[svelte]

I know most of you all will throw arrows at me for this, but I cannot imagine why a man would marry a woman who didn’t want to work outside the home. That was a must-have on my list.

I see so many problems in relationships with stay-at-home moms. I can tell you by the # of times the phone rings on an employee’s desk (with a call from wifey) whether or not his wife works. If she doesn’t work, she’s bored and hits that phone for every little thing. Besides solving boredom, a working wife provides many other bennies: less time to spend dough, she’s tired in the eve too so less “let’s go out!” on weeknights, doubles the household income & retirement bennies, and maybe the most important: she stays mentally stimulated and engaged with the world.

Luckily I found a gorgeous woman early on who was brilliant and driven, so the decision to marry was so easy that it made me second guess myself. But it’s turned out beautifully.

This has been a long-winded way of saying: alimony is not an issue if your wife makes as much (or more!) than you do. While this was not my intent in my wifey-must-work mentality, it would have been a very welcome plus if things had not worked out.

(child support is a whole nuther issue. I cannot for the life of me imagine why someone would NOT want to have their offspring live with adequate $$ – paying child support is a no brainer. My respect for those who refuse to pay it – or complain about it – is nil. You got your rocks off dude. Pay up.)

[svelte]

The White House plan is in FLU’s link

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/economy/congress_housing_relief/index.htm?postversion=2008040918

Bush’s plan includes:

For delinquent borrowers who owe more than their house is worth, lenders would need to write down the loans to between 90% and 97% of the home’s value.

So…we have the Republicans wanting to hand out free money to the little guy who screwed up, while the Congress (mostly Democrats) want to hand out free money to businesses including developers.

Bizarro world!

Can anyone tell an election is drawing near? The parties are each trying to steal votes from the other side of the fence!

[svelte]

The White House plan is in FLU’s link

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/economy/congress_housing_relief/index.htm?postversion=2008040918

Bush’s plan includes:

For delinquent borrowers who owe more than their house is worth, lenders would need to write down the loans to between 90% and 97% of the home’s value.

So…we have the Republicans wanting to hand out free money to the little guy who screwed up, while the Congress (mostly Democrats) want to hand out free money to businesses including developers.

Bizarro world!

Can anyone tell an election is drawing near? The parties are each trying to steal votes from the other side of the fence!

[svelte]

The White House plan is in FLU’s link

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/economy/congress_housing_relief/index.htm?postversion=2008040918

Bush’s plan includes:

For delinquent borrowers who owe more than their house is worth, lenders would need to write down the loans to between 90% and 97% of the home’s value.

So…we have the Republicans wanting to hand out free money to the little guy who screwed up, while the Congress (mostly Democrats) want to hand out free money to businesses including developers.

Bizarro world!

Can anyone tell an election is drawing near? The parties are each trying to steal votes from the other side of the fence!

[svelte]

The White House plan is in FLU’s link

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/economy/congress_housing_relief/index.htm?postversion=2008040918

Bush’s plan includes:

For delinquent borrowers who owe more than their house is worth, lenders would need to write down the loans to between 90% and 97% of the home’s value.

So…we have the Republicans wanting to hand out free money to the little guy who screwed up, while the Congress (mostly Democrats) want to hand out free money to businesses including developers.

Bizarro world!

Can anyone tell an election is drawing near? The parties are each trying to steal votes from the other side of the fence!

[svelte]

The White House plan is in FLU’s link

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/economy/congress_housing_relief/index.htm?postversion=2008040918

Bush’s plan includes:

For delinquent borrowers who owe more than their house is worth, lenders would need to write down the loans to between 90% and 97% of the home’s value.

So…we have the Republicans wanting to hand out free money to the little guy who screwed up, while the Congress (mostly Democrats) want to hand out free money to businesses including developers.

Bizarro world!

Can anyone tell an election is drawing near? The parties are each trying to steal votes from the other side of the fence!

[svelte]

The thing about kids is that they are a 20 year commitment. From the time the line appears on that at-home preg test, the next two decades of your life are locked in. I was petrified when it happened to us as I was barely old enough to drink. Cars, homes, even in many cases marriages don’t require that long of a commitment.

Soon after our child was born, it became apparent that there is probably nothing else in life as rewarding as being a parent. I often compare it to discovering a new world: watching a 2 yo discover objects they had no idea even existed is awesome. I wouldn’t trade the parenting experience for anything. Many of the lessons I learned as a parent I apply to my professional career and other aspects of my life. Vagabond, your statement about forcing the focus off of you is beautiful and oh so true.

But it was just a phase in our life, and truthfully I’m glad it’s over. We have adapted very well to being child-less again. Our weekends are free and we live it up big time. An advantage of having kids young is that we are still relatively young now that they are gone…and we’re taking full advantage!

I’m not dissing ppl who decide parenting isn’t for them. My best friend knew he wasn’t the parenting type and it took him years of searching to find a mate who didn’t want kids. But he found her, and they are very happy.

The people I feel sorry for are those who don’t realize they are not cut out for parenting until *after* they become parents. What a mess.

[svelte]

The thing about kids is that they are a 20 year commitment. From the time the line appears on that at-home preg test, the next two decades of your life are locked in. I was petrified when it happened to us as I was barely old enough to drink. Cars, homes, even in many cases marriages don’t require that long of a commitment.

Soon after our child was born, it became apparent that there is probably nothing else in life as rewarding as being a parent. I often compare it to discovering a new world: watching a 2 yo discover objects they had no idea even existed is awesome. I wouldn’t trade the parenting experience for anything. Many of the lessons I learned as a parent I apply to my professional career and other aspects of my life. Vagabond, your statement about forcing the focus off of you is beautiful and oh so true.

But it was just a phase in our life, and truthfully I’m glad it’s over. We have adapted very well to being child-less again. Our weekends are free and we live it up big time. An advantage of having kids young is that we are still relatively young now that they are gone…and we’re taking full advantage!

I’m not dissing ppl who decide parenting isn’t for them. My best friend knew he wasn’t the parenting type and it took him years of searching to find a mate who didn’t want kids. But he found her, and they are very happy.

The people I feel sorry for are those who don’t realize they are not cut out for parenting until *after* they become parents. What a mess.

[svelte]

The thing about kids is that they are a 20 year commitment. From the time the line appears on that at-home preg test, the next two decades of your life are locked in. I was petrified when it happened to us as I was barely old enough to drink. Cars, homes, even in many cases marriages don’t require that long of a commitment.

Soon after our child was born, it became apparent that there is probably nothing else in life as rewarding as being a parent. I often compare it to discovering a new world: watching a 2 yo discover objects they had no idea even existed is awesome. I wouldn’t trade the parenting experience for anything. Many of the lessons I learned as a parent I apply to my professional career and other aspects of my life. Vagabond, your statement about forcing the focus off of you is beautiful and oh so true.

But it was just a phase in our life, and truthfully I’m glad it’s over. We have adapted very well to being child-less again. Our weekends are free and we live it up big time. An advantage of having kids young is that we are still relatively young now that they are gone…and we’re taking full advantage!

I’m not dissing ppl who decide parenting isn’t for them. My best friend knew he wasn’t the parenting type and it took him years of searching to find a mate who didn’t want kids. But he found her, and they are very happy.

The people I feel sorry for are those who don’t realize they are not cut out for parenting until *after* they become parents. What a mess.

[svelte]

The thing about kids is that they are a 20 year commitment. From the time the line appears on that at-home preg test, the next two decades of your life are locked in. I was petrified when it happened to us as I was barely old enough to drink. Cars, homes, even in many cases marriages don’t require that long of a commitment.

Soon after our child was born, it became apparent that there is probably nothing else in life as rewarding as being a parent. I often compare it to discovering a new world: watching a 2 yo discover objects they had no idea even existed is awesome. I wouldn’t trade the parenting experience for anything. Many of the lessons I learned as a parent I apply to my professional career and other aspects of my life. Vagabond, your statement about forcing the focus off of you is beautiful and oh so true.

But it was just a phase in our life, and truthfully I’m glad it’s over. We have adapted very well to being child-less again. Our weekends are free and we live it up big time. An advantage of having kids young is that we are still relatively young now that they are gone…and we’re taking full advantage!

I’m not dissing ppl who decide parenting isn’t for them. My best friend knew he wasn’t the parenting type and it took him years of searching to find a mate who didn’t want kids. But he found her, and they are very happy.

The people I feel sorry for are those who don’t realize they are not cut out for parenting until *after* they become parents. What a mess.

[svelte]

The thing about kids is that they are a 20 year commitment. From the time the line appears on that at-home preg test, the next two decades of your life are locked in. I was petrified when it happened to us as I was barely old enough to drink. Cars, homes, even in many cases marriages don’t require that long of a commitment.

Soon after our child was born, it became apparent that there is probably nothing else in life as rewarding as being a parent. I often compare it to discovering a new world: watching a 2 yo discover objects they had no idea even existed is awesome. I wouldn’t trade the parenting experience for anything. Many of the lessons I learned as a parent I apply to my professional career and other aspects of my life. Vagabond, your statement about forcing the focus off of you is beautiful and oh so true.

But it was just a phase in our life, and truthfully I’m glad it’s over. We have adapted very well to being child-less again. Our weekends are free and we live it up big time. An advantage of having kids young is that we are still relatively young now that they are gone…and we’re taking full advantage!

I’m not dissing ppl who decide parenting isn’t for them. My best friend knew he wasn’t the parenting type and it took him years of searching to find a mate who didn’t want kids. But he found her, and they are very happy.

The people I feel sorry for are those who don’t realize they are not cut out for parenting until *after* they become parents. What a mess.

[svelte]

The graph looks practically identical to the house price index graph that was used, specifically the one from:

http://www.irrationalexuberance.com

click on link in the second bullet, then click on the Fig 2.1 tab.

The only difference is that some of the minor ups and downs have been smoothed out – otherwise you could practically lay the two graphs over each other.

I also went to:

http://www.bls.gov/data/home.htm

to find where the rent data came from, but there is so much stuff on that page I couldn’t find it.

In any case, I think all the graph in this thread is showing is that housing prices have been the driver in the graph up-and-downs (since it matches the house index graph), while rents have been fairly consistent in 1880 dollars since 1880. Otherwise, the graph shape would have changed shape, wouldn’t it? I dunno. I’m tired of thinking about it.

[svelte]

The graph looks practically identical to the house price index graph that was used, specifically the one from:

http://www.irrationalexuberance.com

click on link in the second bullet, then click on the Fig 2.1 tab.

The only difference is that some of the minor ups and downs have been smoothed out – otherwise you could practically lay the two graphs over each other.

I also went to:

http://www.bls.gov/data/home.htm

to find where the rent data came from, but there is so much stuff on that page I couldn’t find it.

In any case, I think all the graph in this thread is showing is that housing prices have been the driver in the graph up-and-downs (since it matches the house index graph), while rents have been fairly consistent in 1880 dollars since 1880. Otherwise, the graph shape would have changed shape, wouldn’t it? I dunno. I’m tired of thinking about it.

[svelte]

The graph looks practically identical to the house price index graph that was used, specifically the one from:

http://www.irrationalexuberance.com

click on link in the second bullet, then click on the Fig 2.1 tab.

The only difference is that some of the minor ups and downs have been smoothed out – otherwise you could practically lay the two graphs over each other.

I also went to:

http://www.bls.gov/data/home.htm

to find where the rent data came from, but there is so much stuff on that page I couldn’t find it.

In any case, I think all the graph in this thread is showing is that housing prices have been the driver in the graph up-and-downs (since it matches the house index graph), while rents have been fairly consistent in 1880 dollars since 1880. Otherwise, the graph shape would have changed shape, wouldn’t it? I dunno. I’m tired of thinking about it.

[svelte]

The graph looks practically identical to the house price index graph that was used, specifically the one from:

http://www.irrationalexuberance.com

click on link in the second bullet, then click on the Fig 2.1 tab.

The only difference is that some of the minor ups and downs have been smoothed out – otherwise you could practically lay the two graphs over each other.

I also went to:

http://www.bls.gov/data/home.htm

to find where the rent data came from, but there is so much stuff on that page I couldn’t find it.

In any case, I think all the graph in this thread is showing is that housing prices have been the driver in the graph up-and-downs (since it matches the house index graph), while rents have been fairly consistent in 1880 dollars since 1880. Otherwise, the graph shape would have changed shape, wouldn’t it? I dunno. I’m tired of thinking about it.

[Author]

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