Sellers Won’t See As Many Offers As Peak Frenzy
A weekend topic on some markets I missed in the excitement yesterday, the American Statesman in Texas. “Austin-area home sales and prices surged in May, the latest figures show, but some real estate agents says competition is easing a bit as buyers become more cautious with their bids. ‘Buyers are now more cautious and mindful about escalating prices, and aren’t as willing to get into bidding wars,’ said Yvette Evans, an agent in Austin with Redfin. ‘If a home is overpriced, the seller won’t see as many offers as they may have in March or April when the Austin housing market was at peak frenzy.’”
“Andrew Vallejo, an agent with Redfin, also is seeing competition soften slightly, ‘as buyers realize that not every home is necessarily worth 10 percent over list price.’ ‘One of my buyers recently made an offer on a home that six months ago would have received four or five competing bids, but we were the only ones to make an offer,’ Vallejo said.”
The Marin Independent Journal in California. “The median price of a Marin home jumped to a record high $1.2 million last month, up 8 percent from the previous May, according to CoreLogic. While this might seem like great news for Marin, some local real estate agents painted a different picture. ‘I think what you have is a lag effect,’ said Peter Richmond, a Pacific Union agent. ‘What you are seeing is homes that closed in May. Those homes probably went on the market in April or earlier. But houses that went on the market in May and June — even if they are holding the price, they are not moving as quickly,’ the agent said. ‘I’ve seen cases where multiple offers are not happening as often as they were and people are taking more time,’ Richmond said.”
“Agent Marilyn Rich said, ‘Luxury prices have not gone up at the same rate that lower-priced homes have. There have been a lot of price reductions and houses back on the market in the luxury market.’”
The Real Deal in Florida. “It might not be the bloodbath seen when Miami-Dade County’s housing market crashed in 2008, but many in the real estate community are likely feeling the pressure. As previously pointed out by market analysts like Jonathan Miller, pricing trends can lag behind sales by as much as 15 months. Others are saying sellers might have to face reality sooner than that. Researcher Anthony Graziano of Integra Realty Resources said at a recent panel discussion that many homeowners are still listing their properties at ‘aspirational’ prices, which means those homes end up staying on the market for longer.”
“That buildup of inventory is starting to show: May saw 14,107 active condos and townhomes on the market, a figure that’s surged 16.8 percent from the year before. All those units translate to 11.2 months of inventory.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. “Philadelphia banks are worried about a couple of things, writes veteran bank analyst Frank Schiraldi in a report to clients of Sandler O’Neill + Partners: Too many apartments are being built for the ‘frothy’ Philadelphia market; ‘Irrational’ loan pricing is making it tougher to profit from loans.”
WNCT in North Carolina. “With a new class of ECU Pirates scheduled to move to Greenville in less than two months, one student apartment complex is going into foreclosure. Captain’s Quarters filed for foreclosure on June 17. Court records show the complex hadn’t made payments since November 2015, and owes more than $26.2 million. Occupancy rates are rumored to be around 13 percent, so low that the complex is offering free cruises for students who sign with them.”
“The foreclosure has led some Greenville leaders to question whether or not this is just a sign of things to come. Councilmen McLean Godley and P.J. Connelly both point at the student living marketplace being over-saturated in Greenville. In a statement, Godley said the foreclosure, ‘is a result of councils’ of years past who rubber stamped student housing requests while not taking their time to foresee their effects on our community.’”
From Prairie Business in North Dakota. “In a quarterly housing market analysis of 400 U.S. cities, Bismarck, N.D., ranked the worst overall and Grand Forks, N.D., had the third-largest decline in the past year. Ben Ayers, senior economist with Nationwide, which issues the report, attributes the poor markets in both North Dakota cities to the oil slump. It’s not surprising, he says, as the slowdown has affected many other industries and job sectors. ‘The whole story is the oil decline.’ Texas and Wyoming host many of the lowest-ranked housing markets, also, both feeling the pinch of their oil sector problems, Ayers adds.”
“House price growth is flat in Bismarck, as sellers are having trouble finding buyers, while in Grand Forks, employment growth is flat. Both factors translate into fewer people looking to invest in homes, Ayers says. Grand Forks also is seeing increased delinquency rates on home mortgage payments.”
Does the Brevity have any implications for the destiny of the global real estate bubble?
Brexit (dunno why my cell phone changed that to “brevity”…)
From Breitbart (Andrew Breitbart was murdered by Obama):
“But what does this mean for globalism, the ideology beloved of cultural elites, banks, the media, academics, and Silicon Valley, that is currently under siege from Trump in the U.S, Brexiters in the U.K, and populists on the continent?
Firstly, it’s a total rebuke to the normal tactics used by media and cultural elites to crush popular uprisings. They must really be panicking. How could so many people not do what the media and their political leaders told them to do? Could it be that branding voters you don’t like racist, bigoted, or “low-information” simply doesn’t work anymore?
For years, global elites and their allies in the commentariat have tried to brand their opponents as kooks, conspiracy theorists and, failing that, as racists, sexists homophobes and so on. But it’s not working any more. In both the U.S. and Europe, such tactics are now likely to backfire, driving more support to populists.”
It is certainly a setback to global government, but barely a start.
“Once one concedes that a single world government is not necessary, then where does one logically stop at the permissibility of separate states? If Canada and the United States can be separate nations without being denounced as in a state of impermissible ‘anarchy’, why may not the South secede from the United States? New York State from the Union? New York City from the state? Why may not Manhattan secede? Each neighbourhood? Each block? Each house? Each person?”
― Murray N. Rothbard
I know it’s an Anarchist’s wet dream, the eventual disappearance of the Nation/State. It think that is optimistic. Humans are tribal by nature, and sometime those tribes can be quite large. Not every nation is diverse like the US. Many, if not most, are quite homogeneous and have cultures and identities that go back hundreds if not thousands of years.
Artificial nations (like ours) are more likely to break up as we lack that cultural glue. The allure of “Unions”, “Confederacies”, etc. is that there is strength in numbers. The problem with them is that they lack a tribal identity.
So by your tribalism, what did you so far today to support your next door neighbors? they are in your tribe.
The American way is opposed to hierarchies.
The true document is the Declaration of Independence. Read it. It is contrary to the Federalist document, the Constitution, which tossed a few scraps to make it look like we the people have rights to protect us from the thugs in your beloved government.
I have regarded my career the last 16 years as autonomous. Some of that was as a consultant, and yes by nature autonomous. But I currently work for my friend who runs a commercial software subsidiary of a company that makes software tools, and I am so far, given autonomy. Every few weeks I have a meeting and am asked to do a new project, meeting ends 30 minutes later, and that is the last I see of the leaders. They never ask my status. I just volunteer to report to the one I figure wants to know. I spend most of my time in my quiet corner office with a large window and a view of one of the busy streets, working on some aspect of our software product. Sometimes I work on a mini project that makes it a must to travel in business such as to San Luis Obispo or the east coast. But I am autonomous. If someone tells me I am under the thumb of someone I tell them right back that I chose to be where I am and I am using this person to learn new skills to go further, add to my savings and financial security. I live qua anarchy.
Agreed. My neighbors are white, black, yellow and brown. As long as they’re neighborly and decent, they’re in my tribe.
Raymond K. Hessel.
Your Wal-Mart greeter link from yesterday was just too funny. Thanks!!!
I have American Indian blood in my veins.
But I don’t recognize tribes. It’s purely collectivism. Funny how RKH claims to be anti establishment but is a collectivist.
So by your tribalism, what did you so far today to support your next door neighbors? they are in your tribe.
Like I said above, we Americans are NOT a tribe. We’re a motley crew of people who have little in common with each other. We have no common culture (if you haven’t lived in another country you won’t understand what I mean by that) and no common religion.
While many claim that the US is “Christian”, the fact remains that the explosion of competing and incompatible denominations and cults happened here. A white Mormon in Utah has little in common with a Hispanic Catholic in Texas, a Congregationalist in Vermont or an atheist in Irvine, CA. They might as well be living in different countries.
Allow me to illustrate tribalism with an example.
Some years ago I had the pleasure of visiting Barcelona on HP’s dime. This being a business trip I was able to talk with my Catalonian colleagues.
The first thing that surprised me was the open disdain expressed for Spaniards at the office. Attitudes I saw expressed there would win you a visit to the HR office in the US, and probable dismissal.
I was told that school students would fail Spanish class at school on purpose. Oh, and don’t expect any bilingual public signage like you see in the US. Everything was in Catalonian and only in Catalonian.
Oh, and they would be quick to tell you that Catalonian culture was the greatest in the world, bar none. Greater than French, Spanish, Italian, German, British, you name it, culture. That is was without equal.
Oh, and marrying a Spaniard is treason.
That’s tribalism.
Yup, Catalonia has major issues.
On my long trip to Spain, Barcelona was the last stop on my trip, and I had a long list of books that I wanted to purchase. I figured I’d get them at the end because no point in lugging them around Spain.
I go to an independent bookshop figuring it would be more fun. I got the dreaded “We don’t sell Castellano books only Catalanonian.”
Jeebus. Even though two books on my list were actually Catalonian.
Screw them. I went to FNAC (like Barnes & Noble) and got my stash.
What a bunch of mealy-mouthed “little” people with little sense of history and proportion. You got screwed because you picked the losing battle every single time, and you have nothing to show for it. Picasso and Miro don’t count.
New York City from the state? Why may not Manhattan secede? Each neighbourhood? Each block? Each house? Each person?
He doesn’t mention large corporations. There’s no suggestion that they should dissolve and that every person should work for himself. Thus they would become even more powerful with no countervailing forces in society to check them.
Wrong. What limits a large corporation’s liability? (the ding dong song on Jeopardy is playing now, in the background, while you think of the answer.)
I know the answer. It’s the government. If Murray Rothbard advocated eliminating limited liability, that would be good. However, giant corporations would likely still be powerful institutions even without limited liability.
Of course, unlimited liability implies the possibility going to court to seek damages. In other words, it’s big government.
Giving this some more thought, my guess is that Dr. Rothbard wrote that little thing during the ’70s or the early ’80s. It would have been in reaction to the success of the popular movements of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, such as the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, the women’s movement, and the environmental movement. Those popular movements achieved great things because large numbers of ordinary people got together and worked on common goals.
The PTB, the most important component of which is large corporations, certainly didn’t like those popular movements. So they started fighting back. This sort of propaganda was probably part of the counterattack. If you can convince every individual to stick to himself and only look out for his interests, big business will be able to run the country with little interference from the 99%.
Of course, unlimited liability implies the possibility going to court to seek damages. In other words, it’s big government.
Wait. Are you saying big government is anarchy?
Do you also say a cat is a dog? White is black? Apple pie is liver and onions?
Care to share some of those psychedelics with me?
It should be pretty clear. Having a system where courts are used to seek damages means allowing men in black robes vast power to take money from a corporation and give it to someone else.
Though that’s irrelevant to my main point. Corporations are groups of people, sometimes very large groups of people, which work together to make as much money as possible. They will have tremendous power in their dealings with workers, consumers and so forth, if those individuals don’t get together act as groups.
More:
“This is the fatal weakness of globalists. They don’t understand, and in fact sometimes loathe, the idea of difference. These are people, remember, who regardless of their cultural and national background went to the same internationally-renowned universities, interned at the same multinational banks, and attend the same international summits. For them, there really is no difference between the globalist from London and the globalist from Istanbul. They look the same, speak the same, and when they meet, they likely reminisce about the same experiences. From Strasbourg to Dubai to Davos, globalism is a nation unto itself.
So it’s little wonder that these people just don’t understand why the plebs back home are so attached to their national identities, and will fight so hard to defend them. They’re constantly frustrated that their voters won’t get with the program, put down their flags, and become faceless, rootless members of a global society. We predict they will continue to be frustrated.
The blindness of globalists to difference has been disastrous to western culture. The refusal of elites to acknowledge, for instance, that the Muslim world is dominated by one of the most hate-filled, bigoted ideologies in human history is a major reason for their current predicament, and certainly a motivating force behind Brexit.”
I don’t think that any of this is really “it”.
‘the Muslim world is dominated by one of the most hate-filled, bigoted ideologies in human history’
Yeah, and that’s why the US has to regime change multiple secular Arab countries using head chopping jihadists.
Exactly. Goon has fallen for what the U.S. government wants: The U.S. government created the Musliim menace over the last seven decades. They would be needing camels if it was not for the government propping up Israel and installing brutal dictators in many Muslim countries.
I refuse to be suckered in. This is why the U.S. Is still in permanent imperialism and permanent war. This is why a lot of Americans have had their jobs lost and some, like myself, profited on the MIC. I Stopped being a part of it when I read “No Place to Hide,” by Glenn Greenwald and found out I was used and betrayed.
Someone started a petition to make “War Pigs,” by Black Sabbath, our national anthem.
http://anonhq.com/someone-started-petition-change-us-national-anthem-war-pigs-black-sabbath/
So first Breitbart says that there many false accusations of bigotry used to oppose their point of view. Then they include an anti-Muslim remark in the same diatribe.
Financial Times
Prime property
Overseas buyers race to secure London property bargains after Brexit vote
Currency movements create discounts in wealthiest areas but others deterred by Brexit uncertainty
10 hours ago
by: Judith Evans and Simeon Kerr
Opportunistic overseas buyers are jumping to buy property in some of London’s wealthiest areas and take advantage of effective discounts caused by sterling’s nosedive after the UK voted to leave the EU.
“This morning we agreed a sale of a house in Belgravia to an Italian client who is making in total a 12 per cent saving, partly due to the currency,” said Charles McDowell, a Chelsea-based estate agent.
“The currency meant he got an extra discount on top of a discount on the asking price.”
…
London housing bubble + Brexit fork = KAPOOM!
International Brexit
Brexit Could Be the Last Straw for London’s Crazy House Prices
by Geoffrey Smith
June 21, 2016, 1:57 PM EDT
Post-vote uncertainty isn’t the only threat out there.
It was—as it so often is—the satirical magazine Private Eye that captured the moment best.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s campaign to scare British voters into remaining in the European Union with a series of apocalyptic forecasts about the economic folly of leaving it had intensified in pitch all through the spring. It seemed the hype could go no further when Cameron predicted in early May that breaking up the E.U. could trigger a new war. But as even that failed to put clear blue water between the Remain and Leave camps, Treasury chief George Osborne resorted to the only kind of threat that Middle England responds to. He suggested that house prices could fall by up to 18% in the event of a Brexit, a financial disaster for the many British who tie up the larger part of their wealth in their properties. The publication deemed that foreboding the moment Cameron’s campaign—”Project Fear”— went nuclear.
…
The Financial Times
UK’s EU referendum
Global markets take $2tn Brexit hit
Largest single day drop since 2007 after UK votes to quit EU
by: Eric Platt and Nicole Bullock in New York
Global stock markets lost more than $2tn of value on Friday in the largest single day drop since at least 2007, as investors dumped risky assets and rushed into havens after the UK voted to leave the EU.
…
MarketWatch dot com
S&P 500 could drop as much as 7% in Brexit swoon
By Sue Chang
Published: June 25, 2016 9:55 a.m. ET
Volatility to keep investors on the edge
“Keep a stiff upper lip” is a phrase often used by Brits to express fortitude and stoicism during times of distress. U.S. investors may need to borrow the cliché next week as uncertainty and volatility are likely to reign in the stock market.
Defying expectations, the U.K. on Thursday voted to leave the European Union—the first country to do so in the bloc’s 59-year history—and sent investors around the world into panic mode. Both the large-cap and the blue-chip U.S. indexes had their worst session on Friday since Aug. 24 with the S&P 500 (SPX, -3.59%) falling 75.91 points, or 3.6%, to close at 2,037.41, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA, -3.39%) slumped 611.21 points, or 3.4%, to close at 17,399.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP, -4.12%) plummeted 202.06 points, or 4.1%, to finish at 4,707.98, its worst one-day percentage drop since August 2011.
…
What was it that put Brexit over the top?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-24/was-deciding-factor-brits-vote-leave
http://www.mediaite.com/online/uk-leader-brexit-got-a-boost-after-obama-threatened-us-not-to-do-it/
Obama! He’s finger-waggin’ good.
“He (Farage) said, ‘Threatening people too much actually insults their intelligence and the lesson from the Obama visit is even more fascinating.’”
“The lesson? This:
“’Here’s the most powerful man in the world coming from a country that we’ve always had a huge high regard for… and a lot of people in Britain said, ‘How dare the American president come here and tell us what to do?’ And it backfired and I think we got an Obama Brexit bounce because people do not want foreign leaders telling them how to think and how to vote.’”
Obama has been insulting the British upon taking office in 2009.
I don’t precisely remember what he did - didn’t he return a bust of Churchill or something?
Obama, our very own Little Lord Fauntleroy, is a wanna-be aristocrat, reeking of nobility, chin up in the air, speaking to the masses from on high. He is the statesman bar none.
He believes is singularly above.
That he knows he isn’t - and never will be - is why he cannot be bothered with the British. He might be able to sell his (desperately) obvious aristocrat worthiness to the French and the Germans (especially the Germans), but not to the British, who see right through Obama’s nonsense.
That Churchill is another one of those dumb AM talk radio topics. Here’s what the president said about it.
President Obama Explains Why Winston Churchill’s Bust Was Removed From the Oval Office
After the mayor of London penned an op-ed in which he suggested that President Barack Obama had Winston Churchill’s bust removed from the Oval Office in part because he is “part-Kenyan,” the president addressed the placement of Churchill’s bust in the White House during a press conference with Prime Minister David Cameron today.
The president explained that the bust is placed outside his private office in the White House residence, known as the Treaty Room, where he sees it “every day, including on weekends, when I’m going into that office to watch a basketball game.” It was long rumored that Obama had sent the bust back to the British Embassy after removing it from the Oval Office.
The president emphasized that it’s there voluntarily, remarking lightheartedly that “I can do anything” on the second floor of the White House.
“I love Winston Churchill, I love the guy,” Obama said.
He went on to explain that “as the first African-American president” he thought it appropriate to put a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Oval Office, noting that there are “only so many tables where you can put busts, otherwise it starts looking a little cluttered.”
Writing in U.K. publication The Sun today, London Mayor Boris Johnson pondered that one of the reasons the bust may have been removed from the Oval Office because it is a “a symbol of the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British empire — of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender.”
Johnson’s accusation against the president came in an op-ed in which Johnson rebuked the president for wading into the debate over whether the U.K. should remain a member of the European Union, with a referendum to decide the matter approaching on June 23.
Johnson is a strong advocate for leaving the EU, while the president supports the U.K.’s continued membership in the alliance.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-explains-winston-churchills-bust-removed-oval/story?id=38602120
I wish we had Farage instead of Trump.
I don’t.
While there definitely are things about Trump I’d change, should he become president, I think he’ll surprise many to the upside, for the benefit of many.
His speech this past Tuesday was what I’ve been waiting for, for some time. It was excellent. Best I’ve heard from any politician in years.
So he finally hired a speechwriter to distill all the lies people want to hear, then read it off a teleprompter. Yay.
“Thank You, America”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/06/24/thank-you-america/
‘Grand Forks also is seeing increased delinquency rates on home mortgage payments’
‘There were areas where overall foreclosure activity grew dramatically. Louisiana saw an 80% spike year over year, with RealtyTrac’s heat map showing the activity as highest in the state’s Gulf-region parishes of Orleans, Lafayette and Terrebonne. Massachusetts and Connecticut saw the next largest jumps, of 71% and 68%, respectively, while 15 other states and the District of Columbia also bucked the national trend, though the highest among those was Minnesota, with a 29% rise.’
‘Louisiana saw an even more extreme incline in its number of foreclosure starts — notices of default were up by 812% there. In Connecticut they grew by 192%. Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia also saw more starts, but the next highest was Maine, where they rose 64%.’
‘Foreclosure activity in the New Orleans metro area in May was down 6 percent when compared with April. But figures were 90 percent higher than they were in May 2015, thanks to notable upticks in scheduled foreclosure auctions, according to RealtyTrac.’
‘Bank repossessions jumped 28 percent from a year ago, marking the third consecutive month with a year-over-year increase and the seventh month out of the last 11 where bank repossessions have increased on a year-over-year basis in the metro area.’
“It does fit into a common pattern we’re seeing across the country, where banks are finally pushing through and completing the foreclosure process on distressed inventory that may have been sitting in the foreclosure process for years,” said Realty Trac Vice President Daren Blomquist.’
‘Meanwhile the May increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions was the sixth month out of the last 12 in New Orleans where scheduled auctions have increased on a year-over-year basis.’
“The New Orleans housing market — as well as many others across the country — is firmly in a seller’s market, and so it is an opportune time for banks to repossess and sell off this foreclosure inventory still lingering from the housing crisis,” Blomquist said.’
Does anyone plan on locking up some large amounts of cash into these rates now by buying real estate? Read on….
Mortgage Rates Drastically Lower After Brexit Vote
Brexit : Mortgage Rates Near All-Time Low After UK Vote
June 24, 2016
The bottom fell from U.S. mortgage rates after Britain voted to leave the European Union. “Brexit” is creating one of the best days for rates in history.
http://themortgagereports.com/21059/brexit-mortgage-rates-plummet-britain-eu-vote
“Does anyone plan on locking up some large amounts of cash into these rates now by buying real estate?”
Allow me to re-phrase your statement:
Does anyone plan on locking up some large amounts of cash that they do not currently have and may find difficult to get in the future by buying real estate?
There.
From what planet do you hale?
Question: could the real estate bubble ‘burst’ and rates continue to go lower. Buyers could then lock in these rates long term at a very low price for a new home. Could Brexit be the deal of a life time for some?
“This marks one of the single best days for mortgage rates in history.
This is the opportunity for which many homeowners have been waiting. A mortgage refinance now pencils out, when perhaps it didn’t just days ago.
But rates could rise as fast as they have fallen. Markets absorb and process news quickly, often within hours. Consumers shouldn’t assume rates will stay this low.
Homeowners who have been waiting for ideal timing should consider locking in a low mortgage rate now.
http://themortgagereports.com/21059/brexit-mortgage-rates-plummet-britain-eu-vote
“But rates could rise as fast as they have fallen. Markets absorb and process news quickly, often within hours. Consumers shouldn’t assume rates will stay this low.”
“… often within hours.”
A wee bit of urgency being promoted here I’d say.
I’m sad people lost a lot of paper wealth yesterday.
‘In its “State of the Nation’s Housing 2016,” Harvard said that “the U.S. homeownership rate has tumbled to its lowest level in nearly a half-century.” Figures from the St. Louis Fed showed a homeownership rate of 63.5 percent. The last time it was lower was in 1967.’
‘The report also noted that the number of people using at least 30 percent of their income for housing rose, as our Joseph Lawler reported this week. It said, “40.9 million Americans, both homeowners and renters, spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, including 19.8 million who spend over half of their income for housing.”
‘Harvard: ‘And given that the homeownership rate tends to move in tandem with incomes, the 18 percent drop in real incomes among 25–34 year olds and the 9 percent decline among 35–44 year olds between 2000 and 2014 no doubt played a part as well.’
‘the 18 percent drop in real incomes among 25–34 year olds’
That last sentence is it right there.
There never was any “pent-up demand,” it’s just realtorbabble.
Ben:
“Architecture Billings Index has accelerated to its highest score in nearly a year. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending.”
Do you anticipate Multifamily housing to continue to increase into the rest of 2016 and 2017?
Who knows? You have many in the industry saying it’s going to the moon. Then there’s the usual fall-back “a lot of this isn’t going to get built.”
‘Court records show the complex hadn’t made payments since November 2015, and owes more than $26.2 million. Occupancy rates are rumored to be around 13 percent, so low that the complex is offering free cruises for students who sign with them. Councilmen McLean Godley and P.J. Connelly both point at the student living marketplace being over-saturated in Greenville. In a statement, Godley said the foreclosure, ‘is a result of councils’ of years past who rubber stamped student housing requests while not taking their time to foresee their effects on our community.’
The back story is the pension/life insurance money looking for yield. It’s huge and getting bigger. They are deluding themselves with stories of an endless number of “basement dwelling millennials” and rich renters.
Keep in mind housing construction dollar volume is single digit percentage of overall construction dollar spent.
it is a privilege to be able to build in CA
Particularly along coastal Elysium.
As US Home Prices Hit Peak Bubble, “Smart Money” is Selling
by Harry Dent • June 24, 2016
Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Google+Share on RedditPrint this pageEmail this to someone
What do they know that we don’t?
By Harry Dent, Senior Editor, Economy & Markets:
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/06/24/the-smart-money-is-selling-the-top-10-most-expensive-homes-now-listed-for-sale-by-state/
Harry Dent is correct on this. I suppose he’s been wrong on gold so long that he is tired of being wrong, so he has to say something obvious.
$700 gold. Ha!
Henry Paulson, the Bush-era treasury secretary who should be serving a life sentence in a Supermax for his role in causing the 2008 financial crash, is naturally supporting his fellow crony capitalist and Wall Street puppet, Hillary Clinton.
http://www.businessinsider.com/former-bush-treasury-secretary-calls-a-trump-presidency-unthinkable-says-hell-vote-for-hillary-clinton-2016-6
Globalists gonna globe.
BREXIT = Death of the Technocrats (tools of the oligarchy).
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/06/24/brexit-death-of-the-technocrats/
BREXIT and the 4th Turning.
http://www.theburningplatform.com
“Since I was 100% wrong in my prediction regarding Brexit, you can take my following observations with a grain of salt. But this is what I see:
•This further cements the coming showdown between the people and the establishment (politicians, bankers, mainstream media).
•The EU is dead. France, Italy and other EU countries will push for the same referendum and the people will vote out.
•The insolvent banks across Europe were never fixed. The central bankers just extended, pretended, and printed more debt. Bank failures will trigger further economic strife.
•The credibility of central bankers around the globe will completely disintegrate as their one trick pony method of easy money has proven to be an immense failure for the people.
•With the disintegration of the EU, the possibility of civil chaos and war with Russia goes up dramatically.
•It will be interesting to see if the Fed and their Wall Street banker puppeteers can stop the stock market from dropping by its destined 30% to 50%. The overvaluation is drastic and this could be the Lehman moment, or at least the Bear Stearns moment.
•The credibility of the corporate mainstream media has further disintegrated as they again have been revealed as nothing but propaganda mouthpieces for the establishment. Their anti-Brexit poll numbers were fake. They are not journalists, but cheerleaders for their corporate sponsors.
•The constant media bashing of Trump and cheerleading for Clinton will be disregarded by the silent majority in the U.S. Their polls and opinions can be completely ignored and dismissed. The people of this country who don’t live in NYC, DC, LA, or SF are pissed off. Their mood is dark. They want change. The only person who will give them change is Trump.
•I’m more convinced than ever that Trump will win the presidency in November. This is a Fourth Turning. The status quo never wins during a Fourth Turning.”
‘With the disintegration of the EU, the possibility of civil chaos and war with Russia goes up dramatically’
The war with Russia thing is wrong. The EU, with its NATO alliance is the neocon tool driving the hostilities with Russia.
“The war with Russia thing is wrong. The EU, with its NATO alliance is the neocon tool driving the hostilities with Russia.”
Very much agreed. It’s interesting after the news of Brexit, there’s all this talk of a return to the hostilities of the 1930s and 1940s.
I have done my Brexit at the personal level.
“If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.” Thomas Jefferson
So by that rationale guys like that Bundy character or those clowns that occupied the park out in Idaho are justified in their actions? Who decides what constitutes “unjust”? That’s the rub my friend.
Who decides what constitutes “unjust”? That’s the rub my friend.
Who runs America? The Federalists, since day 1 when the Constitution was ratified.
The real Americans who fought for the words of the Declaration of Independence were swindled on that day, 1787.
Here is a clue: If you follow the golden rule and still any legislation forbids you to do X, that legislation is unjust. Why must it be complicated? If you want it to be complicated you are under the spell of the elitists, and every one of your posts claims you are against the establishment. ROTFLMFAO.
A lot of people probably don’t want to submit to any golden rule. Who came up with that rule, they’d say, and why are you trying to shove it down my throat?
And Bitcoin has been the number one safe haven safe from the globalists.
http://www.livebitcoinnews.com/6-out-of-seven-years-bitcoin-is-the-top-safe-haven-asset/
Trump’s lies about being anti establishment will last two weeks into February 2017 if the dupes elect him.
“Whoever becomes president in 2017 will become even far lower rated during the four years by the general public than Obama or Carter.” Bill in L.A.
Trump is very pro Israel and depends on you anti Zionist dupes to elect him before he lays it all out: http://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-adviser-tells-israel-to-wait-to-sign-military-aid-deal/
The alternative is Hillary. ‘Nuff said.
She is no alternative. She and Trump are the same. Wake up Trump worshipper, your lookalikes worshipped Obama and you laughed at them look at yourself. Sheesh.
I don’t “worship” Trump. I don’t particularly care for him. But he has two redeeming virtues: he’s not Hillary, and the Oligopoly seems to hate and fear him. That makes him the better alternative, in my book, albeit one I’m very conflicted about supporting.
‘In the past five years, South Slope grew from a little-known neighborhood to a bustling commercial and nightlife district. Looking ahead five years, it’s on track to reinvent itself again — this time as a residential area with hundreds of new dwelling spaces planned.’
‘On the southern end of the district, developer Peter Thom is building 18 townhomes, and he hopes to break ground late this summer, he said. Those plans have been approved, and Thom’s company is in the process of acquiring building permits so work can begin.’
‘The townhomes, which start at $525,000, will be available for sale this fall, Thom said, although they won’t be complete at that time. “I wouldn’t want to say super luxury because we’re going to cut back a little on the inside, but mid- to high-end I would say,” he said. “If they were super luxury, they would be more in the 800s.”
How arrogance, hubris, and heedlessness to non-members of the .1% laid David Cameron low. Good riddance to one of the worst of the Oligopoly water carriers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3659075/Humbled-arrogance-highly-able-leader-rescued-economy-Cameron-ultimately-ruined-lack-conviction-poor-judgement-weakness-Etonian-cronies.html
Will ‘Muricans continue bending over for their Oligarch overlords and Wall Street water carriers who despise them, or will they finally see the light and start voting for populist-nationalist candidates more attuned to the concerns and aspirations of the 99%?
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/24/brexit-the-nationalist-populist-rebellions-continue/
‘Four Central Texas communities are tied for Forbes “most over-valued” housing markets: Austin, Round Rock, San Antonio and New Braunfels. Fitch Ratings estimates they are all overvalued by 19 percent. It says that home price appreciation appears to have “overshot growth.” Those values are one reason your property taxes are likely going up hundreds of dollars next year.’
‘Recently the story of Austin is one of big festivals, nightlife and an unemployment rate next to nothing. But it’s also the story of Glen Oaks Court, where another “for sale” sign just went up.’
“A house that has a lot of memories,” said Gilbert Rivera. He and his wife Jane Rivera moved here in 1983. They have a portraits of their ancestors and themselves as children up on the walls. And they just received another letter in the mail, saying they could make a ton of money if they would just sell their home and move out.’
‘They bought the house for $39,000. Last year, it was appraised for around $380,000. With the raise comes higher property taxes and people who can’t pay move out.’
‘People on the east side will tell you they’re hit the hardest. “We have had in the past couple of years to get a loan from the bank in order to pay the taxes,” said Rivera.’
‘They plant flowers every year under the tree they put in place the year they moved in. They don’t know how many more years they’ll do that. Gilbert and Jane expect another letter in the mail soon asking for their house. Just the other day, another “for sale” sign went up down the street.’
‘They bought the house for $39,000. Last year, it was appraised for around $380,000.’
For 150 years house prices didn’t go up like this in Texas.
Wow. Round Rock is where my sister lived for a year (recently moved back to Oregon). Her boyfriend has a house in Round Rock, but I think he is a renter, not owner.
Did not know it was that inflated. I kind of like San Antonio, but I never saw the Austin area.
Too bad about the prices. Many California locusts moved in.
Lived in Round Rock for 8 years and my first house that cost me $105,000 is now “worth” $300,000. It’s still the same 1500 sq. ft. 3/2 with a 75×110 yard and the present owners let it go to pot. Can’t believe anybody would pony up that kind of money for such an average house.
He and his wife Jane Rivera moved here in 1983. [...] They bought the house for $39,000.
So, if they paid off the mortgage back in 2013, shouldn’t they have plenty of money left to pay the taxes with?
There’s more to the story, of course…
Property taxes are really high in Texas. I don’t know what their assessment is but they could be paying more in taxes than they paid for the house. My Mom’s property tax is higher than her original mortgage.
Texas has caught the California disease. Almost every little burg is sporting house prices 10 times what it was 30 years ago. In many cases, it’s the same house! This wasn’t how it used to be. An old house was worth less. It’s the federal loan limits.
“Property taxes are really high in Texas.”
Probably because they don’t have a state income tax? There’s no free lunch, the gov’t has to get revenue somehow.
Being a renter I don’t know much about property taxes here in Nevada. I’d bet they’re pretty high. I know it costs a lot to register a vehicle here.
How the globalists lost BREXIT.
http://www.breitbart.com/milo/2016/06/24/the-end-of-globalism/
A couple of links I posted yesterday:
‘NATO is another example of how the system works to enrich the “donor class” at our expense. Whenever a new member is inducted into the alliance, they must “upgrade” their military hardware to “NATO standards” – and there is Lockheed-Martin, or some other weapons manufacturer, ready and willing to do the job. And American taxpayers foot the bill, because our protectorates pay Lockheed or whomever with the “foreign aid” we lavish on them with abandon. The internationalists tell us we’re holding back global chaos by exercising “global leadership,” but the vulgar reality is that the “security architecture” so beloved by our foreign policy “experts” is just a cash machine for powerful corporate interests.’
‘The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and similar agreements have nothing to do with free trade: they are in fact cartels set up by the signers to exclude commercial rivals. In the case of TPP, the target is China. Who benefits? Certain corporate interests, who get to exclude competitors. Consumers are the losers.’
“Free trade” is nowadays used to further the globalist agenda, which seeks to substitute supra-national “standards” enforced by international “commissions” for the rule of law at home. NAFTA’s numerous “side agreements” set up a whole raft of rules, regulations, and enforcement mechanisms to “harmonize” environmental and labor regulations, taking them out of our hands and giving ultimate authority to unaccountable international bureaucracies. TPP follows the same centralizing, supranational statist pattern.’
‘We are truly living in Bizarro World, where up is down, right is wrong, and protectionist nonsense is “free trade.”
‘The upcoming British referendum on whether to stay in the European Union (EU) represents the culmination of a long term project by the United States to destroy the concept of national sovereignty in the Old World and replace it with a supranational entity with ironclad links to Washington.’
‘The European Union was born in the bosom of the Central Intelligence Agency: that’s what declassified documents tell us about the origins of the European project and its progress since the Truman administration.’
‘In the midst of the cold war, the United States and its European allies conceived the EU as the political concomitant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The basic idea was to counterpose a European identity against the “internationalist” ideology of the Soviets and their increasingly powerful fifth columns in the West.’
‘The “European Movement,” which was and still is the “grassroots” organization that relentlessly pushed for the creation of a European super-state, was financed to the tune of $1 million a year by the “American Committee for a United Europe” (ACUE), which was founded by Allen Dulles, who was at that point chairing a committee tasked with looking at how to organize the nascent CIA, and William “Wild Bill” Donovan, who had been head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the CIA.’
‘Allen Dulles, who would become a CIA’s director, was the Vice President. On the board was Walter Bedell Smith, the CIA’s first director, as well as number of spook-ish figures who played various roles in the American intelligence community at one time or another. Prominent politicians such as Herbert Lehman and businessmen, such as Conrad Hilton, were involved, as well as left-leaning labor leaders, such as David Dubinsky and the ex-Communist Jay Lovestone. CIA agent Tom Braden served as Executive Director.’
‘Covert US financial support to the European federalist movement never amounted to “less than half” of the various groups’ budgets. The money was funneled through the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and other private conduits. The head of the Ford Foundation was Paul Hoffman, a former OSS official who played a major leadership role in the ACUE.’
‘The ACUE was organized at the behest of Winston Churchill, although support for European federalism in Britain was limited to a small minority. European unity was seen by Washington and Churchill as the indispensable glue that would hold NATO together and provide resistance to what they saw as an imminent threat of a Soviet takeover. Yet the British contingent, centered in the Conservative Party, began to pull back when they felt the project was moving too far, too fast, and this almost led to a public split that was, however, eventually papered over by the Americans.’
‘The bulk of support came from the non-Communist left on the Continent, and was closely linked to the CIA’s support for noncommunist left elements in an effort to battle the Kremlin’s allies in France and Italy. The Social Democrats and other leftists were enthralled with the idea of the Schuman Plan, a scheme cooked up by French foreign minister Robert Schuman, that would put the production and sale of French and German steel and coal under the direction of a central authority: the arrangement would then be opened up to other European countries. This was the precursor to the vast apparatus of economic planners and regulatory agencies that today make up the EU’s notorious bureaucracy, which controls every aspect of economic life in the member states.’
‘The secrecy and authoritarianism that characterizes the ruling style of the Eurocrats was prefigured in the memos sent back and forth between US government officials, the ACUE, and their European sock puppets. As the Telegraph reports: “A memo from the European section, dated June 11, 1965, advises the vice-president of the European Economic Community, Robert Marjolin, to pursue monetary union by stealth. It recommends suppressing debate until the point at which ‘adoption of such proposals would become virtually inescapable.’”
‘Indeed, the American sponsors of this “European” project directed every aspect of the pro-unity Astro-turf “movement.” As Ambrose Evans-Pritchard points out, “Papers show that it treated some of the EU’s ‘founding fathers’ as hired hands, and actively prevented them finding alternative funding that would have broken reliance on Washington.”
‘Even though the Soviet Union is long gone and the Russian “threat” to Europe is largely a figment of the neoconservative imagination, the function of the EU as the political complement to NATO is today clearer than ever.’
‘The fact of the matter is that it is far easier for Washington to control Europe with one central authority at the reins than it is dealing with dozens of separate sovereignties. Indeed, the very idea of national sovereignty as the foundation of international relations is something the empire-builders of the Beltway, and their bag-men in the capitals of Europe, would like to do away with. For this time-honored idea stands in the way of the “democracy”-promotion crusades we have been engaged in since the end of the cold war, and contradicts the left-internationalist doctrine of the “responsibility to protect” that has sparked wars from the Balkans to Libya and Syria.’
‘Globalism is the name of the game for our deracinated elites, and nationalism – of any kind, including the American variety – is the enemy. That’s why we’re seeing both the Obama administration and the ostensibly “Conservative” Party leadership of the British state undertake a combined assault against Euro-skepticism and the threat of “xenophobia.” If you don’t want to see your country absorbed into the Euro-Borg, then you’re a “racist,” a right-wing extremist, and a hate-criminal to boot.’
That’s how it works. A lot of liberals in the defense industry are aware and love Obamacare so why not apply it in the defense industry and force countries to buy U.S. weapons at taxpayer subsidies? The conservatives in defense insdustry who insist they are for small government are the ones who are clueless.
“War is a Racket”
https://www.amazon.com/War-Racket-Antiwar-Americas-Decorated/dp/1503081575/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466909350&sr=8-1&keywords=war+is+a+racket
“But what does this mean for globalism, the ideology beloved of cultural elites, banks, the media, academics, and Silicon Valley, that is currently under siege from Trump in the U.S, Brexiters in the U.K, and populists on the continent?
“Firstly, it’s a total rebuke to the normal tactics used by media and cultural elites to crush popular uprisings. They must really be panicking. How could so many people not do what the media and their political leaders told them to do? Could it be that branding voters you don’t like racist, bigoted, or “low-information” simply doesn’t work anymore?
“For years, global elites and their allies in the commentariat have tried to brand their opponents as kooks, conspiracy theorists and, failing that, as racists, sexists homophobes and so on. But it’s not working any more. In both the U.S. and Europe, such tactics are now likely to backfire, driving more support to populists.
“Trump, of course, is the American version of Brexit. Little wonder that he both predicted a leave vote and, unlike Obama, praised it when it actually happened. Like Trump, every single naysayer spouts doom and gloom about Brexit, but both will be long-term boons for their nations. (Despite all the fearmongering prior to the vote, Obama has now rushed to reaffirm America’s alliance with Britain.)”
400 oligarchs lost $127 billion on BREXIT - cry me a river.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-24/world-s-400-richest-people-lose-127-billion-on-brexit-chart
maybe they should stop leaching off the people?
“maybe they should stop leaching off the people?”
It’s who they are. It’s what they do.
Not to worry, as the central banking cartel that serves them is certain to flood the asset markets with a river of newly created fiat money in order to buoy their portfolios and make them whole again.
Know your narrative.
Because enforcing existing immigration laws is racist:
“The Supreme Court on Thursday effectively ended initiatives by President Obama that would have given protection from deportation to more than four million immigrants in the country illegally, most of them parents of American citizens. Mr. Obama showed his frustration with the decision, saying his goal was to help immigrants who had raised families here and helped the country with their work. The president said immigrants who might have qualified for the programs would still be safe from deportation.
Still, deportations continue, thousands every week.
In November 2014 when Mr. Obama first announced the protection programs, he also set new priorities for enforcement. Since then, immigration authorities say, their focus is on removing convicted criminals and foreigners who pose national security threats. But the administration’s priorities also include deporting migrants from Central America, including children, who came in an influx since 2014. And immigrants who committed minor offenses — or none at all — are often swept up in the operations.
After Thursday’s Supreme Court decision, the president’s protections are gone, but the enforcement plan remains in effect. It is part of a particularly edgy moment for immigrants and their supporters framed by the Supreme Court ruling, Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign and Britain’s surprise vote, influenced in part by anti-immigrant sentiments, to leave the European Union.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/25/us/low-priority-immigrants-still-swept-up-in-net-of-deportation.html?_r=0
Given the recent turn of events in the UK, this whole “narrative” thing isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
Alt-media is breaking through the Oligopoly-owned MSM’s journalistic omerta when it comes to reporting real news and real truth - and now it’s swaying elections.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/06/24/nigel-farage-massive-thanks-breitbart-sides-pond-brexit-coverage/
Will the DNC be able to pack in enough Democrat-on-Arrival entitlement voters to assure a Clinton victory and an unassailable permanent Democrat Supermajority? Forward!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/seeking-routes-central-american-migrants-risk-trafficking-173049354.html
The proles must be disarmed before the Comrades of Proven Worth at the DNC can fully implement their fundamental transformation, collectivist kleptocracy, and redistribution of the wealth. Forward!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/23/democrats-gun-control-sit-in-strategy
Most derivatives blowouts have been caused by wild swings in interest rates or currency flucuations. However, the Masters of the Universe assure us that all is well and we should remain calm and buy stawks.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/isda-says-no-immediate-impact-075717094.html
The insanely overpriced London housing market could be an early casualty of BREXIT. Oh the horror - residential housing correcting to affordability.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/house-prices/broken-chains-falling-house-prices-and-a-halt-in-activity-predic/
The Oligopoly media is in a panic about the implications of BREXIT and the potential for sovereign peoples to start taking their destinies into their own hands instead of being docile sheep on the incorporated neoliberal plantation.
http://www.businessinsider.com/brexit-opens-door-for-other-populist-groups-in-europe-2016-6
“What has stunned observers about the outcome of the Brexit campaign is that the referendum’s result ran counter to what the analysts, supposed expert prognosticators and well-compensated pundits had so confidently predicted. The established experts had even convinced supporters of Brexit that they would likely lose the referendum, in the hours before actual voting occurred. That is why bourses across the globe soared, and the British pound reached record highs, until reality radically reversed those trends. The odds-makers clearly were convinced that British voters would choose to remain in the European Union. The actual, unpredicted outcome was an unmitigated defeat for the UK’s political establishment across the political spectrum, and that aspect has the greatest resonance with the battle between Clinton and Trump to succeed Barack Obama as America’s 45th President.
Just as with the Brexit referendum, America’s own class of political consultants and expert commentators for months assessed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to be a megalomaniacal joke, with no chance of prevailing in the Republican Party’s presidential Primary. When Trump emerged victorious in the GOP presidential selection process before Hillary Clinton had secured the Democratic Party’s nomination, the same experts, rather than being reflective and self-critical, have largely double-downed on failure, and remain steadfast in their prediction that Trump has no realistic possibility of winning November’s presidential election.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheldon-filger/brexit-has-implications-f_b_10654910.html
“Just as with the Brexit referendum, America’s own class of political consultants and expert commentators for months assessed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to be a megalomaniacal joke, with no chance of prevailing in the Republican Party’s presidential Primary. When Trump emerged victorious in the GOP presidential selection process before Hillary Clinton had secured the Democratic Party’s nomination, the same experts, rather than being reflective and self-critical, have largely double-downed on failure, and remain steadfast in their prediction that Trump has no realistic possibility of winning November’s presidential election.”
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” - Mahatma Gandhi
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” - Mahatma Gandhi
Ask the people of Tibet how that worked out for them. More like “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then they kill you”
Gandhi’s strategy only works against the West.
Gandhi’s strategy only works against the West.
And what happened to Gandhi?
That’s probably what Sarah Palin thought when everyone was laughing at her. People are still laughing at her. If she had any common sense, she’d run away and hide somewhere and hope that everyone goes back to ignoring her.
A surprising number of morons still adore Sarah Palin. She is an imbecile and a charlatan.
‘The established experts had even convinced supporters of Brexit that they would likely lose the referendum, in the hours before actual voting occurred’
Yeah, and that’s why turnout was 20% higher than the last general election. Yesterday there was this thing about “young people were more likely to vote remain but didn’t vote as much.”
Hello! Isn’t this how elections work? The group that gets off its ass and votes wins? Oh no, we’re supposed to believe the election was an undemocratic outcome.
It’s always interested me how the powers that be turn on or off the fear switch. Yellen can lay her cool hand on any topic and stocks shoot up 2%. Then when something goes against them it’s doom and gloom out the wazoo. So stocks in the US were down 3%. They were up 2% just before; despair! Earlier this year stocks were way down, then went up 16% in 6 weeks! That used to take 2 years to climb.
Oh and quietly this week it was reported Seattle house price medians were up 50% in the past year. No cause for alarm there.
I thought Brits, like ‘Muricans in ‘08 and ‘12, would meekly bend over for their Oligopoly overlords by voting for the status quo. Never in a million years thought they’d have the cojones to give the EU and their captured political elites the middle-finger salute by voting to reclaim their sovereignty. I was wrong, thank God. Maybe the country that gave western civilization the Magna Carta is finally stepping up and leading the way again, even as millions of stupid, amoral Americans prepare to elect a criminal sociopath, serial influence peddler, and collectivist corporate-statist kleptocrat. Maybe there is hope, yet.
We ordinary Americans need to encourage the Brits going forward. Let them know (literally) that we’re on their side.
Anyone know of a good, thinking forum in the UK where we can do just that?
The UK is a VERY good place for the first anti-globalist strike to occur.
1. As the fifth largest economy, the UK has and will continue to be heard, tracked, examined. A plus.
2. The British are tough folks. They will make it through, come hell or high water. They hardly are fledglings when it comes to tough times.
3. They’re English-speaking.
4. Their democracy dates back 300+ years; the Magna Carta to 1215. Lots of stability there.
5. They have the royal family (which wisely has been silent).
6. The UK still will enjoy the vast majority of the social, cultural and political fruit it enjoyed this past Thursday. (see post below).
I found this a good read. I don’t know who of the original author. I don’t know of the validity. Found it on The Farmer’s Forum, out of the UK. The Brexit thread on that site is pretty busy these days…this is under a thread “Arrogant Brits”.
Link:
https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/arrogant-brits.126062/page-5
“You are not voting to leave the EEA or WTO, meaning all of the UK’s trade and benefit agreements will remain unchanged should we leave, until such a time that the UK decides to renegotiate them for any reason.
You are not voting to leave NATO, meaning our security agreements remain unchanged. Should we receive an act of hostility from a non-NATO member, then NATO countries are obliged to come to our assistance. This does not change.
You are not voting to leave the UN, G8 or G20, meaning Britain will have the same voice on the world stage as it does today.
You are not voting to leave Europe!! The UK will still, geographically, be part of Europe. Non political organisations aligned to Europe will still extend membership to the UK (I.e. sports governing bodies, and so on).
You are not voting to stop recognising Interpol, Europol and neither are you voting for SIS / MI6 to stop dealing with other intelligence services in the fight against terrorism and global, organised crime.
You are not voting against being able to travel to Europe, contrary to the belief of some fools recently on TV. The UK has always maintained stricter border and passport controls than many EU members. This will not change. You will still use a passport to go on holiday and you will still be allowed entry to countries in Europe. You may even get chance to skip queues by using the non–EU queues at the airport (the only point so far that is my opinion, and not necessarily a fact).
The UK economy will benefit to the tune of £billions in the first year after we leave.
Medical and science research will not simply stop. The UK pays into the EU to then get money back in the form of funding. The UK will now be in control of this money and can choose to fund whatever UK based medical, science, art or other research it chooses.
Farming will not lose money because of EU funding being cut. The UK negotiated a rebate of some monies that the UK pays to the EU, in order to subsidise UK farmers. Instead of asking for our money back, we can give it straight to farmers. No change there.
You are not voting against human rights. The EU Convention on, and European Court of Human Rights are not part of the EU. Until parliament passes a new bill of rights for the UK, these will still apply, as will precedents already passed down to UK courts from Brussels.
You are not voting to kick anyone out of the UK or block access to anyone. Neither are you voting to stop recruiting valuable European workers into things like the NHS. Like my other point about passports for travel, the UK is already outside of the Schengen zone and so migrant workers must enter the UK with a valid passport before and after June 23rd. That will not change. British borders maintain full control of who comes and goes. Should someone have the skills to apply to work in the NHS, then they will still be permitted travel and given an opportunity to apply for a job. Worst case, points based assessment, like the US, Canada and Australia use, will come into effect. The UK is likely to negotiate freedom of labour movement though, in exchange for freedom of goods movement.
You are not voting to move jobs nor production out of the UK! The EU actually helped fund the move of Ford Transit production from the UK to Turkey… Yes, the EU helped give UK jobs to people in Turkey by giving Ford a loan of £80m with very generous terms!
You are voting to stay in or leave a political union of leaders and representatives that you British or Northern Irish people did not elect. You are voting against a commission of unelected, elite men that nobody at all voted for and yet they make decisions on our behalf. You are simply voting to bring sovereignty back to Westminster, and that is all. If you worry about that because you don’t like the Conservative government, look at the reality. Their majority in parliament is very slim. They have been blocked on big decisions already. You are therefore not giving sovereignty to David Cameron, but to the UK House of elected representatives. Do not be fooled by the fear campaigns that are simply run by the wealthy, who need EU money to thrive! Think about the future, and your family’s future.
This is what everyone needs to know.”
PART 1: An open letter from Greece to the common British Citizens.
“Open Letter to the UK citizens about the June 2016 Referendum:
Dear British voters,
United Kingdom joined the European Community in 1973 and it is worth to mention that the people have not been asked prior signing the membership agreement. Only two years later, in 1975 you decided in a referendum if you want to stay in the European Community, which was approved by 66 percent of the voters.
The basic idea, as it was explained to the people in Europe, was a community of European nations in friendship, solidarity, mutual benefit and democracy: Basic European Values.
Unfortunately, these inviting promises proved to be false or failed. There is nothing about freedom, solidarity or friendship in the European Union. The European Union has proven to act on behalf of the interest of banks, multi-national enterprises and groups in the shadow, as advised by professional think-tanks and lobbyists, not in favor of its people.
In fact, the European Union is an economic union with a common market (without internal borders) which enables a free circulation of money, goods and people/workforce, and an ongoing process to harmonize business standards. The European Union is designed as a cartel and typically, there is a lack of democratic structures and processes: democracy becomes a disturbing factor.
Democracy, and especially direct democracy, is against any fiber of this European Union
The peoples’ vote got lost in the bureaucracy of the European Union. The European Union is driven by technocrats and an agenda which will lead to the United States of Europe shortly, the loss of the national sovereignty and identity of the European countries. The national parliaments have already delegated to a large extend their responsibilities and sovereignty to the European Institutions and consequently the national voting becomes more and more irrelevant.
The European Parliament, the only institution in the European Union the people voted for, has a more or less decorative function, it cannot legislate as we know it from national parliaments. The European Commission, which is in fact the European government, is not elected. It consists of delegates from the national governments. As Horst Seehofer - Prime Minister of Bavaria - put it: Those who are elected do not decide and those who decide are not elected.
European Union has a track history of ignoring the vote of the people. Referenda are only welcome if they approve the official policy of the European Union. If the people didn’t vote as requested, the governments used to arrange an information campaign and repeat the referendum until the outcome is convenient or the referendum result is ignored or twisted.
Denmark voted in the referendum in June 1992 against the Maastricht treaty, the re-negotiated version was approved in a second referendum in May 1993.
In 2001 Irish voters rejected the Treaty of Nice, in a second referendum 2002 it was approved.
France voted in May 2005 against the proposed European Constitution. Referenda would have also to be held in Czech, Denmark, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and the UK. As the risk of more refusals was too high, the European Union decided to modify the text and sign them as treaty by the national governments, this is what we have today as Treaty of Lisbon.
We, the Greek people, voted in July 2015 against further austerity measures required by the Troika, and our vote was ignored. Prior the referendum even highest officials of the European Union warned the Greek people not to vote NO as this would lead to a Grexit, even this is not ruled in the European treaties.
In March 2016, the European Union signed a deal with Turkey on the migration crisis. Part of the deal is that the European Union takes over a quota of migrants and distributes them by a defined key within the European countries. Hungary has announced to hold a referendum on the enforced migration, this referendum was condemned as an undemocratic measure.
Some time ago, the Dutch people voted in a referendum against the EU-Ukraine agreement. EU officials mentioned in several interviews, that obviously referenda are dangerous and a threat against the European Union. Truly, referenda are dangerous to today’s E.U., but not dangerous to the people of Europe. In the meantime, there are serious discussions to prohibit referenda within the European Union in general in order to avoid further conflicts.
Even in Switzerland, the country with the most enhanced practice of referenda, the politicians fear more than anything else the vote of the people, as it may destroy their plans in case the people do not vote as they recommend them.
The European Alliance stop-TTIP is an initiative of more than 500 organizations all over Europe and has collected more than 3.4 million signatures in order to stop TTIP and CETA. Those agreements are considered as a threat to democracy, environment, consumers and labour standards. But the European Commission ignores them…
If the stick w free trade lp concepts uk could kick ass
The headlines and pictures on the covers of the UK papers are priceless. You can almost feel the fear and alarm of the Oligopoly’s propagandists and media border collies at the terrifying prospect of an aware, awakened citizenry rising up against their globalist schemes and swindles. On the other hand, BREXIT is going to galvanize populist-nationalist movements across Europe and hopefully hasten the day when governments represent the nation-state and its people instead of serving as adjuncts and collection agencies for the banksters.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-25/see-eu-later-front-covers-uk-newspapers-today
Cameron’s other half looks like her status at the lady’s club was downgraded.
Biden Rails Against Xenophobia From US Politicians: ‘It’s Un-American’
ByCaitlin MacNealPublishedJune 24, 2016, 3:04 PM EDT
During a speech on Irish-American heritage and immigration in Dublin on Friday, Vice President Joe Biden warned against nationalist and xenophobic rhetoric from politicians in Europe and the United States.
He noted that there has been unrest over issues like immigration, the economy, and terrorism, but said that blaming immigrants is not the appropriate response.
“All this provides fertile terrain for reactionary politicians and demagogues peddling xenophobia, nationalism and isolationism,” Biden said, according to the Los Angeles Times, perhaps alluding to rhetoric from Donald Trump. “We see it in Europe, we see it in other parts of the world and we see it in my home country, where some politicians find it convenient to scapegoat immigrants instead of welcoming them; to play to our fears rather than, as Abraham Lincoln said, ‘to appeal to our better angels’; divide us based on religion or ethnicity rather than unite us in our common humanity; build walls instead of bridges.”
“It is un-American what we have been seeing.”
Biden’s Comments Ruffle Feathers
By Jennifer Hoar CBS/AP July 7, 2006, 6:10 PM
Facing criticism, potential 2008 presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden has been forced to explain his recent remark that “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”
“We’re not asking Sen. Biden to apologize for his embarrassing, stereotypical comments. However, we do appreciate knowing what he really thinks of his Indian-American constituents in Delaware,” Vijay said.
Biden’s description of Obama draws scrutiny
POSTED: 11:12 a.m. EST, February 9, 2007
From Xuan Thai and Ted Barrett
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Joe Biden planned to spend Wednesday focusing on his official announcement that he was running for president, but the Delaware Democrat instead found himself defending remarks he made to the New York Observer about his Democratic opponents.
His remarks about Obama, the only African-American serving in the Senate, drew the most scrutiny.
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” Biden said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
Biden: Obama is first “CLEAN” African American - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgIFV7jXBFQ - 328k - Cached - Similar pages
Feb 18, 2009 … Joe Biden is a racist twit. .
If you oppose an arrogant, out-of-touch political elite that cravenly serves only the interest of its .1% patrons and corporate pimps at the expense of everyone else, and you want a future for your own children in their own country, you are a xenophobe and should probably be on multiple watchlists.
‘During a speech on Irish-American heritage…Biden warned against nationalist and xenophobic rhetoric’
LOLZ
Sure, xenophobia is just horrible in the USA. That must be why almost a million new green cards are issued every year and almost a million take the oath and become citizens.
Guess what?
Currently, 14% of all US residents are first generation, foreign born.
That’s a huge number. Numerically, that’s approx. 45 million people.
Yet, we’re xenophobes. Our xenophobia will kill us if we’re not careful.
It’s actually 13.3% (about 42 MM) but close enough.
It’s not the most accurate way of looking though. It lumps in 90-year olds with 4-year olds (who growing up in the US will be as “American” as any other.)
Still it’s a telling statistic.
Thanks.
Do you have past numbers at the ready? I’m interested in by-the-decade numbers from 1880 or so to the present day.
I wanna see just how “xenophobic” we are now as compared to past decades.
Thanks in advance.
Migrationpolicy.org has details.
There’s a caveat to the last statistic I gave you.
The term “immigrants” refers to people residing in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. This population includes naturalized citizens, lawful permanent immigrants, refugees and asylees, legal nonimmigrants (including those on student, work, or other temporary visas), and persons residing in the United States without authorization.
So that statistic counts temporary residents as well as illegal immigrants. Bit strange. You think the statistics would be more granular especially since you should be able to get data on how many people get naturalized any given year. You’d have to account for deaths too. However, this is a traditional statistics problem. Shouldn’t be that hard.
Posted it under the wrong thread. DOH!
Here’s the data. First column decade/year. Second column percentage.
1850 9.7
1860 13.2
1870 14.4
1880 13.3
1890 14.8
1900 13.6
1910 14.7
1920 13.2
1930 11.6
1940 8.8
1950 6.9
1960 5.4
1970 4.7
1980 6.2
1990 7.9
2000 11.1
2010 12.9
2011 13.0
2012 13.0
2013 13.1
2014 13.3
I appreciate it, along with the caveat info. Thank you.
Funny that Biden goes to EUROPE to discuss how xenophobic Americans are.
Europeans fully realize that the United States is being swamped with immigrants as well.
The ordinary European is plagued with many of the same problems as ordinary Americans. And vice-versa.
Heading to Ireland to shame ordinary Americans is not going to sit well with ordinary Europeans, who think more like ordinary Americans than Biden could possibly imagine.
Biden is helping to create a groundswell of support back and forth ‘cross the pond. Let him keep doing it.
Aside, we should start a betting pool on HBB: which globalist throws the most fellow globalists under the bus.
He said, “some politicians find it convenient to scapegoat immigrants instead of welcoming them”. He didn’t say that it was every American.
I have never been to San Francisco.
I have visited Portland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Denver, Albuquerque, Sioux Falls, Omaha, Kansas City, Tulsa, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, St Louis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Columbus, Louisville, Nashville, Jackson, Birmingham, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, Charlotte, Raleigh, Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New York and Boston.
I have visited ALL of those cities. Most more than once.
Guess what they all have in common?
Human excrement-free sidewalks and elevator shafts. Those with subways also are human excrement-free.
Why would I post this here? Perhaps you should think about that for a while.
Here’s the data:
First column decade. Second column percentage.
1850 9.7
1860 13.2
1870 14.4
1880 13.3
1890 14.8
1900 13.6
1910 14.7
1920 13.2
1930 11.6
1940 8.8
1950 6.9
1960 5.4
1970 4.7
1980 6.2
1990 7.9
2000 11.1
2010 12.9
2011 13
2012 13
2013 13.1
2014 13.3
Why would I post this here? Perhaps you should think about that for a while.
There’s no good reason for you to post that there. More excrement talk has nothing to with false implications made about Biden.
Also, maybe you should go and visit San Francisco. There may not be as much poop all over the place as you assume.
That’s an interesting spread, cynical.
So during the modern era, the first real jump from the previous decade was in 1990, then again in 2000.
I’m going back to 1960 for illustrative purposes.
Back in 1960, the number was 5.4%
Back in 1960, your typical 30-year-old was born in 1930.
Back in 1970, the number was even lower at 4.7%
Your typical 30 year-old was born in 1940.
Back in 1980, the number was higher, at 6.2%.
Your typical 30-year-old was born in 1950.
Back in 1990, that number was higher, now at 7.9%.
Your typical 30-yeear-old was born in 1960.
Back in 2000, that number exploded, to 11.1%.
Your typical 30-year-old was born in 1970.
Back in 2010, the number again increased, to 12.9%.
Your typical 30-year-old was born in 1980.
Since 1980, the immigration rate has more than doubled.
Whose prospects and whose futures has that effected the most? Those born before 1950 or those after?
Who made the immigration rules affecting those born after 1950? Those born after 1950, or those that came before?
Yet, many old Silent and Boomer politicians and media types prattle on and on about xenophobia and racism.
Concurrently, the same cannot wait to pass trade deals that send domestic jobs overseas. They’ve done it for decades and still do it today.
I have two words for them:
SHOVE IT
Did you eat your hat?
Can’t respond with a hat in his throat.
BitchBiden castigating and chiding.
CorruptHillary scowling and scolding.
Keep doing it…… keep doing it.
Name calling and insults don’t seem to be working as well for Trump these days as they did during the Republican primaries. In fact, Trump dumped his ad hominem attack dog in chief due to diminished returns on insults and personal attacks.
Which has nothing to do with the entire country constantly being talked down to by POS corrupticans and collapsocrats.
There doesn’t seem to be much gratitude in the air for the man who orchestrated Trump’s rise to the Republican nomination.
…
Ivanka Trump isn’t the only one who doesn’t want Corey Lewandowski around.
Sources told Page Six on Friday that CNN’s “facing a near internal revolt” over Jeff Zucker’s hiring of Lewandowski as an exclusive commentator for the news network days after he was fired as Donald Trump’s campaign manager.
“CNN is facing a near internal revolt over the Corey hiring,” said a TV insider, who described many in the newsroom as “livid.” “Female reporters and producers especially . . . They are organizing and considering publicly demanding” that Lewandowski be let go.
…
Salon leads with the following grabber narrative:
We need a true blueprint for gun control: Democrats must devise an in-depth strategy that’s massive in scope
The Democrats need a coordinated, relentless attack that gnaws at the rigged system until it collapses
http://www.salon.com/2016/06/25/we_need_a_true_blueprint_for_gun_control_democrats_must_devise_an_in_depth_strategy_thats_massive_in_scope/
our guns are now undocumented
in VA there’s usually an armed person nearby=safety +
I like my guns like I like aliens:
Undocumented.
I miss my guns and gold, following that tragic boating accident.
Undocumented Guns: Keeping Chicago Safe
“A photo tweeted from the House by Elizabeth Esty shows Democratic members staging a sit-in “to demand action on common sense gun legislation,” June 22, 2016. (Credit: Twitter/Elizabeth Esty)”
That is the ugliest damn anything-in I have ever seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoXORtIibwQ - 164k -
Molon Labe, Quislings.
Citizen! Your agitation against common-sense gun control has been duly noted in your dossier! When we secure our permanent Democrat Supermajority and appoint progressive Comrades of Proven Worth to run our judicial and law enforcement institutions, reactionary malcontents and bitter clingers like you and certain other loathesome xenophobes in the HBB can be detained and dispatched to reeducation centers, for public safety and most of all, for the children!
…and the South will rise again.
Two quick observations:
1. VA law enforcement assume that those they come in contact with are armed. They don’t take offense at the fact, they just approach with caution and respect. Call 911 in some counties and you’ll be told that it’s “your right and your obligation” to defend yourself.
2. I have a sibling in the military. They’ve recently related to me that, at night, they felt more safe in Baghdad than in Europe. Guess which population has more firearms at hand?
REAL ESTATE NEWS
JUNE 24, 2016 4:16 PM
Trying to buy a decent home in Miami? Good luck with that
A luxury slowdown won’t help middle-class buyers
Prices for mid- and bottom-tier homes are still growing fast
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article85823317.html#storylink=cpy
Stocks are off their peaks substantially, and I am not saying off since Thursday’s prices. I came up with this list last night: I am thinking AAL and Whole Foods are on my list to buy if lower.
AAL. Trades at $27.05. It was above $55 in March of 2015. Book value per share in the $8 range. P/E a stingy 2.42. Yields 0.4%. You can buy this below the. $31.79 price that insider Jeffrey Benjamin paid for 35,000 shares in May. Or the $32.15 for 3,000 shares insider Richard Schifter paid on June 13. However Yahoo says there are net insider sales of over 700,000 shares the last six months. It’s selling at 50% of its last peak.
TM, $103.96, was as high as $145 in March of 2015. Off by 28.4%. I have my limit at $57 and it takes great discipline for me to stay there as I love my Toyota car. According to Yahoo Finance, it is below its book value per share. $105.29. But its debt is $174 billion and has only $43 billion cash. It has a 3.42% yield. I don’t think any larger company will buy the Toyota company. Not with such huge debt.
FSLR. $46.02. Traded at $291 in 2008. Went as low as $12.50 in March of 2012. Still hanging on. It’s book value per share is above $56. It has more cash than debt. Ripe for a takeover. No dividends.
AAPL. $93.40, ways above $132 in May of 2015. It is off by 30%. I have only 11 shares of this stock. It yields 2.39%. It has a book value in the $20s and more debt than cash. Not sure why I bought this stock. I might put a $65 buy limit on 25 shares. Warren Buffet bought a bunch recently.
M. $32.08. Macy’s was a revered store for decades. But the new generations seem to not care for it. It was trading as high as $73.61 within the last twelve months. It yields 4.60% and a P/E of just over 10. It has tons of debt and little cash and a book value a bit over $13. I put a limit of $12 on this and don’t expect to get it. But it is off its high by 57%
WFM $30.76 was as high as $57.33 February 19 2015 and is just a bit over 46% off of that high. Slightly more debt than cash but book value at $10. Better deal than a ten year note. Kroger has far more debt than cash and a lower yield.
DIS is at $95.72, Down from its high of $122.08, only a 22% drop. I only mention it because it’s been an amazing stock over the last ten years. I think it is a good deal to own in a diversified portfolio. Entertainment is sought in good times and bad. It yields 1.44%
VMW $58.54, off from $108 in March of 2014. Lots of cash, very little debt. Book value of $10, lots of insider selling. It’s a mixed bag but this stock is depressed. I owned this stock once and made a modest gain. It is nearly 50% off its last high. I love the product and use it lots of times.
DEO at $104.34 saw its last high at $131 in January 2014. It is off by 21%. Has far more debt than cash. Might be worth limiting at $65
If Deutchebank with its $75 TRILLION in notional derivatives exposure blows up, global markets are going to be utterly destroyed. I’ll stick with investing in precious metals and life’s essentials.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?uhb=uhb2&fr=uh3_finance_vert_gs&type=2button&s=db
Put low limit buys in. They will be filled in November if Trump wins.
Our votes are counted by Diebold, not by hand as they were for BREXIT. Add in the fact that 47% of the electorate are receiving gub’mint benefits and 95% are demonstrably stupid, and even using common core math it adds up to Hillary Clinton as our next president.
My point is that Many stocks are at bargain prices compared houses in good locations. You can take small gambles in stocks but buying a house is a huge gamble in comparison. Particularly given that the prices have been inflated. If houses were like stocks, I would be able to buy a great quality gulf view house in Siesta Key for $200,000 next door to a $5,000,000 house.
EPS = - (as in minus) $5.96.
Talk to me when stocks are on sale. There is no value at these prices.
I’ll buy when PEs are back under 7 on stocks that pay healthy dividends and are run by competents. And when the Fed has been abolished or reined in severely, post-collapse.
I’ll buy when I’ve been in my grave 50 years or so.
Here’s a fun chart that shows the S&P 500’s P/E.
Take note at how many times the P/E has dropped well below 10 …
http://www.multpl.com/
IMO one’s two best friends in these Interesting Times are cash and patience.
Derivatives is truly the thing to watch.
Should that explode, it’s game over.
Yep. And thanks to the stupidity of 95% of the electorate, taxpayers are now on the hook for trillions in derivatives exposure by the TBTF banks.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/tag/derivatives
Did you know that there are 5 “too big to fail” banks in the United States that each have exposure to derivatives contracts that is in excess of 30 trillion dollars? Overall, the biggest U.S. banks collectively have more than 247 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives contracts. That is an amount of money that is more than 13 times the size of the U.S. national debt, and it is a ticking time bomb that could set off financial Armageddon at any moment. Globally, the notional value of all outstanding derivatives contracts is a staggering 552.9 trillion dollars according to the Bank for International Settlements. The bankers assure us that these financial instruments are far less risky than they sound, and that they have spread the risk around enough so that there is no way they could bring the entire system down. But that is the thing about risk – you can try to spread it around as many ways as you can, but you can never eliminate it. And when this derivatives bubble
“…ticking time bomb…”
Isn’t that pretty much the definition of TBTF?
Home ownership at a 48-year low as the hollowing-out of the middle class continues in our Obama-Fed-Goldman Sachs “recovery.” How’s that hope ‘n change working out for ya, ‘Murica?
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/harvard-9.4-million-houses-lost-in-foreclosure-ownership-at-48-year-low/article/2594833
The destruction of the middle class has been going on for decades and Obama is just another ruler in a long chain that has been behind it. The Military Industrial Complex has grossly distorted our economy.
In 2005 my total compensation and hourly rate while working in the MIC was $223,000. Meanwhile more jobs that were not in the MIC were paying a pittance or were shipped out.
GWB was president in 2005.
The permanent Imperialism pushed by the likes of the Bush family, the Clintons, Cheney, Kristol, Karl Rove, Madeline Albright, and Obama is the elephant under the rug. That killed the middle class since the 1990s
In 2005 my total compensation and hourly rate
How big of a hit did you take when you left the MIC, bill?
Prime, in 2009 I was at $92 per hour and had a tax break. Had to go to a new gig at the end of 2010 and that is when the weasel of a recruiter started ripping me.
85 per hour in 2011 and that was in Florida. I only had to pay Arizona income tax and federal tax. 2012 February back to same gig I had before in California.
My recruiter got away with dropping my hourly down to $80 instead of going back to $92. So that was drop number 2. $160,000 with special tax break to make it more like $190,000.
Finally I left the MIC work and my recruiter knew about it and was trying to get me in at my friend’s company for $75. There are no bennies in consulting. My friend offered $130,000 and the two weeks vacation, ten holidays health insurance and dental insurance included. I got to thinking I could take another huge tax break. But I knew my recruiter would charge $120 per hour for me. I discussed this with my friend. And I thought charging that much, I will not be worth bringing up to speed on the commercial work. The tax break would be great but I would have to find another job after a year.
That year. 2013, I read Glenn Greenwald’s “No Place to Hide” and knew I could not go back to MIC. In 2015 my salary went to $133,000. Most of us did not get increases in 2014. So I am thinking I am at the equivalent of $75 per hour. I got the better deal because I do not have to travel as much, my hours are flexible as long as I put in 40 per week. And I am in commercial software, which I should have been in from the start of my career (grr!). I feel I am finally earning my money and being useful to the market, rather than the planned economy.
The hit I took was really over a three year period, from $184,000 compensation in 2010 to an equivalent of about $150,000 now.
The collapse in freight volumes reveals far more about America’s ongoing economic decline than Yellen’s dissembling or our Soviet-style “Everything is awesome!” official statistics.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-amount-of-stuff-being-bought-sold-and-shipped-around-the-united-states-is-the-lowest-in-6-years
Here’s a chart showing the S&P Price to Sales ratio since 2002 and, er, the chart is at a high …
http://www.multpl.com/s-p-500-price-to-sales
Fred Reed: More adventures in multiculturalism.
http://fredoneverything.org/hussein-obama-50-america-0more-adventures-in-multiculturalism/
That guy’s just low class.
He represents a point of view that I pay attention to even if I don’t always share the same sentiments.
Boy, get back on the thought plantation.
I’m past the point in life where everything is black and white. There are good Muslims and shitbird WASPs. In general I’m not a fan of mindless broadbrush categorizataions of people.
“He found and exploited the hidden weakness in American government, which is that nobody has the balls to tell him “No.”
Ain’t it da trute!
Sanity! By Robert Gore of Straight Line Logic.
https://straightlinelogic.com/2016/06/24/sanity-by-robert-gore/
The most important election this year is the British referendum June 23 on EU membership. The EU has followed the US’s disastrous policies in the Middle East and Northern Africa and has been unable to deal with the refugee and terrorist blowback from those policies. It has no strategy for resolving the issues stemming from the debt of its de facto bankrupt members, other than have the ECB buy it. Growth has been smothered by taxes, regulations, cronyism, and monetary idiocy. European youth have the “opportunity” to pay some of the world’s highest tax rates to fund the world’s most generous welfare state benefits. Those looking for other opportunities—private sector jobs, leaving home, starting families, building wealth—must look elsewhere.
Why would Great Britain want to plight its troth with this gang of incompetents? Why would anyone think it can’t do better by going it alone? These are questions the political establishments in Europe, Great Britain, and the US would rather not have asked, much less have to answer. The animating impulse behind the Brexit movement is one no political power can acknowledge—the desire for more freedom from that political power. Does life become more or less free for the British if they subject themselves to cabbage regulations of 26,911 words? Individuals generally have more of a say in a smaller, closer governmental unit than a larger, more remote one. For anyone living in Great Britain, both literally and figuratively it’s a shorter trip to London than it is to Brussels.
The downstream implications of BREXIT.
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/2931-brexit-global-trigger-event-fake-out-or-something-else
When you examine the fiscal foundations of every major economy in the world today, what you find is a financial shell game. The fundamentals tell us the truth; with global exports and imports in decline, global shipping of raw materials in decline, manufacturing in decline, retail in decline, employment in decline, real unemployment numbers including those people no longer counted by the Labor Department skyrocketing and the number of people on welfare and food stamps skyrocketing.
In reality, the global economy is one massive thin-skinned bubble searching for a sharp object to impale itself on. The Brexit may very well be that sharp object.
Before I go into the various details surrounding Thursday’s vote, I want to state that I am in full support of the British movement to leave the European Union. The reasoning behind a successful Brexit is solid. The European Union’s rabid socialist tendencies have created a doom scenario for all those shackled to the supranational body. Forced multiculturalism and cultural Marxism has opened a floodgate of Islamic refugees which hold ideological beliefs completely incompatible with western principles and heritage while at the same time introducing a massive vampiric drain on the prevailing social welfare systems.
The EU’s governing body is a mostly faceless and unaccountable bureaucracy that hands down legal dictates from on high while the general population of the member states have little or no input. The European Central Bank’s monetary policies support failed financial institutions and fraudulent markets while siphoning tax dollars from stronger and more successful nations in order to feed the debt addictions of weaker countries. The very philosophical engine behind the EU is one of collectivism; it is a system that requires a hive mentality in order to function. Only a fool would WANT to participate in such a political and financial farce.
bRExit:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carlapassino/2016/06/24/will-the-uks-real-estate-sector-survive-brexit/#3ecb4ce92120
All that money being sucked into overpriced housing had to come from somewhere:
“Denver residents have slowed their roll when it comes to everyday spending, a new report says.
In March 2016, everyday spending growth in Denver was down 3.7 percent year-over-year, according to the JPMorgan Chase Institute’s Local Consumer Commerce Index, which uses real transactions from more than 50 million customers to get a glimpse at how they spend, rather than rely on surveys.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/finance_etc/2016/06/everyday-spending-is-down-in-denver-report-says.html
What are the options on the table to get the value of your countries currency back up if it was to start collapsing in value?
Depends. Does your country have a nuclear arsenal?
Redwood City, CA Housing Prices Crater 10% YoY Accelerating The Bay Area Economy
http://www.zillow.com/redwood-city-ca/home-values/
Hank Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO and architect of the bailouts, writes an op-ed against Trump and will be voting for Hillary.
Adding to a growing list, Hillary Clinton has another prominent Republican squarely in her corner thanks to Donald Trump: Henry Paulson, the treasury secretary to former President George W. Bush.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-henry-paulson-op-ed-hillary-clinton-election-2016/
There’s trouble in River City!
The Trump campaign
Poor Donald
The Republican nominee’s campaign is impoverished
Jun 25th 2016 | WASHINGTON, DC | From the print edition
Timekeeper
Let’s expense it
THROUGHOUT the presidential primary contest, Donald Trump’s claim to be self-funding his campaign always drew loud cheers. Part boast—“I’m like, really rich” he would smirk—and part a badge of incorruptibility, the claim allowed the property developer to paint all his Republican rivals as puppets of special interests. Voters at campaign rallies would reliably cite his supposedly vast wealth, and the independence it brought, as one of their biggest reasons for trusting the businessman.
Loyal Trump supporters forgave their champion when he secured the nomination and abruptly changed his tune, boasting in early May that he would create a “world-class finance organisation” to solicit donors and fill war chests for himself and for the Republican Party. The same Trump loyalists will doubtless shrug off headlines that greeted the release of campaign-finance reports for the month of May, showing that he raised just $3.1m from donors and has just $1.3m cash on hand—sums dwarfed by Mrs Clinton’s campaign, which raised over $26m in May and started June with $42.5m in cash on hand. Mr Trump himself sounded defiant, asserting that he could spend “unlimited” sums of his own money if needs be.
…
http://endingthefed.com/donald-trump-wins-legal-battle-in-university-case.html
“Donald Trump won a key legal battle last week when a federal district court in California partially decertified a class action lawsuit against Trump and the now-defunct Trump University, which once offered real estate classes.”
LOL, just trollin’ ya. That was back in 2015.
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2015/09/21/donald-trump-wins-legal-battle-in-university-case/
He’s like, really rich.
If he keeps the Goldman Sachs financial advisor around, he won’t be much longer.
Trump’s campaign is cratering.
The Fix
Donald Trump’s campaign manager is out. Here are the brutal numbers that tell us why.
By Philip Bump
June 20
Update: In case you needed evidence that Trump was indeed having a very bad month, he just parted ways with his campaign manager. Below is a post from Sunday breaking down just how disastrous this month has been.
Supporters of Donald Trump got an unexpected plea on Saturday: a request to send the billionaire money.
It was an “emergency” request, the Hill reported, representing an urgent need for an infusion of $100,000 to put ads on the air in battleground states. Why Trump couldn’t simply write a check to cover the costs apparently wasn’t explained, but the missive was useful regardless: It demonstrates clearly the difficult position of the Trump campaign with only 142 days to go.
We looked at Trump’s sliding poll numbers on Friday, but it’s worth adding a bit more context.
“[T]here’s no way to look at Trump’s national polling that avoids the grim reality that he is at a lower ebb than any general election candidate has hit in the last three elections,” the National Review’s Dan McLaughlin wrote last week.
…
http://pagesix.com/2016/06/24/cnn-staff-revolts-over-corey-lewandowski-hire/
“The Post reported on Monday that the Donald’s daughter Ivanka gave her dad an ultimatum to cut Corey loose after she was distressed by news he’d grabbed reporter Michelle Fields by the arm at a Florida event, and by a Page Six report that he recently got into a shouting match on a Midtown street with campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks.”
As I said a few days ago, if Corey Lewandowski was the reason behind Trump’s campaign failures, by firing him, the campaign would recover. Almost immediately, I might add.
As of right now, that hasn’t happened. And it won’t, because Corey, despite his faults, was one of the people behind Trump’s success.
Unfortunately, he’s been a lightning rod and a punching bag. For the failures of others.
I hope the stories about Ivanka aren’t true, but if they are, then Trump took advice from a daughter who couldn’t even make a deadline to vote for her own father in the primary. It’s not that hard. You just have to fill out a piece of paper. While Corey is humping to please putting rallies together all over the country and getting out the vote, on little to no sleep.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trumps-kids-eric-ivanka-miss-deadline-vote/story?id=38303943
Maybe she was too busy with her shoes:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ivanka-trump-sued-italian-shoe-company-over-heels-n597936
Ah, Jared Kushner. Remember that name. Because it will be quickly buried when the campaign post mortem is written.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/20/politics/donald-trump-jared-kushner/
“While Corey is humping to please putting rallies together all over the country and getting out the vote, on little to no sleep.”
Agreed it seems unfair to dump the guy who probably did the most to help Trump win the Republican nomination.
I expect karma to bite Trump for this move.
“I expect karma to bite Trump for this move.”
Expect? Karma sunk its teeth into his hindquarters right after San Jose, which is when he managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, pointedly ignoring his beaten and bloodied supporters.
That was when he pivoted away from the people and toward the “establishment”.
If Corey made a mistake, it had way more to do with an ignorance of the byzantine delegate system of the Republican Party than grabbing some twit’s arm at a press conference or chewing out Hope Hicks.
Nonetheless, Corey paved the way so the oily Paul Manafort could slide in and handle the delegate situation. Manfort ought to be thanking Corey for the opportunity. Instead, Manafort started sticking his nose in Corey’s business instead of minding his own. As a result, delegates are separating.
And what about Mnuchin, the campaign finance “genius” with the Goldman/Soros/Hollywood background? What was it you posted above? “The Republican nominee’s campaign is impoverished”. Trump had to do a matching online fundraiser similar to Ron Paul’s money bomb, getting small contributions from the people. Where were all those fancy big money contributions? Heckuva job, Mnuchie!
Corey, the scrappy guy from the pits of Lowell, Mass, who came up the hard way, got results. Oops, “you’re fired!”
“And what about Mnuchin, the campaign finance “genius” with the Goldman/Soros/Hollywood background?
…
Heckuva job, Mnuchie!”
Uh…isn’t one of Trump’s selling points that he is a businessman who knows how to manage people and deal with money?
Seeing is believing…
I don’t know what this Mnuchin guy is all about. ‘Tis a puzzlement.
However, I’m picking up that the Democratic convention is going to make the Republican convention look like a ladies’ luncheon.
I watched the video of Obama’s “endorsement” of Hillary today. I swear, to me it looked like he could barely keep himself from busting a gut.
Something tells me she’s not going to be the nominee….
“Agent Kristie Martinelli had a different perspective:
“People have been predicting a slowdown and it hasn’t been happening,” Martinelli said. “I’m still seeing multiple offers.” She added, “Instead of eight offers like we were seeing before, I’m seeing three offers.”
The primitive mind of a Marin County Realtor. In fact Kristie 3 is actually quite a bit less than 8.
http://finebayarealiving.com/about-kristie-martinelli/
“The single most important driving factor is my focus on establishing strong honest rapport with my clients which will result in a lasting relationship. It’s my personal commitment to you and your needs that will move this process along as smoothly as possible. I treasure my clients and their families.”
Translation:
“Money money money money money.”
What a money-grubbing skank.
Is yellen trying to keep a strong dollar alive by jawboning about raising rates?
rampant.mortgage.fraud.
I tried to post this on Facebook just now: “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.”
- Mark Twain
Odd thing that happened: I got this pop up window on Facebook instead:
“Our security systems have detected that a lot of people are posting the same content, which could mean that it’s spam. Please try a different post.”
“Please try a different post.”
Suggestion:
Now I just KNOW FB wouldn’t dream of censoring people…
The Atlantic wets the bed with:
How American Politics Went Insane
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/how-american-politics-went-insane/485570/
Democrats Attack Bill of Rights to Destroy Political Enemies
Are you a “potential terrorist” on a secret watch list?
Kurt Nimmo - June 25, 2016
Democrats are waging a war on due process, the rule of law, and the principle of legal rights going back to the Magna Carta.
Clause 39 of the Magna Carta issued by John of England in 1215 declares: “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”
For Democrats in the House and Senate, lawful judgment is no longer relevant. In their zeal to outlaw firearms and demolish the Second Amendment, Democrats and their progressive fellow travelers are striving to dismantle laws and legal proceedings for Americans included on secret lists compiled and held by the state. This represents the very essence of a police state.
“The Democrats demand that Americans be stripped of their Second Amendment rights with no attention paid to the Fifth Amendment, to due process,” writes Kevin Williamson. “They propose that Americans be stripped of their legal protections under the Bill of Rights even when they have not been charged with, much less convicted of, a crime. They propose that this be done on the basis of a series of secret government lists, whose contents, criteria, and keepers are treated as state secrets.”
Orwellian Potential Terrorists
Democrats now demand “potential terrorists” be stripped of their rights. Bernie Sanders has joined Senator Dianne Feinstein and the Democrat leadership and echoes their call for further authoritarian action:
According to the Obama administration, the nation faces a terror threat perpetuated by “individuals motivated by anti-government animus.” Muslims do not figure prominently in the government’s terror equation.
“Justice officials have indicated that home-grown ‘right wingers’ are possibly more numerous and dangerous than the jihadists,” Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin said in October during an event co-sponsored by the George Washington University’s program on extremism and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Carlin said the Justice Department’s recently formed “domestic terrorism counsel” will “analyze legal gaps that need to be closed.”
Gun Laws Target Government’s Political Enemies
“I’m sure it’s gun laws,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, in response to Carlin’s remarks. He noted the Justice Department has teamed up with the Southern Poverty Law Center to “go after” the Obama administration’s political enemies while downplaying the threat of Islamic terrorism.
In February, the Department of Homeland Security released an intelligence assessment focused on the supposed domestic terror threat from sovereign citizen groups, a threat the government insists overshadows jihadi and Islamic State terrorism. The assessment followed a DHS report leaked to the alternative media in 2009 that targeted veterans as a domestic terror threat.
The DHS report said local law enforcement’s primary concern should be the high volume of gun and ammunition purchases. The document equates Americans who stockpile ammunition to “rightwing terrorists.” Moreover, stockpiling (merely purchasing) ammunition is an indication of involvement in “paramilitary training exercises” and potential terrorist activity, according to the government.
It is uncertain how many “right-wing extremists” are included on the government’s secret terror watch lists, but considering Carlin’s remarks in October and the formation of “domestic terrorism counsel” focused on demonizing the political enemies of the state, we can assume more than a few are.
“Are you a conservative, a libertarian, a Christian or a gun owner?” asks Michael Snyder. “If you answered yes to any of those questions, you are a ‘potential terrorist’ according to official U.S. government documents… We are moving into a very dangerous time in American history. You can now be considered a ‘potential terrorist’ just because of your religious or political beliefs. Free speech is becoming a thing of the past, and we are rapidly becoming an Orwellian society that is the exact opposite of what our founding fathers intended.”
Due process is also rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Government invariably targets its political enemies. Islamic terrorism does not pose a serious political threat to the elite. In fact, it can be argued much what now passes for Islamic terrorism is a creation of the state, a tool used—as we have witnessed since September 11, 2001—to destroy the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The real target—the target that must be disarmed and stripped of legal protection—is the American people.
How can the collectivist kleptocrat Democrats impose fundamental transformation and “redistribute the wealth” (steal from the productive to buy off their parasite voting base) without first disarming potential resisters?
I remember in the 1970s how. The Democrats loved whistle blower Daniel Ellsburg and condemned order followers. Progressives became neoconservatives in the 1990s.
Irvine, CA Affordability Improves As Housing Prices Plummet 17% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/irvine-ca-92620/home-values/
http://abc13.com/realestate/man-fights-eviction-after-400-percent-rent-increase/1401148/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link
can we talk about raising interest rates a little more now that the brexit bs is behind us?
Sure. You can talk about it to your heart’s content. But to hike rates even .25% would implode the Fed’s asset bubbles and Ponzi markets, so it’s not going to happen. Instead, we’ll see NIRP and QE5 before the election to keep the bottom from dropping out.
so your saying all this talk every week is really bs?
What impact does it have on the value of the dollar?
People have bid up the value of the dollar on the basis of a rate hike cycle.
When are the folks gonna realize its not going to happen?
When are the folks gonna realize its not going to happen?
“Folks” are gullible and stupid, as evidenced by the 95% of the electorate who cast votes for Obama, McCain, and Romney. ‘Tards like this are a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to grasping the f***ery of the Fed and its scams against the 99%.
“People have bid up the value of the dollar on the basis of a rate hike cycle.”
The dollar can also get bid up on the basis of a panic cycle with no interest rate hikes in the foreseeable future.
The Brexit just flushed Fed liftoff plans down the toilet.
Bond Market Wipes Out Fed Liftoff as Yields Tumble After Brexit
Brian Chappatta, Taylor Hall and Susanne Walker Barton
June 24, 2016 — 6:48 AM PDT
Updated on June 24, 2016 — 10:02 AM PDT
Pound Plunges to 30-Year Low on Brexit Vote
Two-year note yield plunges as much as 0.28 percentage point
Derivatives don’t fully price in a Fed rate hike for years
For Treasuries traders, it’s as if the Federal Reserve’s December interest-rate increase never happened.
The yield on two-year Treasury notes, the coupon maturity most sensitive to Fed policy expectations, plunged as much as 0.28 percentage point, the most since 2008, over the span of eight hours as Britons voted to leave the European Union. The yield is on pace for its lowest close since October, two months before the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage-point in its first hike in nearly a decade.
The yield decline reflects a growing chorus of investors and analysts who say Britain’s political earthquake will force the U.S. central bank to abandon its plans to boost interest rates this year. For a time after liftoff, policy makers had envisioned four quarter-point increases this year. The two-year note yield’s plunge shows bond traders have little concern that the Fed will move this year to tighten monetary policy.
“This is a big uncertainty shock,” said Priya Misra, head of global interest-rates strategy in New York at TD Securities, one of the 23 primary dealers that trade with the Fed. “When the news came out, we moved our Fed call. The markets moved it out even further.”
…
Brexit shock waves to further rattle markets
June 26, 2016 - 8:22PM
Mark Mulligan
Senior markets and economy writer
London traders try to make sense of the unfolding referendum drama on Friday. More volatility is expected this week. Photo: Bloomberg
Markets are set for some further volatility this week as the aftershocks of Britain’s historic vote to leave the European Union after 43 years continue to rumble across the globe, although futures pricing suggests less drama than Friday’s tumult.
Futures pricing for Australia’s S&P/ASX200 Index, for example, has shares opening flat or slightly up, while mounting market bets that the Reserve Bank of Australia will be forced to cut interest rates at next week’s board meeting is just market noise, say economists.
According to one measure, the probability of a July cut, to 1.5 per cent, shot up from close to zero to 50 per cent during Friday’s upheaval, before settling at 38 per cent.
…
The anti-Establishment wave sweeping Europe has claimed another victim. Iceland, the only country to jail bankers for their role in causing the 2008 financial crash, has elected a political novice, though “centrist” usually translates into “stooge of the banksters and globalists.’
https://www.yahoo.com/news/johannesson-leads-icelands-presidential-vote-partial-result-000003789.html?ref=gs
If you oppose fundamental transformation and the importation of millions of Democrat-on-Arrival entitlement voters, some Orwellian law will be found by our PC overlords to silence and intimidate you.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/explosive-new-twist-in-idaho-sex-assault-case/#!
This guy called it during Clinton the first. I think the PTB knew all along but hey, it’s just business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PQrz8F0dBI
‘Last night, the British people struck a blow. They struck a blow for liberty, self-determination, the localization of politics, and the Union Jack. They struck a blow against Brussels, London, Westminster, urban elites, technocracy, centralization, and the political class.’
‘But last night wasn’t about charts or statistics; it was a victory for principle over cold empiricism. The argument made by the Remain campaign was, in essence, yes, the EU sucks, but don’t ever shake it up by leaving because you’ll cause disruptions in the economy. One could just as easily make a similar case against the American Revolution or Britain’s decision to join the EU in the first place. An argument for total stability is an argument for perpetual stasis regardless of the circumstances. Last night, the British people rejected that contention, preferring Jefferson’s “tumult of liberty” over the EU’s sinister “ever-closer union.”
http://rare.us/story/with-brexit-the-british-strike-a-resounding-blow-for-liberty/
‘you’ll cause disruptions in the economy. One could just as easily make a similar case against the American Revolution or Britain’s decision to join the EU in the first place’
I was thinking about this last night. I remember the many people that said the EU wouldn’t work. How come no one is saying, “we’ve just wasted 20 plus years in a model put together by billionaires and former Marxists who call themselves elite? What kind of garbage was this all along?”
Just look at what they’ve done to Greece in the name of keeping this sh#t cart together.
I was thinking about this last night. I remember the many people that said the EU wouldn’t work. How come no one is saying, “we’ve just wasted 20 plus years in a model put together by billionaires and former Marxists who call themselves elite? What kind of garbage was this all along?”
In the UK, as in the US, most of the population has been reduced to a state of bovine stupidity, genetically and culturally, over the past 50 years. The intelligent, production portion of the country has long known what a racket the EU is and how the “elites” are scamming the rest of the populace. Regretably, as in the US, the easily-manipulated stoopids comprise an almost-insurmoutable majority vote.
You’re right. This Brexit thing will never pass.
I’m happy to have negative assumptions proven wrong. The BREXIT result was a magnificient victory for the common folk over the Oligopoly. Is the populace becoming awake and aware? I hope so, though the support for Hillary shows tens of millions of ‘Muricans have no problem with corruption, kleptocracy, and crony capitalism.
You really believe that?
“Monetary policy is 98% talk and 2% action,” he argues. As the Fed tried to rev up the economy after the crisis, it came to rely on “forward guidance”—in effect, a promise to keep policy loose for a long time.
http://www.economist.com/news/books/21672761-former-chair-has-penned-lucid-account-crisis-and-its-aftermath-bernankes-book-makes
u have to see through the BS my friends!
In a poetic mood?
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw351.html
The fools in the UK who are bewailing the passage of BREXIT might be silenced in the next week or two as it dawns on them Britain may have dodged a bullet by not being saddled to an artificial political-economic construct that is going to be pulled under by the banking black holes of the PIIGS and malgoverned eastern European members.
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/06/25/brexit-blowback-hits-italian-spanish-banks/
Another serious problem (on which Greenspan was somewhat less forthcoming) is Europe’s swelling ranks of heavily leveraged, scantily capitalized, bad-loan bedeviled, zombified banks. It was they whose stocks plunged the most today. Despite the fact that central bankers around the world, led by the Bank of England’s Mark Carney, the ECB’s Mario Draghi and the Federal Reserve’s Janet Yellen, had pledged to print into existence countless billions of pounds, euros and dollars in a last-ditch attempt to backstop Europe’s crumbling financial system, the EU Stoxx 600 Banking index plummeted 14.5%.
By far the worst of the fallout hit Italy and Spain’s financial sectors, where the banks saw their market capitalization decimated by roughly a fifth. For Italy’s biggest banks, many of which are filled to the gills with slowly putrefying non-performing loans (NPLs), it was their worst day in what is fast proving to be their worst year, ever. If the current trend continues — and there’s no reason to suspect it won’t — some are unlikely to even make it to Christmas in one piece.
The shares of Italy’s biggest bank (and global systemically important institution), Unicredit, slid more than 23% on Friday. They are down 59% since January. The stock of Banco Populare, Italy’s fifth biggest bank, also lost 23% on Friday and is down over 80% since the beginning of this year. The fourth biggest institution, the perpetually failing Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena whose loss-making derivatives bets were made under Mario Draghi’s watch as Bank of Italy’s governor, fell by 16.5%.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2016/06/26/choosing-not-to-go-down-in-flames/
“When Hillary Clinton spoke to Goldman Sachs”
“It was pretty glowing about us,” one attendee told Politico, “She sounded more like a Goldman Sachs managing director.”
Hank ‘Meltdown’ Paulson Cites Hillary’s Globalist Platform as Reason for Endorsement
by Julia Hahn25 Jun 2016Washington D.C
Hank Paulson, George W. Bush’s treasury secretary, who presided over both the meltdown of the U.S. economy and the subsequent bailout of his close friends and associates, has endorsed Hillary Clinton — citing his belief that she’d be more likely to enact globalist policies on trade and immigration as part of the reason for his endorsement.
Paulson also posits that Clinton would be more likely to cut Americans’ medicare and social security, which Paulson cites as a top priority following the financial collapse he helped to create.
Paulson is also the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, which has given Hillary Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches. According to Politico, Goldman Sachs rewarded Clinton with a total of $675,000 for three paid speeches.
“When Hillary Clinton spoke to Goldman Sachs executives and technology titans at a summit in Arizona in October of 2013, she spoke glowingly of the work the bank was doing raising capital and helping create jobs, according to people who saw her remarks,” Politico writes. “She spent no time criticizing Goldman or Wall Street more broadly for its role in the 2008 financial crisis.”
“It was pretty glowing about us,” one attendee told Politico, “She sounded more like a Goldman Sachs managing director.”
In his Friday op-ed in the Washington Post, Paulson writes:
When it comes to the presidency, I will not vote for Donald Trump. I will not cast a write-in vote. I’ll be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world.
If America elects this serial influence-peddler and one-woman crime spree to be our president (retch), we’ll deserve everything that comes to us as the .1% unleashes its unfettered looting and asset-stripping against the disappearing middle class.
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/31/it_s_not_just_the_speeches
Nothing can be more terrifying to the corrupt and venal .1% that has captured the West’s political and media elites than the spector of a mass awakening of fed-up sovereign populations that have been screwed over by globalism and “fundamental transformation.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/25/europe-is-fed-up-it-is-simmering-with-rage-what-now-for-the-eu/
You would think that Spanish voters would have learned a thing or two about electing “far left” saviors after watching events in Venezuela and Greece, but apparently not. Still, it’s another rejection of the crony capitalist status quo, even though these “radical left” firebrands are going to pull a Syriza and grovel before their Troika masters once in office.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/26/far-left-set-to-become-a-political-force-in-spains-election.html
The “former” Goldman Sachs official who is Spain’s acting prime minister has asked the electorate to vote today for “stability” i.e. the corrupt, crony capitalist status quo. Good luck with that….
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/spain-votes-months-political-gridlock-160626040533934.html
Cuckservative and CFR member George Will has shown his true colors by throwing in with Hillary and his Oligopoly puppetmasters.
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
One of the saddest metrics showing the national hopelessness and despair in the American soul is the worsening heroin/opioid epidemic.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-26/new-haven-declares-public-health-emergency-after-never-seen-heroin-overdose-epidemic
Yale-ah Boola, Boola-Boola!
Has there ever been another point in history when so much developed country wealth was tied up in housing AND developed economy policy makers were so heavily involved in artificially inflating housing prices?
I doubt it, but I am very interested in historic examples of similar episodes, in case anyone can offer any.
If you have more supply of a currency than there is demand it falls in value.
yellens job is to make sure there is strong demand for the dollar by keeping up the talk about raising rates.
If the value of the dollar fell and started to crater they would have two options:
reduce the supply of money : sell bonds to pull money out of system
Increase demand for money : raise interest rates
It really seems both of these options are what they don’t want to do.
How long can simply talking about rate hikes work?
“yellens job is to make sure there is strong demand for the dollar by keeping up the talk about raising rates.”
I’m confused on this. Wouldn’t a strong dollar hurt the U.S. economy by making exports more expensive?
Another interpretation of what is happening is that by jawboning for liftoff / rate increases, etc., then scuttling plans, the Fed gets a freebie weakening of the dollar without having to adjust the course of monetary policy.
To my eye, it appears the Fed’s main challenge over the next few weeks will be to devise strategies to weaken, not strengthen, the dollar.
ft dot com > Markets >
Currencies
June 26, 2016 3:28 pm
Post-Brexit dollar surge presents Fed with new conundrum
Sam Fleming in Washington
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 24: A magnifying glass is used to inspect newly printed one dollar bills at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on March 24, 2015 in Washington, DC. The roots of The Bureau of Engraving and Printing can be traced back to 1862, when a single room was used in the basement of the main Treasury building before moving to its current location on 14th Street in 1864. The Washington printing facility has been responsible for printing all of the paper Federal Reserve notes up until 1991 when it shared the printing responsibilities with a new western facility that opened in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
©Getty
As Federal Reserve officials anxiously scan the aftershocks of the Brexit vote in the coming days, the reaction of the US dollar in currency markets will be front and centre of their attention.
The dollar rose sharply on Friday in response to the UK’s vote to leave the EU, as money flowed into perceived havens. But a further surge would inject a destabilising element into already unsettled markets and add pressure on the Fed to delay any future rate rises.
Lewis Alexander, US economist at Nomura, said the dollar would be “the first order of business” for the central bank as it examines the markets, followed by gyrations in credit and equities.
The dollar has been a main driver of Fed policy for the past two years because of the drag that a strong currency has imposed on US exports, inflation and corporate earnings. Nearly half of sales by S&P 500 companies in 2014 were generated overseas, according to UniCredit research.
The strong dollar has also injected financial volatility into emerging markets — as seen in January and February this year. It could pose a particular threat to China by rekindling worries about capital outflows and currency devaluation. It is also a potential menace to other emerging markets because of their large stocks of dollar-denominated debts.
“A continued appreciation of the dollar could be the most serious channel of contagion to global markets,” said Roberto Perli, an economist at Cornerstone Macro. “This is the same mechanism that led to the market selloff in January and February.”
…
UN: More Central Americans Headed to US
Posted: Jun 24, 2016 11:07 PM EST
MCALLEN — The United Nations said there are more Central Americans headed to the Rio Grande Valley.
Central American families that are caught and released by Border Patrol end up at the McAllen bus station. Luis Guerrero started volunteering at Catholic Charities two years ago.
“I’m an ex-firefighter. I always liked to help people,” he said.
The people Guerrero helps are from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and other Central American countries.
Guerrero said he’s seen change lately.
“We used to have one bus. Now, sometimes, we have two buses in the afternoon coming in,” he said. “You’re talking about 99 people in the afternoons.”
Jerson Ballrillas, 17, is a new arrival from El Salvador. He said he felt relieved when he crossed the river into the Valley.
The UN said El Salvador and Honduras have had an increase in violence and insecurity.
Ballrillas said before he left, he wore a new pair of shoes to school. Gang members told him to take them off.
“They told me I couldn’t wear those shoes because it looked like theirs,” Ballrillas said.
Guerrero keeps hearing the same stories over and over. People tell him criminals want to use their children for prostitution or to sell drugs.
“We’re going to be busy for a while,” he said.
Guerrero thinks the situation at the McAllen bus station may be the new normal.
Para leer noticias en español, visite nuestra sección Español.
Are you confused about how to invest after the Brexit? Small wonder…
Why Brexit crisis is a screaming buy for stock investors
S&P 500 could drop as much as 7% in Brexit swoon
While Da Boyz are exiting the pump & dump, they’ll order their media border collies not to spook the herd and to keep corralling the muppets into the rigged casino right up to the last minute.
Yep.
WHATEVER YOU DO NOW, DON’T PANIC!
International Business
After ‘Brexit’ Vote, Investors Are Gripped by a Panic Last Seen in 2008
By PETER S. GOODMAN
JUNE 24, 2016
A monitor at the Euronext Stock Exchange in Amsterdam on Friday after Britain voted to leave the European Union.
Credit Koen Van Weel/European
Pressphoto Agency
LONDON — First came the shock. Then fear seized world markets. As frenzied selling accelerated in Tokyo, Hong Kong and London, unfathomable amounts of wealth vanished in a matter of hours.
In crudest outlines, the panic that followed Britain’s vote to quit the European Union traced the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, an event that turned an unfolding financial crisis into the bleakest economic downturn since the Great Depression. The similarities hung uneasily over markets on Friday, presenting a grim question: How ugly might things get?
As economists pored over the rout like accident investigators dispatched to the scene of a crash, most offered assurances that a Lehman-style financial panic was not unfolding. In that debacle, investors indiscriminately fled all assets connected to the disastrous American housing bubble. Mortgages had been carved into exotic investments and peddled around the globe, meaning they lurked everywhere. Distrust spread like a virus.
This time, the source of the trouble is both identifiable and relatively confined. Britain and the 27 remaining members of the European Union face significant uncertainty in their economic and financial dealings as they embark on complex divorce proceedings.
Fears that drawn-out negotiations could disrupt trade prompted investors to push their money toward safety. As night fell in London, the British pound was down more than 7 percent. Stock markets plummeted around the globe; the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index closed down 3.6 percent in New York. London closed down a similar margin, and Tokyo surrendered more than 4 percent. Investors poured money into government bonds, seeking refuge.
“As of now, this doesn’t look like an end-of-the-world event,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, an independent research organization. “It looks bad, but it’s not a cataclysmic game-changer similar to Lehman.” Then he paused. “Yet.”
…
Remain calm - all is well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro
Has anyone here been renting the same place for the last 4 years?
If yes, how many years?
Well, the last place was five. What’s up?
“What’s up?”
Nothing really, just thinking about people on this blog (myself included) who had school age kids and seemed to hit pretty high stress levels about having to move from one rental and or school district to another because the LL was putting the place on the market or being foreclosed or whatever.
It happened to me twice between 2005 and 20011. The first one I was in four years and the second was two years.
The school thing happened to us when my daughter was in HS. LL told us to get out three months into a three year lease (end coinciding with graduation.) Fought with him till the end of year two, then he told us not to send the rent anymore. A free year went by, three months of which we were genuinely squatting, then his rep showed up. We stayed three more months at a cheap rent then left. I succeeded in avoiding the school change.
11 and counting…I keep thinking the landlords have missed their chance to sell before the Echo Bubble pops, but so far evidently SD prices continue to rise.
Four and counting. I have great landlords. So far.
Four and counting. I have great landlords. So far.
Me, too. One was a gem, next two were nuts and the one now, well, the attitude seems to be we won’t bother you, so don’t bother us or ask us to fix anything (only asked for one thing, no response and it’s a year now.)
Yep, there’s some deferred maintenance around here, too. They do fix things that are screaming emergencies, like AC and the roof. The other stuff, not so much. I don’t blame them, though. I let them know what the problems are, but always tell them we can live with it.
“They do fix things that are screaming emergencies, like AC and the roof.”
My last POS DBLL told me I was going to have to wait 3 or 4 days until “his AC guy” could fix my AC in the month of August in SE Region IV.
The dude I had fixing the unit 2 hours later told me the LL’s AC guy had sold him a POS $1,500 unit for $3,500 and this was just the beginning of the problems.
I deducted the repair bill from my next months rent and was out of there a few months later.
I think one of the roof ACs just went poof this morning. There was this god awful sound, then a burning smell. Good time to be a renter. We only run one zone anyway; running both would be $600 a month right now. Since there’s no real barrier between the zones (genius), it doesn’t matter which one is running.
Can’t call them right away. There’s a pet or two I have to hide (bad, bad renter) or I could quote one of the Pink Panther movies - “That is not my cat.”
Call him tomorrow and go with “That is not my cat.”
Six years this past Feb. Great LL, great house, great neighborhood. Only one rent increase in that time, after the fifth year; that one was substantial (~30%) but seemed basically in line with the market, so I didn’t complain—Thanks Bernanke/Yellen! (yes, the Fed is intentionally causing your rent to rise…)
Gold still rising. That’s an indicator the flight to safety (and out of the Fed’s Ponzi markets) has begun in earnest.
http://www.kitco.com/market/
More European nation-states are moving to reclaim their sovereignty from their banker-globalist overlords of the EU and ECB.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/europes-current-economy/five-more-countries-want-referendums-to-exit-eu/
Anyone from co go to the Aspen meeting?
I wonder if they know us taxpayers pay for a big chunk if IMF
You should see their buildings and tax free pensions
Gold markets are open. Gold is up by a little over 1%. S&P 500 futures down half of one percent.
Any recommendations on mining stocks?
I like the junior miners ETF which is GDXJ. I cannot recommend any particular mining stock large or small. In January you suggested AUY and I bought 1000 shares at $1.83 I think the sector has much more to go upward.
I am not considering buying more mining stocks as I have a lot of money in them now. I am set on looking for huge drops in prices of good quality companies outside mining. I have WHM and AAL in my sight.
Should be a good week ahead for flight-to-quality assets (long-term government bonds, gold, cash, etc).
Renter Nation thanks the Federal Reserve for spiraling rent costs. (Of course, 95% of Renter Nation bent over for the Fed lunatics by voting for the crony capitalist status quo).
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-26/cost-burdened-renters-surge-historic-highs-hillbama-nomics-fails-low-income-faithful
A preview of coming attractions once our permanent Democrat supermajority installs its collectivist kleptocracy. Forward!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-26/they-are-putting-armed-guards-food-trucks-venezuela
Enough with the political correctness where everyone gets a trophy.
We need to get back to being able to take a loss and knowing how to deal with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSQxtMWJzGQ - 285k -
Au contraire. The Comrades of Proven Worth at the DNC will not be able to install its collectivist kleptocracy until they have their own Red Guard of SJWs incapable of reason or critical thinking, only of blindly regurgitating DNC talking points and SJW dogma. Triggleypuff is the very apex of the gender-neutral SJW activist that is the DNC ideal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y69tkCbeC5o
When our permanent Democrat Supermajority has imposed collectivist Comrades of Proven Worth to impose their corrupt, incompetent regime of the kleptocrats and takers, we will all be Baltimore.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2016/06/26/no-self-respect-decades-of-liberal-rule/
Markets
‘Brexit’ Upends China’s Plans for Turmoil-Free Summer
Chinese officials don’t want a repeat of last summer’s stock-market turmoil
China is fighting to keep the yuan stable after the British vote to exit the European Union.
Photo: Zuma Press
By Lingling Wei
Updated June 26, 2016 10:38 p.m. ET
BEIJING—A few days before Britons voted to leave the European Union, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the central bank’s monetary-policy department to make a simple point: The yuan must be kept stable.
That came on the heels of a meeting at China’s top securities watchdog, where officials emphasized that China’s market turmoil last summer must not be repeated this year, according to people close to the agency. That directive will now be put to the test.
China is on the receiving end of global market turbulence triggered by the “Brexit” shock. And no part of its financial system is more vulnerable than the yuan, already the subject of a precarious central-bank high-wire act.
…
Five clues to whether markets are going to collapse this week
By Renae Merle
Wonkblog
June 26 at 6:47 PM
Divyakant Solanki/European Pressphoto Agency
NEW YORK — By the time markets open Monday morning in Asia — just a few hours from now — investors across the globe will have had a couple of nights to absorb the stunning news that Britain had voted to leave the European Union.
Their initial reaction was to send global markets into a meltdown. The British pound fell to a multi-year low. Gold, a safe haven for nervous investors, surged. Global markets lost more than $2 trillion in wealth on Friday — a record. About $800 billion of that loss in market wealth was felt in the United States, where the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 600 points.
Will a few days of relaxation be enough to wash away that funk? Don’t count on it.
“Market panics … never completely wash themselves out on a Friday and in particular on a summer Friday,” said Art Hogan, director of equity research and chief market strategist for Wunderlich. “Obviously there is no road map for a historic event like this, but typically it takes two or three days for the initial washout to complete itself.”
…
At this moment, Nikkei up 2.01%…Shanghai up .86%
http://www.cnbc.com/markets-asia-pacific/
Plunge protection measures seem to be working.
Kinda strange there doesn’t seem to be many recent posts out of Zerohedge. Coordinated take down perhaps?
Bill O’Reilly reveals unseen photos of Barack Obama in traditional …
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3678209/Bill-O-Reilly-reveals-pictures-young-Obama-Islamic-wedding-claims-emotional-attachment-Muslim-world-hurt-USA.html - - Cached - Similar pages
12 hours ago