patrick.net

The less savvy parents will not know what to demand from their schools in return for their vouchers.

The less savvy people will not know what to do.

As a result, the government should decide for everyone. Cute!

"The $168 billion federal stimulus package is likely to be less effective than intended because many homeowners may simply use their government checks to pay down their debts."

Ha ha ha, someone's been reading the blog. OMG, weren't we all just talking about what we would actually use the money for? Holy crap! Thanks Permarenter, this is great reading.

Cash rebate is a demand-side measure. I am not optimistic about its effectiveness at all.

Instead, they should consider exempting long-term capital gains tax for investments acquired this year.

I'm thinking maybe I'll stick it to 'the man' by using my rebate to sponsor some hungry kid somewhere in the world.

I’m thinking maybe I’ll stick it to ‘the man’ by using my rebate to sponsor some hungry kid somewhere in the world.

Or buy an ounce of gold. :)

No, that would mean further participation. BTW, OO, I have to say it's looking like you may win the point on which way gold will go. I still think it is overpriced especially in comparison to its "purchasing power," I'd still be very cautious about buying into it at this point, but I sure wouldn't encourage people to short it if that is even possible to do.

The fact that I might be wrong on gold scares me because it is bascially a statement as to how far we've let our trade deficit go. In my latest readings it seems Chinese and Indian jewelry demand is fueling a lot of this. If they can really afford jewelry at $950 an ounce then that is truly a measure of individual wealth. Permarenter's article is basically saying 1 in 10 American households now have negative home equity and Chinese people can pay cash for their overpriced jewelry.

It could still turn but I have to concede it has gone slightly further than I thought it would. I think it will either fall short of crossing $1,000 per ounce, or it will go well above it. It is not a rational market, I still say it is a bubble of its own.

BAP33 - what area are you looking in?

I would be interested to know. Thanks

OO Says:

> Just out of curiosity, how much do these teachers
> at Harker make? What about the real elite boarding
> school teachers at Philips Academy?

Over the years I’ve dated women who were teachers at Town School in SF, North School in Hillsborough (where I went as a kid) and Castilleja (where my fiancé went to HS) and none of them made a lot of money, but none of them became teachers because they wanted to make a lot of money…

> I believe that public school teachers only make about
> $50-80K in the Bay Area, which is really not a lot given
> that such positions require certain certification/training
> beyond undergrad education. It is hard for me to imagine
> that you can recruit any quality teachers at Harker at a
> salary below that.

Teachers don’t make a lot “per year” but they don’t do all that bad “per hour” since a young teacher works about half as many hours per week as a young analyst at an IB or VC firm. Many women that work at A list private schools are not doing it for the money but to meet young high achieving couples who will introduce them to their single high achieving friends so they can get married…

"I believe that public school teachers only make about $50-80K in the Bay Area"

Only.... Ha ha, you guys kill me. No one believes me when I tell them that I talk to people from the BA who think people who make less than 100K per year are poor. That is actually a pretty good salary down here.

Just out of curiosity, how much do these teachers at Harker make?

What about the real elite boarding school teachers at Philips Academy?

To add to FAB's anecdotes, the "elite" East Coast prep schools pay similarly low wages to their teachers. I have friends teaching at places like Deerfield, Roxbury Latin, and Milton Academy. Believe me, they are paid less than their peers at most public schools. And these all happen to be dudes, so they didn't go into it to get introduced to "single high achieving friends so they can get married." There's the prestige, there's the luxury of teaching to generally motivated students, and there's the romantic notion of being just like Mr. Chips or Robin Williams in Dead Poets' Society...

You gotta love this - the wifey showed me a post on a forum at her office intranet... some poor schlub at this (Fortune 100) company is hawking her "collection of designer handbags, some only a few months old, all of them in top condition and very sparely (sic) used". For some reason, she felt compelled to share the reason for selling - "real estate investment problem forces sale".

The address is in the Silver Creek neighborhood of San Jose. Looks like somebody just got a visit from the NOD fairy...

How do you make "six figures" selling furniture around Memphis?

"collection of designer handbags"

Good Lord. Must be SOME... collection to raise enough cash-ola to fill THAT hole-a!

Isn't there some children's nursery rhyme about an Old Woman that lived in a designer handbag?

Now how's that one go..?

DennisN,

How does one go about making six figures in Memphis, period?

Guys I like to pass along good experiences for other people's benefit. I just completed my girlfriend's taxes and am almost done with mine. I can't think of a better value than using www.taxact.com. It is very easy to use and has great advice and self checking. I'm impressed with it, and it also lets you do signature free E-filing.

Not tax, or sales advice, just passing along my testimonial.

Malcom,

I'm hoping a friend can e-mail the link on those that are so eager to file... they overlook major deductions! I think he said it was in Money Mag. Don't get me wrong, I get itchy to see where I stand too (but don't hit "submit" until the "Shot Clock" is winding down!)

On Turbo (and Tax-Cut) they both search for updates (I assume primarily for the AMT Patch) and I have (2) differing results? Anyone else run into "I am, I might/might not be in the AMT?" Just curious.

I hope a few hundred million is enough to buy adequate personal security; ski slopes can be quite dangerous... ;-)

Dinner at Spago: at least Peter P will approve.

Speaking of ski disasters:
www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/302439.html

The CEO of Tamarack, Jean-Pierre Buttplug, said "We were caught by surprise."

The real problem is this. "The resort has presold 90 percent of the condominiums in the village, but terms of the buyers' contracts say the homes must be finished by Dec. 31 or buyers can cancel their purchases."

And where were they planning to get construction financing?

"The resort was counting on money from the sale of land for the Fairmont Tamarack Resort, a luxury resort and vacation-home development. That sale should have closed in the summer, but Fairmont asked for an extension of the option to buy."

Does $118 Million count as a non-conforming "jumbo" loan?

How does one go about making six figures in Memphis, period?

Count both sides of the decimal point!

Collie Tuttle, in her early 60s, is caught in this bind. Four years ago, she purchased a newly built four-bedroom three-bathroom house in the Memphis outer suburb of Olive Branch, Miss., for $270,000. She put nothing down, relying on her six-figure income from selling furniture to pay down the mortgage, reducing it to $248,000.

But now, to sell it for the $269,000 a potential buyer was recently willing to pay, “I would have to come up with $6,000 from my pocket,” Ms. Tuttle said, explaining that she cannot afford to invade her meager retirement account.

How can you spend so much after receiving a "six figure" income to not have $6K mad money to get out of a house?

DennisN,

I don't think the man's name is "Buttplug" o.k? (But with a statement like that it should be!)

Yeah, uh... celebrity names and attracting investment dollars. Can't wait to stay away from it! Same result when Demi Moore was "on the board of directors" for a... Hard Rock Cafe she and Bruce opened up your way back in the 90's?

I don't think anyone is getting their deposits back... if that's the next logical question?

Ooops...I guess I let a typo in there.

OT

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/talk-housing-bailout-leads-more/story.aspx?guid=%7BB4CEFD07%2DBD47%2D44CB%2D939B%2D1DB5F76F63D9%7D&siteid=yahoomy

They were eager to make money on all of this and now they are going crying to the government because they are now losing money - didn't hear a peep out of them when they were all making huge profits!

The government should demand all the profits back from the banks and mortgage brokers to pay for all of this - I don't hear anyone suggesting this!

I say - no bailout! And some of course are suggesting we are already paying and should be pro the bailout because our 401k's are taking a hit - well if we lost 50% in our 401k (sad to say) it would still be less than what hopefully the houses will go down by in our area of CA.

And remember a lot of these people were quite happy to raid their housing ATM's for crap they didn't really need and holidays and fancy cars and were gleeful as to how much their house was worth - well, you know, I don't want to have to pay for their cars and holidays because in the good times they sure wouldn't have returned the favor if I had asked!

RANT OFF

Bruce Willis actually owns much of the town of Hailey and IIUC is a primary investor in Soldier Mountain ski resort. www.soldiermountain.com

I am still skeptical of 401K.

However, I have learned the lesson. Next time there is a large-scale financial orgy (like the housing bubble) I will jump in headfirst.

Claire,

Oh I didn't think it was a rant at all. Just straight talk. I too have wondered why they haven't just liquidated some of these lenders, sold of their remaining assets or placed them in some form of recievership?

Here's the reality. We actually HAVE opened the flood gates and they ARE finally allowing class action suits for investors to sue their 401k's! I haven't been able to find much about it yet, I just caught a quick blurb on MSNBC as they were concluding their market wrap on Wed.

Now I have NO IDEA what this all implies? You're suit is against Vangard/Fidelity? Your employer? (God forbid, he doesn't control that) Your broker? So I have no idea if this is "what's good for the goose"? Turn-about or whatever? I've long made the claim there was no one to bail US out (10 Mar 2000 - April 2003) so why all the bending-over-backwards for over leveraged specuvestors?

Anyone have anything on the 401K Class Action Auth?

LaRue v. DeWolff

pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/051756.P.pdf

Just another little something to fuel Peter P's paranoia about 401k's!

In my lay understanding the guy totally has a legit claim. I also feel the Enron employees that were shut out of their accounts as Enron "changed retirement plan providers" (while the stock was tanking) is legit as well.

My question is if these were isolated incidents (inability or unwillingness to complete the trade and move those that wanted to go to cash and were *not executed) why clear the way for class action?

DinOR Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:01 am
"Malcom,
On Turbo (and Tax-Cut) they both search for updates (I assume primarily for the AMT Patch) and I have (2) differing results? Anyone else run into “I am, I might/might not be in the AMT?” Just curious."

I'm holding off on hitting submit for my taxes til a little later, but the software is very good. AMT is not affecting me this year, but somehow it is the only doubt I have as well since I of course don't want to miss out on any rebate of it which is one of the questions about prior year AMT. My actual AMT tax a couple of years back was a little under $2,000 but in a way it was good because for some reason it caused my tax person to not have to add back in my state refund from that year which I never understood. I didn't have AMT last year, but that phrase prior years has me doing a little research. I've simplified my situation a lot and have found tax advice to be a self fulfilling cycle. I actually overcontributed to an IRA a couple of years ago (didn't know you needed earned income, I make mainly passive income) and would have paid the 6% penalty again but then TaxAct had a suggestion of just withdrawing the excess. No preparer, not even my original CPA said to do that, I just ran down to the bank yesterday and filled out a simple form specifically for excess contributions.

Actually I think I remember why the state tax refund didn't need to go back in, because AMT replaces the itemized deductions which is what the state taxes paid are normally deducted from and then the refund is added the following year. Yikes! See it's not all fun and games.

New thread: Poetic Justice strikes Banksters: Judges say, “No tickee, no forclosee.”

@Malcolm:
Yeah, with regard to public schools and the money crunch there--one does wonder what the heck they are doing with the high Cali income taxes and the high Cali sales taxes. Something is deeply wrong somewhere.