The Housing Bubble

Perhaps WWIII is being fought with currencies.

a crash will come whether we kick the can down the road or not because the system is not sustainable.

How is it not sustainable? Let the Bush tax cuts expire, remove the income cap from SS taxes, institute a single-payer national health insurance plan, and we’re fine.

But some want to destroy the system, and choose to see these problems as insurmountable.

Because worldwide there is far, far more debt than there is wealth to cover it and this is also true of most individual industrialized countries. The politicos keep trying to tie us up with white noise like if we snip there and tax there it’ll all be ok. Only the sheep buy this argument. The derivative markets alone are said to be a giant coconut game.

worldwide there is far, far more debt than there is wealth to cover it

Sez who? Do they factor central banks abilities to print money and renegotiate debt into their calculations?

if we snip there and tax there it’ll all be ok. Only the sheep buy this argument

Then explain this:

The Do-Nothing Plan
How Congress can balance the budget in eight years by literally doing nothing. This is not a joke.
Slate Magazine

So how does doing nothing actually return the budget to health? The answer is that doing nothing allows all kinds of fiscal changes that politicians generally abhor to take effect automatically. First, doing nothing means the Bush tax cuts would expire, as scheduled, at the end of next year. That would cause a moderately progressive tax hike, and one that hits most families, including the middle class. The top marginal rate would rise from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, and some tax benefits for investment income would disappear. Additionally, a patch to keep the alternative minimum tax from hitting 20 million or so families would end. Second, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Obama’s health care law, would proceed without getting repealed or defunded. The CBO believes that the plan would bend health care’s cost curve downward, wrestling the rate of health care inflation back toward the general rate of inflation. Third, doing nothing would mean that Medicare starts paying doctors low, low rates. Congress would not pass anymore of the regular “doc fixes” that keep reimbursements high. Nothing else happens. Almost magically, everything evens out.

These are the CBO’s baseline projections.

The Social Security crisis you sometimes hear about is essentially a myth. The trust fund will run out in 2037, “at which point tax income would be sufficient to pay about 75 percent of scheduled benefits through 2084.” Full Social Security solvency would require only about 0.7 percent of GDP, which you can get to by exposing income above $107,000 to the payroll tax.

[T]he do-nothing plan proves the point that the budget revolution does not need to be particularly revolutionary. Yes, the dollar figures are enormous, so big that it would appear to require “bold” plans that include massive new taxes or cruel new cuts. But, in fact, we don’t really need to end Social Security, sell Alaska, or ship the poor to Canada to get back in the black. We just need to stick to current law—particularly the tax and health care provisions—and then we can tinker our way toward a better, healthier economy.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2011/04/the_donothing_plan.html

So that answers the derivative issue how?

So that answers off balance sheet liabilities how?

That solves the fact that the taxpayer is on the hook for insolvent institutions how? How does that article have anything to do w/when our institutions are forced to recognize losses?

You say our government will just print so cavalierly like everything will just remain the same. The Germans who have some experience with that seem scared to death of that scenario. Perhaps we should have a little more respect for the repurcussions of that choice.

annie lowrey is pretty darn hot.

What is the derivatives issue? What are the off balance sheet liabilities? What institutions are insolvent that we are on the hook for that will break us?

If we’re inevitably doomed, show us the numbers, like I did in supporting my argument. You can’t just assert it as a given that we’re doomed.

“Perhaps WWIII is being fought with currencies.”

Bugs: “Eh, could be Doc, …” (wink$)

[Watch were Thee money/a$$ets go when the $hit hit$ the $hasta"]

Hint: It won’t be India nor one of it’s nearby neighbor$. Nor Greece, or $pain, nor, …

That slate article is hillarious. My favorite part….Obamacare will save money.

Reality:

“President Obama’s landmark healthcare overhaul is projected to cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, reports the Congressional Budget Office, a hefty sum more than the $940 billion estimated when the healthcare legislation was signed into law. To put it mildly, ObamaCare’s projected net worth is far off from its original estimate — in fact, about $820 billion off.

Backtracking to his September 2009 remarks to a joint session of Congress on healthcare, Obama asserted the following: “Now, add it all up, and the plan I’m proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years — less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration.”

But hey what a trillion dollars between friends?

“Third, doing nothing would mean that Medicare starts paying doctors low, low rates. Congress would not pass anymore of the regular “doc fixes” that keep reimbursements high. Nothing else happens. Almost magically, everything evens out.”

I’ll take unintended consequences for $800 Alex…

Answer: Doctors stop accepting Medicare patients

BUZZ!!

What is: What happens when govt pays doctors “low low rates”.

But hey what a trillion dollars between friends?

Hmm. Better notch the taxes on the wealthy up a bit more.

Or institute a national single-payer health insurance plan, like every other civilized country on the planet.

But still no reason to be herded like sheep into ending Social Security, Medicare, the EPA, and every other wet dream of the Austerians, which was my original point.

projecting unintended consequences is not the CBOs strong suit.

Doctors stop accepting Medicare patients

Then we demand the AMA allow more students be enrolled into med schools, since their profit-based refusal to do so is giving doctors unfair trade advantage. There are capable people willing to perform the work, they’re just shut out of the system in the interest of keeping salaries high. The actions of a monopoly.

Then we demand the AMA allow more students be enrolled into med schools, since their profit-based refusal to do so is giving doctors unfair trade advantage. There are capable people willing to perform the work, they’re just shut out of the system in the interest of keeping salaries high. The actions of a monopoly.

Heartily seconded!

Amazing how people are still led to believe (and successfully in many cases) that there is a SS trust fund, with money set aside and perhaps even generating interest.

The only trust fund is a promise (”trust” me) by the govt that they will tax the citizenry as needed to pay each year’s SS bills.

If the Bush tax cuts expire and tax receipts go up significantly, the PTB will figure out new “entitlements” to buy the votes of the sheeple. Think about it- what do most spenders do when their credit card limits are increased? A balanced budget? Fugheddaboudit.

Amazing how people are still led to believe (and successfully in many cases) that there is a SS trust fund, with money set aside and perhaps even generating interest.

In the United States, the Social Security Trust Fund is a fund operated by the Social Security Administration into which are paid payroll tax contributions from workers and employers under the Social Security system and out of which benefit payments are made to retirees, survivors, and the disabled, and for general administrative expenses. The fund also earns interest. There technically are two component funds, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds, referred to collectively as the OASDI funds.
wikipedia
__

Next Austerian talking point?

“Answer: Doctors stop accepting Medicare patients”

And who will replace the Medicare customers … I mean patients? Most practices would go out of business without them.

The Medical Industry is going to have to adapt to the new reality: soon, almost no one will be able to afford their cost structures. We are already seeing the future in the High Deductible crowd, who simply do without non emergency care, and in many cases they do without emergency type care as well, as they can’t afford the $3000 deductible.

Because worldwide there is far, far more debt than there is wealth to cover it

Now how is this possible? If there is “far more debt than there is wealth to cover it” how real is the debt?

So the debt is the real thing but the wealth isn’t and the wealth will disappear because there isn’t enough of it to cover the debt?

And so bank’s can just make up these debt numbers out of thin air and that makes the debt more real than the wealth?

I think there is a huge jive factor in this making up money out of thin air thing.

The Medical Industry is going to have to adapt to the new reality: soon, almost no one will be able to afford their cost structures. We are already seeing the future in the High Deductible crowd, who simply do without non emergency care, and in many cases they do without emergency type care as well, as they can’t afford the $3000 deductible.

Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner!

It’s about the leverage. Is there really disagreement out there regarding how likely it is that every debt out there is payable? So how solid is your so called wealth based on that reality?

Regarding not coming back on the Slate article, I guess you decide to believe in one set of numbers or another set of numbers. I never want to get dragged into these things because it’s so reminiscent of my parents’ very bad divorce. A regular he said, she said and if anyone doesn’t believe in my side then they suck. So back to my original statement. You think a crash can be avoided. I do not. We each have our sources we believe. It is obvious they are not the same. I’m quite sure we’ll all still be here when it happens (or in 10-20 years when if you’re right I’ll captulate to you)

Oh don’t laugh. I’ve already been here for 6 years. The rest will just fly by, I”m sure. Cuz you see I’d really rather save my energy for work that I believe needs to be done than to engage in circular argument. Why don’t we shake and have a beer on it should the truth come out?

You think a crash can be avoided. I do not. We each have our sources we believe.

What are your sources?

Alpha - I am coming over to your thesis. A global depression is beginning to look possible because Europe will only grow anything if it’s rabbits; China is bombing; Japan and India’s foreign markets are crashing; Australia’s housing has headed for the washroom; US economy is depending on a friendly MSM’s propaganda (election year ads); Canada’s housing is now tanking (except Toronto and Regina); and the Russians are selling lots more vodtka (I think).

And - the banks are stuck at 30 in their deleveraging. One major loss by one large bank who cannot handle it could dominally pull most US banks down.

How can you have any growth when your system is still trying to pay off the last hangover? Watch Libor - up about 20% in the last three months - for a free education.

Has anyone noticed that the TSX is going down faster than the Dow? About 20% faster in the last three months.

How about those people walking away from their deposits in Vancouver. OOhhhhh Canada.

And Brazil has slowed down too ! And Argentina, and Chile, and most of Africa.

Why do we keep drinking this politico cool aid ? Do you really think it is getting better ?

Band aids only work on humans, and only for a short time.

“In the United States, the Social Security Trust Fund is a fund operated by the Social Security Administration… The fund also earns interest. There technically are two component funds, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI)”

Um alpha, what do you think this “trust fund” has as its assets? The answer is government bonds. When they mature, the govt has to use tax money to redeem those bonds, plus interest, to pay the SS recipients. It’s just moving money from one pocket to the other, a shell game.

It would be a whole different ball game if the assets held by the SSA were German sovereign bonds, or ECB bonds, or corporate bonds, or other kinds of assets that had to be paid back by someone other than taxpayers. But they’re not.

Thanks CarrieAnn. Alpha Commie and Rio collectivist think OPM never will run dry, of course due to the socialist nature. They prefer people like you to provide them a living. Frogs on a log waiting for a fly to come by.

what do you think this “trust fund” has as its assets? The answer is government bonds. When they mature, the govt has to use tax money to redeem those bonds, plus interest, to pay the SS recipients. It’s just moving money from one pocket to the other, a shell game.

OK. Then when we tell the rich we can’t pay their Treasuries either. Or are those different, since they’re often owed to the 1%?

I hope they get f*cked.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/story/2012-05-21/china-company-buys-amc-movie-theater-chain/55106114/1

“Beijing is investing heavily in projecting its “soft power,” or cultural influence, by boosting Chinese state media’s presence abroad.”

This is going to backfire badly, like most Chinese attempts to impress Americans. A cheaper iPad is not going to make up for those images of suicide nets. Shutting down the factories to clear the air for the Olympics only highlighted their pollution problems. “Business-friendly” in Chinese roughly translates into English “poison dog food.” Are they going to spruce up those aging movie theatres with Chinese drywall?

Oxide,

I was glad to see your post this am and hope despite changing your status to home owner you’ll still be frequently the hbb. Even if people disagree w/your purchase, you still bring so much to most discussions that we’d miss if you were gone.

* I own six “homes” and love the HBB.

A cheaper iPad is not going to make up for those images of suicide nets. “Business-friendly” in Chinese roughly translates into English “poison dog food.

I know plenty of people who switched dog food when the poison dog food thing happened.

But I can’t think of a single person who did not buy an Apple product because of the new stories about Chinese worker.

And SF is as liberal and PC as anyplace, if not more so.

But I can’t think of a single person who did not buy an Apple product because of the new stories about Chinese worker.

Part of the problem is that FoxConn and its Chinese competitors are the world’s digital toy factories. It’s not like your Android phone or HP laptop isn’t also made in a Chinese sweat shop.

I think some people have a morbid interest in seeing the worst happen, assuming it won’t hurt them too badly. Perhaps it’s boredom. You see this in Russian literature prior to the revolutions…the litterateurs and political agitators yearn for chaos and transforming change, and assume things can’t get any worse. But then they do. See Dr. Zhivago.

sfrenter, you’re right. We buy stuff from China mainly because we have to. But that doesn’t make us LIKE China.

“some people have a morbid interest in seeing the worst happen, assuming it won’t hurt them too badly”

10,000 investment bankers and hedge fund pigs hanging from lampposts would be a good start

We buy stuff from China mainly because we have to. But that doesn’t make us LIKE China.

I read this book a couple of years back. Not a scintillating read, but interesting enough.

In “A Year Without ‘Made in China,’” Bongiorni tells how she and her family found that such formerly simple acts as finding new shoes, buying a birthday toy and fixing a drawer became ordeals without the Asian giant.

Bongiorni takes pains to say she does not have a protectionist agenda and, despite the occasional worry about the loss of U.S. jobs to overseas factories, she has nothing against China. Her goal was simply to make Americans aware of how deeply tied they are to the international trading system.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/28/us-books-madeinchina-idUSN2425061320070628

AMC has been looking for a buyer for quite a while.

Bain & Co wants to cash out.

“A cheaper iPad is not going to make up for those images of suicide nets.”

Every time you buy an iPad, a person in China dies.
No, srsly!

“But he still did experience his own personal pain.”

Perhaps there is some benefit in being raised in the deep, rural south.

I asked my father once about my grandmother’s experience during the great depressions.

His response…”mike…her whole life was a depression”.

What’s that song lyric from “sweet home Alabama”?

“wall street fell but we couldn’t tell”.

“As a boy, he found his Dad in the garage after he killed himself.”

One of my wife’s grandfathers also killed himself during the Great Depression.

Your post makes me wonder how many families were touched by personal tragedy during that difficult period.

“As a boy, he found his Dad in the garage after he killed himself.”

One of my wife’s grandfathers also killed himself during the Great Depression.

Like I said, maybe those that lived through a total bust have reason not to cheer for another.

For my grand parents who immigrated to avoid conscription in the Russian army ( a death sentence ) and tough times in their home land ( Lithuania ) the depression wasn’t so tough.

Working in the steel mill was opportunity.

Carrie and people get mad at me for demanding we force All Americans to learn how to read write and speak English…even the minorities. Thats we have have to start…a national commitment to No more Ebonics in school, then progress from there.

Bring back trades in HS, whats wrong with a few mandatory courses in order to graduate?…. carpentry electronics, drafting, print shop, photography in HS…

We need to begin to stengthen them, to throw tests at them so they can learn they can muddle through.

“Perhaps there is some benefit in being raised in the deep, rural south.”
+
“wall street fell but we couldn’t tell”.

If that had happened in 1861, the USA would look different than it does today.

“the depression wasn’t so tough.”

My mother immigrated to LA from Shanghai with her mother and sibs in 1930. Though the streets weren’t paved with gold as they had heard, it did seem pretty okay to them compared to China, where she’d seen heads of “bandits” on display, and found a dead baby wrapped in newspaper in a field.

My mother immigrated to LA from Shanghai with her mother and sibs in 1930. Though the streets weren’t paved with gold as they had heard, it did seem pretty okay to them compared to China, where she’d seen heads of “bandits” on display, and found a dead baby wrapped in newspaper in a field.

My father’s paternal grandfather was the youngest of nine children. He had to leave County Cornwall because there was no work.

““wall street fell but we couldn’t tell”.”

That was an Alabama song: High Cotton, or Song of the South. I’d have to look up which one.

There’s nothing wrong with demanding that everyone speak English. The problem is that English doesn’t create needed jobs. In DC, the Complete Works of Shakespeare and $1.50 will get you on the bus.

During the last depression the brokers/traders had the decency to leap to their death when they lost their clients portfolio. Today they demand taxpayer funded bonuses.

“brokers/traders had the decency to leap to their death when they lost their clients portfolio”

Today maybe they just need to be escorted to the ledge and given a gentle push

“Carrie and people get mad at me for demanding….”

I do? You may have had to deal w/my Boston area snark from time to time but I really don’t think I ever got mad at you on this subject. You might have me confused w/someone else.

I get mad at very few people on this board. Really a handful at most over the years. I think in person I come across more polite than I type. The problem w/using the hbb as a venting locale. Perhaps I forget to include the pleasantries.

Exactly SF….One day I would like to take this vornado fan into a physics class, and turn it on high and watch peoples reactions when no air is moving..

Turns out all the cat hair from our long haired maine coon and “oil” from cooking accumulates on the end of the plastic fins and presents a major counter force to the forward air movement. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Our educational system right now is not at all focused on teaching thinking skills or problem solving skills. It’s all about teaching to the standardized tests.

You were partly right: public education, K-12, is entirely focused on teaching to standardized tests and enriching the public education unions.

Enter private schools… one reason we decided to send the kids to private school, no state-mandated, “No child left behind” legacy, standardized tests. No “teaching to the test”.

Another reason: Fewer disciplinary issues/special needs distractions. Public schools have to take everyone, private schools, not so much.

No government-mandated “inclusion” policies where disciplinary issues, special needs, average and gifted students are all in the same class.

Lastly, no public school teacher/administrator unions in private schools.

“Our educational system right now is not at all focused on teaching thinking skills or problem solving skills. It’s all about teaching to the standardized tests.”

Because we have to have “metrics” so we can reward the “good” teachers. Measuring thinking and problem solving is a bit harder.

WASPS. Jeebus.

Two major differences. We started the depression with low debt and the war destroyed our competitors.
I don’t know how you can attack Reagan when he just did what you claim is needed now. He ran deficits when unemployment was high. Of course, he also cut regulation which allowd the private sector to grow. That is one difference this time. While Obama’s deficits are much higher even adjusting for inflation, any positive impact is offset by regulation chocking the private sector. Second problem is the stimulus went to dead end programs. Things like the Internet were greatly helped by Reagan defense spending that later turned to the dotcom boom which Clinton harvested but were planted by Reagan’s defense spending. Not all spending is equal. Food stamp spending will never make a competitive country.

Reagan introduced trickle down economics, which concentrates wealth in the hands of the few, who loan it to the rest, eventually creating a credit bubble that pops and decimates the economy.

Reagan’s the father of the current bust. Greenspan was the brains, since Ronnie lacked them.

While Obama’s deficits are much higher even adjusting for inflation, any positive impact is offset by regulation chocking the private sector.

Regulation choking the private sector? You mean like that regulation that choked the financial industry so hard that it crashed the world economy?

Next austerian talking point, please.

“Borrow and spend” took off with Reagan.

You mean like that regulation that choked the financial industry so hard that it crashed the world economy?

Are you suggesting the private sector consists solely of the financial industry? One example of apparent under-regulation does not mean the overall private sector is not over-regulated.

I’m sorry, Dan, but having lived through two iterations of RR, I have to jump in here:

“… Of course, he also cut regulation which allowed the private sector to grow….”

…by sucking dry the accumulated public wealth of the post WW2 generation and handing it over to a handful of his cronies– who continued to gut our treasury and ruin our country under Bushes 1 and 2.

“to kick start weaning the country away from fossil fuels”

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-14/another-earth-needed-to-meet-human-demands-for-natural-resources.html

“anytime Obama tries to kick start weaning the country away from fossil fuels”

There are very limited opportunities for that kind of attitude shift in the country. The moment when it could have worked was October of 2001. But we had an oil man in the White House at the time and he wasn’t interested. I suppose if they had actually done the work of taking out Bin Laden and the Al Queda leadership in Tora Bora instead of trying to “fix” Afghanistan and invade Iraq, there might have been another moment after the troops came home, but they outsourced that job to the Northern Alliance who, who would have guessed, decided that the money was too good for them to want to finish the job.

“I see this conversation played out anytime Obama tries to kick start weaning the country away from fossil fuels.”

The Green Energy Agenda is far enough along now that we can begin to judge by results. Have any of the FedGov programs (you acribe to Obama) reduced our fossil fuel consumption? I think not. The familiar suspects are huge frontloadings or shell games of fossil fuel consumption, with a promise to pay back many years in the future. They are all produced with fossil fuels, and then lipsticked up as clean energy.

“huge frontloadings or shell games of fossil fuel consumption, with a promise to pay back many years in the future”

Should we just wait and do nothing until global population reaches 10 billion humanoids and 2 planets worth of resources are needed to support them, as indicated in the Bloomberg article linked above?

In the 60’s, we put a man on the moon with only slide rules, due not in small part to a clear goal and the job security to achieve it. Now everything is done freekin’ piecemeal through the maze of short-term contractors, or the odd private company who keeps a skeleton program alive just for the PR, or funding that is yanked on a moment’s notice, or is under such profit pressure that the demand curve exactly follows the tax break curve.

How do you expect an entire new industry to grow or thrive, or even stay alive, in that kind of environment?

We need 2 planets? Well it does say so in an article so I guess we should do something. :^

I’m not advocating just waiting for the cosequences to ferment until catastrophy. What I see is a pattern of huge portions of finite resources being thrown at ways to maintain our lifestyle that simply will not work. It is a parallel to efforts to maintain the credit expansion, which is unsustainable, by creating more ways to borrow.

Whether the discussion is from an energy view or a money view, we are living beyond our means. The answer is not to create shiny hollow new ways to do this. All that accomplishes is burning the other end of the candle. The energy scams of the past decade have been as odious as the credit scams.

“not advocating just waiting for the cosequences to ferment until catastrophy”

As recently discussed on HBB, the best thing anyone can do for the future of the global ecosystem is to not breed more humanoids. But this is at direct odds with the suicidal capitalist model of infinite growth within a finite system…

From the article:

People required 18.2 billion hectares (45 billion acres) of land by 2008

Since 1 km2 == 100 hectares, that’s 182 million km2. The total land surface of the Earth is 149 million km2. Sounds like we are already 30 million km2 short.

I am curious as to how this was calculated, though.

In the 60’s, we put a man on the moon with only slide rules

We may have hit “peak complexity”. There are some who believe that our systems have become too complex, and that this will lead to societal collapse.

In the 60’s, we put a man on the moon with only slide rules, due not in small part to a clear goal and the job security to achieve it

We were also, really, really lucky. Apollo 1 and 13 were the only failed missions, and it could have been much worse. 2 out of 12 missions failed, one fatally. Other missions had lesser snafus that could have snowballed into bigger and possibly fatal ones.

The switch that starts the liftoff engines on the Apollo 11 lunar module was accidentally broken. They had to use a ball point pen to toggle the switch, and fortunately it worked, otherwise Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would still be on the moon.

I can only imagine the impact that failure would have had on our national, collective psyche.

As recently discussed on HBB, the best thing anyone can do for the future of the global ecosystem is to not breed more humanoids. But this is at direct odds with the suicidal capitalist model of infinite growth within a finite system…

That solution also leads directly to “Idiocracy”… not a world I would want to live in. Besides, whose to say that the next Einstein isn’t going to be born some time in the future and he comes up with the technology to travel by Einstein-Rosen Bridge to other worlds where humanity can expand? If all the smart, responsible people stop breeding, we may be dooming us to the fate we are trying to avoid (outgrowing our resources).

“If all the smart, responsible people stop breeding, we may be dooming us to the fate we are trying to avoid”

Technological advances aside, the squad predicts that living conditions for the majority of humanoids in the year 2500 will be a lot more like the year 500 than the year 2012…

That solution also leads directly to “Idiocracy”

I would say that’s the path we are on right now.

Besides, whose to say that the next Einstein isn’t going to be born some time in the future and he comes up with the technology to travel by Einstein-Rosen Bridge to other worlds where humanity can expand?

That’s a huge gamble. And who says this genius won’t be born anyways? But if s/he is born into grinding poverty then we might never benefit from that genius.

“born into grinding poverty then we might never benefit from that genius”

I’m skeptical of that. Anyone of above average intelligence in this society can make a decent living, spectacular by some standards. The gifted more so, unles the gift comes with certain antisocial handicaps.

Key words “in this society”. But what if while we’re waiting for Zefrem Cochrane to be born civilization as we know it ends?

Just saying, given how so many on this blog believe that a first world standard of living with a vibrant middle class is an aberration, what chance are there the the potential inventor of warp drive will be born into poverty, never receive an education and even possibly die in childhood?

Even if the US manages to hang one, we would be a tiny fraction of a future world 10+ billion people, most of which will be very poor.

And I’m not holding my breath for Warp Drive. We can’t even send people to Mars. Heck, right now we can’t even put people into orbit. Just to get to the ISS we need to hitchhike a ride with the Russkies.

And worse Mike, they wont even try and fix anything, get their hands dirty or even buy a screwdriver..

Since the death of the pension; where retirees get X$ per month for life, the retirement plan for Gen X is found, not in pension plans, but in the wealth of our parents.

That should work…for those whose parents had some wealth. But what about everybody else?

And worse Mike, they wont even try and fix anything, get their hands dirty or even buy a screwdriver..

To be fair, there are very few things that are end user repairable anymore. You usually need special tools.

For instance, the control module on our double decker oven died. Without a detailed schematic (not provided) it would be next to impossible to fix it. And even if you could identify the chip that died, it’s surface mounted, so you can’t replace it with a Radio Shack soldering iron (and good luck finding someone to sell you the chip). So we had to replace the whole control module, for $300. Cheaper than replacing the $2000 oven, but still a pain.

Colorado:

I’m thinking the simple things like upgrading a computer. Amazing how many you find on CL that still has the same memory or HD as the day they bought it…

FWIW, on a laptop pretty much all you can do is upgrade the RAM and replace the hard drive. Anything else requires special tools.

Most PCs already have more RAM that the typical user needs. How much memory do you need to surf the web or run Office? Few people do more than that. Most new machines come with at least 4 GB of RAM, which is overkill for most people.

You have to have a bunch of RAM so you can run leaky applications for weeks at a time before crashing :-).

Alpha, If you are talking about me, perhaps you did not understand. If you are down on the farm, it’s not so rewarding to dig a new well for the landlord, who will only raise your rent. How that would be disturbing to you is beyond me.

And he sort of ignored that fact that a family farm isn’t a family farm if they don’t own it.

Look this is a very broad metaphore, but a family with a steady income is a very poor image to use when talking about the income of a government. Even just business cycle stuff vastly changes the income of a government and this is an epic downturn related to the failure to “take away the punch bowl” once the party got started.

When I was unemployed I didn’t cut back on my spending. Oh, I was careful with food and entertainment spending and I cut back on my heat. But I had to pay for my own health insurance (big increase) and I had to pay for my own tuition and books in my masters degree program (huge increase). I did those because I needed the health insurance just in case and getting the masters gave me access to all sorts of job hunting resources at the school (plus access to cheaper health insurance). Plus I kept my apartment. I even kept the car which meant that I had to pay for a parking space. I bet my overall spending skyrocketed during that time. But without that deficit spending, I would have had to move to a dangerous neighborhood (or location without many jobs in my area), given up on the program that eventually got me in touch with the professor that recommended my for my current position.

Deficit spending works when it gets you ready for the next growth phase. Like a farm family has to do repair work and basic structural spending even during the time when they aren’t actively growing or harvesting anything.

it’s not so rewarding to dig a new well for the landlord, who will only raise your rent.

Who said they were renters?

Look this is a very broad metaphore, but a family with a steady income is a very poor image to use when talking about the income of a government.

Of course. But the Austerian moralists don’t believe there is a difference between micro- and macro-economics.

“Who said they were renters?”

I attempted to intorduce that concept. It changes the logical reaction to being asked to dig wells.

it’s not so rewarding to dig a new well for the landlord, who will only raise your rent.

—————————
90% of the work you do on a ranch or farm is not very rewarding, but you do it anyway because you have to.

I understand that. I have been a farmer too. There is a limit to the example though, when it is used as an argument for you to do things as a volunteer for an overlord which will not benefit you.

There is a limit to the example though, when it is used as an argument for you to do things as a volunteer for an overlord which will not benefit you.

So your point is that the 1% own the country, so anything we do for the country, we really do for them?

Sounds like a good argument for expropriation of the 1%. Is that what you’re saying in your folksy way?

Not really. I’m saying to use discretion when some mouth piece blows a feel good up your skirt.

use discretion when some mouth piece blows a feel good up your skirt.

Ahh. More folksy Austerian platitudes defending the 1%.

That’s the Blue I know.

Not a defence of the 1%, rather a defense from the 1%, and their tools. Hey, if you start me with a parable, I can try to carry along.

I suspect sometimes that you think the 1% are evil because they hit the cash register. I think it’s not the right litmus test, though it does tend to bunch them together.

I suspect sometimes that you think the 1% are evil because they hit the cash register.

I don’t think they’re evil. I think they’re misguided. Their love of money blinds them to the betterment of society. That’s why they’re rich, and want still more, and that’s why we must gently pry the money out of their hands, and reintroduce it into the system, without further indebting the system to them.

It’s alright, fervid defender of the 1%- they’ll get it back, but only after it’s cycled through the economy, and made the whole system work properly.

fervid defender of the 1%

You just do not couple with the way I think. An ounce of prevention…..

These 1% guys, they have taken you?

Yet try using cash these days.

I do, all the time.

Need more cash? Go in to your bank and work with a teller when you’re around one. Keep extra cash around the house for when you need it.

There was an economy before credit cards and ATMs existed. Brick and mortar banks are still around - use them.

Yet try using cash these days.

We switched to all cash this year in order to save money and also to keep the bank accounts clean (we have a side/under the table business) for mortgage app. purposes.

Our clients don’t prefer paying cash, but since it’s a personal mom & pop kind of business and most of our customers are repeats and neighbors and friends, they do it. Sometimes they forget and have to pay a few days or a week later, because getting cash takes extra effort.

But no one carries cash anymore.

We have saved a ton of $$. No more mindless spending. I have also found that many people will give a cash discount if you ask.

I too, prefer cash for the same reason. You can immediately see how money you have left and it has far more psychological impact.

“…how much money…”

Anything over $100 and they think you’re a drug dealer.

And NOBODY (at retail) accepts checks anymore.

However, I have paid for major purchases with cash (new tires, furniture, etc,) and they were happy to accept it.

You guys must live in the good part of town.

Plenty of cash used in my neighboorhood.

I didn’t say they didn’t accept it, they just suspect you of being part of the “underground” economy.

(but god help you if you ever need to break a $100 bill)

And NOBODY (at retail) accepts checks anymore.

I write checks for many things. Haven’t had a problem at all.

I’m thinking prototypes, custom and “low production run” plastic parts.

In the auto restoration business, I can think of a couple of dozen parts that are expensive and/or difficult to find either used, or NOS, but the demand wouldn’t justify paying for a injection mold to reproduce them.

My dentist “prints” custom crowns while you wait.

It’s going to be fascinating as 3-D printing revolutionizes manufacturing.

Our dentist used to print custom crowns so you only needed one visit. He found he was replacing too many of them (for free) that broke soon after being installed. That “printer” is gone now and it’s two visits again.

The money will be in the intellectual property in the designs. That should be a huge growth market for the legal industry.

And where did the standard inventory go? Ya know… that 45%. It didn’t sell either.

Those people decided not to sell at the then current prices…can’t force people to sell if they don’t want.

Per Foreclosure Radar, it looks like REO is pretty stagnant in SF, 666 homes a year ago, 620 homes today. It doesn’t look like a lot of REO based on the size of SF, but it doesn’t look like it’s being marketed aggressively either. Given the demand, that REO number should be plummeting.

@sfrenter, I wonder if you can look up BK filings for the prior owners of the homes. I understand that a common ploy immediately after foreclosure is to file a BK in an attempt to forestall the inevitable, or perhaps come up with the money. Most of the time, they are BS filings, and end up getting thrown out, but until that point in time the bank is in limbo.

The best advice is to hang around the hoop and send written offers to the bank on the home. Calling the asset manager may not do squat. And frankly, sending a written offer might not do squat either, but written offers rise up to a different level in bankerland.

“It is gonna sell quick!”

Why? Based on what? 2006 FantasyLand?

Cuz that is what is happening. Bidding wars; but only for the cheaper stuff. Lots of sales happening at/under 150k.
I could be wrong of course, about this one selling fast. I do know it is not trashed, like so many others. But why buy now when you could buy it later at 65% off?

Yes, our government…the bastion of truth.