A Fundamentally Flawed System
A weekend topic on the housing bubble and policy starting with the Evening Standard. “It is generally a mistake to assume that because someone is in charge, they know what they are doing. It is not just politicians we should worry about, however. The same can be said of technocrats, many of whom wield as much power. This list comprises many business leaders but, most of all in today’s world, it also includes central bankers. For the past eight years, we have by and large assumed these figures of authority knew what they were doing, even when they pursued ever more extreme and experimental policies — always with the best of intentions, but with no real idea of how they might pan out.”
“In a speech earlier this month, Hans Hoogervorst, the one-time Dutch politician who now chairs the International Accounting Standards Board, drew attention to the reservations expressed by Jaime Caruana, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements — the central bankers’ club. Caruana said with refreshing honesty: ‘At this stage, we don’t fully understand the implications of low or even negative interest rates for the financial system and the economy as a whole.’”
“Clearly, central bankers operate to different rules. It is not as if we do not know some of the negative side-effects of ultra-low interest rates, which are at the core of current unconventional monetary policies. Hoogervorst even quotes the 82nd BIS annual report, which talks about how low rates increase leverage in the system. The 2008 blow-up was a classic credit crisis caused by the excessive build-up of debt in the economy. But thanks to low interest rates, leverage today is now even higher than it was then.”
“McKinsey has done the sums. In 2007, the combined worldwide debt of households, governments, corporations and the financial sector was an astonishing 269% of global GDP. By the end of 2014, it was an even more astonishing 286%. Add in the unfunded pension liabilities of various governments round the world, which Citigroup estimated in March to be $78 trillion (£59 trillion) for the 20 leading OECD economies, and the overall indebtedness of the world’s economy today comes to more than 400% of global GDP.”
“As Hoogervorst says, it is hard to see how this is going to end well or how these obligations can be met in an orderly fashion. There is a social cost, too. Unconventional policies such as quantitative easing fuel asset-price inflation in stock markets and property. This contains the seeds of future instability and, with expensive housing in particular, can have huge negative consequences for society, accentuating inequality and intergenerational unfairness. London housing is now 50% higher than it was before the 2008 crash.”
“‘To be in bubble territory again so soon after one of the worst credit crunches in history defies common sense,’ Hoogervorst says.”
From Bloomberg. “Americans are about as wealthy as they’ve ever been—and that’s a worry? Yup, say veteran economists Daniel Thornton and Joe Carson. They’re concerned that the swelling of wealth could prove unsustainable because it’s far outstripped the growth of the economy since the recession’s end in 2009. Thornton, who spent 33 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis before retiring in 2014, says in effect that we’ve seen this picture before. Household net worth ballooned in the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s; in the first instance pumped up by rising stock prices, in the second by expanding home values. Both cases ended badly, with the economy falling into recession after the bubbles burst.”
“The same thing could happen again, if you ask Thornton, who now heads a consulting company in Valley Park, Missouri. Just as occurred in the previous two episodes, the latest expansion of wealth has been driven more by rising prices of assets—in this case both shares and homes—than by improved economic fundamentals, he said.”
“The problem, Carson said, is that ‘the financial cycle is way ahead of the economic cycle.’ That’s a worry given that the past two downturns were driven by asset-price deflation. ‘Nobody knows what’s going to happen,’ Thornton said. ‘But there’s plenty of reason to think that’s a scary graph.’”
From CNBC. “Corporate debt is projected to swell over the next several years, thanks to cheap money from global central banks, according to a report that warns of a potential crisis from all that new, borrowed cash floating around. By 2020, business debt likely will climb to $75 trillion from its current $51 trillion level, according to S&P Global Ratings. Under normal conditions, that wouldn’t be a major problem so long as credit quality stays high, interest rates and inflation remain low, and there are economic growth persists.”
“However, the alternative is less pleasant should those conditions not persist. In that case, a ‘Crexit,’ or withdrawal by lenders from the credit markets, could occur and lead to a sudden tightening of conditions that could trigger another financial scare. ‘A worst-case scenario would be a series of major negative surprises sparking a crisis of confidence around the globe,’ S&P said in the report. ‘These unforeseen events could quickly destabilize the market, pushing investors and lenders to exit riskier positions (’Crexit’ scenario). If mishandled, this could result in credit growth collapsing as it did during the global financial crisis.’”
“In fact, S&P considers a correction in the credit markets to be ‘inevitable.’ The only question is degree. ‘Central banks remain in thrall to the idea that credit-fueled growth is healthy for the global economy,’ S&P said. ‘In fact, our research highlights that monetary policy easing has thus far contributed to increased financial risk, with the growth of corporate borrowing far outpacing that of the global economy.’”
From Stefan Gerlach, Chief Economist at BSI Bank in Zurich and Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland. He has also served as Executive Director and Chief Economist of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and as Secretary to the Committee on the Global Financial System at the BIS. “After having endured the collapse of its housing market less than a decade ago, Ireland has lately been experiencing a blistering recovery in prices, which already have risen in Dublin by some 50% from the trough in 2010. Is Ireland setting itself up for another devastating crash?”
“Housing bubbles are not difficult to spot; on the contrary, they typically make headlines long before they pop. Yet they are far from rare. Bubbles in Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States collapsed after the financial crisis that erupted in 2008. After the Asian financial crisis erupted in 1997, property prices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand sank by 20-60%. And a decade earlier, Sweden, Norway, and Finland experienced property-price declines of 30-50%.”
“The obvious question is why nobody stepped in before it was too late. The answer is simple: while the bubbles are inflating, many people benefit. With the construction sector thriving, unemployment falling, and banks lending freely, people are happy – and politicians like it that way.”
“Because bubbles tend to inflate gradually over a number of years before their abrupt collapse, letting them run a little further seems politically astute. No one wants to be the one to stop the party – especially if their job is at stake. But the partygoers of the private sector cannot be counted on to stop themselves. In particular, banks, for which maintaining market share is crucial, cannot be expected to constrain risky lending, especially given the expectation that, if things do go wrong, the taxpayers will fund a bailout.”
“This leaves only the financial regulator or the central bank, which can use macroprudential tools – such as loan-to-value and debt-to-income ratios on new mortgage lending – to limit the deterioration of banks’ balance sheets during boom times. But this approach isn’t perfect, either, because the risky borrowers to whom lending is restricted tend to be first-time or low-income buyers.”
“By limiting the riskiest borrowers’ access to finance, rules on mortgage lending can trigger a fierce political backlash. Ireland is a case in point. In January 2015, the central bank sought to protect financial institutions from another catastrophic bubble by restricting their lending to high-risk borrowers. As a result, annual growth in property prices fell from a little over 20% to just below 5%. But the construction industry, worried about its profits, has been harshly critical of the rules, as have ordinary people who have been denied credit, and thus must struggle to find suitable housing in a small rental market. Politicians, no surprise, have jumped on the bandwagon, to capitalize on the popular mood.”
“As the pressure on Irish regulators to relax lending rules intensifies, so do concerns that they will succumb to it. One hopes that they will continue to resist. Would-be borrowers do indeed face genuine challenges as a result of these regulations; but that is nothing compared to the pain that a collapsing bubble would cause.”
“In any case, Ireland’s experience with housing bubbles carries a deeper lesson – one that virtually everyone has missed. A housing system that can so easily produce such large and damaging bubbles is fundamentally flawed. While restrictions on lending may be useful, they are not enough to bring about an efficient and stable housing system.”
“Many in Ireland might find that conclusion overly pessimistic. Maybe they are simply hoping that, this time, the luck of the Irish will hold. Perhaps it will, and this time really is different. But there isn’t much evidence of that.”
A programing note: I’m going to change the the posting, back more like when I started. So it may be one article at 9PM, what ever is getting information out quicker. Plus I expect to be spending more time on videos, so this desk-top style of posting won’t work as often.
Great articles! Will the attacks in Europe cripple the service economy and be the black swan event that sets off the financial panic!
The attacks in Europe are only added to the popular anger against the globalist elites who have sold their countries down the river. While the Goldman Sachs adjuncts at the central banks have been able to massively bail out their bankster accomplices with created-out-of-thin-air trillions in “stimulus” and transferred the banksters’ bad debts to the public ledger, the so-called “far-right” parties - what the Oligopoly media calls anyone who puts the interests of their sovereign countries and people’s ahead of those of the international financiers - are surging in support and will overturn the ECB’s “No Billionaire Left Behind” monetary policies and demand honest money once they get into power. So the oligarchs are shaking in their boots at the prospect of the lucrative swindles they have run on nation-states and taxpayers coming to a screeching halt once their toadies in the captured Establishment parties are sent packing.
The “far right” parties in Europe will put a stop to this kind of “privatized profits, socialized losses.”
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/07/21/taxpayer-bailout-to-stop-italian-bank-meltdown/
Going to be able to get laid in Italy for a bologna sandwich… without the bologna. Hehe.
Boy RKH, your Trump worshipping is turning you into a Nazi.
Don’t bother him while he is busy with polishing the boots he plans to wear after joining Herr Strumpf’s storm troopers.
I don’t “worship” Trump, as I’ve made clear. I’m wary of him and his true motives and agenda. But while your libertarians gesticulate impotently, he’s actually posing the ONLY credible challenge to the corrupt, crony capitalist status quo. And please explain how support for nationalist parties who are standing up for their own countries, cultures, and sovereignty makes one a “nazi.” I think my views on totalitarian regimes of any stripe are pretty clear.
trumpence
The return on investment of a con, bribe, theft or fraud. This could include the direct financial benefit of a scam or plot, but also can be used to represent the emotional boost a narcissist or sociopath gets from feeling superior to those they have manipulated and tricked.
“You should always make sure the target of your scam isn’t overly intelligent, then you can play on their fears to maximize your potential trumpence.”
#return #scam #con #bribe #lie #cheat #theft #fraud #trump #manipulate #pence
by TheLastDragon July 15, 2016
Likewise I feel no affection for Hillary, though I am often accused of being one of her followers due to my failure to fawn over Daddy Donald the way his zealotrous followers on this board do.
Don’t mind them, Ray. With all the Wikileaks information out today and the DNC collusion with the media, the commie pusbags are trying to get out ahead of it.
Just be careful of having people like this in your life.
“commie pusbags”
Trumplings have a hard time not flinging feces like chimpanzees at the zoo.
Just be careful of having people like this in your life.
I don’t mind PB or Bill. Neither are bad people and to a large extent I get what they’re saying. Not a fan of fratricide here on the HBB - can agree to disagree with most. Trump may well turn out to be a fraud, though the alternative in this election is to vote for a Goldman Sachs-owned criminal sociopath, which is no choice at all. And while the libertarians may be ideologically most in line with what I believe, in the real world dogma like open borders just won’t fly. You have to deal with things as they are, not how you’d like them to be.
“Posing the only credible challenge.”
I call bull$hit. You know Gary Johnson is running and is polling even with Hillary Clinton. As a plus, he is not as statist and war mongering as Stump.
“he is not as statist and war mongering”
Gary Johnson is a nutbag. “I would sign the TPP”
I can’t believe I once voted for him. Then again, I voted for GWB once, too.
The next president will be even worse. As George Zimmer says…”I guarantee it”
Nothing like a lack of tourism (especially the wealthy Chinese) due to fear to help collapse the whole of the european economies. Throw in high debt and extreme weather and you have a very potent cocktail.
‘This contains the seeds of future instability and, with expensive housing in particular, can have huge negative consequences for society, accentuating inequality and intergenerational unfairness. London housing is now 50% higher than it was before the 2008 crash’
A poster added this article last night:
‘Jitters in London luxury flat market as investors sell for ‘bargain’ prices’
‘Jonathan Hopper, of property buying agents Garrington, said new-build flats were likely to “suffer disproportionately” from market falls. “A lot of investors buying in London were doing so for capital appreciation rather than yield, and with capital appreciation under the spotlight they are choosing not to buy,” he said. “Domestic demand has come to a shuddering halt and that void has not yet been filled by international buyers.”
‘Hopper said the stamp duty changes had offset the fall in the pound and meant that London did not look as cheap to foreign buyers as during the financial crisis in 2009.’
‘He said discounts had started ahead of the Brexit vote. “We bought [at a discount] for a couple of clients in the six months before Brexit,” he said. “The sellers were international buyers who had basically got it wrong – they thought that London was always going to keep going up and then they realised that wasn’t the case.”
‘Hopper said some developers were discounting in a bid to finish on sites that were already half-sold. “They have already paid for the development and it’s now a matter of how much profit they are going to make,” he said. Hopper added that buyers should beware of a “concentration of risk. If there is a large development with a multiple units they could be vulnerable to a fairly significant realignment of pricing”.
See jingle, this isn’t really the apocalypse, it’s just gamblers getting an ass-pounding:
‘The sellers were international buyers who had basically got it wrong – they thought that London was always going to keep going up’
And azdude, I thought you said Yellen wouldn’t let this happen?
Funny how countries all over the world talk about international investors from all over the world. Who, exactly, is an international investor, and who is not?
One giant swirling toilet with many participants from all corners.
Ain’t diversity grand?
‘Hopper said some developers were discounting in a bid to finish on sites that were already half-sold. “They have already paid for the development and it’s now a matter of how much profit they are going to make,” he said. Hopper added that buyers should beware of a “concentration of risk. If there is a large development with a multiple units they could be vulnerable to a fairly significant realignment of pricing”.
Developers may want to sell for a high price, but at some point they will slash as much as necessary to get out. We’ve seen this before.
‘A top banker’s dire warning about Auckland’s overheated house prices shows there is a “complete crisis” in the property market, economist Shamubeel Eaqub says. In a strongly worded opinion piece, ANZ chief executive David Hisco has warned Auckland property prices are overcooked and the end would likely be messy.’
‘He has joined several leading establishment figures in calling for stronger action on housing, and said this week’s Reserve Bank lending restrictions did not go far enough. The central bank has lifted deposit requirements for investors to 40 per cent, but Hisco said they should be lifted to 60 per cent even though that would mean less business for ANZ.’
‘He says banks should introduce more voluntary lending restrictions, saying they are unable to keep lending at current volumes without turning to pricey overseas capital. If there was an economic downturn, people could be unable to cover their mortgages and overseas investors would look to sell up “most probably in a stampede”, Hisco wrote.’
‘Eaqub said Hisco’s comments were a sign of the troubled times. “It’s funny that the banks are saying that something must be done. It’s a complete crisis when you’ve got Hisco and all these guys coming out saying the same kind of thing - even businesses and people you’d think would be the supporters.”
‘Eaqub said the housing market in Auckland was “absolutely nuts”. “It is extraordinarily unaffordable and income simply will not be catching up fast enough to take care of a risk of a future downturn.”
‘Labour finance spokesman Grant Robertson said Hisco’s message reflected the fact the housing market was in crisis. “This is the kind of warning from inside the system that should, if nothing else, shake the Government.”
‘Greens finance spokeswoman Julie Anne Genter said ANZ’s call for more restrictions on lending spoke volumes about the housing market. “It definitely feels like a bubble.”
‘NZ First leader Winston Peters said Hisco’s warning of a “messy end” was totally predictable and avoidable but had been ignored by the Government and others for too long. “There will be a correction. It is going to be enormously painful for hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders and that’s the sad part about it. Many people will lose their equity.”
‘It’s funny that the banks are saying that something must be done. It’s a complete crisis when you’ve got Hisco and all these guys coming out saying the same kind of thing - even businesses and people you’d think would be the supporters’
‘This is the kind of warning from inside the system that should, if nothing else, shake the Government’
Same thing happened in Canada recently; the bankers and other “insiders” came out and asked the government to do something to stop house prices.
the bankers and other “insiders” came out
Supply and demand…..LOL
“Supply and demand…..LOL”
Yes, I demand and you supply.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
‘Eaqub said the housing market in Auckland was “absolutely nuts”. “It is extraordinarily unaffordable and income simply will not be catching up fast enough to take care of a risk of a future downturn.”
There’s that pesky income thing again.
‘When New York developer Gary Barnett needed a $55 million loan for a commercial-development site on the Upper East Side of Manhattan earlier this year, he didn’t turn to Deutsche Bank AG or J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Instead, he called on Bank of the Ozarks Inc., a small lender based in Arkansas.’
‘Bank of the Ozarks has stepped into a void left by bigger banks that have pulled back from commercial lending in recent months amid softness in big markets such as New York and Houston. The lender’s outstanding loans in New York shot up to $1.9 billion in the first quarter since entering the market in 2012. Overall, its portfolio of loans and leases has swelled to nearly $9.7 billion as of June 30 from $3.6 billion in 2013.’
‘But the Little Rock, Ark., lender is diving headlong into some of the shakiest commercial-property markets in the U.S. at a time when investors are beginning to worry that the real-estate rally of the past few years is coming to an end.’
“A lot of our competitors tend to move as a pack and are heavily driven by headline risk,” said George Gleason, the bank’s chairman and chief executive, on a recent call with investors. “So what we have tried to do is ignore the headlines, to a great extent…we are finding tremendous opportunities in Manhattan, Miami, Houston [and] Dallas.”
‘The median sales price for luxury condominiums and townhouses along the Miami waterfront fell 17% in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, while inventory jumped more than 78%, according to the Elliman Report by real- estate appraiser Jonathan Miller.’
‘Manhattan apartment sales, meanwhile, were down 10% in the second quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since the recession year of 2009, according to an analysis of city records by The Wall Street Journal.’
‘Investors are getting jittery about Bank of the Ozarks’ heavy bets on potentially shaky markets. In May, Carson Block of Muddy Waters Capital said at the Sohn Investment Conference that he was betting against the bank’s stock. He cited the fact that 89% of the bank’s loans are in real estate. Similar-size banks average about 72%, according to Mr. Rose.’
‘Mr. Block also said the bank has made construction loans that are riskier than the bank claims, and should be setting aside more money to cover losses as the real-estate market cools.’
‘In Houston, for example, the bank has made a loan to a project with office space and retail in the upscale River Oaks neighborhood. Houston’s inventory of empty office space has soared in the past year thanks to the oil slump and a wave of fresh supply just after oil prices plunged. The availability rate — space that is vacant or available for sublease — hit 19.8% in the second quarter, a 20-year high, according to CBRE Group Inc.’
‘But Bank of the Ozarks’ loan represents only 25% of the cost of the project, making it less risky than a typical commercial-property loan. “Why isn’t everybody doing this? Because people are afraid of Houston right now,” Mr. Rose said.’
Here’s your chance Selfish Hoarder. Shrug off that doom and get in on the ground floor with Bank of the Ozarks’. Tap that sweet equity azdude and go all in. You aren’t afraid are you? Rose isn’t afraid, so let’s see that contrarian bravado right now, not in 2009. This is your chance!
“This is your chance!”
Yes! Do as Nike says and JUST DO IT!
The dotted lines await.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
You mean like invest in the Bank of the Ozarks?
Moi? Doom? I’m still more than 58% stock funds.
My silver and gold holdings and Bitcoin are my doom investments.
I’m not sure what you mean by “doom,” but bitcoin isn’t going to be much good if that doom disrupts almost any of our modern infrastructure. Power plants and cell towers don’t run themselves.
I like the physical precious.
‘But the Little Rock, Ark., lender is diving headlong into some of the shakiest commercial-property markets in the U.S. at a time when investors are beginning to worry that the real-estate rally of the past few years is coming to an end.’
Seems like either a Clinton or a Trump victory could portend well for this nascent high-risk gambling venture.
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ozrk
52 week low $33.51
52 week high $54.96
P/E ratio 16.50
EPS 2.26
Dividend 0.16
Come on jingle, make your grandpa proud! Tap that sweet equity and back up the truck. These guys are a bargain, the stocks almost half off. They have earnings, unlike the Silicon Valley puddle watchers. There’s even a dividend!
You aren’t a doom and gloomer, are you?
Try not to catch yourself a falling knife.
Shouldn’t you be writing gushing love letters to Hillary?
That might be worth putting a buy limit on at $10.
I put banks in the same league as appliance (refrigerators p, W/Ds, dishwashers), home maintenance (HD, LOW), and home builders. Maybe also apartment REITS especially AVB, which is high end.
All worth putting low limit buys on and buying lots of popcorn.
(I wonder where Neil is. He always was looking for popcorn on HBB back several years ago.)
All worth putting low limit buys on and buying lots of popcorn.
How did that low-limit buy order on WAMU work out for you?
That might be worth putting a buy limit on at $10.
Might be worth putting a market short position in place instead.
I never put any order on WAMU. What’s that?
Primey’s being sarcastic. He isn’t really saying that you put an order on WAMU; he thinks that Ozarks could go the way of WAMU.
[WAMU was famous (notorious) for collecting less than interest on neg-am "option" loans and booking full PITI profit anyway. It blew up in the their faces and justifiably so. In 2008, FDIC chopped up WAMU and sold it on the block, mostly to JPM. Stock went to zip; shouldn't have bought it an any price.]
Thanks for explaining, Oxy…
Stock went to zip; shouldn’t have bought it an any price.]
Strangely, I “bought” WAMU, for a penny or two on the dollar, just because I couldn’t figure out what happened to my short position if I didn’t… I borrowed those shares from somebody after all, and they had a right to have those (worthless) shares back, right??
But yes, the point is that banks are NOT all “worth putting low limit buys on”, as Bill put it. Some are not worth buying at any price, if they are going to go bust.
I sold 50% of my stocks at $17,500 and sold the other 50% at $18,500. I want to be liquid, although I am going to buy $20k in gold and silver (first time).
From the Evening Standard link:
‘Caruana said with refreshing honesty: “At this stage, we don’t fully understand the implications of low or even negative interest rates for the financial system and the economy as a whole.”
‘Think about that for a moment. If your doctor said before administering a drug that he did not fully understand how it would affect your system, either for good or ill, would you take it?’
‘If an architect proposing to build something as dramatic as the Shard or the Walkie Talkie said he did not fully understand the effect the various stresses would have on the structure he had designed, would he be allowed to build it?’
‘If an airline said its new planes did not have an airworthiness certificate, would it be allowed to fly them?’
‘Clearly, central bankers operate to different rules.’
‘Raghuram Rajan, governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has been leery of the unconventional monetary policy tools used by central banks since the financial crisis. At some point, he said, pushing interest rates low seems to have the perverse effect of making people save rather than spend.’
‘Perhaps the most cogent critic of Fed quantitative easing policy, Rajan says the asset-price boost that comes with it may disappear if these assets can’t grow into their valuation.’
“A bridge that relies on wealth effects, you better hope that you got enough growth to justify the asset price increase which created the wealth effect in the first place.” - Raghuram Rajan
‘it may disappear if these assets can’t grow into their valuation’
He’s a critic from within, but he’s still one of the magic people.
‘it may disappear if these assets can’t grow into their valuation’
Words. In today’s world the price of the assets IS their valuation.
How else are these asset thingys supposed to be measured if not by the price? By Fundamentals perhaps?
Good luck with that; Fundamentals are ‘old school’.
Bubble Watch: Could the Housing Markets in These Top Cities Be Getting Too Hot?
http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/housing-bubble-2/?identityID=55e70adfdfdb600adc000039&MID=2016_0722_WeeklyNL&RID=3400870662&cid=eml-2016-0715-WeeklyNL-blog_1_housingbubble2-blogs_trends
The most difficult part of this narrative for Joe Six-pack is how to run his life, considering all this impending doom!. I remember asking my uncle about this when I was a child in the 60’s. I was sure the Great Depression was coming. His answer was to carry on with prudence. If you place your whole life on hold waiting for the apocalypse, you don’t have a life.
It’s some of the best advice I ever received!
‘your whole life on hold waiting for the apocalypse’
Or bragging about something you did 7 years ago.
..or getting stuck in forecasting the impending collapse of the housing market for the last 7 years, while it recovers instead.
‘forecasting the impending collapse’
You’re thinking of someone else. Seven years ago I was buying foreclosures, cash, and fixing them up to rent out. I helped people buy more housing units as recently as 2014. At double digit cap rates.
Here’s the thing about your brave purchases; you didn’t put much money up. If it went wrong you could walk away like all the others. Pretty much a no risk deal. It was the same for me except the risk I took on was that the repairs I estimated might turn out wrong. But there was no big risk in paying $20 something per square foot.
So now, with your foot in your mouth, tell us what’s your next bold move? Bank of the Ozarks? They’re all in, why aren’t you? Tell us, what’s going to happen? Where’s the big bonanza? Or are you all no-risk 2009 and I danced with three girls at my prom?
Because I ain’t bashful about saying what I think. I don’t think Houston needs more offices or apartments. Actually, I’ve been saying it’s gonna crash. Oh look, it is crashing! Manhattan too, and Miami and London and Hong Kong, and the list goes on!
“But there was no big risk in paying $20 something per square foot.”
There it is.
You’d have to have rocks in your head to pay the massively inflated median at any time in the past 16 years but millions did.
Now they’re losing their ass yet most are to afraid of the inevitable outcome to look at it.
I was actually talking about HA, CEO… whatever name he uses.
And a response to this: “You didn’t put much money up. If it went wrong you could walk away like all the others…”
I actually put 25% down on my purchades (except the one where I live). I was quite comfortable investing substantial equity because the properties all had great cash flow. The rents have gone up, the loan balances have gone down and I will be free and clear in 15-20 years. Buying real estate at the bottom was a life changer for me. The best move I ever made, just as it probably was for you and your investors.
You don’t know who you’re responding to nor can you keep your stories straight anymore.
You just made that up, didn’t you?
What is prudence, borrowing money to buy things you can’t afford?
Jingle, I agree with what your uncle said. My dad said back in the 70s we’re overdue for another GD. Had I saved money only in cash I would have missed out on stocks. I guess I did heed his advice because I did not start buying stocks until I was 29 but had the money to start investing at 25.
And I remember the survivalists predicting doom back in the 70s.
This is why I love California. Its entrepreneurial spirit is from shrugging off doom and ignoring politicians,
Cut off the cheap money valve from DC to Cali. This place will turn to $hit within a decade. Actually it already is except for SF and LA Metros.
California is firmly under the control of the Comrades of Proven Worth from the party of collectivist kleptocracy. Cali is headed in one direction: down.
I ignore the obnoxious laws by the collectivists in California. Instead, I enjoy the nice climate and variety of geography.
Ignoring politicians?
http://www.wired.com/2015/07/google-facebook-amazon-lobbying/
“The same thing could happen again, if you ask Thornton…”
Did he miss the fact that the energy boom has fizzled?
The waterways are thinly traveled this year, despite the significantly lower fuel prices.
Over the past few years I noticed a lot of old-commercial conversion to luxury apartments. This year one of the ambitious projects on the main drag in Seneca Falls is up for sale as commercial again.
Anchored off a white sandy beach.
From the Bloomberg link:
‘the latest expansion of wealth has been driven more by rising prices of assets—in this case both shares and homes—than by improved economic fundamentals, he said…Since 2009, households have seen their holdings of stock and mutual funds nearly double, to $20.6 trillion. Only 6 percent of that gain can be ascribed to new flows of money into the funds or share purchases, according to calculations by Carson. The rest is due to price appreciation.’
But if stocks fell by 50% it would be the apocalypse according to the powers that be. Even though it came from nothing and people lost almost nothing.
Most amazing aspect of today’s collection of articles: Lots of central banking club members seem to have grave concerns, which they are willing to openly share, over where the recent trajectory of monetary policy has taken the world’s financial system.
‘Lots of central banking club members seem to have grave concerns’
‘Housing bubbles are not difficult to spot; on the contrary, they typically make headlines long before they pop. Yet they are far from rare.’
Yes, it’s getting crowded in the bubble camp. Some of us were early, but it isn’t hard to see that safe deposit boxes in the sky aren’t safe. It’s not hard to see a headline in the LA Times about flippers selling to flippers to see a bubble. To see land prices double and triple in Bozeman Montana, Omaha Nebraska and Perrysberg Ohio and know it’s a bubble. Or hedge funds paying over asking when they are the only bidder. These are things I’ve posted here for all to see. Not much commentary; make up your own mind.
Shiller’s worried too (of course he said it was a bubble in 2001, but he’s the go to guy). And Pimco and S&P. A little late but whatever. They can always walk in and say they saw it all along and make up timelines and tell me what I was doing years ago when they have no idea. Now the central bankers are worried. It might just be too late.
“Now the central bankers are worried.”
Once these folks are issuing bubble warnings in the MSM, the tornado is already across the street and about to level the building you are in.
Everyone is a genius when the stock market is up and housing values are high.
I think I am a genius because Zillow tell me that I am one. Or it tells me that my house is one. Whatever.
Time to take a peek at the latest Wealth Generation Report that Zillow has in store for me …
(doin’ some typing …)
Zillow says … OMG! … Zillow says the value of my house DROPPED by $1,771 over the past 30 days. This cannot be!
What to do? Maybe pull out some more weeds from the front lawn? Get the abandoned cars off the sawhorses?
What else?
Feed the squirrels.
…. including the ones running around inside my head???😭
Why they hate us, part 2874646464
US says airstrikes on Syrian city Manbij to continue despite civilian deaths
Syrian activists claim at least 73 and as many as 125 civilians have been killed in contested northern city that has been hit in US-led effort against Isis.
That’s unpossible! Everyone knows that we’re the good guys!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3wtUCPWmeI
I’m going to be in Munich in a few weeks. Will definitely be careful while I’m there.
“‘To be in bubble territory again so soon after one of the worst credit crunches in history defies common sense,’ Hoogervorst says.”
With central banker peops making such revalatory statements, we must be entering the late innings of the game.
I would say extra innings, so the next home run = game over!
“In fact, S&P considers a correction in the credit markets to be ‘inevitable.’ The only question is degree. ‘Central banks remain in thrall to the idea that credit-fueled growth is healthy for the global economy,’ S&P said. ‘In fact, our research highlights that monetary policy easing has thus far contributed to increased financial risk, with the growth of corporate borrowing far outpacing that of the global economy.’”
Actually there are quite a few other questions besides degree:
1) When will the next crisis start?
2) Where will it begin?
3) What events will precipitate it (e.g. Brexit, Trump election, etc.)?
4) Will it be locally or regionally contained, or global in scope?
5) Given the extant penetration of central bank stimulus, with never an unwind of extraordinary measures after the 2008-09 financial collapse, would a hair-of-the-dog return to even more extreme quantitative easing and other financial life support than before be sufficient to save the banking system from a future crisis?
6) Can the Fed and other central banks ever normalize policy without sparking a new crisis?
How come the Fed’s balance sheet remains perpetually bloated, many years after the Great Recession ended?
SF FED blog
What’s the Fed’s Balance Sheet?
May 18, 2016
Close up of seal on Federal Reserve Note
Federal Reserve policy actions have increased the size of the Fed’s balance sheet to about $4.5 trillion. But what exactly is the Fed’s balance sheet? Here’s the answer from Glenn Rudebusch, director of SF Fed Economic Research:
“Almost everybody has a balance sheet. Government institutions, commercial businesses, individuals—they all have a balance sheet. A balance sheet is just an accounting of assets and liabilities.
The assets are the things you own. The liabilities are the things you owe. The difference between them is your net worth or capital.
The Fed has a balance sheet, and its assets side is pretty simple. The Fed owns government securities. The size of the Fed’s balance sheet right now is about $4.5 trillion. About 95% of its assets are in government securities, and shorter and longer term Treasury obligations and mortgage-backed securities from the federally sponsored enterprises or agency.
…
The crazy thing about the Fed balance sheet is that they track no corresponding liabilities when they create money out of thin air and spend it to buy assets.
Why don’t they have an obligation (e.g. a liability) to reduce the money supply back to a more sane level at some point? Why isn’t that tracked as a liability on the balance sheet?
As summer doldrums hit, Palm Beach County jobless rate rises
BUSINESS By Jeff Ostrowski - Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/business/as-summer-doldrums-hit-palm-beach-county-jobless-r/nr336/?icmp=pbp_internallink_referralbox_free-to-premium-referral
Was it a political convention or was it TV wrestling? At it was hard to tell at points.
“Was it a political convention or was it TV wrestling?”
So… did you order an Ivanka label dress for your wife?
Made in china, right?
Even if it was, that is the exact reason we need to elect Trump, the only one talking about doing anything except wholesale surrender to China.
She would probably strangle me if I did.
Hillary pant suit then.
No, Jesus, we were talking about what his wife might wear.
Go shopping… buy something. —Dubya
Tim Kaine …zzzzzzz. Bad judgment from Shillary. Does nothing to excite the Bernie or minority voters. Low turnout for Ds equals President Trump.
What did you expect? Mike Pence was unavailable.
Zed Bush, Kasich & Cruz were available.
Paul Ryan would be the perfect VP for Hillary. Birds of a feather in every respect.
The Iowa Electronic Market Winner-takes-all futures prices are trending towards a Democrat victory, with no evidence of any post-convention bounce for the Trump Party.
Rigged market just like the stawks.
Bookies had remain winning in UK, too.
You can’t trust nobody…everything is rigged beyond repair.
IEM is unrigged by design.
IEM is unrigged by design.
No such a thing.
Bookies had remain winning in UK, too.
Yup, it was supposed to be a slam dunk. Funny how it didn’t turnout that way.
The election will establish the percentage of stupid, amoral ‘Muricans who will vote for a criminal sociopath who intends to escalate the Oligopoly’s looting spree against the 99%.
“Does nothing to excite the Bernie or minority voters.”
Maybe this will.
Leaked emails show how Democrats screwed Sanders
By Daniel Halper and Joe Tacopino
July 22, 2016 | 5:35pm
The notorious hacker collective WikiLeaks dumped a massive trove of e-mails from the Democratic National Committee onto the Web Friday just as Hillary Clinton was preparing to celebrate her presidential nomination at the Democratic convention next week.
In the thousands of internal e-mails, it was revealed that a Democratic Party official tried to use Bernie Sanders’ supposed religious beliefs to derail his presidential campaign; one staffer pitched an idea for a phony sexist Trump ad and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz tried to score a staggering seven tickets to the Broadway smash “Hamilton.”
BURNING BERNIE
The suggestion of going after Sanders based on religion was included in one of 19,252 e-mails.
In one message dated May 5, 2016, with the subject line “No s–t,” the chief financial officer of the Democratic National Committee, Brad Marshall, plotted how to portray Sanders, who was raised Jewish in Brooklyn, as an atheist.
NB-SEETHING
The DNC was supposed to be neutral in the primary between Clinton and the Vermont senator.
But the e-mails confirm the party establishment was in the tank for Clinton long before the primaries were decided.
And top DNC officials were not happy when they were called out for taking sides.
Wasserman Schultz sent an e-mail to NBC anchor Chuck Todd complaining about MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, who was calling for her to resign for taking sides in an intra-party battle.
The subject line read: “Chuck, this must stop!”
In another e-mail, dated May 21, 2016, DNC press secretary Mark Paustenbach wrote to communications director Luis Miranda suggesting they plant a story that the Sanders campaign was in chaos.
PLOT AGAINST TRUMP
In one oddball e-mail chain, a DNC deputy communications director plotted to create a fake Craigslist ad that portrayed Donald Trump as sex crazed.
Christina Freundlich — who took a smiling selfie at the scene of a tragic East Village gas explosion in March 2015 — pitched the idea for a fake employment ad for “hot” women who want to work for a Trump organization.
“Seeking staff members for multiple positions in a large, New York-based corporation known for its real estate investments, fake universities, steaks, and wine,” the copy read.
The job title was listed as “Honey Bunch (that’s what the boss will call you)” and the list of job requirements were as follows:
“No gaining weight on the job;” “Must be open to public humiliation;” and “A willingness to evaluate other women’s hotness for the boss’ satisfaction is a plus.”
The ad also noted that the boss may “greet you with a kiss on the lips or grope you under the meeting table.”
Freundlich sent the fake ad up the flagpole and got an OK from Miranda that read: “As long as all the offensive s–t is verbatim I’m fine with it.” It’s not clear if the ad ever ran.
http://nypost.com/2016/07/22/leaked-emails-show-how-democrats-screwed-sanders/ - 283k -
When he gives part of his speech in Spanish, what oercent of african american and legal hispanics votes do you think hhe’ll lose for his team?
I don’t know the free-army view.
Maybe free shit is slightly more valuable than the dislike his spanish speech will arouse.
People generally don’t pay much attention to the speeches of VP candidates. Not many are going to get upset about a couple of Spanish sentences inserted into a speech.
Hillary has one requirement for her VP: someone who will be a parrot on her shoulder. She found the right guy.
The DNC has one requirement for Hillary’s VP: someone who will take over the ticket when she drops out due to ill health, hers or Bill’s (I’m hearing Bill is not long for this world, btw. I love rumors like that)
I doubt that the DNC played a role in the Kaine selection.
Shillary wants a passive lump who will sit quietly in the corner and color while she turns the Oval Office in Corruption Central.
Too bad for her then that Mike Pence was unavailable.
Kaine, like Hillary, is a stooge of the banksters and globalists. This elections comes down to Trump or Goldman Sachs. Pick a side.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-07-23/kaine-pick-won-t-help-clinton-win-over-anti-wall-street-critics
Hillary Clinton has seizure / convulsions - tries to play it off making …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMHOcmDVBP0 - 166k - Cached - Similar pages
1 day ago …
LOL, I saw that online in one of the Trump forums, but I really don’t get how anyone thinks she actually had a seizure. I would have reacted the same way if I’d been barked at like that.
I dunno. I did not watch. I could say the same about the demos. There is no difference. Only the worshippers of Trump believe he is any different from Hillary Clinton.
These guys aren’t afraid, are you?
‘Chinese The Biggest Foreign Buyers of US Homes for 4th Year in a Row’
‘Chinese buyers purchased $27.3 billion in US residential property in the year to March, exceeding the value of the next four largest overseas investors combined in terms of dollar volume and making them the top cross-border buyer of American real estate for the fourth consecutive year.’
‘A study released this month by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that, despite a 4.5 percent drop in the value of US home purchases by buyers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan compared to the previous 12 months, investors from Greater China still spent three times as much on houses compared to buyers from Canada.’
‘In terms of the volume of transactions, Chinese purchasers bought the most housing units for the second consecutive year with 29,195 traded, although this represents a 15 percent drop from the 34,327 homes purchased in the year which ended in March 2015.’
‘According to the non-profit trade association, five states accounted for a little over half of all foreign sourced transactions, including Florida (22 percent), California (15 percent), Texas (10 percent), Arizona and New York (both 4 percent). Asian buyers continued to flock to the coastal states of California and New York, with investors from Asia and Oceania accounting for 62 percent of transactions in New York, and 51 percent of deals by volume in California.’
Shady Chinese are displacing native born from their own towns/cities and we wonder why Trump resonates.
Is Trump planning to build a Great Wall to keep out the Chinese investor horde?
Trump will NOT build a wall. If they are voting for the wall…oh, they will be so disappointed. Fools will be fools I guess….they have been betrayed by politicians over and over again….what’s wrong with one more betrayal….LOL
Anyone who thinks building a wall is a solution to illegal immigration is an idiot. Walls are not match for human creativity and ingenuity. Until you go after the employers who give illegals jobs, and the Democrats who welcome them as entitlement voters, the flood will continue.
“Anyone who thinks building a wall is a solution to illegal immigration is an idiot.”
Republican platform formalizes push for Donald Trump’s Mexico border wall
…
The platform takes a hardline on immigration, calling for a border wall and ‘protecting all ports of entry’.
Photograph: Andrew Gombert/EPA
Sabrina Siddiqui in Cleveland
Monday 18 July 2016 20.27 EDT
Last modified on Friday 22 July 2016 09.37 EDT
Republicans officially adopted a platform on Monday that embraces Donald Trump’s controversial proposals on immigration and includes a stated commitment to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
…
No Mexicans… no big Ag harvest.
Sometimes, I think I’d rather a wall be built around California’s borders.
Let every foreigner who wants to move to California do so, but don’t allow anyone living in California to leave California.
That would take care of many problems.
Anyone in California who has ever voted for the party of collectivist kleptocrats should be forced to stay in the state and live out their lives in the mess they helped created.
Ironically, it might be the Chinese that save California.
And, as luck and fortune would have it, California is a most hospitable land for Chinese takeover.
Many sad pandas about, so no need to import. A fertile Central Valley for bamboo growing. Corrupt banks for money laundering.
A hedonistic populace more than willing to sell its daughters’ future for profit today and send its sons to war in exchange for lucrative government contracts.
Naturally and not unexpectedly, it’s an ever-poorer populace that simultaneously votes for big government and open borders.
Perfect! Just like the homeland!
这样的甜蜜。 并准备就绪可以进行挑选。
种族主义者。 在这里我想安克主张的多样性。 不要担心…你会不会缺乏对洗衣的垫和干燥的清洁剂。
Google translator:
racist. Here I would like Anchorage advocate diversity. Do not worry … you will not lack for a laundry mat and dry cleaners.
Funny - I love it! I make no conscious effort to use anything Google, and this is yet another of many reasons why.
The first and third sentences are more or less correct. That second sentence though - say wha?
What I find remarkable is the number of Californian racists and xenophobes there are on this bard and elsewhere.
Who cares if the Chinese take over California? Who cares whether all the newcomers ruin the Californian economy and culture?
It’s all good.
Shadiness of every description is being enabled and advanced by everyone who marks a “D” on their ballot, especially those who are helping to put a criminal sociopath in the White House.
“Florida (22 percent), ”
And Florida is cratering.
Like reduced illegals crossings w 1/10 the number of border agents
Live ammo?
Palmetto:
Don’t know if you’re out there in HBB-land today, but what follows is that post of yours that I liked so much. Sorry for the delay; life got in the way.
Yeah, you’re cynical here, buy you’re also pragmatic. It’s from this that new, better paths are forged. Thank you for your commentary.
Book you might want to read: “Enjoy the Decline” by Aaron Clarey. Rudimentary and a very easy read. But sometimes, simplicity and clarity is all that’s really needed.
Comment by Bill DaWahl
2016-07-05 12:48:32
Anyway, with all that said, I think both Lynch and Comey are to be commended. Because they’ve both just sent a message, in no uncertain terms, that the legal/justice/law enforcement system at all levels in the US is a complete joke and has little or nothing to do with the “law”.
Basically Comey and Lynch just did a major public service announcement and we should all heed it. I don’t know how much clearer they could have been. Right now the internet is alive with all sorts of “But-but-but”. No buts. This is how it is. Most of us have known or suspected it for a long time, sometimes based on personal experience, sometimes based on those administrations that choose which laws they want to follow and which they don’t. This just
confirmed it. Beyond a shadow of a doubt.
What’s the next step? Make a personal plan to deal with it. Research. Do what you’ve got to do to keep you and yours under the radar and out of this system.
I thought Trump’s acceptance speech knocked it out of the park. Particularly liked how he explicitly called out Hillary’s free pass from the FBI on her criminality and how that signifies a level of corruption at the top that needs to be rooted out. Words you will NEVER hear from Hillary and her ilk.
Donald Trump Sold Us Fear. Next Comes the Wrath.
A heavy cloud hangs over Cleveland this morning.
By Charles P. Pierce
Jul 22, 2016
CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hello, America. It’s Morning In Somalia.
Instead of pointing out that last night’s Masque of the Red Death acceptance speech already is being graded on a curve the size of the Gateway Arch (And that Ivanka’s turn in the spotlight is being graded on a curve the size of the orbit of Neptune. Government-paid child care? Pay equality? Please to be giving me a break) I thought I’d just mention the three most nakedly and inescapably authoritarian moments in the unprecedented 75-minute harangue.
…
I love watching the Oligopoly-controlled media try to tell the 75%
of Americans who approved of Trump’s speech why they should be quaking in their boots.
Trump must have been pouring over his bedside copy of Henry Louis Mencken’s book, “On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe,” as he prepared his RNC coronation acceptance speech.
I haven’t listened to Trump’s speech. Don’t know if I will.
I did listen to Laura Ingraham, however. She nailed it…especially from minutes 13:00-17:00.
I heard the black military guy - you know, the off-the-reservation Negro - gave an excellent speech, too. That is something I will be listening to.
Can’t believe anyone still watches the political conventions and listens to speeches in this day and age.
First time I ever watched a convention. And actually listened to some of the speeches. Like all these things, some were BS and some were very good.
Laura Ingraham was incredible. I especially liked it when she pointed at the media and said “Do your jobs!”
especially liked it when she pointed at the media and said “Do your jobs!”
Yep they will do their job now Laura Ingrahm (who?) has spoken. Get real!
The media are scribes and stenographers for the oligarchs who own every single mainstream media outlet in this country. They are “doing their job” - crafting The Narrative. Until ‘Muricans en masse cancel their subscriptions and cut the cord - which ain’t going to happen - the MSM will have no incentive to start reporting real news or real truth. For that you need to come here.
Enjoy your second childhood, RKH.
Opinion: What Trump wants is for all of us to be his children
By Chris Edelson
Published: July 23, 2016 5:10 a.m. ET
‘Daddy Donald’ promises to make America’s fears disappear
…
Hey, Mac, thanks. It is what it is. I don’t know if we’ll ever see true justice on these shores, but as much as I am cynical, I have great hopes for the future, even if I won’t be here to see it. I’ve spent some time with some younger Trump supporters recently. They totally blow me away and put me to shame. As much as the media tries to paint the youth of this country as aimless, stupid, hyper, criminal, druggie, etc., it just ain’t so.
Some of these younger folks are the least bitter people I’ve ever met and very decent to and understanding of older folks, not that some of us deserve it. I figure it can’t be all bad if there are people like that in the world. Kinda makes it all worthwhile.
They’ve had a hard time, though. They’re going to need some help.
Zero Hedge has some contributors that have some very good survival tips. Doug Casey’s stuff is not practical if you don’t have the wherewithal to relocate. I could, but my resources probably wouldn’t last long. Hedgeless Horseman has some great tips on personal protections.
‘We are the last generation that has a chance to stop climate change before it is too late,’ the Oscar winner told the crowd.”
I’m working on it Leo, every time one of your movies comes out I don’t get in my car to go see it.
DiCaprio hops from helicopter to private jet after eco fundraiser
DiCaprio showed hypocrisy at his annual eco fundraiser gala
The Daily Mail - July 23, 2016
Eco warrior wannabe Leonardo DiCaprio is back doing what he does best: Fighting for the environment while simultaneously contributing to its demise.
On Wednesday, DiCaprio hosted his annual eco fundraiser gala, which saw an impressive cast of A Listers descend on St Tropez to raise funds for various conservation projects.
And so it begins….
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/07/22/foreclosure-sublease-vacancy-availability-houston-office-market-second-quarter-2016/
Meet your future, California.
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2016/07/five-families-have-been-gunned-down-in.html
The cry of the frightened Flyoverlander… Haunting, yet endless…
Crooked Hillary and Corrupt Kaine: the Goldman Sachs/George Soros Dream Team.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3704407/Donald-Trump-slams-Crooked-Hillary-s-choice-Corrupt-Kaine-VP-pick-insists-pair-contributed-America-s-rigged-system.html
Don’t forget about Lyin’ Ted and Little Marco. Trump has a nasty middle school bully label for any political rival who stands in the way of his attempted power grab.
Funny how the labels tend to be spot on.
True…like Daddy Donald, Hoosier Daddy Mike, and Trumpence, for instance.
Trumpence
The punishment or fate a society deserves to receive.
The American people received their trumpence when they decided hate and ignorance was more affective and important than love and understanding.
#trump #pence #comeuppance #donald trump #idiocracy
by Stehako July 15, 2016
Frightened Raymond.
CrackPipe,
Don’t worry about Ray. You have your hands full with yourself.
It’s about time the families of the victims of the open-borders globalists started calling out the political elites responsible, who hypocritically build walls and field personal security details to protect their own families while willfully putting the 99% at greater risk.
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/07/22/angel-moms-who-lost-children-to-open-borders-to-hold-event-at-paul-ryans-personal-home-border-wall/
Speaking of which, I have yet to receive an answer from Bill/Selfish Hoarder, who has yet to pledge to open the doors to his personal domicile 24/7 for use or plunder by any passersby who wishes to do so.
I never will get a “Yes I Will” or a “No, I Won’t” answer to my challenge.
Hardly a surprise.
All open borders advocates should be presented with that same challenge - and at least half should be forced to accept it, like it or not. Legal or not. Because that’s exactly what they are asking others to do.
Yep.
Idiot. Yes I will do so when I have the proof that you take in homeless strangers who are American citizens the same way you demand of me. My demand is equal to yours. You have to only allow those who have drivers licenses or passports to prove they are Americans. 24/7 for you, 24/7 for me.
Better yet, my nephew is a U.S. citizen, 40 years old, worked one year in his life, is very out of shape and etched TV all day. He has terrible hygiene.
I say yes if you say yes you will take in my nephew 24/7.
While Zika babies make the perfect lifetime Democrat dependency voters, the taxpayers, as usual, are getting shafted.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2016/07/22/texas-taxpayers-face-billion-dollar-expenses-zika-babies/
Always revealing when monstrously corrupt criminal sociopaths occassionally slip up and let the mask drop, only to have their Oligopoly media apologists and cheerleaders try to recover the fumble for them. As long as there’s a Second Amendment, Hillary and her ilk will be unable to fully implement their collectivist kleptocracy and “redistribution of the wealth.” Therefore the Second Amendment has to be nullified.
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/07/22/politifact-hillary-clinton-misspoke-misunderstood-australias-gun-ban-trump-wrong/
Should anyone be surprised that the UK political elites are trying to thwart the will of the people while once again riding to the rescue of their bankster puppetmasters?
http://www.shtfplan.com/conspiracy-fact-and-theory/london-bankers-plot-bailout-under-new-prime-minister-monetary-response-to-brexit-shock_07202016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lights_out_(manufacturing)
While the Democrat rank and file embraces and enables corruption and crony capitalism, the Republican base is taking a harder line. Nothing more clearly illustrates the difference between the two groups as the Republican base’s intolerance for corruption.
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-lock-her-up-hillary-clinton-2016-7
Open carry at the Cleveland GOP convention seems to have frightened off or tamed the Soros Scum.
http://www.ammoland.com/2016/07/open-carry-rnc-exactly-expected-no-problems/
I predict Philly is where the craziness is going to happen.
The Soros Scum were deployed against Trump. The Democrat convention is going to be a corporate snoozefest. The Sanders supporters lack both the intelligence and the fire in the belly to seriously challenge Hillary and the DNC’s corruption and criminality.
Somebody shoots a gun because there far too many guns available.
Nobody shoots a gun because there are far too many guns available.
The gift that gives to both narratives.
I will take “Why free men own guns and slaves do not” for 200 Alex…
It’s a good thing the average “Feel the Bern” supporter lacks the moral or intellectual capacity to become enraged at corruption and the collusion of the Oligopoly’s political and media elites.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-23/leaked-dnc-emails-confirm-democrats-rigged-primary-reveal-extensive-media-collusion
They will be voting for Hillary. Why? She has pledged to give them more than Trump has.
You need to remember that Sanders is a socialist. His supporters want lotsa free stuff. A Sanders supporter is not pro-individual Constitutionalist. Far from it.
Trump already has accomplished what no other public figure was willing or capable of doing. Many more people now know that NeoCons = Progressives.
For the short term at least, Trump has stripped neocons of much of their power on the Republican side of the equation.
It’s hardly surprising that neocons are now flocking to Hillary. The Big Government, Pro-War, Open Borders candidate.
Government contractors love the woman. As does academia.
Brothers from another mother, indeed.
Low interest rates, the Achilles heal to the faux economic recovery. There will be no rise in interest rate in the future for quite a while. Low interest rates have fueled a rise in asset values, true. But, and the big but is the rise in housing (asset price) and car (asset price) will drastically fall with rising interest rates. Sellers will be selling well below purchase price to find a qualified buyer and/or people will once more walk away. This time they will walk faster because they now know nothing will happen. The funny money of personal wealth once again will go poof into thin air. A fall in asset prices in other areas like art, collector cars, etc will have little effect.
What then? Retirees are shooting through their savings with little or no returns. Unfunded pension liabilities. Quality jobs becoming fewer and fewer. If the present trend of working a home continues people can move further away from high cost cities allowing prices to fall further. Further drops in housing costs trigger a loss in property taxes, which impact government at all levels; and so it goes. The only question is what is the trigger and when?
It’s already unwinding. You’re looking in the rearview mirror
I’m not looking in a review mirror,but I am trying to find a safe area for investment and protection of cash that doesn’t include under the mattress, gold, or bank safety deposit box which appeals to the statis quo. Timing will be everything. As for my house, I’m not worried; saving accounts and IRA yes.
You asked when. I answered.
Timing is irrelevant when it comes to a global Mania coming apart.
Just do like Tom Vu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K853GykeGH0
Or, flip a yacht:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118004846052414031
Check into off-shore IRA accounts.
I don’t know much about them. I am just beginning to research.
Also, head north of the border and open a Canadian bank account. Easy to do, but you have to go in person.
Or Turn On Tune In Drop Out (by the Crackers)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5woFxnekqo8
Get what you can get for your house today because it’s going to be less tomorrow for decades to come.
Speaking of “fundamentally flawed”…
Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s flawed Cleveland convention
The Republican nominee has yet to reveal a serious campaign
FT View
July 20, 2016
The main role of a presidential convention nowadays is to introduce the nominee to the US public. Donald Trump needs no introduction. With the exception of Ronald Reagan, who had been familiar to television viewers for decades, no previous nominee could match the reality TV star’s name recognition.
The other goal is to ensure the public likes what it sees. Does Mr Trump possess the temperament to sit atop America’s nuclear chain of command? Does he have the character to unify a polarised nation? On both counts Mr Trump has yet to quell the doubts he generated in an unusually vicious primary campaign. It was one thing to launch a successful hostile takeover of America’s Grand Old Party. It is quite another to persuade the general electorate he has the ability to lead the nation. So far Mr Trump has shown few signs of grasping the enormousness of that challenge.
Running a campaign is also a test of competence. Mr Trump was able to wing it through the primaries with little more than a Twitter account and his personal jet. But his threadbare operation has been exposed under the Klieg lights of a national convention. Melania Trump, the prospective first lady, derailed the show on the first night when she was caught plagiarising paragraphs from Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech. Even the most basic software test would have revealed the blunder. Her miscue followed noisy floor protests from “Never Trump” forces that Mr Trump’s team unwisely tried to silence.
The second night was little better. Billed as “Make America work again”, few of the speakers even mentioned the US economy. Instead, Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, dominated the second day’s prime time with an invective-laden speech on Hillary Clinton’s alleged criminality. “Guilty!” roared the delegates at Mr Christie’s invitation. “Lock her up,” it chanted. Such demagoguery is unlikely to capture the middle ground.
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Mr Trump is certainly fortunate in his opponent. So too is Mrs Clinton. The 2016 election is unique in that each party’s nominee is mistrusted by a majority of the US electorate. No one has ever made it to the White House with negative trust numbers.
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Neocon propaganda machine at it again.
They will lose just like Brexit. One thing in their favor unlike UK is, Amerika is full of stoopidos and voting fraud is more rampant.
Any article providing a fact-based look at the Trump Tard Train is a product of the neocon propaganda machine and should be summarily ignored without a moment’s hesitation.
“‘To be in bubble territory again so soon after one of the worst credit crunches in history defies common sense,’ Hoogervorst says.”
As yesterdays House Hunters® demonstrates. There is absolutely nothing askew with a couple in their late twenties with three kids and a mom food blogger buying a 1 Million dollar house in Orange County.
Y’all just gotz to adjust to the new normal.
“It is generally a mistake to assume that because someone is in charge, they know what they are doing. ”
Ugh, I see this crap ALL THE TIME where I work. All my highly educated liberal friends worship at the temple of Krugman and Greenspan and swear that they’ve got everything under control.
All I get is eye-rolling and huffs when I suggest that maybe they’re clueless. “Well, Krugman’s got a Nobel, doesn’t he? He’s quoted in the New York Frickin’ Times, isn’t he?”
Oh yes, gosh, what was I thinking?
as long as people continue to overpay the sh@t show will go on.
Come on, you could say the same about Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Milton Friedman, and any number of right-wing “experts” also. They are often horribly wrong. By the way, Greenspan was an ultra-right libertarian by training (Ayn Rand follower) before he became a Wall-St crony-capitalist.
Los Angeles sinks deeper into dystopia as the Comrades of Proven Worth tighten their stranglehold on the state’s political levers.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-gasparyan-violence-20160723-snap-story.html
Artyom Gasparyan, 32, originally from Armenia,
Los Angeles Gang / ARMENIAN POWER / AP 13 - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSIvvYbvur8 - 321k - Cached - Similar pages
Jul 21, 2015 .
Has Hillary asked him to be her next Attorney General?
Brad Bellflower presents Apartments.com: Stockade - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUudubg6rMY - 205k -
http://www.greaterfool.ca
But…but…recovery!
http://www.businessinsider.com/kmart-employees-say-brand-is-failing-2016-7
Sports Authority is just about done with their going out of business sale.
Tim Kaine promises to waste no time in implementing a comprehensive amnesty, which will encourage millions more Democrat-on-Arrival illegals to make the trek across our unsecured borders. Forward!
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/07/23/tim-kaine-addresses-crowd-in-spanish-promises-amnesty-plan-in-the-first-100-days-in-office/
Hillary and the Comrades of Proven Worth at the DNC have lofty ambitions to import more millions of embittered refugees and migrants from her neocon “regime change” fiascos. Forward!
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/07/23/clinton-presidency-u-s-muslim-population-exceed-germanys-2024/
Good as Goldman: Hillary and Wall Street.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/22/good-as-goldman-hillary-and-wall-street/
Nothing seems to rattle Hillary Clinton quite so much as pointed questions about her personal finances. How much she’s made. How she made it. Where it all came from. From her miraculous adventures in the cattle futures market to the Whitewater real estate scam, many of the most venal Clinton scandals down the decades have involved Hillary’s financial entanglements and the serpentine measures she has taken to conceal them from public scrutiny.
Hillary is both driven to acquire money and emits a faint whiff of guilt about having hoarded so much of it. One might be tempted to ascribe her squeamishness about wealth to her rigid Methodism, but her friends say that Hillary’s covetousness derives from a deep obsession with feeling secure, which makes a kind of sense given Bill’s free-wheeling proclivities. She’s not, after all, a child of the Depression, but a baby boomer. Hillary was raised in comfortable circumstances in the Chicago suburbs and, unlike her husband, has never in her life felt the sting of want.
Mrs. Clinton’s stubborn refusal to disclose the text of her three speeches to Goldman Sachs executives in the fall of 2013 fits this self-destructive pattern of greed and guilt. She was fortunate that Bernie Sanders proved too feeble a candidate to seize the advantage. Each time Sanders was asked to show a nexus between the $675,000 she was paid and any political favors to the financial vultures at Goldman, the senator froze, proving strangely incapable of driving a stake into the heart of her campaign.
Donald Trump still has not disclosed his tax filings. And you are complaining about Clinton? You could at least try to be more balanced. Do come on! I’m no fan of either one of them, preferring Sanders.
Hacked emails show Democratic party hostility to Sanders
By STEPHEN BRAUN
Associated Press
Jul 23, 2:15 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — A cache of more than 19,000 emails from Democratic party officials, leaked in advance of Hillary Clinton’s nomination at the party’s convention next week in Philadelphia, details the acrimonious split between the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s former rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Several emails posted by Wikileaks on its document disclosure website show DNC officials scoffing at Sanders and his supporters and in one instance, questioning his commitment to his Jewish religion. Some emails also show DNC and White House officials mulling whether to invite guests with controversial backgrounds to Democratic party events.
Although Wikileaks’ posting of the emails Friday did not disclose the identity of who provided the private material, those knowledgeable about the breach said last month that Russian hackers had penetrated the DNC computer system. At the time, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the breach was a “serious incident” and a private contractor hired to sweep the organization’s network had “moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network.”
On its web page, Wikileaks said the new cache of emails came from the accounts of “seven key figures in the DNC” and warned that the release was “part one of our new Hillary Leaks series” - an indication that more material might be published soon. Among the officials whose emails were made public were DNC spokesman Luis Miranda, national finance director Jordon Kaplan and finance chief Scott Comer, but other DNC and media figures and even some White House officials communicated with them between January 2015 and last May, Wikileaks said.
The emails include several stinging denunciations of Sanders and his organization before and after the DNC briefly shut off his campaign’s access to the party’s key list of likely Democratic voters.
The DNC temporarily curtailed Sanders’ access to the list in December 2015 because the organization accused the insurgent campaign of illegally tapping into confidential voter information compiled by the Clinton campaign. The Sanders campaign briefly sued the DNC but the party reached an accord with Sanders and the suit was dropped in April.
The emails show that after the furor over the voter records was resolved, hostility simmered from top DNC officials over the Sanders campaign.
In mid-May emails with Miranda, his deputy, Mark Paustenbach, questioned whether the DNC should use the voter record furor to raise doubts about the Sanders campaign.
“Wondering if there’s a good Bernie narrative for a story, which is that Bernie never had his act together, that his campaign was a mess,” Paustenbach wrote. Miranda spurned the idea, although he agreed with Paustenbach’s take: “True, but the Chair has been advised not to engage. So we’ll have to leave it alone.”
The same month, in another email to DNC officials, another official identified only as “Marshall” said of Sanders: “Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps.”
The Associated Press emailed Miranda, Paustenbach and DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall about the Wikileaks releases but they were not immediately available for comment.
Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said Saturday that the emails show “what many of us have known for some time, that there were certainly people at the DNC who were actively helping the Clinton effort and trying to hurt Bernie Sanders’ campaign.”
No dollar will be allowed to escape …
“How a reverse mortgage ruined my life.”
http://nypost.com/2016/07/23/taking-out-a-reverse-mortgage-ruined-my-life/
Stupid should hurt.
And hurt and hurt and hurt …
keep you debt slave score high so you can buy overpriced cars and homes!
good read this morning
Trump: Tribune Of Poor White People
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-us-politics-poor-whites/
Well he is talking about the Madison Wisconsin DUMBO N.Y. 99 percent white hood Better crowd whose talking points are on display everyday here at the HBB.
“I have spent most of my life and career living among professional class urbanite, most of them on the East Coast, and the barely-banked contempt they — the professional-class whites, I mean — have for poor white people is visceral, and obvious to me. Yet it is invisible to them. Why is that? And what does it have to do with our politics today?”
what does it have to do…..i still say we dont have a race problem in america but we do have a severe functional illiteracy one, and no one is addressing it.
“good read this morning”
Yes, it was. Thanks for that.
Normally I dislike when threads go political, but this article describes a lot of thoughts I’ve had recently about politics/the election. So thank you for sharing.
I live in a very “progressive” area of the country, and the volume of bigoted comments I’ve heard (from my own social group even) spewed about republicans and Trump supporters (particularly those who live in the Midwest and South) has left a very sour taste in my mouth. I’ve heard many a casual comment from friends that if said by anyone else about any other group or in any other context they would find deeply offensive. And as is typical of bigotry, they believe the statements are legitimized because “republicans really are that dangerous/stupid/racist/etc…”
This election so far has changed my opinion of a lot of people, and not in a positive way.
The Comrades of Proven Worth at the DNC expect their token minority hires to be properly housebroken and servile. Pablo was a problem child….
https://www.rt.com/usa/352922-wikileaks-dnc-leaks-pablo/
“Fundamental transformation” comes to rural America.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-22/in-backyard-of-rnc-drugs-vanishing-jobs-strain-rural-america
7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPdN0g-toBE - 185k -