The Housing Bubble

They talked before about 30 million people not being able to afford health care ,but as time goes on it’s going to be more like 100 million not being able to afford health care .
How will that effect all the figures they figured in the
creation of the Health Care Bill ?

Those gun-toting Norwegians sure are causing a ruckus! It can be argued that all taxation comes from the end of a gun but all civilization comes from the end of a gun, too. If there is going to be a group of people living together, laws are needed, as is enforcement. Enforcement comes from guns. In other words, if you live in any society with rules, there is a gun pointing at you somewhere. The gun already exists.

“Free” health care and single payer systems are not the same thing. Single payer systems usually have a bundle of services that come at no cost and others that the user must pay for. Injuries like gunshot wounds are usually provided at no cost while elective treatments (like plastic surgery) are user-pay. Although free market theory predicts that this model should be less cost effective, in practice, this does not appear to be the case.

So the United States was uncivilized between 1870 and 1913?

The brainwashers did well to plant a meme into you that without taxes we do not have a civil society.

The brainwashers did well to plant a meme into you that without taxes we do not have a civil society.

So we had no taxes between 1870 and 1913?

There were no income taxes between 1870 and 1913. Revenue was mainly through tariffs. Also from the beginning of the nation up to 1860 again, no income taxes.

Congress constitutionally has the power to lay and collect taxes. But up until 1913 they were intelligent enough to understand their power to lay and collect taxes was very dangerous and only to be used for emergencies. We had basically a 100 year emergency.

The Capital gains tax in the USA did not start until (drumroll) 1916. http://tinyurl.com/6n892o2

America got along well without being world cop before your Wilsonian era of big government. You communists now think, taxes are American. When in fact they are anti-American and not part of our heritage.

Revenue was mainly through tariffs.

Oh, so we did have taxes during that period.

Can you give us an example of any civilization in world history that didn’t have taxes of some sort, Bill?

Bear in mind that a tariff is a government imposed tax.

tar·iff/ˈtarif/
Noun:
A tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports.

Merriam Webster

It’s a government-imposed tax on foreigners. That’s my point - not on Americans.

I said it months ago that we need to return to tariffs to even up the playing field.

Other nations such as China have little or no income taxes and capital gain taxes. Go figure. A communist country being more capitalist than the USA.

You bloggers complain about outsourcing. Well reduce our corporate taxes and raise tariffs on foreign goods. Eliminate our own income taxes, corporate taxes, capital gains taxes, dividends taxes and do NOT implement any new tax. Then we will see America get back its golden age.

“It’s a government-imposed tax on foreigners. That’s my point - not on Americans.”

Sounds good, until your trade partner imposes a tax — not on its own citizens — i.e. a tariff paid by Americans.

Wasn’t the Wild West still around in the late 1800’s? Hardly what I would call a civil society.

It’s a government-imposed tax on foreigners.

Let’s try again and see if your reading comprehension can overcome your political blinders.

A tariff is either (1) a tax on imports or exports (trade tariff) in and out of a country, or (2) a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage (electrical tariff, etc.).[

wikipedia

It is a tax, imposed by the government, and generally paid by the citizens of the country that imposes it. (US traders paid the tariffs in the US, not some Chinese dude in a boat at the port.)

So, since the only example you can come up with is incorrect, we can see that there has never been civilization without taxes.

It was a more polite society

PB. Hence you must favor NAFTA and the other trade agreements. America essentially agreed to not have tariffs, along with other nations, but Jack up the taxes on it’s own citizens and entrepreneurs and continue to be a nanny state. It is no coincidence the U.S. Is now tenth on the list of countries with the most economic freedom. Less than thirty years ago we were fourth on the list.

“Hence you must favor NAFTA and the other trade agreements.”

That’s a big leap of faith for you to say this. I was just pointing out the flaw in your argument, as imposing tariffs on a nation’s trade partners is quite likely to quickly lead to reciprocal tariffs on imports. The net effect is a tax increase on trade flows, which I hear Republicans and Libertarians alike think would be a bad outcome.

Your only a cheat if you get caught; otherwise your a hero.

Combo,

Well, I’ve been reading a bunch of books that have had me in deep thought (and not very pleasant thought); The Bell Curve, Better to Never Have Been, The Art of War.. It’s a very encouraging bunch of books to read at one time. I think I need to intersperse a comedy in there as well to cheer me up.

And, this is a topic that burns my a**, it always has since I understood what was really going on. When I was younger, I used to spend hours in the gym, tons of money on “natural supplements” (which, no surprise, many turned out to be more dangerous than the illegal stuff) and was so discouraged after 3-4 years of this that I just about quit and said to myself “I’m just never going to look like they guys in magazines (not bodybuilding magazines)”. Then, finally, I decided to give in and try steroids. My first time it was a guy at the gym, and, within 2 months, I was a “hardbody” (at least in my mind). I got all kinds of attention, felt great about myself, met my current wife, and, in general, was a great part of my life. Nobody suspected I was on steroids, I wasn’t huge (I looked like Mike S, the moron that he is; it’s probably the best way I can describe my physique at the time), just “big” and defined. I continued to work out and looked great for about 5 years, again, very happy with how I looked/felt and people reacted to me. And the entire time, the comments that my wife, friends, family would hear was “he looks great”, not “he’s a freak” or “What’s he on”.

A few years ago, my job started to require me to do a lot of travel, and, unfortunately, I blew out my back which really put an end to my “hardbody” days. I’m still in good shape, and I still go to the gym, but, much like almost everyone else not taking steroids, you’d never look at me today and say “Wow, great body”, just more “average build, not overweight”.

The thing that really burns my butt about this is; in case nobody’s noticed, we have a terrible obesity epidemic in this country. Many of those people went through the “first few years” of my experience in the gym, killed themselves, say minimal/no results, and then gave up. They expected 3-4 days a week, 1-2 hours each and they’d look like Mike S. When they didn’t, they gave up and resigned themselves to a life of physical mediocrity, many of them becoming overweight or worse later in life. This is a real crime against the American people; I always was very honest with others about my steroid use; people would always come up to me in the gym and say “you must spend every day here” or “what do you have, about 50 sets to go?”. Many people (who I personally knew were juicing) would say “Yeah man, it’s hard work” or some BS like that. I’d tell them, point blank, “I’m going to be here for 45 minutes, and probably going to work out less that you will. I’ll be lucky if I get in here 3 times this week. I look like this because I take steroids and eat a reasonable diet”. The look of shock on many people’s faces was almost worth it; but, also, I wanted them to know the truth about how people “did it”, and not to discourage them; if you don’t either take steroids or spend your entire day here 7 days a week, you’ll NEVER look like this.

Also, the other thing that really annoys me about all this.. Once I got enough money, I started to go to sports doctors, all of whom would (and still will) prescribe me testosterone at the drop of a hat. The folks who can’t afford the appointments and cost of the legal stuff are the ones who go to jail, get infections/sick, etc. It’s insane that I can “buy my way” out of the legal system that surrounds steroids because I can afford a Dr to write for me. But, I guess, that’s just the state of drug prohibition in the US. Rush Limbaugh bought his way out of a huge opiate habit; if he didn’t have the money, he’d be buying heroin on the street; because he could afford it, he had nothing but nice and legal drugs whenever he wanted it. What a joke.

http://dailydisgrace.com/category/mike-sorrentino/

So basically, steroids/HGH/testostrone worked for you.

I didn’t take the shit. But wish I had.

So what if it cuts a few years off of your life? If it puts you into the top 10% of income earners, you are still better off than the typical J6P schlub/loser.

“…So what if it cuts a few years off of your life?…”
Well, take a good look at Bruce Jenner and Ahnode these days. Even with all the plastic surgery they still look like freaky old grandmas.

Better to be a rich, freaky old grandma looking dude, than be me.

I’ll bet they don’t worry about a bleak future for themselves, their kids and their grandkids.

I’m basically screwed. So are a lot of people like me, they just don’t know it yet. They watch Fox News too much.

All three of my daughters (and my granddaughter) are screwed. They will be caught in the crossfire between the rioting/stealing/murdering wretched refuse, and the top 10%ers, who will be able to afford the personal security services needed when the government money to pay the cops runs out.

The oldest is starting to suspect it. I don’t have the heart to tell the other two. All three are stocking up on guns and ammo, for the coming “Zombie Apocalypse”.

“… So what if it cuts a few years off of you life?…”

Yeah, what’s the big deal. It’s not as if you can’t just go out and buy more of it.

Fixr, be thankful you didn’t take steroids. A good friend of mine was on juice for a few years. He was working out before he started and had plateaued. After going on roids, he put on 40 lb in about 6 weeks and it was all muscle.

However, when he stopped, he also stopped working out and all the muscle on his arms and legs melted away and formed a large tire around his gut. He went from looking like a white Mike Tyson to a flabby pigeon. He never got close to his pre-juice form.

Ask a guy that’s thirty if he is looking foreward to becoming eighty and he will most likely tell you “No”.

Ask a person that’s seventy-nine the same question and you will get an entirely different answer.

obesity epidemic

Stop eating wheat, corn, sugar, white potatoes.

I know that ahansen and I disagree on this. But I see just too many people “eating right” and execising exactly as they are told, and it’s not working for them. It. Just. Isn’t. Sure, it works for some, but only a few. For the rest, the ones who try hard are exhausted and they still can’t get there. The ones who don’t try, or who are more susceptible, are in much worse shape. Meanwhile, my only exercise is mowing the lawn, and I haven’t weighed so little since before puberty hit. I wear clothing meant for people 20 years younger than me. I keep forgetting to eat.

look like freaky old grandmas.

Guffaw! I was thinking the same as I watched Paul McCartney last night.

I believe in “It’s better to die a little too soon, than too late”

The way things are going in our country, many others will come to agree with me.

Say your alternatives are:

-Dying suddenly of a heart attack or stroke at 60-65, the day after you get laid off (again)

or

-Slowly dying of Alzheimers at age 70, while having the medico/drug complex suck every last dime out of your meager estate, eventually dying of infections related to improper treatment at the $hithole nursing home you went to, after you ran out of money?

It’s becoming increasingly apparant that these are the choices I’ll be limited to.

Nothing like looking for a job at age 54 to help you figure out what society thinks you are “worth”.

in case nobody’s noticed, we have a terrible obesity epidemic in this country…

This is the part I was thinking you left out as I read your first post. I don’t think people need to turn to steroids to get very positive results. I think the problem with most folks who decide to get into the gym is they think it’s a one-threaded affair. In reality, diet also must change. When it doesn’t, and results don’t follow, they give up.

It wasn’t until I eschewed fried food and dairy (in addition to turning up the cardio) that the pounds I needed to shed came off and I firmed up.

Oxy, it’s not that I disagree with you, it’s that the science disagrees with you. Exercising “exactly” like “they” tell you may or may not cause you to lose weight– there are too many other factors to consider and everyone’s body is different, which I suspect is what you are referencing? For most people, exercise isn’t an efficient way to lose weight, (though it may make you fitter).

In fact, initially, as you exercise (whatever that means) you may gain weight because you’re putting on muscle, which weighs more than the fat you’re burning off. And as you lose weight you may reach various metabolic plateaus as your body “resets” itself.

But the dynamics of weight loss are really very simple, and they’re not subject to scientific debate:

Consume fewer kcl than your basal metabolism requires, and you will lose weight. Consume more than you use, and you will gain weight. Period.

I have found that it’s not really what I eat that’s the problem, it’s how much. Not every body is the same. I can eat Ben and Jerry’s for dinner and not gain weight, as long as I don’t include a pepperoni pizza.

Overtaxed: Fantastic post, very interesting.

I’ve been hitting the weights most of my life, with varying intensities. The reality I discovered is that it comes down to genetics. At my peak form, I was weaker than a friend of mine who had lifted in the past, but had been away from the weights for a long time. Genetics. Nothing was going to give me that bone structure and tendon size and muscle “density”.

Another data point: I knew a guy who was built like a Greek god. Broad shoulders, skinny waist, heavily muscled. Whenever I saw him in the gym, he was socializing. Genetics. Nothing was going to give me that bone structure.

Then, you take all of us and give us steroids and it’s going to lift the whole boat, but with the health consequences that come from steroid use.

But, as with everything, someone’s profiting from it.

oxide wrote:
obesity epidemic

Stop eating wheat, corn, sugar, white potatoes.

I know that ahansen and I disagree on this. But I see just too many people “eating right” and execising exactly as they are told, and it’s not working for them. It. Just. Isn’t

Different ethnicities require different food types. And it varies within ethnicity.

Example: An Inuit (Eskimo) living in Alaska, or a native Siberian (the name escapes me). Versus a Mediterranean fisherman type. Versus a South Asian (Indian) farmer.

The Inuit is evolved to eat massive amounts of protein and very little vegetable matter. The Indian farmer at the opposite end of the spectrum is evolved to eat high levels of vegetable matter and very little animal protein.

I think each individual has to look at his ethnicity to get an idea of what works best for him and her, then experiment to determine what is the precise best mix. Telling an Inuit to go full vegetarian will like result in a very sick Inuit. Telling an Indian to eat a lot of steak will likely make him very sick.

” The Bell Curve, Better to Never Have Been, The Art of War.. It’s a very encouraging bunch of books to read at one time.”………………….

How could you possibly find The Bell Curve “encouraging”?
It is an indictment of the racial social policies of the United States, policies suggesting that we can make people equal.
The Bell Curve unequivocally says we can’t and never will.
We’ll just “redistribute” the wealth so everyone will look equal.
The authors concluded that to save America we needed rapid birth control of “minority” populations having multiple welfare babies to prevent a complete collapse of society.
I agreed with their findings, but I also read “Paved with Good Intentions”. This was some 20 years ago. Nothing has changed.
We continue down the same road to damnation.
Pick up a copy of “paved with good intentions”. It’s a real eye-opener.

“How could you possibly find The Bell Curve “encouraging”?”

I was being facetious, I find it terribly depressing. There’s just so much research in that book that all (obviously) points to the same conclusion. IQ (or G, general intelligence) is, by far, the most important thing to be born with in this world. Unfortunately, it’s a genetic trait, which means, through time, that families with high G will have more high G children than those with low G.

And, of course, the kicker, those with low G are having FAR more children that those with high G. We are honestly watching a devolution (is that a word; my spell check thinks so?) of our general intelligence. This is a terrifying reality, and it’s also happening at a shockingly rapid pace (a few IQ points per generation). Extend this out a few hundred years, and we’ve got some serious issues on our hands.

My IQ is by no means “exceptional”, but it’s over the median by a reasonable amount. I don’t think I’ll be having any children. And, across my social circle, I can see it happening very clearly, those with the “most brains” are having no, or few children. Those who are less intelligent are having 3-4. And this is just my social circle, I’m not talking about welfare babies here, just more children to those who are less intelligent, but certainly not “dumb”. Or society is somehow encouraging the more intelligent to have less/no children (and I don’t exactly know why).

Also, the ramifications for a child born today with substandard intelligence is also quite horrific. It’s almost as if we all suddenly had to play basketball for a living, very quickly we’d figure out that white guys that are 5′10 and have no game aren’t very useful members of “society” (assuming, again, that the only purpose of society is to play basketball).

As I said, it’s quite a collection of books, I need to get something funny in there to keep me from going into a depression and doing nothing but writing 3 page posts to some random blog…

“Genetics. Nothing was going to give me that bone structure and tendon size and muscle “density”. Another data point: I knew a guy who was built like a Greek god. Broad shoulders, skinny waist, heavily muscled. Whenever I saw him in the gym, he was socializing. Genetics. Nothing was going to give me that bone structure.”

Thanks, glad you found the rant interesting (or at least readable). The only thing I’d disagree with you on, where you say “genetics” should, in most cases, be replaced with “steroids”. Especially in your 2nd example, a guy built like a greek god, almost without a shadow of a doubt (especially if you see him jacking around in the gym all the time) is almost certainly taking something to get that kind of form. And to your first point, you probably know what I’m going to say… But yes, something would give you that kind of tendon size and muscle density. It’s just a question of if the risks are worth it.

I wish I could show you a picture of what a real “natural” bodybuilder looks like, but, what you’re picturing in your mind is nothing like the reality. Take a look at some of the pros from the 30’s and 40’s, that will give you a good idea. Yes, training techniques and diets have improved a bit, so, perhaps you can find a genetic freak who looks a bit better than the pros of the 30’s and 40’s who’s “clean”, but, frankly, the reason our pros look nothing like that today has far more to do with drugs than it has to do with anything else.

“Paul McCartney”

Poor guy — I found myself thinking he should have sung ‘When I’m Sixty-four’ rather than ‘Hey Jude.’ My kids complained about how he sounded, and they are all Beatlephiles.

Having played in a backup orchestra for Tony Bennett a couple of times when he was already in his seventies, I can say that not all singers are washed up at that point in their careers. I see he is scheduled to perform in San Diego this September — at age 86. I will feel fortunate if I am still getting my violin out of the case on a regular basis once I hit that age.

The number one principle in the obesity epidemic is this: If you put more in than you burn off, it’s going to most likely become fat. There are exceptions: Many hyperthyroid people (I think I posted I’m hypothyroidic. I meant I’m hyperthyroidic) who don’t seem to have the medication well tuned for their biochemistry.

I see obese people at the gym daily. One guy as wide as a doorway, very nice guy, probably 350 lbs (which is double my weight), who is on the cardio cross trainer for an hour. Probably burns 400 calories. But he probably eats 4,500 calories a day, maybe more! Just an estimate.

Back to hyperthyroid: I saw a lot of web blogs where most people complain about levothyroxine being non-affective on their problem. That their doctors reluctantly allowed them to use Armour and they are much better. I guess it works for them but so far levothyroxine works for me. I was an obese kid from age 5 to 17, then I was chubby for three years in my late 30s due to my wonderful ex girlfriend’s awesome cooking. Other than that, I’ve used regular exercise, both weights and cardio to keep me wearing waist size 33 jeans. I could probably fit 32 because I need to extra tighten my belt.

I see obese people at the gym daily.

Same here, and like your “one guy” there is one lady in particular that I’ve always noticed at my gym because she only does weights (never see her doing any cardio) and has looked EXACTLY the same for the 3 years I’ve been going to that gym, and she’s always there when I’m there. Not sure I’d call her obese but she’s definitely carrying extra weight around.

Perhaps I’m projecting what her goal is but if weight loss is one of them, she’s clearly not doing enough to burn calories or not altering her diet.

Sorry, SLC in 2002. Lewis was publicly “caught” in 1988 after his team ratted him out to the IOC.

Ahansen,

Yes, I would agree, there certainly were some sports back then where the majority of the competitors were clean. There probably still are some, where steroids just don’t provide much/any advantage to the competitors. However, today, if there’s an advantage to be had by being bigger/faster/stronger or having more endurance (which is almost all professional and most Olympic sports), you can almost guarantee you that the there are a LOT of steroids in those competitors when they get on the starting line.

The easiest thing to see is when a “set” sport starts to get records shattered. Things like the sprints, marathons, etc where technology plays no role at all. That’s not training “methods” (you’re running for god’s sake, how much can you improve training for that), and it sure as s**t isn’t evolution, it’s something in their blood that’s allowing them to do things that, just a few years ago, would have been impossible.

How about football the sport that americans call soccer? I think average skills can turn into speed but not into real skills.

“How about football the sport that americans call soccer? I think average skills can turn into speed but not into real skills.”

This goes for most sports. Steroids don’t help technique. I spent a good part of my life playing baseball until I quit in my mid 20’s, and there were a lot of guys who were juiced to the hilt. I could still hit the ball further than them, and they just scratched their heads. I’ve never worked out regularly in my life. I hate the gym, but really enjoyed playing the game. I suppose if I would have juiced up, I could have increased the distance of my home runs, but it wasn’t even necessary.

Then, looking at the current soccer players it seems that cardio certainly works! I also think that these players are blessed with genes that give them that edge. In other words they are predisposed to being fit (ripped as many have said here). The cardio they get playing 1.5 hours and the training just takes them to a new level

There are more than a few retired soccer players who become porkers once they stopped playing (and got older).

I don’t like the single-minded and aggressive behavior in the guys who are obviously juicing. The personality really changes and they’re quite unpleasant to deal with.

“…single-minded and aggressive behavior…”

I seem to recall a former governor of a certain West Coast state who got himself into a lot of hot water for groping females back in his weight training / steroid injecting days.

ot, i do not know how you can generalized your conclusion about steroid use on the sport of long distance running, in particular. i am a runner and pretty much can claim that steroids does not help much. its technology alright, but more on the part of training, biology, biomechanics, psychology, etc. ever wondered why east africans dominate this sports and why elite us runners are almost all training in the highlands, like mammoth? btw, the great rift is in east africa. go figure.

He didn’t let his athletes do drugs, but he let his staff sexually abuse children. That’s why he was stripped of his wins.

Turns out he was an evil mofo. Or at the very least, a heartless POS. Just think if it was your kid, or your nephew or niece, then maybe even you will begin to get it.

What, his players didn’t take drugs? Are you sure? He didn’t have to be the one to personally hand the stuff to them. But his recruiting and training practices are pretty much the standard at all the football schools around the country, and I thought all those enhancers just went with the territory now.

dj,

Step away from the keyboard.

Yup, T3 and T4 are pretty common in the BB community. I never used them very much, because, honestly, messing with my thyroid levels made me a little nervous. But, lots of guys do/did, and they saw very good weight loss from them. I was always worried about having to be on those drugs for life, which, at my age, would have been a real PITA. When you come off testosterone, you’re levels are low, but they almost always recover. When you start taking stuff like T3/T4 or insulin, you can have a situation where you’re never going to recover you “pre” levels and wind up on those drugs forever. In your situation, sounds like you got there without any “supplementing” earlier in your life. But yeah, in case my earlier rants didn’t bear this out, lots of these drugs ARE dangerous and you need to know what you’re doing. Or have the money to get a Dr to look over you and your levels when you’re doing it (which is what I did for most of my time using them). Playing guinea pig is never a good idea.

I agree. I am fortunate that my disease started late enough that I built up a good sum of net worth and can afford to pay whatever I need to get at a doctor. I am aware that specialists cost a lot of money. Yes my $350 per month insurance helps pay. But I pay a lot out of pocket too and I think my health is far more important than driving a show off car or buying a house. These drugs are dangerous if not monitored. So I go every few months for a checkup. I’m lucky that my hair did not fall out (I heard that was a potential).

Back in 1982 when I was 23 I read Durk Pearson’s and Sandy Shaw’s book “Life Extension” - odd for a young man to read it. But I was reading Heinlein books also at the time and wanted to “live forever” (ha). “Life Extension” impressed on me the disclaimer (many times throughout the book) that if you do not have medical supervision of the changes on your biochemistry of these supplements, you are a DAMN FOOL.

Around those days a 27 year old body builder friend of my sister’s died of a heart attack. The ramifications (after earlier health issues) from taking steroids unsupervised.

I would not be taking synthroid if my doctors did not urge me to take it.

The bodybuilding with drugs just makes you look good. But in order to have an internally healthy body cardio types of activities are the best. Having been in the chemical field all my life I have come to the conclusion there is no such thing as a health chemical. Even Sodium Chloride which we consume every day is unhealthy.

Just my 2 cents

You have to have a mixture of both weight resistance and cardio. Your own individual biochemistry works best with a particular amount (60/40? 40/60?).

I see people every day in the weight room that look the same. I see one obvious steroid type. He preens in front of a mirror after his workout. Ironically around the corner from that mirror is a posted warning about steroid usages.

For most of us, keeping the chiseled look is a brass ring that might be caught temporarily. Or for many years (Jack LaLanne) if the biochemistry is good.

I do think the combination of a Mediterranean diet (mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, and eggs), at least 7 hours of sleep a night (to help the body produce HGH) and smart body building and following the advice of the prescribed drugs and getting the regular specialist checkups and blood work is the best way to optimize your own biochemistry.

“He preens in front of a mirror after his workout.”

That’s why I will never, ever use steroids. My body is fine — not quite as muscular as I would like, not quite as slender, but good enough for me to feel OK about my body image.

I’m just not a preener.

LOL. Funny thing is that he spends ten minutes preening while his young girlfriend waits for him patiently at the juice bar. She’s done and ready to go before him!

Bill, you’ve been preening all day today.

“I want to look like Edward Scissorhands, what kinda drugs did he take?”

Meth..

LOL

anyone been out with those heavy duty female bodybuilders?

“anyone been out with those heavy duty female bodybuilders?”

There is nothing more unattractive, IMO.

“There is nothing more unattractive, IMO.”

Agreed.

“…heavy duty female bodybuilders?”

I admire a woman with muscle tone, but those steroid-physique babes gross me out. I’d rather look at a grizzly bear…

Went out with an open ocean swimmer. 6 miles to 10 miles, no wetsuit, 59 degree water the norm. SC to Capitola, Goleta to SB, etc.

Men would drop like flies from those races with hypothermia. Stroke count would drop and their paddler would have to pull them from the race. Iron man types with the corresponding body fat %. Only dudes that seemed to do alright had guts on them. Seems cool water makes a body want to store fat.

Didn’t exactly make her a skinny gal, but from behind you would have thought “wouldn’t I like to have those shoulders” (If you were a dude on roids). Girl was chiseled!

Like my current wife would say, all those years ago when they sold head to head at Farmers Market, “wouldn’t want to encounter her in a dark alley” and I would counter, “she would come in handy in a rip current, though!”

He does make the effort regularly, though. He’ll get better at it.

he is already at his best.

I’d think working as a CEO would be ideal training grounds for learning to lie.

Well the idea MIGHT have been to get a reputation as somebody who “speaks truth to power” and can take “tough, unpopular stances,” in exactly the way that a politician CAN’T when talking about domestic policy. So he can get is “tough guy,” cred by saying “you’re doing a poopy job,” to foreigners who “don’t matter,” rather than, say detailing the cuts in domestic spending he’d make to pay for all the tax cuts that he’s promised.

‘Well the idea MIGHT have been to get a reputation as somebody who “speaks truth to power”…’

I’ll believe that the day he stops trash talking Obama and starts laying out in detail his plans for dealing with abortion, gay marriage, Social Security, future U.S. military involvement overseas, resolving the housing crisis, including shutdowns of the GSEs and eliminating the mortgage interest deduction, breaking up too-big-to-fail banks, bringing back U.S. employment, etc etc etc.

Fawning over The Donald or Jamie Dimon won’t convince me of anything.

So he can get is “tough guy,” cred by saying “you’re doing a poopy job,” to foreigners who “don’t matter,

Being panned by the Brits is a badge of honor amongst his voters, much like being booed by the NAACP.

He’ll be more careful with Israel, though. The neocons and the born-agains like Israel.

Oh I think that he badly misjudged things. But other than perhaps forcing him to softpeddle the “I fixed the Salt Lake City Olympics, I can fix the economy,” message I don’t think it will matter much.

I loved how the Brits referred to the 2002 SLC Winter Olympics as occurring “in the middle of nowhere.” SLC is a lovely town, but compared to London — come on! (This incident also reminds me of when Bryant Gumbel referred to BYU’s opponents as “Bo Diddley Tech” — LOLOLOLOL!!!)

“Publicly talking about a meeting with MI6 is much worse.”

That one is beyond the pale — especially since he has tried to crucify Obama for making political hay about getting Osama…candidates who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Maybe QE7 will be $3000 debit cards for all the little people?

Dj, by then $3K will be worth so little that they will have to make it $30K instead.

Anyone here remember the TV series “Mr. Lucky”?

I get it. But I think the State will be known as the big bad wolf if it crushes a ship full of nerds who are innocently creating technology in their own legal non-country outside any nation.

There are plenty of tech nerds who are very libertarian already and it’s really been that way for decades. Most engineers I know are against the government meddling in any business. Out of every 20 engineers I have ever known in various places coast to coast, one would want big government nanny state.

“But I think the State will be known as the big bad wolf if it crushes a ship full of nerds who are innocently creating technology in their own legal non-country outside any nation.”

You are talking about off the coast of California, right? California, a state desperate for money?
A state governed by a group of incompetent fools who drove it into a state desperate for money?
The - what? - the eighth largest economy on the planet driven to become an economy desperate for money?

And you expect rational behavior?

“Most engineers I know are against the government meddling in any business.”

OK. The big federal government will be delighted to stop enforcing patent rights.

The cost of no enforceable patents may be well worth bearing in exchange for more economic freedom offshore. The equations are changing more and more for people to want to let go of these government er, “services” in the quest for liberty.

Hmmmm … if a group of pirates were to decide to storm this nation-less ship who would be there to stop them?

The cost of no enforceable patents may be well worth bearing in exchange for more economic freedom offshore.

And once corporate America/China/Japan/Korea/Germany/France/etc. quickly reverse engineer your inventions, then what?

Tell me 1) why would pirates storm the ship and 2) if you think that the engineers who work there would actually store gold or other wealth on the same ship instead of move it to other countries such as Belize.

The wealth would mostly be in the brains of those people. Tell me how a pirate will store the contents of those brains. There would be little to steal otherwise.

They might just torpedo your ass, on General Principle.

“Most of the engineers I know are against the government meddling in any business”

Seeing as how you are a contractor working for the government, I’m guessing most of the engineers you know are probably in the same boat.

Which makes your statement hilarious. They don’t seem to mind “government meddling” when it comes to who writes their paychecks.

“The wealth would mostly be in the brains of those people.”

Steal the people and at the same time you steal the people’s wealthy brains.

No mean feat if there is nobody around commited to stopping it.

“1. Why would pirates storm the ship?”

Same reason Somalians do? Because they can?

“Tell me how a pirate will store the contents of those brains.”

By keeping them in the skulls of the people they whisk off the ship. If their price of keeping the skulls intact are not met by those who care then the skulls get bashed in.

“Because the start up boat will be twelve miles out does not guarantee that it won’t be messed with; One stroke of a pen will do the trick.”

California acts as though it owns the ocean at least out to the 200 mile U.S. territorial limit, if not beyond…

One should reasonably expect a certain human action if the perceived risk/reward ratio favors such an action.

The Somalii pirates continue doing what they are doing because the risk/reward ratio favors them. If you want to stop them being pirates then you need to alter the risk/reward ratio. Same principle applies to the highly lucrative drug trade.

If there is little risk to storming a nationless ship and at the same time there is some reward for doing so (and the reward doesn’t have to be all that large, it just has to be somewhat larger than the risk) then the ship is destined to be stormed.

X-GSFixer.

Time to whip out my Lew Rockwell column once again. The government commands a monopoly on technology jobs. If I do not work then I do not improve myself and build up enough wealth to overcome it.

But here goes for another one of you with memories the lifespan of a common house fly:

“Pay Up or Die” by Laurence M. Vance

http://lewrockwell.com/vance/vance279.html

I am sure I will have to repost this more for lames like Alpha, Polly, and other fellow nanny staters when they forget within the next 12 days (lifespan of a common house fly)

“If there is little risk to storming a nationless ship and at the same time there is some reward for doing so (and the reward doesn’t have to be all that large, it just has to be somewhat larger than the risk) then the ship is destined to be stormed.”

The same logic explains why Megabanksters routinely commit crimes with multi-trillion dollar payoffs at a cost of the occasional multi-million dollar wrist slap.

Bloomberg News
Barclays Sorry for Libor-Rigging as Profit Beats Estimates
By Howard Mustoe and Gavin Finch on July 27, 2012

Barclays Plc (BARC), the British lender fined for rigging Libor, apologized for its role in the scandal as it posted first-half profit that beat analysts’ estimates.

Pretax profit excluding one-time items rose 13 percent to 4.23 billion pounds ($6.6 billion), the London-based bank said in a statement today. That beat the 3.9 billion-pound median prediction of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

“We are sorry for what has happened,” Chairman Marcus Agius said in the statement. “However, our leadership continues to focus on the delivery of our financial performance targets.”

Barclays’s attempts to put its regulatory troubles behind it were complicated today as it said four employees, including Finance Director Chris Lucas, are being probed over the disclosure of fees related to the bank’s fundraising in 2008. The lender, whose three top executives stepped down after the bank fined a record 290 million pounds last month for Libor- rigging, also disclosed it was the target of more lawsuits in the U.S. related to the scandal.
…

Yep. Make the perceived risk outweigh the perceived reward and you’ll get some behavioral changes.

(Note the use of the word “perceived”).

It wouldn’t take pirates, the first big storm to hit the ship they’d be calling the nanny state, for “HELP!!!”

Probably why they want to be so close to shore.

And I do find it amusing and revealing that they’re following in the same footsteps as the scientologists. Birds of a feather…

bil, this is a joke right? otherwise you are just revealing yourself very eloquently.
“tell me 1) why would pirates storm the ship and 2) if you think that the engineers who work there would actually store gold or other wealth on the same ship instead of move it to other countries such as Belize.
the wealth would mostly be in the brains of those people. Tell me how a pirate will store the contents of those brains. There would be little to steal otherwise.”

My company is taking advantage of staffing health care jobs with the enormous bureaucracy coming up. Potentially 30 million more people getting health care.

We are headed down the road to serfdom. But if I’m lucky and get a $1 million gain from my health care staffing stock, I’m going see if it’s worthwhile to become a part time resident of another country but spend 183 consecutive days in the U.S. Don’t know which country though. Preference is English-speaking.

I am watchful of the economic freedom index put out by the Heritage Foundation and the order of most free starts with Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, Australia, then New Zealand and then Switzerland.

but spend 183 consecutive days in the U.S.

What’s the reason for that very-specific number, Bill? Tax implications?

You must spend at least six consecutive months in the U.S. to retain U.S. citizenship. 183 days is the actual minimum.

To be super cautious, it’s a smart thing to have international addresses and be multi national. I think technology is available now to make multi national citizenship possible for most professional people.

I have had this tech idea since the late 1990s that only became more and more feasible with new software technology the last few years and it will basically free us from the nation state. We need it now more than ever. It’s a double boon for me because I’m a radical libertarian at heart and I can also make money off of it. But my job and my daily fitness rituals take a big bite out of my time!

Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, Australia, then New Zealand and then Switzerland

Interestingly, all five of those countries have universal health care, if this Wikipedia page is correct:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_coverage_by_country

Bill,

Are you sure that it is citizenship and not residency that requires 183 days in the USA. So far as I know, the US does not strip citizenship for being out of the country that long. You might want to check out Gilbraltar or the Jersey Islands a places to set up a second home. I seem to remember favourable tax laws and minimal residency requirements for those places but I haven’t looked at them in detail.

Interestingly, all five of those countries have universal health care, if this Wikipedia page is correct

Everybody has Universal Healthcare, except for the USA.

BiLA just doesn’t want to pay taxes. Hence his pining to write software while living on an oversized drilling platform.

I suppose that if that sucker sinks in a nasty storm he won’t be expecting the US Coast Guard to come to his rescue either.

I guess I’m a communist then, if it means that I don’t believe in all of this Randian/Libertarian/Free market dogma you are pushing.

Well the problem with you HBB communists is that you won’t stop for socialized health care. You will want more socialism beyond that. It has to stop somewhere. The road to serfdom is when the weak-brained prefer security to allowing other people to live freedom peacefully.

Well the problem with you HBB communists is that you won’t stop for socialized health care.

The problem with most “Libertarians” is they’re all hot air - all hat and no cattle.

I have worked in many shops, including one quasi-government and another full-government. I’ve always marveled at the ranks of government employees who fashion themselves as “libertarian.” Something about that doesn’t fit…

bil please don’t go. we need you here then.
“The road to serfdom is when the weak-brained prefer security to allowing other people to live freedom peacefully.”

And I’ll take it a step further to say that most of us on the HBB are in our 30s - 50s, so if any correction back to pre-bubble pricing occurs in the next 1-5 years, great (assuming a correction that fast means one still has a job). I can’t control it but, selfishly speaking, I don’t want to wait another 15-20 years for a correction. It’s already been almost nine (NINE!) years since the inception of this blog.

“Not rising profits, or hiring, but hand-outs or money printing…”

= unsustainable bear market rally — enjoy picking up the nickels right up until the steamroller catches up to you!

Very good questions, especially about China, Ben.
My thinking is that pseudo capitalism in China has rewarded those connected to the top polit bureau (mainly families). These people have never had so much money come their way. And knowing that these ill gotten gains are not long lasting, Chinese are spending their IGGs everywhere other than China in the one thing that they know - real estate.

If you look at India, the populace have the largest holdings of gold - this built over centuries of habit - I cannot fathom why despite the invasions from Persian kings to ransack the Indian temples and take away the gold (Mohammed of Gazni - came in 17 times apparently, but nobody learned). Anyway, during the recent craze starting in 2005, regular people went away from gold and into real estate. Talk about global brainwashing.

Now in two of the most populous (and extremely poor) countries, the wealth disparity is growing rapidly: In china we see people parking their money in western democracies. In India - I don’t know what is happening - apparently, there are capital controls and people cannot move money away.

The question that begets your point is: where are the rich Americans, Europeans parking their money? See the poor are relatively the same all over the globe - looking for basic necessities to live. If there is a jubilee all over (China/ US) - it is the rich that have the most to lose. So I think the rich chinese with their IGGs are fleeing to places where they think that they can get by. In the end if they have housing and live unobtrusive lives, it may be hard for their native investigators to come after all of them.

How to view these things and what might happen is tricky. There is a lot of manufacturing, etc going on in China for instance. But in the 70’s and 80’s, there was a lot of oil and gas produced in Texas and the other oil states. Oil plummeted, and real estate proved to be in a bubble. Would the RE bubble have popped if oil had stayed high indefinitely? Yes, and here’s why; the oil drop exposed rampant corruption and speculation at the S&L’s and banks. The overbuilding, it was just waiting to crash, but masked by the oil boom. Before it collapsed, the press reported the S&L’s were making everyone around them rich. We all know what a delusion that turned out to be.

So if China isn’t a juggernaut, what is it? How much of what we see and read will fall away?

Similarly, as I came to suspect California wasn’t the land of milk and honey a few years ago, I wondered what it really was. And how it’s all playing out couldn’t have been foreseen perfectly, IMO. So we’ll just have to wait and see. But I have always maintained that the economic pain will probably be in proportion to the level of speculation & or corruption, no matter what part of the global mania you examine. Now I have to add, the economic pain also rises with efforts to forestall the correction.

“rampant corruption and speculation at the S&L’s and banks.”

This is true for wall street and politics. Only the majority of the public is not aware of it. The voting public themselves are polarized in rooting for their own interest, however misguided it may seem to others. I think essentially this is “survival of the fittest” mode. Unless the jobs scenario changes there will be simply not enough demand for housing.

Talking about jobs: I am completely at a loss to figure out where these can come from. Technology? Medicine? Services? Food? Entertainment? IMHO, we are peak everything from all the above and housing, commodities. The world is over 7 billion people - this was supposed to be the limit, but is not - there is plenty of labor, but not enough living-wage jobs that can sustain aging countries. The pain will have to come to rebalance the economy here and elsewhere. It will be severe no doubt. The question is really when will it come. I am thinking the next 3-4 years.

It’s the anticipation of financial asset inflation. Unlike higher profits leading to higher dividends, higher asset prices are a zero sum game. Kind of like house prices. For every extra dollar the seller receives because of higher prices, the buyer has to pay an extra dollar to receive the benefits of ownership. (whether that benefit is housing, future dividends, or future price appreciation). This is why it is a FUNDAMENTAL mistake to use the stock market as a sort of barometer for how the economy is doing. The pricing is dominated by speculation of future asset prices, not the underlying profitability of companies.

“The pricing is dominated by speculation of future asset prices, not the underlying profitability of companies.”

Reams of academic research, including the contents of this classic, suggest you are wrong.

Of course, you are entitled to your opinion, including one that says academics are generally full of gas.

I am referring to an attempted RV purchase that was allegedly thwarted by other buyers showing up minutes earlier. A true Eddie-tard anecdote if there ever was one…

I think we are all underestimating the amount of free cash that’s available when millions dont pay a mortgage or rent.

I notice a lot of unused RV inventory stashed in driveways and backyards here in So. Cal
(lots of boats too). If I were in the market for an RV (or a boat) I’d do a bit of knocking on doors; Maybe I’d uncover an RV that would be offered to me for a price that approaches free.

People get stuck in inertia; There are things they want to do, need to do, (such as get rid of the RV or the boat) but they never quite get around to doing it. Show up and make an offer and maybe you can strike a deal that would be of benfit to both of you.

“…all underestimating the amount of free cash that’s available when millions dont pay a mortgage or rent…”

Trailer cash

“Everyone else either rented a hovel, or squatted on federally owned land in the ubiquitous cardboard shacks.”

If you tried that here you would be arrested, and your cardboard shack razed.

The BKs on the foreclosure subscription website are becoming the norm. It’s the new modification replacement.

BK is the modification that actually works…

Prime
Thank you. You must be a legal eagle. It’s sad to see a home purchased for $280K pre-bubble, and the loans total $1M dollars, and the a-hole has a newer Expedition in the driveway, yet the 1964 windows still there. Not one dime back into the joint (visual anyway) and they owe that much and are filing a BK. Hope the stay is overtuned on the house.

When you come to the inevitable conclusion that the 1% class, wherever they are, believes that the rest of us are interchangeable with Juan6Packo in Nuevo Laredo or Xian6Pack in Harbin, things will make sense.

As long as the serfs fantasies can be kept alive.

Once the rich reach a certain level of wealth, the only way to feel wealthier is to force everybody else farther into poverty.

They crave that wealthier feeling like a junkie craves smack, and will do whatever it takes to get it.

Wiz, your problem is that you’re thinking like a regular human. You need to stop doing that.

Let’s face it- you don’t have to be a psychopath to be a member of the 1%, but it sure helps!

“Let’s face it- you don’t have to be a psychopath to be a member of the 1%, but it sure helps!”

It sure does. Just ask that nutcase Mitt!