Bits Bucket for May 5, 2015
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Bill Gross says death is coming for him and this bull market
By Barbara Kollmeyer
Published: May 4, 2015 10:36 a.m. ET
‘…I have a sense of an ending.’
Getty Images
Bill Gross fears the reaper.
Bill Gross has churned out some pretty entertaining investment outlooks over the years, but his latest takes us to an entirely new place. The afterlife, that is, as he sees death looming for himself and this bull market.
His latest investment outlook appears to be inspired by recent birthday — 71 years old as of April 13th — and passing that big milestone. ”Death frightens me and causes what Barnes (author Julian) calls great unrest, but for me it is not death, but the dying that does so,” says Gross, the former Pimco chief who now runs the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund.
From that, he moves right into the end of the so-called 35-year investment supercycle. He says he’s in good company here, as Stanley Druckenmiller, George Soros, Ray Dalio, Jeremy Grantham have also warned.
Unrest and low asset returns, dead ahead, in other words.
…
Maybe for the United States empire, but foreign markets will not necessarily stop. Of course, the predictions are based on all factors staying the same: government expanding, regulation expanding, taxes increasing, wars continuing…
the only thing that will bring massive prosperity to everyone on this planet even africa…is if the muslims accept Israels, right to exist and to stop killing for allah.
Now there’s some English proficiency.
+1 Ben.
And the biggest criminals in this country have the best English.
Bush didn’t but Obama does.
I assumed that she was referring to the acolytes at GS.
At least the GS and other bankers don’t order bombings and droning of innocents.
Did you read the article? While the metaphors run deep, the message is simple: You can’t expect perpetually falling long-term rates from 1981-2015 to continue (past zero!) forever, and once this ends, lots of investors will be ill-prepared for what comes next.
In case you didn’t notice, the ultra-low interest rate environment is global in reach.
But I saw Warren Buffet on PBS last night saying interest rates could stay at zero for the next ten years.
“Bill Gross fears the reaper.”
Don’t Fear the Reaper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUAvTn3uz5w
When you’re a master of the universe having to die just like the little people do must seem so unfair.
F*ck Gross and his “markets”.
I don’t know about you guys but the only thing that I want is the same thing that the Bankers, Politicians, Wall Street financiers, inner city blacks, illegal aliens, Presidential hopefuls, IRS administrators and numerous Police officers in these United States have. The ability to pick and choose which of the laws of this Country that I want to obey at any given moment without any legal consequences.
Why should they have all the fun?
Top. Comment. for today’s bits.
+1
Don’t forget all those who lie on their mortgage apps and tax returns.
Inner city blacks have the ability to pick and choose which of the laws of this country that I want to obey at any given moment without any legal consequences?
Who told you that?
NBC told me that, Mike.
Here you go:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/baltimore-unrest/baltimore-may-release-arrested-rioters-meet-legal-requirements-n350626
‘This is all a characteristically trenchant analysis on the part of Simon, but what he misses (he recently stated that “There is no alternative to a modern police force”) is that the police in America have always been an army of occupation.’
‘American police have two key points of origin. One is the New York Police Department, the first true police force in the US. The NYPD was modeled on the London Metropolitan Police Force, which in turn was modeled on a unit in an occupying army. As Will Grigg writes in part 2 of his upcoming series on “The Rise of the American Police State”:
“Even before “local” police agencies were effectively satellitized by the federal government they were paramilitary bodies designed to operate as occupation forces, rather than as a protective service.”
“Robert Peel, creator of the London Metropolitan Police Force that is the template for all modern police agencies, adapted the model he had employed in creating the “Peace Preservation Force,” a specialized unit within the 20,000-man military contingent Peel had commanded as military governor of occupied Ireland.”
“Writing in the December 1961 Journal of Modern History, Galen Broeker observed that when Peel was appointed governor in 1814, his objective in creating the Peace Preservation Force was “`pacifying’ a recalcitrant population.” (…)
“The “Peace Preservation Force” — which was the prototype for every modern police agency — wasn’t designed to protect person and property from criminal aggression, but rather to protect a political elite.”
“This is why Peel’s London Metropolitan Police Force was initially greeted with hostility by conservatives in the British Parliament and the public at large, who often referred to officers as “Blue Locusts.” Within a decade, however, Peel’s model was firmly entrenched in London, and migrated across the Atlantic to New York City.”
http://original.antiwar.com/Dan_Sanchez/2015/05/04/freddie-gray-and-the-western-district-way/
I wouldn’t conclude from that article that any inner city black person can violate the law without impunity. Also, here’s an interesting section from that article:
The public defender, a government agency that represents suspects who have no lawyer, had filed habeas corpus petitions demanding that people arrested Monday night be released if they weren’t formally charged within 24 hours. No court has “amended or changed the rules that require these important safeguards,” it said
It’s a bummer that we have to have things like habeas corpus, due process, and all of that.
I’m no fan of looters, drug dealers and the like, but the way I see it, it’s the blacks who are taking on the task of calling attention to the police brutality issue, and kind of taking the hit for the rest of us.
I had a close encounter with the local constabulary back in 2005, I’ve written about it here before. I had a visit first from a couple of bounty hunters and then the sheriff’s deputies within 48 hours, both were looking for the former occupant of the apartment I had rented.
Let me say this: the bounty hunters were real gentlemen.
it’s the blacks who are taking on the task of calling attention to the police brutality issue, and kind of taking the hit for the rest of us.
I agree. For a long time.
The Tell
Investors are borrowing more money than ever to buy stocks
By Shawn Langlois
Published: May 4, 2015 3:07 p.m. ET
Here’s why you may not want to freak out just yet
Chris Kimble
So-called margin debt is at record levels.
Margin debt is a representation of the amount of money investors are borrowing to throw at this persistent bull market. The fact that this measure of investor borrowing is rising could have dire consequences in what many see as a frothy market. If this scenario sounds eerily familiar, it is probably because these same alarm bells were ringing loudly back in 2000 and 2007.
This time investors are in even deeper. Margin debt in March reached $476.4 billion, the highest level on record going back more than 50 years, according to the NYSE.
…
“Investors are borrowing more money than ever to buy stocks”
Investors, huh. Not speculators but investors.
We’ll see.
The rally needs low rates so corporations can keep selling bonds to buy back so stock so execs get some big dollars on their options.
The govt also needs low rates to be able to service the debt.
Low rates are here for a long time.
Crow again for dinner tonight?
Chinese shares tumble 4% on worries over margin trading
By Chao Deng
Published: May 5, 2015 5:20 a.m. ET
Shanghai shares suffered their second largest daily fall this year, as worries about margin trading put an abrupt halt to the market’s 39% year-to-date rally, while an interest-rate cut in Australia failed to lift the market.
The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP, -4.06%) on Tuesday closed down 4% at 4298.71, its biggest daily percentage loss since Jan. 19, when the market plunged 7.7% on similar fears that Beijing was clamping down on the use of borrowed money by retail investors to buy stocks.
…
It is precisely because I will be one of the few people that do not need to eat crow. It is clear to the market that China’s housing market is recovering, meaning that the 7% GDP goal can be reached without any additional easing. Add to that the tightening of the margin rules in China and you have a correction. But China’s markets are selling for about 16.6 times earnings so there is no major bubble to pop.
‘I will be one of the few people that do not need to eat crow.’
You have the bib on. The all-you-can-eat crow buffet is in front of you.
‘It is clear to the market that China’s housing market is recovering’
From now on, I’m going to imagine what you post is being said by Rodney Dangerfield.
” I don’t get no respect. “
There are many factors for oil being up almost 3% today, and I started to talk about them when many on this board were talking about below $30 dollar oil but I can ensure you that none of these oil traders are seeing a collapse in China.
dead.cat.bounce.
“In China’s Bond Market, Something Worse Than A Default”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2015/05/03/in-chinas-bond-market-something-worse-than-a-default/
‘central government technocrats are running out of options to rescue the faltering economy.’
but I can ensure you that none of these oil traders are seeing a collapse in China.
Which is precisely why they won’t see the next drop in oil coming…
If anything is going to pop the worldwide bubble, it will be the Chinese stock market. Once that goes, every other financial category will be questioned, not because China’s market is that important outside of China, but because so many people think it is. And it could happen tomorrow.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/business/economy/China-May-economic-data-to-show-signs-of-recovery-economists-say/shdaily.shtml
Excerpt from link that will soon post:
CHINA’S economic data for April may show some improvement with continued policy support and less seasonal distortions, analysts said before the release of the data starting this week.
“We expect April’s data to give signs of a tentative stabilization,” said Wang Tao, an economist at UBS.
“Industrial activity may grow steadier after the Chinese New Year holiday, and property sales could show the first annual growth in one year and a half after the country relaxed restrictions on the purchase of homes,” Wang said.
She expected industrial production will expand 6.4 percent from a year earlier in April, picking up from the pace of 5.6 percent in March.
Meanwhile, the deflationary pressure may reduce a bit as the Consumer Price index, the main gauge of inflation, is forecast to rise 1.6 percent, up from 1.4 percent a month earlier, Wang said.
Lian Ping, chief economist at Bank of Communications, predicted industrial production may gain 6 percent in the month while consumer prices could add 1.8 percent, similar to what Wang projected.
“One bright spot is that exports will return to grow and imports will improve as well, helping to stabilize the whole economy,” Lian said.
‘central government technocrats are running out of options to rescue the faltering economy.’
Therefore, free chit will go global.
“running out of options”
I don’t know. Seems we’ve been saying that for 5 years.
great news for my “short China” fund (FXP).
Querque: “It is precisely because I will be one of the few people that do not need to eat crow.”
Actually, have a dollop.
Property sales in China:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2015-05/05/content_20620425.htm
Over a holiday weekend they sold 201 homes in Beijing, and China has over 52 million vacant homes. How many holiday weekends will it take to sell all of China’s empty real estate? Does anyone have a calculator?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-11/mindblowing-fact-day-china-has-over-52-million-vacant-homes
Of course, this article is from June of last year, so I’m sure all of those 52 million vacant homes have been sold already.
From link:
New housing projects in first-tier cities enjoyed robust sales over the Labor Day holiday, extending a brisk April for the sector as previous government stimulus policies continued to filter through to the market.
A total of 201 new homes were sold and registered on the Beijing housing authority’s website during the two days, compared with 169 a year ago. In Shenzhen, 195 units were sold and registered with its authority compared with just 49 a year earlier.
Taking the time lag between purchasing decisions and deals being concluded and officially registered into account, the surge reflected April’s boom.
A more up-to-date number came from Centaline Property Agency, which said that in Guangzhou, 20 new projects opened for sale during the holiday, a 10 percent rise on last year, with 354 units sold on Friday and Saturday, a 30 percent rise on a year ago.
The hot sales streak continued the momentum started by stimulus measures announced at the end of March, which included a down payment ratio as low as 30 percent for second-home purchases.
According to the China Index Academy, SouFun Holdings Ltd’s housing research unit, home sales in 28 cities it monitored during April increased 8.96 percent from March. Eighteen of those cities posted month-on-month gains, while sales fell in 10 cities.
First-tier cities posted a 31 percent surge in sales, second-tier cities rose 5 percent, while third-tier cities dropped 7 percent.
The findings chimed with Centaline’s statistics, which also showed 17,191 second-hand homes were sold and registered in Beijing during April, the highest monthly figure in two years, it said.
Some new projects in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen reportedly sold out within 24 hours of going on sale－a phenomenon not seen since the previous housing boom. China Vanke Co said one of its projects in Beijing’s northwestern suburb was sold out on Friday. Two other projects in the southeast of the city being offered by other developers did the same.
Average new home prices during April, meanwhile, in 100 cities monitored by the China Index Academy dipped just 0.01 percent over March, compared with a 0.15 percent contraction from February to March. Second-hand home prices rose 3.29 percent in Shenzhen, 1.25 percent in Shanghai, and 0.79 percent in Beijing, it said.
Ye Jing, a 32-year-old office worker in Beijing, told China Daily she completed the purchase of her first home in the capital on Friday. The 58-square-meter pre-owned apartment cost her nearly 40,000 yuan ($6,440) per sq m. She had found the apartment back in February, putting down a deposit back then to secure it.
“The brokers told me similar apartments in the same district sold recently for at least 100,000 yuan more than mine,” she said.
Yang Hongxu, vice-president of the E-House China R&D Institute, said that with interest rates expected to be cut again and more buyers coming forward than before, the current upswings in sales and prices in first-tier cities are likely to accelerate.
Li Xu, another 31-year-old office worker from the capital, does not think so.
She recently visited a number of second-hand properties accompanied by agents, but said she had now decided to continue living in rented accommodation because her would-be monthly mortgage payments exceed her current rent.
“I’m not optimistic about home prices in the long run,” she said.
“The homes available near my workplace in downtown Beijing are dilapidated, while any new ones I might have been able to afford are too far away.”
Will China sell all of its empty real estate?
“Li Xu, another 31-year-old office worker from the capital, does not think so.
She recently visited a number of second-hand properties accompanied by agents, but said she had now decided to continue living in rented accommodation because her would-be monthly mortgage payments exceed her current rent.
“I’m not optimistic about home prices in the long run,” she said.
“The homes available near my workplace in downtown Beijing are dilapidated, while any new ones I might have been able to afford are too far away.”
The buyer is the one who matters, not the seller.
Will China sell all of its empty real estate?
She was not answering the question you have her answering.
Multiply her by a billion.
What is Obama hiding and should a democratic republic be run like this?
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/secrecy-eroding-support-for-trade-pact-critics-say-117581.html
A “democratic republic”? Try “IDIOCRACY.”
San Gabriel, CA Sale Prices Plunge 9% YoY; Sellers Slash
http://www.zillow.com/san-gabriel-ca/home-values/
Great collection of graphs and it shows just how close the scientist in the 1980s has already been shown to be correct when he found that AGW had been overstated by a factor of 7. I did not realize just how much the models have been adjusted to reflect the slower warming. They have already reduce man’s role by 2/3 but have failed to inform the public and even with those changes warming is less than 1/2 the predicted rate of the models, thus taken together that would mean that sensitivity to co2 would be about 1/7 of what was predicted in the 1980s. Time to find that scientists and give him a big grant and cut-off Mann.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/05/04/el-nio-has-not-yet-paused-the-pause/
Scientist. I wish I could find that study, I thought it was brilliant when I read it but I am even more amazed now about how accurate he was in the 1980s.
It’s pseudoscience built on the denialist’s last hope, relying on misinterpreted satellite data readings of the troposphere while conveniently discarding all of the surface temperatures. Regardless, climate naysayers are less about science and more about politics dressed up as science; for them, trouble looms:
“But climate change deniers are increasingly running into true believers in big business and the Pentagon — two groups conservatives hold dear — who are devising future strategies that take into consideration the “question” of climate change. Slowly but surely, the doubt is melting away, just like a snowball hit by the warmth of the sun.”
http://ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/business-pentagon-pursue-climate-change-strategies
As long as the Koch Brothers keep Koching, the deniers will keep denying.
Tag team Tuesday, today?
Yea, climate changes.
I’m old enough to have gone to High School in the seventies. We had to sit through poorly made U.S.Government films showing us dead crops sitting in stormy, wind howlin winter in Siberia with the warning from some droning talking head telling us that this global cooling was our future. We had to write papers on the subject.
Around that same time period Time magazine did a cover story on the coming “IceAge” that was going to change life as we knew it.
During the largest time of industrial growth (40’s 50’s 60’s) that had ever occurred post the original industrial revolution the planet got cooler not warmer. Pretty much right up to the late seventies as I was sitting through those Siberian movies.
Then the climate changed, as it has for millions of years. It became warmer. As the trend continued we were told that the World was in trouble. Oceans would rise and life as we know it would end. Hurricanes along the Gulf would become more powerful and occur more often. The poles would melt and polar bears would die.
Over time those High School Siberian death by ice movies were replaced with equal fear mongering films about death from warm fuzzy CO2 thingys.
The poles haven’t subsided. Polar bears are around at record numbers and the worst time for hurricanes around the Gulf (on record) is still in the 1930’s which was a time of cooling not warming.
One major proponent of the man made Global warming ideal, Michael Mann, has been proven to be a dishonest man and a politically driven, media craven whore. His “hockey stick” chart that Al Gore used in that joke of a movie (and Academy Award winner) was proven to be totally fradulent.
We are now getting cooler again. So the screed changes from man-made Global warming to Climate change. Sorry, but you’ve lost the momentum. Even the most die hard flat-earthers, er, I mean man-made Climate change types that I know have given up on the meme.
One more thing this man made warming stuff has been totally driven by politics. And tax dollars.
That’s because the contrails jets leave reflect sunlight back towards space.
I remember that one from the seventies
ea, climate changes. I’m old enough to have gone to High School in the seventies.
I drove a clean 70s VW Brasilia a few weeks ago. It is a strong and simple car, but it is the stone-age compared to today’s cars and science.
People seeing it gave the thumbs-up.
The 70’s were a long time ago.
Happy Cinco de Mayo (how do you say Free Sh*t Army in Mexican?)
Obamos.
I did a Wiki-up of “Cinco de Mayo” and ran across this interesting tidbit:
“Historian Justo Sierra has written in his Political Evolution of the Mexican People, that had Mexico not defeated the French in Puebla on May 5, 1862, France would have gone to the aid of the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War and the United States’ destiny would have been different.”
I doubt it. If Mexico could successfully throw out the French, I don’t think France would have had the capability to affect the outcome of the Civil War anyway.
Remember the Alamo!
Didn’t Mexico win the Alamo?
Speaking of Free Sh*t Army, here Moonie rag the Washington Times notes that Hillary “vows lenient approach” on immigration and another article linked below that reports that Bush and Rubio are the two leading GOP contenders:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/4/hillary-clinton-rejects-bill-clinton-immigration-c/
American taxpayers, open your checkbooks, because you’ve got 34 million “acts of love” to pay for, LOLZ
American taxpayers, open your checkbooks, because you’ve got 34 million “acts of love” to pay for, LOLZ
And that is just the down payment, just wait until we have to pay the balloon payment due to chain migration.
Linked from Google News, the Los Angeles Times reports “During a campaign visit to Nevada today, Hillary Rodham Clinton will call for a “full and equal path to citizenship” for immigrants living in the country illegally, drawing a clear distinction from Republican candidates on the issue”
Permanent Democrat Supermajority
+1 for amnesty and path to citizenship. If they work here, they can start paying taxes like the rest of us.
How will citizenship help them? The moment they get citizenship or even a green card they will likely be immediately FIRED. Employers don’t want to pony up payroll taxes and worker protections — that’s why they hired undocumenteds in the first place. Employers will just abandon the new citizens and pick up the new wave of undocumenteds which is poised to stream over the border.
If they work here, they can start paying taxes like the rest of us.
What if they are Lucky Duckies who pay no income tax and instead will collect EIC and other government cheese for their families? And even if they had the incomes necessary to pay income tax, they already know how to hide it from the IRS, so why would that change?
@ In Colorado: I’m not aware of any evidence that once Hispanics become citizens they are more inclined to avoid work and collect gov’t benefits than natural born Americans of any color. Americans have set the bar pretty low in that regard. And as far as hiding incomes from the IRS, the employer is a co-conspirator and enabler in that scheme.
I don’t think he said that, exactly.
However, I got back from a trip to the supermarket about an hour or so ago, helping out my buddy who gets these gout or bunion flare-ups occasionally. He does like to eat a little too well sometimes. Anyway, it’s sort of painful for him to put weight on the foot, so I offered to do the marketing for him, but he wanted to come along. He sat in one of those motorized carts while I fetched the stuff off the shelves for him and put them in the basket.
So there was this short, stocky, older Hispanic woman at the checkout bagging the groceries and she offered to accompany us out and take the motorized cart back in. I figured she just wanted to get out of the store for a short break. Nope. The minute we got to the car she sat in the cart, lowered her voice to a rasp and starts acting like she can’t get her breath. She starts “God blessing” us and gives us a sob story how she has asthma or some such thing and needs to go to the doctor but can’t afford it.
I drive a beater with the paint peeling off and I pointed to it and said “Know what you mean, times are tough, good luck and god bless”. Got my buddy in and we drove away.
So he asks me what the heck that was all about. I told him she was shaking us down for a tip. Which she’s not supposed to, this particular chain offers assistance to its customers on a no-tip policy. From the looks of this woman, she likely is already collecting Social Security, has Medicare. has a part time gig and ’tain’t enough”. And I happen to know she can certainly afford the medical care, because there’s a local clinic that offers it free to residents who can’t afford it, if she can’t get it through Medicare.
Basically, she was doing the sort of begging I used to see in the Caribbean when I traveled there. Her people around here figure the retirees are soft touches and suckers and they are. As long as you’re either a Hispanic or West Indian with a long face and a good sob story. If you’re a fellow anglo who is truly in need, under the bus!
I’m not aware of any evidence that once Hispanics become citizens they are more inclined to avoid work and collect gov’t benefits
You don’t have to avoid work to get free cheese. If you’re low income and have kids, you’ll get it.
My sister is a bilingual ed teacher and she has told me that while her student’s parents work they know how to hide their incomes, so they can get foodstamps, medicaid and even Section 8 housing. Even though they are illegals they know how to work the system. I seriously doubt they will stop doing that just because Hillary hands them a green card.
They also resort to other tricks, like pretending to be single mothers when in fact they were married in the old country.
Her people around here figure the retirees are soft touches and suckers and they are. As long as you’re either a Hispanic or West Indian with a long face and a good sob story. If you’re a fellow anglo who is truly in need, under the bus!
The pale-skinned retirees are more likely to help black and Hispanic beggars than the white ones? I find that hard to believe.
It’s a PC thing. Much easier for an Anglo to say no to one’s own than deny one of another race, which makes them uncomfortable in a “white guilt” sort of way. Anglos aren’t supposed to beg. White poors are an embarrassment.
Those brown folks are likely the people who are going to be taking care of them when they’re drooling and messing themselves in a nursing home or hospice. So it’s sort of like taking out insurance or propitiating the gods.
Lol, some of these West Indian folks are real pistols when they’re denied. I witnessed one couple reduce some volunteer retiree lady to quivering flesh at a local charity outlet, when she didn’t comply with some demand they made. Sight to behold. Even worse was watching her fellow volunteers cower and try to ignore the whole thing. Somebody had to say something, so I did. Things quieted down after that.
What you’re describing is contrary to a lot of behavior that I see. For example, there was a story in the paper today about Nepalis in New York City sending assistance to earthquake victims in Nepal. when you see a movie star raising money for a charity to find a cure for some disease, it’s usually because he or she has a family member suffering from that disease. Generally people are more likely to help out a person if they have something in common.
Hope and Change
“All of the people who bought these $450,000 houses are getting freaked out,” she said of the area’s gentrification. “All of a sudden, it’s just ‘boom, boom, boom.’
Forward
“The Rev. Leon Kelly, a gang activist who has worked in the city for a decade, attributes the problems to a racial shift and to rising home prices in the neighborhoods. Factions that traditionally were split by distance are being pushed into the same blocks.”
“The whites are demanding that police do something,” Kelly said.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28037646/denver-surging-gang-violence-neighborhood-alert
Happy Cinco de Mayo (how do you say Free Sh*t Army in Mexican?)
Gringos pendejos
Funny thing, I dated a girl who is a social worker. There is not a lot of free shit out there from the gov. And it is very difficult to get a green card.
The GOP/dem does nothing to stop illegal labor, they like it.
Free ph is Lifeline, bean around since Reagan. No free houses. EBT is $160 a month, keeps em out of jail $5000 mo.
There is not a lot of free shit out there from the gov. ‘
Mostly for kids.
I am certainly not jealous of them. Sucks for them sucks for us to pay for it. But it is the Christian thing to do.
Do non-christians still have to pay?
The ‘christians’ refuse to, after all.
Okay HA posted yesterday that Reston, VA home market turned cold. Odd, and a beautiful sight. But all the nearby NoVA areas such as Sterling, Chantilly and others are still super hot according to the Zillow.
Lots of places for sale. The old trusty Housingtracker.net doesn’t show a glut in the DC area though.
Sterling, VA List Prices Dive 6% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/sterling-va/market-trends/
And by the way, “housing tracker” and dept of numbers has a few cozy relationships.
Follow the money.
That’s an interesting development. Reston is a little closer in toward the city, and they are on the Silver Line subway, while Sterling and Chantilly are farther out. Why isn’t Reston hot?
Bibs and feed bags Donk.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/utah-good-samaritan-kills-attempted-carjacking-suspect/story?id=30808789
Obama’s OSHA is working on making committing crime safer for criminals. This getting killed by police and gun permit holders has to stop. It is making it too dangerous to make a dishonest living and is having a disparate impact on minorities. (sarcasm).
The NRA has made sure that terrorists like the ones in Texas can buy any assault rifles whenever they want. At least the gun makers made a couple of more sales, and that’s all that matters, right?
Gun makers in the US can only sell assault rifles to law enforcement. Semi-automatic rifles are not assault rifles. A rifle must have full-auto (in addition to a number of other features) to be considered an assault rifle. I’m not aware of any states in the US where it is legal to own an assault rifle.
Your Obama Trauma is flaring up today.
From yesterday:
—————-
Comment by OliverGarchy
2015-05-04 07:35:52
Women entering the workplace in greater numbers in the 70s and 80s not mentioned because it doesn’t fit the meme or the politics.
oxide: That doesn’t change that the field tipped in favor of corporations. If anything, without the women’s income, the debt and collapse would have arrived much sooner.
OliverGarchy: It adds another 70 percent to the labor pool, that doesn’t have a huge effect? Can’t see past your politics.
—————
You are purposely confusing the argument. Reich’s essay states that the rules were changed in favor of corporations through
1. expanded IP rights
2. relaxed anti-trust laws
3. deregulation and huge mergers of banks
4. Bankruptcy laws loosened for corporations but not for individuals.
5. Mandatory arbitration instead of a day in court; favors corporations
6. relaxed securities laws leading to insider trading, stock buybacks, etc
7. tax laws favoring hedge funds, private equity, and fossil fuels
So tell me, how does ANY of this have to do with women entering the workforce? How? Did the big corps say, “Oh no, here come the women! Quick, somebody buy a Congcresscritter to relax some antitrust laws and pass some tax breaks!” ??
Of course not! Greed is greed, and the corporate takeover of gov would have happened even if women stayed home. The entrance of women into the professional workforce merely kept up the appearance of middle-class prosperity. While salaries and jobs for the men eroded, the woman’s income made up the slack. Households could still make the same total money and afford (roughly) the same lifestyle, just with more hours working, at the office and at home. Professional women bought about 25 years more of relative prosperity, until the outsourcing and insourcing overwhelmed even two-income households. If women had stayed at home, the system would have collapsed sooner.
Women still fits the meme, but they only affected the timeline of the ultimate outcome, not the outcome itself.
And for the record, have you noticed that I have not participated in the HBB gender wars? Please direct your accusations toward the resident HBB feminist, which is not me.
And for the record, have you noticed that I have not participated in the HBB gender wars?
I don’t know about him but I have noticed your restraint. I have avoided them too, the resident feminist annoys me but the misogyny is too much sometimes.
my comments are not normative regarding whether or not women should be in the work place. I am only pointing out a 800 pound gorilla being ignored by those who blame it all on Globalism (which I am also against). Someone posted an article here somewhere today showing the inflation adjusted median household income in Long Beach to be about $51,000 both today and in the 70s. No mention that today that median includes two workers much more than in the 70s. This is basic supply and demand.
‘This is basic supply and demand’
If I walk into a Subway with an employed person, I expect to pay more for the sandwiches. If I do the same with an unemployed person, I will pay less.
What? A larger labor pool for the same number of jobs means the price of labor can go down.
I have avoided them too, the resident feminist annoys me but the misogyny is too much sometimes.
Much as the misandry is too much sometimes…
If the “women get paid $0.72 for every $1.00 men get paid” argument was true, wouldn’t businesses take advantage of that by hiring an all-female workforce?
It is not true it is the result of many apples to oranges comparisons.
I should only have to pay 28% of the dinner bill if they want equality!
If the “women get paid $0.72 for every $1.00 men get paid” argument was true, wouldn’t businesses take advantage of that by hiring an all-female workforce?
Lean In
Donk and Dan. How cute.
Consume less problem solved. Don’t make the banker even richer by going into debts.
seems like confidence is seriously dropping and people are hoarding…. not so good for job seekers.
“the corporate takeover of gov would have happened even if women stayed home.”
Less likely if mothers were “at home” and free to work towards the good of the community. More likely if they joined the chain gang. Debt and consumption, they do come at a cost.
How would your investments hold up if it turns out that GDP growth has turned negative?
Market Pulse
First-quarter GDP was likely negative, economists say
By Greg Robb
Published: May 5, 2015 9:18 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The sharp widening of the trade deficit in March implies a steep downward revision to first quarter growth, pushing it into negative territory, according to several economists. The initial estimate by the government, of a slim 0.2% gain at an annual rate in the first quarter, “will look pretty good after the revision that will come out on May 29,” said Jennifer Lee, economist at BMO Capital Markets, in a note to clients. Laura Rosner, an economist at BNP Paribas, said the downward revision may be offset somewhat by stronger inventory building, as the imported goods end up in warehouses. Estimates varied but economist forecasts for the first quarter ranged from zero to negative 0.4%.
…
Cratering Demand.
It has due to the trade deficit increasing due to the spiked dollar. Obama tried to shoot Putin in a drive by and shot our economy instead. Hold the gun correctly Obama and not like a gang banger.
Dan- try to go a day with out blaming Obama. just try, positive thoughts make one happier.
Putin is getting a beat down. Dont worry.
RAND 2016 Lets cut Israel off!!
‘Let me try to get this right. The Saudis are bombing Yemen because they fear the Shia Houthis are working for the Iranians. The Saudis are also bombing Isis in Iraq and the Isis in Syria. So are the United Arab Emirates. The Syrian government is bombing its enemies in Syria and the Iraqi government is also bombing its enemies in Iraq. America, France, Britain, Denmark, Holland, Australia and – believe it or not – Canada are bombing Isis in Syria and Isis in Iraq, partly on behalf of the Iraqi government (for which read Shia militias) but absolutely not on behalf of the Syrian government.’
‘The Jordanians and Saudis and Bahrainis are also bombing Isis in Syria and Iraq because they don’t like them, but the Jordanians are bombing Isis even more than the Saudis after their pilot-prisoner was burned to death in a cage. The Egyptians are bombing parts of Libya because a group of Christian Egyptians had their heads chopped off by what might – notionally – be the same so-called Islamic State, as Isis refers to itself. The Iranians have acknowledged bombing Isis in Iraq – of which the Americans (but not the Iraqi government) take a rather dim view. And of course the Israelis have several times bombed Syrian government forces in Syria but not Isis (an interesting choice, we’d all agree). Chocks away!’
‘It amazes me that all these warriors of the air don’t regularly crash into each other as they go on bombing and bombing.’
‘The sectarian and theological nature of this war seems perfectly clear to all who live in the Middle East – albeit not to our American chums. The Sunni Saudis are bombing the Shia Yemenis and the Shia Iranians are bombing the Sunni Iraqis. The Sunni Egyptians are bombing Sunni Libyans, it’s true, and the Jordanian Sunnis are bombing Iraqi Sunnis. But the Shia-supported Syrian government forces are bombing their Sunni Syrian enemies and the Lebanese Hezbollah – Shia to a man – are fighting the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Sunni enemies, along with Iranian Revolutionary Guards and an ever-larger number of Afghan Shia men in Syrian uniforms.’
‘And then, of course, there are the really big winners in all this blood, the weapons manufacturers. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin supplied £1.3bn of missiles to the Saudis only last year. But three years ago, Der Spiegel claimed the European Union was Saudi Arabia’s most important arms supplier and last week France announced the sale of 24 Rafale fighter jets to Qatar at a cost of around £5.7bn. Egypt has just bought another 24 Rafales.’
‘It’s worth remembering at this point that the Congressional Research Services in the US estimate that most of Isis’s budget comes from “private donors” in – you guessed it – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait.’
Ben Jones, that all sounds really complicated.
Clubber Lang will read that and start calling people communist, anti-semitic, and anti-American, because that is the extent of his “analysis” of international conflicts and American foreign policy.
Please quit ducking Clubber Lang and give him a shot at the title.
I love the smell of angry progressives in the morning.
Well, here’s a little something people can do if they’re at all curious what really went down on 9/11. Call your congresscritter in support of this resolution.
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2013/december/04/new-house-resolution-calls-for-declassifying-secret-portion-of-911-report.aspx
I dunno what those pages reveal, but from the various rumors and speculations, my guess is that House of Bush and House of Saud cooked up a little something.
In other words, we were attacked by our supposed “ally”, the Kingdom. Which makes sense, considering members of the Kingdom were the only ones allowed to fly after the attacks. Out of the country.
The Sunni Saudis are bombing the Shia Yemenis and the Shia Iranians are bombing the Sunni Iraqis. The Sunni Egyptians are bombing Sunni Libyans, it’s true, and the Jordanian Sunnis are bombing Iraqi Sunnis. But the Shia-supported Syrian government forces are bombing their Sunni Syrian enemies and the Lebanese Hezbollah – Shia to a man – are fighting the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Sunni enemies, along with Iranian Revolutionary Guards and an ever-larger number of Afghan Shia men in Syrian uniforms.’
The situation is pretty clear to this American chum. It’s always Sunni bombing Shia or Shia bombing Sunni regardless of sectarian boundaries. Not much different from all the skirmishes (meaning, not the textbook battles) in the American Civil war.
Wonder what this will do to the price of oil. Saudi Arabia may have bitten off more than they can chew. 20 million hard, destitute, warlike Yemenis living right next door to pampered, debauched Saudis (with even more obesity than ‘Murikans) sitting on massive unearned oil wealth concentrated among a corrupt, arrogant, and parasitic royal family. What could possibly go wrong?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-05/houthi-rebels-shell-saudi-arabian-city-casualties-reported-saudis-vow-retaliation
Don’t read too much of this, I’m just posting it as an example. Rant below:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-04/one-mans-message-americans-start-giving-damn
Am I the only one who is getting a bit weary of the “Americans suck” meme? Some journalists are just outstanding at this. Paul Craig Roberts especially, and of course, this guy. Mr. Hessel here in this blog is not too shabby at it, either.
Now, far be it from me to criticize these obviously superior beings who can look down on the rest of us and tell us how shabby we are. You see, they can observe and write from their lofty heights and the message is: It’s my job to let you know how bad it all is and how the country is coming apart and how you’ve been duped and how stupid and gross you are and how you’re pissing it all away. I’ve done MY job. I’ve INFORMED you, from the comfort of my air conditioned digs, behind my anointed computer keyboard. Now that I’ve INFORMED you, YOU do the hard part. You need to be out in the streets protesting, engaging in bloody revolution or whatever.
Oh, yeah, buddy? You want people to fight and die? You first.
If you’re so smart, why not lay out a plan that people actually can put into action? Oh, wait, didn’t you just tell us how stupid and apathetic we are? Well, that’s not gonna work then, is it, now?
I’ve got a little message for the whining “Wake Up, America” crowd of wordsmiths: STFU and bite my shiny white posterior.
Rant off.
My adult life has been framed by NAFTA, dot com bubble and collapse, 9/11, Iraq War, housing bubble 1.0, the Great Recession, housing bubble 2.0, health insurance going up by 5-10% annually as long as I’ve been paying for it, undeterred illegal immigration as long as I can remember, and the growing reality that voting will never solve anything.
That’s my America. But at least I have Netflix on my smartphone now
So? You’re not the only one. Me, too. Think i like it? I’m just not inclined to put on a bloody show that the superior pundits can salivate over. What’m I gonna do? Sure, I could drag this here bag of creaky old bones out to the median on the main drag and stand around with a sign nattering about illegal immigrants. I’d last about two minutes before some gang banger took a shot at me.
One of the guys I do admire, though, was the mailman living one town over from me who flew a little gyrocopter carrying a bag of letters for Congress, protesting the corruption and money involved.
He did make an impact, although it was interesting to see the “outrage” some of his fellow solid “citizens” expressed on one of the local blogs. “How dare he?” “He’s a nutcase” (That one came from a local retired serviceman) “He broke the law”.
I can sometimes understand the “Americans suck” meme when I see this, because it does make my fingers itch to wrap around the necks of some of these sorry excuses for “Americans”. They’ve had it pretty good because of a few nutcases that got together back in the late 1700s.
Signed,
Friend of Ed
Hope and Chains, buddy.
Now that I’ve INFORMED you, YOU do the hard part. You need to be out in the streets protesting, engaging in bloody revolution or whatever.
When have I ever told anyone to “be out in the streets protesting, engaging in bloody revolution, or whatever”? When have I ever told anyone in here to do anything? I’ve merely pointed out that 95% of the electorate make a habit of bending over and spreading their cheeks for the .1% by voting for their annointed water carriers in Wall Street’s Republicrat puppet show.
I don’t give a damn what you do or don’t do, although if you complain about the status quo while voting for it, I reserve the right to call you a moron.
Yeah, if you suggested doing something, that would imply that the status quo could be improved. That would have positive implications, which are contrary to your commitment to doom-and-gloomism.
The only time I’ve suggested doing something was when posters like you specifically asked me what to do. I said don’t vote for oligarch-backed candidates since it’s pretty clear who’s interest they’ll be serving, and it probably isn’t the common good or the national interest. That’s pretty basic advice.
I don’t have a “commitment to doom-and-gloomism” but I do have a good grasp of basic arithmetic, and any country that is $18 trillion in debt, has another $42 trillion in unfunded liabilities (at least) and has allowed a $700 trillion derivatives bubble to build up, while its socioeconomic indicators are all in decline and a bunch of lunatic Keynesian counterfeiters are running wild at the Fed - that scenario can’t end well. If you want to call that gloom-and-doom, suit yourself. I call it reality and am preparing accordingly.
A+
They’ve released a cause of death for David Goldberg. He fell off a treadmill and hit his head leaving a 3 mm gash. That’s pretty specific.
Exercise kills you. Don’t do it.
Exercise kills you. So does life.
3mm?? that is only about 1/8″
Yes, thanks for mentioning it, oxide, I saw that late yesterday and posted in the bits, intending to repost today, but I sort of figured, what the heck, I gave it a good paranoid workout yesterday.
It is interesting, though. The official story now is “he fell off the treadmill and cracked his head open”. Apparently he was still alive when his brother found him unconscious three hours after he went to some sort of private gym at the resort. Took him to the hospital and he slipped away.
I really did find it odd that they didn’t say that in the first place. Eventually they had to say something, because the speculation was running wild in the blogosphere, mostly regarding depression and suicide.
What I find odd is:
1) He disappeared for three hours before his family noticed he was missing.
2) No one in the gym noticed that he was laying there on the floor. Don’t gyms, especially ones at posh resorts, have attendants? This wasn’t the La Quinta Inn.
Anywho, as has already been said, a 1%er problem.
There were comments to the effect of: why wasn’t there at least a camera in this posh gym, or why didn’t some other exerciser wander in to work out? Three hours is a long time. Are they checking the treadmill for malfunction? It’s still fishy.
Yep, seems a tad odd to me. Although it was said that it was a private gym attached to one of the suites, which likely means it was for the occupant or occupants of the suite only, so no cameras and no other exercisers wandering in.
What I found odd was the Four Season official who said that Goldberg was not listed as a registered guest. Which means either one of two things: he was registered under an assumed name, which wouldn’t be unusual for a 1%er, or he was freeloading off his brother’s reservation, which also wouldn’t be unusual for a 1%er.
The story still seems a bit confused. Was he exercising, had some sort of physical event, got woozy and disoriented, lost his balance and fell and cracked his head, or did the equipment malfunction and throw him off?
I confess, I’m somewhat fascinated by the whole thing.
Jade Helm + Wal Mart closures + Chuck Norris = US take over of Texas!
Underground US Tunnel Map Links WalMart, Jade Helm Locations.
http://freepatriotpost.com/underground-us-tunnel-map-links-walmart-jade-helm-locations-wow-check-this-out/#
“Concerned Texans and Americans are in no way calling into question our brave and courageous men and women in uniform,” Chuck Norris writes in this exclusive essay. “They are merely following orders. What’s under question are those who are pulling the strings at the top of Jade Helm 15 back in Washington. The U.S. government says, ‘It’s just a training exercise.’ But I’m not sure the term ‘just’ has any reference to reality when the government uses it.”
http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/jade-helm-15-crime-stoppers-and-ksk/
Save us Chuck, you’re our only hope!
Having a black man in the white house scares the hell out of these old right wing farts, doesn’t it?
“Comment by rallying the base
2015-05-04 09:53:47
Yes it is.
I am sick and f*ing tired of the self-proclaimed conservatives who post on this website without any kind of analysis or critical thinking. Downlow Joe / Liberace nailed it when he posted about how Southern Protestant Christian voters are punching above their weight when it comes to nominating Republican presidential candidates.
The Earth is not 6,000 years old.
Gathering the Jews in Israel will not make the Rapture happen.
If you want to handle snakes or speak in tongues or anoint yourself in oil (like John Ashcroft) you have the Constitutionally protected freedom of religion to do so, but American foreign policy should be grounded in the global realities of the 21st century, not in subjective interpretation of the Bible.”
Dude you’ve come unhinged and you’re chasing bogeymen. Nobody on this blog preaches what you are describing. Maybe you’re getting a bit too carried away with your schtick. It seems as if most posters here agree with you in a general sense but are not hyper focused and obsessive over it so you think they are opposing you somehow. You’ve quickly devolved from one of my favorite posters on this blog to one who I scroll past more often than not in a short period of time. Not that you care what someone who mostly lurks thinks but I can’t be the only one to notice the change.
Criticism acknowledged.
I’ll stop posting on that topic, you’ll be hearing enough of it with the $5,000,000,000+ of television commercials to “rally the base” airing in the next 18 months.
Have a good day
Now I know why I’m so happy that I cancelled the cable years ago. When I get invited to a social event the host invariably has his 100″ TV blaring with the surround sound system turned up, even though no one is watching it. When I ask the host to turn off the TV, I usually get a glare in response.
Ain’t that America!
100″ TV blaring with the surround sound system turned up, even though no one is watching it I would take that as my cue to immediately vacate the premises, wouldn’t bother to make a request, complain or explain. Just vamoose.
Well, I did want to visit with some of the other guests, so I distanced myself from the noise box. Needless to say I never went back.
Well I would agree that the surround sound is overdoing it. You can see the cheerleaders just fine with the volume turned down.
If only. I recall that it was some inane TV show.
Well…..I wasn’t exactly asking you to stop…just try to keep in mind that the “base” on this blog is rallied by a different trumpet than the general public.
Dude you’ve come unhinged and you’re chasing bogeymen.
No, he’s not unhinged. You’ve got a Senator thumping the bible saying man can’t change climate, only God can; you’ve got Sen. Cotton itching to pick a fight with Iran. Sure, “rallying the base” uses poetic license in his writing style but he has razor sharp vision when it comes to perceiving the real power structure behind the conservative Christian-military complex-corporate axis.
He sees part of the problem, sure. He used to cast a wider net. The Raymond Kessell poster has it right when he throws a pox on both houses(even if I don’t always agree about the specifics). You want to see where the heart of the matter lies, take a look at the issues that the two headed dragon comes together on. If you spend all your time beating up on Kang then you’re just leaving yourself open to a sore backside while Kodos goes to town on you.
Dude you’ve come unhinged
Rallying the base isn’t unhinged, that’s just his style. I think he correctly perceives the conservative Christian-military complex-big corporation axis of power as it really exists. I mean you got Sen. Inhofe holding up a Bible saying man can’t change climate, only God can; and Sen. Cotton trying to pick a fight with Iran. RTB/goon just calls ‘em like he sees ‘em. I hope he continues his piercing posts.
I think it’s always a good idea to keep track of what fundamentalists think, because they’ve basically taken over one of our two major parties. If someone who believes in the rapture and Biblical prophecy can get his finger close to the button, I want to know.
one of our two major parties
Somebody needs to get his head out of his own a$$. People like you are no different.
No different than what?
“No different than what?”
Your side wants us to worship and submit to the all powerful government. How about everyone just mind their own business for a change?
There are lots of agenda-pushers in the mass media. NYT “journalist Judith Miller worked hand in glove with the neo-con cabal around Cheney and Wolfowitz to sell the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the American people. Look how well that turned out for the people who, in the words of John Mellencamp, pay the bills that kill. So if “rallying the base” chooses to highlight some of the memes being pushed by other mass media sites or contributors with ulterior motives, it doesn’t bother me any. Though I kind of wish the focus of the HBB would get back to housing instead of some of these other distractions.
If he only highlights the transgressions of one side he is just adding to the problem. Maybe I misread him and he is not a “pox on both sides” type but is instead more of a leftist, but his aim did seem a lot more scattered in the past.
Pay attention:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/04/news/economy/russia-approves-brics-reserve-bank-imf/index.html?iid=HP_LN
Apparently Americans are to busy ogling the Kardashian’s to care?
“Apparently Americans are to busy ogling the Kardashian’s to care?”
What “Americans” would those be, now? The media plasters them all over the place, and yes, they have their female groupies in a certain narrow age band, and young men of a certain narrow band as well checking out the curves, but I hate to rain on your “Americans are stupid and sex-crazed” parade, not as many people give a rat’s patootie what’s going on with the Kardashians as you’d think. The media, however, seems to be enthralled with them.
I find them to be over the top offensive freaks.
I too could pontificate the particulars of America’s vice’s or lack thereof but then miss the point entirely that our cheese is getting moved.
Well, maybe that’s why they’re ogling Kim K’s posterior, because that’s where the cheese is.
Tried twice to reply to nhtransplant to defend rallying the base (I like his posts), but I’m feeling the heavy hand of moderation…
Posts finally made it thru. I withdraw my comment… : - )
Chicago-is-the-most-segregated-city-in-america-analysis
You gotta live here to understand what this really means……
Don’t move here - you won’t like it.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/05/04/chicago-is-the-most-segregated-city-in-america-analysis/
Chicago has nice suburbs from what I remember, just like Detroit. At least Chicago didn’t let its downtown go so far south.
“didn’t let its downtown go so far south”
This has begun to change over the last 15 years - and now with a future shell of a building (Obama library - he has nothing to house therein) the development will continue south for the foreseeable future as price of land is less expensive than heading north or west.
I lived in Evanston for a summer. It was amazing.
We here in in Chicago (gang) land call it “the People’s Republic of Evanston”. Me thinks that not one right winger can be found there.
Miley Cyrus: Bruce Jenner is my hero
New project for HBB - what will Bruce’s new name be once ‘he’ becomes ’she’?
Sue Jenner due to his legal problems.
Hillary?
Fauxhontous Liz Jenner?
I thought they usually choose something similar to the male name, like Larry to Lana Wachowski and Chastity to Chaz Bono. But I can’t think of any remotely feminine equivalent of Bruce. Brenda, maybe?
Brucette…
Brucella…
Bruschetta…
what will Bruce’s new name be once ‘he’ becomes ’she’?
Jen Brenner?
Massachusetts officials propose land-giveaway in guise of ‘affordable housing’
The Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) has filed legislation on Beacon Hill that would free up land along various sections of the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green MBTA lines for sale to developers interested in building housing for middle- and low-income residents. If passed, the bill would give state transportation officials the authority to sell the land at a discount – or below its fair market value – to developers…Boston officials contend the legislation is needed because
their friends are too greedystate bidding laws require public property to be sold to the highest bidder…“We are talkinggiga-profitsthousands of units,” Sheila Dillon, Boston’s housing chief and head of DND…Sponsored by Rep. Russell Holmes, a Mattapan Democrat, the bill gives Boston and other cities and towns the right to petition state officials to sell land at a discounted rate near T lines provided the property is to be used for the development of affordable or middle-class housing. Another provision would also allow surplus land near state roadways to be sold at a discount as well. Meanwhile, Boston officials are also backing a second legislative proposal that would strengthen their ability to offer tax incentives to developers interested in building middle class or affordable housing. -If you raise the price of a necessity high enough, eventually the gov will subsidize it for you…
By the way, did you guys see that Buffet would rather expand EIC tax credit than to raise minimum wage? I guess that’s a corollary: if you don’t pay workers enough wages, eventually the gov will pay some wages for you (EITC, food stamps, etc).
eventually the gov will subsidize it for you…
And if you have friends in gov, they will eventually give something valuable to you.
Age-Adjusted Suicide Rates, by State — United States, 2012
I was surprised to see the differences. Of the top 6 states, only Alaska (#1) is not predominantly high-altitude, the other 5 are.
I bet Colorado’s rate goes down now that they’ve Legalized It.
we need some more margin debt and stock buybacks to keep the recovery going.
Maybe the gov needs to force these corporations with record profits to hire people - eh?
que es “free market?”
The control of capital - these quotes cited in Jesse’s Cafe Americain are classic - esp the last set about Montagu Norman, Schact et. al. before WW2 are classics - the follow on to the 1966 book cited is the recent “Lords of Finance” published a few years back - well worth a read -
Having posted similar before - for those interested in our society today and that of a hundred years ago - well there kids - there is nothing new under the sun……
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2015/05/power-essence-of-banking-is-to-grow-and.html
Just received this from the Bureau of the Public Debt:
Term: 4-Week
High Rate: 0.000%
Investment Rate*: 0.000%
Price: $100.000000
Allotted at High: 84.95%
Total Tendered: $115,039,353,900
Total Accepted: $30,003,407,500
Issue Date: 05/07/2015
Maturity Date: 06/04/2015
CUSIP: 912796FK0
——–
Why does anyone bother to participate in auctions like these?
Offshore proxies.
PRODIGY
You’re running low on blinker fluid again Poet.
you are wise beyond your years
Ya gotta have something between your ears.
CA has lots of poor people (they clean our houses) but the state is doing very well. Calling CA the poorest state is ridiculous.
Ever been to Santa Barbara? Yes the gardeners and pool cleaners live there too. Still the best place to live in America if you love the outdoors and cool people.
I saw some people camping in tents along the freeway on ramp yesterday. They have been there a couple months.
Lots of people living off all the free stuff paid for with borrowed money.
The middle class is shrinking here. Lots of service jobs.
What free stuff? Are stolen shopping carts what you call free stuff?
Yes, middle class is still waiting for the “trickle down.” Not gonna happen.
see French Revolution.
I guess you have never heard of the free sh@t army?
French Revolution? Geeze, we can’t occupy a city park without effing it up.
“Still the best place to live in America if you love the outdoors and cool people.”
Did you know Elliott Roger?
Being the poorest most impoverished state in the country can hardly be characterized as doing well.
I really think your onto something with this one. Out of the 38 million in the state most are flat broke.
According to gasbuddy.com gasoline prices rose an average of 2 cents today.
That hurts. Those gas savings didn’t last long. Back to be gouged as usual.
You must use a lot of gasoline for two cents a gallon to hurt so much.
not so much the 2 cents but going from 2 bucks a gallon to 3.30 kind of pisses me off a little.
“This notion of a big recovery is a complete dream,” Steve Wynn says, underscoring not only the weakness in gaming revenue from the Vegas strip to Macau, but also the fact that there simply is no economic recovery in the US.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-05/wynn-calls-big-recovery-complete-dream-gaming-revenues-collapse
The 2016 Presidential race seems to get more pathetic every day. Seriously, America? This is a nation of 330 people, and this is the best we can do?
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/5/huckabee-launches-second-white-house-hid.html
Wells Fargo - America’s largest mortgage lender - being sued by City of Los Angeles for shady practices intended to increase bank profits. Of course Wells is attributing these misdeeds to a few rogue employees instead of its corporate culture and top-down pressure.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/5/los-angeles-sues-wells-fargo-over-alleged-fraud-by-employees.html
How much longer can this Kabuki theater go on in Greece? The country is insolvent, yet the ECB has to find a face-saving way to keep kicking the can down the road to defer the financial reckoning day (and keep global Ponzi markets going) for as long as possible.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11584410/Bankrupt-Greeks-blame-Troika-divisions-for-debt-impasse.html
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/05/05/government-using-subprime-mortgages-to-pump-housing-recovery-taxpayers-will-pay-again/
It seems hard to believe, but your government is purposely recreating the mortgage debacle of 2007 and putting you on the hook for the billions in losses coming down the road. In their frantic effort to generate the appearance of economic recovery they are willing to gamble with taxpayer’s money while luring unsuspecting blue collar folks into buying houses they can’t afford. During the previous housing bubble, greedy Wall Street bankers, deceitful mortgage brokers, and corrupt rating agencies colluded to commit the greatest control fraud in the history of mankind. This time it is your government, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve, that is actively promoting the lending of money to people incapable of paying it back. And again, you the taxpayer will be on the hook when it predictably blows up.
The FHA, created during the first Great Depression, is supposed to be self-sustaining through mortgage insurance premiums charged to homeowners, just like Fannie, Freddie, Medicare, Social Security, and student loan lending were supposed to be self- sustaining through taxes, fees, and interest. This agency was supposed to promote homeownership for lower income Americans, but has been used by politicians as a tool to capture votes, payoff crony capitalist benefactors, and as a Keynesian stimulus tool designed to kindle a fake housing recovery. They entered the fray at the tail end of the last Fed/Wall Street created housing bubble, insuring a huge number of subprime mortgage loans from 2007 through 2009. The taxpayer has already had to bail out this incompetent, politically motivated, joke of an agency to the tune of $1.7 billion in 2014.
This one’s for you, Goon.
http://wtfrly.com/2015/05/05/republicans-reject-veterans-doctors-cannabis/#.VUlg_UvKAYU
Opinion: Hedge fund pay hauls a political-financial shame
Something you won’t hear from HillaryJeb or any other crony capitalist water carrier trying to con the sheeple (again) in 2016: If banks are too big to fail, they’re too big not to be broken up.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-presidential-hopeful-sanders-break-up-the-big-banks-2015-5
In other words, they’re just too big.
Bravo, Captain Obvious.
More central bank money-printing. Question to the HBB’s resident China tout: If the PRC is in such good shape, why are they considering the Mother of all QE?s I predict another wave of Chinese embezzlers parking their ill-gotten loot in West Coast real estate.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-to-unveil-monetary-tool-that-the-world-has-never-seen-2015-05-05