I tend to ignore most of the data spewed by the government and regurgitated by the compliant MSM. I saw the blaring headlines about housing starts hitting seven year highs, blah, blah, blah. The cheerleaders in the MSM sure did make it sound like things were rosy in the housing market. Yippee. They don’t mention that 30% of all the starts are for apartments, because young people can’t afford to buy over-priced homes.
To give you some perspective on the wonderful housing market, checkout the long-term chart below. Single family housing starts are all the way back to 1991 levels (midst of recession). Of course, real median household income is also at 1991 levels, so this makes perfect sense. They have soared to only 55% less than the 2005 level. And they are only 40% BELOW the long term average of 1.2 million per year. Isn’t perspective refreshing?
Now back to the Census Bureau seasonally adjusted bullshit. Here is a link to their press release:
http://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/newresconst.pdf
Here are a few of my observations:
- There were actually 48,000 single family homes started in the entire country in December. There are over 100 million households in the country. The change in households will be .048%. So, the MSM hyperventilates about a seasonally adjusted annualized figure with an error range of +/- 12%. What a joke.
- It seems the non-seasonally adjusted figure is up only 4.9% over last December versus 7.2% when it is seasonally adjusted. This makes absolutely no sense. The MSM and government bureaucrats used the dreaded POLAR VORTEX as their excuse dejour last year to explain the miserable December numbers. If last year’s numbers were negatively impacted by the awful weather in December, why would the seasonally adjusted numbers make this year’s number look even better? We are lost in a blizzard of polar vortex lies.
- Permits for new houses were only up 4.5% over last year using the seasonally adjusted bullshit. Why do you have to seasonally adjust permits anyway? The non-adjusted numbers were up a miniscule 1.2% versus the polar vortex devastated December of last year. This passes for fantastic news in the MSM.
It is so easy to poke holes in the government/media storyline of economic recovery. Government data is like the American Dream, you’d have to be asleep to believe it.
I’ve read that anytime there is a Polar Vortex condition the Gooberment and the MSM will add Igloo Housing starts as an addendum to the regular housing stats .
From marketwatch:
Most millennials say they’d rather rent than buy a home — a decision that could cost them more than $700,000 over the course of their lives.
This anti-home-buying trend can already be seen: Currently, only about one in four millennials own a home, down from about one in three in the mid-70s and early 80s, according to data from the Demand Institute.) That’s “bad news for the real estate industry,” the report concludes.
Whatever the reason, this decision may be a costly one. “In most markets it is still cheaper to buy than to rent [each month]” — even when you factor in the insurance and property tax payments, in addition to the mortgage payments, says Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. And because interest rates are so low, now is a good time to buy in many markets.
Plus, you’re working toward owning an asset when you buy — that’s not the case when you rent.
There you go, it’s all millennial’s fault.
Whatever the reason!!! God damn, you stupid. IT COSTS TOO FUCKING MUCH TO PURCHASE A HOME.
Then getcha a single-wde Wip…..they’ve got the ghetto red neck model…comes with 24″ rims.
Shadow of Crisis Passes But Smell of Bullshit Remains
Emperor Barack Obama’s much anticipated State of the Union address last night was a pure masterpiece of pomp and bullshit and likely hit all the right notes with millions of gullible Americans.
There was the triumphant heralding that the “shadow of crisis has passed” and the economy is once again the greatest on the planet. I suppose that this is somewhat true if your indicators are a stock market that is at record levels thanks to having been backstopped by the Federal Reserve and the government since 2009.
All that Obama and his dynamic duo of Fed bosses “Helicopter” Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen have done is inflated the largest stock bubble in history and as all bubbles are prone to do it will eventually pop. However, it probably will not do so until Obama is well into a lavish, taxpayer subsidized retirement of posh country club living and perpetual golfing.
Barry sold the miracles of Ponzi economics hard last night and he reinforced the fear of “terrorism” that allows the for surveillance state and the shearing of the sheep to continue. Mixed in with selling the economic miracle snake oil was a generous smattering of platitudes and even the exploitation of a military veteran who lost limbs if only to peddle administration policies. Some of the more outlandish pieces of the Obama’s speech were:
His pushing for higher taxes on the wealthy which has zero chance of ever becoming reality given that his party is outnumbered. The silly-assed liberals must have been taken to orgasm though and it probably never occurred to them that they had been conned yet again. Had Obama wanted to sock it to the rich he could have easily done so back when the Dems controlled both houses of Congress in 2009 after the Wall Street gamblers crashed the economy.
His sleazy exploitation of Minneapolis couple Rebekah and Ben Erler who were “young and in love in America” but ran into economic hardship thanks in part to his regime’s bankster bailouts was epic. While the couple are examples of having finally overcome adversity and gotten better jobs they better not get too settled in thanks to Obama’s amnesty to millions of illegals that will drive their wages down again.
El Presidente practically threw out a rotator cuff patting himself on the back over the recent collapse in oil prices that have finally resulted in a respite from the fleecing at the pump. Obama’s Democrats including former economic commissar Lawrence Summers are already working overtime to find a way to offset any temporary savings with new carbon/gas taxes. When the market is no longer experiencing a glut – thanks largely to Saudi Arabia’s refusal to cut production – and prices go back to $4 per gallon there will be an additonal $2 or so in taxes that will provide a sucker punch in the solar plexus for consumers.
He pushed for a Fourth Amendment destroying cybersecurity bill as well as an American job killing trade pact – the ultra secretive Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) – that will make NAFTA look like the freaking New Deal. Don’t forget that Ross Perot warned of that “giant sucking sound” back when there was still time to avert the offshoring of tens of millions of well paying jobs. The biggest problem with this is that he has bipartisan support from the entrenched, ruling elite in Congress.
There is not enough space to list all of the rest of the stuff wrong with the Emperor’s audacious grandstanding here but it will provide fodder for the pundits and his political foes for months. John Boehner and Mitch McConnell really missed the chance when they took impeachment off of the table along with any chance to rid us of the slimy bastard early before he finishes the job of destroying the country.
But nothing in the speech insulted the intelligence or dignity of Americans in the quite manner in which Barry extended a big middle finger to the new Republican dominated Congress. Obama punctuated his epic dispersal of manure and hogwash with several digs at the GOP. Despite the electoral bludgeoning inflicted upon his party in the November elections, Mr. Obama carried himself like a very satisfied and triumphant man. If he was determined to use the forum as a nationally televised opportunity to float the proverbial turd in the Republican’s victory punchbowl he was successful. It brought to mind something that notoriously vulgar poet Charles Bukowski, tabbed by Time Magazine as the “laureate of American lowlife” once wrote:
“There was nothing really as glorious as a good beer shit—I mean after drinking twenty or twenty-five beers the night before. The odor of a beer shit like that spread all around and stayed for a good hour-and-a-half, It made you realize that you were really alive.”
The reference to the heavy drinking is a good fit for a “pickled liver” lush like Boehner as he was left in the cloud of the wretched stench that hung in the air after Obama swaggered from their exalted chamber borne upon the wings of media adoration. Boehner, McConnell and the remainder of the putrid GOP “leadership” who just had themselves reelected to their gigs were left to bask in the aroma and honestly, they deserved it.
There was really no doubt remaining over exactly what Mr. Obama really thinks of them. This also goes for the rest of the schmucks in America who were just subjected to that disgusting orgy of lies and cynical political demagoguery that he belched forth.
http://carryingaflag.blogspot.com/
When do we start bombing Yemen?
Violent extremists have taken over, said KetchupBoy. They desperately need some Democracy.
You need a job first before you go looking for a loan and a house. People are buying RV trailers to live in,versus being a slave to a thirty year loan on a house.
I agree with Stucky,a war is a good diversion. Putin is grown up enough to just flip Obama the bird and not play his game.
Greetings,
Why own a home and make yourself a target? The homeowner can be threatened and squeezed for any amount of money and they do not dare actively protest otherwise they will lose their fantasy “equity”. Only a fool would buy a home in this country.
Lies about housing data or anything else can be perpetuated as long as everyone believes them – to a point.
Why should anyone assume lies will support our economy indefinitely. The world economy is slowing and lies don’t change this fact.
The two choices we are faced with are either living a lie and pretending all is well or actually improving economic fundamentals by making some very painful political and economic decisions.
Since no one wants pain (citizens, politicians, or big political donors and special interests), we will continue to live a economic lie. More fed money, more debt, nowhere near enough GOOD jobs created, inflation, increasing loan defaults, low housing starts, massive wall street excesses, more illegal and low wage workers flooding our country, etc.
The point at which our system really begins to fail is the one I always harp about, one that can’t be faked, fudged, or twisted – resource depletion of food, water, and energy. The US and world economy can be propped up indefinitely based only on lies and the gullibility of the public assisted by government bribes, media propaganda, and (as always) sports and entertainment that keep the public under control.
However, no economy can operate as precious resources dwindle below the levels needed to sustain it. Economic collapse should have already occurred for many reasons others have often stated but lies (and subsidies) plus fed money keep the system going – on artificial life support. However, once resources truly drop enough, no lies, fed money, market gains, or anything else can keep the charade going.
Resource depletion can be lied about too but when it enters into critical condition, the lies are immediately obvious and more lies won’t fool everyone into believing all is well.
Thanks for pointing out the facts (once more) Admin. The “truthiness” of TBP has never burned brighter.
@Stucky: Well said!
I wonder if I can “seasonally adjust” my earnings when I’m filing my income taxes this year. Seems like that would be legit to me.