The Housing Bubble

alad…..you’re killin’ me. I’m at work, and my outbursts are not appreciated!

So why the constant pandering for those poor poor abused corporate entities?

Show me where I have once pandered for a corporation? I’ve said numerous times I don’t even think they should be allowed to exist in that form. If I were king for a day we wouldn’t have corporations. You want to own a business? Fine, but you get to be liable for its behavior. If you make big bucks great, I’m not going to punish someone for being successful. If you lose your ass, that’s fine too and you get to bare that burden on your own (or to the extent you are working with other owners or whatever).

Just because I criticize the blue in a given instance doesn’t mean I support the red.

People are what they are. Some are greedy, selfish, power hungry, etc some have more positive attributes than negative.

You can’t effectively regulate “good behavior”, you can’t prevent people from trying to take unethical or immoral advantage, you can’t make bad people act good but you can choose to not aggregate power into a concentrated sphere that is easily controlled by people who are willing to do “whatever it takes” to be in control.

I want to second bluprint’s post… corporations can exist without the existence of a government simply by having a contract between two or more people. Without the government protection and IP laws (designed by and for corporations that can never die) then corporations would not be the *evil* they are today.

In fascism the government dumbs down the people and makes them *dependent* upon the corporations. 99% of the time people complain about the “evil corporations” it is because they have allowed themselves to become dependent upon those corporations due to government regulation (prevention of competition via large regulatory barriers to entry). Think of how many people would be building / selling electric cars, mini-power plants, cheap medical services, quality education if it were not for the GOVERNMENT interfering.

Without the government corporations lose all of their power outside of their ability to maintain trade secrets and outperform the little guys. If they are outperforming the little guys then the economy is getting the most benefit for the least cost. It is a rare situation that a large bureaucracy can outperform a small company unless the government forces the bureaucracy on the small company.

bp, when one excoriates one side, they’re clearly pandering for the other. The contempt you hold for those who don’t have the power and resources to stand up to the fascist system that enslaves them is very obvious in your posts. I can appreciate the libertarian utopia you elude to in your posts is equal opportunity bashing, but that same libertarianism is nothing short of a theoretical pipedream.

Righto Virginia, if corps didn’t have all the gov protections, you and I would have been driving electric/or hybrid cars for the past 20-30 yrs or more, but the inventors etc were bought out/off and you nor I have seen hide nor hair of anything advanced that didn’t flow directly into bad corp coffers.
And that just goes for autos etc, just think about medical and natural remedies that are being squashed due to big pharma corps.
Lawdy Save the Corpse, I mean Corps.

Of course, there wouldn’t be any roads to drive our cool electric cars on…

You can’t be sure of that.

BP, you and VTDan have made the case less tax on corporations too many times to count yet you never seem to have a problem with the bottom 95% of WAGE EARNERS shouldering the most of the tax burden. If that’s not pandering, nothing is.

You can easily have roads without government, but it requires one to drop the bias that “man cannot fly” long enough to think it through and to study the history of roads.

Even animals create roads / trails that they follow.

FREE MARKET TRANSPORTATION:
DENATIONALIZING THE ROADS

http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/3_2/3_2_7.pdf

In the end you will see that government roads imply that *someone* must decide what is best and ultimately leads to theft to fund politically motivated “bridges to nowhere”.

For the first 100 years of our country most roads were built privately and funded by local businesses. If it made economic sense to build a road then it would be built and no eminent domain would be necessary.

Obviously having a toll every 100 feet would not make economic sense because it would drive customers away; therefore, the market would develop something much better that result in the most benefit to society for the least cost with out robbing anyone via taxes.

Many roads would have no tolls and could probably be funded by advertising and the increase in business it brought to a town.

exeter… you obviously haven’t followed enough of my postings to know that I consider ALL taxes theft (what ever form they take).

Further you haven’t considered that the bottom 95% will always pay 95% of the taxes because companies consider taxes an “operating expense” and raise prices accordingly to generate the same “after tax” profit.

There is no way around the fact that the government has no money and must steal from the people… attempting to justify a tax on one person or another based on some kind of “means test” is like trying to justify the rape of one individual over another based upon how emotionally stable they are.

Clearly the corporations are making major profits BECAUSE of government favors and these profits are just another “tax via regulation” on the bottom 95%. I find it humorous that people on one hand call for regulation (that ultimately profits big business) and then call for taxes on big business with the unintended consequences that the 95% are then taxed twice.

VTDan,

If private enterprise were better at creating a road system than the government, then it would have been done. I think if you look around the world today, I would much rather live in places with powerful, expensive governments (U.S., W. Europe) than in places with weak to non-existent governments (Afghanistan, Somalia).

And theft is just a meaningless word without the government. Something is only “mine” if their exists a system to allocate it to my use. You can do that with a government, or with a private army. Government, while expensive, is still cheaper than private armies, especially when you can’t afford one.

I am not a fan of big government, nor am i a socialist. But I do recognize that their are places where we can have richer lives by doing things collectively than going it alone, and that many times that requires many to be dragged along unwillingly. But we also have an individual responsibility to ensure our government does as little of that as possible, and that it does what it does as efficiently as possible.

Dan, harping on the same theoretical but unachievable utopia of libertarianism will never, ever bring it closer to reality. Further, you nor any of those who believe in this hocus pocus can point to any state, current or historic, that thrived and led without the collective will and resources of that state, PERIOD. However, a fifth grader point to countless thriving empires that dominated business interests, education and cultural direction for centuries and they achieved it collectively. But do go on fighting your one man war against civilization. And on a second thought, you go ahead and keep “your” money but be sure to stay off my roads, out of my airports and away from my schools. And seeing as state resources were marshalled to develop the power grid and phone system, you should disconnect from that too.

BP, you and VTDan have made the case less tax on corporations too many times to count

Ex, that’s the fiction you live with because you are incapable of understanding anything that doesn’t fall into your red/blue categorization. If I take a position that contradicts your status quo blue, you assume I’m red.

I’m generally for lower taxes across the board. Except for anyone paying zero taxes or less, those people probably need to either stay the same or pay higher. So if I’m “for” lower taxes for corps in one particular discussion, it’s only because I happen to be for lower taxes in general (and the corresponding lower govt spending) or for some other principle reason, not because I love corporations. I’m sorry you are incapable of distinguishing that there are multiple components to discussions like that.

yet you never seem to have a problem with the bottom 95% of WAGE EARNERS shouldering the most of the tax burden.

Well, I’m not certain that’s statistically accurate. The interesting part here is that you interpret my evaluation about that position being factually incorrect as meaning that I would SUPPORT the travesty you describe.

Again, this goes to your inability(?) to understand anything outside of the narrowly defined boxes you have created for yourself over the years.

bp, when one excoriates one side, they’re clearly pandering for the other.

That might be true if there are only two sides. As it turns out you don’t know everything and fully understand all the angles. Everything is not divided into one side or the other. Hell, there aren’t even really sides. You don’t know it, but what you think to be “two sides” are really one side. And they don’t care which part of that one side you support, as long as you keep supporting their side. lol

The contempt you hold for those who don’t have the power and resources to stand up to the fascist system that enslaves them is very obvious in your posts.

The contempt I have is for the system you refer to and those who support it, even unknowingly. You pretend to not like or want it, but you actually continue to support it ferociously. You may not even realize it.

When you draw a picture in your head of the people you describe above and remove the attributes you no doubt assign those people on a count of your own elitism (low intelligence or whatever) you get close to who I am. My Mom was a nurse when I was growing up and my step-dad was a drug addict who spent a very large percentage of our after-tax income on narcotics. We were just a big ol’ dumb ass hick family with cars on blocks in the yard, right down in, where was that you said, “frog balls arkansas”? Seriously, we had lots of cars on blocks. We worked on them for money, like right out of a David Allen Coe song.

I even have one of those fifty-something a year jobs you have openly disparaged. I AM those people and it turns out we aren’t all a bunch of dumb ass hicks. Some of us are even as smart as the resident elitist loud-mouth construction worker. Maybe it turns out we don’t need some jackass yankee “taking care” of us, but thanks for offering.

that same libertarianism is nothing short of a theoretical pipedream.

I can live with that. Ending racism is also a pipedream. As is creating an angelic govt full of people so intelligent and capable and good that not only can they run the restaraunt on the hill successfully (I’m not holding my breath on this), they can run an entire civilization.

But we have to keep ourselves busy with something. So I’m for freedom and you’re for angelic govt.

Jon,
You obviously have not studied the link I posted or you would know that our government did not build roads for 100 years and we had many private companies building roads and a VERY robust economy despite many wars. The few early attempts at building roads with the government were over budget and poor quality compared to the early private roads.

“If someone could fly then they would have, no where in history has anyone flown therefore it is not possible nor practical!” Is the nature of your argument against “private roads”. Recall that the early rail roads were all privately owned as were the airlines and shipping industries. Government only got involved AFTER the free market developed the infrastructure.

I preach freedom because to promote otherwise is to promote theft, murder, and slavery. Sure it may be near impossible to achieve today, but it should always be the GOAL. I agree we need to work together to provide defense and to protect property, but it should be done in the same way that we work together to cover medical expenses, floods, earth quakes, and fires. We should each be able to PICK which company provides our “self defense” insurance and the companies would be competing to server their CUSTOMERS instead of giving the government a monopoly that pretends to OWN their “customers”.

Besides the police are never there to DEFEND YOU they only catch the bad guy later and bring “justice”.

If you consider government “civilized” then I pity you. The PEOPLE are the civilization (aka civilian). If you define “good” and “bad” by government decree then it is even sadder. Who are these people in “government”? Are they not just other people who claim that a “mandate” from 51% of 50% of the population gives them authority to steal from or enslave you. Who are they to say who owns what?

Finally, they are not YOUR roads because if they were YOUR roads then you wouldn’t have to register YOUR car or have a LICENSE to drive on YOUR roads. The roads are owned by the government and the government is not really controlled by “the people” and is certainly not controlled by you!

And after all this time you still can’t make a well thought out assertion without attempting a thinly veiled insult. It’s only the internet bp… You’re giving me too much space in your head.

The company is not getting bailed out, the bond holders are getting bailed out. A huge difference that will cause millions of people to lose their stock investment.

moi aussi. lots of discussion by sorts like Rob Kirby re this inexplicable shortage.

I don’t get it . Professor Bear is a extremely objective and relevant poster on this blog . I read everyones opinions ,including PB ,and I find PB to be very astute .I don’t need to defend PB ,because he can defend himself with his own merits ,but I always take a close look at what PB is saying or a article he is posting .

Viewed through the lens of an extreme point of view, resolute objectivity appears extremely contrarian.

I just love our spelling Bees! haha

The price of “special socks” is also plummeting.

Question - how does purchase vs. selling price work at the mint? With most businesses the profit is most affected by the “margin” - being the delta between:

Purchase price of components +
Production cost
= Cost to make

minus

Sales cost

In the case of the mint, one would think this also comes into play. The mint of course has to purchase gold, presumably for market prices. Does the mint then report its “profit” in large part based on the delta between the market price of gold when it bought it vs. the market price of gold when it sells it?

If so - then might the mint now be showing a loss if it sells too much gold, if the bulk of its gold was purchased at the recent high prices, and now it tries to sell at the current lower prices?

If so - then might that be why they’re choosing not to sell gold eagles?

P.S. I’m actually being devils advocate to my own comment down below. In reality I’ve never heard of the mint doing such a thing - it seems like such behavior is very counter to the normal behavior of the mint. Usually they cancel things if costs get too *high*, not too low - e.g. canceling silver quarters when silver got too high, and canceling copper pennies when copper got too high. However - that’s for fixed-price items where the price isn’t dependent on the commodity cost. For commodity-cost based items (i.e. bullion) perhaps the principle is different. It is interesting that the mint has been ramping up production of gold and silver coins these past few years as prices have been high and rising, but now stopping production as prices drop.

I don’t know how their business model works. That being said, they could easily take orders and go into the futures market with confirmed orders to buy enough metal to fill those orders at a profit. Why shut down a whole production line with all the attendant costs that would entail? I’m baffled as usual.

I’m guessing that there’s too much lag. I’ve never done it, but it seems like when someone orders a coin or coins from say usmint.gov, they’d expect them to arrive within a few days or a a week or so, which means probably they would have already had to have been minted. Plus even so I’m sure the mint needs to have some reserve inventory of bullion - no way they could actually wait until an order comes and then acquire the bullion for that order. At least that’s been my observation in high-volume-type businesses (I work in one in tech).

Usually they cancel things if costs get too *high*, not too low - e.g. canceling silver quarters when silver got too high, and canceling copper pennies when copper got too high.

You have to distinguish between circulated money and bullion. In the case you site here, these were circulated coins. If the value of the metal content of the coin is higher than the stated value in dollars the coins will be removed from circulation, thwarting the pupose of the mint in that regard (to provide coins for general use/circulation).

The eagles are different b/c they aren’t intended for circulation. They are simply a way for the mint to provide bullion. Being coined and stamped gives the coins some legitimacy to their gold content (as opposed to being some glob of metal of unknown content; and to the extent one trusts the mint). So if the mint stops making eagles, it’s not comparable to the situation of not making silver quarters in the 60’s.

It’s conceivable that they would stop making eagles not because of the absolute price of gold is lower, but b/c they expect the downward movement to be too fast to recoup the cost of gold and coinage.

E.g. let’s say they buy gold at $800. They coin it and by the time it hits the market, gold is worth 799. Well, that might be fine. Lets say they charge dealers $20 over spot so they get $814 and that covers their costs.

But imagine the price drops much faster, say its down $50 by the time the coin hits the market. If the cost to coin is $15, then they have to charge $815 to break even. But if spot is 750, that means dealers are now paying $65 over spot instead of $21 over. If the mint perceives that dealers would be unwilling to pay that premium, then they have to either issue and sell those coins at a loss or stop making them until the downward movement of gold slows down or reverses.

For the conspiracy theorists:
Maybe the mint knows something we don’t? Or maybe they were ordered to stop making those coins by someone who knows something we don’t?

You read my mind. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the US Mint hedges PM risk on things like Eagles to buffer them against changes between acquisition of the metal and the sales of the coins.

If the premium in the market for the coins isn’t enough to cover the cost of the hedge against the fall in currency prices, then they logically should not stamp out new coins.

If the expectation in the market is that the price of gold will fall in the near term, then an instrument that pays you in the event prices fall should be quite expensive, which would potentially cause the US Mint to take it’s recent action.

On the way up, such a hedge is cheap. On the way down, such a hedge is expensive.

Or is that too logical?

To illustrate, look at the Option chain for GLD.

Yesterday, closing GLD price was $79.35. The cost to hedge at $79 in September was $2.50, or 3.15% of the then current price.

Today, the closing GLD price was $77.63. The cost to hedge at $77 in September is $2.60, or 3.35%.

A week ago, what was the premium to hedge that risk until September? I’m assuming less than 3.15% of last week’s spot price.

By the way, today is option expiry for August Puts; buying a hedge for 30+ days might be more than the mint needs to hedge, and is very expensive to do so given expectations. 3.35% on $792 is $26.50 of hedging costs per coin. As we get closer to September option expiry, or as the downward slide slows, this hedging cost will lessen.

What is a “normal” premium paid on the open market for a Gold Eagle? $20?

I think the mint stopping has everything to do with hedging costs, and very little to do with their inability to buy physical gold at today’s spot price.

I wonder how that exacerbates the slide downward in spot prices???

I don’t know what the normal markup is. I own one coin, a half ounce, and it was a gift.

My guess is the mint wouldn’t do a lot of hedging because they aren’t really seeking a profit.

A normal company has to keep doing business to make money, so they might hedge against big price movements, but the govt can just step out for a bit if things get a little hairy. They don’t have to keep doing business.

They aren’t seeking a profit, but they don’t want to lose money either.

The hedge is to protect them from falling gold prices.

They buy gold at today’s price, but presumably they sell it at whatever prices are one week from now (or however long it takes to process the raw gold into coins).

I would be rather upset as a partial owner in the US Mint if they DIDN’T hedge against rapid falls in gold prices.

RE: Demand for coins is apparently off the chart and most dealers are reporting sold out inventory over the past couple of days. I have no idea what is going on.

A survivalist mentality is taking over.

Certain informed people are coming to the conclusion that the roll of toilet paper hanging next to their commode will be worth more than the paper in their wallet over the long haul.

So I should hold on to my scrap gold? Hey, ya never know when that damaged figaro link bracelet from Italy will buy a house!

“Demand for coins is apparantly off the chart and most dealers are reporting sold out inventory over the past couple of days.”

Hmmmm. A blast from the past:
Demand for Beanie babys is apparantly off the chart and most dealers are reporting sold out inventory over the past couple of days.

I’d bet given the chance, the Lydians would have rather used beanie babies for money in lieu of Silver & Gold, over 2,500 years ago…

Hmmmm. A blast from the past:
Demand for Beanie babys is apparantly off the chart and most dealers are reporting sold out inventory over the past couple of days.

Last time I checked they didn’t manufacture gold in Asian sweatshops.

Yup, those Lydians really knew what they were doing. We should all do what they did.

From 540 B.C. to 1933, virtually every government in the western world used Silver & Gold as money.

How’s that stack up against your current 75 year reign of error?

RE: So I should hold on to my scrap gold? Hey, ya never know when that damaged figaro link bracelet from Italy will buy a house!

It was the only thing which would buy a German family a couple of bushels of potatoes to keep his family from starving to death after WW I. From the drying up of the coin market.

I guess there are sufficient numbers who give heed to the adage-those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Bet if you were a Georgian at the moment, you’d wish to fook you had a few fiago bracelets in the sack on your back.

That’s some pretty serious straw-grasping, I have to say. You’re saying the mint itself is manipulating prices?

Your logic is counter to everything the mint’s been doing lately. They’ve been spewing out all kinds of crap coins en masse - state quarters, presidential dollars, etc. to try to make money. If they were worried about causing reduced demand by flooding the market for something, they wouldn’t have been doing that.

of course the mint cares about the quantity of collector coins they release.. quantity has to be the #1 determiner of collector value.

I’m gonna do you gold bugs a favor. I am always wrong when i try to predict market movement. So, I will predict gold falls to .. $770 by the close.

It’s bound to go up today… you can thank me later.

joey doesn’t quite understand that you need the actual physical Gold, in order to mint said Eagle Coins…

Why else would they stop selling an extremely popular product, that is in high demand?

Joey, there is a difference between bullion coins and numismatic coins.

“I’m gonna do you gold bugs a favor. I am always wrong when i try to predict market movement. So, I will predict gold falls to .. $770 by the close.”

More likely it’ll close at $750.

Because they bought the gold at prices north of $900 and now they know that nobody will buy an eagle for $915 when the spot price is under $800.

Using your very logic…

Just switch out Houses for Gold, and why are there so many overpriced homes for sale, compared to so little physical Gold, currently?

One was a bubble, the other isn’t.

I bought at $270, $450, $500, $600, $730, $630, $750, $800, $920, $1023, $900, and various other numbers in those regions. I continue to buy gold and I don’t worry about the half year fluctuations. Emotionless buying of different assets makes it more likely I will stay out of the souplines.

Why isn’t gold a bubble? If supply and demand were truly driving prices, then Gold should be going up, as should oil…. If I lost 21% on my recent gold investment (I didn’t) then when do I say I got taken by a bear market vs. a bubble?

If Gold was just a mere commodity, I might buy the bubble premise, but the fact is, it’s had a dual use as money for thousands of years, the ultimate fallback position, when push meets shove financially.

Many commodities bulls love to preach that there cannot be a bubble in gold, oil, etc. But those commodities are subject to massive specualtive demand just as is housing. That simple.

Why can’t it be both? That would mean you could consider its price in terms of components. One component of its price would be derived from its value as money, while another component of its price is comprised of current speculation.

Agree that historically and theoretically you are absolutely correct. My problem is that if there comes time where I need gold to buy groceries, as a practical matter, I am so screwed it won’t really matter. Its a risk I won’t insure against by buying gold, which for me, leaves gold strictly as an investment vehicle. If they won’t let Fannie or Freddie fail, I can’t ever see the need for gold, for if we do, I’d rather have guns and ammo than gold as the US would have to be in a doomsday scenario and no amount of gold is going to save me anyway. Not trying to be a troll, just letting you know how I see it in my own simple way.

They were limiting the amount of silver eagles for the past few months..As above, there is shortages ,and unavailabilty of most popular products during this sell off..People are dumping paper options ,and “trying” to buy physical,but can’t. I guess some of you anti-gold guys will be standing in the FDIC line waiting for your check to reddem for FED IOU’s. ME? I have a little somethin’ to bribe the border guards.

so, if the dollar is stupid worthless paper and gold is the only true currency, a gold bug should rejoice at lower prices, since he can have more units of true currency per every paycheck s/he receives in our fake currency.

Precisely how I see it. I’m buyin’. Live in a smallish area which still has a supply of maple leafs and eagles. None of the pretty new silver guys tho…..just like everywhere else

Where does the U.S. Mint get the Gold to make Eagle Coins?

Let’s go down that road, to find the answer to their sudden stopping of sales of such.

“Where does the U.S. Mint get the Gold to make Eagle Coins?”

Pawn shops, maybe?

Well, according to the future’s market they can get all they want at sub $800. I don’t know why they would be reluctant to do so. I suspect we will find out over the next few days.

The idea that the mint is trying to protect the value of the earlier minted coins is crazy talk. These are bullion coins and track the spot price of gold plus a small minting premium. When the mint trys to add a rarity premium to a coin they announce it as a limited edition minting. I doubt even these bozos will try to run that excuse flag up the pole.
As I recall, we are approaching the time of year when the mint switches over to the next year’s coin. I wonder if that is what is going on? Seems like they could just take orders for the 2009 edition if that was the case? Baffling.

Indirectly, yes.

Gold is continually recycled and quite simply never goes away.

It just changes form…

…. they can go into the futures market and stand for delivery if they absolutely have to get physical.
I read last month someone who bought for future delivery had his check returned after 3 weeks of waiting when they had their shortage at Perth Mint..
that’s the problem with paper..it can multiplied exponentially which is happening now..Losing billions at every brokerage ,and bank lately,and it’s business as usual..issue another billion shares and add it to the bottom line.

RE: There is NO SILVER available at the current prices

Start buying bulk ammo and expensive liquor.

1000 rounds of .223 caliber (if you can find it) easily up 100% over the last 2 years.

Me too, I’ve been looking for US silver eagles to no avail. I can get Maples from a couple of sites. Try http://www.apmex.com if you are interested in the maples, they have a limited supply left the last time I checked.

Surprise, Supplies, Surprise

(with apologies to Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.)

Thanks auger but those maples are $2.50 over spot; almost a 20% premium. Just goes to show that the ‘paper’ price of metal has no bearing on reality.

1000 rounds of .223 caliber (if you can find it) easily up 100% over the last 2 years.

This has more to do with the US fighting two wars right now and we’re burning through ammo like it’s going out of style… civilian supplies are low because most manufacturers are going all out trying to keep up with demand from the military.

I don’t think the masses have decided guns and ammo are better than dollars quite yet…

That’s because the metal itself has been abstracted away into something that is simply “traded”.

I have read several articles that point out that the electronic funds allow naked shorting. This means that people are buying shares of gold/silver that are not backed by anything more than a promise to pay gold/silver…. hrmn, where have we heard of this scam before?

A shortage / lack of physical gold/silver is a good indication that the ETF cannot possibly secure the physical metals to satisfy its sales at the “spot price”.

Combine this with the central banks colluding to prop up the dollar and you can easily explain the sudden correction.

As always you should question all official statistics and markets manipulated by big banks / big government. This latest surge in the dollar and fall in gold/silver has really convinced a lot of people that things have stabilized and that those calling for the collapse of the dollar are “chicken little’s”.

Well, as a veterinarian , I am happy to be finally able to sell my old xrays for their silver content instead of having to pay to have them disposed of. I only got .25 a lb, but that’s still something.

RE: I don’t think the masses have decided guns and ammo are better than dollars quite yet…

LMAO!

I liked the stories during the LA riots when all the Clintonite anti-gunners ran to their local gun shop to score a little “home defense” security, as not much confidence was being placed in their assortment of “Neighborhood Watch” signs.

Unfortunately, for them there was a no-sale ban on, and all the shop owner’s had closed up and boogied for a vaca down in the Carribbean.

I think some were able to secure some anti-dog pepper spray like the postman carries to protect their families from the looting goons and brigands.

The local mint in Canada explained that they invented the process that enebles them to plate nickels. I was disappointed that a nickel was not made of pure or mostly pure nickel amymore. Maybe some gold coins have a lead base?

There’s a good article in the July 28th New Yorker about the Mota-vation of easy profits in California…

I view medical marijuana cards with some caution however.

To obtain one, you need have something like a hangnail injury, or some other like malady, and $125, and get your smoking jacket on, and light up legally, dude.

The selection of different grades of fine herb @ dispensaries might cause many an amsterdam coffee shop to blush, as there is plenty of variation…

But by telling the government that you are indeed a user of the weed, doesn’t seem very smart, when nobody really cares if you partake in the Golden State, anyway.

I read that New Yorker article; it was interesting in its scope but I wish the author spent more time on the end users, especially those with terminal illnesses, chronic pain and such. (And, as a minor nitpick, what a poor opening illustration to accompany the article. Poor in its tone/voice, not its execution.)

Among my friends in Cali, it seems they’re divided about 50/50 in terms of registering with the state or operating through the traditional backchannels.

Your story reminds me of a book ‘the millionare next door” has a few words on enabling children to live beyond their income and how that all works out to make them less likely to save money, unless they are school teachers.

That book and Harry Dent’s Roaring 2000s book were two of the most memorable books I read in the late 1990s. There were good themes to ponder in both books and my financial planning is influenced by elements of both.

The fallacy of “The Millionaire Next Door” is if your income greatly varies because you are in sales or because you are a contract engineer. Your income greatly can very year to year. So how can you measure yourself as an under accumulator of weath or prodigious accumulator of wealth in that case? However they are on the mark when they talk about “economic outpatient care.” I would never give a dime to my family (did years ago and was never paid back), except as gifts. I will leave my money to medical research instead, and also to Libertarian causes. The best gift a parent can give to his child is the gift of independence and the drive to produce.

Also Harry Dent was way wrong about his predictions for the stock market this decade. Now that’s memorable! Just like Howard Ruff’s book in the early 80s was totally wrong - “How to Prosper during the Coming Bad Years.”

My college nephew overseas watching our vacation house is out the door at the end of the semester, says my wife. He’s got a cushy position with paid for room and board and merely has to keep the place clean. This is after another aunt cut him loose earlier.

Instead, he’s spending his time not following the boss’s orders, virusing the computer with music downloads, making frivolous purchases, not performing reasonable accounting, not following through on promises, and otherwise giving my wife (the Boss) headaches.

Live and learn, grasshopper. (His auntie is hip enough to know when he’s on the computer from 14 time zones away. She doesn’t much like what’s on his Friendster account either. Lazy is one thing. Stupid and lazy is too much for her.)

I can’t complain overly though. We are in this position because the responsible nephew left to continue his career as a seaman. For the other one, the light at the end of the tunnel is the Real World Express.