The Housing Bubble

That’s a misapplication of materials, not “cheaping out”. Spread footings, monolithic slabs and 3 tab asphalt shingles are entirely appropriate.

“not intended to last forever.”

No structure is “intended to last forever” for the very simple reason that they cannot last forever. This is why houses depreciate.

No structure is “intended to last forever” for the very simple reason that they cannot last forever.

Doesn’t concrete last effectively forever? I thought some Roman-era concrete was still slowly getting harder today.

What is the life-expectancy of concrete?

Concrete houses? seriously? lol

According to the site, the house was originally the office of “the first African-American female doctor”. If (brick) walls could talk….

PIC, ISTR from a tour of the Colosseum that the portion (of teh Colosseum) that is still standing is built upon what used to be Nero’s private lake. They filled it with concrete…

My 2003 Toyota economy car with under 68k miles still is a charm.

I’m buying my wife a Honda crv for her birthday in a couple months. Good enough mpg, cheap parts, and reliable enough to keep in the garage as a beater in 6 or 8 years when it’s time to get a new car.

You think a six-year old car is a “beater?”

Oxide, my point was after 80 to 100k miles in a seasonal climate, a car starts to have issues that go beyond routine maintenance and things that can be easily fixed. Or, frankly, are worth fixing (minor cosmetic issues, bumper scratches). So a lot of the value after 6-8 years depends on a car being able to reliably eat miles

Note necessarily true. If well-maintained, today’s vehicles go 200k pretty easily with minimal repairs.

“cheap parts”

lmao…. you’re in for the surprise of your life.

I have a Honda as a beater now. 05 civic. Parts very cheap. My friend does all the work. Has done a lot of work on it. He swapped out the engine this summer at 150 k , now has one with only 30k . Great car for eating miles.

In my experience labor is expensive, parts fairly cheap. Insurance is also super cheap on a Honda.

$250 for an alternator isn’t “cheap”.

At least if you pay the dealer that much for it you won’t have to change it every year like you will if you use the $80 one from Autozone.

I’d never use anything but OEM parts. Yes, they’re cheap. Lol at sweating bullets over what an alternator costs. That’s for poors who would be better off without a car.

Nice try but a $250 alternator isn’t “cheap” no matter how you twist it.

Nice try but a $250 alternator isn’t “cheap” no matter how you twist it.
The only auto expense that really counts is how much you spend per mile traveled, and this has to be added up when you get rid of the thing. I paid $500 for a starter on my 1983 F250. Twenty years ago. I’m still using it.

Just the ones made in Mexico… which is all of them but the Passat (that may have changed) and the Phaeton, which is made in Germany.

Overpriced too.

I believe all VW’s are
The only VW I ever owned (briefly) was a 1969 VW microbus with 69,000 miles on it, in 1975. It lasted me 10 days before the front axle came apart due to rusting. Never again.

Scientists are not engineers.

Scientists are not engineers.

That’s why I said ‘if’. But here I found a study that includes engineers. They, too’ are more liberal than the average:

University of Toronto survey

This survey asked 1,634 full-time employed faculty members at four year institutions across the U.S

Liberal professors by discipline Humanities 81%
Social Science 75%
Engineering 51%
Business 49%
RationalWiki

The survey is flawed if it only checks if one is liberal or conservative without checking for libertarian or other. Some self-described liberals are capitalists who think taxation is theft. Others are fierce proponents of RKBA. Some “liberals” are very into Christianity. Some “conservatives” are atheists (Jillian Becker runs a popular atheist conservative web site).

I ran across a lot of engineers who, like I said, are fiscal conservative but don’t give a hoot about religion. Many people I work with tell me privately they are atheists. One years ago told me he’s an atheist but his wife is religious and he goes to church with her.

I would expect to find that engineers are also more libertarian than the general public.

The Toronto survey, being a survey of faculty members, ignores engineers in private industry. There may be a self selection process that inclines those with liberal leanings to stay in academics and those with libertarian leanings to pursue commercial endeavors.

Engineering professors are NOT representative of practicing (real world) engineers. Such survey simply confirms the extreme liberal leaning of professors/instructors/administrators at our higher learning institutions.

H2BH, I cannot speak for all engineers but some of us read a lot of Robert A Heinlein, Larry Niven, James P. Hogan and the like. Pretty much, science fiction in the 70s and early 80s at least was full of libertarianism. Lots of capitalism, individualism and “free love” and no Christianity. Heinlein’s “Job: A Comedy of Justice” was the closest to about religion but it was a novel every atheist would get a “righteous” chuckle out of.

Given that the new Chinese president, and the previous Chinese president, and the Chinese prime minister, and eight out of nine Chinese Communist Party Standing Committee politburo members are engineers, I’d say that most engineers are authoritarian/communists.

Engineering professors are NOT representative of practicing (real world) engineers.

Perhaps, but my experience is that “real world” engineers are fairly liberal. With the main exceptions being those who are Protestant Fundy or LDS.

When well over 50% of the engineering jobs are off of government and they are willing to pay the high price, you expect anyone to turn up their nose? Not if they are selfish individualists. I do not crusade. I go where I can earn the most money, whether my client is the thugernment (directly or indirectly) or non-government.

Crusades are for collectivists and other weak minded people such as Oxide.

Crusades are for collectivists and other weak minded people such as Oxide.

Your grasping at straws to justify your hypocrisy is what strikes me as “weak minded”.

Is that you, Berlusconi?

We need to elect someone either like Nader or Ron Paul to face down the banksters. Unfortunately, it won’t happen. As Mr. Jones chronicled, Ron Paul was shut out at the GOP convention. And there’s no way the Dems will ever nominate someone like Nader.

‘the filthy rich saw capital gains go from 15% to a paltry 20%, not the 40% Obama supposedly wanted’

Here’s a question for you; why does no one ever mention 401k’s, etc? These tax deferment plans funnel billions straight into stocks. It provides an incentive for everyone to play the wall street casino. How much ‘revenue’ could be raised if we couldn’t delay taxes by gambling in NYC?

I’m not advocating any taxes, as long as the US government feels it has the extra loot to spend on unconstitutional military ‘adventures’. But how we are taxed is really a bundle of incentives that don’t have anything to do with ‘raising revenue’. The mortgage interest/property tax deduction is a good example. People who rent get no deductions, while interest on up to a million dollar house loan can be deducted every year.

why does no one ever mention 401k’s, etc
OK, I’ll mention my 403x.x. Like 401k, not taxable until distributed to a beneficiary. None of it has been invested in the stock market since 2007. All in treasury paper, making basically less than 0.1% interest.

‘All in treasury paper, making basically less than 0.1% interest’

OK, so what’s the supposed ‘goal’ of these deferment plans? To encourage savings, right? But then why is the central bank reducing returns on savings? 0.1%? Do you supposed this might encourage others into the stock market, where the computer traders skim left and right? Why are we really doing this?

I don’t fault anyone for taking advantage of these plans or the MID. But ultimately don’t these tax schemes change what you do with your money, toward something politicians (and lobbyist) want?

‘We need to elect someone either like Nader or Ron Paul to face down the banksters…Unfortunately, it won’t happen’

Let’s take a little time trip. Remember when Occupy Wall Street had an approval sentiment at something like 90%? IMO, the idea of confronting wall street touched a real nerve with the public that had nothing to do with drum circles or long hair. I can remember even here on this blog there was real excitement. Not because we all shared the ‘non-goals’ of the people camping out, but because people were physically standing up to the ‘establishment’ (or what ever you want to call it).

We have to forget about Nader and Paul; they’re retired. But we can’t forget about what’s at stake here, and that there really are a lot more of us than them.

I am all for getting rid of the tax deferment for 401k’s, too. I have never had a 401k, and don’t want one. Most people don’t have a 401k, or any stocks at all.

‘Most people don’t have a 401k, or any stocks at all’

‘(Reuters) - Washington’s last-minute scramble to step back from a “fiscal cliff” ran into trouble on Tuesday as Republicans in the House of Representatives balked at a deal to avert a budget crisis. With financial markets closed for the New Year’s Day holiday, lawmakers have only Tuesday to close the deal before Wall Street has time to weigh in.’

“My district cannot afford to wait a few days and have the stock market go down 300 points tomorrow if we don’t get together and do something,” Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, said on the House floor.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-heading-off-fiscal-cliff-025839073.html

We can’t disappoint wall street now, can we Mr. Cohen?

IMO, the idea of confronting wall street touched a real nerve with the public

It did, and was quickly demonized by the MSM, and J6Pack’s attention was diverted.

‘quickly demonized…attention was diverted;

I’m sure there will be some examination of what went down, but the way I remember it, the core groups resisted taking specific positions and focused on the right to pitch a tent. We went round and round on this blog about it. Then when they had lost momentum, the remnant took up foreclosure squatting, etc. They squandered the goodwill, IMO. But what matters is the public will get behind a grass roots movement against the money establishment. It could be on the streets or in politics.

The TeaParty hold outs in the House Republicans are doing a pretty good job of standing up to the money establishment, it seems to me.

But what matters is the public will get behind a grass roots movement against the money establishment.
This will take a lot more education, especially among members of the public who can’t balance their personal accounts and do their own taxes. I watch the MSM for any evidence that the realities have percolated through to this level — and have seen very little progress since 2007. MSM is still talking up a non-existent ‘recovery’ and breathlessly following stock market indices multiple times a day.

It’s tempting but I really do like dialogue between songs.

Although I enjoyed the movie, I suspect it will suffer from a lack of appeal to those like you, who prefer less emphasis on musical numbers, and hard-core Broadway types, who will find some of the actors’ musical skills lacking.

Signing off with “X” is a sign of cowardice.

‘ you’ve not been listening very hard’

I’m asking the so-called progressives on this blog. Are you writing the white house asking WTF on this? Have you sent any emails in disgust? Or are you happy that Obama got more money for his killing machine today?

You know, this isn’t a game, and we’re dealing with people that kill all the time.

“Are you writing the white house asking WTF on this? Have you sent any emails in disgust?”

Constantly.

And I’m heartbroken that the military cuts were exempted. You may notice I’ve not posted most of the afternoon and evening until now. Guess what I’ve been doing instead? Hint: I’m on a first-name basis with my Congressman and Senator’s chiefs of staff.

Why doesn’t Fox report this, too:

Calls to several Presidential libraries reveal that President Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, was on vacation more — 1,020 days — than any U.S. President since Herbert Hoover and possibly more than any other President in history.

Even President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was in office 12 years from 1933 to 1945, was on vacation less days than President Bush at 958 days. Calls to several Presidential Libraries reveal that no President can come close to Bush’s 1,020 days on vacation in an 8 year period. Even Lyndon Johnson, who spent 484 days at his ranch in Texas and at Camp David during his presidency, came in under Bush’s vacation time.
politics365

But see it’s different if it’s a rich white guy at his ranch. He’s still workin’… maybe clearin’ brush (as W used to say was his favorite activity there).

But ‘those people’ just go on wasteful vacations, like taking their kids to a national park.

“at his ranch.”

Aspen to ski.

Hawaii for an extended vacation

Martha’s Vineyard

mother and daughters travel to South Africa and Botswana.

the first lady and first daughters travel to Vail to ski.

the first lady and daughter Sasha travel to Spain for a mother-daughter vacation.

He doesn’t have a huge ranch to which he can retreat, where he can take more vacation days than any president in history, like Bush did. Nor does he have a family beach compound in New England.

And his interests are bigger than clearin’ brush. As they should be, for a president.

“And his interests are bigger than clearin’ brush.”

No doubt in my mind.

George Kaiser, Obama Donor, Discussed Solyndra Loan With White House, Emails Show

MATTHEW DALY 11/ 9/11 09:41 PM ET Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A major donor to President Barack Obama discussed with White House officials a solar energy company that received a half-billion dollar federal loan and later went bankrupt, newly released emails show.

The emails released by a House committee appear to contradict repeated assurances by the Obama administration that the donor, George Kaiser, never talked about Solyndra Inc. with the White House.

Solyndra’s name came up at a White House meeting with Kaiser last year at a time when the California company was seeking a second federal loan, after it had already received a $528 million loan in 2009, the emails show.

The second loan was not approved. Instead, an investment venture controlled by Kaiser made a private loan that resulted in the firm and other investors moving ahead of taxpayers in line for repayment in case of a default by Solyndra.

Solyndra, the first renewable energy company to receive a federal loan under the 2009 stimulus law, declared bankruptcy in September and laid off its 1,100 workers, leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than a half-billion dollars.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/george-kaiser-solyndra_n_1084568.html - 381k -

Ah, Solyndra! I guess you realized how badly you were losing the ‘Obama vacations all the time’ right wing talking point battle, what with Bush taking so many more.

Time to fall back to another tired and weak right wing talking point.

Losing what? Money and debt mean nothing to any of them. The Obama vacations and Pilosi the 1 %er govt. jet to fly back and forth to Cali. Everybody screamed (and rightfully so) when the CEOs of the bankrupt car companies traveled better than first class but it`s OK for the leaders of our bankrupt country to blow huge bucks living like the Kings and Queens they believe they are?

Bull sh#t! It`s obsene. 16 trillion now, 20 trillion when he is done. Where does it stop? Where are the grown ups?

I don`t know about alpha-ville but everywhere I have ever lived you have to pay your bills and pay for groceries. Unless China starts handing out SNAP cards and HAMP programs loli pop land ain`t gonna last.

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ - 213k

Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets to Plead for Public Funds

By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) and JOSEPH RHEE
November 19, 2008

The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation’s capital yesterday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy.

The CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler may have told Congress that they will likely go out of business without a bailout yet that has not stopped them from traveling in style, not even First Class is good enough.

“This is a slap in the face of taxpayers,” said Tom Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste. “To come to Washington on a corporate jet, and asking for a hand out is outrageous.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/WallStreet/story?id=6285739&page=1 -

Don’t miss the racist slant in this obsessive fixation on Obama’s vacations…

I accidentally through Pelosi’s jet in my last rant. Sorry, I guess I must have forgotten she was white. I can`t figure out why I don`t like her or Biden or Rham, I mean given that they are white and everything.

Nor can I figure out why I voted for Alan West both times he ran, I mean given that he is black and everything. Oh well, I guess we racists are just hard to figure out.

But since you are so smart and not racisst and all, when Obama`s second term is done and we have a 20 trillion dollar debt do you have some person of color that can get us out of it?

a 41:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts.

Wow, looks like Obama really schooled those putzes. Goes to show what you can do when you’re well-rested from your vacations.

Just think of all the failed Green energy companies we can back with that new tax revenue!

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ - 213k -

Failed?

Every single indicator shows renewable energy capacity and sales constantly rising every year. By very large amounts.

In other words, the industry is doing just fine and will continue to do just fine even after the incentives are ended.

“Wow, looks like Obama really schooled those putzes.”

Just a game to you?

Those two reasons are pretty darn weak.

Number 1 is absurd: “The govt directly centrally controls all earned income” is simply not true, unless you have a bizarre and wide-ranging conspiracy theory, which needs to be proven first. ” [U]nearned income is more honestly earned by the individual” is laughable.

Number 2 basically asserts we’re better off without government getting any taxes, because they’ll “waste it on the masses”. This is an example of the trickle down economic theory, which is failing right before our eyes.

Those two reasons are pretty darn weak.

Agreed.

There is one, and only ONE good reason for capital gains to be slightly lower than income-tax rates: inflation.

If I put away $100 of some asset, and ten years later that same asset is worth $150, but that $150 only has the buying power of $100 ten years prior, has any gain actually occurred? Nope.

Capitals gains should be inflation-adjusted by the CPI. Only gains that are over and above inflation should be taxed at all.

But what portion DOES get taxed should get taxed at a taxpayer’s normal marginal rates.

It shouldn’t matter whether I work for my income by the sweat of my brow, or whether my assets work for me; the tax rate that applies should be the same.

Capitals gains should be inflation-adjusted by the CPI.
CPI has been and will be fraudulently re-defined to adjust for this. The fraudulent part will be defined as justifiable / legal / obvious by economists.

…or their sex lives, right?

Bad prediction on Peyton and the Broncos this year by the way. Don`t lose heart though, Peyton is not a great playoff guy.

“urban thugs”

Where`s the racist flag?

howz bout dem redneck cowboy gun shootin thuggersz?

Ha, you guys ain’t seen nothin. Check out the fully automatic handgun about 25 seconds in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4_-CCLn9wA

I used to walk around Reynosa at night all the time. I wouldn’t dare now.

I used to walk around Reynosa at night all the time.
I wouldn’t walk around Albuquerque at night.