From the WSJ:
U.S. Existing-Home Sales Increase 5.1% in May
Sales of previously owned homes surged in May, buoyed in part by the return of younger buyers who had long struggled to find a path into the market.
The pace of existing-home sales rose 5.1% last month from April to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.35 million, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Sales for April were revised up to 5.09 million from an initially reported 5.04 million.
Sales last month hit their strongest pace since November 2009. “We’re moving back toward a more normal housing market,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities.
Analysts pointed to the return of first-time buyers, who have been cautious for much of the recovery, as evidence the housing market is starting to look more like it did in the early 2000s, before a boom and bust. First-time buyers rose to 32% of all existing-home buyers from 27% a year ago, NAR said. Historically, first-time buyers have made up about 40% of the market.
Significant growth in home prices and sales is unlikely without new buyers. A stronger market for existing homes can help shape the wider economy in part because homeowners invest in things from washing machines to lawn mowers and use their homes to finance other big purchases.
“If you take first-time buyers out of the equation then all you’re doing is shuffling deck chairs around,” Mr. Stanley said.
…
Still, the recovery has been too uneven for economists to feel certain the housing market is on solid ground. Sales unexpectedly fell in April before recovering last month. One issue is a shortage of new and existing inventory that is pushing up prices and driving potential buyers away.
Good Morning New Jersey
From the Record:
Home sales rise in U.S., dip in North Jersey
The number of home sales nationwide rose in May – but sales dropped 3 percent in Bergen and 6 percent in Passaic counties, compared with a year ago. Prices were up in Bergen and flat in Passaic in May.
…
In the region, home sales dropped in May compared with a year earlier, although for the year to date, the volume of sales is running ahead of last year in both Bergen and Passaic counties.
Prices rose 5.8 percent in Bergen County in May, compared with a year earlier, to a median $465,000 for a single-family home. Passaic County prices were essentially flat, at a median $281,000. The national median was $228,700 in May, up 7.9 percent from a year earlier.
Inventories have tightened in the region, meaning that there are fewer choices for would-be buyers. There’s a 6.9-month supply of inventory in Bergen County and an 8.4-month supply in Passaic. Nationally, there’s a 5.1-month supply of unsold inventory. A six-month supply is considered a balanced market, likely to have stable prices.
how do they know they are first time buyers?
Yep, the sacred dance between the debtor and debtee plays out again in Athens and it’s all skittles and ice cream in stocks and housing. Europe will continue to throw a chair under Greece before the music stops..but we know that they will keep smashing the chair while Europe hums along. It is all adult make believe.
I just saw this Cisco ad on Bloomberg this morning. Sure to piss a lot of people off. Some little Indian schoolgirl says she’s going to grow up and take your job, Americans.
http://video.cisco.com/detail/videos/featured-videos/video/4290315554001/competitor-tv-spot?autoStart=true
Hey Flab Max *(from last night):
Maybe history will repeat itself. We can be hopeful.
NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll June 8–11, 2007 Hillary Clinton 39%, Barack Obama 25%, John Edwards 15%, Bill Richardson 4%, Joe Biden 4%, Dennis Kucinich 3%, Chris Dodd 1%
NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll July 27–30, 2007 Hillary Clinton 43%, Barack Obama 22%, John Edwards 13%, Bill Richardson 6%, Joe Biden 5%, Dennis Kucinich 2%, Chris Dodd 1%, Mike Gravel 0%, Other (vol.) 1%, None (vol.) 2%, Not sure 5%
NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll January 20–22, 2008 Hillary Clinton 47%, Barack Obama 32%, John Edwards 12%, Dennis Kucinich 3%, None 1%, Undecided 5%
Blood on the mortgage docs.
JJ says:
June 23, 2015 at 8:41 am
how do they know they are first time buyers?
#7,
Evil chuckles and mustache twisting by the sellers and real-wh*res knowing a victim has been had >:)
Wow, yesterday was a busy day, how many heads exploded?
The President uses the N word in an interview.
Glad the Governor had the balls to make the call for the removal of the flag.
Meet Kristin Beck, a transgender former Navy SEAL running for Congress
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/meet-kristin-beck-a-transgender-former-navy-seal-running-for-congress/2015/06/22/299006e4-0b87-11e5-9e39-0db921c47b93_story.html?tid=sm_tw
If you build it, they will come. Or least that how it used to go.
Builders leave empty promises, lots in Egg Harbor Township
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — The Villages at Farmington, Farmington Cove and Green Spring North and South all sound like the perfect places for families to build their dream homes.
Small problem: The developments were never built.
Builders have received conditional zoning and planning approvals for more than 2,000 homes here, but those homes only exist on paper so far, according to the Development and Site Plan Listing developed by the township’s Planning and Zoning boards.
The approved projects present a dilemma for local officials. If they ignore the possibility the homes will be built, officials run the risk of overcrowded roads and schools, and a lack of infrastructure.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/eht/builders-leave-empty-promises-lots-in-egg-harbor-township/article_fe24825c-194e-11e5-8975-bbab22f603a3.html
Builders leave empty promises, lots in Egg Harbor Township
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — The Villages at Farmington, Farmington Cove and Green Spring North and South all sound like the perfect places for families to build their dream homes.
Small problem: The developments were never built.
Builders have received conditional zoning and planning approvals for more than 2,000 homes here, but those homes only exist on paper so far, according to the Development and Site Plan Listing developed by the township’s Planning and Zoning boards.
The approved projects present a dilemma for local officials. If they ignore the possibility the homes will be built, officials run the risk of overcrowded roads and schools, and a lack of infrastructure.
If, on the other hand, they prepare for that many new homes, they run the risk of spending taxpayer money for improvements that may never be used.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/eht/builders-leave-empty-promises-lots-in-egg-harbor-township/article_fe24825c-194e-11e5-8975-bbab22f603a3.html
Do transgender parents like Bruce/Kaitlin Jenner get a Fathers AND Mothers Day president?
Move along, nothing to see here.
Major Money Manager Braces for Bond-Market Collapse
TCW Group Inc. is taking the possibility of a bond-market selloff seriously.
So seriously that the Los Angeles-based money manager, which oversees almost $140 billion of U.S. debt, has been accumulating more and more cash in its credit funds, with the proportion rising to the highest since the 2008 crisis.
“We never realize what the tipping point is until after it happens,” said Jerry Cudzil, TCW Group’s head of U.S. credit trading. “We’re as defensive as we’ve been since pre-crisis.”
TCW isn’t alone: Bond funds are holding about 8 percent of their assets as cash-like securities, the highest proportion since at least 1999, according to FTN Financial, citing Investment Company Institute data.
Cudzil’s reasoning is that the Federal Reserve is moving toward its first interest-rate increase since 2006, and the end of record monetary stimulus will rattle the herds of investors who poured cash into risky debt to try and get some yield.
The shift in policy comes amid a global backdrop that’s not exactly rosy. The Chinese economy is slowing, the outlook for developing nations has grown cloudy, and the tone of Greece’s bailout talks changes daily.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-22/tcw-braces-for-bond-market-collapse-by-piling-the-cash-up-high
He’s paid to tell the sheep what to think.
The NAR Sees “No Housing Bubble”, So Here Is A Look At NAR’s History Of Absolutely Disastrous Forecasts
When it comes to industry associations such as the homebuilders’ National Association of Realtors, one thing is certain: their chief economists, in this case the always wrong Lawrence “Larry” Yun, never see anything but blue skies ahead… even when the second great depression is staring them in the face.
Which is logical: after all forecasting anything but a chart from the lower left to the upper right for a person tasked with selling houses (which is what the NAR ultimately does) is the same as Goldman issuing “sell” recommendations on all its stocks, starting a market crash, and alienating all of its corporate clients. It is also why all NAR recommendations are utter garbage and why in 2011 the NAR admitted it had artificially inflated its housing metrics by 14% for the 2007-2010 period.
Unfortunately, these individuals also never learn from their mistake, and today was a perfect example: as part of its improving housing market propaganda, which incidentally is now carried almost entirely on the back of Chinese investors parking the PBOC’s hot money in US real estate, and who just surpassed Canadians as the largest foreign buyers of homes in the US…
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-22/nar-sees-no-housing-bubble-so-here-look-nars-history-absolutely-disastrous-forecasts
re # 10 – See for yourself.
http://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/Caitlyn-Jenner-Father-Day-Instagram-Picture-37754993
re # 11- Federal Reserve hates savers, they get what they deserve.
Tornader?
The End Is Nigh (Bommaphone Cheat Edition):
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/dna-test-disproves-fried-rat-claim-kfc-article-1.2267649
Could be some bad storms this afternoon. Just warning you all. All the components are in place for microbursts. We’ll see how it plays out.
Call it 3pm.
[16] banco
from the story:
““I work at Fox11 so it might go big!” he wrote, adding a response to friends who asked him whether he would try to press charges against KFC if it did turn out to be a rodent.
He wrote, “I’m going to sue them either way.”
Something tells me that won’t end well for him. If I were YUM’s in-house counsel, I’d authorize my litigators to nail this guy and any shyster he hires to the proverbial cross.
Rule 11 sanctions, costs, countersuits for libel, slander, tortious interference, extortion, even RICO. No breathing attorney with more than three functioning synapses will touch this and I feel sorry for the sucker who does (okay, I don’t really feel sorry and would like to see him/her get b1tchslapped by the courts).
Interview With Norway’s Womens Soccer Team
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehnMEjHyIgM
It’s that time of year, when we read the entrails left behind by moving trucks.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102748599
As usual, NJ doesn’t fare well.
Was on an NPR page and one commenter in the anon/otto/fabian mold was going ad hominem on another commenter who made what I thought was a good and accurate historical point (being that John Brown wanted to start a race war–I thought that was common knowledge and he raided the armory at Harpers Ferry to secure arms for that purpose).
Well, the commenter doing the chastising started with “I have an MA in history.”
I was barely able to divert in time from spraying coffee all over my macbook.
Rags,
Bit of a stretch..I think it is more about global competition, not coming to America for your job.
Disclosure: I sit here in CT, surrounded entirely by Indians while just finishing a call with Chennai team regarding dev progress.
Indians don’t eat meat, many don’t drink, don’t eat out for lunch, don’t snack, don’t fool around with American women, and don’t know American sports.
Not great for a 70% consumer economy.
Vernon’s about to get popped!
The Rags type are getting what they wanted….people that save instead of spend. I would love to see how the economy will function being driven by a bunch of frugal people who barely buy the bare necessities and throw 3 generations of families in one house. Ingredients for one strong economy. The only thing they spend their money on is gold. You want to talk about a self-inflicted depression, just keep replacing the middle class with more Indians. Economy will suck when it’s based on people who think they can save their way to wealth.
Bystander says:
June 23, 2015 at 1:23 pm
Rags,
Bit of a stretch..I think it is more about global competition, not coming to America for your job.
Disclosure: I sit here in CT, surrounded entirely by Indians while just finishing a call with Chennai team regarding dev progress.
Indians don’t eat meat, many don’t drink, don’t eat out for lunch, don’t snack, don’t fool around with American women, and don’t know American sports.
Not great for a 70% consumer economy.
Some people believe that you invest in companies and this provides jobs and wage growth to the productive members of our society. Other people believe you print money, reducing the wealth of those who save, to pay for the unproductive (lazy) members of our society. Or you just tax the productive out right.
Now where is the greater incentive in the two options?
Option one, leaves you in a position like Greece is currently in. Where half the population has guaranteed benefits for life as they supposedly worked for the government and the other half claims they are disabled.
stu (17)-
Wow. I haven’t done any microbursts since college!
26- Too bad most of the Indians don’t buy stocks. They buy gold. I’m all for the individuals that buy stocks with their savings, unfortunately, not many people (not just Indians) purchase stocks. The 2008 crash scared retail away. They look at it as gambling. The closest they get to the market is through a forced 401k.
Yep. John Brown tried to start a race war. No real gray areas on that one.
#17 LTU – “Could be some bad storms this afternoon. Just warning you all. All the components are in place for microbursts”.
Back in 2009 almost to the day I decided to go fishing (wild trout) at a small, old (1776) milldam that I’ve fished at since 1979. Changed my mind and went to another spot downstream near the reservoir instead.
TORRENTIAL rain! So bad I had to take shelter in an unoccupied bear den.
Stopped at the old milldam location on the way home….it was GONE! GIANT boulders blown to bits! Looked like a small nuke was detonated (ancient trees flattened ect.).
If I’d have been standing anywhere near the dam during that downpour…
In 1859, John Brown had a good excuse to try to start a race-based war.
Now, not at all.
In 2015 year to date NJ Muni bonds are the worst performing bonds. Heck even Puerto Rico did better in 2015. Can’t wait for Chris “fatso” Criso to be President
Bonds of Puerto Rico and Tennessee had the best performance over the past year compared with the average yield of AAA rated 10-year securities, the data shows. Yields on Puerto Rico’s securities narrowed 24 basis points to 9.33 percent while Tennessee’s declined five basis points to 2.36 percent. Illinois and New Jersey handed investors the worst results. The yield gap on Illinois bonds widened 38 to 4.2 percent and New Jersey’s rose 25 basis points to 3.18 percent.
You get your TPP and you will like it too.
I heard blurbs here and there today about Obama and the n-word, but wasn’t sure where or when. I didn’t feel bad googling Obama n1gger for the first time, only to find out that it happened on a podcast I have listened to since day one. I’m not sure how I feel about that, as since it was pre-recorded, it was intentional by the administration. Also I’m now not sure if Maron is a puppet or not.
It says a lot about a person’s character when they are willing to do what is right, even when it’s not easy. Too often people like to keep quiet, avoid taking a stance, and hope it all blows over. Clear indication of a coward in my book. Fat man had a view.
Here’s where GOP candidates stand on the Confederate flag
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R)
In a speech on Sunday, Christie lashed out at candidates who weren’t willing to admit that race was a motivating factor in the attack.
“This hate is born of racism,” Christie said. “We must say that out loud.”
“I hear too many people in the past couple of days acting as if they don’t understand,” Christie added.
http://www.businessinsider.com/confederate-flag-removal-gop-candidates-stances-2015-6#ixzz3dvJJJ2uo
Everything that’s going is right out of the Rahm Emanuel playbook, “Never let a good crisis go to wastes.” How is it that no one in the media realizes that the common thread of all these mass killings isn’t guns, the common thread is untreated mental health conditions. If Newtown, Charleston, Colorado, etc. were all pipe-bomb killings, would we be jumping to pipe-bomb control legislation? Pipe-bombs = racism? Pipe-bombs=Confederate Flags contribute to Pipe-Bomb killings?
Dukes of Hazzard – takes on a whole new meaning now.
ALL male tenants say they are ‘handy’ until is comes to plumbing…
Guys, it’s not rocket science! Ever hear of youtube?
LOL. Direct quotes from Obama on Maron’s podcast.
0. Re:Obamacare and the Supreme Court. “First of all, I’m confident that we’ll win, because the law is clearly on our side.”
I can answer Ronald Reagan’s question unequivocally, “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?” And the answer is, on every economic measure, just about, you are.”
1. “So, when *I* take an unemployment rate from 10% to 5.5% ”
2. “When *I* drive the uninsured rate to the lowest it’s ever been.”
3. “When *I*, uh, restore people’s 401k’s”
4. “When, uh, *I* make sure that we’re doubling clean energy and we are, uh, reducing our carbon footprint, annddd…., High School graduations are the highest they’ve ever been and college attendance is the highest it’s ever been.”
Obama is a tool. Marc Maron is an ex-tweaker, washed-up comic and 100% koolaid-swilling puppet.
So…when I continue the unsustainable path
Marc Maron is also tiresome, pedantic and not at all funny.
Ben (41)-
Taking the dangerously unsustainable- and wrapping it in the cloak of sustainability- is modern liberalism’s greatest shortcoming.
It’s also very cynical and calculated.
When Bojangles’ house of cards is blown to the wind, he will spend the rest of his life pointing fingers at all but himself.
If you don’t ask one confrontational question or one single probing follow up in the course of an interview, you are a puppet.
Maron lobbed softballs that allowed Bojangles to say shocking things and appear hip and out front on hot-button issues.
38
Three rules of plumbing. $hit runs down hill, don’t lick your fingers, pay day is Friday.
Way easier then electricity. I don’t do much more than install fixtures and change outlets. Plumbing mix ups create a mess, electricity kills you.
Getting jiggy down here in Monmouth. Got that weird glow I’ve seen in tornadoes.
I got some pre-ban dixies for sale.
What a dope. So 401K’s aren’t “retail”? There would be no “recovery” without retail buy-in. Pumpdope – You understand that there is no such thing as “cash on the sidelines”, right? Unless you have IPOs, every share bought in the market represents another share getting out. Zero sum. It’s kind of like saying there is “cash on the sidelines” in the Wayne, NJ RE market. Unless you have new construction, every dollar from a buyer represents a dollar that seller is taking with him/her as he/she leaves the space. Lots of he/she’s in Wayne, I hear.
The 2008 crash scared retail
I feel better with electric than with plumbing. Never learned to solder copper so I still call the plumber for most metal to metal applications. Electricity doesn’t scare me at all. 110 won’t kill you and there’s very little 220 in most homes. Electric dryer line mostly. Electric is a piece of cake with little more knowledge than I learned from my Radio Shack 200 in 1 kit. Read one book on code and I’ve never failed an inspection. Would much rather get a tiny shock and a couple of splinters rather than a mouthful of raw sewage and I giant clean up.
[50] As I recall, you don’t actually solder copper joints, but rather you “sweat” them, causing the solder to be drawn into the joint. Did it a couple times with my Dad back in the late 60’s, early 70’s. Never tried it myself. When it comes to home improvement, I feel most confident with my checkbook, unless I feel like I’m going to get really bent over. In that case, I actually do learn how to do stuff myself.
So let me get this straight. The market is a zero-sum game, but there is no correlation between billionaires taking more and more of the share from everyone else? I have been told numerous times on this board that the capital accrued from billionaires has no effect on the other players in the game, that it is actually good for the rest of the players in the economy every time a new billionaire is created. How can this be based on your post below. You can’t have it both ways, so which one is it?
Btw, you are crazy if you don’t think retail was scared off by the crash. How do you think it dropped so much. Also, I don’t consider 401k to be the equivalent of retail stock players. I’m talking about joe smith willingly buying individual stocks, not joe smith being forced to contribute to a 401k.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
June 23, 2015 at 7:52 pm
What a dope. So 401K’s aren’t “retail”? There would be no “recovery” without retail buy-in. Pumpdope – You understand that there is no such thing as “cash on the sidelines”, right? Unless you have IPOs, every share bought in the market represents another share getting out. Zero sum. It’s kind of like saying there is “cash on the sidelines” in the Wayne, NJ RE market. Unless you have new construction, every dollar from a buyer represents a dollar that seller is taking with him/her as he/she leaves the space. Lots of he/she’s in Wayne, I hear.
The 2008 crash scared retail.
This is how I see it. Tell me how this perspective is wrong.
“IRS data suggests that, globally, U.S. nonfinancial companies hold at least three times more cash and other liquid assets than the Federal Reserve reports, idle money that could be creating jobs, funding dividends or even paying a stiff federal penalty tax for hoarding corporate cash.
The Fed’s latest Flow of Funds report showed that U.S. nonfinancial companies held $1.7 trillion in liquid assets at the end of March. But newly released IRS figures show that in 2009 these companies held $4.8 trillion in liquid assets, which equals $5.1 trillion in today’s dollars, triple the Fed figure.
Why the huge gap?
The Fed gets its data from the IRS, but only measures the flow of funds in the domestic economy. The IRS reports the worldwide holdings of U.S. companies, which I think is the more revealing measure.
From the companies’ point of view, it makes perfect sense these days to hoard cash.
First, Congress lets overseas profits accumulate untaxed, so long as offshore subsidiaries own the cash. Second, companies have a hard time putting cash to work because fewer jobs and lower wages mean less demand for products and services. Third, a thick pile of cash gives risk-averse CEOs a nice cushion if the economy worsens.
Given the enduring hard times, you might think that corporations have used up their cash since 2009. But real pretax corporate profits have soared, from less than $1.5 trillion in 2009 to $1.9 trillion in 2010 and almost $2 trillion in 2011, data from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis shows.
That is nearly $1 trillion of increased profits over two years, while actual taxes paid rose less than a tenth as much, BEA reports show. Dividends, wages and capital expenditures all grew less than profits, while undistributed profits rose. The result: more cash.
Bigger profits are good news, but it would have been better news had those increased profits been put to work, not laid off in accounts paying modest interest. Hoarding corporate cash in bank accounts, Treasuries and tax-exempt bonds poses a serious threat to the economy, as Congress recognized when it enacted the corporate income tax in 1909.
Let’s get some perspective on these gigantic figures, all measured in today’s dollars.
The 2009 cash reported to the IRS equaled America’s entire economic output that year from New Year’s Day through May Day.
This cash pool came to $16,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States, a 53 percent real increase from 2004, my calculations from IRS data show.
Looked at yet another way, these companies had 11.3 percent of their assets in cash, or enough to pay their 2009 corporate income tax bills, which amounted to $148 billion, more than 34 times over.
In short, U.S. companies hold vastly more cash than is needed to finance their operations.
For investors, companies holding 11.3 percent of their assets in cash lowers returns. Did you buy shares of American Widget so executives could park profits in savings accounts?
For workers, idle cash means idle hands and minds. With one in five Americans unemployed or underemployed, and real median wages in 2010 back down to the level of 1999, this is no time for capital to go on an extended holiday.
For taxpayers, untaxed profits subtly reduce corporate tax burdens and increase the tax burden on individuals. Because taxes owed on offshore profits are not adjusted for inflation, they depreciate at the rate of inflation. That means a double whammy for taxpayers as government pays interest on money it borrows while its accounts receivable from multinational corporations lose value.
Since the income tax system began, Congress has authorized a tax on excessive accumulated earnings to limit damage to the Treasury — and the economy — when companies hold far more cash than their operations require. Without the accumulated earnings tax, corporations can become bloated tax shelters instead of engines of growth.
A business holding more cash than its operations reasonably require can be hit with a 15 percent levy under Section 531 of the Internal Revenue Code, on top of the 35 percent corporate income tax. The Tax Court even devised a mechanical test in 1965 for how much is too much.
Historically the IRS has levied only privately owned firms or publicly traded companies with few shareholders. But Internal Revenue Code Section 531 applies to all corporations. President Ronald Reagan signed Section 532 (c), which made that explicit, though with an exception for untaxed offshore profits.
After reviewing decades of literature on these code sections, I cannot fathom any rational basis for giving multinational companies an exception to the cash hoarding rules, which discriminates against purely domestic firms.
Some of the multinational corporations say they will bring home what could be more than a trillion dollars ifCongress will give them an 85 percent tax discount. The companies frame this as creating jobs. But as I showed in an earlier column, unless there are strict rules, the money can be used to buy back company stock while destroying jobs.
Want to motivate companies to put some of those trillions of dollars of idle cash to work creating jobs, paying dividends or sharing the burden of taxes? Call 1-202-224-3121 and tell your senator or representative you want Section 531 vigorously enforced – now – and the offshore loophole closed immediately.”
http://blogs.reuters.com/david-cay-johnston/2012/07/16/idle-corporate-cash-piles-up/
Explain this.
“Given the enduring hard times, you might think that corporations have used up their cash since 2009. But real pretax corporate profits have soared, from less than $1.5 trillion in 2009 to $1.9 trillion in 2010 and almost $2 trillion in 2011, data from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis shows.
That is nearly $1 trillion of increased profits over two years, while actual taxes paid rose less than a tenth as much, BEA reports show. Dividends, wages and capital expenditures all grew less than profits, while undistributed profits rose. The result: more cash.
Bigger profits are good news, but it would have been better news had those increased profits been put to work, not laid off in accounts paying modest interest. Hoarding corporate cash in bank accounts, Treasuries and tax-exempt bonds poses a serious threat to the economy, as Congress recognized when it enacted the corporate income tax in 1909.”
And explain this. What economic benefit does this bring?
“Let’s get some perspective on these gigantic figures, all measured in today’s dollars.
The 2009 cash reported to the IRS equaled America’s entire economic output that year from New Year’s Day through May Day.
This cash pool came to $16,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States, a 53 percent real increase from 2004, my calculations from IRS data show.
Looked at yet another way, these companies had 11.3 percent of their assets in cash, or enough to pay their 2009 corporate income tax bills, which amounted to $148 billion, more than 34 times over.
In short, U.S. companies hold vastly more cash than is needed to finance their operations.
For investors, companies holding 11.3 percent of their assets in cash lowers returns. Did you buy shares of American Widget so executives could park profits in savings accounts?
For workers, idle cash means idle hands and minds. With one in five Americans unemployed or underemployed, and real median wages in 2010 back down to the level of 1999, this is no time for capital to go on an extended holiday.
For taxpayers, untaxed profits subtly reduce corporate tax burdens and increase the tax burden on individuals. Because taxes owed on offshore profits are not adjusted for inflation, they depreciate at the rate of inflation. That means a double whammy for taxpayers as government pays interest on money it borrows while its accounts receivable from multinational corporations lose value.”
Pumpkin still at it. When does he realize it is all smoke and mirrors?
http://patch.com/new-jersey/gloucestertownship/tornado-rips-through-south-jersey-tuesday-evening
53-
“U.S. capacity utilization has been declining for several years. During 2009 U.S. capacity utilization declined below 70% to approximately 64% in the manufacturing line of business. Utilization this low suggests that some (perhaps many) corporations are investigating downsizing options (i.e., selling capital) to maintain acceptable Rates of Return (ROR). Low capacity utilization is indicative of corporations conducting insufficient business to support their size, not corporations stressed by high taxes.
During previous decades the IRS enforced IRS Code 531 and stockholders sometimes sued corporations for deriving too much corporate income from money invested in Treasury instruments, money funds, etc. rather than deriving income from the corporate charter’s stated organization and business purpose. Some CEO’s lost their jobs over these law suits.
Nowadays the big political money machines use misdirection to redirect the public’s attention from corporate America’s historically large horde of cash by declaring that corporate America is overtaxed which has no basis in fact. The misdirection is working. Corporate executives and directors are reaping huge rewards. The average CEO’s pay that used to average 15 times the average employee’s wage since the time of Plato until the 1980′s are now receiving 500 times as much and more. Directors who used to get reimbursed their travel expenses for attending quarterly meetings are now being paid one million dollars and more annually to attend quarterly meetings.
Mr. Johnston’s education and range of experience qualify him for seats on boards of directors in several lines of business where he could collect millions of dollars for himself. The fact that Mr. Johnston chooses to use his time and effort to inform the general public of politicians, corporate executives and wealthy citizens (and non-citizens) with sinister goals shows a man with strong moral conviction. I only know Mr. Johnston through his articles that I started reading a few months ago. I must admit I’m grateful to Mr. Johnston for collecting and providing this useful information rather than participating in the greed. Thank you.”
lol,
I got 10 bucks that says “The Watcher” is a regular lurker on this board.
http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2015/06/authorities_not_releasing_info_in_eerie_westfield.html#incart_river
WESTFIELD – The mysterious letters sent to a township home, and now gaining wide attention in news reports around the country, are currently under investigation by both police and Union County Prosecutor’s Office, but no information is being released about that investigation.
RELATED: Stalker tells homebuyers ‘bring me young blood’, suit alleges
“The Union County Prosecutor’s Office is aware of this matter and is continuing to work closely with the Westfield Police Department on what is an ongoing investigation,” said Mark Spivey, spokesman for the prosecutor’s ofice.
He said no details of the letters or the investigation could be released.
Speaking during the town council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Andrew Skibitsky also declined to comment on the investigation or on a lawsuit filed by the owners, but did say that local police “conducted an exhaustive investigation.” He also urged anyone with information to contact police.
Earlier this month, the owners, a couple with three children, of the filed suit said the letters, signed by somebody only identifying himself as “The Watcher,” claim they bought the house in June 2014 for $1.3 million and have spent thousands on improvements, but cannot move in because of these missives.
The first letter, which arrived June 5, three days after the closing on the sale, stated that he had been watching the house for two decades, and his grandfather and father had each watched it. He claimed to know the previous owners and had asked them to “bring him young blood.”
At least two more letters arrived within the coming months, according to the suit. The current owners say that the people who sold that house and also received a letter from “The Watcher” within two weeks before the sale, but never disclosed that information.
Westfield police have yet to respond to repeated calls seeking information about the letters.
Sellers are not required to disclose information about threats or tragic incidents that occur in a house, said A. Michael Del Duca, president of the North Central Jersey Association of Realtors and a branch office manager for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.
However, Del Duca would want his clients to have the details and not find out after closing on a sale.
“If there was a murder or suicide in the house, that really does not effect the livability. But as a realtor, I wouldn’t want my some client finding out something from a neighbor,” he said.
The disclosure form that sellers routinely fill out involves the physical condition of house, including everything from a leaky basement to a leaky roof.
The prosecutor’s office advises anybody receiving disturbing letters to quickly call police.
Great piece on gun control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL8JEEt2RxI
Australian violent crime statistics:
http://www.aic.gov.au/dataTools/facts/vicViolentCol.html
average 1993-1996
average 1997-2012
percentage change
Manslaughter
35
38
10.07%
Total homicide
341
320
-5.93%
Sexual assault
13,137
17,776
35.31%
Armed robbery
5,463
7,802
42.81%
Unarmed robbery
8,954
10,982
22.65%
Total robbery
14,417
18,786
30.31%
Kidnapping/abduction
535
696
30.12%
TOTAL
28,429
37,578
32.18%
Yay progress!
(forgot one section)
average 1993-1996
average 1997-2012
percentage change
Murder
306
282
-7.75%
Manslaughter
35
38
10.07%
Total homicide
341
320
-5.93%
Sexual assault
13,137
17,776
35.31%
Armed robbery
5,463
7,802
42.81%
Unarmed robbery
8,954
10,982
22.65%
Total robbery
14,417
18,786
30.31%
Kidnapping/abduction
535
696
30.12%
TOTAL
28,429
37,578
32.18%
#6 Lib
Clinton 64, Biden 9, Sanders 8, Webb, O’Malley 1, Chafee
Unless someone like Warren steps in, he D ticket is done. The R ticket is a bunch of unelectables, Jeb is Mitt 2016.
Nikki Haley is in an unique position, I have always thought she should jump in and shape the race. She could be the Jon Huntsman of this campaign,. A true game changer that could take down the D candidate. I always thought that she would never make it through the primaries. But if she can get the flag down in an appropriate manner and still run a conservative line, she could hold the south. With that she could actually win.
I love politics.
Joyce,
Are you really going to go there?
Try this, take Texas that has a similar population and run the numbers.
You posted a video (albeit a comedy) that referenced Australia and pre/post a gun ban. I responded with the government’s available violent crime statistics… and rate of change pre/post.
You respond with one of your patented off-topic and erroneous quips. What does Texas have to do with gun bans?
Here’s a good USA vs UK video for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNQebj7_UX4
Fast Eddie, 58th richest neighborhood in America and you think these people are just barely hanging on?
“#19 The Heights and The West End in Ridgewood, N.J.
#19 The Heights and The West End in Ridgewood, N.J.
Mean household income: $396,574
58th richest neighborhood in the U.S.
The first home in Ridgewood was built on 250 acres in 1700, while the village was officially formed at the end of the 19th century. It sits 20 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan.
CBS correspondent Bill Geist and actor Frankie Muniz were both born in Ridgewood.
The Heights and The West End are 86.4% white, 7.3% Asian, 3.3% Latino, 0.5% black
Sources: Higley 1000, city-data.com, neighborhoodscout.com”
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/richest-neighborhoods-around-new-york-city-2014-3?op=1#ixzz3dwynZt1e
Richest neighborhood in America.
#1 The Golden Triangle in Greenwich, Conn.
#1 The Golden Triangle in Greenwich, Conn.
Sotheby’s International Realty
Mean household income: $614,242
Richest neighborhood in the U.S.
The Golden Triangle refers roughly to homes in the mid-country section of the city of Greenwich, Conn., which encompasses nearly two-thirds of the town’s geography.
One- and two-acre lots are most common. The remarkable amount of open space compared to the rest of Greenwich comes from preservation efforts led by the Greenwich Land Trust and other conservation organizations.
In addition to palatial estates, the area is known for various waterways, winding country roads, forests, meadows and gorges carved by past glaciers.
The Golden Triangle is 87.3% white, 7.4% Asian, 2.5% Latino, 1.9% black
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/richest-neighborhoods-around-new-york-city-2014-3?op=1#ixzz3dx0gqxHq