Bits Bucket for April 16, 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
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Edgewood, WA Housing Prices Crater 10% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/edgewood-wa/home-values/
27% of student loans are in default, LOLZ
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/04/15/study-over-27-of-student-loans-are-in-default
No “pent-up demand” for $500,000 starter homes here
And just how many mortgages are falling into delinquency or default?
Answer: Millions
Better for a student to buy a fancy car with another loan than to buy a house and be a debt slave through retirement.
To be fair, unless your parents are wealthy, yes it is smarter to buy a house or car rather than a $100k+ education! Remember, the top schools do NOT need tuition money; they give out $$ like candy to anyone whose parents make under $200k (HYPSM are all free if your family income is less than this). Alternative, you have Annapolis/West Point as respectable options that are also free and can be a good experience if you play your cards properly.
If you can’t get a top school or a flagship state U with lots of $$$, it’s better to go to community college and learn some sort of technical skill — coding, electrical, energy-sector stuff, nursing.
It is utterly ridiculous that student loans are non-dischargable in BK. It’s contrary to the founders’ intent in writing BK into the Constitution. It’s also plain stupid because it basically ensures that federal money gets flushed down the toilet as tuition becomes completely removed from the realities of risk/reward calculation, economic usefulness, and quality of education. We won’t let 18 yr olds with zero income take out a car loan for 20k, but we’ll let them sign up for 100k in college loans for Podunk State U. Brilliant idea.
Liberace!
better but still not that great. when can we outsource politicians ?
“Ten U.S. senators, representing the political spectrum, are seeking a federal investigation into displacement of IT workers by H-1B-using contractors.”
“it’s better to go to community college and learn some sort of technical skill — coding, electrical, energy-sector stuff, nursing.”
Why not buy the fancy car with a subprime auto loan, for good measure?
Finance
February 26, 2015
The Next Subprime Crisis Will Ride on Four Wheels—Unless the Government Stops It
By David Dayen
Having failed to act on the subprime mortgage crisis, federal regulators now have a shot at redemption. This week, a top official at the Justice Department vowed to fully investigate subprime auto lending, which has in recent years become a major way to make a buck by targeting low-income communities.
Subprime auto loans don’t represent an existential threat to the U.S. economy: With $21.8 billion in subprime securitizations last year, the market is roughly 1/50th the size of mortgage-backed securities at the height of the bubble. But low-income borrowers are still being swindled by unscrupulous dealers, or forced into giving up their cars because of a loan they could never afford. And though auto dealers, active in every local community, carry tremendous political power, nobody in this industry is too big to jail. If law enforcement cannot take down small-time frauds, there’s no hope for the big ones.
The proliferation of subprime auto loans results from two post-financial crisis factors. First, investors lost interest in mortgage-backed securities, but still sought out investments with enough risk to bring decent yields. So they migrated to subprime auto securities. The market has grown every year since 2009.
The second boost for subprime auto lending was the auto dealer carve-out from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau oversight in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Former Congressman John Campbell, a former car dealer who received $7 million a year from renting out six dealerships and one repair shop while in office, pushed through the giveaway. Like escaped prisoners running away from a klieg light, financiers moved into the one market where regulators weren’t allowed to look.
…
Obama or Hillary or Jeb (same thing) in their altruism will order the Fed to print another trillion or so to cover all those non-performing student loans.
my dumb idea which poly hated was to turn in your degree cancel it in exchange for cancelling the loan….
who would it affect? those who gave up on their career and would love to start over. no more dreams of being on an archeological expedition to uncover the past secrets..nope its over you will never get that job….now on to starbuxxx
employers would be exempt from discriminatory laws as long as everyone working in the company has a valid college degree…..no valid degree no job..
It would not be very good for company morale if they allowed you to get out of debt and keep your job , while others struggle every month with their student loan
so on balance i still think its a good idea….no degree no debt, much less job opportunities.
Congre$$
There’s some sort of public hearing today on the “tightness of credit”. Testifying will be top FIRE sector executives. Basically this the FIRE sector telling the government to give them more money.
The money has already exchanged hands and the deals have already been made. This is basically public cover for their next legislative actions. “We’re just simple congressfolk. We don’t know but what these fine people tell us. And we have no reason to doubt them. Especially since they reward us so handsomely [Roscoe P. Coltrane laugh]”
Congre$$
Will John Corzine be testifying?
He can’t. He’s in prison for stealing $1.6 billion from MF Global customer accounts.
Oh, wait….
“Testifying will be top FIRE sector executives.”
The true experts in the field of money.
“Basically this the FIRE sector telling the government to give them more money.”
That’s so these true experts can properly channel the money throughout the economy so as to do the economy the most good.
“The money has already exchanged hands and the deals have already been made.”
Efficiency. This is called efficiency.
“This is basically public cover for their next legislative actions.”
Again, efficiency. Cutting through the red tape.
For the children. Always, always for the children.
Zero down
Zero Down
ZerO dOwn
zEro doWn
On my list of 10 moral lesson that need to be taught to the populace by the government:
# 5. Don’t live beyond your means and don’t buy things you cannot afford.
I can’t afford to pay rent when I’m 70.
Then you probably could not afford to pay property taxes or make repairs on any property you would “own”.
Nice try. If I paid property taxes and repairs, that’s like paying 2 months of rent each year instead of 12. That’s a huge hunk.
And who says I have to live in the same house that I’m living in now? When I’m 70, I could sell this house and buy something a lot smaller and pay a lot less property tax, and pack a little profit too. That’s the entire point of buying a house.
When I’m 70, I could sell this house and buy something a lot smaller and pay a lot less property tax, and pack a little profit too. That’s the entire point of buying a house.
The notion that a house can “pack a little profit”—e.g. that it is a profit center rather than a cost center—that is the very essence of bubble-think.
But you can afford to pay 2x rent every month for the next 30 years?
You’re not making sense again Donk.
You are mixing up your cast of characters in your head again. Either that, or you need to up your dosage on your meds. I rent, and I have for the past 12yrs, since I sold my last house.
What does not paying rent when you are 70 have to do with this. Is this you admitting you bought something you couldn’t afford?
Is that because you are currently sinking too much into a home purchase, instead of savings?
RIGHT ON.
There’s some sort of public hearing today on the “tightness of credit”. Testifying will be top FIRE sector executives. Basically this the FIRE sector telling the government to give them more money.
Buckle your seat belts, the bubble is about to go into overdrive.
Bernankistan joins citadel.
I guess think tanks don’t pay that well. Same as tiny tim, lip service to think tanks for a year or two, then go where money is.
LOL at these people.
Don’t forget Hank Paul$$$on.
Hank was the CEO of Goldman Sachs. And he crafted the bailouts.
In fairness to Paulson and Bernanke, they both seemed on the brink of apoplexy back in Fall 2008. They paid some hefty dues for a retirement of overwhelming riches.
Neither California senator signed on….
————
10 U.S. senators seek investigation into H-1B-driven layoffs
Computer World | Apr 9, 2015 | Patrick Thibodeau
Ten U.S. senators, representing the political spectrum, are seeking a federal investigation into displacement of IT workers by H-1B-using contractors.
They are asking the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Labor Department to investigate the use of the H-1B program “to replace large numbers of American workers” at Southern California Edison (SCE) and other employers.
The other signers are Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), a longtime ally of Grassley on H-1B issues; Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), David Vitter (R-La.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.). Neither California senator signed on.
The idea that there is anyone out of work yet they are still importing H1Bs is astounding. I thought Silicon Valley and all the dotcom tech millionaires were concerned about wealth inequities.
Your million dollar Burlingame house is valued on the back of 50 something tech workers fired to make way for cheap labor from Asia.
‘The idea that there is anyone out of work yet they are still importing H1Bs is astounding.’
And you said elsewhere:
‘Greece, China, Oil, California water, Climate Change, it all seems like stuff where the debates have been going on and on and on for years and years. Nothing is going to happen for years and years to come on any of these.’
This is the internet. People will talk about what they want to talk about.
Certainly, talk about whatever. Doesn’t change that it just goes round and round on those issues every day. Long threads on China or climate change just to get Dan mad are open to all.
Long threads on China or climate change….
Here’s a short “twofer” involving both:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-32006972
Chinese official says Chinese growth caused Climate Change and it will hinder future Chinese Growth.
Climate change: China official warns of ‘huge impact’
Climate change could have a “huge impact” on China, reducing crop yields and harming the environment, the country’s top weather scientist has warned, in a rare official admission.
….Mr Zheng warned of more droughts, rainstorms, and higher temperatures, which would threaten river flows and harvests, as well as major infrastructure projects such as the Three Gorges Dam. He urged China to pursue a lower-carbon future.
“To face the challenges from past and future climate change, we must respect nature and live in harmony with it,” the Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.
c-o-l-a cola.
China wants the global warming money too. We are in an El Nino year which should be a warm year, yet we will barely see an increase in temperature equal to what the models predict will occur on average every year. We are increasing less than normal for an interglacial period but we are suppose to believe man in primary cause not buying it.
P.S. China has essentially used up its coal and now it does not want the U.S. to be able to use its cheap coal to its competitive advantage.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/04/16/dr-judith-currys-testimony-before-the-house-of-representatives-committee-on-science-space-and-technology-hearing-on-the-presidents-un-climate-pledge/
A real expert.
You are so disconnected from reality, you’ve actually become a contrary indicator.
Congrats! Now you’re good for something.
Instead of the usual ad hominem attack why don’t you try t refute these graphs, 191 months of no warming?
https://bobtisdale.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/open-letter-to-the-royal-meteorological-society-regarding-dr-trenberths-article-has-global-warming-stalled/
Yet I don’t see any snowballs…
China wants the global warming money too.
What global warming money? If there was global warming money — i.e. some economic advantage — to be had from global warming, then why are American energy companies whining about oppressive EPA regulations and what not? Wouldn’t they simply take the money too?
The money is proposed and it is suppose to coming from the U.S. and EU. Obama is imposing regulations through the backdoor and is not providing funds to them. We are just losing our potential competitive advantage and our expected to come up with the lion share of over a $100 billion dollars a year in subsidies because we are “rich”, although I would consider a country with 18 trillion dollars of debt not backed by assets as being very poor.
I would consider a country with 18 trillion dollars of debt not backed by assets as being very poor.
So would I. Fortunately USA possesses the most assets of any country in the world - natural, human, industrial, financial, military, intellectual, creative and entrepreneurial.
USA is by far by assets, the richest country in the world.
China touting climate change to “get money” is a joke.
http://lonelyconservative.com/2015/03/warmist-study-world-needs-to-transfer-400-billion-to-2-2-trillion-a-year-to-poor-countries/
http://dayontheday.com/2014/05/06/transparency-due-on-money-trail-in-global-warming-movement/
Housing pimps housing!
Bethesda, MD(DC metro) Sale Prices Crater 5% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/bethesda-md/home-values/
That’s funny. Public funding of science is already transparent but the secretly funded climate change deniers demand “transparency”. (You can’t make this stuff up)
Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine
http://www.greenpeace.org › … › Stop Global Warming › PolluterWatch
The Koch brothers continue to finance campaigns to make Americans doubt the seriousness of global warming, increasingly hiding money through laundering … Koch Industries: Still Fueling Climate Denial, 2011 Update (PDF) · Koch … Audio recordings from inside the Koch’s 2011 secret strategy meeting in Vail, CO is …
Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial …
http://www.theguardian.com › Environment › Climate change scepticism
“Dark Money” Funds Climate Change Denial Effort …
http://www.scientificamerican.com › More Science › The Daily Climate
The largest, most-consistent money fueling the climate denial movement … a database of global philanthropy, with financial data submitted by …
Secret Climate Denial Finance: Koch and Others Hide tens …
http://www.polluterwatch.com/…/secret-climate-denial-finance-koch-and-other...
Feb 14, 2013 - Secret Climate Denial Finance: Koch and Others Hide tens of Millions … illustrates the significance of this money as compared to giants like Koch and Exxon. … put out a point by point rebuttal to the section on climate change.
Instead of the usual ad hominem attack why don’t you try t refute these graphs, 191 months of no warming?
Nice tricky try. You must think the HBB is dumb. Your graphs stop at almost two years ago but since then your “pause” has been put back on pause.
2014 warmest year on record, say US researchers - BBC.com
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30852588
Jan 16, 2015 - 2014 was the warmest year on record, with global temperatures 0.68C (1.24F) above the long-term average, US government scientists have …
NASA: January To March 2015 Was The Hottest 3-Month Start To Any Year On Record Globally
NASA reported Tuesday that (2015’s) was the hottest three-month start (January to March) of any year on record. This was the third warmest March on record in NASA’s dataset (and the first warmest in the dataset of the Japan Meteorological Agency).
The odds are increasing that this will be the hottest year on record. Last week NOAA predicted a 60 percent chance that the El Niño it declared in March will continue all year. El Niños generally lead to global temperature records, as the short-term El Niño warming adds to the underlying long-term global warming trend.
And in fact, with March, we have broken the record again for the hottest 12 months on record: April 2014 – March 2015. The previous record was March 2014 – February 2015 set the previous month. And the equally short-lived record before that was February 2014 – January 2015.
None of it is confirmed by the satellite data which use to be consistent with NOAA until they went in and changed their data. Even if you consider NOAAs data accurate the difference in temperature between now and 1998 is within the margin of error. If the earth is going to warm by less than .1F per decade it is hardly an issue worth hundreds of billions or trillions per year. Bottom line, normal interglacial periods peak 2 degrees Celsius higher than now and at the rate even NOAA is reporting that will not happen for hundreds of years. The cure is worse than the disease.
“Instead of the usual ad hominem attack why don’t you try t refute these graphs, 191 months of no warming?”
At the end of 40 years of clearly warming data?
You’re grasping at straws. It’s pathetic.
None of it is confirmed by the satellite data which use to be consistent with NOAA until they went in and changed their data. Even if you consider NOAAs data accurate the difference in temperature between now and 1998 is within the margin of error.
You sound just like the anti-science Ted Cruz citing the scientist who disagrees with him. You’re so tricky.
Ted Cruz says satellite data show the globe isn’t warming. This satellite scientist feels otherwise
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/03/24/ted-cruz-says-satellite-data-show-the-globe-isnt-warming-this-satellite-scientist-feels-otherwise/
…..So in sum: In claiming the globe hasn’t warmed in 17 years, Cruz selectively highlighted satellite temperature data, rather than other data (which NASA and NOAA recently used to call 2014 the hottest year on record). He also selectively focused on one year (1998), rather than examining the aggregate temperatures of many years or decades. And finally, a key scientist who studies this type of satellite data, and whose work was cited by Cruz’s spokesman (as backup), criticizes Cruz’s approach and conclusions.
Rio,
Hottest year on record …??? Which record. IF you talk about the record for the past 150 years maybe. What about the 10,000 year record (it exists.. ice cores). What about the 100,000 year record…? what about the planetary life cycle record…
By all accounts, the jurrasic period was much hotter with greater biomass growth rates during periods of increased CO2, and sun output maximums. This led to all kinds of natural CO2 sequestration in the form of oil, which we are benefitting from today. So my question to you is.. why don’t you want more CO2 in the atmosphere with higher temperatures so we can better convert more of the suns energy into biomass for future generations. Your shortsighted approach to global warming is robbing future generations of energy storage.
Your shortsighted approach to global warming is robbing future generations of energy storage.
Right.
It’s like you mention the words cow patty and they immediately start raining down from the sky.
Hey Rio, why don’t you address Mathguy’s main point rather than his snark?
Namely that if you look at geologic history, there is clearly periods of warmer temperatures–at times where there was no man to generate greenhouse gases.
From what I’ve read CO2 is actually a pretty weak greenhouse gas (methane is much stronger–should we kill all the cows?).
The key questions are:
1. How much do elevated CO2 levels contribute to the warming trend that has been occurring over the past century or so?
2. What would it cost in terms of resources (and of human life) to substantially reduce CO2 levels?
3. If we spend the resources to reduce CO2 levels, will warming be reversed?
1. Hotly debated, and from what I’ve read, generally not precisely known. The truth is that CO2 levels probably contributes AT LEAST some to the recent warming trend.
2. Depends on what you try to do. The answer though is generally a pretty large amount of resources.
3. See number 1. Who the hell knows? This is the most important question, and it is absolutely NOT “settled science”.
Your million dollar Burlingame house is valued on the back of 50 something tech workers fired to make way for cheap labor from Asia.
And 95% of those tech workers voted for the crony capitalist status quo that is now jettisoning them in favor of cheaper labor. I have no sympathy.
With Hillary and Jeb as the predetermined choices there has not been a better Ross Perot moment in 30 years.
And 95% of those tech workers voted for the crony capitalist status quo that is now jettisoning them in favor of cheaper labor
Given that voter turnout is about 50% (at best) it could be argued that half of those workers didn’t vote for the status quo, and still got screwed.
Voter turnout in the last two elections has been about 30%. I would like to think that’s because the more intelligent portion of the population recognizes the senselessness of participating in Wall Street’s Republicrat puppet show.
I thought Silicon Valley and all the dotcom tech millionaires were concerned about wealth inequities.
First, there may be a few who have made some noises about inequality, but there’s no reason to assume that all dot com rich guys agree.
Much more importantly, corporations are not people. They exist to make as much money as they possibly can. Many corporate executives may disagree with the policies that they implement, but the only other option is resignation. That’s the nature of corporations.
They’re also very worried about not living forever:
investingchannel.com/article/342296/Billionaires-Scramble-For-Immortality-Literally
This software boss decided that all of his employees should make at least $70,000. He can do that because he owns the company and doesn’t have to be concerned about the demands of Wall Street.
BUSINESS DAY
One Company’s New Minimum Wage: $70,000 a Year
The idea began percolating, said Dan Price, the founder of Gravity Payments, after he read an article on happiness. It showed that, for people who earn less than about $70,000, extra money makes a big difference in their lives.
His idea bubbled into reality on Monday afternoon, when Mr. Price surprised his 120-person staff by announcing that he planned over the next three years to raise the salary of even the lowest-paid clerk, customer service representative and salesman to a minimum of $70,000.
“Is anyone else freaking out right now?” Mr. Price asked after the clapping and whooping died down into a few moments of stunned silence. “I’m kind of freaking out.”
If it’s a publicity stunt, it’s a costly one. Mr. Price, who started the Seattle-based credit-card payment processing firm in 2004 at the age of 19, said he would pay for the wage increases by cutting his own salary from nearly $1 million to $70,000 and using 75 to 80 percent of the company’s anticipated $2.2 million in profit this year.
The paychecks of about 70 employees will grow, with 30 ultimately doubling their salaries, according to Ryan Pirkle, a company spokesman. The average salary at Gravity is $48,000 a year.
Mr. Price’s small, privately owned company is by no means a bellwether, but his unusual proposal does speak to an economic issue that has captured national attention: The disparity between the soaring pay of chief executives and that of their employees.
The United States has one of the world’s largest pay gaps, with chief executives earning nearly 300 times what the average worker makes, according to some economists’ estimates. That is much higher than the 20-to-1 ratio recommended by Gilded Age magnates like J. Pierpont Morgan and the 20th century management visionary Peter Drucker.
“The market rate for me as a C.E.O. compared to a regular person is ridiculous, it’s absurd,” said Mr. Price, who said his main extravagances were snowboarding and picking up the bar bill. He drives a 12-year-old Audi, which he received in a barter for service from the local dealer.
“As much as I’m a capitalist, there is nothing in the market that is making me do it,” he said, referring to paying wages that make it possible for his employees to go after the American dream, buy a house and pay for their children’s education.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/business/owner-of-gravity-payments-a-credit-card-processor-is-setting-a-new-minimum-wage-70000-a-year.html?_r=0
I thought Silicon Valley and all the dotcom tech millionaires were concerned about wealth inequities.”
They are concerned about any new laws proposed that intrude into their salaries. Laws driven by rage over wealth disparity.
What a joke. Their corporate masters want cheap labor and their bought-and-paid for political puppets will ensure an unlimited supply of H-1Bs and immigrant wage slaves, end of story.
Here ya go……
Obama amnesty granted 500,000 Social Security numbers to illegal immigrants
Linky here:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/15/obama-amnesty-granted-more-500k-ssn/
All I have to say is F.U. obama - F>U>
And here I thought social security was going bankrupt…
Just 500,000? I thought it was going to be 20 million. Sounds like the overwhelming majority of the sons and daughters of Aztlan have chosen to “stay in the shadows” since Obama has only offered them temporary visas (which the next Prez might decide to not renew when they expire) and won’t give them Green Cards.
+1!!
I wish people dug in deeper, before getting all twisted.
If those illegals want to work toward contributing to my retirement, I have no problem with that. It’s not like they were going to be deported anyway - there are too many businesses that rely on them for anybody to be serious about deportation, especially the politicians who get campaign donations from those businesses.
500K new Democrat votes. Comrad Pelosi’s permanent Democrat Supermajority just got a big step closer.
500K new Democrat votes.
How? They aren’t citizens … they don’t even have green cards. If you are implying that they will vote fraudulently, why would they need an SS card to do that?
They will pause in their nefarious activities just long enough to vote…. then they will return to the wholesale slaughter of good, white, christian people.
They can’t help what they are.
a SSN is not citizenship.
Reagan did it for 3 mill, how mad does that make ya?
Yesterday;
What crops? No water, no crops. That was the whole point, scdave wanted to take away the water from agriculture ??
You just make things up as you go Adan ?? I said Alfalfa, Almonds & Dairy’s….Those three likely use 70% of the 80% total…
You got what you wanted. Pay up.
Adan: What crops? No water, no crops. That was the whole point, scdave wanted to take away the water from agriculture ??
Response: You just make things up as you go Adan ??
Making up things and straw man “arguments” are just a couple of Adan’s patterns that can go along with his profession and others who are attempting to perpetrate a fraud.
Intellectually-honest and intellectually-dishonest debate tactics
“Intellectually-dishonest debate tactics are typically employed by dishonest politicians, lawyers of guilty parties dishonest salespeople, cads, cults, and others who are attempting to perpetrate a fraud.……As you know, many lawyers will use every trick in the book to win for their side …
http://www.johntreed.com/debate.html
Too busy for this but ScDave point is you do not want the farmers to grow the crops they are growing because of the water. Whether you tax them into oblivion or take the water away it still has the same impact, no crops, no work for the illegals. The farmers have had the water rights for generations and they are using them to produce food. But you are a typical liberal, you cannot leave property rights alone because you know better than the market how to distribute water. The thought of paying the farmers the value of the water in a freely negotiate contract would never occur to you. Just like Mugabe with the white farmers, you want to disturb property rights, it worked out so well in Zimbabwe and it will in California.
Whether you tax them into oblivion or take the water away it still has the same impact, no crops, no work for the illegals.
See, here’s a typical Adan straw-man argument. The argument is not talking about “no crops” and “no work”.
The concept is changing from growing so much Alfalfa, Almonds & Dairy in Cali which use most of the water, to using less water to grow other crops which use less water.
Growing less water intensive crops by definition would still yield crops, which would still necessitate “work for the illegals”. Thus Adan’s straw man of “no crops, no work”.
you cannot leave property rights alone because you know better than the market how to distribute water
I’d say “the market” is doing a lousy job distributing agriculture water in California right now. Alfalfa in the desert anyone?
Growing less water intensive crops by definition would still yield crops, which would still necessitate “work for the illegals”. Thus Adan’s straw man of “no crops, no work”.
And you know that those crops would be profitable? I think the farmers that live in the agricultural areas know better than you how to use the water in the most profitable way. But the Brazilian way is to not allow the free market to make such decisions that is why they have 1/3 the per capita income of Mississippi and are getting poorer not richer.
Remember….. California is the most impoverished state in the country.
How are they going to pay for developing new water resources?
Of course, blaming almond farmers does take the heat off poor governmental policies:
http://calwatchdog.com/2015/04/16/anti-science-policies-seen-as-factor-in-ca-water-crisis/
I think the farmers that live in the agricultural areas know better than you how to use the water in the most profitable way.
I don’t think they banked on Climate Change.
California Water Prices Soar for Farmers as Drought
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-24/california-water-prices-soar-for-farmers-as-drought-growsGrows
……The water shortage most severely affects the fertile Central Valley with $800 million in lost farm revenue, according to a July 15 report by the University of California at Davis. Direct costs to agriculture total $1.5 billion, in addition to 17,100 seasonal and part-time jobs, according to the report.
The inflated amounts paid for water reflects “the number of people who don’t have access to underground water, who’ve planted very valuable perennial crops,” said
I don’t think they banked on Climate Change.
California has been through numerous droughts and the prior allocation system and the free market sale of water has always worked.
California has been through numerous droughts and the prior allocation system and the free market sale of water has always worked.
What part of “on record” and “ever recorded” don’t you grasp in relation to your above statement?
Record-low snowpack: Bad news for California, say …
news.stanford.edu/news/2015/april/calif-drought-qna-040215.html
Apr 2, 2015 - The snowpack in California’s mountains is at the lowest level ever recorded … This week California water officials performed one of their regular …
Record? How far back do the records go? I am sure that California’s history goes back farther than those records.
Record? How far back do the records go?
The records probably go back before California quintupled its population, climate change’s ravages became undeniable and they started to grow water intensive crops in the desert on an industrial level.
Almonds huh.
For example, alfalfa requires a lot of water, but almonds attract more criticism in part because production for export has exploded in the past decade. It’s a $4.8 billion dollar market. And that’s encouraged farmers to rip out annual crops like tomatoes and melons in favor of orchards. But unlike annual crops, a farmer can’t fallow an orchard.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/04/16/399958203/how-almonds-became-a-scapegoat-for-californias-drought
Ca is probably going to change it’s water aquifer law. So one big pump can’t suck dry all the water under smaller farms.
The law has already been changed, actually there was very little regulation of California groundwater until now…but the new regulations don’t take effect until the 2020’s.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140917-california-groundwater-law-drought-central-valley-environment-science/
Looks like Greece’s days of “extend and pretend” may be numbered.
http://www.businessinsider.com/greek-bond-yields-surge-2015-4
Never been a better time to buy Greek bonds.
You may be right. Too many bankers and their captured political elites have a vested interest in keeping Ponzi markets and asset bubbles superheated. A Greek default would threaten to bring down the house of cards. Methinks some “kindly benefactor” will step in to cover the next few debt payments that the Greeks owe, since the alternative would cost them a whole lot more.
In case a Grexit comes to pass, always remember: A closely-watched pot never boils over.
Greece, China, Oil, California water, Climate Change, it all seems like stuff where the debates have been going on and on and on for years and years. Nothing is going to happen for years and years to come on any of these.
All bets are off on Greece - literally.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-16/greece-all-bets-are-literally-bookie-closes-grexit-market
Yesterday;
The water is essentially a property right and it would be a “takings” to try to shift its use without paying proper compensation ??
So what part of my post did you not understand attorney-Adan ??
“will claim they have senior rights to the ground water…Fair enough…Tax the crap out of Alfalfa, Almonds & Diary…Tax it out of existence in California”…
Don’t need to take “their” water…Just legislate what can be grown & sold…
Well regardless, either way nothing is going to happen, at least not until there is a lot, lot more pain. Neither you or Dan or anyone here is going to have one iota of influence on the decision. No point in arguing about it.
On a related note, what are the heirs of Alfalfa from the Little Rascals up to? Did they set themselves up as California Oligarchs after he made all those movies with Spanky and Darla and Mickey? All they needed to do was buy a couple of houses back in the 40s and they’d be on easy street now.
but cali likes taking things from legitimate owners then not paying them for it…or keeping them from using it
In 1986 MCO, through the Maxxam Group, completed a takeover attempt launched the previous year on Pacific Lumber Company. The $863 million purchase of Pacific Lumber was made through junk bond king Michael Milken of Drexel Burnham Lambert, and was one of the earliest instances of a hostile takeover financed by the sale of junk bonds. The takeover was spurred in part by Hurwitz’s discovery during an aerial survey that Pacific actually owned about 30 percent more standing timber than was believed, a fact that kept the company’s stock price artificially low. Shortly after the buyout, the cutting rate on Pacific Lumber properties was doubled. This infuriated environmentalists, many of whom have continued to hold a grudge against Hurwitz because of this practice.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/maxxam-inc-history/
But where do black people figure into all this?
good question but if black people committed crimes at the same rate as white people we would not have to build anymore jails and, as time progressed we would have to close hundreds of them….it could wind up laying off 100,000 cops…because they wouldn’t be needed.
So it’s the black man that keeps you down, and makes you need the government to pay off your credit cards?
Without the black man, the world would just be all sunshine and kitten farts, wouldn’t it?
….it could wind up laying off 100,000 cops…because they wouldn’t be needed.
America doesn’t “need” half the cops it has now imo. A town I grew up in had 9 cops back in the day. Now with the same population, the town has over 20 cops.
If The NYPD Is On Strike, Maybe They Should Stay That Way
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-mccormack/if-the-nypd-is-on-strike-maybe-they-should-stay-that-way_b_6404916.html
Jan 2, 2015 - 22, the NYPD has made far fewer arrests and issued drastically fewer … Major crimes, by Bratton’s own admission, did not go up during the alleged slowdown. The city didn’t erupt into chaos and, hopefully many poor New …
The Benefits of Fewer NYPD Arrests — The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/the-benefits-of-fewer-nypd-arrests/384126/
Dec 31, 2014 - Drug arrests by cops assigned to the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control … “This is not a slowdown for slowdown’s sake,” a police source told the Post. …
The NYPD is Essentially Refusing to do Its Job and Yet New York Hasn’t Collapsed into Chaos
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/nypd-essentially-refusing-job-york-collapsed-chaos/..
Dec 30, 2014 - Drug arrests by cops assigned to the NYPD’s Organized Crime … “I think it’s probably a rift that is going to go on for a while longer,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton … If there is one thing that we can rest assured will not be brought up ….. NY Police officers didn’t want di Blasio to attend any NYPD funerals!
you will never get it..its severe black functional illiteracy that is causing the problems and costing the country a ton of money….and nobody wants to even talk about it let alone solve it. You have to be severely illiterate not to understand dont run or attack the police..
Without the black man, the world would just be all sunshine and kitten farts, wouldn’t it?
I think you guys are missing an important point. Water and its allocation should be treated as a public utility just like electricity. It’s the only way to prevent monopolistic pricing, “cornering the market,” and ensuring that the entire public has fair access to a commodity they need to survive. The free market will never be able to allocate water efficiently to agriculture, cities, industry, etc. Only a regulated public utility can do that.
uh huh. California is running out of water. It’s time to develop new sources. Not complicated. Just costly.
The free market will never be able to allocate water efficiently to agriculture, cities, industry, etc. Only a regulated public utility can do that.
Just plan wrong. Price can allocate far better than bureaucrats and history clearly proves this correct. Trying to allocate resources without the price mechanism is exactly what caused the Soviet Union to fall.
Price can allocate far better than bureaucrats and history clearly proves this correct
If you said that in China (where you love the results of Communists owning and regulating most markets) would they cut off your head??
Adopted at the 24th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People’s Congress…..and promulgated by Order No.74 of the President of the People’s Republic of China on August 29, 2002
…..Article 3 Water resources are owned by the State. The State Council, on behalf of the State, exercises the right of ownership of water resources. The water of ponds belonging to rural economic collectives and the water of reservoirs built and managed by such collectives shall be used by the collectives respectively.
…Article 5 People’s governments at or above the county level shall pay special attention to construction of water conservancy infrastructures, and incorporate it into their plans of national economic and social development.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/government/207454.htm
No wonder water and wastewater facilities are in such poor condition in the US. They’re all managed by government.
Price can allocate far better than bureaucrats.
I’ll take a bureaucrat ANY day over some private sector bean counter whose job depends on cutting corners.
“…over some private sector bean counter whose job depends on cutting corners.”
You don’t seem to understand a thing about how markets operate.
“Price can allocate far better than bureaucrats and history clearly proves this correct.”
Does it work that way when bureaucrats manipulate the price? Take housing or oil, for familiar examples…
I think you guys are missing an important point. Water and its allocation should be treated as a public utility just like electricity. It’s the only way to prevent monopolistic pricing, “cornering the market,” and ensuring that the entire public has fair access to a commodity they need to survive.
True, but that won’t enrich our corporate overlords. So they will indeed corner the market, since 95% of the electorate continues to bend over for them by keeping their political enablers in power.
This is a Drudge Report link
http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/benjamin-netanyahu-giving-in-to-iran-just-like-appeasing-hitler/article/2563105
American taxpayers, don’t you ever get sick of being asked to pay for this?
You are talking to a flock of sheep.
It’s because their mindless religion teaches them to have a fixation on a piece of dirt in the middle east.
+1000
It is amazing how much world history has been and continues to be influenced by the inter-tribal politics of who controls that piece of dirt.
1) one must ask why
2) particularly the people of reason (non-religious) must investigate that minus religious hocus pocus, must there be any reason to fight over the control of that piece of dirt? If not, religion is responsible for tens of millions of deaths over the last six or seven decades.
Yesterday;
Yes, California’s strong economy is in part based on exporting all kinds of food and ag products globally and across the U.S. What, you want to kill business, shrink the California economy ??, so Soccer Moms can have green lawns and take long showers ??
BS….California Ag contributes 2%…Thats Right…2% to california’s GDP…
so Soccer Moms can have green lawns and take long showers ??
Ag uses 80% of California water…Thats right dude…80%….Alfalfa, Almonds & dairy use MASSIVE amounts of water…So, how is it that we would allow three Ag products to consume so much valuable resource…
Like I said, we can’t take their deeded water rights but we CAN regulate what they grow…Growing Alfalfa, with free water, in a water starved state that is the 6 biggest economy in the world to ship it to china is just friggen stupid…
“regulate,” “democracy”
Two words that get “progressives” very “turned on.” Very, very.
It is ironic that the poorest state in the country should also be thirsty. The people are too fragile to work out a practical solution.
The practical solution is for everyone to move to Detroit, or perhaps Charlotte. I’ve only been in California once. Is there anything other than the weather to keep someone there?
[As a side note, it was a CA story that got me harping on the Oil City plan years ago. Some guy had to commute 90 miles to his job on a loading dock so he could afford to buy a house. Really, like there aren't a million other identical loading docks in this nation? If he worked at a loading dock in a small city in the Midwest, he could buy a house for 1/6 the price and probably WALK to a job which didn't pay that much less.]
LOL! Been here once??
I’ve only been in California once. Is there anything other than the weather to keep someone there?
Your one trip must have been to Yuba City. Let’s see. Surfing, fishing, hunting, beaches, mountains, redwoods, San Francisco, Santa Cruz/Barbara, San Diego, Big Sur, diverse cultures, music industry, film industry, wine country, wealth, great food, good medicine, World Class national/state parks, gold, oil, agriculture, gateway to the far east, cool people, educated people, snow, desert, silicon valley and there’s more but I’m done.
Disclaimer:
I lived in Cali over 2 decades and have visited 49 states. If you have some money, many parts of Cali really rock. IMO America’s best state.
You forgot to mention down under the pier in Santa Monica.
Poverty, crime, drugs, sex fiends, debt, phony weirdos, no water……
Yeah Lola….. it’s a great place.
RioAmericanInBrasil - You have traveled, you know what you are missing. Santa Barbara, Yosemite, amazing beaches, fishing, surfing, camping, hunting, redwoods, BIg Sur, Napa, great universities, perfect weather, fresh food, wine culture and cool people (outside LA)
And poverty, crime, drugs, sex fiends, debt, phony weirdos, no water……
Seems obvious to me that rice, alfalfa farming is unsustainable. So are green lawns and car washing. So is raising livestock. So is ethanol. Americans need a readjustment in their lifestyles. Everyone resists change; even when it is good for them.
How much water do 10 million illegals use per year?
Liberals do not count that. They are using water just like they try to use everything else, just to get control of people. The free market can allocate water far better than any government bureaucrat. If the cost of water goes up due to shortage, almond farmers will find it far more beneficial to sell the water used to grow the almonds. No need for big government, micro managing through laws etc. But that is not the liberal way.
Oh yes, the “free market” and its wonderful, magic “invisible hand” is the solution for everything. Yeah, that free market worked so well during the late 1920’s and during the Robber Baron era.
You are living in the Robber Baron era, or were you not paying attention since the 2008 bailout?
“You are living in the Robber Baron era…”
+1 Indeed.
Then buy up the water for a freely negotiated price. Of course, for decades, liberals have complained that LA bought up water rights from farmers and moved the water. Now, liberals are complaining about the lawful use of water by farmers. In the end, liberals hate anything they do not control and it useless to try to find logic in their desire to regulate everyone’s life. It just makes so much more sense to use water for hot tubs and swimming pools than to grow food. Of course, liberals think that the U.S. should also pay to end world hunger.
In the end, liberals hate anything they do not control and it useless to try to find logic in their desire to regulate everyone’s life.
You equate control and regulating with liberals who you don’t like.
So are the Chinese Commies who totally control and regulate the Chinese economy, Chinese lives and Chinese markets “liberals” too?
So you like the Chinese liberals’ control and regulating.
Face it Adan. You adore “liberals” which you act like you hate.
I have said numerous times, I like the direction that China is moving not where they are at right now. They are getting rich because they are moving in the right direction, they are presently poor because government still controls too much of the economy.
I like the direction that China is moving not where they are at right now.
No Adan. The only thing you are consistent in is your hypocrisy. You tout “free-markets” and “freedoms” and bash Brazil for “controlling markets” while you revel in the results of China’s much more total regulating and control of their economy, people and markets than does Brazil.
All in the face of Brazil’s bringing 40 million people out of poverty the past 15 years, massively expanding GDP per capita (about 70% higher than China’s) throwing off military dictatorship, establishing health-care as a right, establishing a stable currency after years of massive inflation and unlike China, establishing a true democracy with freedom of the press. That is long-term progress - “the direction that (Brazil) is moving not where they are at right now“. Your words.
No Adan, you are a total hypocrite and twister of reality to fit your warped agenda.
All you have is ad hominem attacks. The U.S. has been the breadbasket of the world with its prior allocation free market type system, countries with far more regulations have failed. Government can have a role building dams etc. however, that is preciously what did not happen in CA since it failed to add government infrastructure due to political pressure from environmentalists etc. Once again it is government that epically failed not the free enterprise system.
All you have is ad hominem attacks.
That’s just bad lawyering right there. You know darn well that pointing out exact examples of your being consistent in your hypocrisy is not an ad hominem attack.
But rather, it is pointing out exact examples of you being consistent in your hypocrisy
See above:
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2015-04-16 10:04:21
scdave: on paper agriculture might only be 2% of California GDP, but the ripple effect of having that industry collapse would be much larger than 2%. I mean, what will all the 6- and 7-figure LA and SF professionals and execs do if they can’t have salads with their power lunches?
there is no such thing as free water in California.
as to ground water, you faill to realize the actual cost of pumping water from 500-1,000 feet in the ground, and installing the wells necessary to do that
Oh, I agree that they are over-pumping the ground water and have been doing that for years, but how to stop it is another question.
the actual , and, probably the best , source of ag water is the waste water from the sewage treatment plants. But you might be afraid of the pathogens in the water when it is applied to plant crops.
In 1959 or so, I was talking to a state water engineer and he said that a small town in Kansas solved their water supply problem, where the water was taken from a small stream, by simply putting the waste water discharge into the stream above the water intake, Solved the water problem nicely.
The Washington Times is a neocon Moonie rag, and the only reason articles like this are published is to extract yet even more money from the U.S. Treasury and stuff it into William Kristol’s pockets
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/15/anti-semitism-on-rise-study-finds-2014-was-worst-y
None of William Kristol’s children or grandchildren will ever put their boots on the ground, but the children and grandchildren of an American electorate so f*ing dumb it can be manipulated by propaganda like this sure will
Him and the Bush clan and don’t forget Cheney.
“anti-semitism-on-rise-study-finds”
Is there correlation with cronyism?
This is an editorial written by William Kristol
http://m.weeklystandard.com/articles/unravel-deal_914593.html
William Kristol has a net worth of two hundred million dollars, but he has never gotten his hands dirty a single day of his life
He is a master manipulator of the Christian Zionist electorate, and every time an American soldier gets their legs blown off by an IED, William Kristol gets paid
Current banner ad on HBB that advocates Texas reject Medicaid expansion:
http://www.texasway.com
30% of Texans have no health insurance, LOLZ
The rest of the civilized world thinks this country is a f*ing joke (and yes I know that “American Exceptionalists” relish this)
The rest of the civilized world thinks this country is a f*ing joke
Funny that you used the world “civilized” in the context of USA’s health-care. I once “caught heat” (lol) because I said ACA by definition would make The USA more civilized. It really shook up some peeps. But by definition the ACA does just that.
In 2008 I explained USA’s health-insurance system of denying pre-existing conditions to an Aussie and he looked at me incredulity and said that was totally barbaric.
civ·i·lized (sĭv′ə-līzd′)
adj.
1. Having a highly developed society and culture.
2. Showing evidence of moral and intellectual advancement; humane, ethical, and reasonable:
Obamacare = taxpayer funded welfare for insurance corporations
In 2008 I explained USA’s health-insurance system of denying pre-existing conditions to an Aussie and he looked at me incredulity and said that was totally barbaric.
Did you also tell him about our system of copays and deductibles, which can run into the thousands before the insurance companies will pay a single penny? When I tell my Euro relatives and colleagues about that they are flabbergasted. “You pay $18,000 a year to insure your family and you still have deductibles and copays?”
Did you also tell him about our system of copays and deductibles, which can run into the thousands before the insurance companies will pay a single penny?
No because he already called Americans barbarians because we disallowed insuring preexisting conditions and he was an Aussie and I was the American.
If I told him that other stuff he might have punched this barbarian in the mouth.
What did they say when you told them that folks that are 75+ years old and terminally ill frequently get risky surgeries and expensive treatments to extend life?
This guy is from my neck of the woods here. Never met him, never seen him, but apparently he’s one of the rural mail carriers in our area. I was at the Post Office yesterday, not the same one he is based out of, but there’s three of them in this area. Most of the counter personnel know each other and rotate between locations, but nobody on duty yesterday seemed to know this guy.
http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/small-helicopter-lands-in-front-of-us-capitol?google_editors_picks=true
Anyway, I’m proud of him. It was a very creative way to call attention to corruption in government and the need for campaign finance reform. I hope they go easy on him. Reading between the lines, it looks as if the Secret Service knew what he was going to do, let him do it and then took him into custody.
Maybe its a sign of the times that two members of the 99% - the mailman, and that 21-year-old German chick who scared the crap out of Draghi (but did not “attack” him) - crashed the party, so to speak, to deliver a message of protest to the overlords. They did so without violence or destruction, to their credit, but they got their point across.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-15/meet-mario-draghis-attacker-her-own-words
At least one 99-percenter isn’t going to go quietly into the banksters’ long Goodnight.
Maybe its a sign of the times that two members of the 99%…. crashed the party, so to speak, to deliver a message of protest to the overlords.
The mailman was protesting an issue that clearly involves a major difference between the future Repub and Democratic presidential nominees - they are not always two sides of the same coin.
The mailman was protesting money buying elections and US democracy. One of the biggest sellouts of American democracy was the Citizens United SCOTUS case which now allows basically unlimited money to buy elections.
The SCOTUS ruled 5-4 in favor of selling out American Democracy. All 5 of the judges in favor of the sellout were Republican nominees. But all 4 of the judges against selling out elections to the highest bidder were Democratic nominees.
If that’s not a huge difference between parties, I don’t know what is.
The mailman was protesting money buying elections and US democracy. One of the biggest sellouts of American democracy was the Citizens United SCOTUS case which now allows basically unlimited money to buy elections.
Agreed.
Exclusive: Relatives of Boston Marathon Bomber Break Their Silence
Simon Shuster / Grozny @shustry
April 15, 2015
“It would be so much easier if he had actually committed these crimes,” says his aunt Maret Tsarnaeva. “Then we could swallow this pain and accept it.”
Like many observers of the case in Russia, the Tsarnaev family has claimed — without providing any meaningful evidence — that the bombing was part of a U.S. government conspiracy intended to test the American public’s reaction to a terrorist threat and the imposition of martial law in a U.S. city. “This was all fabricated by the American special services,” Said-Hussein Tsarnaev, the convicted bomber’s uncle, tells TIME. A panel of 12 jurors in Boston reached the verdict after weeks of testimony from some 90 witnesses and 11 hours of deliberations spread over two days.
time.com/3824265/boston-marathon-bombing-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-family/ - 461k -
Sandy Hook, Watertown, the Chris Dorner manhunt
What’s King Obama gonna do next?
Gosh, their relatives think they’re not guilty? That blows the lid off the whole case.
How goes the stroll Lola?
I wonder what they get paid anyway?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huLs5c6Tx2M - 286k -
It’s good to be a .1 percenter crony capitalist financial firm benefiting from the Fed’s tsnuami of free, taxpayer-backstopped printing press gambling money.
http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-q1-earnings-2015-4
Corporate bankruptcies soaring? How can this be in our Obama-Fed-Goldman Sachs “recovery”?
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/04/16/bankruptcies-soar-across-corporate-america-not-just-oil/
Sheldon Adelson has a net worth of Thirty-Six Billion Dollars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Adelson
But he’s not paying for World War III
You are…
And the best political party money can buy.
But he’s not paying for World War III
You are…
As long as there isn’t a draft most Americans won’t care.
“As long as there isn’t a draft most Americans won’t care.”
+1 <—- A huge plus one!
Since 95% of the American electorate give crony capitalism their nod of approval election after election by voting for Wall Street and corporate water carriers, the sheeple have no right to complain about the flagrant payola that “public servants” receive post-retirement from the firms they enriched with taxpayer funds and printing press “stimulus.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-16/ben-bernanke-join-worlds-most-levered-hedge-fund-hft-powerhouse-citadel
Another mob attack by “youths” the MSN consigned to the memory hole.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/shocking-footage-emerges-of-moment-young-father-is-attacked-by-teenage-swarm-after-helping-elderly-woman-to-her-car-in-us-10177530.html
The word “progressive” is a synonym for Exterminate Whitey
They beat up a black guy.
But that happened in Tennessee, in the south, the land of milk and honey. That’s unpossible.
Good grief…
Capitol Report
Rubin sees ‘realistic possibility’ there are bubbles in U.S. markets
By Greg Robb
Published: Apr 15, 2015 2:19 p.m. ET
Says Fed has to take it into account when making policy
Bloomberg
Robert Rubin, former U.S. Treasury Secretary
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — There is the possibility that there are already asset bubbles in U.S. financial markets, said former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin on Wednesday.
“I don’t have a personal view on whether we now have [market] excesses or not. But it certainly is a realistic possibility when you look at the U.S. stock market, which is near all-time highs, when you look at covenant-light and now non-covenant lending, [and] a vast increase in fixed-income [exchange-traded funds],” Rubin said at a seminar on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank spring meetings.
…
“Rubin sees ‘realistic possibility’ there are bubbles in U.S. markets”
Here’s a guy who really needs his nutz removed.
Rubin was almost singlehandedly responsible for pushing through the repeal of Glass-Steagal and setting the stage for the 2008 financial collapse (and the worse one dead ahead). The Clintons have profited handsomely from their support for letting the banksters engage in unfettered swindles and speculative excesses.
Stocks are lower on the opening. Would now be a good time to buy the dip?
I think you should buy every dip. Rates will stay low and QE Infinity is…..infinite.
Q: How do you avoid buying a lemon house?
A: Rent
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/wp/2015/04/13/heres-how-to-avoid-buying-a-lemon-house/
Exactly. How tragic it is to commit hundreds of thousands of dollars to a house that is a lemon, or in a neighborhood that has gone south and the quality of neighbors turn your house value into a rapidly depreciating asset. It happens. I’ve seen this more than twice.
Better to rent and if you want to throw money away, buy a fancy car you would enjoy. Or at least throw the money away in an international stock index fund.
Yup. Buying a house, any house, is like the Tom Hanks and Shelly Long movie “The Money Pit” but with twice the costs and none of the laughs
A house that got hit by a tree is hardly is reason NOT to buy a house.
The main point is to get it inspected.
Either original construction or the repairs could be good/bad.
The oligarchy is flourishing, thanks to the mindlessness of the 95% of the electorate who vote for their own economic demise.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-inequality-bubble-is-accelerating-worse-than-29-even-1789-2015-04-14?link=mw_home_kiosk
From the number of photos Ive seen this AM, hillary the Hosebag just got out of “Making it look like you are listening to the serfs” school.
“Hillary for President……cheer up, it could be worse”
On a personal note, the flight schedule is such that I have to attend the conference in DFW. May God have mercy…….
‘Marine Corp pilots of the first F-35 joint strike fighters scheduled to begin flying this summer will not be able to use night vision technology or carry more than four bombs and missiles, Defense Department officials testified in the House on Tuesday.’
‘Overall, the first variant aircraft will have a range of lingering shortcomings when it goes into operation and will not be able to best the capabilities of the 1970’s era A-10 Thunderbolts it was designed to replace, according to Michael Gilmore, director of operational test and evaluation at the Defense Department.’
‘The F-35 program began in 2001 and has since racked up nearly $400 billion in costs — one of the most expensive and troubled Defense Department acquisition programs.’
‘Congress is now weighing the purchase of more F-35 Lightning II aircraft as part of the 2016 defense budget. The Government Accountability Office warned Tuesday that it may be a risky move due to the large amount of testing still needed to be completed to field future variants.’
‘Many lawmakers are frustrated with the delays, cost overruns and technical problems but believe the 5th generation fighter jet is needed to retain American air superiority in the coming decades.’
‘Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., said some critics have called for the costly development project to be scrapped. “However, we are past that decision point. We just need to make this program work,” she said.’
I’ve got it:
IBM - Throw Money At It? Ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHTNu5UQvH4
Much the same as what you do after you pay a grossly inflated price for a rapidly depreciating house…….. throw more good money after bad.
Is throwing good money after bad uniquely american?
A-10 vs. F-35 = apples/oranges.
A-10 is okay, as long as the other guy has ZERO air force.
Otherwise…….put an A-10 Thunderbolt II up against it’s namesake P-47 Thunderbolt (propeller driven WW-II fighter), and the A-10 would have problems. Put it up against a Mig-15 or F-86 (first generation jet fighters), and the A-10 loses.
If the US Army/USMC want the A-10 so much, i’m sure that the USAF wouldn’t mind handing them over, as long as they also take the costs out of the US ARMY budget.
A bunch of the F-35’s problems are generated by the V/STOL version. V/STOL makes smaller aircraft carriers being built by the UK and Japan viable, along with the next generation of US carriers.
Seems that one of the biggest problems the F-35 has is with NUTPLATES. What are nutplates, you ask? They are a device that is riveted/clipped/swaged (or in the case of the F-35, bonded) onto the airframe, with a threaded nut/insert, placed around access openings, to secure the access panels that are removed for maintenance.
Almost all civilian aircraft use metal nutplates, that are installed with some kind of mechanical device (rivets, clip on, pressed in) that attach to the aluminum aircraft structure, usually with steel screws. Many of these panels are called “Stress panels” because they are made to absorb some of the aerodynamic loads on the aircraft. The airplane literally can’t fly, unless the panel is in place, AND secured by ALL it’s fasteners.
The F-35, being made primarily of carbon fiber and Kevlar, can’t use nutplates riveted/clipped/swaged on. The F-35 uses nutplates that are bonded on. Which works okay in Flight Test on prototypes that fly once/twice a week.
The problem:
-Steel threads and titanium or stainless steel screws. Try to drive them in too fast (like a newbie mechanic on the flightline with an cordless screwdriver that has the clutch set too high), and they gall/bind, which
-Damages the threads, or twists the nutplate off the airplane.
On a regular airplane, this is a minor PITA…..you just replace the screw and/or nutplate. A clip-on nutplate takes about ten seconds to change, a riveted or swaged one, 10-15 minutes, if you happen to have the tooling available.
On the F-35, you have to RE-Bond it with structural adhesive. which takes a minimum of 90 minutes if you have a way to heat the adhesive to 150-200 degrees, or 8-10 HOURS if air-dryed.
So a single damaged nutplate can ground the aircraft/make it AOG all day. Which kills your “in service” rate.
The critics are using the “low-dispatch reliability” numbers generated by issues like this to label the airplane a POS. But this is an “maintenance education” problem, not a “design” problem, as the critics are counting it.
.
Very interesting.
Sounds like the difference between the M-16 and the AK-47: reliability.
Repost from two days ago about your senator, who is running for a sixth term
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/john-mccain-delivers-warning-on-defense-spending-116937.html
Where are all red-blooded fiscal conservatives who constantly complain about the cost of entitlements? Total silence.
Scale it back or get rid of it.
$400 billion over 15 years? It barely makes a dent.
Then start to make some real decisions.
obama has average $1 Trillion in deficits PER YEAR since he took office.
2014 US Federal Budget:
Department of Defense: 17%
Entitlements: 60%
Interest on Debt: 6%
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget#/media/File:U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2011.png
‘Bloggers’ Compared to ISIS During Congressional Hearing
People who challenge establishment narratives online likened with terrorist organization
by Paul Joseph Watson | April 16, 2015
Bloggers, conspiracy theorists and people who challenge establishment narratives on the Internet were all likened to ISIS terrorists during a chilling Congressional hearing which took place yesterday.
The hearing, hosted by the House Foreign Relations Committee, was titled “Confronting Russia’s Weaponization of Information,” and accused Russian state broadcaster RT of weaponizing “conspiracy theories” to spread propaganda.
One of the speakers giving testimony was former RT host Liz Wahl, who made a public spectacle of quitting Russian state media last year in an incident stage-managed by neo-con James Kirchick, himself a former employee of Radio Free Europe – a state media outlet.
Remarking that the Internet provided a platform for “fringe voices and extremists,” Wahl characterized people who challenge establishment narratives as a “cult”.
“They mobilize and they feel they’re part of some enlightened fight against the establishment….they find a platform to voice their deranged views,” said Wahl.
Peter Pomerantsev, of the London-based Legatum Institute, followed up by claiming that conspiracy theories were no longer “fringe” and were now driving the success of Jean-Marie Le Pen in France, before lamenting the fact that conspiracy theories were challenging the “global order” and threatening to undermine global institutions.
http://www.infowars.com/bloggers-compared-to-isis-during-congressional-hearing/ - 109k -
Neocons and the Likud Party are the real terrorists
Ongoing efforts to destroy US constitutional rights continues…
They must be really pizzed that they got hacked by the Ruskies.
If you can’t beat up on your real enemies, because they might beat back……..
Create some new, less dangerous enemies to beat up on.
Which, of course, requires a budget………
“Follow the money”.
Pulled this from Art Cashin’s commentary this morning on UBS….
Um….Hank are you kidding - look at the oligarchy and the mess you left behind- China is not the only dirty shirt in the laundry there my friend. Hard to see the forest for the trees, hard to know clean water when all you do is swim in a dirty fish bowl. So….may I suggest that when you read the new guy in China insert Obama…when you look at the consolidation of power being done insert Congress/Wall St. and the corporatocracy. And like all of his ilk what is Hank doing - pushing a new book trying again to set the Lords of Finance in the US apart from the Chi comms. EEE gads….
Paulson On China – Former Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, has been making the media rounds, promoting his new book. In a recent interview with Bloomberg’s Tom Keene, he talked about China:
All those who think China has a better form of capitalism should think again, because I think his challenges are far greater than our challenges. The political system is a very, very different political system than ours. But there are economic issues or political issues, just as there are here, because what he is attempting to do on the economy, which he needs to do, is let the markets be decisive. So he is attempting to reboot with an economic model that has run out of steam. It is much too dependent not
only on exports, but on municipal debt, investing in infrastructure. He needs to correct that problem while opening up the economy to greater competition from the private sector.
There is great resistance to change in China. And it’s going to take him a while to build consensus even though he has consolidated power faster than any Chinese leader since Deng Xiaoping, maybe since Mao. But despite that, they don’t have a system where the top guy can say “we’re going to do this.”
So he is still consolidating power, and it’s going to take him a while. And the biggest issues he faces,
the political issues he faces are:
how do you reboot an economy, how do you deal with corruption, how do you deal with dirty air, property rights, big income disparities? He has got his hands full.
Paulson goes on to note that municipal debt in China is growing faster than the economy. Not quite paradise. (Insert any major city in America for China here).
Paul B. Farrell
Opinion: The inequality bubble is accelerating, worse than ‘29, even 1789
By Paul B. Farrell
Published: Apr 16, 2015 9:41 a.m. ET
14 reasons an economic crash could trigger a deadly revolution
Wikimedia
The storming of the Bastille.
Good news for the richest 10%. Bad news for everybody else. The Wall Street Journal reports “the top 3% of families saw their share of total income rise to 30.5% in 2013 from 27.7% in 2010, while the bottom 90% saw their share fall.” Yes, folks, the inequality gap just keeps widening, and the new GOP budget is certain to make it even worse.
The rich just keep getting richer. The rest just keep getting shafted, regardless of the long-term consequences to the American economy. The rich don’t care. And based on how brazen the new GOP budget is about widening the inequality gap, you can bet they’ll just keep thumbing their noses at the rest of America, even after Pope Francis speaks to Congress in September.
Why? The GOP is the party of the rich. Will this trend ever change? Maybe after the revolution of the masses that’s coming? But when? After the 2016 elections? The 2020 elections?
The inequality gap is now at 1929 levels, in fact, the widest it has been in a century, which makes the GOP gamble with the future of America a real “assault on the middle class,” says CNN, as the GOP keeps adding more and more benefits for the wealthy, while cutting incentives for the 90% who are actually building the economy of America’s future.
A couple years ago a Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report gave us a snapshot of just where this explosive inequality bubble is headed, reminding us of something far worse than the 1929 Crash, but of the 1790s when inequality triggered the French Revolution, and 17,000 lost their heads under the guillotine.
The Credit Suisse data reveals that just 1% own 46% of the world, while two-thirds of the world’s people have less than $10,000. Forbes also reports that just 67 billionaires already own half of Planet Earth’s assets. Credit Suisse predicts a world with 11 trillionaires in a couple generations, as the rich get richer and the gap widens.
Global inequality gap is a ticking time bomb on an economic guillotine
Can this trend continue? Or will it trigger a revolutionary economic guillotine? Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz, author of “The Price of Inequality,” is not as optimistic as Credit Suisse: “America likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity.” But today the “numbers show that the American Dream is a myth … the gap’s widening … the clear trend is one of concentration of income and wealth at the top, the hollowing out of the middle, and increasing poverty at the bottom.”
History is warning us: Inequality is a recipe for disaster, rebellions, revolutions and wars. Not in two generations. Much, much sooner, a reminder of the Pentagon’s famous 2003 prediction: “As the planet’s carrying capacity shrinks, an ancient pattern of desperate, all-out wars over food, water, and energy supplies will emerge … warfare will define human life on the planet by 2020.” Yes, much sooner than two generations.
…
14 reasons an economic crash could trigger a deadly revolution
Most of the people shouting most loudly about redistributing wealth, income and opportunity back to the middle-class from the super-rich are not doing it to “destroy capitalism”. They are not “commies” but the opposite.
Most people shouting most loudly about redistributing wealth, income and opportunity back to the middle-class from the super-rich are doing it to save capitalism from destroying itself and precipitating “deadly revolutions”.
14 reasons an economic crash could trigger a deadly revolution
Meh. Americans will just grab their ankles and say “Please sir, can I have more?”
Market topping? End times?
http://www.newsoxy.com/business/ashley-madison-going-public-177677.html
‘Somewhere around 18 million of AshleyMadison’s users are in the United States. The site has approximately 36 million users worldwide.’
‘Avid Life, which also operates Cougarlife (which connects women of a certain age with their generally-younger admirers) and EstablishedMen, (a “sugar daddy” site), said Wednesday that it wants to raise up to $200 million to help it beef up to meet soaring demand for its services. You may cry now.’
It’s a brave new get-rich-quick-world. Burrito IPO’s, burgers, grilled cheese trucks, illegal taxi’s and spare bedrooms. Etsy! Maybe I should take my Forever stamps collection public.
You can’t get romantic on a subway line.
Conductor don’t like it, says you’re wastin’ your time.
But ev’rybody wants some.
I want some too.
Ev’rybody wants some.
Baby, how ’bout you?
It’s a brave new get-rich-quick-world. Burrito IPO’s, burgers, grilled cheese trucks, illegal taxi’s and spare bedrooms.
Designing and making “stuff” is done in Asian sweatshops. The true hallmark of a first world nation are the activities you enumerated.
It’s a paradox: if two Ashley Madison cheaters divorce their spouses and then get married, can they trust each other?
More importantly, if a bakery refuses to bake a cake for me and my AM insignificant other, can I sue?
The money making possibilities are endless; a Public Bathroom Hook-up IPO. A Looking for Love in ALL the Wrong Places IPO.
Public Bathroom Hook-up IPO
PorcelainParadise.com
An app for casual stranger sex? Bet there is one out there already. There is a market for everything as long as the price and/or satiation is right.
http://appcrawlr.com/android-apps/best-apps-casual-sex
Ohh, I know. The Tiger Woods’ Hook-up with a Pancake Waitress IPO. You already have a celebrity to kick it up a notch.
I am fairly convinced by now that you can not go wrong betting on the vice sectors for long term profit. A vice can be as simple as fast food. Idiocracy meets Roman Empire grotesque.
if two Ashley Madison cheaters divorce their spouses and then get married,
Isn’t marriage going the way of the horse and buggy?
Blackstone reported much better-than-expected quarterly results on Thursday, prompting Chairman and CEO Steve Schwarzman to declare his private equity firm an “earnings machine.”
“We are the most profitable money manager in the world,” boasted the co-founder of Blackstone, which has $310 billion in assets under management. “We just have an economic model that doesn’t depend on a [particular] quarter’s earnings.”
So….a question for all HBB’ers….
How bad a beating did you take paying out to Uncle Sugar yesterday?
Me - the beatings continue…..
It still hurts when I bend over…
4,766.00 plus my obamacare offering 1263.00 it all goes to the dem party!
Chicago Mayor Not Happy With Title Of Spike Lee`s New Film
by WGN - Chicago 1:03 mins
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is telling film director Spike Lee he doesn`t like the title of a movie he`s planning to film in Chicago. Lee wants to call the film “Chiraq” focusing on the violence in Chicago`s Englewood neighborhood.
“I can rub people the wrong way. I talk when I should listen. I own that.”
Very truly yours,
Rahm “Dead Fish” Emmanuel
Newly Re-elected and bought off Mayor of Chicago
The question I have here is …..Does Goon have the correct tires on his coal roller?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-bc-co-xgr–mandatory-snow-tires-20150414-story.html
We had so much global warming in the mountains today that Interstate 70 was closed in both directions
If you ever need proof why laissez faire “free market” “trickle down” don’t work, it’s right here. “Free markets” don’t stay free, they always get corrupted:
===
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted Thursday to give a tax break worth $269 billion to the richest few thousand estates in the country, and add that cost to the federal debt.
Called the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015, the bill would end the nearly 100-year-old federal estate tax. All but three Republicans voted in favor, while all but seven Democrats voted against. The legislation passed 239 to 179.
The measure benefits only the top .2 percent of the population because the other 99.8 percent of the country doesn’t own enough wealth to ever pay the tax.
===
Adding the $269 billion to the debt is a form of inverted socialism. The new debt will have to be covered by Treasuries, and we taxpayers will foot the bill.
Contagion from Greece spreading to other PIIGS.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-16/contagion-arrives-european-peripheral-bond-risk-soars
“No End To Falling Iron Ore Prices”
http://www.livemint.com/Money/DavvGLe2pRJImdhHw4xmoI/No-end-to-falling-iron-ore-prices.html
Falling prices…. falling falling prices. It’s what happens when they’re grossly inflated.
The more money they print the more your stocks and homes go up in value. Some people produce while others watch the ticker all day.
And some of us are actually job creators. We’re pitching desal plants to a bunch of CA regions and have one project underway. I also have a few contracts in the pipeline for southern counties to outsource their water and sewer operations to us.
Not everyone slaves for the man or extracts rent.
Liberace the Sewer Deputy.
there is money in water that’s for sure.
well better late then never………amazing they want to spend 100 bill on a stooopid high speed train yet a water shortage reservoirs drying up is not that important ….until it is.
Abandoned homes cause problems in Albuquerque neighborhood
KRQE News 13 | 4/14/15 | Tina Jensen
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – 4228 Loren Avenue NW used to be the beautiful show home of the Albuquerque neighborhood near the Cottonwood Mall. Now people are looking at it for entirely different reasons.
There are boarded up doors and shattered glass in the driveway. Inside, the second floor is caving in from apparent water damage. There’s graffiti on the walls, ripped up counters and remnants of appliances.The home has been abandoned for at least five years, according to neighbors.
“Everything’s stolen out of this home right by us. Mold all over the wall in the kitchen. There’s absolutely nothing in the house,” said neighbor Bill Carpenter. “But no one’s doing anything.”
It’s not the only home that’s had problems. Around the corner at 10323 Dunbar NW, there’s a vacant home that once had a collection of beehives in the backyard. It’s been in the foreclosure process for a few years, but is not yet bank-owned, according to court records.
Around the corner from that home is 10335 Durham Street NW, a home that’s been tied up in the foreclosure process for a year and a half. The loan servicer, Wells Fargo, says they came by a few days ago to maintain the yard. Yard maintenance, though, isn’t stopping plants from growing out of the pool.
“I think kids live in them and party in them,” said neighbor Jan Bjork.
Espinoza said it’s up to owners to fix the violations.
Owners on all three homes, however, have abandoned them and banks don’t own them, yet. The city says it still has options.
Which house was Walter White’s?
The one with the RV out front
Don’t know if this is too far off topic, but I received call from bank wanting to know the source of cash deposits made last month(19 and 21 K). I told them none of their business (rest assured, completely legit). I was told it was federal regulations and they had to do transaction report forms. Have I opened myself up to headache? Sorry to sound so much like a rookie.
I was told it was federal regulations and they had to do transaction report forms. Have I opened myself up to headache?
You are fine since it’s legit. It happens with anything over 10K. Just list the source which you are now required to do.
This rule having been foisted on us via GW Bush and his ilk to attempt to smoke out drug lords and other illegit folk operating in cash?
CTR = Cash transaction report which is what they are doing. They report the cash deposits to the Treasury. Revenue Agents (who conduct exams for the IRS) have access to these reports.
I’ve had handful of clients report various banks simply closed their accounts without warning because they made frequent cash deposits. These weren’t $10k+ deposits, just hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Chase recently stopped accepting cash deposits from anyone other than the account holder, i.e. a father can’t make a cash deposit into his son’s account.
CTR”s have bee around forever but the aversion to handling cash is fairly recent, last 2-3 years.
Rio
Thanks for reply,
“Just list the source which you are now required to do.” This may be the crux of it, I left the phone call with “none of your business.” Am I now in some sort of violation?
Rio
I guess what I am asking is, is it federal regulations that the bank ask, or federal regulations that I answer, or both?
is it federal regulations that the bank ask, or federal regulations that I answer, or both?
I think maybe both and If you receive over 10K cash in one chunk you also have to report that to the IRS. If you’re late and still did it you’d probably be OK but Idk.
“26 USC 6050I provides that any person in trade or business who receives a cash payment in excess of $10,000 must file a return with the IRS. The return is Form 8300, which discloses the identity of the parties and the nature of the transaction. It must be filed within 15 days of the date the payment is received. See 26 CFR 1.6050I-1(e)(1).”
From a bank’s website at the bottom:
https://public.websteronline.com/deposit-account-disclosures-consumer-accounts
…..NOTICE TO CUSTOMERS:
A CTR REFERENCE GUIDE
Why is my financial institution asking me for identification and personal information?
Federal law requires financial institutions to report currency (cash or coin) transactions over $10,000 conducted by, or on behalf of, one person, as well as multiple currency transactions that aggregate to be over $10,000 in a single day. These transactions are reported on Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs). The federal law requiring these reports was passed to safeguard the financial industry from threats posed by money laundering and other financial crime. To comply with this law, financial institutions must obtain personal identification information about the individual conducting the transaction such as a Social Security number as well as a driver’s license or other government is-sued document. This requirement applies whether the individual conducting the transaction has an account relationship with the institution or not.
There is no general prohibition against handling large amounts of currency and the filing of a CTR is required regardless of the reasons for the currency transaction. The financial institution collects this information in a manner consistent with a customer’s right to financial privacy.
Company A is looking to buyback some shares so they can provide liquidity on days when it doesn’t look like the market will support a higher stock price. Company insiders are cashing out options and selling a lot of stock to retail investors. It really seems like this market is about making corporate insiders richer so they can make some hefty donations soon. Am I wrong?
BP CEO warns oil could stay low for few years
Published: Apr 16, 2015 11:12 a.m. ET
By Sarah Kent
LONDON–BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley warned Thursday that oil prices could stay low for several years and that he isn’t optimistic that they will bounce back soon.
Oil prices have fallen around 50% since the middle of last year, prompting energy companies to slash costs and cut spending. BP has cut capital spending by 20% this year and took a loss in the fourth quarter of 2014.
“We’ve got to plan in BP for a lower-for-longer world,” Mr. Dudley said on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting. “I’m not optimistic from the fundamentals that it’s going to bounce back,” he added.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading down on Thursday afternoon in London after several days of gains.
…
Judge Andrew Napolitano…”What if?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCGHPuuo894&feature=share
Along with the Judge’s “What if elections don’t matter?” there is:
Ron Paul: What If? (speech on House floor 2/12/09)
Thanks!
With cratering demand and burgeoning supply in play,
is another drop in oil on the way?
‘I wish my teacher knew’ — poignant notes from students
By Valerie Strauss April 17 at 4:00 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/17/i-wish-my-teacher-knew-poignant-notes-from-students/ -
phony scandals
phony phony phony