Down payments fall, more buying with less

From HousingWire:

RealtyTrac: Average down payment falls to three-year low

The average down payment for single-family homes, condos and townhomes purchased in the first quarter fell to 14.8% of the purchase price, a slight dip from 15.2% the previous quarter and 15.5% a year ago, RealtyTrac’s first quarter 2015 Home Purchase Down Payment Report said.

This is the lowest level since the first quarter of 2012.

Translated into dollars, the average down payment was $57,710 in the first quarter, up marginally from $57,618 the previous quarter and down from $57,992 the first quarter of 2014.

“Down payment trends in the first quarter indicate that first time homebuyers are finally starting to come out of the woodwork, albeit it gradually,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

“New low down payment loan programs recently introduced by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the lower insurance premiums for FHA loans that took effect at the end of January are helping, given that first time homebuyers typically aren’t able to pony up large down payments,” he continued.

At the end of last year, both government-sponsored enterprises announced their individual 97% loan-to-value products, in the government’s latest attempt to expand the credit box for first-time homeowners.

Additionally, the share of low down payment loans — defined in the report as purchase loans with a loan-to-value ratio of 97% or higher, which would mean a down payment of 3% or lower — was 27% of all purchase loans in the first quarter, up from 26% in the fourth quarter and 26% a year ago. This marks the highest share since second quarter 2013.

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

138 Responses to Down payments fall, more buying with less

  1. grim says:

    From 24/7 Wall St:

    America’s Most (and Least) Valuable States

    A recent study estimates that the combined value of all land in the contiguous United States is worth nearly $23 trillion. The most valuable state, according to the survey, is California, which accounted for 17% of the total value of the 48 bordering states. New Jersey, however, had the most valuable real estate relative to its size, estimated at $196,400 per acre, or 16 times the average value per acre across the contiguous U.S.

    The study, authored by William Larson, senior economist at the Federal Housing Finance Agency and previously at the Bureau of Economic Analysis, estimated the value of different property types, including agricultural areas, federal land, and developed suburban and urban areas.

    New Jersey had the most valuable land in the country, valued at an estimated $196,410 per acre. The state as a whole was worth $930 billion, fifth highest nationwide. Developed land is far more valuable than non-developed land. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that New Jersey is one of the most developed states in the country. Nearly 31% of New Jersey’s land was classified as developed, the second highest percentage in the country.

  2. grim says:

    Snicker…

    From the Philly Business Journal:

    Revel’s chief engineer resigns, new owner open to selling property

    The chief engineer for the former Revel casino resigned Tuesday, a day after its new owner said he was open to selling the property if the right opportunity and price presented itself.

    John Lezenby, executive director of facilities and engineering at Revel Entertainment, stepped down Tuesday, saying he was ‘Revel’d out,’ according to the Press of Atlantic City. He had been an employee at the troubled property since day one.

    “It wasn’t fun babysitting an empty building,” Lezenby told the paper. “I want to be in a building that has customers.”

    Straub said Monday a night club could open as early as next month and tribal operators are interested in running the casino, plus he’s considering offers from international parties who want to buy the property, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

  3. grim says:

    Repost from Yesterday, from Bloomberg:

    Bank of America: U.S. Home Prices Set for a Fall in 2017

    Americans will face falling home prices in a matter of years as personal income gains fail to keep pace with the recovery from the financial crisis, according to a Bank of America Corp. analyst.

    Chris Flanagan predicted in a report Monday that starting in 2017 the U.S. housing market will experience three straight years of “modest” declines in property values.
    Flanagan’s projection offers a substantial divergence from most forecasts, as he acknowledges. The marjority of market observers expect to see continued home price appreciation, though at a slower pace than the surges of recent years.

    Housing prices have jumped 25 percent from their trough in 2011, which followed their worst slump since the Great Depression. They now sit just 7.6 percent below their 2007 peak, according to S&P/Case-Shiller index data.

    Providing fuel to Flanagan’s call is the size of the recent gains in housing prices amid a job market in which unemployment has declined but worker pay has barely improved.

    “We do not see income growing fast enough to keep up with the past few years of rapid increases in home prices,” he wrote.

    Flanagan, who in 2007 offered prescient warnings over the “very bleak” conditions in the subprime mortgage market, said that the downward path of prices would depress housing activity, the economy, and interest rates.

    His forecast calls for home values to rise 3.7 percent this year and 0.8 percent next year, before declining 1.7 percent in 2017, 2.1 percent in 2018 and 0.8 percent in 2019.

  4. anon (the good one) says:

    this type of prediction and $4.95 buy a latte in Starbucks

    grim says:
    June 4, 2015 at 6:36 am
    Repost from Yesterday, from Bloomberg:

    Bank of America: U.S. Home Prices Set for a Fall in 2017

  5. Grim says:

    He is entirely wrong.

  6. anon (the good one) says:

    lucky for him, he gets a bonus either way

    Grim says:
    June 4, 2015 at 7:06 am

    He is entirely wrong.

  7. anon (the good one) says:

    solution here should be non partisan, but extreme right wingers are obligated to only consider extreme right wing measures. we all get fukced

    @RealDLHughley:
    Disney lays off workers, but let’s them stay longer if they train the ppl who’ll replace them from India! Damn! I guess it is a small world

    “While families rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and searched for Nemo on clamobiles in the theme parks, these workers monitored computers in industrial buildings nearby, making sure millions of Walt Disney World ticket sales, store purchases and hotel reservations went through without a hitch. Some were performing so well that they thought they had been called in for bonuses.

    Instead, about 250 Disney employees were told in late October that they would be laid off. Many of their jobs were transferred to immigrants on temporary visas for highly skilled technical workers, who were brought in by an outsourcing firm based in India. Over the next three months, some Disney employees were required to train their replacements to do the jobs they had lost.

    “I just couldn’t believe they could fly people in to sit at our desks and take over our jobs exactly,” said one former worker, an American in his 40s who remains unemployed since his last day at Disney on Jan. 30. “It was so humiliating to train somebody else to take over your job. I still can’t grasp it.”

  8. I’m shocked the number is as high as 14.8%.
    Do the all cash sales count as 100% down payment to bring the number up?
    Does a 2nd mortgage for 10% to bring the first up to 20% down count as a 20% down payment?

  9. [8] Also rolling over equity into a new home would bring the number up, I guess, especially if rolling over into smaller home.

  10. Juice Box says:

    Re: #2 – A building without a casino licence is just a building. No way the crowd that runs New Jersey will approve Straub for a licence. Exit stage left for Straub his act is about over.

  11. Juice Box says:

    Re: #2 – A building without a cas*ino licence is just a building. No way the crowd that runs New Jersey will approve Straub for a licence. Exit stage left for Straub his act is about over.

  12. D-FENS says:

    Isn’t Revel the first or second tallest building in NJ? It’s a monument to how fcuked up this state is.

    Grim, after you posted the quote of the current owner who is sick of NJ….I read an article about Revel that described how the city came and fined them thousands of dollars a day for not having the fire suppression working in the building, so he brought in generators to power it and make the building safe. Then the DEP came and fined him thousands of dollars/day for emissions violations.

  13. D-FENS says:

    Rent….it’s the government’s fault.

    Rent…the government should fix it.

    Rent is spiraling out of control, thanks to Christie’s neglect | Editorial
    http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/06/high_rents_and_christies_neglect_editorial.html#incart_river

    Minimum wage blah blah blah. More affordable housing…blah blah blah.

  14. NJT says:

    #7

    “Disney lays off workers, but let’s them stay longer if they train the ppl who’ll replace them from India! Damn! I guess it is a small world”

    It’s been happening everywhere in every corporate setting. Best bet for Native born Americans in the future is skilled self-employment or, being a landlord to these imports. :).

    If you think your office, technical or professional job can’t or won’t be outsourced…think again and prepare for the day it will be.

  15. nwnj says:

    #7

    Try for a minute to muster an original thought instead of regurgitating something from twitter. It’s your hero’s vision to flood the nation with third worlders and change America. I wouldn’t call him an extreme right winger.

  16. anon (the good one) says:

    wha?
    my point is that this is going badly, very badly. am against it!
    Americans unemployed and foreigners making minimum wage. it’s a lose lose situation.
    and people like you are part of the problem

    nwnj says:
    June 4, 2015 at 8:04 am
    #7

    Try for a minute to muster an original thought instead of regurgitating something from twitter. It’s your hero’s vision to flood the nation with third worlders and change America. I wouldn’t call him an extreme right winger.

  17. grim says:

    Best bet for Native born Americans in the future is skilled self-employment or, being a landlord to these imports. :).

    Smiley face detracts from the dead seriousness of this comment.

  18. nwnj says:

    #15

    Yeah right, you cheerlead as garbage spills over the border daily. The third world hoards are future party members if your leaders have their way.

    The people hopping the fence are no different than the H1Bs from an economic perspective, they are just undercutting a different segment of the workforce. You’re too dense to recognize it.

  19. nwnj says:

    hordes

  20. D-FENS says:

    NAACP REFUSES TO HELP ASPIRING BLACK COP FIGHT LEGALLY-OWNED FIREARM FELONY

    Breitbart News previously reported that Steffon Josey-Davis, a young black man aspiring to be a cop in New Jersey, was pulled over for a routine traffic violation in 2013 and thereafter charged with a second-degree felony for a having a legally owned gun in his glove compartment.

    Davis told the policeman the gun was in the compartment when he was pulled over, and the officer took the gun without any mention of charges. Davis was an armed guard for Loomis at the time. Yet because the gun was still loaded in the glove compartment, he was later given the option of five to 10 years in prison or a plea deal for a second degree felony.

    He took the plea deal, which destroyed his dreams of being a police officer.

    Fast forward to 2015. Upon advice from others Davis reached out the NAACP for help, hoping to get the felony expunged from his record so he can put his life back together again.

    But the NAACP was not interested in helping.

    Davis told Fox News, “I went to the NAACP but they refused to help me. They say ‘black lives matter,’ but obviously they…[all] don’t because I didn’t fit their agenda.”

    Fox News’ Steve Ducey asked, “What do you mean by ‘didn’t fit their agenda’?”

    Davis responded, “Basically, like, I’m not getting shot by a police officer so they’re not going to come out and defend me.”

    Davis added: “I’m out here doing better for myself, and trying to provide for my family, and my life matters too.”

    Ducey pointed out that Davis’ “last line” — his last chance — for changing things now is a direct appeal to Gov. Chris Christie (R) for pardon. Davis said he is already in the process of seeking that pardon and has a GoFundMe campaign opened to fund those efforts.

  21. Fast Eddie says:

    “New low down payment loan programs recently introduced by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the lower insurance premiums for FHA loans that took effect at the end of January are helping, given that first time homebuyers typically aren’t able to pony up large down payments,” he continued.

    LMAO!

  22. D-FENS says:

    Meet the New Generation of Robots for Manufacturing
    They are nimbler, lighter and work better with humans. They might even help bring manufacturing back to the U.S.

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/meet-the-new-generation-of-robots-for-manufacturing-1433300884

    A new generation of robots is on the way—smarter, more mobile, more collaborative and more adaptable. They promise to bring major changes to the factory floor, as well as potentially to the global competitive landscape.

    Robots deployed in manufacturing today tend to be large, dangerous to anyone who strays too close to their whirling arms, and limited to one task, like welding, painting or hoisting heavy parts.

    The latest models entering factories and being developed in labs are a different breed. They can work alongside humans without endangering them and help assemble all sorts of objects, as large as aircraft engines and as small and delicate as smartphones. Soon, some should be easy enough to program and deploy that they no longer will need expert overseers.

    That will change not only the way an increasing number of products are made. It could also mean an upheaval in the competition between companies and nations. As robots become less costly and more accessible, they should help smaller manufacturers go toe to toe with giants. By reducing labor costs, they also may allow the U.S. and other high-wage countries to get back into some of the processes that have been ceded to China, Mexico and other countries with vast armies of lower-paid workers.

    Some of the latest robots are designed specifically for the tricky job of assembling consumer-electronics items, now mostly done by hand in Asia. At least one company promises its robots eventually will be sewing garments in the U.S., taking over one of the ultimate sweatshop tasks.

  23. Fast Eddie says:

    At the end of last year, both government-sponsored enterprises announced their individual 97% loan-to-value products, in the government’s latest attempt to expand the credit box for first-time homeowners.

    LMAO!

  24. Fast Eddie says:

    Providing fuel to Flanagan’s call is the size of the recent gains in housing prices amid a job market in which unemployment has declined but worker pay has barely improved.

    Why claim otherwise? What happens when rates rise? Why haven’t they risen? Dual incomes are at the breaking point, are they not? Why would businesses increase the burden of salary volume when they are stockpiling profit now?

  25. Ragnar says:

    Labor has always had a market. People should try to offer the most value to an employer relative to their costs.

    In the past, there were much greater inefficiencies, what economists would call “frictional costs” to replacing/exchanging laborers. And long ago there was only a local labor market, barely even a national labor market. Now technology and less costly transportation allows for a more global labor market. This should be music to the ears of the old left who used to complain about first world/ third world income inequalities, which actually started narrowing when third world countries started opening up to some capitalism.

    Ideally, when thinking of a career and its development, one should think of one’s global competitive advantage, within a global economy.

  26. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    Wow, Fisher doesn’t mince words when it comes to the executive and legislative branches. And his intonation says it all.

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/102732511

  27. leftwing says:

    ““We do not see income growing fast enough to keep up with the past few years of rapid increases in home prices,” he wrote.”

    Doesn’t matter, when LTV is moving back to 97%.

  28. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    [21] D-FENS

    It is an interesting article but the net positive for job growth in the US from “work” being on-shored is not going to solve our joblessness problem. And while the preference is for “work” of any stripe to be done here, what’s to say that the 3rd world competitors don’t conform to permit automation of the factories overseas? All robotics and automation does is to reduce the labor cost, and while I get that this removes a big disincentive from producing in the US (and coincidentally reduces transportation costs), it doesn’t eliminate them all, notably location costs or taxes.

    I think it buys time but doesn’t solve the problem of underemployment and technological displacement.

  29. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    Nothing to see here, move along. The financial market is ever evolving for sure with new players filling voids that appear. Continued improvements in automating underwriting, use of electronic appraisals, e-signatures all lend to getting a mortgage all online and not having to meet with a loan officer.

    Shadow Banking Now Dominates The Mortgage Market, Edging Out Wall Street Giants

    Ever since subprime mortgages helped torpedo the American financial system, a quiet revolution has taken place in the home loan industry. The handful of large banks that once dominated the field have steadily retreated from making mortgages, ceding their market share to so-called shadow banks, less tightly regulated lenders that hold no deposits on their books — and the trend has lawmakers and regulators worried.
    Now, for the first time, shadow banks capture the lion’s share of new government-backed mortgage origination. In April, lenders like loanDepot.com and mortgage stalwart Quicken Loans issued 53 percent of new home loans, edging out traditional banks and credit unions.

    The share of government-insured mortgages coming from these companies has more than tripled since 2010, according to data from the conservative American Enterprise Institute. (Around 80 percent of home financing is now backed by some form of government insurance.)

    http://www.ibtimes.com/shadow-banking-now-dominates-mortgage-market-edging-out-wall-street-giants-1948660

    —————

    I haven’t read this whitepaper yet, but here is the study on Non-Banks

    What’s Behind the Non-Bank Mortgage Boom?

    http://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/publications/awp/awp42

  30. joyce says:

    Yes, some have. But some other prominent countries are still CAC / mercantilistic / totalitarian. Businesses that offshore part of their operations purely to evade laws of one country and take advantage of other countries’ people that are actual or effective slave labor and/or no property right protections… that can’t be squared with capitalism.

    ^^^(pretty awful run-on sentence, but you get my point)

    Ragnar says:
    June 4, 2015 at 9:21 am

    … when third world countries started opening up to some capitalism.

  31. D-FENS says:

    You could still earn income by investing in equities of the firm or buying their bonds.

    Plus it is still a positive trend for the US and our GDP.

    I never said it would add “manufacturing jobs” to the US but human beings would still have to build and maintain the factories and install and maintain the robotic systems. A lot of high schools in NJ have robotics programs…which I’m happy to see. The local paper reports on the competitions they have in the state and around the country.

    Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:
    June 4, 2015 at 9:30 am
    [21] D-FENS

    It is an interesting article but the net positive for job growth in the US from “work” being on-shored is not going to solve our joblessness problem. And while the preference is for “work” of any stripe to be done here, what’s to say that the 3rd world competitors don’t conform to permit automation of the factories overseas? All robotics and automation does is to reduce the labor cost, and while I get that this removes a big disincentive from producing in the US (and coincidentally reduces transportation costs), it doesn’t eliminate them all, notably location costs or taxes.

    I think it buys time but doesn’t solve the problem of underemployment and technological displacement.

  32. Libturd in Union says:

    FKA,

    I have done 6 loans through a shadow bank named Mortgage Master. The reason they are prospering (IMO) is because they 1) offer better rates than the big banks 2) finagle better than the banks (creative options) 3) offer incentives that the banks don’t (Premium tickets to NJ Devil’s games) 4) they offer a cheap in house lawyer too 5) they don’t keep you waiting for hours behind grandma who is setting up her Christmas Club Savings account.

  33. joyce says:

    He’s right they didn’t help; I just wish he was also right as to why.

    Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:
    June 4, 2015 at 9:23 am
    Wow, Fisher doesn’t mince words when it comes to the executive and legislative branches. And his intonation says it all.

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/102732511

  34. JJ says:

    I started for fun when I see new overpriced listings and crap houses I use MLS to contact realtor under a fake name of course to tell them what a piece of crap their house is. I figure they should not just get positive feedback.

  35. Libturd in Union says:

    My company used to have an office in Woburn. I know the town well. Really, it’s a town that sprung up around a highway exit.

  36. Libturd in Union says:

    JJ,

    Ask the realtor how one manicures a lawn? Where are the nails?

  37. Juice Box says:

    Lol…Wikileaks crowdfunds $100,000 bounty for full text of Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty.

  38. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    In the same vein of outsourcing and automation, was thinking about the Terminator becoming your real estate agent, appraiser, loan officer, a mortgage close and although that will be a while before it happens, what will be the impact on our kids.

    I was joking about the Terminator but at some point there will be a need for engineers to build robots and software coders who have to program them. These robots can in theory replace some jobs (real estate agents…already do manufacturing, seeing it in retail with only a kiosks) with some good programming. Can you imagine speaking to a RE Robot and have readily available if you asked: past yearly tax, any renovations filed with the local govt (if any); show the house compared to filing to display any off the book renov, crime (any domestic disturbances, chex offenders), show me the best routes to get to work from the house, history of school performance and list of private schools, the possibilities are endless.

    Either way, the software coders will need to really know the market and have a great business understanding in order to properly make this useable. I think kids should get involved in coding early on because following in Mom and Dad’s footsteps in Real Estate, Accounting, Finance, etc may not be a viable option but writing the code for the robots that will take it over, will be there for the taking.

    I slept at a Holiday Inn last night and it’s true, you do feel brighter…lol

  39. Juice Box says:

    re # 38 – re: “Either way, the software coders will need to really know the market and have a great business understanding in order to properly make this useable.”

    There is a shortage of COBOL programmers.

  40. anon (the good one) says:

    NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

    I’m not a machine!

    I won’t starve to death while Paulson “donates” $400 million to Harvard

    Ragnar says:
    June 4, 2015 at 9:21 am

    Labor has always had a market. People should try to offer the most value to an employer relative to

  41. anon (the good one) says:

    @Gladwell:
    It came down to helping the poor or giving the world’s richest university $400 mil it doesn’t need. Wise choice John!

  42. Libturd in Union says:

    Maybe Paulson wants to get something from his donation?

  43. Libturd in Union says:

    Well, besides a tax break. :P

  44. Libturd in Union says:

    “Gladwell is no stranger to conversations about social science and the way people interact with the world around them, and has been lauded as one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. He also has a number of critics who accuse him of oversimplification of ideas — which may be how some people view his tweets.”

  45. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    [38] Juice

    Cobol…wow haven’t heard that in a long time. I remember learning Pascal too on an Apple IIe. Or maybe it was a Commodore 64. Never cared it any further than a few classes…but that helped with doing some vba coding in MS Excel and Access.

  46. Juice Box says:

    re# 45 – Where do you bank? You think don’t think they are using Java or C# do you?

    Example.

    “BNY Mellon runs nine IBM System z10s that supply a total of 54,000 MIPS of compute power and handle $1.5 trillion in transaction processing workloads each day.
    Cobol codebase that powers those systems has grown from 343 million lines two years ago to 357 million lines today, adding 2,500 new programs along the way.”

  47. NJT says:

    #16 – Grim

    A lot is lost with pure text communication. The smiley wasn’t meant to be humorous.

  48. Juice Box says:

    re # 4 7 – Granted those 357 million lines of code could probobaly be reduced 90% or more using modern programming but who the heck wants to take on that challenge?

    We need robots to do the programming too.

  49. Ragnar says:

    I did a half semester class in Cobol programming in 1989, and even then it was considered really old. I guess it works for the stuff people need it to do.
    The only programming I do now is in R, but basically handed that work over to junior people 5 years ago. Good for statistical data exploration and visualization.

  50. Libturd in Union says:

    You guys are all geeks.

    -said the guy who knew Fortran Cobol Pascal and of course, Basic.

  51. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Check out this article from USA TODAY:

    IMF: Fed should wait until 2016 to raise interest rates

    http://usat.ly/1IkSPdZ

  52. NJT says:

    #37 FKA

    What if a child (such as my son who is a hands on kinda kid) doesn’t have the aptitude or intelligence to be a coder? Very few people are skilled enough to do it well.

    Also, don’t forget, coding is a young man’s game. Try competing with new hires – especially H1Bs (hours, price, bennies ect.) when you are married with a family and 40+.

  53. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    There are plenty of old school Cobol programmers….in Mother Russia, which not surprisingly is an IT outsource contractor.

  54. JJ says:

    I will and for the bleached blonde realtors will ask if the drapes match the curtains

    Libturd in Union says:
    June 4, 2015 at 9:48 am
    JJ,

    Ask the realtor how one manicures a lawn? Where are the nails?

  55. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    [52] NJT

    What if a child (such as my son who is a hands on kinda kid) doesn’t have the aptitude or intelligence to be a coder?

    Substitute “coder” with banker, attorney, medical field, any non STEM field…and apply today. Having said that, he could be the one building and repairing the robots which will definitely be needed for the first few generations of their existence.

    I think I read where they are going to start testing Autonomous driving 18-wheelers soon. Its coming….are we making sure our kids are prepared?

  56. Juice Box says:

    re # – 56 re ” doesn’t have the aptitude or intelligence to be a coder”

    That describes about 75% of most staff in a company’s IT Department. There are lots and lots of other jobs. Think Dilbert cartoons, after all Art imitaties life.

  57. JJ says:

    coders are crappy jobs. roomful of smelly indians looks like they just moved from the newspapers stands that were everywhere in the 1990s to do coding instead

  58. Libturd in Union says:

    I thought the old newspaper stand workers all moved to Dunkin Donuts. Shame on me.

  59. grim says:

    Used to work with a smoking hot DBA/Unix admin. Tall, thin, blonde, bombshell. Not just bombshell to IT guys, she would be a head turner on the street. She was good too, real good, run circles around the script kiddies.

    She was worse than a foul mouthed trucker, she would make JJ look like the pope. I’d swear she was a dominatrix on the weekends. If she was a guy, HR would have fired her immediately. We had a lax dress code, and coders would wear shorts and sandals all the time. Made it hard for her to understand that thigh high leather boots and a mini skirt were not business casual. I doubt she ever got a single complaint, the coders all worshiped her too much to claim sexual harassment.

    No idea where she is today, but I’m sure she’s either married to a dot com billionaire or is tying one up every weekend.

  60. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    Wow so veterans are either joining piker gangs and now going after frauds.

    Harrisburg police officer wrongly accuses veteran, 75, of ‘stolen valor’

    An Army soldier attending Artsfest on Memorial Day thought something was fishy with the Marine uniform worn by 75-year-old Robert Ford, who was strolling along Front Street.

    Ford’s hat bore some wrinkles, according to the soldier’s assessment, and his belt buckle looked too ornate for his rank.

    The soldier enlisted the help of a Harrisburg police officer working at the event, who was a Marine, and together, they accused Ford of being a fraud.

    “He’s not a real Marine!” the officer shouted to the crowd gathered for the PennLive/Patriot-News Artsfest of Greater Harrisburg. “Stolen valor!”

    “I was humiliated,” said Ford, of Marysville.

    The only problem is Ford did serve in the Marines from 1958 to 1964. He earned the rank of lance corporal.

    “He’s as legit as you can get,” said Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and archivist from Pueblo, Colo., who is nationally recognized for detecting military fraud. Sterner confirmed Ford’s military service this week through Headquarters Marine Corps.

    The incident in Harrisburg, Sterner said, represents a troubling trend across the country of veterans becoming vigilantes.

    Veterans are angry, Sterner said, after a federal law about “stolen valor,” was struck down in 2012 and a meeker version passed in its place. Under the new law, few cases are being investigated or prosecuted against people who falsely claim military awards or service, Sterner said.

    “The veteran community, frustrated and upset, is saying, ‘OK. We’ll do it ourselves,’ ” Sterner said. “But what it’s leading to is a bunch of hot heads. … There’s a lot of bullying going on in the community now. It’s almost like hunting game, going out looking for phonies.”

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/06/harrisburg_artsfest_veteran_st.html#incart_most-commented_midstate_article

  61. jcer says:

    57, JJ job of the future…the bank IT departments are at fault. They have dinosaurs writting Cobol, it isn’t flashy but it pretty much always works without problems, the systems are not feature rich, and there is way more code given that Cobol was cutting edge in the 1950’s and was developed to make programming easy. At least the COBOL guys usually know their craft. The new stuff is handled by the Indians and is “Complicated” and that’s why it doesn’t work. Simply not true the problem is most “Developers” are not good, the good coders can get paid very well. I know quite a few people in the business of fixing the dreck that most of these IT departments build. JJ not too far off many of the H1B types are not really engineers and often came from less prestigious backgrounds….

  62. NJT says:

    [55] FKA

    He wants to become a Master Welder so…

    *He was recently accepted into the program (at 13) and will be starting Freshman year/September at a public Votech. school that works with our local high school.

    Unlike when we went to high school the Vocational/Technical schools (at least in our county) aren’t for those that cant or don’t want to do anything else. His Votech is VERY picky about who they accept. Quite a departure from the 70s/80s.
    Have to have decent grades (NO Ds but a couple Cs are OK, maybe), excellent attendance, NO trouble and actually write an essay (and it better be good) as part of the application!

    Only three kids from his class got accepted.

    I remember picking up a buddy from Morris County Votech back in the early 80s (I was college route). The smell of marriage u wanna was drifting all over and out back and couples were making out and more. Wow have things changed.

    BTW – My buddy is now a retired millionaire X welder. Dummy me went to college.

  63. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    [62] NJT

    Excellent…best of luck to him!!!

  64. D-FENS says:

    @Mark_J_Perry: Don’t believe the doomsayers proclaiming the end of the shale oil boom. It’s just getting more efficient. http://t.co/lo4bMNnpJn Shale 2.0

  65. leftwing says:

    “The handful of large banks that once dominated the field have steadily retreated from making mortgages, ceding their market share to so-called shadow banks, less tightly regulated lenders…”

    Gee, Bam’r, what did you expect to happen when your administration uses its regulatory power over commercial banks to convert BoA, JPM, etc to an ATM for the Feds seven years after the event?

    Slightly forseeable event they would walk away from the business?

  66. NJT says:

    The only thing I knew that I wanted for sure at 13 was a girlfriend that put out.

    Back to possible careers for kids. The U.S. Army is promoting a program called “High School to Flight School”. IF you meet the criteria you’re guaranteed a spot in helicopter flight school. Of course if you flunk out you have to fulfill your contract of service but think about it! At 22 a kid could have 2-3 years experience flying a helicopter under much tougher conditions than a civilian and there are many companies that would scoop him/her up as soon as their enlistment is over for a great starting salary.

    My daughter (12) is thinking about a military route and she has the attitude and temperament for it. Hope the program is around a few years from now.

  67. anon (the good one) says:

    @Gladwell:
    It’s going to be named the John Paulson School of Financial Engineering

  68. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    [40] Anon

    Getting a building named after you > getting a humanitarian award for helping the needy.

    Could easily start a scholarship program for straight A students who don’t have the funds to go to school. I know if I had that amount of money to donate, I would update my old elementary and middle school so that’s it’s an environment that able to teach kids to survive in the new world…heavy STEM related learning.

  69. Ragnar says:

    So you and Gladwell are both envious cunt$?
    Why don’t you tweet back to eraserhead that after he makes his own billions, he can donate his own money however he likes.

  70. D-FENS says:

    Prolly should have poured it into the Newark public school systems along with Zuckerberg’s money.

    Or he could have just set it on fire.

  71. D-FENS says:

    check out the logo on the side of this robot.

    The rest of the world is catching up with our robotics technological advances…

    https://youtu.be/k6O98j3z9so

  72. D-FENS says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crk-eGMOmkI

    Home made ISIS tank.

    Yes, he is controlling the machine gun and camera on top with a modified playstation controller…

  73. anon (the good one) says:

    @voxdotcom: John Paulson’s $400 million gift to Harvard is everything that’s wrong with philanthropy

    “But giving to Harvard is not philanthropy. It’s not helping people who need help, and it’s obscene that Paulson is getting a massive tax write-off for it. Giving to Harvard is not an act of altruism. It’s a gigantic, immoral waste of money, and it’s long past time we started treating it as such.”

  74. Fast Eddie says:

    It’s a gigantic, immoral waste of money, and it’s long past time we started treating it as such.”

    Unlike the $870,000,000,000 Oblama extorted to give to his lackies.

    Right?

  75. JJ says:

    AHHH I remember welding in HS. My guidance counselor forced me to go to vocational stuff as a back up. I took welding, blueprint reading, Auto mechanics, metal shop and wood shop.

    Sometimes my staff or people I work with are a bit suprised I know much more about this stuff than math or science.

    We once changed an engine in a double period autoshop on a 1971 Cuda then I went to Math class which seemed pretty boring.

  76. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    [70] D-FENS

    It would be a waste of money to invest in Newark Schools like Zuckerburg did. However, if there was a few students that really excelled there, got into college and have a requirement that they must maintain a B or better avg…why not help them out? Money spent on someone who at least have shown they were interested in getting an education. And you would probably spend less but have a higher “humanity” ROI.

    He’s a smart man who made his money making big bets so he can spend it however he wants and play it safe.

  77. Libturd in Union says:

    JJ,

    Sometimes I think you are me.

  78. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    Okay, who had anon and 24 hrs in the Gladwell Retweet Pool? Come and collect your winnings.

    I had Otto and 8 hours. Silly me.

  79. Libturd in Union says:

    There’s a gentleman I work with who graduated from Princeton. He was born poor. I wonder if his full ride would have been available without the Paulson’s generosity as well as the government’s tax treatment of it?

  80. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    [30] D-FENS

    “You could still earn income by investing in equities of the firm or buying their bonds.”

    Already have some, will add much more.

    “Plus it is still a positive trend for the US and our GDP.”

    Financially, yes. And good for those already in demand. But we have a huge pool of anon-a-bees and others whose only skill is snark, if they have any at all, and this won’t really help them much.

    2 years from now, anon and footrest will be here pushing for passage of the Americans with No Abilities Act. Though I wonder if we haven’t already been passing it in stealthy pieces.

  81. Libturd in Union says:

    Gladwell is a simpleton. Is it no surprise that he’s another of Anon’s heroes?

  82. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    [79] libturd,

    “The deduction for charitable contributions is one of the oldest preferences in the tax law, making its debut during World War I (after a failed effort to include it in the original 1913 tax law).1 The War Revenue Act of 1917 provided a deduction for:

    contributions or gifts actually made within the year to corporations or associations organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, or educational purposes, or to societies for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net income of which inures to the benefit of any private stockholder or individual, to an amount not in excess of fifteen per centum of the taxpayer’s taxable net income as computed without the benefit of this paragraph. Such contributions or gifts shall be allowable as deductions only if verified under rules and regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.

    According to its champions, the provision was necessary if charities were to survive the war. Heavy new taxes on incomes and estates threatened to dry up the reservoir of private funds that sustained these worthy organizations. Relieved of their “surplus” income by new levies, wealthy givers would simply stop giving. As Sen. Henry French Hollis explained:

    Usually people contribute to charities and educational objects out of their surplus. After they have done everything else they want to do, after they have educated their children and traveled and spent their money on everything they really want or think they want, then, if they have something left over, they will contribute it to a college or to the Red Cross or for some scientific purposes. Now, when war comes . . . that will be the first place where wealthy men will be tempted to economize, namely in donations to charity. . . .”

  83. leftwing says:

    Greece rolls all June IMF payments to the 30th.

    Great. I’m landing in Athens with my two kids on the 29th. Bring riot gear I guess.

  84. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    The history goes on to point out that anon types existed even back then:

    “Most advocates of the new deduction pointed out that weaker charities meant stronger — and bigger — government. “If the government takes all or nearly all of one’s disposable income or surplus income, it must undertake the responsibility for spending it, and it must then support all those works of charity and mercy and all the educational and religious works which in this country have heretofore been supported by private benevolence,” the Post said.9

    In another editorial, the Post used the Red Cross to underscore its point. The organization had recently sought, and received, donations of $100 million to support its wartime work. “If the money thus contributed were subject to taxes it would be a penalty upon generosity and an inducement for the retention by individuals of all moneys which they formerly contributed to charitable, scientific and educational institutions,” the paper wrote. Eventually and inevitably, “the burden of maintaining such national auxiliaries as the Red Cross would fall entirely upon the Federal Government,” according to the Post.10

    Such arguments took a distinctly benign view of charitable organizations, but not everyone felt so kindly toward exempt organizations. Indeed, suspicion about the social influence of various charities had surrounded their exemption from early income taxes (that exemption having predated the deduction for charitable contributions by several years).11″

  85. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    [83] leftwing

    Pay for everything in dollars but insist on healthy discounts.

  86. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Check out this article from USA TODAY:

    Billionaire: ‘Emulate me,’ don’t villainize me

    http://usat.ly/1M7xu5M

  87. leftwing says:

    Gladwell can put his money where he wants.

    In all sincerity, can you tell me why the liberal mind believes it has the right to tell everyone else what they should do with their money? Please don’t answer because the economic system of the US allowed them to generate it. That is a backfill answer promulgated recently and significantly postdates the liberals’ takings.

    Seriously, why does anyone have standing to direct where someone else donates their money?

    “@Gladwell:
    It came down to helping the poor or giving the world’s richest university $400 mil it doesn’t need. Wise choice John!”

  88. Libturd in Union says:

    Back to PARCC and how it relates to Nom’s Americans with No Abilities Act.

    Today Montclair released their PARCC opt-out numbers. The three highest performing elementary schools had the lowest opt-out rates. I still am on the fence about PARCC, though I do support a standardized method of measurement. In trying to separate the fact from the fiction, I did notice a number of parents who felt threatened by their kids not being able to perform well on such a difficult exam and they were worried how this would impact their kids’ self esteem. And if I heard one more simpleton parent ask how a standardized test teaches a kid anything, I was going to vomit.

  89. Libturd in Union says:

    I think this all ties into this new er@ of rewarding the lazy with the hard earned gains made by those who are not. At some point, this WILL reach a tipping point. Just because mommy gave you everything and you turned out OK, doesn’t mean that you will have the means to do the same for your offspring. When the scale does get tipped, I think I would much rather be on the side of those who work hard for their lifestyle, rather than the side that only works hard to steal from the other side.

  90. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    [87] leftwing

    Don’t hold your breath waiting for an answer that isn’t circular. I’ve been waiting for years.

    Not waiting more today though. The Cone beckons.

  91. Libturd in Union says:

    Nom…Interesting. Thanks for that. So much to learn here. I wasn’t aware of the origin of pensions until I learned that here too.

  92. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    libturd,

    Clearly, you have told Lil Gator the story of Little Red Hen and her friends, anon, Ottoman and Fabius?

    http://www.enchantedlearning.com/stories/fairytale/littleredhen/story/

  93. Libturd in Union says:

    “Clearly, you have told Lil Gator the story of Little Red Hen and her friends, anon, Ottoman and Fabius?”

    Not the exact story, but he knows life’s not fair and he is keenly aware that if he doesn’t work hard in school, he will not get a good job. And those who don’t have a good job don’t can’t afford to send their kids to hockey camp.

  94. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The new rules come in the wake of an investigation two years ago, dubbed “Operation Swill,” in which undercover detectives used various methods to obtain and test alcohol and determined establishments had been swapping high-priced brands for cheaper ones.

    Allegations included mixing rubbing alcohol with caramel food coloring and serving it as scotch, and pouring dirty water into an empty bottle and passing it off as liquor.

    http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/nj_bars_stiffer_penalties_for_swapping_liquors.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

  95. D-FENS says:

    minimum wage proponents….economically illiterate.

    https://youtu.be/5lwN5uP0LzI

  96. Anon E. Moose says:

    Lib [43];

    “He also has a number of critics who accuse him of oversimplification of ideas — which may be how some people view his tweets.”

    If the tweet weren’t simple how else would anon know what to cut and paste?

  97. grim says:

    The proposed penalties are way too lax.

  98. [50] I learned Fortran IV with punch cards in 1976 in HS. When I got to college and they had batch card readers I was impressed. I never learned COBOL, but certainly Basic, Pascal, PL/II, C, C++, Assembly, Machine Code in Hex and Octal, even some failed ones like Ada and Cybil running on NOS/VE.

    C# and T-SQL for me these days.

    You guys are all geeks.

    -said the guy who knew Fortran Cobol Pascal and of course, Basic.

  99. leftwing says:

    Got my answer below. Arrogance. Liberals just believe that they know better than we do, and are therefore empowered to do with us and our belongings what they want.

    “@voxdotcom: John Paulson’s $400 million gift to Harvard is everything that’s wrong with philanthropy
    “But giving to Harvard is not philanthropy. It’s not helping people who need help, and it’s obscene that Paulson is getting a massive tax write-off for it. Giving to Harvard is not an act of altruism. It’s a gigantic, immoral waste of money, and it’s long past time we started treating it as such.”

  100. [51] That picture of Lagarde looks as if she was the guy baked in the tuna oven a few weeks ago.

    http://usat.ly/1IkSPdZ

  101. I would posit that coding is a focused man’s game. Maybe the H1Bs are good, but our new crop of Amerikans sure ain’t. I think the best US programmers are probably in the 35-65 age range right now. The youngsters can’t keep themselves from touching the glass all day.

    Also, don’t forget, coding is a young man’s game. Try competing with new hires – especially H1Bs (hours, price, bennies ect.) when you are married with a family and 40+.

  102. Ragnar says:

    My donations to the Ayn Rand Institue are also not acts of altruism.
    I donate to support my values, and try to support humanity’s future, a future with an emphasis on reason, individual rights, capitalism, and the prosperity that brings. That seems much more idealistic than wasting my money temporarily propping up humanity’s current dregs.
    But other people with a different emphasis and history, may prefer to donate differently, as is their right.

  103. jcer says:

    102 you are way off, best coders are the kids, anywhere from 18-40, the capabilities of some of the stuff being released is really good. Who do you think is making all of the phone apps and really good web apps? H1B’s and the body shops are a bad joke, a very small percentage of H1B visa holders are really good. It is a young mans game by the time you are 40 you are cannon fodder, you have too many other things, kids, family, house, doctors appointments…..where as the 22 yr old can work 15 hrs a day on a diet of coffee and Mt Dew and largely has no external demands. As coder if you are over 40 there is a good chance your boss is younger than you and that generally isn’t going to be good for you.

  104. Libturd in Union says:

    Expat…There’s something to be said for those who first learned how to code on computers with thermal imaging printers built into the top of the monitor or with punchcards instead of keyboards. We watched languages develop as needs changed. We also developed a lot of patience, waiting for programs to compile to just get on to a terminal. This is most likely lacking in the newer rounds of recruits.

  105. Libturd in Union says:

    jcer…what the hell do I know. I can barely program in visual basic these days.

  106. jcer says:

    follow up, the best young developers are decidedly anti corporate, most either work at tech cos, startups, or freelancers fixing the sins of past H1B holders paid by the hour. You won’t find them in a traditional IT shop.

  107. anon (the good one) says:

    for one thing Princeton and Harvard are different schools

    Libturd in Union says:
    June 4, 2015 at 1:05 pm
    There’s a gentleman I work with who graduated from Princeton. He was born poor. I wonder if his full ride would have been available without the Paulson’s generosity as well as the government’s tax treatment of it?

  108. Libturd in Union says:

    “for one thing Princeton and Harvard are different schools”

    You have a sickness. Really!

  109. Libturd in Union says:

    Do you know where Gladwell went to school?

  110. Juice Box says:

    So the millionaire complains about the billionare?

  111. chicagofinance says:

    Isn’t Gladwell some kind of plastic wrap for kids who bring lunch to school?

    Libturd in Union says:
    June 4, 2015 at 2:39 pm
    Do you know where Gladwell went to school?

  112. Libturd in Union says:

    I remember when I was a progressive lad and asking my father why rich people don’t want to pay to help the poor people. He said, wait until you get older are a rich person and you’ll understand. He was right. This is a true story.

  113. Bystander says:

    Lib,

    Trying to raise my son the same way. Unfortunately manipulation, irresponsibility, easy credit, and debt are now the cornerstones of the American economy. The ethical, the hard working and the savers are suckers. A passport out of this sh*t show might be a good strategy as well. Unfortunately Mars might be the only logical exit ground.

  114. JJ says:

    I never learned to us a computer in HS. I took two single college courses in computers, since I did not have a computer at home and no one in my family had one I just had some geek in computer lab do the stuff on the Greenbar paper and handed it in.

    First job we had dumb terminals, second job we had dumb terminals and third job was a really backward place. Heck in 1996 we did not have PCs, the internet and secretaries had typewriters and we used interoffice buck slips.We did have data entry machines to key punch stuff into.

    Finally in Summer 1996 I get a job at an Investment I get plopped in front of a computer with windows, email the internet and I am told by boss write up a status report. Well I did use wordperfect to write up some stuff in grad school and used Lotus in Grad school for a project so figure that out. Then guy goes ok email it out.

    I called up my girlfriend who was in shock at the time and asked how to send an email. She was like you are kidding. Meanwhile she knew I had no email in old job and did not own a computer so she was not suprised I never sent her an email before. Thank God she had Lotus Notes at work just like my company did and she talked me through all the buttons. I got the guy his email and had this Charriots of FIre look.

    Now my GF that weekend said you dont know how to use a computer at all and have never used a computer at work yet you took a job with computers. I go yes I figured I pick it up. She was like pick it up you are writing up the Functional specification of a new complex trading and settlement system and designing GUI interfaces. I Go so? She is like you took a job in IT without knowing how to us a computer I was like they never asked me in the interview. So when I left that job the headhunter had me pegged as an IT guy so I went to a new firm to help them build a complex transfer pricing system at an international bank. Apparently when they asked me to run a SQL query and do some programming they were not impressed even more so when I did not know what a shared drive was. Equally not happy when I told them I think I am quite impressive for someone only using a computer six months.

    So at this point I decide to go back to Big 4. No computers really. So I am in the bull pen and the guy comes in and goes consulting side of house has a huge FX trading system install and client was very impressed with your resume you start in the morning and we are billing you at $250 an hour. I get there and sr. manager realizes fairly quick my SQM testing skills and stuff are pretty horrible. I tell him the truth guy goes hey he just paid for 50 hours a week for next eight weeks I aint telling client.

    Finally after building three IT systems in 14 months I erased every evidence I know how to use a computer. My wife always laughs that folks in IT cant get jobs with IT degrees yet multiple folks want you to build systems. Hey Fidelity, Brown Brothers, ING, HSBC I bet they are using some GUI or interface and thinking who the hell designed this crap to this day

  115. Ragnar says:

    JJ coded LTCM’s risk model.

  116. 1987 Condo says:

    #115….there is so much in this post..from content to syntax…really explains a lot ….

  117. JJ says:

    Only thing I actually invented was my famous “real time Y” button on the GUI.

    The system I was building in 1996 could only handle end of day pricing. Mainly for statements, Blotter, GL, P&L, Trade confirms, trade activity, reorg and D&I info. But sometimes the user needed to know current price of securities lets say on a margin call. System could not handle that much data to keep repricing. I developed a “real time Y” button on the “radio dial” click it and it switched from end of day to real time pricing. I think only thing that made into production. I can think of things but coding is not something I can do. Only use I was was I had tons of suggestions on things to create but no knowledge how to do it.

    Ragnar says:
    June 4, 2015 at 3:47 pm
    JJ coded LTCM’s risk model.

  118. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    IMGN, T, and cash been berry berry good to me this week.

  119. anon (the good one) says:

    and how come you became old, but no rich?

    Libturd in Union says:
    June 4, 2015 at 3:05 pm

    I remember when I was a progressive lad and asking my father why rich people don’t want to pay to help the poor people. He said, wait until you get older are a rich person and you’ll understand. He was right. This is a true story.

  120. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    [116] Ragnar

    Before LTCM, what risk models accounted for Black Swan events? No significant stress test scenarios were accounted for. In fact, considering the impact Bear and Lehman demise had on the market, one could say the street didn’t learn any lessons from LTCM either.

  121. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    [118] I have Yahoo portfolios set up for MIL so she can check her portfolios without logging into the actual accounts. She really likes it because she can watch her stock and bonds without actually worrying that she might accidentally sell, buy, or hedge something. It’s not too much of a pain in the ass for me either, because I don’t trade her accounts very actively, and when I do I just enter the trade in her Yahoo portfolios. Mostly I’m just updating her cash positions as disbursements are made and dividends arrive. I just wish that Yahoo wouldn’t update with after hours pricing because I think it confuses her. I explained it to her this way. The supermarkets price 2 liter bottles of soda during the day and sell the most volume. When the supermarket closes, Pizzerias and convenience stores set the price of 2 liter bottles of soda at a higher price, but it doesn’t mean the price of soda has doubled, because there aren’t that many 2 liter bottles being bought and sold. When the Pizzerias close, only the 24 hour convenience stores sell 2 liter bottles of soda, so the “last price” will be whatever someone paid for a 2 liter bottle when there was a very confined market. When the supermarket opens the next morning, their price is the liquid (pun intended) price.

  122. JJ says:

    Women look at stock and bond accounts? CUSIPs are nine digits can they handle all the numbers.

    The Original NJ ExPat says:
    June 4, 2015 at 4:36 pm
    [118] I have Yahoo portfolios set up for MIL so she can check her portfolios without logging into the actual accounts. She really likes it because she can watch her stock and bonds without actually worrying that she might accidentally sell, buy, or hedge something. It’s not too much of a pain in the ass for me either, because I don’t trade her accounts very actively, and when I do I just enter the trade in her Yahoo portfolios. Mostly I’m just updating her cash positions as disbursements are made and dividends arrive. I just wish that Yahoo wouldn’t update with after hours pricing because I think it confuses her. I explained it to her this way. The supermarkets price 2 liter bottles of soda during the day and sell the most volume. When the supermarket closes, Pizzerias and convenience stores set the price of 2 liter bottles of soda at a higher price, but it doesn’t mean the price of soda has doubled, because there aren’t that many 2 liter bottles being bought and sold. When the Pizzerias close, only the 24 hour convenience stores sell 2 liter bottles of soda, so the “last price” will be whatever someone paid for a 2 liter bottle when there was a very confined market. When the supermarket opens the next morning, their price is the liquid (pun intended) price

  123. Comrade Nom Deplume, speaking from the Cone of Silence says:

    I found the perfect town for Joyce. Now she can get out of NJ and away from its jack-booted thugs.

    http://www.leoaffairs.com/featured/police-department-disbanded-after-multiple-run-ins-with-city-councilwoman-and-her-drug-dealing-son/

  124. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I guess we’ve established that JJ has no first hand knowledge of whether women can handle 9.

    Women look at stock and bond accounts? CUSIPs are nine digits can they handle all the numbers.

  125. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    [125] Then again, it’s forgivable that someone raised with the Irish curse would have no knowledge of the Polish kielbasa.

  126. chicagofinance says:

    Fracking isn’t causing widespread damage to the nation’s drinking water, the Obama administration said in a long-awaited report released Thursday.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—after a four-year study that is the U.S. government’s most comprehensive examination of the issue to date—concluded that hydraulic fracturing, as being carried out by industry and regulated by states, isn’t having “widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water.”

    However, the EPA said there were a small number of contaminated drinking wells and highlighted potential vulnerabilities, including the disposal of wastewater and construction of durable wells.

    The report was issued nearly a decade since fracking began helping unlock vast reserves of oil and natural gas across the U.S. It also bolsters the position staked out by the energy industry and its supporters: that fracking can be carried out safely.

    “Hydraulic fracturing activities in the U.S. are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systematic impact on drinking water resources,” said Thomas Burke, deputy assistant administrator of the EPA’s office of research and development, on Thursday. “In fact, the number of documented impacts to drinking water is relatively low when compared to the number of fractured wells.”

    Rob Jackson, an earth sciences professor at Stanford University who has published several papers on the environmental impacts of fracking, said he generally agrees with the agency, although he hoped its report would be more comprehensive.

    “The major conclusion is that water contamination isn’t widespread, and I think that is reasonable,” he said.

  127. Ragnar says:

    FKA,
    Models don’t create crashes, people create crashes. Bad risk models convince people, incorrectly, that they aren’t vulnerable, and may convince them to take actions that will make crashes worse.

  128. The Great Pumpkin says:

    No matter what OPEC says Friday about its production target, the outcome is sure to be more oil.
    Iran, Iraq and Libya said this week they plan to add millions of barrels to the market this year. Saudi Arabia, the biggest member in the group, is already pumping the most in three decades. And executives from the world’s biggest oil companies pledged to keep expanding by cutting costs and focusing on the most promising drilling sites.
    The contest for market share is proving more important than price as the Saudis seek to undercut higher-cost producers while costs keep dropping. The competition is intensifying because producers are eager to sell ever more oil even as world demand slows.
    “High prices spurred the commercialization of an awful lot of oil that’s now ready to be sold in the market,” Ed Morse, Citigroup Inc.’s New York-based head of global commodities research, said by phone. “The decline in demand is making it very difficult to sell oil when you’ve got not just the shale revolution, but Iran and Iraq and other OPEC countries wanting to produce a lot more.”
    Brent crude, the benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, fell 60 percent to a six-year low of $46.59 a barrel in January from $115.06 in June. It’s up 33 percent since then to $62.03. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts Brent will average $60.79 in 2015.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-04/whatever-opec-decides-oil-supplies-are-rising-from-all-sides

  129. NJT says:

    [104] jcer

    Right on the money.

    Up to around 35? I could stay up for three days strait and crank it out. Only had the wife and a couple rentals to worry about but I could buy them off for a while when I was busy.

    Now? Huh. I usually fall asleep by 10PM. Tried to pull an all nighter painting a year ago. Was asleep on the floor by 4.

  130. Comrade Nom Deplume, the loan snark says:

    [110] libturd

    like Rory Martin, Gladwell is a product of the commonwealth. A POME bastard who was decamped to Canada at age six. Mom a psychotherapist and dad a uni prof, young Malcolm lived his formative years in ivory towers, literally.

    He attended, but did not exactly distinguish himself at Univ of Toronto. His grades were bad enough to keep him out of grad school. So he turned to advertising and learned to pedal snark and get paid for it.

  131. Comrade Nom Deplume, the loan snark says:
  132. Fabius Maximus says:

    #135 Eddie Ray

    Associative Fallacy, I thought you gave those up?

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