Bits Bucket for September 3, 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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Are you following the 100% cash investment strategy for now?
If enough people do this, it will become self-confirming.
PBear - here is something to feast on this morning - this from Art Cashin at UBS. The question “Would that destroy the Fed’s credibility?” - my answer to that one -
Ummmm……no it was destroyed a looooong time ago. Next question?
Text of Cashin’s comment herewith…..
The IMF Warns Again – The IMF has cautioned the Fed and other central banks about any tightening of policy in the current environment. That’s the IMF’s second warning to the Fed.
The World Bank has also warned against a Fed move as has former Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers. Many prominent traders have also cautioned against a move. Among them are Stan Druckenmiller and Jeff Gundlach.
I think that presents a formidable problem for the Fed. If they brush aside these cautions and go ahead, what happens if there is an unintended negative consequence? The world might say – You were warned but pushed ahead anyway. Would that destroy the Fed’s credibility? It’s a distinct possibility.
Meanwhile, Wall Street watering holes are filled with rumors (unconfirmed) that Fed staff are polling Primary Dealers and others about what disruptive results might occur.
The Fed faces the prospect of marching straight into the trap it has set for itself.
say AMF to the imf
20% US taxpayer funded
Why is the dollar strong? Are other countries really doing that bad?
Can the dollar be manipulated to stay high?
Celebrate the strong dollar as a great opportunity to diversify into risky assets like emerging market equities or commodities…provided you aren’t mired in debt, that is.
Market Extra
Foreign buyers flock to Treasurys as global volatility sets in
Published: Sept 3, 2015 2:55 p.m. ET
Foreign demand should put a cap on U.S. rates
Markus Pfaff /Shutterstock
Foreign investors flock to Treasurys
By Ellie Ismailidou
Markets reporter
As central banks’ appetite for U.S. Treasurys wanes, foreign private investors are flocking to the U.S. government bond market, preserving the Treasury market’s position as the global haven investment amid stock market turmoil and falling commodity prices.
According to a Deutsche Bank report released this week, the dollar amount of Treasurys sold by foreign central banks has been more than offset by foreign private investors’ purchases.
…
Investers losing appetite for risk; liquidity drying up. The next “Lehman moment” can’t be too far off.
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/09/02/liquidity-risks-spike-to-worst-level-since-financial-crisis/
There won’t be a next Lehman moment now that the Elite have gotten people used to bail outs. Lehman would not be allowed to fail today. It’s all good.
In 2008 and 2012, fully 95% of the electorate backed pro-bailout Wall Street water carriers. The elites can diddle these sheeple to their hearts’ content.
I actually agree with this. A crash won’t happen because a crash won’t be ALLOWED to happen. The value of our money may take a hit, but the nominal value of the stock market is not allowed to fall - it has become an entitlement.
‘A crash won’t happen because a crash won’t be ALLOWED to happen’
I’ve never heard that theory before.
Presumably what was done to prevent the stock market crash in China could be done over here.
Oh wait…
It wasn’t me
Beijing is blaming everyone but itself for China’s stock market collapse
Who’s to blame?
(Reuters/Stringer)
Written by Heather Timmons and Zheping Huang
Obsession
China’s Transition
September 01, 2015
China’s stock markets continue to stumble, despite the massive stimulus that the government has unleashed to prop them up. The Shanghai benchmark index fell by 1.23% today (Sep. 1), after closing down slightly yesterday. The index has fallen by nearly 40% from its mid-June peak.
In some ways, the slide isn’t surprising—after all, Chinese stocks were trading at extremely rich valuations before they started to fall, even as signs emerged that China’s economy was slowing.
…
Sounds like realtor or contractor double-talk.
Crashes happen, whether they are allowed to or not.
Government intervention to disallow crashes has the unintended consequence of encouraging reckless speculation which leads to ginormous bubble formation.
Bubbles eventually pop, which leads to crashes.
Tj took me to task yesterday, for basically being ignorant.
So its time for a poll (unscientific). Who is closer to being correct, when it comes to the way business is run in US America?
He seems to believe that “free markets” are infallible, every decision that business makes is based on these principles, and that any problems the US economy has are due to government interference of some kind.
I believe that there are no such things as “free markets”, that management makes either stupid or selfish decisions 50% of the time, that in a no growth environment the only way for company execs, venture capitalsts, PTB, etc. to show “profits” is by screwing their employees, or their customers by eliminating competition and creating monopolies. While paying government to look the other way, by various money transfer schemes.
I also believe that in the undeclared struggle between nation states, China and the US are playing different strategies, with China taking the “capitalists will sell us the rope we use to hang them with” position.
So, who is closer to being correct, by the experiences of the readers of the HBB?
And the bigger question? What happens when 80% of the population can’t survive on what the “free market” decides they are “worth”?
Government interference of some kind. Like NAFTA and its meddling? What is Hillary’s position on NAFTA?
On the other hand, who is the loser in the whole China thing? We get IPhones cheap, built by slave labor. We have the biggest country in the world being farmed out to us as slaves by their leadership.
On the other hand, who is the loser in the whole China thing? We get IPhones cheap, built by slave labor.
Who is the loser? I would say that the slaves must be the losers.
Why would you say that?*
*MM strategy in effect.
We get IPhones cheap $600 iPhones are cheap? Maybe you meant Android phones…
+1. iPhones remain expensive and Apple makes a killing.
Apple is cheap junk.
A lot cheaper than if they had to be made by nonslaves.
We are the losers because now we have to compete with slaves for wages. It is not easy to compete with a slave for wages. If you were the landed gentry, then you’d be flying high, but I’m not so I ain’t.
‘And the bigger question? What happens when 80% of the population can’t survive on what the “free market” decides they are “worth”?’
An idiocracy?
A country on the dole.
in other word, taxpayers subsidizes biz. like WalMart’s employees today.
Walmart benefits from billions in government subsidies: Study
Walmart is the beneficiary of billions of dollars per year in federal subsidies, according to a new report [PDF] from the non-partisan, progressive group Americans for Tax Fairness.
The report estimates that Walmart and the Walton family—which co-founded the company and still owns a majority share—collectively profit from nearly $7.8 billion per year in federal subsidies and tax breaks.
“This report shows that our current system is anything but fair – rather it provides special treatment to America’s biggest corporations and richest families leaving individual taxpayers and small businesses to pick up the tab,” the report concluded.
The $7.8 billion includes an estimated $6.2 billion in public assistance for low-wage Walmart employees, including programs like food stamps, subsidized housing, and Medicaid. It also includes an estimated $70 million per year in “economic development subsidies” from state and legal governments eager to host Walmart in their cities.
call me a liberal….but I want to see an end to the mooching.
There is no rule. I’ve worked in corporations for 40+ years. I’ve met some honest principled men and women and some psychopaths, some wise and plenty of stupid, some who give and many who take whatever is within their reach. This is true of the subordinates just as well as the captains. Most of the herd cannot tell the difference or do not know why it is important.
I believe that there are no such things as “free markets”, that management makes either stupid or selfish decisions 50% of the time, that in a no growth environment the only way for company execs, venture capitalsts, PTB, etc. to show “profits” is by screwing their employees, or their customers
You have it right. Many decades ago corporations made money the old fashioned way by hiring people, investing in equipment and producing widgets. Taking raw materials and making a profit through work and creativity is an honorable way to make a profit. The company was active in the community. Joe Blow was loyal to the company and the company was loyal to Joe.
Today business is all about the next quarter and CEO pay. Buying back stocks, slashing worker pay, outsourcing… anything to get the stock price up to make the CEO’s stock options worth more. They spend millions on lobbyists trying to get money they don’t deserve by getting favorable treatment in Washington. The company is no longer loyal to Joe. Joe is expendable.
Unfortunately you are right. Greed, immoral and dishonorable business conduct is at an all-time high.
Have you ever worked as a manager in a large corporation?
Irrelevant question… whether I have or have not worked for a large corporation doesn’t make my point more or less valid. Short-term greed is there for all to plainly see:
https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/rent-seeking-and-the-american-1-percent/
It is as relevant as teaching about raising kids when you’ve no experience. I always wonder if schoolers have any actual first hand insights.
“Banks knowingly lent money to people they knew couldn’t pay them back, and then securitized the loans and sold them to people who didn’t understand the risk. The mortgage securitizers were rent-seekers. They did not create value; they exploited their positions of trust and access to inside information.”
Work will set them free
WPA, you nailed it.
Who is closer to being correct, when it comes to the way business is run in US America?
Is that a trick question? Tj just spouts snarlingly simplistic and convoluted failed SuppplySide/TrickleDown talking points. USA tried it for almost 40 years and it failed.
Tj took me to task yesterday, for basically being ignorant.
Maybe tried to “take you to task” but didn’t because he can’t. (And a lot of 14 year olds think their parents don’t “get it” either.)
“Free markets are infallible, every decision that business makes is based on these principles, and that any problems the US economy has are due to government interference of some kind.”
KochBrothers Economic Propaganda Manifesto Chapter 5, paragraph 2
You might as well listen to a broken record.
hi comrade!
you don’t want anyone straying of your plantation, do you?
Like I said, tj, I used to believe as you do. But with 30+ years working in the corporate world, and watching what unfettered greed (in the form of corporate globalism AKA race to the bottom) has done to our corporations, middle-class jobs, and country in general, I have changed my position.
There is a balance to be had here - the free market absent any kind of morals is as much of a failure as any other economic system is without morals. As compared to today’s corporate heads, I have more respect for the robber barons of the days of old, because 1) many if not most of them came up through the ranks of their companies, starting at the bottom, and 2) many of them gave most of their money away, with that money still benefiting us to this day (ironically, even benefiting liberal causes such as NPR).
Don’t be afraid to step outside of the box you are in and look around - you might learn something.
Like I said, tj, I used to believe as you do.
it might seem like it to you, but i don’t think so.
and watching what unfettered greed
yes, much better to have the fettered kind.
There is a balance to be had here - the free market absent any kind of morals is as much of a failure as any other economic system is without morals.
since you’re in a lecturing mood, let me ask you, where does standard morality come from?
Don’t be afraid to step outside of the box you are in and look around - you might learn something.
not quite condescending enough. you’ll have to step it up a little.
Tj took me to task yesterday, for basically being ignorant.
most people are too busy with their jobs and families to consider such things as boring economics (the dismal science). they just don’t have the time for it. and even if they did have the time, they’d probably find the subject entirely too boring. i know it did at first. i only started learning it because i thought it would help me with my investing. that’s why i kept at it even when it was boring.
in a few months though, things began to change and i found it interesting and i actually became obsessed with economics. i found my self thinking about it day and night. i had a couple epiphanies along the way, and have never looked back since.
i’m glad that you stepped back and began to question. it’s all i could ask for. i really never expect that to happen with the posters i interact with here. i only hope that it happens to some of the lurkers.
to learn, you must do as you have done. question all your hear, including me. the answers must become self evident to you. otherwise you are merely repeating what someone else has said. don’t believe what i say, instead, discover for yourself. if you have doubts, challenge them by investigating on your own until the answer is evident to you without doubt. that can take a long time, but if the question is important enough for you, you will persevere.
He seems to believe that “free markets” are infallible
i wouldn’t say they are infallible, i’d say they are necessary to prosperity. free markets have lots of failures withing them.
every decision that business makes is based on these principles,
businesses are run by all kinds of people. you don’t have to believe in free markets in order to profit from them. businesses will fail along the way for many reasons. bad decisions is only one way. there are many others.
and that any problems the US economy has are due to government interference of some kind.
yes, most problems are caused by government interference. but there will always be business cycles too. business cycles are caused by errors of production.
I believe that there are no such things as “free markets”
paradoxically, a free market can only exist when it is protected from some outside authority or criminal interfering. and only to that extent. otherwise you get costly and inefficient black markets.
that management makes either stupid or selfish decisions 50% of the time
the decision to start a business is born of what you might call ’selfishness’ and what i call ambition. gecko famously said “greed, for lack of a better word, is good”. the thing is, there was a better word. ‘ambition’. ambition is a more accurate word than greed for what he was saying.
that in a no growth environment the only way for company execs, venture capitalsts, PTB, etc. to show “profits” is by screwing their employees
the only totally no growth environment is tyranny. the goal of any business man isn’t to ’screw’ his employees. the goal is to make as much profit as possible. that means to pay the employees as little as he can get away with. if he pays them too little, they will leave. if he pays them too much he won’t make a profit. it’s a balancing act in which the employees will never feel satisfied. employers don’t have kind hearts, they have ambitious hearts.
this is probably a long enough rant. you have begun to question. good luck on your journey.
“most problems are caused by government interference”
Jefferson Davis, 1861
TJ, as you continue your self-education about economics you will learn this: in the economic history of the world, a free market economy has never succeeded in the long run. The only economic model that has ever produced prosperity is the mixed economy, where the government regulates business and participates in the economy. Business cannot succeed without government and government cannot succeed without the private sector. It’s a symbiotic relationship. The “Austrians” and gold bugs, OTOH, live in an abstract world that has never succeeded in the real world.
I agree with this basic premise…rule of law is a critical piece to this all. However, at what point would you say that government has overstepped?
You may not precisely be able to pick that point (I know I can’t), but when government becomes so intrusive into the free market, taht it effectively picks winners and losers, it has gone too far.
The government needs to line the field and set the rules, and have the referees. However, when the rules and refs start to make it such that only certain kinds of players can win, we’ve gone too far.
IMHO, the consolidation of power into the hands of fewer and fewer financial institutions and fewer and fewer health insurers is a symptom of either government overreach, or ineffective regulation.
Being large is an advantage in almost all industries. However, it shouldn’t be such an advantage that competition is extinguished.
Peter Thiel says that the best businesses are legal monopolies. Why? Because they can generate outsized profits. As such, in industries where legal monopolies are difficult to create, competition should be promoted (decreases profit margins, increasing the benefit to the consumer). When you see such an industry with lack of competition, you should ask “why?”.
the consolidation of power into the hands of fewer and fewer financial institutions and fewer and fewer health insurers is a symptom of either government overreach, or ineffective regulation.
Overreach and ineffective regulations exist, plus a third: legalized bribery we call “campaign contributions” and “dark money” via Citizens United. In this case the “winners” are self-selected by obtaining the desired government carve-outs and/or subsidies.
Peter Thiel says that the best businesses are legal monopolies.
in free markets there is no such thing as a monopoly. in a free market anyone can go into any business they wish, including against the big powerful ones. at&t and standard oil weren’t monopolies because anyone could go into business against them at any time. not many tried because they couldn’t out compete them.
jd rockefeller continually made his product cheaper over time. no one could compete with his prices as he keep driving them down with more efficiency. everyone benefited from the lower prices, including rockefeller who grew richer by making his product cheaper and cheaper.
a real monopoly is when some authority like a government prevents anyone from competing against it, like the US post office. carlos slim also had a monopoly with telemex. for a long time no one was allowed to compete with him and he grew filthy rich while his service sucked. legal monopolies can get you rich, but i consider it ill-gotten gains. legal monopolies are bad for an economy and the citizens that work in it. big business on the other hand, isn’t bad.
hmmmm….
http://eco-chick.com/2009/05/3845/profits-before-people/
in the economic history of the world, a free market economy has never succeeded in the long run.
incorrect. the economies of the world that failed were the one that turned to socialism/communism.
The only economic model that has ever produced prosperity is the mixed economy
you keep repeating the same thing over and over like repeating it will make it true. so i will answer in kind. you want your pure water mixed with sewage so you will have a balance. i’d like my water(capitalism) as pure as possible.
it isn’t the ‘balance’ or ‘centerism’ that make it healthy, it’s the water. the pure water.
the freer an economy is, the more prosperous it will be. you can have your ‘mixed’ economy. the freer one will always be more prosperous.
Business cannot succeed without government
the only role of government should be in protecting its citizens and businesses, nothing else. just keep out the foreign armies and try to catch the criminals.
incorrect. the economies of the world that failed were the one that turned to socialism/communism.
Surely there must have been some that failed that hadn’t turned to socialism or communism.
It is not economics that make nations fail - it is moral failure - that has been the common theme throughout history no matter the system.
America is in decline due to moral failure and lack of fulfilling obligations (whatever those obligations are).
“moral failure”
…high correlation to indebtedness.
+1
TJ live in fantasyland. WHat he claims his GOP stands for, has never been accomplished. Most of us look at actions, not talk. SOme still believe and drink up.
WHat he claims his GOP stands for
idiot, show me anywhere anytime i’ve EVER claimed to be part of the gop.
is that ALL you can do? post LIES?
You do it daily with you past support of Reagan, then Bush, now Rubio.
so you admit you can’t show me claiming to be part of the gop.
the gop is too far left for me. it’s democrat lite. i’m registered independent.
i’m a conservative who is far to the right of the gop. i’ll support the most conservative candidate i can find. i’m not ashamed in the slightest to be extreme right, because extreme right is about freedom. does that clear things up for you?
that’s funny, I am an independent too. Welcome to the club, bro. I am a fiscal conservative, who want to see the corp mooching end. End sending Israel $8+ Bill a yr, end Exxon’s subsidies AND build up a strong middle class like we had in the 40’s, 50’s & 60’s. Invest in our infrastructure (not Iraq’s). Clean air, clean water (make co’s clean up their pollution–see DOW Chemical) and get off mid east oil with alternative energy.
make America great again! And put Bush/Cheney in jail for war crimes.
namaste
we are independents for much different reasons. i belong to no club. i am alone. by choice. and as i said, i will point out posts where you prove you’re not a fiscal conservative (if i’m reading the boards that day).
tax reductions aren’t ’subsidies’. if you aren’t talking about tax reductions or exemptions, then lay it out here.
so you are for the middle class and against everyone else? why not build everyone up? most of those on the high end income spectrum are transient anyway.
stop worrying if someone else has more than you have. concentrate on earning more yourself, instead of how much you can take from others.
Trust me, I have more than you.
you are an angry clown
I was telling Alcoa, Exxon, WMT, DOW, Monsanto and Boeing the same thing:
stop worrying if someone else has more than you have. concentrate on earning more yourself, instead of how much you can take from others (taxpayers).
you are being hosed, and you like it.
you can’t respond to my prior post at all, can you?
can you explain how tax reductions are ’subsidies’? nah, didn’t think you could. all you can do is spout drivel and lies.
The $7.8 billion includes an estimated $6.2 billion in public assistance for low-wage Walmart employees
I was telling Alcoa, Exxon, WMT, DOW, Monsanto and Boeing the same thing:
like i said, you’re an idiot. you sit smugly and spout your drivel without a clue as to how ridiculous you are.
care to explain how exxon is getting ’subidies’?
oh, and you’re too ignorant to know who’s really getting hosed.
The $7.8 billion includes an estimated $6.2 billion in public assistance for low-wage Walmart employees
you still haven’t explained anything. i don’t even know what 7.8 billion you’re talking about. how is public assistance to walmart employees connected to exxon? i was asking you about exxon, not walmart.
WMT employees get food stamps and welfare (paid for by taxpayers) while WMT has billions in profits and could afford to pay its own way. get it yet? Just Google it if you need more of an education. At least I peaked your interest, my job is down.
geez, some people can Google.
Exxon-
http://www.taxpayer.net/library/article/big-oil-rakes-in-added-billions-while-taxpayer-subsidies-continue-2013-thir
i don’t know if you’re having trouble with your posts getting through, but i can’t hang around here all day.
the walmart waltons donated 300,000 to the traitor prez, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they got political favors for it. that’s simple corruption and it’s the dem’s calling card. but that ain’t the issue i’m after.
do you think that tax deductions or exemptions are subsidies? that’s a common talking point on the left and it seems to be what you’re alluding to.
in order to speed things along, i’ll tell you right now that tax reductions aren’t subsidies. that’s the meme that the left has cooked up to try to turn public opinion.
yes, there is corruption. especially now. but i’m trying to find out something different. i believe that you believe that tax reductions are subsidies. is that what you believe?
just like i thought. the leftist boob that wrote the oil ’subsidies’ article at taxpayer.net is an imbecile that doesn’t know how to think. i didn’t read the whole article but i glanced through it to see the way he thinks.
he calls less taxes ’subsidies’. that means that he doesn’t know what a subsidy is, and neither do you. a subsidy is a grant of money, not a tax reduction.
TJ, calm down, dont stroke out. Obama cut the siz of gov. there are less gov employees with O than Reagan. He is a fiscal conservative.. The deficit is from Bush wars, Bush Tax cuts, Bush Medicare, and getting out of the Bush Recession. You are blinded by the kool aid fox is serving. Too Big to fail was Bush/Paulson.
know your party
Obama the communist….. and a bonafide fraud.
He is a fiscal conservative..
i wonder how many people you think you’re kidding? i don’t think very many. and surely you don’t believe your own tripe. you just throw it out there for the people that you think you can fool.
IMO, a free-market economy can only exist in a free society, and for that we need a government.
I went on Drudge for today’s TwoMinuteHate and found this, from Unification Church (yes, the Moonies) owned newspaper the Washington Times:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/2/nuclear-deal-will-make-war-with-iran-more-likely-f
Watching Fox News at the gym, the commercials opposing the Iran deal are pretty apocalyptic, because fear is all they have left to sell. I specifically remember late 2002 and early 2003, and the media’s role in psychologically conditioning the American public for an illegal war.
And it’s happening again now.
I cannot stand Fox News for one second. They want to vaporize the world.
I watch Fox News for context, and only when I am at the gym because I won’t pay for cable teevee at home.
I watch Fox at the gym too. The sound is normally turned off and I don’t have earbuds but I get the gist of it.
Goon:
Re Drudge -
The one thing that strikes me about all the Matt Drudge postings is how out of control things have become to the point that the PTB are clamping down harder and harder on the very things that they let get out of control in the first place.
Drudge summary is - we live in crazy.
Drudge summary is - we live in crazy.
And how does that make you feel? I always thought that the purpose of Drudge and its ilk was to make people angry. At some point wouldn’t his readers start to feel bewildered or exhausted from everything that they see?
If it bleeds it leads. Drudge didn’t invent that. I don’t know how he squares the neocon stuff with his supposed libertarianism. He does seem to support Snowden and is anti-NSA, etc. That said, the website does cover a lot of interesting ground. Even funny. I just take it for what it is.
I’ve always wondered; what is too much? When has the government or a group of people or an individual gone too far? It’s an evolving thing I guess. What all thinking people should do, IMO, is understand that the reason we are shown violence and conflict is because it interests us. But that doesn’t mean we should give in to our base emotions. We should rise above it and seek peaceful solutions and outcomes. I don’t watch TV. When I see it at a hotel or something, I am usually kinda startled at the propaganda aspect. Fewer people are watching TV and I think it’s a good thing.
Nightcrawler - two thumbs up.
And Mike - driven to the point of insanity.
Arrogant, insufferable, little pr*ck William Kristol thinks he gets to speak on behalf of all Jewish people with a Weekly Standard piece (that I’ll not give any more traffic to by linking to here) about the Iran nuclear deal titled “Borderline Anti-Semetic.”
The “Nazi card” is never to be used lightly, but it means you can tell that these neocons are getting desperate. Christian Zionism is inherently Anti-Semetic, in that it selfishly believes that by herding all of the Jewish people into Israel, that they, and only they the “born-again” will be Raptured up to heaven.
There is nothing Christian about Christian Zionism, it is a deplorable perversion of the teachings of Jesus.
“If you like your dead Syrian toddler washing up on a Turkish beach, you can keep your dead Syrian toddler washing up on a Turkish beach” - President Barack Obama
Right on. That blood is on the hands of the administration AND Congress, for not reining the big O in on Syria. All this, just to unseat Assad. It defies imagination.
+1000000
Syria’s does not have a private corporately controlled central bank like our great and free USA. It must be destroyed unless it adopts one. Rules are rules.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/image-of-syrian-boy-washed-up-on-beach-hits-hard-1441282847
http://www.trbimg.com/img-55e7809f/turbine/la-fg-syria-drowned-toddler-20150902 (warning, graphic)
I read another article yesterday that needn’t be linked here about the police and forensics team in Austria trying to identify the bodies of the 71 migrants that suffocated to death locked in the back of a truck, and how the advanced state of decomposition was making it extremely difficult.
Another article notes that there are 4 million refugees from Syria, but it didn’t say how many that Dick Cheney is hosting in his home.
Keep electing those neocons if you want more of this.
If you cannot pull it out of your pocket, you don’t have cash.
No reason to pull it out of your pocket if you can find a way to dip your hand into somebody else’s pocket.
Some recent “free market” observations…..
-Kiss Petsmart goodbye. Taken over by private equity guys last December. Have begun the standard “trash the business while extracting the wealth” plan.
-VP announces new manager for the biggest shop in their worldwide network. Female, with ZERO experience in the industry. Offset by the fact that she’s the wife of the VP’s best friend.
Thats okay. The guys who have been in the business 15-20 years have no choice except to keep her from screwing the pooch too bad. After all, what are they going to do about it? Quit, and find a job somewhere else?
(Another example of what pizzes me off about “women in the workforce”. Most of the ones I know want to skip all of those messy, difficult “pay your dues as a grunt” steps, and go straight into management. I’m old fashioned enough to believe that you can’t tell someone to go work on an airplane on the ramp at 0200 in zero degree/blizzard conditions, without having pulled some of that duty yourself).
“Have begun the standard “trash the business while extracting the wealth” plan.”
A favorite restaurant in Seal Beach Ca was recently sold to a corporation and then all of a sudden … something happened: The food and the drinks didn’t taste the same, they didn’t taste as good.
Methinks the Corporate Spreadsheet Boys got hold of the menus and decided to follow the dictates offered up by the all-knowing spreadsheets and thus began to cut costs.
Cut costs = cut quality. Cut quality and you begin to cut into the reasons people want to go there, meaning you cut into the customer base.
But the corporate guys won’t know this right away, they won’t know this until the sales begin to drop off - which will happen down the road a bit. In the meantime the spreadsheets will show that these cost-cutting decisions were the correct thing to do.
Same old story.
If TJ believes free markets are ‘infallible’ then I tend to agree with him in the sense that the free market offered up by this restaurant (which is not the only restaurant in town) will discover that customers will exercise their freedom and will decide to go eat at another restaurant.
But I do have to say that the concept of a free market tends to end when decisions are removed from being direct decisions by consumers and instead these decisions involve a middle-man of some sort, or a string of middle men, each acting in their own interests.
skip all of those messy, difficult “pay your dues as a grunt” steps, and go straight into management.
The easiest way to avoid that is to major in “management” or related field in college.
And I assume everybody else saw the same red flag when they read “wife of the VP’s best friend?”
Loading companies up with debt and paying yourself with the proceeds seems to be the modus operandi of private equity.
N THE run-up to the financial crisis, private-equity funds seemed to be trying to outdo each other in overpaying for assets. Yet many avoided the bulk of the losses when disaster struck. Often the industry would contribute only a sliver of equity, then quickly extract an equivalent amount or more through heroic feats of financial engineering—thus ensuring a quick profit, and leaving others to bear the pain if the acquired firm tottered under its new mountain of debt. Wily tax structures could help boost returns further.
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21654680-pressure-mounts-two-private-equity-giants-did-very-well-out-disastrous
============
Colt Defense, as the main part of the company is now known, filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday while listing as much as $500 million in debt. Cooling demand for its civilian semiautomatic rifles and handguns, as well as delays in certain large U.S. government and foreign military orders, have exacerbated the company’s finances. But the main reason the company hasn’t weathered rocky market conditions since the winding down of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that the New York financiers who control the company borrowed too much and paid themselves lavishly.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-15/behind-colt-s-bankruptcy-financial-engineering-that-backfired
Oh great, the misogyny has returned to the HBB. How about this, X-GS:
Men make terrible workers because they’re disorganized, selfish, and delusional about their abilities.
Hillary’s partners in crime are clamming up. Given the trail of bodies in Bill & Hillary’s wake, who can blame them?
http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-worker-who-helped-clinton-set-up-email-server-takes-fifth-2015-9
A song for Wall Street: Jump You F*#kers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge311sFhC8
The Donald has a new sparring partner, who happens to not be running for political office.
Just wait until this guy gets into the WH and announces his plan to stifle any voice that opposes him.
He’s gone after Mexicans, women and now black basketball stars. What major voting block will Trump attack next?
Capitol Report
Donald Trump tells Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: ‘You don’t have a clue about life’
By Robert Schroeder
Published: Sept 3, 2015 8:04 a.m. ET
Donald Trump has a new sparring partner: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Donald Trump’s newest feud is with basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Abdul-Jabbar wrote an essay in the Washington Post on Wednesday critical of Trump’s treatment of journalists including Fox News’ Megyn Kelly and Univision’s Jorge Ramos. Trump, who is leading polls for the Republican presidential nomination, replied in a handwritten note that Abdul-Jabbar doesn’t “have a clue about life and what has to be done to make America great again!” The basketball great said Trump’s reply just underscores the point he was making: “Look behind the nasty invective and you find an assault on the Constitution in the effort to silence the press through intimidation.”
…
Wait, wait, let me get this straight. It’s OK for “journalists” to say whatever they want about anyone or anything, and that’s “freedom of screech”, but when someone bites back, that’s an assault on the Constitution? LMAO!
Abdul-Jabber. Yep, no clue.
“silence the press through intimidation”. Is he kidding?
Remind me again how the Fourth Estate was in the tank for the assault on Iraq.
Remind me again how the Fourth Estate pours fuel on fires and gins up riots and unrest among various groups, destroying lives and communities.
Remind me again how the Fourth Estate consistently publishes lies and false statistics about whatever grabs their fancy. But mostly about business and finance.
Remind me again how the Fourth Estate drove and drives the housing bubble.
Should we get the opinions of all the other top sports also?
For some comic relief, apparently Donald Trump is very popular in the rap/hip hop world.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/politics/donald-trump-rich-hip-hop-lyrics-rap/
Makes perfect sense in a bizarro world kind of a way.
Luckily we enjoy a free press in this country, where any sports star, celebrity, journalist or ordinary citizen who wishes to submit an editorial for publication has the right to do so.
Whether a presidential candidate wants to expend valuable political capital launching verbal attacks to shout down every citizen voice in the MSM who dares to question them is his call. But it may offer a preview of his likely governance style, which is important to have since this guy has never spent a day in political office.
“Luckily we enjoy a free press in this country, where any sports star, celebrity, journalist or ordinary citizen who wishes to submit an editorial for publication has the right to do so.”
and make a complete idiot out of himself, yes. I don’t call that “enjoying” a free press. That was gaffetastic. Some people have become completely unhinged by Trump’s candidacy, mainly because he’s upset political business as usual. Jabbar made a career out of dribbling. He should stick to it. Oh, wait…
The press isn’t “free”, it’s bought and paid for. Bezos owns the Washington Post. Fortunately, I have the right not to spend one thin dime for the Chinese crap on Amazon.
Bingo! Dang, I was wondering why WaPo has an anti-Trump screed or article up every. single. day. in the google news aggregator. Bezos is pitting his shants over the whole tariff issue. Trump might be bad for his business.
Free screech. Don’t fall off that horse.
I was wondering why WaPo has an anti-Trump screed or article up every. single. day.
Maybe it’s because Trump is a misogynistic, xenophobic, egocentric demogogue? Nah, that wouldn’t be it…
Nope, Bezos is scared to death. He’s got a phone and a newspaper.
The two publications that appear to be most virulently anti-Trump are WaPo and NYT. Both have owners that stand to lose something if Trump is elected. I’ve already laid out the fears of Bezos. Carlos Slim, the Mexican owner of the NYT, would see a big drop in his state-granted monopoly phone business between the US and Mexico.
So the animus is understandable from a business perspective, but let’s not pretend it has anything to do with free screech or “the issues”, which are basically just fig leaves.
Palmie, good believable argument that you make there. At least you’re not getting into tin foil hat territory that some of the others indulge in here.
You seem to have overlooked my point about wasting political capital attacking non-candidates, but other candidates and the electorate will most likely not overlook it.
Who drew first blood? It is MOSTLY (but not always, even though he says otherwise) true that Trump pretty much hits back at those who hit him first.
With that said, Jabbar did inject his “opinion” into a political arena, which makes him fair game.
Heidi Klum, not so much. I am a fan of hers and didn’t appreciate the “she’s no longer a 10″ tweet. She handled it with grace and charm.
Anyway, he’s signed the pledge. This should get interesting now.
Don’t get me wrong, Pbear, you make very good points, my beef wasn’t really with you but with the dumb statement from Jabbar about the Constitution and freedom of speech as regards the presstitutes. And I think Bezos is gunning for Trump.
Do you guys think I could get Trump to tweet about me if I push his buttons enough?
“Do you guys think I could get Trump to tweet about me if I push his buttons enough?”
Please, please, please go for it, pretty please?
The bell is ringing at the top…
————–
Oh Please
The Market Ticker - 2015-09-03 - Karl Denninger
Kate Whyte almost got to the point where she was going to stand on a street corner with a sign stating: “Homeless: have $1 million dollars, can’t find a home to buy. Please sell me your home.”
She was nearing her breaking point. She sold her five-bedroom North Vancouver house in March for $1.3 million. Whyte, her husband Peter and her youngest child planned to downsize and buy a smaller house in the same area.
WHAT?!
The benchmark house in Vancouver is over $1 million? Toronto is just under that?
Plenty of actual Oil Cities in Canada with cratering prices…
She got ripped off - houses in that area are selling for 2.5 !
Maybe she had one of those houses that “Love it Or List It” always runs into. They try to renovate the house only to find very expensive problems like asbestos, crumbling foundations, rats ate half the electrical wires, holes in the roof, etc.
Sounds like your shanty Donk.
Actually, on the harbour side of the bridge there is a Reserve, very nice location, but probably in that range in North Vancouver. They might actually call that area Capilano - not sure.
Whenever I am in Vancouver I stay downtown on Robson watching the folks go by.
There is a reason they call Vancouver “Hong Couver”.
ShangHai Shanties.
A neo-con wet dream: a war on dissent.
http://theantimedia.org/west-point-professor-calls-for-military-strikes-on-journalists-critical-of-war-on-terror/
West Point, NY — An assistant professor from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point recently declared that professionals critical of the “War on Terror” constitute a “treasonous” opposition that should be subject to military force.
He believes the U.S. should have the right to attack people who are critical of U.S. military operations — specifically, professionals, legal scholars, journalists, and other people effectively spreading ideas that oppose war.
Professor William C. Bradford went as far as to publish a long academic paper in the National Security Law Journal that aggressively promotes suppressing dissent about military force, civilian casualties, and expanding military operations in the Middle East.
Using the excuse that victims would be “lawful targets,” Bradford argues that “law school facilities, scholars’ home offices and media outlets where they give interviews” should be targeted with military force to suppress dissent. He asserted that the war on terror should be expanded, “even if it means great destruction, innumerable enemy casualties, and civilian collateral damage.”
+1
Naturally, criticism of military force should be met with military force. Who do these civilians think is in charge anyway?
Is someone worried that the MIC might not grow as fast if we don’t expand the (bullshit) war on terror?
You got it all wrong. Professor Bradford was just going to the store for some Skittles. This was a setup!
The dating market might actually be worse for educated straight women:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-the-gender-ratio-in-the-us-could-be-affecting-your-dating-life_55e07f99e4b0c818f6178e58
What do you mean that real life doesn’t work like the show Sex In The City?
Enjoy the cats and boxed wine, because I’m upgrading to a younger model
Haw haw!
Get your Tinder game dialed in and it’s as easy as ordering a pizza.
But this……
Feminists are angry that Kermit the Frog’s new girlfriend is young and thin
Kermit has denied rumours that the woman he’s been spotted out and about with is his new love - but that didn’t stop people being outraged
and this…..15 per cent of British men (and a few women) would have sex with a robot
Given also the recent surveys (mostly in the British press) that young men have no use for young women at all - for a myriad of reasons - mostly they are seen as money grubbing seekers of class A sperm - it is no wonder that this sort of stuff is going on.
The solution for these women is pretty straightforward. They just need to consider guys who didn’t go to college.
Four women go out for ladies night to a new club for women only called 4 floors.
They walk into the club and there is a sign that says…
This floor has men that are good looking, college graduates, wealthy and very considerate but they are not good lovers.
The four women look at each other and say… we can do better than that. They go up to the second floor where there is a sign that says…
This floor has men that are good looking, great lovers, very considerate but flat broke high school dropouts with no job or ambition.
The four women look at each other and say… we can do better than that. They go up to the third floor where there is a sign that says…
This floor has men that are college graduates, wealthy, great lovers, very considerate but they are short and quite ugly.
The four women look at each other and say… we can do better than that. They go up to the fourth floor where there is a little old 90 year old man sitting on a bucket with a sign that says…
THIS FLOOR IS PROOF THAT WOMEN ARE NEVER HAPPY
i forgot to put in the beginning if you choose to go to the next floor you may not return.
‘In November 2013, Leon ruled that the program involved a search and seizure that was likely unconstitutional and “almost Orwellian” in its scope. He issued an injunction against the NSA effort, but put that ban on hold so the government could appeal. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned the preliminary injunction on the grounds that Klayman and his fellow plaintiffs had not made a sufficient showing that data on their phone calls was gathered by the NSA program.’
Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2015/09/judge-eager-to-re-enter-nsa-surveillance-fight-213272#ixzz3kggtaoWd
How am I supposed to prove the NSA is spying on me? Shouldn’t the government investigate alleged crimes?
‘The presidential campaign of Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed disappointment that a former computer staffer is refusing to answer questions before Congress about her private e-mail system, saying Clinton had urged all her staff to cooperate. Pagliano, who helped Clinton manage a private e-mail server at her home while she was secretary of state, this week rebuffed a subpoena to testify before a House committee investigating fatal terrorist attacks on two U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012 and now Clinton’s unusual private e-mail system.’
‘In a letter Monday, Pagliagno’s lawyer told Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the committee chairman, that Pagliano would not answer any questions if forced to appear and would instead assert his constitutional right not to do so.’
“While we understand that Mr. Pagliano’s response to this subpoena may be controversial in the current political environment, we hope that the members of the Select Committee will respect our client’s right to invoke the protections of the Constitution,” his attorney, Mark MacDougall, wrote. “As the Supreme Court has made clear, ‘One of the Fifth Amendment’s basic functions . . . is to protect innocent men . . . who otherwise might be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances.’”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-campaign-says-it-urged-staffer-to-answer-questions-about-e-mail/2015/09/03/a6dcd09a-5228-11e5-8c19-0b6825aa4a3a_story.html
If the NSA is copying everyones communications, doesn’t that mean they have Clinton’s “unusual” set of emails and is everyone at the NSA cleared for top secret stuff? And why is this part of the constitution still observed when the NSA is blatantly violating others? And what’s the big to-do about the Iron Maiden wiping her server when the NSA should have a copy?
I’m not buying Carbanite; if my info goes splot I’ll just ask the NSA for a backup.
Isn’t the 5th Amendment regularly swept away in these investigations by an offer of immunity?
‘One of the Fifth Amendment’s basic functions . . . is to protect innocent men . . . who otherwise might be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances.’”
Tell that to Vince Foster, Breitbart, Michael Hastings and many others.
Your Constitutional rights are only so good as long as you are alive.
Like Sheryl Atkinson if I were this guy I would be gunning up and buying as much protection as my bank book will allow.
Wanna bet Kim Davis starts up a GoFundMe account if she’s fined today?
“Kim Davis believes that her three divorces and four marriages are relevant only in that they give her particular insight into the matter currently at hand. …She gave birth to twins five months after divorcing her first husband. They were fathered by her third husband but adopted by her second is not what’s really important here and now.”
How nice of her to defend marriage when she can’t keep one herself.
I suspect she’s eyeing that $840,000 that the Indiana pizza parlor raised on GoFundMe from sympathetic evangelical homophobes. All she has to do is make a “principled” stand, get fined and wait for the dough to roll in.
Marriage today is not two spouses marrying each other, it is two spouses marrying themselves to the state.
There is no benefit from getting married for straight men with assets and options.
There is no benefit from getting married for straight men with assets and options.
My stack of 1040’s don’t agree with you. Divorce is not inevitable if you find the right person and there’s mutual trust. You probably won’t find that on Tinder, though.
Heh, rarely we agree, but on this you are 100% correct.
There is an advantage to the children to spring from a stable traditional marriage.
… and the ultimate irony is that gay marriage could be a major component to assisting the evangelicals’ desire to reduce or eliminate abortions because gay couples will increase demand for adoptions.
Perhaps, but my progressive betters assure that intact nuclear families are a symbol of the oppressive capitalist patriarchy. Check your privilege!
But wouldn’t they approve of an intact nuclear family in which Heather has two mommies?
Well they shouldn’t approve. Heather, being the purchased graft on the sterile tree, will likely reject the whole celibate union cult and strike off to find her true mommy and the meaning of life. After a couple of decades of ruinous devastation of potential suitors and/or therapy, she will settle down on an island with 20 cats or attempt to rule the world.
You might think that that would be typical scenario, but it doesn’t appear to happen more frequently than in Ozzie and Harriet families. And usually one of the two mommies is the true mommy.
Divorce is not inevitable if you find the right person and there’s mutual trust and attraction, and teamwork and smart decisions are made.
duh
I recall someone putting forward the idea of outlawing divorce, on the basis of the anti-gay-marriage argument that marriage is a sacred institution, etc.
Now on the wires… Kim Davis in federal custody, held in contempt of court…
There’s an easy way for her to keep her conscious, and that is to simply give up her job. But no, she wants to slack her job and keep her $80K salary too.
I was pretty surprised by that one.
… and right on schedule, here comes the faux cries of Christian persecution. Mike Huckabee tweets: “Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity in this country.”
Not surprising, Kim Davis is an elected Democrat.
They always seem to think the rules don’t apply to them.
You must be one of the stupid people who STILL can’t figure out that Southern Dems (Kentucky, HELLO??) register as Dem only because they are following the 150-year history of preferring to side with slavery than with Abraham Lincoln, who was a Republican.
News(?) flash: The two parties switched sides in about 1930.
News(?) flash: The two parties switched sides in about 1930.
and again in 1984
Right about when you were still shittin’ yellow.
Inchbyinch try Randys rain gutters you might get a better price ?
Yikes, Europe is being invaded. Do you think they blame Bush for wrecking the middle east?
If Europe will not send them back, this will not stop until Europe is no more.
I think you’re right. It’s way out of control. Bush is a good target, Obama also bears blame. Angela Merkel is a complete nutjob.
I think it may be too late, unless there’s a major policy change and it is treated as an invasion.
Will anyone ever aim accountability at the governments of the countries that created these people and the mess they are fleeing?
Ever see photos of Iraq and Iran in the 1950’s? Before we smelled oil?
http://www.pixable.com/article/baghdad-iraq-was-a-very-very-different-city-in-the-1950s-video
The refugees look angry and strong, they need to Stay in Syria and fight off ISIS, we will be glad to sell them weapons. Europe needs to close their borders fast. Budapest will become like Tijuana.
Each and every one a Democrat entitlement voter. We must resettle them in their millions in every Red state. Forward, Soviet!
Shallow thinkers will try to draw a parallel between U.S. illegal immigration and the European refugee crisis, but the two situations are not similar. For one, European business interests never enticed refugees with jobs and work; here in the US, we created a culture of cross border employment to enable Big Ag access to cheap labor.
“For one, European business interests never enticed refugees with jobs and work;”
Um, yes they did. After WW2. In France, where immigration from North Africa was heavily encouraged, for labor to rebuild. Didn’t work out very well, though.
But wasn’t this from their own colonies?
Yes. Pretty much. Same with England, I think.
They weren’t refugees going to the UK and France from their former colonies.
But the rationale for accepting the 30-year-old El Salvadorian “children” into our country and high schools was just that. They are practically kinda like refugees because their country doesn’t create wealth or anything.
lol@Lolas
When will the Repubs come out with their fer sure, pre-chosen candidate? The existing slate can’t possibly be for real, can it?
TJ - Know your party.
Bush signed Medicare Part D prescription drug program enacted in 2003 during the administration of President George W. Bush, Medicare was prohibited from negotiating drug prices.
Bernie wants to fix that: Bernie Sanders has vowed to step up his attack on the “outrageous profits” of pharmaceutical companies by introducing legislation in the Senate next week to allow Medicare officials to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors.
Competition is good, even if the Conservative party’s best-boy-Bush did not think so.
lol@Lola
TJ - Know your party.
you can’t stop telling lies, can you?
you lie about the 97%, you lie about me being a republican, you lie about being a libertarian (your own words have betrayed on that one and on being a fiscal conservative). you’ll slip up again and show your true colors soon, i’m sure. i’ll point it out for you when that happens.
people would be very foolish to trust anything you say.
Will Hong Kong housing crash foreshadow China housing crash?
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/09/03/home-sales-plunge-in-hong-kong-stock-market-crash-blamed/
WTF…Disgraced General Petraeus now wants us to work with AQ. We have always been at war with Oceana….
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/09/why-is-petraeus-launching-a-work-with-al-qaeda-trial-ballon.html
I love the you tube channel, Ben. Thank you for all of your hard work.
Calypso Rage soundtrack and Cheetos is truly signature HBB. Only a couple donkeys wandering through the neighborhood and a couple moon craters in the ground could make it better.
crater.
Do any of these bleary eyed Libs roll out of bed before 10 am?
Spend the whole day posting on the dole.
Feds Want Evidence They Let Mexican Drug Cartels Buy Guns Kept Quiet
“The defendants should be precluded from mentioning Operation Fast and Furious”
by Sputnik | September 3, 2015
Prosecutors in the trial of a murdered US Border Patrol agent are trying to keep details about guns found on the murder scene from the jury because of their connection to a scandal-ridden federal program.
Between 2006 and 2011, the Arizona field office of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) used a tactic known as “gunwalking” in a secretive program known as Operation Fast and Furious. During that time period, the ATF purposely allowed licensed firearm dealers in Phoenix and Tucson to sell weapons to illegal straw buyers, with the hope of later tracking them to Mexican drug cartels.
The operation turned out to be an embarrassing failure for the Bureau, as the ATF ended up losing track of 2,000 weapons. Since then, the Mexican government has claimed that some of these firearms have turned up in at least 10 crime scenes in that country.
Two of these guns were also found at the scene of US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death, and now case prosecutors are trying to keep the guns out of trial proceedings.
Terry was a member of an elite Border Patrol unit, BORTAC. In December 2010, the team was sent to an area outside Nogales, Arizona, to search for a rip-off crew that was roaming the border region to rob drug smugglers. During the operation, a gunfight broke out, and Terry was shot and killed at the scene.
Crime scene evidence also included two variants of AK-47, which came from a gun store in Glendale, Arizona, directly linking the weapons to the notorious Fast and Furious Operation.
Terry’s killers, Ivan Soto Barraza and Jesus Lionel Sanchez Mesa, will both stand trial in Tucson. On Monday, case prosecutors filed a motion to keep any mention of the guns associated with the Fast and Furious Operation out of court proceedings.
“The defendants should be precluded from mentioning Operation Fast and Furious,” Monday’s filing read, according to News 4 Tucson.
“Informing the jurors in this case of the connection between the firearms and the ‘Fast and Furious’ Investigation will serve no legitimate purpose because that connection is irrelevant to the charges against the defendants,” prosecutor Laura Duffy added in the filing.
The attempt to preclude the firearms found at the crime scene, despite the acknowledgement of their connection to the rip-off crew responsible for Terry’s death, has indicated to some that the prosecution is attempting to cover up the embarrassing ATF operation.
“I would ask you. Does it make any reasonable, rational, logical sense to separate the probable murder weapon from the murder case, unless you are trying to cover something up?” Jeff Prather, a former DEA agent worked alongside the ATF, told News4.
Now that the white police officers in North Saint Louis County have been appropriately disciplined, is it safe to assume that civil order is restored?
Oh…
BTW, this incident occurred within close hiking distance from where I grew up.
11-year-old St. Louis County boy fatally shoots 16-year-old
4 hours ago • By Christine Byers, Joel Currier
Police officers wait outside a home in 10000 block of Hallwood Drive in St. Louis County where an 11 year-old shot and killed a man attempting to break into his home on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015.
Photo By David Carson
Updated at 9:00 p.m. with details from witnesses in the neighborhood.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY • Police believe an 11-year-old boy fatally shot a 16-year-old boy who was trying to break into the child’s house Thursday, but some in the neighborhood question the circumstances of the shooting.
At least two witnesses say the younger boy was the aggressor.
What appears clear is that 11-year-old shot the teen about 2:25 p.m., even as the shooter’s 4-year-old sister was inside the home in the 10700 block of Hallwood Drive.
A few hours later, St. Louis County police issued a statement describing the incident as a home invasion. The statement said another person had accompanied the 16-year-old who was killed.
“It’s troubling to say the least and shows that too many young people have access to handguns and the results are usually tragic,” Sgt. Brian Schellman said.
Schellman said police believe the two suspects had tried to break into the home in the Castle Point neighborhood in north St. Louis County several times Thursday.
Police said Thursday afternoon they believe the door to the home was unlocked, as there were no signs of forced entry.
Once the suspect got inside, Schellman said, the 11-year-old fired one shot and it struck the teenager in the head, fatally wounding him. His body was found in the front foyer of the home.
Schellman said the second suspect might have not have entered because the shot scared him away.
…