I could feel it in my clogged arteries that bacon was cooking.
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Builders in the U.S. broke ground in September on fewer houses than anticipated and building permits dropped, signaling the market will slow once government incentives have elapsed.
Housing starts rose 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 590,000 from a 587,000 pace in August that was lower than previously estimated, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Permits, a sign of future construction, fell for the second time in the past three months.
The funny thing being that the front running story before the "update" indicated a larger than predicted rise.
IMF USD ( SDR Valuation for 10/19/09
One US dollar is .44 units per each sdr package. The sdr is a currency basket. One cannot merely extract a dollar out of the total and call it a viable exchange. It would be like taking a penny and cutting almost half off and then trying to use the half-penny for trade. We understand sdrs as being constituted by nearly one-half their weight in dollars. Yet, the constitution of the currency basket varies with the play of the four currencies contained within the basket. So the sdr is a brilliant way of manipulating currency exchange while protecting against risk of loss.
Sdrs are not being used for trade at present. (or are they…one wonders) but the forex accounts of member IMF nations all have sdr allotments as reserve. The IMF recently allocated by fiat 250B sdr in member accounts. This one-time allocation was a go at what the IMF termed Global Quantitative Easing. The QE was most likely thought necessary to protect nations from entering a new liquidity crisis sparked by Basel ii banking regulations set to take effect globally on January 1, 2010. The QE most likely has also had a profound effect on the dollar value index. It is near impossible to find information relating to the use of sdr fiat QE in the press. The press also neglects to focus on the sdr-denominated bonds being sold at present by the IMF for funding purposes. The IMF is also beginning a program of sdr-denominated financial instruments through corporate bond sales.
The general public may not purchase sdrs. Sdrs at present only represent a drawing right at the IMF for other currencies represented by the basket. The sdr is weighted every five years by the IMF. New weighting is to take place this next year and most probably will spell the nexus for the dollar as currency.
This is the information in my head regarding sdrs at present. I believe that the sdr is being used as a way to control the demolition of paper currency in the move away from tangible currency. Only those with access to the IMF sdr game will survive with any value intact to their savings or assets.
Haven't we seen this song and dance before? : Prvious housing starts reported at 598k, then miraculously for this report, the numbers are revised downward to 587k and the new report shows us at 590k! Beating the previous months numbers!
Will we ever see a report that is revised upward so that the new report shows a downward move? I know, I know, what am I thinking
I really like Chaco Canyon and our ancestors the Anasazi, that lived there for a long time.
One interesting commonality we later-day Anasazi share with the ancients, is a good portion of the many impressive buildings in Chaco, were never used much, if at all. They didn't have 18 million empty homes like we do, and there's no way of knowing whether the oondo-like structures constructed a thousand years ago were built on spec or not, but I suspect so.
angrysaver
wrote: "Further, prices tend to fall, but our system is set up to make them rise"
I wrote a longer answer to your cart before the horse reply but essentially
when's the last time we've had true price competiton - say the 19th century
when deflation was the story of that century?
Talking about Ponzi scheme financing does little good when the 'core states'
can not return the profits anymore...
in essence, we are screwed...
How badly does a foreclosed home have to be damaged before permits show up in new construction?
I saw some odd things in SoCal. Like people taking down every part of the house but leaving the front door and doorframe standing. I assume it had to do with what is classified as a remodel.
If you leave one bearing wall it is a remodel.I saw a victorian changed into something with stainless steel exterior walls that was a remodel.I do mean thing,it was thankfully unique.
Surely the key fact when arguing for the 'financialization' of the US, is that millions of cheap 'working units' became available in China, and it became financial suicide to invest in manufacturing here at home, except for extremely high value, time critical or other high-end items.
This fact leaves a bunch of money that would have otherwise been invested in useful areas of the US, at somewhat of a loose end.
Someone noted earlier, that all European countries have a manufacturing policy. Not the UK. Jaguar and Land Rover may yet find their manufacturing moved to India. Heseltine tried to intervene on Westland, and look what happened to him.
Jonathan
I think 'Tarzan' Heseltines' problems were more than Westland... the coup against Maggy for one, and the fact that
he 'bought his furniture'...
National Academy of Science calc vs. Census Bureau: Revised formula puts 1 in 6 Americans in poverty
Writer Hope Yen, Associated Press Writer – 33 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The level of poverty in America is even worse than first believed.
A revised formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations show that approximately 47.4 million Americans last year lived in poverty, 7 million more than the government's official figure.
The disparity occurs because of differing formulas the Census Bureau and the National Academy of Science use for calculating the poverty rate. The NAS formula shows the poverty rate to be at 15.8 percent, or nearly 1 in 6 Americans, according to calculations released this week. That's higher than the 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million, figure made available recently under the original government formula.
That measure, created in 1955, does not factor in rising medical care, transportation, child care or geographical variations in living costs. Nor does it consider non-cash government aid when calculating income. As a result, official figures released last month by Census may have overlooked millions of poor people, many of them 65 and older. Yahoo! 404 - Page Not Found
Well of course I was a nipper at the time... but generally, trying to go to bat for British industry (almost an anachronism) seemed to be somewhat of a poisoned chalice.
Well now, there is not much left, apart from the on-shore assemblers like Nissan, Peugeot, Ford. And these are all subject to political whim, where the UK government is not in the strongest position.
That measure, created in 1955, does not factor in rising medical care, transportation, child care or geographical variations in living costs. Nor does it consider non-cash government aid when calculating income. As a result, official figures released last month by Census may have overlooked millions of poor people, many of them 65 and older.
Sounds like it's a little closer to 1 in five, 5 to one, to me.
You'd only get away with doing it once, and all you need is a photo or video of it waving above the other standards, and the harm it could do to Wall*Street's already not-so-hot cred is unimaginable.
There is no damage control for latent images that linger in one's mind that are wholly appropriate, is there?
Not only will adding units serve to put pricing pressure on existing stock due to the overhang, but I'm guessing that builders are building for the demand of the current market - smaller/cheaper/more efficient. If these new units are scooped up it will be a double whammy on the existing wrong mix of units.
Caterpillar
96,315 employees 06/30/2007.
112,887 employees 12/12/2008.
94,225 employees 09/30/2009.
An additional 18,000 are furloughed but not officially off the books.
But they did beat the street estimates and tht's what will help the economy, not that silly jobs stuff.
CAT needs to bring back Bush for another photo op of his clumsy driving of giant D-10 tractor that sent the White House press corps and presidential staff scrambling
I really like Chaco Canyon and our ancestors the Anasazi, that lived there for a long time.
One interesting commonality we later-day Anasazi share with the ancients, is a good portion of the many impressive buildings in Chaco, were never used much, if at all. They didn't have 18 million empty homes like we do, and there's no way of knowing whether the oondo-like structures constructed a thousand years ago were built on spec or not, but I suspect so
Alan Alda's been on PBS talking about the Freemont Indians of Utah (Contemporaries of the Anazazi), and mentioned that the villages/civilization of their ended around the 1300's, similar to the Anasazi. Interestingly enough, that was about the time that the last of the Viking Greenlanders died off due to the effects of climate change. I believe that the Western part of this country probably got a lot more rainfall during the "Medieval Warming", which allowed these Indians to flourish during that era, but the area became too inhospitable later, and they either moved or died out.
There's many billions of dollars in rusting hardly used Caterpillar heavy equipment visible as one drives from Bakersfield to Sacramento alongside Highway 99. So much in fact, that giant lots seem chock-a-block full, with no room for anymore, as one cruises by @ 75 per.
These will eventually end up in the Far East, where they will steal sales from the future.
You've really got to let go of "object permanence" when it comes to banks. It''s so infantile! There's no reason banker bonuses should be limited by such infantile CONcepts like asset (de)valuations.
Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Jean Piaget argued that object permanence is one of an infant's most important accomplishments, as without this concept, objects would have no separate, permanent existence.
When it comes to banking, anything put under the TARP disappears permanently until the Fed says otherwise.
This was favorite from the Section 8 Years. King George II was giving a televised speech, when the teleprompter went out, and he had nothing to say. Watch his eyes dart back and forth @ about 30 seconds in, perhaps looking for mommy?
whew, the market is getting back to almost even for the day. I was getting worried there that a down day might occur. GS and the rest of 'em must have started pulling the proper levers and pushing the buttons to change things around!
Here in the Boston area it was on Ch. 44.4 last night. I fell asleep watching it, but I've seen it a few times before. I think it's part of the Scientific American program-
In the nearer-term the deficit on a cash basis is about $1.6 trillion or 11% of GDP. President Obama forecasts $1.4 trillion next year, and with an optimistic economic outlook, $9 trillion over the next decade. The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research recently published a study that indicated that “by all relevant debt indicators, the U.S. fiscal scenario will soon approximate the economic scenario for countries on the verge of a sovereign debt default.”
As we sit here today, the Federal Reserve is propping up the bond market, buying long-dated assets with printed money. It cannot turn around and sell what it has just bought.
There is a basic rule of liquidity. It isn’t the same for everyone. If you own 10,000 shares of Greenlight Re, you have a liquid investment. However, if I own 5 million shares it is not liquid to me, because of both the size of the position and the signal my selling would send to the market. For this reason, the Fed cannot sell its Treasuries or Agencies without destroying the market. This means that it will be challenged to shrink the monetary base if inflation actually turns up.
I enjoyed his comments on Japan, that at 190% of GDP not only is the debt impossible to pay back, but it becomes unserviceable. Maybe we are looking at the end of the welfare state? Maybe deficits do matter, huh.
I do agree him. Trying to figure out the least worst fiat currency, is a fool's errand.
It is an interesting perspective.
Now, the question for us as investors is how to manage some of these possible risks. Four years ago I spoke at this conference and said that I favored my Grandma Cookie’s investment style of investing in stocks like Nike, IBM, McDonalds and Walgreens over my Grandpa Ben’s style of buying gold bullion and gold stocks. He feared the economic ruin of our country through a paper money and deficit driven hyper inflation. I explained how Grandma Cookie had been right for the last thirty years and would probably be right for the next thirty as well. I subscribed to Warren Buffett’s old criticism that gold just sits there with no yield and viewed gold’s long-term value as difficult to assess.
However, the recent crisis has changed my view. The question can be flipped: how does one know what the dollar is worth given that dollars can be created out of thin air or dropped from helicopters? Just because something hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it won’t. Yes, we should continue to buy stocks in great companies, but there is room for Grandpa Ben’s view as well.
I have seen many people debate whether gold is a bet on inflation or deflation. As I see it, it is neither. Gold does well when monetary and fiscal policies are poor and does poorly when they appear sensible. Gold did very well during the Great Depression when FDR debased the currency. It did well again in the money printing 1970s, but collapsed in response to Paul Volcker’s austerity. It ultimately made a bottom around 2001 when the excitement about our future budget surpluses peaked.
That link on poverty is telling. There is probably a hundreds of brainstorming sessions taking place at banks right now:
Okay, 5 out of 6 Americans still have income that we can get pledged for our bonus pool. So get out there and push CONsumption debt. ANd make it clear tha if they won't take on more debt, then we'll have our analysts pressure their their CEO bosses to outsource their jobs. That'll teach um.
"Caterpillar
96,315 employees 06/30/2007.
112,887 employees 12/12/2008.
94,225 employees 09/30/2009.
An additional 18,000 are furloughed but not officially off the books."
Dawg - my family lives in Peoria, home to CAT, and it is even worse than the numbers show. In non-union positions, CAT had hundreds of people working contract labor - from engineers to accountants and so on. These folks were never on the payroll of CAT, but a third party company providing staffing to CAT. They have compeletely eliminated the contract labor. Also, they have put their engineers on three month rolling layoffs. At any time a quarter of their engineers are not working (but still getting benefits) and they will be called back at the end of three months and the next batch goes on leave.
No doubt the banksters will take the country to the precipice again with 'punishment' like this.
From the Washington Post:
"The firms, accounting for more $350 billion in federal bailout funds, increased these perks and benefits 4 percent on average last year, according to an analysis of corporate disclosures filed in recent months.
Some chief executives, such as Kenneth D. Lewis of Bank of America and Jeffrey M. Peek of CIT Group, the major small-business lender now on the brink of bankruptcy, each received about $100,000 more than a year earlier for personal use of corporate jets. Others saw an increase in the value of chauffeured services, parking or personal security.
Ralph W. Babb Jr., chief executive of Dallas-based lender Comerica, was compensated for a new country club membership, with an initiation fee and dues of more than $200,000. GMAC Financial Services chief executive Alvaro de Molina benefited from a $2.5 million payment from his company to help cover his personal tax bill.
....
"In contrast to the 4 percent average increase in perks and benefits at these companies, the average awarded to top executives at non-financial companies in the Fortune 100 declined by more than 7 percent over the same period, according to Equilar. "
Note that the insurance companies will raise ALL premiums to pay that tax, not just on the Cadillac plans.
Einhorn had an interesting take on the healthcare debate:
...at some level, Americans understand that the Washington-Wall Street relationship has rewarded the least deserving people and institutions at the expense of the prudent. They don’t know the particulars or how to argue against the “without banks, we have no economy” demagogues. So, they fight healthcare reform, where they have enough personal experience to equip them to argue with Congressmen at town hall meetings. As I see it, the revolt over healthcare isn’t really about healthcare, but represents a broader upset at Washington. The lack of trust over the inability to deal seriously with the party goers feeds the lack of trust over healthcare.
"Also, does this bill have a cheaper public option?"
This is the Baucus bill, which included the coops but not the public option - Harry Reid is in a back room writing a bill with the public option, which will be brought to the Senate floor on a reconciliation vote (51 votes required, not 60)
Some chief executives, such as Kenneth D. Lewis of Bank of America and Jeffrey M. Peek of CIT Group, the major small-business lender now on the brink of bankruptcy, each received about $100,000 more than a year earlier for personal use of corporate jets.
There are going to be a lot of denials. I am not setting insurance companies up to be villains. But we are telling them to bend the cost curve. How else are they going to bend the cost curve?
CAT - 1/4 of "earnings" were a LIFO adjustment... another 1/4 was tax benefit.. and of course no guidance on 2010 EPS..
CR -- Bank of NY CEO making some very blunt comments on mortgage marketon conf call this morning... said mortgage market is completely broken... also did a lot of selling of MBS's this quarter... generating a lot of marks for the other banks..
So far, it contains a 40 percent tax on high-end insurance plans.
The whole idea of employer provided health plans being tax free has distorted the system beyond repair. If people had to pay income tax on the value of the health plan being provided to them, and then purchase health insurance with after-tax dollars, the insurance companies would not be dictating the rules of the games.
"So far, it contains a 40 percent tax on high-end insurance plans."
Reid has to find a revenue bill that originated in the House to put the health care plan in - revenue bills (including this excise tax) have to originate in the House under the Constitution. I am sure there a few bills lying around that have not been acted on by the Senate that Reid can park this in.
There is a fine line between "protection" and extortion. Exorbitant prices engineered by medical service financiers in their insurance protection rackets are extortion. Insurance salesmen are the health care gatekeepers for the United States. No health care reform will have happened until people stop using the word "INSURANCE" to represent medicine or public health.
The sellers of** Body Insurance** determine which bodies get healed and they are looking to limit costs by limiting the amount of life you get.
Insurance and finance based Body Insurance is all we have and the morally bankrupt docsters play right along.
Shill,
Are you referring to "Sec. 6001. Excise tax on high cost employer-sponsored health coverage"?
If so, what is a "high cost employer sponsored health coverage"?
Thanks
From memory - anything costing more than $21,000/yr for family or $6,000/yr for individual. That's all in cost - both employee and employer contributions.
Einhorn had an interesting take on the healthcare debate
I agree with almost everything that has been posted in regards to his speech. Apparently, there are people who "get it", and like us, they spend time discussing amongst themselves and others to figure out a proper response to all of these outside vectors.
.
Much faith in Humanity is restored when faced with
This Russian Standard Vodka is GOOOD. Where to begin...ah. 1) You Americans SUCK 2) You BRITS...you are suck even more 3) Where is the bottom valve of GB?
/start rant
The congress distort markets(health care, housing , Wall street) to guarantee itself funds for re-election. It does not do the public at large any good, although at times they are told otherwise. The latest are the 8k tax credits for RRE. Prices just went up to meet the additional demand this created. But more campaign funds from NAR, guaranteed.
/end Rant
Much faith in Humanity is restored when faced with
I remember appreciating Einhorn during the Lehman collapse, but I shoe-horned him into being a financial short, and not really looked to him beyond dealing with Wall Street firms.
But he has one of the better big-picture views that I've read recently. A triumph of a speech, really.
I predict a lot of noncompletions.
Nothing we need more than streets to nowhere and empty foundations.
Does the report show what portion are speculative builds?
I could feel it in my clogged arteries that bacon was cooking.
The funny thing being that the front running story before the "update" indicated a larger than predicted rise.
Yep, just what we need.....more new houses! We need more places for squatters to live!
IMF USD (
SDR Valuation for 10/19/09
One US dollar is .44 units per each sdr package. The sdr is a currency basket. One cannot merely extract a dollar out of the total and call it a viable exchange. It would be like taking a penny and cutting almost half off and then trying to use the half-penny for trade. We understand sdrs as being constituted by nearly one-half their weight in dollars. Yet, the constitution of the currency basket varies with the play of the four currencies contained within the basket. So the sdr is a brilliant way of manipulating currency exchange while protecting against risk of loss.
Sdrs are not being used for trade at present. (or are they…one wonders) but the forex accounts of member IMF nations all have sdr allotments as reserve. The IMF recently allocated by fiat 250B sdr in member accounts. This one-time allocation was a go at what the IMF termed Global Quantitative Easing. The QE was most likely thought necessary to protect nations from entering a new liquidity crisis sparked by Basel ii banking regulations set to take effect globally on January 1, 2010. The QE most likely has also had a profound effect on the dollar value index. It is near impossible to find information relating to the use of sdr fiat QE in the press. The press also neglects to focus on the sdr-denominated bonds being sold at present by the IMF for funding purposes. The IMF is also beginning a program of sdr-denominated financial instruments through corporate bond sales.
The general public may not purchase sdrs. Sdrs at present only represent a drawing right at the IMF for other currencies represented by the basket. The sdr is weighted every five years by the IMF. New weighting is to take place this next year and most probably will spell the nexus for the dollar as currency.
This is the information in my head regarding sdrs at present. I believe that the sdr is being used as a way to control the demolition of paper currency in the move away from tangible currency. Only those with access to the IMF sdr game will survive with any value intact to their savings or assets.
IMF USD (
SDR Valuation for 10/19/09 | Shenandoah
IMF Link
SDR Valuation
Can one really say Catepillar trounced expectations when it missed on revenue?
thread music
this guy won a silver star on New Guinea
YouTube - Do a Little Sidestep
Can one really say Catepillar trounced expectations when it missed on revenue?
One can if that causes the market to go up, and one is long.
Haven't we seen this song and dance before? : Prvious housing starts reported at 598k, then miraculously for this report, the numbers are revised downward to 587k and the new report shows us at 590k! Beating the previous months numbers!
Will we ever see a report that is revised upward so that the new report shows a downward move? I know, I know, what am I thinking
Just some raw meat for Juvie. Another water line break. This time on Mullholland closing the road at the 13600 block in Sherman Oaks.
I really like Chaco Canyon and our ancestors the Anasazi, that lived there for a long time.
One interesting commonality we later-day Anasazi share with the ancients, is a good portion of the many impressive buildings in Chaco, were never used much, if at all. They didn't have 18 million empty homes like we do, and there's no way of knowing whether the oondo-like structures constructed a thousand years ago were built on spec or not, but I suspect so.
Can one really say Catepillar trounced expectations when it missed on revenue?
One can if that causes the market to go up, and one is long.
.....so the upcoming increase in foreclosures will continue to keep this number on a sideways direction - as in a "new normal" at minus 40%?
Black Star Ranch wrote:
you'd love the thread music I posted above
Is there anything that can bring around a serious correction in the market (5 to 10%)? Seriously, anything?
angrysaver
wrote: "Further, prices tend to fall, but our system is set up to make them rise"
I wrote a longer answer to your cart before the horse reply but essentially
when's the last time we've had true price competiton - say the 19th century
when deflation was the story of that century?
Talking about Ponzi scheme financing does little good when the 'core states'
can not return the profits anymore...
in essence, we are screwed...
Caterpillar sales were down 44%, profits down 64% but the news is all good?!?!
Welcome to witch mountain.
How badly does a foreclosed home have to be damaged before permits show up in new construction?
I saw some odd things in SoCal. Like people taking down every part of the house but leaving the front door and doorframe standing. I assume it had to do with what is classified as a remodel.
Lurking Lawyer wrote:
Catepillar decides to emulate the grasshopper and not the ant.
why thank you volker..........show-tunes, cartoons, and church though were things I steered away from as a kid.......
If you leave one bearing wall it is a remodel.I saw a victorian changed into something with stainless steel exterior walls that was a remodel.I do mean thing,it was thankfully unique.
tncubsfan wrote:
Sovereign default. Coming this fall. Maybe Latvia or Ukraine first. The real problems are if it is a major developed country.
......Maybe it'll only something minor or simpler like an agreeable Plaza Accord......
Surely the key fact when arguing for the 'financialization' of the US, is that millions of cheap 'working units' became available in China, and it became financial suicide to invest in manufacturing here at home, except for extremely high value, time critical or other high-end items.
This fact leaves a bunch of money that would have otherwise been invested in useful areas of the US, at somewhat of a loose end.
Someone noted earlier, that all European countries have a manufacturing policy. Not the UK. Jaguar and Land Rover may yet find their manufacturing moved to India. Heseltine tried to intervene on Westland, and look what happened to him.
Ho-hum, a financial double waterfall going nowhere fast, nursing it's grievous wounds in the pool below...
Jonathan
I think 'Tarzan' Heseltines' problems were more than Westland... the coup against Maggy for one, and the fact that
he 'bought his furniture'...
Jonathan,
I should say failed coup against Maggy Thatcher who he 'stabbed from the front'...
Today should be a fun day for the bulls.
The DX has already taken out the 52 week low and a POMO likely this morning.
To the moon, Alice!
National Academy of Science calc vs. Census Bureau:
Revised formula puts 1 in 6 Americans in poverty
Writer Hope Yen, Associated Press Writer – 33 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The level of poverty in America is even worse than first believed.
A revised formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations show that approximately 47.4 million Americans last year lived in poverty, 7 million more than the government's official figure.
The disparity occurs because of differing formulas the Census Bureau and the National Academy of Science use for calculating the poverty rate. The NAS formula shows the poverty rate to be at 15.8 percent, or nearly 1 in 6 Americans, according to calculations released this week. That's higher than the 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million, figure made available recently under the original government formula.
That measure, created in 1955, does not factor in rising medical care, transportation, child care or geographical variations in living costs. Nor does it consider non-cash government aid when calculating income. As a result, official figures released last month by Census may have overlooked millions of poor people, many of them 65 and older.
Yahoo! 404 - Page Not Found
Well of course I was a nipper at the time... but generally, trying to go to bat for British industry (almost an anachronism) seemed to be somewhat of a poisoned chalice.
Well now, there is not much left, apart from the on-shore assemblers like Nissan, Peugeot, Ford. And these are all subject to political whim, where the UK government is not in the strongest position.
Black Star Ranch wrote:
they don't make you gay
Sounds like it's a little closer to 1 in five, 5 to one, to me.
YouTube - Five To One (Live Roundhouse London)
Today should be a fun day for the bulls.
The DX has already taken out the 52 week low and a POMO likely this morning.
To the moon, Alice!
That's just what GS's short book wants you to think.
lurking lawyer
i see no reason why you couldnt say that.
War? ...scampers away...
LOL....thanks volker..........that'll make it easier to stomach Charles Durning's dance and song routines......
Fewer home-building permits signal weakness ahead - Yahoo! Finance
Yahoo Finance take on housing numbers. Yes, yes, you COULD say it this way...
Wouldn't it be cool if somebody were to hoist the Jolly Roger up high on the flagpole just outside the NYSE, on Wall*Street?
Since you don't start many houses in the northern states between now and April, I think this index will drop for the next few months.
That would be priceless Juvie.
Comrade Kristina wrote:
I'll bring the plank.
CAT is projecting 1mm housing starts for 2010
Lurking Lawyer wrote:
BK trounced expectations if you ignore all their losses--aka 'extraordinary one-time items'.
One can say anything one wants.
,rad Kristina,
Just a feeble attempt to entice some landlubber on the eastern front to walk the plank___ for me.
19 Unabankers on a Debtman's Chest, Arrrrrrrrrrrrbitragers
lets send them little pirate flags and dont forget congress,the sec,the white house, everyone who saw but didnt act to say whoa there.
Just hearing the $43,000 cost/sale for the housing tax credit getting some air in committee.
CNN. State of the Housing Market testimony.On now.
I like it gabyjan.
CAT is projecting 1mm housing starts for 2010
Hmm looks like a rebuilding of sorts.
"Looks down into concrete reinforced bunker"
Why be coy?
You'd only get away with doing it once, and all you need is a photo or video of it waving above the other standards, and the harm it could do to Wall*Street's already not-so-hot cred is unimaginable.
There is no damage control for latent images that linger in one's mind that are wholly appropriate, is there?
Not only will adding units serve to put pricing pressure on existing stock due to the overhang, but I'm guessing that builders are building for the demand of the current market - smaller/cheaper/more efficient. If these new units are scooped up it will be a double whammy on the existing wrong mix of units.
According to Bernanke, the only thing that matters is that we have strong banks and over-valued assets.
Having a weak and over-indebted household sector is of minor importance. Same with extreme income disparities.
And by the way, outsourcing is good for the eCONomy - it provides lots of really low paying jobs in 3rd world nations.
Caterpillar
96,315 employees 06/30/2007.
112,887 employees 12/12/2008.
94,225 employees 09/30/2009.
An additional 18,000 are furloughed but not officially off the books.
But they did beat the street estimates and tht's what will help the economy, not that silly jobs stuff.
But they did beat the street estimates and tht's what will help the economy, not that silly jobs stuff.
Rob Dawg,
It's the "All Revere" eCONomy. You know, one if by unpayable CONsumption debt, two if by printing.
It's all good all the time.
angry
the banks are not strong! he fiddles around,what is he trying to do make a depression?
CAT needs to bring back Bush for another photo op of his clumsy driving of giant D-10 tractor that sent the White House press corps and presidential staff scrambling
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Alan Alda's been on PBS talking about the Freemont Indians of Utah (Contemporaries of the Anazazi), and mentioned that the villages/civilization of their ended around the 1300's, similar to the Anasazi. Interestingly enough, that was about the time that the last of the Viking Greenlanders died off due to the effects of climate change. I believe that the Western part of this country probably got a lot more rainfall during the "Medieval Warming", which allowed these Indians to flourish during that era, but the area became too inhospitable later, and they either moved or died out.
There's many billions of dollars in rusting hardly used Caterpillar heavy equipment visible as one drives from Bakersfield to Sacramento alongside Highway 99. So much in fact, that giant lots seem chock-a-block full, with no room for anymore, as one cruises by @ 75 per.
These will eventually end up in the Far East, where they will steal sales from the future.
km4
you got link of clip?
Wasn't that the time he was coked up and drunk?
7 Lies In Under 2 Minutes
YouTube - 7 Lies In Under 2 Minutes
At least when Bush lied it was entertaining
cinco-x
where on pbs?
some investor guy wrote:
How much of the market does GS represent? Perhaps the market is now completely disconnected from the economy as well as reality?
No I don't but it does exist because I've seen it before.
gabyjan,
You've really got to let go of "object permanence" when it comes to banks. It''s so infantile! There's no reason banker bonuses should be limited by such infantile CONcepts like asset (de)valuations.
Object permanence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Jean Piaget argued that object permanence is one of an infant's most important accomplishments, as without this concept, objects would have no separate, permanent existence.
When it comes to banking, anything put under the TARP disappears permanently until the Fed says otherwise.
..........................................Actual ..... Consensus..... Prior ..... Revised From
Oct 20 08:30 Building Permits Sep 573K ...... 595K ....... 580K ....... 579K
Oct 20 08:30 Housing Starts Sep 590K ....... 610K ....... 587K ........ 598K
From briefing.com
Comrade Kristina wrote:
Don't worry; you're a hottie, and would undoubtedly get a rear echelon job, probably in public relations-
This was favorite from the Section 8 Years. King George II was giving a televised speech, when the teleprompter went out, and he had nothing to say. Watch his eyes dart back and forth @ about 30 seconds in, perhaps looking for mommy?
YouTube - Bush Blooper - False Start, Immigration Speech, May 15, 2006
whew, the market is getting back to almost even for the day. I was getting worried there that a down day might occur. GS and the rest of 'em must have started pulling the proper levers and pushing the buttons to change things around!
gabyjan wrote:
Here in the Boston area it was on Ch. 44.4 last night. I fell asleep watching it, but I've seen it a few times before. I think it's part of the Scientific American program-
Just finished reading Einhorn's Vic 2009 speech (or most of it, anyway).
Einhorn Vic 2009 Speech
Recommended. I really do like that guy.
noob,
I do agree him. Trying to figure out the least worst fiat currency, is a fool's errand.
JD:
I enjoyed his comments on Japan, that at 190% of GDP not only is the debt impossible to pay back, but it becomes unserviceable. Maybe we are looking at the end of the welfare state? Maybe deficits do matter, huh.
Yes, I very much enjoyed Einhorn's speech.
The passage above that noob picks out makes it pretty clear what kind of a corner the Federal Reserve has backed us all into.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
It is an interesting perspective.
energyecon,
That link on poverty is telling. There is probably a hundreds of brainstorming sessions taking place at banks right now:
Okay, 5 out of 6 Americans still have income that we can get pledged for our bonus pool. So get out there and push CONsumption debt. ANd make it clear tha if they won't take on more debt, then we'll have our analysts pressure their their CEO bosses to outsource their jobs. That'll teach um.
"Caterpillar
96,315 employees 06/30/2007.
112,887 employees 12/12/2008.
94,225 employees 09/30/2009.
An additional 18,000 are furloughed but not officially off the books."
Dawg - my family lives in Peoria, home to CAT, and it is even worse than the numbers show. In non-union positions, CAT had hundreds of people working contract labor - from engineers to accountants and so on. These folks were never on the payroll of CAT, but a third party company providing staffing to CAT. They have compeletely eliminated the contract labor. Also, they have put their engineers on three month rolling layoffs. At any time a quarter of their engineers are not working (but still getting benefits) and they will be called back at the end of three months and the next batch goes on leave.
Health Bill Is 1,502 Pages Long (This Version)
http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb101909.pdf
So far, it contains a 40 percent tax on high-end insurance plans.
"So far, it contains a 40 percent tax on high-end insurance plans."
Note that the insurance companies will raise ALL premiums to pay that tax, not just on the Cadillac plans.
shill:
How do they define high end? Also, this will affect the public sector workers the most. They have the best health plans.
angry
oh thank you i didnt understand.
Also, does this bill have a cheaper public option? If not, I fail to see how this does anything but cost more folks their insurance.
shill wrote:
What page is that tax on?
No doubt the banksters will take the country to the precipice again with 'punishment' like this.
From the Washington Post:
"The firms, accounting for more $350 billion in federal bailout funds, increased these perks and benefits 4 percent on average last year, according to an analysis of corporate disclosures filed in recent months.
Some chief executives, such as Kenneth D. Lewis of Bank of America and Jeffrey M. Peek of CIT Group, the major small-business lender now on the brink of bankruptcy, each received about $100,000 more than a year earlier for personal use of corporate jets. Others saw an increase in the value of chauffeured services, parking or personal security.
Ralph W. Babb Jr., chief executive of Dallas-based lender Comerica, was compensated for a new country club membership, with an initiation fee and dues of more than $200,000. GMAC Financial Services chief executive Alvaro de Molina benefited from a $2.5 million payment from his company to help cover his personal tax bill.
....
"In contrast to the 4 percent average increase in perks and benefits at these companies, the average awarded to top executives at non-financial companies in the Fortune 100 declined by more than 7 percent over the same period, according to Equilar. "
At rescued banks, perks keep rolling - washingtonpost.com
Hmmmm...........The Clinton Health Bill only had 1,342 pages..........this one is longer than the last Harry Potter book......
Shill,
Are you referring to "Sec. 6001. Excise tax on high cost employer-sponsored health coverage"?
If so, what is a "high cost employer sponsored health coverage"?
Thanks
Terry wrote:
Einhorn had an interesting take on the healthcare debate:
"Also, does this bill have a cheaper public option?"
This is the Baucus bill, which included the coops but not the public option - Harry Reid is in a back room writing a bill with the public option, which will be brought to the Senate floor on a reconciliation vote (51 votes required, not 60)
YouTube - West Side Story-Jet Song
Rajaratnam, who is free on $100 million bail,
how's that make ya feel!
Robert Laszewski's Biography
Healthcare bills lack protections against treatment denials, experts say - Los Angeles Times
I see the Yen is start on its descent again against the USD. They try to hold down the Yen, but the bubble ball just won't stop floating!
Are you referring to "Sec. 6001. Excise tax on high cost employer-sponsored health coverage"?
Yes
.....I bet he's looking for a way outta Dodge.........
CAT - 1/4 of "earnings" were a LIFO adjustment... another 1/4 was tax benefit.. and of course no guidance on 2010 EPS..
CR -- Bank of NY CEO making some very blunt comments on mortgage marketon conf call this morning... said mortgage market is completely broken... also did a lot of selling of MBS's this quarter... generating a lot of marks for the other banks..
shill wrote:
The whole idea of employer provided health plans being tax free has distorted the system beyond repair. If people had to pay income tax on the value of the health plan being provided to them, and then purchase health insurance with after-tax dollars, the insurance companies would not be dictating the rules of the games.
not 85 million, not 99 millilon....$100MM
does the Judge see any of that money?
.....I bet he's looking for a way outta Dodge.........
Nah... he claims he's innocent, and looks forward to clearing himself.
Ah, fuck it, you're right..... he's on the first plane outta here.
Just don't go to Switzerland.
I wonder how much the tariff will be for the Unabankers?
"So far, it contains a 40 percent tax on high-end insurance plans."
Reid has to find a revenue bill that originated in the House to put the health care plan in - revenue bills (including this excise tax) have to originate in the House under the Constitution. I am sure there a few bills lying around that have not been acted on by the Senate that Reid can park this in.
thank found it sort of interesting site,do some more digging
I have to say you Americans...I can do push ups more than you lousy asses.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
How much $$?
There is a fine line between "protection" and extortion. Exorbitant prices engineered by medical service financiers in their insurance protection rackets are extortion. Insurance salesmen are the health care gatekeepers for the United States. No health care reform will have happened until people stop using the word "INSURANCE" to represent medicine or public health.
The sellers of** Body Insurance** determine which bodies get healed and they are looking to limit costs by limiting the amount of life you get.
Insurance and finance based Body Insurance is all we have and the morally bankrupt docsters play right along.
why do I hate america? Hmmm....
REBear wrote:
From memory - anything costing more than $21,000/yr for family or $6,000/yr for individual. That's all in cost - both employee and employer contributions.
Somewhere in the high 2 figures, I suppose.
noob goldberg wrote:
I agree with almost everything that has been posted in regards to his speech. Apparently, there are people who "get it", and like us, they spend time discussing amongst themselves and others to figure out a proper response to all of these outside vectors.
.
Much faith in Humanity is restored when faced with
tarzan
i hate push-ups so you may do all you can for me.
Taxpayers to be on the hook longer - guess certain banks still can't borrow: FDIC Expected to Extend Bank Debt Guarantees - CNBC
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Not worth it. $2mil after tax and we can talk...
This Russian Standard Vodka is GOOOD. Where to begin...ah. 1) You Americans SUCK 2) You BRITS...you are suck even more 3) Where is the bottom valve of GB?
4) I Hate my westerized LIFE shithole of life.
The only way out was a public option but the leadership chickened out.
/start rant
The congress distort markets(health care, housing , Wall street) to guarantee itself funds for re-election. It does not do the public at large any good, although at times they are told otherwise. The latest are the 8k tax credits for RRE. Prices just went up to meet the additional demand this created. But more campaign funds from NAR, guaranteed.
/end Rant
yagij wrote:
I remember appreciating Einhorn during the Lehman collapse, but I shoe-horned him into being a financial short, and not really looked to him beyond dealing with Wall Street firms.
But he has one of the better big-picture views that I've read recently. A triumph of a speech, really.
Thanks Mike
F*ck man, I need a couple of Cold War "Yes, sir, Ay Sir, Cold War Warriors". A little bit of electricity to the man!
Thanks Mike?!
Fuck man
Tonite....I saturnite....easy ok..wake up saturnite...tookiue......restless...they need to get away tonetine.