Bits Bucket for March 7, 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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Realtors are liars
The best liars are bankers. They get others to tell their lies. Politicians and realtors for two.
“The best liars are bankers. They get others to tell their lies. Politicians and realtors for two.”
Bankers don’t need to tell lies. By the time the mark is brought to the bank all the necessary lies have been told.
All the banker needs to do is present go the lied-to mark a sheet of paper loaded with a bunch of interesting words and phrases and then simply hand over to the mark a ballpoint pen.
Tell that to the ones that went to jail for fraud after the S and L crisis. They all tell and told lies.
That’s old school. We’re working off a totally new paradigm.
When I first saw this headline, I thought, wow, they finally got him. Then I read further and I see that Menendez has opposed Obama on Cuba (natch) and Iran. Geez, it’s so obvious. Political score being settled.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/06/politics/robert-menendez-criminal-corruption-charges-planned/
You do not cross the son of Mugabe.
I think it might be a trail balloon. A bit of pressure being exerted on Menendez to see if he’ll fold on Cuba and Iran. There’s a statute of limitations on the Menendez charges, so we’ll see. My guess is that Menendez stands firm and they never actually bring the charges. He spat Holder’s words right back at him: “I’m not going anywhere”.
Interesting, though.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/234966-cruz-menendez-probe-politically-motivated
To all government employees or contractors on this site, please tell us why your job or the jobs of those you see around you is unnecessary or not being done efficiently.
I think that pretty much covers the entire military.
They are not necessary. The defense capability is so over saturated that the empire is a bully, DOO. Department of Offense. There should be a core defense and even anarchists allow for competing defense agencies as a need for defense. I would think about 92% of all defense spending can be cut without endangering the security of the states and territories.
Jeebus, I thought the clocks were gonna change last night and so I re-set them, only to find out I wuz a day early. Couldn’t figure out why all the talking heads weren’t doing their usual “change the smoke alarm batteries” spiel. Oh, well, at least I got a head start.
Better to be 1 hour early that 1 minute late.
“Jeebus, I thought the clocks were gonna change last night”
This one did.
U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ - 117k -
Now that we’ve all switched to super high efficiency LED and CFL light bulbs, the amount of energy we’re saving with daylight savings time must be miniscule. So why bother? Eh, maybe the nation should have a conversation on getting rid of DST.
I am in Arizona for the weekend. Remembered to set my watch while on the flight from Orange County, CA. But nice I won’t have to fuss with it again for six months.
More evidence, as if more were needed, of China’s not so soft landing: the commodity crash in iron ore (and copper) is hiting Australia hard.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-06/aussie-boom-towns-go-bust-iron-ore-prices-crash-record-lows
That is what happens when you increase supply anticipating ten percent growth and China “only” has 7.4% growth.
you guys need to pay the bankers a fair share of your income.
Right on!
Schmucks work, bankers reap.
God’s Plan.
IF Hillary runs she is going to have to answer to this:
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/isil-tightens-grip-libyas-derna-102121620.html#iQI7AA9
And her BS private e-mail (which she set up right as she was being confirmed).
If anyone of us purposefully decided to use a personal e-mail account to exclusively conduct business for our employer, we would be fired, and ineligible for re-hire…ever.
All true. However, the Libyan mess is directly tied to the price at the pump. It is easier for someone to see that by creating a situation where 1.5 million barrels of oil are taking off the market you have increased gasoline prices than why the e-mail scandal matters. The previous decline in gasoline prices has just made the increasing prices more noticeable and more painful. The last think Hillary wants is the major focus of the 2016 election to be on gasoline prices. There is a major division in the Democratic party between its green wing and its blue collar members. Having issues such as XL front and center is not good for it.
BTW, I was in Europe this last week and was speaking with a guy in Italy (who’s family had been in Italy for a LONG time). Apparently they get a HUGE amount of their oil from Libya, and so they are very focused (and worried) about what is happening in Libya.
The fact that Italy gets its oil from Libya doesn’t require some phony credibility from a tall tale. It’s common knowledge.
Relax Rental_Fraud.
Any evidence he is not telling the truth? I believe him.
Libyans will be eternally grateful for the Jeffersonian democracy the neo-cons installed in their country, which has ushered in democracy, the rule of law, economic revitalization, and a vibrant civil society.
Oh, wait….
It’s Rental_Fraud.
“a personal e-mail account”
I used a personal email account to conduct business long before my company had a server or a dot com. I still get an occasional email there from an old contact. This is not, for me, any attempt at dirty dealings. You can cast things in a different light if it suits your agenda.
Doesn’t the Pres. have a personal Twitter account? How is this different?
“I used a personal email account to conduct business long before my company had a server or a dot com.”
Are you suggesting that Hillary set up her own personal e-mail when she was getting confirmed because the US Government didn’t have e-mail?
No. She did it so she (and she alone) could control the all of her e-mails. Don’t you think that the content of her e-mails to foreign countries should be the property of the US Government?
Additionally, if you are the country’s chief diplomat, dealing with highly sensitive information, don’t you think that your e-mail should be on servers protected by the government’s IT staff?
“Doesn’t the Pres. have a personal Twitter account? How is this different?”
Seriously? Twitter is an outgoing message only, posting simple statements publicly to the world.
E-mail is communication that is intended to be private. Using your own private server is reckless at a minimum.
Nobody complained when Govornor Palin used her yahoo account for Alaska state business.
The Sarah Palin standard for Hillary? The sad part is Palin is clearly more competent.
Wow, I don’t think I have ever read ‘competent’ and ‘Palin ‘in the same sentence.
She did a very good job as governor of Alaska and it was reflected in her polls. Hillary did a horrible job at the state department.
Here is what the hacker said about what he found on Palin’s Yahoo account:
“There was nothing there, nothing incriminating — all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was governor.”
Some “clerical stuff”.
That hardly sounds like Palin was using her Yahoo account exclusively as governor.
Furthermore, I don’t give a rat’s *ss what Palin did as governor of Alaska. She wasn’t my governor.
Hillary on the other hand WAS my Secretary of State. And I do care that she communicated officially with other heads of state using an e-mail that only she maintained control over on a server that was NOT secured by the US Government.
And Hillary did so (used her personal accont) purposefully and substantially (thus the 55,000 e-mails that she’s going to review before releasing them), it wasn’t an occasional e-mail.
She registered the domain right as she was being confirmed. In other words, she set up a personal account that would be under her control specifically for use as Secretary of State.
That’s BS.
Do you love her so much that you can’t see how sleazy this is?
They don’t care. She’s thier guy. Rather than looking at it objectively and scratching her off as a crook, they’ll defend her just like she defended Bill, blue dress and all.
“She did a very good job as governor of Alaska and it was reflected in her polls.”
Uh-oh, Albuquirkydan’s getting a woody again!
How is this different?
Strikes me as quite different. In your example, the company had no internal email servers; in the case of the US Govt, they own plenty of infrastructure, carefully specified for various purposes.
For example, I would imagine that Cabinet-level positions likely have a need to discuss classified, or other material that requires a level of secrecy, protection, or discretion. Would you run that through a random gmail or yahoo-mail account?
IMO, depending on the type of information that flowed to her unprotected email account, what she lies somewhere between the irresponsible and the criminal.
what she lies
“what she DID lies”
Of course, slip of the fingers and all: I’m sure she lies as well—after all, she is a politician, and her lips are moving.
Why will she have to answer to that or anything else, for that matter? Isn’t the fact that she is a female running for president enough to get her into the WH?
Late evening with Col Qadhafi at his “ranch” in Libya - interesting meeting with an interesting man
-McCain on Twitter, 2009
80 years old in 2016. 80.
I am having trouble with the link but here is an excerpt about the result of the Rice and Clinton policies in Libya:
“Armed militias that control the eastern city of Derna are terrorising residents through summary executions, public floggings, and other violent abuse,” Human Rights Watch reported at the time. “The abuses are taking place in the absence of state authorities and the rule of law.”
Mohammed, a local government worker who did not provide a last name, told Al Jazeera that the government has a “bad relationship” with the fighters.
“Many of them are foreigners, from countries like Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Egypt. There is no justice, and they have closed most government offices,” he said. “We hate them here.”
In addition to ISIL fighters, the al-Qaeda-affiliated Abu Salim Martyrs’ Brigade and Ansar al-Sharia - not connected to Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi, allegedly responsible for the death of US Ambassador Christopher Stephens - have recently formed the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council to fight Haftar’s military alliance. The council is also aiming to contain ISIL’s expansion.
Last December, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) leader, General David Rodriguez, estimated there were a couple of hundred ISIL training camps in east Libya.
“Rice and Clinton policies”
What makes you think they weren’t merely carrying water for Neocons behind the curtain?
They are neocons and Hillary in particular is not a low level neocon.
John McCain was a huge proponent of NATO bombing Libya.
He is not running in 2016, otherwise he would have to answer for it.
McCain is a sitting Senator. Hillary is a private citizen. Your logic is puzzling.
You answer when you run for something, she is considered the front runner for president among the Democrats, as I stated it will be an issue in the 2016 election, I am puzzled that you find that a difficult concept to understand.
“Bomb, bomb, bomb,
Bomb, bomb Iran…”
Why do you think they were able to prosecute and jail so many bankers during the S & L crisis but not now? Was it just a function of will ? Was it that without a bailout someone took a loss and this motivated that someone to contact the authorities? Anybody know anyone who went down in the S & L or was involved in it with some insight?
Bush and Cheney managed to avoid prosecution, so why should bankers be any different?
Please do not hijack this. It is not a partisan answer, as both sides have had a chance to prosecute.
Why not start with Lanny A. Breuer?
I don’t know about the s&l crisis, but recently, yeah, tptb, I.e. DOJ, we’re simply not inclined to bite the hands that feed them.
I mean shoot, SEC audited Madoff twice and gave him a clean bill of health. Madoff’s daughter was married to the auditor or skmething. They’re all in bed together.
Voters thought Obama would prosecute in 08. Maybe he actually believed he would. What ever the case, it should be plainly clear to the everyday Joe, that while we can vote for one fool or the other, it’s mostly window dressing in a dog and pony show.
“it should be plainly clear to the everyday Joe, that while we can vote for one fool or the other, it’s mostly window dressing in a dog and pony show”
That’s correct. Many think charter schools are a Republican phenomenon. Not so:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/brother-of-vp-biden-promotes-charters-invoking-family-name/2011/11/22/gIQAnhLFfO_blog.html
“In February, Frank Biden urged the Palm Beach County School Board to approve a charter school proposal from the company, known as Mavericks in Education.
“I give you my word of honor on my family name that this system is sustainable,” Biden told the board in the videotaped Feb. 2 special meeting. “This school will be sustained.”
Afterward, the board voted to approve the Mavericks proposal, overriding a staff recommendation to deny the application because of questions about its fiscal soundness and academic quality. “
Because, unlike the 1980’s S&L debacle, no rich/wealthy/politically connected people lost their money.
That makes no sense. What about Lehman Bros. Even if it did, this would be because of bail outs not because there weren’t losses. Is it really fair to all those bankers that went to jail in the 80s for people who did the same thing now get it papered over?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/03/20/libya-airstrikes-hillary-clinton-and-the-women-who-called-for-war.html
Is Chinese communism possibly on its last leg?
The Saturday Essay
The Coming Chinese Crackup
The endgame of communist rule in China has begun, and Xi Jinping’s ruthless measures are only bringing the country closer to a breaking point
Chinese President Xi Jinping, front center, and other Chinese leaders attend the opening meeting on Thursday of the third session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua/Zuma Press
By David Shambaugh
March 6, 2015 11:26 a.m. ET
On Thursday, the National People’s Congress convened in Beijing in what has become a familiar annual ritual. Some 3,000 “elected” delegates from all over the country—ranging from colorfully clad ethnic minorities to urbane billionaires—will meet for a week to discuss the state of the nation and to engage in the pretense of political participation.
Some see this impressive gathering as a sign of the strength of the Chinese political system—but it masks serious weaknesses. Chinese politics has always had a theatrical veneer, with staged events like the congress intended to project the power and stability of the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP. Officials and citizens alike know that they are supposed to conform to these rituals, participating cheerfully and parroting back official slogans. This behavior is known in Chinese as biaotai, “declaring where one stands,” but it is little more than an act of symbolic compliance.
Despite appearances, China’s political system is badly broken, and nobody knows it better than the Communist Party itself. China’s strongman leader, Xi Jinping , is hoping that a crackdown on dissent and corruption will shore up the party’s rule. He is determined to avoid becoming the Mikhail Gorbachev of China, presiding over the party’s collapse. But instead of being the antithesis of Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Xi may well wind up having the same effect. His despotism is severely stressing China’s system and society—and bringing it closer to a breaking point.
Predicting the demise of authoritarian regimes is a risky business. Few Western experts forecast the collapse of the Soviet Union before it occurred in 1991; the CIA missed it entirely. The downfall of Eastern Europe’s communist states two years earlier was similarly scorned as the wishful thinking of anticommunists—until it happened. The post-Soviet “color revolutions” in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan from 2003 to 2005, as well as the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, all burst forth unanticipated.
China-watchers have been on high alert for telltale signs of regime decay and decline ever since the regime’s near-death experience in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Since then, several seasoned Sinologists have risked their professional reputations by asserting that the collapse of CCP rule was inevitable. Others were more cautious—myself included. But times change in China, and so must our analyses.
The endgame of Chinese communist rule has now begun, I believe, and it has progressed further than many think. We don’t know what the pathway from now until the end will look like, of course. It will probably be highly unstable and unsettled. But until the system begins to unravel in some obvious way, those inside of it will play along—thus contributing to the facade of stability.
…
We voluntaryists favor any reduction to hierarchical systems. The cypher punks among us are hard at work on decentralization schemes. It is happening with Blockchain. I am almost done with the hardest part on my Direct anonymous attestation software project. Involves lots of mathematics. After I am done my next one is to work on the more complicated decentralized anonymous scheme. This will only help crypto currency.
China has been moving away from communism since 1979, not fast enough but it has been moving away from it.
When I was a child, these admirable folks sent 30 million of their intelligentsia into the mountains to starve to death. Is that the “communism” you speak of?
Yes.
Ok. Now I know you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Just as the communist leaders in the Soviet Union following Stalin were no Stalin, the communist leaders that followed Mao were not Mao. It did not make them nice people only people less willing to create mass murder and more tolerant of some forms of free enterprise. However, free enterprise always leads to more pressure to create political freedom. The Chinese government knows this and is torn between allowing more freedom to promote growth and its desire to retain control. However, after moving from ten cents an hour to $5 plus an hour workers will not let the party put the genie back into the bottle.
You know I have to be careful what I write when I use this internet thing. Why?
Because I’m posting FROM CHINA!
Are you concerned incipient rate hikes will torpedo the wealth gains in your interest rate sensitive portfolio?
30-yr T-bond yields are up from 2.69% to 2.83% so far this year; where does the correction end?
Even 52 week bills are up. My last purchase was a surprising lower cost per $1000 than usual.
Stocks Are Falling and Interest Rates Are Spiking
Rate hikes coming?
by Dashiell Bennett
8:36 AM PST
March 6, 2015
The aftermath of the February Jobs Report has sent stocks stumbling, while interest rates are jumping. It appears that the strong data has caused the market to price in tighter-than-previously-anticipated monetary policy.
…
Do you really think the stock market is going to drop 50+ percent any time soon? I was a dumbass for keeping my principal safe I guess.
have any of the real problems of the crisis been fixed? Seems to me we just piled on about 9 trillion more in debt. I cannot see any reason for stocks to hold these lofty valuations.
lather , rinse, repeat.
the big dogs have made their money on the upside. Time for a plunge to make some more cash.
The only reason why they might refrain from a plunge is what that would do to government pension funds. I don’t think they want the layoffs. However, it more likely to happen this year than next since a massive plunge in an election year would be very bad for the Democrats.
do you like buying overvalued and manipulated assets?
No. But if you know how something is being manipulated you can profit from it. What other choice do you have in a period of financial repression? Unless you were born to a rich family, you have to save enough during your working years to finance your retirement. Are you going to do that by buying CDs at the bank? I had to put my mother in BDJ after the stock crash because it had a high dividend, I think about a 12% dividend, because if I did not she would not have been able to survive financially. I had a blue collar father who had passed away with just a small pension. She has done fine and has not relied on me for anything more than the vacations I largely finance for her. I wish the financial repression would end and she could get a reasonable return just at a savings bank with no risk but that is not the world we live in.
I don’t think they want the layoffs.
That’s good. Layoffs are very unpopular.
But sometimes necessary.
Mar 07, 2015, 12.20 AM IST | Source: Investing.com
Gold futures plunge below $1,165, erasing all gains for 2015
Investing.com — Gold suffered its biggest loss in the calendar year on Friday after better than expected data from the monthly U.S. jobs report and a stronger dollar deepened concerns that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates by June. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold future prices for April delivery fell $32.40 or 2.71% to $1,163.80 a troy ounce in U.S. afternoon trading. It marked the steepest decline in gold future prices since December, 2013. Previously, the biggest drop of the year came on Jan. 29 when gold futures plunged $31.30 to close at $1,255.90. The decline on Friday erased all of the gains in gold futures for 2015, as it closed on the final day of trading last year at $1,184 an ounce. Coincidentally, investors unloaded the precious metal in late-January after the Fed released a statement that the economy had been expanding at a solid pace and that it would remain patient in deciding when to increase its benchmark rate.
Prices for gold futures had fluctuated between $1,194.60 and $1,223 since Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s dovish testimony before Congress on Feb. 24. At Yellen’s semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins testimony on Capitol Hill, she indicated that the Fed could consider an interest rate hike on a “meeting by meeting” basis if economic conditions improved and inflation moved toward its target rate of 2%. The Fed could alter its monetary policy stance when the Federal Open Market Committee meets next on Mar. 17-18. Higher interest rates are a troubling sign for gold, which struggles to compete with yield-bearing investment strategies when the Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy.
The yield on 10-year U.S. treasuries increased 6.91% or 0.146 to 2.256 on Friday. For the year, the treasury notes are up nearly 15%. The U.S. added 295,000 jobs in February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 55,000 above forecasts for the month and January’s figure of 239,000. Employment growth, meanwhile, has averaged 288,000 over the last three months, as the current unemployment rate fell from 5.7 to 5.5%. Data concerning wage growth was less promising, as weekly hourly wages inched up three cents from January and 2% from this point last year. The Fed would like to see improved figures in terms of wage growth if it decides to raise interest rates, Yellen added at last month’s testimony.
The jobs report pushed the U.S. dollar broadly forward against a basket of currencies, as the U.S. Dollar Index soared 1.36% or 1.31 to 97.71.The euro also reached an 11-year low against the dollar for the third consecutive day, dropping 1.62% or 0.178 to 1.0850. The euro is down more than 10% against the U.S. dollar this year. A strengthening dollar affects dollar-denominated commodities like gold by making it more expensive for holders of other currencies to purchase the metal. The decline, however, paled in comparison from the sell off on April 15, 2013 when gold lost $140.30 or 9.3% to close at $1,361.10.
…
I locked in gains a few weeks ago but writing call options. Bulls make money and bears make money but pigs get slaughtered.
I think that oil and the national debt says it all. When the smoke is cleared we are in a deep deflationary cycle or looking just over the edge. There is and has been no recovery.
A cattleman in the central valley told me that with the water shortage here in CA that every drilling rig available has been utilized and now the powers that be have set a moratorium on drilling. Lots of talk in the farming community on changing crop production over to planting trees like almonds, etc.
Sales on expensive farm equipment starting to tank.
Home mortgages (refi’s) have been picking up due to relaxation in qualifications. The big push is no money out of pocket and people don’t care about points or third party fees rolled in on the back end.
The refi’s for some are two fold. One: they got in on FHA (3% down) and now have 20% equity in the property due to inflated prices in the area and on the refi can shed the PMI that can now be used to stimulate the economy. Two: the bankers are making them open a three year home equity line of credit. A friend just refi’d under these conditions and right after signing applied the $3500 they where required to take back to the principle balance but said the home equity line of credit couldn’t be closed for three years. In five years they should have their house paid off.
Damn right the Calif farmers and ranchers need to be regulated on well drilling. Yeah they tell homeowners to cut back 20% but the farmers continue to drill and waste water like crazy. They’ve been overdrawing groundwater causing the wells of homeowners to go dry. Making matters worse, they’ve been choosing water intensive livestock or crops, which is stupid during a severe drought. One pound of beef needs 1800 gallons of water. Almond trees are just as bad, it takes 1.1 gallons to make one nut. Some farmers still grow rice — another wasteful choice when water is scarce. Until agriculture starts conserving water and making better choices, I have no sympathy for farmers if the gov’t cracks down on them. Sorry for the rant it’s a sore point with me
Primaries in Iowa guarantee there will never be conservation amongst farmers.
“Home mortgages (refi’s) have been picking up due to relaxation in qualifications.”
Refi’s won’t save housing prices from crashing. Remember…. housing demand is at 20 year lows and falling.
I have been checking out the oil well completions in ND and noticed some interesting patterns. Since we are still working off the backlog of drilled but not completed wells I am not seeing a real drop off in completions. However, what I have noticed is very contrary to media assertions. The completed wells are less productive not more productive than a month before. I thought about it and it makes perfect sense. Producing wells in the Bakken have a huge range from a 100 barrels a day to 4000 barrels a day of initial production. Oil companies have enough experience to know approximately what a well properly fracked will produce. Thus, if you are an operator that needs cash flow and has a limited budget to frack, you will start with your most productive wells and then work to the lease productive and will stop if the wells production capacity will not pay for the cost of fracking which is 70% of the cost of completing a well with 30% being the cost of drilling. Thus, the drop in production will occur even prior to the fall-off in completions.
In ca gas is up 50% since the lows. the party didn’t last to long here. 3.20-3.50 / gallon
You have an additional twenty cents+ coming when you change over to the Summer blend in the next month. They did manage to sneak in their global warming taxes when the price was down in CA. We are still just in the low 2s range in the ABQ.
“They did manage to sneak in their global warming taxes when the price was down in CA.”
Luck of timing there! One has to wonder if that helps to explain the record pace of recent gasoline price increases…
Actually just filled up at Costco for 2.09 for regular.
How much is the problem in CA (and the US?) limited refining capability combined with the ban on crude export?
In other words, if we had more refining capacity, or could export crude, would the growth in US supply be less?
Said yet another way, is the buildup of supply in the US unique to the US? Or is there a similar build-up of supply globally?
Adan, all the data I see shows the US build-up of supply, but doesn’t reference global supply of unrefined crude. Is there similar data for the globe?
It is not tracked as closely. But a short answer to the question is that there is not a similar build-up. In fact, the Saudis have clearly emptied their large stocks. They were exporting 400,000 barrels a day more than they were producing for a while. Just the other day the EIA posted numbers that we exported more than 3 million barrels a day of product for 2014. The refinery strike has reduced that number but by how much has not been reported. However, reduced exports of product and less production of product fully explains the build-up of crude in the U.S.
As you can see the ban on crude exports has been completely evaded by sending the oil out as refined products. However, the refinery strike has diminished those exports and caused a build up of crude here. However, logic would tell you that the product demand is being met by increased production or release of stock elsewhere and would require running down their storage.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
U.S. exports of noncrude petroleum products from the United States averaged a record 3.8 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2014, an increase of 347,000 bbl/d from 2013, based on data from EIA’s Petroleum Supply Monthly. In particular, exports of motor gasoline, propane, and butane increased, offsetting a decrease in distillate exports.
As detailed in This Week in Petroleum, the combination of record-high U.S. refinery runs (which averaged 16.1 million bbl/d in 2014) and increased global demand for petroleum products allowed U.S. petroleum product exports to increase for the 13th consecutive year. These exports are mostly sent to nearby markets in Central America and South America, followed by exports to other countries in North America (Canada and Mexico). U.S. petroleum product exports increased in every region except the Middle East, which declined from 55,000 bbl/d in 2013 to 47,000 bbl/d in 2014. However, in 2014, there was more change—both in quantity exported and destination—for specific products: motor gasoline, propane, butane, and distillate.
December 2014 exports of motor gasoline, which include finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, set a monthly record of 875,000 bbl/d. For the past several years, monthly exports of gasoline have been highest in November and December, as low seasonal U.S. gasoline demand in December creates a larger surplus of gasoline, particularly on the U.S. Gulf Coast (as defined by Petroleum Administration for Defense District 3), resulting in increased exports to relatively farther destinations in Africa and Asia. Still, most U.S. motor gasoline exports are sent to Canada and Mexico.
least=lease
BTW, your comment also relates to where they choose to drill in the first place.
There was a pretty in-depth report done by peakoil.com that talked about this dynamic (they were talking about how there is less “tight oil” than everybody is projecting). From a big picture perspective, fracked wells have been less and less productive over the past couple of years. The rationale behind this effect was surmised to be that the “sweet spots” were being drilled first.
Likewise, the first drilling rigs that get shut down will be for the locations with lower yields.
As such, when the glut is worked off, since the rigs to come back on-line will be going to generally lower yielding locations, it will take more and more drilling rigs to add production (as compared to previously).
The next few years will be interesting.
More required drilling/fracking per barrel of oil means that Haliburton will make a killing over the next 5-10 years.
From a big picture perspective, fracked wells have been less and less productive over the past couple of years. The rationale behind this effect was surmised to be that the “sweet spots” were being drilled first
Exactly. That is why I like the drillers we will have to double drilling soon just to keep production stable. Of course, we will need higher prices to justify the drilling.
Big Picture: Crude Crashes Through $50 Bench; Down 50% YoY
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/crude%20oil%20-%20electronic
G L U T
Tidal wave…. a tsunami crude.
http://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2015/03/05/urban-heat-less-summer-fog-california-coast/
Common AR-15 Green Tip Ammunition Already Banned in New ATF Regulation Guide
It turns out, ATF has been working on a ban of AR-15 “green-tip” ammunition for quite some time
by Town Hall | Katie Pavlich | March 7, 2015
On Friday February 13 at 4:00 pm, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms released a proposal to ban commonly used M855 “green tip” AR-15 ammunition under the guise of law enforcement safety. The same day the proposal was released, on a Friday of a three day holiday weekend, ATF opened up a shortened 30-day period for the public to submit comments about the new regulation.
But it turns out, ATF has been working on a ban of AR-15 “green-tip” ammunition for quite some time and has already issued the ban in its new, 2014 Regulation Guide. For reference, ATF Regulation Guides come out approximately every ten years.
When you take a look at the 2005 ATF Regulation Guide, you’ll see an exemption for AR-15 “green-tip” ammunition, which means it exempted from the definition of “armor piercing” and therefore is legal on the federal level.
When you look at the last page of the new, most recent ATF 2014 Regulation Guide, which was published in January, there is no longer an exemption for AR-15 “green-tip” ammunition.
Obama and the Dems are all about back-door gun control.
Rachel Beyda, a sophomore at UCLA, was grilled by her peers during a council meeting because of her Jewish identity.
A group of UCLA professors said an apology issued by the students at fault was “woefully inadequate.”
http://campusreform.org/?ID=6324
Jewish students are paid to spy on college professors
http://www.amchainitiative.org/
Dump “cap and trade” for “fee and dividend”? Interesting concept. Never happen because SUV owners will whine that their money goes to Prius drivers; red “fracking” states will complain it redistributes money to blue states; and so on.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-sedor-climate-change-fee-and-dividend-vs–cap-and-trade-20150306-story.html
What is the board consensus regarding the practice of people “saving” parking space on public streets after snowstorms?
Ya know, those people who place lawn chairs, trash cans… in the space where their car was parked?
When we’re doing surveying or geotechnical work in urban areas, typically we have to marshal parking spaces so we set up barrels, cones, construction fence, tape and signs in those space for work the following day. These pieces of $hit will move all our stuff to the sidewalk and park their ghetto rides right where we need to work. Fine. I have authority to be a bigger dickhead. I just call it in and get it towed. Now it cost you $250+ to get it out of impound.
they should have alternate side in effect all the time move you car let them plow each side of the street and who-hoo a clean spot!
It can take a while for the city to get to all streets.
I once got cursed out by a girl in DC after a snowstorm. I pulled into a space she was leaving and she backed up, rolled down her window and said:
“Im gonna fcuk your sh*t up if you are here when I get back”
She drove off before I could fully comprehend what she said?
There is something about girls threatening to kick my ass thats strangely sexy; if I had more time I would have waited for her to come back and asked her out.
“There is something about girls threatening to kick my ass thats strangely sexy;”
You may want to rethink that.
An interviewer told Ronda Rousey she couldn’t compete with men. Then she broke his ribs.
By: Nate Scott March 5, 2015 9:43 am ET
In this video, Aaron Tru, host of a MMA Prime web show, tries to trash talk UFC champ Ronda Rousey a little bit. Rousey then executes a perfect judo flip and breaks his ribs.
ftw.usatoday.com/2015/03/ronda-rousey-break-an-interviewers-ribs - 194k -
UFC Fighter Ronda Rousey vs Man Busted Ribs ORIGINAL - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OARa6KXur0 - 508k - Cached - Similar pages
Feb 24, 2015 .
In this video, Aaron Tru, host of a MMA Prime web show, tries to trash talk UFC champ Ronda Rousey a little bit.
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Lucky for you the well of jooish theater springs eternal.
An interviewer told Ronda Rousey she couldn’t compete with men. Then she broke his ribs.
I’ve seen videos of her sparring with male MMA fighters. They totally owned her. It was laughable.
And keep in mind, the guy in the video let her throw him. That he cracked some ribs only shows that he’s a mediocre martial artist who doesn’t know how to fall correctly.
Another nail in the coffin of the oil and gas industry.
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New Concept in Solar Energy Poised to Catch on Across US
A new concept in renewable energy is catching fire across the country, allowing customers who might find solar panels too expensive or impractical to buy green energy anyway. Community solar gardens first took off in Colorado a few years ago, and the model — also known as community or shared solar — has spread to Minnesota, California, Massachusetts and several other states.
The gardens feed electricity to the local power grid. Customers subscribe to that power and get credit on their utility bills… “This is really the year that community solar becomes mainstream,” said David Amster-Olszewski, CEO of Denver-based solar garden developer SunShare LLC, which runs two operations in Colorado and is developing more with Xcel Energy Inc., including in Minnesota.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/concept-solar-energy-poised-catch-us-29463892
Solar=FAIL
This doesn’t look like failure. It’s not too late to get on the solar train HA.
http://www.evwind.es/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/solar-US.jpg
Dumb people throwing good money after bad?
It’s never too late to bail on a loss.
Only if you play games and put a high price on carbon emissions can you make solar work, otherwise it is very expensive. Hence the CAGW scam, it is only way the green industry does not go bankrupt without it there would be no green billionaires, it is all crony capitalism:
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/planetpolicy/posts/2014/05/20-low-carbon-wind-solar-power-frank
Deutsche Bank energy analysts says solar will be competitive without subsidies very soon: “Investment bank Deutsche Bank is predicting that solar systems will be at grid parity in up to 80 per cent of the global market within 2 years, and says the collapse in the oil price will do little to slow down the solar juggernaut.”
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/01/14/deutsche-bank-predicts-solar-grid-parity-80-global-market-2017/
The world will always need oil and gas but they are doomed to a long slow decline in market share.
Grid prices are way up due to the solar and wind plants that have come on line.
Moreover, if rates normalize solar will not even be close.
Just look at how the technology of an iPhone has developed. It would take a truckload of 80’s era electronics to do what an Apple device does today. If solar panel technology develops at the same pace, fossil fuels are toast.
If Lola’s mother had testicles she would be his father. That is probably a bad example because he probably would still be his mother, it runs in the family.
For 40 plus years solar technology has been compared to other high tech but Moore’s law has never applied. I think the whole cagw scam developed because they knew solar energy would not be competitive in their lifetimes. Now over the 40 plus years solar has probably dropped in the high 90s per cent but it is still too high. Absent a war in the middle east driving oil to 200 a barrel we are probably decades away before widescale substitution of solar for oil. Even then oil will be used for petrochemical uses and cars that burn oil will be used for decades longer.
“If solar panel technology develops at the same pace, fossil fuels are toast.”
Fossil fuels will be toast when TPTB say they are toast.
This dude was on the local news down here in Region IV back in 2007. The second night he was on the local reporter said he was being flown to Washington. He is dead now.
Fla. Man Invents Machine To Turn Water Into Fire
UPDATED 2:53 AM EDT May 24, 2007
SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. —A Florida man may have accidentally invented a machine that could solve the gasoline and energy crisis plaguing the U.S., WPBF News 25 reported.
Sanibel Island resident John Kanzius is a former broadcast executive from Pennsylvania who wondered if his background in physics and radio could come in handy in treating the disease from which he suffers: cancer.
Kanzius, 63, invented a machine that emits radio waves in an attempt to kill cancerous cells while leaving normal cells intact. While testing his machine, he noticed that his invention had other unexpected abilities.
Filling a test tube with salt water from a canal in his back yard, Kanzius placed the tube and a paper towel in the machine and turned it on. Suddenly, the paper towel ignited, lighting up the tube like it was a wax candle.
“Pretty neat, huh?” Kanzius asked WPBF’s Jon Shainman.
Kanzius performed the experiment without the paper towel and got the same result — the saltwater was actually burning.
The former broadcasting executive said he showed the experiment to a handful of scientists across the country who claim they are baffled at watching salt water ignite.
Kanzius said the flame created from his machine reaches a temperature of around 3,000 degrees Farenheit. He said a chemist told him that the immense heat created from the machine breaks down the hydrogen-oxygen bond in the water, igniting the hydrogen.
“You could take plain salt water out of the sea, put it in containers and produce a violent flame that could heat generators that make electricity, or provide other forms of energy,” Kanzius said.
He said engineers are currently experimenting with him in Erie, Pa. in an attempt to harness the energy. They’ve built an engine that, when placed on top of the flame, chugged along for two minutes, Kanzius told WPBF.
Kanzius admits all the excitement surrounding a new possible energy source was a stroke of luck. Someone who witnessed his work on the cancer front asked him if perhaps the machine could be used for desalinization.
“This was an experiment to see if I could heat salt water, and instead of heat, I got fire,” Kanzius said.
Kanzius said he hoped that his invention could one day solve a lot of the world’s energy problems.
“If I were to be bold enough, I think one day you could power an automobile with this, eventually,” Kanzius told WPBF.
http://www.wpbf.com/Fla-Man-Invents-Machine-To-Turn-Water-Into-Fire/5121428 - 169k -
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From Wikipedia
John S. Kanzius (March 1, 1944 – February 18, 2009) was an American inventor, radio and TV engineer, one-time station owner and ham radio operator (Call Sign K3TUP) from Erie, Pennsylvania. He invented a method that, he said, could treat virtually all forms of cancer,[1] with no side effects, and without the need for surgery or medication.[1][2][3][needs update] He also demonstrated a device that generated flammable hydrogen-containing gas from salt-water-solution by the use of radiowaves. In the media this was dubbed “burning salt water”. Both effects involve the use of his radio frequency transmitter.
Kanzius, an autodidact, stated that he was motivated to research the subject of cancer treatment by his own experiences undergoing chemotherapy for treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.[4][5] He died of B-cell leukemia with complications from pneumonia without seeing FDA approval and commercialization of his invention.
“If Lola’s mother had testicles she would be his father. That is probably a bad example because he probably would still be his mother, it runs in the family.”
Funny but true.
Solar fails as a substitute for refined fuels. It’s a matter of physics.
Not just talking the talk, walking the walk:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/07/billionaire-oilman-t-boone-pickens-predicts-oil-re.aspx
A fossil investing in fossil fuel.
People betting against him better home their EITC is large enough to cover their losses.
home=hope
S.F. plans to move entire homeless encampments into housing
By Kevin Fagan
Updated 7:19 am, Friday, March 6, 2015
“The street counselors have been telling us about this thing for days, but it sounded too good to be true,” said Fairrer, 52, who has been homeless since losing his last job more than a year ago. “But I guess if the mayor’s saying it will open, it must be so. It can’t come soon enough. Everyone in this camp wants off this sidewalk. I want to get back into my life.
“I just need the help.”
Fast track to homes
This trust, planners hope, will lead to counselors being able to route people quickly into housing. “This will not be a center to just come in and out of all day,” Lee said.
The center is being funded by a $2 million anonymous donation funneled through the San Francisco Interfaith Council. An additional $1 million from the same donor is being used to help create what city planners hope will be 500 new supportive housing units — housing with counseling on-site — for the homeless by the end of the year.
Bevan Dufty, Lee’s coordinator of homeless programs, and others, including Supervisor David Campos, have been meeting with residents for months to win community backing for the center. Most of the neighborhood schools and churches signaled approval, as has the activist San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, but some residents are skeptical.
“We’ll see, huh?” James Robinson said as he took a look at the new center. He pointed at one of the dormitories.
“This is the poor,” he said, and then, waving a hand at the gentrifying Mission Street, he added, “and this out here is a lot of the new rich.”
379 Comments
flohyman
Rank 3409
Put them in Bevan Dufty’s ‘hood. Coordinator of Homeless Programs is making $156K/year, in 2012 dollars…
http://sfappeal.com/2012/01/dufty/
9 hours ago (edited)
6 Likes
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-plans-to-move-entire-homeless-encampments-6117833.php
The argument for a basic income
By John D. Sutter, CNN
Updated 3:12 PM ET, Sun March 1, 2015
How much would it cost?
Bruenig, a basic income proponent who has written about this topic for The Atlantic and other publications, told me implementing a basic income easily could halve the poverty rate in the United States. He developed an online “basic income calculator” to evaluate the costs and benefits. Using his math, based on 2012 figures, we could pay every man, woman and child in the United States $1,610 per year, reducing the overall poverty rate from 15% to 10.8%, for about $500 billion. That’s what child poverty, alone, costs the United States each year.
Bruenig suggests paying more — $3,000 per year — to cut the overall poverty rate in half. I’m less concerned with who would be paid how much than the financial ballpark: Considering how much poverty costs, this out-there solution can be seen as affordable. It could be paid for with a progressive tax system and distributed much in the way Social Security is today, Bruenig suggests. The payments might go to everyone, but because the rich would be paying more in taxes they would not be getting as much benefit from the program as low-income people who need the help. Less expensive, still, would be targeting families with children, specifically. In a way, the concept also builds upon — and makes more meaningful — tax credits that this country already gives to low-income people and families with children.
The United States won the war on poverty among older Americans, Bruenig told me, by investing in Social Security. Consider this Social Security for the young — or for all of us.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sutter-basic-income/index.html
I like buying overpriced stocks and homes because of a rigged market and some folks thinking asset prices need to go up. seems smart to me.Everyone else is doing it.
I don’t know if it’s all in my head, but i’ve noticed a substantial price jump in San Diego County over the last few months. Places as far north as Vista and East near La Mesa are now going for $425,000+. Keep in mind these are more modest 3 bed 2 bath houses on small-ish lots that need some updating. Previously I was seeing these places for around $375,000. You can’t even touch San Diego city at this point for less than $475,000 unless it’s an absolute dump.
I feel like we’re in full on bubble territory at this point. I make north of $100+/year and have 20% down even at these inflated prices and still can’t make the numbers work for buying. That’s with having 0 debt and excellent credit as well. How the hell are others buying at these prices?
If I were as hopelessly indebted in losses on a depreciating asset like a house as prices started falling, I’d be asking for a 400% premium too.
San Diego, CA Sale Prices Freefall 15% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/san-diego-ca-92128/home-values/
Is the fed forcing seniors to risk their life savings chasing cr@ppy stocks? Can these folks live through another crash? I keep seeing seniors working fast food.
get out of town my friend. why spin your wheels?
17 million new Democrat on Arrival entitlement voters, and not a single net gain in jobs. Thank you, Comrade Pelosi. Thank you, Federal Reserve. Thank you, Republicrats and the idiots who voted for them.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-07/amazing-math-bls-how-america-added-17-million-jobs-7-years-and-zero-full-time-jobs
Albuquerque: Hotel human resources director fights off repo men, faces judge.
The woman is Cassandra Gore, the human resources director at the Hotel Cascada.
Last month, two repo men showed up to the Hotel Cascada on Carlisle and I-40 to repossess Gore’s BMW.
Police believe she wasn’t going to give up her BMW to the repo man without a fight. Witnesses say when she came outside, things escalated quickly. Police say Gore started punching and scratching the repo man in the face.
When he showed her the repo paperwork the man says Gore ripped them up, put them in her purse and told him he didn’t have paperwork anymore.
That’s when the man says Gore shoved him out of the way to get in her car. He says she pinned him between the wall and her car trying to leave.
The BMW already had chains connected to a tow truck, but she was able to reverse until they fell off…Police confirmed with the credit company that they’ve been trying to repossess her car since she hasn’t made payments since 2013. They say Gore appears to be hiding the BMW.
Region IV
Huh, ad at top of the blog is for “Sharia compliant” investment solutions from Amana Mutual Funds Trust.
phony scandals