From Forbes:
Why The U.S. Housing Market Will Remain Alive And Kicking in 2016
If you live in Coastal California, you don’t need national housing statistics to tell you that the housing market is in good shape – stick a “For Sale” sign in the yard and there are dozens of offers within a few days. If you are a seller or homeowner in the some of the less-than-hot spots, you can still take some comfort from the majority of indicators that suggest that the market is not only solid, but still improving. Worries about the state of the economy and the stock market justifiably create some jitters. However, the factors that positively influence real estate, such as employment, interest rates, and low inventory, are likely to trump the detractors looking ahead into 2016.
First, the data. Given recent poor economic figures, analysts were pessimistic heading into the release of January’s housing data. They were positively surprised to learn Tuesday that existing home sales climbed 0.4% from the last month, which translates into a healthy 11% increase since the same time last year. Despite January being a typical cold weather month, existing home sales were the second strongest month since 2007. Interestingly, the data produced by the National Association of Realtors dissects the data by home price, not just by region. This data indicates that most of the market has witnessed significant gains since last year – except for the cheapest priced homes (sub $100,000) which amount to about 16% of all existing sales.
New home sales data released Wednesday wasn’t so great, indicating a fall of 9.2% since December, led by a huge drop in the Western region of the U.S. As is the case with housing data and weather, the monthly information is highly volatile. Since December 2015 showed an outsized positive month for new sales, it is not shocking that January’s figure reveals an outsize negative.
Prices are performing well. The most closely watched index on home prices is the S&P/Case Shiller index, which showed home values improved by over 5% at the end of 2015 compared to a year earlier. The 20 large city index they track showed a higher climb in prices, closer to 6%. Inventories have been somewhat smaller than normal so buyers have been chasing fewer houses and driving prices up. More sellers are likely to emerge in the coming months to take advantage of these higher home prices.
…
That said, there are many positives underpinning the longer run housing story. The housing crisis that was the epicenter of the 2008 crisis has almost finished healing. The massive overhang of foreclosures has nearly cleared, and new foreclosures are back to a long run average. There is also less debt in the system, as distressed homeowners had to sell, and also since many have shifted to renting given tighter lending standards. With less leverage in the system, we can expect less turmoil induced by a cyclical slowdown in the economy.
…
The largest positives for the housing sector remain the ongoing gains in employment (and income) and very low mortgage rates. The unemployment rate is now below 5%, and thanks to decent wage gains and low energy prices, the consumer has more cash in the pocket and therefore can support mortgage payments, renovations, rents, and thus prices. Despite the overall recovery in the economy that has induced the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates, long term rates remain very low, dragging mortgage rates back down to historic lows. The chart above shows the steep decline in 30 year mortgage rates in the past month; the price of a mortgage will not be holding the buyers back.
FRIST
Mandatory drug testing?
http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2016/02/nj_cop_was_impaired_on_drugs_alcohol_in_fatal_cras.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured
yep, hahah
i guess he forgot that Republicans hate black people
Ragnar says:
February 26, 2016 at 12:17 am
Left and right agree that Carson is superfluous.
[3]. Twitiot
I didn’t realize you were black.
Don Knotts > Vigoda
@ezraklein
“I will not let people die on the streets if I’m president”
is apparently a controversial statement in the Republican primary
Who’s dying in the streets? Every time I’ve been in the hospital, there’s a bunch of people at the hospital getting treated for free.
[6] twitiot
I would prefer you not die in the street. I don’t want to pay for the cleanup.
I’d still be happy about it; I’d just prefer it if you died elsewhere.
If elected president, I promise that I will not allow anon to beat his catamite.
2 – nothing wrong with policing under the influence.
Dude was on a bender, that list would embarrass Hunter S Thompson.
Howard Davidowitz on Bloomberg always makes my day. I really miss Ed Koch on NPR – I think Davidowitz needs his own show ala Koch, I’d be in heaven.
Guy is brilliant, no better barometer.
Ignore the twittiot.
[9] Ragnar
If elected, I would waterboard anon.
Cross Border Commerce (unable to categorize clot Edition or jj Edition):
Border patrol agents at JFK Airport nabbed a woman who allegedly tried to sneak into New York City with half a pound of cocaine stuffed in her vag!na.
Shekira Thompson arrived at JFK on Sunday on a flight from Jamaica, and customs agents immediately took the US citizen into a secondary screening room, where they found a white powdery substance in her vag!na, they said.
The half-pound of coke has a street value of $10,000.
Thompson was booked on drug-trafficking charges and will be prosecuted in Queens.
If she was smart, she would have filled her cooch with baby powder and sued the sh1t out of J&J.
Rubio is only 5’&7″
@realDonaldTrump 32m32 minutes ago
Lightweight choker Marco Rubio looks like a little boy on stage. Not presidential material!
Give me a break with this crap. Do they even understand why these people pay so much money for these neighborhoods? To get away from the bull sh!t!. So now they want to ruin every neighborhood? There is no racial segregation, it’s called class segregation. People coming together with like minded individuals to live the kind of life that they enjoy. Why can’t someone have a right to this? Who are you to decide? You want these people to have an opportunity to live in these neighborhoods, then tell them to get an education and work hard to achieve their goal.
Who comes up with these bs ideas? Are they jealous that some people work hard to live a certain way and they lack the drive and effort to do the same? Have they ever stepped foot in the urban areas and realize that these areas look like war zones not because the people are poor, but because these people do not care about their community. Throwing garbage on the streets and destroying everything you touch has nothing to do with being rich or poor, and everything to do with the individual. Trailer park trash or nj urban trash, are one in the same, it has nothing to do with race and everything to do with the individual and the choices they make. They choose to live like that. Poor has nothing to do with it. The reason they are poor is because they choose to be. You can’t make all the excuses you want for this behavior, but the truth is the truth. Sorry that some people can’t see it for themselves and try to push these type of people into a wealthy neighborhood where people payed a lot of money to get away from this type of behavior. It’s wrong to push your “save the world” agenda on realists.
“At the same time, the state remains one of the most economically and racially segregated states in the nation.
Many black and Latino families are priced out of being a part of our more affluent communities which are consistently characterized by being overwhelmingly white. This is our Ferguson — two states, separate and unequal.
New Jersey families need more than 200,000 additional homes to meet these challenges over a 25-year period, according to a study by Princeton University lecturer David N. Kinsey.”
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/02/dont_let_njs_wealthy_suburbs_block_out_black_and_l.html#incart_river_home
re # 17 – Pumps relax already New Jersey is not a gated community state or a co-op in NYC. Anyone can move to your neighborhood they just need to be able to afford the taxes. Heck give them more loans to even the field.
Same in NJ, right?
If you live in Coastal California, you don’t need national housing statistics to tell you that the housing market is in good shape – stick a “For Sale” sign in the yard and there are dozens of offers within a few days.
[18] They don’t even need to afford the taxes to move to Pump’s town. They can just buy in the flood plain.
re # 17 – Pumps relax already New Jersey is not a gated community state or a co-op in NYC. Anyone can move to your neighborhood they just need to be able to afford the taxes. Heck give them more loans to even the field.
breaking news Christie tries to take down Trump by endorsing him!
Attorney General Chris Christie!
Christie never disappoints
They are buying those areas out. Almost done. I bet most people don’t know about the trailer park in wayne, located right on the river, across from Fairfield.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
February 26, 2016 at 12:02 pm
[18] They don’t even need to afford the taxes to move to Pump’s town. They can just buy in the flood plain.
re # 17 – Pumps relax already New Jersey is not a gated community state or a co-op in NYC. Anyone can move to your neighborhood they just need to be able to afford the taxes. Heck give them more loans to even the field.
@jbarro
“Con artist” would be a good line against Trump if his rise weren’t a rebellion against the con GOP donors have been running on GOP voters.
That’s the whole point. The headline screams racism, like white’s are blocking blacks and latinos from buying a house in a wealthy area.
I’d call “fair housing” living where you can afford to live. Nothing racist about it. Can’t afford the taxes, clearly you don’t belong there.
Juice Box says:
February 26, 2016 at 11:54 am
re # 17 – Pumps relax already New Jersey is not a gated community state or a co-op in NYC. Anyone can move to your neighborhood they just need to be able to afford the taxes. Heck give them more loans to even the field.
[21] Juice
Lindsay Graham did the same thing.
Graham did the same. He endorsed Bush and now he his gone. He endorsed Trump and said “Hope his Magic still there”
Juice Box says:
February 26, 2016 at 12:54 pm
breaking news Christie tries to take down Trump by endorsing him!
FYI for those who follow Obamacare compliance issues. There is a case of first impression in the southern district where workers are pushing back on having their hours cut in response to Obamacare mandates.
They are arguing that section 510 of ERISA bars a reduction in hours simply to avoid paying benefits. Case has survived motion to dismiss under R. 12(b)(6).
Will bear some watching because, absent some weird fact not in the story, I see no basis for Section 510 to apply here.
Trump is going on and on and Christie looks like an angry bulldog standing behind him.
nov 2015
@realDonaldTrump
How is Chris Christie running the state of NJ, which is deeply troubled, when he is spending all of his time in NH? New Jerseyans not happy!
30
He was told there would be a buffet.
lol
“I want a home in Upper Saddle River,but cant afford it. Can someone please force them to sell me a house below market value?”
30. Perfect look for a future Attorney General.
Are the staunch Republicans here as embarassed about Trump as I am every time he opens his trap? I’m still not convinced he’ll open his books either. And I still believe he’s a closet liberal. As much as I hate Hillary and will end up voting for anyone in the general besides her, I really find this Trumpmania thing utterly disturbing. He is essentially doing his TV shtick, which is popular among the masses, but wholly disturbing as potential POTUS. Hope Bernie runs as an independent and the sooner the better. What an absolute joke of a primary so far.
Won’t matter. Bernie is done. No 3rd party candidate can/will win.
Get ready people. Trump has the momentum.
Nobody in their right mind wants to see Bernie negotiate with Putin on their behalf. Unless it is on the issue of bike lanes or yogurt stands. Trump has swagger. Bill Clinton had swagger until he didn’t. People like swagger.
Lib – We have the candidates we deserve.
19. Yeah right. Will this correlate to NJ? Only on a select few properties.
Anyone but her, please.
[17]
I don’t see Asians having any difficulty buying housing where I live. We’ve also had Hispanic and AA families move into town. It’s not a color of the skin issue, it’s a $$$ issue. Adding low income families adds a burden to our schools and don’t we pay our more than fair share already in income taxes to subsidize Abbot? Now they want to take a piece of my property tax as well. Tired of the forced charity.
Lib,
Are the staunch Republicans here as embarassed about Trump as I am every time he opens his trap?
No. We need an enforcer. People are tired of taking it up the @ss. And I hope he tells Hellary to go f.uck herself.
Amen. All for helping people, but not if they are going to take it for granted, and throw my hard earned money down the drain.
lurker says:
February 26, 2016 at 2:01 pm
[17]
I don’t see Asians having any difficulty buying housing where I live. We’ve also had Hispanic and AA families move into town. It’s not a color of the skin issue, it’s a $$$ issue. Adding low income families adds a burden to our schools and don’t we pay our more than fair share already in income taxes to subsidize Abbot? Now they want to take a piece of my property tax as well. Tired of the forced charity.
If we did a ratio of the amount of days the Governor was in state vs. out, I’m sure Christie might have the smallest ratio of all governors in the history of this country.
Man, if Bernie just stayed away from the economics and free giveaways, and stuck to the corruption, he would easily win.
Libturd supporting the Canklephate says:
February 26, 2016 at 1:51 pm
Are the staunch Republicans here as embarassed about Trump as I am every time he opens his trap? I’m still not convinced he’ll open his books either. And I still believe he’s a closet liberal. As much as I hate Hillary and will end up voting for anyone in the general besides her, I really find this Trumpmania thing utterly disturbing. He is essentially doing his TV shtick, which is popular among the masses, but wholly disturbing as potential POTUS. Hope Bernie runs as an independent and the sooner the better. What an absolute joke of a primary so far.
The most factual post of 2016 on these threads……
Juice Box says:
February 26, 2016 at 1:57 pm
Lib – We have the candidates we deserve.
Bernie without giveaways? Bernie IS giveaways.
Not defending the fatman, but there haven’t been many NJ governors with presidential aspirations.
Watching Trump speak over Rubio last night was just disturbing. Yes, I believe someone who is tough would be fun to watch, especially if one is a war monger. But realistically, Trump is not a negotiator. He’s a bully. And bully’s don’t care about facts. Build that wall and this country will become the embarrassment of the world. The war we need to fight is against large businesses, public sector unions, really, anything too large to fail. Fcuk China and Russia. Ignore Iran and the Middle East. Let’s figure out a way to get the economy going instead of making the rich richer. And believe me, Trump and Hillary represent another 4 to 8 years of slow, slow growth accept for those at the top. Perhaps with Hillary, the blacks will get a few crumbs paid for by the middle class. With Trump, at least there won’t be any crumbs. But my god, I’ve heard of voting for the lesser of two evil. But this is like Lucifer versus Damien Omen.
[48] libturd
I predict that “none of the above” will pull a record number of votes.
[45] pumps
“Hope Bernie runs as an independent and the sooner the better.”
Bernie/Bloomberg. The nebbish ticket
The End Is Nigh (Sh1tting Skittles Edition):
MADERA, Calif. — The calls coming into a California Highway Patrol office in the San Joaquin Valley were alarming.
Officer Josh McConnell tells KSEE-TV motorists were reporting a unicorn running around on the roadway Wednesday in rural Madera Ranchos.
More than three hours later the suspect was taken into custody.
A not-so-mythical white pony named Juliette who wears a fake horn for photo sessions was illuminated by a CHP helicopter in an orchard and resident Renee Pardy used another horse to lead it out.
The ersatz unicorn’s owner, 5-year-old Tatum Boos (Bohs), says Juliette was given a timeout for being a bad pony.
48. Fighting corporation? I dunno man. How about not…
Lib [35];
I still believe Trump on the GOP is Hillary’s ONLY path to victory. She’d lose the Dem nomination if left to her own devices, but the party apparatus seems (understandably) determined to drag her over the finish line.
[53] moose
You’d appreciate this quote:
“Taken together, America is hurtling towards an election that no one wants. The Democratic Party will nominate a candidate most Democrats dislike because their game is rigged. The Republican Party will nominate a candidate most Republicans dislike because their game is not.”
Trump does not come off as a person with swagger or confidence. To me, he comes off as an actor playing a douchey character. Pettiness is insecurity. Guy is most petty individual ever on the air. This is the “anyone but Hilary” race on the right. A dried turd would get their vote before Hilary. No need to dig any deeper on why Trump.
Jesus you too lib? Why are people freaking out about him being president.
35,
Libturd,
I’m not a staunch Republican, but yes I do find Trump embarrassing, because it reveals how many people there are out there who can get excited about a blowhard with a lot of empty promises and no real principles. During my career I’ve learned how to spot and steer well clear of such people.
Tool [3];
Republicans hate black people
Facts are hard for leftists.
Poll finds Sanders & Clinton backers twice as racist as Rubio supporters
55. I’m gonna differ with you here. Trump has charm and incredible consistency. He has literally been saying the same thing for years.
…because it reveals how many people there are out there who can get excited about a blowhard with a lot of empty promises and no real principles.
His name is Barrack Obama.
Eddie,
For shame, Obama has principles, they just happen to be disastrously wrong and evil ones that lead to America’s decline.
Trump will be a terrible president. Only marginally better than Hillary. I would vote for Trump while hating myself for it, but out of spite because I HATE Hillary and want to see her and her mental defective daughter go back into the shadows where they belong. Bill can continue clowning around, he is still somewhat amusing.
Rags,
I have a feeling that Trump will not get the nod anyway. In the end, that decrepit b1tch is going to wind up being the president.
To each his own but currency wars, tariffs, deportations, religious banishments , pointless border building projects, not to mention the hatred of various world leaders before even entering the WH…hmm not my thing for president. On the positive, I am all for it for entertainment purposes. I think that is what people really want anyway. They think it will be funny when he meets Putin and calls him a weak coward..f$ck yeah..USA,USA.
[58] moose,
I am reminded of a conversation with a guy I worked with at State Street Boston. Hard core leftist from Maine, proud of working for Brother Jesse’s presidential campaign, but as lily white as could be.
He told one day that he and his new wife were moving. I asked where he was moving to, thinking it would be in some “diverse” neighborhood where he would be close to those he felt such kinship with.
He told me “Wellesley.”
[63] eddie,
“that decrepit b1tch is going to wind up being the president.”
On the plus side, she will throw the left under the bus before Obama steps off the plane formerly known as Air Force One. Trump will be ostracized for blowing up the party, and Cruz will just (continue to be) ostracized. One hopes that this will get the party focused on freedom and economy, especially since Clinton would not be an improvement on Chairman O unless she goes all in with the GOP like Bill did.
The upshot will be that Warren will challenge her in 2020 and the prospect of a Soc1alist in all but name, and a revitalized GOP should make her a one-termer and return the WH to the GOP. We just have to hope that Alito, Thomas, Roberts and Kennedy don’t die in their sleep with a pillow over their heads in the meantime.
I don’t see much of a difference in Hillary or had it been Jeb. Big business rules the day.
Seems like this is a trend. anon, care to take up the mantle for your sisters whole are clearly being smeared by The Man?
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/25/us/new-york-albany-assaults/index.html
Talk about a tin ear. Wasn’t this president the one who said “engagement over isolation”?
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/politics/nato-u-s-military-no-shows-russia-embassy/index.html
Oh, and apparently fed regulators are telling US banks not to do even legal business that could support the Russian economy. No authority, no law, no regulatory ability, just a “if you buck us, you’ll regret it” message.
Humm – in Apple’s response to the court..it’s a two to four week effort.
It would cost Apple approx $101,000 in labor costs to help the FBI hack one iPhone.
Seems reasonable to for a terrorism case, the lawyers cost allot more I would gather.
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-apple-fbi-iphone20160225-story.html
re # 67 – You think Bernie is the man right? Who is to say Trump is beholden to the special interests?
I’ll pick Bernie or Trump if either makes it to November 8th. Better them than the other Faustian candidates.
lol
“Can you imagine,” Trump said of Rubio meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, “and he walks in and he’s drenched. I have never seen a human being sweat like this man sweats. … It looked like he had just jumped into a swimming pool with his clothes on.”
Later, during his rally, Trump doubled down, waving around a water bottle and splashing water while declaring: “It’s Rubio!”
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/politics/marco-rubio-attacks-donald-trump-wet-pants/index.html
I have yet to see a compelling reason to register to vote. Hillary vs Trump isn’t going to move me to changing my mind on that one.
Voting- first and foremost- is your signal you’re down with the grift.
I’m ok with all the tired old men on the Supreme Court eating a pillow in their sleep.
The best justice we’re gonna see in the future will be dispensed at gunpoint.
bystander (55)-
Trump is a nightclub comic. His schtick falls somewhere between Borscht Belt classics like Rickles and big-arena guys like the Diceman. He’s funny, nasty and a caricature of a statesman.
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Apple is a cheapskate when it comes to R&D
http://usat.ly/1QLb3Ku
Maybe Trump will neutron bomb a country like Chad or Niger, just out of pique and a desire to see what will happen. Like a little kid with a firecracker, a toad frog and lots of time on his hands.
The Center For Disease Control has released a detailed report regarding causes of death, using data from 2013. The report was released on February 16th, and nearly a week later, no mention of it by Bloomberg’s Everytown For Gun Safety, which is the research and PAC wing of his gun control efforts.
There’s a reason for the silence. They don’t want you to know that gun related homicide doesn’t even crack the top 15 causes of death in America.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/02/liberal-media-gun-grabbers-ignore-latest-cdc-report-doesnt-fit-narrative/
I had a hot, hot, girlfriend who rented on Riveredge Road with a couple of her friends in the mid 80’s. I thought the landlord was a genius because the house was a simple ranch atop a 12 foot foundation/storage basement. It looked like your standard cheap ranch, but with a hugely tall concrete foundation and a set of wooden stairs up the side to get to the living area. It was bizarre looking, but nice enough once you were inside. No stairs down to the basement from inside just a door from the outside to the ground level storage area where the tenants were allowed to store anything they wanted, but no guarantee of it staying dry. This house was the only thing on the street that was built to weather every flood. I just took a Google/Bing tour of the street and was surprised to see that that house was no longer there, just an empty lot in it’s place. I guess the landlord took the state buyout.
They are buying those areas out. Almost done. I bet most people don’t know about the trailer park in wayne, located right on the river, across from Fairfield.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
February 26, 2016 at 12:02 pm
[18] They don’t even need to afford the taxes to move to Pump’s town. They can just buy in the flood plain.
re # 17 – Pumps relax already New Jersey is not a gated community state or a co-op in NYC. Anyone can move to your neighborhood they just need to be able to afford the taxes. Heck give them more loans to even the field.
[79] My mistake, it was Lincoln Park, just over the Wayne line. That house was on one of the now 4 vacant and cleared properties 23-37 Riveredge Rd. I think there used to be a video rental store (remember those?) on the corner of 202 up the street. P0rn and flood zones, perfect together.
I rented on River Edge Road for a short while after college. I knew the video store and Wolfson’s. During Irene, my landlord suggested I bring some furniture there to throw in the basement so I could get new stuff. I didn’t take them up on the offer, but I’m sure plenty of people did.
That’s a great pull Stu! I would’ve never come up with Wolfson’s. Excellent! Did you ever go up the road and across the way for dinner at Sam’s (Maple Grove), down 202 a small bit, behind the Chinese place with the big yellow sign?
I rented on River Edge Road for a short while after college. I knew the video store and Wolfson’s. During Irene, my landlord suggested I bring some furniture there to throw in the basement so I could get new stuff. I didn’t take them up on the offer, but I’m sure plenty of people did.
Unfortunately, no. That area was pretty hickey.
Deez Nutz is looking pretty good right about now.
How is Yedlin developing, playing in this shit Sunderland team?
[83] I’m not sure when Sam’s heyday ended. We used to go there for dinner as a family when I was a kid and it was still thriving until at least the mid 80’s. Friday and Saturday nights there was a line literally out the door waiting for tables. Both my Dad and my uncle had their own waitresses which meant they could duck in the back door where there was a small bar, eye their waitress and get a table in minutes. The owner’s son was the bartender and he was constantly in motion making drinks and he was really something to watch. Waitresses would just speed by yelling drink orders and he never broke stride or acknowledged them, but never missed a drink order. He also never seemed to say a word, he was just processing this internal queue of drink orders in his head. The menu was extensive and they were famous for their prime rib. Another oddity was that they only served one vegetable, green beans. The place would regularly flood, they would close down for a couple months, then reopen with new carpet.
Inside the Republican Party’s Desperate Mission to Stop Donald Trump
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-party.html?_r=0
87
When you’ve spent 30+ years creating a monster of a party around a coalition of rascists, religious nuts, gun freaks and stigginit to the libs you shouldn’t be surprised when Frankenstein runs amuck.
Love that they quote Lepage, he’s probably just jealous he didn’t think of it first.
A post from Facebook by a friend that I thought was worth sharing.
“I will add my $0.02 here. For starters, I’ve followed Trump for years and I’ve read his books. I think that I have a pretty clear understanding of who the guy is. But for starters, keep a couple of questions in mind, because each goes directly to the root of his criticisms…
If a man is a man of a few words, does that necessarily mean that he’s stupid?
Does an unconventional approach automatically infer incompetence?
>Trump “rarely says anything on policy”. Is this true? Or is he just not as articulate, “polished”, and “professional” as the career politicians with whom he debates? I’ve found his books to be very clear and very articulate and very brilliant. I’ve found his website to be very informative and his positions are laid out there for the world to see. On foreign policy, he’s been adamant that we should be very careful about picking our spots, in terms of foreign entanglements. This is in contrast to most of his peers who want to go guns a blazing into Libya and Syria like it’s the Wild West. And we found out last night that Kasich wants regime change in North Korea. That’s great. No better way to destabilize Asia. Think China’s economy is teetering now? Watch what happens when millions of refugees storm over from North Korea. Trump is fed up with the US giving its blood and lives and dollars in sacrifices to countries that don’t respect us. They protest us when we’re involved and when we’re not, they ask for our help. Time to break the cycle.
Let’s go over to the domestic economy. He’s been very vocal about bringing more jobs and manufacturing back home, cutting taxes and leveling the playing field so that U.S. companies aren’t rushing to leave with things like tax inversions and so on. He’s also called for adjustments to carried interest and higher taxes on hedge fund managers. He is big on building infrastructure and with borrowing rates at historic lows, this is the perfect time for a businessman to do it….and he has experience building stuff. Not like politicians like Obama where they ram a stimulus through and then it’s just a big gravy train with dollars flying out the door left and right and with nothing getting done. Flat out lies about “shovel ready jobs” that never existed from day one. Trump’s big on private competition for health insurance. It’s too bad that Rubio’s stupidity got in the way of Trump’s response last night. Opening up states to other competition will drive down rates.
Notice everybody on the stage last night had an answer as to how to “pay for health expenses”. But that’s in 2016 dollars. None of those plans articulated last night would address the root cause, which is healthcare inflation. Bunch of half-assed, empty suit answers. Except for Trump. It was direct and to the point. And to the moderator that asked for “more examples”, how does Trump know? How does anybody know? Once you start having competition come into these markets, you’re most likely going to see all kinds of inventive, creative new policies and breakpoints and thinks that were never even considered before because without competition, there was no reason to invent stuff.
Here’s another one for you…Planned Parenthood. Every single Republican on that stage is tripping over themselves trying to talk all big about how they are going to shut PP down. In reality, it won’t ever happen. Trump is the only one that actually talks sense. He says “yes, they should be defunded for abortion, but they also provide other helpful medical services”. Is that the position of a radical nutjob?
>In terms of the President being a “role model”. As far as I’m concerned, the President isn’t here to teach my kids. That’s my job as a parent. I need a President who has a backbone, will get tough when tough is required, and has a sense of direction. Trump checks those boxes. I don’t have to tell my kids that the President is “a great man”. Just like I probably won’t be telling my kids that their favorite pro athlete is a “great man” or that their favorite actor/actress is a “great person”. Look around and see the filth and slop out there. Pop culture is in an accelerating decline. Athletes beating their wives, killing people, drug involvement, all the wacky stuff that Bieber and Miley do. I’m good. I, and my wife, will be our kids’ role models.
Valerie is right. The world is a different place now with 15 minutes of fame and instant gratification. And this gets back to your point about Reagan and Bush. At one point in our history, we had “statesmen”. Not just in US history, but world history. In current times, it’s hard to find statesmen really anywhere in the world. We used to have Reagan and Thatcher. Look around now. I study international politics quite a bit. People all over the world are pissed. A comedian was just voted as President of Guatemala. A comedian leads one of Italy’s largest political fronts. People are fed up the world over and you’re going to start seeing more and more “unconventional people” in these positions. It may be time to start re-examining the “image” of a President or any world leader. Whether that means lowering expectations or what, I don’t know. I’m not saying that it’s a good thing, but unfortunately it seems to be reality. People are fed up with self interest and more and more, they will be nominating people from outside the sphere. It doesn’t mean that it’s “bad”, it just “different”. These people may be cut from a different cloth.”
This interview from 1997 is compelling. If nothing else, watch for one minute beginning at 5:15 where Trump’s political success today is explained nearly 19 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACyGsAAjfCI
Here’s a 2 billion PA project that came in at 4 billion. Now just imagine that tunnel.
http://www.nj.com/traffic/index.ssf/2016/02/whats_inside_the_4_billion_world_trade_center_tran.html#incart_river_home
The only thing a logical person can do in this election is not vote. Every choice represents a different kind of doom.
“The American people are sick and tired of the Lindsay Graham/John McCain/George Bush/neocon wars of intervention and occupation; and they resent the massive fiscal burdens of our outmoded but still far-flung alliances, forward bases and apparatus of security assistance and economic aid. They especially have no patience for the continued huge cost of our commitments to cold war relics like NATO, the stationing of troops in South Korea and the defense treaty with the incorrigible Japanese, who still blatantly rig their trade rules against American exports.
In short, The Donald is tapping a nationalist/isolationist impulse that runs deep among a weary and economically precarious main street public. He is clever enough to articulate it in the bombast of what sounds like a crude trade protectionism. Yet if Pat Buchanan were to re-write his speech, it would be more erudite and explicit about the folly of the American Imperium, but the message would be the same.
That’s why the War Party is so desperate, and why its last great hope is the bantam weight Senator from Florida. In truth, Marco Rubio is an obnoxious kid who wants to be President so he can play with guns, planes, ships and bombs. He is a pure creature of the Imperial City, even if at his young age he has idled there only since 2010.
Yet down to the last nuance of his insipid neocon worldview and monotonous recitation of the American Exceptionalism catechism, he might as well have been born in Washington of GS-16 parents, not Cuban refugees, raised as a Congressional page, and apprenticed to the Speaker of the US House rather than serving as the same in the backwaters of Tallahassee.
What Marco Rubio is all about is Warfare State republicanism. When he talks about restoring American Greatness it is through the agency of Imperial Washington. He has no kinship with Harding, Coolidge or Eisenhower. None of them were intent on searching the earth for monsters to destroy, as does Rubio in every single speech.
And make no mistake. Every time this naïve smart aleck chastises Obama for weak leadership and alleged failure to get the job forcefully done in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen and countless elsewheres, the ghost of John Quincy Adams should be hollering in his grave. Stalking the globe for monsters to destroy is exactly what this wanna be little Napoléon is all about.
Likewise, none of the Republican greats would have vowed to tear-up the hard-won nuclear and trade deal with Iran on day one in office, as Rubio never stops declaiming. His hard core opposition to that breakthrough for peace and sanity, in fact, is a damning indictment.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-27/david-stockman-good-bad-ugly-donald-trump
More Stockman gems:
“Needless to say, in a nation where only 123 million of an adult population of 252 million work full time, we could do with less consumption and more labor hours and production—-so we should tax the former, not the latter. Indeed, a nation which is getting older, fatter and dumber while watching television or trolling the internet eight hours per day, must do less shopping and keeping up with the Kardashians and more work——or it will end up in social and fiscal bankruptcy within a decade or so.
By that token, the giant wedge on labor imposed by social insurance could be further alleviated by the imposition of a stringent means test. Precious few retirees has actually earned through lifetime tax contributions anything close to their combined $450,000 average package of social security and medicare, anyway.
In fact, taxing the wealthy duffers who live on Florida’s golf courses and collect $50,000 per year in medicare and social security benefits should have been a no brainer for the big thinker now incumbent in the White House. But when it comes to feeding the organized labor rackets, thinking has nothing to do with it.
At the end of the day, America is on a slippery slope toward failure because the Warfare State and the Welfare State are suffocating what was once a prosperous capitalism and a resilient free society lightly intruded upon by the machinery of state.”
Cancels projected to clean Comrade Sanders clock in SC. Rest of SEC primaries should be a beatdown.
Cancels = Cankles.
Fabian, this autocorrect delay is infuriating. Write some code, willya?
[93] splat
I’m getting my chaise and fruity drink for when some flyover state governor backs up his bile for the Feds by reviving the state militia and opening it up to anyone with an AR. That will have the anon/otto/gluteus/yome crowd screaming bloody murder.
What kind of echo chamber of a world do you live in where any of that sounds reasonable?
[98] Hughes
I have to research but my recollection is that there is historical precedent. And some counties in Florida have already done it but I don’t think it has any legal merit.
BTW, you do know that states have militias, right?
[99] redux
In 1934, Gov. Mouer of AZ deployed state militia to block a federal dam project. And in 2011, Gov. Brewer authorized a volunteer state militia.
That’s my echo chamber. It’s called Google.