Bits Bucket for September 1, 2012
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Look at some houses for the oil city plan. The outline areas of Syracuse are really getting hammered. So many houses to choose from and so few buyers. The vacation homes, second homes and the summer homes are being put on the market in droves.
Look at this? I think this will sell for below 100K.
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S273005
That is a lot of house to have a galley kitchen. How much does it cost to keep warm in the winter? And what does the basement look like?
Go ahead Polly… step right up buy that balloon framed 175 year old shack. You’ll LOVE it. You’ll be sooooooooooooo happy! But hurry….. there’s a bidding war on the place!!!
Comment by Pimp Watch
2012-09-01 09:38:30
There are paid “Contributors” and “commenters” on internet media sites(news outlets, blogs, etc) who are there to shape your perspective. It is well funded and extremely well organized.
Hey Little Pimp!
Comment by Pimp Watch
2012-09-01 08:38:10
As far as the ones with vacation homes in the Poconos, upstate NYS and Vermont…their investment is eating them alive.
heh heh heh heh…… Good news Banana.
Isn’t Banana the coolest ever?
“…balloon framed 175 year old…” What does this tell us about balloon framing, Pimp?
I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at.
That a balloon-framed house (which you’ve often disparaged here) can last for 175 years. Which is a whole lot longer than similar stucco built and most all of the brick houses in CA.
Just questioning your surety on this, as you seem to be the resident expert on building techniques and materials.
And what did it cost to get it through 175 years of depreciation and most importantly, what do you have left? From what I see in the photos, you have a seriously massive money pit with a sway back ridge, bowled floors, every single wall with wows in them, etc.
Why? Because the structure is built on a slowing sinking foundation using 200 year old building techniques.
The largest risk? It’s a firetrap. Why? It’s balloon framed.
As for your comment about my stock in trade, email me at goonsquad@hushmail.me and I’ll be happy to discuss with you my work and show you some of my recent work. And if you’re ever in the NE, I can walk you through one of these places so you’ll better understand what kind of pit these places are.
More than your mortgage
More than my mortgage? I don’t have a mortgage. I rent. Do you mean more than the mortgage of the person who does buy it?
Yes
The heating bill would be around $400 to $500 on a budget plan.
That’s PER MONTH folks. Add another $500/month in property taxes…
Oh… and the maintenance on that sinking shack? I’d wager it’s $200/month in materials alone.
So we’re up to $1100/month and you haven’t even paid your mortgage yet…..
Chump change if you make 5 figures a month. But odds are extremely high that you can’t do that job from that location. And a lucky ducky job isn’t going to cover those monthly costs. Maybe a couple each doing 1.5-2 lucky ducky jobs each. Or maybe something lucrative under the table.
I’m assuming whoever built that house had servants to cook for them.
At this point in time the only economically viable option for that house is a commune for folk drawing disability or SS checks.
If you could bring together folks with functioning brains and folks with functioning brawn it theoretically would work.
You’d need to install a woodstove to bring down the heating costs.
Looks like a boarding house to me.
Relative to the pre bubble price structure, that place is still overpriced. Your observations are a positive sign for sure but there is still a very long way to go in NY and most of New England.
So why do I say this? Sales volume is already low and falling and inflated asking prices is the cause. And a just note about this, everyone is chasing the market down…. unbelievably stupid huh? We were prophetic on that too. Right down the road, some jackass has chased the market down from 1.4 million(2008) to $730k(current)…. and still no buyer. The reality is the place is worth about $200k. And it’s empty. Taxes, hard winters, depreciation….. what a moneypit. Where did he the crazy idea a $200k house is worth $1.4 mill? I dunno. Liars? Realtors? Pimps? I suppose it doesn’t matter at this point as he’s stuck with the hideous house. All within commuting distance to Manhattan. Pretty cool huh?
Thirdly, this entire notion of “vacation ‘home’” and other iterations of that insanity are founded upon the Great Housing Fraud of 1998-2008. Media driven by the Housing Crime Syndicate, millions bought into the false notion are now stuck with an empty depreciating second ‘home’ which bleeds them dry at twice the rate.
There should be no wonder why there are 30 million excess empty houses in the US.
I know so many people who bought vacation homes as “investments”
The vacation homes on the Jersey Shore still are holding up. We will see for how long as the bubble popping moves to the NE.
As far as the ones with vacation homes in the Poconos, upstate NYS and Vermont…their investment is eating them alive.
Thirdly, this entire notion of “vacation ‘home’” and other iterations of that insanity are founded upon the Great Housing Fraud of 1998-2008.
As far as the ones with vacation homes in the Poconos, upstate NYS and Vermont…their investment is eating them alive.
heh heh heh heh…… Good news Banana.
Peace
Isn’t bananas a “pimp” for saying that the vacation homes on the Jersey shore are holding their value? Aren’t you going to tell him that they wouldn’t sell for a small fraction of what they are actually selling for?
You’re right Polly. My oversight.
Hey banana you’re a pimp for saying that the vacation homes on the Jersey shore are holding their value and the homedebtors there couldn’t offload their shacks for a fraction of what they have in them.
The middle class has had vacation homes for decades if not centuries. The difference is that earlier generations didn’t expect to make money on them.
Well that and a vacation home was a shack next to the lake with no heat or a/c and where you cooked your meals on the bbq.
Now vacations homes are luxury 5 bed room monsters…
The middle class has had vacation homes for decades if not centuries. The difference is that earlier generations didn’t expect to make money on them.
Thank you banana.
A blast from the past: The Oil City Plan
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=6629
Dibs on calling my future blue-grass funk band ‘The Oil City Plan’. Oh, and no one has registered that domain name as yet AFAIK. Can I have a halleluiah?
Yep. Nice one, AB. Register it along with “The Greater Fools” and “Priced Out Forever”.
‘Register it along with “The Greater Fools” and “Priced Out Forever”. ‘
I wonder if ‘realestateonlygoesup.com’ will ever fetch a host?
http://www.tools4domains.com/dropping_domains/12-27-2008/realestateonlygoesup.com
BWAHA BWAHA BWAHA …….bwa ha ha ha………….
Wow…that’s huge. Only a couple hundred yards from Interstate 81, I see…wonder what the traffic noise is like?
More Oil City beauties.
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S276041
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S275976
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S276041
More Oil City beauties. Look at the last one – rare find
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S272191
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S277595
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S270088
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S274360
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S254437
I like that location in the finger lakes, and very close to a hospital. The house looks straight out of the movie “The Money Pit”, though :-).
http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S274360
This resembles the sort of home I bought though 500-sqft smaller and $25k cheaper; those taxes, wow…twice what I’m paying, and we don’t have an income tax here in Washington state.
Wow. Those places would be 250k and up here. And so much greener there..this place is a desert in comparison.
Good idea - bad state.
Property taxes will EAT YOU ALIVE in NYS. After all, public unions goons have to retire at age 55 with full spiked pensions and free health care for life…
This house (offered at 129K) has property taxes at $4,200.
In ten years the house will be worth about the same (Syracuse is NOT coming back) with at least double the property taxes.
In fact -RIGHT FROM THE START - your monthly payment of property taxes ALMOST equals your mortgage P/I.
The oil city plan has a place with property taxes in the three digits…
Property taxes will EAT YOU ALIVE in NYS.
Yes sir indeed. Add VT, NH and CT to that group.
Speaking of CT…. it’s a long way down.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-28/connecticut-homes-biggest-losers-as-wall-street-cuts-mortgages.html
Oh and by the way… regarding Bananas topic of property taxes, what you can be absolutely certain of are these 2 things;
1) Property taxes in the Northeast and New England will never fall. EVER
2) Property taxes in the Northeast and New England will always go up. ALWAYS.
I am really questioning the merits of taxing real estate in terms of it being a never ending unknown rising cost that can force people out of their property . Same with the concept of
sitting up a health care system based on Employers paying for it ,only to have them not be able to pay anymore ,or not wanting to pay anymore . There has to be a better way of collection of taxes ,or funding of health care . Everybody knows that health care costs would crash if they were based on capitalism and supply and demand verses Insurance paying .Would a person pay for some stupid elective operation if they had to shell out 35 thousand out of pocket .
Would people question a drug that cost 10 thousand a month if they had to pay for it monthly ? I think so .
I am really questioning the merits of taxing real estate in terms of it being a never ending unknown rising cost that can force people out of their property .
Feh! Over time real estate only goes up, so you can borrow against it to pay your ever increasing taxes. What could go wrong?
Scares me to think what property taxes would be in CA without Prop 13…
That’s what scares me about the idea that they might take
prop 13 away . That is what scares me about price fixing with ever increasing health costs, that aren’t in sink with peoples wages .
The only way they will change Prop 13 is if they alter it to apply to primary residences only.
“The only way they will change Prop 13 is if they alter it to apply to primary residences only.”
I was just about to say that. I wonder if that option (second/third home not included) was even discussed when they were writing it up.
I didn’t think they were going to do some things they ended up doing . It’s getting scary what they are willing to do .
Awesome house. Are there jobs out there?
Tons of jobs! Hurry!
Yes you could have found a job here?
Magna below was paying $12.50 per hour for the new hires and have closed up shopnow. I think in about 3 to 4 years they will tear the building down and make a park where grass will have a tough time to grow. Seems like there is a trend in upstate to tear down big buildings and make what mega corporations now call green space. It is fun to watch hundreds of workers and lots of cranes move into the neighborhood to rip a factory apart and the politicians show up to take credit and sing songs about the “Green Space”
http://search.pyramidbrokerage.com/default.aspx?tabid=92&f=s&listingid=Y10619
http://search.pyramidbrokerage.com/default.aspx?tabid=92&f=s&listingid=Y9734
Actually - it is a much simpler explanation than that.
Insane NYS property taxes are also inflicted in businesses. So when they do their cost/benefit calculations, it is many times MUCH CHEAPER to tear down a perfectly good factory rather than to mothball it for later use. Because a “green space” is taxed at much lower rates.
Plus they get “look - we are a green company” kudos.
It is insanity. But we are dealing with insane public unions.
Insane public union goons will eventually kill their host and then expect a bailout (like obamamotors)
I think in about 3 to 4 years they will tear the building down and make a park where grass will have a tough time to grow. Seems like there is a trend in upstate to tear down big buildings and make what mega corporations now call green space.
Paul Ryan voted for the GM bailout so he supports unions.
I spent a week anchored in Sandy Pond this summer, which is just by there. The beach is awsome, 20 miles of white sand and clear water. The area is economically dead as far as I could tell.
This location is conveniently on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, not the Finger Lakes. The locals know when the lake finally freezes over because there is some relief from the constant dumping of snow. A cousin of mine tried living in such a spot and lasted one winter, and we’re from Buffalo.
The house is similar in size and vintage to the Victorian white elephant I bought in the Finger Lakes for my former spousal unit. The February heat bill was $1,000 in 2005.
Houses of this size especially and of this vintage probably originally had a “summer kitchen”, a seperate building where the cook could suffer alone with the heat of the cookstove.
And yes, it costs a lot of money to keep one of these determinedly deteriorating wooden monsters standing pretty.
Can we blame this on Bush?
————————
Labor Day weekend gas prices set record high
The Examiner | 9/1/2012 | Scott Paulson
According to AAA, leading into the Labor Day weekend on Friday, the national average for a gallon of regular gas is at $3.83. That price is an increase of 9.4% from just a month ago at the end of July.
No, but his bank account thanks us.
What does that even mean? Please explain.
I guess we can blame it on Bush. He appointed Ben Bernanke, whose repeated QE efforts are further weakening the dollar. Gold is up, crude is up. The announcement of the next helicopter drop, in the form of more buying of Treasurys, is expected some time this month.
Without the Fed’s intervention, I wonder what kind of interest the govt would have to pay to sell a 10-year bond right now. It’s certainly more than the current 1.6 percent.
With the Fed’s intervention, I wonder how soon we’ll see short-term bonds with negative interest rates, as is happening now with Swiss bonds.
Who was it again who appointed Greenspan? The grandfather of the bubble?
Other than Volcker, name the last Fed Chairman who was a true inflation hawk…
Who was it again who appointed Greenspan? The grandfather of the bubble?
Reagan did. After he fired…
Volcker…the last Fed Chairman who was a true inflation hawk…
And there you have it.
Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama
All kept the printing party going…
Bush was in the oil business for a while. Or at least his father was.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/02/27/is-obama-really-to-blame-for-rising-gas-prices-do-you-really-care/
You can’t blame it on Bush, but you can’t blame it on Obama, either.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/02/27/is-obama-really-to-blame-for-rising-gas-prices-do-you-really-care/
Sigh.
This blog has changed so much from 2005 when I first started reading it. I stayed in the background then, reading and learning, and feeling intimidated by the knowledge displayed. Comments were more explanatory and thought out.
Why…. Because for years it was intentionally trolled with partisan BS to avert and distract from the Housing Fraud?
Um… no? Isn’t all that partisan BS happening now? And don’t jump on me for participating. My point is that now that the commentary has lowered itself so much, I feel comfortable and even compelled to comment.
Guess there were way less trolls in 2005 and more emphasis on the housing bubble and its ramifications. So … less partisian/political stuff, more thoughtful commenting on housing issues in 2005 . . .
Pimp Watch - your comment pretty much plays into what I am saying. Your comment doesn’t even make sense . . . . Did you even think about it, or just write something out to support your one point?
YOU clearly have a different version of what occurred here 2005 and 2006 or you were on a different blog.
Eventually you’ll learn that the party duopoly is a fraud to detract from the theft that you seem completely oblivious to.
Some of us just like to get in a barb or two when we see the political tripe being served all day. And yes, as usual, I blame progressives.
I have to say that I would much rather read the thoughtful and educated housing related posts of my good friend Nickpapageorgio.
- IBP
I have to say that I would much rather read the thoughtful and educated housing related posts of my good friend Nickpapageorgio.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaup! Everyone of his posts are touchdowns.
thoughtful and educated housing related posts of my good friend Nickpapageorgio.
Looks like a circle-jerk of one or two people, using different monikers, constantly praising each ‘others’- or really their own- lame posts.
Getting pretty tiresome, and ridiculous.
It’s also seems like we might be watching someone going insane.
“It’s also seems like we might be watching someone going insane.”
Speak for yourself homes. Having a sense of humor is a great defense against going insane you know.
- IBP
Sorry Alpha but there are more than one or two here exposing the liars. And after all, this is the Housing Bubble Blog.
Hang in there until after the elections. Politics and discussions concerning politics tend to drive some people crazy.
yeah - I remember this blog in 2005.
Most posts were “blame Bush” for all problems. All the time. 24/7.
War for oil. Insane deficits. We are in a recession. High oil prices. Daily war death count. Unemployment. Etc.
Now - they are the “good old days” - but nothing is obama’s fault.
This blog has changed so much from 2005 when I first started reading it. I stayed in the background then, reading and learning, and feeling intimidated by the knowledge displayed. Comments were more explanatory and thought out.
‘Comments were more explanatory and thought out… I stayed in the background then’
There you go.
I guess this is a direct insult on me and my comments by the owner of the blog. At least I have some self awareness and honesty.
I guess I am done here. Bye everyone.
There you go, Ben Jones.
Don’t let the door hit your ass.
I guess I am done here. Bye everyone.
The bits bucket is a rough place for the thin skinned, but that’s not a reason to leave.
good riddance
Don`t forget your body parts.
He’ll be back…under a different name…but back nonetheless.
“I guess this is a direct insult on me and my comments by the owner of the blog. At least I have some self awareness and honesty.”
“I guess I am done here. Bye everyone.”
“There you go, Ben Jones.”
Well, I’m gonna go then. And I don’t need any of this! I don’t need this stuff, and I don’t need you. I don’t need anything - except this (referring to an ashtray), this ashtray, and that’s the only thing I need, is this. I don’t need this or this. Just this ashtray. And this paddle game, the ashtray and the paddle game and that’s all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game and the remote control, and that’s all I need. And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that’s all I need. And that’s all I need, too. I don’t need one other thing, not one - I need this! The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure.
Well, what are you looking at? What do you think I am, some kind of a jerk or something? And this! And that’s all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair…I don’t need one other thing, except my dog (the dog growled at him) I don’t need my dog.
Well ,calurker gave one big insult to the current data being discussed verses 7 years ago ,so how does this person expect to not have comments made on that attack .
It’s election time ,of course people are going to talk about
the elections .
“I guess I am done here. Bye everyone.”
Found you something with a “Power of Women” sign for a going away present.
The Partridge Family - I think I love you (Original version) - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIuKtp3yCTw - 170k -
I’m sleeping
And right in the middle of a good dream
Then all at once I wake up
From something that keeps knocking at my brain
Before I go insane
I hold my pillow to my head
And spring up in my bed
Screaming out the words I dread ….
I think I`m done here! (I think I`m done here)
This morning, I woke up with this feeling
I didn’t know how to deal with
And so I just decided to myself
I’d hide it to myself
And never talk about it
And did not go and shout it
When you walked into the room …..
I think I`m done here! (I think I`m done here)
I think I`m done here
So what am I so afraid of?
I’m afraid that I’m not sure of
A Blog there is no cure for
I think I`m done here!
Isn’t that what life is made of?
Though it worries me to say
I’ve never felt this way
Believe me
You really don’t have to worry
I only want to make you happy
And if you say
Hey, go away, I will
But I think better still
I’d better stay around and bug you
Do you think I have a case?
Let me ask you to your face
Do you think I think I`m done here? (I think your done here)
I think I`m done here!
So what am I so afraid of?
I’m afraid that I’m not sure of
A Blog there is no cure for
I think I`m done here!
Isn’t that what life is made of?
Though it worries me to say
I’ve never felt this way
I don’t know what I’m up against
I don’t know what it’s all about
I’ve go so much to think about
Hey! I think I`m done here!
So what am I so afraid of?
I’m afraid that I’m not sure of
A Blog there is no cure for
I think I`m done here!
Isn’t that what life is made of?
Though it worries me to say
I’ve never felt this way
Heeeeey I think I`m done here!
So what am I so afraid of?
I’m afraid that I’m not sure of
A Blog there is no cure for
I think I`m done here!
Isn’t that what life is made of?
Though it worries me to say
I’ve never felt this way
I think I`m done here!
I think I`m done here!
I think I`m done here!
“He’ll be back…under a different name…but back nonetheless.”
I suggest Eddie.
Now - they are the “good old days” - but nothing is obama’s fault.
Why do you keep saying people who will vote Obama think “nothing” is Obama’s fault? It sounds like you are only capable of very simplistic thinking on this matter. It’s not all or nothing. A lot of things are Obama’s fault. I listed a bunch of Obama’s faults as have many who will vote for him.
Don’t you know the difference between “nothing” and “somethings” where the bad “somethings” still don’t outweigh the bad “somethings” of the alternative party?
RIO<
It is 2banana who two days ago suggested an unfunded, BIG GOV solution.
I politely inquired as to why this was and if it fit within the conservative mindset.
What I received was an assumptive ad hominem attack.
I also inquired if Paul Ryan’s votes for TARP and the GM bailout fit within the conservative mindset, and; in particular, how it fit within the Tea Party mantra of “Taxed Enough Already”.
Again, I was subjected to an assumptive ad hominem attack.
I am beginning to believe that the intellectual dishonesty of the GOP and its supporters is not just limited to 2banana.
I am beginning to believe that the intellectual dishonesty of the GOP and its supporters is not just limited to 2banana.
It’s rare to find intellectual honesty in those who don’t believe in science.
“Why do you keep saying people who will vote Obama think “nothing” is Obama’s fault?”
I thought it was only Obama , Pilosi, Reed, Debbie Wasserman Schultz etc. that thought nothing was Obama’s fault.
It’s rare to find intellectual honesty in those who don’t believe in science.
You don’t have to believe science, you can replicate and check the proof for your selves. When it comes to global warming science that is a different matter things like replicable results that support or prove theories don’t exist, here you need to believe.
Your belief in the consensus substitutes for what used to be science.
“Your belief in the consensus substitutes for what used to be science…”
The world used to be flat ya know, it’s TRUE!
You don’t have to believe science (if you believe in the Bible)
IIRC Newton believed in Science and Religion both. I think he was also a believer in Alchemy.
Any society that sailed boats that got far enough from shore to start to disappear over the horizon knew that the earth was curved. Since the bottom disappears first (bottom of the boat not the mast if you are on shore or the beach area before the mountains if you are on the boat) the earth has to be curved. Whether they concluded from that information that it was a globe is another question.
Your belief in the consensus substitutes for what used to be science.
The consensus is the science. It may not always prove right in the long run, and it will always be challenged, but what scientists generally agree on is the scientific conclusion, by definition.
“The consensus is the science.”
From the mouths of babes! So true, so sad. Combine that with the tendancy for the concensus to follow the guidance of sociopaths. No telling how this persistant aspect of human behavior has held back the search for truth and discovery over our history. Science has become an oxymoron. Once it was a revolution against concensus.
You can still have revolution against the consensus in science. All you have to do is prove it. The guy who gave himself an ulcer with a bacterial infection got everyone’s attention.
From the mouths of
babeswikipedia!wikipedia
the tendancy for the concensus to follow the guidance of sociopaths.
In science? I think you’re thinking about religion. Or right-wing politics.
They are all a lot of work. I know the science field and the religion, you are better versed in the edgy politics, you are all over the latest drama and winginess.
Changes are coming. You will be pissed off at all creation more and more and more as reality sinks in.
Changes are coming. You will be pissed off at all creation more and more and more as reality sinks in.
Is this about you retiring again, or are you making a real prediction this time? It’s very ominous- I’m quite frightened.
Is Satan taking over and handsomely rewarding all liars and cheats? Because that would mark the final victory of your GOP.
P.S. Aren’t you going to thank me for showing you what science means?
Don’t let these bratty little bros bully you, calurker, and don’t take what they say too seriously. Some of the peripheral conversations HAVE degenerated over this year and some of our posters seem to prefer personal invective to constructive conversation.
I don’t, but I do appreciate your thoughtful perspective and would hate to see you slip back into the cybershadows. You give good link. Please don’t leave?
Cheers,
ahansen
This is a longish article but kind of fascinating about attitudes, who has the jobs, and a lot of other issues.
Who Wears the Pants in This Economy?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/magazine/who-wears-the-pants-in-this-economy.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
This is really hard to tease. But I do recommend reading it:
Reuben has a college degree and doesn’t seem especially preoccupied with machismo, so I asked him why, given how many different kinds of jobs he has held, he couldn’t train for one of the jobs that he knew was available: something related to schools, nursing or retail, for example. One reason was obvious — those jobs don’t pay as much as he was accustomed to making — but he said there was another. “We’re in the South,” he told me. “A man needs a strong, macho job. He’s not going to be a schoolteacher or a legal secretary or some beauty-shop queen. He’s got to be a man.”
You are what you do?
If you are what you do then what happens to you after you retire from what you do?
I know of several incidents of this and they are not pretty.
incidents = instances
coincidence?
I know of several incidents of this and they are not pretty.
+1, combo. My father is struggling with this right now—and has been for several years.
Reuben sounds like he has some issues…
Patsy, who is 50 and works as a family-services director, and her husband, Reuben, 52, met on a blind date in 1979, and that very night he asked her to marry him
Reuben told her he was madly in love, and if she did not quit school and marry him, he wouldn’t wait, “and I was stupid enough to believe him,” she says.
He found a job as director of mall operations in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and then one at a conference-call company in West Point, Ga., and next at a tire plant in Dothan, Ala. None lasted long.
Did it ever occur to this Guy to diversify his business? Majority of the services type cleaning business have a life span of about 5 to 8 years. Then you need to add different type of service to your business to expand and bring in new customers.
It’s a good feel sorry for me story.
It isn’t about the one guy. It is about the town and Alabama and the changing workforce. Read it. Not just the comments. This is why I was a little hesitant to tease it.
Survival of the fittest is the game.
Is it just me - what a lot of overweight people. We are in for a cleansing of historic proportions. Maybe it is the southern cooking/ living.
The women, especially. Well groomed but obviously chained to their desks, not getting exercise and rewarding themselves with extra biscuits and gravy.
We are in for a cleansing of historic proportions.
In a lot of such cleansings, the fat outlive the thin.
“Is it just me - what a lot of overweight people. We are in for a cleansing of historic proportions. Maybe it is the southern cooking/ living.”
I was just looking at some video of the airplane crash at the Reno Air Races, and I noticed the same thing…almost everyone is borderline morbidly obese. It’s certainly one of the storm clouds on the horizon closing in while we are in a deflationary depression.
almost everyone is borderline morbidly obese.
Perhaps Reno presents a biased cross section, one heavy on body weight and percentage of smokers?
“Perhaps Reno presents a biased cross section, one heavy on body weight and percentage of smokers?”
I dunno. Airplane enthusiasts come from all over the country, and I’d guess that they’re likely better off than Joe Sixpack; certainly looks like they all enjoy eating.
Go to Disneyland…you’ll see the same thing.
The whole time there I kept thinking to myself: “oh my God, is THIS a cross-section of America?”
The man Reuben in the story suppsedly gets up at 5:30 and goes to the gym. He needs to lose at least 80 pounds. He must be oversensitive to modern wheat.
Regarding my comment yesterday about my house being broken burglarized, it seemed at least one person was annoyed that I identified myself as a black person.
Why did I do it?
I did it as a way of preventing my position from being dismissed as “racist”, which is what often happens to a white person who tells the truth. It has been my experience in “cyberspace” that people prefer not to identify themselves as nonwhite because it reduces your credibility. Once I noticed this pathology, I chose to counter it by identifying myself 180 out from a white person, often without prompting.
I imagine it must be frustrating for a white person to have to “soft shoe” the truth in order to not be accused of being a racist. BTW, “racist” is the “N” word for white people. It has the same effect, and is deployed for the same purpose; to dismiss a question or comment. By dismissing the person making it.
But this tactic/strategy does not solve the problem, because at the end of the day, the truth is still standing there, and like that _______ in front of the liquor store, he ain’t gonna go away on his own.
Hey, Spook. Along with Alena yesterday, I am sorry to hear about what happened to you. I hope you can help the police catch the perpetrators and that your insurance covers any serious losses. The feelings won’t go away so quickly.
I wasn’t the person that commented on you identifying yourself as black yesterday, but I would like to try to explain some of the reasoning that may have been behind it.
I don’t care that the kids that took your stuff are black. They are criminals and punks and poor members of society. But that isn’t a result of them being black. I don’t care that you are black either. You are a victim of a crime and I want justice for you and recovery of your losses and whatever feelings of peace you can get back as quickly as possible. That isn’t because you are black. It is because you are the victim of a crime.
But we have some real racists who frequent this board. Some are racist and clueless like NYCdj who seems to think that all welfare and unemployment recipients are black speakers of Ebonics who don’t know how to speak standard English and can’t read. And some are racist and malicious like Dio who has said that the reason there are problems with the governments and societies in Africa is that they are filled with Africans to whom he attributes a lot of characteristics, but laziness seems to be the primary one.
Now, I get that it is particularly hard to be the victim of a crime when you know the people who did it are similar to you in some way. You think that if your parents or grandparents or other family members had had any input into their upbringing they wouldn’t have dared to be like that. Most of the punks in my town growing up lived in my general neighborhood and when they broke my brothers basketball net or left a hunk of deer leg on our lawn or threw rocks at us riding our bikes or blew up a classroom at our elementary school, it was hard. We lived two blocks down the street. Why did their parents let them do that? Why did they even want to do it? We were neighbors. All the kids little kids in the neighborhood went to that school. So I get the hurt at some level. But it isn’t the race of the thieves that is the problem just like it wasn’t anything in the dirt or the houses in my neighborhood growing up.
And that is why people had an issue with it, I think. We are sorry you were the victim of a crime, but while the race of the people who took your stuff may add to your hurt, it isn’t why they did it, and you being black doesn’t change what they actually did.
Again, I hope you can help the police catch them and feel safer soon too.
“but laziness seems to be the primary one.”
Most of the lazy people I know are white.
Sorry you got ripped off Spook, no matter what color you are and no matter what color the POS people who ripped you off are.
“Africans to whom he attributes a lot of characteristics, but laziness seems to be the primary one.”
I find this comical. Some people are lazy, some are not. It’s as simple as that.
I’m sure we can all add countless examples of Africans who are not lazy and (fill in the stereotype)s who are not (what those stereotypes are “known” for).
It was me. Didn’t mean to offend anyone. My main point was Zimmerman used a gun in a street fight and killed a unarmed man and I thought you were somewhat justifying it with your recent experience. BTW, I am neither of Trayvon’s race nor of Zimmerman’s.
“It was me.”
HEY! Watch that personal responsibility sh#t. Get with the program, it was somebody else’s fault. Next thing you know we`ll have people saying they shouldn`t have lied about their income on that $400k home loan they got in 2005.
Updated: 8:54 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012 | Posted: 8:49 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012
Obama, GOP duel over rising college expenses
By ALAN FRAM
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON —
President Barack Obama would make tax credits for college expenses permanent and expand Pell grants for students from lower-earning families. The Republican team of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would emphasize the need to curb rising tuitions and federal education spending that are burdening families and the government.
The different approaches to coping with growing college costs highlight one way that Obama and the GOP ticket are competing for young voters. This important group leaned heavily toward Obama in 2008 and still prefers him, according to polls, though less decisively.
Tuitions and fees for four-year public colleges grew by 72 percent above inflation over the past decade, averaging $8,244 last year, according to the College Board, which represents more than 6,000 schools. Student loan debt in the U.S. has hit $914 billion; the average borrower owes more than $24,000, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says.
Well before the party conventions, both sides had issued proposals directly affecting college students — and their parents — coping with those mushrooming costs.
Obama would let the current $5,550 per year maximum Pell grant increase to $5,635 next year, as scheduled under current law. That figure has grown by more than $900 since 2008 for a program that is the largest source of federal aid for students, serving more than 9 million of them.
Obama would make permanent the American Opportunity tax credit, created as part of his 2009 economic stimulus program. The credit provides up to $2,500 a year per student for college costs but is due to expire Jan. 1. Renewing it would cost an estimated $13 billion next year alone.
Obama has also proposed tying some federal aid, including Perkins loans and subsidies for students’ work-study jobs, to schools’ abilities to curb tuition increases. The president’s proposals continue “the administration’s commitment to keep college affordable for students and their families,” his 2013 budget blueprint said.
Separate plans by presidential nominee Romney and his running mate focus more on containing federal costs.
In a May paper, Romney argued that even as federal spending for higher education has grown, the costs of attending college and student debt have ballooned. Obama initiatives making the government the direct source of federal student loans, creating the American Opportunity tax credit and boosting Pell grants have not worked, it said.
“Flooding colleges with federal dollars only serves to drive tuition higher,” said Romney’s education paper, “A Chance for Every Child.”
It said Romney would improve college access and affordability: “A Romney administration will tackle this challenge by making clear that the federal government will no longer write a blank check to universities to reward their tuition increases.”
the dummies keep paying that is the reason it keeps going up. as long as people pay they will continue to raise prices.
Big mac values meals are over 6 bucks now. i quit buying a long time ago. they still have enough buyers to support that price I guess.
eventually gasoline will get so high that other methods of producing energy will become favorable.
Dear gawd - more sanity.
Quick - someone blame Bush and say Republicans want to starve kids…
“Flooding colleges with federal dollars only serves to drive tuition higher,” said Romney’s education paper, “A Chance for Every Child.”
Paul Ryan paid for college with Social Security benefits.
Making private student loans not dischargeable in bankruptcy is also makes it trivially easy for colleges to raise the costs. There is no reason for private lenders to pull back on their lending if they have a student’s entire life to try to collect. Is he recommending changing the law to pull back that protection to the lenders so they have to actually do a risk assessment on lending the money?
“Somewhere around 85% of Student loans are backed directly by the US Government.”
8/22/2012 @ 11:56AM
Marc Prosser, Contributor
5 Reasons the Student Loan Crisis is Nothing Like the Mortgage Crisis
Ever since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau declared that student debt had crossed the $1 Trillion mark, there has been an endless stream of headlines declaring this the next big crisis in the US. With the US and many other countries still reeling from the 2008 crisis this has many people asking if this is the next mortgage crisis.
Here are 5 reasons why its not even close:
1. The size of the market is much, much smaller.
The below chart from the NY Fed gives a breakdown of the more than $11 Trillion in debt owed by individuals. The red portion of the line represents student loans (8% of the total), the yellow part of the line represents mortgage debt (72% of the total).
2. The Private loan market is an even smaller percentage of that. Somewhere around 85% of Student loans are backed directly by the US Government. This means that in addition to student loans being a small percentage of overall consumer debt, only a small percentage of that is held by non government financial institutions. (learn more about agency bonds)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcprosser/2012/08/22/student-loan-crisis/ - 84k -
Sad day for crippled kids:
http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/09/01/exclusive-without-jerry-lewis-mda-couldnt-collect-50-of-last-years-pledges
Darn those fact-checkers. It’s hard to be chronic liar anymore…
Paul Ryan Trips Over Marathon Question
By Shushannah Walshe | ABC OTUS News – 6 hrs ago
COLUMBUS - Paul Ryan is an athlete, no question about it - we know he does the rigorous P90X exercise regime daily. But is he a marathoner?
On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show Friday it sure sounded like he was, at least in his youth.
Hewitt asked the vice presidential candidate whether he is “still running.”
Ryan answered that he “hurt a disc” in his back,” so he doesn’t “run marathons anymore.” Instead, he said. he just runs 10 miles or less.
The conservative radio host then asked him what his personal best time is. For a marathoner this is a badge of honor, but Ryan couldn’t recall exactly.
“Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something,” Ryan said.
Hewitt was surprised, saying, “Holy smokes.”
Ryan replied: “I was fast when I was younger, yeah.”
But it turns out, he’s only run one and it wasn’t under three hours or even under four hours.
The Ryan campaign told Runner’s World magazine that the House Budget Chairman ran one marathon in 1990 when he was 20 years old. That was the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. The running magazine reports he finished in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds.
ABC News asked Buck why the Wisconsin congressman made it sound as if he had run more than one marathon, but Buck only responded to confirm it was just a single race.
http://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-trips-over-marathon-183056261–abc-news-politics.html
“Paul Ryan Trips Over Marathon Question”
Did he know what state he was in?
“Did he know what state he was in?”
He’s always in that state.
Did he know what state he was in?
He was in a state of confusion over his chronic lying and the fact that he’s getting called on it now that he’s in the big leagues.
Buckle up bloggers!
Real Americans in the SOUTH? ( Mississippi Voters )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IX6EgYQAoU
I just was looking up trailers from that classic movie, Dr. Strangelove ,Or How I Learned To Love The Bomb ,with Peter Sellers that came out in the 50’s. Talk about a movie that showed how crazy
the Cold War was .
When you think about it ,there was a major over reaction to the aftermath of World War 2 . The United States has been the only
Military power that has actually used the BIG BOMB ,but this set the stage for other Countries wanting a BIG BOMB also . Now it’s the fear of some insane Country unleashing the BIG BOMB .I mean is this why we have all this miltary build up world wide ,or has it been simply to protect economic interest ? It just seems like our miltary budget is
insane .
The Politics of a Chinese Orgy
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2012/08/the-politics-of-a-chinese-orgy.html
I don’t think people have posted this before:
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2012/286053.htm