January 29, 2016

Bits Bucket for January 29, 2016

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207 Comments »

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 01:59:59

Is now a good time to buy the BRICs?

Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-01-29 02:01:28

The misery index for those areas might be a good bet.

Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 19:27:59

I am not for Hillary, but I will never ever criticize her. Never.Ever.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 21:30:19

Off topic and stupid…usual stuff.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 02:06:18

China’s economy on track in terms of GDP growth: BRICs creator
in World Economy News 28/01/2016

British Treasury’s commercial secretary Jim O’Neill has expressed his optimism about China’s economic growth despite the world’s second largest economy slowed to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent in 2015.

China is definitely still on track in terms of its real GDP growth, said O’Neill, who is known for the creation of BRICs acronym, which refers to emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The grouping came to be known as BRICS after the inclusion of South Africa in 2010.

China’s 6.9 percent growth is the equivalent to India growing by nearly 35 percent or the United Kingdom growing by nearly 22 percent. So 6.9 percent is the envy of any developed country, he said in an interview on Monday.

“So in sense of this real growth rate, I don’t think there is anything to be worried about. The evidence of a very weak inflation or some modest size of deflation that’s still more concerning. But in sense of real growth, I think it is fine,” he added.

If China’s annual growth rate would be 6.3 percent for the rest of the decade, the country would grow by 7.5 percent for the decade as a whole, according to the former Goldman Sachs economist.
Source: Xinhua

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 02:08:05

Is Jim O’Neill the David Lereah of globalization?

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 02:13:05

Still falling, with no bottom in sight…

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 02:14:16

Baltic Dry Index falls to 325, down 12 points.
in Dry Bulk Market 28/01/2016

Today, Thursday, January 28 2016, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 12 points, reaching 325 points.

Baltic Dry Index is compiled by the London-based Baltic Exchange and covers prices for transported cargo such as coal, grain and iron ore. The index is based on a daily survey of agents all over the world. Baltic Dry hit a temporary peak on May 20, 2008, when the index hit 11,793. The lowest level ever reached was on Thursday, January 28 2016, when the index dropped to 325 points.

Source: Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 09:51:19

A little arithmetic might help put these numbers into perspective:

325 / 11,793 = 2.8% of the peak level.

COLLAPSE!

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 02:18:03

Is the oil price decline affecting the real economy?

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 02:20:11

6:31 pm ET
Jan 28, 2016
Economy
Turmoil in the Oil Patch Is Hitting U.S. GDP Growth
By Lisa Beilfuss
Pullbacks in the oil patch are weighing further on the U.S. economy.
Akos Stiller/Bloomberg News

The tumble in oil prices is set to take another bite out of overall U.S. economic output.

The overall energy sector accounts for just about 4% of inflation-adjusted gross domestic product when adding up contributions from four areas: utilities; oil and gas extraction; petroleum and coal products; and pipeline transportation, and it represents just 1.5% of employment, according to estimates by Deutsche Bank chief U.S. economist Joseph LaVorgna. Given that small slice, many analysts and traders have assumed sharply lower energy-related capital spending isn’t a big threat to the broader economy.

But the turmoil could weigh on GDP more than anticipated. Capital spending per employee is much higher in the oil sector than elsewhere, said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics, and oil firms can’t save themselves simply by cutting staff. (Their biggest expense is equipment.) Throngs of energy companies from giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron to smaller players like Anadarko Petroleum further hacked away at capital-expenditure budgets in the final months of last year. That’s as many of them cut jobs and whack dividends.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 02:21:37

Source: The Wall Street Journal Online

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 02:29:06

TIME
Business Economics
Junk Bonds Are Back—And We Should All Be Terrified
Rana Foroohar
Jan. 27, 2016
Financial Markets Wall Street
Mark Lennihan—AP
Michael Pistillo Jr. follows stock prices at the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 15, 2016.
The guttural rumblings of a major financial correction are growing louder

Remember junk bonds? They’re back. We haven’t heard too much the so called “high yield debt market” since the 1980s and Michael Milken. But the high risk, potentially high-return securities known as junk bonds are behind a good chunk of current market volatility. Many of them are in the energy sector, which issued lots of debt in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis and are now at increasing risk of being downgraded or even going bust as oil prices collapse. Indeed, as Moody’s recently warned, some of the world’s biggest firms, like Royal Dutch Shell, Total, and Chesapeake Energy, are among the 175 firms that are at risk of ratings downgrades thanks to plunges in commodity prices.

Obviously, this isn’t great news for junk bond owners. But it’s a headache in the making for the rest of us too.

Why? To start, more individual investors own junk bonds than you might think. The size of the high-yield market has doubled over the last 5 years, as investors have looked for higher returns thanks to the record low interest rates imposed by central bankers in the wake of the financial crisis and Great Recession. About a quarter of those firms are in the energy sector, and lots of mutual funds and ETFs (exchanged traded funds) have invested in them in recent years, since very high oil prices made energy look like a great bet.

Now that those firms are in danger—witness the recent job and investment slashing in the U.S. shale oil and gas sector, for example. So are the mutual funds that invested in them.

Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-01-29 02:54:43

Mutually Assured Destruction.

Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 05:32:05

I thought the junk bond market crashed last year? Haven’t heard about since the 80s?

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Comment by Combotechie
2016-01-29 07:08:34

“The size of the high-yield market has doubled over the last 5 years, as investors have looked for higher returns thanks to the record low interest rates imposed by central bankers in the wake of the financial crisis and Great Recession. About a quarter of those firms are in the energy sector, and lots of mutual funds and ETFs (exchanged traded funds) have invested in them in recent years, since very high oil prices made energy look like a great bet.”

Step one: The value of the equity gets destroyed immediately due to the actions of Mr. Market.

Step two: The value of the debt gets destroyed sometime later on by the actions of both Mr. Market and by the actions of accountants.

Step one and step two = poof and poof.

Comment by Combotechie
2016-01-29 07:42:03

If this were a temporary downturn, aka a market dip, then the value of the debt wouldn’t be in jeopardy because the market rebound of the value of equity would restore value to the debt that is backed by the restored equity.

But this is not a temporary downturn and Mr. Market is beginning to get this and Mr. Market is responding to this phenom by marking down the values of debt that finds itself stranded due to the falling prices that used to give value to the equity that was used to back up the debt.

Eventually, after all hope is exhausted, the accountants will also get this and they will take their turn in marking down debt that finds itself stranded.

There is a lot of debt out there in the world that is destined to become destroyed because the high prices that gave value to the debt - that backed the debt - have been destroyed and this destruction of debt (debt = money that is owed to somebody) is going to destroy a lot of people’s wealth.

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Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 12:31:23

(ARCC) 11% div

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 02:57:48

BloombergBusiness
So Yes, the Oil Crash Looks a Lot Like Subprime
The price of crude has been tracking an infamous subprime mortgage index.
Tracy Alloway
January 25, 2016 — 9:28 AM CST
Oil Prices: The Barrel and the Damage Done

One year ago, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch drew a parallel between the subprime mortgage crash and the disorderly fall in the price of oil.

Led by Chris Flanagan, a veteran of the securitization space, the team drew attention to Markit’s ABX Index, better known as the mother of all synthetic subprime credit indexes.

Created in January 2006 and consisting of a basket of credit default swaps (CDS) tied to the welfare of subprime mortgages, it allowed a bevy of investors to bet on the future direction of riskier home loans and helped inflate the massive amounts of leverage tied to the U.S. housing bubble. More recently it played a starring role in the film version of Michael Lewis’s The Big Short—when protagonists Christian Bale, Steve Carell, et al. are tracking their bets against the U.S. housing market, they are tracking the ABX.

Fast-forward to today and the BofAML analysts provide an update to their previous thesis, which was that the downward spiral in the price of oil was shaping up to look a lot like the negative trend that engulfed the subprime space circa the year 2007.

Here’s what they say:

The pattern of the decline in the price of oil that began in mid-2014 is remarkably similar to the 2007-2009 pattern of the price decline of ABX, the credit derivative index that referenced subprime mortgages and, ultimately, the U.S. housing market (Chart 1). The ABX history suggests that oil will see more declines in the next couple of months and find a floor somewhere in the low 20s in the March-April time frame. Both the duration of the decline (1.5+ years) and the scale of the decline (100 neighborhood starting price down to the sub-30 neighborhood) are similar. Given that both housing and oil prices were fueled to spectacular heights in the two periods by massive credit expansion, it’s probably more than just coincidence that the respective “bubble” bursting patterns are so similar.

Consider how things tend to work. Denial on what constitutes fair value is a big component of bubbles, on the part of both market participants and policymakers. When perceived “bubbles” burst, markets take their time in steadily shredding views of the perception of fundamental value, as prices move lower and lower. Along the way, many will cite “technical factors” as the cause of the decline, which in some way suggests the price decline may not be real when in fact it is all too real. In the end, the technicals drive the fundamentals, as credit flees and borrowers go bust, and a feedback loop lower kicks in. Lower prices beget accelerated selling, as asset owners need to raise cash. It could be margin calls or it could be producer selling needs, it doesn’t really matter: the selling becomes inevitable and turns into forced selling.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 03:02:02

Forced liquidation…has a nice ring to it , no?

 
Comment by ibbots
2016-01-29 07:21:23

Anecdotely (sp?), I have heard from a handful of clients in the oil and gas business that the pain is spreading. Even the well maintenance people are feeling it now. One guy, who works in capacity, reports being busy as ever though.

Comment by scdave
2016-01-29 08:16:28

One guy, who works in capacity ??

Capacity ?? Whats that ??

Comment by ibbots
2016-01-29 12:10:53

Shoulda said storage! You know how lawyers are, why use a $2 word when a $5 one is available. He’s a welder, welds on those big 200,000 gallon / barrel, however they’re measured, tanks out in west Texas. He recently finished one project and they sent him directly to another, same thing, storage.

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Comment by In Colorado
2016-01-29 09:16:26

Is the oil price decline affecting the real economy?

I saw $1.52 a gallon this morning.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 10:17:56

It’s great to know America’s households can enjoy affordable gasoline.

Comment by In Colorado
2016-01-29 10:44:52

I actually paid 0.759 a gallon this morning at King Soopers (Kroger). For reasons that are inexplicable, I had an 80 cent discount on the loyalty card. Filled up the tank for $11.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 03:47:24

Ready or not, Japanese NIRP is here.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 03:55:50

Marketwatch dot com
U.S. stocks: Dow futures leap after surprise BOJ move, joining in global rally
By Victor Reklaitis
Published: Jan 29, 2016 5:18 a.m. ET
Bank of Japan aims to pre-empt further economic setbacks
Getty Images
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda (on right) smiles in this file photo.

U.S. stock futures pointed early Friday to sizable gains at the open, putting the market on track to join in a global rally after a surprise Bank of Japan decision.

The BOJ said it would adopt a negative interest rate policy for the first time, aiming to pre-empt further economic setbacks. Investors also await a reading on U.S. fourth-quarter economic growth, and shares in Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and Chevron Corp. are likely to see active trading on their earnings reports.

Comment by azdude
2016-01-29 05:23:20

central bank roulette continues right on schedule:

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/kuroda-goes-full-monetary-retard-announces-negative-interest-rates/

These folks are desperate to prop up asset prices aren’t they?

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 09:00:31

It’s not working, but they are going to go down trying along with the sinking ship.

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 07:41:11

Eventually when the rigged spin the bottle game points to her turn. Right now it’s Japan’s turn, then EU again? Then her turn to French kiss the squid.

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-01-29 07:48:50

Yellen is already using the Bernanke to run up a trial balloon for NIRP as the next logical extension of the Fed’s War on Savers.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bernanke-says-fed-likely-to-add-negative-rates-to-recession-fighting-toolkit-2015-12-15

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 07:57:55

Ben Bernanke keeps trying to lobby his former FOMC colleagues to take the plunge into NIRP.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 09:04:18

Bernanke says Fed likely to add negative interest rates to recession-fighting tool kit
Published: Jan 29, 2016 4:22 a.m. ET
Should not create a lot of anxiety for investors, former Federal Reserve chief says
By Greg Robb
Senior economics reporter
Bloomberg
Ben S. Bernanke, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, is now open to the use of negative rates.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve should consider using negative rates to counter the next serious downturn, said former chairman Ben Bernanke in an interview with MarketWatch.

“I think negative rates are something the Fed will and probably should consider if the situation arises,” Bernanke said in the interview last month.

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Comment by phony scandals
2016-01-29 04:35:09

300 Scientists Want NOAA To Stop Hiding Its Global Warming Data

Andrew Follett
Energy and Environmental Reporter
12:22 PM 01/28/2016

Hundreds of scientists sent a letter to lawmakers Thursday warning National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists may have violated federal laws when they published a 2015 study purporting to eliminate the 15-year “hiatus” in global warming from the temperature record.

“We, the undersigned, scientists, engineers, economists and others, who have looked carefully into the effects of carbon dioxide released by human activities, wish to record our support for the efforts of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology to ensure that federal agencies complied with federal guidelines that implemented the Data Quality Act,” some 300 scientists, engineers and other experts wrote to Chairman of the House Science Committee, Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith.

“In our opinion… NOAA has failed to observe the OMB [Office of Management and Budget] (and its own) guidelines, established in relation to the Data Quality Act.”

The Data Quality Act requires federal agencies like NOAA to “ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information, including statistical information.”

Smith launched an investigation into NOAA’s study last summer over concerns it was pushed out to bolster President Barack Obama’s political agenda. Democrats and the media have largely opposed the probe into NOAA scientists and political appointees, but Smith is determined to continue investigating. NOAA officials surrendered emails to congressional investigators in December.

“It is this Committee’s oversight role to ensure that federal science agencies are transparent and accountable to the taxpayers who fund their research,” Smith told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Americans are tired of research conducted behind closed doors where they only see cherry-picked conclusions, not the facts. This letter shows that hundreds of respected scientists and experts agree that NOAA’s efforts to alter historical temperature data deserve serious scrutiny.”

Of the 300 letter signers, 150 had doctorates in a related field. Signers also included: 25 climate or atmospheric scientists, 23 geologists, 18 meteorologists, 51 engineers, 74 physicists, 20 chemists and 12 economists. Additionally, one signer was a Nobel Prize winning physicist and two were astronauts.

NOAA scientists upwardly adjusted temperature readings taken from the engine intakes of ships to eliminate the “hiatus” in global warming from the temperature record.

The NOAA study in dispute claims the scientists found a solution to the 15-year “pause” in global warming. They “adjusted” the hiatus in warming the temperature record from 1998 to 2012, the “new analysis exhibits more than twice as much warming as the old analysis at the global scale.”

“As has been acknowledged by numerous scientists, the engine intake data are clearly contaminated by heat conduction from the structure, and as such, never intended for scientific use,” wrote climate scientists Dr. Patrick J. Michaels and Dr. Richard S. Lindzen of the libertarian Cato Institute on the in the science blog Watts Up With That. “Adjusting good data upward to match bad data seems questionable.”

“If we subtract the [old] data from the [new] data… we can see that that is exactly what NOAA did,” climate expert Bob Tisdale and meteorologist Anthony Watts wrote on the same science blog. “It’s the same story all over again; the adjustments go towards cooling the past and thus increasing the slope of temperature rise. Their intent and methods are so obvious they’re laughable.”

Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 05:39:23

Speaking of rain:

May 10th. Thank God for the rain which has helped wash away the garbage and trash off the sidewalks. I’m workin’ long hours now, six in the afternoon to six in the morning. Sometimes even eight in the morning, six days a week. Sometimes seven days a week. It’s a long hustle but it keeps me real busy. I can take in three, three fifty a week. Sometimes even more when I do it off the meter. All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets. I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, I take ‘em to Harlem. I don’t care. Don’t make no difference to me. It does to some.

Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 05:54:31

LOLZ

 
Comment by palmetto
2016-01-29 06:17:24

Brilliant.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 06:52:58

Vulgar.

And perfect for Trump disciples who secretly desire to lick his feet…

Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 07:01:50

That’s Martin Scorcese BTW for all the HuffPo link clickers.

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Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 07:47:36

It’s a litmus test. Cmon, who doesn’t know Taxi Diver? More here need to go out and eat an Egg McMuffin. Lots here claim to not go to Walmart also. Seriously? How valid are the opinions of people who are entirely out of touch? It’s one of the problems with the elites.

PS, Hillary supporters prefer venal and corrupt over vulgar? Keep pimping the group politics race hustling.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 08:03:20

For the record I’m no Hillary supporter. But any idiot can tell she will trump The Donald in a one off election.

Except for idiots in denial, that is.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 08:14:04

any idiot can tell she will trump The Donald in a one off election.

I still think the Trump candidacy is a creation of the Clinton’s which worked way better than planned.

 
Comment by scdave
2016-01-29 08:27:37

I still think the Trump candidacy is ?

Is a testement to the final collapse of the republican party (thank You GWB)….Trump ?? LOL….I am going to take my ball & bat and go home FOX…I refuse to play ball….I am going to go do a fund raiser for the veterans…We will donate “your” money but not “mine”….

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 09:16:20

Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader and Robert DeNiro all have to be part of the communist Hollywood entertainment complex, no?

In other news, BlueCollarMale must be a truly dangerous and disturbed individual.

 
Comment by Ethan in nova
2016-01-29 11:43:38

Trump donated 1 mil I believe

 
Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 17:35:50

Lineup of Lolas /\ /\ /\

 
 
Comment by palmetto
2016-01-29 07:15:03

Do ya hold out your pinkie when when you sip tea at the faculty soirees?

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 08:05:12

Great idea! I’ll work on that technique.

 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-01-29 07:24:36

“And perfect for Trump disciples who secretly desire to lick his feet…”

I’m not sure, but when it comes to feet licking I think you need either the whores, skunk p–ies, buggers, queens or fairies.

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Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 08:18:30

There’s a website for that, it’s called FetLife.

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-01-29 07:34:58

Show some respect for that Democrat voting bloc.

 
 
 
Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 05:52:19

In modern history if you win all three of the first 3 primaries you are the nominee. Couple more weeks then we’ll know. And see whose cognitive bias can’t deal with it.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 06:38:26

You aren’t a blue collar male.

Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 07:28:34

“That’s not who we are” — Barack Hussein Obama

 
Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 07:53:31

Yeah, I’m no doorknob either alright?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dgxzItaQzw

 
 
Comment by palmetto
2016-01-29 07:09:04

I watched some of the Don’s event on C-Span last night. Apparently, Fox was trying to get him to the debate right down to the wire, even after it had started. They apologized to him, which he graciously accepted. And, typically, he was willing to make a deal. Since the purpose of his own event was to raise money for the veterans, if Fox would give $5 million to the veterans, he’d show up. (And BTW, as is typical of the MSM, what you’ll hear is that “Donald Trump asked for five million dollars to do the debate”, without any qualifying statement that the money he was asking for was for charity. Gawd, I so despise the media and all its minions)

Fox wouldn’t do it, saying it was a “quid pro quo”. Aw, gee, you’d think the least they could do is pony up some jack since they made a ton of bux marching these poor sad sack veterans off to the Middle East abattoir, in the service of the bankers and the Saudis. Yellow ribbons and “I support the troops!”. You’d think they’d be willing to “give back”. Heh, not really.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no phony troop worshiper. In fact I’ve bitterly joked that thanks to the brave men and women of the armed forces, the best days of the US are in the rearview mirror and I wish “the troops” would get a clue about who they’re really working for.

But I digress. The Don put on a nice event and at last count, raised almost 6 million dollars. And called attention to the situation that many vets are in. The part I found interesting, though, was how two of the qualities that he is known for were in play: One, he is indeed willing to make a deal. Two, if the deal is crappy for him and his peeps, he’s not going to do it.

It’s not like I didn’t know that Fox News is creepy, but this little dust-up with the Don really exposed its pus-sac of an underbelly. For example, the Saudis do own a small share of it. And Ann Coulter did a wonderful take-down of the faux “conservatism” of Fox:

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/267300-trump-boycott-isnt-about-kelly-its-about-fox-being

“But with every other news outlet screaming that Fox News is the extreme right-wing network, most Fox viewers are completely clueless. Surely, Fox News is giving us the best anti-immigration case you’re going to find anywhere, since Fox News is “our” network.

For the “conservative” network to be pro-open borders is like secretly switching a diabetic’s insulin with sugar. The false labeling is lethal. Millions of people watch Fox News and think they’re getting the conservative antidote, when in fact the open borders corporatists have found a new way to package their open borders poison.”

Yep, the Fox News fanboys are completely clueless.

Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 07:58:35

Full open borders? Never go full open borders.

http://www.moviehole.net/wp-content/uploads/downeyim.jpg

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 08:11:00

In fact I’ve bitterly joked that thanks to the brave men and women of the armed forces, the best days of the US are in the rearview mirror and I wish “the troops” would get a clue about who they’re really working for.

So how do you square your disgust with the troops with Trump’s troop-worship?

Comment by palmetto
2016-01-29 09:45:00

I didn’t say “disgust”, Oddie, you did. I am, however, disappointed.

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Comment by palmetto
2016-01-29 11:02:38

Anyway, I didn’t answer your question. I think it’s nice that Trump is doing something for the vets, considering how they’ve been used and abused. I don’t see Fox doing this. This is not a new thing for him, BTW. Although Bill Kristolnacht says otherwise.

OTOH, I am NOT going to “thank” anyone for being a tool of the bankers. All wars are bankers’ wars. Those “troops” could just as easily turn on me.

 
 
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 12:35:27

Thank Bush/Cheney for the Vets. Invasions for oil have long lasting consequences.

 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-01-29 06:15:48

The BLM needs to buy up all the white people’s houses that are crowding the Peckerless Oddswallow

Release Date: 03/04/10
Contacts: Chuck Schmidt , 575.627.0272
Hans Stuart , 505.954.2018

BLM Acquires 7,440 Acres of Land to Protect Lesser Prairie-Chicken

Roswell, N.M. – The Bureau of Land Management has acquired 7,440 acres of land about 35 miles east of Roswell to protect key habitat for the lesser prairie-chicken. The land is within a 58,000-acre Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) established for the species in Chaves County on May 2, 2008.

The lesser prairie-chicken is a candidate for listing as ‘threatened’ or ‘endangered’ by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act. The BLM and a variety of partners are supporting a range of efforts to proactively protect and enhance its native habitat.

“There are few things we do in our professional lives that are as critical and long-lasting as today’s acquisition for the prairie-chicken,” said Doug Burger, Pecos District Manager for the BLM. “The Conservation Fund was extremely helpful in working with the landowner to accomplish the acquisition and we want to express our deepest admiration and thanks for their efforts.”

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 08:20:21

“Preserve a species”. But we need that land to build more vinyl shacks!

Don’t you just wish they’d pave all those damn socialist parks and preserves?

Comment by phony scandals
2016-01-29 19:05:42

“Don’t you just wish they’d pave all those damn socialist parks and preserves?”

Clinton Foundation Pockets Massive Payoffs From Russia for Mining Rights In Wyoming And Oregon- Hammond Ranch Part Of The Deal!

January 24, 2016 Dianne Marshall

hillary bill_hillary_clinton

Finally the back story behind the Malheur Wildlife Refuge– and the Hammond ranch, as well as other ranchs and surrounding the refuge surfaces. Rumors have now been confirmed the ranch lands do indeed contain a wealth of precious metals, minerals, and uranium that is coveted by not only the federal government, but foreign entities as well. Think TTIP….heck just think TPA. Or double heck just think NAFTA!

For now…just think Hillary and her foundation, for they are deeply implicated in this evil scheme along with the Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Rosatom, and a few questionable Canadians. I wonder if Rafael Edward Cruz knows these Cuanuks?

It appears, Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation from Russia wanted to expand their operations into America and needed a way in. So, in 2013, Rosatom acquired a Canadian company named Uranium One as part of a slick side deal involving multiple parties. The deal allowed the Russian’s to maneuver their way into the Continental United States as part of a vast and extensive plan to mine Uranium ore out of states like Wyoming and Oregon.

The deal was essentially brokered by Hillary and was run through the Clinton Foundation using Canadian-backed contributions as a cover. It seems Hillary learned from Obama the art of how to use a pen to sign away America to foreigners, or did Obama learn that from the Clintons? For with bleeding ink, Hillary sold one-fifth of America’s uranium resources to the Russians.
URANIUM1-master675
A Uranium one sign that points to a 35,000 – acre ranch owned by John Christensen, near the town of Gillette, Wyo. Uranium One has the mining right to Mr. Christensen’s property. Credit Mathew Staver for The New York Times.

In April of 2015, the New York Times reported how the plan worked. Here are some of the excerpts to the story.

“Several leaders of the Canadian mining industry, who have been major donors to the charitable endeavors of former President Bill Clinton and his family. Members of that group built, financed and eventually sold off to the Russians a company that would become known as Uranium One.

Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

Shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.

At the time, both Rosatom and the United States government made promises intended to ease concerns about ceding control of the company’s assets to the Russians. Those promises have been repeatedly broken, records show.”

Read full New York Times story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html?_r=1

So you see, there are still some nasty things and minor details that need to be taken care of to finish this PRIVATE SECTOR sale. Things like kicking the stinking American ranchers off their land.

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 20:45:12

Yeah, well, New York Times, so you know it’s false.

Oh, what’s that? The NYT is true when you want it to be?

Interesting. How does that work?

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-01-29 07:11:04

If you like your rigged, broken, manipulated markets, you can keep your rigged, broken, manipulated markets.

http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/they-dont-bother-to-hide-the-criminality-in-silver-and-amzn-trading/

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-01-29 07:15:12

It’s good to be an oligarch and have 95% of the sheeple eating out of your hand while you rig the system to screw them blind.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/28/mansion-prices-hit-new-highs-in-rich-enclaves-like-hamptons-beverly-hills-aspen.html

 
Comment by palmetto
2016-01-29 07:20:11

I KNEW it! The Obama administration is handing over the kiddies from south of the border to traffickers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/obama-administration-placed-children-with-human-traffickers-report-says/2016/01/28/39465050-c542-11e5-9693-933a4d31bcc8_story.html

Egg farms my patootie, those are the lucky ones. What about the ones that have been snuffed or ended up in sex rings?

 
Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 07:41:29

FoxNewsHate provides a neocon narrative on Russia:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/01/26/how-russia-filled-vacuum-left-by-us-withdrawal-from-middle-east.html

No smaller government or less regulation or lower taxes happening here.

 
Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 07:46:33

Article for Downlow Joe about a new app to help “bros” hook up on the downlow:

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_56a94d8ae4b0d82286d4ddfd

Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 08:33:39

Related article, also note that 20% of gay men have HIV by age 50:

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2016-01-29/resistance-to-hiv-drug-growing-study-finds

It’s all fun and games until some married downlow bro brings an STD home and infects his wife, LOLZ.

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 08:44:52

Or he bangs some tinder girls. The new American bathhouse.

Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 09:01:15

Do you just blow and go? Or do you like to cuddle after?

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Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 09:19:14

There’s nothing straighter than being in the He-Man Women Haters Club, eh goon?

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-01-29 07:46:57

The corruption that infects our political institutions, enabled by Democrat voters turning a blind eye to corrupt, venal candidates like Hillary Clinton, now appears to be infecting other sectors and institutions as well - including our armed forces. The Founding Fathers warned that Democracy would only work with a moral, self-governing populace - the exact opposite of what we have today, where every single Democrat voter aids and abets corruption in hopes of personally benefiting from it.

https://www.rt.com/usa/330570-navy-commander-guilty-bribery/

 
Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 07:51:21

Drudge Report link provides a narrative about the corporate media plantation:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/267795/top-10-publishers-account-for-half-of-online-news.html

NewYorkTimes WashPost HuffPost NPR MSNBC doubleplusgood.

ZeroHedge InfoWars Breitbart bad scary bad.

Comment by rj chicago
 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 07:59:35

Salon dot com provides a narrative to all the womyn who were told the empty promise that they could “have it all”

http://www.salon.com/2016/01/28/my_day_at_the_fertility_clinic_im_35_single_and_want_to_know_my_options/

Cats, boxed wine, antidepressants, and Ben & Jerry’s.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 08:08:26

“Ben & Jerry’s”

Eaten straight from the carton whilst viewing Friends reruns…

Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 08:16:37

LOLZ at the strange bedfellow alliance of TradCons and feminists trying to shame men back onto the plantation.

And to all the Tinder girls, Netflix is not a “hobby.” My hobbies are activities.

 
 
Comment by rms
2016-01-29 19:39:00

I don’t understand the “barren” guilt trip. Children are a huge responsibility, and starting a family really should include some sort of vetting process. My $0.02 on the subject.

 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 08:26:31

Article for 2brony, public union pension goons have been getting clean water while the poors and blacks drink lead tainted water after being told it’s safe:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/29/state-workers-in-flint-mich-have-been-getting-purified-water-for-more-than-a-year/?hpid=hp_no-name_morning-mix-story-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Forward.

 
Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 08:39:06

Breitbart provides a narrative on Trump and the Huffington Post:

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/01/28/huffpo-policy-trump-must-be-be-called-liar-racist-sexist-bully-in-every-post/

SJW’s gonna W, LOLZ.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 08:42:26

Trump seems to appeal to the ugliest, basest, most vulgar instincts of old, angry, fearful white males.

I don’t understand this appeal. I guess I’m just not old, angry or fearful enough to get it.

Comment by scdave
2016-01-29 08:45:52

Exactly Pbear….

 
Comment by Goon
2016-01-29 08:50:03

America deserves Trump. I think right now is a fascinating time to be alive.

“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush

Comment by scdave
2016-01-29 09:02:49

“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush ??

At the end of the day, if our country does not come out the other side healthy, it will be because of him…He polarized this country possibly beyond repair…

Comment by azdude
2016-01-29 09:07:17

we need hilary so she can rack up another 10 trillion in debt.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 09:12:51

Republican presidents also have a tendency to rack up debt. It’s a moral hazard of high office to live high on the credit hog while you are the raj, then let the next guy (gal) in line clean up the poop left behind by the elephant you rode on in the parade.

 
Comment by scdave
2016-01-29 09:27:33

we need hilary so she can rack up another 10 trillion in debt ??

I isn’t about Hilary, or Bernie, or Cruz, Dude….Its about who created the problem in the first place…Worst President in our history…I hope we can recover from it…

 
Comment by azdude
2016-01-29 10:01:33

your still blaming bush? lmfao thats exactly what they want u to do. Just keep pushing blame on someone else. nothing ever changes.

I guarantee if hilary is elected it will the same old story.

 
Comment by Obama Goons
2016-01-29 10:30:42

Hillaryous is unelectable.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 11:01:21

your still blaming bush? lmfao thats exactly what they want u to do.

Obama could have tried to reverse the things that Bush did that drove up the deficit, such as immediately pulling the armed forces out of Afghanistan and the Middle East and repealing the tax cuts that Bush pushed through. He probably would have failed in that effort, but he should have tried anyway. Of course, increasing taxes in the middle of a recession or a weak recovery could lead to big increases in unemployment.

 
Comment by butters
2016-01-29 11:46:35

Hillaryous is unelectable.

Diebold voting machines don’t think so.

 
Comment by butters
2016-01-29 11:48:38

I hope we can recover from it…,

With your voting record….I doubt it.

You need to vote people who WILL NOT add to the problems.

 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 13:20:00

Bush Wars = $6 trillion by 2053. Gotta pay those bills.

Got Too Big Too Fail?

 
Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:41:39

Obambacare = 127 trillion by 2053.

 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 20:01:35

NEO-CON-ISM- $456 BILLION BY 2033

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 20:46:13

by 2053.

lol. Weak.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 08:50:22

Palin set stage for Trump’s populist appeal
By KATHLEEN PARKER
Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 2:00 pm

At first it seemed too weirdly awful to be true, but there she was: Sarah Palin standing next to Donald Trump last week and endorsing him for president.

Like previously conjoined twins who had shared a brain before Dr. Ben Carson separated them, these two anti-everything, post-lamestream media instigators presented themselves as political doppelgangers, a he/she, yin-yang, sis-boom-bah political marriage of the carnival barker and the bearded lady.

Comment by scdave
2016-01-29 09:04:26

LOL….But true….

 
 
Comment by Michael Viking
2016-01-29 08:51:03

seems to appeal to the ugliest, basest, most vulgar instincts of old, angry, fearful white males.

Guess he appeals to Sanders.

Please tell me who appeals to sad-sack pantywaists.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 08:57:56

Right on cue, Michael. Glad you recognized your own description.

Comment by Michael Viking
2016-01-29 18:35:15

Right on cue, Hypocrite! I had sincere hope that this year you’d be able to get the plank out of your eye. Alas, no dice.

You poor old, angry, bitter man! Time’s runnin’ out for you!

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 21:34:54

You’re sounding more childish with every post.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 08:53:53

Donald Trump Is the Harbinger of the Republican Party Apocalypse
And the GOP paved the way for its own destruction.
Peter Suderman|Jan. 28, 2016 10:02 am

Gage Skidmore / FoterGage Skidmore / FoterWe may be witnessing the collapse of the Republican party, or at least the Republican party as we know it. And if so, then Donald Trump is the harbinger of its apocalypse.

The signs of the party’s weakness and disarray are everywhere. Trump is the GOP’s presidential front-runner by most any measure: FiveThirtyEight, which recently published a long essay looking at the GOP’s breakdown as a party, gives him a 55 percent of winning the nomination, based strictly on the polls. Yet the candidate is now in open warfare with two of the right’s most influential media platforms: National Review and Fox News.

Comment by scdave
2016-01-29 09:08:07

or at least the Republican party as we know it ??

As we know it today yes….

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 08:56:56

Fact Check Politics Donald Trump
Gun Gadfly
Donald Trump controversially observed that he could shoot an individual on a widely trafficked New York City street and not “lose one voter.”
Kim LaCapria
Jan 24, 2016

Claim: Donald Trump claimed he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not “lose any voters.”

True

Example: [Collected via e-mail and Facebook, January 2016]

Seen on Facebook, is this real: Donald Trump: “Shoot Somebody” And Not Lose Any Voters Donald J. Trump says he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose any voters.

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 09:52:43

Can you imagine the selective outrage if Obama had said that?

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 10:19:44

Obama would never say anything so dumb.

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Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:34:27

Obama Told Aides He’s ‘Really Good At Killing People’

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 20:50:27

Obama Told Aides He’s ‘Really Good At Killing People’

And look at the selective outrage that produced.

Where is the selective outrage over Trump’s statement?

 
 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 08:59:04

2016
Has Trump Killed the GOP?
12 political gurus discuss the most pressing question of 2016.
By POLITICO Magazine
1/29/2016

Nothing like Donald Trump has ever hit a major American political party: A blow-dried celebrity gleefully smashing one modern Republican certainty after the other. As he defies his own party on tax orthodoxy, on healthcare and on bending a knee to Roger Ailes, he’s exposed the GOP establishment as virtually powerless over its own nominating process.

His rise has now created a split so deep that it’s not clear how the party is going to recover. Some conservatives are trying to crush his candidacy, others are finally embracing him, and they’re all lobbing grenades at each other. So is this the end of the GOP as we know it? And what’s next?

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 09:02:05

This only works because American voters are a mob of stupid morons…

Comment by Hi-Z
2016-01-29 10:58:26

You seem to be obsessed with Trump’s candidacy. Are you going to move out of the USA from San Diego if he gets elected?

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 11:21:24

I’m not obsessed with Trump, per se. I just provide factual information here to counter the lies and propaganda that certain posters serve up daily on the HBB.

You’ll thank me later.

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Comment by butters
2016-01-29 11:44:44

I’m not obsessed with Trump, per se

RENT FREE

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 14:19:21

DUMB

 
Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:35:32

DUMB

Dumbocrat!

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 21:38:16

Retardocrat

 
 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 18:55:14

I wouldn’t say that the professor is obsessed. He’s quite interested in the Trump phenomenon, just like tens of millions of other Americans.

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Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 09:10:34

Are American voters too dumb to catch on to a scam?

How Trump and Cruz went from Ivy League to anti-establishment
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 4:57 PM ET, Thu January 28, 2016
Story highlights
* One is a billionaire with a luxury Boeing, the other’s rarefied resume is a tour of exclusive America
* Yet Trump and Cruz have emerged as vessels for the livid Republican grass-roots

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump and Ted Cruz make an unlikely pair of revolutionaries.

Before they rejected the establishment with such fervor, co-opting the fury of heartland voters at distant elites, both spent decades rubbing shoulders with its power brokers and benefiting from its web of connections and credentials.

One is a billionaire with a luxury Boeing and a portfolio of extravagant golf resorts. He speaks for the struggling masses while boasting how rich he is and how he opened his wallet to bend politicians to his will. The oversize persona that could make him president was nurtured by the big media complex he now derides.

The other’s rarefied resume is a tour of exclusive America. First the Ivy League Princeton for undergrad and Harvard Law for an advanced degree, then a clerkship for a chief justice of the Supreme Court. In his professional life he returned to argue before the High Court, and then, still only in his early 40s, won a ticket to the clubbiest political enclave of them all: the U.S. Senate. And he married a woman who was a Goldman Sachs executive before leaving to work for his campaign.

Comment by scdave
2016-01-29 09:30:51

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz make an unlikely pair of revolutionaries ??

At least Cruz can carry on a adult conversation….

 
Comment by butters
2016-01-29 09:31:50

Bernie, too. That man has been in government all his life and he still thinks government can help the little guy. LOL

Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 15:04:25

Bernie wants to stop the scammers. End the 1% mooching.

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Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:16:07

How? Has he called for Yellon to stop her Fellon?

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 20:51:28

How? Has he called for Yellon to stop her Fellon?

Has Trump?

 
 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 15:52:52

Protecting little guys from big guys has been a basic governmental function for centuries.

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Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:38:10

LOL

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 17:29:16

Your LOL just indicates your ignorance.

 
Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 17:37:55

Your belief in government indicates your insanity.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 17:42:06

Belief in government is a meaningless phrase.

 
 
 
 
Comment by palmetto
2016-01-29 09:43:30

Having lived in the Northeast and having been exposed to “the very best people” and a whole host of snotty pseudo-intellectuals, I have found that those who scream the most about “vulgarity” and “base instincts” tend to be the sickest perverts underneath that pose of virtue and intellect and proper society. Which is why they’re always pointing “Look, over there!”

Unfortunately many of their children bear the scars for the rest of their lives, and the parents spend thousands of dollars on therapy and drugs to keep their children under control. If they dare say “boo” about it, they “made it up”, or they’re “delusional”. Sometimes, one day, a kid goes nutz and does something crazy like beat some poor girl’s head in with daddy’s golf club.

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 10:02:26

I have found that those who scream the most about “vulgarity” and “base instincts” tend to be the sickest perverts

Exactly. Just like the posters here who rag on the “trannies in the womens room” and the “lolas in the alley” and whatnot incessantly.

Their obsession reveals their interest.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-01-29 10:20:42

If we didn’t have Lolas and trannies like you sniveling everyday, there would be no discussion about it.

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Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 11:00:19

Exactly. Everyone else is a lola to a closet case. Classic projection. I knew you (or phony or goon) would be able to explain it better than me.

 
 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 10:24:14

‘I have found that those who scream the most about “vulgarity” and “base instincts” tend to be the sickest perverts underneath that pose of virtue and intellect and proper society.’

It takes a sick pervert to know one.

Comment by palmetto
2016-01-29 10:35:14

Another brick in the wall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U

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Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 11:08:01

I doubt that you’ve many people who scream about vulgarity. Also, I think that Trump called Hillary’s long bathroom break at a debate disgusting.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 11:22:54

Trump is a master at dignifying vulgarity. We’ll become a far more crass and vulgar society if he gets elected.

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Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 13:15:57

Trump should choose Don Rickels or Jeff Ross as his running mate. ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

New Zealand looks better ever day.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 14:20:21

Clearly it’s going to be Sarah Palin.

 
Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:52:29

New Zealand looks better ever day.

Your IQ is too lo.

 
Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 17:42:10

Another failed prediction by Professor Bear. Maybe you should move to Albequerque

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 21:41:53

Maybe you live in Albuquerque and dine on crow nightly.

 
 
 
 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 10:55:29

Trump seems to appeal to the ugliest, basest, most vulgar instincts of old, angry, fearful white males.

I don’t understand this appeal. I guess I’m just not old, angry or fearful enough to get it.

Maybe you’ve been spending too much time enjoying the California sunshine and you’re no longer white enough.

Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 17:43:11

MightyRacist

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 11:18:04

2016 Elections
How Trump Bungled the Deal of a Lifetime
Jan 27, 2016 6:00 AM EST
By Timothy L. O’Brien

Here comes Donald Trump, again, and again, and again, touting his prowess at dealmaking. There goes Donald Trump, again, and again, and again, touting his prowess at dealmaking. Gliding into February’s Republican presidential primaries atop a flotilla of polls, Trump has made “deals” the litmus test of his candidacy.

“If I’m president,” he announced at the most recent GOP debate, “there won’t be stupid deals anymore.”

But a well-documented and widely reported trail of bad deals litters Trump’s career as a real estate developer and gambling mogul. (Disclosure: I wrote a book about the Republican candidate, “TrumpNation,” for which he sued me in 2006 because, among other things, it questioned the size of his fortune; the suit was later dismissed.)

Fueled by a slew of bank loans in the late 1980s, Trump absorbed an airline, a football team, a landmark hotel, a bunch of casinos, a yacht, and other nifty stuff — almost all of which he eventually lost because he couldn’t juggle the debt payments.

He overcame those setbacks, but the man who emerged from that mess wasn’t really a dealmaker anymore. Kept afloat by his wealthy father’s funds and his own gifts for self-promotion, Trump became a reality TV star, golf course developer and human shingle who licensed his name on everything from real estate and vodka to mattresses and underwear.

Through Trump’s rise, fall and rebirth, there was one major real estate project that he tried to keep. The tale of what happened to that property should be of interest to anyone looking for insight into how Trump might perform as president. It was a deal of genuine magnitude and would have put him atop the New York real estate market. And he screwed it up.

 
Comment by jane
2016-01-30 17:46:38

PB, with due respect - I don’t think you quite “get” how utterly and repulsively sanctimonious you sounded with that there pronouncement.

 
 
Comment by Donald Trump
2016-01-29 09:11:26

A nation without borders is not a nation at all. We must have a wall. The rule of law matters.

Comment by butters
2016-01-29 09:30:27

Are you going to declare US bankruptcy, too? If so, count me in.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 09:56:17

You were smart to avoid debating Cruz, as he could easily show you up as a policy ignoramus.

Comment by azdude
2016-01-29 10:04:23

Its funny how most everyone avoids talking about the fiscal problems and assumes things are ok. Very weak talk on it. they dont seem to understand it. They just want to ramble about our enemies in the middle east.

 
Comment by palmetto
2016-01-29 11:04:37

“Policy”. Feh. WHAT policy?

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 11:23:54

Great question for a Trump supporter to ponder!

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-01-29 09:21:02

The rage is unprecedented today

http://goo.gl/nhb3fP

Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 17:44:44

Fear, they know it’s all happening!

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 22:32:36

The Telegraph
Donald Trump’s campaign is based on fear of anyone who looks different
Business mogul Donald Trump gives a speech as he announces his candidacy for the U.S. presidency at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015 in New York City. Trump is the 12th Republican who has announced running for the White House
By J. Singh-Sohal
9:37PM GMT 28 Jan 2016
The ejection of a Sikh man wearing a turban from the Republican frontrunner’s rally shows how he inhabits a world of ignorance

In running for his party’s nomination for the President of the United States, Donald Trump has already caused offence to the disabled, women, African Americans and Muslims, amongst others. Now the Republican contender appears to have added Sikhs to the growing list.

At a rally in Muscatine, Iowa, a Sikh protester in a turban was escorted out for unfurling a large “stop hate” banner. “He wasn’t wearing one of those hats, was he?” jibed the billionaire, in reference to the Trump baseball cap worn by supporters. “And he never will!” Mr Trump had been speaking about President Obama’s anti-terrorism policies at the time.

News outlets and social media activists have been quick to accuse Mr Trump of mocking the Sikh. That’s because not only are race relations highly politicised in the US (especially so during an election year) but because the perceived ignorance about the appearance of religious Sikhs only heightens tensions further. Such comments are dangerous because of the sheer amount of hate violence Sikhs experience in modern America.

 
 
 
Comment by Puggs
Comment by azdude
2016-01-29 10:10:30

At what level of the DOW will QE 4 be announced? It really seems there is a floor under this market by all the attention that is paid to the world central banks.

Draghi last week
BOJ this week

Who will be wheeled out next week to talk about more money printing? The SNB must have some news.

This is what it has all come down to.

 
 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-01-29 10:22:43

Mirror mirror on the wall. Who is the biggest deficit spending president of them all.

Why…. why it’s Barack Obama!

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200

Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 12:41:09

The Republican rhetoric was ridiculously wrong. We don’t have a trillion-dollar deficit; the deficit isn’t the ultimate problem; and it’s not growing.
Strong growth in individual tax collection drove the U.S. budget deficit to a fresh Obama-era low in fiscal 2015, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 the shortfall was $439 billion, a decrease of 9%, or $44 billion, from last year. The deficit is the smallest of Barack Obama’s presidency and the lowest since 2007 in both dollar terms and as a percentage of gross domestic product.

Comment by azdude
2016-01-29 15:35:23

taxes from a ponzi stock market?

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-01-29 20:13:51

biggest.deficit.spender.of.them.all.

 
 
 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-01-29 10:37:44

No posts on Paul, gold, bitcoin yet.

This HBB group gave up on libertarianism and switched to Statism. 180 degrees.

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 11:08:20

Trump separated the statists from the libertarians, and it turns out that gets him about 80% of the old crew.

Now we know.

Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-01-29 12:29:18

Yup

 
Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:54:12

Libertarians for Hitlary. That’s the ticket!

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 20:56:29

Makes no sense, but I guess it counts as a pro-Trump post. Pass Go and collect $200.

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-01-29 12:36:05

On my way to the Rand Paul rally, I picked up physical gold & Bitcoin.

There, fixed it for ya….

p.s. - For the record, I wouldn’t touch Bitcoin, a scam currency in my book.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 11:19:18

The disinformation about Trump posted daily on the Housing Bubble Blog is thicker than a London fog.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 11:25:19

Investigations
Trump’s bad bet: How too much debt drove his biggest casino aground
By Robert O’Harrow Jr. January 18
Trump’s gamble: A failed bet in Atlantic City

For months in 1987, Donald Trump maneuvered to take control of the hulking, unfinished Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. He snapped up stock in the parent company after its owner died and then made a surprise bid to take the company private.

With the Taj, along with two casinos he already owned in the city, Trump could dominate gambling on the East Coast. But first he needed to convince state gambling regulators that he was financially stable and could raise enough cash to complete the $1 billion project.

On Feb. 8, 1988, at a licensing hearing in front of the state Casino Control Commission, Trump said he could pull it off for one main reason: He was Donald Trump. Because of his reputation as a dealmaker, he said, bankers were lining up to lend him money at prime rates. That meant he could avoid the risky, high-interest loans known as junk bonds.

“I’m talking about banking institutions, not these junk bonds, which are ridiculous,” Trump testified, according to transcripts of the hearing. “The funny thing with junk bonds is that junk bonds [are] what really made the companies junk.”

 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 12:32:27

Yes, having Palin sponsor him was just country wide a hallucination.

 
Comment by Hi-Z
2016-01-29 13:43:21

I see very little, if any, information about Trump being posted here daily other than some people indicating they may support him. You are the one posting Trump stuff.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 14:24:32

I see lots of information posted daily on how Trump is going to beat Clinton in November.

Clinton Seen as Winner in November; A Trump Presidency Inspires Anxiety (POLL)

By CHAD KIEWIET DE JONGE
Jan 28, 2016, 7:00 AM ET

Most Americans expect that Hillary Clinton would prevail against her leading GOP opponent in November, while Bernie Sanders’ chances are rated less well. The thought of Donald Trump as president inspires high levels of public anxiety.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll also finds Americans divided about the need for a third party in this country – but not so divided about a potential independent run by Trump, should he fail to win the GOP nomination. Fewer than a quarter say they’d even consider voting for him as an independent candidate for president.

With Trump as the GOP nominee vs. Clinton, 54 percent of Americans say they’d expect Clinton to win; among registered voters (a more GOP-leaning group), Clinton has 52 percent support. Clinton’s seen by much wider margins as beating Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. Sanders, for his part, is seen as beating Cruz or Rubio – but potentially losing to Trump.

 
Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:43:54

You are the one posting Trump stuff.

Angry old white male posting about his idol. What do you expect?

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-01-29 12:26:54

Peter Schiff: Economic collapse and NIRP before the election.

http://www.businessinsider.com/schiff-recession-negative-rates-by-election-2016-1

“Anyone who says the American economy is in decline is peddling fiction.”

– President Barak Obama, SOTU Address, 2016.

Comment by In Colorado
2016-01-29 13:07:29

FWIW, the NIRP so far is only happening outside the US.

Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:19:41

Only if you agree to official inflation numbers.

 
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 13:12:54

Buckle your seat belts! Rocky road coming.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 13:35:29

He doesn’t explain what he means by economic collapse. However, NIRP before the election (only 40½ weeks to go) is a doom-and-gloom prediction with an actual date attached to it. The result will probably be the same as Albuquerque Dan’s oil price prediction.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-01-29 12:34:02

Despite the cooing noises from the Oligopoly’s financial media permabulls, the retail investor herd is getting spooked.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bank-of-america-flow-show-going-to-cash-2016-1

 
Comment by azdude
2016-01-29 12:40:29

looks like BTFD is back.

We seem to have this pattern where markets sell off and then one by one central banks come out and talk about stimulus and force short covering rallies.

Anyone else picking up on this?

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 14:25:37

Yes. It’s called the Greenspan-Bernanke-Yellen Put.

Comment by azdude
2016-01-29 14:42:32

your missing a few names like dragi and kuroda.

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-01-29 21:01:57

The fiat put.

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Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 13:21:25

Bush wants Trump to win, might replace him as worst President ever.

Mex will pay us to build a wall…..lol!! China will get a 45% tariff!! We will invade Iran….

great ideas, Trump.

Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:45:48

W’s place is secured already. Omamba beat him to it.

 
 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-01-29 13:49:39

Iowa’s Bucolic Backdrops Belie an Economy That Thrives on Finance

Still heavily associated with the agriculture, Iowa’s economy is much more diverse, with the finance, insurance, and real estate industries representing 21.5 percent of Iowa’s gross domestic product.

In the final push before Monday’s caucuses, images of candidates pervade Iowa’s airwaves, with ad-makers placing them in settings they believe resonate: Hillary Clinton talking with a white-coated pharmacist. Marco Rubio tossing a football. Ted Cruz wearing duck-hunting gear.

None appears in an insurance office.

Iowa’s financial-services industry doesn’t wield caucus campaign clout commensurate with its economic might. The finance, insurance, and real estate industries claims 21.5 percent of Iowa’s gross domestic product, compared with only 7.4 percent for agriculture and natural resources, according to a 2015 study by Iowa State University.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-27/iowa-s-bucolic-backdrops-belie-an-economy-that-thrives-on-finance

 
Comment by rj chicago
2016-01-29 15:06:08

Fiat Lux!!
We need an awful lot of it.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-01-29 22:25:06

R u a Cal grad?

 
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 16:08:08

Where can I read the details on the plan Trump has for tariffs on China and Mexico?

Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:17:35

Same place you read obamacare will reduce the health care costs.

Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 16:45:47

Romney/ObamaCare is horrible for the upper middle class.

I wish they would take Bernies advice.

 
 
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 16:14:16

Hillary should be in jail!

http://www.juancole.com/2015/07/illegally-khomeini-weapons.html

because that is what is right if you are sneaky!

Reagan was prevented by law from selling US weaponry to Iran, and certainly without notifying Congress under the Arms Export Act. There was no aboveboard, legitimate way to do this. So he just had his people pilfer expensive weaponry and ship it to Iran. A notorious Israeli arms dealer was the intermediary.

Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:21:48

Lets indict ray-gun and hillarious both. Do you agree?

Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 16:46:48

and Bush/cheney for war crimes….Im in.

Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2016-01-29 16:55:23

Sure, add Omamba as well, will you?

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Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 20:02:37

Only if you prove he is Muslim.

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 16:19:17

Rhetorical Terror: GOP Candidates Pledge War Crimes, Carpet-Bombing, Asian Land Wars

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –
At the Trumpless GOP debate Thursday evening, the candidates once again promised to bankrupt us with military and intelligence spending and to commit vast war crimes with reckless disregard for the lives of women, children and non-combatant men, of the sort not openly plotted since the demise of the Axis powers in 1943-45.
Sen. Marco Rubio seemed to imply that we don’t know where the terrorists are because our intelligence agencies have somehow been insufficiently funded or supported. But the National Intelligence budget rose from $26.6 billion in fiscal year 1997 to $47.5 billion in FY 2008 (Bush’s last year), and then rose again to $53.9 bn in FY 2012.
That’s about a 12% increase in Barack Obama’s first term and a nearly 200% increase since the late Bill Clinton period.
So Rubio’s implication that intelligence spending has been gutted is not only false, it is the opposite of reality. Why would more such spending work since Rubio maintains that the vast increases in the past decade and a half haven’t done the trick?
Moreover, I thought conservatism was about small government and cutting budgets? Why is Rubio saying he wants to be more of a spendthrift than Barack Obama in this sector?

 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 16:20:42
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 16:56:49

I heard this word today, demographics.

In 1988 G.H.W. Bush got 59% of the white vote and won the electoral college 426 - 112.
In 2012 Mitt Romney won 59% of the white vote and lost the electoral college 332 - 206.
The white vote decreases by about 2% every general election cycle and will be about 66% in 2016, compared to 86% in 1988.

Support Sanders, or momma clinton is the next POTUS.

Comment by BlueCollarMale
2016-01-29 17:49:00

I support Barney Saunders. He’s a game changer. Either way Trump wins, just easier with Barney.

Comment by CalifoH20
2016-01-29 20:03:44

D E M O G R A P H I C S

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-01-29 20:56:59

L O L A L O L

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