The Housing Bubble

Good morning everyone. I was pretty surprised to log on at 4:20 edt and find a bits all ready for us. Expecting a big day, Ben?

For those unaware, most blog platforms allow you to write an article, or many articles, and choose when they actively publish. On my old blog, I’d pre-write 10 articles over a weekend, and have them publish actively every few hours during the next few business days. Gives the site some “life” but means I can knock out the big stuff in a few hours.

Ben does bust his butt getting stuff together, but I’m sure for the regular posts he just pushes them out at a preset time. I bet this one posted early either due to an error on his part, or an error on his server thinking it was later than it really is.

Better have 25% down or more. I think we have shown that in most normal periods real estate is a mediocre investment at best. In the past 30-40 yrs of high inflation it has done OK.

So, save your money and buy invest in some companies with interesting emerging technology.

And I have insomnia again.

Hey, I bought nice big townhouse there in about `93 for 155k. Sounds about right…

Not sure how far they will go down, but sales are up and prices are still headed down in South OC. I think a lot of the sales are short sales and bank owned properties.

“$3B and we are done”

LOL. I just saw the ad “Citi Never Sleeps” on CNBC. I wonder what that means…

I am surprised that pubs are not counter-cyclical.

Speaking as a good Democrat, even I gotta say this was all politics. The bill would have done relatively little to help the mortgage mess. But now the Dems can say they tried to help, and Bush can say he’s acting fiscally responsible. It’s all a side show.

Look, this is classic DC politics and nothing more. Bush said he would veto the first version that used taxpayer money. They modified it so it looked like there was much less taxpayer money at risk and Bush said he was probably OK with it. The OK came at a time when the media had just picked up speed with the stories about poor single mothers who had “bought” into the ownership society and were losing their bank rentals and it seemed to have substantial bipartisan support. Then a scandal broke out with one of the democratic sponsors so they all piled on to keep a democratic congress from having a significant legislative victory in an election year and to embarass the democratic leadership. Also some poles have come out that show the legislation isn’t quite as popular as they previously thought. Also it is turning out that yelling about the price of oil and gas distracts a lot - clearly not all - of attention from housing stuff.

It is just politics.

I told you guys months and months ago that no serious housing bailout would become effective while Bush is president. It is his last chance to seriously claim to be a conservative and that is what he wants as his legacy. There was a short time when I thought it might happen because they had stripped a lot of government guarantees out of it. Not sure how much of that got back in, but the Dodd thing was just the hook that allowed him to go back to his preferred stance. He would have gone back to it eventually even without this scandal. Maybe after thinking about it very hard for a few weeks on the ranch.

Just so no one here is under the impression that the Dems give a shit about your privacy any more than Repubs do, here is a little something that Sen Dodd slipped into the housing bill.

http://www.freedomworks.org/newsroom/press_template.php?press_id=2571

“Washington, DC - Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd’s 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill’s managers without debate this week, would require the nation’s payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government. ”

“FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey commented: “This is a provision with astonishing reach, and it was slipped into the bill just this week. Not only does it affect nearly every credit card transaction in America, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, but the bill specifically targets payment systems like eBay’s PayPal, Amazon, and Google Checkout that are used by many small online businesses. The privacy implications for America’s small businesses are breathtaking.”

“Call Congress and Tell Them to Oppose The eBay Reporting Provision in the Housing Bill: 1-866-928-3035″

(Or the whole bill, IMO)

“Wouldn’t we all be priced out forever eventually if this were true?”

No, because over the past 100 years there has been real increases in wages (albeit not so much in the past 20-30 years). As for the next 100 years, if real wages continue to stagnate, then you would be correct–all other things being equal.

I’ve always thought this to be further evidence that the infaltion number is under-reported-

Enjoy your tour! Looking forward to hearing about your observations.

I like em with green chile con puerco, sour cream, and queso over the top… MMMMMmmmm!

LOL!! Good morning, Oly, or afternoon, or evening, whenever you read this, and did you know two of the 40 arrested in the Malicious Mortgage bust were from Utah? They’ve made their state proud…and one had a house in Moab! Probably my neighbor there, I had one who drove a restored Toyota Land Cruiser and was always flashing new North Face jackets and hiking boots and stuff, probably him.

Oly,
I’m just reading this. Hey, those truckers are lucky if I flash them my knees. I drive all covered up ala kate hepburn. An asian lady told me to walk around with a parasol to stay freckle free. But, I will consider wearing summer dresses and try to practice my fake smile while I’m driving around.

Who wants to see photos of san diego north county?

Oh, gee, Oly, I thought you may have taken a severe detour and flew to CNY yesterday when I noticed the woman in a little car passing me on the left was sporting a tiarra along w/her jeans and tee shirt.

Now that I think about it, she probably had a good decade on you but she still looked good in her sparkly day wear ya know!

She had that Oly spunk too–zoomed off before I could give her a thumbs up.

I noticed the same thing in LA. Looks like more available commercial space than I’ve seen in years (ever?).

I was in Vegas for a convention three weeks ago. Stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations on the Strip (Very nice, better than the big casino hotels BTW) This is one building north of Sky Las Vegas. The tower is completed and claims to be 95% sold out.

Well guess what? Sitting in the pool at our hotel we could see the car access to the parking garage at Sky. Between 4PM and 7PM on a weekday we saw only 2 cars entering! Once dusk came around, only 3 units had lights on!

Top floors in a local bank building were left unfinished. A contractor told my husband that the only reason they’re building so much commercial here is that the projects were approved and financed 3 years ago.

“30 mile round trip”

You know what’s amazing? Upstate cities don’t require super-commuting, and yet so many choose it!

I’ll be in upstate for the next few weeks. I’m looking forward to it.

I lived in Syracuse and Fulton for 15 years (1988-2003). I live on the far east edge of the university section (near Genessee/Salt Springs intersection) for 10 years. Maybe I know the “well known deli” and can comment on the neighborhood.

Syarcuse’s economy fell appart in 1991 or so. Companies started shutting doors rather quickly, and there was a net population exodus out of the city/county and most of upstate NY during the decade of the 1990s. Basically, if you kept your job you lived pretty well. If you lost it, you had to sell and leave.

As a result of the economic downturn, nearly all home builders went under or left the area. No one was building. No one was moving in. No one was buying houses - everyone had one, and no new people getting jobs ment no new people buying houses/no one trading up.

I rented for several years during the Grad school days. When I decided to stay in the area for awhile (wife got a job), I bought in 2000. At that moment, the economy turned up and there was a sudden demand for housing. But there were no houses less than 10 years old, and due to the harsh weather and the economic times, the existing housing stock was saturated with fixer-up houses. Only a small percent of homes were in good shape. (Even the realtors comment on this in the paper at the time - good quality houses were suddenly selling like hot-cakes at good prices, the rest of the homes could not attract any interest). Certain parts of the city held up OK during the ’90s (Dewitt shire around the ShoppingTown mall, Manlius of course, even Stratforshire(?) area in the city), but a good deal of the housing stock in the area was built for 1920s-1960s factory workers, so its small, crowded, and not desirable to today’s families. The percentage of housing dating from 1990 forward is very small.

RE: I heard of 2 different 40ish women who took their own lives in the last month. They both had medical problems but I wonder if the economic gloom played a part in the depth of their hopelessness. One had been a doctor.

Tip of the iceburg.

Wait until the SHTF in the federal wealth transfer payment systems because of a massive tax revolt and the emergence of a huge underground economy, so “dat der ain’t no ‘mo monies in da till fo’ da po’ foke.”

Sarasota Herald Tribune - Link: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080620/REALESTATE/806200386/1661

Fantastic! I would hardily suggest that everyone from near and far rush down there and get in on the housing boom, before it’s to late!

“We’re back in the saddle again,” said Wood, a Venice-area agent for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate. “The baby boomers are back and they are coming from everywhere and they don’t discuss taxes or insurance — that’s not even in their vocabulary.”

Kathy Roberts, chief executive of the Sarasota Association of Realtors, credits the decreasing inventory to three factors: more houses are being sold at lower prices, fewer are being listed and some sellers have taken their homes off the market, thinking the offers they have received are too low.

According to the article, the conclusion is based only on estimated months of listed inventory.

Inventory is overflowing. New sellers do not want to jump in right now. Current sellers are taking a break. NAR would like us to pretend this inventory doesn’t exists.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080620/REALESTATE/806200386/1661

“We are back to ‘05 and ‘06 numbers,” Wood said. “The business has absolutely turned around”

Damn I missed it! Now I’ll remain a bitter renter and be priced out forever. Yesterday when I last checked the market was in free fall and this morning we’re back to ‘05 and ‘06 numbers. Talking about a quick turn around.

IMHO it is not that Mr. Bernanke has done a “bad job”, it is that the federal reserve and the ECB are not working together. Often appearing at odds, the entire financial structure is coming apart. I am betting on France, but it could just as easily be Italy or Spain that throws in the towel first.

What makes you think they will not be able to cook their books indefinitely until they have the opportunity to somehow unload their toxic crap on the taxpayer?

WSJ had an article on this yesterday. Banks are cooking their books in every legal way possible.

Why would you think that Wells Fargo “is supposed to be run better than most”? Some analyst with Merril or Citigroup or ? - Wells was liked by Mr. Warren Buffett - whoppdee doo, and probably talked up on Bloomberg or CNBC Financial News. Analysts then revised their opinions of the bank based on who was buying. It did not change the banks operating positions.

Wells is better run than Citigroup, not as well run as Northern Trust. It is just a mediocre bank that over leveraged housing.

The problems with the banks are readily discernible from their SEC filings. It is not prudent to be invested in any US bank at this time.

I’ve told the story here before about how Wells put an extra $5000 in my account and when I told them it was a mistake they said it couldn’t possibly be, so after trying to convince them I gave up. This was a few years ago, but it that’s par for the course, then, yes, they’re screwed.

Note to self: Move monies from WF account to credit union soon.

Thanks for the tidbit, combo.

Does Lawrence Yun have NO shame? How can this guy sleep at night?

“Deals abound on the California coast, but prices are picking up again.”

I read some fluff piece in Yahoo “best places to retire” saying in San Diego bidding wars are common on homes for sale.

yea right

Just a prelude to the coming bloodbath next week IMO.

Please, for the good of the stock market, stop taking those morning walks!

And hopefully the one in Aspen…

I’m expecting a big run on new computers as every hedgie and banker spent the past weekend smashing their hard drives and those of their confidant’s.

Energy analyst Jeff Vail (jeffvail.net) recently posted a piece that said removing subsidies could actually INCREASE the use of oil and gasoline. Why? Because subsidies are an inefficient allocation of resources. The theory is that the market will allocate the resources more efficiently, thereby resulting in higher GDP growth and thereby resulting in increased energy use (GDP growth and energy use are joined at the hip)
Just a theory. Personally, I prefer to look at the example of Japan and Korea as they industrialized and went from using one barrel per person per year to about 17 today. China is currently at the about 1-2 barrels per person per year stage, on their way to 17. Do the math.

here comes inflation on chinese goods.

right on cue.

It’s like the Fed and interest rates. They are jawboning in a vain attempt to get prices significantly lower. A combination of these factors, such as China’s price increase announced yesterday, Saudi summit, limits on “speculators” could drive the price down, short-term. Long term, I don’t see any way out, primarily because of the way our brains are wired. We literally do have cave man brains that have an unconscious desire to consume energy. That is what makes us attractive to the opposite sex. More money, more power, more luxurious goods. As long as that is the “ideal” for our society, then we are screwed. If we suddenly start worshipping bike riding, patchy clothes wearing, garden-growing, community-currency using types as our ideal, we might have a chance, but Madison Ave. isn’t likely to embrace that concept anytime soon.
That’s the problem with Peak Oil and why it is likely to continue being poo-pooed. There’s no sponsorship. Ultimately, nobody really “profits” from it.

Here’s a really good explanation of the summit from one of the moderators at the lifeaftertheoilcrash forum.
“Once upon a time OPEC could easily manipulate oil prices thru raising or lowering production. Oil prices were a compromise between the desires of the oil companies and the desires of the economists. It was a good solution for everyone involved, a win for the Saudis, a win for the oil companies..
“Enter today. There is no excess production left. Maybe .5 million barrels a day, but we will see… The economists have been screaming to get prices up, needing the rally in all commodities to offset their losses in the lending debacle, needing the rises to speculate the profits to stay solvent.
“But the economy is milked out. Its time to open the spigots, increase production, drop the price of oil, and profit from the drop. Its how its always been done…
“Except now it isnt gonna happen. Now the commodity is scarce enough to engender bidding, and this, coupled with no spare capacity disallows a good price drop…
“Our controllers are pissed. The Saudis wont play ball. The Saudis cant…
“So we are stuck in a situation where they are making the lions share of the money, profiting the most, profiting in a way that will continue to drain the importers and enrich themselves. Eventually they will end up with all the cookies…
“But this will never happen. The Saudis are realists. They know damned well what oil takes to extract, and who is getting what margin. They also know that if the present margin continues it makes an excellent investment for America to pay for the war to take their oil. It pencils out, its just business…
“There are elements that would love to do this, have planned and schemed for years…
“The Saudis know that a fair slice is better than nothing, and are prepared to play ball, play fair. The problem is a new game must be made, new rules. The old game is dead. A new game must be defined or their Kingdom is lost. Its in everyones best interests to get a new game, a new understanding, and new rules. It will be painful for everyone, and no one trusts anyone, yet it must be done if Saudi is going to remain an entity…
“The question is how to effect this. Will it be a quota system?? Its hard to picture how this will play, but its certain that the current market mechanics must be overcome to put oil in a extraction cost plus reasonable profit position. Our economy depends on it, as does the very entity of the Saudi royal family.”

After all, the princes are probably just holding this summit to scope out some new Western hotties for their harems.

This might not be far from the truth. A former coworkers Dad was a diplomat (non US) who served in the middle east. She told me that it was quite common for the princes to marry western hotties for the sole purpose of sireing children. The women were given a great deal of leeway and were allowed to live part time in Europe. The deal was to have a baby, upon which they would be cut loose with a generous annuity.

From what she said there were plenty of takers.

“Do you really think the cost of a gallon of gasoline is going to doom suburbia?”

How about the houses reaching 50 years old and being passed down to poorer people who can’t pay as much in taxes, at the same time as the waves of workers hired as suburban communities expanded reaching retirement age with a guaranteed pension that isn’t adequately pre-funded? Older suburbs were facing problems without the gasoline, which hurts newer suburbs. In the city, we are already used to high taxes, poor services, and mixed populations.

Off-shoring only works because people can work remotely.

I suspect we’re going to see more people working from home, or working sometimes from small satellite offices, or the use of the internet to help arrange carpools, etc. as a way to offset expensive commutes.

Having your own little lawn, no matter how far away from work is a tough one to try to keep from people–and I think we’ll find people will go to extraordinary lengths to keep a suburban home lifestyle.

Switching from gas guzzlers is NOT the answer.
The construction of an average car consumes the energy equivalent of approximately 20 barrels (840 gallons) of oil. Ultimately, the construction of a car will consume an amount of fossil fuels equivalent to twice the car’s final weight.
It says a lot that all we can focus on is how to keep the cars running.

In a word “YES”

But of course our gov’t has been heavily lobbied for the last 20 years to prevent implementing the most obvious, namely increasing the C.A.F.E. standards to make care more fuel efficient and going away from SUV/gas guzzlers. If we’d have all gone to fuel sippers in the 90’s instead of SUVs this would all be a none issue. But the Detroit would not of had an easy profit center to compete against the imports and big oil would not have us all by the balls right now. Glad I can bike to work!!

i went into a Abercrombie & Fitch for a gift for my nephew and it was a horrible experience. loud obnoxious music and clothes that are for kids and anorexics

it is very popular among the tween set though

when do the pre x-mas sales start?

Yesterday I made a big bet (for me) on SDS, the Ultrashort S&P500 ETF. I’m hoping to see a 30-50% crash starting sometime between now and the end of the year.

S&P 100 a gimme putt from their 52-week, Bear Stearns low. Decision time.

Txchick - what’s your call? Rally from here or capitulation?

My brother-in-law was just laid off by S&P. He said his entire class (2007) has been pink-slipped, or will be.

Good for you for grabbing that brass ring before the competition started heating up, mgnyc99!

400 is chump change.

It is a number thrown out to make it appear that they are doing something. There are 50,000 licensed Mortgage Brokers in California - 400 = less than 1% are crooked?

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/moodys-downgrades-force-shares-ambac/story.aspx?guid=%7B79127764%2D738A%2D4D29%2DB35F%2DCDBA2EA919CE%7D&dist=msr_9

That was mentioned last night on this Blog. Not good.

a tiny blurb with some possibly big repercussions… I hate to belabor the obvious, but what are the possible big repercussions?

The renting option is smart and it would be great to get one in the neighborhood you think you might want to eventually buy in. It may be hard to get a 2 year lease on a single family home in a desirable area though because such homes are usually not purchased as rental properties but have become rentals properties by sellers that cant get the price they want or need and are trying to ride it with hopes the market will rebound any time. Also, regardless if they are underwater or facing foreclosure now, prices should be another 25% or more lower in two years, thus, they may very well enter that situation during your rental period. I would rent even if you can just get a one year lease, but if you can get two that would be great. I wish you the best of luck and think you are making a smart decision.

Your Government at Work [John J. Miller]

There are about as many farmers in the District of Columbia as there are fingers on my foot. In the new farm bill, however, the University of the District of Columbia will receive $10 million for agricultural research

I think one of the more silly parts of the housing bill is the clause about should the value of the property go up ,the bailed out homeowner would have to share part of the proceeds with the government . Oh sure ,the borrowers that bought property for appreciation are going to give up any appreciation to pay back the government .Joey brought up the fact that the problem would be changing non-recourse loans to full-recourse loans also . That would not be legally smart of the part of a homeowner actually . I mean what is Senator Dodds trying to pull here . Did the government take any polls on what % of homeowners would be even interested in this program ?

Since real estate is not likely to see appreciation for years ,how likely will any bail-out be paid back,and why would a borrower want to do that ?

The other part of the bail-out package that allows for the government to buy up foreclosures that are already vacant and in need of re-hab is so clearly a lender bail-out . Why can’t the damn lender take care of its own trashed foreclosure ? This part of the bill isn’t helping any homeowners.

When the lawmakers attempt to proceed with a bill that has no basis in reality to achieve the goal that they say that bill was meant for …being saving the poor homeowners …than there must be a hidden agenda for the purpose of that bill. It’s so insulting .

I wonder if they got Casey Serin?

Were any of them lawyers, per chance?

Ah, I was looking forward to auger-inn piping in on this one. Are you having outdoor fun in Conway, Auger, instead of joining us on the blog?

Great point. I have a story of a friend who played the CC companies.

He wracked up about 40k in CC debt and never paid a dime back. The CC companies hounded him relentlessly for two years. Finally they went to court. The final outcome was this, friend agreed to pay 5k back in return for the CC companies wiping off his poor credit habits from the credit scoring bureaus.

Now if you’re a loan officer and this guy shows up with a decent credit score and a good income, you are about to be taken to the cleaners courtesy of the CC companies.

Last I heard, this guy is now realtor in California.

Dang, there goes the benefit of our 3% cash back credit card (Chase Visa). We have been using it just for gas and groceries, and of course paying the full balance each month.

I suspect the gas stations going cash only will lose customers to those who continue to accept CCs. Few people carry $50+ in currency for local gas purchases, and fewer still in interstate travel for really long trips. Cash only stations will be magnets for armed robbery, as will their customers. Now, a discount for cash purchases vs. CC makes sense, whether or not allowed by the CC companies.

“What more symbolism could we need?”

A farmer from Missouri buying it from the Russian guy for $120 million?

Muggy, from that same article:

“A ploy that’s emerged in the Tampa Bay area is for a homeowner to short sell his home to a friend or relative. Then he “rents” the house back. Voila! A $2,000 mortgage payment becomes a $1,200 rental payment.

In each case the bank’s getting a high colonic.”

Yes, a round of Joshua Trees for all involved…

0 stars for that link

Um. The gas tax holiday would have been an indirect subsidy to gas sellers - not consumers. Obama was dead on on that one. (Clinton’s version would have then taken taxes back from the gas sellers - making the whole thing revenue neutral and a complete waste of time.)

And what in the so-called ‘Dem mantra’ has to change exactly?

Take off the blinders. McCain is the worse presidential candidate of the last thirty years. I didn’t think they could find someone worse than Bush, but they did. Amazing.

So, let’s see … Big Oil is sitting on 68 million acres of federal land that could potentially produce an additional 5 million barrels of oil and 45 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day, but rather than develop those resources, they need to grab more. Uh-huh.

This is coming from the same gang that cynically exploited our understandable fears after 9-11 to launch an unnecessary and unprovoked war against a country that never attacked us. Now, they are trying to exploit our economic anxieties to give away more public resources. Wake up, America. We’re being played once again.

Thanks. You’re right. That one’s awesome.

LOL!!! Maybe you could get a job with the PPT. They could pay you to NOT go on walks.

But God said it is OK to be polyhomeous.

lost, based on the causes listed for arrest, someone better start building more prisons. We are talking about millions…

Possible solution-CA sub contracts out our prisoners to other states (public and private prisons). Maybe we could send them to Mexico in exchange for their illegals.
lol

Well, at least law enforcement is finally stating openly that lying on loan applications is against the law .They even mentioned the misrepresenting of buyers intent to occupy a property as a primary residence as a possible violation . How many borrowers/speculators purchase five properties at once saying that they intended to occupy them as their primary residence?

In my view ,there reached a point in the housing mania where a high percentage of the loan packages were fraudulent in one way or
another . The loan crime wave makes Dodds bail-out proposals even more absurd .

That’s not to say that I don’t think that some of the loans that were written for buyers, that did tell the truth on their loan applications,
weren’t faulty toxic loans that weren’t good for long term loans . I mean if the lender has a good borrower like that ,they should give them a break and give them a loan that was designed more for long term ownership . The lenders can do this on their own however ,but fraudulent borrowers and speculators can’t be saved IMHO .

My idea on bail-outs is re-writing loans for people who could of gotten a better loan at the time they applied ,but they were hoodwinked into
taking a loan that the commissioned salespeople where pushing because they made more commissions on them , It does not offend me that a borrower gets a loan that they should of gotten to begin with.
But, giving people loans that they don’t deserve is offensive to me ,especially if they committed fraud ,or they were a short term speculator ,or they were playing the system for refinance money .

You only need a pickup truck if you’re hauling stuff. I never understood the big vehicle status symbol thing. Maybe it has to do with other *shortcomings*…

My brother is a diesel tech for Ford. Ford bought out the dealership he works ford in the IE and is closing it down. They are also looking to close 9 other dealerships in the area.
Ford and International are in a big legal fight over the 6.0 engine and the 6.4 engine. There suing International for billions due to poor engineering. A lot of mechanics are going to be out of work.

CAT exits on highway engines.

Cummins=Go Westport

the LNG hoard

A Ford F-150 is supposed to be the vehicle most likely to be driven by “The Millionaire Next Door”.

I’ve had this book tossed in my face as an antidote to Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad. Oddly enough, the author of MND had to sue his publisher for royalties. Maybe he should have gone to Michael Lechter (husband of Sharon Lechter, coauthor of RDPD), an intellectual proterty atty who stripped the Cleveland Browns name from Art Modell.

Breaking news… Ford to delay intro of the new F150 Meanwhile in other countries Ford continues to profit from selling its trucks with small turbo-diesels that get 40+mpg. None are available in the USA. I believe GM & Chrysler have similar products that do well outside of the USA. Ford will be bringing its Transit van, extremely popular in the UK, to the US soon as the Ford Transit Connect van. Unfortunately, its 2.2L turbodiesel will not be available here, the gas engines that it will come with get maybe 20 mpg, so no real difference to an F150’s mileage.

I’ve got my trust Taurus in the shop today to have the relay board for the air conditioning circuit replaced. Not too bad now, but I’ll need it by August when the temps hit 112 degrees actual and 120 on the heat and humidity index… WHEW!!!

Yup, the repair can’t cost more than the replacement value.

I do the books for a a repair facility. Business is booming at our shop but I hear the dealerships’ repair facilities have been hurting. I think it’s a push - some people will hold the car longer but some people will delay repairs. Many times I have overheard a technician tell a customer they need something done and the customer will opt to only get the car driveable.

We’re probably doing well because we’ve made a push to go to small companies and hospitals running small fleets in the area and cut deals.

Don`t worry, Obama will talk to Iran and if that doesn`t work he will take them to court.

This is why we are going to have SUCH a tough time….

Shrug.

That’s the City of Vacuous Plastic People for you.

I suspect there’ll be a great deal more flexibility — or less misplaced pride — elsewhere.

mmm… caeser salad, shitake mushrooms, and a nice reisling.

hoz,

I’m little confused by this “because of the $34.5 million federal grant Indio Youth Task Force officials returned in April.” Why would the task force return the money? Does the newspaper article say why?

Lost, once again very compelling video. is that little hell’s falls or some such name?
I did that same river run back in the daze. We made it thru that funny spot w/o a hitch because our guide was knols: national outdoor leadership school. Would you mind playing some japanese koto flute instead of supertramp?