Bits Bucket for April 26, 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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It’s go time in Baltimore:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bal-protesters-rally-for-freddie-gray-hundreds-to-march-20150425-story.html#navtype=outfit
Send in the MRAPs and shocktroops! To protect the Constitution!
i just got suspended from fb for posting this..the left wing liberal censors are out of control …Freddie Gray’s arrest record:
3-20-15 - dealing cocaine
8-28-08 - possession of narcotics
10-5-12 - illegal gambling
1-25-14 - possession of narcotics over 10 grams
8-24-07 - manufacturing and distribution of narcotics
8-29-07 - distribution of narcotics
9-16-08 - distribution of narcotics
4-16-08 - distribution of narcotics
5-9-12 - distribution of narcotics
1-4-15 - distribution of narcotics
12-31-14 - distribution of narcotics
5-13-14 - stolen property
7-16-08 - distribution of narcotics
3-28-08 - possession of narcotics
2-12-08 - distribution of narcotics
9-29-13 distribution of narcotics
12-4-14 - distribution of narcotics
12-4-14 - possession of narcotics
3-20-08 - Burglary
3-20-08 - possession of narcotics
9-21-07 - distribution of narcotics
4-30-08 - unlawful possession (TWO COUNTS)
(Source: Maryland Dept. of Justice.)
That’s some “small government” and “low taxes” War On Drugs right there.
In essence, all victimless crimes.
For conservative hypocrites, there is no limit to the size of “small government” when it comes to police kicking the shit out of black people.
yup. I keep trying to turn my slightly younger cousin to voluntaryism but he is glued to his partisan ideology.
Hard to say, are all the drug sales to adults and how are the junkies financing their buys?
Was looking for your first post today Adan…
Founder of the biggest hedge fund in the world;
Dalio appeared on the annual Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
You constantly report about China’s 7% GDP….Dalio’s quote this morning paraphrasing;
“China has been growing at 10% for many years now…7% of that growth is unsustainable…”
My bet is that he’s more likely to be correct than you Adan…
Too little of the quote to even comment. Is he saying that they will not meet it this year, if so he is wrong. Is he saying that twenty or thirty years from now it will be 3%, sound about right. We can only grow about 2% per year.
Alas, poor China has shortened their evolution by doing several generations worth of fraudulent borrowing.
Almost, almost all victimless crimes:
5-13-14 - stolen property
3-20-08 - Burglary
While I agree with you conceptually, do you know for certain that they were all “victimless crimes”?
Freddy Gray was a POS. That doesn’t justify the police violating their own procedures as well as his civil rights.
Yes it does, because it rallies the base.
You think the guy has a addiction problem ?? Instead incarceration, maybe treating it, monitoring it and giving the guy some opportunity to work for a living vs selling drugs would be a better alternative…
But what about the public defenders, parole officers, prisons and prison guards…Gee’s..they want to work also…Without them Federal criminals they don’t have a job…Think of the children…
He would have been dead in Indonesia years ago:
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/world/8-foreign-drug-suspects-in-Indonesia-told-they-will-die/shdaily.shtml
You ever been close to someone with a addiction problem Adan ?? If not, then you cannot possibly understand the difficulty and your solution is firing squad…That law degree you have must have hung on the wall in the DA’s office…
I did not advocate it but did point out that in Obama’s former home, they are much harder on the crime than the U.S. I think that having programs to solve addiction are good but you are naïve if you think he was never offered them, if he had an addiction, he was more a dealer than a user, in fact there is no evidence that he had an addiction of any sort just that he was selling and possessing.
in fact there is no evidence that he had an addiction of any sort just that he was selling and possessing ??
In Fact ?? Your DA assumption is now factual ??
Common sense tells you no “Dealer” gets arrested that many times for selling drugs and ever see’s the light of day again…DA buddies make sure of that…
Apparently not in Baltimore, maybe that is why it has one of highest homicide rates in the country.
BTW, what part of “distribution of narcotics” do you not understand?
Apparently not in Baltimore ?? BTW, what part of “distribution of narcotics” do you not understand ??
Understand it quite well danny-boy…Apparently, much better than that law degree allows you to…His crime was a federal crime therefore he would be sentenced in Federal court that are guided by Federal laws…So “Baltimore” has squat to do with it Danny…He was likely a low level seller and addict…Does county time instead of prison…Like I said, which obviously did not sink into your legal scull, that many selling arrests if true should have put him away for a very long time…He an addict…A dead addict…
Do you even have a clue about what you are talking about? Where are getting that the crimes were federal? All the evidence is to the contrary but that has never stopped you.
“i just got suspended from fb…”
That’s actually a blessing.
An yes - Baltimore.
A city that votes 87% for obama, has been run by democrats for decades and all the minorities are upset that they get no respect.
So it must be the fault of Bush.
Its Joe Smith’s town, I wonder why we do not hear from him.
I thought he lived with the one percenters in some posh area.
Oh I get it he works for them but thinks he’s one of them……
“Its Joe Smith’s town, I wonder why we do not hear from him.”
Look down, Dan; notice there’s only one set of footprints?
Another corrupt Democrat-run municipality that’s been run into the ground. Maybe some of our resident Democrat ball-lickers can explain the 100% correlation between “Democrat-run” and “corrupt cesspool.”
The problem for your theory is that nearly all big American cities have Democratic mayors. That includes that are doing well and the ones that aren’t.
Besides, what makes you think that corruption is a big problem in Baltimore?
So it must be the fault of Bush ??
He has a boat load of baggage hanging around his neck…Don’t need to add Baltimore to it also…
A city that votes 87% for obama, has been run by democrats for decades and all the minorities are upset that they get no respect.
If you polled a group of cops who killed suspects while they were in custody, the portion who vote Democrat is probably a lot less than 87%.
keep politics out of it.
these thugs dont vote, dont work, dont go to school, did not get any training…. walking dead.
trayvon was a dead man walking too….sooner or later someone would have shot him…..
here is also a common thread none of them ever use their real names on FB its always some gansta one they try and live up to.
To home-debtors;
What are your losses to depreciation so far this year?
zero, nada, zilch
equity is awesome. Its like money falling from the sky. You just sit back and watch the cash roll in.
Some people work jobs while others watch their assets go up in price thx to uncle fed.
$5000 loss to depreciation? $6000?
Remember Poet…. A house is a depreciating asset that costs you every day you own it.
Ashburn, VA(DC Metro) Sale Prices Crater 10% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/ashburn-va/home-values/
I like the way you think! Rental market is pretty tight as well. Stuff is definitely pushed upwards. Apartment = $1700-1800 at a price that is like $25/sqft. Townhouses can sometimes be had for $2000-2300/mo which is more like $12/sqft. But then you get to huge SFH at $2700-3000/mo, which often seems to possibly bring it down to 10-11/sqft/yr.
With rental rates half the cost of buying, why wouldn’t you rent?
“…why wouldn’t you rent?”
“Some people work jobs …”
… and get big chunks of their hard-earned cash subtracted from right off the top of their paychecks in the form of Social Securtity, Medicare, and other various payroll taxes …
“… while others watch their assets go up in price thx to uncle fed ….”
… and also will possibly get some nifty favorable tax treatment whenever they decide to cash in.
Home value is up +6.4% YoY.
Equity is up +17%. Isn’t leverage fun? Thank you Auntie Yellen.
And not a buyer in sight for half the amount you’ve got in it.
In my zip code inventory is tight and buyers outnumber sellers. If I wanted to sell I have no doubt it would sell at a little higher than my Zillow number and within 30 days. But I am also realistic — I know these conditions could evaporate quickly and these paper gains would go *poof.*
With 4.4 million excess empty and defaulted houses and housing demand at 20 year lows in that impoverished state, there is no ‘gain’.
Remember….. I can ask $50k for my run down 10 year old Chevy pickup but where is the buyer at that price?
So it is with a depreciating house.
my house is as solid as the day it was built. I cant see any depreciation in sight.
Termites are the depreciators!
I have a bunch of lizards inmy yard taking care of the depreciators!
…. and not a buyer in sight.
Zillow predicts most of fl up 5 -6% for 2015
What happen to 300,000 foreclosures ?
Miami, FL Sale Prices Dive 5% YoY Under Weight Of Foreclosure Inventory
http://www.zillow.com/miami-fl-33134/home-values/
More of Obama’s failed leadership creating racial violence:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/04/25/war-zone-baltimore-erupts-into-violence-chaos-as-blacklivesmatter-riots-rage
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-25/baltimore-protests-erupt-mayor-asks-fans-stay-inside-ballpark-own-safety-live-feed
what if he just had a grand mal epileptic seizure in the back of an unpadded police van…….
NOAA: $5.5 billion FY 2015 budget request promotes environmental intelligence
Investments ensure NOAA continues to protect the public with innovative science
March 13, 2014
NOAA Blue Book - FY 2015 Budget Summary.
President Obama’s fiscal year 2015 discretionary budget request for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, totals $5.5 billion. This is $174 million over the 2014 enacted budget, an increase of 3.2 percent.
I like it, I love it,
I want some more of it,
I try so hard,
I can’t rise about it.
Don’t know what it is
‘Bout that Climate Change money,
But I like it, I love it,
I want some more of it.
Top scientists start to examine fiddled global warming figures
The Global Warming Policy Foundation has enlisted an international team of five distinguished scientists to carry out a full inquiry
By Christopher Booker
8:14PM BST 25 Apr 2015
Last month, we are told, the world enjoyed “its hottest March since records began in 1880”. This year, according to “US government scientists”, already bids to outrank 2014 as “the hottest ever”. The figures from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were based, like all the other three official surface temperature records on which the world’s scientists and politicians rely, on data compiled from a network of weather stations by NOAA’s Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN).
But here there is a puzzle. These temperature records are not the only ones with official status. The other two, Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and the University of Alabama (UAH), are based on a quite different method of measuring temperature data, by satellites. And these, as they have increasingly done in recent years, give a strikingly different picture. Neither shows last month as anything like the hottest March on record, any more than they showed 2014 as “the hottest year ever”.
The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has enlisted an international team of five distinguished scientists to carry out a full inquiry into just how far these manipulations of the data may have distorted our picture of what is really happening to global temperatures.
Their inquiry’s central aim will be to establish a comprehensive view of just how far the original data has been “adjusted” by the three main surface records: those published by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss), the US National Climate Data Center and Hadcrut, that compiled by the East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (Cru), in conjunction with the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction. All of them are run by committed believers in man-made global warming.
But only when the full picture is in will it be possible to see just how far the scare over global warming has been driven by manipulation of figures accepted as reliable by the politicians who shape our energy policy, and much else besides. If the panel’s findings eventually confirm what we have seen so far, this really will be the “smoking gun”, in a scandal the scale and significance of which for all of us can scarcely be exaggerated.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…ientists-start-to-examine-fiddled-global-warming-figures.html -
The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) is a think tank in the United Kingdom, whose stated aims are to challenge “extremely damaging and harmful policies” envisaged by governments to mitigate anthropogenic global warming.[3][4] The Independent describes the foundation as “the UK’s most prominent source of climate-change denial”.[5]
The foundation has rejected freedom of information (FoI) requests to disclose its funding sources on at least four different occasions.
…its headquarters occupy a room at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
wikipedia
Five guys is not a lot to investigate a gang like the NOAA with their $5 billion budget. It helps that their blatant manipulation of data is already an open secret.
Why does NOAA manipulate the data?
To please Obama and his efforts to use the threat of AGW to send billions to his cronies in the alternative energy scams that then turn around and give hundreds of millions to the Democratic party as we saw in the last election cycle.
“Why does NOAA manipulate the data?”
I like it, I love it,
I want some more of it,
I try so hard,
I can’t rise about it.
Don’t know what it is
‘Bout that Climate Change money,
But I like it, I love it,
I want some more of it.
“Why does NOAA manipulate the data?”
If NOAA does manipulate the data then here may lie some clues as to the possible reasons:
“Since 2001, the organization has hosted the senior staff and recent chair, Susan Solomon, of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s working group on climate science.”
“The IPCC provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change, producing reports which have the agreement of leading climate scientists and the consensus of participating governments. The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared, in two equal parts, between the IPCC and Al Gore.”
The above was selected from Wikipedia.
Please note that the IPCC sprung into being and was funded in 2001 and will probably remain (and funded) as long as the problem of Climate Change remains an issue.
Why do scientists around the world go along with the charade?
And since these are the guys that determine whether Climate Change is really an issue or not it is a good bet that it will forever remain an issue.
Clearly the GWPF is a Merchant of Doubt
(http://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/)
Why, why, why…
Why are we governed by the morally bankrupt? Why do we like it so? Why is fraud an corruption celebrated and protected at all levels of government around the world?
Why do scientists around the world go along with the charade?”
Because scientists are corruptible. Like people from all walks of life, they like to be right, they like their own agendas and they like money.
To think they are not like other people is foolhardy.
Most scientists are not a “cut above”. No different than most economists and accountants, who are not a “cut above” either.
I still want to know why the world’s scientists go along with the charade. I mean, I can see how one or two organizations can be co-opted or corrupted. Heck, we see that every day. But the whole world of scientists? In all those institutes and universities (where many have tenure and can’t be fired) all around the world, in countries in the West as well as Russia and Asia and Africa.
How can they all be bribed or threatened into this conspiracy?
It’s not all that agree with the consensus. The way consensus works is top down, not bottom up. Folks in charge do not ask the worker bees what the consensus is, they instruct and build the culture that only nurtures the team players. Ever been in a group that had a strong consensus that you stood up against? How did that work out for you?
Anyone who questions the consensus of your group gets dismissed and ridiculed. In fact you seem to think they do not even exist. Then you ask how could everyone be fooled, influenced, wrong or willfully mistaken! You ask this of the very ones who warn you to consider carefully.
Insincere, I would say.
JIC someone hasn’t heard this one before:
Not climate change, but some scientists apparently couldn’t be corrupted or maybe not given a chance to be…picked up from reddit:
List of dead microbiologists, over 100 killed or died in mysterious circumstances. All worked in government-funded or highly sensitive research projects.
Some deaths appear to be normal, but they’re listed anyway. Others are not. Throwing a little woo in on a Sunday morning.
I can well see how individual scientists could be cajoled or fooled into going along, but I cannot see how it could be so worldwide, in so many cultures and different interest groups.
I also cannot see who is behind it and what is the aim.
“I can well see how individual scientists could be cajoled or fooled into going along, but I cannot see how it could be so worldwide, in so many cultures and different interest groups.”
Maybe it’s not.
If somebody were to ask you the question: “Do you think the introduction of a greenhouse gas into the earth’s atmosphere would contribute to global warming” what would your answer be?
My answer would be “Yes”. Probably most everyone’s answer would be a yes.
Then how about a question such as: “Do you thing global warming will melt the ice at the poles and elsewhere?”
Again my answer would be “Yes”.
And how about: “Would melting ice sheets then to cause the ocean levels to rise?
My answer = Yes.
Therefore I must support the conclusion that the addition of a greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere will cause the ice sheets all over the globe to melt and ocean levels to rise, which is not at all the case.
” will cause the ice sheets all over the globe to melt and ocean levels to rise, which is not at all the case.’
Sez who? Here’s the National Geographic:
“Scientific research indicates sea levels worldwide have been rising at a rate of 0.14 inches (3.5 millimeters) per year since the early 1990s. The trend, linked to global warming, puts thousands of coastal cities, like Venice, Italy, (seen here during a historic flood in 2008), and even whole islands at risk of being claimed by the ocean.”
Please show us the source of your info that this sea rise is not in fact occurring.
Lots of scientists seem to confuse science with religion. Those scientists who disagree with the consensus are treated by their tribe akin to how heretics were treated by the Catholic church authorities in days of yore.
However, it is often the scientist who goes out on a limb and rejects the mainstream consensus in favor of his personal font of insight who proves correct in the view of history’s rear view mirror.
“I can well see how individual scientists could be cajoled or fooled into going along, but I cannot see how it could be so worldwide, in so many cultures and different interest groups”.
Oddfellow - perhaps comparing science to religion would help you make the connection. A good many people consider religion to be factual once they have “joined the club”.
It is the same with science.
Science also requires a leap of faith - and there’s no stopping science “leaders” from taking advantage of that leap of faith as they use their influence to affect public opinion/thinking. “Public opinion” includes scientists of less power and stature, much like “public opinion” in the sphere of religion is directed toward parishioners by church leaders.
Here on the HBB - over a course of a year or two - I’ve equated “religious fanatics” to “enviro-nuts”.
In many ways, I think it’s a just comparison.
Belief in false idols and ideals frequently run amok in both communities.
Science should not be confused with religion, but I believe it is human nature to do so, especially when money flows are at stake.
“Science should not be confused with religion, but I believe it is human nature to do so, especially when money flows are at stake.”
Precisely. And the money is flowing hot and heavy from the fossil fuels industries. And plenty of mediocre scientists can earn a good living by jumping on the denial train.
And the idea of greenhouse gases heating the world was once a fringe idea, which gained respectability as it proved accurate. Does gaining respectability suddenly prove that it’s wrong, and those who disagree are right?
That makes no sense at all, and I think you know it.
Copernicus would be an example.
Galileo Galilei would be another example. Back in their day, one could literally get himself locked up for disagreeing with church authorities.
Who here is saying that the “religion” of science is limited to any particular energy sphere? Or any non-energy sphere for that matter?
Stop making this a left versus right argument. It isn’t.
There are a good many science quacks out there - in all arenas. And many “non-scientists” appear readily willing to be imprinted…just like little ducklings.
That is the point being made.
“money is flowing hot and heavy from the fossil fuels industries…”
Unlikely. They really do not have an incentive to do so. Not the oil and gas guys, certainly not the petro chemical guys. Maybe the coal miners. Their business is not one of really high margins. I read that BP’s spill may be the end of that giant.
On the ocean level rising; it doesn’t matter that Venice has been sinking forever, does it? Aside from that, we cannot measure the average level of the whole oceans down to inches, much less fractions of a mm. Nobody knows if the ocean level is rising.
Copernicus and Galileo faced exactly what scientists face today: A well-funded opposition that doesn’t like their findings, because they interfere with their interests.
Who funds the opposition? In the old days it was the Church, now it’s the fossil fuel industries.
“Unlikely. They really do not have an incentive to do so”
Give me the climate denial organization, and I’ll show you either their fossil fuel industry funding, or their refusal to name their donors.
climate change denial
“Please show us the source of your info that this sea rise is not in fact occurring.”
Why don’t you post my entire sentence instead a portion of it.
Go back and read it - read the whole thing.
Here, I’ll help you out:
“Therefore I must support the conclusion that the addition of a greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere will cause the ice sheets all over the globe to melt and ocean levels to rise, which is not at all the case.”
The issue wasn’t that the oceans were or were not rising, the issue was whether I must support the conclusion that the addition of greenhouse gasses were the cause of a rise.
What does the phrase “which is not at all the case” mean? Does it not refute what was just said? And what was just said was that sea levels were rising. Therefore your sentence is saying that sea level rise is not occurring.
The scientific consensus is that sea level rise is happening. So I was curious about your source that said it “is not at all the case.” Or perhaps the phrase has some other meaning?
Okay, let me again help you out. I’ll omit from what I said the part that seems to confuse you:
“Therefore I must support the conclusion … which is not at all the case.”
Blue:
What always seems to be missing from the “ocean rising” meme is plate tectonics and the like.
The Earth’s crust is being driven downwards in many places across the globe. It also is being driven upwards.
Note how the “proof” of ocean rising overlaps with the ring of fire.
So there goes the global change/alarmist theory. It’s as easy for me to refute it as it is for them to verify it.
I guess there’s not much money to be made acknowledging the role of plate tectonics in any of this. Which is why it isn’t.
And so it goes.
“Therefore I must support the conclusion … which is not at all the case.”
It’s still an unclear sentence, but it still seems to say that you would support the conclusion, ’sea levels are rising’, except the conclusion is being shown to be incorrect. Or else what does “which is not at all the case” mean?
What exactly are you saying? Is CO2 from man’s activities raising global temps, and therefore sea levels, or not?
(Try not to answer with a sentence whose last phrase makes it sound like you’re disagreeing with everything you just said.)
MacBeth,
Indeed. Along the coast of Chile, the ocean is definitely sinking. Measuring ocean “height” by satellite is an amazing feat of fudge factors and triangulation. They don’t know the height of the satellite accurately, they can’t discern wave heights, yet the have measurements we are supposed to believe within fractions of a mm.
I question the very concept of measuring ocean height. What is it measured against? Against the peak of mountains that are so many feet above sea level, plus or minus a hundred feet?
“Who funds the opposition? In the old days it was the Church, now it’s the fossil fuel industries.”
You could not possibly have this more backwards. For many centuries the position of the church was the consensus. They ran the colleges and decreed what was true and not true. The vast majority of smart educated influential people fit as neatly into the consensus as they could, or they risked everything including status, income and their lives.
People like Copernicus and Galileo were heretics. They were not part of the consensus, they sought to learn about the physical world by impartial observation, against the consensus. That’s why people accused them of being paid by the Devil. Why else would they do it! You would have fit in very well.
You have offered up the answer to your own question, and proved that an overwhelming consensus does nothing to make an idea true.
As the evidence for man-caused climate change increases, the denier arguments have become more shrill and the quality of pseudo-science is falling. But the dollars from the fossil fuel lobby are relentless, so the propaganda continues…
+1
What goes around comes around, now even faster.
The Wolf of Wall Tweet
A Web-reading bot made millions on the options market. It also ate this guy’s lunch.
By Seth Stevenson
On the afternoon of Friday, March 13, my friend noticed something strange. A rumor exploded that (as news outlets later reported) Exxon might buy a company called Whiting Petroleum, and in an instant—before any human could have possibly acted on it—someone had “lit up the options market.” Trading was halted, but by the time it reopened, the damage had been done. “I personally lost $100,000 in one second,” says my friend. His firm lost more. As for whoever or whatever it was that bought the options? “I’d guess they made between $1 and $2 million. Which is not bad for one second.”
Bots that make trades based on news content have been around for years. Some news outlets, such as Bloomberg and Dow Jones, have even designed news feeds that are meant to be read by computers instead of humans. They send information directly to the robots in more easily machine-interpretable formats. There have also been reports about hedge funds that trade based on sentiments expressed in tweets. In the case of the Altera incident, though, a bot appeared to read a rumor, understand it, and instantly execute an options strategy based on it. And for my friend—at least in his corner of the business, a corner he’s worked in for seven years—this felt like something radically new. “It used to feel like a race that we could win or lose,” he says. “But whatever algorithm they’ve developed, we are now completely helpless. Sitting ducks. This is by far the most advanced version of this we’ve ever seen. It’s at a totally different level.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/04/bot_makes_2_4_million_reading_twitter_meet_the_guy_it_cost_a_fortune.html
That’s awesome.
This is the stuff I dream about when I’m bored at work… clicking a button and receiving 2.4 million dollars.
“… clicking a button and receiving 2.4 million dollars.”
This is essentially what I do.
I click a button to turn on my TV and see a commercial put out by my NAR minions and the next thing I know a line forms at my door filled with people asking for my Dotted Line Special.
I’m thinking that if I get another TV to add to the first TV maybe I’ll get a second line to form.
So-called “markets” have never been more rigged, manipulated, or broken, designed by the .1% to separate retail investors from their money.
you got that right.
You should buy some stocks so corporate execs can cash out their options and make some campaign donations.
They want to suck you in by giving you the illusion that you are missing out on something. Works every time. Greed is a powerful tool.
Slso to separate tjose ehkose wealth is denominated in dollars from their wealth…
Posting from a phone keyboard, huh?
“I thought it was a home invasion” — and it was
posted at 2:01 pm on April 20, 2015 by Ed Morrissey
Yes, Wisconsin, the cradle of the progressive movement and home of the “Wisconsin idea” — the marriage of state governments and state universities to govern through technocratic reform — was giving birth to a new progressive idea, the use of law enforcement as a political instrument, as a weapon to attempt to undo election results, shame opponents, and ruin lives.
The use of force in Wisconsin got applied to one side exclusively, and intended to shut down conservatives before they could exercise their legitimate political power. It’s even more egregious than the IRS targeting of conservatives between 2009-2013, but it’s the same kind of abuse of power, and it leverages the same kind of campaign-finance reform statutes that give government at state and federal levels entrée to control political speech.
hotair.com/archives/2015/04/20/i-thought-it-was-a-home-invasion-and-it-was/ - 84k -
Don’t let this get in the way of scripting a narrative.
The cops kill (yet another) black male and face no consequences. The community predictably explodes in violence. Breitbart runs that violence as their top story. The badge lickers and uniform fetishists are rallied.
There is nothing “smaller government” or “lower taxes” about the fascist police state, but alleged conservatives are kept on the Big Daddy Government plantation like Pavlov’s drooling dogs, because they get off on pigs beating and murdering black people.
“Don’t let this get in the way of scripting a narrative.”
“The cops kill (yet another) black male and face no consequences. The community predictably explodes in violence.”
OK lets take a look at the scripting of a narrative.
Talk show host: Police kill more whites than blacks
By Jon Greenberg on Thursday, August 21st, 2014 at 4:53 p.m.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps data on fatal injuries from 1999 to 2011 and one category is homicides by legal intervention. The term “legal intervention” covers any situation when a person dies at the hands of anyone authorized to use deadly force in the line of duty.
Over the span of more than a decade, 2,151 whites died by being shot by police compared to 1,130 blacks. In that respect, Medved is correct.
However, Brian Forst, a professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Criminology at American University, said this difference is predictable.
“More whites are killed by the police than blacks primarily because whites outnumber blacks in the general population by more than five to one,” Forst said. The country is about 63 percent white and 12 percent black.
http://www.politifact.com/…/michael-medved/talk-show-host-police-kill-more-whites-blacks/ - 37k -
My bro phony only sees in black-and-white.
Rallying bases is complicated.
Do you guys get overtime on weekends?
“My bro phony only sees in black-and-white.”
Comment by Sheldon Kristol
2015-04-26 06:18:27
The cops kill (yet another) black male and face no consequences. The community predictably explodes in violence.
Over the span of more than a decade, 2,151 whites died by being shot by police compared to 1,130 blacks. In that respect, Medved is correct.
However, Brian Forst, a professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Criminology at American University, said this difference is predictable.
“More whites are killed by the police than blacks primarily because whites outnumber blacks in the general population by more than five to one,” Forst said. The country is about 63 percent white and 12 percent black.
A couple of points spring to mind. These numbers show that there are five times as many whites as blacks in the country, yet the number of whites getting killed by cops is less than twice the number of blacks. So the chance of a black American getting killed by a cop is around 2½ to 3 times the chance that a white American will get killed by a cop.
Also, with all of these whites getting killed by cops, it appears that white Americans need leaders like Al Sharpton so that we can start trying to do something about the problem.
It seems to me that the death rate correlates rather well with the crime rate, blacks are being killed at the same percentage as the percentage of overall crime committed by them. It seems the lesson is that it is dangerous to be a criminal. But I guess criminal lives matter just does not have the same ring to it.
” the use of law enforcement as a political instrument”
That’s what’s so shocking about this. We all know the Constitution says that police are for shaking down the poor and smashing up Occupy Wall Street protests. They can’t start doing the same things to rich white people, can they?
“They can’t start doing the same things to rich white people, can they?”
Comment by Oddfellow
2015-04-26 08:16:48
“My bro phony only sees in black-and-white.”
How do you know the people who had their doors kicked in were white? I don’t, all I knew was they were conservatives. I have never seen a picture of any of them. So tell me, how do you know this?
I also did not know they were rich. Once again, how do you know this? If they are rich, does that mean they have to be white? There aren’t any rich black people?
Well wait, I know you are wrong there because I know rich black people. But as for the rest of it I would like to know how someone who is always accusing people of being racist knows all of this?
Or could it be that…
How did I know they were rich and white? I clicked on the links, and read about the people involved.
“How did I know they were rich and white? I clicked on the links, and read about the people involved.”
I clicked on those same links, I didn’t see any pictures or read anywhere that they were white or rich.
So once again, how do you know the people who had their doors kicked in were white?
How do you know the people who had their doors kicked in were rich?
Or could it be that…
If you click the link to the National Review, they show a sketch of a cowering upper-middle class white family on the porch of their upper-middle class home. Surely the National Review wouldn’t lie to us! (I also did this technical thing you might not understand wherein I ‘googled’ the person named in the article, and the ‘results’ showed she was an attorney working for the state making a six-figure income;)
So it could be that.
“If you click the link to the National Review, they show a sketch of a cowering upper-middle class white family on the porch of their upper-middle class home.”
So in an article where they changed the names to protect the people in raids that took place across five counties you saw a sketch and use it as proof (in your mind) that they are all “rich white” people?
WTF does a sketch of upper-middle class home look like anyway? Cause I gotta tell ya, the sketch of that house looks like it’s in the hood.
Also which is it, white or black people that can’t be attorneys working for the state making a six-figure income? I really thought it could very easily be either.
But then again I’m not an open minded “better” like you.
——————————————————————–
For the family of “Rachel” (not her real name), the ordeal began before dawn — with the same loud, insistent knocking. Still in her pajamas, Rachel answered the door and saw uniformed police, poised to enter her home.
For select conservative families across five counties, this was the terrifying moment — the moment they felt at the mercy of a truly malevolent state.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417155/wisconsins-shame-i-thought-it-was-home-invasion-david-french
Read more at http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417155/wisconsins-shame-i-thought-it-was-home-invasion-david-french#6yJDFl42xpBAgEIc.99
Original response.
“How did I know they were rich and white? I clicked on the links, and read about the people involved.”
Hmmm, no mention of a sketch here. No mention of anything being ‘googled’ that shows either white or black people (I’m not sure which) can or can’t be an attorney working for the state making a six-figure income.
So it could be that…
Here’s the first paragraph in the National Review article:
“Cindy Archer, one of the lead architects of Wisconsin’s Act 10 — also called the “Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill,” it limited public-employee benefits and altered collective-bargaining rules for public-employee unions — was jolted awake by yelling, loud pounding at the door, and her dogs’ frantic barking.”
If you click on her name (which was not changed), you find this:
“A longtime aide to Gov. Scott Walker helped interview the two finalists for the IT manager job at the State Public Defender’s office before landing the job herself.
It was during that interview process, and with no input from anyone outside the agency, that State Public Defender Kelli Thompson said she decided Cindy Archer, the agency’s administrative services director since September, was the best person for the job.
The documents included the original posting for the job, which advertised the position in the $91,872 to $109,620 range. They also included Archer’s resume, which showed she had no prior direct IT management experience, and the resume of one of the finalists, who had extensive state government IT experience.
Archer will be paid $113,460…
Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/cindy-archer-helped-interview-finalists-for-it-job-she-later/article_cab5f32f-3b89-5955-889f-6e14d8c353a0.html#ixzz3YRdy84RS
And in her pictures, she’s white and fugly. Next, Sherlock?
Ironically, her cush overpaid IT job is with the public defender’s office. Perhaps this will give her some insight into what their clients face on a daily basis.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate your anger and your effort to back up your racist statements and your approval of the use of law enforcement as a political weapon violating the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures but you have families across five counties to go.
Oh, I’m sure you greatly appreciate the fact that the very first person mentioned in the article was easily shown to be rich and white, which you repeatedly said there was no way of knowing.
You’re so misleading with your words, phony, sometimes I don’t think you really want the facts to come out.
Get busy, you have families across five counties to go.
“If you click the link to the National Review, they show a sketch of a cowering upper-middle class white family on the porch of their upper-middle class home.”
The National Review is a neo-con rag underwritten by oligarchs. They would have no interest in victims of a political railroading unless they were fellow neo-cons, as they’ve long turned a blind eye to the gutting of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
These same “conservatives” - likely astro-turf operatives in phony “grass roots” faux “conservative” political advocacy groups set up by the oligarchs who have captured the GOP - are getting a generous dose of their own medicine. They had no problem voting for GOP candidates like Bush, McCain, and Romney who have systematically nullified the Bill of Rights and Constitutional protections, while working hand-in-glove with the supposed Democrat “opposition” to increase the powers and reduce the accountability of local, state, and Federal governments. I have no sympathy when what they’ve imposed on others comes back on them.
” likely astro-turf operatives in phony “grass roots” faux “conservative” political advocacy groups set up by the oligarchs ”
By jove, I think you’ve got it.
Your anger is ooozing out of your posts now.
You must now how Democrat District Attorney John Chisholm and Leftist Democrat Judge Judge Barbara Kluka, who signed off on every piece of paper put before her felt before they sent police SWAT teams out to kick the doors in and intimidate American taxpayers who did nothing more than exercise their rights as guaranteed by the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Maybe it’s all the fake global warming I mean Climate Change fiddled figures that keep coming out that is making you guys so angry.
Your anger is ooozing out of your posts now.
Yes, I’m angry at seeing officials abuse their position for partisan political purposes. In a nation of laws that would be grounds for termination of employment, hefty fines, and prison time, to be followed by civil lawsuits. But Archer and her ilk have no problem with such abuse of position when Oligarch-owned Republicans engage in it, and they have no problem with oligarch-owned “conservatives” trashing the Constitution. So let them reap what they sow. Karma is a bitch.
I’m against the use of the police and the judiciary as political instruments in all cases, not just where white conservatives are their victims.
You seem to think it’s a hoot when it happens to black people. See your laughing link below to a story about a new black mayor being stopped at the door of her new office by the not-going-out-easy former shakedown government.
Why is it funny when the police are used as political weapons against black people, but shocking and outrageous when the same is done to white people?
My post was directed at my bro phony.
I had no idea they kicked her door in in a no knock raid.
PS
The smiley face was for the 38 votes to her opponent’s 18 with a list of 27 names of people who according to the Election Board were illegally registered while they said many of those individual addresses were listed at city-owned apartments.
All this in a town “marked by pilfered coffers, shady land deals and increasingly bitter fights over the last remnants of political power.”
So white, black, green or yellow nobody got hurt and that’s going to get a smiley face every time.
She got stopped at the doors of her office as the selected media awaited with cameras rolling. A political stunt, courtesy of the corrupt local legal system.
But it’s funny when it happens to ‘them’, a travesty when it happens to ‘us’.
Yawn
When the shakedown’s over,
Turn out the lights
Bye, Haters: Missouri Cops Quit After Black Woman Is Elected Mayor
Comments: 55 | Leave A Comment
Apr 20, 2015 By Sonya Eskridge
A number of police officers and city officials in one small Missouri town have resigned after a Black woman was elected mayor.
While many of the residents were at the courthouse to cheer her on and congratulate her as she was being sworn in, not everyone was so supportive of her election. According to the outgoing mayor, five cops have quit due to some alleged “safety concerns.” Since there were only six officers in the Parma Police Department to begin with, that might be a legitimate concern, since there is now only one cop to keep the town safe.
Parma Resident Martha Miller believes the exodus is unfair and more than a little suspect.
“I think it’s pretty dirty they all quit without giving her a chance,” she told KFVS. “But I don’t think they hurt the town any by quitting, because who needs six police for 740 people.”
http://hellobeautiful.com/2015/04/20/bye-haters-missouri-cops-quit-after-black-woman-is-elected-mayor/?omcamp=outbrain_paid
Haters?
The narrative must be scripted. Publicize the rioters going ape, herd all of the badge lickers and uniform fetishists back on the plantation.
“I think it’s pretty dirty they all quit without giving her a chance,” ??
A chance to do what…Change color from Black-to-White ??
I really hope this link works.
New Missouri Mayor Barred from Entering Office; Voter Fraud Alleged
by Andrew Kirell | 3:09 pm, April 24th, 2015
The newly-elected mayor of a small St. Louis-area town was greeted by local police when she tried to enter her office on day one.
KTVI Fox 2 was on the scene in Kinloch, Mo., when Mayor Betty McCray was barred from entering City Hall on Thursday and was informed that she has been suspended and the Board of Aldermen intends to impeach her and newly-elected Alderman Eric Petty.
“I won. The people spoke,” McCray told the press after she had been served papers and told she could not enter the building. “I was sworn in by the St. Louis County. Today I take office. I want them out, I want the keys.” The Board had refused to swear in McCray and Petty, and so the pair were reportedly sworn in by a St. Louis County circuit court clerk on Tuesday.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that a half-dozen police officers and City Attorney James Robinson initially greeted McCray with an envelope containing the articles of impeachment:
“You can’t come in as mayor,” Robinson said. “You have been suspended.”
McCray refused to take the envelope, saying, “You may be the attorney now, but I promise you, you won’t be later.”
Robinson also told Alderman Eric Petty, an ally of McCray’s, that the board had drafted articles of impeachment against him. Petty, too, refused to accept them.
“We won,” he said. “It’s time for them to move on.”
McCray is in trouble with the Board because of allegations that her election was marred by voter fraud. The new mayor won the April 7 election with 38 votes to her main opponent’s 18. The city of Kinloch has fewer than 300 residents and, as the Post-Dispatch noted, it is “marked by pilfered coffers, shady land deals and increasingly bitter fights over the last remnants of political power.”
More details on the alleged fraud, via the Post-Dispatch:
According to documents obtained… the city has raised concerns to the St. Louis County Board of Elections and the Missouri Secretary of State about people being registered to vote in Kinloch who no longer live there. On April 2, the city gave the Election Board a list of 27 names of people who it claimed were illegally registered; many of those individual addresses were listed at city-owned apartments.
McCray said that the concerns about people’s being illegally registered were “absurd.”
“It never came up until I ran for mayor,” she said, adding that people were still living at the addresses the city claims are empty.
Read the full report here. And watch the courthouse scene below, via KTVI:
New Missouri Mayor Barred from Entering Office; Voter Fraud Alleged
http://www.mediaite.com/…/ - 68k -
Damn! The direct link had a video that was hilarious.
Is that the same mayor?
Phony, are you there? Is this the same mayor?
Otherwise, it’s kind of misleading.
So it’s an entirely different mayor, and an entirely different town!
Darn it, phony, there you go being deceptive again! You are such a rascal. It’s like it’s your job to distort and disinform.
But who would pay for that?
Comment by phony scandals
2015-04-26 09:19:08
New Missouri Mayor Barred from Entering Office; Voter Fraud Alleged
mediaite.com/online/new-missouri-mayor-barred-from-entering-office-voter-fraud-alleged/
For those unfamiliar with St. Louis geography, Kinloch lies just across Ferguson’s western boundary.
“Police bar new mayor from entering office”
Sounds like some apartheid shakedown systems won’t go down without a fight.
Ironically, this is again the use of the police as a political weapon, exactly what phony was shocked about when it happened to white people. But now he finds it amusing.
“I think it’s pretty dirty they all quit without giving her a chance,” she told KFVS. “But I don’t think they hurt the town any by quitting, because who needs six police for 740 people.”
A town of 740 has it’s own PD? And six officers? How can they pay for that? Wouldn’t it make more sense to outsource that to the County Sheriff?
“How can they pay for that?”
What part of the shakedown are you confused about? In shakedown town, the more cops you have, the more money the government makes. They generate revenue.
The story is not nearly that simple…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/resignations-after-election-of-black-mayor-put-missouri-hamlet-in-spotlight.html?_r=0
What in that article makes it less simple? The apartheid shakedown system was ending.
“Ms. Byrd [the new mayor] was among those complaining. Shortly before the election, an officer Tasered a 17-year-old relative of hers and she was outspoken against what her family considered police harassment. But she said in the interview that she thought she had a good relationship with the mayor and the police chief”
George Carlin Illuminati New World Order Exposed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0yhHHPc7IU
This is from 2005 and often times the current bits bucket echoes the themes in the piece.
It runs a little over 3 minutes and has some adult language.
Classic Carlin…And he is telling the truth…But short of civil war not sure much will change…
And, that was 10 years ago…True then…Even more-so today…
+1 smart man.
To the vegetables who cast votes for the Wall Street-Federal Reserve looting syndicate’s enablers: you might want to think ahead to when the Fed’s reckless Keynesian experiments and money printing crash the dollar.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-25/what-will-happen-you-when-dollar-collapses
Oh, and to members of the 99% who are going to be voting for HillaryJeb: your bumper stickers are ready.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/16629031224/
who are going to be voting for HillaryJeb ??
I think it may be Hilary/Kasich…
Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush are two sides of the same coin: crony capitalism and corporate statism. There’s isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between them, hence, HillaryJeb. The oligarchs’ annointed candidates for the Republicrat duopoly’s puppet show.
HillaryJeb. The oligarchs’ anointed candidates ??
Don’t be to sure about that…The “UTMOST” important thing to the repubs is that they win…Right now, its obvious that the way to do that is to do a 18 month relentless attack on Hilary..They even have Fiorina on board now for the sole purpose of being the Attack-Cat on behalf of the neocons…
So Carly Fiorina can run America into the ground the same way she ran Hewlett-Packard into the ground? No thanks.
For the record: the Fed’s policies are not Keynesian. Keynes wrote that monetary policies, specifically increasing money supply and lowering interest rates, will do little to cure a recession. He warned that doing so will create a liquidity trap with near zero interest rates, zero inflation and no capital investment. Sound familiar?
Did Sheldon have his Vegas confab where GOP candidates showed up and kissed his ring?
You have to kiss something else if you want the GOP nomination.
“The U.S. Navy … has dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt toward the waters off Yemen to join other American ships prepared to intercept any Iranian vessels carrying weapons to the rebels, U.S. officials said,” the Chicago Tribune reported on Monday.’
‘Thus does the Obama administration risk war with Iran while embracing the mischievous agendas of Wahhabi Saudi Arabia and Israel.’
‘Iran has not been found shipping arms, but you won’t learn that from mainstream news accounts. Nor do the media ask why the United States and its allies — but not Iran — may intervene in Yemen.’
‘The Tribune, like all mainstream news outlets, refers to “Iran-backed Shiite rebels,” that is, the autonomy-minded and long-burdened Houthis, who are portrayed without evidence as agents of the Islamic Republic. The media are mere conduits for Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab Gulf states, which have an interest in falsely portraying the turmoil in Yemen, long racked by civil war, as an instance of Iranian expansion.’
‘The Sunni Arab states don’t want Shiite Persians playing a prominent role in the region and becoming friendlier with the United States, while Israel uses Iran to take the world’s mind off the Jewish State’s brutality against the Palestinians. All this goes on while the United States negotiates curbs on a nonexistent Iranian nuclear-weapons program — to Saudi and Israeli consternation.’
‘While the media fill American minds with almost nonstop propaganda about Iran’s ambitions, the U.S. intelligence agencies have their doubts. Why don’t the media report this, considering that Obama has facilitated the Saudis’ naval blockade against Yemen and its off-again/on-again bombing campaign? As a result of this war, Yemen suffers a humanitarian catastrophe, complete with refugees, food shortages, and the slaughter of civilians.’
http://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2015/04/obama-wades-further-into-yemen.html
From this blogs header:
Proudly delegitimizing the state since 2005
“Aye, free! Free as a tethered ass!” —W.S. Gilbert
“All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished.” —Benjamin Tucker
“You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” —James Madison
“Fat chance.” —Sheldon Richman
To the vegetables who cast votes for the Wall Street-Federal Reserve looting syndicate’s enablers: you might want to think ahead to when the Fed’s reckless Keynesian experiments and money printing crash the dollar.
The dollar is up about 25% since the beginning of the year against a basket of major currencies.
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/dxy
Yes, the dollar has the most fingers in the leper colony, or maybe you haven’t noticed the way central bankers in the EU, China, Japan, and just about everywhere else have been printing trillions in “stimulus.”
Europe and China business activity slows, raises global growth inquiries
Ross Finley and Ian Chua
LONDON/SYDNEY — Reuters
Last updated Thursday, Apr. 23 2015, 6:48 PM EDT
Chinese workers assemble a cheaper local alternative to the Apple Watch in a factory producing thousands every day in Shenzhen, in southern China’s Guangdong province. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Business activity weakened in China and Japan in April and growth slowed in Europe and the U.S., suggesting the global economy may be less robust than policymakers are predicting.
In China, where the government has been engineering a rebalancing of its economy toward domestic spending and away from reliance on exports of manufactured goods, the preliminary purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to a one-year low of 49.2 from 49.6, according to data from HSBC/Markit. Economists polled by Reuters had expected it to remain steady.
…
Here’s a chart showing China’s PMI:
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/china/manufacturing-pmi
Your graph shows the government’s official PMI went up when the unofficial HSBC version fell.
I got it off the NET, so it must be true.
HSBC is actually predicting 7.3% growth for China this year compared to around 7% by the government. HSBC comes out with it preliminary PMI before the end of month, thus it does not catch the stimulus China uses to make sure the growth rate meets the targets.
Sorry for the repost Ben…My comments are more appropriate for this thread…
Founder of the biggest hedge fund in the world;
Dalio appeared on the annual Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
You constantly report about China’s 7% GDP….Dalio’s quote this morning paraphrasing;
“China has been growing at 10% for many years now…7% of that growth is unsustainable…”
My bet is that he’s more likely to be correct than you Adan…
Same as above, I am actually seeing more predictions raising China’s growth for this year to 7.3% first by HSBC and yesterday by an influential government think tank.
“7.3% growth for China”
Which is a 50% collapse in GDP growth since 2008.
Down we go!
Its unsustainable…You can’t keep goosing the engine…It will finally blow up…We shall see Adan, but if your proven wrong it will take a metal grinder to get all the egg off your face…
You already have egg on your face because it did not happen in 2014. I already was dead on for that year and well on my way to be right this year.
You’ve got crow on the plate for dinner.
No, I don’t think I will be eating any crow, someone that shorted China’s stock market might be eating crow and pigeon to survive though.
You already have egg on your face because it did not happen in 2014 ??
Not so…I never made any prediction…Dare you to find it…You have been crowing about the juggernaut China taking over the economic world for some time now…Where other qualified opinions are seriously questioning their numbers and the trend-line…You were right (assuming numbers are accurate) in 2014…BFD…Every squirrel finds a nut once in awhile…
No actual prediction but constantly attacking my prediction just like you have for the last few days. You are wrong actually just about everything you post that is your record deal with it.
No actual prediction but constantly attacking my prediction ??
No again Lawyer….I offer other qualified opinions as evidence just like I did today with Dalio…
The elites’ War on Cash - really a naked power grab intended to making looting, taxing, and controlling the population much more efficient and comprehensive - is ratcheting up.
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/04/25/don-quijones-war-on-cash-quotes-to-cashless-society/
buy crypto currency.
So some cyberpunk can make off with my “wallet”? No thanks. I’ll stick to items of tangible value not make-believe crypto-currencies.
Plus crypto’s value is more volatile that the stock market.
“Plus crypto’s value is more volatile that the stock market.”
Volatility in Bitcoin is diminishing:
https://btcvol.info/
Same with gold.
http://www.cboe.com/micro/gvz/introduction.aspx
They are looking more and more like the place to put movable and hidable wealth
Spot gold is 3.5% above its 5 year low. Three and a half percent above it’s 5 year low!
5 years ago S&P 500 was at 1110 and is now at 2117. That is 90% above its 5 year low.
5 years ago the 10 year bond yield was 3.66% and is now 1.91%
What will institutional investors do when the rates go up? Buy more ten year notes? 20 year notes? Buy more stocks? Buy real estate?
What’s left are the paper dollar and precious metals and crypto currency.
‘Sen. Ted Cruz, former Gov. Rick Perry, and other 2016 presidential hopefuls flocked to Sin City on Saturday to tout their support for Israel at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s spring meeting, where hundreds of influential conservative donors gathered to evaluate the emerging field.’
‘The event was hosted by gaming billionaire and GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson at his palatial Venetian Hotel, famous for an indoor canal where gondoliers serenade casino-goers as they drift past celebrity chef restaurants, designer clothing stores, and a scented oxygen bar.’
“It is not complicated for Republican politicians to come to the RJC and say they’ll stand with Israel,” Cruz said in his remarks. “Unless you’re a blithering idiot, that’s what you say when you come to the RJC.”
‘One of the world’s richest men, Adelson is a leading advocate for Netanyahu’s Likud government in Israel, where he owns a prominent right-leaning newspaper. In 2013, Adelson suggested at a panel discussion in New York that the U.S. should drop a nuclear bomb in an unpopulated desert in Iran, then say “the next one is in the middle of Tehran,” rather than engage in negotiations. (A spokesman later told reporters the comment was meant as “hyperbole”).’
“It is not complicated for Republican politicians to come to the RJC and say they’ll stand with Israel,” Cruz said in his remarks. “Unless you’re a blithering idiot, that’s what you say when you come to the RJC.”
Unsurprisingly, Cruz is also a Wall Street toady as well as a slavish AIPAC/neo-con stooge.
I dunno, sounded like he was just stating the facts of the matter. Pretty candid, actually.
Sounds like another lying attorney politician who stands for whatever the assembled audience wants to hear said.
“A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.”
Maybe some fine day we’ll get Presidential candidates who put America’s national interests and the public good ahead of a foreign policy dictated by Israel’s Likud Party and economic policies dictated by Wall Street lobbyists.
The narrative must be scripted that any discussion of this will be called anti-semitic.
Don’t want Sheldon Adelson buying the election? You are a Nazi.
Don’t want Sheldon Adelson buying the election? You are a Nazi.
Did they have the ring kissing ceremony in Vegas yet?
The Republican Party has worked well to drive atheists, LBGTs, libertarians, and others out of its group. When there is only one large Democrat Party and its only choice is big government, I guess that is when the people outside will just quit filing taxes and quit withholding.
In 2012 I voted for Gary Johnson. But he was in favor of the so-called “fair tax.” No one can convince me any tax is fair.
My best candidates were the ones I voted for in 2014: NOTA. I will vote for NOTA in 2016 because NOTA will abolish the immoral theft called taxation. FOTA (Few of the Above) will abolish war.
presidential hopefuls flocked to Sin City on Saturday to tout their support for Israel ??
Its also interesting to see who didn’t go…
From the article:
‘Other speakers included Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and, at a private event, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, both of whom are considered possible 2016 contenders. “We must stand without apology for our most cherished ally, the Jewish state of Israel,” Pence said in his speech.’
Cherish is the word I use to describe
All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside
You don’t know how many times
I’ve wished that I had told you
You don’t know how many times
I’ve wished that I could hold you
You don’t know how many times
I’ve wished that I could mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you
Perish is the word that more than applies
To the hope in my heart each time I realize
That I am not gonna be the one to share your dreams
That I am not gonna be the one to share your schemes
That I am not gonna be the one to share
What seems to be the life that you could
Cherish as much as I do yours
Oh, I’m beginning to think that man has never found
The words that could make you want me
That have the right amount of letters, just the right sound
That could make you hear, make you see
That you are driving me out of my mind
Oh I could say, I need you but then you’d realize
That I want you just like a thousand other guys
Who’d say they loved you with all the rest of their lies
When all they wanted was to touch your face, your hands
And gaze into your eyes
Cherish is the word I use to describe
All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside
You don’t know how many times
I’ve wished that I had told you
You don’t know how many times
I’ve wished that I could hold you
You don’t know how many times
I’ve wished that I could mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you
And I do cherish you
And I do cherish you
Cherish is the word
Pandering to the religious zealots. But the zealots are too stupid to draw a distinction between the govt. of israel and jews.
Your name has been added to “the list”, Abraham Foxman is watching you.
Assad is in serious trouble. In 2011, the media was predicting the imminent fall of Assad. I said it would be long bloody war but in the end he would fall. In 2014, the same media was predicting that he would stay. I made my same 2014 prediction. We are at a point in the war now whether either Iran steps up its troop deployment to Syria or Assad will fall imminently, it not good news for the world since it is the Islamists that are about to control:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/26/us-mideast-crisis-syria-town-idUSKBN0NH09G20150426
“I made my same 2014 prediction.”
Your predictions have an astonishing track record!
Any chance of you doing mankind a favor and predicting world peace?
Sorry I do not see it in the near future.
Rats!
(Back to my bomb shelter.)
I think for now a wine cellar will do.
” We are at a point in the war now whether either Iran steps up its troop deployment to Syria or Assad will fall ”
Doesn’t sound like they’ve been playing very good chess.
They do compared with Obama, but the Islamists play better.
So Assad is Putin’s and Iran’s ally, and his government is about to fall the hard way. Iran can send more troops into that quagmire, but they’ve got their hands full already fighting the sunnis in Iraq. And Putin’s got his hands full with his expensive and bloody excursion into Ukraine, which has turned most of Europe against him.
And they’re the chess masters? We must not be watching the same game.
Putin is winning the big game, he will make sure that he has influence with whomever comes to power in Syria. Meanwhile Obama’s oil war on has backfired and hurt the U.S. more in the long run than Russia. It biggest problem right now is the ruble is recovering too fast, hardly the problem predicted by the MSM a few months ago.
What Syria needs is a Sunni leader than respects minority religions’ rights, I think many of those would be pro-Russian.
But if the sunnis go pro-ruskie, won’t that drive Iran into our arms? Maybe we’re still out-chessing them!
It is sad that Putin cannot properly identify something for what it is and Obama cannot even keep his campaign promise:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Turkey-condemns-Putin-comments-on-Armenia-genocide/articleshow/47045913.cms
BTW, Russia has good relations with many Sunni countries and with Shiite countries. It does know how to play chess. It sold weapons to Saddam yet still seems to have more influence than we do with Iraq now, pretty amazing.
How you play chess in the Middle East, good relations with both the largest (by population) Sunni nation and the largest Shiite nation, Putin must have a hundred IQ points on Obama and he knows it:
http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-sisi-visits-putin-arms-purchase-talks-150438527.html;_ylt=A0LEVxyFQj1VtIsAYwdXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzNGRnZmJhBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM0BHZ0aWQDUlZMSUMwXzEEc2VjA3Ny
Putin can identify he called it what it was the Armenian genocide.
‘Genocide’, eh? That will drive Turkey into our arms. We get Turkey and Iran, let Putin have the sunni camel raider countries. We win again! Checkmate!
Iraq is run by the Shiite majority now, closely aligned with Iran. Russia has a new agreement to sell arms to Iran. Turkey has a new energy deal with Russia. It’s the US that props up the Sunni dictator types.
The Islamist alliance calls itself the Army of Fatah, a reference to the conquests that spread Islam across the Middle East from the 7th century.
Killing and brutalizing those they conquered to spread islam. Including many Christian countries.
Hundreds of years before the Crusades.
There is a lesson in there somewhere…
My base is rallied.
How is that “small government” and “low taxes” $600,000,000,000+ a year defense spending working out for you?
Here’s a fascinating account of the structure and origins of the Islamic State, and its very non-religious creators and top leaders.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/islamic-state-files-show-structure-of-islamist-terror-group-a-1029274.html
‘We’re going bust.” “No, you’re not.” “You’re strangling us.” “No we’re not.” “You owe us for World War Two.” “We gave already.” The game of chicken between Greece and its international creditors is turning into a vicious blame game as Athens lurches closer to bankruptcy with no cash-for-reform agreement in sight.’
‘Europe’s political leaders and central bankers and Greek politicians agree on only one thing: if Greece goes down, they don’t want their fingerprints on the murder weapon.’
Notice how strong the language becomes discussing a refusal or inability to pay back a debt. If you can’t pay a house debt in the US, you’re a victim. If you can’t pay for credit card debt, declare bankruptcy. No big deal. But Greece, it’ll be murder! Wait til these people realize the US government hasn’t even paid for WW 2.
It is all fun and games until you run out of other people’s money.
It will be a good lesson to be learned for Americans when they see what happens to Greece and their citizens when this finally blows up.
Will they learn? I doubt it.
But remember - only bigger and bigger government with more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes can save us.
More Obamacare news, but bigger government can save us:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/california-658869-covered-state.html
Quotes of the day.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/04/26/quotes-of-the-day-151/
Hey Democrats - No one wants a crooked grandma for president.
————
Hillary on the brink of collapse
NY POST | April 25, 2015 | Michael Goodwin
In “The Sun Also Rises,” one character asks, “How did you go bankrupt?” and another responds: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
The exchange captures Hillary Clinton’s red alert. She’s been going politically bankrupt for a long time, and now faces the prospect of sudden collapse.
If she’s got a winning defense, she better be quick about it. The ghosts of scandals past are gaining on her and time is not on her side.
The compelling claims that she and Bill Clinton sold favors while she was secretary of state for tens of millions of dollars for themselves and their foundation don’t need to meet the legal standard for bribery. She’s on political trial in a country where Clinton Fatigue alone could be a fatal verdict.
Hillary’s one big advantage is obvious — she’s the only serious contender for the Democratic nomination, and she beats most GOP opponents in head-to-head matchups. But everything else weighs against her, including momentum.
You’re wrong. Stupid people - the vast majority of the US electorate - are just fine with a corrupt Grandmother for President, or a “Republican” who is just as bad.
No one wants a crooked grandma for president ??
Well, 2-fruit, leave it to the democrats to decide that…In the mean time, can I suggest all you neocons start talking about the virtues of your own candidates an attempt to stay on message because yours and all your neocon buddies Hilary attacks make you look terribly foolish, scared and desperate…..
folks will elect the person that promises more food stamps and welfare checks paid for with borrowed money from uncle fed.
“Well, 2-fruit, leave it to the democrats to decide that”
Right, that decision will come from much higher than the Democratic Party. It may well come but for right now they have the shield off.
In the meantime I would rather be eating a hotdog outside of a baseball game at Camden Yard in Baltimore than be in a room with objects that could be thrown and Hillary when she gets news of the next leaked Clinton scandal.
Hillary is better than having Republicans control all three branches of government.
Hillary is better than having Republicans control all three branches of government ??
I agree almost…I want to hear what Kasich has to say…
Big biz and banking are untouchable. But their servants, such as the H-man, are not.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-26/why-nazi-industrialists-and-hitlers-banker-all-was-forgiven
“In recent years, there has been much shock and stunned reactions among the general public as one after another banker avoided any prison time, despite perpetrating (and benefiting from the subsequent bailout) the biggest financial crisis know to mankind.”
And this is because the general public has been systematically and successfully dumbed down to the Thank-you-may-I-have-another level of never-ending servitude to their true masters and betters which some may think of the PTB but in fact are the Truly and Divinely Inspired implementers of God’s Master Plan.
Crypto currency does not forgive banksters.
Newsweek: giant investment bank HSBC, in a private note to clients, warns against investing in oil companies as they will become “economically non-viable” as “fossil fuel assets … become devalued” due to climate change action and falling prices for renewable energy.
http://www.newsweek.com/hsbc-warns-clients-fossil-fuel-investment-risks-323886?piano_d=1
evil fossil fuels
“The overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that human activity has contributed to global warming, especially the burning of fossil fuels.”
“… human activity has contributed to global warming …”
IMO an absolutely true statement.
But from this statement it is a gigantic leap to suggest that human activity is the SOLE CAUSE, or the MAJOR CAUSE, of global warming.
But it’s a tough sell to get this point across if one is immediately labeled “a denier”.
IMO an absolutely true statement
Yes, from the first post on the subject I have said the humans are probably responsible for 1/7 of the warming. However, that number does not justify trillions of dollars from the U.S. and EU to the corrupt countries all over the globe so they need to claim it is either the sole or the majority cause of warming.
Abq Dan: “humans are probably responsible for 1/7 of the warming.”
LOL… there’s no scientific basis for that piece of fiction. Link to a peer-reviewed journal that supports it? Or was the 1/7 number just fall out of the Koch brothers’ collective behinds?
It was a study that was peer reviewed in the 1980s that I read back then but I cannot find a link.
^lolz^
Well, if you read it in the eighties, that’s good enough for me. Let’s make that our new baseline scientific assumption.
It works far better than the present models.
I guess we’ll have to take your word for it.
In case anyone cares, here’s a video of Al Gore talking about melting ice caps a few years back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsioIw4bvzI
It’s not a “gigantic leap” to suggest human activity as the major cause of global warming. Never in Earth’s geologic history has CO2 gone from 260 ppm to 404 ppm — a 55% increase in greenhouse gas — in only 100 years. Many people simply can’t grasp that we have fundamentally altered the entire atmosphere in a huge way in a short amount of time.
“Many people simply can’t grasp that we have fundamentally altered the entire atmosphere in a huge way in a short amount of time.”
You do realize that the term “PPM” means “Parts Per Million” I hope.
Wikipedia says: “Carbon dioxide exists in the Earth’s atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent (400 ppm) by volume.”
“… trace gas…0.04 percent …”
Wikipedia also says:
“A greenhouse gas (sometimes abbreviated GHG) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth’s surface would average about 33 °C colder, which is about 59 °F below the present average of 14 °C (57 °F).”
For whomever cares.
Here’s an article about water vapor being the major greenhouse gas:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/vapor_warming.html
Here’s an article that has a chart!
Check out the chart and check out how much greenhouse effects are caused by water vapor, clouds, and “other gasses” (note: other gasses include carbon dioxide).
http://www.manicore.com/anglais/documentation_a/greenhouse/greenhouse_gas.html
You do realize that the term “PPM” means “Parts Per Million” I hope.
Yup. Small amounts of CO2 make a big difference in how much heat the atmosphere traps.
Here’s an article about water vapor being the major greenhouse gas
Yup. And guess what happens when the air is warmed? It can retain more water vapor, increasing warming even more. It’s a positive feedback effect: more CO2 warms the planet, increases the atmosphere’s ability to hold water vapor, which increases warmth… and so it goes.
I did a Wiki-up of “climate change” and this (in part) is what I came up with:
“Causes
“On the broadest scale, the rate at which energy is received from the sun and the rate at which it is lost to space determine the equilibrium temperature and climate of Earth. This energy is distributed around the globe by winds, ocean currents, and other mechanisms to affect the climates of different regions.
“Factors that can shape climate are called climate forcings or “forcing mechanisms”. These include processes such as variations in solar radiation, variations in the Earth’s orbit, variations in the albedo or reflectivity of the continents and oceans, mountain-building and continental drift and changes in greenhouse gas concentrations. There are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the initial forcing. Some parts of the climate system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond more slowly in reaction to climate forcings, while others respond more quickly. There are also key threshold factors which when exceeded can produce rapid change.”
Note the number of variables.
“Forcing mechanisms can be either “internal” or “external”. Internal forcing mechanisms are natural processes within the climate system itself (e.g., the thermohaline circulation). External forcing mechanisms can be either natural (e.g., changes in solar output) or anthropogenic (e.g., increased emissions of greenhouse gases).
“Whether the initial forcing mechanism is internal or external, the response of the climate system might be fast (e.g., a sudden cooling due to airborne volcanic ash reflecting sunlight), slow (e.g. thermal expansion of warming ocean water), or a combination (e.g., sudden loss of albedo in the arctic ocean as sea ice melts, followed by more gradual thermal expansion of the water). Therefore, the climate system can respond abruptly, but the full response to forcing mechanisms might not be fully developed for centuries or even longer.”
I did a Wiki-up of “current sea level rise” and this (in part) is what I got back:
“The reason for recent increase is unclear, perhaps owing to decadal variation. It is unclear whether the increased rate reflects an increase in the underlying long-term trend.”
That, in itself, is an interesting statement. Moving on …
“There are two main mechanisms that contribute to observed sea level rise: (1) thermal expansion: ocean water expands as it warms; and (2) the melting of major stores of land ice like ice sheets and glaciers.
“Sea level rise is one of several lines of evidence that support the view that the global climate has recently warmed. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that it is very likely human-induced (anthropogenic) warming contributed to the sea level rise observed in the latter half of the 20th century.”
“… very likely … contributed …”
“Very likely” does not mean it is a done deal, and “contributed” suggests that it may not be the only cause. Moving on …
“Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries. In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that during the 21st century, sea level will rise another 26cm to 82cm in its fifth assessment report.
“On the timescale of centuries to millennia, the melting of ice sheets could result in even higher sea level rise. Partial deglaciation of the Greenland ice sheet, and possibly the West Antarctic ice sheet, could contribute 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) or more to sea level rise.
“Work by a team led by Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography suggests that a quick way to stave off impending sea level rise is to cut emissions of short-lived climate warmers such as methane and soot.”
Methane and soot. No mention of carbon dioxide?
“No mention of carbon dioxide?”
What makes soot?
““Very likely” does not mean it is a done deal, and “contributed” suggests that it may not be the only cause. Moving on …”
Grasping at straws. “Very likely” and “contributed to” is how scientist-types talk. They are careful to be accurate, unlike the misleaders.
“Very likely” and “contributed to” is how scientist-types talk.”
Agree, but this is not how they are quoted.
Actually, it’s exactly how they are quoted. Dimmer people (or their shepherds) then use the care with which they choose their words against them.
“They said ‘very likely’ and ‘contributed to’ instead of ‘definitely caused everything’.”
As we have seen.
But many times in Earth’s history co2 has been more than 10 times more abundant than now. We do not have sufficient information to know whether it has ever gone from 260 ppm to 404 ppm within one hundred years. In human history, it is probably a true statement. However, in human history ice ages have been the problem faced by man, if co2 keeps us from having an ice age and we are now due for one, we should be burning as much coal and oil as possible.
We do not have sufficient information to know whether it has ever gone from 260 ppm to 404 ppm within one hundred years.
We know that with certainty. Geological processes are very slow by human standards.
No big volcanoes can impact weather immediately and raise co2 levels rapidly. We have had periods of incredible volcanic activity in short time intervals.
Why do people choose to support oil cos vs alternative energy cos? Why do they think one is left and one is right? who cares! just go with what is best for the planet and its inhabitants. If you live in a place with 300 days of sun you should use solar. If you live in VT, use oil or nat gas.
No knucklehead. Everyone chooses based on their wallet.
Enjoy falling oil and fuel prices.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/04/26/black-swan-event-brewing-in-renewable-energy.aspx
I’ll give you some ammo to use against me
I don’t know about a black swan but if something were to blow up in renewables, it would be Hanergy. Seems there’s some questionable accounting, earnings statements, etc. going on there in China with that solar company… that’s why I’m reluctant to invest in TAN, Hanergy is that ETF’s number one holding.
The black swan in renewable energy is that solar is getting so cheap and efficient that there will be a glut of electricity soon just as there is a glut of oil now.
I hope so. I would love to put panels on my place and get an electric hot tub. Great after surfing in our cold water.
Is it time for you to cash out some of your accumulated equity? We learned in the pre-2008 period that this is a low-risk strategy for supplementing your labor income.
“Is it time for you to cash out some of your accumulated equity?”
Always, it’s always time to cash out accumulated equity.
If you paid your mortgage off, it means you probably did not manage your funds efficiently over the years. It’s as if you had 500,000 dollar bills stuffed in your mattress.
Cash-out refinancing is making a comeback as home equity rises
LoanDepot, a major non-bank mortgage originator, says its cash-out refinancings during the first quarter were up 78% compared with a year earlier. (PR Newswire)
By Kenneth R. Harney
April 26, 2015, 5:00 AM | REPORTING FROM WASHINGTON
Could it be time to cash out some home equity by refinancing your mortgage? For growing numbers of owners, the answer this year is an emphatic yes, at least according to new data from some major lenders.
In a cash-out refinancing, you convert part of your home equity into money, adding to your mortgage balance. Say you have a $400,000 home with a $200,000 first mortgage. You have $200,000 of equity and a couple of worthwhile projects in mind — paying off high interest rate credit card balances and renovating the house — that will cost you around $50,000. Since mortgage rates remain attractive in the 4% range and you can handle the higher monthly payments on a larger balance loan, you refinance your $200,000 existing loan and take out a new $250,000 loan to replace it. You end up with more debt, but you also walk away with roughly the $50,000 you need, less transaction fees.
Cash-outs were the rage during the housing boom years of 2004-07. At their peak, in the third quarter of 2006, nearly 9 out of 10 owners who refinanced pulled out money from their homes, according to mortgage investor Freddie Mac. But by late 2008, the bubble had imploded. Equity holdings plunged. Cash-out refis virtually disappeared.
Now, with home equity higher in many markets — especially along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts — cash-outs are making a comeback, Consider these summaries of in-house corporate data:
•Bank of America saw the number of cash-out refinancings funded during the first quarter jump 47% compared with the same period in 2014.
•LoanDepot, a major non-bank mortgage originator, says its cash-outs during the first quarter were up an extraordinary 78% compared with the same period a year earlier.
•LendingTree, which connects borrowers online with multiple lenders, reports that requests for cash-outs rose 40% in the first quarter over the same period last year.
Though not all lenders are seeing the same trend, something significant appears to be underway. Quicken Loans, one of the largest mortgage originators, said total dollar volume of cash-outs is up this year, even though the cash-out percentage of all refinancings is slightly below what it was last year — around 20% of total refi business. Freddie Mac, which has not completed its first-quarter refi analysis, said preliminary data indicate that there has been only a modest increase in cash-outs. Wells Fargo, the country’s highest-volume mortgage lender, said it is not seeing anything like the splashy jumps in cash-out volume reported by Bank of America or LoanDepot.
What’s going on? Some lenders clearly are tapping into pent-up demand from owners who find themselves with growing equity and have financial needs prompting them to put some of it to use. Even lenders who are not recording dramatic growth in volume agree that a cash-out refi can be an important — and responsible — financial option for owners who can qualify.
…
These cash-out peops are going to find themselves deep underwater whenever the Fed gets around to raising interest rates.
You can bank on it.
Is it time for you to cash out some of your realized gains in stocks? I think so.
Already took some gains off the table a couple of weeks ago. I’m hanging on to my Vanguard Energy mutual fund shares at least until December 2015, when AlbqDan has assured us that oil will return to above $80/bbl.
I’d be surprised to see this, given that the last time oil crashed this hard, prices stayed in the basement for about 15 years (roughly 1985-2000). But we have been assured and reassured that this time is different!
Hopefully they were your biggest gainers that you realized.
I have stock I bought at $15 now selling at $38. I still have a few hundred shares of that same stock I bought at $2 in March 2009.
After that stock is depleted and I don’t get an overdue raise, I guess my attention will be on selling off some of my Vanguard small company stock fund that has done remarkably. Then after that, my tax managed large company fund from Vanguard. Together their gains are over $19,000.
When you need the money, sell the biggest gainers because the market cycles repeat. In all assets. A-L-L! Keep the “loosers” because they will be the gainers on the next cycle.
‘Keep the “loosers” …’
Energy being an excellent case in point.
what if you sold Netflix last year and kept your coal stocks.
I think you keep the healthy ones, sell the dogs. I never keep anything that dropped 20%. It means I was wrong.
William O’Neill of Investor’s Business Daily had the CANSLIM method: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_SLIM
Unless you know pretty much about a company and its management, the “M” in CANSLIM is the key. The dogs are good to buy at the low. The healthy ones don’t stay healthy in the crash. Take the money off the table when you have the big winners. Also throwing too much money into an individual stock can be too risky. If you got a winner realize the gains gradually, not at once.
Markets Funds ETFs
Oil-Fund Outflows Bode Ill for Prices
Money is pouring out of a popular investment tied to the oil market, a sign that a monthlong crude-price rally may be running out of gas.
By Nicole Friedman
April 26, 2015 7:14 p.m. ET
Money is pouring out of a popular investment tied to the oil market, a sign that a monthlong crude-price rally may be running out of gas.
Exchange-traded funds that invest in U.S. oil futures, including the $3.1 billion United States Oil Fund LP, have registered about $2.7 billion of investor outflows this month, according to investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd.
That reverses an inflow that started in January as oil prices tumbled. These ETFs took in roughly $6 billion this year through mid-March, when the U.S. oil benchmark hit a six-year low, according to Macquarie.
Traders and analysts are closely watching weekly production and demand data for signs that the global glut of crude oil that sent prices swooning last year may be shrinking. They are also watching the ETF trends closely, because they say crude prices are vulnerable to a pullback following a 32% run-up since March 17.
ETF buying “created a bottom in March,” said Olivier Jakob, managing director of Swiss consulting firm Petromatrix GmbH. If investors “all exit at the same time, then it will also put pressure on the market.”
…
Has the China slowdown abated?
China employment growth weakens amid slowdown
English.news.cn 2015-04-24 22:13:04 [More]
BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) — Employment growth in China’s urban areas slowed in the first quarter of 2015 for the first time since the global financial crisis, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) said on Friday.
From January to March, China’s employed urban population grew by 3.24 million, 200,000 less than the same period last year, MOHRSS spokesperson Li Zhong said at a press conference, without providing specific reasons for the drop.
Qiu Dongyang, professor at Chongqing University of Technology, attributed the slowdown to the slower economic expansion seen in the first quarter.
First quarter’s growth slowed to 7 percent from the previous quarter’s 7.3 percent. It was the weakest performance since the global financial crisis, when growth fell to 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
China’s manufacturing industry, which used to be labor-intensive, is promoting mechanization and reducing employee recruitment, putting pressure on urban employment growth in the short term, said Qiu.
Industrial output growth slowed to 6.4 percent year on year in the January-March period from 8.7-percent growth a year ago.
…
ft dot com > Companies > Industrials >
Basic Resources
April 20, 2015 5:44 pm
Steelmakers braced for China slowdown
Tanya Powley, Manufacturing Correspondent
Workers stand on steel beams on a construction site in Beijing on December 18, 2014. Foreign investment into China accelerated in November, government data showed December 16, despite a worsening slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy and concerns over business risks. AFP PHOTO / Greg BAKER
©AFP
Global steel demand is forecast to grow at a lower rate this year, and reduce the profitability of steelmaking companies — because of a continuing economic slowdown in China, the world’s biggest buyer of the metal.
On Monday, The World Steel Association, the industry’s main international body, said it expected global steel demand to be largely flat in 2015, at about 1.54bn tonnes. Demand growth will then increase slightly next year, to 1.4 per cent.
“We are releasing a restrained growth outlook for the global steel industry mainly due to the deceleration in China,” said Hans Jürgen Kerkhoff, chairman of WSA’s economics committee.
This trend is likely to affect steelmakers such as ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel, Chinese groups including Hebei and Baosteel, as well as South Korea’s Posco and Japan’s Nippon Steel.
Last year, the WSA was forced to downgrade its forecasts after a weaker than expected economic performance in emerging economies. In April 2014, it had forecast that global steel demand would rise 3.1 per cent in the calendar year, and then 3.3 per cent in 2015. Instead, demand rose just 0.6 per cent in 2014.
Monday’s forecast for 2015 provides further evidence that China, which accounts for about half of the world’s steel use, has come to the end of a period of rapid consumption. Data released last week showed that China’s economy expanded at its slowest pace in six years during the first quarter, because of a slowdown in construction and manufacturing.
According to the WSA, Chinese demand for steel fell 3.3 per cent last year to 710m tonnes — the first negative growth since 1995 — as a result of the decline in construction activity. It expects Chinese steel demand to contract by another 0.5 per cent in 2015.
…
Kaisa Stirs Commodity Bears Eyeing China’s Property Slowdown
by Martin Ritchie
4:19 PM PST
April 23, 2015
China’s Property Sector
Construction may continue to slow after the government took steps to reduce the availability of new land for development, weighing on copper demand growth, Goldman analysts including Max Layton wrote in an April 6 report. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd.’s bond default this week underlines how China’s faltering property sector is threatening to blunt any rebound in commodities prices.
As much as half of the country’s copper consumption and about 35 percent of its steel use is related to housing and real estate, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. China’s new property starts slid 18 percent in the first three months of the year as a downturn in economic growth leaves a backlog of unsold homes and depressed prices.
Commodities slumped to a 12-year low last month after a decade-long bull market spurred a boom in supply just as demand slowed in China. The world’s biggest metals and energy consumer is facing its weakest economic expansion since 2009 amid a construction downturn that’s likely to cap its raw material use. Kaisa was the country’s first property company to default on its U.S. dollar debt.
“The property market will continue to be a drag on metals,” said Daniel Kang, a Hong Kong-based commodity analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Kaisa’s default is a “signal of weakness in China’s property sector,” he said.
Construction may continue to slow after the government took steps to reduce the availability of new land for development, weighing on copper demand growth, Goldman analysts including Max Layton wrote in an April 6 report.
Consumption of the metal in China, which accounts for almost half of world demand, will grow 2.6 percent this year, the weakest pace since at least 2007, according to Morgan Stanley estimates as of March 24. Global use will increase 2.4 percent, the bank forecast.
Commodity Slide
More than 70 percent of copper used in China’s property industry is in wires and cables installed in the final stages of construction, Macquarie Group Ltd. said in a report this week. The country’s demand for the metal slid less than 1 percent in the first quarter amid a slowdown in the housing sector and a “cyclical correction” in some manufacturing, according to the bank.
“Falling construction completions will continue to put pressure on copper demand in construction into the year end,” Macquarie said.
The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 raw materials has fallen 2.5 percent this year, extending its 17 percent slide in 2014. Copper on the London Metal Exchange is down 5.2 percent after dropping to a five-year low of $5,395 a metric ton in January.
…
Industries | Sun Apr 26, 2015 8:45am EDT
Related: Cyclical Consumer Goods, Financials, Industrials
Property developer China Vanke Q1 core profit falls 59 pct amid sector weakness
HONG KONG, April 26 | By Clare Jim
(Reuters) - China’s largest residential property developer, China Vanke Co Ltd, said its first-quarter core profit fell 58.9 percent, reflecting a slide in the property sector that prompted Beijing’s central bank to take steps to boost the market.
The company said the year-on-year fall was due to a high starting base and lower margins, but it expected to see a growth in profit for the full year.
In a statement released on Sunday, Vanke said its core profit was 628.7 million yuan ($101.52 million) in January-March, compared with 1.5 billion yuan a year earlier.
Net profit slipped 57.5 percent to 650.2 million yuan, while revenue declined 6.4 percent to 8.9 million yuan.
In efforts to bolster a then-slowing housing industry, which accounts for some 15 percent of gross domestic product, China in February cut interest rates and bank reserve requirements. It also lowered downpayment levels, as well as offering bigger tax breaks in March.
“Completed projects in the first quarter this year only accounted for full-year’s 5.5 percent, lower than last year’s 6.6 percent,” the company said in its statement. “According to our current forecast, we will still see a growth in full-year net profit.”
…
Mike Patton
Contributor
Advisor Network 4/23/2015 @ 5:54PM 5,004 views
The China Syndrome: Is China Headed For A Financial Meltdown?
In the 1979 movie The China Syndrome, Jack Lemmon plays Jack Godell, a supervisor at a nuclear power plant. The facility experienced “unusual vibrations” and Jack was concerned about a potential meltdown. Today, many believe that China – a country with the world’s second largest economy – may be on the verge of a “financial” meltdown. Is China on the verge of a crisis? Has its unprecedented economic growth set the stage for a severe decline? In this article, we’ll look at China’s situation over the past two decades.
The Chinese Economy: A Retrospective View
China has sported an unusually high GDP since the early 1990s. As the chart below illustrates, China’s annual rate of GDP has been 6.0% or greater during the past two decades and has exceeded 10% on many occasions. That’s quite an accomplishment, especially since the rest of the world has experienced several recessions and a near meltdown in 2008. How did China escape the economic contractions? How has it managed such a high rate of GDP with benign inflation? Typically, when GDP is high, inflation is as well. But China is anything but typical.
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Defaults bring market reality that China’s economy needs
Bloomberg
April 22, 2015
The following editorial appears on Bloomberg View:
So far this week, China has witnessed a default by a major property developer and another by a state- owned company. Dubious firsts, to be sure, but they couldn’t have come at a better time. They provide a dose of market discipline that China sorely needs.
The country’s 7 percent growth in first-quarter gross domestic product can’t mask the flashing-red indicators that its economy is running into trouble. Industrial output, fixed-asset investment and retail sales have all slowed; land sales are contracting. The industrial sector’s 6.1 percent growth outpaced retail and wholesale trade, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, suggesting that the vaunted shift from manufacturing to services isn’t happening as hoped. Prices are falling almost across the board.
…
What percentage of China’s GDP does the property sector contribute?
It’s allegedly fifteen percent.
Markets | Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:00pm EDT
China March home prices fall, Beijing shows month-on-month growth
HONG KONG | By Clare Jim
(Reuters) - China’s average new home prices continued to fall in March, but on a narrowing trend that is expected to continue as the government’s stimulus policies bolster sales volumes.
Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities dropped 6.1 percent last month from a year ago, the seventh consecutive month fall, following February’s 5.7 percent decline.
But the monthly fall between March and February was 0.1 percent, narrowing from a 0.4 percent fall in the previous month, with the capital city of Beijing braking eight consecutive drops and rising 0.3 percent, as prices continue to stabilize.
China’s gross domestic product grew at its slowest pace in six years at the start of 2015, building expectations that authorities will roll out more policy stimulus to avert a sharper slowdown.
Growth in China’s real estate investment in the first quarter slowed to 8.5 percent from a year earlier, the lowest rate since 2009 as developers focused on clearing excess inventory, but property sales volume’s decline narrowed, down 9.2 percent.
Price recovery will be slow, however, weighed by inventory still at its high level especially in the lower-tier cities, as many developers are resorting to price cuts to reach sales targets.
“The slowing decline in home prices was in line with expectations and it didn’t show big improvement. After the stimulus policies in late March, we have to have at least three more months of solid data to confirm a bottoming of the housing downturn,” said Roselea Yao, an economist at Gavekal Dragonomics based in Beijing.
“If we don’t see much better data, the government will have to roll out more loosening policies such as raising the household leverage.”
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data on Saturday showed new home prices in Beijing rose 0.3 percent between March and February, bouncing from a 0.2 percent fall in February from January, while Shanghai prices were flat following a 0.1 percent fall. Another top-tier city, Shenzhen, rose 0.7 percent after 0.2 percent last month.
Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at NBS, said in a statement that he expected home sales and prices to continue to stabilize.
China has implemented a series of loosening policies since the third quarter in 2014, relaxing home purchase restrictions, cutting interest rates, and easing bank reserve requirements to bolster the housing market, which accounts for some 15 percent of GDP.
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Sidney Morning Herald
China to crack down on stock manipulation as market soars
Date
April 25, 2015
The securities regulator has attempted to clamp down on price manipulation while also warning of the risks of a reversal in the Chinese stock market.
China’s securities regulator started a campaign to crack down on stock-market manipulation and insider trading, the latest effort to reduce risks as an equities boom lures a record number of novice investors.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission will target trading by brokerage employees using non-public information, and market manipulation, including of futures prices, the CSRC said in a Friday statement on its website. The regulator also cited insider trading in over-the-counter markets and accounting fraud in mergers and acquisitions.
The CSRC has rolled out measures this year that signal an effort to temper gains for the world’s best-performing market and prevent another boom-and-bust cycle. This month, authorities banned a source of financing for margin trades, while CSRC Chairman Xiao Gang said new investors should be cautious and evaluate stock market risks. In January, the regulator announced a round of checks into margin lending by brokerages.
The latest crackdown comes after the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunged as much as 2.2 percent on Friday.
“The regulator has no problem with the concept of a bull market, but they are going to have little patience for people breaking the law,” Michael Shaoul, who is chief executive officer of Marketfield Asset Management in New York, said by e- mail.
The latest crackdown comes after the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunged as much as 2.2 percent on Friday amid speculation the government would increase a stamp duty on stocks. The gauge pared losses, ending the day down 0.5 percent, after the CSRC denied the rumors. The Shanghai index has jumped 114 percent over the past year on speculation the government may step up efforts to bolster the economy.
…
Given the market’s spectacular recent gains plus overt government backing, how can anyone conclude the market is headed any direction but up from now on?
China stocks hit multi-year highs; rest of Asia mixed
41 Mins Ago
CNBC dot com
China stocks soared to multi-year highs on Monday while caution over upcoming central bank meetings weighed on the rest of Asian indices.
“What’s happening in the China market right now is retail money moving back into stocks after a long 5-6 year bear market. With yields going down from deposits to wealth management products and the property market not jumping back, retail investors have nowhere else to go except stocks,” said Stephen Sheung, Head of Investment Strategy at SHK Private.
The U.S. Federal Reserve begins a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday while the Bank of Japan is due out with its monetary policy decision on Thursday.
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Love ’em or Hate ’em, China Stocks Are Red Hot in Options Market
Don’t Miss Out —
by Belinda Cao
8:00 AM PST
April 26, 2015
China’s world-beating stock rally is dividing traders in the U.S. options market.
Demand has exploded in the past month for contracts that protect investors against losses as well as for those that profit from more gains in the largest U.S. exchange-traded funds tracking Chinese companies. It reflects a divided market outlook after the rally in mainland equities spread to their dual-listed peers in Hong Kong, stoking a 21 percent surge in the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index in the last 30 days.
Bears see Chinese stocks as vulnerable to a selloff after the Shanghai Composite Index more than doubled in the past year despite a weak business outlook and warnings from regulators about investor mania. Bulls think equities will keep gaining because the government has just started a cycle of monetary easing designed to prop up an economy that is set to expand at the slowest pace since 2009.
“There is still a lot of conflict in the investment community with regard to the legitimacy of the rally,” Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist in Philadelphia at Janney Capital Management LLC, which oversees about $68 billion, said by phone. “Is it purely speculation and therefore vulnerable to get smashed, is there a disconnect between the rally in the equity market and what it appears to be a soft growth in China?”
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Craig Stephen’s This Week in China
Opinion: China’s stock-rally paradox is living on borrowed time
Published: Apr 26, 2015 10:58 p.m. ET
The stock market roars as the economy whimpers — something must eventually give
Reuters
By Craig Stephen
Columnist
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — How long can China’s stock markets and economy continue to head in opposite directions?
Last week for example, Shanghai shares hit fresh seven-year highs, even as data showed growth had fallen to six-year lows.
The textbook explanation is that the rally is foretelling a yet-unseen recovery for the economy. The other is that the flailing economy will bring equities back to earth, particularly when its true weakness is exposed.
Lets look first at the equity-market rally: A powerful driver for the stock advance has been that it enjoys Beijing’s official support through underpriced initial public offerings, new margin financing, and schemes such as the Shanghai-Hong Kong investment “through train.”
Economic policy has been another tailwind. The more Beijing tries to boost the economy, the more it applies monetary stimulus, which also boosts stocks. The recent one-percentage-point cut to required bank reserves was the biggest since 2008, and the message so far has been “Don’t fight the People’s Bank of China or the State Council.”
In theory, authorities can keep their foot on the pedal so long as they don’t get to the point where they trigger a run on banks or on the currency.
A more immediate risk for stocks in the liquidity deluge, however, is the scale of margin financing. In the case of a reversal, forced liquidations can quickly magnify any drop.
According to Macquarie Research, the numbers are already alarming: Margin positions are at 3.2% of total market capitalization, putting them in excess of those for the New York Stock Exchange. If the figure is based on free-float shares, it reaches 8.2% of market capitalization, which is higher than any historical comparison they can find.
This adds another layer of unease to the economy-and-stocks disconnect. Not only are shares rising as the economy and earnings worsen, novice retail traders are using borrowed money.
In such circumstances, equities will likely be particularly sensitive to a sudden deterioration in the economy that bursts the share-buying mania.
It appears the leadership is aware of this, and its “new normal” slogan used to describe the economy implies that there is nothing too much to worry about. But the pace and size of China’s recent credit growth — which has pushed total debt to 282% of GDP, according to McKinsey & Co. research — would suggest an inevitable reckoning. Instead the economy is being gently managed lower.
Never mind a crisis, it is hard to find even signs of the pain typical of an economic down-cycle in which the property market is deflating and various heavy industries are facing severe stress.
…
China’s Stocks Rise to Seven-Year High on SOE Merger Speculation
Don’t Miss Out
by Kyoungwha Kim
5:30 PM PST
April 26, 2015
China’s stocks rose to a seven-year high, led by energy and industrial companies, amid speculation the government is considering merging state-owned enterprises and taking more measures to support economic growth.
PetroChina Co., China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and Cosco Shipping Co. all jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent. China may cut the number of centrally administered SOEs to 40 from the current 112 through mergers and restructuring, the Economic Information Daily reported. The central bank is discussing adopting unconventional policies to rebuild its balance sheet and reinvigorate the economy, including making direct purchases of local government bonds from the market, Market News reported.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.5 percent to 4,502.81 at 1:15 p.m., heading for the highest level since February 2008. The gauge has rallied 88 percent in the past six months, the most among benchmark indexes globally, on speculation SOE reform and cuts in interest rates will allow the government to reach its growth targets this year.
“Big oil names are soaring because of speculation that the government is studying mergers in the industry,” said Clement Cheng, an equity trader at RBC Investment Management Asia in Hong Kong. “The oil sector has been undervalued for a long time.”
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index added 1.1 percent at the noon break. The Hang Seng Index rose 1.4 percent. The CSI 300 Index climbed 1.6 percent. The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index increased 1.1 percent on Friday. Trading volumes in Shanghai were 26 percent above the 30-day average for this time of day.
…
Markets
http://www.wsj.com/articles/debt-builds-in-china-stock-rally-1429785899
Borrowing by Chinese investors punting on local stocks has surged to a record high, making for a volatile ride ahead
An investor looks at the stock price monitor at a private securities company in Shanghai, China. Photo: Associated Press
By Chao Deng
Updated April 23, 2015 11:23 a.m. ET
Concern is growing over a surge in bets by mom-and-pop investors using cash borrowed from brokers to pile into, and fuel, China’s booming stock market.
Margin lending has more than tripled in the past year to a record 1.7 trillion yuan ($274.6 billion), according to WIND Information Co., a provider of financial data. The upsurge echoes past investment crazes among Chinese speculators, who have long shown a penchant for rushing into whatever is yielding the highest returns, from real-estate and wealth-management products, to bitcoin and online money-market funds.
The practice isn’t unique to China, where margin debt equals 3.2% of total market capitalization, compared with 2.3% in the U.S. But when compared with the value of stock that is freely traded, making it accessible to ordinary investors, the percentage for China rises because state entities own more than half of the market.
Research by Macquarie Securities Group shows China’s margin-debt ratio at 8.2% of the free float. That easily exceeds the peak of 6% reached in the late 1990s in Taiwan, the second-highest level globally in recent years.
“There’s a huge amount of leverage built in,” said Matthew Smith, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at Macquarie. The reliance on debt points more to a potentially volatile market than a pending collapse, but the comparison of leverage to the size of the market that retail investors can actually access is a “reality check” for risks in the current rally, he said.
Along with several rounds of monetary easing from China’s central bank that have pumped billions of yuan into the financial system in recent months, margin lending has helped stoke an explosive market. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 53% last year and another 36% this year.
“It’s definitely not sustainable for us to trade up the market,” said Yuming Ying, a fund manager at Hong Kong-based China Eagle Asset Management Ltd. “There’s quite a lot of local reports pointing to high levels of margin trading. It is quite dangerous. You really don’t know when it will stop.”
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As China Stocks Outrun the 2007 Bubble, UBS Braces for Clampdown
Don’t Miss Out —
by Richard Frost and Billy Chan
11:47 AM PST
April 22, 2015
China Inc. finds a savior in the stock market
With China’s world-beating stock market attracting an unprecedented number of novice traders, the question on many investors’ minds is how long authorities will let the rally run before stepping in to cool things down.
As UBS Group AG strategist Lu Wenjie sees it, policy makers may add to existing interventions as soon as later this year. The Shanghai Composite Index’s 121 percent surge over the past 15 months isn’t justified by earnings prospects in an economy growing at the slowest pace since 2009, according to Lu.
“It’s absolutely possible we’ll see some draconian measures from the regulators,” he said in an interview in Hong Kong. “The pace of stock rally is too fast.”
While authorities have already placed curbs on margin trading and made it easier for short sellers to wager that stocks will fall, the measures have so far done little to slow the Shanghai Composite’s ascent to a seven-year high. The gauge posted an average peak-to-trough retreat of 28 percent after six previous rounds of policy intervention to curtail stock speculation since 1996, according to Bank of America Corp.
As the attached charts show, the current Chinese equity boom is outpacing the surge from a low in 2005 that culminated in the 2007 bubble. Returns are bigger than at the same stage of that rally, while new-account openings and a measure of momentum are higher. Valuation multiples and trading values are both jumping at a faster pace.
The Shanghai Composite rose 0.4 percent to a seven-year high on Thursday even after a Chinese manufacturing gauge fell to a 12-month low in April.
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Takoma Park, MD Sale Prices Crater 14% YoY; Sellers Slash As Demand Plummets 11% YoY Statewide
http://www.zillow.com/takoma-park-md/home-values/
http://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public/State/State_Turnover_AllHomes.csv
NYPD Detective Fatally Shoots Unarmed Man During Attempted Arrest In East Village
Cops say that “a violent struggle ensued between the suspect and the two detectives”
by Gothamist | April 26, 2015
A police officer fatally shot an unarmed man during what police are calling a “violent struggle” in the East Village on Saturday. The shooting happened around 1:45 p.m. yesterday at what the Times refers to as “a supportive housing complex for people with mental illnesses” on E. 6th Street near Avenue A.
The 22-year-old victim, whom the Post has identified as Felix David, was the suspect in a robbery last Thursday at City College. Cops say he punched and stole the purse of a 21-year-old woman who he knew.
Cops tracked him down to the East Village facility, and say David fled out a window on the sixth floor and down a fire escape. Although David was unarmed, cops say that “a violent struggle ensued between the suspect and the two detectives.” This ‘violent struggle’ involved a police radio, which David allegedly grabbed from one of the officers and used to strike both detectives on the head, causing lacerations.
—————————————————————————
Did These Swedish Cops School The NYPD? - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izdfnHBMwSs - 217k - Cached - Similar pages
2 days ago …
I’m so old I still remember when this blog was about the housing bubble.
I’m so old I still remember when this blog was about the housing bubble.
Hee hee. Speaking of, has anyone read Mark Hanson’s blog this month? (Can’t get on there anymore.) He’s posted some pdfs in April that look interesting, fraud is a theme:
4-25 …March New Home Sales
4-22 …End-User House Demand Flat Since 2008 FW- 4-17 …Next Week’s Housing Data
4-22 (Update 1) Fraud “Recovery” FW- 4-21 …Strong “Recovery”e in Housing/Mortgage…Fraud
4-21 …Strong “ecovery” in Housing/Mortgage…Fraud
I miss the stories of how the Beats were forced to by $500k houses only to lose their job or pressure cleaning business and then come down with (name the disease or problem) while screaming they were Robo signed and deserved to be given the house they had already been living in for free for X number of years.
Buy this house buy it buy it buy it
That is funny.
But the ones I am referring to were real estate tycoons when they bought and refied during the 2000 - 2005 boom years when they were making $20k a month in “equity” on their “investment”.
By the time we got to 2007 - 2009 they turned into victims who had a gun put to their head and were forced in 2005 to take the $150k of “equity” out of the house they bought for $150k in 1997.
do you remember the lady attacked by the bear? Ive been here off and on for 10 yrs.
“do you remember the lady attacked by the bear?”
Yes I do.
She was very smart, beautiful inside and out and I miss her.
Wait a minute…is Califoh20 = Allena Hansen?
…. and still begging and pleading with contractors to do free work.
“I’m so old I still remember when this blog was about the housing bubble.”
I agree, why do some people feel the need to post stuff denying climate change, or sensationalist black-on-white crime reports every day? Of course, once presented, their propaganda must then be exposed and refuted. But I don’t see why they feel the need to start a new thread on it every day. Not sure if it’s an obsession or a profession, but they make everyone they associate with, and their rational interests, look rather foolish. Maybe that’s their purpose.
And just watch. Tomorrow, like clockwork, we’ll get black-on-white crime reports, and climate change denial daily memes.
Housing Lola housing….
Klamath Falls, OR Sale Prices Crater 10% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/klamath-falls-or/home-values/
Did you ever rent from a Deadbeat Landlord?
Did you ever rent from a Deadbeat Landlord?
Yes. Though I don’t know exactly when he stopped paying.
We signed a three year lease in Henderson (Las Vegas), 2007. Three-four months in, the LL asked if we’d like to buy it for what he owed (very high, apparently HELOCed.) We declined. Lawn/pool service was included in rent but abruptly ceased. At the very beginning we felt sorry for him, so we cooperated and tried to help him sell it. Then we became resentful because we realized he really didn’t care about how this was disrupting our lives; he was condescending and superior toward us even as he was going broke, a little Donald Trumpette. I demanded a (very) substantial rent reduction which over time went to zero. After many skirmishes and free rent for a year, we moved on in 2010. Eventually, the house went into foreclosure.
It was, is, crazy here. This whole thing is going on too long.
Last time I saw the heading Bits Bucket, it had an invitation to post OFF TOPIC threads. I see these complaints here all the time. If Ben did not want off topic threads he would ban them.
“…black-on-white crime reports, and climate change denial daily memes…”
I’ll be avoiding those threads like the plague…
Still is, just have to get away from the bits bucket. You might even learn something.
Is it safe to assume the U.S. stock market can only go up from here?
Ignore the records! This may the perfect time to trim stocks
Published: Apr 24, 2015 3:51 p.m. ET
By Anora Mahmudova
Reporter
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The air sure is getting thin up here. Stocks are barreling through records at a dizzying pace.
The Nasdaq (COMP, +0.71%) is on a rip-roaring record run, surpassing an all-time closing high on Thursday that had stood for a decade and half. The tech-heavy index is up 7.5% since the start of the year. And the S&P 500 (SPX, +0.23%) is blasting through its own record highs, gaining nearly 3% year-to-date. U.S. stocks were extending their gains on Friday too.
But with great heights come greater peril.
Perhaps that is why some Wall Street analysts are starting to get a bit squeamish, calling for investors to dial back their U.S. stock exposure.
Citi Private Bank and S&P Capital IQ’s Investment Policy Committee both are recommending that investors cut their exposure to large-cap U.S. equities.
And early this week, BlackRock’s Russ Koesterich also recommended to reduce U.S. equity allocation in favor of less expensive international stocks. “Diversification at this point is critical,” Koesterich said in an interview with MarketWatch.
Global chief investment strategist at Citi Private Bank, Steven Weiting, notes that the market can no longer bet on a combination of ultraloose-monetary policy coming from Fed or accelerating economic growth this year.
“U.S. stocks are still favored as an asset class and our recommendation is aimed at de-risking, given the monetary and economic backdrop,” Weiting said.
Here’s what Weiting wrote in a note to investors dated April 23, “we have reduced our overweight position in U.S. large capitalization equities from +3% to +2%. This reduces the overweight to one that is somewhat below the U.S. share of global market capitalization, near 50%.”
Weiting cited the “consequences of the boom and bust in U.S. energy investment as a factor that is contributing to weakening of U.S. equity outperformance.”
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Economist: Sell Your Stocks and Take Six Months Off
Take a holiday from the market.
4:05 AM PST March 31, 2015
(Bloomberg) — Investors should sell any equities bought over the past year, hold the proceeds as cash and take a holiday from the market for six months, according to Steen Jakobsen, Saxo Bank A/S’s chief economist.
A likely increase in U.S. interest rates will intensify market volatility and threatens to wipe out any gains investors may have made in the past two years, Jakobsen said in a March 29 interview in Dubai. Slower expansion in the economies of the U.S. and China will also hurt investors holding stocks, said Jakobsen, who last year predicted a drop in oil prices to below $80 a barrel.
“If nothing else, reduce your stock portfolio to where it was on the first of January last year, put the money into cash and take a nice long summer holiday,” said Jakobsen, 50, also chief investment officer at the Danish lender. “You won’t make any money, but you lose all the downside risk.”
China’s weaker property market is weighing on economic growth and cutting demand for commodities from copper to steel. The latest consumer spending data in the U.S. indicate the biggest part of the economy may not sustain momentum after the strongest quarterly growth in purchases since 2006.
The value of global equities jumped 5 percent this year through Monday, the most since the end of 2013, as central banks from Europe to Asia expand stimulus packages and ease policy to bolster their economies. The S&P 500 Index is poised for a ninth straight quarterly increase, the longest stretch since 1998.
…
Why would any economist expect rate increases st this point?
Sell in May and go away. Thanks for that insight, Steen. I can see why you make the big bucks.
Bought in the past year? The last year was also when stock prices were too high. Smart people bought in 2009 and 2010.
I hope the feds stay out of MD. I don’t want my tax dollars going to that circus. Not my monkeys, not my circus.
I dont know what to do with these unskilled, uneducated toothless thugs.
EBT = $160 mo
Jail = $5000 mo
Looks like white people will be building more gated communities.
the Animals - It’s My Life:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HNzmrEgz_GI
No Doubt - It’s my Life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubvV498pyIM&spfreload=10
There are lots of tire kickers at the open house across the street today. Seems like there are lots of buyers still anxious to gain some equity.
What is it about falling housing prices that enrage some of you?
There is no free equity with falling prices. People want a big payday for buying a home.
We are in a recession but they are still beating the recovery drums.
People must sacrafice their savings interest so rates can stay low for the risk assets gamblers.
Top scientists start to examine fiddled global warming figures
8:14PM BST 25 Apr 2015
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…ientists-start-to-examine-fiddled-global-warming-figures.html -
Fiddler On The Roof
“Dear God, you made many, many poor people.
I realize, of course, that it’s no shame to be poor.
But it’s no great honor either!
So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?”
If I were a (NOAA) climate scientist,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
All day long the data I’d adjust.
If I were a US government scientist.
I wouldn’t have to work hard.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
If I were a biddy biddy rich,
Yidle-diddle-didle-climate man.
The most important men in government would come to fawn on me!
They would ask me to lie to them,
Like Lois Lerner to congress.
“If you please, (NOAA) climate scientist…”
“Pardon me, US government scientist…”
Posing problems that would cross Al Gore’s eyes!
And it won’t make one bit of difference if i answer honestly or not.
When you’re a well paid (NOAA) climate scientist, they think you really know!
Fiddler on the roof - If I were a rich man (with subtitles) - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHZFYpQ6nc - 340k -
Comment by phony scandals
2015-04-27 07:27:16
Top scientists start to examine fiddled global warming figures
telegraph.co.uk/comment/11561629/Top-scientists-start-to-examine-fiddled-global-warming-figures.html
phony scandals