patrick.net

bgamall4 says

The Palestinians get no benefit from the land. The wages are below minimum wage.

Just got me thinking. It ain't much different out here. I know a lot of businesses who hire illegals out here. Illegals don't complain, work hard, and work below minimum wage with no benefits.

egads101 says

Lots of bank owned homes for sale definitely do drive prices down.

Let me be more clear.

If home prices were still at the top, most homeowners in trouble would have the equity to sell instead of defaulting.

First, home prices fall. Then, when selling is no longer an option, owners in trouble either sell short or get foreclosed on.

Back in the fall of 2005, buyers began to pull back and get more cautious. Inventory began to build, but home prices continued to rise all the way until the summer of 2006. Then, Supply and Demand reached a tipping point and prices began to fall, slowly at first.

Se started seeing some short sales, but only a handful of foreclosures. It wasn't until 2007 that foreclosures started to tick up. And it wasn't until 2008 that we saw huge numbers of foreclosures flooding the market.

It is true that, on margin, a market with more foreclosures will push prices lower than a market without. Banks have no emotional attachment and will absolutely keep dropping prices until their home sell. And, more foreclosures create more blight and social problems.

Foreclosures, themselves, don't drive housing markets. Supply and demand drive housing markets and foreclosures are simply a contributing factor to Supply. If and when the market does turn, that turn won't begin with an increase in foreclosures. By the time foreclosures start to increase, we'll be 12 months or more into the decline.

The fact that foreclosures and short sales are making up a smaller percentage of sales doesn't mean that our market is cured and free of risk. It simply means that prices have risen to where those owners can sell organically.

bgamall4 says

Claims Arise that Palestinian Slave Labor Is Being Used

Do you know what a slave is? The headline itself removes any reason to read the article

debyne says

Not quite. Conservative view is that just because you don't have the money to pay for it, doesn't give you the right to steal it from someone else.

That's not that far off.

Pretty much, it's, "if you can't afford health care, you should just die, i.e., fuck off and die." Which is a special case of BBill's "fuck you I''ve got mine."

elvis says

Don't believe me? Look up the definition of FRAUD.

He lied. I don't know if it's defensible or not. MAybe not, as others have said, it's comparable to Bush seniors "read my lips, no new taxes." I'd say its both better and worse. IT's worse in the sense that at some point Obama might have know it was a lie. The thing is that he also knew that the Billionaire funded Tea Baggers and FoxBot talk radio listening retards weren't going to let the public understand something like:

"You can keep your plan, unless it's a substandard rip off plan, in which case you might be forced to spend a little more on a plan that actually gives yo some coverage."

That would not have flown.

bgamall4 says

But the illegals are here voluntarily.

They are here just as voluntarily as those palestinians. Alternative is a lot worse. It's not much of a choice.

elvis says

Besides, its a complete violation of trust to knowingly make a false statement. Obummer's repeated misleading statements were not an innocent misrepresentations, they were not a negligent misrepresentations, they were and are FRAUD.

Don't believe me? Look up the definition of FRAUD.

Obama is a FRAUD.

Yes, Obama is one of the select group of U.S. Presidents who has said things that aren't true, known as ALL OF THEM.

So what's your point?

bgamall4 says

Boycott Soda Stream As Claims Arise that Palestinian Slave Labor Is Being Used

I guess you want them to go back to building bombs and killing.. so much for peace.

bgamall4 says

I want some profit sharing for the Palestinians because the West Bank should be theirs. I want minimum wage for the workers. Is that too hard for Soda Stream?

tell the Palestinians to buy the shares on open market if they want to profit sharing.

what is min wage..such costs are set by the market... if another employer pays more then the employees will leave. This is already been happening in China/India where there are no min wages.. so employees leave for higher/better pay without govt intervention. Seems the free market is doing fine.

Call it Crazy says

If you can't tell the difference this time, there's no hope for you...

A. Didn't ask you.

B. You didn't answer the question.

bgamall4 says

This is an occupation, Wong.

oh... so lets go back to killing violence and war.

marcus says

He lied. I don't know if it's defensible or not. MAybe not, as others have said, it's comparable to Bush seniors "read my lips, no new taxes." I'd say its both better and worse. IT's worse in the sense that at some point Obama might have know it was a lie. The thing is that he also knew that the Billionaire funded Tea Baggers and FoxBot talk radio listening retards weren't going to let the public understand something like:

a lie or a concession with the democrats.. the willingness to compromise...

.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_my_lips:_no_new_taxes#Taxes_raised
.

"Once he became president, however, Bush raised taxes as a way to reduce the national budget deficit. Bush refused many times but was making no progress with a Senate and House that was controlled by Democrats.

Bush eventually agreed to a compromise with Congressional Democrats to raise several taxes as part of a 1990 budget agreement. Although technically there were no new taxes in this agreement, Bush in the same speech also ruled out raising existing taxes."

All you have to do now is wait to see if Obama can compromise with Congress.. but dont hold your breath on that one.

bgamall4 says

Occupation is a form of war, Wong. Occupation is evil. Israel is losing support of young Jews in America because of this occupation.

You aren't oriental, Wong. You should come clean and quit being such a coward.

I never claimed to be Oriental. You keep forgetting this time and time again.

bgamall4 says

Occupation is a form of war, Wong. Occupation is evil. Israel is losing support of young Jews in America because of this occupation.

Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel

Attacks began in 2001. Since then, nearly 4,800 rockets have hit southern Israel, just over 4,000 of them since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. The range of the rockets has increased over time. The original Qassam rocket has a range of about 10 km (6.2 mi) but more advanced rockets, including versions of the old Soviet Grad or Katyusha have hit Israeli targets 40 km (25 mi) from Gaza.

Hamas is the de facto governing authority in the Gaza Strip, while Fatah holds the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority.
Islamic Jihad has involved other Palestinians in the activities, running summer camps where children were taught how to hold a Qassam rocket launcher.[29] One Islamic Jihad rocket maker, Awad al-Qiq, was a science teacher and headmaster at a United Nations school. Christopher Gunness, a UNRWA spokesman, said the UN had "zero-tolerance policy towards politics and militant activities in our schools", but that they "cannot police people's minds."[30]
Palestinian security forces say that they do little or nothing to prevent rocket attacks or to hold responsible the militants who launch them, according to a 2007 report by Human Rights Watch

The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center estimated that in 2007[32] the proportions of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip were:

34% – Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Al Quds)
22% – Hamas (Qassam)
 8% – Fatah (Kafah)
 6% – Popular Resistance Committees (al Nasser)
30% – unknown

bgamall4 says

Wow, that was just about the time that the neocons adopted the Yinon Plan for regime change and world domination

notice how you ignore all the missile/rocket attacks from the gaza..

bgamall4 says

But it was provoked.

good thing they pre ordered several thousand just in case.. oh yea !

bgamall4 says

while houses prices are artificially rising and wages are not going up

The main street realtors (6% off the top) are doing very well... plenty of parties like
it was 2005 are still ragging on... sure dont sound like their friends in Govt will
ever get around to regulations (Gasp that Liberal word)... just be sure to blame Wall street and banks...ever see some the big Liberal on Pnet talking about Regulations on Realtors..... distractions.. distractions... distractions...

thomaswong.1986 says

All you have to do now is wait to see if Obama can compromise with Congress.. but dont hold your breath on that one.

Compromise? With the assholes who said, "Do what we say or we'll shut down the government"? I don't think the republicans know the meaning of the word. There is no compromise. Obama has already said he would be willing to change ACA if it can be improved. The only position the republicans have EVER taken is that they want it 100% abolished.

bgamall4 says

You don't see a problem with that? Get back to you tomorrow.

your too busy to notice the people on mainstreet commingling financial crimes.

I usually change realtors when the current one stops shrieking " It's a great time to buy or sell" .

elvis says

denying his own comments after he make them 29 times for the world to hear.

What are you, 6 years old? Get off the damned phone or quit using auto correct.elvis says

And it just isn't the truth...its the UGLY TRUTH. So ugly you refuse to
acknowledge it.

Do you still masturbate in public?

elvis says

The truth being so UGLY and VILE, you are either against it or you support
it. Clearly you support it, that says a lot about you.

You are still masturbating in public, aren't you?

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Comptroller says

New Renter says

This is exactly why in France it is not possible - or so I was told on my recent trip there - to purchase a house "all cash".

Right. You have to take out a note and discharge it so the banks get their piece of the action. Mortgages are primarily money laundering instruments after all and what are banks for, right?

Not quite. When I said "all cash" I meant CASH. As in bags of the stuff given to the seller.

Now you have to deposit the bags into an account and draw on that account to buy a house.

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Comptroller says

Cash Sales = Money Laundering Transactions

yep... you got it.. but it can be confiscated if found to tied to criminal activity.

if they are from overseas citizens who have been Communist Party members

or as some say rich Chinese.. then their property also can get confiscated and sold

at auction.

In August 2012, when isolating one of the various reasons for the latest housing bubble, we suggested that a primary catalyst for the price surge in the ultra-luxury housing segment and the seemingly endless supply of "all cash" buyers (standing at an unprecedented 60% of all buyers lately as reported by Goldman) is a very simple one: crime. Or rather, the use of US real estate as a means to launder illegal offshore-procured money. We also identified the one key permissive feature which allowed this: the National Association of Realtors' exemption from Anti-Money Laundering provisions.

“Today’s forfeiture action is a significant step toward uncovering and unwinding a complex money-laundering scheme arising from a notorious foreign fraud,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “While New York is a world financial capital, it is not a safe haven for criminals seeking to hide their loot, no matter how and where their fraud took place.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-10/money-laundering-exposed-key-component-housing-bubbles-all-cash-bid

Money laundering is not a crime, according to Eric "Place" Holder.

If Milton has been reading this forum, he would have known to always bring a Gatling Gun with him when he knew he was going to be near a REALTOR.

bgamall4 says

All the wars in the middle east this millenium are Yinon Regime change wars
and now the USA is arming muslims to kill Christians because of this cursed
plan.

Just amazing you can write (let along believe) this nonsense.

There has been fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims long before Israel was established. The Muslim/Arab World's ignorance, bigotry and intolerance is of their own making. No one is holding them back other than themselves.

Was it part of the "Yingdong Plan" for Zionists to support Muslims to chase virutally every last Christian, Jew, Hindu and Bahi out of the Middle East in the past 50 years?

Muslims already ethnically cleansed almost every last Jew out of the Arab countries in the last century and now Christians are the most persecuted group of people on earth.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/us-religion-christianity-persecution-idUSBRE9070TB20130108

Despite all of this massive and ongoing persecution of non-Muslims by Muslims, apparently the biggest crime is the plight of Palestinians living in the West Bank who already have 100X better quality of life than virtually all of their Arab neighbors.

WOW! The UNtrustworthy are certainly in control of what information is apparent to the people!

Say hey! This was in the Wall Street Journal on March 30, 1999. Note "... how much it will buy."

Holy cow/interesting/compelling ...!

And where is it up to date??? Right here ... see the first chart shown in this thread.
Recent Dow day is Thursday, November 7, 2013 __ Level is 99.5

WOW! It is hideous that this is hidden! Is there any such "Homes, Inflation Adjusted"? Yes! This was in the New York Times on August 27, 2006:

And up to date (by me) is here:
http://patrick.net/?p=1219038&c=999083#comment-999083

WOW! The UNtrustworthy are certainly in control of what information is apparent to the people!

And http://patrick.net/?p=1230886

elvis says

Redistribution of hard earned money from people who work

The plutocracy doesn't work; they are rentiers.

They will be blaming the 2 week shut down of 18% the government for the housing and economic woes.
BUT we know better. The decline in housing started long before that and the "recovery" lasted for only a few months as nearly five years of $4 trillion worth of QE finally encouraged some home buying.

Here is the chronology of the fake housing recovery.
The government shut down was but a minor factor:

http://smaulgld.com/the-false-housing-recovery-of-2013-and-how-it-unraveled/

Hitler finds out Obamacare will not let him keep his doctor

http://www.youtube.com/embed/cgqcra7el14

In spite of this chief economist Doug Duncan of Fannie Mae still predicts home price increases....

humanity says

Who the fuck is the ilk that believes in this ? I'll tell you who. for the bailouts that were most questionable, it was only the banks themselves that were advocating the bailouts. But it was also politicians who misguidedly wanted to protect the interests of poor idiots that paid too much and were deep under water with mortgage write downs. Even if those policies weren't implemented to the degree some hoped, it gave banks and squatters time for illiquid real setae markets to not crash too hard too fast.

This is patnet after all . . . what's really wrong with illiquid real estate markets crashing hard and fast? Illiquid assets should crash hard and fast from time to time, so that people are not over-leveraged in illiquid assets . . . so that banks don't lend to 120% of equity to create bubbles . . . so that the renters and investors alike learn to build up reserves to buy houses on the cheap without hocking their lives to the banksters.

I want to know how many landlords have tenants that are not paying rent in Phoenix now. There's probably many landlords wishing they didn't buy up so many crapshacks in a desert.

ThreeBays says

Maybe I'm wrong but hospitals sound like the kind of place that should need licensing. That in itself doesn't make a monopoly any more than restaurants needing a license to sell food.

In practice, hospital licenses in most locales are like liquor licenses: very small numbers are issued, and the license itself is a capitalized asset that's worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars just like NYC Taxi Medallions. . . not at all like restaurant licenses that have unlimited supply in most towns and cities. Read your town/city bylaw.

ThreeBays says

If we have single payer ONLY and one network ONLY, what will the big hospitals threaten? Giving up their license?

Or refuse to accept any insurance or third party pay. Perhaps we are headed that way: the poor will get a single-payer network that has few experienced doctors in it; the rest have to do cash-and-carry. It is the standard practice in most countries that previously had socialized medicine after their socialist economy collapsed.

tatupu70 says

Reality says

50% youth unemployment rate is exactly what the Keynesian extend-and-pretend scheme advocated by your ilk has produced!

Wow--so many mistakes here, I don't know where to begin. First, extend and pretend is not Keynesian. Second, the unemployement is ultimately due to wealth disparity. Third, my ilk (whoever they are) don't advocate extend and pretend schemes.

Extend and pretend is the essence of Keynesianism: that's what artificial liquidity injection does, extending make-belief credit to old decrepit forms of capital and pretend the market has not discovered that's capital misallocation.

Unemployment has little to do with wealth disparity. Unemployment is the result of two factors:

1. short-term sudden unemployment is due to discovery of past misallocation of labor and misallocation of capital; the fundamental cause is past misallocation of labor and capital. That has to be corrected before sustainable recovery can take place. Keynesianism gets in the way of the corrective process.

2. long-term structural unemployment is due to statistical quirk and societal incentive systems. The unemployed people are obviously making a living somehow in that long term (no savings can last forever). The "unemployment" is simply the result of incomplete statistical counting: they are either paid under the table or paid to file disability papers. Of course those wacked up social incentives would lead to wealth disparity as the working middle class is taxed to support those schemes.

Homeboy says

There is no compromise. Obama has already said he would be willing to change ACA if it can be improved. The only position the republicans have EVER taken is that they want it 100% abolished.

Its failure will close down the system altogether. Your forcing people to pay more which they cant do. Obamacare will eventually be repealed because it will become that much more unpopular. The GOP will just stand there saying..."I told you so".

Boyfriend? :-(

tatupu70 says

Reality says

Why? How do you measure the power of a pretty girl, or that of a bureaucrat?

Power is only useful if it generates measurable wealth. So, at some point, it should be measurable.

So what is the power of "the Most Powerful Man in the Free World" (POTUS) ? Measured in their networth after retirement? Your theory is simply nonsensical. Many powers are non-monetizable. In your own family, unless your wife is a hooker, how do you monetize her "honey-do" power over you?

tatupu70 says

Reality says

How much is Obama's executive power worth in monetary terms? It's not possible to measure. It certainly is worth quite a lot to Michele's classmate from Princeton!

It's worth a lot. And his wealth has increased substantially since he became a senator. In 3 years, it will start increasing substantially more.

A few millions here a few millions there are peanuts compared to his droning power. We are not there yet when a billionaire can order his own droning. The lefties apparently not only suffer from amnesia but also don't understand basic math concepts like order of magnitude. Perhaps it's a "1 million, 2 million, many millions" world to them, somewhat more mature than the 3yr old's "1, 2, 3, many" math.

tatupu70 says

And that would be quite irrelevant in a society where money can not buy everything . . . in most societies money can not buy everything. That makes your numerical measure worthless because it is incomplete and the ratio is not fixed for different people and different circumstances.

I see. If it's not perfect, then it's useless? Funny how the correlation appears to be pretty strong--when wealth disparity (by available measures) gets too high, you start seeing bubbles and busts. Again--the data is out there. If it was worthless, then it would be painfully obvious.

It's useless because noise far outweigh signal. The difference in percentage inclusion (monetary wealth as percentage of a person's total power) for different people under different circumstances far outweigh the actual difference in monetary wealth. As for measured wealth disparity vs. bubbles/busts, that's a separate issue altogether. There is no objective number for what is "too high" especially across different societies. Your ilk are using "wealth disparity" for comparison across different societies and different countries. Furthermore, your observation that "too high" in our society leading to busts is essentially agreeing to my point that busts are corrective mechanisms in our relatively capitalistic free market economy, and busts are leveling! So why do your ilk want the government to intervene and stop busts?

" If you're into that kind of thing."

Now that's funny. roflmao