patrick.net

For the 21st month in a row the savings rate in the US is negative.

"Economists have put forward various reasons to explain the current lack of savings. These range from a feeling on the part of some people that they do not need to save because of the run-up in their investments such as homes and stock portfolios to an effort by many middle-class wage earners to maintain their current lifestyles even though their wage gains have been depressed by the effects of global competition."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

SFWoman,

Funny to note that the only four years in history where the savings rate was negative for an entire year was 1932, 1933 and OF COURSE 2005 and 2006!

I suppose I can find it in my heart to understand the neg. savings in '32 and '33, uh....? But '05 and '06? First it was because we were too poor, now it's because we're too "rich"?

What can I say? Heterosexuality is an affliction that strikes down 1 in 3 males! Every time Kimberly Guilfoyle comes on the screen my wife points out that she was a Victoria's Secret model and ALL of the work she's had done so I can honestly say that I've never heard a word she's said.

Yes, I know dear.

DinOR Says:

> And what’s up with ya’ll’s mayor?

I have no idea, and for some strange reason I kind of feel sorry for the guy. I’ve always got the feeling that never wanted to run for office but only did it to try and get his Dad (who ran for office but never won) to accept him. I know a lot of guys like Gavin who had a Dad walk out of their life when they were little kids and no matter what happens later they are always trying to get the Dad to accept them…

> Kimberly Guilfoyle may have an annoying voice
> but somehow I think I could get over it? My wife
> insists she’s had a lot of “work” done. Weird huh?

Kimberly is another example of someone is screwed up due to the loss of a parent. In her case Mom died when she was a kid. I know SF girls that went to Grammar School and Mercy High with her and they said that she “kind of went wild” after losing her Mom (and they also agree with your wife that she has had a “lot of work done” including, but not limited to boobs and lips)…

michaelcampion Says:

> Finally what are BRM units?

BMR stands for “Below Market Rate” and they are units in a new development that are sold for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars below market.

Politicians love BMR units since they can use them to reward campaign workers and other politically connected people without actually paying them.

"including, but not limited to"

You mean there's MORE? (Dear Lord)

michaelcampion,

I'm sure you've posted before but WELCOME anyway!

Talk about the Fed becoming irrelevant, NOT ONE post commented on the their decision to rollover and play dead yesterday? Was there a post? In any regard they've more or less signaled FB's and the lending industry that they'll probably be "on hold" for '07! Translation?

If you're an FB in a neg. am/ARM "Here's your window to re-fi (or buy or sell) your home ONE LAST TIME!" If you're a subprime lender, "Fellas, we're doing our best here". Mortgage Implode does a great job documenting some of the more high profile meltdowns but according "Thug in Chief" bankster "Uncle Angelo" 3 or 4 smaller "Subshops" (TM) are going under A DAY! We're going to have an "orderly correction" even if it kills the rest of us. More REIC "charity".

"Every time Kimberly Guilfoyle comes on the screen my wife points out that she was a Victoria’s Secret model"

OK, DinOR, it is misplaced modifier time (oh why did English lose the dative case?). Who is the Victoria's Secret model, Kimberly Guifoyle or your wife?

Headset,

LOL! I fear I fall under SFWoman's description of long time husbands that shop for their wives based on what they looked like when we first married them! She still looks great thanks (and remarkbly without the considerable "work" of our friend Kimberly!)

michaelcampion,

F@cked Borrower. As a matter we have an entire web-site dedicated to it!

Take the government out of the picture.

No more tax-breaks for mortgage interest,

no more ridiculous zoning and other control measures that artificially create scarcity

and no more quasi-government organizations to promote "home buying".

Sriram G!

That's why you make the big bucks!

DinOR,

I donno what you mean, I am probably missing a cultural reference?

I make good money, but it is salary in the Bay Area so I end up with just a little bit left over every year.

In my ignorance, I'm just going to assume that was a compliment of some kind :)

DinOR,

She wasn't a Victoria's Secret model. I have a friend who cast most of the models for them and he had never heard of her before the dog mauling case.

She modelled some underwear in a bridal expo or something. She's only about 5'5" but always is in 5" heels. Once I was at the park in a pair of Keds and she and Gavin came over and said hello to a couple of my friends and me. I towered over her and she was wearing clogs with about a 2 1/2" heel. I hadn't noticed how short she was before that because she is alway, always in full makeup and stilettos.

Sriram G,

"no more quasi-government organization to promote "home buying"

That rates the "big bucks"!

There’s an economic theory that credit doesn’t create asset bubbles but that it’s the other way around. Once the asset inflates, the credit is suddenly invented out of thin air.

Credit inflates asset prices, which create more credit.

Reflexivity.

SFWoman,

If you think that annoys you, try being a 5' 9" and "settling" male. I just love when you're being escorted by the receptionist (with heels so high she's struggling to hold herself upright) into the conference room for your client meeting!

Crissakes lady, if "I" had 5" "lifts" we could almost be eye to eye!

I don't find her attractive at all. That big jaw with all those teeth always make me think of a...dentata. Scary. Also, her skin has a really fake sheen. It is probably natural but I do not care for it. And her body? Eh. Lots of women look just as good.

Also, the whole bi-coastal marriage thing really turned me off. It's like, how self-absorbed can you be? And then she goes and gets knocked up by some rich heir several years her junior. Very disturbing to see Gen-X'ers acting like Boomers.

"Somebody's got issues...." LOL!

I think GC might have gotten on the wrong tangent there. I was speaking from a "sales perspective"!?!

You're being introduced to a prospective client for the first time and their first impression is, "Crissakes, I hope he's a genius b/c he's too old to be a "wizz kid" and "Kelli" our receptionist could probably take him!" When you do a fair amount of "cold walking" I guess you get used to it. My point (if there is one) is that while 5' 9" (formerly 5' 10 1/2") is avg. to short for males it is STILL well above avg. height for females! Why is it I'm always the shortest person shaking hands in the lobby? Hmm?

Napoleon was short. Yet he has a lot of accomplishments, including the multi-layered dessert named after him.

Joe Schmoe,

Hey Joe!

Disturbing indeed. The more I hear the less I like.

DinOR,

Why don't you wear heels too, like these: Linky

MtViewRenter,

O.K now that was good! LOL!

Yeah, I'm here to discuss your moving your 401K and pay no mind to my Rui Leonardes "heels for men". Yeah that'd go over like a turd in a punchbowl! I thought you were going to show those old ads like in the back of Popular Mechanics that are "guaranteed to add a full 2 inches to your height" (but look like something your HS janitor wore). Uh no thanks.

I do have a dirty mind.

Human mind is intrinsically dirty. Don't be too hard on yourself.

GC,

Again that's not exactly what I meant either. Meetings of this sort aren't an everyday occurence. In fact they're altogether too rare and there's a lot riding on them.

When you're fortunate to land one, you've straightened your tie, checked your breath by exhaling into your hand (not sure why, it doesn't work) and re-checked your briefcase so "that" is about the LAST thing you're thinking about! If a gal truly is "towering" (chances are she'll wear loafers to play it down) it's just when if it weren't for the "prosthetics" she'd be 2" shorter.... let's just say it's a distraction you can't afford right now!

SP,

That's easy! Roseanne Barr NAKED!

DinOR Says:

> try being a 5′ 9″ and “settling” male. I just love when
> you’re being escorted by the receptionist (with heels
> so high she’s struggling to hold herself upright) into
> the conference room for your client meeting!
> Crissakes lady, if “I” had 5″ “lifts” we could almost
> be eye to eye!

If you get some cowboy boots you will be pushing 6’ tall… I have not been riding horses in a long time and this summer before I went to a friend’s family ranch south of Basalt, CO I went to my parent’s house to get my old cowboy boots and I forgot how tall I feel wearing them when I am pushing 6’ 5”…

FAB,

I actually know a few reps that do exactly that! Don't they clank too much on terrazo and marble though? That and I'm sure no cowboy.

GC,

We're going through a real golden age in good quality comedies. A lot of the women are even pretty real looking. Check out the cast of Friday Night Lights or the Office. They're pretty normal looking.

There's a theory that species tend to get larger when they're successful overall... e.g. look at the dinosaurs... 5'9" is meant to be 'exactly average height' for adult males, and 5'6" for women... although I think average height of college graduates is higher, etc...

Different Sean, does the theory also say that when a species becomes successful, it stands on two legs?

Holds true for us and dinosaurs.

Different Sean, does the theory also say that when a species becomes successful, it stands on two legs?

Note that 'success' is only determined by immediate success in the current environment, whether due to size, speed, armour, choice of food sources, etc. e.g. much of the exotic megafauna of the cenozoic era were wiped out by relatively scrawny homo sapiens working in teams with pointy artificial spears, clubs and sharpened rocks, as they migrated around the world.

they've noted people have gotten significantly bigger based on measurements of medieval popns (skeletons? research), for instance...

However, there's only a loose correlation between bipedalism/standing on hind legs and success, as there are plenty of successful species who don't do that too often or routinely. However, tracking the evolution of the australopithecenes suggests that chimps who could walk more upright east of the Kenyan Rift were more successful in the long run, which then naturally selected for bipedalism -- brain growth seems to have followed upright walking and more successful hunting with extra energy obtained from a higher meat diet, as a. afarensis seems to have had an almost chimp sized 400 cc brain. Overall dexterity, agility and, yes, opposable thumbs, seem to have made all the difference though, making h. sapiens an evolutionarily generalised animal rather than a specialised one.

Further, there were 2-legged and 4-legged dinosaurs, so no, I don't think there is such a theory. The modern descendants of the dinosaurs appear to be birds, which lack manual dexterity, but are 'successful' overall nonetheless, and continue to hop or walk on two legs.

But did you know dinosaurs avidly traded real estate 'millions of years' ago, and there is evidence they had even set up a Housing Futures exchange... it's true... and the Flintstones learnt it from the dinosaurs...

"There’s a theory that species tend to get larger when they’re successful overall…"

Aren't insects the most sucessful group? Been around since the dinosaurs and apparently will survive anything. No more 4 foot wingspan dragonflies though. Since present day dragonflies prey on mosquitos, can you imagine being the victim of the mosquito a 4 foot wingspan dragonfly would eat? Reminds me of what may happen to savers during a politically expediant FB bailout.

With global warming, if the seas rise 7 to 23 inches, what % of land mass will we lose?

But what % of presently iced land mass will we be able to use? :)

Just trying to be optimistic.

There could be a land boom in the Ice Belt.

Let's sell some ice condos. :)

yeah, collectively insects are the most successful family or phylum or whatever, i guess. or maybe bacteria by sheer number ;) neither walk on hind legs... theory probably applies to megafauna... who cares...

did you know man has lost the ability to make the 4th enzyme in the chain required to manufacture vitamin C within the human body from food? probably due to a negative random genetic mutation... seems to be an early primate mutation, requiring them to live on fruit sources...

maybe not fully corrected for asians and latin americans ;) i feel like a giant when i go to the spanish club...

however, robert ardrey also argues for the power of 'sexual selection' in nature, where being tall may not be so attractive to the opposite sex -- perhaps in society which values slim women of average height will tend towards a shorter population also... and perhaps tall men are not so desirable...

further, some research on medieval skeletons suggests they were only 1-2 inches shorter at most, most likely due to lower nutrition, so medieval shortness is apparently something of an urban myth. it would normally take thousands of years to see some sort of effect, barring a sudden cataclysmic event...

in fact, reduced environmental pressure leads to less genetic change -- so if life is easy, as it is for h. sapiens, you are less likely to experience natural selection effects...

Are we trying to solve the "problem" of bubbles in housing, bubbles in general, or the real problem of a lack of affordable housing in the Bay Area?

They are tangential problems, I think. The bubble, if there is one (and I am one of those who really thinks that there is not) will go away on its own.

The lack of affordable housing points to something much more profound happening in our society and I think DS is right.