Bits Bucket for March 28, 2015
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Just think if the FED does raise rates some year than the treasury will get more cash in interest payments that the FED collects on its holdings.
Six years after the recession ended, and we are still at zero rates. Now we find out how extraordinary these measures were. We used to say here, it’s one thing to lower rates. It’s another to keep them there.
And that was Greenspan we said that about. He too left rates low for far too long which was cited as a major cause of the housing bubble even in the MSM.
This is a very interesting point in history. Bernanke and Yellen specifically targeted house prices. They would say jobs or inflation, but sometimes they said house prices. Their actions were definitely toward house prices, keeping mortgage rates ultra-low, buying gobs of MBS. What was the point? House prices were going to rise and we would spend! Well here we are Yellen. You got your price increase. You got an astounding increase in waiter jobs and bartenders. You got the broke multi-billion $ tech IPO’s and animal spirits of the grilled cheese trucks. Even Yellen seems anti-climactic about the coming rate moves. It was supposed to be all different in her mind. In a sturdy economy, she would confidently announce mission accomplished.
What do we see? A punch drunk stock and bond market. A bunch of foam on the runway, just about to see loans reset. A commodity bust, China’s predicament, Euro deflation, deflation everywhere, the dollar thing. The housing market itself, crushed by its own lofty prices, scattering investors and disinterested first time buyers. Even at these rates, even with Mel priming the pump!
Woe unto Yellen, the timid mouse, stepping out into the ring. Don’t trip! Watch out, there are bubbles all around you. Greenspan was a fool, but was a maestro compared to what followed him.
It is even worse. With the insane deficits over the last seven years - the US government cannot even afford to service the debt if interest rates go back to normal.
The imbalances overfloweth. Yellen almost seems to be saying, ‘be gentle with me, it’s my first time.’ Ah, but patience isn’t the mood of market forces denied all these years.
Think back; Greenspan was in denial. Then he co-authored a report on mortgage equity withdrawal. Yikes, he said! One reporter at the time mentioned, ‘Greenspan spent years telling us a housing bubble couldn’t exist, now he won’t shut up about it.’ He raised rates, and again, and again. He popped the bubble and gave Bernanke the ammunition to cut when the SHTF. Bold action, compared to the current lot.
“He popped the bubble and gave Bernanke the ammunition to cut when the SHTF.”
Too bad that by the time he finally got around to popping it, he couldn’t do so without bringing the global financial system to the brink of collapse. This had to do in part with the Fed’s history of bailouts; since too-big-to-fail investment banks knew they would always get bailed out, why would they hesitate to make ludicrously foolish financial gambles? By 2008, the number and scale of too-dumb-to-succeed subprime lending schemes in play ushered in a New Era of too-big-to-bail.
They roamed the runway and ALSO allowed a lot of new suckers to liberate some newer recent equity that was still trapped. Can’t believe this is all seen as business as usual when plenty of articles were written over the last few years calling this same stuff insane.
Foamed.
“Can’t believe this is all seen as business as usual when plenty of articles were written over the last few years calling this same stuff insane.”
1. Dumb ‘em down.
2. Profit.
“Foamed.”
“Roamed” also seemed like a great word choice!
Fed Tries to Figure Out How to Raise Interest Rates by a 1/4 of 1%
March 26, 2015Mark Thornton
It turns out that officials from the New York Fed have been asking traders, financial firms, and even other central bankers how they can increase the Federal Funds Rate by 1/4 of 1% without bringing the world financial system to its knees.
mises.org/blog/fed-tries-figure-out-how-raise-interest-rates-14-1 - 68k -
“the world financial system”
is already screwed royally. Tens of Trillions of dollars were borrowed around the world because of the low interest rates to feed speculative bubbles. These global bubbles, as mentioned above, are falling in on themselves and the dollar has soared despite there being no increase in the interest rate. The money is gone poof and the bill has gone up.
We don’t read in the news that the dam has burst, but can a flood of defaults be held back with a little paper patch here and there? I don’t expect so.
“The money is gone poof and the bill has gone up.”
Yes, but not all the money is gone poof, or will go poof.
The job of everyone who has money on the table is to make sure that the money he has is not among the enormous piles of money that is destined for Poofville.
Ben Jones: Bernanke and Yellen specifically targeted house prices. They would say jobs or inflation, but sometimes they said house prices. Their actions were definitely toward house prices, keeping mortgage rates ultra-low, buying gobs of MBS. What was the point? House prices were going to rise and we would spend!
It was to help the banks, and Wall Street in general:
1) “Far from channelling money to companies, modern banks resemble “real-estate funds”, the authors claim, in which long-term mortgage lending is funded by short-term borrowing from the public.” — http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21641206-banks-have-been-boosting-mortgage-lending-decades-expense-corporate
2) The mortgage finance market is still frozen - no private entities think there is profit in it: “The market for U.S. home-loan securities that lack government backing remains almost frozen for a seventh year, limiting options for borrowers and boosting risks for taxpayers. ” — http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-11/why-mortgage-bond-investors-won-t-buy-they-don-t-trust-anyone
3) Real wages are flat or down for most but the top earners: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/
4) However, corporate profits have risen every year since 2008: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CP/ - extremely steeply I might add.
Printing money and handing it out to your connections (who will reward you when you get out of government) would lead to outcomes like the above.
An economy of 10 people, one person being the king, prints up some cash and hands it to his right-hand man. That’s more money identifying the same pool of value. The others have less purchasing power, the right-hand-man has more.
It’s privatize the profits, socialize the losses, accelerated by central bank policy (Congress is derelict, focused mostly on fundraising and personal machinations).
It’s a lack of understanding of the concept of value, and how it interacts with human wants and needs, and how that interacts with currency.
Or, worse, perhaps they knew exactly what they were doing.
“It’s a lack of understanding of the concept of value, and how it interacts with human wants and needs, and how that interacts with currency.”
“It’s a lack of understanding …”
Hey, that’s step one!
Step 1: Dumb ‘em down.
And after you are finished implementing step one your next logical move is to go to step two:
Step 2: Profit.
It was to help the banks, and Wall Street in general
It was to help the government, the banks, and Wall Street in general.
” “Far from channelling money to companies, modern banks resemble “real-estate funds”, the authors claim, in which long-term mortgage lending is funded by short-term borrowing from the public.” ”
That’s what we used to call Savings and Loans associations. Maybe we were better off when business and real estate financing were considered two separate things.
“What do we see? A punch drunk stock and bond market. A bunch of foam on the runway, just about to see loans reset. A commodity bust, China’s predicament, Euro deflation, deflation everywhere, the dollar thing. The housing market itself, crushed by its own lofty prices, scattering investors and disinterested first time buyers. Even at these rates, even with Mel priming the pump!”
Unfortunately Jared Dillian seems to think we’re too negative.
Six years after the recession ended, and we are still at zero rates.
That’s if we actually believe the recession really ended.
Given how central banks around the world are playing the ZIRP game, it would seem to me that most of the global economy (including those countries that boast of 7% growth) is running on fumes.
It’s easy to think that things are chugging along nicely when you see cranes and construction everywhere. I’m even seeing it in my podunky, no quality employment town; where I shake my head and wonder “what in the world is driving this?”
Granted, the projects are smaller scale than the ones that were built during the previous bubble, but they are there: new stripmalls, office buildings, houses, apartment complexes, etc. Meanwhile, the town lost it’s long term quality employer (HP) years ago.
Promises to redevelop the old HP campus into a “state of the art high tech magnet business park” have fallen flat on their faces, as the tenants have failed to materialize. As far as I can tell, the only thing that drives the town’s economy are people who commute to jobs in Denver. All the new construction is being built near I-25, the foothills area is basically dead, except around the golf course, because its location adds 15-20 minutes to the commute to Denver.
Why is the interest rate still at zero? This is the question I ask anyone who tells me things are coming back or that housing has recovered. Short sweet and to the point.
What are some other short sweet questions that ram this point home to the housing Bulls?
“What are some other short sweet questions that ram this point home to the housing Bulls?”
Where are the decent paying jobs that can pay the mortgages and support a family?
Actually, maybe not. The value of the T-bonds will drop so if the Fed sells any of those off, it will lose more money than the amount of extra interest. So what happens when the Fed is insolvent?
Hoe does insolvency limit a central bank with a strong reserve currency and an electronic printing press?
Can you continue to print vast amounts of money and remain a strong reserve currency?
Apparently so. Like a bunch of heroin junkies. All are headed for disaster, but some can function almost normallyfor a period.
But since it is backed by nothing but confidence, it can change in a heartbeat. You can be a strong currency one year and the next year be like Ukraine’s currency.
Perhaps you missed the memo, but the Fed ended QE3 last fall. So I guess they at least slowed the rate of new money created for the sole purpose of bond yield suppression. As a consequence, the dollar is stronger than the Fed likes it.
“…the next year be like Ukraine’s currency.”
I guess a foreign military invasion normally doesn’t do much to strengthen a nation’s currency?
Perhaps you missed the memo, but the Fed ended QE3 last fall.
So, it does not preclude the Fed from expanding the money supply, it just ends the formal buying period. The Fed thinks the dollar is too strong? It sure waited long enough to tell the world. We waited to we drove the GDP growth rate back to 2%. Perhaps because the stronger dollar was a way to drive oil prices down and punish Russia? Seems like we shot our own foot.
“But since it is backed by nothing but confidence, it can change in a heartbeat.”
This makes a reserve fiat currency worth less than the barbarous relic because…?
This makes a reserve fiat currency worth less than the barbarous relic because…?
Sure, gold has gone “out of favor” in the past, but never permanently.
Show me one example of a fiat currency that became worthless, and then recovered…
“…but never permanently.”
That said, twenty years (i.e. 1980-2000) is a long, long time!
Agreed!
More and more I come to believe that the real “no arbitrage” condition is the period of several decades over which one’s portfolio might crash, never again to see daylight over the investor’s effective investing lifetime.
Why would they ever sell T-bonds if it was going to cause the value to drop? Makes no sense, as they can use the printing press to create more money as needed.
Similarly I don’t expect them to ever sell any of the MBS they have walled off with a concrete wall down in the catacombs.
The bonds will drop whether they sell them or not, they will drop as a natural consequence of interest rates rising.
Why does it matter whether the value of bonds goes up, down or sideways if they are walled off forevermore on the Fed’s balance sheet, never to reenter the market?
And doesn’t holding assets off the market normally make their value go up?
People with mortgages can’t afford to go skiing every weekend
Broke @ss loosers
Many people here still go on skiing trips though they do have mortgages and the barn is on fire. Oh and they have incredible debt but don’t worry that it’s up to their eyeballs. They are attracted to downhill skiing because it makes them look wealthy enough to burn their $.
Once you buy the season pass, skiing every weekend can be pretty cheap.
I paid $12 for a slice of pizza and a brat at Monarch last weekend yo
Will be microwaving lunch today at Loveland
Region VIII
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20150328_091352-uwgCFQwG.jpg
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/planes-of-saudi-led-alliance-hit-yemen-capital-houthi-heartland-587057.html
these idjits still want to kill innocent people by the masses instead of aiming at the mosques
————–
Mosques in Riyadh on Friday preached fiery sermons against the Houthis and their Iranian allies, describing the fight as a religious duty. Saudi Arabia’s top clerical council issued a fatwa on Thursday giving its blessing to the campaign.
Do you really believe that by leveling the mosques that Islam will go away? That would be like pouring gasoline on a fire. Do that and even “moderate” Muslims will take to the streets around the world (including here in the USA) chanting “Death to America”
We in America need to become more of a gun culture, just like 60 or 70 years ago. Many high schools had shooting courses in P.E. I have seen pictures of girls aiming rifles.
That is the reason the Japanese Emperor had the fear of a rifle behind every blade of grass in America if he invades it.
We need 12 gauges, AR-15s, handguns, AKs, the gamut. And lots o’ ammo. And let go of the wussy fear of guns. I encounter the wussiness mostly in California.
We in America need to become more of a gun culture
So that will tame Islam?
“That is the reason the Japanese Emperor had the fear of a rifle behind every blade of grass in America if he invades it.”
Does anyone here on this message board really believe that Japan had intentions or even the capability of successfully invading the U.S?
This was the GREAT FEAR that swept through the West Coast right after Pearl Harbor was bombed, but, come, just how realistic could that be?
Gun nuts are scared of every shadow behind every blade of grass. It doesn’t need to make sense
So that will tame Islam?
It will certainly put an end to their use of swords as weapons when their intended victims are well armed.
It will certainly put an end to their use of swords as weapons when their intended victims are well armed.
So ISIS is waging war with swords? That’s news to me. Sure, they behead their prisoners, but we all know that is done for shock value. I’m pretty sure they have guns too.
We had a rifle and shooting team at my high school. Up north not south or southwest. Not back in the 60s or 70s either.
I think we’d do better flooding the area with cheap quality tablets and cell phones, air conditioners, refrigerators and free wifi for all with unlimited Netflix. Probably cost less than the current wars and might help lift the masses out of their myopia and let them see the opportunities in the rest of the world.
“This was the GREAT FEAR that swept through the West Coast right after Pearl Harbor was bombed, but, come, just how realistic could that be?”
Before or after establishment of interment camps?
no i think they will spend the money on rebuilding instead of killing each other of chopping off peoples heads..
plus with thousands of religious leaders meeting allah, not many firebrands will be left to preach this evil.
Momentum de-investing?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-trouble-214553163.html
Spent several days with a Engineer @ Tesla and Rode in my first one last week in Reno…Fast, Quiet and comfortable…
And unaffordable to the masses.
not only is Tesla having trouble selling in China, it is having difficulties protecting its home turf from Chinese electric car companies uber is buying Chinese cars for Chicago.
?
Link to Uber and China story:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/tech/2015-03/17/content_19830262.htm
And unaffordable to the masses ??
So are a couple dozen other lines of vehicles…So what is your point ??
That even with a $7500 tax credit and even more government subsides from California the car is not affordable to the masses. However, the share price is still counting on mass acceptance of the car. Selling a few thousand vehicles a month to the rich as toys will never justify its present valuation and will do nothing for the environment.
So…That does not change my experience with it;
Fast, Quiet and comfortable…That all my post stated….
However, the share price is still counting on mass acceptance of the car.
So they’re not there yet. From what I have read Musk is investing heavily in battery production.
The main problem with the more affordable electrics is the low range (~100 miles or less). If they can advance battery tech to solve that so that a <30K electric car would have a 300+ mile range, that would be a game changer.
It’s interesting how some people hail Musk as a visionary with his SpaceX program, because he demonstrates that there is nothing the private sector can’t do better than the government, but when he pioneers electric cars he is derided by the same people as a nut job. Are they really that threatened by the electric car? You’d think that he would be cheered on for that as well, as proof that Yankee ingenuity is alive and well.
They’re a novelty easily substituted by an alternative. They’ll always be a novelty until prices fall to dramatically lower levels.
Just like housing.
The only thing required to justify stock valuation is a fresh crop of fools with money.
to justify stock valuation ??
Screw the stock valuation…Let the investors fret about that…The technology is whats important…
So they’re not there yet. From what I have read Musk is investing heavily in battery production ??
Exactly Colorado…Thats what this engineer I was with is doing…Working at the new battery plant…
It’s interesting how some people hail Musk as a visionary with his SpaceX program, because he demonstrates that there is nothing the private sector can’t do better than the government, but when he pioneers electric cars he is derided by the same people as a nut job
I do not think he is a nut job but I do think he is milking the taxpayers. There is nothing inconsistent with being for the private sector but being against taxpayers being forced to excessively back a private venture. If you live in California you are paying for massive subsidies both by the federal government and the State of California, combined they approach $15,000. Is that really private enterprise of is it fascism a cooperation of big government and big business?
Fast, Quiet and comfortable…That all my post stated….
And I did not disagree with any of that, I just added unaffordable for the masses which it is. Thus, we have a situation where the middle class are helping the rich buy toys. If it wasn’t a green product the left would be going nuts. BTW, I saw a story that said if you buy a Tesla in Canada, your carbon footprint is actually larger than if you buy a conventional car due to the percentage of electricity being produced by coal.
The technology is whats important…
It is important but affordable technology is more important we have had the technology to produce solar electricity to run things for more than 50 years and we used it for NASA missions but it does not mean the government should spend vast amounts of money to deploy it before it is cost competitive. The private sector with its own money should make the decision to deploy technology but basic scientific research is a function of government but not exclusively so.
This round goes to ADan.
D is for Detroit, right?
Yes, and I don’t think hybrid cars should be subsidized with tax dollars, no matter who makes them.
Had to borrow a loaner Corolla for three days while my own Toyota was in the shop for a new coil. The Corolla I drove is brand new. Its entertainment deck is not top of the line that you can get in a Corolla, but it does have the backup camera. The model I drove does not have overdrive. But the car is very quiet. Surprisingly for a small car. And you don’t really notice it’s a small car.
You can get a top of the line new Corolla for $20,000.
No thanks, I like driving too much. - I’ll keep my Focus.
One of them is worth more than a three bedroom house within a 10 mile perimeter of downtown Ferguson (such as my parents’ home!).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/11501245/Legacy-hungry-Obama-must-be-questioned-on-Iran-deal.html
Hard to imagine how agreeing to what turned out to be a bad deal would enhance your legacy. Seems like it would do the exact opposite, like with Chamberlain.
Do you think Obama hasn’t thought it that far out, or is there another explanation?
Do you think Obama hasn’t thought it that far out, or is there another explanation?
Hasn’t thought it out that far out is all you need. It is just like he did not think the Arab Spring very far out. He thought about removing leaders in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Egypt without thinking about who would replace them.
So he hasn’t thought it out. Someone should suggest it to him. Do you think he reads newspapers or watches the news channels?
I am sure Al Sharpton reads the papers too but that does not mean that he could ever create a successful foreign policy, perhaps being a community organizer is not good preparation for the presidency? I need to go work out but I will be back.
Al Sharpton? What does he have to do with this?
Both Obama and Sharpton have community organizing backgrounds and are not qualified to be president. Yes Obama was elected but so was Mugabe, it does not mean he is qualified to be president.
Both Obama and Sharpton have community organizing backgrounds and are not qualified to be president. Yes Obama was elected but so was Mugabe, it does not mean he is qualified to be president.
You voted for Dumb-ya…I don’t think you are qualified to make a judgement on other peoples qualifications.
What about community organizing is antithetical to governing? It seems like the essence of governing.
Weren’t the founding fathers community organizers?
You voted for Dumb-ya…I don’t think you are qualified to make a judgement on other peoples qualifications.
No, I never did, I have not voted for a main stream candidate for president since 1992 and that year it was for Bill Clinton.
Apparently, being governor of Texas doesn’t help ones foreign policy expertise either.
He wanted to prove his father wrong about Iraq but he was wrong. Nation building an Arab country is a big mistake.
Iran’s gonna get the bomb sooner or later regardless of a treaty or not.
Obama in his usual dumba$$ fashion wants some “win” for legacy. Nothing more.
But even countries with the bomb or certainly having a nuclear program can be persuaded to give it up. Libya gave up its program under threat of attack by W, South Africa had the bomb and gave it up under the same sanctions that resulted in the end of white rule.
Have to run errands, signing out.
I don’t think Iran getting a bomb sooner or later is a given. Says who? Not Israel.
If Israel could realistically stop them they already would have. That’s why they’re trying to drag us into it. Onward Christian soldiers!
This is incorrect. Israel could easily stop them. They want cover. They will stop them eventually no matter what we say. Only Russia could shoot them down.
“Iran’s gonna get the bomb sooner or later regardless of a treaty or not.”
I agree. It’s pretty basic technology nowadays. Pakistan and North Korea have it, for crissake. I think the real issue is some people don’t want normalized relations with Iran. They want to keep a frozen conflict, like we did for so long and with no real positive effect with Cuba.
Why do they want to do it? It sells bombs. And planes and ships.
Is your portfolio positioned to earn paltry stock market returns for the next few years?
Chinese stock market shoeshine boy indicator noted:
Two-thirds of new investors in China’s stock market mega-rally didn’t finish high school
DATE IMPORTED:Investors look at a mobile phone as they have lunch in front of an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Shenyang, Liaoning province February 5, 2015. China stocks surrendered early gains on Thursday as traders took profits after the central bank unveiled its latest stimulus measures. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA - Tags: BUSINESS)
Written by
Gwynn Guilford
Obsession
China’s Transition
March 27, 2015
The great Chinese equity juggernaut rolls on. The Shanghai composite is up 14% this year, compared with the S&P 500’s sickly -0.1% performance. This, as we’ve noted, is a bona fide mystery: China’s economy is sputtering and yet its stock market only flies higher.
The tanking housing market is one likely culprit, as is the recent zeal for margin trading, often funded via shadow banking (off-balance-sheet finance).
Well, here’s perhaps an even more worrying new clue to the mysterious rally, via Bloomberg economist Tom Orlik:
New brokerage accounts have surged since China’s bull market got running mid-2014. The number of new trading accounts hit a five-year high in early March. But as you can see in the chart above, a lot of those new investors probably aren’t the savviest.
New stock market trading account openings in the last six months.(China Securities Depository and Clearing)
Some 67.6% of households that opened new accounts in the past quarter haven’t graduated from high school, according Orlik’s chart, which comes from a large-scale quarterly national survey of household assets and income conducted by Gan Li of the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. Only 12% have a college education. Among existing investors surveyed, only 25.5% lack a high school diploma; 40.3% have finished college.
“The significance of the relatively low education level of new investors, I think, is that it suggests relatively inexperienced retail investors are driving the rally,” says Orlik. “That underlines concerns that it’s a rally divorced from the fundamentals of profit and growth, and so prone to a sudden reversal.”
…
Some 67.6% of households that opened new accounts in the past quarter haven’t graduated from high school, according Orlik’s chart
I thought all Chicoms had STEM degrees. Now you’re telling they’re all high school drop outs?
China’s economy is sputtering and yet its stock market only flies higher.
Maybe 7% growth is not sputtering?
It’s easy to goose your GDP a few Billion buy expanding credit by a few Trillion. It can go on as long as they wish, until it collapses.
Hint: It rolled over about 8 months ago.
Hint: It rolled over about 8 months ago.
Really? That would be very odd since I cannot think of a time when the stock market of a country did not roll over prior to the economy really tanking. It is true that a stock market hitting a high might be a warning sign of a peak for the market but stock markets throughout the world seem to anticipate events six months in advance. Thus, China’s market is anticipating an improving economy. Interestingly, China’s stock market was very much a laggard in the world for about six years until the middle of last year so it clearly anticipated China’s slower growth.
So, China’s higher stock market anticipates slower growth, but China’s higher stock market signals good times?
No Blue Skye China’s higher stock market anticipates that the new normal is around 7% and it will be sustained for some time. China’s stock market’s earlier flatness was due to the growth being already reflected in the stock market.
Maybe “7% growth” is not 7% growth?
Maybe 2.2% growth is not 2.2% growth? China is playing by the same set of rules as everyone else, give or take a few tenths of a point at most. Otherwise the IMF would be calling them out just like it called out Argentina.
So, you’re saying they are lying, but they are lying using the same liar’s rules and secret codes and honor among thieves as the US is using so that all is good? But that they are not lying like Argentina, who obviously cannot pay what they owe everybody and the IMF actually called them out.
Commodities prices and dry bulk shipping rates don’t lie.
Buckle up! Oil ‘could fall to $30′ say trading pros
Holly Ellyatt
Friday, 27 Mar 2015 | 3:34 AM ETCNBC.com
Oil prices continued their downward spiral Friday, falling more than $1, after a short-lived rally of around 5 percent the previous day, as concerns of a disruption to supplies in the Middle East appeared to ease. Against this backdrop, hedge fund managers said the oil price would remain volatile and could even fall as low as $30.
“I believe we have a chance to go down to $30 and then going back up towards $50 or so by the end of the year,” Pierre Andurand, who made his name and fortune in 2008 by predicting a sharp rise and collapse in oil prices, told CNBC.
Brent crude was at $58.15 a barrel Friday morning, down $1.22. Meanwhile, U.S. crude was down $1.06 at $50.37 a barrel, after dropping to a low of $50.25 earlier in the day.
…
Canada Stocks Fall to a 2-Week Low as Commodities Slide
by Eric Lam
8:02 AM PDT
March 27, 2015
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell to a two-week low, capping the third weekly decline in four, as commodities producers tumbled with the price of gold and oil.
Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp. lost 6.2 percent as the price of iron ore retreated to the lowest in more than six years. Penn West Petroleum Ltd. and Pengrowth Energy Corp. lost at least 3.8 percent as oil trimmed a weekly advance. Yamana Gold Inc. dropped 1.4 percent as gold fell for the first time in eight sessions. BlackBerry Ltd. rose 2.5 percent after posting a surprise profit after cutting costs.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 57.38 points, or 0.4 percent, to 14,812.42 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the lowest close in two weeks. The benchmark equity gauge has lost 0.9 percent this week.
Teck Resources Ltd. tumbled 3 percent and Franco-Nevada Corp. lost 2.5 percent as raw-materials producers declined 0.3 percent as a group. Four of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX retreated on trading volume 31 percent lower than the 30-day average.
Bullion for immediate delivery fell 0.4 percent to $1,200.13 an ounce in New York, the first drop in eight sessions. The metal’s seven-day rally to Thursday was the longest run of advances since 2012.
Bonavista Energy Corp. declined 4.7 percent and Surge Energy Inc. fell 4.3 percent as the S&P/TSX Energy Index retreated 1 percent. Futures slipped 5 percent in New York, bringing crude’s gain for the week to 6.9 percent.
…
Opinion: What China’s ‘new normal’ means for commodities
Published: Mar 23, 2015 5:07 p.m. ET
By Craig Stephen
Columnist
Bloomberg
A conveyer belt carries iron ore at the port of Shanghai.
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — China’s “new normal” economy might suggest merely impressive growth, rather than the magical growth of recent decades. But for natural commodities and large swathes of the world economy, things may never be the same again.
In a new report, Citi argues that global economic growth is now undergoing a fundamental transition, with a shift away from the prevailing model of China as the world’s factory. In the previous decade, China hollowed out industry from just about every corner of the globe as it became the dominant manufacturer of everything from Apple iPhones to sneakers and furniture. At the same time, it also became the primary driver of global commodity demand, supporting a multiyear commodity super cycle.
But now, as commodities across the board continue to make fresh multiyear lows, it is clear this boom is over. Analysts are now grappling with the wider implications as the price declines stretch from weeks to months, forecasting an upheaval in industry structures, trade flows and commodity markets.
China’s weakening commodity demand looks to be structural and permanent. While recent strength in the U.S. dollar may have contributed to global commodity weakness, the slowdown in China is the dominant factor. This is not just a cyclical pause but an act of considered government policy to finally rebalance the Chinese economy, which even eight years ago then-premier Wen Jiabao described as “unstable, unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable.”
…
Try not to let falling BRICs land on your head.
Kenneth Rapoza Contributor
I cover business and investing in emerging markets.
Investing 3/22/2015 @ 9:30AM 24,717 views
Next Five Years Will Bring Huge Changes To China’s Commodity Demand
Remember the commodity super-cycle? It was pedaled by the Chinese. It made smart investors like Jim Rogers filthy rich. That story is over, as everyone now knows. And the next five years are going to bring huge changes to the country’s demand for raw materials, especially coal and oil.
China’s commodity demand is in transition, says Barclays Capital’s commodity research team led by Kevin Norrish in London. What’s taking place of China’s raw materials appetite is “a less investment driven, more consumer-led economy that is not as competitive in global manufacturing, but less polluting.”
Those changes will lead to a slowing of demand for almost all commodities, but there is still the chance for China to be a price-driver for copper, iron ore, soy and surely oil and coal.
China’s impact on global energy markets will be due to the necessity to reduce pollution in China’s largest cities. Pollution has become China’s “Inconvenient Truth”, with most Chinese citing air quality as their number one concern in a recent poll this month. China is already a major solar panel producer. So investment in renewables is likely to surge and China will surely become much more important in global natural gas markets. This is indicative of China’s ongoing deals with Russian gas giant Gazprom .
Brazil sugarcane is not going to like this. Sugar demand in China is expected to grow just 2% annually over the next five years. Brazil is China’s leading supplier of raw cane sugar.
Barclays analysts said in a report last week that China’s influence in global industrial metals markets will “greatly diminish” as domestic growth rates slow sharply. Unless other developing countries take up the slack, global metals demand growth rates over the next five years will decline. This is bad news for copper exporting nations like Chile, and for the big iron ore producers like Vale , BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
…
Norway-listed Jinhui says dry bulk shipping market will get tougher in 2015
London (Platts)–27Feb2015/630 am EST/1130 GMT
Oslo-listed dry bulk shipper Jinhui Shipping said Friday that the tough market that owners faced last year will become tougher still in 2015.
“2014 was a challenging year especially in the latter half of the year, catching most if not all owners and operators by surprise,” the company said, adding: “We expect 2015 will be even tougher.”
Jinhui said it posted a $68.4 million net loss in the fourth quarter compared with a $2.9 million loss a year earlier.
It also reported a $86.8 million net loss for 2014 compared with a net profit of $25.4 million in 2013.
…
Your posts about falling prices raise a good point about China’s reported GDP growth combined with Adan’s reminder that they lie and manipulate their GDP numbers like we do, maybe not exactly the same but still manipulated. Deflation can make your GDP look great while the economy collapses. GDP isn’t an actual representation of money spent or the value of things produced, it is a measure of what is produced at a phoney value. So you might not be producing more as prices collapse, but GDP can go up if it is manipulated properly. Meanwhile, you are going bankrupt, and the headline is growth!
Commodities prices and dry bulk shipping rates don’t lie.
Didn’t they lie pretty convincingly for a few years there??
Amended version:
Commodities prices and dry bulk shipping rates
don’tno longer lie.11:41 am ET
Mar 27, 2015
Markets
The New Era of Low Stock Returns
By Jason Zweig
CONNECT
Christophe Vorlet
After more than six years of a bull market, investors should stare a cold, hard truth straight in the face: Future returns on stocks are likely to be far slimmer than the fat gains of the past few years.
Leading investment analysts think you will be lucky to squeeze out an average return of 2% annually, after inflation and fees, from a typical portfolio of stocks and bonds over the coming decade or so.
Investment expenses will loom much larger in a world of smaller expected returns. So will avoiding big mistakes.
U.S. stocks fell about 3% between Monday and Thursday this past week as economic growth seemed to falter. But that wasn’t nearly enough to make stocks cheap. One measure of valuation, based on data compiled by Yale University economist Robert Shiller , shows that the market price of the S&P 500 is about 27 times its average earnings over the past 10 years, adjusted for inflation. The long-term average, based on data going back to 1871, is about 16 times adjusted earnings.
So how have U.S. stocks performed in the past when valued around 27 times average earnings? Over the following 10 years, they generated total returns, counting dividends and adjusting for inflation, averaging about 2.5% annually, Prof. Shiller told me earlier this month.
Another method of estimating future stock returns yields a higher expectation—by a hair.
Over time, the return on stocks after inflation has tended to come very close to the sum of two numbers: dividend yield—total dividends over the past year divided by the current share price—plus the inflation-adjusted growth rate in dividends. The yield on the S&P 500 is 2%. For more than a century, the growth rate has averaged about 1.5% after inflation. Add those two numbers and you get 3.5%.
Now consider that the yield—interest income divided by price—on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes is 2% and that the government’s core measure of inflation is running at about 1.7% annually.
If you have half your portfolio in stocks that return 3.5% and half in bonds that return 0.3%, you will earn about 1.9% after inflation. If stocks average the 2.5% return from Prof. Shiller’s data, then a balanced portfolio will return only 1.4% after inflation. (These numbers assume no fees, taxes or trading costs.)
Either way, “it’s pretty awful by historical standards,” says William Bernstein, an investment manager at Efficient Frontier Advisors in Eastford, Conn.
Before you despair, bear in mind that the 2.5% expected return that Prof. Shiller derives from his historical data is an average of many 10-year periods in which stock returns ranged from losses of nearly 5% to gains of about 7%. All these results are averaged annually including dividends and after inflation. So 2.5% is a general expectation, not an exact certainty.
Still, keeping your expectations low is a good idea. “The problem isn’t that you might be not able to get better than a 2% return,” Mr. Bernstein says, “but that even getting 2% isn’t going to be psychologically easy.” With stocks and bonds alike still near record prices, they remain vulnerable to the sort of shocking decline that can shake many investors out of their conviction.
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I think the same question was asked in early 2009.
A note to Ethan in Northern VA:
Yesterday I said that GEICO (the insurance company) stands for “Government Employee’s Insurance Company” and this company targeted their marketing efforts toward government employees because government employees are better drivers than other people.
I did not say that GEICO insures government vehicles.
Does the government even have insurance? What’s the point?
A Message From Warren E. Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Dear Reader,
You probably know that I don’t make stock recommendations. However, I have two thoughts regarding your personal expenditures that can save you real money. I’m suggesting that you call on the services of two subsidiaries of Berkshire: GEICO and Borsheim’s.
I estimate that about 40% of all auto drivers in the country can save money by insuring with GEICO. The figure is not 100% because insurers differ in their underwriting judgments, with some favoring drivers who live in certain geographical areas and work in certain occupations more than GEICO does. I believe, however, that GEICO more frequently offers the low price than does any other national carrier selling insurance to all comers. You can quickly find out whether you can save money by going to http://www.geico.com or by calling 800-555-2756.
Sincerely,
Warren E. Buffett
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/message.html - 4k -
How dare he suggest to his shareholders that they use their own companies’ products? Diabolical!
From Wikipedia:
“GEICO was founded in 1936 by Leo Goodwin, Sr. and his wife Lillian to provide auto insurance directly to federal government employees and their families. Since 1925, Goodwin had worked for USA, an insurer which specialized in insuring only military personnel; he decided to start his own company after rising as far as a civilian could go in USA’s military-dominated hierarchy. Based on Goodwin’s experience at USA, GEICO’s original business model was predicated on the assumption that federal employees as a group would constitute a less risky and more financially stable pool of insureds, as opposed to the general public. Despite the presence of the word “government” in its name, GEICO has always been a private corporation not affiliated with any government organization.”
“Based on Goodwin’s experience at USA, GEICO’s original business model was predicated on the assumption that federal employees as a group would constitute a less risky and more financially stable pool of insureds, as opposed to the general public.”
Federal workers owe more than $3.5 billion in unpaid taxes
Associated Press
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
March 24, 2015 5:19 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal workers and retirees owed more than $3.5 billion in unpaid taxes last year, a $200 million increase over the previous year, the IRS said Tuesday.
Almost 305,000 federal workers and retirees owed back taxes as of Sept. 30. That’s down from 318,000 the year before.
The delinquency rate was 3.1 percent for the 9.8 million workers and retirees included in the data. That’s down from 3.3 percent the previous year.
The IRS compiles data each year on unpaid taxes by federal workers. The data does not include workers who have enrolled in installment agreements to pay their back taxes.
Among executive departments, workers at the Department of Housing and Urban Development had the highest delinquency rate, at 4.7 percent. Workers at the Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, had the lowest delinquency rate, at 1.2 percent.
Tax compliance at the IRS is generally better than at other federal agencies in part because the IRS cannot share information about tax delinquents with other departments. A 1998 law calls for removing IRS employees who are found to have intentionally committed certain acts of misconduct, including willful failure to pay federal taxes.
news.yahoo.com/…ederal-workers-owe-more-3-5-billion-unpaid-190117925–finance.html - 651k -
“Based on Goodwin’s experience at USA, GEICO’s original business model was predicated on the assumption that federal employees as a group would constitute a less risky and more financially stable pool of insureds, as opposed to the general public.”
Hookers & blow: Colombian drug cartels funded DEA sex parties with prostitutes
Published time: March 27, 2015 00:16
Get short URL
rt.com/usa/244417-dea-agents-sex-parties-prostitutes/ - 132k -
With Euro so low in I don’t know how many years, is it a good time to buy German cars?
Santelli Stunned As Janet Yellen Admits “Cash Is Not A Store Of Value”
“Deflation is clearly the boogeyman… and the only thing that will save the middle class.”
by Zero Hedge | March 28, 2015
Intended warning or unintended slip? After Alan Greenspan’s confessional admission that
“Gold is a currency. It is still, by all evidence, a premier currency. No fiat currency, including the dollar, can match it,”
we found it remarkable that during the Q&A after her speech today that Janet Yellen, when asked about negative rates, admitted that
“cash in not a very convenient store of value,”
seemingly hinting at Bernanke’s helicopter and that there will be no deflation in The US ever…
Rick Santelli then sums it all up perfectly…
“deflation is clearly the boogeyman… and the only thing that will save the middle class.”
By increasing the printing of money and opening the borders, Obama has done more for the .01 percent that W and Clinton combined and they had done more together than all of their predecessors combined.
But the .01 include progressives like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet!
Mexico could be a paradise with the rule of law.
“Store of value” - that is key. And cash certainly is no store of value, losing 97% of its value in several decades.
Cash is king in the short term. Never in the long term.
For every thing there is a season …
“And cash certainly is no store of value, losing 97% of its value in several decades.”
Yellen was basically telling the truth.
This Is How TSA Decides if You Might Be Acting Like a Terrorist
Next time you travel, be careful not to complain about airport security
by National Journal | DUSTIN VOLZ | March 28, 2015
Next time you go through airport security, do your best to avoid yawning, whistling, or complaining too much: Any of those behaviors could make you look like a terrorist in the eyes of a Transportation Security Administration screening agent, according to newly disclosed government documents.
A secret 92-point checklist, obtained and published Friday by The Intercept, reveals for the first time what kind of passenger behavior can merit a red flag for TSA agents responsible for pulling possible terrorists and criminals out of airport security lines.
The checklist reveals a step-by-step process for assessing whether passengers deserve additional scrutiny. Those deemed suspicious under “observation and behavior analysis” are pulled aside and searched for “unusual items” such as almanacs and prepaid calling cards. During the inspection, TSA agents are also instructed to look for “signs of deception,” which can include a fast rate of eye-blinking.
Other suspicious signs listed include exaggerated yawning, gazing down, a pale face due to a recent beard shaving, widely open staring eyes, wearing of “improper attire,” and arriving late for a flight.
comments
alvin_firpo • 9 minutes ago
if you don’t want to be hassled by tsa agents wear an “allahu akbar” t-shirt. works every time.
if you don’t want to be hassled by tsa agents wear an “allahu akbar” t-shirt. works every time.
Yes, that would be profiling, TSA needs to concentrate on blond grandmothers using walkers.
This has “black swan” written all over it. How many billions of US taxpayer dollars have been squandered on Yemen, which Obama cited as one of his “success stories”?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-battle-for-the-middle-easts-future-begins-in-yemen-as-saudi-arabia-jumps-into-the-abyss-10140145.html
Hey Ted “Galileo” Cruz — here’s some warming for you. I’m sure you’ll say the satellite data doesn’t confirm it…
“Possible New Continental Heat Record for Antarctica”
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=323
Hey Sister, Go Sister, Climate Sister, Go Sister
Hey Sister, Go Sister, Climate Sister, Go Sister
He met Marmalade down in the Esperanza Base
Struttin’ her stuff on the ice
She said ‘Hello,
Hey Joe, you wanna give it a go
Gitchi Gitchi Warming Da Da
Gitchi Gitchi Warming Here
Mocca chocolata Ya Ya
Arctic Lady Marmalade
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
Congresswoman Claims Climate Change Will Turn Women Into Prostitutes
by Warner Todd Huston
26 Mar 2015Washington D.C.
On Wednesday, California Democrat Barbara Lee proposed a resolution in the House of Representatives that claims women will eventually be forced into prostitution in order to obtain life-sustaining food and water for their families.
Lee introduced House Concurrent Resolution 29, warning that women will be forced into “transactional sex” to get enough food and clean water — all because global warming will create “conflict and instability” in the world.
“Women will disproportionately face harmful impacts from climate change,” Lee’s resolution reads. It continues claiming, “Food insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health.”
Lee’s document goes on to urge Congress to agree on the “disparate impacts of climate change on women,” and goes on to demand that Congress use “gender-sensitive frameworks in developing policies to address climate change.”
Lee also charges that women, who are “often underrepresented in the development and formulation of policy regarding adaptation to climate change,” are doubtless in the best position to offer policy ideas.
From 1975 when the settled science warned of the coming ice age.
(Patti) LaBelle - Lady Marmalade (1975) HD 0815007 - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4LWIP7SAjY - 429k -
You and I don’t agree on climate change Phony Scandals but I gotta tip my hat, that was an LOL of a post : - )
This article is excellent, thank you
Israel’s Netanyahu drops his mask and reveals ugliness: Burman
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/03/28/israels-netanyahu-drops-his-mask-and-reveals-ugliness-burman.html
Blame SSRI Not the ISIS for the germanwings plane disaster.
Those pills make non-violent people get really, really violent
But they don’t tell you that in the TeeVee commercials
Happy to see Obamacare is working out for them.
Sutter Health reports 2014 profits up 34 percent
By Mark Glover
03/27/2015 2:34 PM
Sacramento-based Sutter Health said Friday that it had net income of $402 million in 2014, up 34 percent from $300 million in 2013.
The health system said operating revenue last year totaled $10.2 billion, up from $9.6 billion in 2013.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article16515455.html#/tabPane=tabs-b0710947-1-1#storylink=cpy
Why do you hate Capitalism?
Red state democrats made sure the insurance companies would get their cut when the law was written. Then they got voted out of office. Bye bye blue dogs.
Brazil and its president
Dealing with Dilma
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21647293-many-brazilians-are-fed-up-their-president-impeaching-her-would-be-bad-idea-dealing
“It is not hard to see why voters are angry.”
Oh? Please enlighten me …
“She chaired Petrobras’s board in 2003-10, when prosecutors believe more than $800m was stolen in kickbacks and funnelled to politicians in the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) and its allies, 47 of whom face criminal investigation.”
But nevertheless …
“She won last year’s presidential election—albeit by just 3% of the vote—by assuring Brazilians that their living standards, jobs and social benefits were threatened only by her opponents.”
There’s a lesson here: The following two-step process works on either side of the equator:
1. Dumb ‘em down.
2. Profit.
Is she a progressive?
There’s a lesson here: The following two-step process works on either side of the equator:
1. Dumb ‘em down.
2. Profit.
Unlike Americans who grab their ankles and smile, I think the Brazilians make more of a fuss.
The Complex: The City Falls Into a Housing Paradox
By Joe Eskenazi @EskSF Wednesday, May 28 2014
In a unique arrangement, Midtown Park is the only city-owned apartment complex in San Francisco. Unlike a public housing project administered by the San Francisco Housing Authority and receiving federal funds to shelter the city’s neediest residents, Midtown is, merely, a set of city-owned buildings, earmarked for low- to moderate-income earners, and not operated on the feds’ dime. Opinions are mixed as to how this has worked out over the past four decades. Some people say it’s been a bad way to run things.
Others say it’s the worst way.
And so, on Dec. 23, Johnson, the president of Midtown’s elected board, strolled into a meeting with the city officials who own the land and buildings where she and several hundred other tenants reside. Roughly 20 minutes into the proceedings, she recalls, Olson Lee, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing, let it drop that he was unilaterally terminating the 45-year-old lease with Johnson’s board — the entity that collected rent and, ostensibly, ran the place since 1968. Tenants will henceforth be subjected to income verification and made to pay rent at the level the city deems they should be paying. Those refusing to participate in the process will be stuck with “market rate”: $3,000 a month for a two-bedroom flat.
And that pretty much broke up the meeting. “When you’re done, you’re done,” says Johnson with a sigh.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Owners-of-Chinatown-SRO-reverse-course-won-t-6163793.php
Hillarious for president.
She at least knows how to wipe a sever clean. That’s a hard skill to acquire.
If only Bill knew how to clean a dress.
If only W. would visit a military cemetery.
India launches fourth navigation satellite
With this launch, the country is poised to operationalise the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), having put into orbit four of the seven satellites.
“This mission has got significance because we are completing the minimum essential requirement of four satellites in the orbit to start the navigation process,” Project Director P Kunhikrishnan said.
IRNSS-1D, which will provide navigation, tracking and mapping service and have a mission life of 10 years, is the fourth in the constellation of seven satellites, planned by ISRO to constitute IRNSS, which would be on par with US-based GPS once the full complement of spacecrafts are launched
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/india-launches-fourth-navigation-satellite/
Funny how we are so concerned about Iran getting Nuclear Technology which is by the way 70 years old and is no big deal to acquire. The Middle Eastern countries send their bright students to India for education. Some of the schools in India and China rival MIT.
Mars Orbiter Mission
This article is about the Indian Mars probe. For other Mars orbiters, see List of missions to Mars.
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan (”Mars-craft”, from Sanskrit: मंगल mangala, “Mars” and यान yāna, “craft, vehicle”),[9][10] is a spacecraft orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) [11][12][13][14] It is India’s first interplanetary mission[15] and ISRO has become the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency.[16][17] It is the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, and the first nation to do so on its first attempt
The MOM mission concept began with a feasibility study in 2010, after the launch of lunar satellite Chandrayaan-1 in 2008. The government of India approved the project on 3 August 2012,[27] after the Indian Space Research Organisation completed 125 crore (US$20 million) of required studies for the orbiter.[28] The total project cost may be up to 454 crore (US$71 million).[11][29] The satellite costs 153 crore (US$24 million) and the rest of the budget has been attributed to ground stations and relay upgrades that will be used for other ISRO projects.[30]
The space agency had planned the launch on 28 October 2013 but was postponed to 5 November 2013 following the delay in ISRO’s spacecraft tracking ships to take up pre-determined positions due to poor weather in the Pacific Ocean.[5] Launch opportunities for a fuel-saving Hohmann transfer orbit occur every 26 months, in this case, 2016 and 2018
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission
Some of the schools in India and China rival MIT.
But do they have a top football or basketball program?
USA USA USA
I bet the ratio of administrators to students is also very high in Chindia.
Again USA USA USA
Why not let everyone have nukes? Give em all the bomb.
Don’t be silly.
Nuclear apartheid is the best policy.
We just need to continually bomb the developing countries’ nuclear science sites. Shouldn’t be a problem.
Underneath the logo for the Jade Helm drills, a sword with two arrows crossing it, it reads: “Master the Human Domain.”
Military Drill Identifying “Hostile” U.S. States Sparks Alarm
by Alex Newman | The New American | March 28, 2015
The most alarming components of the drills highlighted by concerned citizens and media commentators surround an unclassified presentation about Jade Helm 15’s “realistic military training” that was apparently leaked. In a graphic showing the territory across which the training will take place — essentially the American Southwest — different states are colored based on the fictional status of their loyalty to Washington. Colorado, Nevada, and most of California, for example, are dark blue, indicating that they are “permissive.” Utah and Texas are both shaded red, indicating that they are “hostile.” Southern California is also red, with a note reading “insurgent pocket.” Arizona is light blue, which in the legend is listed as “uncertain (leaning friendly),” while New Mexico is brown, or “uncertain (leaning hostile).” Two more states, Florida and Louisiana, have reportedly been added to the exercise.
According to the presentation, the eight-week training program involves Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces Command (Green Berets), Air Force Special Operations Command, Marine Special Operations Command, Marine Expeditionary Units, the 82nd Airborne Division, and unspecified “interagency partners.” Underneath the logo for the Jade Helm drills, a sword with two arrows crossing it, it reads: “Master the Human Domain.” What exactly that means was not clear, but at least some critics of the exercise have suggested it may be a euphemism for subjugating the population of the United States. Indeed, as other analysts have noted, citing available information, the drill almost certainly has nothing to do with defending the Southern border from invasion. The few details that have been provided, though, are causing concern among analysts.
On a slide explaining “what to expect” during the two-month training program for “unconventional warfare,” the document warns of “increased aircraft in the area at night,” possible noise complaints, personnel carrying weapons with blank ammo, and more. Especially alarming to critics of the program is that “some individuals may conduct suspicious activities designed to prepare them for complex environments overseas,” and that “some participants will be wearing civilian attire and driving civilian vehicles.” Separately, a slide describing what “realistic military training” means has also raised alarm. The document mentions that it will be conducted “outside of federally owned property” and that it is designed to “ensure proper coordination between DOD representatives and local and regional authorities.” News reports citing military officials said the DEA, FBI, and the “Joint Personnel Recovery Agency” (JPRA) would also be participating.
The U.S. government is running a 2 month drill in 10 states with the goal being “Master the Human Domain.”
Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode.
Kramer: Where can I put this?
Jerry: What is it?
Kramer: It’s Risk, Jerry. The game of world conquest. (brushing newspapers off the table with his foot and setting the game board down) Alright, that’s perfect.
Newman walks in.
Jerry: Kramer, why do you have to (noticing Newman) Hello, Newman.
Newman: Hello, Jerry. Will he take it? I gotta go to work.
Jerry: Take what?
Kramer: The board, Jerry. We’ve been playing at Newman’s for six hours but he’s gotta go.
Jerry: So why don’t you leave it at Newman’s?
Newman: I wanted to, he won’t let me.
Kramer: We have to put the board in a neutral place where no one will tamper with it.
Jerry: So that’s here?
Kramer: Yes, yes. You’re like Switzerland.
Jerry: I don’t wanna be Switzerland.
Kramer: Jerry, Newman and I are engaged in a epic struggle for world domination. It’s winner take all. People cannot be trusted.
Newman: Don’t look at me.
Kramer: Oh, I’m looking right at you, big daddy.
Jerry: Alright, soldier boys, let’s fall out.
Kramer: Alright, so you’re gonna look after it?
Jerry: Yeah, yeah.
————————————————————-
New scene.
Kramer: Guess what? I saw Newman talking to the super.
Jerry: So what?
Kramer: The super has keys to your apartment. Don’t you see what’s going on? Newman is planning a sneak attack.
Jerry: Oh, maybe he’s got no hot water.
Kramer: Yeah, alright, fine. You sit there and you watch while Newman takes over the world. But he’d be a horrible leader. And you know who’s gonna suffer? The little people; you and George.
Jerry: Are you through?
————————————————————————
New scene.
Jerry and George are entering Jerry’s apartment.
George: Yeah. What’s that?
Jerry: Oh, it’s Risk, it’s a game of world domination being played by two guys who can barely run their own lives.
http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheLabelMaker.html - 77k -
So have you all tried the Starburst Freeze from Taco Bell yet? I highly recommend it.
PS: Crater.
Crater.
Let it all crater.
I’m looking forward to when my daughter soon starts her new barrrista gig, which includes 1/2 lb of joe a week as a fringe benefit. Life is good!
P.S. CR8R
we need to sell some more bonds to uncle fed and put more folks to work and give out more grants.
If Zilldo prices are to be believed, then CA prices are primed for another wave of bubble price collapse, as the number of new buyers who can afford current prices is vanishingly small and shrinking by the day as the Echo Bubble goes hyperparabolic.
LOL - the damage is done, I knew all along last year that I was breaking my promise to myself and selling long term gains and incurring high taxes. But I was painted into a corner and needed the realized gains.
My Turbo Tax is great for importing data from financial institutions. And I have the idea of how much I will have to pay the thugs. But better than be thrown into a cage. With that knowledge I have to move cash from point A to point B where my ACH is…
Hopefully this year I will get a raise and not have to sell as much stock.
More and more it feels like paying taxes in CA is little different from getting robbed at gunpoint…with similar financial effects.
phony scandals
oddie = liar
liar = odddie