patrick.net

Peter P,

I believe I read that the tar sands number is in the high 30's to $40 per barrell. This is probably a moving target depending on how much the USD declines against the Canadian.

Recharging electrically is a better deal. We are so close.

Malcom,

When I saw that on the refrigerator I turned to the sellers agent and said "this probalby doesn't help their cause!?!"

Paul

the market is sticky

And so are tar sands. :-)

(I don't mind gas prices shooting up, but let me take my Alaska trip first)

Yeah, I wouldn't think so.

I hate the victim mentality.

In Nature, there are only winners and losers, the survived and the extinct; there are no victims.

In human societies, we do enforce law. This puts us above other biological beings on earth. If someone loses because another person has committed a crime, this is understandable.

Calling any loser a victim will not improve humanity. It will incentivize people to become losers. It is a crime against Nature.

And so are tar sands. :-)

Mud pies too. :)

I believe I read that the tar sands number is in the high 30’s to $40 per barrell. This is probably a moving target depending on how much the USD declines against the Canadian.

Yep. That is what I heard.

Malcolm,

How's the Prius in cold weather? My impression is that it doesn't run very efficiently in cold weather.

You know what an insult it is for me to hear the bailout plans for fixing loans at 5.5%? With perfect credit, the best I EVER got was 5.75% on a 15 year fixed. How is this a fair solution? This is not even just a handout, it is preferential treatment, and completely backwards.

skibum: Okay, I came off too cocky there. :)

Anyway, I'm surprised that a young doctor like yourself, what with knocking down $200-400K/year in San Francisco, didn't spot the troll earlier. But as Space Ace points out, that's why engineers are the king of the heap, the cream of the crop, the best of the best. It's our infallible and deeply penetrating minds that push us to the side of society by the commoners who just can't take the (intellectual) heat!

:o

There are times when I purposely don't set upon Confused Marina immediately. First, you never know when a different anxious realtor has found this forum. You want to give them an equal opportunity to hand us enough rope to hang them, right? And second, CR/BB/MP/FR tends to stop posting shortly after being outed. That's just depriving yourself of watching Randy H dismantle her ridiculous arguments. People have been admitting lately that we're a little starved for entertainment... what better gems of mirth than "it always goes up" from the mouth of a true believer?

You know what an insult it is for me to hear the bailout plans for fixing loans at 5.5%?

I do not mind them getting 5.5% so long as they are forced to pay 20 points up front.

Astrid,

The Prius must run ok in the cold. There are soooo many here in Chicago.

Paul

Astrid, we bought it in February so I can't say. We did get 45 MPG actual for strictly freeway driving, so I think it is performing well. They are rated for 50 freeway but I guess that is at 55 MPH on a nice level road.

They are rated for 50 freeway but I guess that is at 55 MPH on a nice level road.

IIRC San Diego has the best roads in California.

They really are fantastic cars, and they even look cool. Mine is charcoal grey, and it looks so sleek, that I can only imagine it is a matter of time before you see some real pimped ones.

Is there a bubble in oil prices Peter P?

I don't know. But chances are that oil prices may rest on a permanently high plateau.

I’m all for bailouts. We pay enough taxes. Moral hazard is a good thing that keeps the economy running smoothly without any hiccups.

The point is that taxes should be lower. Moral hazard is something that keeps the economy running smoothly until it does not.

That's not saying much, some of the roads are pretty bad here. The best roads I've seen for condition would have to be the east coast.

The southern states, I don't really know the northern roads.

Okay Randy, I give up. I've tried to post 3 versions of an original comment. Please delete all. I will try one more time with additional modifications.

Okay, my original response to “Big Brother” has been hanging up in moderation for a while now. So here’s it is, modified given her ridiculous response to Hi_there and HARM:

How many a$$umptions, exaggerations, and, frankly, talking-out-of-your-a$$ statements can one person make? Apparently many, as Big Brother continues to demonstrate to us.

I can’t comment on the banking field, but I can say from personal first-hand knowledge for both doctors and lawyers. BB’s numbers are very skewed upwards. Doctors CAN make in the range of $300k plus, but that is a exceedingly small minority, limited to subspecialists who perform procedures or high-end practices, especially in areas of doctor oversupply like the Bay Area, which on top of that is dominated by modestly-paying Kaiser.

Lawyers start out at $150K or so out of law school ONLY at top-tier law firms. There is a fixed, almost herd-driven pay increase scale at these firms that NEVER reaches $300k. Lawyers at these firms make that much only at partnership, or in a huge bonus year. And that’s only a miniscule fraction of lawyers, even at these top-tier firms.

Bottom line (to use a TOS technique): Big Brother, you are FULL of $HIT.

You know what an insult it is for me to hear the bailout plans for fixing loans at 5.5%? With perfect credit, the best I EVER got was 5.75% on a 15 year fixed. How is this a fair solution? This is not even just a handout, it is preferential treatment, and completely backwards.

This kind of thing is *exactly* why I made that comment about recklessly overborrowing being economically "rational" behavior. We have rigged the system to reward the corrupt and stupid.

Malcolm,

Thanks. I see a good many of them in DC, but DC is pretty southern.

In the nice southern MD/northern VA suburbs, the roads get resurfaced every year or every other year.

California has great twisty roads though, nothing I've seen on the East Coast compares.

Thank you for proving my point. 150-200K for doctors is pretty much the norm. And in 10-15 years, these doctors will be making 3-6X that amount. Thanks for the example!

This sounds like classic MP/CR/FR style.

Let me just say (I have like 4 versions of this statement in moderation as we speak) that BB is full of $hit. 150-200K is for Las Vegas, not the Bay Area. The salary increases over the years not as a default. You have to work your butt off to build a practice. On top of that, a doctor's salary is supposed to be the "middle class" norm for buying in the Bay Area? Where is the logic?

skibum,

I have "liberated" your comments in moderation and deleted the copies.

Looks like the older comments just came out of moderation - thanks Randy.

oops - thanks HARM!

skibum,

Do not attempt to resist. You will be assimilated.

In five years' time, SF's economy will be entirely composed of VC and HF managers with a minimum networth of $25 million.

I think I'm in love with Kathleen Pender.

BigBrother,

I read.

But I'm jumping ahead. If we're suppose to assume SF is crammed full of doctors and lawyers making between 3 and 9 Ha Has, why not just jump ahead to people making 50 or 100 Ha Has a year?

Then maybe, just maybe, it's time to bring the Solarians into the equation.

It is your perogative that you think doctors with 10-15 years experience don’t make 300K. At any rate, continue.

It's not perogative, it's fact. Again, I won't deny that MDs in certain subspecialties make that amount, but most MDs, who are generalists, do not even come close. Stop making $hit up.

I think I’m in love with Kathleen Pender.
I have been waiting all ^@%$ing day for your comment :-)

You know, I think most people on this forum are envious of the young investment bankers making $200K/year to start. And what about the MBAs who got their degree at the University of Phoenix? $400K/year minimum.

Thanks for proving a point, skibum! You're just a jealous, bitter doctor taking things out of context. What do you have against hedge fund managers in Las Vegas? These senseless attacks are kind of like when Randy H comes to me, begging for help finding Alpha. And I'm like, look Randolph (I call him that to sound more official), I don't have time to help you find your dog. I'm tracking my shitbox appreciation on Zillow.

Just keep following the herds, kids. One day you'll be one of the Ass Effluent, just like me.

That’s not saying much, some of the roads are pretty bad here. The best roads I’ve seen for condition would have to be the east coast.

I've heard that I-95 in Georgia is absolutely horrible. No proof though. Something about a big dispute between the state and the feds over taxes...

By the way, I think it's hilariously funny that the rest of you get stuck in moderation while surfer-x and I are free to swear like sailors. :)

Well, how much oil should be is all dependent on how beaten up USD will get. It is just a way of staking the value. I believe oil will shoot up to $100 not because oil will get expensive, but because USD will lose value, and lose its status as the world's only reserve currency in which oil is traded.

However, housing won't go up due to a weakening dollar. The last time I checked, all of us working in the US are paid on USD. If you can find a deal that you can be paid in Euro, or better yet, barrels of oil, let me know cos I'd like to join that program too.

@EBGuy,

:lol: I'm seriously considering sending her flowers & candy.

I stand corrected on my US Wealth Distribution stats.

Nonetheless, my original point remains in tact. So instead of $25m putting one into the top sub-fractional percentile, it just puts one in the fractional percentile.

OO says: I believe oil will shoot up to $100 not because oil will get expensive, but because USD will lose value, and lose its status as the world’s only reserve currency in which oil is traded.

Aren't the OPEC nations trying to diversify away from the U.S. dollar? If a parallel exchange based on the Euro takes strong root, we could definitely see nasty trends in U.S. oil prices.

http://tinyurl.com/274z76

Not Investment Advice.