Bits Bucket for September 2, 2015
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
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is harp keeping home prices high?
By changing the rules of the game to enable millions of previously unqualified homeowners to refinance to a lower monthly payment, HARP effectively transferred a massive amount of other people’s money into the hands of current homeowners. The resulting increased incentive for homeowners to stay in place, rather than move somewhere else at higher monthly payment rate, has the effect of sucking inventory and liquidity out of the market. Non-Ownership Society members face higher purchase prices and rents as a result.
So basically buyers have to pay higher home prices because of HARP?
If harp wasnt there values would be a lot lower.
But that also means that get to pay thousands in interest to banks when they get a loan.
Are all homeowners members of the FSA?
The Mortgage Reports
Posted August 29, 2015
in HARP Refinance
HARP Refinance Loan Program Expires In 15 Months
HARP loan closings by LTV, by month
HARP Refinance Is “Not A Scam”, Says Government
The HARP refinance has been a staple of the U.S. housing market recovery, helping more than 3.3 million homeowners to refinance to lower rates since 2009.
Despite persistently low mortgage rates in 2015, though, the number of HARP closings is dropping. Fewer HARP loans closed in June than during any month in the program’s 5-year history.
HARP’s sponsoring agency — the FHFA — believes the HARP slowdown is an issue of “awareness”, which is probably accurate. Consumers frequently tell officials that the program appears “too good to be true”; that it “must be a scam”.
But, HARP is not a scam. It’s real and more than 600,000 U.S. households are “in the money” to HARP-refinance right this very minute.
Few are actually doing it.
Via an outreach program which includes mailers and town halls, the Federal Housing Finance Agency wants today’s eligible HARP households to get started on their refinances now.
If you’re a current U.S. homeowner and think your mortgage rate is too high for today’s market, it’s a terrific time to take a look at your HARP loan eligibility.
HARP expires at the end of next year.
Click to see today’s rates (Sep 2nd, 2015).
HARP Refinance : Loans For Underwater Homeowners
HARP is an acronym. It stands for Home Affordable Refinance Program. Sometimes called the “Obama Refi”, the HARP program was launched in 2009 as part of that year’s economic stimulus program.
At the time, current mortgage rates had been dropping and so were U.S. home values.
30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates had moved to the high-4s, opening refinance opportunities nationwide. Unfortunately, many homeowners — including those in Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; and Phoenix, Arizona — found themselves unable to refinance.
As home values cratered late last decade, many homeowners had too little equity to refinance.
That’s when the Home Affordable Refinance Program was first proposed.
Via a series of economic stimulus programs, the government promoted the idea that if homeowners who had lost home equity could only get access to a refinance, they could capitalize on low rates and lower their monthly mortgage payments.
With an increase in household cash flow, consumer spending would get a boost which, the government reasoned, would help propel the U.S. economy into a recovery.
When HARP was passed, its guidelines stated that a homeowner’s home equity was irrelevant for purposes of a refinance. So long as the consumer met several basic criteria, including a history of on-time payments, the existing loan would be HARP-eligible for lower mortgage rates.
The most popular headline regarding HARP read “Obama Waives Refi Requirements”.
The program was an instant hit.
…
“With an increase in household cash flow, consumer spending would get a boost which, the government reasoned, would help propel the U.S. economy into a recovery.”
Enabling the “How much a month?” lösers.
Must have been quite a windfall for liquor stores.
‘With an increase in household cash flow, consumer spending would get a boost which, the government reasoned, would help propel the U.S. economy into a recovery’
I remember that. I wondered at the time, imagine what lower house prices and rents would accomplish.
What was the value of HARP to program participants and who paid for it?
Word is out that China has a PPT.
Parade Protection Team, that is.
TIME
World China
China’s Stock Market Is Not In Step With Its Victory Day Parade
Hannah Beech
6:07 AM ET
China Stocks Plunge On Wednesday
ChinaFotoPress—ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images
Investors have a rest at a stock exchange hall on August 26, 2015 in Haikou, China.
Errant indices have the potential to embarrass party leaders intent on celebrating China’s might.
As Beijing counted down the hours until a massive Victory Day military parade on Sept. 3, China’s President Xi Jinping prepared to welcome a stream of world leaders congregating for the goosestepping, missile-bristling commemoration of Japan’s official surrender in World War II: Russian President Vladimir Putin, South Korea’s Park Geun-hye, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Sudan’s Omar Hassan al-Bashir and even the Prime Minister of the tiny South Pacific nation of Vanuatu Sato Kilman. (Larger players in World War II’s Pacific theater, like the U.S. and Australia, declined to send top-level representation to China’s military pageant.)
On Sept. 2, the sky over Beijing, often polluted, shone a brilliant blue. Red flags flapped. There was only one glitch: when the Shanghai bourse opened on Wednesday morning, shares nosedived more than 4%. By the trading day’s end, the exchange had almost clawed its way back to positive territory, closing down 0.4%, as regulators rushed forward with a grab bag of rescue measures. But the stock fluctuation—capping a summer that has erased the year’s domestic market gains and caused jitters in overseas bourses—must have been embarrassing for Xi with so many national leaders in town to celebrate China’s triumphal rise.
…
“This explains why a rising stock market is now essential to the Status Quo: if the market reverses, everyone who sees mostly stagnation in their corner of the economy will realize that is the norm, not a local aberration.
If the stock market is now too big to fail, the Federal Reserve will have to prop it up whatever the cost. Ultimately, this may require direct purchases of stocks–an action that other central banks are already pursuing.
This shouldn’t surprise us. After all, the Fed directly bought $1.5 trillion in mortgages (mortgage backed securities) to prop up the housing market, and a few trillion dollars in Treasury bonds to push interest rates down.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-02/stock-market-now-too-big-fail
“…the Fed directly bought $1.5 trillion in mortgages (mortgage backed securities) to prop up the housing market…”
Was this where the HARP financing came in?
“This explains why a rising stock market is now essential to the Status Quo: if the market reverses, everyone who sees mostly stagnation in their corner of the economy will realize that is the norm, not a local aberration.
The stock market wealth effect on consumer spending is pretty small at this point. Falling indices won’t have much effect on the real economy.
All the “blue pill” people that I know are freaking out with the wild gyrations that we have seen in the “market” over the last couple of months. I was at a party this weekend and from the conversations that I heard it appears that the FED manipulation, in an attempt to cover for a dead stock market, is now showing on up on most people’s radar.
The lady with the bowl haircut, along with all her economic PHD’s buddies, better find an isolated desert island to hide out on with this mess implodes.
Would that be the “little blue pill” that is advertised so heavily on television?
“Use of this this stimulus may result in an unsafe drop in currency strength. Do not take if you are already using ZIRP or other currency-thinner. If you have a correction lasting more than 4% please see the FED immediately for this market-threatening condition.”
I don’t know why the Chinese are celebrating “their” victory.
They spent the biggest part of WWII fighting each other, and stocking up on Lend-Lease supplies for the final showdown between the Nationalists and the Mao’s boyz than they did fighting the Japanese.
It’s one of those “1984″-type victories.
The Party was always at war with Oceania….
Panda Promotion Team.
ft dot com > GlobalEconomy >
Chinese Economy
Last updated: September 2, 2015 5:17 pm
China blame game spooks investors
Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai, Josh Noble in Hong Kong, and Stephen Foley in New York
An investor gestures as he checks share prices at a securities firm in Shanghai on August 26, 2015. Shanghai stocks closed down 1.27 percent in volatile trading on August 26, extending days of falls despite a central bank interest rate cut aimed at boosting the flagging economy and slumping shares, dealers said.
CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO
©AFP
China’s efforts to apportion blame for its stock market rout have unnerved many of the foreign investors Beijing has spent years trying to court and left analysts and investors increasingly wary of provoking Beijing’s anger.
“I can feel the government supervision is strengthening. We are required to use more gentle wording in reports and our opinion should not be too strong,” said an analyst at a Chinese brokerage.
The authorities have arrested, or investigated, several employees of brokerages, listed companies and even the market regulator itself as they seek to tackle malpractice, manipulation and “rumour-mongering”.
Nervousness has been fuelled by the uncertainty over the whereabouts of a prominent hedge fund boss, Li Yifei, who was summoned this week for meetings with financial market authorities in Beijing in connection with their probe into stock market volatility. People close to Ms Li, head of Man Group China, said the meetings had finished and she had gone on holiday.
One big US hedge fund with operations in China said it was conducting extra audits of its trading in the country, concerned that the authorities were imposing additional scrutiny on foreign investors.
One executive at the fund said rumours regarding the whereabouts of Ms Li had darkened the mood. “Are they [the authorities] going to decide that malicious short sellers brought down the market?” the executive said. “Are they going to create a witch-hunt? It is hard to tell because they are so unpredictable.”
Chinese shares, which closed 0.4 per cent lower on Wednesday having earlier tumbled 4.7 per cent, have slumped more than 40 per cent from their mid-June peak. That has wiped about $5tn off the value of listed companies and sent shockwaves through global equity markets.
The Chinese government responded by spending about $200bn to prop up markets. It also banned short sellers, halted initial public offerings, encouraged margin trading and prohibited share sales by all big investors.
But the Chinese regulator said last month it would end daily interventions in the stock market — although many participants believe the government is still actively buying shares whenever the market falls.
…
Ante up to pay for more “acts of love,” ‘Muricans.
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/02/report-more-than-half-of-immigrants-on-welfare.html
Yes, and “…the report found that 87% of immigrant households had at least one worker.” They qualify for government assistance because wages are too low. Give immigrants and U.S.-born citizens a living wage and we would all save billions of dollars in welfare not spent.
GOP’s anti-labor, low-wage, pro-outsourcing policies created the FSA.
What good are immigrants if you can’t exploit the hell out of them and get somebody else to pay for it?
What good are immigrants if you can’t exploit the hell out of them and get somebody else to pay for it?
Yup. The “immigrants on welfare” complaint becomes an argument for amnesty: if illegals are here working, get them naturalized so they will pay federal income tax and help pay for these benefits they are consuming.
Why do I get the sinking feeling that they will continue to collect welfare after being given a green card?
What exactly do they get on “welfare?”
Go to the part of town where the all the advertising billboards are in Spanish. See all those garish,neon painted, former gas stations and assorted ex-fast food joints with the big, “tax preparations done while you wait” signs in Spanish.
Illegal aliens working under the table don’t file income taxes. The brightly painted businesses are set up to walk the “immigrant” thru the Earned Income Tax Credits paperwork so that they can get some “free” monies. The illegal gets a few thousand U.S. dollars without paying income taxes, courtesy of the few U.S. taxpayers that are left in this Country, and the tax preparer gets a percentage of the action in the form of a kickback.
This particular article addresses the issue currently. However,
this EITC scam has been ongoing for years.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/11/irs-pay-back-refunds-illegal-immigrants-who-didnt-/?page=all
Our newly arrived immigrants buy their water from local stores because the idea of clean drinking water, from a faucet, is impossible for them to understand. They spread used toilet paper around public restrooms because in the third world sh@tholes that they have migrated from the infrastructure can’t handle the paper.
They steal (U.S.Citizens ID’s by the millions), lie (about immigration status to receive benefits that they aren’t entitled to legally), and they have raped and/or murdered Anglos by the tens of thousands.
The ones who are pointed to as successes (by our media) are usually U.S. College graduates (even though Reagan assured us during the 1986 amnesty that secondary education wasn’t going to be allowed for illegal alien teenagers) who then go on to become Community organizers and/or Civil rights attorneys that then fight to further the cause for people of their race.
The largest and best funded Mexican “rights” group in our Country is La Raza which simply means The Race.They receive millions of dollars from American taxpayers each and every year.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/06/nclr-funding-skyrockets-after-obama-hires-its-vp/
Check out the numerous quotes listed below from well known Pro-immigration types over the years including Jose Angel Gutierrez, a College professor in who openly calls for the reconquista of the American Southwest. Read them and you will see that they have been formulating their plans for Aztlan for years and that their long term goals don’t seem to include any living space in this Country for white America.
Note that even Snopes.com can’t deny the authenticity of the quotes or the individuals that the quotes are associated with.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/hispanicleaders.asp
A green card just means they can be exploited legally.
How many illegal (wives) did Trump sponsor? I prefer the 3rd world chicks too.
You’ll take any trick that drives by Lola.
They qualify for government assistance because wages are too low.
wages are too low because the economy is so sick that employers don’t have to compete to get workers. workers have to beg for jobs when it should be the other way around.
Give immigrants and U.S.-born citizens a living wage and we would all save billions of dollars in welfare not spent.
this shows a total lack of understanding how things work. employers will never give employees more money than they are worth. if they did, they couldn’t compete and would be out of business shortly. if you want to see rising wages you have to have thriving economy. an economy so strong that employers have to raise wages in order to get or keep employees. but the politicos are screwing up the economy so much that jobs are very hard to come by. in this economy, it’s the workers who have to compete more to gets jobs. they have to sacrifice in order to get hired. and it’s continually going to get worse because the politicos are going to continue to intervene in the economy.
Who gets to decide what people are “worth”? And what makes their judgement any better than mine?
In my business, the “deciders” don’t want to hire full time mechanics, or pay them a decent salary.
But they don’t have a problem scratching out $250K - $1M checks to cover their azz for their poor decision making.
Who gets to decide what people are “worth”?
the ones doing the hiring.
And what makes their judgement any better than mine?
their closeness to their own situation. if you aren’t doing the hiring you should have NO say what-so-ever.
In my business, the “deciders” don’t want to hire full time mechanics
you can thank regs that penalize full time employment for that.
But they don’t have a problem scratching out $250K - $1M checks to cover their azz for their poor decision making.
poor decisions from ‘your’ perspective. if they were really making bad decisions they wouldn’t have their jobs for long.
“The ones doing the hiring”
As has been demonstrated repeatedly, just because they have the money/power doesn’t mean they are not stupid.
“…..closeness to their situation…..”
HA! When you get a certain distance up the food chain, you have no clue as to what’s going on. Most managers/deciders like it that way. As we have seen, the”wasn’t aware of/nobody told me” defense has kept a bunch of upper management types out of jail.
“Regulations”
Bull. Its a “cut headcount to make my cost of operating this airplane cheaper” decision. Instead of hiring a full time pro, a bunch of owners are forcing one of their pilots to wear two hats. Whether they have the experience/know how to make maintenance decisions or not.
“…..wouldn’t have their jobs long”
This assumes that the guy making the decision is a peon too, and not the owner of the checkbook. And as anyone who looks at the history knows, these guys would rather take a multi million dollar hit, than admit that they were stupid/made a mistake. Especially when they can work it out so others to take the financial hit.
And besides, a lot of these issues can be ignored until the “smoking hole”. At which point, they can lawyer up and start saying stuff like “I wasn’t aware” and ” Nobody could have predicted…….”
As has been demonstrated repeatedly, just because they have the money/power doesn’t mean they are not stupid.
it doesn’t mean they ARE stupid either. so what’s your point?
HA! When you get a certain distance up the food chain, you have no clue as to what’s going on.
HA! then bad decisions get made and he either gets fired or they go out of business. HA!
Bull. Its a “cut headcount to make my cost of operating this airplane cheaper” decision.
bull. cutting headcount isn’t always the way to get operating costs cheaper. i sure as hell wouldn’t put you in charge of anything with simplistic thinking like that.
This assumes that the guy making the decision is a peon too, and not the owner of the checkbook.
the owner of the checkbook has to be the most responsible of all. it’s scary you don’t get this.
And as anyone who looks at the history knows, these guys would rather take a multi million dollar hit, than admit that they were stupid/made a mistake.
yeah sure. i’m sure you’d rather lose multi millions than admit a mistake. you really do live in a fantasy world.
“poor decisions from ‘your’ perspective. if they were really making bad decisions they wouldn’t have their jobs for long.”
Really? What is Too Big Too Fail?
Really? What is Too Big Too Fail?
another liberal lie.
wages are too low because the economy is so sick that employers don’t have to compete to get workers.
Wages are too low because US laws and tax code effectively reward corporations with a higher profit margin if they offshore and outsource overseas. As this practice snowballed in years past, US factories closed and created a labor surplus, putting downward pressure on wages.
employers will never give employees more money than they are worth.
That’s not the problem at hand. The problem is that employers are paying employees less than what they are worth and are getting away with it. The whole system is set up in the tax code to milk workers and the shareholders to maximize CEO compensation and golden parachutes. Screw the workers with low pay, and screw the shareholders by making short-term decisions that fatten the CEO’s stock options but hurt the company’s growth in the long term.
Decades ago the Powers That Be decided it was too hard to make money by making widgets at home in the US, and there was easier money to made by gutting America’s industrial base and abandoning the blue collar worker. The wealthy went Short on America and sold us out. This was an act of economic treason and both political parties enabled it.
Wages are too low because..
More H1B because we have a skilled worker shortage just ask any silicon valley CEO.
Wages are too low because US laws and tax code effectively reward corporations with a higher profit margin if they offshore and outsource overseas.
taxes don’t ‘reward’ anyone. they simply ‘take’ at different rates. taxes and regs are mostly responsible for employers going overseas.
and if the laws do reward employers for going overseas, who’s fault is that? why should those laws be written?
The problem is that employers are paying employees less than what they are worth and are getting away with it.
ben & jerry felt the same way some decades ago. they fired the successful ceo they had that ran their ice cream business and hired someone that agreed with their political views instead for much less money. unfortunately, after the new guy was hired their profits began to nose dive and they had to fire him. i don’t know if they’ve ever fully recovered from that. your thinking is along the same line as theirs. it’s a mistake to think like that.
the only call you can make to someone’s value is your own. you can decide what you will work for, but you shouldn’t be able to decide for someone else.
Decades ago the Powers That Be decided it was too hard to make money by making widgets at home in the US, and there was easier money to made by gutting America’s industrial base and abandoning the blue collar worker.
pure fantasy. a fairy tale.
The wealthy went Short on America and sold us out.
how did they do that?
This was an act of economic treason and both political parties enabled it.
more hyperbole. nothing you’re saying can be made rigorous.
“US laws and tax code effectively reward corporations with a higher profit margin if they offshore and outsource overseas.”
How? Please be specific. What laws would you change, and how would you change the tax code?
Comment by WPA
2015-09-02 09:49:10
Wages are too low because US laws and tax code effectively reward corporations with a higher profit margin if they offshore and outsource overseas. As this practice snowballed in years past, US factories closed and created a labor surplus, putting downward pressure on wages.
BINGO!
Check out the video (an oldie,but goodie).
“Our job is NOT to find a qualified U.S. worker”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU
I showed this video to Rep Orrin Hatch at a delegate caucus meeting about 2 years ago. He’s in the pocket of the H1B visa boys. His response was to ignore the video and dash away to the protection of his security detail.
I would also add that we allow products made by near-slave labor and little to no regard for the negative externalities of dumping waste in local rivers, etc (environmental regs for silly things like clean air and water) in places like China, Taiwan, etc to flood into this country nearly/totally duty free.
This makes it impossible to compete here because of the “communist-liberal-big-guhbermint” imposed horrific hardships on honest American businessmen. Hardships such as giving employees weekends(GHASP!), disposing of your industrial waste responsibly instead of just dumping it in the local water supply(The HORROR!!), paying people a living wage so their kids can eat and go to school or they can retire someday (MAKE IT STOP!!).
All the things that foreign countries let their businesscritters slide on.
Thus they can afford to undercut us every time. What’s funny is listening to the people that would remove these basic protections as the answer, rather than demanding that other countries meet us on a level playing field.
I suggest that we offer (relatively) free trade to any country who meets basic standards, and heavily tarriff goods from countries that don’t. Then we’re competing on a level playing field.
Consider that free/low cost labor in the form a slaves was a major contributer to financial turmoil for the Romans and ultimately a not-so-small factor in its their demise.
nothing was mentioned here about pollution. i’m certainly not against laws covering pollution, so that part of your argument is a strawman.
and of course a ‘relatively’ free market is not a free market.
what you want is protectionism. and what protectionism boils down to is price fixing. and again, price fixing is antithetical to a free market. price fixing harms economies.
if you disagree, what is your definition of a free market?
the destructive effects of tariffs.
—-
The cost of tariffs to the economy is not trivial. The World Bank estimates that if all barriers to trade such as tariffs were eliminated, the global economy would expand by 830 billion dollars by 2015. The economic effect of tariffs can be broken down into two components:
The impact to the country which has a tariff imposed on it.
The impact to the country imposing the tariff.
In almost all instances the tariff causes a net loss to the economies of both the country imposing the tariff and the country the tariff is imposed on.
http://economics.about.com/cs/taxpolicy/a/tariffs.htm
OK, so thanks for all that, tj, we now have established that you’re one of those free-trade globalists (so you must really like Larry Kudlow on talk radio). I used to believe as you do, but after seeing first-hand how these policies have devastated our middle class, I have changed my position.
I’d rather buy things made by other fellow countrymen (and women), and keep the money stateside. But that’s not even possible in most cases any longer.
And China’s manufacturing is absolutely destroying their environment, to the point that you can’t even breathe in some of their cities. That’s not good for the earth, or for us over here either.
i’m no globalist. free trade doesn’t or shouldn’t have anything to do with politics. the last thing i want is worldwide centralized power.
I used to believe as you do, but after seeing first-hand how these policies have devastated our middle class, I have changed my position.
the middle class is being devastated by taxes and regs that are crippling the economy, not by trade with china.
I’d rather buy things made by other fellow countrymen (and women), and keep the money stateside. But that’s not even possible in most cases any longer.
check back in when things have gotten so expensive that you have to choose between food and electricity. you might laugh now, but each day we are inching closer to those conditions.
sounds like population problem…. but co’s have record profits, we all know Exxon and WMT could hire and pay more.
shareholders win, workers lose
sounds like population problem….
i wouldn’t doubt that everything sounds like a population problem to you.
I’m not talking about arbitrary tariffs.
Think of it this way: We’re effectively paying an opportunity cost tariff for all the cheap chinese goods imported into this country.
I don’t think it’s asking too much for the chinese to have to compete under the same requirements that our businesses have is it?
Or is it that you like your pseudo-slave labor goods from Wal Mart so much?
We’re effectively paying an opportunity cost tariff for all the cheap chinese goods imported into this country.
no, our general population is benefiting from the cheap products we get from china. the less they have to pay for something, the more they have to buy something else.
yes, there will be winners and losers. some will lose, but the vast majority will win. as HA often says “lower prices are good for the economy”.
I don’t think it’s asking too much for the chinese to have to compete under the same requirements that our businesses have is it?
2 things.. first, they are the ones taking the hit for dirty production. second, their rising profits will allow them to pay better and provide better conditions for their workers. all of this with more benefits to come. but it can’t happen overnight. it will take some time.
Or is it that you like your pseudo-slave labor goods from Wal Mart so much?
the first gratuitous insult is in kind response free.
no, our general population is benefiting from the cheap products we get from china
lol, Right. Good to see tj-13 is still buying the Koch Bro. kool-aid.
(Makes me feel the world hasn’t changed)
there you are comrade!
how’s your communist manifesto coming along?
Up pops Lola The Poverty Queen.
he thinks he smells blood in the water and wants to join the feeding frenzy.
To demonstrate to all that we bankers do indeed have a sense of humor I offer to you this quote from the past taken directly from my People Are Smart files:
“It was my equity that I cashed out so I don’t see any reason why I have to pay it back.”
Bahahahahahaha … dumb ‘em down, and profit.
Romney Retards, take heart. The Oligopoly might be swapping out its water carriers.
http://www.businessinsider.com/mitt-romney-2016-donald-trump-2015-9
“Trump accused Kelly of asking unfair questions while moderating the first official prime-time Republican debate. In his pushback against her, Trump criticized her skills as a journalist, retweeted a supporter who called her a “bimbo,” and made what many saw as a lewd remark about menstruation. (Trump said his critics misinterpreted him and suggested that Kelly apologize instead.)”
What do his adoring fans see in this real estate developer turned demagogue that I miss?
Not to suggest that he isn’t entertaining or divisive…
What do his adoring fans see in this real estate developer turned demagogue that I miss?
An opportunity to give the corrupt, sleazy, corporate statist Establishment GOP “leadership” the finger, after being thrown under the bus so many times?
Ray K hits it out of the park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ray K hits it out of the trailer park!
Fixed it for you.
I’m just wondering what Romney’s mulling over right now. Has he caught on to the fact that he was a Bush place holder? Does he realize his “consultants” deliberately mis-advised him and screwed him blind?
Bwahahahahah.
Never thought I’d hear myself say this, but God bless Roger Stone!
Excellent!
How do you say “the finger” in Spanish?
F….U!!! That is how you say ‘the finger’ in Spanish!!
For that reason it’s great to have him in the race.
They see someone who is actually serious about throwing out the illegals so that low-educated Americans can have jobs again. And Trump said it himself… the best thing about him is that he doesn’t need anyone else’s money. I rather like the irony that the way to break the cycle of politician being controlled by billionaires is for the politician be a billionaire himself.
What do his adoring fans see in this real estate developer turned demagogue that I miss?
They drank the Kool Aid and swallowed the snake oil. Only in America are people so gullible that they wail about the oligarchy yet swoon at the feet of another oligarch. You can’t fix America’s problem with the elite 1% by electing a member of the elite 1%. Trump is a Trojan Horse candidate.
“Only in America are people so gullible that they wail about the oligarchy yet swoon at the feet of another oligarch. ”
Being rich does not automatically make you an oligarch. Are Bill Gates and Tom Steyer oligarchs? Not if you’re a democrat, I guess.
Being rich does not automatically make you an oligarch.
True. But Trump definitely is. He’s backslapped with the Clintons and the big banks, and simply cannot be trusted.
“He’s backslapped with the Clintons and the big banks, and simply cannot be trusted.”
So, hanging out with the Clinton’s means you can’t be trusted? What does that say about BEING a Clinton?
Which candidates are not Trojan Horses?
Are Congress and the White House full of “Oligarchs”? I don’t think so. I think they are full of hoers, shills and pickpockets.
Are Congress and the White House full of “Oligarchs”?
No, of course not. They’re just puppets of the oligarchs. When Obama caves or Boehner caves during a major showdown, it’s obvious the Chamber of Commerce have made their phone call.
Kelly isn’t a journalist, she’s a pop-tart.
What I see in Trump is a guy who has exposed the fact, to many who haven’t noticed before, that there is only one Political party and that both the Republicans and the Democrats are fighting against the best interests of the of this Country’s citizens.
A fact that many here already know.
The invasion continues as millions flee the Middle East in the wake of the neo-cons “regime change” debacles.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3204828/Riot-breaks-overcrowded-refugee-camp-Germany-resident-tore-pages-Koran.html
So this was all a plan to destroy the socialists by overloading them with refugees from the shitstorm we stirred up in the middle east?
Brilliant!
Merkel is crazy as a sh8thouse rat. Well, this is the end of the EU, that’s for sure. Refugees my patootie. A lot of those mokes look awfully well-heeled. Got the latest in electronics and such.
Well, they did have homes and possessions and stuff before somebody started shelling their neighborhoods. It’s almost as if these refugees are human beings that were recently driven from their homes.
You’ve got a point. They should be loaded onto cruise ships and sent across the Atlantic and right up the Potomac.
We could build a big camp for them in that park in front of the white house.
+1 Put them all in public housing in Falls Church and Chevy Chase and see how the elites like it then.
The thing about it that is so confounding is the determination to get to either Germany or England. I dunno what that’s about, but England just said, “Right. Drop dead”.
No one seems to want to go to Saudi Arabia, Iran or any of the Stans where Islam is king. Don’t want to stay in Greece or Italy, although some have no choice. Not much interested in Eastern Europe.
Why do you suppose that is?
Anyway, apparently Merkel pulled a fast one and told Hungary “No more trains, please”, after her grandstanding about taking in hundreds of thousands. Of course, she expected other countries to step up and share the wealth, but there aren’t many takers. Now the migragees are stuck at the Budapest railway station. By god, I’d send them on, screw Mutti.
A lot of those mokes look awfully well-heeled. Got the latest in electronics and such.
That’s likely to be a sign that they’re valid refugees rather than economic migrants.
The sheeple continue their docile acquiescence to having their rights and freedoms stripped away.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-01/sheep-led-slaughter-muzzling-free-speech-america
GIGO-vernment
Remember that you have no free speech in banks (Great Depression Laws still in effect) and in state buildings. You can be arrested for saying certain things against or about the govt.
I find that troubling. I remember standing in a bank during one of our financial crisis, and the guard intervening on a conversation. Quite troubling.
Is the Fed losing control of its rigged Ponzi markets?
http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/the-markets-are-more-broken-than-we-thought/
The Fed’s War on Savers continues apace.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-central-bankers-malodorous-war-on-savers/
“prices should be discovered not administered” Donald trump
“Get rich by stiffing your creditors” says Donald Trump.
That’s Trump… one, two, three, four times a bankruptcy.
It’s the American way.
Remember, sheeple, listen to the experts. They know best.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/09/01/the-value-of-experts/
If you guys want a good laugh at inflated home prices look at east sacramento. east of business 80, north of highway 50 and south the american river that is adjacent to cal expo. Areas extends east to about sac state.
Small 1000 sq ft homes going for 400k and up to over a million on certain streets like the fab 40’s.
I’m familiar with that area, having traveled there for business several times over the past 3 years. And that part of town (stayed there next to Cal Expo a couple of months ago) is really hard to get to from I-5 due to the rivers, train tracks, and so on. And most of it seems pretty run down.
Outside of business, though, I have no idea why anybody would ever want to visit Sacramento, unless you are into CA state history. The historic district in Folsom is worth a visit, as well as Oldtown.
I have no idea why anybody would ever want to visit Sacramento
State Capitol syndrome. It’s a common disease. Nearly all state capitols are mediocre towns and are almost never the most vibrant city in the state: Sacramento vs LA or SF; Salem vs Portland; Olympia vs Seattle; Carson City vs Vegas; Jefferson City vs KC; Albany vs NYC…
With the exception of Santa Fe, NM. One of the USA’s nicest places to live.
What; Tallahassee isn’t as vibrant as Miami?
Crackers are not vibrant?
Denver, in the year 2015, is the weed capital of the world
Come winter, the brown clown over the flat city will return.
To be honest, I am afraid of giant brown sky clowns.
very pretty, can you see the big shoes? http://www.imagescolorado.com/environment-stock-photography/h3E211B52#h3e211b52
It’s funny when Trump supporters say those on the left are “afraid” of Trump. Trump’s a whackjob on many major issues but he’s scaring the cr@p out of the GOP party leaders on some major issues dear to their heart. He’s changing the debate big-time.
Donald Trump has (by force of will and obliviousness to the GOP’s dogma) entered into the GOP’s debate the raising taxes on the rich and protecting SocSec/Medicare -in a matter of months. It’s a joy to see.
No one can pin “class-warfare” on a billionaire calling for higher taxes on the rich - or call a billionaire calling for SocSec/Medicare protections a “moocher”.
If Trump keeps pushing those issues, you might very well see a shift in the GOP’s stand on those issues. This can be a debate changer - a debate changer such as the ACA’s has been on the basic question of “is health-care a right”. (Which since the ACA, has begun being viewed as such.)
Debate changers don’t come along every day. The right might be afraid of Trump, but the left? Why?
Lola, you have previously claimed to be anti-illegal immigration. Are you voting for Trump?
You’re right Rio. I don’t think the Left is afraid of Trump. If anything, most of us on the Left would be quite pleased to have The Donald as the GOP’s nominee.
Trump’s ideas are wacked, wall and go take the oil in Iraq. But I do like his honesty about the morons in congress.
You’re usually not this thick. Trump’s policies are centrist, so much so that if he runs as an independent, he could be as much of a threat to Hillary votes as he would be to the GOP nominee votes. In fact, in head-to-head polls, he’s gaining on her.
That’s exactly what one of our local political analysts said on the news last night. He was discussing the Trump vs Bush ads. He said that Trump’s “Act of Love” ad featuring illegal alien murderers was straight out of Bush the Elder’s Willie Horton playbook. So then JEB! comes out with his “attack” ad. I dunno how the media calls it an “attack” ad, unless 10 lashes with a wet noodle is an attack ad. It was more like a whine ad. “Trump is not a REAL conservative”. Really? Where do I sign up?
Anyway, the analyst says that Trump supporters from the Republican party are mainly moderates. And that he’s getting support from “gasp” moderate Dems as well.
Here’s the Trump ad responding to JEB’s wet noodle “attack”.
https://instagram.com/p/7GXcgxGhbG/
OUCHIE! I detect the fine hand of Roger Stone here.
The more Trump positions JEB with his brother, the better.
a threat to Hillary
LOL. If Trump is the nominee, the Hispanic bloc will vote 80-20 for Hillary or Sanders. Univision will have a field day with non-stop attack ads against Trump and mobilizing Hispanics to register and vote. The electoral college advantage for Hillary would be about the same as what Obama got.
I’m not so sure, WPA. My understanding is that the Hispanic voters have either been in the US for generations, or they gained citizenship the hard way. Both would be resentful of the newcomers just walking over the border. And is the gain in Hispanics enough to offset the loss of African Americans?
Trump’s policies aren’t fully formed yet, but at least at the present time, he seems to giving centrists on both sides most of what they want: jobs for Americans, protection of SS/Medicare, taxes on the rich, keep your gunz.
He doesn’t have the baggage of the SJW-FSA on the left, or the baggage of the money-grubbing bankers and warmongers on the right, or the baggage of continual near-scandal of Clinton. It’s like a la carte cable!
Want some REAL entertainment? Let Trump come out with a $12 minimum wage and indicate a willingness to consider single-payer healthcare (which he has done in the past). For good measure, he should take on Elizabeth Warren as VP, you know, to help prevent others from going through the “painful” bankruptcies that he went through. (assuming she would agree to it, which is unlikely.)
Heads would explode everywhere. What fun!
Trump’s policies aren’t fully formed yet,
And never were….and never will be.
You’re usually not this thick.
And you? Re-read my post. It’s about changing the debate in the GOP. No?
lol@Lola
Trump Supporters Think Obama is A Muslim Born in Another Country
PPP’s newest national poll finds Donald Trump just continuing to grow his lead over the GOP field. He is at 29% to 15% for Ben Carson, 9% for Jeb Bush, 8% for Carly Fiorina, 7% for Marco Rubio, 6% each for Ted Cruz and John Kasich, and 5% each for Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker. That group makes a pretty clear top 9. Rounding out the field are Chris Christie and Rick Santorum at 2%, Jim Gilmore, Rand Paul, and Rick Perry at 1%, and Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, and George Pataki at less than 1%.
Our new poll finds that Trump is benefiting from a GOP electorate that thinks Barack Obama is a Muslim and was born in another country, and that immigrant children should be deported. 66% of Trump’s supporters believe that Obama is a Muslim to just 12% that grant he’s a Christian. 61% think Obama was not born in the United States to only 21% who accept that he was. And 63% want to amend the Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship, to only 20% who want to keep things the way they are.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2015/08/trump-supporters-think-obama-is-a-muslim-born-in-another-country.html
A closet Mooooslim - yes I believe that to be true
Another country - not so much.
Deal is this guy was not raised in the United States proper - Indonesia and Hawaii were the locales and lo and behold simple traditional Murican values are not taught nor valued in said locales.
Birth Cert may say Murican - character not so much.
England requires 10 years for citizenship. Don’t most countries reject birthright citizenship?
Why do you think he’s a closet mooslim? Does he not let Michelle drive?
What makes you think he’s not?
Fact: Obama has never suicide bombed congress
Fact: Obama has never shouted “ALLAH ACKBAR!” in a crowded theater
Fact: Obama has not called for the obliteration of Israel
Check and mate
I was just implementing my MightyMike strategy of posting a shirt uninformative question that adds nothing.
Bill Gross says “Go To Cash!” Cash and 1 to 2 year corporate bonds.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-02/bill-gross-go-cash
I also say 1 to 2 year treasuries (52-week T-Bills and 2 year Notes).
Bill Goon says “Go To Wyoming!”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_River_Range
Life on the grid is so overrated
“Life on the grid is so overrated”
Clearly you need more debt… shackle you to a cubicle where your skill set can be taxed to help those who matter. In addition, goon girl’s lifestyle should be supported in the manner she’s become accustomed.
I wonder if goon realizes that the only girls who would accept such a lifestyle are unshaven emo hippy tree hugging feminists? The daintier half of the weaker sex would not cotton to the thought that the solar panels can’t handle the microwave and hair dryer at the same time. Don’t ask about the chemical toilet.
Are you putting money into stocks, taking money out of stocks, or standing pat?
What kind of allocation would be best to have when (1) the Fed announces this fall that rate hikes are still on hold; (2) the Fed announces QE4?
we have 3 asset bubbles:
stocks
bonds
real estate
which one craters first?
If times are so great why are bond prices so high and yields in the sh@tter? Wouldn’t this imply a flight to safety in a bad economy? Either stocks are way overvalued or bonds are.Which one is it?
I know cars are not an asset but those are in a bubble too IMHO.
Sure cars are assets although depreciating assets. No different than houses.
“I know cars are not an asset but those are in a bubble too IMHO.”
Got that right. We need another vehicle for my son; used Honda or Toyota coupe w/120k+ miles fetches $4,500. Insanity!
Cars are a household asset.
20% still in stocks, rest is cash. Might buy stocks, slowly at DOW 15000, Like (ARCC, WTR, GLW) Never less than 50% cash
I decreased my stock allocation to about 56% from 60.
Weird: Costco gas is still $2.999/gal despite the recent oil price spike.
http://picpaste.com/20150902_073827-RfqCHF1H.jpg
Paid $2.57/gal yesterday at Fred Meyer. Remember when that was considered a high price?
I remember the first time I paid over $2/gal visiting California in 2003!
I was kinda liking the $1.59/gal I paid in 2009 after the bottom dropped out.
$2.29 in Kansas City, MO briefly approximately ten days ago.
The bargains are $2.35 here, which is surprisingly low.
I can remember when gas was selling for 19 cents a gallon.
Got my DL about the time of the first Arab Oil Embargo. Gas jumped up to the outrageous price of 45 CENTS A GALLON!!!!!
At least we didn’t have to deal with gas lines, or buying fuel on alternate days, like they did on the coasts.
“At least we didn’t have to deal with gas lines, or buying fuel on alternate days, like they did on the coasts.”
I remember that well. I would fill up on odd days, even when I didn’t need to out of fear. LOL Typical govt. solution.
I was on the Jersey coast and did the alternate day rationing. At the time I was a young engineer working in a major’s refinery on the coast. We were busting a gut in the tank farm, filling everything and crews working 24/7 on building new tanks for crude storage. A bunch of tankers were offshore just past the horizon, waiting for their queue to come in and offload.
It was OJT in hoarding. A glut for the few, rationing for the many.
What? Are you saying that if we don’t regulate businesses they rip off consumers>? wow!
That’s not exactly what I was saying. Hard to regulate away greed and stupidity. Rest assured that the oil company lost a lot of money buying high and then selling into the bust. Afterward, the regulators were screaming “obscene profits”. LOL.
Kim Davis, your cell is ready. Cell No. 14 in Cell Block 2A. Sung to the tune of Neil Diamond:
“Kentucky Woman
if she says “No” now
she goes to jail now
Kentucky Woman.”
If the lady had any integrity she would resign. That’s what real adults do when their personal feelings conflict with their job duties.
SJW friends of friends on Facebook are openly posting (under their real names) that they want this woman murdered and all liking each others posts like typical SJW circle jerks. Keyboard commandos have moved on from Cecil the Lion to her now…
” integrity ”
We think you are confused about the meaning of the word.
Any idea of how far crude will fall now that the Iran nuclear deal is in place?
If you are a long term investor oil and nat gas could be buys. Everyone keeps talking about a bottom in oil but thats hard to say. If oil went back to 100 you would have a nice gain.
Interesting article on CNBC today talking about how the frackers are changing their methods to extract more for less cost per barrel. Necessary in the current low-priced times.
Said another way, when oil was $100 per barrel, there was no incentive to try to get more for less–why experiment with the frack formula? However, now that oil has a much lower price, the frackers are trying different things to improve the yield per dollar spent.
My conclusion is that the longer oil prices stay down, the less they’ll go back up. The longer prices are low, the more companies will fail. The companies that will survive are increasingly going to be the ones who will be able to extract oil for the lowest cost–and thus will re-start drilling sooner than their less-efficient, former competitors.
The article
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/02/frackers-change-methods-in-imploding-oil-market.html
It’s 15% of total US production and a fraction of that in terms of global oil production is raindrops in the desert my friend.
Remember….. global oil demand is falling.
well until cars on a massive scale burn or use something other than petroleum products oil is always a great place to invest.
Now coal on the other hand is in trouble.
With prices falling, it’s a dead end. Just like houses.
Don’t often see this in MSM friedman fries Saudi Arabia in NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/opinion/thomas-friedman-our-radical-islamic-bff-saudi-arabia.html?_r=0
Just one of many reasons I drive electric.
I hope oil goes to 10.
The Bush family has been well supported by the Saudi royalty.
And visa-versa.
Just got an invitation to attend my 40 year high School reunion.
Not sure I want to go. I associate my high school years with many more painful experiences than I do happiness. It was only after I got the hell out of high school and I started meeting and working with people in the Real World that I ceased to be treated as a second class loser. Haven’t seen or said boo to any of these people since I left town.
I’d rather pay to stage a giant party/drunk-a-thon for all of my aviation buddies, when I start watching grass grow from the wrong side of the turfline.
Comments?
How far do you have to travel to attend? I just did my 30 year, and it was organized by non-child-bearing classmates who didn’t plan one single family-friendly event (loud bar Friday night; golf, winery tour Saturday, with overpriced catered dinner in the evening). My wife was bored out of her mind and I should have left her home (kids were with grandma).
As it has turned out, my job wanderings have put me back into the same Metro area. About a 20-30 minute drive from the apartment.
The plan is a golf tournament on Friday, an informal meet at a local sports bar on Friday night, and a dinner on Saturday night.
Graduating class was around 380, give or take. I had one couple as my neighbors in ICT back in the early eighties briefly, and another guy as a fellow employee in the same department for about two months back in 2003.
Like a lot of people, the people I’ve stayed in contact with longest are the guys I went to tech school/college with. I’ve been visiting/hanging out with my bestest buddy since 1978; hung out with him for a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago.
I had my 25th a few years back. It was simply a BBQ in someone’s backyard–the kids got to run around and play, I got to catch-up with old friends.
The night was more fun…ended up at a different classmates’ house who didn’t attend the BBQ, where I was really able to hang out with my close friends (many of whom I knew from 1st through 12th grades).
Without the really close friends, it probably wouldn’t have been worth it, but hanging out with people I knew for a long time, but hadn’t seen for a while was a lot of fun.
“I had my 25th a few years back. It was simply a BBQ in someone’s backyard”
Wow, you and some others here must have gone to tiny high schools! There were a few hundred people in my graduating class.
GS - Like you I received an invite to my 40th HS reunion and I am making the leap - gonna go and see what happened to the high school hotties on the cheer squad.
Don’t know ’bout you but I am always curious what people are up to - and like you HS was a severe downer for me back in the day brought about by a number of factors. Now being in a much better place in life I have decided I best go and see what is up and just say hi to some folks I have not encountered in a long while.
I would encourage you to go.
I recommend not going.
I had a bad time in high school. The only good part was I had a crush on a chick who looked like Farrah Fawcette - Charlie’s Angel’s era.
My 40th would be in two years. I never went to a single reunion. Somehow they traced me and contacted me around my 20th and I knew a guy whose wife was in my class. I forwarded the info to her but did not reply with the classmate who sent me the info.
College was so much better. I don’t want to relive the high school memories. College memories were worth reliving.
Please don’t go. More likely than not, you’ll cry yourself to sleep.
Go for it dude!
Odds are the people you are describing who thought they were all that aren’t all that anymore. Sounds like you would be better off remembering how they are now then how they were then.
I went to five boarding schools plus my hometown schools. Thanks to Facebook I’ve been on 10 reunions in the recent past! I’ve had a wonderful time but I don’t drink and the druggies I used to know drink and get mean! I did cry after my old room mate said I was passive aggressive and the clicks are alive and well! It sucks without a husband too! But I do have fun with my old friends!
nothing gets done around the haters:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-republicans-democrats-poll_55e5fbb8e4b0c818f6196a82
and the USA continues to slip….
Oh, how I wish for the good old times, when guys like this were pretty much universally thought to have more than a few screws loose………
http://tinyurl.com/oreva25
Nowadays, the players keep changing, or are being added, quicker than you can update the scorecard.
What I want to know, is how they are going to decide if a kid is genuinely transgender, or just a little perv? Stick him in the shower with a bunch of naked high school girls, and see if he pops a stiffy?
Indeed - because it is all about FEEEEEELINGS and rights rather than obligations. I just want to get hold of these bozos and tell ‘em to ‘man up!!
“What I want to know, is how they are going to decide if a kid is genuinely transgender, or just a little perv? Stick him in the shower with a bunch of naked high school girls, and see if he pops a stiffy?”
Long hair and mixed up feelings of identity or not, that’s a dude.
Homie can either shower with the boys and deal with it or get home schooled until he graduates. He can marry any letter he wants but he does not belong in the girls locker room.
This cr@p is a bridge too far.
If you oppose obama you are a climate deniar!!!
http://juneauempire.com/local/2015-09-01/44th-49th-james-brooks-juneau-empire
1.) You oppose Obama
2.) You are a climate denier
What is this, tautology Wednesday?
Looking at the markets right now, and the PPT is on the job!
10 ways that white liberals perpetuate racism:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/8068136
He is funny! But he should not run on being another Reagan. We dont want the deficit tripled and 3 million illegals given amnesty. Trump does not read, apparently.
Trump also predicted that he will not only win the White House in 2016, but that he will be re-elected in 2020–predicting he will be a two-term president–and that at the end of his eventual eight years in the White House he will be known to all as a “great conservative” just like Ronald Reagan.
“I like Jeb,” Trump said. “He’s a nice man. But he should really set the example by speaking English while in the United States.”
Synthetic drugs are garbage, homeless junkies taking over DeBlasio’s Manhattan:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/nyregion/k2-a-potent-drug-casts-a-shadow-over-an-east-harlem-block.html
question of the day
Does a weaker or stronger dollar cause the PBOC to take more dollars off the market and store them as reserves in the form of treasuries?
Kerry Promises Israel, Saudis Money In Wake of Iran Nuclear Deal!
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/kerry-promises-israel-saudis-money-in-wake-of-iran-nuclear-deal/
What would Trump do? Stop the welfare, I hope!! Moochers who take billions sukkk
Here’s a fine example of ABQ Dan’s Chinese stimulus spending in action.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-02/china-explained-1-image
Did one of our resident Obama Zombies go missing?
http://news.yahoo.com/lost-australian-sheep-yields-42-kilos-93-pounds-011453131.html
Another citizen getting “protected and served” while a judge turns away and does nothing. No wonder so many people hate cops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBMEOeXwlLk
Marc Faber:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-02/its-tipping-point-marc-faber-warns-there-are-no-safe-assets-anymore
“I would rather focus on precious metals, gold, silver, platinum because they do not depend on the industrial demand as much as base metals, as industrial commodities.
If I had to turn anywhere, where, as you say, the opportunity for large capital gains exists, and the downside risk is in my opinion, limited, it would be the mining sector, specifically precious metals, mining companies, in other words, gold shares.
I would buy mining stocks. I am not saying they will go up, but I think they will go down less than a lot of other shares. And by the way, if you ask me about relative value, I think emerging markets are not yet cheap, cheap, but I think the return expectation I would have over the next seven to 10 years by investing in emerging markets would be much higher than, say, in U.S. stocks. The U.S. market is overhyped and is expensive in terms of valuations from a historical perspective. Emerging markets are no longer terribly expensive.”
I agree with Faber about metals and mining. I have mining ETFs. I sold my gainers, which were not mining stocks. Kept all my shares of mining ETFs and mining stocks.
Hope to buy more mining stocks in a few months but got to load up on more physical bullion in 2 months.
As for emerging markets, I also agree. They have gained very little relative to the Keynesian-pumped U.S. indices and European indices. IOW, they have far less loss potential than the developed markets’ stocks.
This is why I have not sold any of my emerging market fund VEMAX but sold off a bunch of VSGAX and VTLCX shares a month ago.
Even the gold bug experts have it wrong.
Schiff thinks your gold will go up because there will not be a rate hike.
http://www.kitco.com/news/video/show/Kitco-News/1055/2015-09-02/No-Fed-Rate-Hike-Coming-They-Never-Intended-To—Peter-Schiff
The charts show the 10 year bond and gold rates are proportional.
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=%5ETNX+Interactive#{”range”:”5y”,”allowChartStacking”:true}
IOW, it’s been a great idea to buy gold every six months or so the last few years. When the rates DO go up, gold will go up with the rates.
rapidly.depreciating.houses.