Supply Is Being Drained By Short-Term Scofflaws
The Gothamist reports from New York. “Activists often argue that Airbnb is driving up New York City rents by allowing fly-by-night hoteliers to illegally rent out whole apartments year-round, thus taking much-needed housing off the market. The data news site FiveThirtyEight commissioned data from the for-profit Airbnb data-scraping service Airdna to understand the prevalence of whole-apartment rentals in cities nationwide. The data for New York shows that between June 2015 and May 2016 about 8 percent, or 2,464 of the city’s 30,800 Airbnb listings offered whole apartments for more than 180 days out of the year.”
“A city housing survey in 2014 found that just 3.45 percent, or 75,900 of New York’s 2.2 million apartments were vacant at a given time. Last month, data compiled by the firm Citi Habitats showed that just 1.92 percent, or 16,500 of Manhattan’s about 854,000 apartments were available. In this context, 2,400 apartments (more or less) is kind of a big deal.”
“A recent report by MFY Legal Services and Housing Conservation Coordinators defined ‘impact listings’ as whole apartment listings that are rented for less than 30 days, booked more than once a month, and listed more than either 3 or 6 months out of the year. Their analysis found 8,058 such units in New York, and determined that if all else remained equal and those apartments were returned to the rental market, the citywide vacancy rate would rise to 4 percent.”
“Murray Cox, an activist with the group Inside Airbnb, said that the startup’s resistance to turning over even anonymized data shows that it doesn’t care about concerns that it is adding pressure to an already extremely tight housing market.”
“‘If they were really interested in accountability, they would be trying to work within the intent of [government] regulations and working with cities to protect affordable housing, and addressing what is abuse of the platform and what it is people are interested in protecting about neighborhoods,’ he said. ‘I think that Airbnb isn’t interested in doing that at all. I think they’re interested in defending anything that they see as an attack on their revenue.’”
The Tampa Bay Times in Florida. “Large parties are continuing in a Tierra Verde mansion rented through Airbnb, even as the host faces drug trafficking charges and a Pinellas County commissioner is looking at ways to eliminate abuses of the popular home-sharing site. As the Tampa Bay Times reported in June, the house has been in foreclosure for several years. The elderly widow who lived there deeded the property to Tampa real estate broker Kevin Byrne, who has been renting it for about $3,000 a month since January.”
“With a home in foreclosure, ‘who do you hold responsible in that scenario?’ said County Commissioner Janet C. Long. ‘People spend their hard-earned dollars to live in a lovely neighborhood and they have to deal with that kind of thing and there’s no law against it.’”
Fusion on California. “In the teeny-tiny village of Joshua Tree, California, population 7,000, there are more than 200 vacation rentals on Airbnb. In recent years, visitors to Joshua Tree National Park have soared, and last year the number of visitors hit a record high, surging by more than 27 percent to over 2 million. ‘The short-term rental market is out of control right now,’ said Mark Lundquist, the local field representative for the village from the San Bernardino County government.”
“Over the past year, Lundquist told me, feeding that demand has put a strain on local resources. The local home buyers’ market has all but dried up as property owners put their places on short-term rental sites instead of up for sale. Long-term rental units are scant. And in Joshua Tree, it’s not even peak tourism season—that isn’t until the fall.”
“In May, I worked with the technologist and Airbnb data guru Tom Slee to investigate Airbnb’s effect on the small Icelandic capital of Reykjavik. In Reykjavik, which has a population of 120,000, five percent of the local rental market now belongs to Airbnb. It has made finding a place to live there next to impossible. Since then, both Slee and I have heard from even smaller communities reeling from the impact of sharing economy startups.”
The Williamette Week in Oregon. “When Rebecca Rosenfelt moved to Portland from San Francisco last summer, she and her husband paid $1.6 million for two Boise neighborhood townhouses and almost immediately began renting one of them out on Airbnb for as much as $350 a night. The four-bedroom townhouse is one of six properties Rosenfelt listed on the short-term rental marketplace Airbnb—three in Portland, one in San Francisco, and two in Northern California’s Sonoma County.”
“When Portland began allowing short-term rentals in 2014, City Hall created rules to ensure that Airbnb’s clients wouldn’t add to a citywide housing crunch by taking apartments and homes off the market and renting them out to tourists. San Francisco passed similar restrictions. Among those rules: People can list only properties where they live for at least nine months a year.”
“Rosenfelt’s six properties violate the spirit of those rules—and at least two of her rentals, the San Francisco condo and Northeast Portland townhouse, flout the letter of the law by not having the required city permits and safety inspections.”
“And Rosenfelt should know the law: She’s an Airbnb manager at the tech company’s Portland headquarters.”
“Critics have long complained that Portland’s short-term rental regulations are toothless—two years after the rules were adopted, less than a quarter of Airbnb clients have bothered to get the required $178 permit and safety inspection. Now those skeptics say the rules have become such a joke that even an Airbnb employee ignores them.”
“‘It just makes it look like those rules were only ever for show,’ says Margot Black, an organizer with Portland Tenants United. ‘Even an Airbnb manager is blatantly flouting them. The fact that it’s in the midst of a housing crisis makes it all the more obscene.’”
“An analysis commissioned by WW shows that if illegal short-term rentals were removed from the Airbnb website, as many as 1,718 homes could be made available to Portland residents instead of tourists. Some leaders say the city’s housing supply is being drained by short-term rental scofflaws. ‘If you take thousands of units off the market, it’s going to have an impact,’ says Commissioner Nick Fish. ‘People now have the option of making more money renting to short-term rather than long-term tenants.’”
“About 79 percent of the 3,500 Portland listings on Airbnb don’t have city permits, according to data provided by the city and Murray Cox of the tech website Inside Airbnb. In 2015, WW reported that dozens of Airbnb clients were ignoring city rules by listing multiple short-term rentals—sometimes while living out of state (”Hotel California,” WW, Feb. 17, 2015). A recent examination by Cox shows the problem has persisted even after repeated deadlines from the city and the threat of fines to the company.”
“In one example, one woman has 22 listings all clustered near Northeast Alberta Street, none of them giving a city permit number, according to data from Inside Airbnb. Rosenfelt has worked as a product manager for Airbnb since 2012, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“Rosenfelt’s condo in San Francisco remained listed on Airbnb. She can’t get a legitimate Airbnb permit for the San Francisco address as long as she lives in Portland, because San Francisco also requires Airbnb clients to live in the units they rent out. There’s no record of a permit ever being issued to Rosenfelt, officials with San Francisco’s short-term rentals office say.”
“She’s not the first Airbnb employee to run afoul of the rules. The company’s CEO, Brian Chesky, was busted in January for failing to register his apartment in San Francisco, but he easily rectified the situation by registering his couch, for which he asks $50 a night.”
“But unlike Chesky, Rosenfelt can’t fix her mistake with paperwork—she’s breaking the rules in two cities, including residency requirements. The Boise townhouses Rosenfelt purchased were built just last year. Nearly three years ago, a developer purchased a modest house on Northeast Rodney Avenue for $259,000, demolishing it to make way for Rosenfelt’s two, 3,000-square-foot townhouses.”
“Those new units might have increased the city’s housing supply—but it appears one of them is partly being used as a bootleg hotel. (Airbnb officials say Rosenfelt is renting at least a portion of her second townhouse to a long-term tenant, as well as advertising it as a short-term rental.) Airbnb spokeswoman Alison Schumer defends the company’s record in working with Portland, blaming the city’s ‘complex’ process for getting permits.”
“Schumer declined to comment on why Rosenfelt was allowed to list six properties on Airbnb. ‘We are working with this employee to help her navigate the registration process,’ Schumer says.”
‘When Rebecca Rosenfelt moved to Portland from San Francisco last summer, she and her husband paid $1.6 million for two Boise neighborhood townhouses and almost immediately began renting one of them out on Airbnb for as much as $350 a night. The four-bedroom townhouse is one of six properties Rosenfelt listed on the short-term rental marketplace Airbnb—three in Portland, one in San Francisco, and two in Northern California’s Sonoma County’
‘In one example, one woman has 22 listings all clustered near Northeast Alberta Street, none of them giving a city permit number’
Let’s see; what do Portland, San Francisco and Sonoma County have in common? Skyrocketing house prices the past few years! Would these people be throwing down this kind of money (and where are they getting it BTW?) if house prices were flat or falling?
I looked at a Las Vegas four-plex in 2014 that was for sale. At first I didn’t know what was up with it; fully furnished with all these weird colors and useless do-dads everywhere. Then the guy mentioned it was a short term rental. Turned out he was sick of it. Just a low paying job. And that’s when they aren’t paying taxes.
Turned out he was sick of it. Just a low paying job. And that’s when they aren’t paying taxes ??
It will hit the wall at some point…Then we will see ruiness competition…I would not want to be the one coming late to the party…
What bothers me is the legit businesses get hurt. Those companies have vendors, employees, stockholders and creditors. The supply/demand thing for rentals will sort itself out, probably with some pain for all involved. But these lost profits are irretrievable.
What bothers me is the legit businesses get hurt. Those companies have vendors, employees, stockholders and creditors ??
Point taken…Its very disruptive no question about it…My 30 something son and his friends almost always look for short term vs. hotels…I think its the same with people coming and going for work or visiting…They just prefer to have a house, condo vs. a hotel room…
‘disruptive’
That’s what they call illegal these days.
That’s what they call illegal these days.
‘innovative’
‘Point taken…Its very disruptive no question about it…My 30 something son and his friends almost always look for short term vs. hotels…I think its the same with people coming and going for work or visiting…They just prefer to have a house, condo vs. a hotel room…’
So, the problem is all these houses that normally would have residential permanent dwellers have been devoted to renters ala airbnb?
“So, the problem is all these houses that normally would have residential permanent dwellers have been devoted to renters ala airbnb?”
I don’t think it’s that simple. It sounds to me like part of the problem might be excessively expensive hotels. I cannot think of another reason to forego hotel amenities.
Another distinction is that hotels may have to comply with regulatory standards or pay taxes to which Airbnb rentals are not subject.
“What bothers me is the legit businesses get hurt.”
Do you mean the San Francisco hospitality industry participants that have to comply with hotel regulations?
It sounds to me like part of the problem might be excessively expensive hotels. I cannot think of another reason to forego hotel amenities.
Hotels expect people to behave themselves. Having drug-fueled parties and running brothels doesn’t really go over well with hotel management.
Using short-term rentals allows shady people (on all sides) to get away with a lot of stuff.
Thanks much for the links, interesting reading. I live in Sonoma Co. and AirBNB is indeed a big problem locally, both in driving rents up and for frequent wild parties thrown in some weekend rentals that are spoiling some formally quiet areas…generally the owner lives elsewhere so they don’t have to deal with the noise, drunks, parking issues etc.
“Would these people be throwing down this kind of money (and where are they getting it BTW?) if house prices were flat or falling?”
I can’t wait to see how this situation evolves during the inevitable crash.
Cant believe he did not like the housekeeping job. Ooh, what is that sticky stuff on the headboard?
And how did the bed sheets get so wet?
Re-posting this link to DR Horton price cuts in southern California:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0N6Num8O29ZcjI5UDRtM1k2OEU/view
That looked to be near “Fontucky” - which is Donald Trump country. The billboards call that town “Fontana.”
Price cuts in RE bubble bursts always start at the edges of Southern California in the redneck areas like that. Victorville, Adelanto, Lancaster, Ridgesrest, Hemet, and so on.
what would be the impact on all the carry trades if the dollar were to plummet in value because there will be no rate hike cycle?
Is yellen beating back the currency speculators being a hawk?
WHAT IS THE FED?
The Federal Reserve, “the Fed”, is the central bank of the United States of America that was created in 1913 by Congress. It is a private banking cartel that has a government-granted monopoly on the creation of money and credit. The Fed literally loans “money” (Federal Reserve Notes) into existence. Federal Reserve Notes are paper promises backed by nothing of intrinsic value and they are only functioning as money because the government forces them on the public through legal tender laws. Federal Reserve Notes are referred to as dollars but are not. The definition of a dollar is a weight of silver (371 grains). To put it simply, the Fed is a group of banks running a national counterfeiting operation with the protection of the government.
http://endthefed.org
“It is a private banking cartel that has a government-granted monopoly on the creation of money and credit.”
At what point in U.S. history did monopolies become legal?
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act (Sherman Act,[1] 26 Stat. 209, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1–7) is a landmark federal statute in the history of United States antitrust law (or “competition law”) passed by Congress in 1890. Passed under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison, it prohibits certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be anti-competitive, and requires the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts.
…
Are government-established monopolies exempt?
FWIW, insurance companies are allowed to collude.
Can we generalize the statement to say that financial services companies (banking, insurance, home lending, etc.) can legally collude?
Almost forgot: Used home sellers
That’s an easy one, PB: many monopolies became legal and government-sanctioned during the Great Depression. Prior to that, even trade associations were considered anti-competitive and illegal by their very nature; the fallout from GD-I gave the political cover for legalizing them.
“…during the Great Depression.”
Wasn’t The Fed established by the Megabank, Inc banking cartel in 1913, long before GD1?
True, so that monopoly definitely predated the GD-I. But read up on the history of trade associations…
Yet you worship federal reserve notes.
With all of the Goldman Sachs alumni and Keynesian fraudsters at the central banks embarked on an epic binge of money-printing, the dollar is the least syphilitic hooker on the street corner. So while the dollar’s purchasing power is being relentlessly eroded thanks to the Fed’s debasement of the currency, virtually all of the major currencies are being debased even faster.
“In other words, all Wall Street believes the Fed will need to “purchase a broader set of assets”, is for a recession to hit, which will promptly force Congress to change the appropriate legislation (as hinted by Yellen) and expand the universe of assets eligible for Fed monetization. Which means that as of this moment, the big money is “axed” to push for the opposite of a recovery.
And even if that does not happen, the Fed can simply fall back to its tried and true TSY QE. Conveniently, earlier this week’s Fed staffer David Reifschneider calculated how much the next QE would have to be, in order to offset a sharp US recession: $4 trillion, or more.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-27/what-went-wrong-yesterday
looks like a lot more money printing coming
Yep. You can’t taper a Ponzi. The minute you stop drawing in new marks, it collapses. Yellen the Felon knows this, and once Comrade Hillary is installed in office, can take the Fed’s counterfeiting and racketeering to a whole new level.
Can you tapir a Ponzi?
We cannot count on Fed tapering to end this nonsense. It’s going to have to be violent market/economic forces which cause it to all come crumbling down.
If the Fed hiked rates now, Wall Street would majorly freak out, as they have learned to ignore when Yellen calls “wolf”. In that case, the Fed would be blamed for crashing financial markets.
So their best course of action is to continue accommodating until the Ponzi collapses of its own weight. Traders know this, and Fed jawboning is fooling nobody.
Markets
Heard on the Street
Janet Yellen Cries Wolf
Fed chairwoman tries to convince market that a rate rise is coming, but investors aren’t listening
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer talk during the Jackson Hole, Wyo., economic symposium on Friday.
Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News
By Aaron Back
Updated Aug. 26, 2016 4:40 p.m. ET
What if the Federal Reserve declared its intention to raise interest rates, but no one believed it?
Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen came close to such a declaration on Friday, saying at the Jackson Hole summit in Wyoming that “the case for an increase in the federal-funds rate has strengthened in recent months.” This language is about as strong as a central banker could be to warn of a coming move.
For the first two hours after the speech, stocks moved higher and bond yields fell slightly, a reaction that seems to say, prove it.
…
“Fed chairwoman tries to convince market that a rate rise is coming, but investors aren’t listening…”
Jawboning.
The FOMC has set up markets for another head-fake induced rally. Get ready for it!
Economy
Central Banks
Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen Sees Stronger Case for Interest-Rate Increase
Central banker cites solid performance of labor market, Fed’s outlook for economic activity and inflation
By Jon Hilsenrath and Harriet Torry
Updated Aug. 26, 2016 10:17 a.m. ET
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo.—Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen signaled growing conviction that the central bank will raise short-term interest rates in the weeks or months ahead.
“In light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months,” Ms. Yellen said in remarks delivered here Friday.
Market Reaction
The remarks left the door open for a Fed rate increase at its Sept. 20-21 policy meeting, but the chairwoman hedged her comments in ways that give the central bank an out if economic data disappoint in the next few weeks.
Most important, the Fed’s decision appears to hinge on whether the Labor Department’s Sept. 2 jobs report shows steady gains in hiring. Job gains have averaged 190,000 a month over the past three months.
“Our decisions always depend on the degree to which incoming data continues to confirm the [Fed’s] outlook,” she said. If the Fed doesn’t move in September, it has two more meetings this year, one in November just before U.S. elections and another in December. Her comments suggest she expects a move at one of these meetings if the central bank doesn’t raise rates in September.
…
Hillary declares war on the non-lapdog media.
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/08/26/hillary-clinton-enters-the-media-wars/#more-37117
I like the way that tinfoil helmet accentuates the abnormal growth of Hillary’s skull.
Can Steroids Enlarge Your Head?
What a change in hat size might mean for Barry Bonds.
By Michelle Tsai
Nov. 19 2007 6:27 PM
Following the federal indictment of Barry Bonds for perjury and obstruction of justice last week, media reports cited the baseball player’s refusal to “admit that steroids contributed to his swollen head and bloated physique,” and drew a line from his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs to his “noticeably bigger” skull. Can doping really make your head get bigger?
Yes, but steroids can’t. Although much of Bonds’ testimony dealt with anabolic steroids, he is also charged with having lied about taking human growth hormones. And HGH can indeed affect the size of your noggin. The hormone, which is produced by the pituitary gland, normally stimulates bone and tissue growth throughout the body. If there’s too much of it, the body starts to develop an abnormal amount of flesh and bone. This affects the entire body to some degree, but in some places the chemical receptors tend to be especially sensitive. In an adult, very large doses of HGH can cause the skull to thicken and the forehead and eyebrow ridge to become especially prominent. Hands and feet also grow out of proportion with the rest of the body.
skull to thicken and the forehead and eyebrow ridge to become especially prominent. Hands and feet also grow out of proportion with the rest of the body ??
And the jewels got smaller…
An oligarch-funded astroturf pressure group, “Fed Up,” is demanding that the Fed keep interest rates low. Naturally this faux group of “Fed critics” that just happens to want the Fed to continue one of its most lucrative swindles against savers and non-speculators - ZIRP - gets audiences with the Fed grifters. The Kabuki theater continues.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-26/why-facebook-funding-anti-fed-activists
We are so fed up, we support most of its policies and we would like them to do more of it.
Almost Orwellian
Yeah. And the lapdog media tells us the Fed is making an unprecedented effort to “meet with its critics.” You can’t make this stuff up. Anyone still getting their news from the MSM is a tool.
Almost??? It’s perfect double-speak!!
Clinton Global Initiative forums - a key component of the Clinton Crime Family’s pay-to-play rackets - described by moderator as “creepy, disgusting, gross.”
http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/26/clinton-global-initiative-moderator-describes-groups-events-as-creepy-disgusting-gross-audio/
Cooties!
“creepy, disgusting, gross.”
Trumpaganda
Unpossible…. Trump is the poor persecuted savior, Jesus 2.0!
Even the French are finally starting to reject globalism and ceding their national sovereignty to the EU and ECB, whose policies are solely intended to concentrate all wealth and power in the hands of a venal and unaccountable Oligopoly.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/08/24/french-support-for-the-eu-project-is-crumbling-on-the-left-and-r/
As oligarcy-looted western economies start yielding declining tax revenues, are foreign-owned corporations going to be lucrative targets to extract wealth from with taxes and fines?
http://www.businessinsider.com/eu-apple-19-billion-tax-bill-next-week-state-aid-ireland-2016-8
What does “foreign owned” even mean in these days of globalization? Q: Who owns Apple? A: It’s shareholders, who are spread around the globe.
All that is happening is that the EU knows that multinationals play accounting tricks to move their profits to low/no tax havens. While the US is happy to look the other way, the EU isn’t.
While the US is happy to look the other way, the EU isn’t.
If the EU isn’t happy with this kind of behavior, they shouldn’t encourage it in the tax code.
Why do you think many/most multi-nationals book their EU revenue through corporations established in Ireland? Because the EU tax code encourages it—they established an explicit tax break there in order to foster development.
EU ministers crying foul after intentionally setting up the codes to foster such breaks is the height of hypocrisy.
“What does “foreign owned” even mean in these days of globalization? Q: Who owns Apple? A: It’s shareholders, who are spread around the globe”
Bingo.
I am a globalist, with about 33% of my stocks and stock funds invested in companies that are based overseas.
Yet Toyota builds 250,000 truck a year in Texas.
The “alt-right” - which in Hillary’s view seems to be anyone who resists going along with her corrupt collectivist kleptocracy - is reacting with glee to being singled out by this one-woman crime spree who exemplifies corporate statism.
http://www.businessinsider.com/alt-right-reaction-hillary-clinton-attack-speech-2016-8
Andrew Breitbart was murdered under direct order from King Obama.
Just as Obama has been “gun salesman of the century,” so is Hillary likely to give a huge boost to the “alt right” movement, which seems overjoyed to be singled out for condemnation by someone as vile as Hillary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/us/politics/alt-right-reaction.html?_r=0
“Making money does seem to remain SPLC’s primary preoccupation. SPLC raked in $54.4 million in FY 2014, according to its most recent IRS filing, with net assets topping out at an incredible $314.7 million. Some of SPLC’s assets are stashed away in offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands and Bangladesh of all places. Nobody knows how much or why they do that but it is beyond the reach of law enforcement.
Of its $42.4 million 2014 expenditures, 40.6 percent was devoted to salaries. Morris Dees himself still takes a compensation package of almost $365,000 per year. Also noteworthy is the fact that Development Director Wendy Via makes more ($202,426), than SPLC’s general counsel and former CEO Joseph Levin, ($196,446). Not surprising since 22.8 percent ($9,674,637), of total expenses go for fundraising.
SPLC made its bones suing the Ku Klux Klan into penury. Nobody can fault them for that. But then, wrapped in the mantle of “social justice”, SPLC grabbed a place of honor among the civil rights legends, all the while turning its notoriety into a cause célèbre for a massive, non-stop fundraising drive. It must ever grow its list of what it defines as “extremist” to shake down terrified donors for more funds. If it ever had noble motives, SPLC has certainly lost its way. Next time you read something, anything from the SPLC, understand what they are really about: fomenting hate and making money. Consider the source.”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/16/southern-poverty-law-center-manufacturing-hate-for-fun-and-profit/
Once the Comrades of Proven Worth get to define what “extremist” means, the category is going to keep expanding to encompass anyone who resists being herded into the Oligopoly’s incorporated neoliberal plantation or who calls out the corporate statists and Republicrats on their crony capitalism, patronage, graft, and corruption.
See you in the re-education camp, Goon.
Ray, ever heard of ghosting?
No.
It means you become invisible, so the comrades of proven worth don’t come after you, regardless of what you really think. People in the former Warsaw Pact block became very skilled at it.
Sorry, but I have no intentions of “ghosting.” Sounds like something cowards do.
I started hearing the term “alt right” earlier this year, but did a Google search on them after Crooked Hillary linked them to Trump. Of course Hillary’s condemnation of them is going to be a recruiting boon, since a lot of people are going to figure that if someone as vile as Crooked Hillary is singling them out for attack, they must be doing something right. Buzzfeed had a good article on the alt-right movement - once Hillary gets into office and kicks the Democrat’s “redistribution of the wealth” and social engineering into high gear, these guys are going to flourish, just as the milita movement did under Bill Clinton. By 2020 the country is going to be so looted and polarized that it’s hard to imagine anyone who can fix the mess that Hillary is going to leave in her wake.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/how-2015-fueled-the-rise-of-the-freewheeling-white-nationali?utm_term=.uoK5dXV4O#.do4Nm15pZ
“Alt-right” is not libertarian. The real term is Nationalist Socialist.
Nobody knew what alt-right is until Hillarious spoke.
Now “it” is the scrooge of the world…and that Putin.
The Comrade of Proven Worth have decreed that “free speech” only applies to pornography and your “right” to agree with The Narrative.
http://www.breitbart.com/milo/2016/08/26/milo-bbcs-briefing-room-alt-right/
The Oligopoly demands that we import more wage slaves to increase their all-important corporate bottom lines and serve as a pliant Democrat-on-Arrival entitlement bloc.
http://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2016/08/26/washington-post-jeff-bezos-scab-workers-replace-americans/
Let us call it “The Disney Effect”.
An exemplar of virtue, that company.
Another canary in the coal mine: sales of impractical “muscle cars” have stalled.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2016/08/27/another-canary-in-the-coal-mine/
I want a Dodge Viper, and I have earmarked $9,500.00 cash.
A vignette of life in a socialist paradise under the dictatorial rule of the Comrades of Proven Worth. Forward!
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/08/game-havana-eyes-food-vendors-160812102202870.html
Looks like Bernie Sanders’ “Our Revolution” is ending with a whimper, not a bang. When your support base is comprised mainly of youthful freeloaders, your prospects for building a viable, enduring organization aren’t real good.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/26/bernie-sanders-our-revolution-grassroots-jeff-weaver
Neocons for Hillary look forward to expanded military adventurism and lucrative new quagmires abroad.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/paul-wolfowitz-says-he-ll-likely-vote-for-hillary-clinton-a7212201.html
NeoCons = Progressives
Lest anyone here forget, Hillary has proclaimed herself a progressive on numerous occasions.
Interesting that she is attracting the likes of the Koch brothers and many, many neocons far and wide.
It’s who she is.
Droves of cucks and neocons are flocking to support Hillary, showing their true colors in the process.
They showed their true colors years ago.
In one month, my NeoCons = Progressives equivalency as used here will be five years old. It existed many years before that.
As far as I can tell, the equivalency germinated at the presidential level when Bush the Elder became VP in 1980. Bringing Bush aboard as his running mate clearly was the biggest political/social/administrative mistake Reagan ever made.
Before then, it was Democrats versus Republicans.
Ray -
ALSO note that yesterday’s Democrats/liberals went completely off the rails in response to two events that happened 18 years apart.
(1) The failure of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) to pass in 1982, and,
(2)) Bush’s “stolen” presidential election of 2000.
The Democrat/liberal response to those two events was to adopt a “do whatever it takes, even if it means breaking the law” approach to achieving their goals.
“Screw the law. We tried that approach, and we didn’t win.”
Now, the Constitution is to be ignored whenever and wherever it prevents the ultimate. Laws and ethics simply no longer matter.
And they’ll do and say whatever they need to achieve their goals.
Hillary is the champion of the mindset.
“NeoCons = Progressives”
Turtles = Snails
Turtles = Snails
More like Slugs = Snails. Yep, one has a crunchy shell it hides in, but other than that, they’re awfully similar…
And Obama is laying the groundwork for increasing military intervention across the globe - the expanded hawaiian monument designation (Bush jr. set it up originally) is all about pressuring and containing China and has nothing to do with the environment. US military is exempt from any restrictions and note that “mining” is prohibited. Think glomar explorer and you’ll know why that language is in the designation. US did something similar prior to WW2 by putting native hawaiians on unpopulated islands so that in the event of Japanese encroachment they could complain to League of Nations or whatever was around at the time that the Japanese were not respecting the rights of indigenous people.
Right now Chinese spy ships posing as “fishing” boats lurk in that area to monitor US weapons testing. Cutting off “fishing” and “mining” looks good to shoe sized IQ environmentalists, but its sadly just a cover story for more empire and its use of endless wars to enrich those at the top.
With the majority of the ‘Murican electorate as amoral as they are ignorant, do most D voters really care about Hillary’s endless scandals?
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/12/finally-the-eruption-of-the-clinton-foundation-scandal/
I don’t think dems ever cared about frauds and corruption by their own kind.
To mark “D” on a ballot is ipso facto evidence of a defective moral compass.
Cardboard coffins: the perfect innovation for a socialist utopia left impoverised by collectivist kleptocrats and their graft and malgoverance. A preview of coming attractions once the Comrades of Proven Worth (D) have their permanent supermajority.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-steep-prices-scarcities-open-way-cardboard-coffins-163548484.html
And why not cardboard coffins?
It’s not like you’re going to be living in the thing.
no doubt I like the idea myself eco friendly biodegradable you body returns to the earth where it could be used again
Agreed. The standard coffin is not only a waste but according to a friend who is a pastor they are rip offs as funeral homes overcharge grieving families for them.
Anyway, aren’t most people cremated these days? Catholics used to be holdouts, as it was not allowed for them. Eventually that restriction was dropped, as long as the remains were interred and not spread out into nature.
Funeral homes are absolutely shameless. They gouge the deceased’s grieving families for every cent they can. It’s despicable.
And this is nothing new; read what Mark Twain wrote about undertakers in the 1800s.
Meanwhile, America’s longest war shows no sign of resolution despite vanishing from the MSM headlines.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2016/08/27/Taliban-fighters-overrun-district-in-eastern-Afghanistan.html
It should be obvious by now that this is really a proxy war with the real purported enemy being Russia. This is the prolonged several decades war that started before I was born. Carter and Brzezinski started aiding the Mujahadeen in the late 1970s with stolen money from U.S. taxpayers. This helped defeat the Russian war in Afghanistan. Russua became “less of a threat” so the U.S. manufactured a threat of the Muslim religion, drove it to rage and violence, made the American sheep beg for less freedom and more statism, made me financially well off as a defense worker, and destroyed themAmerican middle class.
It is great fun reading how the liberals and socialists battle with people over the use of their private property.
And they are so worried about taking housing off the markets…
But let banks sit on foreclosed properties for years.
The absolute corruption of our housing market due to governmental influence and regualtions to buy votes is so interesting to watch play out.
Governmental corruption does affect people’s behavior. And then the government gets more corrupt to fix the previous corruption when they don’t like how people react to it.
Governmental corruption does affect people’s behavior. And then the government gets more corrupt to fix the previous corruption when they don’t like how people react to it.
Corruption is enabled and abetted by feckless, ignorant voters, who are now the majority. President Hillary will be ‘Murica’s just reward for its national descent into IDIOCRACY.
Voter turnout could drop to single digits and it won’t matter, those are the candidates you get.
Despite all the Oligopoly doom-mongering about what would happen if the UK voted for BREXIT, they are doing just fine - which will only encourage more European peoples and nation-states to reclaim their sovereignty from the supranational unaccountable bureaucrats at the EU and ECB.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3759167/Apocalypse-NO-Britain-confounding-doom-mongers-enjoying-Brexit-bounce-says-City-editor-ALEX-BRUMMER.html
Investing pension funds in Ponzi markets may not be the wisest strategy if you actually want to see a pension check post-retirement.
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/08/27/japan-gpif-pension-fund-dives-into-stocks-foreign-assets-loses-shirt-people-not-amused/
World trade continues its decline in our Obama-Fed-Goldman Sachs “recovery.”
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/08/24/world-trade-falls-second-quarter-in-a-row/
What will happen in China and every other debt-bubble economy when the credit bubble finally bursts? The proles may not bend over as meekly as they did in 2008.
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2016/08/chinas-great-divide-new-cultural.html
Nothing will happen. Another few trillions can calm the situation for couple of yrs or more.
Not if it goes global and detonates the gargantuan derivatives overhang.
Yellen the Felon seems to be emulating the BoJ’s failed Keynesian lunacy.
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/08/26/bank-of-japan-prepares-for-crash-triggered-by-fed-tightening/
Fed tightening? Oh, you kid….
The BoJ has never “tightened.” Only stimulus followed by moar stimulus. The Fed will do the same.
Aren’t artificial asset prices another form of creating something for nothing?
Ax Of Love
Aiding and Abedin
The Clinton family favor factory
THE MAGAZINE: From the September 5 Issue
Sep 05, 2016 | By Stephen F. Hayes
http://www.weeklystandard.com/aiding-and-abedin/article/2004014 - 162k -
My Cousin Vinny - Aiding and Abetting - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-K7SDySJdE - 194k -
“In Reykjavik, which has a population of 120,000, five percent of the local rental market now belongs to Airbnb.”
Sounds like a great time to visit Reykjavik! I wonder if they also have Lyft or Uber? Perhaps there is no need to even rent a car during your stay in someone’s basement?
You could always ride the bus. Or just walk, the few interesting parts of Reykjavik aren’t that far from each other.
I was considering stopping in Reykjavik on to way to Europe on my recent trip, until I did some research and discovered there was nothing of interest there, unless you’re into clubbing.
“In the teeny-tiny village of Joshua Tree, California, population 7,000, there are more than 200 vacation rentals on Airbnb.”
You can’t possibly make up material this good!
I think some of those AIRBNB’s live there full time and go camping if you want to rent their house. I know people in Carmel, CA who do this, they lock off their MB, rent the rest if you want to pay $350 a night.
Sex Worker Calls Airbnb A ‘Boon’ To Her Industry
February 10, 2016 1:46 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — For sex workers, renting a room on Airbnb can be a lot safer than being outdoors, and a lot cheaper than a hotel, and one worker calls the home-sharing service a boon to her industry.
“Airbnb is a simple way for women who don’t have an enormous amount of money to transition into indoor work,” she told KCBS.
…
Seems like Airbnb coupled with the internet would make the sex trade far more efficient. No more need for hookers to walk the streets to sell their wares!
“No more need for hookers to walk the streets…”
Roxanne…
You could just set up a “charitable foundation” and sell yourself to the highest bidder.
Hillary….
How bad is Hillarious?
Even Wolfowitch is voting for her.
Does Wolfy have a good alternative?
Wolfobitch loves war so he is going with the best alternative I suppose.
Who says you can’t find affordable housing in San Diego County if your tastes are flexible?
Business
Real Estate
San Diego County home costs $99,000, no bathroom
By Phillip Molnar | 3:53 p.m. Aug. 26, 2016 | Updated, 3:58 p.m.
An hour east from downtown San Diego, past a thicket of coast live oak trees and blackberry bushes, is the last frontier of homeownership in Southern California.
A tiny home (some might call it a cabin) in the unincorporated community of Guatay is on the market for $99,000, nearly $400,000 less than San Diego County median home price.
Built by the previous owner and his son in 2015, the 220-square-foot home in the Cuyamaca Mountains is one of the cheapest residences for sale in a county that has seen home prices rise 12 percent in the last year.
It doesn’t have a bedroom, and you have to use an outhouse, but the buyer will own the roughly third of an acre the house sits on — unlike other cheap options on federal park land or in mobile home parks.
“In Southern California, to own a third of an acre of anything is fabulous,” said Theresa DeCristoforo, the agent with the listing.
…
Would it make sense to pay $99,000 for this lovely cabin, then rent it out as an Airbnb?
it has cash flow b@tchez! get a composting toilet and grow a garden.
I have stopped at the golden acorn casino before. Kind of up on top of hill before you start dropping into the valley towards elcentro.
lived in pine valley a long time ago.
Then this is a day of Independence For all the Munchkins and their descendants