Shikha Dalmia on Asian American Hostility to College Affirmative Action

CaliforniaDemocrats in California are in a state of shock
at the defeat of their effort to reinstate racial preferences in
university admissions. That’s because the defeat was led not by
evil Republicans but a loyal Democratic constituency:
Asian-Americans.

But what this episode demonstrates, notes Reason Foundation
Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia, is that the zero-sum politics of
divvying up a fixed pie — rather than expanding it — is a losing
game for Democrats in an increasingly diverse America.

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Why Did Armed Officers Raid Strip Club and Take Photos? Don’t Cops Have Better Things to Do?!

“Why Did Armed Officers Raid a Strip Club and Take Photos? Don’t
Cops Have Better Things to Do?!”is the latest video from Reason TV.
Watch above or click on the link below for video, full text,
supporting links, downloadable versions, and more Reason TV
clips.

View this article.

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Biotechs Battered And MoMos Muppet’d – Carry Unwinds Sparks Stock Dump

Despite the ubiquitous pre-open ramp by USDJPY, equity markets resumed Friday's weakness out of the gate led by the best of the worst. Biotechs are being battered (-13% from highs) and momentum-high-flyers are being monkey-hammered (led by NFLX and TSLA). This is weighing most heavily on Nasdaq for now but the dive in JPY crosses is dragging all stocks lower. Treasuries are rallying and the USD is rising modestly.

 

Biotechs are back at 7 week lows…

 

USDJPY in charge…

 

And since the FOMC, things have been ugly for the MoMos…

 

as all the major indices are now red post Yellen…


    



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Malaysia Airlines Says “Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt” Plane Crashed Into Indian Ocean, None Survived

The latest in the 2+ week search for the missing Boeing 777 MH370 plane is just out, via SkyNews:

 

 

We assume this means that the search for the missing plane is now over, even though there is so far no evidence to substantiate the lack of “any reasonable doubt” behind the Malaysia Airlines claim.

More from the FT:

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister, announced at 10pm local time on Monday evening.

 

The news comes sixteen days after the Boeing 777 passenger jet vanished without trace in the early hours of March 8 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on a routine red-eye flight to Beijing.

 

For the past two weeks, more than two dozen countries have been helping Malaysia look for the jet, in the most intensive search for a missing aeroplane in history.

 

Australian and Chinese aircraft on Monday spotted several objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean where international teams are searching for the missing airliner.

 

Mr Najib said that based on new analysis from Inmarsat, the British satellite company, and UK investigators, the Malaysia Airlines flight had flown to a part of the Indian Ocean where there are no places to land.

Live Press Conference:


    



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US PMI Tumbles From Record High, Biggest Miss In 13 Months

Last month’s exuberance-filled, and instantly extrapolated, Markit US PMI print at the lofty levels of 57.1 (proving that the weather-delayed pent-up-demand was truly back) has been dashed on the shores of ugly reality. March’s print dropped to 55.5, missing expectations by the most since Feb 2013 as jobs grew at a slower pace and factory orders declined. This slowing in the US economy’s growth adds to last night’s weakness in Chinese growth. Given weather was not a majr issue in March, what excuse can we find for this?

 

 

In the detailed report breakdown of components, also notable is the decline in New Orders from 59.6 to 58.0, as well as the Employment index declining from 54.1, to 53.9

What about the weather: after all Markit was so vocal to blame snow in the winter in the last few months, even though the index magically soared to record? Well, apparently, the weather got better in March.

Reports from survey respondents cited improving economic fundamentals and, to a lesser degree, an on-going catch-up effect following weather disruptions earlier in the year.

Wait, the PMI index declined even as the weather got better? Huh? Yup. Commenting on the flash PMI data, Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit said:

“The manufacturing PMI adds to evidence that the sector has shrugged off the weather-related weakness seen earlier the year, with strong demand encouraging firms to expand and hire new staff at a robust pace.

 

“The buoyant growth in March rounds off the best quarter for three years, indicating that the sector should provide a robust contribution to GDP in the first quarter. Growth was not as strong as February, but that’s in many respects only to be expected after last month’s numbers had been boosted by the rebound from January’s severe weather. The fact that the output and new orders indices remained so strong in March is very encouraging news that the sector has come through the weather-related soft patch and continues to play an increasingly important role in the economic upturn.

 

“Particularly welcome was the sustained upturn in hiring, adding to evidence to suggest that firms’ retain an upbeat outlook.

 

“One area of concern is the sluggish growth of exports, but this weakness is being more than offset by strong domestic demand.

 

”The survey is broadly consistent with manufacturing output rising at an annualised rate of approximately 4% in the first quarter and job creation in the sector running at around 10-15,000 per month. These are encouraging numbers that will no doubt add to the case for the Fed to continue reducing its asset purchases.”

Mmmk then.

Finally, what does this data tell us about the upcoming April NFP:

A solid rate of job creation was sustained across the manufacturing sector in March. Staffing levels have increased in each month July 2013 and the rate of employment growth was stronger than seen on average over this period. Survey respondents widely linked staff recruitment to improving confidence about the business outlook and greater optimism about the prospects for the U.S. economy as a whole.

In other words, it could be better… Or it could be worse than expected.

Source: Markit


    



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Eminent Domain Fails Again: Pathetic ‘Community Benefits’ From Brooklyn Nets Arena

In 2003 the city and state of New York partnered with a real
estate tycoon named Bruce Ratner and began work on a massive
redevelopment scheme known as the Atlantic Yards. The idea was to
transform a 22-acre spot near downtown Brooklyn into what Ratner
called an “urban utopia,” replete with a luxury hotel, multiple
high-rise office and apartment towers, and a shiny new sports arena
for the NBA Nets, then partially owned by Ratner, to play ball.

The only problem was that more than half of the proposed site
happened to be privately owned and occupied, and many of those
owners and occupants had zero interest in selling their homes and
businesses. So New York turned up the heat and invoked its power of
eminent domain. If the holdouts still refused to get with the
program, in other words, they’d be evicted and the bulldozers would
follow.

Because it never looks good when the government forcibly seizes
private property for the benefit of a rich developer, a few public
relations sweeteners were also added to the deal, such as promises
to build “affordable housing” and other “community benefits.” In
2009, New York’s highest court upheld the land grab, even though,
as the
court itself admitted, Atlantic Yards was most likely the
product of a rigged system characterized by “political appointees
to public corporations relying upon studies paid for by
developers.” One year later the new arena, now known as the
Barclay’s Center, opened its doors to ticket buyers.

The promised “community benefits,” on the other hand, have
failed to appear—with one exception. As Andrew Keh
reports in The New York Times, the Barclay’s Center
recently introduced something called the meditation room, “a
locked, windowless, cinder-block room tucked near the arena’s first
aid office and a sushi stand.” What’s it doing there? As Keh
explains, “the meditation room counts essentially as an asterisk in
the long list of promises that Forest City Ratner, the project’s
developer, made to the borough.” That pathetic asterisk represents
the sum total of the “community benefits” delivered by Ratner and
his government allies.

Is it time to say “we told you so” about this eminent domain
swindle? Yes,
it is. In fact, back in October 2009, Daniel Goldstein, the
lead plaintiff in the legal challenge against the Atlantic Yards,
basically
predicted the outcome. Let’s give Goldstein the last word:

When eminent domain is used in service of building a school, a
railway, or a hospital, we know what we’ll get. But when “economic
development” is the justification, we have no idea what we’ll get
except for false hopes, false dreams, and happy talk, along with a
land grab windfall for the developer and theft of homes.

In the case of Atlantic Yards the so-called “benefits” are
illusory at best. No attempt has been made by the condemning
authority or the lower court to weigh the public versus private
benefits; meaning there has been no cost-benefit analysis of the
project and no analysis of the developer’s benefit. But it doesn’t
take a degree to see who gets the very short end of the stick.

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Furious Chinese Demand Money Back As Housing Bubble Pops

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned or, it seems, like a Chinese real estate speculator who is losing money. After four years of talking (and not doing much) about cooling the hot-money speculation that is the Chinese real-estate bubble (mirroring the US equity market bubble since stock-ownership is low in China), the WSJ reports that the people are restless as the PBOC actually takes actions – and prices are falling. With new project prices down over 20%, 'homeowners' exclaim "return our hard-earned money" and "this is very unfair" – who could have seen this coming?

Via WSJ,

After a four-year campaign by the government to cool spiraling property prices, rises in home prices are starting to slow and in some smaller cities they are weakening.

 

Growth in average housing prices in 70 Chinese cities moderated in February for the second-straight month though they were still nearly 9% higher compared with a year ago.

 

But weaker economic growth, slower home sales and rising volumes of unsold houses have convinced developers in a number of cities to cut prices to raise cash quickly.

And new home prices are down…in smaller cities…

Property developers say privately there isn't enough transparency in land sales and land use, which sometimes give rise to overbuilding in many smaller cities.

 

Phoenix Lake Garden, prices were cut by as much as 16%

 

According to property agency Soufun Holdings, Wharf cut prices of 20 apartments in the project to 8,200 yuan ($1,317) per square meter, down from the average 11,000 yuan per square meter it recorded in recent months.

 

Mr. Wu said he bought a 120-square-meter apartment in December, for 730,000 yuan. Prices are now 610,000 yuan for a similar apartment in the same tower

The drop in newer home prices hasn't gone down well.

Groups of angry homeowners put up banners and demanded their money back after Hong Kong-listed property developer Wharf Ltd. cut prices

 

Around 20 homeowners picketed outside a property showroom in Changzhou Saturday, demanding to meet executives of the developer. They said they wanted their money back after prices at the project dropped

 

Meanwhile, there was also a small disturbance at a second project called Ambassador House in the same city after the same developer cut prices there.

 

Furniture at the showroom of Wharf's Ambassador House was knocked over and the wooden stands for advertisements for the homes were flung on top of a model of the project.

 

Others said that as many as 100 people who had bought homes at the project had vented their frustrations outside the showroom over the past week.

The complaints…

"Wharf, give us justice. Return us our hard earned money," read one of the banners, held up on bamboo poles outside the Phoenix Lake Garden showroom of a project for mid- to high-end apartments and villas.

 

"We aren't speculators. We just want an explanation from the developer," said one 35-year-old home buyer, who said he had bought an apartment and gave his surname as Wu. "This is very unfair."

Unfair indeed. How long before we hear they are "entitled" to a fair return on their housing (non) speculation investment? Alas for China's "non-speculators", as we reported last week in "The Music Just Ended: "Wealthy" Chinese Are Liquidating Offshore Luxury Homes In Scramble For Cash" the real anger is only just beginning.


    



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Greg Beato on the 3D Economy

In almost all visions of
the 3D printed future, manufacturing changes
dramatically. If a high-end 3D printer can fabricate a pistol or a
panini press on demand, why bother with huge production runs,
global distribution networks, warehoused inventories, and the cheap
human labor that only under-regulated developing nations can
provide? Greg Beato warns that once the retail and manufacturing
carnage starts to scale, the government carnage will soon
follow.

View this article.

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Two Dutch F-16s Scrambled To Intercept Unidentified Boeing 777

With the world particularly sensitive to any news involving stray and/or missing Boeing 777 airplanes, especially if said massive stray airplane is heading toward the Nuclear security summit taking place at the Hague, it is no surprise that the news which appeared about an hour ago that two Dutch F-16s were scrambled to intercept a unresponsive Boeing 777 in Dutch airspace, received such a prompt response.

Dutch RTL News reports:

From the Brabant Volkel airbase, two F-16s took off to intercept a freighter. It would be a cargo plane, a Boeing 777F LAN Cargo, which was en route to the airport. The unit flew from Miami in Dutch airspace and they could not connect to the device.

 

A spokesman for the Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security unit had previously requested permission for the flight. That is because of the nuclear security summit in The Hague is mandatory.

 

The jets have the cargo plane accompanied this had left. Dutch airspace The unit is now independently to the airport in Frankfurt, Germany.

And on Twitter:

There is no evidence of foul play, but if one wants to quickly reduce their life expectancy, the best way to achieve that is to fly a 777 with transponders switched off near a city where the world’s leaders are currently located.


    



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