[Bubblesitter]

I believe that financial education should be mandatory for all, starting in elementary/junior high. Included in this education is some treatment of ethics. After the Wall Street Enron, Tyco blow-ups a few years back, many MBA programs added courses on business ethics. When I was working on MBA back in late 90s there were no such courses. There is a general lack of ethics by many in the business world, for many their motto is a “sucker is born everyday”.

I’m trying my best to instill in my young kiddos that you should always do right. I was recently at a store and a cashier overpaid me by a few bucks, I made a point with my son present to point out her error and hand it back. I talked with him about it afterward. I guess I can only hope that it makes a difference.

By the way, from a personal finance knowledge standpoint, getting an MBA was invaluable. For me it was a structured learning environment and I pick things up better than doing it on my own. Most can learn the softer “MBA” skill set on the job or reading the portable MBA, it is not rocket science. Even the finance stuff does not use anything much more mathmatically complex than amoritization, compounding interest, etc. An MBA course work does give you a broad in-depth knowledge of how the business world works.

Bubblesitter

[Bubblesitter]

Yes the Palomar airport is convenient, I’m looking forward to perhaps taking flights out to Vegas and Tahoe next year.

I don’t know if pricing of the airport expansion/noise is factored into the current prices at Bressi Ranch. Gotta be at least a $100-150K discount over equivalent “no noise” location. What were those folks thinking?

When did that development see majority of its build-out? In the 2004-2006 timeframe? There’s gotta be a large % of risky loans and investors in there holding on hoping for a market turn-around.

[Bubblesitter]

Yes the Palomar airport is convenient, I’m looking forward to perhaps taking flights out to Vegas and Tahoe next year.

I don’t know if pricing of the airport expansion/noise is factored into the current prices at Bressi Ranch. Gotta be at least a $100-150K discount over equivalent “no noise” location. What were those folks thinking?

When did that development see majority of its build-out? In the 2004-2006 timeframe? There’s gotta be a large % of risky loans and investors in there holding on hoping for a market turn-around.

[Bubblesitter]

You gotta concede that the Carlsbad planning commission screwed up the zoning in the Palomar airport surrounding areas, Bressi Ranch in particular.

Here’s an update on the Palomar airport expansion, posted on a separate thread…….

Oct 12, 2007
An update on the planned Palomar airport expansion in Carlsbad. A large new terminal building is planned. Groundbreaking if it hasn’t occured yet will soon begin. This will increase flight operations at the airport, along with the size/type of of aircraft, e.g. more noisy 70 passenger turboprops.

Seems to be a growing groundswell of resident opposition to this. Not much can be done however, other than complain about violations of VNAP (Voluntary Noise Abatement Procedures) THESE ARE VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES ONLY. Property value in surrounding areas will surely be impacted. Here’s the opposition site.

http://loudairport.com/press.html

The opposing view from the Palomar airport association spells out their view. Good points. High density residental should never have been approved for surrounding areas.

Home

This is getting increasingly contentious. The PAA site is claiming their site has been vandalized by opponents. The Carlsbad planning commission sure screwed this one up big time. They approved Bressi ranch which is in the flight path of this airport, THIS AIRPORT IS ONE OF THE BUSIEST SMALL AIRPORTS IN THE COUNTRY WITH 200,000+ FLIGHT OPERATIONS YEARLY. IT WILL GET BUSIER!!

[Bubblesitter]

You gotta concede that the Carlsbad planning commission screwed up the zoning in the Palomar airport surrounding areas, Bressi Ranch in particular.

Here’s an update on the Palomar airport expansion, posted on a separate thread…….

Oct 12, 2007
An update on the planned Palomar airport expansion in Carlsbad. A large new terminal building is planned. Groundbreaking if it hasn’t occured yet will soon begin. This will increase flight operations at the airport, along with the size/type of of aircraft, e.g. more noisy 70 passenger turboprops.

Seems to be a growing groundswell of resident opposition to this. Not much can be done however, other than complain about violations of VNAP (Voluntary Noise Abatement Procedures) THESE ARE VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES ONLY. Property value in surrounding areas will surely be impacted. Here’s the opposition site.

http://loudairport.com/press.html

The opposing view from the Palomar airport association spells out their view. Good points. High density residental should never have been approved for surrounding areas.

Home

This is getting increasingly contentious. The PAA site is claiming their site has been vandalized by opponents. The Carlsbad planning commission sure screwed this one up big time. They approved Bressi ranch which is in the flight path of this airport, THIS AIRPORT IS ONE OF THE BUSIEST SMALL AIRPORTS IN THE COUNTRY WITH 200,000+ FLIGHT OPERATIONS YEARLY. IT WILL GET BUSIER!!

[Bubblesitter]

I saw the movie recently, I thought it was OK. My wife found it very troubling. I just keept telling her that we’re making money off the CC companies, e.g. never incurring late fee, and always pay off full balance. A zero interest loan to us.

I’m beginning to think that a personal finance class should be mandatory for all high school students. I’m doing my best to educate my young kiddos on the value of money and how to save and invest it. I’m also trying to highlight that Caveat emptor should be always in your mind when you are about to buy anything. I will be sitting down with them when they are older and drilling these concept into them, then I’ll have to hope for the best.

Bubblesitter

[Bubblesitter]

An OK article in the Times. The reporter doesn’t seem to have a full grasp of the mortgage industry, but the article certainly highlights the problems going on now.

Calculated risk has good summary of the deficiencies of the article.

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2007/09/morgenson-watch.html

The Calculated Risk blog author does not hold back criticism of anybody, if they deserve it. Very sharp blogger. One of the best finance blogs out there.

Bubblesitter

[Bubblesitter]

The Ken Burns documentary will put to light the incredible sacrifices of those in the armed forces, past and present.

The guys and gals serving in the military now have a very difficult job. You have my respect and I thank you profoundly for your service.

Bubblesitter

[Bubblesitter]

Gotta love Goldman Sachs

These guys have been able to hedge their big losses due Mortgage backed securities by shorting Mortgage related securities. These guys new all along that the MBS house of cards was gonna collapse some day. Bravo, well played. Other firms weren’t as savvy.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/20/magazines/fortune/eavis_goldman.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007092017

Bubblesitter

[Bubblesitter]

Big 300+ point jump in market shows that market was really expecting a 1/4 point.

Earnings so far have not been disastrous. Wall street is holding up well. Volatility will probably be around for a while as this whole credit crunch plays out.

We may already be in recession. There is usually a lag in when economists can actually identify the start of recession.

Bubblesitter

[Bubblesitter]

Good point Kewp.

I guess if you define “Bubble” as irrational increase in the price of any asset, overvalued compared to its fundamentals, then you’re right, the energy sector may not fit this definition.

If public traded traditional energy and alternative energy stocks going thru the roof, and demand never materializes then this will fit the classic bubble definition.

The fundamentals in the traditional energy sector(oil, natural gas, oil services) still seem to be strong.

[Bubblesitter]

Rent is China is cheap in the backwater cities away from the coast, of course you’ll be dying young from all the pollution. You’ll also be dying young in “nicer” cities such as Shanghai.

Shanghai has higher rents for “western” style apartments than Manhattan. I was out in Beijing and Shanghai a few months back, there is a huge amount of money and real estate speculators abound.

I also saw a couple Lamborghini and Roll Royce dealerships. The Chinese are now fully embracing the car culture. New cars everywhere, lots of Audis, ShanghaiGM Buicks, VWs, BMWs, etc. Endless traffic jams are clogging roads big time. This is a big change from my first trip out to China in the early 90s, back then it was still mostly bicycles.

Energy sector is still my bet for the next bubble. China is on track to be a one of the largest car markets in the world. They will be consuming alot of oil, having a big impact on the demand side.

Bubblesitter

[Bubblesitter]

Eye-pod, Are you living on Mars?

Wall Street and the real estate market are intricately linked. The credit squeeze and liquidity crunch on Wall Street is having a direct impact impact on the real estate market. Sometimes this impact can be immediate.

Who do you think was packaging, selling all those Mortgage backed securities and Mortgage credit derivatives? Why do you think rates on jumbos went jumped recently, resulting in further squeeze on the housing market? Those big banks reporting earnings will be a bell weather on how the mortgage meltdown has impacted them. MBS investors will be further risk averse if news looks bad. Who will buy the home loans? Countrywide certainly can’t hold them on the books.

Your adjustable mortgage rates are likely linked to LIBOR. The treasury yields generally track closely to the 30yr fixed mortgage rates. A flight to safety with people dumping shares results in lower treasury yields.

Most of the recent Wall Street volatility is linked very closely with the problems in housing.

Bubblesitter

[Bubblesitter]

I’m thinking it will be somewhere in the energy sector.

Oil has seen a big run-up and is currently at an all time high. Some analysts are saying that production is reaching a peak. Very interesting read on cnn money.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/14/news/economy/peak_oil/index.htm?postversion=2007091414

The net result of these high oil prices is more investment in other oil sources and alternative technologies. For example, oil sands were once considered too expensive to extract. It is now economically viable and alot of Canadians are getting rich on oil sands.

Venture capital money is pouring into the energy area. Vinod Khoshla, the famed venture capitalist is now focused on this area.

On the solar power front, all it takes is a technology breakthrough in silicon power conversion efficiency to make Solar much more economically viable. I always thought that SoCal + entire southwest US could one day be generating a large % from Solar. All that wasted solar energy falling on the desert. No greenhouse gases. I’m currently hunting small-cap energy firms that are working on energy breakthroughs, especially ones with defensible intellectual property.

Bubblesitter

[Bubblesitter]

Everybody loses in this one, with the possible exception of the builders. They will probably still make fat margins.

Some of these floppers may just be non-financially savvy regular folks who got in over their head and are struggling to avoid foreclosure or big tax bill after short sale.

[Author]

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