Talk about it here: http://thenadtearsheet.blogspot.com/
Stocks are up this morning on overseas strength. Bonds and MBS are flat.
The S&P / Case-Shiller index of home prices rose .66% on a MOM basis and is up 5.38% YOY. Their take on the housing market: “Mortgage defaults are an important measure of the health of the housing market. Memories of the financial crisis are dominated by rising defaults as much as by falling home prices (see first chart). Today as well, the mortgage default rate continues to mirror the path of home prices. Currently, the default rate on first mortgages is about three-quarters of one percent, a touch lower than in 2004. Moreover, the figure has drifted down in the last two years. While financing is not an issue for home buyers, rising prices are a concern in many parts of the country. The visible supply of homes on the market is low at 4.8 months in the last report. Homeowners looking to sell their house and trade up to a larger house or a more desirable location are concerned with finding that new house. Additionally, the pace of new single family home construction and sales has not completely recovered from the recession.”
In other economic news, durable goods orders rose 0.8% in March, versus Street expectations of an increase of 1.9%. Capital Goods orders (a proxy for business capital investment) was flat. The Markit US Services PMI and the Markit US Composite PMI indices both improved in April. The Richmond Fed Manufacturing index fell, as did consumer confidence.
The FOMC begins their two day meeting today. Here is Mohammed El-Arian’s take on what to look for in the statement. Here is a more in-depth parsing of what the Fed may say and what it means.
What is going on this weekend aside from the NFL draft? Buffetapalooza or Woodstock for Capitalists. The Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in Omaha, where you can play ukelele with the Fruit of the Loom guys listen to Warren wax poetically about value investing. This year, it will be streamed live.
We are starting to see weakness in the top end of the hottest real estate markets as supply surges and foreign demand begins to wane. Will it spread?
Did you know Trump and Hillary share the same address?
Filed under: Economy, Morning Report |
I’d be surprised if the Clintons didn’t have corporations registered in Delaware as that would show that they hired incompetent lawyers. Is there any evidence the Clintons are hiding income in some way?
Hillary has released her tax returns. For example, in 2014 she and Bill paid $9M in federal income tax on an income of $28M.
We will never, ever see Donald Trump’s tax returns because they will show three things:
1. Trump isn’t really as rich as he says he is.
2. He pays little or no taxes because of various real estate tax dodges. (NTTTIAWWT)
3. He gives no money to charity. This has been documented independently by the Washington Post. (In 2014 the Clintons gave $3M to the Clinton Family Foundation)
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Giving money to yourself isn’t charity.
It’s a tax scam.
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Bill Gates and Warren Buffet disagree.
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And they are scammers of the first order too.
It’s all in the expense reports.
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jnc:
Giving money to yourself isn’t charity. It’s a tax scam.
Bingo.
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Giving money to your own foundations if your name is Clinton is a scam.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/will-clinton-foundation-accounting-fraud-implicate-a-major-accounting-firm/article/2575782
I mean, that’s just one little example. Google Clinton Foundation Fraud, and variations, and there’s plenty of reading.
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The answer to any rhetorical question in a headline is “no”. The primary source for this six-month old article is Charles Ortel which makes it just another wet dream on the part of the VRWC. Good luck to them making accounting errors at a charity stick as a campaign issue. HRC so far has survived much grander accusations than that.
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I bet that “source” is listed as a hate group at SPLC.
Enough said, am I right?
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yello:
HRC so far has survived much grander accusations than that.
I guess for some people whether or not accusations are survivable is a lot more important than whether or not they are accurate.
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“I guess for some people whether or not accusations are survivable is a lot more important than whether or not they are accurate.”
Hillary vs. Trump: The Battle of Survivable Accusations.
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The Nose-Holding Election
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The Protest Vote Election, if you ask me!
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yello:
(In 2014 the Clintons gave $3M to the Clinton Family Foundation)
Heh. Do I get charity credit for giving huge chunks of money to the Callahan Family College Fund?
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How good are your lawyers?
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jnc:
How good are your lawyers?
Not good enough.
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Amusing and sad that the progressive position on race, gender and equality has degenerated from asking for a chance to compete fairly on merit to explicit quotas, but I’m probably a few of decades late in mourning it’s passing.
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we should all start voting on identity. what could go wrong?
[flips through world history book]
oh.
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“asking for a chance to compete fairly on merit to explicit quotas”
While demanding that those who have enjoyed white privilege are punished explicitly, if not legally (but we hope so) then at least culturally. “White privilege” is kind of a modern code for lazy, not-that-bright, not truly civilized, and naturally lacking in morals. White folks, and especially white men, and especially white Christian men, need to be ridiculed and lampooned and caricatured and derided. Those pale-faced cretins need to know their place and stay there!
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Worth a note:
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jnc:
I meant to ask you and nova about that McAuliffe thing. What do you think? He seems to have adopted the Obama method of governance.
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Yep, although it predates Obama as well. See also McAuliffe’s games on concealed carry reciprocity.
Faithfully executing this is not. However, I don’t expect the Republicans to be any better going forward. They will just do the same thing with a different set of targets.
Kevin Williamson makes your argument about the Obama linkage directly:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434539/terry-mcauliffe-felon-voting-rights-unilaterally-returned-virginias-governor
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jnc:
I don’t expect the Republicans to be any better going forward.
Once there is a new “innovation” in law making, everyone will make use of it. Although there is still some hope that the judicial branch will prevent it, no?
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I’d say zero. The judicial branch pioneered innovating. Everyone else is playing catch up.
This is just the slow death of the rule of law.
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jnc:
I’d say zero. The judicial branch pioneered innovating.
Excellent point.
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More on the Clinton Foundation:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/04/the_clinton_foundation_as_a_moneylaundering_scheme.html
http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/29/is-the-clinton-foundation-just-an-international-money-laundering-scheme/
https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-Clinton-Foundation-money-goes-to-real-and-actual-charities-that-are-not-controlled-by-the-Clintons
Checked and somewhat “clarified” by PolitiFact: http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/apr/29/rush-limbaugh/rush-limbaugh-says-clinton-foundation-spends-just-/
The Federalist Responds: http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/29/punditfact-a-case-study-in-fact-free-hackery/
The Federalist articles are links to even more in-depth analysis, depending how far one wants to go down the rabbit hole.
I like the end to the Federalist response to PolitiFact/PunditFact:
From:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderProfile.asp?fndid=5382
And don’t forget, Clinton happened to pardon Marc Rich before leaving office. Odd coincidence, that: nypost.com/2016/01/17/after-pardon…
Tangential: The pardon of Marc Rich turned out to be very profitable to Clinton:
http://nypost.com/2016/01/17/after-pardoning-criminal-marc-rich-clintons-made-millions-off-friends/
Nigerian businessman Gilbert Chagoury is well known as a close ally and business associate of Rich. The Nigerian media declared in 1999 that the “Gilbert Chagoury-Marc Rich alliance remains a formidable foe.” They sold oil on international markets together. In 2000, Chagoury was convicted in Geneva of money laundering and aiding a criminal organization in connection with the billions of dollars stolen from Nigeria during the reign of dictator Gen. Sani Abacha.
As part of a plea deal, the conviction was later expunged.
And just that one article goes on and on, and a lot of the pay off’s from Marc Rich’s friends get funneled through the Clinton Foundation.
And that’s barely the tip of the iceberg.
More:
http://radaronline.com/celebrity-news/clinton-foundation-bill-hillary-chelsea-clinton-tax-records-revenue-grants/
Google. I suggest “clinton foundation fraud” and “clinton foundation money laundering” and “clinton foundation bribes” and so on. There’s plenty of information out there. I don’t even include the crazier stuff, like the Clinton Foundation promising the Hammond Ranch to the Russians . . . which I am dubious about, but who knows.
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Pity Sanders won’t make this an issue. He sure would if a Republican was doing it.
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Sander’s writing about women’s rape fantasies back in the day got nothin’ on the Clinton Foundation. I’m curious if the Republicans will touch it, or if they’ll worry the 15% good works they do with that 15% of cash will make it look like they are attacking the concept of charity and giving back to the community, and avoid it.
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Hilarious trolling.
http://www.vocativ.com/312479/kkk-endorses-hillary-clinton-for-president/
The company she associates with…
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Ha ha!
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/277537-actor-tim-robbins-blames-voter-fraud-for-sanders-losses
Tim Robbins accuses Hillary of voter fraud.
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I thought voter fraud was a figment of the fever-swamp right wing nutjob imagination…
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And, evidently, Hollywood nutjob imagination
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Tim Robbins was in a relationship with Susan Sarandon for 23 years. It shows.
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Mich:
And, evidently, Hollywood nutjob imagination
I am wondering if there is any other activity, besides voting, where great amounts of money are at stake but in which the existence of fraud is routinely assumed to be implausible or impossible.
Banking fraud? Obviously those banksters are guilty.
Billing fraud by government contractors? Routine.
For profit universities? Practically fraud by definition.
Voting fraud? Only a nutjob believes in that!
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I know the left loves to say voter fraud doesn’t exist, but how can you tell if you aren’t allowed to look for it?
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Brent:
I know the left loves to say voter fraud doesn’t exist, but how can you tell if you aren’t allowed to look for it?
The insistence that voting is the single activity in which no human will ever cheat or deceive in order to accomplish their goals is so contrary to all common sense and human experience that I have to assume that the left’s routine denials of its existence can only derive from a calculation that voter fraud is ultimately beneficial to the left.
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