Bits Bucket for January 6, 2015
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
November 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
How lomg will it take the new Congress to “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” LOLZ
and speaking of congress, it’s warmist warming tuesday
yahoo news - big threat for obama’s climate efforts from gop-run congress
http://news.yahoo.com/gop-preps-plan-block-obama-climate-2015-194356070–politics.html
drudge has a bunch of other links too about how cold it is in chicago or minnesota or some flyover, it made me so mad i had to roll some coal on a prius and i spilled coffee all over myself
The biggest threat to Obama’s climate program is the low oil prices. In order for wind and solar to compete you need high fossil fuel prices. Oh and let’s not forget that a good part of his base can just walk, ride a bike, or take the bus and chop wood for heat. !!!!
Government officials cutting government? Ahahahhahahhahaha.
Congressmen are supposed to bring home the bacon.
Wait, wait, we never thought Obamacare would apply to us, lmao.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-05/obamacare-architects-harvard-furious-after-learning-they-are-not-exempt-obamacare
2banana’s rule on politics:
Conservatives are more than happy to live under the same laws and taxes they want for everyone else.
Liberals expect to be exempted from the same laws and taxes they want for everyone else.
LIEberals and the Free Shit Army are one and the same. And in the empty skulls of empty pocketed LIEberals, it really doesn’t matter how you get to the free sh!t irrespective of the cost. Because of that, the path to the free sh!t takes a twisted and contorted route.
Follow the money.
Conservatives are more than happy to live under the same laws and taxes they want for everyone else.
Yeah, that’s why the very rich pay lower rates on their “unearned income” than J6P pays on his “earned” paycheck, and have custom made loopholes provided for them, so they can pay even less taxes, possibly nothing at all.
Prediction: Obamacare will be repealed under the Jeb Bush administration. “Conservative”s will cheer, and their insurance premiums will continue to rise, just like they have for decades.
Which is probably for the best. That way, when the healthcare industrial complex collapses, then we can start over from scratch.
A little anecdote: In October I has some outpatient surgery to fix a “trigger finger”. The tendon sticks inside its sleeve and my ring finger would resist uncurling. The procedure is very simple and was done in an outpatient clinic.
My wife took a picture of me before I was wheeled into the OR. I was on the rolling bed/gurney thing, in a hospital gown, with a hairnet on my head and an IV in may arm. They also had me strip down and wash my whole body with antiseptic towels, even though the surgery was done on the palm of my hand (that was not in the picture
)
She sent the picture to her sister in the UK. Her husband had the same procedure done 2 years ago, and they were puzzled as to why I was all “dressed for surgery.” When Stephen had it done, it was done in the doctor’s office in an examination room. No scrub down, no hospital gown, no IV. The doctor sanitized his hand, gave him a local anesthetic (I was knocked out) and fixed the tendon.
So yes, we grossly overdo things here in the good old USA, which is one reason why insurance is so expensive here.
Conservatives are more than happy to live under the same laws and taxes they want for everyone else.
Coffee.Spew.Keyboard
Please go into stand up comedy. You’ll break the bank!
I think our definitions are getting skewed.
All the fraudsters associated with the duopoly are LIEberals, i.e. what’s yours is mine and mine is mine.
If we’re using the strict definition, then I’m a proud liberal (individual rights, freedom of expression and noninterventionism).
Would this be a good time to buy the dip?
It took oil no time at all to drop from $50/bbl to $49/bbl. And since US stock market futures are up this morning, the bull market is back on track. How good can it get?
my theory is that obama is juicing the economy with low gas prices in advance of tax filing season, which starts in three weeks, when millions of lucky ducks learn that they won’t be getting tax refunds this year because of the obamacare penalty
‘this sucker could go down’ — george w. bush
There are always opportunities in a panic.
Since most of the banks are now majors players in the casinos it seems they are liquidating at any price.
You just don’t get a free fall condition like this out of a little less demand.
I know some of you are waiting for a bottom. How will you know its here? Have you seen enough pain yet?
I’m guessing that so long as oil prices are dropping at a rate of around $1/bbl per day, a bottom hasn’t been reached.
But that’s just a guess.
Crude Oil - Electronic (NYMEX) Feb 2015
NMN: CLG5
Market open
$48.42
Change -$1.62 -3.24%
Volume 231,466
Jan 6, 2015 11:07 a.m.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-04/canada-s-richest-grain-family-betting-on-rebound-in-oil.html
I paid $1.42 a gallon last night, in part due to some accumulated discounts on our Kroger loyalty card.
in part due to some accumulated discounts on our Kroger loyalty card.
That part doesn’t count; what was the real retail price without club-program discount?
1.92
I saw a place on gasbuddy that was out of my way that is 1.75
1.92
Nice. That is still remarkably good.
I saw $2.19 here on Sun PM—but I think we’ll always be a bit higher here due to high gas taxes ($0.5590 WA vs $0.4040 CO).
Paid $1.66 at Costco Sunday.
I saw $2.19 here on Sun PM—but I think we’ll always be a bit higher here due to high gas taxes
I’m a little bummed I don’t get to enjoy the lower gas prices. I drive so little normally, and get such good mileage otherwise.
Drove to Mount Rainier/up to Paradise on New Year’s Day. Went through only 1/4 of a tank doing so (and I have to say the AWD on the Mercedes did great on the hardpack+ice that had most folks chaining up).
It’s positively bullish for the U.S economy and a Democrat win in 2016.
50, 49, 48, 47 …
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/energy-crisis-early-2016-114519781.html
And actually 2% oversupply is not true. We are using over ninety million barrels per day. The 1.5 million was before 550,000 barrels stopped in Libya. So the surplus is just over 950,000 barrels which is 1%.
lol. Right on time.
It is so third world, you set a price for goods below the cost of production and then a year later you wonder why you have a shortage.
“Rabid dollar” love the phrase and the graph:
http://www.mining.com/chart-gold-price-rallies-into-teeth-of-rabid-dollar-18671/
Putin orders vodka price cap amid economic crisis
Reuters
CNBC
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government on Wednesday to rein in rising vodka prices, as he battles to preserve his popularity amid an aggravating economic crisis.
It’s positively bullish for the U.S economy and a Democrat win in 2016.
Not when the price soars just before the election. Obama was not able to manipulate it enough before the last election.
…. in the meantime, market prices continue to crater irrespective of a hopelessly corrupt president.
Oil price down, vodka price up…how could the economic situation get any worse in Russia?
And like everything Obama tries the economic war has failed miserably:
http://observer.com/2015/01/bands-of-putin-youths-fight-his-enemies-ridicule-opposition-leaders-as-condoms/
Oh, the old Obama boogeyman routine again.
the lib/con schtick is a reliable but worn out cover used by price pimps.
“bands of Putin youths fight his enemies, ridicule opposition leaders”
Gee, sounds like quite a place they have there. No statism at all.
There is no shortage of oil and there never has been:
‘Oil drilling in the occupied Golan Heights will begin soon as Israel sees the area as an integral part of its nation and Syria has no room to object, experts believe.’
‘Israel also discovered two natural gas fields near Haifa; the Tamar field which is an estimated 280 billion cubic meters, and the bigger Leviathan, an estimated 530 billion cubic meters. Tamar started production in March, while Leviathan is due to start operating in 2016 or 2017.’
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/178219/israel-ready-for-oil-drilling-in-occupied-golan-heights.html
In a sane world, Israel and its neighbors would sit down and talk about regional development and trade, now that Israel have have these massive reserves to tap and a ready-made customer base in Jordan and Lebanon. In a sane world.
Lower gas prices are good news for Democrats:
Falling energy costs could spur an economic boom, fuel Clinton victory if she chooses to run in 2016
By Patrick Reddy
SPECIAL TO THE News
on January 4, 2015 - 12:01 AM
After the poor showing across-the-board of her fellow Democrats in the 2014 elections, Hillary Clinton received some much-needed good news when the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Michigan Republican Mike Rogers, cleared the State Department of any wrongdoing in the 2012 attack on Benghazi, Libya. But Clinton received even better news with the sharp drop in crude oil and gasoline prices of late 2014.
Thanks to the vastly increased domestic oil production and the willingness of Saudi Arabia to maintain high production supply levels, energy costs have been falling. The average retail price of a gallon of gas dropped from a peak of $3.96 in May 2011 to $2.29 last week, thus saving American consumers literally billions of dollars. Were those lower prices to continue in 2015 and 2016, the nation would likely witness an economic boom that creates millions of new jobs, reduces the prices of numerous consumer goods due to lower production and shipping costs, sends the stock market soaring ever higher and helps slash the federal deficit.
…
With gas prices like these, I can afford to drown myself in Starbucks lattes with all the extra cash I have left over after filling up.
A small businessman friend of mine was complaining that you had to prove you had health insurance in order to get your tax refund. It occurred to me that if that is true, it might also somehow cut down on the tax fraud this year because fraudsters hadn’t yet ramped up for this new false document requirement. Who knows?
Not true. If you don’t prove that you have health insurance, the IRS will simply subtract out the penalty. You’ll still get a refund, even if it’s only a buck.
I was just reading about the penalty. It is going up to 2.5% of income in 2016. Wow, what a JOKE.
A small businessman friend of mine was complaining that you had to prove you had health insurance in order to get your tax refund.
If it’s employer provided, there is a box on the W2 form indicating how much was spent on it.
It’s the principle of the thing, government COMPELLING people to buy insurance. We are another big notch down the slippery slope.
You mean like car insurance?
“aragonzo”
You mean like Lola?
Marketwatch dot com
Futures Movers
Crude falls below $49 as selloff continues
By Eric Yep
Published: Jan 6, 2015 4:44 a.m. ET
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Crude-oil futures continued to drop Tuesday after a steep selloff overnight, as analysts said oil markets must brace for additional bearish factors this year, including worries about Greek debt and a rising U.S. dollar.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February (CLG5, -2.24%) fell $1.39, or 2.9%, to $48.58 a barrel in the Globex electronic session.
…
Oil related layoffs beginning to devastate the economy:
The plant makes steel pipe and tube for oil-and-gas exploration and drilling. With oil prices currently around $50 a barrel, their lowest level since 2009, energy companies have far less incentive to drill for new supply, reducing demand for the plant’s products.
“The company has suddenly lost a great deal of business because of the recent downturn in the oil industry,” Tom McDermott, president of United Steelworkers local 1104 wrote to workers, in a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “What appeared just a few short weeks ago as being a productive year, [with new hires in December and extra turns going on], has most abruptly turned sour.”
Layoffs will begin on March 8, “with additional layoffs occurring through May 2015,” a U.S. Steel X, -1.85% official wrote to the union.
Workers for U.S. Steel in Lorain said they would find out who is being laid off at an evening meeting Wednesday.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.
Seriously this sounds like a really good time to go long on oil. I got 20 years before retirement.
Seriously this sounds like a really good time to go long on oil. I got 20 years before retirement.
For the majors the time is now, for the frackers, you can wait a while but not too long:
From yahoo finance:
“[OPEC] is playing this game to see how long it’s going to last. They want to punish some of the fracking that’s going on,” Kovacevich said in a ” Squawk Box ” interview, adding the ball is in Saudi Arabia’s court.
He said there’s 1 million barrels a day in excess oil capacity on the world market-an amount the Saudis could withstand to cut.
“I was playing golf with the CEO of a major oil company this past weekend and he says a million barrels [a day] in excess capacity is not a lot to absorb eventually in one way or another,” Kovacevich continued, making the case for why he believes the crude decrease is temporary. “I think we’ll see $70, $80 a barrel oil by midyear.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/opec-trying-punish-us-oil-140111115.html
“I think we’ll see $70, $80 a barrel oil by midyear.”
Those were my numbers for the end of the year, but I might be too conservative in my call.
“Seriously this sounds like a really good time to go long on oil. I got 20 years before retirement.”
Why, because bubble vision has you thinking that $50 per barrel is cheap? That’s what happens when there are bubbles. People look at the bubble peaks as if they are somehow fundamentally sound and routinely achievable, but they are aberrations.
Now under $48/bbl and still dropping.
Try not to catch yourself a falling knife!
People look at the bubble peaks as if they are somehow fundamentally sound and routinely achievable
AKA “anchoring bias”
Inflating the currency supply will make your house and stocks worth more.
To afford those assets you will need a loan of course. Borrowing currency to buy assets is smart.
Anyone seen margin debt lately? If those assets increase in price faster than your borrowing costs you are a winner!
Demand collapses as a result.
Remember…. I can ask $50k for my 10 year old Chevy truck but where is the buyer at that price?
5. Now let’s do the monetization step. This can happen automatically, as explained below, but for now let’s have the Fed conduct a $1,000 open market operation to increase the money supply. To do this, it cranks up the press, loads in some paper and green ink, and prints a brand new $1,000 bill. It takes the $1,000 bill and purchases a bond from the public, for simplicity make it the same bond the Treasury just issued. Then the money supply goes up by $1,000 (and may go up more through multiple deposit expansion) and government debt in the hands of the public goes down by $1,000 since the Fed now holds the bond. The increase in the money supply is inflationary.
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2005/09/what_is_debt_mo.html
Region VIII
“The Denver metro area’s fitness index and the percentage of residents who do some kind of physical activity are among the highest of all places we analyzed … the study found that the healthiest places are Boston and the West Coast, while the unhealthiest places are typically located in the South … Nationally, about 33 percent of adults are classified as obese”
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2015/01/05/10-healthiest-places-in-u-s-where-does-metro.html?page=all
What’s your walkscore?
while the unhealthiest places are typically located in the South
But southern fried chicken is to die for!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_L6qhjIdo_yg/S88Zpo9-cqI/AAAAAAAAALo/P1DRJ3l44JQ/s1600/fat-people-eating1.jpg
What can be exported ?
BIS lists six considerations for condensate as a potential export
WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 2
01/02/2015
By Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor
The US Bureau of Industry and Security listed six considerations it will use to help determine whether US-produced crude oil condensate is a petroleum product eligible for export.
A Dec. 30 notice under the US Department of Commerce agency’s Frequently Asked Questions reiterated its conclusion in late-June 2014 that lease condensate that has passed through a distillation tower qualifies as a petroleum products export under Section 752, Subsection A of its Export Administration Regulations (OGJ Online, June 25, 2014).
It said factors BIS will consider in determining whether a product meets that definition would include, among others:
• Whether the distillation process materially transforms the crude oil, by using heat to induce evaporation and condensation, into liquid streams that are chemically distinct from the crude oil input.
• The change in API gravity between the process’s input and output.
• The change in percentage of different types of hydrocarbons between the process’s input and output.
• Whether the streams resulting from distillation have purposes other than allowing the product to be classified as exportable petroleum products, such as petrochemical feedstock, diluent, and gasoline blend stock.
• Whether the distillation process uses temperature gradients and has significant internal structures, such as trays or packing, and differentiated output streams.
• Whether the distillation uses towers with more mechanical complexity and heat, higher residence time, internal structures that promote condensation and better separation, and consistent quality liquid streams (also called cuts or fractions) than equipment used to separate vapors and liquids for transportation needs.
“These factors are not intended to be categorical or exhaustive,” the agency emphasized. “In reviewing commodity classification applications, BIS will look at the particular circumstances of each application to determine whether the output of a process can be considered a petroleum product under the current regulatory definition.”
Region VIII
Colorado business leaders greet 2015 with rising confidence
http://m.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2015/01/05/colorado-business-leaders-greet-2015-with-rising.html?page=all&r=full
The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades
All “business leaders” are endlessly over optimistic salesman. They need to convince you to continue to part with your money.
One can only be endlessly optimistic when one is not in debt!
“Debt is Dumb!”
It helps, but it’s only a start. What you need to be is “financially independent” (some call it “being rich”), where you don’t need a job to have the cash flow to pay the bills. It could be a huge balance in the bank (live off the interest), a hefty annuity, or some other asset that generates income with minimal effort.
But the system will not allow for everyone to do that. That is but a pipe dream for most.
Denver is the biggest housing bubble in the nation. Even bigger than SF when you account for median income and nearby undeveloped land…
Throw in falling energy prices and you have the perfect storm.
Even bigger than SF when you account for median income and nearby undeveloped land ??
And there-in lays the big difference…Barriers to new growth…Very Expensive barriers…
At least with this I agree. Plenty of undeveloped land on the eastern side. Easy flat land. Wake me when the housing developments swamp DEN like they did for IAD.
What’s not to like by moving there?
Do NOT move here
I don’t want to move a favorite destination of illegal immigrants.
I’ve seen far worse. But yeah, it isn’t Maine or Vermont.
I wouldn’t head to either one of those holes either.
Coastal Maine seems great- if you’re rich.
It doesn’t take much $$ to be downeast. It’s where the poor people go.
Do NOT move here
What the man said. You’ll hate it here, I guarantee it.
Kidding aside, Coloradans are not the friendliest people in the world.
I’ve not been anywhere in the US where people are super friendly. Most people are stressed out.
I was in Denver over the holidays, and I found most people there friendly almost to the point of annoyance. Hi! Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do? Why are you here? How long are you staying?
I had to tell my life story and vacation plans to everyone from the hotel receptionist, to the taxi driver, the waiters, bartenders, everyone who had a chance to ask. It was kind of weird, almost twilight zony.
Marxist feminist shaming
Washington Post - Urban Outfitters told to remove online ad featuring ‘too-skinny’ model
“Advertising regulators told Urban Outfitters Europe to pull an online underwear ad from its United Kingdom site that featured a skinny model, saying her “inner thigh gap” promoted an image that was “irresponsible and harmful.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/06/urban-outfitters-forced-to-remove-online-ad-featuring-too-skinny-mode/
Because asking what’s your walkscore is misogynistic, LOLZ
Another article from the UK
Nearly 800-Pound Couple Get $3K a Month After Claiming They’re Too Fat to Work
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/01/05/kebabs-and-claims-55-stone-couple-get-2k-a-month/
Photoshopped. For real anorexia, google-images for “Paris runway” and look for a bony and protruding shoulder cap and no upper arm fat on almost every model. Men included.
Have you seen myproana.com? Even though this is how they describe themselves (link is to images they call “Thinspiration”), I have read that members really use it to encourage starving as a way of life - Wikipedia page. Awful.
As a kid I only knew one anorexic, very unusual at the time (70’s); she didn’t really fit in with us enthusiastic restaurant goers
Only knew one in college, she was a ballet dancer. Not sure whether the demands of ballet caused the problem or she was attracted to ballet due to it providing cover for her illness. Pretty and smart, not sure how it ended.
Good god! They should have named the place Andersonville.
Rig count direction is down.
BHI: US rig count drops 109 units in last month
HOUSTON, Jan. 5
01/05/2015
By OGJ editors
Again led by losses in Texas and California, the US drilling rig count dropped 29 units to settle at 1,811 units working during the week ended Jan. 2, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Since Dec. 5, 2014, the count has plummeted by 109 units (OGJ Online, Dec. 5, 2014). The country, however, still has 60 more units compared with this week a year ago.
During the week, land rigs continued their precipitous fall, relinquishing 26 units to 1,744. Offshore rigs dropped 3 units to 55. Rigs drilling in inland waters were unchanged at 12.
Oil rigs fell 17 units to 1,482, while gas rigs fell 12 units to 328. Rigs considered unclassified remained at 1 unit working.
Horizontal drilling rigs lost 14 units to 1,336. Directional drilling rigs lost 6 units to 175.
Canada managed to outdo its southern neighbor in its decline, relinquishing 48 units to 208. Oil rigs comprised most of that loss, giving up 42 units to settle at just 52 total, 100 fewer than this week a year ago and its lowest total since May 2010. Gas rigs, meanwhile, gave up 6 units to settle at 156.
Overall, Canada is down 74 units compared with this week a year ago.
Major states, basins
In a week in which there were no gains in the major oil- and gas-producing states and basins, Texas reported the steepest fall, dropping 12 units overall to 840. California, which took the biggest hit last week, lost 6 units to 22, more than half of its total of 45 two weeks ago.
Colorado fell 3 units to 66. Louisiana fell 2 units to 109. Down 1 unit each, New Mexico now totals 101, Wyoming 56, Pennsylvania 53, Ohio 46, Arkansas 11, and Alaska 9.
Unchanged from a week ago were Oklahoma at 209, North Dakota at 169, Kansas at 29, West Virginia at 28, and Utah at 23.
Reflecting the decline in Texas, the Permian lost 6 units to 530 and Eagle Ford lost 4 units to 200.
109 rigs times about 500 barrels per well = 50,450 barrels per day of lost oil production, now times 10 wells drilled over a year and we have 504,500 barrels in production and the drill rig has not stopped dropping. Friday we will have an update on the rig count and we will lose far more wells. Canada actually led the way in reductions last week losing 48 wells just for the week. An actual shortage of oil will soon become apparent. You can only use spikes in the dollar and paper barrels so long to keep the price down.
With market prices of crude cratering, tank farms across the globe overflowing, why wouldn’t they ratchet down production?
A strong dollar has nothing to do with lower oil prices. Neither do Obama or Putin. Demand is cratering, so prices are falling. It’s good old capitalism. Love it or leave it, as they say.
A strong dollar has nothing to do with lower oil prices.
Good luck finding even one economist that would agree with that statement.
“…eCONomist…”
You mean like Krugman or some other hack?
A strengthening dollar might be part of it, but not all of it. The dollar isn’t going to DOUBLE in six weeks. And I think it’s pretty funny that the “community organizer who couldn’t hold a real job” — or better yet Valerie Jarrett who AFAIK has zip for qualifications — is able to arrange all this so quickly.
A strengthening dollar might be part of it, but not all of it.
Never said it was all of it but it is part of it. This is a combined American and Saudi attack of Russia. Obama did not come up with this plan, Ronald Reagan did. However, there is one critical difference, in the 1980s we could produce oil cheaper than Russia, thus we did not have to cut production as quickly as we do now. The plan that worked so well in the 1980s will not work now since shale oil drilling is already stopping and oil production drops more than ten times more quickly now than in the 1980s. Apparently, Obama and his advisors really do not understand shale oil.
“And I think it’s pretty funny that the “community organizer who couldn’t hold a real job” — or better yet Valerie Jarrett who AFAIK has zip for qualifications — is able to arrange all this so quickly.”
I’m sure Albdan’s got it all figured out for you. Just ask him how it’s possible and he should be able to blow hard about it.
What are those “oil exports” to be permitted?
BIS lists six considerations for condensate as a potential export
WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 2
01/02/2015
By Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor
The US Bureau of Industry and Security listed six considerations it will use to help determine whether US-produced crude oil condensate is a petroleum product eligible for export.
A Dec. 30 notice under the US Department of Commerce agency’s Frequently Asked Questions reiterated its conclusion in late-June 2014 that lease condensate that has passed through a distillation tower qualifies as a petroleum products export under Section 752, Subsection A of its Export Administration Regulations (OGJ Online, June 25, 2014).
It said factors BIS will consider in determining whether a product meets that definition would include, among others:
• Whether the distillation process materially transforms the crude oil, by using heat to induce evaporation and condensation, into liquid streams that are chemically distinct from the crude oil input.
• The change in API gravity between the process’s input and output.
• The change in percentage of different types of hydrocarbons between the process’s input and output.
• Whether the streams resulting from distillation have purposes other than allowing the product to be classified as exportable petroleum products, such as petrochemical feedstock, diluent, and gasoline blend stock.
• Whether the distillation process uses temperature gradients and has significant internal structures, such as trays or packing, and differentiated output streams.
• Whether the distillation uses towers with more mechanical complexity and heat, higher residence time, internal structures that promote condensation and better separation, and consistent quality liquid streams (also called cuts or fractions) than equipment used to separate vapors and liquids for transportation needs.
From what I can tell, oil companies want to be able to export American oil because it gives them more flexibility to compete and make a profit on the world market, plus it puts even more pressure on OPEC.
It also allows for them to gouge Americans even more.
Article for Amy
Manhattan Home Prices Jump to Highest Since 2008 Peak
“The median price of all condominiums and co-ops that changed hands in the fourth quarter was $980,000, up 15 percent from a year earlier
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-06/manhattan-home-prices-jump-to-highest-since-2008-peak.html
Thank god for the 1% and their gains on overvalued companies.
Here’s What $900,000 Will Buy You In All 5 Of NYC’s Boroughs
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-900000-will-buy-you-in-nycs-boroughs-2015-1
Well, good thing median income is $300,000 to make it affordable and not a bubble
Get a gander of the “common charges” of $1000/month plus taxes.
Could the average new yawker afford just these expenses let alone a mortgage for a 1 bed condo in an outer borough?
No, it’s a real city. Most people with average incomes rent an apartment.
Wall Street Journal - Smaller Cities Led Way in Rent Increases in 2014
Biggest Gains Came in Places Like Denver and Charleston, SC; National Average at a Record $1,124.38
http://www.wsj.com/articles/smaller-cities-led-way-in-rent-increases-in-2014-1420519636
Lease now or be priced out forever!
Biggest Gains Came in Places Like Denver and Charleston
You would have to be stoned to pay those rents. What is Charleston’s excuse?
So rents are high because of strong demand and limited supply. I hear the same thing about houses for sale. After the biggest building boom in history- where are all the houses to show for it? Oh, that’s the 25M + rotting away vacant; the massive entry on the Fed’s balance sheet.
There are shenanigans in the mortgage finance market - it’s been nationalized. Only the government will buy mortgages at these prices and interest rates. Plus the very fact that government buys mortgages and explicitly allows sellers legal immunity from any consequences for creating bad debt (”safe harbor”), provided a particular song and dance has been followed, further inflates prices. Not saying this is going away any time soon, but FYI. This, like many other central bank and government policies, are designed to inflate asset prices, benefiting current asset holders.
The rental market is more of an organic market, based on classical supply and demand. However, the shenanigans have affected the rental market, which I blame on bank-held inventory which forced people into the rental market, but was never allowed to come on the market to buyers. So, combined with minimal (manipulated) price adjustment in the real estate market, plus intentionally limited supply, people were forced into the rental market, jacking up rents. It’s not like the population has suddenly boomed. Where’d all those new renters come from and what happened to their houses?
I was considering the various central bank and government interventions in the economy. After all is said and done, the net result is that it will have enriched existing asset holders and the financial sector, as they were the ones in a position to take advantage of the largesse, and they gamed the interventions to further take advantage of them. Pure trickle down economics, minus the trickle down.
hmmmm…. a price without fundamentals. Like a head without a brain. And how long do you think that lasts?
Pure trickle down economics, minus the trickle down.
When you enrich the already rich—isn’t that trickle up economics?!?
Isn’t there a law to prevent banks from holding on to vacant repossessed homes forever?
Just sayin’…
The Brotherhood of Every Man for Himself.
Would you care to explain that?
LOLZ, I was on duhversity overload yesterday. It’s a riff on all the UN Real Journalists Global Warming Brotherhood of Man BS.
Ever notice how people who have no better nature try to appeal to the “better nature” of the masses?
The Brotherhood of Every Man for Himself.
“Bend over and be nice, or we’ll kill ya.”
Brunch is racist.
International Association of I Got Mines
The Brothers Gibbs Medat
or fraternity of man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-ifjIAoleI
ratings are so awful at cnbc that they sh@tcanned nielsen ratings:
http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/CNBC+Switches+from+Nielsen+to+Cogent%3B+Notes+Limitations+of+Ratings+Measurement+%28CMCSA%29+%28NLSN%29/10139096.html
You just have to believe!!!
I think anyone tires of constant shilling and lipstick on a pig “analysis.”
‘A controversy over the portrayal of Lyndon B. Johnson in the movie “Selma” has revived interest in the 36th president’s role in the civil rights struggles of the 20th century.’
‘But a little-noted episode from the period shows that LBJ believed that the battle for equality should — quite literally — begin at home. As vice president in 1961, he and his wife, Lady Bird, defied the discriminatory real estate covenants that prevented Jews, African Americans and other minorities from living in their elite Northwest Washington neighborhood.’
‘Their stand is a reminder of a practice once common in Washington and elsewhere. Many of the federal government’s most powerful figures lived in sections of the city where segregation was a contractually mandated part of the deal they made when they bought their homes.’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/lbj-fought-a-quiet-battle-to-desegregate-housing–his-own/2015/01/05/06b89c2c-950c-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html
My, how hypocritical. Wasn’t it the South where all the bad race stuff happened, and DC was where the pure government types lived?
The reason LBJ did this was probably just to have sex with somebody. That’s all he thought about.
Not directed at your comment Ben, but all this stuff is 50 years old. The problems today are a far cry from the America of 50 years ago.
Get out of the 50s, get out of the 60s, it’s now all about the 70s, jive turkeys.
“The problems today are a far cry from the America of 50 years ago.”
Are you serious? The problems are the same as in ancient Rome, fer chrissakes, that’s how far back it goes.
The more things change….
No robots in Rome.
You’re sure of that?
There were Roman robots in the West World movie.
“The reason LBJ did this was probably just to have sex with somebody. That’s all he thought about.”
LOLZ, that’s my theory about open borders and the kiddie crusade. Endless supply for the pervs in DC.
“We want them ALL!”
Sheesh, think of the colossal effort these politicians go through just to get a piece of tail. Fund raising, pandering, kissing up to lobbyists, etc, etc. Just to get laid. Losers.
It’s a lot cheaper just to buy a boat.
Yah, but you don’t get to pass legislation and have the MSM advertising your sick azz to a wide audience.
I about upchucked when I read about that load Dennis Hastert being pursued by young groupies in DC.
LOL, why do you think JEB! is so desperate to get to the White House, LMAO! He’s probably not getting enough twisted stuff. Gave himself away with that really unfortunate “acts of love” statement.
Not to be outdone by Nancy Pelosi and “I wish I could take them all home!” I’ll bet she did.
That’s called “networking.”
“That’s called “networking.”
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a weiner! LOL! LMAO! Post of the day!
It’s a lot cheaper just to buy a boat.
Monkey business?
It’s a lot cheaper just to buy a boat.
From Wikipedia:
Monkey Business is a yacht frequently docked in South Florida at the Turnberry Isle Resort Marina. Monkey Business was an 83-foot Broward motor yacht custom built and owned by the developers of the luxury resort. Famous guests included Elton John, Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Nicholson, Julio Iglesias, Jason Luetke and others. The owner-of-record, Eddie Lewis, was in the process of selling it at the time and later replaced it with a larger boat of the same name.
Gary Hart incident[edit]
The ship was used by USA senator Gary Hart during his campaign for President of the United States in 1987. Around the time that Hart challenged the press to provide evidence of his infidelities, reporters for the Miami Herald, in a controversial move, staked out Hart’s townhouse around the clock, and finally spotted the Senator with Miami model Donna Rice.[1] The ensuing report sent the media into frenzy, and within days photos of Hart and Rice on the opulent yacht were flooding international media, and consequently his shot at the presidency had sunk.[2]
The scale and notoriety of our yacht are much less, yet our behavior sufficiently flamboyant.
Sheesh, think of the colossal effort these politicians go through just to get a piece of tail. Fund raising, pandering, kissing up to lobbyists, etc, etc. Just to get laid. Losers.
“Macho Man” is laughing his head off. The ladies come to him without being asked, and the most he ever does for them is give them a bag of Skittles.
In many ways Macho Man is a lot like Mr. Banker. Others (nice feminist guys) toil, he reaps.
Pitbull, baybeeee, Pitbull.
My, how hypocritical. Wasn’t it the South where all the bad race stuff happened, and DC was where the pure government types lived?
DC is surrounded by VA and MD. It’s part of the South, more or less.
That’s why people in DC ordered the invasion of the south, huh? And I bet these deed restrictions never existed in the northern states.
Well, Lincoln was from Illinois. The fact that a lot of people move into DC from other parts of the country doesn’t make it not a part of the South. There have plenty of deed restrictions in other parts of the country. I remember that a controversy was stirred up back in the ’80s when a Supreme Court nominee owned a house in Vermont with a restrictive covenant.
They existed in Flagstaff, which wasn’t even in the US until 1910 or so. What’s really odd about all this stuff is how so many pretend the world is 2 dimensional. My side was and is always good and pure and the other side was always evil. It plays out in many forms, and this bad, evil, racist southerners line is just one example.
I had a buddy back in South Florida who used to say he was always highly suspicious of people who put on a front of complete moral certitude. Said it made him wonder what they were really up to.
Racism exists all over the country. However, only in the south did they periodically get together as a community and hang people from trees.
Palmetto is right - whenever someone in a suit starts talking about morals, hold on to your wallet.
“However, only in the south did they periodically get together as a community and hang people from trees.”
You’re sure of that? Sure it never happened in the Wild, Wild West? No mass murders in Mexico? No mass gassings in Germany? No mass murders in Rome, Italy, USSR? No mass murders by the Vikings? No Trail of Tears perpetrated by Washington? No mass murders in Cambodia? No executions of Shiites, Coptics, whatever?
Yeah, I guess it was only a handful of people of “communities” in the South who ever displayed man’s inhumanity to man.
“only in the south”
Of that, I am sure you are mistaken.
“only in the south”
Can you believe it? The only place on the planet that practiced “inhumanity to man” was the American South.
L.M.A.O.
I’m pretty sure none of my ancestors ever took part in any communal murders, and I’m pretty sure that the previous posts were talking about the U.S. But if you thinking lynching isn’t so bad because of Rome and Nazi Germany, I guess you win by setting the bar so low.
Do a Google search on the most recent hunt/mass murder of Aussie Aborigines. In the 1920’s I believe. Then look at the deliberate and government sponsored targeting and murder of whites in Zimbabwe in the last decade. Racism does not belong to just one color. There are many black, latino and oriental racists.
“I’m pretty sure none of my ancestors ever took part in any communal murders, and I’m pretty sure that the previous posts were talking about the U.S. But if you thinking lynching isn’t so bad because of Rome and Nazi Germany, I guess you win by setting the bar so low.”
Really? Maybe you have a time machine because I have no clue what my distant ancestors did or didn’t do. Heck, I don’t even know who they are, prior to 1650.
You’re pretty sure of a lot, aren’t you? Another one of those morally superior bluenoses without a clue. Got Slate and Salon in your faves?
Shhh, don’t tell Dman that. Evil only ever existed in the American South, lmao.
Oh, and all of his ancestors were pure as the driven snow and never did a wrong thing in their lives.
“There are many black, latino and oriental racists.”
Meh, sometimes groups of people don’t like other groups of people and do bad things to them.
The first Euro / Indian settlement in Ohio, Gnadenhutten, was annihilated in 1782 by American Revolutionary forces in reprisal for unrelated Indian attacks elsewhere on the frontier during that war. Oddly enough, the missionaries in charge of the settlement had been feeding intelligence to the rebels for some time prior to this. George Washington & other revolutionary leaders were well aware of what had happened, but the men who carried out this massacre of unarmed men, women & children were never sanctioned.
Google it.
That’s right, Palmetto, stuff happens. Why, every once in a while, people just got together on a Saturday night and decided to hang someone. Over one thousand times. Then they got up the next morning and went to church.
Meh, sometimes groups of people don’t like other groups of people and do bad things to them.
Yes, it is called a hockey game.
I am pretty sure my ancestors did a lot of slaughtering and being slaughtered. Mostly it was just because of different last names.
Slaughtering was the ticket for acquiring land before they invented Realtors.
This is an article about real journalists dissing on not real journalists
http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/01/05/politicos-dylan-byers-sneers-at-attkisson-hacking-lawsuit/
How is Sharryl Attkisson not dead yet? Seriously
“How is Sharryl Attkisson not dead yet? Seriously”
Patience.
Made my first ever transaction with Bitcoin. My 1 BTC showed up in my wallet on my smartphone. I wanted to make a donation so I used my QR scanner, scanned in the recipient’s public address / key, and calculated the percentage of BTC to donate. In this case it was 0.02 BTC, about $5.50. The QR app had knowledge of my Bitcoin wallet and had the convenient option of choosing the wallet. I selected the wallet and it had entry for how much BTC to send. It calculated it in terms of USD. Just hit the affirmative and it went out!
That’s how you do it at cash registers in businesses with Bitcoin. Very easy. According to how it’s designed, my amount is deducted in my wallet but the transaction is not going to be completely verified until one hour from now. That’s the equivalent of 6 more blocks mined and added to the block chain. That’s how it works according to the “Mastering Bitcoin” book. Every block put on the chain does some confirmation of the previous block. Mathematically, by the sixth block it is very much confirmed/verified.
Very slick!
Used Pesos / Dollars exchanges down in Mexico a few times. Then dollars / precious metals at the coin shop. That’s about it on the other currencies.
“Very slick!”
I’ll say.
(one a minute)
Yup PT there is one a minute. Thanks for posting.
The Bitcoin is not as revolutionary as it seems. Only 8% of US Dollars exist as physical paper or metal currency, while the remaining 92% of US Dollars are virtual and exist as credit or debit entries on computer hard drives.
The Bitcoin is not as revolutionary as it seems.
The idea of virtual currency is not the revolutionary part—that has existed for much longer than bitcoin, agreed.
The revolutionary part is that it takes place on a decentralized basis; rather than trusting the banks, bankers, and central banks to keep score, there is no one centralized authority. Agreement about who owns what and which transactions occurred is reached via a decentralized agreement protocol.
Agreed. For a blog full of anti Fed types, you’d think this decentralized feature would be picking up their interest. Like precious metals.
Like paper currency.
paper currency is not decentralized. It’s printed by the Fed.
decentralized agreement protocol
Is that another term for a contract? If so, might courts be required to enforced such a contract?
If so, might courts be required to enforced such a contract?
All of the problem inherent in conducting trade between not-completely-trusted parties are also present in any Bitcoin transaction. In other words, performance, and remedies available for non-performance—all of those issues are still very much present, and contract law is still required to address them. Excellent point; thank you for making it.
It is only the transfer of funds that is different.
How Cryptocurrency can Revolutionize the Music Industry
https://medium.com/backchannel/bitcoin-for-rockstars-ca8366802f9
The sheer effort you had to expend shows how useless it would prove to be in its current form for the masses.
I think he is saying that it is irrelevant if the “masses” use it.
Europe’s biggest Bitcoin exchange has been hacked, again.
Cyber thieves have run off with about 19,000 bitcoin ($5.2 million) from Bitstamp accounts. The company said it has suspended services after some digital wallets were compromised on Jan 4.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/06/technology/security/bitcoin-bitstamp-hacked/
There is an apparent flaw in this supposed alternative to fiat currency!
The fact that people take a fundamentally _decentralized_ payment mechanism, and then hold their bitcoins in _centralized_ accounts at a company like this—that blows my mind.
What is it that they say again about fools and their money?
The fact that people take a fundamentally _decentralized_ payment mechanism, and then hold their bitcoins in _centralized_ accounts at a company like this—that blows my mind.
By why do they do that? Could it be because, unlike BiLA and others here they are not computer scientists or sysadmins, and thus they couldn’t possibly “hold on” to their bitcoins in a safe manner if they did it themselves? Not to mention that they probably lack the necessary infrastructure to do so. Do you really expect J6P to setup a Linux server to keep his bitcoins, and to manage it and keep is secure?
Same way about passwords. You would not believe how many people are careless with passwords.
Always keep your crypto currency that you do not use day to day -in an offline encrypted vault.
How about a Faraday Cage? Any concern about an electromagnetic storm? This imaginary currency thing seems to be rather ethereal.
Your offline PC don’t care about no electromagnetic storms. You can get your own up to date blockchain and millions of people around the earth do just that. Part of decentralizing. You sync periodically. And miners will add more blocks to the chain. So you think an electromagnetic storm will be endless sometime?
I have no idea what a blockchain is, but I think magnetic memory is pretty fragile. Being offline is not a protection against magnetic pulse, I suspect. What do you do, back up your bitcoins in the Cloud?
Made up money is fine for board games, go for it. There is tremendous advantage to money that is issued by an honest central government. Our problem is that our central government is not honest. I don’t think pretending that bottle caps or virtual credits are money is a dependable solution to that. Just my opinion.
Always keep your crypto currency that you do not use day to day -in an offline encrypted vault.
And back it up, in case the hard drives crashes or is stolen or destroyed.
This of course, is beyond J6P. In fact, it’s beyond a lot of people who are “above average”.
I have no idea what a blockchain is
Neither does 99.999% of the population. Which means that they don’t understand it, and are unlikely to use it.
Here is what wikipedia says about block chains:
Bitcoin transactions are recorded in a public ledger called the block chain. The block chain is distributed; to independently verify the chain of ownership of any and every bitcoin amount, each network node stores its own copy of it. Approximately six times per hour, a group of accepted transactions, a block, is added to the block chain, which is quickly published to all nodes. This allows bitcoin software to determine when a particular bitcoin amount has been spent, which is necessary to prevent double-spending in an environment with no central authority. Whereas a conventional ledger records the transfers of actual bills or promissory notes that exist apart from it, the block chain is the only place that bitcoins can be said to exist in the form of unspent outputs of transactions.
“I have no idea what a blockchain is
Neither does 99.999% of the population”
And the other 0.001 apparently do not understand what a Faraday cage is!
The blockchain is opaque by many apps. For my day-to-day wallets I let other apps deal with the blockchain. It’s about 20 gigabytes so I don’t want it on my phone, besides you have to sync it periodically. For my vault and other things I like to be close to the blockchain. The big money maker is apps that do not require you to have knowledge of the blockchain.
Again, each cryptocurrency has its own blockchain. Litecoin, Dogecoin, Darkcoin - and Bitcoin.
The factor that decides which currency will rein over the others might based on the apps that are built on its blockchain, rather than how currencies are traditionally accepted. Contract verification, music encyclopedias, etc.
IraqiNews.com) On Tuesday, a local source in Nineveh province announced that, ISIS executed 20 young men for allegedly impersonating elements of the organization; stealing and blackmailing people in the province. The source also confirmed that the terrorist organization executed three female lawyers in central Mosul as well.
The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com,”ISIS executed 20 young men of the inhabitants of Hamam al-Alil area after being arrested for theft, blackmailing people and impersonating members of the organization to be able to commit their crimes in Hamam district, south of Mosul.”
The source added, “The execution took place after the young men were tortured in the light of the decision issued by what is known as the Court of Legitimacy,” explaining that, “The death penalty was carried out in front of people in a market in central Mosul.”
We need another trillion dollar war to take care of this
New Congress, are you listening?
We need another trillion dollar war to take care of this
No, we can just recycle the old ones, we need to stay green.
New Congress, are you listening ??
Dick Cheney for 2016 !!
Dick Cheney?!? Hell, Oblammo still has a couple years left in office and his peace-prize-mongering Democrat cronies have been doing pretty good at starting/continuing/re-starting wars.
“We Need a War”
That’s a great Fischerspooner song…
So theft and blackmailing people is impersonating members of the organization? Hmmmmm……
Capitol Report
Crashing oil prices to hit home-price appreciation
By Ruth Mantell
Published: Jan 6, 2015 9:07 a.m. ET
MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Home prices ticked up in November, supporting growth, but the pace could slow as the crash in crude-oil prices hits certain U.S. housing markets, according to a report released Tuesday.
U.S. home prices inched up 0.1% in November, pulling up annual growth to 5.5% from a year-over-year pace of 5.4% in October, according to CoreLogic, an Irvine, Calif.–based analysis firm. But by November 2015 the annual pace could cool to 4.6% — the slowest growth since mid-2012 — as dropping energy prices strike states such as Texas and North Dakota.
“Three of the top four states with the highest price appreciation are energy intensive and had been benefitting from the energy boom which is currently receding as oil prices trend downward. These states…may see some downward pressure on prices in 2015,” said Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic.
Oil’s fall is just one factor behind slowing home prices. Annual home-price growth has been trending down since late 2013 as more owners have listed their homes for sale. Annual price growth hasn’t been in the double digits since March, though appreciation somewhat firmed in recent months. In November 2013, year-over-year home-price growth reached 11.6%.
…
Only parasites see higher prices as “growth”.
I’ll be quoting that one too.
Have they given Boehner the gate yet?
send ole weepy eyes back to cincinnati already
btw when i lived there i got to meet jean ‘cowards cut and run, marines never do’ schmidt at a constituent town hall, when i shook her hand i got a tingle in my trousers
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
We are not surprised.
Google Voluntaryism.
like a cockroach he will survive.
Eff-eff, he did. I actually watched the vote live and as a result, am suffering bouts of nausea right now.
All I could think of, though, when I saw that pile of steaming turds gathered together in one place, at one time….
Never mind. I like Massie from Kentucky, and he was there, so, not today.
‘Their stand is a reminder of a practice once common in Washington and elsewhere. Many of the federal government’s most powerful figures lived in sections of the city where segregation was a contractually mandated part of the deal they made when they bought their homes.’
——————————————————————————–
By putting racism on a financial basis rich white people stripped a lot of value from poor/middle class white people.
How?
In the past you didn’t need a lot of money to live in an all white community.
The civil rights laws inflated the value of white neighborhoods while introducing volatility, complexity and uncertainty into the market.
*abundance is the enemy of profit*
Oh dear…
Alexandria County, VA(DC Metro) Sale Prices Turn Negative YoY; Plunge 6% QoQ and 4% MoM
http://www.zillow.com/alexandria-city-county-va/home-values/
That Jeffrey Epstein had a lot of friends in high places.
And low places too.
Those underaged girls he diddled weren’t even all that hot
If I had all his cash I could do alot better
perverts gonna perv, goon, perverts gonna perv.
Bill Clinton Connected to Sex Offender Jeff Epstein
by Kurt Nimmo | Infowars.com | January 6, 2015
In addition to Queen Elizabeth’s second son, Prince Andrew, and professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, Alan M. Dershowitz, a former president has been connected to high roller sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On Monday The Smoking Gun reported former President Bill Clinton traveled with Epstein between 2002 and 2005 while the police were investigating Epstein.
In 2008 the former options trader at Bear Stearns was sentenced to 18 months in prison for soliciting prostitution. It was discovered a number of the girls recruited by the financier were high school students. An anonymous woman filed a $50 million lawsuit against Epstein in 2008 alleging that she and others were used as “sex slaves.”
A civil suit filed by Epstein’s victims initially considered subpoenaing Clinton because he “might well be a source of relevant information” about Epstein’s activities.
The lawsuit “claims that Clinton was friends with an unnamed woman who ‘kept images of naked underage children on her computer, helped to recruit underage children for Epstein… and photographed underage females in sexually explicit poses,’” the Daily Mail reported in March.
“While Clinton was never deposed, lawyers obtained Epstein’s computerized phone directory, which included ‘e-mail addresses for Clinton along with 21 phone numbers for him, including those for his assistant (Doug Band),’ according to a court filing,” The Smoking Gun reports.
I got two words for Clinton: Depo Provera.
Either that or saltpeter his azz. Gawd, please, somebody…
“Gawd, please, somebody…”
Maybe Hillary will finally take care of “it”.
Bill Clinton And The Pedophile: The Sex Scandal That Could Destroy Hillary’s Presidential Ambitions
by Michael Snyder
End Of The American Dream
January 6, 2015
Why did a convicted billionaire pedophile named Jeffrey Epstein that pimped out underage girls to powerful men have 21 contact phone numbers for Bill Clinton?
And why did Clinton fly on “multiple occasions” to the private Caribbean island where Epstein regularly held wild sexual orgies? Let me give you a hint: it was not to discuss politics over milk and cookies. Every once in a while, we get a small peek into the twisted sexual world of the global elite. In this case, a Florida lawsuit that alleges that Britain’s Prince Andrew had sex with a 17-year-old “sex slave” provided by Epstein is making headlines all over the planet. But of potentially even greater importance is what this lawsuit is revealing about Bill Clinton. If it can be proven that Bill Clinton had sex with underage girls provided by Jeffrey Epstein, that could potentially destroy any chance that Hillary Clinton has of winning the presidency in 2016.
The 17-year-old girl that Prince Andrew is alleged to have had sex with is named Virginia Roberts. She is claiming that she once received $15,000 for having sex with him…
A teenage “sex slave” says she was paid $15,000 for bedding Britain’s Prince Andrew by the American billionaire who served as the royal’s procurer.
Virginia Roberts was 17 when Wall Street honcho and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein allegedly pimped her out to the prince.
“A lot of powerful men were part of Jeffrey’s scene, but I specifically remember Andrew,” Roberts told Britain’s Daily Mail.
And it is a fact that Jeffrey Epstein is a convicted sex offender. He was convicted by a court of law for paying a 14-year-old girl 300 dollars to massage him and have sex with him…
Comment by phony scandals
2015-01-06 13:02:15
Bill Clinton And The Pedophile: The Sex Scandal That Could Destroy Hillary’s Presidential Ambitions
endoftheamericandream.com/archives/bill-clinton-and-the-pedophile-the-sex-scandal-that-could-destroy-hillarys-presidential-ambitions
Sounds like Bill is a good candidate for some heart trouble.
Hoist with his own petard.
Epstein must be mortified to be linked to Slick Willie.
Hey Dannyboy I am thinking about skiing at Wolf Creek on Saturday 1/17
Why don’t you drive up there and join me?
I need to head to Flagstaff the next day, work related, so I think I will pass but thanks. I need to buy you a beer but in the meantime leave those underage girls alone. Fifteen will get you fifty unless you are part of the .01 percent.
He prefers the ladies in their early 20’s, especially if they’re from Boulder and wear yoga pants
He prefers the ladies in their early 20’s, especially if they’re from Boulder and wear yoga pants
Don’t we all?
Skiing in Siberia:
http://travel.iafrica.com/destin/975941.html
Oil drop killing jobs up north…
http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/06/news/economy/oil-jobs-gas-prices/index.html?iid=Lead
Wow, some people actually GET IT!!…
“When I went through this in 2009, I learned my lesson to save my money instead of spending it. That’s what is saving me now,” Sharpe said.
As I had once heard “Save every penny you have, cuz, yer gonna need it”
Bubble jobs are a mirage anyways. Realtors, inspectors, mortgage pimps, etc.
Those who live by the boom, die by the boom.
Prediction: Plenty of nearly new, heavily discounted used F-350’s will be on dealer lots soon.
Bellevue, WA Sale Prices Plummet 12% YoY; Demand Plunges As Prices Deflate Nationally
http://www.zillow.com/beaux-arts-village-wa-98004/home-values/
Why is there no Dec data on those charts yet? You have always said that Zillow data is “current”, but their latest is from Nov.
Tricks Western ‘News’ Media Use to Deceive about Ukraine’s War
Posted on January 6, 2015 by Eric Zuesse.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/…/tricks-western-news-media-use-deceive-ukraines-war.html - 75k -
Question for the PricePimps, DebtDonkeys and the hopelessly indebted….
Where we at today?
http://goo.gl/WxtVsS
Couple of layoffs of note - US Steel - anyone think this is tied to oil?
http://www.dailyjobcuts.com/
Top issue of Merikans? Could it be - yes it is - ding, ding, ding…….
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2015/01/top-issue-for-americans-bad-government/
If you bought a new car today you waaaaaaaaaay overpaid.
If you live in LA you are OVERPAYING for EVERYTHING.
If you bought a new car today you waaaaaaaaaay overpaid.
Didn’t stop a coworker, who constantly whines about how underpaid she is, from buying a brand new Lexus.
She didn’t pay for it. The bank did. SubprimeAuto.
Eventually, she’ll pay it off. To give her credit, she does keep her cars for 10+ years. I was just surprised by her choice of car, given how she likes to complain about not getting raises. Still, she and hubby make 200K+.
She’ll default.
So, somebody making $200K/yr can’t whip out the ol’ checkbook to buy a car? Something wrong with that picture . . .
…And I’ll happily buy it from the bank @ 75% off when she defaults.
“Only suckers pay retail”.
And I’ll happily buy it from the bank @ 75% off when she defaults.
I don’t think she will. She’s an engineer, not a realtor.
Give it time….
Unless she and hubby bought a $600K house, she should have been able to buy that Lexus outright.
Falling Housing Prices… It’s The New Rage.
http://goo.gl/gd8dNu
Here is Reuters take on US Steel from above
U.S. Steel to idle Ohio pipe plant as oil prices drop
Reuters 1/6/2015 11:32 AM ET
Print Article
Jan 6 (Reuters) - United States Steel Corp said it would temporarily idle its pipe manufacturing plant in Lorain, Ohio and lay off 614 workers, largely due to weak demand from the oil industry.
The layoffs will begin in early March, a spokeswoman said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the impending layoffs earlier on Tuesday. (http://on.wsj.com/14i2EHH) (Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru)
‘The naira weakened a second day and Nigerian stocks headed for biggest drop since 2010 as central bank measures to protect the currency of Africa’s largest crude producer from falling oil prices stifled trading.’
‘There were nine trades in the naira between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in Lagos, compared with 122 in the same period four weeks ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from at least 39 local and international banks. The naira weakened 0.8 percent to 185 per dollar, extending losses over the past three months to 11 percent, the most of 24 African currencies tracked by Bloomberg.’
‘The Abuja-based regulator last month told banks to clear foreign exchange positions daily, having previously allowed them net-open positions of 1 percent of shareholder funds. The move has made it difficult for non-Nigerian investors to exit their holdings, according to Samir Gadio, head of African strategy at Standard Chartered Plc.’
“For those who remain in Nigeria, it’s become virtually impossible to get out,” he said by phone from London. “There’s a risk that these measures last as long as the central bank feels it doesn’t have the ability to control the exchange rate.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-06/nigeria-s-naira-drops-as-central-bank-controls-choke-trading.html?cmpid=yhoo
The naira weakened a second day and Nigerian stocks headed for biggest drop since 2010 as central bank measures to protect the currency of Africa’s largest crude producer from falling oil prices stifled trading.
I got an email from a rich Nigerian prince. They should see if he can help.
Jasmine Ng, Bloomberg | 6 January 2015 11:27
Iron ore inventories at ports in China, the largest importer of the steel-making raw material, fell to the lowest level in almost 11 months as mills replenished holdings after prices fell and local output slowed during the winter.
The stockpiles dropped 0.9 percent to 100.6 million tons as of Jan. 2, shrinking for a sixth week, according to data from Shanghai Steelhome Information Technology Co. That’s the lowest level since Feb. 14, and the sixth weekly decrease is the longest run of declines since April 2013. The inventories are 12 percent lower after peaking at 113.7 million tons in July.
While iron ore retreated 47 percent last year as global output expanded, prices opened 2015 with the biggest weekly gain in 18 months amid speculation China will take more steps to spur growth. The country is accelerating infrastructure projects valued at 7 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion), according to people familiar with the matter. Some ore mines in China typically close during the winter, and last year’s slump in prices spurred speculation that not all of them will reopen this year.
“Restocking by mills, plus seasonal factor of northern Chinese mines closing for winter” drove the stockpiles lower, Philip Kirchlechner, director of Iron Ore Research Pty in Perth, Australia, said by e-mail. If the mines stay shut after the winter, it “is a possible sustaining factor for prices.”
“The country is accelerating infrastructure projects valued at 7 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion), according to people familiar with the matter.”
So China is going full throttle into building more ghost cities? That is going to be one hellacious crash.
So China is going full throttle into building more ghost cities? That is going to be one hellacious crash.
Maybe, but not this year or next. The Chinese government has low debt and the infrastructural work is roads, rail, canals, airports, sewer systems, etc. When you have 1/5 of the debt of this country on a GDP percentage, you can keep the game going for some time.
“roads, rail, canals, airports, sewer systems”
So the people will still be extremely poor but they will have a nice road to get there and a place to piss. These things improve life but do not generate income.
I think that if the government plans $1Tr in public works projects, it is a measure of the hole in their economy. It will keep a couple hundred million people employed, if it is really what they will do.
“The inventories are 12 percent lower after peaking at 113.7 million tons in July.”
Lowering inventory is pretty rational when you’ve just lost $7 billion on what’s in the shed.
Nearly all Spanish parties guilty of financial crimes, Audit Court finds
Watchdog’s chief attorney drafts damning report against national and regional groups…
by José Antonio Hernández | El Pais.com | January 6, 2015
Nearly every significant political party in Spain, whether national or regional in scope, committed tax fraud and other financial crimes in its 2012 accounts, according to the country’s Audit Court.
The national watchdog’s chief attorney, Olayo González Soler, has drafted a damning report pointing the finger of blame at Spain’s two main political organizations, the Popular Party (PP) and the Socialist Party (PSOE), but also at Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), to name just a couple of others on the list.
The report, to which EL PAÍS has had access, lists serious criminal offenses that include illegal debt cancellation, accounting that does not reflect real income and expenditure, odd loans to obscure foundations, and unlawful donations.
“lists serious criminal offenses that include illegal debt cancellation, accounting that does not reflect real income and expenditure, odd loans to obscure foundations, and unlawful donations.”
And people worry about the Latinization of the US. Faw.
Do not buy Sharyl Attkisson’s trade in.
Do not buy Sharyl Attkisson’s trade in.
Why not, it is the bomb?
I think it is a Mercedes S-Class Hellfire model
The brakes are optional on her model.
Obamacare “Fail” Stories
by sattkisson
on January 2, 2015
in Healthcare.gov, News
The White House has helped gather many success stories born of the Affordable Care Act.
Read ACA success stories here.
Many people have undoubtedly been helped: for example, the previously uninsurable with pre-existing conditions.
However, other Americans have been disappointed by Obamacare and believe it has worked against them.
Please be specific, be nice and stick to the facts. To read the stories, click “comments” or read below.
INSURANCE CANCELLED AFTER OBAMACARE. NOW HAS TO PAY MUCH MORE
Submitted on 2014/12/09 at 11:29 am
CAN’T AFFORD SAME COVERAGE, DAUGHTER MUST GO WITHOUT PRIVATE INSURANCE
Submitted on 2014/11/03 at 3:29 am
Wife and I have a 32 yr old daughter. She has never made much money and has no insurance unless wife and I provide it. For years wife and I cheerfully paid for catastrophic medical insurance for daughter. (skip to) But insurance company was forced to add extras we didn’t want to policy and raised monthly cost to about $295.00. Now that is too high and we cannot afford that. Guess will let taxpayers foot bill and get daughter onto Medicaid. Goes against our values, but Obummercare forces it.
NEW PREMIUM: MORE THAN DOUBLE FOR FEWER BENEFITS
Submitted on 2014/10/31 at 12:06 pm
INSURANCE COSTS WENT UP FOR INFERIOR PLAN: COULDN’T KEEP PLAN OR DOCTOR
Submitted on 2014/10/27 at 3:09 pm
BOOTED OFF PLAN FOR MORE EXPENSIVE INSURANCE UNDER OBAMACARE
Submitted on 2014/10/27 at 2:00 pm
I am getting kicked off my current plan ,$ 1,230 month with no deductible,the NEW AND IMPROVED ACA plan is $1,720 with a $5,000 deductible.I am dumfounded when I see these news reports about how well the ACA
sharylattkisson.com/obamacare-fail-stories/ - 266k - Cached - Similar pages
4 days ago
Comment by phony scandals
2015-01-06 12:01:20
Obamacare “Fail” Stories
sharylattkisson.com/obamacare-fail-stories/
fedres scumbag says “pent up demand” for autos and nothing to worry about subprime auto lending.
Criminal.
Correction: CEO of auto nation.
More car choices for me at a steep discount when the defaults start en masse.
I’m afraid massive bankruptcies are on the way.
You bet your sweet default they are. Massive world yard sale comin’…
Keep yer cash!
I tried not to but by the time I got to the “Socrates” line I had to laugh.
The Hilarious Racism of Al Sharpton
Decent Americans should see the dangers posed by America’s race hustlers
by Walter Williams | LewRockwell.com | January 6, 2015
Last week’s column focused on the ways liberals use blacks in pursuit of their leftist agenda, plus their demeaning attitudes toward black people. Most demeaning are their double standards. It was recently reported that Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the House majority whip, spoke at a 2002 gathering hosted by white supremacist leaders when he was a Louisiana state representative. Some are calling on Scalise to step down or for House Speaker John Boehner to fire him. There’s no claim that Scalise made racist statements.
Hardly anyone blinks an eye at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s racist statements, such as: “White folks was in the caves while we (blacks) was building empires. … We built pyramids before Donald Trump ever knew what architecture was. … We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it.”
Sharpton again: “So (if) some cracker come and tell you ‘Well, my mother and father blood go back to the Mayflower,’ you better hold your pocket. That ain’t nothing to be proud of. That means their forefathers was crooks.” Sharpton also offered, “If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.”
Despite such racism, President Barack Obama has made Sharpton his go-to guy on matters of race. But not to worry. Obama himself spent 20 years listening to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s anti-Semitic and racist sermons. The news media and intellectual elite don’t condemn Sharpton or Obama, because they have two standards of behavior: one for whites and a lower one for blacks.
Comment by phony scandals
2015-01-06 12:41:57
The Hilarious Racism of Al Sharpton
lewrockwell.com/2015/01/walter-e-williams/the-hilarious-racism-of-al-sharpton/
Gig Harbor, WA Sale Prices Dive 4% YoY; Plummet 16% QoQ As Housing Correction Gains Speed
http://www.zillow.com/gig-harbor-wa/home-values/
http://www.cnbc.com
“When you see Japanese rates at 28 basis points (0.28), it’s not a surprise Japanese investors like Treasurys, and the same is true of European investors,” said George Goncalves, head of rate strategy at Nomura. German 10-year bunds were at 0.44 percent Tuesday, and the five-year has had a negative yield since last week.
“What we’re seeing is proof positive that we live in a very globalized market, and it’s nowhere truer than in the bond market, where the flows are cross border,” Goncalves said. “They’re indiscriminant. They’re not based on country bias. They’re looking for the highest yield.”
Strategists also expect yields to stay low for months to come because of the influence of global markets.
“The overriding point is there’s excess capital looking for a place to call home, a place to invest, and since it’s a relative game, U.S. yields look attractive,” said Pimco strategist Tony Crescenzi. “Also given the U.S. dollar has been rallying, it’s a kicker. That tops off the trade. Not only can you achieve a higher-yielding investment than in Europe, but you can also have the benefit of a rising dollar. The trade will work until it doesn’t. It will at some point get crowded. In trades like this, when sentiment is one-sided, it can last longer than you think.”
yields looks attractive? what kind of bs are they tryn to push here?
negative yields are now attractive? how stupid do they think people are?
Still got a Boehner
Boehner Re-Elected as House Speaker Despite Conservative Revolt
By Frank Thorp V, Alex Moe and Carrie Dann
Rep. John Boehner has been re-elected as Speaker of the House, even as 25 members of own party declined to support him.
Twenty-four Republicans voted for individuals other than Boehner, while one voted “present.”
Why no challenge to the democrat leadership?
Because OWS elected not one congressman or senator
I think the point was that the Tea Party Wave was toothless.
Can you believe it? Well, that tells me everything I need to know about this “new” CONgress. Put the GOP on suicide watch and hope it happens sooner rather than later.
How about this:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-federal-government-has-3-trillion-in-loans-on-its-books-2015-01-06?link=MW_home_latest_news
Massive increase in federal lending since the crisis. After all, that isn’t “spending” and businesses love it!
People understood federal lending was rising in this category and that category. But the total is staggering.
Got rent?
https://homes.yahoo.com/news/where-rent-highest-2014-181911074.html
Detroit: Man to be tried in foreclosure dispute slayings
A 22-year-old man will stand trial on murder and related-weapons charges in the fatal shootings of a father and daughter in a dispute involving a foreclosed Detroit home.
Alonzo Long Jr., 22, was charged in the deaths of Howard Franklin, 72, and Catherine Franklin, 37, following a dispute over a chandelier and window treatments.
The father and daughter died in late November at the Rosedale Park home they had purchased weeks earlier. They had been shot a total of nine times, with seven bullets hitting the father. Both were shot in the head and other areas of the body.
Inconceivable! Detroit has strict gun control laws.
Oil Craters Through $48/bbl; Hovering $47
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/crude%20oil%20-%20electronic
How do you contain a crater? Ring it with orange construction fence?
For the second day in a row the manipulator, (US government) ended up with burnt fingers. How much wealth was destroyed in the stock market today and yesterday? The plan was to throw Russia into a recession not the United States.
You’re increasingly desperate Dan.
Great Lakes shippers: Last year’s freeze cost $705 million, want more public spending on ice breakers
This is what men get for marrying bitchez!!! 975 mil is NOT enough - man o man.
http://news.yahoo.com/harold-hamm-offers-975-million-divorce-check-ex-204908511–finance.html
she deserves 50% of all assets acquired during their lovely marriage. He better come back with a bigger offer.
She’s a lawyer(liawyer?). She knows her “rights”.
Do you think we should throw a bone to the oil industry like we did to the real estate industry?
Dont you think a lot of bankers are gonna take haircuts on loans?
Whats the difference? We have a printing press why not help?
Are low oil prices good or bad for the economy for the tenth time?
I might need to happy pills when I fill up at the pumps I feel so bad.
What is the best ETF to go long oil when the dust settles?
Petrol prices expected to continue to fall for weeks amid increased competition, NRMA says
ABC – 1 hour 9 minutes ago
Petrol prices are continuing to fall with some outlets selling fuel at the lowest price in more than five years.
Motoring group NRMA said the oversupply of oil due to increased competition around the world was dropping the price of petrol at the bowser.
One Sydney retailer was leading the charge, dropping the price of Unleaded E10 to 99.9 cents per litre yesterday - a price Sydney has not seen since December 2009.
West Texas intermediate crude oil dipped another 4 per cent to $US47.93 a barrel, its lowest level in several years overnight, driving yet another round of losses on Wall Street.
An oversupply of oil and a US currency strengthened by worries about the eurozone have driven the oil price down by more than half since June.
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the international conditions making prices lower at the bowser was welcome news for motorists.
“What we’ve seen basically and we haven’t seen this for a very long time is oversupply,” he said.
“The United States has increased production consistently now for some time.
Saudi Arabia is trying to match that by maintaining its levels of production.
So you’ve got more oil on the market than what we’re using.
“As a result prices are low and they’re low in time for the holidays which is great news.”
Earlier this week CommSec economist Craig James said Australian retail and wholesale prices were now matching the falls in the benchmark Singapore refinery prices and there was little scope for further price falls unless oil prices kept sliding.
However, Mr Khoury from the NRMA said motorists should expect relief to the bowser for weeks to come.
“We expect the prices to continue to fall.”
…
It would be really interesting to see who is making a sh@tload of money as oil goes down. who was smart enough to make that call? Who had the brass b@lls and went against the crowd?
I think what gets the retail guy is the fact the market can stay irrational a lot longer than they can stay solvent.
6 years of irrational behavior can wipe people out.
Would also be quite fascinating to learn who is losing his shirt. I’m guessing the stories will surface soon enough.
How long can frackers sell oil at a loss?
Is 4 trillion of QE just a primer of whats to come?
The BOJ is basically buying all the govt debt in japan and its business as usual. Why is it different here?
So I stopped into an open house in a ‘hood of nice arts & crafts homes on the way home the other day. The place was nicely refurbished, and the realtor could see that I was impressed with the place. She asked what I thought, and says I, candidly, as I am wont to do, I’m not inclined to buy on the cusp of another housing bust, but look forward to the subsequent firesale. Her Botox perma-grin never wavered, but the look she shot me made me momentarily fearful I’d have to lay down some of my Rex-Kwan-Do moves to make it out of there in one piece. I tell you, some people are way too thin-skinned.
Hopelessly corrupt realtors are.
“What this breakdown in the crude oil price is going to spawn another financial crisis. It will be tied to the junk debt that has been issued to finance the shale oil plays in North America. It is reported to be in the area of half a trillion dollars worth of junk debt that is held largely on the books of large financial institutions in the western world. When these bonds start to fail, they will jeopardize the future of these financial institutions. I do believe that will be the signal for the Fed to come riding to the rescue with QE4. I also think QE4 is likely going to be accompanied by bank bail-ins because we all know all western world countries have adopted bail-in legislation in their most recent budgets. The financial elites are engineering the excuse for their next round of money printing . . . and they will be confiscating money out of savings accounts and pension accounts. That’s what I think is coming in the very near future.”
http://usawatchdog.com/oil-derivatives-explode-in-early-2015-rob-kirby/
That’s correct. Now think of the results of QE4.
Harry “Dour” Dent wrong again
January 2013 predicts Dow will drop to 6,000 by 2014.
http://moneymorning.com/2013/01/10/is-harry-dents-stock-market-crash-prediction-as-crazy-as-it-seems/
In 2014 predicted gold to $700. oops His advertisements on Kitco now use 2015.
With 5,200 views recorded so far, 385 thumbs down for poor old, injured Harry Reid. He’s a mess; bandage over his eye, bruises, an argument against strenuous exercise.
Senator Reid Discusses Opening of 114th Congress
I was tempted to post that I care as much for you, Harry, as you do for us, bless your heart (as I hear they say in the South.) Well, I am in southern Nevada.
Still have electronic assets the IRS knows about (hint: your bitcoin is not one of them)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2014/10/27/a-new-irs-horror-story-that-makes-past-scandals-pale-in-comparison/
Q. For how many more days can the price of oil drop $2/bbl per day?
24 days.
You guessed it! The answer is 24 days:
$48/bbl / ($2/bbl/day) = 24 days.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Business Day
Santos shares worthless at current oil price, broker says
Date
January 7, 2015 - 11:29AM
Angela Macdonald-Smith
While energy stocks have been hammered by the sharp dive in the oil price, their share prices suggest investors aren’t expecting crude will stay this cheap forever.
A theoretical exercise by Credit Suisse equity analysts has made the startling finding that Santos’ equity is worthless when current oil prices and foreign exchange rates are assumed to persist for ever.
Assuming oil prices of $US55.20 a barrel, and Australian dollar at US80.6¢ and a slope of 8.5 times for the east coast gas price results in a calculation for Santos’s net present value of negative 13¢ a share, Credit Suisse energy analyst Mark Samter has told clients.
…
Did you offload your Treasurys too soon?
The Buzz
Stocks should fall further. Here’s why.
By Paul R. La Monica
January 6, 2015: 3:16 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Monday’s 331-point drop in the Dow was ugly. And the Dow was down more than 200 points in midday trading Tuesday before bouncing back a bit at the end of the day.
But let’s put this in perspective: The Dow and S&P 500 are about 4% below their all-time highs from just a few weeks ago. So we are not even halfway to what’s known as a correction, a 10% pullback from a recent peak.
And guess what? We need a correction. Badly.
They are healthy and occur often in normal bull markets, but we haven’t had one for the S&P 500 since the summer of 2011. (Some other indexes, most notably the small cap-focused Russell 2000, did fall more than 10% from recent highs last year. though)
market correction
We’ve come close to a broader market correction a couple of times. Stocks were hit hard in late September and early October of last year and then again in the beginning of December.
But the market wound up going on a ferocious Santa Claus rally in the last few weeks of 2014 to finish near their record highs.
“It’s been like waiting for Godot. We’ve been waiting for a correction for a long time. But it seems like every time stocks fall 5% or 6%, things turn around on a dime,” said Paul Nolte, a portfolio manager with Kingsview Asset Management.
…
Stock market sell-off: Investors run to bonds
By Heather Long
January 6, 2015: 4:55 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Need more proof the stock market is freaking out? Just look at bonds.
The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note has been on a post-holiday weight loss plan. It was around 2.25% the day after Christmas. It touched a low of 1.89% on Tuesday.
Stocks and bonds move around all the time, but the 2% yield is a red-flag threshold. It means that investors are basically willing to accept an interest rate on a bond that will lose them money in the long-term, since U.S. inflation typically hovers around 2%.
That’s how worried investors are.
CNNMoney’s Fear & Greed Index now reads “Extreme Fear.” Today was the first time the 10-year government bond yield closed below 2% since May of 2013 — the height of the “taper tantrum.”
Bond Yield Jan 6
Markets hate uncertainty. With crude oil now trading solidly below $50, experts predict it could go as low as the $30-range.
“It’s the uncertainty over where oil will find support that has investors in a paralysis,” wrote Tim Anderson, managing director of trading firm MND Partners. “It’s just impossible to define the extent of winners and losers until oil prices reach a new equilibrium price.”
…
Credit Markets
Nervous Investors Flee to Treasurys
Yield on 10-Year U.S. Government Note Drops Below 2%
By Min Zeng and Nick Timiraos
Updated Jan. 6, 2015 7:19 p.m. ET
Yields on government bonds in the U.S., Germany and Japan plunged Tuesday as anxiety over global growth intensified and investors sought havens from widening financial-market turmoil.
Economists and investors are increasingly concerned that the stagnant economies of the eurozone may be headed for a prolonged bout of deflation—a damaging spiral of falling prices and reduced spending and investment. That, in turn, has sparked worries about the resilience of the U.S. economy, which thus far has managed to accelerate in the face of economic stumbles in other major markets. But as oil prices fall and stock markets decline, some investors are losing confidence.
On Tuesday, those concerns played out in the bond market, where yields on government bonds dropped and prices rose. Investors flocked to German and Japanese debt, sending yields on some to record lows. In the U.S., the yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped below 2%, ending the day at its lowest level since May 2013.
The declines accompanied a fresh tumble in the price of crude oil and another pullback in stock prices. Nymex crude dropped 4.2% in New York to $47.93 a barrel, its lowest level since the financial crisis, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 130.01 points to 17371.64, marking its worst start to a year since 2008.
Much of the markets’ future path will be determined by U.S. growth, a rare bright spot in an otherwise bleak global economic picture.
Advertisement
An index tracking U.S. service-sector activity slipped to a six-month low in December, and a drop in new orders for manufactured goods in November indicated lower equipment spending and other investment during the fourth quarter. That prompted forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers to lower its estimate of annualized U.S. gross-domestic-product growth in the fourth quarter to 2.7% on Tuesday from 2.8%.
“The economy appears to be losing steam as we head into the new year,” said Lindsey Piegza, an economist at Sterne Agee, in a note to clients Tuesday.
…
Oil is now barely hanging on at $47/bbl.
Wither tomorrow: Below $45/bbl?
phony scandals
War on women