Bits Bucket for March 10, 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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Drudge Report link titles (clickbait for the window lickers and mouth breathers)
Anti-American sentiment in Russia now more intense than during Soviet era…
Russian jets run ‘attack scenarios’ on NATO ships…
USA sends heavy armour to Baltic states…
3,000 American Troops to Eastern Europe for Exercises…
Boots if you do not step up your efforts you will be wearing combat boots:
March 4, 2015 - U.S. Voters Back 2-1 Sending Troops To Fight Isis, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Voters Say 3-1 Keep Un-Vaccinated Kids Out Of School
PDF format
Sample and Methodology detail
American voters support 62 - 30 percent sending U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria, with strong support across all party, gender and age groups, according to a Quinnipiac University National poll released today.
Men back U.S. troop deployment 68 - 28 percent, while women support it 57 - 33 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University Poll finds.
A total of 69 percent of American voters are “very confident” or “somewhat confident” that the U.S. and its allies will defeat ISIS. Only 39 percent of voters are concerned that U.S. military action will go “too far” in getting involved in the situation, while 53 percent are more concerned the U.S. military “will not go far enough in stopping ISIS.”
Voters say 64 - 23 percent Congress should grant the authorization requested by President Barack Obama to use military force against ISIS.
And voters say 72 - 19 percent that the U.S. should never pay ransom to terrorists who are holding American hostages. This opinion is shared by every listed group.
“Send in the troops and eliminate ISIS: The resounding hardline message from Americans who say, ‘Don’t negotiate with terrorists; destroy them,’” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
American voters believe 63 - 28 percent that President Obama loves America.
Voters give him a negative 41 - 52 percent job approval rating, his best score since a negative 42 - 50 percent job approval in an April 2, 2014, survey. Men disapprove 56 - 38 percent while women disapprove 48 - 43 percent.
“Most Americans believe President Obama loves America, but they are not in love with his job performance,” Malloy added.
Republicans in Congress get a negative 22 - 69 percent approval rating, while Democrats in Congress get a negative 28 - 62 percent score.
By a 47 - 42 percent margin American voters trust Republicans in Congress more than President Obama to make decisions good for the country.
In an open-ended question, allowing for any answer, 21 percent of voters say the economy is the most important problem facing the nation. Obama gets a negative 44 - 50 percent approval rating for handling the economy. His approval ratings on other issues are:
Negative 35 - 55 percent for foreign policy;
Negative 39 - 54 percent for terrorism;
Negative 38 - 56 percent for immigration;
Negative 35 - 55 percent for ISIS.
Immigration
Voters oppose 55 - 40 percent Obama’s executive order allowing some undocumented immigrants to remain in the U.S. The president exceeded his authority with this order, voters say 51 - 41 percent.
But voters oppose 62 - 30 percent Congress partially shutting down the Department of Homeland Security to block this executive action on immigration. Voters say 50 - 37 percent they will hold Republicans in Congress, rather than Obama, responsible for such a shutdown.
“Voters think President Obama exceeded his authority by unilaterally allowing some undocumented immigrants to remain in the U.S.,” Malloy said. “But they make it clear Republicans in Congress will take the fall if Homeland Security is jeopardized to counterpunch the executive order.”
I find it mind-boggling that 62% of Americans favor sending ground troops to fight against ISIS. We just got out of Iraq and Afghanistan and we’re ready to get back in? Heck, might as well go into Libya and Syria too, as long as we’re over there, eh? Oh yeah, and Iran. Gotta get them too.
And it’s the party of “small government” and “lower taxes” that’s clamoring for the new war
F*ing hypocrites
And it’s the party of “small government” and “lower taxes” that’s clamoring for the new war
Actually according to the poll I cited it is both parties including the “Peace Party’ of the W era:
American voters support 62 - 30 percent sending U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria, with strong support across all party, gender and age groups, according to a Quinnipiac University National poll released today.
That differs quite a bit from this poll from a few weeks ago.
Pew Research Center. Feb. 18-22, 2015. N=1,504 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 2.9.
“Would you favor or oppose the U.S. sending ground troops to fight Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria?”
Favor: 47% Oppose: 49
Republicans
Favor: 67 Oppose: 31
Independents
Favor: 48 Oppose: 48
Democrats
Favor: 32 Oppose: 63
http://www.pollingreport.com/isis.htm
It appears to be the Pew poll which is outlier:
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/02/19/cbs-poll-57-want-us-ground-troops-to-take-on-isis/
It appears that you’re correct about that, but the Pew poll illustrates goon’s point about which sort of people support another war.
The question right before had 67% saying ISIS was a major threat to the U.S. the question 2 before talked about limited short period boots. Looking at the questions it kinda looked like a push poll from the order and wording.
A nation of emotionally manipulated sheep
“A nation of emotionally manipulated sheep”
+1 Fugg’n nailed it!
I wonder what the poll result would be if they had asked, “Do you support a ground war against ISIS if your taxes are also increased to pay for the new war?”
With that Scott Walker voodoo economics, anything is possible
Please do not denigrate Mr. Walker. He is one of our nation’s most successful college dropouts — er, high school graduates…
To the people who want this war against ISIS, the pollsters should ask something along the lines of, “If you’re of military age, do you plan to enlist and go fight ISIS? If you have children of military age, will you urge them to enlist for this war?” And when 99% answer no, the pollsters should say, “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
I don’t believe this poll. The numbers are bullshit.
I know you will trust this poll more:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/04/fox-news-poll-voters-feel-us-is-less-safe-islamic-extremists-making-gains/
I find it mind-boggling that 62% of Americans favor sending ground troops to fight against ISIS.
After the elections of 2008 and 2012, you still needed convincing that the sheeple are morons?
“…troops…”
Troops = Someone else’s teenager.
American voters support 62 - 30 percent sending U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria
Well as long as they volunteer to get shot at its OK…right?
This is closer to what’s going on:
‘people in Mosul, the northern capital of Iraq, are divided in their loyalties, judging by interviews with The Independent conducted this month, either after they left the city or by mobile phone, although Isis has banned their use. In a predominantly Sunni Arab city, many are more frightened of largely Shia Iraqi government forces than they are of those on the side of Isis, though they may not like either.’
‘Though Ali and his family have become refugees he still argues that many Isis fighters are better than their equivalents in the Iraqi army, which held the city for 10 years before 2014.’
‘There is an increasing number of checkpoints inside the city and those at the main exit points often stop anybody leaving who does not have a valid excuse. Trenches have been dug to stop Kurdish Peshmerga forces to the north and east of the city’
‘The Kurds have made advances in recapturing much of the Sinjar area west of Mosul, advancing behind heavy US air attacks against any point where Isis is resisting. But this tactic would be less feasible in built-up areas such as Tal Afar or Mosul itself.’
‘Kurdish leaders say they would not advance into Sunni Arab areas where all the Sunni would rally against them. One Kurdish commentator, Kamran Karadaghi, says that Kurdish public opinion would not welcome a battle for Mosul in which there would be heavy losses. He says people would ask: “Why should so many Kurds die for a Sunni Arab city?”
The government abandoned these cities without a fight. I don’t know why this whole ISIS thing is being so misrepresented to the US public, but I have my suspicions. But if Turkey isn’t interested and the Kurds aren’t, and the Saudi’s don’t care and if Bagdad can’t work up a mad about ISIS, WTF are we doing? What this looks like is the partitioning of this part of Iraq into Sunni control.
I was traveling recently and stayed in a hotel, so I got to see some TV. Fox News is like a non-stop, terror freak-out movie. Listen to this a-hole:
‘In an open letter organized by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., 47 Senate Republicans today warned the leaders of Iran that any nuclear deal reached with President Barack Obama could expire as soon as he leaves office. Tomorrow, 24 hours later, Cotton will appear at an “Off the Record and strictly Non-Attribution” event with the National Defense Industrial Association, a lobbying and professional group for defense contractors.’
‘Cotton strongly advocates higher defense spending and a more aggressive foreign policy. As The New Republic’s David Ramsey noted, “Pick a topic — Syria, Iran, Russia, ISIS, drones, NSA snooping — and Cotton can be found at the hawkish outer edge of the debate…During his senate campaign, he told a tele-townhall that ISIS and Mexican drug cartels joining forces to attack Arkansas was an ‘urgent problem.’”
+1
Tom Cotton looks like a pretty young guy. Maybe he ought to put his money where his mouth is, pack up his AR-15, and join the Kurds in their fight against ISIS.
Show some leadership, you big wuss.
Don’t be too hard on the guy by calling him a wuss, he’s just your average chicken hawk trying to prove his manhood by sending other people off to fight. Most of the Senate consists of pudgy Gawd fearin’ pussies like him. I’m sure Mr. Cotton will volunteer all fighting age people of Arkansas to fight his wars, while he leads from behind.
How princely are the profits for the family trusts of these politicians when they decide to create bloodshed?
Think about how Bush Derangement Syndrome and the brainwashing from revolutionary communist college professors has skewed the ability to think rationally about real national security, both internal and external.
Free your minds, don’t be useful idiots in the war against the west.
“How princely are the profits for the family trusts of these politicians when they decide to create bloodshed?”
With the aircraft like the V22 Osprey costing $70k/hr (yep, that’s $70,000.00 per hour) to operate I’d have to say, “very princely.”
Every time you mention the word “Russia” in a comment, I get banner ads for mail-order brides. This is on my work computer, so unless other people are using the company network for nefarious purposes, I’m pretty sure it’s the actual comments that are causing it.
Every time you mention the word “Russia” in a comment, I get banner ads for mail-order brides
I know that works so I try to use the word Russia several times a day too, I know you can count the exact number for me. Clubber please use the word more, those women are hot. Not too big of a booty and not too small of a booty. The Asian women are hot too, the board should be thanking me for using the word China as often as I do.
It’s a bad sign for a country when the good-looking women in it want out.
The amount of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bigotry I am reading is stunning. Meanwhile you all have no problem laying down your prayer mats, facing east and worshiping the prophet obama and the prophet muhammad. Allahu Akbar my friends, you better get used to saying those words unless you have become tired of living with your head in tact.
Psychopathic islam is a threat to all humanity, the threat is not our great Republic and not capitalism. How many of you anti-American islamist sympathizers want to give up all human “progress” and live a barbaric seventh century lifestyle?
The civilized world needs to unite to defeat a common enemy using all means necessary…economic, diplomatic and yes military.
I actually think the Russians will eventually take up the fight against the islamists over their desires to take back parts of Europe…time will tell.
‘you anti-American islamist sympathizers’
Let me guess, you listen to a certain talk radio station all day. I was driving and listened during the torture flap a few weeks ago. Host after host; torture is great! The torturers are HEROS! Let me tell you, it ain’t great. It’s F-d up and wrong and illegal by our laws and international laws we signed on to. Why do you think they had to take them somewhere besides the US to do it?
Neocons aren’t new and they aren’t conservative. They come from a Marxist background and love universal healthcare, amnesty and most of all, a huge military. They are quite simply socialists, with a screw loose. You would think that getting our asses kicked twice might get people to stop listening to them. But noooo, we have some in the state department right now stirring up another war in Ukraine. You call people Islamist sympathizers? Remember Hillary saying Mubarak was a friend of her family? Bush holding hands with the Saudi king? I don’t know any Arabs or Persians or Afghans. They aren’t my enemies. I really don’t want anything to do with that part of the world, and wish DC would get their hands out of my pocket to pay for all this crap. And one of my best friends is Jewish. Guess what? He doesn’t give a rats pitouti about Israel. If they want to live in a place where everybody hates them, do it on their own dime. Personally, I wouldn’t want to live over there on any terms. Oh, BTW, Zionists are pretty much atheists.
What makes this country great is freedom. And a country in perpetual war will lose its freedom. War always ends up destroying freedom. Look at the NSA. Look at the Patriot Act. War is the health of the state. I’m a libertarian. I want my freedom. Come to think of it, I want my freedom back. And I want smaller government that leaves me alone and takes as little as possible from me. War results in the reverse of those things. George Washington knew this, others of his time too. Turn on the radio; Syria, Iraq, ogga booga! I’m sick of this crap. We’ve got our own problems and it’s time we took care of ourselves and let the world figure out their problems for themselves.
Ben,
With all due respect, you are quite unhinged when it comes to our involvement with the war on terror. Going after al qaeda was a noble effort including the water boarding of the three individuals. All the nation building, the invasion of Iraq and subsequent politically correct “war fighting” was nonsensical and for the most part useless.
I don’t want to live under sharia law, fascism or communism. The constitution put the federal government in charge of making sure that I never will. However, I think the indoctrination of our college students and the blind devotion to America hating, Christian hating, Jew hating and a general hatred for the western way of live may bring about those ism’s whether I like it or not.
Sucks to be me eh?
fool
Sucks to be me eh?
It depends. To have your filled with anxiety about non-existent hatred of Christians and the threat of sharia law does sound unpleasant. On the other hand, Ben is probably right. You probably spend time on a regular basis listening to angry people on the radio who make you angry. Such anger gives great satisfaction to most of the listeners of those programs.
Once again, the alinsky is strong in you MM and HA. You disagree, I’m a fool who gets marching orders from angry talk radio hosts. Hard for radicals to listen to opposing view points when they claim to be the arbiters of tolerance. Pathetic.
How smart are people who are capable of being brainwashed by revolutionary communist college professors? Not very.
+1. Testify, Brother Ben!
‘you are quite unhinged’
I stand by what I said and here’s some more. If you want to stuff food up some guys butt, or listen to my phone calls, then change the laws. If you can’t, you are breaking the law. You are messing with the constitution. And the people in this country may not be able to stop you from borrowing $3 billion a day from foreigners to piss away on these shitty little countries, but on some things we’re not going to budge. A year or two ago some government types said they might take away our guns or ammo. The people went out and bought every gun and box of ammo on the shelves for months. We have a problem in this country and out here in the fields, we know who wants to take from us. We are armed to the teeth, the police are, the feds, the post office, everybody. We didn’t buy these arms because of some pajama wearing goobers driving a Toyota thousands of miles away.
“A year or two ago some government types said they might take away our guns or ammo. The people went out and bought every gun and box of ammo on the shelves for months.”
Make no mistake. That event stated more about things than anything else a lot of years. And it went right over the bloated heads of snobs.
“Meanwhile you all have no problem laying down your prayer mats, facing east and worshiping the prophet obama and the prophet muhammad.”
FWIW, not me or my household. Secular all the way!
And a pair of articles from Breitbart to “rally the base”
The Next American War in the Middle East—Let’s Win This Time!
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/03/07/the-next-american-war-in-the-middle-east-lets-win-this-time/
Part II: The Next American War in the Middle East—Let’s Win This Time!
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/09/part-ii-the-next-american-war-in-the-middle-east-lets-win-this-time/
P.S. William Kristol has a net worth of over $200,000,000
The Clintons make that in a couple of years of speaking fees, just like Obama will.
And this from World Net Daily to rally the Christian Zionists that elect the Congress that controls the $600,000,000,000 a year war machine
Netanyahu warns of ‘foreign-funded’ plot to defeat him
“In an interview over the weekend with the Israel Hayom newspaper, which is financed by U.S. billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Netanyahu spoke of “tens of millions of shekels from abroad” aiding in an effort to mobilize Israeli Arabs to vote.
“There is a coalition of both open and secret factors which aims to bring down the Likud government and replace it with a leftist government,” the prime minister stated.
“I’m talking about very large forces … tens of millions of shekels from abroad, consultants and others, to do two things: to mobilize left-wing voters at the ballot box on a much larger scale”
Every time you click a Drudge Report link, you pull a shekel out of the U.S. Treasury (borrowed from communist China) and put it in William Kristol’s pocket
Who has been the commander in chief for the last seven years?
How many wars has he had congress authorize?
How many death lists of his did congress authorize?
How many drone strikes of his did congress authorize?
I have a phone and a pen…
Are you looking forward to President and Commander in Chief Scott Walker and a Republican majority in both houses of Congress adding another $10 trillion to the deficit as much as I am?
obama had added more to the deficit in his administration than EVERY OTHER administration COMBINED and accounting for inflation.
At this point, I will be happy to read a bill BEFORE it passes to see what is in it.
Obama set the bar pretty high, but with a three front war in Ukraine, Iraq/Syria, and Iran (paid for with money borrowed from communist China) I am confident the next Republican administration can beat his record for deficit creation
The military industrial complex loves partisan squabbling.
Obama set the bar pretty high, but with a three front war in Ukraine, Iraq/Syria, and Iran (paid for with money borrowed from communist China) I am confident the next Republican administration can beat his record for deficit creation
Plus don’t forget there will be ample tax cuts for the rich, but only crumbs for what’s left of the the middle class.
When I worked in a shop with a union, it always amazed me how much the young guys would give up in the way of permanent raises and improved benefits, just to get the “one time” bonus for signing the contract ASAP.
And the bonus wasn’t even that good. Something like a couple thousand bucks (BEFORE taxes)
They’re dumb. But they may not have had much faith that “permanent raises and improved benefits” would be a benefit to them personally for very long. I think most young people now assume they will get laid off fairly soon.
I think most young people now assume they will get laid off fairly soon.
A steady job is quickly becoming a luxury and a privilege. I think this is why there is so much resentment towards boomers who “hog” the few good jobs. Of course, most of those boomers are one reorg away from the unemployment line, and unlike their younger counterparts many won’t be able to replace the lost job.
That’s what happens when prices are grossly inflated. Demand plummets then unemployment craters.
“Foreign funded plot….” LMAO
They probably saw how effective the Israeli/Jewish “Foreign-funded plot” plan works in the USA, and said “what’s good for the goose…….”
Abraham Foxman would like to have a word with you
Obama set the bar pretty high, but with a three front war in Ukraine, Iraq/Syria, and Iran”
Iran will take care of ISIS and Ukranie is none of our business.
Best thing about Obama is hes not doing everything Israel wants.
Worse thing is Obama care.
Best thing about Obama is hes not doing everything Israel wants.
Worse thing is he now appears to be doing everything Iran wants.
Will China’s version of the Credit Crunch choke global finance?
Craig Stephen’s This Week in China
Opinion: Will China’s ‘money garrote’ strangle the global economy?
By Craig Stephen
Published: Mar 9, 2015 10:02 p.m. ET
Dramatic slowing of money-supply growth could have worldwide implications.
Bloomberg
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — In this new era of all-powerful central banks, it is hard for investors to look past who will be next to take out the big gun of quantitative easing.
This week, all eyes are on the European Central Bank, which follows the Bank of Japan as the latest of the major monetary-policy makers to embark on its own aggressive bond-buying program.
In contrast, China appears to be entering a “new normal” era, in which its central bank only has a pea-shooter. While most headlines at the ongoing National Peoples Congress meeting focused on the “approximately 7%” economic growth target, the benchmark money-supply growth target of 12% was also the lowest in decades.
Another part of China’s new normal is not just lower growth, but also an era where the central bank is no longer able to magically speed its money-printing presses.
Conventional wisdom holds that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has a gargantuan monetary arsenal, given that the country has the world’s largest stash of foreign reserves at $3.89 trillion. This cash mountain is routinely used to justify how Beijing has nearly unlimited firepower to backstop its economy.
But according to some analysts, this reserve accumulation is merely a byproduct of another form of quantitative easing. Rather than strength, its size indicates just how staggeringly large China’s domestic credit expansion has become in recent decades.
According to strategist Albert Edwards at Société Générale, such foreign-reserve accumulation — which typically takes place in emerging markets — is equivalent to quantitative easing. The PBOC’s historic mass-printing of money to buy foreign currency and depress the yuan’s value is little different from what the Federal Reserve and others have done, Edwards said.
This would mean that China has already embarked on a major monetary expansion after three decades of trade surpluses and reserve accumulation. Furthermore, the recent reversal in such reserve accumulation points to a significant turning point in monetary conditions.
Indeed, Joe Zhang, author of “Inside China’s Shadow Banking System,” argues that China’s credit expansion has in fact been far more aggressive than the quantitative easing attempted in the U.S. or Europe.
Zhang, a former PBOC official, calculated that China’s money supply is already 372% of what it was at the beginning of 2006. And if you add up official data between 1986 and 2012, China’s benchmark M2 money supply has grown at a compound rate of 21.1%.
While 7% economic growth is slow for China compared to the double-digit rates of the past, such data makes 12% money-supply growth looks positively measly.
Another reason to believe that China is at the tail end of a huge monetary expansion is found in a recent study by McKinsey & Co. advisers. They estimated that total credit in China’s economy has quadrupled since 2008, reaching 282% of gross domestic product.
But now the conditions that enabled this debt habit have turned.
Edwards argues that foreign-exchange accumulation by central banks is the key measure of global liquidity to pay attention to — and it is currently in free-fall. Further, while markets are focusing on the ECB’s easing announcement, they are missing this Chinese liquidity garrote that is strangling the global economy, he says.
Data from the IMF shows that central-bank foreign-reserve accumulation has been declining rapidly. China is at the center of this, with a $300 billion annualized decline over the last six months, according to Edwards.
The stress point for China is now its currency, which has fallen to a 28-month low against the dollar.
The dilemma facing the PBOC is how to keep growth and liquidity sufficiently strong, while also maintaining its loose currency peg to a resurgent dolla.
As China defends its currency regime, it must do the opposite of printing new money: using foreign reserves to buy yuan, contracting money supply in the process.
Such a gradualist depreciation of the yuan is likely to stoke fears of capital flight. Despite China’s strong February export figures and trade surplus, the market remains concerned about the yuan’s value as U.S. and China interest-rate policies appear set to diverge.
While the Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates as early as the summer, China has just cut key rates for a second time.
Meanwhile, the other complicating factor is China’s credit expansion in the latter years of its credit boom was not just domestic. Over $1 trillion was raised overseas.
This debt will become more onerous as the U.S. dollar rises, especially when many Chinese corporation have only yuan-based revenues.
The question for investors is where China’s liquidity squeeze will be felt next.
It has already sent a range of hard commodities plummeting and caused steep falls in business at the baccarat tables of Macau and the high-end malls of Hong Kong. Potential future casualties to consider include real estate and high-yield Chinese corporate bonds.
…
In this new era of all-powerful central banks
Just the way Mr. Banker likes it.
The question is; Which crater taters will global finance choke on first. Canada, China or US?
You will be worm meal before China collapses, so I would go with a tight race between Canada and the U.S., however Great Britain could be a dark horse, those Anglo Saxon dogs love their debt. (Sorry, it is my Norman French ancestors speaking).
P.S. Anglo Saxon dogs includes Australia.
Interesting article PB. It pulls together a lot of the puzzle pieces that we have discussed here, all the while with danny blabbing no…no in the background.
Sorry Dan… China is already cratering. GPD down 45% since 2008…. and falling.
GPD down 45% since 2008
Big difference between rate of growth being down 45% and GDP being down 45%. Virtually every country of the face of the earth would love to have a 7% growth rate.
From China Daily about taxation policy in China, looks like the Chinese government needs a Nancy Pelosi, only 2% of the population paying income taxes?
China’s personal income tax faces marginalization and is on an unhealthy trail of development, Jia Kang, former director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science, said in an interview with Beijing Times on Sunday.
Many variables are behind taxation and careful and thorough consideration needs to be taken to making a tax policy. “Only 28 million people, 2 percent of the population, are paying personal income tax and if we raise the threshold of it, who will still pay this tax ?” Jia raised the question.
According to Jia, by adding not only salaries but also other incomes into excess progressive mechanism will make the wealthy people pay the highest marginal rates of 45 percent whom at the moment can avoid pay personal income tax if they don’t pay themselves salaries. “That will be much more reasonable,” Jia said.
Environmental tax
Jia told the reporter that once we change the pollution discharge fees to environmental tax, the mandatory power will be strengthened and there will be punishment. “It is normal if the tax will be levied on consumers,” Jia said, adding the government needs to raise the minimum living standard for low-income population if the price of water and electricity will be raised.
“By adjusting the consumption habits, the population will be able to adapt to the price change, thus the low carbon life can be led in the society so that everyone can help with reducing the smog,” Jia said.
Property tax
China is likely to complete the legislation process for the taxation system by the end of 2016, and real estate taxes will be implemented in 2017. According to Jia, to make it easier for the society to accept the new tax system, the property tax should be levied on commodity properties but not affordable housing.
The property tax will not influence the property price too much, Jia said. “The property price might even fall before the implementation because of the expectations. The market price will keep rising but more stable and with less bubble after the implementation,” Jia told the reporter.
Import tax
The tax China levies on imported luxury goods is not high comparing to some international standard, Jia said. “We don’t have the dominant rights on prices. The foreign business owners do. If China lowers the tax then they will lower the price a little bit but raise it again without you knowing,” Jia said. Lowering the import tax is giving the benefits to the foreign business owners.
Overseas shopping
The overseas shopping spree will only rise in the near future. To build the consumer’s confidences in domestic goods, China should establish the quality and safety of its own brands since not only price, but also safety is in consumers’ biggest concern.
Sounds like Boots would love their tax system.
If you want to parse what a 45% decline in GPD means, call your attorney.
This is great news. I won’t have to suffer sitting in coach while flying to Europe anymore. I am looking forward to cheaper handmade Italian suites and shoes, French wines and German sedans. Oh and I forgot about the country Pâté. Ahhh
Dollar at 12-year peak vs euro, emerging markets spooked
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/10/us-markets-global-idUSKBN0M52HH20150310
No gloom and doom from now onwards. Life is pink shirts and daffodils.
The whole truth in a nutshell:
http://econimica.blogspot.com/2015/03/amazing-math-from-bureau-of-labor.html
I’m looking forward to my trip to France this spring, to be sure!
Pushing up the dollar was one of the ways to engage in an economic war against Putin since it does impact the price of oil but I bet Obama did not see this coming since he believes Russia does not make anything:
Bloomberg)
Updated: 2015-03-04 10:49
Counter:
The collapse of the ruble, which has pushed up prices for millions of Russians as the economy slides into recession, hasn¡¯t been bad for everyone. The country¡¯s steel mills are suddenly world beaters.
Producers including PAO Severstal and OAO Novolipetsk Steel pay wages and other costs, including transportation, in rubles while earning dollars or euros for exported steel. That¡¯s allowing them to undercut rivals like ArcelorMittal, the world¡¯s largest steelmaker, while maintaining profitability.
“This is fantastic time for the Russian steel industry,” said Kirill Chuyko, head of equity research as BCS Financial Group. “Most of the companies are enjoying the best profitability since the 2007 and 2008 pre-crisis commodity boom due to the ruble¡¯s decline.”
Even before the ruble¡¯s 47 decline last year the industry was in good health. Output last year reached the highest since the global financial crisis as demand at home was high and started to recover in European export markets. Russia¡¯s steelmakers have invested billions in upgrading Soviet-era mills, and the nation produces more than any other country in Europe, one of its main export markets.
Now, the ruble¡¯s slide has cut costs for Russian mills by almost half in dollar terms. Making hot rolled coil, a benchmark product, now costs $244 to $250 a ton in Russia compared with $405 per ton in Brazil and $434 per ton in China, according to CRU Group, an industry consultant.
is it go time yet?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/us/madison-ferguson-differences/
Are you nervous the Fed may finally follow through with long discussed plans to remove the punch bowl?
Market Snapshot
U.S. stock futures slump as dollar soars, rate hike looms
By Barbara Kollmeyer
Published: Mar 10, 2015 8:05 a.m. ET
Fed nervousness pushes dollar to multiyear highs against rivals
MADRID (MarketWatch) — Persistent nervousness about what’s seen as an inevitable U.S. rate hike this year unsettled stock futures Tuesday and pushed the dollar to fresh multiyear highs, which also took a bite out of commodities and overseas equities.
“Concerns about what the start of Fed rate hiking could do to risk sentiment, to volatility and to demand for EM and higher-yielding assets won’t go away on their own,” said Kit Juckes, global macro strategist at Société Générale in a note.
…
Woop de do, they raise a quarter point. Probably worse than doing nothing because it gives them cover to pretend they aren’t still just extending and pretending.
Exactly. Only if you believe that the economy is actually strong does the dollar’s strength make any sense, I sure don’t believe that. We are walking point for the world, other countries are lowering their currencies to promote growth and we are doing the opposite.
“they raise a quarter point…”
Which is a double.
If the dollar is soaring, why would the Fed raise interest rates? Central banks raise interest rates to strengthen their currencies, not to weaken them. Given that central banks around the world are flirting with negative interest rates, I would say that there’s no incentive for the Fed to increase interest rates, not even by the paltry 1/4% that is rumored.
In the end, they’d raise rates to create demand. Remember, artificially low rates result in grossly inflated prices which craters demand.
What makes an interest rate artificial?
What makes an interest rate natural?
$4 trillion in QE?
25 percent is a smidgeon and it is silly to even discuss this increase. The fed is just signaling the traders. The main street economy will have zero impact.
Fed funds rate affects the banks. If their interest cost doubles, wouldn’t they try to get that from Main Street?
Interest on my little savings account might go from 0.05% to 0.0025%?
In theory, they might try to get it from Main Street by increasing rates on auto loans, credit cards and so forth.
Which would be good. It would drive down these massively inflated prices.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-stocks-sink-to-11-year-low-against-dollar-1425977896
we are losing a lot of competitiveness.
That which you were not told about Greece.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article186850.html
Because the future belongs to Lucky Ducky
http://www.infowars.com/the-great-middle-class-extinction-95-of-new-homes-built-for-rich-or-poor/
“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush
Warmist Warming Tuesday
Well the good ol’ days may not return
And the rocks might melt and the sea may burn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5BJXwNeKsQ - 503k -
And now back to your regularly scheduled failed but still well funded Global Warming I mean Crimate Change predictions
When I saw the photograph of Senator Inhofe holding a snowball on the floor of the Senate that he got from snow on the ground outside of the Capitol building, then I knew that global warming isn’t real
From one my favorite Scottish songs, written down by Burnes;
“As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry:
” Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.”
See, even the ancients knew the rocks would melt in the end.
Region VIII news
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27678360/colorado-senate-committee-passes-bill-repeal-ammo-magazine
MOLON LABE
The sheeple are starting to get a dim perception that HillaryJeb will be more of the same, but lack the intelligence to outright reject both of these corporate statists and crony capitalists.
http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-and-jeb-should-be-scared-of-this-number-2015-3
Both sides: “They are scumbags, but they are OUR scumbags……”
I truly don’t understand how the Dems can let Billary get within 100 yards of the White House.
Sheer stupidity. Nothing else even comes close to explaining a vote cast for HillaryJeb.
Well the good ol’ days may not return
And the rocks might melt and the sea may burn
Head of the EPA can’t tell Sen. Jeff Sessions if its climate models are correct
Leada Gore
March 04, 2015 at 5:27 PM
On droughts, McCarthy said: “I don’t know in what context (a scientist) is making statements like that…”
On hurricanes she said: “I cannot answer that question. It’s a very complicated issue.”
And on temperature she added: “I do not know what the (temperature) models actually are predicting that you are referring to…”
That last one was a step too far for Session who responded: “This is a stunning development, that the head of the Environmental Protection Agency–who should know more than anybody else in the world, who is imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in cost to prevent this climate temperature increase–doesn’t know whether their projections have been right or wrong.”
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/03/head_of_the_epa_cant_tell_sen.html
Base, meet rally. Rally, meet base. Your base has been rallied
She knows of course, but it’s not the correct answer.
Now this is what a lie really looks like
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/03/09/epa-chief-doesnt-know-whether-climate-model-projections-are-accurate/
Copy and paste Drudge link clickity click BOO, Dannyboy
If was not from Drudge, I went to the source for knowledge on CAGW.
Of course if you want to put today’s temperatures in perspective it is the big picture here:
http://climate4you.com/
EPA Chief doesn’t know whether climate model projections are accurate
Nobody can tell at the time that they’re made whether a projection is accurate. We’ll have to wait to find that out.
when there is cold weather outside somewhere, the drudge report will link to an article about it
sierra nevada mountain snowpack is at 20 percent of historical average now
Yes, because before we invented the SUV, California never suffered from droughts.
So what kind of SUVs did the Anasazi drive in 900 A.D.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/science/08anasazi.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
sierra nevada mountain snowpack is at 20 percent of historical average now
There’s gonna be a “alot” of brown lawns and unflushed toilets in California this summer.
All your greening and flooding will belong to us up here in the NE this year.
“There’s gonna be a “alot” of brown lawns and unflushed toilets in California this summer.”
That entire state needs the swirly-twirl.
The question is whether they were accurate over the last eighteen years and a six year old should have been able to answer it: No, not even close.
excerpt from link that will soon post:
EPA Chief Gina McCarthy struggled to answer questions, at a recent Senate Environment and Public Works committee hearing, refusing to provide immediate answers even to basic questions, such as whether IPCC climate models were skilful at forecasting global temperature. The EPA is seeking an inflation busting 6% increase to their budget.
According to Yellow Hammer News (video below)
“Would you acknowledge that over the last 18 years,” Sessions asked, “that the increase in temperature has been very little, and that it is well below, matter of fact 90 percent below most of the environmental models that showed how fast temperature would increase?”
“I do not know what the models actually are predicting that you are referring to,” McCarthy responded.
“This is a stunning development,” Sessions shot back, “that the head of the Environmental Protection Agency—who should know more than anybody else in the world, who is imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in cost to prevent this climate temperature increase—doesn’t know whether their projections have been right or wrong.”
A video of the question and answer session between McCarthy and Sessions:
Based on Gina’s performance, it seems likely the EPA will face significant ongoing opposition to its request for a budget increas
“What pause, Senator? Temperatures continue to trend upward.”
https://climateinsight.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/12moavg.png?w=640&h=440
When I copy and paste a Drudge Report link I get a cool, tingly feeling like when I bite into a Peppermint Patty
“Environmental Protection Agency—who should know more than anybody else in the world, who is imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in cost to prevent this climate temperature increase”
hundreds of billions
hundreds of billions
hundreds of billions
hundreds of billions
hundreds of billions
That is from four years ago, you need to keep current with the memes from your side, now they claim the heat is hiding in the deep ocean right next to the unicorns.
“now they claim the heat is hiding in the deep ocean right next to the unicorns.”
The heat is hiding under all that snow in Boston and I hope they find it soon so all these snowbirds I mean climate change birds fly back North and lighten up the traffic in my part of Region IV.
Scientists have considered that we have oceans now, that is progress. Next I hope they will consider that we have a southern hemisphere.
To the sheeple who are voting for HillaryJeb: here’s who you’re REALLY voting for.
http://www.businessinsider.com/wealth-in-manhattan-real-estate-2015-3
From China Daily show me how this is not a threat to Apple:
Top Chinese smartphone-maker Xiaomi announced it will enter Brazil this year, as part of its expansion in the global smartphone market.
“We are looking into the market and plans to make a move this year,” Xiaomi said in an interview with China Daily. “Details are still under discussion, such as lines of products to sell.”
According to Tech in Asia, Xiaomi is close to securing a manufacturing plant in Brazil.
Currently, China’s biggest smartphone maker offers smartphones and smart modules that link smart products directly to phones in seven countries and areas.
After a $1.1 billion funding round last December which valued the five-year-old company at $45 billion, it has turned its focus overseas.
In January, Xiaomi announced its intentions to enter Brazil, Russia, and other emerging markets and that it was looking to invest in new tech startups in India to expand its global presence and develop new capabilities.
In February, the company said it would open an online store in the US shortly to sell its line of smart-tech wearables and headphones. On March 4, it did the same in Europe.
The company is most well-known for its low-cost, flagship line of smartphones popular in China, but patent restrictions currently are keeping the company from launching its phones in the US and European markets.
“Developing countries remain our market focus in 2015,” said Xiaomi. Brazil, one of the largest consumer markets in Latin America, is likely to be one of its most important new markets.
Xiaomi’s Brazilian Dream was first made in 2012, as Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s co-founder and CEO announced the intentions to enter Brazil. After waiting two years, last May the company registered in Brazil under the name Xiaomi Technology Brazil Ltd and opened its first office in Sao Paulo to begin operations last August.
Despite the start of the operations, there has been a delay in releasing a start date for Xiaomi’s products in Brazil.
Xiaomi’s vice president Hugo Barra said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the delay is due to a “long and painful device-certification process”.
Smartphone makers need to get their products certified by government agencies across the world before they can launch and sell in different markets. In Brazil, the process can take as long as six months to meet local standards and get products certified for sale.
Barra said Xiaomi’s plans to offer its smartphones in Brazil could take longer, citing local laws that require companies like Xiaomi to assemble their products in the South American country. “It may take a long time,” Barra said.
However, Xiaomi’s high-end and lower priced smartphones could be a hit in the currently bullish local market. In 2013, smartphone sales in Brazil rose by 101 percent, according to analysts. The country’s tele-density is still low and so is smartphone ownership, which provides a large potential market for Xiaomi.
The man to helm Xiaomi’s global operations was born in Brazil. Barra left Google to join Xiaomi in 2013 and in 2014 Xiaomi made its products available in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Last July, it launched its latest smartphone in India which sold out quickly.
Barra has been quoted as saying that Xiaomi will use the same competitive pricing strategy that it uses in China when it launches its products in foreign markets such as Brazil. The company, sometimes referred to as the “Apple of China”, has already overtaken Apple as the top smartphone seller.
The company’s latest flagship product, Mi Note, is priced at 2,299 yuan ($368) for the basic version, about half the price of Apple’s iPhone.
warmist warming tuesday
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/09/the-insiders-republicans-move-from-denial-to-despair-on-climate-change/?hpid=z3
and now back to your regularly scheduled drudge report links
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/03/09/the-day-the-spineless-fasb-accountant-weenies-agreed-to-allow-wall-street-banks-to-report-fraudulent-financial-statements/
The captured corporate MSM is celebrating the six year anniversary of when the stock market bottomed in March 2009. They will spin a false narrative of Bernanke, Obama and Geithner saving the world with TARP, QE, and the $800 billion Porkulus bill. What great heroes. Bernanke now gets $300,000 for a lunchtime speech at Bank of America gatherings. He is raking in north of $10 million per year now. He made $200,000 per year as the Fed Chairman. His wisdom must be on par with Jesus Christ to get $300,000 for a one hour speech.
From a comment in Peak Oil:
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.
… Theodore Roosevelt
My comment to this:
His wisdom must be on par with Jesus Christ to get $300,000 for a one hour speech.
Jesus Christ was crucified for telling the truth and Bernanke would be “crucified” for telling the truth, the fiat age is coming to the end. That is all they have in common. The rich are busy making as much money as they can before the scam is over and putting into anything that will hold value.
The wealthy a smart. They’re in cash.
Stick with cash.
The Fine Art bubble kind of contradicts that assertion.
The fiat age is coming to an end? So we have another prediction of dramatic, earth-shaking changes coming to America? When is this going to happen? Is the gold standard going to return next week?
The fiat age is coming to an end?
They are going to replace George Washington on the dollar bill because he was a slave owner, never mind that he won the revolutionary war and refused to be King. Instead they are going to replace him with King Obama. It will work out well, when our currency crashes and we are out of toilet paper like Venezuela, we will all have something to wipe our butt.
That’s interesting. You’ve commented today on how the dollar is increasing in value vis-à-vis the gold, the euro. It’s also been rising strongly against a number of other currencies.
Remember…. an increasingly valuable dollar is positively bullish and good for the economy.
It’s good for some Americans and bad for others.
Lower prices are always a net positive. ALWAYS.
we need to raise the debt some more so stocks can go higher.
It is Obama’s only plan.
Toss it all in the Craterator.
Whiting is no small fish, if it cannot make oil shale work at these prices no one can. So how does the world replace four million barrels of production?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/debt-caught-us-shale-110513592.html
Now remember - there are no differences in the parties when democrats are in power.
————-
52 senators warn of sweeping ammo bans, say Second Amendment ‘at risk’
Washington Examiner | 03/10/2015 | Paul Bedard
A majority in both the Senate and House — 52 senators, 238 House members — have joined to oppose the Obama administration’s move to ban a popular type of ammo used in the top-selling AR-15 rifle and pistol because it pierces police body armor.
In their letter, the senators said that the 5.56 M855 “green tip” cartridge was exempted in a 1986 law, along with other rifle ammo from bans on armor-piercing rounds. The reason: popular rifle ammo is typically not used in shootouts with police.
They also raised new concerns that the administration appears poised for a much wider ammo ban.
Democrats, meanwhile, are circulating a letter in support of the ban what they call “cop killer” ammo. The White House also backs the ATF proposal.
Breaking news, I think the surviving Democrats in congress pressured him on this:
http://news.yahoo.com/feds-abandon-plan-ban-popular-rifle-ammo-175810302–politics.html
These bloodsuckers will probably think that the “Second Amendment is at risk” until they all have their own personal nuke.
News Flash: Got a musket? Second Amendment fulfilled.
Hint: Got a strawman? Donk nailed.
Only bigger and bigger government with more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes can save us.
There are NO alternate solutions. Cutting one government program by even 1% or trying to stop fraud is racist and will starve kids and throw grandma into the street.
“The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.” - Ronald Reagan
————–
IG Audit: 6.5 Million People With Active Social Security Numbers Are 112 or Older
cnsnews.com | March 9, 2015 | knarfsusan Jones
Many people are living longer, but not to age 112 or beyond — except in the records of the Social Security Administration.
The SSA’s inspector general has identified 6.5 million number-holders age 112 — or older — for whom no death date has been entered in the main electronic file, called Numident.
I think they should rename Numident. It should be numnuts.
What does this issue have to do with cutting programs?
A “Sustained Coordinated Assault” on the Democrat’s primary money machine is more like it…
—————-
Obama attacks Scott Walker after Wisconsin right-to-work move
The Washington Times | 03/10/2015 | Ben Wolfgang
President Obama took direct aim at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Monday night after the state became the 25th in the nation to enact right-to-work laws that weaken the power of labor unions.
In a statement, Mr. Obama said the Wisconsin bill is the latest in a “sustained, coordinated assault on unions” led by the wealthy and their friends in government, predicting it will hamper economic growth and harm the middle class moving forward.
The Washington Times is a Moonie rag that has never been profitable
With due respect, it is the sole source in DC Metro for data-driven reporting. You’ve been taken captive by a nanny state meme.
When public unions reach their Waterloo?
Public unions are the largest political contributors to the democrat party.
This is what they supported, voted for and paid their union dues for.
Why are they complaining???
————————–
Teachers fear for their lives because of administration’s hands off blacks guidelines
American Thinker | 3/10/2015
President Obama didn’t dare mention the situation at Richmond, Virginia’s Martin Luther King Middle School during his oh-so-eloquent Selma speech last Saturday. The mess at MLK is being played out in majority black schools across the country.
On March 6 an NBC affiliate reported MLK, a school with 731 students and 99% black, had 1635 disorderly incidents in 2014. The kicker? The $40 million dollar state-of-the-art middle school opened in January of the same year.
The writing was on the wall in May, 2014 when teachers at MLK wrote an extensive email to a local TV station saying they feared for their lives. Teachers claimed the school was not safe for teachers or students and administrators were turning a blind eye to their concerns.
“We come every day to a hostile environment,” said the teacher. “The message is we need something to be done. We cannot go on with the status quo.”
The teacher says even attempting to write up students leads to threats from the teens.
“Snitches get stitches threats,” said the teacher. “I’m going to slap you, or I’m going to hit you, or I can’t wait to fight you.”
“We really can’t teach until the behavior issues are controlled,” said the teacher.
The teachers claim, “the administration made a rule that prevents students from being removed from class, no matter how disruptive or disrespectful the students may be.
“I’m gonna slap you……..can’t wait to fight you”
Wussies.
I heard this from my daughters, no less.
My standard reply: “Bring it on……. Make sure you pack a lunch”
President Obama didn’t dare mention the situation at Richmond, Virginia’s Martin Luther King Middle School during his oh-so-eloquent Selma speech last Saturday. The mess at MLK is being played out in majority black schools across the country.
What does this situation situation have to do with commemorating the Selma march? And what’s wrong with making eloquent speeches?
On March 6 an NBC affiliate reported MLK, a school with 731 students and 99% black, had 1635 disorderly incidents in 2014. The kicker? The $40 million dollar state-of-the-art middle school opened in January of the same year.
How is the fact that the school is new relevant to the story?
The name of website, American Thinker, reminds of a saying, supposedly from the baseball player Ted Williams - “If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much.”
Its the ghetto mentality it doesn’t matter it will be destroyed….of course no money or speeches was allotted for a war on Ebonics, making sure everyone of every color can read the NY TIMES before getting a HS diploma!!!!
How is the fact that the school is new relevant to the story?
Yikes - Dow down 235 this morning!!!
Every time the dollar goes up, the profits that the Dow stocks will make goes down.
More of the Applebees is full, so the economy must be fine:
http://eaglefordtexas.com/news/id/147949/colorado-jobs-ok-during-og-budget-cuts/
Some faves from the soon to be former mayor of Chicago ILLANNOY.
Me thinks the new guv better wake the you know what up - Rahmmy is a good buddy of his and his democrat wife.
“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”
Rahm Emanuel
“I can rub people the wrong way or talk when I should listen. I own that,”
Rahm Emanuel
“I wake up some mornings hating me too.”
Rahm Emanuel
“Because of the president’s leadership, every American will have access to affordable, quality health care.”
Rahm Emanuel
“We invoke the sacrifices of our fallen heroes in the abstract, but we seldom take time to thank them individually.”
(Geez like you can thank a fallen hero who is dead?!!! WTF Rahm.)
Rahm Emanuel
“I don’t want to go negative on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but he didn’t pass an economic deal in the first 100 days. We have passed the largest Recovery Act in the history of the country.”
(LMAO on that one - some great achievement eh? And where did all that money go Rahm?)
Rahm Emanuel
“I saw the president make the tough calls in the Situation Room - and today, our troops in Iraq have finally come home so America can do some nation building here at home. That was the change that we believed in. That was the change we fought for. That was the change President Obama delivered.”
(yep folks how is that working for us?)
Rahm Emanuel
“Whose leadership, whose judgment, whose values do you want in the White House when that crisis lands like a thud on the Oval Office desk?”
(hmmmm…..three front war anyone?)
Rahm Emanuel
TRAITORS
https://twitter.com/NYDailyNews/status/575108862438674432/photo/1
Sen. Reid: “Republicans are undermining our Commander-in-Chief while empowering Iran’s hardline ayatollahs.”
Indeed. A shameful display of disrespect to the office of the President.
Obama cuts out the Senate from its constitutional right to approve treaties and then complains because they inform Iran that our nation is not bound by the unilateral actions of one man and that is disrespectful?
It is both disrespectful and unconstitutional for the Senate to interfere with the President’s authority to engage in diplomacy with foreign leaders. End of story. Now if the agreement or treaty is finalized and Congress is not given a chance to ratify, only then does Congress have a right to complain. The Senate’s letter was both premature and immature.
obama has shown us the way.
Ignore laws you don’t like.
Make up laws you wished you had.
Kill Americans through use of your own death lists.
I have a phone and a pen…
Blame someone from seven years ago for all your failures.
Why would anyone listen to obama anymore?
“Why would anyone listen to obama anymore?”
I didn’t think anyone did pay attention to the clown.
Who is he blaming from seven years ago?
Iran is working on both an ICBM and a nuclear weapon. The Senate is trying to stop Iran and Obama is pursuing a policy to enable Iran to develop both. The Senate is fulfilling its constitutional oath to protect this country, Obama is ignoring his oath, end of story.
“Iran”
Do you still have an Ayatollah Asshollah t-shirt?
Iran is a joke, you are intelligent enough not to fall for this Christian Zionist propaganda
Iran is a joke,
Iran is on the verge on dominating the middle east. It started with W being stupid enough to remove Saddam (without a Sunni replacement) and open up Iraq and its oil to Shiites. Reagan had the genius plan of keeping Iran and Iraq fighting and sold weapons and dual use materials to both sides while our enemies killed each other. Too bad the Democrats stopped him. It was a genius plan that fits well how the game is played over there. Obama is getting played by Iran just like W was played before him.
‘keeping Iran and Iraq fighting and sold weapons and dual use materials to both sides while our enemies killed each other’
And you probably wonder why some people around the world dislike the US.
The old cranky die-hards die off eventually.
The only way to perpetuate the plan is to keep sticking our dingus in the beehive, and create younger cranky die-hards.
ISIS is just the most recent example. Who are they really?
Judging by their actions, it appears to be a confederation of all of the nerd kids who grew up toasting ants with magnifying glasses, who figured out they could get all of the chicks/stuff they wanted, as long as they aren’t afraid to shoot/lop of the heads of people.
The power vacuum created by Bushco will be filled by somebody.
Sorry when you have one country run by the Ayatollah and the other by Saddam Hussein, it is like the Soviet Union fighting Nazi Germany, without any innocent countries in between them, to that kind of war, I do say live long and prosper.
The CIA put Saddam in power because his predecessor was too cozy with the Soviets.
“Dear Petro Poroshenko, Be careful of American support. This is a little history lesson to remind you that the weather in Washington is much more capricious than the continental climate of Eurasia.”
“The US certainly won Cold War, but not necessarily their Allies. One of the first to experience that fine difference was Saddam Hussein, Washington’s close ally in the Middle East for much of the 1980s. Hussein was a CIA asset to overthrow the Qassim-Regime, which was for the Americans too close to Soviet Union. In 1963, he successfully organized a coup and rewarded his American supporters by killing hundreds of Iraqi communists and with oilfields for American companies. But only in 1979, after another coup in Iraq and one in Iran, Hussein became chosen by the US as ” our bad guy” in the region. When the Mullahs in Iran blow away the Shah, he became a useful idiot to take revenge for one of the biggest failures of American policy in the Cold War. Whatever he wished from the US to wage a war against Iran, he got it. Americans can be very generously, no question about it. They even provided him with chemical weapons to kill whoever he liked to kill.”
“However, it took not a long time after the Soviet Union collapsed, that the Americans changed their attitude towards Saddam Hussein. For their new grand gamble to rebuilt the Middle East, he was now more useful as an enemy than as an ally. Hussein was trapped to invade Kuwait to provide a pretext for the First Gulf War, followed by years of the sanctions, the no-fly-zone, and it ended with another gulf war, and a hole as the last refuge for Saddam and a not so nice execution in the dark of the night.”
“Lesson learned? You can kill as much as enemies of the US as possible, you can sell your natural resources, but it will not shield you, when the storm from Washington takes another direction.”
“Do you remember Mobuto Sese Seko, the long-standing ally of Americans in the heart of Africa? You should, Ukrainian peacekeepers went there to tame the chaos that was left by his downfall in 1997. With the help of the CIA, Mobuto took over the Congo by a coup d’etat in 1965, and since then he was their most willing ally in Africa. He was their man to deliver weapons for the UNITA in the Angolan civil war and for the RENAMO in Mozambique, and of course, he was to ensure the unhindered plunder of the Congo by American companies, most notably the plutonium for American atom bombs. But then in the 1990s, Americans lost their interest in Africa, and Mobuto with all his eccentricities, his corruption and incompetence became a burden for President Clinton, who was propagating a new world order free from such oriental despots. If Mobuto had lived long enough to read the leaked telegrams of the US Embassy in Kinshasa, he would have learned that despite all the services he did for the US, he wasn’t in such high regard by his American allies.”
“How about Noriega, trained by the CIA to control the Panama and to help them with their war against the drug cartels in the 1980s. But then, in the wake of the Contra-Iran scandal of 1986, his involvements in drug smuggling became somehow a nuisance for the dirty warriors of the US. In order to get rid of him, the US invaded Panama at the end of 1989 and arrested him after they treated him with noisy rock music for days to force his surrender. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, released after 17 years only the take another round in a French prison.”
“What about Colonel Muammar al-Ghadafi? Okay, he was an arch enemy of the US for most of his life. But when he tried to change the sides and supported the American war on terror by offering the services of his torture experts to hunt Al-Qaeda, he was not awarded with American friendship but with bombs that drove him out of his palace and an assassination squad that killed him. Assad of Syria, who tried to buy time by offering similar services, barely missed that fate, but only with the help of Putin.”
“American politics, you should know, are a snake pit. There are so many agencies, institutions, lobby groups involved that you will never know who is in charge of foreign policy. There are dozens of think tanks that, in order to be heard in this choir of voices, come up with a constant stream of new strategies, priorities and emerging conflicts to be made relevant to the US. The president, despite all the glamor and pithiness surrounding his office, is only a moderator between all these different factions and voices. The American empire is overstretched, there are so many conflicts to be manipulated, so many interests to be served that you can never be sure what is your actual ranking on the priority list. After all, the only thing what counts are domestic politics, the polls and the contributions for the re-election campaigns. In this murky world of an empire that regards itself as chosen by god and as indispensable, you are what you are: an outsider, an useful idiot in your best days, a burden when the US changes its priorities or loses its interest for you.”
“I hope you will sleep well.”
Had the Iran/Iraq war gone on a few more years, Iraq would have not have had the military might to invade Kuwait. Thus, Gulf 1 would have been avoided. The only option for Iraq would have been to step up its oil production which would have benefitted all Americans. Once the oil is gone from the Middle East, they can run around and cut each other’s heads off to their heart’s content since you need money to create WMD and I am sure we will not be so tolerant of Islamic immigrants if we did not worry about offending the countries with the money and oil. Thus, the second Iraqi war would not have been necessary. Had the plan not been blown, two U.S. wars would have been avoided and America would have drained the Middle East of cheap oil instead of draining our treasury and expending our blood. I will take a President that practices promoting the self interest of the U.S. over the naïve and/or globalist president any day.
People in al-Qaeda probably had a similar thought process. The September 11 attacks were justified because the United States is not an innocent country.
+1,000
“What about Colonel Muammar al-Ghadafi? Okay, he was an arch enemy of the US for most of his life. But when he tried to change the sides and supported the American war on terror by offering the services of his torture experts to hunt Al-Qaeda, he was not awarded with American friendship but with bombs that drove him out of his palace and an assassination squad that killed him. Assad of Syria, who tried to buy time by offering similar services, barely missed that fate, but only with the help of Putin.”
I have made that very point on this site numerous times. Not only did Muammar help us against the Islamists, he had given up his WMD. So the message we send to Iran is if you are like North Korea and develop nuclear weapons we will leave you alone but if you give them up we will remove you with military means. The time for regime change in Libya had passed by a decade. Why did Hillary advocate for it?
A nation-state version of “Whack a Mole”.
A lot of it makes no sense until you “follow the money”.
You know, nobody is stopping these nuevo-Crusaders from hopping an Emirates Airlines flight out to the Middle East, and “fighting them over there”, if they feel it is necessary. Need financial help getting over there? Try “Kickstarter”
Seems to me that if our system/”freedom” was so wonderful, we wouldn’t care what happens in all of these other $##tholes, we’d just make it easier for the kids (especially the kids with educations/degrees) to immigrate. Give it 30 years, leave the country will all of the geezers and the uneducated male “jihadists”, and all of the despots collapse.
Of course, our differences between what the US was, and where it’s going, are two different things. A few people will have the “rich Brazilian/Mexican” way of life. The rest of us will be getting “Mogadishu-Lite”.
People in al-Qaeda probably had a similar thought process. The September 11 attacks were justified because the United States is not an innocent country.
None of the hijackers were from either Iran or Iraq so it wasn’t Reagan’s policy that motivated them. Most of them did receive educational training in Saudi Arabia which turned over its schools to the Islamists after the Shah fell to appease them and avoid a similar fate.
That wasn’t my point. You think that it was OK for America to fuel a war between Iraq and Iran which resulted in much death and destruction because you disapprove of their governments. This is the same as al-Qaeda’s thinking.
No, I think it is OK because both governments posed a danger to the U.S.
Obama used our military to overthrow Libya just because he did not like the government, I cannot see the strategic interest. He armed the Syrian opposition which helped Isis to form, based on a very limited strategic interest, then he started to bomb ISIS mainly due to a “humanitarian” reason.
Iran had attacked our embassy and taken Americans hostage and was behind the attack on our marines in Lebanon. Iraq was a strategic threat to all of the Middle East and our interests in the region and was allied with the Soviet Union which sought our destruction. Opposing both countries was in our strategic interest. To do it in a manner that they did not even know and do not cost us money or blood, actually made us a few bucks, was pure genius as opposed to the gang that can’t shoot straight, the Obama administration.
Yes, and al-Qaeda thinks that the US government poses a threat to Muslims in many countries.
And nothing we can do other than converting to Islam will convince them otherwise and even then we will need to convert to the right version of Islam to keep our heads.
CraterRage® Photo Of The Day
http://goo.gl/600gMy
guarding the crater:
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20150310_122048_587-sNF52Qju.jpg
in a field full of craters:
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20150310_122310_648-WDcBXbSZ.jpg
Solar Power Sees Unprecedented Boom in U.S.
This article is from Scientific American. The phrase “Scientific American” would exclude Sen. Inhofe and his fellow Climate Denier Senators, who have told us they are not scientists, while actively engaged in a War on Science. Gotta keep those Koch and fossil fuel campaign contributions comin’ in…
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solar-power-sees-unprecedented-boom-in-u-s/
https://lbrbblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/natgeo.png
Solar=FAIL
Solar= fail for most Americans but billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money to the crony capitalists that then spend some of it getting politicians elected that will vote for more subsidies.
Solar=FAIL = See Solyndra
Hello sun, bye bye fossil fuels.
Let me know what year you’d like your amazon purchase delivered.
The FSA is about to grow.
I have a phone and a pen.
Who needs congress to approve this?
———————-
Next Mega-Bailout On Deck: White House Studying “New Bankruptcy Options” For Student-Loan Borrowers
Tyler Durden - 03/10/2015 - ZeroHEdge
This means that up to $1 trillion, and likely more, in household debt will go “bad” over the next decade. The problem: student debt is not dischargeable in a personal bankruptcy.
That is about to change.
It appears that just as the administration is finally figuring out what HFT is, it also decided to take a look at the charts above and has made a decision: the next bailout is about to be unveiled, and it will involve a “streamlined” bankruptcy law allowing students to discharge their student debt.
His administration will also study whether it needs to propose changes to laws or regulations to create stronger consumer protections, the White House said.
Which can only mean one thing: the appointment of a Student Loan Czar is imminent, as it the “discharge” of tens if not hundreds of billions in debt, which would never be repaid in any case.
And since there is no such thing as a free lunch, it will be the US taxpayer who will as usual end up footing the bill. Expect college fees to go vertical once deans and administrators understand that they can charge anything and the taxpayer will end up footing the bill.
That’s it!! Golf is a metaphor for Obama’s life - Tee it up….stare at the ball for a while - then Whack the bloody sh*t out of it only to find out you are lying 4 and having to chip the stoopid thing out of the rough!!!
That in a nutshell is the presidency of his excellency otrauma. Golf.
Balls and sticks, sound like his personal life in Chicago.
Oh well. As a taxpayer if I’m gonna subsidize somebody, I’d rather subsidize a college student than Halliburton or Koch Industries or Goldman Sachs or Bibi.
“subsidize a college student”
No, more like subsidize some parasite 6-figure college administrator
OK, I’d rather subsidize some college students and some 6-figure administrators than subsidize some 9- or 10-figure CEOs…
This is from the WSJ.
President Barack Obama , in a presidential memorandum Tuesday, directed administration officials to study whether to push for legislation to loosen the rules imposed on “all student loan borrowers” in the bankruptcy process. The White House released few details on how far the possible changes would go.
Nevertheless, Mr. Tyler Durden knows what’s going to happen.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-studying-new-bankruptcy-options-for-student-loan-borrowers-1426004272
How about the “work it off” options?!?!??! There are bridges, roads and gobermant buildin’s needin a paint job.
Crickets.
A wise man once said…”save every penny you’ve got, cuz yer gonna need it”
I’m ALL in.
You penny will not worth anything as long as I get my wish.
–Janet YOLO!
My million gets more valuable with each passing day.
Ante up!!
How we are perceived south of the Rio Grande (AKA the Rio Bravo)
http://www.eluniversalmas.com.mx/cartones/2015/03/13851.php
BTW, El Universal is considered a right of center newspaper in Mexico.
It’s okay to shoot unarmed people, as long as the RIGHT unarmed people are getting shot.
They must be guilty of something.
Ben……
Here is the Richard Koo article from my stack of stuff - this from 2011 about the mirroring of Japan’s lost decade to that of western economies in their current state.
Happy reading…
http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue58/Koo58.pdf
Friscos Filthy Fraudies
Unofficial, non-scientific tidbit/stereotype of the day:
Youngest daughter has worked as a server in several food service establishments. Currently works at a restaurant close to one of the major entertainment venues/arenas in the Central US.
The place gets a variety of shows, with a diverse customer base.
Worst Tippers: (Note: Tie for First Place)
-African-American Women
-Professional Bull Riders (PBR) fans.
Who says these groups don’t have anything in common?
Of the two groups, the PBR fans are the most annoying. They ALL say the same thing to her, when the drinks show up……….
“I can’t taste any alcohol in this drink……”
To which, she is (tempted) to reply:
“Because we make our drinks for normal people, not some alcoholic jackass goat-effer from way out in BFE”.
Worst Tippers
AT&T = America’s Tiniest Tippers
This was years ago, but we found that to be true.
With regulars, the no alcohol comment is dealt with by making/measuring every drink in front of them until they’re convinced it’s right. The amount of of alcohol is likely to be less, since many bartenders overpour. If it’s a place with tight inventory control, you may well be shorted because the bartender could be underpouring, saving the difference for buybacks for his/her regulars. The server deals with the customers’ wrath and is the one that’s stiffed.
Please add lawyers and doctors to the worst tippers list.
I always leave at least 20% more if it is an inexpensive sit down place or the service is exceptional. Of course I come from a blue collar family so it is easier for me to relate.
Exciting downward movement on the precious. Came close to filling a limit on GDX a few months ago and now I might have another chance at a good price!
Got popcorn?
The dollar will need to turn to keep the country from going into a recession so gold will rise. In virtually, every other currency it has been on a tear. Today is no exception, gold is down less than the dollar is up.
This is in China Daily about China but for the most part it applies equally to the U.S. and EU:
Time to replace financial repression with liberalization
Updated: 2015-03-10 17:08
By Wu Jiangang(chinadaily.com.cn)
Comments() Print Mail Large Medium Small
0
With entrenched vested interests and past history, government’s effort to discard the old financial method will not be a smooth ride.
The phrase “new normal” reflects dramatic changes in China. However, it also implies that there is an “old normal”.
The hope of change lies in that the present conditions of China’s old model in economic growth no longer exist. There will be no choice but to move to a new model. Since finance is the core of modern economy, there is also a version of old normal and a new one.
As the old model of economy mainly depends on government investment, the government needs to mobilize enough funds. In such a case, for developing countries, the general financial policy is financial repression, which is exactly the core of China’s old financial model.
The term financial repression was introduced in 1973 by Stanford economists Edward S Shaw and Ronald I McKinnon. It refers to “policies that result in savers earning returns below the rate of inflation” in order to allow banks to “provide cheap loans to State-owned companies and governments, reducing the burden of repayments”.
China’s financial repression consists of the following:
1 Government controls almost all banks and financial institutions.
2 Direct or indirect capping of interest rates, such as on government debt and deposit rates.
3 Creation or maintenance of a captive domestic market for government debt, achieved by requiring banks to hold government debt via capital requirements.
4 Most free social money is guided to follow into banks by restricting development of capital market products.
5 Government restrictions on the transfer of assets abroad by capital controls.
These measures allow governments to not only issue debt at lower interest rates but also acquire cheap and a lot of deposit to provide funds for government investment projects. A low nominal interest rate can reduce debt costs, while the negative real interest rates caused by inflation erode the real value of government debt. Thus, financial repression is most successful in mobilizing social money in government investments.
Government investment can help rapid expansion of State-owned enterprises to provide infrastructure and livelihood that people urgently need. But the model, if applied for a long time, can cause several severe problems:
1 The interest rates, as the most important prices for guiding money into profitable projects, are mispriced, which split the financial market into expensive private market and cheap State-owned market. The State-owned banking system, lacking competition, can hardly efficiently provide loans and services for profitable projects. This makes the society’s most innovative SMEs difficult to acquire loans that are much needed.
2 Private banks’ development, which is essential for SMEs, is seriously hindered.
3 The capital market, which is very important for modern economy, is seriously hindered.
4 The negative real interest rate has hurt the ordinary people’s consuming power. These people’s consumption elasticity is the highest and their consumption is important for the transition of economic growth model.
5 Excessive capital controls are harmful to efficiency of fund allocation and internalization of renminbi.
6 Government investments become the main rent-seeking fields.
7 Government-oriented rigid payment has distorted the expectation of capital return and further distorted the capital market.
Second part of the article:
8 Because of fear of negative interest rates and the lack of investment channels, social free money is forced to invest in housing industry, which causes housing bubbles.
Now the infrastructure is probably oversupplied, the society hungers for a transition to a “New normal”. The old model of financial repression needs to be replaced by financial liberalization.
However, the old model has been applied for such a long time that the transition is not an easy one. In comparison to former government, this government has accelerated the move. It has started to allow private capital to enter banking industry, started to relax interest rates control, tried to use the free trade area to experiment relaxation of capital control and even set a timetable for implementation of a registration system for the listed company.
As the government still needs cheap money for government investment to stabilize the economy, China may not choose the sudden deregulation of financial markets, or the “Big Bang” financial reform, as UK in 1986 or Japan in 2001. But China has to hurry up.
On the one hand, the old model cannot carry on. The State-owned enterprises control too many resources but lack innovation. The government investment’s efficiency has greatly decreased. The debt of government, default rate of bank loans and housing bubbles can be fatally risky.
On the other hand, a new economy driven by consumption and entrepreneurs needs a healthy financial market to flourish. The society badly needs entrepreneurs and consumers, but people’s consuming power is too low and costs to start business are too high. But the distorted price of capital causes not only a waste of money in inefficient projects but also lack of fund for profitable ones.
The new normal of financial policy is especially expected. But the transition is not an easy one. The economic growth, calculated by GDP growth, still heavily depends on government investments. The center and local governments need the old model to ease their existing debts. What’s more, there are entrenched vested interests. These can be reasons of elongated road of financial liberalization.
The author is a lecturer at the Management School of the Shanghai University and a research fellow at the China Europe International Business School Lujiazui International Finance Research Center.
So long as China’s GDP continues to crater, it’s optimistic.
There are six comments before this one with the word “oil” as I write this. All of them are from ABQ Crayon.
Thank you for saving us all from having to count.
Auntie just for you:
http://eaglefordtexas.com/news/id/148064/goldman-sachs-just-kidding-about-the-40barrel/
I knew it would be difficult for you, Cray-Cray.
The Dow is down over 300 points for the day, time for the PPT to come to the rescue.
Stoooopid Janet - asleep at the wheel again.
Your President.
more jawboning trying to gets shorts to cover? Its been years of that bs.
Stoooopid 95% of electorate who sanctioned the Wall Street-Federal Reserve looting syndicate’s unfettered fraud and swindles by voting for it’s Republicrat enablers.
There, fixed it for you.
Hey everybody be careful out there don’t let this happen to you
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-blinding-syphilis-los-angeles-aids-healthcare-foundation-20150310-story.html
Forward
Obama administration is “studying” how middle class taxpayers can bail out student loan deadbeats. F*** you, Obama Zombies, for giving us this kind of malgovernance and theft from the productive to pay for the parasites.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-10/next-mega-bailout-deck-white-house-studying-new-bankruptcy-options-student-loan-borr
“A Harvard press release quotes one of the scientists, Ralph Mitchell, as saying that “we knew the mummies were degrading but nobody understood why. This kind of degradation has never been studied before. We wanted to answer two questions: what was causing it and what could we do to prevent further degradation?”
Let’s see, we could spend another couple of million dollars on another study (which has probably already been funded) or we could go to Wal-Mart with 800 bucks and buy some dehumidifiers.
Climate Change May Be Destroying World’s Oldest-Known Mummies
March 10, 2015 3:17 PM ET
There’s a problem with the mummies at the University of Tarapacá’s archaeological museum in northern Chile.
They’re turning into a black oozy substance.
Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences says scientists have found that Chile’s famous 7,000-year-old Chinchorro mummies are being eaten by bacteria — and that climate change could be the culprit.
Nearly 120 mummies housed at the university’s museum near the city of Arica are affected. The Harvard researchers were called in to examine the rotting mummies and found that the region’s increasing humidity is allowing microbes to flourish.
Archaeologists note that Arica is extremely dry (it’s located near the Atacama Desert, one of the world’s driest deserts) but the humidity levels in the region have recently risen. Higher humidity means microbes are breaking down the Chinchorro mummies, essentially turning them to goo.
“In the last 10 years, the process has accelerated,” Marcela Sepulveda, an archaeology professor at the University of Tarapacá, tells Harvard.
The Chinchorros were hunter-gatherers who lived in the region between Peru and Chile. They had elaborate mummification processes at least 2,000 years before the Egyptians developed theirs.
As NPR has reported, climate change might have led to the Chinchorro mummies’ longevity in the first place. The desert area where they lived was so dry that dead people became mummified naturally. Archaeologists have found that the Chinchorros actually began the practice of preserving their dead during a time when the climate was more humid, so there was abundance of food and free time to spend on developing mummification techniques.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/10/392076890/climate-change-may-be-destroying-worlds-oldest-mummies
I call this one the ‘Suzanne’:
http://maine.craigslist.org/reo/4918431031.html
phony scandals