From HousingWire:
Find out who wants to force HARP 3.0
A homeowner advocacy group wants to make HARP 3.0 happen, and they’ve launched a petition to do just that.
The group, makeharp3happen.com, launched a new “We the People” Whitehouse.gov petition calling for the administration to install a HARP 3.0 Count Up Clock in The White House Entrance Hall. The petition can be viewed here.
Their goal, they say, is to remind the President, Congress, and other policy makers of their failure to expand the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).
HARP was first introduced in 2009 in response to the financial banking crisis. It was designed to allow refinance opportunities for some underwater homeowners.
In 2011 changes were made to expand the program resulting in HARP 2.0.
To date nearly 3 million homeowners have refinanced using HARP, but more than 12 million homeowners still owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
The President began a push for expanding HARP further during the 2012 State of The Union Address but it died on the vine. Obama returned to that push in the 2013 address, saying, “Too many families who have never missed a payment and want to refinance are being told no. That’s holding our entire economy back, and we need to fix it. Right now, there’s a bill in this Congress that would give every responsible homeowner in America the chance to save $3,000 a year by refinancing at today’s rates.”
To gym or not to gym. Black ice. Not to drive till sunrise.
Deadbeats of the World, UNITE! You have nothing to lose but your mortgage payments!
Anon E. Moose says:
February 6, 2014 at 6:47 am
Deadbeats of the World, UNITE! You have nothing to lose but your mortgage payments!
Yes because people who’ve never missed a mortgage payment even when they had every incentive in the world to walk away are deadbeats.
Grim, wheres my post at?
My thoughts exactly. I’m not sure how someone who makes payments in time every month is a deadbeat. It’s too little too late anyhow.
Ottoman says:
February 6, 2014 at 8:10 am
Anon E. Moose says:
February 6, 2014 at 6:47 am
Deadbeats of the World, UNITE! You have nothing to lose but your mortgage payments!
Yes because people who’ve never missed a mortgage payment even when they had every incentive in the world to walk away are deadbeats.
Harp 3.0 is on a macro basis doing nothing.
Grandma has a 200K Mortgage Backed Security paying 6.5% and the Smith Family bought a house at the peak, make theirr payments each month and and can’t refinance their 200K mortgage at 6.5% as they dont have enough equity.
Harp 3 comes and banks let the Smiths refinance their 200K mortgage to 4% and get a big fee and now their payments go from $1,300 a monh to $800 a month!!!
But wait Grandma’s monthly interest income fall from $1,300 a month to $800 a month.
So what heck did we accoumplish?
6. jj
A wealth transfer, exactly as the program’s champions intended.
jj says:
February 6, 2014 at 8:24 am
Harp 3.0 is on a macro basis doing nothing.
Grandma has a 200K Mortgage Backed Security paying 6.5% and the Smith Family bought a house at the peak, make theirr payments each month and and can’t refinance their 200K mortgage at 6.5% as they dont have enough equity.
Harp 3 comes and banks let the Smiths refinance their 200K mortgage to 4% and get a big fee and now their payments go from $1,300 a monh to $800 a month!!!
But wait Grandma’s monthly interest income fall from $1,300 a month to $800 a month.
So what heck did we accoumplish?
anon in a bucket of stupid where it belongs
6 JJ
Grandma bought her house for 25k in 1960 and sold it to the Smith Family for 300K at the peak. She did nothing to it for 50 years so it needed to be repaired. Grandma was so happy that day. She sold at the peak and was skipping as she left her attorney’s office with a check. Both realtors and the attorney were happy also. Buy now or be priced out forever they told the Smiths. This house, one that Eddie would call a feces house, was in reality overpriced, but hey, there are winners and losers, sucks to be the loser.
Granny was firing on all cylinders as she put her money into the 6.5 rate MBS, which is now down to 4%, and granny is sad. Hey, she still has S. Security and a “real” medicare plan and not a voucher. Plus she has income from her “real” pension and her husbands “real” pension, locked in and guaranteed. The Smith’s now have a lower mortgage, but have to pay “Obamacare” health insurance, S. security will be gone by the time they retire, and Medicare will be bankrupt. Also, as was stated by ChiFi, with less than 750k in cash, no self respecting Money manager will ever look to help them.
Shut up granny.
JJ – incorrect – the holder of the bond is not Grandma, it is China.
By the way, the Smiths should have listened to Eddie.
“Black ice.”
I delivered two 3rd shift reviews last night and got home at 3am. Roads weren’t nearly as bad as I thought they would be. Drove from GR to Mennen (for a 10pm hockey game) to Union, then home. Needless to say, I am a zombie this morning.
Funny Part of Finanical Planners is many dont want to even see you till you have one million. The average person who is smart enough to have one million in assets the financial planners adds less value.;
Also finanical planners and stock brokers are paid to give advice sometimes there is no advice to give. But they will give it anyhow.
Chifi was worth the salaries of 10 men in Feb 2009 for someone with 750K cash to invest and no clue what to invest in. In Feb 2014 his advise is worth a lot less as there is less things to buy that are of a value.
Latest updated ETF Guide from SSgA
http://statestreetspdrs.com/711/files/2013/q4/ETF-Industry-Guide.pdf
AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF ALFA
jj: my shining moments were March 2009 and when Barbara Corcoran indirectly referred to me as a dufus on national TV in March 2006 for Bubble Sitting…..
Phx: I was referring to fee-only people….not anyone…..I have no minimums…but I have an open platform and no mandates, so I just work with whom I want….don’t get me wrong….more money is better than less money….
Phoenix says:
February 6, 2014 at 10:11 am
Also, as was stated by ChiFi, with less than 750k in cash, no self respecting Money manager will ever look to help them.
Here is another thing……financial advisors are a reflection of the overall society we live in…..as a result, I have just as much reason to suspect the intentions of those across the table from me as those who enter the room……learned that one early…..
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2012/10/rwhy_did_chris_christie_forget.html
By Robert Bryce
For years, greens and many on the political left have insisted that widespread adoption of renewable energy will create jobs and stimulate the economy. An example: In September 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama claimed at a speech in Golden, Colo., that his planned investments in “green” energy would create “five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.”
It was all bunk.
Proof came last month when both the European Union and the German government announced separately that they were both rolling back aggressive subsidies and mandates for renewable energy. The reason: staggering costs. Spain has racked up some $35 billion in debt—known as the “tariff deficit”—thanks to excessive renewable-energy subsidies. In Germany, renewable-energy subsidies are now costing German consumers and industry about $32 billion a year. The costs have become so onerous that on Jan. 21 Germany’s economy and energy minister Sigmar Gabriel told energy conference attendees in Berlin that his country is risking “dramatic deindustrialization” if it doesn’t reduce energy costs.
In December, the Center for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based think tank, reported that European steelmakers are paying twice as much for electricity and four times as much for natural gas as their U.S. competitors. In Denmark, that wonderland for wind-energy enthusiasts, residential electricity now costs about 41 cents per kilowatt-hour, more than three times the U.S. average rate.
Europe’s decision to slow down on renewables suggests that the term “climate denier” needs an overhaul. For the past decade or so, this has been the label for anyone who questions climate change models or the forecasts derived from them. But the lesson from Europe is that the environmentalists who have been relentlessly hawking renewables are the real deniers.
They have denied the costs that renewable energy mandates impose on the European economy. They’ve denied the environmental benefits of increased natural gas use in the U.S. And they continue to deny the difficulty of addressing carbon-dioxide emissions on a global scale.
In December 2012, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, co-wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in which he claimed that Germany’s solar-energy efforts should be copied by the U.S. because a “transition to renewable power could create millions of domestic jobs” and take a “substantial bite” out of America’s greenhouse-gas emissions.
If Mr. Kennedy wants to continue cutting those emissions, he should be encouraging the development of shale gas. In 2013, thanks largely to the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in shale formations, U.S. natural-gas production averaged 70 billion cubic feet a day, a record, and a 41% increase over 2005 levels. Lower-cost gas is reducing the domestic use of coal, which is cutting emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that natural-gas-fired power plants emit about half as much carbon dioxide as comparable coal-fired ones.
Thanks to the shale revolution, the U.S. is also reducing emissions faster, at far lower cost, than the EU. Between 2005 and 2012, U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions fell by 10.9%, according to the widely cited “BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.” During the same period the EU’s emissions fell by 9.9%, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.
Nevertheless, Mr. Kennedy denounced natural gas at a visit to Franklin and Marshall College last October, calling it “a catastrophe.” Bill McKibben, the founder of the environmental organization 350.org who has advocated enormous reductions in global hydrocarbon use, has made similar declarations. In a Jan. 21 op-ed in Politico that he wrote with Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s Mike Tidwell, he said natural gas “needs to stay in the ground” and that it is “just coal by another name.” Mr. McKibben’s energy prescription? U.S. states should “double and triple their wind and solar mandates.” He too believes the U.S. should follow Germany’s lead.
Mr. McKibben is denying the facts. Even though Germany has spent more than $100 billion subsidizing renewables since 2000, the country’s coal use is rising, as are its carbon-dioxide emissions, according to the BP Statistical Review. And Germany’s coal use may continue to grow as the country turns away from nuclear power. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011, Germany shut down eight of its nuclear reactors, and it plans to retire the rest by 2022. According to an October report from energy publisher Platts, some 7,300 megawatts of new coal plants will be brought online by next year.
It’s not just Germany. Global coal consumption jumped by about 55% over the past decade as demand for electricity has soared. That consumption is boosting global carbon-dioxide emissions, which have increased by 32% over that period, according to the BP Statistical Review. Relatively small reductions in carbon emissions in Europe or the U.S. won’t make a significant difference amid such rapid growth. Since 2005, China alone has increased its carbon-dioxide emissions by about 3.6 billion tons, or about four times the amount Germany emitted in 2012.
The reality is simple: The U.S. is the world leader in carbon policy. It has cut carbon-dioxide emissions more effectively than the EU while generating an economic boom from the shale revolution. In October 2013, Purdue University energy economist Wallace Tyner estimated that between 2008 and 2035 the shale revolution will add an average of $473 billion a year to the U.S. economy—or about 3% of current GDP. Using more natural gas in the U.S. sets an example for the rest of the world for economic growth, energy production and carbon dioxide.
But don’t bother trying to convince Messrs. Kennedy and McKibben and their allies. They would rather stay in climate denial.
By Robert Bryce
For years, greens and many on the political left have insisted that widespread adoption of renewable energy will create jobs and stimulate the economy. An example: In September 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama claimed at a speech in Golden, Colo., that his planned investments in “green” energy would create “five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.”
It was all bunk.
Proof came last month when both the European Union and the German government announced separately that they were both rolling back aggressive subsidies and mandates for renewable energy. The reason: staggering costs. Spain has racked up some $35 billion in debt—known as the “tariff deficit”—thanks to excessive renewable-energy subsidies. In Germany, renewable-energy subsidies are now costing German consumers and industry about $32 billion a year. The costs have become so onerous that on Jan. 21 Germany’s economy and energy minister Sigmar Gabriel told energy conference attendees in Berlin that his country is risking “dramatic deindustrialization” if it doesn’t reduce energy costs.
In December, the Center for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based think tank, reported that European steelmakers are paying twice as much for electricity and four times as much for natural gas as their U.S. competitors. In Denmark, that wonderland for wind-energy enthusiasts, residential electricity now costs about 41 cents per kilowatt-hour, more than three times the U.S. average rate.
Europe’s decision to slow down on renewables suggests that the term “climate denier” needs an overhaul. For the past decade or so, this has been the label for anyone who questions climate change models or the forecasts derived from them. But the lesson from Europe is that the environmentalists who have been relentlessly hawking renewables are the real deniers.
They have denied the costs that renewable energy mandates impose on the European economy. They’ve denied the environmental benefits of increased natural gas use in the U.S. And they continue to deny the difficulty of addressing carbon-dioxide emissions on a global scale.
In December 2012, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, co-wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in which he claimed that Germany’s solar-energy efforts should be copied by the U.S. because a “transition to renewable power could create millions of domestic jobs” and take a “substantial bite” out of America’s greenhouse-gas emissions.
If Mr. Kennedy wants to continue cutting those emissions, he should be encouraging the development of shale gas. In 2013, thanks largely to the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in shale formations, U.S. natural-gas production averaged 70 billion cubic feet a day, a record, and a 41% increase over 2005 levels. Lower-cost gas is reducing the domestic use of coal, which is cutting emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that natural-gas-fired power plants emit about half as much carbon dioxide as comparable coal-fired ones.
Thanks to the shale revolution, the U.S. is also reducing emissions faster, at far lower cost, than the EU. Between 2005 and 2012, U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions fell by 10.9%, according to the widely cited “BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.” During the same period the EU’s emissions fell by 9.9%, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.
Nevertheless, Mr. Kennedy denounced natural gas at a visit to Franklin and Marshall College last October, calling it “a catastrophe.” Bill McKibben, the founder of the environmental organization 350-org who has advocated enormous reductions in global hydrocarbon use, has made similar declarations. In a Jan. 21 op-ed in Politico that he wrote with Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s Mike Tidwell, he said natural gas “needs to stay in the ground” and that it is “just coal by another name.” Mr. McKibben’s energy prescription? U.S. states should “double and triple their wind and solar mandates.” He too believes the U.S. should follow Germany’s lead.
Mr. McKibben is denying the facts. Even though Germany has spent more than $100 billion subsidizing renewables since 2000, the country’s coal use is rising, as are its carbon-dioxide emissions, according to the BP Statistical Review. And Germany’s coal use may continue to grow as the country turns away from nuclear power. In the wake of the Fnkushima disaster in 2011, Germany shut down eight of its nuclear reactors, and it plans to retire the rest by 2022. According to an October report from energy publisher Platts, some 7,300 megawatts of new coal plants will be brought online by next year.
It’s not just Germany. Global coal consumption jumped by about 55% over the past decade as demand for electricity has soared. That consumption is boosting global carbon-dioxide emissions, which have increased by 32% over that period, according to the BP Statistical Review. Relatively small reductions in carbon emissions in Europe or the U.S. won’t make a significant difference amid such rapid growth. Since 2005, China alone has increased its carbon-dioxide emissions by about 3.6 billion tons, or about four times the amount Germany emitted in 2012.
The reality is simple: The U.S. is the world leader in carbon policy. It has cut carbon-dioxide emissions more effectively than the EU while generating an economic boom from the shale revolution. In October 2013, Purdue University energy economist Wallace Tyner estimated that between 2008 and 2035 the shale revolution will add an average of $473 billion a year to the U.S. economy—or about 3% of current GDP. Using more natural gas in the U.S. sets an example for the rest of the world for economic growth, energy production and carbon dioxide.
But don’t bother trying to convince Messrs. Kennedy and McKibben and their allies. They would rather stay in climate denial.
Day 2 without power. No problem securing use of a generator but no way to power heat, water, etc. Just whatever I can plug in. Ironically, I had been talking to an electrician to put in the transfer switch.
This is the second worst outage in PECO history. The worst? No surprise, it was Sandy. But locally, it is the worst with nearly 90% of the county out after the storm.
My neighbor showed me his Generac setup. Far less expensive than I thought, and I may go that route instead of the transfer switch/portable route. That’s what the electrician was going to tell me. Unfortunately, I got on this project too late.
It’s all making me rather nostalgic for the good old days of 2012–when I naively assumed doctors took the Hippocratic oath seriously. That oath ends, “May I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
Read more: My Doctor, the Concierge – TIME http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2164805,00.html#ixzz2sZUnqDL7
he ‘Tiger Mom’ Superiority Complex
By Suketu Mehta Feb 03, 2014
A new book from Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld seeks to explain why some groups succeed in America, and some fail. But when does cultural pride cross over into racism?
3862 words | view cover
Read more: tiger mom TIME Magazine – Search Results http://search.time.com/results.html?Ntt=tiger+mom&N=0&Nty=1&p=0&cmd=tags&x=-1166&y=-77#ixzz2sZWdxBKO
22-Well, if Indians are so great, what explains India? The country is a sorry mess, with the largest population of poor, sick and illiterate people in the world, its economy diving, its politics abysmally corrupt. For decades, those who could afford to get out did. The $1,000 that it takes to purchase a one-way ticket to the U.S. is about a year’s salary for the average Indian. If India shared a border with the U.S. and it were possible for its poorest residents to cross over on foot, we would fast cease to be the model minority, and talk-show hosts would rail against us just as they do against Mexicans.
Read more: The ‘Tiger Mom’ Superiority Complex – TIME http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2163555,00.html#ixzz2sZYwul6f
Nom,
In my area most were without power after Sandy for 7 days. Lot’s of people bought those fancy natty gas Generac setups. None have turned on for more than 3 minutes in total since. Transfer switch is the way to go. Unless you got 10 to 15K to burn. Much better to just replace the liquid gas generator periodically if one stops working. Save yourself $10,000 or so.
20 – 5 minutes time and a trip to Home Depot. I’d tell you to just build a suicide cable but you are a lawyer.
Nom – Captain Cheapo keeps telling me if we don’t buy a fancy schmancy Generac that we can use the money we saved and stay at the Four Seasons when TSHTF. Why do I think the next time that actually happens we’ll be staying at the Econolodge instead?
I don’t even have the transfer switch…which I want because I won’t be able to ghetto rig our furnace if he’s away in Las Vegas during the next power outage.
Financial Advisors are kinda like the folks who sell Books on How to Get Rich in Real Estate.
If they really knew what they were doing they would never tell anyone how to do it.
chicagofinance says:
February 6, 2014 at 12:45 pm
Here is another thing……financial advisors are a reflection of the overall society we live in…..as a result, I have just as much reason to suspect the intentions of those across the table from me as those who enter the room……learned that one early…..
Dont understand at all what is big need for electric in first place.
My Mother in law after Sandy when I showed up she still had no power, but with a gas stove, a fireplace and a battery powered radio you hardly noticed.
Only time electric is really important I found out is if your house is flooded or badly damaged and you cant pump out water, run dehumidifiers or use power tools.
If power is just out light a candle and read a book big deal. What is it with Jersey folk and generators? They act like they live on the 100 floor of a high rise with no power.
Funniest Jersey Story when power was out during Sandy I saw some Jersey couple not impacted by Sandy say it got a little chilly during Sandy and kids were bored so we went to driveway sat in Escalade turned on the Heated Seats and watched a movie. WOW. how horrible.
NJGator says:
February 6, 2014 at 3:13 pm
Nom – Captain Cheapo keeps telling me if we don’t buy a fancy schmancy Generac that we can use the money we saved and stay at the Four Seasons when TSHTF. Why do I think the next time that actually happens we’ll be staying at the Econolodge instead?
I don’t even have the transfer switch…which I want because I won’t be able to ghetto rig our furnace if he’s away in Las Vegas during the next power outage.
Gator I’m surprised Captain Cheapo hasn’t set up a hamster wheel for little gator for power and called it hockey training.
He fails to menntion Indians really serve no purpose. Bil Gates and a few white guys founded Microsoft yet a third of employees are Indian. If Indians were not in country wouldnt, Whites, Blacks, Spanish and non-Indians get those jobs. Same for Doctors, they pushed out the white folk in that profession. Honestly most are in it for the mone and the fact it has high status in their culture not because they are good at it.
Also Indians are the most racist people in the world. The book vacation with indians, eat with Indians, dont allow kids to date non-Indidans and talk behind Employees backs. Also they discriminate among each other. I once had two working for me and they hated each other as they were at different caste levels and the lower caste one was the higher castes one’s boss.
They also really really dont want to learn anything non Indian. One girl who worked for me was second generation Indian. Meaning her Parents were born her. Our boss was Jewish she really had no clue about anything related to the Jewish Religion or for that Matter the Catholic Religion and even more amazing they did not celebrate American Holidays such as thanksgiving or 4th of July but celebrated Indian Holidays. She was born in NJ and her parents were from NJ. Can you imagine a third generation German, Italian, or Irish person only speaking native languages and dressing in Native clothes it is crazy. They pick professions like Pharmist, Doctor, Engineer or Computer Science as it is all based on grades, not personality or how they treat people.
Other amazing thing even they though they stick together they cheat each other all the time. They also cheat on taxes and govt programs. It is crazy.
I got to read into the minds of a few different types of nationalities in my old consulting gig. If you quit duriing a big project and you have stuff in your emails I needed for file I would get IT to let me access your email account after you quit to pull out the documents. Wow the disdain they have for everything. Nasty emails about everything, even talking behind backs of spouses, wifes, brothers etc. Meanwhile other folks accounts were all work or all nice things
Michael says:
February 6, 2014 at 2:39 pm
22-Well, if Indians are so great, what explains India? The country is a sorry mess, with the largest population of poor, sick and illiterate people in the world, its economy diving, its politics abysmally corrupt. For decades, those who could afford to get out did. The $1,000 that it takes to purchase a one-way ticket to the U.S. is about a year’s salary for the average Indian. If India shared a border with the U.S. and it were possible for its poorest residents to cross over on foot, we would fast cease to be the model minority, and talk-show hosts would rail against us just as they do against Mexicans.
Read more: The ‘Tiger Mom’ Superiority Complex – TIME http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2163555,00.html#ixzz2sZYwul6f
Re 28
In the winter, heating systems are generally dependent on electricity for ignition and air movement.
Pain – Don’t give him any ideas. Travel tryouts coming up in a couple of weeks. Lil Gator does not need any more “free” conditioning.
“If they really knew what they were doing they would never tell anyone how to do it. ”
I think that often, but not about Financial Advisors. I think that about Hedge Fund and other managed fund managers. Why do they need to invest other people’s money if they can just grow their own?
When I was growing up, my family had a financial advisor who I just Googled and now works for Morgan Stanley out of Short Hills. Besides doing a terrible job with my parents money, he also invested some of my money (money my parents saved from gifts I received from birthdays, bat mitzvah, graduations, etc.). Well, once I was out of college he reached out to me to manage my small nest egg. At that point he was trying to put me into a terrible high-commission telecommunication fund. I told him that he could, but only if he could beat me on any investment over the following 12 months. I don’t remember which stock I picked but he went with his stupid telecom fund. After 12 months, I soundly crushed him. I nearly doubled my money and he lost close to 20% of it. Needless to say, he didn’t call me back until about ten years later, to which I offered him the same choice. I think he forgot who I was and was just calling through his old client list. But he remembered when I offered him up the same option. He chose not to work with me this time.
In other news, my club owns GMCR and KORS. It looks like it’s going to be a good year. Which is needed as Apple nearly brought us back to index matching performance.
So your three biggest investments are fancy coffee, iphones and designer clothes?
The big three must have investments for Japs in Roslyn, Great Neck and Jericho Long Island.
I loved growing up in great neck, I love that this old guy goes I met my wife on Middle Neck Road while getting a bagel, long pause, Who knew, Who knew you could meet a wife in the middle of the street.
I did not bust his bubble that meeting a middle aged jewish women coming out of a bagel store in Great Neck is not that amazing. But I just love it anyhow. Who Knew?
Why you don’t need a financial advisor
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/buffett-has-big-lead-stock-bet-vs-experts-n23646
Basically if in 1984 your bought a 100K treasury when rates were like 15% and invested every interest payment with Buffet you be 100 times as richer as if you used a financial planner. Plus you would be getting back your original 100K back in a few weeks when the bond matures.
Sorry gator I’m sure Stu is loking up human powered as we speak
Buffet beat seasoned hedge fund managers not with BH, but with a low cost stock index fund
Kiner < Vigoda
Stu: How do you defend owning GMCR given the guidelines of your club? More power to you that you had a good 24 hours, but what a clown show that piece of crap is…….Greenlight shorted it…what else do you need to know?
Libturd in the City says:
February 6, 2014 at 3:54 pm
In other news, my club owns GMCR and KORS. It looks like it’s going to be a good year. Which is needed as Apple nearly brought us back to index matching performance.
BTW – this is really sad news….
chicagofinance says:
February 6, 2014 at 4:52 pm
Kiner < Vigoda
BTW – this is really sad news….
chicagofinance says:
February 6, 2014 at 4:52 pm
Kiner < Vigoda
All I know is I got free tickets to a mets game when I was a kid and nobody went back them. Took Q12 bus to Flushing and got above his broadcast booth and we were yelling Kiner Corner Sucks etc. Real loud he looked really pissed and had security boot us.
Once during a commercial back when Mets big sponsor was Manufactuers Hanover he called them Manufacturers Hangover
He did bang Liz Taylor so for that alone major props.
The End Is Nigh (Wall-E Football Edition):
Obese Soccer Fans Get Wide Seat at 2014 Soccer World Cup
By Tariq Panja – Feb 6, 2014
Soccer fans who can prove they’re obese can have access to special wide seats at soccer’s World Cup when it’s staged in Brazil later this year.
The seats, which are about double the width of regular chairs, are available in all 12 cities to confirm with Brazilian regulations.
To qualify for a ticket, supporters must submit a medical certificate to prove they have a body mass index of 30 or more, as recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and World Health Organization.
“FIFA always respects local legislation and regulations and as such included obese people within the category of people with special needs,” World Cup organizers said in an e-mailed statement. “All obese customers will have the right to use a specific seat and will be offered the opportunity to request a complimentary ticket for one accompanying person.”
Brazilian residents who are classified as obese are also entitled to a 50 percent discount on tickets to the event, which runs from June 12 to July 13. They are among a group including students, people over 60, disabled and recipients of low-income grants. There about 3 million tickets available for the World Cup, and according to Brazilian law, about 1 percent must be made available for people with special needs.
Nearly half of Brazil’s population is overweight, according to a study by Brazil’s government. It also found the percentage of obese people in the country rose to 16 percent in 2011 from 11 percent in 2006.
Quotes From Ralph Kiner
“If Casey Stengel were alive today, he’d be spinning in his grave.”
“It’s (Phil Niekro’s knuckleball) like watching Mario Andretti park a car.”
“On Fathers Day, we again wish you all happy birthday.”
“(Don) Sutton lost thirteen games in a row without winning a ballgame.”
“The hall of fame ceremonies are on the thirty-first and thirty-second of July.”
“The Mets have gotten their leadoff batter on only once this inning.”
“The reason the Mets have played so well at Shea this year is they have the best home record in baseball.”
“There’s a lot of heredity in that family.”
“Tony Gwynn was named player of the year for April.”
I didn’t like Kiner’s Korner, but mostly because I was jealous that there wasn’t any Yankee equivalent on WPIX.
17 Chifi
Nothing directed at you personally, just used part of what you had stated earlier.
21 Michael,
Although I don’t think doctors should rape and pillage, the Hippocratic oath does not mean doctors should work for free either. Funny how some can afford new Ishit with a deluxe Ishit plan, but don’t have 25 bucks for a co-pay. Here’s a story about a guy who thought it was a bright idea to give his 16y/o daughter a skydiving lesson, had money for that but down in Texas I guess health insurance is not on the priority list.
“Her parents said that they did not have insurance, but Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation executive Jon Skinner said they qualified for a charity program that would cover her treatment there.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/teen-skydiving-accident-walking-22352841
chi (45)-
The World Cup is going to suck even worse than Sochi. Hope none of the jury-rigged stadiums collapse during a game.
“Nearly half of Brazil’s population is overweight, according to a study by Brazil’s government. It also found the percentage of obese people in the country rose to 16 percent in 2011 from 11 percent in 2006.”
The world is on a collision course with final doom. Prepare accordingly.
ChiFi:
The story on GMCR is that their Kcup patent went up over a year ago and everyone and their mother (including our club), thought competition would enter the market and clobber their margins. Three quarters later, no one has entered the market, probably due to GMCRs years of experience making and marketing Kcups at such a low cost. Yet the stock priced as if the competition was already in the market and eating away at their margins. Before the earnings, their relative value was a 71. Not to mention, they almost paid off all of their debt, their pretax profit margin was expanding and their earnings were way ahead of share price (low p/e). They are also buying back shares. Oh…their return on equity is in a ten year upward trend too. Just for you, I’ll upload our Stock selection guide to the cloud. We got into GMCR in December at 75.5101.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EcY86jtyq6OHM3X19QYXo4R1E/edit?usp=sharing
Companies that buy back their stock do it because they can’t figure out anything better to do.
Unfortunately, they are all doing it Clot.