Top? Anywhere? Anyone see a top?

From CNBC:

Home prices surge 6.3% in December amid critical housing shortage

Sky-high demand and record-low supply continued to push home prices higher in December, far faster than income growth.

U.S. home prices increased 6.3 percent compared with December 2016, according to the much-watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home prices index. That is an increase from 6.1 percent annual growth in the previous month.

The index measuring the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan markets rose 6.3 percent year over year, a slight decline from the 6.4 percent annual gain in November.

“The rise in home prices should be causing the same nervous wonder aimed at the stock market after its recent bout of volatility,” David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a release. “Across the 20 cities covered by S&P Corelogic Case Shiller Home Price Indices, the average increase from the financial crisis low is 62 percent; over the same period, inflation was 12.4 percent. Even considering the recovery from the financial crisis, we are experiencing a boom in home prices.”

The boom is strongest in Seattle, Las Vegas and San Francisco, which reported the highest gains. Chicago, Cleveland and Washington, D.C., saw the smallest gains. None of the top 20 markets saw an annual price decline.

This entry was posted in Housing Bubble, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

103 Responses to Top? Anywhere? Anyone see a top?

  1. Regards Retards says:

    I see a bottom: Eddie

  2. Ex-Jersey says:

    ^^That was hilarious^^

  3. Very Stable Genius says:

    it seems that we already have the post of the day

    Regards Retards says:
    February 28, 2018 at 6:36 am
    I see a bottom: Eddie

  4. Fabius Maximus says:

    What I love is when the corroboration comes from different sources and it all comes together and you get to watch the jigsaw puzzle unfolding.

    The perfect end to this one would be Rudy doing a perp walk.
    https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/968775069018329088

  5. D-FENS says:

    Sure…because it’s healthy when two political criminal gangs use the government as a weapon against each other…

  6. grim says:

    Does anybody care about Clinton Emails or Russia anymore? Well, besides CNN I mean. Old news, move along.

  7. Juice Box says:

    Fab your assistant poetry Professor from New Hampshire needs to lay off the bong.

  8. Juice Box says:

    Never going to happen Grim. Cognitive dissonance compels them…

  9. No One says:

    CNN is comically bad since the election. It’s like National Enquirer for angry leftists. There is nowhere to go for unbiased news. Seems like their should be a market opportunity, but unbiased journalists are very scarce, and potential audience size unknown.
    WSJ is closest thing to tolerable, but narrow topics.

  10. Very Stable Genius says:

    @laureduca

    Can’t believe they’re treating Jared Kushner like this after all that peace he brought to the Middle East

  11. Very Stable Genius says:

    @CBSNews

    President Trump’s son in law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, no longer has access to top secret material. White House of staff John Kelly reduced the security clearance of Kushner and other officials whose backgrounds are still under investigation

  12. Juice Box says:

    CNN Is comical because Trump called Zucker down to Trump Tower after the election along with other media heads to rip them all new assholes over their
    election coverage. It’s just a personal fight between billionaires now on who gets to control the narrative

  13. chicagofinance says:

    Media = pablum for the attention starved

  14. Very Stable Genius says:

    @paulkrugman

    Well, I am now officially a senior citizen.
    Don’t let the government get its hands on my Medicare.

  15. grim says:

    I used to exclusively watch CNN, it was a fixture in my house. I can’t keep it on for more than 5 minutes. I still visit the website daily, but find myself clicking on articles less and less. I also never really visited the NY Times for news, and I find myself there more often these days. Haven’t listened to NPR/On The Media in a while now too, that used to be mostly unbiased. Never watched Fox News, probably never will. MSNBC seems a slightly toned down version of CNN now.

    Agree about WSJ.

  16. Juice Box says:

    CNN leader Zucker plans to take on Facebook and Twitter social media xcetera he blames them for his piss poor ratings. He might be out soon after this failure again and the format will change

  17. nwnj says:

    The Clinton email crimes themselves are old news but the fixing of the
    Investigation by corrupt Obama doj and fbi officials is very relevant.

  18. Fast Eddie says:

    I see a bottom: Eddie

    What does this mean?

  19. grim says:

    Seems that NJ’s democratic legislators have all but abandoned legalizing marijuana now that it’s clear that the governor may sign a bill. How’s it feel getting played by Murphy, seems he played everyone, now he only cares about his presidential campaign.

  20. Juice Box says:

    Have to also wonder if Bewkes will toss Zucker under the bus to get the AT&T + Time Warner merger deal approved. Bewkes last act was this merger but now it is stalled.

    Right now it is on Life Support in the courts.

    “The “Trump was involved” angle is being treated as a sideshow in court. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Richard Leon Feb. 21 put the brakes on AT&T’s request for DOJ documents that AT&T said might lead to evidence that the White House meddled in the merger review. AT&T made a big ask – for all the exchanges between the DOJ and the White House about the merger and all the email correspondence between the antitrust division and the White House about it. But Leon said the log of written exchanges that the DOJ has already surrendered “indicates that there were ‘no untoward’ communications between the White House and the antitrust division.”

    Judge Leon’s ruling that AT&T can’t access those documents effectively closes the door on AT&T’s argument that the DOJ is singling out its Time Warner merger for a punishment that it didn’t bestow on other deals, namely Comcast Corp.’s 2011 merger with NBCUniversal. AT&T can still raise the “You said they could, so why can’t we?” argument at the trial, but since it can’t look for any evidence that the DOJ was demonstrating favoritism, it’ll make for a short presentation.

    That leaves the core legal argument that AT&T and Time Warner must merge so they can compete with the likes of Big Tech. It should ring familiar to anyone following the recent spate of merger announcements. CVS Health Corp. and Aetna Inc. are trying to team up to compete with Amazon when it comes to prescription delivery. Albertsons Cos. Inc. and Rite Aid Corp. want to merge for the same reason. “

  21. Juice Box says:

    Grim in MOD, please release me.

  22. Yo! says:

    grim says:
    February 27, 2018 at 12:43 pm
    The biggest risk to suburban NJ home values is the journey to New York City jobs becomes unbearable, which will happen in 2019 if Amtrak carries out plans to ban NJ Transit from Amtrak’s tracks.

    Non-issue, the probability of them actually following through on this is near zero.

    Grim, agree the probability is low. Like the odds of a hurricane hitting or 100-year flood happening are low. If I worked in Manhattan and was looking to buy a house in the suburbs, I wouldn’t take a chance on a NJTransit train down until this Amtrak threat gets resolved.

    On the media, I find Bloomberg to be the best. Smart reporters, a presence across the states and the world, and and editing process that eliminates most of the bias. Like the WSJ, covers a narrow set of subjects though.

  23. No One says:

    NY Times once had some long form traditional journalism that was pretty good. Yes, it was usually pretty easy to detect the liberal journalism schooling in what information was provided and how issues were framed. But increasingly over the years the editorial slant started infecting everything including in the straight news. My subscription ran out several years ago, and I wasn’t willing to overlook the bad to pay for the good.
    Even the Economist magazine which I once thought of as classical liberal and mildly libertarian has clearly been taken over by center-left types, definitely no longer what they once were. Where are you going to find and hire young journalists not immersed in the groupthink? They probably couldn’t bear journalism school and would switch majors.

  24. Trentonymous says:

    No one cares about Russia. Old news?

    I would say the dozens of people under indictment and facing long prison sentences, including several high level officials in the Trump campaign would disagree.

    And what about those sanctions that were passed almost unanimously through Congress that Trump is refusing to enforce?

    Many more shoes to drop in the Russia investigation. Mueller is just getting warmed up.

  25. Trentonymous says:

    Kushner demoted to the kiddies table, where he belongs.

    Gonna be hard for him to negotiate middle east peace, run Asia policy and lead our relations with China without a security clearance.

    Sort of terrifying that four foreign adversaries were strategizing on how to take advantage of this light weight.

    Yeah, this is kind of why Nepotism laws are a thing.

    But but but Hillary’s emails! Benghazi! Fast and furious!

    Ha.

  26. You didn't build that says:

    The egalitarianism and welfarism of modern liberal government are incompatible with the facts of human nature and the human condition.

    But the rise to power of the liberal agenda has resulted from the fact that the people of western societies have irrationally demanded that governments take care of them and manage their lives instead of protecting their property rights.

    This misconception results in massive violations of those rights while permitting government officials to act out their own and their constituents’ psychopathology.

    The liberal agenda gratifies various types of pathological dependency; augments primitive feelings of envy and inferiority; reinforces paranoid perceptions of victimization; implements manic delusions of grandeur; exploits government authority for power, domination and revenge; and satisfies infantile claims to entitlement, indulgence and compensation.

  27. Trentonymous says:

    “Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/?utm_term=.359197357fd3

  28. grim says:

    Grim, agree the probability is low. Like the odds of a hurricane hitting or 100-year flood happening are low. If I worked in Manhattan and was looking to buy a house in the suburbs, I wouldn’t take a chance on a NJTransit train down until this Amtrak threat gets resolved.

    Absurd, the probability is not low, it’s zero. Think about this for two minutes. What idiotic public transport figurehead is going to risk his career and livelihood to become the most hated person in the US? For what? To enforce a feel good legislated safety rule with little track record of actually preventing accidents? Remember, actually preventing a crash is very different from a crash that happened with a train that had PTC. The converse doesn’t provide proof. There are rail systems all across the US that have no yet deployed PTC, despite the mandates to do so.

  29. Trentonymous says:

    Russia is certainly not old news to Don the Con.

    Trump attacks his own attorney general for not prosecuting the law enforcement officials who’ve been investigating his interactions with Russia

    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/968856971075051521

  30. grim says:

    Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner

    The entire purpose of the CIA is to privately discuss ways to manipulate foreign actors.

    This is news?

  31. Trentonymous says:

    “This is news?”

    The news is the light-weight in the White House who got his job because of his wife’s daddy, and is in charge of a sweeping foreign policy portfolio, has no foreign policy experience, has massive international business debts, and wide foreign business entanglements.

    We now find out he has lost the temporary security clearance he had been using for the past year. He has also lied dozens and dozens of times on his disclosures.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kushner-failed-to-disclose-dozens-of-financial-holdings-new-document-shows/2017/07/21/1a11a566-6e35-11e7-96ab-5f38140b38cc_story.html?utm_term=.399d0feaf586

    Any other administration this would cause congressional hearings and an investigation. Just another day in Trump’s world of nepotism, corruption and conflicts of interest.

  32. You didn't build that says:

    The modern liberal reveals his true character, including his madness, in what he values and devalues, in what he articulates with passion.

    Of special interest, however, are the many values about which the modern liberal mind is not passionate: his agenda does not insist that the individual is the ultimate economic, social and political unit; it does not idealize individual liberty and the structure of law and order essential to it; it does not defend the basic rights of property and contract; it does not aspire to ideals of authentic autonomy and mutuality; it does not preach an ethic of self-reliance and self-determination; it does not praise courage, forbearance or resilience; it does not celebrate the ethics of consent or the blessings of voluntary cooperation. It does not advocate moral rectitude or understand the critical role of morality in human relating.

    The liberal agenda does not comprehend an identity of competence, appreciate its importance, or analyze the developmental conditions and social institutions that promote its achievement. The liberal agenda does not understand or recognize personal sovereignty or impose strict limits on coercion by the state. It does not celebrate the genuine altruism of private charity. It does not learn history’s lessons on the evils of collectivism.

  33. Trentonymous says:

    The “modern liberal agenda” most certainly respects the “individual” by:

    – Allowing the individual to make decisions on birthing a child
    – Allow the individual to smoke pot if they choose
    – Ensure individuals have the right to vote
    – Allow individuals to have access to an open and free internet through net neutrality
    – Allow the individual to marry who they want
    – Ensure individual protection from police abuse and violence
    – Provide broad access to health care and education

    If we are talking about individual freedom, the modern liberal agenda seems pretty solidly favoring the individual over government control.

  34. D-FENS says:

    Liberals aren’t politically liberal anymore. Their actions and positions have resulted in the term meaning something completely different in the United States.

  35. JCer says:

    Modern liberal “progressive” policies at work in SF, no one can afford to live there and a bifurcated society of the wealthy and the impoverished. My hypothesis is progressive policies directly result in extreme income inequality. The rich never really pay taxes, those are for the little people and there aren’t enough rich to tax. The poor pay no taxes so the burden falls on the middle class, people on the lower end of the middle class give up and join the lower class as progressive policies value need more than work….. taxes continue to skyrocket putting pressure on working folks. The Progressive utopia consists of a small elite and a large population of street urchins……

  36. Not No One says:

    No One – Disagree with you here;

    The Economist and NY Times have not moved from where they always were.

    What has moved is the perception of what is what. 1978 to 2018, the country and most of the world has taken a hard right/pro corporatist/anti-individual turn. So we are no longer where we used to be.

    This hard right turn makes it believe that serving an Inc. entity is the all and be all of life. That having human decency and taking care of your fellow man is verboten. More importantly moron like these are the ones that lead to revolution happenings when they get into power and try the bs.

    Example, look at the rubbish below from other posters here regurgitating crazy old Rand,

    You didn’t build that says:
    February 28, 2018 at 10:20 am
    The egalitarianism and welfarism of modern liberal government are incompatible with the facts of human nature and the human condition.

    But the rise to power of the liberal agenda has resulted from the fact that the people of western societies have irrationally demanded that governments take care of them and manage their lives instead of protecting their property rights.

    This misconception results in massive violations of those rights while permitting government officials to act out their own and their constituents’ psychopathology.

  37. Not No One says:

    By the way,

    I love how property right is always on top. Give these f9*k3rs and inch and they have all of us back to slavery. We are already 1/3 of the way to serfdom.

  38. grim says:

    Liberal Agenda

    Killing kids with guns is bad

    Killing kids with a vacuum cleaner is good

    Conservative Agenda

    Killing kids with guns is good

    Killing kids with a vacuum cleaner is bad

    Get it yet?

  39. JCer says:

    Trenton:
    – Allowing the individual to make decisions on birthing a child
    * nobody is doing anything about this, it is pure political maneuvering
    – Allow the individual to smoke pot if they choose
    * could give two hoots, the law is stopping no one here
    – Ensure individuals have the right to vote
    * last time I checked there were no issues with votign for those who are legally allowed to vote, the dems want to expand it to illegal aliens, the dead, and convicts….might as well endorse gerrymandering districts
    – Allow individuals to have access to an open and free internet through net neutrality
    * largely a political issue, until we see the free market not able to handle it the gov can step in
    – Allow the individual to marry who they want
    * Again political issue all about retaining religious votes nobody gives a hoot and it isn’t changing anytime soon
    – Ensure individual protection from police abuse and violence
    * Very little police abuse statistically speaking, laws are here for this, armed criminals who resist arrest will be shot…GET OVER IT
    – Provide broad access to health care and education
    * Not seeing it democrats had control of the house, senate, WH and still gave us Obamacare…totally corrupt…they could have fixed healthcare but we got that piece of dreck

  40. Not No One says:

    By the Way,

    Property rights? Whose’ property? – Xi’s Chinese Communist Party has a point of view of what is their property; Taiwan, The Pacific, etc. Putin’s Russia has a point of view of their property – Eastern Europe. The Koch brothers’ have a view of their property – The GOP US Senate And House of Rep.

    Rand had a view of her property, she wanted a troll bridge and girls, but could not get away with a gaggle of teenage girls sex slaves in her time.

  41. Fast Eddie says:

    Revenge, entitlement and compensation are the compulsive desires of the liberal mentality. They’re envious, feel inferior, become manic in their blindness. It truly is a sickness.

  42. Not Fast Eddie says:

    Eddie;

    Revenge, entitlement and compensation are the compulsive desires of the – humans that get hurt by callous behavior. Callous behavior is the SOP of the the corporate state / property rights crowd. So you’ll eventually end up with some type of frequent violent events.

    BTW – From urban dictionary, regarding your question earlier;

    Bottom
    Someone who takes it up the a** in sex. A.K.A. Daniel James Howell

  43. Fast Eddie says:

    Bottom
    Someone who takes it up the a** in sex. A.K.A. Daniel James Howell

    I guess it’s no wonder that the angry, male liberals on this forum knew that term. I’m not knocking their lifestyle and it’s probably not the source of their anger. Or maybe it is, who knows. Denial perhaps? And, I have no idea who Daniel James Howell is but I suspect the liberal males here are familiar with this person.

  44. JCer says:

    Progressives have co-opted the word liberal. They are anything but, they are not open minded, they are ideological, they do not believe in freedom.

    I’m liberal. What I don’t like is the government forcing me to buy a product. What I don’t like is divisive thinking and so-called liberal education. It’s so simple it’s common sense, lets start with white guilt/privilege what have you. We should teach our children to respect everyone and their differences and that no person should ever be ashamed of the color of their skin, where they come from or the situation they were born in. That is outside of their control and does not make the person or determine their contribution to society and mankind. Everyone starts at zero it is their actions that determine the kind of person they are, we were making progress with this. The white privilege conversation and race based this and that are steps in the wrong direction.

    Illegal aliens…there needs to be respect for rule of law it is what divides functioning societies from anarchy. Selective law enforcement rather than changing laws to suit the current public mindset subverts the democratic process.

  45. Fast Eddie says:

    Revenge, entitlement and compensation are the compulsive desires of the – humans that get hurt by callous behavior.

    So, what you’re telling me is that they’re tired of being a “bottom” all the time?

  46. Not Fast Eddie says:

    Now you are getting Eddie!

    And with no lube, and not even a reach around like the old fashioned commies.
    They start to feel like the 10 year old boy that spent 30 second more with a catholic priest.

  47. JCer says:

    Not Fast Eddie, how did that work in Cuba? Progressives support some of the worst creatures ever born. I have a problem with Castro and Che Guevara, the Mandela’s, Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Hoxa, etc. These were murderous people who started with somewhat legitimate gripes about being taken advantage of and wound up making things far worse for their people.

    You’ll find liberal will not disavow these murderous types and will celebrate them. It’s a failed ideology it doesn’t work and only causes more suffering. The way forward is more balanced and cooperative less ideological.

  48. Hold my beer says:

    Fast Eddie,

    Maybe he is thurston Howell III and skippers illegitimate son.

  49. Trentonymous says:

    You want to talk about respect for the individual, how about an individual’s right to be free from unwanted pollution. What kind of individual freedom does one have if they can’t breathe or drink the water?

    I don’t see the GOP fighting for the individual on that, but protecting corporate interests.

    When it comes to individual freedom vs. the corporation or government, the GOP takes the corporate or government position almost every time, and that includes tax policy.

  50. grim says:

    What kind of individual freedom does one have if they can’t breathe or drink the water?

    You mean like agreeing to the Paris Accord that gives countries like China and India a giant pass on controlling pollution?

    Hey, it makes you feel good though, and that’s all that matters.

  51. JCer says:

    Trenonymous you truly are a simpleton.

    The false GOP/Dem paradigm is a farce, it is different corporate interests and it is about power and money first and foremost. Make no mistake it is a war between a party wanting no regulation and another wanting excessive regulation that benefits it’s backers and the expense of living standards and economic growth.

    Politicians are almost universally bad, narcissists, by supporting one side version the other you are falling prey, the answer is not allowing one party to control the end result is bad no matter how you look at it.

  52. Not Fast Eddie says:

    JCer,

    Look up your Cuba history before you start – but it goes something like this.

    – Had Batista not had a 2nd coup d’etat in 1942 – Castro would not have arisen.
    – Had Batista not had a 1st coup d’etat in 1932 – President Machado closer to Lousiana Huey Long than to FDR would have run the country. Possibly being more compassionate and not fascist (Spain had a heavy Franco fascist influence in Cuba in the WW2 years) would have accepted the german ship full of 900+ jews the St.Louis in 1942 and Cuba would be Ricky Ricardo with an oy vey.
    – Had big US agricultural interest – not brought to Cuba Jim Crow rules and US given independence not be restrained by Platt Amendment (No foreign policy or debt without US approval) Machado would not have been elected.

    You see JCrs. Antagonize people, and people will try to stick it to you. Is human nature.

  53. Trentonymous says:

    I am not referring to climate change, just your run of the mill Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, and you know the existence of the EPA generally.

    These sorts of things that protect the individual’s right to clean air and water.

    Is that just excessive liberal regulation?

  54. Libturd says:

    “When it comes to individual freedom vs. the corporation or government, the GOP takes the corporate or government position almost every time, and that includes tax policy.”

    How about those Swiss Bank accounts Hillary was paid handsomely to hide?

    Both parties are exactly the same. Don’t make me put up the picture of Donald and Hillary hugging again.

  55. grim says:

    Now this is news, but will get no play on CNN this evening…

    Illustrating how government hides information from the American public, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch used a fake name to conduct official Department of Justice (DOJ) business in agency emails obtained by Judicial Watch. As the nation’s chief law enforcement officer Lynch, Barack Obama’s second attorney general, skirted public-records laws by using the alias Elizabeth Carlisle in emails she sent from her official DOJ account. In the records provided to Judicial Watch, the DOJ explains it as necessary to “protect her security and privacy and enable her to conduct Department business efficiently via email.”

  56. D-FENS says:

    Oral arguments heard in this case

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/briankmiller/2018/02/27/what-happened-at-the-supreme-court-arguments-in-janus-v-afscme/#2655ad4c2bca

    Significant… as the NJEA is the single most influential organazation in NJ politics today.

    Looks like it may go down in a 5 – 4 decision.

  57. Mike S says:

    Sounds like the Libertarian Agenda from the 1970s… Democrats a bit late to the party.

    Let’s not ignore the FISCAL side of this conversation.

    – Allowing the individual to make decisions on birthing a child
    – Allow the individual to smoke pot if they choose
    – Ensure individuals have the right to vote
    – Allow individuals to have access to an open and free internet through net neutrality
    – Allow the individual to marry who they want

  58. Mike S says:

    In principal the libertarian party makes so much sense – too bad there are extreme wackos, and they are not D or R and will never gain the right traction.

    Individual Freedom, Fiscal Responsibility.

  59. D-FENS says:

    Libertarians would not tolerate gun control

  60. Libturd says:

    Speaking of Murphy, word is that he attended the most recent Montclair BOE meeting. What a Dem Dork. Bend over NJ.

  61. D-FENS says:

    I agree with libertarians…but part ways with them on their stance on securing borders and the environment.

  62. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Libertarians are completely irrational when it comes to international trade. They are blind to the fact that the free trade with countries that suppress the standard of living of their workers doesn’t work out.

  63. Libturd says:

    I think at different times one might need to change their positions. In economic duress, you might give up some clean air regulations for example. This one position fits all is pretty annoying to me. I’ll always vote for the least owned candidate, nearly regardless of their policy positions.

  64. No One says:

    BRT,
    I think you’re a smart guy. But I think you overestimate the benefits of free trade and overestimate how much US imports are from manipulated “dumping” foreigners. I think Trump’s corporate tax cut and stated intent to reduce red tape could provide more long term net benefit than higher tariffs would (which I think would provide a net drag on overall well being).

    Brazil has some of the highest tariffs and non-tariff barriers around, and their economy sucks, their manufacturing sector inhabited by high-cost operations that are only competitive locally, and charge much higher prices to consumers as a consequence.

    I do agree that there are countries who do subsidize some of their industries, and who put high tariffs on imports. China definitely does that, and I think they are getting the benefits of WTO without being anywhere near as free on trade as they should be. So I don’t mind if the US (and Trump) starts taking a harder line to get them to do the reforms they should have done years ago, not just for the benefit of the US but also for the Chinese consumer.

    Here’s a good essay on free trade generally.
    https://mises.org/wire/who%E2%80%99s-protected-tariffs

  65. JCer says:

    Not Fast Eddie, you need to study history because regardless of the cause. Lets just face it since independence from Spain Cuba was an unstable country with meddling from US business interests. Doesn’t change the fact that Fidel was a bad man who killed many and was repressive. It also doesn’t change the fact that Cubans starved as a result of ineffective government policies or the fact that the economic situation despite high poverty and inequality before the communists took over was worse after the communist take over. Economically it was a disaster for all Cubans not in government leadership. So I guess in that respect it worked everyone but the government elite lived in poverty, sounds like the progressive plan for California. One cannot defend Castro no matter the reasoning neither on a results basis nor on the basis of his behavior towards the Cuban people.

  66. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    My position on free trade is that it only works when the workers of each country have a similar standard of living. You cannot have free trade work with nations employing people that earn an order of magnitude less than minimum wage.

  67. joyce says:

    No One,

    Big favor of Hazlitt and I assume your first use of the word overestimate was meant to be underestimate… correct?

    I, and I believe BRT, are against the Free Trade Agreements that have been implemented because they are not ‘free’ insofar as the “equalness” between the countries … nor the relative economic freedom between the individuals within each country (his example of an authoritarian country keeping its people down).

    From your link:
    “They are, in fact, eventually forced to buy more from us if their dollar balances are not to remain perpetually unused.“ <- China has done this on purpose completely violating the trade agreements language and spirit.

  68. joyce says:

    big fan* of Hazlitt

  69. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I’m sorry, hardcore conservatives are just greedy people. They only care about the “individual” because they only care about themselves. They can never envision a society in which people help each other as opposed to compete with each other. Conservatives position on pollution is straight up selfish and disgusting. Anything to increase profit, right, even if it’s in a dirty way. As long as you are making money, who cares!! Gotta love their mindset, going to destroy this world if it has not already.

    Put it this way, we have enough food and resources to eliminate poverty, but conservatives just can’t handle that thought. They instead want people to work for it when there is clearly not enough work to go around because people must profit and become billionaires.

    Thank you to all the conservatives for damning this planet to hell.

  70. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I love how conservatives attack drugs in order to “help” people, but then they pollute the water they drink, the air they breath, and the food they eat. They then take the position of saving lives by being against abortions. Can you say insane? Can you conservatives make up your damn mind.

  71. D-FENS says:

    Looks like someone invented a bump fire device for Glocks

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=34&v=uCU1IyQKIDY

  72. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Until Lawrence O’Donnell come on. He has Trump Derangement Syndrome even worse than Rachel Maddow.

    MSNBC seems a slightly toned down version of CNN now.

  73. Independent says:

    All the partisan back and fourth…

    You people are all bright, any of you sensing we are all in the same pot of water and the temperature is rising and nobody is aware of it? Ed Meese has a piece in todays WSJ (link below). The level of vitriol is like I have never seen and it has me concerned that at some point, it snaps and gets very ugly.

    Would be nice to see leadership talk about a few key concerns with a chart or two of info to explain what the solution(s) are and why one was selected. Then the populace might have more substantive discussions and disagreements but the $hit going on now just reeks of the general dumbing down of society.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-can-help-overcome-identity-politics-1519772254

  74. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    What I’d like to see even more than a truly unbiased TV news outlet: Some channel that does national news and politics, but is based in Kansas or Tennessee or some such place, with every commentator and guest being flyover coming from that area.

  75. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Ugly will come when the Dems get slaughtered in the midterms. Of course all of the ugly will be in NYC, DC, LA, and Chicago where they will destroy the property of everyone who already voted Democrat. Interestingly, I don’t see or sense much unrest in very blue Boston where I live.

    The level of vitriol is like I have never seen and it has me concerned that at some point, it snaps and gets very ugly.

  76. Independent Tooo says:

    Independent. I hear you. But what if what we are experiencing is not a “bug” but a “feature”.

    Murdoch’s Fox – Making a killing as conservative media.
    CNN/MSNBC – Making a killing as liberal media.
    Google/Facebook – Making a killing as online media.
    Add Russia and Chinese foreign manipulation of that media by buying/creating ads.
    What do you get?

    The answer, were the laws that the Boomers Locust (Clinton) was so keen on removing that prevented media market concentration across platforms. They were put in place to control the last generation of media tyrants (Pulitzer/Hearst)

    Independent says:
    February 28, 2018 at 2:00 pm
    All the partisan back and fourth…

    You people are all bright, any of you sensing we are all in the same pot of water and the temperature is rising and nobody is aware of it? Ed Meese has a piece in todays WSJ (link below). The level of vitriol is like I have never seen and it has me concerned that at some point, it snaps and gets very ugly.

  77. Very Stable Genius says:

    @paulkrugman

    Personally, I do not believe that Donald Trump would have run into that high school to stop the shooter. I believe he would have taken a golf cart

  78. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I’m with old guard. You have to be insane to think new housing will be created for the poor. Comes back to capitalism my friends….the reason there is a housing shortage for entry level housing is because it’s simply not profitable to build. Until people ignore profit, the poor will never ever get new cheap housing….what a pipe dream under current economics.

    Hey, but let’s blame laws for the lack of “cheap housing” in desirable areas, not capitalism fueled market dynamics. Really can’t make this stuff up.

    NJGator says:
    February 28, 2018 at 3:54 pm
    California’s housing crunch has turned liberals against one another

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-s-housing-crunch-has-turned-liberals-against-one-another-n851401

  79. Very Stable Genius says:

    @TheRickWilson

    Welcome to the fun new game show we call “Everything Trump Touches Dies!”

    You’ll be competing for fabulous prizes like public humiliation, career destruction, sky high legal bills, and future unemployment!

    HOPE HICKS! COME ON DOWN!

  80. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Let’s just build more housing in highly desirable locations, within walking distance to high paying jobs, and this will solve affordable housing problems. Just like that, folks, the price will somehow drop and allow for poor people to live in these locations.

  81. No One says:

    Gator,
    That story is funny. Is this what Montclair is like also? A bunch of lefty people highly educated in crap majors trying to maintain their position as holier-than-the-next. I like the story of the guy who keeps collecting history and poly-sci majors and thinks that should have entitled him to live in Berkeley. Who butts heads with an old-fashioned hard-left witch, both using the ultimate put-down of each other by calling the other “white”.

  82. Juice Box says:

    Sure build more high-density low-income housing Workforce housing AKA projects we all know how that worked out in places like New York City.

  83. The Great Pumpkin says:

    And if you oversupply the market to the point it drops the price and makes real estate worthless….how are you going to get people actually buy the product? Oh sure, let me take out a 15 or 30 year loan on a product that will be falling in value. Better yet, buy it in cash and watch your money fly out the window.

    Does anyone that comes up with this idea of building more housing to help the poor actually think?

    These idea just don’t work under capitalism. We are based on a rich and poor model of economics plain and simple.

  84. grim says:

    White House makes more sense if you think about is as a reality tv show called “The Cabinet”, where the various cabinet position holders are voted on and off the show. On this week’s episode, Kushner nearly got thrown off, but got a last minute lifeline. Hope didn’t get a rose from Donald and left the show.

  85. Hold my beer says:

    With hope out, who will the neo cons fap too?

  86. Bloomberg News says:

    Why did the News 12 guy just say 16 inches of snow for this storm….:(

  87. Not PumpkinVomit says:

    Actually the cradle of authoritarian crony capitalism masquerading as a heaven for capitalism – Singapore. Over 80% of housing is government owned housing – set up in such ways to not benefit any particular ethnic group – The reason for the present set up was the original housing plans create inter-ethnic fights.

  88. Fabius Maximus says:

    Wow what a day.

    Hope Hick sinks ships. She’s gone as the stalling in yesterdays questioning, shows that shes probably flipped and needs to work on her plea deal. Who is next up?

    D1cks pulling AR-15 and high capacity, Wallmart following. IF gvmt won’t do anything, the market will. What a beautiful thing.

    And Donnie throwing the 2nd amenders under the bus. Grab them by the Gl0cks and leave the Due Process untill later. A lot of people in the red states are going to be very confused tonight.

  89. Grim says:

    Dicks was opportunistic and won’t hurt them.

    Walmart risks angering its customer base.

  90. Fabius Maximus says:

    Walmart angry customer base don’t exactly have a lot of alternatives to take their business elsewhere. They can be angry all they want, but they will still drop their paycheck in the till.

    Best tweet I saw today.
    “Thoughts and prayers to the NRA executives who spent $21 million to get this guy elected president.”

  91. joyce says:

    “IF gvmt won’t do anything, the market will. What a beautiful thing.”

    Are we going to hear more or less from you about ‘self-regulation’ now? You always confused it with market regulation … so I was curious.

  92. Fabius Maximus says:

    Joyce,

    I am all for self-regulation. But what I have found is that companies and industries have a hard time doing it.

    My view has always been that if an industry or company will not self-regulate, then it is the gvmts job to step up and regulate for them. In this case, industry and the gvmt are failing and if the market wants to step up, I’m all for it.

  93. Fabius Maximus says:

    Just keeps getting better!

    ALERT!
    1. White House has canceled ALL BRIEFINGS.
    2. White House has canceled ALL MEETINGS.
    3. All executive staff were called to the Oval Office today.
    https://twitter.com/PaladinCornelia/status/969058116934381568

  94. Fabius Maximus says:

    Meanwhile back in Real Estate.

    Five beedrooms must be too small when you have 14 kids.
    Maybe Clot can find him some new digs.

    http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/02/antonio_cromartie_nfl_jets_selling_kinnelon_mansio.html

  95. joyce says:

    Still confused I see.

  96. Juice Box says:

    Mr.Magoo lol

  97. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    New housing is actually springing up all over San Francisco.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/target-locks-up-tents-in-san-francisco-store-2018-2

    Gator,
    That story is funny. Is this what Montclair is like also? A bunch of lefty people highly educated in crap majors trying to maintain their position as holier-than-the-next. I like the story of the guy who keeps collecting history and poly-sci majors and thinks that should have entitled him to live in Berkeley. Who butts heads with an old-fashioned hard-left witch, both using the ultimate put-down of each other by calling the other “white”.

  98. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    literally…springing up.

  99. Ex-Jersey says:

    I hear these guys are pretty good: http://lofisounds.com

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