Bits Bucket for December 30, 2011
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
April 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
Go, charter schools, go!
“There would be no after-school sports teams, just “cyber-athletics” with students to playing Wii instead of shooting hoops.”
This is one that Frank Biden pimps for. Destroy the two party system.
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2011-12-29/news/mavericks-in-education-florida-charter-schools-miami-dade-problems/
he’s a piece of work all right…lol
“Research shows that for virtual learning to work, “Students need to be very self-disciplined and have supportive environments,” Miron says.”
you mean technology isn’t gonna saaave us???
It will when they finally create the vaccine for “stupid.”
Politicians Are Feces®
Been away for a few days, busy prepping for the Iowa caucuses?
Favorite Ron Paul ad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXCZVmQ74OA
Careful, there are a bunch of HBB people who still love big spending nanny statists.
Occupy Ron Paul
You just can’t let go of it can you Bile?
That’s one of ‘em who are offended by RP.
Really? That demonstrates how little you pay attention.
bill, I denounce you for not denouncing RP.
O.k., that settles it. I will not be voting for Ron Paul.
More than anything, he will help Obama divide and conquer his Republican opponents.
Only if he wins the Republican nomination or loses and tells his supporters not to vote for whoever gets it. He has already said he is not going to run as a third party candidate.
Look, I don’t know why anyone would bother to watch/listen to campaign ads. There are more than enough ways to find out what a candidates policies are without them. You can also find out their foibles if you really care about such things. Paying the slightest attention to campaign ads just allows the money interests to win (even if your candidate doesn’t take big money from anyone) since it allows them to define where the discussion will take place.
By the way, that isn’t to say that the President won’t be able to do a divide and conquer in any other circumstance. He could do that with any number of the other potential republican candidates (pro-choice, republican women being one of the subsets that might be easily be brought to his side, Medicare dependent seniors being another). But Ron Paul is only a serious factor if he wins the nomination or tells his supporters to stay home.
Unless you think that picking up a couple of 2nd place wins will make them pout and stay home even if Representative Paul doesn’t encourage it?
tells his supporters to stay home.
He doesn’t need to. I could be called a Ron Paul supporter. I can’t bring myself to vote for anyone else, so I will be staying home if he’s not the nominee. I also know a few others who first time voted Democrats 3 yrs ago, but will not vote Obama this time around. We will see who wins the battle of the non-voters…..
who here has already voted for Ron Paul for president when he was Libertarian?
I did. Was I wrong or just early?
RP is still part of the duopoly but at the margins. He could really screw the pooch badly if elected, resulting in a revolution. And a revolution is necessary to re-establish citizen control over the US. His election is only a means to that revolt. He’s the only viable GOP candidate and marginally so. If any of the other candidates in the GOP ClownCar are nominated, they will lose the general.
For whatever reason, we are well on our way to turning the US into a Banana-less, Banana Republic.
Ron Paul’s virtue is that he is at least honest about it.
By reducing regulation on the predators, at least he will be able to claim that he “reduced crime”.
The over reliance on govt. regulations has basically turned people into sheep. There are numerous agencies “regulating” the CDS market, and look how wonderful job they did.
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on you, too.
The credit default swap market is not well regulated. That is the problem with it. It is a form of insurance with no reserves (required by laws and regulations for real insurance companies) required to back up the ability of the insurer (counter party) to pay.
“Look, I don’t know why anyone would bother to watch/listen to campaign ads.”
I for one am glad I didn’t miss Dukakis driving a tank.
In my business, there is no such thing as “Fool me Twice”
If people aren’t regulated, or held to standards, without severe penalties or jail time, all kinds of commerce is going to come to a screeching halt.
Take my word for it. You REALLY DON’T want to turn any segment of the transportation business into a “let the buyer beware” business.
CFOs don’t give a crap about safety. All they look at is the budget. If unregulated, the bottom feeders and corner cutters will run all of the “do it right” shops out of business.
We’ve seen what kind of disasters can occur with a “deregulated” financial sector. Yet, some seem to think the answer to this is even less regulation.
Talk to the people who lost 1.2 billion at MF Global, and see how they like deregulation. We’re two months in to that money disappearing, and nobody can even figure out where it went, much less if it was stolen. But I guess that means that all those guys were dumbazzez for believing that their accounts were secure.
wow X,
Gotta say, a most cogent and damning description of a Ron Paul world.
“Consumers will decide” would be part his solution. Sounds better when he says it.
Of course, the observation that a non-complicit congress would be part of the story might put the brakes on any really harmful changes (or not).
I have a lot of questions about how everything would actually work, but I’d like to see him shake the system hard.
In spite of all this, I might actually vote for him, if he’s nominated for President.
Mainly because it would definitely shake up the status quo.
That, and I think a little taste of what a Libertarian, Tea-Partyesqe country would look like, might finally discredit them once and for all.
“Mainly because it would definitely shake up the status quo.”
I can tell you that a lot of Floridians regret taking this stance after electing Rock Scott.
“I could be called a Ron Paul supporter. I can’t bring myself to vote for anyone else, so I will be staying home if he’s not the nominee.”
Thanks for supporting my point, butters. It’s the Ron Paul voters who will not vote for anyone else who will suck strength away from whichever Republican candidate wins the nomination (unless it is Ron Paul, of course).
“I for one am glad I didn’t miss Dukakis driving a tank.”
We should all enjoy serendipitous political humor whenever it spontaneously arises.
Got me a big can of Brawndo out of the fridge after I watched that video.
“Its got Electrolytes.”
“Got me a big can of Brawndo out of the fridge after I watched that video.”
+1
That’s exactly how I felt! Lol.
(Comments wont nest below this level)
What’s up with the kinder, gentler Rick Santorum? Is it the sleeveless sweaters driving his polls surge?
Anybody but Romney, take 5?
Pro-life of the unborn white babies but pro-death to any living muslim babbies, women and men. Linda Evangelistas of Iowa wholeheartedly support that kind of thought process.
You mean pro-birth. Pro-life is anti-war, anti-death penalty and anti-abortion by definition. The ClownCar is pro-birth, anti-life.
+1
What’s up with the kinder, gentler Rick Santorum? Is it the sleeveless sweaters driving his polls surge?
Maybe the closeted Republicans have finally learned how to use a Google search and are encouraged by the top result for the word “Santorum”?
I wasn’t going to mention that considering some of us are still eating breakfast, but it is appropriate considering the name of the HBB poster who started this thread. And hats off to Dan Savage
Applause to Dan indeed. If only the same could be done for the word “realtor”. Maybe contact Dan and see what he can do.
Hum…could be interesting, but I certainly wouldn’t want to go head-to-head against the REIC in trying to definie a trademarked (but made up) name.
The really odd thing is how long ago he did it. It has to be more than a decade at this point, isn’t it?
About 8 years. And Dan has suggested that if slick-Rick made a donation to an appropriate charity he’d remove his website.
Rick has continued to refuse the offer.
And from Michele Bachmann’s op-ed in yesterday’s Washington Times:
“In the first 100 days, I will submit legislation to repeal laws establishing the Departments of Education, Commerce and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency and their related bureaucracies. That will send a signal that I intend for government to do what is mandated to do under the Constitution.”
So, she is going to get rid of the EPA, but not the Clean Water Act? Get rid of the Department of Energy but not all the extra nukes? Fabulous. Did anyone ask her what she would do when all the legislation got rejected by Congress?
There was a politics prof from one of the Virginia colleges on one of the local NPR shows earlier today. He said the trend he would get rid of in the new year if he could was dumb politicians.
“Forget it, she’s rollin’…….”
Realtors Are Liars®
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPIxrzmatq0
I’d punch her right in the head.
Reminds me of an insurance co executive’s wife I met last night. Her realturd does an excellent job “coaching her” and finding her comps .
I introduced her to the concept “the ones she wants you to see”
Deer in the headlight moment.
“can you elaborate on that?”
I had to keep from shaking my head.
I introduced her to county for the real comps. Stunned, but better informed.
Awaiting,
From your post the other day, where did you get the info that Joe the Plumber put his “kids” through USC, and did it debt free? Wiki and others suggest he has one son and his last known salary was $30k in 2006. If he put kids THROUGH college, that means he had them when he was…14?
Joe Wurzelbacher is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Who’s Robert Wurzelbacher?
Why, he’s Charles Keating’s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan.
A City Slips as Downgrade Hits Home
http://tinyurl.com/cq5e4vs (WSJ)
University Place, WA
“It was in the midst of building a new downtown virtually from scratch when the financial crisis set in three years ago, leaving the city with a big debt and little of the new tax revenue it expected by now.”
“I don’t believe everything is going to be fine,” she says. “America isn’t supposed to be this way.”
Tell that to the 72 million of the 156 million workforce already there.
“You work three jobs? How uniquely American” — the Decider, 2005
Mission Accomplished!
“It was in the midst of building a new downtown virtually from scratch when the financial crisis set in three years ago, leaving the city with a big debt and little of the new tax revenue it expected by now.”
A phrase with the words “chickens” and “hatch” comes to mind.
Anyone have any experience with Thunderbird as an e-mail program? What about for a person who has been using Outlook for a very, very long time and is sort of set in her ways w/respect to folders? What about someone who has to import the old data from Outlook 2002 (I have the original Office installation disk, but I’m almost scared to put it in my new computer). I might (emphasis on might) be able to buy a copy of Office 2010 that includes Outlook for a reasonable price, but I’m not even sure that would help with the data transfer process
Thanks. I’ve heard enough terrible things about Outlook express and even the people who liked that seem to have issues with the Windows 7 equivalent Live Mail. And I don’t like using purely web based e-mail like g-mail. Google has enough information about me to sell already.
Windows email programs work until the very moment when they don’t. And eventually, it always end up not working.
I haven’t used Thunderbird. I use gmail for business, but Thunderbird is based on the old Netscape Navigator mail program and that worked like a champ.
Looks and feels a lot like Outlook Express, but far more stable and intuitive.
As for it being able to work with Office 2010, I have no experience with that. Most likely, it doesn’t. “O” 2010 is once again in a world of its own.
See, I’ve been using this Office 2002 version of Outlook for almost 9 years and never had an issue with it. I’ve also not tried to do that much with it - just send e-mail and keep a lot of old e-mails to have access to the records (where did I buy that raincoat for my niece a few years ago and that sort of thing). I probably don’t need that many of them - maybe just a few of the ones telling me that I am registered on thus and such a website, but I’d like to just import everything rather than read it all to figure out what is important and what isn’t.
I’m thinking that for Thunderbird I might have to install the program on my old machine, figure out how to do the import, then move over the needed files. Sigh. This is getting complicated.
Last night I found stuff that I used with the computer that ran Windows 95. It is scarey.
Thunderbird is VERY user friendly AND they have a wonderful help area/section that helps with things like moving stuff over from Outlook. It comes from the same folks who do Firefox, I’ve used it for several years and always been very happy. By contrast, work forces me to use Outlook, when I compare the two I much prefer Thunderbird. Don’t fear the change, just do some research, I believe you will find what you need to make the change relatively painless.
Thanks for the encouragement. Do you think that my strategy (installing Thunderbird on the old machine, doing the conversion there where Outlook is still working, then bringing the Thunderbird data files over to the new machine) sounds right? I guess I could just run a USB cord between the two machines, but that seems a little out there.
“Thunderbird as an e-mail program”
Never seen it used as an e-mail program. Works okay as a cheap way to get S##tfaced.
I’ve used Thunderbird for many years, but I’ve never tried to import a .pst (or whatever Exchange/Outlook) uses now. I’ve always liked it for everything else, especially using it for IMAP connections so that I see the same email on the server no matter where I’m accessing it from (including the phone).
Hey polly, drop me a line at “Prime.Is.Contained@gmail.com”. Happy to help.
South Florida home value slide slows
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 9:04 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011
Losses to South Florida home values are estimated to be $6.5 billion this year, an amount that, while daunting, is a considerable improvement from 2010.
Last year, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties lost a combined $28.6 billion in housing values, according to a recent report from real estate analysts at Zillow.
Nationwide, home values in 2011 dropped by $681 billion, down from the previous year’s staggering loss of $1.1 trillion.
But while the thrashing to home worth has lessened, it’s not about to turn around completely, warned Stan Humphries, chief economist for Seattle-based Zillow.
More than three years into the market meltdown, economic uncertainty and a backlog of foreclosed homes destined for resale continue to delay a recovery.
“Unfortunately, when we look ahead to next year, the unabsorbed pool of housing supply, dragging levels of consumer confidence, high unemployment and negative equity will continue to put downward pressure on the housing market,” Humphries said.
His prediction for a potential recovery: late 2012 to early 2013.
But some South Florida experts did agree on an extended market recovery time that will drift into 2013.
“I thought that we were going to be in better shape in 2011 because we’d have more foreclosures moving through the system, but then we had the robo-signing scandal and it all got stalled,” said Jack McCabe, chief executive of McCabe Research & Consulting in Deerfield Beach. “Now I think the rebound will be 2013 or even later, and that’s barring natural disasters or other debacles we can’t anticipate.”
Bill Richardson, president of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, has a slightly more positive outlook than McCabe (RAL I know you are shocked by this) and Zillow. He says prices will stay mostly flat in 2012.
“I don’t see a lot more value loss,” Richardson said. “We may be a little up or down, but not too much either way until 2013, which should be better.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/south-florida-home-value-slide-slows-2066804.html -
“His prediction for a potential recovery: late 2012 to early 2013.”
Does anyone else notice how the serial bottom callers most often predict a bottom ‘by the end of next year’? And how they do this every year, year-in, year-out?
A longer time span does not have traction with the average person. How many people even have a budget for this month, let alone think about what their balance sheet might look like several years from now?
They ought to think about how many year’s worth of after-tax income they will lose by buying a house before prices bottom out.
“let alone think about what their balance sheet might look like several years from now?”
I’ve had success helping my wife see all of this through the rearview mirror. In 2006 she thought I was nuts. Now, I show her the value of the house our friends bought in 2006 ($160k) and how comps are now about $80k for that ‘hood.
She gets it.
“I’ve had success helping my wife see all of this through the rearview mirror. In 2006 she thought I was nuts. Now, I show her the value of the house our friends bought in 2006″
In the alternate universe, you’re the couple from the “Suzanne” ads.
I was in the Bay Area over the week-end and I have it from an interior decorator who works there and whose clients are immensely upscale that her walled-in well-to-do clients are now trying to keep their identities hidden from the unwashed masses.
She said they are now very secretive about what they have and what they do for a living. She implied that many of them were involved in finance. I wasn’t given the opportunity to plunge in to the conversation and ask for details; The information was sort of mentioned in passing.
Just something I thought I’d pass along.
With so many risking their lives to steal copper wiring on the highways, whats stealing a maybach worth to ya?
Many of them not in finance too - tech sector. I know program managers in their early 30s with salaries above $160,000. Granted, you may be referring to people earning a million a Year. Nevertheless, if the income is offered or earned, only fools would refuse it.
The point I was trying to make was the super-rich now seem to have become fearful. Instead of flashing their wealth, as they have become used to doing, they are now trying to conceal it.
The memory of Patty Hearst being dragged out into the night may be still with these people and weigh heavily on their minds.
I think the super rich population is almost varied as the regular population. You might find flashers and then people whom you would never ever guess were as rich as they are. Probably more the of the later then the former.
But people who used to be flashers are starting to go into hiding. That is a significant shift for people who used to want to let the whole world know.
Most of the rich people according to “The Millionaire Next Door” are low key, drive modest cars, wear clothes from places like Sears, live in modest neighborhoods, have no debt, and are self-made. This is why I hate ( HATE) socialists for wanting to kill the American dream.
Bill
I read that book too, but I live in David Murdock’s hometown. He is not like that, and I know some pretty rich developers who are partial to Rolex.
That book IMHO is a feel good book for the want to be rich.It makes the middle class feel better about life. I felt that book was BS just from my life experiences with multi-millionaires.
The genuine old wealth has learned through generations of experience not to flaunt it. (Unless at a charity ball, private fundraiser, or other well-secured event.) Rather than “fearful,” I believe the word we’re looking for is “discrete.”
Interior decorators who work for “immensely upscale” clients wouldn’t answer the phone for someone making $160K a year. You are talking about people who easily drop $30K and more on a sofa and redo their homes completely every couple of years with major refreshes for each season plus getting the house specially done for their Christmas party.
One of the young partners at my second law firm (she did not come close to qualifying as immensely upscale though she easily made 3 to 5 times $160K back in the mid-90’s) talked about her decorator (for a fairly small co-op on Central Park) as if the decorator were one part magician and one part trusted confidant. They are pretty darn good artists who just happen to also have the skills of an individual psychologist, a couples therapist and a general contractor.
$160k isn’t super-rich or even rich in the Bay Area. Many non-manager engineers earn that much, base salary. It’s enough to live in modest comfort and even to buy a modest house, but nothing more.
It’s enough to live in modest comfort and even to buy a modest house, but nothing more.
Yet folks earning that much are part of the evil 5% or whatever it is now…
$160k is what police and firemen make in the Bay area.
I am in the South Bay part of Los Angeles, but only this morning and last night. Had a great dinner at Kincaid’s in Redondo Beach, one of my favorite RB places. Steak was as good as I got from Donovan’s a few years back…
John Chambers of Cisco has one of the few CCW’s in the valley.
Wonder why?
Concealed carry weapon?
Yes.
Why not simply call a bailout a bailout? How can the Fed possibly institute glasnost if it keeps hiding the purposes of its activities behind misnomers?
The Thinly-Veiled Fed Bailout Of Europe
Phil’s Stock World | Dec. 30, 2011, 5:45 AM | 1,298 | 10
By Ilene at Phil’s Stock World, with Lee Adler of the Wall Street Examiner (many thanks to Lee!)
The ECB is borrowing U.S. Dollars from the Fed to bailout European banks. And that is in addition to the Long Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO).
However, the “borrowing” is not called “borrowing.” It’s called a “temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangement.” Yet it is really borrowing because it’s going massively in one direction for the purpose of giving the ECB Dollars to lend to European banks, so the ECB can avoid lending more Euros. The ECB doesn’t want to tarnish its “inflation fighting” reputation and further devalue the Euro. Instead, the Fed is taking billions of Euros as collateral for the Dollar swap.
As Gerald P. O’Driscoll Jr., former vice president and economic advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, wrote in the WSJ (The Federal Reserve’s Covert Bailout of Europe):
U.S. Banks and financial institutions do not want to lend European Banks more Dollars, and it would look bad for the Fed to do this unpopular lending directly, so the Fed has found an indirect route.
…
The bankers are great
The EU central bank couldn’t buy the bonds of greece italy and spain
so instead it loaned money to banks and the IMF that were told to do it.
They can get around any law, they are the law.
Here’s one for Jeff:
“You down with HBB? Yeah, you know me”
Awful, I know :-). Just popped into my head…
“You ain’t down with us no more. You ain’t fat. YOU AIN’T NOTHIN!”
Naughty By Nature? Um… wow. Could we also get a rewrite of Digital Underground’s Humpty Dance?
I once got busy in a model home bathroom.
Ever in church?
I don’t remember that being in the song :-).
Just thought I’d ask.
If we have to watch the video, let`s go with this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3MXiTeH_Pg - 154k -
Geez I must be getting old. I can see that is a really sexy video, yet somehow I just don’t care about that dimension of life the way I used to (involuntarily) care.
I’m so proud to live in a nation that shops at Wal-mart and dines out at McDonald’s.
Dec. 30, 2011, 9:40 a.m. EST
McDonald’s serves juicy returns on Wall Street
Ronald McDonald was doing more than flipping hamburgers this past year. McDonald’s served up juicy returns for investors. John Wordock has more on Red, White and Blue Chips.
Considering that half the American workforce earns less than $500/week, not everyone can afford Whole Foods and Nordstroms…
I realize that. However, eating at McDonald’s is more expensive than buying decent food at the grocery store and cooking it at home — especially when you factor in the health care costs for heart surgery and recovery.
Yes but for many Lucky Duckies, food and teevee are the only solace in life…
A bunch of us are working two jobs.
Most nights, I get home around 8 or 9pm. The absolute LAST thing I feel like doing after a 11-12 hour day (work and commute) is shop or cook.
Face it. Living in US America circa 2008-2011 is bad for a lot of people’s health.
“The absolute LAST thing I feel like doing after a 11-12 hour day (work and commute) is shop or cook.”
Sorry. Gotta say I been there, done that, although not presently…
especially when you factor in the health care costs for heart surgery and recovery.
ahh, but they don’t have to consider any of that because the “taxpayer” will pick that one up.
“taxpayer will pay”
where does that come from?
Did you see that story about Dr. Oz who treated the woman with a malignant tumor that exploded out of her?
where does that come from?
where does what come from? The idea that the mackey’s-eaters won’t pay for their own healthcare? Medicare and Medicaid?
I suppose that’s not 100% accurate. The bill will also be picked up by the rest of us who carry insurance and make a point to stay healthy, eat well, and exercise (cue BiLA
)
jason,
If you’re poor enough for free insurance the taxpayer will pay.
If you’re just middle class enough to hope to hold onto your assets you might just deny yourself coverage right to the grave.
I’ll find the link to the increase in the number of malignant tumors exploding. (the article made an impression on me- apparently the stench from the exposed tumor is immediately recognizable and unforgettable.)
seen it all, my point is simply that the one making the decision (to eat mackey’s, etc) isn’t necessarily the one bearing the cost of it. So while it may “cost” more as PB points out, the person making the decision isn’t bearing the cost and as such it’s not relevant to them/they don’t care.
btw, as a courtesy, would you mind not referring to me by first name on the blog? I don’t hide who I am and am happy to deal on a personal level with folks who email me directly, but on here that level of intimacy just isn’t justified. Thanks.
k
“However, eating at McDonald’s is…”
You denying childrens [sic] their action figures?
“buying decent food at the grocery store and cooking it at home”
That’s how we spend our Sundays: rather than going to the movies or mowing the lawn, we garden/shop and cook for the week so that we don’t have to cook every day/night and have to buy less food. Oatmeal/homemade meusli every weekday morning, leftovers for lunch, weekly stew or supper salad at night depending on the season. We might do something special Friday/Saturday night, but that’s it.
X-GS, I totally agree that often cooking is the LAST thing that I want to do after work. That’s why we don’t, but still don’t have to eat out.
Fair point. But wouldn’t beans and rice and a mess o’ greens be cheaper and more healthful?
Heck, we had greens and mashed potatoes last night. That and homemade porcetta! A little extravagant, but it was my dad’s 65th and it’ll end up at $5 a plate.
“But wouldn’t beans and rice and a mess o’ greens be cheaper and more healthful?”
Absolutely! McDonalds might be cheap, but eating relatively healthy foods cooked at home is WAY cheaper. Even if you throw some cheese/meat into the picture.
Getting something from the McD’s dollar menu once or twice a week won’t hurt you or your pocketbook. But don’t let it become the norm.
The cost is one big reason I stopped eating fast food and this was years ago. Though as with the grocery store sometimes there are loss leaders / specials. When McDonalds had the fajitas they seem pretty healthy and inexspensive. Think you can do pretty well on cash and calories, too if you oder CAREFULLY at Taco Bell.
“Think you can do pretty well on cash and calories, too if you oder CAREFULLY at Taco Bell.”
But certainly not flavor or health, no matter how careful you are. Their ground beef is 35% meat, 65% ?? Special sauce?
Snob.
McDonald’s has salads and healthier choices as do most the fast food chains. I don’t think a McD meal occasionally will harm you. Though once I did read that there is core group of customers - mostly young men - that will frequent it several times a week.
I
Try eating a salad in a car.
Spain’s new government warned Friday that the country’s budget deficit will be much higher than anticipated this year, as it unveiled a first batch of austerity measures that include surprise income and property tax hikes.
Following the new conservative government’s second Cabinet meeting, the budget deficit for this year was revised up to 8 percent of national income from the previous government’s forecast of 6 percent.
Whoops is this more GS accounting??
Emerging market wages here they come for the US. This is why I am in the camp that believes in delfation… at least for a few years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/business/us-manufacturing-gains-jobs-as-wages-retreat.html?_r=1&hp
Also yesterday Goon Squad was saying how car insurance is more exspensive for those with low or no credit score. I said to get a few credit cards and I that I had high credit. I meant a high credit score not balance. You can use the cards for groceries and gas and such and pay off each month. They’ll keep increasing the limit trying to trap you and hence your available credit will go up and your score should too.
Yep a lot of business owners that depend on those middle class customers are going to suffer as well. All money flows to the top.
Round and Round the drain we go.
What we need to do is cut taxes on the job creators.
What we need is austerity for the middle class and poor.
???????????????????????????????
“Percent utilization” is a big factor in credit scoring. Even if paid off every month, the monthly CC statement balance is what’s reported to the bureaus. Less than 10% utilization is ideal.
What I discussed yesterday is the specific language from the auto insurance co’s policy renewal letter, “factors affecting your premium: lack of mortgage loan in credit file”, which is total BS.
Interestingly, in what I presume is another risk modeling factor, besides gender, age, marital status, they asked my “highest level of educational attainment”.
Is the less the 10% utilization right? I have been told my FICO is very high - though they don’t tell what it is.
My utilization much less than 10%. Anyone else know and have tips for Goon?
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s factory activity shrank again December as demand at home and abroad slackened, a purchasing managers’ survey showed on Friday, reinforcing the case for pro-growth policies to underpin the world’s second-largest economy.
But what about decoupling? Who would have thought destroying the middle class would crush demand? How’s that printing and concentrating money going?
Yep a lot of business owners that depend on those middle class customers are going to suffer as well. All money flows to the top.
I read somewhere (FT?) that two out of every three dollars of the GDP y-o-y increases since 1990 flowed to the top 1%. Or maybe it was 5%. You get the point - it’s not going into J6P’s pocket.
That’s just liberal, bedwetter, class-warfare, crazy talk. Get back to work, serf!
You just wait. I’ll be the 1% some day. All it takes in America is hard work, persistence and integrity.
Yes…. rugged individualism. Now get pullin’ on them bootstraps! Rah rah rah!
“All it takes in America is hard work, persistence and integrity” and being born into the right family!
Fixed that for you…
Don’t mind the peanut gallery b-hamster. They hate self-made wealth and want only the unearned.
Billy… you were born of and to a wage slave peon. You are a wage slave peon. You will always be a wage slave peon.
Now get over yourself.
You’re really growing on me goon squad.
If it’s not going into J6P’s pocket then it’s not coming out of his pocket either.
The top 1% need J6K to get some money in his pocket so as they can get some of it out for themselves, else they will somehow have to learn to do without just as J6P will somehow have to learn to do without.
If ours is a 70 percent consumer-based economy and a lot of the super rich have accustomed themselves to relying on consumers consuming then the super rich are screwed along with everybody else if consumers become flat broke.
Considering that both real and nominal wages are on the decline and the GDP keeps growing, it’s obviously the trillions in debt that propels our economy. How long can it continue? It is fun to watch though and comforting to se there are others (like those posting on this blog) that have some grounding in reality.
Nope just most of the super rich.
There are plenty of very poor countries with very wealthy men at the top. Usually this occurs via control of natural resources and manipulation of gov.
The Talented and industriusius super rich will likely be a lot poorer.
Another inquiry:
Any ideas on how to get my resume circulated (in a tight-knit, everybody-knows-everybody business community) WITHOUT tipping off your current employer?
Not that I’m looking……..
Are you familiar with Flexjet?
Basically, along with CitationShares and others, a “fractional” operator, competitor to Buffett’s Executive Jet Aviation (EJA).
I ask because one of my buds is up the ladder there. If TSHTF for you I’d be glad to make a call and see what they do for maintenance.
A lot of their aircraft are under maintenance contracts/extended warranties of the OEMs.
Basically, they call the OEM Service Center and say “N555FX is busted in BF Egypt. Call us when you have it fixed.”
Don’t know how much work they do in house. The business plan used to be to get rid of the airplane and replace it with a new one when it goes out of warranty.
I really don’t think it’s possible. If not tipping anybody off is critical I’d probably have verbal conversations only with very select people. Even then, rumors will probably get around.
I’m beginning to think that you need to be circulating your resume constantly, all over the place.
For “plausible deniability” reasons, if no other.
You can always say: “It must be one of my old ones from a year or so ago that’s getting passed around by my business contacts/acquaintances…..”
Or: “I can’t imagine why anyone would want to leave this overpaid and underworked Tahitian paradise…..as the management around here continually reminds us…….”
You might want to try LinkedIn.com. I don’t do anything with it, but I know multiple people who swear by it. Worth some investigating IMHO.
Don’t put your current employer’s name on your resume.
I did that once. Just once. For all of 6 hours to get the resume submitted to one of my employer’s competitors via one of the large internet job boards.
It just so happened, the six hours I had the resume up on a Sunday night were the same six hours my current employer used to run a weekly check to see if any former (their story) or current (my story) employees were looking outside the firm.
By Tuesday that same week, my resume was in my boss’ hands. Doh. Oops.
Hate it when that happens……..
Unless your boss is as fed up with the situation as you are. I never took it personal.
Backtracking U.S. Lawmakers Expand Federal Role in Mortgages
http://tinyurl.com/cpujsu8 (bloomberg)
“The goal was, at the beginning of the year, how do we wind these down?” said Edward Pinto, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based research organization that favors limited government. “And at the end of the year we have further entrenched them and made it more difficult to wind them down, which is classic Washington.”
It is rumored that Wells F*rgo is the quickest short sale processor at 30 days. Does anyone know if this is true?
I also heard from this realturd that B*A’s Equator system is more hype than results in shortening the ss process.
Does anyone have any insight as to the short sale waiting time with certain banks? If I can ID the worthwhile banks, then maybe we can entertain a *fairly priced short sale.
(*oxymoron, I know)
They aren’t making any more land!
(see photo 4)
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2011/photo_galleries/pinellas_100/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22074336@N08/2123543268/
Amazing, huh?
i can’t believe all those houses have cars.
it would be quaint with bicycles only, maybe
Dad and mom were part of 1950s Florida, moving there to start life together as a young family. They referred to the large swaths of undeveloped land as the “boondocks.”