February 5, 2015

Bits Bucket for February 5, 2015

Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.




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145 Comments »

Comment by tj
2015-02-05 04:26:47

from yesterday..

One of the very biggest wealth generators historically has been homeownership, and that promise of homeownership, helping people to obtain the American dream, was really kind of ripped to shreds a bit during the Great Recession,’ says Amy Terpstra, director of research for the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance’s Social IMPACT Research Center.’

blue skye commented on how ridiculous this statement was. i’d like to add that amy terpstra doesn’t know what the BIGGEST wealth generator is. she isn’t anywhere close.

Comment by Mr. Banker
2015-02-05 06:08:42

By far the biggest wealth generator for me is the American educational system.

Comment by tj
2015-02-05 06:20:18

yes, i know. for you personally “dumb ‘em down and prosper”. we no longer have education. we have indoctrination for the most part.

but it’s not really a wealth generator, even for you. it’s a money accumulator.

Comment by Mr. Banker
2015-02-05 06:35:29

“but it’s not really a wealth generator, even for you. it’s a money accumulator.”

Or a money distributor , a wealth distributor.

They work to earn money and then they send to me a hefty chunk of what they earn each and every month.

And they form lines at my door in order to set themselves up to do this.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-02-05 22:51:17

More of a money press…

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-02-05 22:54:27

Once Mr Banker helps ‘em get their EduMcCation, his next move is to lock the poor slobs into a lifetime of debt slavery using a federally-guaranteed, low-downpayment mortgage.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 06:08:53

“Chicago-based Heartland Alliance’s Social IMPACT Research Center”

Follow the money. The trail leads directly to NAR headquarters.

Comment by tj
2015-02-05 06:23:33

yes, and the longer the title, the more likely they’re trying to hide something.

 
 
Comment by Shillow
2015-02-05 06:22:04

Such a vague and squishy statement that when you examine it closely it doesn’t really even mean anything. It could be technically true or not at all depending on what you think the exact words mean.

Comment by tj
2015-02-05 06:25:11

mostly depending on what one thinks the biggest wealth generator is.

Comment by Shillow
2015-02-05 07:30:13

“One of the” out of how many? Top 5, top 10?
“Historically” over what period?
“Very biggest” measured how? In Sq ft, dollars paid, ROI, height?

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Comment by tj
2015-02-05 07:38:47

“One of the” out of how many? Top 5, top 10?

the point is that it never was any type of wealth generator. it’s just consumption.

 
 
 
 
Comment by 2banana
2015-02-05 07:22:17

‘One of the very biggest wealth generators historically has been homeownership, and that promise of homeownership…

It was when:

You had to have 20% down because no bank would give you a mortgage without it
You could only borrow at around 28% total debt because no bank would give you a mortgage without it
You had to have a stable job because no bank would give you a mortgage without it
You had a no frills fixed mortgage
The price of housing went up about the same rate as inflation
You never took out home equity loans
You paid off extra in your mortgage when you could
You had a happy mortgage burning party…eventually

See how bigger and bigger government has helped!

Same with healthcare
Same with making college affordable
Same with…

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 07:40:10

All true except for one thing. Houses don’t generate wealth. They make you poorer.

 
Comment by tj
2015-02-05 07:40:15

It was when:

no, it never was and never will be.

Comment by SUGuy
2015-02-05 11:04:31

Buy low and sell high is true no matter the product. It applies to houses as well. Making a few hundred grand is not considered wealth or a wealth generator. Rinky dink flippers are not wealthy.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-02-05 22:56:59

It’s just there really hasn’t been a good chance to “buy low” for nearly two decades in coastal Cali, thanks to so many well-intended though misguided government-sponsored efforts to prop up housing prices.

This, too, will pass, and it’s passing will bring on a hard landing the likes of which most cannot begin to imagine.

 
 
 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-02-05 08:10:58

Once a house is built, production of wealth turns to dissipation.

Coffee is for generators!

 
 
Comment by Neuromance
2015-02-05 18:55:49

One of the very biggest wealth generators historically has been homeownership, and that promise of homeownership, helping people to obtain the American dream, was really kind of ripped to shreds a bit during the Great Recession.

How exactly, I wonder, does it do that?

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-02-05 22:50:17

i’d like to add that amy terpstra doesn’t know what the BIGGEST wealth generator is.

Bitcoin?

 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 05:45:09

Sellers Slash Prices 13% In 2014 In Federal Way, WA

http://www.zillow.com/federal-way-wa/home-values/

Comment by Shillow
2015-02-05 06:25:01

Got this in the email:

Wait! Before you spend another minute thinking about selling your home, buying in a new neighborhood or starting a massive renovation, you deserve to know:

The magic two weeks to list your home.
How Starbucks is perking up home values.
Why it’s better to remodel your bathroom than your kitchen.

Discover these fun facts and more in the new book named a must-read by Fortune and Business Insider. In “Zillow Talk,” Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and Chief Economist Stan Humphries provide practical insights to help you make smarter real estate decisions.

Hahahahahahha

Comment by oxide
2015-02-05 07:37:52

In the inner suburbs of DC, don’t bother to renovate the kitchen OR the bath. It’s better to ADD a bath and a kitchenette in the basement to accomodate another income.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 07:56:05

That would be called throwing good money after bad Donk.

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Comment by azdude
2015-02-05 08:17:13

still posing

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 08:28:16

I know

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 06:45:36

top headlines on drudge and breitbart are about nbc’s brian williams telling a lie about the iraq war 12 years ago

that’s why you should always and only trust your drudge links, especially the weekly standard, when making an educated foreign policy decision

forward

Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 07:09:23

And speaking of the Weekly Standard, they have an article linked titled “Biden Threatens to Shun Bibi”

Shun Bibi? Nobody shuns Bibi

Which is why we need to elect a Republican president who will deliver on the promise to “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” by borrowing a few trillion dollars for the new war

Forward

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-02-05 07:50:28

Nobody puts Bibi in a corner. AIPAC will see to that.

Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 09:16:41

Fox News has an article titled “The Cold Shoulder: Dozens of Dems may ignore Netanyahu in Congress”

Ignore Netanyahu? That’s unpossible

Because we need to “rally the base” with another war that “shrinks the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub”

Forward

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Comment by 2banana
2015-02-05 07:23:33

And Hillary was under sniper fire in Sarajevo…

Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 07:33:25

That’s why I decide who I’m voting for here:

http://creationmuseum.org/

Forward

 
 
Comment by oxide
2015-02-05 09:35:44

If only they used their journalistic prowess on Colin Powell.

 
Comment by aNYCdj
2015-02-05 15:27:29

i see retirement in his cards

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-02-05 17:19:24

An MSM talking head lied about something? I am shocked, shocked…why he just through away his credibility.

Oh, wait. He did that when he started working for an oligarch-owned propaganda outlet. Here are your DNC talking points, Brian, just spew them in any order.

 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 07:17:32

Official State Newspaper and Mouthpiece of the Obama Administration the New York Times has an article titled “Pre-9/11 Ties Haunt Saudi Arabia”

And next to that they have some bedwetting editorial titled “Will Anyone Pay for Abu Gharib?”

Remember kidz, they attacked us on 9/11 because they hate our freedoms

Forward

 
Comment by scdave
Comment by scdave
2015-02-05 07:55:23

Quote of the day;

The question is can the EU stay together without the glue of prosperity of the past….

Comment by tj
2015-02-05 08:00:40

no. the swiss have fired the first shot. they were the first to stop bailing. when the others see the swiss are fine, i think they too will stop bailing.

 
 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 07:31:10

Region VIII news

Denver a top 10 destination for people relocating

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2015/02/04/denver-a-top-10-destination-for-people-relocating.html

Do NOT move here, the quality of life is vastly overrated

Think you want to be some kind of weekend warrior mountain man?

Think again, last weekend we left Morrison at 6:40am and it took 90+ minutes to drive 30 miles on westbound I-70

This is what you’ll have to look forward to, and it’s getting worse every year

Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2015-02-05 08:39:35

Think again, last weekend we left Morrison at 6:40am and it took 90+ minutes to drive 30 miles

Real mountain-men leave at 4am.

:-)

Comment by scdave
2015-02-05 08:51:31

LOL…Good one Prime…

 
 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-02-05 09:34:52

This is what you’ll have to look forward to, and it’s getting worse every year

And unless they dig a third, long tunnel under the continental divide to expand I-70 ($$$$$$) there will be no relief.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower_Tunnel

Comment by rj chicago
2015-02-05 09:49:25

Man o man - you guys take I-70 - really - Where you goin? Vail, Breck, Copper - where?

Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 09:56:29

Considering that I have so much money left after “throwing money away on rent” every month, I ski at Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, Winter Park, Wolf Creek, Monarch, and Crested Butte

People with mortgages can’t do that

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Comment by In Colorado
2015-02-05 10:32:21

I know plenty of people with mortgages who purchase season passes. They cost what, $400-500? People blow more than that on a TV. I think it’s having a family (young kids) that precludes frequent drives up to the tunnel.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 10:54:54

The difference is the debt junkies had to borrow the dough for the season pass.

 
Comment by rms
2015-02-05 13:03:01

People with mortgages can’t do that

Add a couple of sprogs to that mortgage for complete slavery.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-02-05 14:12:07

Add a couple of sprogs to that mortgage for complete slavery.

It’s the sprogs that will do it. Your life will revolve around them.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Bring Back the WPA
2015-02-05 09:44:37

Top destination was “1. Atlanta (No. 1 for five years running).”

That’s gotta be from job transfers. I can’t imagine very many people voluntarily deciding that hot, steamy, buggy Georgia is somehow the most desirable place to live in the USA.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-02-05 11:08:48

Hotlanta is not on trial!

 
 
Comment by rj chicago
2015-02-05 14:39:07

This from Kanzler’s comments about Denver that might fit the reason why one doesn’t want to move there……

“I spoke to someone today who owns a rental home in Denver. He’s putting it on the market this week – priced to sell – and he’s putting some of the proceeds into the fund I co-manage. He fully understands what is happening in the housing market and the rest of the financial markets. Meanwhile, the real estate listings over $750,000 continue to pile up in the Denver metropolitan area. It’s actually kind of spooky because Denver is highly affected from the crash in oil. I have no idea who the buyers for all of that inventory would be…

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 14:41:18

The same buyers for the inventory stacking up in CA, TX, OR, WA and NY.

NOBODY.

 
 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 07:41:47

Warmist Warming Thursday

“While scientists almost universally agree the world is warming, school kids in Texas, Wyoming and West Virginia will get a much less definitive answer if local activists and politicians get their way.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/temperatures-rise-as-climate-critics-take-aim-at-u-s-classrooms

Paid for by “Someone Else”

Forward

Comment by Blue Skye
2015-02-05 08:07:43

Global warming is like GDP.

The published numbers keep going up, while we freeze our a$$es off.

Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 08:17:03

Paid for by “Someone Else”

Comment by In Colorado
2015-02-05 11:10:03

The local forecast here in the great white north tomorrow is a high of 70.

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Comment by Bring Back the WPA
2015-02-05 10:10:38

Deny this! 2014 Global warming in one chart.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/global/map-percentile-mntp/201401-201412.gif

People in the snowy eastern half of the U.S. are suffering because they chose to live in one of the few blue squares, while most of the world bakes in the red squares.

Oblivious to this data, Joe SixPack in Podunk Ohio says, “They ain’t no global warming ‘cuz I gots 2 feet of new snow on muh porch!”

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 10:17:07

Living in a bubble or glass jars. A distinction without a difference.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-02-05 11:09:34

Hey waterboy, the NOAA is just doing their job, and so are you.

“We have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we have. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.”

Steven Schneider

National Center for Atmospheric Research (NOAA) climate researcher and global warming action promoter

Comment by Bring Back the WPA
2015-02-05 12:02:06

Scientific American: ” Dark Money Funds Climate Change Denial Effort

A Drexel University study finds that a large slice of donations to organizations that deny global warming are funneled through third-party pass-through organizations that conceal the original funder. In all, 140 foundations funneled $558 million to almost 100 climate denial organizations from 2003 to 2010. Meanwhile the traceable cash flow from more traditional sources, such as Koch Industries and ExxonMobil, has disappeared.”

—-

What’s your cut Blue Skye? How much is Koch or Exxon paying you?

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Comment by Blue Skye
2015-02-05 13:31:39

What do you think it cost Stephen at NOAA for breaking ranks and speaking the truth?

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-02-05 23:00:54

Probably an emotional pummeling or two behind closed doors and an attempt to destroy his reputation. Probably not a firing unless there is a convenient excuse.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-02-05 10:13:03

Global warming is like bitcoin. Falling proves it will rise.

 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 07:45:36

CraterRage® Photo Of The Day

http://goo.gl/XDDkSn

Comment by real journalists
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 08:05:21

Seattle?

Crater

Comment by rms
2015-02-05 08:56:53
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Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 09:08:53

I fell out of my chair laughing when the camera caught that. It’s still hilarious.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-02-05 08:01:33

Stash cash by the week. Under the mattress. The Hamburgler would not look there.

Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2015-02-05 08:41:46

Stash cash by the week. Under the mattress.

I’ve always wondered: doesn’t that tend to ruin a perfectly good mattress?

Comment by Bill, just south of Irvine
2015-02-05 08:58:41

If your mattress is not perfectly good in the first place, stashing cash under it can make it …gooder…

 
 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 08:23:35

Hope and Change

http://www.infowars.com/photos-michelle-o-school-lunches-among-worst-in-world/

Forward

“Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds, like a monkey in a tropical forest” — Kim Jong Un

And speaking of Kim Jong Un, I saw part of “the Interview” last night, that movie sucks

Comment by palmetto
2015-02-05 10:38:03

Just awful. Seth Rogen is stuck in a childhood full of T&A jokes with scatological non-humor thrown in for good measure. I wondered when he was going to slip in “Milk, milk, lemonade…” It’s that bad.

Even Franco couldn’t save that train wreck, although he did his best.

 
Comment by oxide
2015-02-05 14:03:30

In case people didn’t bother to look at the pictures, the school lunch photos from “around the world” all show the exact same lunch tray. What a coincidence. Oh, and evidently Italy and Greece are so “debt-ridden” that they have to share the same table with the same dark knot in one of the planks. Oh my word.

And I think it’s pretty funny that the anti-free sh!t kids are complaining about the free (or cheap) sh!t that they are getting at school. If they don’t like Michelle’s lunches, they have the opportunity to bother their parents to “better themselves and find better jobs and work hard” so they can buy better food for their kids.

 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 08:44:02

Never mind Chris Christie’s allegedly unethical behavior

Sheldon Adelson buys your GOP nominee, not you

And only a nominee who promises to “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” by borrowing another few trillion dollars to launch some new wars over Amerikwa’s 51st state

http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-christies-relationship-with-sheldon-adelson-2015-2

Forward

 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 08:53:26

Hey scientists! Why don’t you take your science and go back to Europe

http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-and-the-public-disagree-on-everything-2015-2

Paid for by “Someone Else”

Forward

 
Comment by ibbots
2015-02-05 09:02:33

The Dallas-Fort Worth area added more jobs than any other metropolitan area in 2014

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/headlines/20150204-dallas-fort-worth-leads-u.s.-metro-areas-in-job-creation.ece

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 09:13:31

Ooooops…

Dallas Sale Prices Plunge 16% YoY As Oil Bust Spreads

http://www.zillow.com/dallas-tx-75206/home-values/

 
Comment by ibbots
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 09:43:37

Oh my word.

Upscale Dallas Suburb Sale Prices Dive 16% In 2014

http://www.zillow.com/southlake-tx/home-values/

 
 
Comment by ibbots
2015-02-05 09:37:55

Texas home sales up 8.46 percent in fourth quarter.

“The fourth quarter of 2014 marked three-and-a-half years of continual home sales growth for the Lone Star State and the highest annual home sales volume since 2006 – a testament to the strong and enduring demand of Texas real estate’

Dallas-area prices rose 9.4 percent to a median price of $207,900 in the fourth quarter. And fourth quarter Dallas-area sales were up 6.42 percent from the final quarter of 2013.

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/02/texas-home-sales-up-8-46-percent-in-fourth-quarter.html/

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 09:54:57

Frisco, TX(Dallas Suburb) Sale Prices Dive 6% In 2014 On Falling Oil Prices

http://www.zillow.com/frisco-tx/home-values/

Comment by Ben Jones
2015-02-05 10:06:02

ibbots,

I grew up in north Texas. I have family there. I don’t want anything bad to happen. But I know trouble when I see it.

http://www.zillow.com/prosper-tx/

Take a drive up to this area. Pay attention to what the billboards are advertising.

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Comment by ibbots
2015-02-05 13:14:06

You’re right, there’s a lot of building going on up there. I never go that way but see the ads here in town.

That whole area, Ponder, Celina, Prosper, etc are all filling up fairly quickly. I had a client who bought 10 acres outside of Celina. Before he could even break ground to build a house, one of the adjoining land owners sold their property and the buyer of that property offered my client substantially more than he paid for it just a few months prior. The new buyer just had to have a certain number of acres. My client made some nice money and found another place to buy.

A lot of businesses like Toyota are moving in to the Plano / Frisco area. I suppose those builders expect that’s where their buyers will come from. The jobs moving here.

Those far north areas are a different market than here in town. There aren’t any large scale developments in Dallas, there’s no room. Only infill.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 13:17:34

“in Dallas, there’s no room. Only infill.”

LOL. “Infill” eh?

 
Comment by Ben Jones
2015-02-05 13:30:50

Are you talking about Dallas, or greater Dallas? Because I can’t imagine anyone wanting to live in Dallas unless they were a barfly.

 
Comment by ibbots
2015-02-05 14:08:31

By ‘in town’ or ‘in Dallas’ I mean Dallas proper. Inside the 635 loop, north of I-30.

‘I can’t imagine anyone wanting to live in Dallas’
Ha! that’s exactly how I felt when left TX and I moved to CA in ‘94. I moved back here primarily to be closer to the folks who are 78 and 81 years. Still very independent, but need a hand now and then. When I moved back in 07, Dallas had changed a lot.

I was talking w clients awhile back, a married couple. They felt the same way about Dallas when they moved here in the 90’s from out west. They didn’t like it but it was an ok place to raise 2 daughters, develop a good law practice, etc. They always thought they’d move once the kids hit college. Now that the kids are in college, they don’t want to leave.

Dallas has a lot more to offer now than it did then. There’s dense urban living for those who prefer that, good parks, light rail, a great arts district, etc.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 16:45:46

Glossing over falling prices while pimping inflated prices, then taking fees from a corrupt rotting system that feeds on suckers who will never recover.

You are an attorney right?

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 09:02:43

You clicked the Drudge Report links, now it’s time to put your money where your mouth is

100,000+ ground troops needed to destroy ISIS

http://www.businessinsider.com/former-cia-100000-troops-needed-to-destroy-isis-2015-2

And now comes the part where alleged conservatives are gonna “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” by launching another trillion dollar war

Forward

Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 09:13:54

The top headline on the Fox News website has a subtitle that reads “Secretary of State nominee Ashton Carter’s struggle to explain President Obama’s ISIS strategy becomes a ‘Ralph Kramden’ moment as lawmakers up the pressure on the Obama administration to give Jordan’s King Abdullah II the military aid he needs to strike back against the Islamic State”

Up the pressure? To give the aid?

Now that’s what I call “shrinking the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub”

Forward

Comment by MightyMike
2015-02-05 10:23:14

It is reasonable to assume that they’re mentioning the fact that Jordan is right next door to Israel once every 10 minutes on Fox News?

Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 10:43:32

Fox News is like the “two minute hate” in George Orwell’s 1984, except that it runs 24 hours a day

I wonder how secular Israelis feel about how they are thought of as God’s pets by American Christian Zionists

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Comment by MightyMike
2015-02-05 11:10:24

Israeli Jews, secular or religious, who support Bibi probably hold their noses and accept the support provided by those Christian Zionists. The large number of Israeli Jews who want to make peace with the Palestinians are probably annoyed by the hawkishness of the Christian Zionists and AIPAC people who sleep thousands of miles from the conflict. Then, of course, you have the Israeli Arabs, who are around one fifth of the population. They’re probably pretty angry at American policies affecting the region.

 
 
 
 
Comment by rj chicago
2015-02-05 09:53:47

Maybe these folks are gonna get re-deployed….?

IBMers: Please share your experience with me directly at t.perry@ieee.org, on Twitter @teklaperry, or in the comments below. Keep yourself anonymous if you’d like, identify your job function and location if you’re willing, but tell us your story, we want to hear it.

Project Chrome, a massive layoff that IBM is pretending is not a massive layoff, is underway. First reported by Robert X. Cringely (a pen name) in Forbes, about 26 percent of the company’s global workforce is being shown the door. At more than 100,000 people, that makes it the largest mass layoff at any U.S. corporation in at least 20 years. Cringely wrote that notices have started going out, and most of the hundred-thousand-plus will likely be gone by the end of February.

IBM immediately denied Cringely’s report, indicating that a planned $600 million “workforce rebalancing” was going to involve layoffs (or what the company calls “Resource Actions”) of just thousands of people. But Cringely responded that he never said that the workforce reductions would be all called layoffs—instead, multiple tactics are being used, including pushing employees out through low ratings (more on that in a moment). And some managers are indeed admitting to employees that their job has been eliminated as part of Project Chrome, leading employees to coin a new catchphrase: “Getting Chromed.”

The news is coming in from around the world, and is affecting folks in sales, support, engineering—just about every job description. The only IBM’ers spared are those working in semiconductor manufacturing, an operation that is in the process of being acquired by Global Foundries.

Alliance@IBM, the IBM employees’ union, says it has so far collected reports of 5000 jobs eliminated, including 250 in Boulder, Colo., 150 in Columbia, Missouri, and 202 in Dubuque, Iowa. Layoffs in Littleton, Mass., are reportedly “massive,” but no specific numbers have been published. Pink slips have been said to be flying at IBM Australia, with rumors of 400 workers to be cut. And the Economic Times in India reported last week that employees of IBM’s offices in Bengaluru were scrambling to find new jobs, trying to get out of IBM ahead of the coming tsunami.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-02-05 10:28:15

So much for baby boomers hoarding all the good jobs.

I know a guy (non techie) who was laid off from IBM last year. Because he has “managerial” experience he was able to land a job as a shift manager at a take-n-bake pizzeria for the princely sum of $10/hr. He just put his McMansion on the market. I’ll report if he sells it and how much he got for it. Houses in that price range have not been selling well in our little burg. I suspect that he will be taking a haircut to unload that mill stone.

Comment by rms
2015-02-05 13:24:55

“…for the princely sum of $10/hr.”

Wow. Betcha the wife’s legs are “welded shut.”

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Comment by MightyMike
2015-02-05 13:26:07

What sort of a manager was he at IBM?

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Comment by In Colorado
2015-02-05 14:08:22

He didn’t run a tech team. At one point he had over 100 reports. He’s in his early 60’s.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2015-02-05 14:16:04

Even if he was an HR manager or a purchasing manager at IBM, I would think that he could get something that pays more than $10/hour. Maybe age discrimination is bigger factor than I realize.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-02-05 15:12:59

He said he couldn’t get his foot into any door in Corporate America. IIRC, he managed service contracts, or something like that.

 
 
 
Comment by oxide
2015-02-05 13:22:39

$600 million “workforce rebalancing” was going to involve layoffs of just thousands of people.

Is that $600 million for the year? In order to lay off 100,000 people and save $600,000,000, those jobs would have to pay $6000 each, including benefits. Somebody is lying.

Comment by MightyMike
2015-02-05 13:30:19

That could be the total amount of the severance payments and other costs of the layoffs.

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Comment by Bill, just south of Irvine
2015-02-05 12:57:45

Tax all registered Republicans to pay for the war. And then conscript them to go “boots on the ground”

 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 09:21:14

There is an article on the Daily Caller website titled “Documents: Palestinian Authority Studied Details of Each Terrorist Act Before Issuing Salaries”

That’s why we need to stop ignoring Bibi and need to “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” by borrowing another trillion dollars to give to Bibi so he can take care of this problem

Forward

 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 09:23:38

The New York Post has an article titled “Fugitive widow of Paris terrorist possibly seen in new ISIS video”

Because when we put 100,000+ boots on the ground that’s the first step to “shrinking the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub”

Forward

 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 09:29:30

The UK Daily Mail has an article titled “Married at nine and brainwashed into thinking beauty parlors are the work of the devil: ISIS manifesto aimed at recruiting women reveals the misery they can expect to endure”

This is yet another reason why America needs to “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” by putting 100,000+ boots on the ground and liberate those nine year old girls

If I was a Republican Congressman trying to rally support for this plan to “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” I would tell people they need to support it because it’s “for the children”

Forward

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-02-05 17:22:14

We should conscript all our feminists and send them to Iraq to set ISIS straight.

 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 09:36:19

The Washington Times website has an article titled “Obama swipes at Charlie Hebdo, says insults to religion must be confronted” under a banner that says Top News

First we need to confront the insults to Bibi by voting the Democrat Party out of Congress and the White House

Then we need to “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” by launching a new war that will settle all these insults to religion for once and for all

Forward

Comment by In Colorado
2015-02-05 11:14:11

The Washington Times website has an article titled “Obama swipes at Charlie Hebdo

So, will the next issue of Charlie Hebdo show Obama Frenching Mohammed?

 
 
Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 09:49:45

Last post on this topic today, the World Net Daily website has several links with the following titles:

“Obama: Terrible Deeds Committed in Name of Christ”

“Pentagon vows no reprisal for ISIS immolation of pilot”

“Krauthammer: ISIS goal is to destabilize Jordan”

And the scariest of all the links:

“Focus on Israel: Iran brews up ‘final solution’ to hasten Antichrist”

If you read the last few links I posted, then you know what we need to do now

And that is to “shrink the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” by launching, the biggest, deadliest, most expensive war in all of Earth’s 6,000 year history that will settle all of these problems for once and for all

Who’s with me on this? Because by the time we’re all done “shrinking the size of government to where you can drown it in the bathtub” you’ll need a microscope to find it

Forward

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-02-05 10:11:54

Bitcoin continues its death march. Yet somehow, the falling price only points to loftier expectations.

“If our wave count is correct then correction of the most recent advance is complete and we can now expect a wave to the upper targets at $270, $320 and $360 (1,680 CNY, 1,900 CNY and 2,200 CNY). The highest target, namely $360 / 2,200 CNY, is not an immediate target – it is confirmed by both magnetic line and Fib extension so it will be achieved eventually but for now we put it from our minds. There is still a lot of price action and drama that must unfold between here and those highs.”

by crytocoinsnews

I love it when things are confirmed by being predicted.

Comment by Bluto
2015-02-05 10:26:18

Read an interesting story today on how trading in Bitcoin is like using marked bills and how that led to the rapid conviction of the Silk Road guy on all counts…

http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/05/technology/security/bitcoin-silk-road/

 
Comment by oxide
2015-02-05 18:39:35

dude stick with the wine and the car parts

 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-05 10:35:06

10 States Suing Over Obama’s Immigration Actions Find Their Senators on Opposite Side

“We have senators from states going against what their constituents want and what their state attorney generals or governors are doing”

by Kelsey Harkness | Daily Signal | February 5, 2015

Twenty-six states are suing the federal government over President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, but U.S. senators representing 10 of those states are taking the opposite approach in Washington.

Lawmakers in Florida, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin—states that have all signed onto a lawsuit that alleges the president’s immigration plan is unconstitutional—have twice blocked debate on a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security while also undoing Obama’s immigration actions.

Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation who has closely followed the lawsuit, said these senators are not working in the best interest of the people back home.

Comment by MightyMike
2015-02-05 10:42:30

“We have senators from states going against what their constituents want and what their state attorney generals or governors are doing”

Do they actually have opinion polls from those states that indicate what the people want?

Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-05 11:01:05

I think the opinion polls probably came from “Someone Else”.

Comment by MightyMike
2015-02-05 13:25:01

The polls are usually paid for polling firms like Gallup or news organizations. On the issue of illegal immigrants, the polls are ambiguous. Some show majority support for amnesty and others show the opposite. The Daily Signal article above appears to assume that the state governments are doing what people of those states want, which is a big assumption.

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Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-05 13:47:33

“article above appears to assume that the state governments are doing what people of those states want, which is a big assumption.”

I’m not all that sure about that.

You have the people who are going to pay for the “free stuff” they are going to receive. Then you have the people who already receive “free stuff” who could look at the president’s immigration plan as a Golden Goose killer.

Free stuff for me but not for thee.

There are already not many jobs out there and only so many employers who are going to benefit from cheap labor. Those employers who benefit are not the majority of any states population.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2015-02-05 18:14:09

Here are some poll results from last month that show the ambiguity:

ABC News/Washington Post Poll. Jan. 12-15, 2015. N=1,003 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.5.

“Obama has taken executive action allowing as many as four million undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation. The Republicans in Congress say they may take away federal funding so this order cannot be carried out. Do you think Obama’s action on immigration should go forward, or should it be blocked?”

Should go forward: 41%
Should be blocked: 56%
Unsure: 4%

——
CBS News Poll. Jan. 9-12, 2015. N=1,001 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.

“Which comes closest to your view about illegal immigrants who are living in the U.S.? They should be allowed to stay in the U.S. and eventually apply for citizenship. They should be allowed to stay in the U.S. legally, but not be allowed to apply for citizenship. OR, They should be required to leave the U.S.” Options rotated

Stay, apply for citizenship: 54%
Stay, not apply for citizenship: 15%
Be required to leave: 27%
Unsure/No answer: 4%

http://www.pollingreport.com/immigration.htm

 
 
 
Comment by Ben Jones
2015-02-05 12:40:37

Arizona: has both senators pushing for amnesty.

Comment by rj chicago
2015-02-05 14:33:45

Ben:
THAT is the amazing part - as your state is from what I understand from my buddy there in PHX being overwhelmed by a bunch of illegals holing up in drop houses there in Glendale, North PHX etc.

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Comment by Tarara Boomdea
2015-02-05 12:32:59

Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-05 10:35:06

10 States Suing Over Obama’s Immigration Actions Find Their Senators on Opposite Side
dailysignal.com/2015/02/05/10-states-suing-obamas-immigration-actions-find-senators-opposite-side/

 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-05 10:53:40

drawroF

Comment by real journalists
2015-02-05 12:40:26

drudge report
washington times
daily caller
weekly standard
new york post
uk daily mail
breitbart
world net daily
fox news

use these and only these when scripting your narrative

the infowars website is also critical of obama, but it doesn’t adhere to the narrative as scripted by the above, therefore it should be ignored

 
 
Comment by "Auntie Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2015-02-05 11:05:50

Another new foreclosure just popped up around the corner from my job. This could be the big one. Cross yer fingers.

- Crater.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-02-05 11:36:44

Todays forecast is;

http://goo.gl/U9iJjC

 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-05 11:57:32

The Lesson of Greece: Only Collapse Makes Real Change Possible

(February 5, 2015)

When the illusion that the Status Quo can fulfill all its promises to everybody dies, the Status Quo starts the terminal slide to effective collapse.

Of the many lessons we can learn from Greece’s difficult path to rejection of debt-serfdom, the most important is perhaps the most obvious: no real change is possible until the Status Quo can no longer fulfill its promises, i.e. it effectively collapses.

The collapse of the Status Quo has two distinct features: the process is highly variable, and the process affects the social classes in different ways.

The process of collapse is neither sudden nor smooth. Things do not necessarily cease to function overnight; rather, the decline to effective collapse operates much like energy states in physics: systems decay and then drop to a lower energy level, where they are stable until further decay causes the next drop to an even lower level.

Pension payments provide a ready example. The pension payment is reduced, and the recipient tightens his/her belt and gets by. The next reduction (either outright or via inflation) forces drastic changes in consumption, and subsequent reductions reduce the pension to a supplement that cannot possibly support a retiree, much less their family.

The pension is still issued, but the promise of a pension that could support a household at a modest level of consumption has collapsed. Though the system for issuing pensions still exists, it no longer fulfills the original purpose.

In this sense, the collapsed pension system becomes much like the phantom legions of the late Roman Empire: the paymasters and officers still received the legion’s pay, but there were no real soldiers; the legion was a bookkeeping entry in a skimming operation, not a fighting unit.

The financial Aristocracy (i.e. the kleptocracy) in Greece avoided much of the pain of debt-serfdom. What’s the point of running things if you can’t distribute the pain to others? I addressed this is Greece at the Crossroads: the Oligarchs Blew It (January 27, 2015).

The powerless classes were stripmined first. Bamboozled into voting for the Kleptocracy in previous elections, the powerless lower classes felt the brunt of austerity for the simple reason the kleptocracy knew there would be no blowback, as long as a few shreds of swag were being distributed.

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogfeb15/collapse-change2-15.html - 115k -

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-02-05 17:23:42

The Great Reset approaches.

 
 
Comment by rj chicago
2015-02-05 14:46:57

Because Barry O - ahole knows everything and is omnipotent I will raise you a mohammed for your Jesus!!1 This never ends well - religious wars never - hear it - NEVER end.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150205/us–obama-prayer_breakfast-f3b989dcc5.html

 
Comment by aNYCdj
2015-02-05 15:26:20

wow guys first radio shack now guitar center…..

This is an obituary for Guitar Center, a chain of big box musical instrument stores that was captured and infected by private equity during a national trend of greed and reckless expansionism in the late-1990s and early-2000s.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/02/end-guitar-center.html

Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2015-02-05 19:13:20

‘You would think that if Ares Management was serious about saving this company, they would choose a younger, more innovative executive able to lead Guitar Center into a disruptive future, but instead they hired a man who wouldn’t know a Marshall Plexi from a nuclear submarine. ‘

lol

I got disinterested in going to my local GC after a while after seeing the Chinese knock-offs of Gibsons they have. Guitars as a commodity? Not right.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-02-05 17:26:24

China’s rating agency warns that the Fed’s out of control money-printing will usher in a financial crisis greater than 2008.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-05/chinese-rating-agency-warns-coming-crisis-worse-2008-blames-us-printing-press

 
Comment by aNYCdj
2015-02-05 21:12:59

Oh this so bad…..and hilarious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSoHyeV_EQs

Comment by rms
2015-02-05 22:33:53

That’s fugg’n hilarious. Thanks!

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-02-05 23:05:25

Man who picks bottom ends up with smelly finger.

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-02-05 23:07:48

Markets
Analysts Blow Calls on Oil Stocks
In Assessing Energy Companies, Many Failed to Foresee Depth of Crude’s Decline
A worker at a Southwestern Energy Co. site in Pennsylvania in 2011. Raymond James analysts didn’t downgrade the company’s shares until January, months after the stock–and oil prices–had begun to slide. Photo: Bloomberg News
By Alexandra Scaggs
Feb. 4, 2015 8:55 p.m. ET

In late November, as collapsing oil prices pummeled energy-company shares, a Raymond James & Associates analyst told investors that energy stocks were still a good bet.

With a barrel of crude having dropped nearly 30% since June, Pavel Molchanov reasoned, the worst of the selloff was likely history. He issued a report contending oil prices and energy stocks were “within weeks of bottoming.” He and his colleagues maintained the equivalent of a “buy” recommendation on Houston energy producer Southwestern Energy Co. , also down about 30% since June.

More than two months after Mr. Molchanov made that call, it is clear he and many other analysts were wrong. Nymex crude prices and Southwestern Energy’s stock each have fallen more than 20% since Thanksgiving.

On Wednesday, U.S. crude oil for March delivery sank $4.60, or 8.7%, to $48.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its largest one-day fall since Nov. 28 and down 55% from its June high. Energy shares in the S&P 500 have lost 21% in that time.

“It’s a little late in the game to downgrade stocks on oil going down, because oil’s already gone down,” said Mr. Molchanov. But “commodity prices are almost impossible to predict in the short run.”

The failure of Wall Street analysts to foresee the depth of the oil decline stands as a cautionary tale for investors reassessing the sector after crude’s 19% rise over four sessions through Tuesday.

While some portfolio managers are purchasing shares on the expectation the pullback has been overdone, others are questioning whether the latest bounce will last.

Analysts have cut their forecasts for the sector’s 2015 earnings by 53% since June, but they recommend that investors buy energy stocks more than half of the time, according to S&P Capital IQ. Energy stocks have the second-highest proportion of “buy” ratings in the S&P 500, even as they trade at pricey valuations relative to history.

“Analysts are always optimistic,” said Reed Choate, portfolio manager at Neville, Rodie & Shaw, a New York investment-advisory firm that oversees $1.5 billion. But “this was a big miss.”

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-02-05 23:19:43

Did we just bounce hard off the all-time low 30-year Treasury yield of 2.25% with nary a mention in the MSM?

 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-06 08:26:38

phony scandals

 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-02-06 08:48:57

+12

 
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