Bits Bucket for September 15, 2015
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Salinas, CA Housing Prices Crater 21% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/salinas-ca/market-trends/
Do u read this bs you post here?
median list price is down 21%
first of all list price is not sold price.
Have u ever heard of the 3 measures of central tendancy?
median = middle
So there are some variables to look at. Could be that less larger home sales occurred.
ANALYZE THE DATA!
Data my friend…. stick with the data.
Watsonville, CA Housing Prices Plunge 9% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/watsonville-ca/home-values/
azdude
Thank you for calling out mafia. Blind data means nothing. Job opportunities and incomes, demographics, location, and other variables, is what mafia ignores. He usually posts from emotions. He is not a very skilled antagonist.
Data MT Pockets… data.
Silver Lake (LA), CA Housing Prices Fall 12% YoY; Inventory Balloons
http://www.zillow.com/silver-lake-los-angeles-ca/home-values/
Look at it the other way: Housing Analyst/Mafia/Raymond Hessel/Lola has perfected the art of cherry picking. When home prices are going up nationally, you can count on SHA/MB/Lola to find that one zip code that went down.
Falling housing prices my friend.
MD Housing Prices Fall 13% YoY Statewide
http://www.zillow.com/silver-lake-los-angeles-ca/home-values/
Corrected for my good friend.
MD Housing Prices Fall 13% YoY Statewide
http://www.zillow.com/md/home-values/
FWIW, I don’t think The Donkin Donut uses the Hessel handle. I think that’s someone else.
Data Donk……. data.
Vienna, VA Housing Prices Crater 7% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/vienna-va/home-values/
Hey WPA, how’d I get lumped in with Housing Analyst, Mafia, and Lola (whoever the hell that actually is)?
The Lola Mafia?
Just install the Joshua Tree extension and he becomes a non entity.
I’ve suggested that too…. many times. Some just don’t have the mental fortitude to do so.
The UK’s inflation rate fell to 0% in August, down from July’s rate of 0.1%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index, fell due to a smaller rise in clothing prices from a year ago and cheaper fuel prices, the ONS said.
The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation rose to 1.1% from 1.0% in July.
CPI has been almost flat for the past seven months.
Inflation has failed to take off due to a sharp fall in oil prices that began last year and a continuing supermarket price war.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34255161
Of cause in the real world the rate that affects us is RPI, but they don’t like that measure any more.
More reactors expected to be restarted in western Japan
AKIRA OIKAWA, Nikkei staff writer
TOKYO — The Sendai No.1 reactor, Japan’s first active reactor in about two years, has resumed full-scale commercial operations. As safety screening progresses, other suspended reactors are expected to follow, but mostly in the western part of Japan.
All 43 reactors in Japan are light-water models. “Light water” simply means normal water. Light-water reactors are further categorized into boiling-water and pressurized-water types.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science/Tech/More-reactors-expected-to-be-restarted-in-western-Japan
Russia proposed more than three years ago that Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, could step down as part of a peace deal, according to a senior negotiator involved in back-channel discussions at the time.
Former Finnish president and Nobel peace prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari said western powers failed to seize on the proposal. Since it was made, in 2012, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions uprooted, causing the world’s gravest refugee crisis since the second world war.
Ahtisaari held talks with envoys from the five permanent members of the UN security council in February 2012. He said that during those discussions, the Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, laid out a three-point plan, which included a proposal for Assad to cede power at some point after peace talks had started between the regime and the opposition.
But he said that the US, Britain and France were so convinced that the Syrian dictator was about to fall, they ignored the proposal.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/15/west-ignored-russian-offer-in-2012-to-have-syrias-assad-step-aside
Pimping the FEAR
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/09/15/cold-war-weaponry-and-modern-military-hardware-inside-isis-arsenal
Your own fear certainly seems to have been pimped off the charts.
Why not go for a hike in the mountains?
My “fear” is of manipulating the voters and taxpayers of this country into passively accepting the launch of another criminal trillion dollar war, as was done in 2001 to 2003.
While likely true, your posts don’t come across that way.
They come across as being somewhat unhinged rather than purpose driven.
You seem to have something against Israel
And if Ben Jones didn’t want them here, they wouldn’t be here.
Neocon is a failed ideology, nobody can refute that, nobody.
There are a lot of Neocons who would goon, but the some people believe the world is flat.
Damm should have been then not the, fingers typing faster than brain can process the output.
While likely true, your posts don’t come across that way.
I’ll defend the Goonster here. He has an edgy writing style that amplifies his main point, which is that certain power brokers use the media to condition us into supporting their geopolitical games. He’s right, we are being conditioned into a near panic state that ISIS and Iran are imminent threats to the US, which is false.
If you are not “unhinged” at this point then you haven’t been paying attention to current events.
Yea, take a hike in the mountains, relax and let your kids deal with the future.
No kids here! Your brats are your problem.
A nice, reasoned response. How was your hike!
At the end of the day no one truly cares about your kids other than yourself, so in a way Amazing Russ is right: your kids are your problem, not that the state is above meddling with that, which usually makes things even worse.
“Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” – Hermann Goering
Because fear is all they have left to sell. I’d rather live in a free society that doesn’t spy on its own citizens and accept the risk of the occasional ISIS lunatic breaking a few eggs (that problem was dispatched rather quickly at the Muhammed cartoon contest in Texas) than borrow trillions and trillions of dollars to launch illegal ground invasions in the Middle East.
GOP fear of radical Islam near 9/11 levels:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/poll-gop-islam-fears-chicago-council-213617
It’s all about pipeline politics.
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Qatar-Rich-and-Dangerous.html
House prices are rising fastest in the East of England, official figures show, as analysts suggest property market “action” has moved out of London.
The typical home in the East increased in cost by 8.3% in the year to the end of July, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Prices in London, which saw big rises last year, rose by 5.5%, slightly lower than the average in England of 5.6%.
Overall, UK house prices increased by 5.2% in the year to the end of July.
The other area to see significant price growth was Northern Ireland, up 7.4%.
Property values in Northern Ireland are recovering from a massive fall during the financial crisis, and remain 42% below the peak of August 2007, the ONS figures show,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34256627
Have you dumped your China stocks due to concerns they may fail to achieve their seven percent GDP growth target in 2015?
BloombergBusiness
China Stocks Sink Again as Growth Concerns Spur Investor Exodus
Bloomberg News
September 14, 2015 — 6:36 PM PDT
Updated on September 15, 2015 — 1:13 AM PDT
An investor at a stock exchange hall in Hangzhou, China, on Sept. 2, 2015.
Photographer: ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images
- Equity fund values tumbled in August amid redemptions
- Data this month show state stimulus yet to revive economy
China’s stocks slumped for a second day in thin turnover amid concern government measures to support the world’s second-largest equity market and economy are failing.
The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 3.5 percent to 3,005.17 at the close, led by commodity producers and technology companies. About 14 stocks declined for each one that rose on the gauge, while volumes were 36 percent below the 30-day average. The index completed its biggest two-day loss in three weeks with a decline of 6.1 percent.
Mainland Chinese equity funds lost 44 percent of their value at the end of last month compared with July, data showed Monday, as unprecedented state measures to stop a $5 trillion selloff failed to avert redemption. Data this month showed five interest-rate cuts since November and plans to boost state spending have yet to revive an economy weighed down by overcapacity and producer-price deflation. Yuan positions at the central bank and financial institutions fell by the most on record in August, a sign that policy makers stepped up intervention to support the currency.
“The economy has not shown signs of a pick up after a series of cuts in
interest rates and reserve requirements, while expectations about yuan
depreciation are still there,” said Zhang Haidong, chief strategist at
Jinkuang Investment Management in Shanghai. “Yuan-denominated assets face downward pressure. The market is still weak.”
Still Expensive
The CSI 300 Index declined 3.9 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slipped 0.3 percent, while the Hang Seng Index retreated 0.5 percent.
The Shanghai index may fall to 2,700 as stocks are still expensive, said
Francis Cheung, CLSA head of China and Hong Kong strategy, said in a briefing on Tuesday. Equities on mainland bourses traded at a median 45 times reported earnings last week. That’s the highest among the 10 largest markets and more than twice the 18 multiple for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The Shanghai Composite, where low-priced banks have some of the biggest weightings, has a ratio of 15.
…
How many of the suspended stocks are still suspended? Until all stocks start trading Shanghai and CSI300 keep going down.
Anyone know how many are stocks are still suspended?
No but the ones that are not are still falling
China stocks close down 2 pct, shrug off reform plans for SOEs
3d map of China overlaid with the Chinese flag
SHANGHAI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - China stocks closed down on Monday as lingering concerns over the economy eclipsed weekend announcements from Bejing that reforms of bloated state-owned industries would accelerate.
The day saw volumes recover after the prior week’s subdued activity, but most of the transactions appeared to be on the sell side. The only bright side appeared to be index-heavyweight banking shares, which traders speculated was largely driven by state-ordered purchases intended to slow the wider market decline.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen ended down 2.0 percent, to 3,281.13, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.7 percent, to 3,114.80 points, its sharpest one-day drop since late August.
Two key indexes tracking listed SOEs controlled by the central government briefly outperformed the wider market but diverged in late trade, ending down around 2.5 pct and 1.0 pct, respectively.
Index futures markets all fell, with most contracts tracking the small cap CSI500 index declining by their maximum allowable 10 percent. Contracts for the CSI300 index were all down, some as much as 7 percent.
(Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
2015-09-14 09:14:30
http://www.sharenet.co.za/news/China_stocks_close_down_2_pct_shrug_off_reform_plans_for_SOEs/3984e8e4ba02ae913412a3b2895efe38
Why do we take the Chinese currency in trade for our land? When their market is rigged?
Do lies make the economy go ’round?
Ever since Adam Smith, the central teaching of economics has been that free markets provide us with material well-being, as if by an invisible hand. In Phishing for Phools, Nobel Prize–winning economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller deliver a fundamental challenge to this insight, arguing that markets harm as well as help us. As long as there is profit to be made, sellers will systematically exploit our psychological weaknesses and our ignorance through manipulation and deception. Rather than being essentially benign and always creating the greater good, markets are inherently filled with tricks and traps and will “phish” us as “phools.”
…
“As long as there is profit to be made, sellers will systematically exploit our psychological weaknesses …”
Such as fear and greed …
“… and our ignorance through manipulation and deception.”
Run up a price of a stock and you will run up the intensity of greed and in will come the buyers. Drop the price of the stock and greed will give way to fear and those buyers will suddenly become sellers.
Econ101 (and Macys) says just the opposite will happen, meaning drop prices and the buying will intensify, raise prices and buying will dry up. But in the stock market (a place where price equals value) just the opposite happens.
“Run up a price of a stock and you will run up the intensity of greed and in will come the buyers. Drop the price of the stock and greed will give way to fear and those buyers will suddenly become sellers.”
With this insight, plus a means to profit from volatility, you can make boatloads of money!
“With this insight, plus a means to profit from volatility, you can make boatloads of money!”
If you happen to be a market maker that works on Wall Street then you will have been granted the means to profit from volatility because you, yourself, are in the nifty position to create all the volatility you will ever need.
A market maker just this that: He creates a market. Also, the market maker gets to look at all the buy and sell orders suckers, er, players, er, participants place with him - and all the prices of these buy and sell orders - and for-some-strange-reason because of this he is able to make huge chunks of money each and every day.
The people who run Macys get to set prices as do the market makers of Wall Street but unlike the Wall Street guys the Macys guys do not affect value in the minds of participants the way the Wall Streeters get to do.
The clients of Macys generally have a sense of value when they show up to buy and thus they will buy when an item is considered by them to be undervalued and will balk at buying when the item is considered by them to be over valued. But the customers of Wall Street - the vast majority of them - do not have this sense of value, instead they have a sense of price - a sense of value as expressed by the price. This means that as the price goes up then it follows that the value also goes up.
And since the market makers are in the nifty position of setting prices this means they are in the nifty position of setting values, and if they can set it up so that values go up then they can suck in buyers and then they can turnaround and shake these same buyers out by making values go down. This would not work in a rational world (ask Macys) but it works quite well in a price-equals-value world of stocks - and in the world of real estate.
What economic system - of ANY type - does not promote fear and greed?
Which do so the least, and at least cost?
The invisible hand has led to a standard of living like Kings and Emperors of old, while only half (or less) of the population works. Pretty good. Cities in the desert with central air. Cities in the cold ass north with nice warm hearers. Amazing computers and tablets and smartphones for the best communication, education, information and entertainment ever in history by a million miles.
Never before have so many had so much or been so in touch.
or been so in touch.
Was it government ’socialism’ or the invisible hand that brought us the internet?
It wasn’t “socialism”. Better descriptions might be state capitalism, corporate welfare, or decentralized planning.
state capitalism, corporate welfare, or decentralized planning.
All of which are bad, right?
CountryClubberLang The invisible hand
No wonder economics sucks as a “science.” No other science uses a hokey artificial device like an “invisible hand” to explain phenomena.
Behind the successful capitalist private sector implementation of the internet you’ll find a government grant. DARPA, a US gov’t research office, invented the internet. PCs, smartphones and laptops can’t function without integrated circuits — which largely came about due to defense contracts with Texas Instruments, Fairchild and others for ICBMs and the Apollo programs.
From someone who obviously never took a college econ course, and hasn’t a clue about Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand concept…
… and if you had stayed awake in your college econ, you would have learned that Adam Smith is not what message board crackpots and zero hedge gold bugs make him out to be. Smith did not believe the free market is the optimal model for society. In fact, Smith heavily criticized mercantilism when large corporations and government were allied in monopolistic adventures, like the East India Trading Co. He would be strongly critical of the 0.1% / Government cabal we have today, the axis of rent-seeking evil in Washington that privatizes profits but socializes losses.
And while this may be true that there is some deception and scamming, it doesn’t also mean that it doesn’t do better, way way better, than any other system in incentivizing production, innovation and distribution.
The leftists will just never get over the idea that a command economy wih Lenin up there deciding what the 5 year plan is going to be is a terrible economic idea in practice.
never get over the idea that a command economy wih Lenin up there deciding what the 5 year plan is going to be is a terrible economic idea in practice.
But when Putin does it, it’s awesome. Because he’s the chess master.
You guys will never give up on communism! Criminal gangsterism like Putin is your comeback.
Just pointing out that central planning comes in all political shades, and some see it as brilliance when done by the type of person/system they like.
And sometimes, like the internet, central planning works, though usually in ways never dreamed of by the planners.
And I’ll wait for heaven to enjoy communism, if they let me in.
“And sometimes, like the internet, central planning works, though usually in ways never dreamed of by the planners.”
Are you suggesting a focused effort to develop a specialized product somehow scales up to a useful model of national governance for the myriad components of a modern developed nation’s economy?
China is presently testing the theory. AlbqDan’s claims that success is assured, but I have my doubts.
I’m saying it generally doesn’t work, but occasionally works, and sometimes works spectacularly. But often in ways not imagined by the planners. The Chinese may create a modern society, but it probably won’t be the society the planners are planning on creating. Let’s hope.
The President pimps away the U.S. Treasury
http://picpaste.com/home_of_your_own.jpg
markets haven’t been free since the 20’s
not even close
My grandparents told me a little about what life was like when they were kids in the 1920s. It was miserable.
MightyMike
I LOVE Studs Terkel for his audio interviews of people who lived through the Great Depression. Social Workers, Bank Employees, etc…
Your grandparents saw a lot of changes, and I’m so happy to hear you connected w/ them. My 84 y o S-I-L is visiting, and I’ve been asking her about WWII rationing. Fascinating stuff.
Did they have $30,000 in welfare benefits for the no workers in the 20s?
My grandparents told me a little about what life was like when they were kids in the 1920s. It was miserable.
That era gets romanticized a lot. The roaring 20’s, flapper girls, jazz, speakeasies, etc., but most people were dirt poor. Higher ed was mostly for the elites and State U’s were few and far between. Finishing high school was a big deal.
You forget that the animal in a maze does not know it is in a maze until it gets out of the maze.
I am 92 and lived through those days, and had a good time all of the time
Bought,in 1938,year old chevy sedan for 12 dollars and gas was 10c a gallon, and when I was a kid I got a dollar to buy christmas present for my 5 brothers and sisters.
But we didn’t know about the rich kids.
So.it is kind of like today, the average person doesn’t know they are suffering, but the low income people do. but they still buy beer and cigarettes, don’t they.
You were a bit lucky if you didn’t get polio or some other horrible disease and you were also a bit lucky if your parents lived until you became an adult.
97% of 0.1%rs agree
Henry Paulson, Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund manager Thomas Steyer want to save the planet by carbon taxing your sorry @ss
Latest Climate Change Report Paints Dire Picture For Business
June 24, 2014 5:07 AM ET
The U.S. economy faces great risks from climate change, according to a new study that focuses on the current and future effects of climate change on everything from jobs, to crop yields, to energy production.
The study is called “Risky Business”, and the driving force behind it is a bipartisan group of prominent former businessmen and public officials: entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; retired hedge fund manager Thomas Steyer; and Henry Paulson, a former Wall Street titan and Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush.
Paulson proposes a tax on carbon emissions that scientists say are causing climate change, to provide an incentive to wean the economy off carbon-based fuels.
“A carbon tax is one way of putting a price on this pollution, one way of letting the market operate,” Paulson says.
http://www.npr.org/…/latest-climate-change-report-paints-dire-picture-for-business - Similar pages
“The U.S. economy faces great risks from climate change, according to a new study that focuses on the current and future effects of climate change on everything from jobs, to crop yields, to energy production.”
Yes, first we had global cooling and then global warming and when the real data didn’t fit the rhetoric we got ‘climate change’. We’ve always had quote ‘climate change’ but in this case the only climate change I see is the change of climate in global world politics toward the ultimate ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT and control of the World’s Economy and Financial System by a select few.
Carbon Dioxide is not “pollution.”
It is if there’s too much of it. That’s basic science.
No it is not. It is a very basic component of life that is easily dealt with. Water is not pollution either.
Defining CO2 as pollution is a scare tactic.
Carbon Dioxide is not “pollution.”
Amplifying Oddfellow’s comment: Vitamin A is needed for life, is not a poison, but 25,000 IU’s of it will kill you.
Vitamin A
That is why one must never eat seal liver.
The dose makes the poison, as any chemist knows. Water is necessary for life, but if you drink too much of it, you die.
And anyone who thinks you can suddenly add massive amounts of any substance (even one beneficial in normal amounts) into a closed ecosystem without affecting its functioning not only has no scientific knowledge, but also no common sense. And has also apparently never owned an aquarium or a houseplant.
Denial is a nutrient in the fossil fuel industry ecosystem.
I once overfilled an aquarium. Quite the mess.
Quite the mess
Did you try feeding the fish a whole lot of good, healthy food so they’d grow big and strong?
Because that usually kills them, just like over-watering or over-fertilizing a houseplant.
Too much of a good thing…
I thought we were talking about too much water. Toxic amounts of water. I’ve 600 ft of it beneath me now and I’d like to know how much is too much.
how much is too much.
Six liters of water drunk in three hours killed a woman involved in a “hold your wee for a wii” on air radio contest.
So how do you propose to handle the crisis of water being a poison? You fail to mention that it is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. What can be done?
What can be done?
We don’t currently have an excess of water, so it’s not a problem. The problem is the couple hundred million years worth of stored carbon that we’ve released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels in the last couple of centuries.
Can your scientific mind grasp how that might be a problem? Couple hundred million years of stored carbon, released into a closed ecosystem over a relatively very short period of time? Any potential problems?
It is all about who gets money from whom.
The simplest way to stop using more and more “carbon based fuels” is to abandon growth. Raise interest rates and wasteful construction would halt in a heartbeat all around the world. Paulson and similar Masters of the Universe will never suggest such a thing. Preserving the environment is evidently the last thing on the minds of these “prominent” scam artists.
There are those who believe “abandoning growth” to be a great idea.
Naturally, it’s a great idea once they’ve got theirs.
It’s an even better idea if they’ve got theirs and you’ll never have yours. That they REALLY like.
I don’t know what a sustainable economy might look like, but I don’t think it means everyone is stuck in place.
I don’t think building ghost cities is a net benefit, it just shifts money toward the elite in the name of “growth”.
“I don’t think building ghost cities is a net benefit, it just shifts money toward the elite in the name of “growth”.
September 15, 2015.
The day that Blue kinda sounded like a liberal.
Well Muggy, I do like looking under rocks. Hopefully nobody will try to make me pay dues.
Wouldn’t taxing carbon make rampant development more expensive and therefore less likely?
As reported by real journalists at the Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/local/drought/la-me-water-power-html-20150915-htmlstory.html
Warmists gonna warm.
If it’s yellow, let it mellow…
We only flush brown, and wait until 3-4 yellows. We had our pool cover on for the longest time, but we were constantly growing an algae farm. Our 2 month bill for water in So Ca is running $80ish, and 1/2 of that is the service charge. We’re doing our part. The water co gave us a thumbs up.
Would urinating in your pool help control the algae?
Want some real fun? Propose a tax the CO2 exhalations of people’s kids… and the future CO2 emitted by them through their cars, homes, purchases, etc. First two kids are free, some increasing dollar amount for each kid after that. I don’t know how one would enforce it, but it would be entertaining to see the reaction to such a suggestion.
Infinite growth is not possible in a finite ecosystem.
So use birth control, and adopt a shelter pet today!
Government is already inside a woman’s womb, paying for more than half of the babies born today. How is that gonna end up?
At some point the women will choose no kids as they get in the way of riding the carousel and later reeling in a wallet to marry. It also won’t help when the government cheese becomes less generous.
Consider how in most metro areas there are long waiting lists for section 8 vouchers, most are years long. In Denver there is a lottery just to get on the waiting list. People have been known to camp out overnight in the winter in Fort Collins for a chance to get on the waiting list.
The birthrate will continue to collapse, which will lead to calls from the Chamber of Commerce to import more semi-illiterate 3rd worlders to scrub the toilets and bus the tables.
sweet- !
fat tax is better
hook the fatsos to carts
=less carbon and easier on the socialized meds
Top 0.1% imposes Its Ban of 80% of Wood Stoves owned mostly by lowest 12%
EPA Imposes Its Ban on 80% of Wood Stoves, Fireplaces Are Not Far Behind
by S. Noble • March 9, 2015
Last month, the EPA moved ahead with sweeping new regulations on wood stoves, wood-fired furnaces and outdoor boilers. It is a far-reaching one-size-fits-all solution to an issue requiring less intrusiveness. Some states say they won’t abide by the rule.
Some states like Missouri and Michigan have already barred the federal regulations with legislation and Virginia might do the same, but federal regulators will step in and take over.
The EPA says it will reduce the fine particle emissions by about 70%. At the same time, 12% of American households heat their homes with wood stoves and many of them tend to be lower income individuals who won’t be able to afford the new wood stoves.
The EPA is imposing mandates on wood-fired furnaces and outdoor boilers for the first time. The Attorneys General in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont, all Democratic strongholds, filed suit against the EPA demanding wood-burning water heaters and outdoor wood boilers be included. The extreme environmental group EarthJustice also filed suit.
This is an example of “sue and settle” in which the environmental extremists cooperatively sue and settle with government officials who don’t want to deal with the people.
The corrupt scheme allows the EPA more freedom in advancing harsh regulations on the public. The scheme works like this according to Senator Vitter of Louisiana:
A far-left environmental group sues a federal department or agency, like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), claiming that the government is not satisfying its regulatory obligations. Then, after the group and the EPA plan and discuss the matter – without the involvement of any others, including affected business, landowners, and state and local governments – they draft a settlement agreement committing the agency to regulate a certain sector of the economy or type of private property. All that’s left is to get the presiding judge to bless their friendly agreement.
There’s even a bonus prize in this scheme. Because such a settlement is counted as a “win” for the environmental group plaintiff, that suing group is awarded all of its costs and attorney’s fees, creating a revolving fund for its continuing activity, courtesy of our wallets.
Presto: the left, including the Obama Administration, advances its aggressive environmental agenda. No need for messy Congressional hearings or opposing arguments.
Tens of millions have been spent on these corrupt “lawsuits” but it is impossible to get a handle on it at the EPA because they don’t keep track of their attorney’s time on a case-by-case basis. FOIA requests are being ignored completely.
http://www.independentsentinel.com/…/ - 97k - Cached - Similar pages
Mar 9, 2015
Comment by phony scandals
2015-09-15 08:03:17
EPA Imposes Its Ban on 80% of Wood Stoves, Fireplaces Are Not Far Behind
independentsentinel.com/epa-imposes-its-ban-on-80-of-wood-stoves-fireplaces-are-not-far-behind/
Sounds good to me. I used to live near a house that smoked out the whole neighborhood with their wood-burning whatever. My pets smelled like smoke when they came in, you could only enjoy being out in your yard if the wind and weather was right. I’m sure it would be a nightmare if you had asthma or the like.
“My pets smelled like smoke when they came in,”
“There are those who don’t want their neighbors to have wood-burning stoves and claim the smoke is affecting their health. They gladly welcome the totalitarianism of the unelected bureaucrats in the EPA.”
Tim Hawkins The dogs on fire. - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O5cGUs2OM4 - 258k -
Two more houses like his and I’d have been living in Victorian London-style smog.
I have real wood burning fireplaces in my house. I love having them. I don’t use them to warm the house, mind you, that would be silly.
But 3-4 times per year, I like having a real fire (Christmas morning, maybe Thanksgiving, etc.)–of course, I need to make it work relative to the “spare the air” days, so I don’t burn when there is higher levels of particulate matter in the air already.
IMHO, both extremes (burning all the time vs. no burning allowed) are unattractive.
We had neighbors in Old Greenwich that had wood-burning stoves and nobody whined about it, I don’t seem to recall any complaints of smokey pets either.
Are you sure your dog wasn’t out stealing marshmallows off the stick that were being roasted by the campfire?
No, the entire neighborhood often stank of smoke, and many people complained about it. It’s often caused by a thermal inversion, one of those sciencey things that must not be true because you disagree with its logical conclusions. Therefore, conspiracy.
“No, the entire neighborhood often stank of smoke, and many people complained about it.”
Tim Hawkins The dogs on fire
We gotta look on the bright side now
We’ll save a lotta money on puppy chow
Oh yeah, I’m not a liar
0h oh, the dogs on fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O5cGUs2OM4 - 258k -
neighborhood often stank of smoke
Probably he was also burning his trash in the woodstove.
‘Oh yeah, I’m not a liar’
Probably he was also burning his trash in the woodstove.
Which should be perfectly legal right? Since outlawing it would mean that far left environmental wackos are in charge. Right?
“Why, we used to burn all our trash on top of the coal pile back in Old Greenwich. Smelled right good. I wish more of my neighbors did it now”
Henry Paulson and the rest of the 0.1% are with you Oddie.
They think you are very useful.
Still up and deflecting, phony? I thought you were a tradesman.
Just finished an estimate.
Buenas noches Oddie
Good night, phony. Don’t let the stench of burning garbage choke you awake. That’s the smell of freedom!
Comment by phony scandals
2015-09-15 04:12:3
Latest Climate Change Report Paints Dire Picture For Business
npr.org/2014/06/24/325073881/latest-climate-change-report-paints-dire-picture-for-business
Are Fed jitters scaring you away from the stock market?
Marketwatch dot com
Market Snapshot
Fed jitters smack U.S. futures lower for second day
By Sara Sjolin
Published: Sept 15, 2015 6:45 a.m. ET
Selloff in China also hits investing mood
Bloomberg
Investors are waiting for word from Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen on the central bank’s rate hike path
U.S. stocks were set for a second straight day of losses on Tuesday, with futures tilting lower as investors remained wary of dipping into the equity market ahead of the closely watched Federal Reserve decision on Thursday.
The investing mood was also dented by declines in Asia, where Chinese stocks took a beating and brought back concerns about slowing economic growth in the country.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YMU5, -0.01%) fell 22 points, or 0.1%, to 16,257, while those for the S&P 500 index (ESU5, +0.03%) dropped 1.5 points, or 0.1%, to 1,942.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index (NQU5, +0.00%) gave up 3.55 points, or 0.1%, to 4,296.25.
The indicated losses come on the back of a downbeat session on Monday, when the S&P 500 (SPX, -0.41%) and Dow average (DJIA, -0.38%) both ended 0.4% lower.
The nervousness in the stock markets comes as the Federal Open Market Committee is set to begin a two-day meeting on Wednesday, where Fed policy makers will deliberate the first interest rate increase in nearly a decade. Analysts remain split over the likely outcome, while the fed-funds futures market is pricing in a 25% chance of rate hike on Thursday, compared with 41% a month ago.
The dollar (DXY, -0.10%) slipped against most major currencies on Tuesday. Expectations of a rate hike had pushed up the greenback to multiyear highs earlier in the year.
…
we need to buy more stuff at walmart and big lots so the chinese print more yuan and buy more dollars then by more treasuries so we can borrow more and send out more checks to voters.
‘Are Fed jitters scaring you away from the stock market?’
Not at all. The G7 or even a smaller select group of insiders connected with the BIS and IMF are just playing for time before the next leg down. What I’m waiting for is the what event is going to unravel their strategy. I think this Syria middle east thing with another unknown event will force their hand. The biggest other crippling event would be taking demand of physical gold on outstanding contracts. So far they have been able to control gold but for how long.
The Chinese are taking delivery of gold bigtime. This is the biggest contrarian indicator ever. Sell what China buys.
Would banning foreign investors in selected sectors result in an increased or a decreased role for the market to allocate resources to such sectors?
Xinhuanet
China to relax market access with negative list
English.news.cn 2015-09-15 16:44:50
BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) — China will make a negative list to identify sectors and businesses that are off-limits for investment and gradually improve the list through pilot programs, according to an official statement.
On Tuesday, the 16th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, presided over by Chinese President Xi Jinping, approved a guideline for adopting a negative list approach for regulating market access, according to a statement unveiled after the meeting.
The move is significant in giving the market a bigger role in allocating resources, building a law-based business environment and making the market more open, the statement said.
…
The U.S. could use a “negative list” to prevent foreign equity locusts from blowing bubbles in our residential housing markets.
Central planning to the rescue!
It was central planning that opened our residential real estate markets to foreign investors.
An non-centrally-planned economy is inherently closed to foreigners? When were foreigners not allowed to buy property in the US?
Does the slide in global trade concern you?
GLOBAL TRADE DROP CAUSES CONCERN — WSJ’s William Maudlin: “A sharp drop in global trade growth this year is underscoring a disturbing legacy of the financial crisis: Exports and imports of goods are lagging far behind their pace of past expansions, threatening future productivity and living standards. … For the third year in a row, the rate of growth in global trade is set to trail the already sluggish expansion of the world economy, according to data from the World Trade Organization and projections from leading economists.
“Before the recent slump, the last time trade growth underperformed the rate of an economic expansion was 1985. … Since rebounding sharply in 2010 after the financial crisis, trade growth has averaged only about 3 percent a year, compared with 6 percent a year from 1983 to 2008, the WTO says. Economists blame the slowdown on many factors, from China’s shift away from certain kinds of manufacturing to a decline in international investment. They also point to a dearth of major new trade agreements and the erection of trade barriers after the 2008 downturn.”
http://on.wsj.com/1NA7HHM
no
Does the prospect of a Trump win send you into a panic?
Politico
Wall Street’s new panic: Trump could win
By Ben White
09/15/15, 08:00 AM EDT
WALL STREET’S LATEST PANIC: TRUMP COULD WIN — POLITICO’s Ben White: “Wall Street is growing increasingly terrified that Donald Trump — once viewed as an amusing summertime distraction — could actually win the Republican nomination for president. The real estate billionaire, who took another populist shot on Sunday by ripping into lavish executive pay, continues to rise in the polls. Would-be Wall Street saviors like Jeb Bush are languishing in single digits. The belief that Trump’s candidacy would quickly fade is now evaporating in a wave of fear.
“‘I held four lunches for investors in August and at the first one everyone assumed Trump would implode,’ said Byron Wien, vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Partners and a senior figure on Wall Street. ‘By the fourth one everyone was taking him very seriously. He taps into frustrations that are very real and he is a master manipulator of the media.’ The CEO of one large Wall Street firm, who declined to be identified by name criticizing the GOP front-runner, said the assumption in the financial industry remains that something will eventually knock Trump off and send voters toward a more establishment candidate.
“But that assumption is no longer held with strong conviction. And a dozen Wall Street executives interviewed for this article could not say what might dent Trump’s appeal or when it might happen. ‘I don’t know anyone who is a Donald Trump supporter. I don’t know anyone who knows anyone who is a Donald Trump supporter. They are like this huge mystery group,” the CEO said.
“‘So it’s a combination of shock and bewilderment. No one really knows why this is happening. But my own belief is that the laws of gravity will apply and those who are prepared to run the marathon will benefit when Trump drops out at mile 22. Right now people think Trump is pretty hilarious but the longer it goes on the more frightening it gets.’”
TRUMP RESPONDS: WALL STREET OWNS JEB AND HILLARY — “In a statement sent to POLITICO on Monday from his campaign, Trump relished in the attacks from Wall Street, singling out both Bush and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, another favorite on Wall Street. ‘Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton will continue to let Wall Street and the ‘hedge fund guys’ rip off the people by paying no or very little in taxes,’ Trump said. ‘They have total and complete control of Hillary, Jeb and others running. My campaign is self- funded. The only people that have control of me are the people of the United States.’”
…
Repost from 7 months ago, Wall Street can’t lose with Jeb and Hillary:
http://nypost.com/2015/02/08/wall-streets-no-lose-view-of-2016/
Hillary has promised to end the rape epidemic on college campuses by “clamping down”. I guess that means every male student will have to wear a GPS ankle bracelet to keep track of their locations.
Something tells me there’s going to be a boom in online education for men once being a male on campus becomes illegal.
“Wall Street’s new panic: Trump could win”
I’m ready for a thigh-gap first lady!
All the Trump wives look as if they brought up in the beauty pageant community (not sure if they were). My guess is that they have the “world peace” schpeil down pat.
How would a dork like Trump meet women from the beauty pageant community?
I think that he owns a beauty pageant.
@Blue: A good advance man is more than just a concierge!
LOL.
‘I don’t know anyone who is a Donald Trump supporter. I don’t know anyone who knows anyone who is a Donald Trump supporter. They are like this huge mystery group,” the CEO said.
‘No one on any of the BODs I’m on support him. No one in my bridge group, no one at the yacht club. I mean, who are these mystery people?’
Ask the guy managing the local Tire Store who he likes. It is the blue collar, redneck, worker-bee type. They blame illegals and are very misinformed. But they have a “gut feeling” DT will be great!
Bend over for HillaryJeb!
http://img.ifcdn.com/images/e80c73e4e0bf3b49aa893f841b65ec44f30e4fe180567a4c25431c9ce3d39656_1.jpg
That’s a great morph!
Unless we get Biden/Warren, looks like Bernie or Trump is in.
No, but I have laugh about the rethuglican party dragging out the big guns: Ben Carson!
Ben Carson is just really ridiculous to me. He’s not a player, he’s some kind of plant. Seems like he means well and all, but what’s the point? Unlike Trump, I don’t trust that he has any real support.
You mean someone who will stand up to the forces of political correctness spewing lies to advance their own group’s political agenda? Yeah, it scares me that such a person is seen as so controversial, someone who wants to actually do something about illegal immigration and China other than just roll over.
+1
I was talking to somebody the other day about Trump. They expressed that the idea of a Trump presidency terrified them. I thought hey, if Trump terrifies US citizens, imagine how the Chinese or Iranians must feel!
So, he’s got that going for him.
Trumps shindig in Dallas last night went off without anybody getting arrested or setting off a dirty nuclear bomb as has been rumored. 15k people in attendance and maybe 1000 protesters outside.
Wall Street is terrified their hand-picked puppet candidates may get Trumped by an independently wealthy populist.
Trump: ‘It’s Disgusting What’s Happening to Our Country”
Amen, brothah! That’s true on so many levels.
LOL, when I look around, that’s exactly what I’m thinking sometimes.
The Most Honest Three Minutes In Television History
What the hell happened to this country? Sad part is, it’s all true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML3qYHWRIZk
No, a Trump win does not scare me. As I said, he may be a b*st*rd, but he’ll be his own b*st*rd. And so far, his policies sound a lot like Occupy Wall Street.
There it is. Oxide and Palmy and Me coming together for Trump. That is what is scary … To Jeb and Hillary.
How goes the clubbin’ General?
Things are not going so well in Brazil.
“Unpopular taxes and public health and housing spending cuts included in plan to close budget deficit that caused downgrade in country’s credit rating last week”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/14/brazil-taxes-spending-cuts-recession-economy
Their currency is off by about 50% so far.
“Run out of” meets “other people’s money”
Is every Brazil mention just a subtle Lola troll?
The clown is easily forgotten when the fat lady begins to sing.
lower prices are good! I have USD.
Coppell, TX Housing Prices Fall 5% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/coppell-tx/market-trends/
more useless data. List price means nothing.
Pick yourself up off the floor and cheer up my friend. And remember…
Falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels is positively bullish and good for your economy.
Pacific Beach, CA Housing Prices Crater 14% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/pacific-beach-san-diego-ca/home-values/
Where NOT to buy a house (Part IV)
—————
Anatomy of a Failed Liberal State
Townhall.com | September 15, 2015 | Stephen Moore
When I grew up in the north suburbs of Chicago in the 1960s and ’70s, Illinois was still a financial and industrial powerhouse. The Land of Lincoln had a low-rate flat income tax, the property taxes were reasonable, the state ran budget surpluses, and Illinois was the home of such iconic mega-employers as Caterpillar, Sears Roebuck and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
The public schools were pretty good back then and a dedicated corps of teachers put kids first — they didn’t walk out on strike, and they didn’t have the fat pensions they can get now when retiring at age 55.
Mayor Richard Daley (”the Boss”) ruled Chicago for decades, and it was “the city that works.” Yes, you had to pay off the unions to get things done, but this was a cost of doing business. Things did get done.
Fast forward to today, and what a sad state of affairs. Last week the state had to sheepishly announce that it doesn’t even have the money in the bank to pay lottery winners. Now jackpot winners are suing the state to get their rightful money.
Chicago is so broke that its bonds are junk status, and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel had to go hat in hand last week to the state capital, Springfield, for bailout money to pay the bills.
Why should residents of other states care about this financial meltdown in Chicago and Illinois? The answer is that Chicago is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the government pension crisis. Pensions for teachers and state employees are bleeding the state dry. A state budget office spokesman tells me that “nearly one of three state tax dollars now goes to paying pensions for retired municipal and state employees.”
Meanwhile, tax increases on the rich under the previous governor failed to raise much money, but did accelerate an exodus of money and talent out of the state. A new Illinois Policy Institute study, based on latest IRS data, finds a record number of people have been fleeing Cook County, home to Chicago. “The income of the people who left Cook County in 2012 was $2 billion more than the income of the people who moved into Cook County. … The 2011 and 2012 outmigration will cost the county nearly $30 billion in taxable income over the next decade.”
It couldn’t get much worse, right? Wrong. The state has been operating without a new budget for more than two months. Vendors are routinely going two or three months without getting paid because the vault is empty. The Democrats who rule the state Legislature and serve their masters, the Illinois teachers unions, passed a $34 billion budget this summer that is $5 billion in the red, flouting the state’s balanced budget requirement.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who inherited this calamity, is the state’s last best hope. He has vetoed the state budget and rejected the unions’ demands for more taxes. Property taxes and sales taxes (which can reach 10 percent in Cook County) are already nearly the highest in the nation.
Mayor Richard Daley (”the Boss”) ruled Chicago for decades, and it was “the city that works.” Yes, you had to pay off the unions to get things done, but this was a cost of doing business. Things did get done.
So that was the good old days? And we should go back to that?
Corruption is wrong and should always be resisted, even if 95% of the electorate sanctions it with their votes for the Republicrat status quo.
in the 1960s and ’70s… dedicated corps of teachers didn’t have the fat pensions they can get now when retiring at age 55.
The author lied through his teeth.
————–
July 1, 1947
The minimum permanent disability allowance
became $400 per year.
The temporary disability program
was established.
The death refund included prior
service contributions without
interest.
A member qualified for retirement
benefits at age 55 with 20 or more
years of creditable service and at
age 60 with 15 or more years of service.
————-
https://trs.illinois.gov/pubs/history.pdf
And it’s likely that one reason his teachers were dedicated to him is precisely because they knew that the pension was coming.
(and why is banana even allowed to post this stuff?)
‘why is banana even allowed to post this stuff’
This afternoon when you are moderating for free you can fact check every comment.
I’m sorry Ben, I just get tired of the constant cut-and-paste. And I have a special spot in my heart for teachers.
Easy on Ben, he just works here!
You gotta live here to understand the content of the article - we in the utopia called Chicago ILLANNOY live and breath this toxic mess every friggin day.
Regardless of the details the fiscal mess is epic - there are two excellent web sites that track this stuff in detail - SO BEN DOESN’T HAVE TO!!! - one is the illinois policy web site linky here https://www.illinoispolicy.org/
The other is called the Civic Federation - moderated by Lawrence Msall - linky here https://www.civicfed.org/
Take some time to look at your own local civic sites if they exist as they do here in ILLANNOY and see what you dredge up - I think y’all would be surprised.
Enjoy your day HBB’ers.
Did you fact check in 1947:
1. Nearly one of three state tax dollars now goes to paying pensions for retired municipal and state employees? How they are bankrupting every city they infest? Why wasn’t that happening?
2. The EXPLOSION of public unions to every facet of the public?
3. OT spiking of public union pensions?
4. Fake disabilities of public union pensions?
5. That teachers are the LARGEST political donors of ALL TIME? Not in1947
Nah - it is all for the children. And they support democrats 99-1 is just a coincidence.
5. One of the largest…
Public Unions ARE THE TOP FOUR of all time political donors:
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/
But teacher unions are #4.
Koch brothers planned $889 million for 2016 is more than 3x what the unions are spending.
Koch brothers are just two “citizens united” who are ready to saturate the media with ads to convince the sheeple to once again buy the neocon agenda: tell the people to wait for trickle down while accumulating more wealth behind the scenes.
+1
So itsallgood for the teachers unions, because the eeeeeeevil Koch bros. give even more???
Give me a break.
My wife is a public school teacher, and her combined local, state, and national mandatory union dues are over $1K per year. Given her paltry salary, that is a lot of money that we could really use to keep our kids fed and clothed, the home maintained, and so on.
I’ll tell you a secret: The Koch bros. aren’t stealing money out of my wife’s paycheck - the teachers unions are.
So you must disagree with 2banana. Your wife derives no benefits from union membership.
Another small-gov conservative married to a gov/public school employed wife, from whom he gets his government bennies.
Oldest pattern in the book.
Koch brothers just cost you money via promoting oligopoly and market manipulation at the highest levels of government. Shifting the tax burden to the middle class, Oh and slashing teacher salaries and benefits.
Is there a difference between being “VERY anti-neo-con” and a liberal?
Me, I just hate neo-cons. But I am a fiscal conservative, pro choice and pro-environment.
As fiscally conservative with other people’s money as Helicopter Ben.
Got Bitcoin? Got cash? Got the precious?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-15/investors-paranoid-other-investors-are-even-more-paranoid
Cash, stocks, treasuries, gold, copper+lead. Good to go, sir!
Don’t forget the whiskey.
Don’t forget the whiskey.
Ahh, good point. That is a weak spot in my allocation!
oh yeah, that precious liquid too!
Now that you’re all self-contained in your apartment, where are you going to keep the wine and whiskey and car parts? IIRC, you have a private garage…
Or are you waiting until you retire to do that?
Considering he rents a house for half the cost of buying it, he has plenty of space.
I have a storage unit down the street with space for auto parts. But actually I am getting rid of the storage unit soon. I have enough space for premium whiskey though. Enough to store at least $30,000 worth.
Regarding treasuries, the 52 week rates have just been announced for September 17th sales. Around 0.44. Up again!
Are there still ZIRPs? When 52-week rates increase month by month for new issues, I’m less inclined to say there are any ZIRPs.
My furniture all delivered to the OC. Now my place feels more like home. Final touch will be to bring my pictures for the walls,
To make it better, my housing costs are cut in half!
PMI here is typically $4200. My rent is $1350.
I have so much cash left over I need another mattress.
“Even if I fell, I land on a bunch of money” — Jay Z
Your housing costs are cut in half because you gave up your second home.
Well yes. Having too much material possessions that drain my money instead of make money. I’m becoming a lean, mean, investing machine.
LOL, it’s Matt Damon’s turn in the barrel:
http://entertainthis.usatoday.com/2015/09/14/matt-damon-interrupted-a-black-filmmaker-to-mansplain-diversity-to-her/
LMAO. Damon and Clooney et al like to lecture the little white people on what the correct attitudes are from the Hollyweird point of view. Who knew they also like to lecture the little people of color as well?
To be fair, though, having been in the business on a smaller level, I understand what he means. When you’re putting together a crew, you tend to use the same people over and over, because you know who can get the shot, who can do the correct lighting, who is best at coordinating things, transportation and logistics, etc. These are people you can depend on, you have a certain comfort level working with them and so on. It is really important that the people behind the camera work well together, especially when you’re on a budget. Diversity isn’t a factor, you just want someone who can get the job done with no drama.
“Diversity isn’t a factor, you just want someone who can get the job done with no drama.”
This is the point at most places of business.
Interestingly, I think it’s why places that are more “tolerant” have economic strength. If you hire the best person for the job regardless or race or sexual orientation, you will have a better business.
And and the other side, if you are a smart, driven person in a place where you are not getting a shot at a good job because of your race or sexual orientation, you pack your bags and go somewhere else.
Along these lines, film and television production is as close to the apprentice/journeymen/women structure as you can get. As the best workers move up to better positions, new workers are added into the mix. If the new ones don’t work well with the more experienced workers - they don’t last long.
A smart production company will ask their best workers if they know anyone who can fill a position - knowing that good workers tend to know other good workers.
If the majority of your good workers are white, then the new people tend to be white as well. On the other hand - if a good worker knows a good African American worker - no one cares as long as the job gets done.
And then, there’s the idiot son or daughter of an influential person who needs babysitting mucking it all up. But, they usually don’t last long - having to get up at 4am tends to dampen their enthusiasm for working in production.
Brown, who has produced 17 feature films including, ironically, Dear White People, pointed out that the only black character in one of the movies they’re mentoring is a prostitute who gets slapped by her white pimp. She suggests that to get better representation in front of the camera, they should think about hiring more people of color behind the scenes.
2banana rule:
Conservatives are more than happy to live under the same laws and taxes they want for everyone else.
Liberals/Progressives expect to exempted form the same laws and taxes they want for everyone else.
I forget, who is that conservative President that gave us less spending and smaller gov as promised?
Maybe this next time is different-eh?
Friday Harbor, WA Housing Prices Fall 9% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/friday-harbor-wa/home-values/
Now that Bernie Sanders leads in both Iowa and NH, the oligarchy and Hillary are beginning to attack him:
“Price Tag of Bernie Sanders’s Proposals: $18 Trillion” — WSJ
“A Pro-Clinton Super PAC Is Going Negative On Bernie Sanders. The group links Sanders to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez…” — HuffPo
Like Goon says, we will conditioned and bludgeoned into thinking that Sanders’ proposals are completely unaffordable, economically unworkable, and that he an evil socialist dictator like Chavez.
Of course the WSJ numbers are bogus because they fail to take savings into account nor the economic multiplier effect into consideration.
I read that article, in which the pricetag of Medicare for all is $15 trillion.
Charge $20 for a pack of cigarettes (Australia does) and $5 for a can of Coke, and restrict all food stamp spending to non-packaged, non-processed foods, and maybe the math will work.
I do not support my tax dollars supporting other people’s shitty lifestyle decisions.
Friend who works for McKesson Corp wears a Fitbit (this is voluntary) that uploads to his job’s HR department, and based on his and his wife’s exercise, the employee paid portion of his health insurance premiums is close to zero.
“Charge $20 for a pack of cigarettes (Australia does)”
Do they bring in more tax revenue or less at $20 a pack compared to $10 a pack.
My guess would be less.
“the greater tax per sale outweighs the lower number of sales, but beyond that critical point, further excise tax increases can be counterproductive from a revenue-raising standpoint.”
The Motley Fool
Dan Caplinger
Excise taxes aren’t well-understood, but they add up to big money for governments.
The federal government brought in about $93 billion in excise taxes in 2014, according to the Tax Policy Center, which represented about 3% of the $3.02 trillion in overall revenue. Still, policymakers see excise taxes playing a larger role in the years to come, with estimates calling for excise tax revenue to exceed $120 billion by 2017.
Tobacco also generates substantial excise tax revenue, with the government bringing in more than $15 billion in tobacco-related excise taxes in 2014
What’s next for excise taxes?
The big question facing government agencies is how much raising excise tax rates will actually boost revenue. Any time the excise tax rate rises, the resulting higher price results in less demand for the product being taxed. Up to a certain point, the greater tax per sale outweighs the lower number of sales, but beyond that critical point, further excise tax increases can be counterproductive from a revenue-raising standpoint.
The government didn’t raise cigarette taxes to collect more tax revenue. They did it to make cigarettes prohibitively expensive. Kinda hard for a teen to become a smoker when it costs $20/day. Fewer smokers –> fewer dollars spent on lung cancer care years from now. Far outweighs the decrease in tax revenue.
“it costs $20/day”
$20 will buy over a pound of cut tobacco, which would keep a smoker happy for most of a month.
I do not support my tax dollars supporting other people’s shitty lifestyle decisions.
I agree. I think it’s really, really odd that term life insurance premiums are based on numerous lifestyle factors (Age, BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, family history) but health insurance premiums are generally not.
Of course if HMOs were to start charging higher premiums to the obese there would be howls of protest from your SJW friends about fat shaming, etc. But I agree, if Bob makes a choice to have that Big Gulp soda every day I shouldn’t have to pay for Bob’s insulin 10 years from now.
What if Bob is a homosexual and he gets aids (check the CDC website for stats). Should you have to pay for his treatment ten years from now?
You start drawing lines on lifestyle choices and who should be paying higher premiums then you are opening a very big can of worms.
+1
Where is Darwin?
me neither! And lets stop subsidizing WalMart employees, Exxon CEO’s and Alcoa and Monsanto…..
the mooching has to stop. And fine employers for hiring illegals, let people rat them out!
Two chubby black women cold-cuck Sanders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43d-0cibqqY
Sanders stands off to the side of the stage with his folded hands covering his privates. Do you really think that this weak suck is going to get a damn thing done as President if he can’t even control these two beasts?
The most entertaining aspect of this video is seeing the longtime 60s black-rights advocate Sanders come face to face with the very monsters that he helped to create.
Yeah, that’s a really good way to determine whether you want to vote for the guy. Don’t worry about the issues, just make your decision on superficial nonsense. Given the way that you bring this up as Raymond has so many times, it’s safe to assume that that event was mentioned extensively in the crackpot right wing statist media, which exists to convince working class and middle class people to support the interests of the wealthy.
Perhaps you haven’t noticed that the entire political process is now based on “superficial nonsense”.
The only thing that I dislike more than the current group of “leaders” being presented to me for next years Presidential election are individuals, like you, who define those of us whom you disagree with as either “Right-wing or Left wing”.
You need to go for a hike and relax, killer.
Perhaps you haven’t noticed that the entire political process is now based on “superficial nonsense”.
So you’re unable to resist what everyone else is doing.
In this case I wasn’t calling you right wing. I was making an assumption that you visit a lot of right wing websites.
How was your hike Mike?
“The most entertaining aspect of this video is seeing the longtime 60s black-rights advocate Sanders come face to face with the very monsters that he helped to create.”
+1 Crow… best served, cold.
You like that, eh. Somehow Sanders created monsters by marching for voting rights and against segregated water fountains and so forth.
Respect is earned, not granted.
“Two chubby black women cold-cuck Sanders”
What would Trump have done? Had his bodyguards beat the women up and drag them out? Because I guarantee Trump wouldn’t have taken them on physically himself.
I guess in some people’s eyes, having your bodyguards beat someone up is pretty cool.
“A Pro-Clinton Super PAC Is Going Negative On Bernie Sanders. The group links Sanders to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez…” — HuffPo
But of course if Sanders becomes the nominee, all this red baiting stuff by his fellow confiscator party members will be forgotten immediately. Only to be brought up by the opposition party.
politics sux - vacate the vote. I am not going to vote.
Holy Cow!
———————-
Defying trends, upstate New York college slashes tuition
Associated Press - 9/15/2015
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — Bucking a national trend of rising college costs, a small upstate New York private school announced Tuesday that it is slashing its undergraduate tuition.
Utica College announced tuition and fees will drop 42 percent next academic year from $34,466 to $19,996. Room and board will be reduced by 13 percent. With corresponding adjustments in financial aid levels, a student on average could save about $6,900 over four years. Students from middle-income families could save far more, according to the college.
While the reductions are expected to cost the college $2 million next year, net revenue is expected to stay the same or grow after the first year. The school expects to make up reduced tuition revenue through higher retention rates, more students, revenue from expanded housing and increased alumni giving.
Gotta be another sign of the apocalypse!
There is much rage
http://goo.gl/bG8kFU
Everyone Must Check In
But the town didn’t put it there. Who do you think put it there?
Well…..here we are again - another day of ad hominem attacks on each other leading me to question - who is ‘us’ and who is ‘them’ ?
I think of Pink Floyd - Us and Them
and
Peter Gabriel’s - Not one of us
When these things begin to emerge.
Personally and I would encourage everyone including me to remember that this is not so much blue vs. red, brown vs. black, white vs. black or brown or the haves and the have nots. The us is ‘US’ and the them is those who wield the handles of power - not money guys - power - that is what it is all about with THEM. Power trumps money - ALWAYS.
Is Mr Market pricing in yet another punt on Fed liftoff?
More “recovery.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-15/hewlett-packard-fire-30000
Why does zero hedge never have any good news?
Are you kidding me…? This IS GREAT news: BANKERS WILL BE JAILED IN THE NEXT FINANCIAL CRISIS.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-15/bankers-will-be-jailed-next-financial-crisis
Conservative pundit Bill Kristol: If Trump wins, I’d support a third-party choice
Donald Trump has signed a pledge to support the Republican Party’s presidential nominee — even if it isn’t him. But one of the best-known pundits in conservative media isn’t making the same promise.
Bill Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, said he would likely look beyond both of the major parties if Trump, the clear frontrunner in the GOP’s crowded presidential field, emerged with the party’s nomination.
“I doubt I’d support Donald. I doubt I’d support the Democrat,” Kristol told CNNMoney in an email. “I think I’d support getting someone good on the ballot as a third party candidate.”
Those comments aren’t much of a surprise coming from Kristol, who has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics on the right.
After Trump made harsh comments in July about Senator John McCain’s service in the Vietnam War, Kristol said that the billionaire developer was “dead” to him.
“I’m finished with Donald Trump,” Kristol said at the time.
Trump’s candidacy has created a schism within conservative media. George Will, Charles Krauthammer and Glenn Beck have criticized him. And last month, Beck called out the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter for their support of Trump.
“These are smart people,” Beck said. “What am I missing?”
http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/14/media/bill-kristol-donald-trump/
His pick certainly won’t be libertarian party. It will be some Orwellian named party to trick the dumb sheep: Patriot Party? American Flag Party? It would be too wrong for him to name it “Freedom Party.” Something jingoistic that means opposite of the fascism he really wants.
+1
Neo-cons are throwing a hissy fit about Trump sweeping aside their AIPAC errand boys like Jeb, Cruz, Walker, and Lindsey Graham.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/15/defcon-1-bill-kristol-threatens-third-party-support-if-trump-wins-nom/
Beck:
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/09/15/glenn-beck-tea-partiers-who-support-donald-trump-are-racist/
I have to admit that I am enjoying the angst that is being displayed by the Oligarchs and their minions over the collapse of the pre chosen Jeb!/Hillary! Presidential race picks.
+1. It is beautiful to behold. But millions of stupid ‘Muricans are still supporting HillaryJeb to their own detriment, just like they bent over for the .1% with their votes for Obama, McCain, and Romney.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/16629031224/
With 95% of ‘Murican voters bending over and spreading their cheeks for the banksters by voting for their puppets, it’s difficult to imagine any of these criminals and sociopaths ever facing justice for their crimes and swindles. However, one can always hope….
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/banking-criminals-exposed-rowan-bosworth-davies
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2015-09-14 12:40:11
“It is an unintended consequence of big government the xenophobic conservatives refuse to admit. These war mongo blood dripping fascists order military into foreign nations, make them ininhabitable, and are angry when any survivors flee to other nations.”
The globalist progressives (from all political parties) are responsible for everything you see today, beginning with the Iraq war, the subsequent pull out and the so called Arab Spring.
Is the world a better place after four years of interventionism followed by six and a half years of globalist progressives chaos theory?
Can’t you see this is all being done on purpose by the likes of McCain, Graham, Soros, Jarrett, Ofailure and Samantha Power to destroy western culture?
Do you realize the globalists in charge are resettling Muslims from all over the middle east/North Africa and Illegals from South America to red states? Why? Are the red states unsafe hellholes? No, but they will be soon? Again, Why?
You can’t force chaos and collectivism on an unwilling public, so you import it…Do we deserve this treatment? Do the Europeans deserve this treatment? Why is this not happening in China or Latin America?
Take the red pill and wake up.
Your anti-Muslim attitudes are a form of collectivism.
It appears that he is posting someone’s comment from yesterday.
It isn’t “anti-muslim” to state the facts.
Someone please convince me that this is going to end well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=65&v=TylzeDXFwDQ
I think that only the first paragraph is Selfish Hoarder’s comment from yesterday. I don’t see any facts in what he wrote.
For example:
The globalist progressives (from all political parties) are responsible for everything you see today, beginning with the Iraq war, the subsequent pull out and the so called Arab Spring.
So now Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. are progressives? Maybe it’s a bad idea to ask such a question. It just leads to another debate about the meaning of a word.
Yeah that paragraph Reedalberger quoted was mine. The other paragraphs not.
The borders between “neoconservative” and “progressive” are sometimes nonexistent. For instance, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been very hawkish and united with McCain and Graham. Bernie Sanders supports military aid to both Israel and Saudi Arabia.
What it really boils down to is I hate neoconservatives and “progressives” about the same. They are statists. Statist suck.
Quite a video.
Tough even for the paid posters to put a happy face on that.
reedalberger = Clubber Lang (not CountryClubberLang).
Ben Jones has the IP addresses. Maybe when he is here 10 days from now at the Great American Beer Festival I can bribe him at Falling Rock Taphouse, on Blake Street, next to Coors Field. Maybe not.
Undeportable
In every way,
And forever more
That’s how you’ll stay.
Border Patrol Arrests Previously Deported Sex Offender
“Apprehending known felons at or near the border is among our prime objectives”
by Caroline May | Breitbart | September 15, 2015
The same week the National Border Patrol Council head revealed that one out of every five Border Patrol arrests last year was of a criminal alien, U.S. Border Patrol agents in Texas arrested a previously deported, convicted sex offender from Bolivia.
According to Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol agents at the Uvalde Border Patrol Station arrested 57-year old Eliseo Cespedes-Vargas after the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office encountered him during a traffic stop on September 11.
Uvalde Border Patrol agents helped with the stop an determined Vargas was an illegal immigrant from Bolivia and one who had been arrested for attempted rape in 1992 and convicted in 2007. He was ordered removed in 2011.
Border Protection explained that Vargas’ initial removal order will be reinstated and he will be charged with “illegal re-entry of an aggravated felon.”
How Healthcare.gov botched $600 million worth of contracts
“Government employees made multiple missteps in doling out and managing those contracts”
by John Tozzi | Bloomberg News | September 15, 2015
The public employees responsible for overseeing $600 million in contracts to build healthcare.gov were inadequately trained, kept sloppy records, and failed to identify delays and problems that contributed to millions in cost overruns.
That’s according to a new government audit, published Tuesday. It reveals widespread failures by the federal agency charged with managing the private contractors who built healthcare.gov. The audit is the first to document, in detail, how shoddy oversight by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which manages federal health programs including Obamacare, contributed to the website’s early struggles.
Posted for the benefit of idiots.
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-i-fixed-the-country-2015-9
Why is it that you can only find articles like this on al-Jazeera or RT, with not a peep from our corporate media? Not only do we have the world’s highest rate of incarceration, but then we turn around and screw over the families who can least afford such robber-baron fees.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/9/15/families-torn-apart-by-criminal-justice-system.html
It’s always easier to honestly report another’s faults than your own. You’ll never find an honest story about Russia in the RT.
Two more spectacular San Francisco startup flameouts and FWIW S.F. is my hometown and motorcycles and public transit are things I support and that interest me, but this stuff is waaay over the top and helped fuel the astounding S.F. bubble. It is especially loony that public transit was targeted by the “new economy” , S.F. had over 100 PT lines waaay back when I was a kid.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/leap-files-for-bankruptcy-auctions-off-remaining-buses/
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/end-of-the-road-for-mission-motorcycles-e-bike-maker-files-for-bankruptcy-99874.html
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