Buyers Saw That It Just Got Beyond The Pale
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Real estate is the heart of Miami’s economy. In the past four years, more than 3,000 condo units have been built, and a whopping 11,000 are slated to finish construction by 2018. It might seem an insane proposition to sell 14,000 new luxury condos in six years, and it appears market experts agree. Real-estate expert Andrew Stearns released a study that suggests, yet again, that demand for luxury condos in Miami could be hitting its breaking point. Though there were more than 700 post-2012 ‘preconstruction’ condos on the market in August, Stearns reported that only eight of them had sold. And all of them lost money on the sale. ‘There appears to be something going on,’ Stearns said.”
“Stearns’ website, StatFunding.com, has been compiling data all year. This past May 5, Stearns reported that Miami’s condo market might be hitting an ‘inflection point,’ wherein there are simply too many new condos, and people trying to resell even 1- or 2-year-old condos will be selling them at ’significant losses.’ ‘At [the] current rate of sales, there is over 10 years of inventory of recently completed condo projects due to lack of sales activity,’ he wrote. ‘If current sales trends continue, in the next 24 months there will be over 57 years of inventory of newly completed condos on the resale market.’”
“This, he said, would then cause spillover problems with Miami’s rental market. In the next 24 months, he wrote, ‘rents will likely tumble as preconstruction buyers unwilling to take losses on their condos flood the rental market with new units.’”
“Could it be the break Bay area homebuyers have been waiting for? New numbers show home sales are actually slowing. Santa Clara County Realtors Association President Trisha Motter said, ‘We’re not seeing the bidding frenzies or paying as much over list price as we were before.’ For instance, a house in South San Jose has been up for sale for three months and counting, something that would have been unimaginable a year ago.”
“Motter is in process of selling a nearly identical home just across the street from the home that has been sitting on the market for months. She says the combination of the right price and a tasteful staging helped her snag a buyer in just two weeks. ‘Before you could put your home on the market with no preparation and it would move quickly. Now, buyers are taking it a little bit slower. They have options,’ Motter said.”
“A potential shadow inventory looms over the market as state-mandated mediation proceedings drag out the process, raising the specter that foreclosures could jump again in the coming months as those procedures reach their end. ‘We’re about seven, eight years after the crash and were still dealing with foreclosures,’ said Mike Feldman, president of the Connecticut Association. ‘Eventually, we’ll wash through all this stuff, but it’s hanging over our heads because the judges have to deal with it. Other states have done it a lot faster.’”
“In upscale Gold Coast communities like Greenwich, it is not unusual for a mortgage to be triggered simply by a house carrying more debt than its actual value, according to David Marantz, a court-appointed attorney based in Stamford currently overseeing the auction of a Greenwich property. ‘Often people don’t want to pay because they’re under water,’ Morantz said.”
“A former realtor who owned at least 12 rental properties in Nevada and Texas and filed multiple bankruptcy petitions to avoid paying the mortgages has been sentenced. Barbara Jean Dennis, 60, of Las Vegas pleaded guilty in February to bankruptcy fraud, admitting that she used the automatic stay provision in bankruptcy proceedings to avoid paying the mortgages, while at the same time, collecting rent from her tenants, according to a Department of Justice news release.”
“‘As this case demonstrates, the fallout from the housing crisis in Nevada is still impacting federal investigations and prosecutions,’ said Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. attorney for the District of Nevada. ‘The prosecution of these cases typically takes years and requires a significant amount of resources.’”
“After a dismal year in 2016, the Fort St. John housing market may be starting to stabilize. Fort St. John RE/MAX owner Trevor Bolin says the homes in Garrison Landing are selling for up to $70,000 less than they were last year. But he says sales aren’t just picking up because of the huge discounts. Pipeline projects in the area are providing new jobs, and there is confidence work is going to pick up soon.”
“But not everyone is confident things are turning around. Robin Spencer-Pickell was thinking about selling her home last year. Bolin told her she could get about $360,000 for it, despite the tax assessment for her home being $460,000. Spencer-Pickell figures the value’s only gone down since then, and doesn’t see any signs the market is stabilizing.”
“‘That isn’t the true picture. Go up and down any of these streets and see how many for sale signs are up and how many for rent. All these new ones that are up, those guys lots of them are renting them out or selling them just to get what they put in to building them back out. It’s a bleak picture. It’s not pretty,’ said Spencer-Pickell.”
“A record year for Australia’s volume home builders raises concerns that the country’s largest-ever housing construction cycle has peaked. The home builder with the biggest absolute increase in starts last year was Newcastle-based MJH Group. ‘Greenfield developers had to be willing to cut their profit expectations to keep volumes rising,’ said managing director Andrew Helmers. ‘The prices have come off. The clever developers with a bit of room to move, are adjusting their prices. It’s good signals for buyers. The peak of the market was about Fathers’ Day last year. After that it seemed to switch off – it just got beyond the pale. I think buyers saw that.’”
“Facing a slump of almost 30% in sales in the past two years, the real estate sector in Indore is struggling to get into gear. Of the 60,000-odd apartments in the city, as many as 28,000 are lying unsold and vacant. A major chunk of apartments in the city have seen a dip in resale value. With more than 25,000 vacant apartments, real estate developers are finding it difficult to earn from the projects. ‘The current rate per square feet is almost the same as it was two years ago. This is one of the reasons why home-buyers are not finding it viable to sell their flats. There is no appreciation,’ said CREDAI Indore chapter’s secretary Akhilesh Kothari.”
“‘Today 70% buyers look for affordable housing and the rest are in for luxurious apartments. But the newer projects that are coming up are largely focusing on premium flats, which are not on the list of most home-buyers,’ said CREDAI’s youth wing secretary Niket Mangal. But realtors seem eager to cash in on luxury. ‘The biggest gap is in demand and supply of housing. Affordable housing is what majority consumers need but there are increasing options in premium apartments. That is not what most buyers need,’ he added.”
‘Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are lowering mortgage standards. On Monday, the two government-backed housing giants revealed a new program designed to boost mortgage origination among first time buyers and those with low to medium incomes. The new program, which will initially be limited two non-bank lenders, will allow borrowers to include the income of residents that aren’t actually on the mortgage, as well as make it easier for borrowers to include income from second jobs.’
‘While these changes may strike some as sensible, anyone who has seen The Big Short would have valid concerns in the oversight of these looser lending standards – especially when you consider that the companies responsible for mortgage origination will not be the ones holding the mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will. It’s always easier to make loans when you know the taxpayers are the ones that will be holding the risk.’
‘Of course while there is reason to worry about history repeating itself in the case of Fannie and Freddie, it’s still not quite as crazy as the FHA’s decision earlier this year to make it cheaper for first-time home buyers with sub-680 credit scores to get into the housing market.’
‘Because the only thing government is worse at than pricing risk, is learning from past mistakes.’
They learn alright. Losses don’t matter.
The sheeple who comprise 95% of the electorate will meekly bend over for more Wall Street bailouts.
Non-borrower income provision: Say you need 45% DTI to get the mortgage. Your income is only 42% of DTI. The non-borrower dude can kick in 3% of the DTI. That’s all it really is. I don’t know how many customers are going to fit this criteria.
‘include the income of residents that aren’t actually on the mortgage’
The number of these “residents”: unlimited.
From the FAQ: When [non-borrower income] is used on a HomeReady loan casefile, it is considered only as a compensating factor to allow the DTI ratio to exceed 45 percent, up to 50 percent.
The traditional “safe” debt to income is 28%. For regular Fannie Mae, the borrower on the mortgage can meet 45% DTI. If the borrower can’t meet 45%, HomeReady allows him to go as high as 50% DTI *if* he can provide documented non-borrower income to bring him down to 45% DTI.
The point is that the name(s) on the mortgage have to provide 50% DTI. And he (or he and his spouse) has make that income himself, NOT an unlimited number of roomies. As I said , you’re not going to have 6 roomies kicking in 8% of DTI each. At worst, you’ll have the homeowner (+spouse) putting in 50% if DTI, and 5% roomie DTI to achieve the F&F standard of 45% DTI.
(Sure, you could have 10 roomies provide 5% of DTI, but it’s only 5%. There’s not much more damage there.)
So why do it if no one will qualify? And why expand it now? “Petal to the metal” Mel Watt isn’t doing this for appearances because almost nobody knows about but the loan officers and the UHS. Note the FAQ is in complete loan officer speak.
50% DTI pretty closely approaches 100% of take home pay. To lend or borrow at that level is absolutely insane.
Ty oxide for being a voice of reason.
I can understand having more than one person sign on a loan (and counting their income).
But allowing income from people that haven’t signed on the loan is crazy.
I don’t quite get it either Ben. As Blue says, 45-50% is most of take-home pay. At that point you’re so stretched that allowing someone else to kick in a little isn’t going to push you over.
The FAQ said something about many households still having working children at home, so maybe Mel did some research on how many households would really benefit from this.
In the previous bubble we had liar/NINJA loans. These are nothing more than the current version of them. They’re also a sign that the next crash isn’t too far off.
“But allowing income from people that haven’t signed on the loan is crazy.”
Eighty years ago it was a Chicken in Every Pot; now it’s the entire house. Election season.
“Another flexibility: Say you’re part of an extended family and you expect to have other household members living in the house with you who earn incomes but don’t want to be on the mortgage note as a co-borrower. You can use their documented earnings to increase the maximum debt-to-income ratio (DTI) you’re allowed on your mortgage.
Take this hypothetical example. Say you’re single and earning a solid $72,000 a year and want to buy a house. However, your current monthly debt load of $2,820 makes you ineligible for most conventional mortgages because your DTI is 47 percent. But if a relative earning $2,000 a month moves in with you, HomeReady may greenlight your 47 percent DTI, even if the relative contributes nothing in rent.”
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-88024730/
As many as want to.
I’m curious, who exactly do the changes “strike as sensible”? The changes are dumb, are only meant to extend the party for politically-connected individuals and interests, and are targeted at those with the least economic resilience.
Who knew subprime had so many faces?
Subprime Sam strikes again!
Five things to know about Palm Beach County housing market
September 22, 2016 |
http://realtime.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2016/09/22/five-things-to-know-about-palm-beach-county-housing-market/
Question: Any news on single family homes?
“Countywide, prices are in a holding pattern.”
“Homes are still selling quickly”
“More homes are for sale”
It’s almost word for word the stories that you read going into 2007-2008.
Speaking of which:
“Tampa Bay home prices soared nearly 20 percent in August, outpacing all other metro areas in Florida.
…
But the increase in prices was propelled by a continued — and worrisome — shortage of homes for sale both in the bay area and nationwide.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, says the tight supply is driving up prices and creating an affordability crisis because incomes are not rising at the same rate.
…
While year-over-year closed sales in August rose 7.7 percent, all four bay area counties had fewer available homes than they did a year earlier. That helped pump the median price of single family homes up 22.4 percent to $222,000 in Pinellas; up 16.5 percent to $183,620 in Pasco; 15.3 percent to $130,250 in Hernando; and up 12.5 percent to $225,000 in Hillsborough.
The recovery from the housing bust appears all but complete.”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/tampa-bay-home-prices-jumped-20-percent-in-august-more-than-any-metro-area/2294736
There’s no tight supply here, of that I can assure everyone. And the recovery from the bust “appears complete.” Isn’t this typically the time when our hideous political leadership poses in front of a mission accomplished banner?
Interestingly, the paper pairs this article, from last week, as a link to the above:
“Tampa Bay is dead last in median household income among the nation’s largest metro areas”
It really does look like history repeating. The present Bad Andy home is paid for with the only debt being to the Palm Beach County Tax Collector. I wouldn’t have such a wonderful thing right now if we hadn’t been through a foreclosure on the previous home.
“Interestingly, the paper pairs this article, from last week, as a link to the above”
I noticed that as well.
Back in 2006 the median household income to median house price ratio in the Tampa Bay region was 4.9
Today it is 4.2 and climbing.
As Mark Twain once said, “while history doesn’t necessarily repeat itself it most certainly rhymes”
And our political and economic leadership is celebrating this. Which is one reason why it is despised. I’ve written here often that the next crash will be the end of democracy, because it will destroy the remaining credibility of democratic institutions (which backed the echo bubble to the hilt in terms of both rhetoric and policy) to the point where not even the best propaganda in the world can restore it. We could have done things a lot differently, but we didn’t and the banquet of consequences will be here soon enough.
“Now you’re not naive enough to think we are living in a democracy, are you Buddy?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVjCRWbvM4c
Any professors on this board? I’m just wondering what this Trulia chart actually says about real estate values designated by ‘zip code’. Just choose an area and give me your thoughts:
https://www.trulia.com/home_prices/Florida/Palm_Beach_County-heat_map/
Existing-home sales stumble in August as inventory dwindles further
By Andrea Riquier
Published: Sept 22, 2016 11:12 a.m. ET
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/existing-home-sales-stumble-as-inventory-dwindles-further-2016-09-22
Another Obama-Fed-Goldman Sachs “recovery” success story: homelessness up 60% in NYC as the poors are completely priced out due to the housing bubble.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-22/dear-obama-how-does-60-increase-nyc-homelessness-constitute-recovery
Fitch, which like the other major ratings agencies gave AAA ratings to toxic waste mortgage backed securities (MBSs) prior to the housing bubble collapse, seems to get more honest the further their ratees are from home. Even they are acknowledging China is FUBAR.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/22/fitch-warns-bad-debts-in-china-are-ten-times-official-claims-sta/
The best antidote to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2016/09/jason-falconer-on-left-with-hat-jason.html
But…but…recovery!
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/09/22/merchandise-world-trade-in-volatile-grind-lower/
The real rate of joblessness belies the faked Soviet-style data touted by the Fed and BLS.
http://www.businessinsider.com/job-market-not-as-strong-when-considering-those-entering-and-leaving-2016-9
Video: maniacal Crooked Hillary shouts at camera: “Why aren’t I 50 points ahead?” (Answer: because only feckless, amoral imbeciles are voting for you.)
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/09/22/hillary-clinton-arent-50-points-ahead-donald-trump/
Because this whole thing is simply a referendum on the Clintons. Doesn’t matter who the opposition is at this point…or what they’ve done. That’s why attacking Trump gets you nowhere.
Finally someone gets it. Just like the 2008 election was referendum on Bush. Even a crow would have won in 2008 running against Shrub.
That should mean that this election should be a referendum on Obama. Given his rising approval ratings, the Democrats need to get some people to think about that way.
It would be…if the D nominee was an unknown quantity.
Bush didn’t run in 2008.
Don’t let facts get in the way.
Still Obama ran against the Shrub and won.
Because this whole thing is simply a referendum on the Clintons.
No, it’s a referendum on the neocon, corporate statist, crony capitalist status quo. In 2008 and 2012, the Obama Zombies, McCain Mutants, and Romney Retards formed a conga line of stoopids that shuffled zombie-like into the polls and voted for the same-old, same-old, aka Hope n’ change Goldman Sachs can believe in. Now people are waking up, not a minute too soon, and realizing a vote for any Establishment candidate is a vote for a system that only works for the 1%.
I actually agree with that, although I would phrase the second sentence less caustically.
Fair enough…although the two things might be somewhat redundant. The fact that lots of people are actually going to pull the handle for Trump tells you how sick of it they are. Sure he might actually appeal to a few people for a few (sometimes scary) reasons, but mostly I don’t think anybody is particularly fond of him. He’s just the label on what they see as a box for “none of the above”.
CHS: Why the coming wave of defaults will be devastating.
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2016/09/why-coming-wave-of-defaults-will-be.html
Heavy on rhetoric, light on reasoning and data.
Who does he think will be defaulting?
Housing debt was $10T at the height of the bubble, and is $8.8T now. Non Housing debt was $1.9T, and now is $2.3T. In other words, total household debt hasn’t increased, but is lower. Households have delevered, as measured by household financial obligation ratios, etc.
Total debt growth was approximately $10T from 2008 to now.
US Government debt was at about $9T in 2008, and is about $19.5T now.
So, pretty much the entire increase in total debt was government.
Does CHS expect the US government to default? If he does, I will simply point to Japan.
Print, print, print. Not default, default, default.
That’s why the sucker won’t crash for some time, if ever. They can print into oblivion.
It was a great time to invest in equities between 2009 and now. As long as you didn’t buy stupid crap and take on new debt yer sitting pretty nice. You could take all the money off the table now and wait it out but I think another 2008 is unlikely since the Fed is in it.
The next crisis will probably be some war someplace. The military complex must be fed.
LOL! The elites can and will crash it just to further consolidate their power. Did you sleep through the 2008-9 crash? What happened - the elites got bailed out, not prosecuted for ANY of their crimes, and then further rigged the system on this latest run up by buying up huge amounts of RE at fire sale prices, issuing bonds to buy back stock and issue dividends, retarded mergers, etc. Why wouldn’t they do that again, when it was so successful before?
Puggs: That’s why the sucker won’t crash for some time, if ever. They can print into oblivion.
I suspect printing is not consequence-free.
All forgotten on the discussion was extraordinary measures taken to prop up the “values.” And they tell you we have been on recovery. Suckers always fell for it.
Hey Charles, we’re still waiting for the 1985 prices in San Francisco that you predicted.
Will you allow economy to work itself without too much intervention?
If no, there’s no point to discuss anything further.
I really doubt Oxide has any say in the matter. And neither do you.
I think that a lot of people realize this and thus act the way they do, which basically boils down to gaming the system.
But they should at least acknowledge that without the depression like extraordinary efforts from the Fed and US government, the housing market would be near 1985 level.
I don’t recall Oxide ever denying that. If there is anything we all agree on here, is that the economy is rigged, and rigged isn’t good.
My point was that Charles Hugh Smith’s famous 2006 post — in which he compares the housing bubble to the dot-com crash — was spectacularly wrong. He should know better than to make the same prediction over and over again.
The inevitable outcomes are still there.
CHS does indeed go off on tangents from time to time but is still well worth reading overall IMHO. Well before 2008 he and the HBB called Bubble 1.0 quite accurately…was following both daily at the time and by early 2007 they had me convinced (correctly) that the pop was imminent. As a result put my house on the market at a slight discount and got a quick sale (and donated to both sites afterwards FWIW)
There are a non-trivial number of people who saw the housing market was completely out of whack in 2005-2007. Ben and lots of us here on the HBB, CHS, folks who made a killing on betting against the mortgage market, etc.
There are a number of those folks who got it right the first time who are not making the same dire predictions now.
In other words, getting it right the first time does not mean you are all knowing and will get it right every time (because, based on current stances, not everyone who correctly predicted the crash will be right again).
Lots of rear view mirror drivers. Who followed Miami Beach every day for all these years including the lead article in today’s post? The MB bubble has popped again, and prices are (were) something like 40% higher per square foot than 2006 or whatever. I know because I posted those stats that week.
This Rental Watch has really hitched his wagon to “this time it’s different.”
The precious snowflakes are emotionally stunted and unprepared to face the responsibility of adulthood.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/22/young-people-living-in-a-suspended-adulthood-finds-research
‘Of the 60,000-odd apartments in the city, as many as 28,000 are lying unsold and vacant’
Worse than Miami Beach.
‘Though there were more than 700 post-2012 ‘preconstruction’ condos on the market in August, Stearns reported that only eight of them had sold. And all of them lost money on the sale’
‘hitting an ‘inflection point,’ wherein there are simply too many new condos, and people trying to resell even 1- or 2-year-old condos will be selling them at ’significant losses.’ ‘At [the] current rate of sales, there is over 10 years of inventory of recently completed condo projects due to lack of sales activity,’ he wrote. ‘If current sales trends continue, in the next 24 months there will be over 57 years of inventory of newly completed condos on the resale market’
Maybe not.
During the bubble, I recall reading that Miami had 50,000 condos in planning/construction, the same number they had sold in the prior 10 years.
Sometimes the learning curve is a vertical wall.
‘In upscale Gold Coast communities like Greenwich, it is not unusual for a mortgage to be triggered simply by a house carrying more debt than its actual value, according to David Marantz, a court-appointed attorney based in Stamford currently overseeing the auction of a Greenwich property. ‘Often people don’t want to pay because they’re under water,’ Morantz said.’
We’ve heard of this in the past; lender says you’re underwater, pony up or we’ll foreclose. This should be interesting. Like a reverse strategic default.
From Yesterday;
Comment by phony scandals
2016-09-22 09:36:08
“I read this in a comments section of a news article..”
What news article and where did you read it ?
I read a lot daily…but I also delete at the end of each day…Probably Fortune CEO, MarketWatch, The Daily 202…
For the First Time in Years, Incomes Are Rising Faster Than Home Values
Has wage growth finally arrived?
by Julie Verhage
A trend that’s helped force U.S. home ownership to a 50-year low may finally be running out of steam.
According to a new report from Zillow, a real estate and rental marketplace, incomes are now rising faster than home values for the first time since 2011. The data shows that home values have been growing at a 5 percent annual rate since the beginning of the year, outstripped by 2015’s income growth of 5.3 and 5.4 percent for family and non-family households respectively.
“We’re finally seeing income growth that we haven’t had for quite some time,” said Svenja Gudell, Zillow’s chief economist. Yet, “it’s a combination of both,” she said, when asked in an interview about the effect on house prices themselves: even their present 5 percent growth rate “is a slowdown from the early days of the recovery.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-22/for-the-first-time-in-years-incomes-are-rising-faster-than-home-values?utm_content=markets&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-markets
What a relief. The ownership society might come back. There’s no reason to prick the bubble. House prices to the moon! And here I am, thinking that house prices bear no reasonable relationship to incomes, but rather to manipulated interest rates, QE, government policy, money laundering, fraud, and mania.
And just in time for 25-30% healthcare premium increases. So net -(20-25%) raises for American wages.
Only if your health care premium is 100% of your income…
My employer has this excerpt from a report on health care spending on the company intranet:
from a June 2016 PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute report provide us with this look at what’s happening to medical costs.
• Medical costs are still increasing, just at a slower rate.
The report predicts medical costs will increase at an annual rate of 6.5% in 2017. That’s the same annual growth rate as in 2016 but at a slower pace than in the past (8.5% in 2012, 9.2% in 2009 and 11.9% in 2007).
They’ll just choose policies with even higher deductibles. If you have a $2000 deductible you might as well go for $5000. And not to worry, hospitals can help you obtain financing for the portion of your bill not covered by insurance. Now get out there and buy a $50K truck or SUV while interest rates are still low!
GDP growth….you have to obtain that any way possible.
“2015’s income growth of 5.3 and 5.4 percent for family…”
Consider that you have been misled by statistics.
Median. Widening wealth gap.
Has wage growth finally arrived?
Has it? Or are people working extra hours? Doing some uber driving to help make ends meet? Renting out a room on AirBnB?
Just asking because it looks like another year of no raises at the office, even though profits were up again.
Or they might be switching jobs? That’s the only way to get a decent raise. Or start contracting….you give up vacations, 401k match but your take home is higher.
Donald Trump, in Pittsburgh, Pledges to Boost Both Coal and Gas
By CORAL DAVENPORTSEPT. 22, 2016
Donald J. Trump on Thursday traveled to Pittsburgh, a city once synonymous with the rich coal seam that runs beneath it and now the capital of natural gas fracking, to promise the impossible: a boom for both coal and gas.
Mr. Trump’s energy promises to those attending a corporate conference contained a fundamentally incompatible concept, as expanding the exploration of natural gas is the surest way to hurt coal production, and vice versa. Since the two fuels compete directly for the same market — the power plants that light American homes — it is effectively impossible to increase production of one without decreasing the other.
But ever the salesman, Mr. Trump gave it a go and promised to restore the region’s old coal economy and pump up its booming new gas economy.
“The shale energy revolution will unleash massive wealth for America,” he told an audience of chief executives from the energy industry. “And we will end the war on coal and the war on miners.”
It is not the first time Mr. Trump has tailored his policies to be all things to all audiences. Last week, he told auditors tallying the cost of his tax plan that he had dropped a $1 trillion tax cut for small businesses while he told the small business lobby he had not. He has promised a foreign policy more focused on American interests than on global entanglements as he promises to widen the war on the Islamic State and take oil from Iraq. His immigration policies have swung wildly depending on his audience.
Energy experts said Mr. Trump’s pledges on gas and coal pandered to his audience while showing a lack of basic knowledge about energy markets.
“There is a fundamental inconsistency between Trump’s promise to ‘bring the coal industry back 100 percent,’ as he says, and any promises to use government policy to grow the market for natural gas,” said Robert N. Stavins, director of the environmental economics program at Harvard.
“The primary cause of the tremendous fall in coal employment is low natural gas prices, due to increased supplies of natural gas from hydraulic fracturing,” Professor Stavins said. “If the Trump administration wanted to help coal, it could ban fracking. But he can’t have it both ways.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/us/politics/donald-trump-fracking.html?ref=business&_r=0
“A former realtor who owned at least 12 rental properties in Nevada and Texas and filed multiple bankruptcy petitions to avoid paying the mortgages has been sentenced”
Good, rot in hell. Hopefully the Wells Fargo CEO can join her. Ha of course that’ll never happen. But we need to be like Iceland and flush these crooks down the toilet.
I’m surprised she got charged. I thought that was the new normal?
‘All these new ones that are up, those guys lots of them are renting them out or selling them just to get what they put in to building them back out. It’s a bleak picture. It’s not pretty’
Yeah Robin, when the builders start undercutting the existing market, you are toast. Good luck getting even 360k Canadian pesos for that shack.
Fighting homelessness in New York City
By: ZACHARY KIESCH
Posted:Sep 22 2016 05:53PM EDT
NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - Most records are meant to be broken. But when the Department of Homeless Services announced earlier this week that 59,698 people, in a single night, slept in a shelter, it wasn’t the kind of record worth celebrating.
The DHS Commissioner is Steven Banks. He says, “The most pressing problem is to keep a roof over people’s heads and get people out of the shelter system and into housing.”
I’m guessing the vast majority of these homeless voted for hope n’ change in 2008 and 2012, so they’re getting exactly what they voted for and exactly what they deserve.
A large portion, possibly a majority of those people, didn’t vote at all in 2008 or 2012. Though I guess that you can find some other reason to derive satisfaction from their suffering.
“A large portion, possibly a majority of those people, didn’t vote at all in 2008 or 2012.”
You’re probably right Mighty.
The Dems only bus the homeless to the polls where they have to like in Ohio, no need for that in New York.
HOMELESS ‘DRIVEN’ TO VOTE OBAMA
By Jeane MacIntosh
October 7, 2008 | 1:34am
CLEVELAND – Volunteers supporting Barack Obama picked up hundreds of people at homeless shelters, soup kitchens and drug-rehab centers and drove them to a polling place yesterday on the last day that Ohioans could register and vote on the same day, almost no questions asked.
The huge effort by a pro-Obama group, Vote Today Ohio, takes advantage of a quirk in the state’s elections laws that allows people to register and cast ballots at the same time without having to prove residency.
Republicans have argued that the window could lead to widespread voter fraud because officials wouldn’t have an opportunity to verify registration information before ballots were cast.
Among the volunteers were Yori Stadlin and Vivian Lehrer of the Upper West Side, who got married last week and decided to spend their honeymoon shepherding voters to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
Early today, Stadlin’s van picked up William Woods, 59, at the soup kitchen of the Bishop Cosgrove Center.
“I never voted before,” Woods said, because of a felony conviction that previously barred him from the polls. “Without this service, I would have had no way to get here.”
jeane.macintosh@nypost.com
http://nypost.com/2008/10/07/homeless-driven-to-vote-obama/ - 257k -
That’s a nice story. That couple decided to spend their honeymoon helping people vote. If only more Americans would use their free time in such a positive way.
“That’s a nice story.”
You’re going to need more than a few nice stories if you want to end up with more votes that there are voters.
Obama Likely Won Re-Election Through Election Fraud
Rachel Alexander
|Posted: Nov 11, 2012 12:01 AM
So how did Romney lose a race that numerous reputable polls and pundits predicted would be an easy win, based on historical patterns? The most realistic explanation is voter fraud in a few swing states. According to the Columbus Dispatch, one out of every five registered voters in Ohio is ineligible to vote. In at least two counties in Ohio, the number of registered voters exceeded the number of eligible adults who are of voting age. In northwestern Ohio’s Wood County, there are 109 registered voters for every 100 people eligible to vote. An additional 31 of Ohio’s 88 counties have voter registration rates over 90%, which most voting experts regard as suspicious. Obama miraculously won 100% of the vote in 21 districts in Cleveland, and received over 99% of the vote where GOP inspectors were illegally removed.
http://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2012/11/11/obama_likely_won_reelection_through_election_fraud - 198k -
That’s a bunch of nonsense from another wacky right wing website.
So how did Romney lose a race that numerous reputable polls and pundits predicted would be an easy win, based on historical patterns?
All of the polls except one said that Obama would win. And, of course, we all know the name of that poll.
A quick check of the 2012 results shows that Obama beat Romney by 332 electoral college votes to 206. There would have to problems and fraud in quite a few states for the Democrats to have stolen the election. And, of course, these people always assume that there is no fraud on the other side. More importantly, I’ve read things about studies that have estimated a few hundred improper votes in the whole country cast over the past 10 years.
There’s nothing to this whole issue. It’s just more fabricated nonsense from the crackpot right wing media complex.
http://imgur.com/gallery/A43mw
“That’s a bunch of nonsense from another wacky right wing website.”
I’m sorry Mighty what did you say, I was reading how Hillary, the DNC and the Media conspired to screw Bernie Sanders in the Primary.
Leaked DNC Emails Confirm Democrats Rigged Primary, Reveal Extensive Media Collusion
by Tyler Durden
Jul 24, 2016 10:44 AM
An initial read of the thousands of emails in the data dump reveals top officials at the Democratic National Committee privately plotting to undermine Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, confirming a long-running allegation by the Sanders campaign who has claimed that the DNC and Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had tipped the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton during the party’s presidential primary.
In an email from early May, DNC CFO Brad Marshall wrote about a plot to question Sanders’s religion. While not naming the Vermont senator directly, it talks about a man of “Jewish heritage” Marshall believes to be an atheist. It makes reference to voters in Kentucky and West Virginia, two states that were holding upcoming primary elections.
“It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. 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. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist,” the email says.
“AMEN,” DNC Chief Executive Officer Amy K. Dacey replied.
In an email that concerned Sanders out-polling Clinton in Rhode Island, where the state reportedly only had a fraction of voting stations open, one staffer took a contemptuous tone of Sanders’ supporters, speaking about them more as a nuisance than an arm of the party. “If she outperforms this polling, the Bernie camp will go nuts and allege misconduct,” the staffer writes, “They’ll probably complain regardless, actually.”
Another email shows similar ‘us and them’ language being directed at Sanders supporters. “We have the Sanders folks admitting that they lost fair and square, not because we ‘rigged’ anything,” the email said. “Clinton likely to win the state convention with a slim margin and we’ll send a release with final delegate numbers.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-23/leaked-dnc-emails-confirm-democrats-rigged-primary-reveal-extensive-media-collusion - 191k -
What did I say? I said wacky right wing website and you ran over to another one.
Missed that too Mighty, I just couldn’t put this article down.
Ohioan gets 5-year prison term for illegal voting
Kimball Perry, The Cincinnati Enquirer
6:16 p.m. EDT July 17, 2013
She was convicted of voting twice in the 2012 election and voting three times — in 2008, 2011 and 2012 — for her sister, Montez Richardson, who has been in a coma since 2003.
“I think the board has shown me nothing but total disrespect for the 30 years I’ve served them,” she told the judge. “I believe in the system and I’ve done nothing to harm the system or cause disgrace to President Obama.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/17/cincinnati-illegal-voting/2530119/ - 441k -
PS
Vin Scully called a hell of a game last night.
For all you Dummies out there.
PUSH BUTTON.
GET MORTGAGE.
STRATEGIC DEFAULT.
Strategic default was bigger than subprime. Fools never understood that.
Yep, saw and heard about plenty of strategic defaults here in California post 2007 and would guess that most other Californians did too…and the consequences for the defaulters didn’t appear to amount to much, am guessing it will be a BIG problem after Bubble 2.0 inevitably pops here.
I smell fear. Is that you, Canadian FBs?
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/09/23/bis-oecd-warn-on-canadian-housing-bubble-debt-see-no-exit/
Whether Donald Trump wins or loses against Crooked Hillary, he racked up a remarkable victory for ordinary Americans by knocking a series of Establishment GOP clown car occupants and Goldman Sachs stooges out of the running. For that we owe him our profound gratitude.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-23/heidi-cruz-rejoins-goldman-sachs
The establishment hates Trump.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/08/08/trump-says-rip-to-death-tax.html
Heh RKH and Palmy
Looks like your God Trump is the stooge of the Israel lobby.
LOL
That means your God is not going to stop the bankers wars but will continue them.
“Billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson plans to donate as much as $25m to a Super Pac supporting Donald Trump – five times what he had been expected to contribute.
Adelson will give the money to Future45 for ads attacking Hillary Clinton and backing Donald Trump, the Guardian has learned.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/23/sheldon-adelson-trump-super-pac-donation-25-million
‘your God Trump is the stooge of the Israel lobby’
The use of God is very adult like.
The Israeli lobby is largely defined as AIPAC and related think tanks, etc. I haven’t heard that AIPAC has endorsed either candidate. Now who is more close with the Israeli lobby, Adelson or the neocons? I mentioned the other day, the neocons are pulling their hair out over Putin; have been for years. Netanyahu has flown to Russia three times this year to meet with Putin, and the neocons haven’t said a word. So it appears to be there is a split between the neocons and Israeli leadership, especially about this election. Anyway, these guys both own casinos and have known each other for years. Adelson said he didn’t have an objection to Trump months ago.
I think it’s very interesting; The magnetic poles of politics are realigning, changing even geopolitical relationships, IMO around the globalist and anti-globalist factions. We’ve seen many “establishment” people abandon the globalist camp. I was shocked when Chris Christie endorsed Trump and began to think there might be something larger going on. It could be a revolt within the establishment itself. It’s definitely rock-em sock-em, and a bunch of powerful people are betting everything on this one. The losers are going to be shut out, and maybe that’s why I read Israeli media has been behind Trump for months now.
Your man has only one distinguishing issue that Hillary does not: He is blatantly racist while Hillary hides her racism. Everything else he is no different from Hillary - policies, health care, socialism, war monging, badge licking, surveillance state.
‘only one distinguishing issue that Hillary does not’
Eh, no. There’s the neocons. There’s globalism. There’s policing the world and regime change.
Trump will use the 27% additional Navy ships to protect Memphis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Support_Activity_Mid-South
“‘only one distinguishing issue that Hillary does not’
“Eh, no. There’s the neocons. There’s globalism. There’s policing the world and regime change.”
God bless you Ben Jones for your patience and well crafted, articulate responses for the blind. I couldn’t do it because my attempts would never make it past your diligent screening for
ad hominem, profanity and violent references. lol
The alternative is Hillary. Oh, and some ‘tard of a Libertarian candidate who doesn’t know what Aleppo is, and has a truly creepy corporate statist, William Weld, as his running mate.
Poor judgment, at the very least, even if he was going for a joke.
Kasie Hunt interviews Gary Johnson
An interesting moment with the Libertarian nominee.
With God’s help Trump will overcome Establishment resistance and get them to pass his policies of lower taxes and higher military spending.
Ahem, the establishment WANTS more military spending. Sheldon Adelson too. That is why he is gifting Trump. Just as Trump,gifted the Clintons over the decades.
Inventory 20 vs. Par of 50 in my hood south of central soviet
http://www.seahawks.com/video/2016/09/22/doug-baldwin-week-3-press-conference
I’m not a Seahawks fan, but this is one of the best statements that I’ve heard from ANYONE on the current issues with police.
I guess those Stanford “student athletes” actually are students and athletes.
“…on the current issues with police.”
These issues are symptoms of factory jobs that were off-shored, IMHO.
Apartment 401 / Goon’s favorite guy Sheldon Adelson is going to give $25 million to RKH’s God, Donald Trump’s Super Pac.
I suppose you Trump worshippers will be spinning this to show Trump is not buckling down to the Israel Lobby?
Does Trump need the money personally? No.
Does his campaign need the money? Not with all the small donations coming in, which are setting records.
So Trump is being given money he does not really need. Meaning, Trump doesn’t have to do anything in return for it. Adelson may expect something, but he has no power in the relationship. Do you not understand that, or did that bike wreck turn you into a vegetable?
The apologists for the Hillary-act-alike are running thick here.
There are two things for sure: If you vote for Hillary you vote for Trump. And if you vote for Trump you vote for Hillary.
That has to be the most infantile “logic” I’ve ever heard in here. Congrats, you’ve eclipsed MightyMike as our resident tool.
Dismal Deja Vu: Fannie & Freddie Lower Lending Standards
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-23/dismal-deja-vu-fannie-freddie-lower-lending-standards
why not
they arent really risking anything anyway.
This chick Katica is so going to get audited, then Arkancided. Rule of law, Bitchez!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-23/hillary-emailgate-how-one-twitter-user-proved-intent-fbi-missed-after-months-investi
Poor pitiful cucks. All that prostituting themselves for the Oligopoly status quo was for naught.
http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-endorsement-trump-glenn-beck-never-2016-9
Trump called Cruz’ wife ugly and insinuated that his father may have been involved in the JFK assassination. Cruz became a cuck today.
For once I agree with you. I would never endorse a candidate that insulted my wife. But Cruz has no real principles, only positions that he shifts to suit the prevailing winds.
Soon Mad Max fans will be able to descend on any Democrat-maladministered urban hellhole if they seek a post-apocalyptic playground.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mad-max-fans-descend-post-apocalyptic-playground-071759665.html
the Grateful Dead — Eyes Of The World — live in Passaic, NJ, 4/26/1977:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBj7igoatWY
Principled Democrats, the rarest of the rare, are supporting Trump over Crooked Hillary and the crony capitalist status quo.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-23/sometimes-party-loyalty-asks-too-much-lifelong-establishment-democrat-urges-voters-s
This is what I mean, Dems voting for Trump, Repubs voting for Clinton. The political poles are realigning.
‘I Was RFK’s Speechwriter. Now I’m Voting for Trump. Here’s Why.’
‘The Democratic Party has become something both JFK and RFK would deplore—the party of war.’
By Adam Walinsky
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/rfk-trump-2016-democratic-party-speechwriter-214270?platform=hootsuite
I remember this very well. It was very embarrassing for Mayor Ed Koch.
From the article:
Wikipedia:
Gary Johnson, the phony “Libertarian” Bill would have us all supporting. Pay no heed to that creepy corporate statist running mate, William Weld.
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/fake-libertarian-gary-johnson-sticks-out-tongue-on-live-tv-brazenly-admits-it-wouldnt-matter-what-he-says-in-the-debates_092016
Crooked Hillary intends to “fight terrorism” by importing hundreds of thousands of refugees from her neocon wars, while ramming through new “gun control” laws. Soros, Bloomberg, Zuckerberg, and the rest of Hillary’s billionaire donors nod approvingly, as the oligarchy cannot fully ramp up its looting and asset stripping of the proles while the latter still have the means to defend themselves.
https://theextract.net/2016/09/23/hillary-tells-retirees-she-will-fight-terror-with-gun-control/
The Democrat Party begins and ends with serving the SEIU.
Will Lyin’ Ted’s late, disingenuous endorsement be a kiss of death to the Trump campaign?
bear nothing will derail trump unless he pulls a wiener and texts a 15 year old girl for sex
“unless he pulls a wiener and texts a 15 year old girl for sex”
Sounds like more of a Clinton family member risk than a Trump risk…
Midnight Plane To Houston Jim Weatherly