Bits Bucket for June 14, 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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Is the whole Grexit saga a bluffing game?
Opinion
Alain Jocard / AFP / Getty Images
Germany is bluffing on Greece
Berlin is not going to force Athens out of the eurozone anytime soon
June 12, 2015 2:00AM ET
by Mark Weisbrot
You can ignore all the talk of a “Grexit,” the bluff and bluster of right-wing German ideologues such as Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble who would celebrate it, and repetitive, stubbornly dire warnings that time is running out. Did you notice that the much-hyped June 5 deadline for the Greece’s payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came and went, Greece didn’t pay and nobody fell off a cliff? Trust me, this is not a cliffhanger.
Although there have been numerous references to game theory in the ongoing commentary, it’s really not necessary if you look at the revealed preferences of those whom the Syriza government is polite and diplomatic enough to call its European partners. Take partner-in-chief German Chancellor Angela Merkel: If there’s one thing she doesn’t want to be remembered as, it’s the politician who destroyed the eurozone.
Of course, we don’t know if a Greek exit would do that, but there’s a chance that it could. Even if the European Central Bank would be able to contain the resulting financial crisis, it is possible that Greece would, after an initial shock, ultimately do much better outside the euro, which might convince others to want to leave. Whatever the probability of that scenario, Merkel is, like most successful politicians, a risk-averse creature who won’t roll those dice.
…
Greece would do better. The best thing they could do is exit and bring Germany’s financial system to its bony little knees. Greece has options, Germany doesn’t.
“Greece has options, Germany doesn’t.”
Germany has money. Greece doesn’t. After decades of feeding the FSA, Greece’s options are to collapse slowly or quickly.
Greece can default, bring back its own currency, and create incentives for its citizens to repatriate their money. Then Greece will have money, and Germany will have squat.
Dman, what neither you, Obama nor the Greek government understands is that uncertainty is an enemy of economic growth. That is why one of the best things Reagan did for the U.S. economy was to put Social Security on a firm footing for decades. Conversely Obama’s refusal to push Simpson Bowles and put the government’s fiscal house in order drastically reduced business confidence and has contributed to low business investment. Greece’s economy has gone into the tank with this brinkmanship, the economy was starting to grow prior to the new government. One Big Azz Mistake Athens.
It can bring back its own currency but its debts are in Euros, so more it depreciates the new currency the greater the burden will be on its people. It also will lose the billions of Euros in subsidies it receives every year. It is the Greeks that will have squat for decades. Left wing economics never work in the long term.
Greece won’t be allowed to default. That would trigger the credit default swaps, and the Powers that Be will never allow that to happen, so there will be more bailouts-for-promises into perpetuity.
Already indications of major trouble in the massive derivatives time bomb.
http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/a-derivatives-bomb-exploded-within-the-last-two-weeks/
The FSA used to be needed to some extent for their labor and gun toting value. No longer. The .1 percent do not need 85 percent of the population, even as consumers.
“Greece won’t be allowed to default. That would trigger the credit default swaps, and the Powers that Be will never allow that to happen”
Credit default swaps = the financial system’s doomsday device.
“If you let one of us go down, zee whole system goes down!
Deutche Bank has over $75 TRILLION in derivatives exposure. What could possibly go wrong?
http://notquant.com/is-deutsche-bank-the-next-lehman/
FSA strikes again no need to pay mortgages, no evictions are possible. This is why the EU knows it has to make an example of Greece:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/2621228-155/spain-leftist-mayors-for-madrid-barcelona
“Greece won’t be allowed to default. That would trigger the credit default swaps, and the Powers that Be will never allow that to happen”
The Greeks want to stay in the EU, the leftist government will collapse once the people understand the leftists made promises they cannot keep and Greece will be thrown out of the EU. A new election is much more likely than a triggering of wholesale credit default swaps.
The .1 percent do not need 85 percent of the population, even as consumers.
The disdain is not reciprocated, as 95% of the electorate bend over and spread their cheeks for the .1% by voting for its water carriers every election, despite the fact they’re voting for their own destruction.
And how about the performance of the top . 1% trickle downers and their promises.
Laggard, Merckel and Yellen are all women. And women try to smooth things over by nature or sweep them under the rug. This is scientifically and historically true. So unless these three women have di*k under their dresses they will sit tight and do nothing.
All three are parrots on the shoulders of their bankster masters. They take dictation like any good secretary. So your basic premise is flawed, SUGuy.
Owe the bank a million, and the bank owns you. Owe the bank a billion, and you own the bank.
Someone’s bluff is about to be called.
ft dot com > GlobalEconomy >
EU Economy
Last updated: June 14, 2015 6:01 pm
‘Last try’ Greek bailout talks halted as Athens team walks out
Peter Spiegel in Brussels and Kerin Hope in Athens
TOPSHOTS Protesters take down a huge banner bearing a picture of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on a European Union flag from the ministry of finance in Athens as they end the occupation of the building on June 11, 2015. The Greek government on Thursday said it would “intensify” efforts to resolve differences with its EU-IMF creditors to reach a deal that would give the country desperately needed bailout funds.
LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images
©AFP
Greek ministers and their bailout creditors cut short 11th-hour negotiations on Sunday night, raising questions about a last-ditch effort to strike a deal to secure Athens a desperately needed €7.2bn in rescue aid.
The talks over a final list of Greek economic reforms, which creditors are insisting on as a condition of bailout aid, had been scheduled amid growing concern the two sides may not reach a deal ahead of Thursday’s high-stakes meeting of eurozone finance ministers, which many believe is the last chance for agreement before Greece’s EU bailout expires.
But Greek negotiators walked out of the European Commission’s Brussels headquarters only 45 minutes after the talks began. According to an EU official who has seen the much-anticipated Athens counterproposal, long sought by negotiators representing Greece’s creditors, it fell well short of expectations and was not adequate for a compromise deal.
“While some progress was made, the talks did not succeed as there remains a significant gap between the plans of the Greek authorities and the joint requirements of [creditors],” said a European Commission spokesman. “The Greek proposals remain incomplete. On this basis, further discussion will now have to take place [on Thursday] in the Eurogroup.”
…
Fontana, CA Housing Prices Fall 4%
http://www.movoto.com/fontana-ca/market-trends/
California Most Impoverished State In The US
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate
But you realize the poverty is not well mixed. Hardly any in Brentwood, Marin County, La Jolla, Irvine. Yet poverty is abundant in the San Joaquin Valley, the high desert, and rural parts of California.
Those places make up grains of sand on the beach. Any decently sized geographic area is going to have pockets of well off who will probably always be well off, even places like Detroit.
Obama is doing what he can to spread the poverty to the 99%, while the Fed funnels billions to its billionaire cronies.
You’d be surprised at how many homeless hang out in La Jolla, begging for their next meal.
HA- I think you need multiple data points to prove your point. I assume you’re kidding, right? You must live in flyover country.
Your beef is with the data. Talk to wiki.
But I suppose you did not see his wiki link did you? California is in the top 15 states of poverty. But Texas and Arizona have higher percentages of poverty in California. Nevada, interestingly, has a lower percentage.
New Hampshire has the lowest poverty rate of all the states.
Here’s a data point HA didn’t mention:
California Leads the U.S. in Millionaires
Households filing 1040’s with AGI over $1 million. Source: Forbes
California 45,109
New York 38,240
Texas 27,347
Put it on a per capita basis and see who is ahead. it is also the problem with California declining number of middle class just a small number or rich and a large number of poor. Speaking of rich, their houses are going down in price due to the drought:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/rich-californians-youll-have-to-pry-the-hoses-from-our-cold-dead-hands/2015/06/13/fac6f998-0e39-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html
Sorry will not be able to respond to responses for awhile, I need to go now, I actually was ready to give up on the site for the day but now it seems to be working, I may be able to post later.
lets see…. 45,000 millionares and 39 million others living in poverty.
Sounds like a DebtDonkey utopia.
adjusted for pop that’s kinda weak
45,000 millionaires with a population over 38 MILLION. That’s not saying a whole lot.
No, there are over 750,000 millionaires in Calif by the standard definition (net assets > $1 mil.). The 45,000 are people who have AGI income over $1 mil., who are assuredly multi-millionaires.
Calif. is #1 in Billionaires with 111 of them.
And 37 million poor people.
Still not impressed. Yawn.
Remember this?
“All buyers beware! NAR has been lying about existing home sales from 2007 - 2010.”
http://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_Buying/All_buyers_beware_NAR_has_been_lying_about_existi-340802
I hear the NAR employs the same firm to do their numbers as the Chinese government.
“Former Colorado Realtor Association CEO Gets 5 Years”
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28152964/former-colorado-realtor-association-ceo-gets-5-years
“Frank forged checks and made unauthorized transfers into her personal bank account,” the release said.
Not a Maybelline girl either.
Yesterday:
———————
Comment by oxide
2015-06-13 12:12:20
Tacomas and Tundras are the “in” brand right now. Almost as much cab space as haul space.
Comment by Dman
“In” with who? Gay cowboys?
Comment by Housing Analyst
And all dumb.borrowed.money.
———————
I see Tacomas and Tundras all over the Maryland burbs. Comparatively few Fords and Chevys. I guess we east coasters aren’t all America-F-Yeah like they are in the flyover. Many of the trucks are the not-quite-legals working construction jobs or hauling lawn mower trailers. The dead giveaway is to look at the parking lots at 7-11. Hispanics LOVE 7-11!! Others are just young guys who want to pwn the various main drags around town. Because you need a truck to turn into the Wendy’s on Route 1.
HA, I agree with you. These are all definitely borrowed money. FYI, those Dodd-Frank 5% risk retention regs will apply to auto loans too, I believe with 10% down and two years credit history. Doesn’t take effect until 2016, so buy your truck while you can.
Why buy a oil burner now when I can buy a lightly used fleet later for 50% less?
Because owning a late-model oil-burner out of warranty is a recipe for thousands of dollars of repairs, that’s why. All you need to do is to read the diesel truck forums to see that this is true.
That’s why the price of Ford 7.3L Powerstroke (pre-2004) and Cummins 12V (pre 1998.5) diesels have essentially doubled in the past five years - they are the last ‘good’ diesels that will run for 250-300K miles without any major problems. Not so for the later-model ones.
1990s Cummins diesel pickups that use to be $8-10K on CL are now going for $15-20K. It’s as crazy as the housing market.
You understand fleet diesel about as much as you know about housing, construction, architecture or engineering.
I guess it is Texas-F-Yea
From Wikipedia:
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas, Inc (TMMTX) is an automobile production subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation based in San Antonio, Texas, USA. It owns and operates a manufacturing and assembly facility for the parent company. The TMMTX assembly lines currently produce the Tundra full-size pickup truck and the Tacoma mid-size pickup truck
Speaking of Texas, I thought this was interesting.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-13/writings-wall-texas-pulls-1-billion-gold-ny-fed-makes-it-non-confiscatable
Yes, but they’re still storing it in a vault in NY. Until that depository is built on Texas soil, it’s still not safe.
I like what they’re doing, though. It would be interesting to see what would happen if they really do secede.
Go, Texas!
I seem to recall another post you did saying some other Toyota was “in.” Just what is “in”?
Toyotas have been “in” for quite awhile among millionaires. Google “Toyota Millionaire” - most millionaires don’t act rich. The heavy into debt middle class types are the ones who drive $40,000+ cars.
Bill
I think that depends on the level of millionaire. The really, really rich drive whatever they want. I read “The Millionaire Mind” and thought its intent was to make us wage slaves feel better. Building wealth take discipline and luck, don’t get me wrong, but millionaires come in all levels and flavors.
We have a billionaire in our family. He has a law degree, on top of a real estate degree and started in the early 70’s-commercial. He had no debt and probably still doesn’t. Pretty cool.
You guys need to ask the -fixr what the “rich” (and the kids) drive.
The HMFICs………Top end MB and BMW sedans and SUVs, Audi R10, or they just take a limo, the occasional CTS-V, or see list below.
The kids/grandkids………..Lexus/Acura CUVs, Mercedes Benz SUVs, Range Rovers
“We have a billionaire in our family. He has a law degree, on top of a real estate degree and started in the early 70’s-commercial. He had no debt and probably still doesn’t. Pretty cool.”
How many women does he support?
The only people I know of who buy something because it’s “in” are 13 through 16 year old girls. Most people I know would prefer not to drive the same car everyone else is driving.
“Most people I know would prefer not to drive the same car everyone else is driving.”
But what if the cars are unique but so high priced? I never understood Mercedes Benz SUVs costing double or triple of Ford Explorers, for example. Or luxury off road vehicles - even worse.
I never understood Mercedes Benz SUVs costing double or triple of Ford Explorers, for example
Have you driven each?
Fit and finish are miles apart — the sound insulation, attention to detail of the controls, display, etc. You tend to get more/newer technology as well — the Xenon headlights that turn as I take a curve are way better than the headlights I’ve had in a previous vehicle (toyotas, subaru, ford, nissan, volkswagen) and thus safer.
You’re also paying for the service — more professional (humane?) treatment when you bring your car in for service, free loaner, etc.
Not much different than pricing for a nice meal — sometimes you pay for the ambience, decor, level of quality/service, rather than just the functional calories.
My dad used to tell me about the rich people he knew. They would buy two luxury cars of the same model - one of them always in the garage. Not sure if it was a mercedes benz. And I don’t believe you on the repair/maintenance costs. The more you pay for the car the more each part costs to replace.
And I don’t believe you on the repair/maintenance costs. The more you pay for the car the more each part costs to replace.
I didn’t make any statement about the costs. I absolutely agree — the costs are higher. My point was that part of what you’re paying for is the level of service — water/coffee/etc while you wait, loaner car, etc.
I do find it interesting, though — you’re basing your opinion on what your father used to say? How long ago? Have you looked at the reported defects on say, a Mercedes C-class vs a Ford Focus? (note, I don’t know how they relate, but I doubt it’s all that different).
Yes, certain brands have good quality ratings — Toyota and Honda, specifically. Each of those have a luxury line — Lexus and Acura. Do you think, just because they’re “luxury”, that those companies with such a high quality reputation, produce vehicles with lots of issues?
“The only people I know of who buy something because it’s “in” are 13 through 16 year old girls.”
I call BS. And nobody buys the exact same thing, just something in that category; be it a luxury car or Toyota truck (in MD) or shiny gold gladiator sandals.
Old men are much worse than teenage girls, and a helluva lot more expensive. Want proof — look on any golf course.
Fit and finish are miles apart
This was a common complaint om TopGear when they reviewed American cars. Of course the European cars they were compared with cost 2-3X more, so it’s really an apples to oranges comparison.
Well, I may be alone in this, but I bought a Tacoma with the big cab, and I paid cash. Yup, it was expensive. ~35k. But I drove my previous car until it had 160k miles on it, and was starting to break all the plastic parts like window regulator pulleys, and also lots of emissions crap (CA) that is expensive.
Wanted the truck to haul my gear around when I go to mountains, desert, beach, camping, climbing, biking, etc.. Things I actually do and enjoy. (Took a 10 mile down hill mtn bike ride yesterday).
I can afford it because I rent, and put my extra cash in the bank! I wanted new not used, because I’m sick of dealing with maintenance, and I want to know the problems I cause with my equipment instead of finding out how the other guy abused it before me. I wanted toyata because they go forever. F and GM break a lot more (my perception). The gas isn’t great, but I don’t live far from work, so my gas bill isn’t high. If I lived farther I would have done things different.
Also, we have a prius, and we take trips that don’t require the truck in that. The tacoma is “in” because it checks so many of the quality and value checkboxes. I’m sure there are lots of people doing crazy financing on them. Then again, lots of people are also doing crazy financing on houses. I just buy what I can afford, and think sadly about the situations of those other people, but with little pity.
mathguy
Yeah, buy what you can afford and want. I hear ya.
My last Volvo went 330,000 miles on the original engine and one tranny change. I replaced it with a VERY low mileage Volvo S60 and saved $26K. I will have it 4 years before I hit 100,000 miles. My former Volvo was purchased new, but a deal came my way and I grabbed it.
“Have you driven each?”
And both are driven directly to the scrapyard at around 180k miles.
Why pay triple?
Not according to the latest sales figures. To my surprise the Silverado truck is the rising star and is threatening the Ford F-series:
Vehicle / May sales / YoY
Ford F - Series PU 61,870 -9.7
Chevrolet Silverado PU 51,602 10.6
Toyota Camry 43,837 -11.6
Chevy and GMC pickups should just be lumped together when compared to Ford pickup sales.
Nobody who uses a truck for actually hauling heavy stuff buys a Toyota or Nissan. American trucks dominate the heavy duty truck market. That’s why Nissan is putting a Cummins in the Titan, to try to gain market share in the heavy 1/2 and 3/4 ton. The running gear in the Japanese trucks has always been woefully undersized.
Is that rumor or fact? I remember back in 2007 a rumor swirling that Nissan was gonna put Cat powerplants in a pickup. Of course GM claimed for 2 years they were going to put a downsized Dirtymax in their half tons.
Update: Buyer Files Suit Against Realtor Who Concealed Infestation>/b>
http://www.hlntv.com/video/2015/06/12/family-lawsuit-snake-infested-home
I like overpaying for stocks and homes.
Then, Obama and his Fed are your friends.
So put in an order from your brokerage account now and buy 5,000 shares of FB. Go Long. Walk the walk.
Your next chance to buy overpriced stocks comes tomorrow at the opening bell…
Sunday political cartoons from TBP.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/06/14/sunday-funnies-66/
Obama wants to “diversify” nice neighborhoods. Forward, Soviet!
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/06/14/not-the-onion-obama-wants-to-diversify-americas-wealthy-neighborhoods/
This plan originated under President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980’s.
His ideas was to breakup the massive ‘projects’ that poor lived in and spread them out unto the nicer community using ’section 8′ vouchers that would allow the ‘free market’ to provide and take care of the housing needs of the poor.
/yet another idea Obama has stolen from the Republicans
A radical “housing activist” gets elected to be the mayor of Barcelona in a popular backlash against the banksters and their captured political elites.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/13/ada-colau-barcelona-spain-mayor-targets-tourists
Those nutty Oregonians:
http://abc13.com/realestate/family-gets-free-pizza-for-life-for-selling-home/763767/
Can the US afford the twits brother who is another twit?
Norman A. Bailey: The invasion of Iraq was an unmitigated disaster
Saddam was no threat to the national security of the U.S., with or without chemical or biological weapons. On that basis alone most of a trillion dollars could and should have been saved.
Finally, there was no credible evidence that Saddam was allied with al-Qaeda, as the Taliban regime in Afghanistan clearly was.
So, as David says, a trillion dollars down the toilet for nothing and the story is far from over. More money, more materiel and more men will be sacrificed on the altars of delusion and error. The world and the country will continue to pay the costs for generations to come. Costs in treasure, in human lives and in the existential threat to Western Civilization by secular and religions barbarians freed from their cages by a well-meaning adolescent twit sitting in the seat of power…
http://atimes.com/2015/06/norman-a-bailey-the-invasion-of-iraq-was-an-unmitigated-disaster/
All that is not important. What is important is Jeb has released his official 2016 logo:
https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/610063493237084160/photo/1
Remember, it’s not Jeb. It’s Jeb!
“It’s Jeb!”
Meh. That’s the logo he used in Florryduh to run for gov. Loser. His campaign is DOA. He’s already demoted (or moved sideways) the sloppy seconds campaign manager who jumped ship from Romney to JEB!
Unelectable buffoon.
And the HillaryJeb voters have their new bumper stickers ready to go.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/16629031224/
One mans ‘money flushed down the toilet’ is Halliburton/DynCorp/Blackwater insane profit.
“well-meaning adolescent”
“well-meaning” my ass. Jackass thought he could one-up his daddy by going all the way. He took his counsel from a “higher father.”
Foxconn eyes building iPhone factories in India
Looks like accelerating wage inflation in China is putting the shine on India’s lower labor costs.
Taiwanese tech manufacturer Foxconn Technology is in talks to manufacture Apple’s iPhone in India, government officials said. If it happens, Apple, Foxconn and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will benefit.
“Foxconn is sending a delegation of their officers to scout for locations in a month’s time,” Subhash Desai, Industries Minister of India’s western state Maharashtra, told Reuters. Desai said Foxconn had yet to make any firm commitment, but he said the group was looking to manufacture iPhones, iPads and iPods, both for domestic as well as global sales.
The move makes sense for Foxconn. With surging wage inflation, China, where Foxconn currently makes iPhones, is no longer the lowest-cost producer in the region. By moving to India, the world’s largest contract maker of electronic products can get cheaper labor and cut transportation costs but putting production sites closer to the Indian consumers.
http://atimes.com/2015/06/foxconn-eyes-building-iphone-factories-in-india/
India will have GDP growth equal or greater than China this year. However, with a population almost as big as China, its GDP is 1/5 of China so it has a long way to go to have China’s economy. If the big U.S. banks start giving Indian consumers credit like they did with Brazilian consumers, it could actually work out well for China a major new customer filled with debt donkeys.
That’s not the point, A-Dan. The point is that China is beginning to outsource their manufacturing jobs. Just like the US did in the 1970’s. You don’t see the significance of this???
Right about now, I would put China at about America circa 1972 or so. It took the US about 30 years to destroy the jobs base; I suspect the internet and global economy will make China’s spiral down somewhat faster. You watch. Within 20 years, China will look like the US, if not worse. A nation full of debt donkeys. Lots of males living in and destroying those ghost cities because they have no jobs, nowhere else to live, and no women to f—. Relatively little fresh water and what’s left will be polluted beyond recall.
So yes, you may tout China now, but ISTM that now is really good time to sell.
And what does Apple think about Foxconn sending manufacturing to India? Why can’t Apple simply move the operations to India directly, instead of allowing middleman Foxconn to take a little skim?
Me thinks that the typical American CEO thinks why take third world headaches for a few nickels. Let someone else do it. What is the point of off shoring otherwise?
At some point down the chain, India, or China, or Indonesia, or whoever will have no one to outsource to. The cheap labor will just be cycled through to low class. Unless robots become the “cheap labor”. Then why not just put the robots in the places people are buying the goods…?
Let’s show them who’s the BOSS. LOL
China conducts fourth test of Wu-14 nuke strike vehicle
China this week carried out the fourth test of an ultra high-speed nuclear delivery vehicle that conducted what intelligence officials say were extreme maneuvers.
The test of the Wu-14 hypersonic strike vehicle was carried out Sunday, launched atop a ballistic missile fired from a test facility in western China.
It was the fourth successful test of the Wu-14 in the past 18 months and the frequency of tests is being viewed by U.S. intelligence analysts as an indicator of the high priority placed on developing the weapon by the Chinese.
The new strike vehicle is considered a high-technology strategic weapon capable of delivering nuclear or conventional warheads while traveling on the edge of space. One of its key features is the ability to maneuver to avoid U.S. missile defenses.
The Wu-14 was assessed as traveling up to 10 times the speed of sound, or around 7,680 miles per hour.
http://atimes.com/2015/06/china-conducts-fourth-test-of-wu-14-nuke-strike-vehicle/
China’s South China Sea dominance is the price US pays for Iraq and Afghanistan
The US is working on countermeasures, to be sure, but chronic underinvestment in cutting-edge defense R&D has left them underdeveloped and under-deployed. The Bush administration spent $1 trillion or so in Iraq and Afghanistan, mainly on personnel, and reduced defense R&D to accommodate its nation-building ambitions in the region. That was a bad trade-off. The US has little to show for its efforts except the chaos that has enveloped the Levant and Mesopotamia after the collapse of the Iraqi state. China has had time to close the technology gap with the US, and neutralize if necessary America’s principle means of projecting power in the region
http://atimes.com/2015/06/chinas-south-china-sea-dominance-is-the-price-us-pays-for-iraq-and-afghanistan/
China’s South China Sea dominance is the price US pays for Iraq and Afghanistan
As if 中国 never existed before 4 July 1776. As if 中国 doesn’t have its own nationalistic concerns. As if 中国 didn’t abolish its own ocean going navy about 40 years before Christopher Columbus changed world history. As if 中国 had rendered itself incapable of resisting Euro colonizers who then showed up with superior technology they could not resist. As if US policy and concerns exist in a vacuum occupied only by US domestic politics.
As if Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines aren’t going to have something to say about it.
The “Overseas Chinese” already have a long history of pizzing off the local.
When the Japanese invaded Singapore, Malaysia, etc., one of the first things they did was round up the local Chinese, and shoot them and/or have bayonet or sword practice. Many times with the locals cheering them on.
Looks like nothing I try to post will post but one last time, so is this proof that China’s anti-pollution efforts are starting to work?
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2015-06/13/c_134323818.htm
LOL, it proves the wind can blow the gunk somewhere else. They are working on improving their polluted skies but it’ll be many years before blue skies return, if ever. Los Angeles is a good example. In the 1970’s the smog there was a toxic brown mess and with strong anti-pollution controls it’s better now, some decades later. Smog still obscures visibility but it’s not as unhealthful as it used to be.
List of Bilderberg meetings
From Wikipedia
Since 1954 the Bilderberg Group has held a series of invitation-only meetings:[1]
2008 (June 5–8) Westfields Marriott United States Chantilly, Virginia
—————————————————————————–
Obama, Clinton staying mum on Bilderberg globalist confab
Feinstein claims pair were meeting at her home, campaign declines to ‘get into all the details’
Published: 06/07/2008 at 12:22 AM
WASHINGTON – Sen. Barack Obama ditched his unsuspecting press entourage yesterday to attend a secretive meeting with Sen. Hillary Clinton.
But where did that meeting take place? Was it at the secretive Bilderberg conference in Chantilly,
Va.? So far, neither campaign is talking.
The 56th Bilderberg meeting is still going on this weekend at the Westfields Marriott, according to various sources. But attendance is a well-guarded secret – along with the agenda, which tends toward the promotion of globalist ideas.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2008/06/66442/#EJLrxOxzU3j0Kvyx.99
————————————————————————-
Clinton drops out of U.S. presidential race
Urges supporters to back former rival Barack Obama in November election
CBC News Posted: Jun 07, 2008 12:22 PM ET
Hillary Clinton asked her supporters to give their full backing to former rival Barack Obama as she officially ended her bid for the White House on Saturday.
Senator Hillary Clinton greets supporters as she suspends her campaign for president. ((Associated Press/Ron Edmonds))
“This has been a tough fight, but the Democratic party is a family and now it’s time to restore the ties that bind us together,” she told cheering supporters at the National Building Museum in Washington.
“Today as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won, the extraordinary race he has run and and I throw my full support behind him — and I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me,” she said.
She said she and Obama have faced each other in 22 debates and she has had a “front-row seat to his candidacy” and has seen “his determination, his grace and his grit.”
Obama’s Secret Meeting with Bilderberg Group Exposed - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfyIXqDRT8Y - 314k -
Picked up a copy of “House of Cards” for three bucks at Half Price books.
Favorite quote so far, from Timmay:
“A failure to act would have added to the risk that Americans would face lower incomes, lower home values, higher buying costs for housing, education , other living expenses, lower retirement savings and rising unemployment”
I can only assume that what appliied to Bear Stearns also applied to the rest of Wall Street six months later.
So Wall Street got bailed out. But the wretched refuse experienced the screw job anyway.
“House of Cards” did a masterful job at exposing and detailing the collusion and racketeering between the Fed and JP Morgan.
Here’s what happens when you stop paying your federal student loans
Business Insider - Matthew Speiser - June 12, 2015
Two years after leaving school, students default on their federal loans at a rate of 9.1%, according to a 2013 report by the New York Federal Reserve. That figure jumps to 13.4% at the three-year mark.
VICE recently talked to Heather Jarvis, a self-proclaimed student loan expert who graduated from Duke Law School with $125,000 of debt and has been an advocate for borrowers ever since.
According to Jarvis, if you decide one day to stop paying your federal student loans, after 270 days the loan will default, at which point the government will start garnishing your wages, seizing tax refunds, and intercepting government benefits (like social security) without a court order. The government may also sue if they think it will give them access to your assets.
“They can and do — literally do — pursue debtors to their graves,” Jarvis said.
Jarvis says defaulting on your student loans can also affect your credit and hurt your chances of qualifying for mortgages and loans down the road. She does note that the government cannot put you in jail for owing debt.
TPTB really have a pretty damn evil look about them.
Bilderberg Media Mogul Confronted at Airport
by Paul Joseph Watson | June 14, 2015
Bilderberg Media Mogul and Bankers Confronted At Airport
Published on Jun 14, 2015
Oscar Bronner publisher of Der Standard in Austria and the Bilderberg Host Rudolf Scholten were confronted by Infowars reporter Rob Dew and German reporter Tilman Knechtel as they were editing Tilman’s initial confrontation with Rothschild head Franco Bernabe who is also a Bilderberg Steering Committee member.
Bilderbergers Flee From Press At Innsbruck Airport
Published on Jun 14, 2015
Infowars captures a vast number of Bilderberg attendees on camera at the airport in Innsbruck Austria, as they leave this years Bilderberg meeting.
Rothschild Head Confronted At Bilderberg
Published on Jun 14, 2015
Franco Bernabe Vice Chair of Rothschild Europe and Bilderberg Steering Committee member was confronted at a train station in Innsbruck, Austria as he was leaving the secretive Bilderberg 2015 confab .
http://www.infowars.com/ - 154k -
Get Ready for BRICS plus Germany
Just as much of Europe is stagnant German economic ties with Asia are growing rapidly. Eventually politcs has to catch up with economics
Winston Churchill once said, “I feel lonely without a war.” He also badly missed the loss of empire. Churchill’s successor – the ‘Empire of Chaos’ – now faces the same quandary. Some wars – as in Ukraine, by proxy – are not going so well.
And the loss of empire increasingly manifests itself in myriad moves by selected players aiming towards a multipolar world.
So no wonder US ‘Think Tankland’ is going bonkers, releasing wacky CIA-tinted “forecasts” where Russia is bound to disintegrate, and China is turning into a communist dictatorship. So much (imperial) wishful thinking, so little time to prolong hegemony.
The acronym that all these “forecasts” dare not reveal is BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). BRICS is worse than the plague as far as the ‘Masters of the Universe’ that really control the current - rigged - world system are concerned. True, the BRICS are facing multiple problems. Brazil at the moment is totally paralyzed; a long, complex, self-defeating process, now coupled with intimations of regime change by local ‘Empire of Chaos’ minions. It will take time, but Brazil will rebound.
That leaves the “RIC” – Russia, India and China - in BRICS as the key drivers of change. For all their interlocking discrepancies, they all agree they don’t need to challenge the hegemon directly while aiming for a new multipolar order.
The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) – a key alternative to the IMF enabling developing nations to get rid of the US dollar as a reserve currency – will be operative by the end of this year. The NDB will finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects not only in the BRICS nations but other developing nations. Forget about the Western-controlled World Bank, whose capital and lending capacity are never increased by the so-called Western “powers.” The NDB will be an open institution. BRICS nations will keep 55 percent of the voting power, and outside their domain no country will be allowed more than 7 percent of votes. But crucially, developing nations may also become partners and receive loans.
http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/03/04/4088
And my hunch is that the next Greek bailout will come through the NDB.
The selfish hoarder channels the ancient Greeks in the outlook ahead and what to do with wealth - hoard. cryptocurrency and precious metals
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/june/greek-economy-growth-061115.html
Stanford Report, June 11, 2015
Stanford scholar debunks long-held beliefs about economic growth in ancient Greece
Using a pioneering digitization project that maps out details of life in the ancient world, classics Professor Josiah Ober links the democratic politics and surprisingly robust economy of classical Greek society.
By Angela Becera Vidergar
The Humanities at Stanford
Peter Van Alfen, American Numismatic Association ancient Greek coins
Greek coins hoarded centuries ago yield information on the ancient economy, according to digitized research by Stanford classics Professor Josiah Ober and his students.
Stanford Classics Professor Josiah Ober has long suspected that some of the long-held ideas scholars had about the ancient Greek world could be wrong. Thanks to his innovative digital research project, he now has the data to show it.
Ober says there was previously a developing and crystallizing consensus among classical scholars that there was little to no economic growth in ancient Greece – as was the case in most societies of that time.
But instead of portraying a static, poor Greek economy, Ober’s new findings have shown that from about 1000 to 300 B.C., classical Greece had impressive rates of economic growth that were unparalleled by its contemporaries in antiquity.
Together with a team of other Stanford scholars and students, the professor of classics and of political science digitized huge amounts of archaeological, documentary and literary data. Using these new tools, the team created analyses and visualizations that map out aspects of Greek life, such as how money circulated and how many people lived in cities versus small farms.
At a certain point, Ober explained, the team compiled “a critical amount of evidence and recognized that the old story couldn’t be right.”
So why was ancient Greece so prosperous compared to its contemporaries? In his new book, The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece, Ober links this unexpected prosperity to a relatively democratic, decentralized state system that allowed for innovation and cultural development.
“Basically the answer to that is politics,” Ober argues. “The Greek world is distinctive in having this dispersed structure so that there are many, many independent states rather than a single empire – or rather than a few big and powerful states.”
Visualizing ancient data
Ober, whose research focuses on ancient Greek institutions and political systems, had been puzzled for years by the contradictions of a flat Greek economy. “Why is it that a society that was thought to be relatively poor and not growing was able to do so remarkably much with culture?”
In his office, the professor has an imposingly thick volume that thuds heavily when he sets it down. Ober realized that the massive Inventory of Archaic and Classical Greek City-States (2005) could be used to get answers for some of his questions. However, it was in the form of an encyclopedia, with no searchable data, graphs or tables.
Over several years, Ober enlisted the help of a group of graduate and undergraduate students to digitize the inventory of data, such as population numbers and urbanization levels, into a machine-readable form. The students also tagged the findings with specific geographical locations.
Ober also wanted to make the newly digitized and mapped-out data public. That’s where undergraduate philosophy and computer science major Maya Krishnan came in. Krishnan is currently a Hume Humanities Honor fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center.
“I provided the data and she did the computer work to create the visualizations,” Ober said. The result is a prototype website called POLIS “that allows you to do manipulations of the data yourself.”
These visualizations of data on ancient Greek places and people now allow researchers, and the public, to see what the Greek world looked like at the end of the classical era. The data includes visualizations such as the distribution, population and size of over a thousand city-states and where many famous ancient people lived in various cities at various times.
“It’s extremely difficult to measure economic growth even today,” Ober pointed out. When it comes to the ancient world, “Of course we don’t have anything like the data that, say, Amazon would have of your buying habits.”
To estimate the patterns of growth in ancient times, Ober had to use stand-ins for economic development. These proxies include archeological data such as the population distribution between cities and farms and the floor plans of Greek houses – a set of data recently developed by Ober’s colleague, classics Professor Ian Morris.
Another type of proxy data Ober used is a practice people still fall back on in risky times: hoarding money.
“The tendency of Greeks in times of crisis was to bury the loot,” he explained. “They don’t have the same kinds of investment opportunities we have, but they tend to put their coin under the floor of the house or wherever it might be. People frequently, if the crisis was bad, never came back and got the loot.”
Ober and his team digitized the existing, but not machine-readable, information from Greek coin hoards discovered by amateur metal hunters and archaeologists. Using data like the dates on the coins, Ober is now able to show “that in the later period much more coined money floated in the Greek world than there was early on.”
The combined results of the proxy data point to a rising economy that “increased in terms of total number of people somewhere in excess of 10 times to 15 times over about a 500-year period.” In that same period, he added, “the rate of per capita consumption would have about doubled.”
Ober explained that these rates are very low compared to modern standards. “But compared to other pre-modern economies, this is really spectacular growth.”
Innovation fuels growth
Ober said that the “strikingly democratic” Greek system allowed for key aspects of economic prosperity, including fertile ground for innovation and incentive for people to invest in themselves.
Ober explained that if people think a powerful individual or government is going to reach in and take all the benefits of their effort and education, it’s not a recipe for high growth. “No particular reason for specialization, no particular reason for innovation – keep your head down, do what granddad did, and get on with it.
“On the other hand, if you believe that the rules are fair, that the rules will protect you from bullies in your society and that the government is in a sense on your side,” Ober added, then people feel it’s worthwhile to invest in things like education and specialization.
Another side of the coin is innovation. When hundreds of small states are full of people investing in themselves, the result is high levels of “competition to do things better, to develop more efficient institutions, to develop more efficient technologies and better techniques.”
Ober acknowledges that there have been cases in which highly centralized systems had periods of significant economic growth. He said other scholars “have argued that the only way to create the kind of long-term stability that allows a lot of growth” is to start with “strong forms of centralization that might eventually become more democratic – but first you’ve got to break some heads to get everybody on the same side.”
What Ober argues in his new research is that “the Greek world suggests that’s not the case. That a world in which there is no centralized political organization, no empire running things, is perfectly capable of self-organizing into a condition of high growth.”
Ober said these findings about ancient Greece can help today’s citizens “think about what they can do actively to sustain a social order … that they feel that they do reasonably well in or that they have reasonable hope to do well in.” Or conversely, they might want to “change a political order that they think is restricting their chance to invest in themselves.”
Eventually, the Greek world fell prey to outside forces from Macedon and then Rome. “You’ve got growth, you’ve got increased consumption – what could go wrong?” Ober asked. “Well, some things can go wrong. They can suddenly go wrong. And that’s the story about the fall.”
Ober said the story of ancient Greece is also a cautionary tale, leading readers to “recognize that the world we have is not the world that necessarily we will always have. “
The Selfish Hoarder is liking Texas more and more. Could the next step be a breakaway into a separate nation (with a small central government) and then massive decentralizing of Texas itself? Model it after the ancient Greek system of massive decentralization and prosper!…
http://www.kitco.com/news/2015-06-12/Could-Texas-Be-The-Next-Gold-Nexus.html
Could Texas Be The Next Gold Nexus?
By Neils Christensen
Friday June 12, 2015 09:51
Editor’s Note:In an email update Friday afternoon, State Rep, Giovanni Capriglione informed Kitco News this the legislation to create a gold depository in Texas was signed into law by the Governor Greg Abbott.
(Kitco News) - It is not that Texas does not trust the banks in New York with its gold, or the country’s currency as the state moves forward to create its own precious metals depository, but one politician envisions using gold as another economic tool.
In an exclusive interview with Kitco News, State Rep, Giovanni Capriglione, the driving force behind the new bill to create a state-owned gold depository, said he hopes the new legislation will help to instill confidence in consumers and sees this as the first step for the state to become an “economic nexus.”
Texas State Rep,Giovanni Capriglione
Last week Texas made headlines in the gold market after the government passed House Bill 483, allowing the state’s comptroller’s office to establish a bullion depository. Once the infrastructure is in place, the state then plans to repatriate $1 billion of gold bullion, which is part of the University of Texas Investment Management Company’s endowment portfolio.
Currently the endowment fund’s gold is stored in New York City, in HSBC vaults.
Of course the next step, before any gold or infrastructure can be created, is that the bill has to get approval from the Governor Greg Abbott. However, because of the legislation’s overwhelming support, Capriglione said that he doesn’t see that as a major hurdle. He added that out of a total of 187 votes, his bill only received seven opposition votes.
He admitted that even he was surprised with the results of the vote.
“I haven’t heard any kind of push-back from the Governor so I expect the bill to be signed in the next week or two,” he said.
What makes Capriglione’s bill unique is that the depository will also be able to establish agents to act as intermediaries between financial institutions. This would allow consumers to open up a gold account in one bank and use it to pay for goods.
Although gold can be transferred back and forth between financial institutions, Capriglione said that what makes his legislation unique from other gold banks is that it can’t be loaned or rented.
Capriglione said that he doesn’t believe in replacing the U.S. dollar with gold as a currency, but it gives consumers another options. Instead of just sitting in a vault doing nothing, gold can play an important role in stabilizing an economy, but it needs to be utilized, he said.
“You can now choose, do you want to pay for your items with dollars or pay with gold,” he said. “People should have as many options as possible when it comes to bartering for items.”
The new depository legislation is just the latest step Texas has taken to make gold a more accessible, every-day financial tool. In 2013 the state passed legislation to remove the sales tax on gold, making it easier for consumers to buy and sell gold.
Capriglione added that he is also surprised with the amount of feedback he has received regarding the legislation and that people are already interested in depositing their gold with the state. As to why it has been popular, Capriglione simply said, “because we are the Great State of Texas. We are fearlessly independent and people would trust us to keep their investment safe.”
He explained that Texas, which has central and efficient transportation infrastructure and is located in the heartland of America, could make the state a natural nexus in the gold market.
Of course it’s not just consumers who could benefit from a gold depositor. As part of the legislation, Capriglione included a clause that would allow public institutions to diversify their investments, to include assets like gold.
School districts and municipalities in Texas are required to have some contingency assets and instead of just investing in government bonds with low yields, they can now put some of that money in precious metals. The gold can then be kept safe in the state’s own depository.
Capriglione, said that this will give public institutions important flexibility, especially if inflation starts to pick up. Holding gold as an asset could also create a sense of financial stability for municipalities, which could be leveraged and attract more investment dollars.
“I see gold as an important economic tool that people should be able to use,” he said. “In This day and age it is important for public institutions like schools or municipalities to have some economic stability.”
Isn’t Texas mostly underwater these days?
According to historical averages the rainiest months are May and June in southern Texas.
moves in 2012
Where Americans are moving to and from, in one gorgeous chart
by
David Jarman
Daily Kos
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/31/1256871/-Where-Americans-are-moving-to-and-from-in-one-gorgeous-chart?detail=emailclassic#
Keeeeey-rash…
Craig Stephen’s This Week in China
Opinion: China’s MSCI reality check is too big to ignore
By Craig Stephen
Published: June 14, 2015 11:36 p.m. ET
Reuters
A brokerage house in Fuyang, China.
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — In recent weeks, much of the debate on China has centered on the idea that it is “too big to be ignored,” meaning the rest of the world would inevitably need to own its equities and currency. But now it’s set for a reality check.
In the same week that Chinese A-shares failed to be included in MSCI’s emerging-market benchmark, it was also revealed that global investors pulled $7.9 billion out of Asia. This was the biggest weekly withdrawal in almost 15 years, according to data provider EPFR Global, and the majority reportedly related to China.
…
http://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/39sq40/name_country_sector_stock_that_you_would_not/
phony scandals