Bits Bucket for March 30, 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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Littleton, CO Sellers Slash Prices 11%; Inventory Explodes 140%
http://www.movoto.com/littleton-co/market-trends/
Look into my eyes and repeat: Now is a great time to buy, now is a great time to buy, now is a great time to buy, now is a great time to buy…
Now flap your arms and cluck like a chicken.
I have better things to do with my time and money than buy houses in Littleton
http://www.picpaste.com/IMG_20150328_140319-utAIrxxY.jpg
People with mortgages don’t get to go here because they are BROKE
I have better things to do with my time and money than buy houses in Littleton
Are you thinking of buying in Lakewood instead? BTW, as a former Vermonter, I resent the calling of a brown hill a Green Mountain.
Far from a Tesla but it is a car for the masses and probably practical for China but not the U.S.:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/motoring/2015-03/30/content_19947251.htm
http://deathbychina.com/
Chuck Fina.
China is death for the US. And for the planet.
Interesting looking docu. The thing is China seems to be working to address the pollution problem. And it’s not like our products are great, look at our food supply. Good though that more people are calling it out.
There is an older docu called American Jobs, I really like that one. Not sure if it’s on Netflix or any of that.
“seems to be” is the operative phrase here. China “seems to be” doing a lot of things. But we don’t know what’s really happening and won’t until it’s too late, I’m afraid.
Chuck Fina.
Long live Taiwan.
Long live Taiwan.
Agreed. But Taiwan does a lot of business with China. It is a bit of riding the tiger.
“seems to be” is the operative phrase here. China “seems to be” doing a lot of things
Agreed. China has been addressing “pollution” for a decade now and it doesn’t seem to be improving.
And it never will. It will just foul its own nest and its citizens will colonize other, cleaner countries.
As much as people complain about breeders from south of the border (and I certainly do), I have a feeling they ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. The Chinese can outbreed Mexico, Central America and South America combined, ten times over.
If China actually does address the industrial pollution problem, the GPTB will just move manufacturing to other third-world hellholes, leaving them with, uh, software and healthcare and government jobs? I guess we’ll have to let them know how that works out, heh heh!
Great, a car for the masses at 4 x median gross income. What a concept. Fang Nu will load up on these covered golf carts for sure.
Really? Per capita income in China is above $13,000 so I would like to see a current source to believe that the median gross income is $2000.
Ginned up GNI massaged by PPP divided by the number of people is not what factory workers get in their paycheck.
At $1.40/hr, what is a factory worker’s gross pay per year? We read here last year that the lucky ones at Niki were pulling in $250 a month.
Making sneakers is low cost production where ever it is done. The Chinese are using more and more robots because $5 to $6 an hour is the norm in many areas of the country for people working on the lines with managers up getting much more.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/china/wages
Add on around another ten percent raise for 2014.
You are seeing less and less in the MSM about China’s wages, I wonder if it is because people might notice just how much the gap between the two countries has closed in a very short period of time. In some ways our businesses could better defend low or no wage growth when they could point to ten cents an hour wages in China. The corporate equivalent to your mother telling you to eat horrible food since people are starving in China.
Even blue collar women are starting to make real money:
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-03/26/content_19912539.htm
Excerpt from link:
Some manual labor jobs performed by women come with paychecks even bigger than those of white-collar professionals, a report released on Tuesday said.
The report, by classified advertising website ganji.com, showed that the highest paycheck for female blue-collar workers in China goes to masseuses, maternity matrons and manicurists, whose monthly salaries averaged between 5,000 and 6,214 yuan ($805-$1,000).
The income level puts these blue-collar workers on par with some white-collar workers in China, echoing a previous study by the website that found that the average salary of office workers in the best-paying 20 cities last year was 5,453 yuan.
The report, which evaluated data for 35,000 positions and resumes posted on the Internet site in 2014, looked at the wages of female blue-collar workers in first-and second-tier cities and found that their average monthly salary was 4,276 yuan.
I wonder if they are including tip income from ‘happy endings’?
I was wondering the same thing.
However being a tech whore pays better:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/tech/2015-03/24/content_19888469.htm
Excerpt top level software engineers are making more than 6000 U.S. dollars per month, sorry I cut out the 50% over the average language but it is in the link:
As China’s booming Internet industry continues to gain momentum, companies are competing fiercely for the best talent.
The coffee house below Yahoo’s Beijing office was overwhelmed with human resources staff on Monday.
“We have been in contact with a dozen Yahoo employees since last week,” said Pony Liu, director of VIP.com, an online retailing platform dedicated to selling discounted brand products, adding it had around five vacancies.
“We are looking for young engineers who are interested in e-commerce, but the fight is so intense.”
The scramble for Yahoo’s more than 200 engineers started shortly after the United States Internet giant announced on Wednesday it was to close its Beijing research and development center.
Even industry heavyweights such as Baidu Inc and JD.com Inc are believed to be finding it hard to hire enough staff, according to recruitment specialists.
“The burgeoning Internet sector has resulted in a considerable shortage of talent, especially in cutting-edge technologies such as cloud computing and mobile technologies,” said Rio Goh, China country head of employment adviser group Morgan McKinley.
Salaries in the talent-starved sector are rising as a result. A recent report by Morgan McKinley shows that software engineers can expect to earn 15,000 yuan ($2,410) to 25,000 yuan a month.
This excerpt includes the line, I cut off.
Salaries in the talent-starved sector are rising as a result. A recent report by Morgan McKinley shows that software engineers can expect to earn 15,000 yuan ($2,410) to 25,000 yuan a month.
But to lure exceptional individuals, cash-rich Chinese enterprises are willing to offer a lot more, maybe as much as 50 percent, to the best candidates.
So you believe that total national value produced, GNI, adjusted by PPP and divided by the work force is what factory workers earn? I would think it is a fraction of that, maybe 1/4. There is no transparent report of what the median income is, as far as I can find. It is all smoke and mirrors. You dismiss sneakers, but NIKI workers earn $250 a month, and that cannot be an extreme exception or nobody would work there. What we do see is that the workday is 12 hours. God bless them and their prosperity.
I would consider the earnings of a top end masseuse to be an outlier, lace or no lace. Also the outsized take of the so-called oligarchs, and all of the connected party officials, lace or no lace. I am thinking it is more like $3000 to $4000 per year for a solid factory job. This is the “masses”.
The problem is the increase in aggregate debt. Some $25 trillion in less than a decade. That’s something like six times the worker’s yearly earnings. It cannot end well. 1992 indeed, more like 1928. All of the current debt issuance is going towards rolling over the previous debt issuance. What could go wrong?
Americans are both kǎ nú (a slave to one’s credit card / sb who is unable to repay their credit card borrowings) and Fang nu ( a slave to a mortgage) meanwhile Chinese are saving between 30 to 50% of their incomes. The Chinese have these terms and they consider them pejorative, we consider massive credit card and mortgage debt to be the American way.
Saving 50%, this is possibly magical thinking. They coined the term Fang Nu for their own people, not for Americans. A high savings rate does not correlate with one of the poorest nations on earth going $25 Trillion into debt in a few short years.
I noticed something after making a post the other day.
I said, “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.”
So, imagine that goes on year after year. The other 8 people go on producing value, the king keeps printing extra money to keep the price level rising (as he too thinks inflation is a good thing), and in the process, hands off some money to his right-hand man. The purchasing power of the majority stays the same while a small group’s purchasing power keeps increasing.
Then I realized, wow - we have that identical outcome in the US. For the top earners, the pay keeps going up and up, the more extreme the higher one gets. I get that from this link: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/ - “Real wages flat or down for most but the top earners.”
If the king is sophisticated, he can just keep real purchasing power flat for the rest of the population while helping himself and his friends to more and more purchasing power, just by printing more currency. The rest of the economy won’t notice anything. And that’s just what we see with the US economy.
This is an observation about the similarities of the outcomes. More investigation about the causes would be interesting.
It’s good to be king, and to live by the golden rule: Those with the gold have a legal right to create fiat money from thin air to buy more.
Don’t you feel confident the assets you are buying actually have the value you are paying for?
Hmm…good idea. I have gold. I should start printing fiat.
I would trust your currency before I would trust Obama’s currency.
Obamas currency is a very distance second to gold and cash.
What does Obama’s currency look like? Does it have his picture instead of Washington or Lincoln?
I said, “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.”
I thought that was beautifully put, Neuromance. Yes, the power to print and to give preference in distribution is precisely the power to redistribute net worth. So few realize that.
And if this redistribution is done slowly enough (e.g. only reallocating the value of productivity improvements rather than wholesale redistribution, the frog in the pot likely doesn’t even notice.
Roubini Greek Doom Scenario’s So Bad It May Keep the Euro Intact
By Lisa Abramowicz
March 13, 2015
Nouriel Roubini isn’t called “Dr. Doom” for nothing. He tends to be a glass half-empty kind of guy who worries a lot about looming crises.
But in an interesting twist, when it comes to Greece, the economic professor’s not that concerned. Here’s why: the doomsday scenario he envisions if the country exited the euro zone is so bleak for the whole region that policy makers both in Athens and across Europe will never let it happen. It’s true other analysts are speculating that officials in Germany and other EU countries are more willing now to entertain the idea of a Greek exit, but that’s not how Roubini sees it.
Borrowing costs would soar for nations such as Italy and Spain and Europeans would race to withdraw cash from their bank accounts, according to Roubini, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Even Germany — Greece’s main nemesis as it negotiates a new financial aid package from European leaders — recognizes this risk, he said in a Bloomberg Television interview Friday.
“It doesn’t make sense to have a Greek exit,” he said. “There would be massive contagion.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-13/roubini-greek-doom-scenario-s-so-bad-it-may-keep-the-euro-intact
Doesn’t that same argument explain why the US Congress would never go through with sequestration.
Oh wait!
“He tends to be a glass half-empty kind of guy who worries a lot about looming crises.”
Yeah, like I recall him worrying about a financial crisis happening in 2008. And boy was he right!
I think the phrase I heard with respect to Roubini was that he correctly predicted 5 out of the last 1 recession.
Was the big drop in oil prices on Friday a one-time blip, or can we expect lower prices going forward?
Markets | Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:13am EDT
Oil prices drop on possible Iran deal, dollar
LONDON | By Christopher Johnson
An oil derrick is seen at a fracking site for extracting oil outside of Williston, North Dakota, in this file photo taken March 11, 2013. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/Files
(Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday as officials from Iran and six world powers discussed a possible deal over Tehran’s nuclear programme that could bring an end to sanctions and allow an increase in Iranian oil exports.
The two sides have until the end of Tuesday to come up with an agreement at talks in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Officials close to the talks have said progress has been made and many investors believe a deal is in the making. Few expect the talks to end without some sort of agreement.
…
“until the end of Tuesday”
Why do these talks always seem to have deadlines? Why can’t they just talk until they’re done? Is there some big event on Wednesday?
April fool’s day, they don’t want to make the deal too obvious.
Why do these talks always seem to have deadlines? Why can’t they just talk until they’re done? Is there some big event on Wednesday?
Unlike “Christian” America, Europe closes shop starting around the middle of Holy Week. Ditto Latin America. BTW, this is the worst week possible to visit a Mexican beach resort, as it will be wall to wall people.
U.S. oil storage crunch might cut crude prices
Paul Davidson, USA TODAY 1:50 p.m. EDT March 29, 2015
The U.S. is running out of places to stash its overflowing oil supplies, threatening to further drive down crude prices that rebounded in recent days.
Supply — including oil produced in the U.S. and imported — has been outpacing U.S. refiners’ demand by about 1 million barrels a day on average since early January, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Advanced drilling techniques that extract crude from shale rock have made the U.S. the world’s No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas liquids. The surge has outpaced a less dramatic rise in U.S. consumption, and exports of gasoline and diesel. Also, many refiners have shut down some operations for a maintenance season likely to run another month or so.
The surplus oil goes into storage, with 8.2 million barrels stocked away last week, EIA figures released Wednesday show. Oil inventories are the highest in at least 80 years. The industry is using about 67% of the 520 million barrels of working storage capacity across the nation, up from 48% in early 2014. Much of the tanks are filled by traders who buy oil at today’s contract price of about $48 a barrel, store it, and sell futures contracts to deliver the crude in a year at higher price, turning a profit after paying storage costs.
…
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-oil-glut-story-grossly-000000955.html
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Truth-About-U.S.-Crude-Storage.html
https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/stats/statisticsvw.asp
The ND rig count according to the state is 96, this is the lowest number in this cycle. BHI uses a count that tends to be 10-12 rigs lower since they count slightly differently. Would not be surprised to see a rig count in the 80s when it releases its numbers Friday. Bottom line, at these prices we will lose 2/3rds of shale oil production in the U.S. and the world will go from a small surplus to a large deficit even if you assume Iran’s production will be increasing one million barrels a day over the next year.
Data, Dan, data!
Crude Oil 47.76 -1.11 -2.27%
If I just read your posts, I would have thought it was $20 a barrel by now.
“A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”
Wayne Gretzky
BTW, you clearly wouldn’t say the same thing with respect to housing…or else you would be touting how home prices are still going up year on year, and everything is just peachy.
Good comments RE, by the way oil finish for this month only nineteen cents down, for December it was actually up:
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/marketquotes/index.php3?market=CL
Crude Oil Down 51%; And Falling
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/crude%20oil%20-%20electronic
Ha, if you look into the rear view mirror too long, you will crash the car.
Falling crude and fuel prices are what we need Dan.
“Good comments RE, by the way oil finish for this month only nineteen cents down, for December it was actually up:”
Cherry picking a couple of data points won’t erase a 50%+ loss since last summer.
Is it true that US corporate profits fell in 2014 for the first time since 2008? If so, what explains the stock market’s recent meteoric runup? Is it a case of’In Fed We Trust’?
News
U.S. economic growth slows in fourth quarter; corporate profits fall
By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON | Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:51pm EDT
By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth cooled in the fourth quarter as previously reported and after-tax corporate profits took a hit from a strong dollar, which could undermine future business spending.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its third estimate of GDP. That was unrevised from the forecast the government published last month.
Businesses throttled back on inventory and equipment investment, but robust consumer spending limited the slowdown in the pace of activity. The economy grew at a 5 percent rate in the third quarter.
After-tax corporate profits declined at a 1.6 percent rate last quarter after increasing at a 4.7 percent pace in the third quarter. Corporate profits from outside the United States fell at an 8.8 percent rate, the steepest decline since the 2007-2009 recession.
“Slower profit growth could mean slower investment in the coming months,” said Thomas Costerg, an economist at Standard Chartered in New York.
…
Its not just US that has slowed….2nd time in a few months China has cut rates & loosened reserve requirements….
Paging Adan…..
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chinapost.com.tw%2Fbusiness%2Fasia%2Fasia-china%2F2015%2F03%2F29%2F432307%2FChina-to.htm&ei=pk0ZVYehApPgoAShtYKwBw&usg=AFQjCNHM4dIHshkyvaeWCh1ZXoZuuKJ7Qg&sig2=xbchc6Jq07vH1jClHrFdAg&bvm=bv.89381419,d.cGU
The Perfect Storm Part II - the U.S., China, E.U., Japan, BRIC’s, the Middle East, all hitting a giant wave at the same time. Starring Janet Yellen as the Captain.
Starring Janet Yellen as the Captain.
Who plays Gilligan?
“Who plays Gilligan?”
Bobby Jindal?
Because they want to maintain 7% growth, if only we had that “problem”.
All we have to do is start building ghost cities and we can easily have 7% growth, for a while. But China’s “while” is almost over.
China had a fiscal deficit smaller than ours last year at 1.8% and has a national debt around 1/5 ours compared to its GDP. They have a long way to go to match our fiscal mess:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-26/china-drums-up-pro-growth-moves-as-disinflation-seen-deepening
It’s private and local government debt that’s going to cause all the trouble for China, and of course the banks. A couple trillion in foreign reserves is nothing compared to the massive credit bubble China has grown.
Actually China has four trillion U.S. dollars in reserves and the vast majority of the debt is in Yuan owed to people that live in China.
I start a thread on the drop in US profits, and it gets hijacked into a thread on 7% Chinese GDP growth. Par for the course…
Well now we know what needs to be posted everyday.
I’m surprised that there was no mention of the brutal weather being the cause - that seems to be the go-to excuse as of late.
what would corporate eps actually be without all the rigged buybacks since 2008?
corporate pu’s.
What a surprise!
“Small investors blame losses on brokers they once trusted.”
“Single mom, retirees say nest eggs hit after they put too much faith in fee-hungry brokers.”
“That her broker might not have acted in her best interest never occurred to her, until recently.”
Dumb ‘em down, and profit.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/small-investors-blame-losses-brokers-070123101.html
From the comments section:
“It’s all about due diligence. It amazes me how many people can rattle off the statistics of their favorite sports team, yet, they have no idea what they have sitting in their 401k. They blindly let some broker manage their assets and never question or verify what is being told to them. Then when that investment tanks, they are looking for someone to blame. Well, go ahead and blame the broker, but, you better take a look in the mirror and put some blame on the person you see in that reflection as well.
“Do yourself a favor and put some effort into learning about financial management strategies and investment products. Understand what a reasonable return on investment is and the risks in attaining it. Once you do, maybe then you will not be duped by these scoundrels.
” Then follow these 3 rules.
Rule #1. No one has more interest in protecting your assets than you.
Rule #2. Never give anyone full autonomy when handling your money.
Rule #3. Never invest is something you don’t completely understand”
Heh. I read that story. Sometimes there’s two sides to it. My mother’s broker was very conservative in investing her money and she sometimes complained about not getting enough return. He was an old school “widows and orphans” Merrill Lynch broker. He kept her principal safe and maybe the return was rather low, but she made out OK.
Sometimes people urge their brokers to get more return, which means more risk. And then they complain when the money evaporates.
I talked to a financial advisor once, and he recommended that I buy a house and some exciting financial products he knew about. That’s the last time I ever went to a financial advisor.
True story.
I met with my banker who was telling me that his accountant called him and advised him to buy a house as an investment.
Well, to be fair, the reason people invest in mutual funds is because they don’t have the time to track 200+ individual stocks. Of course, if they followed market fundamentals they way they follow Peyton, then they wouldn’t own any stocks at all. Then again, maybe they are hoping that it’s different now, just like they hope that a 40 year old QB can lead the Broncos to a SB victory.
Best post on the subject. Ever.
Word.
The market fundamentals since 1926 would have kept everyone out of stocks since then. Yet the Dow index and the S&P index outperformed any other asset.
What is the saying about “past performance” ?
The funny thing is that people think you need to own 200 stocks to be well diversified.
The benefits of diversification by adding another stock is pretty small after about the 15th different company you own.
Of course, don’t buy 15 different airlines, etc., but you can get pretty darn good diversification by owning a couple dozen companies.
Fee hungry brokers?
Snort!
Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral fee is 5 cents per $100 of balance.
the investors share version gained an average annual gain of 11.13% since August of 1976. That’s over 38 years.
Your initial investment in August 1976 would now be worth 52.75 times that. That is a 5175% gain.
And yet people worry about the market being rigged so stay out of the stock market.
the investors share version gained an average annual gain of 11.13% since August of 1976
We could make the same case for California real estate. My parents sold their Fountain Valley house for $21K in in 1971, according to zillow it’s now worth $700K.
Except $1 in 1976 has the same buying power as about $4 now. That takes the real return from about 11% to about 9%. Still pretty damn good, but it’s amazing how much hose 2 points per year add up over time…the difference between a 13x and a 52x.
Houses require more than a nickel per $100 worth of maintenance, and the taxes and insurance ticker are always running.
“according to zillow it’s now worth $700K.”
The problem is there is no buyer at even half that amount.
Remember…. Housing demand has fallen to 20 year lows. 30 year lows in CA.
I watched this documentary on Netflix yesterday. Death by China.
http://deathbychina.com/
’nuff said.
Chuck Fina. And Nixon. And Clinton.
Stories like these make me want to throw up…….
Homeowners facing foreclosure may instead be home free……
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/29/homeowners-facing-foreclosure-may-instead-home-free/PGPtrbQPHqYtKM2N1K74KJ/story.html#comments
No payments made for more than 5 years? Try more than 7 years.
“There are tens of thousands of homeowners who have missed more than five years of mortgage payments, many of them clustered in states like Florida, New Jersey, and New York, where lenders must get judges to sign off on foreclosures.”
“It’s becoming a more common way to get out from under these cases,” said Linda Tirelli, a lawyer in White Plains, N.Y., who represents homeowners facing foreclosure.”
Free Shit Army on the march.
“People who are paying their mortgage might see this as a windfall for the homeowner,” said one of her lawyers, Martin G. McCarthy. “But the lenders are more than partly to blame, and in Susan’s case, I wouldn’t feel bad for them.”
WOW. Where to even start. Does her lawyer(s) have severe brain damage?!!??!
Hey, D*ck, It’s not the lender we have an issue with!
This country is screwed.
China is reducing the required down payment on second homes from 60% to 40%: http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2015-03/30/content_19953689.htm
Also, over the weekend I was listening to the BBC on my satellite radio in my car. Two stories came on that would be of interest to the board. One was a story from Brazil that transgender people in the country have it tough. I will leave it to Lola to confirm or deny that story. However, the second story concerned fracking in the Permian basin. It quoted a driller that the drilled well would not be fracked until oil reached $80 a barrel since that is what the company needed to break even. Of course, it is dangerous to draw too much from one driller but it is consistent with other data which shows that outside very finite sweet spots in the Bakken field(s) and Eagle Ford field(s), it is very expensive to produce fracked oil. We have 5.4 million barrels of fracked oil production with a high decline rate, thus the decline of this production will overwhelm any new source of oil from the world. The truth is the longer oil prices stay down the higher they will go in the medium and long term.
China is doubling down on the real estate mania - that’s not a good thing.
“The truth is the longer oil prices stay down…”
Truth; things that we know we know without seeing, things that will bend the universe. It’s called living in the mania.
Oil prices are not “down”. They are just not “up” as much as at the height of the building bubble.
Apple CEO Tim Cook: ‘There’s something very dangerous happening’ in America
http://uk.businessinsider.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-washington-post-op-ed-slams-anti-gay-legislation-2015-3
Christofascism is on the rise.
“Christofascism is on the rise.”
But here is where it is difficult, who is practicing the fascism, the state that is forcing people to contract with someone that they do not want to contract with or the individual refusing the service?
If you ask people about freedom to contract most people will say that two people have the right to freely contract or not to contract as they see fit. Many liberals and libertarians will say that include the right to contract for things like sex. Up to about 50 years ago freedom to contract included the absolute right not to contract. The Civil Rights act changed that and said you cannot refuse to contract with people of other races. Thus, some freedom was lost but a social goal was advanced. If you really believe in freedom, gays would have a right to refuse service to Christians and Christians would have a right to refuse service to gays. There is a clear legal line between the Civil Rights Act and Obamacare. Both, initially, relied of the government’s authority under the Commerce Clause. Although Roberts changed that authority to the tax authority since he was more troubled by the concept that government has the ability to force you to buy anything under the clause. How would the board feel about being forced to buy a house under the clause since it would “promote” the general welfare if more people would go into debt?
Tim Cook is a crashing bore.
Drama Queen?
I’m tellin’ ya. Just wondering how long it will take him to screw Apple all to hell.
LOL, I had a good belly laugh with his declaration of giving his entire fortune to charity. Maybe when he dies, but not before, that’s for sure. And only if he doesn’t meet the love of his life prior to that.
Take my liver, puh-leeeze.
The fascism is by the Christian rightists who are using the government as a shield to permit acts of discrimination. All public businesses with a public storefront are licensed by the state, which binds them to obey secular federal, state and local laws, including non-discrimination.
This is a spectacularly stupid law. It does the following:
- Grants immunity to satanists who practice animal sacrifice;
- Grants immunity to local volunteer firefighters who refuse to save a burning home because it contains gay, atheist or muslim occupants;
- Grants immunity to the local gym to exclude fat people (gluttony is sin, right?);
Need more examples?
I would like to see the actual provisions of the law that authorize those things instead of just your contentions.
I’m tempted to open a restaurant just so I can refuse service to Christian rightists. Their constant whining about how oppressed they are deeply offends whatever religion I’ll say I have.
Grants immunity to satanists who practice animal sacrifice;
The first amendment does that as long as they do not violate laws against the cruel treatment of animals.
Grants immunity to satanists who practice animal sacrifice;
The first amendment does that as long as they do not violate laws against the cruel treatment of animals.
That’s just it Dan — the Indiana law gives a “get out of jail free” card even if they do violate animal cruelty laws:
Indiana SB101 “A person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened, by a [government entity] may assert …a claim or defense in a judicial or administrative proceeding…the court or other tribunal shall allow a defense against any party and shall grant appropriate relief against the governmental entity.”
You ignore that compliance with basic laws non-discriminatory laws will generally not be found to be a substantial burden. A kosher type kill of an animal will be allowed and any prohibition will be struck down. Now, if you do it like a late term abortion and literally pulled the live animal apart you will be charged and a sane judge is not going to find that not engaging in that practice is a substantial burden on your religion.
American fascism is on the rise.
Fixed it. And remember when dealing with your local peace officers, it’s “comply or die” in the land of the free.
Rodney King was lucky. Back then the cops only beat the stuffing out of him. Today they would have blown his head off.
The biggest threat to civil liberties comes from out of control cops, that’s why they should be fired at the first hint of misconduct. People who think cops are perfect because they wear a uniform should be the first ones to have a choke hold put on them.
I have to wonder what the election of a Southern Baptist could entail for gay rights.
You don’t have to worry. it doesn’t matter much what clothes a politician wears, he is be definition all about personal gain.
Like Carter or Bush?
IIRC, Bill Clinton was a member of the Southern Baptist Convention too.
Mike Huckabee seems like the kind of polite bigot Southern Baptists would like to see run the country.
Hey Timmy, how does Apple treat the sweatshop labor that manufactures its pricey and super high margin products? It it OK to treat them like crap because they aren’t North American homosexuals?
Amen, brothah. Guy is as phony as a three dollar bill.
I think they’re treated pretty good?
Homeowners facing foreclosure may instead be home free
In September, Susan Rodolfi celebrated an unusual anniversary: five years of missed mortgage payments.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/29/homeowners-facing-foreclosure-may-instead-home-free/PGPtrbQPHqYtKM2N1K74KJ/story.html
Tried posting this before…..probably screwing it up…….disgusting…..
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/30/business/foreclosure-to-home-free-as-5-year-clock-expires.html?_r=1
I’m disgusted that the banks are so incompetent and bureaucratic that it takes them 5 years or more to foreclose on a house. You see the same incompetent snail’s pace with short sales… buyers with good bids are forced to wait and wait, many give up, because the bank is so constipated it can’t approve a deal.
A five year wait to foreclose is bad for the economy because bad debt lingers and it holds up market clearing.
I hope the lady gets a free house. If that’s what it takes to wake up the banks, then so be it. Big banks suck.
“bids”?
lolz
Yes….free houses for everybody! Can pay how much per month for her lawyer but won’t pay the mortgage?!
I’d like to see a federal law that says if the bank serves a NOD, the bank has 18 months to evict and sell the house, or the owner’s gets the house and the debt is erased. That’ll get the banks off their collective behinds. Need to stop the zombie foreclosure games. If it defaults, move ‘em out and sell it. Clear the market.
The guys who make those “Federal laws” decided a few years ago that they would allow the banks to hold properties for 5 or with a little effort 10 years after a NOD was filled on a property before beginning the foreclosure process.
The lady isn’t getting a free house. Another law that our leaders passed after the crash killed what was the common result from a short sale. The prior property owner use to get a 1099 from the IRS for whatever the difference was between the original loan amount and what the property sold for.
That law timed out a couple of years ago so if the deadbeat in Miami gets the house for free she wll also soon be visited by her friendly taxman.
And I’m not absolving the banks, the FED, the FASB etc.
Been renting for 23 years and if I miss one payment, I will be tossed out on my you know what…
Excerpt from link:
China’s required downpayment ratio for second homes fell from 60 percent to 40 percent, as the latest measure to shore up the cooling market, China’s authorities said in a notice on Monday.
The minimum downpayment ratio for first home buyers who use the housing provident fund will also be reduced from 30 percent to 20 percent, said the notice.
“The number of cities with month-on-month price declines rose in February to 66 from 64 in January, among the 70 tracked by the government, after falling for three consecutive months.”
The article uses words like “slide” and “decline”. They will have their work cut out for them massaging their numbers to show “growth” amid decline and a shift to “consumer” (AKA construction) based economy amid collapsing prices and debt exhaustion. 70 million more empty excess houses up next.
Keep the popcorn coming.
Now all the money that used to go into real estate is pouring into the stock market. It takes a long time for a real estate bubble to burst, but a stock market bubble can burst in a matter of hours. The question is, will they all go off at once?
For the most part this board does not understand they are at the same stage as we were in 1994, I do not advocate that they go down the same path but they have the “tools” to keep a Ponzi going for another twenty years. However, they seem to want to go down another path through higher value production.
“For the most part this board does not understand they are at the same stage as we were in 1994,”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Oh wait, that’s not very constructive.
Albuquerque thanks for helping educate us.
The ponzi is already coming apart Dan.
Ff you look into the rear view mirror too long, you will crash the car.
He is making progress. Now the miracle is a “Ponzi”. A few years after China implodes, he might actually call it a setback.
CRATER
“Colorado’s latest report on jobs and unemployment shows a “strong” jobs picture in the state, but buried in the numbers are signs of the growing impact of the state’s oil and gas slump”
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/earth_to_power/2015/03/despite-upbeat-colorado-jobs-report-cu-analyst.html
Sad times in Greeley
Market as of 11.45 EDT is UP 260 - wonder if it will hold.
When money floods the market as it routinely does these days, fundamentals no longer matter.
it’s a New Era!
I find these sorts of headlines amazing considering that our illustrious comrade leader Otrauma had an insider meeting with the likes of Zuckerberg in Silicon (implant) Valley a few years back - One has to truly wonder what exactly Otrauma discussed with Google, Facebook, Linkedin etc at that dinner?
My take?……It is about controlling the message and content to maintain power - Otrauma and his ilk have little interest in money - they got plenty of that. It is all about power with these DC folk and their crony buddies.
First this from Zero hedge today ……http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-29/big-brother-here-facebook-reveals-its-master-plan-control-all-news-flow
Then the list at the dinner that Otrauma held - at the time I have to admit I thought you gotta watch this cabal as it unfolds - and as the days pass this seems to be unfolding more and more…..
Guest List for Obama’s Dinner With Technology Leaders
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR FEBRUARY 17, 2011 3:53 PM February 17, 2011 3:53 pm
President Obama will sit down for dinner with a dozen of the titans of the American technology industry Thursday night at the Silicon Valley home of the venture capitalist John Doerr, according to two people familiar with the president’s plans.
White House officials have declined to confirm at whose house the dinner will take place. But aides just released a list of his guests, a group of rival business leaders who run some of the most successful technology companies in the world.
Expected to attend, to discuss what White House officials said would be the president’s efforts to promote innovation, are: Steve Jobs, the C.E.O. of Apple; Eric Schmidt, the chairman and C.E.O. of Google; and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and C.E.O. of Facebook.
The three men have pioneered technological innovation, and are partners in some ventures. But they are also fierce competitors whose products are jousting for dominance on the internet and in the rapidly growing smartphone industry.
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters Thursday that Mr. Obama is hoping to discuss how the successes of the technology sector can be applied to other industries.
“This is a part of our of our economy that has been a huge contributor to economic growth,” Mr. Carney said. “It is a remarkable demonstration of the American capacity of creativity and innovation and leadership. It is a model, really, for that kind of economic activity that we want to see in other cutting edge industries in the United States.”
In addition to Mr. Doerr, Mr. Jobs, Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Zuckerberg, the president will meet with the following executives, according to the White House:
Carol Bartz, president and C.E.O., Yahoo; John Chambers, C.E.O. and chairman, Cisco Systems; Dick Costolo, C.E.O., Twitter; Larry Ellison, co-founder and C.E.O., Oracle; Reed Hastings, C.E.O., NetFlix; John Hennessy, president of Stanford University; Art Levinson, chairman and former C.E.O., Genentech; and Steve Westly, managing partner and founder, the Westly Group.
Mr. Doerr has been a frequent host for Democratic politicians visiting Silicon Valley in the past, including former Vice President Al Gore.
One has to truly wonder what exactly Otrauma discussed with Google, Facebook, Linkedin etc at that dinner?
Am I the only one alarmed by the spread of Google Fiber?
“Am I the only one alarmed by the spread of Google Fiber?”
I personally can’t wait. Google Fiber has caused AT&T to offer the same speeds at the same pricing in Kansas City.
Ultimately, Google pushing 1 Gigabit speeds at low prices ($70 per month without TV, $120 with TV), will force the competition to react with similar offerings.
At that point, you can get your Gigabit speeds without Google being your provider, if you’d prefer someone else to be shuttling your data around.
I personally can’t wait
Same here.
Well now. Corporations have free speech, but not high school students, apparently.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2015/0330/Does-wearing-American-flag-incite-violence-Supreme-Court-lets-stand-ruling
We’re through here. SCOTUS just fills me with contempt.
Welcome to the “Comply or die” police state.
http://news.yahoo.com/nsa-shooting-fort-meade-gate-men-dressed-as-women-154647122.html
But her opinion can be trusted on the Ukraine and Iran?
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/susan-rice-bergdahl-served-honor-and-distinction_794066.html
What REALLY happened to Harry Reid? Interesting opinion. Reminds me of The Godfather.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/03/what-really-happened-to-harry-reid-part-2.php
“The principal rumor my friend heard was that Reid had promised to obtain some benefit for a group of mobsters. He met with them on New Year’s Day, and broke the bad news that he hadn’t been able to deliver what he promised. When the mobsters complained, Reid (according to the rumor) made a comment that they considered disrespectful, and one of them beat him up.”
Maybe the land for the Chinese?
That’s interesting…
I had heard (before the election) that the reason Harry got the support of business owners in Vegas is they figured their alternatives were:
1. Junior Republican with no seniority; or
2. Senior Democrat with some potential ability to get things for Nevada.
While many of them didn’t like his politics, they thought he would bring home the cheese for Nevada in any event.
Perhaps he made promises along the same lines to the wrong people.
Ramshackle San Francisco home sells for $1.2 million
By Daniel Goldstein
Published: Mar 30, 2015 8:50 a.m. ET
“This is not a joke,” wrote SFist’s Jay Barmann. “[T]his is the world we live in.” He called the 1907 four-bedroom, two-bath Craftsman home “ramshackle.” A “total disaster,” chimed in Tracy Elsen, a real-estate blogger in San Francisco.
Indeed, it might not look like much from the outside or on the inside, but where it is — 1644 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA, 94122 — is where it is.
The 1,832-square-foot house, listed on Redfin.com as a “contractor’s special” in a “deteriorative state” that “needs everything,” just sold, on March 24, for a whopping $1.21 million in cash (or $660 a square foot) after being listed in February for $799,000 (a premium of $411,000). At that per-square-foot price, this house, on San Francisco’s often-chilly western fringe, was more expensive than the going rates in Boston, Washington and New York.
The home, even though it has been gutted, has an unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean and sits a short walk across San Francisco’s Great Highway to the beach, and it is just five blocks from San Francisco’s famed Golden Gate Park. Oh, and it’s got off-street parking, not a small thing in the City by the Bay.
The house sold for $340,000 in August of 1997 and was sold for $935,000 in June of 2008, when it looked a lot better.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ramshackle-san-francisco-home-sells-for-12-million-2015-03-27
Many of the Craftsman-era fixtures common to Bay Area homes, including stained glass and Tiffany-style lamps, have been ripped out
Keep spinnin’.
Fun read for the bitcoin lovers:
http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/30/criminal_complaint_force.pdf
My landlord is being slow in getting back to me with the upcoming rent increase. Looks like a sudden costly move coming up. Grrr.
Yet still a fraction of the cost of buying at current grossly inflated asking prices of resale housing.
hows that 50/ ft thing working out?
Data Poet data!
Bellevue, WA List Prices Plunge 13% YoY; Inventory Skyrockets
http://www.zillow.com/bellevue-wa-98005/home-values/
Your daily update from Chicago ILLANNOY!!! This place is for debt donkey broke a$$ losers…..and I live here - YIKES!!!
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/broken-city-rahm-emanuel-and-the-unraveling-of-115037357316.html
Emanuel vs. Jesus around Easter? Kind of funny when you think about it. Who is going to be the “savior” of Chicago, btw where do you find three wise men and a virgin in Chicago?
btw where do you find three wise men and a virgin in Chicago?
I know where not to look, in City Hall.
So why haven’t you moved to wonderful Denver?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-chicago-has-used-financial-engineering-to-paper-over-its-massive-budget-gap-144515066.html
Tacoma, WA List Prices Crater 43% As Housing Bust Spreads
http://www.zillow.com/ruston-wa-98402/home-values/
In the U.S., “there’s not much in the way of distress left, which makes buying tougher,” Mr. Gray said at an investor conference last June. It also makes it particularly hard to find Blackstone’s bread and butter: properties cheaper than what the last owner paid.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/blackstone-strikes-deal-for-chicagos-willis-tower-2015-03-15
Spin it!
Costco gasoline is under $3/gal again and I am loving it except for one thing, which is that the number of selfish hoarders lining up to buy cheap gas turns the queuing area into a large parking lot.
http://picpaste.com/pics/20150330_213058-BGpsG7mY.1427777600.jpg
R u ready for $20/bbl oil?
Market Extra
Oil could fall below $30 a barrel, but here’s why that’s a good thing
By William Watts
Published: Mar 30, 2015 3:13 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (MarketWatch)—Oil futures could tumble as far as the mid-$20s before bottoming. But if history is a guide, that could be a positive scenario for stocks as corporate earnings and consumers reap the benefit of lower energy prices, said Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer at Guggenheim Partners.
But first, Minerd sees little reason to expect a significant near-term rebound for oil prices.
…