Bits Bucket for September 11, 2015
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Are you taking money off the table through asset sales?
Already did. Getting ready to buy stocks in 2016 and more real estate in 2018. Of course I tend to sell to soon and conversely, buy to soon.
As Bernie Cornfield once said, “I made all my money selling out of real estate too soon!”
I wonder if goldman frontruns the buyback orders?
I think you could be setting yourself up to be a muppet.
So many bubble geniuses. It’s like being at a bar in the casino.
Not me, I don’t drink or play cards.
Pinching pennys to come up with those massive mortgage payments every month makes recreation an impossibility eh Jingle_Fraud?
Cards, casinos or rolling the dice on a depreciating asset at a grossly inflated price and then financing.
Distinctions without a difference for degenerate gamblers.
Cash flow: Distinction with a difference!
You already told us you defaulted on one shack and the others are empty.
Get your charade straight.
Plus lied on the apps. Come tax time too probably.
100% Occupied. 800 FICO thanks to all the great residents paying timely rent.
Can’t keep your stories straight.
“It’s like being at a bar in the casino.”
Hey, I resemble that remark
BloombergBusiness
Tumbling Markets Set to Thwart Hollande’s 2015 Asset-Sales Goal
Blaise Robinson Helene Fouquet
September 7, 2015 — 9:00 PM PDT
Updated on September 8, 2015 — 3:03 AM PDT
Francois Hollande
Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Stakes in state-owned entities down by EU12 billion in month
France had aimed to raise EU4 billion from stake sales in 2015
For French President Francois Hollande, the turmoil in the stock market means he may need to find alternative ways to meet his government’s budget targets.
French plans to raise 4 billion euros ($4.46 billion) by year-end from selling a part of its equity holdings may be thwarted by the volatility in financial markets. After a brisk rally in the first part of the year, France’s CAC 40 Index tumbled as much as 19 percent during the past few weeks, dropping along with global stock markets hurt by brewing worries over China and the pace of global growth.
…
Shale drillers turn to asset sales as early swagger wanes
By BRADLEY OLSON on 9/10/2015
HOUSTON (Bloomberg) — A renewed plunge in oil prices and the winding down of other financial lifelines is forcing shale drillers to auction off once-prized assets and settle for less in potential deals.
This week, companies such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. said they are embracing the strategy as they confront the reality of a prolonged, painful crash. While executives have assured investors that it won’t be a fire sale, recent deals suggest that prices have fallen significantly from even a few months ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
With one-sixth of major independent oil and gas producers facing debt payments that are more than 20% of their revenue, austerity has replaced the swagger that characterized the earliest days of the oil bust. Contracts that locked in higher prices are expiring, leading banks to reduce credit lines in coming months. Drillers caught in the squeeze may be forced to auction off some of their best holdings to raise cash or accept more expensive financing to avoid bankruptcy, according to more than a dozen bankers, lawyers and company officials who specialize in energy deals.
“These companies are starting to be a little more realistic about their situation and to face up to the fact that they will probably have to do something they don’t want to do,” said Omar Samji, a partner in law firm Jones Day in Houston. “There’s not going to be an easy lifeline.”
…
Shades of the early to mid eighties me thinks. You could literally see the lights going out week by week from the Canadian frontier down to the gulf coast and through the inter-mountain region.
Here we go again.
Yep. People in denial, like AlbqDan who thought oil was soon headed back to $80/bbl, are losing their shirts about now.
It feels like a global recession or worse, though nobody is much discussing the reality of the economic status quo.
It is curious how the whole world seems caught in a downdraft, yet Amrica keeps marching to its own drummer!
“Shale drillers turn to asset sales as early swagger wanes”
Lowest interest rates in years, but the first hint of a headwind, and they’re chopping the workforce and sending the equipment to the auctioneer. Betcha these companies are run by over-educated types using public retirement pension funds… basically a numbers game where they win and everyone else loses.
China is Dumping U.S. Debt
http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/10/investing/china-dumping-us-debt/
After the Chinese stock market plunged many stocks stopped trading. How can you find out how many and which haven’t started trading.
So who will Uncle Sam borrow from to pay for the ground invasion of Iran?
Why borrow when you can just print?
“So who will Uncle Sam borrow from to pay for the ground invasion of Iran?”
They’re going to borrow it from the fed who is going to print it… right out of thin air. The taxpayers will pay the interest on that debt while also fighting their wars for them. Talk about suckers!
Are you taking money off the table through asset sales?”
Nope but may consider tax loss harvesting sell APA and buy HAL or something like that.
9/11/2001, the greatest lie ever told. American taxpayers and voters should be asking, as Johnny Rotten did from the stage of the Sex Pistols’ last show, “do you get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”
This is an article reporting that Matt Drudge is a “self-described libertarian”
http://www.politico.com/magazine/politico50/2015/matt-drudge-mark-zuckerberg
There is nothing libertarian about neocon ideology. It is absolute hypocrisy. You don’t fan the flames for neocon wars and call yourself a libertarian, you are a liar. You don’t post links to the Weekly Standard and World Net Daily and call yourself a libertarian, you are a liar. Matt Drudge is a liar. Neocon is a failed ideology.
You don’t fan the flames for neocon wars and call yourself a libertarian, you are a liar.
One doesn’t work for the military industrial complex for decades and call oneself a “libertarian” either and I’m not speaking of you.
+1
Now you are a 9/11 denier? Put down the bong.
Attorney General John Ashcroft stopped flying on commercial airlines in July 2001.
A 1996 Project For The New American Century policy paper stated that a “Pearl Harbor event” was needed to promote a new era of American militarism.
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein, on the phone to the New York Fire Department at about 4:00pm discussing WTC building 7, “let’s pull it.”
Wow, you really are baked this AM.
Can’t wait to see what the 9/11 event is for Iran. Maybe they sneak in through Mexico and we get a twofer.
Fear is all you have left to sell, how sad.
Maybe it’s time to play the “Nazi card” replete with a Neville Chamberlain reference, because if that won’t rally the base, nothing will.
There’s a question about 9/11 I’ve never had answered: how do you knock down 3 buildings with only 2 airplanes?
Now look at the video of the 3rd building (Bldg 7). Remember, this building was collateral damage only, and never took a direct hit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mamvq7LWqRU
To my untrained eye it looks like controlled demolition.
When they demo buildings there is a ton of prep done. There is no way the employees of the building wouldn’t see that work being done.
That building (as many of them do) had a large fuel storage setup for datacom/telecom backup power systems. Good chance it caught fire and well.. yea.
There are a number of seemingly boring building that have crazy generator / power setups for datacenter and telecommunications. Check out 60 Hudson in New York. In addition to all the diesel generator sets it’s got a full gas turbine generator on the roof for adding to the grid during peak demand.
How could the employees not have known? Well, the structural elements are all hidden behind walls and ceilings, and there is likely a dropped ceiling on each floor that can easily be accessed and then put back into place. And it could have been done off-hours when no employees are there. Just sayin’.
The way it suddenly dropped, perfectly straight town, I’m with WPA on this one. If there was a fire at that generator fuel tank which was reported to be on one side of the building, OK, so it heats up the building on that one side, and then the bottom girders give out and the building leans over into adjacent building, with the upper (unburnt, unmelted) part of the building fully intact.
9/11 conspiracy theorists are an odd lot.
Typically, they believe strongly in Big Government (social programs especially), yet blame their own government for what happened on 9/11.
Very strange.
9/11 conspiracy theorists are an odd lot. Typically, they believe strongly in Big Government
I think the far-right is falling under a psyops propaganda program to project their most glaring failings on the left. It’s become a pattern on AM radio and right-wing blogs.
Examples of the meme:
“9/11 conspiracy theorists are stateists”
“Fascism is left-wing”
“It’s the left who are generally the racists”
“It’s left who are intolerant”
“The left wants to push their “religion” on the rest of us
etc. etc
And a lot of the right has come to believe the brainwashing. It’s something to see.
Keep flogging that left right thing. The government never, ever, would do something untoward:
‘This week, the Justice Department felt the need to write a memo to staff instructing them to indict individuals when they commit crimes, seemingly something implied by their job titles. It doesn’t say as much about the current Justice Department regime under Loretta Lynch as it does about the former one under Eric Holder.’
‘No major Wall Street executive went to jail for the illegal actions that precipitated the financial crisis, despite a mountain of documentary evidence of fraud. Corporations and their employees got away with what amounted to slaps on the wrist. And Holder, after presiding over this, joined the head of his Justice Department criminal division and several top deputies at Covington & Burling, a white-collar defense firm that represents most major banks.’
‘You can draw a direct line from this failure back to the “Holder memo,” written when he served as a deputy in the Clinton Justice Department. That memo created the “collateral consequences” policy, arguing that prosecutors who seek criminal cases against large companies should take into account innocent victims who may get hurt. It laid out a host of alternative remedies, such as fines and deferred prosecution agreements.’
‘This eventually gave prosecutors a way to shrink from complex cases, to talk themselves into not wasting the effort.’
‘The idea that prosecutors have to be told to prosecute again is an utter indictment of the Holder era. What was holding them back before? It’s also worth noting that this change in direction, only applicable to future cases, comes after nearly all of the statutes of limitations for crisis-era misconduct have passed. After the foxes have left the henhouse, DoJ decides it’s time to find some foxes. If this realization causes you to break something, then we have that in common.’
Read this again:
‘And Holder, after presiding over this, joined the head of his Justice Department criminal division and several top deputies at Covington & Burling, a white-collar defense firm that represents most major banks’
‘And Holder, after presiding over this, joined the head of his Justice Department criminal division and several top deputies at Covington & Burling, a white-collar defense firm that represents most major banks’
Obama did a lousy job on prosecuting financial criminals imo. Really bad. On of his major failings. I hope the new focus is real and sets the stage for making some good on the subject.
Cash for Clunkers
Cash for Caulkers
Cash for Mullahs
Good work if you can get it.
John Luv says:
September 4, 2015 at 1:41 PM
Left vs. Right = Fake.
Liberal vs. Conservative = Fake.
Democrat vs. Republican = Fake.
The State vs.You = Real!
Being in a big law firm, even at the top, is no reward. I can’t imagine a worse swamp.
it is strange no other building collapsed like this ever unless it was a controlled demolition
there is a case for this, if the building tilted and broke off in pieces it could have been 50,000+ lives battery park city, or it fell into another building and it collapsed like dominoes… so maybe there were sensors in the building which automatically triggered plastic explosives to being them straight down.
“it is strange no other building collapsed like this ever…”
The structural design of the WTC towers was different, a lighter design, to allow building to greater heights. Same goes for the elevators because the cable length.
The collapse of the twin towers is understandable due to the design, as rms mentions. It’s the collapse of the third building that’s very odd. See my post above.
Not sure what your point is, MacBeth. Oh, there was definitely a conspiracy on 9/11 and some members of Congress are painfully aware of it. Here’s Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky discussing the 27 redacted pages of the 9/11 report.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItE28oeMnas
“The government never, ever, would do something untoward:”
Agree 100%.
Governments have never engaged in False Flag events.
In fact False Flag events don’t even exist.
What does that even mean, “False Flag”?
voters should be asking, as Johnny Rotten did from the stage of the Sex Pistols’ last show, “do you get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”
MarketWatch: What do you think of the British Conservative government led by David Cameron?
Lydon (Johnny Rotten) : Is there one? I don’t see that as a government at all. I see that as a lobby of fools. It’s the same old conservative nonsense. If you vote business people to run your country you’re only going to take care of their business – not the rest of us. People don’t seem to learn that lesson. The National Health Service is a thing I pride in Great Britain. A society that is worth anything at all is one that takes care of its ill. That is not communism. I’ve been to Russia and I’ve been to China, and I don’t recommend it.
MarketWatch: So I take it you support Obamacare?
Lydon (Johnny Rotten): I’ve been an Obama supporter from minute one. Change is something that American politics is very slow to appreciate.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-sex-pistols-johnny-rotten-on-greece-the-confederate-flag-and-obamacare-2015-07-07?page=2
‘If you vote business people to run your country you’re only going to take care of their business’
The insurance companies wrote what became Obamacare.
The insurance companies wrote what became Obamacare.’
yes and Health care specialty mutual funds have been on a tear every since.
First a dip before it was passed then when Ocare was passed and they could read the thing and understand it they went way up.
Thats all I need to know follow the money
Wendell Potter, the former Communication VP of Cigna, has an excellent Blog. He rips both parties for the ACA, which is a cash grab. Great insight from a man who knows what is going on.
The deductibles are insane, the in/out of networks are a joke -example: you’re taken to ER, and you’re going to ask “are you in my network?” to those attending you, until you leave the hospital?
ACA is a lobby wet dream, and having to pay subsidies back is a killer. It sucks.
I have this to say to Mr. Rotter……
All I know is the cost on my current plan through my employer via HR is going to be double if we stick with em which we are not. Moving on to insurance provider 4 in 4 years. Thanks Obamao. Thanks Congress and thanks to the thieving insurers who foisted this crap on all of us. The old adage Pay me now or pay me later could not be more true in the case of Oblamocare.
Kaiser Permanente has a Bronze Plan in Ca, where you get 3 $60 office visits, then it jumps to the $12,500 deductible. I called to find out the cost of an office visit, post first 3 visits (total length of policy, not annual reset) and no one could tell me. We need disclosure in healthcare. What other business model gets away with this crap?
The policy value is almost $500/mo, and it’s almost worthless.
Your money or your life!
$2.3 trillion in defense spending was unaccounted for, said Donald Rumsfeld, on September 10, 2001.
I suppose the strike on the pentagon hit squarely on the accounting offices.
sitting here reflecting on 14 years after watching the WTC collapse yes i was here taking pictures with my new sony mavica floppy disc camera…it was an exceptionally clear day not a cloud in the sky. amazing ziess 10x lens on the camera
Reflecting on how much time i wasted on the computer yet how much money i made by having this incredible option.
Reflecting on how hard it is to get a job when 90% of the time you called walked in and asked for the person in charge and got to talk and meet with them easily. Now with all the rent a cop security and having people answer the phones who sound like they didn’t finish high school and claim they finished college, people skills matter less then finding the right key words to satisfy some computer algorithm.
Reflecting on when we moved here you could easily afford the apartment and a car, today you can only barely afford the same size apartment, and owning a car is a pipe dream.
I only hope the next 14 years goes slower and i have a lot more to show for it.
I first heard about 9/11 from callers in Manhattan calling in to Howard Stern, then got home and watched the buildings collapse on live TeeVee.
The following two and a half years leading up to the criminal invasion of Iraq were some of the darkest days in America in my lifetime.
And the same emotional and psychological manipulation is happening now.
“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush
Are you muslim or middle eastern?
They attacked us on 9/11 because they hate our freedoms
Let’s roll
Power of pride
These colors don’t run
Mission accomplished
et cetera
If they hated us for our freedom, they now like us.
Bill, do you remember how quickly the Patriot Act sailed through Congress in 2001? I do. I remember everything.
1993 WTC bombing, Khobar Towers, U.S.S. Cole, I remember all of it.
Not sure why, but I woke up this morning thinking about the book “Anti-Intellectuallism in American Life” by Richard Hofstader, even though I haven’t read it in years. Need to give that a reread soon.
I don’t remember how quickly. I was upset and pretty much a paranoid statist and accepted what the government / Bush told us hook, line, and sinker. I also accepted the line “they hate us for our freedoms.”
Sometime after 2006 I started having second thoughts. Then in 2012 I started being open into alternative theories on what happened. So many holes in the official 9/11 “truth.” I don’t think it all was planned by some central group in advance. I do think that some actions were quickly taken advantage of and helped escalate the chain of events. And finally the “Patriot Act” was planned and written far ahead of time for just the right false flag event to occur so that we would have far less freedom.
Sometimes things are what they appear to be.
The reaction however was poorly played. We went into Afghanistan and pummeled the child molester goat herders…but then we had that cease fire when we had them pinned down in Tora Bora…wtf.
You hit us, we hit you…that should be the end of it…no nation building, no Iraq invasion. Our leaders failed with a capital F.
We should be aggressively defensive, the whole don’t tread on me thing. These new world order nation building f..ks need to be hung in a public court.
“We should be aggressively defensive.”
That should have been the case. Now it is too late for that. The horses left the barn. Wars are far more expensive these days than even back in 2002.
The only thing left is a policy reversal. A major policy reversal: Stop being world cop and stop foreign aid - to anyone. That includes Israel.
One thing Bush did very right (one of the few things) was recognizing that we were facing a different kind of enemy, and he put a large amount of resources into building up US special forces.
I find it easy to be critical of going into Iraq (I was critical of Bush during the dog/pony show), but I find it hard to be critical of the investment in special forces.
we were facing a different kind of enemy, ….. I find it hard to be critical of the investment in special forces.
+1
Any military cuts should include an increase in special forces funding imo. They can keep us out of wars of which we’re part of too many.
This is not our grandfather’s world.
You betcha. Today I’m reflecting on one of the biggest. lowlifes. ever. Biden.
Has anyone seen the news aggregator headlines about his appearance on Colbert, all emotional and weepy-eyed, mourning his son and that sort of thing? I didn’t even bother to click, made me want to reach for a barf bag. Because I happened to come across this little gem last night:
http://mediaequalizer.com/brian-maloney/2015/09/deposed-guatemala-president-blames-joe-biden-for-his-imprisonment
Hmmm. I never heard of the International Commission Against Impunity, have you? It’s one of those UN international meddling groups. What Region is Guatemala in, anyway? But I digress.
Getting back to Biden, the above story immediately put me in mind of the whole Ukraine regime change deal with the audio of Victoria Nuland discussing “eff the EU” and Joe Biden’s role. Biden. There’s that name again.
This man is involved in way more than we know. I got to thinking about Al Gore’s involvement in the collapse of the Soviet Union and Cheney’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s looking like to me that the Veep has this “unofficial” role in international destabilization and regime change during the past three administrations.
Anyway, makes me wonder how involved Biden is in trying to unseat Assad in Syria, and what other international meddling he’s been the point man for. And yet he has the balls to go on Colbert and cry crocodile tears.
No bigger game than empire.
Pal…..bidens only job was to keep ohbama alive for 4-8 years, as a bodyguard….like you really want biden to be the prezzzz? so far it worked
I was in London in the days after 9/11 (actually in the air coming home from London when it all happened and was turned around over Greenland ON 9/11–and sent back to the UK).
They told us nothing on the plane, and when we landed in Scotland, the TVs in the terminal had CNN on…my first pint that day was “on the house” at the airport bar, poured by the Scottish bartender…he said something nice (although I didn’t understand a word of it), and pushed the pint into my hand.
We caught a flight back to London before airspace was closed (because that’s where our flight home would ultimately leave from).
One of the first days in London, I overheard a heated debate in a pub between two guys, both NON-middle eastern, one guy said that the US shouldn’t be surprised given their meddling in the world, and the other guy called 9/11 for what it was, an atrocity.
Needless to say, once they heard my American accent, BOTH of them were buying me pints all night.
I bought very few beers for those next few days…but drank many.
One of the more interesting interactions I had was with a guy who worked at the BBC. He was very quietly drinking alone, and heard my accent. He made some nice conciliatory comments to me, and then commented that he spent that day looking through uncut video footage of ground zero…and decided that he needed to drink heavily.
Despite the heavy Muslim influence, and despite the very first debate I heard at that first pub, of all places other than the US, I’m glad I was in London, and not somewhere else.
That said, when I finally did come home, the plane was all US nationals coming home. I have never been in a plane before when the passengers cheered upon the wheels touching down–that was something.
The VAST majority of the world sees 9/11 for what it was, a cowardly mass murder. It’s not much more complicated than that.
a cowardly mass murder
And while you were stuck in the UK, the George W. Bush administration put all of Osama bin Laden’s relatives in the US on flights back to Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis helped put Bush Jr. in office.
At the end of the day, Osama Bin Laden was attacking the types of people who drive the housing bubble. The royal towers of money and finance.
The Saudis helped put Bush Jr. in office.
The House of Saud owns the Bush family funded through the Carlyle Group.
then there is building 7:
1) If fire caused Building 7 to collapse, it would be the first ever fire-induced collapse of a steel-frame high-rise.
2) Building 7’s collapse was not mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report.
3) According to a Zogby poll in 2006, 43% of Americans did not know about Building 7.
4) It took the federal government seven years to conduct an investigation and issue a report for Building 7.
5) 1,700+ architects and engineers have signed a petition calling for a new investigation into the destruction of Building 7, specifying that it should include a full inquiry into the possible use of explosives.
6) Numerous witnesses say the possibility of demolishing Building 7 was widely discussed by emergency personnel at the scene and advocated by the building’s owner.
7) Building 7 housed several intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and the NYC Office of Emergency Management’s Emergency Operations Center, more commonly known as “Giuliani’s Bunker”.
Governments have never executed False Flag events.
In fact False Flag events don’t even exist.
What does that even mean, “False Flag”?
A Fox News hit piece against Jesse Ventura and the 9/11 truth movement written by former Washington D.C. prosecutor Jeffrey Scott Shapiro inadvertently reveals a shocking truth, that World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein, who collected nearly $500 million dollars in insurance as a result of the collapse of Building 7, a 47-story structure that was not hit by a plane but collapsed within seven seconds on September 11, was on the phone to his insurance carrier attempting to convince them that the building should be brought down via controlled demolition.
Writing for Fox News, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro states, “I was working as a journalist for Gannett News at Ground Zero that day, and I remember very clearly what I saw and heard.”
“Shortly before the building collapsed, several NYPD officers and Con-Edison workers told me that Larry Silverstein, the property developer of One World Financial Center was on the phone with his insurance carrier to see if they would authorize the controlled demolition of the building – since its foundation was already unstable and expected to fall.”
“then there is building 7:”
It’s difficult to imagine the daily logistics to keep a vertical campus like the WTC functioning; just the mail, express packages and hand trucked cartons… literally tons every day! Then restrooms, the HVAC, the electrical power, fiber optic network, etc., really incredible if you think about it.
The WTC buildings were constructed on huge basement complex five stories deep with shopping, vehicle parking, freight truck docks and a subway station. The tall towers falling packed the burning materials into the basement, and steel framed buildings perform poorly in a sustained fire. Jet-A is one of the most dense energy-packed fuels ever produced; lots of heat.
one guy said that the US shouldn’t be surprised given their meddling in the world, and the other guy called 9/11 for what it was, an atrocity.
There’s no contradiction there. Both statements are valid.
One interesting aspect of your story is the fact there were people all over the world who had great feeling of sympathy for America after the 9/11 attacks. Part of the reason for the reason for that is the fact that New York City is the setting for so many American movies and TV shows, which are popular worldwide. The government squandered that sympathy by attacking Iraq.
Yes, both statements are valid, but the second guy basically was arguing that regardless of what the US does in the world, it didn’t justify killing civilians.
Interestingly, one of the guys claimed to be the manager of the band “Dead or Alive”–he refused to take any change from the pub in coin…he would get 2 pound coins and toss them back at the bartender.
One of the guys hanging out with him was a skinny dude wearing leather pants, so his story held some water. In any event, it was an interesting night.
“The government squandered that sympathy by attacking Iraq.”
But Saddam Hussein fired scud missiles on Tel Aviv. Israel needed retribution but couldn’t do it with conventional weapons. Queue Colin Powell’s “yellow-cake” and aluminum tubes lies at the U.N.
It’s been 14 years that the conspiracy claims have been made and 14 years that they’ve been answered.
The most difficult thing for me to believe is that a conspiracy of this magnitude could be kept quiet. People are just too loquacious.
When an individual is identified as being part of the planned demolition effort, and credibly interrogated by credible parties, I’ll be willing to entertain other possibilities than what it is by all evidence I’ve seen - mass murder by Islamic militants.
“People are just too loquacious.”
That’s because everyone with a family supporting job works for the government, school teachers, highway engineers, defense, welfare, the hospitals, housing loans, etc., all start with government funding at the top. The free market story belongs right up there with Jesus returning.
“The following two and a half years leading up to the criminal invasion of Iraq were some of the darkest days in America in my lifetime.” Good observation.
Those attacks were successful beyond the wildest dreams of the attackers (whoever you believe they were). They got the U.S. to eagerly give up many ideals, freedoms, and rights. And then plunge into hock for not one but two unwinnable foreign wars fought with an expensive volunteer military.
JMHO…
+1
They got the U.S. to eagerly give up many ideals, freedoms, and rights. And then plunge into hock for not one but two unwinnable foreign wars fought with an expensive volunteer military.
“And then plunge into hock for not one but two unwinnable foreign wars fought with an expensive volunteer military.”
Foreign Exchange: Saddam Turns His Back on Greenbacks
By William Dowell/New York City Monday, Nov. 13, 2000
Europe’s dream of promoting the euro as a competitor to the U.S. dollar may get a boost from SADDAM HUSSEIN. Iraq says that from now on, it wants payments for its oil in euros, despite the fact that the battered European currency unit, which used to be worth quite a bit more than $1, has dropped to about 82[cents]. Iraq says it will no longer accept dollars for oil because it does not want to deal “in the currency of the enemy.”
The switch to euros would cost the U.N. a small fortune in accounting-paperwork changes. It would also reduce the…
content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998512,00.html -
IIRC, that was the real intent from OBL. The attack on NYC, the financial center of the US, was symbolic. The larger intent was to draw out a response that would bankrupt the US financially.
When people here in Las Vegas start freaking out and saying we’re next I tell them I don’t think so. Sure, this place is the quintessential symbolic target but if they bombed the whole strip what national/world financial repercussions would there be? Certainly not like NYC, London, etc. Also, where would the hypocritical perpetrators entertain themselves before another attack?
Agents of terror leave their mark on Sin City / Las Vegas workers recall the men they can’t forget
I attended a couple of funerals due to 9/11, saddest of which was a kid who worked for us. At the wake his mother told me she was grateful because they found his arm, and the tattoo he had gotten only a short time ago for his 21st birthday made him easy to identify. My grandfather died around that time (at 101) too, and the funeral director told us he was burying very small pieces of people, but so many found nothing.
My cousin was at the scene with three other NYC cops, two went one way and died, he and another guy went the other. When one of the buildings collapsed, they dove under a car and thought they’d die because debris was crushing it.
So many people showed up to donate blood, but there was no one to give it to.
Because we owned a local bar and grill, we knew a lot of people or their relatives that died. We heard bagpipes being played for funerals at the church around the corner for weeks.
OT: I’m a sucker for a sweet little face. Cat showed up at our backdoor for the past 3-4 weeks, naturally I fed her. Next thing I see she’s pregnant. Two days ago, she strolls in the door, no intention of leaving. As of last night I am now caretaker to six kittens.
Before picture: Cookie
Tarara
Congrats on the kittens. Best Wishes on finding good homes for them.
We’ve been trying to adopt a hypoallergenic breed dog from the pound, and the damn dog flippers (rescuers) are getting to them first. $125 then becomes $500.
The $125 has a lot of freebies inclusive.
Thanks, inch.
We were about to get a dog because of a rash of daylight burglaries in our area. Now we can’t; our house is starting to resemble “Wild Kingdom”. (Sure, we get here and suddenly there’s a crime wave.) My next door neighbor was sleeping on the couch and woke up to see a guy going through his stuff, 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon.
That’s funny (or not) about the dog flipping.
You and Muggy are hardly alone in what you are facing.
It’s going on all over the country. Everywhere.
The futures of entre generations are being wiped out. They are paying for the largesse and hedonism of generations before.
Someone has to pay for the credit economy of the past 30 years.
Someone has to pay for the housing market that has made other generations rich.
Someone has to pay for the $50K annual pensions that has allowed other generations to live independently and have 2 or 3 homes.
Someone has to pay for free medical care for tens of millions.
Someone has to pay for freebies that government employees get to enjoy.
Someone has to pay for the wealthiest metropolitan are of the country (Washington DC) that itself generates no wealth.
That someone is you. And your peers.
And there are not enough of them.
That is why obama/democrats/many republicans are bringing in illegals and muslim “refugees” by the thousands.
Socialism is a ponzi scheme. You need more suckers to keep it going.
If it fails even for little bit (or we even have a recession) those progressives in power will lose power.
And we can’t have that.
Because it is for the children.
Can’t afford a car or get a job? That ain’t what Muggy is facing. Struggling to get over is different than making a bunch of excuses.
During this same 14 years my prospects have skyrocketed. All through hard work. Ups and downs yes, but always hard long hours.
You and Muggy are hardly alone in what you are facing.It’s going on all over the country. Everywhere. Someone has to pay for…….
Some of your points are valid but misses the big picture imo.
The wealth is there for middle-class advancement but not available. What we’re paying for are the fruits of decades of massively increased productivity and wealth going only to the top .1%
This was not the history of America up until about 3.5 decades ago.
You are missing what is really going on imo.
These obligations must be defaulted upon. My children cannot pay, so they will not. They may be the turnip generation.
The so-called wealth of my generation is like a vapor and will go away as the debt Ponzi goes away. We will all just have to learn to do with less, like my grandparents and parents (in their youth) did.
This is not the end of the world. It is possibly the beginning of being more alive if one decides to stop doing what isn’t working, like dj and Muggy. Spending one’s whole life doing what one doesn’t want to do just to keep your nose barely above water isn’t such a great deal.
You may contradicting yourself. What did your grandparents do for a living? Did they have better lives than Muggy?
I’m not sure that what my grandfather did for a living is relevant. He was happy when I knew him, and I know he made some big changes when he moved to the US.
I don’t judge Muggy’s life, only note that he isn’t exactly satisfied and is living month to month. See his mid-life crisis post.
Muggy and his wife and kids have a standard of living that is a lot higher than most Americans had before 1960. If your grandparents weren’t rich, he’s probably doing a lot better than they were financially.
Furthermore, a mid-life crisis is a mid-life crisis. A lot of people have similar feelings even if they have more rewarding jobs and twice as much income as Muggy has. Besides that, if everybody only took jobs that were fun, the whole economy would grind to a halt.
The standard of living point leads nowhere. Grampa had a house built for cash and bought a car without borrowing. He ate well and slept well. His kids went to college without loans. He was able to save and really enjoyed his career. Grandma only worked at a job during WWII. So, does your theoretical Muggy family have more toilets in their house or something?
If you are on a treadmill, it doesn’t matter what your elevation is, except when you try to get off.
“Muggy and his wife and kids have a standard of living that is a lot higher than most Americans had before 1960″
“Grampa had a house built for cash and bought a car without borrowing. He ate well and slept well. His kids went to college without loans. He was able to save”
These are both true conditions. We live in odd times.
Muggy is in a “you’re screwed” generation in many ways. He has been screwed out of the “American Dream”. He paid his dues, and should be rewarded with affordable homeownership, employment, and life opportunities. Period.
My nephew is a bright young man, wanting to get into Cal Tech as a Physics major.He wants to do something with it in Medical Technology R&D. Student debt scares the hell out of him, when the job market isn’t what it should be.
This country is f**ked up.
Ehhhh…. You got it inverted MT Pockets. Muggy isn’t holding on to a depreciating asset at a grossly inflated price like holding a melting ice cube. Muggy doesn’t have an worry in the world.
The job market is probably quite good for Cal Tech graduates.
Here’s the short version:
“Grampa had a house built for cash and bought a car without borrowing. He ate well and slept well. His kids went to college without loans. He was able to save”
The 1967 Six-Day War happened; the West Bank security and settlements have become hugely expensive.
“Muggy is in a “you’re screwed” generation in many ways. He has been screwed out of the “American Dream”. He paid his dues, and should be rewarded with affordable home ownership, employment, and life opportunities. Period.”
The suckers are waiting for Jesus return.
The Six-Day War was the cause of Muggy’s difficulties?
MightMike
Let us hope so, The kid is set on it. With H1-Bs, he is concerned about his salary potential.
Mafia
Get over your delusional speech. We live here for $550 mo accruals, which is probably less then the basement you rent. We’ll make $ on this joint. But I wuv you anyway.
Actually, now that I think of it, if you’re nephew is interested in medical research, it would probably be safer to become an MD. The foreign doctors don’t seem to be pushing down medical salaries much and engineers often face problems with age discrimination at a certain point in their careers, which is less of a problem for doctors.
MigthyMike,
Thanks for the insight. Yeah, you’ve got a good point. I’ll show my nephew your post. Thanks.
Hubby is an EE, and a former Intel guy. He is considered a Dinosaur, and the dude is on on patents. He is considering teaching a STEM class.
Throwing a lifetime worth of earnings at a depreciating asset like a house results in MT Pockets.
Back to work.
our parents didn’t have mortgages after age 55. That’s a huge change.
debt world
“You’ll get nothing and like it!”
Judge Smails
Judge Smails is a member of my same country club: Bushwood.
“…people skills matter less then finding…”
“…people skills matter less than finding…”
Once you get “your and you’re” and “then and than” sorted out you’ll be on your way toward job security. My $0.02 on the job front.
ooohh ooh ya kant edit these posts afta postin… most others websites allow you 5 minutes to edit.
I’m serious, DJ.
my house is appreciating so fast I have to consider unloading it on to some muppets.
Wall Street Journal - Renters Not Looking To Buy Anytime Soon
“Renters confidence is especially weak in strong markets, such as San Francisco and Denver, where rising home prices and high rents have made it difficult for younger buyers to save for down payments.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/09/10/renters-not-looking-to-buy-anytime-soon-zillow-says/
Oh gosh, I am not missing my place in Arizona as much. My living room and master bedroom are nearly empty.
I used to think “not spending money” is boring. But I am becoming sensible to where my housing cost has dropped to ten percent of my annual wages and compensation.
Guess I will join a bike gang in my part of Orange County. Got both my road bike and mountain bike. More time to get community involved, become a “community organizer!”
Hi Bill FWIW
Semiconductors and Enabling Components
Sell in May and Go Away, Come Back After Labor Day
Not bad advice and we wish we had given it. The SOX is down 20% since June 1st, and we believe we have likely seen the lows in chip stocks. In particular, we see improving demand in the PC market benefitting INTC, AMD and ISIL. Optical communication demand within our coverage remains strong for AAOI, EMKR and IPHI. Lastly, the inventory correction in storage appears to have concluded, benefitting PMCS.
Worst Of PC Downturn Over: We believe the PC market will see normal seasonality in 2H, and Y/Y comps will turn positive in 1Q:16. The excessive weakness in PCs over the last six months was due to excess inventory post Windows XP end of life corporate refresh. Now that inventory has cleared, OEMs are building again for back to school, holidays and a modest Windows 10 upgrade cycle. Comps for all of CY16 will be easy for PCs, leading us to believe that CY16 will be a growth year for the PC market. Beyond CY16, virtual and augmented reality applications offer the first real hope since the introduction of the iPad in CY10 for sustained growth in the PC market beyond CY16. The bounce back in PC demand will be positive for AMD, INTC and ISIL.
Long Haul, Metro, Broadband and Data Center Strength: Contacts continue to indicate that there is strong demand for OTN and 100G in long haul and metro applications. Further, metro and long haul applications remain a primary driver for IPHI’s optical business. In addition, PMCS is benefitting from strong demand for OTN switch in the metro. We also expect to start seeing 400G demand in long haul application in CY16. In the data center, 40G demand remains solid with transceiver companies starting to buy silicon for 100G transceivers for data center applications. We believe that there are qualifications ongoing for 100G transceivers at most of the web scale data center companies (GOOG, FB, AMZN, MSFT, Alibaba, Badiu, and Tencent). While the 40G to 100G transition may cause some revenue volatility over the next 12 to 18 months for AAOI, the company is currently in qualification at three data center companies with its 100G transceivers whereas at 40G AAOI was effectively dependent one customer, AMZN.
Wireless Stabilizing with Chinese Demand Expected to Comeback 1H:16: We have multiple data points suggesting that wireless infrastructure demand has stabilized. The stabilization was not due to growth in China but elsewhere in the world, with India being consistently highlighted. Contacts also expect wireless infrastructure demand to come back in China in 1H:16, however, this is six months later than we had expected.
I’ll have to wait further on tech. Maybe if the deficit was $2 trillion instead of $18 trillion I would be investing in individual tech stocks right now.
azdude
Our same model just sold (coe) for $525K this month. That is ridiculous. We paid $380K 3 years ago. Our home is higher end and has a cement pond. People who have no clue about the maintenance, like them. They want $8K to fill in the pool. Forget that. We’re in east Ventura County, S of Santa Barbara.
And not a buyer in site for a fraction of the grossly inflated price you paid.
Remember….. I can ask $50k for my run down 10 year old Chevy pickup but where is the buyer at that price?
So it is with your shanty.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think some of you still don’t see it.
Your interest on your savings is not going to come came for years.
It is being used to run deficits and allow ceo’s to borrow cheap and buyback stock so they can get paid via options.
There was a law passed sometime ago where ceo pay over 1 million is not able to be written off. But perfomance pay over 1 million is a different story.
Interest rates suppression has nothing to do with the economy.
Now get off your duff and buy risk assets like your suppose to.
Is using ZIRP loans to drive the value of stock options skyward counted as “performance”?
I wonder who actually pays for this compensation. Does the money just come out of thin air, or does this somehow involve using historically low returns on Muppet savings to help ensure CEOs get paid what they are really worth?
there has been so much debt accumulated that I just dont see how rates can rise. the system would implode on itself.
ceo’s need to get paid one way or another. Rigging your stock through the buyback desk is the oldest game in town.
If the bottom falls out shareholders are left holding the bag again.
all those lefties were angry at CEO’s who got paid millions for bad performance…..now they get paid tens maybe hundreds of millions for financially manipulating their stock price
the law of unintended consequences
ZIRP keeps Joe Sixpack’s house price up. So it’s all good. The people want these policies by a wide wide margin.
How is this different than what those at the federal government do?
You need to include them as part of your observation.
“”Now get off your duff and buy risk assets like your suppose to.
Every time I look at my 401k statement, the balance is up…What???? I send in 16% plus 4% matching and get about 2% return. I’ll take my chances with my disposable income at the 8/16 poker table. The wall street casino can s..k it.
Not to mention, I can easily live off my SS if necessary.
Today’s cartoon:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/the-report-on-business-cartoon/article25118934/?service=mobile
Zillow predictions not changing much
Pressure from Realtor groups?
The people who believe these Sky Wizard fairy tales elect a Congress and a Senate, particularly in the South, that control a $600,000,000,000+ a year war machine:
http://www.wnd.com/2015/09/is-7-year-biblical-tribulation-about-to-start/
Sheldon Adelson’s (most recently reported) net worth is 26 billion dollars. He needs the ignorance and stupidity and ability to manipulate voters into borrowing more money and adding to the national debt to launch new trillion dollar neocon wars.
No “smaller government”
No “less regulation”
No “lower taxes”
Will any of his children or grandchildren get their legs blown off by an IED? No, they won’t. Just the poor blacks and poor browns and poor white trash.
American taxpayers and voters you are being manipulated and lied to.
P.S. you’re not a Christian, because there is nothing Christian about war.
The Unlearned Lessons of 9/11
If experience is the teacher of fools, class is still in session.
September 11, 2015 - Bruce Thornton
Most broadly, the centuries-long belief that all peoples everywhere are embryonic Westerners should have been shattered by the slaughter in Manhattan and at the Pentagon. The attacks were a horrifically graphic reminder that our core ideals––human rights, sex equality, tolerance of difference, peaceful coexistence, personal and political freedom, material prosperity, the separation of church and state, free speech, and consensual government founded on law––were historical anomalies rather than the destiny of all humanity.
The 19 murderers were acting on a radically different set of ideals and principles––the doctrines of Islam that had destroyed the mighty Byzantine and Persian Empires, and that had invaded, plundered, and occupied southern Europe for 1000 years. We should have learned that nearly a quarter of the world’s people still take seriously what we have reduced to a life-style choice––faith in a transcendent power for whose commands the believer will kill and die, and whose spiritual imperatives trump freedom, human rights, and all the other goods we desire.
We also should have learned that our abysmal ignorance of history lies behind the demonization of the United States and our blindness to the reality of Islam. Too many of us endorse the lie that the U.S. has been a racist colonial and imperial power, oppressing and exploiting people across the globe, even as we gush over myths about Islamic “tolerance” and cultural achievements, and ignore the 1000-year record of Imperial Islam’s invasion, conquest, colonization, slaving, slaughter, raiding, and plundering of Christian lands. No better example of this ignorance has been the President, who has decried the Crusades––an attempt to liberate lands that had been Christian for over six centuries from their Muslim conquerors and overlords.
These Americans still practice a morally idiotic multiculturalism that idealizes the enemy, rationalizes or ignores Islam’s illiberal beliefs and sanctified violence, and proscribes as “hate speech” anybody who speaks the truth about Islam based on its 14 centuries of doctrine and practice. Even the terms “Islamic” and “jihadist” have been erased from our government’s discourse, and jihadist attacks described as “workplace violence” or their perpetrators called vague “extremists.”
Three thousand dead and a multi-billion dollar hit to our economy on 9/11 were not enough to school those still clinging to their delusions. But as the Romans said, experience is the teacher of fools. The implosion of the Middle East and the probability of a nuclear-armed Iran suggest that class is still in session, and more hard lessons are on the way.
Bill Clinot could have saved a lot of lives by taking Bin Laden out when he had the chance. Lot cheaper than a war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eYmo0vDiw&feature=youtu.be
Bill Clinot could have saved a lot of lives by taking Bin Laden out when he had the chance. Lot cheaper than a war.
I see. So Obama’s drone fest is saving us a trillions of dollars on future potential wars right? Because Obama’s taking out Bin Laden types right?
Does it work that way or do politics negate the analogy?
I think the analogy is negated once you consider that a hit on Bin Laden would have been pretty surgical (since drones didn’t exist)–one bomb, one special forces team, one attack.
My understanding of the hundreds of drone attacks is that there is A LOT more collateral damage, which may ultimately serve to create more Bin Laden’s than they are taking out.
I think the analogy is negated once you consider that a hit on Bin Laden would have been pretty surgical (since drones didn’t exist)–one bomb, one special forces team, one attack.
I think that analogy is negated when you consider drones fire smarter bombs that are more surgical than Clinton’s smart bombs of the 90’s.
My understanding of the hundreds of drone attacks is that there is A LOT more collateral damage
There is no tactical reason why that would have to be so imo.
Drones have existed since the 70s IIRC.
Laser guided missiles have been around for a long while and would certainly have been available to Clinton–they are pretty damn accurate. If Clinton had the location of OBL, a special forces team on the ground would have done the trick to target the bomb.
The problem with drone strikes is that (in the NY Times words), the operators are using their “best guess” in terms of whether the target is actually a bad guy.
And often the bad guy is near people who are not bad.
The bombs hit with precision, but the intelligence is not 100%, and the targets are not always alone.
In such circumstances, when you multiply that by hundreds of drone attacks, you have a near certain probability that lots of innocent civilians are killed.
And their friends, relatives, neighbors, etc. all have more reasons to hate the US.
When you add the sum total of the drone strike activity, it’s like comparing a single smart bomb (Clinton going after OBL) to a carpet bombing of a neighborhood where lots of bad guys happen to live (sum total of lots of drone strikes).
They are not comparable.
a special forces team on the ground would have done the trick to target the bomb.
You’re reaching imo. So you don’t think special forces are on the ground to target high value drone strikes? Why would they not be in “high value” situations as you allude OBL was? (But OBL was not even the “high value” target at the time of Clinton, therefore yours is not a linear comparison to what was, compared to what OBL became.)
it’s like comparing a single smart bomb (Clinton going after OBL) to a carpet bombing
Drones don’t “carpet bomb”. They are not B-52s.
They are not comparable.
Exactly.
Why only Clinton? Why not Bush 1 or 2?
Who created and trained OBL anyway? What political family is VERY close to the Bin Laden family?
You need to read the book. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jul/31/highereducation.news
It started here:
‘How Jimmy Carter and I Started the Mujahideen’
Q: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs [“From the Shadows”], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?
Brzezinski: It isn’t quite that. We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn’t believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don’t regret anything today?
Brzezinski: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic [integrisme], having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
Brzezinski: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.
Brzezinski: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.
http://www.counterpunch.org/1998/01/15/how-jimmy-carter-and-i-started-the-mujahideen/
“But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.”
Well we needed a boogeyman so we can continue the forever war, and we picked Islam and they’re all Islamic. So they have have that in common.
I wonder why we picked Islam?
Why only Clinton? Why not Bush 1 or 2?
Are you really that dense? When did the first WTC bombing take place? Was OBL the same in 1998 as in 1991?
And Bush II was after the war in Afghanistan you ninny.
‘America’s best weapon in the fight against ISIS may be its greatest foe — al Qaeda, according to ex-CIA head David Petraeus.’
‘Petraeus’ pitch is based on his own 2007 success in Iraq, the Daily Beast said. The U.S. convinced Sunni militias to join forces with American military in Iraq — leading to some initial success in battling al Qaeda.’
‘But al Qaeda in Iraq eventually morphed into ISIS and has vowed to fight its parent organization into extinction.’
‘On Monday, May 18, the conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch published a selection of formerly classified documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Defense and State Department through a federal lawsuit.’
‘While initial mainstream media reporting is focused on the White House’s handling of the Benghazi consulate attack, a much “bigger picture” admission and confirmation is contained in one of the Defense Intelligence Agency documents circulated in 2012: that an ‘Islamic State’ is desired in Eastern Syria to effect the West’s policies in the region.’
‘Astoundingly, the newly declassified report states that for “THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY [WHO] SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”.
‘The DIA report, formerly classified “SECRET//NOFORN” and dated August 12, 2012, was circulated widely among various government agencies, including CENTCOM, the CIA, FBI, DHS, NGA, State Dept., and many others.’
‘The document shows that as early as 2012, U.S. intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), but instead of clearly delineating the group as an enemy, the report envisions the terror group as a U.S. strategic asset.’
Keep on keeping on banana, while Turkey lets ISIS get reinforced across its border and Israel treats their wounded and sends them back. It’s all so clear who the baddies and goodies are isn’t it?
Russia has been sending military forces into Syria in recent days, Israel’s defense chief announced Thursday, as Moscow hinted at broader action to bolster President Bashar Assad’s embattled army following a string of battlefield losses.
The increased Russian activity in Syria reflects Moscow’s deep concerns that its longtime ally is on the brink of collapse, as well as hopes by President Vladimir Putin that a common battle against Islamic State extremists can improve Russia’s ties with the West, strained over Ukraine.
But the strategy could be risky — and unless Russia sends large numbers of troops, halting the territorial gains made by Islamic militants could prove tough.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters Thursday that the Russian buildup appears to be limited for the time being. He said military advisers, technicians and security guards have arrived in recent days, with the main goal of setting up an air base near the coastal town of Latakia that could be used to stage strikes on Islamic State fighters.
Russia has been sending military forces into Syria in recent days, Israel’s defense chief announced
A bit off the topic but IMO Israel made a huge public-relations mistake by not taking any Syrian refugees in.
Israel is already 20% Arab so taking in 500 or so refugees would not have affected the math on the demographic of Israel in any meaningful way, however it would have been a huge goodwill gesture that would have paid off way more than it cost.
(Not a good deal making on Israel’s part imo. Maybe they should have Trump advise them.)
Huffington Post - Hate Hits the US: Another American Sikh Targeted
“On Wednesday evening, yet another Sikh American was assaulted by someone yelling racial slurs. A teenager beat 53-year-old Inderjit Singh Mukker, a father of two, while shouting hate speech like “Terrorist!”, “Bin Laden!”, and “Go back to your country!”
American Sikh
We should have learned that nearly a quarter of the world’s people still take seriously what we have reduced to a life-style choice––faith in a transcendent power for whose commands the believer will kill and die, and whose spiritual imperatives trump freedom, human rights, and all the other goods we desire.
A quarter of the world’s people are running around killing and dying for their religion? This must something that the MSM is covering up.
Ummm…yes, you actually stumbled on the truth. Bravo.
Ask yourself, why would the Globalist Progressives be adamant about integrating white western culture? We are successful, peaceful and tolerant, so we should be destroyed? Explain.
There’s no evidence anywhere that a billion and a half people are killing or dying for their religion.
Also, people all over the Third World would dispute the notion that the West is peaceful and tolerant. In fact, it’s not just the Third World. Ireland, for example, has its own history for being conquered by a western Empire.
‘Murica!
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-science-quiz-americans-pew-20150909-story.html
Andrew Breitbart was murdered under direct orders from President Obama.
That said, the Breitbart website links to the following articles:
Fellow sex slave: ISIS jihadists ripped off Kayla Mueller’s fingernails
Report: ISIS abducts 127 children to turn into ‘Caliphate Cubs’
Teen used federal financial aid in attempt to join ISIS
Report: ISIS orders 16 HIV positive jihadists to become suicide bombers
ISIS traps accused spies in ruined building, blows it up with dynamite
The national debt is now over eighteen trillion dollars. But the people who click on these links have no problem adding to that by launching new trillion dollar neocon wars, because they are hypocrites. You’re not a conservative, you’re a hypocrite.
When Eisenhower left office he warned about the growth of the military industrial complex. There’s nothing conservative about that. William Kristol has never gotten his hands dirty or worked a job a day of his life that made him break a sweat. And he is on the TV, looking at you, talking to you, telling you how you need to go fight and die for him, to help him get richer faster.
And gas prices will still remain at $2.50/gallon because of “refinery issues”
————–
GOLDMAN: Oil Is On The Verge Of Plunging To $20
BI | 9-11-2015 | Mike Bird
Oil prices have been on a roller-coaster ride over the past year. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil tumbled late in 2014 from over $100 (£64.78) a barrel to just around $45 a barrel early this year.
After a recovery back to around $60 a barrel during the early summer, prices have gone through the floor again, down to $45.12 on Friday.
But oil could go even lower.
The price of a barrel of oil could go to just $20 soon, according to Goldman Sachs analysts led by global commodities research chief Jeffrey Currie.
There’s a huge surplus of oil in the world, stemming from both buoyant supply and weaker demand, and that could leave prices at levels not seen in decades. Here’s a snippet from Goldman’s latest note on oil:
“…stemming from both buoyant supply and weaker demand…”
Like the gimp said, falling demand.
http://picpaste.com/the_gimp.png
9/11 is such a buzzkill, so let’s have some good news for a Friday.
The ‘Fat Tail’ of Climate Change Risk:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/8116264?utm_hp_ref=science&ir=Science
And I’ll preemptively reply with: bigger government, more regulations, higher taxes, et cetera, because you know it’s coming anyway. I’m proud of my carbon footprint, I have loved driving since the day I got my 1985 Toyota Celica. I’ve probably driven over half a million miles in my life. Sometimes I drive over a thousand miles a week!
Oath Keepers Send Armed Guards To Protect Kim Davis From US Marshals
The Oath Keepers, the anti-government “Patriot” group that mounted an armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management at the Bundy Ranch, stationed armed guards outside of military recruitment centers after the Chattanooga shooting, and unsettled Ferguson protestors when they showed up carrying assault weapons, is now offering anti-gay Kentucky clerk Kim Davis a “security detail” to protect her from further arrest if she continues to defy the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes announced yesterday that he had reached out to Davis’ lawyers at Liberty Counsel to offer the protection of his group, which he says is already forming a presence in Rowan County, Kentucky, where Davis was recently released from jail after prohibiting her office from issuing marriage licenses. Rhodes said in a statement that his position has nothing to do with gay marriage, but rather his conviction that Davis had been illegally detained by the federal judge who held her in contempt for violating multiple court orders.
In a phone call with Jackson County, Kentucky, Sheriff Denny Peyman and other local Oath Keepers activists, Rhodes said that he was on his way to Kentucky to help with the Davis operation. Although the group had originally intended to picket outside the home of the judge who held Davis in contempt, he said, they had changed their plan when she was released on Tuesday.
Rhodes said that the Rowan County sheriff should have blocked U.S. Marshals from detaining Davis, but since neither the sheriff nor the state’s governor will do their “job” and “intercede” on behalf of Davis, the Oath Keepers will have to do it instead. “As far as we’re concerned, this is not over,” he said, “and this judge needs to be put on notice that his behavior is not going to be accepted and we’ll be there to stop it and intercede ourselves if we have to. If the sheriff, who should be interceding, is not going to do his job and the governor is not going to do the governor’s job of interceding, then we’ll do it.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/oath-keepers-send-armed-guards-protect-kim-davis-us-marshals#sthash.hQJNDTRx.dpuf
SJWs always on standby to script the narrative, they’re as reliable as neocons.
How much does the Southern Poverty Law Center pay you to post here?
You’re a smart guy Goon. Surely you don’t confuse vigilantism with libertarianism.
No, I do not. But the narrative must be scripted.
No different than Michael Brown = Eric Garner.
I used to live in Cincinnati, right across the river from Kentucky and surrounded by a whole lotta Kim Davises. I lived there when W was reelected in 2004.
MikeyMite scripts narratives. That’s what he does. And when I call him out on it, you reinforce the narrative. I do not agree with Kim Davis, but the narrative being scripted is no different than the circumstances that resulted in the FBI and ATF shooting Vickie Weaver in the face at Ruby Ridge. My Facebook feed is full of comments from people who want exactly that, if not worse, to happen to Kim Davis.
I had a boss once who grew up in Cincinnati. When he mentioned that, I told him that I was little surprised, because he had a sort of a southern accent. He was not pleased to hear that.
But the narrative must be scripted by the reality of what is actually happening.
I do not agree with Kim Davis, but the narrative being scripted is no different than the circumstances that resulted in the FBI and ATF shooting Vickie Weaver in the face at Ruby Ridge.
Given the inflammatory language used by the Davis defenders and the implied escalation to arms by the Oath Keepers, it feels like they want to pick a fight with the Feds with the hope they overreact like they did at RR. The tea party/militia folks would make a lot of political hay out an incident if it did occur.
Couldn’t it be said that we’re all trying to script a narrative? If there were pay available, it probably wouldn’t be much.
Right wing militia wet dream: an armed conflict with the federales.
Personally, I think the Obama administration made an error when they backed down when the rag-tag “militia” showed up on the Bundy ranch. It sends a message that the Feds avoid conflict, are weak, and will withdraw.
Now if Kim Davis openly defies the court orders again, it is imperative that the Feds arrest her even if it means a showdown with the Oath Keepers. If you want to maintain order in society and the rule of law you can’t have vigilante groups independently interpreting the Constitution on their own.
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning for free sh*t…
———————–
Immigrant Welfare Addiction
It’s not just illegal aliens who are the problem.
September 11, 2015 - Matthew Vadum
Non-citizens in the U.S. — and especially recent Middle Eastern refugees — are addicted to welfare programs, two newly released studies suggest.
Although open-borders propaganda typically claims that illegal aliens are hardworking and industrious, one of the reports unveiled yesterday showed that among illegal alien households with children, a shocking 87 percent accept benefits from one or more welfare programs, compared to just 52 percent of native households.
“Welfare use by illegal immigrant households is certainly a concern, but the bigger issue is welfare use by legal immigrants,” said Camarota.
In other words, it’s not that these immigrants don’t want to work — many are simply unemployable because they don’t have the skills needed for the jobs available.
Worker skill levels dropped after the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965 which began the flood of immigrants from countries hostile to the traditional American values of limited government, individualism, and a healthy respect for markets and civil society. When the INA was overhauled, a “national origins” formula calculated to maintain the existing population demographic in the nation as of 1924, was dumped in favor of one based on immigrants’ skills and family relationships with U.S. citizens or residents.
Despite the law public charges don’t get turned away nowadays and as a result three quarters of immigrant households receiving welfare assistance are headed by legal immigrants, who are also known as lawful permanent residents (green card holders).
Of legal immigrant households with children, 72 percent access one or more welfare programs, compared to 52 percent of native households. Of households headed by illegal aliens, 62 percent used one or more welfare programs in 2012, compared to 30 percent of native households. Around 49 percent of households headed by lawfully present aliens used one or more welfare programs in 2012, versus 30 percent of households headed by natives.
Of legal immigrant households with children, 72 percent access one or more welfare programs, compared to 52 percent of native households. Of households headed by lawful immigrants, 62 percent used one or more welfare programs in 2012, compared to 30 percent of native households. Of illegal alien households with children, 87 percent access one or more welfare programs, versus 52 percent of native households.
Under the current immigration system another 20 to 25 million new legal immigrants will arrive in the U.S. in the next two decades, according to Camarota.
shareholder equity is being looted to pay ceo’s.
man o man - such postiive vibes comin from the HBB today - I can’t stand it.
I’m going to see the Grateful Dead (minus Phil Lesh) the night before Thanksgiving. Without Phil or Trey from Phish there, that means Bob Weir will probably sing lead on everything!
Obviously it would also have be minus Jerry Garcia. It might be worth seeing if there’s anything on YouTube that can be checked out to see how much they sound like the original Dead.
I was 14 years old when I saw Jerry Garcia perform live with the Grateful Dead. And then he had to go and die. Phish is sloppy seconds, Phish will never be better than the Dead with Jerry were.
This guy might have gotten hold of some bad stuff. I saw the Dead in 78- 79?, The 80’s and the 90’s and I will (and have) survived.
Not your (grand)father’s Grateful Dead
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/opinion/ct-sta-sxu-grateful-dead-st-0830-20150828-story.html
…..Certainly the legacy of the Grateful Dead is well worth celebrating, but this recent concert and the band presenting it have very little to do with the genuine article. Instead, they comprise a clinging remembrance and distorted re-enactment of an old event reinvented to suit modern tastes.
It was not a boundary-breaking and joy-spinning Grateful Dead performance at all, but a paint-by-numbers image of one filled out with anachronistic elements suitable to 2015, not the 1960s or 70s. It might be deemed “performance reality” — a strange-but-growing phenomenon in our contemporary world where a self-conscious mimicry of an event from the past has substituted for living life itself.
that was the way to stay in business touring, allowing people to tape their shows….
here is a band you probably never heard of more Americana music. 25 years loyal following….nice jam band
http://www.donnathebuffalo.com/
lots of full 2-3 hour shows on you tube
http://www.donnathebuffalo.com/watch-donna-the-buffalo-videos/etown-why-you-wanna-leave-me-baby/
Phish? Oh lord! MJ a may be legal in Colorado but mushrooms and Ecstacy aren’t. Be careful and drink a lot of water.
Liquidate assets and pay off your debt. Then hold onto every dollar you’ve got.
You’ll thank me later.
DEFAULT
Indeed default is a very desirable option after financing a depreciating asset at a grossly inflated price.
yeah buddy dump that shack
How long will it take for sears executives to piss away the 2.7 billion they got from selling a lot the real estate they owned? They are now going to lease back the stores from the newly created company. In the meantime SHLD continues to crater.
All the equity will be gone and investors will be left holding the bag again.
Data my friend….. data.
Huntington Beach, CA Housing Prices Plummet 6% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/huntington-beach-ca/market-trends/
A question for the HBB - “Does Obama hate America, especially the middle class?” Locally there are a few in the talking chatter class on talkie radio asking this.
I wonder - given his record of destruction domestically and internationally - I just have to wonder and is it just Muricans?
Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, W Bush, Obama have been one continuous war on the middle class in my lifetime.
Drive down Chester Ave or Carnegie on the east side of Cleveland and see block after block after block of empty buildings and vacant lots that used to be this country’s manufacturing base. And never forget that NAFTA was a bipartisan production.
^ This
Whoever started the idea of “trickle down economics” killed the middle class. And no one after that has tried to stop it.
Whoever started the idea of “trickle down economics” killed the middle class…no one after that has tried to stop it.
Stop it?? Jeb (Jeb?) Bush has a plan: “Just double down on proven failure and say it will work this time”.
Jeb Bush’s Tax Plan Is a Large Tax Cut for the Wealthiest
New York Times - 2 days ago
The reason Mr. Bush’s plan cuts taxes for the rich so much is simple: He would cut the … the income spectrum, while having direct tax effects that mostly benefit the wealthy.
Jeb Bush’s Tax Plan Is Mostly A Giveaway To The Rich …
thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/09/…/jeb-bush-tax-plan/
ThinkProgress
… many of the changes he wants to make would benefit the wealthiest Americans.
Jeb Bush’s tax plan: It’s a budget busting giveaway to the wealgthy…
http://www.slate.com/…/jeb_bush_s_tax_plan_it_s_a_budget_busting_giv...
After Jeb Bush debuted his big tax plan Wednesday, those who weren’t distracted … gift to the wealthy, much like his brother’s own notorious tax cut. … while eliminating loopholes and a number of popular deductions to make …
Jeb Bush Wants To Double Down On His Brother’s Tax Cuts …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/jeb-bush-tax-cuts_55f0...
The Huffington Post
2 days ago - Jeb Bush’s tax plan appears to have a broadly similar effect: tax cuts for most Americans, but most of the benefits flowing to the richest …
We all know what Shrub’s tax cuts for the rich did to our deficit.
Jeb wants to buy your vote.
Are you sure it was “trickle down” and not globalization?
How can you be so sure?
Are you sure it was “trickle down” and not globalization?
Globalization is an important facet and product of TrickleDown/SupplySide.
Proof? Who benefited most from globalization? The very wealthy. It benefited the “SupplySide” which is the goal of SupplySide economics because of the promise it would trickle down.
But did it Trickle Down?
Corp profits at all time highs, and no jobs. No trickle.
Scott Walker polling in 10th place in Iowa, he’s almost as irrelevant as Bobby Jindal and Lindsey Graham, LOLZ
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/253329-walker-falls-to-10th-in-iowa-in-latest-poll
No one, and I mean no one, is as irrelevant as Lindsey Graham.
Rudy - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CYAg5idoUw - 152k -
As expected, the neocons in Congress try to tie Iran to 9/11:
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/253370-house-rejects-iran-deal
Props to Thomas Massie, libertarian of Kentucky for breaking ranks with these rabid warmongers and voting present.
you can pay off your debt when your stocks and home goes up n price.
or
you can stock up on debt when your home goes down in price.
“If there was any doubt beforehand, a key economic number Friday finally may have taken September off the table for an interest rate hike.
Consumer sentiment tumbled in September, with a reading of 85.7 in the latest University of Michigan monthly survey.
…’That loss of confidence feeds back into the real economy through lower spending, and that’s what the Fed is very concerned about,’ ”
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/11/consumers-may-have-just-killed-a-sept-rate-hike.html
rates will be suppressed by more QE if the overseas buyers stop buying.
To get any yield u will need to chase momo stocks like aaple and facebook.
Consumer sentiment tumbled in September
A lot of them probably have been reading this blog, LOL.
BBahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
they learned
don’t buy a house
don’t get married
don’t have kids
don’t own stocks
Last comment before bed.
If immigrants voted 8 to 2 conservative/libertarian, progressives would have already built the most impenetrable wall the world has ever seen.
How about looking out for your fellow middle class shmuck instead of following a satanic religious political ideology?
Can’t we all just get along.
- Rodney King
Dang! I missed this to clean a pool?? Unseeded??
Serena Williams Loses Grand Slam Bid in Stunning Upset at U.S. Open
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/serena-williams-loses-grand-slam-bid-stunning-upset-u-s-n425986
In a staggering upset, Serena Williams was bounced from the U.S. Open on Friday and lost her bid for the first Grand Slam in tennis in 27 years.
Roberta Vinci, an unseeded Italian ranked No. 43 in the world, beat Williams 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals.
Viva Italiano. The revolutionary communist pope should be dancing in the streets!
The “revolutionary communist” pope echos the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Meh. Every professional athlete gets old and their performance suffers - it’s just a matter of when. Just ask Tiger Woods.
I saw Serena Williams in Palm Beach Gardens a few years ago. She lives in BallenIsles with her sister. She pretty much looked like an NFL linebacker in person. Not meant to be a knock on her but she is the most bulked up athletic looking chick I have ever seen.
Investors snapping up new homes for rentals
It was widely deemed a temporary play: Large-scale investors buying thousands of discounted foreclosed properties during the worst of the housing crash and turning them into single-family rentals. When home prices recovered, they would surely sell them for a hefty profit. The housing market is recovering, albeit more slowly than expected. Foreclosure volume is way down and home prices are way up, but these investors are not selling.
They are buying more, and now they are buying new.
“I actually think that we’re coming into perhaps the most compelling three or four years that I’ve seen since I’ve been in the business,” said Doug Brien, CEO of Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust. (SWAY)
Brien, standing in front of one of his company’s rental homes in a brand-new housing development in Lawrenceville, Georgia, near Atlanta, says builders are the next frontier for institutional investors.
“For us operationally, being able to have a brand-new home that typically has a warranty, that works well for us. We can also customize floor plans that work for the business,” added Brien.
Starwood Waypoint, which launched its business seven years ago, now owns more than 16,000 single-family rentals, the vast majority of which were foreclosures. So far it has purchased about 200 brand-new homes from builders, with an average price point of around $180,000. These homes represent about 5 percent of the REIT’s portfolio.
“I think the institutional capital is still looking at this very carefully, because there’s a belief, and I support that belief, that it is a long-term hold and there’s yield and there’s appreciation to be had,” said Tim Sullivan, practice leader at Meyers Research. “But the real challenge for capital now, for the institutional capital sources, is that the massive low-lying fruit is gone.”
That fruit, cheap foreclosures, offered investors a relatively low-risk play, because they could buy homes at well below the cost of replacement, and not only would they see rental revenue but also property price appreciation. As this new interest develops, however, builders are starting to offer institutional buyers bulk discounts. Not only does it help builders grow revenue, but it gets them closer to normal levels of production, which has been a real struggle thus far.
Miami-based Lennar (LEN), one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, is experimenting with the single-family rental market itself. It made a smart hedge during the housing crash by putting up multifamily apartment buildings. It now has 20,000 apartment units under construction, according to company reports. This year Lennar took that one step further, opening its first single-family rental community in Sparks, Nevada.
“One of the big criticisms of the single-family rental world is that they’re all kind of one-offs in unique locations with unique amenities. The scalability of the management is what gets it complicated. This makes it much more like an apartment community in that it’s all together and can be managed by a single entity,” said Stuart Miller, Lennar’s CEO.
full story below
https://homes.yahoo.com/news/investors-snapping-homes-rentals-154900005.html
Yawn…renting a house.
1) Maintenance is slow. Lucky if they respond in 3 days.
2) Most likely no swimming pool and no jacuzzi.
3) No clubhouse with social events - my apartment complexes have those.
your landlord thanks u for paying his mortgage as he rakes in cash from appreciation.
“your landlord thanks u for paying his mortgage as he rakes in cash from appreciation”
My landlord is a public corporation. Not a small landlord. I avoid small landlords like the plague because they tend to be arrogant and laugh at renters and say “you are paying my mortgage!”
Also I invest in REITs. I get paid dividends from REITs. I lived in an apartment complex that was REIT - years ago and I will do so again.
The first GOP clown car occupant gives in to the hard reality that he doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance.
http://www.businessinsider.com/rick-perry-drops-out-of-2016-race-2015-9
Will the Catalan independence movement “unfix” Spain and reignite the Eurozone crisis?
http://www.rt.com/news/315070-catalan-independence-rally-barcelona/
If you like crony capitalism, keep voting for the status quo, sheeple.
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/09/11/more-american-cronyism-u-s-government-selling-visas-to-fund-luxury-apartment-buildings/
Merging, on paper, the affluent midtown neighborhood and the struggling one uptown placed Hudson Yards in a community with an overall high unemployment rate, positioning developer Related Cos. to gain low-cost financing from foreigners seeking green cards.
The program through which that happens, known as EB-5, enables foreign nationals to obtain U.S. permanent-resident status by putting up money for new business ventures that create American jobs. It gives ventures in high-unemployment and rural areas a special status to encourage investment. But as the program’s popularity has soared in recent years, the bulk of immigrant investment is going to projects that are located, like $20 billion Hudson Yards, in prosperous urban neighborhoods.
At least 80% of EB-5 money is going to projects that wouldn’t qualify as being in Targeted Employment Areas without “some form of gerrymandering,” estimates Michael Gibson, managing director of USAdvisors.org, which evaluates projects for foreign investors.
If u dont have debt your not in the game.
Salem, OR Housing Prices Crater 8% YoY As Housing Demand Plummets
http://www.movoto.com/salem-or/market-trends/
Socialism in Power - a must read for the thinking 5%.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-11/human-cost-socialism-power
crater