Bits Bucket for June 10, 2015
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
November 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
Josh Duggar’s comeback career is to become a Realtor®
I’m sure they’d make him a spokesman.
I am sure he could put a finger on the pulse of the industry.
Maybe pull the panties down on the next hot condo market?
JimBlob Duggar is a realtor.
Who the heck is Josh Duggar?
A hollywood creation.
You’d think that with those kinds of skeletons in his closet that the dude would have chosen to stay out of the public eye and would have chosen to be a pastor at a nice, low key megachurch.
Probably would have got more young action there also.
RE MacBeth’s post yesterday saying he won’t pay more than $100,000 for a house, neither will I:
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2015/06/08/denver-is-one-of-the-13-metros-where-millennials.html
Colorado is a big state, the eastern third of it is practically empty. And most importantly, you can grow just as much in a $50,000 house as you can in a $500,000 house (the current markup of moving specialty products like shatter hash to Chicago or NYC is 300-400%).
Colorado = California. This is the next two-tiered society. There are the DINKs with STEM degrees who I go backcountry skiing with. And there the Latino parents of children under age 10, speaking Spanish in public, that I see when I’m shopping at WalMart and King Soopers.
Southern California had a middle class once, as recently as the 1990s. But that’s over now. And Denver will be over soon too. And once the DINKs who’d rather spend their weekends rock climbing instead of going to kidz’ soccer games are outbred by the Spanish speaking neck tattoo Free Sh*t Army, there will be enough of a demographic shift in the electorate to overturn TABOR laws. At which point, the whole state of Colorado is over.
Speaking of California, this is a Drudge Report link that says one in five public school students in California doesn’t speak English:
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/06/07/411775367/in-oakland-struggling-for-years-to-learn-english
Que?
If times ever get tough, really tough like back in the 30s, who do you think is going to survive or do better, those illegals and former illegals who worked their asses off getting here and still work their asses off or the overweight pill popping scooter driving weakling couch potatoes who know every Kardashian’s name and life story by heart?
From one perspective at least we are increasing our country’s strength and grit importing them.
What’s it matter anyhow, within the next 2 generations 85 percent are made unnecessary by robots.
“and still work their asses off”
You don’t get out much, do you?
I see more illegal aliens in a single day than you do in a week. I live in Arizona, a border state, where illegals trudge 7-8 days through hot desert even in the summer to come and work. While there are plenty that get benefits in addition to working, I see daily them working their asses off.
“I see more illegal aliens in a single day than you do in a week.”
BS. This part of Florida (Tampa Bay area) is a mecca for illegals. I’m right next door to one of the largest settlements of illegals in the state. But I’m not about to get into a dick waving contest with you on that point.
While we do have illegals who work in the ag industry (not just field/orchard work, but related work like produce packing) it seems the majority use that as a stop gap to get established, married and then move on to the collection of benefits generated by their progeny combined with sporadic construction work, under the table odd jobs and/or crime. Drug trade is very big around here. Huge.
Due to the nature of my work, I’m often out in the local community daytimes during the week. When you see papi and mami out shopping with the kidz at two in the afternoon, with fistfuls of cash and a sweet SUV in the parking lot, something ain’t right.
I’ll grant you, though, these women from south of the border are the new housewives of the US.
What about every restaurant, janitor, maid, nanny, busboy, gardener, many construction, etc. While I share your frustration, I think are seeing what you want to see. My experience is hard working people and culture overall. But we can agree to disagree.
All stopgap work, until there are children and the benefits kick in. At least here in this part of Florida. The women especially, they don’t want to be maids and resent it.
I see an apparency of hard work sometimes, but when you look at the lousy construction here in this part of Florida, I really can’t call that “hard work”. Make-work, maybe.
Not all illegals are the same, guys.
Surprised neither of you asked the other about country of origin of the illegals in your area.
Geography matters, within and outside of a given country or region. Observe all the differences across the United States. Attitudes and perspectives vary markedly here, geographically-speaking.
The ones here are mainly from Mexico and Central America.
There are some old school immigrants who have become citizens. We had one local plumber of Mexican descent who did a great job for us and fixed the mess that the good ol’ boy plumber before him created. But this guy was a fully assimilated citizen. Sometimes they’re way more harsh about illegal immigration than even I am. After all, they DID work hard to get and stay here legally and establish themselves, only to find that their criminal former countrymen are working without the proper knowledge, licenses, papers, etc. and cutting the legs out from under them. That’s gotta hurt.
You ever see a white boy cutting broccoli in the fields?
The guys that come from Mexico have an incredible work ethic, and get exploited for it. Their kids see this, and say ’screw the work ethic.’
Geography matters,
I’ve lived and worked with businesses on both coasts. IMO Florida has way more scammers per capita than the west, illegal or not. Florida has a scammer mentality more than any state I’ve seen. The next is NJ IMO. Just my observation.
“You ever see a white boy cutting broccoli in the fields?”
Nope, but I used to have a next door neighbor, a young white woman, who picked and packed tomatoes.
We don’t grow broccoli around here, at least, not that I know of. Southeast of us, the Jamaicans cut the cane. I’ve seen them do it, too. Talk about a work ethic. But they don’t, as a general rule, settle down and raise families here. They work the season, go home, come back, etc.
BTW, Rio’s right about Florida. Both citizens and illegals, spot on.
Rio, to elaborate a bit more on the Florida scammer issue, this came up on the blog before, and I wrote about a conversation I had with a guy years ago about this very issue. It was his theory that historical precedent had established this modus operandi in Florida going back to its days as a pirate haven and to the search by Ponce de Leon for the Fountain of Youth in Florida, where the local indigenous people got wily and led him on for fun and profit.
Later on, it was the Florida land scams. It became a place for people to reinvent themselves when they couldn’t cut it elsewhere on the eastern seaboard.
Florida going back to its days as a pirate haven …
Later on, it was the Florida land scams. It became a place for people to reinvent themselves when they couldn’t cut it
Interesting. I just googled “Florida scams”
Florida Scams - Page 62
https://books.google.com.br/books?isbn=1455604429
Knight, Victor M. - Preview - More editions
Knight, Victor M. … Jim Driscoll of the Sun-Sentinel Newspapers said, “She’s a crazy-quilt state, Florida is. … Some think that it began with Florida’s early pioneer, swashbuckling pirate, land baron, empire-building days — a time when men …
Shuttling in millions of poor people from primitive third world countries to live off the tax payers helps our country how?
“neck tattoo Free Sh*t Army”
Look at it this way, the cattle and slaves are willingly branding themselves, sparing their masters the time and expense.
Ouch.
Colorado going like CA
When do the foreign investors swarm in and buy up everything like they did in CA ?
Dumb question, but why is Colorado so hot? I lived there until I was twelve, my mother born and raised in Boulder.
Is it new jobs?
Marijuana legalization, weather, all of the above? Just curious.
When I was a kid, we lived in Aurora. It was a nice place to raise kids back then, my brothers had dirt bikes (mopeds?) and it never felt that cold. It has never been an option for us b/c of jobs, everything was always near NYC an Boston (and Chicago).
I don’t really long to go back after hearing of all the growth, but I do miss the old days that are fogged by childhood pedestals.
Hot? I spent some time in CO in April and May and I thought it was pretty cold.
Denver, CO Housing Prices Fall 10%
http://www.movoto.com/denver-co/market-trends/
Look at the inventory since January.
http://www.movoto.com/denver-co/market-trends/#city=&time=1Y&metric=Inventory&type=0
And the new listings table at the bottom.
Colorado = California. This is the next two-tiered society.
The USA is a two tiered society. Half of all Americans already are Lucky Duckies.
That’s gonna take a while. Colorado is ~80% white. As a former Californian the difference is noticeable. I suspect that I’ll be taking a dirt nap before TABOR is repealed.
Something else to consider: California has not overturned Prop 13.
So Ca -Went to a local free clinic 2 weeks ago with a girlfriend. She was told the clinic was for the “working poor” or “under served” (code for illegals), and although she got laid off (living on fumes) she should sign up for O-care. 97% Spanish speaker, most obese, and wild children were the patient base. Lots of free shit army stuff. Free NEW pots and pans, NEW free sheets, FREE food, and FREE medical care w/o questions. Gotta love this country. They treated her, but she was politely scolded. I had to hold my opinion (big mouth) back.
(I assume this was a federally or state partially funded clinic, because they treated a real American.)
Heh, we have an excellent public health system here in Hillsborough County, FLA. I take full advantage of it. The co-pays are sliding scale based on income. Yes, I have to sit in the waiting room with a clientele similar to what you have describe above, however, in recent years it has become more “diverse”, meaning more Anglos and AAs.
Seriously, you can’t beat the care you get through their clinics. Waiting times are less than what I used to experience through my former HMO. Treatment is more accurate and efficient. Dentistry costs a third of what I used to pay. And they’ve just instituted a free eye exam program that anyone who is a county resident can take advantage of, I’m going in a couple of weeks. Some of the wealthier residents around here use the system and pay full boat and it still costs less than what they’d pay through insurance. And now they’re taking Obamacare, which may be the reason for the more diverse clientele.
The thing about public health is, if you have access to a good system, use it. You get exactly what you need, no more, no less. I can’t speak for all public health, but in this county, it’s excellent. The personnel are very dedicated.
The thing about public health is, if you have access to a good system, use it. You get exactly what you need, no more, no less.
The problem with public health in the USA is there is not near enough of it - and for chronic, serious and complicated situations, it does not cut it most the time. A single-payer in the USA with a private option would be the best for everyone.
In Brazil, I’ve used the public and private systems and each has its advantages and disadvantages. I just paid my private insurance yesterday. $140 a month for medical and dental and alternative stuff like accupuncture etc. An EKG here and a cardiologist reading costs about $130. (I asked) Turns out I had heartburn. USA medical delivery system is cr@p. “Best in the world”? Riiiight.
Yes, we’ve often been told that Hillsborough County’s system is unusually good and could be used as a national model.
This is the next two-tiered society. There are the DINKs with STEM degrees who I go backcountry skiing with. And there the Latino parents of children under age 10, speaking Spanish in public, that I see when I’m shopping at WalMart and King Soopers.
There are probably a few more tiers than that. Only 20% of jobs require a bachelor’s degree. Colorado must have quite a few young, non-Hispanic whites who are reproducing, many of them without bothering to get married.
Worthless housing…… worthless worthless housing. Housing is worth less and less with each passing day.
A friend of mine who just bought a house in Denver (after making 10 offers, all above asking) nearly sh*t his pants when I told him how little I pay in rent
FOMO = Fear of Missing out
Why fear falling prices?
FOMO-ming at the mouth to pay above retail.
A friend of mine who just bought a house in Denver (after making 10 offers, all above asking) nearly sh*t his pants when I told him how little I pay in rent
How little in rent was he paying? Surely, he already knew that his monthly nut going WAY UP.
The building I live in, when compared to the new rental inventory out there, would be described as a dump.
The millennial STEM graduates who lived in dorms and student housing nicer than where I live would never live here.
Regarding neighborhoods and walkscore, there was a non-fatal shooting half a mile from me yesterday morning, one block from the King Soopers that is the biggest retailer in my neighborhood.
Getting shot while you’re walking to the new artisan bakery is a real buzzkill.
Getting shot while you’re walking to the new artisan bakery is a real buzzkill.
Maybe that’s why some people will pay more to live in Broomfield or Highlands Ranch, even though their walkscores blow.
Another anecdotal from lunch: guy offered only $15K above asking and beat another offer $30K above asking for a house in Parker by making a video with his girlfriend for the seller telling them how much they want to buy their house and start a family.
I agree with everything HA says about falling prices, depreciating crapshacks, Lola, etc. I’d rather have him here fighting the good fight and waving the flag, than pretty much anyone except Ben.
But I am starting to worry that we aren’t seeing as many Zillow links for YOY price declines recently. These bastards pumped it up all over again and only now seem to be loosening the credit down to mouth breathers. My worry is, even in areas where the decline already started provably and statistically like PHX markets, they have turned the psychology enough to allow for another leg up.
I can tell you that once again, the pressure to obscure price and volume data is growing. The list price data has been pulled from zillow. They’re only reporting transaction price and more of them are showing up negative.
Also…. we’re seeing demand plummeting at a faster rate than before.(Which was already a record decline).
Worry does not make life better, especially over something so apparently rigged and glacial. Try this.
Picture yourself in 20 years having morning coffee with your geezer buddies. The conversation goes back to the biggest housing bubble and price mania in history, and everyone is saying what they did during that time. Possible scenarios;
1) I had a crushing mortgage payment on a huge crappy house and the spouse ran up the credit cards for furnishings. Then, everything collapsed. I never recovered.
2) I lived below my means and saved some money. I still have the money.
3) I rented a modest place and saved ALOT of money. When the market crashed I bought a nice place for cash. I still have it.
4) I opted out and lived on my boat for years while saving enough to not have to work anymore. That period was absolutely fun for me. Now I spend my time doing art and volunteering.
I’ll take options #3 and #4 for one million dollars Alex.
Selecting options 2-4 mean you are a commie.
They decline from outrageous asking prices
15609 Borges Ct, Moorpark, CA 93021
4 beds 3 baths 2,199 sqft
For Sale
$625,000
Price cut: -$24,000 (6/9)
Zestimate®: $595,081
My worry is, even in areas where the decline already started provably and statistically like PHX markets, they have turned the psychology enough to allow for another leg up.
Gee. Ya think? It’s their mission.
I agree with everything HA says
Interesting. Really? So you agree with the part where HA says rents have been falling for 5 years now? Or the part where you can build with land anywhere including SF for $50 a sq foot? Or the part where HA says rents are half the price of buying everywhere? Or the part where HA says “middle-east” oil is profitable at $7 a barrel? Or the part where houses always depreciate? Or the part where HA is the rudest, crudest laughable poster on this blog?
Lola, etc.
You are odd. I’ve been away for a couple months I think, and I still am a burr in your side. “I was always on your mind, I was always on your mind” (I like the Willie Nelson version.)
Now that’s a real threat and power my boy. Or your obsession is strange.
You’re angry Lola. DC street life getting rough again?
Hey there, Rio! Nice to see that you’re also back!
Hey Arizona Slim!
Nice to see you here again too. And yea, where does the time go??
Yes, my thoughts exactly. Lots of hype. Realtors are the worst. But the media talks about it non-stop. Makes me wonder if they are subsidized by the gov’t and have to report certain stories, etc.
And speaking of Drudge Report links, here’s one to “rally the base”
http://news.yahoo.com/cia-chief-secret-israel-talks-iran-085904011.html
American taxpayers and voters, William Kristol thanks you for paying for this
From the article:
“Israel and the IDF have no greater friend on the face of the earth than the US military” — US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey
The US is broke broke broke, almost $20 f*ing trillion in the hole, who pays for all of this?
Hillary and the 20 GOP candidates that aren’t Rand Paul won’t be
You will
Fox News article linked from Google News “rallies the base”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/10/wishful-thinking-obamas-ex-military-intel-chief-blasts-iran-deal-in-scathing/
No “lower taxes” or “smaller government” happening here, LOLZ
To broke to guard against global despotism.
JEB! says Putin is a bully. If so, what does that make his pathetic brother?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/10/us-ukraine-crisis-bush-germany-idUSKBN0OQ17I20150610
“Yatsenyuk, or Yats as Victoria Nuland calls him, is the Washington stooge that the US State Department selected to run the puppet government established by Washington. Yats sounds like a right-wing Republican when he refers to pensions, compensations, and social services as “privileges.” This is the Republican view of Social Security and Medicare, programs paid for by the payroll tax over the working lives of Americans. The Republicans stole the payroll revenues and spent them on their wars that enrich Wall Street and the military/security complex, and now blame “welfare handouts” for America’s fiscal plight.
Is Monsanto’s right to turn Ukraine into GMO food production a privilege? ls VP Biden’s son’s right to destroy Ukraine’s surface and underground water in fracking operations a privilege? Are the external costs imposed on Ukrainians by these looting activities a privilege? Of course not! These are not privileges. This is the operation of free market economics creating the greatest good for the greatest number. (As many Americans will not realize that I am engaging in satire, I would like to affirm that I am.)”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-08/ukrainians-have-been-dispossessed-paul-craig-roberts-warns-americans-are-next
“Yatsenyuk, or Yats as Victoria Nuland calls him, is the Washington stooge that the US State Department selected to run the puppet government established by Washington.”
When Vito offers protection and you don’t accept it you have to expect a few problems.
How Monsanto, the World Bank and the IMF are working to force GMOs into a destabilized Ukraine
Monday, September 08, 2014 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Ukraine, GMOs, Monsanto
CounterPunch reports further that, in late 2013, Viktor Yanukovych, who was then president of Ukraine, turned down an agreement with the European Union that was tied to a $17 billion International Monetary Fund loan; the terms of that agreement are just now becoming known.
Instead, the Ukrainian leader chose an aid package from Russia which amounted to about $15 billion, in addition to a discount on Russian natural gas (Ukraine gets nearly all of its natural gas from Russia, the CIA notes). Frederic Mousseau, Policy Directory of the Oakland Institute and co-author of “Walking on the West Side,” reported that the discount was 33 percent.
In any event, that decision was a major element of the ensuing deadly protests that eventually led to his ouster from office in February of this year, and the current crisis with Moscow.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/046791_Ukraine_GMOs_Monsanto.html#ixzz3cfAybtQR
Most every day I wake up and think that everything is awesome. Then I log on to the HBB and wonder who are the people underwater or about to commit the next major white collar crime or create civil unrest? Where are these non-awesome people?
And this is the most civil and least jaded of my stops on my morning loop of blogs and websites! After here, I only go downhill.
I’ve been visiting this blog for 9 years now. It had me at jingle-mail. But in 20/20 hindsight, the shenanigans still go on in the econosphere and will always go on as long as people get away with doing wrong. So, I kind of expect the awesome days ahead will get a rude awakening when so and so blows up financially or a war breaks out again and eats up money that could of served better purposes.
FREE John Corzine!!!!!
I’ve been here for nine years too. Where did the time go?
Well, we’re older now and maybe have more knowledge and are better off. I know my attitudes have changed a bit since 2006. I am glad this blog is still very active.
Comment by azdude
2015-06-09 16:27:44
“From an accounting perspective a company’s true value or net worth before and after a buyback is identical. As the number of shares decrease, earnings per share (EPS) increase proportionately, seemingly making remaining ownership more valuable. However the benefits to remaining shareholders are perfectly offset by the loss of cash used to conduct the buyback. Accounting 101 teaches that assets minus liabilities equals owners’ equity. A cash buyback does nothing more than decrease the assets and the owners’ equity accounts equally, keeping the equation in the same state of equilibrium and leaving the remaining shareholders with the same amount of owners’ equity as prior to the exercise. This accounting identity is among the most basic in corporate finance and accounting.
Because of historically low interest rates, debt-funded buybacks are especially popular today. Unlike cash buybacks which produce neither an accounting benefit nor impairment, buybacks supported by the issuance of new debt have an adverse effect on the bottom line. In a debt-funded buyback the asset side of the balance sheet is untouched, however the liability side increases while owners’ equity drops an equal amount. The end result is the company now owes the principal on the money borrowed as well as a series of future interest payments against which future earnings are reduced.”
This is the best article I have read about the buybacks fraud.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-09/corporate-buybacks-connecting-dots-f-word
…………………………………………………………………………
And another point: when one aggregates the “total worth/price” of shares of publicly traded companies, it should be less immediately after the buyback than it was before the buyback. Even though EPS and share prices increase, there are fewer shares tradeable.
exactly
Another thing I have been reading is regarding stock option dilution. companies are buying back stock to offset the shares added when options are exercised.
It is one big @ss scheme for companies to milk shareholder equity.
You buy their shares hoping the company will grow and then they party on your money.
Kmart is really milking it. Pretty soon they will be bankrupt and shareholders will be left holding the bag.
Boards of directors often limit the salary of company officers, but they do not limit stock option profits. Stock buybacks increase the compensation of officers without giving them actual salary increases. It impoverishes the company itself, but hey, that’s what parasites do.
Buybacks funded with debt are bad. Buybacks funded with free cash flow are generally better than using that free cash flow for dividends.
Buybacks funded with free cash flow are generally better than using that free cash flow for dividends.
Capitalism is an invention designed to serve mankind, not vice-versa. There is no capitalism bible saying “buybacks promote capitalism better than anything else”.
If the man-made system “incentivized” the free cash flow more into wages and benefits instead of buybacks (which mostly only benefit those with more cash than they currently know what to do with,) USA capitalism would not be failing most Americans compared to the wealth generated by most Americans.
when a company starts gambling in the stock market vs investing in their business you know there is a problem somewhere.
Would you say that same for companies who have buyback programs where insiders hold a huge number of shares?
As a brief, but applicable, aside, I seem to recall reading that the companies that were best at spending money on corporate acquisitions were companies where the founders were the CEOs. In many other cases, M&A was largely wasteful uses of corporate capital.
So, if you are a founder/CEO, and you are opting to buyback shares with excess cash flow, isn’t there at least a reasonable chance that it’s the most efficient use of capital available to the company at that time?
I’m just talking about the silliness of double-taxation of dividends.
If paid as a dividend, the shareholder pays 20%+ in tax. While a company may overpay for the stock with a buyback, it would be pretty unusual that they overpay so much as to overcome the negative tax consequence of returning shareholders money via a dividend.
Sorry about your negative feelings toward capitalism.
Sorry about your negative feelings toward capitalism.
I can’t believe you comprehend what I’m saying. Why not? There is nothing “negative” about capitalism in what I said or say. Again:
“Capitalism is an invention designed to serve mankind, not vice-versa. There is no capitalism bible saying “buybacks promote capitalism better than anything else”.
Saying the above is negative on capitalism is like saying someone who does not like Ford Pinto’s does not like cars.
Did I ever say that buybacks promote capitalism better than anything else?
I said “Buybacks funded with debt are bad. Buybacks funded with free cash flow are generally better than using that free cash flow for dividends.”
Buybacks are simply a more efficient way to get free cash flow back to shareholders. Why? Because doing it the other way (dividends) costs the shareholders at least 20% off the top to Uncle Sam.
And your negativity on capitalism is summed up on the following:
“If the man-made system “incentivized” the free cash flow more into wages and benefits instead of buybacks (which mostly only benefit those with more cash than they currently know what to do with,) USA capitalism would not be failing most Americans compared to the wealth generated by most Americans.”
You state that USA capitalism (which is differentiated from other capitalism how?) is failing most Americans.
Is there ANY kind of capitalism (not just US capitalism) that incentivizes companies to pay their employees more than they need to in order to run their business well?
Is there ANY kind of capitalism (not just US capitalism) that incentivizes companies to pay their employees more than they need to in order to run their business well?
Yes. Because your question assumes that “running a business well” “needs to” short workers in gross favor of shareholders. The only reason companies “need to” do a lot of that is because of current public policy which incentivizes such. And those public (mostly tax) policies are historically new. How’s that failed philosophy working out for most people?
Scandinavia and Germany do capitalism better by regulations and fostering worker/management partnerships that incentivize a much more equal sharing of the worker’s contributions to the national and corporate wealth - and while spending more public money on education, health-care and infrastructure. (A healthy capitalism that will last and benefit many more people more fairly.)
“Running a business well” where the big picture of business’ workers getting shorted compared to shareholders is not a healthy goal of Capitalism. And for the massive wealth generated-it’s not trickling down.
Did I ever say that buybacks promote capitalism better than anything else?
No. But I said they didn’t, and I think I know your philosophy.
your negativity on capitalism is summed up on the following:
Rather, my positivity on (healthy) capitalism is summed up by the above.
Lola LOLOLOL
HillaryJeb doesn’t react well to rejection.
http://www.businessinsider.com/jeb-bush-lost-frontrunner-status-and-rivals-say-hes-getting-nasty-2015-6
Probably he thought that once he got Romney to back down, the waters would part and he’d skip merrily to the top. I think he really believed he was the anointed one for the Republican party.
He’s toast, shrub already buried him and he doesn’t know it yet.
Of course; he is royalty. The White House is his just for the asking. The Bush family are not working on their current legacy, but 300 years down the road. Their ancestors can say what mighty warriors the Bush family was; like the knights of the Crusades.
1. Iran
2. Russia
3. China
Until the US is a smoldering pile of ashes. The Bush legacy will live on.
“Until the US is a smoldering pile of ashes.” Thanks to the Bush legacy, I may see this happen in my lifetime!!
Jeb and Hillary have no chance in hell of becoming the party nominee let alone President. You heard it here.
This is an article written by real journalists to advance the “progressive” agenda:
http://m.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/10/meth-arson-torture-murder-okla-case-reveals-power-of-aryan-brotherhood-in-and-out-of-prisons
More of the “progressive” agenda, this written by an associate professor in Africana Studies and Feminist, Gender, Sexuality Studies at Cornell University, advocating “fair housing laws designed to promote racial and economic integration”
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-judiciary/244461-a-pool-party-in-texas-and-the-us-supreme-court
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/06/10/hard-landing-says-china-momentum-indicator-cmi/
The Chinese stock-market mania has created $6.5 trillion in “value” over the last 12 months. For perspective, that “value” amounts to 63% of China’s 2014 GDP of $10.4 trillion. No other stock market has ever accomplished that much in such a short time. Mainland Chinese have borrowed $348 billion on margin, according to Bloomberg. They want to fire up “value” creation. Everyone is doing it. People are opening new accounts as if there were no tomorrow. And yet, the economy is heading for a hard landing.
Hard-landing gurus have been predicting it for years, and have been frustrated for as long, because there was no hard landing, or even a soft landing, or any landing. China’s economy had turned into a miracle, flying at high altitude, powered by monetary and credit propellants, a construction boom, phenomenal build-out of overcapacity, and strong global demand for its goods.
But now, the magic mix is failing.
Creating a price bubble with easy credit is not magic. It is merely an illusion.
3 Hours and 47 Minutes After Obama Says He’ll Sign Law BANNING Bulk Collection, DOJ Asks Secret Court to CONTINUE Bulk Collection
by Washington’s Blog | June 10, 2015
Spencer Ackerman reports in the Guardian:
The Obama administration has asked a secret surveillance court to ignore a federal court that found bulk surveillance illegal and to once again grant the National Security Agency the power to collect the phone records of millions of Americans for six months.
The legal request, filed nearly four hours after Barack Obama vowed to sign a new law banning precisely the bulk collection he asks the secret court to approve, also suggests that the administration may not necessarily comply with any potential court order demanding that the collection stop.
Marcy Wheeler notes with frustration:
DOJ, however, doesn’t much give a shit about what USA [Freedom Act] actually amends.
***
The government will pretend it doesn’t matter.
The bottom line is that the NSA is a rogue agency … engaged in clearly illegal conduct.
But the White House and Congress are both enabling the worst in mass surveillance.
Has Vlad been had?
The Wall Street Journal
FIFA suspends 2026 World Cup bidding process
By John Revill
Published: June 10, 2015 7:08 a.m. ET
Move comes amid a widening corruption scandal implicating previous bid contests
AFP/Getty Images
FIFA President Sepp Blatter
ZURICH—FIFA said Wednesday it is postponing the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup, as investigations into alleged corruption surrounding previous contests continue to rock world soccer’s governing body.
Zurich-based FIFA said the process was “on hold” due to the “current situation.” The organization said its executive committee, which is responsible for deciding which country hosts the quadrennial tournament, would discuss how to resume the process at a later date.
…
From what I’ve been reading in the European press, it probably won’t happen until next year (Russia’s winning bid being yanked). And when that happens, Russia can appeal, possibly dragging it out for a year or two.
Meanwhile, the corporate sponsors are already getting uneasy with all the uncertainty and rumors are that they are telling FIFA to drop it or they will yank their sponsorships. I’m guessing that Russia and even Qatar will get to keep their winning bids.
Ru worried the Dow might drop 4000 points?
If only…
Bulletin
U.S. employee compensation up nearly 5% in first quarter
Outside the Box
Opinion: Get ready for a 4,000-point Dow drop
By Mark D. Cook
Published: June 10, 2015 6:01 a.m. ET
Slumping bond market is ominous for U.S. stocks
The stock market has an empirical rule: interest rates lead stocks. And the current interest rate environment is pointing to a massive decline for the U.S. market.
Consider: The Federal Reserve has taken rates to the lowest level in more than a generation. This has energized stock prices. The Fed has persisted in its directive to “stay the course,” having made no raises in the discount rate for more than seven years. Such monetary policy has no precedent; this is the longest stretch of accommodation by the Fed in the post-World War II era.
But there’s Fed-induced rates, and “actual” rates. The most widely followed Treasury markets are the longer-term 10-year (TMUBMUSD10Y, +0.90%) and 30-year (TMUBMUSD30Y, +0.92%) markets. These two markets are highly sensitive to longer-term actual interest-rate pressures. For example, banks use longer-term Treasurys to make decisions on pegging personal loan rates to clients for mortgages, businesses, and other uses. The commercial and industrial areas of the economy also are susceptible to the actual cost of money.
Are there parallels to this current market environment? Yes — 1987.
The summer that year began with a slow, methodical rise in actual rates. Yet the Fed did not raise the discount rate, even though actual rates suggested otherwise. The fall of 1987 arrived with the stock market having hit an all-time high in late August, unfazed by this unsettled condition.
As it happened, the Federal Reserve was literally forced to raise interest rates. Policymakers were behind the curve severely, just as the Fed is now. The 1987 rising-rate action caused stock prices to tumble more than 30% within two months, including a sharp 20% selloff in October — still among the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s worst one-day percentage declines ever.
These warning signs are again visible. The first week of June recorded the highest interest rates since December. Bond prices are down about 12% since the end of January.
…
Ft dot com
German 10-year Bund yields back above 1%
Michael Hunter
The sell-off in German sovereign debt sent 10-year Bund yields back above 1 per cent on Wednesday, as investors continued to exit the haven amid signs of improvement in the eurozone economy.
The yield on the benchmark government debt, which moves inversely to its price, rose 5 basis points to 1.003 per cent. It was its first foray above 1 per cent since late September, and marked a noticeable milestone on the way up from lows of 0.05 per cent in mid-April after the European Central Bank launched its €1.1tn sovereign bond buying scheme.
But as economic data has improved since the adoption of the stimulus measures — fuelling expectations that the shared currency area looks on course to move away from the threat of deflation, an aim of the ECB’s quantitative easing policy — investors have moved out of the haven offered by German government debt.
Concerns over the potential implications of Greece’s stand-off with its creditors have also eased, leaving more room for investors to offload Bunds.
Remarks from Mario Draghi, ECB president, last week that investors had to “get used” to volatility in an era of ultra-low interest rates helped add to the pressure in debt markets, taking Bunds to the brink of the 1 per cent mark exactly a week ago.
…
Here’s to hoping and wishing….
Decoupling of U.S. stock and bond markets noted.
Bond Report Get email alerts
Treasurys keep falling as German yield tops 1%
Published: June 10, 2015 11:24 a.m. ET
Tradeweb
The 10-year benchmark Treasury yield is rising for a second day.
By Ellie Ismailidou
Markets reporter
Treasury prices dropped on Wednesday, pushing yields higher, as the Treasury market continued to be pressured by a sustained selloff in eurozone government bonds.
The focus could move back to U.S. news on Thursday, when a closely watched report on U.S. retail sales could add to evidence suggesting that the first-quarter economic slump was transitory and push the Federal Reserve closer to raising interest rates.
The Treasury market of late has been dragged by the steep moves in German bonds, the eurozone benchmark, reversing the traditional view that U.S. rates set the tone for global bond markets, said James Kochan, chief fixed-income strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management.
In the overnight trading session on Wednesday, the yield on the 10-year German bond (TMBMKDE-10Y, +3.08%) known as the bund, broke above 1%, marking a 92.7 basis-point surge from its all-time low of 0.073% on April 20. The bund traded recently at a 0.965% yield, according to Tradeweb.
Investors well into April had bet that the bund yield would to continue to drop, fueled by the European Central Bank’s aggressive bond-buying stimulus that already had helped push 25% of all eurozone government yields into negative territory.
Rising expectations for eurozone economic growth has given investors an excuse to start selling. It has spilled over to the Treasury market, where yields have been rising over the past couple of weeks.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark Treasury note (TMUBMUSD10Y, +2.09%) rose four basis points on Wednesday to 2.457%, according to Tradeweb. Last week, it jumped 30.5 basis points, the largest weekly gain in nearly two years.
The yield on the two-year note (TMUBMUSD02Y, +2.79%) increased 1.6 basis points to 0.725%, and the 30-year bond (TMUBMUSD30Y, +1.71%) yield rose 3.6 basis point to 3.187%.
Bond yields rise when prices fall, and vice versa.
…
Any thoughts on for how long the stock and bond markets can diverge before re-coupling with a thunderclap?
Janus Capital @JanusCapital
Gross: Reverse head & shoulders (yields) in all global bond markets. Necklines being broken by the hour. Bearish.
7:11 AM - 9 Jun 2015
No posts today on union goons, Peak Oil or global warming?
Where did the troll brigade go?
Must be a Dannyboy “travel day” LOLZ
I’ve lost interest in those topics, but race hustlers and Marxist feminists never sleep
This one has some interesting comments.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/West+Vancouver+home+sparks+bidding+sells+million+above+asking/11117034/story.html#ixzz3cbWjcRpX
Uh oh…Oil up, transport stocks falling…
http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/10/investing/stock-market-dow-transports/index.html
‘Right now, the Dow Transports (DJT)is sinking. It peaked on December 29 and has been sliding pretty much since then. It’s now down 9% in 2015.’
“There’s anxiety among investors,” says Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. “It’s like a movie where the main character keeps walking by the scary door. The suspense is building.”
Paul Volcker says Virginia and California are the only two states in the union that have good budgets and their financial affairs in order.
http://fortune.com/2015/06/09/volcker-state-budgets/?xid=timehp-popular
Kudos to Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown for cleaning up the mess made by his predecessor, a certain washed-up weightlifter movie star who cared more about his maid than governing the state.
It’s too bad Jerry is too old to run for President. He’s really smart, thinks very fast on his feet, frugal, disciplined and a tough negotiator. He’d put on quite a show in the debates and would rip most of the candidates to pieces. A Jerry Brown-Ted Cruz debate would be a fireworks show.
I was under the impression that the Centennial State has a TABOR surplus in the works and the there will be taxpayer TABOR refunds next year.
+1
Jerry did Linda Ronstadt in her young, thin days.
Yup, here’s Jerry with Ronstadt and the Eagles:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/c4/d1/8a/c4d18a3ea066b41402ebcfbe08d373b9.jpg
Linda Ronstadt in her young, thin days.
I remember years ago a Mexican comedian all perplexed asking:
“Why did Linda Ronstadt only become Mexican when she got fat”?
On a more serious note, I think she has Parkinson’s now and can’t sing anymore. Bummer. She had one heck of a set of pipes.
“She got cheated”
She does have Parkinsons. Can’t sing because of the disease.
“Jerry did Linda Ronstadt in her young, thin days.”
Doors open easier for the slim.
I’m not ready to give him a rave review, but I did like a lot of the moves he made with regard to CA’s financial situation. Of course, the stock market is probably making it look like CA is better off than it is.
Don’t forget the people that voted “yes” to many of those changes.
My favorite was the law where the legislators don’t get paid if they don’t pass a budget on time.
Too bad his pension “reform” was a joke.
Too bad his pension “reform” was a joke.
He did what he legally could do. Some pensions got way out of hand (i.e., fire chiefs with $200k/yr pensions at 55) but state and federal laws plus court rulings make it virtually impossible to touch earned benefits on the books. Brown’s pension reform only impacted new employees.
Of course, the stock market is probably making it look like CA is better off than it is.
There’s also a possibility of a stock market crash and a housing price crash happening at the same time. That would be devastating for CA state finances.
Has the Greece crisis finally ended?
Menu
Search
Six Charts Show Six Months of Economic Unraveling for Greece
by Marcus Bensasson
Lorcan Roche Kelly
Nikos Chrysoloras
June 10, 2015 — 1:32 AM PDT
Is a Tsipras, Merkel Meeting Greece’s Last Hope?
Greece was in the early stage of an economic recovery when then-Prime Minister Antonis Samaras called a vote for a new president. The unraveling that followed shows just how fragile that recovery was.
Investors were the first to run for the hills, anticipating that the political stand-off would end in elections that would usher in Alexis Tsipras’s anti-austerity Syriza party, and a confrontation with the country’s bailout creditors.
Savers were not far behind, and with the economy drained of liquidity, Greece was officially back in recession by the end of March.
Already shorn of bond market access as Samaras’s own efforts to seal deal to release more bailout funds floundered, the rout killed any lingering hopes that Greece could stand alone.
The point was not lost on Greeks with deposits at the country’s banks. With savings fleeing, so dependence on the European Central Bank for funding rose, tightening creditors’ grip on Tsipras’s government after he replaced Samaras in January.
“We’ve got massive capital outflow, we’ve got a huge debt that’s not sustainable, we’ve got a recession and there’s no investment,” said Gianluca Ziglio, a fixed-income strategist at Sunrise Brokers LLP. “It’s a tragic situation from all points of view.”
…
Not by a long shot.
“Debt is DUMB!”
“Has the Greece crisis finally ended?”
“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We’re so glad you could attend
Come inside! Come inside!”
Read more: Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Karn Evil 9 Lyrics | MetroLyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_zo0FiNheI
I guess Tsipras is a “Lucky Man”.
Make sure to tip the waitresses, I’ll be here all week.
ft dot com > World >
Europe
June 10, 2015 5:20 pm
Anxious Greeks pull money from banks amid fears of capital controls
Kerin Hope in Athens
People queue outside a branch of the National Bank of Greece in Athens on February 27, 2015. Greece’s main stock index fell 4.5 percent today amid uncertainty over the radical government’s reform plans and its ability to meet its financing needs.
The biggest outflows came in January and February, when the Syriza-led government took power
Two weeks after Greece’s leftwing Syriza party won power at a general election in January, Panayotis Fotiades pulled his deposits from an Athens bank.
“I felt certain there’d be a confrontation before long with the troika [of bailout monitors],” said the 55-year-old businessman.
Like other Greek owners of small and medium-sized companies in Greece, Mr Fotiades feared a radical government would resort to capital controls if relations with the country’s creditors deteriorated sharply.
To protect his savings he bought a brand new Mercedes-Benz car, then took the advice of a financial consultant and invested the remainder in money market funds based in Luxembourg.
“I didn’t want to sit by and see my hard-earned money disappear in a bail-in,” he said, recalling a banking collapse in Cyprus in 2013, in which the government raised almost €8bn by taxing bank deposits of more than €100,000 after imposing the eurozone’s first capital controls.
Many other Greeks appear to be taking similar precautions. Even as the economy has been sinking, new car registrations have soared this year as worried Greek depositors seek out alternative havens for their money. They rose 27.9 per cent in May on top of a 47.2 per cent increase in April.
For Greece, the steady outflow of deposits from its banks is a dangerous vulnerability made worse by its cash-strapped government’s prolonged stand-off with its bailout creditors. Already weakened banks are seeing their liquidity evaporate and the European Central Bank has warned there are limits to its support.
Athens could eventually impose capital controls to stanch the bleeding of deposits but that would also risk turmoil for basic business and financial transactions and threaten devastating consequences for the wider economy.
“The continuation of these outflows significantly increases the risk that the local authorities will impose capital controls to limit deposit outflows, which in our view would be tantamount to a bank deposit default,” Moody’s, the rating agency, warned in a report this week.
Hopes last week that Greece was nearing a deal with its creditors that would give its cash-strapped government access to €7.2bn in bailout cash have been dashed, with the two sides seemingly moving further apart in recent days.
…
World
S&P Downgrades Greece Deeper Into Junk
Ratings firm says delay in paying creditors suggests government prioritizes domestic spending
Wednesday’s downgrade of Greece’s ratings was S&P’s third this year.
Photo: Associated Press
By Josh Beckerman
Updated June 10, 2015 5:10 p.m. ET
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has downgraded Greece’s credit rating to triple-C, reflecting its view that the government will likely default on its commercial debt within the next 12 months, without an agreement with its creditors.
S&P has a negative outlook for the rating, which was cut one notch. Triple-C is a highly speculative rating on S&P’s scale.
The rating firm said the nation’s delay of a payment to the International Monetary Fund appears to suggest that the government is prioritizing domestic spending over scheduled debt service obligations.
S&P said the delay prompted a deviation from the firm’s pre-established ratings review calendar, and the downgrade marked its third cut to the country’s ratings this year. The firm previously warned the country’s debt and financial commitments would be unsustainable without deep economic reform.
On Wednesday, the European Central Bank lifted emergency funds for Greek banks by their biggest weekly amount since February, as uncertainty over the country’s future in the eurozone is pushing nervous depositors to withdraw their savings.
A senior government official said the Greek government is willing to accept a higher primary surplus target for this year to meet one of its creditors’ demands.
“A weakening underlying fiscal position raises questions about the realism of any agreement with Greece’s creditors on fiscal targets,” S&P said.
…
ft dot com
Last updated: June 11, 2015 1:21 am
Leaders fail to reach deal on Greek aid
Peter Spiegel in Brussels
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras delivers a speech during the Economist conference entitled “Europe: The comeback ? Greece: How resilient?” in Athens on May 15, 2015. Greece’s left-wing government will not abandon its defence of social rights and salaries in tough talks with its EU-IMF creditors, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said.
Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, held another round of talks with his French and German counterparts on Wednesday night, with no signs that either side had moved closer to achieving a deal to release €7.2bn in bailout aid to his cash-strapped government.
After a two-hour meeting following an EU summit with Latin American leaders, Mr Tsipras and a German government spokesman characterised the talks as “constructive” and said that negotiations to find agreement would intensify — similar language used after several previous meetings.
“I think the EU leadership realises they must agree to a viable solution and a possibility for Greece to return to social cohesion with security and growth and also with a sustainable debt level,” Mr Tsipras said in brief comments to reporters as he left the meeting. “This will not only give security to Greece, but Europe as well.”
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and François Hollande, the French president, left without commenting.
The inconclusive talks came amid increasing signs that representatives of Greece’s bailout creditors were losing patience with Athens and were moving closer to taking a more hardline “take it or leave it approach” with Mr Tsipras’s government.
According to three senior eurozone officials, German government representatives have told interlocutors that they believe Greece’s public rejection of a compromise offer from creditors presented to Mr Tsipras last week was a sign that a compromise may not be achievable.
To stave off bankruptcy, Athens must agree a new list of economic reforms to release the €7.2bn in aid. Without the assistance, Greece could default on a €1.5bn loan repayment owed to the International Monetary Fund at the end of the month.
Officials are hoping to reach an agreement by next week’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers to ensure the €7.2bn tranche can be disbursed before a €3.5bn Greek government bond comes due on July 20.
Eurozone officials believe it will take a month for Greece to legislate and implement the reform programme, and a default on the July 20 bond, held by the European Central Bank, could spark financial chaos in the country, officials believe.
Although Greece’s current bailout ends at the end of the month, a deal reached by next week could include a programme extension so that bailout tranches could be paid into July.
As the leaders were meeting, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greece’s debt, saying that Athens’ decision to delay a €300m loan repayment to the IMF last week was a sign that “the Greek government is prioritising pension and other domestic spending over its scheduled debt service obligations”.
S&P said that the current stand-off had undermined Greece’s economy so severely that any agreement with bailout creditors was likely to include assumptions that would be too optimistic.
“Even if an agreement with official creditors were to be reached over the next fortnight, we do not expect that such an agreement would cover Greece’s debt service requirements beyond September,” S&P wrote.
…
A lower homeownership rate is the ‘new normal’
Published: June 10, 2015 2:04 p.m. ET
Bloomberg
By Quentin Fottrell
Personal finance reporter
Brace yourself: The decline in homeownership rates may last until 2030.
The homeownership rate will hit 61.3% by 2030, down from 65.1% in 2010, according to a new report from the Urban Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that focuses on social and economic policy. From 2010 to 2020, of the 11.6 million new households, 8.9 million (77%) will be nonwhite: 4.6 million (39%) Hispanics, 2.2 million (19%) blacks, and 2.1 million (18%) others. There is also a rental surge afoot: From 2010 to 2030, there will be 4 million more new renters than homeowners; 13 million people will rent, but only 9 million will buy.
And yet it’s increasingly expensive to rent. The gap between rent and household income is widening to “unsustainable levels,” according to research published in March by the National Association of Realtors found. In the last five years, a typical rent rose 15% while the income of renters grew by only 11%, the study found. The top markets where renters have seen the highest increases since 2009 are New York (51%), Seattle (32%), San Jose, Calif., (26%), Denver (24%) and St. Louis. (22%).
…
Yup. Seattle keeps showing up a lot lately in these ‘unaffordable’ housing/rental articles.
Hooray for us!!! Um, well, er . . .
Here’s a hilarious parody of an Amazon dot com recruitment video that just nails it:
https://youtu.be/vy921nlMIrk
Historically, our country’s homeownership rate has been in the low 60s. The bubble years were an aberration, with the rate near 70%.
A lot of people lose their homes over the 30 year loan period. 30 years is a long time and a lot of life events can happen in the time period.
I wonder what % of loans actually make it to the end?
Mortgages longer than ten years should be a crime.
Mortgages longer than ten years are a scam. A vanishingly small share of homeowners stay put for over ten years. The 30-year time horizon creates a version of subprime lending where the lender charges a higher interest rate and the buyer gets a lower monthly payment which is close to interest-only for the first several years. Only with high (bubbly) levels of home price increase does it pencil out for the owner.
The percentage of households consisting of only one person has doubled over the last 50 years, and the average number of people in a house has been in decline. The size of houses has doubled or tripled in this time. Single people and little families do not need 2600 ft2 houses, with the maintenance, taxes and mortgage that go along.
Projections of slight continuing decline in “ownership” ignore a huge air-pocket baked into the housing bubble.
Seattle, WA Housing Prices Fall 13%
http://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa-98121/home-values/
I want to help u with your financial problems.
You can’t help yourself Poet. What are your losses to depreciation?
Falls Church, VA Housing Prices Fall 5%
http://www.movoto.com/falls-church-va/market-trends/
Not. Even. Close.
Boots on the ground, my friend - that is where you will get your good data from.
Data.My.Friend.
Kirkland, WA Housing Prices Fall 7%
http://www.movoto.com/kirkland-wa/market-trends/
Yes, and your data is completely bogus.
My boots-on-ground data contradicts what you keep posting. Multiple-offer bidding wars are the norm in Kirkland. Houses usually sell within a week.
Refute it.
You have a beef with Movoto. Take it up with them.
Newcastle, WA Housing Prices Fall 5%
http://www.movoto.com/newcastle-wa/market-trends/
HAH! You are fricking hilarious. Newcastle is miles away from Kirkland - totally different market.
And prices falling in both locations. Thus a distinction without a difference.
Wrong again, as usual. Come visit and we’ll go on a real estate tour. You’ll see that Newcastle is no Kirkland, where there are plenty of $2.5M houses now. And you’ll see who is buying them.
Prices falling in both locations. Data my friend.
I’m not 100% certain but I think there has been a whole lot of drinking going on around here. Well…. I’m here to tell you to have one on me.
Go ahead….. Drink up….
https://goo.gl/yRCqOC
How much more debt do you think the taxpayer needs to take on before we get a real recovery? I think its been about 8 trillion in the past 7 years. Printing money doesn’t seem to be working.
How goes the war Private Poet?
Irving, TX Housing Prices Fall 15%
http://www.movoto.com/irving-tx/market-trends/
lol
The one with the least debt wins.
Cops Raid Little Girls’ “Illegal” Lemonade Stand, Shut it Down for Operating Without a Permit
by Matt Agorist | Free Thought Project | June 10, 2015
Last week, police in Texas heroically saved the town from likes of two young girls who attempted to open a black market lemonade stand. The girls, one 7-year-old and one 8-year-old, dared to try to raise money to buy a Father’s day present for their dad by setting up a lemonade stand in their neighborhood.
Andria and Zoey Green told ABC affiliate KLTV they were trying to raise about $100 for a Father’s Day present. They wanted to take him to Splash Kingdom.
Over the weekend, the two young entrepreneurs took to the streets with their delicious batch of homemade lemonade and began to provide willing customers with their product. Only one hour into their business endeavour, these girls had raised 25% of their goal.
However, their cash cow would be shut down not long after it started. Overton police chief Clyde Carter showed up along with the city code enforcer and shutdown their criminal operation.
The girls had violated Texas House Bill 970, or the Texas Baker’s Bill, which does not allow the sale of food that needs time or temperature control to prevent it from spoiling. Since the lemonade would eventually grow mold after being left out for days, police said they needed an inspection from the health department and a permit to sell it and deemed their operation “illegal.”
The cost of the permit is $150 dollars.
“It is a lemonade stand, but they also have a permit that they are required to get,” Chief Carter said.
“I think that’s ridiculous. I think they’re 7 and 8, and they’re just trying to make money for their own cause,” said Sandi Evans, the girls’ mother.
The most absurd aspect of this ordeal is that the police know it’s a ridiculous law. However, they said ridiculous or not, it’s the law and they’ll keep enforcing it.
“We have to follow by the state health guidelines,” said Carter. “They have to have a permit if they’re going to do the lemonade stands.”
Police officers can certainly use discretion and choose not to “enforce” this law for use in such an asinine application. The fact that these girls had their good intentions ruined by those who claim to protect them speaks to the level of discontent with law enforcement in America today.
The heartening side to this story is that these young girls are now learning to bypass this tyrannical system of bureaucratic nonsense. The girls said they will be setting up their lemonade stand again this weekend. Instead of selling it though, they will be giving it away, but they will gladly be accepting donations.
Hopefully next week, we aren’t reading the story of these two Texas girls being raided by the IRS for tax evasion on their lemonade donations. But in today’s police state USA, it would be entirely expected.
30 years ago, stuff like this would be ‘Onion-y’ . Nowadays, you almost expect a SWAT team to be mentioned in an article.
30 years ago, stuff like this would be ‘Onion-y’ . Nowadays, you almost expect a SWAT team to be mentioned in an article.
Only if she was wearing a bikini and got way too mouthy.
lol (Sorry)