundraisers for Obama’s re-election, though he rebuffed solicitations by Priorities USA Action, a super-PAC supporting the president. “I don’t want to see democracy go in that direction,” he said in May 2012 when asked at his company’s annual shareholder meeting about his position on giving to outside groups. “You have to take a stand some place.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-12-04/warren-buffett-bets-big-on-hillary-clinton
The crony capitalists want Hillary vs. Jeb. I think we already knew that. Let’s see how successful they are at calling the shots.
So, maybe letting in all the illegals would lead to a Bush victory? Given that Jeb’s wife is Hispanic?
The Oligarch of Omaha, who has benefited immensely from crony capitalism, knows Hillary will be a tireless advocate for the .1% (and will add to the huge fortune, between $200-300 million, her and Bill have amassed since leaving “public service” and giving $300K a pop speeches to audiences that seem comprised almost exclusively of employees of the firms that benefited from Clinton-era initiatives at the behest of “advisors” who now occupy high positions with the same banks that benefited from those decisions.
New York Times - U.S. Birthrate Declines for Sixth Consecutive Year; Economy Could Be Factor
“The National Center for Health Statistics reported Thursday that there were 3.93 million births in the United States in 2013, down slightly from 3.95 million in 2012, but 9 percent below the high in 2007.
The decline is especially notable because the number of women in their prime childbearing years, 20 to 39, has been growing since 2007.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/05/us/us-sees-decline-in-births-for-sixth-year.html
amy hoak’s latest joke of an article
‘despite decreasing affordability for houses next year, expect more home sales in 2015 — in part due to increased purchases by millennials who are expanding their families.
you might not realize it, what with all the stories about millennials living in their parents’ basements, but we’re at the beginning of a mini baby boom, said jonathan smoke, chief economist of realtor.com. realtor.com is owned by news corp. as is marketwatch.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mini-baby-boom-could-lift-2015-home-sales-2014-12-04
keep hope alive!
Heifers having heifers. No birthrate decline here! Go Colorado!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/05/13-pound-baby-mia-yasmin-garcia-alisha-hernandez_n_6272126.html
I’ll bet this US birthrate decline is nothing but complete manipulated poppycock. My guess is they count US citizens only, not illegals and all the birth tourism, etc.
But if it is declining, it’s because scenarios like the above are enough to put anyone off from having children. That’s just gross.
“the high in 2007″ - this would probably mean that second grades have large classes. I wonder if that is going to be regarded like a peak of a sort of boom 1957 through 1959 were the peak numbers of the baby boom that supposedly was from 1946 to 1964.
How much free sh*t does the Free Sh*t Army really get?
“The state with the highest total value of welfare benefits was Hawaii, at $49,175. The lowest was Mississippi, at $16,984.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/12/05/grothman-single-parents-welfare/
Yesterday a reader said these benis were cheaper than locking them up.
I was over in folsom ca one day and was talking to a guy and he said the prison jobs @ folsom are some of the best jobs in town.
“…some of the best jobs in town.”
Likely the best paying jobs.
Warmist Warming Friday
Washington Post - Even climate change experts and activists are in denial about climate change
“For at least a century, psychoanalysis has taught us that we might be consciously thinking and saying one thing, but unconsciously doing another. In this context, that means people are very aware of the threats posed by climate change, even if they aren’t doing too much about it.
Not a week goes by without the media showing catastrophic images of environmental damage and social suffering caused by a changing climate. Research suggests that such threats lead us to adopt various unconscious coping and defense mechanisms.
Many people try to keep the catastrophe at bay or deny it is happening. Vested interests such as the Koch Brothers in the United States and other conservative forces have cleverly exploited this unconscious response by supporting a small group of scientists, politicians and think tanks to spread the message of climate skepticism and denial.
This stuff works. Climate denial is undoubtedly on the rise, particularly in those media-saturated markets of North America, Europe and Australia. The Kochs and others are clearly filling a psychological void. Research also has shown that “people want to protect themselves a little bit,” particularly in times of crisis and uncertainty. If climate change simply isn’t happening, there’s nothing to worry about.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/04/even-climate-change-experts-and-activists-are-in-denial-about-climate-change/
“Climate denial”
Is the issue the change of the climate or is the issue the cause of the change of the climate?
I do not think many people deny that the climate changes, but I also do not think many people understand enough about the climate to understand what drives all the changes.
New term: ‘Grubering’ and how it applies to Climate Alarmism
Guest Blogger / November 16, 2014
WUWT reader M. Paul writes: Sometimes a new word emerges that neatly encapsulates a set of complex ideas. We have recently seen such a word enter the lexicon: Grubering.
For those of you who missed it, an MIT Professor named Jonathan Gruber has been caught on video describing all the various ways that he helped the Obama Administration to deceive the public regarding the true nature of Obamacare.
grubering
People are now referring to what the Obamacare campaigners did as “Grubering”. Grubering is when politicians or their segregates engage in a campaign of exaggeration and outright lies in order to “sell” the public on a particular policy initiative. The justification for Grubering is that the public is too “stupid” to understand the topic and, should they be exposed to the true facts, would likely come to the “wrong” conclusion. Grubering is based on the idea that only the erudite academics can possibly know what’s best of the little people. Jefferson would be turning in his grave.
I think that no other word describes what we have seen in the climate debate quite as well as Grubering. The Climategate emails are full of discussions about how to “sell” the public on CAGW through a campaign of lies and exaggerations. There are many discussion about how the public could not possibly understand such a complex subject.
The late Steven Schneider puts it succinctly:
On the one hand, as scientists we are ethically bound to the scientific method, in effect promising to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but — which means that we must include all the doubts, the caveats, the ifs, ands, and buts. On the other hand, we are not just scientists but human beings as well. And like most people we’d like to see the world a better place, which in this context translates into our working to reduce the risk of potentially disastrous climatic change. To do that we need to get some broad based support, to capture the public’s imagination. That, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. This ‘double ethical bind’ we frequently find ourselves in cannot be solved by any formula. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.
Our critics sometimes dismiss skeptics as “conspiracy theorists” noting how unlikely it would be that thousands of scientists would collude. They miss the point. We now know that Grubering takes place — we see it laid bare in the Obamacare campaign. It was not strictly a “conspiracy”. Rather it was an arrogant belief that lying was necessary to persuade a “stupid” public to adopt the policy preferences of the politicians and the academics in their employ. Its Noble Cause Corruption, not conspiracy, that is at the root of this behavior.
“Climate Grubering” — its a powerful new word that can help us to describe what’s been going on.
I can’t be the only one that can feel how more intense the sun is in all seasons over the last year or two??
LOLZ
I don’t think any Gruber will beat Weapons of Mass Destruction. It was so cute watching little W pretending to be a world leader.
CO2?
Is this the kind of thing often brought up at local meetings?
Warmists gonna … gonna … oh wait, don’t tell me
Warmists gonna?
Gonna what?
…
…
…
Warmists gonna WARM
Questioners are going to question, but in some areas, in some circles, when questioners ask questions they are not labeled - are not branded - as “Questioners”, but instead they are branded as “Deniers”.
And in some of these circles being branded as a Denier will exclude you from membership in the circle.
And if your livelihood depends on you being included in the circle then you are screwed if you are excluded.
What sort of circle would this be?
A closed circle.
Science can be confusing if you are uneducated and afraid.
“This year is on track to become the warmest on record, with average global temperatures 1.03 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1961-1990 average, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization. That would make 2014 the 38th consecutive year with above normal temperatures.”
If you live in North Dakota and have no family, I can see you dont care.
“Science can be confusing if you are uneducated and afraid”
Speak for yourself, cupcake. You consistently demonstrate that you’re one of the least educated people that post here.
What period of years is included in the “on record” part of this statement? Someone picks 1961-1990 average and then bleats about “above normal temperatures”?
Perhaps we need an anti-falling-sky missile system.
Ignorance is bliss.
Full-Time Jobs Down 150K, Participation Rate Remains At 35 Year Lows,
“No Job Market For Young Men”
Things that were not quite so rosy.
by Zero Hedge | December 5, 2014
While the seasonally-adjusted headline Establishment Survey payroll print reported by the BLS moments ago may be indicative of an economy which the Fed will soon have to temper in an attempt to cool down, a closer read of the November payrolls report shows several other things that were not quite as rosy.
First, the Household Survey was nowhere close to confirming the Establishment Survey data, suggesting jobs rose only by 4K from 147,283K to 147,287K, and furthermore, the breakdown was skewed fully in favor of Part-Time jobs, which rose by 77K while Full-Time jobs declined by 150K.
“You work three jobs? How uniquely American” — George W. Bush
+1 A classic line right up there with, “I’m shocked!”
And remember to “Go Shopping” - remember that one?
GWB’s “ownership society” pushing houses on people who should not have owned.
“GWB’s “ownership society” pushing houses…”
http://picpaste.com/Bush_A_Home_of_Your_Own.jpg
A quote made ever more salient under the current president.
“You work three jobs? How uniquely American”
Now thanks to a little Grubering you can quit all three.
Pelosi: Hey, quit your job – we’ll pay for your health coverage!
posted at 10:55 am on May 15, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
“We see it as an entrepreneurial bill, a bill that says to someone, if you want to be creative and be a musician or whatever, you can leave your work, focus on your talent, your skill, your passion, your aspirations because you will have health care.”
In other words, we should all just join the circus and let Mom and Dad pick up the bill. That’s not entrepreneurial; it’s a welfare state. If anyone wants to see just what kind of innovation that produces, we only need to see the economies of the Western European nanny states. George Orwell would stand in awe of Nancy Pelosi, and not in a good way.
Update: As commenters note, Pelosi said almost exactly the same thing two months ago. However, she was not quite as blunt about it in March:
“So, you can‘t—everybody has so much to gain from this, small businesses, as I said, seniors, young people, women, our economy. Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolar—you name it, any condition—is job locking.”
Or join the circus! If you want to know where it is, go to Washington DC and look for the big building across from the Washington Monument.
hotair.com/…/05/15/pelosi-hey-quit-your-job-well-pay-for-your-health-coverage/ - 164k -
Comment by phony scandals
2014-12-05 09:11:28
Pelosi: Hey, quit your job – we’ll pay for your health coverage!
posted at 10:55 am on May 15, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
hotair.com/archives/2010/05/15/pelosi-hey-quit-your-job-well-pay-for-your-health-coverage/
Take a look at this free “health coverage.” Only Blue Shield is winning.
a $5000 deductible and poor coverage with a gov subsidy paying $345 a month.
We lose. Insurance cos win. ACA bites!
My rates jumped $75/mo.for 2015. That’s even after shopping around. Glad I don’t have cable or data plan.
In my area of CA, I have 10 choices, all are Blue Cross / Blue Shield / Anthem.
there is no competition, so they ream us!
We are saving $60 a mo on gas, but giving 3x that to Blue Shield.
“Glad I don’t have cable or data plan.”
+1 Indeed. However, I pony-up for a basic satellite plan for my other half whose legs would be “welded-shut” without it.
There is a reason that this place is now being called ILL-ANNOY!!!
Granted the data is stale - still hasn’t change much in recent times.
WORST-RUN STATES
50. Illinois
> Debt per capita: $4,992 (11th highest)
> Credit Rating (S&P/Moody’s): A-/A3
> 2013 unemployment rate: 9.2% (3rd highest)
> Median household income: $56,210 (17th highest)
> Poverty rate: 14.7% (25th lowest)
Illinois is the worst-run state in the nation. Like many other low-ranked states, more people left Illinois than moved there. Illinois lost more than 137,000 residents due to migration between the middle of 2010 and July 2013. A poor housing market may partly explain the exodus. Median home values fell 16.2% between 2009 and 2013, the second largest drop nationwide. Illinois has extremely poor finances by many measures. Just 39.3% of Illinois’ pension liabilities were funded as of 2013, worse than any other state. Further, the state’s reserves are estimated at just 0.5% of its general fund expenditure, the second lowest reserves rate nationwide. Both Moody’s and S&P gave Illinois the worst credit ratings of any state, at A3 and A- respectively. According to Moody’s, the state’s rating reflects its low fund balances and high pension obligations, as well as its “chronic use of payment deferrals to manage operating fund cash.”
Not nearly as bad as California.
“California Most Impoverish State In The US”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate
Insane public unions + total and long term democrat rule + large FSA = WORST RUN STATE (or CITY)
This formula works every time.
Why would anyone even think of living there? Freezing 6 mos out of the year, hot and sticky 3 mos of the year. then there is the crime and ugly women.
you are free to move about the country.
Realtors association CEO accused of stealing $415K.
http://www.koaa.com/news/realtors-association-ceo-accused-of-stealing-415k/
Typical… good info though.
The most incredible thing to me about that article is the claim that the board of realtors involved is a non-profit organization.
Is that really the case everywhere? All my years of following this and I had no idea… The reality of it all never ceases to disgust.
That’s right. Realtliar associations claim to be non-profit. It’s criminal. Flat out criminal.
Does today’s great payroll jobs number pretty much bake Fed interest rate hikes next year into the cake?
321,000 new jobs, of which 300,000 are $12/hour at 25 hours per week with no benefits.
Rick Perry’s “Texas Miracle” economy spreading to the rest of America.
I will give you a promissory note today for a hamburger tomorrow.
And how many are short term Christmas jobs which will end in January?
get used to it, no more middle class. Educated millenials are not breeding.
trickle down failed. too many people, not enough work.
corporations have record profits, we cant force them to hire people.
You’re talking about Bernanke’s trickle down, right? It’s better known these days as the “wealth effect”.
The Fed
As new jobs mount, Fed may tighten more than markets are pricing in
Published: Dec 5, 2014 1:48 p.m. ET
By Greg Robb
Senior economics reporter
Federal Reserve Board Chairwoman Janet Yellen
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Ever since the financial crisis, many Wall Street bullies have picked on the Federal Reserve for coddling investors and being afraid to let markets work.
Don’t look now but the “98 pound weakling” is looking a lot more menacing these days. With the labor market looking so vibrant, the U.S. central bank could preparing to take rates higher than many forecast.
“The strength of the U.S. labor market simply reinforces our view that the Fed will be raising the federal funds rate sooner and more aggressively than widely expected,” said John Higgins, chief markets economist at Capital Economics.
…
The gini coefficient looks great. What are u whining about renter?
America can only be a better and fair place with bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes…
—————————
The Eric Garner Tragedy: Yes, Stupid Laws Help Kill People
National Review | 12/05/2014 | David Harsanyi
After news of the baffling decision by the New York grand jury not to indict a police officer in the killing of Eric Garner, I sent out a (slightly) hyperbolic tweet that wondered why Americans would want to entrust their free speech and health care to an institution that will kill you over failure to pay a cigarette tax.
New York has by far the highest cigarette taxes in the nation: more than five bucks a pack. Unsurprisingly, the policy has spurred a black market. In March, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the formation of the “Cigarette Strike Force” to crack down on illegal tobacco trafficking. A strike force. As writer Robert Tracinski has pointed out, the Garner case should remind us that “government is force” and that more government has predictable returns. If you believe cops are racists or generally out of control, why give them more opportunity?
Yes - the government will kill you for lost revenue.
Who do you think are paying for public union goon pensions?
——————
N.Y. action dooms seller of ‘loosies’
Chicago Tribune | 12-4-2014 | John Kass
Did New York kill black market cigarette dealer Eric Garner over lost cigarette tax revenue?
Yes.
His was a senseless killing, of course. Garner shouldn’t have died. He shouldn’t have resisted arrest. And he shouldn’t have been choked by New York police, who inhumanely ignored his pleas for help and used a procedure that violated department rules.
But it seems to me that Garner’s death is being absorbed by the usual litany of race and politics, diluted and obscured, so we have difficulty seeing another explanation for what happened here.
Garner died because he dared interfere with government reach and government muscle that didn’t want to lose tax revenue to independent operators.
In Chicago, loosies are sold for 50 cents each, or two for $1. The Tribune reported in November 2013 that Chicago police had arrested 781 people for selling loosies so far that year and issued 490 citations at $1,000 each.
Chicago has the highest cigarette taxes in the nation; with a $1.18 cent-per-pack city tax, plus a $3-per-pack Cook County tax and a $1.98-per-pack state tax. Add the federal cigarette tax of $1.01 and the total comes to $7.17 per pack.
But New York is second, with combined federal, city, county and state cigarette taxes at $6.86 per pack.
When highly addictive legal drugs are taxed at higher and higher rates, the tax increases are invitations for independent dealers to emerge.
“Some politician also had to direct the police to say, ‘Hey, we want you arresting people for selling a loose cigarette,’” Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, said the other day.
We call them laws.
Stop blaming gov for everything. That cop should go to jail for killing him. It is all on video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tRxf7HoTJc
somehow he kept his video recording ?
“..if Landrieu loses, Democrats will not control a single governorship, Senate seat, or legislative chamber from the Carolinas to Texas”.
Q: What is the first thing a public union goon does when he/she retires?
A: Moves to a state somewhere between the Carolinas and Texas.
—————————————
The Last Southern Democrat (Mary Landrieu’s imminent political demise)
http://www.theatlantic.com | December 4, 2014 | Molly Ball
HAMMOND, La.—Mary Landrieu is dead, and everyone knows it but Mary Landrieu.
Landrieu’s death was foretold on November 4, when any remaining hope Democrats might have had that their candidates’ individual qualities could overcome voters’ hostility to the president was washed away in a national Republican wave of unexpected proportions. Though Landrieu was also on the ballot that day, thanks to Louisiana’s quirky election laws, it was only the first round—an all-parties primary featuring four Democrats, three Republicans, and a Libertarian. Landrieu got 42 percent of the vote; Bill Cassidy, a physician and Republican congressman, got 41 percent. Now the two of them are pitted head-to-head in a runoff election Saturday.
Since the primary, Landrieu has undergone a series of humiliations. First, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced it would not spend any money supporting her in the runoff. Landrieu’s campaign was already practically broke, and in the weeks following the primary more than 90 percent of the television ads Louisiana voters saw were from Cassidy or groups supporting him.
“The second way prices can move is through relative supply and demand levels of the currency being used to purchase the asset. The currency itself is just an asset that is being used as a universal means for transaction. And as an asset it too is subject to price fluctuations of relative supply and demand. So let’s imagine a society that cherishes different rock forms and so the more rare the rock the more a seller in that society is going to want that rock. This society accepts different currencies which take the form of different rocks types. And so a seller is selling apples. Two consumers walk into that store looking to purchase apples. One consumer has normal everyday rocks that one can find pretty much all over the place meaning the supply of these rocks is plentiful and very easy to come by. The other consumer has ruby rocks and these rocks are very difficult to find and even when you find them they are very difficult to actually get out of the ground. So the seller of the apples is going to be willing to trade a basket of apples for 100 of the everyday normal rocks, meaning the price of a basket of apples is 100 normal everyday rocks. But that same seller is going to be willing to trade a basket of apples for just 1 of the ruby rocks, meaning the price of a basket of apples is also 1 ruby rock. And this is so because the relative supply and demand for these different rocks is universal. That is all sellers are going to want the ruby rock much more than the everyday normal rock. The significance is that the seller knows he will be able to buy the steak he wants for supper with either the 1 ruby rock or he can buy it with 100 normal everyday rocks. That is the universal marginal utility for the currency.
You can see in that example we didn’t talk about supply or demand of the apples at all. But only about supply and demand of the money form, which in this model economy are rocks. Now imagine in this economy someone discovers essentially an infinite deposit of ruby rocks that are very easy to get out of the ground. Well as more and more ruby rocks are being used to transact, the sellers’ marginal utility for the ruby rocks is going to decline because now they are very common. So while it used to cost 1 ruby rock for a basket of apples the seller now wants 100 ruby rocks for the same basket of apples. Meaning the price of a basket of apples has gone up from 1 ruby rock to 100 ruby rocks, however, the price of rocks in normal everyday dollars is still 100 normal everyday rocks. This type of price increase is what we call inflation because it has nothing to do with supply and demand for the underlying asset and has only changed in the one currency.”
Now imagine if you can print trillions of rocks with a computer.
“It is for the children”
“In the early 1970s, America embarked on a great experiment. We substituted the good intentions of the central planners at the Fed for the monetary discipline imposed by the Bretton Woods gold standard. This experiment has not worked out very well.
In the mid-1960s, inflation averaged 2.2% and unemployment averaged 4.3%. In the mid-1970s inflation and unemployment averaged 8.0% and 7.7%, respectively. So, in ten years, the Keynesian central planners had managed to more than double America’s “misery index” (the sum of the inflation rate and the unemployment rate).
The American people were not happy with this state of affairs. So, what did Congress do?
Well, Congress passed the Humphrey-Hawkins Act of 1978, which gave the Federal Reserve its now-famous “dual mandate.” This law required that the Fed seek to promote both stable prices and maximum employment. In other words, basing monetary policy on the Phillips Curve had failed so spectacularly that the only thing Congress could think of to do was to write the Phillips Curve into law.”
Just post the link Poet.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-big-keynesian-lie-growth-requires-inflation-not/
“Since the Crash of ’08 – the final death-blow to an already crippled economy – there has not been a single shopping season where the “increase in sales” has been equal to the rate of inflation. Put another way; in real dollars (i.e. subtracting inflation) retail sales have fallen every year. Every year, U.S. retailers are selling less and less goods in a consumer economy.”
Yes we covered that here on the blog last weekend.
“Bottom line—you don’t HAVE to be invested in the market. Sometimes the best investment you make is the investment you don’t make.”
Cash is a wonderful thing Poet.
“Again, Italy went from being a former pillar of Europe to insolvent in a matter of weeks… all because interest rates spiked a mere 2% higher than usual.
Italy is not alone here. Western nations in general are in a similar state. This is why QE has been such a popular monetary tool for the Central Banks (since 2008 they’ve spent $11 trillion buying assets, usually sovereign bonds). QE was never meant to create jobs or generate economic growth… it was a desperate ploy by Central Banks to put a floor under the bond market so rates wouldn’t rise.
It’s also why Central Banks have kept interest rates at zero or even negative: again, they cannot afford to have rates rise. In the US, every 1% increase in interest rates means between $150-$175 billion more in interest payments on our debt per year.”
Insane public unions + total and long term democrat rule + large FSA = WORST RUN STATE (or CITY)
This formula works every time.
———-
Great Moments in Government Schooling
Townhall.com | December 2, 2014 | Daniel J. Mitchell
But I’ll freely confess that no chart of mine can compare to this powerful image created by my Cato colleague, Andrew Coulson, which shows how spending and staffing for the government school monopoly have exploded while enrollment and performance have been stagnant.
We’ll start on the east coast. Writing for the Daily Caller, Eric Owens reports that bureaucrats in a New Jersey town are being handsomely rewarded for not educating students.
Only 19 students in the public school system in Paterson, N.J. who have taken the SAT scored high enough to be considered college ready, local Fox affiliate WWOR-TV reports. At the same time, 66 employees in the Paterson school district each soak taxpayers for salaries of at least $125,000 per year, the Paterson Press reports. …Paterson is no tiny town. It is, in fact, the third-largest city in New Jersey. The population is roughly 146,000 people. …The city boasts some 50 public schools altogether. There are over 24,000 total students in all grades.
But the folks in Paterson can be proud of their government schools. After all, they’re doing much better than Camden.
In December 2013, Camden’s then-new superintendent of public schools announced that only three — THREE! — students in the entire district who took the SAT during the 2011-12 academic year scored high enough to qualify as college-ready.
You’re probably wondering whether this means school choice? Rigorous standards? Better discipline?
Nope, nope, and nope. Remember, we’re dealing with government bureaucracy.
Back in Paterson, school officials say they have cleverly dealt with their nearly complete failure to prepare students for college entrance exams by no longer using the SAT to assess student achievement.
So we have bureaucrats getting vastly overpaid in exchange for not educating kids.
New York Cop Contacted Union Rep, Not Paramedics, After Shooting Unarmed Man
Officer ignored order not to patrol stairwell before killing innocent, unarmed man
New York Cop Contacted Union Rep, Not Paramedics, After Shooting Unarmed Man
by Mikael Thalen | Infowars.com | December 5, 2014
A rookie cop who shot and killed an unarmed man in a New York stairwell last month was busy contacting his union representative, not medical professionals, after the fateful encounter.
According to police sources speaking with the Daily News, officer Peter Liang, who shot 28-year-old Akai Gurley once in the chest after being startled in a dark housing development stairwell, spent six and a half minutes texting his union rep while Gurley bled out on the floor.
“That’s showing negligence,” a law enforcement source said. “The guy is dying and you still haven’t called it in?”
An emergency 911 operator, responding to calls about the shooting from neighbors in the area, was unable to reach officer Liang or his partner as the pair seemingly ignored radio calls.
Eventually, Liang and his partner responded to calls from the police dispatch to report an accidental discharge, claiming they were initially unaware that Liang had been hit.
” It’s the sovereign deficits that are really the problem and the question is how to deal with them. One way to deal with them is through inflation, which, of course, is the goal in a currency war. The problem is that not everybody can devalue against everybody else all at once. You have to take turns. So it goes back and forth and back and forth. That’s what happened in the 1920’s and 1930’s and it’s happening again today.”
‘Murican taxpayers, get ready to shell out billions more to clean up yet another oligarch larceny spree.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-05/ukraines-reserves-plunge-20-one-month-drop-below-10-billion-lowest-decade
do you think the misery index is closer to 40 than the stated 8%?
“Ukraine’s Reserves Plunge 20% In One Month” comment:
“The Nobel Prize Winner ruins every country he touches - Libya, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen. The list is endless - don’t forget the land of the free.
If the Nobel Prize Winner can spend $5 billion destabilizing Ukraine, surely Nuland can bake up a new batch of cookies to hand out at the Maidan in Kiev in their time of need.”
+1 There’s still a glimmer of hope.
“But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the past decade?”
Hands up in Region IV
“I can’t breathe” in Region VIII