Higgenbotham's Dark Age Hovel

[Higgenbotham]

why don't the owners renew the registration?

A passed inspection is required for registration renewal. Proof of insurance has to be presented at the annual inspection and I've heard many people aren't able to show proper proof. Also, this is a smog test county so it could be that some of the cars have check engine lights that are on and they aren't able to get the check engine light fixed. A check engine light is an automatic inspection fail.

[aeden]

Catastrophic Contagion Noval pathogen "severe epidemic enterovirus respiratory syndrome" 2025 SEERS-25.
ENTEROVIRUS D68 -colds/flu; rare causes viral meningitis and neuro conditions.
Also, Eviruses are foot & mouth and polio. Predictions from meeting will kill 20 million (15million children).

Medical projects. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon ... jv/tr/0-1/
contempt and violation of law, iniquity, wickedness: Matthew 23:28

Given the recent population displacement and destruction of infrastructure,
it seems likely that the infectious disease situation will worsen before improving.

thread: pharmakeia

[Higgenbotham]

why don't the owners renew the registration?

A passed inspection is required for registration renewal. Proof of insurance has to be presented at the annual inspection and I've heard many people aren't able to show proper proof. Also, this is a smog test county so it could be that some of the cars have check engine lights that are on and they aren't able to get the check engine light fixed. A check engine light is an automatic inspection fail.

Eviction rates are skyrocketing in Travis County, says HHS

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 BY SETH SMALLEY

Eviction rates have shot up more than 250 percent of the average in the Austin area, according to Travis County Health and Human Services.

“We have been absolutely inundated with crisis applications,” Kirsten Siegfried, HHS chief deputy, told the Travis County Commissioners Court.

Siegfried said it took HHS six months to get through applications received in just the first two weeks.

“We have been barely able to attend to routine applications, so much so that – it truly pains me to say this out loud – we only finished processing all of those applications received in the first two weeks of March last month.”

Many of the evictions are driven by rising costs, relatively stagnant incomes and the lifting of the eviction moratorium in March, but November has seen an anomalous increase, even since the moratorium was lifted. Rents for one-bedroom apartments in Austin have risen 35 percent since 2019, compared to a mere 8 percent increase in wages.

The number of county households considered “housing cost-burdened” – or households which spend more than half of their income on rent and utilities – has increased 40 percent since 2019. In Travis County, 72,000 households are categorized this way.

“Households in this category cannot afford all that they need including transportation, health care, child care, and even food,” Siegfried explained. “A household that is severely housing cost-burdened is not stable; paying that percentage of your income on rent and utilities cannot be sustained.”

https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2 ... -says-hhs/

Out of 12 apartments in this building (in Travis County), I've seen 2 evictions within the past month or two. There could have been some I didn't see. I knew one of the tenants who was evicted and her car registration had expired.

[Higgenbotham]

Travis County Households 491,531 (2020)

https://www.google.com/search?q=number+ ... unty+texas

The number of county households considered “housing cost-burdened” – or households which spend more than half of their income on rent and utilities – has increased 40 percent since 2019. In Travis County, 72,000 households are categorized this way.

“Households in this category cannot afford all that they need including transportation, health care, child care, and even food,” Siegfried explained. “A household that is severely housing cost-burdened is not stable; paying that percentage of your income on rent and utilities cannot be sustained.”

This would mean about 15% of households in this county are in an unsustainable situation.

It would be reasonable to estimate that the percentage of households in an unsustainable situation in this apartment complex is roughly double the average of the county as a whole, so 30%. That would explain why about 1/3 of the cars in the parking lot of this complex have expired registrations.

[Higgenbotham]

The Christmas Light Indicator

Tonight while I was driving through my apartment complex, which I would characterize as lower middle class, it didn't take too long to realize that something seemed off this year. As the years have gone by here, I've noticed there are fewer and fewer Christmas displays on the apartment balconies, but it was always comforting to notice at least some. Being a week before Christmas and having been reminded repeatedly today that this is the Christmas season, I realized there was not a single one in sight. Besides the security lights, which are kind of dim anyway, the whole place was pitch black as far as the eye could see. Not even a lit Christmas tree could be seen through a window. So I decided to go off my usual path. I didn't cover the whole complex of 400 some apartments, but went out of my way to see if there was anything at all. I found 3. They weren't ostentatious but nonetheless there were signs of life. I've been here 17 plus years and would estimate that this same drive 17 years ago would have netted 20 or 25 displays, some beautifully done. Last year maybe 5 to 7. The numbers seem to steadily go down as the years have passed. I've also noticed this on July 4th and New Year's Eve. As the years have gone by, there are fewer and fewer indications of anybody celebrating with firecrackers or what have you. Finally, a year or two ago, I heard nothing on one of those holidays except dead silence.

Five miles down the road, there is a subdivision that has unique and beautiful million dollar plus homes. It would be interesting to go over there and take a look. My guess would be that there are the same number and quality of Christmas light displays as there were 17 years ago.

My wife and I are going to try to go over to this subdivision in the next few days and take some photos, then take some photos in this apartment complex for comparison. If we're able to do that, I'll try to post them.

This should do a good job of demonstrating how Federal Reserve counterfeiting has enriched the top few percent and destroyed the middle class, with a huge amount of that destruction having taken place since 2019, as confirmed by my visual observations and the statistics just posted.

[Higgenbotham]

This article talks about Warren Buffett's role in putting the rape of the middle class into hyperdrive. You know, the folksy guy from Omaha who said the 2008 bailouts were really for the benefit of 309 million Americans ("We did it for you!").

But it doesn't explain his role entirely because it doesn't discuss Buffett's late night phone call in September 2008 to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen where he proposed how to structure TARP and the fact that the government ran with Buffett's suggestion, which was to give money directly to the banks. That hadn't been publicly revealed yet in 2012.

Anyway, this is the piece of the article I found most interesting because it quantifies how corrupt things really WERE 14 years ago. It's miles worse now.

Acemoglu et al. systematically examined companies that had corporate ties to Geithner, had executives who served with him on other boards, or had other direct relationships. They found that "the quantitative effect is comparable to standard findings" in Third World countries with weak institutions and higher levels of corruption. In other words, markets react to government actions in the U.S. the same way they do in a corrupt developing country. Crony capitalism pays, and the market knows it.

https://reason.com/2012/02/09/warren-bu ... ootlegger/

[aeden]

https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/esg-2/

Back testing as due diligence as funding scenarios decimated the sheep pens.
Yes, I called and talked to a Representative. Pound sand and pick another group fund.
Nope, move it now as such to cash. Watched 250 million dollars evaporate from IYI inactions.
Always blame the victim as apology is always policy.

[Higgenbotham]

Anyway, this is the piece of the article I found most interesting because it quantifies how corrupt things really WERE 14 years ago. It's miles worse now.

Q: Hi, Chair Powell. I'm wondering, are you planning to visit the homeless encampment that's near the Fed in Washington that you drive by? Have you been invited? And if you went, what would you be looking to learn there?

MR. POWELL: You know, frankly, I -- yes, I have not had a chance to do it yet, but -- I've been very busy, but I will visit. I don't want to visit at a time of a lot of media attention because I don't want that to be part of the story, but I will -- I will go visit when it's no longer a new story. And you know, I have -- I've met with homeless people many times -- a number of times, anyway, let's say -- and I think it's always good to talk to people and hear what's going on in their lives. What you find out is they're you. They're just us. I mean, they're -- these are people who in many cases had jobs and, you know, they have lives, and they've just -- they have just found themselves in this place.

It's a -- it's a difficult problem, though, you know. There are many, many facets of it. And I'm well aware that this is not something that the Fed has all the tools for or anything like that. But I will do that when the -- when the need arises and when it's not so much, you know, in the public eye.

Q: And is there anything specifically that you would be looking to learn there?

MR. POWELL: Not really. I mean, I think I know what I'll find there. I think you -- you connect with these people, and what you -- again, what you find is they're like you. That could be you. I mean, that could be your sister. That could be, you know, your kid. You always feel that way in that sort of an encounter, and you know, it just is -- it's an important thing to engage in, I think. And I think, you know, we bring that understanding into our lives and, frankly, into our work -- the work that we do, as well.

He says homelessness is not something "that the Fed has all the tools for or anything like that." Perhaps the answer to the problem of homelessness is to stop using "all the tools."

Yes, the homeless are just us. Except for some reason they weren't able to waddle up to the window for a bailout, or maybe they didn't want to. You have to know how to do the waddle. It's the most critical and in-demand skill in America.

[aeden]

https://twitter.com/RepDanBishop/status ... 0753501186
crime.gov

[Higgenbotham]

This article talks about Warren Buffett's role in putting the rape of the middle class into hyperdrive. You know, the folksy guy from Omaha who said the 2008 bailouts were really for the benefit of 309 million Americans ("We did it for you!").

But it doesn't explain his role entirely because it doesn't discuss Buffett's late night phone call in September 2008 to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen where he proposed how to structure TARP and the fact that the government ran with Buffett's suggestion, which was to give money directly to the banks. That hadn't been publicly revealed yet in 2012.

A question one might ponder is whether billionaire Buffett believes that the 2008 bailouts were really for the benefit of 309 million Americans.

Based on my experience, the short answer would be yes, he really does believe that. It is my belief that billionaire Buffett is really running what could be considered the closest thing to what is normally labeled as a cult. The reason it's not labeled as such is because it is based on ideas that have been accepted as mainstream in America. In my experience, most large corporations are also cult-like, so while Berkshire Hathaway might be more of a cult in degree, I don't think it is more in kind. I ought to know because I have worked for 4 Fortune 500 companies and been inside a number of others, some for an extended period of time.

Let me give one example. I will not name the corporation being discussed because it's not fair in my opinion to do so and this isn't about them; I have no axe to grind with this company at all. It was and is owned by a billionaire. Anyway, I was first introduced to this company when I got a call from my supervisor's supervisor telling me that we would be showing up there on a certain day. This was in 1998. When we got there, we were taken into a conference room where their Head of North American Operations and Vice President of Manufacturing were sitting. There were also people there from the Federal government, other company officials, and us. Perhaps 20 people in all. There was a brief chitchat and then, unbeknownst to me, this person who had called me announced in front of everybody, after introducing me briefly, that I would be in charge of a project in the facility. The reason this assignment had come was apparently because the company had told her it was time to get started on this. The next thing I remember we all got on a tram and the company's public relations person started conducting a tour. As we were taken past certain operations, we were told by her that, as a company, "We go beyond compliance." I heard that several times during that tour and after the tour. For the purpose of this discussion, the first question to ask is if people at the company believed that was the case. Absolutely they did. I can give a number of reasons for this. First the company let me wander around the entire facility unescorted. The only reason that could be is that they didn't think there was any risk in doing so. One day, I was sitting on their picnic table out back and an employee came out and sat with me and asked how it was going. I mentioned there might be some noncompliance and her immediate response was to look surprised and say, "Oh, Mr X (the billionaire) wouldn't want that." As it turned out, the company wasn't even close to going beyond compliance. There weren't even compliant. Little by little, slowly and one by one, it began to dawn on company officials that this was true. There were stages in that process. Once the cult phrase, "We go beyond compliance" disappeared from their vocabulary, it was replaced by, "When we find there's a problem, we fix it and we fix it immediately." And for awhile, they did. But twice there were problems found that couldn't be fixed, so that had to be dropped too. The next phrase that came up was sort of whispered. It was, "We hire the best engineers and consultants that money can buy and we don't understand why this is happening." That wasn't true either. Their engineers and consultants weren't very good and some of them were downright terrible.

So my conclusion is that when Buffett says that TARP and all that followed from that was done to save 309 million Americans he really does believe that he donned his hat and star and really saved America, and so do a lot of other people. If the financial system collapses again, it'll be interesting to hear what they say next.