From the Record:
Jobs recovery boosts demand for homes
Fueled by a stronger job market, housing sales activity is picking up steam, with existing home sales up 6.1 percent nationwide in March, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
A separate report, from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said that home prices nationwide were also on the rise — up 5.4 percent in the 12 months ending in February. But prices were up only 2.6 percent in the Middle Atlantic region, which includes New Jersey.
That story was reflected in Bergen and Passaic counties, which saw little price improvement but an increase in sales activity.
“After a quiet start to the year, sales activity picked up greatly throughout the country in March,” said NAR economist Lawrence Yun. “The combination of low interest rates and the ongoing stability in the job market is improving buyer confidence and finally releasing some of the sizable pent-up demand that accumulated in recent years.”
Existing-home sales nationwide in March were at an annual level of 5.19 million.
“As we continue to see improvement and strengthening in the labor market, we’re seeing better household formation numbers,” said Anika Khan, an economist with Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, N.C. “Jobs are the key to housing demand.”
In March, the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent nationally, and 6.5 percent in New Jersey.
In Bergen County, the number of single-family home sales rose 12.6 percent in March compared to a year earlier. Single-family sales were up 22 percent in Passaic, though town house and condo sales dropped in both counties, according to the New Jersey Realtors.
But home values were up only slightly in the region, compared to March 2014. Single-family prices ticked up 1.7 percent in Bergen in March, to a median $437,500, and were flat in Passaic, at a median $285,000.
“Sales seem to be definitely on the rise, especially in the $500,000 range,” said Robert Funabishi, an agent with Terrie O’Connor Realtors in Saddle River. “My listing in Park Ridge had 30 showings in four days and [the owners] took an offer above the asking price. There’s a lot of pent-up demand out there from 2014, so it appears that anything that’s priced well and is clean is getting a lot of attention.”
Beth Freed, an agent with Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Ridgewood, said the inventory of homes for sale remains tight.
“It would be really great if more homeowners decided to come on the market,” she said. “There are plenty of buyers out there.”
From Bloomberg:
Housing Market Nears U.S. Busy Sales Season on Positive Note
Sales of previously owned homes jumped in March by the most in four years, putting the U.S. residential real estate market on firm footing heading into the busiest time of year.
Purchases increased 6.1 percent to a 5.19 million annualized rate, the highest level since September 2013, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed Wednesday in Washington. Houses were snapped up in 52 days on average, the fastest since July, and property values appreciated.
“It’s consistent with a bit of a spring rebound,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, a strategist at TD Securities LLC in New York, whose forecast for a sales rate of 5.2 million was the closest in the Bloomberg survey. “You’ve had more job growth over the last year or so. A lot of those people who did find employment would be driving some demand for housing.”
The share of first-time buyers inched up while distressed properties were a smaller part of the market, indicating a healthier mix in demand leading up to the May through July period when sales typically surge. While the number of homes for sale rose in March for a second month, more listings of cheaper properties would help provide another leg up for housing.
The gain in March was the biggest since December 2010. Figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday showed stronger demand is extending into April. The group’s index of purchase applications climbed last week to the highest level since June 2013.
Frist
Damn
[75] [prior thread] home
“Lifeline isn’t paid for with tax revenues. Rather, Lifeline is funded with a pool of money, called the Universal Service Fund, which is paid for with revenue donations from telecommunications providers. Some of those providers—like Verizon, for instance—pass off that cost to their customers with a Universal Service fee, but the government doesn’t mandate that the money come from citizens, meaning it’s technically not a tax.”
Hmmm, now which lefties on the board said that this was a distinction without a difference? And which telecoms DONT pass that through to the bill? I happen to agree with the folks who say if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck but can we get some consensus on that side of the aisle, please?
Maybe Obama didn’t start the Obamaphone, but he certainly didn’t stop it. Much like Whitman stopped funding the state pensions since the stock market was doing so well, but when the market tanked, Mangravy and Corslime didn’t meet the state obligations either. They are all the same. When are people going to get it?
Considering we are mostly importing and not exporting, this may be a good use of the containers.
Newark Firm Plans Homes Made of Used Shipping Containers
A partnership of Newark-based Cor-10 Concepts LLC and the nonprofit Community Asset Preservation Corp. have submitted plans to construct a three-unit condominium in the Lincoln Park neighborhood with used shipping containers. The developers hope the three-bedroom condos will appeal to first-time buyers attracted to a modern design that promises lower heating and cooling bills. They anticipate that building with containers will cut construction costs and save time—and ultimately provide a model for midmarket housing in other cities.
The project could also provide an affordable housing option to revitalize Newark neighborhoods still recovering from the financial crisis. The city needs affordable housing, said Mayor Ras J. Baraka. With a growing list of abandoned properties, Newark has used different programs to sell and rehabilitate these lots, he noted. Its “Live Newark” program provides assistance to city workers and public-school teachers to cover closing costs and rehabilitation expenses of homes bought in certain struggling areas.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/newark-firm-plans-homes-made-of-used-shipping-containers-1429147031
[5] libturd,
As wastes of taxpayer money go, I’m not exactly exercised by the Bommaphone. You are going to give them welfare in one form or another. Might as well make it a way that doesn’t result in taxpayers financing tats. Not directly, anyway.
[6] fka
Whaddya wanna bet that one, small, underlying rationale was to prevent all the containers from being bought up by preppers?
Beth Freed, an agent with Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Ridgewood, said the inventory of homes for sale remains tight.
“It would be really great if more homeowners decided to come on the market,” she said. “There are plenty of buyers out there.”
Sweetie, homeowners can’t come on the market because they’re underwater. To sell would mean they have to pay the damages with money they don’t have or won’t surrender.
The Good, Bad and Ugly of Real Estate Investments
While many investors get a rise when it comes to the potential profits in real estate, that doesn’t mean all properties rise enough in value to justify the commitment.
“Some people buy real estate expecting it to appreciate a lot over time,” says David Reiss, a professor of law and research director of the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School. “But it can be risky – or even foolish – to pay so much for a property that you’re losing money on an operating basis just because you think it will appreciate.”
The wisdom in real estate, then, applies just as it would with stocks, commodities or any other investment class: The variables are many, the can’t-miss propositions few. So where should the savvy money go? And how does real estate fit into your overall portfolio?
http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/mutual-funds/articles/2015/04/22/the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-real-estate-investments
[8] Comrade
I would take the opposite side of that bet. There are more than enough excess containers to go around. Preppers can still get their hands on them.
Domestic Disturbance (JJ Edition):
http://nypost.com/2015/04/23/meet-new-york-citys-loudest-lovers-according-to-311-calls/
I’ve seen container housing in Europe and it’s pretty cool actually. But you better like your neighbors. There is an entire container park shopping mall in downtown Las Vegas that’s pretty cool too.
http://tinyurl.com/container-park-lv
Move along, nothing to see here.
Share of Seriously Underwater Homes Increases in First Quarter For First Time Since Second Quarter 2012
IRVINE, Calif. — April 23, 2015 — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the nation’s leading source for comprehensive housing data, today released its U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report for the first quarter of 2015, which shows that at the end of the first quarter of 2015 there were 7,341,922 U.S. residential properties seriously underwater — where the combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value — representing 13.2 percent of all properties with a mortgage.
The share of seriously underwater homeowners increased 0.4 percentage points from Q4 2014 — the first quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2012 — but still down more than 4 percentage points from a year ago.
http://www.realtytrac.com/news/home-prices-and-sales/q1-2015-u-s-home-equity-underwater-report/
LEDs cheaper by the day.
“the new Philips LED A16 bulbs, but you won’t find any that are cheaper. A single bulb, rated for ten years, will set you back $4.97 once they go on sale in May at Home Depot. That’s already a significant savings over Philips’ existing $9.97 60w equivalent”
http://www.wired.com/2015/04/philips-cheap-led-bulbs/
Note: These don’t work with dimmers.
How well do the LED’s work outside? I find that in the colder months, the CFC’s don’t work well outside and take a very long time to warm up.
re # 16 – They are replacing street lights with LEDs. You may notice some sections of Highway are no longer that yellowish hue.
http://gizmodo.com/led-streetlights-will-change-hollywood-and-make-every-c-1514840416
Speaking of cheap LED bulbs, we have a very high angled ceiling in our kitchen which has high hats that require a less common bulb size. These are Par16 bulbs with standard E26 base aka medium base. I really don’t care too much about the type of bulb that goes in as long as I don’t have to climb the ladder more than once per year (6 lights). So far, I’ve tried two different LEDs. The first I paid a ton from amazon for what ended up being cheap Chinese knock offs. They started failing after about 6 months. 3 failed within the same week of each other and all failed the same way. For a day or two they would flicker at warm up and then would eventually stop working entirely. I then went to a friend who does commercial LED installs. He suggested I try another bulb. I did and they too started failing about 6 months later. He said that I wasn’t the only customer having this issue with this particular bulb and he gladly took them back. He’s working on finding a more reliable replacement, but at this point I’m getting ready to go back to standard halogens since I’m getting sick of climbing the ladder. Anyone know of a better idea, besides candles or gas lamps?
17 – I guess what I’m saying is they work fine, but take as long as a few minutes before they’re completely bright in the cold. So, if I flip the light on to take the trash out, I still can’t see where I’m going.
You’ve got to flip them on a few minutes before you head out if you really need them to light the way in cold temperatures.
First brand was Eco-Lite.
Second brand was Viribright.
[11] fka
I was being facetious. It would make no sense as a policy. It’s worth no more than a mention.
But there are those across the aisle who fear preppers, actually fear them, and want to crack down on the ability to prep. So it wouldn’t surprise me if it got mentioned as an unintended benefit.
Don’t buy those cheapass Feit bulbs. Got what I thought was a killer deal at Costco. Half failed. The manufacturer replaced them and half of those failed. Gonna ask them to take them all back rather than replace them.
LEDs which are diodes don’t have the lengthy warmup times that CFCs suffer from. They are not affected by the cold. Liquid Crystal Displays on the other hand suck in the cold and can get damaged. In my old Civic, there were a few of them and they stopped working in cold winter mornings. In my Mazda 6, there are a few switches that too suffer when it’s cold. The worst one being the ones on the ac unit. It sucks not being able to adjust the heat in the cold of the winter. Poor design. Fortunately, once the engine warms up, the buttons improve.
Almost ordered them. I heard from an insider that Cree’s quality dropped greatly too. I’m not sure how they rate bulbs that are supposed to last 30,000 hours when the technology is so new. That is 4 years of being on continuously.
re # 18 – Those Par16s might have a higher failure rate for some weird reason, low wattage and expensive too.
I have 22 high hats in my LR/Kitchen. I replaced them with the 16 watt LED replacements I purchased at Costco two years ago for about $10 a piece with instant rebate. 16W BR40 dimmable FEIT brand.
So far only one has failed and these lights are on every day. I now have a box full of 75w incandescent bulbs to get rid of, if BB guns weren’t classified as a firearm in New Jersey I would take them outside and line them up for some fun.
I know. I paid $200 for 6 bulbs the first time.
A year later I paid about $100 for 6 bulbs.
I’d be willing to pay a lot more if there was a reliable bulb.
25 – Use your crossbow.
Fun is illegal in NJ. It’s not safe.
re # 27 – I might have to rig up a sling shot like this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLxnNP-ycVQ
29 – Nein! Verboten!
Posession of slingshots are a 4th degree crime (completely by accident) in NJ because the person who wrote the law, misspelled “slungshot”. No one in the state legislature cares enough to fix it.
2C:39-3 Prohibited Weapons and Devices
e. Certain weapons. Any person who knowingly has in his possession any gravity knife, switchblade knife, dagger, dirk, stiletto, billy, blackjack, metal knuckle, sandclub, slingshot, cestus or similar leather band studded with metal filings or razor blades imbedded in wood, ballistic knife, without any explainable lawful purpose, is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.
Fluorescent lights also warm up slowly outside. That’s ok, I did install new Leds, dimmable, in my kitchen about 3 months ago. So far, no problem. I got them at a high-end Electrical/Lighting store. Don’t remember the name. But hey, $7 each aint bad. They were able to function with my older (22+ years) electronic Lightolier dimmer. Still the best electronic dimmers out there, IMHO. Don’t buy interior LEDs unless they are dimmable. The dimmables have upgraded internals.
I’ve never owned dimmables. Do people really use them? I just figured they were one more thing to break. Especially considering the difficulty in creating a reliable variable resistor.
Ohio cop refuses to fire at double murder suspect who begs him to ‘shoot me’
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/watch-ohio-officer-refuses-shoot-charging-murder-suspect-article-1.2190739
finally a cop does the right thing and we have captain oink oink say this:
New Richmond Police Chief Randy Harvey said. “This video footage, it eliminated all doubt that this officer would have been justified if in fact it came to a shooting.”
Marshal caught on cell phone video smashing a woman’s cell phone
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/22/us/california-marshal-smashed-phone/
WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – – New U.S. single-family home sales in March recorded their biggest drop in more than 1-1/2 years, snapping three straight months of hefty gains, in a temporary setback for the housing market.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-home-sales-tumble-months-141701849.html
“My listing in Park Ridge had 30 showings in four days and [the owners] took an offer above the asking price.
Cabbage Patch Dolls, Beanie Babies, Tulip bulbs, Pet Rocks, it’s all the same. Create a stir, create a frenzy and find the weak link. It just takes one to keep the ball rolling. Remember, this is all happening with interest rates at dead, rock bottom and no inventory. Move the dial on one and you’re at a loss. A normal market? Tell that to the unsuspecting muppets.
As many families on FORBES’ World’s Billionaires list might admit, one of the trickiest things about business success is maintaining it — especially over generations.
Family businesses make up as much as 80%-90% of all firms worldwide and the top 500 largest family-owned firms account for a combined $6.5 trillion in annual revenues, a sum that would be the world’s third-largest economy behind only the U.S. and China.
An upcoming survey co-developed by Kennesaw State University’s Cox Family Enterprise Center and EY’s Global Family Business Center of Excellence sheds light on one of the biggest keys to longstanding companies’ everlasting success: They are able to efficiently hand control of the company to the next generation, a task easier said than done.
“Transitions are difficult because every relational and egotistical issue that hasn’t been resolved, or that the family hasn’t agreed on how to handle, tends to come out,” says Joe Astrachan, Wells Fargo Eminent Scholar Chair of Family Business and professor of management and entrepreneurship at Kennesaw State University.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2015/04/23/new-survey-pinpoints-what-keeps-family-businesses-going-for-generations/
Hillary Clinton Approved Russian Uranium Deal After $2 Million Donation to Clinton Foundation.
It doesn’t matter. She could be on video committing murder and the f.uck tards will still vote for her.
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/ny-times-hillary-clinton-approved-russian-uranium-deal-133318767.html
I expect Anone and FlabMax to systematically ignore it.
The question I brought about was why it is called Obama Phone? When it was a Republican President Name Reagan that started it. It was signed by Clinton and Obama had nothing to do with it. Universal Service Fee, 911 applied by Phone Companies was there before he became President.
Though we can’t be positive which government program the woman from the video is referencing without interviewing her, it does appear that she’s talking about the FCC’s Lifeline Assistance benefit. Owing to the fact that people generally need phones to apply for jobs and enroll their children in school, and elderly citizens need to be able to call their families and emergency services, the government decided in the ’80s (under Ronald Reagan, no less) to institute the Lifeline Assistance program. In 1996, Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act into law, which offered either cell phones or landline services to low-income Americans.
Today, 38 states, one of which is Ohio, participate in the Lifeline program. If you live in one of those locales and your income is at or below 135 percent of the poverty line, or if you qualify for certain benefit programs like Medicaid and TANF, you can apply for a free cell phone that offers you 250 minutes of talk time per month. The people who are getting these phones aren’t getting iPhones or other smartphones; they’re often people in urban or rural areas who are being supplied with basic cell phones so they can call the hospital when they’re sick, or receive calls if there’s a problem with their child at school.
If you’re upset that Obama is giving “freeloaders” gratis cell phones paid for with your tax money, don’t be. Firstly, Obama had nothing to do with the Lifeline program: the “Obama phone” narrative is a myth that both liberals and conservatives have fallen for since 2009. Secondly, Lifeline isn’t paid for with tax revenues. Rather, Lifeline is funded with a pool of money, called the Universal Service Fund, which is paid for with revenue donations from telecommunications providers. Some of those providers—like Verizon, for instance—pass off that cost to their customers with a Universal Service fee, but the government doesn’t mandate that the money come from citizens, meaning it’s technically not a tax.
http://gawker.com/5947133/the-obama-phone-program-has-nothing-to-do-with-obama
[75] [prior thread] home
“Lifeline isn’t paid for with tax revenues. Rather, Lifeline is funded with a pool of money, called the Universal Service Fund, which is paid for with revenue donations from telecommunications providers. Some of those providers—like Verizon, for instance—pass off that cost to their customers with a Universal Service fee, but the government doesn’t mandate that the money come from citizens, meaning it’s technically not a tax.”
Hmmm, now which lefties on the board said that this was a distinction without a difference? And which telecoms DONT pass that through to the bill? I happen to agree with the folks who say if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck but can we get some consensus on that side of the aisle, please?
I knew the history of the Obamaphone. The party to whom is responsible means little to me since I consider them both the same. Call it the Reagan Phone if it makes you feel better. I look forward to the Hilbook which I would expect to see come out sometime in her first year.
And Benghazi and server gate and failed foreign policies and on and on. But let’s discuss the travesty of putting traffic cones out and label it a major scandal.
Shouldn’t your question be directed at the lady and asking her why she wasn’t thanking Reagan for giving her a phone?
You see how stupid this is… THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.
yome says:
April 23, 2015 at 12:25 pm
The question I brought about was why it is called Obama Phone?
Gary,
Don’t act like you’re not going to vote for whomever the republicans nominate. With respect to this left/right bullsh!t… you’re right in the middle of it too.
Fast Eddie says:
April 23, 2015 at 12:30 pm
And Benghazi and server gate and failed foreign policies and on and on. But let’s discuss the travesty of putting traffic cones out and label it a major scandal.
It was a good spin for the uneducated voters that the right used for campaigns. Even today, you yourself is still using the term. Bamaphone,when do we get our Bamahouse? Did he really gave all this away? As far as I know, the top got most. Disparity is widening.
We are all educated in this board. Using a term like “Bamaphone” dont make us look like we can think for ourselves.
@TheDailyEdge:
Carly Fiorina to launch Presidential bid on May 4, the anniversary of the day she laid off 30,000 Hewlett-Packard employees #CEO #fail
I will not argue that.
Hearing the word in an intelligent Board like this, makes me feel I am getting spinned. We argue about educated stuff,throwing stupid spin does not make you intelligent.
” You see how stupid this is… THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.”
race to the bottom
@garmonbozia: If Carly Fiorina is seriously considering a run for Prez in 2016, I will laugh so hard. Sarah Palin is more qualified for that than Fiorina.
The Dems and Repubs are basically the same in that their first concern is taking care of their constituents (their money backers) while bending over the voters. I guess there is some comfort if you like the person (party) screwing you but I’m not into that. Not saying that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s just not me.
Looking at the background and business success (or lack thereof) of the Presidents from the past 30+ years, Carly’s performance at HP doesn’t disqualify her.
no supporting, or equally disliking dems/repuds is totally unrelated to Carly’s abilities.
she’s a moron regardless.
Good post.
yome says:
April 23, 2015 at 12:42 pm
It was a good spin for the uneducated voters that the right used for campaigns. Even today, you yourself is still using the term. Bamaphone,when do we get our Bamahouse? Did he really gave all this away? As far as I know, the top got most. Disparity is widening.
We are all educated in this board. Using a term like “Bamaphone” dont make us look like we can think for ourselves.
joyce [44],
You’re absolutely right, I will vote for the republican nominee because I have no alternative. The left, the l1berals and the democrats despise me so I despise them. I really don’t have a choice.
Amen. I think this boards acknowledgement of there being no difference between the right or left demonstrates the intellectual level of this board. The only difference between the left and right is how the wealthy uses each party to manipulate different portions of the population. Listen to both parties and you are bound to get sucked in by some bs rhetoric that appeals to you. This appeal is nothing more than a fish hook being used for nothing more than to make you a talking puppet to increase the power of those in charge.
Example, look at how many people got caught on Christies fishing hook with the attack on teachers and govt employees. Pure power move, and it worked brilliantly. He became one of the most powerful politicians in the country with that strategy. Had he not had the bridge gate incident come to surface, people would still be rallying around this fat ass. Who knew that an attack on teachers could make you president. Pathetic on the part of the citizens for falling for this ploy. You should be embarrassed if you attacked these workers based on Christie’s rhetoric.
joyce says:
April 23, 2015 at 12:35 pm
Shouldn’t your question be directed at the lady and asking her why she wasn’t thanking Reagan for giving her a phone?
You see how stupid this is… THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.
yome says:
April 23, 2015 at 12:25 pm
The question I brought about was why it is called Obama Phone?
Sound like a muppet
Fast Eddie says:
April 23, 2015 at 1:47 pm
joyce [44],
You’re absolutely right, I will vote for the republican nominee because I have no alternative. The left, the l1berals and the democrats despise me so I despise them. I really don’t have a choice.
Sound like a muppet
Indeed! :)
Did you not see this video? It’s a reference to her.
It doesn’t matter that he didn’t create these programs or that he expanded or reduced them…people who voted for him assumed he did create them….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio
Some people are not that intelligent and their vote counts as much as yours does.
yome says:
April 23, 2015 at 12:42 pm
It was a good spin for the uneducated voters that the right used for campaigns. Even today, you yourself is still using the term. Bamaphone,when do we get our Bamahouse? Did he really gave all this away? As far as I know, the top got most. Disparity is widening.
We are all educated in this board. Using a term like “Bamaphone” dont make us look like we can think for ourselves.
Fast Eddie, how was your life different under Bush, as opposed to Obama or Clinton? I honestly can’t tell the difference. Maybe it’s just me. So please explain.
Tool [46, 48];
Check your misogyny, yo. #RealWarOnWomen
I don’t think Christie stood a chance nationally. It’s a big country out there. and they don’t look kindly on Jersey. They view of NJ is one oof a politcial cesspool of dirty politicians run by the mob. As my midwestern employer told me when I brought up Christie for President in 2011, -there is no way we would accept anyone from Jersey as president.
Chifi my PBRA position up 40% in under 3 months. You made a wrong call big time.
Brazil, Oil, Bribes, you know I want a piece of that. And Daddy got paid
Do you vote in the democratic primaries? Which Democratic candidate would you vote for?
anon (the good one) says:
April 23, 2015 at 12:49 pm
race to the bottom
@garmonbozia: If Carly Fiorina is seriously considering a run for Prez in 2016, I will laugh so hard. Sarah Palin is more qualified for that than Fiorina.
Jersey pays the most to borrow of all 50 states and Christie stole a ton of the Sandy money. Plus he is a fat loudmouth
Tell us what you really think JJ
D-FENS, the LED bulbs I have from CREE turn on instantly in all weather conditions, including when it’s 15 degrees. I’ve found that CFL bulbs never ‘warm up’ in very cold conditions, and put out almost no light when it’s very cold out. The CREE LED bulbs perform exactly as their incandescent counterparts, but use a fraction of the energy.
These new plastic vented bulbs from CREE look like a step back, though. They are less efficient, rely on air flow for cooling, will allow bugs in the air vents, and seem a potential fire hazard if the plastic housing catches fire. I’d snatch up the ‘old stock’ glass bulbs from CREE that remain on shelves.
The 60W “soft white” from CREE puts out as much light as a 75W incandescent as far as I can tell, and it’s a quality (not harsh or glaring) light.
don’t know. have to wait for all candidates
D-FENS says:
April 23, 2015 at 2:20 pm
Which Democratic candidate would you vote for?
@RexHuppke:
It’s going to be pretty monotheistically embarrassing when all 27 of the GOP presidential candidates declare that God has chosen them.
[67] a none
How do we know He didn’t?
as Gary said, the prez doesn’t love us
@Bell_Potter:
Gains on #WallSt sent #US stock indexes close to record levels,
better-thanexpected earnings & jump in #Oil $ invigorated stock market bulls
I’ve never seen an obamaphone.
It’s this creature that created the phenomenon, and the general principle of people voting for a soc1al1st santa claus that I detest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio
I can’t stand Fiorina. Heading a division at Lucent she definitely pushed sales via vendor financing, bad contracts, and it all came crashing down after she left and the fawning media had already boosted her profile.
HP was probably worse, but didn’t have the inside track on that. Her firing led me to name her “The Negative 6billion Dollar Woman” as that’s how much the market value of HP rose the day her departure was announced. That’s really a rare reaction to a CEO firing.
Saw her on tv a few days ago. She had a really annoying head-shaking thing going on.
Fast Eddie…for you…
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/25-didn-goodfellas-article-1.2194719
Former Merck global headquarters’ sale under contract: Readington mayor
Mayor Betty Ann Fort said in an announcement, “We have been informed that the Merck property” opened in 1992 and vacated last year “is under contract. They are in a period of due diligence at this time.”
She said Merck would “not announce the identity of the prospective purchaser” until that period is completed.
Thank you republican controlled congress.
Keep Obama in president ya know?
anon (the good one) says:
April 23, 2015 at 3:48 pm
as Gary said, the prez doesn’t love us
@Bell_Potter:
Gains on #WallSt sent #US stock indexes close to record levels,
better-thanexpected earnings & jump in #Oil $ invigorated stock market bulls
Worldwide, people feel that belief in God is essential to morality. The exception is rich industrialized nations. The United States is the only wealthy industrialized nation that is different.
Democrats may find it unwise to mock the voting public, many of whom are themselves recent immigrants to the U.S.
They risk sounding “intolerant”
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/03/13/worldwide-many-see-belief-in-god-as-essential-to-morality/
anon (the good one) says:
April 23, 2015 at 3:26 pm
@RexHuppke:
It’s going to be pretty monotheistically embarrassing when all 27 of the GOP presidential candidates declare that God has chosen them.
Nice to see some patriots in the White House for the first time in six years.
http://www.patriots.com/news/2015/04/23/obama-welcomes-patriots-white-house
How well do the LED’s work outside? I find that in the colder months, the CFC’s don’t work well outside and take a very long time to warm up.
I stuck a cree outside. It broke in a month.
Universal Service fund is not a tax. It was set up whereby AT&T paid into the fund for the monopoly on Long distance services.
Lib, Can you company print up some flyers and Lawn signs for Gary?
Apologies sor the Facebook link, it was the only place I could find it.
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/photos/a.10150618575207217.382392.228735667216/10152753538902217
Good article. Def worth reading in entirety. Focuses on the dangers of short term profit. This passage highlights how short term profit seeking through the vehicle of off shoring has destroyed our ability to make things. These idiots should be shot for picking the low hanging fruit and jeopardizing the future of industry in this country.
“Nor is there any mention of the fact that the pursuit of short-run profits has led to decades of foreign outsourcing that have destroyed not only individual businesses but also whole segments of the American economy, thereby undermining the capacity of American industry to invent the next generation of products and services. The words “outsourcing” or “offshoring” do not appear in the book.
As a result of pursuing a primary focus on maximizing short-term profits through efficiency gains achieved through offshoring, “the U.S. has lost or is on the verge of losing its ability to develop and manufacture a slew of high-tech products,” as explained by Gary Pisano and Willy Shih In “Restoring American Competitiveness” (Harvard Business Review, July-August 2009). Today, Amazon couldn’t make a Kindle in the U.S., even if it wanted to.
One would never guess from this book the frighteningly long list of industries of industries that were “already lost” to the USA in 2009:
Fabless chips”; compact fluorescent lighting; LCDs for monitors, TVs and handheld devices like mobile phones; electrophoretic displays; lithium ion, lithium polymer and NiMH batteries; advanced rechargeable batteries for hybrid vehicles; crystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells, inverters and power semiconductors for solar panels; desktop, notebook and netbook PCs; low-end servers; hard-disk drives; consumer networking gear such as routers, access points, and home set-top boxes; advanced composite used in sporting goods and other consumer gear; advanced ceramics and integrated circuit packaging.
The list of industries “at risk” is even longer and more worrisome.
The learned professors see their book as “providing students with the tools… that they need to make sound managerial decisions.” The professors continue: “Sadly, billions of dollars are lost each year because many existing managers fail to use basic tools.” What they don’t point out is that many billions of dollars are lost each year precisely because they use the tools the professors recommend.
If the esteemed professors had addressed the issue of offshoring (which this book doesn’t), they would presumably have argued, like other traditional economists, that these losses represent the normal and beneficent process of the global economy working through national “comparative advantage”. The problem is that when you outsource manufacturing in a foreign country far away, you are not just losing jobs. You risk losing something more important: knowledge. And even more important than that: the capacity to innovate. When knowledge and innovation are involved, you’re not just relocating a business. You may be relocating your future. When all large businesses do it, based on the economics they have been taught at business schools, whole sectors of the economy disappear permanently.
The conventional economic thinking that we find in this book, as Pisano and Shih point out, “ignores the fact that new cutting-edge high-tech products often depend in some critical way on the commons of a mature industry. Lose that commons, and you lose the opportunity to be the home of the hot new businesses of tomorrow.””
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/07/22/how-modern-economics-is-built-on-the-worlds-dumbest-idea/
You can bash Krugman all you want, but he is right.
“In his latest column for the New York Times, award-winning economist and liberal pundit Paul Krugman returns to one of his recurring themes and tries to understand how the field of economics could not only fail to predict the economic catastrophe of 2008, but fail to ensure policymakers in the West responded to it with pro-growth, countercyclical spending. “[I]t’s important to realize that the enormous intellectual failure of recent years took place at several levels,” Krugman writes. “In what sense did economics go astray?”
One of the first places to look, Krugman argues, is at the field’s recent deification of free-market economics and the “neoclassical models” that support its proponents. “[I]dealized models have a useful role to play in economics,” Krugman grants. “But starting in the 1980s it became harder and harder to publish anything questioning these idealized models in major journals.” The problem, Krugman says, is that “assuming away irrationality and market failure,” as neoclassical models did and do, “meant assuming away the very possibility of the kind of catastrophe that overtook the developed world six years ago.”
Despite these mistakes, Krugman says, the truth is that while most economists did not predict the crash, most have subsequently responded by promoting the correct Keynesian response. It’s just that policymakers haven’t been listening. “If you imagine that policy makers have spent the past five or six years in thrall to economic orthodoxy, you’ve been misled,” Krugman deadpans. “On the contrary, key decision makers have been highly receptive to innovative, unorthodox economic ideas — ideas that also happen to be wrong but which offered excuses to do what these decision makers wanted to do anyway.”
Indeed, instead of putting the lion’s share of the blame on the shoulders of economics in general or famous, mostly right-wing economists in particular, Krugman says we would do best to look at our political leaders. Their justifications for their policy decisions may shift, he writes, but their overall goal is crystal clear:
The great majority of policy-oriented economists believe that increasing government spending in a depressed economy creates jobs, and that slashing it destroys jobs — but European leaders and U.S. Republicans decided to believe the handful of economists asserting the opposite. Neither theory nor history justifies panic over current levels of government debt, but politicians decided to panic anyway, citing unvetted (and, it turned out, flawed) research as justification.
I’m not saying either that economics is in good shape or that its flaws don’t matter. It isn’t, they do, and I’m all for rethinking and reforming a field.
The big problem with economic policy is not, however, that conventional economics doesn’t tell us what to do. In fact, the world would be in much better shape than it is if real-world policy had reflected the lessons of Econ 101. If we’ve made a hash of things — and we have — the fault lies not in our textbooks, but in ourselves.”
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/15/paul_krugman_decries_the_enormous_intellectual_failure_of_modern_economics/
Fabius Maximus says:
April 23, 2015 at 8:51 pm
Universal Service fund is not a tax. It was set up whereby AT&T paid into the fund for the monopoly on Long distance services.
Semantics
81- How much harm did that debt crisis bring upon the economy and for what? A pissing contest for what? What a joke.
“The great majority of policy-oriented economists believe that increasing government spending in a depressed economy creates jobs, and that slashing it destroys jobs — but European leaders and U.S. Republicans decided to believe the handful of economists asserting the opposite. Neither theory nor history justifies panic over current levels of government debt, but politicians decided to panic anyway, citing unvetted (and, it turned out, flawed) research as justification.”
JJ stamp of approval…..
http://nypost.com/2015/04/23/strippers-liven-up-funerals-with-erotic-dancing-in-rural-china/
“What an amazing observation. Is there anyone who has advanced the insanity of Keynesian irrational centralized government monetary and fiscal policy insanity, more than Krugman has advocated?
If so, I’d like to know who that could possibly be. It is the insanity of whatever you call the central planning of centralized government controlling a nation’s wealth. This is the very thing destroying the very sustenance of this nation’s economics. Krugman has carried the banner of this insanity beyond what any logical or rational person would entertain.
If he has anything to acknowledge, it is his irrational insanity of advancing government is a player in economics – which is should not be, and when is, results in the mess we have currently – that is beyond comprehension.
A great beginning to begin the elimination of the truly ‘enormous intellectual failure,’ would be for Krugman to shut up and depart the scene.”
“It is not always easy to draw causation from correlation, but it is better than drawing negative causation from that same correlation. One way to determine if you are making sense is to compare the inputs during different time periods, and look at the results in those same periods. During the 50s and 60s, we probably had the greatest penetration of government in the economy, for the longest period, in US history, following the New Deal, the establishment of Medicare, the Great Society, GI loans, construction of the highway system. Tax rates topped out at 91%.
This period also was the longest sustained period of economic growth and prosperity in our history.
Contrast to the economy today, after decades of deregulation and slashing government, starting with Carter, through Reagan and Clinton and Bush. We are probably the least centralized of any period, other than the Robber Baron years at the turn of the 20th century, with the lowest effective tax rates. And our economy sucks.
Coincidence?”