Bits Bucket And Craigslist Finds For May 3, 2008
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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NPR had some different articles this week on the bubble and credit. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90112615 is the last of the 5 that talks about how credit will get more difficult at a time when people will need it most.
NPR? You go, comrade! Just don’t pile-on that leftie crap here!
You haven’t listened to NPR in a while. These days, NPR = National Pentagon Radio.
The funny thing is that Zandi, a man that Ben Jones lower in the Bits Bucket calls a commie, is an adviser to John McCain. Isn’t McCain supposed to be on the right side of the aisle? When I hear McCain speak I get the impression that he is just another political moron. Then I see that Zandi is his adviser and my suspicions are confirmed.
Wake up people. They all suck!!!!!
You mean there’s no difference between the Crips ‘n Bloods of D.C.? What will we tell the children? They have to believe in something!
test
Lefty? You remind me of someone at work. I think you are mistaking NPR with Pacifica which is also public radio which I cannot listen to.
I’m quiet capable of filtering what I read and hear. Admitedly they don’t get as analytical as I’d like but it is the nearest thing US has to independent reporting. They’ve been doing some increasingly bearish reports on housing.
NPR may lean a little left, but it’s a breath of fresh air compared to righty-tighty-radio and their bevy of home-grown Goebbels types shouting to each other that “You’re a Great American!”
Hey, don’t RUSH to judgment. Save your SHANNITY or you could O’REILLY lose it if you listen to those BOORTZ!
talks about how credit will get more difficult at a time when people will need it most.
It’s stuff like that, indeed lefty, and pretty stupid, which is why I stopped listening to NPR. I now wake up to the classical music station. BIG improvement.
The classical stations on Sirius and XM are superb, you have to pay, but it might be worth not having to hear commercials.
In Praise of Preston Trombly, Sirius Radio’s Classical Music DJ
Except that the classical music station is about as moronic as it gets too.
When was the last time they played Schoenberg, or Boulez, or Elliott Carter?
Gimme a break! All you are doing is swapping into music that “allows the ears to sit back into an easy chair” (*)
(*) That last quote attributable to Charles Ives.
Good quote. I wrote a paper many moons ago when I was a music student on the topic of The Concord Sonata, and used that quote.
The last time they played Schoenberg, I switched to a different channel.
Hmm, where I am the classical music station IS NPR.
A couple of items from a story on the Linens ‘n Things bankruptcy:
http://tinyurl.com/5rx5sf
“Consumers are likely to lose out as well. Brian Riley, senior analyst at research firm The TowerGroup, estimates the filing will freeze about $42 million in consumer gift cards, affecting about 400,000 customers. Gift cards become valueless when a company files for bankruptcy protection.”
Time to use any unused gift cards, especially if there’s any possibility that business might declare bankruptcy. I wonder how many of those 400,000 will never do business with Linens ‘n Things again.
And Flickinger said this may just be the beginning. “There is going to be a record number of store closings through bankruptcy in the next 150 to 1500 days, as the retail recession becomes the worst the U.S. has seen in 30 years,” he said.
Are the government stats so cooked that we could have a recession in most major sectors of the economy, but the overall economy would not be in recession?
“Are the government stats so cooked that we could have a recession in most major sectors of the economy, but the overall economy would not be in recession?”
If we haven’t figured out the level of dishonesty, greed and stupidity of our government, by now, then we are fools. The motherf—-ers will lie to us with a straight face, every day that we are breathing. That jobs number yesterday was better than expected. Surprise! The GDP number was positive. Surprise! Official inflation remains low. Surprise! The Fed bails out Bear Stearns to protect you and I. WTF? Pull this leg, it plays Jingle Bells for ‘ya.
John Mauldin’s newsletter talked about the GDP and the jobs number this morning. The GDP discussion is a little long and complicated to abstract here, but the jobs stuff is…well…blunt.
“The birth/death ratio is the BLS’s attempt to figure out how many jobs were created by small businesses that do not show up in their survey of established businesses. It is a simple estimate based on past trends. You have to have this estimate to have any hope of getting the actual number right. And most of the time, the estimates are pretty good. Over time the numbers are revised and in a few years will be pretty close. But in times when the economy is slowing down, the birth/death ratio tends to overstate job growth because the trend is backward-looking. This month’s birth/death number was particularly egregious.
April, for whatever statistical reason, has shown the highest number of birth/death jobs for any month. In 2007, the BLS estimated that 262,000 were created in April that they could not account for in the survey of businesses. Somehow, the spreadsheets at BLS had them add 267,000 jobs in April of 2008. That number includes an estimated 45,000 new jobs in construction! And this in a time when both residential and commercial construction are contracting. The actual survey results showed that construction jobs fell by 61,000.
And somewhere, they estimate that 8,000 new jobs in finance were created. As Philippa Dunne notes: “It may be that the gains in our old friend, bars and restaurants, are the [birth/death] model’s creation; it added 83,000 to the leisure and hospitality sector. With vacation plans at near-record lows, and restaurants reporting reduced traffic, many of these job gains could disappear in the next benchmark revision.”
[...] But when the final revisions are in, we will see that job losses were well south of 100,000.”
That is his opinion. I understand that the expectation was for a loss of 70K jobs. He thinks the real number is well north of 100K. He also says the 5.0% unemployment stat is garbage because part-timers are not counted and part-time employment is way up.
But hey, the Starbucks in my nabe has a hiring sign in the window.
At least the Starbucks baristas are producing something, coffee.
What has Wall Street produced?
“What has Wall Street produced?”
The folks on Wall Street are the Dream Merchants. They deal in hope, the hope if early retirement and financial independence.
Same sort of products the RE folks used to offer.
“What has Wall Street produced?”
A bvttload of bad gambling debt.
“That jobs number ” was the result of wives and teenagers going to work to pay for the basics. Daddy can’t do it on one paycheck no mo’.
My friend’s girlfriend is a barista in Rancho Santa fe. She told him the people who go in are so stressed out. It seems super wealty folks are feeling it.
“It seems super wealthy folks are feeling it.”
Their wealth wasn’t super, but they were spending as if it was.
Lots of naked swimmers are now being exposed.
Burt Flickinger is a childhood pal of mine, lives around the corner from me now. For more than 2 years he’s been warning that retail is going into the dirt. As for that guy in the link claiming strip malls will “reposition” themselves with new tenant mixes…think payday loan joints, dollar stores, etc. Even Kimco, long the smartest guys in the shopping mall game are now focusing south of the border only…Mexico and Latin America.
Howard Davidowitz rang the bell on retail in early 2005 on a Friday PM interview on Bloomberg. It was a very detailed forecast that he made which included the “collapse in housing”. He was the very first honest financial media guy to ring the bell. I recall emailing B. Jones about it and frantically searched for an audio file to post here but couldn’t find it. As you can imagine, that kind of forecast was a big deal back then.
RE: think payday loan joints, dollar stores,
The final culmination of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society “which pays unwed mothers to breed indiscrimanantly.
it takes two to tango! where are the unwed dads in this equation?
Exactly, peaceful!!
Let’s not forget the welfare **kings** who turn girls into “welfare queens”.
RE: the Linens ‘n Things BK
Decidely, bad news for all the men who have to re-stock all that household item stuff after the divorce courts give all the previously purchased crap to the -ex wife and kids.
‘If you go back 25 years ago, the debt problem was much smaller,’ Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Economy.com’
There’s our Mr Obvious. What commie proposal does he have today?
I like your anger, so early in the morning!
oh be honest nycboy
you like anger at any point of the day as long as it is directed at the right people
btw i was down in philly this week and went to a phillies game
what a beautiful stadium and set up they have and i had great seats right behind home plate -gratis of course
good times
Zandi pisses me off. He gets too much of a pass in the media. He was wrong as hell for years, Moodys is a disaster, and yet the big press goes and asks him what THE WHOLE COUNTRY should be doing! How about we tar and feather that ass.
You bring the tar and feathers. We will track down the ass.
He was spouting on NPR this week. Even my balls hurt when I was listening to his nonsense.
Kick him in the balls NYCB…. on Christmas Eve.
Zandi was quoted by CBS news radio yesterday or the day before… and all I could think was “What the heck does he know about economic conditions?”
He’s been from mildly wrong to very wrong in so many areas the last five years I cannot believe the MSM continues to talk with him.
So maybe that says more about the MSM than it does about Zandi.
zandi should learn to stfu sometimes
must be a bad weekend for many with the 1st of the month just passing
the 1st of the month has a habit of creeping up rather fast when you have major debts to service
oh well i will think about these poor souls tonight over my ny strip
as the wife and i celebrate our anniversary
i thought those stimulus checks would solve all of our problems
That’s funny. The 1st is a sneaky devil. It reminds me of a work story. About four years ago I was on the phone with a co-worker from Texas. He was hemming and hawing why he didn’t do jack on a project that was assigned to us. In my most pleasant NYCityBoy way I was ramming it down his throat. He finally said, “well, the holidays made it hard for me to get anything done.” My f—ing head almost exploded. I shot back, “yeah, those damn holidays really snuck up on us this year.” Point is. What the freak is my pont? Oh yeah, the unprepared are always unprepared. There is always an excuse. And once in a while they are unfortunate enough to have somebody like me standing there to kick them in the groin. If the lesson ain’t painful, the lesson won’t take.
CHOICES are not LUCK. Somebody once said to my father: “You’re lucky to live close enough to a train station that you don’t need to drive to work.” Being a polite man, he waited until she was out of earshot before he said: “Stupid woman, luck has nothing to do with where I bought a house. I CHOSE to buy a house near a train station.”
I DO get tired about people whining about the consequences of their choices. Being hit by a tornado is bad luck. Having no insurance is a bad choice. Having your car break down is bad luck. Having car payments so large that you can’t afford repairs is a bad choice.
Sing it!
I think I would like your father.
I had the same experience as him, “Oh! you’re lucky to be living near an express stop.” Unfortunately, being young and stupid and reckless, I did not bite my tongue.
‘Unfortunately, being young and stupid and reckless, I did not bite my tongue.’
How, oh how did I know that would be the case? :>)
Well, you’re a smarty-smart-smartinsons, that’s why!
Plus, you know how to pick your own wild mushrooms which only makes me jealous.
That having been said, I’m less young, less stupid, and hopefully, less reckless now, but who knows, eh?
“Being hit by a tornado is bad luck.”
Even if you live in a tornado magnet (aka trailer) in Tornado Alley? Luck can be heavily influenced by one’s choices.
Here we go. This guy is a freaking communist:
‘Without credit you can’t buy a home,’ said Mark Zandi…at the NAHB housing outlook conference. ‘Until the private mortgage market is revived, the housing market will never be back to normal, it will not flourish,’ he said.’
‘Zandi said it may well require additional government intervention beyond the fiscal stimulus offered in the tax rebate checks and monetary policy easing by the Federal Reserve Board.’
‘Zandi said the Fed and the Treasury Department should help the private mortgage market get back on track and Congress should create a temporary tax credit for home buyers. In addition, he suggested creation of a mortgage write-down plan for homeowners and lenders to slow the pace of foreclosures.’
‘In times of crisis, we should use the AAA credit of the United States to help out when we’re in trouble,” he said. “This could be a rather painful period.’
Well lets make sure the trade groups you are being paid to speak to ‘flourish’, while housing prices soared past what most of us in the USA can afford. grrr.
“Here we go. This guy is a freaking communist:”
Ben, your anger is so refreshing this morning. It woke me up to the fact that it has been too long since I wrote you a check. I will be sending a new check, a portion of my partial stimulus rebate, to you good sir.
Our portion of the rebate was ACH’d into my account yesterday. I guess these phony bologna stimulus payments are real. I don’t feel stimulated.
‘In times of crisis, we should use the AAA credit of the United States to help out when we’re in trouble,”
Unfreakinbelievable! Now that MegaBank Inc has destroyed its own credit rating through really dumb gambles, let’s force Uncle Sam down the same path. Grrr…
I’m very tempted to take the next few years off. I think I’ll be taxed to death while handouts go out to bail out the stupid.
And if I’m not alone in thinking this way…if other people in the “taxpaying / saving” class (a tiny minority!) feel the same wayt, then the country is in big trouble!
Oh for pete’s sake - just give everyone everything they’ve ever wanted for free - and be done with it already.
Besides, who’s to say our nation is still AAA anymore? He might want to ask the Asians and Arabs about their stomach for purchasing endless amounts of our debt.
“I’m very tempted to take the next few years off.”
When I was in grad school, one of my most insightful professors told our class (whose average age at the time was probably at least 30 years old) that the reason we were there was due to U.S. tax policy. I suppose if the tax code were not so punitive on productive efforts, we would have fewer professors.
Stucco, you’re poking fun at yourself. That’s good to see. I am amazed at the amount of people I hear saying they are going to grad school. Those MBAs and Masters Degrees are so watered down it’s not even funny. Some of the most useless, pointless people I know have Masters Degrees or MBAs. And I’m not saying this because I just have a high school diploma. I’m saying it because they are really worthless.
I have to say that my graduate school education is worth at least $120K — the amount of money I could have thrown away on buying a home at the bubble peak if I did not have the conviction in my own insights developed as a grad student. I am not saying grad school is the only way to develop an independent perspective, or that everyone who goes to grad school is fortunate enough to do so, but it worked for me.
I have an M.A. and it was a lot of hard work, very technical. But yeah, all it was good for was making my brain hurt. It did buy me a job teaching at a university for awhile, but the pay was pretty poor. I would’ve done better going into real estate.
“Stucco, you’re poking fun at yourself.”
Recommended reading (or at least skimming):
A Tenured Professor
reuven,
Trust me, you’re not alone. I’m thinking the same kind of thoughts. I always getting so upset at everything. It’s starting to occur to me that I should stop being mad, and “become part of the problem”. Seriously thinking about slacking off and collecting government benefits, especially if we get universal health care. Why should I work so hard if the majority is getting a free/subsidized ride…
Ben, the term for state aid to and manipulation of private capital is not “communism”. Communism means the elimination of private capital.
The correct term starts with “f”.
I’ll chime in the with Masters. I didn’t finish my MBA as I had a job opportunity in Germany that was take it or leave it. I was glad I took it as it was a great opportunity (I doubled my salary which was a reason for pursuing a masters!) and I had a blast.
Since I’ve moved to the States, I’ve had engineers with Masters working for me. One had MBA and MSc. He was one of the worst engineers in my team. Book smart but street stupid : he had no feel for business or engineering. It took him forever to do things and fair chance he’d mess it up.
I’ve noticed that a lot of MS are foreigners coming across to US with a bachelors. It gives them a back door entry into US after they graduate. Many aren’t necessarily the brightest but had wealthy parents.
On the otherhand, the PhD’s in engeering I’ve meet have impressed me.
Look at all those MBa ers who are ruining corporations in the good ol USA. So, that “independent thinking” that ProBear is referring to by mba’ers is what?
Well, although the MBA deg does buy(sometimes) a job, it doesn’t make them better people for it.
With exceptions located here, I mean.
“we should use the AAA credit of the United States to help out when we’re in trouble,”
Who is this “we”? I saw this goofball on NBC. Employed at top dollar by Moody’s a major contributor to the MBS mess. Let Zandi write the check,from his AAA checking account, and leave me alone.
He has a mouse in his pocket.
“Seriously thinking about slacking off and collecting government benefits, especially if we get universal health care. ”
Hey, no joke. I oppose universal, but I would benefit greatly, especially in the early years before it slides into insolvency and rationing. I’m in my late 50s and if I lose my job and get sick, there goes everything. To me universal health = don’t-lose-the-house insurance for aging boomers. In all fairness it would encourage more preventive care for the uninsured because you can’t go to ER to get a mammogram.
But I fear govt will make a mess of it.
The greatest beneficiaries of universal health care are the self-employed and entrepreneurs, because they are free to pursue the most rewarding opportunities without having to be concerned about health care coverage.
Also experienced and qualified middle-aged workers who are now having trouble finding work, or are even being terminated, due to health care issues.
The deadbeats are already getting free health care, either through Medicaid or by just showing up at the hospital and not paying. Oh so is the world’s largest prison population, too.
I
Reminds me something my Dad said recently.
“It’s a great country. Just don’t get sick”
When I worked at a large technology company in California, I quit in 2005 for grad school (which I’m finishing next month.)
One of my coworkers was very envious (he hated his job too and wanted to change careers as well), but couldn’t afford it because he needed the money for a $900,000 house in Vallejo.
I suspect his house has declined in value *way* more than the cost of my grad school education (which was largely paid for by the institution since I busted my ass and got enough 4.0’s to get free tuition.)
Has anybody gotten one? I think the earliest group that got a direct deposit refund for their taxes should have come out this week, no?
From what I can see, the phase outs finish at $87K AGI ($75K plus $12K) for singles and $162K AGI ($150K plus $12K) for married.
I got mine yesterday. The phase out for married is $174,000. You forgot to double the $12,000 to account for 2 people.
My goal now is to find some way to appropriate the handout-check from some family that got one! To me this is a disgusting transfer of wealth from the few percentage of productive people to the rest of America. And it’s not going to do anything to stimulate the economy. I think it’ll just make people use it as a down payment to get more credit!
Still sitting here waiting for the check that will never come.
Even if we did qualify, the IRS would grab it anyway.
Am I correct in thinking that even people who paid NO TAXES, but filed a tax return (for example, people who got the EITC) will still get this “tax rebate?”
Yeah, I have a friend who didn’t work but wa the president of his HOA. I told him to get a 3,000 1099 from them for his “services” so he could be sure and get his share! Ha ha hah.
Yes, reuven, and that also includes folks who have only untaxable income (say, Social Security) and don’t even have to file a tax return typically.
reuven,
This is the link for the low income people:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=179699,00.html
Thanks! I remember that folks like Barney F. were complaining that *everyone* didn’t get the handout, so I didn’t know what the minimum was. So some welfare case who collects SSDI for depression can conceivably get the “tax rebate”. Outrageous!
A gov’t that goes out of its way to reward failure.
Yeah, really makes a case for buying a house and letting them wrap their tentacles even tighter around you.
“I’m very tempted to take the next few years off. I think I’ll be taxed to death while handouts go out to bail out the stupid.”
I am one of those having these same thoughts.
I got no tax refund. I paid a fortune. My “retirement fund” is from savings. My house is paid off, but i was wanting to move.
I am watching as the government liberates money from working people to provide “programs” for the others. I have a great deal of personal experience watching what happens when you give money to people who don’t have any…………they Piss is Away, and want more.
No government “war on poverty”, Housing Program, or any healthcare crap will make useless people better off. They need to learn to take care of their own problems and work to fix their own lives. It’s never EASY. Life is HARD.
Success is a struggle.
But, like you, even though my savings are meager, I am considering just dropping out. I know that the new America is a land of parasites, populated by people that believe the streets are paved with gold…deposited their by the government, for their benefit.
I am the payer. They are the receiver.
The “Fairness Doctrine” in action. I am tired of paying, knowing they will steal my SS payments, too, or destroy the value of the currency so badly that they won’t buy anything.
Right now, “refugees” receive more in government support monthly than I will receive if I continue to work for the next 15 years.
Where’s my incentive to pay for these people?
There is none. I am thinking of going underground and stopping all tax payments.
Screw you government redistributionists!!!
Diogenes, I did an employment survey once for a tourist town econ. development project. 27% of the people I talked to were underground, yet were self-supporting (i.e., not on welfare or food stamps). They were predominantly white working class, doing jobs in landscaping, construction, handyman, housekeeping, etc. This was about 10 years ago, the Mexicans hadn’t yet arrived to take most of those jobs.
Many of them lived lives of simplicity in beat-up rented trailers or old houses and had plenty of free time. Many seemed to be independent thinkers and had their own gardens, etc., and were politically aware. None of them paid taxes, according to them, anyway. I spent a of of time talking to these people, so I got some interesting info from them.
I know lots of musicians who live marginally like this. You live day to day and it’s a good life usually. Problem is when they get sick or what to get their teeth taken care of - usually they just avoid doctors & dentists before it’s too late. Or you go to county health and worry they’re not treating you like they’d treat insured customers.
“My goal now is to find some way to appropriate the handout-check from some family that got one”
time to sell crap on e-bay again with all those folks getting their rebate checks. I was doing e-bays selling back in feb-march but stopped as the money i could get for my old valuable household items was not impressive, due in part i think to the slowing economy, dissapearance of mew, and high gas costs squeezing households. Could not get top dollar anotherwords and i have some really valuable autique items, tons of good used books including rare books, as well as jewelry/gold pieces which should fetch top dollar in a normal booming economy. Cannot get that now and was actually selling some items at close to a loss so simply stopped selling.
Selling crap on e-bay a lot of work and unless u really have small high-value items like gold jewelry it dosen’t really pay for the time and effort spend, especially wirh cheaper low cost items like Cd’s, books, maps, ect. Plus the headaches of dealing with complaints , returns, cancels, discounts, ect. I do have a %100 positive rating however as i was quick to respond to complaints and had a generous return and discount policy.
Still i might start up selling again and see it i can extract some of that stimulant rebate money most households are getting.
None coming for me…my conscience is clear. I have done absolutely nothing lately to stimulate the economy and have no plans to do so in the future.
I should get a stimulus check from the liquor industry. Maybe I could buy a new liver.
No, you should buy shares in J. Daniels and enjoy a bit of a rebate that way.
“Has anybody gotten one? I think the earliest group that got a direct deposit refund for their taxes should have come out this week, no?”
I got a small $378.00 deposited into my checking acct friday.
whoopi-do!! Will buy some garden supplies to improve my veggie plot, thats it. rest goes into paying down some debt.
Those stimulant checks will i guess go toward helping most folks out in CA deal with the high gas costs. This is one of the killers out here in LA land. I see really long lines now at the lowest priced acro stations which are $3.69 last check, at one nearby station.
Smells like desperation time out here in la -la land
“Here we go. This guy is a freaking communist.”
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…
“Ben Jones for President of the United States of America.”
Thank God we have people seeing through this insanity.
You are correct, sir. Commuism is exactly what he’s advocating. Funny how the MSM always gets it wrong. They call it Socialism. It’s not Socialism when the government OWNS THE LAND.
That’s called COMMUNISM.
As your Vice-Presidential Running Mate, I urge you to take a serious look at Mr. Rick Santelli, from CNBC.
I am proud to read this blog.
This is where the Freedom Fighters are.
Amen.
Yogurt made the distinction and I’ll repeat. What they’re proposing is Fascism aka corporatism no different than Mussolini and Hitler did pre WW2.
who “owns” the land? Can you raise 100 hogs on your 1/8 acre property on Beach Boulevard? Can you erect a 6-story billboard? What happens to the land you “own” if you don’t pay the “fee” to the “king” every year? What happens to the land if you die with no heirs or beneficiaries?
This is the reality that I’m facing:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080503/NEWS/773358340/1002/NEWS/UF_may_begin__08_fiscal_year__70_million_in_the_hole
Perhaps an enconomist can tell me how thing are fine.
A lot of colleges will be down to 2 Rs pretty soon. Of course they haven’t been too faithful to the 3 Rs lately so most people won’t even notice. Dumb down the education. Jack up the price. Luckily none of the overpaid tenured professors need to worry. That is good. Those two hours a week that they have to be in the classroom are stressful enough.
“Those two hours a week that they have to be in the classroom are stressful enough.”
Why don’t you get yourself one of those tenured professor jobs if they are such a cakewalk?
Yes!!! I knew it would wake up the Bear. You are so easy to rile and so predictable. I made that comment just for you. I could have set my watch by that response. Good morning. I hope you have a nice day and geez, lighten up a little.
lol - you two are pretty funny
My other response I had for Prof Bear but held back was, “I didn’t think straight guys could be tenured professors”. I withdrew it. I didn’t want to mess with him that badly so early in the morning. He knows there’s no malice intended.
Depends on what kind of bear the prof is, as to how much you can rile him (in order of meanness): black bear, grizz, kodiak, or perma…
He’s courageous and fierce like a Kodiak Bear. He’s rugged and strong like a Black Bear. He’s easily riled like a Grizzly Bear. He thinks the financial markets are a disaster like a Perma Bear. But we all know that he is just a big Teddy Bear.
a Teddy Bear who wears Jesus sandals
I dread to ask, but have to anyway: What are Jesus sandals?
Those things you said you bought your kids the other day, GS - but we know they were really for you…
Just back from a backpack and saw my first couple of black bears, this year…
Springtime in the Sierra
Cool!
Don’t all professors wear jesus sandals? I thought they were standard issue…
They give them out with the jackets with elbow patches. It’s the welcome-to-this-world reception sequence.
“…but we know they were really for you…”
No — the 1/2 off sandals I bought were for me. But I don’t wear them in the classroom — that would be a bit too Berkeleyesque for me…
This place seems to be fairly infested with academics. Fuzzy thinking eggheads, the lot of them! I’m glad that NYCityBoy wouldn’t do this type of “work” if they begged him. He’s a man, He has big eggs.
Where do these pinko profs get off anyway? Pontificating on such Bolshevism as differential equations or the tricarboxylic-acid cycle.
Like you, I had to listen to these Marxists yack about
Sn2 reactions and metamorphic strata. I just wanted to jump up in class and shout, “this is America you creep, leave your leftist Maxwell’s Equations and quantum mechanics in Moscow”.
That’s pretty funny. I am by nature a good teacher. Whenever I give a class or a presentation I am told I should have been a teacher. I thought of even being, gasp, a professor at one time. I should have been that or a CPA. But life always called me away from the classroom.
My Calculus 2 professor in college singlehandedly destroyed much of my desire to stay in school. I hated that class so badly. The prof was Indian and not only was his accent terribly difficult but he was the most boring person I might have ever met. I hit the road instead. So, there are good and bad professors. It sounds like yours were good. I’m glad to hear that.
“My Calculus 2 professor in college singlehandedly destroyed much of my desire to stay in school.”
That is sad. I had a similar experience with a few math professors along the way, but eventually got over them.
The point is that the professorate is frequently deemed by the common imagination to be promulgators of liberalism. When confronted with the fact that it’s hard to politicize math and science, Joe Average mumbles something that conveys the concept that those topics had not even entered his image of college subjects.
Math and science are so odious and frightening to ordinary folks that these studies only register as dim horrors not comfortably associated with their standard fantasy of higher education.
Stucco, what do you teach?
The colleges/universities across the country are going to suffer for their “triple out of state” tuition scam..
To go into debt for $100K for a degree that is going to give you a 40-50K job is just silly..a four year degree is a four year degree…I went through college and came out owing 0! I lived at home and when I did get my first job, I was able to move out on my own and pay my own expenses. I see too many of these “grads” go away for 4 years, go into debt and end up living back at home in the basement…
Come on, Ann, it’s important that Mitzee and Connor choose the campus that makes them feel most at home while being as far from it as possible!
Seriously though, I have been thinking that out-of-staters would hurt privates and some prestigious publics. And I’m glad my little public doesn’t rely on them one iota. Our new freshmen enrollments are up to a record. Of course, we assume the state will pay us for the headcount
I’m waiting for a return to the 19th century German model of higher education, when teachers had to earn their students through individual subscription through the usefulness of their lectures. Tenure was reserved for true giants. Academia and the merchant class were separate.
I see no reason that Tiffany’s four-year psychology degree from Florida Atlantic (see Florida thread) should be considered positively in any way for either future academic or business aspirations.
Tiffany’s degree is worth sweet F.A.
Lets be honest Marcus,
We send way too many people to college in America, At least 1/3 maybe 1/2 should be going into vocational school, and should never have been allowed to enroll. When i went to college we never had remedial classes.
So that is the truth, nobody can fix anything today, being handy with your hands is not valued anymore. Its all about get the degree whatever the cost, because thats all HR looks at on the resume.
Sorry Marcus you had it good for a long time, what we REALLY need in America is intensive courses in education. stringing out education for years is over, the cost and the loans are just not worth it anymore in most fields. Why not cram a 4 year college into 2 or 2 1/2 years no vacations weekend schools….shorten the time and save 1/3 to 1/2 the final cost.
Or better yet force everyone to enroll in a 6 month intensive training schools while you collect your unemployment check, its would be far better then sitting around doing nothing.
Wouldn’t work, as you pay by class. If you take summer classes every year and take a full load (and never switch majors, etc.), you could get through a 4-year program in 3 years, but it would cost you the same.
You likely need to choose a large major if you want to rush things.
My engineering college had a senior class of 50 students (at a 35,000 person university). You could take some distribution courses in the summer, but the core classses in the major program were pretty restricted as to when they were offered. There was a little bit of leeway, but not much.
I’m all for technical schools, lifelong learning, and changing the structure of education, but Americans to learn about history, politics and a raft of other issues so they’ll be smart enough, and appreciate reasoning and facts enough, to not vote for grifters like W and Cheney.
I agree. I did the math on hours it takes to get a BS/BA from my local UC 2520hr or 63 weeks at 8 hours a day 40hr week. Make college like the real world. As for vocational schools get rid of the illegals so americans can have more jobs.
Peter
One better…force everyone on Unemployment to learn Spanish, 6 months 30 hours a week…then if anyone discriminates against legal American who are bi-lingual, and then hires illegals, close the business down…no excuses.
Imagine 10 million White Bi Lingual Anglos
Problem is, you can’t force anyone to learn anything, most especially languages. Most adults are not at all adept at learning; even those who are generally have problems with languages.
I agree that we send too many kids to college today. I don’t actually teach at all. I’m 100% research faculty and funded by the NIH so I probably am safe from the state layoffs for now. We do need to “respect” the decision to take up a trade instead of college as a country. I boggles my mind that politicians and academics don’t see the value in traditional craftsmanship and labor.
“UF trustees recently approved a five-year contract extension for Machen. Asked if the dire budgetary situation had him thinking about looking for a new job, Machen said no.”
“Most people who talk about our country’s economy and our state’s economy are talking multiple years; the tourism impact and all that kind of stuff hasn’t even been factored in yet,” he said. “That’s what worries me more than anything. That’s why I would never leave right now. I just would never leave right now unless they wanted me to leave.”
He seems like a decent guy trying to do the right thing rather than leave when circumstances get difficult through no fault of his own.
Contrast that with the typical CEO who instead would be talking about how great the finances were just before getting a large severance package to retire.
Article on Underemployment from the local news:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20080503__Underemployed__not_always_counted_.html
John Cashman, a 35-year-old champion rower with a biochemistry degree, got laid off from an $80,000-a-year tech job six months ago. Now the Princeton Township man is cobbling together a much-diminished living with landscape work, financial consulting and eBay sales while he searches for a full-time job.
A degree in Biochem is highly sought after in loads of job markets - this guy could get a job anytime he wants IF he really wanted to
……………maybe he was a marginal student, at best, and really can’t cut it in the “real world”.
That happens to alot of graduates. He was cut from his job. You usually start with the dead weight.
Did anybody else notice that the Zip Real Estate site got a facelift? Plus they now put the “howmuchamonth” calculator on the side of each listing, automatically.
The listings in my hometown peaked last year at about 212. They dipped to the 180s. They are back up to 206. I am seeing a lot of relistings, a lot of dreaming, and a lot of pain in the future.
I just tried “ziprealty”. I don’t have a login there, and can’t be bothered to get one. Unless my pop-up blocker is ruining the site, it seems that I can’t see much of anything unless I “register.” I can see a map showing dots, and on-line summaries of houses, with no addresses.
That really doesn’t help sell houses, does it? It’s as if ZipRealty simply wants to get ads in front of people who think they want to buy a home, and doesn’t care about actually selling homes.
I registered 2 years ago, and I’ve never been bothered by Zip realty. No spam, no nuthin’.
I registered with Zip about a week ago and have been hit with emails on a daily basis. I even got a phone call from their realtor in the Socal area in which I expressed some interest, which just happened to be the area we used to live.
Media commentators are preoccupied with white noise in the job loss number. If you want to see the picture, then take your eyes off that noisy latest data release and pay attention to the trend and to those revisions of previous months’ numbers.
Like the housing market, it is far too early at this point to have the foggiest inkling of where the labor market’s recent turn will take it.
Job losses may be sign of recession
20,000 drop in April less than expected; part-time level high
By Peter S. Goodman and Michael M. Grynbaum
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
The U.S. economy lost 20,000 jobs in April, the fourth consecutive month of decline, in what many economists took as powerful evidence that the United States is almost certainly now in a recession. But the number of jobs reported lost by the Labor Department yesterday was significantly smaller than most analysts had predicted, and the unemployment rate nudged down to 5 percent, raising hopes that the economy may not suffer as severely as once feared.
“Like the housing market, it is far too early at this point to have the foggiest inkling of where the labor market’s recent turn will take it.”
I should add that it is quite hard to find instances since WWII when the unemployment rate increased for several months in a row but did not eventually increase by a full 2 pct.
In control systems it isn’t uncommon to be moving along smartly toward zero but still not get much closer… it has to do with moving the goal posts
Wow. You’ve gotta love the NY Times. They really have the their finger on the pulse of the economy. If you live on the upper west side, and think “The Hamptons” is roughing it in the country.
I’m sure the real estate section in tomorrows edition will say how everything is down everywhere (except NYC!) but it should pick up later this year! And never ever ever expect price declines in the Hamptons, Manhattan or Brooklyn. More Grey Goose martini’s for everyone! NY is A-OK!
I’m waiting for a replay of the 1970’s. More grafitti, subway crime to increase, and insurance fires the FDNY had to cope with from landlords abandoning their property! Exciting times ahead!
Windfall Profits for Dummies
“Washington already takes 35% right off the top with the corporate income tax”
“Thomson Financial calculates that profits from the oil and natural gas industry over the past year were 8.3% of investment, while the all-industry average is 7.8%”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120977019142563957.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
So let’s see, the petroleum companies return about 8% on their investment while the government takes 35%. Sounds about right to me. At some point we need to wake up and look at all of the effn’ taxes that we’re having to pay.
And to top it all off, the House of Rep’s have a benefit where they lease a car and we get to pay for the lease, the insurance, the taxes, the gas, and the maintenance.
The corporate income tax is 35% of profits, not 35% of investment. That’s why it’s called an income tax.
I.E. 35% of 8.2%.
I agree that raising taxes on US oil companies is not the best policy. That would discourage domestic investment and result in increased imports. The demand side should be taxed - impose a $5/gallon tax on gasoline. That would greatly reduce demand, bring down oil prices and improve US competitiveness, and reduce imports.
8% return is based on the entire outlay of the business, 35% is just a tax on profits. The bases are incomparable.
Example: Total book value, $121B. Return 8.1% or almost $10B. The tax was based on the revenue, which was probably in the neighborhood of $15B.
I never took any business courses, so I could be wrong, but I think I’m right at least in concept that the bases are different.
Actually it is worse than that. Corporations report profits by using financial accounting standards. Corporations pay taxes on profits (not revenue) using tax accounting. Tax accounting often shows lower profits than financial accounting because of special provisions like accelerated amortization of capital equipment expenses, etc.
The house around the corner from me is up for sale (zip 94087). At the absolute peak, I think one house here sold for $1.4Mil, and now things go for about $800k to $1Mor so. This is an old, established area, most homes built in early 60s, so there’s not a lot of turnover.
So there’s a house around the block listed for sale. This was on a lot where the house, probably about 1800 ft/sq was torn down and a huge 3800 ft/sq was built in its place. (The neighbors refer to this phenomenon as “Chinese Wonder Homes”) This is simply not a neighborhood where houses that big exist.
The “wishing price:” $1,889,998!
The house is about 2x the size of any house around here. There’s simply no way anyone in the maket for a ~$1.9MM house would consider this neighborhood. It’s a pleasant area, but you may as well go a mile down the road to Los Altos…My guess is that they either sell it for this price, or hand the keys over to the bank.
I presuming this is the amount they need to cover several mortgages and the HELOC’d SUVs in the driveway. Not to mention the granite/marble/etc/ throughout the house.
(I bought my small house here 17 years ago. I truly don’t care what it’s “worth” because I never intend to sell it, and it’s 100% paid for. I’d be very happy if prices nationwide dropped 50%…or more!)
The address, in case you want to see it on google maps / satellite view (google may have a “street view” at this area) is 1397 Cordilleras Avenue, Sunnyvale CA 94087
Also, you can see a “virtual tour” of this $1,889,888 home here: http://www.tourfactory.com/412861
Bear in mind, this is on the same small lot that the neighboring 1800 ft/sq ranch houses are on. There are no other 2-story houses anywhere nearby.
I’ve seen that here. Built up practically to the lot lines and totally out of place. Invariably the For Sale sign goes up right away - probably the couple who built it divorcing due to all the fights over which granite & appliances LOL
It was two years, to the day! Like the teaser rate expired…
what a monster
I just started a new job and the ignorance about the state of the economy and particularly housing is AMAZING. I swear, at least 4 people are in the process of buying a house or talking about buying some “investment” property. For most it is their first house.
It is a relatively young company and they just started their 401K plan. The guy representing the 401K company was going over how it worked and why they chose the 25 funds that they did.
I did some looking through the list and all but the money market and bond market funds are down by 5-9% this year (and yet forecast 5-10% growth over the next year).
I asked the obvious question, if this is supposed to be a well balanced mix of funds then why are they ALL down (or practically flat)… surely some are negatively correlated. He said that he had ruled out the PM fund. I wish there were a HBB fund!
He was still projecting 3% inflation into the future…
I asked him “what causes inflation” and he couldn’t answer…
I will contribute to my 401K to get my company match and just pay the 10% penalty to invest on my own. I figure most of the funds face a much greater risk than a 10% decline. Too bad I cannot convince the company to give me a 4% raise and not contribute to my 401K at all.
But if the company has a vesting schedule you are not really getting the 5% match right away. A 5-year vesting schedule means you vest 20% the first year, or 1% of your income. It is only after 5 years that 100% of the matching funds become yours.
Another reason for a vesting schedule is to get people to stay long term. They hold those matching funds in front of your nose to let you know what you’re leaving on the table if you leave too soon. And the vesting is heavily back ended. If your employer were to match $10,000 per year. You receive $18,000 overall matched dollars in year 5. So, they would be right to tell you to take a flying leap if you asked for that 4% in lieu of investing in the 401k plan. Sorry!
i am at my job 3 years now and vest 40%
4 years 60% and 5 is the whole enchilada
100% immediate vesting on matching contrib. vesting only applies to profit sharing contib.
IMHO it’s terrible that they offer 25 funds and none of them are a simple treasury bill fund. I guess it’s harder to hide how much of a cut they’re raking in for “managing” when you can just compare the rates to the newspaper.
The last time I sat in on one of those meetings (at the request of a friend for her law firm) they fired the asset manager at my urging right after the meeting.
What were your choice words to convince them to fire the asset manager? My company decided to let the 401K management company decide the funds to “avoid bias” of our management.
I probably don’t want to rock the boat too much on my first week, but would find your argument interesting!
They were double dipping, getting paid by my friend’s firm, the b/d they were using and some of the mutual funds they were selling.
The statements from my 401k NEVER show when or where the fees come out, or when the monthly buys were made and at what price - nothing. Then every year they give their rah-rah about funds “compounding” [sic] and how much money you make over time. How would you know, really?
The 401K/Profit Sharing plan at my company offers a US Treasury Fund option.
My co offers squat on both match and no treasuries. They are in cahoots and get a kickback from JP Morgan to “handle” the 401k for the entire co. One of the guys that offer a trending for members keeps saying our funds are great, stick with em, don’t worry, it will all be alright. Meanwhile the sob will definitely get his own 2mill pension when he leaves this summer and still have all his own $ ,not rotting away in the funds offered.
Meanwhile the rest of us who haven’t reached 60 yet can’t remove and put funds into a different 401k program, one that would offer lots more opps. A stagnant place for my current $. Putting the rest into roth. At least I have a choice to grow or not to grow.
Having changed jobs (and in consequence moved my 401K into a self directed IRA), I’m wondering if bad 401K choices in a bear market aren’t an incentive TO leave for another company. (Probably NOT an argument to put forward in your first week
)
Matt: I’d thought something similar myself. I guess you’d have to evaluate the seniority equation and the new firm. The disadvantage of IRA is that you cannot do any loans against it unlike a 401K but that is a wise practice anyhow.
Well, you should still contribute enough to max out the match and then put it in the money market fund! Don’t forget the (probable) tax advatage too. (Though if you save “too much,” you may be taxed more than you think come retirement.)
I pulled out of all broad-market index funds about 2 years ago, and moved my money into a hand-picked set of low P/E, dividend paying stocks that had minimal exposure to housing and banking. Too much of a percentage of broad-market mutual funds were housing and banking based. (Also, 50% of my equities are now outside the US, invested via mutual funds!)
There is a HBB fund. It’s called SKF.
Or puts/short on XHB. However, I personally think that both of those trades are played out.
Another firm buffeted by the credit crunch?
Berkshire’s Net Drops 64%
Berkshire Hathaway’s first-quarter net income dropped 64% as underwriting income wilted and the giant conglomerate led by Warren Buffett reported $1.7 billion in unrealized derivatives losses. Berkshire’s annual meeting is this weekend. 8:33 a.m.
Isn’t it this weekend that Buffet talks to his flock
I heard on Bloomberg that he BH is sitting on 40 Billion cash.
No,
Mr Buffett’s firm sold Puts in the S&P500. A pretty bullish position.
They are of a very long maturity.
How long exactly?
I recall reading this last year - can’t remember but they are somewhere in the 10-20 year range, I believe. Also many different foreign indexes besides the S&P.
This is partly a bet against deflation. Even though in the short run inflation is generally bad for stocks, in the long run prices track nominal GDP.
This is a very dangerous trade for such a company as Berkshire and I have a feeling Buffett rues this trade. Long-term or not, it wiped out $1.6 billion. Notice that even though these are private placement options, they are able to mark it all to market - I assume they are using essentially the same volatility estimates they used when setting up the initial prices.
Here’s where we disagree.
I think he seemed perfectly content with the trade given that he just put it on. Who knows?
What we do know is that he initiated it inspite of hating the rest of Gen RE’s derivative trades which he worked to get out of.
I agree with him. The trades are priced in nominal dollars. For the time frame he is looking at, even I don’t believe that the “deflation crisis” will not be met by an “inflation response”.
I think that the above is basically just a variant of what other people seem to be saying — just like they have mistaken the ferocity of the deflation, they will f*ck up the ferocity of the inflation response.
I’m with Buffett in nominal dollar terms.
How could you not rue a trade which, having been made eight months later, would have saved you $1.6 billion?
Yeah you can do that when you have his kind of money and can take the assignment. Must be nice.
Besides the government trying to prop up high house prices, they are also trying to use the same lever to prop up the bubble in college tuitions:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a1ctn1Xfq5Do&refer=home
“…There is “a potential crisis in the student-loan market” requiring “similar bold action,” Chairman Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and six other Democrats wrote Bernanke. They want the Fed to swap Treasury notes for bonds backed by student loans.,,”
Dodd is such a f-cking dud. Where is all of this money going to come from? Do they ever answer that simple question? Even if we ever get out of the mess in Iraq we are still broke. I can’t believe it’s not even 10 a.m. and I’m going to start drinking again. “Bottoms up.”
He obviously has some notion of a perpetual printing press or maybe a money tree in mind as a funding source, as present or future taxation is not a viable remedy.
More of a “Lending Tree” system where foreigners compete at auction to lend you money. “When banks compete, You win!” (No discussion of what would happen if there are no bids, however…)
Try 3:30 am.
‘I can’t believe it’s not even 10 a.m. and I’m going to start drinking again. “Bottoms up.” ‘
Well, NYCity, at least make it beer, this early. Beer is, like, a breakfast drink, all those vitamins, and the grain base…it’s obvious. Is what I say every Saturday and Sunday morning, unless I didn’t stop and get some sleep the night before, in which case I’m already full of ‘breakfast’.
At the rate congress is going, by September the Vegas casinos might be able to convince them to exchange gambler’s markers for Treasury notes.
Do financial journalists get paid more if they natter moronically about the myriad possible implications of one month’s data release? (They do the same thing each day with respect to the stock market’s latest gyration.) Why can’t they ever think of something intelligent to say? And does the gubmint encourage them to blather on in line with the latest eCONoganda?
Jobs Data Show Hopeful Sign, Though Economy Still Ails
By Sudeep Reddy and Kris Maher
Word Count: 1,087
Employers cut jobs in April for the fourth month in a row, but the small size of the drop — 20,000 jobs — and a dip in the unemployment rate offered a tentative sign that the U.S. economy might be escaping a deep recession.
Oh lord, CNN is doing a thumbsucker about 2 million children left “homeless” by foreclosure. Need $$$$ for the children! So, they could afford the teaser rate and whatever they paid before buying, but now the parents can’t afford anything?
A $2 condom would have solved most of their problems.
Condoms are only 99% effective.
I buy 100 at a time, throw one away, thereby eliminating my risk.
lol
Eliminating risk?
That must be the same way Wall Street modeled their MBS risk… as well as how the ratings agencies and then investors worked it out.
That means you’ll only get pregnant once per year.
If you’ve been married for longer than a year, that means you’ll get pregnant only once every 8 years…
that was funny pen
lmao
They need to learn how to slice and dice condoms thereby reducing the risk of any package of condoms from failing to next to nothing. Then only the lowest tranch would have to worry about getting pregnant!
Then we can get the condom reserve to swap busted used condoms for new ones. In this way we can help prevent the spread of contagion.
Even better!
I like the swapping idea, perhaps this is how the CDC can play the role of the Fed.
They are getting the nation prepared for Madam President’s future “Save the Children” foreclosure bailout…
Do you want these children to live with the stigma of being “renters?” Are you really that cruel? *wink*
Off topic but did any of you hear about the instance of father who accidently gave his kid “Mike’s Hard Lemonade” not knowing it was alcohol. He bought it at the ballpark and had asked for Lemonade.
A security guard saw it, confiscated it and called the police. End outcome was the kid was put into care, and the father had to move out of the house whilst child custody got involved !
When I heard it in the week, I thought it was a one day event but it got dragged out for 2 weeks. All line of officials were only following orders, (I mean procedures)..
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/Americas/March-April-08/Father-Buys-Liquor-for-Young-Son-at-Baseball-Game.html
I heard about the Mike’s Hard Lemonade fiasco on the radio. They are lucky, they were well connected in the university system (both parents are Professors), since the Law School helped speed the process up of recovering their kid. They got help most folks would not have access to. I watch the father being interviewed, and saw pictures of the signage at the ballpark. No signage said it was an adult beverage, and they aren’t TV watchers, so no pop culture familiarity. But on the other hand, I would have questioned the word “hard”.
In lots of states a parent is allowed to serve beverages containing alcohol to their own children. Beer or wine are commonly served with meals in some cultures. Of course, beer and wine cannot be sold to minors, nor can a parent give it to another child without consequences.
Unclear first is whether this father did anything illegal. And if so, whether it was done knowingly. Expect lawsuits either way against the ballpark, especially if there was no glaring warning of the alcoholic nature of its product (which I am assuming was sold, not in a labeled bottle, but in a plastic cup).
In Wisconsin, as long as the parents are at the table, minors can be served and drink any alcoholic beverage. It is actually a big problem for the local bartenders that have minors come in with their parents for the Friday fish fry and then the young lad or lass (19yrs old or so) coming in on Saturday alone. The bartender remembers serving on Friday, serves Saturday and the bartender gets a $1,000 ticket for serving a minor.
It was a bottled beverage, and had a nolstagic look to it. I would have never guessed an adult drink, by a glance at the labeling. I guess see where the father didn’t take a second look. Its always the fine print that gets you.
The Condo Owner’s Dilemma
If You Want to Move but Can’t Sell, You May Not Be Able to Rent, Either
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR2008050201722.html
Condo residents have long scrapped over noise levels, pets and power plays. But the housing downturn is creating a whole new set of problems. Some associations are struggling with rising foreclosures and mounting delinquencies on monthly assessments. Others are finding that rental policies created to preserve property values have become too restrictive for owners who want to rent out their units while waiting for prices to rebound.
Rental policies vary by condo association, but generally they limit the percentage of units that can be occupied by tenants. Some communities require owners to submit the lease they plan to use to the condo board for approval. Renters, the associations believe, are not as diligent as owners about the upkeep of the property and could drag down home values.
the policies can be restrictive during a housing downturn, when owners unable to sell their homes may want to turn to the rental market as a temporary fix. Unable to rent, such owners can feel pressured to sell at a low price.
The Libor is one of the few interest rate barometers which, by virtue of the decentralized origin of constituent data, provides a relatively unbiased snap shot of the state of the overnight lending market for banks. The Fed seems to believe they can suppress the Libor by funneling freshly printed liquidity into the thirsty gorges of European central banks. Time will tell…
One scary conspiratorial thought just popped into my head: Is the Western central banking cartel headed in the direction of an overarching sovereign entity (or have they already achieved this status), which operates above the reach and out of view from any sovereign nation’s laws?
Central Banks Take Aim at Elevated Libor
By Joellen Perry and Greg Ip
Word Count: 877
Central banks on both sides of the Atlantic joined Friday in their third coordinated show of force since credit-market upheavals began last year, tackling a key market where the credit crunch remains stubborn: the market where banks lend to each other.
The Federal Reserve, which has been funneling U.S. dollars to European central banks since December, nearly doubled to $50 billion and $12 billion, respectively, the sum it is offering the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank to lend to European banks hungry for dollars.
Good morning all, I’m about to do my bit for the economy and drive to Montgomery for my once a month bulk shopping expedition. I think I’m really going to hit it hard this time and do a serious stock-up since prices are going up so fast. I’m hoping for a 12-15% return on my money for this investment.
*sigh* I can’t believe that this is actually a somewhat viable investment strategy… (wanders off for more coffee shaking his head and mumbling)
Don’t forget the rice…
Planning on several 20# bags of Nishiki…
Nishiki - woo! Nice choice.
Try tamaki gold if you find some, too. it is great.
I’ll be at the rifle range practicing to take other people’s rice.
Hahahaha!
Crunch Sends More Consumers to Sidelines
CEOs had a common refrain this earnings season: consumers are worried and are cutting back on everything from premium coffee to motorcycles.
I hope so. I’ve some HOG puts that expire in August. HOG has been in a trading range between $35 and $40.
Interesting point. I’ve seen an increase of people riding around on scooters in inner loop Houston. (Not on freeway for obvious reasons if you drive here). I asked one why he bought one: price of gas. His scooter does 100 mph and doesn’t need any speed above 40mph where he drives. Maybe this will be a growth industry?
Scooters are very common in some neighborhoods in San Francisco. I think I’ve seen even more lately.
They might be able to go 100 mph, but they certainly are not seen on any freeways - they’d be killed by all the BMW and minivan drivers.
“Scooters are very common in some neighborhoods in San Francisco. I think I’ve seen even more lately.”
I’d love to get a small scooter for just doing local runs around the neighborhood but LA- area is bad for scooters and cyclists in general due to the number of stupid crazed motorists, many of who i am convinced are immigrants without insurance, gang-banging cruisers, traffic- maddened frustrated commuters who might just take a swipe at U if u cut them off or impede their lane, or simply rude road hoggers.
LA drivers are in general very pushy, break all manner of traffic rules, go way too fast, run thru red lights, speed down neighborhood roads at 10 mpg over local speed limits,
and generally don’t have any courtesy on the road,which is why LA leads the nation in road- rage incidents and fwy shootings. Bad news if you drive a scooter around LA.
Plus LA is such a theft- rich environment that unless u are constantly vigilant in watching that scooter, locking it to a post even for 5 minite stops, or just going to super safe areas, chances are that in LA that scooter will get stolen.
I think Houstonian means 100 MPG - 100 mph will land someone on the Darwin awards list pretty fast
Crunch Sends More Consumers to Sidelines
CEOs had a common refrain this earnings season: consumers are worried and are cutting back on everything from premium coffee to motorcycles.
Downgrades Show Storm Isn’t Over
Credit-rating services downgraded the debt of mortgage lenders Countrywide and GMAC’s ResCap. Credit markets have become calmer, but the downgrades are a reminder that some big financial institutions are still struggling.
Life is bare
Gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather
Just can’t get my poor old self together
I’m weary all the time, the time
So weary all of the time
Almost $1 mil outside Syracuse (plus $22k tax bill)
At least its not a starter home at almost 7800 sq ft—au contraire—-probabably turn of the 20th century NYC money, summer cottage.
Any takers for the sake of some NYS hisitory?
http://cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=191352
Out here, you see buildings like that only in the old National Parks (Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, etc.).
They’re spoon feeding Cazenovia and getting ready for the feast. Some bagholder is going to get eaten alive by that place.
Is their any chance this tsunami wall of liquidity intended for thawing frozen credit markets will instead be diverted by financial playas for purposes of commodity speculation? Nah…
New push to ease strains in global markets
Central banks in the US and Europe launched a fresh co-ordinated assault to ease strains in financial markets, as a fall in unemployment raised questions as to whether the US really was in recession - 20:25
So every month they announce their liquidity injections are working - yet every month they announce a new series of larger coordinated efforts.
Addicts, of any variety, become addicts because they want to relive that “first high” - and they think the only reason it eludes them is because they just need to take a bigger dose.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
-Albert Einstein-
the liquidity injections are “working” .. might not be the cure, since the underlying problem is sorta incurable, but the injections have sofar prevented a meltdown.
What’s the end game though? What conditions would there need to be in order for the liquidity injections to stop? What’s the benchmark - simply a return to the bubblelicious early 2000’s? Despite what many think, the Goldilocks economy of the past decade doesn’t stike me as being one that is sustainable over the long term at all.
I don’t think these guys are dumb.. i think they know full well what kinda trouble the financial markets are now in, and are completely aware that the easy money economy is/was not sustainable.
imo, They are just trying to keep the patient alive on life support to allow time so it might heal itself. Dr. Kervorkian might disagree but I’d take the chance.. What is there to lose?
What’s the end game though?
oops.. i forgot to answer the question.. good question..
I think we are looking at the end game right now. The trend is already in reverse. The game is over. We’re just cleaning up the battlefield. The fed is tending to the wounded and carting away the dead while trying to prevent a pandemic that could potentially poison the whole countryside, killing millions of non-combatant civilians.
The pendulum gained a whole lot of momentum this time and it swung way over.. much farther than normal. As a result it may swing way, way back. But in the end, when all the extra energy is expended, I don’t expect to see any monumental changes in the basic structure of the financial system… might be a few added protections that restrict the range of future pendulum swings.. Otherwise, I expect our future will be capitalism as we’ve grown to know and love it.
Right, joey - Analagously, doctors keep patients alive through extraordinary measures, even when death is unavoidable. Assuming at each given point in time life is preferable to death for the patient, both doctor (and all the medical support team, including staff, hospital, drug companies, etc.) and the patient benefit. Meanwhile, the heirs of the patient and society in general may suffer.
“They are just trying to keep the patient alive on life support to allow time so it might heal itself. Dr. Kervorkian might disagree but I’d take the chance.. What is there to lose?”
The upcoming election.
Throw The Bums Out
Elections: U.K. voters resoundingly rejected the Labour Party in local elections last week. It was no capricious shift, but a citizen revolt against trendy carbon and nanny-state taxes that empower only bad government.
In Britain, the burden was intolerable. Labour has savaged the poor, battered Brits with tax after tax, pushing the government’s tax-take to its highest level ever.
At a time of high oil prices, Labour taxed motor fuel and, for good measure, threw on a $16 daily “congestion tax” in the city of London. It also made a $5 billion raid on company pensions, which had been the best of Europe, and left British pensioners poorer.
Every tax and intrusion imposed by Labour in recent years was justified as being for voters’ “own good.” Ending global warming, reducing carbon footprints, lowering carbon emissions and raising public funding of renewable energy — all were excuses used to hit the voters’ pocketbook with more taxes.
Yet none of these taxes improved the quality of life. Instead, just a few of them — the same ones the green lobby wants here — showed British voters this was a puritanical scheme to reduce the quality of life and substitute a Roundhead feeling of virtue as its own reward.
“Don’t vote for a joke, vote for London,” said Livingstone, urging Brits to turn away Tory mayoral candidate Boris Johnson. Amid rising green taxes, an increasingly intrusive state and government harassment, Brits took him up on his recommendation.
While catching up on my paperwork, I opened a letter from was-AGEdwards-now-Wachovia, and discovered that AGEdwards’ money market accounts for unallocated cash have been eliminated in favor of cash sweeps into Wachovia accounts. First bank on the list: Wachovia Mortgage. (Total of three “participating” Wachovia banks, so $300k in FDIC insurance.)
In the even smaller print, they mention that they’re going to charge an unspecified and variable (but “competitive”) fee for this “service”, which will further reduce the (offensively low) rates offered. I’m wondering if I’m the only one boggling at the idea they want _me_ to pay for helping with their reserve requirements…
Anyone have a favored place to stash cash that they’d like to suggest? I’m looking for a bank or investment vehicle that is sufficiently cash-like for short-term stability and liquidity… keeping up with at least “official” inflation is a plus. Given the rate at which foreclosures are moving in from the exurbs into the outer suburbs, I’m guessing I’m going to need actual cash in about 9-12 months.
maybe Schwab Bank (it’s distinctly seperate from their brokerage).. 3.01% interest checking acct last time i noticed… good for 100K FDIC.
There is 1 Dollar out of every 80 Dollars deposited in a FDIC insured bank, in actual coverage…
Think your $100k FDIC coverage is going be ok?
You think that little fire extinguisher near the door is going to be ok when the house is burning down? Will that flimsy little lock stop burglars? Is your secret hiding place published on page 46 of “How to Build Secret Hiding Places”? Are the wife/kids as prudent and trustworthy as.. nevermind.
I don’t mind a fair comparison between insured bank deposits and other ways of storing or holding large amounts of wealth.. all carry potential risks, known and unknown, of varying degrees. Some ways even allow for potential profit.
My advice is to investigate them all and then choose whatever method lets you sleep most soundly. As for me, i don’t sleep well on a lumpy mattress.
You’ve hung around here too long to not know the score, which will make the pain of losing yourmoolah all that much more painful…
Better think of a plan B, because time is of the essence.
I’ve been around here long enough to know the HBB bloggers’ records’ on predictions are no better than pure chance.
Aside from Ben’s prophetic inspiration that started it all, our guesses about how the many various particulars will pan out have been all over the board, proving to be as often wrong as they are right.
Ben is an icon, and an icon tends to attract a cult, some of whom probably believe a little might rub off on them. But don’t fool yourself.. talent, prophesy, or even dumb luck can’t be shared, borrowed, stolen. Nor are they contagious… ya won’t even get a contact high..
So, if you ever find yourself believing that you can predict the future just because you hang around someone who had foresight, it’s time to step back into the land of reality.
I saw this in the news this a.m.
Interesting…
France and Italy go conservative, (Sarkozy, Berlusconi), and now the Brits. Eurozone no like lefty no more?
that was supposed to go under kckid’s post.
(not using lack of caffeine as an excuse, have had my quota already this morning. Maybe it should have been espresso or cafe au lait?)
This coincides with the likely possibility of a US shift to the left. Is the US leading, lagging or just plain fouled up?
That post was supposed to go above, but anyway, I’m wondering the same thing. If Her Hillnezz gets elected, we’ll be opposite of the Euros. But if she’s elected, and she governs as she’s campaigning, she may make a right turn.
So who knows, even if McCain gets elected, it won’t be like the Reagan-Thacher years. Unless Johnny Mac drops his moderate pose and bangs a hard right his own self.
Be pretty funny to lecture them for a change.
Philly: It is just the normal political cycle. For the UK, the incumbent party has been in power too long. People are fed up with same faces and spin. Gordon Brown is like John Major used to be: both Colorless characters with little leadership appeal. Brown is probably more dour. At least Major had an affair which made him more human.
The elections in UK were local council elections not at Parliament. However, Labour will get trounced in the next general election in the same way Republicans this time around.
One bunch of useless b@st@rds will get replaced by another bunch of useless b@st@rds.
and now the Brits. Eurozone no like lefty no more?
The last “lefty” government in the UK was in the 70’s. The British Labour party has actually moved to the right of the third party, the Liberal Democrats. UK Labour is actually to the right of the French Conservatives.
Don’t ever forget that the UK was and is the US’s biggest partner in the Iraq war.
BTW the “Eurozone” properly means the countries using the Euro, which does not include the UK.
BTW the “Eurozone” properly means the countries using the Euro, which does not include the UK.
What do the Brits know that the Continent does not?
yeah, Tony Blair’s Labour is a very different party to the Labour Party, which was much more union-oriented and anti-business. Hence the term “New Labour”.
Also, Hilary would be considered on the middle-to-right end of the spectrum in Spain or France (or Canada).
(By “Tony Blair’s Labour” I mean the revised Labour movement he kicked off before handing off to Brown).
I say, try the old coffee can or mattress.
lol
The global central banking cartel appears to be long on liquidity and short on the three Cs. The result will be further debauchery of a lending business model that has survived the test of centuries.
Can credit markets pass three Cs test on lending?
By Aline van Duyn
Published: May 2 2008 18:54 | Last updated: May 2 2008 18:54
Three rules – known as the three Cs in credit – used to govern the business of lending. If you know what they are you are probably slightly old-fashioned – most lenders appear to have thrown the rules out of the window.
Case in point: What strings are attached to these “emergency reserves” to ensure they are not thrown down another subprime rat hole, or gambled on commodities or stock market speculation in the face of incipient inflation?
And what emergency are they even talking about? Has the U.S. been the victim of an unreported military attack?
Fed to boost reserves to U.S. banks
Action is coordinated with European banks
By Martin Crutsinger and Marcy Gordon
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve announced yesterday that it will expand a series of efforts to deal with the global credit crisis, in coordination with European central banks. The Fed said it was boosting the amount of emergency reserves it supplies to U.S. banks to $150 billion in May, from the $100 billion it supplied in April.
Actually, there are 5 Cs to evaluating credit. Aline van Duyn left out collateral and conditions (terms of the credit agreement). Examples of bad conditions, from the lender’s viewpoint, are negative amortization and “covenants lite.”
Article discusses: Asian banks are much less touched than others (19 of 319 B write downs.) Perhaps they should be asked to get involved with the more shaky parts of the credit market that American banks are now fearful of.
Then:
—-
The most startling feedback this executive received was that investors were wary of investing in a market where borrowers had no qualms about walking away from their mortgages. They questioned the character of American borrowers – from consumers to companies.
—-
Seems that costs of loss of confidence, loss of character are starting to become real.
OT: From the Darwinian Awards Dept:
(Grand Junction, CO) An 18-year-old man rushed himself to the hospital this morning with burns to his hands after a gas-siphoning scheme backfired on him early Friday morning, according to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department.
At approximately 3 a.m. the man peered into a portable gas tank with a cigarette lighter “to see how full it was,” said Heather Benjamin, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.
The fumes ignited, and his clothes caught on fire, she said.
The teenager and his 19-year-old accomplice apparently were stealing gas from a boat and a four-wheeler at 541 1/2 Grand Valley Drive in Fruitvale, Benjamin said.
What’s up with kids these days? There’s 19 million vacant homes chock full of goodies like copper and fixtures, ready for the taking.. thousands of no-questions-asked scrap yards.. but no.. the ignorant fools gotta steal gas.
First you have to break in, then you have to carry stuff out, then you have to carry it into the sales point.
Getting too much like work.
One’s a serious felony, the other is generally a misdemeanor.
Speaking of siphoning gas, one of the large low-price gas station operators in south Georgia on I-95 got shut down recently for systematically overstating the gas being pumped. Last I heard the fine was in the millions and the owner had not been located. I guess the computers aren’t too hard to jimmy, but the cheater doing it was probably too stupid to understand how accurately some consumers (it only takes a few) monitor their gas consumption.
Another example of safety devices allowing childern grow older (than they normally would) to potentially hurt others (with adult machines, etc) instead of just themselves. Let’s go back to the days of bicycles with no helmets, etc. Makes for a good Darwin award list though every year.
Ooops.
“Life’s not a video game!”
[Recalling those 19 or 20 year kids in SF who on X-mas Day last year taunted a tiger in a cage at the Zoo - and one of them ending up becoming a holiday snack for the animal (kid was dead)]
OT: Record lows again here in Utarr (32 at Capitol Reef Nat’l Park). A lot of these old slump block houses in this country aren’t insulated much.
It’s a lot warmer down at the visitor center than up here in Torrey. We were down in the low-mid 20’s this morning. It still feels and looks like March here. At least the wind isn’t blowing today.
People often wonder why Torrey hasn’t boomed like Moab, St. George, Cedar, etc. I think the weather is probably the main reason. That, and for the most part, you’ve got to bring your means of living with you, because only a few are able to move in and make a living off of the local economy. In my case, it’s about 50%.
Plus, Shoe, you guys really do feel more remote down there. People drive to Moab from Junction for the day, but Torrey seems a lot farther away.
Have been running the little heater this morn, but it feels pretty nice out right now, am going out in the Morrison and soak up some sun.
We are more remote, 1-1/2 hours off the beaten track. And when you actually get to the beaten track, it’s still not beaten very hard unless you go another hour or two. We deal with it all the time when it comes to getting freight delivered here. Fortunately for small shipments we have the world’s greatest UPS delivery guy.
From the Darwinian Awards Dept. (my apologies if this shows up twice):
(Grand Junction, CO): An 18-year-old man rushed himself to the hospital this morning with burns to his hands after a gas-siphoning scheme backfired on him early Friday morning, according to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department.
At approximately 3 a.m. the man peered into a portable gas tank with a cigarette lighter “to see how full it was,” said Heather Benjamin, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.
The fumes ignited, and his clothes caught on fire, she said.
The teenager and his 19-year-old accomplice apparently were stealing gas from a boat and a four-wheeler at 541 1/2 Grand Valley Drive in Fruitvale, Benjamin said.
It is even funnier the second time.
The owner of the boat and four-wheeler should be charged with negligence and sued for offering easy access to highly combustable liquids thus victimizing innocent teenagers.
(Yes, I’m joking, for those who can’t tell.)
Anyone catch ER on Thursday night?
The plot was about a couple that couldn’t afford their ARM adjustment and were about to lose their home so they robbed a jewelry store, wife got injured, husband took everyone in the ER hostage then the wife died and the husband got shot in head by by the sniper.
Talk about true to life story telling.
Glad to hear the story had a happy ending…
Economy great - for pawnshops
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/18479604.html
“People are cleaning out their houses of gold, silver, whatever, to get money just to fill their cars with gas,” said Nat Leonard, 51, whose grandfather opened Society Hill in 1929. “People are pawning out like crazy.”
I guess after HELOCing-out, it’s pawning-out time.
So folks are trading in gold (the only “true” money) for worthless fiat paper dollars.
Why is that? What would possess people to do such a foolish thing?
LOL.
Won’t be K-rands or Eagles - just ‘junk’ jewelry brought it by the tattooed and pierced set - seen it first-hand at the local gold, coin and pawn shops.
These pawnshops are soon to be flush with bling and short of cash.
To convert their growing bling inventory to much-needed cash they will have to sell their bling. But sell to whom? The market for bling is saturated.
They’ll need to drop bling prices to move inventory, drop prices to entice those with cash to swap scarce cash for bling.
Thus the value of bling will decline and the value of cash will rise.
Which makes cash king.
What do we do now to pay the bills, honey? The utilites, mortgage, car payment, insurance, and credit card balances have to be paid in cash that we have to earn! We are HELOCed-out and I was just informed that bling is not king!!
Funny how you never, ever find a Martin guitar in a pawn shop. Or even plain gold wedding bangs. Plenty of diamond rings, though (whose value unlike karat gold is not easily determined or agreed upon), and old Japanese guitars out the wazoo.
90% of all scrap Gold a pawn shop buys gets sold off wholesale or melted down…
Scrapping wedding bands is a no-brainer, that’s why you never see them.
I”m a buyer. I bought two diamonds this week. Got killer deals.
I went into a violin shop today and asked them to show me the best fiddle in the shop selling for $5K. Later when I asked whether I could take it on trial, the shopkeeper told me I was their only customer looking at that price range (meaning that high). I was a bit surprised, as the scepter of inflation makes purchasing highly durable musical instruments a viable and pleasurable inflation hedge.
I have a big problem with domestic violins.
What is wrong with domestic? It’s from Montana. I may buy it just to help a poor but capable violin maker through hard times.
P.S. The owner of the shop said that there is a flood of hand made low end violins of reasonable quality coming on to the market from China, thanks to cheap Chinese labor.
I don’t mean to trumpet my case, but domestic violins tends to break up families…
aladinsane - If you feel like resorting to violins, you need to cello out.
Now I finally get your drift. I don’t much care for violins on TV or in the movies, either…
What has been the inflation on serviceible violins over the last 30 years? (Probably not much. My violin making teacher is driving a delivery truck AFAIK.)
Anecdote from a guy I met this morning:
The guy lives in Phoenix, but he’s on temporary assignment up here in Wisconsin. He’s retirement age - 65′ish, but needs to keep working because he lost his retirement on tech stocks back in 2000/2001. Good income - very specialized field. Probably makes $100k a year, maybe more. Problem is, they moved to Phoenix about three years ago (just before the peak). He and the wife would like to move to Wisconsin, but they can’t sell the house in Phoenix. So he’s renting in Wisconsin while the wife stays in Arizona.
He says his realtor in Phoenix has told him he should be able to sell for a slight gain, once the inventory clears off in about 6 or 7 months. I just met this guy, but he seems like a really nice person. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his realtor has been lying to him. He knows house prices in Phoenix have been getting hammered lower, but thinks somehow this whole thing is going to blow over inside of a year.
“Problem is, they moved to Phoenix about three years ago (just before the peak).”
Amazing how sunshine attracts people like moths to the flame.
In about 10 years he may be able to sell for a small gain.
“He says his Realtor in Phoenix has told him he should be able to sell for a slight gain, once the inventory clears off in about 6 or 7 months.”
So many others are operating under the same hopeful delusion. Since incomes aren’t going to double anytime soon, their going to be waiting a long time.
Just got off the phone with a friend that has a higher-end (think Pateks, not playstations) pawn shop in the city of angles…
He’s in a quandary about what to lend on nowadays, he told me.
Anything Gold related is a-ok (easy-peasey to wholesale) and there’s still a great market for high end watches overseas, but most everything else he’s increasingly wary of lending on, as turning the goods over is problematic, as there are no buyers for oh so many things nowadays.
He told me his redemption rate (people redeeming their goods) has gone down about 25% since the new year, which means his blue-blood clientelle is just as hurting as the rest of the country.
A laid off friend is deciding between $8k engagement ring and the electric bill. Well, I doubt the ring is even on the table so far. Is isn’t THAT hot in Texas yet.
Rescue Plan Leads Housing Package
At-Risk Owners, New Buyers to Benefit
…
Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) had scheduled a drafting session for early next week. But he postponed it yesterday, saying he needed more time to negotiate with Republicans.
“We’re trying to see if we can find common ground,” said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (Ala.), the panel’s senior Republican. “I’m not exuberant, but I’m hopeful.”
Shelby, an advocate of far stricter regulation for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said the talks will probably go on for another four or five days. “This is serious legislation and complicated,” he said. “The worst thing we can do is a sham bill, one that Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac have too much input into.”
This is great. The book may be worth a look, too…
Written by Stephen Bindman
Saturday, 03 May 2008
by Stephen Bindman, Ph.D
From Stephen Bindman’s forthcoming book: PSEUDO CAPITALISM: Socialism for the Rich
The Flatlanders Continue to Deny That We Live in a World of Statist Economies
As the US economy tips over, the government once again intervenes and the Federal Reserve is its arm. But who will benefit? The current ruling elite’s argument has been to act with interest rate and liquidity interventions, while mystifying and pretending to obey the apparently “divine” function of the “free market.” Actions in the current crisis have made this attitude increasingly described and questioned. The contradiction between what members of the new elite, directors of our economic system mandate for the majority of society and what they do to profit for themselves and their fellow elitists - members of “the class of Davos”-becomes increasingly visible and annoying to the rest of the world.
As the Flatlanders fatten their coffers, underwriting their gross business negligence and failures with the citizen’s tax dollars, they continue to proclaim that it’s a “free capitalist market” at work while in fact they have created a socialist system for themselves - the rich.
I don’t think folks are as aware as all that. Spent Saturday running errands, and ran into folks in the nabe and the gist of the conversations was pretty much the same…yeah the economy seems a little shaky, and food prices are crazy. When I said I think apt. prices will be coming down, same reaction…you think so?, So, you planning to buy soon? No one connects problems “out there” with what could happen here on the West Side. Lots of potential knife-catchers.
I am trying to parse the news from last week that there are 18.6m vacant homes in the U.S. versus 2.3m vacant homes on the market, leaving 16.3m vacant homes not for sale. If these were evenly divided over, say, the top 50 MSAs in the U.S., that would be 16,300/50 = 326,000 vacant homes per MSA. Can this be remotely near the truth? Why don’t the owners sell them rather than holding them vacant?
Of that number, there are the second-home properties owned by “snow-birds,” though I have no idea how to estimate how many.
The next bubble? Beasts of burden…
Camel demand soars in India
By Jo Johnson in New Delhi
Published: May 2 2008 19:05 | Last updated: May 2 2008 19:05
“Two years ago, a camel cost little more than a goat, which is nothing. The price has since trebled.”
By weight, that would suggest a not-so-tender burger. Glad I’m not picky about tenderness of the meat I buy. When you love jerky, everything else is like filet.