patrick.net

DS

Those are all market distortions which you'll receive no argument from me if you wish to eliminate. Were it up to me, I'd eliminate all direct income redistribution in the name of social engineering. I also understand Realpolitik all too well, so I don't waste much time fighting the inevitable. You get a bonus per birth because your government wants "native" Aussies to have more of them. In Sweden these days I hear the all but provide you with free porn and a fertile mistress.

US military spending, glad you brought it up. Being you're in Australia, a country squarely under the US military umbrella, you should perhaps then advocate that you pay more of your own fair share of the costs? Many of those generous social services countries--in fact almost all of them--enjoy such a position at least in part because of US military spending, and their own avoided domestic military spending. As such I hereby advocate a dramatic US military pullback. I say we leave Europe to its Cyrillic fates, withdraw from all of our Asian presence, let Japan and Australia figure out how to stem hegemonic tides in their backyards, and we just focus on keeping Canada and Mexico in line. What says you?

DS- I do believe that GWB has some form of early dementia, perhaps alcohol and/or cocaine induced (two people I know went to school with him. Might be rumours, but I'm getting them firsthand.) He was a fluent speaker when he was governor of Texas.

Randy H.,
Keeping Canada in line shouldn't be too tough. A guest worker program and exit control at all borders/airports/ports of call would probably take care of a lot of immigration issues, even with Mexico.

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Gold was higher in early afternoon trade as the dollar continued to languish near an all-time low against the euro on mounting expectations that the US Federal Reserve will opt to cut borrowing costs by half a percentage point next week.

The outlook for the precious metal is good going into the fourth quarter, a period of peak demand for physical supplies of the metal due to the start of the festival season in India, analysts said.

'In the near term, market sentiment and in turn prices are likely to continue to find direction from the US dollar and the broader financial markets, while downside risk should be limited by the seasonally strong physical demand,' said analysts at Barclays (nyse: BCS - news - people ) Capital.

At 12.54 pm, spot gold was trading at 704.10 usd an ounce against 703.70 usd in late New York trade yesterday.

The dollar is expected to reach further historic lows if a cut in US interest rates is announced, as expected.

Burbed -

Jason Buzi has been leaving postcards and flyers all over palo alto asking to buy your home for a "fair price"

He is apparently trying to flip the houses on craigslist - I don't know how many houses he has bought, but he claims to have 4 houses for sale. You can email him at "premlsdeals@gmail.com" to get on his list of houses for sale.

I would be interesting to see who has actually sold their house to him and what he has paid. I am sure there is some element of fraud in what he is doing based on the comments on paloaltoonline.com and on how he keeps insisting on how wonderful and charitable he is.

You can also check out his excellent website - jasonbuzi.com - best quote "And if it matters, a lot of the profits I make go towards local andinternational charities"

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet...
Bush Announces "Limited" Steps on Loan Crunch.

I would put a post up, but I gotta leave right now...

Remember, this is a bail "up" NOT a bail "out"!

I noticed that said FB is required to show they were CURRENT on their payments and it was in fact their reset that threw them into financial turmoil! So that eliminates about 99.991% of specuflippers (TM).

Tough Love at best.

@DinOR,

Agreed. If the Bush plan passes 'as is' (the big question), most FBs/specuvestors will not qualify for it.

"To qualify for the new benefit, homeowners would have to prove they paid their loan on time before it reset to a higher rate and must have at least 3% equity in the home"

If the Bush plan passes ‘as is’ (the big question), most FBs/specuvestors will not qualify for it.

Nothing will be passed in time. Bush will veto any bill that is too harsh on the banks.

"It's not the government's job to bail out speculators or those that bought homes they knew they couldn't afford"

That's pretty straight forward language.

Randy dont forget that the EU and most of Asia doesnt have the inner city problem that we have here. This alone adds a massive burden to the welfare of our once proud nation. I think one can take advantage of our welfare state for , say, 5 years. After which a repatriation program takes effect. There are many nations that would except a citizen on the welfare rolls for, say, 20,000$. Then we will see the $ advance.

Randy dont forget that the EU and most of Asia doesnt have the inner city problem that we have here.

I wonder how much of that problem is caused by non-market housing schemes like rent-control and public housing.

We definitely need a welfare reform. Welfare is meant to help people getting back on their own feet. It is not designed to sustain social parasites.

Realtor's can be funny sometimes

Make sure you leave some comments :lol:

I have a novel idea. How about we start along the line of reducing market distortions by *not* bailing out individual homedebtors or the lenders and lending arms associated with writing bad loans? I say keep the banks solvent, but let them lose every single cent of loan default, and I say let Mister and Misses McDebtor queue up at the local welfare office if they need assistance. Why should we favor irresponsible homeowners? I'd much rather see my tax dollars go towards helping an inner city single mom who's stepping up and trying to get some training to change her lot in life than a couple of real estate partiers who gorged on home equity debt and left their credit impulse purchases to rot in the landfill.

salk Says:

> Randy don’t forget that the EU and most of Asia
> doesn’t have the inner city problem that we have here.

The EU has less poor black people living housing projects than the US does, but they still have problems (do a Google Search for “Paris Riots” as an example).

Housing projects are a bad idea since any time you put a group of people that are too lazy and/or stupid to work in one place you will have a lot of problems.

The EU has less poor black people living housing projects than the US does, but they still have problems (do a Google Search for “Paris Riots” as an example).

They now have the perfect weapon, Kärcher. (And the leader who has enough resolve to use it.)

Randy H Says:

> I’d much rather see my tax dollars go towards helping
> an inner city single mom who’s stepping up and trying
> to get some training to change her lot in life than a couple
> of real estate partiers who gorged on home equity debt
> and left their credit impulse purchases to rot in the landfill.

The first thing anyone needs to do if they want to help an “inner city single mom” is to get her and the kids out of the “inner city” (and/or housing project)…

"a couple of real estate partiers who gorged on home equity debt"

Real Estate Partiers or (REP) should be in the glossary. It's a perfect description for about 80% of the @ssclowns out there. Almost as if they knew it couldn't last.

The first thing anyone needs to do if they want to help an “inner city single mom” is to get her and the kids out of the “inner city” (and/or housing project)…

I would happily see this use of welfare tax dollars, so long as there is also some vocational training for mom and learning day care for her children (where they can incidentally be "indoctrinated" into the idea that they need not repeat the cycle of welfare and poverty). Just keeping them all in the inner cities does nothing more than keep the drug and prison industries fully employed.

Welfare is meant to help people getting back on their own feet. It is not designed to sustain social parasites.

How about the born-rich 'socialite parasites'?
http://www.parishilton.com/

Corporate/Richistani welfare is every bit as corrosive to our social fabric and work ethic as welfare for the poor.

The Bush bailout deal only requires that homeowners were current on their payments before the ARM reset. Most people ended up in jeopardy after the payments changed.

I think the biggest problem for most FB'ers isn't going to be whether or not they were current before the reset, it's going to be the 3% positive equity requirement. I know people who are $100K underwater in their homes. I don't know how most debtors are going to be showing any equity after cashing out their home ATMs.

Randy's Version of the Real Estate Partier (REP) Metaphor:

Just like some block-party gone out of control, the party in residential real estate kept got started as a small number of revelers who weren't having any kind of event too worthy of attention. But, as word of mouth spread, and people from all around came to see what the noise was about, the party kept growing. By the time 1:00am rolled around people were coming in from wide and far, the virtues of the party having grown to mythic, unbelievable proportions.

And unbelievable it was. A few folks drove by the party and said to themselves, "sure looks like a ball, but this things way out of control". Others just elected to sit it all out, not wanting to risk getting the headache big parties always leave you with the next day.

But the partiers persisted. By 2:30am they were loudly singing, boasting of their partied exploits; boasting of the lameness of those who hadn't joined their never ending party nirvana.

And the party kept growing. By 3:30am late arrivals were paying *huge* cover charges at the door, as a few early partiers had their fill and sold their "ticket" at outrageous prices. In fact, there were no tickets, just fools selling them to bigger fools willing to buy them. But most partiers stayed, not wanting to miss out on what wonders things were surely to come next.

By 4:15am the streets were lined with people selling tickets, all with seven-digit prices. "They're not printing any more tickets you know! Better buy one now or you'll never be able to afford this party!" Of course, someone was printing the tickets, but that was beside the point. Those who could, through hook or through crook, were buying as many tickets as they could, knowing they could turn right around and sell them to the guy in line behind them for double what they paid.

But around 4:45am something happened. The sun peaked up from behind the horizon. The dancing stopped. The music stopped. People started going home. Slowly at first, but in increasing numbers they headed out of the party, unsold tickets littering the ground like a carpet of insanity.

By 6:30am official clean up crews had arrived, assessing the night's damage, and cleaning up the thick mat of unsold tickets. In the distance a small group of determined die hards could be heard still singing, as could a couple of lone voices shouting "get your tickets now, before we're out! they aren't printing anymore you know!"

I don't post over at Zillow anymore. Not since they selectively removed a number of my comments on buying without using a buying agent, then when someone else called them on it (not me), they denied they ever selectively remove posts. In fact, I ran into that Donald guy over there who started stalking my every comments with offensive name calling. I flagged those, and they deleted a bunch of them, so they do selectively delete comments.

By the way, whoever banned Donald from Patrick's, he thinks it was me and seems obsessed by it now. Kinda a chuckle.

Anyway, some of you saw me arguing with many of the realtors over there last week. One of those threads was "RealtorSandy", a particularly shining example of a NAR cheerleader. She's in Sonoma, by the way. Where's Athena when we need her, lol. "RealtorSandy" has been showered with agreement, compliments, and obviously sham-buyer "questions" since I and others were purged. So much for Zillow. For me, it's official now.

By the way, at least 3 of my more pointed comments were removed from the "Sandy" thread. Like with most NAR realtorcheerleaders, consider the following all one big "[sic]".
---

wow, A few days away and this conversation is still going!! It must be on alot of peoples mind. Catherine you obviously are smart enough to ignore all the negativate input and go with what is right for you. Funny everyone has an opinion. If everyone who thinks that waiting is the answer. Then wait!! Go ahead, but don't be complaining when the market passes you buy. Like I said this right now is OPPORTUNITY. Strike a deal! Right now you have the time to look at the various homes for sale. You don't have to make the decision to buy at the first time out like before. Take a month , take 2, be active. What you will be saying is I should of......, but I just had to be right. Tell me if you had a brain tumor, would you consult with your local mechanic, because you just couldn't beleive what 12 top surgeons told you ???I have seen this happen before, back in the eary 90's. Maybe alot of you where in grade school and where not old enough to pay attention to it.

Randy dont forget that the EU and most of Asia doesnt have the inner city problem that we have here.

Why is that, do you think? I think it is because instead of busting them for petty drug crimes and sending them to Crime U (the prison system), in the EU they end up on the dole, smoking legal weed.

Personally, I prefer the European way of dealing with the chronically underemployed.

"paying *huge* cover charges at the door" LOL!

FWIW put me in the 1:00am crowd! That's already past my bed time.

"couldn't belEive what 12 top surgeons told you ???"

Seems to me a "top surgeon" would know how to spell, believe?

How about the born-rich ’socialite parasites’?

We should leave them alone. They are mostly harmless and they contribute to the economy by spending anyway.

Fair? No. But fairness is over-rated.

The EU is much, much more of a welfare state than is the US, they just live in poor suburbs in rings around Paris and Milan, etc.. The 'Paris' riots were actually in the banlieus (and about 50% of the guys arrested were Portugese immigrants to France). I was living there at the time and didn't see any rioting in the city, although a car was set afire in the 3rd (common occurance in France). London had large sections of poor on the dole when I was living there, almost all were white Brits or Irish, that's obviously changed in the past 15 years, they are now whites, Indians and Pakistanis.

Welfare is an excellent way to spread and popularize poverty.

New Thread: Get comfortable until Spring ‘08 (Bay Area)

(or, "neues Thema", keeping with the sprinkling in German trend of late 'round here)

They are mostly harmless and they contribute to the economy by spending anyway.

Hmmm... that's not much of a social "contribution" in the grand scheme of things. However, I'm sure the yacht builders, jewelers, limo drivers, maids and Italian clothing designers, would all agree with you.

Q: do vandals "contribute" to the economy by destroying property (which then has to be rebuilt/replaced)?

A: In pure, heartless economic terms, they are so long as the capital they are destroying is infrastructure capital. If they are destroying discretionary capital, then that is a deadweight loss.

However, I’m sure the yacht builders, jewelers, limo drivers, maids and Italian clothing designers, would all agree with you.

No one stops you from starting or buying stocks in these businesses. :)

Q: do vandals “contribute” to the economy by destroying property (which then has to be rebuilt/replaced)?

This is what the popular media always reports. More death and destruction means more jobs and economic growth!

CRAZY!

Peter P Says:
We definitely need a welfare reform. Welfare is meant to help people getting back on their own feet. It is not designed to sustain social parasites.

Aren't landlords social parasites? Using their control over land to exploit others for a passive income?

In pure, heartless economic terms, they are so long as the capital they are destroying is infrastructure capital.

Interesting take on the "broken windows" hypothesis. I wonder if it would be possible to spur a new infrastructure construction boom by encouraging people to destroy old, decaying public works.

Demolish an obsolete school/bridge = become a real financial hero? Gives a whole new meaning to the concept of "public service". Sign me up! ;-)

Peter P Says:
How about the born-rich ’socialite parasites’?

Fair? No. But fairness is over-rated.

So let us conclude there is no logic to anything Peter P says, he is just a 'conservative' in the true sense of the word, a laissez-faireist who says that everything is good the way it is regardless, but his quiet subtextual message is that he is actually for anything that makes the upper class social parasites even richer... Pretty standard Republican message... and if you are *not* one of the upper class social parasites and leeches and vote Republican, that makes you pretty much the biggest fool on the planet...

Aren’t landlords social parasites? Using their control over land to exploit others for a passive income?

In a word, no.

Social parasites are those who lives off government programs (tax money).

Q: do vandals “contribute” to the economy by destroying property (which then has to be rebuilt/replaced)?

Well, GDP certainly goes up the more rebuilding there is to be done. You could even strike a comparison with trashing Iraq's infrastructure to rebuild it using American contractors and crony capitalist buddies' firms -- is that vandalism on a grand, international scale also? Not to mention the high economic cost of making weapons of war then using them up on 'the enemy'...

Reminds me of the glaziers who were in court recently for going around smashing shop windows at night then putting their business sticker on the damage and awaiting the repair call... bit embarassing to be caught tho...

, but his quiet subtextual message is that he is actually for anything that makes the upper class social parasites even richer

That is a consequence that I do not like to see. I dream of a society in which everyone is happy, content, and productive.

But I try to refrain from value judgment in economic matters. My aforementioned dream is unattainable. We can only settle for what human nature can bring us.

Peter P Says:
Aren’t landlords social parasites? Using their control over land to exploit others for a passive income?

Social parasites are those who lives off government programs (tax money).

In a word, yes. A social parasite is someone who lives off others (society) and does very little by way of recognisable work in the exchange. Isn't a landlord living off others for doing essentially no work? And getting a property paid off into the bargain? Surely it doesn't matter if it's private or public money.

My message: the world will be better if we do not all try to insist on doing the "right" thing. Here, the exercise of "moral judgment" will only lead to contentions of incompatible value systems.