Johnny Depp, Will Smith, George Clooney on 'overpaid' Forbes list

A combination photo showing actors Johnny Depp (L) posing during premiere of ''The Danish Girl'' in Los Angeles, California, November 21, 2015 and Will Smith attending the premiere of the film ''Suicide Squad'' in New York, August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian, Andrew Kelly/File Photos

Johnny Depp and Will Smith topped a list on Wednesday of Hollywood's most overpaid actors, an illustration that star power does not always bring in dollars at the movie box-office.

Fan favorite George Clooney also found himself on the annual Forbes list after the limited commercial appeal of films like "Hail Caesar," "Money Monster" and the 2015 flop "Tomorrowland."

Depp led the list for the second straight year after his movie "Alice Through The Looking Glass" brought in just $300 million at the global box-office after costing about $170 million to produce.

Forbes compiles the list by comparing the estimated pay for a lead actor in his or her last three movies with the estimated production costs and box-office gross of those movies.

It calculated that Depp, whose 2015 movie "Mortdecai" also bombed, returned just $2.8 dollars at the box-office for every $1 he was paid.

Housing déjà vu-Banks ready to drain the Masses again

Nearly ten years after the housing crisis, banks are getting ready to offer what they call fewer doc loans, which is just a stepping stone to the no doc loan.  As we stated before banks need to put money into the hands of the masses so they can fuel the next bubble. A bubble needs mass participation and banks thrive of bubbles. Every bubble and bust cycle is created and masterminded by banks.  Banks never lose, they just pretend to, because they know they will be bailed out. The Fed is a private institute run and owned by the banks, so they have nothing to worry about.

“Lite Doc.” That is what Quontic Bank, an FDIC-insured community lender in New York City is calling its product. It requires only verification of employment and two months worth of bank statements. For self-employed borrowers, it requires documentation of one year of profit and losses. The Lite Doc loans are five-year adjustable-rate mortgages with interest rates in the low- to mid-5 percent range, according to the bank. Thirty-year fixed-rate loans, which when fully documented can offer rates in the high-3 percent range, are not part of the offering.

Pearl Harbor survivor remembers: ‘All hell broke loose’

Edward Waszkiewicz, 95, is a Pearl Harbor survivor who lives inOxnard. He went to the 50th anniversary 25 years ago with his family.(Photo: JUAN CARLO/THE STAR)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.” The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the U.S. involvement in World War II.

Sitting inside his home today where he lives with a caregiver, Waszkiewicz, now 95 years old, recalled some of the details of his time in the Navy.

Waszkiewicz, born in 1921, wanted to join the military at age 17 but had to wait until 1939 when he turned 18.

Joining the Navy was a chance to see the world, but it was also a way to help his Polish immigrant parents, who owned a farm in Michigan but were having financial difficulties.

His first assignment was aboard the carrier USS Enterprise. He eventually was assigned to Pearl Harbor to work with the firefighting group.

Ed Waszkiewicz, shown in a photo taken around 1939. He survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

On the morning of Dec. 7, Waszkiewicz was on duty, driving a firetruck to the dock where the oil tanker USS Neosho was pumping gasoline and other fuel into Ford Island fuel tanks.

He looked up to see three planes swooping down on the southern side of the island. From where he was standing, he first thought they were U.S. planes — until they started dropping bombs.

The island shook when the first bomb hit. Another plane started machine-gunning the dock. When the battleship USS Arizona was hit, about 200 yards away, Waszkiewicz had a full view.

“The explosion was so violent," he recalled. "I thought the end of the world was coming. Pieces of the ship fell everywhere.”

Waszkiewicz had jumped into the water to avoid being hit by the second plane’s machine gun. He ended up getting back on the dock, got back into his truck and drove back to the firehouse. He went out again with the fire crew and began fighting the fires ignited by explosives.

Waszkiewicz also witnessed the USS Shaw and USS Oklahoma being bombed, and he saw the USS Oklahoma roll over on its side.

CNN's Jake Tapper Is Frustrated With Pence's Dodgy Ways

Vice President elect Mike Pence repeatedly refused to answer any questions asked by CNN's Jake Tapper involving Gen. Michael Flynn's son in connection to promoting the Pizzagate fake story and the very real consequences that it caused.

How long will it be before America gets tired of listening to the Trump camp refuse to address real issues and instead blame the media for ginning up negative another story about them?

Tapper asked what happened to Gen. Flynn's son, who has been pushing conspiracy theories like the Pizzagate lunacy.

Tapper asked, "Flynn Jr., was on the transition team, but a source familiar with the investigation tells me he was asked to leave and that the direct order came from president-elect Trump. Tell me what happened?"

Pence responded with a lengthy congratulations to Gen. Michael Flynn on his career and how happy they are that he's on their team.

After over a minute, he said, "Mike Flynn Jr., is no longer longer associated with General Flynn's efforts or with the transition team and we're focused eyes forward."

Wall Street Experts Know Nothing except Fleecing the Masses

Clear proof that the so-called experts of Wall Street would make no money were it not for the gullible masses they can milk. Overall hedge funds have been having a very hard time playing this market. They cannot deal with the extreme volatility as they try to outguess the market; they seem to get whacked on both ends of the trade. Look at how many funds jumped into Valeant Pharmaceuticals assuming that it was safe to follow other experts; the blind lead the mute.  In the land of the blind, the one-eyed Jackass reigns supreme

Pershing Square (Bill Ackman): 21,591,122 shares, 6.33% (added 5 million shares on February 5)

ValueAct Holdings (Jeff Ubben): 14,994,261 shares, 4.39%

Paulson and Co. (John Paulson): 13,265,900 million shares, 3.89% (added 4.375 million shares in Q4)

Brahman Capital: 8,117,753, 2.38% (added 4.1 million shares in Q4)

Viking Global (Andreas Halvorsen): 7,793,397, 2.28% (added 2.8 million shares in Q4)

Lone Pine Capital (Steven Mandel): 5,829,079 shares, 1.71% (sold 1.63 million shares in Q4)

Hound Partners (Jonathan Auerbach): 4,881,835, 1.43% (added 983,187 in Q4)

Iridian Asset Management: 4,324,602, 1.27% (added 1.6 million shares in Q4)

Okumus Fund Management (Ahmet Okumus): 1,875,600, 0.55% (bought position in Q4)

Coatue Management (Philippe Laffont): 1,673,007, 0.49% (bought position in Q4)

If they haven’t changed their positions, as a group, then they’ve seen more than $1.25 billion on paper wiped out since Friday’s close. Bill Ackman, the founder of Pershing Square, has lost more than $321 million in his position since Friday’s close. To date, he’s suffered losses estimated at north of $2 billion on his Valeant investment. Others are likely feeling the pain, too. http://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-in-valeant-2016-2/