March 15, 2015

Bits Bucket for March 15, 2015

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




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221 Comments »

Comment by Jingle Male
2015-03-15 01:59:28

Heading back to California today after seeing the Grand Canyon. The country looks good and the south rim was busy.

There were places along Hwy 64 & 180 where it appears people bought 20 to 40 acres of high desert. Some had little storage sheds, even fewer had motorhomes parked alongside. I can’t imagine buying a chunk of high desert in AZ for any price. These folks were sold a “dream” and I’m sure reality is quite different!

The nearest town of Williams seems to be on life support. I heard they ran out of water last summer. It’s been more dry weather since then.

Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 07:03:19

We appreciate your tourist dollars. Now get back across the line to your fraud and depreciation.

Comment by Jingle Male
2015-03-16 03:34:06

Happy to experience your warm hospitality! Here is something notable: the cyber add at the top of the page offers Grand Canyon flight tours! Someone is reading my posts! LOL! It’s the AZ Tourism board!

 
 
Comment by oxide
2015-03-15 07:47:10

Why are people buying 40-60 acres of high desert? They can’t be homesteading. Even someone dreaming about homesteading knows enough to look up annual rainfall. Do they plan to retire and live off the local Wal-mart? You don’t need 40 acres for that. There’s certainly no logging. Hold and sell to developers? Again, no rainfall mean no large-scale development. So I don’t get it. Maybe speculating on mineral right?

On a related note: a bit of poking around showed that a family needs anywhere from 0.1 - 30 acres for self-sufficiency.

0.1 acre — semi self sufficient for 1-2 people
2 acres — everything for a small family
30+ acres — totally go-time sufficient, including livestock, a forest stand for fuel, and a buffer too keep away the zombie hordes.

http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/how-much-land-is-needed-to-be-self-sufficient
http://modernsurvivalblog.com/retreat-living/30-acres-for-self-sufficiency/

Comment by rms
2015-03-15 08:40:48

“…and a buffer too keep away the zombie hordes.”

LOL! I know someone down in California who lives isolated and worries about the zombie hordes. SSDI and MediCAL provide his reality needs.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 09:56:45

Does he complain about the socialist government too?

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Comment by rms
2015-03-15 13:06:58

Indeed… he complains about the democrats all the time.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 14:37:33

The government needs to keep its hands off his SSDI and Medicaid!

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 10:58:51

The last two elections conclusively proved that not only do the zombie hordes exist, they mindlessly serve the oligarchy by voting for its annointed candidates. Maybe the people who need meds are the thinking 5%.

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Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 08:42:07

You don’t need 40 acres for that ??

Likely a zoning regulation for subdivisions in the area…Minimum lot size = 40 acres.

Comment by drumminj
2015-03-15 08:55:30

Likely a zoning regulation for subdivisions in the area…Minimum lot size = 40 acres.

I would love to live in that subdivision! Keeps the rude neighbors, screaming kids, etc, away, and lets me enjoy my privacy and peace and quiet.

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Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2015-03-15 17:22:52

You’re in the wrong state, or at least the wrong side.

 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 09:06:24

why pay inflated prices at all poor worthless dirt. Remember 95% of the globe goes on the developed.

Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 09:12:06

and lets me enjoy my privacy and peace and quiet ??

You will have plenty of that…

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 11:37:27

Crushing.Housing.Losses.

 
 
 
Comment by Jingle Male
2015-03-15 15:52:44

http://www.landandfarm.com/m/search/AZ/Williams-land-for-sale/

Here is your answer! They are 1 acre parcels for $3000. A real slice of heaven!

Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2015-03-15 17:24:17

$3,000 is only about $2999 too much.

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Comment by Jingle Male
2015-03-15 22:18:53

+1…….$1 that is. GR hasvit right…

 
 
 
 
Comment by Jingle Male
2015-03-15 16:05:47

Oxy, I found & posted a link to what we observed. It should show up soon. Turns out they are 1 acre parcels and thousands are available for sale. They just looked like 20 acres because so few are being used.

It looks worse than Lehigh Acres in Florida. Average price for 1 acre looks to be $3500!

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 16:26:20

And overpriced how much Jingle_Fraud?

 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 06:15:00

I wonder if dumbazz somehow missed the news that oil dropped nine pct last week?

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 07:10:21

That is going to be your screen name if you have the balls to take the bet. Oil made its bottom. The last time WTI was down at these levels Brent was even a few cents lower now it is more than 12 dollars higher. That is why the price of gasoline is so much higher. Yes, it gave some of its gains back last week with a huge surge of the dollar. However, with the dollar so high even Apple’s profit margin is getting pressured. The PTB who thought they could manipulate Brent below 40 are running scared. The WSJ ran a story yesterday which was a half truth. Yes, some companies are still drilling but not fracking but they are the companies that are well capitalized. Many of companies which are over extended are doing the opposite fracking more wells than they are drilling. The interesting point yesterday was the WSJ had an editorial in which they were trying to get Obama to lift the crude oil ban, they slipped up and admitted that the U.S. is imminently going to lose 1.5 million barrels of production in shale oil due to the declining drilling rates, the surplus projected over the year by the IEA was 900,000 due the math and you will see the problem, even a dumbass can see the higher prices coming.

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 07:38:20

due= do the math. Shale oil companies are in the process of drilling out the prime spots. They are down to 65 acre spacing is the richest areas. Any one who knows anything about oil is amazed that they are allowing spacing that tight. In conventional oil fields they would consider that a highly wasteful practice. Oil is a finite resource and prime drilling spots are even more finite. The Saudis, apparently, mad at Obama over Iran’s nuclear program, have deserted him like a scene from Braveheart. The PTB have short oil bets they need to cover and they are not only will to crash Wall Street they are willing to crash the entire economy to stay out of the poorhouse.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 07:48:31

Champion falling prices Dan. Its good for the economy.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 08:19:41

You ought to be a musician, as you never miss a cue.

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Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 08:27:51

You had a movie named after you, “Clueless”.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 08:35:46

Clue, cue… same difference to a dullard…

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 09:09:07

oil prices have a long way to fall Dan. Just like housing prices. look at it this way. Why would resale prices for house be 3x construction costs?

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-03-15 09:16:54

Dan is just six months behind, or a year. It must be an investing handicap.

 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 09:19:42

Try six months a head and it works out well.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 09:53:12

Another 50% decline in the next 6 months. Just like the last 6 months.

Stay optimistic Dan.

 
 
Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2015-03-15 17:27:02

“…Oil made its bottom…”

One foolish utterance after another, ad nauseum…

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 19:51:13

Even as oil prices are currently falling!

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 19:54:02

Only a complete jackass could fail to notice that oil has not yet bottomed out.

Markets More: Oil
The weekend is over and oil is getting slammed
Myles Udland
Mar. 15, 2015, 7:33 PM

Good evening!

The weekend is over, futures markets are open, and oil is getting slammed again.

On Sunday night in New York, West Texas Intermediate crude was down as much as 2% to as low as $43.90 a barrel, the lowest price for WTI in six years.

Near 9:30 pm ET, WTI had recovered a bit, but was still around $44.15 a barrel, more than 1.5% lower than where it closed Friday afternoon.

The decline in oil prices on Sunday night follows a rough week for WTI, with prices moving north of $50 a barrel last Monday before closing the week down around $45.

On Friday, the International Energy Agency said that the stability seen in oil prices over the last month or so was not likely to last, with the IEA saying in a report, “Behind the facade of stability, the rebalancing triggered by the price collapse has yet to run its course.”

The latest data from oil driller Baker Hughes released Friday also showed the number of US oil rigs continues to plummet, falling another 56 last week to 866, or the lowest level since March 2011.

Over the last several months, a number of Wall Street strategists have said that the bottom is not in for oil prices, and after a little bit of relative stability, it seems like the commodity is yet again trending lower with fewer signs of stopping.

Here’s Sunday night’s open in WTI.

 
Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2015-03-15 19:58:25

Yeah, they just touched their 52 week low a few hours ago.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 20:00:16

“…just touched their 52 week low…”

Recently reaching a 52 week low is normally a sign that a lower low is soon to come.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by azdude
2015-03-15 04:59:20

Asset appreciation is helping the economy and putting folks back to work.Get on board the gravy train. Some people actually work while others just sit back and watch their asset prices rise in value. Seems like the folks the perform have to pay more for the basics after a diluted currency to help asset prices rise. Seems fair to me.

Thinking of driving to reno for some affordable gasoline.

Comment by Mr. Banker
2015-03-15 06:10:54

“Some people actually work while others just sit back and watch their asset prices rise in value.”

And still others sit back and collect interest from loaning money (money that isn’t even theirs) to both those who work and those who buy up assets hoping for a rise.

For some of us life is indeed good. For some others? Not so much.

Comment by MacBeth
2015-03-15 09:40:45

Leeches come in all shapes, sizes and occupations.

There are plenty of STEM folks making $100K+ annually who do nothing all day, whenever they can. Perhaps you know a few yourself. I’ve run across plenty in my day..

Just because one makes good money doesn’t mean one isn’t a parasite.

Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 10:49:53

Is IT counted as STEM? I can see an argument yes or no.

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Comment by dwkunkel
2015-03-15 11:23:56

I work with a group of STEM folks that are extremely intelligent and work their asses off. They work 10 - 12 hours a day here in Sunnyvale and then they’re on line at night having meetings with our group in India. I see hundreds of code commits from these people during the night and on the weekends.

They definitely earn their money.

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Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 14:40:59

My experience is that the do nothing STEM folks get laid off.

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Comment by redmondjp
2015-03-15 15:43:08

Or the ones that are over 45 years old.

 
Comment by dwkunkel
2015-03-15 18:46:03

I don’t know, I’m 67 and still at it.

 
Comment by drumminj
2015-03-15 19:30:27

Or the ones that are over 45 years old.

My company actively hires in that range — quite a few, actually

 
 
 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 15:06:03

For some of us life is indeed good. For some others? Not so much.

A good life and a not so good life are both but moments in eternity.

 
 
Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 07:19:13

JPM Just Print Money

So far so good parasites are parasites, rich or poor.

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 07:55:35

The parasites would have been jerked up short years ago, but for the 95% of the electorate - the sheeple - who give them a blank check and a free hand for their scams and parasitism.

Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 10:52:09

Oh the irony of the whole Bush v. Gore thing in 2000. 37 some odd votes seperated heads I win from tails you lose.

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 11:00:08

America lost either way.

 
 
Comment by Mr. Banker
2015-03-15 11:14:22

“The parasites would have been jerked up short years ago, but for the 95% of the electorate - the sheeple - who give them a blank check and a free hand for their scams and parasitism.”

Or their willingness to become hosts.

Bahahahahahahaha … think about this for a moment:

The banker acts as a host for his client for an hour or so and during this time he may offer him a free cup of coffee - and maybe even include a free refill!

But after the dotted line ceremony has been concluded - willingly concluded, I might add - the roles are switched: The client now becomes a host and, if all goes well for the banker, the newly-anointed host’s duration may extend well beyond an hour or so to … to … to maybe thirty years. Or even longer.

And as for the cost of all this to this newly-anointed host?

(If you truly need an answer to this question I will be glad to invite you to come see me at my bank and will perhaps discuss the matter over a free cup of coffee! And I will include a free refill!)

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Comment by MightyMike
2015-03-15 11:46:56

parasitism

That’s a good one. We’ve going through different ism words ever since people started talking about socialism in the summer of 2008. A new one is needed and looks like you’ve found it.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 05:02:18

More optimistic economic news….

“Sugar Prices Fall to Near Six-Year Low on Weak Brazilian Currency”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/sugar-slides-to-new-nearly-six-year-low-on-rains-brazilian-real-1426255974

Comment by Blue Skye
2015-03-15 06:51:13

After an epic economic fail hosting the World Cup, how does a collapsing economy turn an open sewer to a glamorous Olympic venue?

“Under pressure from the International Olympic Committee, the government of Rio de Janeiro has turned to a high-technology Dutch firm to help collect floating garbage in Guanabara Bay, the sailing venue for the 2016 Games. (March 11) AP”

video:

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2015/03/11/70173342/

Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 07:09:31

JPM Just Print Money

So far so good

 
 
Comment by rms
2015-03-15 08:51:50

There’s a wealthy Florida family that basically controls the sugar industry in the U.S.; brothers IIRC. They get huge subsidies from congressmen in their region, and they steer 1/3 of the proceeds back to the campaign coffers to keep them in office, or something like that. A very nice deal for those involved.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 09:35:58

It’s good to be the king

 
Comment by rms
 
Comment by Tarara Boomdea
2015-03-15 14:43:41

wealthy Florida family that basically controls the sugar industry in the U.S.; brothers IIRC

The brother(s) Fanjul, very tight with Bill, interrupted him on the job.

Raising Cane – A History of Big Sugar in South Florida

This led to the infamous phone call made to President Clinton on February 19, 1996 - interrupting an emotional meeting with Monica Lewinsky – in which Alfy Fanjul yelled at a sitting President.

These people.

Comment by rms
2015-03-15 16:12:23

Yeah, that’s them. I think it was a 60-minutes episode that had a 20-minute piece on “how the cartel works.” No free market in sugar; just ugly corruption at the highest levels.

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Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 05:04:37

Wages Fall, prices fall. It’s the way the world works.

“Wholesale Prices in U.S. Unexpectedly Fall for Fourth Month”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-13/wholesale-prices-in-u-s-unexpectedly-fall-for-fourth-month

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 05:07:53

Falling prices, especially housing, is always a positive.

“Real Estate: Why falling prices in Atlantic City could be a good thing”

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2015/03/06/real-estate-why-falling-prices-in-atlantic-city.html?page=all

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 05:13:10

Olympia, WA Sale Prices Fall 7% YoY; Inventory Skyrockets

http://www.zillow.com/olympia-wa/home-values/

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 05:15:00

“Soybean Production Up In State, But Prices Falling”

http://thesouthern.com/news/local/soybean-production-up-in-state-but-prices-falling/article_f5176648-adb8-5fb2-b47e-ed5dc1b180eb.html

Falling prices of housing, commodities, oil, food…. All making your dollars increasingly valuable.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 05:18:56

“Mistaking Peak Prices for “Peak Everything”

http://reason.com/archives/2015/03/13/peak-commodity-prices-not-peak-everythin

“The contraction phase of this cycle has not even begun yet, which can lower the mean of the whole cycle in the upcoming years.”

^Translation- If you wagered(borrowed) otherwise, you’re screwed.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 05:20:36

“London Property Prices Fall For Sixth Month Running”

http://www.wharf.co.uk/news/property/london-property-prices-fall-sixth-8834110

*No great revelation considering property prices have been falling YoY in many areas of the US

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
 
Comment by Roy G Biv
2015-03-15 05:27:26

Soothsayer. Caesar!
Caesar. Ha! who calls?
Casca. Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
Caesar. Who is it in the press that calls on me? 100
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry ‘Caesar!’ Speak; Caesar is turn’d to hear.
Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March.
Caesar. What man is that?
Brutus. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. 105
Caesar. Set him before me; let me see his face.
Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.
Caesar. What say’st thou to me now? speak once again.
Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March.
Caesar. He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.

Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 07:21:54

I liked pie day better.

Comment by Oddfellow
2015-03-15 07:38:10

So did Caesar.

 
 
Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 11:01:06

I also like what Reddit calls March 15th.

Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 11:05:34

Correction, March 14th

 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 05:27:53

“Crude Oil Seen Dropping To $40 Or Even $20 A Barrrel This Year”

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/crude-oil-seen-dropping-40-even-20-barrel-this-year-1491932

*Falling Prices… This is what we and the economy want and need. Falling prices of all kinds. Nothing accelerates the economy like falling prices. Nothing.

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 06:11:40

Editor’s Note: Oil glut belies doomsdayers
Nolan Finley, The Detroit News
5 days ago

The words “oil glut” were not something I ever expected to hear in 2015, 45 years after scientists predicted with confidence that the world had reached peak oil, the point after which oil production would steadily decline.

And while production did drop for a few years, advances in technology and discoveries of new reserves now make those doomsday voices sound foolish.

Today’s problem is not too little oil, but too much. America is producing so much crude it is running out of storage space. Tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, where most U.S. oil is traded, are reaching their capacity of 85 million barrels, and new ones are being built.

Even though gasoline prices have been back on the rise for a few weeks, analysts expect the over-supply to send them dropping again in the spring.

So head to the gasoline station and fill up that thirsty SUV. Start driving. If you don’t, the poor folks in Oklahoma are going to be swimming in oil.

Comment by Ben Jones
2015-03-15 06:24:53

So are the doomsayers thinking oil will go up or down? I want to get the semantics straight.

‘On the demand side, King noted that China’s economy, the world’s second largest, appeared to be struggling, while a rising US dollar, a “headwind” for the US economy, had put pressure on emerging-market currencies.’

‘King also pointed to the stubborn oil bulls, the big speculators maintaining significant net long positions, or bets that crude prices will go up. Their bets have left the market more vulnerable to another downswing if and when they exit the marketplace.’

‘King told the website: “I still believe we’re going to go below $40 and you’re going to have a look at the lows. I think it’s going to happen faster now than people think. I look for facts. I look for the reality of production decline, and, today, we’re not seeing it.”

“I look at other commodity markets: the speculator is short Arabica [coffee], the speculator is short natgas futures. And in crude oil, he’s [net long] long 300,000 barrels of WTI alone, and I think, God, just imagine if he went even. It would be a bloodbath. People who think this will be a V-shape [rebound] and off we go again will be mistaken.”

Comment by Ben Jones
2015-03-15 06:28:28

Not much oil being used here:

‘Urbanization represents a ‘huge engine’ for the country in sustaining economic expansion and driving aspirations to be a middle-income nation. But, along the way, the mechanism failed for some, with some newly built high-rises or even entire districts standing empty.’

“So their idea is, if we build it, they will come. And this is what happens. There is this idea that if we get the government to give us the policies to build, if we can get the industries to come in, then we can get the policies to bring people in. The difficult part is you have to bring all these three parts in to create a complete economic engine,” I-MCF President Einar Tangen said.’

‘In Kangbashi, this huge engine came to a standstill with the unexpected slump in coal prices. Apartments were built, but people never came. Mr. Wen Qingliang was one of the very few residents we have met on road. He’s reluctant to comment on the emptiness, and says that the government is still working to bring more people in.’

“Recently, we had several new schools that started classes in the city. Hopefully, that will bring more families to settle down here,” Wen said.’

There’s a video at the link.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 08:34:46

“So their idea is, if we build it, they will come.”

Field of Dreams approaches work great in the movies. Not so sure how effective they are in the case of command-and-control economies in the real world.

 
Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 11:07:15

If we lend it, they will come.

 
 
Comment by Combotechie
2015-03-15 06:41:34

“… while a rising US dollar, a “headwind” for the US economy …”

Not trying to steal this thread or anything like that but …

Isn’t it strange - tragic even - that a strong currency is considered to be a headwind?

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 07:05:59

The “strong” dollar is solely a function of other major currencies being even more debased by their central bankers than ours. The dollar has the most remaining fingers in the leper colony - that “strength” is purely relative. When the Fed’s deranged money printing catches up with us, we are going to see hyperinflation and a dollar collapse.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-03-15 07:15:43

I’ve watched relentless inflation for decades. If this is a correction, will we be getting a big dose of something else, or is it more of the same?

I’m paying roughly 60c per liter for gas in NY. Across the border in Canada, it is still up around $1.10/l. Kind of contrary to the Hessel theory.

 
Comment by Combotechie
2015-03-15 07:21:10

And the irony is the Fed is supposed to be helping the working person by somehow “managing” the employment rate, but this action of managing the employment rate ultimately results in diminishing the buying power of the money that an employee earns.

 
Comment by Shillow
2015-03-15 07:25:40

But slowly diminishing the buying power over 20 years is better than doing it over 20 minutes. Extend and pretend. Extend and pretend.

We’re all dead in the long run.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 07:26:32

With deflation as a result of collapsing demand, it’s hard to imagine selling something at any price.

Keep slashing and get ahead of the market.

 
Comment by Combotechie
2015-03-15 07:32:39

“But slowly diminishing the buying power over 20 years is better than doing it over 20 minutes.”

Reminds me of he best way to boil a frog.

 
Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 07:50:58

When the Fed’s deranged money printing catches up with us, we are going to see hyperinflation and a dollar collapse ??

Or, the economy may be much weaker than what is offered…Add to that, the changing patterns of employment itself (changing demographics, part time employment, underemployed etc.) and you can make a case that we are in for more deflation rather than hyperinflation…

 
Comment by oxide
2015-03-15 08:23:54

“But slowly diminishing the buying power over 20 years is better than doing it over 20 minutes. ”

Especially if most of your baby boomers are going to be gone in 20 years.

Or, to expand the frog analogy; there are three froggie options:
1. Add more water to the pot to distribute the heat so that it never boils.
2. Heat very slowly so that the water evaporates away before it gets hot enough to boil.
3. Extend and pretend long enough for the frog to die of natural causes; then let the water boil.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-03-15 17:21:33

Dead frogs pay no interest.

 
 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 07:14:56
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Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 07:19:30

Excerpt from link that will soon post:

It is easy to realize the 7 percent growth, a lower target than previous years, given China’s huge economic size, Premier Li said. “We should pay more attention to the quality and efficiency of the economy, so as to ensure the steady and healthy economic growth in the long run.”

Premier Li allayed the foreign reporters’ worries on the future of Chinese economy, and said the government will strengthen its well-targeted macro-control policies to keep the steady economic growth, guaranteeing enough jobs be created and price inflation be checked.

The rational-range economic growth, high saving rates and reform of government debt platform and the financial sector ensure that the government has the ability to avoid regional and systematic financial crisis, despite the slight increase of bad loans, which is still lower conventional international standard.

“We allow some individual cases of financial risks to happen, and they should be settled through market-based methods,” Li said.

Li denied that China has entered or exported deflation. “China is actually at the receiving end of deflation, and ‘deflated’ by the drop in staple commodity prices in the world,” Li said.

“Chinese government still has plenty of tools at its disposal … to keep a delicate balance between restructuring and growth,” said Li.

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Comment by Blue Skye
2015-03-15 07:33:29

Consider that you’re a tool.

 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 07:49:26

You can call names and attempt to shoot the messenger. However, it does not change the fact that based on purchasing power, China is already the world’s biggest economy. It will have the absolute biggest economy by 2020. It still have hundreds of millions of people to move from peasant farming to a modern economy. Those “ghost” cities were built in anticipation of their arrival. They will be filled just like the iron ore from Australia will get used. however at 7% growth it takes longer than 10%, but it is only the difference between doubling an economy in 7 years and doubling in 10.

 
Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 08:51:26

If they are doing so well Adan, why have they cut interest rates and lowered the reserve requirements ??

 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 09:02:55

If they are doing so well Adan, why have they cut interest rates and lowered the reserve requirements ??

When inflation is falling interest rates normally fall otherwise you are allowing real interest rates to rise. They are cutting interest rates to prevent this from happening a further slow growth. China has an around 7% growth target and it will meet it. As explained above they have more than enough tools to meet it and unlike the U.S. they have their interest rates set well above the inflation rate so they have a lot of room to cut them.

 
Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 09:18:02

They are cutting interest rates to prevent this from happening a further slow growth ??

So, you are acknowledging that the growth trend is down but will magically stop at 7%…?? I think you are wrong…They cut interest rates and lowered reserve requirements because they are scared that it is headed much lower than 7%…If they knew for sure that they were going to get growth at 7%, why cut rates at all…??

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-03-15 09:20:38

Consider that you are deceived.

 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 09:26:12

I was one of the first to see that China was reaching natural resource and other constraints that would slow growth, at 10% growth I was a bear at 7% growth I am a bull. Unlike many on this board, when the facts change my opinion changes.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 09:47:21

The fact is China’s GDP growth has collapsed 50% since 2008…… And falling.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-03-15 14:17:20

“Chinese government still has plenty of tools at its disposal…”

It’s like cutting off a leg he mentioned. They’ll need some sharp tools.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 17:24:47

“…when the facts change my opinion changes.”

As do your predictions…

 
Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2015-03-15 17:35:25

“…I was one of the first to see…”

Have you always been so insecure that you toot your own horn all day long for years on end, or is this a new mental disorder?

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 08:23:45

‘King also pointed to the stubborn oil bulls, the big speculators maintaining significant net long positions, or bets that crude prices will go up. Their bets have left the market more vulnerable to another downswing if and when they exit the marketplace.’

Dumbazzes

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Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 08:29:17

So do you have the balls to take the bet?

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 08:29:25

REFILE-Handful of supertankers holding oil as contango play fades
Thu Mar 12, 2015 8:33am GMT
* Of 12 tankers booked for storage, only five filled with crude
* Tankers hold Mideast, African oil, sit off Fujairah and Malaysia
By Florence Tan and Keith Wallis

SINGAPORE, March 12 (Reuters) - Only a few of the supertankers still chartered by traders for storage are filled with crude because a play to hold cheap oil and sell it later has lost momentum after prices recovered from six-year lows more quickly than expected.

Traders had been looking for profit from storing oil and selling it later at higher prices in the so-called contango play. But the recovery in crude prices has rendered storing oil onboard tankers unprofitable, senior traders from Glencore and Statoil have said.

More than 30 tankers had been put on long-term charter at the start of this year to play the contango, but vessels still earmarked for storage have dropped to 12. Of these, only one Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC) and four Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) are filled with oil, according to Thomson Reuters shipping data, shipbrokers and traders.

“What is not so easy to grasp is how many ships will actually store (oil). We will see in Q2,” said Robert Hvide Macleod, chief executive of Norway’s Frontline Management, one of the world’s largest tanker operators.

Most of the tankers booked on annual charters are now delivering crude as usual, traders and shipbrokers said.

Some traders who had earlier made the contango play have already taken profit on some of their stored oil and are looking for the next opportunity to store more.

Traders and analysts expect a supply overhang to cause prices to drop sharply again in the second quarter before recovering in the second half this year.

“Everybody agrees we’re going to recover in the second half but it’s just a matter of what happens in the second quarter,” said Tony Nunan, a risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp.

Brent crude fell 60 percent from above $115 a barrel in June last year to a nearly six-year low in January at just over $45 a barrel. It has since recovered to around $60 as U.S. oil output growth slows and Middle East and North Africa supply disruptions threaten.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2015-03-15 09:24:02

Dan, you’ve already made your bets. We’ll just watch.

 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 09:27:56

How about you do you have more guts than PB?

 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 09:32:32

BTW, I made one bet oil at $80 by December 2015 and $100 by December 2016 and so far everything is developing exactly as I foresaw, in fact Brent is higher that I anticipated so early, the rig count is down further, and production is falling faster, so it is actually a head of schedule.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 10:08:26

With production rates at record highs and rising, oil inventories at record highs and growing and oil demand plummeting to record lows and falling, oil will be half by December 2015 and have yet again by 3rd quarter 2016.

Remember…. Falling prices is positively bullish and good for the economy.

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 14:53:11

Black Swans in Saudi Arabia could swiftly reverse falling oil prices.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31893070

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 16:33:56

I’m missing the connection between balls and making moronic fake bets.

 
 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 09:43:13

People who think this will be a V-shape [rebound] and off we go again will be mistaken.

It’s what happened last time, so I suppose they are expecting history to repeat itself.

The thing is, even though gas is cheaper, I don’t feel compelled to go on a long drive just for the pleasure of it.

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Comment by oxide
2015-03-15 15:53:12

No, but people are compelled to trade in their Prii for SUV’s, which is effectively the same thing as you taking a long drive.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 05:46:19

CraterRage® Photo Of The Day

http://goo.gl/KglNN2

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
Comment by palmetto
2015-03-15 07:53:39

Heh, that’s on Zero Hedge as well. Interesting. No love lost between those two camps, that’s for sure. I want to see this heat up into a volcano.

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 11:02:15

Evil vs. Evil. I love it.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 08:37:07

He certainly did back in 2008!

 
Comment by rms
2015-03-15 09:04:45

State Dept. tele-workers are supposed to use fully encrypted laptops and a VPN connection through Reston, VA to connect to their respective servers. That Hillary thinks she’s above this protocol is naive.

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 11:03:53

Hillary is part of the .1% that is literally above the law. This impunity for the oligarchy has been sanctioned by the 95% of the electorate that continues to vote for the status quo.

 
 
Comment by MacBeth
2015-03-15 10:08:31

Alas…if only Hilary were black…

 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-03-15 16:06:11

Not even a smidgen can be traced to her or the White House.

“Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett leaked to the press details of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail address”

“But she did so through people outside the ­administration, so the story couldn’t be traced to her or the White House.”

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 07:16:13

For any sheeple seeking to deprogram, this might be a good start.

http://reece.liberty.me/2015/03/09/25-statist-propaganda-phrases-and-how-to-rebut-them/

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 07:24:30

Get ready to bail out Big Oil, taxpayers. And, no doubt, the bankers who underwrote the junk bond bubble to fund shale expansion.

http://wolfstreet.com/2015/03/13/us-government-bails-out-oil-industry-russia-pe-firms-the-saudis-venezuela-wall-street-but-slams-american-consumers/

Oil industry lobbyists must have been working the government over for months. The price of oil has plunged nearly 60% since June. Smaller oil companies are going bankrupt. Larger ones are bleeding. Energy junk-bondholders are getting massacred. Wall Street investment banks are fretting about losing the fees. Lenders are worried about their energy loans. PE firms that have funded the fracking boom are taking big losses. Venezuela is falling apart and is going to default. Russia is careening in the wrong direction. Kern County, the oil capital of California, declared a “fiscal emergency.”

They all need the price of oil to jump, and they need it to jump NOW.

Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 08:03:43

Smaller oil companies are going bankrupt. Larger ones are bleeding ??

I have a question about oil production…Ben knows a bit from his Texas days..

What components that make up a oil drilling rig are fixed cost…I suspect the cost of the rig, labor etc., are pretty much fixed although I suspect they can go up or down some for a number of reasons…But, isn’t the land cost, or land lease, a major component of the cost of a barrel of oil that is produced ?? That cost, could go up or down in dramatic ways…

If a company can’t produce oil at a profit they likely shut down or go BK…Whats the value of the land or land lease now…Likely far less then allowing a new suitor to come in and effectively produce a barrel of oil at a lower price that would still be profitable…

I guess what I am thinking is that the volume of oil will continue to be produced…

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 09:15:37

“But, isn’t the land cost, or land lease, a major component of the cost of a barrel of oil that is produced ??”

Field developers pay royalties to the owners. The land itself is worthless.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 08:38:14

“They all need the price of oil to jump, and they need it to jump NOW.”

Could this be why one of our more prolific posters is confident that oil will never touch $30 and will rise to $80 by December?

Comment by oxide
2015-03-15 16:03:32

Could be. Someone told me that $80 is the threshold. Above $80… companies have some play money for contracting out for research like handling sour crude. Below $80.. companies pull R&D and other goodies and retreat back to their core business.

If a-dan is a paid shill for oil, then they might be cutting his contracts too. Maybe that’s why he diversified into shilling for China?

By the way, where in the world is Vladimir Putin? I’ve heard speculations from military coups, to a romantic sojourn with the latest mistress, to getting a facelift and just hiding his face during recovery. He’s got an appointment with some diplomats from Kyrgistan (?) tomorrow.

My guess says it’s the plastic surgery.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 16:27:42

lolz.

Someone told you eh Donk?

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Comment by oxide
2015-03-15 17:09:13

Yes, someone told me.

 
 
 
 
Comment by MacBeth
2015-03-15 10:01:07

“Get ready to bail out Big Oil, taxpayers.”

This won’t be an issue….unless the government decides to muck up oil like I does everything else.

Instead, be prepared to bail out California. One year until it runs out of water. Then what?

I hope the res of the country is preparing for the inevitable onslaught of locusts that follow droughts.

A shame that these locusts will be bipedal. Can’t exactly use any DDT-like poison on them.

Comment by MacBeth
2015-03-15 10:05:55

Oh - on a semi-related matter…

I see that many restaurants in Seattle are shuttering Seems that they are unable to pay their workers the new $15 / hour minimum wage.

Leave it to Progressive = NeoCon economics to throw people out of work.

Wonder how long the state of Washington will be able to keep it’s no state income tax status? Not long at this rate.

So be it. Let the locals pay for their own stupidity. Becoming Illinois, New York or New Jersey has its costs.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 14:46:04

I see that many restaurants in Seattle are shuttering Seems that they are unable to pay their workers the new $15 / hour minimum wage.

Wasn’t that going to be phased in over a few years?

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Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2015-03-15 17:53:52

He’s full of shit.

 
 
Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2015-03-15 17:52:46

“I see that many restaurants in Seattle are shuttering Seems that they are unable to pay their workers the new $15 / hour minimum wage.”

Proof, please. BS doesn’t fly.

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Comment by palmetto
2015-03-15 07:27:21

Catfight! Clinton vs Obama!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-15/clintons-furious-obama-after-valerie-jarrett-linked-email-leak

“So who does Obama prefer to have as his successor? Well, all signs point to Elizabeth Warren. “With Obama’s approval,” this source continued, “Valerie has been holding secret meetings with Martin O’Malley [the former Democratic governor of Maryland] and [Massachusetts Sen.] Elizabeth Warren.”

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 07:58:43

Fauxahontus has repeatedly said she isn’t running. She did, however, run to the defense of the Fed by opposing the “Audit the Fed” bill, which shows her true colors and constituency despite her populist pretensions.

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 08:05:03

populist pretensions.

The entire welfare state has been built on fiat currency, take that away and it collapses like a sand castle.

 
Comment by butters
2015-03-15 08:06:40

Like they say, fake indian but a true fraudster. She is qualified to fill obama’s shoes.

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 08:34:11

She is qualified to fill obama’s shoes.

They probably where many of the same shoes on their night out. BTW, been falling the Putin saga? The MSM media had him dead or in a coma. The truth is the 62 year old Putin has been with his 31 year old girlfriend after she just had his baby. Girlfriend half his age? I bet he would have one a third of his age, if she would not be too young to drink with at most bars.

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Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 09:10:39

where=wear.

 
Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2015-03-15 18:45:14

I’d have babies with her. MANY. She’s freakin’ HAWT.

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 18:48:55

Something suitable for a 24 year old.

 
Comment by rms
2015-03-15 19:52:21

“The truth is the 62 year old Putin has been with his 31 year old girlfriend after she just had his baby.”

Is his ex-wife, Lyudmila Putina, going to walk away with half of his fortune?

 
 
 
 
Comment by butters
2015-03-15 07:59:33

Like it makes any difference.

Comment by palmetto
2015-03-15 08:07:08

Oh, heck no, BUT at least us peons might get treated to a bit of entertainment and that’s the least these turd rockets could do for us. I, for one, would welcome it. Beats the heck outta Ferguson.

 
 
Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 08:19:53

Well, all signs point to Elizabeth Warren ??

Warren is the back-up QB…If for whatever reason Hillary exits stage left, Elizabeth will enter stage right…In either case, my guess for VP will be the congressman from texas…Castro…He is hispanic, he is 40, and would be 48 after two terms…

A woman for President, a young successful hispanic congressman for VP…Thats is a formidable opponent that the republican party (in particular this current group) will likely not be able to overcome…

Comment by palmetto
2015-03-15 08:32:09

To me, the interesting aspect of this whole issue is not so much the upcoming election, but Valerie Jarrett, who, I believe, is the de facto president of the US and has been since Obama’s inauguration. I’ve done some reading on the woman and her relationship to the Obamas and I must say, it’s quite a troika. It makes for very interesting reading. Of course, you have to discount the more sensational and partisan aspects of the articles written, but in the end, I very much came away with the sense that she is the one in charge.

Gawd, I can’t imagine what kind of hell the post-presidency will be for the Obamas, because it seems that wherever they go, whatever they do, she will be there.

 
Comment by butters
2015-03-15 08:36:19

Spoken like a mindless political insider.

 
Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 08:53:27

I would also be very confortable voting for Jim Webb….

Comment by palmetto
2015-03-15 08:57:29

He is my candidate. I will be voting for him, even if it is a write-in.

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Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 09:23:13

I will be voting for him, even if it is a write-in ??

I won’t…I can stomach the idea that this group of republicans would control all three branches of the government…

 
Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 09:24:40

can = can’t

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 14:41:02

I would vote for Jim Webb, hands down, over the other contenders to date, with the possible exception of Rand Paul.

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Comment by MacBeth
2015-03-15 09:49:16

Only an idiot would vote for Warren.

It’s interesting that for decades, Republicans have been voting women, Hispanics and blacks into office, yet Democrats think they are the only “side” doing so.

Worry not, scdave. I won’t be voting Republican. Yet, if Warren runs, I’ll be actively canvassing against her. Just because O won’t be voting doesn’t mean I can’t work to change people’s minds away from Warren.

Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 10:06:09

Worry not, scdave. I won’t be voting Republican ??

Then we are on the same page….

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Comment by MacBeth
2015-03-15 10:49:43

No, we’re not.

I won’t be voting Democrat/Progressive, either.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 14:42:08

Only an idiot would vote for Warren.

Since 95% of the electorate are idiots, that should make her a shoo-in.

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Comment by MacBeth
2015-03-15 09:54:52

LMAO!

“With Obama’s approval” — gad. Our 44th President: Little Lord Flauntleroy. He needs knickers and a bow tie.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 08:25:01

Hardly surprising that the oligarchy’s propaganda outlets cover up the crimes of the .1%, to include child molestation. But while we still have an Internet and some semi-independent newspapers, they can still get called out on their journalistic omerta.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2995189/Beleaguered-BBC-chief-abuse-inquiry-cover-claims-personally-blocked-release-information-concerning-Jimmy-Savile-probe.html

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 08:27:30

So in the ongoing “where’s Putin?” saga, he’s supposedly in bed with a bad cold. Could he possibly have succumbed to a cough - a Kalashni-cough?

I slay me….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/11473389/Vladimir-Putin-in-bed-with-a-bad-cold-watching-Crimea-documentary.html

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 08:57:20

More likely related to birth of his love child, they might just be together by Skype of something similar but the timing is too coincidental. Congratulations Vlad the impaler, you are an inspiration to men or 50 everywhere.

Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 09:14:00

or=over, yes, I need to check for the self corrections.

Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-03-15 11:16:58

Quick check: Putin is 62 years old. When his kid is in college Putin will be 80.

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Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-03-15 11:21:14

Wealthy older men don’t care if they are “too old” to be fathers. Many young women don’t care as long as the old men have $ (or rubles).

They can afford nannies to run after the little toddler(s).

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 14:43:28

Never mind that the kid is going to be a visible reminder of why only the young and healthy should procreate.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 14:49:33

As long as the incubator is young, the kid will probably be OK.

 
Comment by Bill, Just South of Irvine
2015-03-15 15:33:36

Clint Eastwood’s youngest son Scott is 28.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/phoenix-area/1394655-another-report-says-housing-prices-will-2.html

Does not seem like a basket case to me.

Clint eastwood is 84. 56 year difference.

 
Comment by Bill, Just South of Irvine
2015-03-15 15:52:52
 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Linda
2015-03-15 08:31:06

Can anyone on this board tell me where I can get a reading of the daily OVERALL volume of stocks sold on the Dow? I was told by Scottrade they don’t have this data, whereas they used to. Why aren’t they tracking it? Why aren’t they able to give me this info now? The volume of stocks sold is the best indicator of an imminent crash, and I want to know it.

Comment by scdave
2015-03-15 08:59:15

Can anyone on this board tell me where I can get a reading of the daily OVERALL volume of stocks sold on the Dow ??

There are several on the board that will be able to help you…

 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 09:02:46

Falling.Housing.Prices.

 
Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-03-15 12:11:50

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=^DJI+Historical+Prices

Put ^DJI in the quotes text box on Yahoo Finance, then when the Dow page opens, click “historical prices” link on the left. Volume shows up in the same table on the next page. It’s daily, so there you go.

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 14:44:40

Can anyone on this board tell me where I can get a reading of the daily OVERALL volume of stocks sold on the Dow?

HFT trading now accounts for 70% or more of the daily volume, distorting the overall health of the market.

 
Comment by Guillotine Renovator
2015-03-15 18:50:56

“Why aren’t they able to give me this info now?”

They aren’t on your side. They’re interested in fees, and as many as possible.

 
 
Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-03-15 09:06:05

Ron Paul explains how the U.S. government engineered the green light for the American Empire (25 years war and going strong).

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2015/march/14/a-green-light-for-the-american-empire/

Comment by MacBeth
2015-03-15 09:43:20

What this country is doing to its own citizenry is as bad as anything it is doing elsewhere.

Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-03-15 09:57:14

The damage is huge and the causes are huge that most people shrug and have no time to see this stuff. And they just continue to support the same failed polices as if the policies will work next time. It frustrates me.

I looked into some more of this last night. Found a link to ‘Operation Northwoods.” That was an early 1960s plan by the U.S. hawks to stage Cuban terrorist attacks and innocent American people would be killed as part of the plan, and blamed on Cuba. JFK rejected that. I’m thinking 9/11 could be the “Operation Northwoods” that led to the escalation of the American Empire. It’s a lust for power.

And I wonder what became of April Glaspie? I saw a U.K. article written in 2005 asking exactly that. They say the State Department has tucked her away since the 1990 meeting with Saddam Hussein.

There are a lot of angles, like I say. And all the pieces are out there, easy to see. They cannot be hidden. This is not tin-foil hat guessing or conspiracy theory crap. It’s out there because it cannot be hidden, but there is too much information for people to even care.

Main Street U.S.A. and innocent people abroad are the victims in all this. There are too many victims to cover up the crime.

Comment by Tarara Boomdea
2015-03-15 11:36:16

And all the pieces are out there, easy to see.
Here’s one - air date for this episode was March 4, 2001.
“The Lone Gunmen” tv series - first episode predicted World Trade Center attacks

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Comment by Bill, Just South of Irvine
2015-03-15 12:45:16

Holy crap! Thanks!

 
Comment by Bill, Just South of Irvine
2015-03-15 14:55:09

Carlin, Hicks and Stanhope discuss Nationalism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G17Qf5nrLw&feature=youtu.be

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 14:45:53

What this country is doing to its own citizenry is as bad as anything it is doing elsewhere.

This is what the citizenry - dumbed down to where they are more fittingly called zombies - voted for and continue to vote for.

Comment by Bill, Just South of Irvine
2015-03-15 15:39:46

And when you point out their logical fallacies they resent you.

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Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-03-15 09:44:03

All empires eventually end. Some guy on Lew Rockwell predicts the USA has at most 10 years left in its Imperialism before it has to withdraw from being world cop.

The red light will happen but it’s hard to predict when and how.

Potential redlights:

1) China has been suspected to quietly get on good terms with arab countries over the years. And there is a lot of talk that it wishes to make a new world currency to replace the Dollar. Once the Dollar is replaced, the USA loses a lot of power.

2) Wage parity with the tech emerging nations India and China will mean an end to outsourcing. Combined with the retirement of the boomers, the wages in the USA will have to increase. The U.S. government actually wants high paid STEM jobs in the USA, obviously to feed its tax revenues and war machines. So there is a force within working against itself. The fading away of the boomers will open wage hikes in the void.

3) Interest rates as a result of #2 above will rise, as the government will have to fight inflation. For every 1% interest rate hike, an additional $170 billion in interest on the federal debt is added. This also will crush some defense spending.

4) American sentiment can change. Word can get out. The middle class has been all but destroyed since 1990 and when they realize the defense spending and Imperialism has been at their expense, the citizens will take their pitchforks to Washington and demand an end to imperialism.

I think the key to saying the U.S. imperialism - :”world cop” business has at most ten years is the retirement of most of the boomers. Lots of skilled engineers leaving the workforce. Heck, I will keep working, in my later years but I will be employed by an international company and paid in cryptocurrency with no withholding.

Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-03-15 11:32:01

The question is “what do you do financially to prepare for the end of the empire?”

Do you say we are screwed and everyone of us will certainly be slaves, nothing to personally do?

Or do you think about urban survival, rural survival, do you have a bugout bag ready? Do you have cryptocurrency in paper wallets? Do you have silver and platinum? Do you have cash tucked away?

Within 5 years I want to have some place I rent where I can have a chance of surviving. Deep Cycle batteries, generator, a huge pantry of canned goods, water. This does not have to be out of the city, I do not want to leave the urban areas.

And most important it behooves us to be very involved in our local communities and know all our neighbors. Offer help when they have problems and so on.

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 16:28:52

+1. I think your 5 year timeline will be about 3-4 years too late, however.

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Comment by phony scandals
2015-03-15 09:15:04

Obama Jokes: “If I did not love America, I wouldn’t have moved here from Kenya”

by The Hill | Kyle Balluck | March 15, 2015

President Obama late Saturday joked about the controversy surrounding former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s use of a private email account during a white-tie dinner in Washington, D.C.

According to a White House pool report, Obama told guests at the Gridiron Club dinner that he was once known as the young, tech-savvy candidate.

But now, “Hillary has a server in her house! I didn’t even know you could have one of those. I am so far behind.”

And Obama’s response to New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s (R) comment that he didn’t love America drew big laughs.

“If I did not love America, I wouldn’t have moved here from Kenya,” Obama said.

 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
Comment by SUGuy
2015-03-15 19:00:26

Chinese leaders fear an economic property slump
March 9, 2015

China’s premier, Li Keqiang, has the task to stop its collapse across China’s vital, but shakey property sector

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/live-news/2015/3/chinese-leaders-fear-an-economic-property-slump.html

 
 
Comment by Albuquerquedan
2015-03-15 09:40:26

Ok that is it for the morning probably for the day, the PTB know they have but a few weeks before the decline in oil production gets too large to ignore, it should be interesting to see what they do to hit oil prices so they can get out of their short positions, the stock market will be collateral damage and so will the real economy.

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 16:27:06

Should be interesting to see whether the PTB keep publishing made-up stories about cotango tradrrs storing oil at sea in the hopes of driving up the price.

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 17:08:44

ft dot com
Last updated: March 9, 2015 4:03 pm
Traders left adrift as oil storage trade loses its lustre
Anjli Raval, Oil and Gas Correspondent
Tanker Glut Signals 25% Slump In Freight Rates This Year…Oil tankers are anchored near the Port of Long Beach, California, U.S., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009. A surplus of idled oil tankers, which would stretch 26 miles if lined up end to end, may signal a 25 percent slump in freight rates this year. The ships will unload 26 percent of the crude and oil products they are storing in six months, adding to vessel supply and pushing rates for supertankers down to an average of $30,000 a day, compared with $40,212 now. Photographer: Tim Rue/Bloomberg©Bloomberg

The world’s biggest oil traders rushed to hire supertankers at the start of the year. The idea was to buy cheap barrels of crude, store it at sea and lock in a profit by selling contracts in the futures market.

But only a couple of the almost 40 vessels originally chartered to hold crude offshore for up to 12 months are doing so, shipbrokers and analysts say.

It was hoped that the “contango” structure in the crude markets — jargon for when prices for future delivery exceed current rates — would resemble the one in 2008-09, when 100m barrels of oil were at sea. But for now, this trade is not looking as lucrative.

When the price of internationally traded Brent crude oil slumped to about $45 a barrel in January, the near month price for delivery of crude was $12 lower than that in 12 months time. Since the price has rebounded to about $60 a barrel, the difference has narrowed to less than $7.

Keeping oil on vessels is an expensive strategy that is profitable only if the spread is wide enough to account for shipping and insurance costs.

“If you look at the crude contango curve, it’s got to pay for the storage, and it’s got to pay for the all the time value and money to put the crude in there,” Alex Beard, head oil trader at Glencore, told analysts and investors last week. Current conditions are not “attractive enough to encourage large amounts of floating storage”, he added.

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 19:59:16

It was hoped that the “contango” structure in the crude markets — jargon for when prices for future delivery exceed current rates — would resemble the one in 2008-09, when 100m barrels of oil were at sea. But for now, this trade is not looking as lucrative.

It’s hard to make money by storing oil at sea when the price has yet to bottom out when you set the oil to sail.

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Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2015-03-16 08:31:28

It’s hard to make money by storing oil at sea when the price has yet to bottom out when you set the oil to sail.

Not at all!! It is normally an arbitrage play, meaning that once the position is entered, its profitability is not a function of the underlying commodity price.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-03-15 10:02:09

The coming climate court

By Chris Horner - - Sunday, March 8, 2015

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recently circulated an email breathlessly titled, “Governments on Track to Reaching Paris 2015 Universal Climate Agreement — Negotiating Text Officially Published.”

The message triumphantly claimed that “Another key step towards a new, universal climate change agreement has just been taken as the negotiating text for the agreement was officially issued by the [UNFCCC].” This refers to the upcoming talks in Paris in December on a successor pact to the 1997 Kyoto global warming treaty.

This text agreed to for negotiation by the federal government includes a remarkable proposal. Buried deep inside, it proposes an “International Climate Justice Tribunal in order to oversee, control and sanction the fulfilment [sic] of and compliance with the obligations of Annex I and Annex II Parties under this agreement and the [1992 UNFCCC climate treaty].”

Translated, this means that even if the Obama administration refuses to call the Paris agreement a treaty, as it already telegraphed its position: A new climate court would hold us to its terms — even the terms of a prior, “voluntary” agreement.

That the Obama administration would agree to even negotiate such an entanglement is all the more outrageous given the president’s belief that the Senate’s advice and consent is something necessary only when it works to his political advantage.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/8/chris-horner-paris-climate-agreement-a-global-powe/#ixzz3UTPbgBpO
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-03-15 10:08:53

Kerry compares himself to Churchill & Lincoln; Scorn follows

by Michael Dorstewitz | Bizpac Review | March 15, 2015

Secretary of State John Kerry compared himself to Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and other great historical luminaries for having the courage and tenacity to tackle the most heinous enemy plaguing mankind — climate change.

“My heroes are people who dared to take on great challenges without knowing for certain what the outcome would be,” Kerry said in an address to the Atlantic Council on Thursday.

“Lincoln took risks, Gandhi took risks, Churchill took risks, Dr. King took risks, Mandela took risks, but that doesn’t mean that every risk-taker is a role model.”

Calling climate change “one of the biggest threats facing our planet today,” Kerry said it must be addressed head on, just like terrorism, extremism and nuclear proliferation.

 
Comment by SF Bay Area
2015-03-15 10:54:38

“Thousands Crowd Brazil’s Streets: Demand Military Intervention & Rousseff Resignation, Impeachment”

“It appears the ‘people’ are growing more and more dissatisfied with their corrupt and greedy leaders across the world. As we noted recently, Brazil’s economy is imploding, consumer sentiment is at record lows, and with the Petrobras scandal providing a glimpse at just how deep the corruption might go, Brazilians are revolting. Hundreds of thousands are crowding the streets in several regional Brazilian capitals, dominated ironically by the middle and upper classes. Demands for “Dilma Out” and “Impeach Dilma” are also interspersed with calls for a quasi-coup and “military intervention.”"

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 11:07:01

While the sheeple here slumber on.

 
Comment by MacBeth
2015-03-15 12:32:13

Clearly, Brazil is not ready to host the 2016 Olympics.

Should’ve bee awarded to Santiago, instead. Alas, Chile didn’t apply.

Comment by palmetto
2015-03-15 13:23:46

That’s because Chile seems to be one of the SA countries that has its sh*t together. It doesn’t need the headaches and economic loss. Screw the Olympics anyway. It’s a meaningless, expensive ritual anymore. Bombings, doping scandals, cheating, posturing, etc.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 14:55:12

I don’t even bother watching Olympic events. Most of the events fall into the “Who cares?” category. Plus the endless stream of commercials is mind numbing.

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Comment by phony scandals
2015-03-15 11:34:50

Economic Apocalypse and the Transnational Power Elite

March 9, 2015

Estulin’s research has led him to conclude that the true rulers are not elected. Rather, they effectively vet and choose those vying for public office who will carry out broader agendas beyond public view. “Many years ago,” he recalls, “when I began researching these people I came across them by chance. I asked myself a fairly simple question, ‘If presidents and prime ministers of countries don’t really have much to say in terms of real body politics, then who runs the world from behind the scenes?”

memoryholeblog.com/…/03/09/economic-apocalypse-and-the-transnational-power-elite/ - 283k -

Comment by TBoom
2015-03-15 13:01:23

Comment by phony scandals
2015-03-15 11:34:50

Economic Apocalypse and the Transnational Power Elite
memoryholeblog.com/2015/03/09/economic-apocalypse-and-the-transnational-power-elite/

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-03-15 14:58:45

Estulin’s research has led him to conclude that the true rulers are not elected

Tell us something we don’t know.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 14:51:09

Venezuela offers a preview of what America will look like once Comrade Pelosi and her ideological fellow travelers in the DNC install their corrupt, one-party, permanent Democrat Supermajority. Watch and learn, ‘Muricans, watch and learn.

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-maduro-given-decree-powers-rest-2015-193802736.html

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-03-15 16:20:19

Oh, the humanity! (Brent & WTI oil crashing hard).

http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/

Comment by azdude
2015-03-15 16:36:07

there is a shortage of oil in ca they claim.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 16:39:37

This is setting up exactly as AlbqDan forecast. Or so he claims.

Comment by azdude
2015-03-15 17:11:33

30 oil is around the corner cause the economy is dropping off a cliff without QE goosing assets.

Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 18:44:48

All the QE they can muster can’t counter collapsing demand for oil, housing, commodities, etc.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 20:01:19

It’s hard to believe a regular HBB poster could genuinely be sufficiently dense to miss something so obvious.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 20:02:19

P.S. Just wait until rates normalize. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

 
Comment by rms
2015-03-15 20:49:52

Soup kitchens and garbage can fires?

 
 
 
 
Comment by Housing Analyst
2015-03-15 16:49:51

Along with housing.

Massachusetts Housing Prices Crashing Hard

http://www.zillow.com/ma/home-values/

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 17:15:32

Rex Nutting
Opinion: America is full of slackers and deadbeats who won’t work
Published: Mar 13, 2015 6:00 a.m. ET
That’s what some conservatives allege — but the numbers say otherwise
MarketWatch
A total of 148 million of 320 million U.S. residents have a job.
By Rex Nutting
Columnist

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — If you’re inclined to think that America has too many people who take, and not enough who make, then you’re probably skeptical that the economy really is improving.

The drop in the official unemployment rate from a high of 10% in late 2009 to 5.5% in February is simply a hoax, the skeptics say, because there are 93 million Americans who’ve dropped out of the labor market, refusing to work or even look for a job. And if you didn’t look for a job in the past month, you aren’t counted as unemployed.

The fear that America will go broke if fewer than half of us are working is credible only if we ignore history.

The unemployment rate isn’t 5.5%, as the government claims. The real unemployment rate is over 35%, they say, because about 102 million people aren’t working, including about 9 million who are officially counted as unemployed and the 93 million who’ve given up.

Now, it is true that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 92.9 million adults were “not in the labor force” in February, an all-time high. That’s up from 79.2 million as the economy slumped into a recession just over seven years ago.

The share of civilian non-institutionalized adults who participate in the labor force (either working or actively searching for a job) has declined from 66% on the eve of the recession to only 62.8% in February, close to a 37-year low.

That means three of every eight adults is just sitting on his ass, taking from the rest of us!

Don’t tell Zero Hedge or Breitbart or Sen. Ted Cruz, but it’s much worse than that! Using exclusive data from the Census Bureau provided to me on the Internet, I’ve learned that a majority of Americans are doing nothing while the rest of us slave all day long!

It’s not 102 million who aren’t working; it’s 172 million!

The government is hiding in plain sight the brutal fact that only 46% of Americans are working (148 million of a total population of 320 million)! If you consider everybody and not only the 250 million who are over 16 that the BLS counts, only 49% of us are in the labor force.

Comment by rms
2015-03-15 20:02:05

These damned slackers won’t work 48-hrs/wk for $7.25/hr to buy that $500k starter home? Next they’ll be demanding benefits. The country is doomed… doomed I tell ‘ya!

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 20:04:08

It’s hard to understand why anyone would bother working when the obvious path to riches is to simply own stuff, going into debt if necessary to acquire it, and just hold on until the wealth effect of rising asset values makes you richer than Croesus.

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-03-15 20:16:53

I am delighted that I had no time over the weekend to fuel up my car at Costco. Hence I will get to enjoy the price tomorrow evening after the further drop in oil prices currently underway. Deflation is a beautiful thing if you are on the right side of the trade!

 
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