August 25, 2015

Bits Bucket for August 25, 2015

Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.




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194 Comments »

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 05:04:58

Got dead cat bounce? LOLZ

Comment by palmetto
2015-08-25 06:37:53

Oh, hell, yeah, market just opened and it’s on like Donkey Kong!

 
Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 06:48:59

Ben Jones, here’s a suggestion for your Denver video:

http://www.candelaslife.com/mobile/index.html

This new 1,500 acre development is right next to the former Rocky Flats plutonium site, I know someone who used to work there and she jokes that she never needs to charge her cell phone, she can juice it up by putting it in her pocket, LOLZ

http://www.coloradoindependent.com/145376/toxic-suburbia-fantastic-rocky-flats-vistas-plutonium-breezes

Comment by rms
2015-08-25 07:39:42

“I know someone who used to work there and she jokes that she never needs to charge her cell phone, she can juice it up by putting it in her pocket, LOLZ”

No birth control required?

 
Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2015-08-25 07:41:14

Just for the heck of it, how does Golden do with real estate?

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 08:02:29

Expensive! Girl I know who just moved back here from Jackson Hole, Wyoming pays more rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in Golden than she did for a 2 bedroom house there.

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Comment by rj chicago
2015-08-25 15:03:27

Goon - there were two fires at Rocky Flats - one that blew a dust and smoke cloud to the northeast if I am not mistaken - it was the second fire that got everyone going to close the place. Having attended Boulder for a couple of years back in the mid 70’s I recall vividly the protests (Alan Ginsberg anyone?) at the plant. All I can remember then was who in their right mind would locate such a plant anywhere near populated areas with previaling winds as they are.

I went up to the Candelas site in March with a buddy of mine - developers have essentially graded out the hilltops and planting houses up there like no tomorrow. I remember a mid aged couple moving from Houston and looking at the development and thought man I hope they do their due diligence before plopping 500k down on a crap shack. Man o man.

The Flats as it was known is NOT a place that I would be living near EVER!!!

 
 
Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 07:10:28

More Region VIII, here as reported by the Wall Street Journal

http://www.wsj.com/articles/marijuana-producers-gobble-up-warehouse-space-in-denver-area-1440495000?tesla=y

Region VIII

Comment by Ben Jones
2015-08-25 07:35:30

‘There is a magnificent sweep of mountain pastureland you’d swear you’ve seen before on picture postcards of the great American West. This wide-open landscape, this epitome of raw western beauty, is called Candelas. A nearly 1,500-acre master-planned community in west Arvada, Candelas presents a life full of the very things people love most about Colorado. Come live life wide open.’

‘The villages truly have something for everyone, and offer the full spectrum of housing types.’

‘TOWNVIEW Single-Family Detached Homes
from the $300s - $500s’

‘Traditional Neighborhood Design
from the $300s - $500s
SKYVIEW’

‘Luxury Homes
from the $500s to over $1mm’

That’s one crappy website.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-08-25 09:16:12

This new 1,500 acre development is right next to the former Rocky Flats plutonium site

LOL! 500K for a house next to Rocky Flats.

I knew a guy who was some kind if Environmental Engineer who worked there during the “clean up”. He made good coin too, 200K IIRC. He was very tight lipped about how effective the clean up was. He quit that job years ago, claiming he landed a better gig at another clean up site in another state.

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Comment by cactus
2015-08-25 09:56:20

http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2009-07-24/front_page/004.html

Building homes in simi right under this thing

Fifty years ago, a nuclear reactor in the hills above Simi at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory suffered a partial meltdown.
Where’s the story? PointsMentioned Map 5 Points Mentioned

For 20 years, that accident remained hidden from public knowledge. While the meltdown at the Sodium Reactor Experiment (SRE) is no longer a secret, many residents in Simi and Los Angeles still are not aware of exactly what happened on top of the hill July 13, 1959.

 
 
Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 10:23:53

Wide-open landscape implies no trees; yet every rendering of those homes show the house in front of a forest of trees. And wouldn’t putting up 2000+ 2-story structures destroy the very wide open view that they advertise?

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Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 09:13:00

Current banner ad on my HBB is paid for by this organization:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_America_Now

Whose board of directors includes Mike Huckabee and John Bolton.

The nation of Iran is the 18th largest by size and the 17th largest by population in the world, and these people want you to believe that the United States will complete a successful ground invasion of Iran.

American taxpayers and voters, you are being manipulated and lied to.

Comment by Tarara Boomdea
2015-08-25 11:15:10

Someone I know sees Bolton at the Venetian very often; probably visiting Shelly.

Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 13:35:33

Shelly? The only Shelly in Vegas I know of was the one in the movie Casino. (gotta get that pure white veal…)

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Comment by Tarara Boomdea
2015-08-25 20:42:45

He’s a turtle about town; stays in the high roller suites.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 14:46:22

What happened to the “bounce” part of the dead cat bounce?

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 15:49:45

That died at about 3:30 local New York time today :(

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 16:10:40

So much for “Turnaround Tuesday”…

More stock market craziness: 442-point Dow rally vanishes

 
 
Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 18:32:41

Still livin’ on Obama time? Cuz that’s no way to live

Get real, unplug yourself, and get used to the “new normal”

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 20:39:07

Vox Business & Finance
China’s stock market falls for the fifth straight day
Updated by Timothy B. Lee on August 25, 2015, 11:11 p.m. ET
(Javier Zarracina/Vox)

* After starting the day with a slight gain, China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index is down 2.8 percent in Wednesday morning trading.

* The market has lost 24 percent of its value in five straight days of losses. It’s down 44 percent from its June peak.

* Over the past two months, the Chinese government has taken extreme measures to reverse the stock market’s decline — but these measures now appear to be failing.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 20:42:36

DeMark Says Chinese Stocks Are at Make-or-Break Inflection Point
By Ye Xie
August 25, 2015 — 1:45 PM PDT
* Shanghai Composite needs to close above 3,200 to avoid selloff
* Failure to close above that level clears way for move to 2,590

Tom DeMark, who predicted this month’s selloff in Chinese stocks, said the Shanghai Composite Index may extend its decline by 13 percent should it stay below a critical technical level on Wednesday.

A failure to close above 3,200, or almost 8 percent higher than the Tuesday’s level, may open the way for a move to 2,590, which would be the lowest since November, according to DeMark, founder of DeMark Analytics. An advance above that level, however, would signal the stock rout which has wiped out more than $4 trillion in market value, may be over, he said.

“We are teetering on the edge,” DeMark, 68, who has spent more than 40 years developing indicators to identify market turning points, said by phone from Scottsdale, Arizona. “The pivot point is today.”

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 20:54:56

“…close above 3,200…”

Currently below 3,000 and trying to go lower in the face of massive intervention to prop up prices…

 
 
 
Comment by palmetto
2015-08-25 05:12:42

Does anyone else have a feeling that there may be an indictment coming down against Hillary? The wheels of justice grind slowly, but I just can’t shake this feeling that the FBI and DOJ is methodically sorting the data and the evidence and referring to various rules, etc. to be sure they have everything all lined up and watertight as possible.

Meanwhile, Joltin’ Joe warms up in the bullpen.

The whole thing is really weird. I almost get the sense that she’s aware of it, but keeps on keepin’ on because at this point it’s her best defense.

http://www.businessinsider.com/theres-an-ominous-precedent-lurking-over-hillary-clintons-email-scandal-2015-8

Anyone know what happens to campaign money that has been raised if the candidate withdraws?

Comment by WPA
2015-08-25 07:55:00

I think your theory is plausible. The recent meeting between Biden and Warren might also be telling: if Hillary is indicted and is forced to drop out, Warren as a VP candidate becomes a consolation prize for women voters to want to vote for a first-female-something.

Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 10:43:07

WPA, this is an insulting post.

I am insulted by this concept that I because I’m a woman, I have to vote for a woman. If I feel forced to vote a certain way only because I’m a woman, isn’t that still a form of the restrictions that women fought against? Women should be free to vote for anyone based on merit without being shamed into voting, or not voting, for someone based only on gender (or color or what have you).

I am also insulted that you refer to Warren as a “consolation prize.” You make it sound as if Warren’s gender is the only thing that makes her qualified as a Presidential candidate, as if you’re tossing a scrap from the table to keep the wimminfolk quiet. However, Warren is just as good a Presidential candidate as any of the other candidates I’ve seen so far, on her own merit.

Finally, I am insulted that you think women somehow need multiple “first” opportunities to be shamed into voting for a woman candidate. Women already had that opportunity in 1984, and again in 2008. Let’s shut up about gender and look at merit.

(and for the record, I will not lift a finger or flip a lever for Carly.)

Comment by taxpayers
2015-08-25 11:18:08

por que’ no quiero Carly?
she seems cool to me

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Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 11:25:37

Campaign ad for Carly when she ran in Kalifornica:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo_Ejfc5hW8

 
Comment by taxpayers
2015-08-25 12:02:42

she challenged a gop spender = kewl
She says she’ll chop fed heads = kewler

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 20:52:15

“…because I’m a woman, I have to vote for a woman.”

Just because you don’t think this way doesn’t mean that most other women don’t.

Take my three sisters and mother, for instance: by any objective standard they are all well above average intelligence. And yet if Hillary gets the Democratic nomination, it’s a given that she will get four votes from my closest female blood relatives, no matter who runs against her.

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Comment by Tarara Boomdea
2015-08-25 21:34:43

I know women like this. When you point out the Clintons (not just Bill) are criminals, their eyes glaze over. Mostly old feminists, but sometimes fairly young women. It’s astounding.

 
 
 
 
Comment by BetterRenter
2015-08-25 07:56:42

She can be pardoned tomorrow by Obama. She’s the Democratic front runner. So “can” becomes “will” if necessary.

Comment by Rental Watch
2015-08-25 08:59:19

If she’s pardoned, how does that make her electable?

What make her less liked is that people thinks that she believes that she is above the law. Evidenced by the e-mail server in her house–it would be further evidenced by a presidential pardon.

If she did nothing wrong, no pardon would be needed.

Comment by Steadykat
2015-08-25 10:00:44

The relentless press exposure and an FBI investigation (White House driven, perhaps?) of the wiped Hillary! server along with the recent emergence of Joe Biden as a possible candidate could lead one to speculate that Valerie Jarrett wants a third term in the White House.

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Comment by MightyMike
2015-08-25 10:28:38

Someone said that Jarrett is an Iranian witch.

 
 
 
 
Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 10:47:42

Hillary is the Bill Belichick of politics. She gets (some) results, but nobody really likes her. She’s always caught when she’s almost cheating, and she’s always almost caught when she’s really cheating. At some point, something is going to catch up with her.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 05:16:50

The China rate cut announcement has me confused. Wouldn’t that be expected to lead to a weaker Chinese currency, a stronger dollar, and commensurately lower U.S. corporate profits when our exports become more expensive?

Yet pundits are predicting U.S. stocks will rally on this news.

Comment by palmetto
2015-08-25 05:20:18

You’ve got a point, but you’re not seriously looking for any of this to make sense, are you?

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 06:19:36

China’s stock market bubble made no sense until it popped.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-08-25 05:25:24

Any rebound will be short-lived.

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 05:53:00

Time to suck in some greater fools before the next leg down…

Comment by azdude
2015-08-25 06:00:40

I would probably be a seller into this phony and rigged dead cat bounce today.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 06:36:10

Some large financial entity is showering U.S. asset markets with green today.

 
 
Comment by CA renter
2015-08-25 06:19:20

Buy the dips! ;)

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 22:43:52

Sell the rallies!

 
 
 
 
Comment by Combotechie
2015-08-25 05:50:09

“Yet pundits are predicting U.S. stocks will rally on this news.”

Suck ‘em in,’ shake ‘em out.

It’s not the news in itself that activates all this sucking and shaking behavior, it’s the SPIN that is put on the news that does the trick.

Since sheeple have been conditioned to never do their own thinking they need to relay on others - pundits - to do their thinking for them.

Comment by Combotechie
2015-08-25 05:52:12

relay = rely

Consider:

“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.” ― Mark Twain

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 05:24:22

Does anybody know the total percentage decline so far in Chinese share prices, including Tuesday’s 7%+ drop?

Comment by azdude
2015-08-25 06:26:27

does the chinese central bank have a lot of money invested in stocks?

I like to follow dennis gartmans investing advice.

 
Comment by VinceInWaukesha
2015-08-25 06:40:51

Well, there isn’t “a” index, just like here, but ticker symbol SHSZ300:IND is down -38.82% from its peak.

Note they’ve been in an insane bubble so they’re only down a couple percent for the year. When prices go exponential, dropping to half only goes back in time a very short period, a couple months.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 05:31:12

BloombergBusiness
China Said to Halt Stock Support Amid Intervention Debate
Bloomberg News
August 25, 2015 — 1:13 AM PDT
Updated on August 25, 2015 — 4:54 AM PDT

China’s Central Bank Lowers Interest Rates

Officials weigh cost of rescue against risks to banking system
Shanghai Composite Index has tumbled 15% over two days

China’s decision to halt intervention in the stock market this week reflects a debate at the heart of the country’s leadership on the role of markets in the world’s second-largest economy.

Authorities have refrained from intervening so far this week as the Shanghai Composite Index tumbled at the fastest pace since 1996, according to people familiar with the situation. Some officials argue that market losses will have a limited impact on economic growth and the costs of support are too high, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Officials who back the rescue effort say tumbling shares pose a risk to the banking system, the people said.

President Xi Jinping’s government is trying to balance a pledge to loosen its grip on markets against the desire to ensure financial stability and maintain confidence in the ruling Communist Party as economic growth slows. The Shanghai Composite sank 15 percent over the past two days, extending a $4.5 trillion rout since mid-June that has shaken confidence among equity investors around the world.

“Government intervention has dropped substantially,” Michelle Leung, the chief executive officer at Xingtai Capital in Hong Kong, said in e-mailed comments on Tuesday. “The reform-minded camp within the government that favors letting the market do its work seems to be driving decision making right now.”

State Meddling

China’s November 2013 pledge to let markets play a decisive role in the economy is being put to the test after a record-long boom in the Shanghai Composite turned into a bust. Officials allowed about half of China’s listed companies to halt trading at one point last month, banned major shareholders from selling stakes, suspended initial public offerings and gave a government agency access to more than $480 billion of borrowed funds to finance equity purchases.

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 06:23:44

It sure doesn’t sound to me like the PBOC has halted interventions. Anything but!

China’s Central Bank Injects $23.4 Billion as Yuan Intervention Drains Funds
Bloomberg News
August 24, 2015 — 6:27 PM PDT
Updated on August 25, 2015 — 5:12 AM PDT
Chinese Stocks Crash Again to Extend Biggest Plunge Since 1996

China’s central bank injected the most funds via open-market operations in six months and cut lenders’ reserve ratios, adding cash as it buys yuan to prop up the exchange rate and tries to arrest a stock-market slide.

The People’s Bank of China also reduced the one-year lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points each to 4.6 percent and 1.75 percent, respectively. The authority earlier auctioned 150 billion yuan ($23.4 billion) of seven-day reverse-repurchase agreements, more than the 120 billion yuan that matured. In addition, it gauged appetite for loans under its Medium-term Lending Facility, after extending 110 billion yuan last week.

“The injections through open-market operations and MLF failed to bring borrowing costs lower,” said Kenix Lai, a foreign-exchange analyst at Bank of East Asia Ltd. “That’s why the PBOC has had to make such an aggressive move. It was unexpected to have them cutting both interest rates and RRR.”

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 06:39:01

The non-intervention seems to be quite effective.

Asia Markets
China stocks tumble again, close 7.6% lower
Published: Aug 25, 2015 4:39 a.m. ET
Nikkei ends down 4%
Reuters
By Chao Deng & Rebecca Howard

Chinese stocks tumbled Tuesday, bringing two-day losses to more than 15%, while other markets in Asia started to turn negative again after a bounce in earlier trading.

Shares in Shanghai (SHCOMP, -7.63%) finished down 7.6% at 2964.97 and fell as much as 8.2% in the afternoon. China’s main index breached the 3,000 level for the first time since December 2014. That follows a drop of 8.5% drop on Monday, the worst single-day loss in more than eight years.

Shares in Hong Kong (HSI, +0.72%) were down 0.7%, and the Nikkei Stock Average (NIK, -3.96%) closed 4% lower. Both benchmarks had risen as high as 2.9% and 1.6%, respectively, earlier in the day.

The lack of support from Beijing for the market continued to spook investors.

“The market feels like it’s self-imploding because it’s used to a lot of hand holding,” said Steve Wang, director of research at brokerage Reorient Group. Instead, regulators “are taking a wait and see approach… they intervened a lot in the past” and it didn’t work.

 
 
Comment by Jeff upstate SC
2015-08-25 05:32:05

Maybe Donald is right about illegals …My niece lives in Arizona,she used to volunteer with helping “poor” people down there .She got disgusted with all the schemes the single moms ran to get their checks.She says a good many of them live in Mexico ,just come back every month or so to verify that they are US residents….crazy

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 05:42:37

This is what the “progressive” narrative wants to hide. Progressives and Social Justice Warriors™ think that they can silence any criticism of this criminal illegal invasion by calling you a racist. Because that’s progressives can do, they lash out like a cornered rat.

Huffington Post, Salon, Buzzfeed, the real journalists at the Washington Post and New York Times, all of these whores can’t write an article that deviates from this scripted narrative.

To be fair to Drudge and Breitbart, when they aren’t too busy promoting a ground invasion of Iran or the 1,000th article about Hillary the felon, they will actually run articles that report on illegals.

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 06:06:06

See also this, condemning authoritarians both right and left:

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/24/rise-of-the-cultural-libertarians/

 
 
Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 05:45:12

The FSA is smart.

And they vote.

 
Comment by palmetto
2015-08-25 05:46:41

Interesting you should mention, I was just thinking the other day about this lady who moved to this part of Florida from New Mexico, where she, like your daughter, also volunteered helping “poor” people. She told me that just about every family she worked with had members who were involved in the drug trade one way or another, and it really creeped her out. And the reason she moved here was because her apartment was broken into a number of times and she felt like she was being targeted, so she decided to move far away. Haven’t seen her in a while, I hope she’s OK.

Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2015-08-25 07:52:10

The crime was a big reason why I left NM and you could not pay me to go back to live. Nice place to visit, but seeing the desperation of crime levels that occur there, some personally to me via theft, disillusioned me. Not sure if AZ would be any better. Raleigh was not too bad, but heat/humidity combo is too much. I complain, I know, but after a while you find you want a place that is free from the things that you know will make you hate living there.

Comment by Califoh20
2015-08-25 09:11:21

I did not think the crime in Santa Fe was bad. I was there 8 years.

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Comment by palmetto
2015-08-25 05:50:16

And then there’s this:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/08/20/trump-bashes-4-billion-in-irs-refunds-to-illegals/

Bbbbut, they worr harr, worr harr! They do lots of harr worr, harr worr!

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 06:16:48

Racis

 
 
 
Comment by cactus
2015-08-25 10:03:47

She says a good many of them live in Mexico ,just come back every month or so to verify that they are US residents….crazy”

Been doing this in California for as long as I can remember.

 
 
Comment by palmetto
2015-08-25 05:37:01

Anyone post here from an EU member nation? If so, and if you have some sort of political representation, drop them a line or give them a jingle and be sure they get an earful that this “migrant” situation is caused by Washington, because of their meddling in North Africa and Syria. Make your reps DEMAND that these migrants are shipped immediately to the US as soon as they show up on European shores.

Not that I want it here, I really don’t, but the point needs to be made and the US sheep need an attitude adjustment.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/08/25/world/europe/ap-eu-balkans-migrants.html

Comment by CA renter
2015-08-25 06:25:18

+1

 
Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 06:29:49

Why not ship them to a muslim country where they will be better taken care of and not be so offended?

Muslims escaping other muslims yet they want to impose Sharia Law on their host countries and get “offended” by bacon.

Comment by BetterRenter
2015-08-25 08:02:02

Citizens have a moral responsibility to stay in their own nations and fix the problems there. Moving away (especially by fleeing) only empowers the problem.

Comment by palmetto
2015-08-25 09:12:09

Heh, can’t tell if you’re serious or snarking here. I’d sure as hell flee a country where bombs are dropping, if I could.

I’ve been watching some of these “migrant” videos, and I have to say, they’re most peculiar. Some people do look desperate and grim, but there’s also people who look as if they’re dressed up for a Sunday stroll, just sort of padding along. Most look fairly well fed, so they’re eating something along the way, that’s for sure. Something ain’t right about this.

So far, the only video that was really disturbing was the one with the little girl who had a load in her pants and was screaming in desperation over the injury of a family member. That really got to me. I started cursing a blue streak at the friggin’ creeps in Washington, Kerry and Biden and such.

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Comment by Anonymous
2015-08-25 21:45:50

“but there’s also people who look as if they’re dressed up for a Sunday stroll, just sort of padding along. Most look fairly well fed, so they’re eating something along the way, that’s for sure. Something ain’t right about this.”

I made the same observation regarding pics and videos of the “children’s crusade” from south of the border. People weren’t exactly showing up starving and in rags.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by salinasron
2015-08-25 05:38:36

When the Feds can’t talk up the ‘Confidence’ for the Market and banking, Game Over! Wouldn’t we all like to view the panic at the meetings through a mirror on the wall.

Comment by CountryClubberLang
2015-08-25 06:17:22

Why would they panic? This is all planned out. China is the latest in the round robin game, EU, US, China, Japan, back to EU. It’s all a globalist game of sharing amongst the elites.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 05:38:37

How do you like oil at February 2009 prices? Seems like the retracement goes back to pre-QE1, which I believe started in March 2009.

Comment by CA renter
2015-08-25 06:26:38

I am seriously tempted to buy this dip in oil prices. I know that the fundamentals are different now vs. 2009, but what are your thoughts?

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 06:33:07

I’ve already lost a fair amount of paper wealth trying to buy the dip in oil prices this year, but at some point prices will bottom out, and whoever buys then will make bank.

 
Comment by Puggs
2015-08-25 09:26:36

If you do wisely consider Vangaurd’s Energy (VDE) account. It’s way down now and good time to buy in…

My thoughts are as prices continue to crater American fracking will just let wells peter out and not drill new ones. The fact that cheap oil is harder to achieve makes me bullish on future oil prices.

 
Comment by "Auntie Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2015-08-25 14:21:58

Dewd, at this point, I’d hold out for $30. That was my initial target, but I was caught up by whole “rising at $60″ thing. OPEC will have to eventually raise the price, and about half of US drillers have gone by the wayside as it is. If you can get it for $30, then you can send me a donation as thanks.

 
 
Comment by Michael Viking
2015-08-25 17:45:16

What symbol/thing are you buying to invest in oil, if I may ask…I’ve never understood how one invests in oil if they think it’s going to go up.

Comment by "Auntie Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2015-08-25 17:55:20

Purchase shares in an ETF.

Comment by Michael Viking
2015-08-25 21:24:11

That’s a lot like saying “buy some stock”.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 05:42:09

Is China’s rate cut further evidence that they are growing at under 7 percent?

Comment by "Auntie Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2015-08-25 14:19:12

If they devalue their currency by 7%, then they will grow that much.

Comment by Anonymous
2015-08-25 21:47:10

So was THAT what A-Dan meant??

 
 
 
Comment by Clubber Lang
2015-08-25 05:43:59

Buy the rumor sell the bounce.

One of the better metal songs of all time.

R.I.P. Dime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tymWpEU8wpM

Pantera - This Love

 
Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 05:49:04

Jeb Bush is in Colorado right now. Last night he was making the rounds with his beggar bowl bootlicking for dollars from his plantation masters. This morning he will speak at a VFW hall to promote the invasion of Iran five minutes ago.

I predict Bush will win my local precinct in the February 2016 caucus. In 2012 Romney won and Santorum came in second. I was one of the youngest people in the room that night.

Comment by palmetto
 
Comment by BetterRenter
2015-08-25 08:17:56

Our next Republican President is going to attack Iran. That was always a given. The advertised military strategy would be to address population centers of Iran up into the center north, but the real strategy is to use that advertised strategy to fool world opinion while real military gains are made in the southwest of Iran, where the oil and shipment infrastructure is.

The goal of the empire of the United States is to secure as many oil supplies as possible, followed by supplies of strategic minerals where possible (which are often found in Africa). We built a world-spanning navy for that purpose.

The one class of critical materials we can’t do much about, are the rare earths, the elements largely grouped as the lanthanides (Lanthanum (element 57) to Lutetium (element 71)). China produces 95% of those for the world. It’s a rare thing to find deposits of those which are economically viable to exploit. Some are quite plentiful in the crust, but are too dispersed when found. We can’t just threaten China to give up its Mongolian sources, and Mongolia is obviously well outside of the common assault range of the US Navy. It makes me wonder what sort of economic strategy or “economic warfare” will take place by the West to gain control or partial control of China’s lanthanides. Is letting China make massive land investments in the West part of such a strategy?

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 08:58:12

Our next Republican President is going to attack Iran.

The future of the Republican Party is libertarian and will be shaped by people under age 40. The reverse mortgage, walk-in bathtub, adult diaper demographic that Fox News advertises to are literally dying off by the day.

See also the TomDispatch article about Iran and the Breitbart article about cultural libertarianism that I posted today.

Comment by MightyMike
2015-08-25 18:08:16

The reverse mortgage, walk-in bathtub, adult diaper demographic that Fox News advertises to are literally dying off by the day.

Given the aging of the baby boomers, that group is growing in number, not shrinking. It might be worth looking up the companies that sell walk-in bathtubs, adult diapers, etc. There might be some good investment opportunities there.

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-08-25 18:27:06

Ehhhh…. wrong.

 
 
 
Comment by tj
2015-08-25 17:54:16

apart from the implied immorality of going into a country to ’secure’ its resources (outright theft), it makes no economic sense to do it. but world ‘leaders’ think in these terms, so they always do the wrong thing.

what ultimate gain can there be? don’t the politicos ever factor in the cost of war?

why do we or any nation try to monopolize oil production? it can never be monopolized no matter what they think. any producer will sell to the highest bidder. even a government would come to that. sure iran and venezuela sold gas to their people for pennies a gallon. but that’s generally a small percentage of what’s produced and little more than part of the bread and circus for the masses.

hong kong produces no oil and yet they can buy as much as they want because they are prosperous. what difference does it make to them who produces it or where is comes from? if they aren’t at war, oil isn’t strategic to them.

all we have to do is become a prospering country again to not care where the oil comes from. if we become destitute as a country, we couldn’t afford to buy it, even if it were all produced here. even if all the oil in the world was in our backyard, it would still go to the highest bidder. and if it didn’t, the whole industry would soon collapse.

 
 
 
Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 05:49:15

The Raping of America: Mile Markers on the Road to Fascism
The Rutherford Institute | August 24, 2015 | John W. Whitehead

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”—Martin Luther King Jr.

There’s an ill will blowing across the country. The economy is tanking. The people are directionless, and politics provides no answer. And like former regimes, the militarized police have stepped up to provide a façade of law and order manifested by an overt violence against the citizenry.

Worst of all, it seems as if nothing will change as long as the American people remain distracted by politics, divided by their own prejudices, and brainwashed into believing that the Constitution still reigns supreme as the law of the land, when in fact, we have almost completed the shift into fascism.

It must be remembered that the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was intended to prevent government agents from searching an individual’s person or property without a warrant and probable cause (evidence that some kind of criminal activity was afoot). While the literal purpose of the amendment is to protect our property and our bodies from unwarranted government intrusion, the moral intention behind it is to protect our human dignity.

With every court ruling that allows the government to operate above the rule of law, every piece of legislation that limits our freedoms, and every act of government wrongdoing that goes unpunished, we’re slowly being conditioned to a society in which we have little real control over our lives. As Rod Serling, creator of the Twilight Zone and an insightful commentator on human nature, once observed, “We’re developing a new citizenry. One that will be very selective about cereals and automobiles, but won’t be able to think.”

Indeed, not only are we developing a new citizenry incapable of thinking for themselves, we’re also instilling in them a complete and utter reliance on the government and its corporate partners to do everything for them—tell them what to eat, what to wear, how to think, what to believe, how long to sleep, who to vote for, whom to associate with, and on and on.

In this way, we have created a welfare state, a nanny state, a police state, a surveillance state, an electronic concentration camp—call it what you will, the meaning is the same: in our quest for less personal responsibility, a greater sense of security, and no burdensome obligations to each other or to future generations, we have created a society in which we have no true freedom.

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 06:13:00

Jeb Bush said last week that the NSA needs more spying powers

No “smaller government” happening there, LOLZ

 
Comment by CountryClubberLang
2015-08-25 06:26:09

That’s one way of looking at it. Another way is that modern society is the height of freedom and prosperity. 20 years ago most people had no internet, now they can communicate with millions or billions of people around the world in an instant. That microphone is much more free than it was 20 years ago.

The entertainment and education options we have due to computers and the Internet are greater than ever. Millions and millions of web pages of information and entertainment. Available at a very low cost or even free at the library.

And don’t get me started on the food options. Unbelievable. Think about it, one of our biggest problems is obesity from eating too much.

 
 
Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 05:52:32

Anyone remember when Al Gore predicted global warming would cause massive hurricanes every year?

“The Earth has a FEVER!”

————-

NOAA: Hurricane Drought Hits Record 118 Months
CNSNews.com | August 24, 2015 | Barbara Hollingsworth

As of today, it has been a record 118 months since the last major hurricane struck the continental United States, according to records kept by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Hurricane Research Division, which list all hurricanes to strike the U.S. mainland going back to 1851

A major hurricane is Category 3 or higher hurrucine. The last one to strike the continental U.S. was Hurricane Wilma, which made landfall in Florida on Oct. 24, 2005.

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 06:10:39

Cool story, bro

A chunk of ice the size of Manhattan just calved off of Greenland, wonder how much George Soros and Tom Steyer paid to stage that publicity stunt?

Comment by phony scandals
2015-08-25 06:30:42

Less than the Hook.

 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-08-25 06:51:46

“A chunk of ice the size of Manhattan just calved off of Greenland,”

They’re dialing it down.

Oh no! Greenland glacier calves island 4 times the size of Manhattan

Anthony Watts / August 6, 2010

Greenland glacier calves island 4 times the size of Manhattan, UD scientist reports it last happened at this scale in 1962. Must have been climate change back then too. Watch the media now as this story is only about an hour old. BTW it fractured, not melted, and in case some people forget: glaciers calve to the sea there, it is what they do. – Anthony

1:40 p.m., Aug. 6, 2010—-A University of Delaware researcher reports that an “ice island” four times the size of Manhattan has calved from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier. The last time the Arctic lost such a large chunk of ice was in 1962.

139 thoughts on “Oh no! Greenland glacier calves island 4 times the size of Manhattan”

stevengoddard
August 6, 2010 at 12:14 pm

That is how glaciers work. Snow falls in the interior and the ice spreads and moves towards lower elevations- where it breaks off or melts. Next winter, snow will again accumulate in the interior.

Jay
August 6, 2010 at 12:42 pm

Normal glacier behavior.
It will be hard to blame this on warming, since AGW is usually blamed for receding glaciers. This indicates only that mass balance is positive.

Oh but I forgot, AGW can cause warming AND cooling, drought AND flooding….
latitude
August 6, 2010 at 12:42 pm

thank God
I’ve been worried about that thing for years.
Do you realize if it didn’t break off, it could take over the world?

wattsupwiththat.com/…/ - 386k -

 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-08-25 08:09:49

Man made global warming sank the Titanic

Whatever happened to the iceberg that sank the Titanic?

Alasdair Wilkins
4/15/12 3:00pm

If you were to trace the story of the Titanic to its earliest human origins, you couldn’t really go much further back than 1907,

But by comparison, the iceberg began its slow journey to the North Atlantic over three thousand years ago. Again, we can only guess at the exact details, but the story likely began with snowfall on the western coast of Greenland somewhere around 1,000 BCE. After a few months, this snow has been turned into a more compacted form called firn, which then over subsequent decades is compressed into dense ice by the weight of newer snow on top of it.

The frozen water in these glaciers is slowly forced further westward towards the sea. When they finally reach the coast of the Arctic Ocean, the lapping tides break off chunks of the ice, and icebergs are calved from the glacier, some thirty centuries after their source water was first deposited. The iceberg that sank the Titanic began its journey as a rough contemporary of King Tutankhamun, entire civilizations rising and falling while it made its slow march to infamy.

But once all that’s done, the iceberg’s life was a short one. We know that because the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, rather than the Arctic, which means the currents must have taken it far south of where it was calved. Starting on the Greenland coast, it would have moved from Baffin Bay to the Davis Strait and then onto the Labrador Sea and, at last, the Atlantic.

The Titanic iceberg was one of the lucky ones, so to speak, as the vast, vast majority of icebergs melt long before they reach that far south. Of the 15,000 to 30,000 icebergs calved each years by the Greenland glaciers, probably only about 1% of them ever make it all the way to the Atlantic. On April 15, 1912, the iceberg was some 1,5000 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

io9.com/5901952/whatever-happened-to-the-iceberg-that-sank-the-titanic - 474k -

 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-08-25 06:29:07

“The last one to strike the continental U.S. was Hurricane Wilma, which made landfall in Florida on Oct. 24, 2005.”

Which knocked a palm tree over that crushed 1 side of the bed on my F-250. So I hope Al Gore has continued success with his global warming predictions.

However, had Wilma been an Al Gore hurricane my F-250 would have been fine. The front side of Wilma dropped the palm tree and it would have fallen the other way because Al Gore’s global warming hurricanes rotate in the wrong direction.
————————————————————————–
Nature proves Al Gore wrong again
Anthony Watts / December 16, 2013

Al Gore’s book cover foldout with 4 scary hurricanes, some rotating the wrong direction

 
Comment by WPA
2015-08-25 08:11:19

“The Earth has a FEVER!”

She sure does. For 2015, there’s a lot more red than blue on this chart:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/global/map-percentile-mntp/201501-201507.gif

… and it could very well be that the lack of hurricanes is more evidence that the normal climate circulation patterns are thoroughly wacked

Comment by phony scandals
2015-08-25 08:38:44

“… and it could very well be that the lack of hurricanes is more evidence that the normal climate circulation patterns are thoroughly wacked”

Of course it does, everything does.

Failed global warming or I mean climate change predictions can’t miss. More hurricanes, less hurricanes, cold, hot, lots of snow, no snow, drought, floods you can’t lose with climate change.

That’s why it’s climate change and not global warming.

PS

Thanks for the NOAA chart, I needed a good laugh.

Comment by Rental Watch
2015-08-25 09:07:34

I like how in the 1970’s Jerry Brown blamed the drought in CA on global cooling.

This drought of course is due to global warming.

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Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 05:59:13

Speaking of Drudge links and invading Iran five minutes ago, Politico has a piece titled “Dick Cheney to deliver address on Iran deal”

Do these neocons ever die, or just go away?

Comment by CA renter
2015-08-25 06:32:53

Wow. I normally don’t hate anyone, but Cheney and Rumsfeld are exceptions. Those two have destroyed countless lives and billions of dollars worth of infrastructure, among other things. They are two of the most destructive people this planet has ever seen.

Comment by Goon
 
Comment by Anonymous
2015-08-25 21:52:58

+1000000000

 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-08-25 06:09:20

Black Palates Matter

Group of black women kicked off Napa wine train after laughing too loud

By Veronica Rocha contact the reporter

AUGUST 24, 2015

The 11 women, all members of the same book club, boarded the Napa Valley Wine Train, excited to sip wine in a historic rail car with the scenic northern California vineyards as a backdrop.

Then two hours in, the train ride turned sour for the book club from Antioch, Calif.

Another passenger scolded the women, saying, “This is not a bar,” according to Johnson’s Facebook page.

Johnson blames racial bias — all but one of the book club members on the train are African American. The hashtag #laughingwhileblack, which Johnson used on her Facebook page, has taken off on social media, with many vowing to boycott the wine train.

“We sipped wine, enjoyed each other’s company but our trip is being cut short,” Johnson wrote. “If we all laugh at the same time it’s loud!”

“It wasn’t an issue of bias,” train spokesman Sam Singer said, adding that conflicts involving overly boisterous passengers occur about once a month. “It was an issue of noise.”

“They gave us a full refund … but that’s not enough. We are totally humiliated,” wrote Johnson, who describes herself on her website as a “speaker, coach and self-made Sunshineologist” as well as a fiction writer and chief executive of an independent publishing company called Brown Girl Press.

The group was escorted through six train cars “on display in front of the other guests to waiting police like we were criminals,” Johnson wrote. “One word. UNACCEPTABLE! This can NEVER happen to anyone else ever again.”

Soon after the incident, the wine train posted a statement on Facebook asserting that the women had become unruly once the conflict escalated.“Following verbal and physical abuse toward other guests and staff, it was necessary to get our police involved,” the statement said. “Many groups come on board and celebrate. When those celebrations impact our guests, we do intervene.”

The statement was later deleted. In an interview with The Times on Monday, Singer said the company planned to apologize to the women but had not been able to reach them.

http://www.latimes.com/…ln-black-women-kicked-off-napa-wine-train-20150824-htmlstory.html - 173k -

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-08-25 06:27:13

Maybe if the women had been more classy and less obnoxious about disturbing their fellow passengers who didn’t pay to hear a raccous cacophony on their wine tour, they wouldn’t have been ejected. This is about bad behavior, not racism.

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 06:39:27

And you sir, are a racis

 
 
Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 06:33:18

Sounds like they were kicked off for being jerks.

And then the race card comes out fast…

 
Comment by ibbots
2015-08-25 06:50:59

“speaker, coach and self-made Sunshineologist” as well as a fiction writer = unemployed

Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 11:05:28

Don’t forget that’s she’s the CEO of “Brown Girl Press.”

 
Comment by redmondjp
2015-08-25 13:22:31

Heh heh heh, too true . . .

I did my annual LinkedIn login a few days ago, and it’s funny to read all of the creative ways people come up with to say that they are unemployed.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-08-25 15:28:38

I did the same the other day. Quite a few out there who are unemployed (so much for skilled jobs going begging). My favorite euphemism for that was “retooling my skill set”

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Comment by rms
2015-08-25 21:41:38

“They gave us a full refund… but that’s not enough.”

Here we go… again.

 
 
Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 06:24:03

I went on Huffington Post to get my morning dose of SJW bleating and found this piece about William Kristol lamenting that the current crop of GOP presidential hopefuls lack enthusiasm for his neocon wars:

http://m.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-kristol-gop-candidates_55db3b24e4b04ae49703b5ca?kvcommref=mostpopular

 
Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 06:24:55

Importing democrats from all their failed states and territories to more prosperous conservative states will speed up the nation’s destruction.

And if they wreck Florida with the “only bigger government will take of me” vote - where will public union goons go to retire?

————————-

Puerto Ricans Seeking New Lives Put Stamp on Central Florida
NY Times | August 24, 2015 | Lizette Alvarez

When Manuel Hernandez, a teacher in Puerto Rico, looked at the reasons to stay home or to take a chance on joining the ever-growing Puerto Rican diaspora in Central Florida, it was not a hard call.

“I was fed up,” Mr. Hernandez said of his life in San Juan, “and my wife was fed up; frustrations were building.”

So last October, Mr. Hernandez got off a plane and arrived here, a place best known for hosting Mickey Mouse and rodeos, but also increasingly seen as a faraway suburb of Puerto Rico, a trend that has quickened with the island’s deepening economic morass.

But returning to Puerto Rico, where his career seemed frozen, raises were nonexistent and taxes were escalating, seemed unthinkable.

Now he is in a two-bedroom “beautiful apartment” across from the school, and the family is settling in nicely and his teaching career glimmers with promise.

Comment by WPA
2015-08-25 08:17:45

We Californians delight in Californicating other states. Turning them blue, one state at a time!

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-08-25 17:52:38

You mean turning them into impoverished welfare states Lola.

 
 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-08-25 09:25:31

And if they wreck Florida with the “only bigger government will take of me” vote - where will public union goons go to retire?

Wyoming. No state income tax and low property taxes. Cheyenne and Laramie aren’t much to look at, but being that they are Public Union Goons, I’m sure they can afford to live in Jackson.

 
Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 13:34:18

Why are conservative states “importing” Democrats? Can’t they find conservatives from their own states to fill the jobs (lured in by tax breaks) that require people with a solid educa..

oh, right.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-08-25 15:30:40

Nice

 
Comment by jane
2015-08-25 16:37:15

Oxy, stop whining and go back to your strong suit. The SJW one. You’re the only one in that herd who is both employed and educated.

You could make it a “lifestyle”.

Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 17:07:55

I’m moving away from the SJW. It’s one thing to feed, clothe, house, and employ people New-Deal style, but now people are just taking advantage of the SJW generosity to get at the free sh!t. The SJW can’t seem to figure they’re being played for fools, but you can’t point that out because that makes you racis.

For reference, I hang out with a few SJW. Every single one of them is either employed, or retired after a full career. All of them are educated.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 06:25:12

World
From Venezuela to Iraq to Russia, Oil Price Drops Raise Fears of Unrest

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and RICK GLADSTONE
AUG. 24, 2015
Members of an Iraqi oil police force guarding a field near Basra last week. Iraqis have protested shortages of government services. Credit Essam Al-Sudani/Reuters

Oil, the lifeblood of many countries that produce and sell it, appears to be rapidly turning into an ever-cheaper economic curse.

A year ago, the international price per barrel of oil was about $103. By Monday, the price was about $42, roughly 6 percent lower than on Friday.

In oil-endowed Iraq, where an Islamic State insurgency and fractious sectarian politics are growing threats, a new source of instability erupted this month with violent protests over the government’s failure to provide reliable electricity and explain what has been done with all the promised petroleum money. In Russia, a leading oil producer, consumers are now paying far more for imports, largely because of their currency’s plummeting value. In Nigeria and Venezuela, which rely almost completely on oil exports, fears of unrest and economic instability are building. In Ecuador, where oil revenue has fallen by nearly half since last year, tens of thousands of demonstrators pour into the streets every week, angered by the government’s economic policies.

The oil industry, with its history of booms and busts, is in a new downturn.

Even in wealthy Saudi Arabia, where the ruling family spends oil money lavishly to preserve its legitimacy, the government has been burning through roughly $10 billion a month in foreign exchange holdings to help pay expenses, and it is borrowing in the financial markets for the first time since 2007. Other Arab countries in the Persian Gulf that are dependent on oil exports, including Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, are facing fiscal deficits for the first time in two decades.

While the price has been declining for months, forecasts have always been hedged with the assumption that oil would eventually stabilize or at least not stay low for long. But new anxieties about frailties in China, the world’s most voracious consumer of energy, have raised fears that the price of oil, now 30 percent lower than it was just a few months ago, could remain depressed far longer than even the most pessimistic projections, and do even deeper damage to oil exporters.

“The pain is very hard for these countries,” said René G. Ortiz, former secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and former energy minister of Ecuador. “These countries dreamed that these low prices would be very temporary.”

Mr. Ortiz estimated that all major oil exporting countries had lost a total of $1 trillion in oil sales because of the price decline over the last year.

“The apparent weakness in the Chinese economy is radiating out into the world,” said Daniel Yergin, the vice chairman of IHS, a leading provider of market information, and the author of two seminal books on the history of the oil industry, “The Prize” and “The Quest.”

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 06:34:14

Miss what? Aren’t falling prices more like a bull’s eye?

Comment by Rental Watch
2015-08-25 09:12:03

People expected prices to rise 5.1% year on year. And they only rose 5.0% year on year (or 4.97% if you want that much precision).

That’s the “miss” that he’s talking about.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-08-25 19:20:29

Backpedal some more Rental_Fraud.

Alameda, CA Housing Prices Plunge 13% YoY

http://www.movoto.com/alameda-ca/market-trends/

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-08-25 06:30:48

Two kinds of people use financial advisors: those who are getting fleeced, and those who are going to get fleeced.

http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/08/25/llpoh-but-you-have-to-be-in-stocks/

Comment by BetterRenter
2015-08-25 09:21:51

“You can’t cheat an honest man.”

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 06:31:44

Old news, but still highly important as central banks are still using quantitative easing as their go-to policy number 1.

Federal Reserve
This Former Fed Official Thinks Quantitative Easing Has Been a Disaster
By Christopher Matthews
Nov. 13, 20131 Comment
Image: Vehicles pass the U.S. Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg / Getty Images
Quantitative easing—the Federal Reserve‘s program of buying long term government and mortgage debt known as QE—is one of the more controversial policies practiced today. While there is evidence that it has successfully lowered interest rates, and therefore put more money in the pockets of creditworthy businesses and Americans, opponents of the policy have argued that the risks associated with the policy far outweigh the benefits

Andrew Huszar, a senior fellow at Rutgers Business School and former manager of the Fed’s $1.25 trillion agency mortgage-backed security purchase program, has now thrown his hat in the ring with those critics, penning an article in the Wall Street Journal in which he apologized for his role in the policy and called for its reversal.

TIME spoke with Huszar and asked him to explain and defend this point of view. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

TIME: Why did you write the op-ed?

Huszar: The reason I wrote this piece is because I believe America had a significant wake up call with the financial crisis, yet five years later the country’s economy looks eerily similar to the way it did then. My belief is that the Fed is a significant reason why we haven’t reformed, and I wanted to try to start a conversation.

TIME: You argue that QE helps Wall Street banks but not the real economy. How does QE help Wall Street banks?

Huszar: QE had two goals, but one of them was originally highlighted as the primary goal by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke: to make credit more accessible to more Americans. QE aimed to achieve this through lowering the wholesale cost for banks to make loans, and we were actually successful at doing this. For example, my program – which was buying mortgage backed securities – drove down the cost for banks to make mortgage loans. But the banks weren’t fully passing on the benefits to their customers — they were pocketing a lot of the extra profit.

In addition, though we lowered the cost for banks to make mortgages, the banks didn’t actually start making more mortgages. If you look at the first day of trading in my program which was in January of 2009, and you look at the last day of trading fifteen months later, the overall amount of U.S. mortgage lending had actually decreased despite the fact that the Fed had spent $1.25 trillion trying to stimulate mortgage lending. In fact, if you look as late as 2012, U.S. mortgage lending was at a fifteen year low. The banks weren’t making more loans. Instead, they were often investing their extra money into securities to take advantage of the rising tide of asset prices in the market.

The third point to make is that the Fed was actually buying and continues to buy all of these mortgage bonds through the network of primary dealers – banks. The commissions that the banks were generating off these purchases were also significant.

Comment by CA renter
2015-08-25 06:43:13

Thanks for posting this, PB. I’m going to use it on Piggington to disabuse a particular poster of the notion that the Fed did the right thing and that economy is better now as a result of these manipulations.

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 06:52:51

Good luck at bucking up against the Fed’s propaganda campaign.

 
 
 
Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 06:35:29

Buy the f*cken dip!

——————–

Most top market timers are bullish on stocks: The Best hitters are stepping up to the plate
MarketWatch | 08/24/2015 | Mark Hulbert

The stock market timers with the best track records are treating the market’s carnage as a buying opportunity — while the timers with the worst records are not.

Take a look at the accompanying table, which reports this best-versus-worst contrast over six time periods, ranging from as short as the last 12 months to as long as the last 20 years. For each time period, the top timers are those on the Hulbert Financial Digest’s monitored list whose stock market timing advice puts it in the top 25% for risk-adjusted performance over that particular time period. The worst timers are those within the bottom quartile. The negative exposure levels for the worst timers means that they on average are net short the stock market.

 
Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-08-25 06:52:54

Don’t be suckered in by the PPT’s dead cat bounce. The economy is running on vapor. It is a far bigger bubble than he tech bubble of the 90s because it includes the RE bubble and is worldwide.

I am flooded with cash. I distrust fiat but I don’t see inflation happening. When the RE bubble bursts, there will be far more things I could buy with my money than now.

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 07:00:35

I am flooded with cash

Just another day in the life of a renter 8)

Comment by Califoh20
2015-08-25 09:22:51

+1 same boat…. hey, maybe I’ll buy a boat!

 
Comment by BetterRenter
2015-08-25 09:35:20

I have cash too, but I own my own home outright.

Once again, I must remind people that renting vs owning and cash buy vs mortgaging are all decisions to be made by variances by regions (even municipalities). There are no universal rules.

In my region, renting is utterly foolish. The housing bubble crashed here solidly, and you can get housing for cash for under $20/sf. Of course, jobs are scarce, and good jobs are even scarcer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reduce your standard of living, save quite a bit of money, and then perform the cash buy. Largely people who live in my Rusty City who keep blowing through cash for stupid consumer crap, while still renting, are morons. And there are a lot of those, sadly.

Comment by redmondjp
2015-08-25 13:31:52

I remember being in college and seeing the TV ads for Rent-A-Center and places like that, thinking “why in the world would somebody rent a 13″ TV or a couch that only costs a few hundred dollars?”

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Comment by Linda
2015-08-25 14:59:47

Guy in my neighborhood rented a house for 30 years. Now the owner is going to sell the house. The guy doesn’t know what he is going to do.

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Comment by In Colorado
2015-08-25 15:32:22

I’m sure he has a giant bag of cash full of all the money he saved by renting, right?

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-08-25 16:10:36

It depends.

What we do know is buying a house in the last 15 years is double the cost of renting.

 
 
 
 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-08-25 09:28:06

It is a far bigger bubble than he tech bubble of the 90s because it includes the RE bubble and is worldwide.

The global aspect is especially chilling.

 
Comment by Puggs
2015-08-25 09:34:05

EVERYTHING is uber expensive now. Houses, cars, bikes and clothes at Goodwill. And in my locale I can’t negotiate with anyone with cash unless it’s a yard sale. Too many people behind me in line ready to throw down the plastic…

Comment by BetterRenter
2015-08-25 10:42:08

I go to auctions and every couple of weeks I’m bringing home things that are 1% of the new price and maybe 10-20% of the flea-market price. Just last week I picked up a double-decker metal scaffolding for $40; it had everything but the wooden decking. If I would have bought that new, either via a local store, or online including shipping, it would have cost $600.

When an old White guy from an exurb dies, the generational bill finally comes due… he has piles of home furnishings and tools and other equipment, and that stuff goes for almost nothing in an auction. It’s the fate of the Silent Generation and Boomer Generation. Of course, their kids are too busy with their own stupid bills, so instead of processing their parents’ stuff, they just toss it all into an auction. Or an estate sale, but those don’t do well unless the price is similarly marked down a lot. A LOT. Something you tend to see after an estate sale is a rolloff dumpster.

This idea that “everything is uber expensive now” is provably wrong unless you’re an urban professional with a clearly delusional expectation for your standard of living. For example, schooling your children is cheap… provided you send them to the public schools, which we must note you’ve already paid for via your taxes. Those who insist in enrolling their brood in private schools for many years, may well get the impression that “everything is uber expensive now”.

Comment by redmondjp
2015-08-25 13:36:55

I think that the observation largely depends upon one’s geographical location.

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-08-25 17:25:46

Ehhhh not really. Not at all.

Prices are grossly inflated irrespective of location.

 
 
Comment by drumminj
2015-08-25 14:07:32

which we must note you’ve already paid for via your taxes

and is subsidized by everyone else paying taxes

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Comment by cactus
2015-08-25 10:38:16

We had a nice run up last couple years don’t get greedy now at the end of it.

Next recession I don’t know what the central banks will try ? Negative interest rates ? Higher taxes on wealth not income ?

Comment by redmondjp
2015-08-25 13:37:59

QE4 to the rescue . . .

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 08:10:12

That’s why I am moving to Chaffee County.

Denver is over. OVER.

Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 12:13:17

Not much rental stock available in Chaffee County. A 2-bed in Leadville goes for $850. Nothing in the way of affordable housing either. Starters are $225K, everything else is richy rich half-three quarter-mil “cabins” in the woods.

You need to find a rich girl.

Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 13:17:04

Leadville is Lake County, not Chaffee County. I picked up a hitchhiker there last year who moved down to Leadville from Frisco because the rent in Frisco is too damn high!

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Comment by oxide
2015-08-25 19:18:22

Yes, I had to scroll up to Leadville because there is NOTHING in Chaffee County. I guess you could rent out a bedroom in someone’s house.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Goon
2015-08-25 07:17:37

Real journalists at the New York Times report on the popping law school bubble:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/opinion/too-many-law-students-too-few-legal-jobs.html

Comment by CountryClubberLang
2015-08-25 07:38:07

They have been saying this forever. Same with colleges.

 
Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 09:21:29

But yet college lending, the number of law school grads and the amount student loans will not slow down.

The laws of supply and demand should have curtailed this long ago.

What could be distorting the market????

Comment by Califoh20
2015-08-25 10:17:28

Way more foreign college kids today than 20 yrs ago. We never had so many Chinese and Indians in the 1990’s.

 
 
 
Comment by palmetto
2015-08-25 07:33:43

In all the excitement, I almost forgot: Ashley Madison hack claims its first high profile victim in Florida, a prosecutor and state attorney:

http://www.ibtimes.com/jeff-ashtons-ashley-madison-account-casey-anothony-prosecutor-florida-state-attorney-2064764

And he’s not going anywhere, or so he says.

Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 10:18:15

Another idiot democrat state DA.

He should be fired just for being stupid enough to use his government email.

And then we have the stupid and corrupt to the bone PA state DA. Also a democrat.

She decided what laws she felt like upholding, dismissed corruption cases of fellow dem politicians caught on video taking brides and lying to a grand jury. A mini obama.

 
Comment by Concerned Floridian
2015-08-25 13:36:42

New development. Jeff Ashton also had an adultfriendfinder.com registration. http://eastorlandopost.com/jeff-ashton-suspected-having-adult-friend-finder-account-new-information-suggests

 
Comment by rms
2015-08-25 22:02:04

“Ashton said despite having an account on the site, he never actually met anyone through it.”

Haha… never inhaled either, right?

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 22:22:06

There were only 3 ZIP codes in America without any Ashley Madison accounts — here they are
Tech Insider
Nathan McAlone
8 hrs ago

One of the reasons why the Ashley Madison hack has swept through the United States’ imagination to such a profound degree is how all-encompassing it seemed. The hack clawed its way into communities all across the country — well, not quite every community.

Gawker’s Gabrielle Bluestone has uncovered that there are precisely three ZIP codes across the country that have no record of Ashley Madison users. That’s ZIP codes, not area codes. And what do they have in common? They’re partially lacking two things: the internet and a large amount of people.

Gawker’s discovery highlights a pretty dark truth. These three ZIP codes are probably the only ones in the United States that don’t house spouses looking to cheat — at least not by using Ashley Madison.

Here they are:

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 07:37:49

I’ve been on hold for thirty minutes trying to get through to Vanguard.

I keep getting the same recorded message, over and over again:

“Thank you for waiting. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the delay. An associate will be with you shortly.”

Is it possible that a massive number of people trying to liquidate their investments is clogging their phone lines?

Another theory: In the interest of increasing profitability of their operations, they have cut back on phone staff to the point where every caller can expect a 30 minute delay. Just a couple of years ago, I used to be able to get one of their staff on the phone with no waiting at all.

Comment by Selfish Hoarder
2015-08-25 07:48:53

Why don’t you just use the Vanguard website to put in your order? It was instantaneous for me. Ordered $thousands of dollars of a sell on my VTCLX.

 
Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2015-08-25 08:08:21

Vanguard usually takes a few moments to get through to when I call. Yeah, would not surprise me if many of the account holders are calling to sell. It’s not like many people are intuitively being prodded to buy given these past few trading days…..

 
Comment by WPA
2015-08-25 08:33:54

they have cut back on phone staff

Of course they cut back on live phone staff. There aren’t enough old fart dinosaur customers around who still use rotary telephones for transactions.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-08-25 09:30:01

There aren’t enough old fart dinosaur customers around who still use rotary telephones for transactions.

Aren’t those pretty much the only ones who have money to invest?

Comment by WPA
2015-08-25 09:44:39

Aren’t those pretty much the only ones who have money to invest?

LOL, no. When we’re out and about we’ve noticed an increasing number of seniors with smartphones. There are still a few holdouts that won’t let go of their rotary phones, like this guy

http://goo.gl/DciRM0

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Comment by 2banana
2015-08-25 10:10:18

Tough to hack a rotary phone

 
Comment by BetterRenter
2015-08-25 10:48:35

Our local telephone system stopped supporting rotary dialing years ago. You either tone-dial or you don’t dial.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-08-25 11:41:40

There are still a few holdouts that won’t let go of their rotary phones, like this guy

I’ll bet that he has more money (for now) than all of the regulars on the HBB put together.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-08-25 11:44:12

When we’re out and about we’ve noticed an increasing number of seniors with smartphones.

Doesn’t mean they know how to use them :-) Most of them probably bought a “For Dummies” book to go with the new toy.

 
 
 
 
Comment by cactus
2015-08-25 11:09:30

Vanguard staff is not that great anyway IMO

 
 
Comment by "Auntie Fed, why won't you love ME?"
2015-08-25 14:04:14

When will the HBB give me permission to short the stock market?

Comment by Califoh20
2015-08-25 14:06:13

Start with pets.com, then Circuit City.

Comment by azdude
2015-08-25 15:12:10

When is cnbc going to realize some of their commentators don’t know SH@T and start bring credibility back into business news? It real is embarassing for them when dennis gartman and jim cramer keep spewing BS on live air.

Comment by Califoh20
2015-08-25 15:38:07

I think most people gave up on TV in the early 90’s. Just get Hulu and Netflix for movies.

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-08-25 17:19:45

In 2008 and 2012, ‘Murikans obliged the Oligopoly by grabbing their ankles and voting for its Republicrat water carriers. Now these gentle souls are going to get repaid by seeing their 401 (ks) get vaporized as the Wall Street Ponzi markets implode. The universe has a way of setting itself right after all.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-08-25 17:48:50

“There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.”

– Ludwig von Mises

Comment by azdude
2015-08-25 18:21:04

QE is the roach motel of monetary policy.

At what point does the market stop responding positively to QE?

Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 21:05:17

Lobbyists will lobby.

ft dot com/markets
August 25, 2015 4:46 pm
Larry Summers and Ray Dalio flag return of quantitative easing
Robin Wigglesworth in New York
Lawrence Summers, former US treasury secretary, and Ray Dalio, head of Bridgewater.

Investors believe that the recent market ructions have almost killed off the chances of a Federal Reserve interest rate increase next month, but some big-name industry figures are going even further, predicting that the central bank’s next move will be to restart quantitative easing.

Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury secretary, and Ray Dalio, head of the world’s biggest hedge fund manager, this week indicated that the US central bank should consider restarting its “quantitative easing” programme to counter deflationary dangers and ameliorate tensions on financial markets. In an opinion piece in the Financial Times, Mr Summers wrote that raising rates in the near future would be a “serious error”, but later went further and suggested on Twitter that the Fed should even consider another bond buying programme.

 
 
Comment by Bill, just south of Irvine
2015-08-25 18:22:20

Yes I read that quote of his on ZH. Very nice

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-08-25 18:19:59
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-08-25 19:10:36

Charlie Daniels calls out our worthless Republicrat Congress.

http://cnsnews.com/commentary/charlie-daniels/open-letter-congress-2015

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 21:08:59

Financial Times
ft dot com/global economy
August 25, 2015 6:05 pm
World trade suffers biggest fall in 6 years
Shawn Donnan, World Trade Editor
The figures showing a contraction in global trade fuel a debate over whether globalisation has peaked

World trade recorded its biggest contraction since the financial crisis in the first half of this year, according to figures that will fuel a debate over whether globalisation has peaked.

The volume of global trade fell 0.5 per cent in the three months to June compared with the first quarter, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, keepers of the World Trade Monitor, said on Tuesday.

Economists there also revised down their result for the first quarter to a 1.5 per cent contraction, making the first half of 2015 the worst recorded since the 2009 collapse in global trade that followed the crisis.

Global trade actually rebounded 2 per cent in June, according to the World Trade Monitor but its authors warned that the monthly numbers were volatile and the more revealing pattern lay in the longer term figures.

Those numbers built on what has been a grim pattern for global trade in recent years and the unwinding of a decades-old rule that saw trade grow at twice the rate of the global economy as a result of what some have called hyperglobalisation.

In the three months to June, global trade grew just 1.1 per cent from the same quarter of 2014, according to the new Dutch figures. The International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to grow 3.5 per cent this year.

“We have had a miserable first six months of 2015,” said Robert Koopman, chief economist of the World Trade Organisation, which has forecast 3.3 per cent growth in the volume of global trade this year but is likely to revise that estimate down in coming weeks.

Much of this year’s slowdown in global trade has been due to a halting recovery in Europe as well as a slowing economy in China, Mr Koopman said.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 21:21:03

Pfffffft…

BloombergBusiness
Chinese Margin Debts Shrink by $156 Billion as Trades Unwind
Bloomberg News
August 25, 2015 — 7:59 PM PDT

China’s margin debt has plunged by 1 trillion yuan ($156 billion) from its June peak as stock traders close out bets using borrowed money amid a $5 trillion rout.

Outstanding margin loans on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges fell to about 1.25 trillion yuan on Monday from a record high of 2.27 trillion yuan on June 18. The Shanghai Composite Index has plunged 45 percent from its June peak amid concern that the highest valuations among major world markets are unjustified given the outlook for slowing economic growth.

While KGI Securities Co. and Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co. say the slump in margin lending will help reduce volatility from the highest level in almost two decades, CIMB Securities Ltd.’s Scott Hong sees little chance of a sustained rally without a rebound in leverage.

“The bull run was driven by leveraged funds, and the bull will cease to exist when leverage fades,” Hong, an analyst at CIMB Securities in Hong Kong, wrote in an e-mail. “Range-bound consolidation would be the best-case scenario.”

Chinese shares fell for a fifth day on Wednesday as traders weighed the impact of an overnight interest-rate cut. The nation’s equities have lost $5 trillion, or half their value, since mid-June. The government has halted direct intervention in equities this week as policy makers debate the merits of an unprecedented market rescue, according to people familiar with the situation.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 21:45:50

Business
Commodity Traders Feel Unusual Pain of a Market Rout

Firms find they can no longer thrive on volatility after building up a physical presence
Glencore shares are trading sharply lower. Above, its Swiss headquarters.
Photo: Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg News
By Sarah Kent
Aug. 25, 2015 2:31 p.m. ET

LONDON—For years, the secretive club of the world’s largest commodities traders thrived on volatility and sometimes tiny price differences in the raw materials they trade—styling themselves as nimble middlemen able to profit whether markets were rising or falling.

These days, many outfits are very different animals and that’s causing unusual pain amid today’s commodities-market rout.

During a decade of booming commodities prices, many of these trading firms put billions of dollars into mines, pipelines and storage terminals. Those bets were supposed to help their traders understand supply and demand, while providing their trading floors with a ready source of supply. But they also made them more exposed to falling prices in markets in which they have built up a physical presence.

Just how much, however, is difficult to gauge, since many of the biggest traders are still privately held and disclose little. Even the trading floors of big, publicly listed traders—including Glencore PLC of Baar, Switzerland, and Hong Kong-based Noble Group Ltd. —are difficult to value because they have so few peers.

“The issue is that there’s an opacity around the trading business that makes it hard to model,” said Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Paul Gait. “When you’ve got a mine, you can work out minute by minute what that mine is worth. It’s much harder to do that with a trading business.”

One of the hardest hit in the recent market carnage has been Glencore, once a privately held trading firm that, under Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg, listed shares in 2011 and then became one of the world’s biggest, diversified miners after swallowing up Xstrata in 2013. Shares have swooned this year amid falling prices in most of the commodities it mines, high debt and concerns over its investment-grade credit rating, which it needs to keep trading costs down.

Glencore shares are now trading at about half their value from the start of the year. Last week, the company reported a 29% fall in mining-related earnings for the first half of the year. It said it made $1.2 billion on the trading floor for the period. Still, it lowered its full-year trading guidance to between $2.5 billion and $2.6 billion, despite assurances from Mr. Glasenberg in March it would make between $2.7 billion and $3.7 billion “no matter what commodity prices are doing.”

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-08-25 23:03:07

Do u wish you had never invested one nickel in the stock market?

 
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