patrick.net

I mean, if I am ready to spare a million dollars, does a $2K feature even catch my eye??

But those moron sellers think buyers nowadays are dumb.

BTW, I love Gaggenau. :)

But those moron sellers think buyers nowadays are dumb.

The "buyers" have not become smarter as a whole, they just no longer have access to easy credit. The remaining "buyers" - those with cash or credit access - are being a bit more responsible.

Note that the government wants to fluff up demand for houses, and is working to ease credit to the irresponsible buyers as the main method.

As prices soar and personal finances sour, Californians are selling off their old jewelry to generate extra cash.

Juggling glasses of white wine and baggies filled with baubles, dozens of women descended on a well-appointed Orange County home this week to trade in their old golden treasures for hefty checks.

There were earrings from ex-boyfriends, ring settings with missing stones and chain bracelets from sorority sisters. One woman brought in her husband's wedding ring -- from a previous marriage.

Julia Geivet, 39, had hopes of selling an "embarrassing" Italian horn bauble she had owned since eighth grade and a few other small trinkets, which she thought might get her $30.

"I figured I'd come get a little money and socialize and chat," said Geivet, who was recently laid off as a manager at Verizon Communications Inc. "It might not come out to a lot, but right now, every little bit helps."

She left with a check for $302.92.

Stanford’s life — brash, cash, a dash of flash
Texan left his roots behind for a knighthood and a world of wealth

Stanford made a point of living life hand-in-hand with an exclamation point.

With a net worth north of $2 billion, he owns glitzy homes in and around Miami, the Virgin Islands and Antigua, and in them he has entertained powerful American politicians from both sides of the aisle.

He has an estranged wife, a girlfriend, former girlfriends and at least six children by four women. The monthly tab to support them all runs upward of $200,000, according to court records.

More startups winding down

Silicon Valley startups call people like Rich Brenner when it’s time to “turn out the lights,” a euphemism for winding down operations.

Brenner and others like him say they are very, very busy these days.

If you asked Brenner in the third quarter of 2008 what portion of The Brenner Group’s business was devoted to consulting so-called “strategically stalled” and distressed companies, he’d answer about 15 percent to 20 percent. Today it’s more than 60 percent, he said, and more than half of those companies are winding down.

“Business for us is definitely picking up in that area,” said Brenner, president and CEO of the Cupertino-based consultancy. “Silicon Valley has a lot of companies that are very distressed, some of them that are OK companies that won’t get any more money. A lot of the companies are getting the lights turned out.”

Every con starts with a tapestry of believable lies, and the tale of Stanford Financial Group seems to follow the pattern.

With the Houston-based investment firm thrown into receivership last week and facing civil fraud charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Stanford has become a reminder of the gullibility and desperation that too often guides investment decisions.

As investors, we want to believe we can get a great return for little risk. That’s why investment schemes, from Charles Ponzi to Bernie Madoff, work time and again. And it’s why investors need to learn to look for the little lies, those minor inconsistencies that can be the first clue to bigger problems.

In Stanford’s case, one of the first signs was the investment itself — certificates of deposits, a favored haven of the retired and the risk-averse, offered at a rate far higher than other banks were paying.

Note how the reality — the safety and familiarity of CDs — is woven with the incredulous — an eye-popping return.

>> He has an estranged wife, a girlfriend, former girlfriends and at least six children by four women.

So the fradulent rich is living healthy long life full of orgasm ... whereas the middle class is dedicating their life and labor holding overpriced assets ...

Microsoft wants refund from some laid off workers

Microsoft says it made an accounting error when it laid off some employees last month and now feels the best way to correct the error is with what will likely add up to a public relations blunder.

The software giant, which recently laid off 1,400 employees, sent letters (see image below) this week to some of those former workers letting them know that their severance payouts were a bit too "generous" and respectfully requested that the former employees pay back that money, according to a report Saturday on TechCrunch.

"An inadvertent administrative error occurred that resulted in an overpayment in severance pay by Microsoft," the letter states. "We ask that you repay the overpayment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to you."

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the authenticity of a letter posted on TechCrunch, but declined further comment, saying it was "a private matter between the company and the affected people."

The company declined to specify how many of these letters were sent out, and it's unknown how much the overpayments total, but it did indicate that some laid off employees were also undercompensated.

The letter failed to provide an explanation for the accounting error but did manage to add--with underlined emphasis--a veiled threat of monetary punishment if the money wasn't repaid, at least in the form of a tax impact.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/21/oops-microsoft-asks-some-laid-off-workers-to-send-back-part-of-their-severance/

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PermaRenter: Nobody is forcing middle class people to hold "overpriced" assets. They are free to hold physical assets or productive assets.

Nobody is forcing middle class people to hold “overpriced” assets. They are free to hold physical assets or productive assets.

Exactly. It is sad that many of my friends still think 201K is the holy grail.

>> Nobody is forcing middle class people to hold “overpriced” assets.

The Barrack Obama administration is ... otherwise they would have recognized that let the foreclosure take its courese would have been the best course. Look the government is owned by the rich ... and the middle class is desperate trying to be rich ... and politicians are feeding to this with a message of "change and hope" -- sound familiar??

The Barrack Obama admin, is simply following the destined path of Hoover. Anyone in that situation, even including you PermaRenter, has only one option left, or you will be kicked out of the office the next day, or have a bullet in your head.

Btw, as an independent thinking middle class, you are not *required* to buy house at high multiples of your salary, and you are not required to buy a house at all. You can even find ways to go along with the admin and profit from it. That is probably the only merit of the residual capitalism we have left in this country.

Most middle class, 99% of us, are destined to NOT become rich, or everyone would have become rich then "being rich" will be completely meaningless. So it is perfectly ok that the system screws the 99% of the middle class and rewards the very few who have the brains and opportunities to rise above.

The Barrack Obama admin, is simply following the destined path of Hoover. Anyone in that situation, even including you PermaRenter, has only one option left, or you will be kicked out of the office the next day, or have a bullet in your head.

Sadly I have to agree with this. He simply does not have a choice other than to make an appearance of doing something.

Obama does not even have an effective Secretary of Treasury like Andrew W. Mellon.

Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate!

[my browser cache was stuck and did not show the new thread]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/806418a0-0140-11de-8f6e-000077b07658.html

Citi is trying to force the US taxpayers to convert the taxpayers ownership of preferred shares (purchased under TARP-1 in Oct/Nov) into common shares.

The motivation is obvious:

1. Citi does not want to pay back the preferred shareholders (THAT’s YOU!!) the principal, nor the interest.

2. Citi wants to convert the preferred into essentially worthless common stock

3. Citi is going to ask for another capital injection in the form of selling preferred stock to the public (US taxpayers), but not until the previous batch of has been made worthless.

JUST SAY NO !! Under TARP-1, Paulson overpaid tremendously for the preferred stock, thereby shifting the losses to the taxpayers.

Peter P,

What about George Bush, did he have an effective secretary of the treasury?

What about George Bush, did he have an effective secretary of the treasury?

No.

The media is getting completely snowed about what is the real issue with public ownership of the banks.

Right this moment some dude from Financial Times on PBS Newshour with Gwen Eiffel prattling on about how this is a question of how and whether the public will own the banks.

It is not. The real question is how much the public will pay for the ownership. The whole discussion of "nationalization" is just a smokescreen and a decoy to avoid attention on the much more important topic: How much is the public going to pay for their.

The market cap of Citi today is 11.66B. Converting the preferred shares would imply paying 45B-11.66B=33B too much.

Spread the word. The MSM is completely snowed by the "Nationalization/Socialism" angle. They need to keep their eyes on the ball, for the taxpayer.

... pay for their OWNERSHIP ......

Justme,

This is why I now support nationalization. It was far better to let them fail and just watch the train wreck from the sidelines. As a tax payer we now have a dog in this fight. I support the complete annihilation of all the shareholders, debt holders and employees of Citi bank.

I want the debt holders to be left with nothing so true market risk is brought back to the economy. This crap of saving other people by backstopping them pisses me off. I would rather face the crazy times post massive bank failure than see those people get any more of my money.

-TNN

TNN,

We agree. The problems is that Geithner is pulling a Paulson on us, AGAIN !!

Fight back!

Don't buy, DON'T RENT, live with relatives, save every cent!

Every time you use a credit card, you enrich your enemies.