From Bloomberg:
Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Probably Rose to a Two-Year High
Sales of existing U.S. homes probably increased in October to the highest level in more than two years, spurred in part by a tax credit that lured first-time buyers, economists said before a report today.
Purchases rose 2.3 percent to a 5.7 million annual rate, according to the median forecast of 60 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The expected increase from September’s 5.57 million pace would be the sixth in the past seven months.
Cheaper homes and stimulus such as the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit, extended and expanded by the Obama administration this month, have revived an ailing housing market that contributed to the worst economic slump since the Great Depression. Further improvement that would aid the economy’s recovery depends on an easing in unemployment and foreclosures.
“We are making progress in housing,” said Michael Moran, chief economist at Daiwa Securities America Inc. in New York. “Inventories are getting under control due to the pickup in sales. It’s not going to be a vigorous recovery but it’ll contribute to growth.”
The National Association of Realtors’ report is due at 10 a.m. in Washington. Bloomberg survey estimates ranged from 5.2 million to 6 million. Resales fell to a 4.49 million pace in January, the lowest level since comparable records began in 1999.
From the Record:
North Jersey community banks forced to curtail commercial lending
Many community banks face a dilemma. Their main reason for being is to make commercial real estate loans, and a fledgling economic recovery depends, in part, on them making more of them. But increasing loan defaults in a distressed commercial real estate market is making it a riskier business.
Troubled commercial real estate loans are expected to add to the growing number of U.S. bank failures. In turn, a federal regulator is pushing banks in North Jersey and around the country to reduce their commercial real estate, by either curtailing lending, writing off or selling loans, or by raising additional capital to offset the increased risk.
Mariner’s Bank in Edgewater, a bank with $315 million in assets, has heeded the concern and has stopped making commercial real estate loans to new customers to reduce exposure, said Fred Daibes, the bank’s chairman.
“We have been told to bring it down,” he said. “They want a program on how we’re going to bring it down and how long it’s going to take. Our position is, yes sir, how high do you want us to jump?”
Nicholas Ketcha, managing director of community bank consulting firm FinPro Inc., and a former director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s division of supervision, said some banks he advises in New Jersey and other states have a high concentration of commercial real estate loans and they “are getting a clear message” from his former FDIC colleagues to not make more commercial real estate loans, even if all their loans are performing well.
grim
is there a way to remain anonymous once foreclosure process starts? keeping name and address off record
From the Record:
Tax credit hits mark with North Jersey buyers
Donna and Chuck August weren’t expecting a tax break when they decided to sell their Mahwah town house and buy a ranch in the same town.
But earlier this month, President Obama signed a bill that expands a tax credit that was originally limited to first-time home buyers. Now, repeat buyers like the Augusts can also get a tax break.
“It was great,” said Donna August, who sells medical books. “It’s an extra $6,500 we weren’t expecting.”
“All the stars aligned for them,” said their real estate agent, Dan Weixeldorfer of Re/Max Legend in Mahwah.
…
Economists say the tax credit was responsible for only about 5 percent of the home sales that will take place in 2009 — an estimated 350,000 sales. And the cost has been estimated at $15 billion for the first-timers’ credit, an amount that is expected to grow by almost $11 billion with the extension and expansion.
Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight, questioned the effectiveness of the tax credit.
“This is not what the market needs to get on track,” Newport said. “All it does is shift sales from one period to another.”
…
Real estate agents and builders welcome the boost provided by the tax break.
“It will be excellent incentive for people to buy who have not found a home yet. And there are plenty of them left out there,” said Annekee Brahver-Keely, an agent with Russo Real Estate in Teaneck.
First-time buyers who were sprinting to close before Nov. 30 were relieved to get an extension to claim the tax credit.
“We were excited to hear it was extended,” said Kate Davis, 28, of the Bronx, who is looking for a house in Teaneck. She and her husband want to move out of their two-bedroom apartment, which has felt especially crowded since the birth of their second child six months ago.
“We’re going to have to buy a house anyway, but the credit is a huge incentive for us,” said Davis, a lawyer who is staying home with her children. “We’d really like to take advantage of it. It’s a huge help in terms of maybe being able to reach a little bit further if we find something we love.”
is there a way to remain anonymous once foreclosure process starts? keeping name and address off record
Once it starts? Doubtful, this is a legal action. I’ll let the legal contingent weigh in there.
Only real way to keep your name out of public records is to have purchased the property via an LLC, Trust, or something of the sort.
From the Washington Post:
Renters becoming latest victims as foreclosure crisis widens
A new wave of foreclosures stands to hurt people who may have never taken out a mortgage: renters. In cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, where many investors are carrying upside-down mortgages on large rental buildings, some tenants are watching their homes fall apart along with the financing.
Janeia Sandiford, a 24-year-old GED student in New York, has two young children and a deteriorating apartment. When a leak over Sandiford’s bathroom and kitchen caused the ceiling to flake off and then cave in, nobody came to fix it for a year, she said. She lacked heat most of last winter, and she has duct-taped her loose-fitting windows in place to cut down on drafts.
“I’m really worried about the kids,” she said.
…
Similar conditions could crop up across the country this winter as foreclosures climb for large rental-unit buildings. In the first three quarters of 2009, 475 foreclosure proceedings were begun against multifamily rental or cooperative homes in the District, according to NeighborhoodInfo DC, a partnership between the Urban Institute and the D.C. Local Initiatives Support Corp. That figure already eclipses the 458 foreclosures for all of 2008.
From HousingWire:
Prices Down 9.8% in September: First American
National home prices declined 9.8% year-over-year in September, according to First American CoreLogic’s home price index (HPI).
In August, the year-over-year decline was 11.1% and on a month-over-month basis prices declined 0.4%, ending a five-month run of consecutive monthly price increases.
…
Looking to next year, First American CoreLogic said it expects prices to continue to decline in the next six months, and begin to rebound in the spring. Short-term factors that will affect the market include above-average levels of foreclosures, inventories and unemployment will continue to take their toll in many major metropolitan markets in the short term, the real estate research firm said.
“We have now seen a return of more traditional seasonal patterns with the slight decrease in our month-over-month HPI for September,” said First American CoreLogic chief economist Mark Fleming. “While the improvement in the year-over-year decline is encouraging, high foreclosure rates and increasing distressed sales are likely to continue to hold prices down.”
From the NYT:
Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government
The United States government is financing its more than trillion-dollar-a-year borrowing with i.o.u.’s on terms that seem too good to be true.
But that happy situation, aided by ultralow interest rates, may not last much longer.
Treasury officials now face a trifecta of headaches: a mountain of new debt, a balloon of short-term borrowings that come due in the months ahead, and interest rates that are sure to climb back to normal as soon as the Federal Reserve decides that the emergency has passed.
Even as Treasury officials are racing to lock in today’s low rates by exchanging short-term borrowings for long-term bonds, the government faces a payment shock similar to those that sent legions of overstretched homeowners into default on their mortgages.
With the national debt now topping $12 trillion, the White House estimates that the government’s tab for servicing the debt will exceed $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year, even if annual budget deficits shrink drastically. Other forecasters say the figure could be much higher.
#4 grim
I know someone who hasn’t made a mortgage payment since 3/08 (supposedly) but they don’t come up on county clerk records other then the original lis pendens from 8/08. would negotiations with the bank cause this? either way its a long time to live mortgage free
the bank may suspend the foreclosure if
a deal is being worked out. i know this from a good source .
knowing what i know now i would have stopped paying two years ago.
would have a better shot on all this crap
“Treasury officials now face a trifecta of headaches: a mountain of new debt, a balloon of short-term borrowings that come due in the months ahead, and interest rates that are sure to climb back to normal as soon as the Federal Reserve decides that the emergency has passed.”
Watch what they do to the stock market to put a bid under treasuries.
Gold = $1164/ounce.
Keep on printing electronic dollars Ben. We will get $2000/ounce before you know it.
Amazing, Trillions in Stimulus to artifically prop up the Stosk Market, while Main Street Dies. And no one in power even recognizes it.
Just stockpile hi-ho and shiny, and wait for it all to detonate.
Another day closer to oblivion.
Susan Boyle is on the Today Show, singing “Wild Horses”. If this isn’t a sign of the apocalypse, nothing is.
Smoke that rock, bugger that buck.
Apologies to the Red Hot Chilis.
HE (11)-
Dow, dollar-adjusted, sits at 7,500. Wait ’til the nominal drops to about 4,500. That’s when the real fun will start.
Party like it’s 1969.
Clot (14):
It is going to detonate, just in a way that 95% of America will not understand until it is too late.
Bergabe game plan:
Let stocks run up until end of year. Allow major correction in first quarter to put bid under treasuries. Refinance gubmint debt. Start QE2 and fiscal stimulus II. Watch stock market and hard assets take off again. Rinse repeat.
NCAA football bubble, starting to explode:
BOSTON (ESPN) — Northeastern University is dropping its football program after 74 years, saying it’s too expensive to maintain.
President Joseph Aoun and the board of trustees endorsed the move Friday after a two-year review of the Boston school’s sports programs by athletic director Peter Roby.
-snip-
“Ultimately it was determined that elevating and sustaining a competitive Division I football program would require additional multimillion dollar investments on an ongoing basis,” the statement said. “A broad consensus developed behind discontinuing football and focusing future resources on programs — both academic and non-academic — where the university can achieve and sustain leadership.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/ncf/news/story?id=4681701
HE (19)-
Implying that Bergabe has a plan of any type is giving him way too much credit.
I think he and Eraserhead just consult a ouija board on a daily basis.
There is talk of the Fed extending their MBS purchase program past the March 2010 end date.
Their you have it folks;the Fed is on hold for all of 2010.
Methinks it’s time for Grim to take Urban Pentathlon into the big time.
DISCLAIMER: I also believe a legitimate market exists for Rollerball.
“Tax credit hits mark with North Jersey buyers”
Buy a home now, before the tax credit forces you into a bidding war.
15: You do it oh so well.
methinks Grim should do a Holiday version of comp-killers so we all have something to be thankful for this weekend. its been a while.
#13 confused
Amazing, Trillions in Stimulus to artifically prop up the Stosk Market, while Main Street Dies. And no one in power even recognizes it.
Confused, they do recognize it. We are just picking up speed on the highway to feudalism.
Bairen,
DBA; China has become a huge buyer of soybeans. The corn crop is dwindling, carryovers are tigher; due to moisture problems during harvest.
I think Northeastern is in the I-AA and they’re quitting football. No big deal. I mean, Georgetown has like a Division III program for football taking on powerhouses like Catholic U. and they don’t have a problem getting students.
If this starts to affect I-A, they can always have ESPN do more bowl games. Maybe they can do the 24-hour football bowl thing just like they did with college basketball last week.
Where’s the recession?? Buy a home now, before it doubles in price.
U.S. Existing Home Sales Rise 10%, More Than Forecast
Purchases rose 11.6 percent in the Northeast
Home sales up 10.1 % over 11% in northeast.
7.3 month supply 1/3 of sales distressed.
Got all the suckers in yet?
BC
Dewey has data on corn and wheat cycles, haven’t gotten to it yet though
Most Dangerous Cities 2009
No. 1: Camden, N.J.
Rankings in Crime
Assault: 6
Murder: 1
Rape: 8
Motor Vehicle Theft: 8
Robbery: 1
Burglary: 41
http://www.walletpop.com/insurance/dangerous-cities
Bond of the day for really long term investors!!!!!!
MOTOROLA INC DEB 5.22000% 10/01/2097
CUSIP 620076AM1
Price (Ask) 53.536
Yield to Worst (Ask) 9.750%
Dimon seen as successor to Geithner- NY PostBY Reuters
— 04:50 AM ET 11/23/2009
Nov 23 (Reuters) – Several U.S. policy makers consider JPMorgan Chase & Co () Chief Executive Jamie Dimon as a potential successor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the New York Post said, citing sources. Dimon “would love to serve his country,” the paper quoted people familiar with his thinking as saying.could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.
Geithner endured a grilling last week before the U.S. Congress over his role in the rescue of American International Group Inc
http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_troubled_mortgages_grow_to_145_.html
next year should be interesting….
[29] danzud
Northeastern is 1-AA. And they have sucked as of late.
This leaves no 1-AA program in Boston. B.U. closed its program down years ago, mostly due to Title IX constraints, and right after a conference-winning season.
I have long theorized that there will be an implosion in higher ed, and it will be felt the most by private non-prestigious schools who have no capacity to fight for qualified students. Already, I think they are basically throwing open their doors to all comers, which will only hasten the death spiral for them as their degrees become the new G.E.D.s.
Even some of them with cash cow programs like law schools or mba programs won’t survive the coming downdraft in those practice areas.
[1] grim
” some banks he advises in New Jersey and other states have a high concentration of commercial real estate loans and they “are getting a clear message” from his former FDIC colleagues to not make more commercial real estate loans, even if all their loans are performing well.”
And Congress wonders why the banks aren’t lending? Readers of this site always knew this was the case.
re: #35 – John re: Dimon
he holds several hundred million in JPM stock and options. How else is he going to exercise those shares tax free?
Re Dimon
The game is so blatant at this point, that its just a cruel joke. Why dont we just officially transfer control of the US monetary system directly to a special JPM/GS/BOA holding company. We might save some money on the reduction of paper work.
While we are at it why dont we just have congress add a little blurb about said holding company appointing the president and 1/3 of all congressmen.
Think how much more efficient the system would be if we just cut out the dog and pony show. Its got to be in the billions.
Or as an alternative, why dont we pass some new “support the troops/save the children” legislation with a nice little rider that gives each of the big banks their own contingent of congressman and senators?
re#40 kettle1 – I still chuckle when I think about how Obama said emphatically during his campaign that he going to ban lobbyists from his administration. He even said “for as long as I am president.”
That is going to go down in the history books along with Bush’s “read my lips, no new taxes”.
Sean,
Bingo!!! Taking the the Hanky Panky Paulson route to tax free millions.
My dad always told me if you wanted to look for fraud, look at higher education. Let’s just say a lot of these schools may have it coming….. I have no idea why Albright or Muhlenberg should cost 3 or 4x the cost of Ramapo or Montclair, do you?
I had to do my own fact-check
Rampao $11,416
Albright $30,800
didn’t bother with room and board for this calc.
Ok, why over four years is Albright nearly $80k higher than Ramapo?
re: 24
Its too late for that. Been poking around Rutherford for the last two years waiting on the bust. No bust yet, but found a little house for an amount that made sense on my monthly nut vs rent even with a modest loss calculated over 5+ years. More than modest, just means we stay there longer.
Made my offer. Found out I was competing against 8 offers pushing above the asking price. After being asked to rebid, I quickly withdrew my offer, realizing insanity is still driving the market. Funny thing is, the ‘winning’ bid ended up getting cold feet! I’m guessing they looked at the 100 or so pre-foreclosures heading for market in the area. When they came back a-knockin’ I offered the same less 20%. Don’t think they’ll call (yet)… :-)
After…
Walking around the office I heard 3 separate conversations of people actively looking at houses. Something I haven’t heard in the last 12 mo.s. Think, I’ll sit back and wait at least another 12… The hype is on.
My dad always told me if you wanted to look for fraud, look at higher education. Let’s just say a lot of these schools may have it coming….. I have no idea why Albright or Muhlenberg should cost 3 or 4x the cost of Ramapo or Montclair, do you.
Maximizing profit. Another round of easy answers to easy questions.
“They’re doing Gods work”
Danzud
Just another bubble created by government money.
The more money the government pumps into the system ( higher Ed int his case, and through Stafford loans and similar instruments, the higher the bubble inflates.
But hey its a good place to park a large 5 of kids who graduate high school knowing little more then how to fire up a bong, slam a beer, and copy test answers from the geek in the class.
DOnt forget that the housing bubble also played a significant effect in the Higher Ed bubble as parents were pulling huge amounts of “equity” out of their homes in order to fund little graydon’s and ellery’s ever applicable forays into advanced studies in womens issues, psychology, and political science.
Note: These paticular subjects have a place but putting thousands of kids through these undergrad programs every year is a complete waste of resources if they dont plan on pursuing advanced PhD and beyond studies. Even then, how many PhD political scientists (Oxymororn of the decade?) is there actually a market for.
If graydon is smart he would go to trade school. He’ll probably make more money in the long run as a tradesman then a white collar driod and have better job security
danzud, the perception of quality in higher ed institutions is directly related to how expensive it is, and any good alumni will feed this fire as much as possible.
High quality schools with big endowments can jack up the sticker price but then cut you an invoice with a 90% discount because their endowment covers almost half their annual operating expenses.
The few people i know who attended princeton and yale practically got free rides – one of which was for grad school where they paid for his internship and his books.
If they dont have big endowments, look at the demand. Some of the ivys are admitting 10% of the applicants. Ramapo is more like 40%, Montclair is more like 60%.
Just imagine the demand there. Most would consider these to be overpriced mediocre institutions (not bad schools) yet still they are turning away half their customers. With those economics, im surprised tuition isnt twice what it is now.
And dont forget to look at fees for state colleges. Trenton tells them they cant raise tuition more than a certain percent each year so the colleges agree and then just raise the fees to get around the rule.
If graydon is smart he would go to trade school. He’ll probably make more money in the long run as a tradesman then a white collar driod and have better job security
The only problem is that tradesman get dirty and work hard while white collar gets dressed up in a suit and tie and look more presentable and get all the 25 yr old chicks.
Vet0 48,
And dont forget to look at fees for state colleges. Trenton tells them they cant raise tuition more than a certain percent each year so the colleges agree and then just raise the fees to get around the rule.
Or they just triple the class sizes and increase their margin. This is the method rutgers is currently following and the professors are generally p1ssed about it although powerless at this point.
Why am I thinking into putting my toe back into SRS?
Someone please talk some sense into me!
make
look more presentable and get all the 25 yr old chicks.
that general trend has been around for the last thousand years or so, but if you look around a successful tradesman makes more money for less work then the average white collar guy.
Then again physical labor doesnt fit in with the fabled service economy either.
make, srs is a black hole that only goes dow.
The main issue to Higher Ed is barier to entry. When was the last time a new University went up? 100 yrs?
Simple formula of Supply and demand.
After I sell shiny I would love to start a university. I mean a 3,000 student body with 30K tuition is 900M annually add fees and other charges and you have a Billion dollar business.
Can someone explain this logic to me? Apparently the shadow inventory, though acknowledged, does not exist.
Cramer:
Yes, foreclosures and soon-to-be-foreclosed properties are running high, but the missing aspect of it all is that we are not forcing the properties on the market. The regulators just don’t force the banks to take action so that the so-called “shadow inventory” of foreclosed and soon-to-be-foreclosed homes, no matter what people may say, is chimerical. If you don’t force the banks to take the hit, they won’t take the hit. This “forbearance” is totally overlooked, perhaps conveniently, by the pundits who follow this stuff. They don’t get that foreclosed properties only matter if they are not allowed to be on the bank sheets. This point does not seem to matter to the naysayers, who see all of this real estate hitting the market at once, which means that the incredible jump in existing-home sales for October will mean nothing to them.
make, Danzud
Dont worry, once we are forced to start rebuilding a manufacturing base here in the US there will be plenty of labor supply with college degrees.
I will once again point out that my wife has been to the last several college job fairs at rutgers looking for new employees. In the past no one would even talk to her as they only pay 12.50/hr to start and its direct care of developmentally disabled adults (a job no one wants). They have used mostly immigrant labor for the last 5+ years or so (as that is all the could get for the going rate). The last 2 years she had a line of people at the college job fair wanting to apply.
In the last year alone, they have gone from a staff of mostly african immigrants who barely speak english to a staff of mostly college graduates while still paying 12.50/hr.
Wakeup and smell the brimstone
The dream dies hard for sellers. The house listed below can be yours for a tad under 600K. Property taxes are probably north of 10K. Gary where are you??
http://www.njmls.com/cf/details.cfm?mls_number=2949230&id=999999
the future of higher ed is community college, which will become an extension of high school.
and then online universities will explode in popularity when it becomes the only degree that people can afford. And eventually online courses will become as effective as the real deal that we all overpaid for. The college campus ‘experience’ is too expensive.
Besides, do we really think that a $400 mn library building is going to help a kid learn more than they can with a laptop in their living room?
Classic scene from Good Will Hunting…
“See, the sad thing about a guy like you is, in 50 years you’re gonna start doin’ some thinkin’ on your own and you’re going to come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life: one, don’t do that, and two, you dropped 150 grand on a f***in’ education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!”
Hate to say it but, IMHO we will have a double-dip in 2010.
This economy is deeply fundamentally flawed.
if you stop paying your mortgage today, yes today, you could probably stay in your home for 18 months, minimum . perhaps two years
of course, duncan and daniel will not know what to tell the friends
Demographics too. The class of 2008 was the biggest high school graduating class. It is going to drop dramatically……these places a f—ed…..
Comrade Nom Deplume says:
November 23, 2009 at 11:08 am
[29] danzud
Northeastern is 1-AA. And they have sucked as of late.
This leaves no 1-AA program in Boston. B.U. closed its program down years ago, mostly due to Title IX constraints, and right after a conference-winning season.
I have long theorized that there will be an implosion in higher ed, and it will be felt the most by private non-prestigious schools who have no capacity to fight for qualified students. Already, I think they are basically throwing open their doors to all comers, which will only hasten the death spiral for them as their degrees become the new G.E.D.s.
Even some of them with cash cow programs like law schools or mba programs won’t survive the coming downdraft in those practice areas.
“duncan and daniel will not know what to tell the friends”
freedy,
Not a problem keeping up with the neighbors. They’re going in reverse.
Make 54
I disagree. There is excess supply of higher ED. The problem is rooted in a murkier philosophical issue.
In the 20th century the call was to automate labor as much as possible so that people would be free to pursue “loftier pursuits”. Sort of an intellecutal utopia, as the machines handled the drudgery. The real end result of automation and advancing tech, is that the niche demand for highly educated labor has increased slower the the population and the demand for unskilled labor has been comoditized to slave labor standards in order to have any hope of approaching the efficiency of automated systems.
In any sort of capitalist system you will have a hierarchy of education and labor status. The end result of increasing education levels across the board is simply and upward pressure of the top levels of labor status to achieve ever higher standards in order to maintain a higher status in the labor pool.
No capitalistic society is going to have half their population philosophizing about the meaning of the universe while the machines ever efficiently toil about their labors.
The main issue to Higher Ed is barier to entry. When was the last time a new University went up? 100 yrs?
Simple formula of Supply and demand.
re #55 – relo insert politican in place of regulator, might make more sense.
1) Cramer is correct, the shadow foreclosures are imaginary as long as the politicians allow “mark to fantasy”. The banks won’t take the hit, unless they are forced to, and they won’t be because the politicians believe moral hazard is still a real threat. This does not mean it is time to run out and buy TOLL Brothers stock like Cramer has been pumping recently.
(48) Veto,
I’m not knocking Harvard for doing all it can for its own and others but I tried to keep Harvard and the like out of the argument since the issue is the higher education bubble. That’s why I used Albright as the example or a Rider and not Princeton.
65: I understand this on a short-term basis (i.e. for stock comparison on a Q over Q basis). The commentary seems to suggest more of an “ignore it and it will go away” vs. it will have to be dealt with at some point.
NY Times joins the doomer crowd.
Here is the short term outlook from the article.
“The White House estimates that the government will have to borrow about $3.5 trillion more over the next three years. On top of that, the Treasury has to refinance, or roll over, a huge amount of short-term debt that was issued during the financial crisis. Treasury officials estimate that about 36 percent of the government’s marketable debt — about $1.6 trillion — is coming due in the months ahead.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/business/23rates.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=business
“The class of 2008 was the biggest high school graduating class. It is going to drop dramatically. these places a f—ed….”
Chi, NJ is projecting slight growth in HS graduates through 2015. TX, FL, NM are projecting 12-25% growth through same period. NV is projecting 50% growth in HS grads through that period. The projections vary by state. Where did you see that decline projection in HS grads?
Nom,
There are weaker private universities that will have troubles but remember alot of the smaller ones without endowments didnt take 30% hits, and also didnt rely on contributory gifting so alot of them actually strengthened relatively since the crisis hit.
2002-2008 were extremely high birth years. Harvard is a big fat joke. How tough can it be that once you are accepted nearly everyone graduates and GPA is almost irrelevant. Just say you graduated from Harvard and doors open, could have a 2.0 in art history and you will do fine.
Veto
Not that may students do this, but there is also a risk analysis that should be considered in Higher ED. The burden of repaying astronomical debts loads becomes riskier while the potential reward declines. A classic case is medical degrees.
As the medical field becomes commoditized and globalized, the premium a Dr can command is being reduced to the point where already may people are forgoing medical school do to the substantial debt load that would be required while the only place a significant salary can be found now is in various specialties that are already becoming overloaded. The reward is no longer commensurate with the financial risk
This is happening to most field in one form or another
“Not that may students do this, but there is also a risk analysis that should be considered in Higher ED.”
kettle,
Could the HS students, performing this risk analysis, teach to our Treas Sec?
kettle (40)-
I agree. Let’s stop the charades and just admit it’s Mussolini-time, here in the good ‘ol US of A.
danzud (44)-
That’s nothing. My BIL is out over 200K for four years at Syracuse for my Piltdown-stupid nephew, who is now helping amortize that beastly nut with a $15/hr job working a Balducci’s cheese counter in NYC.
make (51)-
SRS is always good for a day trade.
And, it’s safer, more reliable and more convenient than going to the dog track.
3b (57)-
I don’t know this area at all. Do people really pay prices like that for such complete dogshit?
re: Cramer and the foreclosures.
He can’t seem to bring it full circle. Yeah, banks hold onto inventory, but even if they keep it off the books *forever*, back at jump city those properties deteriorate and bring down the overall value of neighborhoods. End result? The same thing as if the banks unloaded the properties onto the market in the first place.
Clot,
I kept room and board (as well as the required Europe trip for Ellery) out of the equation. I wonder if kids now are choosing more engineering/medical majors after watching the recent fiasco.
I know this won’t be popular here, but I am sad for the demise of the classic liberal arts education. Plenty of finger pointing to go around on that one but it used to be a wonderful thing.
#28 BC Bob,
Thanks
Barb (79)-
We won’t need the ability to deconstruct Proust when the highlights of our days to come will be getting the harvest in before the rain and securing the perimeters of our compounds.
The first part of the population to be thinned out in the coming madness will be the anti-gun, overeducated, liberal intelligentsia.
Just like Darwin intended.
#76 They did, not any more but still delusional sellers out there;the dream dies harder in wannabe towns it appears. or just waiting for some porr sack to bail them out.
Interesting how the listing states all redone in the last 7 years etc. I wonder where the sellers think they are relocating to?
Plus the taxes are outrageous, up 40 to 50% in the alst few years.
http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisswann26/StadiumTour112109#
If you are a Jet or Giant fan you will love this, pictures from two days ago of Meadowlands Stadium tour in great detail. Pretty interesting to see stadium almost done.
The stadium is in NJ and they are building a building (real estate), so I am actually reporting on NJRealEstate.
Schump,
So where do the pro-gun, overeducated, conservative (as in FDR) intelligentsia fall in your little spectrum
“The first part of the population to be thinned out in the coming madness will be the anti-gun, overeducated, liberal intelligentsia.
Just like Darwin intended.”
true, considering most of my friends can’t ever change a light socket.
ever=even
vodka (85)-
Anyone with skills, arms and the ability to use them will be rulers of the planet in the Dark Ages to come.
“Anyone with skills, arms and the ability to use them will be rulers of the planet in the Dark Ages to come.”
i keep telling you sorry sacks of meat, you should have become plumbers and made something of yourselves.
Instead, you chose books and desk jobs and now will be forced to pick weeds for garbage men.
Schump
Hurray for Feudalism?.?.?.?.
veets: I will check, but it has to do with Gen Y….you should probably check your sources too, somehow I guess it is the NEA Union…
Veto That says:
November 23, 2009 at 1:01 pm
“The class of 2008 was the biggest high school graduating class. It is going to drop dramatically. these places a f—ed….”
Chi, NJ is projecting slight growth in HS graduates through 2015. TX, FL, NM are projecting 12-25% growth through same period. NV is projecting 50% growth in HS grads through that period. The projections vary by state. Where did you see that decline projection in HS grads?
Coming madness?? Hell the damn madness is already here. Real estate terrorists have been allowed to run amok and devastate my damn wealth. The liberals are jamming health care down my damn throat. I can’t get any damn credit and no one wants to hire a former real estate flipper.
Shlt. What can be worst than this?
Schumpeter says:
November 23, 2009 at 1:50 pm
The first part of the population to be thinned out in the coming madness will be the anti-gun, overeducated, liberal intelligentsia.
Just like Darwin intended.
Party like it is 1999??!!??
Zynga May Be Valued at $1 Billion on Facebook Craze
Zynga Inc., maker of the “Mafia Wars” and “FarmVille” games played on Facebook, may be valued at $1 billion based on the sale price of a smaller rival.
Valuations for Zynga and its peers were established this month when Electronic Arts Inc. bought Playfish Inc. for three to four times its revenue, said Jesse Divnich, an analyst with researcher Electronic Entertainment Design & Research. Zynga may generate a value of $1 billion should the company be taken public, said Terry Schallich, head of capital markets at Pacific Crest Securities, a technology-focused investment bank.
“If the IPO were timed to price around mid-2010 or later, our expectation would be for a billion dollar or greater valuation,” said Schallich, who is based in Portland, Oregon.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aK27lRYbSPqU&pos=13
Chi, I’ve seen increasing HS grad rates quoted other places but cant remember all the sources – thats why i was surprised to hear you say that grads have peaked and going down.
a recent moodys report on higher ed is my source and they show a map with different rates for each state. ME, VT and NY are looking at decreases in HS Grads. Most of the others are flat or increasing though.
STUDENT DEMAND REMAINS STRONG
Demand for higher education is the fundamental factor underpinning most colleges’ and universities’ financial performance.
On a national basis, we expect student demand to remain healthy, driven by continued increases in the number of traditional age students: nationwide, the number of high school graduates is expected to grow between 1.5% and 2% through 2015.
source: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, as reprinted in the Chronicle of Higher Education
You must have been thinking of one of those NY Post articles, except you forgot you were reading page 6. ;^)
Bye the way, what ever happened to John Crudelle? He was spitting gloom and doom for years and then it all really happened and now he is nowhere to be found.
vic (93)-
Nope. No bubble there.
Move along…
veto (94)-
Weren’t all the think tanks saying the same things about housing around 2004-05?
Funny thing about bubbles: the people in charge of looking out for signs that one is expanding happen to be blind.
A billion fcuking dollars for an outfit that creates video stuff that makes kids stupid and violent.
Sounds about right to me.
Clot –
Here is the kicker.
Zynga and its rivals offer free-to-play games and generate revenue when players pay to add new features like a $3 chicken coop in “FarmVille.”
Schumpt, i never denied or confirmed a bubble in higher ed but if we are going to egg eachother on that everything is a bubble lets at least get our facts straight.
Chi, Veto
Here is a chart for you 2. yes it wikipedia and not definitive, bit it takes the data from US census. This chart shows that we are about to see a small spike in highschool age Americans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Uspop.svg
from the same wikipedia article
Of the nation’s children in 2050, 62% are expected to have a minority ethnicity,
doesnt that mean that they are no longer “minorities”?
Does that mean that in in 2050 I get minority rights such as affirmative action and the like? (affirmative action for wheel chairs)
I cant wait to see the political gymnastics that take place once Caucasians are a minority, as we all know that such “privileges” will not be extended that that particular minority group at the time.
Ket, Also consider that they are expecting higher rates of college attendance, especially among minority students who have previously attended college at much lower rates.
This reads like one of Clot’s posts.
I refuse to be scared dammit. All we need is a damn tax cut and all our problems will go the hell away.
The Pending Collapse Of The U.S.A.
By Timothy V. Gatto
November 20, 2009 “Information Clearing House” — The truth that most people realize but can’t openly talk about is that America has seen better days and that the system of capitalism has long outlived its usefulness. The last part of that sentence, that capitalism has outlived its usefulness, is thoroughly the fault of the capitalists themselves.
For many years now, transnational corporations have sent much of America’s manufacturing overseas in order to take advantage of low cost workers. About the only manufacturing this country does on a large scale is earth moving equipment (Caterpillar) and military equipment. Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon, General Electric and firms like that are the major remnants of a once thriving industrial base that made America. Detroit is still trying to hang in there, but shortfalls in sales have left it up to the workers in these plants to take it on the chin as their pay and benefits get cut.
The Dow is trying to make a comeback but the way I see it, much of the rise of “blue-chip” stocks is really more wishful thinking than serious thought. The stocks being sold on the backs of some of these companies are being bought on speculation that the market will go higher based on the rise of the GDP. The question that I would like to ask, is how far can the GDP go when 70% of the GDP is based on consumer spending? Where is consumer spending going to come from when realistically over 16% of the people in America aren’t working?
In an essay, written by Richard Heinberg entitled “Should We Prop-up a Dying Economy” (19 October 2009), he argues that the economists and the people who follow physical science disagree sharply about where this economy is going. Peak Oil, whether it is present now or just years away, will mean that the economy will contract. The economists state that growth can happen in any environment, yet it is apparent that when oil prices spiked in 2008, the auto industry and the airline industry almost went belly-up. Shrinkage of energy means shrinkage in the economy, we have all been under the notion that we can borrow against a growing economy. The facts are that if the economy does not grow, there will be very little in the growth of capital to repay debts that are leveraged at an average of an average of 350% of debt to GDP ratio. Where will new capital come from?
As the price of petroleum becomes higher, imported goods will become more expensive. When our government fails to repay our foreign creditors, or pays them back in hyper-inflated dollars, there will be no credit issued to this country. This can be a significant problem because we currently use 25% of the world’s oil supply and we buy that oil on credit. He says;
“We have entered a new economic era in which the former rules no longer
apply. Low interest rates and government spending no longer translate to
incentives for borrowing and job production. Cheap energy won’t appear
just because there is demand for it. Substitutes for essential resources
will in most cases not be found. Over all, the economy will continue to
shrink in fits and starts until it can be maintained by the energy and
material resources that Earth can supply on ongoing basis.”
That is frightening to say the least. I believe that what our government should be doing is to listen to the scientists and stop listening to the economists. We have already borrowed almost 24 BILLION dollars, that is $80,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. We are robbing our future to pay for an economy that is unsustainable. Without economic growth, the banks, the investment houses and the insurance companies are bound to fail anyway. We might as well let them fail and get on with the business of restoring a sustainable economy.
In a talk called “The Five Stages of Collapse”, by Dmitry Orlov, a former Russian that watched the collapse of the Soviet Union, they are;
The Five Stages of Collapse
1. Stage one: Financial Collapse
2. Commercial Collapse
3. Political Collapse
4. Social Collapse
5. Cultural Collapse
This isn’t the warning of a horror show, but unless we start to prepare for a full or partial collapse, it could be worse than it has to be. He envisions a breakdown of society gradually replaced by stronger knit communities that must depend on each other for basic needs or it could be a complete breakdown of utter anarchy.
Meanwhile the Eagle sits on its perch, fighting wars in foreign lands while spending billions of American dollars doing it. The average American will see no benefit or harm whether we win or lose against the Taliban in Afghanistan. What we will have done however, is strap Americans with more debt and more use of precious resources. The American eagle is getting a little bit wobbly on its perch and it wouldn’t surprise me to see all American soldiers taken from all overseas assignments and brought back to this country just to deal with the economic collapse, and because we can no longer afford to keep them overseas.
We need to start thinking about where we live and how we will survive an economic collapse. When the federal government can no longer function, what will we do to replace it? How are individuals to survive when essential goods and services become extinct? This isn’t a future scenario that will happen twenty or thirty years from now, no! We are already experiencing it.
We can continue to live our daily lives watching TV and the advertisements that lull us into a false sense of security that everything is well, or we can start making provisions to deal with the calamity that lies ahead. We can provision staples, use alternative energy sources to heat our homes or assist us in heating them, and we can start talking with each other and get to know the neighbor that lives across the street that you have never talked to.
I’m really not an alarmist, but I see the merit of what so many scientists are predicting. Not only will Peak Oil stop economic growth, but climate change according to a UN report will bring desertification to 70% of the planet by 2025. Maybe petroleum peaking out is in reality what may save our planet. Maybe a return to simpler ways to live and work will stop the CO2 emissions, but I don’t think so. Third world countries are surpassing the industrialized countries in carbon emissions by burning coal. What I would like to know is who is really minding this nation’s business? What is the Federal government doing when scientific fact is thrown in their face? While Obama listens to Timothy Geitner and Ben Bernanke and other Goldman Sacks alumni, a company that produces nothing and makes money by buying low and selling high with government funds, where are the people that see what’s happening? If I can understand the ramifications of what is happening in front of my face, what about the President of the United States? Is he really ignorant or does he just not wish to deal with it? I’m curious; maybe someone in the executive branch can give us answers. It would be in everyone’s best interest to have people starting to deal with reality instead of putting their head in the sand. Maybe the American eagle should be replaced with the ostrich.
Tim Gatto’s new book Complicity to Contempt is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Abe’s and other fine bookstores now.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24020.htm
link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Birth_rate
tard (103)-
It’s the breakdown of everything, all happening in real time.
103
I finally heard on MSM radio (CNN) this weekend that many of the jobs that are gone are never, ever ever ever coming back. It was put very strongly by the guest/commentator and was generally accepted by the panel as true. Slowly it is sinking in.
I think we are quoting the same source data that has been reported in different ways. I assume that I must have read reports focusing on high school grads that were focused on attending colleges, and further, of the type we were discussing (e.g., expensive and private).
As you see in these charts, they bulk of the population in the U.S. remains relatively constant for high school grads, except for Latinos. I do not believe latinos are as a group are going to impact the discussion for the next couple of decades though…..
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/res/hel/4568_graduates_by_state_rev080105.ppt.
also, is the unintended next step/effect of globalization a trend toward American immigration? The American as immigrant/work visa recipient. What skills would we bring when tech people can be found in many 3rd world countries? Creativity? Not sure
Why am I thinking into putting my toe back into SRS?
Someone please talk some sense into me!
Make, please don’t do it. Buy DRV instead. ;)
108 – “What skills would we bring when tech people can be found in many 3rd world countries? Creativity? Not sure”
sex workers
ruggles,
who will pay for fat americans?
I think that our most successful “import” is our brand/style/way of life. Culturally the trend away from the US being center stage has been building for the last 15 years. Asian pop culture and more recently, Indian is sharing a significant amount of space with us now. We aren’t as cool as we used to be, that’s going to hurt us too.
#111 kettle1
Human fat goes for 15k a gallon in Europe.
We could hook feed bags up to the massive masses and suck out their fat. Kind of like donating blood, but only a lot more profitable.
110. probably.
#112 Barbara
East asian talk shows, dramas, and movies are now watchable to good. The Chinese 2 part movie Red Cliff 1 and Red Cliff 2 were the best movies I have seen in years. (Clot and Kettle would appreciate the ancient battle formations and weapons).
Human fat goes for 15k a gallon in Europe.
Could pay for entire national debt, strenghthen our currency vs Euro,solve obesity and healthcare issues just buy slicing a few million American and shipping their fat to Europe.
I’ll vote for the person that runs on that platform.
Yes. Whether one sees all of that however depends upon where one sits. Of course, “seeing” it doesn’t alter the facts.
105.Schumpeter says:
November 23, 2009 at 3:05 pm
tard (103)-
It’s the breakdown of everything, all happening in real time
Clot(97),
http://chronicle.com/article/Obama-Touts-TVVideo-Games/49247/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en
You may be on to something.
#116 make,
How about a fat tax and tax on highly refined foods and fast foods? I bet a tax like that and a 1 or 2 percent payroll tax would be enough to fund an hmo/ppo like national plan for all US citizens, and those who want can pay extra for a better plan.
Makes more sense to me then a 40% tax on your health benefits and threatening you with a fine/imprisonment for not getting insurance.
The only “job” that’s safe is one you create yourself. What everyone needs is a small business that’s anchored to the everyday needs of the public. Of course, if things break down like some project, even that won’t help.
106.Barbara says:
November 23, 2009 at 3:07 pm
103
I finally heard on MSM radio (CNN) this weekend that many of the jobs that are gone are never, ever ever ever coming back. It was put very strongly by the guest/commentator and was generally accepted by the panel as true. Slowly it is sinking in.
As if our trading “partners” don’t have us on the ropes already . . .
“World Bank Says 45 Countries
Cut or Simplified Tax Burden in Past Year
More countries are making it easier for businesses to pay taxes, with 45 economies undertaking reforms during the past year, nearly a 25 percent increase from the previous year, the World Bank said Nov. 20.
According to the new Paying Taxes 2010, issued by the International Finance Corporation and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the top reformer this past year was Timor-Leste, which introduced a new tax law, streamlined the business tax regime and simplified tax administration. The IFC is the World Bank’s private sector affiliate. . . .
For the third year in a row, Eastern Europe and Central Asia led the regions in terms of most reforms, with 10 countries making tax reforms.
In terms of who makes paying taxes easy and who does not, the top three ranked for simplicity are Maldives, Qatar and Hong Kong, in that order. At the other extreme are Belarus, Venezuela and Ukraine out of a total 183 economies ranked in the report. . . . .
The most popular reform was reducing profit tax rates, which was the case in 20 of the 45 economies, followed by making it easier to file and pay taxes, which 18 of them undertook.
Besides Timor Leste, Mexico made the most substantial reforms in the past year, the study said. . .
But there is a real cultural difference between honor/shame based societies vs redemptive societies. How will this effect cultural imports? Who is going to change/influence who the most?
http://www.marketwatch.com
4/5 most read articles on MW today are talking Shiny…pendulum has changed rather quickly!!!
Safe,
Why would you want Americans to loose weight? We have to change the way we look at fat it’s now considered equity and we should be able to refinance. Wall street should slice it and sell it as CFO and FBS. Americans are the fatest and hence the richest nation on earth.
make (118)-
Yep. The next time I can make a GTG, I should tell you about the day I visited ETS in Princeton, and they had a guy tell us all about the stuff they’re embedding in video games…all in collaboration with the developers.
We’re all being slowly rendered into pliable little consumerbots.
you know, unlike here in the US, fatty cuts of meats are considered delicacies and are expensive in the 3rd world….
just thinking out loud.
safe (119)-
If the US attempts to tax pork rinds, Nehi soda or Moon Pies, 1/4 of the country will secede.
Barb (125)-
I’ll have an order of McSweetbreads, extra ranch, please.
make 116
1 gallon of fat = 7.6 lbs
The average americanis overwiehgt enough to donate that much. So lets assume that 605 of americans can donate. Thats about 180 million fat donors. at 15K/lb we have $2.7 trillion.
if we make this an annual requirement (based on an official body fat % measurement made on TAX DAY) for all eligible individuals then we just found a 3 trillion $ revenue source!!!!!
Plus i see a boom in plastic surgeons
Barbara –
Any kind of meat is a luxury in the third world. Compared to the other food (like grains and vegetables), meat is very expensive. This is not true in the U.S. (Tyson’s chicken – $0.79 a pound)
However, the meat, when you do get it, is the best tasting I have ever had. The cattle/chickens are not fed a grain based diet and not raised in factories.
The obesity epidemic in the U.S has everything to do with the cheapest calories being the most harmful.
Football question.
It’s down to the wire in my Survivor Pool for a few grand. There are three people left in my pool and I am one of them.
Here are my potential picks for this week, give me your best pick out of these four.
Cincinnati (7-3) over Cleveland (1-9) at Cincinnati
Atlanta (5-5) over Tampa (1-9) at Atlanta
Dallas (7-3) over Oakland (3-7) at Dallas
Philly (6-4) over Washington (3-7) at Washington
“The first part of the population to be thinned out in the coming madness will be the anti-gun, overeducated, liberal intelligentsia.”
Not really. We’ll be taking our money and families overseas. The knuckledragging Palin crowd can fight it out here ‘O.K. Corral’ style. I eagerly await the nightly news reports while sitting in a nice bar in Madrid.
When it comes to spening other people’s money, Americans are never hseitant. Housing buying credit is a perfect example for that.
#116 We’re going to have to wait for a Republican administration to deal with the fat. President Cheney will assign Halliburton a multi-billion dollar bid to create a pipeline sending our extra fat across the Atlantic while giving tax breaks for buying McDonalds Super-Size Meals and SUVs.
Grim, please unmod #133 and I have no idea what word made it blow up.
#122 Barb
If we change to an honor/shame based society, three things are for certain, there will be a sudden rise in opening of middle management positions and far fewer people on the dole as a result of all the harakiri.
sean (130)-
Bungles are coming off a loss and need this game bad. Browns, OTOH, are at a point when the bad teams start to tank games. Players are already thinking about staying healthy for wherever they end up next year.
Also a divisional game, so I don’t see how CIN doesn’t make a good effort.
Good luck!
Starting Jan 1st 2011, love your tax increases.
• Individual income tax rates go from 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, and 35% to 15%, 28%, 31%, 36%, and 39.6%.
• Child credit falls from $1,000 per child to $500 per child.
• Capital gains tax rates would revert back to 10% and 20% (depending on AGI), while they are currently at 5% and 15%.
• Dividends would once again be taxed at the ordinary income rates (see above), while today they are currently at 5% and 15%.
• After being fully phased out for tax year 2010, the estate tax would be fully reinstated with a top rate of 60 percent and a $1 million exemption.
meter (131)-
Maybe you can find a nice bank-owned home to buy in Spain.
If you look at the US’ financial problems as cocaine, Spain took it and turned it into crack.
136
Yeah, but this year you get the $800 Making Work Pay Credit. Plus for all us non bag holders that don’t itemized and cashed in on C4C, add the sales tax to your standard deduction.
Not to rile the gun club, which I believe is just about everybody, but if they are going to tax “fatty foods” because they escalate health costs, how about taxing ammo? Or at least ammo that is likely to maim but not kill. Those exploding shells will really limit how much healthcare the victim, er patient can use up.
Of course, the real victory for gubmint is that we argue over what they should tax next, not why don’t they STOP!!!!
@130 – Cincy over Cleveland. They’d already mostly given up the season and this week’s last minute fluke loss will push them over the brink.
130
Cincy is a lock. But then again, I just got ousted with Pitt this week.
@137
Schumpeter…exactly my strategy.
We snack too much. We eat even when we aren’t hungry. People refuse to get up and walk around and don’t care about getting outside and moving around. It’s easy to gain a pound or two a year, just from an extra 100 calories/day.
Sometimes i marvel that there are any thin people left in our country at all. Temptation is everywhere and when you go out to sports events or fairs most of the foods available are fried, sweets, etc. They could just as easily serve fruits, veggie juices, etc. but nobody wants that because our taste buds have been trained to crave the other stuff.
Cincy would be my pick as well. But Atlanta lost last week and I can’t see them losing 2 in a row at home.
Clot,
the EU probably isnt the best choice if you cant pass as native or super wealthy.
Meter,
if you dont have a small private army, There is no hiding from this mess.
if you can afford one, look into Uruguay. Its popular with that crowd and has a number of potential benefits for the rare blue whale like yourself.
;)
Cleveland just sucks and the Bengals will be pissed.
143.
“They could just as easily serve fruits, veggie juices, etc. but nobody wants that because our taste buds have been trained to crave the other stuff.”
its also because our produce tastes terrible. When it isn’t locally grown its not vine ripened and has a strong grassy flavor without much sweet or its just terribly dull and the texture is off.
You don’t realize it until you eat non genetically modified stuff grown locally from good soil. Hard to find in the US.
FWIW-
Too much gold talk in MSM.
Everybody and their brother is on eggshells and everybody seems to be expecting an equities crash/correction.
Worked for a company that purchased everything in yen. The owner must be ready to jump off a bridge. No recovery for him.
House Whine (143) –
We eat even when we aren’t hungry
You are describing the symptoms, not the cause. This is analogous to saying that you are an alcoholic because you drink too much.
The human body is an amazing self regulating machine. The reason why we eat even when we are not hungry, is because the body is not getting the nutrition which it needs from the food we are eating. This is because the cheapest calories are grain, corn-based concoctions, soda, processed food etc.
The share of our income which we spend on food has been decreasing steadily for a number of years because of increased mechanization and processing. This will probably come to an end in the near future because of higher fuel prices. Hopefully, then we will eat food only when it is in season and not shipped half way around the world.
Ray
ammo that is likely to maim but not kill
eh????? all ammo is intended to kill. There is no such thing as a traditional “non-lethal” bullet. if you want to maximize lethality, then ban all non-expanding ammo (i.e. traditional Full Metal Jacket).
they make “frangible” bullets (they shatter on impact) but those are generally meant only for target practice (also used by air marshals and a few other special applications).
generally such a statement has little meaning in the terms of ammunition. Unless you just want to require everyone to use .308 ammo or larger.
(Note: rubber bullets and a few newer types are not traditional ammo and not widely available if at all)
Yet another ass-whipping of Eraserhead:
“There is most probably a second wave of mortgage defaults in the immediate future as a result of Alt-A and Option-ARM resets. Yet our capacity to deal with these losses has already been strained by the first round that largely ended in March. The Federal Reserve has taken a massive amount of mortgage-backed securities onto a balance sheet that used to be restricted to Treasury securities. The purchase of these securities is reflected by a surge in cash reserves held by banks. Not only are the banks not lending these funds, they are contracting their loan portfolios rapidly. Ultimately, in order to unwind the Fed’s position in these securities, it will have to sell them back to the public and absorb those excess reserves, so to some extent, the banking system can count on losing the deposits created by the Fed’s actions, and can’t make long-term loans with these funds anyway.
Increasingly, the Fed has decided to forgo the idea of repurchase agreements (which require the seller to repurchase the security at a later date), and is instead making outright purchases of the debt of government sponsored enterprises (GSEs such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). Again, the Fed used to purchase only Treasuries outright, but it is purchasing agency securities with the excuse that these securities are implicitly backed by the U.S. government.
This strikes me as a huge mistake, because it effectively impairs the Fed’s ability to get rid of the securities at the price it paid for them, should Congress change its approach toward the GSEs. It simultaneously complicates Congress’ ability to address the problem because Bernanke has tied the integrity of our monetary base to these assets. The policy of the Fed and Treasury amounts to little more than obligating the public to defend the bondholders of mismanaged financial companies, and to absorb losses that should have been borne by irresponsible lenders. From my perspective, this is nothing short of an unconstitutional abuse of power, as the actions of the Fed (not to mention some of Geithner’s actions at the Treasury) ultimately have the effect of diverting public funds to reimburse private losses, even though spending is the specifically enumerated power of the Congress alone.”
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/11/hussman-accuses-fed-and-treasury-of.html
meter (142)-
Don’t tell me; you’re probably a Real Madrid fan, too.
149.
Victorian,
I’m a little skeptical myself, but this is why a lot of people are into juicing (with a fruit/veg juicer!) and say that the instant “hit” of nutrients to the gut really quells appetite.
“who will pay for fat americans?”
you can start with the NIgerians that get slaughtered up near the Niger Delta.
if you don’t think think the big 6 don’t own & operate private militas, then you should have spent some time back in 92 in Ogoniland.
SAS
Pick: Atlanta Falcons they need this game the most.
Sean, keep in mind that Cincy is at home next week against Detroit.
Dallas would be my pick as they have no future value in a survivor pool.
Is there an ETF for fat?
BC,
Good Springsteen show in Buffalo last night. The entry to the arena was all messed up (a computer issue folks were saying) but the band played well — including Merry Christmas Baby and Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Happy Birthday (to SVZ).
I have always loved Growing Up, so it was a treat to hear that played well.
If you go to ZH right now, any of the first five articles should make you want to throw up.
Barbara (153) –
Homo Sapiens originated 200,000 years ago. I don’t think they had access to juicers back then :) or a way to perform this task using the tools available.
I am skeptical of any wonder food in the market. I don’t think that there is any such thing.
Will fat harvested from white women trade at a premium?
154. Do they throw calculators at the offending troops?
“Is there an ETF for fat?”
yes, its called McDonalds & Applebees.
SAS
“Is there an ETF for fat?”
its called fast food.
(my other post is stuck in mod)
:P
SAS
Isn’t fat really a derivative?
“if you dont think think the big 6 dont own & operate private militas”
Tosh! Just security guards — mainly there to escort people to their cars and carry heavy bags for folks. No heavy-handed behavior on their part ever. Nosiree, just good corporate citizenship.
INGDIRECT.COM is having a Black Friday sale on Friday only where they are offering one day higher yields on CDs, weird isn’t it.
hello all. i’m a big fan of this blog. “boutique” medical practices… Ever heard of them?
is the cost of everything spiralling way out of control in our zero inflation society? My generation can’t afford to send its children to colleges that can’t afford football programs. the irony is overwhelming!
kettle
I didn’t say intended, I said likely. Arguing over what might increase our tax burden more is as silly as my analyzing what bullet is more likely to kill. Instead of arguing about which manner we will be taxed to death in, we should be revolting about the spending. Its like how Dick Cheney got us to talk about torture for weeks, as though that is his biggest sin, being pro-torture.
Yeah Dallas has no value after this week, and Atlanta should beat Tampa.
I am thinking
Dallas or Atlanta this week
Clot and SAS,
Have you guys ever read “The Omnivores Dilemma”? by Michael Pollan? I started it this weekend.
Already told my wife after about 70 pages we are joining a CSA, starting a garden, and canning.
Sean #130 I would take Dallas
“Have you guys ever read “The Omnivores Dilemma”? by Michael Pollan? I started it this weekend.”
yes, good book.
rent Food Inc. & procesed people.
SAS
RayC
I agree, just being contrary
“Most Dangerous Cities 2009
No. 1: Camden, N.J.
Rankings in Crime
Assault: 6
Murder: 1
Rape: 8
Motor Vehicle Theft: 8
Robbery: 1
Burglary: 41”
It strikes me that the burglers in Camden are underachievers.
RayC
many of us are in the same boat. No one wants to be the one to actually start a revolt because you/we have a family/house/car/business etc that could be taken from us. Hence most of us are little more then boiling frogs.
That is also why a large population of unmarried males (like china’s)is so dangerous. Single males have little to lose generally speaking and are much more risk tolerant then virtually any other class.
#174 SAS,
I definitely want to see Food inc.,
[176] shore
Or, that there is nothing worth stealing in Camden???
shore 176,
perhaps the good stuff has already been burgled and they have moved to more “developing markets”
Lets make camden the great Nj experiment. Require all residents within camden city limits to undergo training for conceal carry then supply 1 handgun and 2 magazines worth of ammunition to each individuals. Then withdraw the police. In 6 months re-enter the city and observe the results.
This experiemnt should answer a number of pro-gun/anti-gun / criminal justice questions.
Fund the experiment by putting CCTV cameras throughout the city and charging a subscription fee for access to the live feeds.
[140] RayC
Whydaya think everyone is stocking up on ammo????
A lot of folks think that The One will ban it, but I think that is a minority. Rather, those stocking up are doing so because of the prospect of a tax hike, or microstamping (which will have the same effect costwise).
That’s why I bought mine: If Dear Leader imposes outrageous taxes on it, designed to effectively curtail supply (deadweight loss), then my stock goes up in value. Way up.
Kinda like investing in gold, except it is actually useful.
Bullets and renting are the new black……
[131] meter,
“The knuckledragging Palin crowd can fight it out here ‘O.K. Corral’ style.”
Not to burst your bubble, but if that were true, rural America, with its high concentration of Palin worshippers (especially Alaska), would already resemble Camden, would they not???
Besides, with you gone, what would there be to fight about???
Kettle
Tell me about the single males having nothing to lose. I have 2 sons.
Nom – my wife’s family used to have a lot of guns, do their own shotgun shelling and all. If that’s what you call it – I wouldn’t know, I grew up in NYC. Crossbows and blowdarts were all we ever knew. It was a simpler time.
@153 – Schumpeter,
Though I enjoy watching soccer, I don’t watch enough to have ‘a team’.
Eventually I’ll pick one – not Real Madrid – but rather some scrappy blue collar team with a low payroll.
I will say this: Clot’s vision of the torch-and-pitchfork crowd is a bit farfetched, but there are, IMHO, kernels of truth.
I predict that, in the event of a protracted downturn, more than a handful of folks who have been outspoken and pugnacious in their defense of O, and who live in communities that don’t share their values, could be made to feel awfully uncomfortable. This will take the form of openly expressed antipathy and hatred toward those perceived to be the problem, and occasional property damage. Think of muslims, post-9/11 and you get the idea.
Actual politically-motivated violence (beatings, killings) will occur, and will occur much more frequently than in years past (and I think there have been some but not enough to point to a trend), but it will still be sporadic unless federal law enforcement tries to muscle in on state jurisdiction; that will bring out some of the crazies.
183. Rural America already resembles Camden from a meth addiction perspective.
[172] safe,
“Already told my wife after about 70 pages we are joining a CSA, starting a garden, and canning.”
About time we had that nompound discussion, methinks.
And it is that time of year, so make sure I have your current email. nomdeplumenj@gmail.com.
[187] essex
HA, I was waiting for that!
You can always count on my two cents……inflation adjusted.
I actually really dig rural america, javing spent my teens there….the girls are out-of-site! Though I eventually married a sophisticated east coast gal.
I was on a cruise last week with three channels on the small TV: CNN, ESPN and Fox News.
I know that MSNBC and Fox News are polar opposites and I watch neither at home. Found Fox news to be very entertaining, especially with Palin’s book being released.
(192) D2b
Jeez. Slim pickings there.
I’d either spend all my time at the bar or jump overboard
“Actual politically-motivated violence (beatings, killings) will occur, and will occur much more frequently than in years past”
In the old days, say pre 2000, nutcases might have wanted to get to someone but it was hard to find them. Now, the internet makes it 1) easy for nutjobs to find their targets and 2) to connect with other nutjobs interested in going off on some common target.
Shore (176)-
Are you Malcolm Gladwell?
meter (185)-
As long as you’re not a Real Madrid fascist frontrunner, I like you better. Take a look at Atletico Madrid; lots of talent, and a much scrappier, prole fan base.
Soylent Green is people.
Just saying.
Nom Shore, clot
just one of many fuses that are burning….
Tensions mount at Owatonna High School in Minnesota A white kid writes an opinion paper for high school blog titled “Somalian Privileges” ..gets suspended by principle…comes back after suspension then gets pummeled by a gang of Somali kids IN SCHOOL
http://www.owatonna.com/news.php?viewStory=111955
“Are you Malcolm Gladwell?”
If I were, would I say so?
“Are you Malcolm Gladwell?”
If I were, would I say so?
Beautiful day in Cabo San Lucas. We just set sail for Mazatlan. Tonight is the NJRE Report GTG on the high seas.
201 Gator
I’m very jealous. Enjoy.
#172 Safe
If you are interested in canning, get my email from grim and I can give you a few pointers.
While the budget this year prohibits truffle butter, I would love to get some Sloe berries and make Sloe Everclear for TSHTF days.
On a side note, some parts of Montana would make you want to be back in Camden.
I picked up a very interesting book at the library today. “When China rules the World” by Martin Jacques.
While the leftist views and history of the author may put some here off, it looks very well researched with a lot of statistics. The graph of Chinese consumption of African commodities since 1995 (19% – 70%) was eye opening for me.
Where’s the CRE recession??? I hope you did not buy SRS.
Mall investors set for bonanza as finance recovers
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8ac70c30-d87c-11de-b63a-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
#198 then gets pummeled by a gang of Somali kids IN SCHOOL.
But these Somali kids add to our cultural diversity;after all they and or their come from such a wonderful country, and can oly add to the fabric of American life.
I have no doubt they get to bend the rules, if the rules say no hats in school, than its no hats in school. I don’t give a crap about their culture or customs; they are not in the old country any more.
#205 frankie: Did you actually read the article, or just the headline. Go back and read it. Than digest what you have read. There is a recession in your thought process.
#206 3b
“I have no doubt they get to bend the rules, if the rules say no hats in school, than its no hats in school. I don’t give a crap about their culture or customs; they are not in the old country any more.”
Are you going to start with the River Edge Board of Ed, to get the yarmulke banned in schools ….. :*
3b (206)-
You can take the boy out of Mogadishu, but…
The real shame is that a bunch of American kids can’t whoop ass on a bunch of dime-store pirate progeny from a country where total anarchy would represent an upgrade.
PGC (208)-
If you don’t see the qualitative difference between people wearing religious headdress and a bunch of punk-ass, shiftless punks, then shame on you.
BTW, I also disagree with the French gubmint’s banning of burkas in their schools.
“Beautiful day in Cabo San Lucas. We just set sail for Mazatlan”
Ptttttfffffffff!!
if the French can’t make a burka look chic, then who can? Just look what they did with the fez!
Clot,
That whole nation is such a basketcase. Even calling it a nation is being generous. It has splintered and the international community just does not want to admit it. The “central government,” cough, gag, has no authority in the Puntland or Somaliland, and probably exercises less control over Mogudishu than the government in Afghanistan exercises over Kabul and environs.
My husband wants to know if you pull the burka off of Burka Barbie, will there be:
a. Bruised plastic skin and scars
b. No facial features, just plastic
c. Explosive device
d. A hand written note that says, “Please get me back to Malibu..PLEASE!”
And as long as we’re making Barbies dressed in religious gear, when is St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Barbie hitting the shelves? And how about Amish Barbie? Did they already do Amish Barbie?
#208 PGC: Are you going to start with the River Edge Board of Ed, to get the yarmulke banned in schools ….. :*
There would not be any, because a yarmulke would be worn in a Jewish religious school, which of course is fine. If your culture/religion requires you to wear a hat than attend that religious school. If secular schools ban the wearing of hats, than it applies to all. Hats for all or hats for none.
#208 Schumpeter
Oh I get it. I would equate this to writing a paper titled “Why Guineas smell of garlic” and then going for a slice at New Park Pizza.
My main point is that if 3b wants to take exception to the Somali headress in school then you have to take it to its logical conclusion and ban all headdress from schools. That would include the yarmulke.
If 3b stands up in River Edge Board of Ed and asks for the yarmulke to be banned, well, that would be like writing a paper titled “Why Guineas smell of garlic” and then going for a slice at New Park Pizza.
QED
It looks like B.O. is going to be VERY sleepy:
Obama ‘will not rest’ until there are more jobs
11/23/2009 3:29 PM
President Obama rebuffed reporters’ attempts to ask about Afghanistan today, focusing instead on what he described as his administration’s biggest challenge: Jobs.
“I will not rest until businesses are investing again and businesses are hiring again and people have work again,” Obama said after meeting with his Cabinet.
snip
From USA Today via Google News.
#216 3b
Tht would violate the first ammendment. Which is why no school would even go near it.
http://getsatisfaction.com/microsoft_hohm
Does anybody know anything about this?
Constitutional restraint on government action? How quaint. The Bush Administration (Bush the Younger, a/k/a Bush the Idiot) proved that the Constitution is no barrier to government action.
Pat (215)-
I did Amish Barbie. She just lays there. :)
“Did they already do Amish Barbie?”
Kinda like that actress in Witness.
I knew who would bite bait.
#217If 3b stands up in River Edge Board of Ed and asks for the yarmulke to be banned, well, that would be like writing a paper titled “Why Guineas smell of garlic” and then going for a slice at New Park Pizza.
What don’t you understand? Jewis kids with Yarmulkes are in Jewish religious school, not secular public schools. It is as simple as that. If your religion requires you to wear some type of head dress, and the rules say otherwise, than one simply can attend the religious school of their choice.
PGC (217)-
No…only a hopeless liberal would do such a thing, since making distinctions and exercising judgement is beyond the ability (or, desire) of the liberally-inclined.
For fear of being labelled provincial, racist, backward, or conservative, liberals take the easy way out with the “it’s all good” cop-out.
The US has a Judeo-Christian background. That informs the beliefs of a majority of our people. The beauty of this country (or what’s left of it) is that our laws allow for lawful expressions of the majority while requiring respect for the minority.
Muzzling everyone in equal measure- or allowing the minority the right to run roughshod- is not an American concept. It is, however, collectivist to the core.
RE, please be tolerant of my ignorance, as you are obviously more grammar-oriented than I. But I need to know something for my second you….tube vid.
Should rock ribbed have a dash?
Shore (218)-
Dude better start buying NoDoz by the case.
“I will not rest until businesses are investing again and businesses are hiring again and people have work again,” Obama said after meeting with his Cabinet.
#219 The first ammendment sure does get abused alot. Sorry that is the way I feel.
And if I sound like I am not a big fan of Islam, that would be right, sorry I am not, fundamental version or othwise.
At least Christians for the most part stopped killing each other in God’s name around 400 hundred years ago.
And the Jews who came up with the concept of one God the same concept which the Christians and Muslims embraced, have only known slaughter down through the centuries by Christians and Muslims.
Christianity and Judaism are illegal in Saudi Arabia, the holy ground of Islam. And all the Jewish and Christian communities have been destroyed in most of the Arab/Muslim world.
So no I am not all that concerned about Islam or Muslims in this country or their special needs.Nobody forced them to come here. If they have those needs they have the freedom to establish and attend their own religious schools, just like Jews and Catholics in this country have done. Too bad the same consideration is not shown to Jews and Christians in the Islamic world.
Let’s get back to the happy news:
“A picture is worth a thousand Krugman essays, which is why we present a chart comparing the US Monetary Base (and by subtracting Reserve Balances with Fed Reserve Banks, Currency in Circulation), and the Fed’s holdings of MBS and Agency paper (worthless GSE/FHA garbage). In summary: Currency in Circulation: $920 billion; MBS/Agency Holdings: $997 billion. The dollar in your pocket is now entirely backed only by worthless, rapidly devaluing and subsidized housing.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/here-why-dollar-now-effectively-worthless
#230 According to Fed chatter the Fed will be extending the MBS purchases after March 2010.
#225 3b
So are you saying that there are no Jewish kids in public schools wearing Yarmukles.
The Fed will extend purchasing MBS until the supernova of death that they are creating careens into Wall St and blasts us all back to the 16th century.
Could happen next week…or in 2029. Either way, I hope I’m dead when it hits.
If the prez wants to get a decent night’s sleep anytime soon, I’d like him to tell me why the hell he’s essentially ordered a hit on me, my business and millions of small businesspeople like me.
The only driver to any real, sustainable employment recovery is through small, entrepreneurial business growth. I’d like to think that my business and I would be part of the solution.
Why is it that I’m spending so much of my time trying to figure out how to move to Chile? Why is it that I don’t think I’m the only guy in this position?
“I will not rest until businesses are investing again and businesses are hiring again and people have work again,” Obama said after meeting with his Cabinet.
#232 I cannot say definitely. I can say in all my years of involvement in the public schools I have never seen it. And the many Jewish children I have known over the years did not wear one, at least in school.
And from the knowlege I have of the Jewish tradition, the yarmulke is typically worn by more religiously rigorous Jewish boys, who are typically found in Jewish religious schools, thereby making it a moot argument.
Oh, I forgot. The banking lobby owns his sorry ass.
#226 Clot
Would have to disagree slightly. I agree that the core of this is the kid took a beating for being being dumb.
The rights of majority and respect for the minority is all well and good, but it just gets ignored. You have the seperation of church and state, which as a great thing and the first amendment which respects the rights of the individual. But then you get the South Carolina 10 commandments fiasco. If you stand you and say that it’s wrong and against the law, does that make you a Liberal?
#234 Well at least the home buyer tax credit was extended and expanded, so Obama is definitely not sleeping. 100% home ownership will become a reality, after all the govt is the mtg lender now.
Of course, one could always move into a subterranean, cash-only type of business, steal from the till, and live like a ghetto king.
I think you can shift the heavy lifting of the biggest economy on the planet onto pizzerias and take-out Chinese joints.
Honest, you can.
Lady, you just can’t leave me alone can you? I deliberately wasn’t going to say anything to you and then you attack me with this broadside.
LEAVE ME ALONE LADY.
227.Pat says:
November 23, 2009 at 9:51 pm
RE, please be tolerant of my ignorance, as you are obviously more grammar-oriented than I. But I need to know something for my second you….tube vid.
Should rock ribbed have a dash?
3b (238)-
The scarier thing is, the gubmint is the mortgage insurer.
#237 If you stand you and say that it’s wrong and against the law, does that make you a Liberal?
Sorry with more than a few liberals I have seen if it has something to do with the Jewish/Christian tradition, it is against the law. If it is another tradition than we are told we must understand and be flexible, and it is part of their heritage etc. There often times to me at least appears to be a double standard.
Of course my opinion may be colored by the fact that I don’t wish to have this PC/cultural diversity mantra rammed down mine or my families throats. And I don’t want to see this country socially get blown back to the 12 century.
#241 Lender and Insurer. Does not get scarier than that.
PGC (237)-
Seems to me the kid took a beating (and got a school suspension) for speaking his mind, no matter how sophomoric his premise or his final submission.
If a teacher doesn’t want to risk getting a profane or foolish paper or two as a result of giving a challenging writing assignment, don’t create the damn assignment. Give your students such a tight rubric that any chance at all for expression or creative thought will trigger an instant “F”.
Any teacher who needs to learn how to do this can accompany my daughter to her national “blue ribbon” school anytime. I’ll set it up.
RE: We’re all being slowly rendered into pliable little consumerbots.
Worth a look…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA8drfZwnXQ
Followed by……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4wJOBkmfes
You think the school, town council, federal gubmint or any other institution is your friend?
Better think again.
The only organizations that are your friends are Rotary and your local food bank.
240 rock ribbed?
Buahahahahahahahahahaha…..
more aptly, c0ck-lipped!
sl
so who is going to bailout CalPERS?
SAS
RE, I never thanked you for your inspiration.
I did a vid that helped save a little school down here.
A rare event. BOE voted unanimously to delay the closing.
In the end, this country will kill itself in the suppression of the minority that we are simultaneously bending over backwards to accommodate.
sas (247)-
The cat food industry?
“so who is going to bailout CalPERS?”
and just how many of you depend on govt contacts in your buisness or work for the govt?
consolidation & centralize economic power.
but, don’t worry, your diversified cause you own shares of microsoft, j & J, HAL, and Jack in the box.
and you got that POS cape in River Edge, and watchung.
lol
“diversification”
another fraud.
SAS
Why is it that Congress is pulling out all the stops to prop up the price of housing…while at the same time demanding more money and credit to create affordable housing?
Is this the gubmental form of metastatic cancer?
sas (252)-
The gubmint has ordered a contract.
On me and my business.
“The cat food industry?”
u mean China? yes, indirectly, via a global taxation, you are correct (round-abouts way).
it like so:
i print paper & T-bills, you buy paper & T-bills, if not I have strong military to drop bomb, satellite to screw your telecom, and politcal pull to change policy in 2 seconds flat.
and oh yeah, as soon as you take my paper, it will drop 5-10% in value, but that part of the game.
SAS
“he gubmint has ordered a contract.
On me and my busines”
many moons ago, there was a time in my life
I never stayed in a location for more than 4 hrs, and stayed clear from windows.
SAS
RE: We’re all being slowly rendered into pliable little consumerbots.
Worth a look…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA8drfZwnXQ
Followed by……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4wJOBkmfes
“Should rock ribbed have a dash?”
You mean a hyphen? If so, yes. Why? The words are being linked together for use as an adjective.
#229 3b
Where I grew up Religious intolerance and discrimination moved beyond the mere political and was elevated to an art form. Who else could come up with “Are you a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?’
Christians have been going after Christian before I was born and in some ways are still going for it. A few things I have learned:
Bigots come in many forms
No side is 100% innocent and no side is 100% right. If you can see middle ground, you are too far to one side.
In the US, the Constitution is used as a Piñata by both sides and that is its ultimate beauty.
If there is is religious intolerance in other parts of the world, that does not excuse intolerance here. To do so demeans the principles the country was founded on.
#235 3b
My wife went to Midwood in Queens on of the best public schools in the city. Acording to her they were there.
Could that come down to where Religious expression meet scholarship funding?
#242 3b
There are still fundamental flaws within the Judeo/Christian relationship.
http://www.jewsonfirst.org/06b/indianriver.html
At least you have the Supreme Court as the arbiter
#244 Schumpter
The suspension was wrong, even if it was for his own safety.
Well, well, look at who we have here. Dr. Pottymouth herself.
Look lady, who have you been torturing lately? No doubt you’re fresh off of leaving a scalpel along with other surgical implements sewn up in some poor soul.
You do these things deliberately because you’re an exceedingly cruel person with latent anger about having missed out on the real estate boon. Look lady, there’s no need to behave in that manner. There’ll come another opportunity for you to invest, just be ready this time.
246.still_looking says:
November 23, 2009 at 10:42 pm
240 rock ribbed?
Buahahahahahahahahahaha…..
more aptly, c0ck-lipped!
sl
A video on what? You save a school? Don’t make me laugh. A school occupies real estate and everyone knows you’re the most unrepentant real estate terrorist here.
248.Pat says:
November 23, 2009 at 10:45 pm
RE, I never thanked you for your inspiration.
I did a vid that helped save a little school down here.
I think I can now understand the stampedes at stores the day after Thanksgiving. It was the same for many first time buyers that thought the 8K credit was going to dissappear. However, this will not fix the economy…it is too limited in focus to only one segment of the economy.
Very amusing message
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