Bits Bucket for May 8, 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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Washington State Housing Demand Plummets 11% YoY Statewide; Prices Sink
http://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public/State/State_Turnover_AllHomes.csv
CHY STER
How much have u lost in opportunity costs?
Land dont depreciate son!
Land? Land prices fall precipitously.
Remember…… There is a globe full of land and 95% of it goes undeveloped.
There are some decent paying tech jobs here(greater Seattle area) and that seems to support really high prices in areas close to those jobs. I’m not sure I see an end to that any time soon unless those jobs go away, in which case what’s the point in living in said areas?
The jobs don’t look to be going away any time soon either - the company I’m working for is hiring like crazy.
I wish it wasn’t so as I would like to have a place I can work on myself and put all the building/plumbing/framing/electric skill I learned growing up to use, but the prices here are frankly insulting to me as a buyer. I make a ~six figure income, but anything I consider a “decent” middle of the road house is minimum 6-8 times my annual income.
This is insulting because even in a tech area I make nearly twice the median income for the areas I’m looking in, which means nobody else can afford the houses they’re in either.
I think once the baby boomers are faced with waiting ten more years to sell their house at the price they want, or retire now on less money, many will choose the latter, driving prices down.
We never really corrected during the 2008 thing and we’re ridiculously over priced:
Bothell WA median household income: $72,157
Bothell WA median house price(Zillow): $412,700
That makes it almost a 6:1 Price to income ratio.
“28.1% were from 45 to 64; and 12.1% were 65 years of age or older.”
Which basically says upwards of about 40% of the population is at or approaching retirement. Since I don’t think they want to retire here, that means a lot of supply hitting the market. Add in the Fed turning off the “free” money spigot and we could definitely see a correction.
Jobs and companies come and go and go. They will in _____ too. So do cities for that matter.
HA -
Speaks in the time from of “thousands of years.” Be afraid! Stay inside.
Come out of your bunker and cheer up and remember…… Falling prices are your wallets best friend and good for the economy.
Too busy to post but since I know this good news will be spun as bad news so I will, China’s exports are off far less than last month and its trade surplus is soaring:
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/business/Chinas-foreign-trade-weakens-with-narrowing-export-decline/shdaily.shtml
Nobody has to spin this story as bad news, the bad-news spin has already been built into the headline:
“China’s foreign trade weakens with narrowing export decline”
“Too busy to post”
So that means only 50 posts instead of 100, Dannyboy?
Testosterone made him do it.
Busy doing what? Isn’t this his job?
Scott Adams (writer of Dilbert) relayed an urban legend where one employee held two full-time jobs for two companies housed in the same building. When he was working his job at in one cubicle, he was simply “away from his desk” in the other cubicle, and vice versa. He alternated desks enough times during the day that neither company realized he was only at his desk for four cumulative hours each day. It was some time before he was found out. Maybe Dan is like that.
He probably isn’t paid to post like many here.
I’ve read there’s an army of Kremlin boiler-room trolls paid to post pro-Putin messages incessantly in various web news forums to sway opinion. Maybe China has a similar program, with one employee.
“I’ve read there’s an army of Kremlin boiler-room trolls”
Of course there is. They overwhelm the comments section of any article critical of Putin. (Saying pretty much what Dan says about the glorious leader.)
For the big money interests it’s chump change to pay people to troll. But it’s invaluable to them to stymie the communication that the internet offers the average joe.
Excerpt from China trade story:
Last month, the foreign trade volume dropped by 10.9 percent year on year to 1.96 trillion yuan (320.56 billion U.S. dollars) from a year earlier, following a 13.5-percent decrease in March and an 11.3-percent increase in February, said the General Administration of Customs (GAC).
But April’s exports declined 6.2 percent, 8.4 percentage points less than a 14.6-percent slump in March, indicating the external environment is improving.
Total foreign trade posted a 7.3-percent decrease in the first four months, falling to 7.5 trillion yuan, with exports rising 1.8 percent and imports dropping by 17 percent, according to the GAC data.
Trade surplus soared by 85.2 percent to 210.21 billion yuan last month, while expanding 3.4 times to 965.37 billion yuan in the Jan.-April period, the GAC said.
Falling prices globally includes Chinas cratering prices.
“Falling prices globally includes Chinas cratering prices.”
Cratering prices. Now if only we can get the debt that was used to pump up these prices to crater …
Ah, but stay tuned: Debt cratering is on its way (think Greece).
Just make sure you are not one of those people who find themselves on the wrong side of this destined-to-be cratering debt.
Think cash. In a ZIRP environment (that doesn’t seem to be working all that well) it’s a no-brainer.
(IMHO, of course.)
God’s messing with the Governor’s water rationing plan, with an overnight rainstorm of Biblical intensity. A few more similar unexpected weather events could go a long way to undermining the 1200 year drought narrative.
“A few more similar unexpected weather events could go a long way to undermining the 1200 year drought narrative.”
Has it been 1200 years since 1976?
Flashback 1976: Scientists Blamed California Drought On Global Cooling
Michael Bastasch
3:29 PM 05/04/2015
California was stuck in a deep drought during Gov. Jerry Brown’s first term, much like the one the state is currently going through. The only difference is that global cooling, not warming, was blamed for causing drought in the late 1970s.
“The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years,” Watt said. “If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.”
California’s Gov. Brown, who is serving out his fourth term, is once again presiding over a state mired in drought. Brown’s response to todays drought is almost identical to policies he pushed in the 1970s. During the 1970s, Brown said “this is an era of limits and there are very hard choices to make.”
dailycaller.com/…/ - 89k -
Why do politicians always glom on to high-fallutin scientific theories to legitimize their power grabs?
I’m trying to find the link, but one group of climatologists believe that March’s Cyclone Pam, that hit Vanuatu, has provoked a change in the weather patterns such that California (and the West Coast of the US, for that matter) can look forward to some very wet weather. In fact they joked that it would be advisable for Californians to purchase flood insurance.
If I recall correctly, they said “we will know in a few months” if the prediction will work out to be true, a few months meaning during the summer. So perhaps this is a preview of more to come.
I found a couple other links describing that last year’s el niño never materialized, and this year’s el niño is very week. Result will be a hot summer but very little effect on rainfall anywhere.
Because “why do you hate science?” is such an effective burn against anyone who is skeptical.
There’s skeptical, and there’s stupid…
Brown’s response to todays drought is almost identical to policies he pushed in the 1970s
Was that because there was a drought in the 1970s?
Yes, there was a big drought in the mid 1970’s. Marin County built a temporary pipeline over the San Rafael bridge from the East Bay to carry water to its residents.
Don’t forget that pesky Mediterranean fruit fly.
Or the fake science generated by Big Tobacco. Exactly like the fake science generated by the fossil fuel industry today.
Or the fake science being generated by environmental scientists being funded by a big government that expects results that justify its further expansion! Or a peer review system that ostracizes anyone who dissents from the consensus it relies upon to secure further funding!
That’s exactly what the Big Tobacco ’scientists’ said, nhtransplant.
They later admitted they were lying for dollars.
Everybody lies for dollars. If you can’t accept that, you are lying, too.
…so it is clear to me: If we just get rid of Jerry Brown, the water shortage will end!
There are 12 million trees dying in California because of this drought. Brown would be an idiot not to strongly react with rationing. But how are you going to force people to stop overwatering?
JB did and is doing a fantastic job!!
My water use for April is down 45% from 2013. Most of the savings is in landscaping. I had 68 sprinkler heads…now I have 14 with less lawn and a nice drip system.
Throw some more good money after bad Jingle_Fraud.
““The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years,” Watt said”
WattsUp with that?
“God’s messing with the Governor’s water rationing plan, with an overnight rainstorm of Biblical intensity.”
Don’t setup your tent in an Arroyo.
I guess the swiss national bank is backing up the truck on US equities. What do they know?
It’s consistent with a belief that both the U.S. stock market and the dollar are poised to rise, which seems in line with the Fed’s tightening narrative.
I’ll believe the “tightening” when I see it. Until then it’s more smoke & mirrors.
This is a Drudge Report link about the Drudge Report:
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/241351-is-matt-drudge-the-second-most-influential-man-in-america
It’s “Meta Drudge” if you want to call it that.
And for the lurkers, a brief summary of the “platform” of the Drudge Report:
Climate change is not real.
Hillary Clinton is a liar.
Barack Obama is a muslim and a communist.
Israel is America’s 51st state.
How do you know when a link on HBB is copied and pasted from Drudge?
Washington Times, Breitbart, (any subdomain of) CBS Local, Weekly Standard, CNS News, Washington Examiner, Daily Caller, World Net Daily, Fox News.
“Climate change is not real.”
“But if national and international experiences can teach us anything, it’s that, so far, more renewable generation leads to one thing – higher prices.”
Renewable Energy All Pain, Little Gain
April 30, 2015 by The Afro News
Renewable energy all but guarantees higher electricity bills
BC Hydro’s planned project for a hydroelectric dam on the Peace River – known as the Site C dam – is proving to be controversial, with some industry groups panning the plan while touting renewable energy sources such as wind. One wind energy champion recently claimed “it would be a breeze for $10-billion worth of wind-energy projects to inflate B.C.’s economy.”
In the debate over how electricity should be provided, we often hear such lofty and optimistic projections. But if national and international experiences can teach us anything, it’s that, so far, more renewable generation leads to one thing – higher prices.
For example, Germany’s Energiewende program. Since 2000, German producers of renewable energy have received fixed contracts at above-market prices, and preferential access to the grid.
The result? Unreliable and intermittent electricity from wind and solar sources has caused service failures to increase by 31 per cent since 2009. At certain times, when Germany’s renewables are not producing, high energy-use businesses have been asked to stop production. And who’s on the hook for compensating businesses that lose profits? Your everyday, average electricity customer.
Like in Germany, green energy policies have produced little, if any, environmental benefits. Indeed, one analysis found that if only four of the 12 coal-fired power units at Lambton and Naticoke, which could have been outfitted with advanced technology to mitigate pollution before the Ontario government shut them down, remained in operation, similar environmental results could have been achieved at one-tenth of what was spent on green energy.
http://www.theafronews.com/renewable-energy-all-pain-little-gain/ - 23k -
“Climate change is not real.”
“But if national and international experiences can teach us anything, it’s that, so far, more renewable generation leads to one thing – higher prices.”
It’s interesting that you put those two sentences together like that.
I am loving my solar system. Electrical bill last month was -$32. It is hard to believe my $8,000 system (after $4,000 tax credit) will produce $1,200/year of electricity (9,000 kWh). It is right on track to do just that after 7 months. The best part is avoiding the tiered rate structure of PG&E.
Good for you. Hope more and more people take energy self-sufficiency and resilience into their own hands and reduce their dependence on the grid.
Only another 25 years before you break even Jingle_Fraud. By that time you’ll have spent another $16k in equipment replacement.
This is an example of the type of Big Government “conservatism” that the Drudge Report promotes:
http://mobile.wnd.com/2015/05/thousands-of-online-isis-followers-in-u-s
What are the possible “conservative” solutions to this?
More NSA spying, less civil liberties, and more suicidal Middle East foreign policy. The demographic “base” that articles like this try to rally are hypocrites and cowards.
It’s an undeniable fact that this country is well-stocked with disturbed and unhinged people who would gravitate to extreme groups and ideologies, especially if they get 72 virgins out of the deal.
+1 Don’t mess with that SNAP card or SSDI.
“…now anyone who’s ever been with one virgin is going, meh, I dunno…”
Robin Williams RIP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9346wHJnswA
Pimping the FEAR:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/newsy/how-great-is-the-threat-of-an-isis-attack-on-us-soil
With enough emotional manipulation, the “base” will vote for any candidate that Sheldon Adelson purchases.
Why does the Celebrity Net Worth website list William Kristol’s net worth as “under review”?
His contract renewal with Fox News is under negotiation?
Fox is on the TeeVee at the gym sometimes and I get to see his toothy grin. He is always smiling on TeeVee, because he knows how f*ing dumb and easily manipulated his “base” is. William Kristol was essentially an architect of Iraq War 2003, and if there was any real justice in this world, he would have been tried, convicted, and executed for his role in creating that debacle.
“because he knows how f*ing dumb and easily manipulated his “base” is”
He has no base…a few beltway RINOs and smug NeoCons like Carl Rove.
The truly dumb and easily manipulated base lies on the progressive left. How smart are you if you let Marxist college professors indoctrinate you into their satanic cult?
How smart are you when by coddling the Islamists and shielding them from so called “hate speech”, you are in fact enforcing Sharia Law? A System that executes homosexuals, adulterers, apostates and infidels (everyone else).
How dumb do you have to be in order to rally against liberty when born into the greatest country man has ever known?
‘He has no base…a few beltway RINOs and smug NeoCons like Carl Rove’
Uh, and almost every Republican senator.
Clubber Lang, you bring nothing to the table here. NOTHING.
I don’t know, this stuff is funny:
‘you let Marxist college professors indoctrinate you into their satanic cult’
‘A System that executes homosexuals, adulterers, apostates and infidels’
This is a hoot:
‘to rally against liberty’
You do realize that all the neocons (which is most of the GOP in congress) fully support NSA spying on US citizens, Patriot Act, basically the whole police state. As does Obama, Limbaugh and Hannity and all those almost identical talk guys on the Fox radio network.
Can’t they squeeze in one libertarian? Fair, and balanced.
If you think what I said was funny, you are not reading the entire sentence or ignoring context.
I stand for Rand, he is my first choice. I’d vote for Bernie Sanders before I would vote for Bush, Christie, Huckabee, Clinton or any other Global Progressive…and I hate Socialists.
Whoever supports liberty, supports breaking up the Wall Street/Washington cabal, supports reigning in or disbanding the FED and supports a strong national defense has my vote.
Don’t assume I am a NeoCon just because I’m not a progressive drone and distain all variants of Marxism/Totalitarianism/Fascism including Islam.
Strong national defense?
Is six hundred billion dollars a year enough for you? Why not make it an even trillion. And who pays for it? You’re dismissed from the dinner table now, the grownups are having a conversation here.
“Don’t assume I am a NeoCon just because I’m not a progressive drone and distain all variants of Marxism/Totalitarianism/Fascism including Islam.”
That sentence makes me assume you’re a frothing, terrified idiot, actually. Words have meanings beyond what you personally make up for them. The internet has a free dictionary… use it FFS!
Alahu Akbar my friends…Alahu Akbar.
Speaking of pimping the fear, this is the top story on the CNN website right now (in a really large, scary looking red font), and Wolf Blitzer is on CNN TeeVee right now talking about it:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/08/politics/isis-activity-prompts-threat-level-increase-at-bases/index.html
Your base has been rallied.
Also illegal aliens should be deported. Don’t forget that. Drudge is Huge on the anti illegal stuff.
So where do you go to find news that follows an agenda you find more palatable?
Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, minus their editorials.
Georgia sheriff retains support after shooting woman
Associated Press
By PHILLIP LUCAS
2 hours ago
JONESBORO, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia sheriff charged in the shooting of a real estate agent is retaining support in a county that also voted him back into office three years ago despite his indictment on more than two dozen felony ethics charges.
Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill was charged with reckless conduct in the shooting of 43-year-old real estate agent Gwenevere McCord on Sunday. He told a 911 dispatcher he was conducting police training exercises at the model home in Gwinnett County, which is far outside his jurisdiction
Hill’s time as sheriff of Clayton County has been tumultuous. On his first day in office a decade ago, he fired more than two dozen deputies. He also used a military tank on drug raids as part of a tough-on-crime message.
Hill and McCord were in the house alone when McCord was shot. He left the scene without giving investigators an official statement and has kept relatively quiet since Sunday.
http://news.yahoo.com/georgia-sheriff-retains-support-shooting-woman-090809784.html
We had something like that happen here a few years ago. The guy could never explain why he had a bullet hole in his leg, but not in his pants.
223k more mcjobs n april.
This is silly.
Secret Deal Could Contain a Myriad of Gun Restrictions, Ammo Bans!
by Gun Owners of America | May 8, 2015
“We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it.” — Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, encouraging rapid passage of ObamaCare in 2010
ACTION: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Orrin Hatch may soon give the President authority to write gun control restrictions into a “trade agreement.” So click here to contact your Senators –- whether they are liberal or conservative. Urge them to vote against the anti-gun “fast track” bill (S. 995).
Will UN-style gun control be rammed down our throats?
Gun import bans … Microstamping of firearms … Ammunition bans … The full implementation of the anti-gun UN Arms Trade Treaty … Illegal amnesty which locks in millions of new, anti-gun voters.
This anti-gun wish list could be part of the secret trade agreement that President Obama is getting ready to spring on the Congress.
This trade pact is called “fast track,” and what it means is that Obama can write any form of gun control he chooses into a trade agreement — import bans, amnesty, etc.
And this agreement DOESN’T need two-thirds vote in the Senate, as a treaty would. When completed, the agreement is merely subject to a majority vote in both Houses … it can’t be filibustered … it can’t be amended … and the GOP can’t refuse to consider it.
Top Secret TPP means you won’t know what’s in the bill
Reports have already surfaced that the TOP SECRET draft contains a whole chapter with a European Union-style provision allowing unlimited migration from Mexico into the United States. This would fulfill Obama’s dream — which he begun with Executive Amnesty — to import millions of new anti-gun (liberal) voters into the country.
Of course, we can’t quote for you any of the language in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement because the document is TOP SECRET. Obama won’t reveal it, even to most congressmen, until Congress has given it its imprimatur by allowing it to pass under fast track procedures.
On Monday, Politico reported:
If you want to hear the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the Obama administration is hoping to pass, you’ve got to be a member of Congress, and you’ve got to go to classified briefings and leave your staff and cellphone at the door.
If you’re a [congressional] member who wants to read the text, you’ve got to go to a room in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center and be handed it one section at a time, watched over as you read, and forced to hand over any notes you make before leaving.
And no matter what, you can’t discuss the details of what you’ve read.
Truly, even more than with ObamaCare, this is a case of “You have to pass it to find out what’s in it.”
Registration, Confiscation, Extermination.
Every tyranny starts off the same way: gun control. For “public safety” i.e. “for the children.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVK0yZAhBKM&spfreload=10
“And the protector of the people is like him; having a mob entirely at his disposal, he is not restrained from shedding the blood of kinsmen; by the favourite method of false accusation he brings them into court and murders them, making the life of man to disappear, and with unholy tongue and lips tasting the blood of his fellow citizens; some he kills and others he banishes, at the same time hinting at the abolition of debts and partition of lands: and after this, what will be his destiny? Must he not either perish at the hands of his enemies, or from being a man become a wolf—that is, a tyrant?” –Plato
+1. Human nature never changes. Nor do sociopaths. Nor the fact that all throughout history, about 95% of the population have been docile sheep. Same as it ever was.
Gun import bans … Microstamping of firearms … Ammunition bans …
This is isn’t taking away gunz. It’s not even taking away the right to buy gunz. All it means is that people will have to pay a little more for gunz made in the US or Canada or some other acceptable country. And really, shouldn’t these self-described patriots already be insisting that their gunz made in the good ol’ USA?
That’s the camel’s nose in the tent. Confiscation has always been the ultimate statist objective.
I thought that the whole point of having “gunz” was to keep oppressors at bay. But the way you guys paint it, they’re just gonna march in, take your guns and ship you off to a concentration camp. If that is true, then what good are your “gunz”? You might as be armed with sling shots.
You go right ahead and organize the resistance with a bunch of glocks and AR-15s. See where that gets you when the Bradleys and AC130s show up.
You nutbars have no idea how long ago that particular point became moot.
‘when the Bradleys and AC130s show up’
Worked like a charm in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The aren’t exactly living a comfortable suburban lifestyle and harvesting the fruits of freedom in those parts, are they?
How do you organize a successful resistance when the gubmnt is monitoring and recording every means of communication?
Resistance? We own this country, not the government.
Comment by Ben Jones
2015-05-07 20:50:02
“This all might have been different if the Chinese were good at business. They aren’t. They are possibly the worst investors ever. These are the idiots running all over the globe setting prices. Prices are very important. They signal what commodities to produce and in what quantities. What markets to expand or contract and how to supply them, etc. All have been distorted, the chief distortion - China. The fatal flaw IMO, there isn’t going to be another China. There won’t be another billion person, mud-hut to skyscraper, so-called economic miracle. They had their one big shot and they blew it, or it never had a chance in the first place.”
Things could settle out as the limit of expansion is reached, except that the miracle expansion was based on $25 Trillion of credit. With no next bigger miracle in the wings, it’s the biggest “now what” in history.
I wouldn’t say the Chinese are totally inept at business, but now that I think of it, they kind of blew it with their first global efforts, didn’t they? What was it, the 1600s when they, with the assistance of their European corporate trader CEOs of the day, put many a pottery out of business with their copies of Delft and other European wares.
And then there was the tea trade, which worked out well for a while, until the CEOs started looking for places to get it cheaper.
Nonetheless, they were doing pretty well with the Euorpean trade and somehow that degenerated over time into Mao and communism.
I also take note of the differences between goods from Taiwan and goods from the mainland. In my experience, much of what came out of Taiwan during the mid 20th century was quite well made.
The Europeans got the glazing technology from China in the first place. That’s why it’s called “China”.
‘I wouldn’t say the Chinese are totally inept at business’
I don’t know why we dance around this subject in the west. Look at any number of things; pollution. Did they not know about pollution? Were they incapable of producing goods without ruining their air and rivers?
Oh, they’re great at ripping off trademarks and IP. But what crook couldn’t do well at that?
Chinese drywall. Linoleum. Dog food. How about the luxury car recall because it had asbestos in it? The suicides. Stealing farmers land. “Hey boss, we can make a profit stealing land. Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?”
A big part of the problem is what we call business is corrupt government/business in China. If I build an empty city, my supervisors or investors might say, ‘that was dumb don’t do that again.’ In China, they build another one. And another, and a bullet train to connect the two. On borrowed money. They just admitted they ‘wasted’ around $7 trillion this way. If that doesn’t get the bone-head investor award of all-time, what does?
I couldn’t agree more. But they couldn’t have done it without the “assistance” of western business geniuses. Like Lumber Liquidators. Nike. All the clothing companies, etc. And it was the same with Europe of the 1600s and their version of globalism. Who cares about the Dutch or English wares and the prosperous little business turning out soup tureens or whatever? ‘Eff ‘em. We’re gonna flood our markets with the stuff from China.
As I’ve said before, Comey, the head of the FBI, pointed out on 60 minutes that the most problematic hackers he has to deal with are the Chinese. Not because they’re especially bright, but because there are so many of them.
Folks generation used to call ‘em “The Yellow Horde”. How’s that for PC?
China’s whole economy kind of reminds me of that Chinese drywall (or pet food, or flooring or pottery) — designed to look and act like the real product, but there’s always some corner-cutting flaw.
You would think that a country like China with “good” government and a huge trade surplus and IQ points out the wazoo (
) would have had at least a few years of 1950’s Leave-it-to-Beaver style prosperity. But, where is the single-income household in the SFH with the good pension and abundant good food and great schools? On a micro level, they skipped right over the Cleavers, into needing two incomes in a small apartment to get ahead. On a macro level, they had to build cities with no one affording to fill them and take out loads of debt to make it look good. Not to mention the corruption and hot money. I’m not sure China can sustain this for very long.
‘The 2015 British election will be remembered for much more than which party ran first in the overall voting. It will be known at least as much as the election that produced a seismic political shift in Scotland that changed the face of British politics.’
‘Just eight months after losing a referendum to declare Scotland’s independence from the United Kingdom, the Scottish National Party (SNP) took all but three of the region’s 59 parliamentary seats.’
‘The SNP’s surge in the wake of its September defeat has been the biggest surprise of this spring’s election, a development that has rocked the Labor Party in what long has been a traditional stronghold.’
‘So powerful was the SNP tide that among those swept away was Douglas Alexander, Labor’s shadow foreign secretary and campaign chief, who lost his seat to a 20-year-old student.’
‘Later, Jim Murphy, the leader of the Labor Party in Scotland, also lost his seat to the SNP. And an incredible 35-point swing toward the SNP cost Labor the seat long held by former prime minister Gordon Brown, who had decided to retire.’
‘During the independence referendum campaign, Labor made what appears to have been a costly decision to join the Conservatives and others in a cross-party effort to preserve the United Kingdom and defeat the movement to break away. To voters who want a Labor Party devoted to Scotland, the decision looked like a betrayal — a party in league with London that was no longer authentically Scottish.’
“There was a feeling [in Scotland] of ‘they sold us out,’ ” said Peter Riddell, director of the London-based Institute for Government.’
‘The second factor was the neglect of the Labor Party in Scotland by its national leaders, a disregard that has long stirred resentment. For years, talented Labor leaders from Scotland headed to London and the national government. The national party was looking to Scotland principally as a source of seats to buoy its strength in Parliament, rather than acting as an advocate for Scotland, analysts here said.’
All three establishment UK parties, like their Republicrat counterparts in the US, have become de facto adjuncts of a corrupt and venal .1% in the financial sector. Unlike in the US, the Scots are waking up and demanding that their sovereign interests and national aspirations be respected and represented by their political class. Here, the sheeple graze on in the incorporated globalist plantation.
“who lost his seat to a 20-year-old student.”
That says it all.
Only 48.2% of American women exercise regularly:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/07/six-alarming-health-trends-every-woman-needs-to-know/
“Mind the Gap”
You know those height markers for kidz at amusement parks that say you must be this tall to ride the ride?
They should make a horizontal one for womyn that says “your hips must be less than this wide for you to wear yoga pants in public”
And for the Marxist feminists and their army of white knight manginas, it’s not Patriarchal Oppression™, it’s put down the damn fork and go climb some stairs
‘to wear yoga pants in public’
It’s gone too far. My plan is that to protest, men should start wearing them.
You guys are so 2012. The new trend is adult diapers.
I was wearing my girl’s yoga pants on my head the other day… they were actually quite fashionable.
More alarming: “Nearly six in ten women are overweight, or have a body mass index of 25 or greater, the report said.”
BMI 25 = 5′3″ 140 lbs or 5′6″ 155 lbs.
To be in the top 40 percent you only need to not be obese.
Ummm…More men are obese than women across the board in this country. Not one single state of the Union reports a higher incidence of obesity in women than men. And yoga pants won’t do your gluttonous bellies any justice at all. How about crop tops instead? Delicious. 😖
http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/adult-overweightobesity-rate-by-gender/
This is a good point. It looks like men are 7 in 10.
The rent is too damn high:
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2015/05/08/mountain-region-rents-keep-climbing-report-says.html
And still a small fraction of the cost of buying at current grossly inflated asking prices of resale housing.
Was looking on zillow today for rentals in SF, and was surprised that they seem to be down (guestimating 5%) from when I was looking last year. Gonna be interesting when all these skyscrapers are finished up in the next year.
Your daily feed from Chicago ILLANNOY!!!
Happy Reading there HBB’ers.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/potential-tax-hike-for-illinoisans-is-staggering/
When will Taxpayers in the “Land of Lincoln” finally say “enough!” and revolt? Why do they just grab their ankles and take it?
White people revolt - they will be called racists.
Back people revolt - they will be called thugs.
Nothing will ever happen.
By “revolt” I meant more along the lines of prop 13 or TABOR, and not like Ferguson or Baltimore.
The hoi poloi here like how it feeeeels up the you know what….
When will Taxpayers in the “Land of Lincoln” finally say “enough!” and revolt? Why do they just grab their ankles and take it?
Why should they be any different from the Obama Zombies, McCain Mutants, and Romney Retards in all 50 states who gladly and willingly grabbed their ankles for the .1%? IDIOCRACY has arrived.
A Los Angeles man spent 500 days secretly living in his office because he couldn’t afford his rent
He was able to save over $20,000 and free up the time and money to travel and pursue his interests. At his annual performance review, his boss complimented the improvement in his work and noticed that he also seemed happier.
When his company went under and he was part of the first round of layoffs, “I lost my job and my home all in one, but I saved over $20,000 in living costs and 216 hours of commuting,” K. writes.
Today he lives in a tiny home attached to his truck, working a few part-time jobs about 20 hours a week and writing. He says:
FULL STORY BELOW
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/los-angeles-man-spent-500-170442145.html
He says: if you can’t pay rent, buy home.
What did Mrs. Gandhi do… masquerade as a janitor?
This one is for Ray K……
Corruption in America (government style) and it is legal…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=337&v=5tu32CCA_Ig
Did you buy the jobs-fueled rally on Wall Street?
another forced short covering rally on bad data.
This from a close friend, a banker - I don’t have the heart to tell him Warren is screwing us all royally…….
Whenever I attend the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting I am always encouraged about our country. In fact, Warren Buffett is optimistic about America, he states, “we have a wonderful economic system that unleashes the American spirit.” Make it a good weekend!
the Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (full album)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dJVaxD8GDWw
Johnny Cash - Hurt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ahHWROn8M0&spfreload=10
A Los Angeles man spent 500 days secretly living in his office because he couldn’t afford his rent
By Libby Kane
May 7, 2015 1:04 PM
In the summer of 2012, Terry K. rented out his Venice Beach apartment and moved into his office, better able to navigate the elaborate production that was keeping his living situation secret from his coworkers than to pay rent in Los Angeles.
“Terry K.” isn’t his real name — it’s the pseudonym of the writer who tells his story on Salon, a writer who presumably wouldn’t want his company to know he used his cubicle as a bedroom for over a year.
Average rent in the Los Angeles metro area is about $1,300 a month, and it’s estimated that to buy a median-priced home, you would need an income of $89,500 a year, making the area one of the most expensive in the US.
Residents of cities with similar housing costs — such as New York and San Francisco — have higher average incomes than people living in LA. A UCLA study found that tenants in the area spend nearly half (47%) of their income on rent.
K. explains his situation on Salon:
I’d been working two jobs — 60 hours a week to keep an apartment I rarely had time to enjoy. Then, disaster struck. Company raises and bonuses were frozen. My identity was stolen. I got a hefty hospital bill for a surgery earlier that year. With existing student loans, a car payment and my rent set for its maximum-allowable annual increase under the California law, I started to wonder: What happened to my American Dream?
I had little left to sacrifice. Without money, I had two choices: Give up my dreams of working creatively or surrender my time working even more. Either way, the outlook was gloomy. Until I remembered my ace in the hole.
That ace in the hole was his office, which, along with everything in the neighborhood, was closed and empty at night. And once he moved in, sleeping on an air mattress, he realized that his quality of life was actually improving.
He was able to save over $20,000 and free up the time and money to travel and pursue his interests. At his annual performance review, his boss complimented the improvement in his work and noticed that he also seemed happier.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/los-angeles-man-spent-500-170442145.html
smart dude u have to make sacrafices sometimes to get ahead.
Hmm… In my experience, most offices have janitorial staff who come in at night to clean the place. Which would make it difficult to pull off something like this.
Some of you may remember that I started an MS in Engineering almost four years ago, while working FT. You may remember me whining at 3 am. I passed my orals this week and I am now officially an M.S. in Engineering from a good school.
Seemed like a good idea at the time. I DID learn a lot, and I’m sure rewired my brain some. It DID provide an inexpensive way to spend nights, weekends and vacations, lol! - speak to the “frugal living” subtext of the HBB.
Once again I’m convinced that you can be totally content while being poor as a church mouse (I’m not, but sure did NOT have time to spend any dough). As long as you have a couple of people with whom to converse, and something between your ears to think about.
Somebody asked me how I want to celebrate. I told him I want to conk out for a week, no kidding!
Best to all. I’m NEVER doing that kind of lift again, lol!
Congratulations Jane,
When I took the CPA exam, I was certain that I had passed it (I did), and had big plans to celebrate. I fell asleep at 8PM.
Good for you! Hard work is harder than most think. You have an accomplishment to be very proud of.
Congratulations Jane. Here’s to hoping your hard work and perseverence are well rewarded.
“…and I am now officially an M.S. in Engineering from a good school.”
You’ll never view the world as you did before. Kudos!
Wow, folks - thank you sincerely for the congrats. HBB has been the continuity - when I was totally fried on a problem set, I would come here to find out what was going on in the world!
Thank you all for your good wishes.
Jane is getting serious.
Happy to hear about it when someone takes matters into their own hands to improve their lot in life, and succeeds in the effort.
Congrats!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4ghHKhbZik
phony scandals
more phony scandals