Bits Bucket for October 31, 2015
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Are you enjoying the affordable gasoline these days?
my gas savings are going to pay for higher meat prices.
My gas savings are going to pay for more, and cheaper, truck - transported vegetables.
$3.69 for regular in Mammoth Lakes
$2.59/gallon regular at Costco last night. Couldn’t believe my eyes.
The one day of the year Lola can walk down the street in his regular costume and not be stared at and you all are talking about gas prices.
Just a bit over $2 up here recently; think I paid $2.15 via card, but could have paid $2.09 with cash.
It gave me flashbacks to paying $0.99/gal in college.
Back when you had to hunt down your own dinosaur to fill the tank?
Heh…
It does strike me that those two prices points are interesting to compare; that’s over an almost 30yr period, so the implied rate of inflation is only around 2.5%, or below the 3% average that I usually consider the “normal” rate of inflation. Either that, or the oil-bust of the late 80’s was deeper than this one.
Queue HA to tell us that there has been no inflation for decades, in 3…… 2…… 1……
I thank Obama every night in my prayers.
I am trying to generate more road kill with my cheaper gas prices……Mmmmmmmm……road kill.
I am shorting oil by putting the boat up for the winter with an empty gas tank.
I was looking at shorting the dollar awhile back. Not many etfs that do that directly.
I guess a way to short the dollar is to go long commodities such as oil.
“I was looking at shorting the dollar awhile back.”
I am looking at a shortage of dollars, not a while back but right now.
Are you always late to the party?
+infinity. You are WAY WAY too late on that bet—2008/9 was the time to make that trade.
Now we are in the midst of the unwind from that trade; I expect it to take 2-3 more years to shake out the excesses of the Fed-produced liquidity gorging.
That’s not inflation my friend. *Learn* the difference.
I was looking at shorting the dollar
Risky bet. China is taking small steps towards “internationalizing” the yuan to eventually challenge the dollar as a reserve currency. But will their debt balloon pop first? China’s debt-GDP ratio is 200% and climbing. And the Euro is on life support. I’d say the odds favor the dollar staying strong.
Buying physical gold and silver is a way to short the dollar.
putting the boat up for the winter with an empty gas tank.
Doesn’t that increase the amount of condensation-related moisture that ends up in your tank?
You would expect so, but I cannot tell much of a difference in practice. I have a good water separation system inline and never have much of it to deal with. A full tank is problematic with today’s gas anyway as it degrades in storage. The yard really doesn’t like full tanks either, for safety reasons.
Yours is a diesel, right Blue? I didn’t realize that that degrades in storage, except for the algae growth that you have to fight with biocides. What type of degradation were you referring to?
Gaz. Twin Chrysler 318s.
Oh heck, I forgot that—sorry. Yeah, totally understand the yard not wanting a lot of something that flashes sitting around in storage.
My eventual boat will be a diesel for the same reason.
Water condenses in an empty gas tank over the winter. You might want to reconsider the empty tank gambit.
Full tank is best. With fuel stabilizer (I like PRI-G), and preferably non-alcohol fuel which can be found at some marinas, airports, and farm stores.
The alcohol in the fuel attracts moisture which then causes corrosion.
I’ve switched to using alcohol-free in all of my small engines (both 2-cycle and 4-cycle) and it is simply amazing. I leave the tanks full, and a year later, seldom-used equipment starts right up.
go to w w w (dot) pure-gas (dog) org to find a station near you that sells alcohol-free gas.
(dog) = (dot)
I’ve got a DVD of Season 1 of Scooby Doo playing for the kids right now, which my son noted is appropriate for Halloween.
Premium here is ethanol free. Marine gas is ethanol free. My yacht is not a lawn mower. Check with me in the spring if I am disabled by having fresh gas.
My savings goes toward my health insures that I never use.
Bernie 2016!
Would you prefer cash or candy in your Halloween basket?
stawks
There seems to rampant speculation in stocks and homes again. Buying without any concern of losing money in the hopes of flipping those assets quickly for a profit, basically gambling.
How do you really value these assets?
I always consider unloading something if the market turns. Am I buying cheap enough to have some protection to the downside.
Right now people have thrown the fear of a down market out the window and just buying to capture some quick appreciation.
It seems like the FED is encouraging this casino like atmosphere.
Its a matter of how high prices go before things turn. If the FED doesn’t save people sh@t will hit the fan.
“How do you really value these assets?”
Do like everybody else does: Use the price.
Think: Price equals Value and you’re there.
what a bunch of bs that is.price and value can be way different.
use your head
Combotechie’s closer to being right than wrong. Best money I’ve made in the market has been by holding overpriced stocks becoming more overpriced, then slipping out the exit door before the crowd does. Never had much luck with low-priced “value” stocks.
Everyone’s a genius when the fed and the PPT mandate no losses. Until they push the button. Degenerate gamblers tend to forget their losses. Got 2008?
“what a bunch of bs that is.price and value can be way different”
If the price is attached to fundamentals then the price cannot become wild and crazy unless the fundamentals become wild and crazy, which is not something that is likely to happen.
But if the price becomes detached from fundamentals then there is no restraint on what the price can do. And this is why there is so much craziness associated with stocks and such where the fundamentals are non-existent; When value cannot be determined by fundamentals then the only way left for the value to be determined is by the price. In such a case the price equals the value. And since people (rational or otherwise) “vote” on just what this “value” should be you end up witnessing the creation of some very crazy prices.
This may not be rational, but there it is.
43,030 nearby properties found Miami, FL Real Estate and Homes for Sale
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Miami_FL?ml=4
13,786 nearby properties found Miami, FL Price Reduced Homes for Sale
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Miami_FL/show-price-reduced?ml=4
31% of all sellers in Miami reduced their price at least once
Fort Lauderdale, FL Housing Craters; Prices Plunge 9% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/fort-lauderdale-fl/home-values/
‘China is confronting a massive debt problem, the scale of which the world has never seen.’”
Calling borrowed money ‘cash’ is at the sole risk of the individual.
It’s ‘cash’ until it has to be repaid.
Liquidated debts are cash neutral.
Sacramento, CA Housing Craters; Price Dive 5% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/east-sacramento-sacramento-ca/home-values/
Do you even read the links you post?
“The median home value in East Sacramento is $477,100. East Sacramento home values have gone up 10.6% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 5.4% within the next year. “
What are “values”?
Price data Lola price data!
Not everyone knows how to use a drop down box.
The Zillow Home Value Price Index is price data. It’s a more accurate way of analyzing price trends than using raw prices, which get skewed by outliers.
It’s not price data Lola. If it was it would be negative as prices are facing.
“Daddy, what’s a bear market?”
“Well, son, it’s easier to show you a picture of one than to spend a lot of time trying to explain one to you. Here’s a good picture of one:”
http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=GC&p=m1
“And here’s a picture of another one:”
http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=SI&p=m1
“Wow, Daddy, that’s sumptin’! But how come the values of these precious metal thingys - stuff some people consider the only true money - can go into a steep decline while things such as worthless, useless, fiat paper dollars tend to maintain their buying power? Why dat?”
“Take a look around you, son, and tell me how many gold registers and silver registers are found in stores and then compare these numbers to the numbers of cash registers that are found in stores. Amazingly you will discover a multitude of cash registers and a total absence of the other type. And this is because, my son, while some people may consider precious metals the only true money it is cash that they actually use for their day-to-day transactions, which means that if there is a lot of cash made available to people then there will tend to be a lot of transactions, but if there is a shortage of cash then there will be few transactions.
Also, take note of the number of “We Buy Gold!” stores that have been popping up everywhere and then consider just what it is that people receive in return for the gold that they sell to these stores and then ask yourself which of the two - the precious or the fiat - is the true money.”
“Thank you, Daddy. I think I understand what you are telling me.”
“Well, if that’s the case then you are well ahead of a lot of people.”
Gold is set to bottom out any day now — or so the gold bugs keep assuring.
Never mind that interest rate liftoff, when and if it ever happens, is gonna rip gold a new one.
everyone’s success is tied to stocks now. People keep buying cause they think the market wont go down again cause of fed intervention.
How will they be proven wrong ?
Grasping at straws will not turn straw into gold.
Marketwatch dot com
Opinion: A bottoming of gold prices might be closer than you think
By Avi Gilburt
Published: Oct 30, 2015 11:03 a.m. ET
A government selling its gold reserves would spell the end of a decline in prices
AFP/Getty Images
We have been hearing for years about how gold is supposed to soar because countries are buying the precious metal.
Most of the fundamentalists in this market were convinced that this was a bullish signal, and that the decline was going to reverse due to this buying. Yet gold continued to plummet, despite all this buying.
But during that same period, I have been waiting to hear about how countries are selling their gold. To me, that would be a bullish indication, as it would likely mark the point in time that we are nearest a long-term bottom. Let me explain why.
From 1999-2002, Great Britain sold about half of its gold reserves. But guess what happened after the sales? Yes, gold began its parabolic climb from just below $300 an ounce to over $1,900 within nine years. In fact, that bottom in gold became dubbed the “Brown Bottom,” named after Gordon Brown, the U.K. chancellor of the exchequer, who made the decision to sell the gold at that time.
You see, governments are usually the last actors within a sentiment trend. Think about it. Aren’t governments enacting new laws to protect investors at the end of bear markets — after all the damage has already been done? So it is not unreasonable to believe that governments would be the last sellers to the market to conclude a bear market. And this is why I have been awaiting news of a government selling its gold reserves to represent the culmination of a selling trend.
…
“Jumpin’ Jeepers, Batman! What’s up with this money velocity chart?
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M2V
CR8R
Dropping money velocity means more cash sitting idle in accounts not being spent. And we have clueless Presidential candidates who want to double down on even more supply side voodoo (tax cuts for the rich) which will just increase the cash balances sitting idle and make that money velocity drop even more.
Communism failed Lola.
“Take a look around you, son, and tell me how many gold registers and silver registers are found in stores and then compare these numbers to the numbers of cash registers that are found in stores. Amazingly you will discover a multitude of cash registers and a total absence of the other type.”
What about bitcoin registers? Can I buy my groceries with bitcoin?
‘Also, take note of the number of “We Buy Gold!” stores that have been popping up everywhere and then consider just what it is that people receive in return for the gold that they sell to these stores and then ask yourself which of the two - the precious or the fiat - is the true money.’
What a great scam! Even a number of HBB regulars bought it hook, line and sinker.
“how many gold registers and silver registers…”
Bad money drives out good.
Real money will still be around after Fiats are long gone. The question is one of timing. Does fiat have a shorter life expectancy or do I?
Pentagon: ‘We’re in combat’ in Iraq
Syria: Obama authorizes boots on ground
Nobel piece prize keeps on the piece. The fools who said drones replaced the boots on the ground will remain fools rest of their lives. Brilliant chess moves, LOLz!
Bush kicked the beehive, now we have crazy bees to deal with.
Yep, reborn Dubya… what a fugg’n loser.
Yep, loser and a criminal.
why is the stock market too big to fail now?
A stock market crash normally portends a labor market crash, aka a recession, which is not exactly a vote-getter for the party in power, as the sheep herd known as the American electorate summarily blames any dererioration in the economic status quo on The President.
So there’s a moral hazard for the incumbent administration to manage the stock market to a rising trend going into an election year and only ripping off the bandage after the votes are counted.
that is very true. Sh@t will hit the fan for the next president if they r from the GOP.
Trump can take it! He is going to deport 11k a day (jobs) build a wall (jobs) and invade Iraq (jobs) ALL while cutting taxes!
Yipppeee!!
Don’t forget about the derivatives exposure of US banks. The numbers are mind-boggling.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/five-banks-account-for-96-of-250-trillion-in-outstanding-us-derivative-exposure/27127
Probably a chain exists above the bilateral, each trying for their penny on huge volumes and making a fortune - more than their operating profits ?
If one goes 4 Trillion of printed money won’t be enough.
Problem is - anyone on that chain could trigger it all.
Although bankers would deny it - they truly are a casino !
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything you have”
Gerald R Ford
German govt uses hotel to house migrants without notice, 100 jobs lost
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcqeoMy-NFk - 190k - Cached - Similar pages
Oct 23, 2015 .
Description should read: corporation maximizes profits by firing all employees with no notice, and leasing building to the government instead.
This wasn’t actually a government take-over, in spite of how the beginning of the piece reads.
BloombergBusiness
As China’s Stock Market Crashed, These Hedge Funds Rose 70%
Bloomberg News
October 29, 2015 — 3:02 PM PDT
Updated on October 30, 2015 — 1:49 AM PDT
Mainland China Investors Rotate Into Bond ETFs
Chasing gains was like `sucking blood from the tip’ of a knife
Best performers sold before the selloff, some bought on dips
China’s summer market selloff wasn’t a total rout if you were one of the country’s top-performing hedge funds that gained an average 70 percent as almost 1,300 other funds were wiped out.
The country’s top 10 performers, run by Ze Quan Investment, Sunrise Investment, Zexi Investment and Yingyang Asset Management, found gains in the June-August period by heeding a famous maxim: Markets are ruled by fear and greed.
“I was scared,” said Jiao Ji, chairman of Sunrise, based in northeastern China’s Jilin province, who dumped all his stock holdings in May, sat out the post-June 12 crash, and then made strategic purchases on brief upswings prompted by government intervention in July. Chasing gains at the top of the market was like “sucking blood from the tip of the knife,” he said.
…
Agency won’t give GOP internal docs on climate research
By Timothy Cama - 10/28/15 12:47 PM EDT
The federal government’s chief climate research agency is refusing to give House Republicans the detailed information they want on a controversial study on climate change.
Citing confidentiality concerns and the integrity of the scientific process, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said it won’t give Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) the research documents he subpoenaed.
At the center of the controversy is a study that concluded there has not been a 15-year “pause” in global warming. Some NOAA scientists contributed to the report.
Smith, the chairman of the House Science Committee, vehemently disagreed with the study’s findings. He issued a subpoena for communications among the scientists and some data, leading to charges from Democrats that he was trying to intimidate the researchers.
NOAA spokeswoman Ciaran Clayton said the internal communications are confidential and not related to what Smith is trying to find out.
“We stand behind our scientists who conduct their work in an objective manner. It is the end product of exchanges between scientists — the detailed publication of scientific work and the data that underpins the authors’ findings — that are key to understanding the conclusions reached.
Smith defended his investigation, saying NOAA’s work is clearly political.
“It was inconvenient for this administration that climate data has clearly showed no warming for the past two decades,” he said in a statement. “The American people have every right to be suspicious when NOAA alters data to get the politically correct results they want and then refuses to reveal how those decisions were made.”
Smith also said NOAA’s assertion of confidentiality is incorrect.
“The agency has yet to identify any legal basis for withholding these documents,” he said, adding that his panel would use “all tools at its disposal” to continue investigating.
Smith has been communicating with NOAA about the research since it was published in the summer, and their exchanges have grown increasingly hostile.
6756 comments
Logos • 3 days ago
You’d think the ideological activists inside government would be less defensive about “settled science” - why the worry if the facts support your opinion?
Avatar
Youremakinmecrazy Logos • 3 days ago
Darn good point.
VoteOutIncumbents Guest • 3 days ago
Kind of like the IRS and Hillary emails.
thehill.com/…/258375-agency-wont-give-gop-internal-docs-on-climate-research - 156k -
“Citing confidentiality concerns and the integrity of the scientific process, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said it won’t give Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) the research documents he subpoenaed.”
Sooooo … how, then, is peer review accomplished?
When you are above the law, the truth is beneath you.
It appears that you get to choose your peers.
“Climate-denying House Republicans are trying to destroy NASA’s Earth science budget “
“Republicans in the House Subcommittee on Science, Space and Technology voted Thursday to more or less decimate the agency’s Earth science budget. The cuts, if voted through, could be anywhere from $300 million to $500 million — as much as 26 percent below President Obama’s budget for fiscal 2016.
Make no mistake: the bloodshed is a clear attack on climate science, to which NASA contributes significantly and House Republicans continue to deny.”
GOP = paid-for whores of the gas and oil industry. They can’t stand the unbiased truth coming from science, so they vote to kill the science.
The truth will come to light eventually, and we’ll all be better off for it.
You however continue to lie.
NASA’s budget this year is $18 billion. Obama proposed increasing that to $18.5 billion in 2016. Trimming that back by $300 to $500 million is not a reduction in NASA’s budget at all. Not a bloodbath. Not a decimation. Not remotely close to 26% of anything.
It’s no wonder you badmouth math, and French bistros.
Why do you keep posting lies?
Exxon-funding climate denial is a scam, a lie and is racketeering to gain profit at the public’s expense. Why do you carry their water?
NASA = jobs
Military = jobs
Ag = jobs
just another form of welfare
“Why do you keep posting lies?”
Why does Lola lie about living in Brazil?
Pathological?
‘Murica!
http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/halloween-2015-a-nation-of-zombies-embraces-america-s-imported-nonsense-and-empties-its-wallets-a6715826.html
Along with millions of migrants, Merkel is also importing the fueds and conflicts that have turned the Middle East into such a hellhole.
http://news.yahoo.com/punch-german-asylum-centre-leaves-6-injured-144528214.html
Proposal for the Great Seal of the United States
On July 4, 1776, Franklin, John Adams, and Jefferson were named as a committee to suggest a seal. Each man proposed designs, and one of Jefferson’s closely resembled Franklin’s. In addition the painter Pierre Du Simitière, who had been called in as a consultant, produced a version of his own. A letter from John Adams of August 14 described the various proposals;5 hence Franklin’s had been submitted by that time. On the 20th the committee brought in its report; one side of the seal, with the motto E Pluribus Unum,6 was substantially what Du Simitière had suggested, and the other what Franklin and Jefferson had agreed upon. Congress tabled the report, and not until 1782 was the present seal adopted.7 All that it retained of the first committee’s handiwork was the Latin motto.
[Before August 14, 1776]
Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharoah who is sitting in an open Chariot, a Crown on his Head and a Sword in his hand. Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Clouds reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by Command of the Deity.
Motto, Rebellion to Tyrants Is Obedience to God.
SC students walk out in protest of the firing of the cop who body-slammed a non-compliant student. They love the dude & want him back!
https://www.rt.com/usa/320204-students-protest-school-officer-firing/
Goon, my brother, your feminists who are going to end up alone with their boxed wines and cats for companionship probably shouldn’t read this….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3297923/Cats-neurotic-probably-trying-work-kill-say-researchers.html
“Cats ARE neurotic - and they’re probably also trying to work out how to kill you, say researchers”
This is supposed to be news? Any cat owner who doesn’t realize their cat secretly longs to kill them is a complete moron. It’s only the owner’s size advantage and willingness to provide food and shelter that stands in the way of mayhem.
You have to admire an animal that swallows cats whole.
Like women with cats, the origin of this animal derives from the desperation born of a paucity of potential sexual partners.
The Economist
Science and technology
Evolution
Greater than the sum of its parts
It is rare for a new animal species to emerge in front of scientists’ eyes. But this seems to be happening in eastern North America
Oct 31st 2015
LIKE some people who might rather not admit it, wolves faced with a scarcity of potential sexual partners are not beneath lowering their standards. It was desperation of this sort, biologists reckon, that led dwindling wolf populations in southern Ontario to begin, a century or two ago, breeding widely with dogs and coyotes.
…
Even wilier
Some speculate that this adaptability to city life is because coywolves’ dog DNA has made them more tolerant of people and noise, perhaps counteracting the genetic material from wolves—an animal that dislikes humans. And interbreeding may have helped coywolves urbanise in another way, too, by broadening the animals’ diet. Having versatile tastes is handy for city living. Coywolves eat pumpkins, watermelons and other garden produce, as well as discarded food. They also eat rodents and other smallish mammals. Many lawns and parks are kept clear of thick underbrush, so catching squirrels and pets is easy. Cats are typically eaten skull and all, with clues left only in the droppings.
…
Yet another oligarch is backing Rubio. Maybe the 95% of ‘Muricans who vote for these Oligopoly-backed candidates should ask themselves why they’re bankrolling HillaryJeb, Rubio, and their ilk. Hint: It’s a big club and you ain’t in it.
http://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-just-won-an-influential-billionaire-donor-to-back-his-presidential-campaign-2015-10
Rubio has 0.0 chance of being the nominee or elected. It is amazing to me that smart people are willing to pour money down that hole, but I guess it’s all a game.
I wish that were true, but you seem to be overlooking the fact that 95% of the electorate are stupid, and will therefore vote for an Oligopoly water carrier like they do every election. Since the loser Jeb looks set to be jettisoned by his .1% paymasters, Rubio is the new cardboard cutout to serve as their errand boy. So now it looks like HillaryRubio (same thing) will be our next prez.
I found this to be an interesting read and the Californians who frequent here may have an interest as well.
http://www.newgeography.com/content/005083-is-california-s-bubble-bursting
“California has a long history of boom and bust cycles, but over the past 25 years or so, California’s cycles appear to be becoming more volatile, with increasing frequency, higher highs, and lower lows. The fast-moving business cycle may not provide the time necessary for many people to recover from previous busts, and may be too limited in its impact. Even now, 22 of California’s 58 counties have unemployment rates of 7.5 percent or higher. Eleven California counties have unemployment rates of at least nine percent. And these, we are told, are the best of times.”
nothing has changed but forgiving debt and people taking on new debt. A recovery based on asset bubbles is clearly not sustainable but no one cares.Uncle fed will print a bunch more cash and buy up distressed assets again.
And these, we are told, are the best of times.
I only visit California once or twice a year, but I’ve never heard anyone anywhere in America say that there are the best of times.
The drought costs CA a few billion $ and 10’s of thousands of low paying jobs. Might be a temporary blip, if El Nino plays out. High paying, college grad jobs are still here.
Decades ago I read a novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle that includes Orange County in it. And another novel, by Vernor Vinge that has the California coastal areas involved. All high tech stuff. As a kid in the 60s I lived in a small town near Yosemite on the west slope of the Sierras. I would hear the adults mention my town’s name, followed by California and my brain somehow thought they were synonyms. As a teen, I knew much better, knew the 50 states, but couldn’t care less about the idea of leaving California ever again, even for a vacation. Later I lived in Arizona for nineteen years and spent a year at a time in three places along the Atlantic coast and gulf coast.
California has its problems, but the entrepreneurial spirit prevails despite the lieberal loons who insist they rule us. I live here in defiance of them, and most of us here break victimless crime laws every day. I am one of them. There is a spirit of voluntaryism here. Many people do not realize they live the voluntaryist philosophy daily. Some of the same snicker about libertarian’s, not realizing they live qua voluntaryism, or libertarianism. I saw enough of the world and traveled to interesting places and met interesting people, but I get inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit only in Orange County.
Yesterday I solved a problem in open source crypto software that someone else claimed to have solved, but passed away a few years ago with his work unpublished. This software is an important stepping stone to decentralize power. Entrepreneurial spirit here.
Bill, I find that same entrepreneurial spirit here in Silicon Valley. It’s somewhat masked by a thick greed layer, but it’s still there.
entrepreneurial spirit
That entrepreneurial spirit is alive anywhere the COL is high i have found… Boulder , CO….etc…. Gotta be at the top of your game to stay in these nice towns.
OC on the other hand is full of frauds leasing Mercedes, pretending to be successful. It lost its charm in 1980.
“OC on the other hand is full of frauds leasing Mercedes…”
Gotta love those $30k/yr carpetbagger millionaires.
In my part of OC a pretty high percentage of people drive economy cars. I suppose you are only thinking Newport Beach.
Good to know you’re out there, Bill.
dwkunkel, though I like OC, I wanted to work in Silicon Valley. I like the abundant rainfall in Northern California. But the really safer places to live are across the golden gate bridge. My part of OC is very safe, and the Irvine software jobs are booming. My foot is barely in the door and I think I can stay in the general area as long as I want to - with relatively short commutes.
The Economist
Leaders
The promise of the blockchain
The trust machine
The technology behind bitcoin could transform how the economy works
Oct 31st 2015
BITCOIN has a bad reputation. The decentralised digital cryptocurrency, powered by a vast computer network, is notorious for the wild fluctuations in its value, the zeal of its supporters and its degenerate uses, such as extortion, buying drugs and hiring hitmen in the online bazaars of the “dark net”.
This is unfair. The value of a bitcoin has been pretty stable, at around $250, for most of this year. Among regulators and financial institutions, scepticism has given way to enthusiasm (the European Union recently recognised it as a currency). But most unfair of all is that bitcoin’s shady image causes people to overlook the extraordinary potential of the “blockchain”, the technology that underpins it. This innovation carries a significance stretching far beyond cryptocurrency. The blockchain lets people who have no particular confidence in each other collaborate without having to go through a neutral central authority. Simply put, it is a machine for creating trust.
…
That’s the ticket! I am working hard to stay in commercial cryptography. Have some cool stuff to add to my resume now. I am gearing to get into the block chain development work as part of the decentralization software. Just need to continue my steady health and diet and moderation and I have the energy to continue at least another decade in this stuff.
From that article in The Economist, it sounds like the technology may have far broader applications than just to currency. Whoever can think of these has great opportunities in store.
Yes, I am glad you read it. I posted that the block chain can store documents and other things.
Our descent into Third World status and depression is accelerating.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-31/shantytown-stockton-california-usa
Here’s what some of the freeway underpasses in L.A. look like …
https://www.google.com/search?q=freeway+underpass+homeless&biw=1360&bih=617&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CBwQsARqFQoTCOWQmIuI7cgCFQfiYwodmUECqA
I wonder how long until they show up on zillow?
“Here’s what some of the freeway underpasses in L.A. look like …”
Why don’t these underpass losers move east to the high desert where there’s lots of space… nobody to hassle you, etc., seems like a no brain’er?
Here’s L.A.’s skid row …
https://www.google.com/#q=la+skid+row+pictures
Here’s Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley …
https://www.google.com/search?q=telegraph+avenue+berkeley+homeless&biw=1360&bih=617&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCoQsARqFQoTCOeblreJ7cgCFUg3PgodJkQAkg
Slab City, … anyone?
https://www.google.com/search?q=slab+city+ca&biw=1360&bih=617&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCgQsARqFQoTCLiTtO2J7cgCFQo6PgodrzkCzA&dpr=1
Everything I know about Stockton I learned on Sons of Anarchy. never been there.
The Republicrat duopoly annoints another Oligopoly stooge.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/10/31/weve-all-been-had/
Hehehehe….
http://www.businessinsider.com/protesters-shouted-over-hillary-clinton-as-she-tried-to-court-black-voters-2015-10
Does anyone know which soup kitchen ABQ Dan is frequenting these days?
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/10/30/is-chinas-economy-even-worse-than-suspected/
I think he just got tired of sharing his brilliant insights on the Chinese economy and on oil production and prices with people who didn’t get it. I’m sure there is still plenty of time for oil to rise back above $80/ bbl by December 2015, as he often asserted here that it would.
More rigging of the PM markets.
http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/blatant-goldsilver-manipulation-reflects-the-complete-corruption-of-the-u-s-system/
Germans, like ‘Muricans, are getting what they voted for.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/30/merkel-pressure-refugees-germany-talks-government-divided-crisis
WARNING:
What is written above the wnd article is a joke.
It is not meant to offend anyone or have my sorry @ss scapegoated and sent to jail for causing something “spontaneous”.
Anybody here seen 7,000 Muslim migrants?
Can you tell me where they’ve gone?
We see a lotta people but still Brandenburg is short some
You know I just looked around and they’re gone
Anybody here seen my old friend Muhammad?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walkin’ up over the hill
With Ahmed, Jaafar, and Isaam
—————————————————————————-
Thousands of Muslim migrants ‘disappear’ from camps
But U.N. Agenda 2030 has a fix: Step right up for your ‘universal ID’
Published: 17 hours ago
Leo Hohmann
Where oh where have the Muslim migrants gone?
That is the question German authorities are asking themselves after some troubling reports of disappearances.
According to German press reports, keeping track of all the Muhammads and Alis pouring across borders is proving ever so tricky for European countries being flooded with people on the move from the Middle East and Africa.
Now, the United Nations is partnering with a private company to offer a solution – a new “universal” identification system that will comply with the United Nations’ sustainability goal of having biometric identification “in the hands of every citizen” in the world by 2030.
As author-blogger Pamela Geller noted this week, citing German press reports, more than one in two refugees from one camp went missing and are now unaccounted for and considered “on the run.”
At least 580 refugees initially were reported to have disappeared from Camp Shelterschlefe.
Now, in a “terrible new twist,” the disappearances are spreading.
“It’s become an epidemic,” Geller said. “7,000 migrants have left the Brandenburg shelters. Where are they going? Who is sheltering these illegals, many with ties to ISIS?”
“They are simply not there anymore,” the news outlet reports. Refugees disappear daily from the initial welcoming centers in Brandenburg without giving notice.
Authorities said they believed the missing persons to be heading on their own to stay with family or friends already in Germany or in other countries throughout Europe, or at least that’s the hope.
Several hundred migrants have disappeared each week since the beginning of September without signing in, Ingo Decker, the spokesman of the Potsdam Ministry of the Interior, told Die Welt.
“Eventually, these refugees are simply not there anymore,” he said.
On Wednesday alone, more than 600 people left the welcoming center, Susan Fischer, the deputy ministry spokeswoman, reported to the newspaper. According to official figures of the state government, more than 17,000 newcomers came into the country since early September. About 7,800 have been housed in cities and villages, about 2,700 people are still in the initial reception centers. That leaves at least 7,000 who have left and are AWOL.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/10/thousands-of-muslim-migrants-disappear-from-camps/#UvieeXtERIlmEodK.99
Germans love their solitary walks in the wooded countryside. Wait until they start disappearing as well, once they encounter the missing “refugees.”
Jeb and Rubio - birds of a feather - go way back, and are hustling for the same pimps.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-17-year-story-behind-marco-rubios-cutdown-of-jeb-bush/2015/10/30/8edbf65c-7f13-11e5-beba-927fd8634498_story.html
Now what? Since the corps with record profits a few years ago did not hire, what happens with less then stellar profits? Got trickle down?
Greece unfixed…and the Eurozone financial crisis will soon be roaring back.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-31/greek-bad-debt-rises-above-50-first-time-ecb-admits
My salary went up 3%. First increase in 26 months. Basically it’s like a cost of living raise (I am an employee at a small software company based in Southern California). My rent went up 5%. After deductions my additional rent increase is about a third of my monthly increase in direct deposit.
If I was in my 20s this would not be good news. But I am in my late 50s and will downsize (again) at some point before retirement.
I can say I have even more money to throw away thanks to renting while FBs all around me are walking away from blue houses on Zillow.
Good for you Bill.
A sociopathic future oligarch in the making.
http://www.businessinsider.com/heartbreaking-details-emerge-at-owen-labrie-sentencing-2015-10
Comrade Pelosi must be salivating at the prospect of importing and signing up millions of new votes-for-entitlements lifelong Democrats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/world/europe/a-mass-migration-crisis-and-it-may-yet-get-worse.html?_r=1
Santa Barbara County, CA Housing Prices Drop Like A Rock; Down 9% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/santa-barbara-county-ca/home-values/
how much cash have u left on the table not buying stocks and homes?
Is this 2009?
How much farther are commodities destined to drop after the inception of liftoff?
The trouble with liftoff is that it will be brought on by cascading defaults. There will be a whole lot of hurt, and it won’t be from an incremental increase in bank overnight Fed rates.
Just because an economic statistic has reached a 30-year low doesn’t mean it can’t go a lot lower for a lot longer. There is plenty more downside exposure from 63.7% to 0.0%.
Demand has only begun to crater, especially at today’s ridiculous price levels.
12:33 pm ET
Oct 27, 2015
Economy
The Homeownership Rate Is Near a 30-Year Low. Could It Be Hitting Bottom?
Census Bureau
Homeownership
Real Estate
By Laura Kusisto and Kris Hudson
CONNECT
Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, said the numbers could show that the homeownership rate, which has been declining steadily for a decade, is finally leveling out.
The homeownership rate remained near its lowest point in three decades in the third quarter, but economists said the good news is that it may not go much lower.
Not seasonally adjusted, the homeownership rate ticked up slightly to 63.7% from 63.4% in the last quarter–still near its lowest point in 30 years.
The seasonally adjusted homeownership rate remained at 63.5% in the third quarter, according to estimates published by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, unchanged from the quarter earlier.
…
I must be dreaming. I found a Democrat politician I agree with on an issue. This young lady is a veteran of two deployments in Iraq and won several medals. She basically demands the U.S. and the CIA back out of Syria because the actions are threatening to cause WWIII.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-31/congresswoman-calls-us-effort-oust-assad-illegal-accuses-cia-backing-terroists
Why Did San Francisco’s Last Gun Shop Close Its Doors?
High Bridge Arms gun shop refused to handover customer information to police.
Alex Manning|Nov. 1, 2015 9:30 am
Over the weekend, San Francisco will lose its last gun store: High Bridge Arms.
Why? The city has mandated that gun shops hand over information about its customers to the cops.
“Just the idea of giving that information willingly to the police department, for no real reason, seemed very unreasonable to me.” says Steven Alcairo, the general manager of High Bridge Arms. Alcairo notes that the store already complies with all federal and state reporting requirements.
Mark Farrell, a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, was behind the local ordinance. The ordinance places new requirements on gun shops like High Bridge Arms, such as videotaping everything that happens in their stores and providing the San Francisco Police Department with weekly updates on customers and purchases.
“I would never introduce legislation to hurt a small business in our city,” Farrell told the local NBC affiliate. “However, if a gun store in particular wants to close as a result of it, so be it.”
High Bridge Arms’ website says the shop was opened in 1952 by the renowned Olympic shooter Bob Chow. It was later bought by Andy Takahashi in the late 1980s. It was Takahashi who made the decision to close the doors.
“You know, I think I would like it if San Franciscans would just kinda take a look at this,” says Alcario. “We decriminalized medical marijuana, we pioneered equal rights. But in the same town you’re gearing laws specifically to make it hard on me,”
Why Did San Francisco’s Last Gun Shop Close Its Doors? - Hit …
reason.com/blog/2015/11/01/why-did-san-franciscos-last-gun-shop-clo - 159k - Cached - Similar pages
8 hours ago