[UCGal]

Love Barbarella’s. Surprisingly kid friendly. Need to reserve early if you want to go anytime near Halloween – She goes a bit overboard with the decor… kids LOVE it.

We always order the same thing – because it’s so good. Split an order of Fritti, Split a Pizza Max, and split the chocolate tort with banana ice cream.

Yummm.

Have eaten at Piatti’s and Ostia Romantica – they’re good -but Barbarellas suits my tastes better.

Jeff’s burgers is good if we didn’t bring enough snacks to the beach with us. One of us will walk over and get a couple of burgers to feed the kids.

[UCGal]

[quote=harvey]

Prostitution is really the only reason that human trafficking exists at all today, so that fact alone is ample evidence that there is no way to cleanly separate the two.[/quote]

No – child soldiers kidnapped and brainwashed to fight wars could also be considered human trafficking. Think of the warlords in Uganda and Somalia that kidnap young boys and turn them into soldiers… using the same techniques that are used on prostitutes – get them dependent on drugs, systematically build up and destroy their esteem till they can’t think for themselves… enslave them.

In fact when you stated earlier:

[quote=harvey]
Although some jobs and roles in life have less dignity than others, it is universally accepted that prostitution is at the bottom of the scale – low enough that no one should have to do it simply because they have no alternative. [/quote]

(bolds are mine – that’s the bit that struck me when I first read it.)

The first thing that came to mind was that people forced to kill others might be considered by some to be lower on the scale. So not so universally accepted.

I personally would rather sleep with icky people than kill someone who’d done me no harm just because someone told me too.

[UCGal]

Interesting.
I was surprised to see San Diego was more expensive than LA in the graphic on the Barry Ritholtz link.

[UCGal]

[quote=Dr. Paul][quote=UCGal]I hope to be able to say I didn’t pay any mortgage payments for five years in just 7 years.

Of course I also hope to retire my mortgage in 2 years…. :)[/quote]

Actually UC, you’re biggest financial weight will be lifted once your kids grad from college and don’t come knocking back to live with you..:)

Seriously, I saw the relief of my parents after their last kid was no longer needing financial support.[/quote]
That’s a tougher one to predict/control.
I look at a friend. Her oldest yo-yo’d into her basement. He’s 35, unemployed, overeducated… No plans to put his PhD to work – is happy in the basement. She’s miserable.

He’s putting a crimp in their retirement plans. At this point they feel they may have to move to get rid of him.

[UCGal]

I hope to be able to say I didn’t pay any mortgage payments for five years in just 7 years.

Of course I also hope to retire my mortgage in 2 years…. 🙂

[UCGal]

Interesting article. Here are some thoughts – in no particular order:

– They extrapolated the data from estate tax returns and applied it to the living. But I would imagine estate tax returns are skewed to the older age bracket… people who have already accumulated their wealth… vs younger people who have smaller retirement accounts and bigger mortgages.

– Real Estate lead the list of assets. This can include a primary residence. If you bought before the bubble, in CA, and dilligently paid off the mortgage, that’s a BIG chunk of your networth… But you can’t spend it while you live there. Many folks work to pay off their home before retirement. (Even though Piggs might mock them. LOL)

– The other asset that stood out was retirement accounts. Hopefully people have LARGE retirement accounts by the time they retire… that may not make them wealthy – it takes a pretty big retirement account to support enough retirement income if you use a withdrawal rate of 4%.

I wonder how many of these 1% are just frugal people who did the responsible thing of saving for retirement, paying down their debt… living in the same house for years…. Not rich, just responsible.

I’m not in the 1% by these calcs… but hope to be someday soon (in a few years) by maxing my 401k, paying off my house. I hope to retire, and coincidentally that magic $2M is close to what I have calculated. I don’t want to be in the 1% – just financially secure and unworried by debt or lack of income streams.

[UCGal]

Here are the details for our bill. We have a 2000sf house and a separate 700 sf casita. Total residents 4 adults, 2 kids, 1 dog. Landscaping is watered with drip irrigation, which is turned off after every rain. During the winter, we pretty typically stay in the first pricing tier, during the spring/summer/fall we start going into the 2nd tier (more expensive).

Base water fee: $38.66
Water Used: $62.17 (14HCF first tier, 3 2nd tier)
Sewer base fee (less settlement): $30.66
Sewer service charge (based on water use): $60.74
Storm Drain: $1.90

So the fixed costs are pretty high – about $70/2 months. My total bill was $194.28.

It goes higher if you have a lot of lawn, a pool, teenagers who spend hours in the shower. (My kids are still young enough I have to tell them to take showers.)

[UCGal]

[quote=flu][quote=pri_dk][quote=flu]I’d like to see the numbers before and after taxes. I’d say a majority of the folks in the 90-99% category end up much lower after bending over…[/quote]

You need to think about the math on that one.

Remember that word again: “marginal”[/quote]

No, I just need to look at my 2011 Taxes, and see the number…
What’s missing here? Very simple…Our tax law is not “fair” in any sense. It’s not just about the actual amount you make at all. It’s how you make it.

You could have a seemingly large(r) ordinary income and pay up the noses if you have absolutely no writeoffs and effectively end up have much less, that someone who making a much less ordinary income and a crapload of writeoffs (bullshit or real)

I’ve said it all along. Dumb people only look at seeing how much raise they get on a W2 and judge wealth based on that number, and not look at how tax efficient they are (me included).[/quote]
It’s not just tax havens. It’s the different tax rate between capital gains and w-2 income.

For two years, under Reagan, unearned and earned income were taxed at the same rate. It’s something we should consider doing going forward.

Under Clinton the cap gains rate went back down to 20%, then under Bush’s cuts, it went down to 15%… much lower than many people’s marginal income tax rate.

Why not tax all income the same. That would bring Romney’s tax rate up, and FLU’s tax rate down.

[UCGal]

[quote=briansd1]I don’t see the big deal. In any kind of rising economy, there’s a certain Wild-West mentality where the local power brokers run their own fiefs. (Actually check out the sheriffs in the Deep South today).

WTF was Haywoood doing in China? Did he have the proper visa and work permit? He should have known that the rewards come with a certain level of risk.

I don’t have much sympathy for the Brits who are demanding an investigation and trying to make this into a matter of state. Haywood was an opportunists who associated with the wrong crowd. Too bad for him. This is a corruption matter similar to our mob bosses here in America.[/quote]
Really – getting murdered is ok in your book?

[UCGal]

A friend’s mom did it when she moved from a SFR to a townhome upon retirement. This was within SD county.

My dad looked into it when he downsized – but we were buying the family homestead from him -and it’s an “or” thing, not an “and” thing… so the value of his prop 60 rate, vs the value of our prop 58 rate – we did the math and took the prop 58 rate. (We kicked in to his now higher taxes till he sold that place.)

For us to get the prop 58 rate we had to file paperwork when we purchased. This included birth certificates (showing he was my father). And then about 6 months later we got the lower rate. It was not instantaneous.

[UCGal]

[quote=jstoesz]Does an hour away count as your neighborhood (not including skinning time of course)?

[/quote]
jstoesz – What breed is your dog? He/She looks remarkably like our rescued pound dog. We’ve heard so many theories about the breed (obviously some huskie… but lots of other ideas tossed in.)

That looks like Sierras to me. Inyo Nat’l forest? Kings Canyon area?

[UCGal]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=briansd1] . . . I love political conventions. There an energy about them. My first one was when Bob Dole was in San Diego. I was invited to a party back then and I love it even though I didn’t agree with the Republican crowd.[/quote]

My favorite times in politics were at SD “Election Central” in Golden Hall where many candidates would rent rooms for their parties for their campaign people and contributors. Some rented rooms in an adjacent hotel. Hopping from party to party until the wee hours of the morning was nothing less than exhilarating![/quote]
My mom worked for the Registrar of Voters and used to to run the Election Central as part of her job duties. Golden Hall, Kona Kai, and a few other venues. I remember sneaking into some great parties in high school. Lots of booze. If my mom ever knew why I was willing to go get the civics lessons on those nights. LOL.

[UCGal]

[quote=bobby]a little update.

We had been going without an agent but met one who is very eager to show us some local properties. He showed us properties running about $1 to 1.1 million. My wife love them. This agent asked us to place bid of $25-50K over asking price. He thinks this will give us the best chance.
I am reluctant to do this b/c this sounds like a game. Also this requires stretching the budget.

property 1. Asking $1055K. Sold in 4 days after accepting bid (we drove by and verified this. Likely all cash and no contigency)
property 2. Asking $1050K. Sold in 6 days at $1062 (seller agent is partner of our RE agent so he got the scoop).
property 3. Asking $975. In escrow after 3 days. not sure of amount.
[/quote]

You only provide hard data for one case. And that one is less than the 25-50k above asking that your realtor recommended. Not enough data to say for sure your realtor is giving you less-than-optimal advice… but it’s the only hard data point you give.

[UCGal]

It’s likely to be a structural engineer, rather than architect for the foundation.

Can you find out who this was from the builder? As well as the architect.

I think (would have to confirm with my architect husband) architects are required to keep plans around for 10 years. I know this was an issue for his former boss when he was closing up shop… had to find a place to store 10 years worth of the firms plans.

The other option – although more expensive. Hire a structural engineer to inspect/assess. Since you’ll need their expertise when you get the new plans, perhaps you can work out a deal.

Anecdotally, I know my husband has told friends that it’s rare that a 1 story home can add a second story, except over the garage, without foundation work. But YMMV.

[UCGal]

I was living in another state at the time. But I vaguely recall that he had to get an inspector to verify the holes were drilled, before it was filled in, and again at the end to verify that there wasn’t a a hazardous hole in the ground anymore.

But I could be wrong.

Since I now own the house – I know that we’re still on some list, somewhere, as having a pool. Zillow says we have one. And we get junk mail from pool supply companies trying to sell us chlorine, pool covers, etc. But mailing lists live forever. My dad removed the pool 20 years ago.

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