patrick.net

Peter P

I am sorry. I shouldn't get into any arguements either. But I'm tired of defending myself when I am simply doing what the majority of the blog has asked for.

You know how to discipline an errant child don't you? Ignore and/or distract.

Surfer X - you are much too intelligent to get drawn in to this MP - head in the sand- person's mentality.

Come on, seriously, what kind of person takes the time to go out of his way to make other people feel so badly about themselves? Only someone with pathetically low self esteem. He is only trying to make himself feel better ( about what we don't know) but rest assured, he is hurting ( if MP was as successful as he wants us to believe, why in God's name would be even have a minute to spare or even bother to spew such hatred to people on this board)?

He is bored and unfulfilled - don't even respond - just pretend ( better yet, don't even read his posts) that he doesn't exist. Life is too short - don't even waste another minute on this wanna be.

But I’m tired of defending myself when I am simply doing what the majority of the blog has asked for.

You do not need to defend yourself against all POVs. You have the understanding of the majority. Thanks for maintaining all these recent threads. I should have been less lazy. ;)

jbunniii,

our neighbor, Canada, has an oil reserve that is only second to Saudi, in the form of oil sand, in Alberta. Brazil also has a huge reserve that will be made profitable to explore if the spike in oil price continues.

As a continent, we are assured of oil, food supply, drinking water. I am just looking at the worst case scenario. There are far worse continents, e.g. Asia, Europe (excl Russia), and of course Africa. If we can stand the worst case scenario, the rest is all upside.

I gotta log off for awhile. Ignore anything the troll posts and I'll delete when I get back. Eventually if we all ignore him, he'll go since he's not getting the attention he so desperately craves. And since I'm going to delete, it'll be like he was never here anyway.

Just a random thought.

What will the recent climatic catastrophy in the Gulf/FL region do to CA realty? I don't remember the east coast and the Gulf area whacked by hurricanes every year 10 years ago. Will the northeastern well-off snowbirds eventually realize that the Pacific coast is a better alternative than the-soon-to-be-under-water FL? Will that mean CA RE will just stand strong because obviously there will be millions of Americans who can afford to pay more for a better weather? Compared to this persistent annual disaster, once-in-a-while earthquake is just a piece of cake.

Just a random thought.

What will the recent climatic catastrophy in the Gulf/FL region do to CA realty? I don’t remember the east coast and the Gulf area whacked by hurricanes every year 10 years ago. Will the northeastern well-off snowbirds eventually realize that the Pacific coast is a better alternative than the-soon-to-be-under-water FL? Will that mean CA RE will just stand strong because obviously there will be millions of Americans who can afford to pay more for a better weather? Compared to this persistent annual disaster, once-in-a-while earthquake is just a piece of cake.

Given the outrageous cost of RE here in CA displaced people might look to the midwest instead. We'll see.

My husband had a funny story today. He knows a guy who's trying to sell a house in El Dorado Hills, its been on the market for 4-5 months I think. The guy is such an idiot.

He puts the house on the market for $750,000 and gets and offer for $705,000, his response is "are they nuts! I'm not selling for $705K." And he lets the house sit. A month or two goes by and he re-lists the house at $700,000 and someone offers him $680,000. He gives the same answer and doesn't sell. The house is now listed at $650,000 and he says he'd kill for an offer of $680,000. But if someone offers him less than $650,000 he's not going to take it! I wonder how long this is going to go on and how low he'll eventually go. If I hear I'll let you know.

Jack

I was thinking of emailing Surfer-X and telling him that everyone wants him to stay, but I don't want to be too pushy. What do you think?

Cindy

All I know is that the guy bought a new house and is selling the old one. He has family money so doesn't have to sweat it too much, but he keeps wanting to hold out for more money and is just sitting watching the price go down rather than take an offer.

How 'bout some crazy/bizarre real estate property ads? Or, in this case, a series of ads that basically amounts to crazy. These below are for the same property, posted on Sept 15, 18, & 21 (top to bottom):
http://www.craigslist.org/sby/rfs/97828686.html
http://www.craigslist.org/sby/rfs/97949488.html
http://www.craigslist.org/sby/rfs/99093921.html

If you don't want to look, basically the price for same unit is listed at 459K, 450K, and 439K on Sep. 15, 16, and 21. At least CL is free.
The funny thing is, a while back, the person was listing the price higher, then lower, then higher within a 1-2 wk time frame. Like friggin' realtor schizophrenia. LOL.
Oh here's another interesting read:
http://www.craigslist.org/sby/rfs/98431958.html

LOL, this thread is crazy. I vote that I not be allowed to suggest any more topics for discussion. Can I get an "amen?" :-P

Surfer-X, I'm sorry about your friend. And I do hope you'll stick around. We need someone to rage against the machine.

Owneroccupier, your point about us having it better than most of the world is well-taken. Thanks for adding a ray of light in all the doom and gloom. :-) I want to believe that any bad economic times to come will ultimately bring positive change.

RE the catastrophes in the gulf coast region, I would be very surprised if it contributed to a greater demand for real estate here in CA. Many people who've never lived in CA are terrified of the earthquakes, so I'm guessing the snow birds and such are not going to flee one disaster area for another potential one. Plus real estate is so relatively cheap there as opposed to here (even with recent run-up in FL prices), it's pretty hard for people to make the leap from that region to this one. Or at least it seems that way to me. :-)

SactoQt,

Great story --this is a classic example of riding the market downhill.
Btw, I wouldn't worry about Surfer-X --he'll be back eventually. As Jack, Cindy, Karrie, etc. correctly pointed out, irritating though the troll may be, no one should be feeding him. The more negative attention he gets, the more he keeps coming back.

PS I'm clearly feeling the need to add many smiley faces to this thread. Please excuse the excessive smiling.

PS I’m clearly feeling the need to add many smiley faces to this thread. Please excuse the excessive smiling.

Personally I could use the smiles. I mixed a double martini and took a bath to unwind. This is supposed to be fun right? Btw, I'm trying to watch the thread while taking care of two kids and packing to move in a week and a half. Have pity on me when I can't get to the troll's post's and ignore ignore ignore. I'm begging here. :?

PS I’m clearly feeling the need to add many smiley faces to this thread. Please excuse the excessive smiling.

No :mrgreen: need :twisted: for :roll: you :evil: to :oops: apologize :lol: we :razz: understand :cool: the :shock: feeling :grin: completely :???:

I think it's somewhat likely that some people, in the frigid northeast, who had been planning on buying retirement/vacation property somewhere on the warm sunny gulf coast, would naturally look set their sights on california in light of the recent gulf coast disaster(s). How many people??? Anyone's guess. Hopefully, for their sake, they come out & experience the crisp & cool ocean water before committing to buy.

Sacto, you're doing a great job. You shouldn't feel like you have to babysit us all the time. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

HARM, LOL. I must expand my emoticon language skills. I love the face with the shocked eyes. I'm too lazy to go look up how to do them all.

SQt,
Somehow it seems that when you post threads per someone's request, it degenerates like this one (like when I requested "rate hike" thread, too). So sorry! Don't worry, must be just a cruel coincidence! I'm sure it'll stope! Don't give up on threadmastering!

codex.wordpress.org/List_of_Emoticons

Thanks for the support guys! It is much appreciated. I do seem to get the threads that degenerate into the biggest messes. Just lucky I guess. I'm going to be out of commission for a few days when we move, so I'm thinking it might be time to talk some other regulars into threadmastering?? Anyone? Anyone?
Just register and Patrick will send you a password and you'll have mighty thread making powers!

Lol
Now we just need Prat to chime in and it would be perfect.

_shakes head in disgust at nasty flame war_

_walks a bit futher_

_kicks a teenage troll posing as $400K/year "investment banker"_

_walks a bit further_

_kicks a defenseless Realtor(tm)_

_walks a bit further_

_starts a preemptive bidding war_

_walks a bit further_

_holds beer while cackling with Jack, Peter P & KurtS @ Marin Brewing Co._

Chewbacca,
HARM-as-prat

Harm-as-prat

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
My evening is now complete! :D

I go into an angry rant about once a week myself so I have not yet transcended the angry problem either.

Angry? You are one of the nicest person I have ever met. Perhaps I have mistaken. :-P

Pop!,
I haven't read the whole article yet; but my first thought was: "Wow, they'll have to re-calculate all the ocean tide tables".

I bet Jack had *no idea* just how prescient his "Roid is Prime" predictions were!

I'm trying to think of what a home on the moon would be called, but I can't think of anything as good as home'roid. Lunalots? Moonpads? Nothing sounds as good. I'll keep thinking.....

McMoonsion

LOL too funny Pop!

MnMoonsion

Ooooooooh, that's good. I give you both credit. ;)

There is a Nobel Peace Prize, so he obviously didn't just value science.

How many people have concluded that Greenspan's "conundrum" might be based on the fact foreigners are now too afraid to hold long term US debt, in case the US dollar and economy sink further - hence the disconnect between short and long term rates?

Any thoughts on that?

tsusiat,
I think your opinion is shared by several on this board.
A quick search turned up this article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7038159/site/newsweek/
The article contains this rather disturbing statement:
"Through September, foreigners had provided 32 percent of the money raised in U.S. credit markets in 2004, up from 14 percent in 2000."
I'm curious as to the numbers for 2005.

Here, I found 55 page .pdf file concerning foreign central bank effects on long bond interest, among other things:
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~nroubini/papers/BW2-Unraveling-Roubini-Setser.pdf

FWIW it's "Roubini and Setser"...I have no idea if they're well-regarded or not.

Hurricane Rita is now a category 5 and is bearing down on Texas. It could also veer to the right and hit southern Louisiana, just what they need. At least this time mass evacuations are underway and the federal government has already declared a state of emergency so the response won't be so slow this time. Hopefully this one will slow down before it hits, but it's still going to be a doozy. What effect do you guys think 2 category 5 hurricanes are going to have on the economy? Also, since it's still in the gulf, the oil rigs will probably be hit again.

There is no Nobel prize in Economics. Mr. Nobel specifically prohibited it. He said it isn’t a science, and I agr

I love it. You should probably go inform Geroge A. Akerlof (from my alma mater), A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz (from my other alma mater) that their prizes don't exist. I think there's a ton of these non-prize winners sitting over in Berkeley too.

Got to nobelprize.org for reference. The actual award's full title is: "The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel"

"You must have a hole in your head if you think diluting an existing race and culture is a good thing."

You could have disagreed with me without insulting me. That was completely unnecessary.

Suggestion for new thread topic (directed at SactoQt):

OIL SHOCK! (Part II). With Rita now headed straight for the US refinery heartland, what effects can we expect economically. Short-term, long-term, macro, micro, psychological. And finally, if/how/when will this affect the Bay Area's real-estate bubble?

They say diversity of race/sex/perversion is great, but how? They have never provided one logical argument about why it is great. Because they can’t. Their real goal is to destroy America and western civilization in general. They do that with their constant attacks on morality and Christianity. They do that with their socialism. And they do that with their immigration policies allowing this country to become the United Nations.

Firstly, I'll try to avoid the direct race-baiting which is going on. I really deplore that kind of troll the worst.

(a) One need not be liberal to believe diversity has logically consistent, social and economic benefits. I, for one, am anything but liberal. I count myself an Objectivist, which is closer to Libertarian than anything, and I ensure you that I am _way_ more fiscally conservative than you can imagine.

(b) I have provided at least 4 logical arguments regarding diversity, all of which are grounded in economic theory and proven empirically and historically.

(c) Who's goal is it to "destroy western civilization"? Just because intelligent people disagree about these things doesn't indicate that they are somehow your enemy. Not only does this not follow, but it's starkly anti-American.

(d) Morality and Chistianity? You have drawn a parallel linking Liberals to non-moral/non-Christians and conservatives as the opposite. Let me ask you this: Who, exactly, has been responsible for the overwhelming bulk of immigration into the US since the Industrial Revolution, continuing today? Unless you answer Oligarchs, Industrialists, and most recently Multinational Corporations then you are simply wrong. I don't seem to recall seeing many of these folks crusading for leftist causes over the years.

(e) Finally Socialism. Historically, Socialist countries have allowed very little-to-no immigration. This continues today in much of Socialist-Democratic Europe. If the US becomes "more Socialist", then expect less immigration because the people here already will exert their self-beneficial intent to erect barriers to free-trade, immigration, and capital market liberalization. It is the fiscal conservatives (pro-free market, free trade), who want _more_ immigration because it helps to create greater overall economic growth and wealth generation.

...I'm happy to provide ecomonic proofs, etc. but if all people are worried about is religious culture wars, then I can't offer anything of use. Just remember that dogmatic ideological crusades make you no better than those you call your enemy.

Do you they ever claim that China is worse off because it only has Chinese?

...and one more thing, you show your ignorance here, I'm afraid. China is not "one-people", even if they all "look the same to you". Go travel in China a bit and tell me that the people in the rural north are the same cultural, ethnic, religious as those on the coast. China, in fact, is incredibly diverse, and is becoming more integrated as the government modernizes the economy and infrastructure and people move between regions.

...and lots of people complain about Japanese monoculture and hegenomy, and have been doing so since the early 1960s. Ask anyone who happens to live somewhere near Japan.