[jstoesz]

[quote=svelte][quote=jstoesz]
I do not understand food stamps, lets build some stuff. Why is it so hard? The hoover dam and the golden gate were built in the depression, why can’t we get that stuff off the ground now?
[/quote]

Where, you may ask, are ARRA funds being used to build something in San Diego county?

In just a few minutes of searching, I found the following:

(there may be some overlap in these numbers, I have not deconflicted)

$72M – Transit Improvements
$58M – Trolley Improvements (may be included in above number? Not clear)
$9M – SR-76 and I-805 Improvements
$5M – Energy Conservation Improvements at various government buildings
$2M – Gillespie Field Airport Construction
$1M – Street/sidewalk improvements in Del Mar, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, Poway, Solana Beach

http://www.projectdesign.com/resources/news_102/oceanside_transit_ctr..pdf
http://www.ncppp.org/publications/TransitSD_0907/Terry_SD090707.pdf
http://www.recoverysdcounty.org/awards_infra.html
http://www.recoverysdcounty.org/awards_housing.html
http://www.recoverysdcounty.org/awards_energy.html
http://www.ncppp.org/publications/TransitSD_0907/Terry_SD090707.pdf%5B/quote%5D

Most of the projects undertaken by the stimulus were simply maintenance projects already in the works. There was nothing new, the fungible state dollar could be moved to other holes in the state and local budgets. The high speed rail project is a perfect example of our inability to build anything. In ca could we build hs rail? Of course, but the regulatory burden that chokes private business chokes public works twice as hard. I know some one who has been working for a whole department paid for by the state that studies just the water impacts for high speed rail. They have been going strong on this for years. I now think the entire goal of the project was not to build rail, butto throw a football to the state regulatory boards who will kick it around for years while we pay them to impede all progress. We plowed over the central valley years ago!

[jstoesz]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook][quote=jstoesz]
Btw, Polk was a unappreciated man of epic proportions, and a Eunuch to boot![/quote]

Then why did they call him Polk?[/quote]

reminds me of another netflix feature I watched.

Lonesome Dove.

Man did that series love saying pokes and whores. Was that on network in the 80’s. Could they air that today without HBO?

[jstoesz]

[quote=squat250]unskilled human labor may be now worth less than zero, taking into account management costs.[/quote]

you depress me.

[jstoesz]

I have been on a history kick for the last year.

Water and power (about the theft of the Owen’s valley water rights by LA). I finished it a while back, but I can’t take it off the nightstand.

Blood and thunder (about Kit Carson and the settlementconquering of the west). Half way through.

They both put our ranquous political times in needed perspective. We live an an era of unparalleled transparency.

Btw, Polk was a unappreciated man of epic proportions, and a Eunuch to boot!

[jstoesz]

[quote=flu]Please dont nina… I mean, really there are better ways to gamble on the stock market than this….

Because in short… Most companies end up being more like Groupon/Zygna versus Google. Google was really the exception…

I’ve already covered this extensively…

Here’s the issue with IPO’s… You’re not an insider. You’re going to be buying shares at retail the day it opens. Share’s are going to be pumped up big time. Meanwhile, insiders are going to be trying to be selling like crazy. You’re facilitating making people on the inside rich at your expense.

I’ve been there and done that. I use to work at 3 pre-ipo companies pre-dot.com One company (B2B software company that partnered with Ariba/CommerceOne/etc/etc/etc), A lot of us that joind 1 months right before the quiet period/IPO month had pre-ipo shares at $30/shares… First day of opening was $315/share, and topped off within a month at $450 or so… Guess who was trying to unload while everyone else was trying to buy????? Yup, that’s right insiders. But it’s worse now.

See, back in .com 1.0 days, there was this thing called “lockup period”. Basically, insiders could not be selling shares for the first 180 days after the first day of trading. The purpose of this rule was to prevent massive insider selling, tanking the stock.. The purpose in part is to restrict supply of shares (and to keep prices high)…

Once lockup period expired, insiders tried to sell as much as they could (typically what the vested). And boy did we sell. Within 2 weeks of the lockup period expiration, shares dove from $450/share down to $198/share… Yes, it sucked that the shares fell so quickly,but none of the insiders like us got hurt. Because our shares were at $30/share. Guess who really got hurt? Yup, that’s right all the retail purchasers who paid $450+/share.

And it gets better. The company then tried to impose rules on when employees/insiders could sell.. Employee’s were only allowed to sell within a 10 day window per quarter. They said the reason for this was because the concern of insider information and that it was an SEC rule that made everyone have these trading windows (which was bullshit, because a lot of us had no inside information. We were roughly 500+ employees). A lot of us suspected the real reason was that they wanted to prevent everyone from selling like crazy……So employees came up with very creative solutions.

*Some of the employees that were already fully vested and were sitting on $4million+ options simply quit the company…Pooffff. Lockup restrictions were gone…

*Some of the other employees that were not fully vested, ended up purchasing out of the money put options to cover the unvested stock options, as insurance just in case the stock tanked… For example, if you had 10k options shares that were priced at $30/share but couldn’t exercise and sell for the next 4 years, and the current stock price was $200/share after the lockup period….To protect yourself, you would try to buy 10k worth of put options (100 puts) with a slightly lower strike price say $150/share that would expire months if not 1-2 years out. The put options would be dirt cheap and worthless. But the point was to use it as insurance in case the stock tanked while you were waiting for your options to vest…Well guess what? In less than 2 years, the stock fell from $200/share to $10. and the company subsequently acquired by another company….Again, it wasn’t the insiders that got hurt when this happened…Because while the employee’s stock options were now worthless, the put options they bought clearly wasn’t. Since then, companies actually have some internal policies that tell employees they can’t do that…

Fast forward to web 2.0.. It’s really the same thing…Pump and dump…Only worse…
See remember I was talking about the 180 day lockup window companies use to do to prevent the stock price from initially cratering?? Well, web 2.0 companies have figured out a way around it. It’s called doing a “secondary offering”, in which they reissue shares during the supposedly lockup window…. Guess where those shares for the secondary offering are coming from???? Yup, that’s right insiders….

And if you don’t believe me… Look no further than Groupon and Zygna, who did just that…And why both companies are pretty much flatlined since the ipo…
At one point I actually bought shares of Zygna…But the moment they even mentioned about the secondary offering, I knew EXACTLY what they were trying to do… Because it’s the same sort of game that was played in web 1.0 only worse…Trying to get insiders to sell shares at grossly inflated prices over the retail market.

Now let’s talk about facebook. CEO is a total control freak.. He even said, he’s going to take care of the employees and insiders. Banks/institutions are going to be heavily trying to unload tooo… Who do you think they are trying to unload to?

Until a company can prove it’s earnings for 2-3 years, I’d say you’re really just making insiders rich…There are much better ways to gamble $20k and make money….
Buying $20k worth of facebook shares is a lot less likely to make you rich than it is to make you poorer. If you really think this is going to be a high flyer, you should instead try to get a job at facebook and get insider shares and let other people buy your shares over retail….[/quote]

amazing post. I was not tempted to buy, not even close. But your prediction was almost too accurate. Kudos.

[jstoesz]

again, on a school by school basis, but I am very much in favor of segregated (by sex obvipusly) classes. Especially in jr high and high school, that and uniforms.

[jstoesz]

The think that irks me, is not teaching costs. Newer-ish teachers are not that expensive. It is all the other crap that seems ridiculous, the middle management, older burnt out teachers, and ipads.

I think I have shared this before, but good to keep in mind.

[jstoesz]

I rented a nice place a couple years ago now for $1500 on the beach in del mar (Stratford and 14th st). It was a 600sqft 1/1 with a garage. I felt like that was a good deal. Being in Mira Mesa for only a couple hundred cheaper, sounds ridiculous, but maybe rent really is going crazy.

When I was shopping for that place, I didn’t see too much for less than 1200 in a nice neighborhood. I never looked in Mira Mesa, it didn’t offer my kind of walking neighborhood. 1/1 and 2/1 were never much different in price. Studios on the other hand could be had for much cheaper.

[jstoesz]

have you all seen this?

Great outside the box thinking.

[jstoesz]

[quote=harvey][quote=jstoesz]I read somewhere that class size has a very tenuous link to performance.[/quote]

I’m guessing you’ve never had to manage a group of thirty kids, seven years old, while trying to actually teach them something.

Class size may not matter in college much, you can lecture 150 kids the same as 10. But in elementary school it matters, big time.

My wife volunteers in our elementary school classrooms several days a week, along with many other parents. These unpaid “teachers aides” are the only reason the classrooms don’t spiral into chaos.[/quote]

The link makes mention of this…after 6th grade according to most studies class size makes little or no difference. The younger the kid, the more difference it makes. Just seems like this is one of very many factors that affect performance. It would seem wise to leave these decisions to individual schools.

Maybe some classes its fine to have 50 kids and others need 10. School for young kids seems to be more about babysitting than teaching anyways. Just ask homeschooler parents home many hours of instruction they need to give to keep their kids on track.

[jstoesz]

I read somewhere that class size has a very tenuous link to performance. It depends on a whole list of other factors it seems. I would say class size requirements are another case of top down mandates overruling decisions better left to individual schools.

I don’t understand the desire to close school districts and force kids to go to failing schools. If we free students to go where they wish, and we will have a nation of much higher performing schools.

Brookings is left of center these days right? Either way, it covers some interesting studies.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2011/05/11-class-size-whitehurst-chingos

[jstoesz]

There seems to be a serious disconnect between the news articles crying austerity and cutting to the bone, and the actual budget numbers. Even a lower budget (yet still an increase yoy) than an outlandish expected increase is met with cries of teacher and firemen starving in the streets.

Reminds me of a classic quote, “Who are you going to believe, me or your lyin’ eyes?” Groucho Marx

[jstoesz]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=jstoesz]anvil sisters…perfect…

You all will probably yawn at this, but I need to rant about my tax situation. I claim zero deductions for my wife and I, in fact we get a couple hundred taken out each month. We were saddled with huge graduate degree debt from my wife in excess of 6 figures, so we live pretty modest. Should be gone by years end…Rent is 1000k per month and we rarely go out to eat…I drive a 12 year old 205k mile car and my wife’s is 10 years old. So we are putting money towards loans. I got hit with a 9k tax bill last year, and 7k last year. Not sure what I need to do besides pop out some babies, buy a house, and put my wife back to part time/no time.[/quote]

jstoesz, I recommend you and your spouse stay the course. You have cheap rent right now. Your spouse’s very large student loan will likely follow her to her grave if she (and as a byproduct, you) take a deferment for any reason. You will also be able to qualify for a much larger mortgage (if the rest of your credit is good) IF her student loan is retired. If you put some of your paychecks in IRA’s or 401K Plans now, this will shelter it from income taxes but her student loan is likely at a higher rate than you could make from safe retirement investments. This is another reason I feel that ALL your discretionary income should be deployed towards her student loan in order to retire it ASAP.

As you get older, life happens which always costs money. The last thing she (and you) need is a voluminous student loan hanging over your heads, IMHO.[/quote]

Totally agree and that’s what we have been doing for the last couple years, but you can’t help feeling like you got a target on your back earning w2 money paying down debt. 0 deductions…how screwed up is that. Hell even with giving, we couldn’t make it over the standard deduction.

[jstoesz]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=jstoesz]anvil sisters…perfect…

You all will probably yawn at this, but I need to rant about my tax situation. I claim zero deductions for my wife and I, in fact we get a couple hundred taken out each month. We were saddled with huge graduate degree debt from my wife in excess of 6 figures, so we live pretty modest. Should be gone by years end…Rent is 1000k per month and we rarely go out to eat…I drive a 12 year old 205k mile car and my wife’s is 10 years old. So we are putting money towards loans. I got hit with a 9k tax bill last year, and 7k last year. Not sure what I need to do besides pop out some babies, buy a house, and put my wife back to part time/no time.[/quote]

jstoesz, I recommend you and your spouse stay the course. You have cheap rent right now. Your spouse’s very large student loan will likely follow her to her grave if she (and as a byproduct, you) take a deferment for any reason. You will also be able to qualify for a much larger mortgage (if the rest of your credit is good) IF her student loan is retired. If you put some of your paychecks in IRA’s or 401K Plans now, this will shelter it from income taxes but her student loan is likely at a higher rate than you could make from safe retirement investments. This is another reason I feel that ALL your discretionary income should be deployed towards her student loan in order to retire it ASAP.

As you get older, life happens which always costs money. The last thing she (and you) need is a voluminous student loan hanging over your heads, IMHO.[/quote]

Totally agree and that’s what we have been doing for the last couple years, but you can’t help feeling like you got a target on your back earning w2 money paying down debt. 0 deductions…how screwed up is that. Hell even with giving, we couldn’t make it over the standard deduction.

[jstoesz]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=jstoesz]anvil sisters…perfect…

You all will probably yawn at this, but I need to rant about my tax situation. I claim zero deductions for my wife and I, in fact we get a couple hundred taken out each month. We were saddled with huge graduate degree debt from my wife in excess of 6 figures, so we live pretty modest. Should be gone by years end…Rent is 1000k per month and we rarely go out to eat…I drive a 12 year old 205k mile car and my wife’s is 10 years old. So we are putting money towards loans. I got hit with a 9k tax bill last year, and 7k last year. Not sure what I need to do besides pop out some babies, buy a house, and put my wife back to part time/no time.[/quote]

jstoesz, I recommend you and your spouse stay the course. You have cheap rent right now. Your spouse’s very large student loan will likely follow her to her grave if she (and as a byproduct, you) take a deferment for any reason. You will also be able to qualify for a much larger mortgage (if the rest of your credit is good) IF her student loan is retired. If you put some of your paychecks in IRA’s or 401K Plans now, this will shelter it from income taxes but her student loan is likely at a higher rate than you could make from safe retirement investments. This is another reason I feel that ALL your discretionary income should be deployed towards her student loan in order to retire it ASAP.

As you get older, life happens which always costs money. The last thing she (and you) need is a voluminous student loan hanging over your heads, IMHO.[/quote]

Totally agree and that’s what we have been doing for the last couple years, but you can’t help feeling like you got a target on your back earning w2 money paying down debt. 0 deductions…how screwed up is that. Hell even with giving, we couldn’t make it over the standard deduction.

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