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ucodegen
Participant[quote=flu]don’t believe everything what the MSM posts about $100k jobs…[/quote]I’ll second that. While a dealer charges about $60/hr on labor, the person doing the work actually gets a small fraction of that.. closer to $17/hr. You only get close to 100k/yr driving tractor trailers if you transport hazardous materials and drive in difficult areas. Ice road drivers can approach 100k/year.. but it takes a lot of work.
November 12, 2012 at 3:09 PM in reply to: Making $275K as a dentist, $400K owed in Federal Student Loans, $120K behind on Taxes #754530ParticipantAfter borrowing $50,000 in the 1980s and ignoring payment notices, Gyaami owes more than $500,000 with penalties and interest.
I wonder what those penalties/fees are.. because with interest, it should be about 150,000.. not 500,000.
November 12, 2012 at 3:06 PM in reply to: Making $275K as a dentist, $400K owed in Federal Student Loans, $120K behind on Taxes #754527ParticipantOne of the best ways to ‘help your student’ when going to college, particularly if they are in a different location, is to buy rental property in that area. Kid is responsible for the roommates. In the 4 to 8 years that it takes to complete (depending upon degree and field of study), you come out ahead on the property, monthly payments help defer cost and it allows you to cover one of the largest costs of education these days – living costs.
November 12, 2012 at 2:54 PM in reply to: Am I refinancing too many times? Any reason why I shouldn’t refinance? #754523Participant[quote=ninaprincess]If I still owe $348000 with 3.875% and $1655 monthly payment and refiance again at 3.375% and still making the same original payment of $1655 how many less # of payment will I make? Or how much of today’s money do I save? The math is too difficult. Do you have a program for this?[/quote]Need some additional info. What was the original principle (original amount you owed on the loan). How many years/months left on the loan? Anything else rolled into the payment? A quick calc came up with same that ‘flu’ at 1538.49/month on the new interest rate. I reran at the original interest rate of 3.875 and got a payment of $1636.43, so there is a discrepancy. Is the rate you are quoting calc’d as a year API or monthly interest cost? Anything else rolled in? I turned the calc around and calc’d how long the loan would last if you did a payment of $1655 at the new interest rate, and it was 26.6 years (would need to double check though).
November 12, 2012 at 2:29 PM in reply to: Am I refinancing too many times? Any reason why I shouldn’t refinance? #754518Participant[quote=flu]For example, if refinancing puts $20000 cash in your wallet via rebate today but adds $24000 additional interest over the life of your loan (30 years)…It still might be worth it since the $20k today most likely will be worth a hell of a lot more than $24000 spread over 30 years (with the ever inflating dollar)… It would be your call…whether you value having $20k now ,or rather save $24k over 30 years.[/quote]I would avoid the cash out/cash back refi. It allows the finance companies to bump the interest rate up by about 0.5%. There was a copy of the rate sheet for Countrywide out somewhere. I don’t have time to look for it right now.
November 11, 2012 at 7:45 PM in reply to: Big government and absurdly strong unions destroyed Greece and Spain. Expect no less for California. #754403Participant[quote=bearishgurl]The repair I had done in Tulsa cost only $3.75 less than my mechanic in SD would have charged me for it (I checked). The garage in Tulsa recently expanded to 5-6 bays and got new expensive testing equipment for German makes where my longtime garage is SD (Japanese only) has had the same three bays for the last 20 years. Both garages have PLENTY of business, often having to schedule it out to fit it all in 🙂
I don’t know if it cost any less to do biz in Tulsa (the lease, maybe?) but DO know that the Tulsa garage definitely had a few more employees.[/quote]I do know that SD is not the cheapest place. I had work done on a mid 90’s mustang near Lake Isabella, CA. It cost about half what it would be in San Diego. Work was done correctly and quickly. It was one of those garages run by someone who has been doing it for years, with all those old yellowed pictures of older sometimes collectable cars.
Participant[quote=CA renter]A lot of the money used for initial infrastructure costs came from foreign governments, and later, our own government.[/quote]A lot, but not all. Compared to the total, government contribution is small. There are many things that government can do better than individual companies. One of these is infrastructure. Because they are ‘government’, they can sweep through laws, deal with eminent domain, own most un-built land etc.
You also forgot all the small railroads that were built back east by private money, before the transcontentental rail, who were later swept under (in many cases losing all of their capital). You cherry picked an example.
PS: You might get a bit of a flame from flu on this, the West spur of the Transcontinental was largely built by Chinese laborers. The East branch was largely built by Black, Italian, Irish laborers.
PPS: I have done mountain Trail building with a Chinese mountain climbing group. Interesting to say the least, and it showed me why the Chinese were so successful in building difficult portions of the rail.
PPPS: What is a Rail Bond, other than having the government borrow money from capitalists? (giving them a bond yielding interest in return?)
[quote=CA renter]Who first created the capital owned by the capitalists that was used to build the factories, etc.? The money that came from private interests was initially made primarily by the exploitation of labor both here and overseas.[/quote]Not always. It has been happening more so, recently. Sometimes it is someone putting up all their worth and teaming with other capitalists to form a new company.. HP comes to mind, Apple is another. This created new ‘capitalists’ that can then lend their money to create yet other businesses.
[quote=CA renter]Sure, you can make a profit when you pay your workers next to nothing and force them to live in squalor (the most satisfied capitalist is one who manages to keep slaves to build his fortunes);[/quote]Straw man argument, taking an extreme and then attacking that extreme. Remember Henry Ford’s pay scale back when Ford started… higher than the going wage. Yes, there are abuses. I am not saying Unions should be abolished, but I do think they have pushed to an extreme. If companies applied the same tactics that Unionized labor currently does, they would be sued/under investigation. It has tilted a little too far in the other direction. When working blue collar @ GM, it was possible to make more money and have a better retirement than it was possible if you went to college, became and engineer and designed the cars at GM.Participant[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]So General Petraeus, Director of Central Intelligence, who was scheduled to testify on the Benghazi affair next week, has abruptly resigned over an extramarital affair.
Hmmm.[/quote](snark)A good Machiavellian leader holds tactical information until it is truly useful. The extramarital affair was probably known for many years…(/snark) That said, it shouldn’t really affect his testimony, though it might point to character.
Participant[quote=CA renter]Whine, whine, whine.
You do realize, flu, that workers who do all the productive work in society, and who are taxed at far higher rates, have a much harder time “accumulating wealth” than the capitalist parasites who do nothing productive for society, right? Which should we incentivize more: productive work, or speculation?
No capital has ever created itself. ALL capital was first created by labor except for the rights to certain natural resources, but even those must be extracted or improved upon **by labor** if their full value is to be realized. Without labor, there is nothing for capital to trade or bet on.[/quote]This quote demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of industrial society. So lets pose a few questions:
- Where did the money come from to pay the people working on the first Railroads? (the land was gov. granted right of way, but someone paid for the dynamite, rails, steam engines, surveyors etc.)
- When a factory is built, the machining/manufacturing equipment is built.. who pays for the labor there? It is not yet producing goods to offset its cost, and will take years to do it.
- The internet you are using today, who paid for the wires in the ground, the routers, undersea cables? Yes the original was a DARPA project between universities, literally on dialup – later leased lines.. but we are a way from that location right now.
- What about all the power and gas lines that bring both light and heat to your homes. Have you ever tried to figure out how much cabling and piping is in the ground to provide this? Who paid for it? Not the government.
The answer to all of these is “someones capital”. Someone ponied up the money. The only way that someone will risk their capital is if the return from the capital justifies or offsets the risk. Otherwise it is better to keep it under the mattress, in a bunker– or somewhere safe. The way you get ‘capital’ is by spending less than you make (basically the only way. It does help to find a way to make more though).
Participant[quote=bearishgurl]Incredible moving graph, jstoez! It’s also very telling as to age group. The unemployment rate for the 55 – 64 age group dramatically rises in 2005 and after in the several counties of the three states I “spot-checked” (incl CA). This group is the most experienced worker of all groups with a tremendous work ethic … yet employers don’t seem to want them (in favor of texting and tweeting Gen Y’s) :-0[/quote]A lot of companies think that this age group is ‘out of date’.. and thinks the tweeting, texting, facebooking Gen Y(s) are up to date with modern technology. The problem is that many of these Gen Y(s) only know how to use the technology, not how it is actually implemented nor how it is built.
Participant[quote=jstoesz]We are already there…assuming you are talking in terms of metropolitan areas…
The central valley is a war zone right now. I can’t tell you how many piles of trash and burned out cars, how many street lights and farm pumps have been pillaged for copper. The coast turns a blind eye to the valley, but it is a swath of destruction to rival any area of michigan.[/quote]Take a look at El Centro, CA area. It is interesting to look and compare the ‘seasonal’ movement in the graphic. It shows up as the rapid up/down movement on the graph.
Participant[quote=flu][quote=paramount][quote=flyer]
I can’t believe people are so excited about this election, when most of them are further away from achieving “The American Dream” than ever.[/quote]
Not really, the new American Dream is to take money from successful people and then live off of the welfare state.
I’d sat they’re doing quite well.[/quote]
Dude, for a lot of folks…The american dream is dead… long ago….They just haven’t realized it…They’re too busy buying stuff on credit….[/quote]Yea.. and then they BK, and are quickly back to buying stuff on credit. That is the new American Dream. Buy what you want and don’t have to pay for it. Just blame the bad old bankers that gave you the credit!
Participant[quote=spdrun]I can’t speak too much to San Diego, but there are plenty of bright, financially literate, small-business-owning (any combo of the three if not all) folks in their 20s and 30s here.[/quote]Where ‘here’ is may be part of the factor..
Participant[quote flu]What I really don’t get is up to now I’ve been a proponent of “hey, don’t do that government, our kids are gonna get screwed with the piles of piles of debt/deficit we are incurring….” But then the most ridiculous thing happened. Our younger generation that voted decides to support the very direction we’re heading…off a fiscal cliff and beyond… It amazes me…
I mean, if this isn’t proof that your younger generation is financially illiterate, I don’t know what is…And so, I’m thinking. If they don’t care about their future, then really it’s not my problem anymore.[/quote]What I have found, is that while the younger generation does care about the future, they do not know how to make hard choices between more than one path and they can not project future costs or long term results in a decision. They are also financially illiterate, partially because they can’t project the long term results of a decision, have poor math skills, and don’t want to take the time(Its boring). They know the now, remember approx the past 15 minutes best, want instant results and have been systematically protected against bad decisions. Since they have been systematically protected against bad decisions, they don’t comprehend the real consequences of poorly thought out decisions. They also don’t want to take the time to go through and figure out what the consequences of a decision are. They make their mind up based upon ‘I like’, ‘I follow’, tweets and media soundbites. Therefore in their mind, “ideology” rules because it is convenient and they don’t have to think about it.
That said, I have noted some, but a dismally small number, of the younger generation do think these things out. Unfortunately they will probably have to ‘carry the load’ for the ‘MTV generation’.
This is not POOMA, it is based upon having to deal with one.. beyond which it would probably be TMI to disclose. Funny thing though, this particular member of ‘the younger generation’ voted for Romney because they thought he was a Democrat.. because he looked like one (no joke).
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