I think I’m more surprised that Bloomberg and BAC actually thought that the Realtors would provide an unbiased economic picture. They sell houses, it’s their job to make houses look like a good buy. When home prices were shooting skyward, they told us to ignore affordability, because we’d all be rich and giddy on equity. Now that prices are falling, and continue to fall, they focus our attention on “affordability”. Silly Bloomberg, it’s always a good time to buy.
From Bloomberg:
Realtors’ ‘Rosy’ Index Overstates Affordability
A common measure of the affordability of homes for buyers is providing a too “rosy” assessment because of tighter credit conditions, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists.
…
“Despite the rosy appearance of affordability provided by the index,” its “relevance” has been lessened in recent years, the New York-based mortgage-bond analysts wrote.Tougher lending standards mean that instead of coming with the average interest rates on typical loans used to calculate the index, about half of new mortgages for home purchases are going to borrowers who need to turn to debt insured by the Federal Housing Administration, they said. FHA loans allow for down payments as low as 3.5 percent, and the agency doesn’t have credit-score requirements.
Insurance premiums required on FHA loans help create financing costs on the debt more than a percentage point higher than available on conventional mortgages, according to the report, which said the FHA share of home-purchase loans has climbed from about 10 percent.
“It’s like seeking admission to a prestigious, free university,” the strategist wrote. “For those who can get in, education is cheap, but who can get in?”
From the NYT:
Stores Go Dark Where Buyers Once Roamed
Among the marks of Manhattan’s prosperity in recent years were the thousands of restaurants and shops that opened to meet an ever-growing demand. Confident in the appetite for spending — on expensive shampoo at 24-hour drugstores, cheese plates at sleek wine bars and clothes at minimalist boutiques — store owners signed high-rent leases with little haggling.
But as New Yorkers have drastically cut back, the shops that line the streets, from chain outlets to family-run shops, have started to disappear.
The storefront vacancy rate in Manhattan is now at its highest point since the early 1990s — an estimated 6.5 percent — and is expected to exceed 10 percent by the middle of next year, according to data gathered by Marcus & Millichap Research Services, a national real estate investment brokerage based in Encino, Calif.
And those numbers do not capture the full story. Some of the more desirable shopping districts are littered with empty storefronts. For example, Fifth Avenue between 42nd Street and 49th Street, the stretch just south of Saks Fifth Avenue, has a vacancy rate of 15.3 percent, according to the brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.
In SoHo, from West Houston Street to Grand Street and Broadway to West Broadway, among the high-end boutiques, art galleries and restaurants, 1 in 10 retail spaces are now empty or about to be.
“I’ve never seen such an across-the-board problem,” said Lorraine Nadel, a lawyer who has represented tenants and landlords for 18 years. “Store owners can’t pay their rent, and they can’t keep their businesses going.”
From the Packet:
MONTGOMERY: Tax appeal results worry officials
Residential tax appeals filed in the New Jersey Tax Court have resulted in settlements that would reduce the assessments on each of three properties by $100,000 or more. Some township officials fear this may trigger a slew of appeals from other residents.
Falling prices in the real estate market have led to a marked increase this year in appeals throughout the area from property owners looking for a lower tax bill.
Property owners have the right to file an appeal with the County Board of Taxation, which has a deadline of April 1 of each tax year. There were 70 residential tax appeals filed this year in Montgomery Township, compared to 58 last year.
However, the three cases the Township Committee was asked to approve at its meeting Thursday were filed in New Jersey Tax Court, which is another, though more costly, option for property owners looking to challenge their assessment.
…
Committeeman Mark Caliguire said he is concerned about the effect of such a significant change in the assessment of a property, which he said could become a public policy issue if it creates inequities within particular neighborhoods.
”There’s a potential for a lot of appeals, not just from that neighborhood,” he said. “What’s going to happen to our tax base?”
From the Press of Atlantic City:
Diamond Beach condo project’s value declining
The first residents have moved into The Grand at Diamond Beach and the township is working on getting its largest ratable ever on the tax rolls.
But it may not be quite as big a ratable as everybody figured.
Developer Eustace Mita said he cut the sales price as much as 45 percent for some of the units due to the economic recession, which has hit shore real estate particularly hard. Mita said the discount has led to an upswing in activity, and about one-third of the 125 units have been sold.
“People are buying now and paying less than it cost us to build. We have to get it done. We have to sell now. We can’t mothball it and wait for the economy to get better,” Mita said.
Mita said The Grand cost about $150 million to construct. The assessed value as recently as February was projected to come in at about $184 million, a huge ratable and only the first phase of Mita’s three-phase project.
That figure, however, is heading downward.
In February the cheapest condominium unit was almost $700,000, but now it is in the $500,000 range. The most expensive, two-story condominiums called “Pearls,” were priced at $5.2 million, but Mita said they are now on the block for about $3 million.
From NJBIZ:
New Jersey unemployment continued its climb in June
By James W. Hughes, Nancy H. Mantell, Joseph J. Seneca
Further employment declines and continued unemployment rate increases occurred in New Jersey in June, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Total payroll employment decreased by 2,100 jobs during the month, while the unemployment rate rose from 8.8 percent in May to 9.2 percent in June. The June payroll employment loss was quite moderate compared to the declines that took place in both April (18,700 jobs) and May (8,000 jobs). But the three highest-paying service employment sectors that are key to the recovery of the state’s office markets — information, financial activities, and professional and business services — still lost a combined total of 4,700 jobs in June.
The recession’s long-term toll on the state’s job base has been substantial. Employment during the last expansion peaked in New Jersey in January 2008, one month later than the nation (December 2007). As shown in the accompanying table, the state has now lost 159,800 jobs since January 2008. All of this took place in the private sector; in contrast, the public sector has gained 900 jobs. Public-sector growth was the result of a significant increase in local government employment, a substantial decrease in state government employment and a modest decline in federal employment. The difference between the local government job growth and state job contraction could not be more striking.
The nation was led into recession by a bursting housing bubble and sharp manufacturing contractions. This is certainly reflected in New Jersey. The state lost 33,700 manufacturing jobs in the 17-month period, while construction employment declined by 29,800 jobs. However, these two sectors are under-represented in the New Jersey economy — they represent smaller shares of the state’s employment base compared to the national pattern. Thus, the great bulk of the state’s recessionary employment losses took place in private service-providing activities, hitting the white-collar job sectors the hardest. Losses in professional and business services, financial activities and information have been particularly painful. These losses combined translate into a decline in office space demand of approximately 10.9 million square feet, assuming a conservative 150 square feet of office space per worker. It’s not surprising the state’s office market vacancy rates have soared.
New Jersey also experienced heavy employment losses related to its concentration of warehouse, logistics, and trade functions. Employment in the trade, transportation and utilities sector declined by 29,700 jobs between January 2008 and June 2009. In contrast, education and health services showed a growth of 12,000 jobs. With some type of national health care plan in the offing, it is likely that this sector will continue to expand.
The bottom line is an employment downturn that has reached very substantial dimensions in New Jersey, with painful implications for the state’s office, distribution and trade activities. Even if employment losses continue to moderate, as they did in June, more pain is destined to come.
From the WSJ:
Pay Raises Are the Smallest In Decades, Surveys Show
Recession-starved employee salaries have scarcely grown this year, and early predictions for 2010 aren’t looking much better.
Two surveys to be released Tuesday found employers have increased salaries this year by the smallest percentage in decades.
Human-resource consultants Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. and Hay Group estimate that median pay raises for 2009 ranged between 2% and 3%. The U.S. Labor Department says pay for the average worker increased 2.2% in the year ended March 31, down from 3.2% in the year-earlier 12-month period.
For next year, the firms are projecting slightly bigger raises of 3%. That’s the smallest forecast increase in the 29 years Hay Group has done its survey. Watson Wyatt says its prediction is among its smallest ever. The Watson Wyatt and Hay Group surveys try to cover a broad swath of workers, including both salaried and hourly employees in most industries.
From the LA Times:
St. Regis Monarch Beach seized by Citigroup
The seizure of the St. Regis Monarch Beach, where American International Group Inc. sponsored a luxury retreat just days after accepting a federal bailout, is the most dramatic sign yet of the deep troubles in the market for high-end hotels.
Citigroup Inc. took over the Dana Point hotel and golf course Monday after months of negotiations over a $70-million loan that was in default. A foreclosure auction slated for today was canceled after the lender realized there would be no serious bids for the property, according to a knowledgeable person who was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The takeover comes at a time of severe contraction in the hospitality industry.
Green Shoots: Bausch & Lomb HQ opens in Madison, 70 new jobs to Jersey.
Manure: Pfizer/Wyeth merger approved, look for bloodshed at the Wyeth HQ in Madison.
Net? Maybe some of those slashed from Wyeth can find jobs at B&L?
Well if the state of NJ can’t get the
loan mod’s going. what happens when
all the homes go into foreclosure and are sold at auction? Where are the buyers??
wow, if I lived in Miami I’d be massively annoyed:
This remarkable piece appears in The Miami Herald: a surprising story about data publicly available on the website of the Miami Dade Property Appraiser. Apparently properties being bought out of foreclosure are not listed at the current sales price. “Instead, the site shows the date and price of the previous sale. With foreclosures accounting for a large percentage of sales today, that means that potentially thousands of properties have or will have misleading information on the site.”
It means more than that. It means that aggregate statistics for the performance of the housing market are being flagrantly skewed. It means that what is printed and reported in the mainstream media is inaccurate, too and that actual price declines–factoring in foreclosures–are deeper than economists are reporting, too.
“Patrick Smikle, a spokesman for the Property Appraiser’s Office, confirms that sales dates and prices of foreclosed properties are not being updated online. ”We do not list sales information for sales we consider as not qualified,” he said.” Not qualified, and, we are not in the steepest recession since the 1930’s. It was called a Depression, then.
From NY Magazine:
Teterboro Airport, Ground Zero for the Private-Jet Backlash
Until recently, the Teterboro Airport, just twelve miles west of midtown Manhattan, was synecdochical for the New York Dream. It was a landmark of the social geography mapped by “Page Six,” Fortune, and Gossip Girl. “Teterboro!” the narrator of Plum Sykes’s bubble novel Bergdorf Blondes rhapsodized, riffing on “PJs” — private jets, which take off and land there. “All New York girls know that ugly word means something very pretty. Teterboro means ‘I have a plane.’”
During the boom, what was once the uninviting, utilitarian, secretive province of corporate chieftains sallying forth to complete deals and visit factories became the site of an almost public aspirational performance. In August 2005, Amy Sacco launched Air Bungalow, a flying-lounge business. Last summer, “Page Six” reported that George Michael’s plane was delayed behind Sting’s and Bruce Springsteen’s jets, suggesting that Teterboro had a celebrity pecking order (actually, the air-traffic controllers have no idea whose plane is whose). The U.S. extraordinarily rendered Maher Arar to Syria in 2002 via a chartered Gulfstream III out of Teterboro. The airport is so important that when Gulfstream designed its new G650, the plane’s weight was capped at 99,600 pounds in order to come in under Teterboro’s 100,000-pound limit.
But as PJ culture adjusts to the post-TARP world order, the iconic status of Manhattan’s most elite jetport is up for grabs. These days, Teterboro means: “Please don’t tell anyone you saw me here.” After years of steady growth, the charter jet business is off as much as 45 percent, traffic at Teterboro has dropped by a third, and jet sales have collapsed, leading the big manufacturers to lay off thousands of people. The crisis began last November, when the CEOs of the automakers flew private to Washington looking for a bailout. Then, in January, Citigroup, flush with $45 billion in taxpayer money, had to be shamed into canceling its order for a $50 million Dassault Falcon 7X. And the following month, in an address to Congress, President Obama denounced CEOs who “disappear on private jet[s],” and ABC News scrambled a helicopter over Teterboro to film Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis deplaning from a $50 million G5 that cost $5,000 an hour to operate.
Bailout Overseer Says Banks Misused TARP Funds
Many of the banks that got federal aid to support increased lending have instead used some of the money to make investments, repay debts or buy other banks, according to a new report from the special inspector general overseeing the government’s financial rescue program.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/19/AR2009071901770.html?wprss=rss_business
“For example, Fifth Avenue between 42nd Street and 49th Street, the stretch just south of Saks Fifth Avenue, has a vacancy rate of 15.3 percent, according to the brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.”
That explains the line around the corner for A&F. It’s the only game in town.
“Bailout Overseer Says Banks Misused TARP Funds”
Must be a mistake. Who would believe this?
Some Fear Wall Street Too Heavily Influences The Financial Enforcer
it is the markets group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which has been on the front lines of the government’s response to the financial crisis. Federal Reserve and Treasury Department officials make the major decisions, but the New York Fed executes them.
The information gathered there provides crucial insights into the financial world for top policymakers. But the bank is so close to Wall Street — physically, culturally and intellectually — that some economic experts worry that the New York Fed puts the interests of the financial industry ahead of those of ordinary Americans.
“The New York Fed sticks out as being not just very, very close to Wall Street, but to the most powerful people on Wall Street,” said Simon Johnson, an economist at MIT. “I worry that they pay too much deference to the expertise and presumed wisdom of a sector that screwed up massively.”
Even some former insiders at the Fed say the bank does not pay enough attention to the fundamental flaws in the country’s financial system or to the risks associated with bailing out financial firms — for instance, the chance that banks will be encouraged to take more unwise gambles. These experts worry that the New York Fed has adopted the mindset of a trading floor: well attuned to ripples in financial markets but not to long-term trends and dangers.
Last month, for instance, Wall Street bond traders wanted the central bank to ramp up its purchase of Treasury bonds, which would help the traders by driving up prices. But Fed officials in Washington and around the country concluded that such a move would be counterproductive in the longer run, in contrast to some New York Fed staffers, whose views more closely mirrored those on Wall Street.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/19/AR2009071902148.html?wprss=rss_business
“what happens when
all the homes go into foreclosure and are sold at auction? Where are the buyers??”
I ran into a ton of them in the islands. They are sipping c*cktails, patiently waiting to strike.
“Last month, for instance, Wall Street bond traders wanted the central bank to ramp up its purchase of Treasury bonds, which would help the traders by driving up prices.”
Front running is a great career, if you can obtain the position.
Nothing here that a few show trials and summary executions can’t clean up.
It’s different in Philly.
RIght. Different, as in, possibly the biggest US city to ever face BK:
“The government of the nation’s sixth most-populous city has stopped paying its vendors and suppliers, citing a cash crisis.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter on Friday blamed the drastic move on the failure of the Pennsylvania legislature to act on his request for authorization to raise the city sales tax and change the formula for the city’s contribution to its employee pension plan. Mr. Nutter said these items are necessary to help close a projected city budget deficit of $1.4 billion over the next five years.
The city has about $197 million in funds, and with the suspension of vendor payments that money should last through the end of September.”
Link to #18:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/07/philadelphia-is-out-of-cash-pension.html
NJEA endorses Corzine
By Matt Friedman, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter
The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) today endorsed Governor Jon Corzine for reelection.
“When it comes to this state’s commitment to public education, Jon Corzine gets it,” said NJEA president Joyce Powell.
The endorsement, made unanimously by the NJEA PAC’s 125-member Operating Committee, does not come as a surprise, as Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie declined to seek it. The group hasn’t endorsed a Republican gubernatorial candidate since 1985, when Tom Kean, Sr. cruised to reelection.
Powell said that the most important factor in the decision was Gov. Corzine’s refusal to cut K-12 public education spending, despite having to cut other areas of the budget.
“Despite governing during one of the most challenging periods in recent New Jersey history, Governor Corzine has been a steadfast advocate for great public schools,” she said.
Corzine and NJEA
and the titanic was just stopped for ice
Substitute NJ or US for UK and glimpse the future (present?):
The Mail-on-Sunday reports that Roger Jenkins, the man who heads up Barclays Bank’s principal investments business and chairs the firm’s Middle East investment banking division, is to quit.
Jenkins, who is thought to have earned £40m ($65m) last year, despite the financial crisis, (and is believed to have raked in £75m ($122m) in his best year at Barclays), is also known for his ability to help clients (legally) reduce their tax bills. And his decision to quit Barclays now to start his own advisory firm (which will have offices in London, Los Angeles and the Mid-East) will leave many wondering if the move may have been engineered for his own tax reasons, prompting further speculation that Jenkins may be among the first of many high-earners to quit the UK for less repressive tax regimes.
Isn’t a little ironic; the economic demise and potential fall of the greatest nation on the face of the earth has been perpetrated by a blonde barbie house tour guide afraid to crack a nail every time she got out of her BMW.
I never liked Barbie. She was a dilettante.
From the Record:
Wyeth says ‘I do’ to Pfizer
Plenty of others won’t be so lucky. Pfizer has begun cutting 10 percent of its workforce — about 8,190 jobs — and expects a staff reduction totaling 15 percent of the combined companies’ workers. That implies nearly 20,000 jobs will be eliminated. Wyeth began its own cost-cutting program in January 2008, aiming to eliminate up to 5,000 of its then-50,000 jobs.
Clot: Thanks for the link. Nothing in the Philly.com site, Inquirer, or Daily News yet. Nothing to see here, keep moving. Probably don’t want to scare the vendors.
I was asking on the other short thread…
Do any of our insiders have the full story on the Republican nominee for governor’s brother.
I think multiple mentions of corz & chris threw me into moderation.
Todd, the brother who was among 20 brokers charged with stock fraud but never idicted. Subsequently the AG was awarded no-bid contracts worth millions.
Before I vote against the incumbent, I would like to know if the alternative choice is just as bad ( but with less scruples ).
Anybody ??
From Naked Cap-
Insight: Regulating human nature
” The push for financial regulatory reform has highlighted an important debate surrounding the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH), the idea that market prices are rationally determined and fully reflect all available information. If true, the EMH implies that regulation is largely unnecessary because markets allocate resources and risks efficiently via the “Invisible Hand”.
However, critics of the EMH argue that human behaviour is hardly rational, but is driven by “animal spirits” that generate market bubbles and busts, and regulation is essential for reining in misbehaviour. ”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/59464cda-7539-11de-9ed5-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
15: The islanders at work?
http://www.northjersey.com/real_estate/news_residential/51272782.html
Phoenix is prime.
I personally know someone losing two “investment” properties along with their primary residence (which they heloc’ed to get the downpayment cash for the investment houses).
pass the petrol?
“Morinda West, Mr Marshall’s sister, told the Australian he was sniffing petrol in his mother’s house at the Goldfields Aboriginal community when police banged on the door and asked him to come out.”
“He must have put petrol on his face, then the policeman shot him with the Taser, that’s when the flames happened,” she said. ”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/5874998/Man-bursts-into-flames-after-being-hit-by-Taser.html
Fiddy 27 – Check the Star Ledger archives. They did a pretty big story on this a few months ago.
Unfortunately for Christie, I believe some of the reporters writing about his potential ethical problems were laid off by the SL and are now on the Corzine payroll doing oppo research. I would expect to hear much more about this during the campaign.
dont worry this is all contained
U.S. Rescue May Reach $23.7 Trillion, Barofsky Says
U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bolster the economy and bail out financial companies, said Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Treasury’s $700 billion bank-investment program represents a fraction of all federal support to resuscitate the U.S. financial system, including $6.8 trillion in aid offered by the Federal Reserve, Barofsky said in a report released today.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aY0tX8UysIaM
By the way, the US GDP is about 14 trillion….
We are going to spend about 2X US GDP on bailouts. Consider what sort of productive endeavors we could have undertaken instead, new state of the art power grid, gone to a renewable power source for base load, manned missions to mars/venus/jupiters moons.
All of that could have been done for less then these bailouts.
a visual aid in the size of this criminal bumblefcuk
reported cost of the bailout over the last year
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9ZzZquaXrR8/SmTxqDDMMNI/AAAAAAAAEW8/lbpuU69YQ90/s640/TARP24Trillion.gif
All of that could have been done for less then these bailouts.
Kettle – You are so not the patriot. How else would have Goldman paid out $20 Billion in bonuses this year. Imagine all the wealth which will trickle down from that effect.
T-Shirt Idea –
$23.7 Trillion in Bailouts and all I got was a lousy 40% rally in the S&P.
http://www2.goldmansachs.com/careers/begin/application-process/experienced/index.html
instead of complaining about GS bonuses why don’t you guys apply for a job there.
@26 DL,
It was up on Philly.com for about 2 minutes yesterday. A couple of months ago Mayor Nutter was literally holding press conferences in front of business that owed the city back taxes to try and humiliate payment out of them. My my how the tide has turned. Philly to left of me Jersey to the right, boy am I screwed.
There is something fcuked up about the system when the best and brightest are incentivized to work in the finance industry which essentially contributes nothing to the nation, rather than becoming scientists, engineers, etc. and discover/innovate tangible products.
Bank ‘walkaways’ from foreclosed homes are a growing, troubling trend
Renetta Atterberry thought she had lost her East 102nd Street house. So she was shocked to learn in January — five years after her mortgage company filed for foreclosure — that it was still in her name. Worse, the long-vacant rental home had been vandalized and she faced a raft of housing code violations. Since then, she has been saddled with debts of about $12,000 to pay for demolition and back taxes. “I thought I had nothing else to do with that home,” said Atterberry. “I was so embarrassed and humiliated by this.”
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/07/bank_walkaways_from_foreclosed.html?ref=patrick.net
#38 victorian: If they were all the best and the brightest, than how com they bought the financial system almost to its knees.
I am so tired of hearing the best and the brighest.
Many of these clowns could not find their way out of a paper bag.
The best and brightest thought they were eagles. Just a bunch of clams.
Green Shoots:
“JULY 20 | FROM TWICE: Consumer electronics shipment revenues for 2009 will dip 7.7% to $165 million, the first decline since 2001.
New data released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) in its semi-annual U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecast shows that while industry revenues will contract in 2009, sales will grow slightly in 2010.
Consumer demand for CE products remains high, but several market forces are contributing to lower revenues, including lower consumer spending, price declines and compositional shifts in key product categories, CEA said.”
…oh, and if you are wondering where are the green in these shoots, it is where the CEA says “sales will grow slightly in 2010”. So there is that.
If they were all the best and the brightest, than how com they bought the financial system almost to its knees.
Greed.
Sorry, I do not share your view that they are dumb. Anybody who has been to a top school or interacted with students from a top school will not come away with the feeling that these guys are dumb. Granted, some of them might be there because of their connections, but most of them are there because they are smart.
However, the incentives in the industry were such that short term results trumped everything else.
vic [44],
Heads I win, tails you lose.
Vic,
i take a middle ground between you and 3b. Yes many of these so called “best&brightest” have some serious mental horsepower. The problem is that many of the ones i have interacted with seem to have a very limited world view. that combined with greed seems to be the problem
Vic,
put another way. I think we have reached a point of over specialization
Nom – You’ve got LI mail…
#1 – If you were in SoHo around Feb. it was very obvious that retailers were having a hard time. Lots of empty spaces in prime locations (Broadway). It’s a little less obvious now only because businesses that once occupied back streets have moved into those empty prime spots. A walk down, say, Mercer or Thompson and you’ll see lots of empty spots.
(43) –
I have to put in a caveat that I have mostly interacted with engineering students, so that colors my view.
kettle [46],
Never questioned their mental capacity. Then again, Ted Kaczynski was also brilliant.
#43 – Vic – Granted, some of them might be there because of their connections, but most of them are there because they are smart.
I’m going to respectfully disagree with you. There are lots of very smart people in business school. These aren’t the people who run things though. The MDs & etc are exactly the sort of glad handing, self congratulatory, self impressed, back rooming, old boy reptilian D-bags you suspect them to be.
They are exactly like used car sales men, only they have mad cash to play with. The smart ones get stuck devising models, black boxes and algo’s.
I think BC Bob has nailed it. These guys are smart but the system has evolved to be such that there is no way you can make a buck without screwing everyone else over.
It is hard to imagine that we were staring at the abyss a few months ago, and today we are looking at record profits by Goldman et al.
Corzines idea to issue speeding tickets, based upon Easy Pass ability to record speed/milage between tolls, should generate a lot of revenue.
Tosh (51)-
The smart ones get stuck devising models, black boxes and algo’s.
Actually, I agree with you 100% and this is exactly what I meant to say, that precious human talent is being wasted by designing quant models and black boxes, whereas they could be out there developing cures for cancer, developing alternate energy sources etc.
However, there is no money in pursuing these professions. IMO, that needs to change.
Lets see my neice just graduated top of her class from Leigh a few years ago in Engineering, she works in PA as there are few good engineering jobs near here. She lives by herself in a rental and after she does year or two at home office they will assign her to a perm location somewhere in middle of nowhere, she started at a very good salary of 60K but faces a lifetime of 3% raises and will top out around 120K. Her business school buddies down the road will make a lot more, don’t have to relocate and gets great dinners, travel at 4 star hotels and great tickets included. Who the heck wants to be an engineer
Victorian says:
July 21, 2009 at 10:01 am
There is something fcuked up about the system when the best and brightest are incentivized to work in the finance industry which essentially contributes nothing to the nation, rather than becoming scientists, engineers, etc. and discover/innovate tangible products.
Victorian says:
July 21, 2009 at 10:41 am
Tosh (51)-
The smart ones get stuck devising models, black boxes and algo’s.
Actually, I agree with you 100% and this is exactly what I meant to say, that precious human talent is being wasted by designing quant models and black boxes, whereas they could be out there developing cures for cancer, developing alternate energy sources etc.
However, there is no money in pursuing these professions. IMO, that needs to change.
It will not change. There are 1.8 billion people in India and 1.4 billions in China… We can compete with their numbers, and their desire to work for peanuts. For example: PhD in chemistry works for 500-1000$/month in India with very little benefits, in USA it is still 5-10K/year + significant benefits cost..
Engineers and Scientists are doomed here, in USA.
Any profession which can be commoditized would be shipped overseas.
And than dollar will collapse and we will not be able to afford their products anyways…
We’re DOOMED!
July 21, 2009 at 10:46 am
Lets see my neice just graduated top of her class from Leigh a few years ago in Engineering, she works in PA as there are few good engineering jobs near here. She lives by herself in a rental and after she does year or two at home office they will assign her to a perm location somewhere in middle of nowhere, she started at a very good salary of 60K but faces a lifetime of 3% raises and will top out around 120K. Her business school buddies down the road will make a lot more, don’t have to relocate and gets great dinners, travel at 4 star hotels and great tickets included. Who the heck wants to be an engineer
I think John hit hit the nail on the head – why be scientists/engineer???
Jobs are scarce, highest ever unemployment, decline in manufacturing, salaries are lagging behind – what is positive”?
I hate it when professional associations in USA say – well we need more scientists and engineers – there are THOUSANDS Unemployed!
If you are scientists or Engineer and lost your job, and was on unemployment for 3 years – that is the end of your career!!! – why be scientists/engineer???
“There is something fcuked up about the system when the best and brightest are incentivized to work in the finance industry which essentially contributes nothing to the natio …”
Where do we get this sense? Without the financial system, your money would be under your mattress; if you needed to borrow to buy equipment for your business, you’d have to spend an unbelievable amount of time soliciting from individual investors or lenders ….
Make no mistake – bad things have come from bright people working in finance, but that doesn’t invalidate the financial system or its ability to contribute to economic activity. In the same way that a democratic system might lead to the election of a complete idiot to office, but that doesn’t invalidate democracy.
Let’s all apply to Wall Street finance job!
John can pick up his own garbage, make his own medicine, cut his own lawn, be his own physician, teach his own kids, and grow his own food!
Clothes and electronics he will buy from China!
#54 – However, there is no money in pursuing these professions. IMO, that needs to change.
I suppose we could incentivize manufacturing R&D in the U.S. via tax policy. As long as said manufacturing stays here for a while.
I’m really not sure how we get off of the current path though. You are right, it does need to change.
And bring a smile to everyone’s face!
Al says:
July 21, 2009 at 10:53 am
Let’s all apply to Wall Street finance job!
John can pick up his own garbage, make his own medicine, cut his own lawn, be his own physician, teach his own kids, and grow his own food!
Clothes and electronics he will buy from China!
#43 victorian: I worked with many of them for many years, and yes many were bright and smart, many more were not, and in many cases it was astoundingly obvious.And more than few had a very limited worl view,a nd were nto what you would call well rounded.
My point is that these people are put up on pedestals and in many cases they do not deserve to be. They put their pants on one leg at a time ( I assume) just like the rest of us.
Bc bob – no more disappearing. You’re cracking me up, man.
Now if grim could eliminate racist frauds like frank…
… all the geeks I knew at MIT were hardcore engineering majors. Nerds to the core, the kind of guys who got locked in lockers in high school.
They are now trading oil & gas, running equity arbitrage desks, etc. They have 3 BR apartments in Manhattan and second homes in Holmdel. They have been and continue to fly high. They all bought Miami real estate in the late 90’s and sold it in 2004.
You think they will encourage any of their kids to pursue an engineering degree for the sake of becoming an actual engineer?
#58 – Duck Without the financial system… if you needed to borrow to buy equipment for your business, you’d have to spend an unbelievable amount of time soliciting from individual investors or lenders …
IDK, this was certainly true for most of the past century. Is it still true now? Are the IBs, with their stranglehold over monetary policy, still necessary? Or are they replaceable. Were the IBs only around in the information age by practicing ‘security through obscurity’? They created ever more complex and inscrutable financial products to disguise that they weren’t strictly needed…
Hmm, I may have stumbled on to something interesting. I need to flesh out the idea a bit more though.
[27] fiddy
Here is a Factchek.org piece on this issue. They conclude no evidence of wrongdoing, but acknowledge that the optics aren’t great.
Fact is, Christie awarded contracts in a legal fashion, but one that raises questions of favoritism because they went to people he knew or whose work he was familiar with. The term “no-bid contract” gets tossed out, but prosecutors had discretion about who got contracts, and since these contracts are not covered by CICA or the FAR, there was no bid process required (and still isn’t, even though there is now a review panel)
I kinda liken it to the “tuck rule” of Brady fame. We may not like it, but it is legal, and factcheck points out that some of the facts tossed out by the oppo on this have further come into question.
Bottom line: Once you discount the political smear factor, you are faced with a series of decisions that were properly made, but for which you can make a case that quid pro quo might exist. Unfortunately for the voters, its a he said/she said event since there is no evidence that quid pro quo existed, and no evidence that it didn’t.
As for the SL, I saw that factcheck had links to other stories it did on the SL’s coverage of Christie, which suggests that the SL has been less-than-objective in covering him.
I also find this to be a really weak character issue; given how long the oppo has been working on Christie (since 2006 by my count), they have labored mightily and brought forth a mouse. Corzine likewise has not been accused of any character issues worth mentioning. What I take away is that you have two camps, both represented by individuals whose character is largely untouched, so the election should come down to issues and the direction of the state.
Imagine that!
would help if I provided the link
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2010/corzine_on_christie_contracts_for_cronies.html
“so the election should come down to issues and the direction of the state.”
So true, these are your choices…
1) Tax and spend.
2) Borrow and spend.
I will be voting for none of the above.
John did Barbie. She’s not that hot.
Stu (68)-
I’m ready to vote with a grenade launcher.
Harvard’s Feldstein Sees Risk of ‘Double-Dip’ Recession
“There is a real danger this is going to be a double dip and that after six months or so we’ll have some more bad news,” Feldstein, the former head of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Reagan administration adviser, said today in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “We could slide down again in the fourth quarter.”
The economy could “flatten out” or “even be positive” in the third quarter, and then it’s likely to contract again in the last three months of the year as the effects of the federal stimulus program wear off and companies finish rebuilding inventories, he said.
“There isn’t going to be enough to sustain a really solid recovery,” he said, even though recent data has provided some “good news” on the economy.
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3IpfKeeveVM
I’m trying to square this with our own peculiar national obsession with televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart or the PTL Club:
TAREGNA, India (AP) – Hordes of scientists, students and nature enthusiasts prepared Tuesday for the longest total solar eclipse of this century, while millions planned to shutter themselves indoors, giving in to superstitious myths about the phenomenon.
Wednesday’s eclipse will first be sighted at dawn in India’s Gulf of Khambhat, just north of the metropolis of Mumbai, before being seen in a broad swath moving north and east to Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China.
yo’me (71)-
Too bad the second “dip” will be a rocket drill to the center of the earth.
And now, a little comic relief:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sought to assure Wall Street and Congress Tuesday that the U.S. central bank will be able to reel in its extraordinary economic stimulus and prevent a flare up of inflation when the recovery is more firmly rooted.
“And now, a little comic relief:”
Clot,
Somebody besides Timmy has to entertain the Chinese students.
@ Confused [53]
Corzines idea to issue speeding tickets, based upon Easy Pass ability to record speed/milage between tolls, should generate a lot of revenue.
How many $75 speeding tickets does it take to man one more toll booth at each one of the ~25 exits 24/7/365? He’ll spend that ticket revenue and more hiring back all the toll collectors he laid off after putting EZPass into effect — because anyone who rides the NJTP will leave their EZPass tags home. Even if he does man more toll booths, he’ll see the traffic flee the toll roads for US 1 and I-95, I-295, especially the trucks that pay the big tolls. Looking the other way on speed was the quid pro quo of adopting EZPass. I think the state is much better off having shed itself of overpaid, unionized, glorified cashiers with oversized pension liability.
On the other hand, if Corzine wanted to stick it to the paying public in order to give yet another bone to the unions… He’s more accustomed to sticking it to union lobbyists, no?
38.Victorian says:
July 21, 2009 at 10:01 am
There is something fcuked up about the system when the best and brightest are incentivized to work in the finance industry which essentially contributes nothing to the nation, rather than becoming scientists, engineers, etc. and discover/innovate tangible products.
As insulting, naive, and specious a post as has ever been tossed up on these threads….thanks much….
#64
Probably true,
Also the guys who were bullying growing up are probably fixing roads and doing landscaping jobs.
(58) –
I am not arguing against the financial system as an entity, just the way it is run currently.
With global production, consumption, and employment collapsing, how could an entity that is supposed to be a mere facilitator report its largest quarterly profit in history? From April through June, what did they contribute to our society, exactly, that was worth $3.44 billion?
Honestly, I am corzine has me really mad! The schmuck raises tolls, raises the liquor tax, and now want to give me a speeding ticket via ez-pass. Oh yeah great solutions, what a sack of sh*t, how about meaningful cuts to urban education were money goes directly in the pockets of corrupt local pols. I am sick of this, is it not bad enough I pay high taxes on property, income, all purchases, etc. Now he is going to tax me more because I make a decent income and also nickel and dime me through small fines and various unpleasant fees. Nuts, simply nuts! My vote goes to anyone who is not Corzine.
India becomes R&D hot spot as high-tech firms cut costs
BANGALORE (Reuters) – At Microsoft’s research center in a leafy lane in India’s tech capital, a new generation of researchers are being groomed half a world away from the software giant’s sprawling headquarters in Seattle.
Complete with beanbags and coffee served in steel tumblers, the center is helping change the perception that India is no place for top-end research and development.
Staffed with about 60 full-time researchers, many of them Indians with PhDs from top universities in the United States, the center is at the cutting edge of Microsoft’s R&D. It covers seven areas of research including mobility and cryptography.
Its success, including developing a popular tool for Microsoft’s new search engine Bing, underscores the potential of R&D in India at a time when cost-conscious firms are keen to offshore to save money by using talented researchers abroad
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE56K03M20090721
JOHN MADE HIS POINT.LET US ALL BE FINANCIERS
You can’t have a lasting and successful industrial R&D without actual manufacturing industry. The idea that we’ll innovate here while someone overseas will do the dirty work is good for the political convention but not for the actual business model. Our tax, labor, trade and environmental policies did more to destroy the U.S. manufacturing together with the demand for scientists and engineers, than all the Indian and Chinese efforts combined. And NIMBYism of the populace puts a last nail in its coffin. I always thought the quality of life here will meet China somewhere 1/3 of the way down (as they go 2/3 of the way up). Now, I think we will actually overshoot,and we will need to see some real suffering (and not just having 1/3 less stuff) before people start realizing that a factory within a walking distance is not a factor lowering their RE value, but a place where they could make a living from their work.
Chi, while finance is somewhat important, without actual production it is pointless. Finance is an enabler, the actual economic productivity is what is important. The honest truth is the quant or programmer developing black box models for CDO’s would be much better used creating something useful and more economically productive. I’m not trying to understate the importance of finance but comparatively the pay scale moves the intelligent away from intrinsically valuable and useful work.
Looking the other way on speed was the quid pro quo of adopting EZPass.
I also think people will drop Easy Pass, to avoid the Speed Trap Net. The worst part about getting a speeding ticket is three years surcharge on your car insurance. Wonder if Corzine will also push again for the 55 mph speed limit he wanted in his first term? In any case Easy Pass gives them the technology to not only give you phanthom tickets, but also charge your Easy Pass Credit Card to pay for them. On non Toll roads he is putting in the License Plate Cameras. Either way, America Land of the Free has become very Big Brotherish.
As insulting, naive, and specious a post as has ever been tossed up on these threads….thanks much….
You are welcome. Thanks for your insightful contribution.
Anyone have a link on Corzine’s EZ Pass proposal?
The actual amount taxpayers have on the line is much, much less than $23.7 trillion. Barofsky notes that his calculation contains programs that the government is no longer on the hook for, bank debt backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and bailouts that banks have paid back.
Here are some facts about the government rescue investments and bailout programs.
AIG: Taxpayers have given the troubled insurer $117.5 billion since it nearly collapsed in September.
Of that, $83 billion is in direct loans to the company, and AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) can borrow up to $30 billion more. In late June, outgoing CEO Edward Liddy said there was an “excellent chance” the company could pay back its loan to the taxpayers, and reiterated the company’s payback timeline of three to five years.
The other $34.5 billion is in toxic assets that the New York Federal Reserve purchased from the company in exchange for the forgiveness of a $38 billion loan. The Fed actually purchased close to $50 billion in assets, but the value of those assets has since plummeted. The Fed said they lost $4.9 billion in value in the first quarter alone.
To end up in the black, the government needs AIG to repay its loans and sell its assets for at least as much as what the Fed originally paid.
Automakers: The government has lent General Motors, Chrysler, GMAC and the now defunct Chrysler Financial just less than $80 billion.
So far, $2.1 billion has been repaid.
But the vast majority of those loans will likely never get paid back. That’s because U.S. taxpayers took large stakes in GM and Chrysler in exchange for forgiveness of large portions of the loans.
The government has given GM $50 billion — $6.7 billion of which the company must pay back. The automaker has stated that it hopes to do that before the 2015 deadline. The Treasury agreed to convert the other $43.3 billion into GM equity, so the government’s ability to recover its investment will depend on the future market value of that stake. GM’s stock is not expected to trade publicly until 2010 at the earliest.
Chrysler still owes about $8 billion of its $15.2 billion federal loan. Like with GM, the government is banking on the value of its stake in Chrysler rising down the road.
Bank bailouts: U.S. taxpayers have given 534 financial institutions $204.2 billion in capital injections, of which $70.2 billion has been paid back.
Banks are eager to pay back their bailout dollars, as public scrutiny has grown about the inner workings of bailed-out banks, including executive compensation packages, lending decisions and earnings. Furthermore, bailed-out banks have to pay the government hefty dividends.
The money was supposed to go to healthy financial institutions, but the health of some of those banks, namely Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), has since worsened. They had to get bailed out again. They have yet to pay back the $45 billion they each owe taxpayers.
One of the hundreds of TARP recipients has been in the news of late: Troubled commercial lender CIT Group, which warned in a government filing Tuesday that it could be forced to declare bankruptcy if it can’t strike a deal with private lenders. Taxpayers have $2.3 billion at stake.
Federal Reserve programs: The Fed has created more than $6 trillion in programs aimed at restoring liquidity to banks, about $1.5 trillion of which has been used so far.
The majority of the programs charge financial institutions interest for using the facilities, and the Fed actually made money on those programs, taking in $3.3 billion in interest payments in the first quarter. Many of those programs are set to end in October, and others will end early next year.
But some programs won’t be paid back at all. Like AIG, the Fed invested $29 billion in some of the failed Bear Stearns’ assets that are now worth $26 billion.
And through its conservatorship of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500), the Fed has given the companies $85 billion of a possible $400 billion bailout. That money is not expected to be returned
#84 – What happens when this works and people stop speeding?
Revenue?
Poof!
The current penalty isn’t high enough to dissuade drivers from speeding. In this new case, a ticket is basically guaranteed. Therefore, the penalty (weighted for the chance of getting caught), becomes so high that the behavior might actually stop.
#87 http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/21/news/economy/bailout_risk/index.htm?postversion=2009072112
Vic
It is hard to imagine that we were staring at the abyss a few months ago, and today we are looking at record profits by Goldman et al.
what do you expect when timmy and ben hand out a few trillion? never in the history of the nation (world?) has so much money been handed out at once with little to no accountability
#88 Grim
“The current penalty isn’t high enough to dissuade drivers from speeding. In this new case, a ticket is basically guaranteed. Therefore, the penalty (weighted for the chance of getting caught), becomes so high that the behavior might actually stop.”
Corzine seems to have actually forgotten that the act of handing out fines is to deter speeding, not raise revenue.
anyone notice the article linked at the bottom of Yome’s article from 89?
Where to find rich singles
Where to find rich singles
Seeking a sugar daddy (or mama)? Follow the money to these affluent towns, where singles are abundant. More
1. 1. Hermosa Beach, CA
2. 2. Arlington, VA
3. 3. Coronado, CA
4. 4. Edgewater, NJ
5. 5. Santa Clara, CA
1. 6. Edwards, CO
2. 7. Oak Park, IL
3. 8. Herndon, VA
4. 9. Irvine, CA
5. 10. Arlington, MA
John,
you better head on over to edge water!!!
#92
Kettle, yes. The funniest part is that Rutherford, NJ made the rich-single list. It’s as if they never stepped foot in the town, completely and utterly ridiculous. It’s a family town, and a dry town (no booze), but apparently there are a ton of wall-street types rowing on the banks of the beautiful Passaic.
All my family/friends in town have been laughing/talking about it since I sent it to them.
Re 192, I wonder how much annual income qualifies to be a sugar daddy, to gold diggers the bar must be a lot lower than two years ago.
#93 – Dairy Queen is hopping on Friday nights.
Green shoots growing taller.
Series: USG15LSTL, Net Loan Losses / Average Total Loans for U.S. Banks with average assets greater than $15B
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/USG15LSTL?cid=93
Kettle [92],
Where’s Hoboken? 600K for 4 walls and a roof and no mention on this list? Is that why the drunks are always pissing on the 600K box at 2:00 AM?
Grim 95 – And I thought all the Wall Streeters were picking up chicks at the vegan cupcake shop on Park Ave.
BC
to bad that goldigger piece came from CNN. Didnt they used to be a news outlet at one time? I guess you can never have to many tabloids….
#95
LOL. Grim, see the line below, I pulled it from the e-mail I sent to family/friends when I sent the article out last week. And, if I’m not mistaken, you’re one of the rich-single-rowers, but still not a resident so you don’t count.
“I hate waiting in line at Dairy Queen behind all those single, rich, rowing bankers. They’re just so rude.”
“There is something fcuked up about the system when the best and brightest are incentivized to work in the finance industry which essentially contributes nothing to the nation, rather than becoming scientists, engineers, etc. and discover/innovate tangible products.”
As a scientist who has met several people who held positions in Wall St., you are way off base. These companies don’t have your best and brightest people. They have no clue what they are doing and the few guys that do have managed to get rich by taking advantage of the fact that they are so damn stupid.
Now given the fact that I have so little respect for economics in our universities, the fact is, these stupid firms weren’t even hiring people trained in fields like econ, business, or finance. They were hiring history and poly sci majors who were family members for friends of friends. They also seemed hellbent on hiring rich kids who’s parents got them into Harvard and Princeton.
One of my good friends was a poly sci major working construction before he went to work for Bear Stearns doing financial advising through a connection he had. Although, I would say, he’s a bad example of what I’m talking about, because he actually did learn everything he needed to and understood the crisis at hand while all the morons he worked with thought that the Dow was going to go to 20,000.
On a side note, this isn’t just happening in the finance industry. It’s happened in every industry, especially science. Our educational system has deteriorated so much that there has been a gross amount of incompetence in nearly every field I have observed.
The real long term solution to this country’s problem is major nationwide reform in education at the K-12 level. Our educational system has been steadily declining in quality for 40 years.
“Where do we get this sense? Without the financial system, your money would be under your mattress; if you needed to borrow to buy equipment for your business, you’d have to spend an unbelievable amount of time soliciting from individual investors or lenders ….”
Duck…you are talking about traditional finance. Wall St. has evolved into a cesspool of people looking to collect a commission off of every transaction that occurs in the world. They are the most subsidized industry in the world given their direct access and influence into the Federal Reserve, who’s monetary policies benefit them and their friends at the expense of people who hold the currency that has been consistently debased at an alarming rate since the 1970s.
In fact, I’m simply amazed that Wall St. managed to bankrupt itself given the fact that our expansionary monetary policies are geared towards giving them free money…literally.
#101 – Ben – The real long term solution to this country’s problem is major nationwide reform in education at the K-12 level.
I won’t disagree. If you did this though how much of the collegiate system (and everything that goes with it) would be necessary? If you provided an education that prepares and individual for the work place who needs college loans?
Sorry if I’m being very cynical today.
#103 that prepares an individual
Clearly I needed that prep.
“Her business school buddies down the road will make a lot more, don’t have to relocate and gets great dinners, travel at 4 star hotels and great tickets included. Who the heck wants to be an engineer”
John…for anyone thinking beyond 10 years, I advise them to get trained in a field where they actually produce something. The amount of kids who voted against going into Science, Engineering, or Medicine in favor of Business is staggering. In the near future, we’ll have a serious glut of business/finance guys and a shortage of Scientists and Engineers. This is going to be the same time at which are trade deficit is going to be forced to be unwound. With the rest of the world gaining in financial influence at the expense of New York, I wouldn’t want to be relying on finance in the long term. At some point, exports, mainly provided by Scientists and Engineers will have to lead us out of the ditch we dug ourselves. If that doesn’t happen, the only thing that will is an economic collapse through massive inflation. If it ever got that bad, it won’t be hard for people with Science and Engineering Degrees to find great opportunities elsewhere in the world (just as they did in the US the past 60 years). Moving to Singapore or Hong Kong to find a job in finance, I wouldn’t bank on it. I think we already crossed the inflection point.
dairy queen would be a great name for a bar in greenwich village.
“I won’t disagree. If you did this though how much of the collegiate system (and everything that goes with it) would be necessary? If you provided an education that prepares and individual for the work place who needs college loans?
Sorry if I’m being very cynical today.”
over 50% of the collegiate system in this country is worthless. I should know…I’ve been in it for 10 years now. We do our children a disservice telling them to take out 100k in student loans to study in a field where there is near zero demand for their services when they graduate. Personally, I think all education is severely overrated. I’ll have my 4th degree some time this year. 2 year tech schools do a much better job preparing kids for actual work in the real world. Going to college is often the biggest mistake a person can make.
Now…if the government stopped subsidizing student loans and let tuition collapse to the level it was 30-40 years ago…I would change my mind. As it stands now, no matter where you go or what you study, there is an 80% chance that your education is overpriced and you’ll never get back your return on investment.
rofl, now Corzine wants to give us speeding tickets through EZ Pass? Maybe he just secretly blames his near death experience on the Garden State Parkway, and is doing everything in his power to make sure no one drives on it ever again.
A college degree is the next 600K POS cape.
Corzine was spared that day on the parkway in order to continue torturing us.
He is God’s wrath in human form.
Ben that is the sillest thing I ever heard. I actual was an engineering major for two week. Enrolled in StonyBrook, class room was packed with nerdy kids most who did not speak english mixed in with highly functioning autistic kids. Professor barely spoke a word of English he just kept scribbling all over blackboard using complex math and never stopping to explain, he rarely erased and I could not even read most of his handwritting. I though ok, maybe I got a bad professor, then I had a few more like him. Finally, I asked my roomate who was an engineering major how the heck I was supposed to learn this complicated stuff, he said well he already knows most of it and he just reads the book. I didn’t even take math senior year in HS and only took 9,10 and 11 grade math as it was required. I then said well maybe I can still do this and just study all night for four years, I then asked what he job prospects are and was told all the engineering jobs over at Sperry, Fairchild Republic, McDonnell Douglas was all dried up and there were tons of out of work engineers in the tri-state area as the aerospace and milatery industry collasped. Well at that point I quit engineering after two weeks and switched to business as other than accounting, pharmacy and computer science that was all you could get a job in. The Phamacy majors smelled funny, the computer folks were as bad as the engineering folks and the accounting folks had a few extra credits and a big test at the end. Basically, business is the best major for someone who needs a job but wants a life during college. Selling Engineering is a tough sell.
Corzine has, however, now proved that you can build an effective political constituency in the US based completely on freeloaders, losers and leeches.
This space is at its worst when it devolves into gross generalities and when posters attempt to paint an entire class of people with a broad brush. Some regulars are purposefully being brash and so they get a pass. Others speak tongue in cheek; they too get a pass.
Anyone who has actually worked in IB knows that it takes all kinds. Yes, there are the over-privileged kids who got into Harvard as a legacy and know very little beyond corporate schmoozing. There are also over-privileged kids who got into Harvard on their own merits (even if Daddy went there too) and had lots of help breaking in, but have proven themselves to be worthy of the fat wallets they now hold. There are also a few whose parents expected nothing more of them than to graduate from high school but instead took it upon themselves to secure scholarships to Top 10 Universities, got their leg in the door and have since taken off like the phoenix.
I have worked in three different industries and in each case I have encountered extreme brilliance (including poli sci majors who caught on to spot option pricing faster than some Wharton undergrads) and absolute mental mediocrity (75% of the Harvard MBAs I have worked for or with) and everything in between.
“…the finance industry which essentially contributes nothing to the nation”
“these stupid firms weren’t even hiring people trained in fields like econ, business, or finance. They were hiring history and poly sci majors who were family members for friends of friends.”
Re 113 “I have encountered extreme brilliance”
Seneca thanks!!!! It is good to know you think so highly of me.
re: #113 – extreme brilliance?
Cumon now these kinds of accolades need to be saved for the politicians.
Word of the day “Ballzheimer”
As defined by Jon Stewart, on the April 22 2009 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:
“A terrible illness that attacks the memory and gives its victims’ the balls to attack others for things they themselves made a career of…There is no known cure.”
John,
what’s silly is that you think that we actually have the capacity to fill employ all these business majors. I’m sure the demand will continue to dry up as they seem to only specialize in losing other people’s money
Comrade 66 – I think the more effective hits that the SL is taking against Christie are actually coming from the Right. Paul Mulshine, the resident Conservative of the paper is none too happy with the nominee especially when it comes to property tax issues. You can check out some of his rants here:
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/
Seneca,
this wasn’t a generalization on my part
My statement about banks and firms hiring people with liberal arts degrees was an observation of the job offers of the dozens of students I taught were getting. If you wanted to work on Wall St. a few years back, you only needed a college degree and someone inside to get you an interview.
Best and brightest?
Alright, not fair on my part.
looks like the USPS is in trouble:
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2009/07/united-states-postal-service-faces.html
On July 14, unions representing United States Postal Service (USPS) workers wrote the White House with “extreme urgency” asking for a meeting to address lack of funding for both employee payroll in October and health benefits for retired employees.
The letter, which the FederalTimes.com blog provided a scanned copy late last week, says:
“[USPS] top executives are now saying that the USPS will default on a $5.4 billion payment to prefund future retiree health benefits on September 30, 2009. And its government affairs representative are now telling Congressional staff that the Postal Service may not be able to make payroll in October and will be forced to issue IOUs instead.”
The letter was co-signed by the presidents of the American Postal Workers Union, National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, National Association of Letter Carriers and National Postal Mailhandlers Union, and sent to White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Jim Messina.
Ben, I somewhat agree that it is a club and knowing a member gets you a fat salary, even if you know nothing of economics. Some people get in through luck and hard work, many are connected. Many IB jobs could be done by a trained dog and these fools think they are worth 500k a year to do them.
wonder when the natives start to get restless?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) –” Pennsylvania state workers’ paychecks are a little light these days.
Struggling to resolve a 20-day-old budget impasse, Pennsylvania is withholding pay for 69,000 state employees for time worked after July 1. Workers Friday received only 70% of their salary, covering days worked in June. Starting two weeks from now, they’ll get nothing on payday until a state budget is approved.
Overhauling the K-12 system? Good thing the NJEA and Corzine are in lockstep. It should happen any day now…..
As for Rutherford, there sure were a lot of empty parking spaces on Sunday night on Park Ave at 830 PM. Wasn’t a lot of gold digging going on then.
John #111
What kind of engineering program lets you in without math prereqs from HS?
kettle #123,
There is something serious f’d up about a world where it is LEGAL to NOT PAY people for work already done.
It’s slavery, although we dare not call it that.
Modern “rule of law”, from Ayn Rand’s novel, “Atlas Shrugged:
Bureaucrat Floyd Ferris: “You honest men are such a problem and such a headache. But we knew you’d slip sooner or later . . . [and break one of our regulations] . . . this is just what we wanted.”
Rearden: “You seem to be pleased about it.”
Bureaucrat Ferris: “Don’t I have good reason to be?”
Rearden: “But, after all, I did break one of your laws.”
Bureaucrat Ferris: “Well, what do you think they’re there for?”
Continues bureaucrat Ferris: “Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed? We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against . . . We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”
CalPERS expected to report losing nearly one-quarter of investment portfolio:
The estimated $56.8-billion drop at the U.S.’ largest pension fund, the second annual loss in a row, would have a huge effect on what state and local governments must shell out to support retirees.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-calpers21-2009jul21,0,4629993.story
dolphin 126
i believe the correct term is Indentured Servitude
I guess we will have to wait and see what the Messiah’s administration determines is the correct Newspeak term for it.
#129
I guess I can go to the Daily Kos and find the proper term for it. Oh wait, Democratic administrations are doing this so nothing will be written.
They’re too busy complaining about some ex-Colonel on FOX who thinks we shouldn’t waste time finding an alleged deserter and calling the FOX a traitor.
vodka (123)-
I think we’re on the cusp of some very interesting social upheaval-type action.
Clot – I still think Americans are too lazy for “unrest” and will outsource all rioting to the Chinese.
#131 – Yes. Within 5 – 10 yrs.
“Ben, I somewhat agree that it is a club and knowing a member gets you a fat salary, even if you know nothing of economics. Some people get in through luck and hard work, many are connected. Many IB jobs could be done by a trained dog and these fools think they are worth 500k a year to do them.”
This is the way the world works and it will never change. The problem is, when you allow banks to become this big, those people have the ability to screw up the world with their lack of intelligence.
Actually at the time Stonybrook would not officially let you declare engineering as your major until junior year. Bascially you only got accepted to stonybrook. You then were free to do all engineering courses and unless you had a certain GPA by Junior year you had to pick another major. Plenty of 1.9 GPA engineers at Stonybrok switch to economics or polly sci majors in junior year.
dolphinbeater says:
July 21, 2009 at 2:11 pm
John #111
What kind of engineering program lets you in without math prereqs from HS?
Only the good looking ones with good personalitites and some good part time and summer business related jobs. The rest can be engineers where ugliness and lack of personality are selling points.
Ben says:
July 21, 2009 at 1:56 pm
John,
what’s silly is that you think that we actually have the capacity to fill employ all these business majors. I’m sure the demand will continue to dry up as they seem to only specialize in losing other people’s money
Clot,
there may be a few small attempts, but there is not yet enough anger amongst the flabby American population to fuel them through the tasers and pepper spray that will be promptly implemented.
the first few groups to rise up will not be reported on and anyone watching will think twice.
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When the apparatchiks, gubmint bureaucrats and zombie unionists get stiffed by their paymasters, there will be blood in the streets.
When the bureaucracy realizes their pensions are up in smoke, they will riot.
#138
I guess Cramer forgot to mention the Bear Stearns and Jones Soda and Capstone Turbine calls he made in the past when making that ad.
Danzud-
I was especially fond of his calls on Rite-Aid, Bookham, and Riverbed Tech.
All three fell out of bed and died virtually the minute he put buys on them.
“those people have the ability to screw up the world with their lack of intelligence.”
Ben,
Joe Cassano.
#139 – When the bureaucracy realizes their pensions are up in smoke
They’ll do something, I’m not sure what though. I’d like to think they’ll storm the castles and horse-whip the bunch of thieves. That may be my wanting for a dramatic ending.
Whatever happens I am expecting the next decade to be tumultuous both fiscally and socially.
Also, this can’t be serious.
Clot 139,
yes the waters will run red before its said and done, but we are still in the early stages of this game.
Dont retailers make something like 40% of their annual income during the Xmas holiday season???? Wonder how all those commercial loans hold up when the American consumer cant get it up for holiday shopping since they have have had their Amex/MC/Visa canceled?
But dont worry, the retail sector will do just fine when it loses 20+% of its annual income this year
Is this supposed to be a joke??????
http://manhattanairport.org/
Short sale, Wyckoff, in the Wyckoff Ave./Franklin Ave. area. Listed at 449K, new roof, siding, C/A and other upgrades in 2006. Don’t know anymore than that.
http://tinyurl.com/nofyh9
Tosh,
someone just sent me the same link…….
#147 – I think it has to be. They’re playing it pretty straight though.
This kinda gives it away;
Back to the Heath Care Debate.
Seems Investor Business Daily found a rut roh in the first few pages of the health care bill. A provision that would indeed outlaw individual private coverage.
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=332548165656854
F’ing Gubmint. They should really stick to things that they do well….like um…well uh….surely they do one thing well.
Kettle, more bad news, my friend who sells yachts and motor homes who was nearly broke back in March is selling like crazy all summer. OMG, what to do. Green Shoots. He did have a very scary experience, back in November through April he bought several million slightly used Yachts and Motor Homes during high gas prices and melt down. He is now banging them out left and right. Of course if market did not recover and gas prices stayed high he would be broke. You need to take a risk to get a reward.
It’s going to be very interesting when all those resets start hitting in the next 9 – 18 months. Logic says it has nowhere to go. Look at this chart and tell me that this isn’t frightening. I simply can’t figure out why this isn’t on par with a meteor approaching the earth:
http://tinyurl.com/nd9x7e
Those option ARM resets are going to be devestating. Holy geezus, we haven’t seen nothing yet.
#151 John: you seem to have alot of friends both real and imaginery. Funny TIME magazine had an article just a couple of weeks ago abou the dramatic drop in demand and prices for boats and motor homes.
And of course we had that story back in May where people were abandoning their boats becasue they can no longr afford them.
And now low and behold you have a”friend” who is banging boats out left and right. I know, I know they are all goldman employees buying them in anticipation of their 09 bonus.
You are so full of krap.
The One is getting crushed by his health care takeover. Just released:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/121814/More-Disapprove-Than-Approve-Obama-Healthcare.aspx
“As the debate over health care reform intensifies, the latest USA Today/Gallup poll finds that more Americans disapprove (50%) than approve (44%) of the way U.S. President Barack Obama is handling healthcare policy. There is a tremendous partisan gap in these views, with 74% of Democrats but only 11% of Republicans approving. Independents are more likely to disapprove than to approve of Obama’s work on healthcare.”
Perhaps it’s the continuous disingenuous statements he makes. He keeps saying that people will be allowed to keep the coverage they have now if they like it, but anyone with any sense knows this is not the case. He really has taken up a lot of what was bad about W and doubled down on it.
Motor Homes? Careful you might bring that hick Mitchell out from hiding.
just for fun, consider the 24 trillion $ bailout so far is way smaller then the unfunded medicare/medicaid liabilities of about 70 trillion
-green shoots
Estimated Cumulative Mortgage Reset Amount in the next 2.5 years:
$1,200,000,000,000
CIT says bankruptcy filing still a possibility
CIT Group warns that a bankruptcy filing is still a possibility despite receiving new $3B loan
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/CIT-says-bankruptcy-filing-apf-2442023652.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=
Green shoots in Jersey!!!!! The entire state of NJ remains on the list of declining markets
Genworth Move to Loosen LTV Criteria
In a move that will likely relax loan-to-value requirements and FICO scores for many borrowers, 136 metro areas have been removed from Genworth Financial Inc.’s list of “Declining/Distressed Markets.” However, the firm’s mortgage unit has informed its lender clientele that 14 states “in their entirety” will stay on the list, including Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada.
http://mortgageinsurance.genworth.com/pdfs/Marketing/Declining-Distressed%20Markets%20List-20090720.pdf
#159 xunderwriter: So?? Let them buy motor homes instead.
exactly, they can drive the motorhomes or dock their yahts in states that aren’t declining
#161 Yeah!!, and they don’t even need like jobs and money and stuff.
My father-in-law is in motor home / car biz on LI – DEAD…. My buddy is in marine insurance (anything from row boats to mega-yachts) – DEAD….
Estimated Cumulative Mortgage Reset Amount in the next 2.5 years:
$1,200,000,000,000
Gary,
Ben can print twice as much in 2.5 yrs.Green shoots!!!!!!!!!
Michael Jackson as of early June 2009 – ALIVE
Michael Jackson album sales as of early June 2009 – DEAD
Michael Jackson as of late June 2009 – DEAD
Michael Jackson album sales as of July 2009 – through the roof!
#163 SS Yeah! Well john has a friend,and he is banging them out, or maybe he is just banging John.
My father-in-law is in motor home / car biz on LI – DEAD…. My buddy is in marine insurance (anything from row boats to mega-yachts) – DEAD….
SS,
That’s cause they can’t sell like John “imaginary friend.”
John,
How about Labor day BBQ?
Ben – #101
In what areas do you think our school system is failing our kids? I don’t have kids, but I see what my niece is learning in 8th grade and it’s far more advanced than what I was learning at that age. They have so much more information at their finger tips too.
I’m not disagreeing with you, I’m just trying to see at what angle you’re approaching this.
159: this guy’s county made the list.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124811821278066137.html
The one area that motor-homes are gaining in is the rental arena. Since they’re not selling, these guys are renting camp sites to park these monsters, then renting the motor-home + site to staycationers for a nice chunk of change.
151: John, if you want to know the real story, ask his wife how they are doing.
http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/stocks/why-bash-goldman-sachs-for-making-money/
My friend buys only at auction and bankruptcy sales. He normally keeps no inventory. Sells Yachts and Motor Homes on Consignment. Will buy at auction for a fee. He is very conserative. His brother took a huge gamble in November through march when people in a panic when gas was four dollars and economy was melting down to take firesale trade in’s on yachts from laid off bankers and buying stuff at auction. He was buying like crazy till he realized no one was buying off him the stuff he was getting at half price. He had a few million in inventory. Gas dropped, stock market turned around and he is unloading like crazy the used late model fire sale stuff. He took a huge gamble doing this. It was dumb and he was lucky things turned. I don’t think he would do it today.
#173 John: So the stock market turned around and people immediately went out and bought yachts and motor homes?
You are full of krap.
His wife is a smoking hot ex-model from Latin America, she still models stuff on cable channels and stuff. She lets her man take care of the money, as long as the range rover is gassed up, credit cards are working and mortgage is being paid she stays out of it.
relo says:
July 21, 2009 at 4:18 pm
151: John, if you want to know the real story, ask his wife how they are doing.
101. Who can argue this — just look at the population of mouth breathing morons having kids…and sending them to schools.
Yes, remember everything sells for a price. I had no problem buying my five series at auction during the meltdown. BMW had stacks of late model 5 series in September 2008 for sale for 33K, they piled up until a few months later when they banged them out at auction for 25-26K. The people with money in a meltdown will buy. Hey I sold a few thousand dollars of jfootball tickets today, that is like selling timeshares and I off loaded.
3b says:
July 21, 2009 at 4:30 pm
#173 John: So the stock market turned around and people immediately went out and bought yachts and motor homes?
You are full of krap.
You know I think the retail car and boat business is dead. I don’t even know why it exists. When I bought my beamer, we went to a few dealerships sat in a few models till we saw the one we like. Then used internet and a few phone calls to come up with price. Then called friend who bought it at auction for a few thousand off paid a small fee and just picked it up registered and ready to go. No hassel with bargaining.
You know I think the retail car and boat business is dead. I don’t even know why it exists. When I bought my beamer, we went to a few dealerships sat in a few models till we saw the one we like. Then used internet and a few phone calls to come up with price. Then called friend who bought it at auction for a few thousand off paid a small fee and just picked it up registered and ready to go. No hassel with bargaining.
I kinda liken it to the “tuck rule” of Brady fame. We may not like it, but it is legal,
Way late on this, but this is incorrect.
By rule, a quarterback’s throwing motion begins when he raises the ball in his hand and begins to move his arm forward. That motion does not end until the quarterback tucks the ball back against his body, making him a runner. If the ball comes loose any time in between, it’s an incomplete pass—not a fumble.
Brady had two hands on the ball down at his chest. His ‘passing motion’ was complete. The fact that he was never ‘passing’ in that motion seems to get lost too.
Add in the fact that it was ruled a fumble on the field.
/pet peeve
//Raiders got hosed
Tell me John, did you get the sport package with the BMW?
177: What a surprise. Before I posted I assumed you would say she was an engineer.
or 175:
I got the XI model. Funny thing about sports packages it is very confusing. They put different tires on them and that is about the only way to tell at auction. Mine has goodyear eagles on them. I don’t think sports package and XI go together.
yeah I have an XI and it has a sport package with the best part being the seats…they have that extra section that extends and some nice lumbar support. Just curious. I’ve bent two sets of wheels since I have owned the car.
Buying-at-the-Bottom http://www.portfolio.com/business-news/portfolio/2009/04/21/Investors-Buying-Multiple-Homes#?PMID=alsoin/Buying-at-the-Bottom
Read this comment today on NY Times online: “I liked Barack then, and I like him now. Given the same choice again today, I would vote for him again – but that’s a relative statement. Forgive the harshness of what follows:
Where Dubya was intellectually ignorant, and willfully so – Barack is operationally ignorant, and till now, blissfully so.
That is, he does not respect what it takes to run or make things. He is as comfortable with bankers, i.e. those who take our money by deception, as he is with politicians, i.e. those who take our money by coercion. Much less so with industrialists.
Bankers cannot create wealth. Bubbles do not qualify.
Likewise, nor can politicians. Stimulus packages – even if properly structured, which this past one was not – do not substitute for wealth creation.
What our (no longer new) young president needs to do is to get comfortable with how industry works in this country – and in a real hurry.
A real stimulus bill would’ve looked at two things:
1. The jobs that were lost in the 1-2 years preceding its enactment – and how to reverse that trend, in those industries.
2. Creating “globally competitive” jobs, i.e. an entity whose output is marketed and distributed worldwide (e.g. information technology, semiconductor technology, cars and automotive technology), which will have the greatest multiplier in local and small business jobs.
Along this line, a real universal health care bill would’ve similarly looked at two things:
1. The coverage and costs of the ten or so largest employer (not union) health care plans in the US – and how the difficult issues like rationing are actually addressed, usually through deductibles and copayments. I’m not saying these plans are ideal – I’m saying they are a real market baseline for statistically large groups.
2. How to incrementally adjust the current government plans, e.g. lowering the age of Medicare availability to 62 or even to 55, and providing universal coverage for pregnant women and children under age 5.
Because so much of Barack’s rhetoric is ungrounded, even when he does make a profoundly correct point – as he did recently when talking about the role of hospice care, as an aspect of controlling health care costs – his opponents can twist this into a philosophical attack on choice.
While you don’t mention energy, I will. How many countries need to engage us in dialogue about nuclear power, before we go public with a meaningful policy to revive our own nuclear industry?
We should be leading this revival, including Midwest industrial job re-creation.
But. like I said, I like Barack. I also respect him and his intellect.
He and his team have got to be puzzling over all of this.
As smart as they are, they are not puzzling over what to do.
Only how to do it politically, and in time for the mid-term elections.
I hope he succeeds. We cannot afford another presidential failure. “
http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/real-estate/how-much-house-can-you-afford-now/
John,
Unless your car starts with an M or ends with AMG then please don’t blog about it. You bought a used car at an auction cause you couldn’t afford to buy new. Don’t sugar coat it.
Nothing like steeping in a vehicle at Ray’s and popping the cherry.
186: Another shocker. the president of the local realtor ass’n thinks it’s a great idea. I bet she is hot and that John knows her.
189. I love the M cars…but will leave your ass in the first decent snow. And you aint driving that thing to Vermont.
Actually BMW is just my station car. An M BMW is like an Impala SS, AMG is just some aftermarket junk.
make money says:
July 21, 2009 at 5:05 pm
John,
Unless your car starts with an M or ends with AMG then please don’t blog about it. You bought a used car at an auction cause you couldn’t afford to buy new. Don’t sugar coat it.
Nothing like steeping in a vehicle at Ray’s and popping the cherry.
M cars are essentially race prepped BMWs and would be a fine machine for any enthusiast. Not necessary for daily driving. I would say if you own an M and do not track it and only use it to drive to work in you are a bigger douche than John.
John, you must be 5’2″ and have a little winkie the way you talk. You have a great knack to minimize good accomplishments and maximize your minimal accomplishments.
…but I do enjoy your posts
“His wife is a smoking hot ex-model from Latin America, she still models stuff on cable channels and stuff.”
Cable channels? Like HSN or QVC?
Or Manhattan Public Access?
Or Manhattan Public Access?
Oh god, its Robin Byrd.
195: Sabado Gigante on Telemundo.
I love the M cars…but will leave your ass in the first decent snow.
I’ve got an X3 with the M-Sport handling package (as close to an M as they ever made the X3). I swear the thing can out handle a base 3 or 5 series. And this coming from someone who autox’ed a modded WRX. I can understand the complaints about it, the ride is very, very rough. Most Americans looking for plush, boat-like handling won’t be happy. No problems at all in the snow. Not as good as my Subaru, but good enough to inspire confidence.
I do regret not taking the M3 instead, but I had my heart set on a Leguna Seca coupe in the prior body style (sorry, the new body style is too understated, boring), and nobody wants to give those up. The dogs really were the deal breaker.
BMW makes a fine car. No doubt.
BTW…if I had it to do all over again I would consider the X3 after demolishing two sets of wheels…the cost of the crappy roads here makes SUV wheels and tires seem pretty sensible.
your XI won’t really make it in vt, try any of the gap roads in the winter, or small local roads away from the ski areas. Your bmw at the minimum needs snows like blizzaks. If you want to drive in VT with real snow it is best to have a truck, like a Jeep or Land Rover, even 4 runners and pathfinders can get stuck up there with a big snow storm. I was up there when the old time locals were making fun of somebody’s suburu because they tried to get it out after a snowstorm and broke their axel, we had no problem in a Range Rover. Point being if you are really serious about driving up their and not just 3-4 trips a year to a ski mountain you will need a truck, so buy the AMG or the M and get a Jeep to go with it. It is a toss up between the LR and the Jeeps, which is better in the snow and ice. I drove to northern VT in a jeep during an ice storm and made it from the lincoln tunnel in 7 hours. FYI Audi Quattro or even the Jag X-Type all wheel performs much better than either 4-matic or BMW’s all wheel drive. Snow tires are a must in vt.
SUV here is a good option, my VW got demolished on the streets in hudson county from bottoming out. SUV handles crater sized pot holes and biblical like flood waters of Hoboken.
Oh yeah suburu all wheel is one of the better ones much better than 4-matic or BMW’s, I’d rate 4-matic as the worst.
201…that’s BS…pure and simple. Been in Vermont with 30 inch dumps in a front wheel drive Volvo wagon. Watched rear wheel drive bimmers spin in place in 6 inch snows on the way back from a train station.
P.S. BMWs A drive has gotten me out of some very tight places…with all season tires. With Snows I can go anywhere.
Damn — amazing the crap you read on the web.
This is FANTASTIC Viewing
Alan Grayson: “Where is the half a trillion dollars the Federal Reserve lent to foreigners?”
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/07/alan-grayson-where-is-half-trillion.html
I think Bernanke is starting to melt from the heat.
Sorry, is the the NPR Car Talk blog?
Grayson’s question isn’t even too complicated but for some reason Bernanke really looks beat. Like there’s way more he’s worried about than Grayson’s stupid question.
[180] schab
Wrong again. Call on field was overruled, and replay showed it to be not “tucked.” If you want to post a Youtube vid, now’s the time.
And the rule was reviewed in the following offseason and left in.
Raiders got beat, not hosed. And if Gruden didn’t try to ice Viniateri, the line would hot have had time to clear him a spot.
Not surprised you’re a Raiders fan. Just another reason to belittle you.
Essex, I doubt the bmw makes it over a gap road after a snow storm. Mind you even with snows the rear wheel bmw is not going to make it I was talking about the all wheel drive. I will not deny that all wheel is tremendously better in the snow than no all wheel. I’ve even seen jeeps have problems, again I will mention the ice storm, all wheel drive car, forget about it! It will keep you moving in snow and probably has you covered for NJ and the occasional trip to vt but it is still no substitute for a truck.
I had a Subaru outback in Chicago about 1995 and it would cruise through the deepest snows there, pre-plowing, and make its way on icy hills. I think trucks are dandy, but they are not infallible. More weight to move. In a car I am pretty good at handling snow. It is all about momentum.
essex, I get you but again you went volvo, and suburu. Not all all wheel drive systems are created equal. I am not particularly fond of xdrive or 4matic(especially), now quattro, suburu, jaguar x-type(a big surprise because the xj is horrible in snow) performed very nicely in my experience in most moderate snow conditions. The reason I am using VT as an example is they seemingly have recently gone to a “we only plow during business hours” policy so you can get on a sloped road with 1ft plus of un-driven snow in areas of vt. We used to go to VT with front wheel drive cars no problems, not so much any more. I guess my thought is if you are going to drive in the snow a lot, an off road truck type vehicle is a good thing to have and an all wheel drive bmw is not a great substitute, if snow performance were important and I wanted a german import it would have to go to audi.
i think we’ll agree to disagree on this one.
“In what areas do you think our school system is failing our kids? I don’t have kids, but I see what my niece is learning in 8th grade and it’s far more advanced than what I was learning at that age. They have so much more information at their finger tips too.
I’m not disagreeing with you, I’m just trying to see at what angle you’re approaching th”
Every area is a disaster. Our kids are not even getting the same education they did 8 years ago. Our children have consistently had declines in performance on standardized tests for decades(yet they try to offset this by making the tests easier). No Child Left Behind has accelerated this process at an alarming rate. No Child Left Behind has transformed into No Child Below a B-. Also, you can see how we clearly are getting are butts kicked on the global level compared to any other industrialized nation.
As someone who has been teaching at the university level for 5 years, I can attest to a significant decline in performance from students each year. Students don’t come in with the foundation they used to. Don’t rely on individual anecdotes to ignore decades of hard data throughout the entire country. Just because your niece may be in a stellar school doesn’t mean the other 99.9% aren’t pure crap.
Also, the whole idea of the internet enhancing learning is a complete myth. Kids use the internet to play games, message each other and waste time on you tube. Ask them to do a research report, and you’ll get a bunch of material plagiarized off Wikipedia. The only ones using the internet to get smarter are the brightest kids and they do it on their own, not through their high school.
There are only a few ways out of it that are extremely difficult to implement.
Step 1: outlaw the NJEA and the monopoly they have on education
Step 2: stop funding schools by taxing the people who don’t have kids or the people who want to send their kids to private school. Let parents with skin in the game worry about how their money is spent
Step 3: create a voucher system and allow parents to actually choose where their kids go to school
Step 4: for god sakes, eliminate tenure.
“A college degree is the next 600K POS cape.”
Lmao. Hows that grenade launcher?
This country is fuucked. I dislike it more and more every time that Kenyan opens his mouth.
77:
I notice you didn’t say, “false.”
;)
181:
With the padded Landau roof…
—Wrong again. Call on field was overruled, and replay showed it to be not “tucked.” If you want to post a Youtube vid, now’s the time.
http://cdn.bleacherreport.com/images_root/image_pictures/0360/2057/brady_feature.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKpq62BCh5U
http://cdn.bleacherreport.com/images_root/image_pictures/0360/2057/brady_feature.jpg
Holding it down where he normally does, and with two hands on the ball. The definition of tucked.
Not surprised you’re a Raiders fan. Just another reason to belittle you.
Yes, only Kings fans noticed that they got hosed by the NBA in 2002.
It must be so easy to live in such simple terms.
A little insight on the BMW X Drive from our neighbors to the north:
http://www.canadiandriver.com/2006/04/06/winter-driving-test-bmw-xdrive.htm
“The system was ably demonstrated on one of the driving circles that was polished to a flat sheet of glare ice; much the same surface as you’d find in a hockey rink. In this situation, with careful steering and throttle inputs, we were able to drive the vehicle to the threshold of its control, at a speed of about 45 km/h. At this speed, we were able to hear the DSC’s gentle chattering as it worked hard to keep the vehicle on course. Turning off the DSC in this situation immediately caused the vehicle to slide sideways, and off the driving circle.
There is no system that can negate the laws of physics, and maintain control of a vehicle if it’s travelling too fast for conditions. However, the xDrive all-wheel drive system, in combination with Dynamic Stability Control, is a formidable technology that BMW now proposes is the best all-wheel drive system available. Already, the system is integrated into the optional active steering technology available on its vehicles, and in the future, the company’s goal of full-scale integration will be realized in its Integrated Chassis Management (ICM) technology, designed to control the longitudinal, latitudinal and vertical dynamics of a vehicle at the same time. The experience at Arjeplog suggests that this goal is close to realization.”
Essex,
Screw the technology, if that jelly thing in between the seet and the steering weel has no gray cells on top of it, nothing helps.
I used to drive in a similar climate as in Canada 365 days a year. In my experience with front wheel drive and good Nokian tires the only thing can stop you is a lot of packed snow above your car clearance. And diesel+manual trans are the best in snow. Diesel gives you maximum torque starting with 1100RPM and manual transmission gives your full control. I 4 years I managed to get stuck a couple of times just because of my own arrogance\stupidity.
Product features are, top side of?That