From HousingWire:
Black Knight: Home prices maintain trend, move higher
Once again, home prices are trending higher, rising 0.1% from October, and 5.5% on a year-over- year basis, the November Black Knight home price report found.
As a result, national home prices are up 27% since the bottom of the market at the start of 2012 and are just 5.3% off the June 2006 peak.
…
Notably, New York led gains among the states for the fifth straight month, seeing 1.2% month-over-month appreciation, the report said.The state accounted for five of the top 10 best performing in November, with NYC leading at 1% month-over-month growth.
…
Along with New York, Tennessee and Texas also hit new peaks in November:New York ($357K)
Tennessee ($179K)
Texas ($216K)And at the metro level, of the nation’s 40 largest metros, seven hit new peaks:
Austin, Texas ($286K)
Dallas, Texas ($221K)
Denver, Colorado ($329K)
Houston, Texas ($220K)
Nashville, Tennessee ($222K)
Portland, Oregon ($324K)
San Antonio, Texas ($195K)
Frist on this snowy morning
Impressed at how quickly the roads were cleared. By yesterday afternoon the roads/highways around here were clean and dry. Couple of side streets were a bit on the messy side, but not terrible.
Clifton was rough – idiots don’t know how to dig out parking spots – piling all the snow into the middle of the road? Really? I can’t imagine the clusterf*ck in places like Hoboken/JC, etc.
Most annoying part was the fact that the town plowed in my driveway THREE times. Had to push my neighbor out, since she got high centered on the snow trying to get out.
Snowblower needs a new muffler – tack weld of the safety cage onto the exhaust piping failed leaving a big gap in the pipe. Cool in the dark though, shoots flames under high load.
Fixed the snowblower. I’m ready for winter now.
[2] grim
Heat shield welded onto the muffler pipe itself? That’s a poor design.
Next season, I’m splurging for a snowblower. The plow on my tractor, while inexpensive, isn’t rated for storms this size and this is our 2nd of 3 winters with major snowfalls. Besides, I’ve a ridiculously long driveway and once I push off to the sides, I run out of room quickly. My neighbor with a snowblower and comparable driveway was done in a sixth the time it took me.
Comments on makes to buy/avoid are welcome
Lol snowmageddon for sure – I called five separate snow removal companies supposedly with good reputations to plow my driveway, just need a truck with a plow to clear the front ice wall dam thanks to the towns plows, rest is almost done by me with a shovel. None of the companies I left messages for have shown, other than two 5th graders who gave up after a half hour of trying, they said they could do the whole driveway too, I just laughed. I gather this snow storm is too much for the plow operators to keep up with, one guy I spoke with this morning was at the Hospital with his dad who apparently had a heart attack, another said he had four trucks that all got stuck in driveways plowing the deep snow and he was done, another called Avalanche snow plowing swore he would come yesterday and now does not answer the phone. I’ll give it a go myself on the ice wall with a metal shovel later after it warms up a bit if I cannot flag down someone with a plow…..
Rags, you claim to be a man of a logic. This quote has nothing to do with right or left. This statement is based on pure logic. Don’t attack me, attack the logic in this statement. What’s not logical about it? This statement points out based on logic that there is no difference in corruption between public and private. Are govt officials genetically programmed to be corrupt? No, they are no different than their private sector counterparts. All corrupted by the same power, corporate power.
“People often don’t understand the engine that drives corruption. Particularly in India, they assume government equals corruption, private companies equal efficiency. But government officials are not genetically programmed to be corrupt. Corruption is linked to power. If it is the corporations that are powerful, then they will be corrupt.❜”
Arundhati Roy, Indian author and public intellectual
pumps, go back to touting penny stocks.
I’m just making my point that private sector is just as bad as the public sector. No difference, same corrupt individuals. I would argue that the private sector has way more corruption based on no checks or balances in place, just look at the private healthcare industry. Most corruption institution in America.
Expat, I think you mentioned once you had a script that could remove certain comments from your browser so you would not have to read them or scroll past them. If you could write one for Michael’s posts, and share with the rest of us, I’d be grateful.
I know, it’s tough when someone just debunks your lifelong philosophy. It hurts, but be a man and accept it. Your call for less govt will have no impact on corruption. You will actually be left with worse results. Hurts, huh?
D-FENS says:
January 25, 2016 at 8:43 am
Expat, I think you mentioned once you had a script that could remove certain comments from your browser so you would not have to read them or scroll past them. If you could write one for Michael’s posts, and share with the rest of us, I’d be grateful.
The problem with corruption in the private sector.
“Hefty fines, damaged reputations and jail sentences – recent scandals prove that corruption in business doesn’t always bring profits. Yet bribery persists. Almost a fifth of executives surveyed by Ernst & Young claimed to have lost business to a competitor who paid bribes. More than a third felt corruption was getting worse.
Corruption distorts markets and creates unfair competition. Companies often pay bribes or rig bids to win public procurement contracts. Many companies hide corrupt acts behind secret subsidiaries and partnerships. Or they seek to influence political decision-making illicitly. Others exploit tax laws, construct cartels or abuse legal loopholes. Private companies have huge influence in many public spheres. These are often crucial – from energy to healthcare. So it’s easy to see how corruption in business harms taxpayers’ interests. The solution?”
The solution
“Private sector corruption calls for a three-pronged approach. Firstly, companies can take internal steps to prevent it. They need a zero-tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption. And it must be enforced through specific anti-corruption measures. We’ve collected many tips to help companies develop effective strategies. They’re in our anti-bribery code, Business Principles for Countering Bribery.
But companies also need an honest operating environment. So we must make sure that governments enforce international anti-bribery laws and conventions. This protects companies from corruption across borders and down supply chains.
We need to help make sure these approaches are effective. This means more transparency from everyone involved with markets. Then we can hold businesspeople to account for their actions. We must call on companies and the institutions that regulate them to report their finances and actions openly. This shows staff, investors and consumers that they’re committed to clean business. And it creates the environment of trust that’s most profitable. Go back to the problem”
https://www.transparency.org/topic/detail/private_sector/
11- So it’s easy to see how corruption in business harms taxpayers’ interests. Understand?
The sooner the better with that script.
Worth a read
http://nypost.com/2016/01/25/a-long-hard-look-into-anthony-weiners-downfall/
Heh, heh…chifi said ‘weiner’…heh, heh…
My snowblowers worked beautifully. The Honda snowthrower and the freebie Troy-Bilt walk behind that AC got for me were a perfect tandem. Funny thing about that Troy-Bilt. It has an electric start where you must plug it in. I had used the blower for nearly 90 minutes when I accidentally turned it off when I wanted to set it to idle. I pulled a friggin’ chest muscle trying to pull start it. Ain’t no way, no how, that thing will ever start with the pull cord. Trust me. Of course, you could start the Honda cold with 1/3rd of a gentle pull.
Shoveling works better than my snowthrower. Seriously, it’s that bad. One would probably exert more effort tuning it up, fixing it, and wailing on the pull start than just shoveling the driveway.
D-Fens…Not a Honda I presume?
Hey Splat! Oddly this made me think of you.
Nihilistic Password Security Questions
What is the name of your least favorite child?
In what year did you abandon your dreams?
What is the maiden name of your father’s mistress?
At what age did your childhood pet run away?
What was the name of your favorite unpaid internship?
In what city did you first experience ennui?
What is your ex-wife’s newest last name?
What sports team do you fetishize to avoid meaningful discussion with others?
What is the name of your favorite canceled TV show?
What was the middle name of your first rebound?
On what street did you lose your childlike sense of wonder?
When did you stop trying?
Knock Knock
Who’s There?
Ball
Ball Who?
Low Ball offer for your POS!
Toms River Hearing on RE Solicitors
Residents are tired of RE agents knocking on their doors asking if they want to sell
http://www.app.com/story/news/local/toms-river-area/2016/01/20/toms-river-cease-and-desist-hearing-advance/79070340/
There seems to be a correlation between the drop in value of twitter shares and the noticable absence of anon posts.
Worst Knock knock joke ever.
Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Natania.
Natania who?
Yes…the Israeli Prime Minister.
It’s a craftsman with a two stroke tecumseh motor. I think the motor might have been built at a time when tecumseh was not doing that well…or there was doubt as to whether the company was going to continue to sell motors.
I did get it running, and once I let it run for a while, after it belched smoke all over the neighborhood it ran well after that. You just have to blast the dust bunnies out of it and run it for a while. I should be ok the next time it snows. If I really gave a sh1t about the thing, I’d change the spark plug and run it in the fall before the season. But honestly, with my son helping me it’s just easier to shovel.
I will say, it withstands my neglect quite well. Two strokes don’t need nearly as much maintenance.
Not sure what the statistics are on a heart attack while shoveling. I’m sure back injuries beat it by a hefty margin.
Then you see someone in their mini-mansion shoveling and cursing-they could afford a snowblower, but just can’t seem to pry open the wallet to buy it, instead they look at you with the face of a Basset Hound puppy to please come and help them as they are too weary.
You do their driveway for them, they smile and wave, go back inside to sip their latte while counting the money they saved by not buying a snowblower for another year….
Lib, this is the exact one I have…it’s not my video, and my plastic chute on the top is full of self tapping machine screws that hold it together. It’s cracked in several places. Not the snowblower’s fault, I had the lawnmower bag on top of it for a while and the weight of it cracked it in several places.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e94cZHMpNEA
Lib, I have 2, a Honda and an Ariens.
Ariens is a beast.. 10 hp, 28inch, heated handgrips (not a gimmick, they work).
Baby Honda yet real 2 stage. Great for walkways, tracks climb stairs like Curious George.
Not even a belt to replace on the Honda, has wet clutch like a motorcycle. Not sold since 1999. I keep it to work in the smaller areas….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iija9dQDobE
My snowblower helped me get the main job done in 45 minutes. So much better and neater than the guys with a plow, who would pack an iceberg into plants at the end of my driveway. Gave me control over the timing of my dig out.
D-Fens,
Buy a can of this, you can get it at the depot or lowes also. Expensive but one can won’t kill ya. The mix is precise and has no alcohol. I buy it in bulk once a year when it goes on sale for 50% off. Awesome stuff. One can through your machine to clean/operate properly before you go back to your homemade mix might help you.
http://www.amazon.com/TruFuel-2-Cycle-50-Pre-Blended-Equipment/dp/B00F2ZH9UW
I wish I’d had heated grips. After 45 minutes in the blizzard my right hand fingers were starting to go numb. But I only paid 1k. Ariens deluxe 24 pretty solid now in second year.
I hate that they’re putting alcohol into the fuel now. It’s totally pointless.
Phoenix, I think part of my problem is that I’m using gas that I mixed up in the summer for my weed trimmer. I might be better off if I used gas that was formulated for the winter.
I was at my in laws, and used a toro electric snow thrower i had bought them. Thing weighs as much as a vacuum cleaner. I was surpirsed I was able to do their 50′ walk with 24 inches of snow in about an hour and thirty with the little electric machine. Would have been quicker if they had used it on Saturday once or twice.
Made quick work of my remaining snow, I guess shoveling in the sun makes all the difference. Went to get some food for lunch and the line at Shoprite was out of control , if everyone was out of food after the weekend, so I skipped that mess and went to the local italian sub shop and I am now devouring hero with Capicola, sweet soppresata, fresh mozzarella, imported provolone, and balsamic vinegar. Yum!
My Honda is a little flatter than that Craftsmen and does not have the turn crank. You have to manually turn the chute. Not that big of a deal. The thing literally pulls itself through the snow. Did the multi with it (took two trips), even in this storm. It is surprisingly good with steps too.
As for Truegas, I don’t use it in my blowers since I just empty them out at the end of the season and it’s so dry in the winter, moisture from the ethanol is less likely to cause a problem. I have a friend who works at Teterboro. He is going to get me 10 gallons of ethanol free prop fuel for about what I would pay for one gallon of that true fuel. Which buy the way, I still have nearly 4 cans left of. Stuff has a perpetual shelf life too. Ethanol should be banned for so many reasons.
35. I suggested the truegas for D-Fens almost as a flush, just to clean it out.
My snowblowers are 4 stroke, no need for special fuel.
Summer is mostly when I use the truegas. 2 quarts gets me thru the average summer, weed trimmer, chainsaw, brushcutter, etc.
Once a year it goes on sale, 50 percent off at least. They make you buy 4 cases.
100 bucks. Did that 1 year ago and still have 3 cases left of no worry, no stress, exact mix.
Easily worth 100 bucks to me.
Then again, I’m not one of the cheapskates that expects their neighbor to wash my car either…..
Great video from years ago.
The fallout from this never disappeared-like rust on a Chevy Vega….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWYedpZNogc
D-FENS,
Look at how the ethanol lobby has gone after the one candidate (Cruz) talking about phasing out the ethanol mandate. Trump showed his true crony colors, reading out the ethanol lobby’s demands. Trump now supports even higher ethanol mandates to pander to the Iowa voters. What a chump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC6ZX_epWcc
Pumps,
Because I’m a man of logic, I don’t engage in debates with people who lack that faculty. It’s like trying to teach geometry to a dog. In case you cannot figure it out, among “people who lack that faculty”[of logic] I’m referring to you.
Libturd,
I see Bernie has kissed big ethanol’s ass for months.
Ethanol and what a candidate says about it in Iowa has long been a good litmus test of a politician’s principle to pandering ratio.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-09-15/bernie-sanders-embraces-corn-power
Rags, I don’t mind if they want to sell me alcohol as an alternative to gasoline. Just let me decide. Don’t decide for me. I’ve heard in some states they have blender pumps, where you can choose the alcohol percentage. Some days I’d like to stick it to the middle east or the oil lobby and choose more alcohol. But there are days when I’d like to choose pure fuel, so I don’t destroy my motorcycle and all of my lawn equipment.
It also speaks to how fcuked up our political system is, where a minority of corn ethanol farmers in Iowa get to decide who is our president.
38 – I watched it…I feel that he danced around the issue enough to make the Iowa fuel lobby feel all warm and fuzzy, but I didn’t hear him say anything specific on the issue.
I heard we would encourage this and that…strongly…whatever. He has to blow smoke up their skirts…it’s politics. Cruz took a hard line…I think that’s a mistake on his part. Even if he really believes the mandate should be removed, you don’t say that in front of people who depend on it for a living, then ask for their vote.
I’ll dump ethanol into my Altima all day long if it’s cheaper…I don’t care. Just give me the gas pumps that blend it on demand… that’s all I’m saying.
D-FENS,
Nobody wants to sell ethanol as an alternative to gas, so the government forces us to buy it. Because in the US, using corn to make fuel makes no economic sense. It’s sold because it’s mandated, and companies that don’t comply will be shut down. Some greens even eventually figured out that ethanol isn’t even green. Takes more energy to make it than it outputs. Ethanol mandates only exist to boost farmers.
My understanding is that in Brazil where land is cheap and growing conditions are good for sugar cane, and labor is cheap, it can make economic sense to use ethanol, at least when oil prices are high. Probably makes no sense at current prices, I haven’t checked lately.
D-FENS [41];
It also speaks to how fcuked up our political system is, where a minority of corn ethanol farmers in Iowa get to decide who is our president.
Let’s ask Presidents Dole, Harkin, Gore and McCain.
1980 – GHWB beat RWR in Iowa;
1988 – Dole won Iowa; Bush placed 3rd
1992 – Tom Harkin to 72%, beating (in order) “UNCOMMITTED”, Paul Tsongas, and Bill Clinton (2.8%)
2000 – Gore and GWB both won their respective Iowa caucii
2008 – BHO won the Dem; GOP – in order: Huckabee, Romney, Thompson, McCain
I actually liked Thompson for President. He never got real traction, though. Great personal presence, communication skill.
Tecumseh Snow King motor is a champ – still starts on one pull.
I’d need to call Honda Finance to buy a similar 13HP 33″ machine. They have two in the same size range, the one a bit larger than mine has an MSRP of $7,999. I don’t care about snow that much, and 8 grand can probably buy 7 of the model I have.
My father has an Ariens with the heated handles. I was able to use his machine on Sunday, no gloves, and the handles were nearly too hot to touch. I wonder if I can retrofit grips, as my motor does have the requisite small generator.
Rag’s.
I wouldn’t exactly call it kissed the ass of. He simply thinks we should get away from fossil fuel use. Though, I would agree with you that his position on climate change is not inline with mine. But even with that said, he isn’t owned by the corn farmers of Iowa! He could praise them and pull the plug on them and not lose a beat. Hillary and all of the others can’t, since they are all owned! Plus, I wouldn’t put it past Bernie to change his position based on education.
Though not owned, he still needs to get elected. I do not blame him for choosing popular positions to get in to office. I know it’s sad, but there are a lot of positions of Bernie’s that I am in complete disagreement with. I simply want to see what happens when a President can make decisions based on what he thinks is best instead of what the highest bidder paid for. The latter is not working, regardless of what positions candidates claim they support to get elected.
I just wore a decent pair of gloves and I was out in the middle of the storm. It was cold, but nowhere near unbearable. Go out and spend $30 on a decent pair of 5-layer Gordini gauntlet shaped gloves . At the end of the season, they go on clearance at REI/Campmoor etc. Buy them now for $100.
I paid $700 for my 9 HP, 26″ Cub Cadet. Didn’t get every bell or whistle — I have to hand-crank the chute direction; no heated handles or differential steering. Liking it lots; no problems, but it is only two years old. When I was shopping around, I got the feeling that many similar models roll off the same assembly line, with the most striking difference being the paint color. Toro was at least $200 more for same feature package.
Don’t get me wrong Rags. If Cruz or even Christie was independent, I would push for them. But they are not, so it’s a moot point.
ROBBER’S FAMOUS LAST WORDS: ‘I THOUGHT YOU COULDN’T OWN A GUN IN NEW JERSEY’
http://alternativemediasyndicate.com/2015/01/19/robbers-famous-last-words-i-thought-you-couldnt-own-a-gun-in-new-jersey/
Here’s my beauty.
http://powerequipment.honda.com/snowblowers/models/hs720am
At 82 pounds, I can easily lift it myself into the back of the SUV.
I just breezed back and saw the conversation that Gourd-o was having with himself in the last thread. Of course, he agreed.
Here’s my AC freebie snowblower.
It’s worked for 2 seasons so far. Though I did have to retrofit that bar that turns the chute. I kind of knew it was going to be bad when they included 3 extra cotter pins for it.
Ain’t know way to start that thing with the pull cord though.
44 – Wasn’t the ethanol mandate passed in 2007?
Interesting, the dude was definitely shot by a legal gun owner and business owner in Newark, however…what the robber said is unverified, and is likely urban legend.
Anon E. Møøse, Who never bit anyone’s sister says:
January 25, 2016 at 2:14 pm
ROBBER’S FAMOUS LAST WORDS: ‘I THOUGHT YOU COULDN’T OWN A GUN IN NEW JERSEY
D-Fens [55];
Wasn’t the ethanol mandate passed in 2007?
Yes. My point was that the influence of Iowa is overstated, especially in/by the media since they have to talk about SOMETHING.
We had a 1974 Chevy Vega….transmission went at 24,000……the oil pan bottomed out on the slightest bump anywhere……
Raymond Reddington formerly Phoenix says: says:
January 25, 2016 at 1:01 pm
Great video from years ago.
The fallout from this never disappeared-like rust on a Chevy Vega….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWYedpZNogc
http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2016/01/woman_78_found_dead_in_snow-covered_car_outside_bu.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured
I spent the night in my car once after trying to return to NJ fr0m VT in the middle of a blizzard. Parked in a supermarket lot in downtown Burlington. Bought some snacks, soda and few magazines then hunkered down for the night. When the cold woke me up I’d clear out a vent to the tailpipe and jack the heat for 1/2 an hour then read until I dozed off again. Of course wearing a snowsuit helped. Still, it was a long night. Late in the morning as the storm subsided I shoveled myself out and resumed the trip home. Late for work but it was better than being dead.
The next time I left BEFORE a snowstorm started.
*No cell phones back then. Didn’t this lady have one?
Notice how 1875 on the S&P is coming into play again?
Hope to see more lawsuits like this, the H-1B visa is destroying middle class jobs for Americans. Not much point in obtaining a college degree, if politicians and corporations would rather fill STEM jobs with low wage workers from India.
Lawsuits Claim Disney Colluded to Replace U.S. Workers With Immigrants
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/us/lawsuit-claims-disney-colluded-to-replace-us-workers-with-immigrants.html
See also…
Lou Dobbs: Law Firm teaches companies how to avoid hiring Americans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx–jNQYNgA
[59] I’m surprised she was that far away by herself. My MIL is 78 and a good driver, but she pretty much stays within 20 miles of her home these days. Pretty much drives back forth from Newton to Blairstown on 94 and that’s about it (she drives right around 50 or a little over which is close to the average speed on 94 South of Newton. My parents, OTOH, are also both 78 and both excellent drivers still. They’ll go anywhere by car any time, but I think even they mostly travel during daylight nowadays.
I think my most challenging drive was driving South from Canandaigua NY to West Virginia on back roads during a blizzard. I had been in upstate NY to attend a christening with my wife (then gf) and her parents and then I was leaving solo to visit my brother at WVU. I looked at the map and just plotted a direct North-South route, I had never learned about this lake effect snow until that evening. And my car at the time? A ’77 Camaro with a worked 350 motor and a 4 speed manual tranny (Hurst shift, of course). 245 width BFG Radial T/As on all 4 corners. Here’s a trick most people don’t know that works great on a RWD car: Drop your tire pressure to about 24 psi and you’ll get a ton more traction. If you happen to find yourself in a high torque car, this is another valuable tip: Start the car in 2nd gear and then immediately shift to 4th as soon as you get going and leave it there until you have to stop again.
#61 [SW]
It’s a crime but, what can you do about it? If your in IT, get out of it. Yeah, yeah, easier said than done but it can be (even if you are fifty).
Saw it starting back in the late 90s but was too lazy and content to make the move then, had to and man…it was hard.
Jut for laughs a few years back a buddy and I got bogus e-mail accounts and applied to jobs as H1Bs (those where we had applied but were not considered) We got responses!!
*It’s only going to get worse, don’t count on politicians to do anything other than try
to get re-elected.
This guy tried to fight the tide: http://www.techinsurgent.com/default.aspx
I have so many stories about dealing with these people (and those that use them) I could write book! So many situations…and no good, just bad and ugly.
*Some hiring managers joke when an obviously inflated resume gets sent to them “If not for the name I’d swear this was from an H1B!”.
I’m going to stop now.
[62] Statler
I noticed that it was a CNN report. Lou Dobbs hasn’t been at CNN in years. Just how old is this clip?
[66] redux
Says it was uploaded in 2007. That was before Obama was elected. I’m not an employment law attorney so I’ll ask–has the Obama administration made any substantive changes to the H1B program to curtail this abuse? I agree that this appears to be a loophole that is being exploited more than an Atlantic City hooker.
Best I could find was that he signed a bill preventing banks from hiring H1Bs (did they cause the financial crisis?). Oh, and he also permitted spouses of H1Bs to work legally in the US (huh?).
h1B crap needs to stop, Cognizant should be banned from doing business in the US for a period for their flagrant disregard for US law. God help you if you actually need to get an H1B for a person who really is specialized in something uncommon, you cannot because Wipro needs to bring Sanjeet the help desk guy over at 40k per year. Your guy has a Phd and know something inane but he is packing his bags and going home.
[68] Jcer,
Cognizant appears on the list of largest H1B sponsors.
That explains why you can get decent indian food in New Jersey.
Re: Tyco/Johnson Controls Merger (Inversion).
Liberals still have yet to grasp that if you tax something more you get less of it. Companies are leaving the US because international taxes are too high so, in response, making all the sense in the world:
“I have a detailed and targeted plan to immediately put a stop to inversions…and place an ‘exit tax’ on corporations that leave the country to lower their tax bill,” Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said in a statement.”
Well that ought to incentivize international companies to locate in the US!
I can’t wait for the first major American company to *organically* move its headquarters. Would love to see Apple, 2/3 of which revenue is generated outside the US, announce it is breaking ground on a new 750,000 square foot facility in Ireland, and offer a lease for Cupertino.
We are becoming France. Absent the culture, food, history, fashion sense, and women.
64. Currently enjoying a very impractical daily driver and “no” I just don’t like it in anything but dry conditions. It can actually be sketchy as hell in the rain. Plus I hate getting salt on it’s undercarriage. Wife’s Volvo on the other hand…
According to Tom DeLay, FBI ready to recommend Hillary indictment or go to public with documents to destroy her campaign. Good for Bernie? Bernie vs Trump for President
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ozxpD4i1c&list=PLanUqPajptu4WqXWDp4M4Yt4ax1WyBQZG&index=1
This will open Bloomberg to run for President
Do they make shackles large enough for those cankles?
http://tinyurl.com/cankles-in-shackles
[61 & 65] Re: H1-B workers. I wonder if it’s different in Boston? Sure, back in the dot-com era we used to hire a lot H1-B’s, anybody who could do the job, it didn’t matter. Now the ads I see mostly say “No H1-B’s” and it’s been that way for many years now. Also over 50 is not a problem up here in IT, in fact our company tried to hire programming talent who were were in their 20’s and ended up hiring guys in their 50’s because the kids just weren’t bright enough.
Hilary is wholly unappealing.
I got out of a ticket once in Wayne by just asking the cop, “You know how the right car just sometimes makes you do the wrong things?” I think the worst compromise to make on the road in the Northeast is driving the same tires all year. You can get away with it if you have 4WD, but for something like $1200 you can get a whole second set of alloy wheels, winter tires, even TPM sensors and change all your white knuckle rides into Winter fun. It really costs about nothing because your 3-season tires will last an extra year or two so that you might even go 5 years instead of 3 without buying tires. IMO, if it saves you one insurance deductible/accident they’ve paid for themselves and if you enjoy driving, you’ll enjoy the Winters too. Also, if you really like your car, when you replace the 3-season tires you can replace them with something really fun that you would never even dream of using through Winter, but will stick you to the road like glue in the Summer.
64. Currently enjoying a very impractical daily driver and “no” I just don’t like it in anything but dry conditions. It can actually be sketchy as hell in the rain. Plus I hate getting salt on it’s undercarriage. Wife’s Volvo on the other hand…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s
Then for the other 3 seasons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg1bPs9rPK0
re: H1B. Our whole dev team was outsourced to India a year ago. There is now one other person and myself in US dealing with 25 team members in India. The other side of coin is even though you may have a job here, the time difference makes it hard to accomplish much. One person in India overlaps for two hours EST but there is so much consideration for India team due to high turnover. So many jobs there and so little here. US mgmt. would rather have us to get on calls at 11pm. With a young family, I have basically refused to date. Not working 10 hours, getting home to get on other calls because company is cheap and selfish. They introduced inefficiencies and chaos via outsourcing so let them deal with project delays.
The six-bedroom mansion in the shadow of Southern California’s Sierra Madre Mountains has lime trees and a swimming pool, tennis courts and a sauna — the kind of place that would have sold quickly just a year ago, according to real estate agent Kanney Zhang. Not now.
Zhang is shopping it for a discounted $3.68 million, but nobody’s biting. Her clients, a couple from China, are getting anxious. They’re the kind of well-heeled international investors who fueled a four-year luxury real estate boom that helped pull America out of its worst housing slump since the 1930s. Now the couple is reeling from the selloff in the Chinese stock market and looking to raise cash to shore up finances.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-26/at-3-68-million-this-california-home-has-everything-but-buyers
Lo and behold, a holiday in India today. No one really mentioned it, Not one person working, no support and no work accomplished but a release scheduled Friday. Of course, our whole ops team was in for MLK. Hear it is 3 day thing.
Bystander welcome to NJ. Wife and I easily due 150 hrs combined together (that includes weekends). Some nights she or I pull 11pm -5am only to get up at 6 and get the kids ready for school and be at work by 8am.
Boomerang buyers huh?
What’s Next for the Housing Market?
At the same time, despite the Fed’s first rate increase, mortgage rates remain low and banks are finally loosening credit conditions. Both of those factors are drawing more buyers into the market, further increasing housing demand.
One interesting group is the “boomerang buyers” — homeowners who lost their homes during the recession and are ready to jump back into the market. Some 7.3 million Americans lost their homes to foreclosures or short sales — two events that can stay on your credit report for up to seven years — from 2007 to 2014, according to real estate data company RealtyTrac. If they have no other major credit issues lingering, those first foreclosed owners are now coming out of the financial doghouse and qualify for a mortgage. RealtyTrac projects that 250,000 to 500,000 boomerang-ers will come back into the market this year, with another million or so more in the next few years.
http://time.com/money/4193040/real-estate-housing-market/
Expat, watch some youtube videos filmed by people who aren’t selling tires. The results aren’t as great.
[72] yome,
That smells of BS on so many levels. First, I don’t believe a word out of Tom Delay’s mouth. Second, I don’t know that you will see any recommendation to indict, and if you did, you won’t hear about it. Third, I find it highly improbable that the FBI would go loud if (when) the DoJ doesn’t indict.
[77] expat
” I think the worst compromise to make on the road in the Northeast is driving the same tires all year. You can get away with it if you have 4WD”
Copy that. Even with AWD, I made sure that I had new rubber on before the start of winter.
My 2008 ford borrowed AWD from the Volvo bin, it smashes through snow going up hill. I got a lot of horn blowes and finger salutes when I past stuck cars as I blew by in the oncoming traffic lane. hmm I sound liek a suburu commercial. que in acoustic guitar.
I did a lot of research into this 15 years ago. Maybe a lot has changed, but this is what I came up with by interviewing successful managers of outsourced teams:
1. If you don’t require a team of at least 6, forget it.
2. You need a strong manager(back then, paid about $75K US) at the outsourced site.
3. You need an even stronger manager here(back then, paid about $100K US, I figure $140-$150K now?) in the US whose SOLE job is to manage that foreign team. No US based responsibilities and not usually an existing manager. Someone new who will adapt to the foreign schedule to manage them from here and nothing else)
4. The US manager needs to travel there at least twice a year.
5. The two best programmers need to travel to the US at least once a year and get a paid a US wage for about two months while they are here.
6. Number 5 assures that the entire team will compete for those two coveted spots.
If you are not willing to devote the capital to do all those things, you might as well forget it.
re: H1B. Our whole dev team was outsourced to India a year ago. There is now one other person and myself in US dealing with 25 team members in India. The other side of coin is even though you may have a job here, the time difference makes it hard to accomplish much. One person in India overlaps for two hours EST but there is so much consideration for India team due to high turnover. So many jobs there and so little here. US mgmt. would rather have us to get on calls at 11pm. With a young family, I have basically refused to date. Not working 10 hours, getting home to get on other calls because company is cheap and selfish. They introduced inefficiencies and chaos via outsourcing so let them deal with project delays.
NY Times:
A tidal wave of US corporations leaving the country.
90- Parasites, take and take until nothing is left.
“Even Carl C. Icahn, the activist investor who has long pushed companies to consider cost-saving maneuvers, has now begun to worry about the harmful effect of corporate inversions. He has begun waging a campaign in Washington to reform the corporate tax system.
“How will representatives and senators, with an election year approaching, explain to their constituents why they are out of work because their employers left the country, when it could so easily have been avoided?” he wrote on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times last month.
And consider this: Johnson Controls, currently based in Milwaukee, has aggressively sought — and received — a series of tax breaks and other deductions to do business in the United States. Between 1992 and 2009, the company received at least $149 million in tax breaks from Michigan alone. Last year, Johnson Controls had to pay a $3.75 million penalty to Michigan after it received a $75 million tax break in exchange for creating 400 jobs at its Holland lithium ion plant. The company fell short on the job creation, so it was forced to compensate the state and give up its tax-exempt status at the plant. In 2011, Johnson received a tax break from Kentucky in exchange for expanding its operations there.
Johnson Controls said on Monday that the Tyco deal was not a tax-driven transaction but was being done for strategic reasons.
At this point, it would be easy to cue the national anthem and argue about the need for corporate patriotism and loyalty to the United States. But unfortunately, simply shaming companies that reduce their tax bill through these inversion maneuvers isn’t a solution. And pushing for laws to bar companies from these deals seems increasingly quixotic. Every time a new tax law is enacted, the lawyers and accountants find a way around it.
Ultimately, the only way inversions will stop is when the corporate tax code changes so it becomes more attractive for American companies to be American companies.”
Scumbags, just take and take and never ever give back. Should have let them fail, they have no allegiance to this country.
““Speaking for our company, and, I am sure for all auto parts suppliers, we respectfully urge the members of this committee, and the Congress as a whole, to provide the financial support the automakers need at this critical time,” Keith Wandell, then the president of Johnson Controls, said, warning that the failure of even one automobile company would “implode” the supply chain and lead to broad job losses.
Congress approved a bailout plan worth almost $80 billion for General Motors and Chrysler, saving the automakers and, indirectly, suppliers like Johnson Controls. By 2010, with its business back on track, Johnson Controls doubled the pay of Stephen Roell, then its chief executive, to more than $15 million.
Despite the federal government’s rescue — and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks over the last several decades from states like Michigan and Wisconsin — Johnson Controls said on Monday it was renouncing its United States corporate citizenship by selling itself to Tyco International, based in Ireland, a deal struck in large part to reduce its tax bill, which it said should drop by about $150 million annually.”
92- Used jobs as a scapegoat to get a bailout, but then 7 years later destroys jobs with pure greed. Now their ceo doesn’t care about U.S. jobs? I love how they double their ceo’s pay to 15 million two years after a bailout from the taxpayer. Can’t make this stuff up, there is no limit to their lust for money.
Pumps,
Capitalism is just that- lust for money.
There is no patriotism for true Capitalists.
True Capitalists are more patriotic for their favorite sports team than they are for the USA….
Very interesting news…..
China warns George Soros against going to ‘war’ on its currency
China has officially issued a warning to George Soros: Beware of going to “war on the renminbi.”
The message comes in a piece published in China’s People’s Daily titled “Declaring war on China’s currency? Ha ha.”
People’s Daily is the Communist Party’s mouthpiece.
“Soros’s war on the renminbi and the Hong Kong dollar cannot possibly succeed — about this there can be no doubt,” the opinion piece by a commerce ministry researcher warned, according to the Financial Times.
http://www.businessinsider.com/china-warned-george-soros-against-war-on-the-renminbi-2016-1
90.
And herein lies the problem…
From the article
“Every time a new tax law is enacted, the lawyers and accountants find a way around it.”
H-1B…
It’s become much worse over the last 8-10 years. A walk through the building feels like a walk through another country. The numbers must be close to 90%. People don’t speak English on the elevators. These were all good-paying jobs for Americans wiped out by greed. The spouse can also work, so that’s two middle-class American jobs eliminated for each H-1B brought in from India. And it’s the same story among senior managers, it’s not just low-level worker bees.
90/96
Hey donkey, read the last line of your own post. And phoenix, herein lies the problem:
“Ultimately, the only way inversions will stop is when the corporate tax code changes so it becomes more attractive for American companies to be American companies.”
Are you guys unpatriotic when you availed yourself of the mortgage interest deduction upon leaving your rental and moving into your first house?
From Jeopardy last night:
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith
and see my post 70 here
Bingo. Human nature always ruins whatever system it touches. They always try to find a way around rules. It doesn’t take Einstein to realize that rules are in place for a reason. These idiots fight against rules, claiming that rules hurt business. Rules only hurt business and the community when the rules are broken.
Raymond Reddington formerly Phoenix says: says:
January 26, 2016 at 11:16 am
90.
And herein lies the problem…
From the article
“Every time a new tax law is enacted, the lawyers and accountants find a way around it.”
“They always try to find a way around rules. It doesn’t take Einstein to realize that rules are in place for a reason.”
Ahhh, the wonder of the liberal mind, simultaneously small and arrogant.
One exactly complies with and right up to a law – remember, no one is accusing corporations of doing anything illegal with inversions. Yet because the actions do not comport with YOUR view, these perfectly legal actions are deemed loopholes.
Priceless.
98.
Nasty lowbrow comment. I take the source into consideration, however.
Anyway, did read the last line.
It is not a fact. It is only an opinion.
I don’t agree with that opinion. Excerpt
“Ultimately, the only way
Sorry, don’t believe its the “only way.”
Static thought vs dynamic.
There are other ways. One must be more creative…
Martin Shkreli for president!
FBI going public? Bwaaaaaaaaaaa….
Deepthroat II
Possible Active Shooter Reported at Naval Medical Center San Diego
A possible active shooter has been reported at Naval Medical Center San Diego, according to the federal health facility’s Facebook page.
“An active shooter has just been been reported in building #26 at Naval Medical Center San Diego. All occupants are advised to run, hide or fight. All non-emergency response personnel are asked to stay away from the compound,” the Naval Medical Center posted just after 8 a.m. PT.
A law enforcement official told NBC News that Navy personnel were going room-to-room after getting reports of shots fired.
Building 26 of the sprawling facility, which employs more than 6,500 military, civilian, contractor and volunteer personnel, houses a fitness center and a rec room, among other things, according to the center’s website.
Located about 2 1/2 miles from downtown San Diego, the 272-bed hospital has personnel who deploy to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Djibouti and aboard the USNS Mercy, a Navy hospital ship.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/possible-active-shooter-reported-naval-medical-center-san-diego-n504521
Some nut shot up a school in Canada a few days ago too.
Nothing lowbrow about it, and it was Pumps who sourced the quote.
Actually, that quote was highly accurate.
However, I do note that you did not answer the question.
You truly do think like a donkey when you make outrageous statements like that. What does the mortgage deduction have to do with inversions? Am I leaving the country if they don’t lower my taxes after taking a govt bailout to save my business. Your thought process is a sign of sickness. No person thinking logically defends this crap.
It’s like you are a cheerleader for the destruction of our country. You clearly want corporations to pay almost nothing in taxes, how can the country function with almost no tax payments from corporations. Why don’t you move to another country since you support the destruction of this one.
leftwing says:
January 26, 2016 at 11:34 am
90/96
Hey donkey, read the last line of your own post. And phoenix, herein lies the problem:
“Ultimately, the only way inversions will stop is when the corporate tax code changes so it becomes more attractive for American companies to be American companies.”
Are you guys unpatriotic when you availed yourself of the mortgage interest deduction upon leaving your rental and moving into your first house
US to Multinational Corporations:
“If you are domiciled outside of the US we will tax you this way. If you are domiciled inside the US we will tax you more.”
Multinational Corporations to US:
“We choose option 1.”
Liberals: “Cheaters! Unpatriotic! Loopholes!”
Realists: “Smart.”
Simple enough, my lefty friends?
Ahh, the famous I wasn’t doing anything illegal says the guy with no morals. Trump said the same thing when he knowingly took advantage of the bankruptcy laws to make money off the taxpayer. Of course, since they found a way to manipulate the law you see nothing wrong with it. You are the problem, sir. Your support of this bs is something this country doesn’t need right now. It’s clearly a diversion of the law, but of course you have no problem with it.
leftwing says:
January 26, 2016 at 11:45 am
“They always try to find a way around rules. It doesn’t take Einstein to realize that rules are in place for a reason.”
Ahhh, the wonder of the liberal mind, simultaneously small and arrogant.
One exactly complies with and right up to a law – remember, no one is accusing corporations of doing anything illegal with inversions. Yet because the actions do not comport with YOUR view, these perfectly legal actions are deemed loopholes.
Priceless.
Once again, this reads as if you want them to pay almost nothing. They are not over taxed. That is complete bs. If anything, they are under-taxed. Why can’t you understand this. You only care about profit, you do not care about society.
leftwing says:
January 26, 2016 at 12:14 pm
US to Multinational Corporations:
“If you are domiciled outside of the US we will tax you this way. If you are domiciled inside the US we will tax you more.”
Multinational Corporations to US:
“We choose option 1.”
Liberals: “Cheaters! Unpatriotic! Loopholes!”
Realists: “Smart.”
Simple enough, my lefty friends?
“Why don’t you move to another country since you support the destruction of this one.”
Pumps, why don’t you move to another country since the voracious maw of your reckless confiscation and spending is causing the destruction of this one?
And if you can’t truly understand the analogy of a corporation and an individual making domicile decisions based on the tax laws of this country you are proving my point.
Individuals openly discuss moving based on mortgage tax savings (ie, legal tax avoidance), yet it is somehow horrific for corporations to do the same?
Get out of my great country, you feckless dependent p1g.
Well said, and completely agree.
Raymond Reddington formerly Phoenix says: says:
January 26, 2016 at 11:52 am
98.
Nasty lowbrow comment. I take the source into consideration, however.
Anyway, did read the last line.
It is not a fact. It is only an opinion.
I don’t agree with that opinion. Excerpt
“Ultimately, the only way
Sorry, don’t believe its the “only way.”
Static thought vs dynamic.
There are other ways. One must be more creative…
“Why don’t you move to another country since you support the destruction of this one.”
Pumps, why don’t you move to another country since the voracious maw of your reckless conf1scation and spending is causing the destruction of this one?
And if you can’t truly understand the analogy of a corporation and an individual making domicile decisions based on the tax laws of this country you are proving my point.
Individuals openly discuss moving based on mortgage tax savings (ie, legal tax avoidance), yet it is somehow horr1fic for corporations to do the same?
Get out of my great country, you 1nept dependent p1g.
“Why don’t you move to another country since you support the destruction of this one.”
Pumps, why don’t you move to another country since the endless appetite of your reckless conf1scation and spending is causing the d3struction of this one?
And if you can’t truly understand the analogy of a corporation and an individual making dom1cile decisions based on the tax laws of this country you are proving my point.
Individuals openly discuss moving based on mortgage tax savings (ie, legal tax avo1dance), yet it is somehow horr1fic for corporations to do the same?
Get out of my great country, you 1nept dependent p1g.
Grim, have a moderated response for Pumps, if it passes your muster lol.
Summary, much less emphasis than in moderation:
Pumps get out of my great country. You and your ideals are the dang3r.
111/112
You are truly an amazing specimen.
History as rarely seen one so irrelevant yet so arrogant as to presume to set the moral code.
what snow?
Subaru all the way. top of the line snowblower
we ain’t in Cuba as Rafael Cruz seems to think. good gear is available and makes life easier
walking bye says:
January 26, 2016 at 10:06 am
My 2008 ford borrowed AWD from the Volvo bin, it smashes through snow going up hill. I got a lot of horn blowes and finger salutes when I past stuck cars as I blew by in the oncoming traffic lane. hmm I sound liek a suburu commercial. que in acoustic guitar.
NEWS JAN 25 2016, 6:51 AM ET
Mississippi Gun-Store Owner and Son Die in Shootout with Customers
by SHAMAR WALTERS and ALEXANDER SMITH
if only that gun-store owner had access to guns….
Please do not feed the trolls. They need to learn to feed themselves and not depend on others.
And what exactly is moral about taking advantage of loopholes in law?
It’s not hard to understand what is the difference between moral and immoral when it comes to tax laws or the law in general.
leftwing says:
January 26, 2016 at 12:52 pm
111/112
You are truly an amazing specimen.
History as rarely seen one so irrelevant yet so arrogant as to presume to set the moral code.
Yes, tell that to the big businesses look for help from the govt. What’s the matter, they can’t help themselves, instead they must turn to other countries to increase their profit by having these countries act as tax shelters by offering artificially low tax propositions that established economies can not offer?
D-FENS says:
January 26, 2016 at 12:57 pm
Please do not feed the trolls. They need to learn to feed themselves and not depend on others.
* looking for help from…
Yes, it’s smart to rip off your fellow citizens. This mindset is terrible. No society can function long term on such selfish motivations. Yes, it’s “smart” to rip off the govt aka everyone else. Let’s cheer on this type of behavior!
“Multinational Corporations to US:
“We choose option 1.”
Liberals: “Cheaters! Unpatriotic! Loopholes!”
Realists: “Smart.”
Simple enough, my lefty friends?”
Survival of the richest.
Various, above:
I’m tapping out again. If you can’t understand that ‘loophole’ is a subject judgment and that you have no right to set subjective measures on law abiding entities then it’s pointless to try to discuss. Again, please simply answer how you live with yourself using the mortgage interest deduction loophole.
Anone/Plumpkin [112];
You only care about profit, you do not care about society.
And society doesn’t care about me.
Quiet day today (once I scroll past the pump posts).
That’s because everyone here is celebrating India Republic Day.
Interesting…no?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/beware-wal-marts-raises-not-163730718.html
Loophole defined by Merriam-Webster: a means of escape; especially : an ambiguity or omission in the text through which the intent of a statute, contract, or obligation may be evaded.
A good lawyer will tell you it’s legal.
Is it moral? Depends on your point of view on the topic but a good lawyer will also tell you that means nothing.
I’m tapping out too, you are comparing a mortgage deduction that actually benefits our country by getting people to purchase real estate to a tax law being used by corporations in off-shore tax havens to stick the finger to the rest of the citizens in the name of larger profit. Your thinking process is sad. No sane individual would approve of this behavior unless they are in on the scam too.
leftwing says:
January 26, 2016 at 1:32 pm
Various, above:
I’m tapping out again. If you can’t understand that ‘loophole’ is a subject judgment and that you have no right to set subjective measures on law abiding entities then it’s pointless to try to discuss. Again, please simply answer how you live with yourself using the mortgage interest deduction loophole.
[70] leftwing
“I can’t wait for the first major American company to *organically* move its headquarters.”
That is coming. The finger-in-dike approach our tax code writers take make this inevitable. Once they decide to deem corporations with substantial presence or HQs here as “american” regardless of declared tax domicile, the incentive to move lock, stock and barrel becomes that much more pronounced.
(Boy, I wish JJ was here. That was a hanging curve).
Interesting cross-border tax discussion today and I wasn’t even the one to kick the hornet’s nest.
Out of pocket all day tomorrow. Meeting at the GM building in mid-town.
#129 – I’m NOT going to type anything about that….I’m NOT going to type anything about that…I’m NOT going to type anything about that.
Almost wrote something I’d regret (though the truth).
[132] pumpkin
“I’m tapping out too, you are comparing a mortgage deduction that actually benefits our country by getting people to purchase real estate”
Really?
How exactly does it “benefit”? Would that property go unsold otherwise? Are their gains that go untaxed? Aside from the windowbox effect, what exactly are the “benefits” and does it justify the MID?
And if it is such a benefit, why do so many economists and tax policy wonks (most of them liberals) want to do away with this particular “tax expenditure”?
As someone who pays their fair share in taxes to my illegitimate Uncle Sam, you can easily be pissed off to see someone or a corporation take advantage of a loophole to pay less. It sucks that you don’t have the “option”, but that’s life.
Knowing is half the battle. GI Joe
130- ” “Running and owning a business is the American way, a fair days pay for a fair days work. Allowing CEOs (who sit on one another’s board of directors) to win the lottery each year, while ‘not creating jobs’….is called an Oligarchy…i.e. Un-American.”
Yes and its nothing new. Thomas Jefferson foretold of this oligarchy way back in 1825.
“Consolidation becomes the 4th chapter of the next book of their history. But this opens with a vast accession of strength from their younger recruits, who having nothing in them of the feelings or principles of ’76 now look to a single and splendid government of an Aristocracy, founded on banking institutions and monied incorporations under the guise and cloak of their favored branches of manufactures commerce and navigation, riding and ruling over the plundered ploughman and beggared yeomanry. This will be to them a next best blessing to the Monarchy of their first aim, and perhaps the surest stepping stone to it.”
The US has become a nation of “plundered ploughman and beggared yeomanry”. By the time Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in 1863 “government “of the people, by the people, for the people” had ALREADY vanished from the earth.”
RIP Vigoda
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/01/26/barney-miller-actor-abe-vigoda-dies-at-4/
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
ChiFi is gonna plotz.
Abe died in West Paterson. NJ will do that even to the immortal.
He even got a snopes.com obit…
Character Actor Abe Vigoda Dead at 94
Actor long thought by many to be dead finally dies for real.
http://www.snopes.com/2016/01/26/abe-vigoda-dead/
I guess it really is the endtimes.
Abe Vigoda’s death = the start of the Apocalypse
Why couldn’t it have been Anon!
Abe Vigoda, ‘Godfather’ Turncoat and TV Detective, Dies at 94
He ain’t dead it is a hoax!!!! Just like me I am alive!!!
JJ>Vigoda
Does this mean JJ is now immortal?
2010 (95)-
The Chinese should read up on what Soros did to break the Bank of England. Shouldn’t be hard to deep six a currency that’s already pegged out the wazoo and premised upon one of the biggest economic frauds of all time.
Dumbasses. Their whole shitshow is headed straight off a cliff at 150 mph.
“Soros’ war on the renminbi and the Hong Kong dollar cannot possibly succeed — about this there can be no doubt,” the opinion piece by a commerce ministry researcher warned, according to the Financial Times.
dfens (148)-
Does it mean JJ’s employed?
I think his immortality is a settled question.
“Does this mean JJ is now immortal?”
Chinese whoring out their currency has certainly helped form a floor under PMs, though.
Shinee, bitchezzzz!
Abe Vigoda bites it….
Vigoda < All aged 95+
Vigoda, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Vigoda, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Vigoda, there is a JJ. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no JJ. It would be as dreary as if there were no Vigodas. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in JJ! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch JJ, but even if they did not see JJ coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees JJ, but that is no sign that there is no JJ. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Vigoda, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No JJ! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Vigoda, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of bridge and tunnel girls.
Nom, where exactly does the money from the deduction go? Right back into the hands of the biggest spenders in our economy. Who does this help? Every single person by strengthening the economy at all levels. Mortgage deduction is the only actual deduction that helps the middle class. Wealthy really don’t take out mortgages, they pay in cash. Poor just rent. Those two groups get everything from the govt at the middle class(aka worker class) expense. Why do you want to beat up the middle class even more? Is the mortgage deduction making them rich, or is it helping them to contribute to the American economy?
Where does the money go on these tax inversions? It’s gone with the wind! It helps only a select few. It does absolutely nothing for our economy, it actually helps some off-shore tax haven make country make easy money. That country did nothing for that company in the form of tax spending investment on their infrastructure to help their business. All they did was provide a way for these companies to hide money from the U.S. govt and for that, they don’t deserve a dime.
Comrade Nom Deplume, screwing around at work says:
January 26, 2016 at 1:59 pm
[132] pumpkin
“I’m tapping out too, you are comparing a mortgage deduction that actually benefits our country by getting people to purchase real estate”
Really?
How exactly does it “benefit”? Would that property go unsold otherwise? Are their gains that go untaxed? Aside from the windowbox effect, what exactly are the “benefits” and does it justify the MID?
And if it is such a benefit, why do so many economists and tax policy wonks (most of them liberals) want to do away with this particular “tax expenditure”?
Mortgage deduction is the only actual deduction that helps the middle class
The only thing mortgage deduction has done is shift prices upward and force newcomers to the market to pay more. The only winners from this stupid policy were the ones who bought prior to mortgage deduction.
The pumpkin speaks gibberish, as usual, while thinking he’s the life of the party. What a boor. Pumpkin is to this board as Mr. Collins was to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”
Barney Miller had one of the best theme songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roHYXrLhmHc
Taken too soon
If the Fed doesn’t say anything stupid tomorrow we might be off to the races for the next several weeks.
I think your talk focused on the “individual” is gibberish. You act like one individual built the world we live in. Humans have always been better at working together as opposed to individually going at it. Show me just one instance of someone doing something great without anyone’s help. Good luck!
Ragnar says:
January 26, 2016 at 4:05 pm
The pumpkin speaks gibberish, as usual, while thinking he’s the life of the party. What a boor. Pumpkin is to this board as Mr. Collins was to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”
Fairness makes you feel sick? Who knew?
New Koch
The Kochs’ strategy began to change after the last Presidential election. Having spent so much money trying to defeat Obama, they were stunned when he was reëlected. As late as Election Day, their political advisers were assuring them that Mitt Romney had secured the Presidency. The 2012 defeat led the Kochs and their advisers into an intense period of review. Most of the postmortem took place in private, but in March, 2013, a clue to the Kochs’ line of thinking was offered by Arthur Brooks…………Brooks told the audience that a single statistic explained why conservatives had lost. In polls, he said, only a third of respondents agreed that Republicans “cared about people like” them. And fewer than half of Americans believed that Republicans cared about the poor. Conservatives had an empathy problem. This was important, Brooks explained, because Americans almost universally believed that “fairness matters.” He went on, “I know it makes you sick to think of that word, ‘fairness.’ ” But Americans, he said, overwhelmingly believed that “it’s right to help the vulnerable.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/25/new-koch
Newcomers to the market always pay more. You think the mortgage deduction is responsible for that?
How much of an impact does the mortgage deduction have on the price? You act like it’s increasing the price 50%.
Ben says:
January 26, 2016 at 3:55 pm
Mortgage deduction is the only actual deduction that helps the middle class
The only thing mortgage deduction has done is shift prices upward and force newcomers to the market to pay more. The only winners from this stupid policy were the ones who bought prior to mortgage deduction.
163- Anyway, I thought you and others on here stated that the price of real estate doesn’t go up, that it only keeps up with inflation. So how you can state that and at the same time state that the mortgage deduction raises the price? A little contradiction?
[164] Pumpkin
Joe: How can I lower my tax bill?
Tax Guy: You need more deductions?
Joe: Like what?
Tax Guy: Buy a house, increase your 401K contribution, etc
Joe: Ok so I have to go out and buy a house?
Tax Guy: Yes
RE Agent: I have this lovely house I want to show you
Joe (thinking to himself): This is a POS
Wife: I like this house, we will have to redo the kitchen and and master bath but I love it.
RE Agent: Buy now or forever be priced out the market!!
Wife (giving the look): buy it or no more nookie
Joe: How much to get this house?
That’s how a mortgage deduction = price increase; more or less
expat (160)-
I have infinite faith in Janet Yellen’s ability to say something stupid.
“If the Fed doesn’t say anything stupid tomorrow we might be off to the races for the next several weeks.”
2010 (162)-
If kinder and gentler is supposed to win the Rethugs this election, why are all the candidates in pitched battle to establish which one is the most sadistic and callous?
Rethugs are the party of ‘no’. Anything beyond that is above their intelligence level.
Really, where the f- is the punkin’ blocking software?
2010 (165)-
You left out the equity stripping part.
Should we send someone over to chifi’s house to look in on him?
[170] Splat
Just trying to get him away from literal thinking
Splat,
The Republicans are only the party of no when they aren’t in control. When they are in power, they spend like crazy. Their highway spending bills were massive. And GWB put drugs on Medicare. Reagan talked about cutting spending, but in reality increased government spending substantially. No mainstream republicans even talk about cutting spending anymore. I think Rand Paul may have mentioned it, but he clearly isn’t taken very seriously.
Don’t call Tessio a common turncoat. Even Michael said it was the smart move.
rags (173)-
Really, the Rethugs can’t top selling weapons to Iran and then funneling the profits to Nicaraguan insurgents. Rabbit hole economics at its very best.
2010 (172)-
That’s always tough to do with invertebrates.
“Just trying to get him away from literal thinking”
Isn’t that a good thing? Someone that normally wouldn’t buy a house, now buys a house. They will now help create jobs by updating and fixing the house, right? I think it’s a positive, but maybe I’m seeing it wrong?
FKA 2010 Buyer says:
January 26, 2016 at 5:07 pm
[164] Pumpkin
Joe: How can I lower my tax bill?
Tax Guy: You need more deductions?
Joe: Like what?
Tax Guy: Buy a house, increase your 401K contribution, etc
Joe: Ok so I have to go out and buy a house?
Tax Guy: Yes
RE Agent: I have this lovely house I want to show you
Joe (thinking to himself): This is a POS
Wife: I like this house, we will have to redo the kitchen and and master bath but I love it.
RE Agent: Buy now or forever be priced out the market!!
Wife (giving the look): buy it or no more nookie
Joe: How much to get this house?
That’s how a mortgage deduction = price increase; more or less
Some very strong points in the debate about mortgage deduction.
“The mortgage interest deduction makes it possible for many to buy a home – the value of the deduction drops as the principal is paid. The so-called “more benefit” for the rich and upper middle class is taken away by the alternate minimum tax. The suggestion “personal income tax rate could be lowered by 6 percent” would benefit the upper class.”
“The Joint Committee on Taxation says the revenue lost due to the mortgage interest deduction between 2012 and 2016 comes to $364 billion, while reduced rates of tax on dividends and long term capital gains results in a loss of revenue to federal government of $596 billion over the same period in the JCT’s report. I don’t see how the mortgage interest deduction deserves special criticism in the light of that, especially since you don’t put the deduction in the broad context of all tax loss expenditures. Some special interests are more special than others, apparently. It sounds to me like you have a bias against home ownership, which if you were honest you’d disclose. I can only guess: you’re a libertarian who hates it that people want to settle down and raise families. You also fail to mention even larger pots of money which don’t get taxed, like when employers provide contributions for healthcare, health insurance and long term care insurance, they legally exclude those sums from taxation which costs government $706.6 billion over the period mentioned. Or consider the sums excluded from taxation put into retirement plans each year. The JCT estimates the lost revenue from that at $505.3 billion over the period. I count 21 line items in the report all in excess of $119 billion totaling a whopping $5.25 trillion over the period, of which the mortgage interest deduction represents 7%. Whoopdeedo.”
“While the MID may not be as universally beneficial as one would hope, the authors and headline writers seem to have lost track of the relative significance of $51 per month to a household earning $50,000 or less. Taken as a percentage of their take home pay it is, in fact, significant. If you think not, try asking them how they would feel about having $51 per month extra to spend (I bet many of them work for you so they shouldn’t be hard to find). Please, take a minute to get the full perspective before you make judgmental comments about the impacts of tax policy. You may well be right in the big picture; however, your insensitivity here is annoying and detracts from your argument.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/12/18/mortgage-interest-deduction-saves-middle-class-taxpayers-all-of-51month/#20918e5e3a54
Newcomers to the market always pay more. You think the mortgage deduction is responsible for that?
How much of an impact does the mortgage deduction have on the price? You act like it’s increasing the price 50%.
That’s it, put out a fake number that you made up to try to argue my point.
Sure…inflation is real. But if you are going to try to argue that mortgage deduction doesn’t positively affect prices, you are wrong.
If we eliminated mortgage interest deduction today without replacing it with another housing subsidy, I’m sure prices drop by 20% over the course of a year or two.
Anyway, I thought you and others on here stated that the price of real estate doesn’t go up, that it only keeps up with inflation. So how you can state that and at the same time state that the mortgage deduction raises the price? A little contradiction?
I can’t argue with you…you are arguing with yourself.
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
De(a)dicated to Libturd and Tessio:
http://nypost.com/2016/01/26/dead-gambler-embalmed-propped-up-at-poker-table/
http://memeforge.net/view-meme.php?id=106
“But growth isn’t the only thing that matters in an economy. Distribution matters too. All this time, I’ve been talking about per capita GDP, but a better measure of the typical person’s standard of living is median income — or the amount that splits the income distribution into two equal halfs. When inequality increases, the median increases more slowly than the average, because more of the increase is going to the people at the top of the distribution.
This has, in fact, been happening. Real median household income in the U.S. has been falling since the late 1990s, and is now down to around where it was in the late 1980s. Part of that is due to shrinking household size — fewer people living together in the same house. Part is due to population aging. Part is a composition effect, due to the large amount of low-skilled immigration in the 1990s and 2000s. And part is due to the tremendous increase in medical costs, which means that more of workers’ compensation had to be paid in the form of health benefits rather than income. Once we account for these factors, median income has probably been little changed for the past 15 years or so.
But this isn’t good. Even though new technology has raised living standards more than the income numbers might suggest, stagnant income for the typical American is still a reason for worry. To increase prosperity for the vast majority of Americans, the U.S. doesn’t just need growth — it needs a way to funnel that growth to the masses instead of just to the people at the top. That may prove to be an even trickier task than boosting growth itself.”
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-01-25/the-price-americans-pay-for-slow-growth
RAgs, comment from that article, think this is right up your alley.
“You cant have any meaningful economic growth with
#1) such a very low total fertility rate
#1a) where 41% of that fertility rate is born out of wedlock
#2) when the majority of our immigrants are from the 3rd world and are
#2a) uneducated
#2b) non-technical
#2c) non-English speaking
#2d) are here unlawfully and
#3) our culture is one of consumption, spending and NOT saving and wealth accumulation
To think that government is actually having conversations about how to give kids free college education (with our debt already so high) is just icing on the cake. Our leaders aren’t the least bit interested in economic growth. They don’t live in the world of reality. And the will not choose to listen to economists who tell them reality.”
Noon taken way to soon. That and I lost my over under had vigo da at 101
Ben, maybe we both are wrong. It really doesn’t have as much of an impact as we think.
“Would eliminating the mortgage interest deduction decrease homeownership rates?
Since only those who itemize deductions gain from the credit, the answer is likely no. If you itemize deductions, you’re probably relatively wealthy. And if you’re relatively wealthy, you’re probably going to own rather than rent regardless of tax incentives.
There are good historical examples backing this up. Homeownership rates in the U.K. actually rose after it eliminated a mortgage interest deduction in 2000, from approximately 70% to around 72% by 2005. Furthermore, homeownership rates in the U.S. are roughly equal to those in Canada and Australia, both of which don’t allow mortgage interest deduction. The correlation between mortgage interest deductions and homeownership rates seems elusive.”
“I was in the UK (and buying houses) while the mtg interest deduction was phased out over a number of years. After much huffing and puffing beforehand, when the phaseout came, the sun continued to rise and set, life went on, and not much changed. Property prices certainly did not go down 10% as a result. It was pretty much a non-event. It certainly didn’t stop the UK property bubble that was in progress at the time nor the current one which accelerated with really loose lending some 10 yrs later.”
Here in NC, we are 4 days out from the storm and our 3.5″ of sleet and today was the first day we could see blacktop. I still can’t get up my driveway. They really do NOT know how to deal with this stuff.
Meanwhile, back in NJ, my fully renovated POS cape in the Pascack Valley is under contract…not for what I asked, but close enough. Busy open house, 9 showings, 3 offers, 1 insulting lowball. Winning offer came in 1% under asking. Good enough for me. Let’s not get greedy. As of April 1 I’ll be shelling out $300/month for property taxes and $200 for utilities AND THAT’S IT. The Triangle is fantastic. Except for the obnoxious NJ drivers.
185- Rags, this guy speaks your language. This is a response from him to someone attacking his position in post 185. Maybe I’m guilty of being a “dreamer” too.
“I’m not wrong about any of what I wrote. I don’t care what you think human capital is supposed to do or not supposed to do. When you look at trends measuring human capital multiplying efforts, were those people largely born in wedlock and were they all English speaking with a WASP heritage? You need to look at the data more deeply to truly understand what kind of soup we are all in (and have been in for a few decades.)
We can’t even begin to talk about economic growth until everyone buys-in on what the real problem is. I have identified the problems. And if I wanted to fix them, I would be out-voted by the “dreamers” because reality doesn’t matter, only ideals. The only ideals that put saved cash into my daughter’s bank-account, are the ones of thrift, temperance, and deferred gratification. You don’t get a lot of that kind of talk with any of our nation’s leaders and kids are not learning that at home.
Ignorance may in fact be blissful, but ignorance of the demographics is a economic nightmare.”
Ben (179)-
Gotta remember that in any argument with pumpty, you have to assume he’s in favor of the reckless financialization of any kind of economic activity.
…just relieved chifi hasn’t done something rash…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3415480/Now-S-extreme-holiday-home-New-Yorker-builds-igloo-garden-Storm-Jonas-lists-Air-BnB-140-night.html
[155] pumpkin
“Nom, where exactly does the money from the deduction go? Right back into the hands of the biggest spenders in our economy.”
Actually, I think it is a return of the percentage of the price they paid for the house, a percentage that was higher than it would have been without the MID.
“Who does this help? Every single person by strengthening the economy at all levels.”
It is a transfer and contributes to the velocity of money. But it is likely a substitute transfer and since it is a transfer of wealth that is based on the questionable value of an underlying asset, that transfer can be “reversed” if you will as it was in 2008. So what is the net?
“Mortgage deduction is the only actual deduction that helps the middle class. Wealthy really don’t take out mortgages, they pay in cash. Poor just rent. Those two groups get everything from the govt at the middle class(aka worker class) expense.”
Actually, the folks who want to get rid of the MID argue that it inures to the benefit of the wealthy.
“Why do you want to beat up the middle class even more? Is the mortgage deduction making them rich, or is it helping them to contribute to the American economy?”
A sophist’s tool. Might as well ask me when I stopped beating my wife.
As for the inversion piece, I didn’t read it because it wasn’t relevant to the discussion of the MID.
I am going to midtown tomorrow for a creditors meeting. Debtor’s attorney wrote a fluff opposition to our client’s motion that was astonishing for the Pumpkin-like arguments he flung onto the page. Considering that the firm is probably the country’s preeminent restructuring shop, I was more than a bit disappointed with the effort. For what they billed the client for that POS, they could have paid some of the administrative claims.
[193] Speaking truth to puerility!
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