Bits Bucket for April 14, 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.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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The libertarian moment has arrived
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazine/has-the-libertarian-moment-finally-arrived.html
What about the idea that Libertarians lack moral fiber? Or is morality none of government’s business?
How does Government teach morality to families? If they could we would not have baby mamas and baby daddies.
To quote Rush “if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”
Step 1 is deciding you need to lose weight, the How comes after.
You know this is the Canadianband Rush right? YYZ, Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta?
I think teaching morality to Wall Street would be a bigger accomplishment.
” To quote Rush”
I think teaching anything to this anotherlola will be a big accomplishment.
“You cant have something for nothing
You cant have freedom for free
You wont get wise with the sleep still in your eyes
Even if you smoke PCP”
since 1964 great society
babby mamma rate has tripled
fatherless+godless = dangerous
The traditional reason why governments have been involved with morality and if you are running a welfare state, the incentive to be involved becomes even more compelling.
God will certainly protect you from them, since you’re a believer. Right?
God protects those who help themselves… well, God and Sig Sauer and Glock and Kalishkanov.
If only Jesus had been carrying a sidearm. Then the new testament would have been a whole different story!
‘is morality none of government’s business?’
I’m sure there is a Morality Police division at Homeland Security.
Jobs, pay, food, medicine, retirement for workers: none of the government’s business.
Sex: government’s business.
Geez, do you live under a rock?
Read senator Moynihan’s 1965 report.
Read senator Moynihan’s 1965 report.
And then juxtapose it with Jefferson Davis’ memoirs, the history of domestic terrorism against the blacks in the south, and southern racism’s long term effects. (And the myth of the “Lost Cause”.) America’s racism has damaged an important part of America.
“Moynihan argued that the rise in single-mother families was not due to a lack of jobs but rather to a destructive vein in ghetto culture that could be traced back to slavery and Jim Crow discrimination”
View that Moynihan was attempting to divert responsibility
Main article: Blaming the victim
Psychologist William Ryan coined the phrase “blaming the victim” in his 1971 classic book Blaming the Victim,[13] specifically as a critique of the Moynihan report. He said it was an attempt to divert responsibility for poverty from social structural factors to the behaviors and cultural patterns of the poor.[
wiki
‘Libertarians, who long have relished their role as acerbic sideline critics of American political theater, now find themselves and their movement thrust into the middle of it. For decades their ideas have had serious backing financially (most prominently by the Koch brothers, one of whom, David H., ran as vice president on the 1980 Libertarian Party ticket), intellectually (by way of policy shops like the Cato Institute and C.E.I.) and in the media (through platforms like Reason and, as of last year, “The Independents”). But today, for perhaps the first time, the libertarian movement appears to have genuine political momentum on its side. An estimated 54 percent of Americans now favor extending marriage rights to gay couples.’
‘Decriminalizing marijuana has become a mainstream position, while the drive to reduce sentences for minor drug offenders has led to the wondrous spectacle of Rick Perry — the governor of Texas, where more inmates are executed than in any other state — telling a Washington audience: “You want to talk about real conservative governance? Shut prisons down. Save that money.” The appetite for foreign intervention is at low ebb, with calls by Republicans to rein in federal profligacy now increasingly extending to the once-sacrosanct military budget. And deep concern over government surveillance looms as one of the few bipartisan sentiments in Washington, which is somewhat unanticipated given that the surveiller in chief, the former constitutional-law professor Barack Obama, had been described in a 2008 Times Op-Ed by the legal commentator Jeffrey Rosen as potentially “our first president who is a civil libertarian.”
‘Meanwhile, the age group most responsible for delivering Obama his two terms may well become a political wild card over time, in large part because of its libertarian leanings. Raised on the ad hoc communalism of the Internet, disenchanted by the Iraq War, reflexively tolerant of other lifestyles, appalled by government intrusion into their private affairs and increasingly convinced that the Obama economy is rigged against them, the millennials can no longer be regarded as faithful Democrats — and a recent poll confirmed that fully half of voters between ages 18 and 29 are unwedded to either party. Obama has profoundly disappointed many of these voters by shying away from marijuana decriminalization, by leading from behind on same-sex marriage, by trumping the Bush administration on illegal-immigrant deportations and by expanding Bush’s N.S.A. surveillance program. As one 30-year-old libertarian senior staff member on the Hill told me: “I think we expected this sort of thing from Bush. But Obama seemed to be hip and in touch with my generation, and then he goes and reads our emails.”
A writer who thinks libertarianism equals government-approved same sex marriage doesn’t have a clue.
It’s the New York Times, what were you expecting?
Rand Paul’s advocacy of “liberty” is a fart in the wind, and when it blows away and is forgotten all you’ll have left are Jeb and Hillary
So that’s what that smell that’s always lingering in Greeley is.
But….but….but if you live in Greeley long enough - the locals say - I don’t smell a smell - do you?
As I tell my kids - the problem with doing the wrong thing is it is like being in a cess pool - it is warm, it is squishy and smooth and sure feels good - but the fumes will kill you if you breath them enough!
A writer who thinks libertarianism equals government-approved same sex marriage doesn’t have a clue.
+1, Ben—my thought exactly while reading this. You really should have at last a vague notion of what a subject means before you try to pen an opinion piece on it.
I’m confused actually. Is it the ‘government-approved’ part of it that libertarians would not support? Or is there some form of libertarianism wherein people are still told who they can and cannot marry?
What difference does it make? There aren’t but a handful of libertarians in DC and policy/wars will continue to be directed by the two party dictatorship. What is puzzling is why they trot out this libertarian stuff at all. I can remember similar buzz at the time the PTB rallied around ‘free trade’ to form the NAFTA/WTO monstrosity.
I think the difference the author was talking about is that the millenials tend towards a form libertarianism that is anti-war, leery of state surveillance, and also race- and sexuality- blind. Their vote is largely out there for the taking, hence libertarianism is possibly having its moment.
That sort of analysis sounds as if it assumes that millenials are not interested in the issues that people over 30 are concerned about - jobs, taxes, immigration, health care, etc. That sounds unlikely. Besides that, young people are notorious for their low turnout at elections.
“young people are notorious for their low turnout at elections.”
Too bad they can’t vote on-line.
Perhaps libertarianism is having its McGovern moment, then. Or its Goldwater moment.
“young people are notorious for their low turnout at elections.”
Too bad they can’t vote on-line.
There should be an app for that.
“young people are notorious for their low turnout at elections.”
Reinstate the draft, and the young men would pay attention.
join your local
fcta.org
cratering.housing. demand.
Multiple Walmarts across the country closed for 6 months. No advanced warning/shelves stocked… “Plumbing Problems.”
I have to say this piqued my interest. I’m interested to see Jeff S’s reaction.
Joe 6pack has no shopping money left after paying 50%+ of his income on housing. And the Waltons want to sell out. It’s a sad time in Wal-mart history.
Zero down.
Zero down.
Zero down.
Zero down.
Zero down.
Zero down.
Zero down.
Joe 6pack has no shopping money left
Gap’s tale of 2 brands shows how broke Americans really are
ASHLEY LUTZ
Business Insider
A disparity between two brands owned by Gap Inc. shows that American consumers are feeling strapped for cash.
The company’s namesake Gap stores and its Old Navy brand target two different groups of consumers. Gap uses trendy ad campaigns to attract cool, trend-conscious shoppers. Old Navy sells to value-seeking families.
The brands’ recent sales results show that Americans seem more concerned with saving money than being cool.
Sales at Gap’s namesake brand plummeted 7% in March, and are down 14% from two years earlier, according to a recent report by Morgan Stanley. Banana Republic sales fell 3%.
Meanwhile, the company’s cheaper Old Navy label is thriving, with a sales increase of 14% in March, according to the same report.
The company blames supply-chain issues and off-trend fashions for the decline at Gap stores.
But the economy also seems like a likely factor.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/gaps-sales-decline-and-old-navy-success-2015-4#ixzz3XHzXTSwf
“The company’s namesake Gap stores…”
What a great name for a clothier, “The Gap.”
It’s only missing the letters ‘i’, ‘g’, and ‘h’…
I’ve noticed an increase in parent’s draping their chillin’s in Old Navy sweatshirts over the multitude of Gap’s you used to see in ‘07 - ‘08.
The quality of stuff sold at Old Navy is actually worse than what they sell at Walmart
Well Lola,
That’s what happens when the government encourages millions to pay a grossly inflated price for a depreciating asset. In this case, a house.
I went to Yahoo Finance and searched out WMT and found this entry in the comment section:
“Wal-Mart temporarily closes several stores
“I know one in Tulsa and there is one in Livingston, TX that is closing indefinitely due to “plumbing issues” and other issues. There are more stores - I just know of those 2 for fact. Employees told they get paid 60 days (because of WARN act) and can transfer to other stores if positions are available. If not, they will get paid 1 week for every year worked. WOW.”
I wonder if this is something more insidious, like toxic materials were used when they were built.
More likely that they were contaminated by lead-based paint from the Chinese-made products sold there . . .
What sort of customer shops at Walmart?
Man arrested after mobile meth lab discovered in Plainfield Walmart parking lot
Posted 9:19 PM, April 13, 2015, by Greg Margason - Web Producer, Updated at 10:26pm, April 13, 2015
PLAINFIELD, Ind. (April 13, 2015)– Plainfield and State Police say a mobile meth lab was discovered in a vehicle in a Walmart parking lot Monday night.
Police were called to the Walmart located at 2373 East Main Street just between State Road 267 and U.S. 40. just after 6 p.m. on a report of a fight.
…
Shirley you’ve googled “people of walmart” before?
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/category/location/al/
I would say it would be this guy:
en·tre·pre·neur
noun
a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.
Based on the fact that they have almost 5,000 stores in the US, I think the better question is who doesn’t shop at Walmart (or at least Target)? I’d imagine it’s a very small sliver.
Here’s an article. Lots of talk in the comments section about Walmart doing some union busting.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/business/20150413/530-pico-rivera-walmart-employees-laid-off-after-sudden-closure-of-supercenter
There was a move to unionize the tire/auto center at our local wallymart. Just days before the vote, Walmart suddenly hired several new people into the tire center, who surprisingly all voted no on unionizing.
Here’s an article, and one of the comments says:
“Funny how this falls on just when Wal-Mart is being hailed for raising their minimum wage to $10. Good-bye all employees who built up whatever benefits they may have accumulated.”
http://www.ktre.com/story/28791533/livingston-walmart-closing-for-6-months-laying-off-422
A buddy of mine has to visit Walmart stores and check his company’s merchandise there mentioned a while back that they were closing Walmart stores early in our area as the “shrinkage” meaning theft was greater at night than Walmart sold. He mentioned that at night one store lost 3 to 4 million dollar worth of merchandise in less than a year.
The name of Walmart’s game just may be:
Let’s get rid of the employees we now have and replace them with a fresh batch. And let’s plan to do this on a regular basis.
Churn ‘em and burn ‘em.
From the the Circuit City playbook??
Let’s get rid of the employees we now have and replace them with a fresh batch
Why pay the same idiots more money? Walmart, when it was growing fast use to be able to attract quality people at low wages. The stock option gains and the ability to move up quickly in the organization made up for the low entry level pay. It was almost like a high tech company. Fast forward to a flat stock price and very little U.S. expansion, now working at Walmart defines dead end job. Maybe Walmart has decided to pay more for better quality workers. But do you pay the slow clerk making $7 an hour $12 now, or do you hire the person that can work twice as quickly at $12 an hour. That is what many of these people calling for $15 an hour don’t get, they will be replaced by robots or humans that work faster, they will not see the $15 an hour.
The stock option gains and the ability to move up quickly in the organization made up for the low entry level pay.
I’ve never heard that Walmart offered stock-options to entry level hires. Substantiate that, or admit that you are smoking something today.
Prime, I remember reading it in the 1990s but I will see if I can find it.
BTW, Obamacare and the colleges this should be fun:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/obamacares-cadillac-tax-hits-the-college-campus/ar-AAaYIHn
My understanding of an “Associate” is it is a very low level employee at Walmart it may not be the part time shelf stocker but it is just about everyone else:
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Wal-Mart_(WMT)/Stock_Options
They may call everyone “Associates”, but that does not mean that entry-level employees _ever_ received stock options; look at the second sentence in the first paragraph at the link that you sent:
“unless the Incentive Stock Option is granted to a Recipient who, at the time of the grant, owns stock representing more than 10% of the voting power of all classes of stock of Wal-Mart or any Parent/Subsidiary Corporation, in which case the term may not exceed 5 years from the date of grant. ”
Translation: if they are changing the vesting limitations for an Associate controlling more than a 10% of the voting power of the company, this is targeted only at the executive suite.
Sorry Prime, I remember the stories and how Walmart use to justify its entry level pay by telling how much they were making through their stock options due to walmart’s stock moving like a high tech stock. I am not an expert on present compensation, it may have changed after stock options had been expensed, but the ball is now in your court to show that the line means what you are saying.
If you see how stock options worked in the 1990s you will see how they were so important to both Walmart and in creating the high tech bubble. They cost the companies nothing to offer and as long as the company stock was going up they were quite valuable to the employee, it was the perfect way for Walmart to expand with inexpensive but quality employees, with all stock options to entry level employees Walmart would be a much smaller entity:
http://wiki.fool.com/Employee_stock_option
I’ve never heard that Walmart offered stock-options to entry level hires.
I seem to recall reading that in the old days that the Walmart rank and file did have some kind of stock purchase plan that allowed them to quickly flip a few shares they could buy at a predetermined discount (say the the price at the beginning of the quarter). So if the share price would rise a bit, they could make a few hundred dollars every quarter. If the stock stayed flat then there was no free money.
Thank you. It was a major part of their compensation when Walmarts were being built as fast as Starbucks were being built fifteen years ago.
Of course, employees could only benefit from such a program if they had the money to buy stocks.
Most companies use RSU now instead of Stock options (ISO)
Tax code changed ?
Tax code changed ?
The biggest change was that companies had to assign a value to the options and expense them against earnings. They had no impact on earnings before then so you can inflate your earnings by paying less and giving option generously combine that with the high growth rate of Walmart they created a powerful incentives to substitute options for cash payments.
Of course, employees could only benefit from such a program if they had the money to buy stocks.
IIRC, they were allowed to flip the stocks with no cash out of their pocket, a la stock options.
Of course, Walmart stock’s meteoric rise ended a long time ago, so it’s moot.
Obamacare and the colleges this should be fun
That’s what you’re left with I guess. Congrats. None of your ObamaCare “predictions” have come true the past 5 years.
Krugman: republicans are 0 for 6 in Obamacare predictions …
politicalconundrum.lefora.com/…/Krugman-republic…Traduzir esta página
28 de jun de 2014 - 15 postagens - 7 autores
For reference: I count at least six distinct predictions of Obamacare doom made by the usual suspects, not one of which has come true. …. Repubs didn’t involve themselves in that tweeking BEFORE Obamacare became law.
do you pay the slow clerk making $7 an hour $12 now, or do you hire the person that can work twice as quickly at $12 an hour.
A bunch of shuck and jive to deflect from the fact that USA’s pay has greatly diverged from productivity-including WalMart. Supply-Side beauty in a picture.
http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/events/spring08/feller/productivity_wages_graph.gif
They didn’t need options. My old neighbor worked in the “notions” department, for minimum wage. Wal-Mart offered a small, payroll deduction matching stock purchase program, she bought no more than 100 shares over several years, in the 70’s. After all the splits, and growth, when she passed away in 2001, her children were left over $3,000,000 in WMT. Of course, this wouldn’t work today, Granny would have to have worked at Apple or something
“Plumbing Problems.”
Three thoughts:
1) If you think any job would be safe in a depression, it would be at WalMart.
2) Is there any plumbing problem that would be at multiple stores that would require six month shutdowns to repair? Hard to imagine, but I’m not a plumber. Chinese-made asbestos pipes?
3) Multiple cherry bomb flushes across the country by anti-WalMart activists? Conceivable, but the locations don’t seem right.
Probable conclusion: WalMart is joining K-Mart in the mega-discount-store graveyard. Aldi’s and Dollar Tree are the new choice of the poor folk.
Maybe taking the opportunity to trim the fat and unproductive. It’s about time. They have almost 5000 stores in the US. Probably way overbuilt like everything else.
If they close the Walmart a mile to my east, I will just go to the Walmart a mile north, or a mile or two west.
When I walk through a WalMart now, it is half-empty and usually dirty. They used to be gleaming, well-stocked stores. Somewhere along the line, the ‘warehouse on wheels’ concept broke down.
They used to be gleaming, well-stocked stores
We have two in our town. The older one is dirty, the newer one is clean and gleaming. It is not unusual for either store to be out of stock. I’ll buy dog food there because it’s cheaper, but sometimes the brand of choice (Benefil, Healthy Weight) is out of stock. That never happens at Kroger or Safeway.
My guess is that Wal-Mart is converting their choice locations into Super wal-marts and letting the rest rot away.
The Walton family wanting to sell out (is there a link somewhere?) might be the best thing for the stores too. Wally has huge market influence if they install solar panels or sell non-growth hormone milk, or — wow — give workers a little raise.
Listening to poor people bemoan and belabor angry rhetoric aimed at rich people?
Priceless.
Maybe taking the opportunity to trim the fat and unproductive
Trim what? USA’s 30 year production increases are off-the-charts, and wages have stagnated while the rich have got it all.
That’s a fact.
Walmart is basically the American distribution center for cheaply made Chinese merchandise, but the whole China model is collapsing before our very eyes, and Walmart will be the main victim, aside from China itself.
People still need cheap clothes, food and other stuff. The problem for WalMart (and China) is that the growth is over.
Plumbing problems:
It MUST BE those flushable wipes!
As usual you ignorant pukes have it all wrong. It’s WALMART that is the true victim here; It’s not everyday that such a fine company is hit with a multitude of plumbing issues ALL AT ONCE!
Few companies could withstand such an event. The right thing to do is to offer to Walmart government aid of some sort.
Save Walmart and you will save America.
And the children, you will save the children, you will save the children of America.
more on the Walmart story, 5 stores across the US, all closed suddenly with only a few hours notice, all supposedly for plumbing but local governments say no permits have been pulled for repair work.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/businesshomepage1/wal-mart-closes-five-stores-nationwide-simultaneously-on-monday-citing/article_39ecacf6-ad98-5094-9bf5-62e053855492.html
5 stores out of 5000 is little more than noise. Now if they were to close 500, that would be interesting.
Greek default looming, according to FT. Got popcorn?
http://www.businessinsider.com/report-greece-is-getting-ready-to-default-2015-4
The next leg down will probably be a global debt collapse. The scene will be spectacular. Will this be the jubilee year?
Should have done an old granny credit blitz ‘an loaded up on a few McMansions, and got a Ph.D…LOL.
“spectacular”
With so much foam on the runway and bailout precedents out the wazoo, what makes you think a Grexit would have much effect?
Top headline on neocon moonie rag the Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/13/russia-shields-iran-from-airstrikes-puts-obama-nuc/
Your base has been rallied
No “smaller government” or “lower taxes” happening here
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/john-mccain-delivers-warning-on-defense-spending-116937.html
Sheldon Adelson
No “small government” or “lower taxes” happening here:
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/04/13/israel-iran-boosts-weapon-shipments-to-hamas-hezbollah-in-expectation-of-lifted-sanctions
Your base had been rallied
The top five headlines on the Fox News website right now are all about Iran
Wouldn’t it just be easier for American taxpayers if they could skip the middleman and just write a check directly to William Kristol?
And here as reported by real journalists at the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-meets-with-jewish-american-leaders-to-defuse-iran-fears/2015/04/13/fc264526-e1f9-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html?tid=HP_politics?tid=HP_politics
This country is over eighteen trillion dollars in debt, but these parasites want even more American taxpayer dollars
Think about that when you’re writing that check to pay your income taxes tomorrow
Clarification: Christian Zionists are the parasites, Israel is just the host
It does sound strange. Will Obama have a similar meeting with Iranian-Americans?
The most liked comments on that Washington Post article are some of the most bought and paid for propaganda I have read recently, Sheldon Adelson (who owns the main Likud Party newspaper) must be paying his army of hired trolls triple overtime to post and like each other’s comments there
Did you ever occur to you that Israel gives Islamo-terrorists something to shoot at besides us?
Appeasing fascists has generally be found to fail at an expense beyond money.
A war with Iran will be costly, but thankfully we’ve got the millionaires who work at Fox News to explain to us why millionaires shouldn’t pay higher taxes to pay for the expensive wars those millionaires want to start.
As governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker has to balance the state’s budget. But as president, he has an infinite supply of money he can borrow from communist China to launch World War III and most importantly, secure the vote of the Christian Zionist demographic to get reelected in 2020
Nothing rallies a base more than the possibility of the Rapture happening sooner
Won’t the rapture take away his base?
I said the possibility of the Rapture
These neocons will never kill off their base, because that could interrupt the avalanche of money that is pouring out of the U.S. Treasury into William Kristol’s pockets
Did you sell your Treasurys too early?
Bond Report
10-year Treasury yields decline for fifth straight quarter
Published: Mar 31, 2015 5:30 p.m. ET
A statue of the first U.S. secretary of the treasury Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) stands in front of the Department of the Treasury.
By Ellie Ismailidou
Markets reporter
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. Treasurys declined for five consecutive quarters, marking the longest period of quarterly declines in benchmark yields dating back to 2001.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note (TMUBMUSD10Y, -0.64%) declined 24.3 basis points to 1.930% this quarter, according to Tradeweb. That is the largest quarterly drop since the third quarter of 2012.
The two-year note (TMUBMUSD02Y, -1.55%) yield declined 11.3 basis points to 0.555% this quarter and lost 7.1 basis points during the month of March. On Tuesday, it shed 3.2 basis points.
The 30-year bond (TMUBMUSD30Y, -0.41%) yield dropped 20.4 basis points to 2.535% this quarter and lost 6.5 basis points in March. On Tuesday it dropped one basis point.
During the month of March the 10-year yield lost 7.2 basis points. The two main forces behind this move were the European Central Bank’s aggressive stimulus program that put downward pressure on yields and the Federal Reserve’s dovish policy statement that sparked a buying rally that drove yields higher.
Bond prices move inversely to yields.
…
Credit Markets
Investors Pile Into Treasurys
Lackluster economic data seen keeping Fed sidelined on rates; volatility gauge hits 3-month low
By Min Zeng
Updated April 14, 2015 7:44 p.m. ET
Fresh worries over the pace of U.S. economic growth sent investors piling into ultrasafe Treasury bonds, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year note below 1.9% during the session.
The smaller-than-forecast 0.9% rise in retail sales for March added to a pile of disappointing U.S. releases over the past month, further bolstering bond buyers’ expectations that the Federal Reserve won’t be in a hurry to raise borrowing costs.
Investors have been concerned that higher interest rates from the Fed could shrink the value of outstanding bonds. But as fear about a rate increase this summer has diminished, bond-market trading has become less jumpy.
A closely watched gauge of volatility fell to a three-month low Monday, a sign investors don’t expect bond yields to jump.
“With the absence of any surprises in the inflation or growth indicators to the upside, the Fed will have to reluctantly stay on hold for now,” said Mark MacQueen, co-founder and portfolio manager in Austin, Texas, at Sage Advisory Services Ltd., which oversees $11 billion in assets. “The bond market is not worried about an imminent Fed tightening.”
…
In Greenspan Conundrum Redux, Odds Are on Bond Traders’ Side
Monday, 06 Apr 2015 01:56 PM
The Federal Reserve faces another bond-market conundrum as it prepares to raise interest rates.
Policy makers including New York Fed President William C. Dudley are suggesting there’s something wrong with debt yields that aren’t climbing as the economy recovers. Yet traders are signaling there’s little reason long-term Treasury yields can’t, and won’t, stay depressed.
History is on the market’s side. The spread between yields on 10-year Treasurys and the Fed’s overnight rate is right where it should be based on past norms. And, in the last four decades, it’s been unusual for investors to demand more compensation to own longer-dated debt when the central bank increases its key rate.
Perhaps the bond market’s most important message is that the Fed’s own forecast for how much benchmark rates will rise is still too high, even after central bankers lowered their estimates last month. The market is calling for 2 percent rates in 2018, almost half what the Fed sees.
The Fed has “been wrong for so long,” said Jeffrey Gundlach, founder of Los Angeles-based DoubleLine Capital, which oversees $73 billion in assets. “Their incremental input in what will happen in the future has been literally of no value, because the market’s pricing has been closer.”
…
Does your bank owe you interest on the money they loaned you?
all your interest went toward keeping rates low so folks could borrow more.
U need to be in risk assets cause it appears central planners will keep prices going higher.
Does your bank owe you interest on the money they loaned you?
And do you owe them interest on the money that you had deposited?
Markets
Tumbling Interest Rates in Europe Leaves Some Banks Owing Money on Loans to Borrowers
Subzero rates have put some lenders in an inconceivable position
Residential properties in Lisbon. As Euribor, an interest-rate benchmark commonly used in the eurozone for setting mortgage rates, heads into negative territory, banks face the possibility of having to pay borrowers. Photo: MARIO PROENCA/Bloomberg News
By Patricia Kowsmann in Lisbon and Jeannette Neumann in Madrid
Updated April 13, 2015 7:13 p.m. ET
Tumbling interest rates in Europe have put some banks in an inconceivable position: owing money on loans to borrowers.
At least one Spanish bank, Bankinter SA, the country’s seventh-largest lender by market value, has been paying some customers interest on mortgages by deducting that amount from the principal the borrower owes.
The problem is just one of many challenges caused by interest rates falling below zero, known as a negative interest rate. All over Europe, banks are being compelled to rebuild computer programs, update legal documents and redo spreadsheets to account for negative rates.
Interest rates have been falling sharply, in some cases into negative territory, since the European Central Bank last year introduced measures meant to spur the economy in the eurozone, including cutting its own deposit rate. The ECB in March also launched a bond-buying program, driving down yields on eurozone debt in hopes of fostering lending.
…
The banks are paying the borrowers. That’s kind of a whole new paradigm.
Region VIII news
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/bills-to-repeal-new-background-checks-magazine-limits-fail
Do you think they will wait to launch Go Time until Hillary Clinton is back in the White House?
Her husband set the bar pretty high when they gassed and burned all the women and children alive at Waco, but what’s a little collateral damage on the path to Social Justice™
Heh, no wonder Rubio has declared for run at Prez. I didn’t understand this at first, since Jebbie Boosh has always been his sponsor. But perhaps he has smelled the blood in the water and if this pop stand blows, Jeb’s shot at Prez won’t be worth squat.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-13/fbi-covering-saudi-links-911-attack-new-york-post-reports
9/11: An elaborate scam to oust Saddam from Iraq, at the behest of the Saudis, with whom the Booshes are intimately involved. I believe it. Wholeheartedly. Makes my stomach turn.
VERY interesting about the Arab family in Sarasota who lived there for six years and then up and left suddenly just two weeks before 9/11. Even more interesting was that Shrub was IN Sarasota on 9/11, reading fairy tales to grammar school children. Oh, boy, he KNEW exactly what was taking place.
9/11 was an absolute masterpiece of base rallying
It didn’t just rally a base, it CREATED a base
The Saudis funded 9/11, I think we all know that. The question is, did they specifically fund it knowing what was going to happen, or was it just one of the countless fundamentalist groups it supports around the world, that got…a little out of hand.
Building 7
(P.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft stopped flying on commercial airlines in July 2001)
What’s coming out now seems to point to more coordination than some “rogue” group that just happened to get out of hand. It was a joint effort between House of Bush and House of Saud, the question in my mind was “Why?”, now it begins to make sense. I was not aware of the House of Saud’s desire to oust Saddam. And I suspect there may be some other things that 9/11 accomplished, like the Patriot Act leading to the NSA’s spying on everyone. Real win-win for the Saudis and the Deep-Staters, wot-wot?
Round ‘em up, every last whore-criminal involved in it. Now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdy-7bPJ2Mw
What do you think the key words are that cause Lola to appear like Beetlejuice?
What do you think the key words are that cause Lola to appear like Beetlejuice?
I don’t know, but it pleases me to know that you constantly ponder such. That my “friend” is influence.
China’s exports crashed 15% and imports crashed almost as much, but how much do you want to be that their GDP number will be exactly what the Chinese government said it was going to be six months ago?
Is beggar thy neighbor going to continue to work? The chinese central bank creates a lot of inflation at home with this practice.
China exports were up 48% the month before, you need to average the two months. GDP for China will be about 6.85% this quarter and 7.2% next quarter by most estimates.
Falling prices are useful in manipulating the GDP numbers to the upside. Very useful for saving face.
China exports were up 48% the month before
Who cares about China? It’s not even a happy country. China is not a democracy, China is a pollution pit with a Communist centralized government full of censure, political prisoners, repression, one party and pirate knockoffs.
As if you believe in “free-markets” and “constitutional governments”. No, you don’t really. It’s all talk.
Heck, you don’t even believe in democracy and free-speech.
You tout China? Give me a break.
http://www.mining.com/iron-ore-price-surges-chinese-import-growth/
Try to keep up. Iron ore imports to China are falling.
No, they are not growing as quickly as before, reduced price not reduced volume is going on, so they are dropping in dollar terms but not in volume.
Actually they are dropping in volume. It’s all over the news.
“Steel prices have fallen continuously due to overcapacity and fierce competition,” Li told the conference. “Many steel companies lose money and are experiencing hard times. Some have been closed, and more will be closing in future.”
“China’s crude-steel production will decline,” said Li. “Why? Two reasons: consumption that has passed the peak and exports cannot maintain high increases. I’m sure steel production will decrease.”
“Output will contract to an estimated 814 million metric tons in 2015 from 823 million tons last year, Deputy Secretary-General Li Xinchuang said at an iron ore conference in Perth, Australia, on Wednesday. The association is funded by China’s major steelmakers and is the only nationwide industry body.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-11/china-steel-output-to-shrink-nation-s-top-industry-group-says
You are comparing apples to oranges, we were talking about iron ore imports not steel production, sure there is a relationship but China had record iron ore imports last year and they continued to increase this year. China has very poor quality iron ore and their mines are shutting down due to high costs.
“sure there is a relationship…”
Indeed.
Steel production cratering. Domestic ore production cratering. Ore import volume up a hair. We’ll see.
Around 2% reduction in steel production is catering?
What is isn’t is growth. Peak Rebar. Grow or die in a credit Ponzi.
http://peakoil.com/publicpolicy/one-last-look-at-the-real-economy-before-it-implodes
“One Last Look At The Real Economy Before It Implodes”
I was talking to someone yesterday who said that a local group of business people that met once a month and I guess included some pretty damn successful people had said last year that we were in a 5 year window where everything (stocks, real estate) would go up, to be followed by a crash that would make the last one look like nothing.
Maybe that’s why we’re having drills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdy-7bPJ2Mw
Does the Craiglist staff post fake ads in order to produce the appearance of more traffic on their site than there actually is?
A google search reveals nobody asking the question. Ive done several experiments on CL and have come to the conclusion the company “salts” its own site with fake ads when people are not posting enough real ads.
Anyone else come to this conclusion?
its getting to be useless on NYC CL they had a flagging system where sex ads and scams were easily flagged now they stay up all day and then some…..amazing how many men want women for a little fun…need the rent paid?
that all used to be in the adult section you had to pay for.
The only ones I have seen posting fake ads on Craigslist are realtors.
My current banner ad on HBB is for something called Senior Annuity Alert, with all caps type saying “AS SEEN ON TV”
http://www.seniorannuityalert.com
After clicking on all those neocon websites and not clearing my browser cache I get ads targeted toward people who are really, really old
Tell the truth Goon, you are looking for a sugar moma to keep you in pot and climbing equipment. Maybe Hillary will be available soon.
Ben gets a little something for any pop up ad that appears I’m sure, so it probably wouldn’t hurt if we all did a little shopping before we come to this site.
I get ads on HBB for ethnic dating websites from every continent and I click on every one of them, so Ben will get paid, and so I’ll keep getting more ads for ethnic dating websites
The biggest terrorist threat of all:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/fbi-uncovers-alqaeda-plot-to-just-sit-back-and-enj,35788/
Hello fellow taxpayers. Your bill, due tomorrow, for minimum wages that are too low is $153 Billion.
http://gawker.com/you-are-paying-billions-because-mcdonalds-and-walmart-w-1697556988
Note to Congress: a vote against a higher minimum wage is a vote for more social aid spending.
Corporate welfare is doing just fine with this particular congress - it’s only when they look at the welfare recipients as individuals that it becomes bad.
… but corporations are people now, Dman. Citizens Disunited.
30 percent of Texans have no health insurance, LOLZ
Indeed. 6,000 calorie Texas BBQ dinners and no health insurance are not a good combination.
30 percent of Texans have no health insurance, LOLZ
And 4 million Texans are on foodstamps, more than any other state.
As I have posted before, Israel supported Hamas in its beginning. It was a way to create a wedge in the PLO between Christians and Muslims. Throughout the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, there was a movement toward Arab nationalism which was considered more important than religion. The former leaders of Syria, Libya and Iraq all came from this movement. They had some fascist leanings but there was some ability to create a deal with them. Something less than Israel’s total destruction and all of the non-Islamic’s world total subjugation would meet their demands. Now, we are dealing with Islamic nuts following the original form of Islam, and Goon you have no answer on how we deal with them. Your views are my views thirty years ago, but the facts have changed and I see no realization of these changes in your views or in people with similar views.
“how we deal with them”
We don’t
The U.S. offers open immigration to all Israeli Jews where they will have constitutionally protected freedom of religion, those who choose not to come here are on their own, all American military bases in the Middle East are shut down, and not another penny of taxpayer dollars to anyone over there, ever
Problem solved
Problem solved
No, because countries such as France have been considered pro-Palestinian for years and yet they are subject to attack. Countries such as Denmark are not interfering and is not supporting Israel and they are being attacked. Islam teaches that all religions other than Islam must be destroyed or subjugated to Islam and you and I do not have an answer on how you deal with that truth. Israel is no longer the sole issue in the Middle East if it ever was, ironically for the first time in decades our interests and Israel may just be aligned and Israel’s interests may even be aligned with the Saudis. It is a strange world in which we live.
‘the first time in decades…Israel’s interests may even be aligned with the Saudis’
Uh, maybe you need to quit listening to Mike Savage.
‘the Israelis have a strategic alliance with the two worst actors on the world stage.’
‘Bibi’s evocation of an “Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis” sounds like something that might have come out of Riyadh. While the Saudis are careful to maintain their traditional anti-Israeli stance in theory, in practice the reality is that the two nations are on the same side. Both target Iran as the main danger to their national interests, and both are pressuring Washington to give up any thought of a deal with Tehran. Furthermore, this complementary relationship has taken on a military aspect in Syria, where the Israelis are now openly supporting Islamist rebels of the Al-Nusra Front – although so far they have only publicly acknowledged giving wounded Nusra fighters medical aid and releasing them across the border. Meanwhile, support to al-Qaeda affiliated fighters is pouring in from the Gulf states.’
‘In the religious civil war tearing the Muslim world apart, the Israelis are clearly rooting for the Sunnis – led by the Kingdom. When it comes to the conflict in Yemen, Israel’s chief concern is alleged Iranian influence – the presence of al-Qaeda is never mentioned. Israel’s surrogates in this country have spent the last few years demanding US support for Islamist rebels in Syria, most of whom have ties to al-Qaeda.’
‘Al-Qaeda, for its part, has never laid a glove on Israel. For all the ranting against “the Zionist-Crusader alliance,” the heirs of Osama bin Laden have been remarkably pacific when it comes to attacking Israel proper. Bin Laden always advocated generally ignoring the “near enemy” – Israel and the Arab despotisms – in favor of attacking the “far enemy,” the United States – a strategic orientation that suits the Israelis just fine.’
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2015/03/29/the-real-axis-of-evil/
‘we are dealing with Islamic nuts…you have no answer on how we deal with them’
If you are talking about ISIS, the Iranians are fighting them,as are the Syrians. The Saudi’s funded their early organization. There was no Al Qaeda in Iraq, Syria, Libya before the US invaded. Now they are entrenched. Why don’t we hear neocons talk about bombing the Saudi’s?
Oh, and now we are aiding the Saudi’s in bombing Yemen, to stave off a ‘pro-Iranian’ group, while we work with Iranians and Syrians to fight ISIS. So we have managed to create a proxy war with ourselves, or something.
I would say the people who said we should stay out of these tangled messes were right after all.
“a proxy war with ourselves”
A base that rallies itself? LOLZ
There was no Al Qaeda in Iraq, Syria, Libya before the US invaded. Now they are entrenched.
The Muslim brotherhood has been always been entrenched throughout the Middle East and it is the fountainhead of all these groups. The Pan-Arabists begin to lose influence in the area after Nasser died, Sadat actually used the Muslim brotherhood to help gain power. Then, he was killed by them long before any invasion of Iraq occurred. Since Islam was invented all the world as been at war with it, the 20th century was an aberration, short of exterminating Islam which I do not know how a civilized society accomplishes, the war will go on as it has for almost 1500 years. BTW, the Saudis made the deal with the devil (turned the schools over to the Islamists) after they saw the Shah fall in 1979, you can trace most of what is wrong in the Middle east to the naïve policies of Carter, the Naïve policies of Obama will only make things worse, as I predicted years ago on this blog and it has played out exactly liked I claimed it would. Go back to 2011 and read my posts on the Arab Spring.
‘Since Islam was invented all the world as been at war with it’
I can remember when the US militarily hardly had anything to do with these nations and people. And if the only way out is genocide, what do we do next Dr Strangelove?
I can remember when the US militarily hardly had anything to do with these nations and people.
As I said the 20th century was the aberration since Pan-Arabism and not Islam was the dominate force in the area. BTW, I did not advocate extermination, just said I do not know how you end the war short of it.
‘I did not advocate extermination, just said I do not know how you end the war short of it’
Sounds like the most powerful force for good in the history of mankind is out of ideas.
Sounds like the most powerful force for good in the history of mankind is out of ideas.
And we wonder why other countries want to have their own nuclear arsenal.
“you can trace most of what is wrong in the Middle east to the naïve policies of Carter, the Naïve policies of Obama will only make things worse,…
Wow, it’s almost like you’ve blotted the Iraq War from your mind. I guess re-writing history is alright as long as it fits your partisan agenda.
Wow, it’s almost like you’ve blotted the Iraq War from your mind. I guess re-writing history is alright as long as it fits your partisan agenda.
9/11 and the first attack on Trade Center and the U.S.S. Cole all occurred prior to the Ws invasion of Iraq unless you are trying to be vague, so you can talk about the Gulf war.
Are you saying that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 911?
No, but he may have had a role in Oklahoma City bombing which was covered up during the Clinton administration. Google the evidence, it is quite interesting. The recent attack by the crazy beheading a woman is not quite the aberration that some people think. OKC has been a hot bed for a while.
No, but he may have had a role in Oklahoma City bombing which was covered up during the Clinton administration.
Uh huh.
And according to you Adan, I’m a something like a “black man living in DC, hired by a white politician to act like I live in Brazil (since 2008) to make the “colored” policy “socialist” successes of Brazil make America’s black president look good”.
Which voice in your head told you such Adan?
“9/11 and the first attack on Trade Center”
Why did those Saudis do it?
“…he may have had a role in Oklahoma City bombing which was covered up during the Clinton administration”
I was working in a fairly conservative establishment at the time of the Oklahoma City bombing (think Rush Limbaugh played on the radio at a fairly loud volume in your colleague’s cubicle). I remember vividly how my colleagues instantly jumped to conclusions about the perpetrators (”Those damn Iranians!”) and the palpable disappointment when it turned out to be the handiwork of a disgruntled U.S. veteran.
But the truth won’t stop right wing nutjobs from spinning conspiracy theories about Middle East involvement.
“Why don’t we hear neocons talk about bombing the Saudi’s?”
The oil companies won’t let them?
Why don’t we hear neocons talk about bombing the Saudi’s?”
What would that accomplish when the people are worse than the present government? Overthrowing the Saudi government is like overthrowing the Shah, there is a worse government in the wings.
I say, close the borders and take the lead out of the gasoline for 20 years before trying to do anything. Most of them are brain damaged from breathing the fumes.
There is evidence that our drop in violent crime was related to taking the lead out of gasoline. http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i5/Crimes-Lead.html
The Green Prophet says so.
“…violent crime was related to taking the lead out of gasoline.”
Ditto for interior/exterior household paint.
Whatever happened to the investment funds that were buying up so many houses? You don’t even hear about them anymore. Are flippers filling the void?
Nope - just gone silent - like a submarine waiting to torpedo the battleship.
The EIA “estimates” of oil production and the actual production figures coming out of ND continue to differ. ND is showing more than 100,000 barrel a day production loss for February when EIA had projected a loss much closer to 10,000 barrels for the same month. Will the EIA be an order of magnitude off on their total oil production projection for May? If so, we are looking at probably 400,000+ decline in U.S. production, $80 a barrel by December is starting to look conservative.
https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/mpr/2015_02.pdf
https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/mpr/2015_02.pdf
Production falling like a stone.
Sorry, I received an error message so I reposted a shorter version. I see plunging production until we hit $65 a barrel, a month plateau during which drilled but not fracked wells are brought on line and then a plunge in production until enough new wells are drilled to stabilize production, which ironically is probably a higher number then before the crash since the best areas are being drilled out right now and the new areas will only be half or less productive.
It is so interesting if you look at the hard data from ND production from January to February fell from 36,927, 131 to 32, 958, 640 which is over 100,000 barrels per day. Yet there is a story on yahoo that production fell 15,000 barrels per day. What kind of new math is this? Perhaps they are confusing the state number with the original EIA projections. But it is just another example why you always need to go to the primary source and not trust reporters to report anything correctly.
Well, we did only have 28 days in February vs. 31 in January.
If you look at the total production per well for the past 3 months, you get (without correcting for the number of days):
December 2014: 3,135
January 2015: 3,027
February 2015: 2,702
HOWEVER, if you normalize for 31 days, February was actually on a 31 day pace of 2,991 barrels per well.
A fall-off, yes, but not all that dramatic.
Likewise, oil-price bears shouldn’t get all that excited when the March numbers come out 10% higher than February numbers.
True Rental, brain cramp on that one. However, we are still talking about one million barrels less even after taking into consideration the short month.
With global demand cratering, overflowing tank farms and record high production, it’s no wonder crude prices are falling.
ADan, my math comes out different…I’m at about 437k less.
32,958,640 times 31 divided by 28 = 36,489,923.
January was 36,927,131.
The other question that I have is how many full days of pumping each well got…is that 437k reduction due entirely to well depletion? Or were people simply running fewer days?
Perhaps if I feel some data-crunching need I’ll do some math.
Likewise, oil-price bears shouldn’t get all that excited when the March numbers come out 10% higher than February numbers.
Actually, I doubt that will happen, February was very early in the rig count decline and we were having a 15,000 barrels a day decline. March should have been declining by much more per day so even with the extra three days, it should increase by much less than 10%.
No, I thought of that and posted just a few minutes ago, the math really is simple, ND has production of about 1.2 million per days, you would lose 3.6 million barrels in three day. Thus, the 15,000 barrels a day decrease is accurate as was reported.
The other question that I have is how many full days of pumping each well got…is that 437k reduction due entirely to well depletion? Or were people simply running fewer days?
Well depletion that was not offset by new production. I am seeing that the new producing wells are fewer and I am seeing fewer super wells which I consider as producing three thousand barrels a day or more.
Data Rental_Fraud data…
Crude Oil Collapses 46% YoY
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/crude%20oil%20-%20electronic
No, I thought of that and posted just a few minutes ago, the math really is simple, ND has production of about 1.2 million per days, you would lose 3.6 million barrels in three day. Thus, the 15,000 barrels a day decrease is accurate as was reported.
————
I was referring to your comment above:
“True Rental, brain cramp on that one. However, we are still talking about one million barrels less even after taking into consideration the short month.”
It wasn’t one million barrels less…it was less than half a million barrels less when you consider the short month.
This is how an insider sees the Chinese real estate market. It doesn’t sound good for China:
“Local governments will have a hard time getting funds to repay loans and bills of construction projects. In places where the financial situation is relatively better, officials will spend as much as they can in order to make money for themselves before the government revenue drains out. The officials will also transfer their family and personal assets out of the country more actively, so that they can leave as soon as possible before the situation becomes even worse.”
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1318217-the-chinese-economy-besieged-and-embattled-the-real-estate-market/
China is doing to the U.S. what we did to Great Britain. I am sure at the time GB filled their papers with stories on why the pound should stay the currency of commerce and the U.S. was too crooked and its economy too fragile and speculative to assume the role as the world’s leader.
A country that has to peg its currency to another country’s currency in order to compete is not going to have a reserve currency any time soon. Reserve currencies can be bought and sold all over the world. Manipulated currencies are limited in their value, and the Chinese Yuan is too weak to compete with the dollar in world markets.
Really and that is why the IMF is about to add it to its basket of currencies?
Yes, the Yuan will soon be a basket case. Thank you for proving my point.
The Obama dollar due to his adding of more than 8 trillion dollars of debt will soon be the basket case.
From Goldseek.com:
One proposed solution to Greece’s European debt problem is for the mediterranean country to abandon the euro and resurrect its old currency, the drachma. In his April Gold Videocast, Peter Schiff explains why a new drachma would be ideal for Greek politicians, but a disaster for Greek citizens and creditors. Peter also reveals why the United States faces the same debt dilemma as Greece. There’s just one major difference – the US already has a currency it can devalue.
The Obama dollar due to his adding of more than 8 trillion dollars of debt will soon be the basket case.
When will this happen exactly?
When will this happen exactly?
Given that Uncle Buck is still the world’s favorite fiat, I’d say that the prediction of his demise is premature at this point.
The Obama dollar due to his adding of more than 8 trillion dollars of debt will soon be the basket case.
Nope. The USA’s Dollar Major and Broad market index is higher now under Obama than when Reagan left office. Maybe because Reagan tripled the debt and Obama just might double it.
http://www.macrotrends.net/1329/us-dollar-index-historical-chart
Data, Dan, data.
ft dot com/markets
Markets Insight
April 13, 2015 5:42 am
How to invest for renewed dollar strength
Mohamed El-Erian
Benign influence on global rebalancing or financial nuisance?
Burt Van Wie loads sheets of the new 100 USD bills into a machine for mechanical inspection at the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s Western Currency Facility on October 11, 2013 in Fort Worth, Texas. The facility is currently the sole producer of the new 100 USD bill. The bill went into circulation on October 8 and includes new security features such as a purple band with moving images, ink that changes color with the angle as well as a new more colorful design. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI
©AFP
Just as many more people were starting to talk about the impact of the US dollar’s sharp appreciation, the currency reversed course and weakened by almost 5 per cent. While it has been relatively rangebound since then, the prospect of renewed dollar strength now confronts investors with a basic question: should they bet on its beneficial influence on global rebalancing or guard against financial breakage?
Two factors drove the dollar’s earlier surge: superior US economic performance, in absolute terms and relative to many other countries; and the prospects of tighter monetary policy.
Buying dollars became not just the consensus trade in financial markets but also a particularly crowded one that inevitably became vulnerable to a sharp technical pull back. The catalyst came in the form of a bout of weaker US data that culminated in a disappointing March jobs report, along with a more dovish-sounding Federal Reserve.
Having gone through a period of technical consolidation, the dollar now seems set for a new phase of strengthening. As noted last week by New York Fed President Bill Dudley, the patch of weaker data is likely to be a transient one. While it might have pushed back the first interest rate rise, it has not materially changed policy prospects. It is likely the Fed will move in September and embark on what Mr Dudley describes as a relatively shallow path of rate rises over time.
…
China is doing to the U.S. what we did to Great Britain.
Unbelievable. What you write is like Alice in Wonderland cuckoo land.
China is a Commie controlled, centralized government practicing nationalized, subtle, economic warfare against the world. USA did what it did to Great Britain as a free-market democracy.
Your touting yourself as a “free-market” “constitutional government” supporter while pimping the above China is the definition of hypocrisy.
It’s ridiculous beyond the pale. You have no shame Adan.
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGEEEE!!!!!!!
Amy Hoak is still listed as a contributed to MarketWatch, but has not published an article since January 30. And her Twitter feed has been silent since January 6.
It is reported that Amy has been working check-out at the Folsom Walgreens.
Outed as Amy Hoax!
Newsflash: if you got no debt you got no boss.
Right, Mr Banker?
Only if you don’t have to work to pay your daily expenses, otherwise you’re still a wage slave and have a “boss”
On a micro level yes, even if you work free-lance or a contractor you still have a boss on each individual job. But on a macro level you can mostly make your own hours and work when you “need” the money versus “having” to work to make a car payment, mortgage or school loan.
A rolling loan realizes no loss.
A bit more on chicago’s pension blight buried in this piece from former Mayor Bloomies business rag…..
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/14/usa-fed-municipals-bankruptcy-idUSL2N0XB16W20150414
“…In other words, the prioritization of cash flows to debt service may not be sustainable beyond a certain point.” YA THINK?!??!?!
What an enlightening link. Another 2008 or worse would flush the whole thing right down a fiscal black hole.
Personally I think - with little substantiating data excepting the civic federation (L Msall) that I had linked to last week - this situation is far worse than anyone wants to acknowledge. Given the testimony of I honestly cannot remember the guy’s name (I’ll see if I can find the link) in a recent Senate hearing wherein he said the US is structurally and financially broke and that contrary to economists opinions the 100 trillion in unfunded entitlements is at least 2.5 times that at 250 trillion.
Found the link - it is Lawrence Kotlikoff - and I was wrong - it is 210 Trillion not 250 trillion - but then what is 40 trillion among friends right?
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/economist-tells-congress-us-may-be-worse-fiscal-shape-greece
Christie touches the 3rd rail. He’s toast.
———–
Chris Christie Proposing Major Cuts To Social Security Program
“New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) proposed broad changes to Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare in a speech in New Hampshire.
Christie is proposing cutting Social Security benefits to seniors who make more than $80,000 a year and also eliminate benefits for those making $200,000 or more. The Wall Street Journal reported”
———–
Hey Christie, for everybody making more than $80k, you gonna REFUND a lifetime’s worth of SS contributions, with interest?
I think the spouse benefit will be the first one to go. It will be a relatively easy sell since now most women work and have accrued their own SS bennies. The few who don’t will be in the minority and SOL.
Christy’s oligarch patrons on Wall Street know that pension funds are the last great untapped store of wealth to loot. All of the GOP candidates will tout the benefits of “privatization” of retirement accounts, with their .1% puppetmasters salivating at the prospect of swindling seniors with joyous abandon.
What could possibly go wrong?
Fannie Mae launches major first-time homebuyer assistance program
Offering to pay 3% of purchase price for closing costs
Ben Lane
April 14, 2015 1:10PM
Having already begun buying mortgage loans that allow borrowers to put 3% down, Fannie Mae is launching a new program aimed at attracting more first-time homebuyers — by taking over that responsibilty as well.
Fannie Mae announced Tuesday the HomePath Ready Buyer program, under which qualifying first-time homebuyers can receive up to 3% of the purchase price of the subject property in closing cost assistance toward the purchase of a HomePath property.
On a $150,000 home, this could result in up to $4,500 in savings for the buyer, Fannie said. In addition, Fannie Mae will reimburse the $75 cost of the homebuyer education course at the time of closing.
According to Fannie, to be eligible for the closing cost assistance and the reimbursement of the training cost:
Buyers must complete the full online HomePath Ready Buyer training course on the HomePath website and receive a certificate of completion
The buyer must be a first-time homebuyer (did not own a property in the past three years) with plans to reside in the property as their primary residence. Auction, pool and investor sales are not eligible
The request for closing cost assistance must be made at the initial offer, submitted on or after April 14, 2015
Fannie Mae is encouraging interest parties to take the homebuyer education course as quickly as possible, as the course must be completed before an offer can be made.
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/33555-fannie-mae-launches-mayor-first-time-homebuyer-assistance-program
Well, 2016 is an election year. How do you expect the FSA to vote if they aren’t getting their free sh*t?
I used to think that history doesn’t repeat, but does rhyme.
This looks like repeating to me.
Where does the money come from to fund this program?
AEI throws its nickels worth on the Cali water issue.
http://www.aei.org/publication/finally-the-true-story-of-californias-water-woes/
And to think that I was chastised on this board for using 50 gallons per person per day.
I’m not joking: if Hillary gets elected I will buy stocks and a house.
bad news is good news because it means the central planners will print a sh@tload of money for a long time. Asset prices are destined for greatness.
Which merely results in ever collapsing demand.
*THINK* Poet!
“Asset prices are destined for greatness.”
All ‘ya need are buyers.
I thought the collapse was imminent. Clean up time.
I have no idea what’s up with Walmart but it ain’t plumbing.
Another real estate chat at the lunch table, this time with some Indian coworkers. I brought up the stratospheric cost of a flat in New Delhi and how they could cost millions of USD. I was too polite to say that it was ridiculous that a flat in a third world shithole could cost so much, but did say that there was a bubble and it would pop.
My Indian colleagues all expressed the belief that those prices were not only sustainable, but would continue to rise dramatically. When I mentioned that the prices were out of line with incomes I was told they were purchased with “black money”. I didn’t ask what that was.
My curiosity got the best of me. I looked up what Indian Black Money is and this is what I found in wikipedia:
Color me skeptical, but I really doubt there is that much “Indian Black Money” in the whole world, especially not deposited in Swiss Bank Accounts.
Chinese embezzlers getting out with their ill-gotten loot before the crash of the giant Ponzi and the peasants and workers dust off revolutionary Maoism.
http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-wealthy-fleeing-the-country-2015-4
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/hillary-clinton-class-president-of-a-failed-generation/
Hillary Clinton has always been at the head of her class. That includes being among the leading edge of the 80-million strong baby boom generation that first started arriving in 1946-1947.
She did everything they did: Got out for Barry Goldwater in high school; got upwardly mobile to Wellesley and social liberation during college; got “Clean for Gene” and manned the anti-war barricades in the late 1960s; got to Washington to uplift the world in the 1970s; got down to the pursuit of power and position in the 1980s; joined the ruling class in the 1990’s; and has helped make a stupendous mess of things ever since.
The baby boom generation which started with so much promise when it came of age in the 1960s has ended up a colossal failure. It has turned America into a bloody imperial hegemon aboard and a bankrupt Spy State at home where financialization and the 1% thrive, half the populations lives off the state and real main street prosperity has virtually disappeared from the land.
Quite a deplorable legacy, that. And all the while Hillary has been our class president. God help the world if she becomes our nation’s President. She has betrayed all that was right about the baby boomers in the 1960s; and has embraced all the wrong they did during their subsequent years in power.
Hey all you Hillary haters who brought us Barack Obama - If you want to know who you will get next if you cross out Hillary for the left wing elites - Bill Deblasio is making his name.
http://jpupdates.com/2015/04/01/de-blasio-goes-national-slated-to-speak-in-iowa-nebraska-on-income-inequality/
So sorry to see Stockman write such a cheap piece of political hackery. He is the same age as Hillary Clinton and was part of the same political system as a Republican. As you know, the Republicans spent the Clinton years trying to impeach Bill for lying about a blow job. The jist of article is that Hillary does not deserve to be POTUS because she did not fix the nations trans-generational problems as First Lady, Senator and SOS.
Word to the sheeple.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/04/14/no-matter-who-wins-the-white-house-the-new-boss-will-be-the-same-as-the-old-boss/
we need to print more money for the free sh@T army!
frrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaud
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdy-7bPJ2Mw
I guess that let’s you off the hoke for having to do something about it.
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
George Orwell
Is the stock market overvalued? And regardless, is one pretty much certain to come out ahead by buying stocks in this roaring bull market?
Investing
Goldman: Market way overvalued. 4 stocks to short
John Melloy
13 Hours Ago
CNBC.com
Goldman Sachs sent a note to clients Monday that said the U.S. stock market is the most overvalued in 40 years, excluding the tech bubble.
Accordingly, the report by the firm’s chief U.S. equity strategist, David Kostin, suggested a number of stocks clients should bet against because of high valuations.
…
Finance More: Bubbles Bank of America
Bubble fears just hit their highest level on record
Mike Bird
Apr. 14, 2015, 8:32 AM
More investors are worried about overvalued stocks and bonds than at any time in at least the past 12 years.
That’s the message from Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s latest survey of fund managers, which polls 145 participants managing a combined $494 billion (£337.4 billion) in assets on how they feel about a bunch of different investments.
Investors on the panel who think both stocks and bonds are overvalued outnumber those who don’t by 54%, the highest disparity since the series began in 2003. Concerns among the panel about a bubble specifically in stocks are at their highest level since records began in 2000.
…
It sure does seem like Mr Market hasn’t yet run out of greater fools to snap up stocks at bubbly prices, even as the global economy teeters on the brink of financial implosion.
In central bankers we trust.