Banking On A Market That Would Never Let Up
The Abbotsford News reports from Canada. “The Abbotsford housing market continued to moderate in August, with sales of single-family houses down sharply from previous months. Just 116 houses traded hands in August, down 32.2 per cent from July and less than half the number of sales from May, according to the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. The numbers of both single-family house sales and new listings have now fallen each month since March. Recent months, however, have seen the number of sales falling faster than the number of new listings, and the number of ‘active listings’ is now around 50 per cent higher than in February suggesting more supply for house seekers.”
“Prices also seem to be plateauing. While the price of a ‘typical’ single-family home rose another 2.1 per cent in August, to $667,800, the median price – the point at which half of all homes sold are more expensive and half are less expensive – actually declined by nearly five per cent, coming in at $621,500. Year-over-year, the price of a typical house – known as the benchmark price – has risen 39 per cent. Twelve months ago, the benchmark was at $480,800.”
“‘The numbers here aren’t alarming; they’re expected, and what we’re used to seeing around this time,’ FVREB president Charles Wiebe said. ‘Homebuyers should be encouraged that sales have slowed, giving inventory a chance to build back up and competition within the market to cool down. With sales activity moderating to more normal levels, we’re beginning to see prices follow-suit, and even drop for certain housing types in some of our communities.’”
From News 880 AM. “Is it really still a sellers’ market with a 26 per cent decline in sales this August compared to the same time period last year? The August report from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver had President Dan Morrison saying sellers still have the upper hand. But Realtor Steve Saretsky disputes that. ‘For a condo and town homes it’s still a sellers’ market but for the detached market look at how many sales there are and look at how many active listings there are, you can just see that right away in the price reductions.’”
“Sarestsky looked at four markets — East and West Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby. ‘Nobody really talks about it and nobody really knows, the Real Estate Board kind of has a way of making things look better than what they really are.’”
“He adds that data released by the board can be biased. ‘The Real Estate Board what they release every month is processed sales, which basically means that some of the deals that were done, some of them go as far back as May. What’s important to look at is the date that both parties agree to a purchase contract.’”
“He says it’s a buyers’ market — detached homes are seeing price reductions of over $100,000 and many are sitting on the market over 100 days.”
From Vice Magazine. “Imagine putting down all of your life savings into a deposit on your dream home. Everyone from the sales teams to your real estate agent assures you it’s a solid investment in a hot and getting hotter housing market. This is a smart buy and a deal too good to pass up. Now imagine a year later the home hasn’t been built, the developer behind the project has declared bankruptcy, and your life savings in the form of a deposit is gone.”
“That’s what happened to Loraine Adal-Salmon, her husband Anthony Salmon, John Thomas Stevenson and his fiancee Christina Nguyen. They spent last week huddled in a Toronto court, nervously watching their financial future being debated by a total of six lawyers.”
“Urbancorp Group, a well-established property developer that had been in the market for more than 20 years, had roughly 1,000 homes under construction in the Toronto area as of late 2015. Sure, they had been facing complaints from buyers about construction delays, and yes, they had even cancelled one of their developments in Toronto’s King West neighbourhood, but no significant red flags had been raised. Urbancorp was riding high on a hot housing market, and the credibility that came with being one of Toronto’s swankiest builders.”
“‘The delays seemed normal—our neighbour, a dear friend, had also put a deposit on a townhome, and we were told that delays were a pretty regular thing. I never for a second thought that the home would never get built,’ Loraine told VICE.”
“But that’s exactly what happened. At the end of April this year, in a move that came as a surprise to many industry watchers, Urbancorp filed a proposal under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, seeking creditor protection (essentially a formal way of saying: I have no money, can you help?). Two weeks later, Urbancorp’s CEO Alan Saskin also sought creditor protection, claiming assets and liabilities that amounted to a grand total of zero. One of Toronto’s most prominent builders was effectively broke, leaving behind a trail of abandoned developments, and 188 angry home buyers who had lost a cumulative $16 million in deposits.”
“While it is still unclear as to why Urbancorp’s coffers ran dry, Howard Bogach, the CEO of Tarion Warranty told me that Urbancorp had been on his radar months before the company officially filed for bankruptcy protection. ‘Urbancorp was a builder that had been in the business for a number of years. We definitely noticed there were some performance issues with them. But they then went ahead and raised a lot of money abroad… and I thought they should be able to rectify themselves,’ he told VICE.”
“No one seems to be able to pinpoint a single driving factor behind the property boom in Canada’s biggest urban centres: Cheap credit? Foreign money? Rising demand due to urbanization? Perhaps all three. But they can all tell you what is NOT driving the property boom—increasing wages. In 1985, the average home price in Toronto (condos and houses) was approximately $110,000. Fast forward 30 years, and you’re significantly set back—the price of a Toronto home has now more than quadrupled to $570,000. By comparison, the average family income in that thirty year period has only slightly doubled—$31,000 to $72,000.”
“Why is this relevant? Urbancorp, like many property developers in Toronto appeared to be banking on a market that would never let up, and consumers who were riding on the fear of opportunity cost—if they didn’t hand out swaths of cash right at that very second to secure a property, prices would only keep climbing, while their wages remained relatively unchanged.”
‘I never for a second thought that the home would never get built,’ Loraine told VICE.’
Comment to the first article:
‘For the majority of real people living in our communities who have made responsible decisions on their mortgage agreements…
Absolutely nothing has changed folks..
This market is all about timing and we should have no sympathy for speculators/developers playing games with “this” market…. ie, our home’s.
Let’s drop the market abit and rob China of a few billion dollars?
I’d rather be the spider than the fly.’
A reply:
‘Careful what you wish for…’
Great point. Does everyone remember 2009-10. People were sitting around looking for stuff to do! No one went out to eat, no one drove anywhere without a productive reason . miserable.
‘Prices also seem to be plateauing. While the price of a ‘typical’ single-family home rose another 2.1 per cent in August, to $667,800, the median price – the point at which half of all homes sold are more expensive and half are less expensive – actually declined by nearly five per cent, coming in at $621,500. Year-over-year, the price of a typical house – known as the benchmark price – has risen 39 per cent. Twelve months ago, the benchmark was at $480,800.’
The UHS is right. Nothing to be alarmed about. Prices go up 40% in a year all the time in places no one has heard of but locals.
‘‘Nobody really talks about it and nobody really knows, the Real Estate Board kind of has a way of making things look better than what they really are.’
Or prices go up to inifinity in places like Boston-metro because all of the magical Govt subsidized financial jobs somehow afford the $400,000 median home prices!
Everyone here just insists that the expensive market is and always has been the way, but I’m pretty sure I’ve read about a spectacular bust in the early 90s…
“‘Homebuyers should be encouraged that sales have slowed, giving inventory a chance to build back up and competition within the market to cool down. With sales activity moderating to more normal levels, we’re beginning to see prices follow-suit”
Strange how these vermin realtors suggest competition is falling now that prices are sinking. The reality is competition is just beginning to emerge.
“Is it really still a sellers’ market with a 26 per cent decline in sales this August compared to the same time period last year? The August report from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver had President Dan Morrison saying sellers still have the upper hand. But Realtor Steve Saretsky disputes that. ‘For a condo and town homes it’s still a sellers’ market but for the detached market look at how many sales there are and look at how many active listings there are, you can just see that right away in the price reductions.’”
Here come the Housing Bubble stages of grief again:
Denial <=
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance
The Urbancorp buyers have reason to rejoice. After having been relieved of the life’s savings, they won’t be able to make such a foolish move again soon.
“‘The delays seemed normal—our neighbour, a dear friend, had also put a deposit on a townhome, and we were told that delays were a pretty regular thing.”
So based on that, we decided to go all in.
Holy Jeebus.
“After having been relieved of the life’s savings, they won’t be able to make such a foolish move again soon.”
No matter what happens, there is always an upside.
One more time…
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life - Monty Python’s Life of Brian
“Two weeks later, Urbancorp’s CEO Alan Saskin also sought creditor protection, claiming assets and liabilities that amounted to a grand total of zero.”
This guy should be in prison trading cigarette butts.
So based on that, we decided to go all in.
Never underestimate the power of FOMO.
Was shooting the breeze with my landlord yesterday. I was discussing how I need to get the heck out of New England and its utterly ridiculous housing market or wait for prices to drop. I mentioned how market forces will respond to the new homebuyers, i.e. millenials, who cant afford these exponential rises in home prices. His response, “well that’s what I thought, that the prices would never keep going, but they just keep going up and up!”. My girlfriends father told me also this weekend I should consider looking into real estate soon, to which I laughed and said “Yeah after it explodes in everyones face”, he didn’t seem amused. People really do think the market can keep going higher and higher even as foreign money is cut off, wages are stagnant, interest will rise, and jobs are cut ? Its lunacy!!
‘ I was discussing how I need to get the heck out of New England and its utterly ridiculous housing market or wait for prices to drop.’
Why wouldn’t your decision be based solely on job prospects and family and weather. Renting is always the best option until everything else is tied down.
Well everything is more expensive here, I moved to try something new, be near Boston, change up my career a bit. I can always go back south to my old gig and family.
“He didn’t seem amused.” There’s a class of people who treat every remark about overvalued assets as a direct challenge to their judgment and sense of self. But how much different is investing from the choice to bet on red or black at the roulette wheel, especially for a retail investor?
Yeah, I think it was more of a “does this little kid think he knows more about money than me?” When in reality theres a lot of people who know this whole situation is fubar regardless of geographical location.
If you’re on HBB, then you already know more than most Baby Boomers.
Just months before the previous crash everyone thought that prices would go up forever.
What I did find dismaying was how quickly the market recovered after the crash. At least in Denver, it only took a few years and prices ended up soaring even higher than last time.
Yes when I browse Zillow for homes around my area north of Boston, and it didn’t take long at all for the “recovery”. Homes didn’t dip as hard as some areas of the US, because there is a steady high income job class here and around boston (mega DoD corps, hospitals, medical research, electronics, finance). But still, it bounced very quickly.
Here’s the No. 1 lie the bulls tell about the U.S. market
By Mark Hulbert
Published: Sept 6, 2016 5:20 a.m. ET
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-the-no-1-lie-the-bulls-tell-about-the-us-market-2016-09-06
houses and stawk gains have substituted income from good jobs.
moar stawkssss, to infinity.
Why produce goods when you can manufacture financial nukes and export them? ha
I’m pre announcing the furniture ,loan crisis
Wayfair 0 down and now
casper beds FREE for 100 days
by then you should be equity positive
if not drive away in your ford 0 down 72 month 0 interest truck
Hasn’t that been par for the course for the past … I don’t know … 30+ years? Furniture and car stores have always had those kinds of “sales”: 1 year same as cash, don’t pay for X days, etc.
Nothing new under the sun.
I have heard that you can get some historically great deals on VWs these days, but that has more to do with the TDI scandal. My boss has a 6 year old VW TDI that he paid about $23K for, and VW is going to give him $15K for it.
Another coworker also has a TDI. A bit older, with about 100K miles on the odometer. They’re going to give him $13 for it.
I have no idea what VW will do with them. I expect they will resell them in 3rd world countries that don’t have emissions standards.
Dude. I saw an ad, for nop $h!t, 84 months 0% furniture/bed finance. 84 months for a fricking BED!!!!!!
My sister called this weekend and got me back to looking into family history. I found an interesting paper written by my day about moving the family to Ridgecrest, Ca in 1955.
“Purchased our house in Ridgecrest or Jan. 15, 1955. At that time there were approximately two hundred houses available where families had moved out of them. They had been built through government financing but most of the people were in them became dissatisfied with the living conditions, could get no help from the builder or the government and had moved out. I paid $7000 for the house, with $500 down and a monthly payment of $37.00. That monthly sum included interest, principle, taxes and insurance.By August 1955 all the houses were sold or off the market.”
“written by my dad”?
Interesting story… especially the part about the $37.00 monthly payment.
There is an older gentleman in my circle (85 years old, but still works on a part-time basis) who once related to me the story of how affordable housing was in San Diego when he and his wife purchased their first home in 1959.
I went to SDSU in the late 60’s. People told me that in the late 50’s landlords were giving low rates to attract rents so that they could get decent fire premiums on their rental properties. About 1970 I could have bought a new condo near SDSU for $30K but couldn’t get a loan as a grad student. My rent was more than the condo payment would have been and I could have rented out bedrooms.
And yes day was a typo for dad.
I went through some old family federal tax returns a few years ago.
One page.
Basically a flat tax.
You paid it all - no paycheck deductions.
Social Security was like 1%.
There is no problem that can’t be solved with bigger and bigger government…
What year was that? The standard of living in America was probably much lower in those days.
The standard of living fell every year since 1970.
That’s false. However, the years of that tax return was probably before 1950.
I like IKE.
It’s reality my friend.
Only a complicated tax code and higher and higher taxes can raise the American standard of living…
The logic of the left.
I didn’t say that. But the fact of the matter is that life was pretty miserable in those days compared to today.
Why?
Because they didn’t have an iPhone or obamacare?
For one thing, medical care has come a long way (which is one reason of many that it’s so expensive). For example, today if you have a bad hip or knee, they can be replaced. Not too many decades ago, you would have been given a walking stick.
There are lots of things that are better now besides iToys. Cars last longer, are more fuel efficient and are safer.
And if you go back far enough, you will find that life expectancy was far lower than now, even with the current obesity epidemic. People had to physically much harder in the past, and that took a toll on their bodies. Sure, things looked idyllic on TV shows like Little House on the Prarie, but it was hardly like that. And you don’t have to go back that far.
I have a picture of my grandfather standing next to my Grandmother’s grave in 1958. She died in her late 40’s of a stroke. She probably had untreated hypertension. My grandfather was in his fifties at the time. He was a farmer and he looks worn, haggard and tired in that picture. I’m older now than he was then, and the difference between us is like night and day. I look FAR younger than he did.
I remember when Bush had full control of The GOP congress and they revised the tax code like good conservatives claim they want…. wait. Then they took on immigration and cut spending…..wait….
And I remember when Obama had full control of the Democratic Congress and they shut down the Bush wars like they said they wanted to, and then they closed Guantanamo, and then the got rid of the unconstitutional Patriot Act, and stopped the NSA from spying on citizens, and, and… wait a second!
What was the tax rate back then?
They had been built through government financing but most of the people were in them became dissatisfied with the living conditions, could get no help from the builder or the government and had moved out.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
What if a conglomorate is too big to be bailed out and is allowed to fail? What will be the cascading effects?
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/09/05/hanjin-bailout-didnt-happen-shatters-complacency-major-container-carriers-immune-to-failure/
The charade of bailouts on condition of reforms that never quite materialize continues in Greece. How much longer can the ECB keep kicking the can?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-05/another-greek-standoff-europe-refuses-athens-bailout-payment-until-reforms-are-imple
How much longer can the ECB keep kicking the can?
As long as they can conjure money out of thin air.
After the Brexit vote, the last thing the ECB or the Masters of the Brusselsverse want is for more countries to ask “Why are we still in the EU?”
Here is a house that a relative of mine bought back in 1947 new. It sold in 1955 for $12,500. It says that the living space is 1026 sq.ft. and says that it is estimated to be worth $502 price per sq.ft.. This is miles from the beach and several blocks from El Camino Jr. College. Totally insane.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/15516-Cerise-Ave_Gardena_CA_90249_M22661-02301
“There are currently 4,315 similar properties for sale within 10-mile radius, ranging from $209,000 - $2,000,000.”
Also, it has one bathroom? For half a million?
“Also, it has one bathroom? For half a million?”
Not too uncommon, for California.
Gardena! Bars on doors and windows area.
I would love to see Trump call out the Fed for its fraud and larceny vs. the 99% since its 1913 inception.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-u-false-economy-interest-rates-must-184133376–business.html
Donald Trump is no Ron Paul.
No, but Goldman Sachs creature Hillary will only double down on the same failed monetary policies of Bush and Obama (same guy).
http://www.businessinsider.com/citi-central-bank-policy-creates-economic-inequality-2016-9
What does it mean to be a Republican?
For generations, the answer had been clear: A belief in individual liberty. Free markets. Strong national defense.
But what does it mean to be a Republican today? With Donald Trump as the party’s new standard-bearer, it’s impossible to say.
Even before Trump’s name reached the top of the GOP presidential ticket, the party was pulled in different directions. Many Republicans held fast to the good-governing principles of the past, while a growing wing of the party yanked hard from the right to force a conscripted definition of conservatism.
Inexplicably, the presidential candidate who emerged from that ideological tug of war was the one who thumbed his nose at conservative orthodoxy altogether. Trump is — or has been — at odds with nearly every GOP ideal this newspaper holds dear.
Donald Trump is no Republican and certainly no conservative.
Individual liberty? Trump has displayed an authoritarian streak that should horrify limited-government advocates. This impulsive, unbridled New York real estate billionaire and reality-TV star wants to deport people who were born in the U.S. and don’t meet his standard for loyalty. He has proposed banning all Muslims from entering the country, even those escaping Islamist rule, and won’t rule out creating a database of Muslims already living here.
His open admiration of Russia’s Vladimir Putin is alarming.
Free markets? Economic conservatism? Ronald Reagan once said that “protectionism is destructionism.” Trump, on the other hand, has called the Trans-Pacific Partnership “a rape of our country.”
Businesses who invest overseas, he says, should pay a hefty fine on imports. (We’ll leave aside for a moment his hypocrisy in pretending that investing in hotels abroad, as he does, is somehow different from a manufacturer investing in foreign car factories.) His protectionism would likely force the U.S. into trade wars, increase the deficit and sink the U.S. economy back into a recession.
Trump’s idea of fiscal conservatism is reducing expenses by financing mountains of soul-crushing debt.
Strong national defense? Trump pledges to make our military “so big, so powerful, so strong that nobody — absolutely nobody — is going to mess with us.” But what does he want to do with that military? He says he supports killing the families of Muslim terrorists and allowing interrogation methods “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.” And if the military balks at obeying such orders? “If I say do it, they’re gonna do it,” he says.
His isolationist prescriptions put sound bites over sound policy: Invite the Russians into our elections. Bomb the Middle East into dust. Withdraw from NATO.
It’s not easy to offer a shorthand list of such tenets, since Trump flips from one side to the other, issue after issue, sometimes within a single news cycle. Regardless, his ideas are so far from Republicanism that they have spawned a new description: Trumpism.
…
ITT Tech shut down. My condolences.
“Trumpism”
He is merely a projectile.
The predicate already is being laid to blame Russian disinformation or hacking if Trump wins. That perhaps would justify setting aside the result, and substituting an unelected person or group.
More “fundamental transformation” is in store for Europe.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/706845/Islamic-state-ISIS-terrorist-attacks-smuggled-thousands-extremists-snuck-Europe-migrants
Asset bubbles are inherently dangerous to the real economy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/06/redrow-shrugs-off-brexit-burden-to-secure-record-profit/
The American worker is getting crushed by the oligarchy and its Fed accomplices.
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/trumps-labor-day-message-as-unemployment-nears-25-the-american-worker-is-getting-crushed_09052016
Even TBTF banks are acknowledging the obvious: the Fed and central banks are rigging the game in favor of their .1% cohorts.
http://www.businessinsider.com/citi-central-bank-policy-creates-economic-inequality-2016-9
The Keynesian lunatics at the Fed and central banks and their media cheerleaders prepare to take the fraud and insanity to a whole new level.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/helicopter-money-may-give-fed-the-inflation-it-wants-2016-09-06
Dead donkeys, unite!
‘As contrarian investor Jeremy Grantham put it in an interview with Charlie Rose in 2013, speaking about then Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke: “Bernanke is whipping this donkey that can only grow at 1 percent, this economy, because he thinks it’s a race horse that should be growing at 3. So he is going to keep on whipping this donkey until it either drops dead or turns into a race horse, which is unlikely. And I am betting on dead.”’
‘Toby Nangle of U.K.-based asset manager Columbia Threadneedle says in an asset allocation note that helicopter money “refers to the situation where a central bank finances the fiscal expenditure of a government. Or in common parlance, the government prints money instead of raising taxes or debt to fund spending.”’
Given the situation at hand, what’s the use of the income tax. Is it primarily redistribution coupled with a disincentive for productive workers to produce up to their potential?
Where’s the upside to disincentivizing production?
A preview of coming attractions: Hitler learns he’s in foreclosure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNmcf4Y3lGM&feature=player_embedded
very funny!
Where are Hillary and Arnie Grape speaking today?
Where is Hillary coughing today?
Fixt for ya!
Yah, Kaine does look like Arnie Grape. Maybe he can do an appearance with DiCaprio.
“Where is Hillary coughing today?”
Hehe… she can’t take any “moon-face” steroids until after the election.
Tim Kaine is taking them for her.
The comparison of the candidates schedules is interesting. Trump traveled to Mexico, and visited with black community leaders in Detroit, which seems right out of the Bill Clinton playbook of making an effort to stay on conversational terms with people hostile to you. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, held fundraisers with our economic royalty and avoided challenging situations.
“For a donation of $2,700, the children (under 16) of donors at an event last month at the Sag Harbor, N.Y., estate of the hedge fund magnate Adam Sender could ask Mrs. Clinton a question. A family photo with Mrs. Clinton cost $10,000, according to attendees.
…
Another advantage to choosing private fund-raisers over town halls or other public events is that Mrs. Clinton can bask in an affectionate embrace as hosts try to limit confrontational engagements.
Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a backer of Democrats and a friend of the Clintons’, made sure attendees did not grill Mrs. Clinton at the $100,000-per-couple lamb dinner Mrs. Forester de Rothschild hosted under a tent on the lawn of her oceanfront Martha’s Vineyard mansion.
“I said, ‘Let’s make it a nice night for her and show her our love,’” Mrs. Forester de Rothschild said.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/us/politics/hillary-clinton-fundraising.html?_r=0
I love how her health questions are somehow conspiracy theories. When Ron Paul was running, he was healthy and touted his many mile bike rides, yet all these questions surfaced about his endurance and ability to run back in 2012. How absurd.
Owner ends effort to sell part of Mizner Park in Boca
General Growth last month pulled office and retail space at Mizner Park off the market
September 04, 2016 02:00PM
General Growth Properties Inc., the owner of Mizner Park in Boca Raton, attempted to sell part of the mixed-use property but pulled it off the market last month amid disappointing bids, according to the Palm Beach Post. Mizner Park is a 27-year-old Boca landmark on Federal Highway north of the intersection with Palmetto Park Road.
http://therealdeal.com/miami/2016/09/04/owner-ends-effort-sell-part-of-mizner-park-in-boca/
I lived in Abbotsford. It is the “buckle” of the bible belt, there are more churches per capita than almost anywhere else. It is a very boring place and I can assure you that people do not make incomes that justifies houses over half a million. As you can see, the real estate board is living off of their glory days, citing value comparisons that hide the price drops, further cementing the fear into people wanting to get into real estate. The presumption is that even with the 15% tax the market is unshakable. Understandable considering they have been encouraging their “clients” to overbid for years. Imagine the betrayal their trusting clients will experience when they realize they casually gave the seller the equivalent of a luxury car, (and the agent free gas for the rest of the year) based on the “expert” opinion of their used house salesman. Aside from all of that, the denizens still believe the hype. I told my father in law that prices were dropping and he said, actually, the article in the paper said prices are going up, compared to last year that is. The cognitive dissonance is bewildering, as if everyone decided to double up on their stupid pills.
Boom! ITT Tech shuts down, just like that!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-06/40000-students-limbo-8000-employees-fired-itt-suddenly-shuts-down
They must not have donated to the Clinton Foundation.
Wow, I know a couple people who went there back in one of their Va campuses. They were heavy on advertising their quick path degree programs…
An interesting case study in a company that couldn’t make it without the federal government backstopping loans to students.
It should only happen to housing, sigh.
There is a lesson in there somewhere…
Yeah I read the story more indepth, oddly curious a FOR PROFIT had to rely heavily on Govt subsidies for the students. Whata great scheme, charge lots of money/credit banking on the kids getting Federal loans/aid.
They were heavy on advertising their quick path degree programs
That reminds me of an ITT commercial from a long time ago. In the ad, a white labcoat clad ITT grad boasts about how he’s making bank while his older brother, who is shown reading a dusty old book in a dark library, is still in college. The young guys says something like “while my brother was learning about the past, I learned about the future”
This was back in the days when most programmers were self taught and had no degrees.
The self taught programmer is still true to this day. There’s just those kids who “get it” and pick up computer coding and become great at it. I knew quite a few people making a great living in SF in 2012- present, with no formal degree. Heck by the time you got a computer science degree, youd most likely be outdated on languages!
I have a very intelligent high school classmate who did exactly that, with considerable success. After high school he dropped out of college, and then out of community college, because he didn’t see a reason to continue. He’s now a software engineer in S.F.
FWIW, other than in an “Intro to Programming” you aren’t taught programming languages in a CS program (you learn those on your own).
Outside of the Bay Area, it’s become a lot harder for the degreeless to land a SW Engineer job these days. Heck, many places even prefer it if you have a masters in CS.
20-30 years ago, it was different. Back then I worked at places where I was the only one on the team with a degree. Now, in most places everyone has a degree.
Oh dear more conspiracy theories.
Hillary University: Bill Clinton Bagged $16.46 Million from For-Profit College as State Dept. Funneled $55 Million Back
by Stephen K. Bannon2 Jun 20163,605
With her campaign sinking in the polls, Hillary Clinton has launched a desperate attack against Trump University to deflect attention away from her deep involvement with a controversial for-profit college that made the Clintons millions, even as the school faced serious legal scrutiny and criminal investigations.
In April 2015, Bill Clinton was forced to abruptly resign from his lucrative perch as honorary chancellor of Laureate Education, a for-profit college company. The reason for Clinton’s immediate departure: Clinton Cash revealed, and Bloomberg confirmed, that Laureate funneled Bill Clinton $16.46 million over five years while Hillary Clinton’s State Dept. pumped at least $55 million to a group run by Laureate’s founder and chairman, Douglas Becker, a man with strong ties to the Clinton Global Initiative. Laureate has donated between $1 million and $5 million (donations are reported in ranges, not exact amounts) to the Clinton Foundation. Progressive billionaire George Soros is also a Laureate financial backer.
As the Washington Post reports, “Laureate has stirred controversy throughout Latin America, where it derives two-thirds of its revenue.” During Bill Clinton’s tenure as Laureate’s chancellor, the school spent over $200 million a year on aggressive telemarketing, flashy Internet banner ads, and billboards designed to lure often unprepared students from impoverished countries to enroll in its for-profit classes. The goal: get as many students, regardless of skill level, signed up and paying tuition.
“I meet people all the time who transfer here when they flunk out elsewhere,” agronomy student Arturo Bisono, 25, told the Post. “This has become the place you go when no one else will accept you.”
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/06/02/hillary-university-bill-clinton-bagged-16-46-million-from-for-profit-college-as-state-dept-funneled-55-million-back/ - 238k -
Obama’s For-Profit Execution
Wall Street Journal
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obamas-for-profit-execution-1472511905
Obama’s For Profit Execution
How to kill a company without proving a single allegation.
An ITT Technical Institute location in Chantilly, Virginia in 2014.
Aug. 29, 2016 7:05 p.m. ET
Say what you will about the Obama Administration, it isn’t slowing down as it heads for the exits. The Education Department wants to put as many for-profit colleges as possible out of business, and last week it gave ITT Technical Institute a de facto death sentence.
The ITT story is worth telling because it shows how a regulatory assault can kill a company without proving a single allegation. The department first targeted ITT in August 2014 when it put the school on probation and demanded an irrevocable $80 million letter of credit.
This was a signal for some 20 state Attorneys General, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to pounce, probing everything from the college’s student recruitment and graduate job placement to its third-party private student loan program. ITT denies their allegations, but that is irrelevant when the feds have marked you for termination.
The investigations triggered a review by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, which in April threatened to withdraw ITT’s accreditation because the government litigation challenged the company’s financial viability. The Education Department then used the accreditor’s warning as the reason to raise its collateral demand to $123 million.
ITT has also warned investors that it might not be able to meet the department’s financial metrics because “a significant amount of the Company’s cash is and will be held” in an escrow account with the department. So putting up the cash collateral has made it more difficult, if not impossible, to fulfill other regulatory demands. How’s that for a Catch-22?
In July ITT notified investors that it expected new student enrollment in the fall to drop from 45% to 60%, after falling by half to 45,000 since 2010. Revenues have shrivelled to $850 million. The department announced last week it would delay federal student aid disbursements and cut off aid to new enrollees.
These actions alone could precipitate ITT’s demise, but department regulators have made bankruptcy even more likely by demanding $153 million more in collateral in 30 days. If the company fails to comply, the department can revoke federal aid for current students.
This would likely force the immediate closure of all 130 some ITT campuses. Hundreds of millions of dollars of student loans could be eligible for discharge. Unlike in a corporate bankruptcy, the company won’t control its dissolution. The government has barred “out of the ordinary expenditures without department approval.” Money held in escrow won’t be available to creditors.
The department justifies all this in the name of protecting taxpayers who finance student loans, but an ITT bankruptcy could strand thousands of students who have already borrowed to attend but would get no degree. When the feds killed Corinthian Colleges in 2014, they triggered a chaotic collapse that has resulted in more than $170 million in student debt relief. Taxpayers may get a similar bill for ITT.
As recently as January 2014 parent company ITT Educational Services’s shares traded at more than $45, but on Monday they were worth 45 cents. The government has never had to prove its claims in court. When angry voters refer to a “lawless” government, this is what they mean.
This Time Coughing Fit Is On Her New Plane - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhZJBHrX-T8 - 408k - Cached - Similar pages
16 hours ago ..
It’s pollen, pollen, I tell you! No, wait, it’s Trump, it’s Putin, it’s Alex Jones!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-06/coughing-clinton-shrugs-health-conspiracy-theories-questions-emerge-pollen-explanati
It just the demon inside her having a little fun…
no neo-cons, no warmongers for POTUS.
NY Deli Owner Ahmed Alshami Charged with Food Stamps Fraud, Wife Yells F*ck America
by Jerome Hudson5 Sep 2016
Ahmed Alshami, owner of a Buffalo, New York deli, is being held on $2 million bail after being arraigned last week on food stamp fraud and burglary charges.
Alshami, who owns the IGA Community Express Mart along with his wife, Nadia Alhaj, was arrested on August 19 and arraigned on August 23 on charges of misuse of food stamps, third-degree burglary, and second-degree criminal possession of public benefit cards.
After his court hearing, Alshami’s daughter flipped off local reporters while his while was caught on camera yelling, “Are you happy now? F*ck you. F*ck America.”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/09/05/ny-deli-owner-ahmed-alshami-charged-food-stamps-fraud-wife-yells-fck-america/ - 70k -
He should have been a banker.
Well, there is a reason why Hillary and obama want to import millions of muslims…
To clean up Detroit, right? Then Baltimore.
Now that’s a handpicked bunch of lapdogs.
Press On Hillary’s Plane Look Like Enraptured Tweens About To Meet Taylor Swift
Infowars.com - September 6, 2016
This is why the press never asks Hillary real questions.
http://www.infowars.com/press-on-hillarys-plane-look-like-enraptured-tweens-about-to-meet-taylor-swift/ - 209k -
The MSM is the propaganda arm of the DNC…