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August 21, 2006 at 12:48 PM in reply to: Iraq is like the housing market – but not like you think #32571
PerryChase
ParticipantYou can deduct for taxes purposes only if you have income to deduct from. I'm sure a lot of people who stretched to get into homes (or used equity from previous homes) don't have the income to fully benefit from the incremental between standard deduction and itemnization.
jepsd, i also love how you put it. How about this: give me $1 today, and I may give you 30c back next April, but only if you have a job. If you're unemployed, i'm keeping the whole amount.
ParticipantIt airs at 11:00am and yes, you can call in if you want.
Participantburger007, did you remove the statue after you sold your house, or did you leave it buried there?
I guess it can't hurt. I beleive in Feng Shui to harmonize my house and life (so does Donald Trump and many architects). It can be seen as quackery but what's the harm if done in good fun?
ParticipantI don't have cable to so I didn't even know those shows existed.
But talk about irresponsibility!! The bulls continuously say that us realists who discuss a 30-50% decline in real estate are irresponsible.
Those shows will cause many "investors" to loose their shirts.
ParticipantBuchanan is a religious theocrat. I would hate to live a country where the Church is ruling everything.
However, I do support Buchanan’s position on Iraq — he’s against it.
What’s wrong with a North American Union? That’ll give me more opportunity to practice my Spanish. 🙂
ParticipantBugs, is your brother telling you that workers are legal or illegal?
ParticipantYou can use HTML tags, or use a web design application such as MS Front Page. Cut and paste the codes when posting. It takes more time than just typing into the Reply box but your post will look nice.
Participantbgates, Diego, looks like we won’t have agreement here. History will be the judge.
Diego I agree with you. I was just watching Meet the Press with Vali Nasr and General Barry McCaffrey and it looks like the prognostic for Iraq is not bright. It’s interesting that McCaffrey was a Vietnam and Iraq Hawk but he’s learned for the mistakes and he now says that “the Iraq war could break the United States Army”
While the preponderance of historians have pretty much decided that the Vietnam War was a terrible catastrophe, I would guess that hawks such as bgates would continue to argue that it was a worthwhile cause that was tactically won but lost politically because of wimps like us.
If only custumers would buy Ford cars American manufacturing will be strong. If only people continue to buy real estate, we’ll all be rich.I’m afraid that Iraq will sufer the same fate as Vietnam. Some people will never learn.
ParticipantI went to the DMV on Genessee a couple of weeks ago and, out of curiosity, while waiting, I stopped by the MP condo conversion right behind the DMV. They are not even 1/2 way complete in that huge complex. That project is way overpriced and also surrounded by not so attractive rentals. A 50% reduction in that project is in order.
Participantybc, yes, I spent several months traveling in China last year. I went all the way to Kashgar. If you have time, just pack a bag; get a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide then go. I traveled by bus, coach train, luxury train. I saw how poor folks and how rich folks live. China is perfectly safe for solo travel and you can always find hotels (from nice to budget) along the way so you don’t have to make advance reservations or be on a schedule. Now, there’s even a new train through the mountains into Tibet. I’d like to go back and take that new train.
I’m happy I was able to appreciate China for the amazing diverse country that it is rather than a bunch of worker bees trying to steal American jobs. There are blue-eyed people in Western China! Some people are very beautiful with European features and Mongolian eyes (not to say that Han Chinese or other ethnicities are not beautiful).
What struck me most is how friendly people are. I don’t speak the language but I was always able to find help.
The way China approaches its minorities is not much different than how we do things in America. They have affirmative action programs for students from the autonomous regions; and while university admission is extremely competitive, they will find spots for bright students. I have a Uyghur friend who got a full scholarship to Beijing University and now works for the Foreign Ministry. He looks Hispanic with brown hair but he’s Uyghur Chinese.
The reason minorities in China feel oppressed is because they don’t speak Mandarin and they are neither part of, nor do they understand the establishment. But I can tell you that most of them are thankful for the jobs, the roads and the infrastructure and the consumer goods that the Han Chinese brought. There’s a big boom in Western China and Tibet now and local city folks are becoming wealthy on real estate appreciation. The most destitute people in China are the rural migrant workers, regardless of ethnicity, who have neither permanent jobs nor homes. They stream into the cities looking for work.
BTW, the real estate bubbles in Beijing and Shanghai are so much bigger than San Diego. Shanghai is reaching Manhattan levels but the median income there is relatively low.
As far as Iraq is concerned, now that we’re already there, I say, tighten our belts, make real sacrifices, send 1 million troops and really fix the problem, or get out. The current half measures of holding Baghdad while insurgents run amok everywhere simply aren’t working. Some have said that invading Iraq was America’s greatest gift to Iran.
ParticipantA 900k foreclosure!! Talk about living above your means.
ParticipantI beleive that’s it works better if your talk people into cooperation than beat them into submission.
American has done a lot of good in the world. However, that in no way excuses the harm we’ve inflicted on people over the years. I beleive in doing what’s right. I won’t debate this point further because hawks will always believe in strong arms tactics.
I’ve been to China, while I don’t defend China, China’s actions in Tibet in the 20th century is very much like how we conquered the West in the 19th century.
While Tibetans might not like Chinese rule, China has brought relative prosperity to Tibet. People there live better than Tibetans in India. As far as Xingjiang (the predominantly muslin province) is concerned, people there live much better than in neighboring Uzbekistan and Takjikistan.
Sad as it sounds, Tibetans in Tibet, and Uugurs in Xingjiang will end-up like Hispanics in the American west — an underclass in their original land (but better off than they would be as part of Mexico or as an independent state? ).Participantbgates, ever since the Monroe Doctrine, America has interfered around the world to shape it to our liking. We’ve resorted to some pretty awful ways to acheive our goals. I beleive that the world just wants us to leave them alone.
I want to best for America. I hope that the Bush way works because that’s what we’re operating by now. But my view is that it’s going down the wrong path.
You may beleive that real-estate is the best investment, but you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket then keep on doubling down as things go south. That’s a receipe for disaster and bankruptcy. Sure you can end up wildly rich also but what are the odds of that happening?
Participantdocteur, you make some good points. And yes, powayseller can be overbearing.
However, I have to support powayseller’s right to express her opinions. Her sometimes controversial and over-the-top posts get the dialogue going.
If in our society, we have room for Evangelical Christians who think they need to save everyone in their paths, then we have room for a real-estate bear evangelist.
For God’s sake, we have too many bull evangelists already.
We’ve heard so much from the bulls in the last few years on how we’d better get into the market now that it’s nice to hear an opposing view. We are here on the Internet and there are millions more sites on investing and flipping properties for people who wants a more positive take on real estate investing.
In my view, one informercial on TV on no-money-down real estate investing do much more harm to the public than powayseller’s posts since the beginning.
Powerseller does not need to apologize. She’s got strong views and that’s fine by me.
My personal approach is that if anyone wants to invest in real-estate now, all I can do is wish them success. Or if anyone wants to get married to the wrong partner, it’s also not my job to dissuade them. I’ve learned that people don’t want advice. They just want cheer-leading and reinforcement for the decisions they’ve already made and empathy when things go awry.
I just do my own things independent of others. I have only a few friends I would be very frank and honest with.
In my book, powerseller is a little different. She’s an evangelist. She’s made it her mission to spread the word. I say spread away.
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