Bits Bucket for December 28, 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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People with mortgages are trapped.
People with mortgages are a blessing.
Analyze an amortization schedule of a 30 year loan. The interest is front loaded and the odds of u making it to payoff are slim.
The avg person moves every 7 years. So the only real hope of making money in that house is via market appreciation.
Other than that you will pay a lot of interest to the banks.
But if it’s the same as rent then you get MID and some freedom?
It is possible to FSBO, especially if the market is hot.
Even it it were(it’s not), there are losses to depreciation at $2-$3/sq ft every year, taxes, insurance, etc.
Right now rental rates are 50% less than the bare mortgage premium.
Not here they aren’t
Of course, there are plenty of jobs here.
Nonsense. Prove it. Jobs or no jobs.
How much front loading is entirely dependent on the interest rate.
At 4%, 30% of your first month’s payment goes to principal reduction.
At 7%, 12% goes to principal reduction.
At 10%, 5% goes to principal reduction.
You are dead on right about moving…after 7 years, none of the above pay down more than 10% of the loan, and the only one to actually pay down more than the cost of sales commission is the loan at 4%.
As I’ve said, you should only consider buying a home (key word, consider) is if you are very unlikely to need/want to move in at least the next 10 years.
And that’s a small subset of the population.
And a full 65% goes out the window and counted as a loss at current grossly inflated asking prices of resale housing.
Data my friend…. data.
Seattle, WA Housing Prices Crater 6% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa-98199/home-values/
They serve a purpose in our society….they make banksters richer.
“… they make banksters richer.”
All it takes is a pen and a dotted line.
It’s quite amazing if you care to spend some time thlnking about it: Builders, developers, realtors - hustlers of all types work their butts off to create a market of which they (if they are lucky) will get to enjoy a one-time hit if their efforts succeed, while I, due to these pukes’ efforts, get to enjoy numerous hits - hits month after month after month - and my part in all of this is to simply sit back and wait for the marks to be brought to me so as to borrow from me huge sums of money that isn’t even mine.
Bahahahahahahaha … who is it that is considered to be America’s hero this time of year? Why it’s George Bailey, George Bailey the lender!
Bahahahahahahaha … dumb ‘em down, and profit.
Don’t you think you could declare “mission accomplished” on the dumb ‘em down mandate, Mr. Banker?
Christmas stories of, new windows, furnaces failing, new epoxy garage floors…..
renters stories, fishing trips, restaurants, Tinder
what happens when you try and substitute fiat currency for wealth?
When 95% of the electorate are stupid, they sanction such corrupt central planning efforts by voting for the Oligopoly’s annointed puppets who then proceed to screw them blind. ‘Murica!
Fiat was basically meant to facilitate transactions of wealth I thought?
It makes it easier and quicker for people who wanted to do business together via products or services.
We now have a system that appears to be creating fiat and calling it wealth. Is that possible? The real wealth appears to go to the folks who use this newly created fiat to purchase real assets.
It seems all this bank credit and monetary inflation that is being created is out of balance with the real wealth that is being created and produced.
Are we really gaining anything except higher prices?
It seems like to create wealth you have a couple choices. You can work and produce goods and services to sell. Or you can try and inflate the monetary value of existing wealth(assets).
Or, you can just borrow more money than you’ll ever be able to pay back.
Apparently a higher and higher average standard of living for everyone worldwide and in the US and no consequences for going all in and leveraging beyond the hilt. Our cars, houses, electronics, entertainment options, food, exercise options, and opportunities for education have never been better.
People on welfare have smartphones and YouTube educational opportunities J Paul Getty and Howard Hughes could only dream of.
“People on welfare have smartphones and YouTube educational opportunities J Paul Getty and Howard Hughes could only dream of.”
Ripe red meat for Monday morning…
Not sure whether it’s Xmas holiday from DNC/SPLC or a ban, but pineapples left poor scdave out all lonesome today (milkymike ain’t much backup). Oh well, here’s more red meat. I’ll post again tomorrow because it is too important to leave to late in the day:
http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/27/you-only-think-you-know-how-many-illegal-immigrants-live-in-the-us/
People on welfare have smartphones and YouTube educational opportunities J Paul Getty and Howard Hughes could only dream of.
You can lead a horse’s ass to knowledge, but you cannot make him think.
‘Murica!
http://abcnews.go.com/US/mall-mayhem-1000-teens-shut-kentucky-mall/story?id=35963312
What percentage of these feral youts grew up with a father?
But my betters inform that we’re not allowed to asked that question
Cloward-Piven is real
Forward
Goon, I’m sure these “teens” represented a broad cross-section of our ‘Murican socioeconomic strata. Our MSM truth-makers would have informed us had it been otherwise.
Yeah, the MSM deprives you of the satisfaction of looking down on some group of people. And you could really use that right about now. It’s so much fun to fell that you’re part of a group that’s better than some other group.
Goon, I’m sure these “teens” represented a broad cross-section of our ‘Murican socioeconomic strata. Our MSM truth-makers would have informed us had it been otherwise.
I stand corrected….
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/28/2000-teens-involved-riot-shuts-kentucky-mall/
Yeah, I said it, hug a cop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ee6xrIGhcY
Will China be the first Ponzi market to implode despite massive “stimulus”?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/12071479/Global-stock-markets-lose-ground-as-Chinese-industry-reels.html
Bradly Effect in Reverse
The Effect was so-name because because the Mayor of LA always did far worse in actual elections compared to his poll results.
I wonder if the opposite won’t happen with Donald Trump. Either Republican poll respondents are too timid to answer honestly, or they are too paranoid to answer the phone. In any case, the pundits may be surprised if Trump distances Cruz in a caucus state like Iowa.
Yes, a buddy of mine forwarded this study to me, which states that Trump’s support is underestimated:
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/politics/donald-trumps-support-underestimated-polls-show
Over the Christmas holiday, I found out that my sixteen year old niece is an exuberant Trump supporter. Her parents sort of laughed nervously and didn’t say much either way. They are in what used to be called the “upper middle class”, hanging on by their fingernails in the Northeast. They don’t talk much about politics, never have. They’re part of the large group of people whose gigs depend on holding politically correct views, at least outwardly.
Trump is now the R nominee. He and Hillary are slugging it out on Twitter already over Bubba’s terrible record of abusing women.
I still think the R establishment is going to try to scuttle him, but maybe not.
He’d have to deal with a very treacherous R Congress. I watched video of some jerk R Senator from Nebraska giving a speech on the Constitution, separation of powers and trashing Trump at the top of the speech.
I doubt he’s much afraid of an R Congress. He’s a deal maker and has been running rings around guys like that for years. He won’t be afraid to call them out, just like he did on immigration.
And there’s this:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-27/trump-voters-are-not-just-angry-they-want-revenge
Frank Luntz is a Republican operative and consultant. Early on in the campaign, after Trump first announced his candidacy, he and Trump had a bit of a Twitter war. Trump mentioned that Luntz solicited him for business in the past and that he wasn’t interested.
Luntz later changed his mind somewhat, at least publicly, about Trump and posted some kind words somewhere and Trump thanked him. I follow Trumps’ Twitter feed and it is interesting to see that even though he savages people if they go after him, he can be very benign later on if the person changes their point of view.
That’s one of the reasons Trump is a good negotiator. He’s always willing to conference with the enemy if they come around to his point of view. That is how peace accords are accomplished.
Make no mistake, it’s not revenge they are after, it’s a reckoning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jInmg8iTKWs
Anyone who has ever read anything on Trumps negotiating style knows he is big on asking for 10, when he’ll settle for 5 and also saying outrageous things to set the opponent back on their heels to start the negotiation in more fertile soil for himself.
This is what he did on the Muslim immigration pause issue. Pause all Muslim immigration, settle for pausing a smaller fraction of those with ties to certain middle eastern countries wearing hijabs. His opponents foolishly mischaracterized what he said now giving him even more room to appear reasonable.
also saying outrageous things to set the opponent back on their heels ??
LOL….Yeah, he is a real bad-a$$….Take his money away and he could to hold a job at Wal-Mart….
By labor day 2015?
By labor day 2015 ??
I suggested he would be gone by Thanksgiving….I underestimated the moronic types that encourage this guy…I hope he gets the nomination…It will be pay-back for the GOP moderates that embraced the the nut jobs in their party over the past 8 years…You reap what you sow…Enter stage right;
TRUMP….
Bernie wishes the nutjobs would vote for him.
I suggested he would be gone by Thanksgiving….I underestimated the moronic types that encourage this guy…
While sheeple like you toss George Soros’ salad with your votes for Obama and Hillary, the “moronic types” are flipping the Oligopoly the bird with their votes for Trump.
By Labor Day 2016! Winner of the Golden PorkChop of the Day award. Too funny.
I can only dream we could one day get a “5″ with the obama Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement.
Right now we are at a -3
the obama Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement ??
The Republican controlled House & Senate Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement….
There…I fixed it for you…
the obama Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement ??
The Republican controlled House & Senate Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement….
————-
The excuses progressives come up with to defend obama.
Kinda like the SS in the final days of the 3rd Reich in Berlin.
The excuses progressives come up with to defend obama ??
No excuses for the right wingers…Has little to do with policy…Their hate for the black man is open and obvious…
Racial hatred, there it is. It’s all about that perception by the left that everyone is racist. Racial group identity political pimps your time to be Trumped has come.
asking for 10, when he’ll settle for 5 and
This is almost precisely what he did with Forbes Magazine’s Wealthiest Americans feature. Trump swore up and down that he was worth $10 billion, probably because it was a nice round number. Forbes did the analysis an arrived at $4.5 billion.
I sort of understand the negotiating style for finance or real estate, but not with the nutty leaders in the Middle or far East. What if they take his outrageous statements and demands seriously and (over)react accordingly?
“What if they take his outrageous statements and demands seriously and (over)react accordingly?”
Negotiation, haggling is a feature of trade in the ME, going back centuries. Trump will be able to handle this, as evidenced by the recent Dubai dust-up. No worries.
I think Trump would be a disastrous president.
That said, Obama has been terrible at the negotiating table–it’s hard to see how Trump would be worse at negotiations.
Two items stand out:
1. Per Woodward’s book, at the last minute, Obama reversed his direction in a key budget negotiation with Boehner, demanding greater revenues from tax increases on a big budget deal at the 11th hour due to his expectation of political perception. It was like starting at 10, close to an agreement at 5 or 6, and then at the last minute (after all the stakeholders on the other side had been convinced 5 or 6 was the best they could do), demanding 8.
2. When Obama had all the political power, he steamrolled the other side (and thus getting no R votes on the ACA, few, if any R votes on his first stimulus bill, and very few R votes on Dodd Frank). Anyone who has been part of negotiations when you have all the power know that you give the powerless side some “wins” because you won’t always have the power in the relationship. There was no “buy-in” by the right on the ACA or Dodd Frank…making changes to these laws will be impossible.
Trump plays hardball.
Democrats and the MSM usually expect the GOP nominee to be a vicious as a fuzzy lapdog.
——————
Donald Trump Is Exactly Right About Bill Clinton
RedState | Streiff
Now, as polls show Clinton neck-in-neck with all her potential GOP challengers and that two-thirds of the nation thinks she is a crook and can’t be trusted, she is calling on her “husband”, former president Bill Clinton to campaign for her.
This, naturally, has provided fodder for Donald Trump’s twitter account.
Hillary Clinton has announced that she is letting her husband out to campaign but HE’S DEMONSTRATED A PENCHANT FOR SEXISM, so inappropriate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2015
He is absolutely right. Bill Clinton is a serial sexual predator. There is no other way to describe him. Women, particularly young women — though he doesn’t seem to be particularly deterred by homeliness — are a perk of his position. If he’s in the mood, they are in danger.
It is also well known that Hillary Clinton has been actively involved, throughout Bill Clinton’s public life, in bullying and intimidating into silence women who had the temerity to come forward and demand justice.
Hillary knows how vulnerable she is to Bill Clinton’s record and the inevitable disclosure of more Clinton paramours and sexual assault victims. Already we know about a mistress the Secret Service calls The Energizer Bunny. And we know Clinton was an intimate of known pedophile/ephebophile Jeffrey Epstein, logging dozens of trips on Epstein’s private plane dubbed “The Lolita Express.”
Yeah, if I’m Hillary, I’m not going there.
Soros lashes out at Trump. Best. Endorsement. Ever.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-28/nervous-george-soros-lashes-out-donald-trump-he-wants-you-be-afraid
From the comments:
“So to recap; Soros hates him, The Bush crime family can’t stand him, the Clinton sexual abusers loath him, the media can’t stop attacking him, The globalists at the IMF and UN talk about their Trump outrage everyday, The Obama admin takes shots at him from the ‘White Hut’, the ‘UniParty’ chastises him, The UK government wants to ban him from the country, Mexico & Canada are crying about racism and defending NAFTA, French foreign ministers are going bonkers (gun control subject), the Middle East is in an uproar (how dare you ban our terrorists from entering your country), and Wall Street wants him gone before the gravy train stops.
Did I miss anything?”
Yep, that about says it all. TRUMP 2016!
The Puppetmaster speaks…now watch as the chorus of minions, including our resident Pineapples, dutifully bleats their Two Minutes of Hate for Trump and Emmanuel Goldstein.
Yep, that about says it all. TRUMP 2016! ??
He has not spent any significant money of his own and he won’t…Money is too important to him….Its at the core of his being other than his narcissism…
He needs to set-up a Clinton type charity.
Not only will he then not spend any his own money, he can launder brides, launder foriegn donations and give all his donors a tax deductible write off.
The hypocrisy of the Hillary zombies is frightening.
Presidential primaries are relatively cheap. Cf. Romney:*
In 2008, Romney spent $100 million during the primary ($65M donors, $44 personal), but later pulled out.
In 2012, Romney spent $78 million on winning the primaries. He needed less money than 2008 because he had name recognition, and he declared a little later in the race and therefore ran fewer ads.
Trump already has decades of name recognition, the slobbering MSM lapdogs on both sides are practically running ads for him, and he’s so bombastic that spending $$ on blanket ads likely won’t change voters’ minds anyway. So why bother to spend $$ at this juncture?
IF Trump gets the nomination, that’s when the financial rubber will hit the road. General elections are at least $500M. It will be interesting to see if Trump can raise that from individual donations, or if he will resort to taking dark money, or transparent Wall Street money, or if he actually self-funds by selling off some casinos and golf courses. It will be even more interesting if the establishment GOP makes good on their veiled threat to run an independent, which will raise the price.
It could be that the biggest battle of 2016 will be Trump’s love of money vs. Trump’s love of himself.
—————-
*
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/how-much-does-it-cost-to-run-for-president/?_r=0
http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/25/news/economy/Romney-campaign-spending-vote/
He also uses Twitter 1000% better than any other candidate ever.
It’s minus 27°F here in Gunnison right now, a nice place to visit but I’d hate to pay the heat bills if I lived here.
Region VIII
On the reservoir just west of here yesterday:
http://i.imgur.com/uKudXUZ.jpg
Blue Mesa is nice
Thanks for posting, Goon. I’ll have to check it out.
Ice fishing ??
Queue one biscuit.
Enjoy the snow and the cold for as long you can because this is what awaits:
https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/climate-experts-say-that-winters-are-getting-warmer-and-children-wont-know-what-snow-is/
It’s the end of the world. How do you feel?
http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/its-the-end-of-the-world-how-do-you-feel/62757
It sucked. Boring. Insulting.
I saw the new Star Wars movie yesterday, and that is my critique.
I’ll see it when it comes out on Netflix.
Absolutely no spoilers! Wait 1 more week.
No spoilers…
I liked the original three, disliked the three prequels. I own no Star Wars toys, t-shirts or anything else. Never have.
Someone else paid my way into The Force Awakens. I would not have gone to see it if I had to fork up the money.
I won’t be watching another Star Wars movie. It won’t matter who pays (perhaps if someone pays ME 100 clams to watch the inevitable Star Wars 8, I’ll watch it). Otherwise, not worth my time.
“It sucked. Boring. Insulting.”
Nothing with intrinsic value was transferred, but they still succeeded in moving money from your bank account to theirs. Sort of like doing business with Miss Kitty except that you are still anxious.
There is a lot of money in the entertainment business.folks open up their wallets to be entertained in one form or another.
I went to buffalo wild wings recently and the beer prices were not on the menu, bad sign. I ordered a pint of dogfish and it was 10 bucks. Wont be back there for a long time.
“Nothing with intrinsic value was transferred, but they still succeeded in moving money from your bank account to theirs.”
No, not this time. Someone else paid.
I wasn’t anxious, either. I had no interest in going in the first place (not curious in the least) but went along because I was asked.
Next time I do something for this individual, I’ll shovel the driveway or cut the grass. Both are more enjoyable than Star Wars, both are a better use of time.
“Nothing with intrinsic value was transferred, but they still succeeded in moving money from your bank account to theirs.”
Even if you had paid, that’s quite a melodramatic description of your experience.
Yet not nearly as melodramatic as the halfwit fanboys who are so blindly enamored with the Star Wars brand as to spend hundreds of dollars on crap in advance of seeing the movie!
Disney sure knows how to fluff a fan base. Wow.
Those reading this who don’t consider themselves halfwits might want to take a peek at the viewer reviews on MetaCritic. Lots of commentary there. Might save yourself some money, time and irritation.
You should have seen it in 3D then, Macbeth.
Watch Mel Brooks “Spaceballs” as an antidote.
It sucked. Boring. Insulting.
I saw the new Star Wars movie yesterday, and that is my critique.
Agreed. I actually think the prequels were better. And they were awful.
A horrible film.
Out of deference to others here, I won’t discuss here why it was so awful. It’s interesting what is being said at MetaCritic. Out of nearly 2,300 user reviews, more than 1,500 are negative.
I know u guys are going to stick around and wait for some big collapse in oil prices and miss the boat again.Then I will have to listen to bs about high prices for another 10 years.
Um…yeah…about that…unemployed people in our Obama-Fed-Goldman Sachs “recovery” aren’t doing much driving, it would seem.
http://www.bloomberg.com/energy
who will blink first and cut production? who has the brass b@lls to do it?
You will thank me when goldman is scr@wing you with 150 / barrel again when they go long.
“Obama-Fed-Goldman Sachs “recovery”
Steal from the rich and give to the richest.
This recovery is based on inflated stock and home prices, everyone knows it.
Valuations are a joke for stocks.
Volumes on the stock exchanges are pathetic.
Corporate buybacks and HFT will only last so long.
The smart money knows the party will end soon. They will look you in the eyes and tell you everything will be fine.
You will never time it perfectly. You cannot sit around and wait for a bottom or a top. Take positions gradually.
Looks like Saudi Arabia is under increasing financial strain.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/12071572/Saudi-Arabia-unveils-record-deficit-as-it-succumbs-to-oil-price-rout.html
I think azdude has an interesting point.
Someone is going to be forced to blink. It won’t be the United States.
It is not as if most oil-producing countries have a Plan B. Their economies are hardly broad or dynamic. Their societies aren’t open or innovative.
In short, they’re screwed. As they run our oil industry into the ground, they do the same to their overall economy.
My take is that the future of prices isn’t about blinking. It’s about the long dirt nap. We have just watched the biggest construction boom in history. Without that, there is no reason for commodities to return to bubble prices. In fact, there is every reason for them to continue to fall to long term trend and beyond for quite some time.
Good luck dollar cost averaging into the abyss.
“We have just watched the biggest construction boom in history.”
A boom that was largely financed with borrowed money.
“Without that, there is no reason for commodities to return to bubble prices. In fact, there is every reason for them to continue to fall to long term trend and beyond for quite some time.”
And when the bubble prices fall they will take with them the backing that supplied value to the borrowed money that financed the bubble.
It’s a double whammy situation, a whammy that is immediately done to the equity and a whammy that will eventually be done to the debt that was backed by the whammied equity.
Blue-
It might very well be about taking the long dirt nap.
Note that a long dirt nap is easier to do in countries such as our own as we are diversified. An end to our oil industry need not be a death knell.
An end to Saudi Arabia’s oil industry could very well be a death knell. Or a long, protracted war.
I have no insight into Saudi Arabia’s social spending dilemmas, but their oil industry is going to be fine. They spent the windfall from the bubble on converting over to chemicals production.
Blink? In this context you have to be able to afford to “blink”? (i.e. limit production)
Saudi’s are running a deficit and will tap the credit market again in 2016. Iran? Libya? Iraq? Venezuela? Russia? All will try to pump more to compensate for the lower prices.
I think oil prices will sink until revolution in the Kingdom (of Saudi Arabia) appears.
LOL
Rest of the world is doing such a bang up job, right?
Canada is really hurting… and borrowing costs are rising. Hehe.
If we were a nation of laws, fiddling financial reports would be groups for jailing CEOs and CFOs. However, since 95% of ‘Muricans have sanctioned lying, cheating, and crony capitalism with their votes for the Oligopoly-backed status quo, such law-breaking continues with impunity.
http://www.businessinsider.com/bombshell-report-alleges-theranos-deleted-data-to-make-technology-look-more-accurate-2015-12
Free Jon Corzine!
One full pardon coming-up… the last day in office.
FWIW, SarbOx is supposed to do that. Of curse, if no one will prosecute …
How long can the Wall Street-Federal Reserve Ponzi scheme defer the inevitable financial reckoning day?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-28/even-big-banks-now-admit-it-how-feds-massive-manipulation-broke-market
Protecting and hiding terrorists like the San Berdoo murderers:
http://nypost.com/2015/12/27/evidence-links-mosque-to-san-bernardino-terrorist-attack/
“Don, it’s gonna take a lot more for me to get upset at a woman who enabled a guy who turned the Oval Office into a frat house and his intern into a humidor,”
CNN Cuts Off Clinton Critic for Mentioning Hillary Enabling Her Sexual Predator Husband
Guest made the mistake of not sticking to the anti-Trump script
Infowars.com - December 26, 2015
Don Lemon cut off a critic of Hillary and Bill Clinton mid-sentence earlier this week when he trod upon a taboo subject during an appearance on the CNN safe zone network.
Lemon tried to steer the conversation toward remarks Donald Trump made about Hillary’s bathroom break during the last Democrat debate.
Kurt Schlichter brought up Bill Clinton’s behavior in the White House.
Lemon said the comparison was unfair. He also said Clinton was impeached for his lewd behavior.
Not exactly. Clinton was impeached and subsequently acquitted of perjury and obstruction of justice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvfkFjXNqcU - 359k -
+1
The Hillary worship of the MSM is sickening
The MSM must truly despise the internet. Just can’t shut the people up.
Someone could write a book about the changing narratives of those wanting to control the outcome.
Those wanting to control the narrative are going off the rails. Consequently, expect the already nutty narrative to become increasingly invective.
Those who wish to deny liberty for individuals are at a loss for what to do. But, like rabid dogs, they will act compulsively.
Violence is not off the table as adherents of politically-correct group think succumb to their baser instincts.
Just how strong is the need to belong to a state-recognized maligned group? Will these officially-maligned individuals recognize they are puppets of the state?
To what extent will they willingly cede their personal freedoms in order to belong to a group?
1/13/1999 Flashback…
—————
Clinton Settles Jones Lawsuit With a Check for $850,000
NY Times | 1/13/1999 | NEIL A. LEWIS
Just as the Senate is about to begin President Clinton’s impeachment trial in earnest, Mr. Clinton sent $850,000 to Paula Corbin Jones today to settle the sexual misconduct lawsuit that started it all.
Clinton Administration officials said a check for $850,000, the amount agreed to in November to settle the case, was being sent by overnight mail to Ms. Jones and her lawyers. The officials, who asked that their names not be used, said that a little more than half of the money, $475,000, came from an insurance policy against civil liability the President held with Chubb Group Insurance. Most, if not all, of the remainder was withdrawn from a blind trust in the name of Mrs. Clinton, which officials said last year had assets of slightly more than $1 million.
“Clinton Administration officials said a check for $850,000, the amount agreed to in November to settle the case, was being sent by overnight mail to Ms. Jones and her lawyers.”
Hillary Clinton says she and Bill were ‘dead broke’
By Jon Greenberg on Tuesday, June 10th, 2014 at 6:18 p.m.
She made the comment during an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer. Sawyer pressed Clinton on a reported haul of $5 million in speaking fees.
“You have no reason to remember, but we came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt,” Clinton said. “We had no money when we got there, and we struggled to piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for Chelsea’s education. It was not easy. Bill has worked really hard. And it’s been amazing to me. He’s worked very hard.”
This is all rather reminiscent of what was going on 7½ years ago, which is good news for Hillary.
We’ve never had a bigger percentage of entitlement voters and cretins in the electorate. The Obama Zombies, McCain Mutants, and Romney Retards, while passively stupid, have now been joined by the slack-jawed slugs from our “everyone’s a winner” NEA indoctrination mills and the militantly stupid SJWs and Snowflakes from our university system. That’s the real good news for Hillary.
Channeling Professor Bear, brother from another: Are the BRIC countries stupid for buyin dozens of tons of gold?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-28/hey-goldman-tell-us-are-these-countries-really-stupid-buy-gold
Gold is barbaric relic.
Fiat is not a store of value but it has an unlimited supply.
“… an unlimited supply” that is rented out at terms that are extremely favorable to the lender.
Quite amazing, isn’t it? Successfully dumb down a population and this is the sort of reward one should expect to endlessly receive.
I always liked the X 1-9
“I always liked the X 1-9″
Fiat == Fix it again, Tony
My dad called it an Italian beer can. My sister had an X19 and it was always in the shop. It was a nice looking car though.
I had a friend with one - lime green. In 1981, we left a keg party, middle of the day and he crashed it into a tree.
Fortunately, the top was off so it was easy to get out. Low speed impact? Rigid construction? I don’t know but I walked back to the party.
Another friend had a Pontiac Fiero which I heard was very crash worthy.
Work as a slave paying 60% of your income in total taxes and go home to your closet.
Welcome to democrat/progressive utopia!
But the bars and restaurants are close by!
————–
NYC MAY FIT MORE ‘MICRO’ APARTMENTS INTO HOUSING PICTURE
AP | December 28, 2015 | Jennifer Peltz
The apartments in a new Manhattan building boast little balconies, tall ceilings, dishwashers and storage space. All in 360 square feet or less. It’s micro-living in the nation’s biggest city, and New Yorkers could be seeing more of it. Planning officials are proposing to end a limit on how small apartments can be, opening the door for more “micro-apartments” that advocates see as affordable adaptations to a growing population of single people. Critics fear a turn back toward the city’s tenement past and question whether less space will really mean less expensive.
Czech President: ‘We Are Facing An Organised Invasion And Not A Spontaneous Movement Of Refugees’
AFP - December 27, 2015 286 Comments
Czech President Milos Zeman called the current wave of refugees to Europe “an organised invasion”, adding young men from Syria and Iraq should instead “take up arms” against the Islamic State (IS) group.
“I am profoundly convinced that we are facing an organised invasion and not a spontaneous movement of refugees,” said Zeman in his Christmas message to the Czech Republic released Saturday.
He went on to say that compassion was “possible” for refugees who are old or sick and for children, but not for young men who in his view should be back home fighting against jihadists.
“A large majority of the illegal migrants are young men in good health, and single. I wonder why these men are not taking up arms to go fight for the freedom of their countries against the Islamic State,” said Zeman, who was elected Czech president in early 2013.
For progressives. It is easier to face a big lie than the truth.
—————
Why People Can’t Face the Truth about Obama
American Thinker | 12/28/2015 | Deborah C. Tyler
The psychological processes which prevent people from facing facts when the unthinkable has become obvious can be explained by the models of social psychology called cognitive dissonance theory.
Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress and discomfort caused when important beliefs, attitudes or values, called cognitions, are inconsistent, conflicting or contradictory to each other. In the 1950s the psychologist Leon Festinger theorized that the mind spontaneously, continuously reduces cognitive dissonance to enable goal-directed functioning in a paradoxical, inconsistent, deceptive world. Festinger’s discovery founded a rich tradition of research which has demonstrated how the mind resolves contradictions. It provides a powerful way to understand why people can’t face what President Obama is doing to America.
Research has demonstrated countless times that cognitions do not have to be true to create dissonance, they just have to be believed. Barack Obama was elected to reduce the dissonance between the beliefs ‘America is the land of the free’, and the falsehoods ‘America is still racist’ and ‘President Obama will go a long way to solving the problem of racism.’ Because “America is racist” is false, its corollaries are equally false. ‘We must elect a black Democrat — not black Republican — because Republicans don’t emphasize America is racist. Obama is fabulous, no need to know much about him, or whether he can lead the nation. He will make us feel better about ourselves’.
The loss of opportunities and the diminishing of hopes which Obama’s policies have inflicted create a monumental need for sel-justification among his supporters. “The president shows us America is still racist. We were right all along.”
They have let go the truth that America is about freedom. No one knows how many still stand upon that truth, how many care, or if there are enough big lies left to elect Hillary.
I guess there is a difference in parties…
————–
Cruz on DAY ONE: ‘Rescind every single illegal, unconstitutional’ Obama action
Washington Examiner | 12/28/15 | Paul Bedard
Surging Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz is laying out what would be the most aggressive first day in office every for a new president, starting with the elimination of “every single illegal and unconstitutional” executive action taken by President Obama.
In an epilogue to his father Rafael Cruz’s upcoming autobiography, the Texas senator also said that he would rip up Obama’s controversial deal with Iran, open an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s abortion practice, end the IRS’s “persecution of religious liberty,” and shift the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
“All of that is on day one. It is an example of how quickly things can change,” Cruz penned in his father’s revealing personal story, A Time for Action, published by WND Books. The book’s release date is January 5, but it is available on Amazon now.
“The left, and the media (who are in cahoots), try to convince us that nothing can change. They want us to give up. But strong presidential leadership, backed by the American people, can usher in dramatic change,” wrote Cruz.
Cruz also presented his short term plan to go even further by repealing Obamacare, expanding school choice, moving to “rebuild our military,” doing more to reform the Veterans Administration, taking on ISIS with greater force and securing the border and ending the sanctuary city system that lets cities get away with harboring illegal immigrants wanted by federal authorities.
His Cuban-born father has been a star on the campaign trail for his own story of fighting Cuban authorities, coming to the United States where he discovered the American Dream and eventually becoming a born-again pastor.
Canadian dual citizen. should run for canadian prime minister-ship.
Where is President Obama? He should be on TV calling for new laws and EOs to stop black violence.
—————
America’s Newest Christmas Tradition: Black Mob Violence at Malls
americanthinker | Dec. 28, 2015 | Colin Flaherty
American has a new Christmas tradition: Black mob violence at malls.
In the days before, during, and after Christmas, 15 malls reported large-scale episodes of rioting, shooting, looting, rampaging, fighting, throwing rocks at police, damaging cars and more.
Two black people died.
A survey of the mayhem from around the country.
In Louisville, 2000 black people “rioted” at the Mall St. Matthews. In addition, shoppers report several gunshots. “Riots unfolded at Mall St. Matthews today,” reported WHAS TV news of the day after Christmas mob action. “That violence, beginning around 7, forcing mall officials to close early. It actually spread to multiple locations,” (outside the mall.)
“Why was this whole mayhem involving black kids,” asked one viewer of WHAS. “My wife and I were there plus vids show it.”
The police spokesman said the violence was “random.”
In the Stonecrest Mall in a suburb of Atlanta, video from inside the mall shows a group of black people fighting and pulling each other’s hair. Soon after, the group of about 10-15 moved outside, where the video shows fighting, gunshots, and at least one person hitting the ground wounded, while the other participants shrieked with glee.
Is this the fundamental transformation we were promised? LOLZ
Hope and change…
“people who already have insurance, and the employers who are providing it, we will work to lower your premiums by up to $2,500 per family.”
– obama
———–
Obamacare plans put big dent in customers’ wallets
CNBC | 24 December 2015 | Dan Mangan
You might not be reduced to living on Ramen noodles if you buy Obamacare coverage but your bank account certainly could feel a bit leaner.
A new study reveals that many Obamacare customers pay more than 10 percent of their incomes toward coverage. And the share of income eaten up can be much greater for some people, particularly if they use a lot of health services under their plan.
Where is President Obama? He should be on TV calling for new laws and EOs to stop black violence.
He should focus on skin color? Why should he do that?
Because black lives matter. That’s about skin color, right?
That’s about a concern that police around the country treat people differently based on skin color.
When has he NOT focused on skin color?
nearly every day of term
Mike is right.
I think I remember Obama saying…
You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Richie Cunningham.
So you’ve identified one minute when he mentioned race.
Black Community Isn’t ‘Making This Up’
Maya Rhodan
Oct. 22, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 22:
President Obama defended the Black Lives Matter movement during a panel discussion Thursday, saying the campaign’s grievances are based in truth.
“There is a specific problem that is happening in the African American community that is not happening in other communities,” Obama said toward the end of a wide-ranging conversation on criminal justice reform hosted by the Marshall Project, a non-profit criminal justice news organization. “And that is a legitimate issue that we’ve got to address.”
He added, “There is a specific concern as to whether African Americans in specific jurisdictions are sometimes not treated fairly or subject to excessive force more frequently.”
“The African American community is not just making this up. It’s not just something being politicized,” he said. “It’s real.”
“You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Richie Cunningham.”
OMG! Not Richie Cunningham!
Say it ain’t so!
(okay, it ain’t so)
http://bearingarms.com/happy-days-homeless-richie-cunningham-arrested-machine-guns/
“The African American community is not just making this up. It’s not just something being politicized,” he said. “It’s real.
I suppose it doesn’t matter whether there’s evidence to back this up. In any case, you’ve identified another couple of minutes when he concerned himself with skin color.
“In any case, you’ve identified another couple of minutes when he concerned himself with skin color.”
Thank you sir! May I have another!
Obama: Police who arrested professor ‘acted stupidly’
Thu July 23, 2009
“But I think it’s fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry; No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, No. 3 … that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.”
Obama: Police Acted ’stupidly’ in Scholar Arrest - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZYsW_PxWAM - 189k - Cached - Similar pages
Jul 22, 2009 … President Barack Obama said during a press conference that police acted ” stupidly” in the arrest of prominent black scholar Henry Louis Gates .
MikeyMite is a paid employee of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Obama Uses N-Word In Honest Conversation About Racism: ‘We Are Not Cured Of It’
The Huffington Post | By Paige Lavender
Posted: 06/22/2015 8:32 am EDT
President Barack Obama spoke bluntly about racism in a conversation with comedian Marc Maron for his “WTF” podcast.
“We are not cured of it,” Obama told Maron on the podcast, which was recorded last week in Los Angeles but released Monday. “And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘nigger’ in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don’t, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.”
“The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, you know, that casts a long shadow, and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on,” Obama said.
You might be up to 15 or 20 minutes now during a seven year period. Most of the examples are probably responses to questions.
Obama: America’s ‘Deeply Rooted’ Racism Will Take Time To Tackle
Posted: 12/07/2014 9:55 am EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is prescribing time and vigilance to tackle problems as entrenched in American society as racism and bias.
He also is urging patience, saying progress usually comes in small steps.
In an interview with BET, the president described his conversation with a group of young civil rights activists, including a leader of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, he hosted last week in the Oval Office.
Obama said he told them that “this is something that is deeply rooted in our society, it’s deeply rooted in our history.”
America has made gains, and that “gives us hope” of making more progress, he said.
Obama said he is advising young people to be persistent because “typically progress is in steps, it’s in increments.”
In dealing with something “as deeply rooted as racism or bias in any society, you’ve got to have vigilance but you have to recognize that it’s going to take some time and you just have to be steady so that you don’t give up when you don’t get all the way there,” Obama said.
“You might be up to 15 or 20 minutes now during a seven year period”
I could keep going Mike but you have clearly entered Lois Lerner’s The Dog ate my e-mails zone.
I don’t know what you’re getting at. Should he refuse to answer these questions about racism in America?
What racism SnowFlake?
“Should he refuse to answer these questions about racism in America?”
This is a question?
“The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, you know, that casts a long shadow, and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on,” Obama said.
(Patting self on back), another year of having zero balance on my credit card while dividend payouts from my investing increased.
Slam dunk!
Renting is freedom.
“Renting is freedom.”
I’ll say! Glomming onto huge amounts of money that belongs to one group of people and then immediately lending this glommed-on money to other groups of people offers up and allows enormous - ENORMOUS - amounts of freedom to whomever he is that is clever enough to position himself smack-dab in the middle of this renting situation.
Oh, so now there’s this …
“Could cleaner air be worsening global warming?”
http://news.yahoo.com/huh-could-cleaner-air-worsening-global-warming-143835848.html
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Brown Cloud
Priceless.
in the first nine months of this year, Chinese central and provincial governments issued environmental permits for 155 new coal plants. That’s four new plants a week.
That’s the momentum of massive malinvestment.
Bend over for a final year of hope ‘n change, lemmings.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/article/2000344/
More like, “Stand back and watch the President take another victory lap.”
How’s that hope ‘n change working out for ya, ‘Murica?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-28/obamacare-sucking-10-americans-incomes
When I told my Euro relatives that American pharmacies can’t dispense meds unless a pharmacist with a graduate degree and a six figure salary was present when it was filled, they thought I was joking.
Bigger and bigger government can solve this…
And for the benefit of our non American HBB’ers, meds here are packaged differently here when dispensed. What I saw over in Europe is that if say you were to pick up a 30 day supply of cholesterol reducing pills, that they would be prepacked into a box, with the pills sealed in a little sheet where you pop them out of. The pharmacy attendant would simply verify your prescription, grab the box from a shelf and give it to you.
That’s how we sell “over the counter” non prescription stuff here. But when it comes to prescriptions here, they usually get them out of a large jar, count them, put them into a plastic bottle, and slap a label on it, with instructions. In theory the pharmacist is supposed to check that the prescription is compatible with anything else you might be taking and will give you further instructions and warnings.
Further evidence that a large and significant portion of the lemming-like American public has been successfully and throughly dumbed-down well beyond the point of no return:
“Butts are on the rise! Plastic surgeons see major tush trend as requests for derriere implants and lifts continue to grow - thanks to Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj, and J.Lo
Butt implants and lifts were the second and third fastest-growing plastic surgery procedures in 2014
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons said the trend has continued to grow in 2015
Breast augmentations and facelifts - two of the most popular procedures - are on the decline.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3376356/Butts-rise-Plastic-surgeons-major-tush-trend-requests-derriere-implants-lifts-continue-grow-thanks-Kim-Kardashian-Nicki-Minaj-J-Lo.html
A New York City surgeon says patients bring in celebrity pictures for inspiration, also including Jessica Biel and Sofia Vergara.”
“The short answer is two decades of financial repression and open-throttle money printing by the central banks have destroyed honest capital markets and completely disabled price discovery in the stock market. What is left is a mechanical routine whereby the fast money chases the chart points by the hour and day, while the Wall Street sell-side desperately attempts to lure the retail sheep with yet one more rendition of the hockey stick incantation.
Stated plainly, why would you pay 22.7X for earnings that have dropped all the way back to the level ($90.95/share) reported for June 2013?
This magical inflation of earnings by 15%, of course, is all just Wall Street snake oil. The fact is, goodwill write-offs from failed M&A deals, restructuring charges owing to the closure of facilities and firing workers, charges for the cost of executive stock options, write-downs of inflated mineral and energy reserves and many more like and similar “one-timers” reflect the destruction of corporate cash and other real assets.
At the same time, upwards of $5 trillion of share repurchases and M&A based share shrinkage was owing to borrowed money, not operating cash flow. But with the junk debt market cratering, that artificial boost to EPS is vanishing fast.”
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/safe-on-the-sidelines-405-days-and-counting/
And the winner is…
Top 5 Libtard Fails of 2015 - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPIvbwx-Lcw - 418k -
Another Hillary voter.
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/12/28/what-this-woman-did-at-her-local-wal-mart-made-national-news-288531?hvid=4TFUwx
kind of quiet here. Everyone at walmart clearance sale?
The RageCages are full and work release is suspended until 2016.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GE0lRYmNYjU/TA8Dpj1OYnI/AAAAAAAAAcI/g7Wxl5uMZWY/s1600/rageOMeter.gif
lemmy’s gone
http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3374635/r-i-p-lemmy-kilmister-of-motorhead-has-passed-away/
In November 2005, he was invited to the Welsh Assembly as a guest speaker by Tory Welsh assembly member William Graham. He was asked to express his views on the detrimental effects of drugs, and called for the legalisation of heroin: “I have never had heroin but since I moved to London from North Wales in ‘67 I have mixed with junkies on a casual and almost daily basis,” he said. “I also lived with a young woman who tried heroin just to see what it was like. It killed her three years later. I hate the idea even as I say it, but I do believe the only way to treat heroin is to legalise it.” He stated that legalization would eradicate the drug dealer from society.[32]
Sad that he’s passed.
sometimes in life you need some head bangin music….wild screaming guitars and a good dose of rock an roll to get back on track
Ah, two year notes are on the lift!
.625, .75, .875, 1.00, the yields on them the last three issues and Thursday’s issue.