patrick.net

a million vacant houses, CA is going nowhere.

kentm says digby says

slash the deficit as quickly as humanly possible by cutting spending and cutting taxes

Another genius who thinks lowering taxes to zero, will take government tax revenues to infinity.

This guy need to read Laffer, and then explain how he concludes that taxes are still above the level that would generate maximum revenues.

AAPL PE is 18, not 80. This stock is perhaps expensive, and perhaps worth it, like their products.
I don't know how bad the stock market is but since I began in 84 with bond funds and moved in 91 to stock funds I see less of a problem in my accounts. Others who bought later may have different results.
All of Thunderlips points can be 100% correct and the market may still climb a "wall of worry" with "irrational exhuberance" because it's an auction and funny things can happen in them.
Although things may stink around the world, countries will continue to develop, build roads, grow food, use products, energy and drugs, and whatnot. Even in a poor country you'll see Caterpillar, Coke, Abercrombie, Apple, Walmart, Merck, Toyota, Deere, etc.
If I had a bunch of new money to invest, I would probably buy a metal ETF, gold or silver, aapl, and some giant dividend paying stocks.

For the record, the majority of my investment is mutual funds. I fantasize about having "new money", i.e. "extra income" and investing it differently. If I were looking for huge dividend paying stocks I would probably still use a mutual fund for the purpose.

Nomograph says

Conservatives self-destruct before even getting out of the starting gate.

The overlords have already decided it will definitely be Obama again. Where does the Donald get his marching orders ?

Shirk, would a diagram be helpful ?

I'm starting to understand how Shrekgrinch is a conservative. In shrek's world, Obama voters are angry at the President for not being liberal enough so they are going to vote...TRUMP. Obama released a forged birth certificate to the world despite possibly being born...in the United States.

The twists and turn of logic used to justify Shrek's Birtherism Lite are astounding. (Birtherism Lite is when you take the Palin position of "believing" the President while suggesting that he is completely lying about his own birth story and perhaps ineligible to be President).

kentm says digby says

We’re hanging on to our billionaires by our fingernails and if we aren’t careful we won’t have any. “

So let me get this straight. After centuries of having countless youth giving their lives for this country, billionaires are going to just pack up and leave because they pay a little more in taxes or because this country isn't going to drop to being underpaid slave labor so that we can compete better ?

If his answer is, "no, I just meant that I want them to invest here instead of over there." Don't kid yourself, they are already investing in developing countries as much as they can, relative to risk.

marcus says

So let me get this straight. After centuries of having countless youth giving their lives for this country, billionaires are going to just pack up and leave because they pay a little more in taxes or because this country isn’t going to drop to being underpaid slave labor so that we can compete better ?

If his answer is, “no, I just meant that I want them to invest here instead of over there.” Don’t kid yourself, they a re already investing in developing countries as much as they can, ralative to risk.

Marcus you can't expand private sector by taking money out of it and giving it to the government to spend inefficiently.

Our tax system is total b****** based around government taking as much as it can. You work for the government, and you do not see it. But I work in private sector, paying self employed tax and all the other taxes involved with running a business? It is very expensive and adds to overhead tremendously making it insanely difficult to compete in the global market. I personally have difficult time competing with overseas labor because they can undercut me by usually 30% due to taxes if someone is willing to deal with overseas. And I'm not alone in that boat, while government officials are sitting on their lazy asses decided which one of their k street friends to hand out my tax dollars to.

How about a marriage tax penalty? If my wife and I were not married we'd actually pay less in taxes. What kind of degenerate government junkie decided that we should penalize marriages.

Marcus you really have to look at this system through the eyes of someone in the private sector. If government taxation runs me out of business or keeps me down, I wont have much to pay eventually in taxes to pay your salary cascading the effect to more layoffs in the public sector and complete dislike of government officials. Government is literally chewing off the hand that feeds it, and it's ideologically motivated employees do not see it, because they do not see how wealth is actually created.

mutual funds are much more expensive with fees and interest, I'd recommend simply buying stocks if you are willing to rebalance your portfolio manually once in a while and do your own research on what you think will do well.

Besides with stocks you can on occasion claim losses through put/call window without taking losses. That's a very neat hedge.

I spent more of my work life in the private sector than the public sector, including about 8 years being self employed.

Taxation is really a relative question. Everyone knows we need some level of government services and taxation. You are essentially saying with taxes the lowest they have been since ??, that you feel the need to get the government off your back.

"I personally have difficult time competing with overseas labor because they can undercut me by usually 30% due to taxes"

You honestly think that TAXES are the main reason you can't compete with overseas labor? You don't think it has to do with things like WAGES? Let's see, do I open a factory in the U.S. and pay $15 an hour, or do I open it in China and pay 31 cents an hour? Do I hire a $70,000 software engineer in the U.S. or do I hire one for $15,000 in India?

And the government does not care about small businesses like yoruself, which is why the tax code is rigged in favor of multinationals. To the governmet, your a burden and it would be best if you just went away so that the Fortune 500s can make more money.

"We’re hanging on to our billionaires by our fingernails and if we aren’t careful we won’t have any. “

Name one billionaire who has left the country over taxes. Certainy you can name at least one.

It's a well written piece. I have never been what I call an accidental landlord (underwater and have to more so they rent the place out) or as you say, unwitting landlord. I have been a landlord for 20 plus years and these are all very good tips. All but the first few years I have used large, professional management companies and they are dilligent about all of these "rules" that the article points out.

HousingWatcher says

And the government does not care about small businesses like yoruself, which is why the tax code is rigged in favor of multinationals. To the governmet, your a burden and it would be best if you just went away so that the Fortune 500s can make more money.

Which is exactly what I'm complaining about. The tax code is rigged for multinationals. While a small business or anyone self employed has to deal with overseas competition being beat on the tax bracket. And I don't see my taxes as all time low either, I'm paying a lot... So it comes down to who has more influence in Washington and hence government picking winners and losers based on who has more friends on the capitol hill.

It's a part that marcus misses. Government isn't a separate entity, in capitalism it's a form of oppression ran by big money in order to keep the money upstairs. Small businesses always get ****** in the process by the gman. I'll even quote patrick: "we have socialism for the wealthy" who are in high places in the government, everyone else has to find a way to fit into that government ran business model or end up broke. Washington and their clubby nature.

While a small business or anyone self employed has to deal with overseas competition being beat on the tax bracket.

This is largely hokum. You're being beat on the currency cross between dollars and whatever your competition earns, plus the standard of living gap.

Taxes are really, really orthogonal to this.

A very decent Chinese annual wage is å…ƒ123,000 -- that sounds high until you learn that there are currently 6 å…ƒ to the USD now.

Taxes are actually VERY low here in the US, anyway, especially after the 2003 tax reform that lets you pull money out of C Corps at dividend tax rates.

Government isn’t a separate entity, in capitalism it’s a form of oppression ran by big money in order to keep the money upstairs.

It is true that government is structured to benefit the very poor and the very rich, and the vast middle class is stuck with the bill. We need a better progressive tax rate structure to fix this -- there used to be many more income tax brackets but the very rich jiggered the process to hide behind the merely upper middle class by having the brackets top out at ~$200,000.

Thing is, nobody should be earning more than $100,000/yr in wages anyway. If you're making more than that you should have an S or C corp arrangement.

I've found that setting the rent slightly lower works, i used to do that and there were times that i'd get about 20 responses within an hour of posting the ad on craigslist.

Another thing thats been working for me having the nicest rental around.
I've found that most pro landlords dont treat their rentals as a place they would live themselves.
I can command top dollar and have pick of high quality tenants by offering something that's a little bit nicer.

of course it works best in areas where there's a shortage of decent rentals like silicon valley for example. :)

interesting thread

so short SLV in july eh?

Troy has made a statement about extra money finding its way into bidding up the price of land at some point. I agree.

Also does anyone disagree with making some cuts in military spending?

I certainly do not disagree with military spending cuts.

American in Japan says

Also does anyone disagree with making some cuts in military spending?

Raytheon. Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and all the 100's of thousands of folks that are paid by them to dig holes and fill them back up.

Cuts are going to be tough, though.

100 BRAC base closings from 1991-2000 saved around $15B (total) and were an immense shock to economies.

We need to cut $300B/yr just to get back to 2007-level spending.

Veteran's benefits are $140B/yr alone right now, up $90B/yr from 2002.

Just that VA increase alone is $800/household/year.

Frankly, I simply don't understand these numbers. There simply has to be an immense amount of fraud going on.

DOD spending is $750B this year. At $250,000 per job that would be 3 million jobs.

The problem with bad governance is that it's easy to fall into and impossible to get out.

WTF were we thinking 2001-2006???

Troy,

I know but it will just mean more spending...more printing...then more inflation for everyone.
I think they should phase out some of the spending over time, other things need to be done of course.

It's funy how many people say how Palin would cut spending, but she wouldn't touch the military gorilla.

The Republican party is a wholey owned subsidary of the military industrial complex. Scum like Eric Prince (founder of Blackwater, I mean Xe) control them.

HousingWatcher says

The Republican party is a wholey owned subsidary of the military industrial complex. Scum like Eric Prince (founder of Blackwater, I mean Xe) control them.

What about the Democratic Party? By the way, the "scum" Haliburton continues to do as much business under Obama et all as they did under Bush. Any comments on that? Also, in case you haven't noticed, Obama has EXPANDED the war in Afghanistan dramatically and is now bombing Libya. Any comments??

Your right. Can't argue there. But Obama did drastically reduce troop levels in Iraq, soemthign Bush never did.

Today Trump says, to lower gas prices....

all we need to do is tell OPEC we want them lowered.

Vicente says

Today Trump says, to lower gas prices….
all we need to do is tell OPEC we want them lowered.

I seem to remember during the campaign, Obama wanted to "talk things over, face to face" with our enemies, presumably to tell them to "be nice." I don't see a whole lot of difference between the two naive positions, do you?

HousingWatcher says

Your right. Can’t argue there. But Obama did drastically reduce troop levels in Iraq, soemthign Bush never did.

by moving them to Afganistan (the graveyard of USSR soldiers) and an illegal war in Lybia. So far same government cronyism, just under a different name.

RayAmerica says

Vicente says

Today Trump says, to lower gas prices….
all we need to do is tell OPEC we want them lowered.

I seem to remember during the campaign, Obama wanted to “talk things over, face to face” with our enemies, presumably to tell them to “be nice.” I don’t see a whole lot of difference between the two naive positions, do you?

Interesting. I don't remember him every saying he would tell them to "be nice" His position was to engage all countries rather than ignore our enemies. Ignoring them clearly hasn't worked, so a new tact is obviously necessary.

I could buy a place now but since I just started a new job a few weeks ago, it makes ZERO sense for me to take the plunge and risk. Especially since the IT tech job market is very cyclical in the bay area. Companies hire a lot then lay off tons more a couple years later. With zero job stability now that your job can and will be sent overseas to China or India for less money, it is too risky to buy a home now. Maybe if prices were half of what they are today like 100-200k then it would make sense. But it is still WAY cheaper to rent now than to buy a house in Silicon Valley.

RayAmerica says

I seem to remember during the campaign, Obama wanted to “talk things over, face to face” with our enemies, presumably to tell them to “be nice.” I don’t see a whole lot of difference between the two naive positions, do you?

Wait, I thought OPEC was full of our allies, not our enemies. Now I'm confused.

But bromance didn't seem to work so well for Bush, as gas prices still shot up during his term:

The fact that we can't control the price of oil, is the result of the FACT that the oil-producer countries and commodities speculators can do what they want to squeeze the rest of us, and politicians begging or telling be damned. This schmuck Trump is a....

patb says

a million vacant houses, CA is going nowhere.

Don't worry. As per OP of this thread a million investors are coming to rescue the banks from their misery, if not Obama. :)

Vicente here are images of the dear Obama hanging out with king abdulah

Or just go to images.google.com and type in "Obama Saudi King".

All of our leaders meet with Abdullah. You can't pretend that only republicans kiss ass in the middle east.

The point being that we don't get to TELL OPEC what they can charge us for oil.

There may be some give and take but we already shot our wad to little real effect there. I'm pretty sure if Dubya with all his Saudi connections couldn't bring oil back to $1/gallon nobody can. I am assuming here of course that he did put on all the pressure he could, I've heard claims to that effect. Conspiracy theorists may cry misdirection on a secret effort to raise prices, but I'll assume he would have lowered them if he could to regain popularity. Everyone knows we are overextended and not about to invade anyone else for their oil. So far as I can tell, the net effect of nearly a decade of Oil Wars is now we pay more for it.

Thus Trump is a clown for saying HE is the only guy who can sweet-talk or "cheat" them.

I haven't heard his speeches, but that sounds like a political gimmick or misunderstanding somewhere. I really do not see him saying that, it just doesn't make sense. He is a business man, he is well aware that in business someone will only lower the price if that's their only option.

Best way to lower the price is to make competition cheaper. If green energy or some other oil source catches on that would put a damper on oil prices certainly.

Just for the record, there is no way in hell I'm voting for anyone who is in real estate business. Last bubble was not a pleasure to live through.

ChrisLA says

I haven’t heard his speeches, but that sounds like a political gimmick or misunderstanding somewhere. I really do not see him saying that, it just doesn’t make sense.

Donald Trump: "I can't believe that we let OPEC get away with it, Saudia Arabia wouldn't be there if it weren't for us".

From the video here:
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2011/04/10/sotu.trump.opec.cnn

I find it rip-roaring funny anytime people actually put much stock in gratitude being a major factor in business and strategic interests. The French helped us out a bunch in our history, and yet we rag on them show no gratitude. I expect the Saudi's are about the same, hey thanks for helping us back in the 90's but lately you've been kind of annoying. We'll cut you a 5% friends discount and we'll watch you circle the drain expending more on military than the rest of the world, then maybe we'll ally with the Russians or Chinese or whoever gives us best deal to act as our paid mercenaries.

tatupu70 says

His position was to engage all countries rather than ignore our enemies. Ignoring them clearly hasn’t worked, so a new tact is obviously necessary.

How's that working out? He seems to be "engaging" Libya in a not so friendly way.

RayAmerica says

tatupu70 says

His position was to engage all countries rather than ignore our enemies. Ignoring them clearly hasn’t worked, so a new tact is obviously necessary.

How’s that working out? He seems to be “engaging” Libya in a not so friendly way.

Well, as you no doubt know, you can't evaluate a policy based on one outcome. It will take many years to come to a conclusion. Like I said though, it can't be any worse than the previous policy.

We do need to scale down.

Troy says

Only if you’re a moron and/or didn’t know that the recession started March 2001.

Ok, so you first deny that Bush was responsible for the 2001 recession after I point out that he didn't have time to start it, then you call me a moron because you think I'm denying that it started after he was elected.

I totally understand what you are saying: Conservative Republican = Bad, Any and all Democrats = Good. Gotcha.

Troy says

It is true that government is structured to benefit the very poor and the very rich, and the vast middle class is stuck with the bill.

You are completely correct here. With rates over 30% and people paying Troy says

We need a better progressive tax rate structure to fix this — there used to be many more income tax brackets but the very rich jiggered the process to hide behind the merely upper middle class by having the brackets top out at ~$200,000.

I think this is where you are wrong. We have some semblance of a progressive structure but the brackets aren't the problem. Obama actually hit the mark correctly in stating that the deductions are the real problem. Hopefully he has opened his eyes to see where the problem is. I'm starting to actually have some hope that Barry will let his pragmatic side show. You can game the rates up and down all over the place but if people aren't paying those rates because of the loopholes it doesn't really matter. Also, I think having levels set nationally are screwey because it is more expensive to live in some parts of the country than others. A $100k income in most of the midwest, for example, means something far different than $100k in the west or northeast. If we REALLY wanted to stick it to the rich, the tax code needs to be simplified (i.e. fewer loopholes) not more progressive. Breaking SSI into a different bucket further sticks it to the middle that is paying the highest amount possible based on the current limits. I remember the SSI "holiday" starting in July-September timeframe - now for middle income earners it has either completely disappeared or only shows up for the Christmas holiday.