[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=briansd1]
In order to rent out the properties, you need agents to screen the tenants and manage the properties. The agents need to get paid and they don’t really care about damage since it doesn’t come out of their pockets. Then you need a maintenance crew to repair things. Then you need employees and software systems to keep track of the portfolio. All to make a few hundred bucks on each condo…. I’m afraid that the profits will get eaten up quickly.

Not sure if the investment funds will profit on residential properties. I think that market it best left to local operators.

[/quote]

Its not as if principals who put these funds together need to make profits.

They really only need to put funds together and then find other dumb individual/institutional investors to whom they will sell shares of these “can’t lose” funds. They (principals) will get paid to put these funds together and every time the next investor buys shares from them and also for running these funds.

If there are no profits here, it is really the problem of the next party who will own the paper. As long as there is demand for such “investments” fueled by articles in the media, someone on Wall Street will create this product…

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=briansd1]
At least in the smart phone and tablet market (but not so in desktops/laptops) Apple’s prices are the same as competitors’ products. If you’re an average Joe, why take a chance and pay the same price for second best?
[/quote]

Not true. Apple’s phones cost more than others unsubsidized. You, as a contract signer, do not see the difference because AT&T/VZW subsidize i-phone for you so that it seems like it costs the same as others.

However AT&T/VZW are suffering because of the massive subsidies that they are doling out to smartphone users so I question how long $200 iphones will last!

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=ucodegen]The problem is that it opens the whole thing to a fishing contest. Romney makes most of his income from Investments. 2008 was a very bad year for investments and any smart tax planner would use the losses of 2008 to cancel any gains in 2009 and after if possible. I think the Obama campaign is trying to bring up that Romney didn’t pay taxes in 2009 (because of investment losses). This is likely to play well people who don’t understand saving and investing, and will make a good ‘sound bite’ and diversion from the facts and presidential performance. The problem is that the previous election, very few Democrat Presidential hopefuls revealed their tax returns. Almost all of the Republican hopefuls revealed 2 years. One needs to ask: What is the real point of this requirement?
[/quote]

John Stewart’s reply to this line of argument –

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-july-18-2012/mystery-finance-theater-2012
[quote]
“You can’t release your returns because if you do the Democrats will be mean to you,” Stewart said, in an apostrophe to Romney. “I see your concern. These Obama people, whatever you release, it’ll never be enough. They’ll just keep hounding you and hounding you with frivolous transparent demands like this.”

Stewart then played a reel of clips showing conservative pundits and commentators insisting that Obama release everything from his college grades to Michelle Obama’s Princeton senior thesis to the President’s long-form birth certificate.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-romney-tax-returns-conservatives-video-2012-7#ixzz215NNHEPM
[/quote]

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=ucodegen][quote=briansd1] they are now accusing Huma Abedin for being part of an effort of the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate the government.

She’s married to a Jewish guy for God’s sake!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/john-mccain-defends-huma-abedin-against-accusations-shes-part-of-conspiracy/2012/07/18/gJQAFpxntW_blog.html%5B/quote%5D
You have nuts in both parties.. take off the rose colored glasses. Remember, the article even points it out, McCain, a Republican is defending her by striking back at those claims [/quote]

What amuses me about this article is that Michele Bachmann can question someone’s patriotism (with no evidence whatsoever) while she herself applies to become Swiss citizen and never discloses her dual citizenship to anybody while running for president.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76072.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76142.html

Why Did Michele Bachmann Flip-Flop on Being a Swiss Citizen?

[enron_by_the_sea]

Here is an interesting one:

“University of California, San Diego – 369 jobs – in fields such as accounting, development, human resources, and legal.”

Based on what I had been reading I thought by now UC system was on the brink of annihilation due to savage budget cuts!

Also interesting to see that teaching/research does not figure in the description of the job openings …

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=ocrenter]http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/14/tp-report-lauds-poway-schools/?print

The grand jury just commended Poway Unified for the significant improvement in dropout rate, AP participation, and overall increase in API.

[/quote]

I am confused. Why do we need a grand jury to congratulate school district? I thought grand jury was some construct of the legal system. Educate me please!

[enron_by_the_sea]

Time to revisit the thread.

Today is the D-day! Sacramento needs to pass the budget today or else your assemblyman/woman and state senator will not get paid. And you know how important it is that they get paid! So a budget will be passed.

What’s in the budget? A lot of hot air!

http://www.scrippsnews.com/content/walters-californias-budget-full-gimmicks

[quote]
The biggest of the shaky assumptions, of course, is about $8 billion in new sales and income taxes that require voter approval in November. Polls indicate that passage is no better than a 50-50 bet, and even if they do pass, they are likely to generate something less than the amount plugged into the budget.

Another assumption is that the deficit to be closed is what Brown says, $15.7 billion. Legislative analyst Mac Taylor has been telling his bosses in the Legislature that the gap between revenue and spending is probably $2 billion more but they chose the lower administration figure because it would be easier to cover.

Even without the increase in income and sales tax rates, the budget’s underlying revenue assumptions are questionable. It assumes, for instance, that the state will get about $2 billion from Facebook’s big stock offering, but the process was bollixed and the stock has been falling, not gaining in value.

The budget assumes that when the Air Resources Board auctions off cap-and-trade credits for carbon emissions next fall, it will generate a billion dollars and the state could use half of it for the general fund budget. But no one really knows how that auction will turn out, and using the proceeds, whatever they may be, for the general fund budget is of dubious legality.

By the same token, the budget would grab about $400 million from the national mortgage banking lawsuit settlement, even though it’s supposed to be used to relieve pressure on homeowners.

Also very questionable are the local redevelopment agency funds that the state is seizing after abolishing the program. Taylor, among others, questions whether it will generate anything close to what the budget assumes, but the Legislature’s budget uses an even higher number than the administration’s $1.4 billion.

And then there are the gimmicks, such as raiding transportation money and other special funds (i.e., child abuse prevention money from special license plates) and delaying payments on loans and to schools and other agencies dependent on Sacramento.

[/quote]

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=The-Shoveler]
Hoping to maybe get one free with service, maybe in a year or so,[/quote]

$150 tablet probably will be WiFi only so chances of any operator subsidizing it are slim

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=flu]
Not nearly as bad as BofA…..
[/quote]

They should use this line in their commercials.

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=briansd1]

This is an opportunity for non-force feeding foie gras makers to enter the market. Just use more liver and mix with some duck fat. Problem is that it’ll cost more because each duck/goose has only 1 liver.

[/quote]

That sounds like now we are now killing 2 or more ducks to make living life of one duck better (before we kill him too). Is that supposed to be more humane :)?

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=sdrealtor]Perhaps someone will find a way to strongly encourage geese to over eat[/quote]

Do they feed them sugar ?

[enron_by_the_sea]

Deleted. getting way OT

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=briansd1]

enron_by_the_sea, it’s not just about 1 extra sq for chicken. It’s about responsible farming. Do you really want to eat chicken pumped with antibiotic and hormones; chickens that are sick with such fragile bones they barely stand up?[/quote]

I very rarely eat animals and I can totally understand the health aspect of this arrangement for humans. However I don’t get why this arrangement would be that much better for the chicken …

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=AN]
There’s nothing human about killing the animal. If you’re not a vegan, then you’re being inhumane in the treatment of the animals that were killed to feed you.

[/quote]

Good one!

The recurring debate over giving one extra sq. foot to chickens on the farm cracks me up. If you are going to eat them at the end of the day, how does it matter?

[enron_by_the_sea]

[quote=flu]

Groupon tumbles as sell restriction expires
More than 600 mln shares released from lock-up; stock sinks

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shares of daily-deals website Groupon Inc. fell to a new record low on Friday, as a restriction on insider selling expired.

Groupon GRPN -9.21% was trading down roughly 10% to $9.62 in heavy trading Friday afternoon as the broader market also retreated on disappointing jobs data. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP -2.78% was down more than 2%.

…[/quote]

GRPN market cap is fast approaching the 6 billion that GOOG offered them some time ago! If this continues for a few more days, they would wish that they had taken up on that offer instead!

[Author]

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