From HousingWire:
S&P: Buying, renting costs draw closer
An index from Standard & Poor’s shows a narrowing gap between the cost of buying a house and renting.
David Blitzer, chairman of the company’s index committee, said the rent-buy price ratio from October “shows not extreme favoritism” either way, as it moves toward a long-run average near 90.
S&P calculates the index using the 10-city composite of the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, as well as the consumer price index for rental of a primary residence.
The most-recent HPI showed home prices declined about 1.1% in the 10-city composite for October from a month earlier.
The rent-buy ratio has a 1987 benchmark reading of 100. Vertical movement on the index indicates a price difference, with upward movement showing an increase in rental prices, and vice versa.
Rental costs peaked in the late 1990s when the index approached 120, and buying costs topped out at a reading near 50 in the housing boom of the mid-2000s. The index has moved closer to average levels since the ensuing housing bust.
…
In a separate measure, S&P said house prices fell in comparison to disposable income per person. The ratio fell to 90, well below the average value of 102 since 1987. “Houses are almost cheap” according to the measure, Blizter said.
Eastbound and down baby.
From the LA Times:
Low mortgage rates likely to continue through 2012, experts say
The mortgage market told a sad story throughout 2011: record low rates, but few people taking advantage of them to buy homes.
The likely scenario in the new year, according to many analysts, is more of the same. Although the Federal Reserve has pledged to keep rates low through 2013, the experts say high unemployment and home prices that are still falling in many areas provide little incentive for stressed-out consumers to surge back into the housing market.
“I think there may be a little bit of an uptick in units sold,” said Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist at mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae. “But home prices will probably be down again, so the total dollars spent on purchases is likely to be pretty close” to 2011.
Freddie Mac, the other big government-backed mortgage company, had predicted two years ago that lenders would write $1.8 trillion in home loans in 2011. They later revised that estimate to just over $1 trillion.
In the end, home lending last year totaled $1.3 trillion, down from $1.7 trillion in 2010 and an all-time high of nearly $3.3 trillion in 2005.
Last year’s better-than-expected finish had nothing to do with home purchases. Instead, a decline in 30-year fixed mortgage rates to historic lows of less than 4% triggered a massive wave of refinancings.
…
But in the long-suffering economy, “remarkably low rates are not enough,” said Michael Fratantoni, an economist for the Mortgage Bankers Assn. He noted that many homeowners can’t even take advantage of the opportunity to refinance because of “lack of equity in their properties, poor credit and a weak job market.”
With lending standards still tight and demand for home loans waning, Morgan Stanley analysts titled their housing outlook for 2012 “The Year of the Landlord.”
“While we had forecast lower prices [for 2011], we did hold out some hope that at the very least transactions would pick up slightly from 2010 levels,” said the report from a team led by analyst Oliver Chang.
“However, it proved to be too optimistic a prediction,” the report said. “Not only did total home sales fail to rise, but also mortgage applications for purchase continued to fall — indicating that not only is tight mortgage credit limiting demand, but even the desire to buy a home continued to wane.”
Analysts aren’t universally pessimistic: “Housing has hit the bottom and has begun to heal slowly,” said Cal State Channel Islands professor Sung Won Sohn, a former top economics advisor to the White House and Wells Fargo & Co.
Although large numbers of foreclosures and other distressed home sales are keeping housing prices from rising, the inventory of new homes is at a 49-year low, setting the stage for a rebound, Sohn said in his 2011 housing forecast.
“On balance,” he said, “the increased demand for rental housing, higher rents and multifamily starts should encourage home builders and boost confidence on the part of the potential home buyers. Despite the high level of foreclosures, house prices should stabilize and even rise slightly toward the end of 2012.”
But any recovery will be slow given the extreme damage inflicted by the housing boom and bust, warned Duncan, the Fannie Mae economist.
“I tell people we’re five years through a 10-year adjustment,” he said. “Not until year 10 will we return to the traditional rate of housing starts.”
From the Christian Science Monitor:
Why I rent, despite low mortgage rates
I’m 31, have a good job, some savings, and good credit. I live in a part of the country with very affordable real estate and I’m a renter. This is typically when an American like me goes house shopping.
Pass.
Why on earth would I borrow a few hundred thousand dollars for a house? Home values continue to languish across the country and the Federal Reserve is all but guaranteeing that mortgage rates will be rock-bottom for years.
If I buy property, I face considerable risk in a fetid economy that my future neighbors are unemployed, insolvent, and facing foreclosure, which will sabotage the value of my investment.
Plus, there’s all the cost of home maintenance. American wages are flat (professors at the university where I teach have not received a pay increase in years and are looking at a likely cost of living increase of half a percent this annum). Meanwhile, the cost of food and energy surges.
No thanks. If I don’t shop in a sketchy produce market, I won’t buy a lemon.
More importantly, though, I don’t want to physically anchor myself to a piece of land in the United States, which features a wretched job market, towering national debt, and inept legislators. People need to stay limber and keep their running shoes on for job relocation.
…
If some sectors of the US economy struggle because young people like me can not or will not buy homes, so be it. Realtors, land developers, and home improvement retailers were among the pom-pom people who cheered Americans to chase houses they were told would surely accrue value.
Well, that was a sham, and it’s not my responsibility to put the pep-band back to work. Plus, saving is good for the long-term health of the US economy. A spending binge functions like newspaper in a fire: It generates a great deal of energy, but quickly dies down and leaves an ashy mess.
I’ll keep an open mind. I could be persuaded that home values are done tanking, mortgage rates won’t continue to fall, and that American workers have renewed security, but the proof is in the appraisal. I need to see numbers that currently just aren’t there. For now, home is where I lay my head, and it’s a rental.
Good Morning New Jersey
Christian Science Monitor, hey pinhead, who gives a shit whether or not you want a house a car or a rim job from your boyfriend. honestly.
Someone should suggest that dolt get out of Maine and come back to the US. Only job there is digging potatoes.
Magpies will give ManU a thrashing. Push is on for a top-4 finish.
We will be fine without Ba. Every team will have its problems during the African Cup.
Futures hovering at 2%
US: all war, all the time.
“Don’t look now but oil is spiking as the market is finally realizing that the escalation in the Persian Gulf is more than just for show (which curiously was once again set off by Obama establishing a full financial embargo of all Iranian activity on New Year’s Eve, leading the Rial to plunge to a new record low, and about to set a brand new scramble for physical gold in the country on the verge of hyperinflation). At last check WTI was up over $2.50 with the market realizing that either Dalio will be right (central banks going into overdrive) or the Iranian escalation will finally pass the trigger threshold, and Brent was over $110. Today’s escalation, just as requested by the US, is not another missile launch but a threat by the Iran military to retaliate if the US carrier John Stennis were to once again cross the Straits of Hormuz and return to the Gulf. As a reminder, as of December 23, as was observed by Stratfor before the hacker takedown and reported here, the Stennis was within shouting distance. From Reuters: “Iran will take action if a U.S. aircraft carrier which left the area because of Iranian naval exercises returns to the Gulf, the state news agency quoted army chief Ataollah Salehi as saying on Tuesday. “Iran will not repeat its warning … the enemy’s carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill. I recommend and emphasise to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf,” Salehi told IRNA.” Which is interesting because considering that the 5th Navy is stationed in Bahrain, i.e., deep in the Gulf, there is no way that the Stennis or other carriers will not come back, meaning what is likely the terminal escalation has now been set in motion.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/iran-threatens-retaliation-if-us-carrier-returns-persian-gulf-where-5th-navy-stationed
Nice Mad Men reference.
We are not all created equal.
http://www.esquire.com/features/thousand-words-on-culture/american-class-system-0112
10. Wait til the adman meets the combat vet — in the streets — one is highly trained to kill, stressed out, and looking for work, the other is smug as usual and well-groomed with an acid wit. Place your bets.
11. Vet will throw the first punch, and all he’ll gain will be a police beat down and 2 years in the hole for assault.
#2 ” which will sabotage the value of my investment.”
Still thinking of it as an investment? Didn’t these kids learn anything from the last few years?
(10) fabius,
You’re just learning that now?
One of my favorite quotes on equality was from over a century ago: “God did not create all men equal. Col. Colt did.”
Billy Ray: [posing as “Nenge Mboko,” an exchange student from Cameroon] Merry New Year!
Beeks: That’s “happy.” In this country we say “Happy New Year.”
Billy Ray: Oh, ho, ho, thank you for correcting my English which stinks!
I am back. BTW was anyone in the city this weekend? What a mad house. 5th avenue on Friday was insanely packed, most I have ever seen it packed. Lots and lots of shoppers actually buying. Apple Store and FAO Schwarts has a line down block. Even weirder lines at NBA store and A&F. No sales just shoppers.
Nassau Country did the reassessment of homes and for once the 1/1/12 values assigned were pretty much the same as 1/1/11. They have been doing annual assessments since 2010 using an independent assessor. 1/1/2000 to 1/1/2008 were straight up. Cut off is 12/1 of prior year for comps. So 1/1/2008 was sales from 12/1/2006 to 11/2007. Then 1/09, 1/10 and 1/11 assessments were a free fall in prices. Now 1/12 is around same as 1/11. Some stablizing.
“The smartest money in the world has been carried out on stretchers betting on a true recovery for housing.”
Nice quote from a research piece questioning that wall street thinks we are near bottom in the real estate cycle.
I found Frank.
Roy Williams of Prestige Wealth Mgt on Fox Business talking about NJ and jobs and how things are better than believed.
12 – hold on, I might have mixed that up, who is trained to kill, the suit or the vet?
This piece explains a lot about the attitudes of many in congress hold about those who were financially prudent during the housing boom/bust:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/25-members-of-congress-with-lowest-net-worth/2011/12/27/gIQAOJApKP_gallery.html#photo=1
25 members of Congress with lowest net worth
These lawmakers had the lowest net worth in 2010 according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, based on disclosures filed by the leaders.
snip
16. Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.)
Napolitano had an average net worth of -$91,999 in 2010.
15. Former representative Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.)
Maffei had an average net worth of -$107,501 in 2010.
14. Rep. Kristi Lynn Noem (R-S.D.)
Noem had an average net worth of -$111,996 in 2010.
13. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.)
Conyers had an average net worth of -$120,001 in 2010.
12. Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez (D-N.Y.)
Velazquez had an average net worth of -$146,999 in 2010.
11. Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Tex.)
Gohmert had an average net worth of -$150,001 in 2010
10. Former representative Patrick J. Murphy (D-Pa.)
Murphy had an average net worth of -$154,502 in 2010
9. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.)
Bishop had an average net worth of -$159,496 in 2010.
8. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.)
Duffy had an average net worth of -$167,497 in 2010.
7. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.)
Sewell had an average net worth of -$173,493 in 2010
6. Former representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich.)
Stupak had an average net worth of -$178,996 in 2010
5. Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.)
Richardson had an average net worth of -$383,496 in 2010
4. Former representative John Salazar (D-Colo.)
Salazar had an average net worth of -$474,501 in 2010.
3. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-Tex.)
Hinojosa had an average net worth of -$2,500,488 in 2010.
2. Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.)
Fincher had an average net worth of -$3,302,503 in 2010
1. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.)
Hastings had an average net worth of -$4,732,002 in 2010
#16 – Abercrombie often has a line. UGG store has lines at that time of year as well. Asian tourists are easily spotted at the Apple store. Walk by the other lines and listen closely, they are usually foreign tourists. These are the tourists Mayor Bloomberg wants, he gave $10K in gift cards and a bunch of other prizes to a family from England last week for being the city’s “50 millionth” visitor since 2008. 10.1 million visitors in 2011 alone and 1 million of them come from UK. If I had pounds to spend, I’d come to NYC. Too bad my dollar doesn’t go too far over there.
http://www.mikebloomberg.com/index.cfm?objectid=5CB13CE5-C29C-7CA2-F08867D9673523EC
I would say 99% of the people in high end stores were white on Friday. Asians from Asia dont celebrate Christmas. In fact Christmas is a work day in Asia China/Japan. Also the Euro has collasped I did not see many Europeans. Mostly people from the south or midewest on vacation and NJ and LI folks in for day. Lots of kids.
gryffindor says:
January 3, 2012 at 9:58 am
#16 – Abercrombie often has a line. UGG store has lines at that time of year as well. Asian tourists are easily spotted at the Apple store. Walk by the other lines and listen closely, they are usually foreign tourists. These are the tourists Mayor Bloomberg wants, he gave $10K in gift cards and a bunch of other prizes to a family from England last week for being the city’s “50 millionth” visitor since 2008. 10.1 million visitors in 2011 alone and 1 million of them come from UK. If I had pounds to spend, I’d come to NYC. Too bad my dollar doesn’t go too far over there.
http://www.mikebloomberg.com/index.cfm?objectid=5CB13CE5-C29C-7CA2-F08867D9673523EC
More on a tax topic I raised here many moons ago:
http://money.msn.com/tax-planning/7-tax-reasons-not-to-get-married-schnepper.aspx
From a NJ practitioner no less. Wonder if he lurks here?
Regarding #20. How does a guy like Fincher make a statement like this (from the front page of his Web site) and yet have an over $3,000,000.00 negative net worth?
“”Government spending, deficits and debt are the greatest threat our country faces. We need to cut up the national credit card, reduce spending, and get our financial house in order. This must be our national priority – this, and national security, keeping our country safe in a dangerous world.”
– Rep. Stephen Fincher
http://stephenfincher.org/
Sounds like a recovery until Iran spoils the party
Construction Spending in U.S. Beats Forecast
Dollar Demise Refuted With 13% Gain Since 2008
Intel Confronts Qualcomm in Vegas Standoff
Goldman’s O’Neill Sees Aging Labor in BRICs
Sears Turnaround Means Using Tech, CEO Says
Exxon’s Pursuit of Venezuelan Cash ’Not Over’
U.S. Auto Dealers Have Best December in 5 Years
Israeli, Palestinian Envoys Meet in Jordan
Croatia Prepares to Join World Wine Battle
OH MY! I just looked at the House Web site, Fincher, Mr. HUGE negative net worth is on which committee?
Say it with me…..
Commitee on Financial Services
(and its Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit)
Don’t discuss any mortgage affordibility scenario without factoring in property taxes. If you’re looking to buy in rural Mississippi, then it’s a no-brainer. In Northern NJ, taxes have eclipsed any interest rate/down payment ratios. Any calculation model that has worked in the past requires modification. Whether the interest rate is 1% or 15%, it doesn’t matter. Affordibility is at the lowest point ever because property taxes have risen to absurd levels and will continue to do so unabated. My property taxes are now above $9300 per year for a home on a 50 X 100 lot. Seven years ago, they were at $5100. Let me know what part you’re having difficulty understanding.
re #16 – JJ Here are some up to date 2006-2011 RE sales charts for Nassau County.
Charts are DOM, Sales Volume and Sales Price for the more select towns.
Thank the Realtor who put these out.
Gary,
And, it is not just current taxes that one needs to consider. The thing that should give one pause is the prospect for exploding tax rates. How big is the State’s debt again? Oh, and how large are the unfunded liabilities?
In the world of finance….this guy is HUGE…..
http://hjadvisors.com/team.php
Comrade Nom Deplume says:
January 3, 2012 at 9:36 am
I found Frank. Roy Williams of Prestige Wealth Mgt on Fox Business talking about NJ and jobs and how things are better than believed.
Gary:
Don’t be such a downer. I joined a credit union and was pre-approved for a 1.1 million mortgage. Happy days are here again! BTFD!
[23] redux
The author doesn’t make this clear, but the shacking up tax plan really works if you have two spouses making decent money. If one doesn’t work, or makes very little, and has no other unusual tax profile attributes, it doesn’t work.
Yes, It’s A New Year — And The United States Is Still Broke
By Henry Blodget
The entity responsible for publishing the financial statements of the U.S. government, the General Accounting Office, has released its fiscal 2011 annual report.
When companies and governments have bad news to release, they try to release it at the moment when journalists and the public are paying the least amount of attention — thus, hopefully, generating the least possible amount of grumbling and complaints.
So it’s no surprise that the GAO released its 2011 report on the Friday before Christmas, possibly the day of the year on which the country was paying the least amount of attention.
As you might expect, the GAO’s annual report on the financial condition of the United States contains tons of bad news.
The country can print its own money, so it’s not “broke” in the classic sense of the word (can’t pay its debts, can’t fund its operations).
But the country is also clearly on an unsustainable course.
#27, gary, how is that your taxes nearly doubled in 7 years and mine, after adding 1,000 square feet in additions, have barely doubled in 18?
Confused,
The other day Krugman said debt doesn’t matter, so it must be true. He, like Obama, is a Nobel Prize winner, and it isn’t like they just give those things away.
Condo [34],
Perhaps you should ask the numerous beat cops in my town who average over $100,000 per year in salary.
Shore [35],
Yes… We… Can!
Hey nothing is attached!, I want to do my annual grieve of taxes and this would be great info, where is link, Thanks!!
Juice Box says:
January 3, 2012 at 10:31 am
re #16 – JJ Here are some up to date 2006-2011 RE sales charts for Nassau County.
Charts are DOM, Sales Volume and Sales Price for the more select towns.
Thank the Realtor who put these out.
I mentioned a Ridgewood property last week, seemed like a significant price drop from 1.23 M to 849k ask. It looked kinda low for the comps in the area. I did a drive by over the weekend, some other nearby homes a block or so away have closed for 1.2 – 1.4 m recently. Almost too good to be true? A 1.6 acre property, 3800 sq ft, pool and updated interior surrounded by parks and ball fields only walking distance to the train.
Well the listing mentions nothing about being waterfront.
Watch Video First.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oziEdhlY5wI
Then view Listing
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/80-N-Irving-St-Ridgewood-NJ-07450/52908851_zpid/
Spent the week down in Duck, NC on the coast in a beautiful house right on the ocean. There were 40 homes listed for sale within 1 mile of the property. I would like to remind you that we were squeezed right between the bay and the ocean. Over 70% of that area was covered by water.
JJ — re: missing link. Here are the Charts from Nassau.
http://blog.c21prevete.com/?tag=nassau-county-real-estate
re # 33 – Krugman is spouting off like Cheney did a decade ago.
Paul Krugman: Right Now, Other Things Matter More Than Debt
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/opinion/krugman-nobody-understands-debt.html?_r=2&ref=opinion
Nicholas,
I am a big fan of Duck
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/arts/design/manhattan-street-grid-at-museum-of-city-of-new-york.html?src=me&ref=general
In the old photograph, a lonely farmhouse sits on a rocky hill, shaded by tall trees. The scene looks like rural Maine. On the modern street, apartment buildings tower above trucks and cars passing a busy corner where an AMC Loews multiplex faces an overpriced hamburger joint and a Coach store.
They are both the same spot. Not so long ago, all things considered, the intersection of Broadway and 84th Street didn’t exist; the area was farmland. “The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011,” now at the Museum of the City of New York, unearths that 1879 picture of the Brennan Farm among other historic gems. The show celebrates the anniversary of what remains not just a landmark in urban history but in many ways the defining feature of the city.
After all, before it could rise into the sky, Manhattan had to create the streets, avenues and blocks that support the skyscrapers. The grid was big government in action, a commercially minded boon to private development and, almost despite itself, a creative template. With 21st-century problems — environmental, technological, economic and social — now demanding aggressive and socially responsible leadership, the exhibition is a kind of object lesson.
Simeon De Witt, Gouverneur Morris and John Rutherfurd were entrusted with planning the city back in 1811. New York huddled mostly south of Canal Street, but it was booming, its population having tripled to 96,373 since 1790 thanks to the growing port. Civic boosters predicted that 400,000 people would live in the city by 1860. They turned out to be half-right. New York topped 800,000 before the Civil War.
The planners proposed a grid for this future city stretching northward from roughly Houston Street to 155th Street in the faraway heights of Harlem. It was in many respects a heartless plan. There were virtually no parks or plazas. The presumption was that people would gravitate east and west along the numbered streets to the rivers when they wanted open space and fresh air, and not spend lots of time moving north or south. That partly explains why there were only a dozen avenues.
In the abstract, the idea was really nothing revolutionary; grid plans went back to ancient Greece and Rome. But installing one in Manhattan was deeply subversive because, while still undeveloped, the island was already parceled into irregularly shaped, privately owned properties.
This meant the appropriation of land and reconstruction. First, Manhattan had to be surveyed, a task that took years. Property lines had to be redrawn, government mobilized for decades on end to enforce, open, grade and pave streets. Some 60 years passed before the grid arrived at 155th Street. Streets were still “rough and ragged” tracks for a long while, as one diarist observed in 1867, describing a recently opened stretch around 40th Street and Madison Avenue as a mess of “mud holes, goats, pigs and geese.”
Even so, the grid gave the island a kind of monumentality and order.
snip
No comment necessary:
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/12/21/11-of-the-stupidest-employees-of-2011/?ncid=txtlnkuscare00000002
#23 Nom
I am looking at the 2010 tax table
Married combined taxable income of $98,000 has a tax of $16,756
Single filing at $49,000 taxable income is $8381 x2 = $16,762
I guess the article is true if you passed the $100K mark
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040tt.pdf
#22 – Fair enough. I will be in that area in a few hours and check out the lines today.
Pretty much every married couple who owns a home in Bergan County makes over 100K a year. But it is amazing at $212,300 they start taxing you at 33%. A couple with four kids, two ars, commute to city, mortgage, medical, kids activities, RE Taxes etc. you ain’t rich at all. Yet you are in a 33% tax bracket just on federal alone. Crazy. Should be adjusted for cost of living in your state.
At least $100,000 but not over $139,350 25%
Over $139,350 but not over $212,300 28%
Over $212,300 but not over $379,150 33%
Over $379,150 35%
http://seekingalpha.com/article/316997-10-muni-bond-funds-march-on
Ms. Whitney, come out come out whereever you are.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/01/what-housing-recovery/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Currently listed for $695,000. Obviously, it’s just a fishing expedition and they’re probably the original owners:
http://www.trulia.com/property/3058563634-325-Brookmere-Ct-Ridgewood-NJ-07450
freedy [50],
Compare it to the “Tebow” effect; repeat the same mantra over and over again, regardless of how absurd and people will start to believe it’s true.
2% max increase in Property tax anything above needs to be voted by the residents is a law.
If a PITI of 18% of gross income and at per example of $10,000 property tax one will not be expected to purchase at any price.
yo says:
January 2, 2012 at 3:28 pm
One test of affordabilty no one will question here is the PITI 30% of gross income.
I will use Grims $125,000+ / 32.1% – 22.2% stat.
A family buying a home making $125,000 annually.House is $260,000 today putting 20% down at 4% interest will have mortgage of $993.00 a month,taxes at $10,000,I think you can get a lot lower and insurance of $1300 a year will hae a total annual payment of $23,216.A PITI of 18.57%.And a family with an annual income of $100,000 will have a PITI of 23.21%.
They still have a lot of buying power to get to 30% PITI
Gary,
What? You expect them to give it away?
Gary #36
The cops Retire late 40’s early 50’s with 85% of there final salary plus COLA plus full med benefits the rest of there lives, Figure that they average (start to finish) about $1,750,000 over there 25 year career and finish with a 100k salary so they collect 85k plus for the next 30 years or $2,550,000 in retirement, Sucks for the taxpayer
$699,900 and $12,000 in taxes for a 3/2 cape. But, we’re prestigious and everyone else is doing it. Right? Right? I said, right?
http://www.trulia.com/property/3070795590-237-Steilen-Ave-Ridgewood-NJ-07450
Good Chr1st almighty, if I had to do it all over again, I would’ve gotten a job with the best electrician I could find the day after high school graduation, learned everything I could learn and obtained my license. I know two electricians with their own business and they all have a net worth of 7 digits. They started from nothing and built it up. All it took was time.
The uber rich and connected and the heavily subsidized and criminal are both jacking everyone else. You really cAnt talk about these matters until you look at old terminology with new eyes. “Working poor” has had a good run, how about “unemployable and generationally subsidized.”
The problem with the Municipal deficits is foresight of the leaders before the downturn.There was no problem when they were able to fund and the yield that was promised is coming in at 8 to 10%.When the downturn hit this leaders are putting the burden to the shoulders of the taxpayer.Majority of residents agreed with this increases or else the leader would have been voted out.Majority of the residents is faulted with this.Expected is good times will always be here,nobody voted out or decline this increases.
Just got my yearly BCBS “They’ll take It All Away In The Event Of A Health Crisis” insurance yearly increase. Almost 100 a month, big deductibles, no rx. Crankier than usual today.
Chi:
We did it again in 2011.
Mad Loot Investment Club 8.0%
Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX) 0.2%
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) -0.8%
Eastman Kodak Company (EK) -86.5%
Our portfolio as of 12/30/11
Name % of port Return Since Annualized Internal Rate of Return
Apple Inc (AAPL) 21.96 1/1/11 24.18
CanNational Rail (CNI) 10.25 1/1/11 20.01
GOOGLE INC CL A (GOOG) 8.55 1/1/11 9.71
ADVANCE AUTO PART(AAP) 8.35 1/1/11 7.25
Ebix Inc (EBIX) 5.96 2/10/11 17.12
Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) 5.69 1/1/11 3.49
Telefonica S.A (TEF) 5.62 1/1/11 -20.08
Accenture Plc (ACN) 5.12 1/1/11 11.99
Global Payment(GPN) 4.55 1/1/11 11.69
NVE Corp (NVEC) 4.48 4/14/11 0.76
Calavo Growers (CVGW) 4.36 2/17/11 19.58
Cash 4.28
Hibbett Sports (HIBB) 4.2 9/15/11 132.41
LKQ CP (LKQX) 3.53 9/22/11 129.52
Gilead Science (GILD) 2.65 8/11/11 37.15
NETFLIX INC (NFLX) 0.27 1/1/11 -61.21
Home Depot Inc (HD) 0.13 1/1/11 23.31
Teva Pharm ADR (TEVA) 0.03 1/1/11 -22.34
Stryker Corp (SYK) 0.02 1/1/11 -9.54
Keep in mind, we just had two withdrawing members so ignore our partial shares that remain.
Barbara,
We’re headed towards a Dickens novel, circa 1850. In fact, archaic laws pertaining to debtor’s prisons are becoming all the rage in more and more States.
Barb (60):
If we don’t continue to provide such lofty benefits, then us private sector workers (all who are obviously company execs) will lose those benefits to.
There was record low issuance of new muni debt for projects in 2011 and same is projected for 2012.
Low issuance means low supply which drives down interest rates. That along with record low rates for treasuries resulted in a 40 year low in ten year muni rates. Which means in 2012 only new bonds being issued will be for prerefundings, and called bonds. 2012 will be a year to let munis mature which equal less debt and to call and prerefund munis from higher coupon rates. A 100 Million dollar 30 year bond issued January 2002 that is callable January 2012 with an original coupon of 5.25 can be called and replaced with a 2.25 coupon bond. That is an incredible savings. Rates on munis were very low in 2003-2005. If they can get all the munis issued in 1999-2002 called and replaced with munis with half the interest rates towns finances will look much better in 2003. Towns that are proactive can lock in 30 year low rates like crazy this coming year and even if rates shoot up in 2013 they will be protected.
yo says:
January 3, 2012 at 12:13 pm
The problem with the Municipal deficits is foresight of the leaders before the downturn.There was no problem when they were able to fund and the yield that was promised is coming in at 8 to 10%.When the downturn hit this leaders are putting the burden to the shoulders of the taxpayer.Majority of residents agreed with this increases or else the leader would have been voted out.Majority of the residents is faulted with this.Expected is good times will always be here,nobody voted out or decline this increases.
Libtard, I have in my own circle, 3 stories of outraggeously expensive operations that are cosmetician nature, had for free by nj govt employees and their spouses. Without going into detail, my BCBS is a mafia. I’m paying monthly protection money.
Funnel Cloud [55];
I’m not going to stump for platinum pensions for all government workers, and I have no love for a specific off-duty Edison cop who wrote me a ticket after practially rear-ending me with my family in the car; but there is a specific reason that cops pensions need to be generous – its how you keep them [relatively] honest. A dirty cop can do alot of damage and there needs to be a big stick that keeps them in line until the end of their career. That big stick is the prospect of losing their pension if they get busted on the take.
Gary [51, 56];
Obviously they’re trying to get a jump on the “Spring” selling season (which I’m told begins after the Superbowl), but with those prices I wonder why they even bother. Anyone who jumps at one of those listings is certainly overpaying now out of fear of overpaying in the spring.
I’m reminded of “early admission” to college — the kids who need the edge of beating the crowd won’t get the nod, they’ll be deferred to the general pool; the kids who don’t need the edge won’t commit to early admission. All it gets a school is a kid who looks good on paper but isn’t confident enough to reach higher; all it gets the kid is an undermatched school. Pretty much a bad deal for both.
Tic, tic, tic.
(The Times messed up the link but it points to the correct story, at least for the moment):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/world/middleeast/jail-term-for-daughter-of-iranian-ex-president.html
Iran’s military sharpened its tone toward the United States on Tuesday, bluntly warning an American aircraft carrier that left the Persian Gulf through the strategic Strait of Hormuz last week not to return.
The warning, by Iran’s army chief, was the latest and most aggressive volley in a nearly daily exchange of barbed statements between Iran and the United States. Iran has just finished ambitious naval exercises near the strait, and it has repeatedly threatened to close the passage — through which roughly one fifth of the oil traded worldwide passes — if Western powers move forward on new sanctions on Iran’s petroleum exports.
“We recommend to the American warship that passed through the Strait of Hormuz and went to Gulf of Oman not to return to the Persian Gulf,” said Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi, the commander in chief of the army, as reported by Iran’s official news agency, IRNA. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will not repeat its warning.”
snip
““Spring” selling season (which I’m told begins after the Superbowl), ”
And ends with the Probowl?
Early Admission is why I was able to do zero work all of senior year. Then again I did barely anywork in ninth or eleventh. Then again I think the pressures of Junior High, High School, College, Grad School and then starting at a top notch company right out of college causes kids to burn out by 35 in the work place. Today by 35 the average blue ribbon town kid has been busting his butt since he was 5 years old, a good thirty years. I on the other hand coasted through school and through bs jobs out of college and waited until 35 to apply myself. Therefore, my mind is fresh and good to go to 65!!! You only have around 10-15 years of hard use of your head, don’t waste it on ninth grade math. Wait till you are 40 at a board meeting to start wasting brain cells.
Anon E. Moose says:
January 3, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Gary [51, 56];
Obviously they’re trying to get a jump on the “Spring” selling season (which I’m told begins after the Superbowl), but with those prices I wonder why they even bother. Anyone who jumps at one of those listings is certainly overpaying now out of fear of overpaying in the spring.
I’m reminded of “early admission” to college — the kids who need the edge of beating the crowd won’t get the nod, they’ll be deferred to the general pool; the kids who don’t need the edge won’t commit to early admission. All it gets a school is a kid who looks good on paper but isn’t confident enough to reach higher; all it gets the kid is an undermatched school. Pretty much a bad deal for both.
Nom,
Ne a couple cheap places to go on the lamb?
http://galleries.heraldtribune.com/default.aspx?id=345743&google_editors_picks=true#http://ibis.htcreative.com/getGalleryImages/uploadedImages/photos/2011/12/30/zoom/2603983.jpg
[46] yo
that was sort of my point.
re: 70
By my math, assume such: at age 40 you have only 60% of brain cells remaining due to excessive partying up to that age. Multiply by .9 (brain cell efficiency) and you get a total brain capacity ratio of .54. On the other hand, my relative abstinence and healthier lifestyle allows me to retain 90% of my brain cells but my constant brain use has reduced my brain cell efficiency to .7. That’s a total brain capacity ratio of .63. Who wins?
Gator,
We got two! My wallet thanks you.
[73] xolepa
I win. I have more guns.
Doesn’t abstinence cause cancer?. I think Dr. Oz said that. I actually had a very healthy lifestyle when I was single. I went sking, played volley ball on beach, basketball, went to dance clubs, walked a heck of a lot. I don’t do drugs or really drink hard alcohol. However, I had a tendency to get very Charlie Sheen like in my 20’s. Say things or do things or stay up all night that are a little over top. Once I won a lip sync contest with a wild crazy out of control song in front of 1,000 people. Girl comes up to me right afterwards and talking about I must be high on coke, do I want to share with her. Girl was shocked when I told her that is me just being me. Heck I was pulled over for DWI three times and all three times I was sober. They assume driving erractically, 4am, me smelling like a brewery, fast car, something up. Funniest some cop at 5am on a weekday was asking cop for second breathlizer. Though first was broken. I was like yes I went to bar, had a few beers, met girl went to her place at 11pm, around 4:30am realized work day need to drive back to city. Picked up dunkin donuts at 4:45 and I am with you at five am. One knuckle head cop once put a gun to my head at 3am once at a car jacker just took a car like mine. My Mom was right about one thing, nothing good happens at 4am. My lifestyle was only unhealthy as I could have go shot from all my late nights out. BTW dont take short cuts through harlem late at night cause at 5am 130 street is not too nice. Had a perp being chased by a cop at gun point run right into side of my black car. Cop was stunned. A. What is white kid by himself driving through Harlem at 5am by himself, and how lucky he was a 19 old kid ran into my car and got busted. Cop banged his head on hood of my car as he cuffed him and said get the F out of here. Funny stuff. I also went to gym a lot as that is where you meet girls. I just rarely used my brain much. My brain is like a 20 year old classic car under a cover in a heated garage, an ivy league brain at my age is like a 20 year old gyspy cab in the bronx.
Since I started with triple the brain cells of a normal human, even at 60% I have 180% of brain cells. Brainaics cant help wear out their brains. I asked a Brainaic if his company stock was going up or down, he went on for 20 minutes with nonsence and stats, after he is done I go so up or down, he goes up. I go thanks, I would have just said up. I probably lost ten brain cells just listening to him.
xolepa says:
January 3, 2012 at 2:26 pm
re: 70
By my math, assume such: at age 40 you have only 60% of brain cells remaining due to excessive partying up to that age. Multiply by .9 (brain cell efficiency) and you get a total brain capacity ratio of .54. On the other hand, my relative abstinence and healthier lifestyle allows me to retain 90% of my brain cells but my constant brain use has reduced my brain cell efficiency to .7. That’s a total brain capacity ratio of .63. Who wins?
re: 75
You only win if you use them.
[77] xolepa
Isn’t that implied?
[76] JJ
” I probably lost ten brain cells just listening to him.”
I don’t want to think about how many I lost reading No. 76. Wait, I can’t think anymor . . .
[76] JJ
I think you’re in trouble.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/255337/3/How-sex-can-cause-cancer
Not a problem for me, but girls in HS and College think giving BJs is a safe sex and many get Herpes, HPV etc in the mouth. Horrible stuff. Who wants to kiss those lips on an alter.
Comrade Nom Deplume says:
January 3, 2012 at 2:56 pm
[76] JJ
I think you’re in trouble.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/255337/3/How-sex-can-cause-cancer
Public sector retirement benefits 337% greater than private sector
by Kristen Byrne, Bryan Leonard | April 16, 2011
Retirement is a goal that employees in both the public and private sector work towards, but the difference between the retirement benefits in the two sectors is monumental. Government workers are getting better deals than employees in the private sector, and their pensions are partly paid for by taxpayers.
The state governments have been increasing the fringe benefits of their employees. As Bob Williams explains, this is because the government cannot afford the cost of employee union demands-often regarding retirement and health care benefits. State Budget Solutions found that heavily unionized government worker states, like California and New York, have the largest unfunded pensions and retiree health care.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Databases, there is an increase in state and local government fringe benefits. Public employees are receiving pension and retirement benefits that are 337 percent greater than private sector employees. The cost of employee compensation, specifically retirement and savings, averages $0.97 per hour in the private sector. This is compared to the $3.27 per hour that public sector employees accrue.
New York and Massachusetts both illustrate the differences in retirement benefits between the public and private sectors. In New York, the Census Bureau recorded that the average private sector retiree was receiving an annual pension of $13,100 in 2009. State and local employees earned over twice as much in annual benefits, resulting in $27,600. For public sector retirees, this number is free of state and local taxes–a luxury that private employees don’t have.
Massachusetts is running into the issue of potentially losing some of its municipal services because pension and health care benefits are increasing rapidly. The number of state employees receiving $100,000 or more in pensions has increased to 20 percent in one year. Massachusetts’s state pension fund has a current unfunded $4.9 billion guaranteed to current retirees.
re # 76 JJ – “I actually had a very healthy lifestyle when I was single.”
And now what you cannot see your shoes or something?
81. W I M P.. Jj talks a good game but posts like that are the true indicator of his complete fear of sex.
Yes, but then I asked her to move her head. I was in Gym yesterday. I am no Hershal Walker. but then again. I aint no Nick Nolte.
Juice Box says:
January 3, 2012 at 3:18 pm
re # 76 JJ – “I actually had a very healthy lifestyle when I was single.”
And now what you cannot see your shoes or something?
82. Neither of those figures mean jack shit. Are you really that dumb?
Bocephus. Please explain.
Two words my Monclair Comrade. Stock Options.
If you really want to start out at $40k and make $85k 20 years later….with no hope of a bonus and being surrounded either by children all day (teacher) or miscreants (cop) or both (teacher in Newark) go ahead. Let’s hope someone in that family actually makes a decent bonus or you aint buyin’ a house. Ever.
re # 85 – JJ – Did you get a tan and do your laundry too after the 15 minutes you spent on the step master?
If you looked like the Herschel who is now a MMA Fighter you would have to get up at at 5:30 a.m to do 750 to 1,500 push-ups and about 2,000 sit-ups.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/11/herschel.fitness.martial.arts/index.html
Number one occupation of millionaire spouses is TEACHER, so the average teacher makes 85K, gets free medical for life, a big pension and has summers off and her husband is a millionaire. Oh cry me a river of tears.
http://s.fatwallet.com/static/attachments/455_The_Millionaire_Next_Door.pdf
Bocephus says:
January 3, 2012 at 4:19 pm
If you really want to start out at $40k and make $85k 20 years later….with no hope of a bonus and being surrounded either by children all day (teacher) or miscreants (cop) or both (teacher in Newark) go ahead. Let’s hope someone in that family actually makes a decent bonus or you aint buyin’ a house. Ever.
40k – 85k is really 65k – 100k in real world value. Can you back up that 20 years? I’ve got Newark teachers at 80 k in 10.
Herschel is amazing. He also said as long as he stays in shape he would like to play in the NFL again once he is 50. His goal is to make a team and at least play one game and at least score one touchdown. He thought being the first person ever to score a touchdown in the NFL in his 50’s would be an amazing accomplishment. I agree. Maybe Brunell can throw the pass, considering he is bankrupt he may also be in NFL at 50.
Juice Box says:
January 3, 2012 at 4:25 pm
re # 85 – JJ – Did you get a tan and do your laundry too after the 15 minutes you spent on the step master?
If you looked like the Herschel who is now a MMA Fighter you would have to get up at at 5:30 a.m to do 750 to 1,500 push-ups and about 2,000 sit-ups.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/11/herschel.fitness.martial.arts/index.html
JJ yeah it’s a second income at best. Nobody is cryin’ and I aint lyin.
Babs…10 usually is top of the payscale, you are correct….20 years later the salary is the same — sometimes a retention ‘bonus’ which is really a $5k bump. Barely a “bonus” like we would think of it.
92. No teachers start at 65k. None.
You retire on a public fixed pension you are, unless you are making superintendent salary or chief of police pay, going to be hungry.
#89 Bochepus: Lots of people start out in the private sector at 40K, and have to work their way up over the years, and do not get bonus money, and many times do not get raises, year after year, don’t have unions to fight for them pay for their own medical, and are employed at will.
And after all of that they do not get the big fat pensions either in the end. That was not always the case, but it is the case now. So the private sector lost it all, but the public sector expects to keep theirs, on the backs of the tax payers, who are mainly the private sector.
and then there is this:
http://thechive.com/2012/01/03/i-hate-my-job-30-photos-3/
SX I pay over 12 k for mediocre insurance for lousy insurance with high gipsy and deductibles. Apples to apples, that public employee insurance is worth 20 k easy
97/ Perhaps, but what it is about is fairness and competitive pay. Sure the economy sux and you think awe man those cops and teachers are so lucky!! They have all this security and such. They get a fat pension….etc. Then go out and pursue that line of work if you want to. Do whatever you are able to do. Sure you are at will, but anyone who will sit in a shit job like that for their entire life probably aint got the stones or the firepower to do much else. Ever see the move Office Space?
Copay and other stuff. Oy.
99. wouldn’t know. Never opted into that one. Sounds nice til you realize it’s a crap plan with shit services. What you really need in a household is one person employed by a world class corporation with amazing benefits. But they aint takin’ just anyone so you generally sit outside that picture window staring in. America has always been about the haves and have nots. Choose a side and stick with it.
re: #93 – JJ you have more in common with Herschel than you know. If you read his book he wrote about having multiple personalities but not in the Dieon Sanders kind of way. :(
I always love the discussions about how bad or good one group or another has it. The real story is that at some level neither has jack shit. The only people who really score are either killing it on Wall Street or in a hedge fund, kicking ass in pharma or biotech, or making coin in an IPO.
Nom 74 – You’re going soft! I remember once upon a time you told me you were too cheap to even buy at a discount :) Enjoy!
babs (60)-
You’d be safer paying money to a protection racket than paying BCBS premiums.
Those SOBs would call a Band-Aid on a sucking puncture wound excessive treatment.
moose (66)-
Wow. You really are dumber than I thought.
Who woulda thunk the only way for us to have honest cops is to completely destroy the middle class through excessive taxation to fund unsustainable retirement benefits?
108/ Another POV:
http://stopthelies.afscme.org/get-the-facts/document/AFSCME-FactSheet_Pensions.pdf
Public employee pensions are a modest, but irreplaceable source of security for public employees to which they generally contribute substantially.
• Employee contributions and investment returns fund the overwhelming majority of the cost of pensions. Taxpayers shouldered only 14.3 percent of all pension funding in the 11-year period ending in 2007.
• The average AFSCME member earns less than $45,000 per year and receives a pension of approximately $19,000 per year after a career of public service.
• Public service workers often are not covered by Social Security, so their employer (state or local government) does not pay into Social Security as other employers do. Since the worker does not qualify for Social Security benefits, his/her pension is the only source of retirement security.
• While politicians who run state and local governments have often failed to faithfully contribute to their employees’ plans, public workers have contributed year in and year out.
The real fun is going to start when all these public pension plans collapse under the weight of all their internal fraud, malinvestments and inane assumptions of future returns.
111. Oh I am sure. We are livin’ in those kinds of days.
You rely on few things in life…..For me it’s been an awesome wife that has kept me happy for 18 years. Something about that 5″9′ blonde with those sparkling blue eyes and those natural dd’s. That is my ace in the hole so to speak. Everything else is like….irrelevant.
108. fear of pension loss aint gonna turn a crook honest. LOL
http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/28/real_estate/foreclosure/index.htm
3 year free ride no problem ,housing is getting better
Good although, note Dow is up 5.5% 2011.
I don’t have time to review, but you have no financials , YES?
Note:
Basic Materials -16.3%
Financials -14%
Note: Consumer Goods + 5%
Consumer Services +5%
Health Care +6%
Utilities +14%
Allocation trups fundamental analysis in this environment…….basically if you own stocks that pay a dividend (exceptions obviously AAPL, GOOG et al.) you outperformed. Sorry for the perfunctory swoop…..
Libtard in Union says:
January 3, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Chi:
Mad Loot Investment Club 8.0%
Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX) 0.2%
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) -0.8%
Eastman Kodak Company (EK) -86.5%
Our portfolio as of 12/30/11
Name % of port Return Since Annualized Internal Rate of Return
Apple Inc (AAPL) 21.96 1/1/11 24.18
CanNational Rail (CNI) 10.25 1/1/11 20.01
GOOGLE INC CL A (GOOG) 8.55 1/1/11 9.71
ADVANCE AUTO PART(AAP) 8.35 1/1/11 7.25
Ebix Inc (EBIX) 5.96 2/10/11 17.12
Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) 5.69 1/1/11 3.49
Telefonica S.A (TEF) 5.62 1/1/11 -20.08
Accenture Plc (ACN) 5.12 1/1/11 11.99
Global Payment(GPN) 4.55 1/1/11 11.69
NVE Corp (NVEC) 4.48 4/14/11 0.76
Calavo Growers (CVGW) 4.36 2/17/11 19.58
Cash 4.28
Hibbett Sports (HIBB) 4.2 9/15/11 132.41
LKQ CP (LKQX) 3.53 9/22/11 129.52
Gilead Science (GILD) 2.65 8/11/11 37.15
NETFLIX INC (NFLX) 0.27 1/1/11 -61.21
Home Depot Inc (HD) 0.13 1/1/11 23.31
Teva Pharm ADR (TEVA) 0.03 1/1/11 -22.34
Stryker Corp (SYK) 0.02 1/1/11 -9.54
Keep in mind, we just had two withdrawing members so ignore our partial shares that remain
TEVA had a good day today….
SX,
Please tell us one thing but honesly. What’s more important when you apply for the public job – you skills or your connections?
And please stop whining about “my job suck”, you can always try to join the flank of employed in the private sector if you don’t like the job.
I keep finding it funny how people are able to find time to blog during the work hours and it suddenly becomes silent after 6pm.
118. wtf are you talking about. Don’t try to personalize shit with me K? Not interested.
Got it. No more questions :)
Watch the look on Wolf Blitzer’s face tonight when he has to declare Ron Paul the winner.
All the CNN gacks look as though they’re under assault right now.
121. cool. ;-)
Paul’s Secret Service detachment will be stepping aside in 10…9…8…7…
Chi…No financials besides say GPN, which is a payment processor. There’s a meeting next Thursday. I already got Victorian (from a few years ago) and Sastry in to the club. Perhaps they’ll present a financial. I like JPM a lot as an investment and have been in and out of them in my personal accounts a lot. A few years ago, the club owned Goldman and East West Bankcorp. What’s your take on CTRIP if you have any? Thinking about replacing TEF with it. Can’t do much worse on an ADR.
SX…do you really think the public pensions will get paid in full? How? Serious question. The math says its nearly impossible. They are so underfunded and they promise the world, not to mention the health care coverage promised. Honestly, no way, no how. And by the way. I’m the perfect example of what XXX quoted. I’m 13 years in at my current mid/large cap company. I have received no more than $2,000 in bonuses during this time. No stock options, no pensions, I pay 30% of my healthcare costs and my company matches 50% of my 401k contributions up to 7% of my salary. Let’s just say, my son’s kindergarten teacher last year has a higher salary than me, without accounting for her time off. As usual, everyone in the public sector thinks everyone in the private sector is a CEO. It’s old already. The only reason I stopped bashing the BS data presented by the pro-union think tanks is that I know that the pensions can not be paid. The math just simply doesn’t work. No way, no how.
[88] Bocephus
Stock options? Okay, you lost me. I thought we were talking retirement plans. Can you elaborate?
And appreciate the Chive but even your handles are getting a little squirrelly tonight.
Libtard.
Been there, they will be paid.. with the purchasing power 20% of the original promise.
http://www.zerohedge.com/search/apachesolr_search/belarus
[108] moose,
As a cop brat, I can tell you that this was the thinking. Keep cops honest by removing the incentive for corruption.
Okay, it wasn’t very bright thinking, but that was the idea.
126/127 Libby, I don’t know honestly. I’m 45 so I will be working for the next 20 years unless we experience some major windfall. I’ve been through two IPOs will options galore, I’ve also got some insights into the public sector, but no I cannot say that pensions will be paid. I don’t spend too much time thinking about it. I know of pilots who got screwed out of their pensions and most of the time I wonder aloud how most people survive in this gulag, but it simply isn’t top of mind. Stocks are a huge part of compensation in many lucrative comp plans for even smaller cogs in the wheels of industry. To be perfectly honest, I could give two shits what your comp plan is. Or how many sugars you take in your coffee. I just could care less. As far as a kindergarten teacher is concerned, I’ve seen their workdays and the deserve every f*cking dime they make and then some. Most business people and engineers and douchebags that I have worked with are useless f*cks. Remember, I spent my career in sales so in that end of the business you are very close to both operations and the customers. You see EVERYTHING and you hear some real b.s. from folks who usually end up ‘gone’ or screwing something up big time. But in we usually get what we deserve in life now don’t we.
Yes. You worked in sales? In the words of Barb. Oy!
I’ve done it all brother. Big firms and small. $130m clients who were ready to lob my head off at first meeting and then tried to hire me later. Little startups with no track record that were able with my help to pull marquis clients. I’ve pulled rabbits out of hats and all that sh*t. When you sell you talk to people and eventually you talk to enough of them and figure out that 90% of them are worthless and the other 10% are actually harmful to the business. That is just how it goes. Am I surprised? No. America has simply de-volved into a country of idiots. It is just how I see things. On the rare occassion that you run into a sane, literate, and effective co-worker or manager, you feel like you just saw a UFO or something. Very, very rare.
Well,
http://bigmacky.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/idots_article.jpg
133….Amen. But you know, Life actually kills you.
Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass’ favor.
rofl NICE CAT BRO