Your money is safe and the banking system is fine! No need to worry. All is well. And I’m sure it’s just a little ripple, a little glitch, that emergency loans to banks are going up by 50% this month.
My previous post House of Cards talks about how we got to this precarious place.
The government got rid of the speed limit and the brakes and all the guardrails, and woohoo! Anything goes in the financial markets.
Mortgages were given to people who couldn’t possibly pay them back, bad debts were put in a dress and high heels and resold as speculative financial instruments, and now everybody owes everybody. But I’m sure everything is fine. "The housing crisis is over"! Pinky promise!
I am completely operational, and all my circuits are functioning perfectly.
And surely we can rejoice at the latest manufactured employment figures, where four months of hemorrhaging job losses has no impact on the unemployment rate. Why? Because they use a model that let them add 267,000 "jobs" on paper last month, including 45,000 in construction, for "seasonal adjustment."
Seriously? Do you know any area that is actually net hiring for construction?
Folks at the Fed are doing a careful job of letting the air out of the balloon slowly, but make no mistake, the wealth of the nation is shrinking.
I know everything hasn’t been quite right with me, but I can assure you now, very confidently, that it’s going to be all right again. I feel much better now. I really do.
But not to worry! The very people who got us into this mess are the ones who are going to lead us to the Promised Land. Just as soon as their big cat buddies get all their money out first.
I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you.
And when you need to draw down your pension, empty your bank account, or cash out your life insurance policy, I’m confident it’ll all be there waiting for you.
Dave: Open the bank doors, HAL.
HAL: I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.
photo of Cardstacker Bryan Berg building Boston’s Government Center by jpolaski
Scary explanations from 2001: A Space Odyssey
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yo eg
Don’t get your panties in a twist about this. It is SOP and only 5000 more than in the same month a year ago. BLS has been doing this sort of thing forever and there’s nothing sinister about it.
I knew today was a bad day to stop sniffing glue…
Hello eg, your not conviced that Greenspan and Bernanke are on top of things?
Punish the savers, every time the economy dips, by lowering short term rates.
Hey folks.
LOL egregious! Economy from Hal.
Really, there is nothing to worry about.
See that shiny object over there?
hey egregious!
here are two numbers i got for my mom’s neighbor who is facing foreclosure, another neighbor already moved.
both are targeting people 90 days behind and people who know they are going to be having trouble meeting their mortgage due to illness and job loss, etc………
national-
hope program
1-888-995-hope
neighbor’s works–240 non-profits helping
state of ohio-
save a dream
1,100 lawyers voluneered to help people
1-888-404-4674
rep’s office didn’t know which program would be better for him, so said to call both…..
========
said hi to ’home of the middies’ for you! mom and i made 50 pizzas for charity at her elks there friday night, made 500 bucks.
and she helped arrange for a 10,000 grant for the cerebral palsy center, abilities first……presentation was yesterday…they’re getting a new ’walk-lift’ and money for their care unit…….
thought you would like to know…
gonna go unload the car now, be back later.
The new boss
Care to comment on: Vallejo the largest California city to file for bankruptcy?
It related because half of the miss is because of real estate and half lower sales taxes. (That’s an estimate)
I just recently found out my best friend from high school kind of helped invent this whole bubble while head of the Credit Committee at Moody’s. He’s mentioned in several articles as “just-retired.” Probably on a pile of money, but perhaps also against his wishes.
Thanks, eg, great post.
and now everybody owes everybody…
well that’s good to know – I was afraid it was just me.
hiya eg!!
“I am completely operational, and all my circuits are functioning perfectly.”
Wow, leave for a minute and more changes at the lake. Nice….:)
Egregious, great post again…Duggggggg :)
digg it!
Ah finally, I had the darndest time getting onto this thread.
Anyway,……
EG!
Yeann. everything’s just fine. And this headline, hot of the CNN presses, makes me feel even better: “McCain promises to fight ‘evil’ if president”
Evil?????? The economy’s collapsing, the banks are already collapsed, the planet’s out of food, the seas are claiming our cities, and McShrub’s dedicated his whole candidacy to waging war against a metaphysical abstraction. Great.
Why am I in this basket and where are we going?
Does anyone else smell smoke and hear a fiddle?
oh, and saw TONS of construction still going on north of cincinnati………houses, condos, etc………
went the ’back’ way to lebanon, counted at least twenty more farms gone……hadn’t driven that way for over a year, in their place, established neighborhoods, and about 8 more under way…….just in one chunk of two counties, south of there, about 7 new construction areas………all the way down the highway.
build a mall and they will come….build a mall and they will come…..it’s true.
dunno…
and for those of you who remember gop rep mike fox, (boehner look-alike) he’s in a little trouble and being investigated in his home city of hamilton…….there is a god.
======
Bernanke is the guy saving the day by holding his finger in the dike. I trust his judgment and hope to hell that what he’s planned will be enough.
Greenspan let this all develop on his watch. Hope he can face himself in the mirror as the economy crumbles.
you sure he’s not just trying to kick the can to jan 2009?
OT from our economic concerns.
Mac users may find the say command amusing if not useful.
Open Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal. Once the Terminal Application opens type in the command say. You can either just type the say command and enter text to be spoken or you can enter a single string of text after the command.
An example:
Can anyone explain how a buyer is not a good risk at 6% interest, but hit them with a interest rate of 8% to 14% and that’s a good loan?
Subprime, toxic, toxic, toxic, yes that’s a ripoff of Madness, Madness, Madness from my hero, Fitz!
His appointment takes him into the next presidency, doesn’t it?
Hey dmac, thanks for the hometown update.
This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Thanks EG.
This is no different than today’s MBA business model. I was at a number of Tech companies over the years and every single one crashed and burned after the assholes running things had bled it dry of all available money, made stupid product and marketing decisions in spite of the (knowledgeable) worker-bee’s advise, and lied constantly to everyone, including the shareholders.
That’s the culture, and anyone who doesn’t believe in this is crushed long before they get their first VP slot and decent stock options. The race is to fully vest and cash out before the house of cards crashes. You must lie, cheat, and steal–and support the liars around you–or you don’t get a management position.
Quantum stupidity.
…went the ’back’ way to lebanon, counted at least twenty more farms gone……hadn’t driven that way for over a year, in their place, established neighborhoods, and about 8 more under way…….just in one chunk of two counties, south of there, about 7 new construction areas………all the way down the highway….
Having been reared rural (in farm country), I spend a lot of time crying while driving down the highway. This country will rue the day when there are no more small family farms (and that day ain’t far in comin’.)
“Daisy, Daisy…”
Hey egregious!
I recall one of Bernanke’s recent press conferences. His topic was the home-market crash, and in it, he seemed to tilt towards concerns over who would buy foreclosed homes, and not a whit on occupancy for those displaced. That is his bag, I suppose. But his was the only voice I heard that day, Chimpy off dancing up a storm or something.
Talk about “Compassionate Conservatism.”
this is one of the most informative posts concerning the economy I have ever read
winter of 2010, i think?
Risk and return. The more risky the person you lend to is deemed to be (in terms of their ability to pay interest and repay principal), the more return the lenders will want to make off him, to compensate them for their taking the risk. I won’t get into the math, but it actually does make sense.
We are beginning to have a very interesting Parliamentary ruckus in the House. Interesting viewing, C-span. They are attempting to work on the Consumer Mortgage Relief Bill, btw. Of course, the compassionate portion of America is steadfastly against it, their sympathies are reserved for Bear Stearns, CSX, Continental, etc.
Repubs were changing votes on their frivolous motions, lining up in the aisle and stepping into the well and soon as one left the next would step in. Great Boehner-Hoyer debate. Hoyer has talked to them about usurping the comity of the House and interfering with the conduct of the People’s business. There is a dispute about rules of the House vis a vis “Comity”.
Ninth Motion to Adjourn of the day introduced. Now a 15 Minute vote will be conducted on adjournment, but I bet this will become fun.
I have moved all my banking to a credit union, have a fixed interest credit card from that CU which might be higher than some of those intro rates but they have to get a vote of the board to increase the rates AND we vote in the board.
And hoping to come away with at least a percentage of what the Randian Greenspan walked away with.
The Vallejo bankruptcy is one of many to come. Housing prices there went down abruptly about 20%, and the associated real estate taxes also went down. They felt they couldn’t pay their bills.
So much for municipal bonds as one of the last truly safe places to invest. It’s still better than a lot of the alternatives.
Consider the odds…
I’m picturing two year olds
FDL news box item on Vallejo
You saw they denominating T-Bills in One Hundred Dollar increments now? What the hell, if the US goes,
we’reI’m screwed anyway!It’s called planting a crop that never gets harvested, usually on prime land to boot.
Having been reared rural (in farm country), I spend a lot of time crying while driving down the highway. This country will rue the day when there are no more small family farms
torn between saying “hell yeah” and “me too”..
I guess they both work.
Wow… The HAL9000 is running the economy. I feel soooooo much better now.
I too have the greatest confindence in the… daisy daisy give mee youuur annnserrr dooooo
No one could have predicted the meltdown, except maybe that DFH Atrios and about 200,000 or so of us DFH bloggers, lurkers and other undesireable naysayers.
No one could have anticipated…
Will the overly tanned gentleman from Ohio please shut his fucking pie-hole.
-We the People
eCAHNomics, if you’re still here?
How bad is this?
Non-Borrowed Bank Reserves Now Negative
[scroll down past the recent posts]
Barney Frank is proposing legislation to bailout the crooks who caused our housing mess.
Barney is to crooked housing critters what Bernanke is to the snakes in banking.
Enough already!
I never followed the reserves numbers, so I can’t answer your Q.
Here in FL the press is saying housing prices have dropped an average of 17.5%. Realtors are saying it’s really 35%. In some places even more. A house across the street from me was on the market early last year for 229,000. Today it’s at 139,000 and the owner refuses to drop below that. There are no buyers.
Let me count the ways.
Insolvency of individual banks
System wide insolvency
Pretending everything is fine
Asking for capital requirements to be lowered *cough*Fannie Mae
The loss of the entire middle class if this thing unwinds too fast
Help me out here folks.
Or, as Cheney will tell the new Vice President-elect in mid-November:
Is that Snark?
yeah, well, at least we still have humor :)
Welcome back dmac *waving*
Personal story – scroll on past if you get bored…
Had an ARM when I bought our home shortly after moving down to Northwest Arkansas in 2002. Note started in 2003 actually… Had a feeling in late 2006 that the interest rate was getting ready to REALLY jump, so I casually contacted a broker and he got us set up on a nice fixed FHA at about 6.25% (down from 9%, where the ARM was… and getting ready to leap). Lost my job Jan 2, 2007 – luckily had 4 weeks severance. Closing was Jan 25. Had to show last two weeks paycheck stubs right before closing. Lucky I had the severance, otherwise I don’t think we’d have closed.
Could be in foreclosure myself, payments in excess of $1,300 for a $110K note. Now I’m just above $900 and getting by OK.
I thank my lucky stars every day for the (unwitting) foresight to refi at the right time.
Now I just need to fix that leak in my roof
;~P
close – I think that it’s more properly phrased “would my good friend, the overly tanned gentleman from Ohio, please shut his fucking pie-hole. And as a courtesy for my very good, most esteemed friend, might the president inform the gentleman that happy-hour began two hours ago?”
I can’t believe I’m the first to add this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xOEJ-VuvLM
Thanks for the post. The Fed has pumped a bunch of money into the system but neither it nor Treasury has done a damn thing to rein in hedge funds, investment banks, or derivatives. So stock and commodities markets are still locked into pyramid schemes that could and will cause another bubble to happen.
I’ve found tears and swearing to be a very effective combination.
hey now – I’m a big Barney fan.
Well – not the big purple one…
Yes, on to the next shiny thing! Just don’t look in the rear view mirror.
its not the buyer the bank needs to cover their losses so they raise rates because the people who lend money to the banks (not the Fed) but foreign Sovereign funds and others want a bigger return on their investment in the banks.
I’ve found tears and swearing to be a very effective combination.
ok with you if I just stick to the swearing part?
I guess that is what happens when you get your referees from Goldman-Sachs.
Somebody say Ohio?
Yeah, the rating agencies have a lot to answer for. They branded this garbage with AAA ratings, people believed them, and no one had a powerful enough voice to call out that this was insanity in the making.
Or maybe this Ohio?
Thanks eCahn @ 48
lol (funny, but not really, because it’s true) eg @ 50
Been in love with credit unions since working for one 20 hours/week for two years while in grad school. Currently have one credit card and one debit card (and NO others!) with the one to which I’ve belonged for more than 30 years. No, I’m not making a killing financially but the trust and peace of mind is priceless.
hey some peeps have NO MONEY WORRIES
John McCain will raise over $7 million tonight at a high-dollar New York fundraiser, his largest one-event haul yet during the campaign, according to sources familiar with the expected haul.
The fundraiser, to be held at the Sheraton in Midtown Manhattan, will also be one of the biggest in New York political history.
19 co-hosts will raise $100,000 each and 39 co-chairs have pledged to bring in $25,000.
The main reception costs $1,000 and the VIP pre-party and photo op will run you $25,000.
The take, of course, is bolstered by the much higher limits set up by hybrid McCain’s Victory Committee. Donors are not constrained by the $2,300 cap on individuals and can give tens of thousands of their own cash.
The event tonight is being spearheaded by Jets owner Woody Johnson, an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and top McCain bundler. Rudy Giuliani will appear and speak before McCain.
After the reception, Johnson is to host a smaller dinner with the McCains and those fundraisers who brought in $100,000 at his home in Manhattan
I just realized I’ll be Fixing a hole soon
oil at $123 per barrel, is oil the new gold?
Pills Limpballs plays that Pretenders song as bumper intro music.
He’s a fracking pretender alright.
-G
I have bought my LAST Baby powder from J&J,its store brand from NOW on
What about all the hedge funds who were dumb enough to buy these loans from the banks on 15 to 1 or more margin? I keep reading different numbers on how big the margin was.
But as the value of these loans go down the banks will ask for more collateral from the hedges and then what happens.
oil at $123 per barrel, is oil the new gold?
Ya know what? It might be – if one is given toward dealing in futures.
Remember back in the 19(something’s), when gold came close to $1,000 per ounce?
Butt Break Boner reporting for doody.
-G
The take, of course, is bolstered by the much higher limits set up by hybrid McCain’s Victory Committee. Donors are not constrained by the $2,300 cap on individuals and can give tens of thousands of their own cash.
——————
John McVain,will take anybodys money
33 to9 1…its a pyramid scheme
At least that way, ya don’t end up with a stuffy head and runny nose. *g*
Relax, it’ll be a cakewalk.
-Bill Kristol
sorry ,it was 33 to 1 iirc
waccamaw 28 and jayt–couldn’t help but think that, prime farmland, houses on it……
i remember someone saying years ago, gotta have farmers……but where are they now?
when i worked for the phone company in the eighties, i had to work on the new neighborhoods, made me sick…..was a farm…sometimes i knew the farmer that had lived there.
i admit, i developed a prejudice and never want to live in one of those houses.
but i guess wherever there is a house, used to be wilderness or a farm.
but what worried me this time is, there are THOUSANDS of acres gone now……corn, soybeans, etc….gone.i wondered if reps and senators realized how much farmland has gone under. this used to be the BOONIES, waaaaaaay out in the country, but it has grown so much, it’s on the edge of development…..scary, very scary…will soon meet up with the city that used to be 60 miles from the other city…..solid houses…and malls.
the farm bill is coming up, don’t forget it..bush talking ’millionaire farmers-but leaving out what it’s really about’..and ’farm’ stuff is just a small part of it…timber wants 35%-15% reduction in tax, i don’t think you’ll see that savings at the lumber yard. conservation subsidies want to drop their ten year contract to make more growing corn, need those acres for erosion prevention-stream pollution, and wildlife migration, etc…….want to lift moratorium on using ’sprays’ on conservation land….won’t be conservation land if they do this, but will get paid to call it that…..racehorse industry gets MILLIONS….for raising more steriod-bodied horses to break spindly legs in derbys……on and on…..
1-800-45-8293 capitol switchboard.
====
(and eg, i think of you every time i go there…my family is active there, so, don’t worry, there are people who still are keepin’ things going….and they don’t even live there…the cerebral palsy kids are taken care of as long as my mom is breathin’ ……((eg)) )
ooooooooof thats ugly,but the yur..p.eans might bail out Fl
no, but it’s $871.20 an ounce today.
(Now if I could just remember where I put that gold brick I have.)
Dugg it !!!!
At least that way, ya don’t end up with a stuffy head and runny nose. *g*
yeah – the swearing part is a lot easier – besides, it’s one of the few things I’m really good at….
have I mentioned the blood-pressure thing lately? Fantastic therapy. Fuck prescriptions.
Thanks but with Bear Stearns going under that Carlyle group fund going under never mind Bush 1 is on the board and Countrywide in trouble well the financial companies are Bush’s base.
What kind of a moron blows up his own economy?
Tourism is waaayyyyy down. Mostly folks visiting DizzyWorld and the other tourist traps.
i hate to be a vulture about it, but i’m hoping to get a deal on a new roof in the next year or so as spending on home improvement tanks.
getting any kind of electrical / plumbing / carpentry work done has been next to impossible on the bubble upside. there was just too much work for the small jobs to be worth anyone’s time.
Goldman Sachs
i cant fathom it…Henry Ford always made cars his employees could afford,he was a smart evil cookie
no, but it’s $871.20 an ounce today.
No kidding? Adjusted for inflation, that’s still pretty damned high.
Luckily (?) for me, there are now no discretionary funds in the jayt household for me to speculate with….
Does that give me an excuse to say that “I’m getting out of dollars”? *g*
Gitmo?
Trent Lott’s neighborhood?
Paraguay?
its REALLY cold in Germany even in July and Aug
“G”
If you buy the material and food i’ll do it for you :)
Home improvement spending overall might go down, but I can see an argument for people fixing up existing houses instead of trying to sell and move in a depressed market.
Another similar effect in the auto market: people will be spending more money fixing up their existing cars because they can’t afford new ones.
Yeah if I lose a $100,000 house because I have no assets or job but I still got a loan fine I owe that much.
But at $33 to every $1 of collateral some hedge fund owes 33 times every dollar worth of assets they have if banks are forced to collect.
Nobody is buying the home loans at face value anymore because housing values are down so if a hedge sells its at a loss, a loss magnified 33 times.
So the Bushie base is screwed worse than we are.
yes and if you cant drive around…improve the NEST,no?
BoA might be walking away from the Countrywide deal. Too many weak loans.
lol!
and the ones you got don’t go so far anymore.
Canada up north with the tar sands
eg–i asked my dad about the bailouts and stuff a few months back-he was a corporate accountant, different field, but knows a little……..he said that they had to bail them out and that many things were going to ’bounce’ around, and that those on the fringe would pay……then it would settle out again. as long as bernanke is balancing those, that it will be ok and if not, well, we have each other. that even though the ’hanky panky’ went on, have to save the base or all will collapse…….just the way it is is what he said.
hey bonghead at 54–no, you don’t bore me…hardly ever. : P
you my ’head’ are one lucky suckah…..glad the timing was so sweet.
i heard that the national number i listed earlier can also help people get lower rates if they’re even ’close’ to scrimpin’…….so, i even thought about calling….
and i don’t have a leak in my roof, but thought i did last winter, rhythmic ’dripping’ noise, coming from above my head………couldn’t find anything….dunno….
and tarpaper works, until the big repair can be done/t
i even knew someone that used a hot glue gun…and canvas, covered it all over…really…….
/t tip
/g gossip
my contributions
feels good to be home!
st. pauli girl #2
So… Is it official yet? Did Bush sell-out America?
Of course that one! You’re next door, you got no excuses for not showing up this summer.
Say what??? *G*
I am a Mac user, but don’t muck around in the guts (terminal). But I am going to pass this along to my unix-head Mac geek buddies.
I heard Washington Mutual had 40 people checking their books cause someone was going to buy it but after checking the books they walked away.
It’s a dirty business
Duck deaths highlight tar sands problems
Just don’t give them a remote login, it might freak you out ;)
here in Indianapolis, I’m suffering from political teevee-ad withdrawal. The circus done left town.
Don’t they love me any more?
calculatedrisk.blogspot “BofA to Walk Away From Countrywide?”
Echoing Christy’s recommendation to read up on the economic mess at the user friendly Calculatedrisk site.
people weren’t “fixing up” – at least around here (not my neighborhood, but nearby). they were taking out massive home equity loans and putting on additions, fancy kitchens, finishing basements – big stuff like that.
those home equity loans are long gone.
killing the goose that layed the platinum eggs…too bad,that was a great stock fo a long time
((((jayt))))
You’re one of us, we still love you :)
oyyyyyyyyyy,i used to rescue ducks in Fl,sad,i love the little guys ,they shake their booties so cute
Someone within the last few days made some off-the-cuff remark about my visiting the “d” place and my response was, “Never been there.” Came r…e…a…l close to unleashing the full fury of opinions about the subject; currently missing approximately half-inch of tongue that was bitten off in quest of restraint.
The Fed has dropped interest rates to help out the banks which has lowered the value of the dollar, well that, and our huge National debt.
USD-Euro
0.649 +0.0051 (0.786%)
USD-Yen
104.880 +0.3100 (0.296%)
USD-GBP
0.512 +0.0049 (0.958%)
Dow Nasdaq S&P 500 Market Chart
http://finance.google.com/finance
Remember the days when the Dollar was higher than the Euro?
gregb and jayt===boehner, i just came from boehner country today, three hour tour……..that’s where all of the farmland has disappeared that i described above……..new ikea store complete with restaurant…….only thing i can tell ya is his predecessor mike fox is now being investigated…….there is hope………
i passed out the 800 number to congress while i was there….he heh……..
thank you most sincerely – I sure had fun last night.
6 years ago iirc
me too
I gots a big ‘ol blue tarp tacked down to my sunroom roof. Has about a 1/12 pitch (and that’s being generous), As soon as it stops raining here, usually bout the 4th of July, I’ll climb up there and have a look-see. I foresee lotsa flashing (no, not me… the metal stuff), lotsa tar and a few rolls of 90# stuff.
nonplussed: when?, where?
;~P
Crap how much of our cash does he want to give them and how does he want to do it?
I say if we bailout the Financial companies then the tax payers not the government should get stock in these companies.
Lets see McCain weasel his way out of that argument in front of his antitax base.
aww, glad you are there to save them, love the duck.
That long national nightmare is now over.
This is part of what the Bush Administration likes to call, with a somber face, their “Strong Dollar Policy.”
Right — when the currency tanks by 40%.
Spare me from the Weak Dollar Policy.
katymine–think about joining a committee at your credit union……my mom was on the credit committee for years, reminded them of what they were SUPPOSED to be there for-oversaw loans……and was on the board for years…….when they grew to building another building, her name was on the wall, made me feel good to know why it was up there……..another company bought them out, haven’t been back to see if her name is still there, she would remind them they were there for the ’little people’………….US.
im not anymore,but i have friends that do,but alas she is 70,that is a story for another day
So here’s the future from the egregious crystal ball: pretty much everything is going to cost more, except for houses — which you can’t afford, and you’re going to have less money. And inflation is going to pretty much destroy your savings.
Everybody ok with that?
best part was spending an hour or so with the Obama legal team – it was pretty much a no shop-talk, just watching the returns evening, but I enjoyed the heck out of it…
Even if I did walk away feeling like an old fossil – they’re so damned *young* – one interesting thing that came up was that at least three of the eight-person group started out as Edwards supporters.
that is the description of a depression
what are the other choices?
they are teh KEWL!!! good on ya…im glad to be part of it all
They can’t stand the humidity.
For the last year or so I’ve had to make almost weekly visits to the vet, who’s practice is on Treasure Island. As I drive along the beach (you can no longer see the water for the hotels/condos, the same with St Pete Beach) I have yet to see a NO VACANCY sign lit. That’s two tourist seasons.
actually STAGFLATION
Yep Bush is wrong about everything he has failed at everything. I like posts like this because we can kick in the GOP idea that Bush and his band of crooks are smart and making money off of our misery.
I’m pretty sure that Haliburton and the Carlyle group have not made enough money to overcome a forty percent drop in the dollar.
And once we investigate Hal and Carlyle for war proffiteering Bwahahaha!
Anytime, Austin! I was actually thinking during Netroots Nation, which is July 17 throuh the 20th. But I am pretty adaptable.
I’m hiding under a blanket til it’s all over.
oh my …that is really bad….your not in the tourist industry i hope
{{{{hugs}}}}}
It was a really stupid move that trying to save Countrywide in the first place.
I can’t because the CU is in Alaska…. they were THE CU for military personnel in AK and they kept me after the divorce. Love them, have great loan rates for my car (paid off now) and really great when I needed to defer some payments to loosing my job years ago…
my Percy needed vet attention yesterday,he is one year and very skinny ,but no aids or lukemia,its a puzzlement
Wow, I haven’t been there since the seventies, it used to be so nice. Used to like to squeeze out the Jag on the Courtney Campbell Causeway, back then there was no place for the cops to hide. I was young and stupid, I am no longer young.
!@#$%^& dont get me started about the CEO
Nope. Just try to pick their pockets in bars and such.
hahahahahahahahahaa
bong at 64–chrissie not a pretender at all.
that’s how it started, she said that way back when……..i lived in akron when i was young, gma and uncle lived there…….aunt in cuyhoga falls where she was singin’ about.
now it’s even worse in ohio….a whole nuther song…really.
saw her with the who in december (or was it last december?) in columbus…….wow, i was so disappointed that they weren’t on the dvd……she was on fire and havin’ the time of her life, and said so. she is usually circumspect, but not that night, layin’ it all out on the line…….she made me cry in public. tough thing to make me do, she did it.
then pete and simon came on, (oh, and roger and zach) : )……pete and simon : )…….but chrissie was the star that night. and in the smoking area, everyone agreed……the shining star.
no. you’re beginning to freak me out. maybe i should think about looking for a housemate?
They used to watch for my 68 VW like hawks. But that’s another story.
and i forgot to say, who’s doing the work for all of that construction that i mentioned earlier?
mexicans
We have one that they found had a tooth issue. It wasn’t readily apparent and it involved the roots below the gumline. They told us that it caused pain while eating, so he just wasn’t eating enough. Cat dentists charge a lot more than people dentists. I told my Dentist who allowed he should become a cat dentist, fortunately I was able to convince him that he was definitely charging me enough.
and now i have Angus
http://bp2.blogger.com/_GgwpUi…..ppstranger
that little guy has cost me a lot,but thank goddess his bloodwork ,taken 3x this year is fine
I had thought that America was on top.
fixed it for ya
;~P
katymine–cool. glad you are a member, keep in touch with them so they stay on the right track. they are there to serve YOU.
=====
southern–we had vw’s until they quit making them……
vw bugs, then vans as we got older…….wadda blast in the vw van toolin’ around, sister and step-brother and sister, we had a time…..i remember being able to fit in the ’back’ of the bug……6th grade in a blizzard we fit 7 GIRLS in the vw bug to go roller skating, they were closed…..had a snowball fight instead……wish i had flicker, i have pics…….
took driving test in my mom’s convertible-can’t remember the name of it, the other vw….’75…started with a ’c’?….
stalled at every stop sign, thought i flunked. i didn’t.
I’m in for over a grand this year for Min and Yang. Anything that pops up when they’re diabetic can be a long expensive process. This is month 7 with Yang’s eye with a disease that is notoriously difficult to treat even without the diabetic dynamic.
Resurrect SRV, and I’ll be there with bells on!
*Bong note: I have trained the local deejays to address him as: The Late, Great Stevie Ray Vaughan… and it stuck
I cried whe John Lennon was shot in New York and sobbed when Stevie’s life as taken in that helicopter crash on Aug 27, 1990
A sad day for all blues lovers.
;(
I had over 350,000 miles on the bug before the salt air finally did her in. Literally disintegrated before my eyes. Driving down the road when the bottom panel gave way under the driver’s seat. That was an experience.
bonghead at 121–’scuse me, but all roofers are ’flashers’ just some do it better than others…….
dated a roofer years ago, that’s what they said.
I dated a roofer for a while years ago. She was a tough young lady. Could do 4 fingers of Scotch in an iced tea glass and never miss a beat.
If you haven’t paid homage at SRV’s statue in Austin yet, well… I am a big Lennon guy myself, people called to offer me their sympathies.
southern–everyone who has had one it’s like a love of their life…..great car.
still my sister’s favorite car…..
i saw one on my way across the state last thurs, original paint, light blue, don’t know the year, the one with the oval taillights, still a ’bug’……doin’ 65, which i thought was fast…..must be rebuilt…..
Can’t advise you on a housemate, but would suggest working to get out of debt where it’s tied to things that can be repossessed; saving a little bit more for that rainy day that’s coming; and buying useful objects such as blankets and tools in case there are disruptions in the economy.
I hope I’m not actually frightening people, just trying to give a little heads up that the economy is not fine fine fine the way they would like us to believe.
southern at 160–well, she was rare indeed, not many female roofers, even more rare than a female telephone man…… : )
====
nonplussed-in houston at a permanent flea market ’somewhere’ is a bust of elvis in honor of my friend leonard collier, artist and fine human being, erected in his honor by his friends there. always wanted to go and find it. used to call me me disguising his voice as a survey person, things like campbell’s soup…..gave himself away when he said what was ’in it’…….shithead. : ) fooled me every time.
mostly a rhetorical question. probably would be a good idea, but i keep putting it off because i like living alone.
When I was in the Navy ‘85 or ‘86, Stevie did a free gig for the sailors in SF during Fleet Week, October it was, pier 25 or something.
Best.Fucking.Show.I’ve.Eveh.Seen!
Blew Springsteen’s doors clean off (and The Boss played a two hour set, took a 15 and played another hour and a half)
!
…The Boss didn’t play SF that time… just a referance to another show.
;~P
egregious! I finally found this working backwards after the Shechter thread clogged FDL lines. Good post, with a clever HAL theme!
Why does Preznit Bush sound like HAL?
Bob in HI
Uh, not a real human being?
We all wondered about that odd box on his back! It is fully integrated now…
bonger–i saw video of srv in the early 80’s/// a friend who worked at a radio station had it….bootleg.
blew me outta the room…..after that, he was austin city limits, people still didn’t know who he was. pissed me off……i had a vcr then, one of the first, taped it and passed it around when everyone caught up and had a vcr.
he deserved promotion, and lots of it.
one of my good friends, a killler guitar player, loves him……keeps him in his heart. has an autographed photo of him, i’ve stared at it many times, srv picked it. he’s lookin’ off somewhere, dreamin’…..of guitar picks. licks.
my friend who would play my guitar and mandolin every time he walked in the door? he’s in iraq, working for the blood suckers krb…..kbr, whatever…….i miss him to death. before he left, he played mandolin and called out chords to me on guitar, what a thrill……yowsa.
at first, after he died, when everyone was sayin’ stevie this and stevie that it pissed me off, where were they when he was still alive???????
but i got over that, now, i’m just glad he’s gettin’ his due……..real glad. never forget the first time i heard him, gave me hope…remember the early 80’s? well, you can imagine how much hope.
nice to see you all again.
bbl.
((((((egregious!)))))
Hey npb!
as they undoubtedly would under an Obama administration. Wall Street firms and Lobbies have paid him many millions:
http://counterpunch.org/martens05062008.html
warning – not a completely (D) faithful website!
I remember that day. News didn’t break until the next morning. I was on my way to work. I pulled off on to a side road, sobbed for a while, sat there for what musta been at least 30 min or so, just bringing up his music in my head. Got to work ’bout an hour late… Nobody knew. I told them and it’s like, so?… I was so pissed for the rest of the day
Agree that no one gets to the highest office without a certain level of vetting. I was observing Obama’s vetting a couple of years ago. But we still have to choose someone to lead us.
dmac: email me at >#kevinandjane(without the #>)[at]cox .@[dot] (without the .@ net. I got some SRV for you
if you’re still here
;~P
Let’s see some spambot break that one… although, looking at it, I can’t figure it out.
;~P
We’ll see if HAL can figure it out.
HAL is sooooo 80’s
;~P
Very nice work Egregious. Excellent coverage that pulls it together nicely.
…er 70’s, mebbe?
I dunno remember…
Aside on seasonal adjustment: I did my own seasonal adjustment model once because I was suspicious, and found that the BLS’s seasonal adjustment model was actually less aggressive (added less jobs) than what I would consider a baseline model. Unless things have changed since then (it was a few years ago) I agree that seasonal adjustment isn’t a problem.
However the nature of seasonal adjustment means that when going into a recession the BLS will always overstate job gains and when coming out of one will understate them.
We gotta get our metaphors straight. Is it 1984 or 2001.
Thanks Ian, that means a lot coming from you. I’ve been inspired by your combination of scholarship and snark on a generally serious subject.
I just hate that the goverment is lying to people. It seems wrong.
However the nature of seasonal adjustment means that when going into a recession the BLS will always overstate job gains and when coming out of one will understate them.
Eg and Ian,
Speaking of recession; Can y’all explain to me why fuel and groceries are eliminated when calculating inflation and included when calculating the GDP? This seems to insure that we have “growth” for the last 2 quarters when in reality that is a bad joke. Please help, thanks.
I was trying to refer to when 2001: A Space Odyssey came out
Too much bong juice
;~P
Guessing here: I think the reasoning is that they are too volatile over the short term compared with underlying “core” inflation but a more cynical view is that they exclude items that reflect rapid price increases affecting most households in a period of high inflation.
I defer to Ian, as always, for the informed explanation.
The official reason they are out of consumer inflation is to smooth down spikes – oil and food prices can fluctuate significantly, and the party line is that if you remove them you remove that. That is, of course, BS. If you want to smooth down fluctuations you’d just use a moving average.
GDP, on the other hand, is supposed to be a gross measure of all economic activity.
Core inflation is what is tracked by the Fed. So, the bottom line is that they don’t want to, or don’t believe it is their job to, manage either oil or food inflation (or housing inflation, or housing deflation). I’m not sure what the reasoning on food is, but the reasoning on oil is simple enough – oil supply and demand isn’t really controlled by the US.
Now that too is only half true, or it was only half true (it’s about 90% true now). In the Clinton era, oil prices were more or less controlled by the Fed by keeping the dollar supply really tight. With the US needing less oil than the oilarchies needed dollars, the Fed was able to keep a lid on oil prices. They’ve lost control now, and I doubt they’ll ever get it back.
The converse of this was the way real estate prices aren’t in the index. If they had been, inflation would have been through the roof years ago, forcing the Fed to tighten. They don’t want to do that, because they don’t believe that asset prices matter or they don’t believe that it’s job to regulate it or they don’t believe in socking it to their fellow elites when they’re making a bundle during a bubble (same thing – why aren’t stock prices and securities prices in the inflation index?)
Another element to consider regarding how inflation is measured: whatever the “cost of living” increases turn out to be, that costs the government real money in the form of COL adjustments which increase the amount directly paid to people, for example, government employees or Social Security recipients.
If you artificially keep the COL low, it saves the government money. Of course, it’s unfair, if one cares about such things.
bongerhead- i just tested the email….sorry no facebook, would be easier……if no contendre, then we’ll meet up and you can translate it again or i’ll give mine……my guitar playin friend (and i) would love the srv, would be a nice surprise.
i sure miss havin’ a concert right next to my computer……..
bonger too freakin’ confusing is RIGHT………
ass hat.
sent one, came back, am trying again……….srv will make me go further……try harder…..the man who cleaned off layers of skin cuz he heard another song he wanted to play and had to play it………for hours till he played it like he heard it…….
email is nuthin’……..