Bits Bucket for March 15, 2016
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Soothsayer. Caesar!
Caesar. Ha! who calls?
Casca. Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
Caesar. Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry ‘Caesar!’ Speak; Caesar is turn’d to hear.
Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March.
Caesar. What man is that?
Brutus. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
Caesar. Set him before me; let me see his face.
Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.
Caesar. What say’st thou to me now? speak once again.
Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March.
Caesar. He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.
Ignore soothsayers at your peril.
Ethpetihally tooththayerth that lithp, however difficult it may be to understand them.
Has dry bulk shipping significantly recovered from its recent nadir?
Baltic Dry Index Continues Rise But Capesizes Hit New All-Time Low
March 2, 2016
March 2 (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose further on Wednesday, on improved rates for panamaxes and smaller vessels.
The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping resources including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser rose three points to 335 points.
The index has lost about 97 percent of its value from a peak of 11,793 in May 2008, but has slightly recovered after touching an all-time low of 290 points on Feb. 10.
The capesize index shed three points to 171 points, touching a new all-time low.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, fell $36 to $2,291.
The dry bulk market is expected to remain under pressure due to weak demand for commodities, particularly from top global importer China.
The dry cargo market reached its lowest point in 2015 and will not recover this year under the weight of overcapacity and the Chinese economy’s transition away from an industrial economy, Danish shipping company D/S Norden said on Wednesday.
…
Bloomberg Gadfly
Steel and Shipping’s Toxic Tango
By Chris Bryant
Photographer: Tim Rue
Feb 21, 2016 10:00 PM PST
The global steel and shipping industries have for years been locked in a tight embrace. Iron ore and coal, key raw materials for making steel, are among dry bulk shipping companies’ most important cargoes.
Now, an oversupply of both ships and steel has turned that relationship toxic. Both industries need to eradicate overcapacity quickly — or risk repercussions far beyond their respective shareholders, bondholders and lenders.
Surplus capacity also threatens to undermine central bank efforts to prop up the global economy. Until it’s eradicated, companies in the crucial industries like steel and shipping won’t feel the need to invest because they won’t see a possibility to generate a return; and near-zero interest rates therefore won’t have the desired stimulus effect.
So, like their peers in the oil and mining industries, shipping companies and steelmakers need to cut capacity, and fast. But the chances of that happening look slim. Instead, signs of stress abound.
Global steel prices remain weak, and the Baltic dry shipping index — a measure of the cost of shipping bulk commodities — is at the lowest level since it was first compiled in 1985.
Steel and shipping stocks have been crushed and companies have been forced to bolster their balance sheets. ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, announced a $3 billion fundraising this month. In dry bulk shipping, Norway’s Golden Ocean Group on Friday raised $200 million in a share sale to meet lenders’ demands.
What’s gone wrong? Steel and shipping companies were both guilty of over-investment in the boom years, spurred on by near-insatiable demand from China, which accounts for two-thirds of global iron ore imports.
Now, Chinese demand is stalling.
The government has ordered steel companies to shutter capacity, a painful process that could take years to complete. In the meantime, Chinese steel companies are boosting exports.
Those steel shipments aren’t enough to offset freight carriers’ lost profits — but they are enough to crush the margins of steel companies outside China.
…
Will China use the dry bulk shipping price collapse to wrest control of the industry?
Baltic Dry Index Achieves Full Month of Gains, Rises to 388
Monday March 14, 2016
The BDI has achieved a full straight month of positive gains.
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has now maintained its upward march for a full month, reaching 388 on Friday from its all-time low of 290 a month ago, as news surfaced that Chinese shipping giants, China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited (China COSCO Shipping), China Merchants Group, and ICBC Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (ICBC Financial Leasing), have purchased 30 Valemax vessels amid market overcapacity.
In terms of average spot TC rates, daily earnings for Capesize vessels Friday fell $46 to $2,172 per day, while both Panamaz and Supramax rates rose to $3,827 per day and $4,391 per day, respectively.
However, with spot rates still far below OPEX, the Chinese vessel purchases are reported to be seen as an effort to increase China’s control over iron ore shipments from Brazil in order to boost demand.
“Despite the collapse in the dry bulk market, the Chinese are ordering new vessels to effectively control iron-ore freight rates over the next 10 years or so,” said Basil Karatzas, Maritime Adviser of Karatzas Martine.
“This will put more pressure on dozens of independent ship owners struggling to cope with record low freight rates.”
…
Have commodities finally turned around from their recent swoon?
Today’s Markets
Global Stocks Fall on Commodities Decline, Ahead of Fed Meeting
Mining companies weigh as oil and base metals prices drop
By Riva Gold
Updated March 15, 2016 5:48 a.m. ET
Falling commodities prices dragged down global stocks Tuesday as investors waited for guidance from the Federal Reserve on the course of U.S. interest rates.
The Stoxx Europe 600 was 0.7% lower in morning trade, weighed down by shares of mining companies as oil and base metals prices fell. Brent crude oil was last down 2% at $38.73 a barrel as expectations for a supply freeze continued to dim, while copper futures on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.8% to $4,909 a ton.
Shares of Antofagasta fell over 9% after the Chilean copper producer reported disappointing results and opted not to pay a final dividend. Shares in U.K.-listed mining giants Anglo American and BHP Billiton fell 8.5% and 5.8%, respectively.
Futures pointed to a 0.5% opening loss for the S&P 500. Changes in futures don’t necessarily reflect market moves after the opening bell.
…
We seem to be in no danger of running out of junk!
Business
Scrap-Metal Sector Is Latest Victim of Commodities Bust
As prices drop, junkyard operators stockpile cars instead of shredding them, stalling the auto-recycling industry
Cars piled up at a recycling plant owned by Detroit-based Ferrous Processing & Trading Co. So far this year, over 50 metal scrapyards have stopped operations in North America.
Photo: John W. Miller/The Wall Street Journal
By John W. Miller
March 14, 2016 7:46 p.m. ET
PITTSBURGH—Cars are piling up at junkyards across the U.S., as the commodities bust that has already bruised mining and metals companies from Ohio to Australia ripples through another sector: scrap.
As prices for steel, iron ore and other commodities have dropped because of a demand slowdown and oversupply in China, prices for scrap metal have also collapsed.
That is leading junkyard operators to stockpile cars instead of shredding them, stalling the auto-recycling industry and the chain of largely small businesses that make up the U.S. scrap sector, which is a linchpin of the U.S. industrial economy and an $105 billion-a-year business.
Already this year, over 50 metal scrapyards have stopped operations in North America, according to the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries. U.S. scrap steel exports fell to $4.1 billion last year, down 34% from $6.2 billion in 2014, according to customs figures. The index price for scrap steel in the U.S. has fallen 29% to $203 a ton, from $261 a ton a year ago.
…
Zillow says my imputed rent is $2,200 a month. The bean counters that compute the nation’s GDP considers this imputed rent as income and thus they add this income into their calculations of GDP.
But this imputed rent is phantom income, income that cannot be spent. If this income is not spent then it will do nothing in the way of circulating throughout the economy.
Taken to the extreme, if I could get some places in Bodie to rent out at decent prices - enough places to be considered comps - then that would mean that ALL the comparable places in Bodie would be generating income in the form of imputed rent, income that could never be spent but nevertheless income that would demonstrate to any bean counter that Bodie is once again prosperous.
Weird.
If Bodie doesn’t work as an example because nobody lives in Bodie then I will choose another example: Slab City, a place where people do live, and live for free.
Because living for free in Slab City means that one doesn’t have to own a slab this does not necessarily mean he can’t rent out a slab if both the possesser of the the slab and someone who wants to live on that same slab were to make a deal. And if enough deals such as this were made that were enough to be considered comps then - presto! - all the comparable slabs would be generating income in the form of imputed rent.
Prosperity would once again visit Slab City, imputed prosperity, but imputed or not this prosperity would still go into the computation of GDP.
A re-visit of this article is in order:
“Taxing Homeowners As If They Were Landlords”
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/taxing-homeowners-as-if-they-were-landlords/?_r=0
One’s home equity is a balance sheet item and it is considered to be an asset, an asset whose value is determined by the actions of strangers.
One’s imputed rent is an income statement item and it is considered to be income, income that is also determined by the actions of strangers.
If these strangers who determine the values of one’s wealth in the form of equity and who also determine the values of one’s income in the form of imputed rent go bonkers and drive the prices of homes up then they also drive up the values of one’s equity AND they will also end up driving up the values of one’s imputed rent.
The rise in value of prices already affects the cost of owning a home in that the rise in value (in most cases) translates to a rise in property tax assessment and thus it translates to a rise in property taxes that need to be paid.
Next up, if some people were to get their way, would be a tax on the imputed rent income that a home generates due to the actions of strangers who have possibly gone bonkers. This income would be added to other more tangible income that a person generates from his employment or whatever and just might end up being quite costly to the homeowner in that whatever the tax bracket the income earner endures this tax bracket will be the tax bracket this additional income - imputed or not - will be taxed at.
Shhh! Don’t tell the folks in Chicago.
Footage from Friday in the liberal utopia of Chicago.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153987414591552&id=841851551&refid=52&__tn__=C
Speaking of Chicago….
A $4,000.00 a month condo on the Loop for FREE (well, free for the tenant) courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer:
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/public-housings-gap-of-luxury-a-watchdogs-special-report/
From the article:
It ended up being a good deal for Lai. Since June 1, 2013, he’s collected more than $100,000 from the CHA, which administers public housing in Chicago for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The CHA pays him $3,911 a month in federal funds to lease his townhouse to the woman and three others in her household, including a child under the age of 6, records show.
It also has been a good deal for Lai’s tenant. She pays no rent because, CHA officials say, she has no income. The CHA declined to identify her or other voucher clients, though it released the names of landlords.
It’s an expensive effort, costing more than $47 million a month, with the federal government picking up $35.9 million of that and CHA tenants paying the rest.
Not costing the state anything ?
“But there is no housing fraud” bemoan the liars
“Falling house prices”
http://www.zillow.com/homes/80113_rb/
3966 S Lincoln St just dropped $10K to $315K four days ago.
2BD, 2BA, 885 sq/ft, built in 1920, nobody wants to buy this.
Here’s a lot from that sea of red:
‘03/08/16 Listed for sale $4,150,000+50.9% $283 Kentwood Real …
10/30/10 Listing removed $2,750,000 $187 Kentwood Compa…
07/22/10 Price change $2,750,000-11.3% $187 Kentwood Compa…
05/30/10 Price change $3,100,000-5.3% $211 Kentwood Compa…
05/20/10 Price change $3,275,000-6.4% $223 Kentwood Compa…
01/01/10 Price change $3,500,000-50.0% $238 Kentwood Compa…
11/08/08 Listing removed $6,995,000 $477 Active Website
09/25/08 Listed for sale $6,995,000 $477 Active Website
These Kentwood guys are not the shiniest pennies in the fountain.
ZIP 80113 includes ghetto Englewood and rich Cherry Hills Village, the latter of which home to many (newly unemployed) oil and gas biz execs.
“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush
I’m not high-fiving any du Ponts today.
Onwentsia Golf Club:
http://www.onwentsiaclub.org/
Password = password didn’t work. Brute force attack needed to hack login, somebody call Bill.
Ok, I’m stumped.
Here’s another way of looking at it: I think we can all agree that Kate Middleton is a beautiful woman. And I think we can all agree that we would all be better off with more beautiful people and fewer ugly goofy-looking people. And I think we can all agree that anyone out of the phone book has accomplished more with his life than the guy sperming Kate.
Oh, ok. Well, here’s a good one for ya:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-silicon-valley-investor-sex-slave-20160315-story.html
I haven’t google-imaged the lady in question yet, but he seems like a comely looking lad, if a bit of an unlikely candidate for this sort of thing.
Anyway, I don’t think Prince William is the worst of the lot. He had a happy accident of birth, yes, but we can’t blame him for that, can we?
My youngest daughter has been to “MG’s” home in SV. She was a classmate of my daughters.
Very nice home! is what I heard.
You sound proud of that FreakFest.
Only in Californica.
I can’t agree to that. The prince served his country didn’t he? Some random from the phone book (which probably excludes all welfare recipients who don’t have home phones only Obamaphones) probably did not have sufficient discipline to get through the military, or to do it under a spotlight.
Who has a land line anymore? Or a phone book?
me.
“Or a phone book?”
Still sitting out on the porch after delivery a week ago. I suppose I should get it to the recycle bin.
Found the codger!
That’s Artful Codger to you.
Save that phone book. You’ll need it during the next extended power outage, to figure out the number for the local power utility, when the internet is down, your smartphone is dead, and you have to actually make a call on the landline.
I still have my landline - it’s the only thing in the house that works when the power is out. Two more years and they are pulling the plug on the copper-pair landlines, and one of the most robust and reliable communication systems ever invented will be gone forever (replaced by VOIP which doesn’t work with no power, unlike the Plain Old Telephone System or POTS, which has its own backup power).
“I still have my landline - it’s the only thing in the house that works when the power is out”
Yep. Florida being the land of power outages, it’s a good thing to have landline back-up.
“Save that phone book. You’ll need it during the next extended power outage, to figure out the number for the local power utility, ”
So you can listen to the busy signal?
Used to be, but now you actually get a recording acknowledging the outage in your area, that they’re aware of it and working on it and the estimated time when power will be restored.
Who’s the codger now?
Dad gum new-fangled electricity! Who needs it?!?
“…Kate Middleton is a beautiful woman.”
Nice straight white teeth and a naughty smile. Yeah!!
Good news for California. There’s water in them thar reservoirs!
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0315-march-reservoirs-20160315-story.html
It’s water, water everywhere in Sac right now.
Re-posting the epic Van Damme split feat commercial, just because it’s completely awesome. And he did this not too long ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FIvfx5J10
Time Cop is disrespectful of his betters.
It would have been even more epic if the trucks had pulled back together and stood him back up.
(but I suppose we shouldn’t get greedy)
I liked the comment section where one says that Chuck Norris one-upped JCVD by driving both of the trucks!
“…because it’s completely awesome.”
+1 That [is] fugg’n awesome.
Sorry Miguel my white @ss ain’t going nowhere.
Deal with it.
Activist: White People Should KIll Themselves to Atone For ‘White Privilege’
Paul Joseph Watson - March 15, 2016
A YouTube video shows two black student activists from the University of West Georgia asserting that white people should kill themselves in order to atone for “white privilege”.
The debate, which was held at Harvard University, features Damiyr Davis and Miguel Felician from the University of West Georgia, who won second place at the 2013 Cross-Examination Debate Association Nationals.
A glowing University of West Georgia write-up of the pair explains that Davis and Felician have, “already established themselves as one of the elite teams in the country.”
During the debate, Felician argues that “white life is wrong” and that white people shouldn’t be able to affirm that their lives have value.
“Our argument is that we should never affirm white life,” asserts Felician because “white life is based off of black subjugation.”
When a white debater asks if his friend should kill himself, Felician responds, “I don’t see why not, it’s ethical.”
Felician says the white student should kill himself “because you have white privilege.”
“Why does having white privilege necessarily mean I should kill myself, why shouldn’t I struggle against the structures that….,” asks the white student.
“Struggling against the structure means putting yourself on the line, putting your body on the line, do it….affirmative suicide, that’s cool, it’s one little step in the right direction” responds Felician.
According to the description accompanying the video, “Miguel Feliciano works as an instructor at Coppin State University’s Eddie Conway Liberation Institute, run by Professor Shanara Reid-Brinkley of the University of Pittsburgh.”
Black students advocate white genocide at Harvard - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC-Cqkq6zWc - 181k - Cached - Similar pages
15 hours ago
There used to be two dedicated news stations on Southern California radio. One of them was AM980 KFWB “You give us 22 minutes, we’ll give you the world.”
KFWB is now an India music station.
Two groups of whites at war with each other, and one group uses people of color as shock troops against the other group.
The media would like nothing more than to gin up a good race war in the US. And I’m afraid InfoWars is a bit of a participant in this effort.
Ignore. But just in case, be prepared.
I have bad news for those black students: they aren’t the top minority group anymore. Oprima dos para español.
Maybe black people should kill themselves, since they are the ones who sold their own race into slavery. Oh, that’s right, those people were from other tribes, so it doesn’t count.
Unbelievable that this horse manure passes for scholarship.
My black girlfriend would be pretty upset if I did this.
Listened to India music?
I like India music too.
india relax music, musica relajante, musica relax … - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htwbcHfcdfk - 196k -
Although I see Scrutinizer’s point.
My wife gets upset when I listen to it.
This……
Where does our foreign aid go?…..
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2016/03/14/wtf-chart-of-the-day-2/
Cut it all off. Charity begins at home.
Yup, even Ron Paul, who isn’t in favor of welfare, FEMA trailers, etc, said that while he opposes those things, if the US populace wants those things for their fellow countrymen, we would have money to pay for them if we weren’t so busy meddling around the rest of the world.
Instead, we got the nomination that included Palin. How does this happen?
Yup, even Ron Paul, who isn’t in favor of welfare, FEMA trailers, etc, said that while he opposes those things, if the US populace wants those things for their fellow countrymen, we would have money to pay for them if we weren’t so busy meddling around the rest of the world.
Is that really what he said? How would we “have money to pay” for those things if 10 or so billion in foreign aid was eliminated? It would reduce the deficit by a few percent.
Think Defense, Mike. Hundreds of billions there.
Anybody catch this yesterday?
http://fairfield.dailyvoice.com/politics/layoff-warning-notices-sent-to-45700-state-of-connecticut-workers/644108/
The FSA votes, and they voted early and often for Malloy. Fairfield County is Hartford’s personal piggy bank. Wait until Ray Dalio pulls out. Then we’ll see some ta-ra-diddle.
But, but, I thought that taxpayers would be raped to protect state workers’ jobs and pensions.
“I thought that taxpayers would be raped to protect state workers’ jobs and pensions.”
They were, but they forgot to put up a wall around Connecticut to keep them in.
I have done work for 4 people who left Connecticut for that reason in the last year.
“I thought that taxpayers would be raped to protect state workers’ jobs and pensions.”
Among other things.
By Stephen Moore - - Sunday, April 12, 2015
In a new report called “Rich States, Poor States” that I write each year for the American Legislative Exchange Council with Arthur Laffer and Jonathan Williams, we find that five of the highest-tax blue states in the nation — California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois — lost some 4 million more U.S. residents than entered these states over the last decade (see chart). Meanwhile, the big low-tax red states — Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia — gained about this many new residents.
So much for liberal policies creating a workers paradise.
High-Tax Connecticut Plans to Mug Its Residents Even Harder
It’s an experiment in economic self-immolation that’s absolutely fascinating to watch—from a distance.
J.D. Tuccille|Mar. 25, 2015 5:48 pm
How Money Walks
Connecticut, where residents worked until May 9 last year just to feed the maws of government officials (the latest Tax Freedom Day in the country) is poised to stick it to its residents even harder. Given that the state’s high-tax status is already driving people and wealth elsewhere, this is a strategy that just can’t fail—to depopulate and impoverish the joint. I used to live there and, like most people, I hate the place where I attended high school, but I think the Nutmeg state has punished itself sufficiently for the sins of my teenage years. It should stop.
According to the CT Mirror’s Keith M. Phaneuf:
Now that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s campaign pledge not to raise taxes is in the political rearview mirror, the Democratic governor’s political base is seeking to widen the tax debate in hopes of averting some painful spending cuts.
Higher income tax rates on the wealthy, restoration of the capital gains levy, an extra $1.50 per pack on cigarettes and expanding sales taxes on business are among the ideas circulating at the Capitol.
California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois — lost some 4 million more U.S. residents than entered these states over the last decade (see chart). Meanwhile, the big low-tax red states — Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia — gained about this many new residents.
People retire and then move to cheap, warm states. It’s very old news.
May be old news - but it is smart economics.
They take their fat CA pension and move to a cheaper state. I would not chose AZ, TX nor FL for sure.
“People retire and then move to cheap, warm states. It’s very old news.”
Not the four I did work for and 3 of them were still making some serious coin that Gov. Malloy isn’t getting his cut on.
This must be very new news.
It’s anecdotal and probably very unusual. Florida is cheap. That’s it’s purpose. There aren’t many jobs that pay well.
“Florida is cheap.”
Not where these people live it isn’t.
“There aren’t many jobs that pay well.”
A computer and an airport is all one of them told me he needed.
You don’t know Palm Beach County very well do you?
Rut Roh…Do I smell tens of thousands of defaulted cars coming on the market???
“UNPAID SUBPRIME CAR LOANS HIT 20 YEAR HIGH”
http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/15/investing/subprime-unpaid-auto-loans-oil-crash/index.html
Americans with lower credit scores are falling behind on auto payments at an alarming pace.
Apparently the bulk of the defaults are coming out of the oil patch.
And where the oil patch goes, the nation follows.
You should know that.
Gotta keep up with the Joneses, and buy that Dodge diesel, or F-250/350. The official personal transportation of Flyover.
Stereotypes aren’t just randomly pulled out of people’s azzes. They exist for a reason.
How do I buy a used truck from the oil patch?
The comments are disabled for this piece.
Would be a good deal, if they weren’t all crammed full of finicky computer gear. I will never buy a car with a screen in the dashboard.
Good luck with that. There ain’t no such thing anymore. Most engine indication instruments and speedometers are driven off the engine computers.
I think the screens clean up the interior but I agree, the simpler the better. Wife just got a Jeep Grand Cherokee late last year. It did come with the screen but we got the Limited instead of the Overland when we realized the latter comes with adjustable air suspension. I had that on another vehicle and is a maintenance issue just waiting to happen in 3-5 years for very little benefit for most. I bet there will be a lot of JGC Overland trade-ins in the coming years. She also opted for no sunroof.
One benefit, if you can call it that, is that it seems like the screens are all the same other than size, so you’ll probably be able to find an inexpensive replacement if needed.
People laugh at my 98 Jeep Cherokee with 300k on it, but it always starts and it’s a very simple interior. That inline 6 is one of the best engines ever made.
Just Empty Every Pocket …… JEEP
Yeah, I think the ones saying that are those that give ‘em a 4″ lift, put 35″ tires on them, and wonder why they get death wobble at 60 mph.
I think I’ve put about $3k in my ‘98 - shocks, radiator, exhaust, brakes, heater core, alternator. It was my company car that I drove from new and I got for a few hundred dollars in taxes after they depreciated it to $0 after 40 months. Score.
Why is a sunroof/moonroof a bad thing? If I ever get another car, I was hoping to request one.
One thing I *don’t* like is all the millenial-era crap like wireless/bluetooth smart-phone hookup. Even if it’s hands-free and voice activated IMO it’s too distracting.
“Why is a sunroof/moonroof a bad thing?”
I like them too if only for the added light, but it’s another unnecessary failure point.
I knew a guy who had a sunroof. It started leaking. He tried everything, eventually using caulk. One day we were driving and it started raining. He looked up as drops fell on his face and he said, “I paid extra for this.”
Nothing some RTV and duct tape on the roof can’t fix.
“duct tape”
Kentucky chrome
“I paid extra for this.”
IMHO paying for holes in roofs that don’t need to be there, be it a skylight for a house or a sunroof for a car is never a good idea.
I’ve enraged so many that a few have threatened to to put a sunroof in my skull.
98 Jeep Cherokee
I had a 97, engine was great. Exhaust manifold cracked, eclectical was bad ( they use cheap thin wires) and the differential had to be rebuilt. Only 16 mpg. It needed more repairs than any car I have owned and the only American car I have owned.
I think the exhaust manifolds cracked on ALL of them in that vintage, at least.
Not sure about the 97s. They were essentially the same as 98-01 except for the suspension which was upgraded in 98 to the same as the Grand Cherokee, IIRC.
Did you get it new? I drove the engine hard (yeah, the mpg SUCKS for a vehicle that size) but other than routine maintenance it’s been a champ. I guess that’s where YMMV comes from…
I bought it used with 115k on in it for $1800. Put about $1000 in repairs and parts into it in 3 yrs. ( I do my own work 90% of the time) then sold it for $3800 as it cleaned up well.
I know, impossible to make money per Mafia unless you build homes for $28.45 a foot in upper NY.
“I bought it used with 115k on in it for $1800.”
That makes more sense then. I don’t hear (other than mfg defects, etc) much complaint from the 1st owners I know.
I’d go with a 97 Pathfinder.
You’re the Frank Burns of used autos.
Palmy - this might get your blood boiling this morning……
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/obamas-birthday-could-become-next-state-government-holiday/
It’s not so much Obama, but thirteen paid state holidays? THIRTEEN??
What can I say? It’s the land of Lincoln, the Pol-Pot of the US (h/t Paul Craig Roberts)
Isn’t Hillary originally from Illinois? If she becomes President, it’ll be FOURTEEN. How’s that blood pressure now?
How many holidays do you get, rj? I thought envy was supposed to be a European phenomenon.
I get the standard private industry side number of holidays. I find I am here in the airport consultant pool while the betters at AFSCME are off more days than I can count now. Ever heard of Pulaski Day - that is a City holiday!! Sheeesh!!!
I’m surprised they don’t have Dyngus Day as a holiday.
Why buy when you can rent for half the cost?
http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/roo/5451093273.html
And not a buyer or renter in sight at a fraction of that amount.
See how that works?
Yes
“Room for rent in Treasure Island FL. I am the home owner and have a room available for a possible roomate meeting qualifications.”
That home owner sounds like someone you may read a gruesome story about a couple of months down the road.
Manhattan man allegedly stabbed roommate to death over rent money and smiled while sitting in police car after arrest
BY Ryan Sit, Ben Kochman, Thomas Tracy
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Friday, March 11, 2016, 2:45 AM
Meet the roommate from hell.
A 25-year-old man accused of knifing his roommate to death in Washington Heights is a pot-smoking fiend who smiled mischievously after the murder as he sat handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser, stunned witnesses said Thursday.
Peter Rodriguez stabbed 57-year-old Val Steiner in a dispute over $4,000 in rent money for their pad on Bennett Ave. just before 10 p.m. Wednesday, officials said.
“One had paid the other to live in the room…he wanted his money back,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Thursday. “There was an argument and one roommate stabbed the other. That person then called 911, police quickly put it together and he was arrested.”
Cops found Steiner knifed repeatedly in the chest. He died at the scene.
Rodriguez was charged with murder late Thursday.
OMG! The devil weed made him do it!
“OMG! The devil weed made him do it!”
He may have needed his rent money back to buy some more devil weed.
You can’t even give weed away in Region VIII there’s so much of it.
Florida voted to defeat a medical marijuana ballot initiative in 2014, with $5,000,000 spent to defeat it by Sheldon Adelson.
We don’t discuss the 2016 election on HBB now, but remind me again how keeping medical weed illegal in Florida benefits the Likud Party of Israel?
Suddenly starting to see a bunch of e-mails from headhunters/recruiters:
Today’s featured job:
- Wanted - Maintenance Supervisor for military contract
- Eight years experience in type, factory/military school in type.
- Secret clearance required
- Pass drug test, random drug screenings if employed.
- Position in South Carolina
- Pay? $60-65K/year
Uhhhhhhhh……….NO. For starters, the position is in South Carolina.
Typical of the state of the job market in America. Nobody wants to pay s##t, then they start bitching about “not being able to find qualified help”.
then they start bitching about “not being able to find qualified help”
Then the word “shortage” will be used, followed by efforts to bring in people from the Third World.
“Then the word “shortage” will be used, followed by efforts to bring in people from the Third World.”
Um, no. “Secret clearance required” means only US citizens.
More likely the job will go unfulfilled for a year or so. Then they will jack up the rates they offer.
No, they won’t.
They will drop the prerequisites/requirements/standards until they fill the position for what they will pay.
They will fill it with a double dipping sergeant who just got in 20 with the Big Green Machine.
“Nobody wants to pay s##t, then they start bitching about “not being able to find qualified help”
That’s why to them “free market” means bringing in cheap labor from elsewhere.
Just curious… what would be a fair going rate for a job like this?
I was cold called about a position similar to this a few months back.
A “Management Company” (aerospace equivalent to a vulture capitalist). Their M.O. is telling owners how much money they can save them, by contracting with them to “Manage their operation”.
The “Save” the owners money by screwing the pilots and mechs, and (usually) by putting the airplane on an air charter certificate.
IOW, they fly a bunch more, wearing out the airplane/asset, and any profit from the deal is pocketed by the management company. Any “savings” in direct operating costs is usually more than offset by the wear and tear. Plus, the owner loses his ability to “go anywhere/anytime he wants”.
Anyhoo, the wanted a maintenance manager for 12 airplanes, scattered from Kansas to Florida. You would be on the road A LOT. Carrying tools, which is a giant PITA. Single engines to corporate jets. Wanted a guy with experience in jets, to “manage” the maintenance, and turn wrenches “when he isn’t busy……”
The starting salary was in the $75-80K range. Told them anyone that I’d trust/has the resume to do the job is already making $100K where they are currently. Nobody is going to move to BFE to take a 20% pay cut. Especially when you are waay out of the network, if the job goes away.
So, they will fill the position with a guy with 5-6 years experience, and live with his eff-ups.
http://maine.craigslist.org/reo/5491459787.html
That’s a foreclosure. See the yellow winterization stickers on the sinks and the plastic wrap on the toilet. I didn’t know Craigslist had an REO section. Look what else I found on the main REO page:
$479000 / 3br - 2352ft2 - BRAND NEW construction, 3 br, 2 1/2 ba Hip Roof Colonial on 3+ acres!! (York)
http://maine.craigslist.org/reo/5448531921.html
New, huh? Somebody just lost a bunch of money.
Build that all day long. Any price above $120k and we’re earning profit.
“I’m posting some before and after pictures of the house. The first 7 pictures are the way it looked before the tenant moved in, the last 6 pics are the way it is now.”
I wouldn’t mess with the laundry room shown in picture number 10 until the police have had a chance to put Luminol on the walls and finished the investigation of the crime scene.
sum ting wong with the price :
http://maine.craigslist.org/reb/5464127113.html
Hallowell is NOT coastal property or anything like that under the sun
$250000 / 1br - 1024ft2 - Condo for Sale Middle St. (Hallowell)
I don’t get it. It’s a big house, how is there a condo? Do you have to share the kitchen? A quarter of a million and you get a bedroom in a house full of strangers?
Yeah, I did not see the kitchen or info about it. I guess a historic house status stands on its own merits. The price is what got me. Unless there is some vein of money that permeates Augusta’s communities, that is heckuva lot of dollars.
Scratch that. I did see a photo of the kitchen. It has….granite counters. Oh, I see where the $250K comes from now /s.
“Townhouse style condo in historic Bodwell House.” Teh Goog turned up lots of information on the Bodwell House, which is 15 Middle Lane in Halliwell.
Here is some info on the main part of the Bodwell House. Yup, it’s a giant house.
http://northernnewenglandvillages.com/2012/10/01/history-saved-6-gov-joseph-r-bodwell-house-in-hallowell-maine/
And here is the Zillow ad for the condo. My guess is that the condo used to be a servants quarters off the back of the big house. More pictures to show the layout better:
http://www.zillow.com/homes/15-middle-street,-Halliwell,-ME_rb/?fromHomePage=true&shouldFireSellPageImplicitClaimGA=false&fromHomePageTab=buy
CAUTION — the Zillow price history and the historic article seem to confuse the pricing of the entire house and of the condo on the back, so I really don’t know the pricing.
Hey Donk.
Here’s a fun story regarding fundamental transformation:
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/03/14/mexican-beach-resort-hit-by-wave-jet-ski-assassinations/
One fundamental transformation story deserves another….
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/12194789/Brussels-police-shot-at-during-raid-linked-to-Paris-attacks.html
Man, that’s just sick and sad. It’ll happen here, too, in the not too distant future if something isn’t done to prevent it. It won’t be like Baywatch anymore.
I remember Acapulco back when I wuz a pup, the family took an extended vacation there and we stayed with friends at one of the homes in Las Brisas. Beautiful place. The bay was lit up at night from all sides, quite a sight. Of course, there always was poverty down the side streets off the main tourist drags, but not the violence that you hear about now.
I saw this today, too:
http://nypost.com/2016/03/15/fbi-fears-for-teenage-daughter-of-man-found-slain/
Sounds as if papi didn’t pay the piper. But to go after the daughter, whew. The poor thing has either been gang-banged, killed and dumped or trafficked. I wonder if parents realize what danger they put their children in when they deal drugs or get involved in other criminal activity.
I’m shaking my head. Looking at prices per sq. foot and features for various houses in a radius of Portland, ME. I can not wrap my head around what prices could of been ca. 2010 for these places. Is it a fair guess that a good number of comp properties were 40% cheaper just 6 years ago?
Your observations explain succinctly why housing demand is at 20 year lows and falling.
I am demanding housing, no one counted me.
If we melt all the ice China loses the most. http://www.businessinsider.com/what-earth-would-look-like-if-ice-melted-world-map-animation-2015-2
The whole southeast US is submerged! The ocean level would have to rise a few thousand feet to wipe out the Appalachians.
The Appalachians are what remain of the eastern US, it’s the land mass that goes down below Charleston. It looks like we’d lose Florida, southern Georgia, and most of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts. Not surprising. Atlanta appears to be alright, I wish they’d marked where it was, so we could orient the remaining land mass better.
I’m surprised that much of Louisiana would remain dry.
T minus 4 months and counting til one more Illinoisan is gone.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/growing-illinois-workforce-struggles-to-find-jobs/
Where are you headed too, RJ?
He’s headed your way, Ray K.
He posted that he’s moving to Castle Rock this fall.
It’s a bit sleepy for my tastes but my older relatives who live there like it.
That’s in my AO. We may need to arrange a meet-up once he gets situated.
Bitcoin: USAA integration with Coinbase
https://blog.coinbase.com/2016/03/14/usaa-expands-coinbase-integration-to-all-usaa-members/
I smell fear…is that you, George Soros?
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-03-15/soros-alarmed-by-trump-pours-money-into-2016-race
Quisling alert.
http://www.westernjournalism.com/exposed-sinister-source-donated-200k-to-this-republican-candidate/
Angela Merkel will carry out her globalist-oligarch orders to the bitter end, public opinion be damned. Soon we shall have our own Frau Merkel.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/shaken-angela-merkel-says-she-wont-change-course-on-refugees-despite-election-rout-afd-cdu-a6931396.html
USAA and Coinbase - another article.
USAA expands Bitcoin Integration to all members.
“The Fortune 500 firm has previously said its members are active bitcoin users, and that this was a key reason behind its investment in Coinbase.”
http://www.coindesk.com/usaa-expands-bitcoin-all-members/
This is significant because it’s a major financial firm exposing all its customers to Coinbase and Bitcoin.
A careful crypto currency fan hides most of his bitcoin in cold storage “paper wallets” and not an app. Otherwise it’s a great app. combined with Shift debit card and I can spend days and weeks transacting in bitcoin only without touching my credit cards or bank accounts.
I am happy for you.
Birth of a wooden house. The simple things are the best things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RV7pmE4MC-I#t=349
How can one afford to spend so much time on that home? Trustifarian?
I like power tools and stucco.
Pineapples, order your hat now and avoid the rush once Comrade Pelosi’s permanent Democrat supermajority marches us into our collectivist future.
http://glorioushat.com
Voting to destroy the establishment.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2016/03/14/voting-to-destroy-the-establishment/
If you have to borrow for 15 or 30 years, it’s not affordable nor can you afford it.
George Soros: a pyschopath’s psychopath.
http://themillenniumreport.com/2016/02/george-soros-a-psychopaths-psychopath/
The macabre truth of gun control in the US is that toddlers kill more people than terrorists do
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/13/the-macabre-truth-of-gun-control-in-the-us-is-that-toddlers-kill-more-people-than-terrorists-do
Piss off, MM. More people are killed in the US by falling TVs than by terrorists. What’s your point?
Ray - I think the point is your fear is ridiculous–they use it to control you.
Ohio voted to bend over for the oligarchy tonight.
As I said below, the “Cuckeye State”. That’s some serious Stockholm Syndrome.
I have hundreds of friends from there of all political stripes. Based on what I’ve seen them post on social media, I’m surprised Ohio went the way it did.
Rubio just suspended his campaign. The oligopoly isn’t getting much for their money, are they?
I’ve just been reading some of the articles doing a post-mortem on Rubio’s campaign. Ouchie! I didn’t realize he hated being in the Senate. Says he’s not running for a second term.
I figure he’ll probably sleaze his way back into state politics and then make a run for governor. Good luck with that.
Buh-bye, Little Marco. Collect your thirty pieces of silver from your oligarch pimps and don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-clinton-rack-up-wins-in-florida-primaries-2016-03-15
From CNN: “Voters in Tuesday’s contests expressed worries about the economy and a broad sense among Republicans that their party has betrayed them, according to early exit poll results. As voters continued heading to the polls in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, early polling showed bipartisan concern about both the economy and access to jobs. Republicans continued the trend of saying they felt betrayed by their party, but only about a third or more Republican voters in the five states said they were angry with the federal government. The early exit polls represent initial surveys of voters as they left polling sites and reflect broad trends, but numbers are subject to some variation over the night as more voters are surveyed.”
The stoopids were out in force in Ohio today.
We have a lot of retirees from Ohio around here, some are full time and some are snow birds. They’re a lot like the governor, generally speaking. All nicey-nice, hale-fellow-well-met, bluff and hearty on the surface, with a real mean streak underneath, especially the men, some of whom get a real whizz-bang out of pinching stuff at the estate and garage sales.
Again, this is a generality and there are exceptions to the rule. I’ve learned to deal on a very superficial level, and I feel sorry for some of the wives, who try to put a brave smiley face on things, especially when the husbands lay into them verbally in public.
Perhaps goon can give some insight into this. It’s the weirdest thing.
Ohio has been dubbed the “Cuckeye State”. Ouchie!
a broad sense among Republicans that their party has betrayed them,
Hey, it only took them 40 or 50 years to figure it out. Who says the blue collars aren’t smart?
Ah well, at least we got the welfare queens out of their Cadillacs, and the young bucks buying t-bones off food stamps. That was worth self-destruction.
However you slice it, this is an exciting time in US politics. I think we’re looking at the end of the two party system. Already you’ve got these three guys looking to split off from the Republican party and form a Conservative party:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/top-conservatives-gather-to-plot-third-party-run-against-trump-220786
And I’m guessing Sanders splits off from the Dems. We might end up with four parties by the time it’s all said and done. This is a very healthy development.
We may even see the US split up into two or more countries eventually, which might also be a very healthy development, as it will probably bleed off a lot of the animosity that has built up between groups of people and various factions. Imagine if disparate factions could have their own “safe spaces” in which to live, among others of like mind? It would certainly take care of a lot of resentment.
Whatever the case, things could get very interesting over the coming months and years.
Marco fans, if you must groan, please groan in time with all the other losers.
Another Establishment stooge bites the dust.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/marco-rubio-drops-out-crushing-gops-establishment-hopes-2016-03-15?link=MW_latest_news
While Democrats embrace the corrupt crony-capitalist status quo, the Republican base has given the two preeminent Establishment salad-tossers the heave ho. Which pretty much says it all as far as how morally and mentally debased Democrats have become.
I am stoked that Trump is destroying the GOP.
So am I.
Me too. On the scale, I like the Donald more than I dislike him. “Make America Great Again” might be Trump’s “Hope and Change”, but the RNC is proving what a bunch of puppets they are. Trump’s message might be hard to swallow, but he does speak a lot of thruthiness.
Hunting for survival (life or food) is one thing, but what offended me was the picture of Don Jr. holding a bloody elephant tail after his killing of the majestic innocent animal for sport. Not cool.
india relax music, musica relajante, musica relax … - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htwbcHfcdfk - 196k -
FU, Soros and your Democrat minions.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-15/soros-floods-democrats-millions-warns-trump-consequences
Trump starts Tuesday with win in Mariana Islands!
“Running wild, across the big country”
the Kinks - Got To Be Free:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7qChiEGugE
Democrats embrace the crony capitalist status quo. No surprise there.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-democrats-220793
We’re going to win win. We’re going to have great victories for the country.
We will trumple in the east! Wes shall trumple in the west! The mighty sound of our trumpling will shake down the houses of our enemies and crush them with righteous rubble!
Region IV
Ray Charles - I Got A Woman - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrd14PxaUco - 216k -
Nancy Reagan’s funeral introduced me to Ron Reagan Jr. The guy is smart, articulate, interesting, and I really like him. I label him as moderate left, very objective to his father’s pros and cons. The GOP invented a fictional Reagan icon. Reagan signed a libel abortion bill as governor of Ca. He wasn’t a religious zealot.
Cant wait until Trump gets in there and beats these do-nothing morons to a pulp!
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has no plans for the Senate to vote on Merrick Garland. The Senate would be breaking a 40-year tradition if it delays the confirmation vote.