Bits Bucket for December 23, 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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From an interview in the Irrawaddy with Serge Pun, a big real estate developer in Myanmar (http://www dot irrawaddy dot org/interview/bubble-will-definitely-burst.html
Q: Do you think the real estate market in Burma is currently experiencing a bubble?
A: The definition of a bubble is fake demand in a market. It’s not a real market, it’s a speculative market. We have a very strong labor-intensive industry but we don’t have the infrastructure for high tech industry. Low cost labor-intensive industries can’t support expensive land plots. [So] the bubble will definitely burst.
There is some demand in residential areas, but if developers build apartments on expensive land, following standard building codes, will that stay affordable for buyers? Who will buy them? As long as buyers can pay, it will continue, but when they can’t buy, the bubble will burst.
Q: Are people still paying exorbitant amounts for land in Burma?
A: Yes, some people are still able to afford to pay these amounts in residential areas. For example, at my Star City housing project in Thanlyin Township, the land prices are about 150,000 kyats ($145) per square foot. In our experience, this is about the maximum [that property buyers can afford].
Office rental costs are another issue; rental prices in Yangon today are higher than in Singapore. It has stayed this high because of low supply and high demand. The rental price downtown is nine dollars per square foot. Some people can afford to pay, but most can’t.
I’d hate to see what the Myanmar version of Amy was willing to do to sell a condo in Yangon.
Tell the truth you would love to see it.
Amy Ho
$145/sq ft land
For reference:
“If Myanmar pursues the correct strategies, per capita income could rise from about US$900 now to about $5,000 in 2030, the report says.” –Published on Friday, 12 September 2014.
http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7524:myanmar-can-raise-per-capita-income-500-by-2030-adb-says&catid=33:business&Itemid=356
No Donk it’s not “the land!” either.
You got taken.
Taking On the Donk Bet
September 26, 2014
Aaron Hendrix
About five years ago the new term “donk bet” entered the poker world,
What a Donk Bet Can Do
Donking to Induce
Donking to Block
http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/taking-on-the-donk-bet-19373.htm - 149k -
But the bubble IS in “the land.” It’s not in the materials or labor, it’s in the dirt.
No, it was in all of the above.
Not so. There was no bubble in labor. Materials were a bit higher due to commodities speculation, but the lion’s share is in the dirt.
Materials were a bit higher
A _BIT_ higher?!? Did you see what happened to lumber when the building stopped??
The housing bubble produced bubble-demand for many things, including construction labor.
So that would mean the average house in Myanmar is 3 x 900 = 2700?
So just how big a bubble is it?
If we’re using the American 3x rule of thumb for 30-year mortgages, then yeah, $2700 is where the median dwelling — likely a small apartment — in Mynamar should be priced.
The $125/sq ft (for land only??) is likely only for the very rich.
The main gist of the entire interview is that farmers are demanding “market price” for their farmland for development. But since these developers are driving up prices by selling to each other, no one wants to pay the farmers a fake market price.
Office rental costs are another issue; rental prices in Yangon today are higher than in Singapore.
In third world Burma?
No, there’s no bubble.
It’s no more outlandish than $3,000 acre in the US.
Remember….There is a globe full of land and 95% of it goes undeveloped.
It’s no more outlandish than $3,000 acre in the US.
Let’s see ….
1 acre == 43,560 sq feet
@ $145 per square foot
equals $653,400 an acre.
I would say that 218 times more expensive is far more outlandish.
Now cherrypick some fraud locations in the US.
GO!
It’s definitely prettier than many expensive parts of USA.
Are your high-yield bonds forevermore fracked?
Massive losses are for next quarter. This quarter its all about the bonuses.
“The stock market is high because corporations are the biggest purchases of stock. Buying back their own stock supports or raises the share price, enabling executives and boards to sell their shares or cash in their options at a profitable price. The cash that Quantitative Easing has given to the mega-banks leaves ample room for speculating in stocks, thus pushing up the price despite the absence of fundamentals that would support a rising stock market.”
+1 It’s a fugly looking scam from Joe Sixpack’s POV.
Agree. Dead of winter sounds like a good time to buy.
Buying in an environment of falling prices and fraud is never a good thing.
I agree. Maybe the DOW will follow women’s winter clothing prices. Fire sales in mid-February.
Silly Donk.
Top Links: Low oil prices mean ‘Canada’s economy is in trouble’
Scott Barlow
The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Dec. 22 2014, 9:12 AM EST
A roundup of what The Globe and Mail’s market strategist Scott Barlow is reading this morning on the World Wide Web.
U.S.-based financial pundit Walter Kurtz spends a lot more time thinking about Canada than most Americans but today Canadians might wish he didn’t bother. In a chart-heavy post titled “If energy prices remain near current levels, Canada’s economy is in trouble,” Mr. Kurtz lays out the numerous reasons – not just low energy prices – why the domestic economy is likely to slow.
These include lower oil-related investment and production activity, the effects of higher household debt levels on consumption and a slowdown in the housing market.
“What’s clear is that this exposure to energy is going to damage the labor markets, squeezing the nation’s overextended households. And the knock-on effect won’t be limited to a severe slowdown in residential construction growth. Consider for example the expenditures on renovations - something that’s been supporting parts of manufacturing and other sectors. This is not going to end well.”
…
pop the bubbley bear bit, Dow 18000 today? GDP was revised to 5% too. Times are great.
B R O K E
“In short, two-thirds of the “boost” to final Q3 GDP came from, drumroll, the same Obamacare which initially was supposed to boost Q1 GDP until the “polar vortex” crashed the number so badly, the BEA decided to leave this “growth dry powder” for another quarter. That quarter was Q3.”
More BS data? How the hell does healthcare boost GDP? Is spending money getting fixed a plus for the economy now?
If Obamacare is boosting spending it means it has failed in one of its most important objectives, reducing the cost of providing healthcare in America so we could better compete in the world.
F R A U D
Broken window health care stimulus
If Obamacare is boosting spending it means it has failed in one of its most important objectives,
+infinity.
get sick and stimulate the economy sheep!
They popped up the value of the dollar, I think it is up 13% or more for the year. Gold has risen sharply in just about every currency but the dollar. I think a lot of companies cannot compete with the dollar at this level. Even Apple will have trouble selling in many developing countries. Many developing countries have currencies down close to 20% or more.
Got Equity?
A M Y
Low oil prices = the HUGE Canadian housing bubble is about to pop
China imploding = Vancouver imploding
But remember - Canadian banks already have a built in TARP.
Short the Looney!
“Pickens: “that’s all bullshit… I am the expert not you” CNBC: “well you’re not much of an expert if you thought Peak Oil happened”
Peak oil did happen, in conventional oil. The predictions were for conventional oil not for things like oil shale and oil sands. They will also have their peaks but not for a decade or more.
Then after that, some other currently unknown oil extraction method will put the kibosh on the next expected wave of “Peak Oil” price increases.
Then after that, some other currently unknown oil extraction method will put the kibosh on the next expected wave of “Peak Oil” price increases.
Really, even $60 is far higher than $10. Every extraction method uses more energy inputs to get less energy outputs and thus the cost of extraction rises. Your opinion just doesn’t understand what is going on. It is critical to understand this point because it does explain why energy prices will continue to go up until we truly have a replacement for oil. However, due to its energy density it is very hard to replace.
It is critical to understand this point because it does explain why energy prices will continue to go up until we truly have a replacement for oil. However, due to its energy density it is very hard to replace.
With Nuclear energy, we can make infinite amounts of oil by converting water into O2 and Hydrogen, then using various processes to convert the hydrogen potential energy to carbon ring potential energy using atmospheric CO2. High density chemical storage of energy will always be useful, and with nuclear energy we will find ways to produce it literally out of thin air.
Mr. Kurtz lays out the numerous reasons – not just low energy prices – why the domestic economy is likely to
slowcrash.Fixed it
“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush
“markets soar on historic GDP”
Historic GDP form people going to the doctor? Shouldn’t this be a drag on GDP?
Is going to the doctor good for the economy now? You have to laugh at this bs .
“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush ??
Yep…He almost got out in time to blame the whole fricken thing on the next President…But, the truth is, 8 years of his presidency and policy ran this country into a ditch…
Yea, like the tech bubble that burst was his fault, he is responsible for letting the Fed create another bubble to replace that one, but some blame has to go back to Clinton.
The way I see it, Clinton allowed a large bubble to develop in tech stocks and did nothing but largely escaped the bursting of the bubble, Bush allowed a larger bubble to develop in housing but was not so lucky and the bubble burst before he left office, however, Obama has allowed the biggest bubble in the history of the US to develop, the bubble in bonds and when this one bursts, it will make 2008-09 look like the good old days.
like the tech bubble that burst was his fault ??
Tach bubble was just that…A tech bubble..Nobody induced it..It was private money…It burst and we got through it…
On the other hand, 8 years of Bush and his POLICIES ran this country into a ditch that exploded in September of 2008 and we still have not recovered…Obama didn’t engineer anything since…The FED engineered it which CONGRESS has given them the authority to do independently of the three branches…
I will add one more thing…There is a question that is going to be asked of Jeb during the primaries…Probably will be asked by Rand Paul…And that is this;
Do you think your brother did a good job as President for 8 years ?? Do you agree with his policy of starting two wars ??
Can’t wait to hear that answer because Mommy is listening….
The Fed induced all three bubbles and the people that appointed the people to the Fed deserve the blame in all three cases. It is interesting the left uses the issues of appointments to the Supreme court every election cycle. The Supreme court with lifetime appointments is far more isolated from political pressure than the Fed where people have to be reappointed. You want one standard for Republican presidents and a different standard for Democrats.
Let’s agree a succession of US presidents relied on stock and housing market bubbles as economic growth drivers, while neglecting the fundamental drivers of prosperity to the point of rot.
I don’t see one party to blame more than the other as both partied wrecklessly and perhaps even unwittingly, based on Keynesian economic advisers’ guidance.
If you think the Fed is independent, I have a bridge to sell you.
If you think the Fed is independent ??
They are independent by their mandate dude…If they are not independent of congress, why do the Repub want pass legislation to audit them ??
based on Keynesian economic advisers’ guidance.
Does anyone, and I mean ANYONE, remember the part where Keynesians advise paying down debt during good times?
You are talking theory, we are talking reality. No different from corporate boards being independent.
we need another bursting bubble so we can print some more cash and bailout some folks.
How the Fed screwed savers with its “no banker left behind” TARP and ZIRP.
http://wolfstreet.com/2014/12/23/the-greater-abomination-washingtons-lies-about-tarps-success-are-worse-than-the-original-bailouts/
This is a good article but I think he loses the rhetorical effectiveness of his main point at the end by not more explicitly stating that, yes, TARP got paid back, but they got paid back with money they stole from Grammaw by engineering low returns for savers.
And again I ask, when will we start to see more real world results of this? Despite the stock market casino, there’s gotta be a lot of old folks out there getting crushed, just crushed by these interest rates.
Everything seems to be papered over.
“How did you go bankrupt?”
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
“So how did Walgreen succeed in boosting its aftertax EPS to beat expectations even as revenues missed expectations, especially with operating income in the quarter virtually unchanged from a year ago?
The answer, as shown in the chart below, is simple: WAG used the oldest trick in the book, and stretched its effective tax rate for GAAP purposes in the quarter to the lowest it could go.Had Walgreen used the same tax rate as a quarter ago? It would have missed the bottom line non-GAAP expectations by about 5 cents.”
Then Too Big To Fail.
Paulson
The Anger Games.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2014/12/23/the-anger-games/
If you like your crony capitalism, you can keep your crony capitalism. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/tea-partiers-are-right-jeb-is-a-rino-20141218
CDC is tracking 1400 possible cases of ebola in the US.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/12/sharyl-attkisson-cdc-is-tracking-1400-possible-ebola-cases-in-us-today-video/
Oh, you didn’t hear about that? Yeah, it’s all on the down-low.
Sick, sick basterds in Washington.
sharryl attkisson?
obama hasn’t put a bullet in the back of her head yet?
Imagine you are a 100 miles from anything and hitchhiking on a road in North Dakota in January and only one car comes by in 20 hours. The car pulls over and the driver is Sharryl Attkisson.
Do you get in?
I wouldn’t.
“I wouldn’t.”
For the record and before someone throws a hissy about names being changed that was me.
Dying from the cold takes longer than death from a hellfire missile. I will get in, sorry can’t help but be a contrarian.
“Dying from the cold takes longer than death from a hellfire missile.”
That is a good point.
I guess this is for a-dan:
————
“Yesterday, in a final decision that has not yet been issued, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) overturned its blanket prohibition on utility ownership of electric vehicle (EV) service equipment (such as EV charging stations) and endorsed an expanded role for utilities in developing and supporting plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging infrastructure.”
http://www.energyenvironmentallaw.com/2014/12/19/charging-forward-california-puc-expands-utility-role-in-ev-charging-infrastructure-deployment/
————
A-dan and I are in a running disagreement about whether vehicles should be fueled with CNG or electricity. His argument is that CNG is cheap. My argument is that CNG won’t be cheap forever and that electricity is more flexible in that it can be generated from any fuel. Either way, the battle is for the refueling infrastructure. Cheap fuel is no good if there aren’t enough fuel stations.
California’s decision favors electricity. Large utilities are now allowed to leverage their economies of scale to build a widespread infrastructure of charging stations.
In the meantime, diesel and refined petro(gasoline) remain as the least costly, economic high density fuel of choice. And getting less costly by the day.
And the least costly, economical choic is always the best approach. Especially when prices continue to fall.
The US needed about 20 years to make a total shift from leaded to unleaded fuel. Care to guess whether diesel will be the least costly in 20 years?
Donk,
Name the substitute for diesel and we’ll have a discussion.
Yeah, I figured I was the only one looking 20 years ahead.
Diesel Donk diesel.
infinite growth is not possible in a finite ecosystem
I am not sure whether this makes me more or less confident about my prediction for $100 a barrel oil in two years but he is a big gun in the discussion and it is about finite resources:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/brent-oil-90-100-12-130430674.html
Warmists gonna warm, Dannyboy
Warmists gonna warm
infinite growth is not definable in a finite timetable. Your platitudes continue to lack common sense.
When we started our debate, Obama was saying that there would be one million electric cars on the road by 2015, we are no where near that we have sales of a few thousand per month. Had we aggressively pushed CNG, we probably would have five million vehicles by now of NG cars. It would not take a $7,500 tax credit to push CNG.
http://news.investors.com/blogs-capital-hill/120214-728719-obama-is-826000-short-of-his-1-million-electric-car-promise.htm
BTW, I am no longer supporting promoting CNG as a bridge to new technologies and a way to become energy independent. In the last five years technology has moved ahead far enough that fuel cell cars makes sense. We can produce hydrogen cheaply using NG and then in the future when solar and wind come down enough we can produce hydrogen that way.
Electric and fuel cells both retain the flexibility of the origin fuel. In electric cars, electricity is fed directly to vehicle batteries. For fuel cell cars, electricity is converted to hydrogen, which is then fed to the fuel cell. Is hydrogen efficient enough to overcome that extra step? What about the cars themselves? Is a fuel cell more durable than a battery? Which one is faster to recharge? These practicality battles are beyond my knowledge.
From what it looks like, it could simply be that electric utilites got to the infrastructure before hydrogen utilities even existed.
Which one is faster to recharge?
Minutes for the fuel cell and hours for the electric using lithium batteries, think Tesla.
I’ve heard stories of 15 minutes charges, but I don’t know if that will go anywhere. Tesla’s batteries are designed to be swapped out. They demonstrated that it’s faster than pumping gas. But the concept needs work. If you have a new car with a nice new battery, do you want to swap out for an older one, especially when “you don’t know where it’s been” lol.
Hydrogen has its flaws too. But again, it’s beyond my knowledge.
If you have a new car with a nice new battery, do you want to swap out for an older one, especially when “you don’t know where it’s been” lol.
If you are guaranteed to be able to swap it out for a nice new one again at any time, do you really care?
“A-dan and I are in a running disagreement …”
What a surprise!
What a surprise!
I am shocked I tell you shocked.
Isn’t it extremely expensive to generate electricity in commercial volumes from non-fossil fuel sources?
Yes, of course it is. But when there is no oil left, then the price of oil — by your previous law of supply and demand — would be priced at infinity, making everything else cheaper. The problem is that a peaceful transition to post-oil energy infrastructure takes 20 years. So someone has to work on transition ~20 before oil becomes scarce.
Who is going to spend 20 years on transitioning to a new infrastructure, an activity that brings very little profit? Probably nobody except those tax-wasters in Washington. Thankfully, it looks like there are enough Hippies and Clooney-looney Liberals in Nanny California who have electric cars, that starting an electric infrastrucure will generate a bit of profit. Enough profit that the utilites want a hand in building it.
That’s what I was saying to a-Dan. If the infrastructure is going electric, then electric will have an upper hand against hydrogen fuel cell, even if fuel cell is ultimately better. No one wants to spend another 20 years transitioning to something else.
(my guess is that we’ll see both fuel cell and electric.)
90 seconds to swap batteries in a Tesla as demonstrated today.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/23/tesla-roadster-upgrade_n_6372438.html
Aside from the merits of various types of energy the CPUC is utterly corrupt, LOTS of backroom deals up and down the state with the utilities they are supposedly regulating…this is one article of many that have been published recently.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/E-mails-show-CPUC-president-cutting-deals-5807802.php
The economy is booming — on rising consumer debt.
They are managing to keep wages low and increase sales again, by lending people more than they can pay back without collapsing the economy again. It’s like fighting a hangover with four Bloody Marys.
I’ll drink to that!
‘Indeed, US corporates are on track to issue over $1.5 TRILLION in debt this year alone. Not only will this be an all time record… it will be the third consecutive all-time record for corporate debt issuance.
Part of the reason that the bond market has become so enormous is because few entities, particularly sovereign nations, have the cash handy to pay back debt holders when their debts come due.
As a result, many of them are choosing to roll over old debts OR pay them back via the issuance of new debt. The US did precisely this in the last few months issuing over $1 trillion to cover for the payment of old debt that was coming due”
“As a result, many of them are choosing to roll over old debts OR pay them back via the issuance of new debt. The US did precisely this in the last few months issuing over $1 trillion to cover for the payment of old debt that was coming due”
A borrowed-money economy that just keeps on rolling along due to the miracle of modern financing.
“The economy is booming — on rising consumer debt.”
Not from this guy. However, I do support other people going into debt to keep the economy going.
#SaveNowOrBeASlaveForever
Uh-oh…ruble is weakening again, despite extraordinary measures by Russia’s central bankers and policymakers.
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Currency/USDRUB?countrycode=US
The US is pushing the dollar up against all currencies today, the ruble is no worse than the average.
Jonathan Gruber Recorded Visiting White House at Least 19 Times
By Michael Morris
November 18, 2014 - 12:36 PM
According to WhiteHouse.gov’s Visitor Access Records, the man who let the cat out of Obamacare’s less-than-transparent bag visited the White House at least 19 times between 2009 and 2014.
At a press conference, President Obama had this to say about Gruber and whether Americans were misled about Obamacare:
“No. I did not. Umm. I just heard about this, I get well briefed before I come out here. The fact that some advisor, who never worked on our staff, uhh, expressed an opinion that, uhh, I completely disagree with in terms of the voters is no reflection on the actual process that was run.”
And while it may be true that Gruber was not “on [Obama’s] staff,” as the President stated, it cannot be denied that Gruber made multiple appearances at the White House, the most recent visit occurring as recently as June 27, 2014.
Listed below are the recorded dates that Jonathan Gruber visited the White House:
01/29/2009
Three times on 03/25/2009
Two times on 03/26/2009
07/20/2009
02/03/2010
05/11/2010
03/08/2011
04/19/2011
04/20/2011
01/04/2012
01/13/2012
07/29/2012
07/31/2012
03/13/2013
01/15/2014
06/27/2014
cnsnews.com/…/jonathan-gruber-recorded-visiting-white-house-least-19-times - 61k -
The most transparent administration in history
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/23/gop-report-top-irs-official-considered-admitting-targeting-before-2012-election/
And Obama had Andrew Breitbart murdered
It was for the children:
“You can’t do it political, you just literally cannot do it. Transparent financing and also transparent spending. I mean, this bill was written in a tortured way to make sure CBO did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes the bill dies. Okay? So it’s written to do that,” Gruber said. “In terms of risk rated subsidies, if you had a law which said that healthy people are going to pay in, you made explicit healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed. Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really really critical to get for the thing to pass. Look, I wish Mark was right that we could make it all transparent, but I’d rather have this law than not.” –Jonathan Gruber
Step 1: Dumb ‘em down.
Step 2: Prosper.
Comment by phony scandals
2014-12-23 07:28:06
Jonathan Gruber Recorded Visiting White House at Least 19 Times
cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/michael-morris/jonathan-gruber-recorded-visiting-white-house-least-19-times
Obamacare behind Q3 GDP “surge.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-23/here-reason-surge-q3-gdp
Who wants to get rooked? Just get your wallet out and it’s guaranteed.
Remember….. Hold onto every dollar you’ve got and stay out of debt. You’ll be glad you did.
Living in a rental will never feel like a real home.
If you take on mortgage debt at current massively inflated housing prices, you’ll enslave yourself for the rest of your life.
“Debt is bondage.”~Suze Orman, May 11, 2013
Don’t Be A Debt Donkey®
I am on vacation in my Phoenix rental. It is idyllic. Very few nice places like mine. I have a park for my backyard. I have everything I need here.
Rev. Al Sharpton’s Key Tax Tips…From Lois Lerner
12/20/2014 @ 8:07PM 106,845 views
In Tell it to the Reverend Al, the New York Post says Rev. Sharpton still owes New York State $916,000 from tax liens filed against him between 2008 and 2010. In all, Mr. Sharpton is said to have $4.5 million of tax liens. He claims he paid them, but state officials say otherwise. This isn’t the first time his records do not line up. Indeed, on two prior occasions he suffered inconvenient fires that destroyed records.
It’s a little like the crash of Lois Lerner’s hard drive. Those fires destroyed Mr. Sharpton’s financial records just as he was about to turn them over to officials. And records are key to tax disputes. As Mr. Sharpton works though his tax problems with or without records, he appears to have a suit made of Teflon, even when it comes to taxes.
http://www.forbes.com/…/2014/12/20/rev-al-sharptons-key-tax-tips-from-lois-lerner/ - 95k -
Sharpton schtick is just that. It’s a NY thing. What’s hilarious is most of the public don’t see it for what it is. A path to enrichment for Reverend Al.
Just for reference, they finally did find Lerner’s emails.
http://reason.com/blog/2014/11/24/inspector-general-finds-lois-lerner-emai
Yeah I know, lots of theories that the emails were lost forever and then *oops* found. Oh well.
Robert W. Wood Contributor
12/10/2014 @ 7:57PM
“Even then, the DOJ handed over only two pages of heavily redacted emails.”
“What’s more, the DOJ withheld 832 pages in their entirety.”
”On September 30, 2010, the DOJ’s Election Crimes prosecutor emailed Ms. Lerner:
“Hi Lois-It’s been a long time, and you might not remember me, I’ve taken on [REDACTED] duties. I’m looking forward to meeting you, Can we chat in advance? I’m a [REDACTED]”
“Remember those rogue IRS employees in Cincinnati? They were confused.”
Comment by phony scandals
2014-12-23 07:32:34
Rev. Al Sharpton’s Key Tax Tips…From Lois Lerner
forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/12/20/rev-al-sharptons-key-tax-tips-from-lois-lerner/
Obama Justice Department Was Involved In IRS Targeting, Lerner Emails Reveal
Robert W. Wood Contributor
12/10/2014 @ 7:57PM
Sadly, the 18 month investigation into the IRS targeting of conservative groups isn’t over, and it may be worse than anyone thought. A federal judge has broken loose more emails that the DOJ had surely hoped would never surface. The picture it reveals isn’t pretty. The documents prove that Lois Lerner met with DOJ’s Election Crimes Division a month before the 2010 elections.
It has to be embarrassing to the DOJ, which may not be the most impartial one to be investigating the IRS. In fact, the DOJ withheld over 800 pages of Lerner documents citing “taxpayer privacy” and “deliberative privilege.” Yet these internal DOJ documents show Ms. Lerner was talking to DOJ officials about prosecuting tax-exempt entities (yes, criminally!) two years before the IRS conceded there was inappropriate targeting.
Ms. Lerner met with top officials from the DOJ’s Election Crimes Branch in October of 2010. Although Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the DOJ (Judicial Watch v. Department of Justice, No. 14-cv-01239), the DOJ coughed up dirt only on court order. Even then, the DOJ handed over only two pages of heavily redacted emails.
What’s more, the DOJ withheld 832 pages in their entirety. They revealed that Mr. Obama’s DOJ called an October 8, 2010 meeting with the IRS “concerning 501(c)(4) issues.” On September 30, 2010, the DOJ’s Election Crimes prosecutor emailed Ms. Lerner:
“Hi Lois-It’s been a long time, and you might not remember me, I’ve taken on [REDACTED] duties. I’m looking forward to meeting you, Can we chat in advance? I’m a [REDACTED]”
Ms. Lerner responded on October 2, 2010:
“Sure-that’s a good Idea [sic]. I have a meeting out of the office Monday morning, but will try you when I get back sometime early afternoon. You can try me at 202 283-8848.”
DOJ’s Mr. Pilger admitted that DOJ officials met Ms. Lerner in October 2010. Moreover, according to congressional investigators, a Lerner email from October 5, 2010 shows the IRS sent the FBI and DOJ a “1.1 million page database of information from 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations” that contained confidential taxpayer information.
In her May 2013 answer to a planted question about the alleged targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups, Ms. Lerner suggested that the alleged targeting occurred due to an “uptick” in 501 (c)(4) applications to the IRS. In reality, there was a decrease, and as for targeting (what targeting?), well, you know the rest.
Remember those rogue IRS employees in Cincinnati? They were confused. And while all Americans should be concerned, Judicial Watch sounds fit to be tied.
http://www.forbes.com/…/ - 350k -
“involved.” I love it.
If the “Election Crimes Prosecutor” from DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is involved, that seems to imply that the DOJ was investigating the targeting, not requesting it or motivating it.
As for the “decrease” in applications for 501(c)(4), I suspect that Lerner was referring to an uptick in applications from conservative organizations, not an uptick in overall applications.
By the way, check out Robert W. Wood’s full “bio.” It reads like a daytime TV advertisement. He specializes in disputing taxes and enjoys writing about expatriation. Axe to grind much?
Whaaaatttt??? I’m shocked I tell you…just shocked!
#FundamentalTransformationOfAmerica
Comment by phony scandals
2014-12-23 07:42:55
Obama Justice Department Was Involved In IRS Targeting, Lerner Emails Reveal
forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/12/10/obama-justice-department-was-involved-in-irs-targeting-lerner-emails-reveal/
Hope and Change
No charges for Milwaukee officer involved in fatal shooting
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/22/us/milwaukee-police-shooting/
Forward
“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon” — President Barack Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/23/why-a-milwaukee-cop-is-not-being-charged-in-killing-of-an-unarmed-african-american/
It seems like a pattern. An unarmed man got shot…why not go to a trial? No wonder there’s a sudden proliferation of “go time” lately…..
Go time is about revolutionary marxists and communists. People who want to tear down our economic system and institutions. This whole debacle has nothing whatsoever to do with race other than blacks serving as useful idiots for the anti-western ideologues.
As a test, one would only have to walk in parallel with a giant sign sporting anti-communist, anti-marxist, or anti-socialist messages. I would suspect the “hands up don’t shoot” and “I can’t breathe” rioters would be on you like a pit bull on a poodle.
#ClowardAndPiven
#FundamentalTransformationOfAmerica
“No charges for Milwaukee officer involved in fatal shooting”
A smart wrestler will avoid a gunfight.
This is a Drudge Report link
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2014/12/23/17500-germans-gather-to-sing-christmas-carols-against-islamisation/
And remember, hatred of muslims must be managed, must be scripted.
Drone strikes and trillion dollar wars in the Middle East are good.
But resistance to multiculturalism is bad.
Globalists want multiculturalism, because it is the most effective tool to rot societies from the inside out.
Because diversity for thee, but not for me.
Defense spending up 16% in the third quarter. Those drone strikes are boosting the gdp.
“New York City may soon feel more familiar to suburbanite tourists as the number of chain stores operating in the city continued to grow for the sixth straight year in 2014.
For the seventh consecutive year … Dunkin’ Donuts topped the list as the largest national retailer in New York City, with a total of 536 stores.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-york-city-is-looking-more-like-a-suburb-2014-12-22
More Marxist/Feminist shaming from gun grabber Michael Bloomberg
“According to a 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center, 61 percent of adult gun owners are white males, which is almost double their share of the U.S. adult population.”
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-12-23/gun-culture-and-the-manly-virtues
Registration
Confiscation
EXTERMINATION
Hey fatties, put down the Christmas cookies and go get some exercise
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/opinion/sugar-season-its-everywhere-and-addictive.html
What’s your walkscore?
See also: this is what 2,000 calories looks like
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/22/upshot/what-2000-calories-looks-like.html
What’s your walkscore?
Thank you for this! This is an AWESOME pictorial.
But it really makes me wonder about the restaurant food. The difference is volume is so egregious that I can’t figure out where the calories are hiding.
Banana, hard boiled egg, orange, apple, carrots, roast chicken salad with spinach and spring leaf mix, cucumber, celery, red pepper, roma tomato, and NO salad dressing. And even though it’s 29 degrees here, I’m going out to take a walk.
Some of the fat@sses around here have probably already eaten 2,000 calories so far today.
Not enough fat. Looks like an orthorexic meal plan.
Christmas is a time to get fat; It’s no big deal. You just have to starve in January.
Dow surges on historic GDP bear pit. Does that make you all want to spend some kohls cash or what?
B A N K R U P T
NPR story on Chinese moving to California. Its not just the rich, and you will be surprised where they are getting the money to buy California homes. If only the US had such a program, my generation can’t afford a home here even those of us making six figures, but the Chinese can do it with little effort on their part, a textile worker can buy a home here?!
Waiting For The Wrecking Ball
“Chen earns up to $10,000 a year selling pajamas, making him lower-middle-class by the standards of Shanghai, a very expensive city. Chen has a wife and two daughters, but they live in suburban Los Angeles.
The couple went there last year to have a second child, a girl, because they couldn’t afford the fine for violating China’s population policy. Chen’s family stayed in California, mostly for the education of their elder daughter, who’s 14.
Chen says she was miserable in China’s pressure-cooker school system.
“Sometimes, my heart ached for the kid,” Chen recalled. “Why? She always left school very late. She would eat very fast and do her homework until 10 p.m.”
“Each year, her eyesight deteriorated and her personality gradually became more introverted,” he added.
A student prays in front of a temporary altar during a rally outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on Sept. 24.
A Surprising Tie That Binds Hong Kong’s Protest Leaders: Faith
Drivers step out of their vehicles for a better view while stuck in traffic along Beijing’s Second Ring Road on a “Car Free Day” on Sept. 21, 2010. For foreigners trying to drive in car-crazy China, the headaches begin with the written test.
Chen says his daughter is much happier now and eventually he plans to join the family in California. He even has a scheme to fund his move.
Chen lives in a prime location downtown, just a few blocks from Shanghai’s Huangpu River.
Across the street from Chen’s home, scavengers clear away scrap metal and many of the buildings have already been demolished to make way for a development that will include luxury apartments.
A tower has already risen nearby. Standing outside his home, Chen points to an advertising banner, hanging from the top.
“The price of an apartment starts at over $1,000,000,” he said. “If they really knock down my home, I can buy a house in California. The compensation for demolition here is more than enough to pay for a house there.”
Chen is just waiting for the wrecking ball.
One of the defining characteristics of China today is anxiety. Bank surveys show most millionaires are interested in emigrating to other countries, such as the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, to give their children better-rounded educations and cleaner air.
Until I met Chen, I didn’t appreciate how much this uneasiness and uncertainty runs up and down the socio-economic ladder here. China has had an extraordinary economic run over the past two decades and Shanghai has gone from a sleepy city to a dazzling metropolis, but it turns out even a pajama salesman is working on an exit strategy.”
“Sometimes, my heart ached for the kid,” Chen recalled. “Why? She always left school very late. She would eat very fast and do her homework until 10 p.m.”
+1 She more better!
A Chinese Texile worker moves his whole family to California - had a kid. Gets 14 years of free sh*t to include free education for his entire family and now will be a millionaire due to the housing bubble in China.
Well played sir. Well played.
National Treasure?
Chinese Texile worker moves his whole family to California - had a kid Its done a lot from what I have read….
The couple went there last year to have a second child, a girl, because they couldn’t afford the fine for violating China’s population policy.
Because American citizenship and the associated bennies had nothing to do with it.
I went to grad school in an All-American college town.
STEM PhD: ~5 years
Age of Asian kids in grocery store: under 5 years. Every single one.
Because American citizenship and the associated bennies had nothing to do with it.
I am amused at the alarmist stories of a few thousand Americans who are renouncing their citizenship, while at the same time about 500,000 foreign residents apply for American citizenship (and another million apply for green cards) every single year.
Just a guess on my part. Those leaving the country are most likely net tax payers.
Just a guess on my part. Those leaving the country are most likely net tax payers.
And those applying for green cards, citizenship and H1-B visas are not?
Me too. Switzerland is the only place I would like to live in if I could not live in the USA. I laugh at those “experts” who warn Americans they better renounce their citizenship. I prefer that statists move to North Korea. I will stay in the USA. I will not give up my 30 round mags. I will not give up my rights.
You can’t beat them there, might as well bring them here.
Is that the new US policy?
Invade the world, invite the world.
+1 Colorado……
Future debt holders and Democrat voters….what not to like?
Let’s bring moar!
my generation can’t afford a home here even those of us making six figures, ”
Over crowding and stress for everyone.
article for downlow joe
http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2014/12/22/my-husbands-not-gay-tlc-show-follows-mormon-husbands-attracted-to-men/
So long, bro’. Thanks for tunes.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-30582761
I dunno why he’s lauded so for his cover of With a Little Help From My Friends. There was so much other great music he did. My fave was Hitchcock Railway. And Delta Lady.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l-QMq_91iE
Always made me feel happy to hear it. Nice little tune. I was lucky enough to attend one of the Mad Dogs & Englishmen concerts at (pay attention, Jeff) at the Capitol Theatre in Portchester, NY. Leon Russell and Joe. Awesome.
I never got the spastic thing, though.
Anyway, thanks for everything, Joe!
One of my favorites; “You Can Leave Your Hat On”…I listened to it on You Tube this morning…
Yer a man after me own heart, buddy.
Man o man - 4 picks last night - Donk lose and therefore NO PIZZA today!!!
Crap!!
AND a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all!!!
Humbug!!!
no pizza today? thanks but i’m on a diet:
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20141223_102431_580-8VplCSzI.jpg
what’s your walkscore?
Yo homie, where’s the action figures?
Goon, if you’re going to forgo dressing and all that, you might as well go Esselstyn: http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/
Let’s see from Chicago I am thinking my walk score is about -10,000!!!!
Naperville doesn’t count. You wouldn’t actually be in the city of Chicago because there are too many of Obama’s sons there.
Not only the folks in the city - but the smell, the trash, the dog poop and piss everywhere and the parking rates alone - even if you gotta sticker for your nabe in the city just keeps me away as much as possible. A stinking sink hole Chicago is!!!
Folks - might want to go over and look at Zero hedge ’bout now - the markets are just nuts - there are so….many conflicting signals me thinks that this economy is just about to blow - housing down, Stocks way up, gas down, consumer confindence up again - GDP (with no real reason) up the most in 10 years and on and on. What a f…ing mess this all is. This is not your parents economy folks - not even close!!!
I agree there are a lot of mixed signals…
I’m bullish on facebook and twitter dave.
Yeah, I just moved my retirement out of S&P index funds into money market funds for the next few months. This feels like 2007 all over again.
Bloomberg - Druckenmiller See Big Storm Coming (2-yrs, IIRC)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kROymC3tTTs
Let’s examine this premise.
If the legislative and executive branches succeed in lowering life expectancy to (let’s say) 64, the problem is 2/3 solved.
In other words, no problemo remains for SS and Medicare. So, the benefits are out there in theory, but not in practice.
The remaining leg of the stool is Medicaid. The PRB need to figure out which policies will be most effective in decimating the youngest quartile. Once they do that, all three legs of the problemo stool are fixed.
Let’s examine this premise.
If the legislative and executive branches succeed in lowering life expectancy to (let’s say) 64, the problem is 2/3 solved.
In other words, no problemo remains for SS and Medicare. So, the benefits are out there in theory, but not in practice.
The remaining leg of the stool is Medicaid. The PTB need to figure out which policies will be most effective in decimating the youngest quartile. Once they do that, all three legs of the problemo stool are fixed.
unless you reached an inflection point, like 5 years from retirement, why break the recommendations of financial advisors? ( and no bull about them making money off you. Vanguard is investor-owned and its admiral 500 index fund has a 0.05 expense ratio )
Jumping in and out of the market is not a good idea for stock funds. It IS a good idea for individual stocks. Stock funds cover opposing sectors. In individual stocks you have to time the sector.
I am not sure if I am 5 years from retirement or 12 years. But have 32% of my assets in cash or government securities. You should focus on maintaining the percentage and change it slowly with age. But sudden major shifts in asset classes are usually regretted.
But sudden major shifts in asset classes are usually regretted.
I haven’t really regretted the ones I made in 2006 yet! The buying opportunities post-crash didn’t materialize quite the way I anticipated, though.
Whose stats do you trust?
The number of homes sold in San Luis Obispo County decreased year over year in November, while the median home price continued to increase.
The total number of homes — including new homes, resale single-family homes and condos — decreased 9.4 percent in November, to 278 units sold, compared with 307 units sold in the same month last year, according to DataQuick of San Diego. Figures are compared year-over-year because of the seasonal nature of home sales.
The overall median home price rose 2.2 percent year over year to $447,250. The median is the midpoint at which half of the houses sold for more and half for less.
California reported a similar trend in November — the total number of homes sold decreased by 11.9 percent year over year to 29,459 homes, while the price of those homes increased by 5.8 percent to $381,000. This was the lowest number of homes sold in California in November since 2007.
Free sheet army!
Walmart has about $12 Billion in profits. Its workers get $6.2 billion in free stuff from Taxpayers. Thanks for playing. Glad I could bail them out.
The good news is that they abide by all fair labor practices, treat their suppliers fairly, and tread lightly with local municipalities.
I have to admit I am biased. I absolutely love Chinese made products that last 4-5 weeks.
Chinese Factory Worker Can’t Believe The Sh1t He Makes For Americans
http://www.theonion.com/articles/chinese-factory-worker-cant-believe-the-shit-he-ma,1343/
Thanks Lola for advocating the end of the earned income tax credit for the poors.
Time to log off the X-rated websites and wife up a single mom, Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/21/americans-arent-getting-married-and-researchers-think-porn-is-part-of-the-problem/
Do I have to give up my Cheetos too?
Study financed by NAR, the Federal Government, etc. They have high stakes on getting people married.
In reality, the only reasons to marry are if you have kids. Raising children is expensive and means later retirement or no retirement. Peole are living much longer than the greatest generation lived. So lifelong partners does not seem realistic. And if you marry more than once, it means more money out of your pocket.
I am still holding out for the female triathlete who is a voluntaryist, atheist, and owns and practices with AR-15s.
No, you are not. Your plan is to adopt me and fund my adult lifestyle as if I were a child. How soon you forgot me!
I cannot help forgetting. I am older than 50 so gimme a break
Low oil prices and vast supply could result in gas prices continuing to decline and consumers having extra cash to power the economy. Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali al-Naimi says he doesn’t see OPEC cutting production anytime soon, even if oil drops to $20 a barrel. “The Saudis seem to be thinking, we’re basically trying to smoke out the American producers. See how low they can go,” says Newman.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter also has one of the cheapest production costs. This makes it easier for the Saudis to ride out low prices and maintain market share. Newman says this may work against them: “What if the Saudis are saying we’re going to make a big market share play? It could backfire. Other producers could end up producing for cheaper and cheaper.” Lower costs could lead to volatility in the energy sector.
When oil first started its downward trend this year it was met with skepticism. “The markets freaked out for a while. Looked around and said what’s going to blow up? Nothing blew up right away. The longer this goes on the more likely a blow up becomes,” says Newman. If oil prices continue to fall in the New Year and beyond something is going to break. Where the disruption occurs will be the big question. It could be over-leveraged companies in the energy sector, or the banks lending to these businesses, or even oil exporting countries themselves.
It’s really hard for people to peel an onion. The Saudis didn’t make the oil price stumble, despite how they play things following. So what did?
“It’s really hard for people to peel an onion.”
+1 Especially when Rapture Jesus is hiding in there.
“According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the ice formation on Lake Superior at this time of year is the earliest ever recorded on any of the Great Lakes since records started being kept more than 40 years ago.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/earliest-ice-on-record-appears-on-great-lakes-1.2847082
Polar Vortex 2.0
“started being kept more than 40 years ago”
Lol… wow. They have a whole forty+ years of data!
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/0/04/Dr_-Evil-One-Million-Dollars.png/revision/latest?cb=20130727183557
I don’t think they had the satellite imaging prior to that. We had pretty sucky cruising weather last season because of this Siberian wind direction thing. My hope is that it goes the other way next spring. Not off to a good start!
Exposing The Deception: How The US Economy “Grew” By $140 Billion As Americans Became Poorer
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/23/2014
This is simply stunning.
Regular readers will recall that last month, at the same time as the US Bureau of Economic Analysis reported was a far better than expected 3.9% GDP (since revised to 5.0% on the back of the previously noted Obamacare spending surge), it also released its Personal Spending and Income numbers for the month of October, or rather revised numbers, because as we explained exactly one month ago “Americans Are Suddenly $80 Billion “Poorer”" thanks to (upward) revised spending data and (downward) revised income. What this meant a month ago is that as a result of a plunge in the imputed US savings rate, some $80 billion in personal savings was revised away from the average American household and right into the US economy.
After all, something had to grow the US GDP by a massive amount in order to give the Fed the green light it needs to hike rates eventually, just so it can then ease when the global dry powders from all the other central banks is used up.
And sure enough, this is how just one month ago, personal income was revised lower…
http://www.zerohedge.com/archive - 105k -
The boom is here, the economy just grew 5% and it’s not going to stop!
Tent city springs up in shadow of downtown Detroit
City’s homeless numbers swelled over the past decade
by Associated Press | December 23, 2014
Bankruptcy behind it, Detroit’s atmosphere swirls with the promise of better days. Charles Floyd Jones can only hope that the city’s good fortune trickles down to him and the 10 other residents of a tent city that’s sprouted in the shadow of a resurgent downtown where rental occupancy is close to full and restaurants and shops are doing brisk business.
Jones and others in this makeshift community of seven tents — believed to be the only tent city in Detroit — say they have nowhere else to go.
“By us being out of bankruptcy, they can see that you got people out here that’s struggling,” said Jones, 51.
The city’s homeless numbers swelled over the past decade as manufacturing and other jobs disappeared and homes were lost during the national foreclosure crisis. All told, about 16,200 of Detroit’s 680,000 residents, almost 2.4%, are believed to be living on the streets or in temporary shelters — and that doesn’t account for other types of homelessness, such as teens going from friend to friend and families living in motels.
By comparison, only about 1% of San Francisco’s more than 800,000 residents are homeless. But San Francisco is on much firmer financial ground than Detroit, which shed $7 billion in debt during bankruptcy. Its restructuring plan aims to raise revenue and improve city services with $1.7 billion in funding, but it also calls for austerity in budgeting.
other types of homelessness, such as teens going from friend to friend and families living in motels.
Nothing says homelessness like staying with friends or living in a motel.
And nothing says Christmas in Detroit like getting shot by Santa Claus.
President Barack Obama
Late reply:
Comment by Ben Jones
2014-12-22 08:40:35
I posted an editorial a week or two ago that laid this debacle at the Fed’s door. It said all this drilling on margin wouldn’t have occurred without the easy money and artificially low rates. There isn’t any question the amount of drilling would have been far less. How many times have we heard of “yield chasing”? This new money has been chasing yield in everything from condos to New Zealand dairy farms to antique cars. Oil is just getting exposed. These other areas, we’ll see when the tide goes out. You can’t print wealth. This is the poofing that has to happen.
“when the tide goes out”—the question in my mind is what prevents the next “tide going out” from being immediately followed by another easy-money tsunami?
If you own a home with a pool and hot tub you just quadrupled your loses.
Region VIII
“They attacked us on 9/11 because they hate our freedoms”
Region X, checking in.
I haven’t yet been able to figure out why they don’t seem to hate us any less now, since we have much less freedom in the post-Patriot Act era.
President Barack Hussein Obama
“Hussein”
Think about that for a minute
And now back to your regularly scheduled Drudge Report links
http://www.drudgereport.com/
As reported by real journalists:
http://observer.com/2014/12/new-york-times-insider-multi-million-dollar-shortfall-causing-drastic-cuts/
How many millions have been slaughtered in needless wars so the banksters and profiteers could grow rich? The impromptu Christmas truce between German and British frontline troops in 1914 is a remarkable testament to the real spirit of Christmas from ordinary men pitted against each other by TPTB.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/christmas-truce-of-1914-letter-from-trenches-shows-football-match-through-soldiers-eyes-9942929.html
“… but as reports of the unofficial ceasefire emerged, military leaders on both sides of the conflict were enraged by the apparent “softening” of attitudes, which was quickly stamped out.”
And they should have been enraged. A lot of money was poured into fighting this war and the ingrates that were trained to fight it were doing what? Shaking hands with each other rather than killing each other? Unreal!
“Anyone defying orders faced court martial and execution and the fighting started again.”
And thus the children were saved.
But it was the War to End All Wars. President Wilson, who presided over the League of Nations and allowed the cancer called the Federal Reserve to sink its tentacles into the body politic, said so. So the sacrifices were worth it.
Oh, wait….
“So the sacrifices were worth it.”
Again, it was for the children.
“Us and Them
And after all we’re only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it’s not what we would choose to do
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died”
- Us And Them, Pink Floyd
To Mr. Banker: “You cannot break a man who don’t borrow.” - Will Rogers
“You cannot break a man who don’t borrow.”
Bahahaha … you supply the man and I’ll supply Amy and a bottle or two of Jack Daniels and just maybe we’ll get down to putting to the test this here theory.
Hope and Change
http://nypost.com/2014/12/23/anti-cop-protesters-flood-nyc-despite-de-blasios-appeal/
Forward
powder keg
2015: Year Of The Collapse?
Fed sends ominous signals
by Infowars.com | December 23, 2014
Fed Chairman Janet Yellen is playing footsie with our interest rates.
As the looming derivatives bubble expands, we take a look back at the real message quietly given to the U.S. economy by the privately owned Federal Reserve.
————————————————————————
On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun with a print press running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don’t bother asking for explanations
She’ll just tell you that she came
For the year of Collapse
The Year of the Cat by Al Stewart - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvBfIdhG974 - 449k -
Comment by phony scandals
2014-12-23 18:52:02
2015: Year Of The Collapse?
infowars.com/2015-year-of-the-collapse/
I bought a lot of stock today.
Did someone mention this already?
Today is the anniversary of a day in infamy
http://moneyweek.com/23-december-1913-the-us-federal-reserve-is-created/
WEEP HOUSING ANAYLIST
Real estate pro’s 2015 forecast: Housing happiness
Next year is going to be a great one for real estate, two pros in the sector told CNBC on Monday.
For broker Fred Glick, it’s all about jobs, oil prices and interest rates, which translate into more money in consumers’ pockets and more confidence.
“This is all going to turn around to a happiness. I call it the axis of housing happiness in that you have jobs, you have low oil prices and you have low interest rates,” Glick told ” Closing Bell. ”
“This is great, I love it here.”
Real estate lawyer Shari Olefson said 2015 will be the first year the whole nation recovered, with everyone getting back into the game, including those who lost their last homes to foreclosure.
First-time buyers will probably exceed their 40 percent historic average in terms of participation, she predicted. Plus, boomers will have a big impact because of their sheer numbers, especially in regions where they plan to spend their retirement.
On top of that, “we’re going to have those boomerang buyers who sat out the mandatory waiting period and can get back into housing,” Olefson said.
As for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve negatively impacting the housing market, both Olefson and Glick don’t buy it.
“The great thing about housing is people need a place to live,” Olefson said. “The alternative is to rent and we know rents are going up even faster than interest rates. And we still have the mortgage interest deduction. So rates are not going to be a big obstacle.”
Glad you’re back. Just in time for your schooling.
Thanks.
How low gas prices fuel the housing market
The huge drop in gasoline prices is just the boost the housing market needs heading into 2015. Not only are they padding people’s pocketbooks, they’re fueling consumer confidence. That may already be translating into more home sales.
“Anything that impacts anyone’s monthly budget so significantly as the cost of gasoline will tend to make them feel better about moving up, buying a new home,” said Maggie Parker of Comstock Homes. “Our traffic is very high, and sales are quite good especially during the typically slow December season, so it has had a very positive impact on the confidence of our buyers.”
Parker, standing at one of her company’s construction sites in the D.C. suburb of Rockville, Maryland, said that while lower gas prices may juice overall home sales, she does not expect to see the so-called exurbs reinvigorated. The drive toward more dense urban cores is more for social reasons than economic ones.
The economics for home buying, however, are clear. Analysts at Deutsche Bank estimate that the 23 percent decline in gas prices adds about $100 in monthly income for the average American. That, in turn, translates to an 11 percent boost in purchasing power on a starter home. Mortgage rates have also fallen in response to lower oil prices, which the analysts say could add an additional 7 percent purchasing power.
“For most Americans it’s a huge tax break,” said Richard Dugas, CEO of Atlanta-based Pulte Homes. “If you think about the consumer confidence impact, the thing that really drives housing is how people feel, and when they have more money in their pocket they feel better.”
Dugas also said he is not concerned about the oil-heavy Texas housing market, where Pulte has a large footprint. He said the company is well-diversified and could take that local hit. The CEOs of both Pennsylvania-based Toll Bros and New Jersey-based K Hovnanian also expressed little concern about their Texas communities, in conference calls with analysts last week.
The Texas housing market has outshined the rest of the nation in recovery, with home prices in Houston and Dallas reaching record highs this year. While much of that is driven by employment in the energy sector, many nonenergy-related companies have moved either headquarters or workers into the state. Technology and financial services companies, in particular, have been moving workers to Texas, such as Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade, and there are reports Google is eyeing a position there as well. State Farm is building a huge campus north of Dallas.
“Texas has an economic resiliency beyond energy that will help offset any significant downward movement in home prices for these markets over the next year,” said Stefan Hilts, a director at Fitch Ratings.
Home prices have jumped so high in Texas recently that Austin and Houston top Fitch’s list of the most over-valued housing markets in the nation. They expect prices to come down with the loss of energy-related jobs, but not enough to cause major damage in the market.
One savings that will favor bigger builders over smaller operators is in the cost of building-related products. Everything from PVC pipe to asphalt to shingles to paint—they are all petroleum-based. Lower oil prices will mean big savings for products manufacturers.
“Unfortunately we don’t expect to see that trickle down to us. As a local mid-Atlantic builder, we don’t have the huge volume to negotiate based on that price,” Comstock Homes’ Parker said.
Larger builders may be able to negotiate, however, especially if oil prices remain low for a long time.
“The products guys will charge whatever they can get away with, but to the extent their own costs aren’t going up as much I think, they will pass on better prices to the home builders, which maybe will allow them to build more homes at the median price,” said John Burns of John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
“If you think about the consumer confidence impact, the thing that really drives housing is how people feel …”
Step 1: Dumb ‘em down. (Note: It’s not what they can afford, it’s how they feel.)
“… and when they have more money in their pocket they feel better.”
Step 2: Prosper (Present to them The Dotted Line Special and then you’ve got them … for YEARS you got them.)
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Enjoying your losses debt junkie?
How can i have losses when i bought rental homes when prices were 80% discounted compared to peak prices?? It’s time to buy. The good times are coming!!! Make money on investing on a home.Easier money than working 9-5 job!!! :}
Wouldn’t you like to be the next Tom Vu?
Tom Vu, the Legendary Asian Pimp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnda41lj6go
Tom Vu - “You Deserve to Be Broke!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzsSpDyBc_4
Tom Vu - “You Deserve to Be Broke!”
+1 Tom Vu in a bathrobe, à la Hef, surrounded by all that lean chicken!