Too late for a last minute gift idea, unfortunately, but there is always your birthday.
December 5, 2008 The bayonet is largely a weapon of last resort - when the rifle jams, the ammunition runs out or the fighting gets to close quarters, you've still got something sharp and pointy to get the job done old-school. They've pretty much disappeared from today's more high-tech battlefields, but that doesn't mean there aren't mavericks out there still pushing the envelope - and we can't think of many inventions we've seen lately that would be more exciting to a 10-year-old schoolboy than this: the chainsaw bayonet. Whether you view this as blatant redneck idiocy or the coolest weapon in the world will largely depend on how much you enjoy wanton destruction - and if there's a more appropriate gun out there to be included in Gears Of War 3, we'd love to hear about it.
The idea is so simple we're surprised we haven't seen it before: take one AR15 semi-automatic rifle, and bolt a god-damned electric chainsaw to the front of it, thus combining 5.56mm firepower and supreme limb-hacking melee slaughter in one neat package. This could be the ultimate zombie-defense weapon for the new millennium.
Main practical value: Guaranteed to reduce pious peaceniks, media gun-bashers, and other terror-loving, dictator and criminal supporting hypocrites to a frothing, spitting, bug-eyed rage.
The electric chainsaw seems a little underwhelming in the demonstration videos (we're not sure if an enemy combatant would be so polite as to wait there while you sawed his leg off), but that's simply a matter of getting a bigger battery pack and uprating the engine.
And if that's not murderous enough for you, the chainsaw bayonet's creators are looking to up the ante with their next creation, which will be a circular saw bayonet. We can't wait to see that one. Only in America!
#1
For those looking for something unique (and as likely to cause progressive's heads to explode from an their inability to vent their outrage as rapidly as necessary) - no downside I'm a'thinking), let me bring to your attention the Dick Heller Supreme Court 2nd Amendment Commemorative Edition series of rifles - not the actual title but descriptive.
Full disclosure - I work with EFI. Like anyone cares, but hey, may as well be up front.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/24/2008 17:27 Comments ||
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#2
OK, noting testy comments from certain mods, I used the link thing, and pasted the link in where it indicated, but am only seeing a blank space. Mods?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/24/2008 17:28 Comments ||
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#3
(The watermelon is perfect left-conformist imagery: Green on the outside, red on the inside.)
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/24/2008 18:48 Comments ||
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#6
;-) Merry Christmas, Whiskey Mike
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2008 18:53 Comments ||
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#7
Whiskey Mike: What you do is you highlight the words in your text that you would like to link to your cool picture or webpage, then click the "link" icon, then drop your link in there. Make sure it starts with "http://" and not just the "www" part!
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/24/2008 19:03 Comments ||
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#10
To All! (belatedly noting Frank G's kind wishes)
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/24/2008 19:04 Comments ||
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#11
Cute idea but chainsaws are a pain. At least the one I have.
It does bring up a question I've wondered about for some time. Why not include a switchblade type bayonet so it can be quickly deployed. Is the switchblade inherently weaker?
If California law lists a bayonet attachment point as one of the things that make an assault rifle (and thus illegal) why do they still include bayonet attachment points on sports rifles? Seems that and the pistol grip could go leaving the auto-load magazine. Why keep it? Anyone?
#1
"If we can put a man on the moon.... then, huh, er, huh, you know.... we can have midnight basketball, free college, free split-level homes, gummit leased Escalades, $$bailins/outs$$, peace in Africa, medical coverage for those under 50.... etc, etc."
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday dismissed US calls for him to quit as "stupid", saying they represented "the last kicks of dying horse" as George W Bush prepares to leave the White House.
"Only two days ago, the American administration declared that they are no longer accepting the process of an inclusive government. The inclusive government does not include Mr Bush and his administration," Mugabe told supporters at a burial of a party faithful. "Let him keep his comments to himself. They are undeserved, irrelevant, quite stupid and foolish," he said.
Mugabe's comments came two days after the US assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said the Bush administration had lost confidence in the power-sharing pact between Mugabe and the opposition.
"These are the last kicks of a dying horse. We obviously are not going to pay attention to a sunset administration. Zimbabwe's fate lies in the hands of Zimbabweans."
"Warmongers, African leaders are not foolish" and "Respect Zimbabwe's right to self-determination" were among banners displayed at the burial.
Earlier on Tuesday, state-run The Herald quoted Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba as criticising the Bush government's declaration of a loss of confidence in Mugabe as a "diplomatic flute".
The top United States envoy for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said on Sunday in Pretoria that Zimbabwe's September power-sharing deal could not work with Mugabe as president. "We have lost confidence in the power-sharing deal being a success with Mugabe in power. He has lost touch with reality," she said.
Mugabe is "completely discredited" and southern African leaders want to know "how do they facilitate a return to democracy without creating a backlash like a military coup or some sort of civil war," she said.
The newspaper quoted Mugabe as describing Frazer as a "little girl" who was out of touch with reality in Zimbabwe and the rest of the world. "She thinks that Africans are idiots, little kids who cannot think for themselves," Mugabe, 84, was quoted as saying last week in Bindura while opening his ruling ZANU-PF national conference.
Harare also threw verbal rocks at the British government, which has called on Mugabe to go. Charamba said that Gordon Brown's administration was also on its way out in Britain and that the prime minister was trying to gain relevance back home through "posturing" on Zimbabwe, the newspaper said.
France has also called for Mugabe to quit the office he has occupied since 1980 when Zimbabwe attained independence from Britain.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Zimbabwe's fate lies in the hands of Zimbabweans.
True enough. If only they could get your boot off of their face.
Athankayou, athankyou, athankyou. (tapping palm briskly with conductors baton) The lovely Jendayi folks. Isn't she just lovely, talented, and OBSERVANT?
Posted by: john frum ||
12/24/2008 14:13 Comments ||
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#8
Bush gets to retire with a secure pension, health benefits and nobody trying to kill him. He'll be forgotten in a year or so unless he chooses foolishly like jimmuh carter to draw attention to himself. He'll be able to sleep at night.
The problem with guys like Mugabe choosing dictatorship as a career is the retirement plan sucks. If he ever gave up power there would be thousands of people attempting to recover the money he stole or to avenge their relatives whom he killed.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/24/2008 14:31 Comments ||
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#9
Bush also does not look like gorilla which actually of kinder disposition anytime than Blardy Bob.
Britain has announced its GDP is shrinking at a much faster pace than previously thought as the country is edging closer to recession. The country's economy is seeing its first contraction at its sharpest rate since the early 1990s, and productivity has also dropped for the first time since 1989, the Office for National Statistics announced Tuesday.
It said the GDP declined by 0.6 percent in the second quarter, altered down from a previous estimate for a 0.5 percent fall - the biggest fall since 1990 and much worse that what the analysts had forecasted for an unrevised figure.
The analysts warned there is worse to come after separate figures for the third quarter showed that for the first time in nearly 20 years, workers' output has fallen drastically, while service sector output, which accounts for nearly 75 percent of the whole economy, continued to shrink in the three months to October.
Policymakers are in consesnsus that the credit crunch is driving Britain into its first recession since the early 1990s. The decline, which will likely be seen in the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2009, will be significantly worse than what has been seen in the third quarter, economists say.
The two consecutive quarters of contraction have forced policymakers to step up measures to prevent a recession in Britain from becoming a depression as soaring unemployment, a tumbling housing market and tight credit have hit hard.
Meanwhile, the government's 20 billion pound stimulus package, which includes a temporary cut in sales tax, has been dismissed by some experts as being too minor to make any difference.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2008 00:00 ||
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Brazil has signed an 8.6bn euro ($12bn; £8.2bn) defence deal with France to buy 50 helicopters and five submarines. The deal includes transfers of technology intended to help Brazil develop its own arms industry.
It was signed at the end of a two-day visit to Brazil by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. France will provide technology for the submarines, of which four will be conventional and the fifth will be nuclear-powered. They will be partly built and assembled in Brazil.
The 50 EC725 helicopters will be built locally by Helibras, a subsidiary of Eurocopter, which is part of the European aerospace company EADS. The aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2010.
A French official was cited as saying that 6bn euros would go to French companies and 2.6bn euros to Brazilian ones.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the deal reflected Brazil's status as an emerging power. "France is willing to... build an alliance in Brazil, to transfer technology so Brazil can have a defence industry that corresponds to its importance in the hemisphere, in the world," he said.
Mr Sarkozy said: "It is an historic decision because France believes that a powerful Brazil is an important element for the stability of the world."
Earlier in the visit he had argued that Brazil should have a greater role in international affairs and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/24/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Brazil has signed an 8.6bn euro ($12bn; £8.2bn) defence deal with France to buy 50 helicopters and five submarines.
So why does Brazil need subs? Their greatest application in the 20th Century was as a anti-commerce weapon. Hello, Hugo, if you can't move the tankers out, you can't sell the crap. So, keep up the 'piss'n off the neighbors' routine. You'll find even a modest capability of interdiction will require a massive amount of capital to develop effective anti-sub warfare abilities.
#8
Actually, it is a smart move to keep the oil and commerce safe from smaller but more aggressive neighbors. Also helps with anti-pirate and anti-drug operations.
#9
Look at all the places with oil that appear to have civil wars with outside sponsorship, as if there's a conspiracy to keep certain countries from producing or even from doing too much exploration.
(Off the top of my head: Nigeria, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru...)
#10
So to make a long story short, if I discovered as much oil as Brazil just did over the past couple of years I would be looking to find ways to insure it.
#11
You have to be careful with those sub fleets. Russia's had a big fleet for a long time but lately they seem to be developing more of the kind that stay submerged 100% of the time, and that is not the kind of submarine fleet you want.
(SomaliNet) Russian gas giant Gazprom is threatening to cut supplies to Ukraine if it fails to pay around two billion dollars in debt.
Have we seen this movie already or is this a sequel ...
Eighty percent of Russia's gas exports to Europe flow through Ukraine and three years ago a similar row between Moscow and Kiev caused serious disruptions in gas deliveries to the EU.
The European Commission says there is no reason for concern this time because Europe and Ukraine now have large reserves.
Russia is also negotiating gas supplies with Belarus. Russian media say Minsk is ready to recognise the independence of the pro-Russian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia in exchange for cheaper rates.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2008 00:00 ||
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BEIJING -- China's top military spokesman said it is seriously considering adding a first aircraft carrier to its navy fleet, a fresh indication of the country's growing military profile as it prepares for its first major naval deployment abroad.
At a rare news conference Tuesday, Chinese defense-ministry officials played down the importance of Beijing's decision to send warships to the Gulf of Aden to curb piracy -- China's first such deployment in modern history -- saying it doesn't represent a shift in defense policy. The two destroyers and supply ship are to depart Friday for the Middle East.
But officials also made clear that China's navy, which has been investing heavily in ships and aircraft, now has the capability to conduct complex operations far from its coastal waters -- and that Beijing is continuing to expand its reach and capability, perhaps with a carrier.
It's unclear what parts of an aircraft carrier China would build itself and what parts it might need to acquire from abroad. China has bought carriers before, but none ended up in the country's fleet.
In some of the most direct public statements on current thinking behind Beijing's naval policy, defense military spokesman Col. Huang Xueping said Tuesday that "China has vast oceans and it is the sovereign responsibility of China's armed forces to ensure the country's maritime security and uphold the sovereignty of its costal waters as well as its maritime rights and interests."
Col. Huang said China is "seriously considering" adding an aircraft carrier to its fleet, as "the aircraft carrier is a symbol of a country's overall national strength, as well as the competitiveness of the country's naval force."
China has stepped up spending on its navy and the rest of its armed forces in an effort to modernize and strengthen them. Much of the defense push has been driven by China's increasingly global commercial interests. Its economy depends on trade and imported oil and raw materials.
China says its ships in the Gulf of Aden will operate under United Nations rules of engagement, including a U.N. policy on when to engage pirates.
"We are sending our naval force as part of international cooperation, according to a specific situation," Capt. Ma Luping, director of the navy bureau of China's general staff, said at the news conference. However, China doesn't plan to "always send the navy whenever there is the loss of Chinese personnel or Chinese property," he said.
The new mission includes protecting deliveries of humanitarian aid to Somalia. China will cooperate with other navies and commercial ships operating in the area, Capt. Ma said.
Since Aug. 15, countries have dispatched warships and planes to participate in antipiracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean waters of Somalia. But international forces have been stretched too thin to effectively curb the increasingly daring and sophisticated pirates.
Col. Huang's comments on the possibility of adding a carrier indicate renewed interest in an idea whose popularity has waxed and waned in Chinese defense circles for decades.
In 1985, China purchased a decommissioned carrier from Australia. It was scrapped after Chinese technicians studied the ship, but a replica of the flight deck was built for pilot training. China later acquired three former Soviet carriers. Two have been turned into floating military theme parks, while the Pentagon says the third -- unfinished when purchased -- has undergone work; it remains unclear what China plans to do with it.
Carrier operations are extremely complex. Building the hull of an aircraft carrier is relatively easy. Learning to integrate air and surface operations, training air wings, and developing the sophisticated systems required for modern naval aviation could take years. U.S. government and independent analysts say it could be 2015 or 2020 before China could be ready to deploy an operational carrier.
#1
If you're going to be a commerce economy that is dependent upon trade, you'd better be prepared to do a little 'projecting' to protect your supply lines. Do I hear a little Mahan in that?
India has sought over 500 advanced technology cluster bombs from the US. This is a clear sign that the government wants to arm itself to take on large targets, including terrorist camps. India requested for them in September. But, after the Mumbai terror attacks, South Block has asked the Pentagon to fast-track the request, sources said.
According to documents listing India's request - an exclusive copy of which lies with Headlines Today - India has specifically asked the US to provide 510 units of the American CBU-105 cluster bomb and full logistics support services. If Washington approves of the sale, it will cost New Delhi $375 million (Rs 1,700 crore).
Headlines Today also has a copy of the notification made by Pentagon's foreign arms sales division to the US Congress about India's request and proposed sale. According to it: "This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the US by helping to strengthen the US-India strategic relationship and to improve the security of an important partner which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace and economic progress in South Asia."
Cluster bombs are a conglomeration of weapons. When released from an aircraft, they splinter into hundreds, even thousands, of individual 'bomblets'. These land over a large geographic area. The technique is also called carpet bombing. All bomblets don't explode when they hit the ground. But they can go off later. This creates an indefinite minefield which poses a severe threat to civilians and children long after the conflict is over.
Former Indian Air Force Western Commander Air Marshal V. K. Bhatia said: "The CBU-105 that India is looking at is an improved cluster bomb. Unlike the older ones, it is sensor-fused and guided by global positioning systems. Their effectiveness against terror camps is still debatable. But that they are lethal is beyond doubt."
Cluster bombs, like landmines, continue to be deeply controversial in the global arms control discourse. They are notorious for their indiscriminate nature of destruction and for the collateral damage they cause in almost all war theatres where they have been used.
Control Arms Foundation of India vice-president Anuradha Chenoy said: "These weapons are extremely dangerous. They continue to be harmful for civilians, especially children, long after a conflict and they should be prohibited across the world.
"India should base its anti-terror policies on intelligence, not cluster bombs."
What if your intelligence says, "use cluster bombs"?
Posted by: john frum ||
12/24/2008 16:05 ||
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#1
or for use against mass concentrations of paki soldiers
#4
The Indians already have cluster bombs. They want the Sensor Fused Weapon (smart tank killers). No good against troops or terr camps, but guaranteed to up the pucker factor for the Paki Army. CBU-97/CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon
Posted by: ed ||
12/24/2008 17:01 Comments ||
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Widespread use of nanoscale silver will challenge regulatory agencies to balance important potential benefits against the possibility of significant environmental risk, highlighting the need to identify research priorities concerning this emerging technology, according to a new report released today by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN).
Silver itself is classified as an environmental hazard by EPA because it is more toxic to aquatic plants and animals than any metal except mercury. Even if a nanoparticle itself is not especially toxic, silver nanoparticles increase the effectiveness of delivering toxic silver ions to locations where they can cause toxicity. Colloidal silver was traditionally used as an antibiotic, even though it clearly had no direct antiseptic properties. Only recently it was discovered to inhibit bacterial reproduction, an alternative means of suppressing infection.
#1
I thought In my environmental engineering class I learned that Aluminum was the second most toxic metal to marine life. Guess it changes depending on where your grant comes from.
#3
Aluminium is the commonest metal on Earth. There is more aluminium than all other metals combined. Aluminium compounds are extremely stable, and metallic aluminium is extremely reactive.
Aluminium oxide is very insolvent in water and forms a protective layer a couple of molecules thick on metallic aluminium.
So, a lump of pure aluminium, like a can, is for practical purposes chemically inert. However, finely powered aluminium or nano-particles are extremely reactive and hence toxic.
Thailand's new government was sworn in Monday with promises to take swift action to tackle the country's economic ills, even as the full extent of the challenge started to become clear.
Figures released Monday show a collapse in the country's all-important export sector. Exports, which account for about 70 percent of Thailand's economy, fell by 18.6 percent in November, the first drop since 2002.
Thailand's financial problems have been amplified by domestic political conflict. At the end of November, protesters shut down Bangkok's two main airports as part of their campaign to bring down the previous government. By conservative estimates, the closures are thought to have cost the country nearly $3 billion in damage to the export and tourism industries.
Monday marked the first full day in office for Thailand's new government, led by 44-year-old Oxford-educated economist Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand's third prime minister in four months. He has promised to make fixing the economy and bridging the country's increasingly deep political divide his main priorities.
Abhisit, an opponent of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, holds out the promise of breaking the stalemate that has paralyzed Thailand's politics. The standoff over the past six months prevented the last government from actively trying to counteract the effects of the global economic slowdown. Abhisit has said he is looking at extending the previous government's plans to help the country's rural poor and stimulate domestic demand by increasing loans to rural villages and funding infrastructure projects.
The first test of the new government will come early next week, when Abhisit is scheduled to outline his government's plans in an address to lawmakers. He faces challenges on two fronts: The markets will be looking not only at his plans for boosting the economy but also at events outside the parliament building, where supporters of the last administration say they will rally in an attempt to prevent Abhisit from giving his constitutionally mandated address.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
The number of Chinese and other Asians here who can't speak any english is rising quickly and the latest numbers I saw for number of undocumented aliens showed the fastest rising group was from India.
Fences won't fix the problem. Most of these people aren't walking across the border.
#4
I know a snakehead in China who specializes in this sort of thing. He wanted to recruit me to teach English to a group of Chinese, and then return to America to meet them after they'd been transported in. It was all business as usual, and he makes a good income from his job. Our borders and immigration laws are a joke, and the whole world knows this (except for Americans). Every other country in the world enforces its immigration laws. Overstay your visa and you get a visit from agents, and illegally enter and they'll use the police to find you. Only here is there a ridiculous idea that illegal immigration is acceptable.
#6
I like my sushi but these ethnic restaurants employ them. The employees are Chinese, not Japanese despite the restaurant name. One of Rezko's front companies was Panda Express, so they may not all be genuine immigrants.
#8
The secret to the $5.99 all you can eat Chinese lunch buffet.
Posted by: ed ||
12/24/2008 17:16 Comments ||
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#9
A RATIONAL immigration policy would attempt to get as many Chinese here as possible. Chinese are valuable. In East Asia there is a simple predictor for the economic level of any given country - check the proportion of its population thats Chinese.
The United States must embark on an aggressive effort to integrate immigrants, including teaching them English and U.S. history, a federal task force recommended Thursday.
If this "Americanization" fails, the nation could see major problems in 20 or 30 years, with foreign-born populations detached from the larger society and engaging in anti-social behavior, said Alfonso Aguilar, who heads the U.S. Office of Citizenship.
Aguilar compared the potential strife to what is occurring in some Western European countries where foreign-born populations do not feel part of the larger society and are not accepted by many as full citizens. "We should not be naive and assume that the assimilation process is going to happen automatically," Aguilar said at a news conference.
It's almost as if Alfonso reads Rantburg ...
The Task Force on New Americans recommends that the federal government take a leadership role in an "Americanization movement," but also says that states, local governments, nonprofit groups and the private sector should play a key part.
This assumes that the elites in our country see 'Americanization' as a good thing ...
The report strongly emphasizes that immigrants must learn English in order to fully integrate into American society. Aguilar said immigrants currently want to learn English but many cannot find classes.
#1
The United States must embark on an aggressive effort to integrate immigrants, including teaching them English and U.S. history, a federal task force recommended Thursday.
OUR US government said this? I'm astounded. So are we gonna do it?
#3
that's all well and good if implemented, but how about making them learn this important stuff BEFORE they hit our shores?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2008 8:55 Comments ||
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#4
Eh, the impending & foreboding ConCon will just change the Constitution to state 'freedom of language' as well and we can continue our slide into history...
#5
The United States must embark on an aggressive effort to integrate immigrants
Call me old fashioned but I prefer the original process for US integration. You remember the one where it was incumbent upon the immigrants, themselves, to assimilate into the host society. That was back when assimilation wasnt simply considered the best action to take advantage of potential benefits. It may be hard for some of you whippersnappers to believe but there was an even a time when assimilation was an expectation. You see, before the entitlement mentality took root integration was believed to be an obligation that came with a newfound privilege. Now you kids get out of my yard!
#6
What I find interesting is that the Press RElease was issued December 18. There are nine (9) other articles in a google news search using the work Americanization. If we ignore it, it won't be a problem.
#7
I believe one of the silver linings of Obama's administration will be the changing of many of these problems. Americanization and assimilation will no longer seem a bad thing. Obama after all can move in the greater culture and is still his own man. Success means being able to put on a suit and other multi-cultural crutches prevent success.
Perhaps if he can reverse that whole thought process the country might be saved despite the world burning at our inevitable isolationism.
#8
There is a Nixon to China opportunity. Not only here but Social Security. Almost the last chance without a crisis. And now it can be compared to the magnitude of the mortgage crisis. Lots of cover to address lots of festering problems if he has half the nads of Bush.
#10
#7 I believe one of the silver linings of Obama's administration will be the changing of many of these problems. Americanization and assimilation will no longer seem a bad thing.
#12
Besoeker, I never felt so either but certainly you must be aware that a segment of our society, those that are whacked out high on Multiculturalism think so.
#13
It isn't until the third generation that immigrants completely assimilate. The second generation will likely quit school to go to work, probably in the family business with their parents. They will grow the business, support the old folks and send the third generation to college. The third generation will be the generation that grows up knowing only English.
The fourth generation will be watching The Simpsons where the second generation was working, even while they were youngsters.
THE US housing market took a sharp turn for the worse in new data this week, in sign the US recession that shows no sign of abating. Existing US home sales and prices both fell at a record pace last month, according to a report released on Tuesday, further evidence that the financial turmoil which intensified in September was driving consumers deeper into retreat.
"The quickly deteriorating conditions in the job market, stock market and consumer confidence in October and November have knocked down home sales to another level," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors in the US.
Sales of newly built US homes slowed to the weakest level since 1991, according to separate figures from the Commerce Department.
Housing is at the root of the year-long US recession and the global malaise, and economists see little hope of a lasting recovery until that market stabilizes. If it deteriorates significantly, that would increase foreclosures and bank losses, putting greater strain on government efforts to revive growth.
"The bottom line: Bah humbug. Recession, recession, recession," said Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.
Modest US stock market gains evaporated after the housing data was released, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average down 0.6 percent in afternoon trading.
The US economy shrank at an unrevised 0.5 percent rate in the third quarter, official data showed. Consumer spending plunged 3.8 percent, the biggest drop since 1980. Economists expect a much bigger decline in economic activity in the current quarter as job losses pile up and households and businesses curtail spending. That in turn is hurting U.S. trading partners around the world.
An economist at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank said the US recession would likely last 18 months, making it the longest since World War Two, with unemployment peaking at a 25-year high of 8.4 percent.
#1
Lessee. Following such a RECORD above-average run of price appreciation for residential real estate in all major markets, how much more of a drop would be required to return house prices to their long-term averages? I heard a figure for the national average, but in this sort of segmented market I think that's close to useless as a yardstick (housing prices in Indiana haven't risen meteorically nor plunged precipitously, I'd guess, since 2000 - whereas in many "hot" markets the swing has been/will be quite dramatic).
Given the specific hyperinflation in residential real estate in major markets (and now the correction), I'm not sure what housing price trends tell us, if anything, about macro activity.
Housing prices are so out of whack with housing value that a decrease in price is inevitable and a good thing. Unless you bought high.
BP, housing SHOULD be a place to live, not an investment. The problem here in the U.S. is that the first two houses you own are hugely tax subsidized by the home mortgage deduction. In essence, the federal (and some state) governments have decided to make real estate as an investment a better deal tax wise than stocks, bonds, commodities, businesses, etc. Any time you subsidize something, people will do it more than they would in an otherwise unencumbered marketplace. Also as an inevitable result of subsidization, prices will be elevated with regard to actual value, as a result of the investment favorability vs other vehicles.
Oh, I know, the people who support this crazy idea will argue that it helps people of lesser means be able to buy a house (where else have we heard that rhetoric lately?) and that we can't get rid of the deduction now because lots of folks wouldn't be able to afford to live in the houses they now occupy. Fine, then, phase it out over five or ten years, to allow pay and house values to normalize over time.
The time when making home ownership a highly tax sheltered investment on the premise that it is good for the country is long past. Get rid of the home mortgage deduction, and within a decade or so home prices will stabilize at a number that truly reflects their value and in all likelihood tend to stay there.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/24/2008 6:12 Comments ||
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#5
The time when making home ownership a highly tax sheltered investment on the premise that it is good for the country is long past
It's a carry over and evolution of the understanding that the GI loans after WWII made the modern tract housing construction a means to sustain employment. Government planners still smarting over the less than effective New Deal programs took the opportunity to subsidize the housing industry [an thus employment] by alternate means after seeing the 'blip' created by another program.
#6
One of the secondary effects (which most of us aware painfully aware) of sky rocketed home prices are sky rocketing property taxes. As more damn Yankees move south and as the huge property tax dollars roll in, local county officials seek new and innovative ways to spend the loot, like multi-million dollar justice centers, community buildings, police stations, pay raises, additional manpower, non-Georgia native residents need not apply and office help to operate the centers, etc. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for these high spending communities.
I understand the evolution of the concept, P2K, and that to one extent or another it was well intentioned. Nonetheless, in 2008 there isn't any justification at all for keeping this.
Besoeker, I'm guessing that a lot of those buildings will be mothballed short term, because the public sector unions will structure the government they populate in whatever way possible to guarantee their continued worship of the false god of perfect income stream security. When and if tax revenues go down, or are even not allowed to increase over time, they will close all the buildings, store all the equipment, and sit huddled in a barn doing nothing at all for the taxpayers but still collect their guaranteed public sector check. That's what they'll do. The very last thing that will be cut will be payroll.
And if you think it's bad in the SOuth, take a look at places like MA, CA, NY, etc. As bad as it is in your neighborhood, it's a lot worse in other places.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/24/2008 7:57 Comments ||
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#8
RGR RGR No mo uro. My old pop used to tell me "he didn't give a damn what the other kids math grade looked like, he was only interested in MINE!" I guess them that wants to live in CA, MA, or NY can do so. Excluding highly respected RantBurgers, hat tip to the poor, feckless, donk bastards.
Why the hell do we allow the unionization of government employees? Of all the workers in the universe these should be MOST subject to the needs and policies of their employers (that would be us) not forcing changes in policy to suit their needs.
You're describibng the kalephorneeah situation to a "T". The governments, local, state, and federal knew what the situation was , squinted, smiled, and watched the bucks roll in. greenspan knew what was going on, but he wasn't going to turn the lights off on the party either.As long as revenue was being generated, everything was tolerable. This is the "government" we have. I guess we're not smart enough for anything better. I know for damn sure Cal voters aren't.
#13
Welcome to one of the myriad anamolies caused by our bizzare tax system.
The more complicated the tax system the more room there is for Pols and cheats (redundant I know) to scam the system. The recipients get drunk on the income and then comes the hangover.
I want to see Friedman's flat tax with a high personal exemption AND THAT'S IT. Then decisions of an economic nature won't get made based on politics.
#16
The housing market was the single greatest depository of consumer value for many years. People used their home as a cash cow. As home values rose, people pulled out equity for purchases of all sorts of things.
One of two things need to happen. Either we need to start removing existing homed from the market by demolition when they are foreclosed on in order to jack up the value of the remaining homes or another source of value needs to be created. That can't happen until Sarbanes-Oxley is either repealed or greatly modified. S-Ox is designed to depress corporate balance sheets so that each quarter represents not reality but the worst possible case. This keeps cash positive companies who must show paper liability from showing any growth. It also prevents companies from going public and gaining access to public capital. This eliminates corporate investment as a potential source of value for individual investors.
Bear Stearns was cash positive but was broke according to S-Ox accounting requirements. Same with AIG. The reason the government had to step in and take the most "troublesome" mortgages was because the accounting requirements forced the companies to value ALL mortgages according the the price of the last one sold (mark to market).
So the public can not create value in investments in private industry because S-Ox has wiped out the value of private industry.
There is another shoe to drop in all of this in 2011 when the boomers start retiring in droves and cashing in their 401K, IRA, and selling the homes in high-cost areas to move to lower cost areas more suitable for life on a fixed income.
#17
While I agree that the tax break on home interest and real estate taxes is debatable (what's the difference
between a homeowner with an ARM and no money down and a renter?), the capital
gains exclusion of $500K every five years was a "reasonable" effort for the following reason.
Much of the gain on a home sale was due to inflation, especially back in the '70s. Why should a homeowner have to pay a tax on that? People got stuck in their homes because they didn't want to pay 35% cap gains on the inflated value. Of course, Congress could have done better: simply publish an inflation figure for each year and exclude that part of the gain. But no, they wanted to keep it "simple".
#18
Get rid of all taxes except Property Value Tax (Land and Intellectual).
The money raised goes to the government to fund property defence (police, army, courts and group health (inoculation/vaccination)). The rest is paid as a dividend.
1/ This prevents housing getting expensive
2/ Eliminates the moral hazard welfare state.
3/ Squeezes out economically destructive rent seeking.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
BEIJING -- China's top military spokesman said it is seriously considering adding a first aircraft carrier to its navy fleet, a fresh indication of the country's growing military profile as it prepares for its first major naval deployment abroad.
In 1985, China purchased a decommissioned carrier from Australia. It was scrapped after Chinese technicians studied the ship, but a replica of the flight deck was built for pilot training. China later acquired three former Soviet carriers. Two have been turned into floating military theme parks, while the Pentagon says the third -- unfinished when purchased -- has undergone work; it remains unclear what China plans to do with it.
