California has joined the states with not just the highest taxes in America, but it has become one of those states that people are just leaving resulting i9n a net outward-migration. There is a logical consequence when a state becomes a place people are trying to flee from – real estate MUST decline in value. Already, sales of both new and existing houses and condominiums in Southern California has declined 11.8% year over year. Prices rallied and reached a record high in 2018. The median price paid for all Southern California homes that were sold in June 2018 was a record high reaching $536,250, according to CoreLogic. This was reported as a 7.3% increase compared to June of 2017. When you see such short-term surges in a market, that is often the sign of how every market peaks. Real estate is no exception.
Many have touted for years that California property leads the nation. Therefore, whatever trend appears they will spread to the rest of the nation. While we do not necessarily agree with that statement, nonetheless, real estate will be on the decline in most states where taxes are rising. Property is still going to rise in the 7 states without income tax. For those who are unfamiliar with Socrates, we have created indexes for real estate on a worldwide basis. Here is the page you can view what is available.
California may seem to be a leading indicator, but this appears to be with respect to direction only. While Southern California reached record highs in property values in 2018, this appears NOT to be a leading factor, but a lagging one. Our index for the nation as a whole with a limited focus to Residential peaked in August 2016. We have NOT yet elected a Monthly Bearish Reversal. Trump has clearly made a major economic difference. Capital has been returning home and this has helped to create jobs and soften the economic decline in the USA compared to Europe and Asia. This will also have a fundamental backdrop to the dollar.
The U.S. Dept of Justice detained ISIS fighter Omar Ameen in Sacramento, California, yesterday (full pdf below) pending extradition back to Iraq on murder charges. Incredibly Ameen gained State Department entry into the U.S. through the refugee system.
Despite the claims of the Obama administration, Omar Ameen’s ability to enter the United States is a clear example of weaknesses within the refugee process and lies told by former administration officials about the security therein.
From the DOJ memo of extradition, Omar Ameen first applied for refugee status in Turkey in 2012. Then in June of 2014 applied for refugee status to the United States. The extradition memo explains that “based on the written and verbal answers given by Ameen, his refugee application was approved by USCIS on June 5, 2014.”
On June 21st, 2014, Ameen, who claimed to work as a truck driver, murdered police officer Ihsan Abdulhafiz Jasim in Rawah, Iraq, an ISIS stronghold. Four months later, November 4th, 2014, Ameen entered the U.S. settling in Salt Lake City and then later traveling to Sacramento, California, where he was arrested.
He is currently detained and is likely to be extradited to Iraq to face charges of premeditated murder. However, the larger issue of how he was able to gain such easy entry into the United States should give everyone pause. As noted by The Daily Caller:
[…] Ameen was allegedly a member of ISIS. In 2004, before the rise of that brutal terror group, Ameen and his family helped start AQI, according to the DOJ. In addition to allegedly killing an Iraqi police officer, Ameen is suspected of planting IEDs and committing terrorist acts near his hometown of Rawah.
But Ameen appears not to have faced any rigorous questioning from the U.S. government about terror links and his criminal activities. Instead, he simply answered “no” to questions about his alleged ISIS and al-Qaeda links while inventing a false narrative about his father and brother.
“Have you ever interacted with, had involvement with, or known any members of … Al Qaeda in Iraq … the Islamic State of Iraq or any other armed group or militia?” was one of the questions USCIS posed to Ameen.
“No,” he answered, according to Justice Department documents.
Ameen denied he had ever committed crimes in Iraq.
“In actuality,” according to the Justice Department, witnesses told the FBI that Ameen committed “numerous crimes ranging from robbery to placing [improvised explosive devices].”
“Ameen’s negative answers cut off a line of questioning relevant to his admissibility to the United States,” the Justice Department filing states.
“Based on the written and verbal answers given by Ameen, his refugee application was approved by USCIS on June 5, 2014.” (read more)
Former short-term White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman is attempting to stir up interest in a new book by delivering audio that she secretly recording in the White House situation room when she was fired by Chief of Staff John Kelly. Ms. Manigault released the audio to NBC for use in a Sunday broadcast of Meet the Press with Chuck Todd.
There is a strong possibility Ms. Manigault has committed several violations of federal law with a secret electronic recording within a SCIF (Situation Room); however, any action therein would only further provide fuel for her already discredited self-promotion. The fact Ms. Manigault made the recording speaks to her duplicitous intent and lack of integrity.
Here’s the audio:
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Interestingly, Ms. Manigault and NBC did not release the continued audio portion where WH attorneys outlined the legal and ethical violations that led to her firing; and the legal risk upon her departure.
Here’s the Transcript: GEN. JOHN KELLY: Hi.
OMAROSA MANIGAULT: Hi there, how are you?
JOHN KELLY: Who are you?
FEMALE VOICE: Hi.
OMAROSA MANIGAULT: My assistant.
JOHN KELLY: Could you leave us alone?
FEMALE VOICE: Sure.
OMAROSA MANIGAULT: Hi.
JOHN KELLY: I’m only going to stay for a couple of minutes. These are lawyers. We’re going to talk to you about leaving the White House. It’s come to my attention, over the last few months, that there’s been some pretty, in my opinion, significant integrity issues related to you and use of government vehicles and some other issues. And they’ll, they’ll, they’ll walk you through the legal aspects of this. But there is some, from my view, there’s some money issues and other things, but from my view, the integrity issues are very serious. I’m stuck with my past experience and that is, when we hold people accountable in the military, I would, I compare what I see here at the White House and other issues that I’ve had to deal with and say what would I do to this, in this case if I was in the Pentagon dealing with a Marine or a soldier or something like that? And the issue that you may or may not have a full appreciation for, but I think you do, this would be a pretty high level of accountability, meaning a court-martial. We’re not suggesting any legal action here.
OMAROSA MANIGAULT: That I — that I did?
JOHN KELLY: Just stay with me, just stay with me. Yep. That it would be a a pretty serious offense. So with that I’m just going to ask you — these gentlemen will explain it. We’ll bring a personnel person in after after they talk to you. But just to understand that I’d like to see this be a a friendly departure. There are pretty significant legal issues that we hope don’t develop into something that, that’ll make it ugly for you. But I think it’s important to understand that if we make this a friendly departure we can all be, you know, you can look at, look at your time here in, in the White House as a year of service to the nation. And then you can go on without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation. But it’s very, very important I think that you understand that there are some serious legal issues that have been violated. And you’re, you’re open to some legal action that we hope, I think, we can control, right? So with that, if you would stay here with these gentlemen they’ll lay this thing out –
OMAROSA MANIGAULT: Can I ask you a couple questions? Does the president — is the president aware of what’s going on?
JOHN KELLY: Don’t do — let’s not go down the road. This is a non-negotiable discussion.
OMAROSA MANIGAULT: I don’t want to negotiate. I just, I’ve never talked — had a chance to talk to you General Kelly so if this is my departure I’d like to have at least an opportunity –
JOHN KELLY: No.
OMAROSA: –to understand.
JOHN KELLY: We can, we can talk another time. This has to do with some pretty serious violat — integrity violations. So I’ll let it go at that. So the the staff and everyone on the staff works for me, not the president. And so after your departure I’ll inform him if he gets interested on, on where you may be. So with that I’ll let you go and if gentlemen you could take it.
MALE VOICE: Thanks. Yep. I’m really sorry we’re here.
Christians have the one method that will solve the problem of Islam. Conversion.
Here is a way that Christians can work together in an effective method.
The FBI counterintelligence official at the center of the Clinton and Trump investigations is scheduled to testify today. FBI Agent Peter Strzok will testify publicly before a joint House Oversight/Judiciary Committee. Testimony begins at 10:00am EST
In a letter to the president EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned from his position. President Trump has accepted his resignation and notes that Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler will assume the acting administrator position Monday. (letter below)
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, the famous economist Paul Krugman says that debt is ok when we owe it to ourselves. He calls it “deficit scolding” as he wrote in the New York Times. Would you like to comment on this statement?
GH
ANSWER: Paul Krugman seems to lack any historical understanding of how nations rise and fall. Anyone who claims debt is OK and can be infinite because “we” owe it to ourselves is clueless. He wrote in the article you referred to that “we have a more or less stable ratio of debt to GDP, and no hint of a financing problem.” The debt to GDP ratio is interesting but totally irrelevant. China’s debt to GDP stands at 250%, the USA at 103%, and Greece buckled at 186%. Obviously, this ratio is rather meaningless as a forecasting tool. I have published this chart on call money rates previously. In my studies, I quickly discovered that you cannot reduce the cause of any effect to a single issue. We can see that the peak in call money rates took place during 1899 and it was the lowest in 1929 when the Great Depression hit. You can’t even claim that if interest rates hit some magical level the stock market would crash. The world is far more complicated than just this one-dimensional approach to everything.
Capital flows were fleeing the USA in 1899 so interest rates went higher with a shortage of money. In 1929, the capital was in the USA for it rushed here because of World War I. The inflow of capital created an excess so the peak in call money rates was lower than 1899 when capital was fleeing. We even have the world of President Grover Cleveland from the Panic of 1893 commenting on the net capital outflow because of the “unsound” financial policy of the Silver Democrats.
The greatest mistake in the analysis is always trying to reduce any effect to a single cause. The world is a complex mechanism. It is indeed like a rainforest. There are countless species and each is interconnected. Exterminate one and you will find that it was the food source for another which dies. That species, in turn, was the food source for yet another and so on. The world economy is equally complex. This is why I say we are ALL CONNECTED. Create a war in one region, we may not be involved with troops, but the capital flows shift.
Everything is interconnected. There is no single cause and effect. Looking at GDP debt ratios is pointless. This is also why fundamental analysis is notoriously wrong. The majority tries to reason the future based upon this one-dimensional analysis and they NEVER got it right. I have posted this video clip of Larry Summers before. He is asked why can’t you guys ever get it right just once. His excuse is blunt. The economy is extraordinarily complex like the weather. He argues nobody can forecast the direction.
For anyone to say that debt can be infinite when we owe it just to ourselves is a fool. At times, 70% of the national debt has been accumulating interest payments. A national debt is the single greatest way we transfer wealth among citizens as well as nations. I kept yelling on Capitol Hill that Quantitative Easing would fail, it would not “stimulate” the economy for a very simple reason. The assumption that the Fed would buy 30-year bonds and then the banks would lend into real estate with lower interest rates was crazy. The debt is NOT owned by exclusively Americans. China was smart and it sold the 30-year bonds and swapped to 5-year or less paper. The money was transferred out of the country. To pretend this is a debt we “owe” ourselves is just fantasy.
Even domestically, if I am the lender and you are the borrower, then you are paying me because you borrowed the money. Your wealth is transferred to me because you could not wait to buy something for cash. Sorry, I believe Adam Smith was someone who tried to observe HOW things actually work instead of trying to support a predetermined conclusion.
Governor Gerry Brown made it a violation of law to shower and do laundry on the same day. The purpose of this law is to “help California be better prepared for future droughts and the effects of climate change.” The limit will be 55 gallonsof water per day. If you exceed that, there will be a fine of $1,000 per day. If this takes place during a declared drought, the fine jumps to $10,000. A 5-minute shower consumes about 15 gallons of water and to do a load of laundry takes 30 to 40 gallons depending upon the machine. If you live alone, then perhaps you may be OK. If you have a family with two kids, you may have to avoid daily showers.
The entire right to privacy was determined by the Supreme Court in a case where Connecticut outlawed using condoms because God said go forth and multiply. The case concerned a Connecticut law that criminalized the encouragement or use of birth control. That case was Griswold v Connecticut, 381 US 479 (1965). The question becomes: How can you enforce such a law? Does the state then have the RIGHT to come into your home and inspect before you engage in sex to ensure you were not using a condom? Do they remain there observing until you are finished to make sure you did not put one on after they left?
In this case, they will track your meter. But what if you live in an apartment building where they do not monitor water usage per unit? Do they then have the right to stand there to investigate who in the building is doing laundry and taking showers on the same day? They will no doubt turn this into a money-making marathon. If you have a leak or your pipe bursts and you lose hundreds of gallons until they can shut off the water, would you then get a bill for $10,000?
The village of Reconvilier, Switzerland, has discovered a law from 1904 that allows the village to kill dogs if their owners don’t pay a 50 Swiss francs annual pet tax. They use it as extortion of pet owners. You pay the 50 Swiss francs or they kill your dog. Very simple. In Zurich, a woman dropped off her recycling on the wrong day. She was given the choice of two nights in jail or paying a fine. Men cannot stand and urinate after 10 PM because it makes too much noise.
The Swiss banned nuke hiking. It went all the way to the Supreme Court. One must wonder why people would want to even hike in the nude in the mountains. I suppose they are preparing for the coming Ice Age.
One of the greatest gifts President Trump provides through his policy discussion(s) is an awakening to how much U.S. voter perspective has been driven by constructed fallacy.
This is especially true in the discussion of domestic economic policy. There are trillions of dollars at stake; and the stakeholders are growing increasingly angry as President Trump places a spotlight on decades of economic fraud and abuse.
Prior to the 2016 election few people understood that DC politicians don’t actually write legislation, lobbyists do. Politicians don’t write laws, their role is to sell legislation created by lobbyist groups. That is the modern legislative model; that’s how it really works. Unfortunately the same bastardized and manipulated process has happened around trade deals and trade agreements.
In modern trade agreements, before the election of President Donald Trump, corporations would write the actual language within the deal. Corporate lobby groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have fully functioning staff that do nothing except write the trade agreement language.
If a multinational corporation wanted to increase its value, it simply needed to pay the indulgency fee to the U.S. CoC and the massive lobbying group would create language inside the agreement to assist their interest. Note the corporation didn’t need to be U.S. centric, currency is multinational. The U.S. CoC then pays politicians, both democrats and Republicans, via campaign contributions for the trade controls. People can debate the nuance and intersections of governmental bureaucracy within the process; however, peel all the skin from the onion and this is how it really was working.
Then came President Trump.
Much like the November 2016 election showed how there were no legislative lobbying groups in DC who aligned with President Trump’s legislative agenda, hence no MAGA laws at the ready, the same is true for international trade agreements. The election of Donald Trump disrupted the entire process. The Office of the Presidency was now looking out for U.S. worker and economic interests; the U.S. CoC lost all influence overnight.
In the decade prior to November 2016 can you remember who the U.S. Trade Representative was? Even just one of them? Or how about any U.S. Commerce Secretary since 2000? …..See the point? They were irrelevant to the process. The executive branch and the legislative branch willingly abdicated their trade positions in exchange for financial payments from corporations direct and indirect.
With enough money thrown into the process politicians became multimillionaires; and even the administrative state benefactors circling the politicians could easily get rich. A fantastic gig for the DC crowd. Who could resist?
Notice all of those DC retirements lately? Not, unrelated to the Trump-effect.
Have you ever really elevated high enough to contemplate what underlies the opposition to candidate Trump, President-elect Trump, or now President Trump? March 2016, Sea Island, Georgia ring a bell? I digress…
Bottom line, there are trillions of dollars at stake; there has been approximately 20 years of selling U.S. trade and economic policy; the functionality of much of the worlds political power brokerage was/is dependent on retention of this system of financial control and influence. Almost all economic trade discussion was centered around hiding this simple truth. Entire fallacies of false choice were, purchased, constructed, created and put into print within economic text books. [Authors well compensated]
As CTH has been sharing, long before Trump, it is all based on a series of necessarily growing lies. Each new lie bigger than the one before it, because the irreconcilable truth needs to be hidden, conflated and obfuscated.
An example of a fallacy of false choice you might find familiar:
Corporate outsourcing is due to manufacturers looking for cheap labor; … AND … also, job losses are due to automation. See the problem?
If automation replaces labor, then why move the manufacturing process? The argument doesn’t add up. Confused? Don’t worry, you’re supposed to be.
If you don’t think the effort at selling economic nonsense has corrupted even generally intelligent people, allow me to present an audio-visual example from yesterday. Pay attention to this abject nonsense closely.
I’ve prompted the video to 40:27 so you can just click for a 30 second soundbite. Seriously, this is an important watch:
Did you hear that?
“Foreign investment is the inverse of trade deficits, because all of those trade dollars have to come back to America somehow. The bigger the trade deficit, the more foreign investment you get”.
I shall break it down, but re-read it again because it’s important to see just how good the psychological gaslighting has been. Jonah Goldberg isn’t stupid; but he actually believes what he just said. He really believes it.
“Foreign investment is the inverse of trade deficits”…
If this were true, Africa would be the world’s dominating economy. The actual inverse of trade deficits is higher taxes and printing money. The wealth redistributed in trade deficits must be made up somehow. If trade deficits were great to have Africa would be the world economic power.
“because all of those trade dollars have to come back into America somehow”…
Says who? This sounds like something heard at a cocktail party that seems intellectual, but is abject silliness. The use of the magic “somehow” is a tell.
“The bigger the trade deficit, the more foreign investment you get”…
That part is the biggest bunch of nonsense ever stated. If deficits were so wonderful, everyone would want them, right? Again, see Africa.
In fairness to Goldberg what is behind his statement is a belief you hear, albeit wrongly stated, all the time. What he’s saying is that dollars spent on purchasing foreign goods come back into the U.S. by way of reinvestment or debt purchase.
However, Goldberg makes a fatal mistake in defining what “foreign investment” means to him; instead of understanding what President Trump means when he says “foreign investment”.
♦Goldberg is defining “foreign investment” as money returning to the U.S. via corporate profits on Wall Street and/or the purchase of U.S. debt via treasury notes.
♦Trump defines “foreign investment” as money spent actually building Main Street factories, physical plants, and creating U.S. jobs.
These are two entirely different reference points.
Under Goldberg’s definition of “foreign investment” Wall Street is the benefactor. That benefit may or may not ultimately end up on Main Street. Under President Trump’s definition of “foreign investment” the benefit ONLY ends up on Main St. See the cognitive difference?
Goldberg is selling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce economic trade fallacies because that’s all he, and his entire tribe, know. They have never questioned the underlying assumptions and have swallowed 30 years of trade nonsense.
This is how pervasive the economic lies have been for almost a generation. It’s pretty darned sad when you witness those who believe it.
Only one person is strong enough to break through these lies….
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Centinel2012 