Bargains at the shore?

From the APP:

Shore’s summer rental market remains unsteady

Jim Fuhse has rented property in Manasquan to summertime tourists since the early 1990s, through recessions and expansions, through sun and rain, so he can attest: This season is just, plain strange.

He had hoped the apparent end of the recession would unleash a pent-up demand, but that hasn’t been the case. Instead, he has gotten calls at the last minute from groups backing out because they couldn’t find enough friends to go in with them.

“It’s never been a worry before,” Fuhse said of trying to rent the home, three blocks from the beach. “It’s just unusual.”

The Shore’s summer rental market, an early indicator of the upcoming tourism season, remains solidly in the renters’ favor. They are waiting longer and asking for discounts. And they are causing landlords some sleepless nights.

For property owners, there is a lot at stake in getting their share. They depend on the summer months to pay the mortgage, taxes and insurance, and at least some of those expenses have risen sharply in recent years.

But their chances of keeping up with those costs by charging higher prices are slim. The recession has taken a toll on consumers. Some have lost their jobs. Others have found it tougher to find disposable income or borrow money for vacations.

Jerry Fahey, a real estate agent from Providence, R.I., symbolizes the mindset. He comes to the Shore virtually every year for a family reunion and rented a house last year on Long Beach Island for $2,500 a week.

This year? “We’re definitely looking for (a home for) less than that,” Fahey said. “You’d like to save a few dollars if you can, you know?”

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275 Responses to Bargains at the shore?

  1. Nomad says:

    Uno

  2. Final Doom says:

    I think Buffett is tagging Becky Quick.

  3. Simply Ravishing HEHEHE says:

    Warren and his little blue pills.

  4. safeashouses says:

    What happened to the Jersey Shore fans snapping up every rental? Seems like we have a situation there.

  5. NJCoast says:

    Hurry and get your Jersey Shore rental- by July the oil slick should be here all on fire and stuff.
    Smoke on the water. Cool.

  6. Final Doom says:

    If I’m at the shore in July, I’ll miss the riots.

  7. grim says:

    Is it really any different from the persistent Hawaiian Tropic slick off the Jersey shore?

  8. Final Doom says:

    Ask not what you can do for your country, but how much smoking, drinking and laying about your country will subsidize for you.

    And, if your country won’t pay for it, burn the mf’er down.

    May 3 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister George Papandreou’s call for Greeks to accept more sacrifices in return for staving off default was rejected by opposition leaders and unions, which are already organizing more protests.
    Unions representing more than 500,000 civil servants called a 48-hour strike starting May 4. Local government workers called a snap strike for today. Teachers are also on strike from tomorrow and a general strike, the third this year, is planned for May 5. Members of the opposition party Syriza plan to encircle the Finance Ministry in central Athens today.
    “Protests will increase, given we also have the pension issue before us,” said Spyros Papaspyros, the head of the federation of civil servant unions, ADEDY. “Opting for the easy path of cutting wages and pensions can’t be accepted.”
    Greece announced an unprecedented 110 billion-euro ($146 billion) bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to prevent default, agreeing to an additional 30 billion euros in budget cuts that unions have called “savage”. The austerity measures include a second set of wage cuts for public workers, a three-year freeze on pensions and a second increase this year in sales tax and the price of fuel, alcohol and tobacco.

  9. Final Doom says:

    grim (7)-

    Pretty sure you can’t set fire to the Hawiian Tropic slick.

  10. Final Doom says:

    Another concept we’ve exported all over the planet: Trash for Cash.

    “Did the ECB just learn the last bastion of rating agency insanity, aka Moody’s, is about to downgrade Greece? Today Trichet decided to abandon all caution, and has proceeded to officially recognize all Greek toxic garbage as collateral for ECB-backed loans. Looks like the ECB president has been paying careful attention during Bernanke 101 in which his transatlantic colleague has been advocating the collateralization of a sovereign currency with all sorts of gamma decaying substances, for well over a year now. Now Ben is starting to get woefully behind the curve in the devaluation race. In the meantime, using simple math, we wonder: if Greece, which as so many have pointed out is only 2.7% of European GDP, ended up costing 110 billion euros, does that mean that a full blown bailout of Europe will be over $5 trillion? Surely this is a bargain compared to the $20+ trillion that the rescue of the US ended up costing. Looks like a slam dunk relative default pair trade to us.”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ecb-will-accept-junk-rated-greekman-brothers-debt-collateral-suspenion-rating-threshold-prog

  11. Final Doom says:

    ECB now being primed as dumpster for toxic securities.

    Why should we be limited to destroying our own country, when we can help the planet destroy itself?

  12. frank says:

    Home prices at the shore are close to the highs, so if you can’t rent it, sell it and stop complaining.

  13. Final Doom says:

    “Greekman Brothers”. Hardy har.

  14. yo'me says:

    Banks Buying Treasuries Help Keep Borrowing Rates Low (Update2)

    “The risk of owning Treasures is lower than creating loans,” said Anthony Crescenzi, a market strategist and money manager at Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s largest bond-fund manager. “There is no clarity on what the capital climates will be domestically or on a global scale with regulation coming down the pipes, which means banks will be banking their money in safer assets.”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ah8D.w3kkWi8&pos=6

  15. yo'me says:

    THIS WILL REALLY KEEP INTEREST RATES LOW

    Fed Adopts Plan to Let Banks Set Up CDs to Drain Liquidity
    Friday, 30 Apr 2010 12:40 PM

    The Federal Reserve has adopted a plan allowing banks to set up the equivalent of certificates of deposit at the central bank.

    The move would help the Fed mop up money pumped out during the financial crisis and prevent inflation from taking off later.

    Under the plan, the Fed would offer so-called “term deposits” that would pay interest. Doing so would provide banks with another incentive to park their money at the Fed, rather than having it flow back into the economy.

    Once the economy is on firm footing, this would be one of the tools the Fed could use to tighten credit.

    The Fed says Friday’s action has “no implication for the near term conduct of monetary policy.”

  16. yo'me says:

    Is Zero hedge a reliable source for information?

    Surely this is a bargain compared to the $20+ trillion that the rescue of the US ended up costing. Looks like a slam dunk relative default pair trade to us.”

    US GDP is only 14 trillion,as far as I know debt to GDP not counting future liabilities is up to 90% of GDP.

  17. safeashouses says:

    #8 Doom,

    How can they go on strike if they aren’t doing anything? It’s like the homeless in NYC going on strike, what are they going to do, stop p00ping on the subway tracks?

  18. yo'me says:

    Bailing Out Greece Bails Out German Banks
    Monday, 03 May 2010 04:14
    This piece of information should have been included in a Washington Post article on the European-IMF bailout plan for Greece. At one point the article quotes from a German newspaper editorial: “most Germans struggle to understand why they should be paying for the Greeks, who are broke because they squandered their money.” It would have been helpful to point out to readers that this money is allowing Greece to continue to make payments to foreign creditors, a list which includes German banks. In other words, the money going from Germany to Greece is in part money going from German taxpayers to German banks. This fact should have been noted in the article

  19. Mr Hyde says:

    Yome,

    Thats like me demanding you hand over 500K to me in cash and promising to by you flowers afterwards. Dont worry, you get some of the money back in the form of flowers.

  20. Mr Hyde says:

    by = buy

  21. JJ says:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/sph001/4545728399/

    I guess NJ Recession is over, people driving Ferrais to sit in their overpriced PSL seats

  22. yo'me says:

    #19 ECB Should have monetized this debt months ago in the first place.It is what they are planning to do now.150 billion is nothing compared to a total collapse of credit.
    Just like saying;I spend $2000 to fix my car to keep me getting to work.

  23. veto that - lawrence yun 'the panda', 'next fall' says:

    Buy the market people.
    The S&P 500 is too big to fail.

  24. veto that - lawrence yun 'the panda', 'next fall' says:

    Invest your mortgage downpayments in risky assets.
    The stock market is ‘bleeding’ wealth.

  25. House Whine says:

    Can anyone tell me how in the world a high school librarian/”media specialist” in NJ would be able to earn over a $130,000 salary? Years in the school system is over 30 years, so I assume the person is highly qualified. But, even so- isn’t that just a bit exorbitant? Or , maybe I am out of touch? Is it a very stressful job?

  26. safeashouses says:

    #25 House Whine,

    Probably hazard pay. High chance of a paper cut in that line of work.

  27. Pat says:

    Well, the media specialist must be able to show the classes how to make picturs and charts like Venn Diagrams and timelines, using complicated software. A pencil and a coffee can lid just doesn’t cut it these days.

    Remember, the kids must know how to use this software if they are going to be effective communicators and media consumers.

    /disgust

  28. Fergus says:

    25. What is it that you do again?

  29. Fergus says:

    27. And your chosen vocation is what exactly?

  30. Pat says:

    29..taxpayer. I’ve got the kind of vocation where I pay the taxes that go into that media specialists paycheck.

  31. Pat says:

    And I’m just about tapped.

    /media specialist

  32. Fergus says:

    30. Job?

  33. Pat says:

    yes, I earn my keep.

  34. Anon E. Moose says:

    From Friday’s thread:

    368.Mr Hyde says:
    May 2, 2010 at 5:05 pm
    Shore

    I believe they started control burns within 48 hrs

    Wyatt’s Torch?

  35. Fergus says:

    OK Pat so you are a housewife? And a bored one at that?

  36. Pat says:

    You could say I trade on the shortcomings of others.

  37. Pat says:

    Yes, I am a housewife.

  38. Pat says:

    And Fergus, knowing or attempting to understand the incomes of private citizens in order to make false comparisons to public employees does not absolve any of us from the responsibility – not you, not me.

    New Jersey is bankrupt. Costs must come down, because revenue ain’t going up.

    If that media specialist is overpaid, that media specialist is overpaid.

    Period.

  39. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [250] [prior thread] cindy

    “Well if it is true, they are looking at an IRS nightmare. No wonder they need to hire more employees. Filing a 1099 every time a business spends $600 – yikes!”

    This isn’t news—I had posted a while back about how the IRS would be looking to increase its information flow to essentially keep tabs on the entire economy. The most elusive is the cash economy, where most small businesses and consumers work. Thus, going forward, the IRS will basically be in your grill on a semi-permanent basis if you’re a small businessperson (think large is better? the largest companies have IRS agents on site all the time; in banking, we called them examiners-in-residence).

    This law allows the IRS to know about virtually every transaction of significance by above-the-table businesses. It also gives IRS a wealth of opportunity for audits based on “foot faults” where missed and incorrect filings means that a filing on one side doesn’t have a match on the other, so the computer spits out an exception message. Grounds for an audit, and once in audit, the IRS can (and does) conduct a protological exam.

    BTW, the next frontier is consumer reporting. Since the consumer will rebel, you will see that onus put on card companies to report payments to companies, and on businesses that are paid in cash—they will have to report cash receipts over a certain dollar amount (some already do).

    Also, a substantial increase in reporting requirements, a lowering of reporting thresholds, and markedly increased enforcement are on my list of canary-in-the-coal-mine harbingers of bad things to come. Some of these I mentioned in the past. Any of them happening yet?

    Finally, anyone looking for the next growth industry? There will be a bunch of jobs located in Ogden, Utah; Philadelphia; Andover, Mass.; Austin, Tx.; Hartford; and Cincinnatti, among other places.

  40. Mr Hyde says:

    Fergus,

    Lets out the librarian salary in perspective. Do you think there is any chance a librarian is going to pull 130K in the private sector? We know a librarian wouldnt pull the level of benefits a school librarian does and a private sector librarian would probably be lucky to pull 50% of that.

    A quick google search shoes a mean salary of about 57K for librarians.

    some data for you:
    http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos068.htm (Scroll to end of page)

    From link:

    Median annual wages in the industries employing the largest numbers of librarians in May 2008 were as follows:

    Junior colleges $55,250
    Colleges, universities, and professional schools 55,180
    Elementary and secondary schools 54,650
    Other information services 48,060
    Local government 47,940

    The average annual salary for all librarians in the Federal Government in nonsupervisory, supervisory, and managerial positions was $84,796 in March 2009.

    That librarian salary of 130K is way overpaid especially when you consider the benefits they most likely have as well. They could take a 50% pay cut and still be doing better then average.

  41. Anon E. Moose says:

    Hyde [40];

    Point taken, but don’t go overboard. Does the data include 25/75 percentile, or control for experience? Anyone with 30 years experience should command more than the median salary.

  42. Pat says:

    Nom, many of the positions will be remote. At least 20 percent, I’m hearing.

  43. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Tax News of the Day:

    (15 years ago, I was in Corsica, and realized that, in the event of bad economic times, our future would look like Europe)

    “By: Suzanne Daley
    The New York Times

    In the wealthy, northern suburbs of this city, where summer temperatures often hit the high 90s, just 324 residents checked the box on their tax returns admitting that they owned pools.
    So tax investigators studied satellite photos of the area — a sprawling collection of expensive villas tucked behind tall gates — and came back with a decidedly different number: 16,974 pools.

    That kind of wholesale lying about assets, and other eye-popping cases that are surfacing in the news media here, points to the staggering breadth of tax dodging that has long been a way of life here.

    Such evasion has played a significant role in Greece’s debt crisis, and as the country struggles to get its financial house in order, it is going after tax cheats as never before.

    Various studies, including one by the Federation of Greek Industries last year, have estimated that the government may be losing as much as $30 billion a year to tax evasion — a figure that would have gone a long way to solving its debt problems. . . .

    [And then there is this, which you will most certainly see at doctor’s offices, dentists, and especially at nursing homes]

    “To get more attentive care in the country’s national health system, Greeks routinely pay doctors cash on the side, a practice known as “fakelaki,” Greek for little envelope. . . . .

    Some of the most aggressive tax evaders, experts say, are the self-employed, a huge pool of people in this country of small businesses. It includes not just taxi drivers, restaurant owners and electricians, but engineers, architects, lawyers and doctors. . . . .”

    /snip

  44. Pat says:

    No, Moose, anybody at that level must be early retired or shot.

    Just channeling clot here for a minute.

  45. BlueNDGold says:

    What school system is paying 130k/year for a librarian?

  46. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [42] pat

    No idea. Depends on how much they are willing to push that requirement. These positions are document-intensive though, so I suspect that not a high number of IRS people could easily work remotely.

    Besides, IRS has HUGE campuses that are not located in major cities, so there is little incentive to telecommute.

    Personally, I don’t know how they will do it. The average IRS worker is as lazy as the next gov. employee, nor are they particularly bright. I look forward to defending people in audits in the future.

  47. Mr Hyde says:

    Moose 40

    I agree and there are many other variables, but a first run estimate suggests that the librarian is substantially overpaid. Those salary figures dont include benefits packages and NJ education system benefits packages are gold plated.

  48. Final Doom says:

    Pat (31)-

    Speaking as a small businessman, I am tapped.

    Well is dry.

  49. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [43] redux

    Let me repeat that:

    “To get more attentive care in the country’s national health system, Greeks routinely pay doctors cash on the side, a practice known as “fakelaki,” Greek for little envelope. . . . .”

    I challenge any of the board liberals to tell me that this isn’t happening in other countries with national health care. This is just one reason that I said poor is the new black, and it is best to have your assets “off the grid” where they can pay for things like better medical care than the great unwashed would receive.

    Besides, after the operation, you can always stiff the doctor. Who’s he gonna tell?

  50. Final Doom says:

    Pat (42)-

    Back in the day, many positions in the Stasi were “remote”.

    Rat on your neighbors, get paid, go about your business.

  51. Final Doom says:

    Pat (44)-

    If you were really channeling me, you’d know that “shot” is the only viable option. :)

  52. Yikes says:

    informal poll: DOW to sooner hit 12000 or 9999?

    the PTB still have millions from the 1st bailout and with elections this fall, the guess here is that those millions are used (quietly, of course) at the first signs of disaster this summer.

    i think they’ll keep this sham going just long enough to get the pres a 2nd term.

    then we’ll have either crawled out of the doldrums (unlikely), or we’ll sink badly in early 2013.

    by then, the folks on this board will have enough ammo, RPGs and gold to get through 2015.

  53. Mr Hyde says:

    Re Librarians,

    From NJ education records here is a list of Library Skills Development teachers

    http://php.app.com/edstaff/results2.php?county=%25&district=%25&school=%25&lname=&fname=&job1=Library+Skills+Development&tfm_order=DESC&tfm_orderby=SALARY

    the highest paid is 91K in newark.

  54. Final Doom says:

    Top 3 salaries in my district’s elementary schools are PE teachers.

    24-30 years’ experience, all three banging 100K or close to it.

    All three are functional retards.

  55. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [50] doom

    Funny you should mention that. The IRS has recently publicized its rat and reward program: Dime out a tax cheat and get a cut.

    The program has always been around, but IRS is publicizing it a lot these days.

    Of course, the irony is trying to collect. The USG is famous for trying to stiff whistleblowers; I personally worked on a number of those cases. ATEOTD, in many whistleblower cases, the whistleblower is ostracized or worse, and has no reward to show for it.

  56. veto that - lawrence yun 'the panda', 'next fall' says:

    “Do you think there is any chance a librarian is going to pull 130K in the private sector?”

    When i hear the term librarian i think of the public sector automatically. Who is going to run a library for profit? Nobody. Because its not profitable to collect 40 cents in late fees.

    But I used the corporate library a lot back in my days at citigroup. The higher ups there were treated like executives. They were in charge of $15 Million budgets to purchase information from different vendors. Thomson, reuters, bloomberg etc.

    Im sure thats not the type of librarians you guys are referring to.

    $130k for a public librarian seems overpaid by at least two times. Thats just my guess based on an assumption that we live in a perfect world.
    If the librarian happens to be the mayors sister in law, clearly the $130k is warranted.

  57. scribe says:

    nom,

    BTW, the next frontier is consumer reporting. Since the consumer will rebel, you will see that onus put on card companies to report payments to companies, and on businesses that are paid in cash—they will have to report cash receipts over a certain dollar amount (some already do).

    the bill that allowed Paulson to seize Fanny and Freddy – the summer of 2008 – also had clauses that the cc companies had to report your purchases to the IRS …and other stips about eBay and PayPal …

    but what happened to that?

    Is there any specific date when the CC companies will start reporting to the IRS?

    I’ve always assumed they’re laying the groundwork for a VAT.

  58. Anon E. Moose says:

    Pat[44];

    If you were channeling Clot, you would have threatened to shoot ME, not the librarian. But I appreciate the effort. ;-)

  59. NJGator says:

    From the sounds of it maybe those Jersey City typing teachers are actually underpaid. If I were them, I’d start b*tching to my union rep.

    Seriously, we need to implement salary bands for jobs in the schools. It’s all well and good that you’ve managed to breathe for the last 30 years teaching PE, but no way is that job worth 100k for 10 months per year even if you have your Masters. You want to make more money? Get yourself promoted to a tougher job in the system.

  60. Mr Hyde says:

    Well,

    it looks like we have now seen the final form of the first Greek bailout:

    The European Central Bank joined the international rescue of Greece, saying it would indefinitely accept the country’s debt as collateral regardless of its country’s credit rating, underpinning gains in the bond market. – Bloomberg

    This also seems to circumvent Germany’s reluctance to take part int he bailout. Although i am not familiar enough with the details of the ECB to know whether or not the germans have some mechanism to protest this.

    But it could be in the germans favor. A devalued Euro is good for their industrial sector.

  61. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [58] scribe

    Not sure, but I thought it wound up on the cutting room floor. As you can imagine, a bill requiring the CC companies to report your purchases to the IRS would be hugely unpopular as “big brotherish”

    What you would see is a requirement for CC cos to report aggregate data, not individual CC charges, to IRS. Administratively, this makes more sense, and I suspect the original legislation had this requirement.

    That leaves the venerable cash transaction as the outlier. There are two immediate ways to attack it, which is to require consumers to report large purchases, or require businesses to do so. The latter is already baked in, the former will meet significant resistance though the one area where the requirement exists is for cars. This makes sense as a consumer cannot hide a car purchase.

  62. NJGator says:

    BTW – In our district, the librarians are the first staff that the Principals volunteered to give up.

    Well, except at Nishuane, where apparently the Librarian, like Mandarin is “integral to the magnet theme”. The Magnet theme is “Gifted and Talented” and the mission statement of the school is that all children possess special gifts and talents, and it is the school’s rsponsibility to find those special gifts and talents and nurture them.

  63. Fergus says:

    Only tears can bring a dreamer back to earth.

  64. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    A little Jersey Humor from dad:

    “A M@fia Godfather finds out that his bookkeeper, Enzo, has
    che-ated him out of 10 million bucks.
    His bookkeeper is deaf. That was the reason he got the job in the
    first place. It was assumed that Enzo would hear nothing that he might
    have to testify about in court.

    When the Godfather goes to confront Enzo about his missing $10 million, he takes along his lawyer who knows sign language. The Godfather tells the lawyer, “Ask him where the 10 million bucks is that he embe-zzled from me.”
    The lawyer, using sign language, asks Enzo where the money is.

    Enzo signs back, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” The lawyer
    tells the Godfather, “He says he doesn’t know what you are talking
    about.”

    The Godfather pulls out a pistol, puts it to Enzo’s temple and says, “Ask him again!”

    The lawyer signs to Enzo, “He’ll kill you if you don’t tell him.”

    Enzo signs back, “OK. You win! The money is in a brown briefcase, buried behind the shed in my cousin Bruno’s backyard in Woodbridge !”

    The Godfather asks the lawyer, “What did he say?” The lawyer replies, ” He says you don’t have the b@lls to pull the trigger.”

  65. Mr Hyde says:

    Gator 63

    all children possess special gifts and talents, and it is the school’s rsponsibility to find those special gifts and talents and nurture them.

    EVERY ONE GETS A TROPHY!!!!!

  66. Shore Guy says:

    Safe,

    How much is that per day worked? How much if one also counts the value of the benefits?

  67. scribe says:

    Nom,

    I do some selling on eBay. My understanding was that the reporting requirements did go through. There’s some sort of threshold for eBay – I think it’s 200 transactions for personal property. Similar to the exemption NYS has for stuff you sell in a yard sale, etc.

    But I think eBay and PayPal have to report transactions so they can catch all the non-reported income from sellers. Not sure when, though.

  68. JJ says:

    We are still in a cycical bull market, we are going to hit 12k sooon. There is just too much money that needs to be put to work, we have low rates and CDs and bonds maturing need to be reinvested, we have people selling in 2010 to avoid higher cap gains in 2011, raises and bonuses are back, 401K are way up. Damm it a piece of crap home went on sale near me and got two offers in first day it was listed and open house was not till weekend, Hampton houses selling like hotcakes, IPADS and BMWs like hotcakes, damm the recession is over and we are all in a the mood to spend all that money under are matresses.

    Yikes says:
    May 3, 2010 at 10:42 am
    informal poll: DOW to sooner hit 12000 or 9999?

    the PTB still have millions from the 1st bailout and with elections this fall, the guess here is that those millions are used (quietly, of course) at the first signs of disaster this summer.

    i think they’ll keep this sham going just long enough to get the pres a 2nd term.

    then we’ll have either crawled out of the doldrums (unlikely), or we’ll sink badly in early 2013.

    by then, the folks on this board will have enough ammo, RPGs and gold to get through 2015.

  69. Al "The Thermostat" Gore says:

    What are everyones thoughts on gold and silver related stocks? Specifically mining. I have no interest in the ETFs.

    Im looking at MFN, AEM, GG, SSRI.

  70. jamil says:

    prev thread Stu: “Drill Baby Drill! Fools”

    I bet you are one of those people who believe that energy originates from the wall plug. How do you think Al Gore is going to fly his private jet to his new GigaMansion ? Jet fuel provided by the unicorns?

    Unfortunately, every known energy production method is risky. Oil drilling is still very safe method and besides, this is not serious. Don’t take my word on it:

    Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss): “Oil Spill Not So Bad, Looks Like Chocolate Milk”

    Anyway, Obama should be impleached for the slow response. This was federal responsibility from day 1 ad it took 9 days for feds to start the work. Guess DHS was busy hunting all those tea party grandmas.

  71. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [68] scribe

    Then it was likely a watered-down version that is designed to catch cash businesses, thus it has a high threshold.

    Interestingly, I think that is easily defeated, and I have come across situations (including my daughter’s day care) where multiple legal entities are used. There are good reasons for this aside from avoiding this reporting requirement (which is a felony called structuring), but one can see where this is leading.

    I had thought the 1099 thresholds were higher in the past (could be wrong), and we saw this lowering in order to catch more small fish while still trying to avoid the consumer.

    Won’t be long before I have to give my babysitter a W-2. We are headed in that direction.

  72. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [68] scribe

    When the IRS sends you a correspondence audit request (or worse, an office audit request), I expect to be your first call.

    I remember my last audit; the examiner kept asking the same question over and over, trying to get me to slip up. I kept reading the same passage from the private letter rulings over and over. Eventually, she gave up and gave me my no-action letter.

  73. Final Doom says:

    hyde (61)-

    The Japs will undercut them in a nanosecond.

    Yen already getting monkeyhammered today. I think the fx markets anticipate the yen hitting rock bottom first.

    I think we’re entering the bell lap of the race to the bottom.

  74. Final Doom says:

    gator (63)-

    When I was young, I had a Monster Magnet.

  75. Mr Wantanapolous says:

    “The European Central Bank joined the international rescue of Greece, saying it would indefinitely accept the country’s debt as collateral regardless of its country’s credit rating, underpinning gains in the bond market”

    Hyde,

    The key word is joined. The German and French clearly got what they wanted, the IMF, stepping up to the plate. Merkel and Lagarde can now save face, say they took a hard line but were circumvented by the IMF.

    Just a guess, I would imagine that the IMF loans will be junior to the current Greek debt held by European banks. If correct, the banks will be repaid on their crap and the IMF will be holding the bag. OOPS, the US Taxpayer will be holding the bag, since the US is the largest conrtibutor the the IMF, by far.

    The plundering continues. Everybody gets bailed out. It’s QE to infinity. Thank you John Q.

  76. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [74] doom

    Damn, metals made a nice upmove this morning, only to give half of it back.

    Took someone’s advice months ago and looked at silver. I have only 1/3 of my total metal investment in silver, yet it has given me half my gains, well outperforming gold.

    Already my gold and silver gains have covered the cost of my other recent investments in metal, notably my positions in brass, lead, and steel alloys. And if the gains double, shiny will have paid for all of my guns and ammo, going back to the beginning.

    Now wouldn’t that be ironic?

  77. scribe says:

    nom,

    I’ve always had an accountant, even though my income isn’t that high. I figure that #1 – taxes ain’t my thing, and #2 – it’s a job I’d rather delegate than worry about.

    My accountant loves audits – likes doing battle and loves it when the clients are so grateful.

    Most of our yearly one-hour conference call is shooting the bull. I know the drill, and send him a memo in advance with all the numbers.

    But I figure it’s worth the fee to have an accountant sign the return and defend it in an audit.

    Plus, I like Bob :)

  78. veto that - lawrence yun 'the panda', 'next fall' says:

    Monster is making some positive rumblings on the job creation front, reporting a broad, sustainable rebound in hiring activity.

    WSJ:

    “It’s across the board, it’s in virtually every segment, every professional or occupational sector, we are seeing increases in demand,” Mr. Iannuzzi said. “The mood, the discussion, for our customers is much more positive than it has been. It looks like it’s sustainable.”

    “That it is the first time in a number of quarters that the numbers have been going in a positive direction that we have reason to believe that improvement is real,” Mr. Iannuzzi said, adding that the first-half of the year is historically seasonally weak anyway.

    Mr. Iannuzzi said that the strength appeared to be coming from both small and large businesses. He also said hiring growth is occurring world-wide.

    “You are starting to see that in the demand for our services and hiring, and that builds the foundation,” Mr. Iannuzzi said. “This seems to be more sustained, more organic, more on solid footing.”

  79. scribe says:

    Mr. W

    If that’s you, BC Bob, can you contact me – rozrr at verizon dot net.

    I have a couple of questions for you.

  80. NJGator says:

    Hyde 66 – Yup. It’s the one school in town that I will absolutely not let Lil Gator attend.

    Of course I must say that quietly, lest I be run out of town as a crazy segregationalist.

  81. Mr Wantanapolous says:

    John [69],

    Have fun trying to pick up pennies on the Autobahnen.

  82. NJGator says:

    Actually re 81 – I’m not so crazy about the Montessori Magnet either. Got a little bit of the creepy vibe from some of the teachers when I toured it.

  83. Shore Guy says:

    “sustained, more organic,”

    Spend time on a farm and one will find that sustained and organic are not always positive things.

    Although manure does share some traits with the current economy.

  84. JJ says:

    What does that mean? They don’t have pennies in Germany?

    Mr Wantanapolous says:
    May 3, 2010 at 11:55 am
    John [69],

    Have fun trying to pick up pennies on the Autobahnen.

  85. Shore Guy says:

    “Anyone with 30 years experience should command more than the median salary”

    Why? If one has longevity and poor skills relative to someone with fewer years on the job, why should one earn more?

  86. chicagofinance says:

    Sniper kills Qaeda-from 1½ mi. away

    By LUKAS I. ALPERT

    Last Updated: 7:13 AM, May 2, 2010

    Posted: 4:19 AM, May 2, 2010

    It was silent but deadly.

    A British sniper set a world sharpshooting record by taking out two Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan from more than a mile and a half away — a distance so great, experts say the terrorists wouldn’t have even heard the shots.

    Craig Harrison killed the two insurgents from an astounding distance of 8,120 feet — or 1.54 miles — in Helmand Province last November firing an Accuracy International L11583 long-range rifle.

    “The first round hit a machine-gunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said Harrison, a corporal of horse in the British Army’s Household Cavalry, the equivalent of a sergeant in the American military.

    “The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too,” Harrison told the Sunday Times of London.

    The shots — measured via GPS — surpassed the previous record held by Canadian Army Cpl. Rob Furlong, who killed an al Qaeda gunman from 7,972 feet in 2002.

    Harrison’s shots were roughly equal to the distance between the Statue of Liberty and Battery Park.

    Experts called Harrison’s sharp shooting as perfect as it gets.

    “When you are shooting that far, if you miss by a hair, you miss by a mile,” said John Plaster, a retired US Army sharp-shooting instructor and author of “The Ultimate Sniper.” “That is about as precise as any marksmen on the planet could shoot.”

    He said Harrison’s targets likely never knew what was coming.

    “At a distance like that they cannot even see anyone and they would not even hear the muzzle report,” Plaster said.

    Harrison, who fired the bullets while his colleagues were under fire, said perfect weather helped him nail the perfect shot.

    “[There was] no wind, mild weather, clear visibility,” he said.

    Harrison learned of his record nine days ago, when he returned to England. In the weeks after his record shot, he suffered a minor gunshot wound and broke his arms when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

    lukas.alpert@nypost.com

  87. All "H-Train" Hype says:

    Why is the stock market rocketing up right now???

  88. Anon E. Moose says:

    Shore [86];

    You’re assuming poor skills. On the other hand I (perhaps naively, given we’re talking about a goverment school system employee) assumed someone with 30 years on the job had at least a passable level of skill at it.

    I’m no fan of unions or ‘seniority’, I just acknowledge some dead weight loss to turnover. You decrease turnover by giving the employee a carrot to stay on the job – nominal salary increases. Then you just build that into the overal picture, underpaying newcomers, and essentially deferring some of that salary cost to the out years. Those that leave never collect, so the buisiness over is better able pay for the turnover costs. Those that stay have to be paid.

    I’m not arguing for tenured librarians making more than I did in my first JD job, I was suggesting that the comparison that Hyde offered up was incomplete – control for longevity, for more direct perfomance-based metrics, for regional cost of living — then consider the platinum benefits, time off, etc. We might find that the librarian in question is only being overpaid 20-25%, not 50-60%.

  89. safeashouses says:

    Wonder if these librarians get hazard pay.

    Morristown library damaged from an underground explosion.

    http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/morristown_library_sustain_dam.html

  90. Mr Hyde says:

    Moose,

    Split the difference and call it an estimated 30-40% overpayment.

    The issue at hand is that this is not an outlier. Look at th e salaries for some of the typing teachers and the Phys Ed teachers. This gross overpayment is rampant and we havent even considered benefits yet.

    Yes, all the people in the education system will scream bloody murder, but guess what, every other profession has had to deal with wage arbitration and the resultant downward pressure.

    Education is not particularly special in this sense and will have to feel the downward pressure as well. The same market forces are at play.

  91. veto that - lawrence yun 'the panda', 'next fall' says:

    It will take at least three months to stop the flow of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from a damaged well

  92. Painhrtz says:

    hyde remember as they like to point out, all of your success in life was predicated on the efforts of your teachers.

    I prefer to spin it into: all of my success in life was in spite of the efforts of my teachers

  93. Mr Hyde says:

    Pain,

    I dont buy the “your success was dependent on others, hence you owe” line.

  94. Mr Hyde says:

    Some fuel for the fire:

    State Pushes School Districts to Reassign Instructors With Heavy Accents or Other Shortcomings in Their English

    PHOENIX—As the academic year winds down, Creighton School Principal Rosemary Agneessens faces a wrenching decision: what to do with veteran teachers whom the state education department says don’t speak English well enough.

    The Arizona Department of Education recently began telling school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572504575213883276427528.html

  95. JJ says:

    About 65% of people age 55 and older have less than $100,000 in retirement savings; just 37% have saved less than $25,000, while around one-third have less than $10,000, according to Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2010 Retirement Confidence Survey.

    saw this today, a little scary. you should have nearly one million saved by that age. Heck 100K is nothing. The highest safe return you can get is around 5% That is only around 5k a year interest income which means you will blow through principal pretty quick.

  96. NJGator says:

    I don’t object to giving people nominal raises up to a point. But each job should be valued appropriately and have a ceiling for maximum salary. This maximum could be pegged to inflation and adjusted appropriately.

    For example, this is what the state judiciary does. Each job title has a minimum and maximum for the band. Once you hit the maximum, all you get are inflationary increases unless you get promoted into a position in another title for the courts.

    For example, you get hired as a Judiciary Clerk 1. Minimum pay for this job is $23,640 and maximum is $35,617. If you want to make more than $35k, well then you better be good enough to get promoted into a Clerk 2 ($24,971-$43,601) or Clerk 3 ($33,621-$50,920) position which requires more experience and has more responsibilities. When you get promoted into a new job title in the courts, your raise is either the minimum band salary of the new title, or 5% (whichever is greater) and in no case will they give you more than the maximum of the salary band. If you’re not ambitious and just want to coast until retirement, well then you should be be happy with no more than inflation cost of living adjustments for the majority of your career.

    There’s no reason why something similar should not be instituted within the schools.

    http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/jobs/j081023a.pdf

  97. JJ says:

    Painhrtz says:
    Mine was in spite of spitting on teachers.

    May 3, 2010 at 12:55 pm
    hyde remember as they like to point out, all of your success in life was predicated on the efforts of your teachers.

    I prefer to spin it into: all of my success in life was in spite of the efforts of my teachers

  98. Anon E. Moose says:

    Hyde [94];

    +1. They were paid, weren’t they?

  99. Final Doom says:

    plume (77)-

    Sounds like an Alanis Morrisette song.

    “Now wouldn’t that be ironic?”

  100. Final Doom says:

    shore (86)-

    Evidently, TPTB are not familiar with the concept of a bad 30-year employee as being someone who sucked in year one, then repeated it 29 more times.

  101. Final Doom says:

    I can show you a lot of “long-time, experienced” Realtors who fit that bill.

  102. Final Doom says:

    My best agent right now is a guy who has a FT job and does RE on the side.

    However, he GETS it.

  103. Pat says:

    Is it time for the worst teacher stories?

    Has to be the worst experience with a teacher with 30 or more years of experience.

    Come on. Let’s make Cindy smile.

  104. Final Doom says:

    chi (87)-

    All I want for Christmas:

    Accuracy International L11583 long-range rifle

    BTW, our pals in Califon took a giant 5K price reduction on their POS. That should do it…:)

  105. Final Doom says:

    They were just kidding. Honest.

    DETROIT (AP) – A judge ordered Monday that nine jailed members of a Michigan militia be released, saying there’s no risk to the public if they go home while awaiting trial on charges of trying to plot war against the government.

    U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts overturned the April 2 decision of a federal magistrate judge and questioned the strength of the government’s case. She said all nine can be released with electronic monitoring devices and other strict conditions.

    They’re being held in county jails in southeastern Michigan and won’t actually go free until Tuesday, after they return to court to be processed, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

    The government says the members of a southern Michigan militia called Hutaree are radicals who planned to kill police officers and more. They were charged in March with conspiracy to commit sedition and attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

  106. veto that - lawrence yun 'the panda', 'next fall' says:

    Peter Schiff Is “Fundamentally Misguided,” James Galbraith Says

    “Talking about the debt issue as though this were the no. 1 problem of the U.S. is fundamentally misguided,” says James Galbraith, economic professor at the University of Texas and author of The Predator State.
    Galbraith was responding to the “fear mongering” of those who claim the U.S. is on the road to ruin because of its rising debts, specifically Euro Pacific Capital’s Peter Schiff.

    Last week, Schiff and Galbraith engaged in a heated debate on CNBC regarding this issue; we asked the professor to respond when he came on Tech Ticker Friday.

    As stated here, Schiff believes “sovereign credit risk in the U.S. is just as great — if not greater than [in] Greece.”

    But that is an “absurd proposition,” according to Galbraith.

    “Greece is a very small country in a very large currency zone it doesn’t control,” he says. “The U.S. is a very large, autonomous economy that can set its own course [and] has enormous amount of capacity to deal with its problems.”

    In the CNBC debate, Schiff claimed the U.S. is acting like a subprime borrower using a teaser rate and will be unable to fund its deficits once short-term rates spike. Galbraith dismisses that scenario in the accompanying video, suggesting “for better or worse,” the Fed controls short-term rates. And foreigners, most notably China, have little choice but to own Treasuries and would be committing financial suicide if they dumped U.S. holdings en masse, he says.

    Undoubtedly, Schiff’s fans (and Schiff himself) will recall the author and Senate candidate was similarly scoffed at in 2005 and 2006 when he warned of a housing bubble, and in 2007 when he said subprime was definitely not contained.

  107. Painhrtz says:

    Pat it was more a culmination of incompetence during my public school years.

    I had to teach myself algebra in college, Stats was the first time I got it with math, also in college.

    Any science background was through self directed learning it certainly was not in the classroom.

    For the record I did not go attend school in a high quality district, but you would at least hink a smart kid would walk out with the basics. I shudder when I think of the mouth breathers I grew up with and the travails they must now endure as adults.

  108. House Whine says:

    Fergus: what the heck does MY occupation have to do with what a public employee is paid? I have never been a public sector employee but my hard earned tax dollars from the private sector are what pays for these high public sector salaries. But isn’t that stating the obvious?

  109. SirRentsalotBravelyRanAwayFromNJ says:
  110. Final Doom says:

    Pain (108)-

    I’m trying to look at this sort of thing in a more optimistic light:

    If teachers can’t teach you anything, at least it greatly lessens the chance they can fill your brain with shit. That’s the silver lining I’m discovering with my kids.

    Not talking about Cindy and the good teachers here…

  111. Pat says:

    Clot, to add to your point, if they are also alcoholics, like some of my HS teachers, the kids never have to see them and even get to meet a lot of subsitute teachers as a bonus.

  112. JJ says:

    I attended 19+ years of school. Had hundreds of teachers considering I took post grad school courses.

    I had a nice spanish teacher freshman year in college, she was hot and taught us curse words and a good summer school teacher for geometry.

    Thats it, two good teachers. Overall I am happy with incompetent or mediocre teachers.

    Bascially if the teacher does not fail me, abuse me verbally or beat me with a sharp object I would say that is a ok teacher as far as teachers go.

    Then again when I did teach a course I would say the majority of students are worthless, so I guess it is appropriate a roomfull of worthless students should be taught by a worthless teacher.

  113. Final Doom says:

    There; you’ve heard it from a WS BSD Master of the Universe:

    “Overall I am happy with incompetent or mediocre teachers.”

    All children should simply be taught the concept of too big to fail, then be handed a diploma and be told to fend for themselves.

    It would be more honest than the current system.

  114. JJ says:

    “We are Wall Street. It’s our job to make money. Whether it’s a commodity, stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn’t matter. We would trade baseball cards if it were profitable. I didn’t hear America complaining when the market was roaring to 14,000 and everyone’s 401k doubled every 3 years. Just like gambling, its not a problem until you lose. I’ve never heard of anyone going to Gamblers Anonymous because they won too much in Vegas.

    Well now the market crapped out, & even though it has come back somewhat, the government and the average Joes are still looking for a scapegoat. God knows there has to be one for everything. Well, here we are.

    Go ahead and continue to take us down, but you’re only going to hurt yourselves. What’s going to happen when we can’t find jobs on the Street anymore? Guess what: We’re going to take yours. We get up at 5am & work till 10pm or later. We’re used to not getting up to pee when we have a position. We don’t take an hour or more for a lunch break. We don’t demand a union. We don’t retire at 50 with a pension. We eat what we kill, and when the only thing left to eat is on your dinner plates, we’ll eat that.

    For years teachers and other unionized labor have had us fooled. We were too busy working to notice. Do you really think that we are incapable of teaching 3rd graders and doing landscaping? We’re going to take your cushy jobs with tenure and 4 months off a year and whine just like you that we are so-o-o-o underpaid for building the youth of America. Say goodbye to your overtime and double time and a half. I’ll be hitting grounders to the high school baseball team for $5k extra a summer, thank you very much.

    So now that we’re going to be making $85k a year without upside, Joe Mainstreet is going to have his revenge, right? Wrong! Guess what: we’re going to stop buying the new 80k car, we aren’t going to leave the 35 percent tip at our business dinners anymore. No more free rides on our backs. We’re going to landscape our own back yards, wash our cars with a garden hose in our driveways. Our money was your money. You spent it. When our money dries up, so does yours.

    The difference is, you lived off of it, we rejoiced in it. The Obama administration and the Democratic National Committee might get their way and knock us off the top of the pyramid, but it’s really going to hurt like hell for them when our fat a**es land directly on the middle class of America and knock them to the bottom.

    We aren’t dinosaurs. We are smarter and more vicious than that, and we are going to survive. The question is, now that Obama & his administration are making Joe Mainstreet our food supply…will he? and will they?”

  115. Final Doom says:

    Pat (112)-

    In my daughter’s Blue Ribbon HS of Excellence, her 10th grade Spanish teacher came to school smashed out of her gourd on a fairly regular basis.

    They suspended her after she passed out in class in front of my daughter (who was elected by the class to go get the school nurse).

    Needless to say, my kid had to work extra hard this year catching up in Spanish.

  116. Final Doom says:

    I then offered that Spanish teacher an exciting new opportunity in residential real estate. :)

    In my line of work, the ability to drink is a job skill.

  117. Final Doom says:

    JJ (115)-

    Attribution?

  118. Al "The Thermostat" Gore says:

    The problem with teachers is that too many of them are morons. You cant have morons taching a bunch of video game addicted pin cushions.

    Throw the textbooks out the window. The next generation of successful people with have little utility for time spent in public schooling. They will self educate and learn a trade young while minimizing debt and years spent on higher indoctrination.

  119. JJ says:

    On the bright side Mr. Doom you could have made a few hundred thousand mirroring my TBTF strategy. What the heck are you even going to do with that protracter and sliderule stuff you learned in High School. Forget fiction books like Lord of the Flies, you want Fiction, here it is, GMAC is profitable again!!! Yea and I fart gold dust.

    Final Doom says:
    May 3, 2010 at 1:44 pm
    There; you’ve heard it from a WS BSD Master of the Universe:

    “Overall I am happy with incompetent or mediocre teachers.”

    All children should simply be taught the concept of too big to fail, then be handed a diploma and be told to fend for themselves.

    It would be more honest than the current system.

  120. JJ says:

    It is a funny email going around. Don’t know who did it, will Mr. Spam be a good answer?

    Final Doom says:
    May 3, 2010 at 1:49 pm
    JJ (115)-

    Attribution?

  121. jamil says:

    106 final doom:
    “They were just kidding. Honest.”

    I have no idea what they were up to, but what we do know is (and judge clearly stated earlier) is that Gov acted unethically and was unable to answer on any questions asked by the judge. Maybe it was just a case of extremely incompetent FBI agents or then this was fishy case all along, pushed by a politically active higher ups, in desperate need of finding white militias.

  122. Final Doom says:

    JJ (120)-

    Good question. However, I think the lessons I learned about Hannibal and his pack of elephants might come in handy pretty soon.

    “What the heck are you even going to do with that protracter and sliderule stuff you learned in High School.”

  123. Al "The Thermostat" Gore says:

    120.

    “Yeah I fart gold dust”

    lol. Can I pan your exhaust for chips?

  124. Final Doom says:

    jamil (122)-

    I just wish one of these militias would give me a call.

  125. Mr Hyde says:

    JJ, Doom

    “What the heck are you even going to do with that protracter and sliderule stuff you learned in High School.”

    Firing solutions when you you lay siege with artillery or improvised siege engines. Or to calculate the pounds of explosives needed to demo demo a bridge with supports at a given angle.

  126. Final Doom says:

    al (124)-

    Reminds me of back in my cooking days, when a crew I was with did a 40th birthday dinner for a BSD born in 1959.

    Every course of the meal was accompanied by some 1959 classic wine: Lafite, Mouton, Moulin Touchais, Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze, etc.

    Well into the evening- and after a lot to drink- hell, they were sending back bottles for us cooks to drink, the guest of honor excused himself to go to the john.

    When he came back, he had a big smile on his face, and one of the guests asked why. The birthday boy replied, “I just took a $70,000 piss.”

  127. Final Doom says:

    Hyde, whoever cooked this sucker up didn’t have a slide rule.

    http://www.abu.nb.ca/ecm/pictures/1999/june.gif

  128. jamil says:

    i wonder why?

    “The Interior Department’s Mineral Management Service has postponed a Monday safety awards luncheon at which a nominee for two awards was BP”

  129. SirRentsalotBravelyRanAwayFromNJ says:

    Don’t look now, but oil’s creeping toward $90.

  130. veto that - lawrence yun 'the panda', 'next fall' says:

    yeah, its time to body slam wall st and the execs.

    They either get tbtf bailouts or unregulated money machines. Cant have both though.

  131. speedkillsu says:

    So does this mean no more hamburgers on the bar bee ..Fears grow as animal disease spreads in S.Korea..http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.4b64717de2cc6086f315327f4f56973a.4a1&show_article=1

  132. House Hunter says:

    Doom or realtors,
    when someone puts in an official offer on a property and it is rejected by the seller, don’t you have a right to know what that offer was? I am not talking about an offer being considered or going through attorney review, I mean rejected?
    thanks in advance

  133. House Hunter says:

    By the way, I had Social Studies class right after lunch in 10th grade, the guy was always lit up, he would even spit.

  134. veto that - lawrence yun 'the panda', 'next fall' says:

    CUPERTINO, Calif., (AP) — Apple Inc. said Monday that is has sold 1 million of its new iPad tablet computers in the month after its launch, meaning it’s been selling more than twice as fast as the iPhone did when it was new.

  135. Mr Hyde says:

    The Ipad seems to be a glorified Iphone/Kindle without a phone. It looks pretty, but does it provide some missing functionality in the market?

  136. Fergus says:

    109. Typical self absorbed unemployed shrew.

  137. veto that - lawrence yun 'the panda', 'next fall' says:

    hyde, I dont know if its a phone but appl seems to be the only computer company who is actually listening to the end user these days.

    Their useability is unmatched in everything they do and im enjoying the fact that someone (anyone) is moving in on msfts turf. even though i use pc.

    If i had to guess, id say ipad is more of a laptop computer, notepad, music player, web browser, book reader, camera, email device. Also, This thing seems perfect for SKYPE. at some point.

    I’d guess the biggest real benefit is how easy it is to carry around but i dont know.
    I’m shocked at aapl’s performance as a company and its funny to watch the stock skyrocket as if its a new company that people are just finding out about now. The real question is how quick before the 1,000lb gorrilla just copies everything they do and smacks them back down a few steps. From what ive heard and seen, Vista is a total aapl os rip off.
    im rooting for the underdog on this one, even if its just so that msft starts making better products.

  138. make money says:

    Lets see,

    7.9 Million peopel didn’t make their April mortgage pmnt.

    These people are buying cars, Ipads and other consumer products because their discreationary income just went up a couple of grand per month.

    Makes me very weary of this recovery.

    my two cents.

  139. NJGator says:

    While Rush Limbaugh is blaming “Environmental Terrorists” for the Gulf spill, the left wing internets are starting to blame Dick Cheney.

    Who’s to blame for the oil spill? Dick Cheney

    The Gulf of Mexico oil spill could end up being the worst American man-made environmental catastrophe of this generation. With the oil still spilling and investigations into the causes yet to come, it’s too early to neatly assign blame to any one person. But for now, let’s hold Dick Cheney personally responsible for the whole thing.

    Here’s the evidence: The Wall Street Journal reports that the oil well didn’t have a remote-control shut-off switch. The reason it didn’t have a thing that it seems every single offshore drilling rig should have? According to environmental lawyer Mike Papantonio, it’s because Dick Cheney’s energy task force decided that the $500,000 switches were too expensive, and they didn’t want to make BP buy any.

    Is that not enough reason to blame the former Dark Lord of the Naval Observatory? Guess what: Halliburton is involved, too! The Los Angeles Times reports that BP contracted Dick Cheney’s old company to cement the deepwater drill hole. Cementing the hole was, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, “the single most-important factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period.” And Hallburton is already under investigation for faulty cementing in an Australian well last year.

    The spill will very likely destroy the fragile economies of at least five states and it could even plunge the nation back into a recession. So thanks, Dick. Nice work.

    http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/05/03/dick_cheney_halliburton_oil_spill/index.html

  140. Mr Hyde says:

    Gator:

    The Wall Street Journal reports that the oil well didn’t have a remote-control shut-off switch. The reason it didn’t have a thing that it seems every single offshore drilling rig should have? According to environmental lawyer Mike Papantonio, it’s because Dick Cheney’s energy task force decided that the $500,000 switches were too expensive, and they didn’t want to make BP buy any.

    What are they talking about. It sounds like thy are talking about a blowout preventor, but this rig is reported to have had one but for some reason it appears to have failed.

  141. Shore Guy says:

    Clot,

    It is the age-old question of whether one has 20 years of experience in a field or one year of experience 20 times.

    There are many people who fall into the latter catagory and who work in professions where there is no real difference between someone with 4-5 years of experience and 20 years.

  142. Barbara "just wait till fall" Believer says:

    As an artist who has been using apple since the early 90s, my issue with the ipad is that it should support adobe, a stylus pen and function as a…well…drawing pad. Duh, Apple.

  143. Mr Hyde says:

    Veto,

    Re apple:

    I am all for competition and innovation. Just asking a question.

  144. Mr Hyde says:

    Barb Veto

    Apple just needs to combine the Modbook and the Ipad. That would be a device i would buy. A full portable PC with multi-touch/stylus functionality and a quality user interface.

  145. Final Doom says:

    hunter (133)-

    No.

  146. Final Doom says:

    veets (138)-

    Buying AAPL at these levels is simply selling life insurance on Steve Jobs.

  147. House Hunter says:

    thanks Doom, I didn’t think so, let the games begin I guess.
    offers my you know what.

  148. make money says:

    Treasury expects to borrow $340 bln this quarter

    Not bad for 90 days worth of borrowing ha?

  149. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [141] hyde

    One report I read suggested that the pipes used at that depth are thicker, and that the preventor may not have been able to crimp the thicker pipe.

    Another theory (my own) was that the safety mechanisms failed when the rig sank.

    In either case, it suggests a failure in engineering.

    But we can still blame Dick. We blame him for everything else.

  150. Final Doom says:

    That’s what Cheney gets for being a born asshole.

  151. Mr Hyde says:

    Doom,

    This one is for you. Slightly dated though, from the end of march

    Reporting from Hemet — The gated community in Hemet doesn’t seem like the best place for Eddie and Maria Lopez to raise their family anymore.

    Vandals knocked out the streetlight in front of the Lopezes’ five-bedroom home and then took advantage of the darkness to try to steal a van. Cars are parked four deep in the driveway next door, where a handful of men rent rooms. And up and down their block of handsome single-family homes are padlocked doors, orange “no trespassing signs” and broken front windows.
    Advertisement

    It wasn’t what the Lopezes pictured when they agreed to pay $440,000 for their 5,000-square-foot house in 2006.

    The 427-home Willowalk tract, built by developer D.R. Horton, featured eight distinct “villages” within its block walls. Along with spacious homes, Willowalk boasted four lakes, a community pool and clubhouse. Fanciful street names such as Pink Savory Way and Bee Balm Road added to the bucolic image.

    Young families seemed to occupy every house, throwing block parties and holiday get-togethers, and distributing a newsletter about the neighborhood, Eddie Lopez recalled.

    “We loved how everything was family-oriented — all our kids would run around together,” said Lopez, a 41-year-old construction supervisor and father of seven. “Now everybody’s gone.”

    Home foreclosures have devastated neighborhoods throughout the country, but the transformation from suburban paradise to blighted community has been especially stark in places like Willowalk — isolated developments on the far fringes of metropolitan areas that found ready buyers when home prices were soaring but then saw an exodus as values crashed.

    Vacant homes are sprinkled throughout Willowalk, betrayed by foot-high grass. Others are rented, including some to families that use government Section 8 vouchers to live in homes with granite countertops and vaulted ceilings.

    When the development opened in 2006, buyers were drawn to the area by advertising describing it as a “gated lakeshore community.” Now, many in Hemet call Willowalk the “gated ghetto,” said John Occhi, a local real estate agent.

    There are dozens of places like Willowalk, and they are turning into America’s newest slums, says Christopher Leinberger, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. With home values at a fraction of their peak, he said, it no longer makes sense to live so far from the commercial centers where jobs are concentrated.

    “We built too much of the wrong product in the wrong locations,” Leinberger said.

    http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/30/business/la-fi-hemet30-2010mar30

  152. Mr Hyde says:

    Doom

    from the article

    The Lopez family plans to stick it out, knowing they can’t sell their house for anywhere near the $440,000 they paid for it. Based on comparable prices in the neighborhood, the place is probably worth about $170,000 now, and maybe less. They’re petitioning their bank for a loan modification.

    60% loss in value since purchase. Ouch

  153. Shore Guy says:

    “It will take at least three months to stop the flow of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from a damaged well”

    Perhaps we can borrow a technique used in Hollywood and just rename the Gulf the Black Sea II.

  154. House Whine says:

    137- Never have I resorted to name-calling on this board. How mature of you! And believe me, I am much better looking than you seem to so rudely imply.

  155. meter says:

    Trying this again. Put in http before the two links below. Fun comments that should give you more insight into John’s WS buds.

    @121:

    ://dealbreaker.com/2010/04/wall-street-rants-go-ahead-and-continue-to-take-us-down-but-youre-only-going-to-hurt-yourselves/

    and a response:

    ://dealbreaker.com/2010/05/dear-wall-street-defender/

  156. Al "The Thermostat" Gore says:

    This is what the Greek bailout is costing you. I want my monies worth. Ill take a 16 inch shell from the Battleship NJ directed at the vicinity of the parthenon.

    United States (IMF Stake): $345.82 per U.S. household
    Slovakia: $617.99 per household
    Slovenia: $684.17 per household
    Portugal: $707.33 per household
    Germany: $745.19 per household
    Malta: $769.54 per household
    Spain: $776.03 per household
    Finland: $776.95 per household
    Cyprus: $789.92 per household
    Italy: $803.16 per household
    France: $877.02 per household
    Belgium: $845.40 per household
    Austria: $861.13 per household
    Netherlands: $866.96 per household
    Ireland: $1084.69 per household
    Luxembourg: $1675.41 per household

  157. JJ says:

    You mean neighrhoods that sell no money down homes to illegal immigrants named lopez with seven kids are not nice? OMG

  158. safeashouses says:

    #153

    “Nacho Gomez is paid by absentee owners to look after their rental properties. ”

    I wonder if he is related to Nacho Cheese?

  159. Rusty Trombone says:

    155. Perhaps your looks will serve you well as you apparently have no discernible skills. Shrew btw is usually a reference to attitude and not appearance.

  160. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [157] al

    “I want my monies worth. Ill take a 16 inch shell from the Battleship NJ directed at the vicinity of the parthenon.”

    I’ll kick in another couple of C-notes if they let me write my name and a pithy message on the shell.

  161. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [159] safe

    No, he is related to Nacho Grande.

  162. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [109, 155, 160]

    You’re ugly, and your mother dresses you funny.

  163. safeashouses says:

    #152

    If you want to stay in the neighborhood and prices are down 60%, is it possible to just buy another house in that development and walk away from the house you are upside down on?

  164. Mr Hyde says:

    CHifi,

    More ont he the gulf oil leak for you

    ….”The following is not public,” reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Emergency Response document dated April 28. “Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought.”

    Asked Friday to comment on the document, NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said that the additional leaks described were reported to the public late Wednesday night. Regarding the possibility of the spill becoming an order of magnitude larger, Smullen said, “I’m letting the document you have speak for itself.”

    In scientific circles, an order of magnitude means something is 10 times larger. In this case, an order of magnitude higher would mean the volume of oil coming from the well could be 10 times higher than the 5,000 barrels a day coming out now. That would mean 50,000 barrels a day, or 2.1 million gallons a day. It appears the new leaks mentioned in the Wednesday release are the leaks reported to the public late Wednesday night.

    “There is no official change in the volume released but the USCG is no longer stating that the release rate is 1,000 barrels a day,” continues the document, referred to as report No. 12. “Instead they are saying that they are preparing for a worst-case release and bringing all assets to bear.”

    The emergency document also states that the spill has grown in size so quickly that only 1 to 2 percent of it has been sprayed with dispersants.

    The Press-Register obtained the emergency report from a government official. The White House, NOAA, the Coast Guard and BP Plc did not immediately return calls for comment made early this morning.

    The worst-case scenario for the broken and leaking well pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico would be the loss of the wellhead and kinked piping currently restricting the flow to 5,000 barrels — or 210,000 gallons — per day.

    * LATER REPORT: Video shows federal officials knew quickly of potential for massive oil flow in Gulf spill

    If the wellhead is lost, oil could leave the well at a much greater rate.

    “Typically, a very good well in the Gulf can produce 30,000 barrels a day, but that’s under control. I have no idea what an uncontrolled release could be,” said Stephen Sears, chairman of the petroleum engineering department at Louisiana State University.

    On Thursday, federal officials said they were preparing for the worst-case scenario but didn’t elaborate.

  165. Rusty Trombone says:

    163. and yet you still want to touch my monkey.

  166. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    There’s hope for Sharpe James yet.

    Traficant is running to get his old house seat back in Ohio.

    I want to be the first to coin a new term for him: Rug-Rat.

    And I found the perfect photo.

    http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blpic-traficanthair.htm

    I will search it now, but my guess is that it is such an obvious nickname, it is ubiquitous.

  167. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    More OT alert:

    I found this on another site. Don’t know how old it is, but it is wrong on a few levels.

    “The Nimbus 2000, a toy broomstick manufactured by Mattel from the “Harry Potter” movies, retails for $19.99 and features a “grooved stick and handle for easy riding,” plus vibrating effects.
    Originally marketed primarily to boys, it’s proven so popular with teenage girls that they play with it for hours and need frequent battery replacements. The Harry Potter fantasy has obviously touched an entire generation.”

  168. Mr Hyde says:

    Chifi

    1 more for you on liability

    In 2004, a study commissioned by the MMS raised significant questions about the ability of rams to cut through the stronger pipes used in deep-water drilling. Those thicker pipes—as well as the shear rams—must withstand the enormous pressures found at 5,000 feet below sea level. The study noted there was no agreement on how to determine if the sheer rams would work properly in deep-water conditions.

    Only three of 14 newly build rigs had blowout preventers that were able to squeeze off and cut the pipe at the water pressure likely to be experienced at the equipment’s maximum water depth, the study noted.

    “This grim snapshot illustrates the lack of preparedness in the industry to shear and seal a well with the last line of defense against a blowout,” the study said.

    BP was responsible for the design of the well. SUPER BOP’s (Blowout preventors) were available on the market at the time this well was constructed that could handle the depth and pressure. BP may be liable for using underrated safety measures.

    Who takes the liability, BP or Cameron, the company that built the BOP?

    The study singled out Cameron for relying on calculations to determine the needed strength of shear arms using “shear forces lower than required or desired in many cases.” Mr. Amann, the Cameron spokesman, declined to comment.

    It sounds like Cameron may have rated the BOP without physically testing it at the design conditions.

  169. relo says:

    Underneath the clothes is a man. And inside this man is…his nucleus.

  170. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [166] Rusty

    Yes, but only if I can dance on Schprocket, Herr Dieter.

  171. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    This is “generous”? Less than $1,400 per year? I give more than that to churches.

    “Gov. Chris Christie’s pick for the state Supreme Court has been a generous donor to Republicans over the last 17 years.

    Since 1993, Anne Murray Patterson has donated $23,680 to state and national Republican candidates and political committees, according to the websites of the state Election Law Enforcement Commission and the Federal Election Commission.

    She never donated to Christie’s gubernatorial campaign or his past campaigns for state Assembly and Morris County Freeholder, though she did give $300 to his inaugural committee in January.

    Patterson has not donated exclusively to Republicans, however. She has given $2,000 to Democrats: $1,000 to former Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham’s state senate campaign in 2003 and $1,000 to the Democratic State Committee in 2002. She also donated $500 to former Gov. Jim McGreevey’s inaugural committee in 2002. . . . .”

    BTW, just from this article, I calculate 84% GOP, 16% Dem.

    And what I really loved was that the Dems call it evidence of cronyism.

    There, I have to defer to thier expertise in the matter. If anyone knows cronyism, its a NJ politician.

  172. Final Doom says:

    Fergus = Rusty Trombone

  173. relo says:

    = Pete.

  174. Final Doom says:

    plume (168)-

    So wrong, yet so right.

  175. Confused in NJ says:

    157.Al “The Thermostat” Gore says:
    May 3, 2010 at 3:54 pm
    This is what the Greek bailout is costing you. I want my monies worth. Ill take a 16 inch shell from the Battleship NJ directed at the vicinity of the parthenon.

    United States (IMF Stake): $345.82 per U.S. household
    Slovakia: $617.99 per household
    Slovenia: $684.17 per household
    Portugal: $707.33 per household
    Germany: $745.19 per household
    Malta: $769.54 per household
    Spain: $776.03 per household
    Finland: $776.95 per household
    Cyprus: $789.92 per household
    Italy: $803.16 per household
    France: $877.02 per household
    Belgium: $845.40 per household
    Austria: $861.13 per household
    Netherlands: $866.96 per household
    Ireland: $1084.69 per household
    Luxembourg: $1675.41 per household

    Sort of makes England smart for not joining. I like the pound better anyway.

  176. gary says:

    I made a sarcastic joke the other day that the ivory tower charlatans will blame Dick Cheney for the disaster. I said to myself, no way will the Left try to pull that one off, they’re not that blind or stupid. Well…. The Republicans have p1ssed me off for a while now but there is no doubt the liberals truly suffer from a mental disorder.

  177. Barbara "just wait till fall" Believer says:

    gary,
    when it all starts to hurt bad enough, people will put down their poison pens and just go straight for the poison. For the time being, poli-tainment is still too tempting.

  178. chicagofinance says:

    gary & barb: as ridiculous as it sounds, this stuff has Cheney’s DNA all over it…

    Hyde: From what I am reading….even though it is TransOcean’s rig, as you say and others, Cameron built the blowout preventer that failed; Halliburton constructed the drillhole……Cheney set the standards…….

    I hope RIG can survive this because they really are a good company….

  179. Stu says:

    The partisan politics here are really getting annoying.

    First of all, what the hell could Obama have done? This whole he waited to act is pathetic. If you want to try and make it Obama’s Katrina, then your IQ is lower than that of a Palin offspring.

    I hope BP goes under. As someone who invested in the drillers for years, everyone knows that BP was the worst of the bunch, all the meanwhile promoting themselves as the greenest of the energy companies. Drill baby drill! Just don’t blame us when the accidents occur.

    As for what Kettle is saying, it’s true and extremely likely that this well is gonna be spewing 50K per day. I too heard that there are 2 more leaks in the pipe. I used to invest in Nabors (with their corrupt CEO and all) but I always felt the shallow wells would be where the money was at due to the dangers of the deep wells. RIG is all but done once this well proves to be leaking at 50K per day. No company in their right mind would continue to take the risks of what BP is going to have to pay out for this. It’s not just some birds in remote Alaska this time. It could and most likely will be a large swath of the Southern coastline and if it does hit 50K per day, quite possibly we’ll be looking at tar balls on the Jersey Shore again.

    Drill Baby Drill. Morons!

    Can’t we just get on with the Picken’s plan already and do some long term research for real alternatives besides the ill-fated hybrids.

  180. jamil says:

    181 Shore:
    “First of all, what the hell could Obama have done?”

    The fact is that O admin waited 9 days until meaningful federal response was started. This was federal responsibility from day 1. Besides, The Left set the standards itself with Katrina (in which the responsibility belonged to local gov). It cannot change it now (ie during Bush era everything is Bush’s responsibility and now nothing belongs to the Dump or Dumper.

    “Drill Baby Drill. Morons! ”

    So you think that Al Gore is going to fly his private jets with some unicorn/Pickens-provided magic fuel?
    Get real, man. If you believe that in the near future there is any serious alternative to oil based energy in transportation, you IQ is comparable to all those other Obamabots.

  181. Final Doom says:

    We’ll never go to Pickens’ plan. It makes sense.

  182. jamil says:

    140: “Who’s to blame for the oil spill? Dick Cheney”

    I think we have solid case here, beyond any reasonable doubt:

    FACT 1: Dick Cheney, at some point in his life, worked for oil-related company.

    FACT2: There has been oil leak.

    =>DICK CHENEY IS GUILTY!

    We don’t even need testimony from Shore uy/Keith Olberman anymore, case closed.

  183. Final Doom says:

    Jamil…so predictable, yet so tedious.

    So an oil rig or two goes kablooey. In a few years, it’ll be pebble-bed reactors going up in a mushroom cloud.

    We are a nation of fuel addicts, hellbent on destroying ourselves and the planet.

    What I don’t understand is why we need all this energy when 25% of us don’t have jobs and virtually every business in the US (outside financials and AAPL) are deleveraging as fast as they can.

  184. Confused in NJ says:

    181.Stu says:
    May 3, 2010 at 8:45 pm
    The partisan politics here are really getting annoying.

    First of all, what the hell could Obama have done? This whole he waited to act is pathetic. If you want to try and make it Obama’s Katrina, then your IQ is lower than that of a Palin offspring.

    I hope BP goes under. As someone who invested in the drillers for years, everyone knows that BP was the worst of the bunch, all the meanwhile promoting themselves as the greenest of the energy companies. Drill baby drill! Just don’t blame us when the accidents occur

    Evidently “Everyone” didn’t include Obama and Congress, or were they paid off? Bottom line is Washington, both Democrat and Republican are responsible, as they allowed it, without appropriate safe guards. They are charged with protecting this country and they failed. Katrina was a Natural Disater, Oilmaggedon is manufactured in Washington.

  185. jamil says:

    140: “Who’s to blame for the oil spill? Dick Cheney”

    I think we have solid case here, beyond any reasonable doubt:

    FACT 1: Dick Cheney, at some point in his life, worked for oil-related company.

    FACT2: There has been oil leak.

    =>DICK CHENEY IS GUILTY!

    We don’t even need testimony from Shore Guy/Keith Olberman anymore, case closed.

  186. Final Doom says:

    Only jamil can bait conservatives for not being conservative in the same Third Reich way he is.

  187. Confused in NJ says:

    185.Final Doom says:
    May 3, 2010 at 9:03 pm
    Jamil…so predictable, yet so tedious.

    So an oil rig or two goes kablooey. In a few years, it’ll be pebble-bed reactors going up in a mushroom cloud.

    We are a nation of fuel addicts, hellbent on destroying ourselves and the planet.

    What I don’t understand is why we need all this energy when 25% of us don’t have jobs and virtually every business in the US (outside financials and AAPL) are deleveraging as fast as they can.

    The illegals need it for running drugs and cutting lawns.

  188. Pat says:

    pete=fergus=rusty=sprocket the reinvestor=???

    But why did I have ??? figured for a tuba player, and is fergus the singular of Fergie?

  189. Ben says:

    “Do you really think that we are incapable of teaching 3rd graders and doing landscaping?”

    You have a short memory. 2008 proved that the only thing Wall St. is good at is giving themselves bonuses while bankrupting their company. I will grant Wall St. this, it takes some real talent to lose a few hundred billion dollars in 6 years.

  190. Pat says:

    By the way, do not ever, ever buy a 1980 Raleigh from craigslist and ride it like it’s a 1976 Schwinn Traveler

  191. Pat says:

    Ben, c’mon. You gotta know we don’t hate teachers.

    Well, not all teachers.

    Just the overpaid ones.

    The ones who slave and commute and bring in scholar dollars and do stuff that makes our kids talk about them at bedtime and draw little monkey smiley faces on their spelling tests (oh, that was me, oops!) and send e-mails about the art shows our kids are in and yell at us to get up and serve better if we think we can at the H.S. volleyball game and call us at 9 pm to come in and sit in their classes at 9 am…

    those teachers we love.

  192. jamil says:

    183 doom “We’ll never go to Pickens’ plan. It makes sense.”

    Sure (for Pickens, assuming he can get billions from the taxpayers). Germany has some amount of wind-projects and they are about 95% taxpayer funded and provide little energy, at least if you compare all the energy that was devoted to keeping them running.

    Unicorns are technically much more promising approach than any version of Pickens plan, if you mean energy production.

    Sucking taxpayer money if another thing.

  193. Mr hyde says:

    Confused

    as an engineer let me tell you, the sort of thing like this untested/underated blowout preventor occurs throught most industries. Occasionally it blows up in your face, literally.

    Blaming O or Cheney is idiotic. Why aren’t you blaming Obama or Cheney for the Toyota malfunction. Did they cause the recent mine collapse also?

  194. Pat says:

    sl, if you’re still here…I gave my daughter T cold plus med Friday night and Saturday morning, then saw the recall Saturday afternoon. Got the generic CVS stuff at that point.

    She’s had a rash on the sides of her face since Saturday night/Sunday a.m.

    Dr?

  195. Final Doom says:

    jamil (194)-

    I guess I’ll count that post as your vote that we keep hurtling at full speed toward our imminent demise.

  196. njescapee says:

    I think jamil is really a conehead

  197. jamil says:

    197 Doom:

    and your plan is to move to unicorn-run fantasy and pretending we are fine?

    Al Gores of the world will never give up their jets, megamansions or limousines.
    To keep them running, we need oil. In the long run (>15 years), who knows what will happen (but gov funding will surely not create the winning technology).

    Pretending that short-term solutions exist for oil-based consumption is just foolish.

    We are going to get oil somewhere, either from foreign dictatorships (ME, Venezuela, Nigeria) or from the US.

    Deal with it.

  198. meter says:

    “I think jamil is really a conehead”

    That’s about right – it’s the only shape that would fit up his a$$.

  199. Pat says:

    jamil, there is a unicorn solution.

    Tell me, you SUV drivers, that you did not wince and grab your balls when you read ‘Cavemakers’ and realized what idiots and suckers you’ve been.

  200. njescapee says:

    jamil, I try not to engage you due to your constant attack mode. What is wrong with Pickens’ plan? He is proposing use of our own NG resources for commercial ground transportation. Wind power for generation of electricity. Personal transport will continue to use gasoline and diesel. Seems like some pretty coherent and well reasoned proposals to me.

  201. Final Doom says:

    escape (202)-

    We’re trying to reason with Piltdown Man here.

  202. jamil says:

    202 ” Personal transport will continue to use gasoline and diesel”

    So even you admit that this changes practically nothing wrt oil. We would need oil despite the unicorn/Pickens plan.

    “What is wrong with Pickens’ plan? ”

    The plan would require at least 100,000 wind turbines. The Kennedy Klan fought tooth and nail to prevent one wind turbine in MA that would have blocked the ocean view from Kennedy Klan HQ. You think Al Gores of the world would allow these anywere near their mansions?

    Also, we would need tens of millions of miles new power lines around the country (oh guess what Al Gores are going to say about those?). NIMBY rules.

    Pickens want to have trillions worth of funding from suckers and he claims that the system works and creates jobs (and no doubt golden unicorns). If the country has trillions worth of extra cash, there are surely much better use of that money, including other more realistic energy use.

    and what do think would happen when there is no wind?

    Pickens plan is perfect plan to bleed the suckers and raise trillions. For realistic energy plan, it is a joke, but no doubt there are enough suckers falling in love with the idea that there is GREEN PLAN to save us.

  203. chicagofinance says:

    ugh….ineffective…

    190.Pat says:
    May 3, 2010 at 9:10 pm
    pete=fergus=rusty=sprocket the reinvestor=???

  204. njescapee says:

    204…

  205. Salty Steve says:

    I think they should bring back the gold package Lexus. That will help solve the oil problem.

    Everyone should buy a luxury gold package lexus. lemmings. lemmings.

    everywhere I look i see lemmings. even on this website. it’s terrible.

    get a brain, think, do, live.

  206. jamil says:

    This is for my dear friend stu.

    Damn those tea party terrorists. They are everywhere.

    Honorable Mike Bloomberg, in an interview with Katie Couric (D-Imbecile): “If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that. Homegrown, or maybe a mentally deranged person, or somebody with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something.” “

  207. chicagofinance says:

    clot: the songwriter was inspired by a bitchin’ hangover…..sounds like an inspiration for you…..

    It’s the dark night of my soul
    And temptation’s taking hold
    But through the pain and the suffering
    Through the heartache and trembling

    I feel loved
    I feel loved

    As the darkness closes in
    In my head I hear whispering
    Questioning and beckoning
    But I’m not taken in

    I feel loved
    I feel loved

    From the depths of my emptiness
    Comes a feeling of inner bliss
    I feel wanted, I feel desired
    I can feel my soul on fire

  208. safeashouses says:

    last

  209. safeashouses says:

    next to last

  210. chicagofinance says:

    This thread speaks for itself…not quite nj.com, but a great Hoboken equivalent….
    http://www.hobokenx.com/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=28439&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&start=0

  211. chicagofinance says:

    Re: Illegal Tamborine Party in the Gym #40
    Anonymous If I see children in the gym again, I am going to put on a scary clown outfit and run in and tell them that Santa Claus is really their parents.

  212. Barbara "just wait till fall" Believer says:

    Clot,
    I’m 100% no nukes. HUman error alone is reason enough. F European energy and nuke subs, as if 50 yrs is impressive when the half life dwarfs that track record.

    Me from last night:
    just know the nuke lobby is either licking their chops or sh#tting bricks right now. How the public will view their “clean, safe” propaganda could go either way after this mess.

  213. chicagofinance says:

    this is a DIFFERENT POSTER and speaking of “wonderful tools” I hope YOUR happy but I wouldn’t touch this building…. all I have seen is posers and whiners who try to compare themselves to true luxury NEW buildings… you live in a converted warehouse…you overpaid….you live with a bunch of a$$holes (yourself included), and your property value is falling Re: Illegal Tamborine Party in the Gym #57
    Anonymous
    fast…get out now while you can (unless, as I suspect, you are so far under water it doesn’t pay and your just waiting for the sheriff to knock on your door…. BTW… my prediction? next year you will see a bunch of short sales or foreclosures in this bubble of a building)…..

  214. chicagofinance says:

    OH..if ONLY I could live in a converted warehouse like you…dare I dream?….BTW…KNOCK, KNOCK…oh, oh…you better go answer that…I think the sheriff is at your door…. better get your swim fins there (get it??? your underwater???)…..

  215. chicagofinance says:

    Re: Illegal Tamborine Party in the Gym #66
    Anonymous Actually the real reason I am here is:

    4. I have made it my life’s goal to elminate illegal tamborine parties across the globe. So I got sucked into a discussion about home values in this old factory, doesn’t change the fact that these kids think they can flaunt the tamborine laws without any consequences.

    Makes me sick.

  216. safeashouses says:

    #217 chifi

    that was a funny thread

  217. Barbara "just wait till fall" Believer says:

    204. Jamil

    “and what do think would happen when there is no wind?”

    jamil, are you afraid we run the risk of using up all the world’s wind?

  218. jamil says:

    219 let me know how that emergency iphone charging or surgery went when it was not windy..oh, i forgot.. unicorns..

  219. Great article, I especially like what you had to say in the last paragraph.

  220. Great posts! I really like it.

  221. Sorry to be off topic, but I like your posts and I wanted some feedback for my blog. I have a hard time writing, but I do want to share my experiences. Am I stuck between a rock and a hard place? Or should I just do it?

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