What now, shut down the blog? From the WSJ:
Home Prices Recover Ground Lost During Bust
U.S. home prices have climbed back above the record reached more than a decade ago, bringing to a close the worst period for the housing market since the Great Depression and stoking optimism for a more sustainable expansion.
The average home price for September was 0.1% above the July 2006 peak, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price index released Tuesday. As of the previous month’s reading of the Case-Shiller index, a widely used benchmark for U.S. housing, prices remained 0.1% below the July 2006 record.
Adjusted for inflation, the index still is about 16% below the 2006 high. Home prices jumped 5.5% over the past year.
The record caps a four-year recovery from the trough of 2012, when prices sat 27% below the peak after a crash that caused more than nine million American families to lose their homes.
“It’s good news for homeowners out there, especially ones who were able to cling on to their homes,” said Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow, a real-estate research firm. “They saw one of the biggest assets that they had lose a ton of savings.”
While prices have recovered, the market is flashing caution signs. The country is building far fewer homes than normal, the homeownership rate is near a five-decade low, and mortgages remain difficult to come by, especially for less-affluent buyers. Rising mortgage rates could also begin to pose headwinds to further price growth.
Home-price growth has also outpaced income gains, making it more likely that the current rate of appreciation is unsustainable. Home prices have grown at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 5.9% since 2012, while incomes have grown by just 1.3%, according to Case-Shiller. By contrast, from 1975 until the present, prices grew at a rate of 1.1% a year, while per-capita incomes grew 1.9%.
Still, while housing has lagged behind some sectors of the economy in recent years, there are signs of gaining strength: Single-family housing starts rose 11% in October, according to the Commerce Department, and the number of starts remains well below the historical average, suggesting there is room for acceleration.
Likewise, the share of first-time buyers rose to 33% in October from 31% a year earlier, inching closer to the historical average of 40%. The lack of first-time buyers had been a drag on the market.
Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale University who co-developed the index, said the record provides a significant psychological boost for homeowners, some of whom are finally seeing their homes above water after four years of recovery. About 12% of homeowners who have a mortgage now owe more than their home is worth, down from more than 30% at the bottom of the market, according to Zillow.
From Forbes:
U.S. Home Prices Have Climbed To Record Highs, Says S&P/Case-Shiller
Home prices continued to climb in September, setting a new all-time record and surpassing the highs from before the financial crisis.
On a national basis, single-family home prices increased by 5.5%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions. That’s up sharply from 5.1% the month before.
“The new peak…will be seen as marking a shift from the housing recovery to the hoped-for start of a new advance,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in prepared remarks on Tuesday.
Home prices have risen particularly fast out West, with the highest year-over-year price increases in Seattle (11%), Portland (10.9%) and Denver (8.7%). Meanwhile, in cities like Miami, Tampa, Phoenix and Las Vegas, home prices have risen but remain significantly below their record highs.
…
However, amid tight inventory and intense demand, it’s been a tough time to be a buyer. This has forced many people, especially first-time homeowners, to continue renting longer than they would like to.
“It isn’t smart to confuse this full recovery in housing prices with a full recovery in the housing market overall,” said Svengja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow. “Big imbalances still exist between renters and homeowners, and home buyers and home sellers.”
From HousingWire:
Case-Shiller: Home prices finally surpass record highs set a decade ago
Home prices finally surpassed all-time highs set in July 2006 as the housing boom topped out. But despite the steady build up to this the past few months, the new high isn’t necessarily a win.
…
David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, highlighted, “The new peak set by the S&P Case-Shiller CoreLogic National Index will be seen as marking a shift from the housing recovery to the hoped-for start of a new advance.”
However, there’s a significant divide when looking at each city individually.
“While seven of the 20 cities previously reached new post-recession peaks, those that experienced the biggest booms — Miami, Tampa, Phoenix and Las Vegas — remain well below their all-time highs,” Blitzer said.
…
“Crossing this threshold is largely symbolic,” Trulia Chief Economist Ralph McLaughlin explained. “After controlling for inflation, home prices in the U.S. are still about 20% below the peak.”
Similar to Blitzer, McLaughlin stated that the recovery is not even across the board.
“The housing market recovery has been very uneven across the U.S. When controlling for inflation, markets that have reached their pre-recession peaks are few and almost exclusively in the West and South. And within those markets, it’s mostly high-end homes that have surpassed the peak,” McLaughlin said.
He added that while this is not so great news for homebuyers who have seen prices outpace incomes for most of the housing market recovery, it’s good news for homeowners who are no longer underwater.
More good news for the DumbPump, it’s the cost of society:
http://www.paychex.com/articles/payroll-taxes/ssa-ups-earning-cap-for-2017?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=paid%20syndication
Wow, enough time passes and the prices are now a “record”, I seem to recall when the prices were the top of a bubble, no? Now those same prices have a place an esteemed place in history like the ’27 Murderers Row Yankees, I guess? There’s something in technical analysis known as a double top, and it’s not a buying opportunity.
U.S. home prices have climbed back above the record reached more than a decade ago
It will be interesting to see where the new tax plan limits deductions, particularly with mortgages, and if that has any real impact on real estate.
Doubtful that Trump would touch MID.
What’s this I hear about Trump making a deal with Carrier to keep jobs in the U.S.? And he’s not even sworn in yet.
Never too early to get to work I guess.
I find it ironic that so many are pushing for Trump to sell off his businesses entirely, otherwise there would be a conflict of interest.
But the Clintons profiting to the tune of $117 million while holding office, that’s not a problem.
But it is nice to see someone fully embrace the concept of public service.
You know, police chief making near $200k a year, walking away with a multi-million dollar pension – this is not public service.
Walking away from active management of your businesses and taking no salary for the position? This is public service.
Argue all you want, but this was the definition of public service to our founding fathers.
I’m not going to defend his idiocy, or the fact that he is a pathological liar – but this, he gets right.
Cue Ottoman to tell us that the founding fathers were all racist slavers, and nothing they did was worthy of any admiration.
I’m pretty sure MID will be limited, at least proposed, particularly after Mnuchin’s comments this morning on CNBC.
They plan a maximum aggregate deduction…makes sense to me.
A cap I could see, we’ve talked about this before. I think one other area is elimination of mid on vacation or retirement properties, but this is too easy to game.
There are liberal talk show hosts on Boston radio slamming Trump for saving the Carrier jobs right now. Host 1: “That’s not what you want a president to to do, strong-arming companies, he should do it through Congress.” Host 2: “But he isn’t even president yet.”
They should just eliminate home mortgages altogether. Make all home sales cash only. Then you would see what real affordability looks like instead of this government Ponzi pricing.
Oh come on, you know that it wouldn’t benefit the low and middle class.
Goldman Sachs would buy up everything and gladly rent it back to us.
It would also cement the establishment of a separate and permanent landowner class.
Corporations would than have easy access to a benefit that homeowners wouldn’t – they could borrow cheaply, rent, and write off the MID as a business expense.
Damned ‘cuz we did, damned if we don’t.
I wonder if we could ever have anything as big as Chinese electronics manufacturing here in the US, I’m guessing no. 300,000 people working 3 shifts with all related product vendors adjacent to each other. OTOH, if you roped off a mini-China in the center of the US and imported all of the workers and told the liberals to STFU about human rights, etc. ….
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/top-baby-names-2016-reveals-9364002
The UK’s top baby names 2016 – Boys
Oliver (+1 place)
Muhammed (-1 place)
Noah (+1 place)
Harry (+2 places)
Jack (- 2 places)
Charlie (+1 place)
Jacob (-2 places)
George (+ 4 places)
Ethan (- 1 places)
Henry (+8 places)
Lost: as per your last couple of posts last evening. Let me spell it out for you. You are a moron. And a fool.
He’s certainly been sworn at……
Fast Eddie says:
November 30, 2016 at 8:14 am
And he’s not even sworn in yet.
When does the great recovery hit NWNJ?
Quick update to yesterdays washing machine issue, i found that the washer is sharing a 15 amp circuit with the following: a fluorescent tube fixture, a gas water heater exhaust fan, a microwave oven, 4 recessed lights in the kitchen, and two duplex outlets in the basement as well. Needless to say i’ll be calling in an electrician to create a dedicated 20 amp circuit. There appears to be plenty of room in the breaker box for it! We’ll see if the issue remains once this is done. Thanks Stu, Grim…
Host 1: “That’s not what you want a president to to do, strong-arming companies, he should do it through Congress.” Host 2: “But he isn’t even president yet.”
The left is clueless. What a pathetic bunch of p1ss-stained m0rons their party and their followers have become. Go finger your therapy puppy.
Lurker:
a fluorescent tube fixture – Big draw when initially turned on to power the ballast, but low draw after.
a gas water heater exhaust fan – small draw.
a microwave oven – An absolute game changer..1,000 to 1,200 watts is over a KW per hour.
4 recessed lights in the kitchen – If they are not LEDs, once again a big draw, probably 400 to 600 watts.
and two duplex outlets in the basement as well – Depends on what you have plugged into them.
https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Wiring-Repair-Improvement-Updated/dp/0783538626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480517594&sr=1-1&keywords=time%2Flife+repair
Best return on investment you’ll ever obtain. Pick up the plumbing book too. What you pay for electricians and plumbers on their first service can be used to pay for all the tools you’ll ever need. Plus, it’s much quicker to do most of this yourself. If you are concerned about safety, then research the codes online before doing the work. That’s what I do, to massive savings. Good luck.
Private schools salaries are not 30K. Kick it up and Catholic HS salaries are not 30K. Then you have the likes of Delbarton and Stuart, no 30K there.
I am a big proponent of Catholic education, but you need to put all the information out there.
My wife interviewed at Stuart about 11 years ago. They offered her 29k a year.
Was watching Bloomberg yesterday and an odd show (which is about to be cancelled btw) came on called, “With All Due Respect.” It appeared to be an attempt by the left to make up news much like FoxNews does. Actually, it felt exactly like I was watching FoxNews, only it was the left complaining about everything instead of the right. There was one segment where all kind of analysts from both sides of the political spectrum weighed in on the theory that Trump purposely makes controversial tweets to cover up real issues such as the conflict of interest that his business represents. They must have dedicated twenty minutes to this theory. I guess this is the sh1t that sells ads. No mention of the terrorist at Ohio State of course. Then I turned the channel to MSNBC and that libtard Maddow was also talking about Trump tweets. It’s time to just turn off the media already. It’s gotten to the point where the real news isn’t even discussed if something controversial can be fabricated that is found more interesting by the Pavlovian political cheerleaders on the extremes. I understand why there is no middle anymore. It’s boring. Probably much better for everyone’s quality of life. But it doesn’t sell ads.
They should just eliminate home mortgages altogether. Make all home sales cash only. Then you would see what real affordability looks like instead of this government Ponzi pricing.
There’s another way. Eliminate Fannie/Freddie, mortgage interest deduction, and any other subsidy in place.
Never too early to get to work I guess.
I find it ironic that so many are pushing for Trump to sell off his businesses entirely, otherwise there would be a conflict of interest.
But the Clintons profiting to the tune of $117 million while holding office, that’s not a problem.
People only want to cite conflicts of interest when it goes against their ideals. They always turn a blind eye. Congress is allowed to trade off of their planned legislation which is effectively a form of legalized insider trading. It’s no wonder they all retire multimillionaires on a salary of 100k a year.
In other news…you know the story of the elderly couple responsible for the repeated pro-Trump graffiti on the vacant storefront of a Montclair business? Well it turns out, the man is a crossing guard in town and the pitchfork mob wants him terminated. You really can’t make this sh1t up. The left just doesn’t get it.
TV news is worthless, I can’t even stand CNBC anymore.
Couldn’t have said it better Ben. They are all crooks who only choose to see what works best for them.
Mozillo loan anyone?
It’s a sad state of affairs that the only balanced news I can find today is Al Jazeera.
Essex,
Eddie — just saying something. Doesn’t make it true. Personally I think you are a blowhard incapable of reasoning your way out of a paper bag.
I seem to keep hitting f.ucking home runs so don’t try to envy my too much. Ok, pal?
By the way, I had two years of college already under my belt graduating from Catholic schools.
The Private/Public/Religious school argument is impossible to measure and wrought with emotional feelings. I’m a huge advocate of public schools, but know of many private schools which are superior and some parochial schools too, especially if your kids need more rigorous discipline. I also know some public schools which should be shut down.
This is not worth debating.
One America news is decent.
Lib, but who isn’t a crook? What wealthy individual doesn’t do what’s in their best interest?
STEAMturd recounting the circumference of Hillary’s Meaty Cankles. says:
November 30, 2016 at 10:19 am
Couldn’t have said it better Ben. They are all crooks who only choose to see what works best for them.
Mozillo loan anyone?
“Lib, but who isn’t a crook? What wealthy individual doesn’t do what’s in their best interest?”
Politicians should be held to a higher standard. At one time, they were. Today, you literally can get away with murder and no one says boo. Except for me. Keep on sending in your donations to one of the two criminal parties.
I am really starting to question your level of intelligence and your ability to comprehend what you read.
3b says:
November 30, 2016 at 9:09 am
Lost: as per your last couple of posts last evening. Let me spell it out for you. You are a moron. And a fool.
Meet Judy Chu, Congresswoman from Californias 27th District. Her net worth went from 0 to $3.5 million since joining Congress. She’s also an active options trader. Here are trades from just June of this year.
http://clerk.house.gov/public_disc/ptr-pdfs/2016/20005491.pdf
via: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-02/something-strange-emerges-when-looking-congresswomans-daytrading-records
Lost no point in trying to comprehend garbage.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I’m sorry that you view the world in the manner that you do.
3b says:
November 30, 2016 at 10:49 am
Lost no point in trying to comprehend garbage.
Lost idiocy is easily recognizable. It’s sad you are such an idiot.
Agree, and at the same time, businessmen should be held to higher standard too.
You hate progressives, but the entire movement is the result of shady businessmen taking advantage of their own species for their own gain. Do you really need to exploit workers and consumers to build wealth? Why can’t it be done by providing value for both sides of the coin? It’s great that we have all this technology, but what point is it if it only makes you more of a slave to the man?
STEAMturd recounting the circumference of Hillary’s Meaty Cankles. says:
November 30, 2016 at 10:44 am
“Lib, but who isn’t a crook? What wealthy individual doesn’t do what’s in their best interest?”
Politicians should be held to a higher standard. At one time, they were. Today, you literally can get away with murder and no one says boo. Except for me. Keep on sending in your donations to one of the two criminal parties.
Look at the cell phone, can’t even go on vacation without the man who owns you putting you to work through email. It is what it is, guess it could be a lot worse, but it also could be so much better…..and that what kills me.
I don’t hate progressives. I’m just trying to help them see the forest from the trees. Believe me, the extreme on the Right is even more annoying. But I would argue that the right has varying degrees of believers. Nearly everyone on the left can’t think for themselves. You suffer from the same thing with your fixation on paying educators like CEOs. We can all agree that greedy capitalists should be curtailed. We should also all agree that not every position in the public sector should be rewarded like a senior manager in the private sector.
And believe it or not. Transgendered bathrooms is not a hot topic in middle America regardless of how much you want it to be. They have their Ellen Degeneres to believe they have a gay friend. And their Oprah, to have a black friend. Transgendered bathrooms? This is the kind of thing you worry about, after you are in office. It’s not your stepping stone to the dais unfortunately. Heck, Hillary could have probably got more traction than she did by simply promoting bumper nuts. Bill was smart enough to whip out the sax on SNL. Hillary? She wasn’t smart enough to even shut down her foundation.
Any questions?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/11/29/thanks-to-fight-for-15-minimum-wage-mcdonalds-unveils-job-replacing-self-service-kiosks-nationwide/#3930234d762e
Omg! lol! Another victory for Trump!
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/308034-pelosi-holds-onto-leadership
Look at the cell phone, can’t even go on vacation without the man who owns you putting you to work through email. It is what it is, guess it could be a lot worse, but it also could be so much better…..and that what kills me.
So far as I can tell, the only time the man may have actually put you to work was your 3 week absence from the forums. You emerged from that fiasco a new man….a new pseudonym.
On Pelosi. How many seats must one lose before they realize they suck?
Full steam ahead, dems! LOL!
Lib, you might not realize it, but we carry similar thought processes on most issues.
My logic behind paying teachers is based on the important job they hold. Compensation is the driver of results. If we payed them like doctors, we would recruit the very best and put them to use in the most productive economic capacity, which is preparing the next generation to be as productive as it can be. The better the education, the better the society and the better the economy. That’s my thinking, but maybe I’m wrong. I think paying teachers 50,000 doesn’t attract close to the best, therefore we are holding back the potential in our economy.
STEAMturd recounting the circumference of Hillary’s Meaty Cankles. says:
November 30, 2016 at 11:35 am
I don’t hate progressives. I’m just trying to help them see the forest from the trees. Believe me, the extreme on the Right is even more annoying. But I would argue that the right has varying degrees of believers. Nearly everyone on the left can’t think for themselves. You suffer from the same thing with your fixation on paying educators like CEOs. We can all agree that greedy capitalists should be curtailed. We should also all agree that not every position in the public sector should be rewarded like a senior manager in the private sector.
Lib and lost have a very good brain.
Pumpkin’s House?
http://tinyurl.com/hsos5gh
These H1B’s coming over here taking our jobs.
Gary are we for this or against it?
http://salaryquest.com/job-teacher-at-immaculate-heart-academy-in-washington-township-state-nj-salary/I-07016-2980459/
Wow, never knew they were using H1B’s for teaching. And fast eddie, can we stop preaching the 30,000-40,000 bs salary for catholic school teachers. This salary is from 2007 and it’s for an H1B. Enough with the propaganda.
Fabius Maximus says:
November 30, 2016 at 1:15 pm
These H1B’s coming over here taking our jobs.
Gary are we for this or against it?
http://salaryquest.com/job-teacher-at-immaculate-heart-academy-in-washington-township-state-nj-salary/I-07016-2980459/
Wow, the great pumpkin is coming! How long did I preach on this blog that this was inevitable or the economy would crash. There is no doubt in my mind that a huge economic boom is almost here. The fast eddies of this world are going to wish they bought real estate at cheap prices/cheap rates.
“The problem has been for the last eight years, there’s been no economic growth. What we saw from traveling with the President-elect at all these rallies is for the average American worker, they’ve gone no where,” said Mnuchin, who served as Trump’s national finance chairman. “Our job is to make sure that the average American worker has wage increases and have good jobs. That’s the priority of this administration.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-30/treasury-pick-mnuchin-says-tax-cuts-to-help-double-u-s-growth
I’m almost hopeful I don’t get a raise anytime soon.
Looks like that charter jet for the soccer team had a range just slightly shorter than the actual distance between the 2 cities…..
Uh Oh!
Wow, the great pumpkin is coming! How long did I preach on this blog that this was inevitable or the economy would crash. There is no doubt in my mind that a huge economic boom is almost here. The fast eddies of this world are going to wish they bought real estate at
cheap prices/cheap ratesexpensive prices on busy streets.Hey DumbPump, you know living in a cold housing market doesn’t make you cool, right?
I used to watch Bill Maher, but we cancelled HBO about 10 years ago after the Sopranos went off the air and we realized that we never really sat down to watch the channel. For the heck of it I found this….. I am so stunned how different the tone is…..
Also Holder….I literally can’t believe the crap coming out of his mouth….
https://youtu.be/oMJvbP3yzMk?t=5m21s
STEAMturd recounting the circumference of Hillary’s Meaty Cankles. says:
November 30, 2016 at 10:09 am
I understand why there is no middle anymore. It’s boring. Probably much better for everyone’s quality of life. But it doesn’t sell ads.
And just like that, the oil cartel goes to work on raising the price of oil. That’s some free market at work. Next time someone brings up some “free market” rant, tell them that they are insane and that a free market cannot coexist with human nature. So stop wasting your time on some pipe dream known as the “free market.”
Wake me up when they actually limit their output. They are all so dependent on their oil exports that they all cheat when they say they will cut output. They NEVER cut output.
Lib, you have been spot on with your predictions with the price of oil. Really nice call so far.
There are literally hundreds of tons of cast iron oil boilers in NJ just looking to get ripped out at the next sign of an oil price rise.
Everyone has been holding off because of low oil prices.
Sitting at under 2 bucks a gallon, nobody is scrapping a boiler at that price.
Oil at $1.77 per gallon – that’s equivalent to 1.49 therms, so that’s $1.18 a therm.
Natural gas is sitting about $0.80-$0.85 a therm. But, you’ve got monthly service charges of about $15 a month on top of that. At 100 therms a month during winter, that’s another $0.15 a therm – bringing it to $0.95-1.00 a therm.
$0.19-0.23 a therm difference? Doesn’t pay to scrap a boiler. At 600 therms average usage a winter, you are talking about an $138 savings per year on on moving to an equivalent efficiency boiler, which would run, on average, about $7,000 to swap.
At the current rates, the new boiler would die before it ever had a positive ROI.
Like I said, there are lots of people that pulled tanks indoors, and are just waiting to pull the trigger.
What’s everyone’s take on the pipeline protests? I was pretty sure it was the safest way to transport oil?
10:25 — Great Eddie. But you are still a pompous blowhard. Read through some of the shit you post. A lot of it is completely inane. BTW. So if you are looking for kudo’s you won’t find it here.
Steam just out of principal and respect for those native American tribes who don’t want it then it should be scrapped. Find an alternative.
They’ll just build more rail and track it. Much more dangerous. We use oil. Sorry, but so does everyone!
Steam: understand but we as a country treated native Americans so poorly perhaps we should just do the right thing.
How many of you would buy a home and then sell yours?? Just curious.
Has anyone seen this sh1te? Hillary rebranding herself.
https://twitter.com/hrcinthewild
I think that ExPat you can rest assured that the ‘wandering in the woods’ metaphor will stick as far as the Democratic Party is concerned.
3b…I don’t disagree. Route the pipe around the reservation. It’ll be underground anyway.
Lib makes sense. Perhaps president Obama can step in and say something. He has had no problem in the past comment in on topics.
And just like that, the oil cartel goes to work on raising the price of oil. That’s some free market at work. Next time someone brings up some “free market” rant, tell them that they are insane and that a free market cannot coexist with human nature. So stop wasting your time on some pipe dream known as the “free market.”
Oil cartel? The market worked and lowered the price of oil for us by ramping up supply. Give it a rest.
DumbPump : Quit complaining and just pretend your increased fuel costs are just another form of high taxes that you love paying so much. It’s just the cost of society…middle east society, that is.
And just like that, the oil cartel goes to work on raising the price of oil. That’s some free market at work.
9 min mark, buffet talks economy. Carries my same optimism.
https://youtu.be/auukuYuizq4
Maybe Hillary is still planning on running in 2020. She thinks Donald and Barack just cut in line.
Yes, the same cartel that artificially lowered the price to take out their competition by flooding the market. My point was indeed to throw a jab at “free market” ideology. I love the idea of a free market too, but I’m not ignorant enough to think a free market can coexist with human nature. Do you think people always think rationally? So how can you base an entire economic system based on the idea that they will make rational choices? Like I said, free market theory rules, but human nature is a bi!ch.
“Oil cartel? The market worked and lowered the price of oil for us by ramping up supply. Give it a rest.”
Used to be for the last 45 years America would call the Saudis and they would turn the taps and drive the price of oil down. If we ever lose the Petro Dollar and our influence over the Saudi’s we will all be made poor overnight.
I actually disagree. There’s a lot of natty gas in our shale. And it’s getting cheaper and cheaper to get at. If Saudi ever abandons us, we’ll just become the next Saudi Arabia. That is, if the Left doesn’t keep getting in the way of our energy independence.
Turd,
If green energy really became cheap and plentiful, in contrast to the current situation, they would then start talking about wind’s blight to birds, hydro’s threat to snail-darters and solar’s threat to their aesthetic sensibilities, and they would demand humanity run on unicorn-facts. Because leftist thought leaders just don’t want humanity to thrive, in the end, and their real desire is to stop and control people.
Unicorn farts.
Anyone that makes any noises about selling oil for anything but dollars will quickly get their you know what handed to them. Saddam tried it (Euros), Ghadaffi tried it (gold). You see what it got them? The prime directive of the US military is to make sure that oil is only ever priced in dollars.
Used to be for the last 45 years America would call the Saudis and they would turn the taps and drive the price of oil down. If we ever lose the Petro Dollar and our influence over the Saudi’s we will all be made poor overnight.
I agree that failed social engineering defines the left to a point, but seriously? The right will limit freedoms under this new regime. But hey, you wanna feel ‘safe’ right?