Bits Bucket for September 23, 2015
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
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I thought it was weird the other day that posters here were screaming for global warming skeptics to be treated like mafia or Nazi war criminals. Whatever the truth is, it probably is not coming from Professor Shukla.
http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/09/20/update-leader-of-effort-to-prosecute-skeptics-under-rico-paid-himself-his-wife-1-5-million-from-govt-climate-grants-for-part-time-work/
Warmist Warming Wednesday, as reported by real journalists:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/science/as-fires-grow-a-new-landscape-appears-in-the-west.html
This has a lot more to do with out forest management than anything else. I guess you didn’t read any of the links where tree ring studies show this is the worst drought in 500 years? I guess that should mean to normal people that 500 years ago it was worse, but they don’t see the obvious because it doesn’t fit their reality.
I find it odd to be anti-science. Even Reagan decided it was better to save the ozone layer than ignore the science. And science was right.
What is wrong with using alternative energy and staying out of the Middle East civil wars?
If it saves us money, I am all for it being a fiscal conservative.
Deflect as much as you can, but the climate change denial industry is coming to the end of its science denying road, just like Big Tobacco did.
And remember, RICO will go easier than Nuremberg trials.
Thank you comrade, we have faith in the State and its approved God Science.
Our scientists say tobacco is beneficial to your health.
They also say to bring an umbrella to hold off the acid rain, drink 8 glasses of water per day and do NOT eat any fat because it will increase your cholesterol. They have been in agreement for 40 years.
They also say to bring an umbrella to hold off the acid rain, drink 8 glasses of water per day and do NOT eat any fat
Now there’s an instant classic spawned from an illogical talking point.
You just tried to bash today’s science by touting the comparative superiority of today’s science over yesteryear’s.
So why would anyone expect you to understand today’s science when you didn’t even realize that your post unintentionally touted the comparative superiority of today’s science over yesteryear’s?
Science is the devil!
bring an umbrella to hold off the acid rain
The acid rain problem in the US was solved when Reagan, Bush1, and Clinton listened to scientists and allowed them to fix the problem. And of course there were industry shills and their dupes who said fixing it would cost a fortune and destroy the economy (sound familiar?), but actually:
“In 2007 the EPA estimated that by 2010, the overall costs of complying with the program for businesses and consumers would be $1 billion to $2 billion a year, only one fourth of what was originally predicted”
wikipedia
Ah, the old “What Y2K” problem.
Computer guys: We fixed it.
Shrieking Tree monkeys: See! There was no problem.
y2k = tech bubble as every biz replaced old hardware.
that’s so 1979
year of coming ice age per Time Magazine
that’s so 1979
year of coming ice age per Time Magazine
Yeah, and science once said the Earth revolved around the Sun and you can cure disease by draining blood from patients. Science is no good, I tell ya.
The pope said it’s true, so that’s good enough for me . . .
I never thought I’d see the day that Algore and the Pope agree on something, but here we are.
I am so Pope-ed out. OK, we get it, he’s a famous catholic celebrity, now can we chill out on all this hype.
I think its weird you’re conflating posts about RICO actions against corporations that willingly sponsor deceptive misinformation campaigns versus taking actions against individuals for holding an opinion. The latter was never discussed.
Such is the thought process of the shrieking tree monkey.
e conflating posts about RICO actions against corporations that willingly sponsor deceptive misinformation campaigns versus taking actions against individuals for holding an opinion.
Conflate, deflect, confuse, anything but face the truth. That’s what the climate denial industry does, and that’s why its donors hide their identities behind blind trusts.
This is almost as shocking as the sun coming up this morning.
Scientist leading effort to prosecute climate skeptics under RICO ‘paid himself & his wife $1.5 million from govt climate grants for part-time work’
Read more: http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/09/20/update-leader-of-effort-to-prosecute-skeptics-under-rico-paid-himself-his-wife-1-5-million-from-govt-climate-grants-for-part-time-work/#ixzz3mbYQQebS
“It is hard for a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair
This cuts both ways, the effect can incite zeal on behalf of the payor.
San Diego, CA Housing Prices Crater 13% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/san-diego-ca-92109/home-values/
Ummm-San Diego County went up 5.9% last year as a whole. You take one little zip code like Ocean Beach and all of a sudden, San Diego going down the tubes. Quite misleading.
1,774 nearby properties found 92109 Real Estate and Homes for Sale
644 nearby properties found 92109 Price Reduced Homes for Sale
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/92109/type-single-family-home,condo-townhome-row-home-co-op,multi-family-home,mfd-mobile-home/show-price-reduced?ml=2
6,358 nearby properties found San Diego, CA Real Estate and Homes for Sale
2,255 nearby properties found San Diego, CA Price Reduced Homes for Sale
Keep slashin’ those prices SandyEgg Debtors. Keep slashin’ those prices.
Behold SHA/MB, the master cherry picker!
Falling housing prices my friend. Falling housing prices.
As I posted yesterday, after the Walker exit Rubio is the Golden Boy:
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/rubio-benefits-from-walker-exit-1442964452-lMyQjAxMTE1NzIyMzAyMTMwWj
Add some Koch cash, put Tom Cotton on the ticket, and you’ll get your neocon wars.
This message is approved by William Kristol.
From some Washington Post reports:
‘The message Americans are hearing from the 2016 GOP field is sounding more and more exclusionary. That was evident most recently in a comment from retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who is running near the top in national polls, that he “absolutely would not agree” with a Muslim becoming president.’
‘Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was getting an in-depth debriefing about his campaign’s finances, and the situation was grim. In a little more than two months, his presidential bid had amassed a debt of roughly $700,000, campaign manager Rick Wiley told the governor in a call Sunday night. A pared-down effort focused on staying afloat in Iowa would still cost around $1 million a month because of ongoing costs associated with ballot access, accounting and vendor contracts.’
Gee Scott, don’t tell me that promising to start a war on inaugural day failed to generate a huge amount of campaign contributions?
And just in; not the Panda Cam!
‘If the government shuts, don’t plan on visiting Yellowstone, financing your home or getting your tax refund’
‘But Walker had a Walker problem: He just wasn’t ready for the national stage. It was often overlooked that just five years ago, he was the Milwaukee County executive. As he began the presidential campaign, according to advisers, he knew little about issues like immigration, the Ex-Im bank, and foreign policy. Walker’s campaign brought in experts to brief him on those subjects. Aides said he enjoyed the briefings and worked hard to become fluent in policy issues.’
‘But his lack of knowledge showed — like when he said that Ronald Reagan’s decision to fire striking air traffic controllers was the most significant foreign policy decision of his lifetime. Yet expectations were sky-high for the governor, and his early appearances did little to lower them.’
‘Wiley blamed the size of the campaign partly on Walker’s newness to the national spotlight. “It takes a lot to build a campaign to run for president, especially around someone who is introduced to a new set of issues,” Wiley said. “Foreign policy — brand new. And just the dynamics of the federal issues are different, obviously. I mean, my God, this guy is a machine — I mean he really, truly is. But that takes staff, it takes time to do that. And we built the campaign that we needed to get him ready.”
“Everything was rolling, and then we just a hit a wall,” Wiley continued. “So, you know, I’m not sure there’s anything we could have done differently. I can go back and say, ‘OK, you know, could I have done without like three of the research kids who are continuing to fill in the Walker record?’ Maybe. Sure. But then maybe Walker research suffers.”
I will always think fondly of Scott Walker for pointing out that PUBLIC UNIONS ARE AN ABOMINATION.
So he had no idea what the president does, but declared himself the best man for the job.
Editorial Board of the New York Times (real journalists don’t get much more real than that) scripts the narrative:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/opinion/the-republican-attack-on-muslims.html
There is no “news” in American media anymore, just a sequence of narratives.
Scripting the “progressive” narrative:
http://www.salon.com/2015/09/23/another_1_percent_white_privilege_the_invisible_advantage_we_need_to_discuss_now
If you are poor, and not married, you should not be breeding. No TradCon shaming here, just sick of taxpayer dollars spent to pay for your sh*tty life decisions and failure to use birth control. And when bachelor taxes are enacted (they already exist by default, based on all the deductions and exemptions I can’t take, and all the free sh*t I don’t get) single men will leave the plantation and stop paying for it. Enjoy the collapse, progressives, you own it.
Enjoy the collapse, progressives, you own it.
Your math is way off. Poor children from single mothers are not responsible for the 40 year decline of the middle-class, jobs being shipped overseas and the rise of gross wealth/income inequality.
TrickleDownSupplySiders own America’s “collapse” not progressives.
And where I grew up, prior to NAFTA there was an abundance of manufacturing jobs from which a single earner could support a family. But that’s not what this article is about.
Social Justice Warriors™ deserve everything they’ve got coming. I’ll be dead in a few decades. Then some other sucker can pay for all of this.
There are two types of libertarians, the ones who believe in liberty for all, and the ones who find libertarianism a convenient cover for racist beliefs. From Ron Paul’s newsletters in the 1990’s: “Order was only restored in L.A. after the riots when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks.”
WPA plays the RaceCard©, how predictable, how stale.
This isn’t Reddit, where you get to downvote from view ideas that violate your SafeSpace™ ideology of cultural relativism.
The majority of Free Sh*t Army are poor white trash that elect people like Kim Davis, but never mind that, the RaceCard© always gets played when a progressive gets backed into a corner.
The question I try to ask when conceiving of, or presenting a potentially offensive concept is, “Is it true?” Not “Is this potentially offensive to a particular person or group?”
Reality can have uncomfortable truths, in addition to comforting ones.
“TrickleDownSupplySiders own America’s “collapse” not progressives.”
I’m glad you have jobs shipped overseas as one reason, but why aren’t you including the rise of computers? That seems to be awfully coincidental with the start of divergence in per capita productivity and middle class incomes.
And in that 40 year period, was there any time where progressives were in power? Yes? Did their policies in any way slow the 40 year trend? At all?
Perhaps the problem isn’t with political ideology at all, but that technology allows more to be done with fewer people.
So, rather than point fingers and try to boost “your team” by placing blame on the other “team”, how about first identifying the REAL problem, and then devising solutions to the problem?
I would submit that Bernie Sanders’ “free college for all” is a stupid waste of money. We are looking for ways to get people to work with jobs that are available today, not create even more people with liberal arts degrees who are not suited to today’s workplace.
I would instead propose an on-the-job training program.
The JOLTs report (Job Opening and Labor Turnover) shows more open jobs than at any time since 2001. The main problem is that there is a skills mismatch.
So, we need to get the skills into the hands of the employees, and they don’t learn those skills in college.
See New Hampshire’s “Return to Work” program as the template for something like this.
http://www.nhes.nh.gov/nhworking/return/participant.htm
There were plenty of technological developments in the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, there was a lot of concern about automation in manufacturing during mid-sixties. Nevertheless, those were good decades for the middle class.
The biggest Democrat Party city in the biggest Democrat Party state, America’s “progressive” future:
http://news.yahoo.com/los-angeles-calls-homelessness-emergency-unveils-100-million-001909280.html
A related article from Huffington Post (real journalists) reports an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 homeless sleeping on the streets of Los Angeles.
read this in Sunday’s paper: Foster care cases in Az increased about 45 percent from July 2013 to present.
That is a shocking statistic. What the hell is going on?
The collapse of the middle class.
And one of the men most directly responsible for that, globalist Henry Kissinger (how is he still alive?), was in Seattle last night, kissing the feet of the The Chez.
Oh, and they are also announcing today that China will be getting their own Boeing “finishing” plant where they will be doing the final assembly of Boeing planes. Boeing is being very tight-lipped about that . . . other than claiming that no American jobs will be lost.
And this afternoon, The Chez will be visiting Microsoft HQ, followed by dinner at Bill Gates’ house. Hmmm, what could they possibly be talking about?
We are so screwed.
It’s a club, and you’re not in it.
We live in So Ca and to be fair, the homeless population explosion dates back to Reagan. As governor, he closed our mental institutions, VETS (that’s shameful), unemployment, etc… Goon, it’s not a progressives problem, it’s a human problem.
In Simi, our city, they break up encampments in the park, throw their stuff away, and don’t do “chit” to help the homeless. Then off to church they go. Technicolor yawn.
true all over CA.
CalifoH20
What city do you reside in?
I had a great career opportunity in Irvine, but the traffic in OC and the attitude thing, made me think good and hard, and I declined it. Money isn’t everything. Health and happiness is.
“The nation’s second-largest city has nearly 18,000 individuals living on the streets, as opposed to shelters.”
Ronald (Mommy?!) Reagan would set the record straight; they like it on the streets, a lifestyle choice.
2banana’s rule.
Never buy a house in a city run long term by democrats and public unions.
Notice that NO ONE ever brings up modifying or getting rid of the insane pensions that are bankrupting the city?
The lessons of Detroit have been lost already.
———————-
Emanuel paints dire future without record property tax hike
September 22, 2015 - Chicago Tribune
Mayor Rahm Emanuel called on the city’s 50 aldermen Tuesday to summon the courage to pass the largest property tax increase in modern Chicago history, and told them they could sell it to voters by painting a dire, if not quite dystopian, alternative.
The mayor’s acceptable choice: increase property taxes by a record $588 million over the next four years to shore up police and fire pensions, and approve an unprecedented series of other fee and tax increases to help close the city’s yearly budget shortfall. The other hits to Chicagoans’ wallets range from a new garbage-hauling fee and building permit fee increases to a new tax on electronic cigarettes and ride-sharing and taxi fee increases.
Under the mayor’s budget proposal, property taxes would be increased $543 million over the next four years — $318 million of it next year alone — to pay for police and fire pensions. A separate $45 million property tax hike would go toward construction projects at Chicago Public Schools to alleviate overcrowding in some neighborhoods.
Had Emanuel’s proposed property tax increases been in effect this year, the total property tax bill on a home worth $250,000 would have increased by nearly $342, to $4,504. Over four years, that tax bill would increase by more than $550. Commercial buildings would be hit even harder.
To help balance the $7.8 billion spending plan, the mayor has proposed new fees on taxi and ride-sharing services that would generate $48.6 million per year and a tax on electronic cigarettes that would bring in another $1 million. Increased building permit fees would reel in an additional $13 million per year.
But Emanuel’s most controversial fee increase is charging owners of single-family homes, duplexes and four-flats $9.50 per dwelling unit per month for garbage-hauling service that currently is covered by other taxes. The fee, which would be tacked onto water bills and include a break for seniors, would generate $62.7 million a year.
“It’s a difficult budget. It’s probably the most difficult one we’ve seen in about a decade. You’re talking about tax increases, but these are things that need to be done,” Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez said. “It’s time. There’s nothing else we can do.”
Never buy a house
That’s the best advice I need from this post. Fencesitters, pay attention.
With no family and no house what will happen when you are old?
You’ll die and get put in a box in the ground.
Something is definitely going on with Zillow. In my zip code home “values” are claimed to have risen 6 percent YOY, but the actual price of houses sold went up 9 percent YOY. A few months ago it was showing YOY declines in sold prices compared to YOY increases in “values”. I’m frankly shocked that they aren’t showing a higher increase in “value”, which is their made up statistic to cover up price declines.
Sold Prices are now higher than at any point since the original bubble.
some oil patche cities they now just quote the state will blah blah
they’re learning
Falling prices are showing up all over the place.
“Never buy a house
That’s the best advice I need from this post. Fencesitters, pay attention.”
And it doesn’t matter if the city is red or blue. The bubble is everywhere.
Fixt
And it doesn’t matter if the city is red or blue. The
bubble ismassive losses are everywhere.How can the FED be a net seller of treasuries to pull money out of the “federal funds” so interbank interest rates go up?
Are they still buying treasuries?
Who will buy at these prices if they sell?
Would u buy a 10 year note for 2% that has significant downside risk to the principal if not held to maturity?
There are people and institutions all over the world who are willing to lend the US government vast sums at low interest rates.
We’re broke and bankrupt.
…with enough nukes to kill EVERYONE, multiple times if necessary.
We don’t have a problem. Our creditors have a problem.
“There are people and institutions all over the world who are willing to lend the US government vast sums at low interest rates.”
Which just goes to show that things are even worse in other countries. This of course will enable our fearless leaders to continue kicking the can.
The other theory is called the global savings glut. People and institutions have so much money to save that they’ve pushed down interest rates everywhere to very low levels.
Are they still buying treasuries?
Yes, they are still buying—the are rolling over all of the QE stockpile as they mature.
Would u buy a 10 year note for 2% that has significant downside risk to the principal if not held to maturity?
Cash is a Treasury note that pays 0% with an unlimited term. It too has risk to principal (adjusted for buying power) if held through inflationary periods. At least the 2% yield helps offset the losses.
Not really. Cash (USD) is issued by the Federal Reserve, which is a privately owned central bank. Treasuries are sold by the US Government.
Cash (USD) is issued by the Federal Reserve,
“They give you cash, which is just as good as money.”
Yogi Berra
Not really. Cash (USD) is issued by the Federal Reserve, which is a privately owned central bank. Treasuries are sold by the US Government.
Thanks for correcting me on that. But my point is still valid, cash is a US gov’t sanctioned debt instrument that pays 0% interest. It really isn’t any safer than US treasuries, both are paper that’s only as good as the government’s promise to back it.
Heck, most of my “cash” are digits on a screen that is nothing more than a promise by the bank to redeem into paper dollars on demand.
“But my point is still valid, cash is a US gov’t sanctioned debt instrument that pays 0% interest. It really isn’t any safer than US treasuries, both are paper that’s only as good as the government’s promise to back it.”
Does the US government make any guarantees as to backing Uncle Buck? It seems to me that is the FedRes job.
I won’t argue with you about the fact that fiats can become worthless, because they can, but that usually happens to banana republics that print their own money. A bond is considered worthless if the debtor cannot repay them with the fiats they are denominated in. So clearly a fiat is different from a bond: or as ComboTechie used to repeat here often: “cash is king”
Not an unlimited term. Cash has no term. Like infinitely short term treasuries. It pays the least interest because it can be converted to anything else at any time. No term to wait to get your “money” back.
“If you have to borrow money for 20 or 30 years to buy something, you cannot afford it.”
How many here on HBB have prepaid 20 or 30 years of rent? I keep asking that.
By the way Rio, thank you for sticking up for me yesterday. I know I know, my politics have gone haywire. But ISTM that all the politicians these days are either bought and paid for. Or, they are Social Justice Warriors who are suckers for the FSA, even when that FSA is really just taking advantage, like the beggar with the fake peg leg. Trump is the only one (so far) who appears to be neither.
My electric bill was less than $50 last month. I do not pay for heat, water, garbage, landscaping, snow removal, roofs, furnaces, appliances, and I never find myself needing to make an emergency trip to Loan Depot or Blowe’s.
In fact, I have so much money left after “throwing money away on rent” every month that I don’t know where to throw it.
Is there a candy-crapping unicorn in your deluxe/cheap penthouse apartment in the black part of Denver?
Lola’s plays the race card again.
Not nice Lola.
Trump is our only chance to give a meaningful big middle finger to the Establishment that is chock full of crooked I Got Mine Crony types of both political persuasions.
“How many here on HBB have prepaid 20 or 30 years of rent? ”
How many doubled their cost to do so? Then tripled the loss as a result of taxes, insurance and depreciation?
“How many here on HBB have prepaid 20 or 30 years of rent? I keep asking that.”
Luckily rent doesn’t have to be prepaid. If you ever reach the point where you don’t want to pay the rent your landlord demands, you can move on to cheaper digs.
By contrast, thirty years is an awfully long time to stay locked into a high monthly on an underwater mortgage.
‘with the fake peg leg’
I was thinking about Elisabeth Warren yesterday and I kept hearing that awful Cher song in my head:
Cherokee People, Cherokee Pride
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/70/61/41/706141ee3c1a551a922e1f338141501f.jpg
‘Prior to 1973, Cher’s biography always listed her father (John Sarkisian) as being of Armenian heritage, while her mother, Georgia Holt, was of Irish and German extraction. But when Cher’s single “Half Breed” started climbing the Billboard charts (it would eventually hit number one), suddenly she remembered that she was 1/16th Cherokee on her mother’s side. That biographical revision probably helped stem protests from the Native community when Cher performed her hit in a full feathered headdress on an episode of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.’
http://mentalfloss.com/article/19782/native-or-not-true-stories-behind-5-american-indian-actors
If anyone is a member of the Establishment it is Elizabeth Warren.
If anyone is a member of the Establishment it is Elizabeth Warren.
A meaningless swipe.
Historically, most of the needed changes in The Establishment came from members of The Establishment.
How could they not?
Hint: Our founding fathers were members of the Establishment.
“Hint: Our founding fathers were members of the Establishment.”
B-I-G land grabs characterize their self indulgence, and of course the weekly help’n of brown sugar.
oxide= a hot siberian
chenist?
thank you for sticking up for me
You’re welcome. It was a logical point to make.
suckers for the FSA, even when that FSA is really just taking advantage, like the beggar with the fake peg leg
There are relatively few fake leg beggars in the USA. The right flat-out lies about it to rile people up in order to redistribute more wealth to the rich.
Contrary to “Entitlement Society” Rhetoric, Over Nine-Tenths of Entitlement Benefits Go to Elderly, Disabled, or Working Households
http://www.cbpp.org/research/contrary-to-entitlement-society-rhetoric-over-nine-tenths-of-entitlement-benefits-go-to
Some conservative critics of federal social programs, including leading presidential candidates, are sounding an alarm that the United States is rapidly becoming an “entitlement society” in which social programs are undermining the work ethic and creating a large class of Americans who prefer to depend on government benefits rather than work. A new CBPP analysis of budget and Census data, however, shows that more than 90 percent of the benefit dollars that entitlement and other mandatory programs[1] spend go to assist people who are elderly, seriously disabled, or members of working households — not to able-bodied, working-age Americans who choose not to work.
lol@Lola
But ISTM that all the politicians these days are either bought and paid for
The only candidate who is not “bought and paid for” is Bernie Sanders. He only takes small donations and no PAC money. He is the only candidate advocating breaking up the big banks and stopping the legalized bribery of Washington by the big money players.
imagine the price of homes if we could get a 60 yrs loan, its all about the monthly outflow….. then you are worm food.
GOP Senator Has Some Harsh Words For Her Party About The Planned Parenthood Fight
“They can’t answer the question, ‘What’s the endgame for success here?’”
WASHINGTON — Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) doesn’t want to play games anymore.
In a matter of days, the government could shut down if Congress doesn’t pass a continuing resolution to keep it open for a few more months, and Ayotte said Tuesday that she is “tired” of the “games” her party is playing.
Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up a procedural vote on a measure that would fund the government at current spending levels until Dec. 11, while also defunding Planned Parenthood for one year. That vote, which will take place Thursday, is expected to fail as Democrats have vowed to block any measure stripping the family planning provider of funding.
In a roughly 15-minute rant on the Senate floor, which she also broadcast on her Twitter account, Ayotte said the tactic only brings the government “closer to the brink of shutdown.”
The senator, who is up for re-election in 2016, chided her fellow Republicans for pushing a strategy she argues is a “game of chicken.”
“I’m tired of the political games,” she said. “I’m tired of the president’s game on this. I’m tired of the people on my side of the aisle who are pushing this strategy even though they know they don’t have the votes to pass the U.S. Senate, and they certainly don’t have the votes to override a presidential veto.”
Ayotte said she has asked her Republican colleagues who support tethering Planned Parenthood to government funding where they think they will get the votes to reach 60, the number needed simply to pass the bill, and then the 67 needed to override a veto by President Barack Obama. It’s a question Ayotte said she also asked in 2013 when the last shutdown happened over Republican attempts to defund Obamacare.
“We saw the movie in 2013, and I don’t think we should relive that movie,” she said. “Let’s remember what happened when you shut the government down and you reopen it — it costs you more money. So if you care about the fiscal state of the country, let’s not waste money shutting the government down with no result.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kelly-ayotte-gop-planned-parenthood_5601c087e4b00310edf8fbf9
The best way to prevent abortion is the responsible use of birth control.
I’m not so sure this is correct. It’s that word “responsible”. If you have a population that you absolutely know based on past performance will not or cannot be responsible, then suggesting it as an option is not responsible. There’s got to be a better way.
Abolish all child labor laws. Abolish workplace safety standards. Abolish mandatory taxpayer funded public education. Abolish EITC and SNAP and all the other free sh*t breeders get.
There’s got to be a more realistic option.
Bigger government, right?
Being poor and having children is economically incompatible with modern capitalism. This isn’t a 19th century agricultural society.
Being poor and having children is economically incompatible with modern capitalism.
Then our current version of modern capitalism fails on two fronts.
It’s failing to solve the problem of the poor/more equal distribution of profit, and being compatible with humans need and desire to reproduce.
Capitalism is a man made concept designed to serve mankind. Not vice versa. And there are many forms of capitalism - some of which do a better job in serving a greater number of people.
Abolish workplace safety standards.
What would you hope to accomplish by abolishing workplace safety standards? Is this part of a Social Register agenda?
“Capitalism is a man made concept designed to serve mankind. Not vice versa.”
Given the fanatical fervor shown towards it, you’d think that it was one of the beatitudes.
Of course, given “Capitalism’s” need for never ending growth in a finite world, it’s pretty much doomed. What will replace it is anyone’s guess.
This is a good solution to poor people breeding:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Labour_In_Pakistan
And speaking of Social Register, you would not believe who they let into Onwentsia these days.
“Being poor and having children is economically incompatible with modern capitalism.”
I’d say that it was incompatible with the age of robber barons and indentured servitude. Of course it was useful for the Masters, just like today illegal immigration is useful for them
This is a good solution to poor people breeding:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Labour_In_Pakistan
That would only be true if it led to less breeding among the poor in Pakistan. I doubt that there’s any evidence of such a reduction.
Remember -
If we cut even one inefficient and wasteful government program by even 1% we will turn into Somalia and Pakistan overnight.
There is no other solution other than bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes.
And it is for the children.
Actually, if you think about it, people in countries which have a lot of child labor will see kids as a source of income, which would lead to more breeding.
Actually, if you think about it, people in countries which have a lot of child labor will see kids as a source of income, which would lead to more breeding.
Even without child ‘labor’, if you get lots of subsidies (or cash from gov’t) for having kids, you may get the same result, dontcha think?
It would only be profitable if the amount of cash from the government was greater than the cost of supporting the kids.
It would only be profitable if the amount of cash from the government was greater than the cost of supporting the kids.
Free school lunches, free schooling, subsidized housing, SNAP, child tax credit, etc. I’m guessing one can come out net positive on it….
Nearly all of that is consumed by the kids. If you divide the net profit by the number of hours required to take care of the kids, it probably works out to be less than minimum wage.
Yes! Cut the waste and fraud!
Two-thirds of the $68 billion in business grants and tax credits awarded by the federal government since 2000 went to 528 companies. Nearly 80 percent of the hundreds of billions of dollars in federal loans, loan guarantees, and bailout assistance awarded during that period went to just 12 American and foreign banks. Overall, the lion’s share of federal subsidies and other financial support meant to spur domestic job creation and investment has gone to a relatively select group of banks, energy companies, and government contractors.
Planned Parenthood is a manufactured sideshow used as red meat to rally the conservative base and generate campaign contributions.
yep.
Planned Parenthood - As a once younger woman, I liked the concept of affordable birth control, reproductive health check ups, and abortion services. We can agree to disagree, but stay out of my uterus.
I will not hit you over the head, that the bible is silly,you’re a lemming, Noah’s Arc was an impossibility, and you need to respect my beliefs as well.
Recovered lemming here. Many decades ago, I was a republican religious nut job. I hit the age of reason in my 40’s. Free at last.
how much is a tdi worth today?
is there even a private resale market?
EPA will go wild
maybe SJW will attack VW D owners
Most SJW’s drive V-dubs when it’s too cold to peddle the fixie so there will be issues and feelings of hypocrisy. Poor SJW’s.
I thought it was the Prius that was their favorite motor vehicle.
I think the less trendy older suburb (with 1 or 2 kids) SJW’s do.
No emissions testing in locaville, or even most of localand. I’m wondering about getting a tdi wagon to run on french fry oil.
Spring(Houston), TX Housing Prices Fall 8% YoY; Oil Bust Spreads
http://www.movoto.com/spring-tx/market-trends/
Isn’t a return to $80/bbl by December “in the bag”?
Marketwatch dot com
Commodities Corner
Oil unlikely to return to $100 a barrel for years
Published: Sept 23, 2015 2:03 p.m. ET
Move would take major change in Saudi policy: Tom Kloza
By Myra P. Saefong
Markets/commodities reporter
AFP/Getty Images
Oil won’t see $100 for a long time, says OPIS’s Tom Kloza.
Traders said goodbye to $100 oil prices a little over a year ago, and they might be staying away even longer than some expect.
West Texas Intermediate crude-oil prices won’t likely climb back to $100 a barrel this year, or next, according to Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service.
“Anything beyond the realm of the next 18 months smacks of witchcraft rather than real analysis,” he said in an email interview. “Generally, it is difficult to make a case for $100 a barrel oil through the next few years.”
Kloza sees a more realistic range between $40 and $60 a barrel for monthly WTI averages over the next 15 months.
“Anything north of $60 a barrel brings a return of drilled-but-uncompleted shale wells, and anything south of $40 a barrel probably inspires cuts in some of the larger domestic and overseas projects,” he said.
Oil prices have dropped more than 50% from their peak in the summer of 2014, pressured by a global glut of supplies and concerns about a slowdown in energy demand from China.
…
Special interest group whines about $15 per hour: “U.S. Restaurant Owners Warn Of Dire Consequences From $15 Wage”
http://www.nfib.com/article/us-restaurant-owners-warn-of-dire-consequences-from-15-wage-70836/
They never consider the rest of the economic impact: that going to $15/hr will mean the working population will have more discretionary income to spend, which means they will eat out more often.
Do the $15/hr fanatics ever consider that it pisses off the employees who were already making $15+ an hour to suddenly see newer, less-skilled colleagues bumped up to their level and they don’t get a proportional boost?
Because it does:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-06/an-unintended-consequence-of-wal-mart-pay-raise-unhappy-workers
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/business/a-company-copes-with-backlash-against-the-raise-that-roared.html
If a corporation is dumb enough to only give raises to the sub-$15 people and not the ones already at or above $15, then the blame goes to company mismanagement not the minimum wage.
corporations are use to cheap labor. unskilled labor is unlimited.
it is WMT’s job to fix it’s problems.
just use Amazon.com
The Fed’s made too many wrong mistakes.
It’s impossible to get a conversation going today, because everyone’s talking too much.
Since the downturn, no one comes to Rio de Janeiro anymore because there are too many tourists.
My wife asked me where I wanted to be buried when I die, I told her to surprise me.
I wish I had an answer to some of the HBB’s questions because I’m tired of answering those questions.
A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore but it’s ain’t over ’till it’s over.
With my respects to:
Yogi Berra, Yankees Hall of Fame Catcher With a One-of-a-Kind Wit, Dies at 90
New York Times - 10 hours ago
Article linked from Drudge Report for the progressives and cultural relativists:
“Albinos living in Kenya have been evacuated from areas bordering Tanzania for fear they will be targeted by witch doctors as the country approaches elections next month.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/11885641/Kenyans-albinos-moved-away-from-Tanzania-border-amid-witchdoctor-threat.html
And on the subject of albinism, here a golden oldie from the Cincinnati Enquirer about the 2001 riots (that the real journalists at CNN termed demonstrations) in which a black woman albino Roslyn Jones is assaulted by an angry mob, the mob which upon learning she is actally black, stops beating her but destroys her car anyway:
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/07/09/loc_riots_effects_wont.html
Even Social Justice Warriors™ create a little collateral damage sometimes
black woman albino Roslyn Jones is assaulted by an angry mob, the mob which upon learning she is actally black, stops beating her but destroys her car anyway:
WPAGoon plays the RaceCard©, how predictable, how stale.Social Justice Warriors™ and progressives are hypocrites, just like neocons.
Roslyn Jones just had to take one for the team.
Social Justice Warriors™ and progressives are hypocrites
Most all people possess aspects of hypocrisy, however life is shades of gray. An admirable work cannot be discounted because the maker of that work possesses a small amount of hypocrisy, otherwise there would be almost no admirable work recognized in the history of social progress.
Social justice is an admirable goal. You thinking that some of social justice’s proponents are “hypocrites” does not cheapen the goal of and work towards social justice.
SJW’ing is a fad. Once beards, skinny jeans and trucker caps hit the road - so will SJW.
Drudge Report is full of TradCon red meat today:
http://news.yahoo.com/shoutyourabortion-campaign-explodes-social-media-222022186.html
#ShoutYourAbortion? Really? Does Facebook have a profile pic overlay of dead fetus body parts you can use to show that you’re down for the struggle?
I miss Cecil the Lion, that one ended too soon, sigh.
Realtors Are Liars
San Franscisco, CA Housing Prices Plunge 12% YoY As Defaults Ramp Up
http://www.zillow.com/noe-valley-san-francisco-ca/home-values/
Zillow getting aggressive calling last yoy off 1.3 and future off 1.5%
that’s a big change from 10 days ago
Let the prices crater, then buy later for 65% less.
To find out who rules over you, just think about who you are not allowed to criticize.
Islamists - Illegal Immigrants - Progressives - Globalists - ________.
What is tyranny?
At the end of the day, it is about controlling the narrative. The narrative, once scripted, must be controlled. Because when you lose that control, you lose everything.
Word.
To find out who rules over you, just think about who you are not allowed to criticize.
That adage is not valid. You’re free to criticize anyone.
Nonsense my friend….. nonsense.
Yes, try saying a bad thing about a muslim these days . . . see how that goes over.
Off with your head?
More zillow lazy confusion
Hoods right next to each other in n va going opposite directs in their prediction model
Kirkland, WA Housing Prices Fall 7% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/kirkland-wa-98033/home-values/
ABX.HE.BBB-.07-2….value went to zero…….
http://www.dadd.co.uk/en/products/data/indices/structured-finance-indices/abx/abx-prices.page?
Grateful Dead - Workingman’s Dead (entire album)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sJhIG8wc3Ok
Rocket From the Crypt - Scream, Dracula, scream! (entire album)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3qcmiSq3RA
My Bloody Valentine (lo-fi fuzzrock was born here, in 1989) - Loveless (full LP)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OrMjc4oz0mY
Casey Jones you better watch your speed
I bought tickets to Dead & Company for the night before Thanksgiving show as a birthday present for my brother. Will only be Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzman, Mickey Hart from the original crew. Assume Bobby’s gonna sing everything…
Ice T - O.G. Original Gangster (full album, 1991, best hip-hop LP ever recorded)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nyPUVG3axFo
Mic Contract
New Jack Hustler
O.G Original Gangster
Escape From The Killing Fields
Listen, and pay attention and learn something.
https://www.propertyradar.com/blog/real-property-report-california-august-2015
If you read past the headline, you see sales are up modestly year on year (non-distressed up 6.4%) and median prices are up modestly year on year (non-distressed up 4.3%).
Prices up a bit too much relative to inflation, but overall, nice and boring numbers.
Tell the entire story Jingle_Fraud.
CA Housing Demand Down Every Year Since 2008
http://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public/State/State_Turnover_AllHomes.csv
Keystone pipeline. IF they are going to move the oil anyway by train. Should you be fore it, with STRICT regulations so no leaks, no cheap construction and Americans get paid royalties?
“IF they are going to move the oil anyway by train”
Obama Puppetmaster Warren Buffett Biggest Winner From Keystone Pipeline Rejection
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/24/2012 09:36 -0400
Just when one thinks American crony capitalism couldn’t hit new lows, here comes Warren Buffett and his personal puppet, the president, proving everyone wrong once more. Because if one thinks there is no (s)quid pro quo for all that “sage” advice that Buffett has been giving to Obama on extracting as much wealth as possible from future wealthy Americans (before they decide they have had enough with this crony shit and leave the country for good), one would be fatally wrong. As it turns out, it is not just natural resources and aquifer purity that Obama had in mind when sealing the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline. No - it appears there were far more relevant numerial metrics that determined Obama’s decisions. Such as the bottom line number of Buffett’s Burlington Northern, which according to Bloomberg, is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration’s decision to reject TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.
http://www.zerohedge.com/…aster-warren-buffett-biggest-winner-keystone-pipeline-rejection - 268k -
Buffett’s Burlington Northern Among Pipeline Winners
January 25, 2012 — 5:51 PM EST
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration’s decision to reject TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.
With modest expansion, railroads can handle all new oil produced in western Canada through 2030, according to an analysis of the Keystone proposal by the U.S. State Department.
“Whatever people bring to us, we’re ready to haul,” Krista York-Woolley, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern, a unit of Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said in an interview. If Keystone XL “doesn’t happen, we’re here to haul.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/…urlington-northern-among-winners-in-obama-rejection-of-pipeline - 160k -
winners and losers as usual.
but I would have gone pipeline, made it safe, and had those Canadians pay royalties. Trains are not an option, they crash.
We need falling oil prices. Let’em fall.
Obama Puppetmaster Warren Buffett Biggest Winner From Keystone Pipeline Rejection
zerohedge.com/news/obama-puppetmaster-warren-buffett-biggest-winner-keystone-pipeline-rejection
Buffett’s Burlington Northern Among Pipeline Winners
bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-01-23/buffett-s-burlington-northern-among-winners-in-obama-rejection-of-pipeline
#istandwithradioshack
crushing.housing.losses.
I’ve been reading this blog for a while and decided to finally make a post. Let me introduce myself. I’m a young male, about 4 years out of school and am an engineer living in San Diego.
I make about $150k a year and have been saving like mad and buying stocks since I finished school. I live in downtown San Diego and I think that condos in downtown are way overpriced.
I am renting a 1br/1ba for about $2,000 a month and have never owned real estate before. I am waiting for prices to drop significantly, which I hope they will soon.
Sit tight, hold onto every dollar you’ve got and stay out of debt.
You’ll thank me later.
SD_LI
Welcome aboard. Nice having you.
We paid cash upon downsizing
into 1/2 the sq ft. Our accruals
(taxes and ins) are $550 mo .
Buying at a fair price is the key,
you’re right. We sold a luxury home
when we saw a correction coming.
Didn’t hit the peak, but did fairly well.
4,000 sq ft view home to a cottage, debt free.
We’re happy. Sept 24th will be 3 years. BTW, pools
are a pita.
What type of engineer? My husband is an EE, former Intel guy.
“Chase Mortgage CEO to CNBC: FHA loans same as “subprime lending”"
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/35116-chase-mortgage-ceo-to-cnbc-fha-loans-same-as-subprime-lending
Whuuut?
Remember…. 3.5% downpayments are the definition of sub-prime
mafia,
Lots of 3.5% downs in my area. Many defaulted, lived free for years, and then when they finally had to move, put 3.5% down, and
reserved their cash to fix up their current homes in my hood. Gaming the system is their way of life. I used the MLS to look up loan types, and I was flabbergasted.
Ca has The Homeowners Bill Of Rights. Bad legislation if you ask me. Protects the homeowner from losing their home, even if they should.
@inchbyinch, I’m a software engineer but I do have a strong embedded background.
/fail
Dumb question of the day:
Is the U.S. tipping into a recession?
Financial Times
ft dot com/markets
Markets Insight
September 24, 2015 5:58 am
Fed faces quandary as share gloom deepens
Michael Mackenzie
Further volatility will only complicate the desire to nudge rates upwards
A passerby is reflected in the window of the Sydney Stock Exchange showing the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index in Sydney on September 18, 2015. Australian stocks slipped 0.28 percent at the open after the US Federal Reserve left interest rates near zero overnight.
AFP PHOTO / Peter PARKS
©AFP
Having acknowledged the role played by markets in its recent policy deliberations, the Federal Reserve faces the quandary of being locked into a box by the direction of US share prices.
The tale of the “ticker” tape remains troubling to say the least. The broad share market has certainly taken some lumps over the past three months, notably during August, and sentiment remains fragile.
Not only have investors shown a reluctance to venture back into the market en masse after last month’s sharp slide, the Fed’s concerns about China and the global economy have only heightened anxiety that the US bull run loiters on borrowed time.
For all the back and forth among economists and Fed officials who have spoken this week on whether the central bank will raise overnight borrowing costs before the end of the year, a sagging stock market ultimately stands to exert plenty of influence on such a decision.
It may well be tempting against the backdrop of febrile equity sentiment for policymakers to step away from “market dependence” and focus on employment gains — while ignoring a labour participation rate at a 40-year low — as evidence of a robust US economy and the need for tighter policy.
Indeed, in a CNBC interview earlier this week, James Bullard, president of the St Louis Fed, said “the Fed cannot permanently raise stock prices”.
The problem is that much of its efforts in recent years have focused on achieving such an aim in the hope that ebullient asset prices bolstered broader economic activity. As we can see, a lacklustre US recovery has been at odds with the sterling performance of equity and credit markets for some time.
Now, lofty US share valuations are being challenged by tighter financial conditions, led by the appreciation of the dollar, and a sense among investors that years of easy money have essentially borrowed from future performance.
The extent of nervousness among investors was amply illustrated earlier this week by a sudden swoon in biotech stocks, which have been the biggest beneficiary of cheap borrowing costs and sky-high investor optimism in recent years. A 21-word tweet from Hillary Clinton critiquing price gouging for speciality drugs torched biotechs, with the sector approaching last month’s nadir.
While biotechs are still positive for the year, other major sectors are firmly in the red. Among the 10 major sectors of the S&P, only utilities have risen since the start of July, highlighting the skittishness of investors.
Such a trend has room to run as the focus of the market looks beyond Fed policy and towards quarterly earnings season in October.
The latest earnings and sales expectations illustrate how weakening global activity and a firmer dollar are weighing on Wall Street and hence why the central bank exuded caution at last week’s policy meeting.
Andrew Lapthorne and his team at Société Générale make the point that the annual change in 12-month forward S&P 500 earnings per share expectations has turned negative for the first time since 2009. This measure, which is closer to operational profits as it is based on forward consensus expectations and excludes many writedowns and exceptional items, “has never been this negative outside of a recession”, warns the bank.
…
Industries | Thu Sep 24, 2015 1:02am EDT
China stocks flat as rebound peters out; Hong Kong shares drop
* CSI300 +0.2 pct; SSEC +0.3 pct; HSI -0.9 pct
* Investors face mounting uncertainty - analyst
* Barclays sees attractive valuations in China banks
SHANGHAI, Sept 24 (Reuters) - China stocks ended Thursday morning roughly flat as an early morning rebound lost momentum, reflecting how investor confidence in the economy remains shaky.
Hong Kong shares continued to slide, after the benchmark index broke through a key technical support level during the previous session’s tumble.
“Investors are facing mounting uncertainty,” said Hong Hao, chief China strategist at Bocom International Holdings Co.
He added that the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold rates last week is sending a signal that the economy is not good, so “deteriorating fundamentals pose the biggest risk to equity markets”.
China’s key indexes had a good start, with the SSEC up 1.1 percent at one point, but gains were then pared.
At lunchtime, the CSI300 index was up 0.2 percent, to 3,269.52 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3 percent, to 3,124.17 points.
The China market has stabilized in recent weeks after slumping over 40 percent from its mid-June peak, thanks to a barrage of government rescue measures.
But technically, key indexes are still in a downward trend, while drastically reduced trading volume suggests many investors are staying out of the stock market.
There’s anecdotal evidence investors burnt by the market crash are cutting back spending, potentially hitting consumption, an important growth engine for China’s economy.
“The fear is that the stock market could be mired in prolonged bearishness, something that could last for years,” said Chang Chengwei, analyst at Hengtai Futures.
…