Bits Bucket for March 18, 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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While the last two elections proved the stupidity of 95% of the electorate (the Obama Zombies, McCain Mutants, and Romney Retards), new data confirms and quantifies our national descent into IDIOCRACY.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-17/its-official-americans-r-stoopid
As Americans, we tend to be pretty full of ourselves, and this is especially true of our young people. But do we really have reason for such pride? According to a shocking new report from the Educational Testing Service, Americans between the ages of 20 and 34 are way behind young adults in other industrialized nations when it comes to literacy, mathematics and technological proficiency. Even though more Americans than ever are going to college, we continue to fall farther and farther behind intellectually. So what does this say about us? Sadly, the truth is that Americans are stupid. Our education system is an abysmal failure, and our young people spend most of their free time staring at the television, their computers or their mobile devices. And until we are honest with ourselves about this, our intellectual decline is going to get even worse.
You can thank a leftist controlled education system that indoctrinates from day one. Political correctness, obsession with race, phony environmental brainwashing, revision of american history, junk science, feminizing boys, lack of a simple understanding of capitalism etc.,etc. for the stupidity.
All of the above is true, but it doesn’t justify a three front war in Iraq/Syria, Iran, and Ukraine
Have a nice day
Bombs are all that is needed, no boots. And only to prevent nukes or the like.
Bombs gave us total control of the middle east, right?
Bombs are all that is needed,
USA exceptional, simplistic and belligerent FAIL
Why bombing Iran would be a strategic mistake for Israel and America
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Why-bombing-Iran-would-be-a-strategic-mistake-for-Israel-and-America-388386
With all due respect to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US isn’t going to be attacking Iran anytime soon, especially after negotiations over its nuclear program. America still has a war in Afghanistan and President Barack Obama just recently sent over 3,000 military advisors back to Iraq; a war that should have ended in 2011. Due to the sectarian nature of the war against Islamic State (IS), America also needs Shi’ite Iran to battle the Sunni offshoot of al-Qaida.
Furthermore, any notion that Israel could launch a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear program ignores the views of three top US officials regarding the efficacy of any strike. As stated in Bloomberg, either Israel or the US would have to bomb Iran every three years, and even then nobody would be assured of ending its nuclear ambitions: Panetta said he “certainly shares” views expressed by predecessor Robert Gates and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Michael Mullen that a bombing campaign would set Iran back three years at most.
Gates, on several occasions, starting in April 2009, said “a military attack will only buy us time and send the program deeper and more covert.” It would at best set back Iran’s nuclear program by two or three years, he said.
US or Israeli bombing also “would bring together a divided nation and make them absolutely committed to obtaining nuclear weapons,” he said.
Mullen in a February 10, 2010, press conference said it was safe to assume “they’re pretty close” to developing a bomb and a strike might “delay it for one to three years.”
Panetta said he “certainly shares” views expressed by predecessor Robert Gates and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Michael Mullen that a bombing campaign would set Iran back three years at most.
Three years works for me, and then Israel can bomb then again and set them back another three years, in the meantime the U.S. sanctions will increase pressure on the leadership to abandon the quest for the bomb.
n the meantime the U.S. sanctions will increase pressure on the leadership to abandon the quest for the bomb.
You and other clueless neocons don’t understand national psychology and political reality. See 50 years of USA Cuba sanctions.
“US or Israeli bombing (of Iran) also “would bring together a divided nation and make them absolutely committed to obtaining nuclear weapons,” he said.”
See 50 years of USA Cuba sanctions.
If sanctions were not working Iran would not be at the bargaining table, it would have already created a bomb. You are missing that fundamental fact. Would bombing them bring them together, yea probably for about a year and then the impact of the sanctions would tear them back apart. But why don’t you bring your sanctions do not work spiel to Obama since he is imposing sanctions on Russia and you have no problem with that. Obama says jump and Lola says how high.
Would bombing them bring them together, yea probably for about a year and then the impact of the sanctions would tear them back apart
Yea, just like 50 years of sanctions “tore Cuba apart”. You and other parroting neocons don’t understand national psychology and political reality.
Three tools of the Military Industrial Complex come out and say that the obvious solution, Bombs, won’t work, so that leaves the only solution as boots on the ground? More war money to enrich themselves and their masters?
Can you not see this?
Laughable, I rest my case.
There are vast swaths of the country that want to teach their children that the earth is 6,000 years old and dinosaurs rode the ark. That explains it all.
vast swaths?
In all of our big cities, Philly, DC, NYC, Baltimore, Detroit, LA, Milwaukee, and on and on, centers of urban blight and misery, they are taught nothing at all.
That can’t be true.
The dinosaurs couldn’t fit on the ark due to a design flaw, therefore we have no dinosaurs now. Get your history straight.
The Darwinian story that mind comes from matter is equally silly.
If physicists can believe in “dark energy” and “dark matter”… whats wrong with believing in God?
“we know its there because something has to be there…?”
OK
And why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?
Tarzan swings
Tarzan falls
Jane catch Tarzan by the balls
That is why he always calls
AHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!
“As Americans, we tend to be pretty full of ourselves…”
+1 We’re so exceptional that we can’t look at other country’s experiences and solutions to banker’s excesses. Go Iceland!
Gee, that zerohedge is always so negative. Don’t they ever have a single piece of good news?
Another reason why parents pay up for a good school district
Private school tuition is cheaper than buying an overpriced house in a “good” school district and subjecting your kids to the follies of Common Core and No Child Left Behind standardized testing.
The deal is that if they do not have any interest in STEM, it means jobs for us boomer folks.
Lots of software and mathematic equation implementations for us to do.
If you snooze, you lose. The young people I see in STEM these days are mostly foreign born. And they are the very same ones who do not drive flashy cars. They save. They have more stable careers. While others get lapses of a year here, two years there, which translates into nothing added to the 401k and IRA.
I saw a neat article about a 95 year old who is a champion runner. He is fitter than many men 30 years younger than him. His reason for his longevity? Keep working - never retire, number 2 eat right and number 3 exercise, that order.
You should keep working. At his age he should be an entrepreneur, the head of his company, and be able to work within a mile from where he lives - or just down the hall, whatever. Imagine if he instead retired 39 years ago. That was the year that the new Vanguard 500 Index fund started. And he’d lose out on all the gains. But yeah he would be retired at 56.
Are you becoming hysterical over the prospect of a future Fed rate hike?
Mark Hulbert Get email alerts
Opinion: How to profit from Fed hysteria
Published: Mar 18, 2015 6:00 a.m. ET
Timing of Fed’s rate hike should have little impact on stocks
NBC
Investors worried about the timing of the Fed’s rate-hike decision should recall Mr. Spock’s infamous line “a difference that makes no difference is not a difference”
By Mark Hulbert
Columnist
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — It makes no significant difference to stocks’ value when over the next year the Federal Reserve decides to increase interest rates.
That means short-term traders can make money from Wall Street’s obsession with the timing of the Fed’s move. For example, equities are likely to quickly rebound if the market plunges in the wake of the Fed accelerating the timeline for raising rates.
Conversely, stocks are likely to get well ahead of themselves if they rally in the wake of the Fed postponing the day of reckoning even more than they have already.
To be sure, these contrarian forecasts are not the conventional wisdom on Wall Street, where reactions are bordering on the hysterical. Some even are now referring to the Fed’s possible decisions in apocalyptic terms — for example, predicting that “all hell will break loose” if the Fed were to drop the word “patience” from its upcoming policy statement.
But it is irrational to believe that equities become significantly more or less valuable simply because the Fed raises rates in June rather than September, or — heaven forbid — late this year or in early 2016. So long as you accept that the Fed will raise rates at some point in the next year or so, which is the market’s implied forecast, the timing of that increase is hardly worthy of our attention.
This is true, furthermore, whether you base your calculation of a stock’s fair value on future earnings, dividends, cash flow, or any other accounting entry. Their net present value is essentially the same regardless of when over the next year or so it is that the Fed raises rates.
Don’t just take my word for it. John Graham, a Duke University finance professor, told me in an interview earlier this week that he is “hard pressed to come up with any rational valuation model for equities in which a difference in three or six months in the timing of an interest-rate increase has a material impact on the fair value of common stocks.”
Or, as Star Trek’s Mr. Spock was fond of saying: “A difference that makes no difference is no difference.”
…
As many people have said, the stock market has nothing to do with the real value of companies anymore; it’s just a bunch of gamblers trying to game the Fed casino. And the Fed is on the side of the gamblers.
Ahhhh…..Patience grasshopper.
Market Snapshot
U.S. stocks: Futures lower as Fed jitters intensify
Published: Mar 18, 2015 7:46 a.m. ET
Crude prices sharply lower after unwelcome supply surprise
Bloomberg
It is all happening at the Fed for markets Wednesday.
By Barbara Kollmeyer
Markets reporter
Al Lewis
Columnist
MADRID (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures began pushing south on Wednesday hours ahead of a statement from the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee, as investors grew nervous about whether the central bank will strike the right balance in setting the tone for its first rate hike in nearly a decade.
From flat throughout Europe’s morning, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YMM5, -0.46%) fell 93 points to 17,684, while those for the S&P 500 index (ESM5, -0.35%), dropped about 10 points to 2,057. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 (NQM5, -0.31%) backed off 16 points to 4,355.7
Investors will find out if the Fed has taken a further step toward raising interest rates by taking out the word “patient” from its current policy statement. “The sole aim today will be to move to a more data-dependent stance without appearing to commit to a June rate hike,” said Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor, in a note.
The bulk of the news will come at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, when a six-paragraph policy statement is released, along with revamped economic forecasts and the “dot plot” path of interest rates from the 17 central bankers. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen will speak at a news conference at 2:30 p.m. More details on that here.
The week has already been a roller coaster for investors with Tuesday’s action ending in a 128.34-point loss for the Dow industrials (DJIA, -0.71%) as investors got a case of pre-Fed jitters. On Monday, the index snared a 228-point gain. The S&P 500 (SPX, -0.33%) finished around 0.3% lower on Tuesday.
The smart money and the Fed: Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG, said in a note that many feel that Yellen will get it “absolutely right.” And he said the smart money will be looking to react to the results rather than trying to get ahead of the central bank’s moves.
U.S. stocks fell Tuesday, as the Federal Reserve kicked off a policy meeting where the central bank is expected to signal that tighter monetary policy is on the horizon. Apple rose on news of the launch of a web TV service.
“The simple reasoning is that the move isn’t likely to be a mere flash in the pan and there will be plenty to digest from the meeting and news conference. As a result there will be ample time for traders to initiate positions once all the facts are on the table,” said Shamu in a note.
…
Oil is closing in on $40/bbl. How much farther does it have to fall before hitting the ground?
Oil price drop spells trouble for bonds: BIS
Matt Clinch | @mattclinch81
31 Mins Ago
CNBC.com
A toxic mix of high levels of debt in the oil sector and the sharp decline in the price of the commodity could have far-reaching effects on the global economy, economists at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) warn.
New research from the BIS, known as the central bank of central banks and one of the few organizations to foresee the global financial crisis of 2008, shows that the total debt of the oil and gas sector worldwide stands at roughly $2.5 trillion, two and a half times what it was at the end of 2006.
With oil prices around 60 percent lower than they were in mid-June 2014, the bank said that there had been a significant decline in the value of assets backing the debt in this sector. The authors of the report - BIS economists Dietrich Domanski, Jonathan Kearns, Marco Lombardi and Hyun Song Shin - have found that long-term investors might soon lose their appetite for this debt and compound a sell-off in the wider corporate bond markets.
“Being able to absorb losses in the short term, long-term investors in debt securities have often been considered a stabilizing influence on financial markets. However, recent experience suggests that even long-term investors have limited appetite for losses and may join in any selling spree,” the four economists said in the report released on Wednesday morning.
…
Surely Janet Yellen can find a way to reimburse these investors for their losses.
Oil heading to $20: Expert
Michael Newberg | @MikeNewberg
Wednesday, 11 Mar 2015 | 4:12 PM
ETCNBC.com
A strengthening dollar and economic weakness in Europe and China could drive crude prices as low as $20 per barrel, according to Raoul Pal of The Global Macro Investor newsletter.
The dollar has been climbing recently against the euro and the yen, pushing oil prices lower and sending fear across the markets. He said crude could still fall another 60 percent before the downturn is done.
Pal said the strengthening dollar is a big part of why oil could continue to drop. “If we look back historically at how these big dollar bull markets go, I think it’s going to go, using the (dollar index), at least to 125, maybe even further,” he said in an interview Tuesday on CNBC’s “Fast Money.”
Historically the price of oil moves inversely to the strength of the dollar.
According to Pal, that relationship, along with weak demand in Europe and China, has led oil companies to put crude into storage in hopes of waiting out the downturn in prices. Crude stores in America are filling “at an incredible rate” and could be full by summer, he said, which could lead to even more dire consequences.
“Any oil that is then brought out of the ground will either have to be sold into the normal market, which will be at much cheaper prices, or they’re going to have to shut down production,” he said. “I think that shutdown of production is something that people haven’t really thought through yet.”
…
“Crude stores in America are filling “at an incredible rate” and could be full by summer, he said, which could lead to even more dire consequences.”
Dire consequences = cheaper gas. Bring on the dire.
Oil Markets
U.S. Oil Prices at Six-Year Low on Storage Concerns
Stored supplies of U.S. crude at highest level in about 80 years
By Nicole Friedman
Updated March 17, 2015 5:27 p.m. ET
U.S. oil prices slid to a fresh six-year low Tuesday on expectations that domestic crude stockpiles have risen to a record high.
Light, sweet oil for April delivery settled down 42 cents, or 1%, at $43.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since March 11, 2009.
Stored supplies of crude oil in the U.S. are at the highest level in about 80 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and production continues to grow. Demand is typically restrained at this time of year as refiners process less crude while performing seasonal maintenance.
The EIA is set to release inventory data for the week ended March 13 on Wednesday, and traders expect it to show another gain in crude stockpiles.
Concerns are mounting that oil inventories could reach maximum storage capacity in some locations, which could push down crude prices by limiting the places that producers could sell their crude.
“We take very seriously the concern that’s being expressed about crude-oil containment issues,” said Alan Levine, chief executive of energy brokerage Powerhouse. “We’re anticipating that prices will test down below $40.”
Prices pared some losses throughout the day. Analysts said this was because of traders closing positions ahead of the April options-contract expiration Tuesday and taking profits after prices hit new lows Monday.
Though concerns remain that crude-oil storage will hit full capacity in some regions, “the threat of a capacity issue is not in the next day or two; it’s probably more in the next month or so,” said Gene McGillian, senior analyst at Tradition Energy. After falling so far in the past few sessions, “we probably need another signal that the problems are still there and they’re getting worse to really continue to move lower.”
Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect the EIA to report that crude supplies rose by 4.1 million barrels last week. They also expect gasoline supplies to fall by 900,000 barrels and stocks of distillates, including heating oil and diesel fuel, to fall by 500,000 barrels.
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said late Tuesday that its own data for the same week showed that crude stockpiles rose by 10.5 million barrels, while gasoline supplies fell by 583,000 barrels and distillate inventories fell by 252,000 barrels, according to market participants. Prices fell in electronic trading on the news.
Traders are also waiting on the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which concludes Wednesday. If the Federal Reserve’s policy-making arm indicates U.S. interest rates could rise around midyear, that would likely strengthen the dollar. Oil is traded in dollars, so a stronger dollar makes oil less affordable to buyers using foreign currencies.
Brent, the global benchmark, settled down 43 cents, or 0.8%, at $53.51 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
…
Saudis Claim Conspiracy Theorists, Not OPEC, To Blame For Oil Price Crash
By Nick Cunningham
Posted on Tue, 17 March 2015 23:40
A top Saudi official said on March 15 that Thomas Friedman and other conspiracy theorists are to blame for the crash in oil prices.
Rather than an oversupply and weak demand causing an imbalance in global oil markets, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna, the advisor to Saudi Arabia’s Petroleum Minister, said that excessive speculation drove the oil bust.
“The recent price fall was due largely to expectation and perception about future supply and demand… and the ever-present – and incorrect – belief in conspiracy theories,” Al-Muhanna said at the Institute of International Finance Spring Membership Meeting on March 15.
Al-Muhanna admitted that supplies were building over the course of 2014, but said that demand “remained strong” and that the price fall was unjustified given market fundamentals. After prices started to fall, the media and market analysts drove the narrative to unfounded levels.
In fact, Al-Muhanna said, in October 2014 when Saudi Arabia adjusted its price for oil heading for Asia – a conventional practice that occurs every month – western media began talking up Saudi Arabia’s “price war,” and he even singled out New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. “Then an article by Thomas Friedman suggested Saudi Arabia’s policy – in coordination with the Obama administration – was aimed at hurting Russia by lowering the oil price. This idea was a rehash of assumptions that first reasoned the oil fall of the 1980s. All complete fantasy.”
Rather than a plot between the Saudi and U.S. governments, Saudi Arabia merely made a rational business decision. He said that officials from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela met with Mexico and Russia, which are not members of the oil cartel. They discussed the possibility of coordinating production cuts to keep prices from falling further. After Russia and Mexico balked at cutting their output levels, OPEC decided it could not move forward unilaterally with production cuts, presumably over fear of losing out on market share. As he tells it, OPEC had no other choice.
Al-Muhanna said the media’s portrayal of OPEC’s decision to leave its production quota unchanged was spun out of control. “The conspiracy theory shifted completely. From being against Russia and/or Iran, to being all about hurting US shale oil production. And others said OPEC was dead! It was like staring into a mirage. It was all nonsense but it does have an impact on the direction of the oil price.”
The Saudi advisor even said that oil prices stabilized in January and February because “conspiracy theories lost their allure.”
Thomas Friedman aside, Al-Muhanna has a point when it comes to irrational movements in the oil price. He cited the “herd mentality” that takes hold during price swings. Just as U.S. rig counts began to decline precipitously in December and January, the markets turned bullish and piled into crude oil on the belief that U.S. shale production was facing impending decline. Now that fears are taking hold within the industry that storage capacity is running short, investors are pulling out of crude, sparking a renewed fall in prices. Net-long positions in oil dropped by 2.5 percent for the week ending on March 10, the lowest level in more than two years.
…
Now I know where a certain conspiracy theorist on this site gets his conspiracy theories. It seems only right that they should come from a dumbass like Thomas Friedman.
You mispelled dumbazz.
No, I never saw his editorial. But he is an expert on the former Soviet Union and saw what Reagan did to it with oil. I saw it too and knew the same play was being used by the U.S. However, Obama was not smart enough to know that unlike in the 1980s when we had plenty of cheap oil in conventional oil fields that deplete slowly we now have oil field with a steep decline curve. December 2015 oil was up almost $2 a barrel today.
The shame about the collapse of oil prices is that it ever was in a bubble in the first place.
Well if Saudi Arabia is looking to hire fracking experts that tells me that their cheap oil is running out or they are buying up us shale oil assets at these deflated prices or both.
All countries and oil producing companies have an incentive to lie about their oil assets. Who polices foreign countrieswhen they tell us how much oil is in the ground? No one. Who polices US oil producers and how effective are they?
Again the only fly in the ointment is efficiency and alternative energy are starting to take a bite out of demand, and China is likely in a lot worse shape.
Still if things get bad enough and their is social unrest countries will start creating jobs or creating war.
All countries and oil producing companies have an incentive to lie about their oil assets.
Yep. Only truth tellers are the alternative energy people.
Regardless of their oil reserves, if natural gas is available, it can be better to use that for certain feedstocks, and to fire furnaces, than the oil. They may be interested in fracking for gas so as to be more competitive with Gulf Coast chemical plants.
butters
Do you not agree that a companies stock price is somewhat dependent on reported oil in the ground?
Do you disagree with the fact that a lot of assumptions are made when determining this?
Do you disagree with the fact that CEO salaries are tied to the stock price going up and thus they have an incentive to maximize any report of how much oil they have in the ground.?
Do you disagree that these economic incentives might influence the overall picture of how much oil recoverable?
Do you disagree that this might adversely affect investments in oil and energy policy.
An alternative energy producer can lie but his lie will be found out quickly. You can lie about how much oil you have in the ground for decades. Your reflex to attack is telling.
PS. I’m investing in oil due to all of the above, and I’m driving a electric car that has saved me 3k in gas over the last two years and will save me 15-30k over the lifetime of the car depending on the price of gas.
As long as the car didn’t cost 15K-30K more than a gas engine car…
And they’d love to force you to pay for an electric.
As long as your battery back lasts that long . . . pure EV batteries don’t necessarily last as long as they do in a hybrid due to the number and depth of discharge cycles. Time will tell . . .
shaaaaaaaaaam
Check out the 10-year view on this price chart (Select Timeframe = 10 Years). The oil price is on the cusp of a more-than-10-year low, with no bottom in sight.
looks like a great time to start buying an energy sector mutual fund while it’s down. 10 year low.
Vanguard energy sectors:
VDE has only a 0.12 expense ratio. The Vanguard fund versions, VGENX and VGELX are 0.38 and 0.32
I bought some in December, now underwater relative to purchase price.
I did that 3 months ago. Might chip in a bit more if this goes on.
I filled my gas tank three times this week. I guess you can call that dollar cost averaging.
When the Blue Skye hits the water in a month I’ll have a floating tanker!
Averaging down/throwing good money after bad. Way to go Donk.
Debtors are more likely to make risky speculative bets. It’s part of the illness.
It is rather unkind of the likes of her and Dan and Selfish to try to make my life more expensive so they can get some unearned monies. A pox on them.
Given the chart seems this dip is off long term trend
You are watching the wrong bench mark for oil that is why you keep getting the price at the pump wrong. Brent is what matters and it is well above $50 and well above its low about a month ago.
A temporary distortion, which will soon disappear.
What’s the correlation…something like 99%?
What’s the correlation…something like 99%?
Over years it would be over 90%, over months they diverge all the time, and in the last few years WTI has traded at a discount to Brent but for decades WTI trader higher than Brent until shale oil created a local glut. It should trade higher since it is a better grade.
“It should trade higher…”
Not understanding why that is not true may be the key to a spectacular asspounding.
It’s a long way from here to $80:
Crude Oil WTI December 2015 (CLZ15)
52.41-0.36 (-0.68%) 6:54A CDT (NYMEX)
We were a long way from $45 a barrel oil last Summer, it works both ways. April U.S. production flattens and in May it falls off the cliff.
Denial will not stop the oil price crash underway.
Im pulling some equity to go long oil. BTFD dude!
It’s a long way down for prices yet.
Saddle up cowboy because you’re in for the ride of your life.
Update: Crude Craters Through $43 Floor; Sits At $42
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/crude%20oil%20-%20electronic
Remember, nothing creates wealth and accelerates the economy like falling oil and falling housing prices. Nothing.
Woodinville, WA Sale Prices Plunge 7% YoY; Sink 4% MoM As Foreclosures Rise
http://www.zillow.com/woodinville-wa/home-values/
A .4% month to month decline in housing in China:
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2015-03/18/content_19846999_2.htm
More info:
Crash Landing: China Home Prices Plunge At Fastest Pace On Record, Surpass Post-Lehman Collapse
ZeroHedge - 03/18/2015 - 08:59
Less than three weeks ago, when the PBOC proceeded with its latest “surprise” rate cut, we showed a chart that should scare everyone who is hoping that China will avoid a hard-landing would prefer would never have been revealed: the annual collapse in Chinese home prices is now so sharp and so widespread, that it has surpassed the housing collapse in the aftermath of the Lehman collapse.”
Overnight things went from bad to worse, when China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that contrary to hopes for a modest rebound, China’s average new home prices fell at the fastest pace on record in February from a year earlier.
I will be busy the rest of the day, but the production well reports coming out of the Bakken are no longer showing the 3,000+ barrels of day gushers, now you see wells with an initial production rate of just over 300 barrels. Everything is right on time, the MSM is in a frenzy trying to drive down prices so its friends at GS can cover their shorts before they lose their pants.
Better hold on to your own long-johns.
CraterRage® Photo Of The Day
http://goo.gl/zlf0NQ
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20150318_073623_807-RM5BKrE1.jpg
According to oxide, your posts are sarcastic and fueled by pot. This one maybe.
Potsy is always cooking up something good.
All hail the Heisenberg and Los Pollos Hermanos!
#BreakingBad
It’s getting underway everywhere. All very good economic news.
“Record Fall In Property Prices Brings More Bad News For China’s Slumping Real Estate Market”
http://www.ibtimes.com/record-fall-property-prices-brings-more-bad-news-chinas-slumping-real-estate-market-1850704
Bibi and Likud won the election
Now little Tommy Cotton can have his war with Iran
And to the paid posters talking about Soros and calling people who don’t want a war in Iran commies (and who lobby for Big Tobacco on the side), you are a JOKE
And now back to your regularly scheduled Drudge Report links
P.S. Being an intern at the Weekly Standard (which the IP logs confirm as your location) may sound glamorous, but you’re just a $12 an hour internet troll, mom and dad must be so proud of you
I thought frequent pot smokers got over the whole paranoia thing.
Sorry homie, my allegiance lies with freedom of choice…all choice, not just what’s pc at the time.
Ridiculing communists is just a hobby.
#SorosEmergencyDispatchTeam
Top headline on Fox:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/03/18/netanyahu-party-garners-most-votes-in-israeli-election-as-scramble-for-power/
Rallying the base
Take that Obama!!!
Bibi for us president. He’s a winner and a dual citizenship holder, right?
Bibi for us president. He’s a winner and a dual citizenship holder, right?
He can never be US President. It’s in the Constitution.
That old thing?
A bit of massaging using Adobe Pro and Bibi’s birth certificate will be up to snuff!
It worked for our current president.
How you can end up with a multi-layer document (the most recent copy that the WH released) that was supposedly scanned from the original paper copy is beyond me.
#FundamentalTransformationofAmerica
Another epic fail by Obama. His people tried to get a government more likely to agree to the demands of Hamas and he only managed to drive Bibi and the government further toward the hardliners on the issue. All that money and time spent by Obama’s allies. I guess in Israel your supporters are not allowed to vote five times, perhaps they do not have early voting which is conducive to fraud or maybe they make them show IDs. Voter suppression!!!!
Another epic fail by Obama.
I don’t think so. I think it will go down as an epic fail by BiBi who managed to cause the first major partisan rift in USA’s support for Israel in over 60 years.
Well done. And I’ve been a staunch Israel supporter my entire adult life.
And I’ve been a staunch Israel supporter my entire adult life
Were you a staunch supporter of Israel when the bombed the Liberty or when they tried to stop Reagan selling them weapons to protect itself from Iran? You should not have been. I guess that is the difference between us, I change opinions with the facts. Bibi is serving his country well, unlike with the old PLO, there is no negotiating with these Islamic fanatics. Obama is just a fool, even Tunisia is falling apart, the Arab Spring is the exact disaster I predicted and I notice that the Obama administration is no longer claiming “credit” for it and neither is Silly Valley.
I guess that is the difference between us, I change opinions with the facts.
That is the difference. My facts are facts, you’re facts are lawyerly twisted. Like Warren Buffet “not wanting capital gains taxes raised”. You spout jive hoping no one will notice.
Buffett is smart enough to respond to critics so he threw out a bone by a few comments on capital gains while have ten time as many for taxing earned income. I never heard him say it even though I had heard him calling for much higher taxes for people making more tha $250,000 which is chump change to him. It is all academic since he keeps his real income low and is a buy and hold guy so he has very little capital gains he has to pay taxes on. The tax he most would like to avoid is a wealth tax, have you ever heard him call for that, strange since he claims he is for tax fairness for the little guy.
Buffett is smart enough to respond to critics so he threw out a bone …..
But you’re not smart enough to be convincing that you’re doing anything else other than clouding issues with your “hide-the-pea lawyer jive.
I think Bibi got campaign tips from Boehner when Bibi was here.
Bibi: “the Left are busing in Arabs to vote.”
Breitbart: “Racist La Raza Instructs Illegal Aliens to Vote in States with No Voter ID”
Play the Brown Men Are Invading Fear Card. Works every time.
What the “right” Zionist defeated the “left” Zionist? Only in America (and Isreal) we call that a choice.
The joke of the day: A one-percenter who “understands” the little guy.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-elizabeth-warren-threat-america-081500448.html
Read this and then ponder a bit about what George Carlin said about it being a private club and you not being a member.
remember this?
mcdonald’s job applications dumped on on ‘occupy’ protesters by chicago board of trade
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/occupy-chicago-mcdonalds-applications_n_1077133.html
My favorite line (from your link):
“You Can’t Go Home Again — No, Seriously, You Can’t, I Just Foreclosed It.”
Al Gore is worth more than Mitt Romney. They are all the power elite dictating the rules to the rest of the ants.
Liz Warren certainly didn’t grow up as a one-percenter.
And even those who grow up as one-percenters understood the little guy. FDR and RFK come to mind.
lol
Growing up as a 1%, you can never understand “the little guy”. They think they do, because their lives revolve around money, and so they think that somehow getting more money to those little guys is what those little guys want.
Certainly there are some little guys that want that.
With that world view (that the little guys just need more money), how in the world do you think Republicans win frequently in poorer states?
There is a large contingent of “little guys” who just want the government to get the F out of their lives and leave them alone.
Neither my wife, nor I, grew up in a 1% household. My parents are staunchly Republican, my Inlaws are the opposite. Funny enough, the one thing that both probably would agree upon is simpler government. My parents would like a much smaller government, but still with safety nets for those who need them. My inlaws want to keep the government large, because they frequently misinterpret desire for smaller government as being the same as a desire with one without any safety nets.
crrrrrrrrrime
Liz neo-communist Warren has done nothing to force the banks or any one else handling your private info to protect it from hackers. I.E. the latest hack of Social Security numbers and personal info of Anthem Blue Cross of which I am one of the 80 million victims. I’m glad I can put a credit freeze on my accounts since I could give a rats ass f**k about taking out credit in the near future.
Why “Progressives” Favor the State Over Society
Crisis Magazine | March 18, 2015 | JOHN M. GRONDELSKI
Progressives generally perceive themselves as “socially conscious,” supposedly concerned with the “good of society” and the “commonweal.” The truth is: progressives really do not believe in society. They believe in the State.
Thanks to the prevalence in some circles of the idea that traditional moral norms, which came to be dominant in Western civilization through its Judaeo-Christian roots, are thus irredeemably tainted, guilty by association with religion and thus debarred from any influence on a society in which church and state are separate, there can be no objective set of values against which the individual’s moral wants can be evaluated, much less denied. By driving common moral values off the social playing field, the individual’s wants can be weighed against … nothing.
Enter the State. A religiously neutral state is regarded—at least by progressives—as a state that is axiologically agnostic: the state can have no moral values of its own. The state exists simply to facilitate the moral will of the individual.
The problem for the progressive is that society is irrelevant.
On the one hand, progressives pretend that institutions have no moral values, no consciences. This attitude was prominent, especially in the summer of 2014 when, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision, proponents of forcing employers to buy abortifacients for their employees, conscientious objections notwithstanding, simply denied institutions can have consciences. They ridiculed the idea that a company can have—much less act—on a moral position. “Corporations don’t have consciences.”
With the possibility in its current term of the U.S. Supreme Court inventing a “right” to ersatz marriage, these problems will grow more acute. As critics of the effort to promote homosexual “marriage” have pointed out, this is not a matter of “live and let live.” It is a matter of ensconcing one view of “marriage” in law and culture and driving all others—along with their proponents—out, at least off the public square. Nor is the issue confined to homosexual “marriage.” On March 6, 2015, the Ontario College of Physicians promulgated a new “Professional Obligations and Human Rights Policy” that essentially turns what the Hippocratic physician would have disavowed into an “obligation” while undermining the doctor’s human rights: there is a very real possibility that doctors who will not abort their young patients or kill their old ones can be driven out of the profession. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has been pushing for that for years, attempting to require conscientious objectors to refer patients to willing abortionists and to require every medical school—including those with religious objections—to teach how to perform abortions.
Old news actually.
I would loove to see articles why the so called conservatives prefer mindless wars in expense of the society they claim to protect?
To be fair, 2brony sometimes gets a bit alarmist about the Islamic “threat” but he is never as obnoxious as the paid neocon troll who wants to launch World War III
WWIII will launch itself if it happens. Fluffing psychopathic islamists who truly believe in the battle of Armageddon will not stave it off, killing them will.
I agree with most beauty pageant contestants, I want world peace, and I also want to keep my head attached to my body.
#PeaceThroughStrength
$600,000,000,000 a year, borrowed from communist China, in case you forgot
Communist China
Communism
BOO!
I guess we can overlook the 70,000,000 dead Chinese…I mean that glorious revolution was so long ago.
As far as the debt goes, the war on poverty and freebies for south of the border insta-comms counts for a big chunk.
I would rather see high speed rail, infrastructure improvements or a nice shiny Ohio Class Sub…at least we get something for our money.
#FreedomIsNotFree
#CommunismKills
That is easy. The country club 1percenters R and D alike make money off of them.
The poorer Republicans believe there is a threat that justifies the war.
The poorer Republicans believe there is a threat that justifies war crimes, immorality and Republican Sociopathism.
The real “small government” solution is to abolish heterosexual marriage
If you want to have a church ceremony that’s fine, but get the government out of the bedroom altogether
Marriage and the family is the foundation of society. More and better families and marriages means way less government. In the lower classes government dependence has exploded in order fill the role of the intact family. Free breakfast is but one example.
Man, too much dope, too early.
Man, too much dope, too early.
(Lazy-Boy warrior Shillow’s newest version of scoring a debate point)
It’s just another way to live in your empty skull rent-free Lola.
It’s just another way to live in your empty skull rent-free Lola.
We all know who’s the champion of living in people’s head rent free HA. But I think I get the least sq footage share out of yours.
And just how many hours sleep has Shillow taken from you Lola?
And just how many hours sleep has Shillow taken from you Lola?
I actually thought maybe one.
But it turned out I had the runs.
Take your heels off before you backpedal Lola.
Saw this linked from Google News:
http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight/what-happened-middle-class-american-family-n317416
I agree with that. I would also agree with a constitutional amendment legalizing abortion for all time. Perversely, I don’t think the second would happen unless Roe v. Wade was overturned by the courts.
Here’s the (major) downside.
If you free up government bandwidth by stopping all the wasted debate over marriage and abortion, the politicians will be free to cause all sorts of other problems.
In many ways I like them being distracted.
You can try to make it sound as philosophical as you want, but it basically comes down to a bunch of religious fundamentalists who want to tell everybody else how to live their lives.
The opposite holds true as well….there are no winners in this argument - next topic.
+1
“it basically comes down to a bunch of religious fundamentalists who want to tell everybody else how to live their lives.”
I assume you mean the Islamo-Fascists.
#ReligionOfViolence
What I’d like to see is why conservatives favor unregulated monopoly/oligopoly price fixing over say a government that regulates these industries.
Net neutrality is a perfect example. They believe that a few large corporations operating behind closed doors with the power to strangle and crush content providers and raise rates for internet access an essential part of the economy is better than having a few laws that prevent this type of activity.
“What I’d like to see is why conservatives favor unregulated monopoly/oligopoly price fixing over say a government that regulates these industries.”
You know what the wonderful thing is about monopoly profits?
It attracts people and companies who want to grab some of those profits. With more limited profits and higher regulation, it is far less likely to promote competition–and the monopoly/oligopoly is likely to be a permanent problem.
Apple is announcing a TV service.
Google is rolling out Google Fiber.
I’d like to understand why progressives don’t see the obvious problem of higher regulatory burdens making it harder for new players to enter the market and break up the monopolies/oligopolies.
Dodd Frank is a perfect example. The increased regulation has caused the number of local and regional banks to shrink considerably, and the large banks are bigger than ever.
Apple TV will run over the internet so I think you missed the memo, with out net neutrality Verizon could squeeze them and prevent you from using them same with Netflix.
Google has a massive war chest, and I hope they expand their network. They realized that if net neutrality were not the rule they would not control their own destiny so they went to work. Not many companies are able to do that. Even with their MASSIVE war chest they are only running in a few markets.
So let’s say Google is successful, what’s to keep them from joining the other one or two providers in their market from squeezing competition. Does Amazon now need to build lines as well? Is this going to lower cost and improve the internet experience for the masses. You have to have one line for goodgle and it’s friends and one for Amazone and one for Apple? The internet is best run like the highway system as a utility.
“Apple TV will run over the internet so I think you missed the memo, with out net neutrality Verizon could squeeze them and prevent you from using them same with Netflix.”
And so you leave Verizon for someone who doesn’t screw with Apple.
Unless of course Apple pays up like Netflix, thus increasing monopoly profits to the current providers, and the lure of competition.
Google is working on more than just higher speeds at low cost, they are apparently really working on the customer service side of things–better experience overall, higher speeds, lower cost.
I spoke with a guy who is at Google and knows the Fiber side of the business intimately. You know why they haven’t expanded quickly and are only operating in “a few markets”?
Cities were effectively looking for kickbacks in order to let Google install their network. You want to spend huge money improving our infrastructure and giving our residents cheap broadband? You need to first build us a library.
Government at work.
So, Google turned it around, and now require cities to apply to get Google Fiber. They figured it would be harder for the governments to ask for money if the cities asked for the fiber in the first place.
Phase I was 3 cities (Kansas City, Austin, Provo).
Phase II will be 9 cities (San Jose, Portland, Phoenix, Salt Lake, San Antonio, Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham).
Phase III will be much bigger apparently.
Now that Google has moved into Kansas City, guess who is offering gigabit speeds there at the same price as Google? You guessed it…AT&T.
What’s to stop Google from joining the other providers in the market and squeezing further competition?
The Sherman Act.
I guess they could keep lowering and lowering their prices, and making their service better and better, thus making new competitors less likely to enter the market.
And yes, once they grabbed more and more market share, they could charge Netflix for “priority”, but really, if you are promising your customers gigabit speeds, will Netflix be willing to pay much of anything to have their videos served up with a 1 millisecond delay instead of a 2 millisecond delay?
And if Google makes the delay even more, on purpose, guess what? Customers get pissed, and jump to AT&T. Ain’t competition a wonderful thing?
Let’s go another direction.
Let’s say that the government regulates the pipes. They go so far as to limits the profit of those who have the current monopoly. Question…does Google spend the money to try to get a piece of the smaller pie? Maybe. But you can’t say it’s just as likely…it’s less likely.
You asked for an argument against regulation. That’s the best one. Regulation that also lowers monopoly profits both makes it more difficult for more competitors to enter the space (they need to overcome the regulation), AND makes it less likely since the profits are limited artificially.
So we end up with stable monopolies with strong (but not 100% monopolistic) profits, and terrible customer experiences. Awesome.
And so you leave Verizon for the one other competitor ie oligopoly. If they both do it and use it to favor their content over apples then apple either pays them and charges u or cuts service. Small players just go bk and Verizon copies their business model.
U also forget Verizon has many in long term contracts many have only one high speed internet
Why “Progressives” Favor the State Over Society…..Thanks to the prevalence in some circles of the idea that…..
“in some circles”? Someone else might as well write:
Why “Conservatives” Favor the State Over Society…..Thanks to the prevalence in some circles of the idea that……..
Crushing.Housing.Losses.
Now where be mah DebtDonkey today?
Math be hard.
The Big, Fat “American Worker Recruitment First” Lie of H-1B
Townhall.com | March 18, 2015 | Michelle Malkin
The H-1B foreign guest worker program, they claim, requires American employers to first show that they searched for and tried to recruit American workers before tapping an ever-growing government-rigged pipeline of cheap foreign workers.
Miano’s testimony was particularly important because he explained how the little known “OPT” (Optical Training Program) for foreign students is being used to circumvent H-1B and supply large corporations with cheap foreign labor. President Obama has expanded this regulatory program by unfettered administrative fiat. As Miano noted: “OPT has no labor protections of any kind. Aliens on OPT do not even have to be paid at all. While DHS requires aliens to work in an area related to their major area of study, DHS has no ability to ensure that this happens. Under OPT, over 125,000 foreign workers a year are simply turned loose in America with no supervision or restrictions.”
Also on hand at the hearing: a few Big Tech shills toeing the Zuckerberg/Gates/Chamber of Commerce line that there’s a catastrophic American tech worker shortage, even as thousands upon thousands of American workers are being laid off in favor of underpaid, easily exploited H-1Bs. (Just use H-1B-promoter Google’s search engine and type in “Southern California Edison” and “layoffs.”)
Grassley put it plainly: “Most people believe that employers are supposed to recruit Americans before they petition for an H-1B worker. Yet, under the law, most employers are not required to prove to the Department of Labor that they tried to find an American to fill the job first.”
Hira affirmed: “It’s absolutely not true” that employers seeking H-1Bs must put American workers first, either by “law or regulations.”
They will increase the h1b quota again. Who’s going to bet against me?
It’s a dog and pony show…nothing more. Lynch will also be confirmed as AG soon.
American engineer or whatever will not be afraid to tell their manager they are wrong. H1-B won’t they just work.
Tech Managers are mostly foreign and expect workers to do as they are told even if its just busy work.
IT not so much yet but chip design oh yea.
High level Americans in Tech? They seem to be in Finance and law.
A few years under a bone head manager working 60 plus hours a week and they go get a MBA. Or maybe go to a start-up like I did.
Or maybe go to a start-up like I did.”
Which was founded by Foreign born engineers and venture capitalists so I can’t complain.
A few years under a bone head manager working 60 plus hours a week and they go get a MBA.
Which is mostly just a cargo cult move unless you actually have connections outside of the engineering department.
Housing bust to follow in these areas???
—————–
100,000 Layoffs and Counting: Is This the New Normal?
Real Clear Energy | March 17, 2015 | Andrew Topf
One of the worst-affected areas is the Canadian oil sands, where a higher per-barrel cost of production than conventional sources has oil companies scrambling to cut capital expenditures and in several cases, put long-term projects on ice.
On Thursday one of the region’s big players, Husky Energy, announced that about 1,000 construction workers employed by a contractor at its Sunrise oilsands project, would be issued pink slips. The bad news for the workers came a day after Husky said that it had started to produce from the $3.2 billion, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) Sunrise operation, which it co-owns with BP.
The layoffs by Husky followed Suncor’s decision in January to cut 1,000 employees and Royal Dutch’s Shell’s announcement that it will shed close to 10 percent of the workforce at its Albian sands project – around 300 workers.
The Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, which closely tracks drilling activity, said in February that up to 23,000 jobs could be lost as the number of rigs fall. Since the price started dropping last September, about 13,000 positions in the Alberta natural resources sector, mostly oil and gas, have been eliminated, according to Statistics Canada.
The bloodletting among the oil majors and their vast web of ancillary services has of course extended to the United States – which appears to be taking far more casualties than Saudi Arabia in the battle for marketshare. In January oilfield services giant Baker Hughes said it will lay off 7,000 employees, about 11 percent of its workforce; that number was rivalled only by its competitor, Schlumberger, which let go 9,000 workers. Shell, Apache, Pemex and Halliburton are among major oil companies to issue recent pink slips to the growing army of unemployed oil workers. In the U.S., the worst pain is, not shockingly, expected to be felt in Houston. Assuming a one-third reduction in oil company capital expenditures this year and 5 percent in 2016, the hydrocarbon capital of the world could lose 75,000 jobs, in a city that has added 100,000 new positions every year since 2011, said a professor at the University of Houston.
The oil jobs nightmare is in fact spreading like a cancer. According to Swift Worldwide Resources, “the number of energy jobs cut globally has climbed well above 100,000 as once-bustling oil hubs in Scotland, Australia and Brazil, among other countries, empty out,” Bloomberg reported recently. Examples include foreign-trained engineers whose promise of employment at LNG plants in Australia have evaporated as projects get delayed; development projects halted in Brazil resulting in the closure of international schools and the relocation of workers; and 8,000 Mexican workers left without paycheques after Petroleos Mexicanos slashed contracts and purchases, Bloomberg said.
“Housing bust to follow in these areas???”
And the debt, what happens to the associated debt?
(Poof.)
The damage is not limited to the oil fields or the oil towns, the damage also extends to wherever the debt lies.
Think pension funds, mutual funds, etc.
cant amerikins who bought a house in canada just walk away? would a canandian foreclosure hurt an amerikins credit? interesting times
Here’s some “small government” and “lower taxes” news from Region VIII
“The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday revised its estimate of how much it expects a new hospital in Aurora will cost — and the updated figure is a doozy: $1.73 billion, more than five times its initial $328 million price tag.”
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_27730588/cost-aurora-veterans-hospital-leaps-1-73-billion
You gotta learn how these things work on quasi-public money contracts. The estimate is always right. The inflated cost is the result of all the blood sucking leeches imposing their fees for doing nothing. And that’s the truth.
An accurate parallel is a closing on a SFR. All the leeches show up.
Your government system at work.
70 percent of government is a jobs program.
Wait until we have self driving semis, taxis, airplanes, distribution warehouses, automation replaces the factory worker and banking moves completely on line.
Just for kicks shallow what is it that you do.
’self driving semis’
I was traveling the past few days and thought about this. IIRC, there is already a parallel highway to a part of I-35 dedicated to semi’s. It’s possible that these trucks could string together like trains, and detach as each reached its destination, which would cut down on fuel usage. They could drive day and night. There was a time when elevators had an operator in them.
Maybe. But this notion that materials transportation is going to be energized by anything but heavy fuels is laughable. There are efficiencies to be squeezed out like what you’re talking about but there are no “alternatives” to heavy fuel right now. Maybe someday but not now.
It’s like solar panels and a bank of batteries on a rocket. Your payload will never move.
I don’t know how the energy will be supplied, but cutting 80-90% of truck drivers would save a lot of money. And not having the trucks sit idle while they eat or sleep would do the same.
Big time.
And think about this. Right now I’m working on procurement of 5000CY of AASHTO #57. Materials are $12 per and transportation is… drumroll….. almost $14 per and I shopped the transport.
Driverless transport and some new energy storage technology makes that price impediment go away. The energy substitute is a mystery to me. Much like the cell phones and lasers where sci-fi back in the 70’s. You know it’s coming but what is it?
The savings would more than make up for dedicated shipping highways. Then the safety of highways for the rest of travelers goes way up. The cost of repairs to existing highways goes down. We could get a good start just eliminating a certain jet fighter that doesn’t work anyway.
Oh yea. The one developed for vertical take off and landing on carriers that they can’t land on carriers because the vectored thrust blasts a hole through the deck. Yup. That one. That was some priceless engineering there.
http://www.popsci.com/article/cars/robot-truck-convoy-tested-nevada
People are working on it.
They already have driverless trucks.
They’re called trains.
We should use them for interstate shipments, just like back in the day. The lowest-cost-per-mile, the least CO2 output per ton per mile, and the least environmental footprint of any land-based transportation.
‘They already have driverless trucks. They’re called trains.’
Wow, I didn’t think of that, and I guess a multi-billion dollar industry didn’t either. Still, I couldn’t help but notice being surrounded by these semi’s for hours recently. Don’t they know there are trains?
lol
ISTR reading about how a major reason the US has thrived is because of it’s interstate highway system. Trucks allow the last mile distribution very efficiently…instead of laying tracks to every single end-point.
That was a profound conclusion Rental_Fraud. Thanks.
Replace realtors with a click
The point is there is going to be a lot of unemployment and downward pressure on workers regardless of the field you are in.
I would predict that a lot of unemployed conservatives might change their tune on gov jobs, except then I remember seeing signs about keep the gov hands off my medicare and talking to a to a lady who had not a dime lived on ss and medicare and whos daughter was on unemployment and medicaide who was bashing government.
The point is there is going to be a lot of unemployment and downward pressure on workers regardless of the field you are in.
We will not need as many jobs going forward imo. Hundreds of millions of jobs worldwide might be eliminated as was predicted 40 years ago with stories of the masses living the Jetson’s life of leisure. But that would involve some real form of Socialism - the masses owning the means of production or a more American concept of a Guaranteed minimum income.
In 1795, American revolutionary Thomas Paine advocated a Citizen’s Dividend to all US citizens as compensation for “loss of his or her natural inheritance, by the introduction of the system of landed property” (Agrarian Justice, 1795).
Guaranteed minimum income (GMI) (also called minimum income) is a system[1] of social welfare provision that guarantees that all citizens or families have an income sufficient to live on, provided they meet certain conditions. Eligibility is typically determined by citizenship, a means test, and either availability for the labour market or a willingness to perform community services. The primary goal of a guaranteed minimum income is to reduce poverty. If citizenship is the only requirement, the system turns into a universal basic income. wiki
But some have deluded themselves in believing that it’s a career choice while doing good for the greater society.
greece reached 30% gov employment
Associated Press
March 13, 2015 12:49 AM
Someone at the scene, unseen and unidentified in the video, says: “Acknowledgement nine months ago would have kept that from happening.”
In Washington, President Barack Obama took to Twitter to relay his prayers to the officers and to denounce violence against police. “Path to justice is one all of us must travel together,” Obama wrote, signing the tweet with his initials to indicate the president personally composed it.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the gunman was “a damn punk” who was “trying to sow discord in an area that was trying to get its act together, trying to bring together a community that had been fractured for too long.”
news.yahoo.com/st-louis-post-dispatch-2-officers-shot-ferguson-055552082.html - 545k -
——————————————————————————
It’s a shame Obama and Holder don’t just come out and say…
‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ was built on a lie
By Jonathan Capehart March 16
The DOJ report notes on page 44 that Johnson “made multiple statements to the media immediately following the incident that spawned the popular narrative that Wilson shot Brown execution-style as he held up his hands in surrender.” In one of those interviews, Johnson told MSNBC that Brown was shot in the back by Wilson. It was then that Johnson said Brown stopped, turned around with his hands up and said, “I don’t have a gun, stop shooting!” And, like that, “hands up, don’t shoot” became the mantra of a movement. But it was wrong, built on a lie.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/03/16/lesson-learned-from-the-shooting-of-michael-brown/ -
I posted that Washington Post article yesterday, let’s have a little quiz
A) Michael Brown attacked the cop
B) Eric Garner was murdered by NYPD
C) Al and Jesse need to get PAID
D) All of the above
“C” appears to be the only one that’s correct, so I’m gonna go with “C”
C is the correct answer to a different question:
A) Tawana Brawley was raped
B) Tawana Brawley was not raped
C) Al and Jesse need to get PAID
D
WIN
B) Eric Garner was murdered by NYPD
No, Garner was murdered by Bloomberg who put excessive taxes on the product and then expected the police to enforce the law. Had Bloomberg not created the black market there would have been no arrest and thus no death. Had Garner not resisted arrest there would not have been a death. The police are the least to blame for the death after Bloomberg and Garner. And there “excessive force” would be consider negligent homicide at most and not murder. However, the jury that heard all the testimony did not find excessive force. Case closed.
No, Garner was murdered by Bloomberg
No, Garner was murdered by the right-wing’s obsession with the police and prison state. Case now closed.
My only mistake was using there for their, now that is corrected, I stand by it. If the left does not want the police to enforce laws then it should stop creating laws.
If the left does not want the police to enforce laws then it should stop creating laws.
Enforcing and making laws is different that a police-state’s over-the-top brutality.
You resist arrest you will lose. If he was in Brazil the police would have shot him and anyone that protested the killing. Brazil, that is the real police state not the U.S.
If he was in Brazil the police would have shot him and anyone that protested the killing. Brazil, that is the real police state not the U.S.
A straw man and who cares? Brazil? Neither you nor I are Brazilian and we are talking about the degradation of American freedom. USA.
As if Brazilian police brutality justifies America’s right-wing goose-stepping towards a fascist police state.
I’ll bet you are a weak lawyer because your arguments lack logic.
It’s a shame Obama and Holder don’t just come out and say…
‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ was built on a lie
Ummm…could it be that they ARE the lie that is continuing to be perpetrated on us regular work a day folk?
‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ was built on a lie
It actually wasn’t built on a “lie”. It was built on American history and past and present reality. White America needs to face the facts and admit what is. We look like fools trying to deny it.
Why America’s Race Problem Won’t Go Away
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/article_102203.shtml
……“Race and racism are intrinsic to America. They are as American as apple pie,” Dr. Horne told The Final Call. “Any way she’s sliced, whether it’s a theoretical look at internal colonialism or structured functionalism, doesn’t matter,” Dr. Horne said.
Racism isn’t going anywhere and part of the problem is people aren’t even progressing in understanding its consequences, what to do about it, or how to make it less onerous, Dr. Horne said.
People are growing tired, noted Dr. Horne.
Part of the whole consequence of race and racism is disrespect, he said. “When you disrespect people for a long enough period of time, they do respond. They do react. People don’t like being disrespected, and that’s what we’re seeing now,” he continued.
“People are growing tired”
I am growing tired of scripted narratives in which p.o.s. thugs like Michael Brown are lumped together with legitimate victims of police violence against unarmed black people
I am growing tired of scripted narratives in which p.o.s. thugs like Michael Brown are lumped together with legitimate victims of police violence against unarmed black people
I can understand that. But what difference does your getting tired of that make in the fact that light needed to be shone on the issue of police violence against unarmed black people? And the Michael Brown issue, for right or wrong, did just that.
America can’t deny or discount American institutionalized racism just because some Blacks are thugs and Al Sharpton and his ilk are clowns.
“America can’t deny or discount American institutionalized racism”
Where have I seen that before, oh that’s right…
——————————————————
The real problem in Ferguson, New York and all of America is institutional racism
Michael Brown shooting
Vincent Warren
Thursday 4 December 2014 07.15 EST
http://www.theguardian.com/…/04/problem-ferguson-new-york-america-institutional-racism - 785k -
When you reach through a cop’s window and smack him, you don’t get respect. You get shot…as you should.
When you reach through a cop’s window and smack him, you don’t get respect.
Of course, however I’m addressing the big picture in light of American reality and history - not that only an individual might have been shot in cold blood or not.
Comment by phony scandals
2015-03-18 07:23:19
Police, other groups try to tamp down tensions in Ferguson
news.yahoo.com/st-louis-post-dispatch-2-officers-shot-ferguson-055552082.html
‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ was built on a lie
washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/16/lesson-learned-from-the-shooting-of-michael-brown/
Some more MSM truth-telling (well, partially)…
http://fortune.com/2015/03/17/housing-recovery-that-never-was/?xid=nl_fortune
“Real estate has recovered in the sense that home prices have regained their pre-bubble levels. The real estate market on average is fairly priced once again, but the home-building industry — the sector of the economy that fueled past recoveries and provides good-paying, middle-skilled jobs to blue-collar America — is still stuck in the doldrums.”
Go ahead and buy a house now, no matter the price. The entire system has your back.
Borrow, borrow,borrow.
Tomorrow,
Never comes.
Other than the fact that prices are massively inflated, I don’t read an ounce of truth there.
White House Exempting Itself From Freedom of Information Act!
March 17, 2015 By Cara Delvecchio
The White House said the FOIA regulations are consistent with court rulings that the office is not subject to the transparency law. The office handles the archiving of e-mails.
The timing of this removal brought some questions to the transparency advocates because it was on National Freedom of Information Day and during the debate over the preservation of Obama administration records. And it’s Sunshine Week, a week where news organization and watchdog groups bring issues of government transparency to the forefront.
Anne Weismann of the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said:
“The irony of this being Sunshine Week is not lost on me.”
For 30 years, the Office of Administration has responded to FOIA requests. Until the Obama administration, groups on the left and right used the records to shed light on how the White House works.
“This is an office that operated under the FOIA for 30 years, and when it became politically inconvenient, they decided they weren’t subject to the Freedom of Information Act any more.” Tom Fitton from Judicial said.
Rick Blum, coordinator of the Sunshine in Government initiative for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press was not happy with ruling. He says the bigger issue is the that the Office of Administration is responsible for record-keeping. With the Clinton e-mail controversy, there should be more scrutiny of the record-keeping practices he thought.
“I think what we’ve all learned in the last few weeks is the person who creates a record–whether it’s running a program or writing an e-mail–is the one who gets to decide whether it’s an official record,” Blum said. “And there ought to be another set of eyes on that. That’s the essential problem.”
http://www.tpnn.com/…/03/17/white-house-exempting-itself-from-freedom-of-information-act/ - 152k -
Comment by phony scandals
2015-03-18 07:51:48
White House Exempting Itself From Freedom of Information Act!
tpnn.com/2015/03/17/white-house-exempting-itself-from-freedom-of-information-act/
The tallest office building inside the beltway still sits empty.
Why Northern Virginia’s tallest building is still empty and what it means for Arlington
Helmig, chief operating officer of developer Monday Properties, could use some good news. It’s been about a year-and-a-half since Monday and Goldman Sachs completed the tallest office building inside the Capital Beltway, 1812 North Moore. The 580,000-square-foot Rosslyn office tower remade the skyline at 390 feet in the air, but it remains completely empty.
What went wrong with Helmig’s building? For one, the leasing market dried up just as Monday was completing the building. For another, law firms — which Monday has been targeting as occupants for five years or so — have been using less and less space and have not been willing to jump the river from the District.
Helmig said he has not considered lowering the rents he’s asking. “Pricing has not been an issue,” he said.
Instead, Monday and Goldman agreed to re-finance a $140 million construction loan, which Helmig said would allow them the time to land a marquee tenant.
Aiding Helmig in his efforts to fill the building is Victor L. Hoskins, the new director of Arlington Economic Development. In all, Hoskins said about one-quarter of the county’s 40 million square feet of office space is empty.
“The next 24 months are going to be critical,” Hoskins said. “Really the next 12 to 24 months we need to develop some momentum on filling up space. That’s what I’ll be focused on. That’s what our business development group is focused on. And that’s not an easy to thing to do.”
Your morning update from the Land of Lincoln - or at least the scraps of what is left of Honest Abe’s adopted home.
“Rahm Emanuel Needs Republican Help” - Whaaaat? Desperation is NOT a campaign strategy unless you are a died in the wool lefty who won’t know what else to do with his pathetic life. Keep in mind folks that our new “republicrat” guv Lord Bruce Rauner is a close friend of Rahmmy and for certain reasons is pushing and pulling levers to get the little ballerina re-elected.
Further in the article - Mark Kirk - Sen of ILLANNOY is doing behind the scenes work for Rahmmy as well. I for one really want this pathetic RINO primaried and put on the curb. There are infinitely better candidates than this bozo.
Rauner said yesterday it is a sad day for ILLANNOY given Aaron Shock’s resignation - Bruce I disagree - it is a GOOD day for ILLANNOY as this is one less corrupt POS that we have to tolerate. May this be the beginning of exterminating the rat’s nest that is ILLANNOY politics.
LInky here….
http://www.nationaljournal.com/against-the-grain/rahm-emanuel-needs-republican-help-20150317
house haters had a young couple buying a 1.4 mill chighetto house
wow, they must not be able to read
To quote Boots: ’cause warmists gonna warm’. Maybe someone should coal roll the POT..US. Choom gang forward!!!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/11476577/Obama-tells-young-people-to-care-more-about-jobs-less-about-weed.html
Monarch is getting 5 to 12 inches of global warming today and tomorrow, we are skiing there this weekend
Region VIII
Vail is getting mostly global warming rain this week….melt effect in full swing.
Region VIII protip: if you want to ski in Eagle County, Beaver Creek is much, much better than Vail
Keystone had that lodge building back in the day - a real throwback to when life up in the Rockies was truly for the rough and tumble set. Very much enjoyed the patio there drinkin beers and admiring the blue sky up in the great wide open. Hope the place is still open.
That would be A-Basin today. Love that place!
Moby Dick ate Global Warming.
That’s the Big Tale.
The first day I ever went skiing I was about 19-20, and I went down the double-black diamond upper thing at Breckenridge with a couple skiing friends- mostly on my rear end but I did it. Teenage boys are crazy.
“No Guts, No Glory”
I think that lapel pin is still somewhere in my mom’s attic.
Too funny. Now you are riding a house down on your ass.
Life is ironic.
Life is ironic.
Don’t think it means what you think it means. Is it ironic that my house is paid off and the rent saved the past 7 years has reimbursed me for the cost? And is the “gift that keeps on giving” while having 100% equity at any price?
Or is it ironic Blue Sky that you think you are smart but don’t realize that your comprehension is compromised by why you think you’re smart? You can’t even read and comprehend years and years of English language posts when your bias gets in the way.
Comment by Blue Skyehttp://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=8876 - comment-2421475
2015-02-24 14:04:40
……
As I remember, you were quite enthusiastic about Brazil not being in a bubble. Euphoric. You were wrong.
From 2009:
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2009-09-13 14:33:04
“WOW, so Brazil is immune, then? Oh, OK.”
…… Not once have I said Brazil was “immune” and I’ve written more than once that prices could come down if the economy weakens. It’s all in the record.
I did not say Brazil was immune. All I said was that it’s different here.
As I remember, you were quite enthusiastic about Brazil not being in a bubble. Euphoric. You were wrong.
“it’s different here” is why you got tagged Brazilbubbleboy. Not by me, but you were quite the euphoric pumper.
“I can sell anytime.”
“Click.”
As I remember, you were quite enthusiastic about Brazil not being in a bubble. Euphoric. You were wrong.
My point made. See above quotes going back to 2009. Pathetic. You are lost in your bias even in the face of the facts above and your own words. And you think anyone would find any credibility in your “science” on climate-change?
Or is it ironic Blue Sky that you think you are smart but don’t realize that your comprehension is compromised by why you think you’re smart? You can’t even read and comprehend years and years of English language posts when your bias gets in the way.
Click
“I can sell anytime.”
And why would I want to sell? Housing is to live in. It’s not a boat. I like it here.
Care to repeat that?
Lola gets confused between what is and what she wants it to be.
IT Worker Replaced by Foreign National Regrets Voting for Obama
by Ryan Lovelace March 17, 2015 3:31 PM
Several information-technology workers provided anonymous testimony for today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the immigration reforms needed to protect skilled workers. One former IT worker at multi-billion dollar utilities provider Southern California Edison, who chose to remain anonymous because of a non-disparagement agreement he signed with his former employer, wrote that he was recently replaced by a foreign worker with an H-1B visa. He is one of more than 400 people at Southern California Edison (SCE) who have reportedly lost their jobs to foreign workers in India.
“I’ve paid my taxes, obeyed the laws and have been a good citizen supporting the community with donations,” the former SCE worker wrote. “I voted for President Obama and was appalled that he implemented a rule change, which allows work permits to H-1B spouses. My future votes will only go to candidates that support reforms to the H-1B visa program that preserve the American worker.”
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/415535/it-worker-replaced-foreign-national-regrets-voting-obama-ryan-lovelace
I bet he also regretted voting for Shrub jr. Oh, the fooking irony!
Who the former IT worker will regret voting for next time will be decided at the opulent Interalpen Hotel, in the Austrian mountains near Telfs June 9th-14th 2015 at the Bilderberg meeting.
Paid your taxes? Obeyed the laws? Well there’s your problem sport. Might as well paint a sign on your back that says “F**K ME!”
“I voted for President Obama and was appalled that he implemented a rule change, which allows work permits to H-1B spouses.
LMAO. Good little sheep got exactly what he deserves. I hope he ends up living in a cardboard box.
US sets new record for denying, censoring government files
Associated Press
By Ted Bridis, Associated Press 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second consecutive year, the Obama administration more often than ever censored government files or outright denied access to them under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.
The government took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn’t find documents, and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy.
It also acknowledged in nearly 1 in 3 cases that its initial decisions to withhold or censor records were improper under the law — but only when it was challenged.
Its backlog of unanswered requests at year’s end grew remarkably by 55 percent to more than 200,000.
The government responded to 647,142 requests, a 4 percent decrease over the previous year. The government more than ever censored materials it turned over or fully denied access to them, in 250,581 cases or 39 percent of all requests. Sometimes, the government censored only a few words or an employee’s phone number, but other times it completely marked out nearly every paragraph on pages.
On 215,584 other occasions, the government said it couldn’t find records, a person refused to pay for copies or the government determined the request to be unreasonable or improper.
Sad pandas go silent again.
Don’t mistake our indifference for agreement. I know I’m not going to spend my time responding to every made up controversy PS posts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6vPRaIrvqU - 365k -
IT Worker Replaced by Foreign National Regrets Voting for Obama
The Onion right?
US sets new record for denying, censoring government files
A good post.
Border Agent: Patrol Punished For Reporting Large Groups Of Illegals
by Steve Watson | Infowars.com | March 18, 2015
A border patrol agent has testified that the Department of Homeland Security is deliberately fudging data to hoodwink the American public into believing that the border is secure, when in reality it is overrun, with 60 percent of all illegal crossers going uncaptured.
“I want to be crystal clear – the border is not secure,” border agent Chris Cabrera told the Senate Homeland Security Committee Tuesday.
“Ask any line agent in the field and he or she will tell you that at best we apprehend 35 to 40 percent of the illegal immigrants attempting to cross. This number is even lower for drug smugglers who are much more adept at eluding capture.” Cabrera added.
Cabrera, also vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, claimed that Congress is being repeatedly misled by the DHS. He noted that while stats show that up to 75 percent of illegal border crossers are apprehended, the figures are part of an effort to “manipulate the statistics.”
“Today if I see 20 or more footprints in the sand a supervisor must come to my location and ‘verify’ the number of footprints,” he said. “I guess that after 13 years in the field I must have lost the ability to count.”
Cabrera also shockingly claimed that border patrol agents are often punished if they report groups of illegals numbering more than 20.
“Agents who repeatedly report groups larger than 20 face retribution,” he said. “Management will either take them out of the field and assign them to processing detainees at the station or assign them to a fixed position in low volume areas as punishment.”
“Needless to say agents got the message and now stay below this 20 person threshold no matter the actual size of the group,” he added.
Permanent Democrat Supermajority
msm claiming 8 million energy jobs?
wow ,deduct 20% and you got a problem.
crater
My friend who just paid $400+ a square foot for his shack in Washington Park was giving me sh*t about going skiing (again) this weekend
People with mortgages are a bunch of sad, old loosers
Speaking of a long way down to go…
“The value of Bitcoin is plummeting after Evolution, a huge Deep Web marketplace for drugs and other illicit goods, vanished overnight.
Former staff members accuse the site’s administrator’s of stealing an estimated $12 million in Bitcoin.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-plummets-after-a-massive-deep-web-drugs-marketplace-vanished-overnight-2015-3#ixzz3UlArKERD
Don’t worry, those guys won’t get far dragging their cumbersome blockchains.
boots in the hood
Black Panthers Call For Killing of Police During SXSW Armed March …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feY0diCOp-Y - 536k - Cached - Similar
Stock markets rallied after the Fed statement, while the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield dipped below 2 percent for the first time since March 2 and the euro rose against the dollar on the more dovish forecasts that appeared to argue against a June move.”
are they gonna keep rates low forever so corporations can keep borrowing to buy back stock?
Savers need to sacrafice so stocks can go up and people have cash to consume.
are they gonna keep rates low forever so corporations can keep borrowing to buy back stock?
Maybe. It’s a racket and we ain’t in on it.
This is why the middle class can’t get ahead
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/middle-class-cant-get-ahead/
….What Do Executives Do With All Their Money?
Of course, capitalists like me will tell you that when we cut into profits, the entire economy is damaged. And think of all the investment that corporate profits make possible. What do executives like me do with all that extra money? Why, invest in creating good-paying jobs for middle-class Americans like you, of course.
Unfortunately, that’s not exactly true either. Mostly, we use profits to manipulate our stock price for personal gain.
…—over the past 10 years, America’s largest companies, those making up the S&P 500, have devoted a staggering 54 percent of their profits to buying back shares, reducing the total number outstanding and thus increasing the value of the remaining shares owned by capitalists like me.
A stock buyback, in case you are wondering, is when a public company buys its own shares. “Why on earth would a company do that?” you ask. To push the stock price higher, of course—which benefits senior managers who are all paid in stock—rather than, say, investing in R&D or in building new factories. Or paying you overtime for all those extra hours you work.
they are borrowing money to buckback shares in most cases. does nothing to increase the value of the company. Your either borrowing or spending cash to buy back shares.
It seems like some sort of miracle that the company is suppose to increase in value cause there are less shares. bs
An older article but relevant in light of the bought and paid for, neocon, pro-war posts that are all over the hbb lately:
http://www.businessinsider.com/ndaa-legalizes-propaganda-2012-5
Kristol, was Boot’s brownies your gateway drug?
Nearly a third of Miami-Dade homeowners owe more than their property is worth
By Nicholas Nehamas
03/18/2015 1:03 PM
More than 27 percent of Miami-Dade homes — about 122,950 properties — were underwater in the fourth quarter of last year, a report by the property analytics firm CoreLogic found. That’s an improvement from the fourth quarter of 2013 when 33.6 percent of local homes — about 153,980 properties — were in negative equity.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article15249758.html#storylink=cpy
simple question here.
Even if the fed some year does raise the fed funds rate how is that going to effect you?
Seems like credit card rates are already at 20%.
The bond market is more connected to mortgage rates.
You might get some crumbs on your savings?
Isn’t this really about taking the punchbowl away from the well connected who borrow at zero and gamble in stocks and commodities?
The effect is minimal if they raise rates slowly.
The effect is substantial if they raise rates quickly.
You noted the jump in the stock market today? It had nothing to do with a delay in the Fed raising rates. People still think it will be June. It was all about Yellen saying that while they removed “patient” from the minutes, it didn’t mean they would be impatient.
In other words, expect a gradual increase in rates.
You won’t be saved regardless of direction of rates Rental_Fraud.
20% interest for you is probably a pretty good rate, considering the risk. Not you personally, but overall for the average underwater debt donkey with a bubble job.
My cash is up 25%. The well connected who were long commodities with cheap leverage are getting their heads handed to them.
where are u tending bar my friend?
The $hitHousePoet.
“tending bar”
Try the payday loan shop. They’ve got what you need.
(Bloomberg) — Hoping to deliver relief to Americans pounded by the financial crisis, the government has poured billions of dollars into a sort of Red Cross for homeowners.
NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit chartered by Congress, distributes much of that money to counseling groups that dispense mortgage advice and sometimes financial aid.
A close look at the group reveals a house in disorder — with sweetheart contracts, document fudging and unexplained departures of top officials.
Executives at the group awarded at least two large jobs to insiders without bidding, later justifying one of the contracts with a backdated memo, according to interviews with former employees, tax filings and previously unreported company audits. In the other case, managers signed off on a multimillion-dollar technology deal to a recently formed contractor, which had board members in common with NeighborWorks and used the same law firm. The contractor overcharged by as much as 20 times, one of the audits said.
Then, with little fanfare, four top officials left NeighborWorks over a few months last year, under the watch of a board of directors that includes administrators from the Federal Reserve and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
While the ECB and Greek’s so-faux “radical left” leaders play their silly games, capital flight is accelerating. When will this turn into a full-fledged bank run to avoid an ECB-directed “bail in” theft of depositors’ accounts?
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_18/03/2015_548355
‘Copper posted the biggest drop in seven weeks as signs of falling property values added to concerns that a slowing economy will crimp demand in China, the world’s biggest metals user.’
‘New-home prices in China fell in 66 out of the 70 cities tracked by the government last month, compared with 64 cities in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. Copper has slid 9 percent this year, partly because the weakest growth in more than two decades is curbing China’s metals use amid cooling real estate and manufacturing.’
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-18/copper-drops-to-three-week-low-as-china-s-home-prices-decline
Things that I could not imagine have happened in the last decade or so. Still, I cannot imagine anyplace on earth where a bigger mania could occur than what China has gone though in the last eight years, with everyone on the planet chasing the ambulance and making side bets to the moon.
you need to thank the FED for saving the economy.
San Diego, CA Sale Prices Dive 13% YoY; Inventory Balloons At Foreclosure Ramp Up Statewide
http://www.zillow.com/san-diego-ca-92130/home-values/
Soft landing
Quietly move up in the maturity from T bills to short term notes
http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/%232Y/tab/2