The Housing Bubble

I was informed about it by an Amtrak employee.. i never checked it out for myself, but it seems to be (or it was) true. My understanding is anything even partially funded with federal dollars must abide by EPA rulings.

Google the line:
Amtrak desert tortoise

.. or some similar thing.. Lots of pages address the issue.

Amtrak once had a Desert Wind route from LA to LV, discontinued in 1997.
Among it’s problems is the desert tortoise habitat as well as a proposed high speed MagLev with which an Amtrak route would have some conflicts.
Another is freight traffic always takes priority. Who wants to sit on a train for 7 hours instead of a 3 hour drive on hwy 15.. and the car might be the cheaper method?
Another element is Nevada doesn’t contribute to Amtrak’s support. I think Utah is the only other state that doesn’t.. no portion of gas-tax is allocated.
The route suffered from low ridership and low revenues, the reasons for which are probably many and various.

Anyway, some claim the tortoise problem is solved. My thinking is it is solved only up until the point where another LA-LV Amtrak route is deemed feasible and threatens to actually happen.
At that point the desert tortoise will again bare it’s vicious claws and fangs and disembowel any who are brave enough to try it…

More like…dropped at birth!

You just don’t understand the concept of using government spending to to stimulate the ecomony. Anew spending that creates jobs or gets people to spend more money will stimulate the economy.

Most of the items on your list will, in fact, have that effect. For example, the increase in WIC funding should increase the total amount of money that low-income people spend on groceries. That would stimulate the economy. If universities can can get their construction projects started quickly, increasing that construction would also stimulate the economy.

There are a few items in your list that are not very stimulative, but they add up to pretty small percentage of the $800 billion stimulus package.

Sorry, the list looks like complete pork to me.

The only reason I thought O would be good for the country was his intelligence and his communications skills. A 180 from W. I knew his policies would be more socialism, both corporate and general. McCain and Palin were a worse choice. Can’t we ever get a real leader with mocksy(?), to do the right thing?

moxie?

Smooth, smooth, like buddah. Hypocrisy taken to a new level, IMO. Sounds great, less filling.

Look, don’t listen. Don’t ever just listen. Turn down the sound and see what actually happens, what is actually done. What with Geithner, the continuation of extraordinary rendition, etc., we can predict what is going to happen.

Well played, Olymiagal. I love how Obama’s fiercest critics are basically racists disguised as social conservatives, (is there a difference)? If you think we’ve paid back black people for slavery, Kemo Sabe, take a jaunt down to South Central L.A., or even East Pasadena, (where I grew up), and imagine being born into that sh*t and trying to get out alive. Some pay back. Read, “Savage Inequalities” by Jonathan Kozol for a good, close look at education for the poor. For ANY black person to have made it to the highest office in this land is literally incredible considering where they started from. Having said that, Obama gets no free rides from me because of his color. He is a fear monger, but he’s also a politician. He’s been in office for less than one month and he was handed a glorious, steaming pile of cr@p. And, short of Jesus, there isn’t a leader who can get us out of this mess. The only way out is wading through it.

Yeah. Even Hay-soos would kick the money lenders out of the temple!

‘Well played, Olymiagal.’

And truly played. Ahhhh….I debated confessin’ that my long ago kin killed Lamanites, but then I thought, ‘that Mr. Bill—this’s the westcoast one— has pissed me off and so I shall say what I feel like.’
Okay, then.

oh, snap.

For how long? When can we move on?

Our descendants should inherit our assets tax-free…”
———————–

Would somebody please offer a logical explanation why a families assets should be taxed twice (or more?)?

The parents were already taxed when they earned it. Why should the assets be taxed again, when they are kept in the family?

Now, I will agree with you that the cost basis for assets should NOT be stepped-up when inherited, and I also believe that capital should be taxed at a higher rate than capital; but other than that, why should people not be able to keep their belongings in the family????

correction: capital should be taxed at a higher rate than labor.

In the long run, society is much better off when people have to earn their wealth. That’s the main argument. It’s also the argument behind capitalism, so it’s ironic that the fattest capitalists are usually the ones who want no estate tax.

unfortunately for you OLL, it doesn’t work that way. you pay as everyone else, just are we are all paying for all the craps upon us.

Ok Jose, Why don’t you go door to door collecting with that statement and see how it works out for you.

Christian Bale, corporate hero.

http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/4208

y’know, the guy’s got a point. Maybe members of the financial industry deserve the same treatment. Along with goobermint slobs. Hmmm, so THAT’s why they passed those hate speech laws.

Yeah, anyone who doesn’t think Christian Bale is into his art should watch The Machinist.

OK now we’re going off the deep end. You haven’t been here much, have you?

What’s happening right now is more the fault of the last two years’ congress than Mt. St. Helens explosion was the fault of the local bear that cut a loud fart that fateful May morning. The pressure’s been building for far longer than two years.

Forced? Let’s just say that if the choice was between tax cuts and deficits, the Laffer-types would choose tax cuts EVERY TIME. It’s perfectly possible to debate tax and spending levels, but for some, tax cuts are the cure for every disease. If inflation is bad, tax cuts are the answer. If the economy is faltering, tax cuts are the answer. If the budget is balanced, tax cuts for me and all of my banker friends.

Your forgetting Tip Oneill and the Democrats ran Congress they forced Reagan to overspend….Its always the Democrats in Congress. The economy was fine until the last two years…who controlled congress…Hmmm let me think……Ahhh the Liberal Democrats..>DING DING DING

Oh Yeah..Right.

And the Raygun economy, like the bushies 1 & 2 economies were supposedlt Great…UNTIL you GOT the frigging BILLS and had to PAY the consequences for them once they SPLIT the Scene of the Crime

Don’t get me wrong, there were certainly plenty of people in congress the last two years that were very culpable - Barney Frank in fact comes to mind as prime culprit. However the damage was done by both sides of the aisle and in the Big House, and goes back to the Carter days in fact.

(Actually many would say the FDR days, or for that matter the Wilson days, and a good case is made)

(clarification - meant to say Frank was a prime culprit, not necessarily the prime culprit - there are many of them).

your all forgetting it is the Congress that controls the purse strings not the President not any president. Reagan was right he got us out of the last “worst economy since the great depression”. He negotiated higher social spending in order to get his tax cuts passed. he figured he could control spending later. He failed. The only time in the last half century that spending was even attempted to be controlled was under Newt Gingrich and the republicans.

Look, I’d never hold congress blameless for governemnt overspending. They’re more to blame than the president. But that blame is more diffuse when spread over all the congressmen. The president does have the power of the veto. And that the fact that a super-majority is required to overturn said veto means that it is not a trivial power. THAT is his political capital, to use on whatever he emphasizes. And as the only politician elected by the nation AS A WHOLE, instead of just by a few constituants, it is he who is the gatekeeper looking after the “commons.”

Personally, I lost what respect I had for Reagan when he fired Stockman. That’s when he showed that he valued tax-cutting more than fiscal responsibility. That his tough deficit talk was only lip-service to enable him to cut taxes REGARDLESS of how much money we had to borrow.

I am not defending Reagan or any politician. I am just saying think of where we would be with tax cuts…..and here it is…massive spending cuts to create a government we could actually afford. The government could actually affect a crisis like we are in.They may have actually killed the golden goose this time. The answer is not to spend money we dont have giving it to people who dont produce. Soon we will all be in that category.

Much as I want to puck whenever I hear Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd, or Barney Frank speak, I can’t blame this on the Democrats, either.

The “ground zero” for this mess was housing mania. Don’t forget George Bush talking about “the ownership society”, or John McCain saying during one of the debates that we should buy out mortgages from retirees who over-borrowed.

The Democrats are worse, IMHO, because they want to tax the wrong people to pay for it. But both parties were taken in by the myth that rising house prices are an engine for economic growth.

*puck == puke

Q: What’s the difference between a Democrat and a Republican?

A: A jar of vaseline.

Well, Bush talked up alot of stuff: Sadam’s links to al-Qeeda, eliminating Washington gridlock etc… I really don’t think that the borrowers, lenders, and bondholders were paying him much attention when they were buying the homes, writing the mortgages, and buying the bonds that got us into this trouble.

I love the comment that all the deficit under GW occurred in the last two years because Dems controlled congress.

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

Even that small blip at the end is due to legislation passed during the prior congress.

Also note that the 109th congress had 49 dems 49 repubs and 2 independents. Leiberman who supported GWB was one of the independents.

Did Dems make Cheney say “”Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” I don’t think so. The whole idea was to hand out huge tax breaks so their elite contributors could cash out in anticipation for the collapse.

Make that the 110th congress had 49 dem 49 repub 2 independents.

that’s the republican talking point, but I have yet to see this proven…

the USSR was already on the verge of economic collapse. Gorby started “glasnost”. The Politboro politics had changed, everyone was getting tired of it all.

Economic collapse alone doesn’t take down regimes–look at North Korea.

And both USSR and USA had enough nukes to destroy the world many times over…

Ah yes, but remember Reagan’s “Star Wars”. Had USSR had the resources he claimed they had, and had SDI had the efficacy he claimed it had, the logical move for them would have been to push the big red button and end it all. So be glad he was wrong on BOTH points.

That’s the best rewrite of History here yet.
–
“I think you forgot this part:
Paul Volcker, a Democrat, was appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve in August 1979 by President Jimmy Carter and reappointed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan.
Volcker’s Fed is widely credited with ending the United States’ stagflation crisis of the 1970s. Inflation, which peaked at 13.5% in 1981, was successfully lowered to 3.2% by 1983.”
–
Of course, there was a consequent recession which SirGreen fixed by a 30 year plan of easy money.
Oh, I forgot, that leads us to today.

So I don’t get it…Where is your argument that Reagan got us out of the recession ?? Volker controlled the fed and interest rates…I stand by my statement..When Volker lowered the rates back down the economy healed itself…And you failed to mention anything about 1987 Stock market or the S & L debacle during Reagan’s term…By the way…I voted for Reagan both times…

My grandma voted for Reagan. Then he cut her bennies. She was a widow and didn’t realize that she was the “waste, fraud, and abuse” that he was railing about.

+1, gator!

How can you know, when he was always at an undisclosed location?

Although there was that one hunting trip we know about … ;-0

Nah, just some Iran Contra hashish, and Sandinista weed.

You are correct, there are not, and never were, enough good paying jobs here in Florida to support all of these big houses. The cottage industry that feeds off those overpriced HOA fees is about to go DOA in my opinion. You’re in the North end of Palm Beach, I’m at the South, but I don’t know anyone down here that’s paying $1,000/month in HOA fees for a $750K house. Mine are $100 including cable, which is about average for non-country club neighborhoods in Boca. I think some of the golf club places are around $500, and they don’t include the club just lawn and streets, which is outrageous.

We only had one house out of 180 that’s gone to foreclosure, so it’s a far cry from the newer neighborhoods. Ours is 25 years old, and 95% of the people bought and qualified pre-bubble.

To answer your other question, yes whole communities based on nothing other than speculation and building will fail.

There are several communities up here that are like that, not all golf either. Where I live it’s about 400/mo, no golf, no boating, just HOA. That does include lawn though.

Across the street from me (Frenchman’s Reserve) you can easily get to 1K a month, probably more then that, on a 750K home. Your base fees are going to be ~600/mo, add in a golf membership and your way over 1K a month.

I know of lots of HOAs that are far cheaper then where I live, but, at the same time, I’m more interested to what is going to happen to these places with insane HOAs. Because there are other choices, will the price of these homes have to fall more to make the numbers work? Will the prices fall so much that you can pick up a home in a 1000/mo HOA community for 150K less then the same house would cost in a non-HOA community (discount the house be the amount that the HOA costs)?

It’s going to be interesting in SFH, in condos, there are plenty of units that are effecively worth 0. The Landmark at the Gardens (the skyscraper in the Gardens Mall parking lot) is one of my favs. They have an insane HOA, high taxes, and, of course, plenty of insurance problems. You can rent a unit in there for HOA+Insurance+Taxes. Does that mean that those units are worth 0? As more and more people in there default, and the owners bear more and more HOA burden, does the unit become worth < 0? If there’s no intrinsic demand (condos in mall parking lots aren’t typically a “hot” item), what happens to these types of buildings? The HOA will almost certainly collapse. What then?

HOA dues…??

New underwriting guidelines are going to be looking very closely at the HOA’s books…You better have done independent reserve studies and all HOA dues are current…If not, no financing for any amount…

Our HOA dues here in SW Boise are only $250 per YEAR. That seems proper. They include mainenance of the landscaping in the commons and parks AND all the pressurized irrigation water you can use during the season. I was paying $80/month just for water when I lived in San Jose.

You describe exactly the spreadsheet I made 12 years ago when I was house hunting. If the $1,000 is only “worth” $200 to you, than yes I’d calculate that I’m paying $800 AFTER taxes more for this house than a non-HOA house. Since mortgage interest is deductible, say that $800 after taxes is equal to $1100 in a mortgage payment. $1,100 a month for 30 years at 5.5% is almost $200,000. Of course if you spent that $200K more, you’d pay $4K in taxes more, so allowing for that your $150K is about correct.

For me personally, the numbers were $100/month non-county club, $500/month county club (which didn’t include golf, or even tennis, or even being allowed to pee in the clubhouse). So to me it was $400/month profit for someone I didn’t want to pay, and didn’t.

HOA fees = paying rent + paying mortgage.

There’s an excellent long-form article called “The Ponzi State” about the Florida bust — and the role fraud played in the bust — in the current issue of the New Yorker.

It’s not available online unless you’re a subscriber, but well worth a read.

It takes about a week after publication before I can read an electronic copy at home from my local library. I’m looking forward to reading it. Thanks.

Not only does the Candy-Crappin’ Unicorn™ not crap, the GOP version sucks up all my candy. Candy-suck’n’ Unicorn™

I posted a link to the author of the Ponzi State on On Point Radio last week. It was a good show. Worth a listen if you don’t have subscription to the NYer.

http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2009/02/george-packer-the-ponzi-state/

Well, long as you did vote, that what matters. If you willfully chose to NOT vote, thereby wasting your hard-won and precious right as a citizen, then yeah: you’s a ‘doofus’.*

*In my opinion.

Yup i voted….

+1

Keep smoking that utopian crack pipe.

Clinging, yeah.. but so far nothing solid has happened. We can’t exactly respect his word yet, since we’ve only got the standard campaign rhetoric to play with.

W was a known quantity. I’m not sure if BO aficionados want him to follow W’s lead, or react to attacks and threats in an even tougher manner, or be more of a talker and less of a doer. Perhaps BO has his own ideas and will pleasantly surprise (or disappoint) everyone.

“Perhaps BO has his own ideas and will pleasantly surprise (or disappoint) everyone.”

I wish, but it doesn’t seem that way. Just mass confusion. Nobody seems to have a clue. I woulda given that Markopoulos the Treasury job.

Perhaps BO has his own ideas and will pleasantly surprise (or disappoint) everyone.

In terms of finances, economy and foreign policy, we left normal some time ago and we aren’t coming back.

God bless America!

I meant with regard to this:

“And you want to trade scarce cash for what these people are selling?”

Given that one can easily trade gold for cash, and cash for gold, why would there be any problem doing the latter?

Actually it’s quite a bit easier to get cash for gold right now than vice versa. I’ve got news for you - gold is a lot more scare that cash.

There you go.

zero chance; the whole anglosaxon world is inflating away, only the US doesn’t notice what is gong on because of the current (very temporary) dollar surge. Declining home prices and stock values is NOT deflation.

Gold is at an alltime high in almost every currency - only in US$ it is about 10% below the all time high. Deflation while gold is screaming inflation all over the world?

There is a reason why we are seeing all those “we’ll buy your gold jewelry” commercials on TV (even during the SuperBowl). They are spending cash to hoard real, physical gold. They aren’t unloading it.

true and since the start of the year US Treasuries are down 14% and TIPS are up 2%.

TIPS are still cheap. Treasuries are still overpriced.

Investment for the next 6 months:
short TLT/ long TIP

yes, but investment demand is rising strongly …

of course you could call that a bubble, but that is not my opinion. I think investors are seeing a certain value in Gold while all currencies are racing to the bottom.

Typo - meant CMI (Cummings) 20 calls that paid off nicely, though I did take a beating last year on some CIM

Typo - slow post…. meant CMI (Cummings) calls though I tanked with some CIM last year….

Don’t forget Canadian oil trusts. They are yielding 20% now. Oil at $40 a barrel is a bargain. For the first time, auto sales in China exceeded auto sales in the U.S. What does that tell you about the future demand/supply curve of oil?

Some of the Canadian oil trusts have started cutting their distributions, and as a whole they’re pretty leveraged. I wouldn’t hold them too long.

Got stopped out of my GE calls at a buck a share, not bad though, I’ll take it…..

The camp described is voluntary.. no bars.. no razor wire. Enter, pick whatever crib seems right in a wide variety of cell blocks, on whichever level one prefers… move around, stay as long as you like, and leave at one’s pleasure…

And yes.. The world outside this camp offers a very limited selection.

Nah, just high rise trailer trash - that’s all. Most people would never live like I do - not even my coworkers, many of whom make a portion of my wage.

We all make our choices - for better or worse.

Actually, we’ll have bars soon enough! Once a neighborhood starts getting enough burglaries (and crime is up everywhere!) people start putting window bars up! (Of course, people in HOAs won’t be able to protect themselves this way, but I will.)

And I don’t care how ugly they are! When the time comes in my neighborhood, I will fortify my house.

Not only you NEED it, you DESERVE it!

Add fur lining, I’d take a pair.

The gilded cage.

“I say hook em up to car batteries”

That’s only dangerous if it’s a hybrid car battery.

That’s insanity, it truly is. De-criminalize all the soft drugs and let everyone out of jail that’s in for a simple drug offense (ie, no violence or other aggregating offenses). That would reduce the population and also help heal this country. The black community has be decimated (and not just the black community, but they’ve seen the worst of it) as a result of the current drug laws; they don’t work, and they need to be changed.

People sitting in jail for ANY amount of MJ is simply nuts. I have a much harder time justifying decriminalization of other drugs, but MJ is just such a simple call. I’m sure that others saw that the MOST requested thing for BO to do is change the laws around pot. I haven’t smoked pot in a decade, and probably never will again. But, at the same time, if I had been caught with pot in college my entire life would be changed, MUCH for the worse. How does that help anyone? How is society served by these laws?

regarding decriminalizing soft drugs: we have plenty of experience with that in Netherlands, and it is not that simple. Putting people in jail for finding a ‘private’ amount of MJ with them is stupid, obviously.

Most of the people convicted here just grabbed the easy money: with a pot plantation in the attick you can make 50-200K a year with very little work and almost zero risk (if you are really out of luck the judge will order you to pay back the proven gains). Never mind the fire risk for the neighbours, the stolen electricity, the shootings from competing producers etc. The types who do this are usually too lazy to work and a drag on society, whether pot is legal or not.

of course they can make easy money because the drugs are kind of legalised here (plenty of demand, especially from foreign countries) while growing them is not legal (and thus profitable). If production is legalised as well (under discussion over here) these people will switch to other ‘easy money’ activities.

How is society served by these laws?

Society isn’t, but certain segments of society (the prison-industrial complex, law-and-order politicians, big Pharma and other assorted “competitors”) most certainly are.

as a result of the current drug laws ??

Its all about money/jobs…Criminalize
everything…Then you need more;

Defense Attorneys, DA’s, Judges, Court Houses, Court Staff, Sheriffs, Probation Officers, County Jail Cells, Prisons, Prison Guards, Prison Staff, Re-Hab Centers, Half-Way Houses, Bail-Bonds Men..Did I miss anything ??

Take a look over in Mexico to see what the war on drugs will bring. We are pumping money into the hands of murderous gangs. I saw one estimate that said they brought in as much money as tourism. The gov is helpless and this will be bad for the US. Then take a look over in Afghanastan. Ask yourself how many guns those guys could buy without drug money and oil money from Saudi Arabia. Legalize and tax drugs use the money to throw anyone who commits a crime in jail and the rest to cut income taxes.

well, mexico could start spending more and smarter for its defense/law enforcement to be more effective against the drug war. no point in extrapolating to us.

Justice is arbitrary because it locks up murders? Thats a new one.

Arbitrary is good sometimes, like when the DMV is arbitrary doesn’t give driver’s licenses to a blind person.

Justice is arbitrary because it locks up murders ??

Sure it is…We have a huge double standard in this country when it comes to “Criminal Justice”…Just ask the family of the kid who got summarily executed by the officer at the Bart station in Oakland…Or the retired officer that gets “Sh!T Faced” rolling dice “With Me” each Friday and then hops in his car for the drive home because he knows he is bullet proof from being arrested…

I was unaware that the Oakland case had been resolved in the favor of the office involved.

‘Or the retired officer that gets “Sh!T Faced” rolling dice “With Me” each Friday and then hops in his car for the drive home because he knows he is bullet proof from being arrested…’

Gimme the link. Por favor.

Or “looked in Putin’s eyes and got a sense of his soul.”

Just saying that I think he has oversaturated the airwaves. I voted for him and hope he does well for all of our sakes. I was not a Bush supporter either. Today, Geitner gets up and says nothing so the market tanks. Wait until you have something to say before you say anything.

Its a shame Pelosi boxed Obama in on the stimulus bill by loading it up with nonsense, forcing him to do all this PR work. Now he is having to burn his political capital to save a bill that should have been a no brainer under the circumstances. It will be strange to see Obama lining up with the centrist Repubs to save the bill in conference. Pelosi is absolutely the worst politician I have seen in years (as to political acumen, not scandal - we have plenty of those) . She was ineffective as majority leader when Bush was there and is now like a cinder block for Obama.

Awesome post, realestate. IMO Pelosi is certifiably insane and the triumvirate she makes with Reid and Frank makes the Three Stooges look like geniuses. I was sickened by her “Impeachment is off the table” crap, she could have done so much good to ease the traumas of the Bush regime.

But, this is SOP for the dems, they sure know how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And from what I understand, the behind-the-scenes bickering and backbiting and betrayal makes the reps look like unified geniuses. In some ways, I feel sorry for Obama. Members of his own party will end up eviscerating him, quite thoroughly. Wait’ll Hillary has her ups. I hope we survive it.

‘…the behind-the-scenes bickering and backbiting and betrayal makes the reps look like unified geniuses.’

‘Unified geniuses’…wha? Wow. Really. I haven’t discerned any signs of such a condition, but it’s good to hear.
See, I love geniouses, and I can’t wait to see what these unified geniouses produce for all our betterment…

You study economics more than 3 hours per day for the past 3 years?

We could get in a pissing match about who has more education, but that is pointless. I quoted my sources and I have read all of the “official” stories/theories taught by government schools and the media. If you have not spent time reading Mises on Money and other Austrian School economics texts then you have not honestly accessed my claims.

If you can read what Mises has to say and can form a coherent argument against it, then you will be the first.

Austrian School Of Econ-
Murray Rothbard’s Depression book. What a great read.I can’t believe how misinformed I was.

i always hear about this *austrian school of economics*. does anybody of you know which country has adopted this at heart and what is the result so far? thanks.

Hahahahaahah! HAHAHAHAHA! Oh, gosh—thank you.

Dang, Muggy, you GET it.

Yah, that’s a pretty raw deal, that torture stuff. Made me sick to my stomach. Maybe Bammy can do a parody of W’s speech where W was looking under the tables for WMD.

“Ooops, no change here!”

Well Muggy, the rich aren’t going to help any of the THREE of us.

History of Federal Individual Income Bottom and Top Bracket Rates
ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=19

Top Federal Income Tax Rates on Regular Income and Capital Gains since 1916:
ctj.org/pdf/regcg.pdf
(one page)

Guess, who is getting ahead?

Yah, I don’t disagree with you at all, not in the least. I just don’t think this administration really intends to do anything about it.

I’d like to see the income tax abolished anyway. And it is interesting that people are finally actually talking about it. I think it is beginning to dawn on some of the hacks that when you have a system where those at the top don’t pay it and those at the bottom don’t pay it and you’re pretty much destroying those in between who did pay it, what’re ya gonna do? People still have to buy stuff, one way or another, so sales tax is the way to go. And by that I don’t mean a VAT.

“Guess, who is getting ahead?”

Muir, I gotcha.

I just had this funny vision of you demanding to see my paystubs and Vanguard statement before letting me in to party…LOl.

++++1000000000

This is the best system. No handouts without work, just enough to survive if you take a gov job after getting laid off, with plenty of incentive to get a real private sector job.

yeah right. if the inequality of wealth distribution is about the same for singapore and us, it might work here.

YOUR RIGHT!!!
Correct!!~
Bingo!!!!!
—–
“The problem with socialism is that inherently encourages laziness.”
—–
Best Analysis EVER at HBB.
–
Let’s see, we gave free money to Main Street and easy money to banks and we were all going to live off of our “investments” and let’s see, we would all be “a consumer driven economy.”
And this lead to laziness, your correct.
–
Now, what do YOU call what happened here?
(and not for your “last 8 years.”
Try at least 12.)

yes, you are right–things really heated up around 1997 with the internet speculation. seeds were sown in ‘93 with Greenspan easy money policy.

Clinton and Greenspan were all wink wink nudge nudge–credit expansion AND painless inflation that shrank SSI payouts in terms of real value. On the state dept side, Clinton’s goons twisted arms with smaller countries in US-made cigarettes for cheap consumer goods deals.

Clinton did make a lot of painful cuts to balance the budget. I wonder what would have happened in 2001 if Greedy Street McBush hadn’t swept into office and ramped up the deficit spending.

“Greed is good” is what Capitalism means to CNBC and Wall Street.
What color are your blinders?

Muir, cool down. I have always assumed that people that come to HBB could not care less what the shills from CNBC preach.

In regard to you post above, the fact that for the last 12 years we had socialism for the WS does not automatically make the socialism for the poor the right answer. There has to be a system that does not encourage reckless behavior and laziness at neither place. The system works much better if the prudent and efficient are rewarded at the expense of the reckless and inefficient, not vice verse.

” the fact that for the last 12 years we had socialism for the WS”

I think his point was that that isn’t socialism. I find the way people throw around the terms socialism, communism and fascism quite annoying myself as it makes conversations quite confusing and pointless. Why use a loaded term, if you don’t care what it means?

I used to know a Portuguese chef who couldn’t be bothered to learn english, so he just said “bananas” for any word he couldn’t remember.

For your consideration:

“In regard to you post above, the fact that for the last 12 years we had bananas for the WS”.

bubble boy…

LOL - hilarious episode.

Bingo

Eh, Rush Limbaugh started calling him the Messiah, O’Reilly picked it up and all their minions began parroting.

Politicians never take a stand or delve too deeply into an issue. Know why? Because ignorant hicks vote against people, not for them. If you let people know where you stand, all of those who disagree will vote against you. If you don’t take a stand, the hicks have no reason to vote against you (except maybe for the party you belong to or the color of your skin).

CSX and some banks live there. Very much haves and have nots. But therefore not unlike some cities up north.

Before buildup of Miami in the 1920’s, Jax was the only “real” city in Florida, I think… well, there was St. Pete. Some Russian speculator dude founded the city, and the RR back to civilization was extended from Jax to St. Pete. Like most of Florida, they have mostly forgotten the RR made them … neglected, taken apart, torn up, and forgotten … like that Faber factory in Cedar Key.

This is so true. I grew up on Long Island and lived in the Tampa Bay area for about 10 years.

My observation was that I-95, on the east coast of Florida, runs up the coast to places like DC, Philly, NY, and Boston. As a result, people from those cities tended to relocate to the east coast of Florida.

I-75 runs up the west coast of Florida, through the middle of the state and northward through the midwest on to Michigan. As a result, the west coast of Florida has many more mid-westerners than the east coast of Florida.

The west coast of Florida definitely had a more laid back midwestern feel to it than SE Florida.

Florida’s west coast is also loaded with Germans.

I was never sure why, until I went to Germany a few years ago, and saw lots of infomercials on Ft. Myers, Sarasota etc. For whatever reason it’s marketed heavily.

just look at it this way. it is expected that the us economy will shed about 1.5t of its gdp until the end of this year from the time this recession started. they are only going to spend less than half of that 0.8t over that period.

Cool, as long as they’re only doing it to dodge taxes, I don’t mind.

Anybody who complains about something and is unwilling to do the thing they need to do in order to fix their problem is kind of a loser aren’t they?

Shank shoe!

Good news. JUST got an Indian store down the street. The spices were so cheap I peed a little from the excitement.

Went in Friday night, checked out the goods, and talked to the owner for a few minutes.

Me: “Can you recommend a good cookbook so that I can learn to cook items rife with subcontinental tastiness?”

Him: “No.”

Me: “Okay. Other than offering myself as an indentured servant to a local indian family, how can I learn how to cook Indian food?”

Him: “There is no other way.”

Faster, my husband thanks you for rendering self-indenture unnecessary.

Coffee grinder — will procure immediatamente.

Maven, FPSS: is ANY skillet okay for light toasting? Cast-iron? I do not have high-quality cooking utensils!

Now that I’ve said that, WHAT ARE the absolute MUST-HAVE high-quality cooking implements? I have YET to get a direct, valuable answer on this. Why did I not turn here first?

Thanks in advance for making dinner more delicious at my house.

Any skillet will do.

In practice, I have found the following to be indispensable: coffee grinder, box grater, food mill, food processor + blender, good French chef’s knife, mortar and pestle, scissors.

Maybe a peeler. Some good pots. A skillet.

There is very little else that is “indispensable”. Convenient, perhaps but not deserving of the Big-I tag.

Great food is about excellent ingredients, effort and time. You don’t need fancy instruments.

For a good curry, get a clay pot or two. You can buy for $5 - $10 at any Indian store. You have to cook a few curries in it before the pot gets sufficiently seasoned. Clay is great because although it takes longer to heat up, it holds its heat for a long time; in fact the food cooks even after the stove is turned off. Good curries should simmer in the lowest heat for a LONG time; clay pots are perfect for that, and the special “earthy” flavor they impart to the contents cannot be created in any other way.

Well, you could write to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington DC to find out what the options are.

YOU’RE the one with the magic Candy Crappin’ Unicorn (TM)! So just go on up to it and squeeze it and see what comes out. It’s just sure to be good!

Hey, wait…is this one of them ‘metaphor’ thingies? You don’t really have a…
*starts crying loudly from disappointment and grief *

And just when every time I think I hate you, I have to change my mind.

Don’t forget that is Observer’s opinion also. Just an opinion.