[an]

I don’t know NJ or MN, so maybe this MN is still expensive relative to NJ, but it’s much more reasonable than SD. I guess NJ offer even better value than MN. I guess most cities in America offer better value than SD.

[an]

[quote=jstoesz]one more data point.

This is the house my family owned for 20 years, and it recently traded hands.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5350-Grand-Ave-S-Minneapolis-MN-55419/1830060_zpid/

What is that 140 bucks a sq ft…not including the basement…

Again as good a neighborhood as mission hills, but it does not border the parkway just a few houses off it.[/quote]
Now, that’s the kind of value I expect from MN. 2500+ sq-ft on 14k+ sq-ft lot, sold for $360k.

[an]

[quote=sdrealtor]Josh
For prices to drop substantially around here we would need to see high rates…much higher interest rates and the payments would likely be higher than today as prices would most likely not drop by as high a percentage as rates rise by. In that scenario are you personally any more capable of a buyer? Do you have a big pile of cash set aside?[/quote]
Totally agree. Unless you’re an all cash buyer, total cost of purchase (P+I) is more important than just the price.

[an]

What’s wrong with comparing monthly payment? Unless you’re paying cash for your house, interest rate plays a big part. If you think money payment is FUZZY MATH, then compare total cost of buying that dwelling (P+I).

[an]

Looks like there are a few more people joining the 1% group: http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/25/pf/America_boomtown_strippers/index.htm?iid=HP_LN

$2k/night * 5 nights/week * 52 weeks = $520k/year. That’s definitely deep in the 1% range.

[an]

[quote=CA renter]Just because you belong to a union does not mean that you “think” collectively, nor does it mean that you think everyone should be paid the same regardless of how well they perform.

Belonging to a union means that you **negotiate** with the “gatekeepers” collectively. Since they will ALWAYS have more power than individual workers, the only way for workers to ensure they get their share of the profits is to bargain collectively.[/quote]
You personally might not believe in equal pay regardless of performance, but that’s the typical union mantra, AFAIK. Tying back to housing, I see union in the same light as very strict HOA area like 4S/Del Sur. Sure, you can decorate the interior anyway you like, but try painting your house a color that’s not approved and see what will happen. In a union, if you don’t like the causes the union putting your dues behind, do you have an option to not pay for that contribution?

Public union bought the gatekeepers. Us tax payer who are paying for both the union and the gatekeepers don’t have much of a choice in the whole negotiation, do we?

[an]

[quote=CDMA ENG]CAR,

You came back around to the point but for a while you were lumping the argument for private and public in to one argument.

I don’t think that anyone here has the attitude…

[quote]
The “I don’t get it, so why should they” argument is foolish and dangerous. This is they way the PTB are taking us ALL down. Time for all of us to rise up and take back what belongs to the workers in the first place.
[/quote]

It’s simply when one large group of people offers its vote in return for direct economic exchange that I have a problem with (as most other people do). You can make your pro-union stance all you want. Thats fine. That is essentially a relationship between you and your employer and the free market will that out.

In the public sector there is no free market force at play and the public union is holding a goverment at ransom.

Want to adovacte public unions? Then I say privatize everything in goverment and let the workers under those private companies unionize. This disconnects the vote from the public officials incintive to rewards groups for thier vote. Lastly lets see how long most of these companies would survive operating like this. Ih this case market forces would again yeild the result.

I would love to have a pension but at the it seems that time has proven this concept non-durable.

CE[/quote]
You nailed it.

[an]

[quote=CA renter]The “I don’t get it, so why should they” argument is foolish and dangerous. This is they way the PTB are taking us ALL down. Time for all of us to rise up and take back what belongs to the workers in the first place.[/quote]
Sorry but I think those who don’t embrace change are the one that’s foolish. We can’t turn back time, we can only adapt to what is and what will be. Those who fail to adapt will be left behind. Like it or not, automation and globalization are here. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

BTW, what do you really think belongs to the workers? A service is only worth what the buyers (employers) are willing to pay for it. A contractor who want me to pay them 2005 wage will not get my money. The only thing I think that belongs to the workers are their brain and energy.

[quote=CA renter]It’s not a secret…join a union. It’s the best possible way to fight for your rights in the workplace.[/quote]
Sorry but I will never join a union. I don’t like collective thinking. The idea of getting paid the same or similar to other coworkers, regardless of how well they perform drives me bonkers. BTW, as someone already stated, public union is greatly different than private union.

[an]

I’m pretty sure old people have always said that about kids.

[an]

[quote=UCGal]I’ve got the book “Retirement Heist” by Ellen Schultz on hold at the library. I saw her on Jon Stewart the other day. Some of the figures might surprise the younger folks here.

In 1990 48% of private sector (non goverment) employees had defined benefit retirement plans. Meaning they had pensions.

In other words pensions were common and expected if you worked for a large employer. I had pensions at every job post college.

Now the powers that be are pitting private sector workers against public sector workers – so that no one will have a pension.

I want my pension BACK. Everytime I’m asked to sign something or support something that will take away pensions for local government I point out that I’m for the idea of defined benefits… Used to be a participant in the private sector. I don’t want all employees to be as screwed over as the private sector.

When you hear GM or UA talk about their pension obligations keep in mind that their employee pension funds are FULLY FUNDED. It’s the executive pensions that are underfunded and are the burden.

I agree that the loading to max out the pensions – gaming of the system – should be addressed. Perhaps make it based on a percentage of 10 years of earnings – not 3… exclude bonuses, etc… But don’t eliminate the pensions entirely.[/quote]
I think we all can agree that we would love to have pension vs 401(k). Unfortunately, we can’t always get what we want, unless you know some secret to get employers to not cut our pay and reinstate pension. If there’s no way for us to get pension, then why should public employee continue to get pension?

[an]

[quote=flu]Dow’s at 11866… getting closer to 12,000… Then we can get back to the normally scheduled program…[/quote]
11913 at close today.

[an]

[quote=CA renter]Just for fun, here is an article written by someone who clearly wanted to prove that high taxes destroy and economy. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to show any correlation. It’s also interesting to note that the nations with the “lowest tax rates” also provided universal healthcare and other, more generous social safety nets for their citizens.

http://www.businesspundit.com/12-countries-with-the-highest-lowest-tax-rates/%5B/quote%5D
Reading through this blog, this description of Germany stands out to me:
[quote=quote] As recently as 2007, TheNewEditor.com reported that Germans were emigrating at their highest rate since the 1940′s, resulting in a “brain drain” on the nation’s brightest and most motivated people. As a result of “high taxes and bureaucracy, thousands of Germans have upped sticks for Austria and Switzerland, or emigrated to the United States” — 155,290 during the year in question, which rivals “levels last experienced in the 1940s during the chaotic aftermath of the Second World War.” Furthermore, emigrants are generally said to be highly motivated and educated, while those immigrating to Germany are increasingly poorer and less educated — perhaps more inclined to consume Germany’s generous social benefits.[/quote] I wonder why Finland is not experience the same problem as Germany?

[an]

Interesting article on when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs first started out: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/10/24/steve-jobs-walter-isaacson/?iid=Lead. Here’s a very interesting excerpt:

[quote=quote]They were right to worry. Gates believed that graphical interfaces were the future and that Microsoft (MSFT) had just as much right as Apple (AAPL) did to pursue the desktop metaphor idea that had, after all, had been originally developed at Xerox PARC (XRX), not at Apple. As he freely admitted later, “We sort of say, ‘hey, we believe in graphics interfaces, we saw the Xerox Alto, too’.”
In their original deal, Jobs had convinced Gates to agree that Microsoft would not create graphical software for anyone other than Apple until a year after the Macintosh shipped in January 1983. Unfortunately for Apple, it did not provide for the possibility that the Macintosh launch would be delayed for a year. So Gates was within his rights when he revealed, in November 1983, that Microsoft planned to develop a new operating system for IBM PCs — featuring a graphical interface with windows, icons, and a mouse for point-and-click navigation — called Windows.[/quote] So, not only did Apple not invented GUI (which I knew), but they didn’t create all of their first GUI (Microsoft created portion of it for them, this I didn’t know).

[an]

[quote=Rhett]In my opinion, neither of them use a method that could scale to all public schools. The premise, stated or not, is that if you get enough students from disadvantaged situations to succeed, it would propagate out to the entire community.

Sounds like trickle down economics.[/quote]
I agree that it won’t make every kids from poor area succeed. However, with these charter schools, the kids who want to succeed will have a school that will help them succeed vs being stuck in their failing schools.

[an]

[quote=Rhett]If you want a case for comparison in San Diego, you should check out the Preuss School. And even then, Preuss has a *much* strong emphasis on retention than this school you’ve found.[/quote]
AIPHS has higher scores than Preuss. But I guess if the weaker students at Preuss drop out, then their scores might be just as high as well. Preuss is also another good example of Charter school working.

[Author]

Posts