Bits Bucket for July 6, 2015
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
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Now reality is about to sent in, the Germans will extract a deal at least as bad as the one rejected but more damage will be done to the Greek economy due to uncertainty and lack of liquidity:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/06/eurozone-greece-latest-idUSL8N0ZM12R20150706
I’m trying read up on the Greece crisis, but the news articles aren’t telling me what I want to know.
Who has more to lose, the Greeks who need the actual money? Or the EU which is about to lose billions as Greek bonds become worthless? Does the EU hold so many Greek bonds that they can’t absorb the loss themselves? And what about the derivatives wild card?
How did the EU handle the kiss-off from Iceland? Did the EU absorb the loss too? What did the Icelandic people do? Starve for a while?
One disturbing piece of news (from the reuters article) is that Greek hospitals owe 1.1 billion to pharma companies. I thought that all this debt was only to the EU for pensions. Surely Greece’s tourism and olive oil can keep making payments on “stuff” like medicines?
You cannot compare Greece to either Ireland or Iceland in terms of its options. Both Ireland and Iceland had basically sound economies but very reckless banks. Iceland let those banks go out of business, lost access to capital markets but its industries could generate sufficient profits to fund capital investments. Ireland went the other direction since it believed its industries needed access to Europe and the capital markets. It made the bank’s debts its debts. Both countries have done well. Greece has no options since not only is it deeply indebted, it did not create viable industries during its debt spree. You cannot run an economy on olive oil and feta cheese exports and tourism. BTW, I love both olive oil and feta cheese.
Seems like tourism, agriculture, and their still very large shipping industry should be an adequate economic base for a nation of less than 11 million people. What happens when the Chinese get a taste for olive oil?
Tourism only works for small islands, their agricultural industry is minor and their shipping industry is a small shadow of its former self. They will literally starve if they try to go it alone.
Tourism only works for small islands
Greece is a nation of small islands and a small mainland with a long coastline.
their agricultural industry is minor
“In 2010, Greece was the European Union’s largest producer of cotton (183,800 tons) and pistachios (8,000 tons)[163] and ranked second in the production of rice (229,500 tons)[163] and olives (147,500 tons),[164] third in the production of figs (11,000 tons) and [164] almonds (44,000 tons),[164] tomatoes (1,400,000 tons),[164] and watermelons (578,400 tons)[164] and fourth in the production of tobacco (22,000 tons).[163] Agriculture contributes 3.8% of the country’s GDP and employs 12.4% of the country’s labor force.”
wikipedia
their shipping industry is a small shadow of its former self
“According to a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report in 2011, the Greek merchant navy is the largest in the world at 16.2% of the world’s total capacity,[112] up from 15.96% in 2010.[167] This is a drop from the equivalent number in 2006, which was 18.2%.[168] The total tonnage of the country’s merchant fleet is 202 million dwt, ranked 1st in the world.[112]”
wikipedia
this says it all, 3.8% of a very small GDP.
Agriculture contributes 3.8% of the country’s GDP and employs 12.4% of the country’s labor force.”
“Seems like tourism, agriculture, and their still very large shipping industry should be an adequate economic base for a nation of less than 11 million people”
That is true; at 11 million people, that is about the size of North and South Carolina. Could those two states absorb $250 billion in debt?
According to a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report in 2011, the Greek merchant navy is the largest in the world at 16.2% of the world’s total capacity
The Greeks use to build the ships now for the most part they only fly the Greek flag it adds very little to the Greek economy, otherwise they would not be so broke they cannot even meet current obligations never mind the debt.
“Seems like tourism, agriculture, and their still very large shipping industry should be an adequate economic base for a nation of less than 11 million people”
That is true; at 11 million people, that is about the size of North and South Carolina. Could those two states absorb $250 billion in debt?
And the Carolinas have more industry than Greece. Meanwhile, NC has about 60B of debt and SC has 54B. Of course, that doesn’t include the two state’s share of Federal debt, which is 800B.
http://www.lowtax.net/information/greece/greece-ships-and-ship-management-companies.html
When this first started the Greeks should have left the Euro zone, adopted their own currency allowed it to drop in value and adopted Reaganomics to save the industry instead they wanted the free sh#t from the Euro zone, it is too late for them, the industry is gone:
http://www.ibtimes.com/greek-economy-mend-shipbuilding-one-its-oldest-industries-final-collapse-1566846
They did go with Voodoo Economics, (see debts).
They should go back to being fisherman and farmers, live a simple life, no pensions. (see Cuba)
I agree Iceland’s investments in alternative energies have paid off handsomely, we should all take note, but there is this odd factoid:
“Affected by the ongoing worldwide financial crisis, [Iceland's] entire banking system systemically failed in October 2008, leading to a severe depression, substantial political unrest, the Icesave dispute, and the institution of capital controls. The economy has since made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism.[16][17][18]
LolaLOL
You cannot run an economy on olive oil and feta cheese exports and tourism.
You can run on an economy on stuff like that, just not a very prosperous one. On Iceland’s main exports is fish.
Iceland is a country with a population far smaller than Greece’s population and this is what allowed it to survive the collapsing banks:
Iceland is the world’s largest electricity producer per capita.[19] The presence of abundant electrical power due to Iceland’s geothermal and hydroelectric energy sources has led to the growth of the manufacturing sector. Power-intensive industries, which are the largest components of the manufacturing sector, produce mainly for export. Manufactured products constituted 36% of all merchandise exports, an increase from the 1997 figure of 22%. Power-intensive products’ share of merchandise exports is 21%, compared to 12% in 1997.[24]
You also can’t run an economy for very long on constructing entire cities filled with empty buildings.
Just sayin’…
no prob as threy have single payor FREE-er hc
Minister No More!
Posted on July 6, 2015 by yanisv
The referendum of 5th July will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage.
Like all struggles for democratic rights, so too this historic rejection of the Eurogroup’s 25th June ultimatum comes with a large price tag attached. It is, therefore, essential that the great capital bestowed upon our government by the splendid NO vote be invested immediately into a YES to a proper resolution – to an agreement that involves debt restructuring, less austerity, redistribution in favour of the needy, and real reforms.
Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.
I consider it my duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum.
And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.
We of the Left know how to act collectively with no care for the privileges of office. I shall support fully Prime Minister Tsipras, the new Minister of Finance, and our government.
The superhuman effort to honour the brave people of Greece, and the famous OXI (NO) that they granted to democrats the world over, is just beginning.
http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/07/06/minister-no-more/#more-8433
Lord save me from heroes and martyrs.
No vote = more free shit.
Q: Do you want the free shit to stop flowing?
Vote: No!
Exactly. They did not vote to stop living on handouts leave the Euro zone, devalue their currency and develop self sufficient industry. Thus, they have just made life more difficult for themselves since the Euro zone did not authorize more free sh#t.
I disagree. No vote = no indentured servitude. More austerity locks in a bleak future of declining GDP. See my other comment with a link to Krugman’s analysis that proves the economic folly of austerity.
If Krugman knew what he was talking about the Obama recovery would have been stronger than Reagan’s recovery, instead Reagan achieved in a couple of years more growth than Obama will over eight. Obama has slain the liberal lie that Reagan’s recovery was just about spending. Obama will have added just about as much debt as all the presidents combined a truly awesome achievement, given W’s best efforts. Under Obama the worker participation rate is back to the Carter era. The liberal excuse about an older population is just lame, people are far healthier these days in their 60s and would work if there was something more to do than be a Walmart greater. Plus back in the 70s many religious groups such as Mormons and fundamentalist protestants actively discouraged women from working, that has largely ended that change alone should have precluded the U.S. from every sinking back to those levels.
… Obama’s recovery was weak because the stimulus was too small and worse, much of the money was transfer payments to state and local governments. Far too little was spent on projects with a payback, like infrastructure. Reagan? Even fellow Republicans called his programs “voodoo economics.”
Even fellow Republicans called his programs “voodoo economics.”
Only the globalists like Bush. The success of it cannot be denied. Reagan cured stagflation, I know Brazil will not be able to do that unless it adopts Reaganomics. But instead Brazil is taking its advice from people like Krugman so look out below.
Yes, Reagan cured Jimmy Carter’s balanced budget problem. That is, he plunged the country into debt and it has continued unabated since then.
Good old “Balance Budget Jimmy”.
Good old high unemployment high inflation Jimmy.
Remember, that was Nixon’s inflation. But hey, my money was worth a whole lot more then than now. Want to check the price of a nice colonial in metro DC in 1978 vs right now?
And the unemployment did not start until Mr. Volker clamped down on the money supply in Reagan’s first term. Please check your facts.
Also, no stupid wars with Jimmy and no selling arms to our enemies like Iran. In fact Iran hated Jimmy. Plus Billy took a piss on the wailing wall. All good stuff.
The late 70’s were a great time to be a young white man on the make.
There’s nonsense in nearly every sentence of your post at 2015-07-06 08:22:45.
Obama has slain the liberal lie that Reagan’s recovery was just about spending.
Yeah, it was also about his tax cuts, the other way that he blew up the deficit.
Under Obama the worker participation rate is back to the Carter era. The liberal excuse about an older population is just lame, people are far healthier these days in their 60s and would work if there was something more to do than be a Walmart greater.
I just read something recently about this. A lot of in the 40s or 50s say that they want to work until their late 60s or even to the age of 70. What happens is that when they get into their 60s there’s often a health issue with an individual of his spouse which prevents him or her from working as long as they planned, so the typical retirement age hasn’t actually increased much in recent years. There’s also the problem of age discrimination.
What are you smoking Cracker Bob? Jimmy Carter has the dubious honor of disproving the Phillip’ curve the belief that high inflation was impossible in times of high unemployment.
The last year of Ford Administration the inflation rate in 1976 was 5.75% and the last year of Carter’s administration, 1980, the inflation rate was 13.58% of course they both were calculated under the old method before our government decided to hide inflation.
Now on unemployment all Carter did was to keep unemployment high, it was 7.50% on January 1st 1977 and January 1, 1981.
I read somewhere that the debt to GDP ratio fell under both Carter and Clinton, while it rose during the administrations of Ford, Reagan and both Bushes.
It was still fun.
I read somewhere that the debt to GDP ratio fell under both Carter and Clinton, while it rose during the administrations of Ford, Reagan and both Bushes.
Any advantage they may have had over the Republicans has been wiped out by many times under Obama.
maybe Bama will forgive their debt like w student loans
“forgiveness”= make the honkey (taxpayer) pay
Sounds like there will be a bail out after all, one more to Greece’s liking.
Sounds more like they intend to make the Greeks slowly strangle to death:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150706/eu–greece-bailout-the_latest-835d02b519.html
Excerpt:
9:05 p.m.
The European Central Bank says it is keeping the level of emergency credit to Greek banks unchanged, leaving the banks under increasing pressure as they try to cope with cash withdrawals.
Rudolf E. Havenstein @RudyHavenstein
Wait - Chinese Commies are printing money to buy stocks to boost market to help a small segment of the population.? pic.twitter.com/2GmIZlCZdP
7:08 PM - 5 Jul 2015
China’s actions to halt crashing stock market eerily reminiscent of US actions preceding the 1929 crash. T-I-M-B-E-R….
http://www.businessinsider.com/it-looks-like-china-is-having-its-own-wall-street-crash-and-its-using-the-same-tactics-to-fight-back-2015-7
Why can’t China do the prop up thing? We do it here. Crashes aren’t allowed to happen when money can be printed.
Exactly. They don’t even need to print money. The order that is used to keep an economy going is this: (1) Cut interest rates (2) spend more money if you have low federal government debt China around 23% the U.S. around 100% debt to GDP ratio (3) print money quantitative easing. China is at stage one, while we have maxed out all three options. BTW yesterday I said China’s external debt is 23% while the U.S. is the high nineties, that was a mistake, as I have said numerous times on this board China’s external debt is around 6.5% of its GDP.
I continue to be amazed at the two contradictory themes by the majority of this board. (1) The Chinese are flat broke, the surging standard of living is just communist propaganda (2) The Chinese are buying up real estate all over the world driving up prices.
They do not even seem to understand the contradiction in their posts. I do agree with (2) but that is because it is consistent with my view that the Chinese are getting much wealthier as a group due to still strong GDP growth albeit being more in internal services and high tech than the traditional industries which are stagnant to declining. Some of this board make the feeble attempt to reconcile the two themes by saying that it is just the few rich that are now fleeing China with their ill gotten gains. However, while that is partially true it does not explain how more and more Chinese seem to be able to buy western property and why the purchases show no signs of slowing down.
You don’t seem to understand the propaganda in your posts.
I subscribe to 3), which is: We are seeing “peak China.” The era of dramatic strong growth is over. Not a sharp peak, more like a gentle cresting of a hill. They are transitioning into a mature, slow-grower like the US and EU. And, like the US and EU, to keep things going they are and will rely on more financial instruments to keep the musical chairs going.
The real danger to China is their banks suck and I’m not sure they know how to play the financial paper game like our institutions do.
China Bulls Lured by State Support Are Already Sitting on Losses
by Kyoungwha Kim
July 5, 2015 — 8:17 PM PDT
Updated on July 6, 2015 — 12:29 AM PDT
The biggest intraday surge in Chinese stocks since 2008 has turned into a money-losing day for investors who piled in at the height of a rally sparked by government measures to prop up prices.
The Shanghai Composite Index, which jumped 7.8 percent at the open on Monday, pared its advance to 2.4 percent by the close. More than 800 of the index’s 1,106 shares are now trading lower than their volume-weighted average prices. The ChiNext index of small-cap stocks lost 4.3 percent, while the Shenzhen Composite Index sank 2.7 percent.
Mainland shares surged at the start of trading after authorities unveiled a series of market-boosting measures, brokerages pledged to buy shares and state-run media encouraged China’s 90 million stock investors to have confidence in the market. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. advised clients to sell on rallies.
“I don’t know who supported the market at the open but they are sitting on intraday losses already,” Paul Chan, the Hong Kong-based chief investment officer for Asia ex-Japan at Invesco Ltd., said by phone. “The market is quite skeptical about those measures. It is very difficult to stabilize a leveraged market, dominated by retail investors. I don’t know how this will pan out but in near term, it’s just going to expand more volatility.”
…
You missed my view:
Managed capitalism is problematic, especially when those in local/regional power have an incentive to hit the numbers mandated by the central government.
As such, there is huge malinvestment throughout the Chinese economy, and ultimately that will cause problems that are probably not apparent to anyone yet.
“…that are probably not apparent to anyone yet.”
Do you mean to blind people who cannot view the photographs of empty high rise housing buildings?
It didn’t work out last week, as the China stock market crash continued despite loudly trumpeted plunge protection measures.
Perhaps this week is different?
Why can’t China do the prop up thing? We do it here.
Perhaps because China is not the world’s financial “safe haven”. When things get scary around the globe, the money flows here, and has to get parked somewhere, like the stock and bond markets. Plus being the “safe haven” allows us to get away with printing more money and keeping interest rates near zero.
Perhaps because China is not the world’s financial “safe haven”.
Do you think that the U.S. being a safe haven is a God given right or something that has to be earned? We are living off past glories and the world does not consider as quite the safe haven we were thirty years ago. China is running massive trade surpluses while we are running massive trade deficits, they are becoming a safe haven while we are losing our status due to the massive trade surpluses and massive budget deficits, where is that balanced budget Obama promised?
America exported bad behaviors.
they are becoming a safe haven
Capital is never safe in a totalitarian communist nation. It is always at risk of confiscation!
No disagreement but you assume that they cannot evolve from here, I see a Singapore developing basically a benevolent dictatorship which does respect property rights.
Do you think that the U.S. being a safe haven is a God given right or something that has to be earned?
Ask all the Chicoms who are expatriating their money here why they are doing it. If China was indeed a safe haven, we would not be seeing the torrent of capital fleeing China.
Fleeing or investing money for a better return? It makes a huge difference. China literally has too much savings so the Chinese cannot get a decent return in their country.
Not to mention the pollution problem in China they are ignoring the clean up costs and long term health problems for their people.
Ckuck Fina.
ABQDan - why are you not following the ABQ market? Do you own or rent? ABQ is so cheap right now.
Plus being the “safe haven” allows us to get away with printing more money and keeping interest rates near zero.”
I expect just like the WW2 generation sold out to the boomers trading their responsibilities for the best retirement package on the planet the Boomers in turn will trade real wealth in the US for a shadow of what they gave the greatest generation.
poor long term thinking all around on Americas part.
Watch and learn, ‘Muricans.
http://www.businessinsider.com/greece-referendum-result-and-the-meaning-of-debt-2015-7
A ha! This is what I wanted to know.
——————————-
“There is another key fact that the Greeks are keenly aware of (but which everyone else has forgotten). This debt was initially owed to private investment banks, like Goldman Sachs. But the IMF and the ECB made the suicidal decision to let those private banks transfer that debt to EU institutions and the IMF to “rescue” Greece. As Business Insider reported back in April, former ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet insisted that the debt transfer take place:
The ECB president “blew up,” according to one attendee. “Trichet said, ‘We are an economic and monetary union, and there must be no debt restructuring!’” this person recalled. “He was shouting.”
The result was that the ECB made this catastrophically stupid deal with Greece, according to our April report:
And so there was no restructuring agreed for Greece. The country paid off its immediate debts to the private financial sector — investment banks, basically — and replacement debt was laid onto European taxpayers. The government agreed to a package of harsh government spending cuts and structural reforms in exchange for loans totalling €110 billion over three years.”
———————–
DAMMIT. I remember noises about Goldman Sachs buying off those banking ministers. Now I see why … and I also see why that errant trader got on TV in 2011 and said “Governments don’t rule the world, Goldman Sach rules the world.” GS bought the EU/IMF in order to cut to the front of the line for what’s left of Greece’s meager economy. If these governments were really governments, they would put GS on trial for crimes against humanity and behead it.
Next question… It looks like GS transferred only Greece’s debt to the EU/IMF. What about Spain, Italy, Portugal and other indebted EU countries? Does GS still own that debt? If so, the EU still has a chance to stick it to GS.
Nice work, oxide.
What about me? Nice work on my end, no?
LOL! OK, that’s just too funny right there, I don’t care who y’are.
That article probably dramatically overstates how Greek debt was owned by Goldman Sachs. Most of the debt was probably owned by financial institutions in the Eurozone, such as French insurance companies, Dutch pension funds and so forth.
Does Lehrer keep her 400k tax free gig?
Interesting perspective from the Business Insider article.
“In fact, a huge chunk of the country’s tax-collection problems stem from the fact that there are two and a half times more self-employed and small-business people in Greece than there are in the average country.
If Greece were more socialist — more like Germany, with its giant corporations that have massive unionised workforces paying taxes off their payrolls — then tax collection would be a lot higher in Greece.”
In some ways Greece is like the USA; its people want government bennies but don’t want to pay for them. However, unlike the USA, Greece not have a currency of its own and while the Drachma might be coming back, it won’t become the world’s reserve currency.
Another difference is that Greece has no industry to speak of. While US industry has been hollowed out we still make stuff here: cars, airplanes, high end electronics, software, petrochemicals, chemicals, etc. We are also are producing record amounts of oil. The Greeks … not so much
It is true but it is also true that we are running massive deficits in both our trade and current account balances that and the status of being a reserve currency is not sustainable. Neither is a close to a twenty trillion dollar debt which exceeds our GDP, thanks Obama, you showed those Bush presidents how to really run up a debt and have nothing to show for it. Bottom line after all this debt Colorado, do you think that United State’s infrastructure has substantially improved under Obama? Wasn’t that the promise of the stimulus?
The main purpose of the stimulus was to stimulate the economy, i.e. put people to work. If you look at this, you’ll see that larger of the stimulus went to tax relief than to infrastructure spending.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009
I know where it went but I also remember how Obama sold it to the public. But you are consistently not troubled by Obama’s lies whether on Obamacare, the stimulus or whether we are “winning” the war against ISIS or any other issue.
I don’t recall how Obama tried to sell it. It sounds unlikely that he would claim that it was all infrastructure spending at the time that the bill was being debated in Congress. His opponents would be easily able to show that most of the spending would go to other things.
+1 MM
thanks for the truth
Thank you Cali. LOL
http://www.christianpost.com/news/stimulus-money-for-shovel-ready-projects-where-did-it-go-92666/
Even NPR says that Obama made it one of the main arguments for the stimulus:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100295436
Excerpt from NPR link:
As President Obama urges Congress to pass the $800 billion-plus stimulus package, one of his favorite selling points is the thousands of projects nationwide that he calls “shovel ready” — meaning planning is complete, approvals are secured and people could be put to work right away once funding is in place.
There is no formal definition for shovel ready. The Federal Highway Administration says it doesn’t use the phrase. Its preferred term is “ready to go,” according to acting administrator Jeff Paniati.
That means a state has already done the preliminary work for that project, he says.
“They’ve addressed all the environmental requirements as required,” Paniati says. “They’ve done the necessary public outreach. In many cases, the design work is already completed … and that they’re on an approved state list.”
One example of a shovel-ready project is the Gallows Road-Lee Highway intersection in the notoriously traffic-clogged suburbs of Northern Virginia outside Washington, D.C. The state wants to widen the roads and has done some of the preliminary work, but the project is on hold because Virginia doesn’t have the final $32 million needed to complete it.
Porkulus
It wasn’t shovel ready it was payback ready.
Yes, and the lesson learned from Greece is: austerity makes debtors less likely to pay and increases the risk of default. Paul Krugman lays it all out here in his blog post: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com//2015/07/05/austerity-arithmetic/
The logic and the economics are undeniable. When austerity measures are implemented, the average citizen has less money to spend. Demand for goods falls, revenue at businesses fall, profits decline. GDP declines. Tax revenue falls. Austerity is a negative stimulus, it shrinks the economy and increases the risk of default.
Why has it worked in Ireland? Austerity is not anyone’s first choice, it is what you have to do when you have run out of options. Government should have been cut prior to the private industry sector being destroyed but like here they liked the free sh#t too much. The conservative government almost had them back, Greece had started to grow, but the people missed the free sh#t too much and voted in a left wing government that has finished destroying the economy.
WSJ: the Irish “austerity” wasn’t much austerity at all
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/12/13/irish-austerity-is-a-myth-economists-write/
Typical liberal article ignore some of the biggest costs, the austerity started before the austerity package even started since they cost of the bailout held down other expenditures, funny how the liberals in this country call flat expenditures brutal austerity, Obama rails against sequestration while overall expenditures increase, also why doesn’t a liberal strip out Ws loans to the banks since they were paid backed when they compare deficits, the only thing liberals are good out is spin:
“But Fathom argue that if you strip out the overlooked bank support from 2009, spending hasn’t changed much over subsequent years”
Potatoes for breakfast, lunch & dinner.
today’s factoid:
In Peru you can find more than more than 3800 varieties of potatoes.
if Nicaragua/Guatemala/Uruguay/Jamaica/ can make it, so can Greece.
Ireland may have had some good growth recently, but its unemployment rate is still close to 10%. That would be even higher if the Irish didn’t have a tradition of emigrating during economic downturns.
Wow, that’s not good. They need to take down all those Confederate flags up there.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/06/us/chicago-violent-weekend/
I was watching the National Geographic channel yesterday and they were running a series titled, “Drugs Inc.”
A couple of episodes were set in Chicago. Evidently the street gangs use the background noise of fireworks on the 4th of July as a cover for shootings to settle scores that have been brewing over the previous months.
The premise is that with all the firecrackers going off, gunshots won’t sound out of the ordinary.
I don’t have NatGeo, we’re non-cable household here. But I’ll check out Netflix, a lot of these documentaries end up there. Also hulu.
With the exception of the 60 minutes segment that reported on Vermont’s widespread heroin problem, the media is very low key about the issue. It affects a whole lot more than Vermont. Much of the Northeast has a major heroin problem in the school systems. And not just the poor districts, it’s rampant in the upper class schools as well. Ohio is affected as well. And the local media here has been brave enough to report on the problem in Manatee County, just south of us.
Oh, my, WHEREVER could all that heroin be coming from?
And, there’s a REAL ESTATE angle to all this.
Remember this little housing bubble gem: Kelo vs City of New London? The eminent domain case that went to the Supreme Court and New London took the property, displaced some homeowners and handed it over to the developer?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/20/seized-property-sits-vacant-nine-years-after-landmark-eminent-domain-case/
So let me explain how this all ties in. My sis recently drove up to New London to drop a friend off at the ferry that goes over to Fisher’s Island and Block Island. They had some time before departure, so they took a walk around the area. After observing that every other shop or business was boarded up or empty, they decided to take a walk out on one of the concrete jetties that had been constructed (and that’s about as far as any “redevelopment” went).
So in the distance, my sis sees two young men sitting on a bench on the jetty and what looks like a suitcase or large duffel bag in front of them. She figures they’re waiting for the ferry, too. As they walk along and get closer to the bench, a head pops up from what she thought was a piece of luggage. They get closer and realize the “luggage” is actually a young woman orally servicing the two young men early on a fine summer’s day. They looked to be high school age, and the girl looked to be pretty strung out. My sister figures she was earning her next fix. She and her friend hastily turned around and walk back.
Anyway, so that’s what’s become of Kelo vs. New London. A deteriorating waterfront with brand new concrete jetties so strung out high schoolers can earn their next fix.
Is SCOTUS the drizzlin’ squirts, or what? Between Kelo, Citizens’ United, Obamakare and Rainbow nation, lotsa decrees/defining of stuff and bench legislation.
All that heroin (or “heron” as they say on those hood documentaries) comes from that wonderful country that Bush/Cheney freed from the Taliban. Thank you Mr. Cheney for freeing up the Muslim farmers to flood our country with “heron”.
Really you have not heard of black tar heroin from Mexico that pours across our porous borders and is distributed by illegals many of whom are protected by Obama’s amnesty?
http://www.addiction.com/3316/mexican-black-tar-heroin-deadly-substitute-oxycontin/
Barack Obama was born in Africa
Yeah, that’s what I’ve been reading, the Mexican heroin. Not as good as the Afghan stuff, but it’s cheap, strong and plentiful.
When I see a bunch of the local south of the border folks driving some pretty tricked out SUVs, makes me wonder. They aren’t paying for those with field and construction work, that’s for sure.
Anyway the Hillsborough/Manatee County back country corridor east of rte 301 is notorious for drug and even human trafficking, according to the local sheriff’s office. We had some friends who used to have a small farm back there. It’s like a dense semi-tropical jungle dotted with mobile homes, farms and gated compounds with concrete block buildings. Very easy to hide activity.
Thanks to Bush and Obama the borders have more guards then ever.
The premise is that with all the firecrackers going off, gunshots won’t sound out of the ordinary.
Inconceivable! With Chicago having some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, there is simply no way thugs could get their hands on any. I mean, that’s the point of gun control laws, no? It can’t just be to leave the honest portion of the population disarmed and helpless in the face of rampant thuggery.
Oh, wait….
Not very civilized behavior to people who suddenly have access to affordable health care.
Gee, I couldn’t find any reference to healthcare in the story.
I don’t get the connection. Gang Bangers run amok are caused by Obamacare?
Maybe they were suffering from ailments that kept them lying in bed most of the time. Now that they’ve received treatment thanks to Obamacare, they’re healthy and full of energy and out on the streets causing trouble.
That was on CNN, was it? I thought that MSM never covered crime in Chicago. Is someone now going to claim that CNN is not part of the MSM.
All part of the 5 Year Plan:
Zeroing in on empty homes, China throws developers a lifeline
Reuters By Koh Gui Qing
6 hours ago
Apartment blocks and office buildings are pictured in Beijing .
By Koh Gui Qing
BEIJING (Reuters) - Dismayed by the millions of unsold homes in China’s troubled real estate market, the Chinese government is taking matters into its own hands: by buying some properties and turning them into public housing. Like a white knight riding to the rescue of distressed developers, a handful of local governments are snapping up thousands of empty homes at hefty discounts and re-selling them to the country’s poorest households.
This cannot be a cure-all for China’s huge supply overhang. At the end of May, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, unsold residential floor space totaled 657 square kilometers - the most unsold space in at least two years, and covering an area nearly the size of Singapore.
All of this comes with a caveat: government purchases of homes - done with discounts averaging between 10 percent and 52 percent - add to a mountain of public debt and do little to discourage the next housing bubble. But the potential benefits are alluring, leading authorities in some of China’s worst-performing property markets to experiment with mass purchases of homes.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/zeroing-empty-homes-china-throws-developers-lifeline-210739138–sector.html
Shoeshine boy moment: Mad Money Jim Cramer warns that market is too crazy at this point to buy the dip.
Cramer: Danger alert—don’t buy on the market dip
Abigail Stevenson
Monday, 29 Jun 2015 | 6:10 PM ET
CNBC.com
Jim Cramer can see all of the chaos happening around the world right now, and there is just too much investor complacency going on for his taste. In fact, he doesn’t want to buy anything.
And while the “Mad Money” host is a big fan of buying stocks on a dip, what happened in the market on Monday is far from a dip, in his opinion.
“Look, I believe that dips are good buying opportunities, but do you mind if we at least get a dip first? There’s a lot of insanity in this tape, specifically the insane level of complacency that buyers exhibited toward the other markets around the world this very morning,” Cramer said. (Tweet This)
So, what are these signs of complacency that Cramer says have led to insanity in the market?
No. 1 Greece: Most investors actually thought that Greece was really negotiating in good faith. Who the heck gave them that idea? To think that the Greek government would agree to any deal that didn’t wipe out all of its debt is pure insanity to Cramer.
In fact, Cramer is disappointed with the previous compromise put in place. Five years ago, the Greeks should have either defaulted or cut their government size, trimmed pensions and paid more taxes.
The kick-the-can, middle-ground approach has been a ridiculous failure. The largest sign of complacency to Cramer was the fact that people thought that a deal could have been put in place, even though both the Germans and the Greeks clearly stand on separate sides.
No. 2 Market impact: The fact that the U.S. market declined on Monday shows that it cannot withstand Europe being down 4 percent. The big decline shows that there will be an economic impact from Greece to the U.S.
“I know how small Greece is, but I’m surprised that the Germans didn’t have a better handle on the short-term economic impact for Europe,” Cramer said. (Tweet This)
That means that U.S. companies with sales in Europe will take a hit this quarter.
No. 3 The Fed: Cramer’s mind was totally boggled when he saw New York Fed President William Dudley say on Monday that a Fed rate hike for September is on the table. Really? He had to say that on Monday of all days? This news was not that imperative. Congratulations, Bill Dudley, you helped to bring the market down on Monday.
No. 4 World vs. Greece: Cramer is concerned that the world hasn’t realigned while Greece is falling apart. While most people have gotten used to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras scowling at EU leaders, Cramer remembers one time last month when he was all smiles on a visit to Russia.
At that time Tspiras gave a resounding speech trashing the EU and expressing loyalty to Russia. Most people disregarded it because they assume that Russia is bankrupt due to Western sanctions. That is total nonsense to Cramer; it has plenty of cash.
Cramer is concerned that the interactions on Russia’s impact with Venezuela, China and the Greeks have gone completely unnoticed. He thinks the world needs to have this on its radar.
No. 5 Stocks bounce: The “Mad Money” host was most concerned that stocks bounced down so easily on Monday. Most of the companies that he follows have stocks that have been breaking down ever since the dollar stopped going down, so it’s reassuring that the euro is going back up. However, companies in the U.S. cannot afford to have one more big economic decline in Europe.
“I think we need to go lower before this level of complacency is purged. I couldn’t believe how many people on the floor of the exchange told me they were buying the first dip,” Cramer said.
No. 6 Puerto Rico: Did people really think that Puerto Rico wouldn’t matter? There are investors out there who have spent a fortune buying bonds in Puerto Rico, and many hedge funds borrowed money to buy them. That means there is plenty more pain ahead; Cramer always says that it is the margined hedge funds that cause the most pain.
No. 7 The world: The rest of the world is in a state of total chaos, as well! What the heck is going on with China? It had the largest bull market in history, and now investors are being hammered. Even Alibaba is sinking like a stone. Cramer is also concerned with Latin America, Canada and Mexico, too.
It is important to note that this list of warning signs does not mean that the U.S. is headed into another Lehman Brothers situation. That was systematic risk, but this is earnings risk and geopolitical risk.
However, Cramer recommended that investors at least wait for a real dip before buying. He is siding with prudence on this one.
…
In defense of China’s central bank, at least they come right out and loudly announce when they are going to use a massive blast of liquidity to prop up the stock market. No stealth intervention for them…
World Asia China News
China’s Central Bank to Provide Liquidity to Help Stabilize Stock Market
Move comes as Chinese authorities scramble to stem stock-market slide
The People’s Bank of China headquarters in Beijing on June 13.
Photo: Zuma Press
By Lingling Wei
July 5, 2015 9:05 a.m. ET
BEIJING—China’s central bank will provide liquidity to help stabilize the country’s crumbling stock market, according to a statement by China’s top securities regulator late Sunday.
The People’s Bank of China will inject capital into China Securities Finance Corp., which is owned by the securities regulator, according to the statement by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The company will then use the funds to expand brokerages’ business of financing investors’ stock purchases.
The CSRC said Friday it would dramatically increase the company’s capital to 100 billion yuan ($16.1 billion) from the current 24 billion yuan. The exact amount to come from the central bank hasn’t been disclosed.
The latest move comes as Chinese authorities are scrambling to stem a stock-market slide that officials fear could spread to other parts of the world’s second-largest economy.
Also late Sunday, a unit of China’s giant sovereign-wealth fund, Central Huijin, said it recently purchased exchange-traded funds and will continue to do so, another measure aimed at stabilizing the market.
And people like Goldman Sachs are quite upset about it. Such information should only go to a few so they can profit from it. (sarcasm off).
I’m guessing they are reloading their China shorts about now…
And I am guessing unlike the U.S. the Chinese government will not let them loot small shareholders.
Speaking of China shorts, copper & oil both sold off big today. Looks to me like the margin calls are going out in China and commodities are getting dumped to cover those bad stock market bets.
Chicago weekend tally…..
3x last weekend…..
Total of 82 shootings including surrounding unincorporated areas…..
Where is the MSM, otrauma and Moochelle in this - Remember when Moochelle was here a couple of years ago the summer before the election ginning up the base over the killing of that little girl in one Chicago’s parks? This goes on EVERY FRIGGIN WEEKEND HERE!!!
You don’t want to move here - you will not like it!!!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-violence-20150706-story.html
You know since the average resident of Chicago likes free sh#t about as much as the average Greek, why don’t we arrange a swap, all Obama supporters from Chicago go to Greece permanently renouncing their citizenship or illegal alien status and we pay Greece’s debt. In the long run it will save us money.
Doesn’t everyone like free sh#t?
82 shootings? That’s racis
Where is the MSM
Someone posted a link to a CNN story. Are you happy now?
From China Daily, he should have just jumped the fence like illegals do, then he could have had free medical care:
After spending about two months in California receiving medical treatment and recovering, 64-year-old Wu Ming finally bounced back to health.
Wu started to feel physical discomfort in 2012, but an examination in a local hospital in Shanghai showed nothing abnormal. It wasn’t until September 2013 that he was diagnosed with late-stage prostate cancer.
Learning that traditional treatment would do little to the disease, Wu turned to Shanghai-based MEGA Healthcare in September 2014, and two months later received a particle therapy treatment in the United States.
Founded in March 2013, MEGA Healthcare helps people receive medical treatment overseas. Across China, the number of such agencies is nearly 30.
Wu is but one of an increasing number of Chinese willing to pay more for overseas healthcare and treatment. The number of people going abroad for medical treatment has doubled to 40 million in six years since 2006, and in 2013, their total spending reached $438.6 billion. This made up 14 percent of the global tourism industry, according to Xinhuanet.com, citing a survey released by the Stanford Research Institute in the US.
Chinese visits to South Korea for medical treatment soared nearly 17 times to 79,481 in five years from 2009 to 2014, the Chinese version of South Korean AJU Business Daily reported.
Chinese patients spent 140.3 billion South Korean won ($126.6 million) in 2014. They also topped the foreign patients list ahead of visitors from Russia, the US and the United Arab Emirates.
Other places are proving just as popular.
Wang Ting has taken vaccines every year since 2010 in Hong Kong to prevent cervical cancer.
“I learned this vaccine will be most effective if it is taken at age 26, but it is only available in Hong Kong or Taiwan,” said the 31-year-old magazine editor.
Japan has also become a key destination for Chinese patients.
“I arranged a membership medical examination for my father in April in Japan. I think the service from professional doctors is worth the high cost,” said 32-year-old Tian Yuxin.
Tian herself also plans to have a physical exam in Japan in August.
So far, there is no official statistics indicating how many Chinese people go overseas for healthcare service, but it’s true that quite a few foreign medical facilities are extending their business to the Chinese market.
Chen Jiaye and her family went to the US for a one-month tour last year, and she spent around 20,000 yuan ($3,227) for a physical examination in Los Angeles.
“The feeling of getting a one-on-one health service is so good, and the doctor patiently asked many questions and provided quite a few advice for a healthy diet,” said 36-year-old Chen, who is considering doing regular health checks abroad in the future.
At least 3,000 people went to the US for medical reasons from Shanghai Customs alone in 2013, according to Fan Tailai, general manager of MEGA Healthcare.
“The actual number should be more than that. As newvisas are valid for 10 years, people can go on a medical tour even if their visas are for pure travel or visiting reasons,” Fan said.
Average cost for getting medical treatment in the US is about $150,000, and most of the Chinese patients come from major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.
“There are only three or four agencies offering similar services when we established the company in China, and we had only several customers (who went to the US for treatment) in the first year,” said Guo Liang, executive director and co-founder of MEGA Healthcare.
The doctor-turned-entrepreneur said he and his family members had similar terrible experience in crowded Chinese hospitals as many other Chinese people.
“My experience of being a doctor let me understand their high pressure of seeing dozens of patients every day, but at the same time, I also see a rising demand for a better treatment environment for patients,” said Guo.
This is the reason why he and his partners decided to open a medical service agency for Chinese people.
“I used to think every hospital is the same－noisy, crowded, and you have to take off your pants in front of everybody in the room when you are given an injection,” said Cai Qiang, founder and president of Beijing Saint Lucia Hospital Management Consulting Co.
“But when I moved to Australia, I saw a completely different scene in the hospital－the building looked like a starhotel, and there were special rooms for the doctor and the patient to use when taking an examination. When my wife gave birth to our baby, the doctor even prepared a camera for us,” Cai said.
Cai said he was shocked by the stark contrast and decided to go back to China in 2009 to help Chinese patients receive overseas medical treatment.
In 2011, Saint Lucia became the nation’s first provider of overseas medical care, and it is now the largest in this area with nearly 1,000 clients receiving either a long-distance medical consultation or medical treatment overseas.
In 2014, Saint Lucia received more than 10 million yuan investment from Sequoia Capital, an American venture capital firm located in Menlo Park, California.
Now more and more Chinese people realize there is an alternative solution to health care, and the industry is recognized as high potential.
“Although this is a niche market, I believe it will grow rapidly in the coming years,” Guo from MEGA said.
Cai Jiangnan, director of center for healthcare management and policy with China Europe International Business School, said well-moneyed professionals or entrepreneurs go for overseas healthcare services for three reasons－better medical environment and service, state-of-the-art technology and the latest medicine that is not yet available in China.
Yu Ran in Shanghai contributed to this story.
Kerry keeps caving on Iran’s demands and Iran keeps increasing the demands. Pretty soon we will be given them a nuclear missile.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-says-nuclear-deal-must-include-lifting-of-u-n-arms-embargo-1436191080
I thought Reagan already did that?
Without Reagan’s Treason, Iran Would Not Be a Problem
Tuesday, 26 November 2013 15:29
By The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program | Op-Ed
Totally bizarre comparison, Israel was doing the same thing for the same reason, it helped keep two of the worse players in the Middle East fighting each other. You will not see Israel supporting Obama’s nuclear deal.
Rand Paul does not want to give Israel any more handouts.
Paul 2016!!! the last Conservative.
+1.
New Mortgage Monitor out today. There was a new graph that I thought was interesting.
http://www.bkfs.com/CorporateInformation/NewsRoom/Pages/Mortgage-Monitor.aspx
See page 8.
They took 468k foreclosures in October 2014 that were delinquent at least 2 years and then tracked what happened through May:
25% completed the foreclosure;
59% are active foreclosures;
11% are now characterized as “90+ days delinquent” (lenders recharacterized to try to mitigate the losses)
4% have brought the loan current
Doesn’t add to 100%…rounding.
I hope they continue to track this.
Comment by oxide
2015-07-06 05:26:38
I’m trying read up on the Greece crisis, but the news articles aren’t telling me what I want to know.
Who has more to lose, the Greeks who need the actual money? Or the EU which is about to lose billions as Greek bonds become worthless? Does the EU hold so many Greek bonds that they can’t absorb the loss themselves? And what about the derivatives wild card?
______________________________________________________________
Hope this helps
http://www.globalresearch.ca/who-owns-greeces-debt/5460265
In short the biggest owners of Greek debt are the Germans. The biggest individual part of Greek debt are EU bailout loans, but as Germany is the biggest economy they are on the hook for a big chunk of that.
Looks like the US have 11.3bln Euro’s of Greek debt.
Greece= Iceland2
they stiffed everyone and NBD/bfd
China wants some AGW, there are some pretty cold Wangs there:
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/public-services/City-records-coldest-July-day-for-112-years/shdaily.shtml
My dishwasher in my rental broke last night!! Oh no!
How much should I charge the landlord to go get one and put it in? New, they are $600, used $150.
Depends. We like our LL, so when the washing machine broke down, we went with the $150.00 used one, which the guy delivered, installed AND took away the old one for parts.
Same thing when the roof leaked. Found someone in the roofing biz to repair it for $200.00. Everyone else was quoting $1500 to $2000, one guy even said a new roof was needed. Haven’t had a problem since, even with heavy rain.
I would find one on craigslist for you.
You’re lucky your rental doesn’t have one of the clauses that is common here. All broken things require a 75$ fee to tenant (to cover their deductible with their insurance company.)
Been in this place 5 yrs, rent has only increased $125 during that time. I NEVER call them. Ill probably just put in a used one, square up if I move out. I even got to paint the walls!! lucky me!
no such thing as “luck.”
Reagan nearly tripled the federal budget deficit. During the Reagan years, the debt increased to nearly $3 trillion, “roughly three times as much as the first 80 years of the century had done altogether.” Reagan enacted a major tax cut his first year in office and government revenue dropped off precipitously. Despite the conservative myth that tax cuts somehow increase revenue, the government went deeper into debt and Reagan had to raise taxes just a year after he enacted his tax cut. Despite ten more tax hikes on everything from gasoline to corporate income, Reagan was never able to get the deficit under control.
Just like Obama. Yippee! What is there not to like?
Reagan gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants. Reagan signed into law a bill that made any immigrant who had entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty. The bill was sold as a crackdown, but its tough sanctions on employers who hired undocumented immigrants were removed before final passage. The bill helped 3 million people and millions more family members gain American residency. It has since become a source of major embarrassment for conservatives.
So glad you found the same old Soros talking points can’t he find anything new?
Soros - gotta love those rags to riches stories!! it gives people hope!!
Trump is so ignorant:
“Properly built walls work,” wrote Trump.
Sure, nothing is ever smuggled INTO a prison with armed guards, razor wire and towers.
Big biz does not want a wall.
No wall along the southern border will ever be a match for human ingenuity coupled with desperation.
wow! people like the guy. This is what happens when we lower our education standards for 35 yrs.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/07/06/trump-on-criminal-illegals-both-sides-need-to-grow-up-and-put-americas-interests-first/
Not that many people like him when you break down the numbers. He’s pulling 12% of Republicans. But, according to a recent Gallup poll, only 25% of the public identify as Republican. 12% of 25% works out to only 3% of the population.
I don’t think people like Trump, per se. He’s kind of a douche. What they like is the way he speaks his mind, bluntly, and says things you’re not supposed to say in public discourse, then refuses to back down. Whether or not you agree with some of his more inflammatory comments, it’s refreshing to see a politician be so outrageously outspoken and politically incorrect, especially in a field of crap weasels like Jeb, Walker, Christie, Rubio, Cruz, et al.
+1.
More border security and patrols under Obama than previous presidents, says Debbie Wasserman Schultz
By Amy Sherman on Monday, July 1st, 2013 at 3:50 p.m.
A few days before the U.S. Senate took a vote in favor of an amendment to expand border patrol and other border security measures, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz defended President Barack Obama’s record on border patrol and security.
MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts asked Wasserman Schultz to respond to critics, including House Republicans, who say the bill as amnesty or portray immigrants as “takers.”
http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/jul/01/debbie-wasserman-schultz/more-border-security-and-patrols-under-obama-previ/
Wasserman Schultz, who also serves as chair of the Democratic National Committee, portrayed Obama as tough on enforcement.
“President Obama has the most border patrols and border security deployed at the border of any previous president,” said Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. in a June 20 interview on MSNBC. Obama “has cracked down employers — on employers who are attracting undocumented immigrants and hiring them more than any previous president.”
Despite the Chinese government’s blatant intervention to prop up its Ponzi market, the panic has set in and market forces are reasserting themselves…coming soon to an asset bubble near you!
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/shcomp?countrycode=cn&mod=MW_story_quote
20% of Chinese stocks are now in a trading halt - LMAO. That’s one way to check a plunging Ponzi market.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/over-20-of-listed-china-stocks-now-in-trading-halt-2015-07-07
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Amid a heavy market selloff, 203 mainland-China-traded companies announced separately Tuesday that trading in their shares had been suspended. This brought the total number of shares in trading halt over the past seven days to 651, or about 23% of the entire pool of 2,808 listed stocks, the Securities Daily reported Tuesday. Many of the companies didn’t reveal the reasons behind the trading suspensions, though some cited reasons including the consideration of unspecified significant events, asset restructuring, or private share placements, the report said. Many market observers saw the exodus into trading halts as a way for companies to protect their stocks from the current sharp drop for Chinese markets, according to the report, with the Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, -3.19% having plunged 12.1% last week. Reuters reported separately that the companies would face fines if they were discovered to have requested trading suspensions without good reason. Among the 615 issues, 37% came from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprise board (SME), while more than 22% were from the ChiNext 399006, -5.66% of start-ups, according to the the Securities Daily.
phony scandals
Q