Bits Bucket for February 3, 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.
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Name:Ben Jones
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The stock market is going up again.
WE’RE SAVED!!!!
Late Energy Rally Leads an Aimless Market Higher
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FEB. 2, 2015
A late rally led by energy companies lifted stock indexes on Monday, after Wall Street opened higher and then struggled to find direction for much of the day.
Two weak reports on the American economy fed the uncertainty. Oil prices ended up surging for a third straight day, and stocks of big producers jumped. All 10 industry sectors in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose.
Shares in Exxon Mobil rose 2.5 percent after the company reported better-than-expected earnings. Chevron stock jumped 3.4 percent. Both companies are members of the Dow Jones industrial average.
…
Long time no post, I’ve been lurking though…
I have a pretty decent size position built in USO, and I’m up just short of 5% at this writing. My gut feel after all I have read is that I should stick with the position, the price of oil is going higher over the next 6-12 months.
FWIW
Crude hasn’t bottomed yet.
I’m long some oil related stocks, and while I like the bounce in prices, it feels a bit early. I expect oil prices to fall again before they fully recover to a level that justifies more fracking.
With a globe full of crude and collapsing demand, I don’t think you have to worry about it Rental_Fraud.
And remember….. A “recovery” is falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels by definition.
“My gut feel after all I have read is that I should stick with the position, the price of oil is going higher over the next 6-12 months.”
Did the oil companies shrink their workforce too soon, or do they know something not discussed publicly?
I needz cheep howses.
As is oil. Over 50 now. Is the cartel play over?
I had to pay $1.79 this weekend, prices at the pump appear to have stopped declining.
A fall from $1.85 to 1.79 means they stopped falling?
LOLZ
Read the chart http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx
It fell 6 cents in a week. Your point?
It fell 6 cents in a week. Your point?
Near me, prices “fell” from $1.669 / gal to $1.859/gal last week, overnight.
How far do you think it has to fall before it reaches bottom?
How far do you think it has to fall before it reaches bottom?
I was hoping it would reach $1 a gallon (YMMV, depending on local gas taxes)
I had to pay $1.79 this weekend, prices at the pump appear to have stopped declining.
They’ve actually risen in Longmont, by several cents. Dead cat bounce, I presume.
Methinks this is having an effect…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-01/oil-workers-in-u-s-begin-first-large-scale-strike-since-1980
PBear, have people here discussed that future Congress/Presidents will probably come after tax advantaged middle class plans like 401k , Roth IRAs, and college savings plans?
I can’t envision a Congress/WH actually coming after tax breaks used by the wealthy or by corporations because this is who funds campaigns. When push comes to shove, it’s simply much easier and politically feasible to go after the average citizen. And this would be a bipartisan issue it seems like, no matter if the Pres/Congress is Dem or GOP. The messaging may vary and the use of the funds will vary, but it seems obvious the middle class has a huge target on its back. People with millions do all the election funding and don’t need 401k’s (better tools out there); people barely scraping by don’t have 401k’s to worry about and see people making $100k as “rich”.
Liberace!
downlow joe has entered the building
Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe (Official Music Video) [HD … - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOYZaiDZ7BM - 523k - Cached - Similar pages
Taxation is already quite progressive, considerably more than only a few years ago. But I’m not sold on the notion that special raids on 401(k) or IRA balances lie in our futures.
Of course the paranoia some express over this possibility could help explain dismal personal retirement savings rates.
can you afford some kibbles and bits from the yields off your savings account at the bank?
I’ll note that Obama grazed the third rail of 529 plans (taking away the tax free nature of withdrawals for education expenses).
Obama’s proposal was to exempt current accounts, but to tax FUTURE contributions.
And that was shot down quickly (including cries from the left).
My point is simply this. If a VERY left leaning president’s idea to tax FUTURE contributions to tax advantaged plans gets shot down so quickly (including attacks from his own party), I’d be shocked if I see a special raid on 401(k) or IRA balances–which is far more egregious.
That’s why God created the Roth.
People with millions do all the election funding and don’t need 401k’s (better tools out there)
Care to elaborate on those “better tools”, and at what level of assets they begin to make sense?
I know a person who has set up a private pension (funds a lot of money tax deferred into the plan, has a private administrator that does the math to make sure the pension is fully funded, etc.).
That’s the one “better” tool that I’ve heard about, but I’m not sure it’s “better”.
Yes, you can put a lot of money aside. HOWEVER, you lose a lot of flexibility while the money is locked up, and the administration is a hassle, and it’s all ordinary income when it comes back out.
I don’t know how much money you need to have in order to make it worthwhile, but I understand the minimum amount that you should expect to put away is several million in order to make the pension numbers actually make any sense.
Defined benefit pensions are great tools for the right circumstance. You can sock away $50k+ a year.
Due to antidiscrimination rules in coverage, this only works when you have few employees / self-employed. Most principals don’t want to provide these robust benefits to non-family.
For instance, a consultant brings in $475k a year, pays himself and his wife $130k/year each. He can put away $100k + into a db plan.
Admin is much easier and less costly than it used to be as there are off the shelf plans provided by the admin companies.
PBear, have people here discussed that future Congress/Presidents will probably come after tax advantaged middle class plans like 401k , Roth IRAs, and college savings plans?”
Then why not go after mortgage deductions ?
Obama wants to step up cost bias on inherited wealth. So it’s started.
I guess the rich will buy life insurance or some other clever way around the full court press on the last of the middle class.
When the president’s proposal for taxing 529 plans became public, the backlash was fierce — not just from Republicans, but also from members of his own party. Ultimately, the president withdrew the proposal, with the White House calling it a “distraction” from the rest of the president’s education plan. The intentions behind the proposal may have been well-meaning, but ultimately it turned out to be a misstep for the White House.”
He backed off this one and he will probably be forced to back off a confiscation of 401k and IRA plans. besides how much money is there anyway ??
Investment management firm Vanguard reported the average account balances for 401(k) plan participants reached a record high of $101,650 at year-end 2013.
Not much really.
He backed off this one and he will probably be forced to back off a confiscation of 401k and IRA plans.
The Banking Clan would never approve. I’m thinking that the 529 plan changes were just a head fake to distract from the “free Community College” proposal.
Try not to get your shorts squeezed!
Did you dump your Treasurys in time?
Bond Report
Treasurys retreat on Greek debt hopes, surging oil
Published: Feb 3, 2015 4:36 p.m. ET
Japan 10-year yield tops Germany for first time
Reuters
Did Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis just blink?l
By William Watts
Reporter
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. Treasurys tumbled Tuesday, pushing yields up from a 21-month low, as hopes grew for a resolution of the debt standoff between Greece’s new government and its eurozone partners.
Another session of surging oil prices, which have seen crude rise around 20% after setting six-year lows, also put upward pressure on yields.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose by around 0.111 percentage point to 1.781%, while the yield on two-year paper rose 0.035 percentage point to 0.504%. The 30-year T-bond yield rose nearly 11 basis points to 2.3658%, according to FactSet.
Yields rise as prices fall. The 10-year yield hit its lowest level since May 2013 on Monday.
Worries about Greece contributed to haven-inspired demand for Treasurys on Monday, but concerns were soothed after Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis late in the day said the new government would no longer call on creditors to write off part of Greece’s €315 billion ($357.5 billion) in foreign debt, but would instead propose a “menu of debt swaps” to ease the burden.
“Whether the combination of growth linked and perpetual bonds that have been proposed are workable is open to question but it does seem that Syriza have blinked first in this standoff after a very feisty week one of their new administration,” wrote Jim Reid, strategist at Deutsche Bank, in a note.
At the same time, investors are watching U.S. data and remarks by U.S. Federal Reserve officials for confirmation the central bank will remain on track to raise rates at midyear as central banks around the globe lower rates to fight deflation.
“Investors might be willing to rescale dovish [Fed] bets, ‘fearing’ continued labor market strength,” wrote strategists at KBC Bank in Brussels.
The sharp rebound in oil futures also contributed to a flight out of safe-haven assets, easing worries about deflation and fueling a rally in stocks, with the Dow rising more than 300 points.
…
“The bitcoin price has fallen 11% over the last seven days.”
“The district attorney of Manhattan meanwhile told a gathering of anti-money laundering specialists that he was watching efforts to take bitcoin “mainstream” like the Coinbase exchange with “intense interest”. Cyrus R Vance Jr said regulated exchanges benefited law enforcement efforts to police terror and financial crime.”
“Other exchanges…Hong Kong-based ANX acquired CoinMKT …Japan’s BitFlyer raised a third round of financing…CoinTerra has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy”
brought to you by coindesk dot com.
The imaginary money phenomena is unwinding spectacularly. The stage is getting crowded with clowns of different brands. It is a caricature of our culture’s obsession with credit. It would be ironic if the death of the caricature were to coincide with implosion of the circus it mocks.
It would be ironic if the death of the caricature were to coincide with implosion of the circus it mocks.
I’m not sure I know what this means, but I sure do like the way you said it.
He has a knack for it.
“The imaginary money phenomena is unwinding spectacularly.”
Imaginary money. You mean, as opposed to what the Fed and other central banksters decree is money, like fiat? How is that not imaginary money? That’s exactly what it is. The fact that we all agree on the delusion doesn’t make it any less imaginary.
Think about it. Where does that “money” come from? It’s just some figure that the banksters made up. “Hey, folks, we just made up an extra umpty billion we’re “injecting” into the economy. And you can have some of that, provided you pay it back to us with some more of that imaginary money added on. Of course, you gotta go through our middlemen, with their imaginary fees tacked on.
What a joke. Fiat is no more real than the bitcoin stuff. It’s just more “official”. Caricature indeed. Which is the real caricature?
I was thinking about this yesterday. How the Fed prints money, buys US government bonds, then gives the interest collected back to the US government. We’re in La-La land.
A circus of the absurd. I don’t think there is a happy ending.
“I don’t think there is a happy ending.”
Ending? What’s with this ending thingy you speak of?
Extend and pretend, baby! That’s where it’s at.
Keep the music playin’, and keep on dancin’.
More opinion pieces cropping up in the MSM stating central bankers are losing control.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-lemmings-of-qe-2015-01-26?dist=beforebell
So what’s next? The FedRes mailing a check to every household in the country?
After the Fed gifts its free trillions to the Wall Street grifters, there’s no more left for the serfs in flyover country.
Well, what IS money, really? A medium of exchange. All it is, is something that represents goods and services and facilitates the exchange of such, because the barter system is too unwieldy. And people will accept money for their goods, services and labor to the degree they have faith that it will be further accepted in exchange for what they want to purchase.
Technically the Fed doesn’t even print money, the govt printing presses do that. The Fed is just a bunch of people sitting around in some fancy building with Greek columns or whatever, deciding how much “money” to create. In fact, what they’re really deciding is how much money they (or the institution they work for) are owed. I know it’s difficult for people to wrap their minds around that, but that’s how it works. Let that sink in: for no other reason than that the govt says so, a bunch of “folks” decide they’re owed certain amounts of money by fiat. Not because they earned it, not because they produced anything of value, just because. Fiat. I could be the Fed, too, if I could convince the govt to agree and enforce that I”m owed trillions or whatever.
Once they’ve “decided”, they enter it in a ledger or on a computer. “Owes us 20 billion”, for example, and the govt prints it for them and makes it official and that money is released with all sorts of agreements about how it comes back with interest and we’re off to the races.
Palmy, I don’t think you’ll get the nod to go ahead and replace the Federal Reserve. Why not make up your own money and call it BitePalms or something.
I don’t have the influence to get the govt to replace the Federal Reserve with me and my cronies. And I’m not defending bitcoins by any means, but if enough people agree and have confidence in it as a medium of exchange, it’ll be accepted. Why do you think the legal beagles are coming down so hard on it? Like it or not, it represents a threat.
Creature from Jekyll Island notwithstanding, my guess is that the reason for the Federal Reserve is nothing more than a acceptable economic whipping boy for govt screw ups. I guess that’s why they make the big bux. Plausible deniability or some such thing. The Fed does nothing of real value, so why should we owe them all that money just because they say so? The least they could do is provide more attractive governors than Yellen, Greenspan and Bernanke. You know, people who look like George Clooney or Kate Upton or folks like that.
“Well, what IS money, really? A medium of exchange. All it is,”
I learned in ECON 101 money is also supposed to be store of value and unit of measurement. Since store of value has been blown up to smithereens by Greenstupid/Bernanke/Yellow, hard assets, land, artwork, antique cars, you name it, has taken over the store of value role.
HOwever, I believe the greater fools borrowing $$ to snap up every asset they can get their hands on (way overpaying) have forgotten something very important: sufficient LIQUIDITY to weather out the SOLVENCY DISCOVERY that will eventually happen, just no one knows when…as its arrival will be “unexpected”.
Neil, please pass the popcorn.
We’re in La-La land ??
And maybe trapped in it….Australia is the most recent player to cut rates…All the world economies are fighting deflation…They may succeed…We shall see…In the mean time, the fed is contemplating a rate increase, effectively strengthening the dollar even further against all other currencies…
If further collapsing demand is your goal.
Remember…. Quantitative Easing results in collapsing demand.
Related to bitcoin… closing arguments in the Russ Ulbricht trial are today. He’s the guy that was behind the Silk Road.
In 2nd Year, Mayor de Blasio Will Focus on Making Housing Denser and More Affordable
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUMFEB. 2, 2015
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday is set to declare housing as the focal point of his second year in office, unveiling a vision for an even denser yet more affordable New York City that will transform neighborhoods from East Harlem in Manhattan to Staten Island’s North Shore.
The mayor’s mission: to convince New Yorkers that his plan to build more, and build higher, can improve the quality of life for residents across all income levels, even as many have come to associate construction cranes and high-rise buildings with the out-of-reach opulence of the upper class.
In his second State of the City address, Mr. de Blasio plans to invoke the city’s post-World War II building boom, when large housing complexes like Stuyvesant Town offered shelter and security to middle- and working-class New Yorkers.
Officials said the mayor would announce new plans to rezone two more neighborhoods, East Harlem and Stapleton, Staten Island, to allow for taller and larger residential buildings. Mr. de Blasio intends to make affordable apartments a requirement, not an option, in those developments — along with four others across the city — and he will offer new protections for current tenants who fear being forced out by the changes.
The mayor also plans to call for the construction of 160,000 new market-rate apartments over the next decade, hoping that a larger supply of housing will help reduce rents more broadly.
To succeed, Mr. de Blasio — elected in part on a wave of anger over glittery developments approved by the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg — must confront knotty, emotionally charged questions about gentrification and the changing cityscape. Because affordable housing is built hand in hand with market-rate units, City Hall has already faced resistance in neighborhoods wary of change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/nyregion/in-2nd-year-mayor-de-blasio-will-focus-on-making-housing-denser-and-more-affordable.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
I love how these guys require subsidized/rent controlled housing in expensive buildings but then complain that all the “affordable” units are on the lower floors and require use of a side entrance which obviously has a separate lobby, only 1 elevator, and no doormen.
It’s like they don’t understand that the people paying $4k/month for 2 BR apartments at market rate are subsidizing them to be able to live in a nice new building.
hey Joe see this…..Luxury building fences off low-rent tenants’ terraces
http://nypost.com/2014/12/07/luxury-bulding-fences-off-rent-stabilized-tenants-terraces/
Paul Singer calls out the Fed and central banks for their Keynesian lunacy that is now posing systemic risks to the global financial system.
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/02/03/immensely-concentrated-positions-in-fantastically-overpriced-markets-with-unlimited-tolerance-for-risk/
Which parts of Keynes’ actual writings do you consider “lunacy”?
I find that people who throw around Keynes this way can’t differentiate between the man’s actual ideas (which are accepted and debated by the entire range of economists) from the idiotic implementations and bastardization of his ideas by corrupt/idiotic politicians and interest groups. Most of Keynes’ observations aren’t that controversial and form the crux of modern market economies along with a mix of Ricardo, Friedman, Solow, Hayek, Coase, Nash, and a few others. The thing is, for all the problems (and there are many) with Western democratic capitalist systems, they are still the most efficient the world has seen, by orders of magnitude over previous world systems. Anyone who disagrees doesn’t really know what it was like to be born as an average person on this planet before the 20th century.
Liberace,
You’re hung up on one bad note when the entire score is a song written for a horror flick.
‘by orders of magnitude over previous world systems’
The most efficient in shoveling money toward rich people.
‘Anyone who disagrees doesn’t really know…’
The old fall back. You peasants shut up. WE know what’s best for you.
Psst Joe, you ain’t one of them.
“Psst Joe, you ain’t one of them.”
Nice strawman. Of course I’m not one of them. The idea is that we are all better off than our ancestors born 100+ years before us. Why is that? Do you really doubt it has anything to do with the way markets were shaped by the ideas of each of these people?
The current system is far from perfect. My point was that Keynes has a handful of ideas that strongly influenced all economists since his time.This is different than saying everyone agrees with all of his ideas word for word. And it’s very different than saying that a command economy is a good means of creation and distribution.
BTW, whenever I mock or rail against our election system that favors corporate interests, people call me a super lib. It’s pretty funny. What I’m really pointing out is how distorted our political process is now that both parties are beholden to corporations and a relative handful of large donors. The Koch Brothers have already announced plans to spend nearly a billion dollars on the 2016 election cycle. The Kochs alone might outspend the actual GOP. When you look at the big picture, it gets absurd. Laughing at it is really the best response at this point.
Here’s a link to the Koch Brothers announcing intention to spend 889 Million dollars on the 2016 cycle.
————————-
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/us/politics/kochs-plan-to-spend-900-million-on-2016-campaign.html
“The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history.
The spending goal, revealed Monday at the Kochs’ annual winter donor retreat near Palm Springs, Calif., would allow their political organization to operate at the same financial scale as the Democratic and Republican Parties. It would require a significant financial commitment from the Kochs and roughly 300 other donors they have recruited over the years, and covers both the presidential and congressional races. In the last presidential election, the Republican National Committee and the party’s two congressional campaign committees spent a total of $657 million.”
The idea is that we are all better off than our ancestors born 100+ years before us. Why is that?
Because we’re alive and they’re dead, dead, dead.
“how distorted our political process is now that both parties are beholden to corporations and a relative handful of large donors…”
Using your logic, maybe that’s why we’re all better off.
Hey Lib you’re way off resort grounds. Here’s a idea;
Stick to falling prices, deflation and collapsing demand.
It’s a big club, Joe Smith, and you ain’t in it. George Carlin breaks it down so even the sheeple can understand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dBZDSSky0&spfreload=10
Anyone who disagrees doesn’t really know what it was like to be born as an average person on this planet before the 20th century.
Even the first half of the 20th century wasn’t that great. The big improvement in the standard of living of Americans happened in 1945. My grandparents told me a little about growing up in the 1920s and life was pretty grim in those days.
Q4 2013- First observed falling list prices
Q1 2014- Began registering falling transaction prices at zip code levels
Q2 2014- Falling list prices appeared in metro areas
Q3 2014- Falling sale prices registered in metro areas
Q4 2014- Falling list and sale prices noted statewide in MA
.
.
.
2015- Widespread falling list and transaction prices
Fasten your harnesses and hardhats boys because we’re in a wild ride in the crane basket.
Obama: $4 trillion budget replaces ‘mindless austerity’
David Jackson and Gregory Korte, USA TODAY
6:09 p.m. EST February 2, 2015
WASHINGTON — President Obama submitted his $4 trillion budget wish-list to a Republican Congress Monday, calling for a return to increased domestic and military spending to be paid for in part by higher taxes on the wealthy.
The plan includes a $478 billion public works infrastructure program for roads, bridges, and transit systems, to be financed by taxes on overseas earnings. The budget calls for new tax credits and other initiatives devoted to education, child care, paid leave, and infrastructure, with tax hikes resulting from the closure of tax loopholes. The president also wants to put an end to the automatic across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration, calling for a 7% increase in spending over the budget levels he agreed to in a 2011 compromise with Republicans.
“I want to work with Congress to replace mindless austerity with smart investments that strengthen America,” Obama said in a speech at the Department of Homeland Security. “I’m not going to accept a budget that locks in sequestration going forward. It would be bad for our security, and bad for our growth.”
http://www.usatoday.com/…/2015/02/02/obama-budget-399-trillion-republicans/22695611/ - 300k -
“… calling for a return to increased domestic and military spending to be paid for in part by higher taxes on the wealthy.”
“… to be paid for …”
Well, there’s my first laugh of the day.
Jokes that write themselves.
“The reality of the matter is that the “tax and spend Democrats” and the “tax and spend Republicans” are both responsible for getting us into this mess.”
Barack Obama Says That What America Really Needs Is Lots More Debt
By Michael Snyder, on February 2nd, 2015
When it comes to taking a chainsaw to the future of America, nobody seems more eager than Barack Obama. Despite the fact that the U.S. national debt is on pace to approximately double during his eight years in the White House, he has just proposed a budget that would take government spending to crazy new heights. When Barack Obama took the oath of office, the U.S. national debt was 10.6 trillion dollars. Today, it has surpassed the 18 trillion dollar mark. And even though we are being told that “deficits are going down”, the truth is that the U.S. national debt increased by more than a trillion dollars in fiscal 2014. But that isn’t good enough for Obama. He says that we need to come out of this period of “mindless austerity” and steal money from our children and our grandchildren even faster. In addition, Obama wants to raise taxes again. His budget calls for 2 trillion dollars in tax increases over the next decade. He always touts these tax increases as “tax hikes on the rich”, but somehow they almost always seem to end up hitting the middle class too. But whether or not Congress ever adopts Obama’s new budget is not really the issue. The reality of the matter is that the “tax and spend Democrats” and the “tax and spend Republicans” are both responsible for getting us into this mess. Future generations of Americans are already facing the largest mountain of debt in the history of the planet, and both parties want to make this mountain of debt even higher. The only disagreement is about how fast it should happen. It is a national disgrace, but most Americans have come to accept this as “normal”. If our children and our grandchildren get the opportunity, they will curse us for what we have done to them.
All debt destroys.
All debt enslaves.
theeconomiccollapseblog.com/…/barack-obama-says-america-really-needs-lots-debt - 137k -
Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-03 07:26:02
Barack Obama Says That What America Really Needs Is Lots More Debt
theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/barack-obama-says-america-really-needs-lots-debt
Barack Obama Says That What America Really Needs Is Lots More Debt
Is there any doubt left that both parties are beholden to the Banking Clan?
“calling for a return to increased domestic and military spending”
FBI Official: We Need to “Keep Fear Alive” to Justify Terror Budget
Former assistant director admits federal agency contrives terror threat for increased funding
by Paul Joseph Watson | February 2, 2015
Appearing in a documentary about how the FBI entraps and provocateurs terror suspects, former FBI assistant director Thomas Fuentes admits that the federal agency needs to “keep fear alive” in order to justify budget increases.
The documentary, entitled The Newburgh Sting, tells the story of how the feds convinced four poverty-stricken New York men to become involved in an informant-led terror plot.
After defending the FBI’s role in manufacturing the plot, Fuentes brazenly admits that the agency deliberately works to bolster terrorism fears in order to obtain increased funding.
“If you’re submitting budget proposals for a law enforcement agency, for an intelligence agency, you’re not going to submit the proposal that ‘We won the war on terror and everything’s great,’ cause the first thing that’s gonna happen is your budget’s gonna be cut in half,” states Fuentes. “You know, it’s my opposite of Jesse Jackson’s ‘Keep Hope Alive’—it’s ‘Keep Fear Alive.’ Keep it alive.”
“In the context of an interview about a case in which a paid FBI informant is alleged to have offered destitute men a quarter of a million dollars to execute an attack, a former assistant director of the FBI admits it’s in the bureau’s best interest to inflate the supposed terror threat. That’s remarkably candid, and profoundly disturbing,” reports Privacy SOS.
The FBI routinely contrives the very terror plots it then takes the credit for busting, leading many to accuse the agency of fueling a domestic war on terror that wouldn’t otherwise exist. As the New York Times reported in 2012, the vast majority of domestic terror plots in recent years were “facilitated by the F.B.I.”
The most recent example concerned the case of Christopher Lee Cornell, who allegedly planned to detonate pipe bombs and then fire on fleeing lawmakers and employees at the U.S. Capitol. However, it quickly emerged that Cornell was never capable of coordinating or funding such a conspiracy on his own and was set up by the FBI.
“The agency does not disrupt planned domestic terror attacks but rather creates them, then publicly praises itself for stopping its own plots,” wrote Glenn Greenwald in response to the story.
http://www.infowars.com/…/ - 105k -
‘keep fear alive’
drudge report
weekly standard
washington times
daily caller
breitbart
new york post
uk daily mail
fox news
forward
I don’t think that those organizations are really peddling fear. Not many people in their audience are having trouble sleeping at night worrying about al Qaeda. What they keep alive is anger, which makes people feel good.
Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-03 07:35:12
FBI Official: We Need to “Keep Fear Alive” to Justify Terror Budget
infowars.com/fbi-official-we-need-to-keep-fear-alive-to-justify-terror-budget/
Because Otrauma knows EVERYTHING……now pricing muni bonds…..
We are in the twilight zone folks…..only need Rod Serling to appear.
By Hilary Russ
Feb 2 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday put an initial four-year price tag of $1.3 billion on his proposal for a new type of municipal bond to spur public-private partnerships for infrastructure projects.
In his $3.99 trillion U.S. budget proposal, the tax-exempt Qualified Public Infrastructure Bonds (QPIBs) would cost $4.8 billion over about the next decade, from 2016 through 2025.
The bonds are the latest proposal from Obama for financing fixes for the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. About $3.6 trillion is needed through 2020 to maintain U.S. infrastructure in good repair, according to numbers from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Only about $2 trillion of that money is likely available, leaving a $1.6 trillion funding gap, the group estimates.
The QPIBs would build on the existing idea of Private Activity Bonds (PABs), a type of U.S. municipal bond.
PABs are already used to for some public-private partnerships, including publicly owned roads, bridges and tunnels operated by private entities. The bonds are generally rated in the triple-B range.
Issuers can only sell a limited number of PABs each year. The QPIB program would not have such a cap and interest would not be subject to the alternative minimum tax.
“Congress is not going to authorize an unlimited issuance of tax exempt bonds if the IRS comes back and says it will cost a great deal of money,” said Phil Fischer, managing director of municipal research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Someone is going to have to pay for it.”
Another program to finance infrastructure, called Build America Bonds (BABs), was popular but lasted just two years, expiring in 2010. The taxable debt was created in the 2009 economic stimulus plan and pays issuers a rebate equal to 35 percent of interest costs. Critics said the program was too expensive to extend for another 10 years at an estimated cost of $7.46 billion.
As he has done in past budgets, Obama again proposed America Fast Forward bonds, which would be similar to BABs.
Obama also proposed stripping tax exempt status from bonds used to finance professional sports facilities, which would save the federal government $542 million over nine years.
Altogether, incentives for infrastructure investment would total $3.5 billion over the next four years, or $11.7 billion through 2025, the budget said. His six-year plan for funding highway and transit projects totals $478 billion.
Infrastructure is one of a few areas where Republicans, who control Congress, have said they could find room for compromise with Obama, a Democrat.
Washington lobbying group Bond Dealers of America said it supports Obama’s two new bond programs “as long as they serve as a supplement to traditional tax-exempt bonds and not a replacement.”
The group continues to oppose Obama’s proposal, presented again on Monday, to cut tax breaks on municipal bond interest for high-income earners to 28 percent from 35 percent. (Additional reporting by Megan Davies. Editing by Andre Grenon)
Warmist Warming Tuesday
Earth’s Dashboard Is Flashing Red — Are Enough People Listening?
As scientists and much of the public differ on the causes of climate change, the planet keeps getting warmer … and the effects are adding up
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150202-climate-science-public-opinion-evidence-global-warming/
Forward
“Keep Fear Alive”
Is that you phony scandal?
http://goo.gl/HK2RfG
Follow the money
The Alarming Cost Of Climate Change Hysteria
8/23/2011 @ 1:40PM 28,615 views
http://www.forbes.com/…/2011/08/23/the-alarming-cost-of-climate-change-hysteria/ - 219k -
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/us/why-republicans-keep-telling-everyone-theyre-not-scientists.html
Nice find!
“Once carbon dioxide is in the sky, it stays up there for hundreds, even thousands of years, and it traps radiant or reflected solar heat in the atmosphere in a similar way as more blankets on our bed make us warmer.”
There it is. The glass jar fallacy.
That 2012 picture of the polar ice cap was pretty scary, until you hear that it recovered the following year. So why did NASA cherry pick like that?
“On September 4, NSIDC, based at the University of Colorado, stated on its website that in August 2013 the Arctic ice cover recovered by a record 2.38 million sq km – 919,000 sq miles – from its 2012 low.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2415191/And-global-COOLING-Return-Arctic-ice-cap-grows-29-year.html#ixzz3QhY1cfmL
If you read the article, remember that WPA told us it’s important to be wrong in science.
Oh my! The ice is moving south. No wonder the water level isn’t rising. How could NASA not catch this?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/23/antarctic-sea-ice-hit-35-year-record-high-saturday/
Coming soon to a Fed-debased currency near you….
http://www.businessinsider.com/russians-instagram-food-inflation-2015-2
robin williams was married to his last wife for less than three years, and she signed a prenup, now she is challenging his will that left the majority of his estate to his three children
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/movies/robin-williamss-widow-and-children-tangle-over-estate.html?_r=0
fifty years of marxist feminism, and this is what you get
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“God ain’t made a man that could stand up to the power that lays between a woman’s thighs. You see, the hold that little cooter has on a man’s life is unbreakable. It can bring a strong man to his knees.” -Prentice Ritter, about why he lives on the range.
fifty years of marxist feminism, and this is what you get
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Contract law, and that is what you get.
“Contract law” does not exist when it comes to the Marxist feminist court system’s redistribution of assets earned and owned by men
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Still using contract law as an excuse.
Clearly, RJ, you just don’t get the many gifts that Marxist feminism has bequeathed to society. Sublime musical performances, for example….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79wrXi_5WSw&spfreload=10
RFID chips are next after this:
http://benswann.com/real-id-to-launch-in-2016-tsa-will-force-airline-passengers-to-show-national-id-before-flying/
REAL ID to Launch in 2016: TSA Will Force Airline Passengers to Show National ID Before Flying
Most Americans use a state-issued driver’s license as their primary identification card. However, federal-level politicians have pushed throughout history for the implementation of a national ID card, which privacy and states’ rights advocates have argued against as a threat to citizens’ private information or an affront to state authority. Reports of a move towards a national ID card were often dismissed by skeptics as conspiracy theories until 2005, when the REAL ID Act passed into law. However, the REAL ID has experienced significant pushback from many non-compliant states, forcing federal officials to delay its implementation.
Fast forward nearly a decade, and the REAL ID is set to launch in airports across the United States starting in January of 2016. According to KTVN-2, the Transportation Security Administration will no longer accept state-issued driver’s licenses that lack REAL ID compliant features as an accepted form of ID for boarding aircraft after the beginning of next year.
However, the adoption of the REAL ID by citizens is being portrayed as voluntary. Said Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles Public Information Officer David Fierro in comments to KTVN-2, “It is a choice. It’s not mandatory. It’s a choice for secured identification. If you use a passport when you’re traveling you don’t have any problems. If you use your driver’s license as identification, you’ll need to either apply for the REAL ID card or get a passport.” While adoption of the federal REAL ID card by citizens may not be mandatory, those who choose not to get a passport or REAL ID will effectively be barred from airline travel.
REAL ID compliant cards must capture specific identifying details about each person and associate the data with a unique number. Privacy advocates worry that the REAL ID’s information database will eventually merge with other federal data sweeps such as the FBI’s Next Generation Identification system, which stores biometric data on Americans (many of whom have never been suspected of committing a crime), and the National Security Agency’s trove of stolen private online and mobile communications. The cards must also contain an electronic swipe feature allowing machines to read and write to them, raising fears that the REAL ID may be vulnerable to tampering by hackers and identity thieves. Though early versions of the regulations on REAL IDs required that the cards feature an RFID chip, that specific type of technology is no longer explicitly required.
However, some US states, such as Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, and Idaho, have passed laws against participating in the REAL ID program, meaning state-issued ID cards from those states may not be compliant in time for 2016. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 20-30% of Americans live in jurisdictions that are not compliant with the program, meaning citizens in those areas may no longer be able to use their state-issued driver’s licenses to board aircraft after January 2016. KIVI-TV notes that Idaho legislators are currently scrambling to find a solution to this problem.
The REAL ID’s implementation process is designed to come in four stages, two of which are already complete. The first two phases require the use of compliant cards to get into nuclear power plants and restricted federal facilities. The third phase of implementation, coming in October, mandates the presentation of REAL ID cards in order to enter semi-restricted federal facilities such as courthouses and military bases that require identification for admittance, with a waiver granted for individuals seeking entry to apply for federal benefits. The last phase of implementation, set to begin in January of 2016, will take place during security checks at airports.
bill, the same government who says it’s unpossible to locate and deport some 10-12 million illegals in this country thinks they can register the 100 plus million privately owned guns in usa
that liberal hypocrisy is no different whatsoever than the hypocrisy of alleged conservatives who want to launch another trillion dollar war in the middle east
there is nothing ‘conservative’ or ’small government’ about that
You know it’s funny also how paranoid militaristic conservatives have pushed for such paranoid security things and at the same time fly the “Don’t Tread on Me” flags. 20 years ago they would oppose any notion of a National ID. And instead of demanding an immediate end to all welfare they demand ID cards to separate US citizens from non-citizens. The conservatives are too retarded to realize the smaller government and least expensive approach is to just have open borders and no welfare / taxes.
I think I will opt for the passport. This will get my butt in gear and make me travel more. That’s if I can choose a passport instead of the damn Real ID crapola. Maybe I will get a second citizenship out of this.
If they demand only Real ID’s, this is my final year of commercial flying. I have hundreds of thousands of air miles. I will refuse to fly for business travel if I have to get a Real ID. They can fire me if they demand Real ID. I will drive to the meetings up in the Bay area.
This Statism BS must be boycotted.
a passport instead of the damn Real ID
A distinction without a difference.
chip
Passports are chipped since 2007, I think. From the State Dept. web site:
Got my DL renewed recently here in NV. Had to remove my glasses and pull my hair back - facial recognition scan.
There is a huge difference. The passport allows you to travel outside the USA. Real ID is just a national ID and does not allow you outside the prison colony - USA. I need to explore Central and South America more. I’ve gone to Mexico many times along its west coast from Manzanillo to Baja (loved it) - but before a passport was required. But I want to explore Costa Rica, Belize, Chile, Equador, and Peru.
I’m not thrilled with any of it. (I just put that quote in there because I didn’t know that the info on it is a number used to key into a database, therefore not useful to an average scammer who illegally scans it - small comfort.)
I remember being alarmed when talk of Real ID was beginning. So many outrages have followed, I forgot all about it. The facial recognition thing at the DMV was a surprise.
I didn’t like it when they wouldn’t let us leave the hospital without issuing my kid a Social Security number (23 years ago.) I kept asking why; I didn’t get one until I was 15, to work as soon as I was 16.
The passport allows you to travel outside the USA. Real ID is just a national ID and does not allow you outside the prison colony - USA
I don’t recall having to show a passport to US agents when driving out of the USA. Sure, the Canadian and Mexican authorities might want to see your US Passport, but the last time I checked we still didn’t need exit visas to leave the country. Of course, if your US passport gets revoked you’ll have a hard time getting into another country, even as a tourist. Which is why it’s a good idea to procure a foreign passport, if you are eligible.
I didn’t like it when they wouldn’t let us leave the hospital without issuing my kid a Social Security number (23 years ago.)
Really? We never had that problem, in that same time frame (and in California to boot!). We did eventually go to the SS office, so I would have #’s to put down on my 1040.
Really? We never had that problem
We were told we wouldn’t be able to leave until it was done. This was in New York Hospital in 1993.
1993, 1992. I can never remember how old I am either.According to the Department of Homeland Security, 20-30% of Americans live in jurisdictions that are not compliant with the program, meaning citizens in those areas may no longer be able to use their state-issued driver’s licenses to board aircraft after January 2016.
So this policy change would p!ss off 20% - 30% of the population along with the airline industry, the tourism industry, etc. It’s unlikely that such a policy will be enacted.
Just looked at my drivers’ license. I just missed being issued a Real ID drivers’ license (started November). Real ID dl’s have a yellow circle with a clear star cutout.
When you say “DMV” you mean California, right?
oh, Nevada…
I don’t think it’s on my Arizona license. But I might be getting a California driver’s license in a few months. So I will get a Real ID anyway. I just am tired of the ever encroaching KGB.
the drudge report is making real journalists nervous
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/02/why-matt-drudge-might-be-more-powerful-now-than-ever-before/
note that drudge had an informal poll of prospective gop nominees in which wisconsin governor scott walker placed first
scott walker who is calling for ‘boots on the ground’ to fight islamic state
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1 day ago … Obama Care Supporters Sign Petition to Include PETS and “Free Veterinary Care ” on Policies, Paid for “by Someone Else”
Obama Care Supporters Sign Petition to Include PETS … - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Ue5f_eJ60 - 438k - Cached - Similar pages
this is one of the top search results for ‘youtube obama detroit money’
and the video is titled ‘obama causes welfare chaos in detroit’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfGLB8LO1aM
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That’s Racis
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when the ‘conservative’ media aren’t too busy trying to whip the american public into supporting another war in middle east, sometimes they report on domestic issues that the ‘real journalists’ of the liberal media won’t touch
among them, black on white crime, the breakdown of the black family in america, and that 70 percent of black children are born out of wedlock
all of which are direct results decades of democrat party big government social engineering
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“Keep Fear Alive”
Paid for “by Someone Else”
now that president obama finally lowered gas prices, rolling coal is more affordable than ever
http://www.businessinsider.com/conservatives-purposely-making-cars-spew-black-smoke-2014-7
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“rolling coal is more affordable than ever”
Not to mention flying your private jet to Davos to discuss global warming.
by Peter Schweizer20 Jan 2015
A squadron of 1,700 private jets are rumbling into Davos, Switzerland, this week to discuss global warming and other issues as the annual World Economic Forum gets underway.
The influx of private jets is so great, the Swiss Armed Forces has been forced to open up a military air base for the first time ever to absorb all the super rich flying their private jets into the event, reports Newsweek.
“Decision-makers meeting in Davos must focus on ways to reduce climate risk while building more efficient, cleaner, and lower-carbon economies,” former Mexican president Felipe Calderon told USA Today.
The only thing I like about this is that it keeps ex-GSfixr employed.
Except that diesel prices haven’t dropped as much as gasoline has.
Not true.
Just called for a 1000 gal refill this morning. I complained to the dispatcher about the price at 2.20/gal. “Does $1.99 sound good to you?” was her response.
Last years price? $3.90.
That’s off road fuel. Taxed fuel was 4.15 last year. Right now it’s 2.60.
Out here diesel costs 80 cents more: 2.50 vs 1.70. IIRC last summer it was maybe about 20 cents more than gasoline. So gasoline, at least out here, dropped (which struck me as odd). Perhaps it just didn’t drop as fast but is now catching up?
this is a drudge report link
http://freebeacon.com/issues/hamas-on-campus/
the narrative has been scripted than any opposition to the murderous policies of apartheid state israel is anti-semitic
christian zionists believe that once all of the jews are gathered in israel that they will be raptured up to heaven
christian zionists have a disproportionately large influence over american electoral politics and american foreign policy
the war on terror has cost over 1.6 trillion dollars to date
there is nothing ‘conservative’ about launching another war for israel
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“Additionally, Azka Fayyaz, a member of the U.C. Davis student senate, posted on her Facebook page a triumphant message following the vote: “Hamas & Sharia law have taken over UC Davis.”
Tuition for Azka Fayyaz, paid for “by Someone Else”.
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ms. fayyaz is being monitored by daniel pipes’ campuswatch
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Daniel_Pipes
paid for by ’someone else’
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Crater
the 2005-2010 crater was paid for by ’someone else’
the 2013-202? crater will be paid for by ’someone else’
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“X”, whatever “X” may be, will not be paid for by anyone, the debt will be defaulted upon.
How many people have the Anti-Vaccine cult killed today? Now you can keep track at home! It’s the Anti-Vaccine Body Count scoreboard:
http://www.antivaccinebodycount.com/Anti-Vaccine_Body_Count/Home.html
Weird movement, attracts a mix from the far left (vaccines aren’t organic, unnatural, unproven fears they cause autism) and from the far right (paranoid fears of the government injecting them with something nefarious).
I think parents should have the freedom to not vaccinate their kids. But with freedom comes responsibility — if your virus-saturated snot-nosed kid infects other kids, that parent should be wide open to civil lawsuits to collect full damages from other families, healthcare providers, and insurance recovery.
Those parents who vaccinate their kids won’t have anything to worry about when their kids play with unvaccinated kids, would they?
I don’t know what the government worshippers’ problem is except they wish to impose dictatorship on others who do not want it.
My understanding is that the vaccinated can still catch the measles, but that they are less likely to contract it, and if they do it will be less severe. Of course, if you don’t have contact with carriers then your chances of getting sick is even lower.
Those parents who vaccinate their kids won’t have anything to worry about when their kids play with unvaccinated kids, would they?
In terms of their kids getting infected, they wouldn’t have to worry. They would just have to console their kids as disease and death strike their little friends and classmates. As far as the lawsuits mentioned by WPA, you’re right, it would only be the parents who choose not to vaccinate who would be suing each other, clogging up the courtrooms and making the lawyers wealthy.
I had some paper from many years ago stating that I had the measles, mumps, and chicken pox at a young age. All those things. I never remembered having them. Knew a guy at work who got the chicken pox - and he was in his late 20s or 30s. He told me the first sign was on the bottom of his foot. I don’t remember how long he was out from work. Long ago.
My cousin on the east coast in the upper mid-Atlantic is totally against vaccines. She probably was vaccinated herself at a young age against polio and tetanus. She has “a lot” of kids and is very interested in the vaccine deal, based on what she posts on FB.
Does the Anti-Vaccine Body Count scoreboard keep score on the 35 year old Guatemalan ninth graders?
Adult Illegal Immigrants Posing as Children To Enroll in High School
A Massachusetts city‘s packed school system is being forced to accept illegal-alien adults.
By Ryan Lovelace
July 11, 2014 12:39 PM
Adult illegal immigrants posing as unaccompanied alien children appear to be attempting to enroll at public high schools, city officials in Lynn, Mass., tell National Review Online.
“Some of them have had gray hair and they’re telling you that they’re 17 years old and they have no documentation,” Jamie Cerulli, the Lynn mayor’s chief of staff, tells NRO. “If my children went to the public schools, I’d be very uncomfortable with all of these unaccompanied minors [that] are placed in the ninth grade.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/…mmigrants-posing-children-enroll-high-school-ryan-lovelace - 224k -
The most transparent administration in history
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-03/obama-puts-limited-restraints-on-nsa-spying-after-snowden-leaks-i5pfsf9c
Still waiting for the new Congressional Republican majority to “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” and eliminate government spying on U.S. citizens
And as soon as they pass that bill, Obama will sign it
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(Reuters) - Ratings firm Standard & Poor’s will pay $1.5 billion to resolve a series of lawsuits over its ratings on mortgage securities that soured in the runup to the 2008 financial crisis, the company said on Tuesday.
The settlement comes after more than two years of litigation as S&P fought allegations it issued overly rosy ratings in order to win more business.
S&P parent McGraw Hill Financial Inc (MHFI.N) said it will pay $687.5 million to the U.S. Department of Justice, and $687.5 million to 19 states and the District of Columbia, which had filed similar lawsuits over the ratings.
Late Monday, the firm also reached a separate $125 million settlement with public pension fund California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which had sued S&P in 2009, claiming its inaccurate ratings caused the firm hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
The United States sued S&P in 2013 after initial settlement talks broke down, accusing the ratings agency of defrauding investors and seeking $5 billion in one of the most ambitious cases the Justice Department has fought tied to the financial crisis.
UPS to apply surcharges to residential packages after
2014 holiday season brought disappointing incomecosts surgeBut I thought that online orders were way up last Cyber Monday. So how did UPS miss out?
CraterRage® Photo Of The Day
http://goo.gl/49MM5c
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20150203_101141_181-BmjgxEMB.jpg
Thank you Chef Potsy.
Much better than those filled maple bar doughnuts.
“South Haven Realtor Charged With Sexually Assaulting A Minor”
http://www.wwmt.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/South-Haven-realtor-charged-with-sexually-assualting-a-minor-69424.shtml
As far as scripting a narrative is concerned, this one is confusing
ISIS throws accused gay man from roof — but when he survives, town stones him to death
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/02/02/isis-throws-accused-gay-man-from-roof-but-when-he-survives-town-stones-him-to-death/
The top-rated article comment:
“There is the peace we are told of from that religion. And keep in mind, Christians who disagree with the homosexual lifestyle are treated worse by the left than these animals who literally kill gay people.”
Forward
That’s an American condition known as “Imaginary Christian Persecution Syndrome.”
Article for Downlow Joe
http://www.businessinsider.com/male-sexuality-is-just-as-fluid-as-female-sexuality-2015-2
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Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe 2002 (Official Music Video) [HD] - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyvkiZV0Ous - 455k -
OPEC leader: Oil could shoot back to $200
He’s far from the only one that sees a return of triple-digit oil prices
by Matt DiLallo | CNN Money | February 3, 2015
Right now the oil market is totally focused on finding a bottom for oil prices.
However, according to OPEC’s Secretary-General Abdulla al-Badri we’ve already hit bottom.
Not only that, but he sees a real possibility that oil prices could explode higher to upwards of $200 per barrel in the future. He’s far from the only one that sees a return of triple-digit oil prices.
Finding a bottom: According to recent comments by the Secretary-General when he was in London, the oil market doesn’t need to look for oil prices to bottom as the market has already bottomed. Instead, he offered quite bullish comments by saying, “Now the prices are around $45-$55, and I think maybe they [have] reached the bottom and we [will] see some rebound very soon.”
Gallup CEO: The BLS claim of 5.6% unemployment is one big lie.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/02/03/gallup-ceo-americas-5-6-unempoyment-is-one-big-lie/
an absolute joke of an article claiming that millenial ‘pent-up demand’ for housing is going to break out any day now
8 charts in the article full ‘o demographic stats, but zero mention of household wages
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-housing-market-2015-2
region viii news
another joke of an article states that colorado had the fastest rate of house price growth in the country last year at 8.4 percent
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/colorado-had-best-and-connecticut-the-worst-home-price-growth-in-2014-2015-02-03
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What was that Jimmy Cliff song? The harder they come the harder they fall or something in that vein?
CO land values are way over priced - housing follows as a result. A hard fall coming there Real J.
Maybe it’s been too many years since a bong was a mainstay in my living room but shouldn’t that be…
are people our high
“our people our high,”
Scott Harris 2 hours ago
That killer weed is stimulating everything!
FlagShare
1LikeReply
Bill W 4 hours ago
Hey dude! Our state is high, our people our high, and even our home prices are high man!
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Bounce this one off the folks out there in Region VIII. What say you out there Region VIII?
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/bernie_fine_house_for_sale_dewitt_syracuse.html#incart_m-rpt-1
DeWitt, N.Y. — The home of former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine is on the market once again.
The house, at 7001 Tiffany Circle, is listed for sale “as is” for $299,900, according to an online listing. The home was first on the market in 2012 for nearly $550,000.
“The Bullsh#t economy continues”
Gallup: 5.6% Unemployment is a Big Lie
http://www.gallup.com/opinion/chairman/181469/big-lie-unemployment.aspx
Of course it is. 5.6% unemployment is nearly “Full” Employment. You’d be seeing help wanted physical signs and ads on job sites. We’d be seeing some inflationary pressure, or at least a moderate amount of wage growth. None of the symptoms of near Full Employment are there.
It’s not any different than the alleged STEM shortage lie. If STEM was experiencing a dramatic job vacancy problem, STEM wages would be skyrocketing AND companies and organizations would be loosening hiring requirements - asking for less or no experience, even from entry level hires. They’d go from asking for Bachelor’s to Associates for many entry level positions. People with only a few years’ experience would be kicked up the ladder faster.
The idea that Americans are simply leaving the workforce to live on their Catamarans and drawdown investment accounts or live off their 5 rentals for income is absurd.
Boomers are not yet in the full swing of retirement, most of them cling to their jobs if they have them, and you’ve got an equal number of Millenials trying to find employment.
The Bullshit economy continues - we shouldn’t be surprised that a society that celebrates financial fraud and marketing gurus is ginning up economic indicators, either.
Pay very close attention to Otrauma’s current budget - the crap that is in that thing from what is now starting to circulate in the blogosphere would make anyone’s sphinkter (sp?) cease up. He is coming after you Middle class or what is left of you!!!
EVERYONE MUST CHECK IN
Do you want me to read the card?
oil up
houses down
silver down
antiques stable
farmland stable
Power Tools
Guns
Checkmate
Considering land is overpriced by 7x, it’s hardly “stable”.
From Nasdaq, of all places:
Bitcoin’s true revolutionary potential:
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/bitcoins-true-revolutionary-potential-cm439482
Next year before the Super Bowl President Obama will tell the story of how Nixon crossed the Delaware for a surprise attack on the Hessians at Trenton during the Revolutionary War.
Obama Flubs: George Washington Lived in the White House
by Warner Todd Huston
Feb 1 2015 Washington D.C
Just before the Super Bowl kicked off this weekend, NBC’s Savannah Guthrie visited the White House kitchen for a few words with President Obama, only to discover that the football fan in chief is a little shaky on American history.
During the discussion with NBC, President Obama said that they are making beer in the White House kitchen.
Dressed in casual shirt with the sleeves rolled up, Obama told Guthrie, “We make beer. First president since George Washington to make some booze in the White House.”
The only problem is, as Greg Pollowitz noted, George Washington didn’t make any “booze” in the White House. In fact, not only was George Washington no longer president in the year 1800 when construction on the White House was finished, he had already been dead for a year. The first president to live in the People’s House was our second president, John Adams.
George Washington didn’t live in the White House, much less make any “booze” there.