February 10, 2016

Bits Bucket for February 10, 2016

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258 Comments »

Comment by SUGUy
2016-02-10 04:03:58

Hillary Clinton is a corrupt politician
Hillary Clinton is married to a rapist and she knows it.
Hillary Clinton is a liar
Hillary Clinton is a Neocon
Don’t get fooled by Hillary Clinton.
Let’s say NO to Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Rubio, Christi
Say yes to Bernie or Trump and MAYBE save America.

Comment by NH Hick
2016-02-10 04:51:57

If Obama is 3.0, Hillary is Obama 3.5, and Sanders is Obama 4.0.
Trump is the only one who has any chance of turning things around.

Comment by inchbyinch
2016-02-10 05:10:25

Trump has my political theatre attention. He is right about our trade deals, and no borders. Trump needs to polish his message. S Carolina is a tough sell. It has a religious leaning, which is too emotional for my taste. For extra credit in Pol Sci, I worked for Tom Hayden. This is the 1st election that has captured my attention in decades.

Comment by FrankBruno
2016-02-10 06:21:24

Crow will be served all day here, in double doses, one for the Trump bashes and a second helping for the Hillaryious supporters.

These are usually the same. Come out and get your crow, Heckyl and Jekyll under glass.

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Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 07:01:05

I don’t recall any commenter on the HBB predicting recently that Clinton would win or that Trump would lose in New Hampshire.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 07:10:22

Strawmen gonna strawman.

 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-10 12:10:18

Who wants Hillary to win?

Feel the Bern!!

 
 
Comment by Jingle Male
2016-02-10 06:39:08

…are you really Jane Fonda?

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Comment by inchbyinch
2016-02-10 13:14:36

I met Jane Fondle at a Tom Hayden party. What a knock out in her youth. Too bad she has no respect for this country. Trump and Bernie are really fun to watch. The most dangerous candidates are Cruz and Clinton imho. I dislike Hillary so much, I’m warming up to Bill. Cruz is a religious zealot.

 
 
 
Comment by Muggy
2016-02-10 05:14:44

How do you think Bernie is Obama 4.0? Please be specific.

Comment by NH Hick
2016-02-10 07:18:41

His grandiose spending plans will make Obamas addition to the deficits of 8 trillion look like pocket change. There aren’t enough “rich” to fund his schemes. But free education, health care, and everything else sounds so good.

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Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 09:37:50

His plans include taxes. They may not increase the deficit.

 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-10 09:57:52

unlike Trump’s grandiose spending plans. walls and deportations and wars are freeeeeeee.

 
 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 08:09:07

His grandiose spending plans will make Obamas addition to the deficits of 8 trillion look like pocket change. There aren’t enough “rich” to fund his schemes. But free education, health care, and everything else sounds so good.

1. Single payer health care could cut the US medical bill by up to 50% (Other single payer health care systems pay 50% less per capita and have excellent outcomes)

2. His education is not free education it’s tuition free at public schools ie same as K-12. Books room and board etc are a big chunk of education costs. His bill, would lower interest rates on federal student loans, give graduates a chance to refinance existing loans at lower rates, and stop the government from making profits on student loans. We currently guarantee banks they won’t loose money and yet they still charge very high rates.

To fund the legislation by generating up to $300 billion a year, Sanders proposes instituting a 0.5% tax on trades of stocks and 0.1% tax on bonds and an even smaller fee on so-called derivatives, such as stock options and futures contracts.

My own feeling is it should be Merit based not for all. Taxing stock transactions a small amount would make it less profitable for Hedge Funds and others to manipulate stock prices which I think would be great for the country.

Not sure what you mean by everything else.
He’d cut war spending. He’d change trade policy. He’d put more money in the pockets of the middle class.

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 08:38:06

Barney Sanders is pro-debt slavery.

 
Comment by NH Hick
2016-02-10 08:39:43

Boy he has you fooled. Why should he be spending any less than Obama? What business is he going to encourage? He is promising to raise taxes and spending. He just represents more top down, big government can solve all your problems, nanny state BS. Keep on drinking the utopian Karl Marx kool-aid.

 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 09:14:11

As opposed to the big corporate slave labor fascist state that is running things now. Keep thinking that the freedom that TPP gives corporations to avoid regulation and the state laws will improve your life. That a larger and larger population of poor and desperate people will not impact your compound your family and democracy in general. Keep dreaming that trickle down economics will bring prosperity to your door step. Keep your faith in a legal system and political system controlled more and more by the elite will protect your interests and property.

PS take a trip to the third world to see our future with a tiny % controlling more and more the wealth.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 09:21:30

They seem to do a equally stellar job at bottlenecking prices, rigging markets and crushing demand.

Why do you think that is?

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 09:40:36

“He’d put more money in the pockets of the middle class.”

That’s not how socialism works out.

Everything is free so there isn’t anything to be had is how socialism works out.

Every time.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-10 10:27:45

Every time.

Were we communist in the 50s?

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 10:48:43

In the 50s I was usually the Lone Ranger. Who were you?

 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 10:57:39

Norway Sweden Finland Germany Scotland France offer free education and they haven’t dropped of the edge of the earth yet.

The tax he proposes will cut down on market manipulation,
More than 1,000 economists have endorsed a tax on Wall Street speculation and today some 40 countries throughout the world have imposed a similar tax including Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, and China

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-10 11:08:43

Who were you?

The US in the 50s was doing much of what Bernie says he wants to do now, so I was wondering if we were communist then.

 
Comment by cactus
2016-02-10 11:12:28

“He’d put more money in the pockets of the middle class.”

Sure he will.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 11:30:38

“The tax he proposes will cut down on market manipulation…”

There are two ways to deal with vice, OK three ways. One is to allow it and enjoy. Two is to prohibit it as harmful to the public and spend money enforcing. Three is to tax it, swelling the ranks of bureaucrats and the wallet of the government, probably with even more corruption.

 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 12:13:14

Or in this case providing money for the middle class to go to college.

A tax on vice and wealth stripping market manipulation to pay for college is fine by me.

A tax like this is easy to monitor, much harder to monitor every financial transaction to determine if it is market manipulation.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 12:27:24

Sure it’s fine by you. Gov’t paid college will make college and government both more expensive, just like gov’t funded college loans have. College will only be available to the few, who are selected by government.

BTW, I went to a top notch engineering college for $350 a semester. This was money I could easily earn on the side while getting some great exercise. What has changed is government making college “more affordable”.

You could stop high frequency trading in its tracks without taxation.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 14:11:42

BTW, I went to a top notch engineering college for $350 a semester.

Is it safe to assume that you attended a state college, not a private college?

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 14:36:37

It was then a city tech farm subsidized by the evil empire of Exxon and the like. Now it is a state college. Sorry I couldn’t help you make your point. I also had a scholarship from the society of plastics engineers after my first grades were in.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 14:45:12

I’ve never heard of such a thing. What’s a city tech farm?

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 15:51:32

Hell if I know what a City Engineering College is, but I got me a certificate.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 15:57:04

You don’t know what a City Engineering College is? That’s odd. It sounds like a kind of community college. In other words, you probably paid a very low tuition because the vast majority of the costs of running the college were funded by taxpayers. Compared to what kids have to pay these days, $350 is very close to free, in other words, very close to what Sanders is proposing.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 16:14:28

$350 is $0?

That’s a simple world you live in.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 16:48:59

Well you might be right. Around here though and back then a “community college” was a two year affair run by the county. Mine was run by a city and it was founded by the local industry, teachers from these industries and heavily subsidized by those industries. It was a center of technical industrial activity. No dorms. Unpossible you must think for anyone but the government to accomplish such a thing. Apparently during or after the war there was a shortage of engineers. It is anyway a thing of the past.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 17:00:41

Well, maybe it’s more like a state college than a community college. However, it’s irrelevant to my point regarding the education that was almost free to you.

I certainly don’t think that it’s impossible for anyone but the government to run such schools. Most of the top engineering schools in the country are at private universities. Though, of course, they receive plenty of federal and corporate funding.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 17:22:36

Your “point” is irrelevant Milky.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 18:32:06

$350 is $0?

Read what I wrote. Read it again.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 19:08:59

Free? You are out of your mind. I split firewood on a farm for $4/hr. I had to eat/rent/commute and buy books out of that too. It was affordable before the age of Federally sponsored “affordability”.

It was a City college, not a Community college and not a State College. Is that so difficult to grasp? I am not sure why you have a problem with this.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 19:16:15

Look at what I wrote. I didn’t write that it was free. I wrote that it was close to free - very, very cheap.

I also didn’t write that it was a state college. I wrote “more like a state college than a community college.”

Of course, that part is irrelevant to my point, which you should be able to grasp. You yourself said that you don’t know what a city engineering college was. The point is that other people were taxed to fund it. The $350 most likely covered some small portion of the cost of what you received.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 20:00:34

It was a subtle way of telling you that you had no idea what a city college was and I didn’t care to explain it to you. I sweat out a degree there. I had a clue what it was.

It was not at all “more like a state college”. You are pretending to be thick at this point. But maybe not so much pretending.

$350 was the price of a very decent used car. It was the gross of almost three weeks of hard physical work. It was 4 month’s rent. You say it was almost entirely paid for by taxpayers, and as much as free for me without having an effing clue. Because Sanders? We’re doomed.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 20:18:07

Where’d he go?

I think you scared Lola right out of his heels.

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-10 20:33:05

A city/community/state college was a product of the very “socialism” you decry in Sanders. You’re a big hypocrite. Exxon still teams with local community colleges to get engineers. Those community colleges are publicly funded, or communist, if you prefer.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 21:36:26

Which is it? Am I pretending to be thick, or do I really have no idea what a city college is? The more important point is that it doesn’t matter. You paid something. Taxpayers paid the rest.

Regarding this:

You say it was almost entirely paid for by taxpayers, and as much as free for me without having an effing clue.

Do you have a clue? Do you have any how much money funding taxpayers poured into that college every year? Maybe the taxpayers paid merely half. They still offered you a great low price. Trying to guess when you were in college, I found something with a Google search that shows that tuition at Cornell (a private, free enterprise operation) in 1973 was about 4½ times what you paid for 2 semesters. Interestingly, that worked out to be same price as a new Chevy Chevelle Laguna Colonnade sedan.

https://brancra.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/tuition-rates/

According to your numbers, $350 was less than a hundred hours worth of work. The college kids of 2016 would be overjoyed if some city, county or state college charged that amount.

Also, I never said because Sanders at any point in this discussion.

 
 
 
Comment by I am yuuuge in Burma
2016-02-10 05:58:30

Let’s be real. Nobody’s turning anything around. Trump will likely collapse it sooner so I like the idea of Trump.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 06:50:07

Why are you anti-America?

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 07:30:54

Please don’t confuse the corrupt political status quo and the Wall Street-Federal Reserve Looting Syndicate with “America.” They are a parasitic perversion of what America used to be.

 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-10 07:58:08

Bear hasn’t confused anything. He’s just being him.

 
 
 
 
Comment by inchbyinch
2016-02-10 05:17:26

Bernie - Not sure what his stated position is on these awful trade deals.

I was taught to divide my President into domestic and international. Bush and Obama failed in both arenas.
Clinton was a disaster with the China trade deal.

I was thinking about the dollar store sector. It would get clobbered if we manufactured again, and people stopped buying so much cheap Chinese cr*p. I reformed myself.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 05:42:35

lol@EmptyPockets

 
Comment by frankie
2016-02-10 05:44:04

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a disastrous trade agreement designed to protect the interests of the largest multi-national corporations at the expense of workers, consumers, the environment and the foundations of American democracy. It will also negatively impact some of the poorest people in the world.

The TPP is a treaty that has been written behind closed doors by the corporate world. Incredibly, while Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry and major media companies have full knowledge as to what is in this treaty, the American people and members of Congress do not. They have been locked out of the process.

Further, all Americans, regardless of political ideology, should be opposed to the “fast track” process which would deny Congress the right to amend the treaty and represent their constituents’ interests.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/stop-the-tpp

seems to be a bit on the fence ;) or perhaps not.

Comment by Mr. Banker
2016-02-10 06:06:53

“The TPP is a treaty that has been written behind closed doors by the corporate world. Incredibly, while Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry and major media companies have full knowledge as to what is in this treaty, the American people and members of Congress do not. They have been locked out of the process.”

“Incredibly”? Lol. Incredibly the American people have been so successfully dumbed-down that they do not have a clue as to what has been done to them and what is currently being done to them - nor do they care to learn.

Present the average American with a vital point of information that reaches beyond a one sentence sound bite and their eyes will glaze over and their simple minds will begin to drift.

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Comment by Mr. Banker
2016-02-10 06:28:35

Sumtin’ I ran across for you pukes to ponder …

“The Dumbing Down Of America By Design”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-dumbing-down-of-america-by-design/5395928

 
Comment by Mr. Banker
2016-02-10 06:35:31

“As a pawn to the military industrial complex, the US government has chosen permanent war over its own people. This treasonous decision has decimated the middle class and created a college educated indentured class struggling in heavy debt to find any means to stay afloat. With an outsourced, now vanished manufacturing base, upward mobility and the American dream have become tragic casualties of modern life, now a sad, nostalgic bygone reminder of the once greatness of America.”

 
Comment by salinasron
2016-02-10 08:28:49

“upward mobility and the American dream have become tragic casualties of modern life”

I always enjoy it when somebody spouts off the term ‘the American dream’. Just what is ‘the American dream’, where did it come from, who decided what it should be for me (was it the movie industry or corporate heads hawking wares), or the government trying to enslave the population into debt?

 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 09:43:12

The American dream started as a way to grow the US. People were given an opportunity to better themselves through work and education without a constant boot of oppression from the overlords keeping them down. They got a say in how their government behaved and they knew that the odds were good their children would be even more successful.

We are moving in the opposite direction now. The gov is used by the elite to strip the middle class of their wealth via deregulation and monopoly pricing. It is used to control trade and to strip the middle class of their jobs and future earnings. The tax system is designed to minimize taxes on the elite. Debt has been used to hide the theft and keep the proles happy and boiling in the pot. It moves the workers both educated and non educated back under the boot of the overlords. TPP is one of many steps to strip the citizen of their right to choose their own gov and have a say in the laws that govern their existence. It is very unlikely that most of our children will do better than we did, very unlikely.

 
Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2016-02-10 11:58:15

The gov is used by the elite to strip the middle class of their wealth via deregulation

Huh??!? All is see is MORE regulation, mostly used by the large entrenched businesses to prevent competition from new, smaller upstart businesses.

 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 12:21:12

So we agree on the problem that corporations have too much of a say. They use deregulation - ie market manipulation, third world slave labor, monopolies and off loading external costs such as pollution onto the citizens. They also use regulation to prevent competition. You focus on the later, but deregulation destroys the system as well. If you say there is no speed limit or laws regulating reckless driving getting from A to B would become quite dangerous.

What you need is competent and honest regulation and enforcement. Hard to come by with so much money circulating in the system. So I’ll vote for the guy who doesn’t take money from the pigs and has a long record of wanting to level the playing field. One who doesn’t drive have a limo, live in a castle, and date playboy models.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 12:53:50

Here’s a novel approach. Instead of whining about what others have, why not pull yourself together and and go get your own?

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 14:15:47

Huh??!? All is see is MORE regulation, mostly used by the large entrenched businesses to prevent competition from new, smaller upstart businesses

Corporations seek to make as much profit as possible. That is their purpose. In some cases more regulation furthers that goal. In other case, less regulation is what they want. It depends on the details of the regulations.

 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 15:45:32

Here’s a novel approach. Instead of whining about what others have, why not pull yourself together and and go get your own?

You mean like Tim Geitner
or Hank Paulson
Or Jamie Diamond

How about the Clinton’s

Your one liners don’t really capture reality. Like I said it’s a simple life you live.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 15:49:23

No. You Milky.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 16:02:26

Honesty is a necessary thing. Lawmakers who are bought and paid for cannot do an honest job.

I do not see any fault in dating beautiful women or having a nice ride. In fact, it is my personal preference.

Poverty is for priests, slackers and unfortunates. It is not a virtue in and of itself. Quite the contrary.

“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”

from somewhere in the Bible.

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 06:52:37

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a disastrous trade agreement designed to protect the interests of the largest multi-national corporations at the expense of workers,

Testify. It is a testament to how corrupt and mob-run American unions have become that union “leadership” is throwing their membership under the bus by supporting and enabling corrupt crony capitalists like Obama and Hillary to pass this abomination. Hillary and Obama will be richly rewarded for their complicity; the American workers will get the shaft, again. Yet many of the idiots are still voting for their own demise by marking “D” on the ballot.

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Comment by measton
2016-02-10 11:05:14

There is probably some truth in that but also that unions have absolutely no power despite 2bannana’s posting on them every day. The unions were one organized block that countered the elite and wall street. They have been neutered. Other attempts to organize ie OWS and TP were taken over or bashed and distracted and sabotaged into oblivion.

Expect the same if Sanders moves into the lead.

 
Comment by redmondjp
2016-02-10 13:46:41

So why did all of the labor unions support Clinton/Gore, during whose time in office, Chinese manufacturing outsourcing really got into high gear?

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 14:24:20

So why did all of the labor unions support Clinton/Gore, during whose time in office, Chinese manufacturing outsourcing really got into high gear?

They were bad, but the Republicans are worse.

 
 
 
Comment by Karen
2016-02-10 09:09:05

There were dollar stores long before importing from China was the norm. I know someone who owned one.

The idea that if “we” manufactured again, prices would have to rise and there would be no more dollar stores or affordable items in general, shows a complete lack of understanding of how markets work.

Consumers determine prices, not cost of production.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 09:14:32

Well…. not really.

Cost of production plus profit determines price in a market environment where there is demand.

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Comment by Karen
2016-02-10 10:18:33

“…where there is demand”

And what determines demand?

You can charge $5 for your dollar-store product, but if no one wants to buy it at that price…

Current cost of production determines whether or not business owners will produce that product or service. If they can’t produce a profit that satisfies them at prices that consumers are currently willing to pay for that item, they will not produce that product or service unless they can lower their own costs to produce it.

 
Comment by cactus
2016-02-10 11:39:01

“You can charge $5 for your dollar-store product, but if no one wants to buy it at that price…”

I think that’s called elastic demand.

Some things are inelastic like health insurance. Unless you want to break the law. I expect more of this type of inelastic demand for products and services forced on us as our government goes deeper and deeper into debt.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 11:44:39

Well…. not really.

You’re leaving out the fact that scores of competitors can and do produce the same product at a far lower cost.

 
 
Comment by inchbyinch
2016-02-10 14:43:00

Karen,
That sector is built on a lot of cheap and might I add dangerous crap from China. It has been in the last 15 years, the $1 sector stores have enjoyed the China effect.

We use to buy from Japan, Taiwan , Malaysia granted, but not at the volume we’re buying from China. Because we have environmental laws, higher wages, etc,… we could not supply America’s addiction to cheap crapola. Production costs are part of it as well.

I bought a pair of designer jeans (slightly irregular) at an independent $1 store for a buck. Best fitting jeans I own. (I’m a size 4)

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Comment by Hi-Z
2016-02-10 15:04:22

I send out hundreds of personal greeting cards per year. I have found that I can buy “made in usa” cards from DollarTree for $1 for some, $0.50 for others. I stopped buying Hallmark cards that are now mostly “made in china” and 3.99-5.99 each.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Obama Goons
2016-02-10 05:43:47

Hillaryous is unelectable.

Comment by I am yuuuge in Burma
Comment by FrankBruno
2016-02-10 06:24:40

Bloomberg can jump in and hand it to the Rs also.

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 06:53:38

I’d rather see an oligarch jump in directly than be the organ grinder for the monkeys like Bush, Rubio, Cruz, and Hillary.

 
Comment by MacBeth
2016-02-10 08:16:12

“Bloomberg can jump in and hand it to the Rs also.”

Can you imagine being a liberal today?

Your choices are:

Hillary Clinton: Shrew and fraudstress extraordinaire.

Bernie Sanders: Hasn’t managed as much as a lemonade stand. Why hasn’t he been vetted? Liberals always whine about conservatives not being properly vetted. Where’s the whining now? You’d think they’d want the public to know something about one of their own.

Possible clowns: Bloomberg and Biden.

Can you imagine having to choose from a field of Clinton, Sanders, Bloomberg and Biden, whilst maintaining an air of party loyalty? That’s asking an awful lot.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 08:31:11

It’s nearly as bad as having to choose between Trump, Cruz and Rubio…nearly.

 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 09:55:00

It really is too early for a real hero. We are going to have to hit the bottom of the barrel before people actually want a fundamental change.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 09:59:51

Liberals always whine about conservatives not being properly vetted. Where’s the whining now?

I think that you have that backwards. It was the right wing media complex that ranted that Obama had never been vetted. They kept going on about it for at least a year after he was elected.

 
Comment by Jimmy Carter is Hitler
2016-02-10 11:02:24

Nearly? Hillary will appreciate your vote. ;)

 
 
 
 
Comment by frankie
2016-02-10 05:55:31

SUGUy

can I put you down as an undecided when it comes to Hilary?

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 06:48:45

People who vote for Hillary are corrupt pieces of sh*t, just like her.

Comment by Goon
2016-02-10 07:14:40

THIS.

 
 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 07:15:33

All you turds are arguing for choices among tyrants. I you want to sock it to your next door neighbor in some way. That is your commonality. And I am not referring to Canada or. mexico. For shame.

NOTA.

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 07:36:49

SH, while I don’t disagree with your pious pontificating about “voluntarism” at some point pragmatism has to come into play. Trump and Sanders are the least bad choices, and (best of all) an extended middle finger to the Oligopoly. Both are odious in their own way, but far less odious than the alternatives.

In 2008 and 2012 95% of the ‘Murican electorate bent over for Wall Street by voting for its water carriers. If some of those vegetables are now showing signs of reversing their brain damage and flipping off Wall Street instead of tossing its salad, that is a very healthy and positive development that could eventually force our political elites to start paying attention to the 99% instead of serving exclusively as the adjuncts and looting enablers of the .1%.

Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 09:27:55

The opposite of voluntaryism is not pragmatism. You just cannot say Involuntaryism can’t you RKH.

Okay, tell me what you want to force someone to do or not to do at gunpoint please.

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Comment by FrankBruno
2016-02-10 16:16:24

Bill lives in a society that functions at the point of a gun, enjoying all its benefits, then disclaiming any responsibility. Huge hypocrite or simply delusional?

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 17:04:13

No it does not. This society functions DESPITE the point of the gun. Every invention you love has been developed through voluntary association. Government does not create wealth. Government steals.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 17:10:47

That’s not true. Governments developed the internet, the jet engine, and many other things.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 17:25:07

False, false and false.

/fail

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 17:50:20

Government did not develop the jet engine. Thre Internet was useless to government, and it took capitalism to make use of it.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 18:35:52

If you look through the Wikipedia article on the jet engine, it appears that most of the funding had to come form governments. That makes sense, since it was a component of a weapon. Also, your statement about the internet is false and irrelevant to your statement regarding “every invention”.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 19:24:33

Incorrect again. ATT labs developed net.

Get your facts straight.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 19:58:27

The government paid for the development of the internet. I think that it was BBN, actually. Bell Labs developed many important technologies crucial to making the internet and your smartphone work. Of course, in those days AT & T was a monopoly and the government allowed it to charge very high rates for long distance calls. With all that money coming in, they were able to lavish funding on Bell Labs. One of the Nobel Prizes won by Bell researchers had to do with astronomy, something not even related to telephony.

 
 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 09:37:34

You missed the real positive development I’ve been telling you: the majority of eligible voters do not vote. We are above it all. You are affected by the vocal minority and under the spell of the very same lamestream media you and the others despise here. You are fooled into thinking that ng that since politics is the only thing you hear, that everyone is for one of the candidates. NOTA will be the winner this election, just like the last election. Moe and more people don’t give a hoot about which sociopath will be the next sociopath. MOST PEOPLE DO NOT CONSENT.

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Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 09:42:41

A lot of people don’t vote because elections are held on days that they have to work and they don’t have the time to spend waiting on lines.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-10 10:49:35

MOST PEOPLE DO NOT CONSENT.

That’s a big assumption. In talking with average Joes who don’t vote, what I usually hear is that they don’t care who wins as they feel it makes no difference. So they are consenting.

Yeah, I get it. You want elected offices left unfilled so you can usher in your Anarchist/Volunaryist version of the Millenium/Rapture.

Good luck with that.

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 11:05:23

And they do not consent to the rule by the tyrants either.

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 11:08:20

In 2014 63.6% of the eligible voters did not consent to the tyrants in this congress.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2014/11/10/voter-turnout-in-2014-was-the-lowest-since-wwii/

 
Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-10 13:49:32

In 2014 63.6% of the eligible voters did not consent to the tyrants in this congress.

Like I said, you’re making the assumption that everyone who doesn’t vote does so because they are withholding their consent. The fact is many do consent, they just can’t be bothered to vote.

 
Comment by Hi-Z
2016-02-10 15:08:28

Someone ALWAYS gets elected no matter how many pontificating crusaders stay home.

 
 
 
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-10 15:51:20

ahhh, but remember the Bill Clinton economy!

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 16:13:05

Lib,

Bill the molester isn’t president. Happy New Year.

 
Comment by FrankBruno
2016-02-10 16:18:07

Goldman Sachs remembers!

 
 
 
Comment by I am yuuuge in Burma
Comment by FrankBruno
2016-02-10 06:28:47

Megyn had to swallow a lot of pride last night.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 06:52:48

Obviously she secretly desires to share The Donald’s bed, just as you do.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 07:08:51

The whole brouhaha with Trump has been great for her. She’s gotten a lot of attention out of it.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 08:43:56

She gets to maintain her role as 5 O’Clock Floozy. Mr. Trump gets elected President of the US.

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Comment by frankie
2016-02-10 05:53:59

Deutsche Bank shares have bounced back, after hitting a 30-year low on Tuesday, on reports that it will instigate an emergency bond buyback plan.

Shares in the bank soared more than 11% to €14.72 (£11.43) in Frankfurt on the media reports, easing concerns about the strength of Deutsche’s balance sheet.

The bank itself has made no comment.

The recovery in Deutsche Bank’s share price came after two days of dramatic falls.

Shares slumped 13% over the course of Monday and Tuesday, despite assurances from the bank that its balance sheet was “rock solid”.

The bank’s shares in Frankfurt closed 5% lower on Tuesday.

Overall, shares in Deutsche are still down more than 40% since the start of the year.

A report in the Financial Times stated the bank was expected to focus its emergency buyback plan on some €50bn of senior bonds - debt that is repaid first if a company goes out of business.

But the bank’s move is unlikely to involve so-called contingent convertible bonds.

Convertible bonds force investors to convert bonds into a predetermined number of shares at a given price, known as the strike price. …………………..

On Tuesday, Deutsche Bank’s co-chief executive, John Cryan, sent a message to all staff in which he assured them the bank was in a strong financial position, despite global growth fears, low oil and other commodity prices, and the fact that the bank would be booking write-downs in its fourth quarter………………..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35538969

Looks like that is a vote of confidence in the manager, just to point out in the UK a vote of confidence in the manager means

However, this phrase ironically does not always guarantee a manager‘s job is safe, indeed it is seen as being very bad luck if a manager receives a vote of confidence as more often than not it means that he will be sacked in the very near future.

Comment by wondering
2016-02-10 10:22:03

Deutchbank’s Co-CEO is crying? Oh he’s “Cryan”. One of those appropriate names… a gardener named “Lief”……doorman named “troy”…..

 
 
Comment by azdude
2016-02-10 05:57:43

Maybe janet yellen will cause another massive short covering rally today if she provides some dovish comments?

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 06:08:10

lol@az_donk

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 06:55:08

It’s a rigged game. Of course she’ll provide dovish comments. Da Boyz may not be ready to exit the pump & dump just yet.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 07:13:59

Gotta suck in some more marks to offload falling stock shares on them before further declines blow a still bigger hole in Wall Street balance sheets.

 
 
 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 06:10:32

“Profit At World’s Largest Shipping Company Plunges On Collapsing Global Trade, Sinking Crude Prices”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-10/profit-worlds-largest-shipping-company-plunges-collapsing-global-trade-sinking-crude

What goes up must come down. It’s a shame these bubble enterprises and jobs existed in the first place.

Comment by azdude
2016-02-10 06:45:27

how many zerohedge articles are you gonna post today DONK?

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 06:55:54

Az_donk,

Pull yourself up off the floor and cheer up and remember….

Nothing accelerates the economy and creates employment like falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels. Nothing.

“Crude Plunges Back Below $28″

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-10/wti-crude-plunges-back-below-28-after-yellen-disappoints

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 07:16:01

Baltic Dry Index falls to 291, down 2 points.
in Dry Bulk Market 09/02/2016

Today, Tuesday, February 09 2016, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 2 points, reaching 291 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 Tuesday, 09 2016, when the index dropped to 291 points.

Source: Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-11 00:01:45

Baltic Dry Index falls to 290, down 1 points.
in Dry Bulk Market 10/02/2016

Today, Wednesday, February 10, 2016, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 1 points, reaching 290 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 Wednesday, February 10, 2016, when the index dropped to 290 points.

Source: Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide

 
 
 
Comment by FrankBruno
2016-02-10 06:30:45

Somebody slept in. Oh well, it’s not a good day for the Establishment.

 
Comment by Donald Trump
2016-02-10 06:40:24

The only winner here is me.

Comment by Mr. Banker
2016-02-10 06:46:34

And, of course, me.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 07:58:23

“The only winner here is me.”

And you live in millions of empty skulls….. all rent-free.

 
Comment by palmetto
2016-02-10 08:48:20

And you owe Scott Brown big time.

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 09:57:58

NOTA won in 2012. A criminal occupies the WH. NOTA won in congress in 2014. A criminal gang occupies the House and Senate.

Comment by Overbanked
2016-02-10 10:31:46

OK I’ll bite - what is NOTA? I’m guessing it’s not the a cappella group of six male vocalists from San Juan, Puerto RIco.

Comment by Overbanked
2016-02-10 10:35:26

None Of The Above? I’m pretty sure more than 50% of eligible voters voted in 2012.

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Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 10:51:06

You are right for questioning. I stand corrected: 42% of the eligible voters did not vote for President in 2012. Yet that number is higher than the percentage of votes Onama got of all eligible votes. NOTA is none of the above, who still won.

 
Comment by Overbanked
2016-02-10 10:53:45

If you’re arguing that there were more people who did not vote than there were people that voted for Obama, that’s probably true for every election since the 19th Century. And who knows what those results would have been if women, 18-year-olds, etc. were allowed to vote… not to mention slaves and nonslaves who didn’t own property…

 
Comment by FrankBruno
2016-02-10 16:21:06

At best 6 in 10 consented to the rule whomever has the most votes wins. Obama won. Voluntaryism = moronism.

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 22:19:19

“Voluntaryism = Moronism.”

So that means you favor initiation of force. Tell me who do you want to force to give up their rights? Do you have the stones to aim the gun at someone personally and tell them to do X or not to do Y? Or are you a little girlie who appoints agents to initiate force? Are you going to start your own war and blow up Palestinian children personally? Or are you going to be a d1kless girlie and appoint agents to kill Palestinian children?

 
 
Comment by Hi-Z
2016-02-10 15:13:04

No matter how many people stay home and don’t vote, someone always wins the position.

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Comment by FrankBruno
2016-02-10 06:44:34

How to build the wall that all the Lieberals are dead set against.

“Last week, Mexico’s central bank reported that for the first time since statistics have been kept, the $24.8 billion in immigrant remittances received have surpassed Mexico’s $23.4 billion in oil earnings, meaning that the government of Mexico is more dependent than ever on the earnings of maids and gardeners in the U.S. to keep itself afloat.”

http://www.investors.com/politics/capital-hill/is-felipe-calderon-working-for-donald-trump/

Trump said this in his book. Tax remittances and oil. Boom, wall, for free.

Cue the open border apologists:

Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-10 07:43:06

And free ponies for EVERYONE!

You wouldn’t buy a used car from him, but you think he’s going to keep his campaign promises.

Comment by inchbyinch
2016-02-10 13:38:58

Skip the free pony, I want a candy cr*p’in unicorn.

Got to admit Ivanka is a knockout, and such a nice smart gal. She converted to Judaism when she married Jared, which says something about Donald’s values. I really think the oldest 3 kids came out balanced, smart, and hardworking. These young adults aren’t the Kadashians.

 
 
Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-10 15:49:27

meaning that the government of Mexico is more dependent than ever on the earnings of maids and gardeners in the U.S. to keep itself afloat

FWIW, those remittances are sent to Mexican individuals, not the Mexican government. Whereas all of PEMEX’s profits go straight into the coffers of the Mexican Federal government.

Speaking of which, there is a hot controversy this week in Mexico. The previous administration decided it was time to replace Mexico’s “Air Force One” (an old Boeing 757) with a brand new 787 Dreamliner. The cost was 100M USD and the new jet was delivered this week to the current administration. Given the belt tightening climate that is now gripping Mexico, people are demanding that the government sell the jet. The government is of course refusing the request.

Meanwhile, my contacts south of the Rio Bravo tell me that crime is getting even worse and that Mexico is becoming “un infierno” (a hell hole). They are telling me to stay away because no place, not even the resorts, are safe anymore.

Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 16:18:21

I just did quick Google search for Mexican GDP and got 1.261 trillion USD (2013). That would put the remittances around 2% of GDP - not that much.

 
Comment by FrankBruno
2016-02-10 16:24:00

Now we’ve retreated from “he doesn’t say how”, to “he’s lyin.”

It’s easily done, you just don’t want it. You want open borders.

 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 17:12:57

The previous administration decided it was time to replace Mexico’s “Air Force One” (an old Boeing 757) with a brand new 787 Dreamliner. The cost was 100M USD and the new jet was delivered this week to the current administration.

At least Mexico is buying something made in America.

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 06:47:43

Bought more PMs & mining stocks yesterday. Why? This epic rant from a ZH poster nails it:

These f-ers are going to print hard enough to wake the dead. They’ll print like mo’fos, print like mad men, print like fly pimps. Print until their eyes bleed.

They will print via the swaps, via bank bailouts and mergers, via fixed Treasury yields, via real honest-to-God negative interest rates, via loans to banks on no collateral, via payroll tax reductions, and in the end via actual fiat paper instruments which they might very well drop in bails from actual mutherf-ing helicopters.

They will not give two figs what anyone thinks.

Here is why.

Because this is the Goddamned end of it my friend. There is no accounting beyond this point. There will be no history of it. No one to take notes of rates of exchange, or of the graft and violence, nobody to worry about the deficit or the GDP or the national debt of any nation large or small under the blazing Goddamned sun.

End. Of. It. Does anyone bitch about how Rome totally debased their coinage at the end? Hell no. But whoever did it had enough to hand and grabbed some land with a nice vineyard and sat back and waited for the Middle Ages to start 700 years further on.

And that’s what a singularity is about. Anything that passes through is striped of all meaning. Nothing we think is important now will remain so beyond the event horizon. Nobody will remember, nobody will write about it, nobody will be held to any standard. Ever for evar.

So yeah, they’ll print like the mad crazed terrorists they are. Because they have nothing to lose, and maybe something to gain. Maybe a dollar. Maybe a day. Maybe a slim chance to escape with some of the loot. Whatever the advantage they see in it, for themselves and their elite crap wanking buddies, they will full-on-full-time-f-ing do it to advantage.

Watch for it, Dawg. It’s totally on this time, on like Donkey Kong. And when the dust is settled in a generation hence it’s going to have become another unbelievable episode among the ages of men.

Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 07:11:49

I bet that Zerohedge commenters have been posting comments like that every day since Zerohedge started. They must be disappointed that hyperinflation still hasn’t happened.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 07:55:03

Falling prices are always a good thing Milky.

Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 09:44:11

That’s completely irrelevant.

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Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-10 10:36:48

He’s either a bot or a stroke victim. Cut him some slack.

 
Comment by Obama Goons
2016-02-10 11:15:52

Falling prices are the fundamental point my friends.

 
 
Comment by oxide
2016-02-10 12:51:25

How do you get falling prices and printing like mad at the same time?

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Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 13:31:32

Who cares Donk? There’s no greater stimulus than falling prices.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 15:23:05

“How do you get falling prices and printing like mad at the same time?”

Mad printing suppresses interest rates, leading to mad lending and overproduction to the point of overcapacity.

It’s the overcapacity that eventually leads to falling prices.

 
 
 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 10:00:18

ZH even shamelessly mentioned the other day they predicted a big asteroid that did not happen.

 
 
Comment by Jimmy Carter is Hitler
2016-02-10 11:06:16

Anything that has not happened yet will never happen.

 
 
Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 10:18:26

I was a hard core gold bug in the ’70s and this is exactly what we thought then. I bought my first ounce of gold at $180 and later sold it at $60 (when I actually needed $$).

Now my stash is around $350 average cost. There has been a steady relentless inflation for the last 40 years. It has been based on people’s willingness to borrow up to their eyeballs. There has never been a limit on how much the Fed would print, only a limit on the manic debt load capacity of the people. When this borrowing has peaked and rolls over we will not have inflation, we will have deflation and assets will be sold for a song. We are getting there I think. While we watch this unfold it is time to get out of debt and accumulate cash.

Assets are not going to make you rich at this phase. They are just insurance. If you can wait longer than everyone else, maybe you will do well. If you cannot wait for reality, you will be in the alley with ADan. JMO.

 
 
Comment by azdude
2016-02-10 06:49:22

janet yellen need to kick the shorts in the sack again today.

 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-10 06:50:02

“its caseload of able-bodied adults without dependents plummeted by 80 percent, falling from 13,332 recipients in Dec. 2014 to 2,678 in March 2015.”

Maine Makes Welfare Recipients Work for it. Guess What Happens Next…

Louder With Crowder - February 10, 2016

Welfare is the left’s favorite entitlement.

Because if they keep you dependent on the government, you’ll have to vote for them over and over again. It’s brilliant really. In Maine, they tried something different. Sometimes families need help, but if you’re single, able-bodied and want to live on the taxpayer’s dime… they’re going to make you work for it. Uh oh…

The results are…not at all shocking if you have any common sense.

Job openings for lower-skill workers are abundant in Maine, and for those ABAWD recipients who cannot find immediate employment, Maine offers both training and community service slots. But despite vigorous outreach efforts by the government to encourage participation, most childless adult recipients in Maine refused to participate in training or even to perform community service for six hours per week. When ABAWD recipients refused to participate, their food stamp benefits ceased.

In the first three months after Maine’s work policy went into effect, its caseload of able-bodied adults without dependents plummeted by 80 percent, falling from 13,332 recipients in Dec. 2014 to 2,678 in March 2015.

So let me get this straight:

Able-bodied young men (or women) have been receiving a free ride from the government in Maine for a long time now.

Conservatives often bemoan the leftist welfare state.

In turn, leftists state that Conservatives are just mean who want to kick people who are down on their luck and keep all of the monies for all of themselves.

Conservatives respond with the novel concept that they believe people should earn their living, and that many welfare recipients are perfectly capable of doing so.

Leftists respond with “Nuh-uh. TOP 1%!!!!”

When put directly into practice in Maine, Conservatives are proven to be entirely correct, as able-bodied adults refuse to perform even a minimal amount of work to receive their once-free welfare checks. It’s almost like… these people deserve to be unemployed.

Hmmmmm… maybe Maine is on to something.

Comment by measton
2016-02-10 08:25:54

Plenty on the left who think welfare is an abomination.

I”m all for work programs though which is what Maine offered. Even those with medical illness should have to do something. Even if it’s separating different colored chips from a box, giving a book report, riding a bike anything. Get up get dressed go to work on time. Basic skills.

Many of those people on welfare were working off the books so they couldn’t take time to go to work.

 
Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-10 10:43:37

If there’s work to be had, this is perfect. If there isn’t, no welfare means starving, desperate people, crime, and incarceration.

The hard fact is, some people are never going to be good for anything at all. They are too stupid to learn or be employable. The logical thing to do is sterilize them in exchange for lifetime welfare, and the problem mostly takes care of itself in a couple generations.

The shrieking that ensues at the mere suggestion that anybody at all not be allowed to breed indiscriminately precludes this solution. So for the long term, we either pay welfare, or we pay in crime victims and incarceration as the starving resort to taking what they need to survive.

Incarceration is more expensive than welfare. Therefore welfare is the optimal solution.

 
Comment by AbsoluteBeginner
2016-02-10 11:47:13

‘Able-bodied young men (or women) have been receiving a free ride from the government in Maine for a long time now.’

The state is too big and sparsely populated except in the several urban areas. The southern area is where the jobs are but the cost of living is koo koo. I think of moving out of here often but few places appeal to me to live year round that will not have the same issues that are here and more so. Problem is, Maine’s population is averaging older and older and has the burden of not wanting to really change much.

 
 
Comment by azdude
2016-02-10 06:52:24

another bs story about your love life being affected by you credit score over A cnbc:

“Credit scores reveal an individual’s relationship skill and level of commitment, the report concluded.”

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/09/lasting-love-it-depends-on-your-credit-score.html

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 06:59:13

“Credit scores” are meaningless once you understand this simple reality;

If you have to borrow for 15 or 30 years, you can’t afford it nor is it affordable.

Comment by Puggs
2016-02-10 18:02:14

A high credit score means the bank scored over 100K interest off of you.

NOT something to be proud of.

 
 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 10:03:01

That’s a riot! My credit score was 813 the last time I checked.

The car you drive much more likely affects your love life. Drive something costing over $100k brand new and the babes will be at your doorstep.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-10 14:08:33

Somehow I really doubt all those “bad boys” that girls swoon over before they decide they’re ready to “settle down” have stellar credit scores. Then again, I guess those don’t count as “long lasting relationships”.

AF/BB

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 07:01:49

Don’t expect the corporate media do report on how US multinationals are offshoring US jobs and pushing TPP in a “race to the bottom” to ensure maximum corporate profits while viewing their employees as expendable slave labor.

http://projects.aljazeera.com/2016/02/lexmark-juarez/

Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 07:15:31

No, the MSM has that story covered.

Report: Ford to double production in Mexico

Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press

Ford is planning to double its vehicle production in Mexico by 2018 as it builds a new plant and expands an existing plant, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

News of Ford’s expansion plans come just months after the UAW negotiated a more expensive labor contract with the Detroit Three.

Ford, along with nearly all other automakers, have been expanding rapidly in Mexico in recent years to capitalize on the country’s lower labor rates, efficient port and rail system and free trade agreements.

In June, Ford confirmed plans to end production of the Ford Focus and Ford C-Max at Michigan Assembly in Wayne in 2018 and move production of those cars outside of the country. Ford has not said it will make those cars in Mexico but few auto observers think the automaker would move production to Canada.

The Journal said Ford plans to add 500,000 units of annual capacity in Mexico starting in 2018, which is double the amount it built in 2015. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said Ford’s new assembly complex will be based in San Luis Potosi. Ford also plans to expand an existing plant in Cuautitlán.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/02/08/report-ford-double-production-mexico/80025798/#

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 07:51:26

Wrong, Corky. The MSM only reports auto-makers moving more US jobs to Mexico. They don’t report on the human toll of the “race to the bottom” when it comes to finding the cheapest work force to maximize the CEO’s and corporate executives’ obscene pay and stock options.

Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 09:47:55

I found that USA Today thing in a couple of minutes. I could probably find a lot more if I spent five more minutes. But it’s really unnecessary. It’s the way that corporations work. Corporate executives have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profits. It’s an essential principal of free enterprise corporate capitalism.

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Comment by measton
2016-02-10 08:34:25

The deflationary pressures continue.
Workers will be paid 80% less and they will buy 80% less.

Corporations get an initial profit as remaining workers buy products and people spend savings but then see a decline in demand.

That’s what the world is facing now and the solution of the elite is to double down with TPP instead of raising the middle class.

There is no mechanism to stem this tide other than tax and spending policy. Cutting taxes on the elite will only accelerate the problem. The rest of us even if we’ve been smart will live in a cesspool, see third world countries for the exciting lives of the middle class. Doctors driving cabs, pHd’s begging for tourist dollars, more and more religious extremism. Concentrated wealth and control in gov, less civil gov transitions because if you loose power you may loose everything. It’s f’n great.

I think most agree TPP is an abomination, but most on this board are against taxing the elite and spending more on the middle class. As unemployment rises we will see if this sentiment continues.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 08:41:56

Nonsense.

Nothing accelerates the economy and creates employment like falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels. Nothing.

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Comment by measton
2016-02-10 09:03:29

Really so if we were able to lower wages in the US by 50% that would make products more affordable and thus the economy would boom? What if we just replaced 80% of our workers with robots which could do the job for 90% less? Would the economy boom?

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 09:06:33

Wages already fell my friend.

 
 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 09:00:34

I lose my proof reader.

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Comment by cactus
2016-02-10 11:43:29

Ford, along with nearly all other automakers, have been expanding rapidly in Mexico in recent years to capitalize on the country’s lower labor rates, efficient port and rail system and free trade agreements.”

Hey that’s were all the construction workers went… Now your homes will cost more because PulteGroup , DR horton , etc will have to pay more for trades people.

 
Comment by rj chicago
2016-02-10 13:38:34

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ford_factories

And guys - take a look at the plant that Ford built recently in Camicari Brazil - mind blowing - Ford wanted to build in Detroit and found better (read cheaper) means of production. The thing is state of the art.

Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-10 14:16:45

Mexican auto workers are paid $26 a day.

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 07:04:06

Hillary Clinton: Goldman Sachs hireling.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/clinton-speeches-218969

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 07:04:16

Somehow I had the impression that only the “I” component of the BRICs economies still thrived.

Perhaps not?

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 07:06:38

BloombergBusiness
Indian Stocks at the Brink of Bear Market as Asian Rout Deepens
Rajhkumar K Shaaw
February 9, 2016 — 6:33 PM PST
Updated on February 10, 2016 — 3:14 AM PST
Tata Motors, State Bank are among worst performers on Sensex
Foreign investors withdraw $1.8 billion from equities in 2016

Indian stocks dropped to a 21-month low, dragging the benchmark gauge to the edge of a bear market, as industrials and lenders extended declines in a global equity rout sparked by concerns about China’s economy and tumbling commodity prices.

Tata Motors Ltd., the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, slid the most in more than five months. State Bank of India, the nation’s biggest lender, fell to a two-year low before its earnings report on Thursday. Drugmaker Cipla Ltd. tumbled 3.1 percent and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. retreated to its lowest since May 2014. DLF Ltd., the top developer, plunged to a record low.

The S&P BSE Sensex lost 1.1 percent to close within 0.1 percent of a bear market. The gauge has tumbled about 20 percent from its January 2015 peak, meeting the common definition of a bear market. Stocks from Europe to Japan and China have already fallen into this category. Global funds have pulled$1.8 billion from Indian shares since Jan. 1 as anxiety over the health of the global economy saps demand for riskier assets. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testifies before the U.S. Congress Wednesday.

“The global cues continue to disappoint and traders are not in a position to take a view on the market in light of the heightened volatility,” Vivek Mahajan, head of Research at Aditya Birla Money Ltd., said in an interview to Bloomberg TV India. “Investors would be looking forward to Yellen’s address keenly.”

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 07:23:38

Seeking Alpha
Adam Freedman
Will Brazil’s Stock Market Ever Bounce Back?
Feb. 5, 2016 11:54 AM • ewz
Summary
Since the start of 2011, Brazilian stocks have lost 70% of their value, compared to a 27% loss for emerging markets overall and a gain of more than 25% for stocks globally.
* High inflation and low worker productivity have been persistent headaches for the Brazilian economy.
* Over the past five years, it’s been further hurt by the decline in commodity prices, which has accelerated since the middle of 2014. And Brazil has struggled with pervasive corruption, which last year enveloped Petrobras, its most prominent company.
* Politics haven’t helped as the government has been riven by debates about whether President Dilma Rousseff should be impeached.
* The agglomeration of man-made woes was supplemented by a natural one when the country become the epicenter of an outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
..

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 07:28:29

BloombergBusiness
How Cheap Oil Is Squeezing Russia’s Economy
It’s expanding the deficit and spurring inflation
Anna Andrianova AndrianovaAnna
Dina Khrennikova
Benchmark
January 25, 2016 — 8:00 PM PST
How Storage Shortfalls Could Drive Oil to the Teens

When Vladimir Putin first became Russia’s president back in 2000, oil traded at an average $28.40 a barrel. After spending much of the past five years above $100 a barrel, crude prices have come nearly full circle.

In just the past few weeks, oil prices have fallen about 16 percent. That’s poised to squeeze an economy that’s heavily dependent on the commodity for its revenues. The Finance Ministry in Moscow has already warned about a higher deficit if spending cuts and other austerity measures aren’t implemented in the face of cheaper crude. Here’s a look at how the oil-price plunge is rippling through Russia’s economy.

The budget deficit may be even worse

Russia, which relies on oil and natural gas for almost half its fiscal revenue, ran a budget deficit of 2.6 percent in 2015, the highest in five years. It’s now at risk of topping that level as prices drop even further, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned the government.

This year’s budget was initially planned around oil averaging $50 a barrel and a deficit of 3 percent of gross domestic product. Belt-tightening measures totaling 1.5 trillion rubles ($18.9 billion) are needed to avoid a shortfall of over 6 percent of output this year, Siluanov said.

Comment by measton
2016-02-10 09:46:21

Makes me happy to drive an electric. Lowering gas prices for my fellow American and depriving terrorist states and dictatorships of money.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 07:34:12

Forbes investing
China Stocks Still Look Ridiculously Expensive
Kenneth Rapoza
Contributor
I cover business and investing in emerging markets.

China’s best stocks still look pricey. The benchmark-linked exchange traded funds aren’t oversold, but what’s to stop China investors from looking these valuations and tapping out like investors of LinkedIn and Twitter?

The major indices of the Chinese equity markets have remained expensive despite the recent corrections. ChiNext is trading at over 80 times 2015 earnings. E-commerce and social media giant Tencent is trading over 40 times. It’s net profit margin last year was over 28%. Operating margins were close to 40%. But does anyone think Tencent will see p/e of 60 in this anti-China equity market?

Investors are selling U.S. stocks for a number of reasons, but one of them is the high valuation of tech stocks. Facebook is still trading around 77 times last year’s earnings. Its operating margin is about the same as China’s Tencent, which looks super cheap by comparison.

Still, when looking at the major indices of the Chinese exchanges, mainland equity is pricey. The tech-laden ChiNext is trading at more than 80 times earnings. How can anyone expect these stock values to increase if the market is already betting on record breaking earnings? One false move and China’s dominant retail day traders head for the exit, while U.S. observers shout “fire!”

 
 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 07:08:36

Why do I get the feeling the rage cages will be full today.

A stockpile of these might come in handy.

http://goo.gl/l48ty6

 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-10 07:11:51

NPR provides a tearjerker narrative (for some reason they aired this segment twice in 20 minutes) on cratering oil prices in Texas:

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/10/466250585/low-prices-cause-carnage-in-the-oil-industry

Narrative includes debt donkeys selling boats, motorcycles, RV’s, and donating blood plasma for money. Maybe these broke @ss loosers should have saved some of those overtime paychecks? No, because that doesn’t script a victim narrative.

Debt is slavery, enjoy the collapse suckers!

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 07:37:53

It would take a heart of stone to read these FB tales of woe without laughing.

Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-10 13:47:22

Saw unemployed roughnecks panhandling in Anchorage. It’s on.

 
Comment by Neuromance
2016-02-10 18:15:26

Okay. Few things cause me a sustained laugh-out-loud. That comment was one. +1

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 07:41:32

The Sydney Morning Herald
Cheap oil – and petrol – here to stay, say agencies
The Australian Institute of Petroleum says the national average price of unleaded petrol, 111.6¢ a litre, is at a one-year low.
Photo: Kirk Gilmour
By Stephen Cauchi

Motorists can look forward to at least six months of super-cheap petrol, with a report from the International Energy Agency the latest forecast to predict crude oil prices are going to stay low for a while yet.

Brent crude plunged to $US30.98 A barrel on Wednesday, the lowest in two weeks, after the Paris-based agency warned the world would remain awash with unwanted oil for most of 2016 due to slow declines in US output and OPEC’s reluctance to cut a supply-reduction deal with other oil producers.

Adding to the gloom was a report from the similarly-named US Energy Information Administration, which lowered its oil demand growth forecast for the next two years.

According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average price of unleaded petrol, 111.6¢ a litre, is at a one-year low.

That translates into average prices in Sydney of 100.7¢ a litre and in Melbourne of 104.2¢ a litre.

Commsec chief economist Craig James said prices would probably remain at this level for the next six months before picking up in the second half of the year.

“These relatively attractive petrol prices at the bowser are going to remain,” said Mr James.

“Petrol will stay at this level for the first half of the year before picking up in the second half of the year,” he said. “That’s a reasonable guess.”

“I would think an average for petrol across Australia would be in the region of $1.20-$1.25 in the second half of the year.”

Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-10 14:20:14

According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average price of unleaded petrol, 111.6¢ a litre, is at a one-year low.

THat’s $3 USD a gallon. Cheaper than in Europe, but still pricey.

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 08:34:53

Opinion: Will oil be so cheap that it won’t pay to pump it out of the ground?
By Paul Spedding
Published: Feb 9, 2016 12:37 p.m. ET
Like coal, petroleum could be ‘financially stranded’ by environmental regulations

The price of coal has plunged since 2008 because environmental regulations and competition from other energy sources have reduced demand. Could the same thing happen to petroleum?

LONDON (Project Syndicate) – The conventional wisdom regarding the recent plunge in the price of oil CLH6, -0.32% is that we are seeing a repeat of the 1985-1986 collapse, when Saudi Arabia ramped up production as part of a dispute with other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel. This time, the thinking goes, Saudi Arabia is doing the same in response to its loss of market share to shale-oil production in the United States.

But there is another parallel that is even more relevant — with important implications for the long-term price of oil. The recent collapse is reminiscent of a similar dive in the price of coal — which crashed from a brief high of $140 a ton in 2008 to about $40 a ton today — which led some deposits to become “financially stranded,” meaning that the cost of developing them outweighs potential returns.

The drop was the result of long-term environmental policies, including programs aimed at mitigating climate change, which undercut demand for coal. Efforts to improve air quality in China, U.S. carbon and mercury emissions standards, cheaper natural gas, and growing investments in renewable energy have all eroded coal’s share of the energy market.

A similar mechanism may be at work in the oil market. As pressure grows on governments to take action to combat climate change, demand for fossil fuels is likely to drop, which could result in prices remaining depressed for longer than the industry anticipates — perhaps forever.

Comment by measton
2016-02-10 09:49:25

Coal doesn’t come from the middle east and there are many substitutes for it. We can cut our use of oil and gas but we are a long way from replacing it. The decline won’t be as swift or as permanent and I suspect it won’t be a straight shot down like with coal.

 
 
Comment by MightyMike
2016-02-10 09:49:44

Narrative includes debt donkeys selling boats, motorcycles, RV’s, and donating blood plasma for money. Maybe these broke @ss loosers should have saved some of those overtime paychecks? No, because that doesn’t script a victim narrative.

The boats and motorcycles and so forth could be seen as form of savings.

Comment by Blue Skye
2016-02-10 11:09:21

“as form of savings”

Like houses. This is the only kind of savings a debt donkey can have. You pay twice as much as a thing is worth, only to have it be worth half as much as it was by the time you finish paying for it.

Brilliant! But not savings.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-10 14:00:16

The boats and motorcycles and so forth could be seen as form of savings.

Only if you can sell them for what you paid.

 
 
Comment by rj chicago
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-10 12:14:22

bye, bye Texas…..

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 12:52:01

…. and hello roaring economy.

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-10 13:58:03

We’ll get to read soon about government and school district layoffs throughout the Lone Star State as state government oil tax revenues dry up. And who knows? Maybe there will talk of a Texas state income tax too. Those $100K+ per year High School football coaches can’t be laid off.

(Comments wont nest below this level)
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-10 14:58:45

NM funds its general fund about 33% from energy taxes. ND - yikes!

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 07:42:33

The Oligopoly’s “fundamental transformation” of Europe continues apace, as a Tower of Babel is a lot easier to control and loot than proud, aware sovereign peoples.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3439711/Three-million-migrants-come-Warning-new-influx-76-000-cross-Med-past-six-weeks.html

Comment by Goon
2016-02-10 08:49:14

Did you enjoy the narrative about the Iraqi migrant taxi driver raping a 10 year old Austrian boy because he was having a “sexual emergency?”

This is what George Soros wants. This is what George Soros needs.

And if you object to any of these “acts of love” you are a racist.

 
 
 
Comment by frankie
2016-02-10 08:15:45

The International Monetary Fund has warned it will halt its $40bn (£28bn) bailout programme to Ukraine unless the conflict-torn eastern European country takes immediate action to tackle corruption.

The IMF’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, said on Wednesday that “without a substantial new effort” to improve governance, it was hard to see how the Washington-based organisation could continue to provide financial help.

“I am concerned about Ukraine’s slow progress in improving governance and fighting corruption, and reducing the influence of vested interests in policymaking,” Lagarde said.

“Without a substantial new effort to invigorate governance reforms and fight corruption, it is hard to see how the IMF-supported programme can continue and be successful. Ukraine risks a return to the pattern of failed economic policies that has plagued its recent history. It is vital that Ukraine’s leadership acts now to put the country back on a promising path of reform.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/imf-warns-ukraine-halt-40bn-bailout-corruption-christine-lagarde

Comment by measton
2016-02-10 08:38:06

Wow I wish they would come over and say the same thing to the US.
Did Ukraine sign onto TPP too?

 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-10 08:33:38

Another narrative that my betters assure should result only in the awarding of trophies:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/feb/09/transgender-restrooms-locker-rooms-high-school/

Always listen to your betters, because they’re better than you.

Comment by Oddfellow
2016-02-10 10:23:37

I didn’t realize my prediction had already been proven correct:

“Before the law was enacted and shortly thereafter, some opponents predicted problems, including some serious situations where boys would pose to be transgender to use girls’ facilities. Such issues never seemed to materialize and a statewide referendum effort aimed at repealing the law failed in 2014.”

Comment by Goon
2016-02-10 11:33:57

Better, it’s Black History Month right now (you may recognize what a black person looks like from seeing one on TeeVee). My betters inform that when black people faced lynching, firehoses, police dogs, etc in the struggle for civil rights, that this is the absolute moral equivalent of men choosing to wear women’s panties, or better (no pun intended) yet womyn choosing to wear plaid flannel and stop shaving their armpits.

Do not question the narrative that your betters script.

This message sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2016-02-10 14:25:20

I am curious, how do they know that? I ask because there is no litmus test to determine if a tranny really is a tranny. We’re supposed to take their word for it.

 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-10 08:35:27

Despite Shamelessly Pitching The Vagina Card, Hillary Trails Bernie With Women In NH

Via Free Beacon:

Hillary Clinton has struggled to win over female voters in New Hampshire and trails her competitor for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), among this demographic.

Sanders currently leads Clinton among female likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire by five percentage points, according to a University of Massachusetts Lowell/7 News poll released Monday, one day before the Democratic primary there.

http://www.weaselzippers.us/…/ - 111k -
1 day ago …

 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 08:40:20

Here are some TPP provisions

For instance, there are the same investor privileges that promote job offshoring to lower-wage countries. There is a ban on Buy Local procurement, so that corporations have a right to do sourcing, basically taking our tax dollars, and instead of investing them in our local economy, sending them offshore. There are new rights to, for instance, have freedom to enter other countries and take natural resources, a right for mining, a right for oil, gas, without approval.

And then there’s a whole set of very worrisome issues relating to Internet freedom. Through sort of the backdoor of the copyright chapter of TPP is a whole chunk of SOPA, the Stop Online Privacy Act, that activism around the country successfully derailed a year ago. Think about all the things that would be really hard to get into effect as a corporation in public, a lot of them rejected here and in the other 11 countries, and that is what’s bundled in to the TPP. And every country would be required to change its laws domestically to meet these rules. The binding provision is, each country shall ensure the conformity of domestic laws, regulations and procedures.

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/10/4/a_corporate_trojan_horse_obama_pushes

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 09:08:22

Prices my friend. Grossly inflated prices destroy an economy.

 
 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-10 08:41:52

Drudge Report linked to this article. Why? Because it’s Warmist Warming Wednesday:

https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/cold-outbreak-valentines-northeast-midwest-south-feb2016

 
Comment by Goon
2016-02-10 08:59:55

Conflicting formats of Sky Wizardry, another George Soros production:

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/10/anti-semitism-is-persistent-problem-in-dutch-schools-especially-among-muslim-students/

Breitbart’s readership are primarily American, so the 40% of the Republican primary electorate that believe the Earth is 6,000 years old click on articles like this a elect neocons.

Neocons gonna neocon.

 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-10 09:29:40

New Hampshire Win: Only the “Brain Dead” Support Trump

Mortimer Zuckerman is an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter

Kurt Nimmo | Infowars.com - February 10, 2016 0 Comments

Democrat billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman’s Daily News headlines today with “Dawn of the Brain Dead: Clown comes back to life with N.H. Win as mindless zombies turn out in droves.”

trump-dawn-brain-deadThe “news” tabloid, replete with photos of scantily clad women, porn stars and celebrity gossip, features a number of past covers—self described as “hard-hitting, thought-provoking”— lambasting Trump as an insane clown.

In other words, according to Zuckerman and crew, Americans fed up with an entrenched establishment that services multinational corporations and banking interests at their expense are akin to walking dead zombies enthralled by a clown.

The publisher is an ardent supporter of establishment insider and Goldman Sachs favorite Hillary Clinton. Zukerman has donated handsomely to the Clinton Foundation political machine along with fellow media magnates Bloomberg, James Murdoch, Carlos Slim, HBO, Time Warner, The Washington Post and others.

The foundation established by Bill Clinton is scandal wracked. It takes millions from foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, countries not permitted to donate directly to presidential candidates. It is also lubricated by money from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, ExxonMobil, General Electric, Monsanto, McDonald’s, Walmart and other corporate behemoths.

While Republican establishment insiders have yet to stoop to the level of Zuckerman and the Democrats—caricaturizing Trump as a buffoon leading a pack of brain dead zombies—they are also desperately working behind the scene to undermine Trump’s campaign and install an insider in the White House.

The neocons favored Marco Rubio, but due to his dismal showing on Tuesday they may need to look at the lackluster Ohio Governor John Kasich who placed second in New Hampshire.

Comment by Goon
2016-02-10 10:00:02

Listen to your betters.

Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-10 13:54:21

Stop failing and you won’t have betters.

 
 
 
Comment by measton
2016-02-10 10:02:10

imothy Geithner is finally cashing in. After an appropriate stint at a think tank to write his memoir and a quiet transition to Wall Street, President Obama’s first Treasury secretary, who left office in 2013, is now ready to make millions thanks to help from a big bank he used to regulate. Bloomberg News this week disclosed that Geithner has gotten a line of credit from JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s biggest bank, to invest in a new $12 billion fund at the private equity firm where he works, Warburg Pincus. The filing with the New York Department of State does not give the amount of the line of credit or the terms, but according to Bloomberg, Warburg Pincus executives are signing up for a total $800 million and Geithner, as a top officer, is probably getting a sizable chunk of that

It pays to be a prostitute/hitman.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 10:17:20

Please reference source for your cut and paste.

 
Comment by The Central Scrutinizer
2016-02-10 10:45:24

I’m seeing that money rain down in Seattle and San Francisco on tech ventures of extremely dubious merit. I’ve got my buckets out, and Turbo Tax Timmy’s creditors are filling them fast.

 
 
 
Comment by wondering
2016-02-10 10:40:25

Looks like the rally has legs… at least until 2 pm

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 15:09:15

…. and cratered.

Update: Dow Craters 100 Points; Yellen Yammers

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/DJIA

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 15:25:26

The three main headline U.S. stock market indexes plus oil all tanked by day’s end.

Oh, the humanity!

 
 
 
Comment by Jimmy Carter is Hitler
2016-02-10 11:10:16

So Hillary doesn’t lose New Hampshire after all, because of Super Delegates.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/268935-clinton-likely-to-leave-nh-with-same-number-of-delegates

Why let those pesky voters decide anything?

Comment by measton
2016-02-10 12:07:38

What they need to do is have 24 super delegates and 8 voters choice. I suspect that this will be corrected prior to the next elections. If all states have this maybe they could just save us all some time and money. It’s a pain to go vote you know.

 
 
Comment by azdude
2016-02-10 12:42:39

I bet the ranch on a free falling dollar.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 13:29:02

“I bet my empty pockets the ranch on a free falling dollar.”

Fixt :mrgreen:

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 15:27:35

Reuters
FXpert | Wed Feb 10, 2016 2:25pm GMT
Dollar rises after Yellen comments keep rate hikes in play
NEW YORK | By Dion Rabouin
United States one dollar bills are curled and inspected during production at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington November 14, 2014.
REUTERS/Gary Cameron

The dollar rose on Wednesday, climbing from nearly four-month lows against a basket of major currencies, after prepared remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested that the U.S. central bank had not taken a March interest rate increase off the table.

The dollar rose to a session high against the euro and pared earlier losses against the Japanese yen following the comments.

“Ms. Yellen seems to be maintaining her faith in the outlook of the U.S. economy and still anticipates to raise rates. That’s what at the end of the day is supportive of the U.S. currency,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.

Comment by azdude
2016-02-10 17:25:48

the stock market will be on its @ss until they announce QE4. If they dont it will crash.

 
 
 
Comment by rj chicago
2016-02-10 13:39:59

Can anyone say recession?

Comment by Muggy
2016-02-10 14:10:35

I have been brainwashed by Bernie.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 16:41:40

ft dot com > Markets >
Capital Markets
February 10, 2016 5:20 pm
US yield curve narrows to 8-year low
Robin Wigglesworth, US markets editor

The most accurate financial market predictor of recession is starting to blink more ominously in the US.

The “yield curve” — the slope made up of the yields of Treasury bonds of various maturities — is a popular gauge for the health of economies, and historically the most accurate market gauge for a recession. While the stock market has a patchy record of predicting economic downturns, the US yield curve has “inverted”, when short-term borrowing costs are higher than longer term ones, ahead of every recession since the second world war.

The yield curve is still far from inverting, but the difference between the 2 and 10-year Treasury yield, a popular measure of its shape, on Wednesday slipped just below 100 basis points (or 1 percentage point) for the first time since January 2 2008.

At 9.13am in New York, the 2 and 10-year spread slipped to 99.862bp, according to Bloomberg data, before bouncing slightly higher to just over 100bp. The difference between the 2 and 30-year Treasury yields fell to 183bp on Wednesday, the lowest since early 2015.

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen highlighted risks to the US from China in her testimony to Congress on Wednesday and conceded that financial conditions had become “less supportive” of the US economy.

“These developments, if they prove persistent, could weigh on the outlook for economic activity and the labour market, although declines in longer-term interest rates and oil prices provide some offset,” she said in a prepared statement.

While the yield curve is not inverting, some analysts argue that its flattening may still be a recession omen. The shape of the slope should be adjusted for the fact that short-term interest rates are still extremely low, according to Ruslan Bikbov, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

 
 
Comment by Muggy
2016-02-10 14:08:25

“Is a single-family home the new luxury item?”

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/10/is-a-home-the-new-luxury-item.html

Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 16:59:13

No. Being able to afford having a family is a luxury item.

 
 
Comment by azdude
2016-02-10 14:53:35

“As an aside: Prior to the SEC adopting Rule 10b-18 in 1982, as part of the Reagan Administration’s deregulatory efforts, stock buybacks by companies were generally considered “manipulative.” But that was then, and I’m not suggesting a rule change wasn’t in order, or that buybacks are manipulative. You decide.”

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/why-stock-buybacks-wont-save-the-market-this-time/

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-11 00:09:13

Marketwatch dot com
Share buyback machine remains in overdrive and experts warn it will end badly
By Ciara Linnane and Tomi Kilgore
Published: Feb 10, 2016 3:41 p.m. ET
Companies are draining funds with buybacks, instead of investing in growth
Is Corporate America letting its cash drain away?

In the midst of a gloomy earnings season, the share buyback machine has remained in overdrive, and some experts are cautioning it will all end badly.

Companies, even those that are missing profit and sales estimates and cutting outlooks, or restructuring and cutting jobs, are still announcing buybacks. Coming after a long period of intensive spending on shareholder returns, the news is bad for investors hoping to see a return to growth.

“We continue to be skeptical about how companies are deploying capital, especially when it’s tied to stock-based compensation,” said Ben Silverman, vice president of research at InsiderScore, a research firm that tracks buybacks and legal insider trading for institutional clients. “We believe buybacks can be used to mask management’s inability to grow the business and be innovative thinkers.”

William Lazonick, professor of economics at University of Massachusetts Lowell and director of the Center for Industrial Competitiveness., went a step further, suggesting that buybacks have the potential to push the U.S. into recession. He argues that companies are using them to prop up share prices at the expense of reinvesting in the business and supporting job stability and long-term growth.

“It has the potential to really drive the economy into the ground,” he said. “Companies have given away so much money, it’s been a long-run secular problem that has contributed to why income is so concentrated at the top.”

 
 
Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-10 15:10:23

Dont you love what we call a business these days (MB):

Full Year 2015 Financial Results

Total revenue for the full year 2015 was $101.4 million, a 45% increase year over year.
Subscription and services revenue for the full year 2015 was $61.3 million, a 51% increase year over year.
Payments revenue for the full year 2015 was $37.5 million, a 44% increase year over year.
Recurring revenue1 increased 48% year over year. Recurring revenue is the sum of MINDBODY’s subscription and services revenue and payments revenue. Recurring revenue comprised 97% of total revenue in 2015, up from 95% in 2014.
GAAP net loss attributable to common stockholders for the full year 2015 was $(44.2) million, or $(1.68) per basic and diluted share, compared to a GAAP net loss attributable to common stockholders for the full year 2014 of $(45.9) million, or $(4.17) per basic and diluted share.
Non-GAAP net loss1 for the full year 2015 was $(27.7) million, which represented 27% of revenue, or $(0.77) per basic and diluted share, compared to a non-GAAP net loss for the full year 2014 of $(22.9) million, which represented 33% of revenue or $(0.73) per basic and diluted share.
Adjusted EBITDA loss1 for the full year 2015 was $(19.9) million, which represented 20% of revenue, compared to an Adjusted EBITDA loss for the full year 2014 of $(18.8) million which represented 27% of revenue.

Comment by CalifoH20
2016-02-10 15:48:56

selling dollars for .76 cents.

Comment by azdude
2016-02-10 16:54:46

whats your point dude?

 
 
 
Comment by azdude
2016-02-10 15:26:54

“who wants to be on a high wire when there is no net?”

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 17:37:23

And a long way down Az_Donk.

 
 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2016-02-10 17:27:38

Exclusive: Jeb Bush Mocks Release of Missing 28 Pages in Confrontation

Documents likely show Saudi involvement in terror attacks

Infowars.com - February 10, 2016 338 Comments

Former Florida Governor John Ellis Bush, better known as “Jeb!,” went stark white when Infowars confronted him about the 28 classified pages in the original Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 still not released to the public.

Preparing for an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Monday, the GOP presidential candidate was approached by Infowars reporter Richard Reeves, who probed Jeb on the matter.

Jeb, whose brother served as US president when the 9/11 attacks occurred, nervously replies, “Yeah, sure. Yeah, I’d like to see them,” sardonically adding “Do you have them?” before scuttling off.

Since the early days after the Sept. 11 attacks, when news emerged that most of the airline hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, dark allegations have lingered about official Saudi ties to the terrorists.

Fueling the suspicions: 28 still-classified pages in a congressional inquiry on 9/11 that raise questions about Saudi financial support to the hijackers in the United States prior to the attacks.

The administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama have both refused to declassify the pages on grounds of national security.

But critics, including members of Congress who have read the pages in the tightly guarded, underground room in the Capitol where they are held, say national security has nothing to do with it.

Speaking at a press conference regarding the missing pages in 2014, Rep. Thomas Massie lobbied for the release of the documents stating he read them and that they challenged him to reconsider everything he knew about the event.

“As I read it — we all had our own experience — I had to stop every couple pages and just sort of absorb and try to rearrange my understanding of history for the past 13 years and years leading up to that. It challenges you to rethink everything,” Massie said.

Critics charge U.S. officials are trying to hide the double game Saudi Arabia has long played with Washington, as both a close ally and petri dish for the world’s most toxic brand of Islamic fundamentalism.

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 17:51:22
 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
 
Comment by Puggs
2016-02-10 17:57:39

Debt is dumb. It robs you of your greatest wealth building tool.

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2016-02-10 18:17:46

…aaaand Oxide’s Bernie Sanders loves the Military Industrial Complex. Funny I forgot to thank Oxide for voting for my consultant hourly wages when I was in the offense industry.

http://www.dailywire.com/news/3280/sanders-and-trump-are-same-totalitarian-candidate-ben-shapiro#pq=Si3ajT

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2016-02-10 19:18:32

Germans voted for Angela Merkel, stooge of the globalists and banksters. Now they’re getting what they voted for, good and hard. If Hillary gets elected, we will have our own Frau Merkel to continue the “fundamental transformation” started by Obama.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3440601/Algerian-sex-attacker-shouted-Inshallah-Allah-wills-raped-25-year-old-German-student-asked-enjoyed-it.html

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2016-02-10 20:35:21

It didn’t take long for Barney Sanders to court race baitin’ Al Sharpton.

 
Comment by Tarara Boomdea
2016-02-10 20:35:30

OT even for Bits. I broke my arm. I have never broken a bone before; wow, it’s awful.

I am a moron. Tripped over a kitten. Las Vegas tile floors are unforgiving.

 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 22:33:34

Spoiler alert: Fed rate hikes are off the table until further notice.

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 22:40:39

The Irish Times
Fed rate rise unlikely after Janet Yellen’s market turbulence warning
Bank chairwoman points to higher risks from China and slide in equity prices
about 4 hours ago

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 23:43:11

Since when has the Fed’s scope of policy actions been constrained by the rule of law?

Comment by Professor Bear
2016-02-10 23:46:37

Marketwatch dot com
The Fed
Yellen says Fed isn’t sure whether it’s legal to adopt negative rates
By Greg Robb
Published: Feb 10, 2016 4:30 p.m. ET
Fed chairwoman sees need to ‘investigate more thoroughly’
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen prepares to testify Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen conceded Wednesday that there are legal issues that would need to be cleared up before the U.S. central bank could push rates into negative territory, but she added that she didn’t think any serious roadblocks exist.

One reason to push rates into negative territory — in other words, to force banks to pay to park a portion of their reserves at the central bank — would give these banks an incentive to instead lend the funds, thus spurring economic growth.

In 2010, with the recovery faltering, the Fed considered adopting negative rates but decided against it. Then–Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said subsequently that he had been concerned about what negative rates would do to money-markets funds.

However, as the global economy has weakened, many central banks, including the European Central Bank, decided to charge banks for parking reserves. The Bank of Japan late last month surprised investors by adopting negative rates.

Based on this experience, Bernanke said, in an interview with MarketWatch in December, that the Fed should add negative rates to its tool kit.

In her testimony before the House Financial Committee, Yellen said the Fed didn’t fully vet the legal issues when it mulled negative rates. “I would say that remains a question that we still would need to investigate more thoroughly,” Yellen said.

 
 
Comment by frankie
2016-02-11 01:08:00

When European regulators created a new type of bank debt, the idea was to transfer risk from taxpayers to investors. Now bondholders are learning what that really means.

Yield-starved investors bought $102 billion of the contingent convertible bonds, securities created to help troubled banks hang onto cash in times of stress by skipping coupon payments without defaulting and converting the debt to equity or writing it down. Even though neither of those has yet happened, investors are already feeling the pain, as yields on Deutsche Bank AG’s 4.6 billion euros of CoCos have soared and its shares have plummeted.

“CoCos are a perfect pro-cyclical storm — you can sell billions of them when investors are yield-chasing and thus careless of risk,” said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner of Washington-based research firm Federal Financial Analytics. “In a yield-chasing stampede like that of the last few years compounded by ultra-low rates for other bank funding sources, banking-system risk is dramatically heightened.”

The yield on Deutsche Bank’s CoCos rose to about 11.7 percent from 7.5 percent at the start of the year. The bank’s shares are down more than 30 percent in the same period.

The securities, designed to absorb losses and protect European taxpayers from funding bailouts, are facing their first test as weak bank earnings and a global market rout raise concerns about banks’ stability and growth. Deutsche Bank last month posted its first full-year loss since 2008, and its shares have plunged. Credit Suisse Group AG’s shares plunged to their lowest level since 1991 after the Swiss bank posted its biggest quarterly loss since the financial crisis.

http://www.dailynewsx.com/news/life-style-news/deutsche-bank-coco-holders-learn-what-regulators-meant-by-risk-21891.html

 
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