Bits Bucket for January 7, 2016
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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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The IRS released data this week on the 400 individual income tax returns with the highest adjusted gross incomes (AGIs). According to the IRS data, the average federal income tax rate for the top 400 was 22.9% in 2013, down from a peak of 29.9% in 1995 (though up from a low of 16.6% in 2007).
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/01/hemela-deeper-dive-into-the-tax-returns-of-the-top-400-taxpayers.html
Their average payment of $60.8 million in income taxes on earnings of $265 million brought their average tax rate up to 22.9% that year, up from 16.7% in 2012, which had been near the lowest rate going back to 1992.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/tax-rate-for-top-400-u-s-taxpayers-climbed-in-2013-1451497056
So in 2013 if you made $265 million you paid 22.9%, and if you made $38,000 self-employed you paid 23.0% (standard deduction.)
Meaningless due to about a million different factors but keep pimping
The tax code is plenty long and complicated, and so yes, there are a large number of ways people with smart advisors can limit their tax bill.
HOWEVER, a HUGE factor is capital gains tax rates (including on dividends).
The vast majority of these folks don’t earn $265 million salaries. They make their money through disposition of equity that they own in companies.
My major beef with this rhetoric though is that the income that is calculated is NOMINAL capital gains, not REAL (ie. basis adjusted for inflation).
My major beef with this rhetoric though is that the income that is calculated is NOMINAL capital gains, not REAL (ie. basis adjusted for inflation).
+1, RW. I’m a strong believer in taxing REAL capital gains—but also taxing them the same as income. Why should someone who earns by the sweat of his brow pay a higher rate than someone whose money earns for him?
I would be a HUGE supporter of this, and incidentally, it would make the whole need to completely rewrite partnership tax code for carried interest moot (since carried interest recipients have tax basis of zero, they would have no basis to inflate).
Granted, they would need to rewrite partnership tax code to deal with the flowing through of the basis in any given partnership investment to the various owners, but that would be a different discussion (and basis could be allocated on the basis of capital accounts easily enough).
I haven’t done the math, but I can see how it could even lower effective tax rates as compared to today for retirees who are finally liquidating long-held investments for income, and increase taxes for people who today trade much more frequently.
HUGE?
It’s actually pronounced “YOOJ”, but yes, I would be a strong advocate for such a tax change (meaning I might actually give money to a political candidate who supported this as part of a tax reform package).
lol@Lola.
For the Wealthiest, a Private Tax System That Saves Them Billions
The very richest are able to quietly shape tax policy that will allow them to shield billions in income.
By NOAM SCHEIBER and PATRICIA COHEN DEC. 29, 2015
WASHINGTON — The hedge fund magnates Daniel S. Loeb, Louis Moore Bacon and Steven A. Cohen have much in common. They have managed billions of dollars in capital, earning vast fortunes. They have invested large sums in art — and millions more in political candidates.
Moreover, each has exploited an esoteric tax loophole that saved them millions in taxes. The trick? Route the money to Bermuda and back.
With inequality at its highest levels in nearly a century and public debate rising over whether the government should respond to it through higher taxes on the wealthy, the very richest Americans have financed a sophisticated and astonishingly effective apparatus for shielding their fortunes. Some call it the “income defense industry,” consisting of a high-priced phalanx of lawyers, estate planners, lobbyists and anti-tax activists who exploit and defend a dizzying array of tax maneuvers, virtually none of them available to taxpayers of more modest means.
In recent years, this apparatus has become one of the most powerful avenues of influence for wealthy Americans of all political stripes, including Mr. Loeb and Mr. Cohen, who give heavily to Republicans, and the liberal billionaire George Soros, who has called for higher levies on the rich while at the same time using tax loopholes to bolster his own fortune.
All are among a small group providing much of the early cash for the 2016 presidential campaign.
Operating largely out of public view — in tax court, through arcane legislative provisions and in private negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service — the wealthy have used their influence to steadily whittle away at the government’s ability to tax them. The effect has been to create a kind of private tax system, catering to only several thousand Americans.
http://www.nytimes.com/…/for-the-wealthiest-private-tax-system-saves-them-billions.html -
Including crap like this:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-17/wealthy-clintons-use-trusts-to-limit-estate-tax-they-back
How about depreciating a property that your grandfather paid $40k, he depreciated $40k, your father then depreciated $200k, and you are now depreciating $1 million?
remember that’s reported income.
Most of these guys have trusts off shore accounts or in Romney’s case used financial wizardry to park 250 million in a tax free retirement account. Zuckerberg donated to a charity(wink wink nod nod) that he will control, that will negate the taxes he would have controlled. That will be able to funnel money to his offspring tax free for the rest of their lives. I think Chelsea Clinton has a nice gig like this. So these stats are BS.
I figured Romney was paying an effective tax rate of less than 7%.
Lakewood, CO Housing Craters; Prices Plunge 9% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/lakewood-co/market-trends/
The party-loving mayor who went on the run
Lidiane Leite, who is 25, used to sell milk door-to-door. In 2012, her boyfriend, Beto Rocha (also under investigation), was prevented from standing in the mayoral elections under Brazil’s so-called clean slate law, which bars people from running for political office if they have been accused of corruption.
Leite stepped into her lover’s shoes. Once she was elected, she appointed Beto Rocha her secretary of political affairs, and it seems he became responsible for the day-to-day running of Bom Jardim.
Meanwhile, Leite spent much of her time in the capital of the state of Maranhao, Sao Luis, a four-hour drive away. In the city, she drank champagne at parties, went to the gym and did a lot of shopping. She talked about her lifestyle on social media but as mayor of Bom Jardim she still had to attend to administrative matters. Enter WhatsApp. Setting up a WhatsApp group called “Task Force”, Leite communicated with her secretaries back home.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35242163
politicians you’ve got to love them.
Cut her a break she was only pretending to be in a city in Brazil, Lola pretends he’s in Brazil entirely.
“politicians you’ve got to love them.”
Only if they are thoroughly cooked.
Prices for Brent crude oil, the commodity’s international benchmark, just hit a new 11-year low and is trading below $35 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, is still above its financial crisis-era low, but it’s also below $35 a barrel. This is the first time both contracts have been under $35 at the same time since 2004.
http://qz.com/587587/more-bad-news-out-of-china-means-more-bad-news-for-oil-prices/
Brent currently $33.37
West Texan $32.95
Unemployed people in our Obama-Fed-Goldman Sachs “recovery” aren’t doing much driving or spending.
do unemployed people ever do much? We cant have the gov force co’s into hiring these zombies. Apple has $86 Billion in cash, of course they could hire more floor polishers and parking lot attendants.
So… I guess my ~$30 guess made near the beginning of the oil slump isn’t looking so unreasonable now…
Too bad I didn’t have the time/energy to trade on it.
And opportunities suddenly feel abundant. China, the thorn in the side of many a multinational over the past 18 months, looks likely to provide fertile ground once more, if at a more accessible price point than before as the country’s economy shifts. India too remains promising, while Africa and the Middle East continue look a safe bet to flourish in both volume and value terms. Even the near-flat markets in Europe and North America feel refreshed, with a newfound vibrancy stirred up by start-ups and energetic market entrants propelling a wave of positivity into the New Year and beyond.
http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2016/01/the-spirits-brands-to-watch-in-2016/
Delusion doesn’t run in the Spirit world it appears to gallop. China their last best hope, behave.
The Middle East isn’t a “safe” ANYTHING.
Weather is crazy. Nothing like a 4am thunderstorm blowing rain into your windows to ruin a good night’s sleep!
Godzilla!
I tried not to turn on CNBC. My sister on the east coast was surprised i was wide awake at 6 am returning texts! BTW how is the san diego housing bubble doing now?
I’m eagerly awaiting the news that the same Chinese investors who are currently watching their stock portfolios get vaporized in seven percent daily increments can no longer “afford” to make the all-cash purchases of San Diego homes at price points the locals can’t begin to fathom.
With the PBOC basically printing money to make up the difference in the currencies (dollar and yuan) you have to really question the value of that currency and those inflated home prices. Seems like a massive bubble in LA, San fran and san diego.
Are your investments getting sucked down the drain with Chinese stocks?
Marketwatch dot com
Dow poised for triple-digit loss on China halt, oil slide
By Sara Sjolin
Published: Jan 7, 2016 6:01 a.m. ET
China roils the markets again on Thursday
U.S. stock futures slumped again on Thursday, indicating a tumultuous day on Wall Street as another trading halt in Chinese shares and sliding oil prices fueled heavy selling.
Later in the day, investors will assess the latest reading on weekly jobless claims, ahead of the closely watched nonfarm-payrolls report on Friday.
With losses accelerating throughout the morning, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YMH6, -2.19%) slumped 393 points, or 2.3% to 16,445, while those for the S&P 500 index (ESH6, -2.22%) sank 47.40 points, or 2.4%, to 1,938.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 (NQH6, -2.97%) erased 126.25 points, or 2.9%, to 4,320.25.
The weakness tracked a global market rout driven by more turbulence in Chinese financial markets, which came after the People’s Bank of China allowed the yuan (USDCNY, +0.4574%) to fall further against the dollar.
…
Got popcorn?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-07/china-s-29-minutes-of-chaos-stunned-brokers-and-a-race-to-sell
Got Bitcoin?
Got Gold?
Got out…..in 2015.
You found buyers for your shanties eh Jingle_Fraud?
Is it the big one yet?
mmmm…municipal bonds! Fund buying is going up like crazy. Municipals up about 3 and a half percent just this week. Could be a great year to have lots of $ in muni funds.
“It’s not a financial crisis…it’s a stampede!”
LOL
Five stampede days down, twenty stampede days to go…
This isn’t a stock-market crisis; it’s an outright ‘selling stampede’
Published: Jan 7, 2016 2:13 p.m. ET
Jeff Saut says such stampedes tend to last 17 to 25 sessions
AFP/Getty Images
Watch out for the stampede!
By Mark DeCambre
The market is currently in panic mode. Investors across the globe are wading in a sea of deep red, sparked by concerns about slumping global growth — otherwise known as China.
But Jeff Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James, appears to be suggesting that the selloff that has gripped markets over the past several days is equivalent to what he describes as a “selling stampede” that could last about a month before it’s exhausted.
In other words, he (unlike George Soros) is holding off before calling this a crisis.
“For whatever reason, our stock market, at least at this point, looks like it is involved in a ‘selling stampede.’ Such stampedes tend to last 17-25 sessions with only one to three session pauses/rally attempts before they exhaust themselves, and we are only five sessions potentially into this one,” Saut wrote in research note dated Thursday.
…
Rally attempt number one is scheduled for tomorrow, on the heels of China’s latest round of stock market intervention which is currently underway.
This is where renters get to hang out on a Wednesday afternoon:
http://i.imgur.com/0E6ensP.jpg
Region VIII
No lines at those high-speed quad chairs. Technology!
No lines…..no chair!
http://m.wcvb.com/news/nearly-70-evacuated-after-ski-lift-chair-falls-at-lake-tahoe-resort/37277284
Pop goes the Ponzi….
http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/futures
How’s that hope ‘n change working out for ya, ‘Murica?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-americans-are-one-paycheck-away-from-the-street-2016-01-06
That has been true since Americans left the farm for the factory.
Now there’s a Donkeyism.
No paychecks on the farm back in the day, but ‘yer belly was full.
Soros: It’s like 2008 all over again. Of course Hillary, who is Soros’ new puppet, will bail out Wall Street just like Obama did.
http://www.businessinsider.com/george-soros-markets-remind-me-of-2008-financial-crisis-2016-1
He who panics first, panics best.
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/01/07/oil-plunges-to-32-handle-chinese-stocks-crash-and-are-halted-whiff-of-mayhem-breaks-out/
Another neocon success story, courtesy of John McCain, Hillary, et al.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/12086505/Tony-Blairs-phone-conversations-with-Colonel-Gaddafi-revealed.html
For you empty skulled mollycoddle types, read up.
“The Rule Of Law No Longer Exists In Western Civilization”
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/01/05/the-rule-of-law-no-longer-exists-in-western-civilization-paul-craig-roberts/
If they actually have the Hillary emails, imagine what is in them. Was the whole thing set up to make it harder for the administration to monitor her?
Clearly she has something big on him and he has something big on her.
CRATER:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/business/dealbook/china-shanghai-stocks-fall.html?_r=0
Hillary is sick, senile, incontinent, and the media is lying about it:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/06/law-enforcement-officials-medical-professionals-theres-something-seriously-wrong-hillary-clintons-health/
Same with Bubba, they trotted him out the other day only to have his early dementia rear its ugly head.
Don’t forget “corrupt and venal to her evil core.”
Time to put the old dog down.
Despite all that she is preferable to any Republican candidate.
Sell out that he is, I’d take Rand over her in a skinny minute
Wrong. More Americans prefer Trump over Hillary.
Trump will get squashed like the roach he is.
No, the polls show a small preference for Hillary.
She’s been basically running unopposed in the D primary since Barney is a shill to hand her the nom. Now that Trump’s hitting her hard, expect Schlonging.
I was referring to polls in which voters are give two choices - Hillary or Trump.
Yes she is barely ahead of Trump. But the media and other Repubs has been trying to destroy Trump for months. They give her a pass and her “opponents” like Barney Don’t attack her. Now that Trump is on her there is finally someone calling her out in a meaningful way. But you know that and are a liar or don’t and are just MoronMikey!
You agree that I’m correct about the polls and yet you call me a liar.
You say that Trump is finally criticizing her when all of your favorite crackpot radio hosts and web sites have been spewing nonsense about her for nearly a quarter century.
Lying may make you feel better about life, but it isn’t going to change Trump’s election outcome if he goes up against Hillary.
Mayer: Trump the biggest loser vs. Hillary
Polls show more general election voters prefer Clinton
William G. Mayer Friday, January 08, 2016
Like a lot of Republicans, I have spent the last six months hoping that Donald Trump’s remarkable combination of bluster, rudeness and plain lack of knowledge about the issues would finally turn off the sizable number of primary voters who say they’ll vote for him. Since this doesn’t seem to be happening, here’s another reason not to vote for Trump: There’s almost no chance that he can win a general election. A vote for Trump in the Republican primaries is, in a very real sense, a vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election.
As his exchange with Jeb Bush in the last Republican debate demonstrated, Trump clearly revels in all those polls that show him leading the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Well, next time he’s looking at his poll numbers, he might want to take a glance at how he’s doing in the general election matchups against Clinton, for these polls tell a very different story.
Yes, there is an occasional poll that shows Trump leading Clinton — but there aren’t many of them. Of the 30 national polls taken since August 2015 that pit Trump against Clinton, Clinton led Trump in 25 of them, Trump had a lead in three polls, and two showed a tie. Nor is there any trend that might indicate Trump is gradually narrowing Clinton’s lead. Clinton beats Trump in all of the last 11 national trial heat polls.
…
She is not preferable to ANYONE.
Hillaryous The Unelectable
You probably thought that a Kenyan Muslim Socialist could never be elected.
His predecessor paved the path for an additional 8 years of failure.
Hillaryously unelectable.
Who who be wheeled out today to assure you not to sell so wall street can get out before you?
The chinese stock market is a joke. what a house of cards.
PPT is on the job.
The Chinese PPT is failing miserably at their job.
We could see some real carnage over there with the circuit breakers removed. The avg P/E ratio in china is like 65 where the rest of the worlds markets are < 25.
A 20% decline in one day would not be surprising.
Will they take us down with them?
Um, not all of the rest of the world’s markets have P/E < 25.
Amazon’s P/E ratio is close to 1000.
Put that into your pipe and smoke it.
Amazon is hardly representative of the stock market.
Amazon’s P/E ratio is close to 1000.
Sounds like the market is currently pricing in four or more doublings of AMZN’s stock price, then.
Personally, I am using them more and more—you truly can’t beat the convenience of a couple of clicks and stuff just shows up on your doorstep. I expect them to take a lot more of the total retail sales gross revenue…
“Amazon’s P/E ratio is close to 1000.”
‘Ol bug-eyes probably stokes like a dragonfly to stay alive.
Nonsense! They held it together for over 14 minutes before they had to shut it down.
“The Chinese PPT is failing miserably at their job.”
Darn those cheap Chinese circuit breakers!
Get ready….
http://survivalcache.com/37-things-you-should-stock-but-probably-arent/
Dang! I am missing the birth control.
Don’t forget depends!
Silk shirts and Viagra?
Diversity is our strength….
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/07/knifeman-with-explosive-belt-shot-dead-near-police-station-by-paris-cops/
When you count John Allen Muhammed, the Beltway Sniper, and pull out the padding of the “right wing terrorists” the picture is clear.
Russian Ruble hitting new lows. How long before Russian defaults on its hard-currency debts?
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Currency/USDRUB?countrycode=US
So why doesn’t obama cry at the hundreds of dead blacks in Chicago last year?
So why doesn’t obama cry when muslims kill infidels to impose Sharia Law in America?
So why doesn’t obama cry when illegals slaughter American citizens?
Because he is a globalist first and foremost, national sovereignty is just a nuisance to him and the Soros/Clinton cartel
Trumps crying tears of laughter at these clowns.
At 1:15 where are those hands going?
To flip the page on the teleprompter?
Or are they going to the red pepper before he goes to the eyes at 1:35?
Obama Crying During Gun Control Speech - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCEi_CqPU58 - 245k - Cached - Similar pages
1 day ago … Full Speech
There’s something ironic about a “commander in chief” who bombs the heck out of Syria, fosters armed uprisings elsewhere and who sells arms by the boatload to tyrannical gubbermins like SA, but makes a big deal about individual gun control in the US.
Look in the mirror, Barry Bams. You could use a little “gun control” yourself.
I find it more ironic that right wing nutbags always want increases in defense spending, then insist on the importance of the 2nd Amendment to protect them from their government.
Then they throw away their returning ‘heroes’… All in the name of Jesus.
“Then they throw away their returning ‘heroes’… All in the name of Jesus.”
+1 Plus a huge fugg’n #1. Best comment today, IMHO.
How to Fake Cry
Method 3 of 5: Use Menthol
Rub a dab under each eye. When it’s time to cry, pretend that you are overcome with emotion, then use the tissue to apply just a little of the mentholated rub under the bottom lash line of each eye. Its proximity to your eyeballs will cause your eyes to begin producing tears. Be very careful not to get any of the rub inside your eyes, as this will cause pain and a burning sensation.
Keep the tissue near your eyes until they begin producing tears. It may take 30 seconds or so. In the meantime, make crying noises.
The mentholated rub has the added benefit of looking shiny on your skin, so even if you don’t produce a lot of tears, your eyes will look wet.
http://www.wikihow.com/Fake-Cry - 169k -
so even if you don’t produce a lot of tears, your eyes will look wet.
That’s a good trick. I’m going to try that next time my wife asks me to clean out the garage.
So you’re using ridicule on the president.
Nothing different than what he did to the American public in his speech. It’s for the children . . .
Our copycat state governor mimiced the prez, later on the same day, with his copycat state executive order on guns, with the exact same emotional manipulation. And it will have the same lack of effect, as bad guys don’t follow laws.
One thing is for sure - you don’t ever want to tell your doctor, pastor, or therapist, or put onto social media, that you are struggling with depression, suicidal thoughts, anger, and so on. That is, if you ever want to legally own a firearm.
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at the crybaby….
…And a crybaby conservative to whine about it all day.
In the worst crash this year, the benchmark Sensex on Thursday broke below the 25,000-level by tanking about 555 points to close at 24,851.83, a 19-month low, as global stock and currency markets reeled after China let the yuan fall faster to battle a slowing economy.
The NSE Nifty too plunged headlong as it went below the 7,600-mark by falling 172.70 points, or 2.23 per cent, on massive selling across sectors.
Realty, infrastructure, auto, metal and capital goods were among the worst hit as investors got anxious amid a global sell-off. Power, PSU, oil and gas and banking shares also came under pressure.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/business/market/sensex-tumbles-378-pts-nifty-cracks-7700-on-global-rout/#sthash.blAMuls3.dpuf
Worst crash this year, we have so much more year to look forward too and my guess would be a lot more crashes.
Incredible castles, chateaux, and mansions for the oligarchy, courtesy of our central bankers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/period-property/12056349/Castles-chateaux-and-mansions-Enter-a-land-of-make-believe.html
Those are some beautiful buildings/homes built by the rich of days gone by.
I am kinda glad we have rich folks today who can take care of these places.
I just wish we had rich today who got rich by providing us the products and services we want and desire.
And we threw the rich in jail who got that that way through government bribery and crony capitalism.
As I tell me kids as they oogle a massive McMansion as we drive by…
I couldn’t afford that place even if we got it for FREE.
+1. I love to see the old homes and structures from bygone days when grace and beauty still mattered in architecuture and life in general.
Me too. But they are darn expensive to maintain, which is why so many of them have fallen into disrepair.
In my work travels I have been through a number of midwestern towns, walking around and marvelling at the tree-lined streets with the gorgeous houses and mansions built 80-150 years ago. Then I think of the winter heating bills and it makes me shudder.
Shaker Heights, Ohio
Maison de Lola
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/02/26/nyregion/boxman.480.jpg
Betting against the herd is one thing…betting against the Fed and its insider racketeers is something else. In 2008 we still had real markets. Today, not so much.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-big-short-shows-why-it-pays-to-trade-against-the-crowd-2016-01-07
Get ready to fund more bailouts, ‘Muricans. I’m sure you’ll bend over for the banksters with the same alacrity you showed in 2008 and 2012.
http://www.businessinsider.com/are-charter-schools-the-new-mortgage-crisis-2016-1
Millennials, who were in the front rank of the cretins voting for hope ‘n change, are unsurprisingly broke and using payday lenders and pawnshops. The stupid, it burns….
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/40-of-millennials-have-used-a-pawnshop-or-payday-lender-2016-01-07?link=MW_home_latest_news
75% of ‘Muricans think the government is corrupt, yet 95% of them vote for the crony capitalist status quo. The stupid, it burns….
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/07/75-percent-americans-think-u-s-government-corrupt/
Yes, it could happen here.
Imagine what happens if EBT cards and McDonalds don’t work for a few days…
—————-
Malware Campaign Reportedly Prompts Large-Scale Blackout in Ukraine
Power Engineering | 01/06/2016 | Sonal Patel
Malware has apparently been used for the first time to prompt a large-scale power blackout.
An attack was tied to a Dec. 23 blackout affecting about 1.4 million Ukrainians living in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, reported Ukrainian news media outlet TSN.
ESET said the attackers have been using the BlackEnergy malware family. “Specifically, the BlackEnergy backdoor has been used to plant a KillDisk component onto the targeted computers that would render them unbootable,” it explained.
During the Dec. 23 incident, several electricity distribution companies in Ukraine were targeted. “We can confirm that the BlackEnergy backdoor was used against some of them and that the destructive KillDisk component was also used in more recent cases observed during the week of Christmas Eve, 2015,” said ESET. “Additionally, BlackEnergy was also detected at electricity companies earlier in 2015; while we have no indication of KillDisk being used at that time, it is possible that the cybercriminals were then at the preparatory stage of the attack.”
What’s different about the KillDisk variant detected in electricity distribution companies is that it “appears to contain some additional functionality specifically intended to sabotage industrial systems,” the firm said.
“Firstly, it was possible to set a specific time delay after which the destructive payload was activated. Then, apart from the regular KillDisk functionality, it would try to terminate two non-standard processes: komut.exe and sec_service.exe. The second process, sec_service.exe, may belong to software called ELTIMA Serial to Ethernet Connector or to ASEM Ubiquity, a platform commonly used in [ICS]. If this process is found on the target system, the trojan will not only terminate it but will also overwrite its corresponding executable file on the hard drive with random data in order to make restoration of the system more difficult.”
Red Swan at night, short sellers’ delight.
http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/red-swan-at-night-is-the-short-sellers-delight/
If you like your rigged, broken markets, you can keep your rigged, broken markets.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-07/shanghai-fund-manager-dumps-all-holdings-as-market-goes-insane–ij3q4f91
Chinese stocks supposedly won’t be halted anymore. We’ll see about that….
http://www.businessinsider.com/china-stock-market-halt-suspended-2016-1
Anyone want to place bets on this lasting very long?
Let me get this straight: we add circuit-breakers to markets in order to insert a break in the panic, and give participants time to calm down; then the circuit-breakers are kicking in so quickly that they are causing MORE panic, so we disable the circuit-breakers?
WTF is the logic in that??
Yes, their circuit-breaker collars are set at pretty silly levels (5% breaks for 15min, 7% ends the day), and markets should be allowed to move more than that… But fixing that makes way more sense than disabling entirely.
“Chinese stocks supposedly won’t be halted anymore.”
And the shorts will be arrested for sedition.
This very expensive global warming bullshit has got to stop. Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and our GW scientists are stuck in ice.
Frau Merkel’s “invited guests” give their hosts an object lesson in the blessings of multiculturalism.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/12086473/Suspects-in-Cologne-sex-attacks-claimed-to-be-Syrian-refugees.html
Soros must be losing money, as it seems like he’s pitching for bailouts.
Marketwatch dot com
U.S. & Canada
Market Extra
George Soros calls this ugly market rout a ‘crisis’
By Mark DeCambre
Published: Jan 7, 2016 9:27 a.m. ET
Soros sees the market ensnared a rout akin to the 2008 financial crisis
Is the market wrestling with a financial crisis as ugly as 2008? It is perhaps too early to tell given that there are just a few days of 2016 trading under investors’ belts. But so far, it isn’t looking pretty.
The unrelenting carnage in global markets certainly has at least one Wall Street heavyweight nervous. Billionaire trader George Soros told the Sunday Times in Sri Lanka on Thursday that the markets are “facing a crisis and investors need to be very cautious.”
“China is struggling to find a new growth model and its currency devaluation is transferring problems to the rest of the world,” the paper reported Soros saying.
China—the world’s second-largest economy—has been at the heart of market jitters over the past several months since its markets cratered in August.
Soros sees parallels between the current early implosion in markets and the 2008 financial crisis, which was fueled by excessive risk taking related to complex mortgage-backed securities.
…
or he’s short the market more likely
A bit late, but I have a prediction for 2016:
Glen Beck will cross over and become the new David Brock.
You heard it here first.
cross over like David Brock?
Yep.
Supposedly new car sales went off a cliff. How can I use that knowledge to work for me? Would this trigger sales?
Collapsing sales results in rising sales? LOLZ
I assume Ethan meant sales as in reduced prices…
Hah yes, sale prices. Ye old chariot still moves under it’s own power but it might be time to buy a new vehicle. I’ve had current car 15 or 16 years.
just lease the new PC’s on wheels (only the dealer can “diagnose” them.
Sensor 45T failed, replacement cost $1254.
Buy Autozone and Advanced Autoparts. THe junks have to stay on the road longer.
I’ll buy them at the firesale. The real fun hasn’t even started yet.
Better yet…. sit tight, hold onto your cash and watch manufacturers ramp up incentives and slash prices.
Remember….. Nothing eliminates poverty and accelerates the economy like falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels. Nothing.
Isn’t the news that there record car sales for the first 11 months of 2015 and then a collapse in December? It’s possible that dealerships may be inclined to cut some nice deals if the situation doesn’t improve.
Snowflake, Dealerships don’t cut deals. Manufacturers do.
Watch, listen, and learn. You can’t know it all yourself. Anyone who thinks they do is destined for mediocrity.
Is Ted Cruz eligible to become Prime Minister of Canada?
Absolutely, he has dual citizenship,
I read today that he renounced his Canadian citizenship about a year and half ago. So we’re stuck with him.
Look for Ted Cruz to be the George Washington of the North American Union. Book it. He IS a Cubadianmurkin after all.
I expect Ted to Cruz the bath houses. Gokkun.
How’s Merkel’s globalism working out for your wives, sisters, and daughters, Fritz?
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/2016/01/more-new-years-eve-fun-in-germany.html
How long can China keep burning through it’s dollar reserves?
http://www.businessinsider.com/china-burned-through-108b-in-december-2016-1
Given that China allegedly runs a trade surplus, if they’re burning through their reserves it might mean that the capital is fleeing China at warp speed.
Update: Dow Craters Another 200+Points
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/DJIA
Wake me up when it craters another 2000 points….
Could it retest the 2009 lows? How much of the so called growth has been due to debt?
Almost all of it since 1980.
Meantime, what’s the difference between cashing in and cashing out? If you sell now, at the current still inflated prices, you are cashing in. A year from now?
Is 400 points in a day acceptable to you?
“Why Bank Of America Just Said To Go Long “Cash & Volatility”, In Charts”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-07/three-reasons-why-bank-america-just-said-go-long-cash-volatility
Old news and 14 months too late. I hope you all got out of debt. You had plenty of time.
How long can broke-ass ‘Muricans experiencing the blessings of hope ‘n change afford to finance ludicrously overpriced housing?
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2016/01/06/its-a-sad-state-of-affairs/
What rigged, fixed and distorted prices(socialism) gets you. And the socialists want more of it.
“A Sad State Of Affairs” - Two-Thirds Of Americans Have No Emergency Savings
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-07/sad-state-affairs-two-thirds-americans-have-no-emergency-savings
It’s not socialism, It’s facism. Our gov is run for the elite. Monopolies, destruction of labor laws, shifting the taxes and fees to the middle class while creating loop holes for the elite, cutting benefits, deregulation of financial sector mean joe 6 pack has no money to spend at joe 12 packs store so all the joes are going to be poor.
Long term democrat rule + insane public unions + huge free sh*t army = misery, ruin and bankruptcy…
——————
Rahm, I Tried to Warn You
Townhall.com | January 7, 2016 | Emmett Tyrrell
Chicago, certainly in its impoverished neighborhoods, is a city out of control. There is a rising call for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s scalp. In 2010, I returned to my hometown and took an interest in Emanuel’s first race for mayor. I even threatened to run against the Godfather, as he is called, to liven things up. Frankly, I could not believe Rahm would really be interested in serving as the city’s mayor. Chicago was already on the verge of ruin. If I were to run, it would be to run a heuristic exercise in politics similar to Bill Buckley’s campaign for mayor of New York in 1965, hoping to educate the local pols on the value of non-governmental alternatives to their policies that had obviously become mired in government, bureaucrac and failure. Rahm and I could debate “the urban crisis” in terms very similar to the way “the urban crisis” of the 1960s was debated. Things really have not changed that much.
Crime, corruption and misgovernment were rampant. Last year, homicides in Chicago approached 470. Gang violence in some neighborhoods is a constant occurrence. The city has strict gun laws, but shootings in poor neighborhoods are a regular event. Public schools are in deplorable condition, with the teachers union promising a protracted strike later in the year, the second such strike during Rahm’s five years in office. City finances are a dreadful mess, and the city’s public school budget is out of balance by nearly $500 million. It hopes the state government can provide the money, but if the state legislature is not forthcoming, then 5,000 teachers are going to have to be laid off by Thanksgiving. The city’s pensions are unfunded, and now comes Chicago’s crisis with its police force. There are demonstrations almost around the clock, and an aide to the mayor was roughed up when he attended services for one of the cops’ recent victims.
What is to be done? On the face of it, things look pretty hopeless. Chicago has been a big government town for years. Charter schools would supply one answer for the education chaos, but the city’s education bureaucrats fudge the statistics so it is hard to say what is going on in the schools, and the corruption of its bureaucrats is almost equaled by the corruption of some of its charter systems. In October, Rahm’s handpicked public schools chief, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, pleaded guilty to accepting $2.3 million in kickbacks (which is probably only the tip of the iceberg). Now under pressure from the Chicago Teachers Union, 42 of 50 aldermen are in favor of calling for a moratorium on charter school expansion. The good news is that there is substantial support among the citizens for expanding charter schools and choice in education in general. That is about all that can be said for Chicago.
Keep Bringin it 2B -
You have to live here to really understand how bad it is.
I even heard this very day from several AFSCME folk that rummy is a snake and no of ‘em can be trusted with nothin!
Thought I would never hear that from the rank and file.
And 2B - on net ILLANNOY lost another 25 k last year - this includes all the schlubs who moved here and I think it was some 150,000 child births.
Folks are just packin and leaving if they can.
Let’s import by them the 100’s of thousands into America.
What could go wrong?
They will vote democrat for generations. That is all you need to know.
———————
The “Monsters” Unmasked: Cologne Police Admit “Most Of The Attackers Were Refugees”
Zero Hedge | 01/07/2016 | Tyler Durden
This week, many German citizens were appalled to hear the details of what allegedly occurred on New Year’s Eve in Cologne.
According to eyewitness accounts and a number of apparent victims, hundreds of “Arab or North African” men engaged in coordinated sexual assaults and robberies across Germany with attacks reported in Cologne, Hamburg, and Stuttgart.
“These people that we welcomed just three months ago with teddy bears and water bottles … started shooting at the cathedral dome and started shooting at police,” one hotel bouncer who witnessed the melee in Cologne said. “Ms Merkel where are you? What do you say? This scares us!,” read a sign carried by protesters in demonstrations held on Tuesday.
While German officials universally decried the attacks, Cologne mayor Henriette Reker drew sharp criticism for suggesting that it was German women’s responsibility to keep would-be assailants at “arm’s length.” Reker dug herself an even deeper hole by saying Germany needed to better educate migrants on cultural norms. “We need to explain to people from other cultures that the jolly and frisky attitude during our Carnival is not a sign of sexual openness,” she said.
Yes, we are indeed seeing “a very differentiated positioning” among states. Take Slovakia for instance, where Prime Minister Robert Fico says his government will not allow Muslims to create “a compact community.” “We don’t want what happened in Germany to happen here,” he said on Thursday. “The idea of multicultural Europe has failed. The migrants cannot be integrated, it’s simply impossible.”
In another point contradict New Year’s Eve employed officials of the official representation. It is said that the offender had gone primarily is to steal from passersby. The sexual harassment were only incidentally happens. “In reality it behaved exactly the opposite,” said Cologne police to “Welt am Sonntag”.”Primarily it was the most Arab perpetrators to sexual offenses or, to put it from their point of view to their sexual amusement. A group of men circling a female victim, closes it and takes on the woman.”
What that seems to suggest is that there’s an effort on the part of some authorities to cover up the involvement of migrants in the attacks, presumably to avoid triggering social unrest. Or, as we put it on Wednesday, “you’d be forgiven for suggesting that perhaps some German politicians are going out of their way to avoid applying negative stereotypes to migrants.”
Globalists gonna globe
Forward
I LOVE IT when liberals and progressives have to live under the laws they voted for…
Sorry - no exemptions for you this time.
————————
N.Y. Restaurant Owners Plead for Mercy as Gov. Cuomo Tightens Screws on Wages
PJ Media | 01/07/2016 | Rod Kackley
More than 100 restaurant owners in the state of New York are begging Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) not to force them to pay their waiters and waitresses $15 an hour. But it’s doubtful he heard them over the roar of union workers at rallies Jan. 4 supporting Cuomo’s call for a statewide $15 an hour minimum wage.
She said her organization’s members would be crushed by a $15 an hour wage mandate, on top of the 50 percent increase in wages for what are known as “tipped workers” that went into effect the last day of December 2015.
The cash wage for tipped employees was raised from $5.00 to $7.50 on Dec. 31.
She warned that if Cuomo follows the Dec. 31 raise with a mandate to double wages for tipped workers, the same people Cuomo says he wants to help are going to lose their jobs.
American Action Forum economists Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Ben Gitis believe job losses in New York’s restaurants could be just the beginning of a boomerang nightmare of unintended consequences.
They warned the state of New York could lose as least 200,000 jobs if a statewide $15 an hour minimum wage is imposed. Other economists warn the state could see close to 600,000 people thrown out of work.
What is coming for the fools.
———————
Cooki: a Desktop Robotic Chef That Does Everything
IEEE | Jan 6, 2016 | Evan Ackerman
CES has only officially been open for like 5 minutes, and already we’ve found something too awesome not to share immediately: a cooking robot from a startup called Sereneti that can handle everything for you, from cooking to stirring to adding ingredients at the right time.
Automation is coming to fast food regardless of what minimum wage is set to be. The first step is ordering from touch screens and paying there with a card, this is already is being deployed. There already is some automation in fast food kitchens, a lot of cooking process, be it cooking fries or burger patties is already “fire and forget”. The bulk of the manual labor is “assembling” the burgers, which can also be automated, but will be trickier.
Yes - it is coming.
With the NYS insane minimum wage - it is going to get there alot quicker.
Even at $7/hr most menial jobs are going to be automated sooner than later. It won’t be long until you can walk into a WalMart and not see a more than a few of the ubiquitous blue vests as droids will soon be loading and unloading trucks, stocking shelves, cleaning the store, etc. Most registers will be self check out.
We have been seeing the fruits of automation for a long time. There is a reason teens have a hard time finding summer jobs. The low hanging fruit has been partially automated and streamlined. Remember the days when every item in the grocery store has a price tag that some pimply faced kid would apply by hand? Or when they would have to manually take inventory so they could reorder stock? Those jobs were labor intensive and have been eliminated via automation.
And automation will also kill jobs in the low wage third world. In fact, it already is.
Angry old white climate scientist
Harperman: Old white Boomers mock PM - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpfxQfi5h8o - 253k -
‘Harperman’ federal scientist Tony Turner retires rather than wait out investigation
The Canadian Press Posted: Oct 02, 2015 3:16 PM ET
The Environment Canada scientist whose anti-Stephen Harper folk song “Harperman” got him suspended from his job is retiring rather than waiting out an investigation into his behaviour.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, the union that represents Tony Turner, said Turner’s retirement took effect this week.
He was suspended with pay this summer for allegedly breaching the government of Canada’s values and ethics code for public servants by recording and posting a song on YouTube that takes the prime minister’s policies to task and concludes that “Harperman, it’s time for you to go.”
Federal scientist put on leave over Harperman protest song
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/harperman-retires-1.3254757 -
I will start writing a protest song the angry old white NOAA climate scientists can use in a couple of years.
All my funding took a dump
When you all elected Trump
Donald man you know you have to go
Does this matter?
‘Fountains’ of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice - a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide
‘Methane fields on a scale not seen before’ - researcher
More than 100 fountains, but could be ‘thousands’
The common name air (English pronunciation: /ɛər/) is given to the atmospheric gases used in breathing and photosynthesis. By volume, dry air contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.039% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases.
0.039% not much a percentage
0.039% not much a percentage
It’s usually watered down.
You people can’t even make up your own jokes. Brain damage due to oxygen deprivation from all the crying. Breathe!
picking up speed DOW -360.15 at 16,546.36
16,519.65
Down 386.86(2.29%)
3:34PM EST
Methane is one of the strongest of the natural greenhouse gases, about 80 times more potent than CO2, and while it may not get as much attention as its cousin CO2, it certainly can do as much, if not more, damage to our planet.
That’s because methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and there are trillions of tons of it embedded in a kind of ice slurry called methane hydrate or methane clathrate crystals in the Arctic and in the seas around the continental shelves all around the world.
If enough of this methane is released quickly enough, it won’t just produce the same old global warming.
It could produce an extinction of species on a wide scale, an extinction that could even include the human race.
If there is a “ticking time bomb” on our planet that could lead to a global warming so rapid and sudden that we would have no way of dealing with it, it’s methane.
And it’s leaking out of the ground in great amounts right this very moment, having already caused the relocation of over 2000 households in the California community of Porter Ranch.
How is this not making the national news every night???
One would think that the climate change crowd would be all over this one. Oh wait, this is one of their “clean” energy sources, LOL!
So many conspiracies, time to retreat to your garden shed lair and wait for Jesus to rapture you away!
Hello Housing Analyst!
How did you know I was Central?
One’s idiolect is hard to mask.
You are a man of rare insight…. Can’t fool you!
Well. It’s time to give up my Central Scrutinizerhandle.
No! There is no Senior Housing Analyst! Only The Central Scruuuuuuutinizer!
One would think that the climate change crowd would be all over this one.
Unless one does the math. The Porter Ranch methane leak is mathematically nothing compared to the methane leaking out of melting Arctic ice.
BBC is covering it: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35244634
The governor of California has declared a state of emergency in a suburb of Los Angeles over the leaking of methane gas from an underground storage field.
Jerry Brown ordered “all necessary and viable actions” be taken to stop it.
More than 2,000 families have been moved from their homes and many people have reported feeling ill because of the leakage, which began in October.
It stems from a vast underground storage field in Porter Ranch, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Typical. You have to go to a news source outside the US to find out what is going on in our own country.
Well, CBS must have been reading this blog, as they finally covered this story tonight on the evening news.
Falling housing prices my friends. Falling housing prices.
Novato, CA Housing Prices Crater 9% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/novato-ca/market-trends/
It could be that while CO2 is very stable–if it goes into the atmosphere, it generally stays there until it is pulled back out.
Methane on the other hand has a half-life of 7 years, and so while the warming effect is much greater, it doesn’t last indefinitely.
I wonder what share of added methane in the atmosphere is from cows?
The other point is that apparently water vapor is expected to be a much greater contributor to warming than either CO2, or methane (by a multiple of 4 or more), and there is widespread debate of how much increases in CO2 and methane add to the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.
That’s the ballgame–how much CO2 and methane increase water vapor in the atmosphere.
Hmmm…Maybe deep well irrigation of dry land isn’t such a good idea after all.
That depends if you think the dropping elevation of central CA is a good thing or not.
If it’s a feedback loop, we could be in trouble quicker than we know.
‘Fountains’ of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice - a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide
‘Methane fields on a scale not seen before’ - researcher
More than 100 fountains, but could be ‘thousands’
Could cause rapid climate change
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2073686/Fountains-methane-1-000m-erupt-Arctic-ice–greenhouse-gas-30-times-potent-carbon-dioxide.html#ixzz3wb0oHMD8
….Scientists estimate that the methane trapped under the ice shelf could lead to extremely rapid climate change.
Current average methane concentrations in the Arctic average about 1.85 parts per million, the highest in 400,000 years. Concentrations above the East Siberian Arctic Shelf are even higher.
The shelf is shallow, 50 meters or less in depth, which means it has been alternately submerged or above water, depending on sea levels throughout Earth’s history.
During Earth’s coldest periods, it is a frozen arctic coastal plain, and does not release methane.
As the planet warms and sea levels rise, it is inundated with seawater, which is 12-15 degrees warmer than the average air temperature.
In deep water, methane gas oxidizes into carbon dioxide before it reaches the surface. In the shallows of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, methane simply doesn’t have enough time to oxidize, which means more of it escapes into the atmosphere.
That, combined with the sheer amount of methane in the region, could add a previously uncalculated variable to climate models.
“More than 100 fountains, but could be ‘thousands’”
I’ve read that it may be 150,000. That’s alot!
Ironically, the place is called “the end of the world”.
http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/siberian-exploding-holes-are-the-key-to-bermuda-triangle-scientists/
Worth a read. Bermuda Triangle explained. Cool pictures. Crater!
The Bog of Eternal Stench!
Has anyone seen the article on the gas rupture in LA?
I think Burning Platform has something on it.
“Methane on the other hand has a half-life of 7 years”
All of the CO2 in the atmosphere is turned over via the oceans in about 7 years, so scientists say. There it is repurposed as plankton. Read more under “Carbon Cycle”. Science is fun!
Turning over (ie cycling into and out of the atmosphere) is different than a half-life.
Methane degrades over time into CO2 and water. About half every 7 years.
CO2 doesn’t really change into anything else, but it does move from the atmosphere to the ocean/plants, and back to the atmosphere.
And yes, science is fun.
RW, yes CO2 does indeed change into something else. It becomes complex Carbon based molecules as it is consumed by plankton (or trees).
I want to know.
Why We The People Of America Should Elect Hillary Clinton To be Our President?????
Because stupid people make bad choices.
You need to pick one. she is not trump
We don’t vote FOR a anyone these days, we vote against the other guy or gal.
Lets just go with Bernie.
oh ya fiscal conservative
lol you are a joke!
No fiscal conservatives are running… Just fools and criminals.
makes it tough, I wish we had a fiscal conservative as a choice. Not $$$$warmonger$$$. Bush war $6 trill!!
The Free Sh*t Army votes.
The Free Sh*t Army votes themselves benefits someone else gets to pay for.
There, fixed it for you….
Like the guys in SE Oregon and Boeing, Exxon, Alcoa, Walmart….
billions in aid.
What a hero you are, boycotting all these industries. Or not.
My boycott will probably just lead to more free sheet for them…billions!!
Right. If it weren’t for loyal hypocrites like you they would all be out of business.
The bootstrappy “conservatives” cry.
US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s solutions that are either unworkable or unconstitutional are an example of agnotology, says Dunning . Agnotology is the study of wilful acts to spread confusion and deceit, usually to sell a product or win favour
Like Iraq war, like ACA?
What Hillary’s programs are workable or constitutional?
Who has the least amount of unworkable programs is the winner.
That wall idea payed for by MX is not helping.
Are you too moronic to figure out how to get that done? Quite simple.
Jesus will float down in his enchanted canoe and declare Trump pope. Mexicans are Catholic, and have to obey the pope.
Even if they don’t know what “agnotology” means?
Clearly too dumb to figure it out.
What do you think about the people who come on this very intelligent block and try to pump up Hillary as well as the Democratic Party? In NYS I have yet to meet one smart person who likes Chuck Schumer, Andrew Cuomo, and Hillary Clinton. But NYS is a Democratic state.
In NYS we get to see “bought and paid for” under a microscope.
Show me a place on this blog where anybody has endorsed Hillary for anything other than not being trump, you delusional nutbar you.
Ah the old, well I’d prefer Barney or someone else. Died in the wool dem operative leftists. Fear Trump chump.
You got nothin but tears, as usual.
Trump is a superb statesman with a squad of sexy strumpets.
Russ…. What kind of man are you that you don’t like sexy strumpets?
Does it seem like your retirement savings are vanishing into a black hole?
‘Muricans might not be so keen on “privatized” pension plans once they see their 401(ks) get vaporized once again by the Wall Street grifters.
Is it time to BTFD yet ray?
Those are sitting in a money market, so no.
A song for Wall Street.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge311sFhC8
Theme for the day - your pick…
Queen - Hammer to Fall or
Big Star - Lord I keep trying……
Polls are open.
Green Day - American Idiot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI
Tom Petty - Free Falling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lWJXDG2i0A
The Tractors - World’s Biggest Fool (for the FBs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqpeKOq3eXk
Mexicans, like Democrats, voted for corrupt politicians generation after generation, and now the institutions of state are all thoroughly corrupted and co-opted by criminals - imagine that. Especially the police. So now communities have to take up arms to see to their own protection. Coming soon to a permanent Democrat supermajority-run dystopia near you.
http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/fault-lines/multimedia/2015/12/fault-lines-mexicos-vigilante-state-full-episode.html
Lets look at G. Bush v B. Clinton
Or Arnold S V J Brown in CA?
DEMs v GOP at POTUS and the DOW?
how come history is dismissed?
I am a fiscal conservative, and I like my $$$
“I am a
fiscal conservativeLola”Fixt for you Lola.
Mafia is a Lola, come help him blow snow. He is too fragile.
That’s your stock in trade Lola.
Open borders ain’t fiscally conservative.
according to the experts we are simply in a correction, not a bear market.
Are these the same experts who said Bear Stearns was fine?
REMAIN CALM
DON’T PANIC!
STAY THE COURSE
Do you have your towel?
Towel Day is celebrated every year on 25 May as a tribute to the author Douglas Adams by his fans.
Walk toward the light.
I find McClellan to be pretty wonky (data driven), and fairly even.
He thinks we’ve been in a bear market since the summer and it is likely to continue through Q3/Q4.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/07/why-the-market-is-a-replica-of-2008–and-how-to-play-gold.html
Will China stocks finally bottom out, now that the circuit breakers are turned off?
I dont get the logic there.
With an avg P/E ratio of 65 why would anyone buy?
Sh@t is gonna really hit the fan as people try to get out through a narrow exit.
Greed turned to fear just like that.
I hope so. I have (FXP) China short.
Seems like China plunge protection is finally working, now that they turned off the circuit breakers.
Go figure!
That switch flips right back on!
Where is the wall?
On October 26, 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Pub.L. 109–367) into law stating, “This bill will help protect the American people. This bill will make our borders more secure. It is an important step toward immigration reform.”[1]
The bill was introduced on Sep. 13, 2006 by Peter T. King (R-NY). In the House of Representatives, the Fence Act passed 283 -138 on September 14, 2006. On September 29, 2006 – the Fence Act passed in the Senate 80 -19.
Fear the wall, Califopenborders.
No fence or wall will ever be a match for human ingenuity.
Hillary Clinton Claims That Snow In Las Vegas Proves Man Made Global Warming Is Real
Brian Anderson
January 7, 2016
Democrats count on people being complete dumbshits to win elections. This is not a theory; it’s a scientific fact. Yesterday while stumping in Nevada, Hillary Clinton tested the intelligence of her supporters by claiming that snow in Las Vegas proves that man made global warning is real. Even worse, she passed this off a hard science.
“We’ve got to combat climate change because it is real. Despite what our Republican friends say,” started Clinton.
Wow, the Republicans are suddenly Hillary’s friends? A couple months ago she said they were her biggest enemies. Maybe “climate change” is causing her to abandon her convictions as well. No wait, her desire to get elected does that.
“I have to tell you, I do get a kick out of it – you can’t help but smile. You know, every time one of them is asked – or all of them on a stage somewhere – you know, whether they believe in climate change, they all say something like ‘well I don’t know, I’m not a scientist.’ That is the easily most obvious question to be answered. Go talk to a scientist and actually listen,” she continued.
Now here’s where Hillary drops some “hard science” on the audience of stupid people:
“Listen, you can go to UNLV and meet some scientists who will help them understand why climate change is real. You can look out the window in Las Vegas and see snow and you can realize it’s real,” Hillary said with a straight face.
Now she is using the term “climate change” but that is a euphemism that liberals have switched to because global warming is too hard to believe. But let’s be clear, she is talking about warming, not cooling. So her basic premise is that snow in Las Vegas means the globe is getting hotter. Maybe she should talk to a meteorologist who can explain that snow occurs in colder temperatures, not warmer ones.
Also, I checked the weather for Las Vegas yesterday and it was sunny and in the mid-50’s. I seriously doubt there were snowdrifts in front of Caesar’s Palace. In addition to being full of shit, she was also lying.
Maybe Hillary was talking about seeing snow in the mountains surrounding Las Vegas. Guess what? That’s not unusual. It snows in the colder higher elevations every year. It’s something the locals like to call “winter.” And again, snow in the winter is not evidence of a global warming trend.
The sad thing is, none of the Hillary supporters challenged her on this absurd claim. They actually applauded. I guess the democrats’ election model works. As long as there are stupid people, they can win elections.
downtrend.com/…laims-that-snow-in-las-vegas-proves-man-made-global-warming-is-real - 152k -
your gut says she is wrong?? we dont care about big gut feeling, got science?
TRUMP just ended in VT:
Everyone can carry a gun, everywhere. Schools included. Do you want your kids lez PE coach with a gun?
Tariffs on imports 35%
“take care of everybody” what does that mean?
mark cuban’s investment advice over at cnbc, do nothing.
I wonder how his penny’s stock worked out?
How can anyone chose NY as their home? Ice, humidity, crime, traffic, illegals, crowds…. if the power goes out they are doomed.
haven’t these people ever visited Colorado?
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/01/07/recycling-upper-west-side-staten-island/
I’m worth far too much money. I don’t need anybody’s money.
Good.
I don’t need any “leader” nor want any. I don’t need any ruler nor want any.
Why do you talk about your money all the time?
Maybe there’s hope yet. Jim Webb (D) has the potential to be a principled concensus candidate who has the credentials and leadership qualifications to be a clear standout and unifying candidate among the gypsies, tramps, and thieves making up the 2016 Republicrat presidential field. I sent him a $50 check today - if you love this country and think she deserves better than the oligarch puppets and charlatans currently running, here’s your chance to nut up or shut up.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/7/jim-webb-retains-former-draft-biden-finance-direct/
Best performing currency of 2015 was:
Bitcoin!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-07/its-official-bitcoin-was-top-performing-currency-2015
The Los Angeles Times
A reminder: China’s stock market is a clown show
Michael Hiltzik
Just as “bad cases make bad law,” to cite the ancient legal adage, bad stock markets make for bad investment decisions. China’s stock market, with its repeated crashes, has the entire world in a tizzy.
The Shanghai stock exchange experienced its shortest trading day ever on Wednesday, as circuit breakers designed to end trading if the market slid 7% kicked in after only 14 minutes of active trading. As my colleague Julie Makinen reported, the Shanghai Composite has dropped about 12% this year, and the Shenzhen composite has fallen more than 15%.
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Ann Gogh, there is a massive housing bubble in downtown San Diego.
The Financial Times
Millionaires & Billionaires
Another Chinese billionaire goes missing
Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai, additional reporting by Jackie Cai
13 Hours Ago
Zhou Chengjian, Chairman and President of Metersbonwe Group.
The billionaire founder of Metersbonwe, one of China’s best-known fashion brands, has gone missing, the latest in a series of Chinese business people and financiers apparently ensnared in the country’s anti-corruption campaign.
Metersbonwe suspended trading in its shares on the Shenzhen stock exchange on Thursday while the company said it was investigating reports in the Chinese media that Zhou Chengjian, its chairman, had been picked up by police.
The company is a household name on the Chinese high street and Mr Zhou was China’s 65th-richest man last year, according to the Hurun Rich list, with a fortune of Rmb26.5bn ($4.01bn).
The company said in a second statement on Thursday night that it was unable to reach Mr Zhou or the secretary of the board, Tu Ke. The statement gave no further details.
Mr Zhou is the latest high-profile private sector businessman believed to have been caught up in probes, and his disappearance follows the detention last month of Guo Guangchang of the conglomerate Fosun, which owns Club Med.
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The Home Refinance Plan Banks Don’t Want You Knowing
December 7, 2015
When homeowners visit The Easy Loan Site official website, they may be surprised to find out they qualify for a plan that offers them shockingly low interest rates.
Still unknown to many, this brilliant government program called the Home Affordable Refinance Plan could benefit millions of Americans and reduce their monthly payments by as much as $2,400 each year.
Homeowners have even used HARP to eliminate up to 15 years of mortgage! You could bet the banks aren’t too thrilled about losing all that profit and might secretly hope homeowners don’t find out before time runs out.
So while the banks happily wait for this program to end, the government is making a final push and urging homeowners to take advantage. The program is set to expire in 2016, but the good news though is that once you’re in, you’re in. if lowering your payments, paying off your mortgage faster, and having an extra $200 each month from the HARP savings would help you, it’s vital you act now.
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Is this the worst start on record for Wall Street?
S&P 500, Dow industrials see worst ever start to new year
Published: Jan 7, 2016 5:22 p.m. ET
S&P 500 wipes out $864 billion in value
By Anora Mahmudova
Reporter
Steep losses during the first four trading sessions of 2016 have marked the worst start to a new year for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average in history.
The S&P 500 (SPX, -2.37%) lost 100 points, or 4.9% over the past four sessions, closing at 1,943.09 on Thursday, its lowest level since October. The index lost $864 billion of its value over the past four days, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA, -2.32%) has lost 911 points, or 5.2% in 2016, according to FactSet. On Thursday, the Dow lost 392.41 points, or 2.3%, to 16,514.10, closing 10% below its intraday record in May.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP, -3.03%) fell 146.34 points, or 3%, to 4,689.43, erasing its modest 2015 gain. Over the past four sessions, the tech-heavy index lost 6.35%, its worst start to the year since 2000. All three main indexes are down about 10% from their record highs in May.
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Have your junk bond investments tanked?
Junk-Bond Risk Gauge Jumps as China Meltdown Adds to Energy Rout
Sridhar Natarajan and Michelle Davis
January 7, 2016 — 6:43 AM PST
Updated on January 7, 2016 — 1:47 PM PST
Premium on high-yield debt approaching most in three years
The goal is to `avoid land mines’ with oil at 12-year low
Junk-bond investors coming off their first losing year since 2008 are in the crosshairs again, as a stock-market meltdown in China and a plunge in oil prices cloud the outlook for debt sold by the least credit-worthy companies.
The risk premium on the Markit CDX North American High Yield Index, a credit-default swaps benchmark tied to the debt of 100 speculative-grade companies, surged as much as 21 basis points to 516 basis points, rising toward the highest mark in three years. The average borrowing costs for the riskiest portion of the high-yield market surged to 18.4 percent, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show, a level not seen since 2009.
“The whole world’s interrelated and you can’t get around that,” said Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income for National Alliance Capital Markets in New York. “High-yield’s going to be under pressure just because oil’s under pressure. And you’re having this whole risk-off situation.”
The price of crude has plunged 10 percent this week and touched its lowest level since 2009, pushing the relative yield on energy-company debt to more than 13.5 percentage points, Bloomberg indexes show. The industry, which is clocking its worst performance on record, makes up about 15 percent of the junk-bond gauge.
‘Pointing Negative’
“With commodities, there are 10 things that can go right or wrong, and right now almost all of them are pointing negative,” said John McClain, a portfolio manager at Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc., in Columbus, Ohio, which oversees about $17 billion. “You want to avoid land mines in this market. You don’t want to be a hero. It’s not a time to reach.”
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Markets
‘All Is Not Well’ in Global Economy, Warns Investor Jeffrey Gundlach
And the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates is compounding the problem
Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital LP, at a conference in New York in May 2015.
Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News
By Gregory Zuckerman
Jan. 7, 2016 3:00 p.m. ET
Many investors believe the U.S. will weather the global market downturn better than other nations, thanks to its steadily expanding economy. But Jeffrey Gundlach, who runs asset manager DoubleLine Capital LP, is downbeat on financial markets and the global economy, and he is worried the Federal Reserve is compounding the problems.
Mr. Gundlach argues that sharp declines for oil, commodity, junk-bond and stock prices signal deep, fundamental economic problems that some investors are overlooking.
The marked weakness is “a symptom” of “insufficient and dwindling global growth,” he says. “The Fed should not be hiking” interest rates, though it raised the fed funds rate last month for the first time in nine years and has signaled it likely will raise rates several times this year.
Mr. Gundlach notes that the Fed held off on raising interest rates in September due to market turbulence at the time. By that logic, he says, the Fed shouldn’t be considering boosting rates any time soon, since almost every financial market, from commodities and junk bonds to stocks and emerging markets, is down sharply since September.
He also notes the Dow Jones Transportation Average is at a 52-week low, even though oil prices have fallen, an indicator some point to as foreshadowing future economic conditions.
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Is the Baltic Dry Index holding up amid all the market turmoil?
Baltic Dry Index takes a turn for the worse
January 7th, 2016 Holly Birkett
Dry Cargo, Europe, Finance and Insurance
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has reached another all-time low level for a third consecutive trading day, falling 22 points to 445.
The index began its record-low rout on Tuesday this week, when it reached 468 points, before falling to 467 on Wednesday.
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Should record low levels on the BDI be interpreted as a warning flag for the global economy?
Economy | Fri Nov 20, 2015 9:09am EST
Dry bulk shipping record low a warning flag for global economy
* Dry bulk shipping sector in one of worst ever downturns
* BDI index slump mirroring other commodities indicators
By Jonathan Saul
LONDON, Nov 20 A slump in dry bulk shipping is set to worsen as the meltdown in global commodities and too many ships free for hire rock the sector used by investors to gauge the health of world trade.
Slower coal and iron ore demand from China - the world’s biggest industrial importer - have battered the dry bulk sector, already in the midst of its worst ever downturns that is expected to extend well into next year.
This week the Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index , which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities and seen by investors as a forward-looking indicator of global industrial activity, plunged to an all-time low.
A slump in oil and other commodity prices, due to slowing Chinese demand, has widely been seen as one of the reasons for U.S. Federal Reserve hesitancy in tightening policy.
“Dry bulk demand is very much dependent on the world economy,” said Symeon Pariaros, chief administrative officer of Athens-run and New York-listed shipping firm Euroseas.
“The slowdown in the world economy has caused both dry bulk and container shipping to suffer a lot lately. Euroseas, having exposure in both these sectors, is facing the consequences of this very low rate environment.”
The Baltic’s BDI index, which gauges the cost of shipping resources including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, has dropped to 498 points and is over 95 percent down from its all-time high of 11,793 points in 2008 before the financial crisis first hurt the sector.
“Demand slowing down and (ship) supply continuing to increase are the reasons why we will see the BDI likely hit figures in the 400 point level, which would be absolutely uncharted territory for the market,” said Khalid Hashim, managing director of Precious Shipping, one of Thailand’s largest dry cargo owners.
JAPANESE CASUALTY
Worries over China and the health of the world economy have also pushed the 19-commodity Thomson Reuters/Core Commodity CRB Index to near 13-year lows in recent days, mirroring in part some of the pain felt by dry freight players.
“You can’t ignore the role of sentiment in the markets. Right now dry cargo shipowners’ heads are down and they are taking a daily battering at these earnings levels,” said Tony Foster, chief executive of British shipping asset manager Marine Capital.
“The market is clearly very weak in the short-term and 2016 is going to be very difficult.”
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Don’t look now, but the BDI is currently 20% below the record-low levels it set in November 2015.
Could oil possibly drop to $18 / bbl?
Oil price crashes to $33 – and could go as low as $18
Jan 7, 2016
Latest data from US energy watchdog shows production is holding firm
The sharp jump in the oil price to close to $39 a barrel on Monday, in the wake of the execution of a senior Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia that prompted sectarian violence and a stand-off with Iran, seems like a long time ago.
Since the rally ran out of steam in the afternoon session on the first day of the week in New York, oil has been tumbling and yesterday, it crashed to the latest lows for more than a decade. The first milestone saw international benchmark Brent crude fall below $35 for the first time since 2004 in mid-afternoon in London, while in the overnight trading sessions in the US and Asia, it eventually hit a near 12-year nadir just above $32.
Traders have bucked the historic trend of buying into oil futures when Middle Eastern tensions rise because there is now a broad consensus the unrest is as likely to be a harbinger of greater oil supply, rather than less. Saudi Arabia and Iran are key members of the powerful Opec cartel and the diplomatic breakdown will surely prevent any harmony on policy to end the global oil glut.
Adding to the bearish picture was the latest set of data from the US energy watchdog. Although overall crude oil stockpiles in the country fell last week, Reuters notes the report revealed reserves of derivative distillate products – in some respects a better gauge of supply relative to demand – soared by 16 million barrels.
Worse, the BBC adds that output from US shale oil rigs actually rose to more than 9.2 million barrels a day. The turf war being fought by the world’s oil giants was supposed to have crushed expensive-to-produce shale and thus rebalanced the market, but extractors are proving far more resilient to loss-inducing low prices than anyone had thought possible.
So how low will oil go? Paul Stevens, professor emeritus at the University of Dundee and a Middle East specialist, predicted in a BBC interview that shale production would not slow down meaningfully until prices fall below $25 a barrel - and perhaps even as low as $20. This echoes the forecasts of analysts including Goldman Sachs late last year.
Oil Price Falls Below $35 A Barrel
Again Capital founding partner John Kilduff, meanwhile, told CNBC that prices could even break below $18 a barrel if Iranian sanctions are lifted as expected in the coming months and the country ramps up exports. A price war is getting underway already in Europe as Saudi Arabia discounts to shore up market share.
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Are you afraid of bears?
Market bears roar as $2.5 trillion gets wiped out
Published: Jan 7, 2016 9:32 a.m. ET
By Victor Reklaitis
Markets writer
Short sellers today are happier than a grizzly that has spotted a slow, overweight hiker.
It’s punishment time for stock-market bulls, who may be wondering if we could just skip ahead to 2017, given how this year is going so far.
China’s Shanghai Composite is down 12% already in 2016, as trading there was halted for a second time this week. Oil has been off more than 5% this morning, and Dow futures have been down 400-plus points, hurt by China’s ridiculously short, not at all sweet, session.
We are seeing “hulking falls” in markets, and “at this rate January still has the scope to quickly wind up looking a whole lot uglier,” says Trustnet Direct’s Tony Cross in a note.
George Soros has been talking about how China’s problems remind him of the 2008 financial crisis. Or perhaps “the core issue here is the Federal Reserve’s inability to quell market fears,” as iBankCoin’s The Fly argues after yesterday’s Fed minutes revealed our central bank’s insecurities.
Today’s chart shows why technical analysts expect a lot of pain for the S&P 500 in the near term, and the call of the day suggests the Shanghai index could plunge below the low it hit during last summer’s swoon.
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