Bits Bucket for February 13, 2016
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The Housing Bubble
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Wow, Mr. Banker, you’ve really outdone yourself with the Newspeak talking points you have provided to New York Fed economist Meta Brown and New York Fed President William Dudley with reguards to debt. I am amazed these people can even utter the approved talking points in all seriousness.
“”Retirement-aged consumers’ repayment has shown little sign of developing weakness as their balances have grown,” according to Ms. Brown. [...]
“The household sector looks much better positioned today than in 2008 to absorb shocks and continue to contribute to the economic expansion,” said New York Fed President William Dudley in prepared remarks.
Part of the yearslong improvement in credit delinquencies owes to the fact that older borrowers hold a growing share of the debt.” …
Is Anybody NOT Deeper In Debt?
By: John Rubino - Fri, Feb 12, 2016
http://www.safehaven.com/article/40454/is-anybody-not-deeper-in-debt
Politicians are Not going to be able to help matters. Not. One. Bit.
Wut wut the do?
“Wow, Mr. Banker, you’ve really outdone yourself with the Newspeak talking points you have provided to New York Fed economist Meta Brown and New York Fed President William Dudley with reguards to debt. I am amazed these people can even utter the approved talking points in all seriousness.”
I simply tell people what they want to hear. And what I want them to hear.
From your link …
“Americans in their 50s, 60s and 70s are carrying unprecedented amounts of debt, a shift that reflects both the aging of the baby boomer generation and their greater likelihood of retaining mortgage, auto and student debt at much later ages than previous generations.
“The average 65-year-old borrower has 47% more mortgage debt and 29% more auto debt than 65-year-olds had in 2003, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released Friday.”
I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.
Some trivia …
“The growth of the financial industry has been a boon for its highly-paid managers. According to New York University economist Thomas Philippon, who contributes one of the most striking chapters in Rethinking the Financial Crisis, “total compensation of financial intermediaries (profits, wages, salary and bonuses) as a fraction of GDP is at an all-time high, around 9% of GDP.”
Linky …
http://www.tcf.org/blog/detail/graph-how-the-financial-sector-consumed-americas-economic-growth
Cue the death panels, we got a lot of boomers to take care of.
Anyone in their 70s with mortgage, car loan and student debt has pretty much put the noose around their neck already.
Corrected
“Anyone
in their 70s50 or older with mortgage, car loan and student debt has pretty much put the noose around their neck already.”That’s more like it. I just retired my only debt (house mortgage). I’m in my early 50’s.
“Anyone in their 70s with mortgage…”
Can someone in their seventies get a 30-yr mortgage, and if not is that a basis for age discrimination?
Mr. Banker
Does part of that increase in debt (besides stupidity) have inflation factored into it? That’s part of the macro picture. These low interest rates have effects.
“Is Anybody NOT Deeper In Debt?”
No debt since 2000. When I tell people this they look at me like I have 3 heads.
Since 2000 huh? You wouldn’t happen to be born before 1960 would you?
Not even close.
Born in the 70s or 80s and no debt? Did your parents pay for college?
Nope, paid off my own loans.
Russ,
Given your charades, nobody believes a word you say.
If you paid your mortgage off, it means you probably did not manage your funds efficiently over the years. It’s as if you had 500,000 dollar bills stuffed in your mattress.
No debt since 2000.
Same here, but only since Jan 2003.
Only? That’s 13 years of not feeding the finance industry.
Unless you use credit cards for purchases….then, even if you’re not carrying debt, you’re feeding the beast
“Unless you use credit cards for purchases….then, even if you’re not carrying debt, you’re feeding the beast”
Explain please (for real, not trolling)
They get a transaction fee on all credit card purchases. The merchant eats it.
Credit card companies get a cut from every purchase you make with your card, regardless of whether you pay in full every month.
I had around $11,000 debt in 2001 or 2002. That was my turning point.
Being debt free may be great for the soul, but it does not win you any admiration from the world.
But it is better to love yourself and have no respect or love from the world than to hate yourself and have a lot of love and respect from the world. Being debt free is my passion.
“Retirement-aged consumers’ repayment has shown little sign of developing weakness as their balances have grown,” according to Ms. Brown.
Haha… those golden years.
“…when economists start extolling low default rates in a given sector it’s generally a sign that that sector is about to blow up.”
Sort of like when a bank’s executive says that they’re well capitalized it’s usually an indication that they’re over-leveraged.
Here’s forty maps that will help you make sense of the world …
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/maps-that-will-help-you-make-sense-of-the-world/
More map stuff …
http://twistedsifter.com/2014/01/americans-and-brits-label-maps-of-europe-and-us/
It would be more “fair” to compare Brits’ map of US with Americans’ map of UK. The Brits did not do too badly; I’m guessing Americans could not identify many UK counties (rough equivalent of our states).
That was interesting thanks.
Fascinating! Thanks?
Did Britain invade all the Russian federation countries and Japan? If so when did it invade? Two interesting tidbits when you consider this map with the following:
1) Conflicts in the present world. Is the aftermath of Britain’s plunder the source?
2) The number of countries where people drive on the left is greatly outnumbered by those countries with driving orientation on the right.
“Here’s forty maps…”
Where’s the cup size map?
Deflation will be ruinous for debt donkeys and FBs.
http://www.businessinsider.com/federal-reserve-braces-for-deflation-2016-2
Does it make sense to buy gold if we face deflation?
There is a way forward where it makes sense, which is for central bankers to employ targeted asset price manipulation (”investment gains”, not “inflation “) to implement a stealth currency devaluation and debt writedown. The dollar value of gold and other real assets get swept up in the stealth price fixing operation.
targeted asset price manipulation (”investment gains”, not “inflation “) to implement a stealth currency devaluation and debt writedown
How does that work? Our currency would only be devalued in relation to some assets. How does that beget debt writedown, or overall currency devaluation?
Puh-leaze….
Quantitative easing should be used to write off government debt
A Columbia University academic is at last on the right track – governments should not create money to give to banks, but to eliminate debt instead
Deborah Orr
Friday 5 April 2013 17.30 EDT
Last modified on Thursday 14 January 2016 23.52 EST
Professor Michael Woodford of Columbia University says governments shouldn’t create money and give it to the banks as quantitative easing. He’s coming round to the idea that leaving the banks in control of wealth creation was what got us into this mess. QE is meant to keep borrowing costs down and make it easier for banks to lend. But since banks are also being required to rebuild their balance sheets, that isn’t happening. Woodford says QE should be used instead to “eliminate government debt on the bloated balance sheet of central banks”. Quite right: central banks should write off their debt instead of paying the interest via “austerity”. The first politician to take up this idea and make it work is going to be very popular indeed.
…
Puh-leaze….
If you meant “print money to pay off the debt” you should have just said it. And I still don’t see how targeted asset price manipulation implements it.
Regulatory capture my friend.
Learn it.
“Does it make sense to buy gold if we face deflation?”
I’ve read various articles over time about why buying gold in depressions is a good idea. Here is one link.
https://www.equities.com/news/what-happens-to-gold-during-a-deflationary-crisis
Gold is not just about inflation or deflation, gold buying is also about a flight to safety in crises.
How’s that voting for Wall Street puppets and their neoliberal economic policies working out for you, ‘Murican workers?
http://www.businessinsider.com/carrier-workers-learn-jobs-are-moving-to-mexico-2016-2
That’s capitalism at work right? What’s your solution to it?
I’m surprised the announcer didn’t get his @ss kicked. people remained fairly calm. I would have quit that day.
I wouldn’t want to be a future buyer of any of Carrier’s products.
Those who get mad tend to get even - one way or another.
Do not piss off people who:
1. Serve you food.
2. Handle your luggage.
Many years back I read an article titled “The Rangoon Connection” which talked about what happens to luggage after airline passengers totally piss off airline employees - totally piss them off and then hand their luggage over to them.
The title of the article offers up a hint as to where the luggage finally ends up after traveling around the world several times.
Maybe the employees there suck? I could be wrong but I seem to recall that this site was under-performing?
I guess those complaining want us to become like Venezuela.
Truth and light are both great disinfectants for communism, socialism or crony capitalism.
What’s up with the Hildabeast wearing bright silk Mao outfits to the debates?
If she keeps that up with Trump, he’s gonna give her his order. I’ll take the egg drop soup, orange chicken and an egg roll please.
‘Muricans can have their own Frau Merkel. Vote for corruption! Vote for globalism! Vote for the bankster puppet Hillary Clinton!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/angela-merkel/12154356/How-Germany-fell-out-of-love-with-Angela-Merkel.html
We must double down on crony capitalism and bankster recklessness backstopped by middle class taxpayers. Hillary for President!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/12152860/This-crisis-has-been-caused-by-arrogant-central-banks.html
Idiot Bernie Sanders Supporters Hope for Venezuela Style Food Lines in US
Jim Hoft Feb 7th, 2016 9:14 am
A vote for Bernie Sanders is a vote for pain, suffering, debt, massive debt, murder and food lines.
After 18 years of Bernie Sanders style Socialism inflation in Venezuela is at 720%.
venezuela food line
Socialism in Venezuela have led to massive shortages of food, toilet paper, diapers and medicine.
gas venezuela
Venezuela, with the world’s largest oil reserves, must now import oil.
This is what idiot Sanders supporters want for America.
Investors.com reported:
It’s worrisome that so many Americans see socialism in a favorable light these days. A May 2015 YouGov poll showed that socialism was viewed favored favorably by 43% of Democrats, while a June 2015 Gallup poll showed that 47% of Americans would vote for a socialist.
It points to a collective loss of memory. After all, it’s been decades since the fact that the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet empire collapsed. As chess champion Garry Kasparov has noted in “Winter Is Coming,” there have been no truth commissions or victory parades to institutionalize the monstrous idea’s discreditation and demise. In fact, the idea seems to be resurging in the U.S. Democratic Party, even with examples of its failures continuing, the latest example being Venezuela.
That reality of socialism and its horrific results is mocked by Sanders himself, who denies it has anything to do with his own ideas. “I myself don’t use the word socialism,” he told a University of Vermont student publication in 1976 “because people have been brainwashed into thinking socialism automatically means slave-labor camps, dictatorship and lack of freedom of speech.”
Brainwashed? The very word comes from socialist indoctrination practices. Sanders’ flip dismissal of those realities reminds us of a quote from Nobel Prize winner and author of “The Gulag Archipelago” Aleksander Solzhenitsyn: “Or do they refuse to see?” Yes, Sanders and his followers refuse.
Even the absence of slave-labor camps, in say, socialist Venezuela, doesn’t get Sanders off the hook. Right now Venezuelans are at the logical conclusion of 18 years of democratic socialism, the kind Sanders has praised in the past, and even benefited from, as he accepted Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez’s oil largesse — stolen from Venezuela’s people — for Vermont.
Today Venezuela, with the world’s largest oil reserves is, believe it or not, importing oil. It’s a perfect illustration of Nobel-winning economist Milton Friedman’s well known saying that if the Sahara took up socialism, there would soon be a shortage of sand.
Socialism has also led to massive shortages of food, toilet paper, diapers and medicine, among many other things, all the result of state planning and currency controls and rampant inflation. After 18 years of socialist spending, inflation has hit 720%, the IMF says. And don’t forget that Venezuela also has the world’s highest crime rate, with Caracas rated the world’s most dangerous city by the Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice.
We already have socialism in America. It is the forced redistribution of wealth from the taxpayers to the tax recipients.
Indeed. More of it than we can afford already.
The oil companies?
Nope. No force involved.
If I don’t pay the taxes they hand out to the oil companies as exploration subsidies, there will be force involved.
Is forced redistribution of wealth involved when we send warships to the four corners of the world to protect oil shipping lanes?
“Is forced distribution of wealth involved when we send warships…”
If it’s funded by taxes, yes.
“Is forced redistribution of wealth involved when we send warships to the four corners of the world to protect oil shipping lanes?”
That, and forced distribution of ordinance if said shipping lanes are interfered with.
It’s incredible theft and incredible violence all rolled into one process. k
The rule of law is enforced by force. Without it you are broke and dead. Wanna see lawlessness? Take your bitcoins to Mexico.
“We already have socialism in America. It is the forced redistribution of wealth from the taxpayers to the tax recipients.”
BINGO
Barney Sanders is pro-debt slavery.
Not sure here whether the prospect of Sander’s socialism or Trump’s fascism is more scary. It could just be a sign that I am getting old, but the presidential candidate choices seem unusually bleak this time around. It is somehow comforting that my vote carries no weight in radically liberal California, given a dearth of attractive choices anyway.
Thanks PB. Good to know that at least one other HBB is not brainwashed by the propoganda.
It either takes brains or willpower, given the steady stream of Trumpling propaganda sh!t sandwiches served here daily.
You’ll line up for Hillary regardless. Protect that state employee pension.
You’ll line up for Hillary regardless. Protect that state employee pension.
Translation: My tyrant is better than your tyrant. Yawn.
people need more good debt. susie orman
“A vote for Bernie Sanders is a vote for pain, suffering, debt, massive debt, murder and food lines.”
IOW no change at all.
A vote for any of the Ds or Rs is a vote for the shadow government, FISA court, surveillance, NSA branch of government. Wake up. Whatever any candidate says is nonsense and unlikely to happen. The shadow government will do what it wants. Always has.
I thought you were enjoying wine country. Get off the screen time.
I got back Thursday late afternoon. Have three bottles of Paradigm being sent to my office next week.
Phony got the message from GOP headquarters: Attack Bernie! Connect him with Venezuela in the minds of the dupes.
And now he’ll post a bunch of ridiculous “news” stories from various crackpot sources that say the same. Was that a WorldNetDaily article, phony? Or was it from the Moonie newspaper you like so much?
Bernie’s very dangerous. He might make us stop fighting endless wars and enriching the 1%. I mean, name one country he’s promised to bomb the sh!t out of.
Are you out of your mind? Rs want Barney.
Huffing paint again this morning?
LOL, I just got on, saw that and read it as “Huffingtonpaint”. More cawfee!
That’s comedy gold right there. I think we have witnessed the birth of a new meme.
Same here. I thought he was huffing post this morning.
All of the many Rs I know would love to have Barney be the competition.
“I mean, name one country he’s promised to bomb the sh!t out of.”
That’s true. I can’t recall him advocating for race-based immigration policies or an attempt to legalize currently banned torture practices, either.
Only a NYC socialist can be worse than a Arkansas Globalist.
What it was, was a concussionball murder. Maybe it helps explain Snadusky’s actions too? Or phony’s politics? These ex-football players are addled!
‘CONCUSSION’ DOC THINKS O.J. SIMPSON HAS CTE
The renowned doctor whose discovery of a degenerative brain disease in football players inspired a hit movie says he believes O.J. Simpson may be suffering from the disease — known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
Speaking yesterday in an interview with ABC News, Dr. Bennet Omalu — the neuropathologist whose identification of CTE is depicted in “Concussion” starring Will Smith — said Simpson was “more likely than not” suffering from CTE.
“I would bet my medical license on it,” said Omalu.
CTE is believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head. It has been found mostly in athletes who play contact sports, such as football.
Omalu has not examined Simpson personally and CTE can only be diagnosed after death via an examination of brain tissue, but the doctor says he can identify the tell-tale signs of CTE’s behavioral symptoms, which he said include explosive, impulsive behavior, impaired judgment, criminality and even mood disorders.
Multiple NFL players — including Frank Gifford and Junior Seau — have been diagnosed with CTE after their deaths.
“Football is not a contact sport, it’s a collision sport - dancing is a contact sport.” - Vince Lombardi
I’m glad I played basketball.
“I’m glad I played basketball.”
How many times did your mom let you win while you two were playing HORSE in the driveway?
Just enough to keep it interesting.
Tens of millions of former football players in the US. This CTE is hype.
Also OJ’s double murder is much more readily explained by crank than CTE.
CTE must be common in men and women who catch their spouse enjoying some horizontal refreshment with another.
the missing link:
http://abc7.com/news/concussion-doc-thinks-oj-simpson-has-cte/1178953/
Weren’t the” go juice” peeps your peeps?
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4363-S-Greenwood-Ave-1S-Chicago-IL-60653/3980133_zpid/
Zillow calls Chighetto up 4% nest year?
Taxes will be going up big
And only 1.1% up in 2015,the last of the good times
Are low gasoline prices the salvation of U.S. consumer spending?
Business
Fri Feb 12, 2016 | 2:06 PM EST
Strong U.S. consumer spending counters recession fears
By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending regained momentum in January as households ramped up purchases of a variety of goods, in a hopeful sign that economic growth was picking up after slowing to a crawl at the end of 2015.
But the outlook for consumer spending was tempered by another report on Friday showing sentiment among households ebbed in early February. Still, the increase in consumer spending last month underscored the economy’s resilience and challenged the view that a recession was looming.
“The markets may have decided that the U.S. is headed for recession, but obviously no one told U.S. consumers,” said Paul Ashworth, chief economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.
The Commerce Department said retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services increased 0.6 percent last month after an unrevised 0.3 percent decline in December.
These so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product. Economists had forecast core retail sales increasing 0.3 percent last month.
…
To throw out a round figure, the drop in gasoline prices has increased my personal disposable income available for non-gasoline spending by an equivalent amount to a $2000 increase in pretax income. The equivalent figu
The equivalent annual pretax income increase for my household is on the order of $3000. Multiply that across 100,000,000 or so households and you are talking about some serious economic stimulus!
Are low gasoline prices the salvation of U.S. consumer spending?
It depends on how much you drive. We’re saving about $1200 a year
I drive about 10-12 thousand miles a year and get approx 20mpg.
The math indicates I use about 500 to 600 gallons per year.
Earlier today I paid the lowest for gas in a long, long, time: $1.599 for regular unleaded. Two years ago I was paying about $3.50 or more per gallon.
So by my back of the envelope calculation I’m saving roughly $1,000 per year.
So I watched the live stream of the Trump rally in Tampa last night. Say what you want about the guy, but he is one tireless campaigner, although his step as he took the stage did seem to be a little slower than usual. It’s got to be getting to him, not just the campaign schedule, but the constant slings and darts from the haterz.
Even so, he sure knows how to rally his base. Just like when he had a rally in Sarasota, people came from clear across the state just to see him. Ok, so Florida’s sort of a narrow state, but having made that trip often, it’s no fun and not a drive you want to make if you don’t have to.
I was surprised at the number of younger folks at the rally. From the looks of things, he and Bernie are closely matched in that vote. Lots of baseball caps on many heads, both young and old. 1960s Rolling Stones music playing before the rally. Corey Lewandowski watchfully prowling the perimeter of the audience, with a quiet directive to a campaign worker here and there.
And then the Donald comes on (half an hour late, which I gather is pretty routine for these rallies) and begins to talk and his connection with the audience is electric. They love him and if he seemed a tad weary when he started, he really comes alive in front of the audience once he realizes he’s got them.
I had a couple of realizations listening to him. First, he pretty much says the same things at these rallies, with a new anecdote or two mixed in. Since he was in Florida, he told the story of how he did the deal for the Doral resort property. Yet, he has a unique ability that very few people have to say the same thing as if he’s saying it for the first time and his supporters hang on his every word like they’re hearing it for the first time. I can see why some call him a demagogue. Maybe. So what?
The other realization I had was that he’s not kidding when he said he works with great people and he seems to have an uncanny ability to spot good managers. Even though Lewandowski had been a political operative for a while, his resume doesn’t seem to have been particularly impressive. And yet he turns out to be one heck of a campaign manager, operating on one main policy: Let Trump be Trump. Apart from that, he sure knows how to organize. He pretty much stays in the background. Trump could hardly get him to the stage for the victory speech in New Hampshire. Lewandowski will make a great Chief of Staff.
Here’s the complete idiot’s guide to being right about Donald Trump:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-12/complete-idiots-guide-being-right-about-donald-trump
Can’t wait to see Mike Bloomberg jump in.
With a Slur for Ted Cruz, Donald Trump Further Splits Voters
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Donald J. Trump has defied conservative orthodoxy on policy, shunned traditional politicking and even insulted prisoners of war and the disabled, sacrosanct constituencies that other candidates would no more slur than they would accept a bag of cash with cameras rolling.
But in a campaign that has seemingly tested every political rule, Mr. Trump’s opponents hope his latest provocation will be too much for well-mannered voters in this heavily evangelical Christian state to bear: his use of a vulgar word this week to describe one of his rivals, Senator Ted Cruz.
Mr. Trump’s raunchy language has become unsurprising at his rallies. And the slur against Mr. Cruz was largely overshadowed by the coverage of the next day’s New Hampshire primary.
But in voicing the crude term, Mr. Trump has further polarized a Republican Party already deeply divided about his candidacy, particularly across class lines.
His backers, who polls indicate include many without a college degree, see his willingness to speak coarsely as yet another refreshing example of his resistance to political correctness.
His critics, many of them more affluent, view his language as a particularly vivid sign that he lacks basic decency and is ill suited to the nation’s highest office.
The differing reactions are already playing out on the campaign trail.
Rebecca Sardella, who attended a rally for Senator Marco Rubio this week in Myrtle Beach, said she was offended by Mr. Trump’s language.
“The way he speaks — that doesn’t sound like somebody who really believes in God that much,” said Ms. Sardella, who works for a nondenominational church in North Myrtle Beach. “You want your children to look up at the president of the United States.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/us/politics/with-a-slur-for-ted-cruz-donald-trump-further-splits-voters.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Your Starbucks frappacino is just a milk shake.
Just say NO to Starbux.
Would a Trump nomination automatically hand the Hispanic vote to the Democrats?
Trump’s big mouth driving Latino vote
Published time: 22 Dec, 2015 17:38
Reuters
Donald Trump may live to regret his comments about Mexicans as Democrats use him as a tool to encourage Latinos to register to vote.
“They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime,” Trump infamously stated about Mexicans in June, “They’re rapists.”
His comments have prompted Democrats to use Trump and his fellow Republican’s most un-PC comments as a way to push unregistered voters to register.
…
Keep wishing. Lotsa blacks and Hispanics care about one thing: JOBS. Trumps the only one talking about jobs, not free shit, jobs.
It’s the ‘Year of the Monkey’ in China, which seems fitting given Chinese retail investor behavior in the face of a stock market collapse.
Monkey throws wrench into HK, European stock markets
Business | 02-11 17:25
European benchmarks began their trading day on a sour note today after Hong Kong followed regional markets into a sharp sell-off.
The blue chip Hang Seng Index took a beating on the first trading day of the Year of the Monkey after a three-day break. The HSI dived by 3.85 percent, or 742.37 points, at 18,545.80, at the close, touching a new low.
Regional markets were hit by a broad sell-off. After a volatile session, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed up by 45.20 points, or 0.95 percent, at 4,821.10. South Korea’s KOSPI ended the day down by 56.25 points, or 2.93 percent, at 1,861.54. In Malaysia, the KLCI Index fell by 0.03 percent, or 0.46 points at 1,643.95 at the close.
In Europe, leading benchmarks fell at the start. The FTSE 100 index dropped by more than 2 percent at 5,551.13, while France’s CAC 40 index tumbled by 2.57 percent at 3,956.73 points, having fallen further earlier. Germany’s DAX dived by 3.3 percent at 8,719.79 points.
…
China stocks in focus after ringing in ‘Year of the Monkey’
Published: Feb 13, 2016 8:16 a.m. ET
Hong Kong selloffs provide sneak peek of what might be in store
How much will Chinese stocks monkey with U.S. markets this week?
By Wallace Witkowski
Reporter
While U.S. traders enjoy the President’s Day holiday on Monday, they’ll be keeping a cautious eye on the reopening of markets in mainland China following a week-long Lunar New Year holiday celebrating the Year of the Monkey.
Caution is required after Asia markets were hammered last week, and mainland stocks are expected to follow suit. Last week, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (HSI, -1.22%), which was open Thursday and Friday, fell 5%, and Japan’s Nikkei (NIK, -4.84%) tumbled 11%.
Additionally, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI, -1.99%) which tracks mainland China stocks trading in Hong Kong, dropped 6.8% over the two-day period.
…
“Socialized Medicine is the Keystone
to the Arch of the Socialist State.”
-Vladimir Lenin
Damning quote right there.
It’s false, of course.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-weiler/on-ben-carson-fake-histor_b_4091583.html
Are you sure? Lenin was correct and here we are 100 years later living under the same crushing socialism.
“Are you sure?”
Of course he’s not sure, some Soros sponsored Pinko writes… “in all likelihood, Lenin never said it.” and everyone is supposed to take his and Milky’s word as gospel.
“Back to the Lenin quote. By now it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that — leaving aside whether the quote itself has any probative value relative to the Affordable Care Act — in all likelihood, Lenin never said it.”
I’m not completely certain about it, but it sounds right. It doesn’t make sense that Lenin would single out health care for special attention.
The writer’s explanation makes sense. I could easily imagine that people working for the AMA just made it up. It also plausible that it had some effect on the politics of the issue because many Americans wanted to believe its veracity.
The question for you two is, do you even care whether it’s a true statement?
You’re backpedalling again.
“The question for you two is, do you even care whether it’s a true statement?”
I’ll tell you what Mike, there’s not a smidgen of corruption here and if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. Period.
Now why don’t you go out in your backyard, dig a hole and see if you can’t find that sea level rise the NASA climate scientists that take there orders from the White House say is hiding there.
So apparently the answer is no. Neither of you care about the truth. In other words, The Facts Don’t Matter. That’s your slogan.
Are you sure?
“It’s false, of course.”
“I’m not completely certain about it, but it sounds right.”
Were you a defensive back?
Cause your damn good at backpedaling.
Question for dad’s with daughters: How do you feel about the prospect of a teenage tranny flaunting his boy parts in the locker room where your daughter gets dressed for gym class?
Sun Times Network
Chicago
News
NW suburban high school district weighs transgender access policy
Written By Associated Press
Posted: 02/13/2016, 10:26am
Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board member Pete Dombrowski, right, proposes a districtwide policy on access to gender-specific facilities as fellow board member Robert LeFevre Jr. listens. | Eric Peterson / Daily Herald
Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board members are considering a district-wide policy that would give transgender students access to school facilities.
The Daily Herald reports board members of proposed the policy Thursday.
Last year, the district reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to give a transgender student at Fremd High School in Palatine access to the girls’ locker room.
The agreement saved the district from losing up to $6 million a year in federal funding for violating discrimination laws. A districtwide plan is not required by that agreement.
…
You are in California. You have to expect those things.
I think my young “progressive” boss is starting to object to the surveillance society. He posted on Facebook some link about schools wanting information on kids where his girls go to school. A few days ago he posted a picture of a black man who is prowling the Ladera Heights neighborhoods. How politically incorrect is my boss turning? I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a handgun safe, though he won’t admit it. I haven’t talked guns with my boss since he hired me. He knows I am against any gun control.
It’s not a California-specific policy. Rather it is a national policy promulgated and enforced by the Depts. Of Education and Justice.
“How do you feel about the prospect of a teenage tranny flaunting his boy parts in the locker room where your daughter gets dressed for gym class?”
Well, first off the teenage tranny flaunting his boy parts in the girls locker room had better be careful he doesn’t run into some chicks that open a can of Lesbian Whoop@ss on him.
Women who ‘beat up gay man’ say they can’t be charged with a hate crime… because they’re lesbians
By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 13:15 EST, 26 February 2012
Three women accused of beating up a gay man claim they cannot be charged with a hate crime because they are all lesbians.
Sisters Erika Stroud, 21, Felicia Stroud, 18, and Lydia Sanford, 20, are charged with viciously beating the man and breaking his nose after he bumped into them at a train station in Boston.
The women all face hate crime charges of assault and battery with intent to intimidate, which carries up to a 10-year prison sentence.
Prosecutor Lindsey Weinstein said the two sisters and Sanford, who is one of their domestic partners, repeatedly punched and kicked the man on Sunday at the Forest Hills T station in Jamaica Plain, reports the Herald.
She said the victim told the police he believed the attack was ‘motivated as a crime because of his sexual orientation’ since the three women ‘called him insulting homophobic slurs’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106722/Women-beat-gay-man-say-charged-hate-crime–theyre-lesbians.html#ixzz405OBMJMt
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I’m pretty sure President Obama denies it Bernie.
Transcript: The Democratic debate in Milwaukee, annotated
By Team Fix February 11
SANDERS: Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent.
Transcript: The Democratic debate in Milwaukee, annotated - The …
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/transcript-the-democratic-debate-in-milwaukee-annotated/ - Similar pages
1 day ago .
Justice Antonin Scalia is dead.
Will Obama get to appoint the successor?
I would think so, but I am not sure.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia, conservative icon, dead at 79
By Joan Biskupic and Lawrence Hurley
Reuters
February 13, 2016
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died, setting up a major political showdown between President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate over who will replace him just months before a presidential election.
“On behalf of the court and retired justices, I am saddened to report that our colleague Justice Antonin Scalia has passed away,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement on Saturday, calling Scalia, 79, an “extraordinary individual and jurist.”
Obama, who is traveling in California, extended his condolences, and the White House said he would have more to say about Scalia’s death later on Saturday.
The U.S. president will face a stiff battle to win confirmation of a nominee to replace the dead jurist, with Republicans likely to delay in the hope that one of their own wins the November election.
Obama could tilt the balance of the nation’s highest court, which now consists of four conservatives and four liberals, if he is successful in pushing his nominate through the Senate confirmation process. Conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy sometimes joins with the liberals on high profile issues, including gay rights and the death penalty.
“Justice Scalia was an American hero. We owe it to him, and the nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next president names his replacement,” Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican presidential candidate, said on Twitter.
The court is set to decide its first major abortion case in nearly 10 years as well as key cases on voting rights, affirmative action and immigration.
POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTS
Scalia’s replacement would be Obama’s third appointment to the nine-justice court.
Obama’s first two appointments to the court, liberals Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan in 2010, both experienced relatively smooth confirmation hearings in the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats. Sotomayor was approved by a 68-31 vote and Kagan by 63-37.
The battle over Scalia’s replacement will be different, with Republicans now in charge of the Senate and keen to exert their influence over the process. Obama is likely to be forced into picking a moderate with little or no history of advocating for liberal causes.
Having recently witnessed two older relatives gradually succumb to the ravages of age-related degenerative diseases, suddenly dying in one’s sleep at the end of a long, productive life doesn’t seem so bad.
I was thinking the same thing. Although Citizens United wasn’t one of the more productive parts of his career.
Who killed Scalia? The globalists must really want our Second Amendment overturned.
http://www.infowars.com/supreme-court-justice-scalia-dead-is-thomas-next/
So, theoretically, could Obama appoint himself to the supreme court?
And how many Trumpling heads would vaporize with rage if he did?
Trumple, trumple, my trumplings…. things just got weirder.
Maybe he could appoint the Hildabeast after he pardons her.
Obama is a fraud.
“So, theoretically, could Obama appoint himself to the supreme court?”
As long as the R controlled senate approves it (which they might) he could.
Those R @ssclowns got put there to stop Obama and haven’t done anything but roll over on everything the King wants.
Show me someone without an ego, and I’ll show you a loser.
I don’t hate either gold or Donald Trump. I merely believe that the former is a bad investment and the latter would be a bad president. The absence of attractive alternatives does not alter my views.
Both cases involve objective assessments, not emotions (e.g. love or hate).
“Central Banks Are Malicious Tools Of Wholesale Cultural Destruction”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-13/central-banks-are-malicious-tools-wholesale-cultural-destruction
By their very definition, central banks(central planning aka socialism/communism) impose price fixing, price rigging and market bottlenecks and set the economy up for failure.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-12/why-most-investors-hate-gold
“We’ll be blunt: most financial asset investors really hate gold.
Anything – even leaving money in the bank – is better than owning gold since at least society has access to your capital through the banking system. Once you buy physical gold, no one has access to that sliver of your portfolio.
Of course, that’s actually a feature for the owner since physical gold is no one else’s liability.
So the notable rally in gold is essentially a protest vote against the global financial system, the equivalent of taking your ball and going home.
This only happens when investors think central banks have lost their way, and that’s not good news. Think of gold as a super-duty dive watch. It can go places humans can’t actually even dive. The watch will outlive the person wearing it. Kind of cool, but you don’t necessarily want to test it yourself.”