Bits Bucket for October 22, 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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Civilized human lives matter.
do you think that is 50%?
Why buy a house now with prices inflated by 250%+? Rent for half the cost and buy later for 65% less.
Politicians do dumb things for votes. Syracuse is one of the poorest cities in the Nation with the highest minimum wage. The catholic charities keep bringing in poor people from Africa and the Middle East who have no chance of getting jobs around here as they do not exist.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – During the debate this year over New York’s minimum wage, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner publicly supported a boost to $15 per hour.
Now she has done more than talk. The statewide debate prompted Miner to look at what Syracuse pays its employees at the lowest salary rung, and whether the city could afford to pay them $15 an hour.
“I started thinking about the impact to those people and their families, and (to) the city and our local economy,” Miner said today. “I felt it was the right thing. These people all work extraordinarily hard.”
Miner today issued an order raising the minimum wage for all full-time city workers to $15 per hour. The directive will affect 61 of the city’s roughly 1,760 full-time employees. Some of them had previously earned as little as $8.75 per hour
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/stephanie_miner_why_i_raised_syracuse_workers_minimum_wage_to_15hr.html#incart_m-rpt-1
Mayor Miner sets $15 minimum wage for Syracuse city workers
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – More than 60 city employees got a welcome raise today from Mayor Stephanie Miner, who increased the city’s minimum pay rate to $15 an hour.
Some of the 61 employees who will get the raise had been paid as little as $8.75 an hour before the change. Among those who will get the raise are parking checkers, information aides and laborers, city officials said.
Related: Stephanie Miner on why she raised the minimum wage
The new city minimum wage applies to all full-time employees who work at least 10 weeks per year. It takes effect immediately and is expected to cost the city an extra $222,432 per year, budget officials said.
Syracuse passed a “living wage” ordinance in 2005 that established minimum pay rates for some contractors doing business with the city, but the ordinance never applied to city employees. The current living wage rates are $15.08 per hour without benefits, or $12.77 with benefits.
New York state in July adopted a plan to raise the minimum wage for many fast-food workers to $15 an hour over several years. Miner expressed support for that decision, saying it might help decrease Syracuse’s high rate of poverty
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/mayor_miner_sets_15_minimum_wage_for_syracuse_city_workers.html#incart_most-commented_news_article
If the minimum wage is below the poverty line, it increases poverty because it automatically locks in the bottom rung of workers into poverty. Raising the minimum above the poverty line will reduce poverty because it lifts that whole rung above the line, even if some jobs are lost due to the higher wage.
If the minimum wage is
belowabove the poverty line, it increases poverty because it automatically locks in the bottom rung of workers into poverty and permanent government dependence, due to the value of their skills being lower than the cost that one would be forced to pay them.RaisingLowering the minimumabovebelow the poverty line will reduce poverty because itlifts that whole rung above the line, even if some jobs are lost due to the higher wageincreases the chance that there will be some job for them, which is better for them in the long run than sucking on the government teat.because it automatically locks in the bottom rung of workers into poverty
FTFY.
Having a job helps one either develop or maintain a work-ethic; having an income and seeing the fruits of ones’ labor has at least the potential to inspire someone to pursue a better job, and a better skill-set.
Destroying jobs by ensuring that those with low skills have NO job and thus pay, rather than low pay, guarantees that they end up on government support, and helps destroy whatever work-ethic they might have had.
have NO job and thus NO pay,
Having a job helps one either develop or maintain a work-ethic; having an income and seeing the fruits of ones’ labor has at least the potential to inspire someone to pursue a better job, and a better skill-set.
This sounds highly theoretical. Is there any research to back it up?
Also, the poverty level is quite arbitrary. Some people would say that it should be raised and others that it should be lowered.
“This sounds highly theoretical. Is there any research to back it up?”
Saddam’s two sons didn’t have to work since they had money and power. So they never developed a work ethic, never developed interactive social skills, etc., the sort of things that employed people must develop.
Those sons presumably grew up in the best neighborhood in Baghdad because there father was very successful. So we probably have similar problems with kids in our most expensive neighborhoods.
“This sounds highly theoretical. Is there any research to back it up?”
Yeah, it’s opinion being passed off as fact.
“So we probably have similar problems with kids in our most expensive neighborhoods.”
I read a story many years ago about a dysfunctional young man from Nantucket who was a disappointment to his parents. The court ordered shrink indicated the lack of compassion, lack of social skills, etc., likely the result of being a trust fund child who was never compelled to interact with others to provide for himself.
If the minimum wage is above the poverty line, it increases poverty because it automatically locks in the bottom rung of workers into poverty and permanent government dependence
A logically flawed statement. A minimum wage above the poverty line locks those workers out of poverty and government assistance because they no longer qualify for EITC, SNAP, etc. Taxpayers save billions as government assistance payouts shrink due to $15/wage. A minimum wage below the poverty line increases poverty and dependence on government assistance, and serves as a backdoor wage subsidy for WalMart, McDonalds, etc.
Poverty can not be eliminated by raising the minimum wage as poverty simply refers to a certain percentage of the wage earners that do not make enough money to be considered to be out of poverty!
Raise all incomes 100% and 100% of the people on poverty will still be in poverty status.
similar thinking prevails when you claim you need a wage raise because you make less than the average wage. If you get a wage increase it raised the average so that you may still be recieving less than the average wage for the class of worker you are in
Poverty can not be eliminated by raising the minimum wage as poverty simply refers to a certain percentage of the wage earners that do not make enough money to be considered to be out of poverty!
Raise all incomes 100% and 100% of the people on poverty will still be in poverty status.
That’s not how the poverty level is defined in America. It may be the case in other countries.
As long as people hire them and the cost doesn’t push the employer to further automation.
Totally distorts the pay ladder.
What about the workers who were already making $15+ an hour. Do you think they’re going to be happy to see their lower-skilled colleagues suddenly making as much as they are for no additional work?
Ask the disgruntled workers at Gravity Payments and Walmart who suddenly have their work devalued. You think that helps morale??!?!
A minimum wage above the poverty line locks those workers out of poverty
Only temporarily, until the poverty line rises through inflation/expenses to meet minimum wage again. There will always be the poor.
That New York Times story about Gravity Payments featured exactly one disgruntled high-paid worker.
“There will always be the poor.”
Being poor isn’t about the lack of money.
No, lack of money of what it’s all about.
No. Grossly inflated prices are what it’s all about.
Now that’s the Lolaism of all Lolaisms.
The only thing that eliminates poverty and accelerates the economy is falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels.
yes, see Cuba and their super duper low prices!
Prices are grossly inflated in Cuba too my socialist friend. So you see, socialism doesn’t work. Never has.
Baseball Game: $1 national peso. This works out to about 5 cents (USD) to see the game. How much cheaper should it be?
US Baseball Game: Free.
“If the minimum wage is below the poverty line, it increases poverty because it automatically locks in the bottom rung of workers into poverty”.
This reminds me of the bulls*t those college educated baristas were scrawling on the backs of the Starbuck’s cups a few months ago.
Same idea less the education.
worked in Greece and EU
Socialism works? Where? When?
Somewhere outside the basement where you tremble in fear at the outside world.
Find some courage and crawl up out of that sewer and remember…Nothing accelerates the economy like falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels. NOTHING.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EglOsfErtaE
if you can get welfare while making min wage vs no welfare at $15 an hr what is the difference to tax payers?
WalMart employees get billion in taxpayer aid. Why should I pay them?
Catapiller, a baromoter of the real, productive economy (vice the Wall Street speculative casino) whiffed badly. It will now be up to the ECB, BoJ, etc. to keep the Ponzi markets going by printing up a new tsunami of “stimulus.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-22/caterpillar-shares-tumble-after-company-misses-across-board-revenues-plunge-19-guida
Free to play mobile games will save us!
Moar can-kicking from the banksters.
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2015/10/22/ecb-live-blog-pressure-mounts-on-mario-draghi-to-provide-more-stimulus/
Britons are reaping their just desserts for voting for Oligopoly-captured political parties.
http://news.yahoo.com/outcry-over-influx-asylum-seekers-english-village-065012033.html
The Oligopoly’s propaganda outlets are making a full-court press to get the rubes to accept crony capitalist .1% puppets to “lead” them.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/paul-ryan-is-just-who-the-republicans-need-now-2015-10-22?link=MW_latest_news
Does this recovery seem like basically you get to pay more for stuff?
‘Caterpillar said it repurchased $1.5 billion of common stock in the third quarter, a three-month stretch when the stock fell nearly 23 percent. Asked if he regrets buying back stock in recent years, Oberhelman said: “Hindsight, of course, we’d like to do a lot of things over.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/caterpillar-earnings-miss-expectations-113216815.html
co’s always do buy backs at the wrong time
eps =bs
Low interest rates lead to bad business decisions. CEOs often extrapolate to the moon, despite having recent memories of boom/bust.
Low interest rates lead to bad business decisions ??
Sometimes…
Malinvestment is the hallmark of a credit bubble. Cheap credit results in all kinds of wasteful investments. Share buybacks at the top of a construction boom and top of a stock market bubble are only examples.
Paying 8x income for a house is another.
Defaults on commercial loans are now rising to alarm level. Again.
I’ve said before, I’ve stayed invested in industrial REITs, and so I’ve followed earnings calls, etc.
One thing that would be a warning sign to me to get out is to see a significant ramp-up in supply (a sign of malinvestment)–which is how real estate typically gets in trouble.
1. PLD’s FFO (cash flow per share) was up 21% from a year ago…that’s primarily due to rent growth, which normally drives new development, that is, if the rent is high enough to justify new development.
Sometimes development occurs BEFORE the rents have reached a level that justifies construction, as investors and developers alike assume either that 1) the rents will continue to go up, or 2) because of low interest rates, they can sell the finished product to a user. This would be potential malinvestment.
A few quotes from the call this week from PLD:
“We are seeing bidding wars between customers for space something we hadn’t seen in many years.”
“I want to address the issue of supply because I get a lot of questions on this. We just came from ULI in San Francisco and I must say that the memories of the great recession are quite fresh. The toll that it took on real estate will not be forgotten soon. Nobody seems to want to go there again and all of us are looking for sustained long-term growth in rents.”
“the tone is very conservative on new development. Customers, on the other hand, are pressing us for more space to fulfill their needs. We heard this over and over again at our recent customer advisory meeting in New York.”
“We said we would be vigilant on supply and in that vein I would like to call out Houston as a market that has the potential for getting overbuilt.”
(in other words, people aren’t building a lot, with the possible exception of Houston)
Analyst question “…with occupancy guidance of 96 to 96 and a half, the spreads that we’ve seen, retention kind of pushing 90 percent, do you think you’re pushing rents hard enough?”
Answer: “the honest answer is no, I don’t think we’re pushing rents hard enough. We’re pushing them harder than they’ve ever been pushed in the history of industrial real estate, I would point out, and I feel great about our spreads maybe compared to competitors or the rest of the market.
…
(referring to internal conversations with people doing leasing) One of the questions we’ve added is tell us about the deals you said no to. Tell us about the leases that you backed away from and told a customer we’re serious about this rent and if you - if you need to go to another building, we understand.
And I’m serious about that. So we’re having those discussions. We’re going to follow those transactions, sees what happens to those spaces. It’s - you know it’s a - it’s sort of a new world here.”
So, from an INDUSTRIAL real estate perspective, it doesn’t appear as though malinvestment is creeping in…yet. Now every product type is different, so apartments may be a different story.
That is interesting RW. Consider that the malinvestment is already baked in the cake. Commercial build/lease arrangements are made years in advance based on extrapolation of growth. Moonshot 2 has already been financed for a lot of companies (mine included). So, as commercial activity is slowing, and revenues slowing even faster, there could be a problem. Commercial loan defaults overall have taken a sharp upturn and are now at levels which have always coincided with the beginning of a recession. We remember what happened to commercial RE a few years ago too.
For certain markets, I share that concern (office in SV, for instance, where tenants are leasing space for future growth). However, those markets are the outliers, not common.
Historically, a bit over half of what we invest in is ground up commercial development. Over the past 8 years, it has represented less than 10% of what we’ve done (a couple of investments) and those are only recent and are relatively small.
Industrial generally equals warehouses, distribution buildings, etc.
Every time an online retailer beats up on WalMart, traditional retail center suffers, and the online retailer signs more leases for warehouse space.
Industrial is generally much more “just in time” space usage than other property types. Leases can be 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 7 years. Traditional retailers can sign leases for 20 years (with options). Office, often 10.
Industrial buildings can be constructed in a short timeframe, they are simple to build–and construction levels have been suppressed since the crash in 2007…it’s not a new phenomenon. The leasing that has been done over the prior 8 years has absorbed most of the excesses from the credit bubble years.
I remember what happened to commercial real estate post crash…most people expected levels of distress akin to what was happening in residential, but it didn’t happen. Things were bad, but most of the distress was in residential. We did a few distressed commercial deals…many more distressed residential deals. In large part, the higher levels of default didn’t occur because less supply was added than in prior cycles. So distress never reached “RTC” proportions. It was bad, but much less bad than people thought.
Since then, commercial development has been very muted.
Commercial fell harder and faster in my area than residential. So much so that commercial conversion to residential “luxury” rental was the theme for several years. Nevertheless, commercial loan defaults are signaling the next “problem”.
“However, those markets are the outliers, not common.”
False.
Overcapacity in commercial, industrial and residential is the typical and commonplace. It’s demonstrated in the demand numbers. They’re very low.
“Nevertheless, commercial loan defaults are signaling the next “problem”.”
I don’t know what data you are seeing, but that’s not what I’m seeing.
Financial Times from April 2015:
“US commercial property loan defaults hit six-year low”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1c648b66-dfbd-11e4-a6c4-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3pMxGX3HP
Default rates are easily skewed by kicking the can down the road and refinancing the debt to 100 year terms.
Not all commercial loans are “property loans”.
“Low interest rates lead to bad business decisions.”
Always
Gun confiscation
Subsidize poor dysfunctional single parent families to breed
Encourage obesity
Subsidize not working
You have problems with Dear Leader’s glorious long march to socialist paradise, citizen? Your name is now on the list for when Comrade Pelosi’s People’s Republic of New Democracy, aka Permanent Democrat Supermajority, sweeps aside the last vestiges of your reactionary Constitutional republic….
SirProxy,
From where do you post from today? Are you omnipresent?
It’s either Kansas City, California or Brazil, I can’t remember which.
^^^ same person having conversation with himself ^^^
2nd try at this bit of humor. 1st one didn’t make it for some reason.
A good summary of the DNC’s playbook for winning elections.
Yup. I would note that encouraging obesity is probably the newest part of the “progressive” platform. It’s called the body acceptance movement, and it is all over social media.
I’m more in favor of taxing the fat and hooking them to commuter carts
All available at your local wal-mart.
I source my daily supply of Cheetos from Walmart. Sometimes Costco has the supersize bags, 2 for $5 and I go there and get $50 in Cheetos. That gets me through 10 working days.
“I source my daily supply of Cheetos from Walmart. Sometimes Costco has the supersize bags, 2 for $5 and I go there and get $50 in Cheetos. That gets me through 10 working days.”
At what interest rate are they financed?
crushing.housing.losses my friend.
Novato, CA Housing Prices Crater 11% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/novato-ca/market-trends/
jeff, thanks for posting about Cory Wells late yesterday. I responded, but wanted to repost, as it was late in the day. So…….
RIP Cory Wells, thanks for the tunes, brah. Nobody did this better. Not even Otis Redding, IMO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c43YWd1UcK8
Our Soviet-style BLS and CPI statistics continue to vastly under-report the true scale of unemployment and inflation. Everything is awesome in our Obama-Fed-Goldman Sachs “recovery”!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-22/initial-jobless-claims-hover-42-year-lows-so-who-lying
Yet we somehow are supposed to accept the data on the slowing of illegal immigration?
More cracks appearing….
Riviera Beach, FL Housing Prices Plunge 11% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/riviera-beach-fl/home-values/
True, I’ve been noticing that myself.
CAT revenue craters 19% year / year. Welcome to the recovery b@tchez!
Whoop do doo. If you bought a tractor three years ago you don’t need a new one today. I don’t buy this myth that Caterpillar is some magic barometer of the world economy.
‘If you bought a tractor three years ago you don’t need a new one today’
Just watch commodities.
Just watch commodities.
Growing populations need food. I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Just watch commodities ??
Exactly….Its not the question of “if” you need a tractor to replace the old one…Its really a question if you need “more” tractors…Its a indicator of growth or contraction…
Nope. There was a huge bump in sales in 2011/2012 to satisfy deferred demand because buyers couldn’t get financing 2008-2010 due to the financial crash. What we are seeing today is mostly return to the mean. Plus Sany, the Chinese heavy equipment maker, has been eating into CAT’s market share.
Yet another example of BS coming out of Zero Hedge in my view.
seems like the only way they can sell anything is with access to cheap credit to finance the machines. Even that isnt working.
There is nothing price wont fix!
No, it’s not Sany.
“Aug 30 Major Chinese construction machinery maker Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd on Sunday reported a 75.6 percent fall in its first half earnings amid a sustained downturn of the domestic market.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/30/sany-results-idUSL4N1150AB20150830
The biggest earth moving boom in history has rolled over.
Not just new equipment, but fixing that which is broken.
If you are idling equipment, it doesn’t get broken, and if it’s broken, it doesn’t need fixing right away.
Follow the commodity markets indeed.
“The biggest earth moving boom in history has rolled over.”
Building empty cities has run out of steam.
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/10/21/individual-bank-failures-systemic-breakdowns-regulator-occ-warns-on-autos-subprime-commercial-real-estate/
just got a refi offer for my car which I never “fied” to begin with
mo free
I waiting a few years to pick up a lease return or repo.
Just had about $2,000 of car repairs (car is a 2006 acura 170,000 miles) and was starting to think about a new car. Then I did the math:
I bought the car brand new, putting down half (using a bit of the money from the sell of my bubblicious house in 2005) and financing at 36 months for 1.9%. At the time I was getting 6% in my Money Market account so I took the spread.
When the spread narrowed a few years later, I just wrote a check and paid it off.
I’ve done all the regular maintenance and garaged the car. It’s in pretty good shape except for some bumper dings (which you get anyway in LA parking on the street or tight parking garage)
I can probably get another 2-3 years out of the car.. so even that $2000 is peanuts compared to what I’d pay for a new one.
No thanks… Oh and maybe if TPTB hadn’t reduced my yields to 0.000000001% I’d be well on my way to paying cash for a new car… so you kind of screwed yourselves
And the FSA is on the march, globally. Not just in Europe. Things are ugly all over.
“Clinton while signing the NAFTA bill stated: “…NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t support this agreement.”[93] He convinced many Democrats to join most Republicans in supporting trade agreement and in 1993 the Congress passed the treaty.[94]”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Bill_Clinton
The good paying jobs are in top management.
Clinton signed off AFTER Bush 1 spent 3 yrs on it, signed on it and Congress (GOP majority) passed it.
now you know.
The 103rd congress was NOT a GOP majority.
Both the House and the Senate were majority Democrat.
If the Democrats (led by Clinton) wanted to kill NAFTA, it would have been dead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/103rd_United_States_Congress
So they are both responsible right?
Clinton signed off AFTER Bush 1 spent 3 yrs on it ??
Yep and they had the votes on both sides to override a veto which would have just made him look bad…I hindsight I am sure he wished he would have vetoed it but it still would have passed, so we would still have what we have today…You can hardly blame Clinton for it…Blame congress…On Both sides…
I doubt Clinton would have vetoed it. He was already beyond this working on opening the flood gates of technology drain to China.
Party hacks really have no ground here, it is corporatism. The PanAmerica trade zone thing goes back to Regan at least. Marshall plan and all that. Now we have globalism and we are still crying about NAFTA.
“Clinton while signing the NAFTA bill stated: “…NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t support this agreement.”[93] He convinced many Democrats to join most Republicans in supporting trade agreement and in 1993 the Congress passed the treaty.[94]”
scdave–
They didn’t have the votes to override the veto. It was contentious, and Clinton lobbied FOR NAFTA. Even with the lobbying, it didn’t pass with a supermajority. 61 to 38 in the Senate, and 234 to 200 in the House.
There were 27 Democrat Senators who voted yes, and 102 Democrats in the House who voted yes.
If Clinton didn’t lobby for it, and threw his political capital against it (having just unseated a sitting president), there is no way there would have been enough votes to pass, let alone to overcome a veto.
Can’t blame him? He convinced others to vote for it! Cheese and crackers you Hillarites are willing to bend history.
Ross Perot’s whole campaign was about this and against Bush and Bubba. He could have stopped it cold. He was for it and signed it.
And the FSA is on the march, globally. Not just in Europe. Things are ugly all over.
Say what you will about Hungary’s finances, but at least they had the common sense to removed the welcome mat.
debt levels return in Hungary after 401k theft
I guess not many savers/rich to snag
I guess not many savers/rich to snag
If you were saving in Hungary, would you keep it in an account that was easy for the government to track and confiscate?
Not me—I’d be hiding gold in the cellar and the yard.
Or just save it in a German bank. Keep in mind that in Europe most people live in a flat: no cellar or yard to hide things in.
But right now the Magyars are catching flak from their EU brethren for not welcoming the refugees. The prime minister is warning the EU that welcoming hostile refugees is a recipe for disaster.
“Not me—I’d be hiding gold in the cellar and the yard.”
That’s close to the best place to put gold. Right here in America in a place close to you. Most gold bugs on the metals web sites will tell you that you better move your gold offshore. You read that so often and they say nothing more. The reason they say nothing is they heard the phrase from other gold bugs and chant it like monkeys “you better move your gold offshore.”
First of all, the U.S.A. still has the freedom to own firearms. Even if the government takes away the 2A, I, and millions of Americans, will disobey the government. So if you have gold offshore, you are likely storing it where the government thugs offshore have all the guns. So not even the manager of your vault can defend the vault from its statists.
Second, gold has been washed out of the American psyche successfully due to the 40 year ban on owning it after 1933. Two generations decided they have no use for gold. So very few average Joes own gold.
Third, the top people in the USA own gold, still in small amounts. They own the laws. They are not going to have gold confiscated.
This is not 1933. The assets that are the prime pickings to grab are 401ks and IRAs. Government knows all the account numbers because of the tax forms the fiduciaries send to the IRS. Same for brokerage accounts and bank accounts. A one time 10% tax on $trillions in 401ks, IRAs, brokerages, and bank accounts would put a huge dent in the federal debt.
Confiscate all the gold and it would probably amount to several $billion.
Moreover, confiscation of gold would have to be done by forced entry, while 401k confiscation can be done electronically, within seconds.
Cracks
Crater
Cheetos
Construction
Crushing
Contracting
Coke
Cheetos…. Cheetos.
C
http://picpaste.com/pics/33c0ddc9f4fc8ed2869e800d380edcc3.1445528437.jpg
Ha ha!
And the can-kicking and currency debasement continues apace. Weimar 2.0, here we come.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-22/draghi-delivers-moar-promises-stocks-jump-eur-german-yields-dump
Moar QE from the ECB.
http://www.businessinsider.com/euro-gets-slammed-october-22-2015-10
Meanwhile, Jack Lew’s debt ceiling Kabuki theater continues….
http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/jack-lews-debt-ceiling-limit-kabuki-theatre/
The banksters are still backstopped by the proles, but this is what 95% of you voted for.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2015/10/backstopping-banks-with-public-money.html
Another for-profit education scam exposed.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/10/21/another-for-profit-diploma-mill-caught-screwing-the-taxpayer/
The next Enron?
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/10/21/glencore-the-canary-in-the-coalmine/
Drudge Report links to a Washington Examiner piece titled “Kristol: Look for a Rubio-Fiorina ticket”
Neocons gonna neocon.
What this means is that the neocon deathlords have deemed Rubio and Fiorina sufficiently enthusiastic to drop bombs on brown people. Alot of bombs.
No “smaller government”
No “less regulations”
No “lower taxes”
Just lots and lots and lots of dead brown people, because neocon
The establishment GOP has its marching orders. Let’s see how many of the sheep will dutifully fall into line this time around.
Onward Christian Soldiers.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-22/proxy-war-no-more-qatar-threatens-military-intervention-syria-alongside-saudi-turkis
Another neocon article to “rally the base”
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/21/want-stab-jew-knife-wielding-girl-tells-father-video/
Note the URL string, specifically that it is categorized under “national security”
Who’s national security? And why should American taxpayers be expected to pay for this. The United States should just wash its hands of the entire Middle East and just walk away, forever.
But as long as the electorate is dominated by people who believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old, that will never happen.
It’s too bad that Breitbart continues to promote this neocon trash.
“I Want to Stab a Jew” sounds like the chorus for a Dead Kennedys song.
Personally, I prefer “Religious Wars” by the Subhumans as the soundtrack for this newest infitada.
The hypocrisy of the Breitbart website needs to be indentified. While publishing articles about “cultural libertarianism” they simultaneously promote this neocon trash.
If you are a Christian, that you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, how do you look at yourself in the mirror when you vote for the candidate that Sheldon Adelson purchased? You can’t. Because you are not a Christian.
I prefer “Lets lynch the landlord” by the Dead Kennedys.
Holiday In Cambodia
they bring knives to a gun fight
WEeeeeeeeeeeeee
The more we slaughter, the fewer refugees there are to deal with.
“Kristol: Look for a Rubio-Fiorina ticket” ??
Baby face and the black-widow…Great…Fiorina a heart beat away from the presidency….
Yeah, if Fiorina gets in as VP that will be an example of the Peter Principle — getting a position far above your level of competency.
‘Julián Castro born September 16, 1974) is an American politician who has been the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development since July 28, 2014. Previously Castro served three terms as the Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from 2009 to 2014. On October 15, 2015, Castro endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. When Clinton was asked if Castro could be her pick for vice president, she said, “I am going to look really hard at him for anything, because that’s how good he is.”
‘He graduated from Stanford in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications. He said he began thinking about entering politics while at Stanford,[4] where he and his brother launched their first campaigns and won student senate seats, tying for the highest number of votes.[2] Castro has credited affirmative action for his admission into Stanford, telling The New York Times, “Joaquín and I got into Stanford because of affirmative action. I scored 1,210 on my SATs, which was lower than the median matriculating student. But I did fine in college and in law school. So did Joaquín. I’m a strong supporter of affirmative action because I’ve seen it work in my own life”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Castro
At least Castro has executive experience in government, being mayor of San Antonio. Which is a lot more experience than Carson or Trump, neither of whom have any government experience at all.
‘Julián Castro born September 16, 1974… “I am going to look really hard at him for anything, because that’s how good he is.”
Well, I think he is two young also….We all know what this is all about…Just pandering to the hispanic votes…Given Hilary’s age and his age I think it would scare a lot of independents…The question then becomes, what is your alternative…What about Elizabeth Warren…Let Fiorona duke it out with her…
‘being mayor of San Antonio’
Yeah, SA is a world class city. Plus he’s got that sh*t-eating grin!
Executive experience in government is, of course, just another way of saying this man has no valuable real life experience at all.
However, if one wants to know how to get into Stanford with an inferior SAT score based on nothing more important than one’s skin color then Mr Castro is your man.
When Clinton was asked if Castro could be her pick for vice president, she said, “I am going to look really hard at him for anything, because that’s how good he is.”
There’s not much worth noting in this statement. I recall that Michael Dukakis made a show of interviewing a diverse group of candidates before he chose Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate.
That’s ok.. I’ve seen affirmative action at play too.
A friend of mine born of parents from Guatemala and El Salvador loved to constantly talk about his free ride scholarship to USC - you know - because he went to a disadvantaged school in South Central LA.
Then one day, he was telling a bunch of us about how there were about to be a lot of layoffs in his department. He wasn’t worried. “I’m safe because I’m the only brown person in my department.”
I almost lost it.
if one wants to know how to get into Stanford with an inferior SAT score based on nothing more important than one’s skin color then Mr Castro is your man ??
Did you just pull that out of your bigoted butt ??
So his SAT was slightly lower than than what is generally accepted…It was still 1200+ and he graduated High School in 3 years…He then graduated in four years @ Stanford and then graduated out of Harvard Law….
Sounds to me like Stanford & Harvard Law made a good decision…
Is he a Degenerate Gambler?
From the same incompetent party that brought you McSame/Palin. Not surprised.
Time to increase spending and cut taxes! GOP
Hey taxpayers, get ready to pay off $1.3T in student debts, to do your bit for “fairness” and “legistlative help.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/as-student-debt-crisis-moves-to-americas-farms-some-push-legislative-help-2015-10-22
Bernie Sanders has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post titled “Make college free for all”
I have no problem with that IF and only IF tuition costs are reined in. No more “it costs $30K+ a year BS”. Fire all the deadwood, all the six figure administrators who do nothing of value.
Of course we all know that has a snowball’s chance in hell of happening.
“Make college free for all” ??
At JC level…Absolutely….At the 4 year level…Yes, with conditions…STEM classes are free…Maybe some other economics & liberal arts classes also…
“Government is the problem.” We have not had any Republican presidential candidate say this since 2012 when Ron Paul ran. We have not had any president say this since Ronald Reagan 30 years ago, albeit, he was involved in the Iran/contra scandals.
“Private sector mega banking,” unregulated since the repeal of Glass-Steagal, has been a far bigger problem than the government.
Hey taxpayers, get ready to pay off $1.3T in student debts
If the national Realtors organization were smart, they would go all in for this. But they are probably too dense and unimaginative to understand that the student loan crisis directly affects their business, so they won’t.
I went to high school in a small Nebraska farming community and worked on farms during the summer. Farming is really hard work and it’s a high risk enterprise.
Farmers already get huge govt subsidies now. They get paid to not plant crops and have all sorts of price supports for the crops they do plant. They also can write almost everything but toilet paper off of their taxes.
Farming is a capital intensive business and it’s not something someone under 35 is likely to invest in.
I worked on a farm while going to school too. My income as a hired hand was more than the farmer took out of the business for himself. He retired rich though because of the land. Farmers around here now think the land will make them rich too, not by working it but just by holding it.
“Farmers around here now think the land will make them rich too, not by working it but just by holding it.”
Nailed it.
I get this deer in the headlights look when I respond “the taxes are eating you alive, you’re not leasing the land(no interest), you’re not producing on it. You’re holding a melting ice cube.”
Inheriting a formerly productive farm and tillable acres and doing nothing with it results in a whole lot of pain.
My husband grew up in the wheat business in Kansas. He fixed combines, and worked the harvesting business with his dad and brothers. There were 10 kids. Almost all the kids are college grads.
uh huh
This is what you voted for, Swedes.
http://news.yahoo.com/sweden-struggles-cope-migrant-tide-orban-warns-threat-122156974.html
Orban is the Hungarian PM.
MSM pretends the 1% is paying for the Democrats’ Free Sh*t Army.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/can-the-1-really-pay-for-the-free-stuff-democrats-want-2015-10-22
21,099 nearby properties found Charlotte, NC Real Estate and Homes for Sale
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Charlotte_NC?ml=4
6,824 nearby properties found Charlotte, NC Price Reduced Homes for Sale
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Charlotte_NC/show-price-reduced?ml=4
32% of all Charlotte, NC sellers reduced their price at least once
How’s that hope ‘n change working out for ya, ‘Murica?
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/goodbye-middle-class-51-percent-of-all-american-workers-make-less-than-30000-dollars-a-year
Charlotte, NC Housing Prices Fall 4% YoY As Housing Demand Plummets To Record Lows
http://www.zillow.com/charlotte-nc/home-values/
If I was broke down on the side of I-95 at 3 am this is not the kind of on duty police officer I would want pulling in front of me while he was driving an unmarked van and wearing plain clothes.
“From 2010 to 2015, Raja was cited 16 times for the use of force many involving the restraint of baker act patients at JFK.”
Officer Raja cited for mishandling of cases and use of force
Story by Lynda Figueredo/CBS12
PALM BEACH GARDENS (CBS12) — Palm Beach Gardens Police and PBSO remain tight lipped about their investigation into the death of Corey Jones.
CBS12 went digging deeper in search of answers.
Officer Nouman Raja had a clean record at the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department but his personnel file in Atlantis tells a different story.
Prior to joining the force Raja had odd jobs, even working at Jiffy Lube for a while, but in 2008, after a 6 month training course at Palm Beach Community College, he was given a badge and a gun.
Raja applied to four other agencies before landing the job in Atlantis where he served on the force for 6 years under Police Chief Robert Mangold.
“He was hired right out of the academy,” said Chief Mangold. “He worked for us from May of 2008 to April of 2015. At that time, he resigned for employment with Palm Beach Gardens Police department.”
During his time in Atlantis, Officer Raja received a number of excessive force complaints and reprimands filed against him.
In 2013, he received a written reprimand for repeatedly “mishandling” evidence and paperwork, and was called “Derelict” in his duties for..”careless handling of the documented cases.”
In September of 2011, Raja was disciplined for a car chase that “should have been terminated.” The report continues “other steps can be taken in the apprehension that does not involve endangering the public.” Chief Mangold contends Raja was a good officer.
“He wanted to go to a larger department, more opportunity, different assignments. He left us in good standing and he left us as the rank of a police sergeant when he resigned,” said Chief Mangold.
From 2010 to 2015, Raja was cited 16 times for the use of force many involving the restraint of baker act patients at JFK.
“You are saying with those use of force reports, nothing came of them?” “No, They are all founded. They are all reviewed by me and they involved, in fact there was only one in there that involved just him,” said Chief Mangold. “The use of force report rarely involves just him. There is generally 2-3 officers involved in those reports. It is not just Raja exclusively.”
Many of the complaints involve the use of a Taser, arm bar or even punching two aggressive women in the face that were baker acted at JFK. Chief Mangold says in every case the use of force was founded.
January 2014- Officer Raja was holding an aggressive patients head and arm down, the patient bit Raja’s ring finger and would not let go. “Officer Raja struck the patient to her right cheek and to her chin with his right first until she released her bite.”
April 2014- Officer Raja was trying to control a baker act patient when she went to kick Raja for a third time. The report states, “He struck her twice to the facial area with a his closed fist.”
June 2014- Officer Raja found a man walking out of the woods near JFK screaming, “I am gonna kill you. Raja had his firearm pointed at the man until he noticed the man was unarmed. Raja then holstered his firearm and drew his Taser on him.
“Frankly everyone has their own opinion. The use of force reports speak for themselves,” said Chief Mangold.
Raja served as one of four sergeants at the department and had already reached the top rank before leaving for Palm Beach Gardens.
“It was my understanding he wanted to go to a larger department. He reached the top he could possibly reach here under my level,” said Chief Mangold.
Despite the numerous complaints, Raja was only disciplined three times in Atlantis: twice for mishandling evidence and once in 2011 for not following proper procedure during a car chase.
cbs12.com/…/stories/officer-raja-cited-mishandling-cases-use-force-30357.shtml - 397k -
Where’s Jonesy? I hope he didn’t fall into one of the many housing craters forming across the country.
Does the White house have like a red phone direct line to YouTube like the commissioner did for Batman or something?
Obama Admin Tried to Tie Benghazi Attack to PASTOR’S VIDEO Before They Settled on 2nd VIDEO
by Gateway Pundit | Jim Hoft | October 22, 2015
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton plotted to blame the Benghazi terrorist attack on the “God versus Allah”video by Pastor Jon Courson before they settled on the “Innocence of Muslims” YouTube video.
Before the body of Ambassador Chris Stevens was recovered the Obama administration was scheming to deceive the American public about the Benghazi attacks.
The lifeless body of Ambassador Stevens was later dragged from the Benghazi US consulate after it came under attack by Muslim extremists on September 11, 2012.
The next morning Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton released a statement on the Benghazi attack – blaming the attack on an anti-Muslim video.
While they were plotting an enormous lie on the public former Navy SEAL David Ubben was still trapped on the roof of the Benghazi annex for 20 hours.
They took their lie a step further and made an online video for the US Embassy in Pakistan saying that the attack was based on an anti-Muslim video.
The Obama administration later jailed Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the man behind the “Innocense of Muslims”film.
Nakoula was the only man captured and imprisoned in the aftermath of the organized Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack.
But before they blamed “Innocence of Muslims” and jailed its director the Obama administration was going to blame the 9-11 massacre on “God Vs Allah” by Pastor Jon Courson.
World Net Daily reported:
One of the first moves the Obama administration made after the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. special mission at Benghazi, Libya, was to contact YouTube in an apparent attempt to blame the attack on an obscure “Pastor Jon” video, according to State Department documents obtained in a lawsuit by the Washington, D.C. watchdog Judicial Watch.
Later, the administration famously claimed the attack was provoked by another YouTube video, “Innocence of Muslims,” by Egyptian-born filmmaker Nakoula “Mark” Basseley Nakoula…
…Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the latest release of documents “show the Obama White House rushed to tie yet another video to the Benghazi attack, even before Ambassador Stevens was accounted for.”
“The Obama White House, evidently, was confused as to which Internet video to falsely blame for the Benghazi terrorist attack,” said Fitton. “These documents show that the Obama White House should have been focused on rescuing our people under fire.”
He said the documents “detail delays and lack of support that raise questions about whether American lives were needlessly lost and put at risk during the Benghazi attack.”
Just three hours after the initial attack on U.S. personnel in Benghazi, a memo said the White House was “reaching out to U-Tube to advise ramifications of posting of the Pastor Jon video.”
Judicial Watch said the “Pastor Jon” reference might have been to a rarely viewed video by Oregon-based Pastor Jon Courson titled “God vs. Allah,” an exposition of the biblical book of Kings.
Did Alfred work for YouTube?
To The Bat-Phone - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpRc5aDZw6k - 186k -
FWIW, in the comics there was no Bat phone. If Gordon wanted to summon Bats, he turned on the searchlight, and if he wasn’t busy, Bast might show up.
Islam is a sh*tty religion.
But quoting from World Net Daily articles won’t change that.
What it will do, is result in bigger government, more regulations, and higher taxes.
Judicial Watch •
OCTOBER 20, 2015
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released new State Department documents that raise more questions about the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission at Benghazi, Libya. The documents show the White House contacted YouTube over an Internet video as one of its first moves after the initial attack.
The documents, from the agency’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, were provided to Judicial Watch in response to a court order in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on October 16, 2014, (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01733)). The lawsuit seeks “any and all logs, reports, or other records” the Washington-based Diplomatic Security Command Center produced between September 10, 2012, and September 13, 2012, relating to the terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya.”
The documents detail that only three hours after the initial attack on U.S. personnel in Benghazi, the White House contacted YouTube in an apparent effort to initially blame the assault on an obscure “Pastor John video,” rather than filmmaker Nakoula “Mark” Basseley Nakoula. The administration falsely claimed that Nakoula’s video, “Innocence of Muslims,” provoked the attack. The email also references the involvement of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Judicial Watch, through separate litigation, previously uncovered documents that show Obama White House officials set Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi response):
http://www.judicialwatch.org/…/ - 40k - Cached - Similar pages
1 day ago .
The real estate market appears to have reached a stable plateau in recent months
permanent
crushing.housing.losses.
‘One anonymous researcher, quoted by The Daily Shot newsletter, reported that London developers are seeing a growing spate of Chinese buyers reneging on payment instalments and losing their deposits on London property. Efforts by the Chinese authorities to curb capital flows are said to have been behind this slowdown.’
‘There are other reasons to think the top end of the London residential property market could come under pressure too. “Even though price rises in prime London property have moderated this year, there are multiple catalysts to suggest that 2015 is the turning point,” writes Sahil Mahtani of Deutsche Bank in its latest Konzept publication.’
“The most significant are: impending higher interest rates, tighter macro-prudential policies and a deepening politicisation of the housing issue. Again, all that needs to happen is for investors to think price outcomes are asymmetric, with low upside and large downside,” he adds.’
‘According to Mahtani, a major overhaul of stamp duty in the UK last year increased the cost of buying homes worth more than £1 million, putting disproportionate pressure on the prime end of the London market. Moreover, permanent non-domicile status, which benefits some 100,000 people, will be abolished, while foreign owners of property who were previously exempt from capital gains tax will have to pay it.’
“These tax changes are occurring as public discussion about foreign buyers of high-end London property has turned toxic,” writes Mahtani.’
http://news.markets/shares/china-slowdown-could-hit-high-end-london-house-prices-17383/
‘all that needs to happen is for investors to think price outcomes are asymmetric, with low upside and large downside’
Bloomberg this morning one of the gals said that London prices were more expensive than Manhattan…
‘Look what happened to American Farmland (NYSE MKT: AFCO), a farm REIT that owns property California, Illinois and Florida that began trading on Tuesday:
American Farmland: farmland REIT
Price talk: 12 million shares at $8.50 to $10.50
Priced at: 6 million shares at $8, opened at $7
Ouch! Not only did all three price below the range expected, but two of them lowered the amount of shares offered!
If you add it all up, here’s how much less they raised compared to what they were seeking.
Tough week for IPOs (percent below midpoint of amount sought)
Multi-Packaging Solutions: down 28.5 percent
Dimension Therapeutics: down 13.3 percent
American Farmland: down 58 percent”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/forget-ferrari-ipo-market-price-135910214.html
people quit eating ?
Farmland isn’t priced for producing food. It’s got a long way down to go.
Ferrari did well with their IPO.
Righties better find a way to end the Benghazi hearings quickly because the narrative has flipped. The longer the hearings go on the Repubs lose and Hillary wins. Benghazi hearings have been exposed as a sham and a theft of taxpayer money to pay for partisan politics. Hillary stands to gain from the grilling because she’ll be portrayed as a tough woman standing up to the congressional bullies.
Fox News Finally Concedes Benghazi Committee Is Political
CNN poll: “72 percent of all Americans say they see the Benghazi committee as mostly using its investigative mission for political gain, just 23 percent think it is conducting an objective investigation.”
Technically speaking, wouldn’t having our ambassador murdered be considered “shrinking the size of government” and something that the Congressional Republicans support?
Americans say they see the Benghazi committee as mostly using its investigative mission for political gain ??
Starting with Captain Cheerleader Lindsey Graham…
another city immune to oil prices-Amarillo
compared to a 2.8% increase for Amarillo Metro as a whole.
Coral Gables, FL Housing Prices Nosedive 16% YoY As Foreclosure Inventory Balloons
http://www.zillow.com/coral-gables-fl/home-values/
let us know when it goes back to 2010 prices!
RentalWatch, Jinglemale, SCDave, Donk and others here in the construction biz, Question:
How many CY concrete have you cast so far this year? We’re up to 1800+ and we’ll likely be around 2500 by end of 2015.
Where you guys at? How bout tons of steel?
re sales pick up -so that’s why Zillow is pumping up predictions
rampant.appraiser.fraud.
paying more for less is a recovery?
Warmist Warming Thursday
Sanders: GOP thinks climate change isn’t real because of Kochs
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/257718-sanders-koch-bros-scaring-gop-away-from-climate-change
http://www.sfgate.com/aboutsfgate/article/Million-Dollar-Shack-documentary-Bay-Area-housing-6582122.php
https://youtu.be/SBjXUBMkkE8
Million Dollar Shack: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s Housing Bubble
Hooray for housing bubble documentaries.
This is the attitude that I encountered there on my last visit. The young pups at the Santa Clara campus are DESPERATE to buy something, anything, because they really believe that prices will go up even more. They don’t see this as a bubble, they think it’s normal. And I hate to say this, as long as money losing Unicorns can have market caps in the billions I don’t see this changing.
I met Ken before he was a realtor–he was an attorney (a friend of a friend). Strange dude–he was the self-proclaimed “world’s fastest dancer”.
From his comments, he continues to tap-dance.
The interesting thing is that there was a big crash in house prices just 6 or 7 years ago. Yet these people think that it can never happen again.
“I don’t see this changing.”
That happens when the thickness of ones wallet depends on not seeing.
Busted.
“Million Dollar Shack: Trapped in Silicon Valley’s Housing Bubble”
That was a well done Youtube piece being amateurs.
This family realizes that something is terribly wrong… but they’re not ready to peel back the layers concealing the ugly truth. They really need to move and get on with their lives, IMHO.
Its the same old bs over again. Notice that the bubble has really gotten crazy in the more afluent areas this time around.
They should pack their sh@t and get out. The home prices are just absurd down there. No value at all. Just speculative hype again.
some how they qualify for the loans, so they have the cash or the income.
And so it begins.
Pentagon confirms first US combat death against ISIS:
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/257737-pentagon-confirms-death-of-us-troop-during-iraq-rescue-mission
This is totally political. there has been more investigations and money spent on Benghazi than on 9/11. There were more mistakes and missed information before and after 9/11 than on Benghazi. Thousands died in 9/11 but 4 died in Benghazi.
The people directly involved in Benghazi have not been nor will be questioned by this committee, Not the CIA head, not the General nor anyone else. Only people connected to Hillary. Those millions of dollars that have been spent and are being spent could feed a lot of hungry American kids or pay for the medical needs of a lot of Vets or fix bad bridges etc that the Republicans say we can not waste money. Hypocrites
Benghazi is/was not an embassy, but a CIA outpost which they were ultimately responsible for it’ security. Lets see if this comes up at the hearing.
found this online:
You will never see this on FOX..
BenGhazi Time Line – 30min attack, secret CIA outpost, 32 CIA agents, 6 diplomats. They died in the first 15 minutes( Bush read My Pet Goat almost that long). 3 years before first hearing on 911 allowed by Repubs. Bush and Cheney would only testify together in private, no recording and with an agreement they could not be charged for perjury.
8:30 - 9 p.m. A mob approaches the consulate at the front gate, where four Libyan guards are posted. Per the Leader who has been captured, it was because of the conservative film that was released that also had 8 other embassies under siege.
9:30pm Mob fires first shots. Militants breach the front and east walls around the consulate. Americans fire from inside.
9:30 - 10 p.m.Consulate alarm sounds. Libyan guards ask for help from friends in nearby barracks.
10 p.m. Consulate in flames(2 State department employees now dead). Libyan government reinforcements arrive. They guard front and rear gates as militants begin to crowd at rear gate. U.S. and Libyan guards enter burning building and pull out body of information officer Sean Smith. They can’t find ambassador.
10:30 - 11 p.m.Americans, except for the ambassador(dead), retreat from the front gate in two cars to an annex a kilometer away. First CIA rescue team is there….
After 11 p.m.Lull in fighting.
After midnightLooters on consulate grounds pull ambassador, unidentified, from burned consulate.
1 a.m.The ambassador, as an unidentified patient, is admitted to Benghazi Medical Center, described as unresponsive.
After 1 a.m.U.S. security reinforcements from Tripoli arrive, head to annex(2nd resue team within 3 hours).
1:45 a.m.Patient declared dead.
After 2am(8hrs later), CIA Annex comes under attack. Fierce fighting for an hour. Former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods are killed, contracted security, who arrived with first rescue team.. in the first battle.
3am, terrorist are routed. By dawn the survivors are on plane out of Libya.
Now compare to 13 embassy attacks under Bush with 51 killed or over 300 under Reagan killed and of course the real 911 with 3000 killed on our own soil. No Repub outrage. Hearings on 911 blocked for 2 years. And per the master mind of the Benghazi attack, they attacked because of the VIDEO in part. He is our prisoner now!
Ambassador Stevens twice said no to military offers of more security, U.S. officials say
In the month before attackers stormed U.S. facilities in Benghazi and killed four Americans, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens twice turned down offers of security assistance made by the senior U.S. military officia (General Carter Ham)l in the region in response to concerns that Stevens had raised in a still secret memorandum, two government officials told McClatchy.
The video had absolutely nothing to do with it. We have the emails where the state dept. is going back and forth trying to figure out what to say. And they had initially pinned the blame on another video, not the one that the guy in CA got put back in jail because of.
lol@Lola
Smart, fear in the middle east means sales!!
Seeking to bolster its Persian Gulf allies in the wake of the nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration this week notified Congress that it plans to sell up to $11.25 billion in warships and related equipment to Saudi Arabia.
The State Department approved the sale as part of the Foreign Military Sales program, according to a statement by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
The lion’s share of the sale will be spent on four of Lockheed Martin’s littoral combat ships, which are designed to fight in shallow waters against submarines and other small vessels. The Saudis will be buying a beefed up version of the ship called the multi-mission combat ship, which can fire missiles.
http://riderrants.blogspot.com/2015/10/columnist-thinks-ca-suffers-from.html
OCT
22
Columnist thinks CA suffers from “generations of excessive frugality.” Seriously???
California columnist Joe Mathews raises a great issue in a U-T op-ed — our problem of us increasingly paying more for less. It’s a major issue, especially with government services.
But then he fails miserably — not identifying the single biggest factor, or the solutions. In this case, he never addresses the principal reason why the cost of California government services are so high — and how that high cost impacts the quantity and quality of such services.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/oct/21/california-costs-economy-taxes/
The primary problem? We overpay and over-pension our CA state and local “public servants” — compared to other states, and especially compared to the California private sector. That unnecessary expense adversely impacts government’s ability to adequately deliver its services.
For instance, the average California firefighter is paid 60% more than paid firefighters in the other 49 states. CA cops are paid 56% more. Are our firefighters 60% better than firefighters in the other states? Are our cops 56% better? Not likely.
http://www.tinyurl.com/CA-ff-and-cop-pay
Meanwhile the CA 2011 median household income (including our 2,400,000[!] or so government workers) is only 13.4% above above the national average. There’s no justification for this public employee excessive compensation cost.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_income
and
http://www.topix.com/forum/state/ca/TG5QS6TN2977KU7UI
Mathews states that “ ‘More for less’ in California is the consequence of long-term trends and public policies. The gist: Generations of excessive frugality and underinvestment have created various forms of scarcity in public services.”
Seriously?? California has experienced “generations of excessive frugality”??? In what parallel universe is that true?
CA is one of the three highest taxed states in America, and that’s not counting our madhouse “fee” and fine structure that periodically gouges us “Hazzard County” style — far more than the fees and fines levied in other states. For instance, our CA traffic tickets average triple the cost of other states.
We taxpayers have “invested” plenty over the years, but most of it has gone for excessive public employee pay and benefits — not counting the huge unfunded taxpayer liability for all the underfunded pensions and retiree healthcare. Yes, much of that excess should have been invested in infrastructure improvements — but though we taxpayers coughed up the “investment” money, and it was then spent at the behest of the public employee labor unions — not for what was needed.
And then, to add insult to injury, when our CA politicians deign to spend some money on our infrastructure, they seek to do it in the most inefficient manner possible — paying “prevailing wage” rates (a.k.a. the highest wage rates and benefits by far) to labor union construction firms that in turn must comply with “make work” union rules. This overspending coupled with limiting bidders on such projects drives up our construction costs 30% or more — giving us less bang for the infrastructure buck.
BTW, water is one of the “pay more for less” irritations we face in California, as Mathews correctly points out. But even our higher “water” rates are partially related to our overpaying government employees. Buried in every public water agency’s budget are the salaries and benefits we pay the employees of these monopolies. These gold-plated payments fly below the radar of the press and taxpayers, but are worth a look.
Here’s one water agency’s rates — typical of what such agencies throughout the state pay. It’s the Marin Municipal Water District. 12 pages — I’ll post here only page 1 — generally the highest paid folks. But look at the other pages as well (the bottom pages are part-timers, or people who left or retired during the year, or people who changed job positions during the year [job title changers will show up as two employees in the stats]).
CAUTION: First take your blood pressure medicine. And then, if your head hasn’t yet exploded, consider searching your OWN water district — if you dare.
http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/marin-municipal-water/
I have no idea why anyone would stay in CA after retiring. Most don’t surf or go outside much after age 65. San Antonio has a Costco and fast internet connection–that is all they long for. 11k boomers turning 65 each day for the next 15 yrs, pension problem is huge!
I’m almost 60 and I am moving to florida over by JAX in a few years, after i become an orphan!
FL?? Where will you live all summer?
As you stated, she can just stay in the house all summer long.
I am planning on spending summers in Ashville! Hippie Town!
I will need everybody’s help in here when I’m ready to bite! That’s why I sent Ben a donation!
Cresent beach is nice
For fl
just got a letter from Blue Shield. Insurance only went up $3 a mo. But all of the coverage is now worse. Like office visits from $50 to $55. deductible from $1600 to $1900.
$452 a mo
Gee, do you think we need to fix this?
Housing Lola housing!
Frisco, TX Housing Prices Crater 14%; Falling Consumer Prices Accelerate The Economy
A a already did
“Average family be saving $2500 a yr”
Drink some Brawndo and go get a Starbucks.
The future has never looked better.
Like (Doctor) office visits from $50 to $55. deductible from $1600 to $1900….$452 a mo….Gee, do you think we need to fix this?
You wouldn’t even have to worry about it in Canada, France, Denmark, Sweden, England etc..
USA’s private health-care delivery is a racket.
CalifoH20
I got deleted off Covered Ca and Kaiser. My AR acct is deleted. I’ve been paying, and now come to find out my insurance was canceled retro to April 1st. I found out when I got a sinus infection and needed an appt. No notice of termination received.Downloading eligibility date error CC to K. 6 hrs on the phone so far, in less than 1 week. I’m livid. What a f**king mess. No checks and balances.
Wow, My stocks really rocketed today and this week.
but I still rent and renting is humiliating!
Liberating is the word you meant. Renting is liberating.
Wow. Now 10 hours of the Benghazi “Hearing”.
GOP vs Clinton.
This Tea Party inquisition is like Repub teenagers bringing a knife to a gunfight.
I don’t even like Hillary but she totally punked the Repubs. Read it tomorrow.
Did they peel you off the side of Mafia’s coke can?
‘I don’t even like Hillary’
Sure. And you’re a Libertarian. Or something.
I am a fiscal conservative belonging to no party.
$5 mil for nada??
Thanks GOP….again.
“$5 mil for nada??”
“Thanks GOP….again.”
I know, that could have paid for 1/4 of a weekend getaway for Moochelle Obama.
25 MILLION excess, empty and defaulted houses CHECK
Collapsing housing demand at 20 year lows and falling CHECK
Falling housing prices CHECK
Housing prices inflated by 250% CHECK
Household formation at multi decade lows CHECK
Rampant housing fraud CHECK
A media corrupted by the housing industry CHECK
Population growth the lowest in US history CHECK
Immigration flat to slightly negative CHECK
Anything else?
Data my friend, data.
You still and never will be able to come with any data that there are 25M excess houses. That is a complete absurdity that doesn’t even pass the small test, no matter how many times you post it. There are tens of thousands of these homes, in certain states, like MI, mostly concentrated in Detroit and Flint. Those areas I am very familiar with.
But for areas like WA and CA? No way. Even in the podunk towns in WA right now, inventory is low. I have a friend looking to buy a house in a few podunk towns in WA right now - inventory low, prices high, and anything decent sells within a few days.
The data has been discussed over and over again my friend. In addition to the 25 million excess, empty and defaulted houses, another 35 million are just beginning to empty as boomers die off.
Data my friend. Stick with the data.
I told you Repubs were off the reservation - and UnAmerican. What a joke. 5 million dollars, years of “work”. Repubs get bup·kis
ˈbo͝opkis,ˈbəp-/noun……nothing at all.
GOP lands no clear punches while sparring with Clinton over Benghazi
Washington Post - 3 hours ago
Nearly 10 hours after it began, a House committee’s questioning of Hillary Rodham Clinton has provided few new details about the 2012 attacks on American installations in Benghazi, Libya – and, so far, no clear victory for Republicans seeking to trap …
Hearing on Benghazi attacks leaves Hillary Clinton largely unscathed
USA TODAY - 41 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — Former secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s testimony before a special House committee on Thursday provided new insights into her management decisions before the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi. But partisanship, not proof of any …
Lola,
What country are you located in right now?
“What a joke. 5 million dollars, years of “work”.
Just this was worth 4.5 million dollars, maybe more.
Benghazi Victim’s Uncle on Hillary Clinton: “At Least We Know She Tells HER Family the Truth” (Video)
Jim Hoft Oct 22nd, 2015 1:33 pm 3 Comments
Michael Ingmire, uncle of Sean Smith who was killed in Benghazi, went on The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson after the morning session of the Benghazi hearing with Hillary Clinton.
Earlier today Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) nailed Hillary Clinton by producing docmentation that Hillary Clinton told her family the truth but lied to the American public just an hour before about the attack.
Hillary Clinton told the American people the night of the Benghazi attack that it was a reaction to a Youtube video.
At 11:00 that night – after she told the public it was a reaction to a YouTube video – she wrote her family and told them it was an Al-Qaeda attack.
She knew it was a terror attack from the start.
Violent Crime Skyrockets 21% In Los Angeles
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/425885/california-high-taxes-immigration-democrats